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!