So....I'm not a beautician!!

I got the clippers out last night to give Lukas a hair cut. He was in desperate need of one, and quite honestly, things are very tight around here lately....so thought I would save $10 and do it myself. I should know better. All went well until I got to the "bangs". That always throws me for a loop. Mike doesn't have any bangs....or much hair at all, for that matter....so I don't ever have to fart around with bangs. So I start snipping away at them....and Lukas is FREAKING out! He was covered in hair and even had it in his mouth....and hating every second of sitting there. Oddly enough, when he goes to Heidi's or Sportsmans for a cut...he sits nice and still. Anyway....in a spur of the moment decision, I decided "Piss on it!", and buzzed the bangs right off. He now has a buzz cut and looks SOOOOO much like his dad!! I figured as long as I had the clippers out, I'd give Mike a buzz too. Here's the finished product:

Lukas seems to be pretty cool with the idea that he has practically no hair now.....but I'm not sure that I am cool with it. I tend to get nauseous when I think about it, or see just how short it is! I know that it will grow back....now I'm just hoping that it doesn't grow back all "fuzzy"....you know....that growing out look.

Jake has been gone for almost a week. He spent a few days at the cottage with Gert last week, came home on Thursday, then left again on Friday to go with his Grandma and Grandpa Nadelen. He's not due back 'til tomorrow. It's nice that he's with them.....though it was HIS idea, not theirs. Not sure if he'll see the sperm donor this weekend. He usually doesn't bother to go see Jake, even when he knows that he's up to his parents house. Idiot.

Our truck will FINALLY be done this week. It's been almost 2 months since the engine blew on our way to Pennsylvania. It'll seem so nice to have 2 vehicles again. I've been having to share mine with Mike, which hasn't been too bad, I guess. He keeps gas in it...so that's a good thing! But, wouldn't you know it....now that one vehicle will finally be up to snuff....mine is having problems again. I have a bad right, front wheel bearing....again. Just replaced it last year. So now we have to shell out MORE money to fix this problem. Ugggggggh. It's never ending, I swear.

I have been making plans for August camping now that we'll have a truck again! We'll be going to our old stomping ground, Happy Hollow, for the weekend of August 15th-17th. The following Thursday, we are taking the kids to Water Safari for the day, then on Friday the 22nd we take the camper back down to Westcott's for a long weekend. Not sure what else we have planned. I know that we're going to Old Forge again in September and October to camp as we weren't able to get reservations there this summer.

Well, got to go clean up the kitchen from dinner and get Lukas ready for bed.

Poor Kid.......

We got home from the cottage yesterday around 1 o'clock, and Jake immediately started complaining of an ear ache. As the day passed, the pain got worse, so I had to take him to Quik Med. Low and behold, he has a double ear infection. They gave us 2 prescriptions....one for an oral antibiotic and one for ear drops. By the time we got out of Quik Med, it was almost 6 o'clock. We went to 5 pharmacies before we found one that was open....the Walgreens on Arsenal St. (they are open 'til 9 on Sunday's for future reference). The 2 prescriptions were $220, but our insurance paid all but $50 of it, so I guess that's not too bad....but still alot more than I had anticipated. He had a rough night last night. The pain was so bad that he was literally freaking out. went up to my mother-in-laws at 10 p.m. to see if she had anything that would help him sleep. She finally found some Tylenol with codeine, and that seemed to do the trick, though it took forever for him to fall asleep. I I stayed up with him till well after midnight when he finally fell asleep. I guess that he woke up a few times in the night in pain, too. I got up at 4 a.m. to give him some more Tylenol. As I walked past Lukas' bedroom on my way back to bed, I noticed that the damn cat had puked directly in front of Lukas' door. I knew that if I didn't clean it up then, he'd undoubtedly step in it when he got up. So, there I am, on my hands and knees at 4 a.m. cleaning up cat puke when I hear singing coming from Lukas' room!! I thought "What the HELL is that?!?". I open the door slowly and quietly to see Lukas laying in bed, wide awake, singing the Chipmunks Christmas song ("Me, I want a HULA HOOP....we can hardly stay away....it's Christmas don't be late!"). I asked him what he was doing, and he informed me that he couldn't sleep anymore. Well, I informed him that it was 4 a.m. and he was NOT getting up. I did let him get into bed with me though. It was at least 5 before either one of us fell back to asleep. Ugggggggggggh. Today was the kids' first day of Summer Rec , though Jake was far too tired to go. Sounds like Lukas had a good time. Jake spent the entire day asleep, I kid you not. It'll be a miracle if he sleeps at all tonight.

As you know, it was hotter than blazes out today....and our friggin central a/c decided that it wasn't going to work!! Not sure what is going on with it. When we first got it, we used to run it too cold, and it would make the unit freeze up. So we listened to the guy that installed it (what a novel idea!), and we kept it between 65-68 degrees, and just let it rip. We had no problems with it last year by doing that. So we were doing the same thing with it this year, but it seems to have froze up. Right now we're trying to let it thaw out and hopefully that'll do that trick. I can't stand the heat.....actually, none of us can! Just bugs me more than anything that we have a $2400 paper weight sitting out there! I have the windows open right now, and it's the coolest in here that it has been all day.

Lukas has a severe obsession with puppets. I have always been convinced that my kids enherited the "Henson Gene", which I enherited from MY mother. By "Henson", I mean Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets. I love, love, love the Muppets....always have....still do. So do my kids. Well, a few months ago, Lukas watched a comedy routine by Jeff Dunham who has about 5 or 6 puppets as part of his routine....and the kids is CONSTANTLY repeating the entire routine!! Well, tonight, I was scrolling through the guide on t.v. to see what was on, and there were 4 re-runs in a row of the old show "ALF". I knew immediately that he would love it. How right I was!! He has been watching it for an hour and a half now.....and LAUGHS hysterically!! He just loves the fact that ALF is a talking, walking puppet and has an insatiable desire for CATS!! It's actually nice to have a tv show that the kids and I can watch together. There is nothing on tv at night for families anymore.

Well, suppose I had better go back to ALF! Slate......out.

I haven't posted in a while.....

Lukas' party turned out great! We were a little worried about the weather. According to the news, that day was supposed to be a "washout". Turned out to be gorgeous, which meant that I could do all of the activities that I had planned for outside. We had 17 kids show up! I think that everyone (adults included) had a great time. The "panning for gold" was a huge hit with the kids! Lukas received a TON of gifts. We immediately sent out thank you notes....he wasn't too keen on the idea of signing his name to all of them. Typical man.

The Tuesday following Lukas' party, my childhood friend, Cyndy, paid me a visit! Cyndy lives in NC now and is a 5th grade school teacher. She is expecting her first child, a boy, in December. We had a really nice visit, and I was sad to see her go. Unless I get down there when the baby is born, I probably won't see her again until next summer when she pays me my annual visit :(

Lukas "graduated" from Pre-K on Wednesday! What a nice ceremony it was! The children put on a little play, followed by a tear-jerking slideshow, and a luncheon. It was all so nice. His teachers are wonderful and they work so hard at everything they do. The program has been wonderful for Lukas. I'm so sad for Lukas that he has no idea what a milestone this is, and that he can never relive this wonderful time in his life.

Jake's last day of school was Monday. Lukas' was Wednesday. That means......summer vacation is in full gear. Ugggggggh. Why, oh why do the school's do this to us?!? Summer rec starts on July 7th. It runs 5 days a week from 9 am to 3 pm....which means 6 hours of peace on the days that I choose to send them!! Woo hoo!! Aren't I awful??

This past weekend we went camping at Westcott's Beach. My best friend, Beth, and her family went as well, and so did Beth's sister and her family. Turns out, my cousin Heidi and her family were camping just down from us! We had a great time, and the weather cooperated for the most part. We did have a storm on Sunday evening though. That was a little hairy for a few minutes. We brought the camper home, restocked it with more food and clean laundry, and we will be heading to the cottage tomorrow for the 4th of July.

Gotta keep this short as it is getting late. Thought I had better update this thing before I get too behind!!