To: Tia

Hello my long lost sister!!!  I know it is totally my fault that there has been such a long period between letters.  I'd blame it on moving, new schools, new job, etc. but it's really just fairly routine for me, so I apologize!  It's not like I had a baby or anything.Forgive me sweet sister!  I promise I'll make up for it.

Last week I had one of those days. You know the kind when you look at yourself and wonder how in the world you have managed to raise sweet, loving, happy -go-lucky kids when it is obvious to everyone that it probably has nothing to do with you as a parent just good luck on your part. 
Ok you probably don't have those kinds of days becuase you are the type of parent we all aspire to be. But, I still have hope that once your little peanut is as old as mine you will begin to experience these types of days.  So here's how everything started. 

I woke up to my alarm.  It was Wed and I was glad that I had actually had a pretty good night of sleep until I pick up my phone to notice that it isn't my "wake up" alarm going off it is the "school" alarm going off (which means we should be walking out the door to get the kids to school on time). I FLY out of bed and immediatley go to get the boys up and moving.  Buffalo pops up right away and being the diligent, responsible one begins to get ready in a frenzy. Lou has not moved. I peer closer into the bed to really lay into him to GET MOVING when I finally realize there is no one in bed.  Hmmm... go to the bathroom, nope not in there. Check on the couch, again nothing.  I start calling his name over and over.  Nothing. I start to panic.  Okay I FREAKED out.  C had already pulled the covers up and was hiding under his pillow until I say "I LOST LOU".  I go outside... finally I walk back into the kids room and find C pulling the toy box from under the bunk bed and who is "asleep" curled up against the wall, Lou. He was completely hidden from the world. My heart was beating a mile a minute. I had convinced myself that A) someone had come into our home and taken my little Lou or B) Lou had been sleepwalking and was wondering around our little town.  It is crazy how you can get so dillusional in a mere matter of seconds. Really who is going to walk into a house full of kids and only take one (Imean they all sleep in 1 bedroom). 
Well after this near emergency we all got going and surprisingly made it out the door in fairly good time.  We got to school only 5 minutes after the tardy bell (after waking up an hour late!).  I re-hashed my story that morning to all my coworkers.  They all were laughing pretty hard! I'd like to think this is because these kinds of things never happen to me but I think it is more that I am a really good story teller for always having to tell these kinds of stories.
And then it happend again.
I got an Attendance Alert email from school (9:30am, a good 1 1/2 hours after school has started). I read it immediatley and it said:  "Lou has been marked absent from school.  Please call the school immediately to explain the abscense." WHAT?!!  I saw Buffalo and Lou walk into school together, how in the world could I lose him a second time!!! 
I called the secretary and hear, "oh sorry about that I forgot to switch him to tardy, but he is here and accouted for.  To which I reply "good". "I have already lost him once today and was worried I had done it again."  I think she thought I was kidding because she chuckled. 
I took another minute to breathe deeply and call C to say don't worry I just talked to the school it was a mix up.  WOW.  At the end of the day we (all the parents from Lou's class) got an email from Lou's teacher that said they had testing the next day and it was very important everyone got a good night of sleep because all of the kiddos were a little tired today. I did not reply however I did have a long talk to Lou about staying in his bed because when he hides it really scares mommy.

What a life I live!  Gotta love kids. They sure keep your life exciting.  Must be why C and I kept having them.  Our sweet little Quinnie told one of her friends the other day "don't worry I won't die".  YEAHI love the things they say too.  I can't make this stuff up. 

I got my nails done today, all sparkley for Christmas. Counting down the days until we are together!!!

Love,
Kiki