My sincere thanks for all the prayers and thoughts. It has been awesome the number of people that have shown they care about my lil ol' ear.Friday, March 19, 2010
My Ear...Up close and personal
Just in case you are wondering how my ear is doing.....first of all, thank you for caring and secondly, here is a picture of my ear 3 weeks post surgery. It is soooooo much better. Still tender near the wound, but I don't have to wear a band-aid(thank you Jesus) and slept on my left side for the first time two nights ago(again, my thanks to Jesus).
My sincere thanks for all the prayers and thoughts. It has been awesome the number of people that have shown they care about my lil ol' ear.
My sincere thanks for all the prayers and thoughts. It has been awesome the number of people that have shown they care about my lil ol' ear.Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Dinner Theatre
I love my girls. Seriously. And I'm not just saying it because I have to.....
Tonight we ordered pizza(a rare treat) and ate it in the family room...on the new carpet(another rare treat, don't tell Andy!) and watched RAW ANATOMY on the National Geographic channel.
This is a show that dissects animals that have died for unknown reasons, for the purpose of education and research. Totally cool stuff. We watched as they peeled back skin, cut through bone, pulled out small and large intestines and went through the undigested food, explained the heart, lungs, stomach, brain, muscles and ligaments. They even discuss how the animal has evolved and adapted through the years to the structure that it is now. Did you know that whales used to have hind legs? They actually showed the residual hind legs that the whale has tucked up in its blubbler. Anyhoooo..
Such a great experience and learning/teaching opportunity for both the girls and me. When they would pull out an organ etc. I'd ask the girls to point to where their similar "part" is. Did I mention I have some crazy smart girls? I asked them at the beginning if they minded we watched the dissection while we ate, thinking it might gross them out. Nope. They were cool with it.
Wow, cool and smart.
Tonight we ordered pizza(a rare treat) and ate it in the family room...on the new carpet(another rare treat, don't tell Andy!) and watched RAW ANATOMY on the National Geographic channel.
This is a show that dissects animals that have died for unknown reasons, for the purpose of education and research. Totally cool stuff. We watched as they peeled back skin, cut through bone, pulled out small and large intestines and went through the undigested food, explained the heart, lungs, stomach, brain, muscles and ligaments. They even discuss how the animal has evolved and adapted through the years to the structure that it is now. Did you know that whales used to have hind legs? They actually showed the residual hind legs that the whale has tucked up in its blubbler. Anyhoooo..
Such a great experience and learning/teaching opportunity for both the girls and me. When they would pull out an organ etc. I'd ask the girls to point to where their similar "part" is. Did I mention I have some crazy smart girls? I asked them at the beginning if they minded we watched the dissection while we ate, thinking it might gross them out. Nope. They were cool with it.
Wow, cool and smart.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Whew...what a weekend!
What a great weekend this family had! It went by with a whirlwind of activity, and we are all dragging our rears this morning, but it was well worth it! Here is a quick recap of what kept this family movin' and groovin' for two days.
Saturday: Andy and I taught the EMT students at the firestation. His topic was Environmental emergencies....boo. My topic was Behavioral Emergencies....hooray! It was somewhat anxiety producing at first, but I felt it went well overall, and the students thanked me for coming....or maybe they were thanking me for finally leaving. Don't know, don't care.
After class we went to Tess's final basketball game. I haven't talked much about this bball adventure, but she has love love loved playing. It would not surprise me if this is a sport she wants to continue with for many years. She loves the constant moving, the team spirit, and has turned out to be a pretty decent ball handler....not to mention she can play some mean defense.
We had a couple more things that kept us busy that night---Andy played in an Upward coaches vs refs bball game, the KHS Bulldogs won the boys HS State bball Championship, and our Jayhawks won the Big 12 Tournament. It was a good Saturday.
Onto Sunday.....Started out bright and early, thanks to Daylight Savings Time, and it was Youth Sunday at church. I am one of the youth leaders, so I needed to be there early to lead! :) The two services went very well, and I continue to be amazed at how gifted the youth of our church are.....and when I say gifted, I'm talking about their spiritual gifts too.
After church, Andy and I headed out to celebrate Valentine's Day! The College Basketball Experience was a hit! Andy was really surprised, and we had a great time. There were some stops at Kansas Sampler, QT, and Target(cause we can't not stop at a Target, right?) and then we squealed our tires into the church parking lot just in time for the beginning of Tess's bball awards ceremony. Good times. We then broke several traffic laws to get Andy to his 7:30p bball game in Liberty. They won.
The night ended with us listening to my brother playing guitar and singing live on a local KC radio station KKFI, 90.1FM. I cannot begin to explain how proud I am of my brother's performance last night. He sounded amazing, and I hope this does great things for his future as a musician. I will try and post a sound video of the radio show sometime soon.
Monday, Monday. I have a crook in my neck, a frog in my throat, still not adjusted to the time change, and dirty laundry is piled so high that we lost Jane for an hour yesterday.
No, the dryer still isn't fixed.
The Mayor is starting to feel guilty walking by all these piles of dirty laundry.
Saturday: Andy and I taught the EMT students at the firestation. His topic was Environmental emergencies....boo. My topic was Behavioral Emergencies....hooray! It was somewhat anxiety producing at first, but I felt it went well overall, and the students thanked me for coming....or maybe they were thanking me for finally leaving. Don't know, don't care.
After class we went to Tess's final basketball game. I haven't talked much about this bball adventure, but she has love love loved playing. It would not surprise me if this is a sport she wants to continue with for many years. She loves the constant moving, the team spirit, and has turned out to be a pretty decent ball handler....not to mention she can play some mean defense.
We had a couple more things that kept us busy that night---Andy played in an Upward coaches vs refs bball game, the KHS Bulldogs won the boys HS State bball Championship, and our Jayhawks won the Big 12 Tournament. It was a good Saturday.
Onto Sunday.....Started out bright and early, thanks to Daylight Savings Time, and it was Youth Sunday at church. I am one of the youth leaders, so I needed to be there early to lead! :) The two services went very well, and I continue to be amazed at how gifted the youth of our church are.....and when I say gifted, I'm talking about their spiritual gifts too.
After church, Andy and I headed out to celebrate Valentine's Day! The College Basketball Experience was a hit! Andy was really surprised, and we had a great time. There were some stops at Kansas Sampler, QT, and Target(cause we can't not stop at a Target, right?) and then we squealed our tires into the church parking lot just in time for the beginning of Tess's bball awards ceremony. Good times. We then broke several traffic laws to get Andy to his 7:30p bball game in Liberty. They won.
The night ended with us listening to my brother playing guitar and singing live on a local KC radio station KKFI, 90.1FM. I cannot begin to explain how proud I am of my brother's performance last night. He sounded amazing, and I hope this does great things for his future as a musician. I will try and post a sound video of the radio show sometime soon.
Monday, Monday. I have a crook in my neck, a frog in my throat, still not adjusted to the time change, and dirty laundry is piled so high that we lost Jane for an hour yesterday.
No, the dryer still isn't fixed.
The Mayor is starting to feel guilty walking by all these piles of dirty laundry.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
It's Valentine's Day.....Martens Style!
Just a quick post to wish my hubby an early Happy Valentine's Day. Notice I didn't say "VD" (see post from 2-14) because that would just be yucky.
Anyway, tomorrow my sweetie and I are going to celebrate Valentine's Day by going to.......
***SPOILER ALERT****stop reading Andy or your surprise will be ruined!
The College Basketball Experience, then out to the Kansas Sampler for some new KU and Royals merchandise, somewhere for supper, and then home to our busy evening of basketball for both Tess and Andy. Wow.....are we romantic or what!?!
I don't care if it is a Sunday afternoon, I'm ready for a date with my Valentine.
Anyway, tomorrow my sweetie and I are going to celebrate Valentine's Day by going to.......
***SPOILER ALERT****stop reading Andy or your surprise will be ruined!
The College Basketball Experience, then out to the Kansas Sampler for some new KU and Royals merchandise, somewhere for supper, and then home to our busy evening of basketball for both Tess and Andy. Wow.....are we romantic or what!?!
I don't care if it is a Sunday afternoon, I'm ready for a date with my Valentine.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Hooray for today!
Today is turning out to be a great day. Yes, there are clouds in the sky. Yes, I have a sore ear and a stuffed up nose. Yes, I really need to go to the grocery store because the cupboards are bare....... However, today for the first time in a long time(maybe ever!) I have a valid, totally legit reason to slack off.
MY DRYER IS BROKEN and I am waiting on the repairman to show up. Do you have any idea how liberating it is to know that not only do I not want to do laundry today, but I CAN'T do laundry today. I can walk by the piles of clothes totally guilt free.
So far today I have checked email, paid bills, played with 2 lovely little girls, shopped online for a new camera, watched Dora the Explorer, and now I am enjoying some guilt free blogging time.
I just recently realized (you're going to question my IQ after reading this) that even though I don't work at a paying job as many days per week as Andy does, I actually work just as many days(and probably more hours total) than him! I jokingly refer to my family/home life as my small business with 4 employees......that isn't far from the truth. A lot goes into making this house and our family function at an average (I strive for above average and fail most days!) level of performance. Luckily I do love being "the Mom" and even though I would love a little more thanks/appreciation/lavish gifts out of gratitude, I have a pretty sweet deal here, and I know it.
The repairman is supposed to arrive between 12p and 2p....so my time is limited.
The Mayor has an attitude of Gratitude today.
MY DRYER IS BROKEN and I am waiting on the repairman to show up. Do you have any idea how liberating it is to know that not only do I not want to do laundry today, but I CAN'T do laundry today. I can walk by the piles of clothes totally guilt free.
So far today I have checked email, paid bills, played with 2 lovely little girls, shopped online for a new camera, watched Dora the Explorer, and now I am enjoying some guilt free blogging time.
I just recently realized (you're going to question my IQ after reading this) that even though I don't work at a paying job as many days per week as Andy does, I actually work just as many days(and probably more hours total) than him! I jokingly refer to my family/home life as my small business with 4 employees......that isn't far from the truth. A lot goes into making this house and our family function at an average (I strive for above average and fail most days!) level of performance. Luckily I do love being "the Mom" and even though I would love a little more thanks/appreciation/lavish gifts out of gratitude, I have a pretty sweet deal here, and I know it.
The repairman is supposed to arrive between 12p and 2p....so my time is limited.
The Mayor has an attitude of Gratitude today.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Random fun(ny) kid stories
Staying true to the real reason behind this blog.....here are some kids stories that need to be documented for eternity.
We'll start with the wee one.......
Jane Gracen, turns 20 months old on Sunday the 7th. Jane is a sponge. Her vocab is growing every day and her body language is pure Martens. She loves to put on a show to make anyone who is watching laugh......and we always laugh, not because we want to be supportive parents, but because she is funny! My favorite form of entertainment currently is her animal sounds. She can do a dog, cat, horse, cow, duck, pig, lion, monkey, and is working on a frog. I love how she will just look at us and say "Moo!" then smile a real cheesy grin. And finally, if we want Jane to do something, we just need to talk her sisters into doing it first.....she loves copying their actions. New words are shoe, apple, baby, Kevin, shower, moni(macaroni) Gego(Diego) Dora(and all the characters from that cartoon) Tess, Kate, Sissy,Grandma, Papa. She can also identify her hair, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, tummy, and toes.
Kitty Kate is 4 years, 2 months, and 5 days old today.
-One day Kate says to me "I know who's house the church is.....it's God's house!" when I told her she was right, she said "When you say stuff like that, I learn it!"
-My hands are always cold. One day I was complaining about my cold hands when Kate says "Here mom, you can hold my hands....they're warm......um, and a little sticky."
-We were playing a game and she needed to go to the bathroom. As she got up she looked at me and said "Pause it, mom!" I must have given her a huh? look because she said "mom, pause it until I get back!" Turns out she watches a little too much on the DVR
-Do you know any other 4 year olds that requested "The Perfect Brownie Pan"(as seen on tv) for their birthday? Mine, did! (and she got her brownie pan from her Aunt Pam!)
-Ever heard a four year old ask if she can please have broccoli for lunch?
-Kate thinks it is so annoying(which means she loves it) that Jane mimics her and cannot believe she use to(still does) copy Tess.
Brogan Tess, 8 going on 18,makes me want to scream, smile, cry, laugh, throw something, and then smile again. I have no idea how we are going to survive her teenage years. Last month we dealt with lying, kissing, attitude, confidence, respect, self-esteem, sportsmanship, math facts and piano practicing.
In a nutshell, we had to start enforcing consequences for lying......it is a big deal to lie, even if the lie is about something small! We also had to discuss attitude, which co-exists with confidence/respect/self-esteem/sportsmanship. Tess's 2nd grade teacher brought to our attention that she(Tess) was acting above reprimand for obnoxious behavior. Bad attitude at home, shame on us....bad attitude at school? Shame on Tess. So after a brief weekend of AA(attitude adjustment) we have noticed some improvement.
The kissing issue turned out to be a lesson in self-respect/self-esteem/lying/confidence. Tess rides the bus home every day and sits 3(!) to a seat. Turns out 2nd graders get very bored during their 20 minute bus ride home and challenge each other to do stupid things. Tess kissed a boys arm(gross! I know) and felt so guilty all evening that she burst into tears right before bedtime, causing a majorly dramatic ending to the evening. She first denied that she had done anything wrong, stating she had just been accused of doing wrong. Five minutes later, she felt so guilty for lying that she literally lost her mind right before my eyes.
We had to do some crisis intervention, then some tough love(if you did something wrong Tess then you deserve the consequences!) followed by some more crisis management. We ended the evening discussing how even smart people do stupid things (I could write a book on that topic, with myself as the main character!). The most important thing is to learn from the mistakes.
I sure hope I learn from all these parenting mistakes I am making.
We'll start with the wee one.......
Jane Gracen, turns 20 months old on Sunday the 7th. Jane is a sponge. Her vocab is growing every day and her body language is pure Martens. She loves to put on a show to make anyone who is watching laugh......and we always laugh, not because we want to be supportive parents, but because she is funny! My favorite form of entertainment currently is her animal sounds. She can do a dog, cat, horse, cow, duck, pig, lion, monkey, and is working on a frog. I love how she will just look at us and say "Moo!" then smile a real cheesy grin. And finally, if we want Jane to do something, we just need to talk her sisters into doing it first.....she loves copying their actions. New words are shoe, apple, baby, Kevin, shower, moni(macaroni) Gego(Diego) Dora(and all the characters from that cartoon) Tess, Kate, Sissy,Grandma, Papa. She can also identify her hair, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, tummy, and toes.
Kitty Kate is 4 years, 2 months, and 5 days old today.
-One day Kate says to me "I know who's house the church is.....it's God's house!" when I told her she was right, she said "When you say stuff like that, I learn it!"
-My hands are always cold. One day I was complaining about my cold hands when Kate says "Here mom, you can hold my hands....they're warm......um, and a little sticky."
-We were playing a game and she needed to go to the bathroom. As she got up she looked at me and said "Pause it, mom!" I must have given her a huh? look because she said "mom, pause it until I get back!" Turns out she watches a little too much on the DVR
-Do you know any other 4 year olds that requested "The Perfect Brownie Pan"(as seen on tv) for their birthday? Mine, did! (and she got her brownie pan from her Aunt Pam!)
-Ever heard a four year old ask if she can please have broccoli for lunch?
-Kate thinks it is so annoying(which means she loves it) that Jane mimics her and cannot believe she use to(still does) copy Tess.
Brogan Tess, 8 going on 18,makes me want to scream, smile, cry, laugh, throw something, and then smile again. I have no idea how we are going to survive her teenage years. Last month we dealt with lying, kissing, attitude, confidence, respect, self-esteem, sportsmanship, math facts and piano practicing.
In a nutshell, we had to start enforcing consequences for lying......it is a big deal to lie, even if the lie is about something small! We also had to discuss attitude, which co-exists with confidence/respect/self-esteem/sportsmanship. Tess's 2nd grade teacher brought to our attention that she(Tess) was acting above reprimand for obnoxious behavior. Bad attitude at home, shame on us....bad attitude at school? Shame on Tess. So after a brief weekend of AA(attitude adjustment) we have noticed some improvement.
The kissing issue turned out to be a lesson in self-respect/self-esteem/lying/confidence. Tess rides the bus home every day and sits 3(!) to a seat. Turns out 2nd graders get very bored during their 20 minute bus ride home and challenge each other to do stupid things. Tess kissed a boys arm(gross! I know) and felt so guilty all evening that she burst into tears right before bedtime, causing a majorly dramatic ending to the evening. She first denied that she had done anything wrong, stating she had just been accused of doing wrong. Five minutes later, she felt so guilty for lying that she literally lost her mind right before my eyes.
We had to do some crisis intervention, then some tough love(if you did something wrong Tess then you deserve the consequences!) followed by some more crisis management. We ended the evening discussing how even smart people do stupid things (I could write a book on that topic, with myself as the main character!). The most important thing is to learn from the mistakes.
I sure hope I learn from all these parenting mistakes I am making.
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