Say What?

I wonder if I were no longer around suddenly, how anyone including Aaron would communicate with these three people who seem to speak a totally different language:

I told Caden we were going to get McDonald’s after Reese’s doctor appointment on Thursday. The first thing he says to me is “I want to dump.” I know you’re think McDonald’s doesn’t agree with him but that’s not what he means. He wants to dump his part of the French fries onto his plate out of the fry container.

When Ethan is outside he says “hire, hire” . . . he’s not looking for a job. He wants someone to push him on the swing higher and higher.

Caden and Addison say DeeVee DeeVees which means DVDs.

Ethan says “open” when he wants to watch a Wiggles video because he can’t open the closet door where all the Wiggles videos are kept.

But there is something being said very clear. Caden is now saying . . . “What the hell?” Nice. One of the two times I heard it was when he was looking at a magazine at the doctor’s office sitting in the waiting room with lots of people. I really don’t think I say that (although I have other choice phrases) and I can recollect Aaron saying it sometimes so this time he gets the blame. Can’t wait to scrapbook the teacher notes I get about what my kids say next year at preschool!

one of those days . . .

Do you ever have those days where nothing goes the way you want? Everything unexpected happens and throws you for a tailspin? That's what this day has been like and I've accomplished nothing . . .maybe less than nothing if that's even possible. I would like to go back to bed and start over and do things differently but that's not a choice. This day will make me appreciate the "normal" days!

Reactions!

This is Ethan's reaction to us loading up our old couch to take to Goodwill. I thought he was going to have a heart attack (and no my kids hardly ever wear clothes)!

This is their reaction to having extra floor space although it wasn't for long until we moved our old love seat back into the living room. Maybe we should forgo furniture -- the kids would love it.

Here's an adorable photo of Reese yesterday -- can you believe she is now 6 months old?

This is a photo Addison took of Reese and me. I think it turned out pretty cute (and I try to wear clothes at home).

Here's our beautiful Azalea bush in bloom. Too bad it only lasts like a week. It is so pretty for that week though.

Sorry if the new music on my blog annoys you -- thought I'd give it a try for a while. Now that I have high speed internet I can actually do things like that!

My Surprise!

On Sunday I took a van load (and I mean a completely FULL van of yard sale stuff -- I couldn't even see out the back or side windows!) to Keely's house for our GIGANTIC yard sale. I came back home the next day and opened the front door to see our love seat in our dining room and practically stepped in Reese's pack and play as I opened the door. Thinking "Aaron hates changing the furniture around, what is going on?" Then I looked over in the corner and saw . . .

This is the couch I've had my eye on for a while. Well ever since Keely bought it and I discovered how wonderful and practical it is when you have little kids. It can be wiped off if anything gets spilled on it and believe me, it will here. It's funny because Keely and I always seem to own the same furniture. I have a olive green couch and love seat that I bought about 8 years ago. A few years ago Keely bought the same couch and matching chair. Now we both hate our furniture. I mainly hate mine because the kids have destroyed it but it's also seems giant in the small space I have. So now we are both going with a brown leather version!

I have wanted to replace our old couch with the spills, stains, frayed edges for a while now and I thought I was going to stimulate the economy by having George Bush buy it. But it turns out that Aaron's parents bartered for it. They just moved into a new house and need Aaron to do some plumbing work. He doesn't charge his parents for plumbing work but since there's quite a bit to do they wanted to pay him. He said he wasn't taking their money, so they said they buy us the couch in exchange for his plumbing services. It sounded like a good deal to me but we told his parents we talk about it more and I felt like Aaron was doing all the work and not really getting something he wanted so I thought we were still in discussion/negotiation mode. His parents bought the couch and Aaron picked it up on Saturday and had it all in place when I came back home to surprise me -- very sweet!

Now we have 3 couches/love seats in this house and because I'd have to pay someone to take that couch (no one sane would ever buy it from us) we are donating it to Goodwill and hopefully a good upholstery person or someone with a nice slipcover can use it and the new rule: Absolutely, positively no jumping on the new couch!

Thanks, Dora and Diego!

Ethan loves Dora the Explorer and Diego. Really it is a very good preschool show that teaches on many different levels. They do a lot of quizzes about animals on the show. Maybe Ethan hasn't learned so much about the animals as the question/answer technique that they use. Here's what he said to me as he walked downstairs from his nap and saw me sitting on the couch:
"Do you see the mommy? Do you see the mommy?"
"I see the mommy, I see the mommy."
"Hi, Mommy! Hi, Mommy!"
When I think how far he has come in the last 6 months, I am totally in awe!

My Girl . . . Addison

1. She is super demanding! It’s a girl-combo-preschooler thing. First thing in the morning, she gets up walks to my side of the bed and says in a very gruff voice: “Mommy, I want my cereals now!”. This does not go over well with me especially since I am not a “morning person”.

2. Speaking of cereal she can eat a ton of it. I mean like 4 or 5 bowls in a row! Of course it seems like that is all she eats probably because she is so full. She loves Rice Krispies and Fruity Pebbles.

3. She loves to sing. Her all time favorite song is “Do it Anyway” by Martina McBride. We went to Grammy and Papa’s church last fall and someone sang that song and she sang right along with it. She calls it her “girl song”. She’s also pretty fond of Taylor Swift songs especially “Pictures to Burn” but the best part is to see her dance –she can really shake her booty and uses a small broom for a microphone.

4. One of her favorite expressions is “I can not want to ____________”. Believe me there’s a million and one things she can’t want to do and she makes it known quite frequently.

5. She has the cutest smile!

6. She is the best bedtime staller. She leaves Caden in the dust. Many times she doesn’t even take a nap in the afternoon but if the boys both fall asleep she will stay in bed and read for a while. She probably naps 3-4 days a week.

7. She has the strangest collection of stuff in her bed. An oreo game that looks like a cookie jar, a mouse that’s a cat toy, dolls, a bunny, several books, valentine cards from her Great Grandma, papers that she typed her name on, socks, cups, lots of blankets and a million other things like toy food, toy tools, barrettes, trash, bracelets, scary guys from McDonalds, etc.

8. She will pull out one strand of her hair and she likes to eat it. This is gross. She also bites her fingernails and I even caught her biting her toenails a couple weeks ago.

9. She likes Dora, deserts, cupcakes, sprinkles, playing in the backyard, her cousins, school, her dollhouse, swinging high, going to the park, “ice” (Spanish Rice), yogurt, dressing up, coloring and gluing, SpongeBob, the color pink, her daddy, and eating “in” a restaurant especially McDonald’s.

10. She likes to pretend she is a baby. She wants to wants us to swaddle her in blankets and she crawls around on the floor talking “baby talk”

11. If she has a coat on, it must be zipped. She wears boy underwear a lot and it’s usually on backwards

12. Her dollhouse that she got from Christmas is one of her all time favorite toys. She freaks out when one of the boys wants to play with it because they mess it up and she has to fix it. “Play dollhouse, please mama” is something I hear a lot so I do.

13. She loves to clean and she will help do housework. She freaks when I say lets clean out your bed though because she knows she will have to make choices of what is staying and leaving.

14. She loves baths but hates to have her hair combed. I am hair challenged and have a hard time doing it so it stays out of her eyes. We’re growing out her bangs and boy is that hard on all of us!

15. She has a lot of dreams and remembers them. The other day she was crying in the morning and when I went to her bed and asked her what was wrong she said that Ethan was taking your white van away and he can’t.

16. She is such a girly-girl and a tom-boy at the same time. She loves all things girl: clothes, pink, dresses, skirts, hair bows and barrettes, make-up, but having 2 brothers around sure can make you tough too. She can certainly keep up with them in so many ways and get just as dirty!

Park Fun

We went to the park today! The kids had fun! A class from the school came too and as soon as they started to play Caden got hurt because he was showing off and thinking he was a second grader suddenly! They really love big kids!

I continue to price baby clothes for the yard sale. I am getting sentimental about some things because the kids were so cute in this or that but I have refrained and only found one little shirt that I don't think I can part with. I have to take a van load to Keely's house on Sunday so I have to get as much priced by then as I can. Today I wasn't so successful as the kids didn't think they needed to nap -- even Reese wanted short naps today. I think I will be dreaming of putting price stickers on things tonight. If you see me don't get to close or I may put a tag on you too. I will be glad to get this stuff out of here and hopefully it will turn into some cash!

More Layouts to Share

I finished these 3 last night. I am definitely making progress. Click on photos to see them larger).
This one I started at the crop at the beginning of the month.

Here's another Easter Bunny photo -- only 2 more to go!

This is a layout that I made at NYOB Club last month. It's Candi's design and I loved how it turned out.

Last night after I finished these, I decided maybe I need to focus on the boys a little in the next layouts. I sure have a lot of Addison in these!

Look at Me!

Look what new skill Reesey has learned! She can sit up all by herself. She's still pretty wobbly but if I put pillows around her she's safe enough to sit by herself and play. She sat like this for about 20 minutes this morning!

Welcome me to the 21st century!

Today I just got a high speed Internet connection. I know you're thinking so what? Well I previously had a dial-up connection. Still you're think who cares? If I only I had kept a log of how many hours (or days) I have spent on the computer waiting on anything and everything. For instance just to log on was at least 5 minutes. I just downloaded that photo of Ethan at the right in less than one minute, before it would have easily taken me 20-30 minutes for that photo to download before. I should get an award for being persistent. Many times I would start download photos to my blog and then go take a shower and come back it was still working on it. And downloading photos to a site like Walgreens so I could have photos made most of the time I just did 4 or 5 photos, if I had a lot I would start them and let it go overnight most of the time in 8 -10 hours I could download about 100 photos. I never go to You Tube or watch anyone videos on my computer because in about 2 days I might be able to see part of the video! Even just trying to look at somebody's simple blog might take 15 -30 minutes. It was so annoying and time consuming! Now it's all in an instant. We thought about getting it before and when I checked it was $100-$150 a month because we live in the middle of nowhere in a small town that no one wants to cover. We paid $20 each month for dial-up. I kept getting notices in the mail from the phone company about high speed and the special price would get cheaper and cheaper. A couple weeks it was exactly the same price we are paying now $19.99 a month. So I signed up and now I will have so much extra time! What ever will I do?

Zoo Time

Saturday we finally had some beautiful weather and we decided to make our first trek to the Niabi Zoo. It was a perfect day and the kids really enjoyed it. There were a lot of cars in the parking lot but it didn't seem overly crowded while we were there. We had a discussion before we went on whether the older kids could walk or we needed the wagon. I didn't want to be the one to blame so I agreed that we would take the wagon although I was pretty sure they could walk and they did so Aaron ended up pulling around an empty wagon all day.

In one monkey house there was a monkey laying on the ledge right in front of the window and the kids thought that was great. In the other monkey house there was one baby monkey and it was so cute. Watching those moms jump from one limb to another while holding a baby was freaky -- don't think I could do that -- good thing there was only one baby for that monkey. Evidently there was some sort of scuttle butt about the baby because one monkey came over and took it from the other one. I don't know who the real mom was there were all wanting to hold that baby. Ethan really loved the zoo more than ever this time. He was talking so much and only had a couple of break downs that lasted just a few moments. Keely said we should call it animal therapy. We will definitely be going back there more because it was really fun and we have season passes thanks to Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Keely (gift for their 3rd birthday).

We are still not healthy. Reese was diagnosed with an ear infection last Friday so she's on medicine and my cold is slowly leaving but unfortunately the horrendous cough is not and I'm not feeling too perky today. Think some healthy thoughts for us!

It's a drinking thing!

We are decluttering BIG TIME! Look what I found in the basement! These are ALL the bottles that we used with Addison, Ethan, and Caden. I counted them. There are 103 here. I think I tried EVERY kind at different stages. We got our use out of them too. We fed those kids every 3 hours for about 7 months. That was 24 bottles a day! We ran our dishwasher 2 or 3 times a day sometimes. That was approximately a little over 5,000 bottles just for the first 7 months and then there were more up until 13 months when I made them kick the habit! Reese only has 1 bottle that is used occasionally. I remember that it seemed like I made formula all the time! Keely thought I was crazy when I said one of the main reasons I wanted to breastfeed Reese was because I was so sick of preparing formula and bottles and I think this photo proves my point. She said the same thing when her little Jeffrey just turned a year old last month and she switched him to regular milk. Getting rid of things like this doesn't make me the least bit sad -- I'm happy we're over that stage!

Scrapbooking Progress

Here's a couple layouts that I finished today. The one of Addison I started at the crop I went a few weeks ago and the Easter Bunny one I made yesterday during the kids' nap. I have more "almost" done as soon as photos arrive in the mail and I slap down a few photos I forgot to print. They aren't super great but it's a decent start . . . they'll be 3 more Easter Bunny ones coming . . . using up those free Walmart photos!

Come on!

Okay, now I am sick -- some cold type thing which is the same thing the baby has. It is May 15th -- where in the world is the warm spring/summer weather? I am so sick of this. I just changed out the kids clothes last week and put away the long sleeve shirts and I felt like I was doing it so late but I think we can still plan on wearing sweatshirts if not their winter coats. We'll have to wait on the shorts and tank tops! At least I left out the jeans and long pants. It's not quite warm enough to take the baby out when the older kids go out which is fine for them to play in the fenced backyard by themselves but somebody wants in about every 3 minutes. I need one of those turnstile doors they have at stores and hospitals. They can't open the screen door from the outside yet. Since I'm not getting the warm happy weather I want here's a warm picture to make you happy:

Mom's Day

With all our illnesses, we had a quiet Mother's Day and were able to spend some time with Aaron's mom, his sister, Ashley and her family. I ended up with some photos of me and kids but geesh it is not only hard to get a group shoot of all of us but it's just darn hard to get one of me with each of the kids that is usable.

I think Reese is getting better but she has a little cough now and runny nose and isn't as hungry as usual but no fever. She has been sleeping so good for me this week -- I may have a nap schedule figured out but we'll see if it continues when she's fully recovered! I stopped the cereal because she was sick so I hope to get back to that too.

I have been scrappin' a bit but not as much as I'd like too. I hope to get something completely finished tomorrow -- many layouts started but now I'm waiting on some photos I ordered to call them finished. So maybe something to show soon!

First Foods

Reese had her first cereal on Saturday. She's been a bit unpredictable near the end of last week only wanting cat naps, needing to be held lots, not sleeping through the night like before, so I thought maybe she needs something more than milk in her tummy. She was all excited in the beginning: a new chair to sit in, wearing a bib for the first time, but most of the cereal didn't stay in and like most babies she wasn't "loving it" as far as taste goes.

She thought holding a spoon was fun for a bit then came her newest discovery. As happy as that girl can be she can get just as mad in a split second! She used to hardly ever cry but she must just have been bottling up because she has some lungs on her!


I thought everyone was doing better but Caden and Addison have pretty bad coughs and Addison coughed so hard today that she threw up. And now Reese has a fever. I called the doctor and they instructed me to give some Tylenol and if she still has a fever tomorrow to take her in. She's a cranky baby too . . . I didn't know she was sick this morning I thought she was just tired because yesterday she only took two 45 minute naps. Our preschool teacher said I could bring Reese to preschool with us if I needed and today Grammy wasn't available so I did and she cried the whole time we were there. If I had known she was sick, we would have stayed home. Ugggghhhh!

Couldn't they all be this happy?

Not when they are sick. I have 3 sick kids again! Caden threw up in our bed a couple nights ago -- not the way you want to be woken up! Sore throats, fevers, grouchiness, complaining & whining (from me and them), etc. I thought today they were getting better then Addison developed this cough -- the kind that comes from your toes! Ethan hasn't been sick in full force yet either but I'm sure he's on deck. Probably playing it low this weekend . . . at least the baby is still healthy and of course happy as always!

A Photo Essay

Last weekend when we stayed at Keely's house, Ethan had some trouble going to sleep as he normally does when we go there. He sleeps in a pack and play there but he's able to climb out so he will not stay in bed (at home he has a crib tent on his bed that keeps him in bed). When he gets out of bed he tends to cause trouble. Last time he climbed up on Jackson's dresser, got his piggy bank, broke it into a bazillion pieces, cut his
finger. Usually he settles down after a while and goes to bed. I think because Aaron was there instead of me he really was getting a kick out of seeing his Dad get so upset. No one took naps on Friday afternoon because of Ethan's antics of furniture climbing, bed jumping, door opening and who knows what else. On Friday night when Keely and I were driving back from the scrapbooking crop at 12:15 am, Aaron calls and wants to know when we are coming home. I could tell by his voice
that something was really wrong. I guess everyone had went to bed but Ethan so after a few hours Aaron decided he would just have him lay on the blowup mattress with him in the living room. Well, Aaron fell asleep and Ethan didn't. Ethan decided to go into the bathroom and "wash his hands" which really means play in the water. When Aaron finally woke up, he said the whole bathroom was "flooded". When we arrived home, Ethan was laying on the mattress sobbing and trying to catch his breath and Aaron was more than mad. Keely's vanity had some water damage near the bottom. Ethan must have gotten in big trouble because I put him in his bed and we didn't hear another peep from him. Ethan loves to play in the bathroom, I took these photos a couple days ago -- it explains it all on what happened on Friday night -- just look at his face when he realized I was standing there.

The Dog Boss

Keely calls Ethan "The Dog Boss". This is a perfect title for him. Whenever we go to their house he spends a majority of his time with her 2 dogs mainly Haley. He harrasses her so much that sometimes she hides on her bed in Keely's bedroom. I bet she naps for hours and hours after we leave. Ethan can't get enough of her. Whenever we are there we hear him yelling "Haley, where are you? Come back, Haley. Stop, wait, Haley, where are you going?" Poor Dog. Someday we will have to get him a dog . . . someday.

We had a great time at our 2 day scrapbooking crop. It was so much fun. I made a few layouts and have a few started. It was from 9am until 12 midnight Friday and Saturday. I didn't get to Keely's until noon on Friday so I got started late. But we stayed until the end on both nights. It was close to 2am when I went to sleep both nights and boy, am I tired this week! So I'm not doing so hot on a layout every 2 days but I think I am going to "try" to stay up later tonight sometimes I think I feel more tired if I get too much sleep.

Halloween or Christmas?

My friend and avid blog reader, Cathi, recently was inspired {by me she tells me} do some simplifying and decluttering and ironically she offered to donate some great toys to me. Lately I have been really good about saying "no" to offered things (my in-laws are in the processing of moving and my MIL keeps trying to give me stuff -- I don't even look at anything because I know that will make it hard to say "no"). Anyway when Cathi told me all the great stuff she had, I couldn't turn it down. Last Friday, she came over here with a van load! There were dress up clothes and shoes, trains, grocery cart, vacuum, doll stroller, puzzles, ponies, art stuff, ABC games, and I don't know what else! My kids loved everything but the best thing was this Little Tikes vanity and stool. When Addison saw this it took her breath away! She has been sitting at it everyday and so have the boys too. It is adorable. Cathi has even offered me her services of helping me reorganize my toy room. People are always offering me their help because evidently I appear to really need help and normally I don't take people up on their offers but after Cathi was here and talking to her in real life again (it had been a while) I realized just how much I really like her; she is a great person and mom! I had her son, Luke, in 3rd grade, 4th grade {I think}, and worked with him in 6th grade {now he's all grown up}. I taught with her sister, Chrissi, and Chrissi was in our wedding. I really don't get together with my friends much anymore. Other than taking the kids to preschool I don't see many adults. I miss having friends and adult conversations. I think it's time to reconnect myself with adults. So even if Cathi comes here and says, "instead of throwing all the toys on the floor why don't we pick them up" I will be happy to spend some time with a friend and have adult time. Thanks Cathi, for all the great stuff and I'm looking forward to our visit soon!