Back in the saddle!

What a week we've all had here!  I just have got to give a shout-out to my honey, he has lost a total of 40 lbs in the last couple of months!  Amazing.  Once he made up his mind there was no turning back.  Some very ugly cholesterol numbers, plus my insistence that he live for a few more decades at least, must have helped make up his mind.  I've given him my best years, now he has to stick around for the slow descent into decrepitude.  I'll do the same for him!!  Here is a recent picture of him with the chili-cook-off hat he won at church.  That was a proud moment, he actually made up the recipe and cooked it from scratch.  I also figured out how to make pictures turn the correct way when I load them from the camera.  I amaze myself sometimes.  Is there a cuter 45-yr-old anywhere? 

     OK, speaking of age, I am the oldest by far of anyone in the OT program.  Way.  I'd say the average age is somewhere in the neighborhood of 25, maybe 27.  So, mostly 20 somethings, a few 30's, and . . . .you guessed it.  Me.  Do I admit I also have 5 kids?  Actually I already did, and got the requisite oohs and aahs, but everyone was nice.  I have never actually been the oldest person before.  I don't like it.  So, for you all to judge, does this look like someone that is the oldest person in her class - by far?   I know.  The answer is yes.  Though I do take comfort in the fact that I used to not be old.  Really.    There is also comfort in the thought that this first semester there is a lot of writing to do, we read lots of articles and other stuff, and then write in many different formats.  This is right up my alley, and I also have a lot of life experience to draw from when I have to analyze all this info.  I don't know what these young whippersnappers are writing about, but at least I have a small advantage that way!  I also need a whole bunch of immunizations to be in a health professions program, and my answer to that was when I was a kid we all lined up in the cafeteria from time to time and got shots from a cool little shot gun. . . . with the same needle.  Since that didn't seem to hold water for the admissions people, I had to go to the doctor and be a human pincushion.  Ouch!!  I still have two more visits to be current on my shots.  Who knew?

     My little caboose is still rather ticked off at the whole daycare situation.  It turns out he's used to getting his way all the time, and getting waited on hand and foot.  This doesn't work so well at daycare.  In my defense, here is a picture.  You tell me if you could resist spoiling this little bug rotten.  Right.  Didn't think so.  This is his smile face - we can't get him to do anything else.  He has pretty much resigned himself to being one of the daycare crew, and Marilyn says he is just fine after I leave, though he is still miffed on a daily basis when Marilyn tells him no or to do something himself.  Life is tough little guy, real tough. 

     Our big National Guard boy was attacked by wasps the other day and was sent to the hospital.  It turns out he's allergic!!  A shot of Benadryl and a nap and he was out shooting some gun or other after just a couple of hours.  I think he's getting a lot of mileage out of the story, everyone we talk to seems to have already heard about it.  He got phone privileges on Sunday for a couple of hours, so he was able to really get the word out!  He will be home for Thanksgiving!!!!  Yeah!!!  It was going to be a small group, but just feeding DJ will make it seem more like Thanksgiving. 
     I've got my first full day of classes on-campus tomorrow - eek!  We go up a few times each month for a long day of classes, and the rest is online.  The class time will be fun, it is kind of lonely sitting in front of the computer for 8 hours a day.  So, I am off to gather my stuff, and then hit the rack!!           

School Days!!

Yesterday was the first day of school. . . . . and daycare.  We all had a good first day, Karly said the summer already seems like a distant memory - a long weekend.  Oh for teenage angst . . . . or not.  Preston was just his cool calm self - "school was good mom, I can open my locker like crazy".  I dropped my baby off, he was so unsuspecting and innocent!  I then came home and logged on and began my odyssey.  According to all the syllabuses (6(!) graduate level courses) I will need to devote 90 hours a week to schoolwork.  Ha.  I hate how they give you an average amount of hours to study for each class, when you add up the "minimum amount of time you need to devote to this class" the numbers are obviously wildly exaggerated.  I have created a little corner with all my books and papers and my trusty wonderful laptop, where I will spend all the hours (minus lunch and a few little breaks) that baby is at daycare.  Today when I dropped off little man he knew what was going to happen.  He was going to the house where he had to be obedient and not hit and eat when his food is in front of him, and other unimaginable horrors.  He screamed.  I cried.  Marilyn (the mean lady) picked him up and shooed me out.  She is a dear sister in our ward who has 20 years of daycare under her belt, she spends the whole day with 5 kids, doing preschool and other activities.  I will repeat to myself over and over, "this will be ok, this will be ok."  Marilyn said one week and he'll be an old pro.  When I picked him up yesterday, the wise and seasoned 5-yr-old of the group came up to me and very seriously expressed his reservations at Mason's behavior.  Off-the-charts cuteness factor.  I told him I was grateful to have such a good helper and example - he sighed, knowing the job ahead would be a challenge.  It's all good.   Well, better crack the books!

Wicked!!

This Friday we attended the musical "Wicked" in Minneapolis!!  Jim bought the tickets back in May as a surprise for Karly's birthday.  What a fun night!  We left Mason with a friend of DJ's for the evening (bad idea, more later), and went up with Karly and Preston for a dinner and then the show.  At first Preston was convinced that he was giving up valuable "friend time" to go to a boring play but he ended up loving it.  I have the soundtrack and they have heard it a million times so they knew the music.   Before the play we went out to eat at Applebee's, for us that's the epitome of fine dining!  It actually was the first restaurant that we saw on the long walk between the parking garage of Jim's work and the theater, we were all starving and it looked wonderful.  This winter Shrek and Billy Elliott are both coming to Minneapolis, we are hoping to save our pennies and take the kids to them.  Kasey and I saw Billy Elliott on her school trip to London and it was so good.  Of course since I was in London I probably would have loved staring at a wall, it would have been a London wall of course. 
     Endnote:  18-yr-old babysitter decides to have a little party while he's at our house with baby.  I hear about this at church on Sunday:  So. . . . there was a party at your house, my kid was invited along with many others. . . etc.  It was peaceful, but a mixed crowd,  and so not cool.  But all is now well after a visit with the guilty party.  He won't be babysitting for us again.