Didn't Quite Make It

Well, clearly I missed my two posts per month quota for Feb, March, and possibly Jan. Let's see if I can get back into the swing of things here and make up for it in April.

I remembered my password to login to the blog on the third try. Not too bad :-)

I found my camera! Even better :-) :-)

Still no pictures because it needs batteries. Not quite as exciting, now :-(

So, some entertaining tidbits from life under the big top (In case you didn't catch that, I am indeed, comparing our household to the circus that it feels like most days!)

Some recent comical-tragedies:

One child managed to cut his tongue with a razor in the shower. I won't mention which child this was, but you already know it was a HE. And if that isn't enough of a hint, it's the one that has HAIR UNDER HIS ARMS!! That is, if he hasn't shaved it off.

Another shorter child managed to splatter toothpaste in his eye he was brushing so hard. Now I suppose that shouldn't have been funny. I am not sure why it was. Maybe it's because it was moments after the razor and tongue episode and I was thinking to myself, "only in this house." Or maybe it is because I am sick in the head. It could be either, I guess.

Some less-than-comical-tragedies:

Again, those boys ganged up on me. Two major dramas, one right after the other!

Chris was working late and I thought I had it all under control. I was working on cleaning up the dinner mess and had just sent Keenan on his way upstairs for a shower.

Shortly into the cleanup project I feel water dripping on my head from the kitchen ceiling. I look up and it begins coming down in a steady stream. I RUN upstairs and find Keenan in our bathroom, which has no tub. Only a stand up shower stall with a sliding glass door. The bathroom floor is COVERED in about an inch or water and it is seeping through the floor into the kitchen below. Apparently, he thought if he shut the shower door, he could plug up the drain with a wash cloth and make himself a bath. The water was a good 12 inches up the door when he heard me come in and OPENED the shower door---sploosh...more water on the bathroom floor.

Gretyl, sweet child that she is, jumps to action and starts grabbing towels and runs downstairs with them. I quickly mop up the bathroom floor with a mixture of towels and dirty clothes from the hamper. Soaking towels all over the bathroom and kitchen and I decide to pause to give the boys their night time medicine.

Now let me stop here for a moment to explain HOW skeptical Kyle always is of his medicine when I put it in front of him. He takes several pills in the evening and carefully examines each one. If there is a different generic, he will question it.

So Kyle takes his medicine. Next it's Keenan's turn. I have some of Keenan's medicine set out and am turning around to get the rest out of their respective vials. When I turn back around, the first few pills I set out for Keenan are gone.

Me: Where'd those pills go?
Kyle: What pills?
Me: The pills I laid right there.
Kyle: Oh, I took them.
Me: What?!
Kyle: I thought they were for me.
Me: But you already took yours!!
Kyle: I thought there were more.

Now this would not have been so freakishly odd if it weren't for the fact that he usually doesn't even want to take the pills that ARE his!!! It's a Spanish Inquisition every time--like I might try to poison him, and so he'd better stay on his toes!

So he ends up taking a pretty high dose of a medicine that lowers your blood pressure. I call CVS, talk with the pharmacist, and he isn't quite sure. He thinks Kyle should be okay--but he isn't sure. He says I should probably call poison control and talk to a poison control pharmacist. (apparently they are a notch above the CVS pharmacist???)

Poison control tells me to take him to children's hospital immediately. It's dark, and rainy, and I hate driving in the dark and the rain. I don't drive that well in the daytime, but add darkness, rain, and downtown traffic and I am freaking out.

Me: Can I take him to the Children's Close to Home Urgent Care?
Them: No.
Me: Can I take him to Dublin Methodist (which is in Dublin and doesn't involve driving downtown)
Them: No.
Me: Okay.....

Gretyl, who thinks he must be dying, offers to stay with Keenan and gives Kyle $2 for the vending machines at the hospital. Which was kind of funny. But what was even funnier is that after he "pulls through", she wants me to give her the $2 back. "I THOUGHT he was dying!" she tells me.

So we end up spending 7 hours in the emergency room so they can monitor him. He ends up being fine. Chris eventually meets me down there, but not before some priest comes in, thinking I am some abandoned single mother (I didn't have my wedding ring on). He plops down in a rocking chair and proceeds to talk my ear off and spill a can of orange soda all over the floor. Nice man, I was so glad when he left, though. I said something about how my husband would be there soon. I could tell he thought I was making it up-hahahahaha.

He made some joke about hoping Kyle could leave before all the bars closed (did I mention he was a priest-geesh!). Kyle went on to ask every staff member that came in, what time he was going to get to go. He needed to go before 2am, he'd tell them, because that was when the bars closed.

They all thought it was hysterical. It was.... the first few times. Then I realized he was serious. So I asked him, what do you think a bar is?? A place where you get food, he tells me!! That's my boy :)

Okay, nuff for tonight. More to come later this week, including pictures. I promise!

Paying Back the Guy Across the Street

Whew- bet you thought I wasn't going to make my two post a month minimum for January! Let's see, what have us Cunninghams been up to lately. Oh yes! We finally got to do something nice for the guy across the street (the saga continues)!!

Bill came over to leave us a note asking if we wouldn't mind letting him have our free paper. I like to imagine that he didn't have time to stop by the ATM for the traditional bank roll he feels obligated to give gretyl, so he intentionally planned to come over when no one was home. Unfortunately for him, Gretyl got home as he was getting ready to leave the note, so he just left the note (and no cash) with her.

Luckily for him and us, we have another friend whose son delivers the free paper! They had six extras and if you believed Gretyl's version of this story, I sent her out in the 50 below blizzardy weather with no shoes and a two ton boulder on her back, to get these papers from our friend who lives 16.3 miles down the road.

Apparently, Bill's son's wedding announcement was in that particular week. So he was happy to accept them all. But not before double and triple checking to make sure Gretyl didn't have to pay for the papers. (Did I mention this was the FREE paper?)

Keenan is preparing his act for the talent show! I was very surprised, but excited, that he wanted to be in the talent show. He is going to be telling knock knock jokes. He is so cute, I hope it goes well. He has such a cute and naive presence about him, that I am sure he will be well received. We are working on making sure he remembers to speak loudly enough for everyone to hear.

I don't worry about him being nervous. He has never really known enough to be nervous about these types of things. He is always very excited to share poster, book reports, etc. That sort of thing would have made me very nervous when I was his age.

I remember when we were teaching Gretyl how to ride a bike without the training wheels. She was about 6, it was shortly before Kyle's grand entrance and Keenan had just turned four. Already at four, Keenan was hell on wheels, literally, with his tiny purple bicycle with training wheels. So we are in an empty parking lot and had just taken Gretyl's training wheels off. She is, as most kids would be, really terrified. "Don't let go, Don't let go". She is wobbly and in tears at the thought that we may actually let go of the back of her seat. We are out of breath and exhausted from running beside her.

Throughout the ordeal, Keenan is pestering and pestering. He wants his training wheels off too--like big sister. Finally, just to get him to be quiet, we throw our hands up and say "fine--we'll take them off," NEVER in a million years really thinking he will be able to ride it.

Keenan gets on his bike--and pedals away. End of story. No one ran beside him, he never faltered, just rode off smoothly, as if he had been doing it for years. Never comprehending that he could fall and get hurt. Of course stopping was an entirely different story. I seem to remember him not knowing how to stop and always riding into the grass and tipping over to stop. Eventually he learned, though. And his little antics actually did wonders to shame poor Gretyl into succeeding, too!

We are all waiting around to see if there is a snow day tomorrow. Lots of things cancelled already, we keep checking. My favorite is a place of business called Champion Windows. Most schools/business simply state the county and the status--such as cancelled, closed, etc. Not Champion Windows. Theirs simply says "PLAN B". I guess they must all know what "PLAN B" is. It's all so cloak and dagger sounding. Such secrecy for a Windows company.

Five Things...

You know what it is like to want something? I mean really, really, really want something badly? So badly that you find yourself bargaining with greater powers and making little *deals* in your head...."If I could just have this one thing, I wouldn't want anything more. This is really the most important thing to me ever. If I get this one thing, I will feed the hungry and stop complaining about stupid things. etc..."

Then you get it. And you do the happy dance and try to live up to all those little *deals* you made ..... For about a week..... Eventually you get used to having this *thing* and fail to appreciate how lucky you are to have said *thing*.

A friend of ours is having major health issues due to his diabetes. He is in need of a kidney transplant. Unfortunately, due to other complications he is at this very moment under-going a coronary bypass. Because of this, they want his body to have a good 6 months to recuperate and have to postpone the transplant (not that he has found a kidney). Mostly likely, he will have to go on dialysis shortly after surgery. At least until he secures a new kidney and is healthy enough for the transplant.

I believe he is only in his late 30's. He has a wife and three young children ages 4 through 9. His oldest child is severely affected by Autism and has epilepsy as well. He is the sole breadwinner for his family, and neither of their families live near them. I can't imagine how stressful and scary this must be for them. If it were me, I would probably be hoping, begging, and pleading and making lots of little *deals* with myself. It really makes you stop and think.

So here are my five things to ponder for today:

1. Waking up every morning to the man of my dreams
2. Filling our lives with the most beautiful children
3. Earning my college degree
4. Owning our very own home
5. Getting Keenan into Oakstone School

Each of these things is something I wanted very badly. Each of these is something that at some point in time, I couldn't imagine wanting anything more. Each is something I have come to take for granted. Today I find myself really focusing on them and appreciating them more than ever.

The Guy Across the Street

Despite the fact that we have been in our home over 2 years, we don't really know many neighbors. Neither of the neighbors directly beside us speak much english. We wave, but that's about it.

Right before our ice cream social, we went door-to-door to some of the closer neighbors, inviting them to meet our state representative. In the process, we met "Kevin".

Now "Kevin" has always seemed nice enough. In his mid-fifties, lives by himself, waves to us sometimes, and managed to completely BURN his entire lawn over the summer, despite the fact that he spent several hours a week watering, fertilizing, etc. Not sure what this has to do with anything, just found it very ironic.

Here would be a good place to mention that we happen to be in the awful habit of naming some of our neighbors, even though we don't really know their names. The man to our left is "Hector", his wife is simply known as "Hector's wife" (Don't ask me why). We don't mean any disrespect, and I am not sure how or where the names even come from. I think "Kevin" was dubbed "Kevin" because Gretyl thought he looked like a "Kevin". But for whatever reason, I was sure he was a "Scott".

Unfortunately, "Kevin" would be out of town and unable to make it to our ice cream social, but he did introduce himself. And that is how we found out his name was actually Bill.

When it came time to sell Poinsettias for the swim team, Gretyl went over and knocked on Bill's door. He didn't want any flowers, but he did give her $10 towards the cause. I thought that was extremely nice of him. I kept meaning to have Gretyl bake him some cookies and take them over as a thank you. I didn't actually get around to making her do that until a couple of days before Christmas.

So Gretyl bakes 2 dozen cookies and burns all but 11 of them. So I take all eleven of the somewhat sad looking cookies, put them in a baggie, and wrap them up in tissue paper and put them inside of an extra special tin that I bought especially for his cookies. I make out a Christmas card and add a little note, thanking him again for supporting the swim team.

December 23rd, I send Gretyl over with the cookies. His car is in the drive, but he doesn't answer the door. We make a couple of wise cracks about him not wanting to open the door because he doesn't want to give Gretyl any more money.

December 24th, Gretyl and Kyle walk over to try again. I say okay, take these to Bill but DON'T go inside of his house (after all, we don't know him all that well). I walk away and then come back and look out the front door a few minutes later. No Kyle and Gretyl to be seen. Hmmm...so much for not going inside.

When they come back, Gretyl has $20 he gave her to check his mail for the next 10 days! So now, I am feeling kind of bad that we gave him only 11 cookies! And also because every time I send Gretyl over, he feels the need to give her money!! But okay, I get over it.

Flash forward to today. We go out to get our mail for the first time since Christmas eve. There is the nice tin that Bill returned, with a nice little note thanking us for the cookies, re-iterating the request for Gretyl to get his mail, and wishing us a happy holiday. Along with the note is a $25 gift card for Red Lobster.

So altogether this man has given our family a total of $55 in cash and prizes. And we have given him 11 cookies. I wonder what would have happened if we actually gave him 1.5 or even 2 dozen cookies.

7 Interesting things about Gretyl

1. She likes broccoli. She likes cheese. She hates cheese on her broccoli.
2. She is proud that she coined the phrase "Faster than a cow can clap, whistle, and stomp it's feet." I'm not really sure that a cow can do any of these things. So I guess if she ever tells you she will do something as fast as a cow could clap, whistle, etc.... don't hold your breath.
3. She taught herself how to play the piano by watching youtube clips (over and over and over and over again).
4. When she was about 3 months old, her parents dropped a container from the bank's drive thru, on her head. They also caught her skin in the zipper of her little pink bunny snowsuit when she was about 4 months old. Poor thing. It is a wonder she survived her first year.
5. She tested at the 12th grade reading level when she was in 6th grade.
6. She changes her favorite color at least once a year. I think it is green right now, but it may be orange. I lose track.
7. She is way smarter than I are.

Gretyl's Blog

Plugging Gretyl's new blog now. The link is at the right, aptly named "Gretyl's Blog." It's cute, I promise.

Wrapping paper purchased, and as expected, there is no way I will be wrapping tonight. I am, however, closer to being done. Only three presents to buy yet. This week should fly by. I may not even get the wrapping done until next weekend. Better to be wrapping next weekend than shopping, though. So still patting myself on the back:-)

This week's agenda:

• Monday- (finish grocery shopping) Nothing major!
• Tuesday- Visit gramma, pickup/fill her scripts for the week. MAYBE wrap presents
• Wednesday- Swim Meet trumps date night
• Thursday- Kyle's Christmas pagaent
• Friday- Another swim meet followed by scratching head wondering where week went

The item I was worried about getting here, has been shipped!! Got a nice little email with a tracking number! On a Sunday, no less. Color me happy and surprised!!

'Tis the Season

So I just noticed that in November and October I blogged a whopping two times each! Kind of sad:( In the spirit of looking at the glass as half-full, though, this post will put me half-way towards my December quota.

Let's talk about the holidays!!

I always feel so badly for those poor folks that have to work on Christmas eve. Being the very empathetic soul that I am, I make it an annual tradition to visit all of these establishments as close to possible to closing time on December 24th. Sometimes I even walk out with them as they are locking the doors. I wouldn't want them to think there wasn't any point in them being there. And as long as I am there, I usually purchase a thing or two (or three or four...).

It's not like I need to be there, though. I do this for THEM. As a holiday gesture. I just pick up random things to be polite. A dozen rolls of wrapping paper, tape, ribbons, gift cards, and enough toys and sweaters to top off the cart.

Then, I usually stay up until 3 or 4am wrapping. Sometimes I get an entire 3 hour nap in before the kids come and get us to see what Santa brought.

THIS year, however, things are going to be different!! As I get older I notice two phenomenons.
1. We get better at managing our finances.
2. I hate the cold, more and more each year.
These are the two biggest factors that have enticed/enabled me to shop early and online!

I detest running from store to store in the cold, coming back out from each store and running 1/2 a mile to the back of the parking lot to hop into my cold car. Then driving to yet another store because the first three stores didn't have the *must have* item on the list.

I hate trying to push my cart through the crowds. I hate waiting in long lines. I hate buying something at a *not so great* price at store #1, just in case I can't secure said item at stores #2 thru #6. I hate finding it for half the price at store #2 and then not feeling quite as elated as I should because I know that only means I have to go back to store #1 and stand in line to make the return.

One might ascertain that I hate Christmas, but quite the contrary. I love Christmas. I just hate Christmas shopping (and to a lesser extent Christmas baking, but that is a whole other issue).

I am so, so, soooo proud to say that today is December 13th and I have almost ALL of my Christmas presents purchased. Online shopping has got to be the best thing ever. Don't get me wrong, I still invest the appropriate amount of time looking for good deals and comparing prices at different places and double checking *in-store* prices just to be sure I am not getting raked over the coals.

I honestly think I made out way better this way, though. For the last two weeks packages just keep pouring in. It's like....Christmas. I have a couple of guidelines that I try to follow.
1. Do not pay shipping unless it is a great deal or there is no other option
2. Thoroughly google for a promo code before checking out
3. Check out at least 3 other online prices

So far there is only one gift that hasn't already been delivered or isn't already in transit and trackable online. The one item is an absolute *must* have item and though it says the expected ship date is Dec 15th, I am secretly freaking out. (Is it really secretly freaking out if I write it here?)

Planning on wrapping tomorrow--which means that I will actually wrap sometime later this week, still putting me way ahead of schedule!

Empty-Handed

I come to you today empty-handed. No cute pictures of the kids or even confusing pictures that you can't quite make out. I don't even know if I know where my camera is it's been so long since I have taken a picture! I was thinking about getting a book with tips on taking better pictures, though. So if I ever do take any more pictures maybe they will look a little better.

As usual, we have been super-busy. This was supposed to be the year where things got a little easier and we slowed down to smell the roses--I can't understand what has happened! It's all good, though.

It's good to finally have the elections behind us. Although it would be nice if everyone took the signs out of their yard before the first 6 inches of snow fell. Especailly those Mcain folks. What are they waiting for? There are no hanging chads, no recounts, it's done. Take down the signs!

I could see if you had an Obama sign that you wanted to leave out for a couple of extra weeks. You know, maybe like a bragging point. "See--my guy won! I have good taste, brains, and powers of prediction--this proves it!"

Gretyl's swim team practices are well underway and her first swim meet is on Dec 4th. Lots of hustling and bustling involved for all with that. Their practices begin at 5:30AM on weekday mornings and go until school starts. After school they practice until 6:00PM. They also practice on Saturday's from 7:30-10:00AM. Fortunately she only has to attend a minimum of 6 practices a week. They get Thanksgiving day off for good behavior. All other vactaion days (including the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, the day after Christmas, and all other school holidays) they practice from 7-11AM.

The weekend after Christmas they will all go to Ohio University where they will stay for two nights. The trip itself sounds almost like a hazing expereince. From what I can gather, they swim almost non-stop. They take a few breaks to gorge themselves on extravagent buffets, and I think they turn in at 10:00PM and don't have to be back in the pool until 6AM.

I'm really not complaining, though, it's such a great experience for her. She is making new friends and despite being exhausted, I think she is having a lot of fun. The 9 week grade reports came out and she managed to still maintain all A's (Actually, two of them were A+ but whose counting!)

Keenan is continuing to do very well if you don't count against him the fact that he came home with SIX calculators on Thursday. When asked about it he told us "It was calculator give-away day at school." Hmmmm... I don't remember ever celebrating that day when I was in school. After I told him that I would have to be sure to call his teacher and thank her for all the cool calculators, he admitted to "borrowing" them. We have been having a little bit of a problem with "borrowing" lately.

We're having Thanksgiving at our house this year, so guess what that means--time to get the xmas decorations out!! It sounds so cliche', but I swear Christmas starts earlier and earlier every year. When I was purchasing things for Gretyl's Dance in Mid October, there were already ornaments for sale at Michael's Craft store. And of course if you haven't already gotten any Christmas decorations you planned to buy, you are stuck looking through the picked-over piles of snowmen and reindeer.

It's okay, though, I am totally into the spirit of the season this year. I have been blasting the Christmas station at work and in the car for couple of weeks now. I'm guessing we will put most of the decorations up tomorrow so they are up for Thursday. I'm pretty sure the Christmas tree is the new symbol of Thanksgiving.

Chris and I had a "date" night last Thursday. It's been an eternity since we have went anywhere without the kids. It was probably a snooze-fest by most people's standards, but we really enjoyed ourselves. We went to Whole Foods and ate dinner in their cafe. We talked for a couple hours without interruption! We did a little browsing at Kohls and then came home. We are hoping to be able to do this once a week. Considering we haven't done this more than 5 times in the last 5 years, this is very exciting!!

Okay, I can't bear to leave you with nothing, so here is a candid shot of our in-house chef.

Whadya Mean No Trick-or-Treating?!

Okay, I may have mis-spoke. I thought that everyone understood that going to the movies was INSTEAD of trick-or-treating (verses going to the movie in ADDITION to trick-or-treating). The message may have been less than clear for those under 48 inches. Kyle was shocked when I got home from work and he realized we weren't going door to door begging for junk food. Suddenly my fun movie outing did not sound so appealing. We were forced to step it up a notch at the last minute and abandon the movie plans for Dave & Busters.

Dave & Busters is a pretty cool place. A giant playhouse filled with bright lights, carnival type games, and a video arcade. You could drop some serious dough without even realizing it there. Fortunately for us, most people must have been too busy loading up on free candy from their neighbors. The place was pretty empty and all the games were half price. The kids gave the trip six thumbs up and declared D&B's to be our new halloween tradition.

No Trick or Treating, but Who Cares!

Everyone is gearing up for Halloween here. Kyle is going to be a prisoner with the black and white stripes and a plastic ball and chain. Keenan is going to be the grim reaper. What happened to my little boy? I guess it was a gradual descent at least. Two years ago he was a cartoon character, last year he was a punk rocker, and this year the symbol of death! He loves it, though. Thinks he is pretty cool (which of course he is). Gretyl has decided that she is just too old to dress up this year (which of course she isn't).


Each boy has a school party. Keenan's was last night and Kyle's is tomorrow. I managed to find some fun and tasty candies, nuts and drink boxes and fill a goody bag from Whole Foods. So they have their bag of allowable treats for the parties. While everyone else is trick or treating, we are all going to go to the movies. I really thought it would be a hard sell, but they didn't even care about missing the trick or treating. They are excited about the movie.


In other news--I got a new toy for the kitchen!! I'm happy to report that I finally own a Kitchenaid mixer:) And though I would have loved to owned the beautiful cobalt blue one, I ended up with the stunning "gun metal gray". Flashy (not). I bought it used from a lady who swore she "only used it twice". Yeah, sure, whatever. But it did look like new still and I know the model is not one that they have made for long.

It had been on craigslist for several weeks so I called her up and offered her a hundred less than she was asking for it and told her I could come get it immediately. She agreed quickly. Instead of feeling great, however, I started to feel suspicious. She agreed too quickly, why didn't she try to counter-offer? So we will see. Hopefully my effort to save $200 doesn't come around to bite me in the behind. This is my mixer, however, she must have lost the pouring shield during the *two* times that she used it. I really wish I had that pouring shield, though. Adding ingredients while mixing can be difficult.

So far I have made mashed potatoes, two loaves of bread, and two batches of cookies. Batch number one turned out terrible. Tasty, but flat as pancakes. I have come up with three possible reasons:

1. I may have over mixed it with my powerful new mixer!
2. It may be because they are chocoloate chip cookies but have no chocolate chips in them ("not me" ate the entire bag of all natural ghiradelli chocolate chips that I had in the pantry. "not me" is in huge trouble when I see him).
3. It might be because I didn't let the butter soften before I beat it with the sugar.
   

Not really sure if that makes a difference or not. I guess we will find out tonight, though. I made a second batch of cookie dough last night and again, I forgot to leave the butter out to soften. These are sugar cookies to take to school tomorrow. So we will see what they look like when I bake the dough up tonight.


The bread turned out awesome. It looked just like-- a loaf of bread!! I left it out on the counter overnight swaddled in a dish cloth and sliced it when I got home from work the next day. And it sliced--beautifully!! Thin and perfect slices. After failing approximately 20 loaves of bread, I have finally mastered the art of bread making. I had already made a good loaf from scratch without the breadmaker. But it is so much faster and easier to whip up multiple loads at once with the mixer. Now I will have to experiment and figure out different kinds to make.

Catching Up!

Here's a quick bulleted list of what has been going on (actually I can't make the stupid bullets work, so we will go with the rainbow strategy instead):

• Being President of the PTO has been way more time consuming than I thought--so lots of time on that. Between that and trying to get through closing the Q3 books at work, I feel as though I just ran a marathon. Oh yes, which reminds me we are all participating in a walk to benefit Autism research tomorrow morning. Bright and early tomorrow morning. No rest for the wicked!


• Gretyl got her first interem grade reports (not official grades, just the status at the half way point). All A's!! ...okay, 2 A-'s. But that still counts in my book!


• Went with Kyle's class on a field trip to the pumpkin farm on Monday. So much fun. And I discovered that I am a much better photographer outside on a bright and slightly overcast day.


• Gretyl informed us on Wednesday that she was going to attend the homecoming formal dance on Saturday after all. Was so excited but freaked out at the time crunch to get everything around. Her very first formal dance!!
  
• Keenan's bday was Friday. Not much fanfare as everyone was out of town this weekend. But Gretyl and Kyle and I went shopping so he'd have a few things to open and of course we had cake from whole foods. Absolutely to die for. Thank you Keenan for turning the big 13 so we could all have cake!


• Boys had their yearly checkups at the indecent hour of 8:30 this morning. Ugh.. Poor Keenan had to get two shots. Kyle narrowly escaped a needed booster. He hounded them from the second that we got in the door, making sure he didn't have to get any shots this year. They told him no, he was okay. He continued to ask just to be sure..about 20 more times during his physical exam. They assured him, nope, he was in the clear. At the very end they said, oh yeah, he probably should get his booster on the MMR. Kind of hard to do that, though, after they assured him he didn't need one.


• Spent the better part of the day shopping for flowers for Gretyl's hair, getting her hair and nails done, listening to Gretyl beg her friend Jack to reconsider about going to homecoming, and actually getting her ready for homecoming dance. I must say it was all worth it. She was absolutely beautiful. And of course I was such a dork, I even took a picture of her while she was at the salon.

Midnight Snack after the big dance

• Oh yes, and the ice cream social went beautifully. It didn't rain, but no one stepped foot out the back door onto the deck. All 12 of us stayed in the living/dining room area. And only a handful of people actually had ice cream. So we have been eating an awful lot of Breyers Ice Cream (all natural of course!) Kyle thought he had met a celebrity. He took an extra yard sign to hang on his wall and charmed a Kevin Bacon for State Representative T-Shirt out of the sweet young campaign manager. It didn't matter to him that she only had adult sizes and it went down to his ankles. He slept proudly in it. I will admit the first 30 mintues of the event was awkward and made my skin crawl. Everyone kind of congregated near the front door and had their own little conversations going. Chris somehow roped everyone in and got everyone into the living room and in conversation mode. I was amazed at how he handled the small crowd. There was some very good discussion with the state rep and the best part was probably when one man got a little riled up and shouted "The government is putting a gun to my head--And the Goverment is pulling the trigger!". His wife, who was sitting next to me, started to fidget andwhisper to her husband, "I think we should go, the sitter really needs to leave at 8." Well, they didn't leave quite yet, he had more to say. Nothing quite as animated as his opening statement, though. After everyone left, the state rep and his campaign manager stayed for another half-hour or so and talked with us (and Kyle) over coffee and ice cream.

Rain Goddess

Wow - Eight days since my last post! Good news, though. I have discovered how to harness the power of rain. You will probably see me on Oprah in the near future, bringing much needed rains to african nations. I have to admit I came upon this simple solution completely by accident. It might work for other individuals, but I am pretty sure it is just us Cunninghams with this unique power. All we have to do is plan any event, at our home, and invite plenty of people. Ideally, said event would center around an outside activity.

Tomorrow is the long awaited "backyard" ice cream social with our state representative. As you might have guessed by my subtle remarks above, the forecast calls for storms tomorrow afternoon. So, it may turn out to be more of a "living room" ice cream social. Should be nice and cozy :-)

Weekend Update

What an eventful weekend! Saturday morning we went to Leeds farm. We have went every year for the last 5 or 6 years and it just gets better every year. http://www.leedsfarm.com/

We got to pet baby goats, and see baby pigs, cows, and bunnies. The older two rode on a huge and extremely tall zip line. Kyle was tall enough, but as they were strapping him into the harness 60 feet off the ground, he had a change of heart. They rolled around in giant hamster wheels, bounced on a massive "pumpkin" pillow, went on a hayride, made their way through a corn maze, and played in a cornbox (think sandbox, only huge and corn instead of sand). We saw lots of friends, some that we hadn't seen in years (it was an autism day at the farm).

I have some great pics that I haven't yet loaded onto my computer. For now, here is a picture of some random guy in our living room. He looks familiar, but I can't quite place him!
Later that day we had bday party #2 for Kyle, with family. Sunday was Dodge ball for Keenan and catching up with one of the girls who used to work with the boys. She just finished Officer's Training in the Coast Gaurd and is getting ready to begin flight training. She already has her pilot's license and has worked on cargo planes for several years. She's such a fascinating individual and excels in most everything she does.

We also managed to make 4 dinners for this week and master the art of bread making, sans the bread maker!!

Five Interesting Things About Keenan

1. He can recite entire spongebob episodes, complete with all the different voices
2. He loves (and I mean LOVES) saltine crackers
3. He can can make amazing things with only a roll of tinfoil
4. He has the most charming sense of humor
5. He has an astounding memory. Here is an example:

GRETYL: I remember Kyle was eating a lunchable right before the fire. After they put the fire out, I finished eating the rest of it.
KEENAN: Yeah, it was a little pizza with a butterfinger and a drinkbox.

The day in question was June 30, 2004. This conversation was a few days ago.

Back to the Grind

The kids finally went back to school tday. After having three bonus days off this week, it was tough for them to transition back in. It was apparent in many areas through the afternoon and evening. Kyle threw up in the car on the way home from school, but he seems to feel fine other than the one puking incident. Thank heavens it was Chris' day to pick them up. I can't imagine that funky smell coming out easily.


Poor Chris spent 2 hours trying to do one worksheet with Keenan. It was math homework and it seemed as though he had no idea how to do it. At least Keenan was not frustrated at all. He reportedly giggled his way through the entire ordeal. Who knew math was so funny. Actually, when he laughs hysterically for no reason like that, it usually means his meds need adjusting. It's kind of funny and amusing, actually. And it sure beats the heck out of an Angry Keenan. Unfortunately, the giggly Keenan usually has no ability to focus. Could be why the math was so hard.


Oh yeah, and I got mad when the boys were fighting Tuesday and took the TVs and Wii away for an undetermined amount of time. They are adjusting and have even stopped complaining about it. Frankly I don't care if they ever watch the stupid thing again.


Another busy weekend on the horizon. Means no sleeping in for me Saturday, but some fun pictures for the blog.

The Bday Bash

How did it go you ask?

Well it has been 4 days since the party ended. I think Chris and I have finally recovered enough to talk about it.

They never stood still for too long, but I think the heacount was 14 plus Kyle. So there were 9 kiddos that weren't able to make it for one reason or another. Those 9 kids were my favorite.
Actually, to be fair, I think the kids all had a good time and there were a couple of really good points in time where they sat nicely and were good. (During the magician and watching Kyle open gifts).

It really was a good party, just not at all the party we had spent so much time planning! To begin with it was a very wet day and it had to be inside. 15 excited kids in one small house is about 10 too many. And as for our really cool games that we had planned...well I don't think we ever imagined some of them stating they simply didn't want to play. I mean who doesn't want to limbo or go on a fun scavenger hunt??

They did sit very nicely for the magician who came. So that was a nice break from the chaos. They also, surprisingly enough, sat very nicely and watched Kyle open up his presents. And this couldn't have been an easy task. Prior to the event I had give him all the good manners reminders. You know, open the card first, be gracious even if you already own 10 of whatever it is you opened, etc.

When I said open the card, however, I really didn't expect him to read every single word of it to his audience of 14 eight-year-olds! One kid gave him a card fillws with birthday riddles. I think it took him 5 minutes to read that one.

And when I said be gracious, I meant a simple "Thanks, I love it". Instead, however, every chid received a hug after he opened their present. A huge hug--whether they wanted one or not. It was pretty sweet, though, and they all took it fairly well (except for the one who hid under the coffee table--but fear not, he got his hug too).

5 Interesting Things About Chris

1. He has always wanted to see B.B. King play live

2. He needs to wear sunglasses even on the shady days

3, When Gretyl was born, he wouldn't let the nurses change her diapers because he said they were too rough with her

4. He pretended to like country music when we were dating because he thought it would impress me.

5. When he drove garbage trucks in Michigan winters, he would buy coats and gloves for jumpers who couldn't afford them. ("Jumpers" are the guys that don't have a commercial driver's license, so all they can do is ride on the back and jump off at the stops and dump the garbage cans)

Things I Love

I love the way that Kyle still mispronounces a couple of words. I should probably make more of a point to correct him, but it's just so darn cute!

opposed ... as in:
You're opposed to eat all your vegetables if you want to get dessert.

fercept... as in:
I ate all my vegetables, fercept half of them that I was too full to eat. Can I have my dessert??

Breaking News!

We have power!!! Yay--clean laundry!!

Hurricane Ike strikes Ohio!

We are very fortunate as we did not sustain any damage to our house, cars, etc. Much of Central Ohio did not fare as well. There was only wind, not actually a storm. It was very weird. There are trees down everywhere and a lot of damage. The Governer has issued a state of emergency here and there are an estimated 1.5 million people without power. It could be up to a week before we have power again, but I tend to think it will be sooner for us. Meanwhile, school was cancelled nearly everywhere and they are already calling off school for tomorrow in some districts. Chris's employer had no electricity, so he gets to stay home with the kids today. I suspect they will have power by tomorrow and it will be back to work for him. No luck for me, however. My work did have electricity. So I scrounged for clean clothes and took my somewhat wrinkled butt to work! (If only I would have done the laundry before we lost power!)

Before we realized it wasn't the best time to play at the park, Gretyl and Kyle and I went to the park. Gretyl and I were loving the wind and thinking it was pretty neat. Kyle was the only smart one who begged us to leave immediately-lol. Wise beyond his years, that one. Before we left, however, I snapped this picture of Gretyl. She was hanging from this tree branch and the wind is blowing her body to the left. You can see her body is at an interesting slant.


We lost power shortly after we returned home. And thankfully, right before we were about to head out for a long overdue grocery shopping trip! Of course, thankful as I am that we didn't stock up on groceries that would go bad, I was at a loss as to what to do for dinner! Right or wrong we left the older two at home while we went out to get some food. With most groceries out of power in our area and all the open restaurants super-busy, we found ourselves at Whole Foods. Before they decided to close and boot everyone out of the store, Kyle discovered the fresh fish display (blegh!!!). He was very interested in them and asked the man if the largest one was a shark.
On a funny note, we were in such a hurry we didn't notice how Kyle had dressed himself. Kyle decided it would be fashionable to wear a sweatshirt with jean shorts and dress shoes--and one sock! Well school has been cancelled for tomorrow. They just called it off. Not shocking.