Oh my gosh. I just received the most hate-filled email from an LLL Applicant I've been working with for about a year. She's quitting her application and wanted me to know it's basically all because of me. Ouch! Seriously, I have never known anyone to have had such negative feelings towards me (and if there is anyone else out there please don't tell me). I won't go into details because of confidentiality, but let's just say I'm fairly assured that I'm the target of misplaced blame and can safely say I'm in a healthier place both mentally and emotionally than this mother. I just hope she's able to get to a place where things are better for her. At this point, I think it's a very good thing that she isn't trying to help and support other mothers.

Last night I had several subjects I wanted to rant about, and I tried three separate times to actually complete a blog post with that ranting. There was a different reason each time, though, that it just didn't happen. Probably a good thing in the end.

This morning was the last summer story time. It seems odd that summer activities are starting to wind up, but I guess around here there are only 20 more days until public schools begin. The younger neighbor girl is over, she's kind of just playing by herself with our toys. I guess no one wants to play together. Cole is exhausted. He was up really late last night and too early this morning. So was Ella. At least everyone is fairly personable right now.

I've officially discovered that I don't do well at this point in pregnancy (37 weeks today) when extreme heat and/or humidity is involved. It was in the 90s yesterday with dewpoints in the 70s, one of those days where you start sweating as soon as you step outside. In the afternoon, we took Accalia to gymnastics and ballet. Ella had fallen asleep shortly before we had to leave, so I carried her outside to the van without her even waking up. Then she slept through dropping Accalia off and me getting her out of the van and bringing her back inside. I don't know if it was a combination of the heat, humidity and carrying around 40 plus pounds of dead weight, but I promptly threw up once I had set Ella back down to sleep. Maybe I was a little bit dehydrated and didn't realize it. At any rate, today is supposed to feel a bit better outside.

Accalia and Cole played out in the sprinkler while Cory watered the garden and plants last night. A lot of things are blooming later this year simply because we didn't get around to planting until late May or early June. We'll see what we get out of the garden. We have pumpkin plants galore (with one huge sunflower plant in the middle of the pumpkin patch by the shed), tomatoes, peppers, turnips (purple tops just like Cole's beloved Grandma Lena's Big Old Turnip), carrots and a couple scraggly swiss chard plants. I don't know what will happen with the carrots because they were planted too closely to the turnips and probably don't have enough room or sun. The swiss chard has been a favorite of the rabbits, so I'm not sure if we'll be able to keep those all safe. Other than that, though, we should have some good veggies ready to go next month.

Accalia has her last day of the Buggin' Around program at the library, a program focusing on the insect world and geared for grades 1-4. She opted out of going last week. The last few sessions have consisted mainly of doing things like looking through books or watching movies on the topic, and it started out with a lot of hands on activities like searching through mud from the creek or making your own worm farm. I think Accalia's been turned off by the change in the direction, but I think she wants to go for the last session. Then we all go to the chiropractor and are very happy about that.

I should try to pick up in the living room before the kids are awake. It's filled with legos and action figures and Pokemon cards.

Last night before bed it hit me that tomorrow - TOMORROW! - will make it exactly three weeks until my due date. Eek! If this baby goes according to the path of one sister and one brother, though, it will most likely be closer to four weeks. And, if it's Accalia's path to follow, it will only be about a week. Let's hope for the former. While I'm not freaking out in a bad way, it's made me realize I need to get my butt in gear and take care of some things. Alas, I don't think my ultimate goal of organizing the entire house will be realized (and I can't find the notebook where I made my to-do list for before baby's arrival), but I'll survive and we'll all be prepared for a new baby. Accalia and Cole are extremely eager to meet this little one. When we last talked about it a couple days ago, it seems as if they're leaning towards hanging out with friends while I have the baby rather than being at the hospital.

What I really need to do is write down a few important phone numbers and fill out the hospital pre-registration and take care of that. That would be very helpful.

In the meantime, I guess we'll just continue to find things to do in the next few weeks of hot, humid weather. It's hard to believe that public schools start here in just about three weeks, too. To be honest, though, I think we're all kind of happy about the neighbor girls being in school during the day because we know we'll be able to do our thing until late afternoon and not be woken up by the doorbell. Oh wait, I'm sure I'll already be awake much earlier thanks to the little one.

Okay, I need to continue on with the things I wanted to accomplish before Accalia has gymnastics and dance.

Another weekend is almost done and we're already heading into the final week of July. Wow! July has always been one of my least favorite months (even when I was younger) and I'm not sure why, but I'm not sorry to see August right around the corner. We had at least three rainy days this past week - pretty unusual for mid-summer in South Dakota these past few years - and it continues to be hot and humid. If we could just get rid of the humidity for a while, that would be wonderful.

Cory worked only a couple hours on Friday, and has worked Saturday and Sunday during the day. He's really liked having his nights free, of course, and wouldn't mind continuing like this as long as the tips are good. Daytime tips never seem to be quite as good as the night. Since Cory's been home both Friday and Saturday evenings, we've actually been able to watch a couple movies. We watched I Am Legend on Friday and The Bourne Ultimatum on Saturday. Both were entertaining enough.

Other than that, it's been a pretty typical weekend of the kids playing with the neighbor girls who, unfortunately, have been in fairly cranky moods much of the weekend, grocery shopping, and so on. Nothing too exciting. The kids have been playing with clay and playdough, too, although right now it sounds as if we just don't have enough to go around.

Okay, Ella has decided to do something else. Guess she was ready to move on. This morning I slammed my right knee into the computer desk and have been limping around ever since. I have been so clumsy the past couple weeks. Thankfully we're going to the chiropractor on Tuesday!

Thanks for all of the good thoughts about my grandpa. Rachel, I guess that's true that we aren't sure whether the cancer has spread to the esophagus. It's spread to the lymph nodes, which is usually a sign that it has or is spreading throughout the body. So, as my mom told me, the surgeon has said that whether or not the cancer is in the esophagus is a moot point. I guess he's feeling fine right now other than being a little sore from the procedure.

This morning I had a prenatal appointment. Everything continues to be very normal and boring. I'll definitely take that over any pregnancy drama. Or any labor/birth drama. Definitely.

Yesterday we finally had the broken passenger sliding door on the van fixed. It's amazing what a competent mechanic can do. Had the van in on Tuesday to be looked at and parts were ordered that day. Got a call yesterday just before 3 p.m. that the parts were in and I could bring it down, and the door was repaired in less than two hours.

Me thinks we'll be heading to the store sometime soon. Should get motivated to do that!

The news about my grandpa is not good. The cancer has spread into his esophagus (that doesn't look like it's spelled right), so the next step is for him to see an oncologist. My mom's not sure if he'll actually do any treatment, so we shall see. Everyone seems to be doing okay, my mom said, although my experience with cancer diagnoses says otherwise. Of course, I guess there's a bit of a difference between an 83-year-old who has said for years he's ready to go then there is with a 57-year-old who retired not so long ago and just started to enjoy the freedom of not having a 9-5 schedule.

On the brighter side of things today, Cory saw The Dark Knight after today's meeting finished and really enjoyed it.

Also, the new mechanic checked out the van, ordered the part already and should have it within the next few days. We may actually have two working sliding passenger doors before this baby arrives.

We did have a nice visit with my parents. Cole, continuing in his highly emotional stage of late, sobbed and sobbed when they left. He said he just kept thinking of all of the fun things they did: swimming at the motel pool, looking over our garden, planting corn, playing briefly in a pile of dirt left by the construction crew, eating at a restaurant we rarely go to, etc.

Sunday was another hard day for him because he had so much fun playing with our friends' kids when we went to their house for supper. I reassured him that our friends weren't moving away and that we could see them again - at their house or at our house. That didn't help a lot at the time. It just seems that he has a big crying jag at least once a day lately, and I'm not sure why that is. Is it a developmental phase he's going through? Or is it all of the impending changes coming with the baby and that even though he's excited about all of it, he's still a little unsure about changes in general? Or is it something completely different? Cole's always worn his emotions on his sleeve, but usually those have been anger over play not going his way or excitement about something.

My grandpa (maternal) was diagnosed with lung cancer late last week. To get to nearly his mid-80s without a cancer diagnosis is pretty rare, but that doesn't make it much easier. He's had a small spot on his lungs for the past few years, but doctors didn't know what it was and didn't think it was cancer. The spot has barely grown during that time, so I take that as promising news. Yesterday he and my grandma, my parents, and my aunt went down to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester so he could meet with a surgeon. The spot is close to his esophogus, so that needed to be looked at. Today he's having surgery (or is already in surgery) to determine if the spot has spread at all. If it has, then I guess the next step will be trying radiation or chemo. If it hasn't spread, then they'll remove a lobe of his lung in the hopes of removing all of the cancer. Either way, it's going to be hard on him.

Today Cory left for Sioux Falls to attend a couple meetings. He'll be gone overnight. This afternoon I'm dropping off the van at a different mechanic who may actually not just put me off from doing the work but actually fix the things that need fixing. The priority at this point is fixing the passenger door so we'll have in and out access on both sides. That will be so much more convenient, especially when the baby arrives.

Speaking of baby, I'm at 36 weeks today and really wish our chiropractic appointment were this week rather than next week. I really banged my foot last week, and I can tell it shifted around some things higher up. When I'm not very well aligned, that's when I notice my feet start swelling more easily. Yesterday the kids and I went through newborn clothes and picked out all of the gender neutral stuff to wash and put in the dresser. Soon I'll get out some baby blankets and the newborn diapers so we'll have that all set out and ready. I'm sure I'll get all of that done before I even think about packing a bag for the hospital.

I guess I should get ready for the day or at least make an attempt before the kids wake up.

I need to tackle the mess in the kitchen, but other than that I think we're ready for my parents to stop by. They're going to be here sometime after lunch. Cory's going to get off work a bit earlier this afternoon, and we'll see what happens. The kids, of course, will probably be most excited about swimming in the motel pool. Tonight also happens to be the Yankton County Relay for Life. We've gone to that every year since Mary was diagnosed with cancer. We've never been part of a team, but we always buy those paper luminaries that are set up along the track, and the kids decorate the ones we buy. It's always bittersweet to see all of the tributes to those who didn't survive, but it's also inspiring to see all of the survivors.

Yesterday was a rather odd mood day for Cole and Accalia. There were chunks of the day where they both were so weepy about some things and the rest of the day they were their usual selves. Not sure what was going on. It's been a busy week with every day needing to get up and go in the morning, so maybe that's part of it. Today Accalia does have art, but that doesn't start until 10:45 a.m., so everyone gets a chance to sleep in.

I took off the two rings I normally wear - my wedding ring and a ring Cory gave me a couple years ago. I noticed that, while I'm not having swelling problems with my hands at the moment, my fingers have gotten a bit bigger through this pregnancy and it's rather tough to get those rings off. I didn't want something to happen - a sudden swelling - and not be able to get the rings off or have them cut off my circulation, so I took them off and will wait until after the baby is born to put them back on. Definitely feels strange.

Okay, I need to get into the kitchen to start cleaning up or I'll run out of time once the kids are awake.

I started to write an entry yesterday, but I erased it because it sounded like I was just complaining a lot. It was early in the day - before all of the kids were up - and the doorbell was already ringing because of the younger neighbor girl. I guess I should have started out the day with some caffeine!

Anyway, today has been an okay day. During the morning, Accalia was at the second day of her two-day cooking/fitness class. On Monday, she and six other kids had made pizza and fruit kabobs and spent time in the gymnastics room of the activity center. Today they learned about bike safety and went on a bike ride. Accalia said she had a lot of fun both days. So today, while Accalia was at the class, Ella, Cole and I ran a couple errands and just hung out at home. On Monday we went to a couple different places around Yankton to climb around, but today I don't think any of us were feeling that energetic.

This afternoon, the neighbor girls were inside the house from after lunch until Accalia went to tap in the later afternoon. I'm not sure if the girls have a computer at their house or are able to play on it often if they do, but that seems to be what they mostly wanted to do today. Accalia and Cole had fun with that for a while but then wanted to go outside to play. The past few days have been rather interesting with the neighbors and especially Cole. The younger girl, 5, has started trying to take charge of playing (when her older sister, 7, hasn't been there) and has been telling mostly Cole (once Accalia) that they couldn't play with the other two. That resulted in a lot of hurt feelings on Cole's part. I did tell the neighbor girl that she couldn't exclude one person from playing because 1) there were only three of them, and 2) she was at our house playing with the excluded child's toys. I thought under those circumstances it made sense to tell her no one could be excluded, but at the same time I also know that it's not fair to force them to play with someone. But when they're at that person's house playing with that person's things? Yeah, I felt okay saying that. What have others of you done? This is really the first time we've every been in a play situation where one of the kids doesn't want to include everyone.

So Accalia had tap, then we had an early supper and Cory went off to deliver pizzas. Ella fell asleep early tonight, so we'll see if she wakes up later or wakes up early in the morning. Cole and Accalia are playing outside with the neighbor girls again and all seems to be going well.

The street in front of our house is all torn up, so the kids have been having a lot of fun watching the construction today while the workers installed new water pipes. I have a feeling the novelty will wear off before the street is finished. I'm not sure how many blocks of our street will be torn up, but the letter we received from the City stated that the roads would probably be open by mid to late October. Ugh. I don't know if our street will be earlier, though, since we're one of the first blocks to be torn up.

Tomorrow will be storytime, but that's about it. I need to clean the two bathrooms. I also need to catch up on LLL work. Maybe I'll work on that tonight while I have the chance.

We have what looks to be a pretty fun weekend coming up. My parents are on a little vacation through South Dakota right now and are coming to Yankton on Friday. They'll spend the night at a motel so the kids can make use of the pool there. Cory was able to get that night off, so that will be extra nice. We probably won't see my parents again before the baby arrives. On Sunday, we're having supper over at a friend's house (she also happens to be my doula). That should be fun since our kids rarely play together.

I should sign off and try to do a few things now. Accalia and Cole are back inside and happily playing a computer game that disappeared a few months ago but mysteriously reappeared tonight.

This is the first year that the kids and I are participating in The Great Sunflower Project and the first year we've ever tried to grow sunflowers. We planted the packet of seeds we received for the project - the wild sunflower - along with the three sunflower plants we already had growing thanks to a storytime session. Other than the rabbits chewing up one of the library sunflower plants, everything has been growing just fine. Well, except for one thing. The seeds that we received for the project are growing into what look suspiciously like pumpkin plants. We're also growing pumpkins in our garden and have done that for the past few years, so we're familiar with what they look like. There's not a chance any seeds were mixed up because they were kept separate and weren't even planted on the same day, so I started to wonder if there might be a type of sunflower that grows differently than other "typical" sunflowers. Haven't been able to find any, though, so I thought I'd throw it out to any of you who might be more knowledgeable or experienced.

One of my contacts ripped this morning and I don't have any extras. Poop. Both Cory and I do have new supplies of contacts waiting to be picked up at the eye doctor, though, so that's a good thing. Another good thing is that I started feeling much better from this cold yesterday, and today is even better.

The weekend has been very exciting for the kids, especially Accalia and Cole, because Cory picked up their bunk bed yesterday and put it together before going to work last night. They were very excited to go to sleep last night, although it took a couple tries before they actually fell asleep because they decided to go to bed so early at first. Now we have their room painted and the beds in, so we're slowly getting that room ready before the baby's born. Maybe today I'll even have the energy to haul up an old dresser from the basement and put that in their room for Cole. He and Ella have been sharing a dresser in our bedroom, but I think we'll switch that so that Ella and the baby are keeping their clothes in that big old thing.

I had a prenatal appointment Friday, and everything is pretty much normal yet. Blood pressure, baby's heartbeat, swelling, etc. are all just fine. I did gain two pounds over the last two weeks - 40 1/2 pounds total - and I hope that's not going to be the trend for the remaining 5-6 weeks. In two weeks I have another appointment and will be tested for Group B strep and have a quick ultrasound right there just to be sure the baby's head down.

No, the real fun on that trip to the doctor's was the ride home. Each year an organization for people with antique tractors has a ride along area roads. These tractors go about 13 or 14 mph at the highest, and wouldn't you know that we got stuck in the middle of this ride on our way home. So, we spent a lot of time driving very slowly and waiting for oncoming traffic to pass so we could go around a few tractors at a time. It's less than 30 miles from Yankton to the doctor's, but by the time we reached the Meridian Bridge spanning the Missouri River just outside of Yankton, Cole started yelling, "Let's go faster! There are starving kids in this vehicle!"

I was trying to upload pictures or videos since it's been so long, but right now Blogger just isn't letting me do it. I'll try again later. Right now I need to get busy with laundry and dishes and possibly hauling up that dresser.

Oh, this is really not the way to start out the day. Tomorrow I was supposed to have our local La Leche League meeting, which has always been held at the meeting room of our local library. Each December I reserve that room for the dates of the entire coming year. Well, this morning I saw advertised in the paper that there is going to be an annual flower show taking place in that same room during our meeting time. To make matters worse, I had received a call a couple weeks ago from someone at the library telling me that there's a conflict with the August meeting time and that I basically have to give up my reservation because this other group is bigger and needs the space. So, that's two months in a row where my reservation has not been honored. After I drop Accalia off at art this morning I'm heading to the library to talk with someone about what's going on. I've been making these reservations and holding meetings at this same spot for about five years now, but I'm not sure if I'll continue with that next year if this is going to happen.

I think I forgot to mention this in my last post, but it must have been Tuesday (the day we went to the drive in) that I came down with a bad cold. I still feel horrible, and both Cole and Accalia seem to have a cold, too. Having colds during the summer seems to be even less fun than having them during the winter. Combine that with being 34 weeks pregnant, and it's hard to feel comfortable for long.

Since the day doesn't seem to be getting off to a good start, I really hope it will get better as it goes along. I have a doctor's appointment in the afternoon, but that's really about it. Cory does work this weekend, but it's not a horrible schedule. We're planning to pick up the bunk beds tomorrow, so today we should work on clearing out that room a little. It will be nice to be able to get one thing done on my "before baby arrives to do list."

Wow, are we ever an exhausted family this evening! And poor Cory is off delivering pizzas and didn't even get in the nap he wanted to take after we got home from Mitchell. We discovered two things from our 1 1/2 hour trip each way to Mitchell to see a double feature at the drive in theater:

1) Our kids definitely get along better when they ride in our more spacious van compared with all three sitting next to each other in Cory's car. We took the car this time, though, because we thought it would actually work better for everyone having a better view of the screen while sitting inside. It really didn't. It's a great view from the front seat, which is where Accalia and Cole sat during the first feature, Kung Fu Panda. You have to twist your neck to see, though, if you're in the back. It would have worked great to bring along lawn chairs to sit outside, but we didn't have room to do that with the car.

and

2) No more double features. After Kung Fu Panda, the kids were definitely ready to head back to the motel since it was past 11 p.m. We had planned to stay for Hulk, though, and Cole and Ella both fell peacefully asleep - Cole in the backseat and Ella in my arms. Accalia, however, was not going to be happy unless she was lying down in a bed. Once Ella was fast asleep, I set her down in the backseat and took Accalia in my lap. She finally fell asleep for a while, which is good since we didn't get back to the motel until 2 a.m. So, we'll just plan to do the first feature the next time.

We left for Mitchell yesterday a little after 5 p.m. once Cory was home from work. We checked into the motel and decided we'd do a few things around town before the movies rather than hitting the pool. We had to drive by our old house, of course, which looks pretty much the same from the outside. Cole talked about how much he misses Mitchell despite his being only about three weeks old when we moved. Then then kids wanted to stop to see the Corn Palace, and we ended up going inside and taking the short tour at Accalia's request. We made a quick shopping stop to see if there were any pool toys on clearance (nope), and then we headed over to Cory's brother's house to see the progress they've made on their home addition. Mark was working, but he took a break and showed us around. The kids had a blast jumping on their trampoline and almost didn't want to leave for the movie. We did, though, and they played on the playground at the theater for a few minutes before the movie started.

The kids really seemed to like Kung Fu Panda, and Cory and I both thought Hulk was okay. We were all in bed and asleep right around 2 a.m. Cory and I got up a little before 9 a.m. and woke the kids up shortly so we could go swimming before we had to check out. That made waking up much less painful for them, and we had fun in the pool for about an hour. Then we had brunch at the nearby Perkins, which Cole declared a "fancy" restaurant. I told him about how Grandma Greve took us there when he was about two weeks old and how he spit up all over me. After brunch, we made another quick shopping stop and then went back over to Mark's house for a bit. Two of the cousins were home this time, so the kids had fun on the trampoline and the zip line.

Our plan had been to get back in time for Accalia's tap class, but Accalia said she just wanted to skip it today, so that's what we did. Unfortunately, tired, cranky kids and parents aren't a great combination to have the neighbors run right over and play. We're all surviving, though, and will be very happy to go to sleep.

I think we are at the start of the hot, sticky days of summer that will probably last through this month and beyond. Truly, I wish these were my favorite days of the year. I wish that I looked forward to nothing more than jumping in the lake to cool off. I don't, though. All I want is to be able to walk out of the house without breaking into a sweat. Granted, I think the pregnancy has a little something to do with more easily sweating.

We have our van back, but absolutely nothing has been done on it. I called this morning and was told they were still waiting for a part. Hmm. Why would he have called more than a week ago to say the parts were in if they weren't? Why would our van sit at his shop for a week if he wasn't ready to work on it? So I told them I was coming down to pick up the van until they actually have the part in they need. I really didn't want to have to walk about a mile in this humid weather, but I also didn't want to go another day without any transportation. I ended up carrying Ella almost the entire way (the stroller was absolutely soaked from being left outside and it storming during the night), but I didn't feel too worn out from that.

So I probably wasn't in the greatest mood from that when the younger neighbor girl came over to play, and all of the kids were in our little kiddie pool and she was being incredibly bossy. Please, don't bring out toys to play with if you're just going to stand there and yell at my three kids not to touch because it's yours. So I finally just said we were going to the store (we had planned to do that), and so we left. We went to Wal-Mart because I knew they were starting to advertise college buys (bedding, cheap furniture, etc.), and I figured we could get good prices on new sheets for Accalia and Cole's bunk beds that we'll be picking up this weekend. We did, and we also saw that they have out all of their school supplies and so we stocked up on glue and markers and crayons and all of that fun stuff. It's truly one of the most exciting parts of the summer for us to load up on all of that stuff that is used constantly throughout the year. I'm sure the neighbor girl thought Cole was a bit nuts when he ran to the door and yelled to her, "We just got school supplies!!!"

Accalia was very excited to be back at gymnastics and ballet today. Now she and Cole are out with Cory doing a few things.

Our week will be even more exciting than today. Can you imagine? Tomorrow, after Cory comes home from work, we're heading up to Mitchell to go to the drive in to see the double feature of Kung Fu Panda and Hulk. Since Hulk won't be over until around 1:30 a.m. we're staying overnight at a motel. With a pool. We'll return some time on Wednesday before Accalia has tap.

Hope everyone who celebrated had a happy 4th! Cory had the entire day off, so we did a lot of stuff around the house. Cory mowed the lawn right away in the morning before our kids and the neighbor girls were up and spreading things all over the lawn. The neighbors both left around lunchtime to go with their respective dads for the weekend, so it might be a rather quiet time around here over the next couple days.

Cory finally had a chance to fix Cole's bike. At one point last year, some older girls who hung out a little more when we had a different next door neighbor borrowed Cole's bike to ride somewhere (unfortunately I was inside when they asked to do that) and came back with a bike whose rear tire was basically stripped and training wheels that were uneven. Cole's ridden it a little since then, but it's been too wobbly for his taste, and today we finally picked up a new tire and training wheels. He and Accalia were riding their bikes all over. Cory also got Accalia's very first bike out and put the training wheels back on that so that Ella would have her own bike. It's the perfect size for Ella, but she isn't interested in trying to pedal. Instead, I push her back and forth on the sidewalk. She loves that, but it's getting harder on my back to do that. Cory also fixed the tricycle, which had a wheel that had fallen off. So, we've got quite a few working vehicles again!

A huge area of argument with our kids and the neighbor girls is that there are never enough swings on our swing set for all four to be on there at once. I had switched it a bit ago so there would be three swings and Ella's swing, but that still left one unable to swing. So, since Ella seems to have lost interest in being pushed on the swing and is starting to want to sit in a "big kids" swing and be pushed a little, we took down her swing and now have four regular swings. Hopefully that keeps everyone happy.

As is our tradition, we walked down to the river and sat with thousands of others to watch the almost 20 minute fireworks show. I think this is the first year that all three kids have simply sat and watched the fireworks. Usually they're busy running up and down the small hill near where we sit. We all enjoyed it, and all three kids were asleep within an hour of us returning home.

Cory works for a bit later on today delivering pizzas, and I'm not sure what else we'll do. We still have no van, and I'm not even sure how soon next week we'll get it back. It's an extremely frustrating situation, and we're definitely never going back to this mechanic. We really liked the work (and customer service) he did when he installed the hitch on our van, but this has just been so disappointing. We were supposed to get a loaner vehicle Thursday, but that never happened either. Sigh.

I should get ready for the day while everyone is still sleeping. Enjoy your weekend!

I need to call the repair shop soon to see what's going on with our van. We were told it would take a day, and I dropped it off Monday morning. This week is probably the best week we have for going without a vehicle, but I'm not particularly interested in going an entire week without having access to a vehicle during the day while Cory's away. Our sweet, elderly neighbor came over to check on the car situation and offered to take us wherever we need to go. Today we don't need to go anywhere. It's a day free of all commitments.

Yesterday we had a couple places to go, but both were within walking distance. The first was the library (takes about 15 minutes to walk) and the second was the chiropractor (about 5 minutes). Ella was quite unhappy at the library for some reason and eventually nodded off on the couch right around supper time for a nap. When we went to the chiropractor, it was Cole's turn to be unhappy because Accalia was adjusted first and he wanted to be the first one. Five is proving to be a very emotionally turbulent age for Cole, just as it was for Accalia. It seems all of his emotions are riding right on the surface, and if conditions aren't right (tired, hungry, disappointed), he'll go from calm to storm in seconds. I guess it's a good chance for me to continue practicing patience during less than ideal parenting moments since there's really nothing you can do other than ride out the storm. Cole raged while Accalia, Ella and Cory were adjusted, but by the time Cory was done I had talked quietly in his ear long enough that he found something funny to think about and take his mind off of not being first up on the table. Then he was in a jolly old mood. I thought it didn't bode well for continuing to play with the neighbor girls after supper, but he did fine until the younger one started hitting him on the arm and face with plastic cones. She must have also been tired because I saw her rounding the corner of the house sucking her thumb. I can just imagine how hard it is to not be able to see your mom from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m. most days. It's really sad that we actually spend more time with them than she does.

I have no idea what we'll do today, but I may have a chance to tackles some of the messes around the house if we have no where to go. I wouldn't mind walking to the repair shop to pick up the van, though!

This morning I had the chance to sleep in a bit for the first time in a few days, and I end up waking up and getting up earlier than any of the other days of late. At least the kids are all still snoozing. They've had a lot going on lately.

We had a so-so weekend in Lake Wilson. The weather didn't cooperate with us doing as much outdoor stuff as we were hoping to do at Lake Wilson's 125th celebration. It was extremely windy and rained for much of Saturday. The kids did get some time down at the park where Cory also ran into a couple high school classmates that he'd been hoping to see. And, even though it rained for most of it, we did watch the parade that traveled down main street. Cory's dad was dressed as a clown for that and, of course, made a point to stop where his grandchildren were and dump a bunch of candy in front of them. The kids had really been looking forward to playing on all of the inflatable toys that were supposed to be set up in the afternoon, but that never happened because it never stopped raining long enough for things to be set up. We were also supposed to watch fireworks that night, but they were cancelled because of the strong winds. We saw very little of Myron, too, because he was running all over the place participating in everything going on around town.

We made it back to Yankton later in the afternoon on Sunday, and Accalia and Cole spent most of the rest of the day playing with the neighbor girls. No one was in especially good or patient moods - the oldest girl never is after spending a few days at her dad's - but for the most part they got along better yesterday. That was good since they played together almost all day yesterday. At one point in the evening, Cole was getting very upset with something going on outside (and he was tired and ready for a break but was having a very hard time being willing to move away from the action), and I suggested that Accalia and Cole go inside and that the neighbors head home so they could see their mom since she was finally home from work and they hadn't seen her all day. It nearly broke my heart when the oldest said, with a hitch in her voice, that her mom had friends over and didn't like the girls to be around when her friends were over. At that point I wanted to go over to their house and tell their mom she might want to actually spend time with them rather than just buying them McDonald's and clearance toys at Wal-Mart, but I didn't. Now that it seems that the girls have a babysitter coming to their house each day rather than going to a babysitter's, I think I need to just accept that I'll have two extra kids on hand most of the time for the rest of the summer. At least they can come someplace where they're actually wanted and interacted with by both the kids and adults in the house.

Yesterday didn't get off to the greatest start. Cory and I both had eye appointments right away in the morning. Cory's was first and he came home to tell me that the doctor said he has a degenerative eye disease affecting the cornea in his left eye. It's called keratoconus and is a thinning of the cornea. If you go to the link, you'll see that blurred picture, which is basically what Cory sees out of his left eye most of the time. The doctor tweaked his prescription for that eye, though, so he should have better vision when his new contacts come in. Cory's vision has been that way for a few years, but we've always thought it was astigmatism, which is often the diagnosis. The good news is that his vision has been stable and hasn't been steadily going downhill. We have no idea if or when it will get worse or how bad it could get. Treatment ranges from trying different contact lens combinations (for example, a soft lens and then a hard lens on top to help keep the shape of the cornea) to a cornea transplant (did you know those are now same day surgery)? Anyway, it definitely wasn't the best news to receive, but thankfully it's not an extremely dire diagnosis either. It could even be decades down the road before anything changes.

We finally were able to drop off the van yesterday for exhaust and door repairs, and it will hopefully be done today. In the meantime, we'll be walking to the library for Accalia's program this afternoon. Even though it's supposed to get pretty warm today, it's not that far that my pregnant 33 week self should be able to handle. Other than a few actual contractions last night and the night before, things continue as normal. My appointment last Friday was fine. All looks good, and amazingly enough, my weight gain over the past month was only 1/2 pound! Wow!

I guess I should get off the computer and start doing a few things before the kids wake up. My plan to shower before they were awake probably won't happen. Happy July to everyone!