Hope4Peyton

Peyton has developed this ongoing no/yes relationship with school….already. I feel like telling her that she has many years yet to go, so get used to it. Then I can almost hear her in my head saying “I survive cancer to be forced to go to school? Are you kidding me?” Yeah well, that whole sympathy thing wears off eventually, I guess.

She has this thing she does every night just before bed. She asks the question “Where are we going tomorrow?” This started back during the early days of chemo, when we were going up to the clinic 5 days a week and she wanted to be mentally prepared I suppose. She was also checking to see if there was anything fun on the schedule, the CCC, a playdate, Grandma time, whatever…if the kid had a Palm Pilot it would be embarrassingly busy.

But now, every night she asks “Where am I going tomorrow?” And I tell her “School”…”No, I’m not”…”Yes, you are”….”I don’t want to go to school”…and it always ends the same way “You’re going to school or we stay home and you hang in bed all day”…”Fine, I’ll go to school”.

The thing is, it’s like there’s some strange force field of happiness around her classroom. She pulls back and I have to tug her across the threshold of the door, but once she’s in – she’s all “oh yeah, I like this place!” She’s adjusting well to the more organized structure of the classroom, she follows instructions pretty well, she’s already got the rhythm of the day down pat and she’s figuring out the whole cold lunch thing.

Very proud of her. Totally over that whole emotional fit of leaving her at school.

Monday the kids and I headed south to Bradenton. Each year the [url=http://www.leukemia-lymphoma.org]Leukemia and Lymphoma Society[/url] holds a nationwide fundraiser called Pennies-for-Pasta. I hope all of you parents have heard of it because your school participates in it. The Olive Garden restaurant chain is the sponsor of this fundraiser. Each school commits to a 3 week change drive and the classroom that raises the most money gets a wonderful catered in dinner from Olive Garden to their room. Last year, out local schools raised just under 300,000$!!! So, it’s amazing what kids can do with the change that falls into the couch, in the car, in the laundry.

Each school district has an Honored Hero that represents their efforts, they raise funds in honor of that child. Peyton is the Honored Hero for the Bradenton area. You might be wondering why she’s not the hero for the Brandon area, seeing as how she has made it her mission in life to ensure that the Brandon store never goes out of business. Well, there are lots of Leukemia kids in Brandon and our very precious friend Sierra will be representing our local Brandon schools. Bradenton has 4 schools participating this year, I’m absolutely thrilled that Brandon has 34 schools participating!!

On Monday the kids and I went down and met with the people from the schools who are participating and got to explain a little about our life with cancer, how Leukemia has touched us. Our hope is that in meeting a family who directly benefits from the L&L programs, the research they fund, it will help put faces with the disease and let the kids know that cancer isn’t just a grown-ups disease, that kids their own ages are get it too.

We are hoping for a fantastically successful event for each school. If you’re interested in having a Pennies-for-Pasta event in your area, PLEASE contact the L&L, it’s not hard and it’s a fantastic way to teach kids the value of a compassionate heart.

Peyton announced at dinner that she loved Cody Bertoch…again…but this time it was followed by the words “I’m going to marry that boy.” I’m sure that Peter is going to just love that!

Today I had a special treat! Peyton and I got the kids off to school and instead of heading straight to Little Tales, we went by the hospital to pick up Mathew Gliddon’s little brother Andrew. We had the wonderful pleasure of taking Andrew with us to Little Tales for the morning. He is one of the happiest kids I’ve ever seen, he’s got the shiniest eyes and I forgot how exciting everything is at 2. It was nice to be able to do something to lighten the load for the Gliddons, and I ended up having the best time with Andrew.

Just in case you were wondering, I don’t want any more kids. But I would totally adopt Andrew if they ever decide to put him on the market.

After dropping Andrew back with his family, Peyton and I got to join Kay and Dana Bertoch and our newest friends Susan and Presley Dickson for a wonderful mall excursion. We ate lunch, we window-shopped for shoes, it was fun. Poor Presley is in the throws of a long round of steroids and I remember those days well. The 5 day pulses that Peyton does are not always fun, but they are nothing compared to her during the 21 day rounds. There were days I would stand in the shower and just cry and cry because I couldn’t take the changes that happened to her. It was emotionally, physically and psychologically draining for both of us, not to mention the rest of the family who walked around in fear of tripping some mental wire that would set off the grenade that was STEROID-PEYTON.

I’m so glad those days are behind us, but I’m glad that because we went through them I can look the parents in the eyes and say “You’ll make it…it goes away…the changes aren’t permanent, your child will someday be human again.” I remember when that big wrestling guy went berserk and killed his family and the news announced that he was on steroids and they thought it was part of the cause.

Nathaniel looked at me and, all wide eyed seriousness, “Peyton’s not going to kill us is she?”

I don’t make promises I can’t keep, son. I hope not.

I got a call from the school today about Rachael. Poor kid. She apparently got her fingers slammed in a door. Three fingers from her left hand slammed on the first knuckles. They’re a little swollen and they’ll be bruised up but she’s bending them and no complaints. But the call that I got was “RACHAEL’S HURT! She blah blah blah blah blah.”

Is she bleeding? No. Is she still crying? No. Can she move her fingers? Yes. Did you ice them? Yes. Does she need to go the ER for any reason? No.

Why are you people calling me!?

No, really, I’m glad they let me know ASAP, but she was fine when I talked to her and although her scream apparently scared the living daylights out of every person in the middle school building, she is a-ok.

One of the middle school kids walked up to me after school and said “Your daughter can really scream.”

Yes, I know, it’s good to have skills to fall back on in case college doesn’t pan out for her.

f.r.o.G….fully relying on God
–Anissa

A lazy weekend is a good thing in my book. Rachael took off to Grandma’s house on Friday night, where she spent her time being singly focused upon and spoiled rotten. Things every girl needs. It hit me this week how much I wish that I had the time with Rachael that I’ve been blessed to have with Nathaniel and Peyton. The middle child thing really stinks in that regards. I had three uninterrupted years with Nathaniel where he was the golden child and I’ve had the last year and a half with Peyton being with me while the older two were in school. I sort of wish I could just take Rachael out of school and spend precious one on one time with her.

She’s such a fascinating child, I’m eager to see the person she’s going to grow up to be. For those of you who’ve never had the pleasure of meeting Rachael, the girl has a belly laugh that just captures you, her smile forces you to smile back, whether you want to or not. She’s funny and goofy and a cuddle bunny and I’m so proud of her for all the wonderful qualities she possesses. She’s adored by her classmates for her kindness and her funny personality, she charms adults with her sincerity and her capacity for compassion is astounding when you see her with the kids from the CCC. She is such a grown up 6 year old, her understanding of people blows me away.

Plus she’s the only person I know that can bowl from side to side and that’s pretty cool all in itself.

When I got Rachael back on Saturday, after a shockingly quiet Friday with just two kids, we headed out to go bowling. I am very proud to let you know that I soundly trounced my kids, and I didn’t even use the bumpers. I’m not above talking a little smack to a 9 year old. We had so much fun during our game, Peyton’s reaction every time the ball made it all the way to the end of the lane was pretty priceless. The process of watching it sloooooowly roll it’s way down, propelled by the breeze of the air conditioning vents alone was painful, but as the ball would nudge the pins at least one would fall. And the rejoicing began….she jumped…she danced…she yelled, “Oh yeah, I rock!” Everyone around us would stop and watch when she bowled just so they could enjoy the aftershow dance.

Rachael pulled a few amusing stunts on the lane. One was when she got her arm twisted all crazy on the release and instead of the ball going down the lane, it actually just bounced back and forth from bumper to bumper. I’ve never watched someone bowl horizontally before, it takes talent. The other was scary, not only for me but for the poor kid bowling in the lane next to us. Rachael likes to take a running start at the lane, and she gets going pretty speedy. This time in particular, she ran up to the release point but decided she didn’t have enough speed, so she stops, backs up and starts to take off at a dead run. I started to say “Stop running”, but all she heard was “Stop”. So she did, and let go of the ball.

About 5 feet from the actual lane.

Because there was no bumper yet to control the direct right angle of the ball, the kid next to us had to jump in the air to miss her ball…which caught the corner of his bumper…careened down his lane…and scored him 4 pins.

Bowling, the Mayhew team is the only one that requires you to wear protective head gear and an athletic supporter.

I’m disappointed to let you know that the CW44 apparently doesn’t live web-stream their episodes of Bayside. That’s the show that Peyton and I were interviewed for on Tuesday. I’m also a little disappointed that I didn’t TIVO the correct showing on Saturday morning because I don’t have it there either. I’m going to do what I can to get a copy of the taping, but who knows! In case I don’t get it up any time soon, I was terribly articulate and dramatically poignant, in fact the entire crew was a sobbing mess when I finished. I may get nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award.

I am so lying! Besides the fact that the crew was one person, I think the taping went well and I was coherent at best. Peyton was a wiggling mess, so hopefully she was cute enough that no one noticed that I lost my microphone down my shirt. We’ll see. I don’t think Katie Couric’s sweating her job just yet.

f.r.o.G…fully relying on God
–Anissa

Noggin = cable tv channel with a target demographic of the preschool gang

What Noggin says – “Hey kids, here’s a wonderful craft that you can do that will be fun and it’ll make you smarter and cooler and all your friends will be jealous of your amazing skills.”

What Noggin means – “Hey, parents, here’s a craft that will require you to have a degree from MIT, a background in physics and the technical support of NASA and you will still come out looking like the most incompetent parent EVER!”

My girls happened to catch such a craft segment. It was so cute, the little British girl with her neat accent, her crafty little craftiness all cute and crafty. She must have been all of 5 years old and my kids have not yet learned that there’s a lot to be said for television editing. The project itself didn’t seem that difficult but it was made to look as if she did the whole thing herself. Which my girls brought to the conclusion that they too could perform these amazing feats of art!

A full carton of eggs later, I’m yelling, “Just let me crack the stupid eggs myself!”

“Oh, mommy, you said stupid, that’s not very nice.”

Yeah well, I’m covered in egg yolk, we’re down to three eggs and I wasn’t feeling very nice towards the eggs.

The trick is that you have to crack the egg in such a way that you just cut off the top leaving the bottom in one piece. Try after try ended up with eggs mushed to pieces, not even usable for cooking because the egg has been delicately devastated. The girls are just ridiculously put out because they can’t make the “egg head” with only a shell shard, they have to have the whole stinking egg shell! Then you’re supposed to paint the egg shell to look like a face, stuff the inside with wet cotton and sprinkle seeds on it that will grow into a form of hair. Mind you, the editing issues? It didn’t say “5 DAYS later”, NOOO they went from sprinkling the seeds to the fun of cutting all the little sprouts like a funky egg hair stylist. My girls are staring into the egg, waiting for the seeds to shoot up. Again, disappointment all around.

I loathe Noggin. This is totally their fault. I might have to write a letter and send it in an envelope with a dozen smooshed eggs.

Something I forgot to mention was the amusing experience of going through the self-checkout with Peyton. We had to make a trip to Wal-mart to buy her school supplies and we took our cart full of loot to the self-checkout lane. If you’ve never done that, in particular with a 4 year old, you should make sure you have an extra 45 minutes and do it right now.

A few things you need to know. The whole process relies on weight, you scan your item, then you put your stuff in the bag and it weighs each item and it knows if you put the right number of items in the bag or the right thing in the bag. It’s VERRRY sensitive. If you burp on the scale then you can’t proceed without assistance from an employee.

So, I hand an item to Peyton with the barcode face down so she can rub it on the scanner and it beeps and then she bags it. It was a slow tedious process but she lit up each time the scanner made a noise so I couldn’t take this new experience away from her.

Scan, beep….error….scan, beep….error…..scan, beep….error. I could see the Wal-mart employee assigned to the brainiacs using the self-checkouts was getting seriously annoyed with us because she kept having to come over and correct the errors. Finally she looks down and tells me that Peyton’s hand is on the scale and that’s throwing off the monitor. In a tone of voice that would have had me giving my kids a solid swat on the butt. But she was a lot bigger than me and I think she could take me.

So now I’m handing her the items, holding her hand so she doesn’t rest it on the scale, trying to ensure that no dust falls from the ceiling and lands on the scale and throws off the entire order of the universe. We finally get everything scanned, bagged and in the cart and I turn to get my wallet and I hear the machine start beeping furiously! There’s Peyton, bag in hand, rescanning items and putting them back in the bags. Now I have to go back and recount each item and make sure that the Wal-Mart chick takes off the items that we’ve already scanned.

When we finally get done, we have successfully purchased our items and the Wal-Mart chick looks at us and says, “You may want to go through a regular checkout next time.”

I glared at her and said, “Next time, I’ll bring all three of my kids and let each one have their own cart!”

Peyton is at school right now, so I’m able to post during the daylight hours again. It was a struggle to get her off to school this morning. She was tired because we had our family group meeting at the Children’s Cancer Center last night and it means she gets to bed late, almost 10 PM. She decides that she’s not going, she wants to go to the gym with me and then to Cracker Barrel. She’s decided that the sub-par eating arrangements are reason enough to give up this whole school endeavor. I can’t wait to see how she does during steroid week because she’s likely to chew off the arm of the kid sitting next to her and I’m almost positive that could end up in a time out. We’ll see how it goes and if needs be, I’ll just keep her home with me on the roughest days of that week.

That is the nice thing about it being preschool. If she feels cruddy as she sometimes does after her big chemo day she can stay home, if she’s totally steroid raging, she can just skip a day or two. But I want her to be there as much as possible, it’s good for her to be in an organized learning environment. I’m all about her being oppressed by the MAN. Get used to it!

One thing the teacher told me was so sweet. Tuesdays will be our days that Peyton doesn’t do school, it’s her normal clinic day and we will continue to do Little Tales that day as well. Tuesday was the first day back to school, so not thinking about me already telling her that she wouldn’t be there, Mrs. Longanecker had the kids all hyped up for Peyton’s arrival. She had her name on the table, the cubby all ready to go, the kids were anxiously awaiting her arrival….and then she didn’t show.

She got there on Wednesday and you’d have thought she was the flipping Rolling Stones parading in. Apparently her reputation proceeds her because the kids were all happy to have her there, super nice to her, wanting to show her this or that….or they were just excited for fresh meat…or they’d been warned that she’s wicked crazy when she’s on steroids and they were unsure if she’d unleash the demons on them…but they were so full of kindness that she went to the teacher and said “These kids, they’re bothering me.”

Like, can you get my secret service detail to come in and make sure these little people mind my personal space boundaries??

When I left her in the classroom this morning, she was giggling and playing with her two little buddies, Jenna and Avery. I guess she’s learning that these “kids” are ok.

f.r.o.G…fully relying on God
—Anissa

**HUGE Thank you to God for Mathew Gliddon’s bone marrow results on Thursday!! I bawled all over my keyboard at the news that he’s in remission now!! Sweeter words are rarely said. Now that he’s reached remission he’ll have another month of treatments then they’ll head north to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for his bone marrow transplant. His baby brother is the perfect match for him, so it’s awesome that all this family has been through, some miracles are really starting to happen for them.

The glee I felt when we drove up the school this morning was so overwhelming that I had to curb the urge to just boot the kids out the door and peel out of the driveway! But as glad as I was to see us getting back into our normal schedule, I was a little sad that our fun free time was over. That’ll wear off quickly.

Peyton and I headed for our first Little Tales of the new year, it was FANTASTIC to be back with our CCC crew. Peyton was in her glory today! She asked to watch Hairspray and they didn’t have it at the center, so one of the staff ran out to Walgreens and bought it….ok, can we say spoiled brat?? Yes, they ran out to purchase the movie she wanted to watch. But it was apparently totally worth the money because she sang and danced and recited movie lines for the whole gang. This child can sing every song, she knows every move, she’s a Hairspray fanatic!

I got a chance to chat and laugh and just enjoy my time with the other moms. I’ve missed that. I’m going to miss it a lot. A LOT!!!

After Little Tales we were chauffeured by Kay and Dana Bertoch to St. Pete where we participated in an interview with CW44 Station. We talked about pediatric cancer, the upcoming Pediatric Cancer Foundation’s Breakfast of Hope and what shape our lives have taken since cancer touched us. I will freely admit that I got a little crazy with the talking again, too much to say, so much to get across and just blabbing nonstop. It didn’t help that I had Peyton on my lap doing her best impression of a mime….all nutty faces, hand gestures, and animated antics. But I think most of what I wanted to say was said, and I hope it does the job it’s meant to. It’ll show on Saturday morning!

Tomorrow is a big day in our house!

Peyton starts preschool.

She gets to put on her big girl backpack, carry in her lunch – which is an interesting dilemma because she’s convinced that I’m going to show up with scrambled eggs and hot dogs and green beans for lunch…she is sadly mistaken – and go off to school like big brother and sister. I’m so proud of her, this is a huge milestone for her…and for me in some ways….I’m not only letting my baby go to school, but after having her attached to my side for the past year and a half, I’m going to be alone.

Do you hear that?? That sound in the background? That’s me tapdancing!! Whooo hoooo!

I’m excited for my new freedom, but I know that my mind is going to be completely obsessed with her and how she’s coping and if she’s being nice and if she’s scared of the new situation. I know that she’s ready and she’s not going to have any problems adjusting, but I still worry, even through my excitement.

Pray for the littlest princess as she heads into new and uncharted territory, long may she rule the preschool!!

She has a clinic appointment for counts in the afternoon, she’s looking a little pale to me (paranoia rears its ugly head again), but I’m sure she’s fine.

Many prayers for Mathew Gliddon, tomorrow is also a big day for him. He’ll be having a bone marrow aspiration to see if he’s reached a state of remission yet. It’s so desperately important that he has, he is unable to move into the next phase of treatment for the bone marrow transplant until he’s in remission. He is having such ugly side effects from this last round of chemo, yet he remains strong, is trying to eat and is doing what these kids do so bravely, he fights.

Please pray for Nikki Hawkins, she has scans today and we are asking God for good clean results!

Matt Ermish underwent a horrendously long surgery yesterday at Sloan-Kettering to remove Neuroblastoma tumors all over his body. Today he is in pain but recovering and there will be a second surgery soon to remove tumors on his spine. Keep this tremendous young man in prayers.

So many need our prayers and I encourage you to take the time to go to God in thanks for his amazing goodness, remembering that his is the only plan.

Benefit Dinner and Concert

Honoring Mathew Gliddon & Family

Mathew is a 5 year old Leukemia patient. Karen (his Mom) is an instructor for Music with Mar. , she has been the instructor at FreshStart on Fridays for the last year. All proceeds of this evening will go to his family to help with medical expenses. Karen and her husband Mat also have a 2 year old son Andrew. Each week here at FreshStart Karen has brought many smiles to the faces of the lives she touches, both toddlers and Moms.

Where: FreshStart Church
13810 Wright Circle, Tampa

When: Friday, January 18th 6:00 pm

Dinner and a concert featuring Music with Mar. and a silent auction.

Why: To honor Mathew and his family

Contact Charlene@freshstartchurch.com or 727-376-1114 if you have any questions.
Tickets

8.00/person or 23.00 /family for dinner/concert

4.50/person or 15.00/family for concert only @ 7:15 pm

f.r.o.G…fully relying on God
–Anissa

ps….if you can’t make it to the benefit, but would like to donate to the family or have items that you would like to offer up for the auction, please let me know!!

Most of the weekend has been great. We were able to have Jared Hawkins over for a sleepover Friday night that was tons of fun, made even better because he brought his Wii over and I strained something trying to beat him at tennis….I failed miserably. He’s a fantastic kid and he and Nathaniel are like twins, so it’s fun to have them together. I would have always thought that having two 9 year old boys in the house would be loud and rowdy, but they are just gems!

Saturday I got the chance to go to a wedding. Nicole and Bill’s wedding has been a much awaited event, and it was well worth it. I met Nicole and Bill at the Children’s Cancer Center because Nicole’s son Caleb has leukemia. They are the second couple I’ve had the chance to meet who got married after diagnosis…and it gives me hope that there really are GREAT men out there who take on that world of cancer and love that family so much that they don’t flinch from the amazing responsibility. Bill and Fred both have my undying respect for the tremendous love they have for their families and for the amount of heart it takes to undertake that burden of that magnitude, when it’s not theirs to take. I wish Bill and Nicole all the love and happiness two people can ever have.

The wedding also offered a great chance to take a breather and get down with some great friends. I commented to one of the other moms who was there from the Children’s Cancer Center that we were the only ones on the dance floor….we decided it takes a lot less for us to have a great time, we don’t need a reason to dance and get funky, we just need a place! It was such a great time and I got a little emotional during the night because I was smacked again by how much I’m going to miss all these special friends. But, because I watched Gone With the Wind the other night, I’ll think about it tomorrow.

Today looked good at the beginning. The kids and I got out the door to church on time, we had a nice lunch and we took off to the mall to look for shoes that Peyton can wear with her new foot braces. The braces are very awkward, they make her foot really wide and they’re cut to give her room for growth so they’re about a size bigger than her foot actually is. The length issue isn’t a big deal, but in looking for a shoe that could accommodate the width…you’d have thought we were asking for the holy freaking grail! We went to 6 different stores in the mall and ended up at the Stride Rite store. I hate to spend big bucks on shoes for a kid that’s going to outgrow them in 6 months, but they’re the only game in town if you need an XX-wide shoe for a 4 year old.

If anyone out there reading this post is or KNOWS of someone who is in the shoe manufacturing biz….please pay attention to this next part. Finding an XX-wide shoe for a preschool girl is like trying to buy a 52-DD bra….they’re only for function, no frills, no cute little extras, like…oh, I don’t know…a splatter of pink glitter or maybe a stripe of color! Not only did they bring me institutional white shoes that bear a resemblance to old fashion nurse’s sensible footwear, they brought me 4 pairs of boys’ shoes!!! Peyton took one look at them and you’d have thought they asked her to dip her toes in acid. She looks down her little nose and says, “THOSE are UGLY!” Ok, there Imelda Marcos, you only have so many options. I send the salesgirl back with the glare that says “You’d better come back with some relatively girly shoes or this child is going to lose her mind”.

She comes back 20 minutes later with two boxes. Both pairs are pink and white and they have passed the most basic Peyton-footware requirements. Then we start with the struggle to get her foot IN the shoe. I seriously thought I was going to have to invest in Crisco to get this child in her shoes each day! I pulled one way, the salesgirl pulled the other, we were both pushing on her foot and we finally got it in the shoe. Amazingly, once the foot is in, it’s a perfect fit, but it’s the knock down, drag out fight to get that brace in the stinking shoe that had us both in a dead sweat.

I finally had to get a shoe horn to help with the process but she reacted as if I’d suddenly popped up with a switchblade.

“What are you going to do with that!!!??”

I explain what it does and how it’ll help get her foot in the shoe and she puts her hand on my face and says, all seriousness now, “Don’t cut my foot off, mommy.”

The thing is, it broke my heart a little to watch her walk in them. Yes, she limps and hops and if you know what to look for you can tell that her feet aren’t quite right. But watching her walk around with the little braces up around her ankles, so carefully walking because she’s not used to walking “correctly”, it sucks that cancer robbed her of something as simple as being able to walk across a room without discomfort. The PT person told me she’d be awkward at first, she’d feel unstable because she’s basically teaching her feet, legs and hips to align properly and she’d probably suffer some aches and pains as the body works to correct the alignment. She looked like she was walking on ice, arms out to her sides and sort of fighting with the shoes. We start slowly, she’s supposed to wear them for an hour a day and then slowly increase the time as she adjusts to them. I guess in the grand scheme of things, it’s no big deal, but I hate those braces and what they symbolize.

This is where the day took a HUGE nosedive. I promised the kids I would take them to the bookstore…a GOOD bookstore….and we went to the Books-A-Million at our mall. We’re in the kid’s section, the girls are playing with a table of trains they have set up and Nathaniel’s playing his Nintendo DS and I’m just sitting….trying to catch my breath from that whole shoe extravaganza. This other little boy kicks up a conversation with Nathaniel and they start comparing Pokemon, sharing tricks of the games, talking a little smack…all good fun. Then this guy sitting across from us tries to join in the conversation. Now, I’m sitting right there, less than an arms-length from Nathaniel and this guy starts trying to talk to the boys. He’s asking them all sorts of Pokemon questions, talking about how good he is at the game, how he has all the newest games before they come out in the States because he gets them straight from Japan, how he knows how to get them for free. I’m looking at this guy, and I’m thinking “Wow, dude, you need to get a life! These are kids, they’re allowed to be obsessed, you’re a little crazy.”

But I have this weird creepy feeling about this guy, just watching and listening to his conversation.

He drops the bomb.

He says, “You know, they have those games here, and a really good Pokemon book section…I COULD TAKE YOU OVER THERE AND SHOW YOU WHERE THEY ARE!”

What? What was that?? They don’t carry video games in the bookstore. And did you just ask my kid to walk away with you??? Are you kidding me?

Ok…that’s the moment when Mama Mayhew came unhinged. I went off on this guy. I tore him a new one, I raked him up one side and down the other. It was ugly, but it was all I could do not to physically attack this guy. I grabbed all three of my kids and stormed off, I went straight to the manager and told him exactly what happened. I’m sure he already knew that he had a crazy lady screeching in the children’s department, but I let him know why. He went over and came back and asked me to describe the guy…would you believe that he was STILL sitting in the kid’s section?

They ended up calling security and having thrown out of the mall. I was so freaked out that all I wanted to do was get my kids the heck out of that mall. I practically ran out of there with my three in tow. Once in the car, after having a long talk with the kids reaffirming the danger of strangers and what not to do and what to do, I hauled butt out of the mall.

I kicked myself in the butt the rest of the afternoon for not calling the police and at least give a report of the guy and get his information. I may have totally over-reacted, but in my gut, I know this guy was up to something bad. I wish I’d taken the time to calm down and stayed long enough to see what security did, but I just wanted my kids safe and far away.

It took me a long time to calm down from that one.

The temperatures today were high 80’s…sorry all non-floridians-who-are-suffering-the-wintry-north. So, when Peyton told me that it was “freaking cold” in our garage, I was all “huh?” I went out there and it wasn’t cold….until I walked by our freezer. Oh yeah, it was pretty cold now…and wet….yes, it was cold AND wet….oh crap.

I hate toaster waffles. Do you know why I hate toaster waffles? Because my kids have to go get them from the freezer every morning and apparently one of them forgot to close the freezer door…just before we left our house for the day. So, Lake Michigan is forming on the floor, every last bit of food is at a nasty level of defrost and I just wanted to sit down and cry. The entire thing had to be emptied and all the food trashed, I figured it was as good a time as any to clean it out, so it’s now unplugged and slowly defrosting. I’m armpit deep in the freezer with a hammer and a screwdriver, pounding away at the built up ice and the kids are standing behind me like it’s the afternoon matinee.

“What are you doing, mommy?”

“I’m chipping the ice away so I can clean the freezer.”

“Who did it, mom?? Who’s fault is it?”

“I don’t know, but if anyone wants to ‘fess up, they’ll be bathing in what I pry off the walls of this freezer tonight!”

I got three adamant “Not me” responses. Go figure.

Again with the deep breathing and calming down. I think this is God’s way of reminding me how BADLY I need Peter here.

On the upside, I had a pretty funny conversation with Rachael tonight during bath time.

She wanted to know why Nathaniel’s eyes were “squinty”.

“Because Mommy’s Korean. Yours are slanted too.”

“No they’re not.”

“Yes, they are.”

“They are?”

“Yup.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re Korean too.”

“No I’m not, Nathaniel is.”

“What do you think you are?”

Ok…you ready for this?

“I’m PERFECT!”

Apparently, I’m living with a racist and didn’t even know it. Who knew you couldn’t be Korean AND perfect….all my lasting self-impressions are crushed.

In the light of such a heinous day, I thought I’d leave you with these great pictures of Peyton’s hair.

f.r.o.G…fully relying on God
–Anissa