I hope you can stand the randomness...

• I miss blogging. I have a ton of posts I started to write...I probably won't get to them! But we have been sick, sick, sick. We are feeling a lot better and this coming week is Spring Break so we are willing ourselves to be healed!
• Speaking of break, all 3 kids are going to be w/people from their own families and Dave and I are going to a B&B for a night! I promised him that I wouldn't just walk in the door and fall asleep from shear exhaustion! But he knows I need the sleep so he's promised that after breakfast we can go back to sleep =)
• Things w/our foster daughter (her nickname is Pickles!) are going well...if I had to guess, I think she would say that the best thing about being here is that she is cruising through school w/few distractions, while the worst thing is the crying. If I had to guess, her most interesting thing to report would our ecclectic taste in music! Or maybe the 3 hours we spend at church on Sundays! LOL!! Hon, if you read this and want to correct me, let me know and I'll change it...Anyway, she is a good kid and we are really enjoying her!
  
• Moses Moses Moses (his nickname is Peanut!)! The kid is making so many observations and connections, asking questions and learning so many new words! He memorizes books - I think I said that before - and tells some great stories. He has a very active imagination...but what 3yo doesn't? He's been loving wearing his boots out in the yard, watching basketball w/me, and keeping track of his new big sister!
• The 'baby' (his nickname is Pumpkin!) is still here too - learning new words every day!! He was going on and on about his boots today..."Boo! Boosp! Boo boo boops!" or something like that. He learned the word pants from me too. I think his vocab is approaching 50 words, which feels like it has been a long time coming! Then again, comparing him to Mo is not really fair...we love hearing him say, "I did it!" So cute!
• I have been trying to keep the food budget the same. I am guessing that the end of the month tally will show it has increased some and I know I've bought things I wouldn't normally buy. Pickles likes to eat ramen noodles and pickles, of course, and a lot of breakfast bars. I already buy the breakfast bars, now I just buy more. I couldn't really complain about the price of the ramen, but I wish she would eat a little healthier. However, she is old enough to cook for herself and make those choices. She's been great about joining us for dinner as asked and we have had some good laughs together!
• Oh yeah, one day in the van, which suddenly seems so full (that's a good thing!), we decided that we all needed nicknames that started w/P. Moses has always been the peanut since he was soooo little and since I was called that as a baby too. Pumpkin sort of had that nickname already and Pickles likes pickles! Then we decided that Dave should be the big Pepper and I would be Peachy! LOL...so don't be surprised if you hear those names tossed around a bunch!
• I am so looking forward to having a garden. Sigh. It just doesn't get warm fast enough...we're going to try square foot gardening this year...at Tracy's house...
• I cracked and bought some boxes of soft kleenex while I was sick. True confession! My nose felt like it was going to fall off!! I have so many scrapes...I also got a bunch of plastic bags and melted a ton of plastic all in one day. I called it the day I killed the planet! Pickles just kept laughing at me...she didn't get what the big deal was of course, but I did feel terrible.
  
• Elizabeth White books have been my newest craze. I think I've read almost every one though so now I need to start hunting for a new author! I got hooked by the book Off the Record, which was one of the best 'fun' books I've read in a while...
• At the end of break we are going to a Milwaukee Wave soccer game and since it's the last game of the season, the 'promotion', if you will, is that it is the mascot game. Mo loves, adores, idolizes, etc mascots! So we are going and I know he is going to love it!! The pics from last year show mascots from the baseball, hockey and soccer teams, as well as guys like Sparky the fire dog, college mascots, sausage mascots (not the racing sausages, though), and other friendly costumed figures! The pics were so funny b/c during halftime the mascots actually play a quick soccer game and it seems they fall down a lot! Anyway, we can't wait!
• Phew...what else? I really like giving out a few extra hugs, having more kids around the table, and sitting together in church. I have hung wash out twice already this year and yes, I'm crazy, since that's one of my favorite things to do, I'm looking forward to doing that again! I've been in a few dramas at church lately. That's fun - I miss that! But it's also more work, so I'm looking forward to a month off from that again.
• My favorite holiday is coming up!!! I love Easter! We sing this song at church and I pray every year that Pastor picks it so I can belt it out at the top of my lungs!
  

  
  
  Happy Day - Tim Hughes
• Dave's been doing 2 months of music w/his pre-K class. Today they went to the high school and the band kids introduced their instruments and played a little something for them. They also had a bucket drum line march around the parking lot! They've been reading/listening to Peter and the Wolf so he said they loved it when they got to see an oboe in the band. He found a piano in the school which he had wheeled into his room - it stayed in tune, he was so happy! - and showed the kids how the hammers work. He wishes he could do music all year, I'm sure! I told him to make the aid take a lot of pics of the kids' drums...wish we could have gone today for the band class, but we don't need to be exposed to any extra school germs right now, you know? Anyway - next year! Despite 52 positions being cut in our district, Dave got word that he will be doing the same thing next year. We all were happy about that!
• Speaking of, I didn't get a summer school teaching job. So, yeah, I guess I'll be perusing the employment section soon! Gotta get my foot into the door before college kids come home...I even dreamed about working in the grocery store floral dept or deli dept, just like in high school! Scary! But hey, I can still put together corsages and bouquets...and there's really not much skill involved in slicing meat...oh yeah. Can you see me bumping elbows w/high school kids? I'll be the one taking all the early AM hours so they can sleep in!! LOL!!!
• Well, I guess that's all the randomness I can handle. I need to get to bed. I feel like I want to write a lot, but then I get here and I can't seem to organize my thoughts lately. So how about this...I'll entertain questions. I may or may not answer your questions, depending on their topic, of course, but what do you want to know more about? And obviously, don't expect a rapid turn around...it may be spring break next week, but that just means I have an extra kid home from school to entertain! Either way, I'm looking forward to getting some extra rest and taking a break from regularly scheduled activities...
• PS - I still can't believe it's spring break already! I honestly can't name one thing I did in February! Ah well...we've got a lot of fun things (like a 10 year anniversary party!) planned for this summer, so that should make up for it!