life simplified

Today was another track meet.

I was incredibly proud of Crab. She's been practicing for track for a little over 2 months & has gained confidence. She started playing around on the hurdles DURING the last track meet & had her coach put her into competition today. She came in THIRD!!!

Yell was disgusted with herself. Apparently she wasn't pacing herself properly and came in ONE SECOND behind her previous one mile time.

Ahem.

One second.

I realize that's a lot of time when you're looking at racing times. I realize it's significant when you're looking at her total time.

But people - one second. It's not a MONSTER FREAKING DEAL.

But apparently it was. And is. To her. She was meaner than all get out for the rest of the day.

Rawr. With teeth. And claws. And sharp fingernails.


So our comedic moment came while I was dealing with entering the kids' times. I was nominated by my husband to do data entry. I have a weird habit of typing things in the most efficient way possible. So while 'bored' at work, I taught myself to enter 10-key.

Yup. I'm an idiot.

Our spreadsheet had some errors in it. I don't know how it happened. Since I know 10-key, I kind of watch myself as I enter the info. So I just glanced at the screen and saw that a 4th grade girl had just run in a 7/8 grade event.

Um, what?

Checked the list of participants, called the kid to the score table, verified their info, gave them a new number, continued down the list of entries.

And it happened again. Called kid to the score table, verified their info, gave them a new number, continued down the list.

And then it happened AGAIN. But as I was looking down the list of runners, I noticed that I wasn't getting everyone who had run during the past three meets.

Call in "Mr. Baker". Scott is the guy who created our spreadsheet. But "Mr. Baker" is the guy who is a techno-geek who I know is nearby. Scott is at yonder pit with kids hurling large metal balls into the air while competing for distance. I'm staying away from that guy.

I yelled, "Hey, Yell, Crab, whoever you are (I know, it's weird, sometimes I can't tell my non-identical twins apart), go get Mr. Baker!"

The kid turns around (it was Yell), and says, "WHO?!?"

"Mr. Baker - he's out by the scoring stuff. I need him right away."

"WHO?"

"Mr. Baker....that kid's dad!" and pointed to a little guy who was wearing a fireman's jacket/raincoat.

"Oh. You mean Cooper's dad?"

---------------------

Later, a mom came up to the table and asked if anyone has seen Yellybird.

I said, "yes, but she's asleep in her car."

The mom says, 'Oh, well has anyone seen her dad?'

I said, "Well, yes, but he left for a business trip."

The mom then said, "Oh, you're Yelly's mom?"

"That's me."

"Oh. Hi Yelly's mom. I have her earrings!"

---------------------

So there you have it.

Life has been simplified. We are our children's parents. That is all.

Once upon a dance

reason #210 to hate aftercare

My twins' school has an aftercare program. To say I'm grateful is saying a lot.

As I work full time outside the home, and our school has no bus service, my children have to stay after school at a program where, for a nominal fee, they receive a snack and supervision.

That's about all they receive.

They receive

They

Blah!

This is the deal. On Thursday we had a busy evening. Chicklets (I though) had choir practice. Crab had a kickball game. Yell had track practice. Sapper is a track hurdles coach. And Sapper had a meeting following track practice.

I had it planned out. Crab had her kickball clothes in the car. I would stop for fast food after work & pick up Chicklets from school. Crab & Yell would eat their fast food dinner. Crab would change her clothes in the car. Sapper would meet Yell and I at the kickball game. He had Yell's track clothes. He and Yell would go to track practice. After the kickball game, Crab and I would wait for Yell's practice to be finished, then the three of us would head home. Sapper would proceed to his meeting. We would all collapse upon arrival at home. The end.

Did the plan work? Nope.

I left work, picked up the fast food, went to get Chix at choir practice. There was no choir practice. No biggie, proceeded to aftercare to sign Chix out. The instant I walked in the door, I noticed Yell was seated with her head down on her arms. Crab came running up to me, "Yelly's feeling really sick."

I called to her. Three times. Yell had gotten up from the table and was moving as fast as she could out to the car. She finally turned toward me and gasped, "I. Don't. Feel good!"

Uh oh.

I collected Crab's various crap and made it out to the car where I was barraged with, "Where were you? Why were you late?" I explained that I thought they had choir, but I was obviously wrong, and then felt Yell's forehead. She was warm and clammy. And crying.

Uh oh.

She proceeded to tell me she couldn't see out of her right eye, her head hurt, and she felt sick to her stomach.

Uh oh.

Warm and clammy could be because she had her head down on a table while crying. Or because her head hurt and she was uncomfortable. Or something else?

Eye hurt. Blurry vision. Sick to her stomach could be because her blurry vision was making her queasy? Eye hurt because of injury? Agh!

I grab a dose of Motrin (usually kept in the car for post-orthodontist visits) and Yell swallows it down without question. She ignores her food. She never ignores food. The child has two hollow legs. She never ignores food. My mind is spinning with possibilities: migraine, allergy headache, floaters in her eye, detaching retina....terrible thoughts needing reassurance in the worst way.

I call Sapper to tell him about the abrupt change in plans. I would need to take Yell home instead of going to track practice. I would meet him at the school so he could accompany Crab to her game. Hang up the phone and call my mom to let her know Yell is sick and potential plans for Friday are very very potential at this point. Hang up the phone and call the eye doctor (who is no longer in his office). Hang up the phone and call the pediatrician (who is no longer in her office). Answering service assures me her ped is on call and will return my call within twenty minutes. An eternity. Hang up and answer Sapper's call -- he asks me to pull Crab to the side and ask her about any head injury to Yell. Ask if she'd heard anything had happened during the school day. Usher Crab over to her kickball team warmups. Go back to the car to check on the now-sleeping-Yell.

Ped calls. She and I agree that if Yell doesn't feel significantly better in the next two hours (it's now 6pm) that I should take her to the ER. Sapper arrives. He checks Yell and proceeds over to the kickball warmups. I search the field for familiar parents and manage to arrange a ride home for Crab; depart for home with the sickly one.

Fast forward. After sleeping two hours, it indeed turned out that Yell had been suffering from a migraine.

My issue is with aftercare. Why on earth didn't the adult in charge CALL ME to let me know of Yell's health concern? If she had a contagious illness, would they honestly want her to be exposing others to her germs? Do they not care about her health? Did they not consider her well-being? Did they even pay attention to the small girl with her head down on a table for more than an hour?

To say I'm irritated is putting it mildly. I would never want to be treated the way aftercare treated my child. She is exactly that -- a child. I pay for them to ensure her health, her well-being, her safety. But I felt that she didn't receive very good care on Thursday.

But do I dare write a note criticizing the care? Probably not. Because then my kids would be ostracized. Or ignored.

Instead I'll blog about it and hope that I get commiseration from the anonymous masses.

This sucks.

not for the faint of heart

Our spring break was relatively calm. Aside from a whirlwind camping trip with the M family, we did a lot of nothing. Sounds boring you say? Whatever!

our epic list of things accomplished Mar 19-Mar 28, 2010

1. emptied car
2. hiked in Brown County
3. outdoor laser tag
4. water gun fights
5. overturned a kayak
6. served at church
7. played video games and air hockey at Jillian's
8. enjoyed walking in downtown Indy on a pleasant spring evening
9. cleaned out Chix' closet
10. emptied Chix' dressers
11. found Chix' bedroom floor (anyone sensing a trend?)
12. volunteered at SSPOM sale
13. worked on Chix' new beds
14. washed, dried, and folded roughly 12 loads of laundry
15. went to the library
16. swept garage
17. played basketball in driveway
18. practiced volleyball against the garage door
19. found gardening gloves
20. had lots of playtime with Dixie-the-Wonder-Pup
21. cleared yard of winter debris
22. burned winter debris
23. made s'mores
24. roasted hot dogs
25. planned garden
26. went to Rascal's Fun Zone and drove go-carts

At Rascal's?  Both Chicklets are too short to drive on the outdoor track, but were thrilled to have Sapper at the wheel.  Crab was ecstatic to have him wreck into another dual cart (the driver had turned perpendicular to the wall while going uphill).  We did find that Yell has no concept of how to steer a vehicle.  She'd wait until the middle of a turn before yanking the wheel sharply to the left or right.  I wasn't too surprised when both girls complained of muscle aches the next morning.  On the indoor track, both Chix could drive the 'junior carts' but Crab had to be accompanied by Yell or Sapper on the larger carts.  Somewhat disappointing, but still an incredibly cheap way to spend a cold spring afternoon together.  

Of course, after that outing Crab waved her little pinkie in Sapper's direction and got to go to Coldstone for a consolation treat.  She's such a punk.

In addition, I went to work every day after watching movies with the fam until 11:00 or so? Myassasdragon indeed.

SSPOM Babies & Kids Sale recap

I.  am.  exhausted.


The past few weeks have been non-stop busy for our family.  The Chix have had swim team, volleyball team, and track team practices.  We've had choir rehearsals and choir performances.  Sapper has been out of town frequently.  I knew the Southside Parents of Multiples' sale was happening at the end of March, and I knew the girls had items we could likely purge from their closets, but I also knew I didn't have the time or energy to clear, hang, tag, and sort their things.  I was right!  I didn't have the time or energy until late Friday night.  And then, of course, we found out the Chicklets have been growing like weeds!

Sapper elected to have the girls perform a fashion show of sorts.  The Chicklets would pick out items they have spurned, thrown to the bottom of their closet, buried in their dressers, etc, and try them on for us to evaluate fit and fashion.  We started out with this much 'to sell' at the Fall Sale.

I had the girls try on oodles of stuff that turned out to be a teensy bit too small.  Or a tiny bit out of fashion.  Or that they just plain didn't like.  We ended up, Friday night, with this much MORE to sell at the Fall Sale.

And then on Sunday I found that Crab had been stashing some tiny-bit-too-small stuff in her dresser.  Capris (that fit her 2 years ago too small).  Skirts.  Shirts.  Tights.  So we'll add that to THIS pile.

Anyone in the market for girls' size 7-8, 9-10 clothing?

How silly of me to think we didn't have 'enough' to sell.

Anyway, the sale was a HUGE success.  The Chicklets and I showed up at the sale at 7:15 'to help' where we could.  I sat down to help cashier after 15 minutes of 'shopping' and din't get a breather until 10:30.

Non-stop shoppers for 3.25 hours.  The LOWEST sale I checked out was $18.  The highest was a little over $200.

Comical story:  a lady marveled at the number of twins and triplets she had seen at the sale.  Another member and I informed her that 'the club' was hosting the event, and that we all had 'at least' twins.  Hearing three or four other women gasp "ohhhhhhhh" was pretty funny.

True story:  One woman came from Wisconsin to shop at the SSPOM sale.  I thanked her.  That's a long trip to go second-hand shopping. 

I'm very thankful I was able to help at this colossal fundraiser.  But wow, I wish I'd cleaned out my closets just a little sooner.

Saving Money & Winning Stuff

This week I've been reallllllly concentrating on saving money on the stuff we need and use on a regular basis. Cutting coupons, checking ads, checking what BargainBriana has to say, and...not eating.

Because I've had this stomach bug since last Friday. It was painful, had Sapper worried about me (while he was out of town), and has resolved itself into leftover diarrhea (blah) and a nasty head cold. But yesterday I couldn't bring myself to eat the banana I had brought for breakfast. The thought of it made me feel all gaggy. Blech. I have enough sinus drainage filling me, so I skipped breakfast. Then lunchtime came & went. I couldn't bring myself to eat yogurt - thinking dairy could upset my stomach AGAIN - so I skipped it. Then dinner was a major rush because the chicklets went to a friend's house to practice for a music presentation & I was all

• lets rush to get an eBay auction sent
• lets get the Kroger list/coupons ready
• lets put away all the stuff we just got at CVS (where I saved $11.26 using coupons AND got $16 extra care bucks, woot!)
• lets give the girls leftovers because Lord knows there are enough of them in the fridge to feed half of Kenya
• lets get out the door quickly because these grumpy kids need their sleep so I'll have to pick them up in about an hour
• bye love you, see you in an hour
• Kroger Kroger Kroger Kroger (where I saved $27 using coupons/Cellfire/Shortcut$)
• come on, we've got to go, Mattie needs to go to bed, stop singing, I heard you from downstairs, get your shoes on, lets go!
• unload the car, put away the groceries, put the bags back in the car
• Whew!

so in case you were wondering, I never had dinner.

Maybe that's why I had such an atrocious dream about one of my cousins last night? Or why I totally forgot about my chiropractor's appointment this morning? I have no idea. But I did eat my banana this morning. And I found a second one in my purse courtesy of my little Yellybird. I may eat the yogurt for lunch, but I may have the banana instead. My stomach still feels queasy, but the diarrhea hasn't come back so far today. So maybe the day off from food did the trick?

Who knows.

Also this week, I won a giveaway from TwinHappy where I participated in the weekly TwinTuesday by blogging about our choice of names for the twins. Go me!

Last, but definitely not least, today I found out I won a What's In The Bible giveaway from Mami and the Multiples. I'm thinking I may have a really cool video to share with Scooby and Niece-ling on their next visit. Shazam!

Though I still have a nagging cough and my eyes look like I've been punched in the face, I'm feeling better about life in general. Not too shabby a week (if you exclude the part where I've been working on our taxes...oi...lets just skip that conversation).

What do you think? Is the week looking better or what?

Hi!

Wow, it's been so long since it's been above 20 degrees! It felt like summer when I first came out of school today! Yeah, thank you God for sending us warmth!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve!¡!¡ Go 2 bed 4 Santa 2 come!¡!¡☆☆☆

Counting Down Down Down!

Well, Merry Christmas Eve Eve!



1 MORE DAY UNTIL CHRISTMAS!

Christmas!

Raise your hand if you can't wait until Christmas!


COUNT DOWN THE DAYS WITH OUR FAMILY, STARTING NOW!

ONLY 2 MORE DAYS!

Almost Christmas!

Merry almost Christmas!

Hi Again!

Omigosh!  I just created my own twitter account and have um, 7-8 people I am following such as celebrities and such, cool huh?  Well, just wanted to update you!

random tidbits:  Congrats on going potty on the potty and your big girl underpants, Niece-ling!

Hi it's me again!

Almost time to go to bed, so I am going to go take a shower.  Bye!  Happy b-day Grammy! :)

Hi, it's Crab!

Well, it's me again, Crab!  School is going great, but sadly mom is really sick so our grandma (Grammy, Happy Birthday!) has come over to our house again.  Get well soon mom!

breakfast a la Yell

Today I woke up feeling cruddy. Really super sore throat, sinus congestion, aches. I fell back asleep & was awakened by the chicklets.

Crab brought in scrambled eggs & buttered toast. Yell brought in hot apple cider.

It didn't cure whatever is ailing me, but it sure did make me feel loved!

Hello! It's meee-eee!

Hi it's meee-eee!  I recently went on a field trip with my class and Yell's class to CYO Camp, it was so fun!  I rode in a canoe and learned all about animals in the environment and such.  I am so happy!  I have to get my swim suit on for swim practice at 6, so, post you later!  And don't be a afraid to comment on anything!

Dear Amazon...we need to have a talk...

Once upon a time we received a package.

And the chicklets were happy!

And the package was huge!

Or was it?

Hmmm....

You know, the item was surprisingly small.  Maybe we should have a talk about excessive packaging?

Because if a 65# 11-yr-old can fit in this box, I'd say the box was a little on the large side.

Random. Just Random.

Things overheard:

12:30pm  "Hey, you foreigner!"  (heard from a co-worker possessing his own Indian accent)

11:20am  "Aaa Schoon!  BM!"  (Niece-ling called to tell me she went potty on her own little potty--Yay Niece-ling!!!)

10:25am
supervisor-type-person:  "So, I don't understand.  You renumbered this chapter because....?"
me:  "There were duplicate entries.  12.02 and 12.02.  So I renumbered the area following the initial entry."
supervisor-type-person:  "Okay.  Let me look at this...why is this a different number?"
**gah!!!!!**

8:59pm  "Oh man.  I put my underpants on inside out again." 

7:40pm  "Waaaaah.  That reminds me of D______ and D________....I miss them so much!" (in reference to a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse promo)

12:10pm  "Mom, I just wanted to let you know I can't open my medicine bottle.  That's all.  Bye."  (this was from the twin with the 22 day sinus infection on her 3rd antibiotic)

8:55pm  "Mom, the TV won't work!"  (because they'd entered the wrong PIN# on the cable box a few too many times)


And I thought the conversations got less interesting once they spoke English (as opposed to babbling pseudo-English as toddlers)!

Hey it's Crab again

Hi, it's almost fall break and I am still sick, if you didn't know it I have been sick since October 1st. I can't believe that it's almost Halloween already! I am going to be mismatched for Halloween and Yell is going to be either a hippie, a weirdo, or a hippieweirdo. Fun stuff!

Sickness in the 6th grade

Wow.  My computer teacher said that the 6th grade started getting the whole school sick, and basically everyone in my class agrees.  I especially agree because our classes are the ones that started the swine flu virus. In my sister's class of 29, 15 were out sick last week.

I do not feel good.  I have been sick for the past 11-16 days.  Yay.  I am so excited, can't you see my enthusiasm.  It's totally non-existent enthusiasm if you can't tell.  I wish I could feel better.  Tell me if you feel the same way.