Is It Naptime Yet

Easter was a little odd for us this year. As I look at the pictures I took, I think of all the pictures I didn’t take. Like the eggs we dyed, or the girl’s baskets, the girls as they looked through their baskets, wait I wasn’t awake for that, or even one of the girls after the egg hunt. Yeah, it was an odd year for us, but I had a sinus infection and Lilah was sick, so I’ll use those as my excuses for why it was so off.

Saturday we went to my parents house to dye eggs. This year Glenn had his daughters so we were able to dye eggs with most of the cousins. (Minus Zarina and new baby Poppy.) Ajay is eleven, I think, and Kaycee is 8, but just barely. She gets her height from both parents, and is super tall for her age. She’s about the same height as Howie, who is 10 1/2, and if you look in the pictures and see how tall Howie is compared Lilah and Eden, you’ll get an idea of how tall Kaycee is, and she’s only 2 months older than Lilah, though Lilah gets her height from her short parents. (We’re both the shortest of our families.)

Eden waiting to dye some eggs, and those eggs in the cartoon have not been dyed. We were given some green eggs from Jon’s boss, and decided to try dying them. They turned out pretty cool. If only I had taken a picture…..

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Sorry it’s dark, but that’s just the lighting. (Howie, Lilah, Adrienne, and then Kaitlyn.)

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Kaycee, AJay, Eden and half of Howie.

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Kaycee and AJay.

It was a fun little afternoon and I wish we had arrived earlier, or stayed later, but only because we weren’t able to be there on Sunday, but we wouldn’t know that till Sunday afternoon rolled around.

So on Saturday I was not feeling well. I was getting a sinus infection, and both girls were suffering from allergies. I slept on the couch that night because my head hurt, and wanted to be propped up. Lilah woke me up twice in the night, complaining of her stuffy nose and needing to use the bathroom. (I had a weird dream where I yelled at Lilah because she had gotten up like 4 times and I wasn’t getting any rest.) Some time in the early morning Jon came out and I moved to the bedroom.

So Easter morning both girls wondered out and checked out their baskets, I guess, because I wasn’t there! I was a little upset about this, but Jon wanted me to get my rest since I was feeling terrible. I’m thinking I’m going to make an Easter curtain, so they have to wait for me next year.

The girls were both suffering allergy like symptoms that morning and Lilah was not feeling well, so we had oatmeal for breakfast instead of cinnamon rolls. Jon went on a hike, and I had to teach a class, so the girls went to church that day. Lilah was not feeling well, but I thought it was just allergies, so after some convincing, she went to her primary class. I checked in on Lilah after that hour and she looked terrible and she was then running a low fever, so she was experiencing something more than allergies, and we all went home.

Once home we had the egg hunt right away, then lunch. Lilah got sick after eating an egg and since I wasn’t feeling well with my sinus infection, we decided to stay home rather than go to my parent’s for dinner and another egg hunt. We watched Tangled, which the girls got in their baskets, for the second time that day, and Lilah and I took naps on the couch, so really Jon and Eden watched Tangled. Cereal was our grand Easter dinner. Jon ate lots of candy, while the rest of us ate very little.

Eden poses for the camera.

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Lilah charges out.

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Ignore the dead bush and tall weeds. Just look at the cute girls.
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Like I said, it was a very odd Easter.

(Monday I went to the doctor and got a z-pack, so my sinus infection is clearing up nicely. It was bad and tonight I might finely sleep in my own bed. Lilah felt better by Monday, though both girls had terrible runny noses and coughs that continued till Tuesday. Today we were finally able to join the land of the living and venture out, though we still have some stuffiness.)

Here’s the mail it never fails, it makes me want to wag my tail and yell MAIL!

I no longer have a preschooler, and I only watched that show when I was at my parents, because we don’t have cable, but it was my favorite thing. I loved that show. (Blues Clues just in case you don’t know the song.)

Well, checking the mail is a fun thing in our house. The girls love to check the mail, and a couple years ago we think Lilah left Jon’s house keys in the mail box, which caused me to be really freaked out as I waited for a locksmith to come change our lock that afternoon. So now we’re pretty careful and make sure we get the keys back in our hands.

Anyways.

On Saturday Lilah checked our mail. As she came back into the house she was so excited. “There was only one piece of mail and it’s for me!” Receiving mail is few and far between for our children, so I thought it interesting and checked the return address. It was only the address, no business name, and it had “Return Service Requested.” Odd I thought, and Jon and I both gave each other questioning looks like, “Who is soliciting our kid?”.

Lilah teared it open with glee and Eden patiently looked on and asked what it was. “Hey, there’s another envelope,” which she promptly threw to the floor as she tried to get to the letter’s contents. Then she looked at the letter with a puzzled face, and I hopped over to read it.

It started off:

Account#:***********
Las Vegas- Clark County Library

Total Due: $220.26

We have made attempts to contact you about the lost materials and/or outstanding fines on your library account and have received no response.

“Oh, crap!” I think. The library books that we checked out earlier in the year, and I had just thought a couple weeks earlier, that I needed to return, had finally come to haunt me.

The letter went on, if we returned them, the fees would be removed, but we’d have to pay a $10 collection agency fee.

So I jumped in my car and went straight to the library with the 8 books.

I joked that I had received the “letter of shame” and one of the clerks responded, “Oh you received one of our death threats.” I returned the books and paid the fee on Lilah’s account. Supposedly everything is taken care of, but I can’t help but fear that I’ve really ruined something for her. Like there will be a note that this person has a tendency to not return books on time. Or as Jon pointed out, the collection agency’s fee will be on someone’s record. Just what a momma wants to hear.

Anyways, I’ve never been so happy to pay a fee at the library and will never hold onto books for so long, or better yet will return or renew them so they’re not late. It’s true that there is no late fee on children’s books, but that doesn’t mean you can keep them forever.

They will come after you.

So lately I’ve been spending lots of time with my friend Anna. We’ve just begun the sewing adventure that is costuming a play and so far I think we’ve only been annoyed with one another one or two times, maybe more for her….

Besides the shopping and planning for costumes, we also see each other on Mondays, since she teaches musical theater for my home-schooling co-op. I think her son is finally liking me, though it’s only when mommy is around. It’s amazing how little we saw of one another for a while, since we were both stay-a-home-moms and had nothing to do. Yeah, we were both pretty busy for the first 5 months of Alex’s life, and have finally started seeing one another regularly again. (I mean we saw each other, but not nearly as much as we use to see each other.)

Well, yesterday Anna had me come over to help with some of the costume stuff. I often don’t know how much of a “help” I am, since we have a tendency to talk and debate things, and talk. So yeah, I’m sure it’s more entertaining, but I’m also pretty sure it takes more time to have me “help” her. I often end up taking care of Alex, so I guess I’m at least helping in that way.

At first I didn’t want to head over to her house because it was her husband’s birthday, and as a school teacher he gets home early. She was saying we had at least an hour to do stuff before he got home, so I went over, since I’d be returning to an empty home for the evening, because Jon was on a work trip, and I didn’t really want to go home anyways.

We got a few things done, then Kevin came home. I was not wanting to hang out too late, so my plan was just till around 5, then I’d go so they could enjoy themselves. Since Anna knew Jon was gone she asked if I wanted to stay for dinner, but I didn’t want to intrude, so I said no. Then eventually she mentioned it to Kevin, and the girls and I ended up staying for dinner.

We ate outside then took a walk to a park near their house. This was to let the girls play, but also to get baby Alex asleep. We stayed till just before sunset and headed back to their house. Then it was time to pack up and go, after purchasing tickets for a play we’d be going to with them. Right before I left, Kevin gave a very sincere, “Lacey you are always welcome in our home.” and I no longer felt like an intruder upon their evening.

It’s funny because I welcome people coming into my house, but for some reason it can be harder going to a friend’s house. I guess it was more the spending time with them while the spouse is there, even if I’m friends with the spouse, I don’t want to be the 3rd wheel bringing along some spares. It was a good evening and I’m sure it was fun for the girls. They played outside, we all played Sorry while Kevin barbecued, and there wasn’t a grumpy mom in sight.

Once home, Eden went right to bed and Lilah and I stayed up waiting for Jon’s call. It was a little late that night since he had gone out with his co-workers, so we both got to spend the night in good company, even if it was separated from one another’s company.

I enjoyed my evening with Anna, Kevin, and baby Alex, and look forward to spending time with them and Jon, sans kids, in a couple weeks for our double date.

It’s nice to have good friends.