Relationship Woes

First, this post is not about me, it's about Daryl. ;-)

So, earlier this year Daryl let me know he has a girlfriend. I will not divulge her name because honestly, she may not even know. It is the typical grade school relationship. "We don't play together, we are just girlfriend and boyfriend. Geez Mom, what's with all the questions!"

Last week Daryl did tell me something that I thought was pretty cute, and might be helpful to others.

Daryl- "Mom remember when I didn't do my hair and I didn't care how I smelled?"
Me- "I remember, but you never smelled bad."
Daryl- "Well now that my hair looks nice and I smell good all the time girls like me, before they didn't like me. That is how I got a girlfriend."
Me- "So you are a ladies man now, huh."
Daryl- "Yep. I've always been nice, but you don't get a girlfriend unless you also smell good."

Sage advice Daryl, very wise.


Daryl, smelling nice and looking good, also had 4-H Club days on Saturday. He got a Blue on his project talk on Clothing Buymanship and his club got a Blue on their skit. I helped with the skit this year and that was fun. So proud of him, he did a lot better this year than last year!

**Fun 4-H fact, 65% of Kansas 4-H'ers are confident when they speak in front of groups!**

A Good Day That I Wasn't Expecting

So it's Valentine's Day, a day of publicly gushing love for a significant other. When you are going through a divorce, this is Yuck day. I love all of my family and friends that are in strong relationships. I don't just love you, I want to still be with you in that category.

 But, I'm going to hate on your day a little. Why must there be one day to proclaim the winners and losers of love? Trust me, the losers know who we are. To all my peeps that are not just single, but were given up on, dumped, had someone decide they don't love you after they said they would love you forever; I'm sorry. ((HUGS)) We were OK yesterday, we will be OK tomorrow, so we can be bitter today. This day when romantic love is not our friend, we have the right to be mad/sad.

But, that didn't happen today for me. When  I awoke before my alarm, because I had to go to the bathroom, I heard a little voice beside me, "Mommy I need you." That's when I remembered Alex slept with me last night. So I kissed his little head and said, it's ok, mommy is just going to the bathroom. Then Alex said, "Ok, I love you," and fell back asleep. I have a lot of love in my house and that reminder at 4am was what I needed. My heart is sore, bruised and it hurts, but it still works and loves my little boys to no end!

I did a photo booth for Daryl's party.
The kids loved it! 

Then I got to work and my Extension family loved on me a lot. I got flowers, a molten brownie and milk duds. Thank you work family! Thank you, thank you, thank you. If baked goods could fix all of my problems, I would never shed another tear.

Lastly, I got to be a helper mom for Daryl's class party. All those 2nd graders exchanging valentine cards, eating candy and just being happy to be with their friends. It was a glorious and loud picture to behold. I decided the world shouldn't cancel this day, instead we should have more days where people can express love, and happiness. Maybe we need a Valentine's Day once a month. Not because it brings up painful feelings for me right now, but because it is creating good feelings for my kids and a lot of other people. We need more good feels in the world.

My little love bug was so proud of his headband! 

Show me those pearly whites!

Who knew the Orthodontist's office would be such a good photo op destination? I got some great ones today at Daryl's first consult. He is setting up to have a wicked under bite so our dentist referred us while his jaw is still growing.

Daryl, the cool cucumber that he is, was very good for the whole appointment. He asked good questions and the ladies got a full dental history of almost every kid in his class! We both giggled when we saw his full head x-ray, when the dental assistant said, "Here you are without skin!" It was  creepy and funny!

Love this kid, his beautiful smile is worth the pennies to keep it all in line. All the ladies in the office adored him, and he was just the best behaved boy ever. Not my kid at all! We will go back in March to get his permanent spacer put on his top teeth to encourage the top jaw to grow. There will be more pictures once we get his headgear that goes with the spacer at night!

Thank You Notes

I would like to take this post to catch up on some of my thank you notes. (cue Jimmy Fallon thank you notes music).

Thank you teacher work days. While you get a day without kids to do MORE work, I get to take a day of vacation and spend it playing Legos and cuddling. One more day of not having to set the alarm clock is welcome at my house. Unnecessary, because the boys got up at 6:30 anyway, but welcome!

Thank you Cox cable TV. I know we had a rough patch three months ago, I'm sorry I was a jerk to Jason on the phone. But, I'm not going to lie, those three months without you were the worst! Sling TV is a joke, don't even think about it as a cable alternative. It will just leave you with angry children and buffering like you would not believe!
When I moved to my new place the boys were excited for two reasons. 1.) They were getting their own rooms, and 2.) We were going to have "real" TV again.
So thank you Cox cable, you are worth every penny! I am still super thankful you can offer cable and internet for less than $100 a month!

Lastly, thank you to the 20 threads that kept my butt from being exposed all day Saturday! Who knows when the rest of your little jerk friends decided to give way but if it were not for these 20 dedicated soldiers who knows where I would have been when I busted out of my pants.
I would say maybe I need to eat less ice cream, but really these are my favorite jeans that have gotten almost weekly wear for five years. While I wish they would have gotten a hole in the knee or the bottom hem, once again I just thank the 20 threads that didn't give up! I will retire the pair to be a jean quilt so they can keep being comfy for me!

The almost blow out looks innocent
when I'm not wearing them. 

With my hand behind the rip you can see what was
almost exposed! 

500th Post!!

It All Started Here! 

Just Daryl and I, sitting on the couch, taking bad webcam photos! A lot has been documented since 2008.

2012 was a big year for Meerpohl Manor. We moved, I got my job as 4-H Agent and saving the best for last, we added Alberto to the family!

Even more has happened since 2012 but  as someone recently told me, "I like your blog because you don't need to read every post to follow along, you can just pop in and out!" So I won't repeat everything, because, well, 500 posts is a lot to link!


I think 2017 is going to be the blog's biggest year yet. I don't know why, but when it is just me making the decisions, things are bound to get unpredictable!

Other notable posts:
That one time I ran a marathon
The morning we woke up with no debt
Daryl's first day of school - PS-He never wants me to walk him inside anymore! I love this post so much because of the pictures. I didn't have to ask for smiles that day, he was so happy to be a big boy going to school, he couldn't contain his joy!

Funny Alex Story:

Last Thursday I accidentally pinched Alex's finger in the gate at Daryl's school. We both reached to open the gate and I opened it right onto his finger. It didn't break the skin, but getting pinched like that really hurts! There were tears.
After dinner, three hours later, Alex was sitting on my lap looking at his sore finger.
Alex-"Mom look what you did to my finger."
Me-"I know Alex, I'm sorry, it was an accident."
Alex-"It was, but you still did it, so it's your fault."
Me-"Alex that makes me feel bad."
Alex-"I'm sorry, but look, my finger is still hurt!"

So, I guess Alex is not going to let me off the hook easily, now or ever. Good, I need him to keep me honest. ;-)

Getting this picture was not easy!
We all cheered and hugged when we finally got it!
Except Purl, she didn't like this idea from the start. 

The Manor on the Move

This weekend went as planned and with the help of my friends and family we moved houses on Saturday. The weather held out all day Saturday, thank you baby Jesus, and we were all into the new house by 1pm! Couldn't have done it without every single person that came to help me.

I was so glad to be stuck at home on Sunday because, with the help of my mom, I got most of the boxes unpacked. Today, I got the last rooms arranged and cleaned. The boys and I are officially settled!

Daryl and Alex now have their own rooms. When Alex saw his room with all of his toys set out he squealed with delight. Also, because he saw me unpack a lot of his room we have spent the last two days playing with toys he had forgotten about! It has been pretty entertaining. This afternoon he even talked Daryl into three rounds of Memory game. All three of us played and Alex won twice and Daryl won once. Alex had the advantage because Daryl wasn't paying attention when Alex and I were playing. So he only remembered the cards he would play.

Daryl likes being in his own room too. He has already started the, "No one can come in my room and if you come in my room, don't touch anything!"

All three of us are very happy. So in the future, the blog will be about knitting and running and funny Daryl and Alex stories. :-) Sorry for the blip in regularly scheduled programming!

We love three day weekends!

Purl feels right at home! 

Couldn't have moved and got all settled without my mom!
Love this lady!