Holy wow what a day!

When I woke up this morning, these were my plans for the day:

1. Take Alex to school.
2. Get gas.
3. Take Daniel to school and have his parent/teacher conference.
4. Go to Wichita to get Daniel's new Social Security card.
5. Pick Alex up from school.
6. Pick Daniel up from school.
7. Go home and be a vegetable.

Easy day, right?

*insert maniacal laughing here*

It started off according to plan. I took Alex to school and then got gas in the van. Then Daniel and I came home and got ready for the day.

First 2 plans done.

Then on the way to school, as I pulled out of the side street by my house, we got sidetracked.

OK, so he's not my favorite driver (duh), but it's NASCAR dammit, and it was around the corner from my house. Literally. We had to stop. Really.

Then off to Daniel's conference, which went well. He's on the verge of reading sight words, and his general smarts have his teacher completely and totally floored. He's way ahead of where he "should" be - surprise, surprise, surprise. I am so stinkin' proud of my kids.

Then a marathon run to Wichita to sit and wait at the Social Security office for what seemed like forever, but I got everything taken care of and should get his new card in the mail in the next couple of weeks.

OK, so cross the conference and the Social Security thing off of the list.

I picked Alex up from school, and then thought that I could buzz into the bank to get Daniel's name changed on his bank account. Turned out that it would take too long to do that right then, so we left to go get Daniel....and we had to run back so that Alex could see the car too.

....and then made a spur-of-the-moment run to Sonic for beverages and then to the dealership to order the part for the van door.

On my way back through town, I noticed a whole bunch of radio station and news vans parked around the train station. Having no clue what was going on, I posted something on facebook and found out that Martina McBride was going to be in town for something-or-other.

Oooooooohhhh really?

Then back to the bank. Name change completed.

Wait, how many things just got added to the list of not-much-to-do-today?

Then to the house. Boys into the stroller for an almost-sprint for the almost-mile to the train station to see Martina.

Hey, that wasn't on the list either.

Local radio personalities

Some of our finest

Here she comes!

Um, yeah.

Man, I wish I was taller....

Some *ahem* nice lady gave the boys train whistles. Gee, thanks lady.

So after Martina spoke for about 2 minutes (literally) and then disappeared, we walked back home.

So we got home. Ate supper....well, the boys had banana bread and then crashed. Hard. I realized that I had kinda' sorta' forgotten to eat anything all day, so I made some supper for me, then did some sewing while I watched Biggest Loser and Parenthood and cleaned the house at the same time.

Scary thing is that I feel like I forgot to do something today. Besides eat, I mean.

I hate that.

But it was a good day.

Our Day in Court

Finally...today was the day of my Super Duper Uber Secret Appointment.

The appointment itself went smoothly, after the judge arrived 30 minutes late.

Enjoying the view from the peanut gallery.

Talk about a legal team!

The star of the day!

Oh, so I guess you want to know why we were there?

I know that some people aren't going to agree with what I did today.
I know that some people are going to be downright angry with me.
I know that most people totally support my decision - including my children.

Daniel's last name has now been legally changed to my maiden name.

There. I said it.

Want to know why?

1. My older 3 kids all share the same last name - that of their father, my first husband, who is an active participant in their lives.

2. Alex's last name is my maiden name. His father and I weren't married when he was born and at that time, I was still using my first married name. I made the decision at that time to give him my maiden name.

3. I took my maiden name back after my second divorce.

4. Daniel was the only person in this family to have his last name. He didn't "match" anyone else.

5. Daniel's father's family has not been involved in his life at all for 2 years, 3 months, and 27 days, as of today. At all. I opened the door, and they chose not to come in.

6. Daniel's father's family has chosen not to cooperate with me in any way, shape or form to ensure that he would qualify for various programs. They put their selfish, spiteful, petty ways ahead of his well-being.

7. My family has been there for Daniel since the day he was born, and will be forever.

Didn't make much sense to me to have him carry the name of a family who has proven over and over again that they don't care about him - so why not give him the name of his family who loves him?

So, it's done and over with. I just have to wait to get the official paperwork back from the state, which should only take a week or two - then I get to run around and change it with everyone who needs to have it changed.

With all of that being said.....I feel the need to remind everyone that because of the comments that were left on this post I will continue to moderate comments. I will post all comments unless they contain personally identifying information about anyone (you know, don't spill the last names and stuff like that). Please keep the language at least semi-clean. Bash me all you want - I'm a big girl and I can handle it. Don't bash each other. It's ok to disagree - just show a little respect.

Now, have at it.