What a day!

This morning started out like many others: Shredding, shower, breakfast, reminding the boys 8 times to go upstairs to get dressed, reminding the boys 5 times to put their shoes on, getting out the door to take Noah to school. I did not say “frantically” getting out the door to take Noah to school because I decided today that if he was late for school, it was his own fault, not mine. (I’ve been reading “Parenting with Love and Logic” and they talk in there about giving kids choices, making them responsible for their own actions, making them deal with the consequences, so I’m trying to implement that in my house-not so great so far.) Somehow, we ended up at school on time.

Caden and I headed home to get ready for the rest of the day. He had soccer this morning, so we got ready to head over to the field. He protested a little before we left, but then was ready to go. His soccer class is at a park with a pretty nice playground, so he played for a while.

Then it came time for soccer to start. We walked out to the field. Oh, I need to mention that it POURED yesterday. For a while. So the field was a little wet. For the 4th week in a row! Caden was protesting as we walked out. He clung to my leg as we stood in the middle of the field. He stood by a soccer ball for about 4 seconds, then decided he was not going to play, and started to cry and scream. I gave him a choice (Love and Logic, remember?): Stay and play, or leave. He kept crying. Another choice: angry Mama when we leave, or happy Mama when we stay. He kept crying. I told him he made his choice: leave. I picked him up and he started screaming, “I wanna stay! I wanna stay!” So I stopped, and asked him again, stay or leave? He kept crying. So I picked him up again, and we left. He screamed the whole way to the car. I was mud-spattered, with water oozing into my shoes. We went home and did very little before going to the grocery store on the way to pick up Noah.

After getting Noah, we headed to my parents’ house because I worked this afternoon and my mom watched the boys for me. The boys played outside for a bit, until I heard Noah crying. Apparently it’s because Caden decided he didn’t want to play anymore and Noah wanted to play baseball and didn’t even have a chance to bat yet! The tragedy!

After lunch, it was time for me to go to work. I was fairly unproductive there, but I like to think I took some of the burden off of my co-workers on this crazy day. While I was at work, I got a call on my cell from a 305 area code. I ignored it while I was with a patient, then checked my voicemail when I had a chance. It was a woman from Macy’s calling to tell me I am a “potential winner” of the “Celebrate Mom Sweepstakes” and would I please call her back by 5pm tomorrow evening to claim my prize. So when I got a chance, I called her back. I’m too curious to wait until tomorrow.

You may remember that you entered a contest online with Macy’s for the “Celebrate Mom Sweepstakes.” Yeah, I sort of remember entering. Okay, would you please verify some information? Are you or anyone in your family an employee of Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Disney or any of their subsidiaries? Nope. Are you available to travel between these dates in 2009? I’m sure as hell going to make those dates work! Would you verify your name and address? Done and done. Okay, so to go ahead with claiming your prize, I’m going to need you to sign some forms, an affadavit, a W-9 form (because the IRS will still tax us on our winnings), and some other things and you need to get those back to me by fax or email by 5pm on Monday, May 18, then mail the originals to me after that. But I need to get the info by 5pm on Monday, May 18 or you will forfeit your prize. You bet your bippy I’m gonna get those forms to you! Oh, did I mention the prize is a trip to DISNEYLAND AND DISNEY WORLD?!?!?!?!?! I’m not kidding! I really won this prize!!! I never win anything! And I just won a freaking trip to DISNEYLAND AND DISNEY WORLD!!!

Yep, the trip includes both locations! We start in Disneyland with a breakfast celebration of sorts, then spend two nights in Anaheim, then fly to Orlando for 3 nights, culminating with a sunset dinner on our last night. Oh, and we get a “VIP experience” for each guest at each Disney locale, $200 to spend in Disneyland, and $300 to spend in Disney World, and it also includes all of our airfare, food, lodging, the whole shebang. I can’t even believe this!

I’m going to make some calls tomorrow to make sure this is legit, but it looks pretty freakin’ real! I’m trying not to get too hyped up yet, and I really debated whether I would break the news already, but I’m too freakin’ excited to keep this to ourselves! I think it was destiny: the boys and I were all wearing Mickey Mouse t-shirts today, and my mom and I were doing some preliminary research just today to look into planning an August trip to Disney World. Coincidence? Maybe. After my morning, I deserved some goodness!