Michael's 12th Birthday Bash

The Decree...

The Knighting... The Witnesses...
Ahhh... there's nothing like a knight in shining grey, denim, and tennis shoes... lest we forget the paper crown...

Michael's First Concert

Alec Shlinkert took Michael to his first concert ever as an early birthday present. They went to see Plain White T's and Fall Out Boy. All I can say is... Alec's mom is a very brave woman. She took the boys along with her other son, Michael, and a couple of his friends. She brought along earplugs which were used by her, Alec, and my Michael. He had a great time! He said he stood up and jumped and waved his arms just about the whole time. His ears were ringing after he got home even though he wore the earplugs. He just didn't understand why it had to be THAT loud! Lol! Isn't that special?!?

Tabitha's New Ride!

Too bad she doesn't like it.

Whiplash

Well, Tabitha's not okay. She has whiplash. Dr. West is sending her to physical therapy and she will be out of cheerleading for 2 to 3 weeks.

Tabitha Had a Wreck Today

Tabitha's okay. The girl she hit is okay. But, I'm sure the owner of the black car wished she had paid a little more attention to the light.

Alberto was kind enough to take pictures.

Tabitha was coming home from school because she didn't feel well. Her light was green. The lady in the black car turned across traffic in front of Tabitha. She laid on her horn, but the lady didn't stop.

Now the lady is claiming she had a green arrow. Hmmm.

Happy Mothers Day

A good friend sent this to me, and I felt it was well worth sharing.

All my babies are grown now. I say this not in sorrow but in disbelief. I take great satisfaction in what I have today: three almost-adults, two taller than I am, one closing in fast. Three people who read the same books I do and have learned not to be afraid of disagreeing with me in their opinion of them, who sometimes tell vulgar jokes that make me laugh until I choke and cry, who need razor blades and shower gel and privacy, who want to keep their doors closed more than I like. Who, miraculously, go to the bathroom, zip up their jackets and move food from plate to mouth all by themselves. Like the trick soap I bought for the bathroom with a rubber ducky at its center, the baby is buried deep within each, barely discernible except through the unreliable haze of the past. Everything in all the books I once poured over is finished for me now. Penelope Leach., T. Berry Brazelton., Dr. Spock. The ones on sibling rivalry and sleeping through the night and early-childhood education, have all grown obsolete. Along with Goodnight Moon and Where the Wild Things Are, they are battered, spotted, well used. But I suspect that if you flipped the pages, dust would rise like memories. What those books taught me, finally, and what the women on the playground taught me, and the well-meaning relations --what they taught me, was that they couldn't really teach me very much at all. Raising children is presented at first as a true-false test, then becomes multiple choice, until finally, far along, you realize that it is an endless essay. No one knows anything. One child responds well to positive reinforcement, another can be managed only with a stern voice and a timeout. One child is toilet trained at 3, his sibling at 2. When my first child was born, parents were told to put baby to bed on his belly so that he would not choke on his own spit-up. By the time my last arrived, babies were put down on their backs because of research on sudden infant death syndrome. To a new parent this ever-shifting certainty is terrifying, and then soothing. Eventually you must learn to trust yourself. Eventually the research will follow. I remember 15 years ago poring over one of Dr. Brazelton's wonderful books on child development, in which he describes three different sorts of infants: average, quiet, and active. I was looking for a sub-quiet codicil for an 18-month old who did not walk. Was there something wrong with his fat little legs? Was there something wrong with his tiny little mind? Was he developmentally delayed, physically challenged? Was I insane? Last year he went to China. Next year he goes to college. He can talk just fine. He can walk, too. Every part of raising children is humbling, too. Believe me, mistakes were made. They have all been enshrined in the, "Remember-When-Mom-Did Hall of Fame." The outbursts, the temper tantrums, the bad language, mine, not theirs. The times the baby fell off the bed. The times I arrived late for preschool pickup. The nightmare sleepover. The horrible summer camp. The day when the youngest came barreling out of the classroom with a 98 on her geography test, and I responded, "What did you get wrong?". (She insisted I include that.) The time I ordered food at the McDonald's drive-through speaker and then drove away without picking it up from the window. (They all insisted I include that.) I did not allow them to watch the Simpsons for the first two seasons. What was I thinking? But the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while doing this. I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of the three of them, sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4 and 1. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less. Even today I'm not sure what worked and what didn't, what was me and what was simply life. When they were very small, I suppose I thought someday they would become who they were because of what I'd done. Now I suspect they simply grew into their true selves because they demanded in a thousand ways that I back off and let them be. The books said to be relaxed and I was often tense, matter-of-fact and I was sometimes over the top. And look how it all turned out. I wound up with the three people I like best in the world, who have done more than anyone to excavate my essential humanity. That's what the books never told me. I was bound and determined to learn from the experts. It just took me a while to figure out who the experts were.
-Anna Quindlen, Newsweek Columnist and Author

Happy Easter!

We had a great Easter at Charlie's parents' house today. Alberto even joined us. I forgot my camera, but I should get some pictures later from Karen and Shirley.

Michael update... they found nothing wrong with him. I am waiting for them to call me back to tell me what to do next. He has a 6 month check up appt. with the Endocrinologist tomorrow. We will make sure he is growing like he is supposed to.

I'm going to a new doctor tomorrow. He's supposed to be able to cure you from the things you are allergic to. Wish me luck!

Varsity!

Tabitha made the Lamar Varsity Cheer Squad! We'll be taking donations soon...

Acid Reflux?

Michael made it to school last Friday. He even made it to school yesterday. He didn't make it today, though. Enough is enough. I made a doctor appointment to get down to the bottom of this. They stuck giant cotton swabs down his throat to check for strep. They had him pee in a cup. They took 4 tubes of blood from his little bitty arm to test for allergies to wheat, gluten (hmm... sounds familiar) and several other things, Crohn's disease, and I can't remember them all. They took x-rays of his sinuses and ruled out an impacted sinus cavity. Dr. Holland gave him Flonase for his allergies. She said that was most likely what was causing the headaches. She told us to start him on Prilosec, put him on only bland foods, and no carbonated drinks. We also have to return next Tuesday at 7:30am for an abdominal sonogram and something called a KUB which is apparently an x-ray of his abdomen.

When he went to bed tonight, he said it felt like someone was stabbing him in his stomach. I gave him a Zantac because we can't start the Prilosec until tomorrow morning. It could still take up to 4 days for it to make any difference when he does start taking it.

Let's pray he can get up and go to school tomorrow!

Tabitha and Alberto

Here is a picture of Tabitha and her new dark hair with Al. Why the dark hair you ask? She wanted to match her eyebrows. Thought you might enjoy this picture while I update our Spring Break Vacation. Michael stayed home sick today... again. He missed Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday so far this week. He believes he can handle going tomorrow. We'll see...

Red River Vacation, Day 2

We got up and headed to Red River this morning. My neck is hurting so Lisa will drive Charlie's truck today. The girls want the truck because there is more room in the back seat. Charlie will ride with Danny in Lisa's Camry with the boys in the back seat. Somewhere along the way, Tabitha decided to moon the boys. Michael and Daniel both came on the radio saying they were scarred for life. Lisa and I laughed for miles at the thought of our boys "freaking out" at the sight of a girl's behind. In a few years they'll be wishing to see it.

There is some spot along the way that stinks to high heaven. There are thousands of cows and they let it be known that this is their home. I have never smelled anything so horrible for so many miles in my life!

We stopped at a Dairy Queen along the way somewhere to use the bathroom. The place was packed and I saw at least one Arlington High School sweatshirt on a boy inside. Small world.

It seemed like the drive would never end, and then we came along to some beautiful snow scenery. We drove through some of the windingest roads I have ever seen. They went on for miles. Some spots were only wide enough for one vehicle to go through. It seemed like we were in the backwoods or something. We saw maybe 2 other cars on the road the whole time we were on this stretch. We were on these winding roads for so long, the girls had to get out and make yellow snow by the side of the road. We lost the boys and we lost radio contact when we stopped. Thankfully, they pulled over and waited for us.

When we finally arrived at the condo, Lisa told Danny that he signed for the wrong room. Danny just looked at her and said, "What's the difference?" So, I signed for room 216, got the keys and away we went. Lisa and Danny had the keys to room 212, with Lisa griping at Danny all the way out. Now, the way we had planned this, Michael and Daniel were supposed to stay with Lisa and Danny in their 2 bedroom, 1 bath condo. Tabitha and Katie were supposed to stay with me and Charlie in our 2 bedroom, 1 bath condo. Upon entering the rooms, we discovered that one of the "bedrooms" was off the main living area with no privacy. Condo 212 is on the outside of the building facing the back of the main condo building. There is a balcony, but you have to go out on the balcony and turn to your left to see the pool and the beautiful mountain view. There is a flat fireplace on one wall, and the closets are small. There is a small tv hanging from the wall. There is also a lot of noise coming from the condo above. Condo 216 is on the outside of the building facing the mountain. You can see the view from the big picture window on the side wall and from the balcony. There is a corner fireplace with 2 sides and a small hearth. There is a large tv hanging from the wall with a built-in DVD player and VCR. There is a long closet in the hallway with mirrored doors. There is another long closet in the main room where the "bedroom" part is, and another large closet in the actual bedroom. There is no noise coming from the condo above. Hmmm... I think I see why Lisa was telling Danny that he signed for the wrong room. She wanted the nicer room... I mean, this is her anniversary weekened, right? I have no problem with this. So, I tell Tabitha that we will just take condo 212 instead. Now Tabitha is upset. She also wants the nicer condo and this is her birthday present, so she wants her way. I have a headache and don't really care where I sleep... I just need something to eat. We didn't stop for lunch again.

With a lot of considering and contemplating... this is how it worked out. Lisa and Danny moved into the bedroom in condo 216. Michael and Daniel moved onto the couch in condo 216 (it folded out into a bed). Charlie and I got the main room "bedroom" in condo 216. Tabitha and Katie got condo 212 all to themselves. So we have 4 adults and 2 children sharing one bathroom, and 2 teenage girls sharing 1 bathroom. That works out. The girls took one of the 2-way radios to their room so we could stay in contact all the time. Mostly we were together, but during the night, we wanted the girls to be able to get ahold of us in case they had an emergency. We also kept a key to their room so we could bolt in on them at any time.

Now that the room situation was settled, we decided to venture out to see where we wanted to eat dinner. First we went to Texas Red's. There was an hour wait. My headache was not getting any better, so we left. We walked down the street, took a few pictures and headed for the Timbers restaurant. No waiting here. Yeah! Michael and Daniel enjoyed playing bandits while we waited for our meal. We had a balcony seat, which was nice, except people kept coming up behind us and the railing, so we had to scoot our seats forward, so they could go out on the balcony outside to take pictures. During the meal, one of the waitresses asked if she could prop the door open because the staff was hot. I said no. There was a 30 to 40 degree wind that blew in every time someone opened the door. We would have been miserable. She was not happy about my answer, but I didn't care. She wasn't going to make us uncomfortable.

After dinner, we went to the grocery store and picked up a few items. We wanted to stock up for breakfasts and lunches in the coming days. Danny and the boys went to the candy store to stock up. We carried our goodies back to the room and settled in for the night.