A Not So Great Day

Nicole had a not so great day last week, and this week it was my turn.  Just wanted to share with everyone my not so great day.

It actually started at 3:33 in the morning when Emmersyn was screaming for me to change her because she had peed on herself.  No big deal...this is a twice nightly occurrence.  The problem was that I couldn't fall back asleep.  But, instead of running at 4 in the morning, I decided to toss and turn in bed until 6.  I was exhausted at 6:00, but managed to get in a quick run.  The positive was that at least I don't work on Mondays so being tired was not going to be THAT BAD.

After I showered, I heard Emmersyn screaming again for me.  After she woke up in the middle of the night, she decided to lay on her lion and watch Toopy and Bino in the living room.  I thought I cleaned up the living room floor before bed last night, but I obviously forgot something important.  So, when I went to see what was wrong, she was pulling at her hair.  I thought she just wanted me to take out her rubber band because she hates having her haired tied back.  But, come to find out, it was red "my dough" stuck in her hair.  And I mean stuck!  And I mean a lot!  I thought we were going to have to cut her beautiful long hair!  We were already running late, and I had to give her a shower to try to get out this crazy "my dough."  Some of it came out, some of it didn't.  The positive was that at least we didn't have to cut her hair.  She still has her beautiful long locks!

Needless to say, we proceeded to school.  I dropped off Emmersyn and then dropped off Cameron.  Instead of going to Starbucks to read a little, I ran to the store to return something and pick up a few odds and ends.  On my way home, I picked up my coffee from Tim Hortons which was quicker than Starbucks.

When I got home, I emptied the car and then thought I would drink my coffee to wake me up before I got my day going.  Unfortunately, another not so great thing happened.  They gave me a black coffee rather than a half coffee, half hot chocolate.  I was so annoyed!  How was I going to wake up?  The positive was that once again I didn't have to work, so I could be tired, and lazy and take a little rest.

So, I decided to lay down for a few minutes.  No sooner do I lay down, at 9:45 my phone starts ringing....from Cameron's school.  It's never a good sign when a school calls unexpectedly.  The secretary proceeds to tell me that Cameron hit his head while walking from the parking lot to the school once I dropped him off this morning.  I was told that he hit his head against the brick building, he was bleeding, but they cleaned him up, gave him some ice, and that he was denying feeling dizzy.  He was complaining that his head hurt only where he hit his head.  They informed his teacher and were going to keep an eye on him.  The positive was that it wasn't serious enough to warrant a visit to a doctor or hospital.

Mohamed decided to pick up Emmersyn and bring her to Costco after school.  I told him this might be a bad idea because she has been acting up lately at the stores.  Well, I get a call 2 hours after him leaving for Costco, with Emmersyn screaming in the background.  Mohamed said that Emmersyn has been an absolute nightmare and that he can not control her at Costco.  He had asked some random woman at Costco to pretend they were the Costco police to entice her off of the hammock, after Mohamed couldn't get her off after more than 15 minutes.  The woman first stated, "oh you are not the parent?" And Mohamed responded, "Yes I am the parent.... that is why she is not listening to me." This tactic did not work.  They next tried to tell her that a monster was going to get her...that didn't work either.

When Mohamed was trying to  talk to someone about a refund, Emmersyn didn't want to wait.  Good thing they have those Costco guards at the door checking all the groceries in the cart because the guard captured Emmersyn and brought her back to Mohamed.

The pharmacist had to give Emmersyn her bottle of water, she threw her shoes, opened all the refrigerator doors, crushed the chip bags, wouldn't come out of the fridges, etc., etc....Mohamed can go on and on...

She was still screaming when they pulled into the driveway....There was no consoling her because the receipt that the Costco worker drew the smiley face on had flown away in the wind.  Mohamed said he circled the parking lot looking for the receipt and had no luck.....The positive was they both arrived home together with no physical injuries...but, they were both emotionally bruised.  A quick nap for both of them helped them recover.

When it was finally time to pick up Cameron from school, I was looking forward to checking out this head injury.  I spoke with his teacher briefly and she insisted he was fine.  Cameron on the other hand proceeded to tell me he had a bad day at school and was crying when he showed me the band-aid on his finger.  This kid does NOT like band-aids.  He asked if he could take it off as soon as we got home.  I guess he cut his finger so his teacher put a band-aid on it....He hurt his leg from a bike at school, and has a scab on the top of his head from where he ran into the building.  The positive was that these small injuries will be gone in the morning!

One more quick thing....Cameron's dictee for this week...."Il y a un sapin devant la mason.  J'ai mange un beigne."  Wow!  That's a lot to memorize for a 5 year-old?  The positive is....He can do it!

What a day!

So, no sleep, "my dough" in the hair, bad coffee, a head injury, cut finger and leg, disaster at Costco, difficult dictee.....What will this evening have in store for us?????

2 in a row!

I have had visitors two Sundays in a row!  How exciting.  I love it!  This weekend Nicole and the kids, and Brad and Ty headed over to Canada to have a cousin get-together.  It was fabulous!  Brad and Ty stopped at the hospital to visit with Laura and Melia before they headed across.  Nicole, Amanda, Nicholas, and Gabby ran a few errands and then they headed across.  Funny thing was that they pulled into the driveway at the exact same time.  (After Nicole drove past the house like she typically does, drives to the end of the street, turns around, and waits for me to flag her down in the right driveway.  She insists that all of the houses look the same.)

There was a slight problem before everyone arrived....I was trying to top off the pool so that when the kids came, the pool would be filled and we could use the hose for the slip-n-slide.  So, I had the water running and was cutting fruit.  When I looked out the window to check on the pool, it had collapsed!  I was sooooo annoyed.  Not all of the water had come out, but a significant amount was gone.  Here we go again waiting and waiting to fill the pool.  So, when the kids arrived, we once again had the hose running into the pool!

Tyler, of course, was only interested in the basketball net.  He is probably the only kid I know that doesn't go crazy when he sees water.  Nothing competes to a basketball net!  WEIRD!

The other kids naturally gravitated toward the freezing cold water!

Then it was time to slip-n-slide!

Pretty impressive that Tyler got this close to the water....But he WILL NOT let that ball down!

Here the kids took a quick break to eat some yummy fruit!

I love this picture of everyone looking at something!  Too bad I cut off Brad's head and check out Tyler in the background just getting ready for another shot.  Everyone was actually looking up in the sky at a huge plane flying overhead....flying quite low....getting ready to land!

Enough about the plane!  We want more fruit!

I love Cameron's face in this picture.  

This one was a little better, but Nick's eyes were closed.

This is the best picture I could get of the two girls together.....Eating....

Amanda was trying to warm up a bit.

Not sure why Brad has such an inquisitive look on his face....

Tyler is also fascinated with bugs.  Here he is checking one out.

Here he is killing it!

Enough killing bugs....he wanted his balls back...Here we go again and again and again.

Not sure where Emmersyn was off to...

But, she decided to rejoin the fun shortly....

Brad passing out a little more fruit to the little ones.

We took a short break to come in and eat some pizza.  Gabby, Emmersyn, and Tyler decided to hang out in Emmersyn's room while the older kids were playing downstairs.  Not sure what the older kids were doing, but check out these little ones!  Gabby decided to get undressed and raid Emmersyn's armoire to pick out a new dress to wear.

And would you expect anything else from Ty and Emmersyn but jumping on the bed?  These two are monkeys!

Then the kids headed back outside into the pool.

Brad was asking us what else he was supposed to do while his wife was in the hospital recovering from birth.  He was having a good time with a little father-son bonding before the little girl arrives home.

Tyler taking a 20 second time out!

Nicole and Gabby playing a little catch.

I found Nicholas and Cameron hiding on this side of the pool.  When I asked them what they were doing, they said they were getting warm in the puddle of water that was on the outside of the pool!  So funny!

Wow....here comes Tyler checking out the pool!  With the ball in his hand.

He can't take his eyes off of the basketball net!

Emmersyn had fallen asleep on the couch after she ate.

Now all of the kids were trying to warm up in the puddle of water!

Brad was off to rescue Ty from the puddle!

After they warmed up, they hopped right back into the frigid pool.

Tyler started doing some trick shots.  From the seated position....

With a softball.....

With a football.....

Thought this was a cute picture of Brad and Ty.

Tyler would only give me one picture.  Then he turned his attention back to the ball! AHHHH!

Thanks for coming over!  Can't wait for the next cousin get-together!

We met Melia

The kids and I went to visit baby Melia this evening.  The whole way to the hospital I was trying to convince Emmersyn to give her pacy to the new baby.  There was no convincing her.  She was not about to give up her pacy.  The closer we got to the hospital, Emmersyn started saying she was scared.  I think she was scared that I was going to give her pacy to baby Melia.

And, as soon as we pulled into the parking structure, Cameron said, "This is like the Bahamas."  I was soooo confused!  How does Beaumont hospital look like Atlantis in the Bahamas?  But then I figured it out.  He made this comment as we were in the parking structure looking for a parking spot....similar to when we had to find a parking spot in a parking structure at Metro airport on our way to the Bahamas.  Now I get it, both parking structures looked the same.....Interesting comparison.....but not one that comes to mind when I park in a structure.  I love how kids think!  I hope Bahama flashbacks will automatically come to mind anytime I'm in a parking structure from now on!

Anyway....check out these cute photos I captured during our visit.....

Laura's friend, Felicia, was also visiting with Melia when we got there.  I thought this was a cute picture of the two of them.

Emmersyn was fascinated with Melia, after she was comfortable with the fact that she would be able to keep her pacy. 

Pure joy when seeing a baby...no matter what your age.  If Melia was able to move around, I'm sure Emmersyn would have followed her around like she does with Bella.

Melia had enough of the flash in her eyes.  She is a smart little one.  Going on 27 hours old, she already figured out how to shield her eyes from the flash.

Emmersyn could not keep her eyes off of this cutie!

Melia has also figured out the eye roll.  Pretty impressive.  Watch out Brad and Laura!

Emmersyn still in awe!

Melia had enough with Emmersyn staring at her.  I think she began to get a little self conscious!  She hasn't figured out the whole self-esteem thing yet....Give it a few more hours...I'm sure this girl will catch on!

Doesn't Laura look beautiful after giving birth just 27 hours ago?  And, she is such a happy mom!

Laura took the bottle out of Melia's mouth so I could get one more picture before we left.  Check out Melia's lips.....so cute!

What a beauty!