16 years ago today…

16 years ago today, my oldest daughter was born at Shady Grove Adventist hospital. I had gone early in the day with "pre-term" labor and was sent home to "rest" for a little bit before coming back to the hospital. While Ralph rested I ate some scrambled eggs and toast and called everyone to tell them I was having the baby! When the contractions got closer together we made our way back to the hospital. My parents were there, his parents were there, my sister, my brother and sister in law, my niece, our good friends and the god parents of Catherine (and the other 4 children that came after!), and Eric and Betsy were there. The labor was fairly easy, for the most part. At some point most of the people waited in the waiting room for news. The doctor assured us that there would be "hours" until the baby was delivered, so Ralph went to Red Lobster with Eric and Betsy. After all it was down the street only a few miles and he had his beeper on, so he could be reached if we needed him.

Sometime before he came back and after I had gotten my epidural, I started paging him because I was in a lot of pain. Not just pain with contractions mind you . . . but constant pain! The anestisiaologis told me it was because I had a "window" where the epidural could not get to. Great, I thought the epidural was supposed to help the pain, not make it worse! Since Ralph was not back yet and had not answered my pages (and there were MULTIPLE pages!), I had my mom come in with me when I had to start pushing. I pushed for days until Ralph finally arrived! Okay, really, it was about 20 minutes, but it seemed like days!

Apparently Ralph, Eric and Betsy were enjoying a leisurely dinner confidant in the knowledge that I would page them if I needed them. This was before cell phones were EVERYWHERE, folks. So, they figured no news was good news! When they were leaving the restaurant and Ralph went to see what time it was, he noticed the missed pages and they rushed back to the hospital.

So I had Ralph on one side and my mom on one side and I pushed for about 30 or so minutes more. I still had constant pain. The anestisiologis tried to compensate by pushing the epidural, but it did not work, I still had constant pain on one side. Finally, Catherine Elizabeth Thomas was born! I was so excited and could not take my eyes off of her- what a miracle! And what a relief to have her out! You moms all know what I mean! So while the doctor did his "stuff", I enjoyed my daughter! At some point, Ralph went out to the waiting room to tell everyone the good news.

One thing you need to know is I have negative RH factor, which means the placenta needs to be checked to see if the baby also has it. It is not a big deal, but something that needs to be taken care of, especially if I wanted to have any more babies. So the doctor made sure to get the placenta to the lab for testing.

So, while I am in the room with Catherine and my mom, Ralph is in the waiting room telling my family and friends about our daughter being born. As they are ALL there listening to Ralph, an orderly comes out to the nurses' station and PLOPS a Ziploc bag with my placenta in it and very loudly says, "This is the Thomas Placenta that needs to be taken to the lab for testing immediately!" You can only imagine the reaction of my whole family, it is probably the same one you are having right now! Let's face it, we woman want to keep our placentas private!

So after the shock of seeing more than they ever wanted to see, my family and friends came into my room and met Catherine. We spent about an hour or so talking and enjoying each other's company. Then everyone went home. Ralph went to the nursery with Catherine while she got some shots and tests, normal newborn stuff. When he came back to my delivery room it was time to transfer me to the recovery room. The nurse, who was about 75 pounds soaking wet, asks me if I can get into the wheelchair from the hospital bed. Good grief, that is easy I thought! So of course, I told her sure!

Little did any of us realize the implications of all of that extra epidural I was given. . .

So, here is the scene, just so you are clear about it. There is Ralph, who is over 6 feet tall and over 250 pounds and a nurse who was probably about 1/3 my size standing on either side of the wheelchair waiting to help me from the hospital bed to the chair. So here I am on the edge of the bed and let's just say I was not tiny (we do not need to get into numbers here do we?) and I had just given birth less than 3 hours before. I slowly slid to the side of the hospital bed being careful not to flash anyone since I had a hospital gown on. As I try to put my feet on the ground to basically stand up and turn around into the waiting wheelchair, I do not realize that I had NO FEELING in my right leg because of the epidural! So what happens? You guessed it! My right foot hit the ground first and just buckled under me because I could not feel it! But, do I fall to the ground like a normal person? Ha! No way! On the way to the ground my lovely, fashionable mesh underwear that I was given in the hospital gets stuck on the side of the hospital bed! I am literally hanging about 2 inches off of the ground! Ralph tries to help me by ripping the panties off of the bed, and I fall the remaining 2 inches to the floor. The tiny little, slip of a nurse was totally useless to help me, so Ralph came up in front of me to try to help me stand up. Squatting down and putting his arms under mine, he wrapped his arms around me and told me he was going to stand up. As we stood up I told Ralph I did not feel well. He said that was okay and continued to stand up with me.

Then I fainted! Yep, that's right, as my poor husband was squatting down helping me up; I became DEAD WEIGHT and caused him to fall back into the wheelchair. Ralph broke my fall, but he fell right into the wheelchair. Knocking it backward with a very loud crash. I remember waking up on the floor and shaking uncontrollably. I looked around and saw Ralph on the ground, the nurse looking like a deer in headlights and several other hospital personnel standing at the door (they had come running when they heard the noise). One of the people standing at the door was the anesthesiologist who gave me so much epidural and I just looked at him and said, "Well, you did a good job!" I had to be picked up and put back in the hospital bed. Needless to say, I stayed in the bed and was wheeled to the recovery room!

I called my mom to come back up to the hospital and Ralph went to the ER. He stayed in my room that night on a cot.

I am always looking for other moms on the web who are interested in the same things I am. . .found another today. . .Take a look at The Dirty T-shirt for yourself!

Confession(s)

    

Ok, so my first confession is that in the time it took me to open up Microsoft Word, type the title "Confession(s)", and start writing this blog entry I forgot what confession I was going to blog about! That could be partly because I was distracted by: My husband coming into the kitchen opening up the fridge and asking why no on ate the chicken yet (and then proceeding to heat it up for his breakfast lunch), my youngest son coming into the kitchen and asking if he could have the rest of the pancakes I had just finished making, my oldest daughter coming into the kitchen and asking me where all the pancakes were (to which I replied, "In the container, just add water and mix!"), then other son coming into the kitchen asking if he could watch the Redbox movie we rented for free last night from Hy-Vee, my daughter responding to my husband who noticed her "Debate" t-shirt (it is NOT hers, it is a friends) "I am not on Debate! Debate ruins your life! You have to do Debate every weekend. . .(insert more debate bashing/ranting here)" to which I replied, "That's different from Drama, how?", and no less than 25 other interruptions. . .what I was talking about again?

Wow, I think that I would fail English is I wrote a run on sentence like that in a paper! But that is what my life it, a long run on sentence, filled with "rabbit-trails" and interruptions! No wonder I am always staying up until 2 am finishing school work! Right now the oldest is asking to be taken out for driving and parking practice. Like I can do that right now with 4 assignments due to day (ok, 2 are due tomorrow, but they are bigger assignments that I need to work on today), children that need to be fed, a house that needs to be cleaned, laundry that needs to be washed, dried, folded, and put away (like that ever happens!), dinner that needs to be taken care of (what do I get out of the freezer and make that will make "most" of the family happy), go to the school to help my PTA Wife run off some copies, clean out the sunroom, clean out the fridge (I am sure there is a science experiment in there somewhere. . . ), feed the kids lunch…maybe parking practice with a moody teenager in a FULL SIZE van would be relaxing. . .

Confession number two: I still don't remember what confession I was going to write about. . .

Confession number three: I need a nap now. . .

What I want to be when I grow up. . .

So, I was thinking today about what I want to be when I grow up, and I realized that there is a lot I want to be when I grow up. I was catching up with a friend I had not seen in awhile (they were over our house for dinner a week ago) and she encouraged me to write a cook book. She said that she and her family have been talking about how good the food that we made for our dinner together. Cooking is definitely a passion of mine. Some people, who shall remain nameless (Wuzza), HATE to cook and only do it out of necessity because their families want to eat. Me, on the other hand, I LOVE cooking and baking! I seriously could cook every day. . .if only someone else would clean up for me that is! Not cleaning the mess I make while cooking, that I can handle. My problem is the mess the "fam" makes every day. Cooking is great, but finding the room to cook around all of the mess- that I HATE with a passion! It is annoying to want to come make dinner and have to clean off the counters, load dirty dishes (and probably unload clean ones too!), and wash pots and pans BEFORE I can even cook anything. So, sometimes, even though I love cooking I don't because I don't feel like fighting the mess. Or, more often than not, I am too busy to clean the kitchen and THEN cook dinner. Maybe it is time to go back to a chore chart for the "fam". I am sure they would hate that, but that's life, right?!

I used to cook sit-down dinners every night, back when my father in law lived with us. I felt like he deserved a sit-down, family meal with a main entrée, a vegetable and another side (usually a starch). He was not really a demanding person, but he was "old school" and had certain ideas. Family dinners was one thing that he seemed pleased about, so we had family dinners almost every night, unless I was sick. Very rarely were the meals convenience foods, either. Most of the time they were good ole, homemade meals. My father in law lived with us for about 4 years- that is a LOT of dinners! I think after he passed away I needed a break and we went through a period of convenience meals and many nights of no real dinner plans at all! Now I have come back around to making more family dinners, although now with the kids being older it is hard to figure out when everyone will be home!

I have some standard recipe favorites that I make on a regular basis like: Chicken Splot Pie, Tacos, Spaghetti, Hamburgers, Stir Fry, Black Beans and Rice, Chicken and dumplings, Garlic Studded Pork. . .and others. And of course the standard desserts like Cheesecake (baked and no baked), Homemade Chocolate Cake, Oatmeal Choc. Chip Cookies, brownies, and Jell-O Cake. My kids think that I should try to become the "Next Food Network Star". . .but I am not sure if I could do that. I don't really have any formal culinary training. The closest I ever go was to send in a tape to the Rachel Ray show for her "So You think You can Cook" competition. I never heard back from her about that. . . Here is the link to the video.

Anyway, I have always thought about doing a cook book. Not just a book with recipes, but also with stories about the recipes and tips for the kitchen as well. Maybe I should just start writing one in my "free" time? I mean, it is not going to write itself, is it?

Other things I want to be when I grow up-

• Writer (not just cook books, but humorous non-fiction and maybe even a novel or two!)
  
• Bed and Breakfast owner (except I hate mornings so I would probably make it a Bed and Brunch. Who goes away for the night or weekend and wakes up at 7 am to eat breakfast?)
  
• Restaurant owner (not that restaurants don't have a high failure rate or anything. . .)
  
• Personal Chef
  
• Personal Shopper (grocery mainly
  
• Teacher (that is actually what I am going to college for. . .because I love working with kids and helping them learn!)

Visiting family

I booked my flight last night to go back to Maryland and visit the "fam". I will be staying for a week. During that week I will help my dad go through my moms stuff and clear stuff out. I think he wanted me to have an opportunity to look through her things. . .esp her jewelery. It will be nice to see family too. And of course I will visit my moms grave. I have not seen it with the headstone. It is hard to believe that it has been over 2 years since she passed. I still want to pick up the phone and call her. I am also trying to figure out if I will be taking a break next semester or not. We will see. . . right now I have to work on a paper that is due tomorrow. Oh joy!

Friday night. . .

Well, it is Friday night and I am doing what I seem to be doing every night, trying to catch up! That is the story of my life lately. I have had a migraine all week and finally got rid of it. . but the meds made me extremly tired! Ugh. I still need to write the introduction and conclusions to my research paper on technology in the classroom. I can not seem to get anything done recently! Oh well...I really must go write now. . .too bad I don't have technology that can do it for me!

Cooking. . .lots of cooking!

Well, I did a lot of cooking today since I had to make a couple of Chicken Splot Pies for people. One for my best friends family whose lost a beloved Grandpa, one for a friend of a friend who lost a beloved son (way way too soon!), and of course I made one for us and one for Karen because I can't make Chicken Splot Pie and not give her one! I also had an 8 and a half pound Pork Roast, so I cut off 12 chops and froze them in a Balsamic marinade and garlic studded the rest of the roast.

For dinner tonight we had Garlic Studded Pork Roast with baked beans and rolls. Most of the kids made sandwhicheds with the roast and rolls.

I think I might run away now. . .I can't even finish typing because the kids keep coming inside (they are out playing football in the nice weather) and complaining about EVERYTHING! UGH! Is it any wonder I can't think straight?

Oh well, cooking reminds me of my mom. And it was also a small thing I could do to help those around me. Since I can't bring back my friends loved ones, I can give them some small comfort in their time of need. It is what my mom would have done too. . .

Random stuff

Well it is almost 2 am, and I should be in bed, but I am enjoying the quiet- a rarity around my house! I am not, however enjoying the fact(s) that I am itching like crazy again (cuz I forgot to take my allergy meds yesterday), my house is a mess, my dishwasher is broken (agian!), I can not find a job that I can do while the kids are in school, and that my number 1 key keeps popping off of my laptop!

I am up so late (early) because I had an assignment that was due for school 2 days ago (there goes my 1 key again) so I had to finish it. There was also an assignment due today that I will have to do tomorrow cuz I was working on the one due 2 days ago! LOL. Why did I ever think that I could do this college thing againg with all the other things i have going on in my life? I an getting zero suppor/help from my family and truth be told I am going to call my advisor this week and just tell her that I can not continue after this semester because I am too stressed and also because I need to find a job. The phone is ringin off the hook from 8 am until 9 pm. UGH!111111 (key again!!). I am not a quiter, but I just can not continue on this way, I am so stressed right now. I suspect that may be why i am getting hives. I don't know, but it could be.

Between the one car for 7 people, the college courses, the bills that are due, the house that is always a WRECK, the obligations at the school (volunteering), and the gazillion other things i have going on, I am wiped out all the time! When is it going to be time to focus on me. . .probably never, so I should just get used to it and stop trying!

I have never inhaled. . .

Someone asked the other day why no one cared about Michael Phelps smoking pot. Well, that is an interesting question. I actually do care. Yes, I do care. Everyone says that he is just a kid and it was a mistake. Okay, I get that, really I do. But, lets me serious, not everyone has inhaled. People say that "everyone" has tried drugs or alcohol. Well, I am here to say that is NOT true. I have never ever inhaled or even touched the nasty evil stuff! Drugs are just stupid and there is no redeeming factors about them. . .at all! Alcohol is a different story, since it is legal. I don't have a problem with people who have a drink now or then. I personally just do not drink. I did try one drink on my 21^st birthday though. . .just did not like it. Don't like the smell or the taste.

 

My problem with the Phelps thing is this, he is not a young teenager. He is 23 years old, he is old enough to know better. He knows that he has a TON of kids who look up to him. I think his apology was lame. Dude, you have worked so hard for what you have gotten and you awe gonna throw it away so you can get high!? What the heck were you thinking! Was winning so many gold medals not high enough? Really! Give me a break. Grow up already. I have a feeling Phelps mom kicked his ass when she saw him after she found out though. . .she seems like the type who would do that!

 

FYI to my kids. I will kick your asses if you EVER try to do the same crap. Just don't even start it. . .EVER EVER!!!!!!!!!!!! There is NOTHING COOL at all about it! Find other ways to get your "kicks", please!

and the Craziness continues!!!!!!

Here is a random pic of Catherine's 15th bday party. Just had to post it.. .lol

Right now my head is stinging from the Ovide lotion (although it is more like a liquid really...) that I applied to my head a few minutes ago. If you do not know what it is used for...well, I will just say it, it is used to KILL LICE (and I really hope that it works and kills those nasty buggers! All 5 of my children and myself have had those nasty little things and come on now, after almost 2 weeks. . . I am SO OVER it already! Mix in one child with strep, 2 college courses with work that needs to be done (it does not matter that I have to pick lice and nits out of every one's head, including my own!), physical therapy for my knee and back, normal household chores as well as extra with all of the sanitizing of bedding, clothes, couches, carpets. . .you see where I am going, right? and yes, the craziness does indeed continue.

I am trying to play catch up on my school work and for the most part that is going OK. One of my instructors is not being cooperative though, but what can you do, right? I am really enjoying the courses I am taking and until this "speed bump" I was doing well. But of course with the lice making their appearance I have gotten way behind in EVERYTHING (I mean WAY more than normal, people!)I just do not have any extra time at all to do anything. As a matter of fact, right now I should be doing: laundry, dishes, cutting and organizing my coupons, planning my weeks meals, school work for the week, PTA stuff, faxing receipts to our health insurance so we can actually USE our medical credit card (would have come in handy on the 100's of dollars that has been spent on killing lice), taking out trash, doing the exercises my physical therapist gave me, going to bed (ha ha, yeah right. . .can't do that until all of the kids go to sleep. . .I could go on and on here really. But I am writing this blog post instead, because maybe someone else will read it and not feel so bad about that CRAZINESS that is going on in their life at the moment. Also it feels good to be able to get it all out of my head.

Testing

Testing Microsoft Word Blog Creation

So, I saw my good friend Karen using Microsoft Word to create a blog post and I thought I would try it. . .you know since it has been a LONG time since I have posted anything on my blog! So here goes.

I have had a very crazy few weeks. . .but what else it new around here, right? I have been taking online college courses since September and for the most part, I LOVE it. I am still learning how to make ME a priority. I am so used to making everyone else a priority, but the fact that I am even taking classes is a step in the right direction I think. So in addition to my college I also have my PTA obligations, my kids, the house, etc. Needless to say, my life if very busy. Over the Christmas break I told myself I was going to "get ahead" in my college work since I get my assignments at the beginning of each course. Well, of course, I did not even touch any work over the "break"; I just relaxed and spent time with the kids (and tried not to lose my mind!). The first week back after break I had a PTA meeting on Thursday. Monday-Wednesday I was pretty much out with a monster migraine. I mean, I was in bed and feeling like I was going to throw up it was so bad! So Thursday's meeting came around and since it was the first one after vacation we did not have a whole lot on the agenda. The meeting was fairly short and the next day we were going to hand out treasure to the kids who brought "Trash 2 Cash" items.

Friday morning my oldest daughter knocks on my bedroom door, waking me up. She and her brother are old enough to get themselves up and ready, so I do not get up to see them off to school. When I open the door she tells me she found a "bug" in her hair. I asked her to show me and she said that she threw it. So I checked her hair and did not find anything. Of course I was barely awake though! So I told her to go to the nurse's office when she got to school. Since it was almost time for me to get up, I turned off my alarm and got dressed. Then I woke up the other kids and started getting them all ready for school. Right after all of the other 3 kids were gone on the school bus, I got a call from the school. It was lice and I had to come pick her up. WHAT! YUCK!!!! So I called the other kids schools. . .all 3 of them to inform them and have the other 4 kids checked. Then I went to pick up the one who had a confirmed case of lice. On the way I got a call from one school saying yes it was lice and another saying no he is fine. So I stopped at the last school, the one I was supposed to be at anyway, to see if the kids had been checked yet. School had not started yet, so they were just getting checked. One had it, one did not. So I took the one with it with me and then picked up the other one with it. And so began the LONG week. I am so tired of picking at kid's hair I cannot even begin to explain! And I am very, very behind in my school work, which I should be doing now as a matter of fact. But I am very tired. This evening I went to Water Zumba class and then spent another 2 hours at the pool with the kids. I was not swimming after the class though, I was looking for a place to plug in my laptop so I could do some work. Then I got sidetracked talking to people from church. The church we have not been too in like 3 months or something. But that is a blog for another day. Right now it is time to go to bed. I just heard the timer on the washer so I can put the clothes in the dryer and go to sleep. Maybe one day the kids will actually remember before their bedtime that they HAVE to have clothes washed for school. Yeah, right! I can dream can't I?! I love this pic and I just wanted to see if I could insert a picture using this application. . .LOL

Reflection

Wow. One year ago tomorrow my FIL passed away. I still can't believe it. It was such a surprise when he fell and then when they found the cancer. It was only a month from his fall until his death. So much changed in that short. . . and long. . .month! I really had not fully processed my mothers death, actually I am not really sure if I have now, almost 2 years later!

I still feel tremendously guilty about starting to work at the school last year. It seems like right after I started the you know what hit the fan! I mean literally, I got the call about his fall while I was at the first staff meeting for the school. I still seem to be filled with fear when I think about it. I am very reluctant to actually take another job too for fear something similar will happen. Not that I am just over-run with a lot of "extra" free time or anything. I am over-run with a LOT of bills though. . .amazing how everyone wants their money at the same time. . .lol!

I am sure that I need to talk to someone and try to move past this, but I just don't have the desire or the time!

Apparently I am SASSY!

Apparently I am Sassy now that I got my hair cut! Who knew? I am just glad to not have to take care of that head of hair anymore!

Today was a pretty good day - I actually got some things accomplished. PTA meeting tonight went pretty well too. Now I have to plan the agenda for Thursdays meeting for the other school! And figure out what I am going to make as a treat for the meeting. Maybe my homemade oatmeal cookies- those could be made ahead of time and will still be good.

There is still a LOT I need to do around here and at the schools too though. Never seems like there is enough time to do it all. I am busy busy busy. Now if I could only find a way to still do all of this and get paid! Maybe one of these days!

I found out that one of my fellow PTA board members and friend is going to move to California at the end of the school year. Her husband is in the Army and is being deployed to Iraq in about a month. They decided to not move until school was out for their kids- so they could finish the year at least. I know she is going to have a hard time with her husband being depolyed and still trying to take care of her family. She has also had a bad year health wise too. I will have to do what I can to help her and her family cope with the changes they are facing.

Well, time for me to do some PTA stuff before I check the WOOT and then go to bed.

I need to blog more. . .

Maybe now that I have a laptop I should blog more. I will try. . .

Well, I have been feeling pretty crappy lately. Migraines, aches, stomach stuff. YUCK!! I need to try to figure out what the heck is going on. But I seem to be too busy to do that! UGH!

today one of my neighbors brought home my youngest son and told me that he was seen with a rock in his hand at an abandoned house in the neighborhood and that there had been lots of kids vandalizing stuff recently around there. WHAT! He is 7! Boy is he in MAJOR trouble! He says he did not throw any rocks, that his friend "knocked" it out of his hand. HMM, not really buying that. Not buying that he the one doing all the vandalizing either! He will be under lock and key for awhile, I can tell you that!

I have a lot of stuff to do around the house and at both schools that I volunteer at. Tomorrow I think I will focus on the house, especially folding and putting away the baskets of clothes in my room as well as getting my old regular computer hooked back up so the printer can be used. The back up battery went haywire or something.

I can't believe that it has been a year almost since Wally died. It seems so long ago. And my mom died a few months before that. I wish I could just talk to her again, and I know that my sister would LOVE that too. she is having her first baby soon.

Life is busy. . .good, but busy

Well tomorrow will be the start of the first full week of school. We are still tying to get into a "groove". The kids are not going to bed on time, which means I do not get to bed ontime. Then of course there was the Olympics and as always. . .WOOT and WOOT-TV!! Last Monday was back to school night and we had a picnic sponsored by PTA where we had 100 pizzas. It was crazy busy, but it seemed to go well. Not this coming week, but the week after on September 4th will be our first PTA meeting. So far we have had a good number of parents volunteer or express interest in joining PTA. . .this is awesome news. Most importantly we had someone say she would take over the newsletter! YIPPEEEEEEEE!!!!

I have been busy with PTA stuff and have also done some stuff on the house, although I have a LOT more to do.

Ralph bought me a laptop, which I am on now! YEAH! How sweet is that! Now I can do what I need to on the go! YEAH!

Well, prob time for me to check the laundry and get ready for bed since I have to be at the school early tomorrow for making copies and helping with speech screenings.

Walking with Dinos 1 video of 5 (I think)

Taken with my phone, so quality not the greatest

Weight Watchers

I started Weight Watchers last week, and I am both excited and terrified about it! I am so looking forward to the reward of loosing all the weight I need too, but I am not looking forward to the work. So far it has not been too much work though. I am doing well on the Flex Plan. I lost 2.2 pounds my first week on WW. Well, I have to get up early to go choose RIF books, so time for me to go to bed. . .

Been a long long long time

When someone asked for my blog address today, I realized that it has been way too long since I updated this! I have been SUPER busy lately. Story of my life I know. Right now I have a son who is home sick with Asmatic Bronchitis who also happens to have a broken leg. His cast comes off on April 30. . .I can't wait and I am sure that he can't either! He is being great about it all, but honestly it makes more work for me and I if I am at the school doing PTA stuff I have to make sure to be home to make his something to eat etc. That is only this week since he has been home sick, normally he is at school and I just need to take him and pick him up.

As always, I have a TON of stuff going on in PTA land. The 3rd and 4th grade breakfast is Monday and I am still calling parents to get them to make things for it and coordinating everyting. A couple of the other kids are not feeling well either, so just seems like I am doing a lot more juggling this week. This next month is going to be SO busy with the breakfast, then RIF, then Grandparents Day, and the carnival, and yearbooks need to come in and be passed out and of course the ever present Trash 2 Cash races. If you do not know what that is, here is a link. We are winding down for the year and still have a TON of items coming in. We have submitted Box Tops for Education several times, but still have to count Campbell's Labels for Education, Tyson Labels, Best Choice and Nestle labels. Makes me tired just thinking of it. Box Tops makes it so EASY to submit items. The other companies have annoying requirements. I think we will be dropping Tyson next year. We do not get enough of them and we need to submit 1000 I think before they will send anything! The kids love it though, and hopefully next year we will have more help so it is not just me and Jana doing it ALL!

Well, off to buy a birthday gift for a party tonight. More updating later. . .

Update

what is happening now. . .