Babysitters

I love having kids old enough to babysit the twins. I pay Eric or Erin $5 for babysitting when we go out for fun. I figure they can do service when we go out for church or school functions. Five dollars doesn't buy much though, they do a good job of keeping the kids safe, but they don't clean up like the rest of our babysitters have done in the past. I guess we get what we pay for though since we paid the others much more than a flat $5. The kids love when we go out because I usually let them watch tv or play video games for as long as they want and they eat lots of snacks. Eric and Erin both like earning the $5, so I am thinking of holding a contest to see who does a better job babysitting (cleaning up) so I can hire that babysitter more often. If they were smart, they would pay Zach $1 and he would clean up the whole house. Zach is the hardest worker I have ever met. He is awesome. Nathan is content to sit back and watch Zach work. He's going to make a great supervisor one day.

Today Mario and I took advantage of our wonderful sitters and we left this morning for a trip to Gila Valley to the new Temple. They took the boys to Sister Park's house at 7:30 so she could take them to school. Leaving early allowed us to make the 9:30 session and be back in time to pick the boys up from school. We would have made it back an hour early but we got behind a truck carrying an oversize load that took up the entire highway. To make sure no crazy person tried to pass, there were 4 state troopers escorting the truck. They finally pulled over and let all of the cars pass. We were really excited to finally get around the truck until a few minutes later we came up behind another truck with four more police officers. There were times we were going about 25 miles an hour on the interstate. Fortunately, we were only a few miles away from our exit the second time or we probably wouldn't have made it in time.

Hopefully we can do these Temple trips more often. It was so pleasant having a quiet drive with just Mario and not have four kids constantly asking, "Are we almost there yet?"

I Hate Fundraisers

The elementary school offers an "opt-out of fundraisers" program. If your family chooses not to participate, the school makes it easy by asking for a one time donation. For 1 child, they ask you to send a check for $30, two or more children...$50. I gladly pay my $50 each year so that I don't have to even look at these fundraisers that I despise so much. They begin with the ridiculous assemblies that get the kid all pumped up on winning prizes that look like they could be bought at the Dollar Store. What a waste of our education time! I don't know who they expect us to sell to. Our whole neighborhood goes to the same school. Plus, I would never sell to my neighbors, because I hate when kids come to my door selling junk.

Today, my boys went to the assembly and came home with the fundraiser packet. When we pay to opt-out, we are no longer supposed to receive the fundraiser information. Now we are going on an hour of Zach crying and whining because he wants to do the fundraiser. He really wants to win a duck by selling at least 12 items (I have seen the same ducks at the store for about $4.) So, I told him that he can take his own money and buy himself a duck if he wants one so badly. So now he is upset because I don 't want to hop in the car right now to drive him 20 minutes away to buy this dumb duck. He may end up in bed before dinner.

I am thinking about asking for a $50 refund. This is what I was trying to avoid when I wrote that check. What a rip-off!!!!

Ugly Shoes, Back to Work, and Kissing

I am sad because Mario goes back to work tomorrow, but at least I have had him home for 3 weeks. In a way I am ready to get back to normal and start volunteering again, but I will miss Mario. At least I know he will be coming home almost every night. He will still travel to Latin America occasionally. But I know he will love using his Spanish again so I am excited for him to travel.

Physical therapy is going well. I found out that I have a lot of things to change. I need to wear shoes with straps around the heels and I have to sleep on my back or side (no more tummy.) I also need a lot of work on stretching and building up strength in the muscles around my knees. Naps are a lot less enjoyable now that I can't sleep on my stomach. I have to be really tired before I go to bed at night so I can fall asleep on my back. Mario and I went shoe shopping last Friday night. I was hoping to find a cute pair of Merrells (if that even exists, they aren't the most attractive shoes) to replace my Merrell flip-flops. Instead, I picked up an ugly pair of Chaco sandals at REI. But at least my knees and ankles are happy. They look like $10 K-Mart shoes, but they are actually $95, but on sale for end of season for $70. Ouch!!! The return policy at REI is great so if I get too many people telling me how ugly they are, I can return them at any time. I read several reviews on line and it sounds like these shoes are indestructible. So fortunately (or maybe unfortunately) I should have them for many years.

In other news, today Nathan was watching Little House on the Prairie. He commented when he saw people kissing that he knew weren't married. I said, "Some people, like Spanish (or Hispanic) people kiss on the cheek and that's ok. That's just their culture. He commented back that he wanted to be Spanish so he could kiss people on the cheek. I always thought Zach was going to be the ladies man, but now I am thinking maybe Nate too. Funny thing is that Nate is already Hispanic. Unfortunately for him, that is not a cultural thing that Mario is teaching him. Maybe a visit to Mario's relatives in Miami will solve that.

Pity Party is Over

Today I went to my first Physical Therapy appointment since having my knee surgery. First thing the therapist told me was that I had "to stop the limping." I was a bit offended. Not like I was trying to limp. I was just happy to get around without crutches. But she was right. Limping hurts my back, hips, and other knee. So she explained that I have to re-teach myself how to walk properly. I have been very gentle with the incision area and she wasn't gentle at all. She pressed down on the area and got the blood flowing. It hurt pretty bad, but it seemed to help. She told me I need to straighten and bend my knee fully. If I didn't bend it, they would do it for me and she assured me it wouldn't be fun. So now I have lots of exercises to do at home and twice a week therapy sessions. The therapist said that when I go back to my five week follow-up apt with my surgeon, I should feel like I never even had knee surgery. So I am excited. Maybe that is enough motivation to actually do the home exercises this time around.

But the sympathy from Mario has unfortunately stopped. It was good while it lasted.

Bored to Death

I haven't had to take any drugs for pain since my surgery. But I am bored out of my mind. I thought Mario would entertain me, but he's too busy doing spring cleaning (just a few months late.)

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Knee Surgery

Today I finally had my knee surgery to fix the tear in my meniscus. I was nervous about being put under. But I don't remember a thing. It was great waking up a half hour after surgery and not even knowing I had been in surgery. Too bad child birth isn't so simple. I was able to go home within two hours of the surgery. Besides feeling a little drowsy, I feel great. I am even able to walk on it a little. We'll see how I feel tomorrow or when the drugs wear off. I am so glad to have Mario home to take care of me and the kids. The Dr told Mario I might be able to start running again in 2 or 3 months. Yeah!!!!

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The Last Week

I still wake up each morning excited that I wasn't dreaming and he really is home. It is so nice to not have to reach for my phone first thing in the morning to check my email for verification that he made it back to camp safe that day. What a relief!

We had a great first week. He had to spend a couple days at work in-processing. But he and I got to go to lunch a few times while the kids were in school. It has been nice to have some alone time with him during the day and then I don't mind sharing him with the kids in the evenings. Mario has been so tired from the time change that we have been going to bed pretty early. A few nights ago, we were sound asleep when the phone rang at 9:30. I answered the phone half-asleep. The caller asked for Mario and I forgot that Mario was back and I told the caller that Mario wasn't home. Then I saw Mario move on the bed and I said, oh wait, he is home. I am sure he was wondering why I didn't know if Mario was home or not. Mario got up to talk to the guy but then had to call him back the next day to repeat the conversation since he didn't remember any of it.

Mario was home in time to watch Eric and Erin's first cross-country meet. They both did so well. Erin has been waiting a long time to join cross-country. She loves running like Mario and I. Eric never seemed to like it but he would run an occasional 5k with us. I was surprised when he told me he wanted to join the team. My first reaction was there must be some cute girls on the team. Erin came in 6th place out of the 3 schools competing. It was amusing to see the little groupie girls that were following Eric around at the meet.

We took Mario up to Phoenix to the hotel that we had spent a couple nights at over the summer. It has a little water-park that is included with the room price. We enjoyed a night at the water-park and then an hour the next morning before we had to pack up to take Eric on a Youth Temple trip. Then in the afternoon, Mario and I were able to attend the Temple. The endowment sessions were backed up so they were looking for couples to do Sealings. That was so nice to sit across the altar from Mario. Then we got to spend a few minutes in the Celestial Room, something we had both looked forward to for 6 months.

It will be so nice to have Mario in church with us today. And then the fun starts tomorrow. I have my knee surgery at noon. Fortunately Mario has the next 2 weeks off to pamper me!