Our Busy Life Story of the Week

Once again, the only word to describe our life correctly would be BUSY! With school nearing its end, baseball and golf in midswing and swimteam on the horizon, we are crazy busy. This is not a complaint, we signed up for it and, though it is chaotic at best, we are enjoying the crazy. Mason-Kate has adjusted to the crazy....she now takes a look at her dinner plate and says "bye-bye" to Ryan anticipating that she will be getting in the car to eat as we drive to and fro. Gone are the Walton days of having dinner around the table, talking about our day. Thursday was the kicker for us. The boys arrived home from school, we got one changed into his baseball uniform while the other did his homework. We ate quickly, ran everyone into the car and sped off to be early to a baseball game. Plenty of time. We are on the road and Ryan says, "B, there goes Pryce's coach".....hmmmm, he was going the other way. So, we made a quick, very legal :) u-turn, and instead of going by our house to grab a schedule to see exactly where the game was to be held, we went on assumption and traveled to the field that we THOUGHT the game was to be played. We get to the field. No coach, no team, no nothing. We zoom around, fly to the original field that we were headed to and, again, no coach, no team, no nothing. At this point, we were going to be late so instead of making the effort to find the correct field and arrive late, what did this mom do??? What I always do in a desperate attempt to make everyone smile when their parents have messed up, offer Brusters, of course. So off to Brusters we went and we had a beautiful time, just us, no game, no ball, no tears, just us. It was nice. Lesson learned, always look at the schedule, don't assume.

Taking a Chance

We are going to take a chance. It will not be the first and it surely will not be the last chance that our family takes. I took a chance with Ryan....I was originally supposed to date his best friend (set up on blind date), decided to take a chance and told my friend (the one that set us up) that really I didn't like Ryan's best friend as much as I liked the other guy, Ryan. Ryan took a chance with his job. He was rising fast in a huge company with many praises. Ryan took a chance and stepped down from that company so that we could be closer to our home (and family) in SC. Together, Ryan and I took a chance creating our family, we knew what we wanted but there were no guarantees. So, my point is, we all take chances. And you never know until you take that "chance" what the outcome will be. Decisions, choices, those "chances". Together, our family will take a chance next year. We are going to homeschool. Everyone on the street has a different reaction to this. The first question that I am asked is always "What made you decide to homeschool? Are you not happy with your school?" And my response is always the same.....we are choosing to homeschool because I, personally, would like to see what I can do with the boys, what I can teach them. Homeschooling has always been on my mind. A brother-in-law of ours once said to me that one of the reasons he is so successful at what he does is because he has taken chances in his career, he felt like he would never know his capabilities unless and until he gave different opportunities a try. That is my thought on homeschooling - I, we, will never know what homeschooling is like without trying. So, we are going to give it a go....the boys know the deal, commit to a year and then re-evaluate. As for liking their school? I love, love, love their school. I love their teachers even more. We have had such a great experience in the public school system. Honestly, I am going to miss their school. And, as long as I am being honest, the closer the END of school gets (we only have 2 1/2 weeks left), the more sad I become. I hate (for lack of a better word) goodbyes. I hate that the boys will not be seeing their friends everyday next year. I hate that the boys will miss out on events at school. I am sad for them. But, we are taking a chance. A chance that we will all learn from no matter what the outcome. We will meet new friends and keep the old (old Girl Scout song), we will be a part of new events with new groups, we will learn what homeschooling is like. And if it works, great. If not, we can say we tried. We are taking a chance, learning from an experience.

Happy Birthday Pryce!

Today is Pryce's 7th birthday! WOW! Lucky for him, we have been celebrating all weekend long. Friday was party day. 14 children plus 14 Coke/Mountain Dews to drink plus Crazy Frog (loud) music to dance to plus a limousine to cart all of the above around equals some very happy times! Our driver gladly drove us to a most glorious, kid friendly destination, Chick-Fil-A. We were quite the scene and we were most definitely heard! We ate, the Cow appeared, we sang Happy Birthday, Mason-Kate spotted the Cow and could not breathe due to her fear of the friendly monster, we played and then the limo was back to return us home. Good times and, most importantly, Pryce felt like a king. Saturday was Open-Every-Present-That-Had-Been-Given-To-Pryce-At-His-Party day. The boys built Lego pirates, they fought many battles with new swords, they played in the sandbox with a new truck contraption, they had a Silly String war and then they took to the Slip-N-Slide for a little fun in the water. More good times! Today is the big day, though, and we are going to begin our celebration once Pryce awakens from his slumber. When asked what he wanted most for his birthday, he commented that he would like to be the "boss" for the day, make all of the decisions and give all commands. So, in between all of the celebrating today, Pryce will be our boss. And speak of the birthday boy, he just appeared and is already giving his first command...."I would like to open my presents now please!"....

She learns a lot from her brothers.....

Pryce came home a week or so ago and showed me the letter "B". He went onto tell me that the entire Kindergarten was going to have an alphabet parade and he was to dress up as something that began with the letter B. With baseball on my mind, I announced he could be a baseball player. Perfect, right? We have all of the attire and it begins with a B. Pryce said no. He came up with the idea to be a baker. Pryce wanted a baker's hat and a little spoon to carry. Good idea.

Mason-Kate is feeling much better though still slightly congested. Funny story on her....yesterday I picked her up from school and as we were walking out, she opened a lollipop that had been given to her by one of her teachers. We were just taking our time getting to the van, she was telling me about the playground which of course meant stopping to look at the playground, she was showing me her artwork, she was telling me who had been nice, etc. Then, she gave me the half-eaten lollipop. I told her that if she did not want it, to go throw it away. She loves to throw things away. So she threw the lollipop away, came back to me and we began our walk AGAIN to the car. Then she stopped, turned around and ran to the trashcan saying "mommy, eat, please". Here is this two year old child, practically hugging this nasty trashcan, screaming for me to save her lollipop. Lets just say that trying to explain to a two year old who has a visual on the item she wants, and cannot have, in the nasty trashcan is not an easy task. So, we came home, and she proceeded to lick the neighbor's flowers.

The Unexpected

Sick? Who said I was sick??

Wednesday MK woke up with a small cough, maybe a little runny nose. Thursday MK woke up with a runnier nose, cough still the same and she seemed to be breathing fast. Friday MK woke up with a more distinct cough, runny nose and a low grade temp. The fast breaths were gone, or so we thought. Friday evening MK was eating at the ballpark, playing with Pryce, happy as a lark. Then in the flash of a minute it all changed, literally. MK started coughing, coughing, more coughing, then gagging, then screaming, then breathing fast, faster, faster and then she was asleep. Her eyes were puffy and her face full of tears. I was worried. After waking her for a bath, she was just laying in my arms still not breathing right. I was worried and was kicking myself for not taking her into the dr. earlier that day though she had seemed, for the most part, ok. Thankfully we have a friend who used to be a respiratory therapist. We called and he came over to assess her....sounds silly but we just weren't sure what was going on and we really didn't want to go to the ER if it was just a "virus" as we are so often told. An hour later, on a Friday evening no doubt, we found ourselves in the ER.....hmmmm. An hour after our arrival to the hospital, we found ourselves struggling to hold our strong, sick MK down for xrays. Two hours after our arrival to the hospital, we found ourselves, again, struggling to hold our MK down as they attempted an IV....the dr. is the only one who could get a good stick. Three hours after our arrival, after there had been a steady coming in of patients, we found that we were the only ones being admitted. We got a diagnosis of double pnuemonia, low oxygen stats and a stubborn fever that wouldn't respond to Tylenol/Motrin. Four hours after our arrival, we found that the dr. who would be admitting us to the hospital is the doctor in our practice who is adopting from China, special needs to boot. At three in the morning, I found myself wide awake, rocking poor MK, talking peacefully to the nurses about adoption and China. At four in the morning, an awakened MK chooses the elevated crib for us to sleep in, together, over the nice, larger sized pull out bed. I am small, but this was a crib, not a bed with large rails, a crib, which made for an interesting night of "sleep". And at six in the morning I found myself waking to the nurse poking on a sleeping MK. The nurse leaves, MK opens her eyes, says "Hi Momma" and then pitifully points to her boarded, taped up, iv-ed hand and says "mommy, boo boo, ouch". And at noon on Saturday, we found ourselves being discharged after going all night and morning without needing oxygen. Ryan and the boys picked us up and Ryan proclaimed, "I don't mean this to sound bad, but you do smell like a hospital"....thanks honey. And with that, MK and I came home to take nice, long, hot, sterilizing baths followed by a nap. Awww, home again.

Now, that's better!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the boys were up bright and early to sell lemonade during our neighborhood yard sell.

I have shared before that the children and I pray on our way to school every morning. Recently, MK has decided that instead of talking during the majority of our prayer, she wants to join in. So, yesterday, I asked the children who wanted to begin and MK pipes up "I do, me!".....moving onto our prayer, one of the boys usually prays for things that often do not coincide with our everyday life, random things that open my eyes to subjects I should be praying for. He will pray for those traveling on the road, for those who are sick in the hospital, for those who are "going through rough times"....yesterday his prayer was for all prisoners in jail. It went something like this "Dear God I just hope that you will be with those prisoners. I pray that these people will talk to you and that you will talk back to them and they will hear you tell them they did very bad things....they need someone to tell them they were wrong...." now, as serious as this prayer could be, I sat there thinking, "where do you come up with these things?"....he is six!

On another note, we are driving home from school yesterday. Despite all testing that is taking place at the boys' school this week, they did have time to acknowledge Earth Day in their classrooms. So, we are driving along on a pretty busy, two-lane, curvy road. I look in front of me and there is this child, probably 11 or 12, with what looked like a pretty heavy backpack, walking practically in the middle of the road. I went into "mother mind" and said "what is that kid doing, is he crazy, where is his mother?! He shouldn't be walking home from school on this road." The boys immediately take note of this kid and one says, "well, mom, what do you expect? I mean it is Earth Day, he is enjoying the earth....you know, a car puts out a ton of pollution and your van is killing our air, I think that kid is doing a good thing by not contributing to pollutants in the air that we breathe!"....I was quiet after that, it was a battle I was bound to lose.

And lastly, we had a first last night. The boys, all three of them - big and small, were off playing golf together. So MK and I headed to one of our favorite shopping places, Target. We are in line to check out when this lady comes up to me, puts her hand on my hand, smiles and declares "She is absolutely precious! Adorable. She looks just like you!"....ya think? I laughed, of course, and said that I saw the resemblance as well. To some, this would have been offensive. For me, I was happy this lady recognized me as MK's mother. Funny, though, that this happened because all week I have been thinking about what does offend me as far as MK goes. And what does offend me is probably one of the smallest things, something that others may not even take note of. It is the reference to MK being Oriental. That word makes me cringe. She is ASIAN, not Oriental. To date, we haven't experienced any negative references or awkward situations with MK. Everyone smiles and notes how pretty/cute she is or how beautiful her skin is or how healthy she looks :) or what a sweet child she is....very positive experience. BUT the Oriental thing gets me.

Juggling

One year later, we are still learning. At this time, we are learning how to juggle the schedules of three children. Well, two schedules, three children. We do limit them to one sport per season each but even then we juggle. Gone are the days that we would say, you take that one and I will take this one. These days, it is you take those two and I will take this one, and at some point we meet up again. MK does not have a say in the matter and sometimes it goes along with her own schedule and other times, she is not the happiest of toddlers.

These are the good times......