Mission Reunions and Strep Throat

Caroline has strep throat. It took me two days to take her seriously. She told me her throat hurt, I gave her tylenol. She told me her throat hurt, I gave her tylenol. (I am a BIG believer in drugs - both for me and my kids).

When she woke up today crying because her throat hurt, I decided I needed to take her seriously. One trip to the doctor later, and she has strep. Lets hope the antibiotic kicks in soon.

Eric left at the crack of dawn today - 4:30 AM - for a trip to Utah. A few weeks ago he found out they were going to have a mission reunion, and he decided he wanted to go. He is having a nice fun weekend in Provo and SLC, visiting friends and enjoying the scenery. I hope he has fun.

Me, I am here with Caroline - who, have you heard, has strep throat.

A Little Bragging

I am not really a bragging parent - at least I don't think I am. I love my kids. I think they are beautiful, brilliant and wonderful. But, I don't feel the need to tell everyone how wonderful they are. We all know braggers, and it is not a good look.

Well, I am going to make an exeption to that rule today. I got a phone call yesterday from the principal of the elementary school that went like this:

Mrs P: Mrs. Pearson this is Mrs. P from Lakewood Elementary

Me: (thinking to myself, what did Allie do now? As we all know, a call from the principal is not usually a good thing)

Mrs. P: The reason for my call is a good one. Sophie is our 4th grade A+ student for this year.

I was shocked. I was thinking, did she mean for her class? No, for the entire fourth grade. There is one for 2nd grade, one for 3rd grade and one for 4th grade. She went on to tell me about a special dinner in May for all the district A+ students.

Now, I am not sure if this is based soley on grades, or if citizenship plays into it. I will have to get clarification. It does not really matter. Sophie has worked hard, and this is her reward.

Of course, when we told Sophie she did not believe it. Her response? "But Rachel is smarter than me." Classic Sophie. That is what we love about her.

We could not be prouder! So, excuse the bragging just this one time.

Allergy to Thursday Rears It's Ugly Head

Remember my rantings about my allergy to Thursday - what do you mean you have not recorded to memory each and every post of Real Life? Well, today it was back.

The alarm went off. I could hardly roll over to turn in off thanks to my nazi aerobics instructor at the YMCA (I am sure she has no feeling in her thighs) Anyway, in my "got to make the dounts" stumble, I went downstairs and made the lunches. All five. Of course an integral part of that is my first glass of diet coke of the day.

Since I had not read a single blog in over two weeks, I told you I was busy, I decided it was a great time to get caught up. I now feel like I know what is going on in my friends lives, and I was just going up to get in the shower so I could go to the bus stop looking like a real person instead of the "mom" I am right now. I open the fridge to get my second coke of the day, yes it was only 6:50 AM, and that is when I saw it. Four exploded cokes. All over the fridge.

Now, the question is did I miss it earlier? Was I so asleep that I missed the coke splattered fridge? I don't think so, but can't be sure. I avoided my first thought which was shut the fridge, go back to bed and boycott Thursday. The reality is it would still be there when I opened the fridge again. So 45 minutes later I have a clean fridge.

Instead of showering and being a real person, I will go to the bus looking like a hag. Just thought I would share. When your day is not going great just think - at least I did not wake up to four exploded cokes in the fridge!

March 28, 2007

A day Kelsey has been waiting for. Why you ask? Because last year some time, I am sure when I was out of town - all "fun" things happen when I am out of town - Eric and Kelsey made a contract. This contract stated that on March 28, 2007 Kelsey could get a cell phone. The one and only catch was that she had to be able to produce said contract on March 28th.

Well, against all odds she kept the contract safe. True to his word, today was the day she got a cell phone. I just want to go on the record as saying I don't think she needs one. But, as I said, it happened when I was gone.

The good news is she is aware that this is a privilege. The violation of any number of rules will mean the phone is taken and she needs to earn it back.

What is this world coming to when a 12 year old has a cell phone. I blame my sister. She allowed Hannah to get a cell phone at 12 and that spawned the great cell phone contract. Oh well, she is on my plan and I can closely monitor what is going on.

I am guessing she will call her aunts and uncles a lot since they are all on the same plan as she is. The girl who can out talk Melissa is now armed with a cell phone. Linfords beware!!!

A few photos from Nevis. The island was beautiful. The one on the left is the view from the water of the resort as I was leaving. The monkey on the right is one of a group of monkeys who live on the golf course, 15th hole. They come out in the evening and wreak havoc on the golf course. After all the attendees had left, I got to go out and get a tour of the golf course and see them.

Last week was hectic, but great. But, as always it is nice to be home!

Yes, I Am Still Alive

It has been a CRAZY few weeks. I have been travelling, working like a dog, and completely OUT of my schedule. So what happened? No blog - a point which has been made by MANY people. I am back and I hope to be able to get caught up since I know everyone is dying to know what has been going on in the Pearson household.

We were blessed with the visit of both Uncle Markie and Uncle Patrick - or Rich Uncle Mark and Crazy Uncle Patrick, on Saturday the 10th. Patrick was here for spring break and to attend the wedding of his former roommate and that brought Mark and Jen out for a few hours. They spent some time with the kids, watched Sophie play soccer, and of course were used as a human jungle gym. Allie and Caroline think that is Mark's purpose in life - human jungle gym. He is nice enought to appease them! It was great to have them.

Patrick came back the next week, when I was gone, and I am pretty sure there was more playing and fun. He put together Eric's new model airplane - I guess Eric has decided to get a new hobby. Anyway, it was great to see both of them.

I spent last week in Nevis - a sister island to St. Kitts in the British West Indies. I will post some pictures later. I went to help Pia out with a show. She ended up stuck in the Charlotte airport for two days, and I got to jump in and be in charge. Not usually a problem, but that also meant I had to do two peoples work for a few days. It was a great week, a beautiful place, fun company, but very busy.

So, now back to real life. Soccer, house, grocery shopping and a ton of work to do. I guess it is better to be busy than not - isn't that what they say?????

Happy Birthday Allie!

It is hard to believe my baby Allie is six. (OK so she was six a week ago and I am behind!) Allie is our resident Drama Queen. Really - we only thought Kelsey was full of it.

From the time Allie was a little girl, so was full of it. You can just look in her eyes and see that she is thinking of the next thing she can do to wreak havoc on the rest of us (except for her twin of course, because she will defend Caroline until she dies).

When Allie was 12 days old, she stopped breathing in her bed. She was blue, stiff and would have been a SIDS baby, but something prompted me to get up and check on her. I can't imagine our life without this little imp in it!

She continues to make us laugh. This is a conversation we had just this week:

Allie: Mom I want to go to the YMCA

Me: You can' t go to the YMCA until you are done taking your medicine (for her strep throat)

Allie: All my medicine?

Me: Yes

Allie: Even my issues medicine?

Me: What are you talking about?

Allie: You know the medicine I take because I have issues??

Me: (knowing she was talking about her Claritin) No, you don't have to be done with your issues medicine.

So, there you have it. Allie has issues and she is not afraid to talk about it. She has her father wrapped around her finger, and tries to manipulate him ALL the time. Most of the time she is successful. When she gets in trouble and he is not home, she will start crying that she wants her daddy. When I tell her he is not coming, she will stop crying because she knows it is wasted on me.

She is my only child with her dad's beautiful green eyes. She looks even more like he did as a little kid than Ryan, and that is saying something.

She was named after her grandfathers. Both of our fathers are named Alan. She has now taken on my dad's nickname Big Al. She does not like to share it with him, too bad it was his first. She will allow him to be referred to as Big Al, but only because she loves him. (they had to have a talk about it) He is nice enough to let her think she is in charge.

We are grateful for our Allie, Big Al. She makes us laugh. She can melt you with her smile. Now, is we can just harness the dramatics....

Sweet Caroline

I have not taken the time to write my "birthday" post for Allie or for Caroline. So, today it is my sweet Caroline (sing it like Neil Diamond).

Caroline is a sweet and fun child with big beautiful blue eyes. She has historically, stood back and let her sister move forward and take the lead. She was fine to follow. She still does, somewhat, but I have been glad to see her taking the lead more often. I think as she gains more confidence, she will continue to put it out there.

She lives in her own world most of the time. She will come out with the funniest things - and you think what is she thinking? She is usually happy and smiling, so it must be a fun world she lives in. She loves to play imaginative games. She creates these elaborate stories to set the stage for her playing.

She loves to go outside and play. She is like Sophie in that regard - she can't get enough of outside. Now that she has a bike and a scooter, she is set.

Caroline loves school. She told me she does not want to have spring break because she will miss school. She loves learning, and is doing great. She is starting to read and her writing is great. She puts periods at the end of the sentence, and starts with a capital letter. She is good about putting her finger spaces in between words, so I can usually figure out what she is saying.

She loves to help fold clothes, but not put them away because that is not fun. When she is in the mood, she can clean her room in no time - it is the in the mood thing that gets her. She also loves to swiffer vac the floor. That is not a chore, but a fun thing!

Caroline is our baby - since she is 2 minutes younger than her sister. She loves to snuggle and hug, and I can never get enough of that. She loves her family, and in her prayers she has to make sure and name each one in case Heavenly Father forgets who we are.

She is funny, quirky, and loving - and she is all ours. We feel very blessed she is our baby!

Birthday Party Wrapup and Allie has Strep

Well, the babies had their party, and fun was had by all. The thing that is the saddest is that I did not get any good pics. Although, I will admit, I did not try very hard. It was very kicked back and easy for me. The only stress was when we opened presents and it was chaos. The two teenaged girls who were running the party for us got overwhelmed and there was no order on the island. Besides that it was six year old bliss.

I should not just say six year old. All three of the older ones wanted to come to the party and not just come, but come and jump. Ryan was out there playing with the kids the entire time. He did such a good job that the owner of the Jumpin Party has given him an application for a job there. See - when you help out and have a good attitude, great things can come as a result. We have to see if his not working on Sunday will be an issue. If it is, then oh well.

Allie kept coming to me with tears in her eyes over stupid things during the party. I chalked it up to being overwhelmed with all the love. You know, it is always the birthday girl or boy who is HORRIBLE at his/her own party. This is just one of the many reasons we don't do parties very often (At age six, this was the first one for Allie and Caroline).

Back on track. One time when she came to me in tears, she felt hot and had the sick eyes. I could not do anything about it, and pretended it was because she was out jumping (plausible I think). Anyway, we came home, took her temp and it was 101. She went to bed. Sat morning she was just fine. Sat night, fell apart again and told me her throat hurt. I looked and the mess of swollen stuff and pus was gross.

So, Sunday morning we were off to the Dr. Yes she has strep. She will not be a school today, but can go back tomorrow. For anyone who was at the party whose child later develops strep - sorry. I am hoping no one will be affected. I am also hoping it does not run the course through the family. I don't have time for strep!

My Babies are Six

I will post more later - but wanted to get a pic of them in their NEW birthday clothes. These were the only ones that fit them - I bought everything else too small. I guess I can't accept them getting big.

Off to have lunch at school - of course they requested McDonalds! Birthday party after school. All in all a fun day if you are six.

Caroline's Treasures

I have five kids, and they are all different. I thought I had seen great trash collectors before. When Ryan was little, you had to shake him down when going from playground to class because his pockets were ALWAYS full of stuff. Sophie never wants to thrown anything away.

However, I think the winner is Caroline. She moved into the space once occupied by Sophie. When I redid Kelsey and Sophie's room, I made these boxes which are used to display stuff - specific stuff not junk. She does not get that. She thinks she should be able to put whatever suites her on display.

This is what she chose to display. Now, what is more concerning - the McDonalds cup or the headless Ariel? Ariel had no head when she was put up there. That was fine with Caroline, because even headless Ariel suited her aesthetics. I am not sure what it all means. She has always marched to a different drummer. This is just one more example. Let's hope she just liked the colors and this is not the beginnings of a fascination with all things headless!

77 Sunny in February

Sophie had skills camp soccer practice last night. The house was a mess. I had a ton of work to do. So, what did I do? Took the twins to the park for soccer practice, sat in the sun and read my book for a little bit. Then we went out and looked at the duck, beavers, and other wildlife out and about. My house is still a mess, I am so behind, but it was fun!

Allieism

With the impending wedding of Megan, we have had non-stop talk about love and marriage and what it means for the girls, because as you know it is all about them. This is no lie what happened at the dinner table a few days ago.

Allie: I don't want Megan to get married and have babies.

Me: Why not? Don't you think Megan will make a great mother?

Allie: Yes, but if she gets married and has children she will love them more than she loves me.

That about sums it up, doesn't it? Never was there a more perfect example of how this wedding is not about Megan and Blake and their life together. It is about how it impacts Allie (and all the rest of the girls for that matter).

So, Michelle and Melissa hear this. You are never to get married or have children because it is too traumatic to my kids and, ultimately, it is ALWAYS all about ME!

Rockin Robin

When you have four girls, or any number more than one for that matter, you will end up sitting through many a "show" or "presentation". This week it was Rockin Robin, and as you can see the twins are the birds. This vegas type extravaganza starred Sophie, and the twins, with Kelsey on vocals in the background.

The great thing about a show is the prep time is a good one to two hours, for a 3 minute show. What this means is people are working together in a productive environment and they are entertaining each other! Win win for me.

We had stake conference this weekend, so much of Saturday was taken up with meetings, but the good news was Sunday was only 10:00-12:00 instead of the horrible 1:00-4:00 which we have. It was stake conference for all Texas, OK and NM live from Salt Lake which is cool. Sophie did not feel well, so Kelsey stayed home with her. I think we have picked up a little bug - just enough to make you feel a little yucky, but not enough to really be sick. After reading what my other friends have been suffering with, I will take a little yucky because everyone is at school!

I watched Gone with the Wind for a while yesterday, and it once again made me want to be Scarlett O'Hara. I could have been a southern belle, should have been a southern belle, and I am sure many would argue try even now to be a southern belle. I have always had the Scarlett fantasy ever since my youth. Strange but true. So, for all those who have STILL not seen the movie, rent it and watch it. It is a classic. Now you can think about me as Scarlett and it will make you laugh the whole time!!

Off to sell some stuff, clean some stuff, and get everyone going where they should be. Enjoy Monday!

Thursday Allergy

I have diagnosed myself with a new allergy - Thursdays. I don't know what the deal is. I can NOT get going on Thursdays. Even Friday is better. This morning I felt like I had been run over by a truck! Of course, I did not get home until after 11:00 last night, maybe that had something to do with it.

I would blame it on the travelling this week, but I felt the same thing last week. So, what is the deal? I am going to go with the allergy. Do you think that should mean I don't have to participate in life on Thursdays? That would work for me. Maybe we could all just strike on Thursdays? We could create a society with no Thursdays. Then, I am sure the allergy would move to another day.

Obviously the picture has nothing to do with the post. I just got this recommendation to put more pictures of Megan on the blog - I wonder who that came from?

President's Day, 2007

I am going to go on a rant, so if you are easily offended, or don't care, you should logoff now.

It is President's Day. My kids have school. They do not get President's Day as a holiday. Why do you ask does the school system in Houston not celebrate the births of our early presidents? Well, you see, they celebrate Martin Luther King JR day in January, and don't have any other days to take.

Here is my problem. I do not have a problem with my kids being in school today - as a matter of fact I am glad they have school. I do have a problem with Martin Luther King day taking precedence over Presidents Day. What message does that send? Who is the wing nut who made that decision? Why? Why? Why?

OK, rant over. It just, as my husband would say, chaps my hide. As the kids go to school today, I have two days worth of things to get done in one day. I am going to Dallas tomorrow, and back on Wednesday night. Should be fun.

On a brighter note - it is warming up. It will be in the 70's this week, and even in Dallas it will be beautiful. This is the time of year it pays to live in Houston. Remind me I love it here in August, because I will be cursing the heat and humidity.

Enjoy your holiday - I hope someone out there gets to celebrate!

It's Official

Megan called me last night to tell me she and Blake are officially engaged!! Although she did not give me all the details, they went for a hike in St. George and somewhere along the way he proposed. She is supposed to send a picture of her ring, "perfect" was her description. There was much rejoicing by all the girls in the house. Although I have heard some concerns that now Megan won't talk to them, just Blake. (I have assured them this will not happen) Oh it is hard to have your Aunts grow up and move on! So, August 10th we will all be in Dallas celebrating the marriage of Megan and Blake.

I guess Blake called my dad to ask for permission, and they had quite a "long" conversation. He said dad was tough. This made me remember when we got engaged. I was in Provo, and Eric was in Dallas, where my family was. He went over to my parents house to talk to them about marrying me. I don't know everything that went on, but you have to have Eric act it out to get the full effect. First my dad had to go and get his Diet Pepsi, they were a little confused back then and drank Pepsi. He then sat down, popped open the can, and gave him the "I dare you to convince me" look.

I guess they went through a long list of what my father expected and did not expect for his daughter. The thing that is funny is as time marches forward, and Eric is closer to being the father giving away his daughter, and not the prospective groom, the story changes a little. I think he can relate much more to my father's feelings now. I will admit at the time Eric was enrolled in his first semester at Tarrant County Junior College. He had not gone to college before his mission, and he was taking his first classes. He planned to transfer up to BYU, which is what happened, but at the time he was just a punk kid with 1/2 a semester at a junior college, working at the airport fueling airplanes (this was a step up from his previous job where he made swimming pool rocks).

I think everyone will admit, he worked out well. Now we get to be in the fun position of watching others squirm and watching my dad torture these young bucks. Eric will have to take notes - before you know it he will be the torturer.

Welcome to the family Blake. It will get worse - you have not met all the boys yet...

Enjoy the Silence

Allie made it back to school today!! Lets hope no one else gets sick, as those things tend to move from one member of the family to the next. I am sitting here, working, and enjoying the silence of my house.

Since Allie had to miss her party yesterday, I decided to be a good mom and make sugar cookies with her. Now, up to this point in my life I only ever used the Pillsbury dough. It worked. It was easy. But I made the mistake of going to Walmart on Tuesday evening - yes the night before Valentine's day. You would have thought it was Christmas Eve. The place was packed and they were out of everything, including sugar cookie dough.

I mentioned this to my sister, Martha Steward Wanna Be that she is, and she gave me two different recipes and told me to make it myself. So I did, and not only was it not hard, but the cookies were tasty. I must admit, by the end I had the same feeling I get everytime I do sugar cookies - will this ever end? Allie did the sprinkles and we chatted, or I listened to her go on and on, while we decorated the cookies. It was nice to spend time with just Allie. With twins that does not always happen. Even when I make a point to try and do someone with just one of them, they always invite the twin.

Now, if I had been a good blogger I would have taken a picture. But, not so much. So you will just have to imagine for yourselves tons of heart shaped sugar cookies laying on the counter.

Valentine's Day, Sick Child

Allie still had a slight fever. Since I am sure if I sent her to school with her 100.9 degree fever, she would end up a the nurse, and I would face her disapproving look as she told me Allie was sick again. So, even though it made her sad to miss her Valentine's Party, she is home with me today. It should make for yet another fun and exciting day for me.

My husband surprised me with a wonderful valentine. I had looked at an ad from Ann Taylor and pointed out a dress I liked. He remembered, went to the mall got the right dress in the right size. It was very thoughtful, and it fits. Just when I think I have him figured out he surprises me. I am lucky to have such a great valentine!

Give hugs to the ones you love and enjoy your valentine's day.

Love At Home

Yesterday morning I walked up to Allie's room and found this note on the door. In case you can't read kindergartenese it reads, "I hate you. You are a ____(she can't remember). You are fat. No No No. Yes Yes. Go Away."

This was a note written to Kelsey. As Robert would say, Nice. I am not sure the cause, but even yesterday she got very animated and said she was so mad at Kelsey. It is so nice to see the love at home.

She had a total freak out on Sunday evening. We were sitting down to watch Nacho Libre as a family, I made it through 10 minutes. She was told all day her room had to be clean. Of course it wasn't, and I told her she could not watch the movie. She was MAD - storming around, slamming doors. Telling me it wasn't fair. All I could think is "I can't take another one." Then this note. She may well replace Kelsey as the drama queen.

Allie, of course, is home sick today. She has a slight fever, and they made me come and get her at 3:10 yesterday (30 minutes before school let out). Why? She had a fever of 100.3. This morning in one ear it is 101.4 and the other is 100.5. What is up with that? I will have to watch it, but I have tons to do today. Major shopping at Wal Mart and Costco. I wanted to get my oil changed, but that will have to wait. And I have tons for work to do. I hope the Tylenol kicks in so she can be the go along girl. How is that for a compassionate mother?