My Night with Nick & Knight

Well, it turns out a "Once in a Lifetime" event came around for me again.   

Since New Kids on the Block reunited back in 2008 (the very highlight of my life)

I have had quite a few of these events.

Let's take a minute to reminisce shall we?

June 2008 - Met all five of them at MOA after 15 hours of waiting.

October 2008 - seeing them at Xcel Center with Liv just days after coming home from Mexico.

January 2010 - Experienced Jordan Knight solo with Liv at The Cabooze.  One of the most memorable nights of my life.  SO FUN!

June 2011 - Traveled to Chicago with Liv for four days and saw NKOTBSB after a long day on the trolley. 

July 2011 - Met Jordan at Best Buy in Litchfield - Mark also met him.  

July 2011 NKOTBSB EIGHTH row with Molly.  Touched Donnie and created my first youtube post.

July 2013 NKOTB with Chris (after driving home from Yogi with my infant to turn around and drive back again the next morning).

Here we are in 2014.

This happened one month ago.

September 24, 2014.

One of the things I enjoy the best from all of these events is the anticipation.

Especially, now, with social media.

They can really hype you up.

When I went through my pictures for this event I laughed at the crazy snapshots I had.

Here's a picture of my computer screen as I had just found out Jordan was doing an "After Work Hang Out" the day after "our" event.

Yes, I actually considered it.

In anticipation for this event I purchased a $99 curling iron.

With only one curl of practice here we stand in my kitchen as the kids were eating dinner at 4:30 right after school.

I was so excited I was taking pictures and texting as Mark was doing my hair.

We're getting there.

Mark looks thoroughly amused huh?

My dad took this picture as if I was going off to prom or something.

Here we are! Set to go!

My friend Sara on the right was my college roommate.

Jessica is on the left, we all went to high school together.

I don't see them often.

Which made this night even more special.

We (Ok I) were really hyped up and couldn't wait to get on the road to Minneapolis in traffic on a Wednesday.

We got dropped off in Minneapolis (by my dad)

at about 6:00.  Jessica dove into Fogo de Chao to use the bathroom.

We walked a couple blocks down and found the line at Mill City.

It was short and I couldn't convince these two to stand in line for several hours anyway.

We headed to the bar next door, The Loon and had dinner (I think I ate six bites - my nerves were setting in) and a couple drinks.

We headed back to Mill City when they "opened the doors."

Turns out "open the doors" means wait downstairs in a small ass basement with about 50 other crazed fans.  Even I said, "Ah, hell no."  We got our wrist bands and headed back to The Loon.

Waiting for our wristbands outside Mill City.

We walked in and Sara said, "I'm ordering us Long Islands."

I haven't had a Long Island since my wedding night.

There's a reason for that.

Another fan took our pic and then told us to do a funny face.

Apparently I wasn't in a funny mood…yet.

Yep, that's mine on the right.

My nerves were officially calmed.

So calmed in fact that I totally missed the time and next thing we knew there was THREE minutes until we were allowed up to the stage which as GENERAL ADMISSION!

I frantically ran to the bathroom and ran back upstairs and we headed over.

We got there and it was so packed we could barely step inside.  

In my head, worst case scenario was happening.

We were going to be last let in.

Before I began hyperventilating BEST case scenario happened.

All the girls who paid for a Skip the Line Pass passed us right up and filled up the first four rows.

I know that because as soon as the last Skip the Line Pass past us WE WERE NEXT!!!!!

Sooooo unfair to the other girls who were stuck in the basement for several hours but let me tell you, I did not care one bit.  

Here we are.  Fifth row.  Waiting for them to come on.

Technically at this point I was about 3 or 4 but the worst I ever was in the night was 5th.

I told these girls, stand your ground all night.

But they left to get a drink before the show even started.

They didn't have an easy a time getting back as they imagined.

I stood in the same spot for the entire 3.5 hours.

Ready to get this party started!

Next thing I knew…

There he was.

When I saw New Kids with Backstreet NKOTBSB

I was mesmerized by Nick Carter.  I wasn't a BS fan - but I knew their songs -

but the way Nick danced - FLOATED across the stage was amazing.

So these two together was awesome!

Here's my favorite part of the night.

Jordan finally sees me.

See how happy he is?!

It was almost embarrassing how much attention he gave me after that;-)

Since I had been standing in the same spot for nearly four hours when they walked off the stage I headed to the bathroom.  

We walked back to The Loon and ordered drinks and low and behold my dad drove by.

We ditched the drinks and hopped in the van and laughed and talked the whole way to downtown St. Paul.  We had a few on 7th Street. 

Back story, in 1999 Sara and I went to Vegas and ended up going back a week later with my dad.

Being roommates with someone gives you a connection for life.

I'm lucky enough that my dad loves her almost as much as I do.

I think that's precious!

Then headed to Taco Bell.

We ordered several bags of T.B. and headed to my house.

Then we all passed out.

After about two dozen texts to Laura over the full 48 hours of this even I sent this to her Thursday morning titled: The Aftermath

A snapshot of Jordan's fb post.

I'm sure he meant Kelly was on FIRE tonight!!!!

But he doesn't want fans to egg my house.

While in the recovery process I was checking social media to see if he had anything else to say about me.

This isn't the best shot since they included way too much of the band and stage area.

BUT…

Look to the far left of the screen to the super fan wearing red with her arms up with a yellow purse strap across her.

Oh yes!  Yours truly!!

Let's just say the night was a complete success from beginning to end.

I had so much fun and I'm so happy I got to share it with Sara and Jessica.

Now you guys have something to hang over my head forever!

Over the Years and Through a Pumpkin Patch

Our annual trip to Lendt's led me down memory lane.

Here we have this year 2014.

Last year in 2013.

How can one go from a Baby Bjorn to pulling a wagon?

It's hard to believe the change this baby boy has gone through in one year!!

2012

Apparently we were there so late they couldn't even stand up straight.

2011  This is the year they really seem little!

2010

This picture captured my heart  way beyond the whole stand at the measuring stick.

Look at that face.

It's so Victoria…but with so much innocence and baby cheeks.

Such a difference from who she is now.

 2009 - Christian was just about the same age as Brecken is now!

Can you see the resemblance?

I couldn't find 2008 at Lendt's.

But this is awfully cute.

2006 - Our very first trip to Lendt's.

Victoria was just six months old.

It's so fun to go to the same place each year and carry on the tradition.

With just a month away until the holidays begin…we're already talkin' Christmas around here!

Both Sides

A couple nights ago Mark and I sat side by side on the couch reading a booklet about Gifted Students sent to us by the WBL schools.  We laughed at how many of the things fit Victoria to a 'T'.  

And now….

Tonight we received Brecken's IEP via email.  We're getting ready for our first official meeting in a couple weeks.  Some of it was so hard to read.  1%tile in one area.  All the things they noticed.  On one hand I felt like I should protect him better so they didn't see all of that.  On the other hand, I'm so grateful they really did get to see "everything" so he is able to get the help he needs and deserves.  Several times in the report they stated I was able to understand everything he needed.  That made me feel good - since that's what mom's are supposed to do - but it also got me wondering how much is given to him with little effort.

It's very interesting being on the opposite side of the table through this whole evaluation process.  I've sat through dozens of IEP meetings in my career.  On just about any given meeting you may hear some walking down the hall at school in the morning grumbling about going to one.  To be on the other side, that's a whole new ball game. Being nervous about the outcome.  About being judged.  About wondering if I made the right decision referring him.  

I'm excited/anxious to get the therapy going.   I'm hoping all of this is going to pay off.  Soon.  

Soon would be nice.  

Each of our children are so different.  In lots of ways it's nice they are so different.  In all the ways I hate to see them struggle.  Whether it's a struggle with being bored at school and not having patience with other kids who 'don't get it' or struggling with saying words to communicate or struggling to sound out the same sight word over and over again.  A struggle is a struggle.  

This part of parenting is so difficult but yet rewarding.  We felt a lot of rewards today at their conferences.  We're hoping this new IEP will help give Brecken reasons to feel rewarded too.

Torn

There are several particularly stressful weeks at school.  The order varies with each year, but they always, the first week, the last week and each of the two conference weeks.

This is definitely one of those weeks.  We have after school conferences Tuesday and Thursday.  Daycare was closed on Monday (our daycare mom ran a marathon on Sunday!!) so Brecken hung out with my parents.  Think Chuck E. Cheese and haircut and lunch out.  Yep, that's grandparents for ya.  When I got home my dad was in the front yard with Brecken and he and I ended up mowing the lawn…in very very slow baby steps.  But he loved it.

At dinner he was too tired to even open his mouth.  Exhausted.  After dinner I pulled his clothes off and then I felt that he was burning up!!  I took his temp and it was over 102!  I gave him some medicine and gave him a bath and he was begging to go to sleep.  I knew Tuesday morning wasn't going to be pretty.  He woke up screaming at 5:00am and burning up again.  Mark stayed home with him since I HAD to be at school plus conference after.  Walking out the door knowing my baby was sick just about tore my heart out.  I wanted to stay with him.  I wanted to be the one taking care of him.  I was so torn.  My head was at school, but my heart was at home.

As if all this wasn't bad enough, Victoria got sent home at about 2:00 with a fever of 101+.  Mark came to get her.  I brought C home after school, put on more deodorant and headed back to school.  My parents came to watch V and sleeping B so C could go to Boy Scouts.

I stayed after conferences to make sub. plans.  While creating them I was kind of pissed.  Pissed I was missing school again.  Pissed I didn't know who my sub. was.  Just stressed and pissed.  I was torn again.  I needed to be at home.  And I needed to be at school.  I finally headed home.

Mark said B seemed way better in the afternoon.  V seemed way better, but when you have a fever you're supposed to stay home for 24 hrs after.  We had V & C's conference this morning.  My plan was to pick up the teachers their coffees at Caribou and then drop the boys at daycare and then have V read while we conferenced.  I was walking into daycare and C kept saying how bad his belly hurt.  I was in a hurry and walked ahead of him carrying Brecken.  Two steps into the garage and B gagged so naturally I put my hand under his chin.  No freaking crap, the kid started puking and puking into my hand.  I was down on my knees letting it over flow onto the garage floor.  I had Christian run and get paper towels.  I washed my hands (but let me tell you that is a smell that takes days to leave!) and let her know I'd be keeping all three at home today.  No need to force C to go to turn around a couple hours later when he lands in the nurse's office.  Sure enough, he did have a fever at 10am.

We picked up a couple Red Box movies and B was down for an early nap.  Man, was he feisty!  Nothing made him happy.  The big kids did some crafts (does taping hundreds of craft sticks together count as a craft?) I did laundry.  We took a loooong drive this afternoon.  We all needed to get out of the house.  I thought about driving to WI to look at leaves.  But we ended up headed north.  We went to the pumpkin patch.  It ended up being just perfect.  There were only two workers there.  The kids got to get some fresh air for a bit.  And I got a nice long car ride with everyone buckled in and mostly quiet.

As of now, not a single one had a drop of medicine today at all.  Here's hoping everyone gets a good night sleep and feels better in the morning.  I have another long day tomorrow and it would make my life so much easier if everyone was healthy and happy.  It's not a good feeling being torn.

Highlights of My Day

Highlights of my day:

I received a text from my grandparent volunteer that said, "The way you juggle 24 kids amazes me." :-)

Received a beautiful card from my friend Shauna!  Thanks G!

Christian loved playing Sight Words Zingo and actually said, "Reading is so much fun!"

Christian also told me this story, "Mrs. E was staring at her computer, so I knew she wouldn't notice.  (I was holding my breath at this point.)  I leaned over and told (somebody) Isn't she the best teacher in the whole wide world?  So at break we made her a note that told her that, but we had to tell her what it said 'cuz we're actually not that good of writers yet."  Yep, direct quote.  Adorable.

Victoria asked me to cuddle with her.  I did and sang the songs I sing to my babies, she hasn't heard me sing them with her name in quite a while.  She whispered, "You have the most beautiful singing voice.  It's my most favorite thing."

Got to talk to Liv for almost an hour on the phone tonight.  She's somebody I can just say anything to.  It felt so good.

The first 24 of 48 hours of my preparation for my pelvis appointment is complete.

It's not even 10:00 and I'm already in bed.

Good-Bye September: Going out in style

This morning we had Brecken's 18 month wellness appointment.  These days, every appointment has me pretty nervous.  This one went very well.  Brecken was pointing and trying to say several words and was able to pay attention to a task much much better than he has in about two months.  It was really really great to see.  Our pediatrician is amazing and spent a lot of time going over everything with me.  He tried to reassure me everything is going to be fine.  I feel like everyone just says that, so I took it with a grain of salt, however it still felt really good coming from him.

I had an absolutely great day teaching.  I can feel October is just a few hours away, because my is starting to come together.  I'm getting to know them.  Learning about their likes.  Their families, siblings, pets.  How they cope with stress.  How much effort each one puts in.

I was feeling so good about my day….then I sat down at the computer with just a few minutes left before the end of the day….my students were picking up the room. . .

I had several emails about Christian - a couple from his teacher and one from the nurse.

His ear hurts.  Bad.

I walked out with the students and off to Minute Clinic.  Which, btw, is a totally amazing invention.  It's so convenient and wonderful in a pinch.  Mark picked up Brecken so we could get to M.C. asap.  We walked fast from car right in and good thing we did, because seconds after we checked in a slew of school age kids were lined up to get checked out.

Sure enough C's eardrum is bulging.  He sat in a cart while we waited for his prescription.  V was checked for strep because her throat has been super swollen for a couple days now.

In the end, all three kids happen to get their flu shots today.  We'll call that a Silver Lining.

I'm looking forward to October tomorrow.  September was harder than the usual hardness of my most dreaded month of the year.

See ya September.   Hello October!