Almost Only Counts in Horseshoes and Hand Grenades....

......Sigh...... We werethisclose to having all of Friday night and most of Saturday sans kiddos. We were totally hyped and ready to go out for dinner where we could actually talk to one another without being interrupted eleventy billion times with "Mom?" or "Dad" or "No no no no no" -that one is courtesy of Lil Man. We were looking forward to spending most of Saturday getting our Christmas shopping done..... ok, maybe "looking forward" is a little grossly overstated, but you know what I mean...the shopping would actually BE DONE. None of that running around a week (ok, 2 days) before Christmas searching for that one certain thing that we just have to have for that one certain person. Lord but I was looking forward to that. The boys were going to spend the night at D's house (this is Lil Man's caregiver during the week, and an occasional weekend etc. He has watched him since Lil Man was 8 wks old) on Friday night, watch a movie, eat popcorn etc. Then Saturday D and his wife were going to take the kids to a movie and Chuck E Cheese (gah!) and we'd pick them up sometime early evening on Saturday. When D suggested it, I was all over that in a heartbeat "Heck yeah, you bet it's ok". And then I called my mom. She burst my bubble in about half a heartbeat, I swear it. I offered to provide the turkey for Thanksgiving dinner this year.....no, not "cook" it, just provide it.....Thanksgiving is at Mom and Dad's this year so she's cooking the turkey, I'm just providing it to be cooked. ANYhow.....I called and asked if we could just bring it over on Saturday...... to which she says "Oh, you mean bring it to Ali-bug's birthday party?" (Ali-bug being my one of my sister's oldest daughter...she'll be 4). And I was struck stupid for a minute (shut up, quit laughing) and then I replied, with a HUGE sigh "OH HELL. I totally forgot about the party.....and I just frickin' talked to R last night about it and what Ali-bug wanted. CRAP CRAP CRAP!!" and looked down just in time to see/hear Lil Man say "Cwap?" OH HELL. Not only had I forgotten the birthday party, I just taught my almost 3 yr old a semi-swear word.......gah, definitely on a roll.

Soooooo....here's hoping we can get the Christmas shopping (and Ali-bug's birthday present, damn it...don't forget the present!!!) all done on Friday evening. Quit laughing.

4th Grade Expectations

So....at the beginning of the school year, the 4th grade students had to write a short essay on "4th Grade Expectations". I want to share Bubby's with you:

"I have a hard time paying attention for reading. I will try harder to stop reading too much here and more at home. I will try to have self-control by not getting mad. I will particpate in Math. I will respect others the way I want to be treated. I will follow directions so that I won't be in trouble. I'll take responsibility to be good. I'll enjoy each other to make friends."

I love this. For so many reasons, but I just absolutely love this and the fact that Bubby came up with it on his own. Some of them make sense (reading too much at school ....he races thru his assignments so that he can read) .... "I will follow directions so that I won't be in trouble" -this is a big thing for him as it really stresses him if rules are broken so he tries really hard to follow directions/rules. But some of them have me absolutely scratching my head and sayin' ...."Wha????" "I will try to have self-control by not getting mad" .....outside of getting mad at me or his dad for discipline (ie, grounding from the PS2 etc) I have never seen this child get "mad" ....or anything even closely resembling "mad". And even his "mad" at being grounded or whatever has never gone beyond a slammed bedroom door. "I will particpate in Math." -I'm not sure what to make of this one. He's stated that Math is his least favorite subject....yet, it's his highest grade, A-. And I love "I'll take responsibility to be good" - this is something for him...a big something. We've been working really hard for...well, for forever... on getting him to take responsibility for his actions etc. His favorite "excuse" is "maybe my medicine isn't working." or "But I didn't take my pill today" (he's on Concerta for his ADHD) .....and we always respond that he has to be responsible for his actions, not his pill...all the pill does is help him concentrate/focus more but that ultimately, he's responsible for his behavior. The last expectation that he lists just breaks my heart.....even with a word or two left out. "I'll enjoy each other to make friends" it's just so damn hard for him to make friends..... but you know what? The ones he does make, he keeps and they're really good friends.

The hell??????

Well, alrighty then. I'm a little peeved at this point. I had a post all done up, went to add the pictures and my words disappeared. As in gone. As in, damnit I don't have the time to retype all of that!!!!

Hell, I guess what you get instead (because there's a ton of you reading right? You're just all quiet and lurking? Right??? .....sigh.....) is the pictures of the crocheting that I'm doing for my co-worker who is having a baby girl come February. The smaller of the two pictures is the start of the bunting I posted about earlier, and the other is the sweater/cap I'm going to do up--but will be in a coral color instead of pink.

In short, we've all been sick at my house. Work is busy. Randy's work is in a hiring freeze and letting people go (hopefully not Randy). Bubby is adjusting to his new schedule and activities at school that allows for his IEP implementations--but at the sacrifice of his eyelashes (anxiety/stress causes him to pull them out). Little Man apparently is on a hunger strike that includes anything that would be "normal" dinner food.....even cheeseburgers, chicken nuggets, spaghetti or anything else I put in front of him that is not a fruit cup or fruit related. *roll eyes* I guess I should just be grateful he's eating fruit right?

Off to enjoy (not) another quiet (not) weekend. Randy is on-call which means I'll probably spend most of my weekend solo parenting. Oh joy.