My Girl

It has been so nice to have my girl home again. Our normal sitter Jess came over yesterday morning to go with us to get GG from camp. Then we went over to her best friends house to pick her up and drop Red off so he could have a play date with his friend! Once all that happened we were on our way to get her from camp. We got there a little earlier than expected which actually worked out pretty good. We grabbed her stuff and loaded it into the van and the kids played at the park. I went to find her and she was still in the mess hall eating breakfast. As I was standing outside with a guy from our church his daughter and GG come up to the window and wave to us. That was the first time I got to see her. I was so happy. About two seconds she started crying. They weren't letting the kids out of the mess hall for another 10 minutes and she just wanted to get a hug from me. So I lost it and shed some tears. As soon as they let them out she ran to me and I gave her the BIGGEST hug ever. Then I called Monkey and the rest of them over and once she saw her friend it was girl screams to the max. Too cute. We watched her end program got to see part of the DVD of the week and heard some of the songs they sang throughout the week. Her counselors told me she got about 20 pieces of mail that week! A big thank you to everyone who sent her mail and you know who are you she LOVED it! Of course, we sent her a package too. She was pretty bummed about loosing her black bag. It had some of the contents of the package she got from us, candy, her watch, second camera, hair brush, sunscreen, and bug spray. Well the boys are at a play date and Peanut is sleeping so I am going to go have a tea party with GG she just told me it is ready. I'm off...

Report cards are in!

I received GG and Monkey's report cards and the scores from their Iowa testing. So beware there is going to be some major proud mama bragging!!! I'll start with Monkey...he got one B+ and 7 A's. For all 4 quarters he only got 2 B's and the rest were A's. I would say that is a pretty successful 1st grade year. He did really good on his Iowa testing too. On the sheet of the Iowa scores there is a column that has the grade equivalent for their score in that area. He scored in 1st grade for two areas (which is what he is in) and 2nd grade is 7 areas, 3rd grade is 4 areas! I am so proud of him. He is the youngest in his grade and a boy which some people would say are two strikes against him but from his scores you can tell that he is doing great!

On to GG...this girl never ceases to amaze me. Her report card had nothing but A's and out of the 36 she had 20 A+'s. She isn't even home yet to know her grades either. Now on to her Iowa scores they are unreal, just to let you know. I'll do the same thing I did with Monkey's. She is at 3rd grade for 1 area, 4th grade for 2 areas, 5th grade for 8 areas, and 6th grade for 2 areas. She was in 2nd grade when she tested and she scored mostly 3 grades or more above!!! She is one smart little cookie I'm telling you. And not only is she smart but her teacher told me several times that she would help the kids in class that were struggling with different concepts. I am just so proud of both of my kids and their grades. But most of all for who they are and who they are turning into.

Just for Peanut and Red if you are reading this I love you too. You just aren't in school yet so I have no grades to report for you :)

***Must UPDATE!*** So over the last couple of weeks we have gained a new nonresident living in our house. She is J's younger sister who just graduated High School. Since she has moved in changed her address to ours we also received her report card in the mail along with our kids. She got all A's as well for the last quarter and had a very impressive report card the whole year to boot. We are so proud of her too! And yes, she was the anonymous comment!!! GO LIZ :)

Endoscopy

This morning was my first and hopefully last endoscopy. I wasn't nervous at all last night before I went to bed or this morning when I woke up. I only got nervous when my sis-in-law came to the house to drive me to the appointment. Everything went smoothly with check in and what not. Once they wheeled me into the room and I saw my doctor all I wanted was for them to put me out. I didn't want to hear or see anything else that was going on, I'm a wimp like that. I guess when it was over the doctor came and talked to me and I was asking him questions but I don't remember any of that. HA. As for as the scope went he didn't see any ulcers or any other major concerns. He did biopsy something and I'm not sure how many he took, but that will come back in about 2 weeks. I was so sleepy afterward and all I wanted to do was lay down and keep sleeping. When I got home I did go lay down until J got home and he came in and woke me up and I had a headache at that point. I think the fact that Peanut woke me up about 5 times last night and then J woke me up before he left for work didn't help me being so tired. I'm not a very good patient though. I ate a beef sandwich for dinner and when I was almost done with it I started to feel funny in my stomach. I think I should of eaten stuff that was softer. Oops! We'll see if it affects me tomorrow morning when I get up. I am Praising the Lord that everything went great and that the worst didn't happen. At first I was worried that something bad would happen and I wouldn't get to go pick GG up from camp.

This week

Have I told you just how great it is to have J home?! But at the same time how weird it is to be missing my oldest this week. I love getting a break when J gets home from work and having help and getting to do fun things with him. We did and do fun things without him it is just better with him, ya know. If you are friends with me on facebook you saw the pictures of Peanut getting herself ready for the pool. Needless to say, it just hung off of her. It was pretty funny. Anyways, I ended up taking the kids to the pool and it worked out pretty good. I was really missing GG though when Red had to go potty, I usually take the baby and Red and let the two older kids stay in the pool together. Well I had to improvise and told Monkey he couldn't go past the mark in the pool until I got back. It worked out but made me really miss my girl. I talked to one of the counselors from our church and she said that she is taking good care of GG and that she is doing great. That made me feel better though I still miss her, I know she is having a blast. Well I just declared no more tv for the day so I better get moving and do some fun things with these guys! Have a great day, I know we will!

Total Randomness

Today was a first for me and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it. First let me tell you what that first is...I dropped off my oldest baby girl at camp for the week. I will not get to talk to her on the phone for a week. I am excited for her to be getting this experience. She is beyond excited about being there, she kept asking when we were going to leave. I am sad that I will not get to see all the cool things she is doing and get to talk to her throughout the week. I am nervous about putting her into someone else's care. Though there was only 7 girls in her cabin with 2 counselors so there was 3 empty beds. I just worry about stupid stuff but not really that stupid...you know things like ticks, will someone check her head every night? Make sure she brushes her hair and teeth everyday, changes her clothes and especially her underwear? She is growing up but she is still my little girl and she is some what on her own. I am excited for her before there are 6 girls from our church at the camp and 3 counselors from our church too. She knows plenty of people if she gets scared or homesick. 2 of the girls from our church are in her cabin this week and I hope and pray that she becomes better friends with them and that she also makes new friends too. But let me tell you this camp has some of the coolest things for her to do. They have a zipline, a huge swing that 3 people get harnest onto and then pulled up about 100 feet and then let go (the parents where able to ride this swing but by the time we got her registered and stuff we missed it by about 3 people), next year I am so going on it!!! There is also a climbing wall, petting zoo, trails, crafts, a canteen, and swimming. She is going to have a blast and I can't wait to hear all about it. If you want to send her mail email me and I will give you the address. The letters have to get out by Thursday or she won't get them by the time she leaves on Saturday :) I also want to go up and help next year while she is at camp and J is planning on helping the week Monkey goes. I think he might have a harder time being away though he will get to see the camp 2 times before next year, we'll see.

The kids made J cards for Father's Day. I asked them questions about daddy and they answered them. I printed them off and they drew pictures on the paper. He loved it. The other gift was that I cleaned the van while he was in Canada. I took everything out and vacuumed it. It looks nice. He hates a dirty vehicle so this was a great and inexpensive gift I just had to use some electricity to vacuum it!

I have my procedure done in 4 days and I am really kind of calm and at peace with it though we'll see how I am doing on Wednesday. I have already decided that I am taking a sleeping pill that night so that I get sleep!

Oh and today I was sitting in Sunday School and my phone started vibrating. I look and the number said 000 0212 something. I showed J the number and he shrugged his shoulders and then I showed the girl on the other side of me who is a missionary and she said that is was an international number. It finally clicked that it was my mom calling from GERMANY. She had called on Tuesday and my phone didn't even ring and I got her message about 3 hours after she called, weird. Well I didn't get it in time and I was so bummed. When we came home I jumped on the computer was going to update my status but show that my mom left me a instant message. I responded to her and left without updating the status. Well on the way to camp she called and I got to talk to her and my grandma! The kids were excited to get to talk to them too. I put them on speaker phone :) One last thought, last week the kids had one grandpa in Canada, a grandma in Germany, and another grandma 2 states away on a mission trip. If you got to the end of this random post congrats you win...hmmm nothing sorry! But thanks for reading to the end :)

Oh what a night!

We had the loudest scariest storm last night and this morning. I woke up to a big bang at 3 something this morning. I was afraid we were going to lose power, especially since J is gone and that the crawl space would flood. Both girls ended up in my bed by 4am which was fine just made for notsogreat sleep the last part of the night. Then my mom-in-law called me this morning to let me know that the guys might not being coming in today because of the weather. I guess before they left Joe told her if the day they are suppose to be picked up is bad weather that they are staying a day longer. If that is the case essential what will happen is I will get GG prepared for camp with all the kids in tow and then I will be bringing her there without J and he won't get to see her for another week. I am really praying that they don't have bad weather there and are able to get their pick up time today. I will know by about 10pm if they are back in the states or not.

Other than that the kids last day of soccer camp was today. They were suppose to do a soccer Olympic something or other but because of the lightning they had to bring it all inside and didn't get to do the games. They had a great time anyway and I got a picture of the kids with most of their coaches from this week. Well that is it from me please pray that the guys come back today...

UPDATE!!!! SO I got a call from J at 4pm today telling me that they are back in the states!!! I am so excited that it will be over tomorrow night.

Broke Down

Last night I broke down after all the kids went to bed, I called my friend and cried to her on the phone, Thanks Adina for being there for me. I felt so overwhelmed yesterday with making a quick decision about the procedure and not J here to talk about it before I said yes and then with the kids soccer camp. Monday when I went to watch them early they were having a water break and some of the language I was hearing was not appropriate but I gathered my kids near me and hoped that they didn't hear anything. Well unfortunately there were water breaks before this point and they had already heard some stuff. Monkey comes home asking what pussy meant. Well there are many meanings to this word and I'm sure it wasn't being used to refer to a kitty cat. I totally forgot about it until last night when GG comes in my room and tells me about a little boy talking about what is f followed by uck? Both my kids were clueless as was Monkey's friend from school. Everything they guessed the boy said no to. Finally he said sound it out to which GG said the word. The little boy says, " You said a swear word." At this point she is crying and saying, "How was I suppose to know?" I reassured her that she isn't in trouble but that she should say that word again. We talked about not saying words we don't know the meaning too because it might be a bad word. I just really needed J here for some parental support. I ended up getting there a little early and talking to the coaches this morning. They were all surprised but when I told them the kid's name they weren't. They talked to the whole group and the water breaks were heavily suprivised today. Oh and the doctor's office called and said I can't do the procedure on Monday at that location because they don't except our insurance there so I have to go Thursday next week at the hospital. So pray for me on Thursday at 11:30 is the procedure!!! Still thankful it isn't in August but when I talked to the nurse today she said they had another cancellation and it was for today...told her yeah I can't do today :)

Today was a good day though after camp we went to a birthday party for a girl at church and then we went to see Adina and her boys, went out to dinner with them and then over to the fire station where her husband works. The kids had a blast and I am so thankful for wonderful friends. Also I wanted to mention that Peanut on Monday started to realize daddy wasn't around and she was looking for him. She has looked for him the past few days too. She sure loves him. And he scheduled a blog post for today that was really sweet. If you are interested in what he wrote click on his link on the sidebar, too lazy to actually link him.

Answers?

That is the question. I had another appointment with the GI doctor and he wants to do an endoscope. Where they go down through your throat and take a look at your stomach and top of your small intestines. He is going to biopsy something while he is in there to check for Celiac's Disease. He did a blood test for it but that isn't always accurate. After my appointment and I went out to schedule the procedure they had a cancellation for Monday. I can't even talk to J and discuss this with him. I just went ahead and took the appointment because the next one isn't until the middle of August. I don't want to do anything that close to going to Disney. I am freaking out people. I know that this procedure is done quit often and is very low risk and what not but HELLO I have to be put under. I have all these dumb thoughts coming in my head and I really have to take them captive and just know that God is in control of this whole situation. I mean really to have a cancellation the day I have my appointment for Monday?! Totally God. I am just hoping and praying that this brings answers and closesure to my pain and suffering.

Other than that this week is moving so slowly. The kids are being great but I miss my hubby so much. We have been keeping quite busy. Today we went over to friends to play and Sarah helped me with Disney stuff she is the BEST!

Single parenthood starts today...

The plan was to go on my dad's boat today but that got changed by the weather. No fun to be on the water in the rain. Before J left he gave me a coupon for 2 hours free bowling, free shoe rental and a free pitcher of pop. I called my dad and he said that sounded like a good alternative plan so bowling we went. My friend Amy came too, she was planning on going on the boat as well. The first game Red got a strike and was the highest score for the kids with 100. The kids all used bumpers. The second game Monkey beat everyone playing even my dad with a score of 133. he was so proud of that score and he should be! After bowling we came back to my dad's house for some ice cream and a nap for Peanut. My dad got nap too. Amy and I got to talk and the kids watched some tv...there really isn't anything for little ones to do at my dad's house. As soon as Peanut woke up from her nap we took the kids to see the movie UP. It was pretty cute though Red got really scared a few times. We also got to talk to J and see him on the webcam in Minnesota. I have the hotel number so I will be able to call him tonight before the kids go to bed! The next nights he left letters for me to read to them before bed since he will be out of cell phone range. Our week is pretty busy with activities so hopefully that will help the time fly by and us not miss daddy so much. Let our adventure begin :)

Peanut and Red

I decided today that I would take the kids to Toys R Us, both of the boys got gift cards from their birthday parties. We get there and everything was going great. They were staying with me and looking at toys. They weren't arguing about the ones that were too much money and so on. I was feeling like the shopping trip was a complete success. Then we check out. As soon as I finished paying and got my credit card back in my purse. I see out of the corner of my eye the cart falling over on top of Red with Peanut in the seat up front. Both of them crying. I pulled Peanut up after unbuckling her and GG helped get the cart off of Red. I quickly looked her over to make sure she didn't hit her head on anything, she was just scared but not hurt, praise the Lord. Red on the other hand got scraped up by the falling cart on top of him. I thought I'll get them home give them lunch and put the two little ones down for a nap. After Peanut got done eating I took her out of her chair and 5 minutes later I hear a huge thud followed by her hurt cry. I thought this can't be good. Sure enough she crawled onto the table to get back in her chair and had fallen out. She had a goose egg on her forehead. This little girl has no fear I tell you.

Rewind to Sunday. We were at my sister-in-law's graduation ceremony. I had taken Peanut out of the room because she was being loud. I let her run around outside but they are many stairs and she was making me nervous how fast she was running towards them. I took her over by the preschool enterance. There are two sets of doors before you enter the building. I thought this will be a good place to let her run that will be safe and quiet. After about 10 minutes it started getting hot in there and I said, "Let's go back outside." She told me, "No" So I walked out, we had gotten in so I didn't think the doors were locked. Do you see where this is going? As soon as the door closed she started crying and I went to open it but it was LOCKED. I had to run around to the inside door to let her out. By the time it took me to get there about 1 minute there was a security guard standing there he says, "Is this your baby?" I then explain how she got locked in there and I had to go around. She had tears running down her face but I had to leave her to get her out. Oy.

On a happier Peanut note. She has been waking up at about 4 in the morning and I take her back to her bed and she goes back to sleep which is great and then she wakes up a few hours later and I let her in the bed. Well the last few mornings when I pick her up and put her in the bed she says, "YAY" It is the cutest thing in the world.

Library Day

The kids have been reading a lot since school has been out so I figured we could take a walk to the library and get some new reading material. The summer reading program starts next Monday so we'll be back. I got 4 big chapter books for the older kids and I to read together. About a month ago or so GG was telling me how sad she was that I don't read to her anymore. I read to the little two but the two big kids can read for themselves. I started thinking about it and decided that if she is asking to spend that kind of time with me I am going to jump at it because there is going to come a day when she isn't going to want me reading to her. We started reading the first book, Because of Winne~Dixie today after quiet time. After the first chapter they all asked for more so I read the second and they didn't want me to stop again, well Red did but the other two wanted to keep going. They talked Red into one more chapter! And guess what they didn't want to stop AGAIN. Though we promised Red only one more chapter so we stopped and I told them we could read some more before bed tonight, they were happy all around. Now they are watching the movie we got from the library...Little Orphan Annie as they call it! I got J and I Mall Cop for tonight or tomorrow to watch. Our library is the best about getting new releases and then we don't have to pay to watch them! That is pretty much it from us.

Parties galore

It all started with Monkey's birthday Wednesday at Chuck E Cheese. Then it was a friend's party Friday at Pump it Up (so fun), then Red's party at our house today, and then a surprise baby shower for my friend Kristy who is having TWINS, (so excited), then a graduation party tomorrow, then a graduation ceremony tomorrow, and it ends with a swimming birthday party for GG's friend. Though I only threw 3 of the parties I am tired. We are having a blast but I think I'm getting over stimulated, HA.

A little funny for you. At Pump it Up yesterday Red fell funny or something while we were there and he comes up to me with his pointer finger and says, "My toenail hurts mommy, really bad." I looked at him and said as serious as anything. "Honey that is your finger nail." The ladies at the table with me started laughing as soon as he walked away. What a fun goofy little guy. The other day he was with J and in a matter of 2 minutes he asked J 4 different questions and none of them were related to the one before. He said it was just so funny. But who knows maybe in his head they were related to each other!

Oh the LAST day of school!!!

I can't even begin to tell you how exciting it is to NOT have to wake up tomorrow with an alarm! It makes homeschooling really appealing. Well this morning didn't exactly start the way I was hoping it would. I wanted to get to school right at 8:15 when the doors open so that I could get pictures of the kids with their teachers. We got out to the van on time and everyone buckled in and the van wouldn't start. THE. VAN. WASN'T. STARTING. Then I remembered that last night GG was reading a book in the van and had her light on and didn't turn it off. It must of drained the battery. I called J to see if he could come home and take the kids to school and then come back and jump the van. I didn't want them being late. I tried the van again when I called him just to make sure and nothing happened again. So we waited. About 5 minutes later our neighbor came out and said if we could get the van out of the garage then he would jump it for us. The 3 older kids and I started pushing and nothing was moving. I tried getting it out of park and it wouldn't move. I thought if I turn the key half way I might be able to get it in Neutral. Then...it started for me. I was so happy though we were now running later than I wanted to be. The kids still got to school on time and I even managed to get quick pictures with their teachers. Did I mention that today is beautiful? The little kids and I came home and I finished up the laundry that was started yesterday and I took them to the park until the big kids got out of school. Then started the water works with my oldest. She really loved her teacher this year and she is going to get to have her again next year because she is moving up to 3rd grade. She cried last year and the year before. She is a very deep emotion person. After GG gave her teacher the last hug of the day her teacher told me that if I wanted she would take her home. I quickly said, "I'd miss her too much." Her teacher than told me what a great kid she is and how she has a heart of gold. She is always helping and caring about other people first, it really made my day to hear that. I know that but sometimes it's hard to focus on that when you are in the thick of things with life. I truly am blessed. For lunch we met J at Subway to celebrate the last day of school! Oh yeah, a funny thing that happened today was I told the kids when they had their friends sign their yearbooks to get their phone numbers so that they could do play dates during the summer. When I picked up Monkey under his teachers name was her phone number. He had asked her for it and she gave it! I had told her what I told the kids about the play dates and she said that she would love to have a play date with Monkey. I could bring him to school and she would take him to McDonalds to play and then she even told him that too. I really love this school and how much the teachers really love and care about the students. Red's teacher next year is having him come in a pick his seat and locker like the other two got to do as well. Another cool thing that is so unique to our school is that since it is preschool through High School the kids have the option of buying a yearbook. This year our whole family made it in, they used the Christmas picture from our house! It worked out cool because 3 of our kids go to the school and J, his brother and sister are alumni. The plan for this afternoon/evening is to get a list of fun activities that the kids want to do this summer so that we have a check list of fun. This is when we are going to introduce our summer schedule, rules and chores.

Flood of emotions...

Today my littlest boy, my third child graduated from preschool. I was so proud of him and so sad that he is growing up so fast before my eyes. They had their graduation program and I am so happy that I won't have to sit through another one of them with a younger child again! Peanut was terrible at shacking me while I recorded Red so I am afraid that I might get sea sick when watching it later. At least I got him! Tomorrow is Red's actual last day of school, they are playing games and having a pizza party. He is so excited about it and it gives me one last day with just the baby to get some needed shopping done.

Another emotion I am feeling is overwhelmed. Tomorrow we are celebrating Monkey's 7th birthday though he won't be 7 until July. I wanted to make sure that his school friends would be able to come and not be on vacation. That is the one downfall of having a summer birthday, but that is about it! He is having his party at Chuck E Cheese because that is where GG had her 7th when she was in 1st grade and now it is a tradition. There are going to be 10 of his friends coming so it should be great fun. Then on Saturday we are finally getting around to having Red's 4th birthday which happened last month. This one is at our house and over the lunch hour and now that it is getting closer I am feeling the pressure of actually preparing for it. I know everything will be fine once it is here it is just the build up before hand. Though I am really excited to celebrate both my little guys birthdays so it is just a weird thing.

J and I are going to sit down tonight and talk about a schedule for the summer if the house is going to stay somewhat cleaned I am going to need help from the troops. They are really good with helping so it is just a matter of setting down and giving them chores to do. I also want to make sure that amongst all the fun playing at the parks and pools that they kids continue with their reading and math skills and other academics. I am really looking forward to summer break and having the kids home full time.

The last thing is J's job. He is going back to patrol for the summer and at first he was told that he would be on midnights. I about had a heartattack. All 4 of the kids home when he was going to need to be sleeping was a task I didn't want to undertake. Though the Lord is good and he got his new summer schedule and he is working days!!! Though it isn't what he has now because he will work 6 days and then get 3 off it is WAY better than midnights. I am excited about the fact that he will get to go to the pool with us or meet us at the pool quiet a bit with this shift, he gets off at 3pm instead of 4pm like right now.

Rocked the NURSERY!

Today I feel like I got so much accomplished I just wish it was at my house. ;) There were 5 of us girls/ladies whatever you want to call us, at church and we went through ALL the nursery toys and donated a ton of them to the church garage sale. Then we moved all the things we were keeping into the make shift nursery while we renovate the old nursery. I am so excited about this project. The guys are going to go on Wednesday and Thursday nights to demolish the cabinets and other random things on the walls, taking down the one wall dividing the two rooms, taking out the ceiling and flooring. It is going to be so much nicer when it is all finished. The only sad thing is that Peanut will be the only one of our kids that get to enjoy the new improved nursery and toddler rooms. Oh well, at least I can say I got to be apart of it. I wish I would of taken some before pictures...but it's too late now.

Peanut happenings...yesterday at church I gave my friend who just had a baby about 2 months ago my nursing apron. I only nurse Peanut at home a few times a day and I don't use it anymore so I thought why not. Well last night at a party my friend pulled out the apron and Peanut recognized it and had the worst face of panic I have ever seen. It was like she was trying to figure out why this lady had her nursing thing. She watched her and as soon as she stopped nursing and set it down Peanut ran up and snatched it away and brought it right to me like mama here save it for me. I felt so bad, I didn't think she would have that kind of an attachment to her nursing cover. She will get over it soon I hope. Then this morning we had library books due and I remember just as I was going to get in the shower with Peanut. I got dressed and brought her with me naked butt! I didn't get her out at the library so no one knew but it was pretty funny.