Go, Go, Goers!

What a super busy week - it just flew by! There were so many appointments and errands to run, not to mention work, school, and daycare...wow! Speaking of errands...we were shopping for basement lighting last night, and Ava found a light with my name. Sure, I can't ever get a ready-made personalized magnet or mug due to my unique name, but I could get a light if I wanted one. Except...it is really, really ugly...not a pretty, bright sparkly one. This one looks like it would be found in a dusty attic, with cobwebs and spiders all over it. Maybe the spiders think it's appealing? Ava successfully tested for her "pink bead" on her recorder, and it sounds like real music...not just squeaks and squawks coming from a piece of plastic. I need to take in our borrowed trumpet to make sure it's ok to play for 5th grade band. Soon it'll be great to see/hear how brass music comes to life at the hands of Ava! Ava also let me take her in for her twice yearly haircut....

This was a good week. I'm still terrified to drive, but I have been putting a lot of space between me and the drivers in front of me, and I've been taking it slow(er) on the roads. I am so relieved when I make it to my final destination safely, and am quite happy to exit my vehicle! My new car is great, so that brings me a tiny bit of joy during my commute. I did notice two interesting trails through my sunroof, though. And I only took this pic when I was stopped in the car! After baton on Tuesday night, we took the kids out for dinner, and they got another round of face painting on their arms. This time, we had a sparkly fish and a happy, fat bee! G decided it would be fun to run around pretending to sting people. We'll see if this will help him with his fear of bugs during the summer! Ava's been doing great in her music class. She's been getting top marks for her recorder playing for the teacher. I love seeing her learning to read music....

This has been an emotional and trying week. We're still in the middle of insurance trying to sort things out from the accident, but I did get the payoff amount for my car, so we were able to focus on how we were going to proceed financially. My mom joined me on Wednesday to clean out the rest of the items from my car. We had to cut G's carseat out, as the frame of the car was twisted enough that I couldn't get the latch to release normally. There wasn't too much left in the car to take home, but I did manage to find my travel coffee mug that I use on a daily basis. Not having that available to me was like a daily reminder of what happened. But, it's back at home, and happily in use. I realized yesterday that we had left one item in there, but, all things considered, it'll be okay. On Saturday, my dad joined me on an expedition to find a new car (Scott worked all day, so my mom babysat the kids.) It wasn't much of an adventure, as I had already gone onlin...

Things truly can change in the blink of an eye...and sometimes that blink feels like it take minutes from start to finish. Tuesday morning was a beautiful morning, sunny and warm in Minnesota. After I dropped the kids off at daycare and school, I headed into my normal commute into work. I was pleasantly surprised at how freely traffic was flowing...until it wasn't. I was about 3 minutes away from work, when traffic came to a sudden stop on the interstate. I stopped, and automatically checked the rear view mirror to make sure the car behind me was going to, as well. The SUV was about 4 car lengths behind, so I assumed it wouldn't be an issue. I checked again just a moment later, and saw the grill of the car 2 feet away from my car, and not slowing down. I shut my eyes and screamed "NO!" And then I got hit. My car was pushed into the vehicle in front of me, and then I bounced back and hit the rear vehicle. I was a little pinball being tossed around between the two o...