Is This Normal?
The chaos that is the KerbersArchive for daycare
Not just Ems anymore
Unfortunately, Ben is now hacking, too. I had really hoped that maybe we could avoid the whole family getting sick before vacation, but it doesn’t seem like that’s going to happen. Emma did go back to daycare today, and she wasn’t feverish or feeling too badly, but she’s definitely not healthy by any stretch. Her cough is just so bad. And, as I type, I hear Ben coughing as much or more as his sister. 
I’m really hoping that the fever won’t come back for Ems and Ben will avoid getting it at all. Keep your fingers crossed for us!
Poor Ems
Emma barfed again this morning, so she was home from Danielle’s today. The poor little girl had 103° temperature at one point, and she was just so droopy that it really broke my heart. Dave stayed home in the morning, and I came home from work in the afternoon to stay with her. We pumped her full of Motrin and Tylenol trying to keep that stinkin’ fever down. Luckily, she had a really good nap and seemed to be a bit perkier after that. I don’t think it’s anything more than a bad cold, so we’re not planning to go to the doctor anytime soon. Hopefully it will run its course, quickly, though, because she was pretty miserable today.
Home daycare day
Sadly, Danielle has been sick the last two days, and hasn’t been able to watch our kids. Yesterday Grandma Kerber was able to sit for us, which was a huge help. Today, though, I stayed home from school to watch the kids. Ali and AJ’s mom Addie was in a bit of a bind, so I told her that she could bring her kids over here, too. So technically, I was operating a home daycare at the house today.
The day started at 6:40. Ali & AJ arrived while my kids were having their breakfast, and they had brought theres along, so they were all up at the table eating together when Dave came downstairs to leave for work. “You’re crazy,” he said. “Good luck!!” With that and a couple of kisses good-bye, he was out the door and I was left completely outnumbered by toddlers. I was confidant that I could do this, but I wasn’t sure how easy it would be.
Actually, I was very pleasantly surprised. The kids entertained each other very well. There was no meltdown from Ben when I said that we were turning off the TV after breakfast. They all went downstairs and just played, played, played. AJ especially loved it down there, because there are so many cars, trucks and tractors that he could drive around. The big kids were excited to play up in Ben’s room for a while. It cracked me up to listen to them chatting away up there through the monitor. Just before lunch I did turn on “Merry Madagascar”, a Christmas cartoon we taped the other night, so I could fix everything. And after lunch, the big kids must have been re-energized because they were all crazy! By that time poor AJ was so tired that he just wanted to go to bed.
But…we had to stay up until it was time for Ben to go to preschool. We all loaded up in the van (which was NOT an easy job, let me tell ya) and headed to Tomorrow’s Promise. I met Addie’s mom there to drop off Ali & AJ, and Ems and I took Ben into class. After he was settled we headed home so Emma could take her nap. By 1:30 it was actually silent in the house, and let me tell you I was very thankful for this.
I’ve always known that I am not the stay at home Mom type, but the occasional day home with the kids is kind of fun. However, I now know that there is absolutely no way I could ever be a daycare provider in my home. I did it for 6 hours and I thought I may lose it a couple of times. My plans for getting laundry done, my Christmas cards stuffed and stamped, and dinner made were all dashed because I was so busy keeping peace and keeping the kids entertained. And that was with the kids all being mostly well-behaved! (When I say mostly, I mean that Ben and I had to have a few “talks” throughout the morning…the other three were all very well-behaved!) Anyway, I guess a day of perspective is good for us all. We’ve always appreciated Danielle, but right now that appreciation is at an all time high!
Fun times at NCHS
The NCHS Family, Career and Consumer Leaders of America (FCCLA…what used to be called FHA) sponsors a babysitting night at the high school once per month as a fundraiser. We’ve debated taking the kids before, but to be honest, we get most of our babysitting for free, so it’s sometimes hard to shell out the cash for it. But tonight I decided that it was finally the right time. I thought the kids would have fun there, I knew Dave and I could use the time for more Christmas shopping, and of course it’s a great cause. So off to the high school we went tonight at 5:00 p.m.
It’s always so funny to take the kids somewhere in the evening. Of course it’s already dark at 5:00, and they think that means it’s late. Emma said, “Ooo…it’s VEWY wate!” as soon as we pulled out of the garage, even though we hadn’t had dinner yet. Cracks me up. Ben was so thrilled that we were going to his ”old preschool”, and as soon as we got inside the room they both bee-lined it to the toys and forgot all about us. I was a little concerned about Emma being happy the whole time we were gone. Lately she’s been a bit of a mama’s girl, and I wasn’t sure that she’d make it through the whole night.
Three hours later we returned to the high school to pick them up, and of course neither of them wanted to go home. They had such a great time playing with new toys and with other kids. Ben’s face was beet red from running around with two other 4 year-old boys. I should have known that we’d have nothing to worry about…except getting them out the door to go home. That wasn’t an easy task. It was a great night for all of us. Dave and I got almost finished Christmas shopping for the kids, the kids had way more fun than they would have at home with us, and the FCCLA got a donation to help fund their trip to the state convention. Well worth the $20 it cost us.
Emma’s poor face
Poor Emma has had more facial injuries in the last year than many kids have in three times that long. Yesterday everyone at Danielle’s was walking down to the bus stop with Danielle’s daughter Anna. Of course, Emma was running at full speed when she tripped and fell face first onto the sidewalk. The result? Another knot & bruise on the forehead and a scraped up nose & upper lip.
She’s so tough, though…the official word from Ben was that she “cried hard, but not for very long!” That’s my girl.
An actual babysitter
Tonight we sheduled dinner out with our friends Dan and Glenda Stewart. Dan was Dave’s best man at our wedding, and it had been far too long since we had seen them. For any of you who don’t know, Dave’s best friend from high school Mark was killed in a grain bin explosion when we were 20. Dan and Glenda are Mark’s parents, and Dave stayed close with them even after Mark’s death. So when it came time to choose a best man, Dave knew he wanted Dan.
Anyway, we finally got our schedules connected, and planned to go out pretty early to beat the Saturday night restaurant rush. Typically we can make plans whenever we want because Aunt Theresa is always happy to have the kids over for an evening. However, Aunt Theresa had her high school reunion tonight, so she couldn’t babysit. I convinced Dave to let me have Danielle’s daughter Grace come babysit for us. I knew we’d feed the kids before we left and we’d be home before their bedtime, so really it was the perfect babysitting job to break her (and us) in.
Dave was a bit nervous about it all, but I was really proud of him. He didn’t freak out too much, and he kept himself pretty calm. The kids were really excited to have Grace come to our house. They never even thought twice about us leaving…it was bye Mom and Dad…have fun!
Of course everything went fine. The kids had a ball and Grace handled things beautifully. I’m so happy we had such a great first time experience with a non-family member babysitting. It was a good thing for all of us, I think.
Thank God for Danielle
Yesterday morning my friend Addie came over to our house for a play date. Her daughter is Ali, Ben’s very best friend. She also has AJ, who is almost 18 months. Ali and AJ go to Danielle’s during the school year with Ben and Emma, so they are all very close. Often times, the four of them act more like siblings than friends…they bicker and they bug each other but they defend each other more and have missed playing together this summer. So we got them together to do just that.
Now, I’ve written about how much we love Danielle, and how we think she’s probably just about the best daycare provider on the face of the planet. But yesterday proved it. Addie and I were going crazy trying to keep everyone happy and calm. There were honestly a couple of times that the chaos and noise was so great that we just stood there, looked at each other, and burst out laughing. About halfway through the morning another friend Karrin dropped her daughter Anna Klare off here because she had an appointment to go to. That made our total five kids, and you would have thought it was 50. I don’t mean that Anna brought more chaos to the mix at all…it was already nuts well before she got here. They were just all over the place, and they didn’t want to stick with any one thing for very long at all. One kid would want to go outside, and the others would want to go in. Two would want to play downstairs, and two others would want to go upstairs. Then Ben would just go off and be by himself, and all Ali wanted was for him to play with her. Like I said…chaos. Seriously, getting lunch was nearly impossible for me and I had another adult here to help me! It was exhausting.
Both Addie and I commented on how incredulous we are at Danielle’s ability and her demeanor. After one morning of all of the kids together we were both frazzled, yet she does it every day and never appears to feel that way. Thank God we have her, because I know I could never do it all myself! We really do feel blessed to have her in our lives.
One day more!
Ok, so it’s nothing like the French Revolution (my post title comes from Les Mis in case you don’t get that reference) but there is only one more day of school for the 2008-09 school year! Woo hoo!! Sure, I’ll be working most of this week, but it’s just so different being there working when you don’t have to be there. Even Ben is noticing that it’s just plain time to be done. He’s asked me several times in the last fews days if I’m almost done with school. It’s weird…he loves going to Danielle’s, but he’s just ready for summer break.
I hope everyone makes it through our first week home together. There’s always an adjustment period for us all to get acclimated to the summer schedule. I know for me, the most difficult part is getting used to the lack of adult conversation. I think for the kids, the hardest part is getting used to Mom being in charge instead of Danielle. I think she’s way nicer than I am! Well, way calmer at the very least. In all honesty, though, I am really looking forward to summer break. I will really try to cherish the time I have home with Ben and Emma this summer, because I know it will be all too soon when I will wish they would just be home more!!
The egg hunt
Today we went to an Easter egg hunt at Christ Lutheran Church. No, this isn’t our church, because of course we missed the egg hunt at our church. I mean, seriously, who holds an egg hunt in the Saturday before Palm Sunday? They’re supposed to be the day before Easter…duh! But anyway, I digress. Danielle graciously invited us to Christ Lutheran, their church, for their egg hunt. We felt a little bad going since we weren’t members, but she insisted that it would be no problem.
I have to say that this was a very impressive event. The kids were really excited that Grace and Anna, Danielle’s daughters were there. And it was awesome for us, too, because they were great helpers for our kids. 
There were three different stations that the kids rotated through…a windsock craft, coloring eggs, and making a snack. The snack station was really cool, because the ladies talked about how Jesus’s body was put in the tomb (represented by a marshmallow put inside a tube biscuit that had been smashed flat) and then treated with spices (represented by cinnamon in which the dough was rolled) after the body was put in the tomb. But then, as we all know, after three days, the body was gone. With our snack, after they were baked, the marshmallows were gone, too! It was pretty cool. Then we went to color some eggs, which made me very nervous with Emma.
We just modified it a little bit for her, and it went pretty well. Next was the craft project, and Ben made a really cute windsock celebrating Easter. Emma just colored, which was fine with her. Danielle (who was in charge of the event, I should mention) read a story to everyone, and then the snacks were out from the oven and ready to eat! Once everyone was finished with their snack, we were ready to start the hunting.
Even though there were a lot of kids, the egg hunting went well. The day was beautiful, even if it was a bit chilly out. The clear blue skies and bright sunshine made it so much more fun. They clearly announced how many eggs each child could find before we left the building, 
and I think that everyone pretty much stuck to their quota, which was nice. I guess that’s the benefit of going to a church related egg hunt instead of a park district one! 
The morning was a lot of fun for our kids.
My day off
Today we had off for a “board holiday”. I can’t believe that our district actually gets away with that, since everybody knows that we’re really off because it’s Good Friday. Separation of church and state, right? I feel badly for anyone who is not a Christian. After all, we don’t take any of their holy days off. But whatever…I’ll take a day off.
This truly was a day off, too, because I took the kids to daycare like any other Friday. But I didn’t waste the day at all. After dropping them off, I hit Wally to get groceries. It was pouring when I came out, which sucked, but it was nice coming home to an empty house to unload everything. Isn’t it funny how the little things are so exciting when you have little ones around? Anyway, after putting everything away, I hit the basement for a day full of painting. The doors and door frames to the bathroom, the storage area, and the bathroom closet were all still plain wood or primed surface and yes, it had been almost a year since we put them in. So obviously it was a job way past due.
While I love painting, I forgot how tedious so much brush work is. Ugh, the doors are all six panel and the frames of course have three different sections, so there wasn’t much I could do with the roller. But it was a really nice day. I’m almost done…two of the doors need a second coat of rolling, but that shouldn’t take too long. It’s another step to getting a completely finished basement. Someday it will happen…I just know it!
