good kids

Sometimes my kids are monsters, picking fights, whining, destroying things, etc. BUT sometimes, they are amazingly GREAT! Sometimes, Joel lets Seth climb all over him like little brothers want to do to big brothers:
Sometimes Luke and Makenzie play cards and board games without a single argument:
Sometimes, Joel lets Seth lie in his bed with him and watch "Blue's Clues":
These are times that remind me that my children are good, sweet, absolutely lovely people!

wrestling and library

Saturday was Luke's first wrestling tournament of this year. He got third place in his division of 3rd/4th graders who weigh between 69 and 73 (I think I have those numbers correct). His first match, he easily pinned is opponent. His second match he had to work a little harder, but ended up pinning the girl who should not have been participating in this sport to begin with (yep, still on that soap box and will be until girls stop wrestling). He had her in such a tight grip, her face was turning purple. I hate it that boys have to wrestle girls. It's not respectful at all. I always hope, as horrible as this sounds, that the boys seriously hurt the girls so that they can't wrestle anymore since obviously these girls don't have parents with the common sense to teach their girls to be GIRLS. Anyway -- back to Luke. His third match was to the 2nd place boy in the following picture. He lost that one pretty quickly because he was too far away when he tried to take him down. And he lost his fourth match against the 1st place boy because that boy is REALLY good even though he is awfully skinny. I was so proud of Luke, especially in the first two matches when he was listening to his coaches and following their directions precisely.Today I got to spend some time with Makenzie, Luke, Gavin, and Makayla :-) We went to the "big" library (the only one open on Sundays, I think -- and the only one with elevators). We picked out movies, got a couple books for fun, got some books for Makenzie's research paper, and colored some pictures -- and rode the elevators a few times :-)
Before we left, I said it was so sunny that I needed sunglasses. One of Makayla's favorite sentences today was "ME, TOO!" So I found this pair of perfect pink shades that Makenzie had outgrown. SO VERY CUTE!!!

spoiled

I have been blessed with unexpected presents this week! Tuesday, I watched a friend's kids while she worked for a couple hours. When she finished work, we had lunch and playtime. She surprised me with these beautiful flowers (purple tulips are one of my all-time favorites!):
Then today when I dropped Seth off at my sister-in-law's, she gave me this butterfly wax warmer (because she knows I LOVE butterflies and good smells):
It's so exciting to me to see pieces of beauty like this, both the gifts and the spirit of giving from two treasured ladies :-) I'm hoping they know how VERY much I appreciate their generosity!!!

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The reason I was dropping Seth off with Amanda was that I was going to the chiropractor AGAIN. I've gone now six or seven times, and I think it's helping. But then again, I just had a four-day headache/neck ache. I keep blaming it on things like the weather and sleeping on the wrong side. I try to do any little thing to not be in pain. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I don't. Either way, there are still four children who need to be taken care of, laundry, dishes, cleaning, church, a job . . . Someday life will slow down, but I'm determined to enjoy every single event along the way, whether I'm physically comfortable or not. True migraines only happen every two or three months, the kind that send me to bed before I fall down and someone has to drag my overweight self to my bed. It sounds a little strange, but I'm thankful for my physical weaknesses in a way. Because I have celiac disease, I am very sympathetic to people with dietary restrictions. Of all the diseases "available," mine is one of the easiest to deal with. No medicine, no doctors, just a gluten-free diet. Headaches are painful and annoying, but almost every day I can still function and do everything that needs to be done. Some other pains would be completely debilitating, but headaches are usually manageable or at least I've gotten used to them to a degree. They also make me a little more understanding, but also logical, when my kids say they have headaches occasionally. I know exactly how they feel and what they need to make them feel better.

My "overweight self" won't be overweight for too much longer, I'm hoping. Counting calories and walking on the treadmill as often as possible (which won't include today because I have a cold that has settled pretty solidly in my upper chest/throat, making walking fast too uncomfortable) has made ten pounds drop off so far. Unfortunately for the weight loss, but fortunately for the checkbook, Walmart has started carrying gluten-free treats at 1/3 less the cost as the natural foods store. Chocolate covered pretzels, vanilla and chocolate sandwich cookies (similar to Oreos, sortof), crackers similar to Ritz (not buttery, but the same shape and texture). YUMM!!!!! I just have to dole them out over time instead of eating them all in a day or two :-) Self-discipline isn't one of my strengths, but I'm getting a little better at it.

Tonight is the first Buddy Walk meeting. I'm nervous to be in charge of such a large undertaking, but I think I'm pretty much all organized and ready to delegate the work to other people in the group. We'll see how that goes if very many "other people in the group" come to the meeting to volunteer :-)

busy busy

I'm not really sure what the stories behind these pictures are, but they're cute :-)


Joel had a jr. high band concert at school. They did a good job.He's the first trumpet player -- right in the middle of the picture.
One night I went into the boys' room to take Luke to the bathroom and found them like this -- Luke, Seth, AND Scooby Doo all in Luke's bed :-)
I haven't been posting lately probably because I'm so scattered. I've been dealing with serious neck pain and headaches for a really long time, so I started going to the chiropractor. I've seen him now five times and thought I was all fixed -- until yesterday morning I woke up feeling like my head was going to explode and like my neck wasn't completely connected to my body correctly. This morning was the same thing :-( This is very disappointing because the chiropractor was my last resort. I've tried medicines, special pillows, herbal rubs (like ben-gay), getting more sleep -- nothing has worked. And now neither is the chiropractor. Oh well, now I have a good excuse for my grouchiness :-)

This last week was a pretty great week. Joel only had one final exam for the third quarter, so we got to spend some time together. We went to lunch two days in a row, went to a movie, and went book shopping. FUN! He's doing such a good job on his grades this first year of jr. high! I enjoy rewarding him for his hard work :-)