Week in Review

Life, as always, hasn't been incredibly exciting over the past week. However I do have a few little tidbits to share. Once again, I warn you that this post will include quite a bit of whining and a wee bit of bragging. It's my blog and I'll be as annoying as I want!

Saturday, August 23rd - Attack of the chicken lovin' bees...

After our week-long quarantine, the boys were finally healthy enough to venture out of the house for a picnic with Grandpa Larry. We met up in Murray Park and had the wonderful idea of bringing along some KFC for our lunch. We spend $18 on an impressive spread of chicken and miscellaneous side dishes. We laid all the yummy smelling food out and had just starting digging in when we were overcome by more bees than I've ever had the misfortune of sharing my space with. They must've loved the smell as much as I did. Every time I took a bite of food, the stupid bees would follow the food right up to my mouth. And me being one of those girly girls - I'm a bit frightened of bees and yes, I do squeal and run around like an idiot. The bees would not be deterred, even with constant swatting and moving around. Our feast was soon abandoned and chucked into the nearest dumpster - mostly uneaten. I was so sad. And before you think I'm lame for throwing away perfectly good food just because of a few bees; you have to understand the sheer volume. Even Brandon and his dad (who aren't frightened of bees) were overwhelmed and agreed to get rid of the food. *sigh* What a waste.

Anyway, we forgot the meal and just let the kids play a bit.

After they had their fill of the playground, Grandpa Larry was so kind as to buy them each an ice cream cone to replace their lost meal. Is this not the sweetest picture of them and cousin Elliot crossing the road to the little food shack?



We also enjoyed a quick dip of our feet into the nearby stream.



So other than all the frickin' bees, it was a pleasant outing.

McKenna keeps on Dancin'

When McKenna finished dance last spring, we decided to give her a break from dance and try something new. She really liked the idea of giving gymnastics a try. However, after looking into prices, we decided that McKenna wouldn't fall off the social ladder if we kept her out of lessons for a year. Finances are just too tight right now. So when McKenna's dance teacher, Miss Kimberly, called earlier in the month to see if she would be seeing McKenna in her class again this year, we sadly had to tell her we just couldn't afford it this time. Miss Kimberly was disappointed, but understood. A few days later, we received another call from Miss Kimberly, letting us know that she spoke with the director about how much she liked McKenna, that she was sad to see her go, and that our financial situation wasn't great. In the end, McKenna was offered a full "scholarship" and is able to continue dance this year, with all costs covered! We were thrilled and flattered and McKenna is back to dancin'! She started up on Tuesday and is cute as can be, as usual. This is her dancing in socks, since I'm a bit scatter-brained and completely forgot her tap and ballet shoes. I love watching all those sweet girls trying their hardest to get the dance moves just right.

And for our final story...

The Plague Spreads...

While Mathew and Nathaniel finally seemed to pull out of being sick, Mathew oh-so-kindly passed the most miserable infection onto Brandon and I--the dreaded pink eye. I have never in my life experienced this horrible, horrible illness. Brandon went in to see the doctor who thankfully just told him to share his eye drops with me, saving us another $20 co-payment. Can I just say...I hate eye drops! They are nasty little drops of evil. I am somewhat convinced that the pharmacist gave us a bottle of pure acid, just to be funny. So this week we have once again been quarantined to avoid passing this miserable experience onto other unfortunate folk. Brandon and I are a sight to see. We both look like we haven't slept in weeks, having been crying for hours, and are high on a number of drugs. I have been having morbid fantasies about clawing my eyes out, giving them a good itch, soaking them in lotion, and popping them back in. Pink eye is evil, and if any of you ever get it...well, you'd better stay far, FAR away from me. Because if it's ever passed onto me again and I know the culprit, I will not be responsible for whatever wicked thing I may do to get back at you.

We have a bit of fun planned for Labor Day and I'm hoping we'll all be well enough to actually experience that fun.

That wraps up our week in review. Join us again next time!