Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween!

As is our tradition, we'll be having a spooky supper before we hit the streets. On tonight's menu:
Mummy Dogs
Crinkled Ogre Fingers with blood
Slimy worm-gut punch.
Yum!!

Our dinner guests tonight include a punk ballerina, a clone trooper and a witch! I can hardly wait!!

Be safe and have FUN!!!

True Character

I just got a phone call that made my day month year!

A mom I know from school called to "tell me about an incident involving my son". Not the words you often want to hear! But this was a good thing.

About a week ago, FE and his class were at PE. The class was talking and had been asked to be quiet, but wasn't complying as quickly as they could have. FE and a friend, C, were talking to another boy, N. Coach did not hear FE or C, only N(who was actually responding to the boys in an effort to get them to stop talking), and N got a week's worth of detentions. The class certainly quited down at that point, and then was on to another special. N was very upset and crying about the fact that he had detention for a week. FE and C took it upon themselves to go back to the PE coach and tell him they truth, that they had been the ones talking, and N shouldn't be in trouble. Coach took back N's detention and didn't give the other boys one either.
This mom was so impressed with FE and C for standing up and telling the truth about the talking. And so am I. It's one of the things you always want your kids to do, to be honest in that manner. And the fact that FE had the character to do that means we are doing something right I think!

Sadness

A friend at the school my kids attend lost her child this weekend in a tragic accident. Her precious baby girl. This was not a close friend of mine, but someone I chatted with on occasion, and a baby I had held and cooed over and played with. I have such vivid memories of seeing the baby for the first time. Her mama was holding her in a sling, and I, being the nosy one I am, asked to have her unwrapped. I wanted to see her. All of her. And she had the biggest feet I had ever seen on a baby. I played with those feet and commented on their size to her mama. She was precious. And now she's gone. After far too little time on this earth. When I wake up in the morning, or even the middle of the night, that baby is the first thing that pops into my head. Our school community is grieving deeply the loss of this child.

If you pray, pray for peace for this family, please. If you don't pray, just keep them close to your heart.

Bipolar much? And the most rambling post Evah!

I got a call from my Dr.'s office today. The referral coordinator was able to get me a retroactive authorization for my PT. Thank goodness! I know she thought I was crazy last week after I spent hours on the phone with her, the insurance, the PT people, trying to figure out why this all broke down. And by the time I begged her to try to get a retro-auth I was sobbing over the craziness of it. When she called to give me the good news, I was so happy and thanked her profusely. I'm sure I'll get a call from the Dr. any day now about some bipolar meds!lol!


It's been a normal crazy week here and getting crazier. Last night I had four kids needing to be four places all at once. Luckily I needed to be someplace with one of them. The Princess had her RE class and I had to work at the pumpkin patch, so that worked out pretty well. Not to mention that my BFF came and worked with me and donated her hours to SB! All of the concerts (slinging beer for Jesus) and the pumpkin patch stuff is to earn money for our youth to go to National Catholic Youth Conference next November. Basically, the church fundraises and your family works hours at the fundraisers to pay for your trip. It's actually a lot of fun doing the work, but it just adds more to our busy schedule!


In the "reasons I love my husband's job category", earlier this week Mark was offered 4 FREE tickets to see Amy Grant in concert. I had sort of wanted to go, but was not going to spend the money (concerts are outrageous these days!), but my BFF wanted to go REALLY badly, and it's her birthday this weekend! So, when Mark was offered the tickets, we jumped on them. So tonight Karin, Mark, SB and I are headed to that show.


Tomorrow Mark is headed to hike the Grand Canyon with his dad and brother, and I'm headed out for some chocolate martinis and girl talk with some good friends.
Saturday FE has a game and I have a dance to put together and chaperon for the 7th and 8th graders.
Sunday Snow Queen rehearsal and hopefully a NAP!! before the madness starts all over again on Monday!


I was just thinking yesterday about how full the fall is, how may things there are going on. and then I continued thinking and realized that it doesn't really slow down ever. And I don't necessarily mind that. I think that many of the things we do are building a future and memories for our children (okay, not the chocolate martinis, but they make Mama happy and you know the saying!lol!) and there's not anything I am willing to give up. I want to take care of the dance and graduation, I want to be home room mom, watch FE play football, watch the girls dance, spend time going to late night movies with Bubba even though I am exhausted, see my friends, date my husband, help my church, etc. The time goes so fast. My boy is leaving in 3 months. Right now he's scheduled to be gone for 5 months, but that could change in a heartbeat. The time from when he was born to now feels like the blink of an eye. I don't want to miss any of the remaining time with him or any of my family or friends. Life is too short.

HA-Larious!

The title is how The Princess used to say hilarious and Mark and I still say it that way!
anyway, this morning's dentist/ortho visit had me laughing so hard I literally cried.
After Bubba, Annie and FE were done (this was a special visit, not the 6 month one, so Sb didn't need to be seen, but she went anyway as to witness the big goodbye!) the hygienist came back out and told Bubba she needed to see him again. He went back with her and the front office flooded with all the business office staff and other hygienists. The receptionist got out her CD player. The staff all made a tunnel to walk through (which did not work since he's over a foot taller than most of them, but that made it even funnier). The hygienist leads him out, the CD starts playing "nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh, nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh, Hey, Hey Goodbye". The staff is singing and since the tunnel isn't working, they are clapping and dancing as he walks between them. The hygienist at the end takes his hand and walks him to the door, but instead of letting him go through the big door, she blocks that and makes him use the kiddie door right next to it. The on that even FE has to duck to get through. He was grinning the whole time. The other kids and I and the entire staff are laughing hysterically. It was quite the send off. He's been at that practice for 16 years, so it was a bit bittersweet, but the funniest thing ever. I really wanted to take the camera, but I thought he would get suspicious so I didn't, but I have no doubt that the memory will live with me, and him, FOREVER!

Oh, What a Beautiful Morning!

It's 52 degrees at my house this morning and we're loving it! Mark is off hiking with his dad and the two youngest kiddos are sitting on the back patio (in sweatshirts!) drinking hot chocolate. I love these chilly fall mornings.

The kiddos and I are headed off to work at our church pumpkin patch this morning. Mark and SB and FE spent 5 hours there yesterday unloading the truck and setting up the patch. To my understanding, there are about 2500 pumpkins! That's a lot of orange!!

Our weekend so far has been lovely. Dinner with the inlaws on Friday for Mark's birthday. My FIL had just returned from Paris, so we got to hear all about his trip. After dinner, my inlaws came by to pick up their cookie dough and we spent another hour or so chatting with them. It was so lovely.
Yesterday I spent my day shopping for decorations for the 7th and 8th grade fall dance. We're doing a "Blast From the Past" theme. SB has a killer 80's outfit and I can't wait to see how the other kids dress!

And no school on Monday!! Woohoo! And I'm not working! That may be the best bit of the weekend! Three of the kids need to see the dentist/orthodontist tomorrow, but even that will be fun as it's Bubba's last visit to the pediatric dentist he's been seeing since he was 2! They do a big goodbye when the kids leave them, with the entire office staff standing in the reception area singing to the kid as he/she leaves. Bubba has never seen this and has no idea about it (or I'm sure he would not be going to the appt. tomorrow) but I think it will be hysterical!

I hope your weekend has been wonderful as well!!

Happy Birthday!!

It's my hubby's birthday today! I've been busy cooking up a storm, with a short break to run downtown and take him to lunch since my day care kiddos are on vacation! We're having my homemade chili and cornbread (his very favorite meal) along with the only sugar he'll really eat, homemade oatmeal raisin cookies.
Happy Birthday to the love of my life!

So Much Fun!

Sb and I had a GREAT time last night! We had PERFECT seats, saw all of our favorite dancers (even though they advertised the top 10, there were 13!) and dances and both lost our voices from screaming so much! It was a great memory making night!

Girls Night!

SB and I are enjoying an early Christmas gift tonight! We're headed out to see this tonight! It's our very favorite show on television and we're both so looking forward to seeing our favorite dancers live and spending some mommy/daughter time!

Why is it so hard for people to do their jobs?

I hate my insurance company. Hate might actually not be a strong enough word. The problem is that Mark's company is so small that insuring our family through his work would cost more than our monthly mortgage payment, so I have insurance for the self-employed through the state of Arizona. And really, the insurance itself is not the problem, it's the idiots they have staffing the company.
My issue today? I got an EOB for my physical therapy, denying the claim since I didn't get an authorization. Except I did. I waited weeks to hear from my Dr.'s office with an auth. And then made the appointment. But the insurance company has no record of an authorization being given. And I can't reach the referral person at the Dr.'s office. I hope she keeps better records! UGH!

Boy in glasses and why my hair is gray!

FE is the newest addition to the family to be wearing glasses! He joins his dad and two older siblings. I think he looks adorable!
What is not so adorable (and BTW, today is school picture day!) is the bump on his head(See photo below). He hit his head playing football AGAIN yesterday. The nurse called me to come get him and we were headed to the ER because he was dizzy and feeling sick. And this bump? Stood out about two inches from his head. It looks MUCH better today. By the time we were almost to the ER, he started talking to me and talked to his dad on the phone and actually made a joke. He also said he wasn't as dizzy or feeling as sick anymore so we decided to head home and see how things went. (As an aside, my ER copay is $300 now, and of course I would take him in a true "he needs to go" emergency, but it makes me sick that I even have to try to make a decision like that. Messed up world we live in!) He gradually got better as the day wore on and was his usual self by late afternoon. This morning, as you can see in the picture, the bump has spread across his forehead. Mark and my friend, the nurse, both think he's going to end up with two black eyes as the injury spreads. Awesome! I hope it happens by Saturday so he can scare the opposing team for football! Which, by the way, I have told him he is not allowed to play at school anymore. I mean, if my kid's going to get injured playing football, I at least want to be there to see it! And, lest you be worried about how FE is coping? don't be. His principal went in to see him this morning(she helped deal with the injury yesterday) and said he seemed to be wearing his injury as a badge of honor. And trust me, the girls are certainly paying plenty of attention to their poor injured friend!