Overheard

"It was really weird to see how our gym teacher coordinated her tshirt with her sweatpants with her shoes with her tramp stamp."

Summertime!!

Well, now that summer has arrived, I have made a list of things that I would love to do in the wide expanse of warm days that follow!

• Go to ________ Girl Scout Camp for two weeks to train to be a totally terrific aide, and then, in one week, I will be putting my aide practicing to the test!
  
• Visit my relatives in Ohio for a fun-filled week of Camp Kake :)
• Enjoy the sunny beaches of Camp G________ as I swim my way through the week :D
  
• Earn my Gold and Silver Award through a series of fun and interesting activities for Girl Scouts 8p
• Spend time with my friends and family and have numerous sleepovers and such!! 0__0
  
• Go on several camping trips with my family<3

Whether I am talking, swimming, texting, reading, sunbathing, or camping, I plan on making this summer a fun one! ;D

this is getting good

Two weekends ago, I was lucky enough to have my niece and nephew for the weekend. My sister and her husband are preparing for a new arrival (yay, another little cuddler!) as well as trying to move into a new/old house! Tra la tra la, Nieceling has the sniffles. Not a big deal. The last THREE TIMES she's spent the night at my house, Nieceling has had a cold/cough/germs-in-general.

Or so we thought.

Sunday night, after returning Nieceling & Scooby to their loving mother's van, I felt bad. I went to bed early, but attributed it to having had less-than-adequate sleep. What? You're used to a toddler sleeping until 7am? I'm not! I enjoy sleeping 'late' on weekends when I have the opportunity!

Anyway. What was I thinking...? Oh. Crab felt tired, too, so she laid down with me. On Monday she went to school & I went to work. Yell went to school. Ironman went to work. Crab went to her volleyball practice. Yell went to her swim practice. But by the end of the evening, Crab & I were both under the weather.

To make this long story short, we found out seven days later (Sunday afternoon) (four days ago) that we each had a sinus infection.

Oh. And my sister's daughter? She had a sinus infection.

What's this? You wonder about the rest of her family? Scooby had a fever for one day. But Helmet, dad of the two little darlings, felt bad last Tuesday night, felt worse the next morning, went to the doctor...and tested positive for H1N1!

No kidding - H1N1 a year after the big old swine flu scare. Way to buck a trend, Helmie!

Worse news? My sis has a raging cold the following Tuesday.

Worst news ever? She tested positive for H1N1 yesterday.

Not kidding. My nine-month-pregnant sister, due any minute (actually, due Sunday), has the swine flu. If she delivers before Tuesday, she won't be able to hold her own baby!?!!

This isn't sounding comical at all. Hang on. It gets funny.

While at the after-hours clinic with Crab, at the checkout area, Crab noticed a sign about 'labs, blood draws, pap smears' etc not being billed with the doctor visit.

She asked,

What's a pap smear?

me,

Uh, not something you want me to explain right now.

Crab,

Mom, come on, just tell me! What's a pap smear?

me,

Uh, well, it involves a woman laying on a table...

Crab,

Mom, that's enough, I don't need to hear anymore, Mom, STOP!!!

End of discussion.

Or so I thought.

Today, while attempting to cheer up my sister, I tell her that I was sincerely looking forward to coming to take care of her in the morning. I was planning to make two soups, put them in the fridge for warmup later, do some laundry, coddle & pamper her as much as I could.

Except she's nine months pregnant. And she'll need to get out of bed every 20 minutes to go to the bathroom. We started laughing & I said it could only get better if I had a bed pan to offer.

Kake says,

Oh, wait, a catheter would be awesome!

Believe me, when you're nine months pregnant they start to sound good. Especially if any movement you make causes you to start coughing. Which could potentially start a leak. Are you getting the idea?

Anyway, Crab was listening.

What's a catheter?

me,

Crab, not now, honey, I'll explain it later.

Kake & I continue our chatting. All of the sudden we hear,

OH MY GOSH! That's GROSS!

Kake and I are both laughing & find out that she's googled the meaning of catheter. Then Crab stifles a small scream and yells that she's also looked up pap smear!

Ahhhh, the wonders of the Internet age. I know I knew zero about pap smears until I went to my first OB/GYN visit!

Anyway, Crab was stalling about going to bed, I was stalling about doing dishes, and Kake was trying to say goodbye so she could go to bed and get some rest for herself and the wriggler. I told Crab to say goodbye. Kake said:

Hey Crab.

Crab,

what?

Kake,

pap smear

And Crab was...


gone.





This parenting thing is getting good.

Projects

I cannot believe it. I have a project due on Monday, and I only have a little left to do, thank goodness, but I am sooo stuck! grrrr. I should probably get back to work...

Church Shoes

Sometimes, when you're young, you feel like dressing up for church.



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Girls?

Apparently my twins are quite the popular young ladies ::snort::  They've been mother's helpers again this summer for a set of twin boys (27 mos) and their now 7-month-old brother.  Too funny that the big boys are requesting their presence (and too sweet).  I'm glad they all get along.

---

From: JKG

Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:00:51 -0400

To: Suz

Subject: Girls?

I love your kids but if I hear Abby? Kelly? Abby? Kelly? one more time, I think I am going to scream! 

look at those happy faces

Crab, Ironman, Yell
July 1999

These little Chicklets were 14 months old & trying to escape from Ironman when I snapped this photo.  Yell insisted that she is "the one on the right 'cuz I don't have a big head".  She's right!

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From the mouth of...Crab

While at church today, Crab leaned over and said, 

"Hey, Mom, that guy looks like Jimmy Buffett..."

(she was right)

Sleeping Beauties

My beautiful little girl (I still think of her as a little girl, even though she's only about 4 inches shorter than me) has a job as a mother's helper this summer.

She loves her job.

The chix went to the zoo this morning with 'their boys'.  ('Their boys' are 26-month-old twins and their 5-month-old singleton brother.)  Apparently it was a bit exhausting.  The big boys did nap on the way home from the zoo, but they didn't nap for the rest of the day.

And the result?  Crab grabbed a little nap with Ironman when we all got home.  Sleeping beauties.

Best (non-English) Email Ever

The Chicklets went to my mom's yesterday after a brief visit to the Indiana Historical Society. I haven't heard what they were doing -- probably made jello & learned some more sewing skills -- and as luck would have it, I received this right before I went to bed. ::sigh::

---

From: Crab

Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2010 02:30:03 +0000 (UTC)

To: Suz

Subject: Goodnight!

Just wanted to say goodnight, mommers!

God bless you I love you! Fe te bolev shettem o plumrsee (those are the French words that I can't spell) I love you mommy goodnight! I'm now blowing you a kiss! Mwa whooo! :)

XOXOXOXOXOXO

LOVE, CRAB ^.^

---

I absolutely LOVE her attempt at writing in French.  Though it makes me think I may need to read some picture books to her (again) as she obviously has NO IDEA what the language looks like anymore!

Thus the Awful Cold Begins

Bleck. I feel so sick. I have an awful cold. That's why I am using this yuckish puky green. I feel like puke that's yuckish, and green. Bleck. Does anyone have suggestions for me to get better?

By the way, boy oh boy is is snowy! About 7 inches they say...so far!!! Maybe today we can build some snowmen! If I feel better soon that is. Also, we have Monday off from school because the Archbishop declared a day off due to the Colts at the Super Bowl! Go Blue!

From the Mouth of...

This is what Scooby sang to me at one point a few weeks ago:

Crab-Will you sing me a Christmas song buddy?
Scooby-No....Okay, fine.

He then continued singing I Wanna Wish You a Merry Christmas! A few verses later, he decided to change the words up a bit....

Scooby-I wanna wish you a merry bistmas from the bottom of my bismol!

Towels Are Inappropriate Climbing Gear

Once upon a time, there was a little girl.  This little girl was a little over 11-yrs-old.  She enjoyed singing with her friends, spelling class, and swim team.

One day this little girl came home from her swim practice.  She hadn't put on her clothes after practice because she only had her school clothes in her backpack.  So since she was wrapped in a towel, and she didn't want to open the gate that keeps her precious puppy from invading the upper regions of the house, she attempted to vault the gate.

And she got stuck.

"erkkk.  Halp?!"

Daddy to the rescue!

Silly Crab.

School Science Fair

My class is having a science fair and I really need a good idea for mine and A's project.  I was thinking about doing a memory test for a couple of different age groups, but I am not sure.  Let me know if you have any ideas or comments about this!  :)

answered prayers

Our friends' daughter spent the night in the hospital on Wed with a diagnosed concussion.  She was released last night -- no broken bones, all other functions as normal -- thank you God for answered prayers!

We are on day 3 of having 2 chicklets with fevers hovering between 100-102F.  ::sigh::

We did get haircuts last night, though, despite the fevers.

As a result, we now have mini-Kake

Sorry, Kake, it was the only photo I could find.

and she's out!

While Crab's kickball team was doing their warm-up tonight, I saw that a friend was at the playground with her 3 smaller children (her oldest daughter is on Crab's team). I let R know that I had a chair for her to sit in as she is 32 weeks pregnant and should *not* be standing during a whole kickball game.  I returned to set up our chairs for the game and saw R jump to her feet.  She grabbed one of her kids from the ground and then I could no longer see what was happening.  I was wondering, "What on earth?  Is someone hurt?  Does she need a first aid kit?"

I started walking over to the play area.  And as I did I saw one of R's children getting R's purse.  At that point I knew there was a problem.  R came out from behind trees and said, "I don't know what's wrong?!  She never acts like this..."  Her littlest had fallen from the top of the play set and had landed on her back.

At this point I tell R to get in the back of my car and I can drive to the hospital.  We have three kids, two adults, and two mobile phones in a car that can't get down the street because the speed limit is 35 and everyone is actually *following* it!

I ran two red lights and then ran into the hospital to tell them that a little one had fallen, we suspected a neck or back injury, that she was lucid but trying to fall asleep.  R was teary and worried.  Her husband got there and was agitated.  I proceeded with the plan to take her twins back to the game with me to meet their grandmother. And at this point I started to feel sick to *my* stomach.  And I was sweating all over.  Wow, talk about an emotional roller coaster.**

I got back to the game to watch the somewhat miserable game and listened to R's mother-in-law and brother-in-law making plans for all of the kids.  R and her husband are very fortunate to have extended family close by and willing to help.***

And now I'm able to get to the point of this story.


Poor little Crab valiantly joked, teased, and laughed with her friend in the car after school.  She told me she had a headache, but apparently I am a totally bad mom and didn't realize how bad she felt.

She had a kickball game -- and felt that her team was depending on her -- and if she had left school early she would not have been able to play in the game.

I took her temp after the game because she was crying and miserable and thought I hadn't even stayed to watch her game.  She played for her team with a fever of 101.7F.

I am officially the worst parent ever.

Yesterday 11 kids from the Chix's grade were called in as "ill" prior to the start of school.  Four more left before lunch.  Three more left after lunch.  For a total of 18 missing from their grade.  That's a third of their grade.

Yike.

Today "only" eleven were missing.  One of them has mono.  Three of them have strep throat.

Tomorrow...at least two will be missing, and *both* will be mine!

---

 **R's twins were hilarious - they kept complimenting me on my car & telling me stories about who their twin loved and "of course" they loved their mom, they were a welcome distraction!
***R and her husband are still at the hospital with their 3-yr-old.  She has IV fluids, has had xrays and is awaiting a CAT scan.  Prayers & well wishes are appreciated!