After the storms

We had to deal with some horrible storms a couple nights ago. In fact, one night we actually had to go out and rescue our cat, Jasper. He is big enough now to start going outside and since the weather has been nice, we have let him stay out all night. Jasper is pretty spoiled, though, and has a nice screened in back porch with a kitty door that he can come on the porch for shelter if he needs to. Well, on the first night of storms, we weren't expecting it to be so bad, and neither was Jasper. I woke up with a start around 4:30 in the morning with the wind howling and it was thundering and lightening and the rain was blowing sideways. I flew out of bed because something told me that Jasper was in serious trouble and needed help. I ran to turn off our house alarm and then looked on the porch and my heart sank when I didn't see him there. I started calling for him, but I couldn't hear any response back (he usually always "talks" to us when we call his name). I turned on the porch light and that is when he started crying out, but he was trapped. When the storm started, he must have gone under the playhouse for shelter. The problem is that the storm was so sudden and so severe that our back yard started flooding and he got trapped under the playhouse with the water rising. He was going to drown. I have never heard a more frightened and loud cry before. Just as I ran back in the house to wake up Rob to help me get him out, the power went out. By this time, the kids are also awake and upset by the storm, too, as well as the situation with Jasper. Rob quickly goes and gets his heavy duty diving light because it is waterproof (I'm not sure why he even has this since he doesn't even dive). He goes outside in the storm and has to lay down in the front of the playhouse to reach Jasper. Thankfully Jasper didn't get more frightened and move farther back and he kept his head and nose above the water. Rob pulled him out without a fight and carried him in. I wrapped the cat in a towel and got him dried off. Emily said that Jasper thinks Daddy is his hero. The next day I even snapped a picture of the two of them together. Rob threatened me to NOT post it anywhere on the blog, but how can I not since he is Jasper's HERO?!?! Ha-ha! So, here is the picture...

The next night ended up being even worse storms. At least we had sense enough to leave the cat indoors this time. And it was a good thing because the water made it even higher up to the bottom of the playhouse with this one. The ground was already so saturated that it just flooded so quickly. It did however make for a very fun day the next day, though. Ethan and Emily had a blast playing out in the back yard. We waited a little while until some of the water had drained down and the threat of more bad weather had passed and then the kids went out in the back and just had a ball playing in the water, splashing and running around. This is what being a kid is all about!

And I have to totally change the subject here. Just look at how sweet my girl is. Yesterday she came over to me and said, "Look at what I made for you, Mommy?" I had to take a picture of it!

And Two Stars...(I mean Bugs) Were Born

I would have posted this last night, but the terrible storms we had prevented me from doing so. Ethan and Emily did a wonderful job yesterday in their bug show. The little musical was so adorable and it was obvious that the teachers and children had really worked hard on it. The costumes were great and the songs were so much fun. The classic songs had the words changed to fit the theme of the insect show. It was just so very creative! Here are some great pictures from the show.

Ethan is the bug just to the left of the Bug Jar.

Emily is the little love bug in the middle. :)

The Big Show

Tomorrow is the big day!!!! It is the day that they have been practicing for for so many weeks! It is the big bug show...Getting Down in Bug Town!!!!!! My two little insects are so darn excited for tomorrow. Tonight Emily told me that she just might not be able to sleep because she is so excited for the performance. She is a love bug and Ethan is a praying mantis. And Ethan informed me tonight that Emily is the best love bug dancer out of all of the love bugs. :) She is paired with a little boy named Moises. And little miss bossy pants was also telling me tonight that she was giving Moises directions on the best way that he was supposed to make his way to the stage from the risers through some tunnel thing they are supposed to go down. She said that the way he was doing it was going to make him miss some of the songs that were being sung. I have no idea what she is talking about because I have not seen any of the practices of the show. I guess I'll find out tomorrow if he took her advice. :)



Now here is the funny part. The kids think that the songs that they are singing are totally original songs. So when they here a song "in the real world" that is from their program, or they hear me singing a song from it, they freak out and wonder how in the world I know that song. It is hilarious. An example is how Ethan would not tell me at all anything about what he does as a praying mantis. Emily told me that he prays for a bug caught in a jar. I just started singing the song..."I'll say a little prayer for you...forever and ever you'll stay in my heart..." Emily freaked out and asked me how in the world I knew that song. And then tonight on American Idol she heard the contestants singing "Ain't no mountain high enough, ain't no valley low enough..." and she freaked again. She said, "Oh my gosh!!!!!! We sing Ain't no ant hill high enough, ain't no valley low enough..." It was very cute.

This little musical is just with the kindergartners and they will perform it for the school in the morning and then do another performance for the parents at 12:15. I just hope that Emily is able to sleep through all of her excitement tonight. She told me that tomorrow will be the best day EVER because she gets to do her big performance!!!! I will have my video camera and digital camera in hand ready to go.

Questionable Timing

So, yesterday after school the weather was perfect. It was a beautiful day to play outside. The kids rode their bikes, drove remote control cars, and played with the boy from next door. The kids were even running back and forth between our house and the neighbors house and having a great time. When it was time for dinner, our next door neighbor invited Ethan and Emily to eat at their house. I reminded them that the same rules apply to them that apply at home since we have worked so hard to break their bad dinner eating habits. Ethan wanted to stay to eat with his friend, but Emily chose to come home. The minute I set her plate in front of her at the table, she held her head and said it hurt. It was so sudden that Rob and I both questioned whether it was a real headache or not. It was almost as if she was just trying to get out of eating dinner. After a couple minutes went by, it was obvious that it was a real headache. She got that glassy look in her eye and I told her to go lay down. I did our usual routine of bringing her the trash can and I got a towel to wipe her face. She was only laying on the couch for about 15 minutes when the vomiting started, and only about 30 minutes from the onset of the headache. Since it was so close to bedtime by this time, I just got her in her pajamas and put her to bed after we were sure the vomiting was over. She came crawling in my bed later in the night and she said her headache was gone and that she was feeling better. I hate the fact that Emily has to have these darn headache episodes at all, but so glad that the frequency is less since we had her surgery. Although it didn't seem like it at the time, that brain surgery was one of the best things we ever did for her.

The Crazy Plan

The kids had a very fun filled weekend with their cousins, Chase and Avery. We had a house full of children most of the weekend and that meant lots of fun, mischief, and even a few minor injuries. Avery, my very sweet, yet tough, seven year old sweetie, barely flenched when she got a thorn stuck in her foot that I had to pull out. My own son, however, probably had the neighbors calling the department of human resources on me when I had to get a splinter out of his hand. Now in his defense, it was pretty deep, but...OH...MY...GOODESS!!!! My ears are STILL ringing from the screams. Oh, and I should mention that the windows in our house were open so I can really imagine what the neighbors thought. Ha-ha! And I think the last injury was to Emily's finger. She got it slammed in her playhouse door and made the skin peel back a little bit. At first Chase was pretty upset thinking that he was always the cause of the injuries since he was the one that slammed Emily's finger in the door, but I told him that accidents just happen. I did sit the kids down and tried to talk to them about thinking about what they are doing and how it might impact the other person. The other day Avery whacked Ethan across the hand with a golf club and then there is the time that his finger got sprained and we thought it was broken. I told them that I know that they don't mean to hurt each other, but they might want to not play so rough and just think about what they are doing. And poor Chase is involved in many of the accidents and so I pointed out her big bruised ear to him. I said, "See, you weren't even in this state when that one happened!" That is when Ethan threw open the car door and slammed it against the side of Emily's head and her ear turned black from the bruising. It was horrible, but thankfully it is healing and not hurting her anymore. Overall, I think we did pretty good this weekend only having a thorn, a splinter, and one smashed finger. :)

One thing that always happens when we have these planned slumber parties is that poor Emily just passes out way too soon. That poor girl just can't hang out and party like the rest of them. She is out cold by 8pm. By about 8:15 I heard Avery telling the boys that she was hanging out with them all night. It was also around that time that I overheard the kids talking about this silly plan that they were cooking up. Well, it was a plan that the two boys were cooking up together. I heard them talking and saying that they wanted to set the alarm clock to wake up at 3am. I walked in there and said that there was no way on God's green earth that they were going to set the alarm to wake up at 3am. There was just no reason for it. I didn't really think much more about it until I was tucking Ethan into bed tonight. As I was laying there with him, I glanced up at his clock and noticed that the clock read 3:38am (it was 8:35pm). I asked Ethan why in the world his clock would be saying that it was 3:38am. He said, "Oh, Chase was trying to set the alarm last night, but he couldn't figure out how to do it." I asked Ethan just what he and his cousin thought they were going to do if they woke up at 3am. He said, "We were going to get up and make ourselves some breakfast and watch tv and play." OH MY GOSH! Thank goodness that plan was thwarted by Chase not figuring out that alarm clock. Just what were those boys thinking?!?! I'm ready for the week to start so I can rest.

Tough Love

We've been having to practice some "tough love" at home lately. Meal time at our house was a horrible experience and it was time to take control. It didn't matter what I cooked, the kids whined and complained. When we sat down to eat, they suddenly thought we had entered into a game show, Let's Make a Deal, instead of just eating their dinner. And then when the gagging and complaining would end, they would instantly think they had earned the right to eat dessert. Well...NO MORE!!!!! This Mama is taking control back and the kids have learned that I mean business!!!!!

It only took about two nights of going to bed hungry, and I now have polite and thankful children. At least that is the case so far. Actually, Emily never went to bed hungry. She was able to get down her dinner without complaint, but Ethan went to bed without a bite eat one night and he was in total misery. To say he had a bad evening is putting it lightly, but he learned a lesson. Here is the rule at dinner. The kids will be respectful and not complain. They will sit at the dinner table with the family and eat their dinner. I will not nag them about eating because I refuse to fight with them about it. If by the end of dinner they have chosen not to eat, then they will not get anything to eat the rest of the night. If they have eaten well, then they may be able to have some kind of snack later like a yogurt, strawberries, etc or a dessert if we happen to have one. The last several days have been very peaceful and nice after that night that Ethan went to bed so hungry.

I also had to send an email to the teacher because I was worried about whether or not Ethan was having some problems at school like he was having at home. Ethan gets so frustrated when it is time to do his homework. He refuses to do it. He easily gets frustrated. He has even thrown his pencil across the room. He doesn't want to read any books and says he can't do it. I've been really concerned about him. What worried me was that I wondered if he was acting out like this at school, too. I was worried that he was comparing himself to Emily too much and that his self esteem was suffering by it. Ethan's teacher emailed me back saying that she was quite shocked to hear that he was behaving like this. He does not do this at school at all. She had a talk with him at school and gave him some ways that he could help calm himself down when he starts to feel frustrated. She told him to close his eyes and take a deep breath and to think to himself that he was too smart to act that way. So that night when we were reading his book he started to get all upset and I stopped him and reminded him of what his teacher said. He closed his eyes and did it and then opened them and read the page perfectly. He was so proud of himself and he finished the story with a smile on his face. I told the teacher about it the next day and she laughed and said that she and Ethan would have to take some Yoga classes together. I know that Ethan will do so much better next year once he and Emily are separated.

And I just have to say how much fun we had last night when my friend, Kristi, and her family came to stay with us. I've "known" Kristi for years through my message board, but last night was the first time that we got to meet in person. They live in northern Alabama and were on their way home from Disney World and I am soooooo thankful that they went out of their way to come by our house for the night just to see us. Our kids had the best time playing and Ethan and Emily hated having to go to school this morning. We hope that we can go visit them some time this summer and that they will get the chance to come back down here for a longer visit. Ethan is dying to go to their house because they live by Space Camp. :)

Wasp and Bee Patrol

We all know that Ethan has a HUGE fear of wasps and bees. The other day I was doing a little bit of shopping and I found a shirt for him that I could not pass up. It had a big wasp across the front and it said "WASP PATROL...(look out)". I thought it was so funny. I just had to get it for Ethan. When I gave it to him he gave me the dirtiest look I had ever seen. It was great! Then Ethan and I both started laughing together.

This morning as we were getting ready for school, Ethan started telling me about how they had to run laps in PE the other day. This was the conversation that took place...

Ethan: I was running as fast as my little legs would carry me.

Me: That's great, Ethan.

Ethan: Do you know why I was running so fast?

Me: No. Why?

Ethan: Because I had to outrun the bees!!!!!!

I laughed so much that coffee almost came out of my nose. It was like imagining an episode of the Little Rascals but with Ethan taking the place of Alfalfa and him being chased by bees and running faster than everybody else in the class. The funny part is that I asked him if his coaches know how scared he is of the bees and he said no. They must think that he is just a really great runner. :) He told me that when they stand in line outside, he sometimes just closes his eyes and prays. I don't know what to do to get him over his fear. But here is what I do know. When I'm not there, he obviously isn't freaking out like he does when I AM with him because I haven't heard about it from the school. And believe me, as bad as his freak outs are at home over the bees and wasps, I'm sure I would have heard about it if he was doing it at school, too. So, just what do I do about this boy and his little problem???? Maybe I should just start telling him to close his eyes and pray at home, too, when he sees a bee or wasp.