The Puddles

My two sweet angels were angels in the Church Christmas Program on Sunday.  Ainsley truly “hammed it up.” A star in the making.  The ironic part of that story is that for the hour prior to the program she wanted nothing to do with singing.  She went from one loving set of arms to another lamenting her woes and claiming that her tummy hurt.  I told her that if she sang I would let her climb into my bed at home and watch Disney channel all afternoon.  I would like to think that that did the trick.  But only when all of the other kids were up there did Ainsley decide to go.  She truly put on a show! Where was that sad little girl with her tear stained face?  She wasn’t going to miss an opportunity to amaze her audience with her talents!

Madie enjoyed herself too but was slightly preoccupied by the fact that no one mentioned her birthday that morning during Sunday school opening.  It is her birthday on Friday (in case you hadn’t heard . . . I am pretty sure that she put an ad out in the newspaper) and she has only obsessed about it since her birthday last December.  She has been looking in the mailbox every day for a week looking for mail with her name on it.  So of course, no mention on Sunday was not good.  Many reassurances from some caring adults at church that we would do it next Sunday made her feel a little better.  She too loves the stage.

My new double oven arrived from Sears today.  It is pretty.  The nice gentlemen from Sears brought it into my garage and we examined the oven together to make sure that it was the right one and that the stainless steel wasn’t scratched.  After the nice gentlemen left, I thought to myself “I wonder what the inside of the oven looks like.”  Then it all went downhill from there.

You see, I purchased the oven the night before Ben went into the hospital.  I had thought that our current avocado green oven had died (which is, by the way, another hilarious story of stupidity on my part)  and that I needed an oven by Christmas.  I was under a lot of pressure from outside sources to hurry up and get a new one ordered.  So on a whim (even though I had done a ton of research), I stopped at the Sears store an ordered an oven.  There are not any floor models of the size that I was looking for (24″ double oven), so I purchased the item via a book along with my great salesperson.  I made sure that the oven would fit in our cabinet.  I measured and remeasured.  So when I bought the oven, I looked at the cutout dimensions and all of the other dimensions but . . . I never paid attention to the inside depth dimensions.

In other words, half of my pans and ALL of my cookie sheets DO NOT FIT inside the new oven.  The experience of finding this out left me stunned but not speechless for I taught Ben a new word today . . . “son of b—“-.  I quickly informed him that Mommy was wrong and don’t ever say that word.  I was mad.  Chris would tell you that that is an understatement.  I wanted this oven project to be finished.  But now I have to deal with the bad oven.

So . . .

1.  Returning a 200 lb. oven is not easy.   2.  There is going to be a lot of paperwork involved.  And most importantly . . .  3.  Don’t assume that your new oven is going to have the same measurements as your 30+ year old oven.

for Madie.  First off, last night was officially the “best day of her life.” (Her words.)  Her Aunt Debra (and Uncle David helped by watching Gordon) took her to see “The Sound of Music” last night at the Hobby Center for her birthday.  This was a huge deal (she got all dressed up with “real jewelry and pantyhose”) and ever so special for our little Miss Madie.  She feel asleep with a huge smile on her face.

Now she is chanting, “Nobody loves me! This is the worse day ever. You only turn 8 years old once in your life.  I shouldn’t have to do anything that I don’t want to do.”  Then go back to the beginning and repeat.  Granted she is tired from last night’s event. But good gracious. This is dramatic even for Madie.  I had to send her out of the room while I giggled to myself.  Is it cruel to videotape her right now in order to show her this tape when her daughter is going through this? It is so serious for her,  but it truly is hilarious.

I have shut the door to the office and told the children that “Mommy needs a time out now.  Leave me alone for five minutes.” I just need to be by myself for a few moments and let out a good smile and hearty laugh while I try to maintain decorum in this crazy life of ours!

We were not going to see Santa this year.  Ben can’t be in public yet. But . . . Santa came through the neighborhood riding the firetruck with the sirens blaring.  We all had to go now.

So we loaded everyone up and headed to the gazebo where Santa was.  Chris stayed in the car with Ben while the girls and I waited in line.  When it was time, Chris and Ben joined us to talk to Santa.

Madie wrote her list down for Santa.  There were 18 items on the list.  The elf told Madie that of course Santa would get it all for her.  The elf and I need to talk.  I think that Madie will be mostly satisfied.  Hopefully.  Ainsley asked for a Barbie truck and barbies (there is a crisis story there about Santa’s helper looking until 2am at 7 different store for the item without luck.  Don’t worry the story ends well.). Ben wants a double action star wars light saber.  Luckily I think all of the children will be happy.

I wish that Ben didn’t have to wear a mask to talk to Santa, but Santa saw a lot of people and we were already breaking the rules big time by taking Ben to see Santa.  So give us a spanking and send us to bed without dinner because it was worth it and I’d do it again.

After we visited Santa, Daddy began talking to the fireman who brought Santa to the gazebo.  He walked away with a glint in his eye.  I think he’s hooked! It would be good for Daddy to have something non-church to do.

I took Ben and loaded him in the truck when Daddy started to talk about how many calls that fire department run every year.  Time for me to go.  Ben, Ainsley and I sat in the truck and waited for Daddy to finish talking shop.

It was good to see Chris excited again about being on a rescue squad.

I was working on baking on Saturday.  The kids were quiet.  You appreciate the quiet for about five minutes and then you begin to worry.  I went looking for my cherubs/devils, and found them in the closet under the stairs.  They were playing house.  They were having a good time.  They played in there for hours.

I don’t know how they even all fit in there.  They all had assigned spaces. Yes . . . that is Ainsley tucked in there. I was starting to feel claustrophobic just taking their picture.  How did they stay in there for all that time.

I love the fact that my kids have wonderful imaginations.  They had a great time!  Even if it was in a closet.

Madie went to the doctor again today.  She has been fever free all day today, but the doctor said that she now has pink eye!  Pink eye!  The doctor said that she can back to school tomorrow as long as we started the eye drops this morning.  So if she continues to be fever free, she gets to go back to school.  Yeah!

Madie is still sick.  The doctor is going to see her tomorrow and run some blood tests to see if she can figure out what is going on with her.  It is not strep.  The lab test came back negative.  Tonight her fever is between 101 and 103.  She just doesn’t feel good. Fours days of having a fever will do that to you. Hopefully we will find some answers tomorrow.

Fuzzy is our “elf on the shelf.” He watches us and reports back to Santa every night.  Hopefully we are being good boys and girls.  He spent two days in Dad’s office.  I think he saw one two many bad things and had to spend two days in the office to report everything that he saw.  Oops!

Today we found him hanging upside down on the hutch.  At least he wasn’t hangin’ with the Angel on top of the tree.  He was getting a little too comfortable with her.

They try to give themselves tattoos using washable markers.