Being in Kindergarten is hard work!

After weeks of swine flu-like symptoms at my house (everyone but me was affected), Adam was down sick for a week with pneumonia and now he's off hunting. This morning I was feeling like I had everything all together for once. The kids and I are packed and ready to go to my parents for the weekend. I got Lily off to daycare at a reasonable time. Addie was dropped off at school on time. I was feeling pretty good.

Then it hit me as I was driving away from the school. I don't know if Addie's had a snack in her backpack all week. We're supposed to pack a midmorning snack for the kids every day. I completely forgot about it. I know they have extras at school so she doesn't really mind if I forget, but I feel like a bad parent. I guess those teachers will be getting an extra special present for Christmas from us!

Lily has been having unusually red and irritated eyes lately. She rubs them so much that they get red and puffy and occasionally bleed at the corners. I've been completely baffled and didn't know what to do about this. I've been thinking maybe it's a nervous habit or something she does to keep herself awake at night. I've been putting my eye cream on her as a last ditch resort. Last night I mentioned it to Oma to see what she thought. One of the other parents just looked at me like it was the most obvious thing in the world and said, "it's seasonal allergies." Of course it is. I gave her some Claritin last night and she slept hard through the night. It didn't make it any easier for her to fall asleep, but at least she slept well.

Does that make me 0 for 2 in the parenting department?

Gypsy Princess

Lily loves playing dress up; as if you couldn't guess that from her refusal to change out of her "Michael jammies" most days.

It's not uncommon on the weekends for her to go from jammies to dress up clothes and then down for a nap. She'll get dressed sometime after nap!


Combining outfits into the frilliest of combinations is really her forte. After all, a girl can never wear too much tulle.

- Posted from my iPhone

The Donation

There is a dinner auction for Addie's school tonight. I had a babysitter lined up. I had a date. Now its falling apart on me.

It is $40 a ticket and I bought 2, thinking my mother in law would be able to come with. Now that the girls have been sick this week, she isn't comfortable coming to our house.

I couldn't find a friend who was free for the evening. I convinced Adam to come home early from setting up deer stands so he could go with me. We were going to meet up with friends later for drinks at the Black Water.

Now our babysitter is down with the flu.
Ever feel like the world is conspiring against you?





-- Posted from my iPhone

The Evil Stepmother

Adam had to be to work early today, so it was my job to get the girls up and running. I woke up Addie and snuggled with her for a bit. She kept saying "buenas noches Mommy" and burying her head under the blankets. I got her into the bathroom and her teeth brushed and got her brushing her own hair.

I started helping her brush her hair; she turned around to look at me and said, "You know Momma, sometimes you're more like an Evil Stepmother."

I had to tell her that an Evil Stepmother wouldn't care if her hair was brushed or that she was dressed in clean clothes for school.

Halloween Roundup

Bambi and Flower with Their Haul

Because of the gunk going through our house, Halloween was pretty understated this year. Bambi (Lily) went out Trick or Treating with Daddy while Flower (Addie) stayed home with me to give out candy. Addie wasn't quite as upset as I thought she would be, which tells you how miserable she was feeling. Poor kid was running a temp for 2.5 days.

Tail View

Lily waited until Sunday to come down with what we assume is H1N1. At least she got to enjoy Halloween now that she's big enough to really Trick or Treat.

Ugh, I sure hope we're over this crud now.