~The O'Neill Boys~: Last few hours of winter break...

Boys will be back in school tomorrow. I know Casey is looking forward to it, but my other boy-----NOT! It's so funny how he always gets his point across that he doesn't like school. He does pretty well and learns and usually puts forth an effort, but he much rather be playing wii or Poptropica or Wizard 101 or watching TV or a movie.

We descended on Garry's Barber Shop at the beginning of break. They are so nice and accommodating! They both liked getting their hair duded up. It was Colin's first time at a barber and he thought he was the bomb. I ran over to my eye place. I've had a pressure sore of sorts on my nose where one of the nose pieces rests. I think Jaxon wacked me there and then having the glasses on all the time kept it from healing. Well, she asked me, "Would you like the soft pieces instead of these hard ones??" Duh, who would want hard ones??? It felt so much better instantly and it's just about healed now, but a tad sore.

After haircuts I drove the van across to Big Lots and the boys and Nana L and Nurse Julie walked the boys over. It was so much easier to do that than to load and unload them again. Casey was very good and told Julie the things he was interested in looking at. Colin and Nana did the whole store. I found most of what I needed but NO decent curtain rods. We found a wii game for Colin--it's a Cars Mater racing game.

Colin, Aunt Chris and I went to see Hugo. It was a wonderful movie and very deserving of the awards it received! Colin really liked it, and he totally 'got it' but he said he didn't want the movie when it came out on video, which is weird. I'll ask him some time soon and he'll probably say 'yes' this time.

While we were at the movie, Julie and Casey shopped the outlets. He is banned from the movies until he goes and sees the Hunger Games in a couple of weeks. If he behaves himself at that one, I'll consider taking him again, sigh. Casey was in the Rebok store and kept saying to the clerk, jeans, jeans. She told him they had sweats and workout clothes, but no jeans. Casey couldn't believe it! At the Shoe Discount Store they looked at sneakers but couldn't find any that could work for him. He kept demanding, sneakers, sneakers, sneakers. Julie found a discounted pair of black kind of motorcycle shoe but Casey didn't want them. She told me about them and I wanted them for him--never mind that he didn't! Well, I kept thinking about them (they were Buster Browns for only $15) so I had Gene go for them the next day. He called me and said they didn't have them and everyone was looking for them since they remembered (of course) Casey. It turns out that Julie had been there an hour before and bought them! He wore them today and they look great!

Julie noticed that Casey's power chair frame is BROKEN. We had been noticing that he was sitting a bit funny and that he had been more wobbly than normal. Voila, broken frame! He is getting a new power chair (although it hasn't even been ordered yet) and we just got the electronics fixed. Sigh. Gene thought that he could solder it but then decided he didn't have the right tools/experience so he asked his friend, Tom, who does stuff like that on vehicles all the time and he said he could do it. I was hoping to have it done by the time school was back in session but that hasn't happened yet. Another sigh.

Today I went to the dentist. When I was examined by Dr. Molinari I kept trying to keep him talking as he is SO handsome! It was fun to make him laugh. He's pretty reserved although he's a little more open since he's owned the practice for several years now.

Got home and we packed up and headed out to Spare Time in Colchester for some bowling. Casey (surprise, surprise) decided he didn't want to bowl. He and Julie watched us for a while and then they went cruising and played in the arcade.

We must have been a sorry sight while we bowled! We all had bumpers. Colin used the ramp. Nancy had to use her right hand (she's left handed) because she is still recovering from surgery on her thumb.and has no strength to throw, and I have a weird form. They always put us on the end so it wasn't too bad. We made friends with the group next to us that was kind of wacky too. I ended up winning with a 131, Colin came in second, and Nancy was third. We only played one game but that was enough. Bowling has gotten expensive. We rented 2 pair of shoes, 3 of us played one game and it was about $22!

Afterwards we played some games in the arcade. The boys came away with about 100 tickets between them (which sounds like a lot but is truly a paltry amount). Casey wasn't interested in the prizes so Colin got a pair of walking, chattering teeth and a blue octopus guy.

And now, we're winding down. Have to finish getting stuff ready for school. Casey has a ton of stuff to bring back like cough tubing setups, cleaned pillows and flannel covering, water, and all that kind of stuff.

Julia and I never cleaned up the wish room like we planned. She has a bad knee and has not been fully able to get into projects. Who knows when we'll get a chance again since Colin has school in there every day.

OH, and Paula brought over the finished curtains for the wish room! They are perfect! I have to go somewhere to find some rods I like so we can get them up and those awful Lion King sheets down.