Ya Know Those Idiots That Go To Movies At Midnite Openings? I'm Officially WORSE

3am?? 3am. Yes, Kiki & I went to see New Moon at 3am, along with hundreds of other people I might add. Was it worth it, at 3 in the morning when I could have been home suggled in my bed? Yes it was. I know it's supposed to be the weakest of the series and I still loved it. Jacob who? It's all still about Edward.

Bri's Lovenotes

Peek-A-Boo

Yep. I am still here. Thanks for the emails asking if I have a pulse. I've just been busy. Doing what? Not quite sure but my days seem to overlap & run together anymore. There's the mountain of things that I intend to do but never get to and writing here seems to be one of those things. I can tell you that I survived the first grade bug hunt even when one of the kids in my group caught a centipede that was massive, then dropped the container a little to close to my foot and the lid flew off.



Another mom caught the bug & put the lid back on because, I was NOT touching it. Hell no. I agreed to chaperone, touching actual bugs even if it was a bug hunt was NOT what I signed on for!

Love these kids.





From there we cruised thru Halloween. School Monster March thru the neighborhood, etc.

Miss B & her BFF's (Olivia, Brianna & Molly)



Emmy decided to be a dark bride and had Kiki completely take apart a fugly bride costume and rebuild it to spec. If you think I'm kidding, think again. Em is VERY particular when it comes to "my fashion".



Personalities on display. The goofball. The angel. The quiet one.



Busy. They are keeping me very busy these days.

Modern Mom

Hey guys. I will now also be a blog contributor over at Modern Mom. Great site, you need to check it out. Here's my link.

The Angel of (FLU) Death Seems To Have Left

Mere hours after my last post a stomach virus invaded my house. Well no wait, first it invaded my boyfrieds car as we drove on the highway with my ten year old vomiting out the window. The image of that is much better than the reality. She spent all of Tuesday flat out. Much of the flat out was on my bathroom floor. Having three kids I know that when one gets sick, the other two will likely follow. And so it goes, as one recovered another got sick. I went to check on Emmy & B before going to bed Weds. night only to find them sleeping- sounds good right? Until I looked closer and realized Emmy had thrown up ON B.

Lysol. Prayer. Laundry. Repeat.

Yesterday afternoon was finally my turn. I had the stabbing (no really, I felt like I was seriously being STABBED) pain for a good 12 hours before getting sick. Sitting up equaled vomit so I was flat out on the couch buried beneath two kids and two cats. In my house if I'm sick my girls sweep into mini-caretaker mode. I'm covered in back rubs, hand holding and little bodies curled up beside me asking if I need anything.

This morning everyone is a bit better and I can honestly say this is the worst virus I've ever had. My girls are home today. B is perky but hasn't eaten more than crackers in three days. Emmy is STILL asleep, exhausted from being sick. It's going to take the weekend to regroup here.

It's Starting Already!

Generally, I have a pretty healthy family. Rarely get the flu. We usually are okay until January. I get walking pneumonia, my girls get bronchitis. Last year we all had a form of Strep instead. I figure, we live in the northeastern part of the country, it is COLD here in winter, of course we get sick. Walk outside and take one big gulp of cold air and if you're really unlucky and it goes straight to your lungs BAM! Pneumonia almost overnite! I know because I have DONE it.

School has been back in session for about six weeks and when I say everyone I do mean everyone has some variation of sickness. I have been commenting for the past two week on how empty the playground has been in the morning. When my daughter goes to lineup with her class and the line consists of ten kids rather than nineteen- it's bad. When quizes are postponed because too many kids are out sick to give a quiz- it's bad.

The thing is, the kids that are there, most of them are teetering, mine included. A mild sore throat, a cough, congestion galore. No one is really full-blown healthy! A neighboring school district shut down completely at the end of last week because 30% of its' students were out sick. Over 850 kids! Flu shots are just becoming available here. Usually families get them BEFORE there is a hint of sickness. The school district has sent home letters directing parents on new protocol. Kids MUST be home for 24 hours after a fever has broken. A bout with the flu equals at least 3 days off, if not five. I wonder how this will affect truancy issues here. Normally 6 or 7 days absent without a doctors excuse and you risk a letter threatening to drag you to the magistrate for truancy. That general rule, I would think, would have to be revised.

I've been told that our entire school distric was approved for the Swine Flu vaccine. I'm not sure how if they intend to make it mandatory or even if they should. I know many parents are equally divided on the issue. Many moms that I've talked too are going above and beyond to keep their kids healthy and to them it means any and all vaccines will be administered. Others are extremely worried about sickness, but equally concerned about a vaccine that has been rushed into existence.

I would love feedback on this. Are you experiencing a similar increase in sick kids in your area? Where do you stand on the Swine Flu vaccine? It's my opinion that everyone is entitled to do what they believe is in the best interest of their child, but I love fielding opinions and being challenged to thing about things differently.

Best. Site. Ever?

www.peopleofwalmart.com

Bug-ology

So the new school year is off to a flying start. My oldest is doing okay. My seven year old seems to have retained every bit of everything she learned last year and is spitting it out into this years work with ease. My little one, Miss B. started first grade this year. She is now being introduced to all day schedules, vocabulary words, spelling tests and reading out loud on a daily basis. In other words, the tough stuff! REAL school! I requested to be a homeroom mother for Miss B's class. I thought it would help her with the big changes and I really wanted to do something extra for her. Last year was filled with struggle for her sisters. One struggled with school while the other battled a six month illness that disrupted out lives on a daily basis. Both of these situations required extra attention and all the while, Miss B was thriving. I figure fair is fair, now it's her turn for something extra.

So I waited. Crossed fingers. Wondered who I'd have to bribe or knock off to get a coveted homeroom mother spot. I WANT to be in that classroom. I WANT to positively influence these kids. That should count for something and ultimately, it did. I nabbed a spot. I attended Back To School night and signed up for what is known as Friday Families- or something like that. In a nutshell, a different parent comes into the classroom on the first Friday of each month to do something. An art project, storytime, whatever. Entertain them, bring a snack and your a godess. I signed up for February. Why February? My girls love Valentine's Day so I knew Miss B would want me there to do something special for that holiday.

A few days after Back to school Night I asked Miss B's teacher if she wanted me to come in sooner. I realized not many appeared to be signing up so I figured I could help out before February, right?! As luck would have it she does need someone, for October. She asked me to think it over and think I did. Okay, I can do something for Halloween. Read a Halloween story, make cool cupcakes. Easy. Miss B will be happy, her teacher will not have to wait until November for a parent to show up and I'll be comfortable with this group of kids early in the year. Good plan.

The next day as I'm picking up Miss B I tell her teacher I'm in. She was thrilled. Thrilled. So was I until this sentence fell out of her mouth:

Great! We are studying bugs and that is the last full day before our Bug Hunt field trip so if you can do something on bugs it would be great!

Oh. Kay. Bugs. Bugs?! I have three girls and for the most part we are in agreement, bugs are for "smelly boys" (a phrase coined early on by Miss B). I walked away from the school thinking, "Oh crap!! Bugs!! Yuck! I can't..." Knowing all the while that I have to pull this off because I can not let Miss B or her teacher down. The snack is easy. Dirt cups. Pudding cups with crushed Oreos and a gummy worm on top. As for the activity or story, I'm still at a loss. Google, Barnes and Noble and Borders all will be my best pals until I figure it out and boy do I need to figure it out soon! I have five days to put something together to throw down the first grade parental gauntlet. More importantly, I need to help make 20 six year old kids glad that they came to school that day.

I'm studying my "Bug-ology" as Miss B calls it, reminding myself that help is doing what is requested, not just doing what you THINK is a good idea!

DNA

Awesomely Bad Tunes

A few weeks ago Kiki called me & said that she & our other sister were making each other CD's full of the worst songs ever as a joke. She needed suggestions & then asked what's on my ipod! To her most of my 80's stuff would be awesomely bad. Any hairband would be awesomely bad too. This morning while running I was flipping thru shuffle & realized just how many TRULY awful songs I own that NO ONE should admit to liking a single beat of let alone actually downloading & syncing. Here's some of my very worst.

I'll be brave...

Ring My Bell- you know that disco song from the 70's by the chick that can't sing?

Dance Hall Days by wang Chung. Why do I have this, I hate it!

Easy Lover by Phil Collins & Phillip Bailey. You know, back when Phil Collins looked like a greasy little rodent before he married the younger chick that helped him find soap, a stylist & a good haircut?

He Said, She Said by Ashley Tisdale. I like the chorus too much. Not enough to justify the three versions of it that I own though.

Hey Nineteen by Steeley Dan because it reminds me of the Solid Gold Dancers.

Come Clean by Hilary Duff. I think I saw the video so many times on the Disney Channel a few years ago that they actually convinced me that it was a real song.

I Hate U by Prince- the extended extra dirty mix.

I Wanna Be Bad by Willa Ford who dated the Backstreet Boy that beat Paris Hilton's face in. Yeah, her.

Michael McDonald's Ya Mo Be There because, well, I'm not sure.

We Don't Need Another Hero by Tina Turner. I'm not sure where this came from.

Then there's the batch of 80's girl groups that made club tunes. Expose, Sweet Sensation & The Cover Girls. I think I have every song ever made by all of them.

My sister would add Cutting Crews I Just Died In Your Arms Tonite to this list. I'll add that song, but the version by Jay-Z.

**Shudders**