Back it up

Just some quick pics from the kid's Birthdays since I was bad about blogging then.

On Birthdays, the birthday person is given the option of going to eat at (restaurant of their choice) or having me cook their favorite meal. Since Mason's birthday is Christmas Eve there are no restaurants open in our area (not even McDonald's) so he's stuck with my cooking. He did pick out an Ice Cream Cake though and I have to admit it was quite good.

Mia liked it so much she wanted the same Ice Cream Cake for her birthday. She chose this year to have me make Mike's mom's chicken & dumplings. It's more like a Hungarian chicken paprikash & dumplings and I do make the dumplings from scratch. It's a lot of work. I was a little concerned that her friend, Lainee, wouldn't like it (I don't think she did) but she politely ate a little and refused the offer to have something else. Also, tradition for birthdays is that the birthday person gets to eat off the "celebrate family plate". Entertainment for the night was Madagascar 2. As soon as the movie was over the girls headed up the stairs saying it was time for bed and that they were going to brush their teeth. Say what? it was 9pm and I usually have to fight with Mia & Mason EVERY night to get them to go to sleep. Maybe Lainee should sleepover every night. Since they were getting ready for bed I decided to run out and fill my prescription (steroid for pneumonia). When I came home Mason and Mike were in our bed watching Nemo. I checked on the girls, lights were out in the bedroom and Mia says, "why do we have to go to bed and Mason gets to watch Nemo?" I said, "you're the one who wanted to go to bed. You guys can watch Nemo if you want." So both girls jumped out of bed, ran into our bedroom and jumped in bed with the boys. So now Mike and all the kids are in our bed watching a movie and there was no room for me. I think Mike was feeling a little awkward to say the least.

The following pics were me trying to get a good picture for the Christmas cards.

This was the pic for the Christmas cards.

I know I'm losing ya'

I know my little blog fans are dwindling away.... I swear though I'm not just a hypochondriac....I really have been sick. I'm aware of how often I get migraines but other than than I consider myself to be pretty healthy. Weird stuff going on in the last month or so.
About a month ago I was having my "normal" migraine and had to throw up (again normal), well I just kept throwing up for the next 17 hours. I've had stomach flu and food poisoning before but nothing like that, I was beginning to think I had appendicitis. I could have made a whole blog about that but then the next week I get sick and that episode is just a distant blur. It started with a sore throat for a few days then what I think was the flu. I literally did not get out of bed at all that next weekend. Then most of it went away and I was left with a sinus infection and horrendous coughing fits. Resigned to the fact that it had been over 2 weeks and I wasn't going to get better without medication...I finally went to the doctor. He told me I had a sinus infection at the very least and most likely pneumonia. Great! I am on the upswing but I am still not feeling 100%. I also feel like I've been out of touch for the past month or so. Sure I've been physically going through the motions of every day life: driving the kids to school and classes, cooking, laundry and on the computer checking e-mail. I have found that being sick was a cure for my Insomnia. I've been to bed and actually sleeping every night hence another reason why I'm behind on most other things.

Mia's birthday was last Friday and she had her first sleep over. I will post some pictures soon and get back to my regular "blogging format". It just doesn't feel the same posting without pictures. Anyway, I had to share this conversation during the car ride home from Mia's school last Thursday.
Mia: Nicholas wasn't in school today. (Nicholas is who Mia says is her boyfriend and she has consistently stuck by this for months now)
Me: Oh, is he sick? That'll be too bad if he's gone tomorrow too and miss your cupcakes.
Mia: I really hope he's at school tomorrow because he's the one I want to invite over for the sleepover.

Mind you I had told Mia "maybe" she could have a friend for a sleepover for her birthday. Since I had been sick I hadn't any plans for a sleepover, party....anything.

Me: Ummmm, well boys can't come over for sleepovers. (EVER!) Only girls.
Mia: What???! Why?
Me: Because that's the way it works. Only girls can come over for sleepovers.
Mia: Well, can he come to the party? (Party???!!!)

Now we're pulling into the driveway and the conversation is dropped. When Mike comes home I fill him in on our conversation and how I feel like we've really dropped the ball. I told him, "she's expecting something and she's going to be pretty disappointed there's no party. We need to invite someone over for a sleepover."

Now I'm racking my brain because it's Thursday night and I don't really know the girls in her class that well (she changes who she likes best at school daily except for Nicholas of course) and my friends from Moms and Tots that have daughters her age have told me in prior conversations that their daughters aren't' ready for sleepovers yet. Thank goodness for Lainee. Rachelle (Lainee's mom) is a friend of mine from our Moms and Tots group and Lainee goes to Mia's school (just a year older). Thinking Lainee being a year older is probably ready for sleepovers I log onto Facebook to see if Rachelle's on. Yeah! she is! We chat and a sleepover is set. Mia is very excited and I haven't totally failed on the birthday celebration.
Mia does question Mike over dinner though:
Mia: Dad, how come boys can't come over for sleepovers?
Mike: Because those are the rules. Boys stay with boys and Girls stay with girls.

So clear right? Where's the parenting manual for questions like these?