Driving Miss Molly

Recently, I have had to alter my daily plan every time Molly and I go anywhere because her new "must do" is to buckle securely whichever animal, Barbie or baby doll she happens to be carrying with her at the time. Today, it was a mini-Jasmine barbie and her "soft Giselle."

A problem arises when the other kids want to actually come with us and there are dolls or the like buckled in their seats. Ben almost didn't make the cut going to his own baseball game last night. Molly insisted, "Ben, you go with dad." She yelled, pulled at Ben's shirt and cried when Ben tried to unbuckle her stuffed dog "Rupie." After ensuring Molly that her dog would not be harmed if we got in an accident, she relented and allowed Ben to sit in his seat. Meg appeased her by "double buckling" Rupie in her own seat.

Molly's new motto: "Safety first!"

In Molly's seat

In Ben's seat

Sam Learns A New Word

Well, my hope of Sam not learning a "cuss" word at school only lasted a few weeks. He came running off the bus the other day like something wonderful had just happened saying (very proud of himself, I might add), "Mom, this kid at school taught me THE big cuss word, he said, @#!$%#." Now, it wasn't the "big" cuss word in most peoples terms, but it does rhyme with witch.

Oh Sam. . .

Powerless

We FINALLY have power as of 2:00 p.m. today!!! I can't believe I'm about to type this next sentence, but I'm a little disappointed. Too many blessings have come this past week, and I'm sad that a "normal" week is ahead. You know how you wish for something, and it really NEVER comes to pass? Well, I had told Rusty the night before school began a few weeks ago, "I wish that I could just have one more week of summer with the kids." I guess the Lord heard my request and I got my wish (sorry for the other 300,000 people in Louisville that had to suffer Ike's wrath).

Although I feel like this now, last Sunday I did not feel so "blessed." In fact, I have never felt so powerless in my entire life. There was absolutely nothing I could physically do to make the power go on. It was so frustrating, especially the first few days when the reality of the damage set in, and I realized it would be 7-14 days until the power would be restored (I heard this prediction from the Governor in a press conference Monday morning, on our battery/crank emergency radio). AHHHHHHH!!!!

I learned a lot about myself this week. I saw strengths in myself that I really had no idea existed, and weaknesses that, unfortunately, I've seen in the past but were magnified.

Weak Moments:

• Complained more than I should (although I had just re-read the first part of 1 Nephi and found comfort in Sariah complaining and then repenting in chapter 5).
• LOST it with Sam on day 6 with all the other kids in the van.
• Felt sorry for myself.
• Allowed fear, discouragement and anger in my mind too many times.

Strong Moments:

• At the end of day three, Rusty wasn't home, it was dark, Sam and Molly went to bed early because they were disobedient, and I just wanted to lay down and read. Instead, I played Life with Meg and Ben, and had a BLAST. My whole perspective changed, and some of those above feelings that had entered my mind left immediately.
• Cleaned out the garage AND the van.
• Studied the scriptures (not just read them).
• Learned what kind of friend I want to be, by the example of so many amazing friends.
• Developed stronger friendships with women who I have admired for years.
• Got to know my next door neighbor REALLY well (in the early morning hours we were out starting the generator or gassing it up in our pajamas).

Synopsis of the week:

Monday--took the entire contents of my inside freezer, my outside deep freeze, as well as the freezer itself and plugged it into my friend's garage. It was great, because I saved my entire freezer full of food. Thanks Traci. Meanwhile, another friend watched Molly and Sam. That afternoon was just about coping. We played a ton outside since the weather was in the mid 70's, and grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner. We finished up the night by watching RV on Rusty's laptop (mom and dad you HAVE to watch this show when you come; it will bring back so many memories). Rusty slept through the entire movie. He quickly adapted to "pioneer life" by going to bed with the sun every night. It got a little annoying.

Tuesday--Everyone woke up with a little sore throat (I think it's from sleeping with the windows open). We did a few chores, practiced the piano and then headed to McDonald's for Lunch. Afterward we went to the zoo for the afternoon. Again the weather was AWESOME. Around 4:00 p.m. we stopped by another friend's house to do some laundry. I thought my kids would just want to play her Wii or watch t.v. since they hadn't for a few days, but she was so sweet and played this fun board game with Ben and Meg while I folded clothes. She made us feel extremely welcome, and now my kids love to go to Sister Larsen's house and asked almost every day for the rest of the week if we could go back. On the way home to grill more hamburgers and hot dogs I realized (after a not-so-nice odor overwhelmed me in the van) that my kids hadn't showered since Saturday night. I decided to investigate our water situation. I heard that some of my friends who were without power had a gas water heater and, therefore, had as much hot water as they needed. I went downstairs and found out that we too had a gas water heater. SCORE!!! Too bad I didn't figure it out two days earlier so Rusty could have taken longer than a 30 second shower both days. After long showers and a little reading, Molly and Sam went to bed and Meg, Ben and I played games.

Wednesday--An unexpected trip to the doctor for Meg while Molly was at playgroup, and Ben and Sam went to a friend's. Meg and I went to lunch (Wendy's, her favorite) and then to Target to get a prescription filled. That afternoon we played on the tramp and made bacon, eggs and bagels and even chocolate chip cookies on the grill for dinner. Ben had a sleepover and the rest of us made smores on a fire pit at our neighbor's house. That evening we were blessed to plug into the same neighbor's generator. This will be an O'Brien must have in the future. This allowed me to quit doing daily trips to get ice for our few essential fridge items as well as gave us somewhere to charge our cell phones and portable dvd players.

Thursday--We cleaned out the garage and the van. I made it fun by making cinnamon rolls on the grill for a mid-chore break. After we headed to Costco for milk and lunch. We saw Rusty and his partner there buying office supplies. That afternoon we did a play date and then headed to drop Meg off at dance and watch Ben play a baseball game.

Friday--I was DONE!!! This was the day of my melt down, targeted at Sam. We headed to the park to meet some friends at 11:30 a.m. We were already running late and after driving for about 10 minutes Meg told me that Sam didn't have any shoes. That was the straw. After six days of no power, cooking everything over the grill, not having the luxury of washing sheets that had been peed on, no blow drying my hair, waking up in the middle of the night countless times to crickets, neighbors' generators, and motorcycles, and getting out of the van every time to open and close the garage door, I had had it. After my rant, the rest of the day was GREAT. We went to the park, had lunch, played, built forts from trees that suffered in the storm, rode scooters and cried to friends. Sometimes it just takes a good cry to make things better. One of my friends took Molly with her so Ben, Meg, Sam and I could go shoe, Halloween costume, and Web Kinz shopping. We ended up going to about five stores, but had a ton of fun. We picked Molly up, grabbed some pizza and soda, and headed to Rusty's office to play on some computers. We ended up staying for a few hours with each of us playing on a computer. Rusty was laughing that none of us really wanted to talk. We went home to the dark and went to bed.

Saturday--Rusty did a duathlon (I know, he left me in my fragile state), the kids and I went to Walmart to get a few groceries and donuts. Came home, practiced, did some chores and then played until it was time to go to Sam's baseball game. After we headed to the Blackwell's (Rusty's aunt and uncle's house, they just got power the day before). We did laundry, ate, and checked our email. Went home again after dark and put the kids to bed. We did decide that it was worth the gas in the generator to plug a few more things in. We plugged in a few lamps, and made popcorn with the air popper. It almost felt normal - almost.

Well, the week that started out hellacious ended up (in hind site) to be a fun experience that my kids and I will never forget (the week felt pretty normal to Rusty because he was at work a lot and had power there). I've decided that maybe I wasn't meant to handle every trial "perfectly" at this stage in the game. I handled this particular trial better than I thought I would. If someone would have said to me a month ago that I would have to survive almost 8 days without power, I would have told them "Are you crazy? I can't do it." Well, I did.

Day 1, Rusty and Molly playing Pretty, Pretty Princess.

Ben schooling Sam in the game of Stratego.

I was bored, especially the first day, and braided Meg and Molly's hair.

Side view.

Day 3, at the Zoo

Molly loves the giraffes.

Making smores with our neighbors. Molly was holding her flashlight which, and I'm not exaggerating, got dropped at least 30 times over the week, and never broke. I picked up batteries and put the thing together every time and it would magically turn on.

One of the many "Molly poses."

Sam enjoying his smore.

Meg LOVES smores, she ate three and then felt sick later.

Night 4 when Molly and Sam were "supposed to" be in bed, but were up reading by flashlight. Notice Molly's got the same light. By the end of the week we couldn't find the handle.

Day 7, Molly was bored during nap time, and drew on her wall.

Besides all the family time we got together, I was able to get my fridge REALLY clean.

Lights Out. . . Still

We have now been out of power since Sunday, September 14, around 2:00 p.m. Too many emotions, thoughts, events to post from Rusty's computer at his work (which we see as a MAJOR blessing that no power was lost since his office has only been open a month). Just a couple of quotes to tide you over until I actually do get power.

*Molly asking a stranger at Costco (where I took the kids for lunch yesterday), "Hey, can you come fix our power?" Unfortunately, he was the check out guy at Costco, but I guess looked official since he was wearing a tag.

*Sam singing a song (he composed) over the phone to Rusty, "Bye, bye, Mr. Rusty boy, I took my Chevy to the car wash but the power is out."

*Meg, this morning (the way I woke up) slamming her bedroom door, "I'm sick of stupid power."

*Ben walking into a store, "Ahhhhh, lights that work."

Thank you to many friends who have helped in more ways than you'll ever know.

I will post more later (hopefully very soon).

I'm Sick Of It!!!!

This week my severe allergies turned into a nasty cold. I am feeling a lot better today, but can't believe that it took FOUR days to get to this point. I didn't do anything this week that I wanted. I did, however, watch about 20 hours of HGTV, witnessed a Kirby vacuum demonstration (I seriously want one), slept four hours on Tuesday during the day (after leaving a note on my door for my kids to go downstairs and watch t.v. when they got off the bus; do you think this will help me become Mother of the Year?), and didn't make dinner one night this week (can you really ever order too much pizza or eat too much cold cereal?).

Needless to say, I made an appointment with the allergist:)

Molly's 1st Day of Preschool--September 3 & 9

We were thrown a little bit of a loop for Molly's first day of preschool. I originally signed her up at my favorite preschool of all time (well, what I thought was the preschool), "Westport Road Bible Preschool." I have referred many a friend to that school because both Meg and Ben attended. I didn't send Sam, because it is further from my house and I just had Molly, so he went to a closer preschool.

Anyway, I wanted Molly only gone a total of three days (I have our church playgroup on Wednesdays) so because the preschool has a minimum of three days, I decided to sign her up for the Mother's Morning Out program at the same building, just two days a week with her best buddy Eva Larsen. Well, the first day, let's just say was not what I expected. The majority of her class was between the age of 2 and 2 1/2 years old. Molly and Eva were the only ones potty trained, who could sit for more than two seconds for "lesson time," and actually were about the only two who weren't crying.

Plan B QUICK!!! I felt horrible. I should have researched it better. I just assumed that since the preschool was so awesome that the mother's morning out program would follow suit (which it would if you have a two year old or younger). So I scrambled to see what chance there was to get Molly and Eva to be considered for the preschool program. There were two openings, but not in the same class, and the girls would have to attend three days a week. I stewed for two days about what to do, and asked almost everyone their opinions (I know I drove Jenny and Rusty crazy--sorry). Finally, I just decided to talk to the director again, and felt good about putting Molly in Ms. Kelly's class (Ben had her six years ago). She will get to see Eva at play time, in music time and on the rides to and from preschool (Jenny and I car pool).

I'm not used to it yet, I miss her (I don't think she shares the same sentiment however). But since Molly only takes a nap a few times a week now, I've been a lot more conscious of really "being" with her from the time she get homes until the older kids come home from school. I also have our Mondays planned with fun activities. And finally, as Rusty pointed out, "she's only in preschool, if you don't feel like sending her, don't." Well said!

Molly's first day of school. She calls these shoes her "school shoes."

Of course, the princess back pack.

Molly and Eva in their first class.

Molly after school the first day. She wanted her hair "long" (that means no hair accessories whatsoever in her red locks), her nightgown on, and her "blank." She puts the blank inside her night gown and lays like this to go to sleep. She was tuckered out that first day.

A few minutes later I came back to check on her and she was OUT!

Molly and Ms. Kelly. This is her second first day of school. She was a little timid, but did well. Ms. Kelly "tested" her, and said that Molly doesn't really know her letters (this wasn't a surprise to me). She called each one "I." First of all, she does know "M," "O," and "L." Second, at least she was consistent; and third, isn't she only three? She's my fourth, I feel happy if she gets read to once a day. BTW Rusty calls Molly's pants her "Jan Brady pants." He ALWAYS seems to have some sort of comment.

Something New. . .

I wanted a new look for my blog, and my good friend helped me out. She is the blogging expert in these parts, and selflessly helps many of us make our blogs look the best I dare say anywhere around. I'm trying to market her services and get her to charge, but she won't.

Thanks for the new look Lacey. I LOVE it.

"The Routine"

Meg and Ben LOVE to jump on the trampoline. Meg had just learned how to do the "standing flip," and therefore, wanted to create a routine.

First Day of School--August 13, 2008

The first day of school came a couple of weeks earlier than the kids or I would have liked. It also began the same week that Rusty began his new law firm (post to come later). So, getting the supplies shopped and organized was done solely by the kids and me. This actually was fine with me since last year when Rusty embarked on this "activity" with us he FREAKED. A direct quote by Rusty, "I thought this was public school, why in the heck are we paying for all this stuff?" (I did spend almost $300 on supplies and fees this year. . .ouch!) Another favorite quote, "When I went to school, I showed up with a pencil and pack of crayons." Really Rusty, you already want to start those kind of stories at 38 years old?

Sam was determined to get a back pack that had a "sling" (only went over one shoulder). I really tried to discourage this, because Ben had one last year and didn't like it very much. But I could not talk Sam out of it and sure enough, three days into school he BEGGED me to get him a new back pack. Sure Sam, as long as you pay for it. Needless to say, Sam is using this bag.

Sam's a big first grader.

Sam's teacher is Ashley Davis. She is the sweetest, hardest working teacher I've ever met. She emailed me twice the first week of school and called once just to see how things were going. Sam says she talks like "Minnie Mouse, but not on purpose; that is how she really sounds." Do they make teachers younger than this?

Ben chose this backpack and got his name embroidered on the back. First day of School. Notice the hair-do;). and I want to make note that this shirt is Ben's FAVORITE. He would wear it every day if he could. I bought him a black one of the same variety so that we could get a little variety in his clothing.
To answer my earlier question regarding Sam's teacher, yes, they do make teachers younger. Meet Ben's teacher Ms. Kelly Sraj. Despite her age, she is AWESOME! Our grades are mixed and, therefore, Ben had her last year for third grade (her first year teaching). She is super smart and very patient. She pushes Ben to his limit and ran cross country at her college (Ben's reason for liking her).

The Fifth grader--the oldest in the school!

Let me relay a little story entitled "Meg And The Back Pack That Almost Wasn't." Meg got a catalogue from the store "Justice" (a favorite), she saw a girl modeling this very back pack and really wanted it. Well, we had bought her a nice one that she "had" to have last year and she wasn't suppose to get a new one this year. So she said she would pay for it herself. GREAT!!! OH MY GOSH let the hunt begin. No "Justice "stores in a 50 mile radius had this back pack in stock (and I know because I either traversed Kentucky looking for it, or spent hours on hold while the Justice employee could locate one). Needless to say, I had to go to our local store and pay for one to be shipped from a store in Cincinnati. Finally, five days later a UPS truck pulled up with the much coveted back pack in hand. How much do you want to bet that she'll find a new one for next year?

Mrs. Jamie Bachman. A brand new teacher who student taught Kindergartners (just last spring). I have noticed that this is the case, since Meg's class had to walk the halls on the second day of school to "practice walking quietly." She does send math homework every night (which I like) and has a red headed little boy, so I think she'll work out okay. The jury is still out.

There are five first graders in our cul-de-sac. All in different classes. The Asst. Principle lives just down the road and admitted to me that she did that on purpose.

Our next door neighbor had a donut and juice party before the bus arrived on the first day. It was so much fun.

Meg and Ben getting on the bus. Sam wanted Rusty to take him to school the first day.

Just Let it Go. . .

I have found that the longer I'm a mother, the more I HAVE to just let things go or it will drive both me and my kids CRAZY. The latest in this category includes the following (surprisingly to you and me Sam didn't make this list. Maybe because I have to let MOST things go when it comes to him):

Here Molly is laying on the filthy, dirty rug that is right inside the door from the garage. It's right after church (no nap) and she wanted to be by me while I was making dinner so she grabbed her blank and laid down. She does this all the time. What ever room the majority of family members are in, Molly, with blank in hand, lays down and gets comfortable. BTW: After seeing this pictures and seeing how disgusting the rug was I bought a new one.

I'm serious that Ben is serious about this hair do. He LOVES it. I have since cut/buzzed Ben's hair (I told Ben that I was doing a "long buzz" but really did it much shorter than he thought so that "the fin" wouldn't stand up quite so high). He wets only the top of his hair with a squirt bottle every morning and then sticks some (by some I mean a lot) of gel on the front and does a flattening motion from the back of the head to the front, and then presses upward with his palm to make "the fin." The one time I just couldn't let it go and asked him about it, he told me that all the boys in his school wear their hair this same way. Meg later told me they don't, and it was confirmed from looking at their yearbook. Ben likes it, therefore I have to LET IT GO!!!

Yes, another hair-do-let-it-go moment. It's the wear the hair in the pony-tail, with the headband, but be sure to keep the long bangs out of the headband and slicked to one side hair do. Again, I said one thing one time, and have learned that I've got to pick my battles with Meg and this one isn't worth it. She thinks she looks good, she feels confident to walk out the door, so who am I to disagree?