We got news last night at the Cotillion that a family friend’s teenage son had run away with a girlfriend and a gun in his dad’s truck. Last we heard, he had made it to Georgia and robbed a BP. He is still “on the loose”. He is only 14. I am in absolute shock. This is a GOOD kid. Homeschooled. Quiet. Obedient. Never in trouble. Preppy. Good looking. Nice dresser. Just NOTHING that would lead you to think he could do ANYTHING of this magnitude. The detective this morning said they are probably no longer in the area. Who knows where they are. We are praying that he doesn’t do anything that will cause him to get himself hurt when the police finally do catch up to him.
friends and/or family
More Christmas Parties
Gah, ok, I ended up at another work party yesterday around 2:30. MIL usually picks the girls up but she was going to late so I took them to Scott’s gm’s. They had food and a white elephant exchange. Apparently I missed all the entertainment at the after party but it was decent. Good to see everyone at work. Sometimes I feel so isolated working from home.
So then we also had our youth Christmas cotillion last night. It went well…food, white elephant exchage and some karoke. We kinda ran out of time and only got 3 songs in before people’s parents started showing up. I wore a dress from a work Christmas party 5 years ago that no one ever really saw me in. It was a tad outdated, nothing I would buy now but it was nice enough. None of the youth were looking at me, it was more about them so I wasn’t concerned–gah, I’ve turned into a chaperone!
So I think we’re done with typical parties. We’re having some family/friends over tonight and then that’s all until our normal family stuff Christmas Eve/Christmas. Thank goodness, it’s been a whirlwind this season.
We’re back
OK, sorry for the lack of posts. As I said, work was entirely crazy up until the minute we left last week. Then we left for Maryland on Thursday afternoon, right after my work Christmas party. We just got back last evening.
The visit was good, kinda boring, but good to get away. We basically shopped and slept the whole weekend when we weren’t with family. Saturday night we had dinner with Dad’s family. Sunday afternoon dinner was with my mom’s family and then Sunday evening we went to my grandfather’s house. The kids were GREAT in the car. I really don’t know what we would do without the DVD player. It was one movie after another. But whatever, we had 8 hours of almost complete silence on the way home and what else could you ask for?
Lexi did something really cute yesterday at the gas station on the way home. She picked out a sucker (which she loves them) for herself and she went to get another one and I thought she was getting two for herself and she took the other one to Emma and said here Emma! It was so sweet to see her think of her big sister.
This morning the girls had their Christmas program at school. This little boy played with Lexi’s hair for several minutes and we could NOT believe it. She HATES when people mess with her hair. But she didn’t even flinch until his little fingers got caught in it and you could see her mouth OUCH and she swatted him away. But then he started right back up and she didn’t stop him. It was the funniest thing ever and I got it on film. I couldn’t believe how still Lexi was for the thing. She stood and sat when told to, didn’t cry and was just great. Emma on the other hand did not sing and ended up crying at the end. She said she was upset because she didn’t know the song but we only missed one day of school for the practice. I don’t know, I feel bad because she was so looking forward to their singing.
So it took all weekend to download the latest Office episode that I’m on–The Merger. But today I’m watching The Convict and will then be able to get to the Christmas one for this year. Yay! Well, technically, I never got Season 2 Disc 2 so I still have a little catching up to do. I so do not like Jim dating this girl. It’s such a bummer. And she’s so gorgeous. Blah.
Scott-less
So it’s day 3 of Scott working all days. I know this is normal for A LOT of people that their husbands work M-F all day but Scott hasn’t done that in years. And none since I started working at home. But really, it has been a great week. I don’t know if my mom is praying a lot for us or I’ve prepared myself mentally (and organizationally) for this but it’s been great, really. I don’t mind taking the kids to school. They’ve been so well behaved at home. No major messes to clean up. No fighting. Not even much whining. But I’ve only had one conference call and Lexi was asleep then so that helps. And I’ve gone to the gym both nights which has really helped get some energy out. I’m sore, but it feels great. I feel like I haven’t seen him much though since he’s gone all day and then I spend at least an hour gone in the evening. He’s been so tired from getting up and he hasn’t slept well this week so we don’t even get time late at night together. I am sure this will get old fast. But for now, it’s good.
girls birthday party
We had the girls birthday party Saturday night. Just family and D&D brought their girls. It ended up being Strawberry Shortcake themed. Mom took Emma cake shopping at Harris Teeter Friday and she fell in love with their new 3 story Strawberry Shortcake cake (which Emma thinks is REALLY funny –cake cake–that’s a joke, mommy!). It turned out really cute with the kids table all decorated and red, pink and green balloons. And the 3 older girls had a blast opening presents. It was like Christmas for all of them. Lexi dug into the cake. I had serve everyone else’s cake from the opposite side. Which we had PLENTY of cake. And poor Lexi would NOT take a nap Saturday so she was about in a daze by the time we got to the end of her presents and she fell asleep after everything was done. They all had a good time though. The double party worked out good. Not sure if we’ll do it next year since Emma will be 5 but it was great this year.
Party Day
Last night I was supposed to go to a Pampered Chef party and Emma was going to go with me. Scott had to go visit someone so I was going to have Heather watch Lexi at the house for about an hour. Well, Mom calls an hour before I needed to leave and said she and Heather were coming to pick up Lexi. So of course Emma cried when she realized Lexi was going off without her and Mom ended up taking both of them. I went to the party at S’s house and then met Mom at her house with the girls. Apparently she took them up to Clt to shop and didn’t get back to her house until after 9. So the girls didn’t get to bed until after 10 last night. And they slept in until 9 this morning. I’m supposed to go in the office at lunch today. Mom was supposed to get the girls but it looks like she has errands to run so Scott will have them himself this afternoon. Which I think is ok. He’s been doing pretty good as long as he keeps his sling on. But it is a very rainy day today and I’m thinking I’d rather not go in. But I don’t want to attempt the meeting I have on a conference call.
Yesterday we took the girls to their Fall Festival at their school. They both loved their costume. Lexi even wore her big fluffy Snow White costume onthe way there and the whole time she was there. She looked so cute. And Emma even wore her wig the whole time. Unbelievable. Lexi was into the games and candy. I was surprised.
I talked to their teachers and apparently Emma is the “idea maker” in the class. She tells everyone what they’re going to play and everyone goes along with it. There is another Emma that is in the class that is her best friend. Lexi’s teachers thought she was very smart and really has “matured” the past couple of weeks. Which I have seen that too. They said she is now handing over her paci and blankie when she walks in the door and never asks for it. They believe she is talking more because she doesn’t have that in her mouth. We really need to get rid of it. Maybe after we get back from Maryland next week and Scott is still out of work we can attack that. Ugh, I’m cringing just saying that.
Odds and ends
This week has been SLOW. I don’t think I’ve gotten showers until lunch or after. Work is slow. We’ve done barely anything really since the lock-in last Thursday. Last night just the four of us went to get Japanese which was a half-pleasant experience. I only say half-pleasant because Lexi was wanting to get out of the seat until the food got there and then I spent the whole time telling Emma to eat or asking Lexi to eat, etc. And then, to top it off, I went to the restroom at the end and dropped my keys in the toilet. It was clean water and I hadn’t gone yet. I stared down at the keys and I was like, that’s $250 sitting down there, I’ve got to get it out. So yes, I reached IN the water to get them out and rinsed them as best as I could. Oh well. But the girls ate pretty good while they ate and I was able to finish my meal. So that’s good.
Scott and I have been playing Scrabble almost nightly the past few days. I LOVE Scrabble although I usually lose. However, I managed a 100 point win last night over him. Usually my sister gets in on our games if she’s here but it’s just been us this week. Which is kind of nice. Because we actually are doing something together that is not required and it’s just for fun. And it’s at home. Well, I can think of one more thing like that we do, but hey, this isn’t THAT type of blog. LOL.
In other news, Lexi has thrown up a couple times in the past 5 days. Saturday morning was random but I think it was due to a bunch of Sprite she drank Friday night which she has never done and then yogurt on top of that. She was fine all weekend and then threw up a good bit Monday night. And of course that was red kool-aid. And then she had some more of that kool-aid Tuesday morning and threw up a little more. And then she was fine. So I think that was due to the stir-in red kool-aid stuff she’s never had. Anyway, she’s eaten chicken, fruit, crackers, pop-tarts and stuff since then so she seems fine and it doesn’t seem like a virus.
Next Wednesday we have decided to go to Maryland until the next Sunday. Whoo Hoo! I’m technically out of vacation except for a few hours I intend to take at Christmas when we go up so I will be working from up there. Bummer, but what else can I do? At least it will be different and I will be able to see family.
Lexi’s birthday is next Friday so we’re having a double-party for them while we’re up there. My [extended] family never gets to see them on their birthdays so I think it’s pretty cool. Although my ILs didn’t seem to like the idea. But I never apologize when it comes to that because they get to see them like 3 times a year and if they situations were reversed, it would be the same for them.
Monday I am taking snacks to Lexi’s class for her birthday. Hopefully this won’t be one of those things that stresses me. I was thinking about getting Emma to decorate some cookies and maybe taking all the kids some bubbles or something. I mean, what do 18mo-2 yr olds really want?? Half of them will not even realize what is going on. I’m hesitant to go in her room. I’m afraid she’ll have a fit when I leave if I go into her classroom. But I would really like to see how things work around there so I’m going to try to go. Not sure how that will work with my work but I’m going to try. Especially since usually drop her off at 8:45 and they don’t eat snack until 9:40. Maybe I’ll just take in the snacks. Who knows.
Collarbone update
Scott is getting better. He even went half a day yesterday without taking his pain pills. It only seems to hurt when he moves it by accident unlike at the beginning where he could not find a place to sit, stand or lay that did not hurt. He has learned to dress himself if he has to and even got the kids ready for school on Wednesday. He also watched them by himself on Friday and got Lexi down for her nap. The only thing he has not done is drive yet. But that’s mainly because of the medication. We go to an orthopedic this afternoon to see what he says. We had a good x-ray technician friend look at his x-rays last night and she said she agreed with the 2nd dr that either he broke 2 different bones or has a chip floating in there. So we’ll see.