The ultimate parental goal!

Every child is destined to be embarrassed by their parents. Not to throw my mother under the bus, but she embarrassed me almost daily. It started when I was still in grade school and continues to this day.

It's sort of a right of passage, really. You know you've made it as a parent when your child flees from your presence in embarrassment. Every mother feels the heart clenching when her child refuses to hug her in public anymore.

But when the child is uncomfortable with us being us. Now that's funny!

Today my son asked me to make sure I didn't go into the school at drop off. He didn't want anyone to see my "creepy purple hair".* I about died laughing. Several of his friends had already commented on how cool it was. Coming from the child who sported a mohawk most of the summer last year, I truly didn't see this one coming.

But it's hilarious and I'm milking it for all it's worth. No parent worth their salt would miss this opportunity.

*The picture doesn't show how truly purple it is. I've had a couple of people not recognize me at first. So it's a bit out there. But still. . .creepy?!

Mud

Just in case you think our family is all happy motorcycle rides and beautiful white dresses,

I thought I'd share this picture.

 

We are missing one of the gang. I'm sure his family is very, very happy he wasn't present. =)

Happy Easter!

Busy day

When you live in a small community you know almost everyone. And if you don't happen to know the person directly, you know someone who does.

So very recently two little kids have been diagnosed with cancer. One of them is a sweet little girl that several of my friends know. Since her medical bills are adding up very quickly, some friends of the family put on a benefit race. 

This morning, bright and early, we piled into the car and drove to Livingston so that Dominic and I could run the 5k race. It wasn't super high tech and there was only about 300 people who ran. But it was nice to see all of the support from such a tiny community who were willing to put up cash and come out on a chilly morning and run.

Dominic doesn't ever train. In fact, it's probably been close to a year since he last ran more than around the yard. But baby boy ran most of the race with me and was only 1 minute behind me at the end. It won't be long before he's kicking my butt.

The awards were very limited. So Dominic won 3rd place in the 0-10 male/female category. Not bad for a 7 year old who never trains.

Running Dominic in after I finished.

 Both of us ran back and ran a friend in after we finished.

 Dominic with two friends who also placed.

We hurried back to the house after the race because Jon had a part in the church service. Dominic convinced him to take the motorcycle.

 

Jon and I are exhausted. But Dominic is calling it one of the best days of his life. =)

Round Up

Caitlin has been looking forward to going to school for quite some time. This year in March she was able to attend for half a day to check out the school. During this time the teachers evaluate the students to see if they are ready. This event was talked about weeks before.

The day before she picked out her clothes to match the uniform and helped me make her lunch. It was the first time in history that I didn't have to urge her to get up. Both kids were ready an hour before we were ready to go.

 I thought I'd explained the process several times to Caitlin. But we had one sad little girl on our hands when she realized that she had to wait until August to go back again. She absolutely LOVED it.

These next few pictures were taken sometime this month. I'm so proud of how big my baby girl is getting. But a part of me will miss this baby who has been at home with me for so long.

 

Random bits

Caitlin is an amazing help around the house. The other day when she finished her usual chore of putting all of the dirty laundry in the laundry room she put all of the white things in the washer and asked for my help with the soap. The next thing I knew she was asking me to reach a dryer sheet because she'd transferred everything to the dryer. When the dryer beeped she took everything out, folded it, and put the folded clothes in everyone's rooms. She made a comment about my "shirts of the night" being on my bed. She was referring to my tank tops that I sleep in.

Caitlin asked me yesterday if we could put pall nalish on our toes.

On the way home from shopping the other day I asked Caitlin what she wanted for lunch. She said green bean salad. I've NEVER made green bean salad. I kept asking different questions until I figured out what she was talking about. It's this -

pasta with peas, tenderbits, and mushroom sauce.

Caitlin was pretending to be pregnant. I've had several friends lately who are either pregnant or just had a baby. But Dominic came into the room and saw her like this and took it in a whole other direction.

 

We've been super busy so I haven't had time to blog. But Dominic's class had a presentation at school that was just precious. One of the parts was the children acting out the book "Alexander and the terrible horrible no good very bad day". Dominic was Alexander and it was hilarious. I'm really wishing I'd recorded it. Guess you'll just have to take my word for it.

 He was asked to write a story. So he wrote the story in comic book style. The drawings were small, but really good. And the story was really funny - typical Dominic humor.

Blood, blood, and more blood

Today was a pretty rotten day for me. But I was trying my best to be cheerful and take the lumps as they came. 

Five meat sandwich to the vegetarian? No problem, I'll pick it off.

Disaster of a morning? No problem, it had some good points.

Son fell so completely into a mud puddle at school that he had to change his clothes? No problem, at least he wasn't hurt.

A house so messy that I'm deeply embarrassed for even my husband to see? No problem, I have all afternoon and evening to clean it.

But only moments after arriving home from picking up Dominic I hear that type of screaming that any mother recognizes and it stops her heart for a second. I find Caitlin looking slightly green and Dominic sitting on the ground holding his foot.

He had jumped onto the ground right on top of a rock. It has sliced into his foot very deeply and the blood was flowing. It covered him, me, the grass and I couldn't see a thing. I picked him up and got him into the carport so I could wash it off for a better look. It was deep. And it just wouldn't stop bleeding. I kept paper towels pressed to it, hoping it would stop. It just kept bleeding. My hands are red, the concrete is turning red, and Dominic is still screaming.

And this was when my cheerful left and my panic set in. I called our family doctor only to find out that she's not in the office. So I rush across town to the emergency care. The entire time Dominic is screaming his lungs out. Poor baby honestly thought all of his blood was going to come out and he was going to die. I'm sure the pain didn't help. 

Somehow we made it into the clinic. He was so afraid to quit pressing that towel to his foot that his fingers had turned white. I was so rattled that I dropped things, forgot where I kept my insurance card, couldn't remember birth dates, and handed the receptionist a SAM's membership card instead of a credit card.

Almost four hours later we were back home feeding a very dirty, tired, and sore little boy. No stitches because of location and type of wound. But he'll be limping for a while.

My heart has returned to normal and I think my cheerful is returning. It could have been so much worse and my panic could have made me a lot more stupid. As it was I just appeared scattered and slightly blond. =) Jon was already off work and was able to meet us there. And Dominic was almost thankful and definitely gleeful when he realized this would get him out of some of his more dreaded chores. 

So all is right in our house again!