Things That Go Bump in the Night

Lately Maddy has been having a little bit of a difficult time getting to sleep. The other night, I put her to bed. I didn't hear anything from upstairs, and I thought that she was asleep --Not! I was doing laundry and all of sudden, there she was behind me! I almost stepped on her! She couldn't get to sleep, she said. Sometimes she does that to extend the "going to bed ritual" a bit. I took her back to bed, gave her a Tylenol and fav stuffed animal. I thought she was all settled in and would be asleep shortly. So, I was back downstairs watching some season premieres of the new tv season -- you know I've been waiting all summer for some new tv shows!!! I heard her get up, but nothing else, so figured she must have gone back to bed. I went into the kitchen about 30-45 minutes later and there she was -- just sitting on a chair quietly, staring into space, not saying a thing! About scared me out of my wits! She didn't say a single word and I carried her back upstairs to bed. She still didn't say anything as she got into bed and immediately went to sleep. Do you think she was sleepwalking?

When she was younger, occasionally she would have night terrors. Now, that was really frightening -- maybe more so to me than to her, since she didn't remember them. What happened was that I would hear her crying and some loud noises. When I went to her room, I would find her in a corner of the room kicking and crying, looking absolutely terrified and acting like she was trying to get away from something. The next day, she had no memory of it whatsoever. It didn't happen very often, but occasionally, and it seemed that it would happen on nights when she was really fatigued. That hasn't happened in a very long time, so I think she grew out of it. I'm hoping we don't have a little sleepwalker on our hands as we have a rather steep staircase from the upstairs to downstairs -- guess I may have to find and dust off the baby gate!

Favorite Photo Friday - Leopard Princess

We're starting to think about Halloween at our house! No, I'm not just talking just about costumes -- I'm talking about Halloween candy! Yes -- it's true -- I've already purchased Halloween candy and eaten it all up (though I did have some help!). I'm trying, really trying, to not buy any more until it is closer to Halloween. Geez -- I wish the stores would quit tempting me with all the little snack sizes of my fav candies. Who can resist 5 or 6 of those small Mr. Goodbar's??? Not me!

Anyway, last year Maddy was a leopard princess as you can see in the photos. This year, she already decided that she will be a witch. I usually wait until at least October to buy a Halloween costume, but this year we saw the costume, she liked it, it was on sale, so we bought it. Only to find out that at school, they do have a Halloween party, but kids are not allowed to wear witch costumes!! OY!! Luckily -- the leopard princess costume still fits -- so she'll be a leopard princess by day and witch by night!

And, does anybody need a walker for their costume? Just found out today that we "bought" those walkers (yes, plural-- he had to have two - don't ask) for the Rickster -- I thought they were rented! Mr. Tennis usually wears a priest cassock for a costume -- he really looks good in it - -is that scary or just weird?? I couldn't find a photo with him in his priestly garb, but here he is a few years ago -- actually I think it was Maddy's first Halloween with us and she was a sweet little ladybug!

Happy Fall Y'all!

Happy Fall!! How is it even possible that September is going by so quickly and it's now officially fall? A few weeks ago, we had really fallish weather -- very cool all day long and almost freezing temps at night. Now that it is officially fall, the forecast for this week is for temps 80+!! But, the change in the amount of daylight and how quickly it gets dark tells me that cooler weather is just around the corner.

Yesterday was a glorious, sunny day and we went to a Fall Festival put on a small church nearby. It was so much fun! Even better, Miss Maddy won two beanie baby bears -- that put her in a very good mood! I was off looking at the silent auction items for a bit while Maddy and Rick went to the cake walk. Funniest scene ever -- Rick, with his cane, in the cake walk towering over the others in the walk -- about 8 five and six-year old kids! It was hilarious! I missed the photo, but take my word for it, it was funny!

Fall is my favorite season of all. Now that it is officially here, it's time for me to really get busy and start some fall decorating. We would love to put some pumpkins out, but the squirrels in our neighborhood consider pumpkins to be breakfast, lunch and dinner and make a huge mess, so we'll have to figure something else out. Maddy and I are going to get busy with some projects soon.

We Heart Disney!

To say that Maddy is a Disney fan is a bit of an understatement! She LOVES everything Disney -- especially DisneyWorld and her fav buddy, Mickey Mouse. Simba (from the Lion King, remember?) is a close second, but Simba is often sent to the naughty stair. Of course, she actually loves nearly every Disney stuffed animal ever made! She did go through a Princess phase and loves them too, but that phase seems to be passing a bit lately.

A few months ago, a friend got the inside scoop on buying tickets to Disney on Ice early. I jumped on the chance and have been keeping the Disney on Ice performance as a special treat for Maddy. I normally would not go to something like this on a school night, but the tickets were an incredible bargain and it seemed that it was the only performance that would work for us.
So, we had a little road trip last evening with Jodee and the cute Carson and Shari and the adorable Kelsey. Shari's hub, Geoff, came along too and is also kind of cute. Jodee drove her "mom van" complete with DVD player. The kids watched a movie on the way and we did not hear any of them utter the famous words, "Are we there yet?"

The show was amazing -- fun effects, great skating and a cute story. Maddy and I really enjoyed hearing some of our favorite Disney songs and seeing the characters. Definitely made me want to start planning a return trip to DisneyWorld and I know Maddy would agree! It was really a fun evening! For those of you who know Jodee and how much she loves to get photos to go along with her blog posts, yes, that is her below scanning her photos while waiting to get out of the parking lot. Thanks again for driving Jodee!

Things to Remember and Fav Photo Friday

My memory is not the greatest – it’s way better than my younger sister and my twin sister’s, but I know I have probably already forgotten a million of the sweet things that Maddy says and does, so here are a few things I want to be sure and remember.

-During Rick’s recovery from the hip replacement, she has offered, almost every day, to stay home and take care of him – so sweet! Of course, that basically means that she will watch movies (her choice - Disney, of course) with him all day long and get him whatever he needs, especially snacks!

- This week at school, it was "C" week. She told me the other day that she wished her sister was here. Duh me – I said, "what sister is that?" She replied, "Catherine [oldest son’s wife], because if she lived here, I’d take her to school for C week!" So, instead of taking Catherine, she took her newest Webkinz, a Chipmunk.

- Last year, whenever she talked about her school principal, she called him "Mr. Ice-creamavera." His name is actually a word that sounds like that and is an Italian dish that comes after the word "Pasta" – so she was really close.

- One of the nuns at school is named Sister Theresa. Rick also has a sister named Theresa. Maddy came home one day and said that she talked to Dad’s sister. We were stymied and could not figure out what she was talking about because neither of his sisters live here. We finally figured out that she meant Sister Theresa. Whenever we talk about his sister, we would say something like, Dad’s sister, Theresa. So, she thought that meant Sister Theresa was his sister. Did you follow that??

- She thinks it is not very fair that my parents are retired and get to stay home every day! When does SHE get to retire?

- Nearly every night after she goes to bed, she sneaks into my room and puts a stuffed animal on my pillow for me! And she always leaves a stuffed animal in the car to keep me company on my drive to work after I drop her off at school.

And this is one of my favorite older photos of her -- she was about 3 1/2 years old then - what a little sweetie!

Wordless Wednesday

Happy B-Day Cboo!

Today is my middle child's birthday! Happy Birthday sweetie!! He's 21 years old -- he probably wouldn't appreciate me calling him sweetie, would he!! He is such a great son. We went out to dinner for his birthday last night, and he even acted as though he loved all his gifts! Maybe he did, but I doubt that I am THAT good at picking things out for a college senior!

I remember so well the day he was born -- it had been a really, really hot, long summer and I was so huge! I stopped working a couple weeks before his due date since I was sure he would be early. Wouldn't you know it -- he was a week late! He weighed 8 pounds 14 ounces at birth and was absolutely one of the sweetest, chunkiest babies around! He adored his big brother and followed and pestered him constantly. And, in turn, he's been a wonderful big brother to baby sister Maddy. Simply amazing that he can be 21 already! Wow -- the time just flew right by. He lives in an apartment close to campus, but we see him fairly often, which is so nice and such a blessing. And Philip and Catherine joined us for dinner. Rick was feeling good enough to go out and is able to get around fairly well. All of my kids together celebrating -- this is what family is all about! I feel like the luckiest mom in the whole world to have such great kids. Happy Birthday Cboo!! Love you. Mom

TGIF

Whew -- only a 4-day workweek and I am beat!! Usually I am quite energized by Friday and looking forward to getting all sorts of things accomplished on the weekend. Not that I actually get all sorts of projects like cleaning and purging stuff done, but I do think about it. But today, I think I will just veg out tonight and tomorrow. I want to sleep a bit later as I haven't been sleeping very well. I want to watch a movie - -like a chick flick, not a kid movie, not a war movie, and not a sci-fi movie (any suggestions?). I do need to tidy up the house and scrub some floors as the place is simply a disaster! I know part of the "disaster" is due to having Rick sleeping in the family room with the room's furniture and stuff dispersed throughout the house. Add to that -- his laptop, notebooks, work papers -- it all equals more and more clutter. Accck -- I am definitely not a perfectionist, but the stuff all over is starting to stress me out a bit. This week I've felt a bit like a hamster on one of those wheels -- running and running and not getting anywhere. Yep, a movie, some buttered popcorn and a good night's sleep . . . that's what is on my list for the weekend. What's on yours?

And Just Like That

The calendar slipped quietly into September and just like that, it seems that summer is over. How can that be?? Miss M and I did sneak off to the pool and left our patient [Rick] at home napping on Sunday. As you can see, I had to get a couple of pics of the last outdoor swimming event of the year! It was a fairly warm day, but it seems the heaters had been turned off the week before. The water in the pool was SO COLD!! Of course, it didn't bother Maddy much, but I was freezing!!


So now that the summer of 08 has passed, it's time to look ahead to the new activities starting up this week. I don't want over-schedule her, so have only a couple things planned. I don't think two is too many, do you? On Thursday evenings, Maddy is taking a dance/cheer class. A friend will be in it with her. Maddy likes to dance or jump around I call it (and she makes fun of my car-dancing - what's with that anyway?), so I think she'll like it, especially with her friend there. My hope is that it is fun and helps give her confidence a little boost.

And on Saturdays, she starts a little theatre class called "The Teddy Bear Theatre." I'm sure the BIG question will be -- which Teddy Bear or other stuffed animal gets to attend class with her? I'm hoping this will also boost her confidence and perhaps help her to learn to speak louder. She is the opposite of those kids that need to be reminded to use an indoor voice!

Last December, we saw Madeline's Christmas at the playhouse and she immediately wanted to be up on stage too -- which was pretty shocking considering that she's a bit quiet and shy. Otherwise, I would have never thought of signing her up for a theatre class. We've gone to some other kids performances and they are so much fun! Yikes -- bad me -- I don't think I ever took the boys to any events at the playhouse when they were young. Oh well, it doesn't seem to have scarred them too terribly. We Moms just do the best we can, don't we!