Failure...It's What I Do

If there is one thing that I'm REALLY good at, it's failing. Seriously. I am one of those people who will inadvertantly mess up anything they try to do. I can fail at almost anything. If I go on a diet, I will instantly gain weight. If you give me something important, I promise you I will lose it. If I set a goal, I will actually move further away from it. If I love someone, I will hurt them. If something is precious to me, I will break it. If I get something nice, I will ruin it. If failure could be considered a talent, then it's mine.
If I didn't try so hard that would be one thing, but I do. Sometimes I hate being me.

Wild Child

Haven Esther is finally feeling better! Her nose is still runny, but for the first time since October, she is both off antibiotics AND fever free. Praise God! She is so funny. Even sick, she is very active, but feeling better she is an absolute tornado of activity.
Yesterday at school, she walked up and down the hall visiting classrooms. She would peek her head in and say, "Hi!" She also enjoyed unloading student desks whenever she could and cleared a shelf or two of books in the library. Haven spent a lot of time in the three year old classroom. She thinks those are her people! She even joined kindergarten and did a paper with them. Mrs. O gave her her very own seat, paper, and pencil. She stayed in the kindergarten classroom until Mrs. O had to tell her "no" about something, then she left. Don't you wish you could just leave when someone told you "no?" I'm so thankful that the students and teachers don't seem to get tired of her antics...AND that she takes a 2 hour morning nap!
Her favorite things lately are writing, climbing (which, unfortunately, includes lots of falling), eating, and spinning in circles. She is a handful, but so much fun! She's become quite a ham and will do things over and over again just to get a laugh. When I took all 5 kids to "Paul Blart, Mall Cop" Saturday night her wildness just about did me in. She sat on my lap for approximately ten minutes. During that ten minutes, however, she was absolutely obsessed with the little boy in front of us. It was like a wrestling match as she tried to pat him, touch his hair, and lean forward to talk to him and I tried, mostly unsuccessfully, to restrain her without making her too mad. Finally, I stood her up next to me in the seat and she ate popcorn and drank my drink for a while. Then she turned around and discovered that there was another highly entertaining little boy behind us. She waved at him, shouted to him, and offered him bites of her popcorn. He loved it. I let her get down on the floor (I know...eeeeewwwwww), but she immediately knocked over my full 44 ounce beverage causing a mini waterfall, so I picked her back up. Then, she decided that I didn't need a seat and pushed me out of mine. I squatted on the floor watching her as she sat in my seat munching popcorn with a pop between her little legs. She seemed quite content that way, so I asked Bubs to move and give me his seat (squatting is hard on the knees). As soon as I got into his seat, though, Haven climbed over the arm and proceeded to push me out of it. Apparently I was not allowed to have a seat? Then she decided that it was super funny to grab my hair and shake my head around. She was laughing hysterically and I was getting dizzy...I caved & called Jason to come & get her. We made it about an hour into the movie, which is about 50 minutes longer than J thought we'd make it!
Got to go, my bundle of energy is getting into something again!

Give a Sling a Shot

Haven Esther was a colicky little baby. If it hadn't been for my pouch sling and the swaddle blanket, I'm not sure how I'd have made it through the first two or three months! While I loved my sling, there were a few things I'd have done differently had I designed it. For one thing, the shoulder was just as wide as the middle, so I had to fold it over to keep it out of my face. Inevitably, it would come unfolded and flop into my face when I had both hands busy. Also, once she got a little bit bigger, it would have been nice to be able to attach a baby toy or two to the sling since it's really hard to get all the way to the floor and back up while you are wearing baby. Still, I loved my sling! I even bought a pattern so I could sew them for friends and myself.

Recently, I started sewing slings again, but this time I'm including some up-grades. For example, my sling is tapered at the shoulder. I've also sewn in 1-3 toy loops and added an elastic topped pocket (to hold binky, cell phone, keys, etc.). I LOVE this sling!!! I have named it "Sweet Haven." I'm going to start selling them on ebay and possibly look into getting some local boutique stores to carry them. Next up? Shopping cart covers that double as high chair seat covers (for restaurants). It's sew much fun!

In Other News...

Is anyone else TIRED of the inaugural coverage? I miss all of the other random news stories that make network news interesting: shark attacks, kidnappings, miraculous rescues. To be perfectly candid, I could care less what Michelle Obama wore to the inaugural ball and that has nothing to do with the fact that I strongly opposed her husband's election. It's just over kill for me.

I also find it highly hypocritical that the media who so strongly condemned Palin for spending X amount of dollars on clothing during the election feel it necessary to tell the nation that Michelle Obama is going to be our new fashion icon. What? I have no doubts that if Governor Palin had appeared less than chic on the campaign trail we would have heard about it. I also feel certain that if our new first lady had shown up in her famed "off the rack" wear as opposed to a designer label that we would have been told how down to earth and charming Michelle is in her style. It offends the subdued feminist in me that we even have a running commentary on who is wearing what in politics. We even got a rundown this morning of what the Obama girls were wearing!

I know the hoopla will not only die down, soon, but disappointment in Obama's presidency will settle in. There is always such hope when the new prez is sworn in, but the sharks are circling and as soon as he makes his first mistake the media will dice him up and toss him in as chum. Still, I'm looking forward to that day! Can't wait to hear about the latest news in electronics, the impossibly ancient guy who is graduating from high school, or the best vacation spots in South America. Bring on the news!

Conundrums

We apparently have a rogue curser at the school. I'm pretty sure I know who it is, though I've never caught him (student shall be referred to as him, this should not be read as an actual indication of gender) in the act. I'm not sure exactly how to handle the situation, but I've had a parent complain twice about their children having heard cursing at school. Mind you, these are high school students we are talking about, but they ARE in a Christian school where (as the parent repeatedly points out) most students attend in order to avoid precisely the kind of atmosphere where daily cursing takes place.

I have alerted the teacher to the situation and even the location...apparently all cursing is taking place as they play basketball. She hasn't caught the curser right handed (or tongued), either. Given the number of basketball induced accidents we've had lately, I'm tempted just to declare a moratorium on basketball for the time being.

Why do my oldest students give me more trouble than the youngest? My highschoolers seem to have even less self control than the three year olds in the preschool class. I'm throwing up my hands!

I'm Baaaaaa-aaaack!

Okay, so here's the deal. Apparently I can either write or blog. Since one of my new year's resolutions was to finish two of my books this year (have three going, at present), I have been concentrating on the writing. It's been going really well...until this week. For some unknown reason, my computer has decided that it can't open any word documents. It did this shortly after we got it and then just began working just as suddenly as it had quit, so I hope it fixes itself shortly. What happens is that my stories continue on in my head and it becomes hard to get so much put down on "paper."
Just for fun, here is a brief synopsis of each book:
Walking Away - the wife of a successful plastic surgeon gets in her car and just keeps on going. eventually she figures out that the emptiness that filled her life in L.A. has followed her because it is IN her. Along the journey, the Lord puts key people in her life who influence her toward Christ.
Ravenbrook - (teen fiction) a town who has become a living science experiment due to biochemical waste infiltrating its water supply. many children were born with mutations before the company doing the polluting was shut down...some of the mutations are super-power like. these teens will struggle with every day teenage issues complicated by their mutations.
In the End - a group of Americans go underground and survive the end of life as we know it on planet earth. deep in their underground bunker, they create their own society as they struggle to survive. are they the only humans left on the planet? has God forgotten them?
So, there you have it. You can safely assume that as long as I'm posting on blogspot, my word documents are inaccessible!

The Wolf (cont.)

Monday morning we took the kids down to the water park pretty early and played for a couple of hours. Of course, Haven refused to get wet, but I did try to take her into the toddler area and engage her there. I went down several slides with Haddon, Hannah, and Addy. I think their favorite was the big yellow one because you could go down on a 3 seater tube. Mid-morning, the big girls and I left the others and went upstairs to get ready to hit the mall! Due to a miscommunication, we found out about half an hour later that our mall trip had been postponed for a few hours. SO, back to the water park we went! This time I finally remembered to bring my camera and spent the next two hours alternately riding slides and trying to keep my camera dry while taking pictures.

The whole time at the water park, Avery insisted on playing in the toddler area. She enjoyed the little slides and fountains and was too scared to try the bigger kid area. Jason tried to talk her into it and even got her up to the top of one of the slides, but she chickened out and they ended up climbing back down again instead of sliding down. Jason and I decided that she needed to be pushed a little bit. We just knew she'd love the bigger slides if she'd only give them a try! So we came up with a plan: I would take her up to the top of the slide and Jason would wait at the bottom to "catch" her. I never gave her a chance to back out, just kept hurrying her up the play structure to the slides. As soon as we reached the line (the very short line), she started shaking her head and her face was a mask of fear. Because I am super mom, I ignored her and jabbered on about how fun water slides are. After only a minute or two, she was up! She looked up at me with stark terror on her trusting little face and said, "I don't want to!" I looked down into those beautiful, weepy blue eyes and scooped her up and physically sat her on the slide. Then (mother of the year that I am), as soon as the lifeguard blew his whistle, I shoved her down the slide...but first I had to peal her little fingers off the top of the tube. I watched expectantly for her to come around the curve where I could see her and I fully expected her to be screaming like a banshee when she appeared. Nope! She came around the curve sitting up and smiling hugely. VICTORY! I slid down to meet her and she threw her arms around me and declared, "I did it, Mom!" After that, she didn't want to do anything but that slide...but only THAT one. I guess I should've taken her up and pushed her down the other one so she could enjoy it, too!

Megan, LaNora, Hannah, Addy, and I had an interesting time trying to even get out of the hotel...I ended up running three flights of stairs to the room three times looking for Addy, then making sure Haddon made it safely to the room, then finding Addy all over again. I was slightly out of breath, but not too tired for shopping! The five of us hit Legends shopping center and had a great time. There were tons of sales and though the stores were busy, they weren't packed as I'd thought they might be. Sometimes we shopped together and sometimes we all went our separate ways but stayed in touch via cell phone. I spent some of my Christmas money on two tops, a pair of rain boots that I'd fallen in love with, and a pair of magnetic earrings that Hannah and I attached to our noses to get a rise out of Jason. He didn't fall for our fake nose rings, though. As soon as he saw Hannah's he knew they were fake...notice he didn't put it past me, just our teenage daughter!

Monday night (our final night at the Wolf) was our family's night to entertain. A little bit of history before I share the events of our evening. I am a planner. I get an idea, create a plan, and stick to the plan even if it kills me. Jason, on the other hand, wants to explore all options and keep them open until deciding (usually at the last possible moment) what he wants to do. So.....even though it drove me crazy, he wouldn't decide what our entertainment was going to be. Instead, he chose a few possibilities and printed out mapquest maps to all of them. Monday afternoon, he handed down the decision that we would go to Rainforest Cafe and called for reservations. Then he (painstakingly) hand copied his mapquest directions so that each vehicle would have their own set of directions. We all descended on the lobby for a group photo that took just a little longer than anticipated to capture, before climbing into our perspective vehicles. I had the task of entering the address into Lola (our Garmin GPS). Even though we were leaving just a little behind schedule, we'd still make it for our reservations. However, when we had supposedly arrived at our destination, there was no mall OR Rainforest Cafe in sight. Jason realized that he must've copied the wrong address and directions for everyone because we were in the parking lot of his second choice. We had a brief meeting of the minds and decided to go ahead and stay there since Mylee was getting really worked up in her car seat. I was already annoyed when we walked inside and the interior did nothing to improve my mood. It was dark and filled with video games...not kid video games, the adult kind with lots of violence and half naked women. I was so embarrassed! Jeremy and Aaron had taken our whole family out to nice restaurants and here we were at an adult Chuck E. Cheese for our night! Still hopeful, J walked up to the counter and got the details. Unfortunately, all they had to eat were things like nachos and pizza by the slice. Only the two big girls and the adults were tall enough to race on the track (obviously the main attraction) and the track was about the same temp as outside...around freezing. We all piled back into cars, searched for Rainforest Cafe on our Garmins, and headed out. I was just so relieved that we weren't staying at that place!!! Poor Jason felt awful about the whole thing, but it could've happened to anyone and in only a few minutes we were at the Rainforest Cafe who had graciously held our reservation. The food was good, the kids and adults enjoyed the atmosphere, and we had a great time.

I really hope we do this again for Christmas. I highly recommend the Great Wolf Lodge, but the main thing was spending time together and building memories. It was a great trip!