The Sickies

Saturday morning, I woke up sick, too. I spent the day sometimes taking care of Justice, sometimes sleeping. Victoria had rehearsals for Willy Wonka and then went to her friend's house for talent show practice. When she got home, she found Justice and I both feeling really yucky. Her poor brother was all broken out in a terrible rash.

Being the sweet, loving daughter that she is, she brought me up a snack in bed. Yes, those are Ritz Crackers with chocolate sauce on them. Chef Ramsey would approve the presentation, I bet. However, the food combination was questionable. And, yes again , I did eat two of them (I had to, right?).

If you were wondering, blue is what happens to Sprite when the fancy, paper umbrella your daughter adds for presentation purposes, falls in. Yum!

We woke healthier on Sunday, though. Justice still had a low fever and the rash had moved onto his neck and chest, but he was in a much better mood. So much better, that he decided to steal some Hot Tomales. Too bad the box was opened, and being 3, he HAD to turn it upside down when he picked it up.

Getting better every minute!

The Make-up Disneyland Trip

Justice has been begging to go to Disneyland for a couple of months. I don't even know why he was thinking about it...he hadn't been since he was just a little younger than two. So I told Victoria that I was going to take them somewhere (in Justice's words) "Vehwy Speshel." However, when Neil got so sick, we postponed. I decided to take Friday off and give us all a day of fun. Off we went, Justice, Victoria, and I headed to the Magic Kingdom!

The weather was fantastic, and the day got off to a really great start.

A couple hours in, though, you could tell Justice just wasn't himself. He seemed to be having fun, but he was really calm and fell asleep early.

He woke up CRANKY, and started running a little bit of a fever. After that, he didn't enjoy his special Disneyland trip much.

It was still a fun day, though. Victoria had a great time. Justice's illness didn't stop her!

Don't worry, Baby Boy. We'll go again, soon!

The Goodbye

As most of you know, my brother Neil passed away on January 8th. He was 32 years old. This is how I choose to remember my baby brother.

Victoria was terribly sad when I told her last night. She went in her room by herself for a little while to write down her thoughts. When she was done, she told me she felt better, almost happy for Uncle Neil. I felt better, too, a little. Here are her thoughts, the profound goodbye from a 9 year-old who is grieving:

My uncle passed away because he was really sick and my mommy told him when he was still alive that he should go up to heaven because it hurt when he breathed. So when he was ready to go, his hand was straight and never was straight for a long time. Tonight, I am sleeping with a blanket that he was getting warm by and my grandma gave my mommy a sign that said, GOOD NIGHT, SLEEP TIGHT, DON’T LET THE BED BUGS BITE! I will read that sign for now on and every night, I will say goodnight to him in my prayers. I love my uncle very much and I miss him very much too. I bet everything in his body is fixed now and he can stand up straight and tall! He isn’t going to have a funeral but I’m coming to Seattle where he is getting buried. I LOVE YOU UNCLE NEIL!!! YOUR WHOLE FAMILY LOVES YOU AND MISSES YOU TOO!!! Have a great and fun life up in heaven uncle.

HUGS AND KISSES,

VICTORIA J. J. KARR

The Stories from Long Ago that Julie N. says I must share, Volume II: "I just THREW it away!"

When Victoria was in first grade, she went to our neighborhood school, as opposed to coming to work with me. Our tradition was, and still is, that Victoria buys school lunch on Friday only. It really is a treat to get to have the junk food our public schools feed our children, but that is a subject for a whole different blog. Anyway, it was her first Friday, and I sent her to school with three one-dollar bills. I was unsure the cost and wanted to be sure she had enough money. After school, we attended a friend's birthday party at the Rainforest Cafe. While there, I was soliciting ideas from the other "mom friends" about how to build monetary understanding in my daughter. Despite the fact that she went to kindergarten reading fluently, and was a fantastic reader and writer, I had neglected math and, more specifically, money. As a child I remembered getting my own change out of a jar at home and walking to Circle K to buy candy. At age 6, my own daughter had NEVER done that. I felt I'd failed her. My daughter decided to provide evidence of this that night, in front of everyone.

As if on cue, Victoria interrupted our conversation about her "financial skills." She wanted to tell me about her first day buying lunch at her new school. The conversation went a little something like this:

Victoria: I had pizza today!
Mommy: Was it good?
Victoria: Yes, I had chocolate milk, too.
Mommy: So, did I give you enough money.
Victoria: Oh yeah, you gave me too much. You gave me 3 (not '3 dollars', just 3) and the lady (not the 'lunch lady', just the lady) said I only needed 2.
Mommy: Good! So, where's the other dollar?
Victoria: Oh, I didn't need it.
Mommy: I know, so where is it.
Victoria: (Shrugging her shoulders) I didn't need it. (Then with a carefree tone and demeanor, she raises her hand and waves it across the air) I didn't need it so I just threwwwwwww it away.

As you can imagine, it was not a mother's proudest moment. However, at least my friends knew I wasn't exaggerating about her monetary skills. Stay tuned for more blasts from our past.

The BELATED Christmas Pictures, 2008

We had a fabulous Christmas...my favorite part was clearly the looks on my kids faces as they received their most favorite gifts. However, there were other highlights. For example, a song and dance number by Avianna and Victoria featuring music a-la "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," with at least 11 additional versus of lyrics by the girls...

Followed by a comedic puppet show with hostess Victoria telling hilarious jokes such as, "Knock-knock," "Who's there?" "Justin." "Justin who?" "Just in time for dinner!!!" Literally HOURS worth of entertainment. And truthfully, an annual tradition that I know I will long desperately for when these girls are too cool or just too busy to think it all up in the years to come (sniff).

Justice liked his presents fine. For him, though, the truly best part of Christmas was the extended time with his "famous" (aka 'favorite') cousin Aubrie, age 5. He is enthralled with her.

My children are pretty spoiled at Christmas time. They made me proud this year though, bubbling over with appreciation (especially Victoria), eager to see the gifts they picked out for others opened and enjoyed (especially Victoria), and really valuing time with family above all (especially Victoria...okay, so I was really proud of Victoria). It was a fantastic holiday and as I have said time and time again, I am so blessed.