Odds and Ends

Well finally the end is in site. This weekend is the state wrestling tournament in Wichita. Again this year the in-laws are meeting me there so I get a nice break and a mini vacation in a hotel. The down side? It is in Wichita. They are bringing my niece and nephew with them for the weekend so even more babysitters since the kids are 12 and 9.

Je has had an ear infection this week. We went to the doctor for an ear infection in January, and thought it cleared up. Thursday morning she woke up in pain. I don't mess with ears so as soon as the doctor's office opened at 8 I called to get her in. Fortunately we could see the doctor at 11 so that wasn't so long to wait. Je was already out of school for parent teacher conferences so that was easy. The doctor gave her a stronger antibiotic and hopefully that will help.

Our first pastoral candidate came earlier this month. I thoroughly enjoyed getting better acquainted with them. We had them to lunch and their kids are about the same ages as ours so they really hit it off.

We have had more than our fair share of snow this winter. We've just gotten slammed. I love it. Snow is my friend. If I could convince my whole family, I would move to somewhere that gets snow in feet rather than inches.

I haven't been real productive lately. The winter blahs, I guess. Or it could be that wrestling season is SOOOOOOOOOO LOOOOONG! But it is almost over!


Of course, Shan is taking a class right now so he will still be very busy. And it's time to gear up for VBS!

It's That time Again

We are down to the wire. Only one weekend of wresting left. I can see the end in sight. Daddy leaves today for Wichita to coach six wrestlers who have qualified for the State Tournament. Tommorrow the girls and I go down to have a mini-vacation. I mean cheer on the guys. Seriously, it is a reward for a long season, a couple nights in a hotel with a great breakfast bar, and meals out. And my in-laws are meeting us there so I really won't have to miss the fun, since the kids prefer grandparents to parents whenever possible. At least for the few days that the grandparents are around at a time. Recently, Jo has named me alternately the "worst mommy ever" and the best mama in the whole world, depending on which end of the struggle we are. So I'll be away from the computer for a few days, enjoying my reward for a long wrestling season.

One Down--Only 14 More to Go

We made it through the first daddy-less Saturday. Swimming lessons, errands, lunch with Nana, a sewing tutorial (for me) and no nap. They went to bed very early after Mama had a thermonuclear meltdown. Next week, Nana will be out of town so the girls and I will be without her company and buffer. If my head explodes, we will know why. Today I was making a Christmas stocking for my nephew. It was a more difficult project than I expected when I volunteered. Two years ago, I bought four stockings at Lowes after Christmas clearance. My sister had mentioned that she wanted to have coordinating stockings for their house. I congratulated myself on finding some I thought she would like and at such a good price. I put them away for her birthday. About two months after her birthday, she unexpectedly was expecting. She used the stockings last Christmas, and seemed to like them, they are made of burlap, decorated with yarn fir trees and bells, with red cord trim and rickrack. All things easily found at a craft store. When we knew new baby was to be here in Feb. I planned to have a stocking made to match the others well before now. I've had all year to do it, but...I procrastinated. Since my sewing instructor, (MOM) is leaving tomorrow for a week doing Katrina rebuilding in Mississippi, I had to get my help now, and do it today so if I had questions she was near the phone.

While stitching the tree trunks the girls got into at least the third tussle of the evening and knocked over the table with my diet coke. I blew a gasket and sent them to bed at 7:30. The were nap free so they were ready, but I felt guilty for losing my cool. The girls harbored no such feelings though. They seemed to know that they'd gone too far, and gladly went to bed. They were cheerful even. I got the usual hug and kiss requests, and Je played her favorite game, hold onto Mama when she tucks me in and don't let her get up. I have to tickle her to get free.

Four hours later, I folded the finished stocking and put it with the model one in a sack with other odds and ends to go to my sister.

Only 14 more wrestling events until the end of the season. That is 10 Saturdays, and four mid week duals.

Is it March yet?

Daddy Wrestles

Today I spent the morning and early afternoon sitting on a hard wooden bench watching wrestling. Now I thought wrestling was over but not so. A local high school coach organized an old timers wrestling tournament and Shan and one of the other coaches from school participated. Shan will tell you that he finished third and they awarded medals to 1-4th place. I will qualify his medal by saying that there were only three men in his weight class in the over thirty bracket. But he had fun and boy did he look great in his singlet. (Not) Singlets don't look good on anybody. Sorta like bikini's. I think very few people, even thin people look good in bikini's. Too much skin shows and every figure flaw is on display, and lets face it most of us have them. So now wrestling is officially over until Nov. except for camp this summer. At least I have my Saturdays back.

Is it March yet?

I've learned more about wrestling than I ever knew I wanted to know. This is the time of year when I am ready for winter to be over. I love winter. Cold, snow, ice etc. they don't bother me. However, winter at our house means high school wrestling season. I am a wrestling widow. My kids think the muscle man is Daddy. He has done nothing to dissuade them. From November through February my husband coaches the high school team where he teaches. Practice is after school so he doesn't get home until 7 p.m which is about two and half hours later than usual. Starting in December he has tournaments all day every Saturday. He usually leaves the house before six and gets home after 9 so this make for a very long time for mama and the girls. Our girls are two and four. Real time intensive ages. As a stay at home mom it makes for some long weeks, but we have just one week to go. As an added treat this year we get to go to the state tournament next weekend with the team. The girls are getting big enough and they know the wrestling parents well enough that it will not be to bad. I also suggested that my in-laws might like to come and meet us there, see the kids, watch their son coach, give me a break you know whatever. They are to meet us there and hopefully they got a room at the same hotel. The girls are so excited about the hotel. I haven't told them there isn't an indoor pool yet. That will not go over well. They love to swim. Today at lessons I had to drag them out of the pool to shower so we could go eat. Just four more days of practice and then the tournament and it is done for this year. I'll probably forget all this by next year. Oh well, my husband has a lot of fun coaching and its only for four months.