Home Safe and Sound

Funny observations on the first night home:

• All my plants are huge! And, apparently, I forgot I had a few things planted and now there is some crowding going on…I may need to do some spacing here pretty soon. The hydrangea is hogging everything!
• It is past 8 pm and still VERY bright out.  It was not like that 2 weeks ago.
• Flowers, flowers everywhere!
• The kids were giggling as we walked up the steps to walk in the door. Chase was walking around smiling from ear to ear as he made his B-line all the way to his toys. Cooper ran upstairs to “look at his room” and then called down to me, “mom, come here! you’ve gotta see my room!”. I said, “is it the same?” and he said “YES! COME SEE!”
• It’s weird that Jeremy is not here. I know that sounds funny, but it’s just a reminder of the void. Sad!

Our flight was great this morning; the boys ate a little, slept a little and cried and laughed a little. My friend Stephanie picked us up and chauffeured us to our friends the Johnson’s house to pick up our car. Then we got home, had a snack and went to the grocery store. We ate dinner, I gave the kids baths and now they are in bed! All I want to do is take a bath and go to bed too, so I am debating with myself as to whether I should run that bath and unpack while I do it or just save unpacking for later and veg on the couch….decisions, decisions…

I’ll upload pictures later too. Jer honey, I miss you! Call me soon!

Paying for Torture

When Jeremy and I were dating, we spent hundreds of dollars each month (well…he did) eating out.  That’s just what ya do when you are young and in love, right? Once we got married, the fun didn’t stop though. I really enjoyed cooking and experimenting with what I was good at, but come Friday night (and Saturday night, and Sunday afternoon) we looked at each other and said “where do you want to go for dinner tonight?”.

I guess we as Americans, or maybe just people, have a love affair with eating out. It always sounds like a lot of fun. You pay someone else to clean up your mess and get up 10 thousand times to fill your glass, you get to eat fun food that potentially you would never cook yourself at home, etc. So is it any wonder that it takes multiple children to torture us and beat this love out of our minds?

I remember when Cooper was first born. We were really busy as a family but we didn’t eat out a whole lot.  (Plus, money was a bit tighter by then!) On the rare occasions we did go out, Cooper was quite a handful. I always wanted him to learn how to behave in restaurants/public, so I didn’t want to just vow off going out. I really wanted him to learn that there were expectations of him when we enjoyed the treat of dinner away from home. Finally, around age 3, Cooper started becoming way more fun to go out with. He finally “got it” and we as parents knew we could appropriately deal with any snafoos and continue on when we did go out.

Then, we had baby number 2. Sigh. And we are back to the stage of total torture to go out to eat with the child.

I find myself saying the same things: “Why do I do this to myself?” and “What was I thinking?” and I still find myself thinking that Chase needs to LEARN what is expected of him when we go out. If I never take him, how will he learn?

I am in our home town right now. All my favorite places to eat are just a 30-minute drive (if that) away.  Nostalgia is at a peak for me right now. But somehow, that breakfast at Cracker Barrel is a whole lot less enjoyable when the munchkin is flippin’ out.

One day, I’ll be an old (and totally hot) Grandma watching Chase and Cooper try to deal with their kids at the dinner table when we are out…and I might say been there, done that to myself….or I may just invite everyone over to my house and cook…dinner-a-la-Nora Walker he he he he he he he…

Quick Thinking

I had to call 911 tonight. I don’t know that I have ever been so scared! In fact, the fire department just left my parent’s house. (In all seriousness, I would have taken pictures if the batteries in my camera were not dead.) Obviously we are all ok, so is the house. But it was still scary none the less!  I know it may seem crazy that I am sitting here blogging after all this just happened, but I don’t know what else to do while I wait for my parents to call me back. So, here’s what happened:

I got home tonight from dinner with my sister and got the kids into their bedroom routine; baths, prayers, etc.  I tucked everyone in, unloaded the dishwasher, played with the dogs and picked up the house. I finally finished all my grown up stuff and I headed downstairs to have some quiet time and check my email. I had been hearing a funny sound from the fan(on the furnace) that was running since I got home, but I didn’t think anything of it other than “that’s a funny sound…hmmm…I wonder if it does that all the time…” I wasn’t going to call my parents in Europe and wake them up in the wee hours of the morning to find out if the furnace fan makes a funny sound sometimes.

As I was checking my email I heard a loud pop and all the sudden I started to smell smoke. I walked out into the basement and smoke was pouring out of all the vents. I immediately thought “I’ve got to get the kids and the dogs out of the house now”. I called 911 and woke the kids up as I was talking to the fire department. I couldn’t remember my parents phone number (it’s new…they just changed it a couple of months ago!)!!! I actually said to the dispatcher “I don’t know what my phone number is, I can’t remember!) Cooper was in a dead sleep and didn’t want to wake up, and I knew I couldn’t carry Cooper and Chase while talking to the fire department. So I grabbed Cooper, picked him up, ran out of the house and told him to sit on the driveway! I ran back inside and grabbed Chase, then ran outside again. By this time, I was done talking to 911, so I sorta shoo’d Cooper over to the neighbors house as fast as I could while I carried Chase.

My parents neighbors are THE BEST! I’ve known them since I was 12 and they have literally saved us multiple times. (More on that another time.) So I dropped the kids off with them and then Mr. Lewis (neighbor) and I went to try to gather the dogs. Cody, my parents 125 lb yellow lab, was already outside with me looking very concerned. Sadie, the 80 lb chocolate lab was STILL ASLEEP in the house. So I called and called and called to her and she finally came (the fire department told me not to go back in the house, so I just called to her from outside). I was trying to think of what to do with the dogs before the firemen came…they needed to be safe, contained and in a place I could actually get them to GO.  THE TRUCK! I grabbed my Dad’s truck keys and told the dogs “ok, in the truck guys!” They hopped in, I rolled the windows down a scooch and just as I shut the doors to the truck the firetrucks arrived.

There were three firetrucks, the sheriff’s SUV and an ambulance all in my parents coul-de-sac/street! They went into the house and determined that the fan on the furnace had gotten jammed or short circuited. It sparked and then blew and that’s what all the smoke was coming from. The firemen tripped the circuit box, turned off the gas and the power to the furnace and tried to help clear out all the smoke in the house with a ginormous, super-powered fan. They told me it was totally safe to go inside, they cleared out and now, here I sit.

A ton of thoughts were swirling through my head as I stood there watching the firemen come and go, but the main one was “what if my parent’s house burns down while they are in Europe!”. Somehow that seems very Chevy Chase and European Vacation-esque…

I am super grateful my parents have awesome neighbors who were there and ready to help, I’m glad it was no big deal, that everyone is safe and that now after writing about this, some of my adrenaline from the situation has dissipated. I’m going to try and get the house shut down (safely) and get Cooper back to bed. He’s a little “nervous” about the events of this evening! Praise God for quick thinking! See honey, I may get stressed out, but when push comes to shove, I can think pretty quick on my feet! Thank you Jesus for protecting all of us, my parent’s house and their puppies!

Oh and my parents did call back while I was typing this. All is well and they are glad we were here too!

Back in the Lou!

Spring is in full swing here in St. Louis! We enjoyed 80+ temps today. Cooper was outside riding his bike before 11 am. Between playing the Wii and playing outside, I almost feel like I didn’t see him today. (Almost)

Our flight yesterday was as I expected it to be; Chase was not happy and had a rough go the entire time, but Cooper was a champ and had a blast. He made everyone around him laugh with his running commentary of the flight. And after the flight was over, the pilots invited Cooper up in the front of the plane and let him use the microphone! (He said “welcome to St. Louis!”) It was super cute and he was soooooooooooooo excited. Once we were off the plane and out of the airport, we headed to my beloved Cracker Barrel….ah, how I’ve missed you comfort food! Chase was none too happy but Cooper was thrilled because Cracker Barrel has TOYS! I bought him an accordion (I was weak, what can I say?) and then we headed home for bed.

This morning, I was awoken by my poor Mom finding Chase covered in diarrhea. Yeah…that’ll wake you up.  He was smiling though! We got Chase cleaned up and got the morning going. I’m pretty sure it is the antibiotics working on his system that caused that accident this morning. Did I mention he was diagnosed on Monday with a double ear infection and croup? Huh….

After a nice breakfast with my parents and my Grammie, we relaxed at the house. Then we all said goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa as they headed to the airport on their trip to Europe! They are going to London and Brussells…and somewhere else that I forget. I know they’ll  have a great time and even though I am sad to see them go and not get to spend a ton of time together, it is fun being in the quiet house with the dogs! (Thanks for letting me use your lap top Mom!)

Tonight, I went to dinner with Jeremy’s brother and his wife (my SIL and I go way back…we went to Junior High AND High School together!) and their daughter,  along with Jeremy’s Mom and Step Dad, Sister and her daughter. I was craving some mexican food, so we hit Espinos in the Valley. Awww…more delicious grub! Sorry honey! Don’t hate me too much.

After that we hit Target for a diaper resupply and then headed home. Now the kids are in bed, I have a lovely cup of coffee by my side, the house is quiet (and nice and cool!) and the puppies are lounging happily. Take a deep breath with me all together now as I say…ahhhhhhhhhh.

More fun awaits us tomorrow! My MIL is going to hang with the boys and I and then I am going to enjoy some dinner with all my friends I used to work with at EFREE! The weather looks beautiful and I have some fun dates with a bunch of people I haven’t seen in many visits. Yay, yay, and YAY!

I have pictures of today’s fun…but I dunno how to post them yet. I will have to mess with the laptop. Mom, you don’t mind if I just load pics here right? He he he he he he I’m kidding!