We're all back into the daily grind at the Chicken Compound. Clara headed to kindergarten (public school) this year, just as her sisters did years ago.

Even though I wanted to keep her home with us, she was bound and determined to get on the Big-Yellow-Monster and she LOVES it! She has always been so independent it's no surprise, but it is a really long day without her (8:10-4:15).

A&M are in 4th and 3rd grades this year and I continue to homeschool them. They still go up to the Mosbys two days a week for science with Mr. Mosby. I have taken a 'gulp' big parental step this fall and let the two of them ride their bikes to science 'gulp-again' alone. They love it, but I watch them out the window as far as I can, which is two houses from the Mosbys (don't tell them!!).

This year has us traveling in all different directions. Allie is doing 2 ballet classes and a jazz class on Tuesdays (in Jordan), Molly is doing gymnastics on Wednesdays (in Auburn), Clara is taking baton lessons on Saturdays (in Elbridge), all the girls go to AWANA on Wednesdays (in Liverpool), and piano lessons for all are on Tuesdays (in Memphis). Plus Sunday School and bell choir for A, M and me (in Baldwinsville)!

If that isn't enough, I've been watching Aurora again 3 days a week so she gets to travel all around with us! The girls absolutely LOVE having her here and they actually take great care of her (especially Mommy Molly). Plus she's good motivation for getting school work done!

I just hope that's all a good enough excuse for my lack of posting in my journal!!!

Emerson's all boy...and we love him!

I'd close with a picture of Molly's EIGHTH birthday  except my husband has the camera with him at work!! Oh well, we had a great party Sunday with lots of family and friends!

Tom heads to Ompah this weekend to close it up for the winter with 'The Boys'. At least I'll get to see my brother in passing!

Last night we wrapped up our Vacation Bible School week. I can't believe how fast it goes. The kids all did great at the evening show, and I'm guessing they had a good time. The theme this year was "Beach Party - Surfin' Through the Scriptures" and my girls had all helped paint (large) cardboard surfboards for decoration. Naturally (??) we had to bring them home last night...but when we got home, those three girls worked on all their 'surfin' moves they had learned during the week: helicopters, paddle-paddle-pop-up, hang ten, and wipin' out!! Then they covered their boards with blankets in the living room and watched a movie. What does one do with 3 giant (refrigerator-box size) surfboards in their living room???

Today is busy, busy...

Mom is moving!! It's only 2 streets 'over', and 2 streets 'up' from where she is now, but a move is a move and there's a lot to be done!!! She closed on Thursday, but isn't scheduled to sleep in the new house until Tuesday because of work that needs to be done. She's having movers do all the boxes and furniture, but any loose stuff or open boxes she has to move. So we're heading over midday to do what we can.

That's because our Ompah vacation starts TOMORROW!! 16 glorious days on the lake in the cabin - YIPPEE... However...today I have to get ALL my shopping done for the trip, all my laundry from the last week, and all my packing... So...

I'm wrapping up for now, if you're looking for me before August 6th...GOOD LUCK!!!

Just a quick note to those of you who are nice enough to comment !

From now on, I am going to have to 'approve' all comments. Not because I want to, but because somehow people I don't know in cyberspace are getting on my blog and putting obnoxious solicitations within my journal.

I am about as far as you can get from being 'computer-literate', so I don't know how this is happening. The only way I can figure out how to stop this is to require my approval before comments are posted.

Rest assured, as long as I know you, I'll okay the comments (even if you pick on me - Mom and Dawn!! )!!

I've been a mom for 9 1/2 years. June 25th I witnessed the first stitches of my motherhood life. UGH!! As the story goes... I was unloading groceries and the kids were lolly-gagging in the van and apparently Clara decided to help Emerson get out of his car seat. She had successfully removed him from the seat, but when she attempted the transfer to the ground, it all went awry...!!!???

I did not witness it, and did not even notice the blood at first, but somehow in his exit,  it appears he whacked the left side of his head, just over his ear, on the side of the van. It was a good size cut, but not obviously in need of stitches. So we treked to a local emergency care facility and sure enough, they put three stitches in.

For the record, he did MUCH better than his mother!! The nurse brought me a chair after 2 stitches because she said I was white as a ghost. Yup...I don't do blood well!! 

HOWEVER, for the record (and in my defense...), I will never be convinced that he was totally numb. He was strapped up in the baby-velcro-body-suit so he couldn't move and the doctor and nurse kept saying, "He's just mad because he's confined, he can't feel any of this." Yet the ONLY time he made ANY noise was the six times the needle went in and out of his head...Hmmmm??!!

But still, the immense blood didn't help my light-headedness! I only have two pictures, because all I had was my phone. Plus my loving husband, despite his best efforts, did not arrive until 45 seconds after EVERYTHING was done!!

But, here's my munchkin before (note body bag behind):

And (spoiler alert) here's the close up. I have since been welcomed (many times) into life as the mother of a BOY!!!

All's well that ends well. He had his 18 month check up today and the stitches are out. Oh, and they're in the diaper bag pending their move to the baby book... What is the matter with me??

Clara Jean finished her second year at Baldwinsville's Presbyterian Nursery School last night. After two great years, she said good-bye to her friends and teachers (and don't tell Daddy - her boyfriend, Colton)!! One of the saddest things about sending her (and A&M) to preschool in B'ville is that their friendships don't continue into kindergarten. She'll be the only one in the JE school district. But I just LOVE the school, so we just start over in kindergarten!! One of the moms did take everyone's e-mail address, so hopefully we'll get the kids together a few times over the summer.

Here's the graduate with her proud Daddy and Great-Gramps Al!!

Clara & Colton at their class picnic last week (don't tell Daddy...)

I love this blogging thing and I love that I have people in my life that enjoy reading it, but I hate the guilt that I feel when I am so lax in updating... But anyway, rest assured the Derby Compound keeps busy...ALL THE TIME!!

April highlights:

*We took trip to Kentucky where we met Donnie, Leeanne and Ireland for five days at their 300+ acre getaway. Unfortunately the 'STOMACH BUG' hit nearly the entire house, so all said and done, we had about 36 good, healthy hours together.

*On the way back from KY we stopped in Erie, PA at a place called 'Splash Lagoon', an indoor water park. Much fun and thanks for the awesome handmade bathing suits Dawn!!

*Allie had her end of the year dance recital. She performed in ballet and tap routines, as well as the finale which was a really cool number to 'Thriller'. She's growing up so fast and is so graceful on stage!

*Allie and Molly got a 'Memory for Life' when they went to work with Daddy at the end of the month. The PBA put on a great day-long activity-packed event that the girls (and DADDY) loved. All except the part where they actually TASERed someone...Not so nice for the Derby girls.

*Clara Jean turned FIVE!

 (This is what she creates in her spare time!)

May highlights:

*Tom and I went to New York City (in ONE day) for a Yankee game on a tour bus trip. The Yankees won!!

 (Aren't we GEEKS!!)

*Emerson had his first trip to the dentist...

 (I know...this one is BAD!!)

*A&M marched in the Jordan Memorial Day parade. Emerson and Clara (and Daddy) had a ball watching!

 

*Allie had a second dance recital for the Ballet class she took all year on Saturday mornings, again, amazingly graceful. As Tom said so eloquently while I was filming her, "How can she run and jump around the house like a clod, and look like that on stage?" Nicely put dear!

 (2nd from right)

*My good friend Dawn and her husband Scott FINALLY adopted their daughter Jasmine!! Yippee! (Jasmine has been a foster child in their house for 2 1/2 years!!).

 (The WHOLE family!!)

*All three girls won book-completion awards for their work in AWANA this year. We're so proud of them!

Is that enough for now???

Well it was 70* in January, but up until today it seems like it's been snowing since August!! Anyway, this winter seems to want to hang on for sure but I got to reap the benefits on Saturday.

My friend Dawn and her husband brought two of their daughters to our house on their snowmobiles Saturday afternoon to play. By a strange fluke Tom didn't have to work Saturday night, so when it was time for the girls to go home, Dawn asked me if I'd like to go out on the sleds with her!!! OF COURSE!! I have only been snowmobiling once, a few years ago when my dad took me to Ompah for a 48 hour AWESOME trip when we spent most of a whole (gorgeous) day on sleds.

Anyway, I digress. Dawn and I suited up (me wearing her 11-year-old son's bibs and helmet, since I don't have my own) and headed out. What a BLAST I had. We went up and down our road and all around her property (56 acres!!). Then we went into the little hamlet of Jack's Reef to a 'joint' called The Port of Call. (Scary drunk dudes in there, man)! But we had a couple good burgers, fries and mozzarella sticks with all the other 'snow' people, and made our return trip. (Oh, that was after a very nice man in the snowmobile parking lot started my sled for me!!!)!!!

If winter's going to last, we might as well enjoy, eh??

 So last night, the girls are in bed, Tom's working on the computer, and Emerson is playing in the living room. I walked out of the bathroom and I see/hear that Emerson has played with the phone and it's off the hook. As I hang it up I notice there are 6s all across the screen. Nothing noteworthy, right? Well, I take E into his room to get his jammies on and the doorbell rings. It's 10:15ish... I bring E out of his room in only a diaper and glance out the window to see who's at the door. It's not someone I recognize through the falling snow, so I yell to Tom to answer the door and I head back into Emerson's room.

Suddenly Tom yells from the kitchen....

"HONEY, DID ONE OF THE KIDS DIAL  9-1-1???"

Intrigued, I head back into the kitchen with Emerson, and there's a sheriff's deputy standing with Tom. I explain, as I'm retrieving the phone, that I had recently hung it back up after Emerson was playing with it.

Upon further investigation, those 6s I had earlier seen...were prefaced by... you guessed it....

9-1-1!!! Fortunately the officer was very understanding!

 For Christmas my mom gave me (us - she & I) tickets to the Syracuse/Georgetown game which was yesterday afternoon. It was some of the BEST basketball I've seen at the Dome, and it was a great win for the Orangemen!! It had been a long time since I'd been there, and we had a great time. (In spite of a VERY drunk-obnoxious-foul-mouthed woman in the row in front of us!!). The ride in was a breeze, thanks to some great advice from one of Mom's colleagues. I left my house at 10:40 and met Mom at a thruway exit. She drove in, we parked, took a short walk, hopped a train, walked a hill (pretty good trek), and were in the Dome by 11:35 without incident, amidst a crowd of 30,000+!! I had a beer in hand by 11:45!! We stayed to the very end, watched an enormous crowd storm the court, walked back to the train station, hopped on for the 5 minute ride, and were home within 45 minutes of the end of the game!! That was the way to go for sure!

As life goes, it took some last minute scrambling (and begging) to be able to go. The original plan was for Tom to watch the kids while I was gone from 10:30 to 3ish... BUT, he's been sick for at least a week, and ended up being scheduled to work a double Friday AND Saturday nights. That meant he would have worked 16 hours, slept 2-3 tops, watched the kids all afternoon and headed back in for another 16 hours. Fortunately (where the begging occurred) Dad stepped in and, with some help, managed to take great care of the crew - even a sick one year old!! They even managed to get Allie to a birthday party scheduled from 1-3!!!

Many thanks to all, I enjoyed my day out!! GO SU!!

Emerson had his first haircut today!! Interestingly enough, Allie was the only other child that needed a haircut so early - they have been blessed with the thick hair early!
Before:

After:

He looks like a little boy now! BUT...WHAT A DIFFERENCE between boys and girls! Now, my girls were never angels when it came to haircuts (of course M&C were twice as old as Allie), BUT NEVER was there so much squirming and head turning and carrying on as Mr. Emerson did!! My poor hairdresser was still trying to fix parts she didn't like as we were walking out the door! UGH! 

But at least it's done, and I have hair for his baby book that wasn't cut by him or one of his sisters... Two out of four ain't bad...