It's settled!

Last year's Christmas pic! I'm tempted to use it again this year if we can't get a good shot. lol.. Just kidding! (sort of)

We ended up getting a real tree this year! It's a really pretty Fraser Fir that is nicely shaped. :) I'm so glad we ended up with a real one. It smells good, looks good and is so much nicer than the old one we had.

We managed to get the lights on it this weekend after a million other errands and chores. The ornaments had to wait until Tuesday though. I managed to throw the ornaments on the tree in between my younger group of daycare kids going home and the older ones getting off of the bus. I saved all of the kids' ornaments for them to put on last night. They had a blast, but boy did the bottom of the tree look scary! ;) It was a little lopsided and very cramped. I had them rearrange a few so that the poor branches could have some relief.

Now I just need to work on getting a picture of all of the kids to put on some Christmas cards. Any bets on how many pics I'll have to take to get ONE good one? Each year the number rises. Last year I had some pretty hilarious pictures. Our youngest had just learned to say 'crap' and thought it was hilarious. So, in the middle of pictures he starts saying it over and over again. Crap, Crap, Crap, CRAP! he would yell. It was funny, but boy were those pics getting silly. The older two couldn't contain themselves and they were laughing so hard. Eventually we managed to get a good shot. Hopefully this year we'll capture the right one as well. It's always interesting, that's for sure. How easy it was to get a picture of 1 smiling child. I feel like it's an Olympic event trying to get the perfect pic with all 3 of them smiling AND looking at the camera without doing something goofy or getting upset. By the time we're done I'm sweating, my blood pressure is up and the kids are all begging for the candy that I promised them if they'd just smile! Yes, I'm bad. I believe in bribery to the full extent, especially while trying to capture lifelong memories that will be shared with others. lol.... The things we do.

Hope that you're all enjoying gearing up for the holidays!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

How dark and broken are your branches. O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree, good thing you only cost 25 dollars! lol...
So, we had our first speed bump of the holiday season today. We were so excited to put up the Christmas tree and start decorating the house. Well, we pulled out the artificial tree that we had purchased 2 years ago and got busy setting it up. One problem, the middle section of the tree wouldn't light. Ok, so we figured it was a bad bulb. When we got to looking at the bulbs on that particular line they were all black and blown up. Hmm.. how did that happen? Who knows, but it didn't look safe! Rick was sure he would fix it, but I said no way! It was going in the trash. I think it had a short and that seems dangerous to me. So, back in the box it went. No, it wasn't a nice tree by any means. I actually got it the Christmas that we moved here to the new house. We had just moved in the week before Christmas and we knew we didn't have the time or the energy to set up a real tree. That year I got a fantastic deal on this artificial tree at Lowe's for $25. Apparently it was only good for a couple of years and then you have to move on. We had discussed going to get a real tree this year. Truthfully I'm the only one in the family who wanted a real tree. Everyone else just wanted to do it the easy way and set up the old one. I wanted the kids to experience the Christmas tree farm, picking that perfect tree, lugging it home and positioning it just right. I may just get my wish after all. If not, at least we'll get to get a new artificial one that will hopefully look a little more real. This last one was pretty sorry looking, if I must say so. ;) We'll see what tomorrow brings when we all finish the Christmas tree discussion.
For now we have a big open spot in the newly arranged living room just waiting for a tree. Will we soon have the fresh pine smell rushing through the house? Who knows!!
The kids' main worry was that Santa wouldn't know where to put the presents. I assured them that he'd find a place! I teased them and told them we could bring in Spike, our potted plant from outside, and decorate it. We've named it Spike because it's a sort of spiked looking plant that we can't seem to kill no matter how hard we try. They were all horrified and thought I would really do it. I think I should do it tonight while they're sleeping just to see their reactions. lol.. I'm so bad!

Shopping, shopping and more shopping...

Now who is going to wrap all of this stuff? What a busy weekend we've had! It was certainly nice to be here at home for our 4 day weekend, but boy we kept busy. Our four day weekend started with a nice relaxing day Thursday. I made a nice Turkey Day dinner for our little family of 5. I have to say it was a little bit strange having Thanksgiving dinner with just the 5 of us, but quite nice also. We made a turkey breast and all of the traditional fixings. The kids enjoyed it, especially the cherry pie for dessert!
On Friday I got up for my traditional Black Friday shopping. Yes, I'm one of those nuts who goes out early in the morning just to get a deal. Is it really worth it you are asking.... YES! To me it is worth it. When you have a budget minded husband and a limited amount to work with you MUST cut back in some areas. Therefore, it is neccessary to find every deal possible. I am able to spread our dollars a lot further when I get out and capture the great sales. And, I have to say it is exhilarating going out in the cold, standing in line and then rushing in with the mobs to find those few sought after items.
Luckily for me the kids haven't yet reached the teenage years. Those are the days I dread. Not because they'll be back talking or rolling their eyes at me, but because they'll be asking for electronics! EEEkkk... just the thought of the electronics department on Black Friday scares me. ;) It really is frightening what people will do for some electronic gadgets that are on sale. My friend that went along with me for the shopping adventure did have to go after a digital camera for her teenager. We had our plans all laid out so that we knew who was going after what when we got into the madness. She was headed to electronics and I was off to the toys. I had a list of some things to get for myself and for her. I managed to maneuver my cart somehow through the chaos and found 90% of what I was there for. I missed out on the huge container of k-nex for the boys and the Word Whammer that my friend wanted. But, out of the huge list we had to accomplish we can't complain about only missing out on two things. After Target we went through Sears, Bath & Body Works, Hallmark and a couple of other mall locations. Then, we went over to Kohl's. It was still madness at Kohl's at 9 o'clock. That place was nuts! Our Kohl's opened at 4 am this year. That blows my mind! Apparently people were lined up across the entire parking lot and backing up into a restaraunt parking lot that is way in the deep deep end of Kohl's lot. I'm SOOO glad we weren't in that line. It was a very chilly 25 degrees that morning. Even while sipping our hot Starbuck's drinks in the Target line for a 1/2 hour we were frozen. I can't imagine those who waited in that long line at 4 am. Nor can I imagine the people who slept outside of Best Buy or Staples waiting for the sought after laptops and other gadgets. See what I mean about electronics? People go crazy for the things. I think when the kids reach that age I'll have to send Rick out for those deals. lol... :) He's definitely got a higher interest in those types of gadgets than I do.

So, anyways, we go into Kohl's do our shopping and I notice that the lines from the checkouts go all the way around the back of the store. We finished up quickly and got in line. While waiting in line we heard estimates of our wait time, some people said it would only be 20 mins, others said it would be an hour and a half. So, there we stood. Waiting, waiting and waiting. Of course, we shopped more while we waited. Everyone in line could be seen grabbing more deals as they passed by them. I think it was seriously Kohl's way to get you to spend some more money. It worked! After getting out of there we went to Bed, Bath & Beyond and then called it quits. I was expecting company and wanted to make it home to see them!
We had some very dear friends that were in town visiting family for the holiday and they came by to visit that morning. It was so wonderful to see them! What a nice treat for our weekend! We've missed them so much since they moved, it was great to have some time with them. The kids were so excited to play with their buddies who they've missed so much as well.
After they left I went back into town to finish up some more shopping. Got home around 8:30. What a day of shopping that was! Started shopping at 5:30am, took a short break and finished at 8:30pm. I was beat!

But, it didn't stop me from going out again today. I had a couple of things to return and finished up some more people on the list! WOOHOO! We're getting there. I still have some things to finish up, but we have a great start. We have so many people to buy it just keeps going and going. I enjoy it though, I love gift giving! We have a ton of family members that we buy for, including our 6 parents, my 6 siblings, 3 nieces, grandparents, great aunt, 7 teachers, 8 daycare kids, an ornament exchange with our playgroup buddies, Rick's 5 employees at work, our good neighbor friends, our large family get together gift exchange and a few others. The list grows each year I think.
Rick and I compile a list at the beginning of the season including everyone we buy gifts for. We then figure out a spending limit for each person/family. Once that is accomplished I can begin my shopping. So far I've done well staying within budget for most everyone.

My oldest ds is working on making some allowance money to take in to school. The 1st graders are doing a community project in which they'll all collect money and then buy presents for a family in need in their own school. I think it is a fabulous idea! His class is doing this in lieu of a gift exchange amonst themselves. It's really a great thing! The idea that they're working to earn money to help bless another family in need is just heartwarming!

I really do need to get off to bed. I've not quite caught up from the lack of sleep yesterday. I'm not used to getting up at 3:45 am! Thank goodness!

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells....

That's what dd was singing as I tried on jeans today in the dressing room at Kohl's!
Yep, I've got it already. That Christmas spirit! Just last week I was Scrooge and talking about how sickening it was that the Christmas aisles were showing up right next to the pumpkins and candy for Halloween. There's something much more appealing about it this week. I'm not sure why, but I've been bitten by the Christmas bug. Maybe it's the fact that I scored some really awesome deals at Kohl's today! I decided to stop by Kohl's because dear hubby and I both needed a new pair or two of jeans. We've worn ours out so badly, it was time.
I went in with my handy 30% off coupon, which was able to be used on ALL merchandise; even sale and clearance items! The first trip to Kohl's today was success #1. Though, I could only pick up things for the boys, dh and I since dd was with me. We did manage to get her some camis that she just HAD to have, to wear under her shirts (I'll save that for another post!).
Anyways, the first trip I spent a lot, but saved a lot too. I think I saved $75 that first trip. WOOHOO! I'm a bargain girl all the way. There is something so invigorating about a deal! I managed to find something for my mom while I was there also.
I came home and talked with dh about my savings. I then decided that I needed to go back and pick up a couple of toys and things for the kids when they weren't with me. I couldn't pass up these deals! The toys were up to 50% off, plus my 30% coupon that I can use as many times as I'd like. WOOHOO again! Gotta love Kohl's!
So, back into town I went without any children in tow. That was a blessing in itself I have to say. This time I managed to get several things that will be sitting under our tree on Christmas morning! I won't go into them here since ds#1 is often peeking over my shoulder while I'm at the computer, I don't want to ruin any surprises! We'll just say we scored some big time deals. One of my best finds was the Dora doll sets. My nieces both love Dora and I found two different sets that were on a huge sale.
Tomorrow the new ads will come out and I'm hoping to find some more fantastic deals in them! The Target toy catalog came last week and had some great coupons in it! The kids have all been going through it to find what they'd love to have. Of course, dd managed to mark everything on most pages. She's not picky! She'll take anything in the book. lol.. Ds#1 is a little more selective. He only selected a handful of things in the entire book. He's not sure what he really wants for Christmas. However, ds #2 thinks that he needs a TV for Christmas for his bedroom. Seriously, a TV?! This 3 yr old is nuts! Though, dh told him the other day that he may be able to work that out. What?? Could we discuss this first please! lol... In his defense he was trying to negotiate a deal with ds and it seemed to be working. Since his surgery, ds has decided he isn't going to use the potty anymore. In fact he wants to wear diapers or pull ups all of the time. This is especially frustrating since he was fully potty trained before the surgery. We've been struggling with this all week. We're finally close to getting him back on track. He has been wearing underwear most of the day again and trying his best to use the bathroom instead of a pull up. He seriously thinks he's getting a TV, since dh used his negotiating powers. ugh... What to do...what to do...
I'm not a fan of having televisions in my childrens' bedrooms. The only reason we have one in our master bedroom is because dh got a new bigger tv for the living room and we put our old one upstairs in our room. Otherwise we probably wouldn't have one either. We don't watch it much up there. I think the kids watch it more than we do, like if we're watching something downstairs and they want to have movie time or something. So, I'm torn. I don't know what to do. If (and that's a big IF) we decide to go ahead with this TV for ds it will come with strict rules. He will only be allowed to watch it for maybe a 1/2 hour a day and not when it is time to be sleeping! We'll see how that goes. When you ask the child what he wants Santa to bring he just says "A TV for my dresser!". I hate to break his heart and not let Santa bring the dang TV. But, I also hate to give in and let him have the TV, seeing as how I don't like the idea all that much. I'm going to try to convince him to choose something else in one of the countless toy catalogs that we have. For now he only wants a TV, he tells me "just a small one mom!". ; ) Gotta love him, he's trying so hard!

To sum all of this rambling up, I'm just very excited to say that I've at least started my Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving this year. I'm hoping to have all of it done on the day after Thanksgiving. What a blessing that would be! Then, I could enjoy the entire month of December with my family, baking, celebrating and eating!! Maybe I should keep my eyes out for one of those treadmills to go along with all of the baking and eating! I'll be needing new jeans again after all of this.

Happy Early Holidays all! Happy shopping! They're even playing Christmas music in the stores already. Crazy stuff!

With a heavy heart,

I'm sending this prayer request for a soldier's family (the Johnson family). A friend of mine who is currently stationed in TX with her military husband knew this family and has shared the story with me. Very heartbreaking and I know they could use the extra thoughts and prayers.

http://origin.elpasotimes.com/ci_7263180
The first link is the original article posted a while back, including a photo of the family.
Second link is an updated version.
http://www.abqjournal.com/abqnews/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5250&Itemid=2
They can really use the extra prayers right now.

More pics!

These two are really getting close in size now! Of course, her hat makes her look taller than she really is, but she's catching up. He's not as excited about that as she is! Just for the record, I had to pay these two each a dollar just to pose for this picture. Sad, I know. What a mom will do to have scrapbook memories. They were so tired of getting their picture taken.

Go ILLINI! He loves his new hat!

I didn't forget about ds #1 in the first photos, he wasn't into playing in the leaves this time. He was busy playing football with grandpa and daddy! Here are a few shots of our football pro. He was getting a secret play from daddy in this shot, they wanted to fool grandpa!

I'll stop for now! I'm a picture taking fool this week. I've got to catch up for some major slacking.

Fall!

Having some fun in the leaves!

Are you kidding mom? Stop taking pictures already!!

Looking up..

So, I was thinking tonight (scary thought, I know) about role models. I think it came to mind because I was preaching to my oldest child how important it was to set a good example for the younger ones. Afterall, they are looking up to him. He had a rough day and was not making the greatest choices. Thankfully, those days with him don't happen very often. He really is a good boy and does strive to please everyone by making the right choices.

Anyways, I was thinking about a role model that I've always looked up to. My grandma Kay is the most amazing woman I know. She has the kindest heart and the most loving soul you could ever imagine. She is one of 'those' grandmas that everyone loves. Everyone wishes they had a grandma like that! She always has a gentle smile, a huge hug and a kind word for EVERYONE. When we were growing up my cousin and I would call her "Mrs. Garrett" from the Facts of Life. She was just always there to lend an ear or a shoulder or just a comforting spot to land. Grandma has spent all of her life doing for others, thinking of others and always setting a good example. If I accomplish nothing else in this lifetime, I hope that I can be half of the woman/mother/grandmother/wife that she is. What an amazing example she has been to so many people.
She recently had surgery to repair a broken foot and I know it is so hard for her to sit around and wait for it to heal. I know she wants nothing more than to hop up and run around taking care of everything and everyone. Sending prayers out that she'll have a speedy recovery and full healing so that she can get back to doing what she does best! And, here's hoping she squeezes in some time to take care of herself while she's at it. :) I'm sure Grandpa is taking extra good care of her while she recovers.

Our family is a hugging family. They've always been that way. My Grammy & Grampy (my great-grandparents) were the same way. They were kind hearted, giving, generous and so full of love. They are all strong believers and I thank them for always sharing that love of Christ with us. I hope to instill that same faith in my own children. While I'm on that subject, I can't leave out my great-aunt Ede and uncle Louis. Two amazing people who have been such an important part of our family. They really aren't like an aunt or uncle, so much as an extra set of parents or grandparents! How blessed our family has been! I have the most amazing extended and close family that anyone could ask for. I have so many wonderful memories from my childhood. My only regret is that I live a state away from them and don't get to see them as much as I'd like. I wish that my children could have the same experiences with all of them that I did. We know that Grammy, Grampy and Uncle Louis are looking down on us from Heaven and enjoying every moment! The kids still talk about them, even though they were so young when they passed. I want them to forever know how lucky we are to have had them in our lives. They are the foundation of the family that we have become and will always be.

Getting there!

Well, ds seems to be recovering very well from his surgery. Thank goodness! It was a bit of a rough road, but he is really getting there. He'll go back to preschool tomorrow, though I'm a bit nervous about it. He says he's ready to go back and is looking forward to their fall celebration!

He seems to be feeling so much better and is able to eat mostly normal things now. He still hasn't had chips or anything sharp, momma's not ready for that yet.

He is so funny, the night we had to take him to the ER for his bleeding he thought they had 'healed him'. So, on the way home he says to us "can I have chips now?". lol.. We answered no and he then followed with "well, how about orange juice?". ;) They told him no orange juice for fear the acidic juices would burn his throat. He was so disappointed to find he couldn't have either. Since then he has been able to drink some OJ, but still no chips. He was also SOOO super excited to have pizza the other day. I think the child was having withdrawal symptoms from lack of pizza! He is afterall my son! I'm a pizza kind of gal. ;)

Hopefully we are well on our way to a full recovery and this whole thing will be a distant bad memory! I do have to say we no longer have Darth Vader living in the house!! He can now breathe quietly while he sleep! YEAH!! It's almost scary now he is so quiet. We've found ourselves going in to check on him and actually putting our ears to his mouth and our hands on his chest to check his breathing. It's like he is a newborn again!

Next feat...retrain him to sleep in his own room! EEK! I'm ready for a full night of sleep again some day. Like I said, like a newborn.

I know, I know..one day we'll have all the sleep we need.

We've got 2 readers!

Just had to share (yes, brag...it's my blog right?) how proud we are of both of our school-agers! They are doing so great with reading and both of them have such a passion for it. I have to say I enjoy reading, but have never been one to just read and read and read. And, dh doesn't like to read at all. He'll read the sports page and that's about enough for him. ;)
So, you can understand our amazement at the joy that both of them are finding in this new habit. I'm so pleased and just so proud!
Ds can often be found reading when he is supposed to be getting dressed or showering. He'll ask to read before school, after school and throughout the evening. The child can devour an entire chapter book in a day. He's flying through his favorite book series, The Magic Treehouse books. Yesterday he started reading one of them for a second time. He'll read just about anything he can get his hands on. His teacher has picked up on his love of reading and is also encouraging him to keep up the good work. During the 1st nine weeks of school he was testing at that beginning of 3rd grade level. I think he's possibly even a bit past that right now.
I attribute his fantastic spelling ability to his love of reading and the wide assortment of words that he has been introduced to. He has gotten perfect scores on all of his spelling tests this year and has also gotten all of the bonus words correct. The bonus words are a bit tough for 1st grade, in my opinion. Words like: neighborhood, cooperation, phrase, etc... His teacher told us at his conference that she's going to have him start making up his own spelling tests with words that he wants to learn, since hers are "easy" for him.

Dd just started kindergarten this year and is also doing really well. She has mastered sounding the words out and can recognize so many words now! She'll even read books aloud to herself. When she thinks noone is listening/watching I love to peek on her and see how she's enjoying it. She reads to her baby dolls, her barbies and her stuffed animals! In her room they'll be all set out like students and she is the teacher. She works on her sight word flashcards and has most of them mastered now. She spends most of her day sounding out and trying to spell different words. Her constant eagerness to learn is just fantastic!

It makes a momma so proud to see her children striving to do well and enjoying it as they go along! It's not work to them, it's fun!

I have no doubts that ds #2 is going to follow in their footsteps. He already knows all of his letter sounds, enjoys books so much and is learning all of dd's kindergarten songs (r-e-d red, r-e-d red, I can spell red, I can spell red).

Ok, I'll stop gushing with pride now. :)

Halloween Fun!

Dd as Princess Aurora aka Sleeping Beauty
Ds 1 as a Ninja
Ds 2 as a Tiger
We went to the local trick or treat trail and they had a blast! The parks and rec dept here puts on this event and it is fabulous! They have fairy tale characters act out little skits along the trail and then they pass out candy to the kids. They have enjoyed going for the past several years! It's nice that the kids can get more than one wearing out of their costumes as well!
They're so anxious to go out trick or treating on Halloween night!

Tagged by Candy!

Five things I was doing 10 years ago:
1. Planning my wedding
2. Enjoying being skinny!
3. Teaching preschool
4. Driving 2 nice cars that weren't kid friendly (Firebird Formula and Grand Am GT). And they were immaculate inside. Missing that!
5. Smoking (YUCK!) So glad I gave that up before I had kids. :)

Five things on my "to do list" today:
1. Survive a house full of kids, it's a 1/2 day today at school.
2. Laundry, piles and piles of it.
3. Take Ds to football practice, in the rain.
4. Go to the grocery store, can't live much longer on what we've got.
5. Explain to Samsung how upset I am that our brand new side by side is not working! Oh and clean up the mush (I mean food) that is left in the freezer. ugh.. If we wanted something that was junk we would have spent a LOT less money on it.

Five things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. Buy a house that is a tiny bit bigger than this one with a large yard for all of the children to enjoy! Not a mansion, just something a little bigger, with a basement!
2. Share with my family members and friends who I know need it more than we do.
3. Buy hubby a car since we can't afford to do that right now.
4. Set aside a large chunk so that my children can go to school as long as they wish and not have to worry about paying off loans for years and years to come. And a healthy chunk of it just to get them started.
5. Invest the rest and share some of the profits with a couple of our favorite causes/charities.
I'm adding a #6 because I would love to open my own Parents Day Out program here locally.

Five things I will never wear again:
1. My skinny jeans. WAH!!
2. My maternity clothes.
3. My tight rolled jeans from high school. ha.ha..
4. Hi-top sneakers.
5. Leg warmers.

5 favorite Toys:
1. Computer
2. Cell phone, got a new free one today for being a loyal customer!
3. CD players - gotta have that music!
4. Digital camera!
5. The treadmill that I don't have yet (I'm currently begging dh to get one).

Five people to tag:
1. Amanda
2. Michelle
3. Angel
4. Lesley
5. Heather


If you see your name on here (and even if you don't...if you want to play too, go ahead), repost it to your blog or myspace page and fill in the blanks. (I promise I won't be offended if you don't do it...)

Round 2 for our brave little man

Thought I'd update you all. Some of you may know already, some may not. Ds started having some bleeding from his surgery spot last night. He was up in our bed resting and he came frantically to the banister with his hands full of blood. We took him to the ER and they observed him for a bit. It stopped and all looked ok so they released him to go home for the remainder of the night (not much of it left considering this happened at 10 and we didn't get to bed until midnight at least). They explained that bleeding at this point was very rare, happens in less than 2% of the patients. It is very uncommon for children his age to have bleeding issues as well. Gotta love being in the 2%.
Fast forward to this morning, he started bleeding again. It was really bad this time. Rick and I were both VERY scared. I've never seen so much blood. We'll just leave it at that before I gross you out anymore. So, off he goes to the ENT office where they wanted to take a look. I knew they were going to have to send him somewhere else due to the volume of blood, but they wanted us to go to the office first. The dr. took one look at him and said 'see you at the surgery center'. He had to be put back under and they cauterized the area. I guess there was a clot area that also was covering a 'squirter' (dr's terminology not mine!). He also had to clean up some of the scar tissue. Dr. says it will help his recovery a bit, hopefully. We're home now and he's sleeping it off. Poor guy. He just has had a rotten week! He's so mad at the dr's and furious that the nurses keep putting bandaids on his IV spots. ;) Here's hoping that his recovery will be smooth sailing from here on out.

phew...what a day!

Pumpkin Patch Fun!

My 3 dark haired kiddos with my sister's 2 blondies. What a cute bunch! They look a little hot, huh! Gotta love the Indiana weather, just never know what you're gonna get in October!

Fall is so great!

Pumpkins, cider, leaves, hayrides, it's all so fun! This is my favorite time of year! The kids love it too. My sister came down to visit with her two daughters two weekends ago. We took all of the kids to the pumpkin patch to pick out some pumpkins. There is a local family that has a great farm here that they open up to the public. They sell pumpkins, gourds and have a mini petting zoo and a train ride for the kids. They even have a hayride and a corn maze!
I convinced my pregnant (and not so willing) sister to go along for the fun! I suppose it might have been more fun for all of us if it hadn't been in the 90s that day! I'm sorry but who wants to be searching in a hot pumpkin patch or sitting on itchy hay when it is 90 degrees out? Wasn't very fun for anyone, let alone the pregnant gal!
We made our visit pretty quick. Went into the closest patch to find some beautiful pumpkins! Lugged out all that we could carry and went to enjoy the animals. The kids loved the donkey and the baby chicks!
After that they went on the little train, so cute! They all had a blast! Of course, they wanted to stay longer but I feared my sister's feet would explode if they swelled up any more than they already had. Gotta get the pregnant lady out of the heat! Thanks for putting up with us that day, Ang! I know it wasn't as fun for you as it could have been. At least we got lucky and found some great deals on baby equipment later that day. Hopefully that makes up for it!

Now we're anxiously waiting to carve our pumpkins. I love this time of year! I've been burning a spiced cider oil warmer that one of my daycare parents gave me last week as a gift. It smells so GOOD! I enjoy the fall scents more than any other! Pumpkins, spices, apples, pies, YUM! Makes me want to bake! Hmm.. wonder what we have in the pantry?

Big Boy now!

It's been a while since I posted, so I suppose I should do a quick update!

Ds #3 did start preschool and enjoys it very much! He had a great time meeting new friends and went right in without a tear. :) He was so proud of himself! Poor guy was only able to enjoy a couple of weeks of preschool before his surgery, so now he's out for a week or two. Hoping he'll go back with no troubles when it is time. He's already got a few buddies and talks about them regularly. I was a bit worried how he would do with the potty thing since the teachers are strangers to him and he would be so busy playing/learning. But, he did great! He wore underwear and kept them dry every time he went. He did so awesome! We're so proud of you C-man!
It was a bit bittersweet seeing my baby boy go off to preschool. I mean, he's my baby! I can't believe all of my children are now old enough to go off without me (at least for a couple hours). lol.. I have had so many people ask me what I'm doing with myself while they're all 3 at school a few times a week. Well, I'm taking care of everyone else's kids! ;) I think it helped to keep my mind off of my baby going off to preschool because I had other kids here to tend to. It has been a nice break for Ds also to go to school and get away from the daycare kids. He loves to play with them, but sometimes he doesn't love sharing his toys or his mom. So, this gives him a chance to just get away and enjoy some big boy time.

I need to find a picture of him with his big boy backpack and share it here. I'll do that soon!

Recovery time..

Ds #3 had his surgery. We had anticipated the worst, but it went much smoother than we expected. In case you don't know what I'm talking about, our youngest son had been diagnosed with obstructed sleep apnea and needed to have his very large tonsils and adenoids out. Last Friday my mom and step dad came into town to help with the older kids and we went off to the surgery center. It was early in the morning so ds was really unaware of what was going on. We explained to him that the doctors were going to fix his throat so that he could breathe a bit better. We also told him that when he woke up from a little nap mommy and daddy would be there with him. The horror stories we've heard about children coming out of anesthesia were so scary. But, to our surprise he came out of it very well. When he first started coming out of it he was a bit fussy and just confused. He was very groggy and out of it. He did look at both of us and recognize that we were there. We sat next to his bed and held his hands and rubbed his back. He took a nap and slept some of the meds off. After he woke up the second time he was in pretty good spirits. Still a little grumpy and unsure of everything, but not like I expected. He laid in bed and watched Nick Jr while they monitored him. Soon he asked for a popsicle. :) He ate a bit of that and then started asking to have his IV removed. He wasn't really excited about that being in there! Once he was taking in some fluids they removed the IV and let him hang out a bit longer. The hardest part of the entire day was when the nurse went to put a band-aid on his IV spot. You would have thought they were killing him. This kid...he's a nut! He'll let someone cut out his tonsils and then pull out an IV, but don't you dare try to put a band-aid on it! How dare you! lol... He was incredibly brave and cooperative during the entire procedure. What a relief! I worried for days about this procedure and how he would do. Boy was I glad to see him pull through it like a champ! He's always been tough, so I shouldn't be surprised. He is afterall the 3rd child! Having a big brother and sister will toughen anyone up!
The week of his surgery they had to take some blood and we worried about that also. I made dh go with me for fear we'd have to place him in full out tackle to get the blood they needed. Well, the time came and he sat there so nicely on dh's lap while I talked to him and distracted him. The nurse poked him and he barely flinched. He looked over at her for a brief second, the look on his face was priceless! Sort of like "What did you do that for?" . He never said a word, not an ouch or anything. What a brave boy! He did so well.

Well, now fast forward to day 3-4 post op. It hasn't been such a picnic. They warned us that days 3-7 could be rough. He is certainly in pain, very frustrated and just really confused. He can't seem to figure out why on Earth we took him in to 'those mean doctors' to have them 'hurt' him and send him home to have no chips! He really wants chips! Of course, he can't have them since they're sharp. I think it's a matter of him just knowing he can't have them that makes him want them so much. We barely even keep chips in the house. We're not huge chip eaters, but from time to time we'll get some. Like if we have Subway we'll get chips (the baked kind, YUM!) or if we have a cookout we might get some chips and dip. But, this is what my child craves when he can't have sharp foods! ugh.. Any other day he'd be begging for ice cream and popsicles. Now he says popsicles and ice cream are yucky!
It's been a challenge convincing him that he can't eat anything and everything. He's a bit burnt out on mashed potatoes, jello, pudding, yogurt, cheese, soup, noodles, mac & cheese and eggs.
He's also not sleeping at night which is making mommy and daddy VERY grumpy and tired. I think the pain is worse at night and he is so restless. We were up so many times last night I can't even count. YAWN!!! Poor dh had to go to work today, I know he's exhausted.
I think we'll all get to bed early tonight.

If we can get through the next couple of days I think he'll be fine. It's exhausting and so hard to watch him in pain and not want to take the meds. He used to take them fine, but now that he's had them for 4 days straight he is tired of it. Earlier it turned into a wrestling match with me trying to give him his motrin. We ended up with both of us wearing that dose, so I'm sure he'll be hurting again sooner than later. Can't negotiate with a 3 yr old who has a sore throat, is going on no sleep and can't figure out why those 'mean doctors' did that to him. I keep telling him that they were helping him, but he is plain mad! Poor guy! One day he'll forget all about this and will be glad it was done when he was young. Right? For now he keeps pointing to his mouth saying "Why did they do that?".
Oh and he has a new voice now also. A bit surprising to me as noone had mentioned that as a possibility. It's very strange to hear him talk now. I am hoping that is just due to his swollen throat and the fact that he's favoring that area. He talks completely different now! He also has trouble pronouncing a lot of the letter sounds that he could say clearly before. He was a talking maniac before. Before the surgery he could tell you all of the letters of the alphabet and their correct sounds, but now it sounds like a jumbled up mess. Dh and I can barely make out what he is saying now. I really hope he gets his sweet and CLEAR voice back! He has always gotten so many compliments on how well he speaks and what a large vocabulary he has already.

Oh well, I suppose I should go get some house cleaning done before the kids come home on the bus. Ds is sleeping, so will hopefully wake up feeling a bit better. Thanks to all of you who have shared kind words, advice and prayers with us during this time. We're grateful for each of you!

TIRED!

That about sums it up lately. I just feel so so tired. I've not yet adjusted to this school year schedule again. Or shall we just call it chaos? It is insane! I know that most of my fellow mommies (or daddies for that matter) can relate. It is just never ending.
There's always something that needs to be done, someone who needs to be taken somewhere or something that needs to be picked up- whether it be the house or an actual item that needs to be purchased. I feel like we live at the grocery store in all of our 'free' time. These kids are going to eat us out of our house! I can't even imagine when they're teenagers and have even bigger appetites.
I suppose it doesn't help that I'm feeding all of the daycare kiddos also, so that does add to the grocery tally.
I am so exhausted, but realized I hadn't written anything here for a while. So, here I am to ramble on in my sleep deprived state. I don't think I've ever been this tired! YAWN!
An update...

Ds #1 is loving football and it is so much fun to watch him play! Only problem, of course the games are bright and early Saturday mornings, the one day I would normally get to sleep in. He loves it so much I couldn't tell him no, so here we are. :) Practice and games and everything in between. He's a natural though, scored 2 touchdowns last weekend and was really good on the defense also. He had the entire side-lines cheering for him. Makes a momma proud to see him doing so well at something he loves AND most importantly being a good sport about it. He was so nice to all of the kids on both teams! Even after he pulled their flags he was very polite. ;)
Today he came home from school so proud! He got special recognition from the music teacher today for doing a great job, he was sent to the principal's office to get something out of the treasure chest. He was sent last week by his own teacher for doing a great job. Today he also got a coveted lunch 'ticket' to eat lunch at a special picnic table tomorrow. They're handed out by the cafe workers to those who are doing the right thing. Only a couple of kids each day earn them from what I've observed. I'm so proud of him. He's really a good boy and it makes me so happy to know that he's presenting himself in such a wonderful way at school.

DD is also loving school! WOOHOO! I'm so relieved. After the rough start I was doubtful she'd ever be jumping out of bed, eager to go. Thank goodness for a terrific teacher and some familiar friends in the class. She's picking up on reading very quickly and loving all of the songs that they're teaching her. She sings non-stop from the time she wakes until she goes to bed at night. Even while she's eating, peeing, whatevering. It's constant. It's cute for a while, but at some point you want to strangle the teacher who taught her all of these cutesy, rhyming songs. lol.. At least she's loving it, that is all that matters! She comes home full of fun stories and shares all about her day. I'm so proud of her for all that she's overcome this year, she really is a brave girl! She is still debating on whether to start gymnastics or dance. I think she'd be fabulous at either, but especially dance. She's got some moves for a 5 yr old! Don't ask me where she got those moves, we still haven't figured it out.

Ds #2 is eager to go to preschool! Though there are times now that he'll say he's going to stay home instead. We'll see how he does when it is drop off time! Only a few more weeks. He's practicing wearing underwear pretty regularly now so that he'll be ready for school. Though, since I started watching a couple of younger kiddos he has regressed so badly. He wants to act like a baby and be treated like a baby. Makes it a bit more challenging.
He is, however, doing very well with his letter recognition, letter sounds and his colors, numbers, etc.. I think he's going to take after his older brother in that department! He's a smart boy. A little too smart when it comes to some things. He has a vocabulary that is unbelievable, and it includes words an almost 3 yr old should not know! ugh.. Blame that on the older siblings. The joys of being the baby of the group. ;) He's also mastered the mouse on the computer and whizs through the games now. He's a maniac!

Well, my time is up. I've had to pause this writing several times already to tend to other duties. Hoping that I can crawl into bed at a decent time tonight. The kids decided they'd eat at school tomorrow which will help me get to bed a little bit earlier. As much as I hate to subject them to the lunch there, at least it saves me some work tonight. It's spaghetti tomorrow, so I guess it could be much worse.
Wishing the magical mother fairy would come in and do the rest of the laundry, the dishes and the grocery shopping!
I won't even mention the dusting. Even if there is a magical mother fairy, I can almost guarantee she's also given up on the dusting! It's a worthless cause. Though the laundry isn't far behind.

Move out day!

What? Moving? Not the entire family. Just most of the contents of my daughter's room! I have had enough and yesterday was move out day! I am hitting myself for not taking a picture of the 'before' bedroom. I tell you it was horrendous! I can't even explain it. Our bedroom is right next to hers, so every time I walked towards my room I would catch a glimpse of her floor. It literally made me sick to my stomach!
Most who know me know that I like organization, I like for things to be neat and cannot stand a cluttered mess. So, we can all imagine how utterly impossible it was for me to leave the mess. She used to be our best helper, our good cleaner and my master organizer. I thought I'd cloned myself and gone to heaven. Well, the clone is apparently on strike! This girl had destroyed every inch of her bedroom. She had every shirt 'paired' with a pair of pants or a skirt and then thrown on the floor (usually on top of a toy or two). Every Barbie was laid out across the path, every polly pocket shoe, dress, hairbrush, etc.. all over the place. THEN, she decided to go into the kitchen and get some ziploc baggies to play with. She put one item in each baggie and had them hidden throughout the maze of toys and clothes. In one baggie we found a shirt, in another we found a bundle of yarn, in another there was a bottle nipple?!?, then in another you could find some money or maybe a plastic spoon in case you're hungry. She also had several paper gift bags full of 'items'. It hurts my brain to even remember the bulk of it. It was horrible! I've been threatening for weeks that I was going to come in and take away a lot of her things. She obviously didn't care or believe me. Yesterday after church I decided it was time! I bravely walked towards her room with trash bags, an empty large box, a new tote, and a new laundry basket (for organizing toys). After a long while of cleaning, sorting, organizing and pitching we can now see her floor again! I had forgotten how big her room really was.
In the end I pitched a couple of bags worth of junk that noone needs and have a partial box of some toys that we're giving away. She now has a proper place for everything and anything that is left behind on the floor will become my property (meaning the property of some really lucky Goodwill shopper).
She swears she won't ever let her room get out of control like that again. We shall see. At least if it does next time I'm going to remember to take a picture! Dh reminded me RIGHT after we got done cleaning that we should have captured it on film. UGH! Sorry that you missed out on experiencing the horror of the mess. Though, I'm almost betting I'll get a second chance to capture the moment. ;)

A picture of me with 3 of my sisters, 2 of my cousins, 2 of my kids and 1 of my sister's kids at my 30th bday party

Excitement in the air!

WOW! What a week! Lots of good news, fun updates and happenings this week! So many of our friends have started school in their new towns. They're all looking so big and doing great. It's been fun to see them as they go off to school. How did they all get so big?

Found out a good friend is pregnant with her 4th little one. Can't wait to follow that journey as it continues! We have some homeschooling friends who inspire me every day! They're so dedicated and just so creative. Kudos to all of the homeschooling mommas out there!

My sister's pregnancy had taken a scary turn recently, but I'm happy to say that she's been given the 'all clear' and seems to be doing better! So thankful for that. Hoping she can have an uneventful finish to the pregnancy. We will hopefully find out the end of this month what she's having. Can't wait! I love being an aunt!


Ya, this post is all over the place! Just so much going on lately...

Birthdays, birthdays, birthdays!

So, August & September are full of birthdays in our family! We had my dad's (papaw) 50th bday in August, right before my 30th. All of my parents (meaning all 4, they're divorced) threw a great party for both of us. It was a blast! So great to see all of our family and friends. Good thing is that I feel a lot younger than that most days. These kids keep me young, I think. Except for the days when I wake up tired, achy and grouchy then I blame them for making me old! lol...
My 'baby boy' just turned 7 yesterday. How did that happen? He's really turning into a young man. We had a great time sharing his birth story with him, even the part about daddy making us stop at Blockbuster to return some movies before going to the hospital when I was in labor. He thought that was a riot! I still remember the day like it was yesterday. What an amazing day! After he was born he had to be placed on oxygen immediately, so I didn't get to hold him for 9 hours. Talk about a LONG 9 hours! It was scary, but thankfully he was ok.
When I was pregnant with him I dreamt about the type of person he would be, but I never could have imagined what an exceptionally kind, intelligent, loving and sweet boy he would be. Watching him grow over the past 7 years has been such a pleasure. I look forward to many more years watching his journey. Happy Birthday Buddy!

We also celebrated our 9 yr wedding anniversary on Aug. 29th. :) Seems like a long time, but also like just yesterday. We've been dating since I was 15, so really we've felt like we were married a lot longer than 9 yrs. I'm so thankful to have my best friend, soulmate and life partner right next to me each day. How did I ever get so lucky?!

Ds #3 has a bday coming up in a few weeks, he'll be 3! Time has flown! I'll save a post all about him for his bday week.

So much!

It's been a while, so much has happened since I last wrote. The kids started school and are loving it! Well, miss kindergartener didn't start off so great, but is doing much better now. She was scared to death of those self flushing potties! Who in the world chose to put those in a kindergarten room anyways? They're loud and they flush whenever they choose. So after several day so her having horrible fits and crying about not wanting to go to school we came to a solution. She had been holding it all day and wasn't using the bathroom at all until she got home. That's 7-8 hours without going potty! Not healthy at all. I talked with the teachers and they decided to use tape to cover the sensors for her while she sat on the toilet. After a couple of weeks she is finally feeling confident and ok with it all. Thank GOODNESS! It was heartbreaking to see her so afraid and to see her upset about going to school. Now she is eager to go, having fun and learning so much already. We've been blessed with two of the best teachers that our school district has to offer! They're both very dedicated, organized, kind and nurturing. And, they both welcome parent volunteers! :) We're so thrilled. DD has some friends in her class from preschool, so that helps her also. She enjoys taking her lunch to school. I've been making some bento style lunches for the kids and they love that. They're more fun, creative and full of their favorite things. Here's a link to some great bento lunch ideas:
http://laptoplunches.com/ideas.html
Be sure to check out the photo gallery for more ideas!
The kids are now coming home with empty lunch boxes and full tummies!
Nathan is LOVING school. The only part he isn't totally sold on is all of the writing. He's never been much into sitting and writing for the 'fun' of it. I don't think he'll be leaning towards a future in journalism or anything. ;) I've encouraged him to stick with it and keep practicing. He just gets frustrated. Our dd is our writer. She would sit and write for hours and hours (and does). I can't keep enough paper in this house!
Our 1st grader is doing enjoying reading, spelling and math very much. He had his first math and spelling tests last week and got a 100 on both. We're so proud of him. His teacher is really great about recognizing his strengths and is letting him borrow some of her chapter books to read during their literature time. The class divides into groups and the teachers and aides work with a group based on their abilities. It's a great system. I love that he loves reading so much!
He also likes taking his lunch, but does eat at school occasionally. Pizza day is a big hit!

Both of them are looking forward to the rest of the school year and are very enthusiastic! YEAH!
Ds #3 is very excited to go to preschool. He'll be starting beginning of October. I can't believe he's big enough to go already. Makes me a bit sad, but excited also. He's so eager! I hope that he has the same enthusiasm that the older two do for many years to come.
He's been counting, sorting, drawing, cutting, painting and working on his letter sounds every day.
We've been blessed with three amazing kiddos!

Busy week ahead!

Tomorrow is the big day! The kids are so anxious to find out who their teacher will be. I'm hoping this will help my nervous little girl feel a bit more confident and ready for school.
I'm going to take them out to lunch after we go through the final registration process at the school. Hoping that all of the kids will cooperate while we go to take care of all of that. I'll have my three, plus two of the daycare kids. The daycare mom is supposed to meet us there, so that will help!

Then, after nap I'm taking all of the 'big' kids to a movie! It will be one of our final field trips with the daycare school aged kids. We're going with another friend who does home daycare as well. Between the two of us we'll have 8 school agers, but that's a break compared to the numbers we usually take in public together. ;) We get some funny looks that is for sure.

My two newest daycare kids will be here for their first official days on Thursday & Friday. They're also the youngest ones that I've added recently. They did come for a visit for a few hours a couple of weeks ago. They're both really sweet and fun! Both of their parents are teachers, so the hours are great. It will be fun to have a baby here again! I've had a couple of 9-10 month olds here off and on during the summer. That's been a lot of fun also! They keep me busy, but in a good way. The days sure go fast when there are babes here.

Well, I suppose I'd better get back to the laundry and house cleaning. It's not going to finish itself now is it!

Here's to a great finish to the weekend! Man is it HOTTTT here! I need to go clean out the van, but it is just so stinkin' hot.

Found my youngest two kiddos playing dress up in the playroom yesterday! Of course our 3rd child is a comedian/clown, so he just had to throw a silly face in there.

My baby girl is nervous!

Poor thing! She was so excited about kindergarten, now all of a sudden she is so scared. I feel so bad for her. I am trying everything I know to calm her fears and reassure her. I know she'll be ok once she is there and sees some familiar faces and realizes what a great time they'll have. I think the thing that makes her most nervous is going all day. When we discussed the options back in the spring she chose to sign up for all day, and was very eager to go. Now that she's had the summer to ponder it (and be at home with mom 24/7) she has had a change of heart.
She would really be bored here with the toddlers and babies.

I'm really hoping and praying that she'll get into her social groove and do fine. She's always been very social and outgoing. Never had a problem dropping her off at preschool, she loved it! At least she'll have her big brother in the next hallway to help her find her classroom, etc.. She can ride the bus home with him also, so that will help.

So, we've got 11 days until school starts. We shall see what it brings.

I'm a posting fool!

I'm obviously new to this whole blogging thing. Not even sure how to work all of the features. But, I decided I needed a place to just sort of lay it all out there. Sort of an outlet. Yes, my grammar isn't great and my spelling isn't either. You get the picture!

I'm so excited to say that we're almost done with dh doing 3rd shift! It's been an adjustment, that's for sure. We're so thankful that it is almost over! Can't wait to have my husband here every night in bed with me where he belongs. We pulled through it a lot better than I thought we would. I have to admit I wasn't thrilled at all when we got the news of his new 'temporary' position. Fingers crossed that he'll really and truly be done with it after this week. I'll believe it when I see it!

I have so much on my mind today. Trying to prepare for a week of daycare kids, working on getting things ready for my own kids to go back to school and working things out in my head about my daycare business in general. Not sure where we're headed with it. But, I've had so many calls and people approaching me. There is a definite need for care around here, especially for infants and toddlers. Of course, being unlicensed you can only have so many children in your care legally. In order to provide top quality care and stay within the legal limits I do choose to keep my numbers fairly low. I've considered getting licensed, but in this house it isn't a possibility. If I were to get a license while here we wouldn't be able to allow daycare kids upstairs to play or sleep. That would greatly limit our space for the children. Right now I love that the kids can rest upstairs in the comfort of a bedroom with quiet. The parents are all ok with it and that works for me!

I'm currently blessed with a great group of daycare kids. I couldn't ask for better families to work with. The kids are sweet, fun and just a joy to have. The parents that I provide care for right now are all so appreciative, kind and grateful. There is no better job than what I'm doing right now. I get the best of both worlds. I'm doing what I love by teaching, mentoring and caring for children and I'm still able to be home with my own children as well.

And, here they are! Three of my most favorite people. How in the world did they get so big?

Just had to share their smiling faces.

To stay or to go?

Well, I knew the day would come....and here we are already! Dear hubby has decided he no longer likes our house. In fact the words he used were a lot more harsh than that, but we won't get into that here. I do agree that we've just outgrown this house. This house seemed so big when we moved in. Now we have our own 3 children plus the daycare kids (and the client list seems to keep growing). The daycare is overtaking our house, that is for sure.
I've tried to convince him to simply add on a daycare room/wing to the house. He's not interested in putting any more money or additions into this house. Ok, that's great but we can't seem to afford the kind of 'space' that we need. So, here we sit and he hates this house but we can't do anything to make it better or find a bigger one. A part of me would love a bigger house! Of course, that's more to clean, but the daycare section would be separate and that would be a huge help.

I'm just not ready to move again! And, I'm sure the devoted friends and family that helped us move last time (and the 5 times before that) are not at all anxious to help again anytime soon. In fact, I specifically remember many of them saying they WOULD NOT help again anytime soon. We simply have way too much crap! ;)
For now we're just in the wait and see phase. We're going to keep our eye on the real estate market. I'm hoping he'll be content with making a few changes/improvements around here and stay put for a bit. I do like our house, the neighborhood and we're close to schools and town.

We did make the huge mistake of going to an open house last weekend. Big, beautiful, bright and airy house with a walkout basement! Ahhh..it was so gorgeous. Made it even harder to stick to my convictions to stay here. I was sure to remind him of the things we'd dislike about that house if we chose it. ;) Though, the 3800 sq. feet would have been nice, as would the sunroom, basement and .5 acre lot. It did have a terrible driveway!
Ok, enough rambling about that! I had to hide the pamphlet we got from that house so that we'd both stop looking at it with our mouths drooling.

Rule #1..stop going to open houses!

Summer break?

So, why do they call it summer break? It isn't a break at all! The kids are exhausted from playing so hard every day. We have extra daycare kids here because they're out of school also. It's hot and we're all tired. Where exactly does the 'break' part come from? I have to say, I am looking forward to the kids going back to school. That will be a break for me! Yes, I know, shame on me!

Luckily, they're looking forward to it also. My 1st grader is counting down until his 1st day of school. I love that he is so enthusiastic about learning. Our daughter is starting kindergarten this year, so it will be a big year for both of them. And, then we can't forget our youngest member of the family; he'll be starting preschool this fall also! Lots of new things coming and we're all so excited about the coming school year. Only 15 days until school! WOOHOO! Did I say that outloud?