Tanner's Birthday

Like most of the country, we had a freak, early snowstorm a few weeks ago that prompted school closures, traffic accidents and early on set shoveling. It made travel around town difficult as the highway department wasn't prepared for it and wasn't able to get the streets plowed, sanded etc. in time to keep them from becoming a skating rink.

The reason I bring this up is that Tanner was having a bunch of boys over for his 9th birthday and we were supposed to go to Dart Zone with a couple of carloads of kids who weren't ours. Dartzone is way over in Meridian and Tanner's birthday party was late on a Friday night. Once the snow started to fall, we realized that likely wasn't going to be a safe plan and started working on a parents plan B. We tried to address it with Tanner that we were a little concerned it might be too dangerous to take a bunch of other peoples kids that far in dark/icy/snowy/cold weather conditions. At first he wasn't hearing any of it.

Dartzone was going to cost us $150.00 or so, so I came up with the idea of using that money for a "new" video game system for the Friday night party instead. Marisa was able to find a used Playstation 3 on Craigslist with a couple of games for the $150.00 we were going to spend on the party, and that swayed Tanner to be a little flexible on the party. The WII the kids have is 7 years old at this point, only works every once in a while correctly and most of the games are scratched and out of date. So the Dart Zone party became a video game sleepover for five friends.

We had recently reorganized the bonus room, so the set up was perfect and I got the Playstation all set up and tested while the kids we at school. The boys came over at 600 and spent from 600-1030 upstairs watching movies, playing nerd gun wars and playing video games. We opened presents and had cake then it was right back up stairs for more 9 year old boy nirvana.

We called lights out at 1030. All the boys set up camp in the bonus room. I sacked out and was gone to the world. Come to find out in the morning that Marisa had to go upstairs at 130 because they were up running around the halls in the middle of the night. All of the boys had basketball games the next morning that they had to be up for; but they were bound and determined to pull an All Nighter anyway.

Morning came early and chocolate chip pancakes were made and consumed by all. I left to take Jake to his first game of the day and then met up with a very tired 3rd grade boys basketball team to face our arch rivals (in all sports), the Shadow Hills Elementary team. They played really, really bad in the 1st half, scoring 2 points total. They were able to rally after a stern halftime speech and turned it around for the win. We went to Jake's second game of the day and then collapsed in a heap back at home.

Happy Birthday Tanner! I hope you had fun at your "Plan B Party".

Parental Pride

I know that we have devoted a pretty good chunk of this blog to the frustrating side of parenting and specifically the ways that our children can drive us nuts. But mixed in here and there, we have memorialized some instances where we were just amazed and really blown away by something that our kids have done, this is one of those times. 

As Jake is a sixth grader in the K-6 elementary school here, this is his last year before he leaves the neighborhood to go into middle school. He and his ever morphing group of friends are truly enjoying their time as "big men/women on campus". One of the perks afforded to the sixth graders this year was the option to apply and interview for a "PE Apprenticeship" position (basically PE teachers aide). This was a very coveted position as Mr. Perotto is the most popular teacher in school and even at this age, they can see the value of having to be somewhere OTHER than class for part of the day, so for the six available slots, 28 kids interviewed.

Jake took this VERY seriously, working really hard on his application. He practiced for his interview with Marisa a couple of times prior and wore his Sunday best when it was his interview slot. He has said in the past that if he can't play pro sports he would like to be a coach, which we both try to encourage as he has a nature and personality that would lend itself to that calling. He has coached the girls basketball team (with Mr. Perotto), launched his "Sportz Skillz for Kidz" business over the Summer and is generally just great with little kids, so we were happy he was taking this so seriously. 

Well all his hard worked paid off and he was selected for one of the positions. He couldn't have been more proud of himself for succeeding, and we were proud of the effort and determination he showed. He loves coaching, loves PE and this should help make his 6th grade year a great one for him. 

Way to go Jake!

Vacuuming 101

It comes down to this:  Slow down when you vacuum and watch where you are going.

Three weeks ago yesterday, when Tanner was on Day 3 of recovery from tonsil surgery, I had a ridiculous accident. I was vacuuming my living room, going way too fast apparently, and ran smack into our fireplace mantle. I knew it was bad right away and immediately was sick to my stomach, dizzy, and disoriented. Luckily Brian was there and got me into bed. We called my friend, Pam, who is an athletic trainer and is well versed on concussions, and got some advice.  After resting for about 7 hours I was convinced by another friend to go visit the ER. I was supposed to go to the Dierks Bentley concert that night but clearly that was off the table, so instead of a fun night out with friends, I spent the evening at two different ERs.

After telling my ridiculously embarrassing story to the intake person, the nurse, and the doctor they determined I needed a CT scan and I was sent to the St. Luke's downtown. My mom brought me there and after a 2 hour wait, I finally got a room. I joked to my mom that if they were so concerned about my brain bleeding then wasn't there a chance that I could just die right there while waiting to see if I had a bleeding brain??? Crazy. So, after a few hours I told my story to their intake person, nurse, and doctor and finally got the scan. It all turned out fine: No brain bleed. The Doc gave me instructions for recovery including full brain rest (which is next to impossible) until the headache was gone. I figured a day or two. Yes, I know the doc said it could be weeks, but really, I was quite sure I'd be fine by Monday.  Nope. I ended up working part time for the better part of 2 weeks and even after 3 weeks still have a headache by noon each day and am living on Advil.

My mom has been so helpful and has been taking Faith to gymnastics and making dinner, and taking the kids out of the house to allow me some quiet time in bed each day. Brian has had to take over most of the house and kid stuff, allowing me to get my job done each day and knowing that after that I am pretty much done. There's been lots of take out pizza for dinner and not a lot of "playing with mom" time for the kids. They have had to be really patient.

This experience has taught me a lot:

1. I am very lucky to be a healthy person most of the time and need to be grateful for that gift.
2. Concussions are very serious business.
3. Housework is dangerous

** No actual heads were harmed during this reenactment of the actual event. Although Brian's head came very close to being harmed when he suggested I reenact it for the camera :)

Halloween 2014

The concussion severely curtailed Halloween prep this year. We didn't get the decorations out of the closet or pick out pumpkins or visit a pumpkin patch or carve pumpkins, make pumpkin seeds, etc.... Luckily I was on top of the costume situation early so the kids were prepared, but there was really no additional prep.  Luckily the kids didn't even complain that we hadn't done these things.  That is, until yesterday. We were at the store getting candy for the trick or treaters and they saw the pumpkins and it suddenly dawned on them. It was the last day and we hadn't carved one yet. Generally we only carve one pumpkin and the kids each design  one part of the total: eyes, nose, and mouth.  But this year I just wasn't up for it so I sadly told them no. As luck would have it, a few hours after returning home from the store, the kids were outside bouncing on the trampoline when our neighbor called over the fence inviting them to help carve THEIR pumpkins. Apparently they had too many and needed help. I was so grateful.  The kids sat around the neighbor's outdoor table with their friends and each got to carve their own. I assisted vaguely and helped with clean up. I also took control of the pumpkin seeds so they could be dried and then sautéed. We'll bring them over to the neighbors house as a thank you later today.

Also, the kids decided they would decorate the house themselves, so I got he big orange plastic bin out of the closet and they went to town. They did it up right, even creating a mini-graveyard out of old concrete stones that they found in the garage. I was pretty impressed. 

So, anyway... back to Halloween.  Since I was already planning to make tacos for dinner, and had more than enough to feed a small army, we invited the neighbors over for dinner. We ate early, with our kids, the neighbors, and a few of Jake's friends. Then we piled the kids in the back of the truck and headed to the Merc to meet up with some other families. 

Jake was Michael Jackson, Tanner was a "scary old person", and Faith was a 50's girl. They rocked their costumes this year, if I do say so myself. Jake met up with about 15 other 6th graders and was on his own with plans for ending up at a friend's house for a sleepover. We kept track of him via text and after trick or treating for a few hours he ended up back at a girl's house with a bunch of friends, trading candy and listening to music.  Ahhhh... the beginning of the tween years. Tanner's friends were accompanied by lots of parents, all of us with some sort of beverage in hand. Faith and Abby, her best friend, came along too but only lasted about an hour before deciding they were done and heading back to Abby's house for a sleepover. The boys stayed out until just before 9PM, then ended up at our house watching The Sandlot. 

It was the best I have felt since I hit my head and I was able to stay up until after 10 (woo hoo!) with only a minimal headache. The kids all had a great time and now we have enough candy to last us for a year if we were normal people. For us it will probably only last a few weeks since we are all low on the willpower and high on the sugar addiction.