It's a good thing he's cute.

One snowy afternoon a couple of weeks ago, the kids were outside playing and Joe and I were downstairs in our respective offices, he playing World of Warcraft, me doing some scrapbooking.

The house was peaceful and all was right with the world.

Sitting there, happily surrounded by my photos, paper and double-stick tape, I had a sudden thought:  It's so nice the kids are all finally at an age where I don't have to hover over them constantly; this is wonderful.

Did I knock on wood immediately after hearing that thought bounce around my head?

No, no I didn't.

Five minutes later, Isabel came running downstairs, clearly on a mission.

"Mom, Gabe tore a hole in his window and is throwing toys out into the snow!"

Um, excuse me?  Whatdidyoujustsay?!

I ran up the stairs, with Isabel hot on my heels.  Sure enough, this is what I saw:

I peeked out and looked down, to see toys and pieces of paper covering the ground below.  Whatintheworldwashethinking?!

"Me and Jonah wanted to watch our paper airplanes fly in the snow, Mommy."

I'm sure they made an awesome sight, swirling around in the wind and snow to a safe landing down below.  But seriously, tearing a hole in the screen window?  Where does he come up with this stuff?

It's a good thing he's so cute.  It saves his life on a daily basis...

Half-full or half-empty?

When my phone rang fifteen minutes after Joe left for work this morning, I had an immediate "oh-no" feeling in my gut.

Sure enough, he was calling to tell me he had wrecked his truck.  Snow had drifted onto the road from a cornfield, masking the ice beneath, causing him to slide into a ditch.  There was no way to get him out without a towtruck, so seventy-five bucks and an hour later, he was back on his way to the school.

(Of course, I brought my camera.  What kind of a blogger do you think I am?)

What you can't see is the telephone pole that he missed by two feet.

What you don't know is that no other cars were involved.

Joe forgot his cell phone, but amazingly enough, a man just happened to be driving by right after the accident, and gave Joe a ride to school.  (Not only did he forget his cell, but also his coat and gloves.  That would've made for a very cold walk to the nearest house.)

When the tow truck pulled him out, there was no visible damage to the truck and he was able to drive away without a problem.  The airbag did not deploy, and Joe wasn't hurt at all.

He even happened to have the $75 in cash in his wallet.

On the half-empty side of things, this sucked.  $75 down the tube.  Joe late to school and stressed to the max.  My morning disrupted, muscle max class missed.

But how miraculous is the half-full side?  No other cars were involved, Joe didn't have a scratch on him (and neither did the truck), he had the cash to pay for the tow and was still able to make it to work.  Considerate passersby were there to give Joe a hand when he needed it, and a friendly co-worker gave him a ride home so we could arrange for the tow.

Clearly, I am choosing to look at the half-full side.  I have been praising God all day for having His hand on Joe this morning.  When I took this picture and saw the might-have-been scenarios playing out in my mind, it made me physically ill.

Thank you, God, for keeping Joe safe, and for always taking care of us, whether we notice it or not.  Amen.

Hokey Pokey, anyone?

It was 1984.

I was eleven years old, getting dropped off at Harrison's skating rink and meeting up with my "date", Fred. (I didn't really like Fred, but he was the only boy in class taller than me; good enough reason, right?)

I was rockin' in my skinny jeans, magenta-and-white striped bodysuit, and sporting my own pair of skates.  I'm sure we did the Hokey Pokey, raced under the black lights (that bodysuit GLOWED), and demonstrated our backward-skating-abilities (or lack thereof) under the sparkle of the disco ball.  Prince, Madonna and Cyndi Lauper were the tunes of choice, and we partied like it was 1999 (even if we had no idea what that meant).

Fast forward to 2010.

Now I am the mom taking the kids to the skating rink.  The town is different, but the look is the same.  Neon colors, ugly rental skates, rockin' tunes, hidden corners for making out (not for MY kids, of course!), even the disco ball hanging from the ceiling.

1999 is in the distant past, but they're still doing the Hokey Pokey.

Some things never change.

If only I could find a magenta-and-white striped bodysuit to go with my skinny jeans, I'd be set.

And my kids would be horrified.  A good threat for keeping them out of that make-out corner...

I'm a Blog-trotter...

Blogtrotting rocks!

And if you click on the link, you can see why.

Go check out this awesome giveaway, sign up to be a part of this ultracool traveling "club", and you can be a blog-trotter, too!

Dreams of the future...

What dreams are made of:

Elijah dreams of being a professional baseball player (lefty pitcher, of course!).

Gabe wants to be a police officer.  Or a chef.  Or a golf player.  Or maybe just a police officer.  It's so hard to decide when you're only five!

And Isabel?  She dreams of being an artist of some sort.  Fashion designer, book illustrator or interior design...She certainly has the talent!

I'm not in any hurry for them to grow up, but I can't wait to see what they become!

What do your kids dream of being?  What about you?

Doldrums

I know part of it is the weather.

No sunshine, too much snow, dreary skies and even drearier forecasts.

Another part of it is PMS.  Or just plain MS, as the case may be.

I started the day feeling hopeful and organized, clipping my coupons and saving a bunch of money at the grocery.  By afternoon, I was headache-y and tired, but still okay.

By seven pm, I had officially crossed the line from a little crabby to just plain bitchy.  Even the dog is getting on my nerves.  Downloading songs and making a new running playlist for my iPod took hours, which made me even crankier.

I need chocolate and I need it now!

And a little sunshine, too, if anybody could spare it...

Sigh.

Thank God tomorrow is a brand new day.  I'm gonna go eat a cookie, then run it off tomorrow while listening to my new tunes.  Surely tomorrow will be better, right?

To Fill or not to fill...

that IS the question.

You may remember that at Gabe's last visit to the dentist, they found three cavities on his xray. These are on baby teeth, in the back, not even visible yet.

Of course, they wanted me bring him back three separate times to get each cavity filled.

Now, I love my dentist. I don't feel like they do unnecessary treatments, so I made the first appointment for last week.

Then we got five feet of snow and the visit was cancelled (maybe a brief exaggeration, but still...).

We rescheduled for today. Gabe was nervous, in and out of tears all morning. I explained how he would get "silly gas" to make him sleepy and more comfortable; he was not falling for it. But he put on his brave face and to the dentist we went, without a fit or even tears.

We waited for about fifteen minutes to be called back. At which point, the hygienist came out to tell me they were all out of nitrous.

Come again?

She wanted to know if I thought the nitrous was really necessary. For my five year old who has never had a filling before. Um, yeah, I'm thinking it's really necessary.

Unless filling unseen-except-by-xray cavities isn't really necessary. And in that case, we'll just see you in six months at our next check-up. Seriously.

So, what's your opinion? Do I traumatize the poor boy and get these fillings done, one at a time, on baby teeth, or just wait and see? I'm in a quandary here. Help!