Weekend Update-- Bikes and Legos and Paint

Dude. This happened over the weekend:

I hope you'll be able to see it, but if not, it's Bug riding her bike. She FINALLY figured out how to ride a bike without training wheels. Let me tell you, it was not easy. I told her she was going to be the only girl in the 4th grade who couldn't ride a bike. I told her that BK would likely learn to ride a bike before her. She didn't care. She sat in the parking lot and cried until The Agent basically had to threaten punishments if she didn't try. So she finally tried, with her screaming her fool head off the whole time.... until something finally clicked. And then she got it.

She actually fell twice, but never too bad, and she got right back up again. My little girl is growing up! Now she says she wants to do a triathalon. Sheesh. Baby steps.

Next task: teach BK to ride a bike! That might have to wait a bit.

We also booked out vacation this weekend! We are going here:

Whoo hoo! We were going to go to Disneyland, since BK has never been there before, but when we asked the kids where they'd rather go, they both said Legoland! Sweet! It's way cheaper and we'll get to go to San Diego! This isn't for a couple of months yet-- plenty of time to get excited... and hopefully time to lose 5 (or 10 or 30 or 53) pounds!

Finally, on Sunday, I went to Paint Nite with my girlfriend:

I am incredibly talented.

If you have a paint nite near you (and they're everywhere), you should definitely give it a shot. I don't claim to be a great artist, but I AM a great listener, and if you follow the instructions step by step, you WILL have a decent piece of art at the end of the night. My favorite part is seeing everyone else's painting, and comparing how we all interpreted the same instructions.

I brought the painting home and Bug went CRAZY over it. I knew it was too feminine for The Agent's taste, so I asked Bug if she'd like it hung in her room. She was so excited! Score one for Mom!

What did you do this weekend?

Weekend Update-- Happy Father's Day

I am getting old. I was in bed by 9 pm every night this week (except for Bachelorette Monday, and that doesn't count).

On Friday, The Agent got a bit of bad news. His office was closed at 1 pm (he usually works until 5). He was also informed that his hours would be cut to three days a week. Since there are only three engineers left in the office, this is pretty bad.

I'm not really worried. I make enough money to pay our bills, and the kids didn't get into the after school program next year, so I was already worried about how we were going to pick up the kids from school each day at 3 pm. Oh, and every Wednesday is a minimum day, so that was a worry as well. So now The Agent can pick up the kids every day and help them with their homework and maybe pick up the house a bit until I get home. It will change our way of living, we might not to do as much extra stuff, but we will be ok.

Anyway, The Agent got home early and took a nap with BK  and didn't do laundry. I saw a glimpse into my future-- there's going to be a lot of nagging from me!

On Saturday, we went shopping! BK's birthday was last week, and we told him we would take him to Target to pick out whatever he wanted (within reason). God love him-- he had the cart full:

But he had had a couple of gift cards, so we were able to get everything he asked for. Most of the stuff in there was $10 or less-- I'm lucky that he doesn't have expensive tastes-- yet!

On Saturday night, Bug made cupcakes for Father's Day:

They're called banana split cupcakes. I am the queen of semi-homemade, and Bug is quickly following in my footsteps. She took one of those just-add-water banana nut muffin mixes, and added applesauce and chocolate chips to give it a little extra love. But the key to any good dessert is in the presentation. So she frosted it with canned vanilla frosting, drizzled on chocolate, and added nuts, a banana chip, and a cherry. BAM! Instant banana split cupcakes. They were a huge hit at The Father's Day BBQ.

Sunday was Father's Day! We allowed The Agent to open his presents in bed (two watches for work.... in hindsight, not the smartest gift idea for the guy whose company is about to go under!), and then we spent the day with my dad. We had a delicious dinner of fried chicken and mashed potatoes and a great time hanging out with the family. A great weekend!

An interview with BK

BK is 6! It's time for an interview. I did this for Bug back here. Now it's BK's turn! 
 
What's your favorite color? red
TV Show? Wild Kratts Movie?
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs Really? When have you seen that? Ummmm.... I don't know. School?
Food?
Macaroni salad
Number?
6
Why?
Because I'm 6 years old!

If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
i would go to the park every single day. Who are you going to send this to? I don't know. Just people. Send it to Grandma! 
Who is the President of the United States?
George Washington.  No. Then I don't know. What makes you happy?
When Daddy makes me laugh. 
Mad?
When Bug hits me.  Sad?
When Bug isn't nice to me.

Tell me one good thing about Dad He gives us kisses and he cooks for us. 
Tell me one good thing about Mom
You give us good thoughts when you are happy and when we are happy.... and it's sweet.  Tell me one good thing about Bug

She does homework fast. How tall do you think you will grow?
20 20 what? 20 inches, 20 miles, 20 feet, 20 potatoes....  20 potatoes!  Where will you go on your first date?
. Oh! Go out for breakfast!
What will you do there?
 We'll talk about love stuff! With a big heart! 
What would you take with you if you were stranded on a desert island?
I would take water, a sleeping bag, a pillow, and some games. Did you write down all of that stuff?  Yes.  Awesome!

Are you going to have kids one day?
Yes. And their names are going to be Michael and Leese. 
What do you own right now that you will keep forever?
My fire fighter hat and my Heelys. 
Why?
I really want to keep everything for my kids because they won't have any toys. 
What kind of car will you drive when you're a grown up?
A daddy car. A daddy car? What kind of car is that?  A truck!



What part of being a grown up are you looking forward to the most?
Going to the movie theater.

But don't you go to the movie theater now?  Yes, but I'll have kids and I can take them with me.  What part are you a little afraid of? Getting my kids in trouble
Why are you afraid of that?  Because some people don't do that. 

Weekend Update-- Graduation and Camping

So much has been happening lately, and blogging about has fallen to the wayside....

Last Friday, my BK graduated from kindergarten. Yep! They actually let him graduate!

Getting his diploma from his teacher

The teachers are on a two year rotation at this school, which means you have one teacher for kinder and first grade, one teacher for 2nd and 3rd grade, and then one teacher for 4th and 5th grade. So BK will have this same teacher when school starts again in August. Not much changes. Still, they has a nice little ceremony.

As soon as graduation was over, we headed out to go camping for the weekend with The Agent's family. The kids had a blast:

All the girls.... I'm the only girl who married in to the family, but they love me like their own! 

It was a great weekend out on the water!

Then and Now

How did so much change in such a short amount of time?

Results

Sometimes, a mole is just a mole.

Thank you for all the prayers and sweet emails!

Prayers needed

Here's The Agent in June 2012:

Taking a nap with BK

And here he is, in April of last year:

posing for a pic after Bug thought she had done a good job in shaving his head

In both pictures, you may or may not have noticed the small mole on the side of The Agent's head. It's barely noticeable in the first picture. the second picture is more noticeable, since it's a close up, but it's roughly the same size. Maybe slightly bigger.

Here's a picture I took of The Agent last week:

Can you tell that it's bigger here? I can.

When you see someone every day, you don't notice things. Like you don't notice when someone is gaining weight or getting grey hair or whatever. Just one day you notice that it's there. Wow.

So I said to The Agent, "You should probably get that looked at. Have them freeze it off."

The Agent's response was, "I already got you. I don't need to look good anymore." Typical male. Doesn't want to go to the doctor.

But then other people started to mention it. My dad. A couple of people at work. Even Bug. So The Agent finally made an appointment with the doctor.

We were lucky that we had pictures to show the doctor, so he could see the growth over time. He immediately said that the mole needed to be removed. He said he would send it in for a biopsy and we would get the results back in about a week. "I'll be honest with you: it doesn't look good," the doctor told The Agent. "But sometimes these things turn out to be nothing, so let's wait and see what the biopsy says."

Even then, I wasn't worried. Even if it was cancer, it's getting removed, so it will be fine. Yes, he'll have a scar, but that will be no worse than the mole that was there before. No harm, no foul.

And then I got online. Friggin' stupid internet.

skincancer.org estimates that 9940 people will die of melanoma this year. 6640 of those will be men.

Holy F.

I am freaking out.

Pray for good news.

Molly's Musings-- getting ready for the inevitable

Hi. It's Molly again.

The inevitable happened. The Soft Lady made an appointment to be spayed.

Get the cone of shame ready.


  

weekend update-- memorial day weekend

I missed the last weekend update. Let's catch up with what happened on Memorial Weekend.

On Friday, I ducked out of work so I could go for the pastries for parents thing that BK's class was doing. The class sang a couple of songs, and then we all got served apple juice and half a danish.
Look at how cute he is. How could he ever be naughty?

BK and his partner in crime.

I really couldn't tell you anything that happened on Saturday.

On Sunday, I went outlet shopping with Bug and my stepmother. Love me some outlet shopping! I bought a pair of jeans for Bug (Gap, only $15!), shoes for both kids (converse BOGO half off!), 2 pairs of jeans for The Agent (Levi's $36 each) and a wallet for myself (Kate Spade-- we probably shouldn't mention the price in case The Agent reads this).

I was worried that Bug wouldn't be able to hang through a whole day of shopping. But she did really well. She had a great day-- Grandma bought her everything she wanted. I turned my back for a second and saw Bug trying a pair of hideously ugly Heelys.

"Mom, I LOVE them! Can I get them?"

"No, you're not getting them. I just bought you a new pair of Chucks 5 minutes ago. You can't wear the wheels to school, you wear flip flops on the weekend, there is no point in getting them. Plus, they're not even cute. No, you will not be getting those ugly shoes."

But guess what? When Mom says no, Grandma says yes. She big fat bought Bug those shoes.... and then a pair for BK as well. My kids are spoiled.

To her credit, Bug wore the shoes to school every day last week (without the wheels), and she has been practicing with the wheels on the weekend. She is not the most graceful child ever, but at least she hasn't injured herself. Yet.

It turned out that the jeans that I bought for The Agent were way too big, and we didn't have any other plans,  so Lucky me! We all went to the outlet mall again to make the return. Silly Agent. He had never been to the outlet mall before and didn't understand how busy it could be, especially on a holiday. We got there an hour after they opened and the parking lot was already completely full. The security guard was making up parking spaces for people.

Crowds make The Agent grumpy. "What is wrong with people? Are the deals THAT great?"

Ummm.... yes. Yes they are.

 We returned the jeans and The Agent wanted to immediately leave. "Are you sure?" I asked. "We drove an hour to get here.... do you want to at least look around? There's a Nike, there's Bose...."

Nope. We drove an hour to spend 10 minutes there. We spent more time trying to get out of the zoo of a parking lot.

But it was still nice to get out of town, and the kids were  happy (watching movies in the truck). All in all, it was a relaxing and productive weekend!