Funday Friday.

Little Man -- I don't remember what he got into, but he's just so darn cute.

Sunshine -- Think she's a little lady --- THINK AGAIN!!!

Sleeping Beauty --- Questions??? Well she went to put her nightgown on, only she didn't undo the buttons before she slipped it on her head. So she walked to the kitchen from her room like this and was asking for help and actually might have started to whimper. Chris and I thought that this was so funny I couldn't help but to take a picture. As soon as I did, she started laughing. So Chris helped her unbutton the buttons so that she could pull it all the way on. My kids are strange and funny all the time.

T-Man ---

Thinks that this is the way to pose for pictures.

I don't know if there are words enough to explain this picture. But this is Smartie Pants. She's always doing something that's off the wall bizarre and then makes us laugh.

So my problem ....

** READ AT YOUR OWN STOMACH's RISK.

So the other night I was getting ready for the date with my husband.

Place: Thanksgiving Point

Time: 6:30pm

Date: Thursday Dec. 4th

We had a babysitter lined up, a previous co-worker of my husband. She was so THRILLED to get to spend time with my kids.

The PROBLEM: Well before we left to go to her house, T-Man threw up all over himself, and the living-room floor.

DO I STILL GO ?

or

Do I STAY HOME?

What would you have done??

Well, I cleaned him up, changed his clothes, and within 15 - 20 minutes he was feeling lots better. I told myself that if Grandma and Grandpa had been the designated sitters that night we wouldn't have felt that bad, leaving and we would have gone anyway. So I said the same thing with the lady that was lined up. We did, however, bring a bucket "just in case". Luckily he never needed it, but as we returned back to the sitters after our dinner, we were informed that Little Monster had just tagged the floor himself .... and I was off running down to the family room. Poor little guy looked so Sad. Luckily I planned ahead, and for whatever reason had an extra change of clothes in the diaper bag, and changed him before we headed home. Not only did he throw up before we picked him up but he did it a total of 4 more times before he fell asleep that night.

Story doesn't stop there though. Sunshine came home from school on Friday the 5th, feeling okay, but by dinner time ( a few hours after she gets home) she started saying her tummy hurt. "Oh GREAT!" Sometime during the night she came into my room crying because she threw-up in her room. I got up and cleaned the mess which covered two different blankets. Did I say how much I hate cleaning these messes up!! THEY'RE GROSS!!!

She threw up a few more times the next morning, and stayed glued to her bed Saturday. Smartie Pants started saying her stomach was hurting after returning from a baptism with her dad, and sister and brother. *** DING DING DING!!!! Warning SIGN!!

Guess What?? Yep. Her too. During the night she threw up, luckily she managed to get it into the toilet. Mostly. I woke up Sunday morning to use the bathroom to find that she tagged the seat!! So I had to go fetch down my Clorox Wipes and clean off the seat, throw away the toilet paper, because somehow she got it on there too. But the one thought going through my head was this, " Of course, I have to go to the bathroom something bad, and now I get slowed down because I have to sanitize the toilet RIGHT NOW!!" -- if you know me, you know when I gotta go, I better go NOW!!

Luckily everything worked out okay. So most of today they have been resting and laying down, and whining here and there, and whining some more here and there, but hopefully this week they will be better.

But what I forgot to tell you was who started it. That's right Sleeping Beauty wasn't feeling good on Monday after Family Home Evening and didn't want more than one cookie that DH made for refreshments. A few minutes later while I was wanting to watch HEROES -- yes I WATCH IT!!, I hear the noise -- and again, and again. I get up to check on her and all over the bathroom floor. She didn't even make it to the toilet. All I have to say is, I'm glad I'm not prego because that was GROSS!!!

But all this on top of them all suffering from Strep Throat during Thanksgiving and now this.

But the reason I wanted to share this story is so my kids will know the things I went through in being their MOM!! To let them know that moms don't always get to to the things that they want, they have to take care of things that are GROSS, and NASTY.

________________________________________________________________

I also have to say that I had fun, getting ready for that date on Thursday. I wish I would have taken a picture of the two of us just before we left, but I forgot. So here are just a few pictures -- I'm not usually vain, but I really like how this turned out.

After I got my hair to this point, I gathered it in the back gave a little twist up and clipped it with a butterfly clip - or whatever you call those. And let the curls cascade down the back of my head. I had my bangs curled, but obviously here they weren't. And I was wearing a green shirt under a red shirt (the layered look) with a long flowy black skirt. Some day I'm getting my hair permed again, because I LOVE the way my hair looks while it's permed. Hopefully soon, I can do that again.

That's not on the agenda for today.

I've been contemplating this for a while. I always wonder how my day is going to turn out and as it happens find myself saying " That's not on the agenda for today."



What on Earth might I be referring to??



Well where do I start? Maybe at the beginning -- that's always a great place to start.

First of all --- I'm so not a morning person, never have been and find it hard to be when I am supposed to be one. So that said, each day is started off already on the wrong foot because I'm not a morning person. So I wake up not as early as Good Moms do, you know the kind I'm talking about -- those ladies who have everything together and a place for everything and they get out of bed at like 5am. They work out, they make a hot breakfast for their family and they wake their kids up and the kids all quickly obey, and get dressed into their clothes that are neatly set out and shoes are easy to find, and there are always socks mated to be worn. They feed the kids and then realize that it is time to leave for school, so that they will arrive at least 10 minutes early. The kids all quickly get into the car and off they go. They never speed, because why would they need to, they are always 10 minutes early. They have the intellectual conversations about what's going on in the world, and about global warming, and such junk like that. The papers that have needed to be signed and turned back in our dilligently done the night before and placed in the back packs that, every child remembers to take every morning.





STOP !!! WAIT!!!! I want to make sure that you know I'M NOT THIS WOMAN!!!



For me, the morning typically goes like this --



Most kids are put to bed around 8:30 but fail to fall asleep before 11pm at night. (might have something to do with the fact that they all share a room and feed off each other and talk into the night, and keep each other up all night) With baby boy staying up because he fights his sleep and I'm exhausted trying to figure out how and what to do without feeling like a failure because I can't figure this one out. After several attempts and a few hours it's nearing midnight and he finally falls asleep due to exhaustion. And I follow shortly. So I spend my night trying to get him to go to sleep and can't -- wash any dishes, fold any laundry, read a book, or ANYTHING!!! I'm so SAD!!! I looked forward to this time, and now I don't have it at all!! Hopefully this won't last forever. Then baby boy wakes up a few times during the night comes running into my room screaming and crying and wanting to be with mommy. That's fine, I'm too tired to get up and deal with him, so I let him lay beside me for tonight. I'm sandwiched between the baby, and the DH -- I don't reccomend it if you like to have your space some of the time. But it does make for good snuggling in the morning.



** Oh wait I was supposed to discuss how my morning goes: Well after getting little sleep, and not much of it was a deep sleep, I have to wake to get my kids up and ready for school. It's 7:30 and they need to leave in 40 minutes so that they get to school 10 minutes early. They whine and complain, and tell me how they don't feel good, and how tired they are (maybe because they kept each other up all night -- just a guess). So I have to pry them up from their beds, pull the covers off from them, and sometimes even dump water when someone doesn't want to "wake" up. I'm lucky if I've remembered to wash the few clothes that they can wear to school and have them clean. So we're usually pulling out the clothes from the dryer because I remembered to start them late the night before and somewhere when I was awaken in the night threw them into the dryer so that the clothes would be dried. Because I so don't have it together!!! They usually don't have socks ready to wear, because I sometimes miss getting all the socks because they aren't in the laundry basket to be washed and I hate digging around the room and under beds trying to find the dirty critters. I am searching like MAD, minutes before we need to leave trying to find socks, just in time to hear someone say "WHERE ARE MY SHOES??" "WHERE IS MY BELT? IT'S LOST!!"



And then seconds after hearing this -- remember that these kids need to eat food, the cereal never lasts very long, and the fruit gets eaten in just a few days so then I resort to grab a piece of bread and take it with you. At which I get a lot of complaints and then grab RITZ crackers to appease some of the kids. *that doesn't always work though!



As soon as I've found everyone a pair of socks I am just in time to hear two of them SCREAMING at each other, getting mad because of something dumb, and come back to say " I'm sorry that wasn't on the agenda for today, try it again some other time"



So we're running out the door finally and realize that I didn't even dress the baby and the older boy doesn't have shoes on, and put his pants on backwards and wants his blankie which he left inside. So I make a mad dash in the house again, grab the blankie, see a back pack that got left on the floor and realize I didn't sign two pieces of paper and grab those too! Run back outside jump in the van, and realize once again, that the older boy isn't buckled in his seat, so I open the door run around the car and put his staps on and buckle him in. Run around the front of the car back to the driver seat jump in and close my door. Off we go, by now we'll be lucky if we can make it before the bell rings.



Mind you I haven't gotten a shower probably forgot to brush my hair, and still have my bed head, (WHICH IS BAD!! VERY SCARY!) Heck sometimes, I'm not completely dressed, like certain underclothing which adds some support to my upper region might not make it on in time to make the trip to the school. So then I just throw on big sweatshirts and go. So needless to say I'm a SCARY SIGHT TO BEHOLD!!



I'm trying my hardest not to speed, and everytime I see a police car, get FREAKED out. Luckily I don't see the lights come on, but sometimes they have and the timing was just so -- so that I thought they were after me, and then they speed on past me. Whew!!

I finally pull up to the school to let the girls out of the car, and then have my youngest decide to have a REALLY BAD DAY and then just cry at the car, which makes me sad, but know that she needs to be at school that day and then looking as bad as I do, but trying to be a good mom, get out of my car, leaving it in the front of the school and walk inside with her to her class. She still is sad, and sees her teacher and finally decides to go in because it's okay. But sometimes she still has issues. But we'll talk about those later. I get back home, and proceed to eat something, and settle issues between my boys, try to get in a shower or bath, and then try to start the daily chores.

Everyday is like a circus act in my house, and I'm the Ring Master or rather my husband might be. Who knows??? I have hope restored when I hear other more mature mothers (Meaning their kids are beyond this stage at which I am at) say that they won't be like this very long. I pray every night that I won't do anything rash that will inflict harm on any of them, when I'm inpatient, tired, hungry, sick, hurt, or whatever the case might be. As long as I can keep them alive till then, I might not have too many of these "that's not on the agenda for today" moments.

So I know that I must be the only Mom, who ever has a bad morning with kids that don't want to co-operate and do as they are supposed to. To you moms, I wish I could be more like you and have my act more together but I guess that is what one of my weaknesses are because I seriously have issues with this and don't really see any way out of it anytime soon. But I hope in the dismal days of winter that Sunshine will come through and light the way to beat this weakness.

So What do you think??

Okay so here are some side by side comparisons of myself at age 5, and my three daughters. Here is Sleeping Beauty on the right. This was taken July 2006. She was 6 years old. Here is Smartie-Pants in First grade so she was 6.

And here is Sunshine when she had her 5Th birthday.

MY METAMORPHOSIS --
Kindergarten picture at age 5:
One of my Senior Pictures 1995 is when the picture was taken, but I graduated June 1996.
Christmas 2005 :

Family visit to Cornbelly's 2007 :

March 2008 - right after I had my cyst issue.

(SIDENOTE: Do something better to my hair -- yuck!! It's so straight and stiff. Ugh. I liked it better when it was long and "CURLY" -- too bad it costs so much to get it permed.) I think that is what is missing about my life right now. I used to have perms so much, but now that I'm married and have to "share" what little money we have -- there isn't any leftover to do that anymore.

OFF TO SCHOOL..... AGAIN

One of the cutest things Heidi said when she saw the desks, " I GET MY OWN DESK?" She seriously didn't know that she would get her own desk because in Kindergarten last year they just used big tables that about five kids would sit around and share. She did a lot better this year on her first day compared to last year.
Her very own desk with her own name tag and everything. She's growing up in front of my eyes and I can't even believe it.
Katherine is just so darn cute for just about any picture that she's in. Here she is on her first day of 3rd grade. My girls feel really special because they got to buy their backpacks in West Virginia while we were there. So they can feel like no one else around here will have the SAME backpack, so far I haven't heard whether they have seen any or not.
Already jumping right into the work!! Keep her BUSY!! I hope she doesn't get bored this year. And that she stays on top of her homework and doesn't slack.
Here are all three -- Kaylee of course, looks so nervous!! I'm not quite sure why. But she's loving school now!! They wouldn't stand still after this first "lousy" picture. So I couldn't get another one where they were all well seen, and not hiding in shadows. Poor Heidi was distracted by something else, and wouldn't even look. Oh well.

First Day of School: Poor Kaylee actually has a mouthful of MISSING teeth!! She was slow in losing them so now she's one of the few that actually has a huge GAP in her smile.

She was "embarrassed" I think, because I stepped into the classroom for a few quick minutes to take a few pictures. Of course, I know nothing about "lighting, or ..... any of the other Photography skills" so all my pictures come at you totally BARE and AMATEUR although some day I hope to remedy that by taking on some new "SKILLS" -- as Napoleon Dynamite would say.

My life seems more "enjoyable" for the most part with the girls at school again, but then again, I still have two ornery boys to take care of still at home. Boy are they BUSY, FIESTY, and PLAYFUL, and LOVING when they want to be. I hope they all do well with their classes this year.

What did you do today?

Do you ever get that question asked of you when your husband comes home? Well my husband didn't ask this of me but if he had he would have had a mouthful coming right at him, I didn't even put everything on here.

Okay so today .....

1. Rotate the tires. check
2. Buy a tripod. check
3. Get the oil changed. check
4. Get all the kids hair cut, CHECK, CHECK, CHECK, CHECK, CHECK (And I might add that the haircuts all look WAY CUTE!!! )
5. Find the last bag to use for clothes on the trip. check
6. Wash more laundry ..... C......H.......E......
7. Make dinner --- Check
8. Get kids to bed ----- oh yeah, I should be doing that anytime now.
9. Pack First Aid Kit. Check
10. Make reservations for our stay in Indiana. CHECK (took a lot of calling and checking but found something where we can all stay in the same room -- who cares if the kids will have to sleep on the floor.)
11. Finish packing the clothes for Heidi, Thomas, & Ethan. And make sure Katherine and Kaylee have all their stuff packed.
12. Take a breather and eat some ice cream after the kids go to bed.... oh wait -- I finished that off the other night maybe I'll be running to get some more when Chris is home from his class. Hopefully the kids will be in bed by then.


So as you can see -- I've been really busy today and I managed to get all this done while tending to the cuts and scrapes, and the fighting, and phone calls, and trying to make food, and cleaning out the laundry room shelf. I just always seem bombarded with kids while I'm really trying to get projects done. Somedays it just doesn't seem very FAIR!!! Yes, I know, not many things are but hey --- once in a while is that really too much to ask for??

I really am ready to get out of Utah !! A nice change of scenery will do me GOOD!!! Make me come home all refreshed and feeling like I can tackle a birthday a week later (Heidi will be 6!) and then school will start on August 20th!!! Then I'll get crazy busy with the school happenings again. I need this break away from my everyday happenings, even though I'll still be the MOM and have to do my motherly duties. aagghhh!! Someday I can take a vacation and not have little ones to totally tote around and change diapers on. I mean come on... I need to be patient he's growing up so FAST!! He's already almost 16 months old!!!!

More and More Milestones

Katherine has lost her 4th TOOTH !!!




Now I like to call her "doublewide" -- because of the big gap on the top.











Everything goes into this kids mouth!!! I sure wish that the older ones would learn to keep things picked up and put away.














And LOOK here he has TWO teeth that you can see well -- they both came in when when he was 7 months old.


















Just recently Ethan has started to stand up to various furniture around the house. Isn't that crazy!!!! He's growing up too fast and he's already 9 months old.