Playground and Personalities

I've been planning ideas for the kids' birthday party coming up. Originally, they wanted a "poo party", complete with chocolate cupcakes with goo in the middle and lemonade. I'm reluctant to go that direction, but we'll see.

Zac and I went for a bike ride, pulling the kids in the trailer, to a nearby neighborhood playground.

It's so crazy how opposite these kids are. Leah kept changing her clothes, yelling, "Almost!" before we could leave, while Jac was completely dressed and patiently sitting on the sofa. I love the opposites, though. They each have their own individual personalities and favorite things.

Leah has become so feminine. She makes sure her clothes match and still walks around on her tiptoes. She's obsessed with headbands and loves her chapstick. She refuses to wear a ponytail, because wind blowing through her hair confirms she is, in fact, a princess. She's affectionate and thoughtful. Her most recent thing is to call me "Mother" instead of Mama. She'll laugh at silly faces and fart noises, but will scream like a banshee if she gets a scrape or sees her own blood. She's dainty and fierce and wants more than anything to be a dinosaur when she grows up.

Jac is complete boy, through and through. He collects rocks and loves all sorts of bugs, he can figure out a video game so fast and loves to draw his favorite characters. He's stubborn, opinionated and loves to argue, which makes me think he might become a lawyer one day. He's brave and compassionate and quick to apologize if he hurts someone's feelings. He'll embarrass easily, especially when Mama hums a theme song from one of his favorite shows. He's protective of Leah and keeps her included in his imagination. Just last night, he had to make one last trip to the bathroom. He climbed from his top bunk, brought Leah's blanket to her chin and gave her a kiss on the forehead, then went to the bathroom. He's been reading at night, ever since I let him have my book light. One day, he hopes to design video games and I'm pretty sure he can do it. He's a mama's boy and proud of it. If he treats his future wife anything like he treats me, she'll be the luckiest girl in the world.

Crafting

Egg-hunting in the rain gave each of the kids a cold. It started as allergies, but escalated to grouchy, lethargic, coughing, sneezing, sleepless children and eventually, husband. I sent them away so I could snuggle with some baby walruses.

They are feeling much better today, finally. 

I've been cooped up most of the week, so I've been focusing on drawing and learning a few songs on my ukulele. I've even made a few crochet projects in amigurumi because the kids have been asking for impossible-to-find toys. Example: Powerpuff Girls. I created a version of Blossom, but I don't like the final results. There's much tweaking to do to get her right, so I'm going to make another one eventually. Katie said to try selling things on Etsy, but I'm not that good. I'm going to get ideas and see what happens and then I'll consider Etsy.

Easter 2013: La

Easter was spent at Mawmaw's. Marie and Francesca brought candy baskets and bug nets for my kiddos. We ate lunch and visited with the family; the kids dyed so many eggs! It was about to rain, so I kinda tossed the eggs around the yard instead of trying to hide them. Finding them was quick. We played Bunny Bingo with Mawmaw until the kids were on the brink of spontaneous sugar-induced combustion, then headed home.

Easter 2013: Ms

This morning was interesting. The kids woke up before Zac and me and went into my parents' room. Dad brought them and Abbi to the downstairs lobby for breakfast while we (and Mom) slept. After a little while, both of my kids were knocking on our door to get in. ALONE. I had a tiny panic-attack, but Dad said he told them to wait for him while he threw their plates away and they sneaked away up the stairs. The proved themselves not to be trusted and I gave them the "stranger danger" speech. I flipped the latch on the upper part of the door to prevent them from leaving our room, telling them to stay in my parents' room until Zac and I came back from breakfast. When we came back up, the door connecting our two rooms was shut and there was no doorknob between the doors and I forgot I had latched the upper bolt. We were unable to get into our room, so we had to call a maintenance man to use a crafty little device to flip the latch. Dad was super impressed.

We made it to Aunt Trish's house this afternoon. She has a gorgeous house with a huge backyard, surrounded by trees. The kids ran around the yard, I hung out with my all-grown-up cousins, Christina and Anna, and visited with Emily and Alex. The kids hunted eggs until it started raining, so Zac and I told everyone goodbye and we headed home.

Family Visits

Mom invited us to a family gathering in Mississippi over the weekend at my Aunt Trish's house. She rented us a hotel room in Meridian. Mom, Dad and Abbi are sharing an adjoining room to Zac's and mine. We tried to leave early this morning to we could visit Granny before checking into our hotel, but our morning didn't go as planned. I forgot I silenced my phone while playing Bingo and tucked it under my pillow for the night, so I didn't hear my alarm buzzing. I did, however, wake up to Jac telling me the floor outside my bedroom was wet. Toby had peed in the hallway, which Jac and Leah both stepped in and tracked yucky little footprints all over the house. I washed their feet in the bathroom sink while Zac cleaned the carpets and floor with hand-sanitizer because (naturally) we are completely out of disinfectant spray! I wasn't home until after midnight from working last night, so I went to bed instead of packing, thinking I'd be up early and have plenty of time.

We finally left our apartment around noon and drove to Granny's. The visit was brief since our check-in was at 3pm and we were creeping up on 2:30. Did I mention our GPS got us lost?

Zac picked up lunch and we spent a few hours swimming in the heated indoor pool and even relaxed in the jacuzzi until dinner. Mom took us out to Sake Sushi for dinner. Jac and Leah love hibachi, probably more than pizza. They were so good and nobody lost any eyebrows from the flames.

Redrum!

Jac

So I was complaining the other day about the craziness of the kids. Jac came into my bedroom this morning and woke me up by moving my hair from my forehead. I kept my eyes closed to see if  he thought I was still sleeping, but he whispered, "Stay in bed, Mom. I'm gonna make you breakfast." And he did! He poured me a bowl of cereal with milk, all by himself, and brought me two cookies on a little plate. Of course, I got all weepy. I told him to wait so I could take his picture and remember today. He made such an effort to be a sweetheart today so I would be "so proud" of him. I totally am.

Weather Temperatures

The weather has been driving me crazy! One day it's hot, the next it's cold. I'm so ready for winter to be over. I want to enjoy the pool and wear sandals and eat snowballs. But once summer comes, watch me wish for fall.

Our balcony has been pressure-washed, so the kiddos played with some chalk and drew pictures all over. I didn't consider chalky footprints (and paw prints) scattered through the house, though.

We visited Kyle at Josh and Erika's over the weekend. The guys played music while Erika and I chatted about pets and food and babies.

I worked a floorset Sunday night. I'm only scheduled for floorsets right now, so I can't cover anyone's call-in shifts. Zac found a job listing for a cookie-decorating job on Craigslist, so I emailed the manager and she gave me an interview. I think it's promising, but the job doesn't start until May. Stacey (the manager) is supposed to call me this weekend to let me know if I've got the job or not. I wouldn't mind decorating cookies... It sounds like it could be fun.

The kiddos have been super crazy this week. Lots of sass, but lots of sweet. I've been trying to encourage them to draw and work puzzles with me, but they'll fight over the only black crayon or who gets to put the last piece of the puzzle into place. I think they're bored. Pinterest is full of things, so I'm gonna spice things up.

Childhood Memories

Zac and I drove to his dad's house so I could go through some childhood belongings I left there. Most items were covered in rodent mess, so it's garbage, but I managed to salvage a few stuffed animals and some dolls. It was weird seeing things I had forgotten about, like my box of Backstreet Boy memorabilia... Zac thinks it's terrible, but he was never a teenage girl. It was just weird seeing the shirts and pins and VHS tapes of concerts and recorded videos from MTV. I brought home my complete set of Kids Meal toys from Burger King and washed them off. I remembered Dad stopping by Burger King on his way home from work multiple times a week to check and see which ones were available. Other times, we'd drive to the different Burger Kings in the area, checking each one for a certain Boy. He even waited outside a Ticketmaster in a sleeping bag so he could purchase concert tickets for me and some friends. My dad's pretty awesome.

Jena and Quinn stopped by to hang out. We played a long, excruciating game of Uno and ate some of Zac's most delicious homemade French bread pizza. It felt like old times when we lived at our other apartment and they came over on the weekends to play Clue.

Ups and Downs

Sean brought his steam-cleaner over and cleaned our carpets for us. The texture is much better, but the carpet in my bedroom still has a strange odor, like a wet dog. Febreeze is only a temporary fix, so I'm going to have to buy some wallflower bulbs from B&BW to hide the smell.

I've unpacked a lot more this week. Most of my boxes have been consolidated and everything is organized. I'm doing Pilates again. I was making progress before I stopped and I need to get back into it. There are always 10 minutes in a day that can be used for working out. My scale has been hurting my feelings, probably deliberately.

Zac's hours are getting cut from 40 to 20, so that's a real glass-half-empty deal. I didn't get the sales lead position at B&BW in Slidell because I don't have any management experience. I'm still able to transfer to Slidell, but I can only help with floorsets until something else opens up. Basically, I'm driving 30 minutes out of town so I can work four hours and then drive 30 minutes back home. It's not worth it, but I don't want to leave the company. The Mandeville store said to call back in April, but April is a little too far away for us right now.

Friends

We went over to Zac's friend, Josh's, house so he could play his bass while I hung out with Erica. They ordered pizzas and Erica had some coloring books and blocks for the kids to play with. 

Parent Visit

My parents came to visit today. I wasn't sure if they were going to because Mom had told me Dad wasn't in the mood to take a trip. It was a nice visit, though. They brought me a few things I forgot to pack and gave us their small, yellow vacuum, then took the kids and me out to lunch.

Happy Things

Some things that make me happy:

• Coffee timers. There's nothing like zombie-walking into the kitchen for ready-made coffee. It saves time and energy (literally!).
• Morning snuggles with my bedbugs. It's a phase I wish would last longer than it does. Leah is usually the one who climbs into bed with me almost every morning to get "sugars" and snuggles (and sometimes extra sleep) before asking for breakfast. Jac used to snuggle, but I think he's grown out of the phase. He has other ways of displaying affection, though. He's always hugging me or sitting next to me while I crochet.
• Homeschooling. I wanted to homeschool because I really love being around my kids. I like the quality time the way it feels to be the one who teaches them everything. I'm so proud of them when they learn something new, when it just "clicks" and they get it.
• Girl Scout cookies. Mom brought a variety and I've probably eaten too many. No regrets!

Rainy Day

It has rained just about every day this week!

"We been through every kind of rain there is. Little bitty stinging rain... and big ol' fat rain. Ran that flew in sideways and sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath." 

Today, the sun was out, the sky was mostly clear, and the weather was warm enough for tank tops. I've been looking at patio furniture for our balcony so we can spend more time outside, but we're still waiting on the maintenance man to pressure-wash the balcony as well as the front entrance and stairs.

Apartment

Sean bought us dishes and silverware! He's so good to us. We bought some groceries and other things we need (garbage can, utensil tray, ice cream) and I found a pot of miniature roses!

Since we don't have Internet yet, the kiddos have been finding quiet ways to busy themselves. They've been drawing and coloring, working puzzles and just playing. It's refreshing!

Louisiana

This week has been super busy. Alex, Zac, Sean and Emily helped me pack all of our things into boxes and load up the U-haul. We have officially arrived in Lousiana! I'm at Sean's until Zac and Sean get off work so we can start moving into our apartment. Our Internet should be working on Thursday. Dad was so sad that we were leaving. It broke my heart.

The apartment is fantastic. I've got an idea of where I want to put everything, so I just need to wait a few more hours to get everything done.

More Packing!

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. Zac and I don't celebrate it, but we like to go shopping the day after for knick knacks and candy. I love finding snowglobes.

I've boxed up all my yarn so I can't crochet until we move. Boring! But I've got small people to play with.

Packing

I should've been in bed an hour ago, but here I sit, typing away about nothing. I'm feeling lonely and bored. I miss Zac.

We're moving next weekend and I'm overwhelmed with packing. I feel like I haven't got everything together... I was organized before, but now I'm not. I just want to throw everything in a box and sort it out later.

My last work schedule was posted and I'm so sad to be leaving my job. 

Rumpty Dumpty

Zac picked up our first King Cake of the year. I slice into it and, behold, a baby's butt in my face.

Car Accident

I found a tiny Eiffel Tower for the fish tank.

The kids and I were visiting Zac in Covington over the weekend. We didn't do much on account of the rain and cold, but it was nice to hang out. Zac and Sean bought me an electric stove heater, which is probably the best thing ever.

I was going to head back to Mississippi on Sunday, but Dad was going to church Sunday night and Mom had to work, so my assistant manager said I didn't have to help with the floorset. I decided to stay a little longer and leave Tuesday, even though it was rainy. I'm always careful in the rain.

I was about 20 minutes from Mom's. I turned off my cruise control, like normally, and it wasn't raining very hard. Suddenly, I drove through a puddle and the Blazer started sliding. It veered left, then right. I tried to keep the wheel sturdy, but I started spinning. I had Zac on the phone, using my earpiece so I could be hands-free. We weren't really talking. I had one thought... If I die, my babies will be stranded and scared, all alone with nobody to help them...

I spun around, and we slammed sideways into a cement divider between the interstates. I braced myself for impact, but we just hit so hard. The rear and passenger windows shattered instantly. I was hysterical, my kids were terrified and crying, there was glass everywhere. I told Zac I crashed, then called Dad and told him I was in a wreck. Zac and I have an app on our phone where we can track each other. It came in handy when I was working in Jackson and couldn't navigate the back roads. He found my location and told Dad.

I was facing on-coming traffic, at night, in the rain, completely freaked out and terrified. A car pulled nearby and a man came and knocked on the window. He told me to come sit with his family while I waited for the police, so he carried Jac while I carried Leah and Toby across the interstate. His wife and daughter were so kind and patient. Normally, they wouldn't have stopped, but tonight they did. His wife said their car broke down earlier and he was already wet from being in the rain. She said, "He saw you and said he just had to stop."

Firetrucks arrived first, then an ambulance, then the police, and finally Dad and a tow truck. I declined a trip to the hospital. Looking back, I suppose we could've gone to get checked out, but none of us were hurt or dizzy, no broken bones. I was just shaking from the adrenaline. Jac only had an abrasion from his seat belt and Leah had a small scratch on her neck. I've got super awful whiplash and flashbacks that will haunt me forever. My car is now totaled and I'm not sure what we're going to do for transportation... I'm overwhelmed, scared to drive, and I can't sleep. My mind keeps racing, thinking about what could've happened.

The good news is that it's snowing outside and it might stick. The kids will be happy to see a frosted ground in the morning. 

I'm just so lucky. This accident could've been so much worse, but it wasn't. My babies are safe tonight. I can hug and kiss them and tell them I love them.

2013 - A year in review: 2012

A year in review: 2012

1. What did you do in 2012 that you'd never done before?

Worked Black Friday, started homeschooling.

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions and will you make more for next year?

I did eat better and I spent more time with the kids. Gonna hold on to that one.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Not this year.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No.

5. What countries did you visit?

None.

6. What would you like to have in 2013 that you lacked in 2012?

More hobbies.

7. What events from 2012 will remain etched upon your memory?

Jac had his tonsils removed, we went to Florida. I learned to play the ukulele.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Getting through Black Friday overnight.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Not taking Jac out of public school sooner.

10. Did you suffer an illness or injury?

I cracked a filling and had to get it replaced.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

A curriculum.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

Jac for being so brave during his surgery.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

My nephews.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Bath & Body Works, Christmas, food.

15. What did you get really excited about?

The beach.

16. What song will always remind you of 2012?

That Taylor Swift We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together because I heard it like a billion times at work.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

-Happier or sadder? Happier, I think.

-Thinner or fatter? Fatter.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?

Work out.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?

Eat junk.

20. How did you spent Christmas?

With the flu! But we did manage to visit Zac's family and some friends.

21. Did you fall in love in 2012?

With food, ha.

22. What was your favorite TV program?

New Girl, Once Upon A Time, The Office, House, Dexter, True Blood, Weeds.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

The bullies on the bus and in the classroom and the teachers who sit back and do nothing.

24. What was the best book you read?

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

25. What was your favorite musical discovery?

I like Katy Perry right now.

26. What did you want and get?

Sushi.

27. What did you want and not get?

A flu-free Christmas.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?

Brave, Hunger Games, Dark Knight.

29. What did you do on your birthday and how old were you?

I worked. 29.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Not getting sick. Jac spending so much time missing school from his tonsils.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2012?

Jeans? I dunno. Comfy.

32. What kept you sane?

Hanging out with Emily, smelling candles.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

You know the answer.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?

"Legitimate rape"... Yeah.

35. Who do you miss?

My friends in Louisiana.

36. Who was the best new person you met?

New co-workers.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2012.

Don't work in retail during Black Friday.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

"I'm wide awake."