We Can't Win

This is for each and every one of my dear friends who dislike bringing their kids to day care.

One of my favorite friends in Rochester is Laura. She and I are on the Personnel Committee together at Aldrich. Her kids are six and four (Brooklyn will be in Sam's class this year) and she does in-home daycare. If I ever needed a daycare provider Laura is exactly who I would choose.

This morning the kids and I were invited over to Laura's house for a playdate. She was 'only' expecting two kids in addition to her own. Sam was beside himself with excitement. We had never been to Laura's house to play but we once stopped by so I could drop something off. Her garage has two doors and Sam couldn't be more impressed by it. He has asked several times when we were going to go play at the house with two garage doors. He thinks that means it's Disneyland. "Mom," Sam said as we drove over this morning. "I bet she has rooms full of toys."

I bet she does, too, but we never even went inside. Laura had her kids out on her driveway and her neighbor, who also does daycare, was over. There were fourteen kids there, ages one to seven. Sam and Matilda were in heaven. Sam rode bikes and a scooter. He played baseball and basketball. Matilda played in a little house and got to carry around several different balls. She rode a little bike and sat in a lawn chair. They were both so happy. I saw them sharing and laughing with other kids. In just a few hours they both were able to try several new things. They made friends and listened to Laura when she warned them about getting too close to the road.

I felt terribly guilty when I packed them in the car and brought them home. All of those kids at Laura's were spending the day together learning and playing. Sam and Matilda were home. With me. Again.

Ugh. Most of the time I feel good about my choice to be a stay at home mom but today I'm not sure it was the best choice for my kids.

Clip-Free

I'm too exhausted to go into details but this morning had good news and bad news.

The bad news: Sam was MUCH MORE excited about the idea of having an x-ray than actually doing it.

The good news: Sam's x-ray showed no paper clip! What a relief!

Six Years

It was our anniversary yesterday.

We didn't do anything special. As I've said before, we aren't ones for big events. (Well, Eric is when he's in a manic phase, but I don't know if that counts.)

I've been planning on sitting down and writing down all of my memories of our wedding day. I need to do it now before it gets really fuzzy. Unless I really focus my memories are:

- My mom falling off of a ladder and breaking her arm six days before the wedding. She had to have the sleeves cut off of her dress so she could fit it over a cast. She ended up without a cast but still rocked her sleeveless look.

- Getting my hair done with Kourtney and Jackie. Kourtney told her stylist she wanted something funky. Later she stood in front of me with her hair in a shocking split-twist style. "Too funky," Kourtney said simply.

- Forgetting my 'something blue' at my house (the sapphire earrings Eric gave me when we were 16). I decided I'd forget about it and my something blue would be Eric's eyes.

- The entire church staring at Tali and Ben for what seemed like hours as they waited for their CD to start. I made Ben sing that duet and I don't think he's ever forgiven me.

- Sweet Child Of Mine playing in the party bus. Stopping at Super America several times for restroom breaks while on the party bus. Kourtney referring to her sash/shawl as her 'wipey-thing' and cleaning spilled beer on the bus.

- Forgetting our marriage license on the party bus.

- Our groomsman, Nick, falling off the end of the risers where we ate. Twice.

- My friend Jen falling face-first off of the riser. Once.

- My friend Jen dropping her drink and covering the dance floor with glass shards.

- Amy having SO much fun at the dance, she ended the evening with her strapless dress on completely backward, with the zipper going up her front.

Oh, I love them all. While our marriage is between us our wedding day was all about our family and friends. Be prepared for pictures! I'm feeling nostalgic and think I'll be getting my wedding box out of storage this week...

There's A Reason They're Called Die

My dad and Tina came over for dinner on Wednesday. It was the loveliest dinner party ever - they brought the food! We all ate until we were stuffed and the kids were adorable. When I put Matilda to bed my dad said that they were going to leave. They didn't want to get in the way of bedtime.

"But Matilda is already asleep!" I protested. "And Eric really wants to play Yahtzee."

Those poor, kind people. They'd never played a game with us before. They happily agreed to stay and play.

We were about four rolls into the game when the trash-talking started. Eric and I are big fans of psychological warfare where board games are concerned. We gave exaggerated sighs of sympathy to bad rolls and openly mocked everyone else's scores. I even knocked my dad's pen across the table just to reiterate that I was a bully.

Dad and Tina remarked politely that they had never played a game of Yahtzee quite like ours before. They ended up getting the two highest scores of the night. There is a lesson there somewhere that I am choosing to ignore.

Next time - Battleship!

Texts From Yesterday

Emilie to Eric, 1:33:34: Sam just swallowed a paper clip. Are those lead? Should I call his doctor?

Emilie to Eric, 1:44:04: Dr. Arndt said to just watch for it. We have an appointment for an xray on Monday in case we don't find it. Sigh.

Emilie to Eric, 1:45:14: Matilda just vomited in the tent!

Emilie to Eric, 1:46:38: Sam is really excited as he has always wanted an xray.

Eric to Emilie, 2:00:51: I step away from my phone for a few minutes and this is what happens!

Emilie to Eric, 2:01:03: It was a really bad few minutes!!

Luci and Abdi's Reception

Eric's stepsister, Luci, is Grandma Susan's youngest daughter. She got married several months ago in a small ceremony. Last Saturday she and her husband, Abdi, had a reception in Plainview for all of us who didn't see the wedding.

Luci and Abdi are Muslims. Luci is the only Muslim in our family so we've been learning all we can about her faith and new traditions. That's why I was mortified to commit a faux pas within seconds of walking into the party. Luci greeted us with a hug and introduced us to Abdi. Eric shook his hand and out of habit I stuck my hand out at him, too. Ugh...of course I had forgotten that he doesn't touch any woman other than his wife. He was kind about it but wouldn't shake my hand and I ended up feeling really stupid. I felt better when I found out that Eric's sister Amy had done the same thing - ha! Leave it to me and Amy to be the big idiots of the day.

Carl, Susan, Wally, and Mike Dailey

Shannan, Luci, and Amy (I love this picture of my sisters!)

Take a good look. Matilda is the spitting image of these two (there will be pictures in an upcoming post to prove it). You're looking at my daughter in 30 years!

Here's Abdi and Luci. Abdi's family was pretty amused by the cake-cutting thing.

The littlest Dailey.

Thank goodness for balloons and an open area for the kids to play!

There aren't enough words in any language to explain how funny this is to me. I can't imagine that Wally or Mike ever imagined a day they would wear kufis.

No matter where you worship, no marriage is complete without a Crock-Pot!

I Blame Obama

Our little family has hit another busy streak. The kids and I haven't seen Eric for a week. We left early Friday morning for Sioux Falls and he left on a business trip to Chicago while we were gone. He was supposed to come home last night. Sam and I were going to stay up to see him.

Eric was at O'Hare about an hour before his flight when his flight was canceled. No warning, no reasons given. He spent the next two hours dealing with the airport, his job's travel agency, his boss, area hotels, and me (and my internet connection). He ended up back at the hotel he had just left but this time he was traveling light. (He asked the airline where his bag was. 'On the next available flight, sir,' they sneered condescendingly. So Eric's bag got to Rochester last night while he was stuck in Chicago.)

At one point during this ordeal, after he had arrived at his hotel, he sent me a picture on my phone. I could tell he was looking out his hotel window and it was a picture of a big airplane. I didn't understand the significance until he explained that Air Force One was right outside his hotel. We're assuming clearance for the President's plane was more important than the evening's puddle-jumper flights. FINE.

We are all exhausted. Sam and I can't sleep when Eric isn't home. Matilda is miserable without her dad. She calls for him throughout the day. She even snuggled with me sadly the last time I tried to explain that he was gone. We don't work without Eric!

He should be at O'Hare right now. We are praying he gets on the 7:50 flight which means the kids and I will be at the airport at 9:00. Cruelly, he has to go right to work. The kids will see him tonight but I have a Board meeting.

None of this would have happened if we hadn't elected someone who wasn't even born in this country.

***Update 1: UGH! The 7:50 flight was canceled!!! Now he's at the airport just waiting and hoping he gets on the 9:00 flight.

***Update 2: The 9:00 flight had a gate change and was pushed to 9:15.

Lime Springs

I'm close to giving up our house and living directly out of our car. Every day is another trip!

Today the kids and I drove down to Lime Springs, IA to see Grandma Colleen's new house. We followed Amy and Sean down and got there in time for lunch. I wasn't surprised when Colleen got home a few minutes after we arrived, blew a small tornado through her kitchen, and had us all at the table with our plates piled high ten minutes later.

It was such a nice day. Sam, Matilda, and Sean ran from room to room chasing each other with dog toys. When they finally got tired Colleen set them up at the table with paper and markers. I almost passed out when Matilda ran into the kitchen with her artwork and managed to leave a pink marker trail across the front of the refrigerator. Colleen couldn't have been less worried about it but I'm so stressed, imagining her there trying to scrub it off! She said she misses having a house full of marker swipes and grubby fingerprints. I think I'll bring her a Magic Eraser just in case.

Colleen has been like a mom to me since I was 15 years old. She gives of herself endlessly. I couldn't be happier knowing she is in such a lovely home in a safe little town. Even better, she is just under an hour and a half away - the perfect distance for a day trip. The kids and I will be able to run down to see her whenever the mood strikes.

I truly love my husband's family - what a wonderful gift!

Geography Humor

I'm pretty impressed by Sam's awareness of his surroundings. I was 15 years old and I didn't know how to get to Eyota from Rochester. Seriously! I spent my whole life with my nose in a book and didn't care at all about what was happening outside the car windows. Sam knows when to turn right at a light to get to the store or how to get home from downtown. I think it's awesome.

Today I tried quizzing him again. When we were a few lights from our house, I said, "Sam, do you know where we are?"

"Yep," he said. "We are in Mexico."

"What?" I said.

"Mexico," Sam repeated, and then laughed until he got hiccups.

Once he calmed down, I said, "Sam, you were pretty silly saying we were in Mexico. Where are we really?"

"Ha ha ha, Mom!" Sam said. "Mexico is funny. But really, we are in Colorado."

That sent him into another fit of giggles that didn't stop until we were home.

I wish I got the joke.

The Storyteller

The kids and I just spent the weekend in Sioux Falls with Tali, Chad, Beckett, Liam, and Joy. (My favorite people - woot!) I thought I'd try something different and asked Sam to describe our weekend.

"We drove and drove and drove and drove and drove. Then we played played played played played played played played played played played played and slept. Then we played played played played played played played played played played played played played played played played played and slept. Then we played played played played played played played and watched a show and drove and drove and drove and drove and we are home."

While totally accurate I don't know that he captured just how fun it was. I'll wait to relate my view of the weekend until I get pictures to go with it (hint, hint!).