Friday, November 6, 2009

Deer in my headlights!!

Thursday morning I hit a deer while doing my paper route. That was a first for me, although I do see them often and have had them dart out in front of me before. This one, though, just seemed to appear. I didn’t see it until it was right there! I slammed on the brakes, but there just wasn’t enough time. Fortunately, the impact wasn’t too bad. I did not have my seat belt on (because of all the getting in and out of the car I do during my route), but I don’t think I even moved at all. My CD didn’t skip either, which surprised me because every little bump in the road seems to affect that player. But, all my unrolled newspapers did fall into the floorboard. :)

When I opened my eyes, everything was calm and there was no sign of the deer. I did not get out to look, but I hope that since I was able to slow down considerably, maybe he ran off and will just be bruised. Don’t know how likely that is, but I can hope! The car seemed fine, too, so I just drove off and continued my route. Next time I was out of the car for a porch delivery, though, I checked out the damage. Wow! The passenger headlight is gone. The little light below that was dangling but still attached. Turns out Greg was able to stick that back in, though. The Navy Wings license plate that came on the front of the car can probably come off now. It’s all mangled. (Sorry, Dad!) And the hood is crunched up on the passenger side. There is also a crack in the windshield that I don' t think was already there. We're taking it for an estimate today. However much it is, fortunately, we only have to pay our $100 deductible. Unless our rates go up as a result …

Monday, August 17, 2009

And off to school they went!

Well, I just put all three of my kids on the school bus for the first time this year, and now I am sad. I don't work today so I have seven hours to sit home and cry. :) No, I won't really do that. But I guess it has finally caught up with me after my bragging on Saturday about not getting upset when I left Greyson at Pre-K on Thursday.

He was so happy to finally get to ride the bus with his sisters this morning! The bus driver, Mr. Bingham, often drove a mini-bus last year, and was kind enough to pull into our long driveway, all the way up in front of our garage for the girls to hop on. However, today he was in the full-size bus so he had to wait for us at the street. Also, he arrived a few minutes before we expected, so we weren't out there waiting like we usually try to be. The girls ran on ahead and boarded. Then, the bus sat there while a couple of cars stacked up behind it, and everyone watched as Greyson and I followed slowly. (The complete opposite of his cousin, Pejo, Greyson does not run everywhere. Especially, it seems, when it would be helpful for him to do so!) But oh, what a big smile he had on his face! This giant bus waiting there just for him! Finally, he got on and sat near the front with Susannah, on the seat in front of Makaley. Then they all three waved at me as they drove off for their five-minute ride to school.

My life has just changed forever, hasn't it?

And then, there was this other conversation today. First of all, I should explain that as I was finishing up my paper route this morning, I was admonishing myself because I feel like I am always falling short of being the mom that I want to be. I am so tired some nights (like last night, in particular) that I am not patient enough, I'm easily irritated and uninterested in playing games or doing all the little tiny things that are constantly asked of me. I don't want to be like that as often as I have been lately. I want to be less selfish and always happy to make time for my children! I want them to love me and be proud of me and when they grow up, I want them to be able to say that I was the best mom ever! So I have some things to work on.

Well, I was rushing to get everything done this morning and everyone ready on time, so Greg stayed a few extra minutes and helped get hair brushed, etc. Susannah came into the kitchen as I was making her PB & J sandwich and said something about that. I said, "Yes, you have the best daddy in the world, don't you?" She agreed, and then Makaley from the entryway added, "And the best mom!" Then Susannah said, "Well, we should just say the best family because we have best grandparents, too! And the best friends!"

And that was exactly what I needed to hear. So for now, all is right in my little corner of the world. If I could just get these tears to stop falling ... :)

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Wow, two posts in one day? From me, could it be? :) Well, I was reading over my last few entries and thought I'd follow up on a few of the things I mentioned in them.

Makaley had her first loose tooth at one writing. Well, it did indeed come out, as did the one next to it. So she has two front, bottom permanent teeth now. I don't think she's lost anymore since then. Susannah lost two within just a couple of days, if I remember correctly, around the time I said she had three or four loose. And just recently, about a week apart, she lost two more. And those two, Makaley pulled out! The tooth fairy was duly impressed, I guess, and left Makaley 50 cents each time for her efforts. :)

We haven't started piano lessons yet. I was going to sign them up with Mr. Dooley (the elementary music teacher), but he left Waukomis Elementary to pursue a career in law. Interestly, the girls told me last night that the new music teacher is Mr. Dooley's uncle! Such is life in a small town, I guess. :) I don't know if he teaches lessons, but I did get the name of someone in Enid that I may contact before too long. I may even sign Greyson up, too. He really loves music. He seems to have a special interest and knack for playing drums, though. Aren't we lucky?!

We took swimming lessons this summer. The girls did, I should say. Makaley took a 2-week class on base and loved it! She got to swim every morning for ten days. Susannah insisted on private lessons (four 1-hour sessions), but that turned out to be a great thing. She learned a TON and basked in the one-on-one attention from her teacher. I was happy that they had so much fun.

Oh, and Greyson is still being wild. Although it has gotten some better -- or else I've just adjusted to the change. :)

Life is good. I hope you can all say the same!

~Jennifer

Saturday, August 15, 2009

It's Saturday!! I'm working at the soccer office today registering people for the fall season. It's pretty slow, but the deadline was actually last Saturday so I didn't expect much of a rush. It's rather nice to sit here without much going on. I can do whatever I want for 5 hours without the guilt of thinking I really should be doing something else. :)



School began here this past week. Susannah and Makaley started 3rd & 1st grades. They are both really excited and loving it so far. I am hearing great things about their teachers, too, which makes me especially happy as they were both very attached to their teachers from last year and unusually sad to move on.



The 3rd grade classes are doing something new this year. They will be having different teachers for some subjects like the older grades do, but the teachers will be rotating rooms, rather than the kids. So Susannah has her main teacher, plus three others for three other subjects. Pretty cool, I think!



Greyson, our baby, started all-day Pre-K on Thursday. Since I didn't get him potty trained till earlier this year, he didn't get to go through the base's three-year old preschool program like the girls did. He has gone to home daycares the three mornings I work each week and Bible classes his whole life, but he's never really experienced the school atmosphere so I wasn't totally sure how he'd do or what he'd think. Well, I do believe he's loving it! He comes home pretty tired but all smiles and anxious to go back. There was at least one mom standing outside their class Thursday morning wiping away tears, but I was dry-eyed this time. I was more excited for him than sad for me. The third child spends so much time watching older siblings do stuff and not getting to participate, you know?



Starting Monday, they'll all three ride the bus to school. Now that, I'm a little nervous about. Greyson seems so much younger and not so independent. I don't think I'd send him on the bus without his big sisters. Even Makaley, I'd hesitate to send without Susannah. But together they'll do fine. And since they leave at 7:40 and I don't have to be at work till 8:45, I'll never be late again!! :) Not that they have made me late to work ... I will probably still be rushing madly to have them ready in time, but when they leave, I will already be up to take advantage of the full hour getting myself ready. Wow! And not only that, but on Mondays and Fridays I don't work. What will it be like to have an entire day to do stuff? I am going to have to work HARD to stay disciplined and make good use of that time. There are so many hidden object computer games I want to play. And books to read. And shopping to do. And sleep to catch up on ... :)



My birthday is this Wednesday. I had sort of forgotten it was so close till an early card arrived from my father-in-law yesterday. I will be 35. I don't feel too bad about that, but I like the sound of 34 better. I enjoyed saying I was 29 more so than 30, too. Kind of like the price of $4.99 sounds so much better than a whole $5! :) We'll see next year how I feel about 36, though ...



I hear that my family is heading to the base swimming pool. Believe it or not, I have taken the kids swimming several times in the last few weeks. That's not my favorite thing to do, but they love it. And I have enjoyed it too, for the most part. We bought season passes when they went on half-price in July. I figured up if we all five went four times, we'd have our money's worth. I think today will be the sixth time for the kids and me (if I meet them there later) and the first for Greg, so I think we succeeded!



Tomorrow we are going to lunch at El Chico with some good friends from church. I am looking forward to the good company, of course, but my mouth is also already watering for the chips and queso they serve! I ate breakfast today but skipped lunch; can you tell??



Well, time to end my ramblings for today. Happy Saturday, Everyone!

Monday, July 13, 2009

It's been five months since I last blogged? Are we sure about that? It doesn't feel like it! But time does seem to go by in a blur these days. :)

In April, we celebrated Makaley's 6th birthday and Greyson's 4th. Makaley seemed six already to me. She had really grown alot, both physically & emotionally over the previous few months. Her communication skills, especially! Both of our daughters communicate extremely well. They obviously got that from Greg. Sometimes I feel convinced we are raising lawyers - Susannah, in particular! But actually, Susannah says she wants to be a teacher. I think she'd be good at it, too. She often speaks with a very authoritative tone, has no problem giving orders and likes to be the one in charge of projects, i.e. THE BOSS! She also loves babies and looks forward to having some of her own someday. Just today, in fact, she and her friend Arianna were discussing the possibility of creating a babysitting service when they are a little older. Makaley, on the other hand, also likes babies but isn't sure she wants to have any children because she watches a lot of "A Baby Story" on TLC and knows that it hurts! :) While I was prepared for Makaley to turn six, the whole 1st grade thing is not sitting well. She's a very composed child. Well, except for when she's throwing a tantrum. Haha ... We are still working on that, but most of the time, Makaley is the most easy-going of our kids. Definitely the most social, too. She's usually in a good mood, while Susannah is the emotional one. Tween years, here we come! :)
As for our boy, he's a handful these days! Greyson was a fairly calm toddler, at least compared to some. Something happened around his birthday this year, though, and he has become our wild child! He seems to be going through a hyper stage. And he talks more than ever before. Wow! Not that I'm complaining about the talking thing, and I couldn't do so in good conscience, seeing how much I myself talk non-stop sometimes. But still, ococasionally it's overwhelming. Like when I'm concentrating on something else at that moment. Like now, for example, he keeps repeating to me that I missed a page in the book we read last night. Huh?? And yes, I know, he should be asleep right now, but he took a late nap. Anyway, the biggest accomplishment lately as far as Greyson is concerned is probably the fact that he is out of diapers! I finally got serious about training him over the Memorial Day long weekend, and that's about all the time it took. Started Thursday and by Saturday he was taking himself! Weird that it happened so fast considering we had been working with him for a few months, off and on, without much success. At any rate, that was a huge relief because I was starting to worry that he wasn't going to be able to start Pre-K this fall!


Well, I'd better get to bed. I would like to get back to updating my blog regularly and maybe in a different way. I have been rambling on about my boring everyday life. What I'd rather post are philosophical thoughts or specific interesting things that happen. So we'll see. Thanks for hanging in there with me! Goodnight ...

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Happy New Year!

Hello, World! :) Well, gee, Christmas has come and gone and now it's going on February! It's unbelievable how time flies these days. I can't keep up with my life, much less this blog, but I enjoy trying. Bear with me!!

We are staying pretty busy lately but not overly so, for once. Susannah's playing indoor soccer, one game a week and no practice. And that's really all we've got going at the moment, besides school, work and church. We've already been getting e-mail reminders to sign up for the regular soccer season, though. I think Greg's planning to coach Makaley's team again and assist with Susannah's, like he's been doing for several seasons now. So we'd better enjoy this lull! Makaley is planning to play t-ball this summer as well. Susannah tried that two summers ago and didn't care much for it, but I expect that Makaley will like it better. I enjoyed the games a lot, especially when it got dark and the field lights came on. It brought back fond memories of my two years playing softball!

Both girls are planning to start piano lessons soon. Uncle David brought us his piano and as soon as we get it tuned up, we'll be good to go. I was happy to learn that the elementary music teacher gives lessons after school. I've already spoken to him and he told me what slots he has open and how much he charges. They are excited! I am, too. I didn't realize that I have missed playing, myself! I'm itching to get my hands on some of my old piano books from my parents' house.

We got lots of ice yesterday so there was no school or work today. School is also out tomorrow; we'll see about work. Of course, the newspaper could care less about weather; I don't get any snow days from doing that job. Last night wasn't too bad, really, just time consuming because I had to go so slowly. Oh, and I had an adventure. Lately, several cars have been broken into or stolen during the night here in Waukomis. Very unusual for this little town. I mean, I know several people who usually leave their keys in their vehicles! Coming from Pine Bluff, that seems insane to me, but anyway ... Since that has been going on, I've started killing the engine when I deliver to this one apartment building because I'd hate to come back out and see someone driving off in my car. Last night, though, when I came back from delivering that paper, the car wouldn't start back up! There happened to be a man outside working on his own car (at 4 AM, no less), and he spent an hour of his own time trying unsuccessfully to get me back up and running. Finally he gave up and my friend Sandra took me home to get our van so I could finish my route. I'm guessing it's the fuel filter again. The exact same thing happened a month or so ago. I'm just glad we have two vehicles these days!

The kids are doing well. They are running around all wild tonight, a little too hyper and definitely testing my patience, but at least they are happy. I am freezing cold in the house and the girls have on bathing suits. Go figure! They ought to be getting into bed, but Greg is working on sealing up the window in the girls' room and they can sleep in a little tomorrow morning. All I can say is that I am still appreciating the extra room we have in this new house!!

Oh, here's some exciting news: Makaley has her first loose tooth! It's one of the front ones on the bottom and could very well come out within the next few days. She's pretty excited. Susannah's canine teeth, three of the four, are also loose, but they probably have a while longer yet before they pop out. She informed me that when those three come out, she will have lost a total of 13 teeth.

I am struggling to accept the fact that Greyson and Makaley will be four and six in April. They are both looking and acting older lately. Makaley has been learning to read at a remarkable pace this year. In fact, I think she's a little ahead of some of her classmates. She is so proud to be in Kindergarten and really likes her teacher. Greyson is talking very well. He surprises me every single day with what comes out of his mouth. He is already talking back, though. Not a good sign! :) He has gotten taller lately, too. For some reason, I don't have as much trouble with the fact that Susannah is already eight years old. Maybe because she has always seemed older than her age. Or maybe because she's our first child, every new thing she does is new to me as well, rather than a reminder that my babies are growing up!!

I spent my Christmas money and paper route tips on a Nintendo DS Lite. I thought it would be fun for the whole family, and it is! I didn't expect that Greyson would be the one who uses it the most, but he does. He knows how to put the game cartridges in correctly and navigates all around from game to game. I was pretty surprised, but maybe it's a boy thing. He can also work the DVD player. I bought a game called Clubhouse Games for the DS that has tons of fun stuff like bowling, pool, dominoes, other board games like checkers and chess, as well as all sorts of card games from Rummy to Old Maid to Solitaire. I also have a game of crossword puzzles, wordsearches, etc. I haven't regretted spending that money yet!

Well, I'd better sign off of here for now. Until next time ...