By a crazy twist of fate, I ended up with Lady Antebellum tickets, courtesy of Grandpa and Uncle Ry Ry. Jack and I suited up in our best (and only) cowboyish outfits and off we went.
Half of the adventure for Jack was just getting to the concert. He loved the parking garage, and finding the skyway, and walking THROUGH the skyway, and getting into Target Center, and up the escalator, and down the concourse, and to our seats. It was adorable how wide-eyed he was.
When we arrived, the first act had already played and they were setting up for the second act (the pre-headliner). Jack loved watching all the people, but was a little nervous. Then the lights went down and all the ladies started shrieking. That made him REALLY nervous. I had to lean over and explain that people yell and scream at concerts. He jumped every time. He also held my hand the entire time. =)
The second act was Darius Rucker, during which I kept going "I know this voice!!!" and then finally, like 10 songs into it, I realized that it was Hootie. Like, Hootie and the Blowfish. My mind was blown.
We took a break during Darius and went up to the concourse. The noise was bothering him. I bought him a huge box of M&Ms, which almost made him fall over. He professed his undying love for me, and then his gratefulness to Ry Ry and Grandpa for giving us these tickets. So sweet.
There was another break between Darius and Lady A. They played about 10 minutes straight of dance songs, and told the audience that the best two dancers would get to move down to the floor. Jack hopped up and danced his little heart out. It was awesome. The people around us noticed, and loved it, and commanded me to get him up on his chair so the cameras could see him. So we got him up there, and I danced right along with him, taking a short break to film a bit. By then, the other sections had started to notice him too, and were pointing and cheering and trying to get the cameras to see him. He loved it.
Awhile into Lady A I asked Jack if he was okay still, or if he wanted to go. He goes "I'm not sure if I feel fine." Ha! I had visions of him puking all over everything, so I got him up into the concourse. Turns out he was just thirsty.
Anyway, I had a great time. Jack had an even better time. =)
Monday, March 12, 2012
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Family Portraits
Reminder to myself for the next round of family portraits:
1. You will be frustrated. Just know that going in...
2. The lead-up is worse than the actual session.
3. Do not take the 10am time-slot. It seems reasonable, but you will never get there in time.
4. Make sure Jack has pants that fit. And don't rest on your laurels if you JUST bought a bigger size. That doesn't mean they still fit.
5. Make sure Jack owns a non-patterned dress shirt.
6. Make sure the children own dress shoes.
7. Be ready to assure Ryker all morning that he will, in fact, be wearing pants. He will be worried.
8. Don't let Ryker stand in front of the door while Jack opens it.
9. Bring makeup so you can cover up the welt on Ryker's forehead from said door-opening incident.
10. Don't be surprised when Ryker is a male model and Jack wants to hold on to him for dear-life. This makes sense, given both of their personalities.
1. You will be frustrated. Just know that going in...
2. The lead-up is worse than the actual session.
3. Do not take the 10am time-slot. It seems reasonable, but you will never get there in time.
4. Make sure Jack has pants that fit. And don't rest on your laurels if you JUST bought a bigger size. That doesn't mean they still fit.
5. Make sure Jack owns a non-patterned dress shirt.
6. Make sure the children own dress shoes.
7. Be ready to assure Ryker all morning that he will, in fact, be wearing pants. He will be worried.
8. Don't let Ryker stand in front of the door while Jack opens it.
9. Bring makeup so you can cover up the welt on Ryker's forehead from said door-opening incident.
10. Don't be surprised when Ryker is a male model and Jack wants to hold on to him for dear-life. This makes sense, given both of their personalities.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
A List - Things I Hate About the Gym
And all of these have happened to me in the last thirty days.
1. People who talk on their cell phones in the sauna.
2. When there are a grand total of 2 yoga balls in the entire gym, even though we have absorbed the members of another local gym that has closed.
3. Old ladies who push me aside to get to their locker. On purpose.
4. When a new guy on the basketball court looks at me to see if I want to play, and I say I can't, and he says "it's okay - it's like the international women's league here." Ummm. I'm not sure who should be more offended by that. (Luckily one of my buddies in there stared him down.)
5. People who shower and come into the sauna without drying off. The dripping makes them sound like they are peeing.
6. People who steal the yoga mat that is 6 inches from my feet, with my PT binder resting right in front of it.
7. When that happens twice in one workout.
8. People who move closer to me in the whirlpool while my eyes are briefly closed.
9. When they play Adele over the loudspeakers. Love her, but not while I'm working out.
10. People who lay down on the benches in the locker room. Why?
1. People who talk on their cell phones in the sauna.
2. When there are a grand total of 2 yoga balls in the entire gym, even though we have absorbed the members of another local gym that has closed.
3. Old ladies who push me aside to get to their locker. On purpose.
4. When a new guy on the basketball court looks at me to see if I want to play, and I say I can't, and he says "it's okay - it's like the international women's league here." Ummm. I'm not sure who should be more offended by that. (Luckily one of my buddies in there stared him down.)
5. People who shower and come into the sauna without drying off. The dripping makes them sound like they are peeing.
6. People who steal the yoga mat that is 6 inches from my feet, with my PT binder resting right in front of it.
7. When that happens twice in one workout.
8. People who move closer to me in the whirlpool while my eyes are briefly closed.
9. When they play Adele over the loudspeakers. Love her, but not while I'm working out.
10. People who lay down on the benches in the locker room. Why?
Thursday, March 1, 2012
More Updates
Time for some updates! Sheesh. Sorry about that...
Chuck went to Mancation a few weekends ago. I think it's their 6th year? 7th? Impressive, whatever it is. They have a great time though, and then Chuck is really glad to be home and in a house that is NOT full of a dozen guys.
We had conferences for Jack last week. He's kicking his academic work's *ss. Can I say that? He really is though. Example - the expectation for the END of kindergarten is for him to be at level 4 of this one reading program. In February he was on level 8. So he's doing really well. His teacher is great and we are able to bounce lots of ideas off of her and work together with her to help Jack with things he's struggling with. Example - the final statement on his conference form was "We need to work with Jack on truth-telling and making good choices." I wanted to slither off of my chair and under the table, but I thought that wasn't really modeling good choices so I sat upright and quietly mumbled obscenities to myself instead.
We found out that he kissed Izzy again. He hadn't for a few months, but I guess he put his jacket up over his mouth and then leaned in. Bad Jack. We talked about it a LOT on the way home, and all through dinner. He was in his room for awhile, then came out with "I LOVE IZZY" printed neatly across his entire forearm. The upshot? He spelled it correctly, and I guess he's a kid who knows what he wants. Plus he's adorable.
Ryker continues to be our little puppy. He's hilarious. Tonight he was "reading" us a joke book, after I read it first. He'd look at an illustration of an elephant and then go "why da eh-ya-phent sooo big?" and we'd say "why?" and he'd go "I don't know" and turn the page. We did that over and over and over.
I keep forgetting to post some of my favorite words of his - but my current one is "moan" which really means "more." "Can I have some moan?" Hilarious every single time. Also, he now "chaps his yips" before bed, with his chapstick, and asks you if you want him to chap YOUR lips as well. Makes perfect sense, when you think about it.
I'm getting discharged from PT/OT tomorrow. That will be my 24th appointment, and that is all that insurance covers. 24 appointments since November. It's like a second home now. I saw the spine doc on Tuesday and he spent a full hour with me in the room - not leaving once. Mostly he was scratching his head and re-reading his notes and testing and re-testing various things on me. I appear to be a conundrum. I have progressed really well with their machines - achieving the goal weight on both of the two machines I'm in. I am also able to do the home program (circuit) just fine by myself. So they are discharging me because I can't achieve much else IN their gym. They'll discharge me to their maintenance program, which means I'll actually be back there once a month for a long time, but it's better than twice a week! The question then became what to DO with me since I'm still numb on the right side of my right leg, and I still can't do any cardio without increasing my leg symptoms. So we're doing an MRI on Monday and then I'll go back to him to review the films. We'll go from there. For extra sympathy, I'll remind you all that this started back in OCTOBER.
But now we're moving into spring, planning summer camps/trips already, setting up a chore-chart for Jack, and marching forward.
Chuck went to Mancation a few weekends ago. I think it's their 6th year? 7th? Impressive, whatever it is. They have a great time though, and then Chuck is really glad to be home and in a house that is NOT full of a dozen guys.
We had conferences for Jack last week. He's kicking his academic work's *ss. Can I say that? He really is though. Example - the expectation for the END of kindergarten is for him to be at level 4 of this one reading program. In February he was on level 8. So he's doing really well. His teacher is great and we are able to bounce lots of ideas off of her and work together with her to help Jack with things he's struggling with. Example - the final statement on his conference form was "We need to work with Jack on truth-telling and making good choices." I wanted to slither off of my chair and under the table, but I thought that wasn't really modeling good choices so I sat upright and quietly mumbled obscenities to myself instead.
We found out that he kissed Izzy again. He hadn't for a few months, but I guess he put his jacket up over his mouth and then leaned in. Bad Jack. We talked about it a LOT on the way home, and all through dinner. He was in his room for awhile, then came out with "I LOVE IZZY" printed neatly across his entire forearm. The upshot? He spelled it correctly, and I guess he's a kid who knows what he wants. Plus he's adorable.
Ryker continues to be our little puppy. He's hilarious. Tonight he was "reading" us a joke book, after I read it first. He'd look at an illustration of an elephant and then go "why da eh-ya-phent sooo big?" and we'd say "why?" and he'd go "I don't know" and turn the page. We did that over and over and over.
I keep forgetting to post some of my favorite words of his - but my current one is "moan" which really means "more." "Can I have some moan?" Hilarious every single time. Also, he now "chaps his yips" before bed, with his chapstick, and asks you if you want him to chap YOUR lips as well. Makes perfect sense, when you think about it.
I'm getting discharged from PT/OT tomorrow. That will be my 24th appointment, and that is all that insurance covers. 24 appointments since November. It's like a second home now. I saw the spine doc on Tuesday and he spent a full hour with me in the room - not leaving once. Mostly he was scratching his head and re-reading his notes and testing and re-testing various things on me. I appear to be a conundrum. I have progressed really well with their machines - achieving the goal weight on both of the two machines I'm in. I am also able to do the home program (circuit) just fine by myself. So they are discharging me because I can't achieve much else IN their gym. They'll discharge me to their maintenance program, which means I'll actually be back there once a month for a long time, but it's better than twice a week! The question then became what to DO with me since I'm still numb on the right side of my right leg, and I still can't do any cardio without increasing my leg symptoms. So we're doing an MRI on Monday and then I'll go back to him to review the films. We'll go from there. For extra sympathy, I'll remind you all that this started back in OCTOBER.
But now we're moving into spring, planning summer camps/trips already, setting up a chore-chart for Jack, and marching forward.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Another Ryker-ism
This morning Ryker announced that he couldn't get his sweater down. He means sweatshirt but it's cute so I don't correct him. Also, I vaguely remember having trouble with this distinction myself, or maybe it was Ryan. Or my Grandmother Fern. Who knows. Anyway, I know what he means.
I went into his room to help him and said "oh Ryk - this is a NEW sweatshirt!" Correction here too, it was Buster's, then Jack's, now Ryker's. New to him.
He beamed up at me and said "what's it's name??"
"Umm, I'm not sure. What do YOU want to call it?" I said.
"Cartwheel."
Sure babe. Why not?
I went into his room to help him and said "oh Ryk - this is a NEW sweatshirt!" Correction here too, it was Buster's, then Jack's, now Ryker's. New to him.
He beamed up at me and said "what's it's name??"
"Umm, I'm not sure. What do YOU want to call it?" I said.
"Cartwheel."
Sure babe. Why not?
Monday, February 13, 2012
Ryker Listens
The other night Jack was having a rough time. He was throwing a tantrum and had been sent to his room. Chuck and I were both in Ryker's room, explaining that Jack was making bad choices and that he was in a timeout because of that.
Ryker didn't really appear to be listening to us, and was busy getting his pajamas ready for bedtime. Without turning back to us, and kind of under his breath, he goes "God bwess it." Then three more times "God bwess it. God bwess it. God bwess it."
Chuck and I stared at each other, eyes WIDE open and jaws on the floor.
Chuck goes "what are you talking about Ryker?"
Ryker goes "Sassin's 'havior."
Awesome.
Ryker didn't really appear to be listening to us, and was busy getting his pajamas ready for bedtime. Without turning back to us, and kind of under his breath, he goes "God bwess it." Then three more times "God bwess it. God bwess it. God bwess it."
Chuck and I stared at each other, eyes WIDE open and jaws on the floor.
Chuck goes "what are you talking about Ryker?"
Ryker goes "Sassin's 'havior."
Awesome.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Proverbs
I read the funniest thing on Facebook today. I don't know if it was true, but the story goes that a 1st grade teacher gave her student the start of famous proverbs and made them finish them.
So I decided to try it with my kids. I had a hunch they wouldn't participate for long, so I bribed them by throwing gummy bears at them at random intervals.
Here were their answers:
1. Don't change horses
Jackson: because the other one might be mean.
Ryker: bad or good.
2. Strike while the
J: painted zebra.
R: zebra.
3. It's always darkest before
J: night
R: (silence)
4. Never underestimate the power of
J: because you might be smarter than you think you are.
R: change. (I kid you not - that's what he said.)
5. You can lead a horse to water but
J: there's water in the way.
R: we need gas.
6. Don't bite the hand that
J: is a skunk.
R: is a shark.
7. No news is
J: no fun.
R: changeable.
8. A miss is as good as a
J: shoot.
R: tigress.
9. You can't teach an old dog new
J: tricks that dogs already know.
R: changing invisible.
10. If you lie down with dogs, you'll
J: it will be soft.
R: bite.
11. Love all, trust
J: Momma.
R: (silence)
12. The pen is mightier than the
J: horse.
R: no one.
13. An idle mind is
J: nothing that talks.
(At this point Ryker takes a break to eat the rest of his dinner.)
14. Where there's smoke there's
J: fire. (good one!)
15. Happy the bride who
J: marries.
16. A penny saved is
J: a dime. (we need to work on money, I guess)
17. Two's company, three's
J: makes fours.
18. Don't put off till tomorrow what
J: because it might be a terrible day tomorrow.
19. Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and
J: whine.
20. There are none so blind as
J: Old Man Jankins. (I looked perplexed, and Chuck and Jack cracked up laughing. I guess the other day in the store Jack pointed up at some random old man and goes "Look - it's Old Man Jankins!" We have NO IDEA who Old Man Jankins is. Some of you will recall John Millman. I think this might be a similar figment of his imagination.)
21. Children should be seen and not
J: so big.
R: (reenters the game to win more gummy bears) be nice.
22. If at first you don't succeed
J: you do it again.
R: no one.
23. You get out of something only what you
J: don't like.
R: (silence)
24. When the blind lead the blind
J: it gets you nowhere.
R: (silence)
25. A bird in the hand
J: doesn't fly.
R: nothing.
26. Better late than
J: early.
R: no one.
So, clearly we have some work to do on our proverbs with Rykie. Jack, on the other hand, has some pretty decent insights I think.
So I decided to try it with my kids. I had a hunch they wouldn't participate for long, so I bribed them by throwing gummy bears at them at random intervals.
Here were their answers:
1. Don't change horses
Jackson: because the other one might be mean.
Ryker: bad or good.
2. Strike while the
J: painted zebra.
R: zebra.
3. It's always darkest before
J: night
R: (silence)
4. Never underestimate the power of
J: because you might be smarter than you think you are.
R: change. (I kid you not - that's what he said.)
5. You can lead a horse to water but
J: there's water in the way.
R: we need gas.
6. Don't bite the hand that
J: is a skunk.
R: is a shark.
7. No news is
J: no fun.
R: changeable.
8. A miss is as good as a
J: shoot.
R: tigress.
9. You can't teach an old dog new
J: tricks that dogs already know.
R: changing invisible.
10. If you lie down with dogs, you'll
J: it will be soft.
R: bite.
11. Love all, trust
J: Momma.
R: (silence)
12. The pen is mightier than the
J: horse.
R: no one.
13. An idle mind is
J: nothing that talks.
(At this point Ryker takes a break to eat the rest of his dinner.)
14. Where there's smoke there's
J: fire. (good one!)
15. Happy the bride who
J: marries.
16. A penny saved is
J: a dime. (we need to work on money, I guess)
17. Two's company, three's
J: makes fours.
18. Don't put off till tomorrow what
J: because it might be a terrible day tomorrow.
19. Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and
J: whine.
20. There are none so blind as
J: Old Man Jankins. (I looked perplexed, and Chuck and Jack cracked up laughing. I guess the other day in the store Jack pointed up at some random old man and goes "Look - it's Old Man Jankins!" We have NO IDEA who Old Man Jankins is. Some of you will recall John Millman. I think this might be a similar figment of his imagination.)
21. Children should be seen and not
J: so big.
R: (reenters the game to win more gummy bears) be nice.
22. If at first you don't succeed
J: you do it again.
R: no one.
23. You get out of something only what you
J: don't like.
R: (silence)
24. When the blind lead the blind
J: it gets you nowhere.
R: (silence)
25. A bird in the hand
J: doesn't fly.
R: nothing.
26. Better late than
J: early.
R: no one.
So, clearly we have some work to do on our proverbs with Rykie. Jack, on the other hand, has some pretty decent insights I think.
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