For the Girl

Going into Saturday I knew it was going to be tough. I prepared by setting an alarm and going to bed early. At 6:45 Saturday morning, I rolled out of bed, finished drying the kids' soccer uniforms and began my day. Here's our schedule for the day: (Note Phil took Little Man to his soccer game and then backpacking)

8:45 Pack Lady Jane, dressed in long black athletic pants, her soccer jersey and school tennis schools, along with a kit, which included her soccer shots, shin guards, soccer tennis shoes, three bags of snacks, and her soccer ball, into the car. Oh and a bottle of water. Then we headed to the church parking lot I was supposed to drop her off with.

9:00 Arrive at Trinity Church. No one's there. Need gas. Go to gas station. Find where cross streets are they mentioned on the flier. Oh, not that Trinity Church, one of the other five on the same road.

9:10 Sit in car line to get into proper parking lot.

9:20 Get out of car and take Lady Jane to the High School cheerleaders. She changed shirts to the cheerleading one. She's reluctant to stay, but I promise if she doesn't like it, she doesn't have to do it next year.

9:30 Head to High School where parade ends to wait for Lady Jane, set up chair next to other really early people.

9:50 SIL and nephews show up and join me to watch parade.

10:00 Parade begins somewhere far from us.

10:20 First sighting of marching band coming down the hill.

10:35 Lady Jane walks by with Cheerleaders doing a few cheers.

10:40 Pack up chair, say goodbye to SIL, go collect Lady Jane from cheerleaders.

10:45 Get back in car, hand Lady Jane a snack, and drive to soccer field.

11:00 Arrive early at soccer field was told to be there at 11:15 for picture day. Lady Jane changes in the back seat from her cheerleading outfit to her soccer jersey and shorts, then scoots to the front seat to get on her shin guards, socks and shoes. We wait a while in the car.

11:15 No one else is there yet. We abandon the car with soccer ball in hand.

11:20 Coach arrives with daughter. Lady Jane and daughter play at kicking around the soccer ball until they decide they are super heroes instead. Super Kirby(Kirby isn't the other girl's name, but it's what she was calling herself) and Super Lady (Honestly that's what Lady Jane picked, I didn't change it). I sit on the bench behind a fence which does a little to block the full heat of the sun.

11:45 Most of the other kids, except one, has arrived. They take the individual pictures and then decide to take the group picture too.

12:00 The kids take to the field for their half hour of practice before their half hour game. I set up in the shade which grows smaller and smaller as the game progresses.

12:55 Crap! Game has not ended and we are supposed to be at friends for tie dye party at 1:00. Call friend, reassure we will be there probably in 20 minutes.

1:05 For God's sake, end the bleeding game already.

1:08 It's herd ball, just call it.

1:12 I feel bad for the Coach who has to go home and change for a wedding at 2. I quickly pack Lady Jane up and we are off to our next adventure. Lady Jane eats more snack.

1:20 Arrive home, where Lady Jane changes quickly. I find a white t-shirt. She grabs her peanut butter crackers she got at the game and we walk up the hill to the party.

1:30 Arrive at friend's house. Lady Jane takes to rubber banding her white t-shirt. While I take a moment to gorge on the wonderful spread. We see friends we haven't seen in a while. Lady Jane plays while I get to talk and glance at my watch every now and then.

3:00 I check with Lady Jane to see if she wants to stay at our friends for a while longer or go home and have some quiet time. She'd like to stay.

3:35 We head home and pick up our gift card, socks, and directions.

3:40 In car again heading to birthday party for classmate. See cars lined up at junction of interstate, but they are moving, so we continue.

4:00 Arrive at birthday party in one whole piece. Sit down while Lady Jane runs wild with her classmates. Occassionally tears at overly aggressive children, but otherwise I was fine. :) As always there are parents who drop off and disappear and then there are parents who stay. Two of the parents I had met before and one I introduced myself to.

6:00 After gorging herself on chips, Kit Kats and chocolate cake. I pried Lady Jane from the party with our parting gift of a CD of the birthday girl's favorite songs. We returned to the car and I popped in the CD for the ride home. I asked Lady Jane if she wanted to eat out or at home and she said at home. (Silly girl)

6:20 Home again. Finally. I make us some mini corn dogs and we watch the end of the movie she started on Friday night.

7:50 Lady Jane goes upstairs for bed. She has the nerve to say she had an awful day. I blow up at her. (Not literally. I just told her how that made me feel after carting her around the whole day and doing absolutely nothing for me) Then I went downstairs.

8:00 I think I hear Lady Jane crying. I yell up the stairs that she didn't even say she's sorry.

The next morning.

8ish Lady Jane comes into the room with Max and climbs into bed. Max procedes to pounce on our feet. I tell Lady Jane to boot him out. She does and then she starts pouncing feet--Wait, no, she tosses and turns. So I boot her out. She goes to her room and plays with her Littlest Pet Shop.

10ish I finally convince myself to leave bed. But I'm not leaving without my book. Lady Jane apologises for saying she had a bad time yesterday. We hug and make up. We lounge around in the morning. I turn on some cartoons and make her breakfast.

11ish I figure we need showers, but then I get involved with my book and she's watching SpongeBob.

11:30 Okay we really need to move. Get phone call. Oops forgot someone from the PTO was going to drop by. Put off shower.

11:45 Okay PTO been and gone. Now it's time for showers. Lady Jane swears she can do it on her own, so I let her while I take my shower.

12:30 Dressed and ready to go to next party at 1:00. Then I remembered lunch. Party is 6 minutes away from home. Fix Lady Jane lunch.

12:50 Head to party.

1:00 Party. Same two mothers stayed from yesterday and another mother who hadn't made it to the party yesterday. Sat and talked to them all afternoon under a tent in the backyard. Lady Jane had a blast.

4:00 Head home hoping to not have to endure another party for a while. These two were at least better then Chuck e Cheese. Phil and Little Man are back from their journey (which Phil actually blogged about).

So that's it in a nutshell. Lady Jane and I filled the weekend to the brim and managed to come out the other side in tact. Lady Jane mentioned Saturday night at dinner that she missed Flo. I'm sure she'll connect with someone, but I know that it's very hard when you've had a really good friendship to find something to replace it.

If You've Noticed the Lack...

Phil isn't good about posting and couple that with a lack of time, well, let's say it may not happen for a while. He's busy with homework from him class. Trying to make time to be with the kids. Helping Little Man with his afterschool activities. Yard work and anything else that catches his eye. Oh, planning a backpacking trip. Did I mention, working full time and over sometimes. The poor man is pulled in a hundred directions. He was up late last night trying to work on his homework and then up early this morning since he has to leave work early to get to class. So when Phil's head explodes from the pressure, we'll all know why.

As for me, there's not much new going on. I'm able to balance my life a lot better. Though occassionally I'll get stuck in la-la land when I'm writing a book or trying to research the next one. But for the most part I'm here for the kids, including their teachers. I've got a couple of things to bring up to the school. One is a program developed by the AICPA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants) for children 4th-6th grade. It's on financial literacy. The other is for all kids. Nanowrimo has a youth program. National Novel Writing Month. Which I would like to show to the teachers as writing and reading is a huge part of the curriculum. Since it's a little late this year, they may be able to schedule it in next year, but who knows. I've also been thinking about seeing if there would be any interest in an afterschool writing club. Somewhere in grades K-8, there's at least a few aspiring authors. I would have loved to have something like that growing up. I'm thinking writing sprints, brainstorming sessions, and local authors speaking.

I'm currently editing my novel and trying to figure out which idea to write about next.

Max, the cat, is getting used to things around here. He's still sleeping upstairs with the kids. Mostly on the top bunk with Little Man. Max climbs the ladder. From time to time, I have to call him off of attacking one of the older cats. Especially when they are on top of the entertainment center. Right now he's sleeping, probably dreaming of more mischief. Anyway, I have things to do. I'll try to keep you posted.

Chuck E. Cheese

Where a kid can be a kid and an adult can go insane. I detest crowds. I mean really really detest crowds and Chuck E. Cheese was at its peak last night. Little Man finally got his birthday party with 8 guests. Phil really didn't want to be part of it, not that I blame him. So I enlisted my mother in law to help. After an hour and a half of loud noises, too many lights, and children running around like maniacs. I managed to feed all the children and make sure a parent picked them up. Not exactly how I want to spend any hour of my life again. But I'm sure I will at some point. I've never felt more exhausted at 6 o'clock in the evening on a day I hadn't been ill.

Another Lousy Morning

We've just been off our game this week. We started with oversleeping on Monday and having to drive to school. Then Lady Jane's mood has been less than stellar the past few mornings. We'll all be happy when Daddy gets home or if Grandma comes down. I've gotten to the end of my novel and now have to go back through and edit. I'm not 100% satisfied with the ending. I think I may have added a scene I don't need on the end.

We're going to go to Blockbuster tonight and find a movie to veg to. Tomorrow is soccer and birthday party. Then Sunday is ours. We'll see what we figure out for Sunday.

The Day Has Come

So if you'll recall from--Okay so I've never mentioned it before. I got sucked into reading old blog posts from England, right, back to this story--Like I was saying, there were plenty of mornings in Sheffield where I would drag Lady Jane out of bed, forcibly dress her and get her downstairs for breakfast. Then force shoes on her feet and drag her down the hill to Reception. I had almost let those memories fade when this morning happened. First she didn't want to get out of bed. I get her clothes and lay them on the bed and tell her to get dressed. I come back and she's still trying to sleep. A quick touch of the forehead told me she didn't have a fever.

So, I push on her leggings and help her out of her nightgown and into her shirt. She comes downstairs, but doesn't want breakfast. She said she'd get fruit at school. Fine. I get to working on the morning stuff I have to do. 2 minutes before we head out to the bus stop, she says she's hungry. I put some cereal in front of her and tell her to eat fast.

We go out to a drizzly morning to wait for the bus. Unlike most mornings, she's clingy and doesn't go out even when the bus comes. So I walk her to the bus, which she won't get into. So I lift her on the first step and tell her to go sit down. (Note, I'm not yelling at all during this, really, I find in the morning that if I yell at the kids it's just counterproductive) She stands there. The bus driver tries to cajol her into the bus. I try to. Eventually she gets on, but only if she can sit alone.

I walk in the house and immediately call the school to warn her teacher of the impending doom that is my child. We'll see how Lady Jane did today at school. I'm tempted to call at 3 to ask her teacher how she did before she gets home. Please let this be a one time thing.

Momma, Did a Bad, Bad Thing

Lady Jane enjoyed her cheer camp. She was reluctant to go out and show everyone what she'd learned even though she would have been out there with over 30 other girls. We went to Target to try to find Spore. Not there yet, so we picked up another game. When we returned home, we opened it (noticing that the sticker seal was already broken). Inside was a totally different game. We headed back to Target and got the right one.

So what'd I do that was so bad? Well, I stayed up until after midnight on the computer. When I finally made it up to bed, I didn't go to sleep. No that would have been smart. I picked up a book I'd already read. And read the majority of it until 5:40 this morning. Why you ask? Or maybe you don't, but I'm going to tell you anyway. I wasn't tired. Don't know why, but I just wasn't. Now waking at 8 this morning, I opened the door and heard the kids playing nicely with each other and went back to bed. I still have a bit of that sleep depravation headache that comes on, but I should be fine tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

Cheer, Baby, Cheer

Last weekend was Labor Day Weekend also known as Hog Days in my home town. They hold a carnival uptown, but it's a great excuse for our family to get together and have hog roasts and barbeques. I couldn't help feeling a little off everytime I drove out to my mother's farm. I pass the road to my grandpa's farm on the way. It felt odd that I wouldn't be going down and seeing my grandparents while I was in town as I always tried to do.

We spent the nights at my brother's house since chez Mom was filled to the brim and overflowing out to the lawn in tents. The company helped to distract us from what we were missing and we all had a really good time. We got to go up to the carnival and have corn dogs, cotton candy and funnel cakes. We played a few games and rode a few rides. Okay I didn't ride any rides but the kids did. This year we got my niece and nephew for almost all the weekend so the kids were thrilled.

I just dropped Phil off at the airport for his overseas adventure. He's flying to Zurich today/tomorrow and then going to Sheffield. I'm not jealous at all. Really, I'm not. Okay maybe a little. Well, more like a lot. But I doubt Phil's work would spring to send his wife over with him so I'll get over it. Eventually.

Lady Jane went to a cheer camp put on by the high school today. I won't know how it goes until later today, but she was excited to be going. We'll see how she feels after. She got her shyness on when I dropped her off, wanting me to stay, but I had to take daddy to the airport. Like all things her shyness will wear off after a few minutes and she'll have a great time.

Besides school there's not much to report, except I did get finageled into another treasurer position. So I'll be doing 2 treasurer positions this year. Woohoo. Actually I enjoy working with records and probably would genuinely miss accounting if I didn't do a little here and there. Don't get me wrong I won't be jumping into a real accounting job for a while. I love writing and hope to give it my best effort. To that score, I'm almost finished with my second book. (The first one was really practice, trust me) After a set of revisions, I should be able to start sending it out for an agent. Ahhh, scary. Oh, and I'm sending it in to a few contests as well.

So life is good, but I won't be saying 'What could possibly go wrong?' because everyone knows what happens when you say that!