This moning was soccer morning. Elise and Cameron both had games at was the farthest from the others and Josh took everyone else to Elise’s game then we met at Jacob’s. Josh said that Elise played goalie for a whole quarter and that while she was in there there were 4 goal attemps made and she blocked each one! Cameron was not as impressive. I wanted to yell out at his coaches “Get him outta there!” He was in for at least half the game, but he only payed attention to it for MAYBE 5 minutes. The rest of the time he was either running over to talk to me in the stands or following the lines on the gym floor or dancing around and all the while letting the ball go right past him and getting into others way. Once he even almost knocked the coach over! And as soon as the game was over I tried to whisk him outta there, partly to get to Jacob’s game on time and partly to avoid further embarassment, but he started throwing a fit screaming that his game was not over and dropping to the floor refusing to to walk so I had to heft him up over my shoulder and carry him through the crowds. Jacob’s game went much better. When I finally got there he was in the goal. He didn’t see much action as goalie, but in the next quarter he was all over the place with the ball: blocking it, turning it, getting it down the field, and passing it. I was slightly frustrated as a parent when Jacob would manage to steal the ball and take it all the way down the field (they have to pass so everyone gets play) and then pass it to the other boy to kick it in and the other boy always kicked it wide. I mean, good try and all. Claps and Yay. But, I would’ve liked to know if Jacob could’ve made it in. He set it up like 3 or 4 times and each time it went wide. On another note, the goalie on the opposing team during the quarter when Jacob had all this play was Jacob’s friend Jalen from preschool and kindergarten in Ames. Jalen’s family moved to Ankeny shortly after we did, but the boys don’t get together much cause they live on the other side of town and go to another school. Jalen got some good plays too, in fact, he scored a goal for his team! But Jacob’s team won the game. As soon as I get them downloaded I’ll try to post some pictures.
Archive for September, 2006
So, this morning I got Jacob out of school at 9:30 again to go to his dermatology appoiontment. Everything was running generally smoothly–we were even a few minutes ahead of schedule! But when we got into the office the receptionist couldn’t seem to find Thrap on the appointment list and then she said “Oh wait, is this for Jacob?” Yes. So I’m thinking ok, she found him, no big deal. Then she continues “His appointment isn’t until 11:45.” !!!!! Seriously! Seriously? Seriously. Luckily, she went on “it’s ok though, I think we can sqeeze him in now, this is a good time, its fairly slow right now.” WHEW! Thank you! Honestly, what is my problem?! I of course immediately went to my calendar where I ‚ write all the appointments in and stuff and sure enough, 1145 J Derma. Why on Earth did I think I had to get him from school at 9:30? I mean, when I sent the note on Monday (or was it Tuesday?) I told his teacher 9:30 Friday. At least it worked out well this time. She got us in right away and the doctor was quickly in and out and it was over. Jacob was back to school by 10:30 (and I had stopped to get gas even.)<==$1.96!!! Sew heppe to see the prices below $2! I know the prices have been up there for a couple years now actually, but it still drives me nuts that I remember filling up in Muscatine for $.85/gallon. Like growing up isn’t expensive enough, especially once you throw kids in there, to have your gas prices triple if not quadruple within 5 years is just madness! My rant is over. And now I’m off to meditate for whirled peas…more likely I’m off to microwave broccoli and cheese. Diet is still holding up and the scale today showed two pounds lighter than it did on Monday. I’m not going to get excited about that ’cause it could be a difference in what I’m wearing or time of day or water weight…whatever, but its a move in the right direction. So…tallyho!
oeaiuhgjekgbviuergvorejgbelrsjkghlewrukjgbrilugorewaiug!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That was a release of expletives. Here is why:
So I went to get Jacob for his eye appointment and I was just a couple minutes early so I was sitting in the van (debating with myself about taking Cameron and Elena in to get Jacob because I know you’re not supposed to leave children unattended in a vehicle but it’s SUCH a hassle to have to unbuckle them both and drag them just inside the front doors to collect Jacob right there from the office when I can see the van parked less than 100 feet away at the entrance to the school) when Jacob comes running out of the building (whew, dilemma solved!) followed by Elise! (Who was NOT supposed to be coming because the appointment is just for Jacob.) So I’m like “Why are you here?” and the kids say Jacob got her so I send her back in and I’m thinking “ok, I know that the teachers etc know that Jacob is allowed to pick up Elise like after school and stuff, but I had not sent a note or said anything to Elise’s teacher about her coming today so…but ok, I did take her the last two days so maybe I just confused her teacher enough to think that she did need to come…she’s back to class, whatever. So we’re driving to Jacob’s appointment and Cameron pinches his finger or something and starts throwing a royal fit and I try desperately to calm him down until he’s like refusing to settle just to defy me and I start yelling and getting stressed out so we’re still running a little early so ‚ I stop at Sonic and get a large Diet Dr Pepper (Day 3 of my diet and so far so good, but seriously starting to worry about holidays because I am getting the urge to bake and host parties!) and we all calm down before heading into the office. That is until we’re inside. I know this is a lot of set-up, but I’m taking you through the whole experience with me. I’m pretty stressed/frustrated and I guess I’m wondering if I am abnormally so or if you all (4) think I’m reacting normally. So here’s the situation inside:
The kids are playing with toys and getting them all over the lobby, Jacob is making the eye care pamphlets into paper airplanes and flying them into other patrons awaiting their turn with the doctor, the receptionist tells me she doesn’t have the paperwork for Jacob so ‚ I have to fill it all out again (and I know ‚ I turned it in with the other children’s paperwork when I took all of them to the eye doctor a week ago!) And then! After I fill out the paperwork and After she scans Jacobs medical card and sends me to sit back down she says ‚ as if to herself across the half-full lobby “Oh, I don’t think we take this insurance.” ARE YOU FRICKIN” KIDDING ME?! So she has the other receptionist call to check while she continues to enter Jacob’s information into the computer and tells me that without insurance the appointments run $75-$95 (and Elise and Cameron have already had theirs!) then the other receptionist calls to the other side of the L-shaped counter as if to be discreet only now I’m on the side that is in the Optical Shop where people are browsing the frames and I’m facing the lobby of people waiting to see the doctor so I’m really just feeling even more exposed and let me just add that I made the kids’ appointments like a month and a half ago and specifically asked at that time if their insurance would be accepted because they have hawk-i which isn’t accepted everywhere and duh if you have insurance you’re gonna go where you’re covered! So the woman is explaining to me how we’re not covered and where we can go to get our free appointments while I’m standing there feeling wholly embarassed and the kids are all over the place and I just have to add that I don’t know if I was but I felt like I was being judged because here I was needing free appoiontments and yet standing there looking fabulous and the kids were also very well dressed (but honestly, Cameron’s outfit was a gift, Jacob’s I’d gotten at the Salvation Army on quarter day, his shoes were from Sarah’s wedding, Elena’s outfit was Goodwill and her Jacket was Baby Gap clearance like $2! And you know I got all my clothes on sale and I was only made up because I’m trying to get back into my Mary Kay and image is important and how can ‚ I sell it if I don’t use it and who’s gonna want it from me if I look like crap?!) Whatever, long story short (too late!) we got it worked out so that I shouldn’t have to owe them anything, but we had to then cancel Jacob’s appointment so I’d taken him out of school for nothing (again!) and he was all upset because Elise and Cameron had already seen the doctor there and when they did they were given treat bags and now he didn’t get one! And he missed his morning recess. ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!! So now I’m sucking down the rest of the Diet Dr Pepper and hoping that NOTHING else goes wrong today…or even slightly askew.
So its been sort of a rough week. I started the week poorly because at the last minute we got to go to muscatine and Coralville last weekend and when we had to come back home on Sunday I realized that I had nothing fun to do this week and that the highlight of my week would probably be watching the new episode of Top Model on the new CW. (Not that it isn’t a fun show, but hardly worthy of being my week’s highlight!) So, yeah, I had a bad attitude coming into it. I’ve muttled through ok so far (is it muttled or muddled? well whatever, I’m alive and so is my family). Josh has been pretty helpful which I’m sure has made a huge difference. Monday, I had an appointment with the eye doctor. It started at 140 and I was slightly nervous about getting home before 3 to get the kids (not to mention NOT excited about trying to corral Cameron and Elena while I was being examined!) so Josh arranged his schedule to come home and keep the younger kids while I was gone. Little did either one of us know that I would be gone until 4:30! Yeah! Tuesday was appointment free, but I didn’t think so. I scurried to send notes to the teachers and took Jacob and Elise out of school to go to their dentist appointments only to find out when we got there that they had told me the wrong day (or I had written it down wrong in my calendar) and their appointments were in fact for the next day! ‚ UGH!!! And as ‚ soon as Josh got home he had to go for the Cub Scout pack meeting. He said he’d take the older kids but he had to take the van because his car was fully loaded (with construction type crap that he was taking to Galesburg the next day) and it was the kids’ school’s fundraiser night at Wendy’s so we all went and I was going to drop Josh and the kids off and take Elena to run some errands. Right. As soon as I got to the store she started screaming at me. She quieted for a little while when I picked her up out of the cart and carried her, but even that did not appease her for long. So I went to the pack meeting also. Wednesday I took the kids to their real dentist appointments which finished just when lunchtime at school was over so I had to take them out to eat something before returning them to school. And guess what…Elena is teething…more! She has 3 out of 4 of her first molars and the fourth and canines are about to push through. Yeah, don’t stick your finger in her mouth. When we got home I took part in my first 3-way call since probably 9th grade! It was fun. But things were outta control when the older kids came home from school. So. I sat down last night and made responsibility charts for each child (minus Elena for now.) ‚ So hopefully today things will start to get better. Already this morning the children have been following their charts. And now I have to go get Jacob out of school again for his eye appointment and I have nothing fun planned for tonight–Jacob has soccer practice, and tomorrow I take Jacob out of school AGAIN for his dermatologist appointment! At least I know they all have insurance coverage now. (Oh yeah, I didn’t get that figured out until I was on the way to the Dentist the first time!)
I really need to get a little working tape recorder or actually get out and use my video camera because Cameron (and all the children, of course) is growing up so quickly! And he says some of the cutest stuff! Of course probably my all time favorite thing he says is when he’s talking Star Wars and calls the Emperor the “Emperner.” But right now he’s into singing along with the music we play in the van and it’s just adorable (perhaps not always appropriate, but I know he doesn’t get the inuendo in the songs so I refuse to feel badly about it, it’s just cute)! Some of his favorites are “Material Girl,” Sexy Back,” REM’s “Superman,” and Jim Brewer’s version of ACDC singing the “Hokey Pokey!” Also, today at lunch he told me a knock-knock joke which he probably doesn’t really understand why it worked and was funny (because his consequent jokes did not pack the same humorous punch) but it got everyone laughing. So here it is for you: Knock-Knock {who’s there?}Ear. {ear who?} Ear Funny.
Do you get why we laughed? If not, try saying it out loud to yourself. LOL ‚
I would’ve written more sooner, but although people were asking me to write again, once ‚ I did write no one responded so I thought I’d lost my audience! Also, I don’t have much to write about right now. I haven’t really done anything interesting…I don’t think. My memory has been crap lately. I’m taking advantage of the online coupons to the Lobby of Hobbies! Today I aspire to acquire a cropodile. I’ll keep you “posted” on my impressions once I’ve had a chance to use it. Also, I just found a bunch of pictures in a tub out in the garage! Still, I know I should have more somewhere…it’s frustrating. Josh is in Nebraska today and it’s cheap Happy Meal night so, guess what’s for dinner! Josh will be back in time for the two-hour premiere of the newest season of America’s Next Top Model ‚ which we will get to see now that its on the new CW which apparently we get. I guess I’m looking forward to it, but, I haven’t been nearly as excited about any tv since the end of SYTYCD. And we still don’t have good cable. ‚
Ok, that looks silly. I just wanted to put a Happy Birthday to Becky Guinn out there. (Hope I spelled the name right :D)
Today I bid adieu to my crazy-long-wearing-temporary-tattoo. It had a good run. About 2 months! But now that the weather is FINALLY starting to improve I anticipate more long-pants and socks wearing so it probably would have been rubbed off by them so I preemptively scrubbed it off in the shower today. I contemplated putting a new one on somewhere but, considering how long the first one lasted i decided I’d better really think about which design and placement I choose. I apologize if there are many typos in my posts now, I can barely read what I’ve written. Anyway, Yes, Jacob has eczema, and it is a pain in the bootay. We have to slather him all up twice a day in lotions and creams and avoid using perfumed things like dryer sheets! Bummer. Today was his first soccer practice. He got to play in the goalie position and he says he caught a ball. Jacob, Elise, and Cameron will all be in soccer this fall. E & C’s starts next week. ‚
So, you guys are seeing this in a normal readable font then? Well ok! I’ll keep posting then!
Ok, ok, I will post again. The main reason I haven’t been is because my blog is messed up and the font here is like 2! And I can’t figure out how to change it, and my Ultimate Blogmaster hasn’t had time to work on it yet. But, if it doesn’t bother you then I’ll type anyway. I’d hate to deny my public their few small bits of daily me. 
Oh, wow, so the smiley’s are gonna be huge next to these tiny letters! Alright! So what have I been up to even? Well, I got into scrapbooking fairly hardcore. Not like those people who have thousands of dollars invested and all kinds of like machines and stuff, but over the last month or two I’ve probably spent almost $100 at the Dollar Tree on supplies. If you scrapbook and have not yet visited your neighborhood Dollar Tree Store, I highly recommend that you check it out, unless of course you live in one of my neighborhoods, and then I suggest you go with me so that I don’t miss out on anything that you might find! 
I’ve made a ton of doctor’s appointments this month–we were behind, so now Jacob has been to the dermatologist for his eczema, I had my yearly physical (and all that that implies :rolleye: ‚ ) And over the next three weeks the kids and I all have eye appointments and the kids all have dental appointments and Jacob and I have follow-up appointments.
Aw crud! And now I’ve just remembered something I was supposed to do LAST Friday, so I’m gonna go for now, but I do promise I’ll come back soon and post more. Love to my reading fans.