Hello, everyone! I feel like I haven’t written a post on a long time. But it’s only been a week.
Some exciting news in this house!! Bailey and his team made it to the Gopher State Tournament of Champions!!!! We were all very surprised, they haven’t done so well in the league. Apparently they go by tournament wins, and are given points based on how well they do and how they advance. They did well enough to come in 3rd for tournament points, so they slipped in the back door! Now for reasons I don’t have the energy to get into, they play better in tournaments, so keep your fingers crossed! 🙂 We are all very happy, and very proud of them.
We will have my 13-year-old niece here visiting for 3 weeks, from Iowa. She’ll be here Saturday. I keep thinking she is only 12, but I forget she just turned 13 in April. So, I will have my hands full with 2 kids everyday plus my regular daycare toddler. Should be interesting. I know, what’s the big deal with two kids? When you are used to having an only child, then you have any more than that on a regular basis, it’s a little overwhelming. It’ll be fun, I have so many things planned to keep us busy. She is in love with Justin Bieber, I can’t be more excited about that<<<sarcasm there!
I have Bailey’s birthday party to put together. He’ll be 10 on the 8th and we’ll get together that day here at the house with the family. I am attempting a “baseball field” cake. If it turns out, I’ll take some pictures. We’ll spend the day just us (and now my niece) then have the family over in the evening. Cake and ice cream, and hopefully a good time! Jason has always taken Bailey’s birthday off, and we do whatever he wants. Which is usually fish all day. I’ll pack a lunches and we’ll head out for the day. We are trading our camper for a fishing boat. The camper sounded great, but after baseball and work, and finding an open weekend to take it out, it’s not worth the money we are paying for it. SO we are trading for a nice fishing boat. I see us spending so much more time on that than we could ever in the camper. Bailey could fish all day, every day if we’d let him. I just picked it up again after many years of just coming along for the fun of it. So, I am sure we’ll spend his birthday out on the boat fishing. 🙂 Weather permitting (please be perfect!)
Well that’s it for me today. I know I have so much more running through my brain but again, it’s kind of mush lately. Days run into each other, before I know it summer will be over and who know what this September will bring me. I always seem to go into a slight depression every September, boy goes back to school, a year older, which I can’t seem to make stop. Now, the good thing is I know what to expect and I did have an easier time last year. Whatever will I do when he goes to college, or leaves the house for good…..sigh……………….
Us Girls..Our Views 
HOLY CRAP!!!! IT’S THURSDAY ALREADY?????
It can be indeed overwhelming another child fro 3 weeks in your house. Good you are so positive. I wish you lots of fun and success with organizing Baily’s birthday party!
Nikki,I want to see pics of the cake for sure.Have fun with your neice out,it’ll be busy but a fun time Im sure!And I cant believe your getting rid of your camper already.Seems like you just got it.Gosh that year went fast uh?
July 1st is our holiday here and my hubby took friday off too so its a 4 day weekend!!YAY!We are off to the beach for Canada day(weather permitting-stupid rain all the time) and then I need to do some baking for my grandma’s 90th birthday celebration on saturday.Suppose I will have to do some visiting with ALOT of family that day.oh joy!
Have a good thursday and weekend everyone…and happy 4th of July to you americans!:)
We haven’t even been able to use it. So to me, I feel like we are paying X amount of dollars each month for it to sit there. A boat just suits us better. Maybe when Bailey is grown and NOT playing in sports 4 out 7 days a week, we can get a camper again.
MMM,my comment seems to have disappeared!
Not much new and exciting here, since Monday. The “big work deadline” along with several smaller but important deadlines were yesterday. I met the deadlines (if you include sending the last report out at 6:30am today). However, I still have a lot of stuff to work on that I had put off. There are a couple of new projects I have to get cranking on, too. So it’s not exactly retirement around here, but at least it won’t be as crazy as June.
I am trying to figure out what to do for fun in July. Of course the fourth is coming up. The kids’ school is closed on the 5th. So I am thinking that on Sunday, I’ll take the girls to Sunday School (for the first time) and church, then go to my parents’ county and watch a live production of 101 Dalmations in their open-air theater, and then flop in on my parents until Monday night. I’m pretty sure my parents will like the idea. I may get some push back from the folks around here, though – they may complain about not being able to spend the 4th with my kids. It’s weird, I am always given a guilt trip for wanting to spend time with my own kids, yet I’m supposed to facilitate everyone else’s time with them. Anyhoo, the 101 Dalmations is playing for 2 weekends, so let’s see.
Something weird happened to me yesterday. Let’s just say I was already really stressed out over something work-related that I needed to resolve, but I did my best to have a normal evening with the kids, taking them to the park for a picnic and some exercise. E was cranky right off the bat but she seemed to get over it. When we’d been there long enough, I decided to see if they were selling ice cream at the vending station, which is between all the ball fields. A bunch of kiddy ball games were in progress, so I thought, let’s give it a try. I told my girls that in 2 minutes we’d walk over there. Well, wouldn’t you know it, within those 2 minutes, E decides to blatantly break a rule (going up the sliding board), which always earns her a punishment. So I said, E, you are getting no ice cream. Let’s go home. So A starts whining because she didn’t do anything wrong and had her heart set on the ice cream. So knowing there was no good alternative, I said I’d buy ice cream but E couldn’t have any. So we started walking over there (and I was thinking, how am I going to do this, I can’t sit and eat a whole ice cream in front of a 3-year-old like that, I’ll have to think up some excuse to give her at least a little). E comes along but very slowly, to make sure I notice that she is PO’d. She gets behind but we’re on a straight path in a very safe place (far from any street, woods, water, etc.) where she’s been 100 times and she knows exactly where we’re going. So I turn the corner and get in line at the concession stand. About 30 seconds in, I send A to watch out for E and make sure she’s still on her way.
So here comes E with her hand being held by a woman. This woman saw my poor, sad, forlorn, lost, abandoned looking child and decided to do something about it. Now, I don’t mind that; I could see why she thought the kid needed help. I called the kid over and explained to the woman that she was walking slowly because she was upset but I knew where she was and she knew where she was going. Well, apparently this was not enough for this woman. She came back at me at least 3 times, obviously wanting me to know that she didn’t like the way I was parenting my kid. I kept trying to “pleasantly” tell her I have things under control and thank you. She kept insisting “she was NOT WITH AN ADULT.” Meanwhile I’m standing in the concession line getting ready to buy my kids ice cream? NOT. I decided to leave because that woman was irritating me so much. I also was more cranky to my kids because of it. I wish I had thought of something smart to say that would shut that woman up and teach her to mind her own business.
Excuse me, but I trust my daughter to be able to walk from point A to point B on her own. She has proven herself capable as I’ve gradually increased her freedom. I know not everyone is comfortable with parenting the way I parent, but that’s really not the point. The child was 100% safe and nothing bad happened or could have happened as a result of my parenting choice yesterday (well, other than that woman ruining our evening). Do you think there’s a point where people ought to know to mind their own business?
I’m also disappointed in myself for letting stuff like that get to me. I need to work on that.
Other things I need to work on: getting a haircut (it’s been several months now) and losing the weight I put on over the past couple of months. I had been almost to my goal and then started going the other way. It is manageable though – right now I’m about 5 lbs over. Sigh, didn’t I say that about 6 months ago??
That open air play and spending time at your parents sounds like a really good time.
Boy, that woman would have really pissed me off but I’m not sure how I’d have responded either. Was it best to ignore her? Back when I was younger I might have started to explain but now I’m afraid I’d just spill my guts. It really was none of her business and she’s not just a toddler. The one I feel the worst for is A because she ended up with nothing and didn’t misbehave. Honestly, I’d have been really mad at E. It seems like she misbehaved and got a whole bunch of attention.
Have a great 4th and I hope you go to your parents. It will be good for you to get away.
That was another reason I had to leave, because she was getting that look on her face like “oh goody, someone to sympathize for me.”
Don’t worry, E didn’t get off easy. She got an earFULL and a memorable swat to round it out. And I told her she should apologize to A for making her miss getting ice cream, which she did. She was appropriately guilty. The busybody really wasn’t her “fault,” but I told her that I should have just spanked her for going up the slide in the first place; then we all would have been happier in the end.
E doesn’t “tantrum” so she has other ways to let us know she’s pissed (like pout and move slowly), and for the most part I treat it the same as a tantrum. Which is to say, ignore it as long as it doesn’t cause problems for anyone else. Let’er stew in her own juices. Which is what I was “trying” to do until Ms. Busybody came along.
I forgot to mention that as we were walking away, both kids started whining (about the ice cream) and I spoke sharply to them and yanked E’s arm. (Yes, I was in a FOUL mood, but nobody was hurt.) Ms. Busybody was watching and she came up and said “oh please come back, I’m getting worried about them . . . I’m sorry, don’t take it out on them . . . ” Like I was going to tear my kids apart limb by limb once I got them alone. Once I got Ms. Busybody to buzz off (again), I started wondering if she was gonna call the cops or something. She did make it a point to go around another way to pass us again. Needless to say I just kept getting madder and madder.
For the record, my kids are both still alive.
It’s too bad you don’t carry around a copy of Free Range Kids. You could have given it to her as a “thank you gift”. Maybe she’d learn something!
Congratulations to Bailey and enjoy his birthday – and that boat!
The 13-year-old niece will make life interesting! It will be an adjustment, but most likely it will net out to a good experience. Drama! I personally like girl drama. It’s a nice contrast from my relatively boring self. But besides the drama, you will have a chance to be a good influence at a time when it probably matters most.
That is certainly what we are hoping for. She needs a positive influence in her life. Where everyone else (for the most part) has given all hope up, we are and always will be here for her. I’d like to do this every summer. Also, a good incentive for her to be GOOD! Really, she needs to know there is someone who does want to spend time with her, and love her. She’s 13, going through that preteen stuff, on top of all that the world has thrown at her. She has witnessed, and endured far too much for a young girl. I want to take some of that away if I can, even if just for a short period in her life. I want her to feel happiness. Thanks SKL!
I’m excited for Bailey and his teamates. I wish I would of played more sports. I was always a huge sports fan but having asthma kind of makes it hard to play most sports. I played football in 8th and 9th grade, and basketball in 5th grade. “that’s it” I hope he sticks with it, who knows he could be the next Joe Mauer.
My week has been rolling right along. My goal today is to weed the garden b/c it has been taken over by weeds 😦 I started on Monday and didn’t get far b/c they are so thick!
That’s exciting about the boat, Nikki! We looked at campers too this spring, but I’m glad we haven’t gotten one for the reasons you mentioned. We haven’t had time to use one! What kind of boat is it and do you have it yet? At this moment I can’t think of what else to say so I’m going to hit the garden and maybe get something accomplished today!
this is what type we are getting…. http://images02.olx.com/ui/1/27/48/12591948_1.jpg I will take a picture when they get home with it.
Ok, I’m obsessing about your cake…
First – Congrats to Bailey and the Bison on making it to the Big Game… I hope they have a GREAT time!
I get the boat thing… I’d love to have a camper, too, but where you live with all those lakes? It seems like it would be a requirement of residence to own a boat. Just make sure the floor is carpeted! We get “rowboats” with the cabin that we rent in WI, and it’s just a plain aluminum-hulled boat, and holy smoke, is that boat NOISY!!
Ok, back to obsessing… I have ideas (rather simple) for a cake, if you want them. (Please want them.) They center on a “baseball diamond” look, and involve a whole team playing the game…
(I promise, any advice/idea I give will NOT have your cake ending up looking like these: http://www.cakewrecks.com/2009/11/all-your-base-are-be-wrong-to-us.html. Or this: http://www.cakewrecks.com/2008/09/why-we-need-more-male-cake-decorators_22.html.)
Yes, I have a friend who had a this cake made for her sons team. With pictures of the boys and everything. I’ll send you the link to the picture through facebook, you tell me what you think. I NEED all the help I can get!
Should go well… I sent you some ideas. I love cakes that look hard but assemble well. This one reminds me of the one I did for Josh’s last birthday – the “Cars” cake (pics in the “baking” folder on my FB page). It looks all complicated, but it really isn’t. It’ll be fun for you. I’m jealous!! I want to come and help!!! But you’ll do great.
Congrats to Bailey! I bet they will have a blast.
Going out on a boat to fish sounds wonderful 🙂 Have fun!!
I’m up to my ears with work and have a ton to do before I leave for 3 weeks of vacation at the end of the month. Once again work has been the reason for my absence, hopefully it’ll calm down soon because I miss being here regularly!!
Hope you all have a good day!
Lots of good new Nikki That’s great! Maybe good news comes in 3’s so you have one more good thing coming? Just a thought. I like Laura’s first comment that usually how I feel on Thursdays. The cake wrecks are funny I think that’s why I usually make pies.
My back actually has some improvement, which has me hopefully which is a lot better than feeling hopeless. Over the week-end I was in a lot of pain and thought I’m really going to have to do something. I’m still going to seek out some physical therapy money is a small issue. I’m grateful to be feeling a little bit better walking to the mail box everyday to stretch and trying not to sit at the computer for long periods of time. Easier said than done.
I’ve got a huge case of the blahs today. My computer has “issues” so I’ve been trying to clean her up. Which means a lot of sitting and waiting.
I hope the boat is cool. That will be neat for you guys. I can see why you don’t want the camper but it did come in handy for some things. I’ll miss your coming here for the weekend. I thought that was fun. But the boat will be used so much more.
I hope the team does well. It seems they do well at tourney’s. Where is this one at?
My brother is coming for the weekend. We have a grad party on Sat at 3 but the closer we get to it the more I’m thinking I won’t be able to go. It’s supposed to get really humid this weekend. At least I can go to the cabin and feel like I’m outside in that screened in porch. Happy 4th all.