I'z Old

Thursday night my step-father and recently unemployed mother (did I tell you guys about that--the poor dear!) decided to come and visit us for the weekend. Since I knew she was debating on whether or not to come, I started cleaning the house on Thursday afternoon--just in case (lol).

It was nice to see them. Barry helped John clean up some more leaves Saturday while I took Mary to the library to do some research for a school project, and then Mom and I went to the store to get fixin's for dinner for the weekend. Saturday was a chili kind of day, so we threw that together and enjoyed it (Mom thought we made too much--boy, was she surprised when it ALL got eaten up!).

Saturday night we kept Barry up late (almost 3 am!) playing Beatles Rock Band. I used the money my Dad sent me for my birthday to buy a second microphone so that we could try harmonizing. Wow. It's been a while since I've done any sight-reading, and...that was tough! I was Paul, John was um, John--and then even Barry took the mic and traded off lead/harmony with me. By the end of the night, I hardly had any voice left and was dead tired.

Sunday was my birthday. Hey! How nice to have my mother in town for my birthday, huh? I slept in kinda late since we were up so late the night before. I could hear all the kids up (and did get up enough to verify that SOMEONE had fed Izzy breakfast before I crawled back in bed for another 20 minutes). When I finally got up at 9:00, Mary giddily showed me her Birthday Surprise for me. Mary, Keith, and Izzy made me a card and then emptied the dishwasher, picked up the den, and even cleaned the bunny cage WITHOUT BEING TOLD (and ALL before 9:00?! WOW!). Isn't that the best present ever?

I dragged my mother to our GS meeting that afternoon where the girls made paper bag turkeys for table settings for the homeless shelter (we're making them pies for their Thanksgiving dinner next weekend). We cut the meeting short so that we could all go outside and rake the leaves for the church who lets us use their facilities. It was a MASSIVE amount of leaves. It's a MASSIVELY HUGE yard. We got about a third of it done in just over an hour. It was fun--and a nice day to rake leaves!

...And this is when I just started to DRAG. I had been up late the night before, my throat still kinda hurt from singing all night, and all that raking really did me in. Thank goodness Mom and I decided to do a small Thanksgiving for my birthday meal--we kept it simple and cooked a turkey breast in the crockpot. We get home, and DINNER'S READY!

John was kinda bummed because he wanted to take me out to our favorite Japanese restaurant for my birthday. I told him it was no big deal--he can take me out ANOTHER night! LOL

Mom made me a cake, so we all enjoyed two huge pieces, and then after the kids went to bed, all but John fell asleep watching the Colts game. Sorry--my body just wasn't having it--and I missed a great finish, too!

I dragged all day yesterday, too--and then finally figured out that no, I'm not tired from the weekend's activities and my age, and no, my throat is not still sore from singing--it's because I caught Keith's cold that he'd had all weekend! I'm still dragging today, but at least I have my friend The Cold Pill to help keep me sane (Yes, I'z old--I never used to take cold pills--now I can't weather colds like I used to).

Now we're all looking forward to Izzy's birthday. She turns five on Friday, and boy, is she excited about it! And...I finally figured out a party idea for her. I invited all the girls in her class to the bowling alley on Saturday. Bowling, pizza, and cake--she's so thrilled! I can't help but be excited, too through my virus-haze. It's going to be a fun weekend!

BTW: I must give credit to my husband about the "special nights" for the kids. It was HIS idea from a couple of years ago when we realized that in the chaos of the three children, we hardly ever got to spend one-on-one time with them--particularly Izzy. We stopped doing it for some reason last year, but we decided to start them up again. It's more fun now that Izzy's old enough to play NON-toddler games. LOL. He's a great Dad.