If she had the proper words to say,

This morning was 'Breakfast & A Book' again at the boys' school. We all went, and while there, I also gifted their teachers with some cute, homemade goodies (to be shared about in a separate entry). I then walked the halls and gave the rest away to other teachers that happened to be milling about, as well as the entire office staff and the librarian. Then A.J. headed off to class, and Philip and I brought Jack home for a little bit.

The boys had their regular dentist check-ups yesterday, and Jack needed to go back this morning to have some sealants done. He's got the same substantial "grooves" on his molars that A.J. did years ago, and they want to prevent cavities in those grooves by sealing them now. I took him to that appointment, and then back to school before 9:30. While in the office, another teacher was asking me about the goodies, saying she'd already heard about them from several folks. Fun!

Then I went back at 11:00 for my regular Wednesday lunching with the boys. I'd forgotten to look at the school menu, so I had all my fingers crossed that it was something good... TACOS! I can always support tacos. ;-) A.J.'s group of friends was particularly talkative today, and that was fun. I had put a special, sealed bag in his friend Jade's desk early that morning, and she was BEGGING me to tell her what was in it. I shook my head, and promised her it was worth the wait! Then Jack's group of friends is always so much fun, and I love knowing all of them by name, and continuing individual conversations with the kids from week-to-week. Today, I let his friend Noah Dettmer know that I had *just* spoken with his mom and RSVP'd for the fun 'Mystery Theater' birthday party he's throwing this Saturday. He was very excited, and was *fist-pumping* the air. :-)

As I headed to the office, I was stopped by a few more folks, asking about the goodies. I apologized, saying I was now fresh out, but they still wanted to know how to make 'em. Then it became a baking jamboree discussion in the office, and I love that so many are so interested!

A.J. asked if we could head to Borders after school, and I've got a Bath & Body Works birthday giftcard burning a hole in my pocket, as well as a birthday giftcard to Wheatfield's, so... sounds like a plan to me!

So today (yesterday? It's after midnight now...) involved a lot of running around right at the beginning of the day. Philip had a dentist appointment this morning at 7:30, and we had to drop him off at the base hospital so that I'd be able to get A.J. to school at 8 o'clock. In between dropping Philip off and taking A.J., I took a quick shower. Of course, there wasn't even time to dry my hair, so I'm sure I looked like a complete goober driving to A.J.'s school with my hair still wrapped up in a towel turban!

As soon as A.J. was out of the car, we continued on to the hospital to pick up Philip, me still sporting my cool 'do. I traded places with him so he could drive back home, as it was actually a bit difficult to turn my head to see properly without bumping the turban on the roof of the van. He got Jack dressed for the day while I dried my hair, and in just a bit, we were ready for him to drop us both off for my Parents at Home meeting.

And then there was a change in plans.

Some backstory: each week when I attend my Parents at Home meeting, Jack spends time with other children in the church's care program. For the past two years, that has meant being in the nursery. This year, however, the care has been segregated a little bit: separating the older, preschool-aged kids from the toddlers and babies. That was fine and dandy with him for many of the meetings at the beginning of the year. In recent weeks though, there haven't been enough volunteers for the nursery, and so all the kids have needed to be kept together in one spot. And Jack really misses being in just the older group - he's tired of the nursery and the fussiness of the younger kids and babies.

He's asked me a few times if he could come along with me to my "mom's group," but I keep telling him that it would be so boring for him, and that I'm sure he has more fun with the other kids. He doesn't believe me, though. Our Parents at Home group meets in the youth center, and I think he envisions all us moms playing foozball and air hockey (there are a few game tables in the youth room) instead. Last week, he even shed a few tears as soon as we arrived and were told that the older kids would be in the nursery again, and I felt bad - he never cries, and the poor volunteers thought it was because he didn't want to be left; not the real reason at all.

So we were all ready to go, and then Jack started sobbing. He climbed up in my lap and covered my shirt in tears. He absolutely did not want to go to "the baby room," and I felt bad for him. Even though I'd been looking forward to hearing our librarian speaker today for a few weeks, I couldn't make him go. Instantly, we needed a change of plans, but I was starving too (there is usually refreshments/breakfast stuff at the group). So we all decided on breakfast out together, and Jack picked Vidlak's for the place.

And we had a good meal together, just the three of us. We all ate a ton, and we lounged around and giggled some. We got back home in time for me to change into my uniform for work, and then Philip and Jack dropped me off at Runza.

And we were BUSY today. Due to scheduling conflicts, there's only three of us on Thursdays for now, and it is hard to keep up. At one point, I had a piercing headache strike within a minute's time, and it lasted for about ten minutes. When it finally disappeared, it did so just as quickly as the pain had hit. I admit - that worries me just a bit. Then again, I'm just so glad it went away, because it would have been very painful to continue an entire shift with a headache like that. I didn't mention it to anyone else at the time, either.

Philip and I swapped places at 2pm, and then I came home. We received Jack's lamp in the mail today, so he and I set that up in his room. It makes a very cool nightlight, too. Then it was time to pick up A.J. from school, and the boys played a little X-Box 360 afterwards. I worked on a few pictures and then laid down for a short nap.

I do love that my boys are perfectly able to entertain and care for themselves when I take a nap. They are so wonderful sometimes. :-)

I had planned grilled chicken salad for dinner, but Philip finished off the tomatoes without my realizing it. Also, the boys and I arrived to pick him up from Runza at 7pm, but I had been wrong in looking at the schedule, and he didn't actually get off until 7:30. While we waited, my tummy took to rumbling fiercely, and when he finally got in the car, we decided to just grab a quick bite somewhere instead. We also stopped and filled up with gas before coming back home, happy to find that the rate at the Shoppette on base was still only $1.91/gallon (most of the other gas stations around had shot up $.18/gallon overnight).

The boys had a quick shower and then settled in for bed. Philip headed out to Jammer's with the guys, and I snuggled in on the couch to watch The Beach. Lots of eye candy, my friends - lots. Mmmmm, Leo. ;-)

Oh, and we have a date for Philip's departure now...

Now I'm getting pretty tired, and Philip should be home shortly. He called just after midnight to tell me he'd be home about 1am, and I'm thinking I can stay up until then. Oh, but then I'm going to be very ready for bed. :-D

In other news, this is my 3000th post. Watch out for clumpy confetti!

*confetti rocks all around*

Whew, I'm beat! I'm going to be really hurting tomorrow!

We worked for most of the day on cleaning out the closet in the master bedroom yesterday, and we got rid of tons of clothes and stuff - so many clothes, in fact, that we were able to dispose of an entire dresser! I asked Annie if she'd like to have it, and I also set aside a coffee table, a children's rocking chair, a fan and a maternity shirt for her. Philip moved the dresser into the entryway for them to pick it up later, and I piled the other stuff on top of it.

I dropped off loads at the church today for the youth group garage sale (several trashbags full of clothes, one bag full of miscellaneous stuff, a big box of phones, a kid's tricycle, crutches, decorative items). I was trying to hurry in taking everything inside the Narthex because I needed to get home and finish up dinner early enough so that I could pack some for Philip to take to work tonight (and he works from 5pm-6am or later, but he leaves the house at 4:30). I rushed back home, finished making the Barbecue Chicken Pizza (which was an adventure in itself), and off he went.

I put away more loads of laundry, and I made our bed (new sheet night!), and then I served the boys and myself an early dinner. We had green beans and fruit with our pizza. While Jack was finishing up, A.J. picked up the few toys in the living room, and I cleaned the dinner dishes. Then I vacuumed the living room, the boys' rooms and our bedroom. I decided to move the recliner out of our bedroom and back into the living room (where it was two years ago or so), and when I moved the chair, I found the burgundy carpet underneath to be practically WHITE with cat fur. I cleaned it all up, and then I took the recliner apart to move it into the living room. I carried the parts down the hall and came to a stand-still when I realized that I couldn't get them around the dresser that Philip had moved to the entryway earlier. I ended up lugging the dresser outside onto the sidewalk by myself, and then coming back inside and continuing to move the recliner pieces to the living room. I left the recliner covered in fur on the living room floor and went outside to play with the boys for a while instead.

Annie and Patrick arrived right about then, and we chatted for a while. They loaded up all the things into their truck, and then we said goodbye because Jack wanted to ride his bike around the block (and I insist on walking around with him). Jack reminded me that I'd planned to bring the hedge clippers with us on our circuit around the block, so A.J. carried those while we walked behind Jack. There is a vacant house on the other side of the neighborhood that has a large rose bush, and the thorny bush was covering a chunk of the sidewalk. I set to work trimming the bush, clipping off every branch that hovered above the sidewalk, and it was tough work! The bush was growing well, and some of those stems were over 3/4" thick! It took me six cuts to get clipped all the way through in some places, and my arms were WORN OUT by the time I finished twenty minutes later. The boys had been helpfully moving every branch I trimmed from the sidewalk to a pile on the lawn of the vacant house (it's actually in the middle of a stretch of about eight vacant houses), and the base grounds maintenance crew will wonder next week who trimmed the bush at a vacant house, but I'm sure they'll figure out why it was done. Finally, Jack hopped back on his bike, and he rode across the now-clear path on the sidewalk, and we all continued around the block until we were home again. We'd been planning to make a few trips around, but I was so worn out from the bush-clipping, and it had taken so much longer than I'd planned, that we stopped for the night.

We came inside, and I ran a bath for the boys. A.J. requested some vapor bath since he'd been coughing today, and I had just a little bit left in the bathroom cupboard. While they were bathing, I put away a few more things in the kitchen, dusted the living room, kitchen and entryway, and I got their rooms ready for bed. They got out, dried off and dressed in pajamas, and then they started playing with their Harry Potter figurines and Knight Bus, all the while singing songs from "Harry and the Potters." (I'm such a proud mama!)

Meanwhile, I pulled out the heavy-duty attachments for our vacuum, and I set to work de-furring the chair. I had to clean off the attachment every ten seconds or so, but I got it all done - probably better than it had every been done before. Since I had all the stuff out anyway, I set to work deep-cleaning the couch and loveseat as well. Altogether, it took me over an HOUR (I stopped after the chair and put the boys to bed), but all the furniture looks so nice again. I moved the endtable out of the living room and back to our room to make room for the recliner, and I moved Pot of Gold™ Basket full of stuffed toys over by the entertainment center. I re-vacuumed the living room to make sure I picked up any stray fluff from cleaning the furniture, and then I vacuumed the kitchen as well.

My arms are killing me from trying so hard to squeeze those clippers on the bush, and I'm all sweaty from today's work. I'm going to dust our bedroom tomorrow, and then I'll rearrange our picture frames and stuff (with one dresser now completely gone, we'll have to slim down what we showcase on the remaining one). Once that is done, I'll be able to finally say that the spring cleaning is complete, and the week-long "Declutter and Give to the Church" mission is done. Nice!

I'm off to do a couple of sets of baptismal banner letters for tomorrow morning, and then I'm going to get in the shower (I have to be clean for New Sheet Night, right?). The shower will help wash a bit of the black ink off my fingers, too. Tomorrow is Wellness Day in the Parents at Home group, and we're going on a walk. In the afternoon, I'm going to make my first calls in the new ministry I've just taken on: Care Coordinator for the Spouses of Deployed Members. I'm excited about that. I'll make calls monthly (or a bit more often) to see if the spouses have any needs while their family member is deployed. This ministry was a blessing to me while Philip was away last year, and it was going to fall through the cracks unless a new person stepped up to take it over, so now it's me. :-)

Oh, and the boys have their dentist check-ups tomorrow afternoon, right after A.J. gets out of school. I swear, it doesn't feel like it's already been six months again, but I remember going in October - yikes! My next check-up is in June, and that's coming up faster than it should be too!