Far From Normal

Friday we spent an emotional day attending Chris's grandfather's funeral. As soon as we were through with the days activities we loaded the mini van with girls, bags, pillows and blankets and headed to Illinois. Chris had a kinesio-taping continuing-education course to take which was only an hour or so from my friend Stephanie's house so we all went along for the ride. Sometime between midnight and one a.m., as I drove to a chorus of snores and heavy breathing, I passed a sign listing the miles remaining before we would arrive at our destination just outside Normal, Illinois. With a sigh I thought to myself, we're still along way from Normal. I smiled. How true that statement is! We finally arrived at 1:30 am and after a quick debate I consented, primarily because I was too tired to keep driving, to stay at the less than desirable Blue Star Inn. The following morning as light poured into the room we realized just how horrific our room really was. I am glad the girls and I weren't staying there another night.

As Chris wandered around for over an hour and a half trying to find his class Saturday morning the girls and I headed to our rendezvous point with Steph, Curtis's Pumpkin Farm. The only problem was I forgot the directions. No problem. A quick call to my awesome brother Jake in Texas and I was set. Who needs a Tom-Tom when they can have the interactive Jake-Jake GPS? It comes complete with jokes and pleasant conversation. Everyone was getting lost first Chris, then me, and then Steph...... By the time she figured out where the pumpkin patch was it was pouring rain. We ended up playing at McDonald's instead where the getting lost continued this time it was Stephanie's keys. Thankfully a nice lady found them in the bathroom and saved the day.

The rest of the weekend went somewhat more smoothly, but we never made it to the pumpkin patch due to continued rain, and despite Talia's melt-downs and the girls sibling-spats caused by exhaustion, we had a blast. The kids played with Ollie, the dog, and Steph & Matt's cute kids Olivia and Andrew. We watched alot of High School Musical 2 and Happy Feet, rode bikes, went for walks, had picnics, and played in the mud. No visit with Steph is complete without some new concoctions. She and I sat up late laughing and talking and eating chocolate ice cream with hot fudge, whipped cream and granola. Personally I never would have tried granola on ice cream but I always try Steph's creations and it was great. In high school we had hash browns and ice cream, root beer with milk, and potato-cheese-ketchup burritos to name a few. They always taste good when I'm with her. (She also had me try this Greek yogurt called Oika, really good.)

Steph has been church shopping lately and decided she and the kids would join us this week. On the drive to the Mormon church building Olivia (4) asked me if she would be able to dance at our church. I think she was disappointed. Steph ended up sitting with five kids while I wrestled with Talia in the foyer. When we left Steph looked at me and said very seriously, "I think you might be a saint." I denied such a label. "No, really. I don't know how you do it. Not just church but everything." The truth is I am not sure that I am doing it, balancing everything and maintaining my patience, but I just keep trying. Talia had a shorter than usual fuse but thankfully was not up to her usual antics of creating disasters though at one point there was an incident with butter and diet coke that was somehow blamed on the dog, I let him take the wrap but in the back of my mind I wondered if it was really him.

Now we're home, seven hours from Normal. Normal. I'm no longer sure what normal even is. Here are some pictures of our trip. I think my girls want a pet now. I think I'll stick to Webkinz!

Surviving Storm Christine

The next entry was supposed to be first don't know what happened can't figure out how to fix it. Read it first then this one makes better sense. I'll work on fixing the problem later.

The girls dragged themselves from bed this morning still tired from a late night of panicking though their nerves were now calm as the wind had cease. But a new storm was coming a category 5, Hurricane Christine. From the moment her eyes opened she insisted she would not go to school today. I ignored her. As the time quickly approached to wait outside she became more insistent. The bus picks our girls up then makes a few more stops on our road before turning around. This means when we miss the bus the first time we can catch it on the way back. Or, on days like today, if I can't get Christine on the first time I can use all means of bribery to get her on when it comes by the second time. Unfortunately for all involved no bribery would work today. As the bus headed towards us for the second time I picked up the screaming and kicking (literally) kindergartner and carried her across the street to try again, nearly being hit by the bus as I crossed. I am sure Aubrey and Taylor were hoping no one would know who I was as I walked up the bus steps in my white pajamas with bright green flowers and my knee high galoshes, black with white polka dots and draped with a hysterical 5 year old throwing a kicking-screaming-crying-death-gripped-to mom-temper tantrum. I looked at the bus driver and said "I don't know what to do." She kindly lied and replied. "Don't worry it happens all the time. Christine why don't you go sit by Blake or Angel?" More screaming. She got up from her seat and pried Christine off of me. As I made my way down the steps I resisted the urge to turn and see Aubrey and Taylor and I wondered if they were denying all affiliation with our family. I slowly backed down the steps until Christine could no longer reach me. She instead turned and grabbed the hand railing to prevent the bus driver from being able to pull her to her seat. I carefully unwrapped her fingers and then made a break for it, off the bus and back across the street to my other screaming-half-naked daughter standing on the side of the road. I noticed as I plodded back to my porch the backed up traffic the flashing red bus lights had caused and I wondered how long I had been on the bus. I stood on the porch waiting to see if by some miracle the bus driver could persuade Christine to stay where my bubble gum bribe had failed though I fully expected to see Christine flee from the bus and bolt back into the house at any moment. Much to my surprise the bus driver returned to her seat, opened her window, and with a thumbs-sign said "she's sitting with her sister, don't worry." I felt grateful that either Aubrey or Taylor had still claimed ownership of us and had somehow managed to get Christine to stay. Returning to the house I noticed the time, all the kids on the bus would be tardy today thanks to Hurricane Christine.

I realize that this seems very heartless to send a child off when she screams as if being tortured. The thing is Christine loves school but hates being away from Mom. I find myself frequently in this dilemma with her. Any time I need to leave her whether it be at church or school or a friends house or even to take a shower she freaks out, and yet I always come back. As often as possible I have Chris leave her places because she doesn't respond that way for him. Unfortunately he leaves for work too early to put her on the bus. I am afraid that if I give in to her tantrum she will continue to throw them. I am lucky to have a bus driver that seems to understand this. Hopefully she enjoys the snickerdoodles I made her as a thank you for her assistance today maybe then she'll be willing to help me agian tomorrow if another storm is brewing.

The Remains of Hurricane Ike

Yesterday the Cleveland area was hit with the remains of Hurricane Ike. The original storm warnings said winds would be about 35 miles per hour but I saw on the news today that the wind gusts hit 70 miles per hour, judging from the number of trees in the road I would guess this is closer to accurate. We didn't have any rain just lots of crazy wind and 6 or 7 hours of no power, which means for us country folks no pump for the well and no sump pump. There was, however, just enough power left on the battery for the portable DVD player to watch Island Barbie with the kids before bed in a vain attempt to calm them down and give them something to do besides sit in the dark and listen to the raging wind. And I admit I was a little nervous too, considering our house is surrounded by trees and the tree that fell on our house landed right above where I rest my head at night - Chris humored me and we turned around and slept with our heads at the foot of the bed last night. Every time there is a tornado warning or storm warning the girls get stressed, our nerves have not adjusted to these extreme weather warnings - the weather warnings we are used to involve poor air quality or stay inside because it's too hot, not your house may blow away so hide in the basement while the storm rages above rattling windows and uprooting trees - in the past to calm the girls down I have said something like "This house is over a hundred and thirty years old. I am sure it has withstood storms like this before. You have nothing to worry about." Last night at dinner Aubrey, to put it mildly, was very concerned about a pine tree in our yard. She was convinced it was coming down in the storm I gave her my little speech about the age of the house and the age of the tree blah, blah, blah, but in the back of my mind I was worried too. Turns out she was right, it came down. We weren't here when it happened. Chris was flying a kite with the girls at his parents' house and I was at the church listening to an artist describe his work (since the power went out and we couldn't see it). If either of those two trees had fallen at just a slightly different degree there could have been some serious damage. Amazing how much power a storm can have. I'm glad we're not in Texas.

Yes, Again!

Not to turn this into a "Naughty-Little Talia" blog but today her messes involved a tube of toothpaste, a gallon of hand sanitizer, a box of graham crackers, a bottle of chocolate syrup, Windex, two containers of glitter, and her staple - makeup, all while wearing a swimsuit and rain boots which she changed herself into. She is quite the energetic and curious little girl. Just had to vent a little before recovering my house while she naps. Yes this was all before nap. Hopefully she doesn't wake up too rejuvenated!!