Free, Free, I'm Free at Last!

So, I'm done! Well, kind of. Friday at work was strange. The morning was the same as usual... meetings, emails, some work. Then many people were moving to new areas, including someone moving into my desk, so that was strange. I just moved to an empty desk and sat there. Then I went to lunch with two girls on my team, hung out a little more and then came home to pick up the kiddos. I took them back to work with me for my party, and Dave met me there. The party was nice. There were a lot of people there (I'd like to think it was all for me, but when you have food and booze on a Friday afternoon, people tend to show up!). Joel, my boss, gave a really nice speech all about me, during which I was embarassed, of course! But it ws funny because Max came crawling up to me while he was talking, which was cute and gave me something else to focus on. But in the end it was all fairly anticlimactic, since I'll be at work on Monday. Every time someone came to say goodbye, it would be this big deal, and then I'd say, but I'll see you on Monday. It was just crazy! And I told one of the girls on my team that I expected a welcome back breakfast Monday morning. :)

The rest of the weekend was good. Saturday was Abby's last swimming lesson and then we went to get pictures taken. What a nightmare! I got ready in the morning (before swimming lessons) and put the dress on I was going to wear. I came downstairs, asked Dave if it looked ok and got a lukewarm "It looks fine." Ugh! What's wrong with it? Nothing, it looks fine. No, what's wrong with it? Nothing, it looks fine. Seriously, what's wrong with it? He looks at me and says it just looks funny through there (indicating my stomach). Geez! Great, let's go take pictures! So, I took Abby to swimming lessons. And after the pool, getting her showered and dressed and ready, I was sweaty and my hair was flat. And I felt completely self-conscious in my dress. So, Abby and I ran to Kohl's for shoes for her, stopped at the Chocolate Factory for lunch for her, and went to Dress Barn for an entirely new outfit for me. And by then, it was 12:28 and we needed to be at the picture place at 12:30. Luckily, it was right across the street, but by the time we walked to the Dress Barn (I HATE that name!) we were on the other side of the parking lot. So, I made Abby walk as fast as she could through the parking lot, and we made it by 12:35, which is way too late by Dave's standards. And by now I'm a sweaty pig with hair stuck to my forhead. But whatever! We took a family picture, barely, and Max started to get antsy. Then he got full out crabby. If we got one good pic of all of us and one of the three of them, we're lucky. And throughout it all Dave is sulking. And telling me never again. Family pictures never go as planned. I just hope something turned out ok. I took the kids for ice cream afterwards and Dave took Max home. Who, of course once he woke up, was completely happy. Where are the pictures now? Anyway, the rest of Saturday was fine. Hamburgers at the neighbor's house, kids watching movies, Jenny and I in the hot tub, and Abby even slept over there.

Sunday started out with a 5k that Jenny and I walked in West Bend and we all hung out at Seafood Fest, which was fun. Abby ran in the kids 1/4 mile and was the first girl to win! Here's her with her medal (they all got medals...)



Afterwards, I ran to WalMart we just hung out in the yard all day until dinner, when Dave made BBQ chicken on the grill. Then we went for a walk with the kids (Nolan crashed twice, two bleeding spots on the same knee!) and headed home. After the kids went down, Jenny and I went running. Well, we ran, and walked, and then walked slower. :) But hey, we were out there! Here's some general pictures from today.

Scrawny boys showing off their muscles


Only 15 more years, Mom!


We love the baby pool!


And here's some pics from Saturday... Max not wanting to let go of his teething biscuit


Man, was he crabby!


But who could resist this face?



And here's Abby, eating (gasp!) noodles! And, get this... SHE LIKED THEM!


Ok, I keep referring to the bad mornings, but have been hesitant to write about them because I'm going to jinx them and they've been so good all week!! But it started the Tuesday when I came back from New York. The day started out fine, but then I asked what Nolan wanted for breakfast. He said he didn't know so I asked english muffin? No. Breakfast bar? No. Cereal? No. Nolan, what do you want for breakfast? He came over and hit the box of breakfast bars. No way. I made him go sit down until he could ask nicer. Then I started an English muffin for Abby. I didn't have time for this and told Nolan he could come back and ask nicely, and he came and whined/screamed "Please can I have an English muffin?" Nevermind the yelling it, he said please so I gave him one. Then he decided he didn't want it, he wanted and English muffin. No way I told him, you already opened your breakfast bar. "BUT I WANT AND ENGLISH MUFFIN!" No, you're not getting one. So he went and threw away his breakfast bar. Oh no you didn't!! I told (i.e., yelled) at him to go sit down. I finished Abby's muffin and then got his breakfast bar out of the garbage (luckily, it was just paper in there) and told him he would eat it. He really didn't like that, but I told him to get in the van. NO! Get in the van (much more forceful this time) and he finally got in. He's screaming, but we're on our way. The road to daycare is curvy and I was going around a curve and Max starts to cry. What the heck? He's on the floor of the van, carseat on top of him--I can't even see him! What the heck? Apparently Dave never buckled the carseat back in after having it in his car. GEEZ! So, I pull over and get Max upright and watch him cry. He's fine. Nolan's still screaming about his breakfast bar, and then I look at Abby who's crying. I ask her what's wrong and if she's just scared. "The seat hit me when it fell over." Sure enough, huge bruise emerging on her ankle. Oh my... get me to daycare!! In the end, everyone was ok, and Nolan ate his breakfast bar at snack time when the teachers told him he couldn't eat anything until he ate that. Oh, and then there was Abby who, on the way to her school when I asked her if she thought I was too mean to Nolan, looked at me sheepishly and said "Yes." I asked what I did, and she said "Yelled really loud and grabbed him." Oops. What should I do now? Say I'm sorry of course. Because, according to Abby, self-control is a place you go in your head, and if you can't go there you need to remove yourself from the place you're in. That from my five year old. So, I said I was sorry to Nolan that night and decided that my hope is not that I will yell at my kids less when I'm home with them more, but that I yell at them the same with just more time to make up for it!

THEN... a few days later, we were on our way to daycare and Nolan realized he forgot a beach towel he had wanted to bring. It wasn't beach day or anything, he just wanted it. And I wasn't about to go back and get it, but he really, really wanted it apparently. Max had fallen asleep on the way to daycare and Nolan was really not happy about the beach towel. When we got to daycare, I told Nolan to get out, but he wouldn't. Get out. NO! Get out. NO! So, I got Max out, told Abby to get out and went in without him. I got Max's coat off and put him down to sleep and got all his bottles and stuff together. Then I went to get Nolan. He did not want to get out of the van, but I was nice and calm (working on it!) and got him out and carried him in. We got to the classroom door, and he bolted, only to be caught by another parent. I picked him up and carried him back in, and was signing him in when he ran out again. This time through the classroom door, to the security daycare door and out to the double doors outside before I caught him. I brought him (kicking and screaming) back into the classroom to the back of the room where I tried to talk to him, but he was hysterical. I told him he had to stay there and then I let go. He ran out the classroom, out the security door, out the double door into the van. I walked down with his teacher, who thought he was just hiding. Nope, all they way in the van. Ok then, I told Abby to get in the car and I drove him home. I marched him to his room and left to drop off Abby (Dave was home). I got back, went up there and said let's go, and got back "I don't want to go to daycare!" Too bad, let's go. "NO!" I need to go to work and Daddy needs to go to work. You can't stay here by yourself, let's go. "I don't want to!!" So I started taking stuff away. Check out the picture... I got a pillow, a Star Wars pop up book, three comic books, a nerf gun, a Transformer truck, three baseballs, a pair of shoes, his favorite pillow, and, of course, the beach towel.

Dave came up as I took the bat out and said "Don't beat him!" Ha! Most kids would have given in, but not Nolan. He just kept looking at me and said he didn't care. And I really think I could have taken anything away from him and he would not have given in. But, of course, in the end he went to daycare. I had to have the teacher restrain him so he wouldn't run out and I could leave. Man oh man! But then we figured out a way to get his stuff back. He made the sign below

For each day that he was good in the morning he would get to pick a sticker. If he was good for eight days (the eight days I had left of work) he would get his stuff back. As you can see, eight stickers! Yeah! He even almost had a rough morning... he wanted to bring a stuffed animal to daycare but forgot it. There were a couple of tears, but in the end, he really wanted that sticker. Phew! I'm glad because I'm not sure what I would do with a pair of size 11 camoflage shoes! :)

Anyway, even though they still have to go on Mondays, I'm just glad I don't have to wake anyone up anymore. We can leave at 8:15, which usually gives us plenty of time.

And so, my first week off. Monday will be day one of consulting, and then Tuesday and Wednesday we're heading up to Minnesota. Unfortunately, my sister-in-law's father-in-law passed away this weekend and we're heading up there for the funeral. He was a great guy and developed emphysema within the past few years which was really hard for him and his family. We'll be back Thursday and Friday, and we'll see how this staying at home thing actually goes!