Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama.

After Wesley had his third nose bleed of the evening, we did not drop even the pretense of sympathy and tell him to take care of it himself.

Upon getting into a car accident, my first three phone calls were not to my boss, my hubby and my dad. I mean, what 39 year old calls her daddy to come stay with her after a car accident?

I did not have to force myself to drive my normal route to work the day after my accident.

I did not skip Wesley's soccer practice just so I wouldn't have to see the mom I felt was judging me last weekend.

When my cell phone rang and I saw it was the phone number for the school, my first thought was not, "Oh crap! I don't have time to deal with a sick kid today." And I wasn't relieved to find out that it was "only" a fall and scrape up on the playground not bodily fluids.

The One Time I Don't Want to Go Shopping.

Yesterday I received the official word that my beloved swagger wagon is no more. It's being totaled out. I guess I'm not surprised since I was hit pretty hard.

On the upside, we are getting more for the van than we were expecting. On the downside, I'm not sure how we're going to swing much of a car payment. Of course, one has to go car shopping in order to have a car payment and that's one more thing I'm not sure how we're going to work out. 

Things are really busy right now. I'm off today, but I need to go do a last check for personal belongings in the van, go get a paper title and get it notarized, go buy Wesley's Scout stuff (because the store is only open incredibly unfriendly hours), go to Target, and take Wesley to a birthday party tonight. 

I work tomorrow and Sunday.

Monday evening is Scouts, Tuesday and Wednesday nights are eaten up with soccer, Thursday Duane and I are heading out of town and won't get home until sometime Friday. Friday night the boys are in a parade. I work next Saturday and the Scout camp out is that night. Sunday we have small group and auditions for the Christmas musical after church. Then the whole scout and soccer routine begins again.

So in short, because of the accident, I have to carve out time I can't spare to spend money I don't have. Awesome.

I shouldn't complain though. It's a pain and an inconvenience, but we're not dealing with hospitals or funerals from this. I just need to try and keep things in perspective. 

Boom! Crash!

I was in a car accident yesterday. I'm okay. I was not at fault. No one was hurt and kids weren't with me.

I was on my way to an early morning meeting at work when a car ran a red light and plowed into me. The van is pretty beat up, and we won't be surprised if the insurance company totals it.

But, as strange as this may sound, I am also thankful for so many things dealing with this accident. First and foremost, the kids were not with me. The van got hit right where Ryan sits and that thought alone makes my skin crawl and stomach feel sick.

I'm thankful that no one was hurt. I have a sore elbow and a bit of headache, but I'm not hurt. The other driver was not hurt. We both walked away.

I'm thankful that he had insurance.

I'm thankful for the one single person (out of many witnesses) who took the time to stop, made sure I was not hurt and gave a statement to the police officer. This person stayed with me until a friend could arrive. He got my purse and coffee out of the van. He reported the accident and made me feel safer at a time when I felt so vulnerable.

I am thankful for my co-worker, Jeff, who saw me standing on the sidewalk and my van smashed up and came to check on me rather than rushing off to the meeting.

I am thankful for my wonderful and amazing boss, who, when I called her to say I wouldn't be at the meeting, came running up the street (I was only a block from work when I got hit) to check on me. She called the insurance company. She helped me find a body shop. She retrieved the rest of my things from the car and drove me home. Once at my house, she debriefed my dad (who I had called to come meet me) and made sure I was okay before leaving.

I'm thankful for my dad, who came to be with me until I was calm. He made phone calls for me, drove me out to the body shop to retrieve my garage door opener and, most importantly, fed me a greasy, cheesy, carb-y breakfast, which was exactly what I needed.

I'm thank for my mom and stepdad who have graciously loaned me a vehicle until I either get the van back, or get something else to drive. 

Yesterday morning was awful, but it could have been so much worse. And for that, I am thankful.

Weekend Update

We had another one of those infamous super busy W. family weekends.

Friday was Duane's birthday. He had a pretty rough day at work and wasn't really looking forward to celebrating, but we wound up having a very nice evening out with my dad and stepmom. I mean, dinner at a Mexican restaurant and a delicious cake are bound to perk up even a bad mood.

Saturday Duane was off helping a friend of family for most of the day, so I started the morning as single soccer mom. It wouldn't have been too bad, but the morning started off chilly and rainy, which meant I was carrying extra stuff onto the muddy soccer field. Grandma and Grandpa P. met up with me to help me through the two games, and that REALLY helped a lot.

Wesley took a pretty nasty soccer ball hit to his elbow in the third quarter of his game, but sat out the fourth quarter and seemed fine, so imagine my surprise when he walked up to me after the game holding his elbow and sobbing.

Of course, being the sensitive mom that I am, and knowing what a drama queen my oldest son can be, my first question to Wesley was, "Is that the arm the soccer ball hit?"

Wesley gave me a tearful nod. "Wesley, that was in the third quarter! You were fine during the last quarter, so I don't understand why you're crying now."

Wesley continued to cry.

"Where's your ball and water bottle?" I asked, even though I could see them on the other side of the field. "Go get them."

"I can't," he cried.

"Wesley, I am carrying two chairs, my coffee cup, Ryan's water bottle, your warm up pants, your jacket and two umbrellas. I am not going to go all the way over there to pick up the stuff you forgot. Go get it."

We continued this back and forth for a few more moments before he finally turned to go get his stuff. He wasn't even a quarter of the way there when another mom from the team approached him and walked the rest of the way with Wesley, patting his back and talking to him the whole time.

Great, I thought. Now who looks like a bad mom?

When they returned, the other mom was carrying Wesley's ball and his water bottle while Wesley continued to hold his arm."I think he's really hurt," she told me in voice that (at least in my mind) was full of judgment. "He couldn't even pick up his water bottle. You really should get that looked at."

I thanked her (although somewhat insincerely) and we headed off to the van. We walked not two feet in front of Wesley's coach and he did not say a single word to us. Not "good game." Not "see you at practice." Certainly not "hope you're ok." Nothing. I really don't like his coach.

 By this time I was annoyed, embarrassed and starting to get a little concerned because his elbow did look slightly swollen. After a quick conference with Grandma and Grandpa P. we decided to adopt a wait and see approach and go ahead with our lunch plans.

Wesley was quiet in the van the whole way to lunch, but started crying once more when we all got out. Grandpa had a little heart to heart with Wesley while I ordered lunch and he discovered that after the game Wesley had fallen and landed on the sore elbow.

We stuck with the wait and see through lunch and Ryan's game. Ryan killed it by the way. The boy was a beast on offense with a bunch of shots on goal. No actual goals, but he'll get there. Wesley seemed a lot better, although he did continue to favor his one arm.

So I fretted about that all afternoon. My gut instinct said that it was sore, but not really injured and that Wesley was working the sympathy card. Duane agreed with me and kept our plans to go on a progressive dinner with our church group that night. I'm so glad we still went out because it was exactly what I needed.

Sunday was another busy day with church, choir practice and a special work event I volunteered for. Busy, but fun. Duane brought the Webihara boys up and got some great pictures of them enjoying themselves.

Sho showing off some REALLY big underpants

Wesley channeling his inner cat

I think that's Kei. Either that or it's some random kid wearing his shirt

Ryan wearing the hyptno-glasses

Cutie pie

Then it was on to grab a bite of dinner, speed clean the house and crash on the sofa while watching football.

Oh, and in case you are wondering, Wesley's arm seems to be fine today.

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama.

I have not been texting with Ryan's teacher about his behavior at school because having his teacher's cell phone number in my contacts would just be a little strange.

I did not put off reading a book I had to write a professional review because of it's genre. And I certainly didn't end up kind of enjoying it. 

There is no way I was looking forward to something for more than a week, but when the time came to do it, I had to practically be dragged out of the house.

He Works for Peanuts (and Popcorn)

Now that Wesley is officially a scout, we have entered into the season of the Boy Scout Popcorn Sale - let me know if you want to buy some ;-)

Wesley has taken his role as salesman to heart. The night he got his sales sheet, he insisted on going over to Grandma and Grandpa H.'s to make his first sale, as well as his second and third, thanks to his great aunts. He cannot wait to ask some of our neighbors to please buy popcorn and once he gets his scout shirt, we are going to let him to a little door to door peddling in our neighborhood.

This morning Wesley was asking me when he would get to go ask our neighbors to please buy popcorn. Before I could answer, Ryan piped up, "I want popcorn!"

Ever the salesman, Wesley answered, "You've been saving your money for LEGOs, Ryan, but you could use it to buy popcorn instead."

 Ryan had an idea of his own. "I'm not going to buy popcorn. I am going to be your assistant and every day you can pay me by giving me a little bit of popcorn to eat."

That might be a pretty sweet deal. I hope Wesley considers it.

Spoke Too Soon

I should've known better than to say it, but I said it anyhow. I went and told a friend that Ryan seemed to be doing really well at Kindergarten and that "no news was good news." Yeah, well, guess who got a phone call from the teacher last night?

If you guessed Mr. and Mrs. W., you guessed right.

Apparently Ryan has been having some issues in the afternoons now and then. Like, "crossing his arms and telling the teacher he doesn't want to be there is and ready to go home" kind of issues. She said it doesn't happen every day, but it does happen and that yesterday was particularly bad, so she felt she had to call.

I'm surprised and not surprised. Ryan has a history of stubbornness. We heard similar things from his teachers last year, so I guess it was just wishful thinking on my part that it had all disappeared. Ryan only says good things about school to us though. The only time he has ever asked to stay home was the day Grandpa H. came home from the hospital. Ryan happily does his homework and tells us about his day.

I shared all that with his teacher (along with the infamous story of the time Ryan sat at the dinner table for three hours until bedtime rather than try his food), but also told her that she has our support all the way. If Ryan gets in trouble at school, he'll be in worse trouble at home. I told her that we don't take the stubbornness and refusal and she is free to tell him that "Mom and Dad don't put up with that at home and you can't act like that at school."

She is going to call me this afternoon to give me an update, and we ended the conversation on the same page, which is good. I really like her.

On the upside, she told us that he is having zero problem academically. He reads very well and his math skills are quite good.

If we can just get this stubbornness under control. Ryan told Duane and I that he'll try very hard to not have grumpies at school and that he'll do his best in Kindergarten. And really, I can't ask for more than that, can I?

A Boy's First Love - and His Second

They say that a boy's first love is his mother. That seems to be true with the Ryguy lately. He used to be such a Daddy's boy, but that has all changed recently. 

The other morning in the kitchen Ryan came up to me and said, "I just love you so much, Momma. If I loved you any more, I'd have a crush on you every day."

Ryan gave me a big hug, then continued, "Do you know one of the reasons I love you? The clothes you put on every day always look nice."

Not that I don't have competition. Check out Ryan's school work from yesterday

The sentence he wrote says "She is a friend to me."

 But let's take a closer look at the illustration. That is clearly his friend/classmate M.

What a sweet boy I have.

Murphy's Law Kind of Evening

Yesterday was just one of those days. Things started out just fine - good even - but it all went to heck in a handbasket around 4:30. That's when Duane called me at work to ask for the school's phone number. I gave it to him, then asked why he needed it. I figured that one of the boys forgot their homework or backpack or something. Oh, if only. Turned out that the bus was half an hour late and Duane wanted to call the school to see if something had held things up.

"Ok, call me back when you know," I said.

Twenty minutes passed and I still hadn't heard anything from Duane. If you know me at all, you know that I did nothing but stew for those 20 minutes - well, stew and repeatedly try to call Duane and text him. I finally heard from him at about 4:50. "They said the bus will be here in about 10 minutes. I've been on hold all this time with the transportation center."

"Did they say what happened?" I asked.

"Nope."

So I continued to pace at my desk until Duane called about 10 minutes later. "They're here."

"What happened?"

Duane talked to the bus driver for a minute (and the boys) and discovered that the bus had actually been early because some kids at an earlier stop were absent. Since no one was waiting for the boys, the driver wasn't allowed to let them off the bus and they had to go on the rest of the route with her.

"They know what they are supposed to do if no one is here," Duane said. But the driver replied that without written permission she cannot let the off the bus.

Now, that is fine. Honestly, it's great. I love that they won't just kick my kids to the curb, but Duane was at the bus stop 10 minutes early, which means the bus was even earlier that that. He wasn't squeaking in at the last minute or anything and the boys still got stuck with an extra hour on the bus. Turns out Ryan spent part of that time crying because he wanted to go home.  Needless to say, we are sending a permission to exit note in tomorrow.

Most of the time the extended bus ride would be an annoyance, but yesterday it was terrible timing. Last night Duane had to be at a new parent meeting for scouts at 5:30. I don't get off work until 5:30, so the plan had been for Duane to take the boys to Grandma and Grandpa H.'s, go to the meeting, I'd meet the boys at their grandparents, I'd have dinner with them and my aunts/uncle from Mansfield, then take Wesley to the rest of the scout meeting at 6:45.

Sounds great in theory, right? But it didn't happen that way.

At about 5:50 I got a phone call from Duane telling me there was no one at the meeting.

"What do you mean there's no one there?"

"I mean there's no one here," he replied.

"You're at (name of local church)?" I asked.

"No, I'm at (name of local school)," he replied.

"Well, the meeting is at (name of local church)."

So Duane was late to that. And then we got a call from my aunts/uncle saying they had also gotten a late start and dinner would be delayed.  So I loaded the kids up in the car and took them to McDonald's where I had the worst service I've ever had at a McDonald's. And that's saying something.

But Wesley got to his meeting and Ryan and I went home to get homework done and lunches packed and all the other nightly odds and ends taken care of. We got to visit with the family for a few minutes and the boys went to bed in decent moods.

I guess all's well that ends well, but I sure hope today goes more smoothly.

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama.

I was not awakened one morning to the unmistakable grossness that is/was a cat peeing on my leg!

When my children broke out in a fist fight in front of the principal, I did not drive away and figure it was her problem at that point. Nope, not me.

I certainly haven't started my own school year tradition of having a glass of wine after every PTA meeting. 

I was not a little bit happy when Duane's plans to work on the church mission project one morning fell through because it meant I could have the entire day with my hubby. Seriously, how selfish would that be?

I did not spend most of a beautiful late summer/early fall day organizing the basement. That would have been a complete waste of a lovely day.

Fall Soccer Season

Today was the first Saturday of the fall soccer season. I am happy to report that both boys' teams were victorious and the W. boys played hard!

It's important to stretch first

Lemme at 'em!

Yeah, I'm talking to you!

Snack break with his buddy, M.

Wesley pretending to be a bad boy at lunch

Our Fall Routine

I am kind of a Type A person. I once took a personality test and the results came back that I am perfectionist, well, I didn't like those results so I took the test again. True story.

I claim to want to be surprised and to be spontaneous, but it's all a lie. I keep three calendars, plan trips out MONTHS in advance (including what we need to pack and where we will be eating), and nearly always have at least one back up plan for most projects/situations. Not knowing what to pack on a trip will send me into a tailspin, which is why Duane always tells me where we are going on any "surprise" getaways we take. Oh! And changing a restaurant on me at the last minute will make me anxious because I'll have switch what I'm going to order in my mind.

I'm not telling you all this to make me sound psycho. I'm telling you this so you'll understand that I thrive on routine.

After our crazy summer, I have been craving getting into our fall routine. I've been looking forward to knowing what's going to be going on each day of the week. However, it's kind of been one of those "be careful what you ask for" things.

Here's our "normal" fall weekly routine:
     Monday: Cub Scouts
     Tuesday: Ryan's soccer practice
     Wednesday: Wesley's soccer practice
     Thursday: free evening
     Friday: free evening
     Saturday: Ryan's soccer game and Wesley's soccer game
     Sunday: Ryan's choir, Sunday School/Church, Wesley's choir

That doesn't look so bad, does it? It looks completely sane and do-able, right? Well, note that I said that was our "normal" schedule. It doesn't take into account things like PTA meetings, mission projects, school open house, teacher conferences, haircuts, small group meetings at church, playdates, birthday parties, random special events and the weekends I work. 

Still, "normal" crazy feels a lot better than "life or death/totally out of control" crazy. This kind of crazy I can deal with.

Best Friends and Worst Enemies

Wesley and Ryan are typical brothers - they get along most of the time and fight like dogs other times.

Nine times out of ten, Ryan is the instigator in any fight the boys find themselves in. I don't know if it's his ornery personality, or part of being the youngest, but some days I would swear that Ryan feels his entire purpose in life is to annoy his big brother.

That's not to say Wesley is without blame. Trust me, he can give as good as he gets. Take yesterday morning for example, Wesley was bound and determined to get on Ryan's last nerve. It began with Wesley humming during breakfast, despite Ryan's repeated requests for him to please stop. Then it morphed into making a clicking noise with his tongue while they got their shoes on, which drove Ryan up a wall. Things escalated with Wesley running around to the passenger side of the van and getting in before Ryan.

You'd think that would be bad enough, but no, Wesley kicked it up another notch by taking a plastic cup holder out of Ryan's side, moving it to his own side, and tapping it for the whole ride to school. By the time we arrived at drop off five minutes later, Ryan was infuriated because of the noise and because Wesley would not give the cup holder back so Ryan could put it away.

I pulled into the drop off lane, where a teacher, the custodian and the principal wait every morning to help the students out of their cars. I naively thought that once we opened the door to the van, the boys would hop out and the issue would be forgotten. Oh, how wrong I was.

Mrs. B, the principal, opened the door to the van and Wesley stood up to get out. As soon as he did, Ryan reached over to grab the cup holder and put it back on his side. Wesley saw Ryan make his move and spun around to shove his little brother, which quickly escalated to a push and pull match with Mrs. B. and I both telling the boys to "get out of the car."

Wesley finally grabbed his backpack and jumped out of the van. Ryan was close on his heels, but not to get to get to school. Nope. As soon as Ryan's feet hit the sidewalk, he dropped his backpack and began throwing punches at Wesley! And right in front of the principal! I was mortified! She got it under control quickly and the boys headed off to the playground. I know it only lasted a moment or two, but it felt like ages. I guess time must slow down when you're embarrassed.

Even though the boys didn't get in trouble at school for the brother brawl and no one was hurt, Wesley and Ryan faced punishment when they got home this afternoon. Now I just have to figure out how I'm going to face Mrs. B. at the PTA meeting tonight.

The Sound of Silence

Wesley was busy petting Cleo the other night.

"I can tell she's happy to see me because she's doing a silent kitty purr," he told me.

"Um, Wesley? How do you know she's purring if she's silent?" I asked.

Wesley heaved a sigh that I know I'll hear much more often as the tween and teen years approach, "I just know, ok?"

On My Honor, I Will Try....

On my honor, I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.

In case you can't tell from the above oath, we now have a cub scout in the house. I've been kind of avoiding the whole scouting thing. I mean, Kirk and I were both scouts as kids and Duane was a scout, but it wasn't something I actively pursued for Wesley. I have avoided it partly because of the time commitment and partly because of BSA policy to exclude members based on their sexual orientation.

But things change. The BSA no longer discriminates against gay members (although we're still working on that leader thing) and I now have a child who is eager to be a scout.

Wesley came home from school on Friday telling me all the reasons why he wants to be a cub scout. He said he wanted to go camping, and design a car, and learn archery, and all sorts of "other activities." It was one of the first things, other than art classes, that he's been really truly excited about doing. He enjoys soccer well enough, but he doesn't love it and he hated t-ball and swim lessons were never really his thing either.

So now it's time to give scouting a go.

The first meeting is next week and the first camp out (which little brothers are allowed to attend) is in less than a month. Of course, the camp out is the weekend of my birthday, which means I'll be celebrating the first part of my 40th year with a quiet house and good book. But the boys are both super excited about going camping, so I guess that makes it worth it.

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama.

I did not hang out at my mom and stepdad's the day after he got home for rehab just so I could be near them both. And I certainly didn't have to practically pry myself away from them.

There is no way Duane and I completely missed the time for Wesley's Saturday soccer practice and had to email the coach to find out when it was. And when we discovered it was early and a scrimmage, I know I didn't briefly wonder if coach "forgot" to include us on the initial email because Wesley isn't exactly the strongest player on the team.

I know I didn't forget that I was supposed to pick something up from a coworker's house until an hour after I was supposed to be there. No way am I that forgetful.

I was not a teensy bit disappointed when my jury duty was cut short because it meant I would have less reading time.

Has the Heart Melter Met His Match?

Last night Wesley and Ryan were playing upstairs together before bed. Wesley came hurrying downstairs and announced to Duane and myself, "I told Ryan what a crush is and he says he has a crush on (girl's name)."

Duane immediately told Wesley that he was not to tell (girl's name) or any of his friends about Ryan's crush."That's his business and he can tell people if he wants to."

Then Ryan came downstairs and Wesley again said, "He says he has a crush on (girl's name)."

"I don't blame you," Duane told Ryan. "(Girl's name) is smart and really fun. She's cute too." Can I just say how much I love that Duane put "smart" and "fun" before "cute"?  I think it sets such a good precedent for the boys.

A little while later I asked Wesley what exactly he told Ryan about crushes.

"I told him it's when your heart is full of love for someone and you want to be around them all the time," Wesley replied. Actually, that's not a bad description.

When Ryan and I were alone I said, "So (girl's name), huh? She's pretty special. But do you have a crush on her, or is she your best friend? I thought you two were buddies."

"She's my best girlfriend and I just love her so much! She makes my heart happy," he explained.

Sounds like the Heart Melter may have met his match - someone who melts his heart like he melts mine.

If You Build It...

Wesley and Ryan have both gotten into LEGOs in the last few months.Of course, with two so strikingly different boys, the way each of them has gotten into LEGOs differs widely.

Wesley loves the figurines. He'll take them from all the LEGO sets we have and pose them on his book shelf. He doesn't play with the actual sets too much (although he has built a house for the figurines) but those little LEGO guys just speak to him.

Ryan is the builder. When he sees a LEGO set, he can't wait to tear that box open, dig out the instructions and go to LEGO town. He can't build all the sets exactly right by himself, but he'll work on something for hours. He's obsessed.

Ryan's obsession has only gotten worse with the arrival of the new LEGO catalog in Tuesday's mail. He carries it around with him - even took it to Wesley's soccer practice to look at. I swear, it's like a middle school boy with a Victoria's Secret catalog.

Ryan is desperate to get some of the big LEGO sets. You know, the ones that cost several hundred dollars? He's even started asking me if I'd like save up for part of one and he will save up for the other part of it and we could build it together. I have to admit, it's kind of tempting because I know one day I'll be the one begging him to play with me. Maybe that makes the LEGO Death Star totally worth the money.

The Heart Melter Continues

The Heart Melter continued to worm his way into my heart last night. I was working on the computer when a sweet five year old climbed into my lap, kissed me and said, "You're my special Momma."

I hugged him and replied, "And you're my special boy."

"Oh, I know that!" he said confidently as he strode off to melt hearts elsewhere.

What's Up in Our Neck of the Woods

Just a quick report as to what the W. family has been up to this week.

• School is in full swing. Both boys seem to like school this year but nobody likes doing homework.
• Soccer has also started for the fall. Wesley is playing in a new division this year because he turned 8 just as the season was starting. This means he's not playing with any of his friends AND he's the youngest guy on a team where all the other members have been playing for four years. He's the smallest on the team and not the fastest, but he is working so hard out there. We have seen big improvements in just a couple of weeks and he's having fun. I couldn't be more proud of him. Ryan is playing on a team with one of his good school friends. I haven't gotten to see one of their practices yet, but I hear they make quite the pair on the field.
• I had jury this week, but it was pretty much the shortest jury duty ever. I didn't have to go Monday because of the holiday. On Tuesday we were dismissed at lunchtime and today the entire jury pool was released in the early afternoon for the rest of the week. Score!
• Tom gets to come home tomorrow!!!! It's been six weeks since we've had him home and I can't wait!
• My niece Sylvia continues to grow and get stronger every day. I can't wait until I'm able to hold her. 
• Cleo gets declawed on Friday. Can't wait!

That's life in a nutshell!

Perfect Day

Yesterday was such a wonderful, darn near perfect day for me. Really, it was easily one of the best days of my entire summer. Ok, yes, I understand that I've had a pretty stressful summer this year, but the nuggets of joy have been there and yesterday was like a whole gold bar!

So what made yesterday so special?  It was a day with no big plans, but one of those days where everything just clicked.

Duane and I made the rare decision not to go to church yesterday and spend the morning working on our (out of control) yard instead. I don't like yard work in the slightest, but it was getting to the point where I was embarrassed to pull into our drive. No, it wasn't really that bad, but it felt like it to me. We worked in the yard together for a few hours and made some real headway. The front yard looks absolutely respectable and we're planning on tackling the backyard for a bit today.Even though I hate yard work and my body aches this morning, there is something rewarding about being outside and doing some physical labor - especially when you can really see the difference when you are done.

After we put a couple of hours in on the yard, we met up with some friends to enjoy lunch at our favorite food truck. The last weekend of the month (yes, I know yesterday was Sept. 1, but the weekend started with 8/31) is chicken and waffle weekend at Mya's Fried Chicken and after working in the yard that morning, I felt I earned an order of chicken and waffle sliders.

The picture does not begin to do this box of chicken-y goodness justice

We made plans to meet up with our friends yesterday evening and head to a drive-in movie, weather permitting. After parting ways, the W. family headed to the rehabilitation center to see Grandpa H. He's doing so much better these days and is anxious to get home again! There's a possibility he may get to come home late this week.

Since it was so nice yesterday, we took Grandpa H. for a walk around the hospital campus. Of course, based on the strange look I got from the guy in the parking lot, I probably shouldn't have told Wesley and Ryan that we were busting Grandpa out. I meant for a walk!!

We walked/rolled up to a nice outdoor commons area, then Grandma and I darted into the main hospital building and got Grandpa and the boys some contraband - I mean Frosties from Wendy's to eat! I was just so nice to sit outside in the shade with the birds darting around and share a treat. It felt so normal!

After our treat we took Grandpa back to the rehabilitation center. Ryan, of course, claimed to be too hot and tired to walk, so he hitched a ride with Grandpa while Wesley pushed (with a little guidance from Grandma and Dad.)

We spent the remainder of the afternoon running a couple of errands, then Duane did a little more yard work while I took a nap (yes, he completely spoils me). After dinner we headed to the drive in with our friends.

Now, I have not been to a drive in movie in probably 35-37 years. There's a good reason for this. You know how all families have those things that happen that become, not just a family story, but family history? Well, my first, and until last night - only, drive in experience is one of those stories.

Like Wesley, I have always had a sensitive stomach. I get car sick and motion sick and have always vomited easily. Well, when I was 4 or 5, our family went to a drive in movie to see a double feature - "The Fox & The Hound" and "The Last Flight of Noah's Ark." I had been thoroughly enjoying the snacks we had brought with us and between features I was lying my back on the floor of the van. WARNING: THE GROSS PART OF THE STORY IS COMING UP (LITERALLY). Well, I must have had one too many snacks because I suddenly got quite sick to my stomach and began to vomit. While lying on my back. In the car. It was essentially a puke fountain. I ended up covered. My pillow was covered. The van wasn't exactly spared either. Needless to say, we missed the second movie, which, of course, was the movie my dad and brother wanted most to see. We had to go home and clean me up and a family legend was born.

Anyway, that's why I have avoided drive in movies for the past few decades.

Last night's experience was so much better! The weather was perfect, the company was wonderful and the movie was very cute. Honestly, it really couldn't have been a better night at the drive in.

On the way to the movie, Ryan said he was going to show me his "yoga moves" that his friend Mya taught him. I'm not sure what my favorite part of this is - the fact that he's doing yoga in the back of a pickup, the look on our friend Jack's face, or Ryan's tongue hanging out in concentration. It's all pretty awesome

Our friends provided a ton of yummy snacks - including Ryan's #1 weakness, cheese puffs. Think he enjoyed them?

The boys trying to set up the back of the truck as their own movie watching paradise

Pam and myself, pre-movie

Movie time

I don't think I've had such a fun and relaxing night in a long time. Really, it was perfect and a wonderful send off to summer.

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama.

I have not been suffering horrible kitty mommy guilt over the fact that I saw a single flea on two of the cats. And I did not make sure they were wearing flea collars within 18 hours of the first flea sighting.

There is no way that my children's birthdays stress me out to the point that the celebrations aren't really enjoyable to me. 

I did not wear my hair in a ponytail one day because after doing yard work for a few hours, my arms were too sore to hold the hairdryer. No way am I that out of shape. 

Birthday Party Pictures

Wesley celebrated his 8th birthday with his friends at Magic Mountain yesterday.

Mommy and the birthday boy

I do not want to know what he was thinking

The whole party gang

Wesley wanted an imaginary cat he made up on his cake. He drew a template for Duane and Duane copied it exactly. Wesley said the cake looked even better than he imagined!

The beginnings of a conga line

Handsome guy

Making a birthday wish.

 

 

 

I think it's safe to say a good time was had by all