http://www.blogger.com/html?blogID=1755139666841541603 about a dream: September 2014

Monday, September 22, 2014

Sick, sick, sick...

I started it. I could feel the impending tickle of doom in my throat over the weekend, but I was hoping I would get over it without getting really sick, because that's ever happened.

Monday I felt stuffy and tired, so Monday night I took some nyquil and fell asleep around 8. I woke up about a quarter to six feeling pretty good, so I was excited that maybe the worst was past. Ha.

Then about a half hour later I was making the girls lunches, when all of a sudden I felt like I was going to pass out. Ugh! So I sat down, put my head down, ate some breakfast, but it didn't get much better. I took the girls to school and told the office I'd need a sub for the day. I couldn't shake that light-headed, about to pass out feeling. The sub came in at the end of first period and I went home and slept until it was time to pick the girls up.

Wednesday was better-ish. Maggie had diarrhea after school and told me, "Oh, yeah, I've had diarrhea all day!" I said, "Oh, you could have told the nurse and she would have called me or grandma to take you home," but Maggie wasn't fazed by it. "Nah," she said. "I was fine. I just went to the bathroom a lot, pooped a lot, went to the bathroom a lot, pooped a lot." No big deal! Just some loose stools, after all!

By Thursday Nina was sneezing like mad. On Friday both girls stayed home, and Nina seemed to get better while Maggie started to go downhill.

Saturday was worse for everyone. Around 9 in the morning Nina felt like she couldn't breathe well, which is a symptom of one of the strands of the virus going around, but the pediatrician said to give her an NSAID to reduce the inflammation in her chest, and that plus a decongestant really helped. By lunchtime they were both doing much better. See:

Glowing with health!
They were enjoying a fresh "Meals on Mom" of soup with pastene and some flowers. Sometimes I get carried away...

Lovely flowers though, I should just give up entirely on growing veggies...

Sunday they were better, but still totally stuffed up and coughing a lot. Today Nina stayed home (questionable symptoms including a "tummyache" and "headache"), but tomorrow we'll all be back (knock on wood, of course).

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Sunflower bounty!

I've waited and waited for this day, and it's finally here!!

It's a bloomin' patch of sunflowers!!
 Here's some up close:

Some have light centers

Some have dark centers. Excitement!!
Today after school was a community BBQ at the elementary school and family night at the book fair. We ate hot dogs and hamburgers (no cheeseburgers, Maggie ate potato chips and salad), and then played at the school playground before picking out some books.

Then we jumped on the trampoline. Best $250 we ever spent!

This child is never short on energy
 Here she is doing a flippersault:
She's always a blur on the trampoline. And she invented the word flippersault.
 Her Highness Queen Margarete had a touch of a headache and did less bouncing

She IS growing like a weed, but this photo looks pretty stretched out   

Now the girls are doing sticker books before we get ready for bed. The days just fly!

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Getting back in our groove.

Or at least, we're starting to.

Last week was our first full week of school, and things seem to be going smoothly. Before Nick left, he was walking up to the bus with the girls and the dogs in the morning, and I was driving in by myself. The dogs always try to follow the girls on to the bus, and it's just adorable. Then generally they've been walking over to the high school after school, and we've been finishing up the day together before heading home some time after 3.

On Tuesday, the girls and I took Nick to Portland to get the bus to Austria. We had some dinner at Appleby's and got back home at around 9. Tuesday was quite a busy day!

On Wednesday I took Maggie to get 2 more cavities filled, and again that went fantastically. She just puts her headphones on, watches a movie, and has a great time. She has no idea yet that she's gotten shots of novocaine, and I intend to keep it that way. The dentist puts a local on there first and hides the needle inside a case thing. She massages Maggie's cheek to distract her and does the injection really, really slowly (it takes nearly a minute). By going so slow, Maggie can't feel anything (turns out it's the novocaine going in more than the actual needle going in that's painful! If you do that really slow, it's not painful).

Today, the girls and I went apple picking at Biscay orchard. Fun! Usually we don't go apple picking until the end of the season and most of the apples are gone. Biscay just opened on Thursday though, so there were TONS of big, juicy apples. They're still ripening that last little bit, so they're a tiny bit on the tart side, so we didn't get a ton (only 20 lbs). We'll go back in another week or two though! I'm sure we'll be ready for another 20 lbs by then!

Now 2 of Nina's friends are over for a sleepover (cross your fingers for me!), and the girls are upstairs playing with their American Girl dolls and the dogs and I are hanging out on the couch, blogging. Not a bad day!

Monday, September 8, 2014

A September miracle!

Behold!!

A sunflower I grew in my garden!!
 Wow! I've tried sunflowers before, and this is the first time one has ever bloomed! Oh sweet success!! And, knock on wood, there are about a dozen more to follow! Maybe I just have better luck with flowers than with vegetables. Though, I did quite fine with snap peas and green beans this year, so I guess I shouldn't complain too much.

Yesterday I spent a great deal of time clearing brush. I can't find a before photo, so I'll just go straight to a now:

Trust me, there are a lot of saplings that you don't see...
 After dinner, the girls and I spent a lot of time outside, bouncing on the trampoline and playing on the swings. We had the most beautiful sunset!



The sky was just glowing! And Vanessa, I took those last 2 photos with the iPad. Hopefully the quality is better.

Maggie's second day of school went much better than her first. She says now that first grade is "good." Fourth grade is also "good." They have no further statements at this time.

Oh, and my classes are "good" too!

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

First day of school!!!

Fourth grade and first grade! Look how cute they are!! Look at those sweet faces!

Look at those braids!
 They were, dare I say, somewhat excited to go back to school. They like their friends, they like their teachers, they like doing stuff without me for a change.

But when I picked them up from school, their faces looked more like this:

One as thrilled as ever, one angry. I'm sure you can guess which was which.
I'm not really sure what went wrong with Maggie. She was upset that one of her new classmates carries an EpiPen, which apparently hurts if she gets injected, but will save her life. I think she wasn't certain that she won't ever need an EpiPen, but clearing that up didn't help much. So we went to the Ebb Tide and got some grandma, fries, and strawberry frappe. Then life was good.

She's agreed to give it one more try tomorrow. If that doesn't go well, she's dropping out.

Nina likes her new teacher, but I didn't get too much else from her. With prompting, I've managed to get that they have snack early this year, and they made a somewhat involved craft.

Monday, September 1, 2014

The rest of Labor Day weekend

Yesterday we started the day by taking the dogs up to the top of the hill and cheering on the runners doing the Harborfest Half Marathon. One of my friends and fellow teachers was running, and the girls had even made her signs. Aw!

Aren't they just adorable!

 The signs say "go Lauren" (Maggie's "g" is backwards, don't say anything! She doesn't take constructive criticism very well!). They both picture a bunch of people running, and Nina's says "Lauren in the Lead." Nina is an excellent cheerleader.

And a savvy, retro dresser!
Maggie is NOT such a good cheerleader. The first people that ran by, we clapped for. Great. Then the next group, Maggie shouted, "YOU'RE NOT WINNING!"

Embarrassing! It's a small town, you know?

So I told her to say something nicer than that, which she forgot about by the time the next group of runners came by. So again she shouted, "YOU'RE NOT WINNING!" until finally she got the message and told the next group, "I LIKE YOUR SHOES!"

Better!

THEN, we kept checking to see if the next runner was Lauren, and one time she goes, "No, that's not Lauren, that's an elderly woman." Eventually the jogger starts by us and she turns and says "Oh, that's not an elderly woman, that's an elderly man."

So embarrassing!!

Finally, she just stuck with "Good job!" Relief. Then Lauren came by and we high-tailed it home. It's a wonder I'm not more gray.


But gosh darn it, we're such a cute group!!