Rascal Flatts

On Thursday night, Steph and I went to the Rascal Flatts concert (with opening act of Jessica Simpson, wearing Daisy Dukes shorts). It was a ton of fun, especially since we were in a suite (although I would have traded tickets with anyone on the floor). Steph lamented the quality of her photos, so I'm posting my own versions to reassure her that her photography skills do not suck as much as mine. The first photos are hers; the version following is mine. In my defense, my phone camera offers no focus control, and very minimal zoom control. She was smart enough to bring a real camera. :-)

SLEEP-OVER AT GRANDMA'S

Kaiya just left after a much-anticipated (by both of us) sleepover with Grandma. However, it didn't quite turn out as planned. I went over to Steph and Mickel's last night and watched the kids while they went to an Ultimate Fight event (yes, a little bit strange, but Mickel's cousin was one of the main attractions). Then I took Kaiya home with me when they returned. She was a little out of sorts last night and didn't want to go to sleep (even though we didn't get home until 12:30). So I let her watch A Bug's Life, thinking she'd fall asleep right away. But no ... Grandma fell asleep and she watched the whole thing through to the end. So by now it's 2:30 a.m., and I'm thinking okay, surely now she'll go to sleep. No. After a minor melt-down, she finally agreed to go to bed and went right to sleep. When she woke up at about 8:00, she was raging hot. She didn't want to eat, she didn't want to do anything, she didn't even want the cookie I offered her for breakfast (sorry Mom - what happens at Grandma's usually stays at Grandma's ...). She threw up twice, and was just a generally miserable little girl. Mom and Dad arrived to drop off Teague while they went to their soccer game, but prepared to forego the game if Kaiya wanted to go home. Brave little trouper that she is, she wanted to stay with Grandma. So they gave her some medicine and left for their game. Luckily, she improved greatly by the time they returned, and - bless her heart - still wanted to stay with Grandma. And I'm very happy to report that Teague seems to be pretty well past the "missing Mom with heartbroken passion" stage, and actually had a good time at Grandma's as well.

HOWEVER ...

I'm now exhausted, the house is a mess, the laundry isn't done, the groceries did not magically appear ... and I'm not going to do anything about any of it. For today anyway. This is why having babies is best left to young people.

February Odds and Ends

Well, first of all, adieu to Valentine's Day. Kaiya and Teague (with a bit of help from mom) made me this great card ...

and Jerry thoughtfully sent me some flowers, and though they didn't recover from the cold quite as well this time, they made my heart smile.

Also this past week I won the "Biggest Losers" contest for a second time. However, it's hard to feel too excited about that, since my loss for the week was only 0.3 pounds (obviously, everyone had a bad week). Five more weeks to go - I've got to get it in gear!

Finally, I will be able to put "no" to the "corrective lenses" line on my driver's license for the first time in my life: I had Lasik surgery on my left eye and can now see without aid. I now have what is called "mono-vision," where one eye (left for me, which is my dominant eye) is for distance and the other is for close range. It is not as dizzying as it sounds - the vision adjusts fairly seamlessly for whatever is needed. What a treat to be able to see the alarm clock, to be able to run in the morning without glasses, to be able to swim without thought, to be able to endure a long distance flight without worrying about contacts vs. glasses. Who would have believed that having cataracts would make all this possible? Crazy.

Kids and Dogs

This weekend I "baby-sat" Kris' babies (Dora and Lilo), and also had Kaiya and Teague over on Saturday. What a full, crazy house that made! Kaiya is very taken with her canine friends (much to her mom's dismay, I think - especially if it involves any "kissing"), and had an absolutely marvelous time bossing Lilo around. Lilo is a big goof-ball, but she's also very VERY patient with Kaiya. Dora pretty much puts herself out of harm's way. And Teague just watches the whole parade. I've come to the conclusion that it's actually easier with all of them there at the same time, they keep each other so entertained!

And I love, love, LOVE Teague's whole sticking out his tongue phase (well, it's probably a phase - but how do you know when it hasn't ended yet?) ... isn't he the most adorable thing?