Accidental long weekend

 We had an accidental long weekend. I threw up Thursday night. Friday, I went to work for a meeting and then came home. I picked up the girls early and got groceries. We had a movie night on Friday. It was my pick, and I chose While You Were Sleeping, which is totally a Christmas movie. I made baked potatoes for dinner. 

As we were getting ready for bed on Friday night, I got an email informing me Ruby had a two-hour dress rehearsal on Saturday. Bleh. Saturday, I got her all ready in her ballet costume and perfect ballet bun. I dropped her off (it was a mad house) and walked the dogs and got ready. I came back to see the end of rehearsal. She is so cute as a little angel. 

After practice, we went to the library. I told Ruby she could get her very own library card and check out books (so long as she keeps them safe from our stupid dogs!). She was so excited. 

I made lasagna for dinner with yeast rolls, which the girls freaking loved. It was Ruby's turn to pick a movie and she picked Elf. Woohoo!

Sunday, I took the dogs on a walk. As I was leaving, I told Maggie to lock me out. I got back and not only was the door not locked, it had opened. My daughters were home, alone, with no alarm on, no dogs, and the front door open. I was NOT happy. I told Maggie that a kid had been killed by a FedEx driver, which I'm not sure I should have. Maybe that was too much; I don't know. 

I baked more potatoes and rolls for dinner. It was Maggie's turn to pick. I suggested Christmas Vacation, but she chose the new Santa Clauses show. It was extremely lame. 

Gingerbread house

 Ruby's teacher and their neighboring classroom decorated as a gingerbread house. Isn't that awesome?

I did it! A perfect ballet bun.

Laurie + Grayson

 Laurie and Grayson got married!

That cake stained everyone's mouths. Then, at 1:47 am, Ruby sat up and vomited bright blue EVERYWHERE. So, that was fun.

Asthma!

Maggie cooked dinner on Saturday. She made a cajun chicken dish. It was pretty good. She was scared to cut the onion, but she did, mostly. 

Nana and Gran came over to have dinner with us. We played Clue after dinner. It was so much fun!

Ruby told me this morning, when I woke her up, "Mom, I just want to hibernate." Me too, kid!

We went to ballet last night and. . . this Nutcracker performance is a whole thing. I have to learn how to do a perfect ballet bun. Plus, Ruby cut her hair all crazy and it all has to be in the bun so lots of hairspray, I guess. Her rat costume:

Maggie bought herself a new suit. She's very proud of it. 

Ruby was SICK! She slept basically for 36 hours. It was crazy. I guess her bootie was hot. 

I took her to the doctor. Her doctor said her constant, never-ending cough is asthma! Who knew? She took a steroid for several days to get her over the hump and she has asthma medication she takes daily, and an inhaler as needed. She definitely seems better so far. 

Glue

Maggie had a full weekend sleepover with her friends. I'm not sure about the girl's name because Maggie called her Mel, but the girl's mother called her Geneva. 

Ruby's school is doing a fundraiser based on acts of kindness. Her class won with the most acts of kindness in the whole school. Yesterday, our act of kindness was to pull people's recycling bin up their driveway for them. We were only going to do one or two but then Ruby wanted to do every single one we passed. So, yea, kindness!

Ruby has glue in her hair, and it WILL NOT come out! We have scrubbed it and scrubbed and it's still there. Someone at work suggested washing her hair with Dawn so I'll try that.

Halloween

 We had Halloween. We were supposed to carve pumpkins on Saturday at Laurie's house, but Jilli had a fever, so we skipped it. We went trick or treating on Monday with Grandpa and Joanne. It was very nice. The weather was perfect. 

I am SOOOOOOO proud of Maggie. She brought every one of her grades up. She got all As and Bs. I have been telling her as often as she'll listen how proud I am of her. I know it's hard for her. 

I have a lock on my closet door (that's where I hide anything like presents or Halloween candy). After I put the Halloween candy in there, Ruby kept getting it open. I changed the passcode two or three times and she kept getting it open. I could not figure it out. I really thought she was figuring it out (I mean it was only a week or so ago that she used the Amazon passcode to buy a movie). But finally I figured out, the door wasn't locking, no matter what. I was seeing whether or not the lock turned green or red but not just trying it. So, yeah. That closet is filled with Christmas presents but I moved the candy. Hopefully, that'll keep Ruby out.

Maggie was really mean to Ruby one morning, so that afternoon, I told her no more. I told her if you hit or otherwise hurt her, you lose the iPad for two days. If you are ugly/cruel to her, you lose it for a day. And that was it. She has been quite kind to her since then. Occasionally, I have to warn her but it's mostly better. 

Pink Ladies

 Ruby and I tried to watch Beetlejuice, but she got bored and wandered off. Oh well. 

Ella had a birthday brunch. Jeff and I sent this to Bobby to tell him hi.

Me and my SpEd team at work. We're the Pink Ladies.

I love this dumb, fluffy guy.

Ruby at school.

Her class got to help with morning announcements. That's the principal, Mr. Prange.

Maggie is doing well. She brought ALL of her grades up. I'm trying to teach her some life skills. I realized while reading the book that I do a lot for her and Ruby. Things that they are capable of doing. I just don't think about it. But, especially for Maggie, I need to put a lot back on her. Not all at once. I'm having her cook one meal a week. Today, she's making burritos. I'm going to try to help as little as possible.