weekend o'marye :)

well, maybe the fact that i can't keep my calendar straight is the core reason for my crabby attitude... after yesterday's rants, it turned out that drew's game was cancelled and ev's open house wasn't scheduled until next week. duh. i wrote the wrong date on the calendar. so, after throwing dinner together and keeping it warm, i grab evan and run to the school. you know, to the dark school with no cars around. glad i rushed around like a mad woman for an event set for next thursday...

so, we had a nice, relaxing family night instead (with our friend, aaron, who showed up to join our small group that usually meets at our house on thursday nights... last night was one of the very few nights in over a year that we cancelled (due to our busy evening of baseball and school events... oops!), but i didn't know to let him know. oh well, he joined us for dinner and yahtzee.)

drew and i both had doctor appointments in the last 24 hours. his eye infection is clearing up nicely and after another 5 days of drops, he should be cleared for contacts again. he's so relieved. i, on the other hand (re: my rash on my legs), was told that perhaps i had an allergic reaction to the sand at the beach (30th b'day getaway a month ago) and that i keep irritating my skin by scratching the itch. um, no, i don't think i am allergic to the sand at the beach!!! hello?! i LOVE the beach. that's my emotional and physical haven (until heaven, of course)! i can't be ALLERGIC to it!! (and let's face it, you just can't have the beach without the sand.) anyway, i'm choosing to disregard that possibility and voting on the "changed my laundry detergent" - briefly - explanation. this, i can believe. so, i get some steroid cream to stop the itching and my skin should return to normal. normal would be nice... what is that again?

anyway, as i think about this weekend, i just get exhausted. don't look for new posts because i will be busy running from one event to the other. here's the quick list of events: dinner party with lifelong girlfriends, soccer games for evan and ed, baseball games for noah & drew, a sleepover for noah, a funeral for a friend's dad, and dinner at my parents with the family (including marye - long-lost granddaughter returning to visit with granddad. poor g-dad, he's got to get sick to get visits.)

for the record, this is officially "weekend o'marye" because while she's in town, i'll get to see her a few times. "reunited and it feels so good"... (thought you'd appreciate a little music reference, mare). we'll be with the dinner party girls tonight (marye is like the "special guest star" making a surprise appearance at the surprise baby shower... (hmmm, hope trish doesn't read my blog much... good chance this is safe since she rarely gets online)) then she can have time with her other family (the one she was technically born into) before ending the weekend with dinner at my folks - where she'll finally get to see the new addition (aka totally changed house)! oh, and visit with granddad and the rest of the family. odd that she didn't want to spend saturday with me too... going from one game to another. ;)

angry rants... plus drew's jr high look!

okay, i'm just mad at the world today. it's just one of those days. i've spent several days fighting all sorts of issues with our new insurance (through ed's job... i guess i've been really spoiled by our insurance and having my friend, holly, as my go-to girl with questions or problems). i'm battling some annoying rash on my legs for over a month and i'm sick of that too. now, drew has an eye infection and has to go back to the eye doctor. and, of course, i'm irritated that we didn't take him to the eye doctor here in town (walking distance), but instead returned to the place in the mall... 20 minutes away. i'm even annoyed right now that its raining outside because drew was to have a baseball game today and ed was excited to go- finally. anyway, i'm just crabby.

aside from my unpleasantness, things are pretty normal for us. (hmm, i HOPE my being unpleasant is not normal!!) we are supposed to have drew's baseball game. he hit a home run over the weekend, but we weren't with him so we didn't get to see it. ed was SO bummed to have missed that big moment. apparently, drew had a couple of really great hits over the weekend - we got an email from his coach telling us about it! anyway, i really hope the rain clears up... meanwhile, evan and i will be heading over to his school for open house. we'll have fun looking at art projects, meeting his 4th grade teachers and seeing friends. taylor and noah will have the option of coming with either of us (drew's game or ev's school), but the fact that we've just gotten the new halo 3 game makes me think they'll opt to stay home together (NOT common for these two to choose to be together, but this would be a special occasion!)

drew has officially joined the "jr high days" look. he finally got his braces on monday and then (because of the eye infection) is having to wear his glasses instead of contacts. i told him that i remember being in jr high and having glasses, braces and a really awful perm... that's just par for the course at that age. i tease him that the glasses and braces have come along to complete the mandatory trio of bad looks in middle school (this would be my making fun of his long hair... i hate it, but he loves it!)

gotta run and get drew for his appointment. hopefully i'll add the picture soon!! OKAY, here's a great picture of drew... and i'm certain he'll hate me for sharing it! but i have every intention of saving this picture for bribing purposes... or at least to share with girlfriends down the road!! :) (for the record, the headband is only to annoy me... he found it in nana's bathroom and put it on because i was teasing him about his long hair. thankfully, he doesn't normally look quite like this!!) but, it gives a better view of the glasses and braces.

blank stare

i know there is plenty that i should/could be updating right now, but my mind is totally blank. how pathetic is that?!

i have a list that is about a mile long of things that need to be done and it is starting to get a little overwhelming. our schedule just seems to be totally packed all the time and when there is "downtime", we're so exhausted that we can't do anything!! this is just a temporary thing, right?!?!

tonight, my big goal is to move the fans to the basement, change the shower curtain liner (totally gross, but i didn't realize it because i'm totally blind when i shower... i'm lucky i can tell the shampoo & conditioner bottles apart!!) and hopefully get the mug rack hanging above ed's new "coffee center"... thanks, in large part, to aunt betsy & uncle doug giving him his new *favorite* coffee & espresso makers!! i guess the fact that i don't touch coffee explains why i don't really care about it... other than the mess it sometimes makes! that's it. that's all i hope to accomplish in a full evening. talk about pathetic...

we had another worship concert at church on sunday night (after the steeler game). ed played the drums and was pretty exhausted after a full weekend of playing. the music was fantastic and it was just really powerful worship. my sister, carrie, came with me. she's all about that music and really liked it. she'd also never heard ed play before, so that was fun. there is just something about worship music with an electric guitar and drums that gets me really excited. anyway, it was great. if anyone reading this is in town on nov 18 (i think that's the next concert date), mark your calendar. i'd love to have you come with us!!

okay, back to something productive...

ah, the weekend!

well, its finally friday. ed will be home this evening and i can't wait! (i even primped for the occasion! no make-up, of course, but i did paint my toenails and shave my legs so that i could wear a *new* skirt (friend's cast-off)! see how much i love this man?? :)

anyway, eddie just sent me a picture text of lake erie (where he's been doing his training - he goes to the lake over lunch). we spent a day on lake erie's beach this summer and it was wonderful. so, he sent me the message and i was able to see where he is... here's the pic

so, just so that we would feel connected, i replied with a picture of the lovely place where i am awaiting his arrival...

ahhh, it's good to keep a sense of humor!

anyway, the boys will be gone this weekend (still busy, with soccer & baseball games all weekend, but we won't see them!), so ed & i will enjoy a date night tonight and then breakfast with friends tomorrow morning (that's after ed's bible study group AND drum lessons... he starts early on saturdays!). after that, who knows! the "to do" list is pretty long, but i'll just be glad to hang out with my honey. don't tell, but i'm even considering doing yard work with him!!

51 hours... but who's counting?

51 hours until ed comes home again. he's off on his final week of training in erie and i'm very ready for him to come home. i decided to take advantage of the time he was away and got a number of things organized in the house (his closet, the boys clothes & game room, etc) and that went really well. now, i'm trying to tackle getting a bunch of my junk organized in our "utility room" (read "catch all/disaster room") but the truth is, i'm just ready to be done with his being away.
so far, the new job is going well (despite the insurance nightmare i've been going through trying to get things switched over. much more complicated with kids than it was when i was single and changing jobs!) and ed is excited about what's ahead with this company. again, i'm just thankful he's got a job that he likes to go to every day.
evan had his first trumpet lesson on monday and loved it. told me he was one of the best in the class - of 4th graders playing instruments for the very first time. i'm very proud of him and very thankful not to have witnessed the experience. the more i think about it, the more i appreciate and respect elementary school band teachers!! taylor has his first cross-country meets this thursday and friday. we're really excited about that! drew's got baseball practice tonight and games over the weekend and noah has a game tomorrow night and over the weekend. lots going on for the guys. oh, and we've already got to do a little restructuring with homework arrangements. apparently, there is a miscommunication when i ask if homework is done... i gather that the boys don't understand and think that i'm just exchanging pleasantries... ahhh, back to school and homework issues. lovely.
anyway, things are good on our front. :)

update on the guys

well, the school year is started and we're also at the start of a new season of sports. evan is playing outdoor soccer this fall, while noah and drew are both doing fall baseball. taylor just started a new sport - cross country - and the boy who hasn't wanted to do any sport in years is LOVING it! we hoped this would be the thing for him - he's a great runner with lots of endurance. we'll have first games for soccer & baseball this weekend and hopefully get to check out a cross country meet soon too (although i hear they aren't too exciting, since we don't run with the runners. phew!!).

school is going well so far. drew is in the "superior" 8th grade, taylor now has all of drew's teachers from 7th grade and noah has moved up to the middle school too, now in sixth grade (which means we have all three grades covered in that school - we are all about the middle school!) ev just started the first of his two years alone in the elementary school (4th grade) and seems to be doing pretty well.

all of the boys are enjoying a little more freedom these days - walking around the village with friends after school (seems to be the substitute for my days of "going to the mall") or biking or walking to friends' homes. and, thankfully, between the 4 of them, we seem to be kept up to speed. (always helps to have taylor blurt out to drew at the dinner table "who was that girl you were walking with today?!") (yes, we're also at the age where it is dangerous to walk past the bathroom because the cologne is so strong you can't breathe!!)

anyway, as i write this, drew & taylor are at a "teen dance" while ev, noah, ed & i are preparing for a game of mexican train (dominoes). ed has been in erie all week for his new job (training in erie for three weeks - we just completed the second week...), so we're anxious to hang out with him as much as we can before monday morning (5 AM!) one more week of the training and then he's able to be home during the week with a 14 minute commute (he keeps trying to find the quickest route - maybe he wants to beat my 3 minute commute??). so far, the job is good and he's excited about it. thanks be to God for this wonderful provision!!! :)

latest projects

just thought we'd share some of the latest changes to our home... recently, the living & dining rooms were switched (requiring the addition of a new doorway from the kitchen to the new dining room - glad my honey isn't limited to thinking "inside the box"!!) and just little odds and ends projects that are making us very happy! (i.e. landscaping outside, building a walkway, extending the front porch, rebuilding the pantry...)

girls weekend away

i know, i know. it has been a while since i've written... again... sorry. i've been busy! let me start getting caught up - in aug, i went away for a long weekend with some of my oldest friends (girls i grew up with) to celebrate our 30th birthdays! (okay, some of us are already 30 and preparing for 31, but it was tricia's actual 30th b'day while we were there and marye will hit the big 3-0 this november.) anyway, we had such a blast! i had no idea how much i needed some time with girlfriends and i enjoyed every moment. of course, i called ed every day and talked with the boys a few times while i was gone too, but other than that, i shut down and relaxed. it was so wonderful!! i love the beach... i love my friends... it was an excellent combination! we look pretty good for 30! wait, i'm the one who looks like a total slob... can i blame that on having 4 kids?!?!