Mystery Rashes

I just took my two little ones to Publix for a few things.  While Ben was getting out of the car I noticed some little pink dots on his feet and legs.  Now, it's not all that strange for Ben to get rashes. He has seriously sensitive skin.  But this rash was different that what I'd seen.  As Zack got out of the car, I saw the exact same spots.

My mind raced.  What on earth? Zack NEVER gets rashes.

I listed the possibilities. 

Allergy?  - Hadn't fed them anything unusual and they wouldn't have the exact same allergic reaction.

Virus?  - They probably wouldn't show up with the exact same symptoms at the exact same time. 

I grew more and more perplexed over this when suddenly I remembered.  They were pouring some strawberry banana juice earlier in the evening and spilled it all over. They cleaned it up as I asked them to. 

I got home and prescribed baths for both and sure enough, the mystery was solved.  Juice splash.  Thank goodness :)

The little crazy things resolve.

So about the crazy...

The car seems to be working well.  No engine light, no weird shifting.  I'm crossing my fingers and toes that it stays this way and we finally got the final fix.

I found the red box movie. I had it for 10 days. It was in a little cubby hole in the van.  Actually Ben found the movie when I had given up on looking for it. While we were driving, completely by accident.  So, 12 dollars later I turned the stupid movie in. I should have called them and just bought it. Because we didn't even get to watch it. 

We evicted the stray cat from the garage.  Actually all my best efforts failed because I was scared of the thing.  It took up residence behind some boards and I was afraid if I moved them it would attack me.  Cats are scary (aren't they?). So, I left the garage door open and eventually it left. I've seen it roaming around here and there. I still don't know if it has a home. It doesn't look starving or anything.

Good stuff is happening here. Lots of summer fun, and it's exactly what we need right now. We are going to visit my brother and family in Pensacola this weekend and I have so much left to do and it is now midnight so I guess it is left for tomorrow. Once I'm home I need to find a better schedule and motivation to implement it. 

More little things

More little things:
Ben talking about his heart "beeping" instead of beating. 

The boys ganging up on me and throwing me in the pool. (Ok, I could have fought harder, but the laughter was well worth it.

Lots of hugs and kisses and "I love yous" coming from the guys. They are really the sweetest, most loving little boys.

The little things can drive you a little bit crazy too, though. 

My car still inexplicably keeps rejecting components of the transmission. Everytime they think they've got it something else fails. I'm really out of energy. This last fix I had to pay for (most of the others have been under warranty of the initial repair.) That was yesterday, and the check engine light came on again today.  So, I'm going back to AAMCO tomorrow and I probably am going to talk to another shop to see if I can get a better idea of why this is happening. Summer fun at it's finest!

There is a cat that has take up residence in our garage.  I'm scared. I don't like cats. Maybe it's the severe allergy talking, but I have no desire to do more than try to shoo it away from afar. Mark wants to adopt it. I told him we can feed it (it doesn't look hungry, but I can't see a collar so I don't know if it's a stray.) It's hiding out, though, escaping from the torrential rains we are having.  I hope he decides to vacate soon.

Yesterday, we rented two redbox movies.  One of them is MIA and I have looked everywhere. No one remembers where they put it.  I told them if I have to pay for it we aren't getting anymore movies this summer. 


Yet, I must remember that life is good. Things can annoy, but all in all I am thankful. Thankful for my family, for the best friends a girl could ask for, and just for the amazingness of this world we live in. The trick is to keep that in mind and keep all the little things in perspective.

It's the little things

So a little tiny bit of honesty. Things have been stressful and difficult these last few months.  But sometimes it helps to just see what's good.

Today was good.  It was actually great.  I was able to go to Animal Kingdom with Eric for his 5th grade field trip. Things still weighed on my mind, but it was just fun.

Coming home to my guys and snuggling with Ben was A-mazing. It's been so long since I've just sat and snuggled with my kiddos. It's shameful, but that is about to change.

Driving home from my parents house and singing with the boys along with the radio.  And then laughing so hard when we got the words wrong or sang out of tune.

Life throws a lot of curve balls. It's hard to understand. Choosing to cling to these little things that feel good eases everything just a little.

Ben

Funny how things change but still they stay the same.  Ben is 6 now and finishing up his first year of kindy. HOW is my tiny baby boy about to be a first grader? And do you remember when he was tiny and driving me crazy with the climbing and escaping and getting into things?  I clicked a random link in my blog just now and ran across this post . He was tenacious! He would do anything to get what he wanted... and he still is the same. A little daredevil who got one of his only "yellows" in school this year for running up the slide and jumping off of the play structure. The poor teacher was so worried about a broken arm (and he mostly got in trouble for NOT stopping when told to stop.) He has no fear which may serve him well in life if he can survive long enough to temper it a little. He's learning to take no for an answer a little better. Often it involves some stomping and begging for me to change my mind, but less often will he out and out defy me and do it anyway. It's a process.

His teacher told me recently."Ben has so much energy! But he has the sweetest most caring heart." It made me tear up because it's true. So often I see it. He has so much love and compassion in that little wild heart of his.  It means so much to know that others see it too!

                                                Ben May 23, 2013 Splash Day at school.

So it's been a while

Looking at my last post I can't believe it was December that I was last here. Haven't blogged, haven't read blogs.  I have pretty much spent most of the last 5 months buried under books and trying to keep things in some semblance of order. 

But I finished my first year of nursing school!  I survived! And while school is so very challenging I really do love the part about becoming a nurse at the end.  Just one more year.

There is SO much to catch up on, but I never have been very good at catching up. I'm more a pick up in the here and now sort.  I'm enjoying the time off while the kids are still in school. I'm working on getting things orderly and keeping up with the chores.  I'm also trying to think of the things that I really miss from before I went back to school and writing is on the list. 

Reading that last post way back from December makes me giggle, because we've tried riding bikes to school a few times since then. Usually with similar results. Someone falls, someone bleeds.  The big kids end up getting aggravated so I tell them to go on ahead. Then they still want to do it again. There was an incident when I FORGOT we had biked to school and drove and just almost got in the pick up line. Thankfully at the last second, I remembered, went and parked the car (illegally) and met them at the place where bikers get released.  I explained the situation, and two of my guys decided to hitch a ride with me, putting bike and scooter in the back of the van. The other two rode home on bikes without me. This last time, things went well though. No falls, no whines, no need for the bandaids I stashed in the wasteband of my yoga pants. Then on the way home, my bike got a flat and I got to walk the bulk of the way home.

In spite of it all, do you know what the guys ask me most mornings now that I'm done with school?  "MOM! Can we bike to school today?"  This week has been full of morning appointments and such for me, but tomorrow, I might just say yes.

Blood, Sweat, and Tears.. and dead things

You know the time when you decide to say yes more often, and be a better mom?  The time when the kids say "Can we ride bikes to school?" And you say "SURE!" and you just know it's going to be great! You'll get some exercise! The kids will be happy! And some of the excess energy (ha! I just typed injury by accident - foreshadowing perhaps..) out of the crazy boys.  Win for everyone, right?

Well let's examine the reality. The reality involves one child falling off the scooter multiple times.  One time he was pretty badly scraped up, and guess who didn't have any band aids.  Yep - this one... right here.  All told, the ride to school wasn't too terrible aside from the bleeding. The real fun was on the way home.

It started out with me helping Ben with his helmet. I knelt down on the grass and got attacked by ants.  They were all over my feet so now I'm itchy and welty.  Fun! Then, Zack fell again.  This time, I was smart and had band aids. Alas, I only shoved TWO band aids in my pockets and this job clearly required 3 or 4. By this time, my bigger boys had given up on us and ridden home with some friends.

Along the way, Ben saw a possum ( I think, maybe a raccoon?) lying at the side of the road.  He asked me about it and I explained that it had died and he bursted into tears. After I talked to him for a bit, he brightened up and said "Maybe we just need to take him to the hospital? Is there a hospital for animals?"  To which I tried to explain that the animal was dead and there was nothing that could be done without be completely morbid with my 5 year old.  He was OK.  He decided as we left that maybe it could come back to life.  SIGH. I didn't correct him.

Then it rained.

Fine, it was just a sprinkle. A more dramatic end would be that it poured and we all got soaking wet, but reality is it just sprinkled. We've snacked and neosporined, and now everyone is playing outside and hopefully will remain uninjured.

I think tomorrow we will drive.