For Gina!

My good friend Gina emailed me today to say the following. "Your blog has become like a newspaper to me and now that you haven't blogged since Friday, I feel like my paper isn't being delivered! Who do I call to complain?" So, here you go girl, updates on my dreary days!

I had actually gotten halfway through a blog entry on Saturday night but then I got interrupted and sidetracked and never got back to it so I just deleted it altogether. I really couldn't get into it on Sunday either and I've just been too busy the last few days to even think about it.

On Saturday Joe had a morning soccer game and they did great! They won again and Joe scored again!!! He's so funny to watch because as soon as he gets the ball he has this huge grin on his face. At this particular game he broke from the crowd and ran the length of the field before shooting and the whole time he had the ball at his feet he was laughing and giggling to himself. You can make it out a little on this photo.

On Sunday Shaun and I were both awakened by thunder around 6am. We both said "oh no!" because Amy's game was scheduled for 2pm up in Baltimore and the last one was cancelled due to severe weather. The thunder however seemed to pass and once we got up the weather seemed ok. There were storms forecast throughout the day but when I checked the weather radar it looked like everything was to the west of DC and Baltimore. I also kept a close eye on the league website to see if any field closings had been posted. We were due to meet the team at McDonald's around noon and I checked the website around 11.30am and still no field closures were reported. We were just packing up the last of our things and getting shoes etc on when one of the parents called to say she'd just checked the website and all games had been cancelled! I couldn't believe it! Amy was really disappointed as were we as she's only had one game so far this season. This coming weekend we have a tournament and they are going into it with hardly any games played. We have 2 games on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. The girls will not know what has hit them!!! There is rain forecast for this weekend also but fingers crossed that will push on into next week as the days go by and our tournament will be uninterrupted.

So, instead of going to Baltimore on Sunday we stayed at home. The weather at home suddenly brightened up and it looked like it might be a nice day. Amy needed a new bike helmet so we went up to Walmart while Shaun continued with building the new retaining wall. We got a helmet and also came home with 2 tennis rackets for the kids. They have been wanting them for a long time so I got them so they could exercise outside while Shaun and I worked in the yard. I weeded at the front of the house and got it tidied up quite nicely. Just as I was finishing up we heard the thunder and saw heavy black clouds moving in. The rain came and the kids headed inside and Shaun and I ran to get plastic sheeting to cover up the brickwork as well as clean up all of the cement and tools etc. About a minute into all of that the heavens really opened and the torrential rain came. We were absolutely soaked to the skin by the time we were done. We were laughing saying that we'd probably just get cleaned up and get inside and the rain would stop and the sun would come back out but that never happened. It wasn't long before our front yard was flooded and resembled a quagmire.

We decided a little later to go out for dinner as we had promised Amy we would do that as a reward for her great report card last week. We went to The Greene Turtle in Prince Frederick which just recently opened. Amy wasn't keen and said she wouldn't like it but she was in for a big surprise when she saw that each booth had it's own tv screen with channels you could select for yourself. Talk about a TV dinner in heaven! It was good and the food was very nice. A pleasant night out!

On Monday Amy had the day off school. It was still pouring down when we got up and if it hadn't been for the fact that I'd arranged for Amy to play with Jared at his house then I would happily have stayed in my pj's and kept Joe home from preschool. However, we dropped Joe off and then I took Amy to Jared's house. I left and went home to get some cleaning done and then went back to get Amy around 11.30am. She had a really good time which I never doubted for a moment. We got Joe and then headed to McD's for lunch. The kids played and I read my book which I'd been trying to finish so I could return it to the library. I had tried renewing it as it was overdue but someone else had a hold on it so every day it took me to finish it cost me another 10c. It was worth it though and I really enjoyed it. It was called Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. I got it finished before we left and returned it to the library on our way home.

The rest of the day was dreary as it was still raining on and off and everything was soaked and muddy. When we woke up on Tuesday morning the weather was much improved. It was nice to see the sun and blue skies again. I volunteered at Amy's school and then popped to Walmart before heading home to do some laundry. I also remembered that I hadn't finished the newsletter for Joe's soccer team so I did that and set it off printing before going to get Joe from preschool. When we got home I made a start on the directions for the tournament Amy's team has this weekend. I printed maps to get to and from every game, how to get home etc. I bound all the maps together and labelled them so hopefully it is idiot proof! Shaun had also asked me to laminate some papers for Amy's team practice last night so I had that to do also as well as pack up all of our stuff ready to go once Amy was home from school. Shaun is training in VA this week so I am taking Joe's practices - which really just means more chaos for me trying to get everything sorted and out of the door on time.

Today has been a little less hectic but not without drama by any means. I took the kids to school this morning and headed to the grocery store and then onto the Dr's office to get my allergy shot which seems to take longer each week. While I was waiting I started my new read loaned to me by Teresa. It was after 10.30am by the time I made it back home and that only left me an hour before going back to get Joe. I had time to throw in some laundry and empty the dishwasher and that was about it. I clean the preschool classes on Wednesdays so I did Melissa's room and then Joe and I had to run an errand and get him a haircut. We did all that and were home before 1pm. I then put on some stewing steak for dinner (I was making steak and mushroom pies) and pottered around cleaning up and folding laundry etc. We went back to preschool around 2.20pm to finish up the classrooms and I was just finishing up at 3.15pm when I suddenly remembered that the stewing steak was still cooking at home!!!!! I flew out of preschool with Joe and drove home on 2 wheels expecting to see my house in cinders. I couldn't see any smoke in the sky in the direction of our house and I was so relieved to find that there was still some liquid in the pan and nothing had caught fire. Phew! Now off to get Amy.

We went to the playground after school and when Amy found some jackets on one of the seats she asked if she could take them to the school lost and found. Sophie went with her and minutes later I could just hear Amy screaming "Mommy!, Mommy!" and she was running towards me crying. Turns out she had been stung by a bee. She was hysterical as she usually is with any kind of trauma and my main concern is always trying to get her calmed down as she's been known to make herself throw up after being so stressed. She finally took a breath and said that she'd walked past a bush and all the bees came out and one stung her. It was right on her elbow and did look nasty. I took her to the school nurse and she put some toothpaste on it to draw out the sting and then put a band aid over it and gave her some ice to ease the swelling. She complained a lot that it hurt but after sitting for 10mins or so she decided she could play again. By the time we got home it was swollen pretty bad but I'm glad to say that by the time she went to bed all of the swelling and redness had gone down :)

What excitement eh? Gina, I think your "newspaper" has turned into a full blown novel!!!!! I'm exhasuted and now want to go and see who gets voted off Idol this week. I bid you all goodnight!