OnStar, take me away!

This was one of those days (we've all had them). Up on time and feeling good about the speed of the morning's necessary activities, I headed into the bathroom with just enough time to brush my teeth and slip on my shoes. Much to my disappointment, I was not wearing any make-up. Five minutes later I was headed to the door yelling, "HURRY UP DOES NOT MEAN JUST STAND THERE...COME ON". Into the van, buckle Abby, buckle myself, key in ignition...click...click...click. "OH, *@#%&*" (to myself of course). The van would not start. Call Stephanie (whose kids I pick up in the morning) - she comes in the blink of an eye and has Emma on her way to school. One call to OnStar and the towing company is on the way. Note to self: must leave van running for 45 minutes after "jump start".

Finally, I get the kids to school, deliver food for "teacher appreciation week" and am at work only 15 minutes late. Get coffee, do important legal work (HAHA!), everything is fine. At 1:00 I am thinking "van, please start". As I walk to the van I realize I do not have my keys. Of course, they are laying in the console - I can clearly see them through the window. One more call to OnStar, reveal super-secret code to "agent" on other end of call, van doors are open. YEAH!

So much stress has built up that I decide to make cookies "for the kids' snack" (yeah - if you've ever met me you know that I eat to relieve stress). The mixer is on and Silas is in the living room playing Wii saying something about the "studs" or "power packs". Who knows? I can't hear him. So I respond with what I believe to be an appropriate phrase.

Thank you, Silas, for bringing me back to the real world

and back to what is really important.

He says, "no, mommy...that was not a time to say 'whoa, baby', that was a time to say, 'oh, man'". Without any hint of having his feelings hurt he goes back to playing Wii and leaves me thinking that I should worry less about things outside of my control and worry more about hearing the "important" things around me.

The revolving...no, sliding door

We are in and out of the doctor's office all the time. I took Abby to the ear, nose and throat surgeon this morning. When we were in 6 weeks ago, he said she was likely on the way to the operating room (for ear tubes, tonsils, adenoids) but that he wanted to give her 6 weeks on a steroid to see if that cleared the fluid. Thanks be to God...it worked. She will not have surgery right now. Next winter will be another story.

But before any of this good news, we made a very dramatic entrance into the office. Abby has a thing about doors - she likes them closed. She is insistent that doors be closed. So, when she saw the automatic sliding door open, she put her hand on it to close it. Of course, her fat little hand got stuck (the door remaining in the open position because she was standing there). With my super-human mommy strength, I pulled the door closed enough to free her hand. Nurses came running and ice packs were applied. Thank you, God for soft and flexible 2 year old bones. Her wrist is bruised by fine. I'll see if I can post a picture this afternoon.

My shining stars

Indulge me while I brag about my kids...they are doing some amazing things:

Silas made the front page of the Tyler newspaper

Silas' class from Little People's went to the library two weeks ago to hear a special reading of "The Napping House". Some story-tellers had come in from Austin and his class ended up on the front row at the reading. When the ladies had a sing-along that included some make-believe motorcylce riding, Silas was ready to go. Lucky for us, a photographer from the paper was there. The newpaper online has a much clearer photo.

Meanwhile, Emma has had an adventure of her own. After the first of the year, she was screened for the Gifted and Talented program at her school. We got a letter saying that she was eligible to move forward to the second level of screening. She went last week for a day of testing. We are so proud of her math, reading and overall abilities in school. Her teacher says she is easy to teach and eager to learn. Let's pray that lasts her whole life.

Abby - well, she's my sweet angel. She loves to go to "school" 4 days each week and can say the names of all of her friends. I found out today that she even has a boyfriend at school - Logan. Don't worry, he comes from a good family. Would you believe she chose the only other child-of-a-lawyer at her school? Unfortunately for him, I think she will end up being about 6 inches taller (based on his parents' heights).

Have a seat...let's catch up

What a crazy couple of weeks. We've had lots of illness and lots of busy. Let me get you caught up...

We bought a Wii for Christmas and Silas is the self-appointed "Wii King" in our house. He has basically mastered Mario Kart and has now moved onto Legos Star Wars. Un-restricted, he would play from dawn to dusk. He really is better than any of us...his hand/eye coordination is incredible. He played with my brother when he was in town:

I have been working for Findlay Craft doing "document review for ongoing patent litigation" (I can't tell you any more because I signed a confidentiality agreement - and truly, do you really care?) So the mornings are busy...up at 6:00 - I do my workout DVD while Jeff showers, I shower and get dressed...7:00 - get the kids up, fed and ready to leave at 7:40 to drive car pool for Emma. Silas has speech therapy then we are off to Little People's to drop Silas and Abby. So, one morning while I was putting on my make-up, I noticed that Abby was not in the bathroom with me and I could not hear her (you know there's trouble when you can't hear them). I found her in the kitchen...she had come down with a nasty case of the "marker pox":

It has started to warm up here- finally we are able to get outside and play in the evenings. All three kids really like getting out in our neighborhood. Emma and Silas love to ride their bikes and Abby wanders looking for our few neighborhood pets. Tonight I happened to catch a beautiful sky behind all three kids:

So there it is in a nutshell. We are all healthy, happy and blessed by God.