The Poor Broad w/ FOUR Daughters

I should really take a nap...

2009-01-15T12:52:00.005-06:00

I won't, but I should. Last night I had every intention of going to bed before 11. Delilah, however, had different plans. She went to bed fine, but woke at 10 screaming. I finally brought her down at 10:30 and we went to bed at 11:30. She was up again at 4:45am and didn't go back to sleep until 6:45 and then was knocked out when I had to wake her at 7:45. I did get more sleep than I have been, but it was interrupted sleep, never good sleep.

I am dragging a** today, I have no intentions on going out today. It's currently 9 degrees and feels like -4 degrees. My brother so kindly picked up the girls and brought them home for me. I wasn't feeling well, tired and a little down.

I did finish Sophia's shirt last night. Only took me three hours, would have been less if the gathering stitches hadn't broken and needed to be redone. I like hers the best so far. Kale prefers Lilly's. You can be the judge for yourself. I think I will take a break for tonight and work on Aidan's tomorrow night.

Lilly's Valentine's Shirt and My New Habit

2009-01-14T16:28:00.004-06:00

I have a new habit of napping in the late mornings. It's been nice, except I don't want to wake up when Delilah does. Oh well, I need to really start going to bed at a decent hour. I have been burning the midnight oil for weeks now. Not really good for someone who needs to be functioning during the day. Since I took up sewing my housework has suffered more than usual. My dishes and laundry mostly. My living room has never stayed so clean. I have to vacuum every night to be sure no one steps on any loose pins. That's one of my greatest fears.

I finally finished Lilly's shirt. It took me the longest so far. I didn't realize hemming on a curve was so difficult. I know better now. I like the way it turned out and how well it fits Lilly. Of course I had to take it in an inch and make the elastic 2 inches shorter than they suggested, I have skinny mini girls. I think I could make the bodice a size 5 for her, but she needs the length to be a 7. They are all over the place for the pattern sizes.

Now I just have Sophia and Aidan's Valentine's shirts to finish. They are all cut out and just need to be sewn. At least these two have easy written on the patterns, not like Lilly's. :P

Long Long Day....

2009-01-13T16:24:00.002-06:00

It's been long because it started early, 6:24am to be exact. That's when Delilah woke me up, she was soaking wet with pee. Wonderful way to wake up. Have I ever mentioned how much I ENJOY being woke before 7am? I have? Oh, ok I will stop mentioning it.

After her bath I woke everyone else and got us all ready. I offered to drive Rosy to Hobby Lobby and to get her there when the doors opened at 9am. It's about a 45min drive to the one we went to, so as soon as I dropped the girls off we left to pick her and Alan up. We arrived just as the doors opened. She wanted a $500 Christmas tree they had on sale for $60 and they only had one left. That's why we had to be there so early. It barely fit in the van and the guy "helping" us was trying to shut my trunk door before I moved the seat up enough for it to fit. I thought he was going to bust my window out or break the damn door. When I say barely fit, I mean BARELY!

After Hobby Lobby we went to Joann's, they have Simplicity patterns on sale for 99cents this week. Not that I really needed any more, but there were a couple I needed copies of, of course they were all out of the ones I wanted. I did find an apron pattern for the older girls, they were out of the apron pattern I liked for the little girls. I may go back on payday this week. We spent quite a bit of time in there, over an hour. I found some pretty spring fabric. Sophia picked out one for herself and I picked one for Delilah. I will take the older girls to pick something for themselves soon. All but one thing I bought was on sale for 50% off or for 99 cents. And I had a 50% off coupon for the one item not on sale. I made it out of there with 5-6yards of fabric, three spools of thread, a spool of ribbon, three patterns, a green bag and a penguin pen for Sophia all for a little under $25. I don't think I am doing too badly. If I bought two outfits and a shirt for the girls (which is what I will get out of the fabric) I would spend at least that or more.

My hobby is keeping me busy enough and keeps me shopping enough to keep me happy.

After we shopped Sophia, Delilah, and I napped before picking up the girls and taking them to girl scouts. I get my cookies from Aidan tonight, yum! I am hoping to finish Lilly's shirt tonight. I had trouble with it last night, I didn't read the directions closely. I was nearly done, so it p*ssed me off, but I knew I needed to get to bed. I hate to leave things unfinished, but I would have been too frustrated to finish it easily. I want to be successful so I don't get bored and quit.

Trying Not to Turn This Into a Sewing Blog....

2009-01-12T16:27:00.004-06:00

Friday night was pretty uneventful for us, we stayed home all night. I ended up staying up until 1am working on Delilah's Valentine's dress however. Which really kicked my butt when I had to be up and out of the house Sat. morning in time to pick my mom up at 9am. We went shopping for the whole day.

I had things to return and pictures to pick up at Walmart. She had a fax to send at her school. Then I had to pick up a few things at Target and she had to exchange a sweater at Kohl's. Then we spent a bit of time in Hobby Lobby. They had Simplicity patterns on sale for 99cents each and even though I had gone the day before and bought my limit of 10, I still had more I wanted. I ended up buying 6 more. Then I had to get the trim for Sophia's Valentine's shirt, the bias tape to finish Delilah's dress, and the elastic for Sophia's shirt. I looked at fabric, but the kids were way too wild to stay long. My mom had given them candy before we left town, never a good move. We ate lunch at Panera Bread, our favorite, and then headed out to pick up our family pictures from Sears. After that we dropped my mom's jewelry off to be inspected at Zale's while we waited the kids used their Border's gift cards they received from Kyla. After we picked up the jewelry we headed home.

I wasn't at my parents house for more than 15mins before I left with Jason and Rosy. They were going to look at vans. We left all the kids with my parents and headed out. Not long after we left Sophia and Aidan were picked up by Patience. It was their turn to spend the night, Lilly and her friend had spent one night the week before. Patience took them and Meme to Chuck E Cheese, they had a blast. But they stayed up until after 11pm, which I don't really mind, because I wasn't in charge. I just made them nap the next day.

Jason, Rosy, and I looked at a van, then they took me to Hancock Fabric to get more patterns. They had Butterick on sale for $1.99 and I had picked out Lilly and Aidan's Valentine's shirts online in their patterns. I also got a large cardboard cutting board, so I can stop putting pin marks in my table top. Then we drove around looking for more vans, but the one place they saw one they liked was closed by the time we arrived. We then attempted to eat out at a sit down place, no such luck at 6:30 on a Sat. We ended up eating at KFC, it was alright but gave me a tummy ache.

Sat. night I stayed up way too late again finishing Delilah's dress. It wasn't that hard, the only thing is it's a bit too long. I need to hem it more.

Sunday I had to pick Sophia and Aidan up by 10am, at 9:30 my aunt called to make sure I was coming. :P They must have driven her nuts. Then we went to my mom's to pick Lilly up and hang out for a little while. We came home, Sophia, Aidan, and Delilah napped, Lilly and I cleaned and then I napped for a couple hours. Last night I stayed up again way too late cutting out Lilly, Aidan, and Sophia's shirts. That took forever even though there aren't that many pieces per shirt.

Today I napped for a couple hours then went to Walmart to get the elastic I needed for Lilly's shirt. Then we stopped by Rosy and Jason's to see the progress on their kitchen and to have cookies, yum. Went to pick up the girls from school and then went to the grocery store. I am exhausted and my children are driving me crazy. Pretty normal day. :P

The Day I Took a THREE HOUR NAP!!!

2009-01-08T19:22:00.004-06:00

You didn't read the title wrong, I actually was allowed a three hour nap today. It was wonderful, I feel refreshed. I have been staying up late every night and of course I have to get up at 7 every morning so there is no sleeping in. I was chatting with Kale online today and could barely keep my eyes open. I decided I'd take my shower then lay down while Delilah napped. I can't believe she slept that long and that Sophia didn't try and wake us up. I put the gate up at the top of the stairs and let her roam between her room and the older girls room. When I came out I asked "Are you playing?" and she told me "No, playing is boring. You slept to long!"

After my extremely long nap we went to the grocery store and BK for lunch (late lunch at 2:30). We ate our lunch while we waited for the girls at the school. I usually get to the school at 2:45 so I am first in the pick up line. But they don't get out until 3:15. I also used the time to clean out the van, it was full of trash. A shopping bag full of trash to be exact. Mostly papers from my mail. I open it in the pick up line at the school. I rarely get anything important so most of it's trash/recycling.

I spent all day yesterday working on Aidan's dress which has now become a shirt. I tried to put the ruffle on the bottom of the shirt but after it was on it looked weird. So I spent and hour or two taking it off stitch by stitch. I thought it was going to be too big on her, but it fits pretty well. Looks pretty good also. My mom is going to help me put the ruffle on it this weekend, we will see if I like it better with out it.

I plan on going shopping this weekend for more supplies. Hobby Lobby and Hancock Fabric are both having pattern sales. I will stock up on the brands that are on sale. I wrote down the numbers of 7 I liked in Simplicity and 9 in Butterick. I am not sure I will get them all this weekend, but for 99cents and 1.99 each you can't go too wrong.

Here's Aidan's shirt. I didn't let her wear it today in case I want to add the ruffle.

Even though she looks angry she really wasn't. She is just weird right now about smiling.

Off and Running

2009-01-06T18:21:00.003-06:00

Now that I completed my first project I went out and found some more fabric I liked. I bought fabric to make Lilly, Aidan, and Sophia Valentine's Day shirts and Delilah a dress. I found a cute white with tiny red hearts fabric, for Delilah I am doing a tiered dress with the white w/red hearts fabric and a red w/white hearts fabric. I think it will turn out cute. The best part? No buttons or zippers on her dress. :P

I am exhausted, I haven't caught up from Sunday night. I planned to go to bed early last night, but at 7 my parents showed up. I was caught way off guard and my kitchen (where my mother always goes first) was a complete disaster from dinner. I normally clean the kitchen before bed and it was really dirty last night since I sewed instead of cleaned Sunday night. They came over and informed my that Jason and Rosy told them to bring my van to pick them up at the airport. Of course, as usual with my family, not everyone (me) was privied to this information. My van was a wreck, but whatever, beggars can't be choosers.

The best part of them borrowing my van? My dad gassed it up for me when they got back in town. :) He even filled it all the way up when I had less than 3/4 of a tank. The worst part? I had to stay up until they came back with the van. Which was 10:45pm. I was extremely tired. I really should have napped while they were gone, but stupidly I watched tv and surfed the web for Easter dress patterns and fabrics. -BTW, off subject, but I think I am going to go with Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit toile for their dresses. They have it in four different colors! But it's kind of pricey, like $7-10 a yard. We will see, I have months to think about it and look around.

Sophia, Delilah, and I went to Walmart today to pick up scrapbooks I had made at the photo center. While there I also picked up $45 worth of fabric, supplies, and patterns. But that's enough to make all four Valentine's Day shirts/dress and two yards each of two fabrics I just fell in love with. I can make at least two more things with those, maybe 3 or four depending on what I make. After Walmart we went to see Rosy and Alan. The kids played and had fun while Rosy and I caught up. We hadn't talked much these past few weeks. It was a nice visit.

Now I am waiting for my dryer to finish, then I will put my washed fabric in to dry. I plan on cutting out Aidan's dress tonight and starting to sew it tomorrow, depending of course, on how well Delilah and Sophia are behaving.

My Very First Sewing Project

2009-01-05T12:21:00.005-06:00

Alright, that's not exactly true, I did take a sewing class when I was ten and took Home EC in high school. But the shorts I made in the sewing class didn't turn out and I never finished my apron project in high school.

Anyhow, yesterday morning I was trying to nap simply because I was bored and Delilah was sleeping. I wasn't tired so I sat and thought. I have been down a lot since Kale left again, it's harder this time around. I knew I needed something to occupy my time and keep my mind off my loneliness. So I decided I would teach myself to sew. K had offered to teach me years and years ago, but for some reason (maybe because we tended to shop more than sit at home) we never got around to it.

I took Meme, Lilly, and Aidan to Joann's and we picked out a pattern that said it was easy. Then after 45 mins of decision making I finally picked fabric and all the "notions". $28 later I had two patterns, 2.5 yards of fabric, thread, buttons, two zippers and a "green bag", enough to make Aidan a dress and a shirt for Sophia. Not too bad. I started cutting the pattern out at 6:30pm and started to sew at 7:20pm after I put Delilah, Sophia, and Aidan to bed.

I was on the phone with K after the first hour of sewing. She helped talk me though the rough patches. Apparently the pattern I picked was not necessarily for beginners. It had a zipper, gathering, and button holes (which I didn't do, as it wasn't needed due to the zipper). I finally finished at 12:30am. I think it's pretty cute myself. I wish I had fitted it to her before I put the straps in place, they needed to be in further. But she wasn't awake, when I do Aidan's I will fit it to her better.

I am pretty proud of myself. My goal is to feel comfortable enough by Easter to attempt dresses for each girl. I may try Valentine's Shirts next.

She calls it her "princess dress shirt"

Yesterday was a Productive Day, Today? Not So Much.

2009-01-03T21:01:00.005-06:00

Yesterday I had Lilly clean the "art room" (their tv room, computer room, and where their art table is) and sent Aidan up to clean their room. This was at 10am. At 11am Lilly was done with the art room and was sent to help Aidan. I went to check their progress at 11:30am and they hadn't gotten very far. At noon they came down for lunch then were sent back up to clean again. I went to check on them at 12:30pm, this is when I realized their idea of "cleaning" was to throw everything into the closet. I know this is completely normal, but not acceptable. I had them pull everything out of their closet and start over. At 1:30 I checked on them again, they had everything out of the closet but hadn't made much progress beyond that. So I realized I had to supervise this endeavor.

They finally finished the room around 3pm, I had been helping Sophia clean her room up and then we had a tea party. Then I decided to move their bookcases and reorganize them (AGAIN). That took me about an hour. I put all the "big" kid books on one case and all the "little" kid books on the second case. They are both nearly full and I still have a box of books in the garage. It's not a small box either.

I like books, I like that my kids enjoy reading. I used to. If I enjoy a book I have to finish it, right away. I took three literature classes my senior year and loved every book we were assigned to read. Even Shakespeare, which I took one class that was strictly Shakespeare. I don't read much anymore, I am too scatterbrained anymore. My mind swirls all the time and I have a hard time concentrating anymore. The last book I read was The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood. Now my mom is pressuring me to read the Twilight series. She gave me her book and asks me all the time if I have started it yet. Nope and I don't plan on it either. Vampires don't interest me one little bit. Plus part of me is afraid my mother will be right, and I hate that. :P

I will leave you with a few pictures from yesterday's productivity.

Sophia and I having our tea party.

Delilah saying "cheese" when I whip out the camera. What they don't learn from their older siblings.

Little Kid bookcase. A little room left, but not a whole lot.

Big Kid bookcase. Also a little room left, but not a lot. I am proud to mention Lilly has read all but a few (very few) of these books.

Lilly's bed. It was made when we cleaned, but I took these today.

Picture this closet 3ft deep with toys.

Much improved.

Aidan's bed. Messy but better than before.

This bottle was full the 24th of December. Aidan decided her bed stank and sprayed half the bottle all over her bed. Their room stank for days.

Excitement

2009-01-02T10:47:00.002-06:00

When I find something that excites me it tends to consume me. It gives me something to think about other than how sad I am Kale is gone. For awhile I was excited about him coming, I was excited about Christmas, this past summer I was excited about all my trips/plans. I always need something to occupy my thoughts. Right now it's the excitement over the prospect of buying our first home.

We already picked it out, hopefully it will still be there in six months. If it's not, I am sure we will find something equally as nice or I will have gotten over this all together and change my mind. Which will drive Kale crazy, because I do this a lot. But right now, I am super excited. I have already been mentally picking out colors for each room. I have begun picking out furniture for the rooms that will be left empty (eat-in kitchen and formal living room). Thinking about what I would do down the road like redoing the master bathroom and changing the flooring in the living room, dining room, and bedrooms. This will keep me going for a couple of months.

Hope everyone had a good time on New Year's Eve! I was on the phone with K until 1am. Woo Hoo! :P

I Want a House!

2008-12-30T21:40:00.003-06:00

I don't know why but Kale decided to start looking at houses while he was here. We found this one online and we LOVE it. You can check it out for yourself here if you like. The kitchen is pretty much perfect, the rest just needs paint and maybe new flooring, except the master bath needs an overhaul someday. If it is still available in six months when Kale returns we will try and buy it. It's bigger than any military house we have lived in so far, by nearly 1000 sq ft. We expect/hope to be here for at least 5 more years if not longer. I would like to keep the girls in the same school as long as possible. But this is what I have to look forward to, something to keep me motivated.

He's Gone, Again....

2008-12-29T19:51:00.004-06:00

It's harder this time around. I am alone with the girls this time around. My entire family is out of town right now, parents in Chicago, brother in Mexico. It's just harder this time. Before I had Judy here to keep my mind busy and the first two months I went non-stop from activity to activity. It also doesn't help that it's winter right now and I haven't been going out as much before he arrived.

His visit was wonderful, but far too short and went by far too fast. We had barely a day to sit and do nothing. We had two family portrait sessions in two weeks. Three family dinners in two weeks. One dinner out alone,a dinner out with my family, and a dinner out with just his family. We also had Christmas Eve dinner at my parents house and Christmas dinner here at our house. Both dinners were delicious. The girls received way too many presents from everyone. We had Lilly's play to go to and Kale spent a day volunteering at the school. We had a morning of baking with the kids, Meme, and Judy. The women went out shopping the morning after Christmas. Kale took the girls to the movies twice they saw Bolt and The Tale of Despereaux. It was a busy busy two weeks but it was a happy two weeks.

Thankfully Delilah and Sophia are better. Delilah hated her meds and they had to be force fed to her or hidden in food. FUN! She has also not regained her appetite as of yet. Hopefully she will get it back soon.

I leave you with our second family photo shoot:

Kale, David, and Judy

In-Laws David and Judy

Delilah didn't want to hold still but sat still when we sat her on the sled.

Sophia and her silly smile.

Aidan's sillier smile.

Lilly

This isn't the best one of the four of them, but it's the funniest.

Four generations of Kale's family. His Dad David and his grandma Margaret aka Nanny.

Sickness is Running Rampent

2008-12-22T19:48:00.002-06:00

Delilah was up all night. When we left our house yesterday at 4:30pm to go to Famous Dave's for Kale's belated birthday dinner she was fine. By the time she entered the restaurant she was screaming in pain and burning up. I held her for awhile, then my mom walked her around until she feel asleep. We had given her Tylenol before we left the house but the fever burned on even so. She slept on my mother and I all though dinner (thankfully) so dinner was bearable. We left as soon as we paid as she had woken up and was screaming and still burning up. Rich (a family friend and doctor) suggested we get Ibuprofen instead and give that to her. We picked some up and gave it to her right away, by the time we were home the fever was gone and she was happy. We put her to bed at 9pm and by 11pm when we crawled into bed she was up screaming her head off. She was up crying or watching tv with Kale all night long. I think she finally slept from 2am to 7am.

Luckily yesterday at lunch time Sophia cried and cried her ear hurt. So I made appointments for both her and Delilah to be seen today, just in case. I knew they wouldn't be working in the next couple of days so it was just smart to be safe. Sure enough they both have double ear infections, lucky lucky us. Poor girls are miserable. I spent the day shopping with my mom and Meme, so Kale had to deal with them all day alone. Which I don't feel any guilt about at all, as I had to deal with the 3 days of sleepless nights, diarrhea, and vomiting all alone a few months ago. By the time I got home Delilah was exhausted you could see the bags under her eyes. Hopefully she will sleep tonight, tomorrow is a busy busy day. I just hope the meds have kicked in by tomorrow, enough to keep her mellow and get her feeling a little better. Poor baby. :(

Alone Tonight!

2008-12-19T13:12:00.003-06:00

Kale and I are getting to go out to dinner alone tonight, thanks to my mom offering to watch all the girls for us. I think she may even keep all four over night for once. Not that I really care, usually once Delilah is in bed she is there for the night.

Kale had lunch with Aidan today and read her class a story or two. He even took Sophia with him, which was nice. I got to be alone for awhile as Delilah went down for a nap and is still down. She doesn't feel well and had her immunizations given to her yesterday. I was surprised they let her get them as she was coming down with a cold. I think she is moving on to ear infection now. FUN!

Kale and Sophia are going back to the school here in a little while for Lilly's holiday party. Then after school we are dropping the four of them at my mom's house for the rest of the evening. He finally decided he wants to eat at Olive Garden and have dessert at Cheesecake Factory. Fine by me.

Tomorrow the six of us are going to see Bolt and having lunch at Panera Bread, after the girls clean their rooms. And we have to put our tree up still. :S This is the first time since I have been an adult that my tree has not gone up the day after Thanksgiving. I just couldn't lift it by myself and we have been so busy the last two days.

We were lucky Kale was able to get on the very first flight out of Jacksonville on Wed. I was worried we were going to miss our family picture appointment. That was a whirlwind day. We picked Kale up, went to Walmart, came home, got ourselves and the younger two ready, went and surprised the girls at the school, came home, got them ready, met Jason & Rosy so they could follow us, got our pictures done, high tailed it to the school just in the nick of time for Lilly's play, watched the play, and came home where everyone (my parents and the teens also) had pizza for dinner. It was tiring, but a good day.

All of our days, I think, will be tiring but good. Kale just caught Sophia painting her finger and toe nails. One of my aunts bought Aidan make-up, AGAIN, this year. They never think of me when they buy such things. Last year Aidan painted the walls and her toys with the nail polish. It's not peel off nail polish either, GRRR!

Hope everyone has a fun weekend!

Family Pictures!

2008-12-18T18:00:00.003-06:00

Getting Delilah to stand still was no easy task!

Lilly's the only one that looked weird in this picture, but all the rest of the pictures of the six of us my dress had lowered in the front and looked funky.

We are all looking and most of us are smiling, success! :P
The woman was wonderful, she took 82 pictures of us and didn't delete any of them.

We had left to go to Lilly's play so I didn't see these until I talked Green into bringing me the disks.

Mom and Dad

Alan wasn't real cooperative either, he wanted down. Jason paid Sophia to make him smile and laugh. It didn't work as well in their family picture as it did on his pictures alone.

Her natural smile, nice to see it usually she has a fake one planted on her face.

Aidan had fallen and bumped her mouth just before it was her turn. You can tell she had been crying.

Love it!

He's too cute!

She's hard to capture on film! But the woman managed it.

He's HOME!

2008-12-17T13:39:00.002-06:00

Just a quick post to let you know he's home. He got on the first plane out of Jacksonville this morning. He was here by 9:15am. Delilah did surprisingly well, she was in a super good mood. Which is weird since she cut two new teeth last night.

Kale is getting the younger girls bathed right now while I was getting ready for our family picture. It's funny to listen to him struggle, I know I shouldn't be tickled by this but I so am.

Have a good day!

You HAVE GOT to Be F*ing Kidding Me!

2008-12-16T15:20:00.002-06:00

Kale is currently still in Cuba, will not be leaving until 5-6pm, hopefully. Why is he sitting in Cuba still? Because someone with no freaking brain decided that because it was raining in VA (the planes final destination) then they would just stay in Jacksonville. You know, instead of doing the logical thing and going to Cuba, picking them up, taking them to Jacksonville, and THEN waiting for the weather to clear in VA. But no, we are talking about people with "broken chromosomes" as K likes to put it, ie MEN!

He will miss his flight out of Jacksonville and there aren't any later flights to Atlanta from Jacksonville tonight. Unless they can completely re-route him and do it for little to no money, then he will probably be on stand-by for tomorrow. Hopefully first thing in the morning. Right now my optimism is very low. I do not deal well with the unknown. Hopefully I will know something as soon as he gets to the airport. But not being able to call him drives me NUTS!

Snow Day...Not for My Girls!

2008-12-16T13:17:00.002-06:00

There are only two school districts in the greater KC area that didn't cancel school today....Fort Leavenworth and Leavenworth. I briefly thought about not taking the girls to school regardless, but my mom quickly talked some sense into me. Instead we were barely on time. It's still snowing right now and we have about 5inches or so. At least their Girl Scout meetings are canceled tonight. My mom is in Lansing School District, so she had the whole day off. And apparently she rubbed Stella and Meme's noses in it this morning, Stella didn't appreciate it much (neither would I).

Sophia, Delilah, and I packed up to go make cookies with Rosy and Alan. Aidan had a cookie exchange at her GS meeting, which is now canceled but I can still use the cookies for Lilly's holiday party on Friday. I have to go out to pick up the girls in about an hour and I don't want to. :( It's too cold outside and I am warm and sleepy. Oh well, it's my last day of having to chauffeur for awhile.

Kale is still on the ground in Cuba, the plane to Jacksonville is late, due to get there in 30-60mins. They are normally supposed to leave around noon, of course today they are behind. I was not happy when he called to let me know. Hopefully he will still have enough time to make his flight in Jacksonville. Needless to say I now have a tension headache. I am also worried Green won't want to drive over here tonight, he doesn't do well in the snow. If he won't I am sure my brother will go get him and drop him off. Of course that means we have to take him home tonight. GRR! It's not going according to plan. I hate not having control of things and I have no control over any of this.

COLD!

2008-12-15T08:18:00.003-06:00

It's gone from 5 degrees to 2 degrees in the last hour. It's cold. We don't normally get this kind of cold in KS, it's more like the cold we dealt with the three years we spent in MA. The windchill today is -14 degrees. Kale is going to freeze his a** off tomorrow night and probably every day he is here. Cuba is nice and toasty warm, but I don't feel a bit sorry for him having to come here to freezing temps.

I spoke with my mother about the situation with Lilly's teacher. My mom is a principal and has been for 12+ years so I often go to her for guidance. I like to run things by her first to make sure I am not worrying for nothing or going overboard. She thinks I am completely justified feeling the way I do. She mirrored my opinion that the teacher just doesn't want to do her JOB. So I took her advice and I asked for a meeting with the principal. Kale and I will be going together, when it comes to my kids I tend to get overly emotional and feel like I am being attacked, even if I really am not. So I need someone to be there to calm me. I wish my mom could go with me, but she hasn't the time and she likes to make me handle things myself. If it goes further though, I think she will step in and help out.

Aidan is getting sassier and sassier. I wanted to smack her yesterday. We had our Christmas with Jason, Rosy, and Alan since they are leaving next Friday. And Aidan had two gifts to open, one from them and one from my Aunt Mel. The only reason she had the second gift was because my uncle decided they needed to open more than one and brought the gifts from her over. After Aidan opened her two gifts, loving both of them, expressing thanks, all that good stuff, then came the water works and the "I don't have any more presents to open!" Then the screams "I WANT MORE PRESENTS TO OPEN!" I cut her off quickly, which is how you have to deal with Aidan so it doesn't escalate quickly. Usually when I am with my family my dad steps in and starts yelling and arguing with her, it just makes it worse. They usually end up in a screaming match, really they are like the same person. The louder someone yells at them, the louder they yell. It's lovely when they get into it with each other. I was able to get her to go to sit by herself and calm down rather quickly. I am not sure, but I think this behavior is going to take something drastic to get it to stop. Like taking away a present or something the next time she does it. Selfishness is not something I take very well, it drives me NUTS! And she is the only child that acts that way, the others are happy with what they get. Not her, she always wants MORE.

I guess if she does it again I will be taking her to donate a toy or two to Toy's for Tots, out of her own Christmas presents. She needs to learn selflessness. I am just not sure how to teach it, I will figure it out though, I know it.

Tomorrow! He will be here tomorrow night! :)

IsToday REALLY Friday???

2008-12-12T15:33:00.002-06:00

I lost track of the week. It happens to me a lot.

I am feeling down today, I think it's my hormones.

It also can't help that Lilly has her first C EVER. I have not been impressed with her substitute teacher one tiny bit. I am very pleased this is her last week and Mrs. Fitz will be back from maternity leave after the break. I mean seriously, I am not one to say it's the teacher's fault my kid is screwing up, but in this case it's both of them. Honestly it's her job to make sure that all of Lilly's work is accounted for, to at least let me know that Lilly is not getting things turned in. I agree that Lilly should be responsible for her own work, but she always has been and all of the sudden she is having problems? Sounds fishy to me. I have never been a mom who goes behind her and makes sure everything is done and done properly, she doesn't need that. What she does need is encouragement to work harder on some of her assignments that are done in school, I can't be there to tell her to go back a second time after she rushes through an assignment. If she is consistently rushing one particular type of assignment, which she is, then the teacher should realize this and encourage her to try harder. I can only do so much groundings and such at home for it. AND I only find out about it on Fridays, not the day she does the assignment.

I am just irritated. I spoke to the teacher and I am not happy with her even more now. Lilly has three missing assignments and she doesn't seem to care. And the fact that they were missing from November is even more irritating as I just found out today. She was all "What do you want from me?" Finally I just said I wanted her to find the missing assignments, I am sure Lilly forgot to put her name on them, she is just not the type of kid to not turn things in. SO she wants a list of them and she will let Lilly redo them. Whatever, that's fine. Wouldn't want her to do any actual work to find papers that may have no name on them.

I am also so very sick of Aidan and her back talk. It takes A LOT of restraint on my part not to smack her mouth, which is what my mom did to me when I back talked. And everytime I say something to her about it she bursts into tears, she is going to be lovely while pms'ing.

Sophia seems to be getting louder and louder each passing day. And she can go from happy to tantrum in less than 2 seconds. Sometimes my head spins it happens so quickly and for no good reason at all. And her sisters seem to enjoy making her screech. FUN!

Can you tell I need a break? I need him home, I need sleep, I need to recoop.

Wordless Wednesday

2008-12-10T13:15:00.007-06:00

Here's Lilly modeling the dress K made for her, it fits perfectly.

K also made this cape, but she intended it for Abby. It was far too big for her, so Aidan benefits from this fact. Aidan likes that she looks like Little Red Riding Hood. I may use it for her Halloween costume next year.

Sophia in the dress K made for her. It wasn't originally intended to be for our family picture, but now that I changed colors it's perfect.

She wanted to take the pictures outside even though it was only 28 degrees outside with a wind chill of 18.

Some days she can be such a ham.

This was while we were waiting in line to pay at Kohl's this past Saturday. It wasn't quite Black Friday long, but it took a good 20mins to get through the line.

I received my dress in the mail today and it fits. :) Although a little big in the bust, as usual. Apparently most people my size have considerably larger breasts. It's the last place I gain weight and the first place I lose it. :( I am at peace with my size now, I don't like it, but I am at peace with it.

Judy is sending a dress she had bought for Aidan, it should be here tomorrow. She thinks it will be perfect for our family picture, I haven't seen it yet so I am hoping she is right. Delilah's is not my favorite, but it will work. Hers is a brown corduroy jumper dress with flowers printed in lots of colors on it. It also has a pink shirt underneath. I saw one I liked better, but I didn't want to shell out $24 for a dress and another $17 for the sweater. I can't do it right now, I am saving our extra money for activities while Kale is here.

Hope you all had a great day!

It's Snowing!

2008-12-09T10:36:00.007-06:00

It's not the first time it's snowed this winter, but it's coming down a lot faster than last time. Maybe it will be enough to cancel today's Girl Scout Ceremonies, I don't feel like going and being social. And of course both girls have ceremonies the same day and time, so that is wonderful. My aunt is taking Lilly for me, so at least I don't have to feel the guilt of "No one is going to my ceremony!" Although Aidan maybe upset that I am going to hers instead of Patience, we will see. I also have to go get a dessert to bring with us. And I have to go to the post office to return the wool dress coat I bought and didn't notice the sizing was junior's sizing. Needless to say it did not fit. I ordered a new one in the appropriate size already.

Some pictures of recent acquisitions:

Kale's New "Top Coat" for Dressier Outings

My New Dress Coat

My Dress for Our Family Pictures

K made two of these dresses out of fabric I bought this past fall. One for Sophia and one for her "friend Abby".

Here's Abby modeling the dress. I would post one of Sophia modeling hers but it was just mailed out yesterday.

After Judy decided she wanted a family picture also, I decided for my side of the family's picture we would all wear brown and pink or black. I couldn't find anything I liked for Lilly so Keisha offered to make me one. I just had to pick a pattern and she found the fabric. She is my hero, she made the entire dress in less than 12hrs. Impressive to me as I have little to no sewing experience. I also don't have a picture of her modeling it as it was also mailed out yesterday.

I have also recently bought Aidan and Delilah wool dress coats, Sophia's my mom bought a couple of years ago at a yard sale for only $3. It's in perfect condition and only needed to be dry cleaned. I bought Lilly's last year in an after Christmas sale. I almost always buy coats a little big so they last longer than one season. We will be a well dressed family this winter. :)

Anemia?

2008-12-08T13:44:00.002-06:00

I am not sure why, but I am tired all the time again. It may be low iron again, who knows. It must not be that bad yet as I am not craving ice like last time. I am just dragging a** all the time right now.

Delilah is very nearly always sleeping through the night now. Except for Saturday night, when she screamed, screeched, and in general threw a huge temper tantrum until 1am. Of course it was a night that I was so tired I had put myself into bed early to then be wrenched out of my bed to the sound of her screeching, just after I had fallen asleep of course. Last night she was kind, I drug myself to bed at 10pm, I only lasted that long because Kale called at 9:30pm when I was about to go to bed. I didn't hear a peep out of her all night, slept straight through the night. I hit my snooze twice before I finally heard her awake and decided if we were going to be out the door on time I needed to be up.

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It's only 8 days now until Kale arrives home. We haven't told the girls an exact date of his arrival and won't. He gets in so late on the 16th that there was no point in telling them he'd be home that night. He will surprise them by waking them up in the morning. I hope Delilah doesn't scream too much or I won't be able to sleep in. Hopefully he will have remembered what it takes to get the four of them ready and out the door in time for school. I am not sure he has ever even done it with all four of them. He will be fine I am sure, if not hopefully he's a quick study (he's not though).

I am almost fully done with my Christmas shopping. I need to get something more for my mother and something more for Meme. The girls have way too much, all except Delilah. I can't bring myself to buy her many toys, she doesn't play with any of the ones she already owns.

I will be checking in on everyone today. Sorry I have been neglectful recently.

12 Days and Counting.....

2008-12-05T11:15:00.002-06:00

Very, very soon Kale will be back, the 16th to be exact. He gets in at 11pm that night and I am picking him up myself. Green has volunteered to come over and sit with the sleeping children. The girls don't know exactly when he is arriving, just that it's soon and before Christmas. Lilly will be very excited he will be able to attend her Christmas musical on the 17th.

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Black Friday

As is the tradition for the women in my family we went shopping on Black Friday. Green was kind enough to spend the night on my couch and "take care of" (be the adult in the house just in case) the older three girls. Rosy insisted I leave Delilah with Jason and Alan, I wasn't going to argue. I am just glad for my brother that she went straight back to sleep after I dropped her off at 4:40am. As always I have to be the first one up that morning because I am the driver and I have to pick everyone up. I picked Rosy up, dropped Delilah off, and picked Patience up. It's really not bad, I live 10mins from Rosy, Patience lives across the street from Rosy, and then it's 5mins to my mom's from there.

We went to Walmart first, arriving just before the doors opened. There was a line formed all the way around the outside of the store. We joined at the very end and it took us about 15mins to get inside. It was very cold that morning, only 20 degrees. Rosy was not ready for that, this was her first time getting up at the crack of dawn to join us. She went the years before, but after 8am usually. My mom bought her 50" Plasma TV my dad wanted, Rosy bought a trampoline, Meme picked up some gifts for the girls, Stella bought shampoo and nail polish remover (we teased her about this), Patience bought toys for her grandson Matthew, and I bought pj's and toys for the girls. My mom got right through the line and took the tv home while we shopped and stood in line. Patience and I didn't take too long in our line. We had a nice older lady in front of us and she was not letting a line jumper in our line. It was very funny to watch her tell him no he couldn't "squeeze in". Other than that we didn't see any arguments. After I got through the line I went to keep Rosy company, it took her awhile to get into line since they had to find a flatbed cart for her trampoline, that sucker was heavy. I couldn't even lift one end. It took us and hour to get through her line to pay. Then the worker loaded it in the van and we had to take it to her house or nothing else would fit.

We didn't get out of town (out of walmart) until 7:30am, then we headed to north KC. We spent another hour at Toys R Us. Then Kohl's, Target, lunch at Applebee's, and Old Navy. We were home about 3:30pm. I found Green as I left him, sleeping on my couch. The girls were dressed and had been fed, he woke up long enough to handle that much. It's a good thing Lilly is older and can take care of things. Delilah gave Jason a run for his money, she and Alan like to fight. There was an incident with Alan's poopy diaper and her grabbing it and flinging the poop everywhere. We laughed our butt's off at that one when he called to share. All and all it was a fun day, I wasn't sure I would be able to go this year and I am thankful my family stepped up to the plate to help out.

---------------------------------------------
The Days Ahead

We have a ton planned for when Kale is here. It's going to be a whirlwind visit, I think our heads will be spinning by then end of the trip.

17th: Trim the Tree, Family Picture (ENTIRE Family, all 14 of us), Lilly's Musical
18th: Delilah and I have doctors appointments at 1pm
19th: My parents are watching the girls and we are going out to dinner ALONE/Jason, Rosy, and Alan leave for Mexico and won't return until the 5th of Jan.
20th: Kale is taking the older three to see Bolt
21st: Kale's b-day dinner (his b-day was 11/22) at Famous Dave's with our extended family
22nd: Painting Sophia's room white again and switching her room and Delilah's
23rd: Kale's parents and Nanny arrive/We will go out alone again
24th: Christmas at my parents with everyone
25th: Christmas of course/plus Kale and his dad are taking the older three to Tale of Despereaux/Judy and I are making dinner/My mom and the teens are coming over for dinner
26th: Probably family pictures with Kale's family (since Judy all of the sudden after 5 years decided she wants to get it done professionally again, AFTER she has said numerous times that regular snapshots are good enough)/My parents and the teens leave for Chicago
27th: His family leaves
28th: Not sure yet
29th: He leaves at 6pm :(

The only positive thing about Jason, Rosy, and Alan being in Mexico for Christmas is that they are letting Kale's family stay at their house. That way we aren't cramped here and they don't have to spend money on a hotel. Otherwise it sucks, we will miss them like we do every year.

I may be hit and miss again during all of this. I have been very lazy, bored, and tired lately.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

MIA

2008-11-19T17:10:00.002-06:00

I have not been up to blogging or reading this past week, I will catch up soon. I have been dealing with Delilah's constipation issues. We dealt with the same issues with Aidan when she was this age. We battled severe constipation for 3 years before we finally got a handle on it. With Aidan we found out it was milk, put her on Lacatid (lactose free) and she has been fine unless she has lots of dairy. I don't know what Delilah's issue is, she is already on Lactaid. I thought maybe it was goldfish snacks, but I cut those out of her diet and she is still having trouble. It came out of nowhere, so I am not sure what to do with her. So my life has been full of suppositories, probotic yogurt, fruit, and veggies. I am trying aloe vera juice now, but she doesn't like it. I tried hiding it in strawberry milk, but no luck she doesn't like it. I tried tea and juice, she doesn't like either. I tried pushing liquids, K thought she might not be drinking enough since it's cold. No luck there either. It's not an everyday fight, yet, but I know how quickly it can become one and I don't want to go there again. Aidan was miserable and so was I for years, I can't and won't go through this again.

Other than that, I haven't been very busy lately. I am nearly done with the kids Christmas shopping, Delilah is the only one who needs anything more. I am just having a hard time finding things for her. I have found her a few things that are not toys, a personalized hooded towel and a personalized pillowcase. But that's really all I have been able to come up with. I still have most of the adults in my family to buy for yet, but I will work on them closer to Christmas. I am ready to shop on black Friday, we are hoping Green will keep the girls as we usually head out at 4am. At least the older three, I may take Delilah with us. We haven't hashed out all the details yet. I am hoping to find an MP3 player for Lilly, we bought her one last year but it's not compatible with our Napster program. Plus we can't figure out how to get any music on it period, even had my brother try. I know what brand to buy this time, so I will get her one that will work.

It's now less than one month until Kale arrives. It's getting closer to the time when I will be able to relax. :P At least Delilah has started sleeping through the night, finally! So I am getting more continuous sleep, it really helps. She also has a new word "Uh-Oh" it's very cute to hear her say it. She likes to drop things then say it. She also says a bunch of words that sound like "It fell down", but not clearly. Sophia is still in the horrible threes, some days are unbearable. She seems to have gotten louder, I never thought it was possible. I really screwed myself, we made a deal when she was inutero that since she was the hardest pregnancy to that point she had better be my best baby. And she was a dream baby, until she turned two. I should have asked her to be the best child and teen also. :P

I will post some pictures and links of the stuff I have found for the girls tomorrow and Friday. I will also catch up with everyone then too.

Wordless Wednesday

2008-11-12T20:45:00.002-06:00

Pictures from our Hayride/Bonfire this weekend. We went to Carl and Debbie's they have been friends of my parents since we moved to Leavenworth over 25yrs ago. My bro and I played with their kids growing up. It was just their family and ours, it was nice. Cold, freezing in fact, but fun. Well fun for the kids, I had to wrestle Delilah the whole time because she wanted down. Green lost like 3 hotdogs in the fire and ate 3 more. Sophia had her first smore and loved it, but hated that it was sticky. After hotdogs and smores we went on the hay ride. The kids wanted to go again, but Delilah was DONE!

I bought her this new coat and hat that same day (Saturday) I couldn't find the coats that Lilly, Aidan, or Sophia wore at a year old. Funny, because I usually keep all coats unless they are worn out. It's really much warmer than it looks, it's a wool blend. Meme took all the pics for me since I stupidly left mine in the van, WAY up by the house.

Wordless Wednesday

2008-11-06T08:25:00.002-06:00

Her eyes very so very blue yesterday, I tried to capture it on film, but she didn't cooperate very well.

She put the tiara on all by herself, she looked cute wearing it the wrong way.
Today she threw up, I am hoping it was a one time deal.

Aidan cut her own hair yesterday in school. Her teacher brought to the car, which is never a good sign, and handed me a baggie full of Aidan's hair. I stupidly forgot to take a before picture. This is after the stylist fixed it.

She cut it very close to the scalp right in the middle, I have to put a clip in it to hold it in the right place so it doesn't look ridiculous.

This was when Lilly cut her own hair, same age (well six mths younger than Aidan but still 6) and same time of year, November. I guess I better keep a good eye on Sophia and Delilah at this point in their lives. :P Lilly did hers at home though, this picture is before we had it fixed.

Pitbulls URGH!

2008-11-04T16:45:00.002-06:00

Last Thursday I went to put my trash out and the neighbor had his pitbull in the front yard.....with no leash. I? Was beyond pissed, so naturally I had to say something. By the end of our "conversation" which was me talking and him smirking I was shaking I was so angry. I could have slap that smirk right off his effing face. I told him that since we weren't going to be moving as soon as I had hoped that I could no longer stay quiet about the pitbull being off it's leash. I told him that someday he is not going to be able to catch the dog when he runs. At that very moment the dog rushed at me and he caught him. I raised my eyebrows and said simply "see". Then I told him that I was not going to call the MP's or housing THIS time but I was warning him that next time I would. I can not and will not take this kind of chance with my children. It's against the law and he will be held accountable from now on.

So fast forward to the next afternoon, Kale and I are IMing while he is at work. He casually mentions the neighbor had some SSG email one of the 1SG down in Cuba and that Kale had been "talked" to about me by his Commander. I was not happy, so mad in fact I was ready to be confrontational with the neighbor. Kale begged me not to and said he would clear this up. The next night he talked to the 1SG who was emailed and asked what was up. He said that this SSG who had left Cuba a couple of mths before (he thinks he's more important than he is and Kale says he's a POS) and complained that I was harassing the neighbor about his dog. *Yeah, cause talking to the three times when the dog is OFF the leash constitutes harassment*. The 1SG said he didn't know what the guy thought he could do, that A) they can only get Kale in trouble if I am doing something illegal and B) they agree with me 100% on this issue. The Commander had just misunderstood the situation and is now in full agreement with us. I was just so angry this weekend about this, I could hardly see straight. There is nothing that can officially be done to reprimand these two guys causing trouble, but they were both going to be yelled at.

Now I am just waiting to get pics and video of the damn thing off it's leash. Next time I see it I will be calling the police and housing. Which I already warned housing on Friday that I was angry and that they were letting the dog loose. Hopefully they will at least heed my warning and keep it on the leash.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

2008-10-31T22:26:00.000-05:00

Trick or Treating at Aunt Patience and Uncle Guy's house

Uncle Guy is always excited to see the girls

Looking at all their goodies in the bags Aunt Patience put together for them

Uncle Guy taking a look at the ruby slippers and toto

No more candy Sophia!

Giving hugs goodbye

Delilah was out, she hadn't slept all day

Meme carving her pumpkin

Stella carving hers

An unhappy lamb

Sacagewea

Getting ready to hit the neighborhood

Yes I am back dating this. :P

I have a pitbull/neighbor update for Monday.

Things That Have Been Going On

2008-10-30T08:09:00.003-05:00

First and foremost my grandfather has been in and out of the hospital for three weeks or more. This week they really thought he was going to pass. It's been hard to be in limbo. Technically he is not my grandpa, he is married to my mom's mom, but he has been married to her since before I was born. I credit my mother greatly for not clouding our love for him with her opinions of him. She did not like him and until recently didn't have a very good opinion of him. But she never let it show to me, I never even knew anything about her not liking him until I was an adult. So even though he is not my blood grandfather, I love him all the same. I am worried for him and really worried for my grandma, when he goes she will be very lonely and she can't drive so she will be stuck at home. She hates to ask for help, but will have to learn after he passes.

In other news Judy (mil) broke her foot this past weekend. Not bad enough to require a cast, but she has to keep it wrapped and wear a special shoe. The only reason this really affects me is because she will be coming out when my grandpa passes, to take care of the girls while we go to the funeral. While I hope he lives for years to come, I am realistic and I realize he really only has months to live (hopefully). When we thought he was going to pass on Monday she still planned on flying out she just asked if my parents would leave the teens with her to help. My mom didn't have a problem with that, it will just be a little crowded here at my house. No big deal though. The rest of us, probably including Green will drive out and go to the funeral whenever it happens.

Last night my uncle blew through town with his girlfriend Rhonda. We all went out to dinner together, even though I had already fed the girls when my dad called and told me to meet them at Applebee's in town. We had a nice visit with him. And Rhonda told me she has a cabin 30mins from Jacksonville. She said she will pick me up from the airport, let me stay the night, and then take me to the base the next day for my flight to Cuba. :) That will help out a lot, then we won't have to pay for a hotel for that night in Jacksonville or a shuttle to the base. I was a little worried about doing all of this on my own anyways, but now I won't have to.

Last night was a good night of sleep for me. Delilah slept from the time I went to bed until I got up at 7am this morning. It was a welcome change from her recent behavior, waking me every 1-3hrs all night long. I needed to have some continuous sleep.

Tomorrow Lilly and Aidan are having a "character parade" basically it's a Halloween parade, but they have to dress as actual literature book characters. Lilly is an Native American and is going as Sacajawea. Aidan of course is Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. They just have to carry a copy of the book their character is from during the parade. I plan on going to watch the parade tomorrow morning. Hopefully I get another good nights sleep. After the parade I have many things I need to get done before I have to pick them up at 1pm, I am not sure why they are getting out early Halloween I guess. I wish they weren't, tomorrow is pay day and I have a lot of things to do.

I will post pictures of the parade tomorrow. Have a good day!

Wordless Wednesday

2008-10-29T11:07:00.003-05:00

Ruby Slippers

Dorothy on her way to her Daisy Troops tea party

Sophia playing dress up

Kisses for Pooh

Pretty Face

Don't take my picture! Horrible three's rear their ugly head.

A happy penguin chasing birds in the aviary at the zoo.

I want to be a "homfress" (princess for those of you who don't speak Sophia)

Indifferent Little Lamb

Nonnie, Penguin, and Lamb in front of the kangaroos at the zoo.

Too Cold....

2008-10-27T17:17:00.003-05:00

It's not usually this cold in KS this time of year, at least not as consistently cold as it has been. It's going to be a long, rough winter this year I am afraid. Which does not bode well for me, I hate being cooped up and lack of sunshine depresses me. That's one of the major reasons I hated living in MA.

Lilly and Aidan went camping this past weekend. Aidan and her troop got to sleep in the lodge, where it was warm. Lilly and her troop had to sleep outdoors, the first night it was in the 30's. The second night it was in the low 50's. They had a lot of fun.

My mom and I took Sophia and Delilah to Boo at the Zoo. Sophia didn't want to wear her costume and cried until we got inside the zoo. Delilah wouldn't leave her left bootie on and everyone kept stopping me to point out that she had "lost" it. Which is nice, but irritating if you know it's not lost. Finally I took it out of the diaper bag and hung it on the stroller handle, no one pointed it out anymore. We had a short, but nice visit to the zoo. She got just enough candy for a three year old and enjoyed looking at the animals.

Sophia also got to spend the night with my parents all alone. Even went out to dinner with them all by herself. I think she enjoyed that a lot.

I thought I would get some sleep, but I am not so lucky. Delilah is cutting her molars and has not been sleeping well. At least that's why I am hoping she isn't sleeping. Because that is temporary. I keep reminding myself that A) eventually she will start sleeping better or B) Kale will come home for good and he can get up with her. :P

Tomorrow Aidan has a costume tea party at her Daisy meeting. Then on Friday she and Lilly had a "character parade" at school. They get to dress up as long as they dress up as a character from a book, and it has to be a literature book not a comic book. Nothing gory, scary, or bloody. Lilly is going as Sacajawea and Aidan is Dorthy from the Wizard of Oz. They have to bring a copy of the book their character is from so I ordered the books earlier this month and we already received them.

I am also happy Halloween is on a Friday, my mom and the teens can take the girls out trick or treating. Kale has always taken them before, it's not my idea of fun. I go if I have to, but I prefer to hand out candy.

Good News

2008-10-23T09:41:00.003-05:00

The first piece of good news we received on Wednesday, Kale is going to be promoted on November 1st! This means a pretty good raise for him, which is good for me of course. I still don't think we will be able to move anytime soon though, even though technically we are living in housing that is meant for lower ranking families.

The next piece of good news I received yesterday in the girls report cards. Lilly has 3 A's and 1 B+. I was a little upset with the B+ because the reason she got the B+ was because she got two C's on these weekly reader things they do. The weekly reader is like a little magazine, they read it and then answer questions. It bothers me she got C's on two of them because it was carelessness on her part. You are allowed to use the reader to answer the questions and they are only 4 pages long, so it's not like you have to look hard for the answers. I gave her a little bit of a hard time about it, but not too bad.

Aidan's report card was also very good. She is Proficient in all areas but "Data Application" and "Problem Solving" in those areas she was Satisfactory. So she is doing good in those areas, but that's where there is room for improvement. They also sent home a sheet that tells their reading level so far. The scale is like this:

A B C D E F G H I J +

The first 9 weeks the kids should be in CDE to be on grade level, AB is below grade level. The second 9 weeks EFG is on grade level, ABCD below grade level. The third 9 weeks GHI is on grade level and ABCDEF is below grade level. The fourth nine weeks IJ is on grade level, ABCDEFGH is below grade level and "+" is above grade level. Well, right now, Aidan is already at the "+" to think we were actually a little worried about her reading ability at the beginning of the year. I think she had a confidence issue, we knew she could read, has been able to since Kindergarten, but she refused to read to anyone. She doesn't like to be wrong (she gets that from me), now that she knows she can read and read very well, she is doing wonderfully. We knew she was smart, just stubborn.

So that's my good news for the week. Well, that and I get rid of Lilly and Aidan for the weekend, YEI! They are going camping with their Girl Scout troops. They will have a blast and the rest of us are going to Boo @ the Zoo and enjoying the peace and quiet. :P

Wordless Wednesday

2008-10-22T10:00:00.004-05:00

Sophia looked like this most of last week and the week before. Poor baby.

Lilly's project for school, they had to "disguise" a pumpkin. This is what my mom and she came up with.

Here is what the lady on Etsy came up with for Aidan's blocks. They are so very cute!

Delilah all decked out for Halloween, right down to her paci clip.

Playing with her bday present from my parents, my mom just finally bought it this past weekend. There was a mix up when Green was sent to get her present on her bday and my mom hasn't had the time or remembered to get it until this past weekend.

In her new shoes.

Playing with her new shoes.

A silly face!

More Christmas Ideas: I start early I know...

2008-10-19T19:17:00.004-05:00

I ordered blocks for every one's rooms from another seller on Etsy. These are what she came up with for the kids:

I picked these out for Lilly out of some she already had displayed. They match her new bedding set perfectly.

For Sophia I asked if she could find penguins and as you can see she delivered just that.

Alan's were another set I picked from ones she had displayed. My brother played soccer since he was 4 all the way up through college and still plays occasionally now.

And for Delilah...

She is still working on horses for Aidan, but says she will be done soon. I am happy for the way they all turned out so far and her prices are very reasonable.

Delilah had Sophia's sickness this weekend, lucky me. She didn't have it nearly as long though. I think because she doesn't equate eating with pooping yet. We had a pretty quiet weekend. Did a little shopping with my mom & the teens and had dinner at my parents house. Jason even stayed since Rosy and Alan are out of town for her cousin's wedding. The older three girls spent the night with my parents and Delilah even let me sleep in until 9am this morning!

Hope everyone else had a great weekend.

I Escaped!

2008-10-16T14:13:00.003-05:00

We actually got to leave our house today! It wasn't so bad either. I thought Sophia was going to be horrible, but after a few scoldings she was good to go. We went to The Legends, an outdoor shopping outlet not to far from here. First order of business was to get Delilah a pair of shoes. She started walking last week and is pretty much walking everywhere now. I don't buy shoes for babies until they can walk, there really isn't a point for them before then. At least in my opinion. I bought her these:
They are Stride Rite and so very cute. And since I bought them at the outlet they didn't cost me an arm and a leg. While we were out we had lunch at Panera Bread and I threw some money at Carter's (damn their $10 off $50 coupons!). I also went to Target, got Alan's Christmas present, another present off Lilly's list, and a sleeping bag for Aidan. They are going camping with the girl scouts next weekend and Lilly has a sleeping bag, but Aidan didn't. I also got her a dunk bag for her mess kit. I still have to find her a mess kit. I don't have time to order her the girl scout one like Lilly has, so I have to make my own. I may call to see if any places are carrying the girl scout one in the area, it would be much easier and less expensive than doing it myself.

That's what we did today. Lilly and Aidan get to go to a magic show after school because Kale is deployed, so I don't have to pick them up until 4:30pm. I think we will walk since Sophia is feeling better now...

Wordless Wednesday: I have been busy shopping edition

2008-10-15T20:01:00.008-05:00

I have been very busy scouring the web for interesting, unique, and unusual gifts. I gave away so many standard toys, barbies, my little ponies, and such that I don't want to simply replace them with new standard toys.

I ordered a kit from Etsy to make Delilah a baby proof scrapbook

Our presents to the older three is new bedding.

This is Lilly's, I hate it but she has been begging for animal print bedding.

I bought Aidan's this summer when it was on sale.

I have commissioned a woman on Etsy to make a toddler bedding set out of this fabric. It was tough to find cutsie penguin fabric.

Lilly is getting this necklace obviously with her name on it.

Aidan's...

The rest of this stuff is for Sophia. Basically this is nearly all she will get from Santa.

It's the Dream Town Cherry Blossom Market and Accessories. She already has the Dream Town Cottage.

Cabin Fever

2008-10-14T18:19:00.002-05:00

I did manage to get Sophia an appointment today, but what I figured would happen, happened. Her fever finally broke at about 5am this morning. I had to give her a shower in the dark (well by light of nightlight). Why? Because I didn't want either of us to fully wake up. She didn't have any fever reducer by the time we went to the doctor and her temperature was 99.7, borderline.

Her mood and overall happiness has not changed however. She is stil whinny, won't eat much with out me coaxing, reasoning, or when all else fails threatening her. The doctor said she seems to have turned the corner. Of course she thought so, Sophia was bouncing around like a lunatic in the office. As soon as we got home? Laid on the couch and whined for things. I think she is playing me, or at least trying to. I am not easily played, she doesn't realize Aidan preceded her and I have had a lot of practice. She did have Sophia give a urine sample to check for infection. Thankfully they gave us a hat to catch the pee, I have horribly vivid memories of me holding a cup under Aidan BEGGING her to pee in it for 30mins+ about a year or so ago. I was worried I would have a repeat experience and I am glad I did not. I was lucky Rosy came over with Alan to stay with Delilah. I didn't want to interrupt her nap again for this BS. Plus I didn't want to deal with her if Sophia had had to give blood. In turn I watched Alan while she and Jason went to lunch.

The rest of my afternoon consisted of picking up kids, going to the commissary with 5 girls (I take V to girl scouts every other week and her mom takes mine the other weeks), then dropping them all off at girl scouts, went home, put the younger two to bed, begged my mom to come sit with them while I went to the parents meeting for Lilly's camping trip, came home, and fed them. Now I am resuming my search for unique Christmas gifts for the girls. I have found a few really cute things so far. I have been stuck at home, so I have been searching Etsy high and low. I hate feeling trapped and that's just how I have felt everyday since last Wednesday with the exception of Saturday.

This, too, shall pass.

ARGH!!!

2008-10-13T16:32:00.002-05:00

We went to the doctor on Friday, well Sophia did, and I was informed she has a "case of the yuckies." I would like to know exactly what those are and why they haven't left her body yet. I would be okay with that diagnosis IF she still weren't getting fevers every time the fever reducer wore off. As far as the diarrhea goes, it's almost gone at least the really watery stuff (TMI I know), but she is still complaining about her tummy hurting. She has hardly eaten, which is freaking me out now. At this point I KNOW she would feel better (her tummy at least) if she would eat. She takes very little bits of food at every meal, enough to keep her alive basically. I am so tired of this. She is whinny and lies around all day when the fever reducer wears off and is kicking in. When it has kicked in she bounces around like a kangaroo. I am fresh out of sympathy at this point, although truth be told I never had much of it to start with. I know she is sick, I can see it, but if she won't do what will make her feel better I refuse to feel sorry for her anymore. Harsh probably, but that's how my mom was with us too.

I am hoping to take her to her regular doctor tomorrow. She is much more cautious than the b*tch we saw on Friday. She looked at her for five minutes and kicked us out. I am not pleased, fevers don't stay around for this long unless something is wrong, it's almost been a week. When we saw the doctor it had been three nights of constant fevers. I am hating being alone this weekend. :(

Sick kids and other fun stuff....

2008-10-10T08:41:00.003-05:00

I wrote and scheduled all of this weeks posts on Tuesday, I am kind of glad I did. Sophia has been sick since Wednesday morning. All of Wednesday she had diarrhea, I assumed it was just because of all the apple juice she had been drinking. But I quickly realized that I had just bought the pack of apple juice boxes the day before, their were only two gone, and before that I hadn't bought any in two weeks. She seemed fine all day other than the diarrhea and ate alright, not great but okay. Then that evening she became feverish. Since then it has been down hill. She was cold, feverish, and still having diarrhea all day yesterday. I gave her some Imodium to help with the diarrhea but she still wouldn't eat or hardly drink anything. She laid on the couch all day.

Aidan joined her on the couch yesterday morning also. But she had vomited twice, once as we were getting into the van and once after she had been laying around for awhile. I knew it was coming, she woke me up at 6am with her howls. I gave her three options 1) lay in bed and be quiet, 2) get up and see if she is hungry, that maybe that's why her tummy hurt, or 3) get up and go poop. She choose #1, you have to be direct with her in order to keep the drama to a minimum. I don't feel guilty about being stern with her anymore, even when she does her best "kicked my puppy in the face" look of despair. After lunch, which she ate an entire sleeve of saltines and drank a whole bottle of water, she bounced around this house like a kangaroo on crack. Seriously, that irritates me to no end. If you are home sick you need to have the decency to ACT sick. Plus she wouldn't quit touching all over Delilah and getting in her face. Even after I told her multiple times to stop and how I didn't need Delilah to get it. I told her she doesn't have to take care of a sick baby, I do and frankly I don't want to.

Sophia on the other hand ate nothing, drank little (even though I pleaded with her), and laid on the couch drifting in and out of sleep all day long. I would only allow her to have a sheet, she was laying under an Afghan and her body was burning up. I realize why she did it, but I also realize she shouldn't be doing it. I alternated Tylenol and ibuprofen all day long. Didn't seem to help much. She has an appointment this morning. At least for the most part the diarrhea is gone. She needs to eat though and drink a lot more. She did drink a glass of chocolate milk last night (I know it's not the best thing for her, but I am desperate at this point) and she drank half a bottle of water in the night. But she also had a bout of diarrhea in the middle of the night and came into bed with me at 6am. At least Delilah is sleeping better and I hope if she gets the sickness, she gets the poopies not the pukies.

So that has been my life the last few days. One of the few times I have been almost beside myself without Kale here.

Hope everyone else has a better weekend then I may have. :P

My Purse

2008-10-10T00:00:00.001-05:00

Awhile back Jenn did a post about what's in her purse, so now I am showing what's in mine. I honestly didn't think I had much until I emptied every pocket of my purse.

This is everything typically in my purse daily.

1) My wallet

2) My ID Case

3) My wristlet (full of my credit cards)

4) My cell phone and bluetooth

5) A handful of souvenir pennies (they need to go into the penny passports)

6) The kids ID cards, our dental cards, our Tricare cards, other various cards that hang out in the interior zippered pocket of my purse

7) Gum and gum wrappers

8) My pen

9) My camera

10) My keys

11) Coupons that haven't yet expired

12) Handi wipes

My Weekend: A Pictorial (Part 3)

2008-10-09T00:00:00.000-05:00

On Saturday Fort Leavenworth was having their biannual post wide yard sale. That is why my in-laws came out, to help me sell my crap. While the yard sale was going on Judy and I cleaned out the garage. I went from 18 small rubbermade containers to 8 and from 4 large rubbermade containers to 3. Their were many many trash bags of stuff (mainly clothing and paper) either taken to goodwill or recycled. While we were in the garage as the day warmed up it began to smell like dead creature. I thought for sure a mouse, squirrel, or other small animal had been locked in their and died. Judy went about looking for it when I opened the freezer up and found the smell. Now, I don't normally keep much in there, usually only frozen waffles, pizza, or ice. I had thought it was empty from last winter when my mom lost power at her house for days and brought all of her stuff to my freezer. I had assumed Green had taken everything out as per her request. I assumed wrong.

At some point this summer we must have lost power or someone left the door to the freezer open for awhile, something had to have happened. There were tubes of ground sausage that had gone bad, expanded, and then exploded all over my freezer. The smell was the nasty sausage that had dripped blood and oozed out all over the freezer. Thankfully Judy took on that task as I was still cleaning and going through everything in the garage. I am not sure I could have stood the smell enough to clean it out. She bleached the freezer after it had defrosted and then turned it back on with baking soda in it. It smells much much better, you can hardly tell the bloody massacre that it once had been.

At the yard sale I sold my couch, chair, and ottoman set for $100. The woman tried to barter with me at 8am, I told her no way it was too early for that. After it had been sold, as the day went on, I wished I had put at least $150 on it. Everyone was amazed I sold it for that price, it was only 2 yrs old and looked like it had no wear at all. I also sold the table set that went with it for $25 and wished I hadn't been so cheap. Oh well, it is all gone and not in my garage anymore. That's the most important thing, I can now park there this winter. I also sold a bunch of other things, I ended up making about $200 that day.

All of the baby stuff is going to Jason and Rosy's house. Once that is out I will be able to park in there again. Last winter I could park in there, but their were containers stacked on either side toward the end of the garage. Now there are only the three at the very end of the garage and then some more near the door to the house. I am very happy about what all we accomplished this past weekend. Even though we felt like we died every evening, I don't think we stayed up much past 10pm any night this weekend.

My Weekend: A Pictorial (Part 2)

2008-10-08T10:00:00.000-05:00

Our room

I have been meaning to decorate my room since we moved in, I guess I will do it now that we are staying for awhile longer. I already have all the stuff to do it with.

My dresser is a mess right now. I only made my bed for the pictures. :P

The best part of all, that was where the crib USED to be! I still have her "cage" in my room. I need to put it in her closet.

The hallway out of our room. To the left just down the hall is our bathroom, it's nice to have our own. We never had our own before.

Judy also reorganized the bookcases, my kids don't read much, do they? :P

These flank the bathroom door, the door to the right is Delilah's room.

K and I had gone to a store in Cambridge MA to get these things, they were unfinished and cost me a pretty penny. Finally after years of begging, he got them finished. Or maybe his mom did it, I can't remember now. :P

I need another one though, I found another container full of books in the garage.

The door to the left is our room.

----------------

Lilly and Aidan's Room

Aidan's bed, messy I know, I guess I can't expect them to make their beds when I don't make mine. :P

That is Butterscotch next to her bed, she got him for her last b-day from everyone. She thinks she needs Butterscotch's friend S'more's but I disagree. The empty shelf is one that my FIL put up yesterday, I haven't had a chance to decorate the rooms yet.

Lilly's messy bed. She's lucky, I don't know many 9yr olds with full size beds. We only did it because the mattress was ours and we wanted a queen size but didn't want to "waste" a very expensive mattress on a yard sale or Craig's list. So it went to her.

When we moved in this house 2 and 1/2 years ago, this was Sophia's room. It's the biggest and right next to ours. We had planned on putting any "new" children in with her and giving the older girls their own rooms. Yeah, that didn't work out. Then the room was Aidan and Sophia's for a few months. That didn't work either, Sophia kept waking Aidan up in the morning and they go to bed at the same time. So we moved Lilly in with Aidan and it works out well. Aidan goes to bed an hour before Lilly, she is usually asleep before Lilly goes to bed. And Aidan tends to sleep in or just leave the room instead of waking Lilly on the weekends.

We put Lilly's dollhouse at the foot of her bed and let them pick out about 10 barbies total out of the 30-40 they had. Aidan picked out about 10 ponies out of the 30-40 she had. We let them keep all the furniture for the house and all the clothing for the barbies, babies, and ponies. We had four doll carriages but sold two of them in the yard sale. Looking out of the room you can see Delilah's bedroom door, that landing was covered in books and toys every night before we cleaned the rooms up to where they can play on the floor again.

This room was never decorated, so I have a blank slate to work with. I have plenty to decorate with, I have been collecting things for years. Hopefully I will be up to doing it soon.

My Weekend: A Pictorial

2008-10-07T09:20:00.003-05:00

This is only half of our day's work, I will post about the other half of what we did Friday tomorrow. We spent from 9am to 12pm, 12:30pm to 2:30pm, took a break to walk the three miles back and forth from the school, then worked again from 4:30pm to 7pm. All that work to get the four bedrooms more livable. We were told not to expect to move for at least 8mths. So I figured I better get comfy.

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Sophia's Room

The walls need to be repainted from where Aidan drew on them and where she spread make up all over them, but that will be Kale's job at Christmas time. The spring horse is actually Aidan's but Sophia rides it more and there wasn't room in Aidan's room for it. The table and chairs were Lilly's, my mom had them made for her first birthday. I am not sure, I may move these curtains to Delilah's room. They are Winnie the Pooh, both of their beds have Pooh, but Sophia's will be changed for a Christmas present.

It's messy right now, she was in there playing this morning.

Sophia's bed and rocking chair (which was Lilly's)

Can you tell this used to be Aidan's room? :P

All the decorations need to come down and be moved and all of Sophia's stuff put up. I have like three name things for her room.

That is the closet of new clothing, costumes, coats, and dresses. It's full from end to end.

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Delilah has her OWN room!!!

There is not much in it yet and I need to redecorate, but it's her own room.

All of the princess decorations are from when it was Lilly's room, like 2 years ago.

I have pink curtains to put up in her room. Right now the room blackening shade will have to do. We moved it from Sophia's room since it's more important Delilah sleep later than Sophia.
The cradle was made by a man who lived next door to me practically all my life, it was my wedding gift from him. It's beautiful, heavy, and the feet hurt like h*ll when you accidentally kick them.

You can see where I need to take down Lilly's name and move it to her room. I am not sure if she still wants all the princess stuff or not. That closet is a walk-in and is chock full of our Christmas decorations, clothing, and baby stuff.

This room was the playroom most recently, you couldn't even walk in the room. Judy and I spent ALL day Friday cleaning the entire upstairs. My kids aren't filthy but are cluttered. We didn't find any food, drink, or stuff like that. We mostly found socks, pacifiers, and hair things, besides the mountains of toys. We took 6 HUGE garbage bags full of toys to Goodwill after our clean up. We did it while they were in school so they couldn't guilt us into keeping things they don't play with. We also took out 2 huge garbage bags full of stuffed animals, and they still have two 16 gallon tubs full of them.

Really?!

2008-10-02T13:42:00.002-05:00

I received this package today.
Looks pretty standard.
It's from UPS.

And this? Was all that was in it. It's a 1000 Minute Calling Card for Kale.
It? Cost me less than a dollar for shipping.
It? Is kind of freaking ridiculous.
It? Could have been sent in a standard envelope via USPS.
Oh well, not everything in our world makes sense.

Is it too much to ask?

2008-09-29T10:47:00.002-05:00

I am looking for a nice hotel in Nashville, TN. All I want is a nice hotel with a big bathtub, it doesn't even have to be jacuzzi, although that would be a plus. I don't want to spend a fortune though.

I am just doing research for when Kale comes home for good. He will have most of June off and when we go visit his parents we plan on taking a night or two and going off to be alone. We want to either go to Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga, or Memphis, that way we are close but far enough away. Since he has been gone we have realized how much we really need our time alone, without the kids.

I just wish all of the hotels would post pictures of their bathrooms. If I wanted a standard size tub I would stay home. I am sure eventually I will find what I am looking for, but it's been a little frustrating.

Not Much Going On....

2008-09-26T08:29:00.002-05:00

I have stayed home pretty much all week and all last week. With the exception of last weekend when we went to the Renaissance Festival and the girls each had birthday parties. Other than that I have been hanging out at home.

This week we started what I hope will be our new routine. We walked to school to pick up the girls Monday and Wednesday, we will do it again today also. It's 3miles round trip, so that's a pretty good distance to walk. As long as it's nice I plan on doing this every Mon, Wed, and Fri. Sophia is such a good walker, she walked both times back and forth with little to no complaints. Aidan has always been my worst about walking and she burst into tears on Wed when she found out we were walking home. Of course then on the way home she asked if we could walk to school everyday, that child is full of contradictions.

Speaking of Aidan, she had her MAP testing done in school and I received the results last Friday. Basically it said she is High Average to High in all the reading components. Half of the math components she is Average to High Average, the other half however she needs to work on. Which included problem solving, so I have to work on that with her. Kale is hoping she doesn't have his math brain and that she gets mine instead. He hates math and isn't very good at it. I love math and have always excelled at math. Math to me is great, it's not subjective, there is always a right or wrong answer.

Delilah took her first steps last night! I am excited, soon I won't have to carry her chubby butt everywhere. She weighs almost as much as Sophia now. Granted Sophia is a skinny butt just like Lilly, but still they are two years apart. Alan has surpassed Sophia now, by 3 pounds. He is a big boy.

I don't have any major plans for the weekend. All I know is I get rid of my kids for a night (the older girls) when they spend the night at my parents. I will probably go home early and relax with just Delilah here.

Judy and Kale's dad David will be here next Thursday and are staying until the following Tuesday. They are coming out to help with the yard sale. Then they are going to Branson for their 40th anniversary, they have never been. They will have a good time there, as long as my fil isn't his normal stick in the mud self.

Well, I better get dressed and get to the post office. I have been telling Kale I would mail his package all week. :S

Have a good weekend!

Sigh....

2008-09-23T17:28:00.002-05:00

I had a pretty good morning, okay I am lying it wasn't that good. I went to the commissary before naptime, I had to because Kale was calling me at noon and I needed food for lunch. If I waited until after naptime then I wouldn't have enough time before he called to get there and back. If I waited until after he called I would be too hungry.

The point is I had to go during the time Delilah normally naps, thus pushing her nap back an hour. Fun. She was grumpy and Sophia was being three. Smothering Delilah, getting in Delilah's face, and grumping when I scolded her or asked her to stop. By the time we checked out I was done. Alas, that was not the end of my fun filled day.

I had a good few hours while the girls napped, first Delilah then Sophia. Kale called we talked for awhile and soon after that he got online and we talked there too. In between talking to him I cleaned up the downstairs. Lilly's friend V was coming home with us before Girl Scouts and I am not one to leave my house untidy while there are visitors even if they are 9yr old girls.

Just before we were leaving for school my mom's ex-secretary called. Her daughter J goes to the same school as the girls and she was running behind, asked if I could pick her up and take her home with me. Fine, not a big deal as long as she was picked up before Girl Scouts. Normally it wouldn't be an issue on Girl Scout night but tonight was Aidan's investiture ceremony. Well, as you can guess by how rotten my day has gotten been so far, that she wasn't there to pick her up before the meeting. I waited even longer than I normally would wait to leave. That caused me to be late, which as I have said before, makes me panic. During the ceremony J was fine, Sophia and Delilah wouldn't sit still but were quiet. We left as soon as the ceremony was over and they grabbed a quick snack. At this point I realized I left my phone in the car and J's mom had been calling and calling, she was lost. I told her just to meet me at my house. J went home and we left to go to BK.

After all of that I didn't want the hassle of cooking. I order our food, pay, and leave. Get to Lilly's Girl Scout house and realize they only gave me half of my dinner. Great, just great. Delilah was crying at this point and Sophia is three and has no VOLUME CONTROL anymore. Everything she says is said in a very LOUD annoying WHINE. I run in and grab Lilly even though I am 15mins early. We go back to BK, as we pull in Lilly is insistent she has to pee right that second, I let her out to go in to pee. After that I go back through the drive thru to get my food, the guy insisted he tried to run out to give it to me, whatever. Then I go fill up the van since gas is probably go up before the weekend and then we head home.

I pull in and as we get out our very lovely pitbull loving neighbors are getting ready to walk their now ear cropped pitbull puppy. As Lilly and Sophia walk past him he goes to the end of his leash growling and gnashing his teeth. And she said he's "a good dog". Trash, that's all they are is trash. (Don't read into it as all pitbull owners are trash, these people however are trash).

And now I am dealing with the loud, whiny, screech of a certain three year old that is going to bed at 6pm tonight.

Hope your day was better.

A little something to look forward to, I hope....

2008-09-20T08:27:00.003-05:00

I asked Kale to look into what it will take for me to visit him during the second half of his tour. Probably around our anniversary in Feb. It is a big one, like I said it's the big TEN. If I get to go then it will be the first "vacation" we will have taken alone since Lilly was born.

This is what we know so far:

1) I have to have a passport. That's $100 right there. I have "fixed" not having to pay for that ourselves by telling my parents that I want it for Christmas. Even if I don't get to go it will still be good for 10+ years I think.

2) I have to fly from here to Jacksonville and take the shuttle to the Navy base where I will fly on a military plane into Guantanamo Bay. We have to pay for both flights. So far the flight from here to JAX is looking to be about $140, not too bad. We don't know how much the other flight is yet, he is looking into it.

3) The flights from the base are always early in the morning, so I will have to fly into JAX and rent a hotel room for a night. I am not really comfortable going to a hotel by myself, I haven't travelled alone since I was 18 and more adventurous.

4) When I get to Cuba I can't stay in his room, so we will have to stay in guest lodging while I am there. That's okay though, there is more privacy there then in his house. Plus his room only has a twin bed and we haven't slept in a twin bed together since we were dating. I think we both take up a little more room than we used to. :P

5) Judy has already said she would come take care of the kids for us. :) I knew she would, but it's nice she offered when I mentioned going to visit Kale.

6) On the way back I should be okay to catch a flight out of JAX after arriving at the Base and taking the shuttle to the airport. That's the way we set up Kale's ticket for Christmas so he has as much time home as possible.

I am excited at the prospect of visiting him and being alone for our anniversary for the first time in 10 years. He's excited so his second half won't feel as long as the first half. I just hope the military plane ticket isn't pricey, that could put a crimp in our plans.

No One Told Me....

2008-09-19T09:27:00.003-05:00

First I would like to apologize for my foul language in my last two posts. I was typing so fast and furious I didn't even attempt to *** out some of the letters. While I do have a potty mouth, I know when and where it is appropriate to use.

Back to normal now....

No one told me just how hard this really was going to be. I cried last night on the phone with Kale, telling him just how hard it was and how upset I am that it's only 1/4 of the way over. I have been a mess this week. It's pretty bad when I am crying in my van when Gavin Rossdale's Love Remains the Same or Secondhand Serenade's Fall for You comes on the radio. -If you haven't heard either you should check them out, they are really good songs.-

I think my kids are handling this better than I am. I was fine the first couple of months, then school started and I have been home all day bored, just thinking of him. I am not having trouble dealing with the kids or dealing with the house. It's just the loneliness of it. I have not been apart from Kale for more than a month since I was 18, that's 10 years of being together. In February we will have been married for 10 years, he says he's finally going to buy me a big rock. :P But I have to wait until he comes back in June, he wants to be there with me when I pick it out.

I think it's the silence at night that bothers me most. He's been really good about calling me twice a day and emailing me everyday. I am happy when he calls, but I become even more sad when we have to hang up. It was easier for me in the beginning when I was so busy, but it was harder for him. At that time we didn't know that he can use state to state calling cards, which are WAY cheaper than the international ones he was using. I was also always busy and missed his calls often. He will have internet in his house again mid-Oct. and then it will be a little cheaper to talk. And I can talk to him all night long. Since he left my typing has improved, I was pretty good before, but now I am so much better.

In other news I have now lost nearly 15 pounds! I am excited. I am going to start walking to the school and back to pick up the girls on nice days, it's probably a 2-4 mile walk both ways. That will help. The "happy pills" have been helping to keep me away from sweets. I eat only what I need and I have even cut back to two 8oz pepsi's a day. I already drink a lot of water, so that's not a problem. I also started taking a multi vitamin to help with energy.

Well, my weekend is pretty busy. Lilly and Aidan both have parties to attend and on Sunday we are all going to the Renaissance Festival. It's been a beautiful week and it's supposed to continue for the weekend.

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

The Rest of the Awful Story...

2008-09-18T11:21:00.005-05:00

I know I said I would post this tomorrow, but some people are like me and don't like to wait.
If you haven't read the first half of the story, go down and read it first or you will be confused.

So Monday I am checking Kale's email, this time he asked me to do it. He doesn't have internet at his house and he can't check his personal email on the work computer. So I check it and there is this email about "So and so commented on your picture on Redlightcenter.com". So I am naturally curious so I go to the site, type in Kale's gmail address in the forgotten password space, retrieve it and sign in. I am immediately HORRIFIED BEYOND BELIEF! The first thing I see is a picture of Kale and I together. This picture:

His mom took it when they came to visit him the summer we began dating. It's Kale's favorite picture of the two of us.

The website I find is kind of like a myspace or facebook page, but it's designed for people seeking sexual "release" I guess you would call it. Basically you can be single or a couple seeking other singles or couples to do things with. Or it can just be an online, look at each others nasty pictures and videos. The entire page had been set up as if Kale had done it himself. I know now he didn't, but at the time....not so much.

Again I freak out, worse than the day before, because not only did it sound as if Kale had written the page himself (I will tell you why later) but there were also pictures. Pictures of male genitalia. One of the pictures was actually my husbands, but he took it to send to me (don't know why) and he never did. The other two pictures of genitalia I could tell weren't his which is good, because one of them was completely nasty. I will not describe it for you, but it was dirty, filthy, and it haunts my dreams. That right there was Kale's only saving grace.

He called me about 25 agonizing minutes after I found this page. I had gone from screeching crying, to hyperventilating, to collapsing on the floor in grief. I managed to keep it together when Sophia came downstairs to find out what was wrong and I was lucky Delilah was sleeping. Anyhow, he calls and I am screaming things at him like you would not believe. He is swearing up and down that it wasn't him. All the same things as the time before. He swears on the lives of our children and I feel a little, not much, but a little better. He tells me he and the 1SG are going to go talk to the guy again and they will find out what is going on for me. I tell him I can't believe him, I need to hear it from the 1SG (his boss) when they get back. Otherwise I knew I would always have doubts.

After about another hour of agonizing wait, during which I can't eat and have diarrhea (TMI I know, but at this point I have shared everything else). He calls and puts the 1SG on. He lets me know the guy confessed and is writing a swore statement about all the things he did and why he did them. The guy said he used Kale's pictures because he didn't want his wife to be able to find out he did this. That everyone on the site requires pictures and so he needed some face shots that weren't his own. I felt so much better after talking to 1SG.

Kale gets on the phone and he lets me know he is pressing charges for identity theft. The guy had taken information about us from Kale's Facebook page, what Kale likes, what I like off my page, he found the picture of Kale's penis and used it. He used Kale's webcam to take pictures of his own penis. He found a dirty letter Kale had written for me and used that on there. Just a complete violation of our privacy.

Like K said, Kale was stupid for leaving his passwords unprotected and letting this guy have so much freedom using his computer. But like I told her, I prefer stupid to cheater, I already knew he was stupid. I can live with stupid. Trust me, stuff like this ONLY happens to Kale. He has the worst luck with things obscure and unusual.

Unfortunately Kale can't get him for identity theft because the guy didn't accrue any debt. BUT the commander is freaking pissed (he's the big boss) and is throwing the book at him. Like I said, they are going for demotion and loss of mid-month pay for 6mths.

It still took me a few days to really get over this. I was angry Kale had left such personal stuff out there for anyone to find. I reminded him that if I had actually sent him the nude photos he requested (I never would have) then those would have been plastered all over that smutty site. That really got to him, he was never as upset as when I told him that. He is very protective of me and it would have killed him to have that all over the internet. It really irritated me that his "business" was on there too and that people commented on it and everything. But in the grand scheme of everything having that to deal with is better than having to deal with a husband who is surfing swinger sites.

He is extremely lucky that he was so far away from me when this happened. If he had been here I would have hunted him down and slapped the shit out of him before he even knew what I was angry about. I have a horrible temper, it's hard to get me angry, but look out when I am.

So, everything is back to "normal" at least as normal as it's going to get. I never worried about him being so far away until all of this happened. Even though my heart knows he wouldn't ever do anything my brain is suspicious. I told him he is going to have to reassure me, every day, multiple times a day until I get over this completely.

The guy has to meet with the Commander and 1SG tonight. His ass is fried. It actually kind of worries me that maybe he is one of those freaks who wants to be you, you know take over your life. I hope it really only was that he didn't want his wife to know he was surfing such sites, but damn that's a long way to go to "get off".

So there is my long, horrifying, detailed (probably more details than most of you wanted), ordeal that has preoccupied my last 7 days. And that is why I was MIA.

A Very Bad Week...

2008-09-18T09:19:00.002-05:00

I am sorry I went MIA, but I have been dealing with a lot of BS this week. I can finally tell this story because it's 100% OVER. The person who caused this mess is in deep trouble. Article 15 if you know military terms, if not it means he is being demoted and losing half his pay for 6mths.

Why does he deserve such? Because he just about ruined my marriage, could have done worse if I am not the person I am, or if Kale had not been able to get to the bottom of things super quickly.

It started last Friday, I had asked Kale for all of his passwords to all of his emails and such so if I felt like checking them I could. He knows all of mine so we have nothing to hide, and he gave them to me willingly. Plus something happened to someone I know recently crushing my reality about my "perfect family life" being able to go on as "perfect" forever. Let's just say it gave me pause.

Well, I checked his Yahoo, nothing interesting there just normal family stuff. Then I check his Gmail, his sister and his friend Dave are the only ones who usually email him there. I start looking through and I come upon two emails that had been sent out to someone named J.D. and right away I became sick. I opened them and they were from "Kale" to this JD person thanking her for the naked pictures and asking her if she would like anything in return. You can imagine my response.

I began hyperventilating and scrambling to call Kale. A few minutes later he gets online at the library (he had told me he would after work so we could talk). I immediately begin attacking him with questions and he immediately begins denying all allegations. He begs me to believe him, but there in front of me I have the "proof". I show him the emails, he starts to freak out, and says he is going home and calling me right then. I wait for 15 agonizing minutes and he finally calls.

Before I go on with that conversation I will tell you what he did on his way to his house. On his way to his house he used his cell to call the two guys he was allowing to use his computer when he lived in the apartment (he had recently moved into a house). He left them a message saying they had better explain what the bleep they were doing on his email. You see, Kale is a very trusting man he had all of his email passwords saved in his computer and was allowing these two guys full access, unsupervised, to use his laptop. Stupid I know.

He calls me and I am bawling, he begins to break down and cry and swears up and down it wasn't him. He wouldn't do this to me, he loves me, he loves our kids, he just doesn't need anyone else, and for me to please believe him. It's hard for me. He explains how he let these two guys use his computer and just then his cell rings. I can here him yelling at the first guy, interrogating him, he knows nothing. The second guy gets on and I hear a lot of Kale screaming at the guy about how stupid it was he used Kale's email and how I had found it and was so upset. He screams at the guy that he will talk to him later.

He gets back on the phone and explains what happened to me. Apparently this guy, instead of making a fake email, used Kale's to send and receive pictures of some girl he was chatting with online. He said that he didn't want his wife to find out. He thought he had deleted everything. We now know there is more to it than just this, but I will get to it. So Kale is pissed and I am relieved. We talk for quite awhile and by the end of our conversation I am back to normal, feeling better, he is still pissed and is threatening to kick the guy's ass. I try and calm him down, tell him it's not worth jeopardizing his career over it.

He calls me later that night to tell me how PT went. He had his 1SG go with him to keep him in check. He was mad that the guy thought it was no big deal. Kale lunged at him and 1SG had to grab him and hold him back. The guy didn't even show the slightest bit of remorse, until Kale told him how I was hyperventilating and crying, then he looked at the ground the rest of the talk. After Kale left 1SG stayed behind to talk to the guy, even threatened to tell his wife.

So then my weekend went on peacefully. Monday came and my world was shattered once again, at the hands of this guy, and this time it was worse.

I will finish tomorrow.... Just so you know everything is alright with me and my marriage. And that I have 100% proof that my husband did not do the things I thought he did. If I didn't have the proof I would still be questioning him, as maybe some of you might.

I miss....

2008-09-12T09:22:00.002-05:00

I miss having a clean house every day. (But not enough to get my lazy butt off the couch apparently)

I miss not having to leave my house if I didn't want to. (But not enough to want to home school)

I miss having my husband's help. (3 more months until he's home for a visit)

I miss my husband. (That should have been a given, but I didn't realize just how much I would miss HIM)

I miss the time when all I needed to buy my children was clothing, food, and toys. (But I am glad they are in school)

I miss SLEEP! (But not enough to give Delilah back)

I miss when my biggest worry for my kids was if they feel and hurt themselves. (Instead of worrying about who their friends are, if they are having a good time at school, or worse)

I miss a time when our house was half as full of junk. (But not half the children that caused the junk coming into the house)

I miss not having to get up at 7am every single morning. (But not enough to home school)

I am full of contradictions today (most days). I want this but without having to do that. Some days I want life to be easy, but then it might be boring. I am just not sure what's up with me this last few days. I am hoping it's just the gloomy weather. It's been cloudy, gray, and rainy for three days now and will remain this way all weekend. It sucks. I wanted to start walking in the morning today, but it was raining steadily and I couldn't. I have also been very lonely since Judy left. I know she drives me crazy, but not having another adult in the house makes me sad. I am going to try and pull out of this funk by Monday. Of course having not much money hasn't helped my mood any, I am not used to being so restrained.

Aidan also was having a bit of trouble in school this week, trouble keeping her hands to herself. When the teacher told me I felt as if I had been kicked in the stomach. I talked to her and my mom talked to her and she seems to be keeping it together. I know she gets teased a little for being tiny, it was the same way for me in school. BUT it's not an excuse or reason to ever put her hands on someone else. So I explained that to her and told her other kids won't want to be friends with her if she hurts them, I think that's the one that got through to her. She loves having friends. But it still sucks that I have to have a conversation with her about this. I am not sure where she gets it from, we rarely spank (once in a blue moon) and it's never a punishment for hitting, normally it's used for dangerous situations (doesn't happen that often). Plus Lilly and Sophia don't hit, never have. I firmly believe the reason Aidan hits is because she was in daycare from 18mths to 24mths, when they learn that behavior. Still not an excuse, but I think that's why she hits and Lilly and Sophia don't. Lilly was only in daycare from 4-4 1/2 and Sophia has never gone. Aidan was always getting bit and pushed by the other toddlers, that's one of the big reasons I quit college the second time. That and they were getting so sick all the time. I wish I had never left them, it's one of my mommy guilts I have been hanging onto all these years.

Maybe it's because Kale is gone, I don't know but I don't like it. My mom is researching different consequences that would be appropriate and is trying to find books for her to read about bullying. We will see if she continues or if we have to try something new with her. I don't want her to be disliked and I don't want other parents looking at her or I with disgust. Wish me luck, I may need it.

Where were you 9/11/01?

2008-09-11T08:08:00.002-05:00

I know I said I was going to finish Sophia's birth story but I heard some old sound bites from 9/11 this morning on our way to school and it brought everything that happened that day rushing back to me.

The morning of 9/11 Lilly was sitting on my bed watching cartoons (Disney Channel) she was only just 2 at the time. I was packing for our trip later that day. We were due to fly out of Louisville International Airport later that afternoon. That's when Kale called. His first question "Are you watching tv?" I told him that yeah, Lilly was watching Disney, "Turn on one of the news channels." He informed me. I did so, just in time to watch the second airplane crash into the other tower. I am pretty sure I screamed. He then said to me "I don't think you are going anywhere today." He was right, at least I wasn't going by plane. I stayed glued to the tv not knowing what I should do and then the towers started falling, one then the other. I cried. I cried for all those people who were scrambling to get out, for all the people who had loved ones still trapped inside, for all the people on the planes at the time of the crashes, and finally for myself. I knew my life as I knew it would never be the same.

At the time we were living on Fort Knox, where the gold depository is, they felt it was a target. I knew if I didn't leave within a few hours I would be trapped for days. I told Kale I still wanted to go to my parents as planned, but I would drive instead of fly. But we had a problem, we only had one car and since he had planned on getting off to take me to the airport he drove it to work instead of getting a ride. And he was on lock down in the jail and we had no idea when he would be able to leave. I asked one of my neighbors to drive us over to the jail to retrieve the car and she very kindly did so. We did have to do it illegally though, I only had one car seat and it was in our car. Kale and I both worried that I wouldn't be able to find gas or that it would be very highly priced, but I didn't want to be there in case terrorists had plans for other places in the country. Not to mention I would have been very claustrophobic having to stay on post for who knew how long. Turns out it was a good idea to leave, they were on lock down for quite a few days.

Lilly and I loaded up and headed out just before lunch that day. We sat, listening to the radio, listening to all the stats, listening to people talk about their missing loved ones, listening to reporters discuss who could have done it, we just rode the whole way as if in a cloud. No one was on the road, nothing was in the sky, it was just us. I was able to make really good time that day, I hardly remember the drive at all. We only stopped for gas twice, peed at the station, and just took snacks to eat. When we arrived at my parents house my mom was there to greet us. I collapsed into her arms and we cried.

During the next few weeks all I watched was the news. I drown myself in the statistics, I prayed they would find more people alive, and I waited on baited breath hoping they would. It consumed me for days until I finally had to say enough is enough and walk away from the tv.

Now, 7 years later, life for most is not effected daily by this. My life is, every time I have to stop at the front gates to my home and show my ID. And then there are the times when I fly and I swear to you every single time we have flown since 9/11 I have been "randomly selected" for additional screening. Once they even patted Sophia down, at the time she was only 7mths old. I am infuriated they do this to me every time. I know they can't profile, but please....I am a woman, a military wife, with four children, I am hardly a terroristic risk. They are "just doing their jobs" but that doesn't explain why it's always me. I am probably their "look we don't profile, look we picked her!"

Today my kids are doing their annual National Anthem Project walk for freedom. They have done it every year for three years and last year Fort Leavenworth was awarded with the "All Star City" award, even though we aren't technically a city. It's a gloomy day, I hope it doesn't rain on them too much. They are having a picnic afterwards and I don't want it to get rained out.

So, Where were you on 9/11/01?

Wordless Wednesday: Sophia's Birthday Edition

2008-09-10T00:00:00.000-05:00

Being a butt.

Building her puppy
Still being a butt
Crying until Nonnie took her somewhere else
The rest of the party having fun
Opening presents

Playing
Her birthday cookie
Pretending to blow out the candles
Giving hugs thank you
Her baby Abby, from Abby

Birth Story: Sophia (Pregnancy)

2008-09-09T12:00:00.000-05:00

Since Sophia's birthday was just yesterday I thought I would share her birth story.

We decided in October of 2003 that we wanted another baby, Aidan was almost 2 and we were working through her issues finally, so we felt it was the right time. Months went by and nothing, we were beginning to think we would be resigned to having only the two children. We hadn't told anyone other than K and her husband who were having similar issues. Finally after over a year of trying and then just not preventing, I was pregnant. 4mths later K was pregnant, which I was so glad for her I felt guilty being pregnant when she wasn't when she wanted a new baby just as much as I did. We are pretty sure it was the stress from recruiting duty that prevented both of us from getting pregnant. Especially since the last few months before I got pregnant Kale got a new boss who was so much more family oriented. There were fewer and fewer late nights, some nights he was able to be home for dinner, unheard of with the previous boss. He was usually home relatively early on Saturdays and our family life almost was normal again.

I found out I was pregnant in February of 2005. At the time it wasn't uncommon for me to miss my period so I didn't even bother taking a pregnancy test when I missed my period in January. We had gone to Sears to get the girls pictures taken for Valentine's Day and the teenager working was really doing a horrible job. I was getting so very irritated and finally stormed out with my family in tow without purchasing any of the pictures or even finishing the session. The next day I realized I hadn't had my period in a couple of months and decided to take a test. The first test the lines were so faint I almost didn't believe it. Kale was home at the time and we were so very happy to finally be pregnant. I was excited, but I was worried about K's reaction. I knew she would be happy for me, but sad she was not. My husband made a very insensitive comment that hurt her feelings, as soon as I relayed the comment I was instantly sorry I had even repeated it out loud. He apologized profusely, but I am not sure she forgave him until after she was pregnant herself.

When I picked an OB/GYN I thought I would like a woman doctor. My previous two pregnancies were with mixed practice facilities. I didn't research her at all (even though K insisted I should) and toward the end of my pregnancy I really wished I had. For my first appointment I was relieved that she and her nurse were both a bit overweight, made me feel less self conscious. Her nurse was so very sweet and remembered not only my name, but the names of the girls. But I would grow to hate my doctor by the birth of Sophia.

At my first ultrasound she said I placenta previa, but she never said anything that I should do about it. So I read online about it and was immediately freaked out. It said no sex, it could tear the placenta. If you don't know what it is, it's when the placenta is partially or all together over the cervix. If it doesn't go away then you have to have a c-section. But she neglected to tell me that it was most likely due to the fact that it was so early on in my pregnancy and it would move as the uterus grows. I am lucky my parents friends Rich (a doctor and former OB) and Shelby ( a ultrasound tech) were able to help me understand what it was and what I should and shouldn't do. I am still convinced the only reason my doctor said I had it was because my insurance only pays for one ultrasound unless there is a problem. But she didn't say that to me, but her lack of explanation of the potentially dangerous condition is reason enough for me to believe that was her intention. Regardless I did everything that Rich told me I should do until I was 16 weeks and Shelby did an ultrasound for me. She said that for sure I didn't have it. At that time she also told me Sophia was a girl. Well her exact words were "Oh, I don't want to tell you." I said "It's alright, I see it's a girl. Besides I only have a girl name picked out."

My pregnancy went along fine again until it was time for my blood glucose test. I have always failed the first test, always. But I HATE drinking that stuff. I went in to do the 4hour blood glucose test, drank my nasty, warm, sugary, piss water, and had my first draw. I left the hospital after the first draw, I didn't want to sit around all afternoon with nothing to do. I felt ill though and by the time I got to the commissary I was so sick I vomited. I called Kale and had him tell the hospital I left because I threw up all over myself. They were angry I left without telling them, but hey I am a grown person and can do what I want. When I went in the next week to see the doctor she was angry. She insisted I do it over, I didn't want to. I asked her if there was an alternative. She said she would treat me as a diabetic for two weeks and see what my daily blood results were. I had to do the self sugar testing. My only instructions were to take a fasting test in the morning and then four more times during the day 1hour after I had eaten. No problem, except she forgot to mention I couldn't eat after 7pm at night in order to get a proper fasting test at 6am. So out of the two weeks I had three high results, 2 were fasting results and I had eaten at 12am those nights. And the third one was after I had not waited long enough after I had eaten, not realizing she would flip out and label me diabetic if I had one high result.

I convinced her to let me do it the right way for another two weeks, but she never got it out of her mind that I was diabetic. After I stopped eating after 7pm I never got another high result for the rest of my pregnancy. I did forget to mention that she told me at my first visit that she believed I would be diabetic. Based only on the fact that Aidan was 8ozs bigger than Lilly at birth and my weight. Talk about pigeonholing someone. After that next appointment I lost all respect for her and it just kept getting worse from then on. I also forgot to mention I didn't gain but 10lbs the entire pregnancy and lost 15 in the beginning, normally diabetic pregnant women balloon.

The next issue came when I had an ultrasound at 34wks. Sophia was breech and because she was breech they couldn't get a good reading of my amniotic fluid. They read it as low, so immediate bed rest for me and a scheduled c-section. I wasn't ready to resign myself to that fate, so I researched how to get babies to flip by positioning your body certain ways. I did everyone of the positions each night until I felt her flip. I knew she had and when I went in for my next ultrasound (at that point I was having stress tests twice a week and ultra sounds once a week) sure enough she had flipped. And low and behold my amniotic fluid level was normal. Will wonders never cease?

She still was pushing for a c-section when I went in for my weekly appointment and informed her very happily that she had flipped and I would no longer need a section. After that appointment I went home and researched her stats, turned out she had an almost 50% c-section rate, which is horrible considering most doctors rates are under 10-15%. That said to me she was all about the money and the easiest route for her. Not what was best for the baby and I. At that point I smiled and nodded through all my appointments, doing nothing that she told me to do. She said to stay in bed, I went shopping. She said no sugar, I hate entire cakes and drank pepsi. She said I would have a c-section, I told Kale over my dead body and he had better back me up on that. We told her the next appointment that unless the baby was in distress that a c-section was out of the question. She kept the appointment anyways and said she would just induce me that day. I was so ready to have Sophia out and be rid of this woman for the rest of my life.

I will finish the actual birth story and the chaos that followed on Thursday.

Happy 3rd Birthday Sophia!!!

2008-09-08T00:00:00.000-05:00

The only hospital shot I have of her :(

Kale had the camera, not me and they whisked her away for over an hour after she was born.

They did it because they thought I was diabetic (I so wasn't) and they wanted to check her blood sugar right away. She was however a little jaundice, but not enough that we had to do anything about it, just had to have it checked twice.

Her first day home, she was a peaceful baby.

She still makes this face. She was a couple weeks old.

Halloween, of course.

She would fall asleep anywhere, she was such a good baby.

At Mount Rushmore with Daddy in April of 2006.

I love her chubby face and the way she looked in her sweater.

Easter Morning

While the girls were flying kites she was picking (and trying to eat) dandelions

Learning to crawl

Just a pretty face and her "Disney Eyes" as K called them

First Birthday

She didn't have a fancy dress like this year, I had my miscarriage the weekend before he first birthday and was very weak from losing nearly half of my blood

I was lucky I got to go with everyone to the circus on her birthday, then we went back to my mom's for cake and ice cream

Her after cake serious face

Her 2nd Birthday Picture

All of the pics from her party have been hijacked by my external hard drive :(

Sophia is now three. She was a dream baby, which is why I decided to get pregnant when she was only 8mths old. With Lilly and Aidan I only got the "itch" again right before their 2nd birthday's. She slept easily, was quiet, calm, and ever so sweet. Then Delilah was born and all hell broke loose. :P She is still a good girl, but LOUD! We always thought she would be the quiet one, she hardly ever cried or yelled before Delilah was born. I am not sure if it was the terrible two's that did it to her or if it was spending two nights away from me and with Grammie (mil) while I was giving birth to Delilah. Who knows. But now she has hit the horrible three's and has been pitching some major fits lately. I am hoping it's just Grammie's influence and when grammie leaves she will go back to normal.

The birthday party went well, except Sophia was overwhelmed with being the center of attention. She pretty much didn't participate with any part of the party, with the exception of picking her bear, stuffing it, and picking the outfit. She didn't want to give the bear it's heart and after it was dressed she wanted nothing to do with it. The only thing she wanted out of the entire store was a $5 tiny puppy, so my mom bought it for her. My cousin's kid was upset too, he cried the entire time, he's 2 1/2. I guess it was because Patience (his grandmother) wouldn't carry him into the mall. His parents pick him up whenever he whines and she refuses to. So they left right after he built his bear. The other children and their moms had a wonderful time. After we built the bears we went up to the food court for presents. Sophia was very happy then and screamed with delight when she opened her new Choo Choo baby two of the children (brother and sister) had given her. Everyone stayed and had lunch together and my mom bought a big 15" cookie from Mrs. Field's with "Happy Birthday Sophia" written on it. We only ate half of it, she could have gotten the 10" instead, but oh well. After lunch Sophia was happy and played with the children.

Sunday night we had dinner out with everyone, my aunt Melvina and uncle Matt were in town for my cousin Guy Jr.'s wedding reception. We all went to that Saturday night. So we all had dinner, all 18 of us, at a local place in town where we knew we could all sit together without waiting an hour or more for a table. After dinner we all came back to my house for Sophia's family birthday party. We had chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and yellow cupcakes with yellow frosting. She screamed with delight when she opened the princess Belle baby doll my parents bought her. It's so very cute, maybe I will post the video. Green put together her new baby stroller and she fought with Delilah over it. She got way too many toys as usual, but I guess that's what birthday's are for. I will post the pics later this week of the parties.

Am I Selfish?

2008-09-04T19:57:00.002-05:00

My mil had the idea that my fil should drive to Jacksonville in Dec to pick Kale up instead of him flying home from Jacksonville. BUT they would "have him stay a few days in TN with them" before they brought him home. Is it selfish of me to say WTF and HELL NO? I don't believe so. They are his parents, who see him once or twice a year anyhow. We are his family and we normally see him everyday of the year. Plus he wants them to come here for Christmas Eve and day, maybe a couple of extra days beyond that. But he only has 16 days home, This.Entire.Year! I really don't care if they come at all honestly. So yeah, you can guess how far that idea went before it was shot down. Even Kale doesn't want them here for more than 4 days while he is home. Something to do with me and no "contact" while we have guests, I have a weird thing about it. At the same time it irritates him to no end that his mom just keeps brushing the subject under the rug so to speak.

So that's me. One selfish brat. :P

Wordless Wednesday (not completely)

2008-09-03T08:26:00.003-05:00

Here are a few pictures from Delilah's Birthday party. The little stroller is from Kale and I, Rosy and Jason gave her the baby. It's really cool because the stroller serves as a walker also. She is doing really well walking behind it.

Judy's complaints this visit haven't been as often, but she has a few. Her chief complaint this morning was my pots are all too big. She wanted a smaller one to make oatmeal, the other one works but she "doesn't like the water spread out so far." If she hadn't used steel wool on my smallest pot ( a few visits ago) then I would have the right size pot. She often uses steel wool or brillo on my nonstick pots and pans, often when I am not home, and no matter how many time we tell her she can't she doesn't listen. I guess I can't complain too much since she bought them all for me as gifts for various occasions.

Yesterday sucked, Kuddle got sick in Sophia's room and had liquid poo all over her carpet. Her carpet is dark brown so we could smell it but not see it and Judy stepped in it. Is it a little wrong that I took a little pleasure from that? She cleaned up most of it with paper towels and I shampooed the carpet twice, but it still smells awful in there so I need to do it probably 2-3 more times.

Delilah went to the doctor yesterday for her well baby and shots. She is now 29" long and 22lbs which puts her in the 50th percentile. My kids start out average or above average then it starts going downhill at 18-24mths. Judy took her in for her shots, I won't do it, I can't watch that at all. Apparently they gave all three shots at once and Delilah was so pissed she held her breath. They were yelling "breathe" at her. She finally did and then screeched. She didn't sleep really well last night but who can blame her.

It is cold here, which is unusual for September in KS. Right now it's only 59 and it is only supposed to get up to 65 today. So I am sure I will endure some complaints from the mil about the weather. We also haven't gone out as much this visit, she doesn't have to pay for gas in my van, I do and I can't afford to go to KC everyday. So I believe she is bored. If she offered to fill my tank I would take her somewhere, but she hasn't so we will stay home (or in town) until Saturday. She is wishing my brother didn't have Kale's car, but his has two flat tires and a donut on it, plus the muffler is busted, so he is borrowing Kale's. I don't need it, so why not.

One more week until she is gone and life can go back to normal. I am glad she comes for the children's sake, even if they act like lunatics while she is here.

Happy 1st Birthday Delilah!

2008-09-02T00:00:00.002-05:00

Her birthday party

Minutes after birth

One Week Old

Sleepy Baby

Happy Baby

1st Halloween (obviously)

First Hospitalization

She had gastroenteritis

1st Christmas

Hard to believe my baby is a full year old now. I really was worried we wouldn't make it this far. She was not an easy baby with her laryngomalacia, being tongue tied, her hospitalization, her pneumonia, and all the problems she had with breast milk. Her condition has improved by leaps and bounds, you never even hear her breathing anymore. She hasn't been sick in a very long time (knock on wood). She is happier than she was in the first four-six months of her life when she was so upset all the time and I thought I might pull my hair out. I don't have to hold her when she sleeps anymore, I don't have to sleep with her anymore, she is on a set schedule that works for me. I do wish she slept a little more at night now, but I can't complain too much it is so much better than before. She is my youngest, my baby, and she is 1 year old today.

So sorry :P

2008-08-30T14:09:00.003-05:00

Judy got in Thursday afternoon and I haven't sat still for very long since. We changed our minds about camping (actually I did), I decided I didn't want to spend over $300 on a three day camping trip. It would make things tight for the rest of the two weeks and I don't feel like having to pinch pennies until payday. To appease the children we are going to the zoo tomorrow.

I am exhausted. Delilah has not slept much the last two nights. Last night she had a really bad tummy ache and passed gas most of the night. For about 45mins I had to lay with her and I didn't sleep at all while I was holding her. I am also pms'ing, so that doesn't help my mood. And with Judy here that never helps my mood much. I am one big mess right now. My allergies are out of control, I am tired, and bitchy so woo hoo I am a barrel of monkeys this weekend.

We spent all afternoon and evening yesterday looking for birthday presents. I was able to find Delilah and Sophia's from us, but Judy's present to Sophia we had no luck at all. I called different toy stores this morning and we found the very last one they had. Luckily they put it on hold so we could pick it up. We are done with our presents for them. Delilah's cake is ordered, but I still have to order Sophia's, I have a week before I have to order it though.

Lilly and Aidan decided to stay up until 10:30pm fooling around on Thursday night. And last night as punishment they were supposed to go to bed early. But Sophia and Aidan were with my mom while we went shopping and Lilly was with us. We didn't get them into bed until near 10pm again last night. Needless to say Lilly is a mess. She has been crying at the drop of a hat and it started as soon as she woke up. They are all going to bed at 7pm tonight, they certainly need it.

Since I am too tired to go on any longer, I will stop and hopefully will be back Monday. Have a good holiday weekend!

Wordless Wednesday

2008-08-27T22:47:00.002-05:00

I didn't take any pictures this week of my kids, bad mommy I know. I have been preoccupied this week so blogging has taken a backseat. My mil arrives tomorrow, woo hoo! And in other news the hurricane was nothing more than a tropical storm in Guantanamo Bay last night, so Kale is safe, sound, and I am not 500G richer. :P Kidding of course, for now he is worth more to me alive. :P

This is BC, before she got sick and lost a few pounds. She weighed about 20-23 lbs, she's a huge cat.

She was a little mad at me, I had to give her a bath, she reeked. She is getting older and her grooming has become lax.

But she still stayed still while I bathed her. I am very glad her front paws are declawed. I almost threw up giving her a bath though, she had clumps of poo in her fur near her bottom. It's not fun to wash and cut that out of thick cat fur.

(Can you believe declawed is not a recognized word in spell check!?)

Hmmmm.....

2008-08-26T20:44:00.002-05:00

I read an article tonight on Foxnews titled "Why we are all insane". One part in particular explained my insanity perfectly:

Perhaps to check selfish urges, in favor of more probable means to biological success, social lubricants such as empathy, guilt and mild anxiety arose.

For example, the first of our ancestors to empathize and read facial expressions had a striking advantage. They could confirm their own social status and convince others to share food and shelter. But too much emotional acuity — when individuals over analyze every grimace — can cause a motivational nervousness about one's social value to morph into a relentless handicapping anxiety.

It describes me perfectly. I am constantly worried that if I say or do the wrong thing I will be dropped like a hot potato. And I am not talking about major offenses, I am talking about things like if I made a joke and the person barely laughed. I will obsess over every detail of the conversation to see what I might have done wrong and if that person will hate me forever. It will eat at me, especially if I don't get to speak to the person the following day. This is why I have been able to develop a chameleon defense, I can pretty much blend with any crowd. Of course now that I am an adult I don't need this defense often, I don't have to put myself in these positions often.

I also have way too much empathy. When something bad happens to someone in my life I take it on myself. Even if I am not directly involved. When someone is hurting that I love, I hurt as well. As if I were going through it myself. I try to keep it to myself, I am not sure if people find it annoying. I just can't help how I feel.

Overall it's a pretty interesting article.

Just Another Monday

2008-08-25T14:07:00.002-05:00

I shut my alarm off then woke up in a mild panic. Not so bad, we were still early getting to school. It was finally a chilly morning, which is really unusual in KS in Aug. I actually had to go back in the house to get the girls jackets. The only ones that weren't upstairs put away were the Royal's sweatshirts.

Friday was parent teacher conferences, early I know. They tell us that it's just in case we have questions. The only question I had was whether or not Aidan was behaving. Her teacher said she is doing great, different from Lilly but still doing very well. Lilly's teacher and I went over what she had to tell me and that was it, I was out of there in under 5 mins. I was in and out of the school in 15 mins. Conferences never last long for us anyways. The girls like school and are pretty good and we trust the teachers to do their job, we don't need a lot of explanation. I really only like to go to hear how great my kids are doing, everyone likes to hear they are doing a good job.

Today we went to have the oil changed in the van. While they were doing that, we walked to Target and then to Panera Bread for lunch. I did finally find what I am getting Delilah for her birthday, but unfortunately I cannot find a picture of it online. I didn't buy it today because Sophia was with me and was getting pissy about not getting anything. Normally I don't care if she does get mad, tough, but today I didn't know how long we would have to hang out so I just decided to wait to buy it. I still have no clue what to get Sophia. I guess I have another week before I have to panic about that. They both slept all the way home, but that was only 30mins. And then by the time we got home it was too late to lay them back down. So they are grumpy.

Friday night ( I am jumping back and forth I know) Rosy came and helped me clean while Jason took the three younger girls. Lilly stayed to help us. We cleaned for 2 1/2 hours and only got the livingroom, down stairs bathroom, and closet cleaned. I did shampoo the carpet though, so that took a lot of time. It looks really nice. I am doing the office today, since the cat was sick in there all day on Thursday. We spot cleaned but it needs to be deep cleaned. The same is true for the laundry room rug, but I will have to wait until she is better to do that one. Poor kitty, she is going to the vet soon. It's weird because she doesn't look or act sick, she is just vomiting a lot. She is not eating very well though but is still drinking and using the litter box fine. Hopefully it's just a virus or something and she will be better soon. I was worried she was dead today, I couldn't get her to come to me or even meow. I had my brother come look for her while I was gone, in case she was dead. He found her, but she wouldn't come out. I will try again after I pick the girls up from school.

Speaking of which, it's time to go. Maybe I will have something more interesting to say tomorrow. :P

Sometimes I just don't know what to say to him anymore...

2008-08-23T11:07:00.002-05:00

My husband is naive. I? Am so not. I am not because my dad made sure I was not. My mom? Was and still can be very gullible. That drove/drives my dad nuts, so I think he made sure I was not the same way. He should have worked on my brother a little more, he is not nearly as bad as my mom but he can still be gullible at times.

The point of all of that is this: Kale told me this morning that he had dropped his keys and wallet under the deck at his apartment, there is a locked fence around the deck. He went to the maintenance guy, who apparently saw him coming a mile away, and asked him to unlock the gate. The maintenance guy told him it would cost him $20 and he could only take cash, no checks. Kale went to the ATM with the only card not in his wallet, the one from our joint account. He took the $20 out and gave it to the guy, then and only then after observing the guy with him acting nervously, did he even question this transaction. BUT he still gave the guy the money, only telling him he would be speaking to his supervisor, to which the guy shrugged and mumble something in his native tongue.

I? Would have called everyone on the base until I found out if this really is a policy or if I was being taken advantage of. I? Would have looked the guy straight in the eye and said "F*ck off and do your JOB" I am not so nice when I suspect I am trying to be taken advantage of. Kale has a one track mind, get my stuff, get my stuff, get my stuff. Now his mind is saying, I was screwed, I was screwed, I was screwed and Get my money back, Get my money back, Get my money back. Who? Who is going to give him his money back? That guy? Hell no! Housing? Yeah right, they will call him naive and tell him it sucks to be you.

In the interest of staying married I didn't tell him what I really thought about this whole mess. I sugar coated it to the best of my abilities. Which took a lot of freaking restraint on my part. I cannot stand stupidity, I have absolutely NO patience for it and I doubt I ever will.

So now that my day is ruined, I hope everyone else's is much better.

What did you do at 6am, in complete darkness?

2008-08-22T08:57:00.002-05:00

Want to know what I did?

Woke up to a baby who had soaked her diaper, clothing, and bedding. Had to strip her down, give her a bath, strip her bed, remake her bed, get a new bottle ready, get her out of the bath, dry her off, dress her, lay her back down, and pray she went back to sleep. I had to do all of that in complete darkness or risk waking her up all the way. Thankfully she did go back to sleep and let me sleep in until 8:30am.

My neighbors pit bull puppy has been wandering in and out of my yard the last few days. Makes me so happy. It's driving Kuddle, our dog, completely insane. And on top of being in our yard yesterday, with his own following right behind him, he also pooped in my yard. I tapped the window to get his attention and called out "Could you please keep your dog out of my yard from now on, he's driving my dog crazy!" To which he mumbled, uh yeah um alright.

My cat, who is a large 20lb black cat of an unknown age, is throwing up a large amount the last two days. I am worried about her, at first they were hairballs, normal since she is a very long haired cat. Now it's just white stuff. I am afraid she is sick and/or dying. We have had her for a little over 7 years and her previous owner said she was around 3-4, so she is no young kitty anymore. I am going to take her to the vet while my mil is here, but until she can go she will be spending her days in the garage. Poor kitty, I love her, but I can't have her throwing up all over my floors, we have carpet. My kids would be happy if she passes, they want new kittens and I told them they had to wait until she was gone. They always say "I don't want BC to die, but I want kittens." I hope she will be alright and live on a few more years, but right now I am not so sure.

It's not a good day for me. Plus I have to go to parent teacher conferences today, Rosy is coming to watch the little girls while the big girls and I go. So I will be a big ball of nerves, not because of what the teachers might say, more because I have to socialize with every Tom, Dick, and Harry (more like three ladies names, since mostly only mommies come to these things). At least I don't have to take all of my children with me. I really don't have to take any of them, but the other kids go and they talk while the parents are in with the teacher. My kids are into the social scene, so they will go.

Hope everyone has a better day than I am.

Picture Day!

2008-08-21T08:12:00.003-05:00

I think I have only forgotten picture day once since the girls have been in school. But it was just Aidan's picture day for preschool and I sent her there everyday dressed well and hair fixed. They have picture day today and I know the way they looked when I left them at school is not the way they will look in the picture. Seems my kids almost always have their pictures taken in the late afternoon, after three recess and PE. So then you can imagine what they look like. Their hair is almost always disheveled and their clothes wrinkled. Oh well, it's a school picture, what more could I expect. It will be interesting to see what smile Aidan uses this year. Her preschool teacher was busting up laughing as I walked up to get Aidan, she informed me that I too would be laughing when the proofs came in. She was right, I burst out laughing at Aidan's "smile". Lilly is pretty good, but has a fake smile that you can really tell is fake. She is getting better and all of her adult teeth are in now, no more toothless grins.

As I was sitting her typing Lilly called me from the school. She forgot her shorts, the ones I told her to put in her backpack THREE times this morning. She is wearing a dress and to participate in PE she needs to wear shorts under her dress. I know what my mom would have done, told me tough and wouldn't have brought them to me. My dilemma is: I know I am just sitting here on the couch doing nothing BUT Delilah will be taking a nap very soon, plus I am not showered or dressed to be going into the school. So I can not go and feel guilty or go and she doesn't learn her lesson. Oh, the deal is PE is at 10am it's nearly 9am now. URGH! Sometimes being a mom sucks. I will probably go, I asked my brother if he could come get them and take them to her, his work is right down the street, but he is very busy this morning so no dice. If I didn't have to drag Sophia and Delilah out of the van to take them into the school I would be more inclined to do it, regardless of how I look. But they aren't dressed and my back is still killing me, I am trying not to carry Delilah unless I have to. So you see my internal struggle.

I am pretty boring today, I have been at home all week. Still trying to conserve my money for the parties and camping. This weekend Rosy is coming to help me clean my house and Jason is going to watch the girls for me while we clean. She offered and I normally don't like taking help, but she really wants to help and I really kind of need her help, so I am going to let her. My mil comes in one week and I want the house to be pretty darn clean when she gets here. I also need to start packing some things we don't need daily, Kale should find out about his promotion this week or next and hopefully we will be moving soon after. Even if we don't move right away I can keep some things packed and ready to go. In October we are doing a yard sale again, I am going to tell the girls they can sell their toys and keep the cash. I am really thinking about getting rid of almost everything. Give us a fresh start at Christmas. Delilah really plays with NOTHING but trash or my things. She only plays with toys when Alan is here and then she wants whatever he has.

URGH! I guess my conscience is getting the better of me, I am going to take her the freaking shorts! :P

Have a better day then I am so far!

Wordless Wednesday

2008-08-20T00:00:00.001-05:00

I made these this week for Sophia's Birthday

One for Abby. I am making her a necklace too. The pictures don't do the colors justice, but where I took them was shady.

Delilah's Birthday Dress Arrived!

I just love it!

Her new and very silly smile.

I also ordered the bow too match it.

Sophia's Birthday Dress AFTER K Fixed It.

Looks so much better now, I wish I had a before picture to show you.

It looked like she was wearing a potato sack.

The socks I had made for her too, I am hoping the same woman will make a pair to match Delilah's dress too. The blanket isn't for any special effect, it's to keep the dirt off the dresses.

I also ordered matching bows for her dress.

Funny Story Aidan Told Her Teacher

2008-08-19T00:00:00.000-05:00

So yesterday I get a phone call from the school nurse.

N: Mrs. W?
M: Yes...
N: I am calling about your daughter Aidan. She told Mrs. Z that she has a heart condition and when her heart hurts she needs to put ice on her chest.
M: NO! (I was trying hard to hold back the laughter and letting off a bog sigh of relief. I thought when she said heart condition that something bad had happened.)
N: Oh.
M: She is telling you stories.
N: We thought so, but wanted to check. I looked through her record and there was nothing about a heart condition in there. Okay, sorry to bother you.

After I hung up with her I immediately started calling people, K, Judy, my dad, Rosy, Jason, and my mom (she was in a meeting the first time I called, so she was last to hear.) If it weren't so expensive to call Kale I would have.

That child has an active imagination and a face that could make you believe what you know to be false, is true. She is my child. The first thing I thought when I hung up was "I wonder what she was asked to do that she didn't want to do."

Freaking Out, A Little.....

2008-08-18T08:06:00.002-05:00

It's less than two weeks now until our camping trip and I am a little freaked out. I have to get everything ready and I am worried Delilah won't sleep while we are there. Plus it's been 6+ years since the last time I canoed the 7+ mile route and I am so much more out of shape now. It kicked my butt last time, I can only imagine how much I will ache this time. Hopefully my back will be better by then, I tweaked it this weekend and it was killing me yesterday. I am sure everything will be fine in the end, but it's my nature to worry until we get there.

This weekend seemed very long and the girls were not as well behaved as I would like. Friday I made the mistake of going to the commissary, on payday, right after school. The girls were at least good that time. But we went again with my mom on Sunday and they were Out.Of.Control! I was so not pleased and my mom wasn't real happy either. We took Meme with us and she doesn't know how to be firm with them yet. But she wanted to push the cart with Aidan and Sophia in it, so we let her. They walked all over her, doing things they KNOW is not acceptable. We had a talk with her, gently telling her she can and needs to tell them no. So that was a very stressful day. On top of them acting up, it was Sunday after payday and all the blue hairs (retirees) were in for their monthly shopping. They refuse to be polite, move when they are taking up the entire aisle, or even move when you say excuse me. Plus in general they are slow and they buy a lot of stuff. I try not to go to the commissary on payday weekend, it's too much for even me. We thought we were safe by getting there when it opened, before church let out, but no such luck.

Friday morning Kale's cousin had her twin boys. I was surprised that they only scheduled her c-section a week before her original due date. She has been wanting babies for years, she had many miscarriages. I am pretty sure they found out that if she took 1 baby aspirin everyday her pregnancy became viable. The boys, Kurt (Jr or the III) and Jonathan, were 7.5lbs each, a great size for a singleton birth, let alone a twin birth. They are fraternal, one has blonde hair, the other dark hair, and one nurses, the other won't. So I am happy for them, they have been waiting for years to have a baby.

Saturday mom, the girls, Stella, Meme, and I went shopping. Well, I mostly went to return somethings and to use my $10 off any $10 purchase at JCPenney's. I got a shirt for myself for $8.99, not too shabby. I was behaving myself since I need to conserve money right now. Especially since I just had a birth I need to buy a gift for and in a couple of weeks I have a wedding gift to buy. When it rains it pours! And right now my money is getting ready to pour out of my account. I still have no clue what I am going to get Delilah or Sophia for their birthday's. Delilah doesn't like toys, she prefers trash. I guess I can get her a big box of food, that would make her happy. :P Sophia would love lots of toys, unfortunately she already has lots of toys. So I have no clue, I am open for suggestions!

This is my usual dilemma, willing to give them the world, but realizing they already have it.

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

I Hope She Starts Sleeping Soon!

2008-08-15T13:19:00.003-05:00

Delilah is teething again, which means sleep is not continuous for me through the night. That coupled with me watching the Olympics all night long, makes for a tired mommy. Before I was going to bed around 10:30pm so I wasn't so tired, but the past few nights I have been up past midnight. Someday she will sleep through the night.......I hope.

I booked Sophia's Build A Bear party this morning. I plan on having 7 children there (with Lilly, Aidan, and Sophia included) so it should be a fun, albeit pricey party. But I won't have to buy party favors, plan games, or clean up, to me that is worth the $150+ it will cost. K fixed her birthday dress for me, thankfully. I have seen it in pictures on Abby and it looks 100% better. I just received the bows I ordered for her and Delilah to match their dresses, they are so very cute.

Other than Sophia's party we will do small (HA! Like having all of us together is small.) family party with cake, ice cream, and presents on their actual birthdays. Judy is coming out again to celebrate their birthdays with us. We are also going camping Labor Day weekend. I haven't been since Aidan was a baby. I rented a cabin for Judy, the girls, and I, I am hoping Judy will help foot that bill since I only did it for her. I just realized we leave in two weeks for that trip! I am so not mentally prepared for it yet. Then the weekend after that is my cousins wedding, which I am only invited to the reception. I am glad Judy will be here to watch the girls, the reception starts at 7pm, too late for them. The circus is coming to town that week too, but I am not sure I will have the money for that too, even though I love going.

The first week of school has gone pretty smoothly. Even though this morning I shut my alarm off and woke up with only 20mins to get out the door. Aidan and I went rounds on the second most complained about article of clothing she has, pants. They were "too tight" which her pants always are when she is grumpy. I told her I didn't have time for her games this morning and she quit complaining. No problems with Aidan at school as of yet. I was a little worried, but as usual I worried for no reason.

We will do a little shopping this weekend, we have coupons :P But not too much because I need to save my money for the trip. Hopefully everyone else has a good weekend.

My High Horse

2008-08-14T08:51:00.003-05:00

There are very few things I am absolutely opinionated about to the point where I will argue my point to the death. I am obviously opinionated about many things, but I am mature enough to accept other peoples point of view and value their opinion as much as my own. Except for this one subject........DOGS!

To be more specific, dogs that have been found to be vicious. I will never own any of these three breeds; pit bulls, rottweilers, or dobermans. I understand that not every single one of these dogs is going to kill someone or even hurt someone, but for me the risk is just not worth it. I can not be that irresponsible with my children. Why am I getting up on my high horse today? Because I walked outside this morning and noticed my new neighbors have a brand new puppy. I knew it was a pit bull, I can spot one from a mile away. So can my children, adult ones that is. Puppies they can't tell, so they were asking what kind it was. I say to my neighbor (I am sure I had a very uneasy and a look of disdain on my face, you can read me like a book by looking at my face.) "It's a pit bull, right?" I know I had a tone, I tend to do that when I am not in the best of moods. "Yes" she replied. "Great, just great!" I replied back. And she started in with "we can have him adjust to the kids now" and "he's not bad at all." Yeah lady you will never convince me of that. 1) My kids will NEVER go near a pit bull. 2) My dad is an EMT and has run way too many kids whose face, arm, finger, etc has been ripped off by "Rex" the loving family pit bull who was raised from a puppy with the child. 3) Yeah, he's "not bad"......YET.

No they don't have children and it's their right to own whatever vicious creature they wish, within the rules of our housing contract. So I can't do a damn thing about the dog living next door to me. I even called housing to make sure it wasn't against the rules to own them on post. Unfortunately they have a policy that only bans creatures that have already maimed children, pets, or adults. Now I will just take comfort in the fact that we should be moving very soon to Senior Enlisted housing and away from all this mess. I know I either hurt her feelings or angered her, I really don't care. My number one job is to take care of my children and I am pretty sure letting them get bit or eaten by a dog would constitute a failure on my part.

Now pit pulls are the worst in my opinion. I don't care for rots because they have a rep, but I am not as vigilant about them. Dobies are another story, I was nearly attacked by my uncles as a child. It chased me down the hall and I had to stand on the back of the couch to get away from her until my uncle could grab her. It wasn't long after that she attacked my 4 year old cousin and they had her put down. Now my cousin (the brother of the one attacked) owns 2 dobies. The male is nice enough and seems to be harmless. The female however is a viscous beast that almost bit Aidan on the face. His fiancee has already warned him they will go when they have children, smart girl in my opinion. My aunt still doesn't think they are a threat, but in her own admission Aidan was doing nothing but trying to pet the dog when she tried to bite her. My dad has already warned my aunt the children are to NEVER go around those dogs again. He is even more passionate about this subject that I am. But most people would probably be that same way if they have seen what he has in his 20+ years of being an EMT.

My motto is "I don't trust a big dog with no tail."

Anyone is welcome to disagree with me, but they will never change my mind. If you own one, fine by me, my children will just never be around it. I am opinionated about this, but I still respect other peoples rights to own these dogs. I just personally choose not to put my family at risk. I will climb down off my high horse or step down off my soap box, whichever you prefer. :P

Wordless Wednesday

2008-08-13T18:14:00.004-05:00

These are from Lilly's "party" @ Libby Lu and Chuck E Cheese

Shoe Problems

2008-08-12T08:52:00.004-05:00

Aidan has many issues with shoes. You can have her try them on at the store, buy them, take them home, and the very next day she will say they don't fit. This happens all too often in our household. I know 95% of the time the damn shoes fit her, she just doesn't want to wear them. Other times we fight about what shoes match better, if I disagree with her she then goes into her "they don't fit" routine. She started to say something about her brand new shoes we bought specifically for the first day of school. But I cut her off before she could start. I told her she couldn't say a word about them being too small, we had just bought them last week and she tried them on. Then Lilly piped up "mine were a little tight too, but I walked around a little and they are better now." That seemed to appease Aidan and I didn't hear anymore about them.

THIS morning I brought out a brand new pair of Skechers we had bought this summer. She insisted they were too tight, even though I could feel her toes and they weren't at the end of the shoe. I let it go, told her to wear her new tennis shoes we just bought, and said "If you say they don't fit I will scream." She had a hard time getting them on, not because they are too small, but because they are lace-less and the bungees hold the tongue down are very tight right now. My mom says I deserve her being like this. Something about me as a child never wanting to wear anything new. She would have to hold me down to dress me for a week before I would accept that the coat was no longer new. Also something about me ripping my shoes and socks off if my sock was not on properly. Sorry, but to this day I can't stand my socks to be on wrong. So apparently I deserve this child. She really should have been nicer and not cursed me.

This summer I made Aidan try on every pair of sandals in Kohl's in her size. Then I made her promise she would wear them. This was after two failed attempts to purchase her sandals she would wear. She is the one that gives me the most troubles about clothing and shoes. I think Lilly will let me pick her clothes well into middle school, Aidan will probably want more input in a year or so. She certainly is a "spirited" child, ie pain in the butt! :P But I love her anyways, funny how that works.

Back to School (Insert Happy Dance Here)

2008-08-11T08:22:00.003-05:00

Off to Fourth Grade (I am soooo old)

Off to First Grade

(Her typical non-smile)

Is it wrong that I am happy they are gone? Jennifer says she misses her son while he's at school. Does it make me a bad mom that I don't miss mine? I know if they didn't like school I would feel more worry for them. But they love school, love being with other children. Here at home they are bored, they fight, they get into trouble. During the school year I hardly have to scold them when they are at home. Usually only on long weekends and holidays. I needed them to be gone 8 hours a day, I need a break from the constant fighting which has come to a head this past week. It has been almost unbearable the last week and a half of them being home. Sophia is sad they are gone and I am not sure why. They make her cry practically every day, but she loves them and misses them. Or maybe it's just that she is jealous. She is already begging to go to school and we have another three years to wait. If I am lucky we can get her into a private school in 2 years, since you know she misses the "have to be 5 by Aug 31" by only 8 days. And she is so smart and so bright, she will so be ready to go in 2 years. I am going to try to do everything in my power to get her in school in 2010.

Now I am going to bask in the quiet. :)

New Teachers, Luck (Good or Bad) or Fate?

2008-08-10T00:00:00.000-05:00

Aidan has the teacher we asked for, Mrs. Z. Lilly had her for the second half of first grade, when we moved from MA. I like her a lot and Lilly loved her (still hugs her everyday on her way to her classroom). I am hoping this is a good fit for Aidan. Mostly I already know what to expect homework wise and all of that jazz. I am not good with surprises.

Lilly has Mrs. F who I went to school with from 4th grade until graduation. We weren't friends, but she was never mean to me either. We come from similar backgrounds, both of our mothers are teachers and we were middle class. A lot of her friends were rich and bitchy. But they had all gone to school together from kindergarten on up. It was hard for me to get worked in when everyone had been friends since kindergarten. I didn't like it one bit and while I was popular and outgoing before moving, I became very shy and reserved after moving.

I found out she was a teacher at the girl's school when Lilly was in 2nd Grade. I kind of avoided her, that's the shy person still living inside of me. We didn't even speak until Aidan and her son Ty were in the same class last year. And according to Aidan they were "in love". He is a cutie and he adores her to pieces. Even still it wasn't until Fun in the Sun day before we even spoke and that was the end of the year. And now I am going to have to deal with her on a daily basis. I handled it well in my opinion. I didn't even panic when I saw Lilly's name under hers. I knew it was going to be like that, I just knew it. I even knew it would happen like this last year when I thought about Lilly going into fourth grade. It will be okay, at least that's what I keep telling myself.

Can you tell I am one big social mess? I feel like that 9 year old girl again, going into a new class in the middle of the school year. Not knowing anyone and feeling left out. I hate that about myself. I hate having panic attacks before I go places alone where there are other adults I have to socialize with.

To look on the bright side, Lilly's BFF V is in her class again. And Aidan's "love" is in her class again. Lilly will be fine, she always is, she is a brown noser. I know that's kind of mean to say, but it's true. Teachers are her favorite people. Aidan I am a little worried about, she is a wild card. She is a free spirit and is very hard to tame. No one knows this more than I. I am hoping that I am worrying for nothing, I pray I am.

They're here!

2008-08-09T00:00:00.000-05:00

Stella and Meme arrived yesterday. Delilah and I were there to greet them when they came home from the airport. Stella is very tall and skinny, Meme is equally skinny but not very tall. My dad spotted right away that Stella had a hickey on her neck. She said it was from her boyfriend on her last night in Germany. My dad joked he will have to keep and eye on her, I think he is not joking as much as he lets on. She was very embarrassed and said her mother noticed it when she came home that night and was worried what my parents would think. I know exactly what my dad thinks about hickeys, he thinks they are trashy. He told me so the very first (and LAST) time I had one. He didn't even notice it, my mom did and my punishment was to call and tell him about it. He gave me a long lecture about how trashy he thinks it is and how I am better than that, must have worked I haven't ever had another one. I didn't even know I had one that night, it was my very first time making out with a guy. It was his first time too, so we didn't know it would happen. They were huge too, I mean my neck and jawline were pretty much covered. It was quite embarrassing, especially when I had waltzed in my house thinking nothing was there. Then my mom takes me aside and tells me to go look in the mirror. After that I hid it from my dad until he left for work. I am thankful my mother was always conscious not to embarrass me in front of my friends. She waited until my friends were gone before making me call him.

Anywho, Patience did take the girls swimming and my uncle Guy even came along. He doesn't get out much, he has many problems with his back, he had a house fall on him when he was 17. Long story, but he has always been kind of a hermit. He's a great guy, funny, loving, and nice but he just doesn't like to leave his house. He came along because their grandson was going too and she can't handle all four by herself. After 2 and half hours I went back to pick them up. They fussed at my uncle when he told them it was time to go, I could hear them fussing at him from outside the gate. I knew how well that would go over, he is very big on respect. I told them they had to apologize and made them feel guilty for being rude. And then he talked to them about it also. It was Lilly and Aidan, Sophia is too little to scold for to much of that, plus she came out without a fight.

I received the dress I ordered for Sophia's birthday. It's too big so I sent it to K today so she can fix it, along with some fabric I bought since she is going to make the girls halter dresses/shirts. They are going to be super cute! I am glad she can sew, I can't. I took a sewing class and home ec and still can't sew a straight line. I could probably do it, but it wouldn't be perfect and therefore I wouldn't like it. K does such a great job, I am lucky to have her as my friend. In exchange or to say thank you, I am making Abby a necklace and bracelet set with her name on them. I ordered all the stuff these past few days. I have done a couple of bracelets for her when she was a newborn and I made her a necklace with her name on it before too. But K says she needs a new one so I decided to just go ahead and do some for all the girls. I am doing Sophia and Delilah's in their birthday dress colors. I am not sure about Lilly and Aidan yet. K is thinking brown and either pink or aqua for Abby. I ordered a bunch of different colored cat's eye beads, so I have a lot to choose from. I will post pictures when I get them all done.

Today is Alan's 1st birthday party. I have his gifts but haven't wrapped them yet. I don't even think I have any boyish wrapping paper. But it's late and I am going to bed, let's hope I can sleep in tomorrow.

Have a great weekend!

Blog Bum

2008-08-08T08:46:00.002-05:00

I kind of forgot to post yesterday, doesn't happen too often during the week. I wasn't busy or doing anything special or spectacular, I was just being a blog bum. At least that what K called me when I told her I hadn't posted yet and wasn't motivated to do so.

I was kind of blah yesterday. In the morning the kids were fighting (nothing new), in the afternoon they were forced to either nap or play quietly in separate rooms. Everyone but Aidan was okay with this and after she threw a fit she no longer had a choice, nap it was. I had a peaceful hour and a half after that, it was nice. I had no TV on I just sat, browsing Etsy. When Delilah woke up I woke everyone else up, don't want them sleeping past 3pm, then they won't want to go to bed. I had them all shower, since we hadn't been out of our jammies yet, bad mommy, I know :P Shortly after that Jason, Rosy, and Alan showed up. Jason was watching the kids while we went to the store to get stuff for Alan's party tomorrow.

After they left I fed my kids since it was 6:30pm and they usually eat at 5pm. They played nicely after that so I allowed Aidan and Sophia to stay up until 8pm (7pm is usually their bedtime). Delilah took a nap from 7-8:15pm when I woke her up. She seems to sleep in later if I give her an evening nap and let her stay up until 9:30pm. Yesterday she slept until 7:45am and today she slept until 8am :) I spent the rest of the evening talking to Kale or K on the phone and Jason or Rosy online, while watching TV and browsing Etsy.

Today I am taking Lilly and Aidan to meet their teachers and drop their school crap off. Then Patience is hoping to come take them swimming, it hasn't worked out any other day i.e. rain, she got stuck at work, and she had to work at her second job. So hopefully nothing will happen today and they will be able to go. We purposely didn't tell the children in case something happened and she couldn't do it. They haven't known all along her plans, it will be a happy surprise if/when it happens.

Rosy's parents and brother get in today, they came for his first birthday. And the new exchange students come in today. Stella from Germany and Meme from Thailand, hopefully they will at least be HALF as fun as Lele and Nais. It should be interesting, their first weekend with us will be a busy one. Alan's first birthday party is tomorrow. And sometime this weekend I have to exchange Aidan's dress for a smaller size. Other than that I will be watching the hours tick away excitedly until Monday 8am, when they GO BACK TO SCHOOL!

Wordless Wednesday

2008-08-06T08:55:00.002-05:00

These are the pictures from our playground playdate last week.

Wild Hair Up My Behind

2008-08-05T09:04:00.003-05:00

Delilah decided we needed to be up at 6am AGAIN this morning. I finally relented at 6:30am after unsuccessfully trying to get her to play quietly in her crib with a million toys. At that point I looked around my room and decided to rearrange it. Well, it started with me thinking "Kale's dresser will fit in our closet if I move things around. That will free up floor space and it's not like he's here to use it." So I moved it, it fit like a glove. Then I had to vacuum under that thing, it was filthy under there. Then I thought maybe Delilah would sleep better if the crib weren't under the air conditioning vent. To do that I had to take apart my bed (queen size), move my dresser into the hallway, move my night stand into the hallway, and then move the crib, after I vacuumed of course. Then I moved my dresser back in and put my bed together. Basically my room is now arranged in a mirror image of the way it used to be, just on the opposite wall. Now my room is nice and clean. I was surprised there wasn't much junk under my bed, of course I cleaned under there just after Delilah was born.

I do this sort of thing often, not as often as I used to but now I have heavier, nicer furniture that is hard to move by myself. Kale never knew what he would come home to after work. I did hurt my back on my curtain tie back, it's metal and I fell back into it when I was trying to get my mattress back on the bed.

Now I am relaxing. I just gave Delilah and Sophia baths and put Delilah down for her nap. Soon I am going to take a shower. My mom emailed me this morning to see if I wanted to go with her to Hobby Lobby after she gets off work. Of course I will go, anything to get out of this house for a little while. I really need to work on my growing pile of laundry or maybe I just need to invite Rosy over ;) My aunt Patience wants to take the 3 big girls swimming today, but it looks like rain so I am not sure it will happen. I will have their stuff ready just in case though. I always love the chance to be rid of some of my children :P

This Weekend....

2008-08-03T21:27:00.003-05:00

So...... I spent way too much money this weekend. But it mostly went to Lilly's birthday celebration, so I can hardly complain about it. I will start with Friday though and move along to know, lots happened this weekend. Friday I spent my morning shopping, I know SHOCKING! I had coupons and gift checks that needed to be used and had to find a pair of tennis shoes for Aidan before school starts. Did I mention it starts next week? :P

I headed out first to get my new contacts. I have this weird thing with my eyes where protein builds up on my lenses and I miss read the directions on my bottle of cleaning fluid. My eyes feel soooo much better now. While we were waiting in the optometrist's office an older lady was gushing over the girls. It's always nice to hear how cute they are, what beautiful names they have, and well behaved they are, even if they are bouncing around like kangaroos on crack.

After I paused long enough to put my new contacts in, we headed off to The Legends. It's an open air strip outlet mall. I went to Carter's first where I got Delilah's fall wardrobe (most of it) at a really decent price. If I paid sticker price I would have spent around $118, if I paid the sale price I would have paid $68, I paid $48. For that price I got two long sleeve 2 piece outfits, a short sleeved/long pant 1 piece outfit, a set of 5 onesies, a set of 3 onesie shirts, and a pack of 2 pants to go with the onesie shirts. Then we had lunch at Panera Bread, which was packed. Delilah begged and fussed for food the entire time. I kept giving it to her and she kept shoveling it in, boy is she a good eater. After lunch we went to the Stride Rite store where I found tennis shoes for Aidan for $19.99. Our last stop was Gymboree where I spent far too much money and didn't quite get as good a deal as in Carter's. But for Gymboree it was a good deal. I got 3 long sleeve shirts for $8.99 each, a short sleeved shirt for $8.99, and a sunflower outfit for Delilah that I paid probably $25-$30 for, I can't recall now exactly how much. It's cute though and makes a perfect fall outfit, maybe she'll wear it to the Applefest, if it's not too hot (which it will be).

After that store my patience (and pain killers) had worn thin. It was time to go. As I was walking to the car Rosy was calling to say she was meeting me there. I politely had to bow out, I had been there for a couple of hours already and was DONE. I had asked her to meet me there earlier but she couldn't. We went to my mom's to wait for her to get off work as she was riding with us to pick Lilly up and then we were all going to get my dad at the airport. When we got to the camp Lilly was wearing her PJ's, she said she ran out of clean clothes because it rained so much. I was not fond of her walking around in her PJ's and was even less fond of the idea when we found out my dad's plane was delayed. To kill time we went to the new JCPenney's and Target (where Patience now works). My mom tried to convince me people would just think she was wearing a short set, but I was still not thrilled with the whole thing. Then we were 5mins late getting my dad and he threw a small hissy. He's such a girl sometimes. :P

We went back to their house so they could feed us. Then we went home where the girls had showers and went to bed. Saturday morning came far to soon for me. Delilah decided to wake us up at 6:00am and we all know how much I love that. At least her pooping went back to normal but why does it always happen The.Day.After.The.Doctors.Appointment? So not cool. I had to be up anyways on Saturday, even though I didn't want to be. I started the morning by giving Delilah and Sophia a bath while I shaved my legs in the sink (TMI?). Then while they were all having breakfast I showered. I rushed them to get dressed, teeth brushed, and shoes on so we could be out the door by 8:30am. Just as I got off post I realized I forgot the gift cards to Chuck E Cheese, had to turn around and go back for them. Got to my mom's early enough to print coupons for CEC, then we headed out to pick up V (who lives around the corner from my parents, how cool is that?).

We arrived at the mall in time to potty before Club Libby Lu opened. We were the first appointment of the day and had undivided attention for quite awhile. The girls had a blast, as always. It was V's first time so she had so much fun. I didn't like the song they choose to dance to though and the girl didn't have it nearly loud enough. So we didn't get a repeat of Aidan's previous performance that my mom's camera killed. But after $150 they had fun and it was time to eat lunch. I had to stop for -er- "supplies" for my current predicament, since I am always forgetting such "supplies" at home. My mom said I must have a years supply as often as I forget and have to purchase more. But I bought the wrong ones, so that sucked. They work, but aren't my favorite.

CEC was next. That place gives me a headache. All the yelling you have to do for people to hear you. I am NOT a fan of having to yell for 2 hours straight. We allowed Lilly and V to go off on their own, as long as they stuck together, which they did. My brother, Rosy, and Alan stuck together. And Mariana a former exchange student (Rosy's friend) was visiting with them and she took Aidan around. I took Sophia around and my poor mom (she hurt her neck on Friday moving furniture at work) she stayed at the table with Delilah. Sophia had the most tickets (well except for Rosy) she had over 300. Rosy had over 600. We finally started to head home at 2pm. Stopping only for gas and frozen custard. I dropped V off, then my mom, and we headed home. It was early bedtime for the younger girls.

THIS morning I was awakened at 6:15am with a poopy diaper I didn't realize was poopy when I tried to change it in the crib. So my day started off with bathing Delilah, again. I was wide awake, as was she, after that. I came down stairs, feed her, and started laundry. At 8am when she was ready for her nap I went to put her in the crib and ants had infested it, in the 2hrs since I had woke up! I was not pleased. I laid her down in Sophia's room, in the pack n play, that's where Alan sleeps when he is over. Then I got to work, found out they were coming in my window (2nd story window nonetheless), I killed them all with Raid aerosol spray. It about killed my lungs, I was coughing so bad. Then I wiped down the walls with Lysol and cleaned her mattress with Lysol. By then I figured I might as well clean my sheets and such too, so I stripped my bed also. I haven't seen another ant in that room since, thankfully.

After that mess I was sweaty and hot, so I showered. Then I got everyone ready to go. We had lunch at my mom's before taking the kids to Jason & Rosy's. They stayed with Jason while mom, Rosy, and I went to my cousin's bride's shower. It was okay. Their house stunk like cat litter though and it took about an hour for my nose to become accustomed to the smell. We played a few games, in which I found out how very little I know about her. I didn't even know her age and they have been together for four years. Maybe I should get to know her, I never did before because I never thought they'd stay together. They had many problems the first couple of years. We left after the games were over and presents were opened, we didn't even eat cake. It didn't look very good, white cake with white frosting not my favorite.

Since we have been home I have done some housework and ordered some fun things from Etsy. DAMN K! For showing me that website. I have ordered Delilah a birthday dress and bib. I ordered a bow holder and a paci clip for Alan. Now I am just browsing, I cut myself off for a little while. :P

So that was my weekend......how was yours?

Long Day....

2008-07-31T19:34:00.002-05:00

My day started at 8:30am, not too shabby. BUT it started with a foul smell AGAIN! At least this time it stayed inside her clothes and I didn't have to strip the crib again. I lazed around for an hour then realized I only had a half an our to be ready to go to the doctor and to be ready for being out of the house all day long. A shower was out, normally I shower every morning, especially if I am going out, but today it was not an option. I did have to shower Sophia though, she went potty by herself with her nightgown on and dipped it in the potty.

Aidan arrived home last night at 10pm, so she was here to slow me down. That child, good lord she is slow. I put my clothes on, brushed my teeth, fixed my hair, and packed the diaper bag before she got her shorts on. It takes a lot of "Come on Aidan, Let's go Aidan" to keep her moving. I was so not in the mood, I would find out later in the day why.

Delilah had a 10:40am doctor's appointment but we had to be there by 10:20am, I was there at 10:10am. I am pretty much always a little early, otherwise I feel like I am late. She is now 21.5 lbs fully clothed and 28inches long. Our doctor looked at her and said pretty much what I thought, wait and see since it seems to be getting better. She went from 5 poopy diapers on Sat. to 2 yesterday and so far today. She's not dehydrated, she's eating normally, behaving normally, and drinking plenty. So she told me to bring her back if it's still going on, Monday. Then they will do a "stool study" which sounds utterly disgusting and I am glad it's not my job to look through her poop.

After the doctor we had to swing by the house since I forgot to grab the juice boxes for our play date lunch. Then we ran over to my mom's where I made sandwiches and picked her up. Then we headed to her school to meet up with Bo and her kids Carly and Carson. They are very shy and she wants to socialize them more. Bo is the behavior specialist that works at my mom's school. She is the one who helped us potty train Sophia in ONE FREAKING DAY (at 2yrs 2mths nonetheless)! We thought Carly and Sophia would play more than they did, but Carly gravitated more towards Aidan, she is a little older than Sophia. But Carson is Sophia's age and they hit it off. As we walked into the building from the playground they held hands. I have pictures I will share next Wednesday.

After our playdate we headed to shop. Sears is having a huge sale on clearance items, an extra 40% off. I found quite a few things for Delilah and a jacket for Sophia, plus a pair of sneakers for Lilly. $19.99 for skechers is a big deal for me, they are never that cheap. I just hope they fit her, she may need a 13.5 and these are a 13. I am crossing my fingers. Unfortunately they didn't have any in Aidan's size for $19.99. While in Sears I realized I started my period, which makes me oh so pleased since its almost a week early. Plus Sophia had a little troubles with poop in her panties, she farted and left a mess (that's as politely as I can think to put it). I had to buy a pack of panties for her, they were $5.50 and HUGE even though they said 2T/3T. Besides the shoes they were the most expensive thing in my cart, that didn't please me. It didn't bother me she had an accident, but that I had to pay that much for crappy panties (no pun intended) kind of irked me.

After Sears we went to Target to get a gift for my cousin's bride's shower. I decided on a gift card since there was not much in the store in my price range. It's pretty amazing they are getting married, no one ever thought he would ever get married. Of course we thought that of my brother too. I guess people change and I am happy for them. The dumbass teenaged boy who was my cashier thought it appropriate to put my gift card and greeting card in with the four bottles of hair detangler I had also purchased. This stuff has been known to leak. I didn't say anything to him, although maybe I should have brought it up to him gently. Instead I moved the cards to my purse and went on my merry way.

We headed back to my mom's after that, she is alone right now as my dad is still in Chicago. We had burgers with her then came home. But not before Delilah filled her pants getting it up to her neck and on my mom's carpet somehow. Very gross.

Aidan and Sophia went to bed at 7am and now I am just waiting until 9pm to put Delilah down. Mom starts working tomorrow, so my morning will be spent at home. At 4:30pm we pick Lilly up and then there is a little more than a week left before SCHOOL STARTS!!!

Wordless Wednesday: Lilly's Birthday Edition

2008-07-30T00:00:00.001-05:00

Her "fine jewelry" from Grammie & Pop

Her Nintendo DS from "mommy" as she told her daddy, despite me writing his name on the gift also

Alan "helping"

Giving hugs

More hugs

Sophia had to do it too

Her tiny cake

While we were singing

Blowing out the candles

Feeding Miss Insatiable

Slept IN!!!

2008-07-29T08:54:00.002-05:00

It's not very often Delilah lets me sleep past 7am and yesterday she woke me up at 6:15am with a foul odor. I was awaken by the same foul odor but this time at 8:30am!!! I needed the sleep, yesterday was a long day due to the ungodly hour I was awoken.

I went to to doctor yesterday, I had a tick bite my dad insisted I get looked at. Actually he insisted I should be on antibiotics. The doctor said nothing was wrong with it and it was just red/itchy because it was scar tissue built up and healing. Then she fixed it so I only have to take my "happy" meds once a day. I am constantly forgetting the second dose. Rosy was nice enough to come over and sit with the kids while I went.

After the doctor's appointment we packed the kids up, went to the post office, and then picked Jason up from his "class" he is taking in KC. Then we went to Party America, Sams Club, and the Mall. I found a set of candles that spell Sophia so I bought those for her birthday. Plus, I found a tiara that lights up and says Birthday Girl for Lilly to wear on Saturday. While we were walking into Sam's I mused "I wonder if people think you are a polygamist, Jason?" and we laughed. We walked around the mall and surprisingly I didn't buy a thing. We headed out stopping only at QT for drinks before heading home. It was a good afternoon just hanging out.

Delilah was a pain to put to bed last night though, she went down at 9pm but didn't give up until 9:45pm. All I can say is I am glad she didn't scream, she fussed a bit, but mostly talked and squealed. I went to bed at 10:30pm and as I said before, I actually got to sleep in.

Aidan is having a blast with my parents. My mom took her to the zoo in the morning while my dad was in meetings. She was able to dress up like a lemur, zoo doctor, zoo director, and a bird. She pet the goats and saw a bald eagle named Lela. After they took a nap, they met up with my dad and went to Chinatown. They had dinner there and she ate duck. This was so surprising for me. You have no idea how picky this child used to be and how much she has changed in just a couple of years. Seriously she used to only eat peanut butter sandwiches, mac n cheese, and chicken nuggets (McDonalds only). Now she is willing to at least try most things, before she would screech at you until you quit asking her. It is amazing to me. She did say though (about the duck) "but not the feathers, mommy." That is just so Aidan.

I am hoping Lilly is having a good time. Her first day there it was 102 degrees outside and it rained at night. Yesterday it rained off and on all day. So I am not sure how much they have been able to do outdoors. It's supposed to storm the next two days and be nice on her last day there. I can tell from the pictures they uploaded on the eCamp site that yesterday was a mostly indoor day. But she looked happy in the pictures. So I won't worry about her.

Other than that, my new gates came and work wonderfully. I am very happy with them. I also love my new diaper bag. It's big enough but not too big, I don't need a huge one. I am not sure my plans for the day, well beyond going to the commissary for milk and such. But for me to get there I have to get off my lazy butt and get around. :P

Up to my ears in poo...

2008-07-28T08:35:00.002-05:00

I do not know what Delilah has eaten to make her produce so many poopy diapers. In the last three days I have changed, no kidding you, 8 poopy diapers. And they are nasty ones too, I won't get into details but lets just say it didn't always stay inside the diaper. I don't think she is sick and she is not eating prunes everyday. So what the heck?! I mean, I am glad she is going, I have been on the other end of that stick and it's far worse. But damn, I am tired of changing so many diapers that smell!

Aidan is gone and having fun. They went to the Sears Tower yesterday and I think they are going to the zoo today. Lilly is at camp, dropping her off was an ordeal and a half. They were far less organized than the girl scout camp. Instead of having us come alphabetically at certain times, they gave us all the same hour to check in. I arrived 15mins after registration opened and it still took me an hour to get though it all. I am constantly amazed at my children's ability to just walk away from me like "Bye Mommy" with a wave of their hand. No fear. I am glad, but for someone with my personality it is unsettling nonetheless. This time I am participating in their eCamp program and sending her mail that way. It cost me 11.95 but that's alright. They are supposed to post pictures everyday, so we will see.

It's rainy today, a very gloomy day. Rosy and I are supposed to go shopping then pick Jason up from his class in KC. But I forgot I have a doctors appointment at 3pm. So who knows if we will go today or tomorrow, she is lucky and is still asleep. I have been up since 6:15am when I changed poopy diaper #7 this morning. Then I was up again at 7am to change #8, lucky me. I didn't sleep well either, I was up every couple of hours with Delilah. I can't wait until we move and she has her own room. She can have her own room here, but I would have to take all the toys out of the playroom and find somewhere else for them. I am too lazy for that. I swear she is Aidan's clone, Aidan didn't sleep through the night until she was 3. Lilly and Sophia slept through the night early on, Lilly at 1mth and Sophia at 4mths. I am so done having babies! :P

Recent Purchases

2008-07-27T12:42:00.004-05:00

We recently came into a little bit of money, which has helped with paying the deductible on the van, buying Lilly's birthday present, paying for her party next weekend, and then I also went out and spent a little of it on some things we "needed".

First thing I bought was a new booster for Aidan. Hers was well past it's prime. If I could have just bought a new cover for it I would have, seems like such a waste to have to buy a whole new seat when only the cover is ruined. Alas, they don't sell just replacement covers that I could find, so a new seat it was. I do like the colors of the new seat though, the brown and purple coordinate well with the interior of the van.

I bought this lovely cake stand for Rosy as a housewarming gift. While we were at my mom's At Home America party she expressed her want for one, but they didn't have any in the catalog. So armed with this knowledge and the desire to purchase her something she wanted rather than something I liked, I found this cake stand on Amazon.com. I also purchased a matching taller dome for taller cakes, but it came in pieces. So now I have to do one of my favorite things to do with children, so to the UPS store to send it back.

I also recently order two of these bad boys. Necessary to keep Delilah out of trouble. I had two similar gates for when Sophia was a baby, but they are worn out. I put them up and they fell down. I like this style better anyways. I was able to get them for 30% and free shipping at Kohls.com. However the first time I ordered them I accidentally had them shipped to my in-laws. I called to fix the shipping address but they only fixed it for one of my three items. The gates were not that item. So she took them back , I re-ordered them, and they should be here tomorrow.

I ordered this from Kohl's too for the same deal as the gates. I needed a new diaper bag, mine is looking rough. I kind of have a problem with changing diaper bags pretty regularly, this is my fourth since Delilah was born.

This is the one item they managed to change the address for when I ordered the gates. I have decided to buy the girls new bedding for Christmas as our gift to them. I saw this for Aidan, it was on clearance, plus I got the 30% off and free shipping. Not too shabby.

This is the one that I really love and want to order for Sophia, but it doesn't match.......

this, her current bed. Kale told me to just buy her a new bed that would match, but I just don't think I can be that wasteful with our money. He really only said it because that was the day I was so upset and he wanted to make me feel better. I know he doesn't ever tell me no anyways, but I still can't justify buying her a new bed just to match bedding I like.

In addition to those things pictured, I have also purchased 6 pair of cargo shorts for Kale. They were only $6.99 a pair at Kohl's with the 30% off, so I couldn't resist buying one in each color available. I also bought 7 packages of Delilah's pacifiers, they were only $2.50 per package with the 30% off so I couldn't resist stocking up. I think I will have plenty of her pacifiers for awhile. Also at Kohl's for the same deal, I ordered 5 reed diffusers to make my house smell pretty. Between the cat and Delilah it can get pretty smelly in here. And then yesterday I finally broke down and bought a Bluetooth because of the study about cell phones and cancer. I don't like it much though, my ears are too small for it to fit nicely. But I am learning to live with it.

Aidan left for Chicago with my parents this morning and Lilly heads to camp this afternoon. For a few days I will only have 2 kids again. Of course they are the two that require the most attention, but at least I won't have to hear any fighting over imaginary pieces of cake.

Lilly's birthday was great. We had a cookout with just family, then presents, and cake. My aunt and uncle blindfolded her and took her to Hallmark to buy a Webkinz of her choice. Green called me 5 times Friday night to have me help him pick out a gift. He finally found a Webkinz for her in the Limited Too, I would have paid good money to see him in that store buying a Webkinz. If you don't know, the Limited Too is a clothing store for little girls and Tweens. He said the girls working there were gushing over him because he told them he was there to buy a present for his niece. Jason and Rosy bought her a backpack for her DS, we of course bought her the DS and a game. My parents gave her a DVD and Mat to learn all the moves from High School Musical. My in-laws sent her a necklace and earrings in her birthstone, ruby. And then I had Aidan and Sophia pick out a Webkinz for her, they choose a snake. She had a really good day and next week will be the real fun, for her. I will post pictures of yesterday on Wednesday.

My Van is BACK!!! :)

2008-07-25T00:00:00.001-05:00

I went this afternoon to pick it up, it was nice and shiny again, they even vacuumed the floors for me. I left Kale's crappy car there and my brother picked it up for me while he and Rosy were in KC tonight. I am super grateful they did that for me. It wasn't far out of their way, so it wasn't much of an inconvenience, but still they didn't HAVE to do it for me. But that's the way families are, well at least mine.

Now to another topic I have been pondering....Why I am my mother's b*tch.

For example: Yesterday she was carpooling to her conference in Wichita so she "asked" me to drive her to her rendezvous point. She knows I will only say no if I have something really important to do.

Today she asked me to go to Beauty Brands to get her two more bottles of Redken Soo Soft shampoo. They are having their $10.98 liter sale right now and when we went last week she didn't realize she bought three conditioners and one shampoo, which she blamed on me. Trust me it's not as bad as it sounds, I wasn't offended and I defended myself. That's just the way my mom is. So after I picked up the van I dropped by The Legends to get it for her. Cause it's soooo easy for me to get four kids into the store buy them and get out. It really wasn't that bad, I put Delilah in my new Chicco Stroller and Sophia in the new umbrella stroller, Lilly pushed Delilah and I pushed Sophia. We were in and out in under 15 minutes. When we got to the van Lilly's 3rd Grade teacher was there waiting for us. I had accidentally left the side door open and she thought it was our van and stayed until we got back. It was very nice of her to do so, even if there wasn't anything to steal. Well there is the very expensive Britax car seat, but not many people know how much they cost and probably wouldn't steal one anyways.

This is normal for me, my mom asks me to do things for her "you know, since you are home". She doesn't quite get how much work four kids really is, but she did get a little taste of what having three is like when Delilah was in the hospital for 4 days and she had to take care of the other girls 24/7 for those 4 days. But I do it without much complaint. There are two possible reasons for me to always do what she asks of me A) I am still that little girl at heart who is desperately trying to please her or B) My parents taught me well to respect them and other elders. Or it could be a combination of both. Part of me will always want to please my parents, it's just in my DNA, of course I guess I don't want to please them completely or I would finish college.

I am feeling much better now, I remembered both of my doses today. But I think PMS is lurking around so that could account for part of my mood too. Hopefully things have hit an upswing and I am done feeling sorry for myself for awhile. :)