Makenzie's bath time + markers within Micah's reach =

Yet another reason I'm not cut out for this single parenting business! (particularly when combined with this post and the fact that I discovered this morning I never paid the sitter who babysat for us Friday afternoon while I had court.  The same babysitter who read this and graciously took out my trash while she was here!  I probably should have paid her double for that!  Seriously we LOVE Kristin....and not just because she takes out the trash!!) 

Crazy as this house may be, we are blessed!!  And as crazy as this little man makes me sometimes, I love him to death!!  Life is so much more fun with him around!! 

Forget Me Not Friday

 I found a little more ambition since Wednesday, so here's a picture from the 4th of July in Dubuque. 

And to make sure we didn't forget about daddy, we bought his favorite cookie from the mall in Dubuque and shared it! 

Quick 5 (top signs/reasons I might be losing my mind)

Okay actually Quick 3 because (thankfully) as I was writing this blog I couldn't only come up with 3 blogworthy signs that I've completely lost my mind.  :)

1.  I lost my keys today - searched everywhere, unloaded my entire purse, called my mom in a panick, had her call my brother to see if he picked them up, ran back into Runza and asked the staff if they had seen the keys, walked back out to the car and saw them sitting on the roof of the car over Micah's door.  Apparently I sat them there while I unbuckled Micah from his carseat and left them while we ate dinner with my parents. 

2.  Bathtime.  It requires 2 adults, there's no way around it.  Tonight I got Micah through the bath with no trouble, but while Makenzie was in the bath Micah nearly fell in the tub, unrolled toilet paper, started shredding it & dipping it in the toilet...when I shut him out of the bathroom so I could get Makenzie's hair rinsed out (w/o his help) he unloaded Makenzie's clothes baskets & threw them down the stairs.  Bathing them together is out of the question - Micah torments his sister, which makes her scream, and Makenzie spends the entire bath analyzing why her bottom looks different than Micah's....it's easier to let Micah destroy the house while Makenzie takes a bath.  Thank goodness bedtime comes right after bathtime!

3.  Last minute court hearings.  Not really last minute, just last minute for me because the hearing didn't make my calendar.  Not my fault (at least not this time) because I never got a notice of the hearing--neither did any of the other attorneys but they had all talked at a team meeting that my client and I weren't invited to.  Nice.  Thankfully I had several reports for the hearing in my mail this morning and figured out I had a hearing about 4 hours before it started.

And now my children are all tucked into bed, looking like little angels, my keys are tucked safely into my purse and my court hearing tomorrow has been on the calendar for months....tomorrow is looking promising!

Quick 5 (Things that Have Made me Smile this Week)

1.  Tom is getting to call EVERY night.  I can't even tell you what a blessing it is to get to talk to him every night...we were prepared for Saturday and Sunday calls only, so this is huge!  The calls have to be short because he's at "camp" and doesn't have any way of charging his phone, so we have to make the battery last all week. 

2.  Tom's grandparents.  LOVE them.  Grampy is 92, Grammy will be 89 in September, and they're celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary in August.  They're amazing and it is so, so fun to get to spend time with them.  I love that they love doting over my children, and I was about in tears as Micah ran up (unprompted) to give great grammy a hug as soon as we walked in the door.  We had a great weekend in Dubuque.  I'm too lazy to post pictures here, but hop over to my shutterfly website for lots of pictures from the weekend.  There's a few on facebook too. 

3.  Micah has turned into a tiger this week.  Literally.  As in, he crawls across the floor as fast as he can, growling the whole way.  It's hilarious!

4.  No Work (and my new secretary who has done a great job of handling things while I'm gone, and calling only with real emergencies!!)  I haven't worked since last Thursday, I have a full day of work tomorrow, one court hearing Friday and a fully day Monday then I'm off for the rest of next week too!!  As much as I love my job, I'm loving a little break from it.  I love a break from the schedule, spending the morning in our jammies, watching cartoons, and I love having the extra time with my babies!

5.  Makenzie taking care of her brother.  Our drive home from Wahoo yesterday was crazy to say the least.  We hit terrible storms (i.e. sheets of rain and 60 mph winds) around York and it was a slow and stressful trip.  Both kids were a little stir crazy and I couldn't even talk to them over the loud rain.  At one point I took my hand off the steering wheel just long enough to throw a partial bag of goldfish at Makenzie and literally yell to tell her to share with her brother.  And she did! :)  She carefully doled out goldfish to her brother, and the two of them were totally content to share goldfish in their carseats, seemingly oblivous to the awful storm and my stress level.  So, so cute!

All in all, we're doing well even without Tom around - anxious for him to get home of course, but we've been SO, SO blessed.  My neighbor was even just over to mow our lawn. :) 

Just What I Needed.

You gain confidence through knowing that I am with you--that you face nothing alone.  Anxiety stems from asking the wrong question: "If such and such happens, can I handle it?"  The true question is not whether you can cope with whatever happens, but whether you and I together can handle anything that occurs.  It is this you-and-I together factor that gives you confidence to face the day cheerfully. 
                                                                                  --From Jesus Calling by Sarah Young

Coincidence that I read this the day Tom left?  I think not. 

Yep, I still hate saying goodbye....

So, I'm just not going to --we're saying "see you later" instead!  Tom is on his way to San Antonio....both babes are still sleeping and I'm kind of a wreck, but I'll spare you the sobbing and just post pictures!  We had a picnic at the park last night --but you don't get to see that because I forgot my camera and the picture from my phone won't post (check facebook, I'll try to upload it there!) 
Tom said his "see you laters" to the kiddos at bedtime and even Micah gave him big hugs and kisses --so, so cute!  Makenzie told him, "but I might miss you" and then she prayed for her daddy to have a safe trip to Texas and a safe trip home.  :)  I'm SO, SO glad I get the spend the next month with these two!! 

Here's the HUGE calendar Makenzie and I made to help her count down the days till Daddy gets home.  Thankfully she didn't seem to notice my inability to draw straight lines and make the squares even.  She wanted to hang it above her bed so she can color in a square each day and then she can count the empty ones and know just how many days until her daddy gets home. 

And it wouldn't be a trip without a care package -lots of candy...check, crackers just in case the meals are terrible...check, pictures of the cutest kids EVER....check, and special pictures drawn just for daddy by Miss Makenzie...check! 

Love you and miss you already Tom!! 

Feelin a little stressed

I discovered last night that I'm completely out of checks (the box I thought I had left were checks for our health savings account)....not a huge deal (thanks to online bill pay).  I don't write very many checks except that now I have to get cash to pay daycare this week. 

And then today I got an email from my credit card company saying there were fraudulent charges to my credit card, so after spending 30 minutes on the phone confirming that they were indeed fraudlent charges (no, I did not make 2- $2094.42 charges to some place called M Elle yesterday thank you very much), my credit card has been shut down and they are sending me a new one that should be here in 5 to 7 days. 

And my husband leaves tomorrow morning at 5 am....for a month.

And the kids and I leave Friday for Dubuque....with no checks and no credit card....thinking I better get some cash before we hit the road so I'm not totally dependent on my debit card! 

And Micah has some strange rash on the bottom of his right foot that the doctor suspects might be foot and mouth (watch his mouth for spots and if he develops any sores in his mouth or more spots on his feet keep him out of daycare for the rest of the week). 

In an effort to avoid a major meltown, I'm blogging and eating chocolate, and thinking of picking up a diet mountain dew (thank you $1 Runza drinks!) when I pick up Makenzie from VBS.  :)