thoughts on a sunday

McKay's school had a field trip to the Children's Museum on Friday.  Elle, Layla and I got to come along.  It's such a fun place- the cutest children's museum I've ever been to. . .even though it's the only one.  The kids loved it and can't wait to go back.  

• Brian had a conference in Bend this weekend.  I've always wanted to go to Bend, so we decided to tag along with him.  It's about a three hour drive from Portland, and I rented the kids some movies from the library for the drive.  The drive to Bend is ridiculous!  It is SO gorgeous.  As I was taking in all the beautiful sights my eyes beheld as I sat in the front seat I found myself calling to the kids, "Look at that lake- do you see how green the water is?" or "Look at all the waterfalls we're passing," or "Can you even believe all these beautiful green trees everywhere?"  I would look back at them- each with their head phones on, eyes glued to their little screen- and only occasionally McKay would give me a token, "Oh." or "Yeah."  Elle was a lost cause.  Nothing could tare her eyes away from Dora saving the mermaids.  For a moment I hated those little screens and wanted to throw them out the window.  On the way home I made sure that they took a little time away from their movies to enjoy the scenery. . .except for Ellery. . .because of, you know...Ariel.

• Even though I hated the dvd players for awhile, it didn't decrease my love for the library.  I really, really love the library.  Every time I leave with a two foot stack of books or a couple new movies, I'm grateful for such a wonderful service.  

• Pretty much every night lately I've been enjoying a nice bowl of Reese's Puffs cereal.  It's my favorite.  And I don't eat one little bowl of cereal.  I keep refilling it until the milk is gone.  It's just how I do it.  I figure, it's better than a nightly bowl of ice cream.  Maybe?

• I'm getting an MRI tomorrow to see if there have been any changes in the last six months.  It was really hard to schedule the appointment because I felt like this whole thing has been put away and now I'm pulling it all back out again.  That's kind of hard.  But I'm feeling okay about it.  Except for laying there for two and a half hours.  Not feeling okay about that part.  Luckily I've got some happy pills that will make it so I hopefully won't care too much.  It's a pretty big deal for me to stay still for even five minutes, let alone hours.  I can only imagine how many itches are going to need scratching as I'm lying there.      

• On a happier note, the kids are having a babysitter and my sweet visiting teacher is bringing dinner.  My kids could not be more excited about this.  Well, mostly the babysitter part.  I can only imagine how annoying they are going to be.  And we don 't really need dinner, but it will be nice to not have to worry about feeding anyone, especially since I might be going a bit crazy at that point (the MRI is scheduled for 6pm).  

• This MRI poses another serious problem.  Miss Layla is refusing to take a bottle.  I can't feed her for at least one feeding because of the dye used for the MRI so I don't know what's going to happen there.  My sister says her husband had to feed one of their babies with a syringe because he wouldn't take a bottle.  I can just see Brian and Layla out in the waiting room trying this syringe.  Sometimes she's such a stinker.

• Like how she's snacking every two to three hours at night still.  Yeah.  Big stinker.  I am a zombie.  And I swear she is turning into even more of a little butterball since this started three weeks ago.  Or maybe four.  Who's counting?  I know, I know, I need to let her cry it out.  But that would wake up my other two, and Brian and also it's just hard to hear your baby cry.  This week I'm gonna do it...

• We watched home videos today and baby McKay and baby Layla look like twins.  And also, McKay was quite possibly the cutest toddler on the planet.  Much to Ellery's dismay, we only got as far as her first Christmas, but she was quite thrilled to see herself as a little baby.  She was also pretty adorable.

• Guess who went to bed at five thirty tonight?  And guess who just woke up (9pm) ready to play?  Ahhhh!  What is up with my baby!?!

• Now a couple of cute things my kids have been saying:  We were driving into our neighborhood and there is a sign with an apple on it and the name of our neighborhood.  As we drove by it the other day Ellery said, "Mom, does that sign with the apple say, 'Ellery's House and other houses'?"  

• McKay and Ellery were playing the other day and he said, "Pretend we're robots, made by an evil sign test."  

• McKay has been doing this for awhile, but I keep forgetting to write it down.  Whenever we are anywhere and a Hispanic person is in hearing range, McKay will nonchalantly start counting to ten in Spanish, like it's no big deal.  One day, while in line at a store the nice hispanic lady noticed and praised him in English and then said a few things in Spanish, thinking he may know more than just counting.  I had to jump in and explain that his knowledge of the Spanish language was limited, but they were still both very pleased with the conversation.  

• That reminds me of hearing Ellery randomly yell out her interprtation of Spanish words while watching Dora today in the car.  It was always startling to hear a sudden burst of mangled Spanish, but very cute.  It made me sad when McKay got too old to talk back to the cartoon characters.  I love that she still does it, and with complete belief and gusto!

• With McKay's interest in spelling lately Ellery has taken notice.  She will say, "Mom, I know how to spell Layla.  La, La, Layla."  or "Ja, Ja, Jeanette."  Jeanette is one of the Chipettes, if you didn't know.

• Also, both my kids have memorized our address and phone number.  This is something I've mainly been working on with McKay, but then Ellery started saying it right along with him.  I guess her hearing him practice it over and over sank in.  This is quite remarkable because, as some of you may know, we have the world's longest address.  

• I got my hair done this week after six long months.  It's a long story, really,  that I don't feel like telling, but the end result is I'm blonde, I no longer have roots down to my ears, and it feels great!

• Brian is finally adjusting to his new hospital in Silverton.  Basically, each time he goes to a different hospital it's like starting a new job.  New people.  New machines.  Different ways of doing things.  I don't know about you, but I hate that "new job" feeling and my poor husband has to go through that continuously for the rest of the year.  It's rough stuff, I tell ya.    

Happy Sunday!