Tuesday, September 28, 2010

A tug on my Heartstrings

Today I was digging through my kitchen drawer that we throw all of our gadgets into.  Measuring cups, Tupperware party gadgets and the like.  I can't even tell you what I was looking for but there at the bottom in the very back were these.....



Ooooh.  How many times did I make that Choo Choo or Airplane sound while guiding some kind of baby food into one of these mouths? 

I looked closely and can still see some of their little teeth marks imbedded into the rubber coating.


I thought about this tonight as Jensen told me that he hated grilled cheese sandwiches (news to me).  I was making them for dinner.  I told him he would have to make something else himself because this is what's for dinner. 

Before I knew it he was sitting at the table with a ham and cheese sandwich laughing at something Garth said.

Chugga Chugga Choo Choo!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

The Dreaded phone call...

Garth was on the "Manly Man" backpacking trip this week but came home one day early because of a storm on the mountain they were hiking. They climbed to the top of the South Sister in Sisters, Oregon.


I had him all to myself on Friday. First we got the kids off to school. Then we walked the dog. Then we made plans for the day and a list of things to purchase for Jensen's birthday party that was scheduled for Friday night.

One of the things on the list was to go have lunch with Jensen at his school. They were having a BBQ for any parents that could attend. It was nice. As we were leaving, I saw out the back door that Jensen had taken his coat off and piled it on top of a pile of other coats on the playground bench. He was running around having a great time.

We left there and headed to Target then Home Depot and finally Costco to pick up his birthday cake.

We were about 2/3 of the way to Costco when my phone rang. It was the secretary from Joan Austin Elementary. The way she said "hi Julie, this is Kathy" I knew she was going to tell me something awful had happened to my baby. Instead she told me that Jensen had head lice. Eewwww!

All I could think about was that his birthday party was just 4 hours away! What were we going to do?

We hurried and picked up the cake and some Nix, got to the school as quick as we could to pick him up. They had him sequestered in the little nurses room working on classroom work without the classroom of course.

We got him home and Garth took him upstairs to the bathroom and started a two hour process. I stayed downstairs and wiped and wiped and sprayed and vacuumed everything in sight twice. We felt pretty good about everything so as each parent dropped off their child I told them what was going on and what we had done. If they wanted to have their child not stay, we understood.

Surprisingly they ALL 5 of them stayed. It was a fun time.

Once they left, we headed upstairs and stripped everything off the boy’s beds and went about cleaning their room and washing everything. All stuffed animals and pillows are in white plastic bags awaiting their turn for a half hour ride in the super hot dryer.

Whew!

I do have to say that at first, I was thinking "what mom would send their child to school with lice so that my child would get it" then I remembered where Jensen's coat had been earlier in the day....

Sorry other parents!  We didn't know!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

FALL!

As I walked Jensen to the bus stop this morning (yes, I said bus stop!)
I smelled it.


Fall is nearly upon us.

I LOVE Fall.

I love that crisp smell.

I love the fall colors all around me.

I love seeing leaves on the sidewalk.

I love getting seriously re-acquainted with my band saw.

I love the prospect of getting ready for bazaars. (I’m doing 4 this year)


BUT….

I seriously love getting back into a daily routine.    How does that happen?

This happens!

Boys are so easy to get ready for school. A new pair of tennis shoes that they wear everyday. A few new t-shirts, underwear and socks and we are ready. This is the time of year that I’m okay with the fact that I don’t have daughters!

Here they are on the first day of school this year September 7th 2010





Jensen is in 4th grade and Gordon is in 8th grade. How did that happen?