Day One with no Mike

Mike had to go to Plymouth to work for the next few days. No sweat... the kids and I will have fun. They have school in the afternoon and we can go to gym so I can work-out and they can play. Yup, it's a pretty busy week this and the next but I had it all mapped out in my head.
What I wasn't expecting was the way Mason looked at me when I picked him up from school. Not his usual excited to see me run/hug..... Have I fallen out of favor already? I ask him what's wrong and he just makes some noises. We're about out the door when he tells me his tummy hurts. As I strap him in his seat I can tell something is going on and he's not pretending. The teacher didn't say anything about his behavior being off so I assume he was fine the whole time he was at school. She would have said something. By the time I drive to Mia's school to pick her up Mason has fallen asleep. I go into the school to get Mia, Mason draped over my shoulder hugging me and he is starting to get hot. He's awake again but groggy. By the time we get home Mason is down for the count. The fever has kicked in. It's not a high fever but it looks like he won't be going to school tomorrow. God I Love them but don't they know that when their Dad is out of town getting sick is not an option. I need that break of school time for my sanity. Mike was actually getting sick too so I'm sure it will be Super fun when he gets back. Mia will probably be sick by then so it will be all 3. This weekend we have Mia's school walk Friday night, 2 parties Saturday and somewhere mixed in there my niece's Lauren's volleyball tournament down the road from us. Lauren will also be playing soccer in Holland Sunday. Just a jam-packed week to be followed up with another busy week of appts, parent/teacher conference, Hay ride, etc.

So PRAY FOR ME! Tomorrow is going to be a bumpy ride.

Deals of the Week

First found this Disney mp3 player on clearance at Meijer for $7.99. Then I bought a 2 gb SD card for it at Circuit City for $12.99. Mia and Mason call anything with headphones an "iPod". I was going to give her the very first mp3 player I had (which is OLD). I lost the cable to connect it to the computer so I can't change the music on it. It is also supposed to take SmartMedia cards so I downloaded some music onto a card but it didn't work. I don't want her listening to the music that's on there so there's a little battle going on. She finds where I hide it and then sneaks it. I probably should just throw it away but I keep thinking I'm going to figure a way to make it work for the kid's to use..... Then I dug out our old portable CD player. I told Mason it was his iPod. At least I can control the music that goes in it but it is big for them to carry around. Mia will get this new mp3 player in her stocking from Santa and I hope to figure the ancient one out to give to Mason. The kids were freaking out that the little ear buds fall out of their ears so I got out the old headphones that go over the head with the foam pads covers. Those work great for them but then one the foam covers on one set of the headphones was pretty worn and got torn off. Can you believe they don't sell replacement pads for the headphones anymore. The one store I found, Radio Shack, wants about $6 a pair. Are you kidding me? I can buy new headphones for that. So when I get a chance I'll make some kind of cover out of some scraps of fleece. What I do to try to make these kids happy, Jeesh.

The next deals. I just rand into Target today and didn't find what I came for. Could I just leave the store? No! I thought I'd check out the Halloween section. Well, the back wall behind our Halloween section was backpacks, lunchboxes, etc... all 75% off. So I got Mason a black backpack and a skull lunchbox for about $6. We bought a little skull iron-on when we were at Disney so I'll iron that on the backpack. He'll be happy he has what Mia does and he'll be all set for school in 2 years. How's that for forward planning.

In other news, I almost fell over with excitement seeing the Domo display in the Halloween section at Target. Target has also had a ton of Hello Kitty stuff the last year or so. I think Target is "turning Japanese".

Honeycrisp Apples

I took the kids to Crane's yesterday after I picked them up from school. I figured there would be lots of Honeycrisp apples since Saturday was opening day and it pretty much rained all weekend. They're almost gone! There were lots at the tops of the tree but sadly I can't reach. I climbed one tree and was handing apples down to Mia but that was short-lived as the little branch I was standing on broke and I came falling out of the tree. I had to tell Mia it's our little secret since she kept repeating to me "Mommy, they don't want you climbing the trees.....". Shhhh... before someone hears you. The Honeycrisps are 75cents/lb (with a 2 bushel limit)and regular apples are still 65cents/lb. If you don't go today, I don't think there will be any left unless they have them in another area that I didn't see. They close at 6pm. Of course, it goes without saying that the donuts were all sold out. That made for a sad Phillips family last night. I've got apples to last me for awhile and I don't want to drive down there just for donuts. Maybe in another month.

Kidversations

When I picked Mason up last week from school he was just bubbling over with excitement. When I strapped him into his carseat he was still telling me about his day and told me he had a snack.
Me: Really, what did you have?
Mason: Cheese crackers
Me: Was it yummy? You like cheese crackers right?
Mason: Yeah

10 minutes later as we pass McD's driving home....
Mason: I want to go to McDonalds
Me: Mason, you had lunch already and you had a snack at school
Mason: Well..... Oh... no... I mean I didn't have a snack
Me: You said you had cheese crackers
Mason: I was just telling you a joke

driving home after we pick Mia up from school....
Mason: I want McDonalds I didn't get a snack today
Me: What? Yes you did
Mason: No I didn't
Me: Well, I'm going to ask Miss Elizabeth tomorrow ...
Mason: No
Me: ....if you had a snack....
Mason: No you can't
Me: today. Yes, I'm going to ask....
Mason: NO YOU CAN'T
Me: ....if you had a snack. You know when you lie you get soap in the mouth. So if....
Mason: MOMMA! I'm just jokin'
Me: you're lying to me....
Mason: I not lying, I'm telling you a joke. I remember I did have snack.

Mia and I dropped off Mason at his school and as we drive away I wave and say "Bye, Bye Mason".
Mia: Mom (I think the correct pronunciation is Mo-om) you don't say, Bye Bye you only say it once. Bye. So don't say Bye Bye to me. (I swear if she was only a little older she would have been rolling her eyes.)
Me: Why? Is that embarrassing if I say Bye Bye?
Mia: YES! So don't say it to me Okay.

Great my kid is embarrassed of me already. Sorry to tell you Sweetie Mia it's only going to get a lot worse for you.

Insects

A while back I mentioned we saw a Praying Mantis in our driveway. I can't even remember the last time I saw one of those before I saw this one. I remember them being more green.

Then the other day I saw a Cicada on our deck. Wha?

Every now and then I hear something in the news how this is the year for cicadas. Apparently, there are types that only appear every 15 years, every 7 years, so on.... I heard some stuff last year so what is this? Then on the way driving up to Manistee last weekend a Cicada hits the windshield and gets lodged in the wiper. (so I got a good look at it). I felt kind of bad like we just killed something on the extinction list. So like the Praying Mantis I haven't seen a Cicada in years and then I see 2 in the same week. Bizarre.

My Fish

I about fell over the other day when someone referred to Mason as a "fish". To think at the beginning of the summer he was a screaming mess when it came to the water. I can't believe the progress he's made this year. It seems like every time we go he gets a little braver and does something new. Like jumping into the water by himself.

Here's Mason and Mia floating. (The picture of them holding hands and floating isn't as good)

and here they are jumping off Grandpa's shoulders into the pool.

Mia usually likes to spend her time getting dive sticks.




I did forget to mention yesterday that I did make it back to my car (mostly anyway) after dropping Mia off before I started bawling.

First Day of Kindergarten

Well due to poor scheduling 6 months ago.... I just didn't realize the date at the time. Mia and I had our dentist appointments this morning. Hers was actually at 11am. Thank goodness her teeth are great and it went quick since I then took her home to have lunch then drive her to school for the first day. She has been sooo excited for the past week so today it was only a little bit of a surprise when she tried to wake me up at about 6:30am. This from the girl that usually sleeps until at least 8:30-9am. Here she is in the front of her school:

I parked in the front so I could take some pictures out front. Then I walked her to the Kindergarten playground in the back (where I'm to drop her off) where she waits until the her teacher comes to get the class.

and here she is with her teacher, Mrs. Thornhill.

Mason and I then went to run some errands and it was a nightmare. While Mason is usually great when separated from Mia........ today gave me an insight for the next few months. The problem is he is still into skulls and skeletons. Since the last few weeks in August the stores have begun the Halloween season. So no matter what the store he spies something he wants ie. a skeleton cup, placemat, rug, bag of bones, etc. Then when I don't but his heart's desire I get the crying. Today resulted in full out screaming, crying, kicking and hitting (as I dragged him out).

Then we picked Mia up from school and of course I had to snap a few more pics.

Mia ran over to our neighbor, Niki, to tell her that she went to school. Niki asked Mason what he did while Mia was gone and Mason replied, "I threw a fit in the store." She looked at me as in really? I shook my head yes. She says, "Well, at least you're honest about it." If only he sounded a little guilty or sorry about it. It was just so matter of fact. When Mike came home later, I said, "Mason, tell Daddy what you did while Mia was in school." Mason- "I threw a fit in the store."

I'll be counting down the days until Halloween is over.