Well… many little things.

1.  We went to Iowa (“we” as in the kids and I) and had a great time seeing my dad, his fiance and my three sisters.  But midway through the trip an uninvited guest appeared: the stomach flu.  AG was the first to bottom out followed by me, Jack Henry and my dad.  By the end of the weekend all three of my sisters had caught it and the only ones left standing were my dad’s fiance and my sister’s husband.  We finally determined that being genetically linked appeared to be the deciding factor of who caught the dreaded thing and who didn’t.  Can you say “survival of the fittest”?

2.  We were hanging out on the balcony the other day and attempts were made to take photos of the kids.  We have blurry results.

The dang shame is that my vision has gotten so bad that until I downloaded them… I thought photo 1 and photo 3 were clear as day.  Ugh!

3.  Went to my first OB appt.  Decided after 9 years to get a new OB since it is quite a drive down to my regular OB.  Choosing who to try was quite stressful.  Got to appt., met nurse practitioner and liked her quite well  but HATED the office/staff.  Thought I’d just try to deal with it until the next day when I realized they made my follow up appt.  with another provider (one I don’t like all that well) and not the ARNP that I liked.   Called to change appt. and they refused to change it.   GAH!  I give up.  So… while I feel like I’m being flaky, I’m changing providers.  Heard of an OB that my friend really likes so I’ll move my records and change over to her office.  Started to ignore my concerns and just stay with the office I was at but then Dana said “every time you get a bad feeling like this and you don’t do something about it, you regret it”.  Man speaks the truth… time for a new OB.

4.  AG is doing great in school.  She got all A’s on her report card and she’s really blossomed.  I did sign her up for next year at the same school.  A tad concerned about the teacher for next year.  Academically she’s great but the woman could use a personality transplant.  Just sayin’.  We’ll see  how it goes.  I had thought of moving her to a different school for second grade but… this baby will be arriving right around the first week of school.  New school + newborn baby = great big case of “crazy momma”.

5.  AG has to dress differently for school on Wednesdays.  Wednesdays are “chapel days”.  This week she apparently felt quite fancy because she insisted I take her picture while Jack Henry looked on.

 Chapel Dress

6.  I am knitting on the Farmhouse yarn socks.  I had completely frogged them and started over because they didn’t fit.  My sweater project is on hold because I won’t fit in it while pregnant and I wasn’t feelin’ the love for the thing anyway.

7.  We have a new family member.  I have tried for years to grow my own veggies and never had success.  Between the heat, the cold and the *&$%^ caterpillars… I’ve got the blackest thumb ever!  I’ve always been interested in hydroponics and made an attempt (a failed attempt) once.  Last year I learned of these things called Tower Gardens and started seeing them pop up around town.   I could resist no longer and took money that I got for Christmas and bought one.  It is an aeroponic growing system and right now it is filled with lettuce, strawberries, beans and zucchini.

Day 1 after putting seedlings in the Tower Garden.

8.  We bought a new van, or I should say a “new to me” van.  I’ve driven (and loved) a Honda Element for many years but Elements only have 4 seats.  No room for new baby.  After the stomach flu incident, the kids and I were taken to our beds with a sinus thing and Dana stayed home from work to help out.  In the middle of the day he announces that he wants to go to the Toyota dealership because he found a “deal” and he has a “coupon”.  I tried to convince the man to stay home but he felt like we were all getting ready to take a nap and he had a little time to sneak off.  After 13 years of marriage, I’ve learned that if Dana has his mind set on something and if, bonus, he thinks he’s got a killer deal on that something, you might as well just get out of the way.  After a few hours, Dana comes home with a van for me to test drive.  I walk outside in my pj’s (no shoes, no bra, no brushed teeth, hair a mess) grab the keys and drive around the neighborhood.  By the end of the day, we had bought a 2006 Toyota Sienna.  I really like it but… I’m having just a teensy tiny bit of trouble learning to drive it (says she who, just yesterday, knocked the front hub cap off the thing).

9.  Nice bonus… I don’t have to say good bye to my beloved Element.  Dana decided that he’ll drive the Element and he’ll sell the pickup-truck-I-love-to-hate.  Happy, happy, joy, joy.

10.  That’s about all that is going on around here.  What’s happening with y’all??