Maniac Monday

What a crazy day! The bus was late picking the kids up for school which just threw my whole afternoon. Well maybe I should start by saying dh came home early for lunch saying his elbow was really hurting, he turned his nose up at the lunch I made. GRR!! Typical male I think??

Anyway the bus was late, had I been smart I would of just told dh to get the kids on the bus when I saw him come home and left then. So the bus was late, I had to be at the dr.'s office in Kearney at 1:00. The bus comes at 12:15 (usally) today it was almost 12:25. Jumped in my car and drove the 45 minutes to Kearney, was 10 minutes late for my appt. The dr came in 20 minutes later (now it's 1:30) didn't even look at my elbow (I have psoriasis..fuckin' yea..) gave me a script and said "come back if it doesn't work" and left. Went to the hell-hole Walmart (again had I been thinking I should of gone to Walgreens) got the script filled (took 25 minutes...it's now 2:05 now). Jumped in the car and flew home.

Kids & I played outside when they got home from school in the beautiful 45° weather, though it was a tad windy. Dh left for his Hunders Education Class (he's teaching) and the kids & I went to the grocery store.

Before we left for the store my mom called and told me one of her co-workers daughter died today..at the young age of 40 from a heart attack. Like David Letterman said tonight "Just because you get through today, doesn't mean you have tomorrow too." Everyday is a gift.

Is there life after "mom"?

Well before I get into that thought provoking question I should update what happened on Wednesday at the boys meeting.

It ended up not being an IEP meeting, because my boys therapist couldn't attend. So we'll be having another meeting in May for the actual IEP. We ended up having a sit down meeting and just going over how the boys have changed this last school year. They've made some great progress! It was decided that the boys (and Abby) will be attending another year of preschool next year..and it sounds like they ALL will be going to the same school they are going now! YEA! I was (and am) sooo happy!!! I still have my fingers crossed, but things did sound pretty promising when I left the meeting on wednesday.

And one more positive note-----WYATT IS POTTY TRAINED!! It all of a sudden clicked for him this week! I am offically DONE with diapers and pull-ups!!

Now on to my title question. Is there life after being mom? Last night I had a dream about a very, very dear online friend of mine that I lost touch with about 4 years ago (right about the time my life started going crazy). I woke up this morning with a heavy burden on my heart and just felt like I needed to share this dream with her. I emailed her, having not spoken to her in years I figured the email would come back as undeliverable..thinking maybe she no longer had internet, maybe switched servers, etc. What a suprise I had when several hours later I got a return email from her. She shared what was going on in her life, how much she has missed me, etc. I sent another email to her telling her what was going on here, how much I also missed her, etc. Then I felt like I had nothing to add. Before I had kids her & I would sit online and chat for hours (and I mean HOURS) and since she lives in Australia and the time difference we'd talk most of the night (morning for her) and 1/2 of the day (night for her) while I was at work. We never ran out of things to talk about. Now I feel like I can't contribute to anything beyond how the kids are.

Im in a few email groups, parenting groups, reading groups and a couple friend to friend groups. I can talk in my parenting & reading groups, but I feel so inadequate in my friend to friend groups.

Why is that? Is there life after being "mom"? How can I get back into the living and become a "friend" again?

Tomorrow is the day!

Actually today is the day since it's 12:30am..I gotta get to bed!!

At 1:30 today I (dh can't come with..grr) am meeting with the rest of the IEP team to discuss my boys school and that BS for this coming fall! All prayers are GREATLY appreciated!!! Im also going to have a fight on my hands to get my dd in the school also.

Look for an update tomorrow. Im off to bed now..

The weather outside is frightful..

boy if that isn't the truth!! The last thing we expected was 17" of snow in a 2 day period on March 20th!! So I think it's safe to say this is the last hurrah of winter snow for us here in Nebraska..at least I hope so. The kids had a great time outside yesterday with daddy blowing snow and almost driving me to the nearest looney bin by driving through snow drifts on the 4-wheeler.

Today the kids & I went outside again. Considering there is sooo much snow it really wasn't to bad outside. Unlike yesterday the wind wasn't blowing. So it was a nice winter day. We stayed outside for about an hour. All our winter gear is in the dryer now and we'll go outside again when dh gets home from work and blows snow again.

I did finish a book during the snow, "The Shop on Blossom Street" and it was fantastic!! Im anxious to get to the sequel "A Good Yarn".

Have to go scream at some kids now, they have been fighting like cats/dogs since we came in the house an hour ago.

Geeze!!

I've only been trying to log into my blog for the last 3 hours. Now Im to damn tired to even blog! I should of just given up several hours ago and read my book instead.

03/16/06

Well this morning I decided to forget Kindergym and my work out because I had way to many other things planned for this afternoon and didn't want the kids to hit meltdown while we were out running errands in the middle of the afternoon. So that's my excuse for not working out today..pretty lame one huh? I'll get back on board tomorrow.

So this afternoon after lunch the kids & I loaded up and went to the big city of Kearney.

The first thing on the agenda was haircuts for all the kids. Like usual, B & A were great and sat there like great kids. W on the other hand..screamed and ended up NOT getting a haircut, I sure hope dh's elbow gets better REAL soon so him & I can cut W's hair. It takes 2 of us to cut his hair, me holding W, dh chopping the heck out of his hair. When it's all said and done, it really does continue to amaze me how good dh is at haircutting. lol

So after the haircuts we went to Wal-mart. Im not a huge wal-mart fan at all, no it's not because "Wal-mart is destroying America" or any of the other BS that I've heard about Wal-mart. I hate it because the place is a damn zoo!! Having to park over a block away from the store (with 3 kids) is hell. Why did I go then? Well I hadn't been there in awhile (for the above reason) and just felt like risking all of our lives walking through a parking lot. WOW was I shocked to see the remodeling going on in there! I must admit, it was really great going today because the place feels like it was literally thrown in the air and everything was in a TOTAL different location then the last time I was there (6-8 months ago). So it felt like we were in a different Wal-mart in a different town. It was a mini-adventure trying to find the things we were looking for and not get ran over by carts.

After Wal-mart, dh called me on the cell and said he had to run to out of town for work for a few hours, so knowing he wasn't going to be home for dinner I took the kids to Burger King. They played, and played and played..and surpised me by even eating almost ALL their food!

Then it was 6pm, we went to the library. Got a couple videos for the kids, some books for the kids and went home.

I got 2 bookring books in the mail today which really puts me in a bind. My CR Im going to also throw into the wild world as a bookring and I was really hoping to finish that before I got any new rings. So Im stuck..do I finish my CR (that Im JUST starting) or put it aside. I suppose I should put it aside and read what I *know* other people are waiting for.

Dh finally called the dr. today about his leaking elbow. He has an appointment tomorrow morning at 8:15 with the surgeon. My guess..they're going to put a drain tube in and restitch it.

Real beautiful day!

And if the weather really does what the weatherman says it's going to do this was the last "nice" day we'll be having for about a week. Nothing but snow for the next 7 days. WOW..didn't we just have spring break last week??

Today I was hoping to just stay home while the kids were in school, but alas..no such luck. I went to Kearney and ran around town, and literally got home 5 minutes before the kids bus pulled into our driveway. I had to make a dr. appointment, went to check out the YMCA in Kearney (they have a great swimming pool that Im going to take my kids to maybe this weekend) and went to a USB and of course..picked up 4 new (to me) books. I came home and had another book waiting for me that I got off of ebay. So it was like Christmas while I surrounded myself with my new books! lol I need to get a bookbox or something together for bookcrossings so I can get some of these books I've already read out of the house. My little drawer under my computer desk is overflowing with books I've read.

Tonight the kids & I went to church, every wednesday (starting tonight) we are watching a video about the book of Matthew. It was wonderful. The kids played downstairs with Grandma Jane while I had 1 hour to watch a movie uninterrupted!

Not much else is new..Dh's elbow (that he had surgery on) is seeping some and I've been bugging him for 3 days now to get his ass back to the surgeon and have it looked at..typical male.."it'll be ok..it's just healing."

**Kim**..I know you're reading this..it's seeping clear liquid mixed with very little red blood from the incision..should I be concerned?? He says it itches like crazy on the inside. It's leaking enough to where he needs to wear a band-aid.

Jen

We've all heard the saying..

"If you don't like the weather in ___________ (insert your state here) then wait a minute." Well today was JUST that! The kids & I went to "Imagine & Learn" at the Y (them to "imagine & learn", me to punish myself with another 30 minutes on the dreaded treadmill). When we left the house it was 9am, and 45°, we got out of the Y at 10am and it was cold and raining. The kids left for school at 12:15 and it was pea size hailing, they got out of school at 3:30 and it was snowing, with snow actually on the ground! At 4:30 it was raining again and the snow was melted. Now it's probably in the upper 30's and calm with a very cloudy sky.

While the kids were at school I ran around town like a mad woman (what else is new?). While gone Mardell (if you don't know who she is yet, you'd better read the last 10 or so posts!!) called and the IEP meeting for the boys is set up for Wedenday the 22nd at 1:30-2:30. Good..another week to get my ducks in a row.

I gotta get my butt to bed now, the kids & I are going to Kindergym tomorrow (well them to Kindergym..me another 30 minutes on that damn treadmill). Im going to TX in July to meet some of my triplet friends, I need to get in shape or at least die trying! I'm down about 5 lbs now since beginning of Feb. WOO HOO!!

Nothing to do with school!

I thought it would be fun to blog one entry that didn't have anything to do with school issues! :)

The last several days have been sooo nice here! Unbelieveable nice with temps in the 60'70's and the kids & I have been taking full advantage of this nice weather! The last several days we've gone to the park, played outside and even went for ice cream and ate it outside (in March!!). Tomorrow the forcast is rain, which will be nice because we need it soo bad.

Dh had surgery on both his arms last week (did I mention that?). He had golfers elbow in his right elbow, and tennis elbow in his left elbow. And he doesn't even play these sports?! Anyone who knows my husband is probably dieing from laughing reading this, just thinking of him..in shorts! And on either a golf green, or the tennis court! My hubby is much more comfortable in camo hiding in the woods. :) So he's still mending. His right elbow is pretty much back to normal, but his left one he still wears in a sling. He goes for his post-op appointment on Thursday. And hopefully starts therapy for his left elbow.

Wyatt was suppose to have his post-op appointment today for his adenoid/tube surgery, but it was cancelled, so I have to re-schedule that sometime in the future. Oh great another thing to TRY to remember to do.

I finished an AWESOME book! "Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke. I highly recommend this book to ANY book lover! It was bigger then books I normal tend to gravitate to, but I didn't give the size of the book another thought once I read the first page. AWESOME and probably will be the best book for me this year!!

Im starting "SAHM I Am" by Meredith Efken tonight. I think this is going to be a quick read for me, it's all in email format with a subject matter I can totally relate to. :)

03/06

And today Mardell called me to set up the IEP meeting and she's STILL saying that the boys won't beable to attend preschool. She said "We want to have this IEP meeting soon so we can decide what school you'll be sending the boys too so they can continue to receive service."

THIS WOMAN IS PISSING ME OFF!! She obviously thinks Im stupid and seems to think that she can pull this shit!! I still have a strong feeling that this will work in OUR favor, not HERS! Im still clueless on what is going to happen to Abby. I went to the preschool today and talked to 1 of the teachers there and asked her if she thought the boys would backslide if Abby was removed from their classroom next year. She said "I think it would benefit the boys." I said "That's not what I wanted to hear." She said "I understand your concern, and I totally see your point, but Abby does mother the boys quite a bit and that may hinder them from achieving more." {{SIGH}}

So the IEP meeting is next week, either Wednesday or Thursday. That gives me 1 week to get all my concerns regarding removing Abby from the classroom together. And it gives me 1 week to get in touch with all the other IEP members and get a feel of what they think regarding both the boys and Abby..I don't want there to be any suprises. Im doing my homework and miss my "bookmates" terribly!! I hope all of you are doing good!!

03/02

Again this should of been posted last week.

On Thursday (?) I got another call from Jan Thelen (NE Dept. of Ed
for special services) and she told me after 10 phone calls she
finally got Mardell on the phone! She said to me "I don't know if
Mardell mis-understood the regulations or what, but I have gone over
everything with her again and Im sending you the information that I
went over with Mardell. So both of you will have the same paperwork
and hopefully there will be no more questions regarding this." Jan
told me that the school district CAN NOT dictate where a child who
has an IEP goes, it's the IEP team to decide if kids with an IEP go
on to kindergarten, or if another year of preschool would benefit
the children. Jan told me that she told Mardell that the IEP team
COULD NOT wait until May to meet and Jan told me that Mardell
said "You can call Jennifer and tell her I'll be calling her early
next week and setting up an IEP meeting then." Jan said if there is
anymore problems or questions I can call her. I told her
how "thankful I was for her and how happy I was that I contacted
her". She said "you're welcome and yes I am VERY happy you
contacted me also, I don't know where Mardell got that
information." I *think* Troy & I might have a bad name with Mardell
now, since we went over her head, but personally I don't give a
crap.

It makes me totally angry that someone who is on an IEP team
(Mardell) doesn't know the regulations!! Troy & I are left
wondering how many other kids she pushed like this, when she
shouldn't of!!

So I really think that the boys situation is behind us. Everyone on
the IEP team (minus Mardell) agrees that the boys would benefit from
another year of preschool. Now we just have Abby to deal with. I
don't want to enroll her in another school, but I don't know how
much of a chance we have to get her in the boys school. Keep your
fingers crossed for us!!

02/28/06

WOW it's been a crazy last couple of days. My kids all got a nasty cold last week, last weekend the kids & I met my mom in Omaha, NE for a fun filled kid weekend. We had soo much fun! Despite the kids still feeling kinda icky they had a blast, we went to the Omaha zoo, went to Chuck E. Cheese 3x and went swimming everyday at the
hotel. Yesterday (Monday) Troy had surgery on both his elbows. So he's been pretty out of it regarding parenting help. It was only an in/out surgery and he should be back to normal soon.

Now on to the school update. Last week I emailed Nebraska Department of Education Special Services and I got a very interesting phone call yesterday afternoon from a woman named Jan Thelen. She said that she had also gotten an email from Staci (boys
therapist and teacher) and she (Jan) called Mardell (the woman who Im starting to really hate) and left her a message to call her and also emailed Staci and she was waiting for a phone call from her also. Staci has really started to become not only my boys therapist but our advocate. She is really pulling for my kids to attend another year of preschool. On to the interesting news..Mardell has been telling me this whole time that it was the "state law" that kids who are 5 before 10/15
can not attend public preschool. I found out from Jan that it's NOT a state law..it's a state regulation. Jan said that unless our school district made their own law saying this (which Staci told me today is NOT the case). Jan also said unless there is a waiting list to join the school (which Staci told me today is also NOT the case) there is no reason why the boys can't attend another year of
preschool. Jan said the as long as the IEP team agrees that another year of preschool would benefit the boys then they can go (Mardell is the ONLY one on our team who does not agree with this). Why is Mardell doing this??? Because IF my boys attend preschool next year the state may/may not provide funding for the boys. Jan said there are ways to get around this, especially if the IEP team agrees the
boys need another year, but it's not a guarantee that the state will provide funding to the school. Jan said she was going to talk to her colleagues about funding after talking to Mardell & Staci and get back to me. Mardell also told me that the IEP team is scheduled to meet in May and Troy & I had until then to make up my mind
regarding which private preschool all 3 of my kids will be attending (she told me this last Wednesday). Jan asked when the IEP team was meeting to discuss this, I told her "May". She said "Oh NOOOO..that's wayyy to long. I will be talking to Mardell about that."

Abby on the other hand is pretty much SOL. Since she did not qualify for services, she will be 5 by 10/15, Jan pretty much told me that she didn't see how Abby could qualify to attend a public preschool. So it's a definate possibility that we will be enrolling her in another school next fall. Unless we can find a way to prove
that the boys need Abby at their school to strive.

So we continue to wait and pray. I have a good feeling though that this will work out in our favor.

02/20-More school crap

Thanks so much everyone for your support regarding our school problem. Things just keep getting worse. I *thought* I had our preschool situation straighted out. I talked to the ESU (Educational Service Unit) here in town, they have a preschool that is NOT connected to the school district and their prices were reasonable ($50.00 per month, per child for 4 days per week, 3 hours a day). BUT..this afternoon I got a call from Staci (thearapist & teacher now) and she told me some pretty bad things about that school (I don't know how she heard I had contacted them). So now Im clueless again. Staci wasn't just saying that because it's another school, she is 100% behind me and agrees that our kids should not be going to kindergarden, she told it to me friend to friend. Mardell (the woman who broke the news to me about the kids having to go to kindergarden..and she is 100% FOR this idea..so her & I are not seeing eye to eye) is suppose to call me any minute. I don't know what she's going to tell me, but Stacie told me to expect her phone call around 3pm, it's 3:05 now. I asked Stacie how many kids this BS is affecting and she said only your kids. GRR!! Troy & I are seriously considering NO school this coming year. Heaven help me if that happens, I've enjoyed my 2 day a week little break. I've been going out to the YMCA and working out and running errands..it's been nice, but if I need to give that up so be it.

02/19

This weekend was pretty low key, considering what we have been dealing with I welcomed it! On friday night Blaine started coughing and complaining of a headache. I didn't really give it much thought, but it seems to have gotten worse, especially the coughing and kept me up almost all night last night. So tonight I took him the ER..I know, I know..it definately didn't require an ER visit, but with our upcoming trip this week to see my mom the LAST thing I wanted was having to cancel because of sick kids, so I thought I'd better take Blaine in, get him on some meds if needed and keep an eye on the other 2 kids if it was indeed something that would make us cancel our trip.

So Blaine & I bundled up at 7pm (when dh got home from work) and headed to the ER. This is our 2nd trip there within the last year. It turned out to be pretty much nothing. The dr. said it *could* be the beginning of something, so he put him on antibotics just incase and gave him some cough meds with codine..ahh..he's been cough free since 8pm. He was literally coughing from the moment we walked into the ER until we left..non-stop!!

02/17/06

Got some figures from private preschools in the area..holy shit it is preschool robbery!!

Option 1-$15.00 registration + $75.00 per child, per month for 2 days a week, 2 1/2 hours a day.
Option 2-$15.00 registration + $70.00 per child, per month for 2 days a week, 2 1/2 hours a day.

Still waiting for 2 other options.

Right now we pay $37.50 (for only Abby, boys are free) a month, 2 days a week, 3 hours a day and that includes busing! The other schools don't provide that.

02/16/06

My kids preschool teacher (also my boys therapist) called me this am and told me to NOT put my kids in kindergarden, even 1/2 days this fall. She said it's to stressful for the kids. She said she's trying to set up a meeting with the teachers in our district to talk about this situation. She told me the kindergarden teachers are in an uproar because of this, having little 4 year olds coming to kindergarden who are obviously not ready.

So now I don't know what we're going to do. For my own benefit I started contacting the private preschools in town today to get some $$ figures.

She also told me today that she can't legally tell me (from a teachers point of view) if my kids are ready to go to kindergarden or not. She said it's out of her control and since their b-day is before the cut off date there is nothing she can do to say if they are ready or not. I guess they just HAVE to be ready. They are not allowing any school age kids (turn 5 before 10/15) to attend the preschool. She told me friend to friend, not to send them to K this fall. So I got the impression that was her suttle way of telling me from a teachers point of view not to send them.

We do still have an IEP and I asked early childhood today about them funding preschool for the boys, and I was told "We will not fund private preschool, but will provide the necessary aids for your boys if needed." I was also told if we (Troy & I) were not happy with this, then we may have to get an adovate involved, but she quickly said "no one has ever done that before." and I said "and I hope we're not the first, because I don't feel what Im requesting is unreasonable." The more I think about putting them in K this fall (even for 1/2 days) the more I don't like it. My kids will constantly be behind the class and suffering to keep up because they will only be there for 1/2 days.

I will try to contact the school district tomorrow and ask them if they'll pay for the boys preschool, but Im sure that'll be a no since they are offering school, even though it's kindergarden.

Troy & I are now wondering if we should just say screw it to school completely next fall??

School districts suck!! 02/15/06

This should of been posted on 02/15

The school called today with very upsetting news. They have changed the requirements for school and the new cut off date for kindergarden is Oct. 15th (it was Oct. 1st), so we no longer qualify for public preschool, and we made the cut off..by 6 days. GRR!! Now it looks like we're going to have a little battle on our hands with the school. There is no way my kids are ready for all day, everyday kindergarden. And it just cringes my stomach to think if they do go to all day everyday kindergarden this fall that they'll be going to 1st grade in 2007 at the age of...5!!! Rather then retype everything Im going to copy/paste an email I just sent to another online friend of mine who is in the same situation with her school. Her triplets are also 4 and the school wants to send them to all day everyday kindergarden too..with 1st grade in 2007. Here's the email I typed to her..

____________________________________________________________________

The woman who called me today to tell me this *wonderful* news (hahaha..she actually thought I'd be pleased!!) told me "I think you're underestimating your kids." I said "You know what..you could be right..but there is still no way Im going to send my 5 year olds to first grade in 2007 if they go all day everyday kindergarden this fall." She then recommended to me that I go to the kindergarden class and observe the class then decide (if we should go all day) next school year. Regardless my kids WILL be going 1/2 day this fall, all day everyday next fall. They're only in school 2 days a week now, (3 hours per day). Wyatt especially will never, ever, ever in a million years no matter what happens in the next 6 months beable to handle going from 2 days a week (3 hours a day) to 5 days a week (7 hours a day). She said "I think you'll be suprised with how close acedmically (sp?) your kids are from the kindergardners". Then she said something that really raised my eyebrows..."We only have 238 kids between k-12, so it isn't like your son (Wyatt) wouldn't have the extra attention to help him." Sooo..to me that statement said "We need to get as many kids as we can in kindergarden to meet a quota." Im not pushing my kids just so the school district can get the funding they need if that is indeed the case.

The woman today also told me that I could move my kids from 1/2 day kindergarden to full day anytime next school year. There is no way, even if my kids do show readiness, that Im doing that. I don't want the school to have any leverage of being able to say my kids are ready for 1st grade in 2007. We had this same option this school year for preschool, we were told (by the same woman) that we could move our kids from 2 days to 4 days (1/2 days) anytime during the school year, but both Troy & I decided to just keep them at 2 days and next year we'd move them to 4 days. I am sooooooooo glad we decided to do that, because if we would have moved them to 4, I don't think we'd have an option for this coming school year. They'd go in all day everyday kindergarden.

She also said we could put them in all day everyday kindergarden next school year, and just repeat kindergarden next year. Nope, we're not going to do that either, 1/2 day next school year, all day everyday in 2007. I've got my feet dug in and Im not movin'.

Nebraska the cut off is Oct. 15, and they start school middle of August. Crazy..simply crazy IMHO.

I sleep at Red Lights

I have been searching online for a decent price for this book and finally got it FOR FREE from paperbackswap.com. I picked it up today waiting for the kids to get home from school and started laughing immediately! I can't wait to get done with my CR and my upcoming book (that's a ring) and read it!! I know it's going to be a very quick read for me!!

Kids had their preschool Valentines day party today. They came home full of sugar and wound up tighter then a drum!!

W surgery day

A quick post then Im off to take a shower and get my butt to bed!!

Today Wyatt has tubes put in his ears and his adenoids removed. The
surgery went really well, no suprises. But him waking up was a
different story. He went in at 7:30am, and I didn't see him again
until almost 11:30, surgery was only 30 minutes. Even after I saw
him he was still sleeping and still on oxygen. Then after he
finally started waking up enough to comprend what was going on, he
couldn't keep anything down. We tried everything, and everything
kept coming right back up. What a extremely tiring day. He finally
went 20 minutes w/o throwing up and I literally signed the release
papers and ran out of there with him, he did throw up 2x when he got
home, but was obviously more comfortable (both of us were) with
dealing it at home. He's fine now, hasn't thrown up in over 4 hours
and is sleeping.

Originally I figured I'd be home no later then noon, instead it was
almost 4:30pm. Sitting in a hospital from 6am-4pm was horrible!!
For what was suppose to be a simple in/out procedure.

While at the hospital I did finish "When Joy Came to Stay". Im going to start "The First Mistake" by Merline Lovelace in bed.

Snow/upcoming vacation/blah, blah, blah

Yesterday late afternoon it started to snow, big pretty flakes coming down. The kids went crazy and demanded to go outside at 5pm, so out they went. This morning they saw all the snow (less then 1", it'll be gone this afternoon and leave behind a muddy mess)and once again they all 3 demanded to go outside, so all 3 kids were outside by 8am this morning and played until 9:30ish. Nice little morning break, I got my grocery list done, made the beds, put away the clothes.

Last night I was up wayyy to late getting driving directions for our upcoming vacation. The kids & I are going to meet my mom in Omaha end of the month for a fun-filled kids weekend. Im kinda sick of always going to the same places, so I got some directions to some new places, the Children's Museum, Aquarium and another museum. Who knows if we'll actually go there, but at least it'll be a couple more options. Weather permitting I really want to go to the zoo this time, this is the last year the kids will get in for free.

I did get a couple more chapters of "When Joy Came to Stay" read last night. Im well over 1/2 way now. Im still enjoying it, but the plot is starting to drag some.

Let's see..what else. The kids have school today, so I'll be going to the Y to work out. I'm sure I'll just walk on the treadmill again. Jane might be there so hopefully the time will go by fast while we chat. I wish I could think of a way to beable to read while I walk (lol..kill 2 birds w/ 1 stone..lol), but when I was there last week I couldn't think of how I could do it. They do have a TV there, but don't get a lot of channels, most of them are FOX news, CNN, MSNBC, etc.

Gotta go take a shower and give the kids a bath before preschool, Im cutting it close it's almost 10:30 already! And I gotta get lunch going. YIKES! Where did the morning go??!!??!!