Red!

This kid gives me so much blog fodder it is UNreal. Just a little background, my dad has gone on two overseas trips this year first to Isreal and second to London. While he was gone he bought the kids gifts, both times those gifts were pens. Apparently, there aren't many kid friendly gifts overseas? This morning after taking the two older kids to school I put Peanut down for a morning nap and turned cartoons on for Red so I could jump in the shower. During said shower Red decided that he should use his pen and color his body. He got all of his arms and legs. Looking back I should of taken a picture for the blog but I wanted to get it off before we went to our friends house for lunch! We are at our friends house having fun, the kids are playing and the grown ups are talking. Then it happens, Red falls off the swing. He comes up mud and blood all over his face. Clean him up to find he bit all the way through his tongue. He is screaming and crying and drooling all over the place. I have never seen a kid drool that much before and I've seen droolers! Once again I think this would make a good picture for the blog but I didn't have my camera. I guess I could go take a picture now, but the drama of it is gone.

Other happenings today...while we were at my friends J left a message on my cell phone. Kendra had come over to our house so we could drive together. We left her jeep in the driveway. J came home for lunch and saw her jeep. He didn't know whose it was and so he called his work and found out it was Kendra's. Anyways, he left a message on my cell saying that he came home saw a jeep in our driveway and called our towns police to have it towed. Followed by a just kidding. So I tell Kendra what the message says telling her just kidding at the end. Her face was priceless. She really thought he had it towed. I then call him and leave a message saying I didn't get the message because I had to take Red to the ER because he fell and got hurt with blood everywhere and by the way I'm just kidding. He didn't think my joke was as funny as his! Us girls thought it was pretty funny :)

Happy Birthday Honey!

Today is my husband's 28th birthday and so I thought I would list 28 things I love about him! I stole this from another blog I read and I thought it was really cute. SO here goes...

1. He loves God.

2. He leads our family in a godly way.

3. He is a great provider.

4. He is not prefect, this is a good thing.

5. He knows I'm not prefect and doesn't hold it against me.

6. He loves me wholeheartedly.

7. He is helpful around the house. Usually don't even need to ask for it.

8. He allows me free time to do my hobbies.

9. He allows me girl time, too.

10. He knows the kids aren't prefect either.

11. He knows each of the kids strengths and weaknesses.

12. He is a great encourager of them and me.

13. He loves the kids unconditionally. 

14. He is a caring father.

15. He is so handsome. I wanted to use other words but I want to keep it PG ;)

16. He is a hard worker, at his job and at home.

17. His laugh, love it.

18. His sense of humor.

19. His ability to make me laugh ALL THE TIME! I can thank him for my laugh lines, well the 

kids too!

20. His kind heart. Willing to help people anytime.

21. His smile.

22. How he loves to play the guitar I bought him a few years ago.

23. How he uses the guitar to honor God by playing at church for different things.

24. His singing voice. I think he is a great singer.

25. He grills to give me a break from cooking.

26. He is so strong.

27. He is my support.

28. He is a great man of God.


In the middle of typing out this list of things, J caught me on the computer and I tried to quickly shut it off and I did but since he knows more about computer then I he looked at something and saw that I was writing on my blog with the title of Happy Birthday Honey! Then he was joking with me that I was writing his birth story. His mom always says that he cried for the first 9 months of his life, end of story! I love you Jeff. I have been blessed to know you for these last 12 years and be married to you for the last 8 1/2 years. 

Hello World!

I'm not even going to do a sickness update because it is depressing. But I wanted to give my hubby a shout out. He just started a blog! He has a really cool video from yesterday. Go check it out here. If you listen you can hear the kids. You have to stop his music also.

Life Changing News...

For me! J put in for a specialty unit with the department and HE. GOT. IT! I am so scared out of my mind excited about this new job. He will have a day shift schedule (starting next school year, we hope) which will change my life in this way:

-I have to get up read I get to sleep in now and get the kids ready for school and take them with no help.

-I will have to go grocery shopping and run other errands with just me and Peanut. Read as I have to be responsible for all the meals by myself Since J and I have been married 8 years we have always gone grocery shopping together.

-I have to bundle up the non-schoolers to pick up the kids from school in the winter...read I hate the cold.

-I will not be home by myself during the crazy homework, dinner, bath and bedtime! Read this is the most exciting part of the new position.

-I will get my nights with my husband like normal people. Enough said!

-He can go to church with us on Wednesday nights for Children's Choir and Awana clubs. I dislike late nights by myself especially the driving at night.

I'm sure there will be other changes that occur but these are the things that stick out in my head as of now. We'll see when it actually happens. I am so proud of him getting this specialty assignment.

Excitement

So excited I just got off the phone with a lady from school who has a carrier for the back of my bike that holds two kids. This last summer we didn't ride much because I was pregnant but next summer we are going to have so much fun riding around, like two summers ago.

Last night we went to church and GlamorGirl is in the children's choir and she was very ecstatic to announce that she got a solo dancing part in the program. It was too funny when telling me about it, she went something like this, "Mom they had parts that you could sing all by yourself or you could dance all by yourself. I got the dancing part! There was only one dancing part and I got it! I am going to be on the stage all by myself DANCING!" I was surprised to learn she didn't want a singing part because the girl LOVES. TO. SING. But it will be cool to see her up there dancing, just like her mama used to do ;) Most importantly she is super excited about it. Oh yeah have I mentioned that Wednesday nights are my favorite day of the week now? I love going to church and hanging out with the other moms while my kids are being taken care of by other people I trust. On Tuesday night while I was at my bible study J and the kids made a video and left it on the computer for me when I got home and here it is...

What day is it!

OH yeah it is FRIDAY!!! It is also J's last day to work this week. This morning we went to the Mall to get his wedding band resized. He has gained 15 lbs since we got married 7 1/2 years ago and the ring was cutting into his finger we figured it was time. This afternoon it was a bit chilly outside so the kids watched a movie and it is movie day anyway so it worked out good. Then Amy came over and we went to Wal-mart and that was a nightmare. First thing on my list was a tub for GlamorGirl's dress up clothes because I had gone through her room yesterday and needed to use the tub they were in for the new baby. I found a thin tub that would slide under her bed but when it came time to get the lid for it there was none to be found. I found an employee and they informed me that another costumer, only 15 minutes earlier, wanted the same tub but they didn't have the lids. I suggested to them that they remove that size tub until the lids (in the next few days as they told me it would take) came in because it is frustrating to find a tub you want but it not have a lid. They ignored me and left them there, stupid people. Then I went to the diaper section to get a shower gift for the baby shower I'm going to tomorrow. The mom uses Luvs and the only size they had were 3 and 4 I was finding the store ridiculous at this point. This is exactly the reason we make a list for about 2 to 3 weeks of things we need from there so we don't have to go all the time. Then I checked out and one of my items rang up wrong and the guy changed it to the right price but didn't take the other price off so I ended up paying way too much for the item. I realized it once I left the store and looked at my receipt so back into that dumb store again to get the money put back on my credit card. I think they should of taken both the charges off since they screwed up and given me the item for free. But whatever. Then once I finally get to the car Amy informs me that Red's sandal had broken at the strap. I was so thankful that I had picked him up some new ones, the ones that broke were smelly and I was sick of smelling his feet after wearing them, so that was a blessing. Amy told me that God must really love me today because he has been testing me big time :)

I'm so refreshed!

J and I just got back from our over night get away! It was fantastic. The room we stayed in was huge and very home-like. We had two hard parts of the trip the first was leaving our house, our oldest, GlamorGirl held on to me for dear life when I gave her a hug goodbye and was crying. The baby was napping when we left which we had told him several times we were leaving so that made leaving easier on me, especially. We got there at 3pm for check in and went to see our room. We tried to take a nap but neither one of us could. I think it was the excitement of being away that kept us awake. So we snuggled and watched cable television, we don't have cable at home. They had a cheese and wine tasting at 5pm which we tried. It was a nice spread of fresh fruit, all different kinds of crackers, three types of cheese, and party mix. They also had 4 different types of wine and sparkling grape juice that was non-alcoholic so I could feel like a grow up too! Then we took a walk around the town and walked to dinner it was a block away from where we were staying and it was tasty. We went back to the room and got in the hot tub and started watching The World Trade Center we were getting wrinkly in the tub so we got out and moved the movie to the other television and laid in bed. When the movie was over we called the kids to tell them good night. The two older ones were excited to talk to us on the phone and told us all the fun things they got to do. Then we talked to Red and he was crying "mommy." That was the second hardest part. We got off the phone and J and I almost started crying, ok mostly me but it was hard on him too to hear our baby crying for us. I went to bed at 10pm and J watched tv in bed for awhile, this is what we do at home so I am so used to falling asleep to the tv on. I was a little upset that I ended up waking up about 3 times during the night. Once I had to pee and the other times I just woke up. We ate breakfast and came back to the room. I showered and then J surprised me. He had brought two songs from our wedding with and we danced. It was really sweet. But there was more...he had brought our wedding vows with too. Last Sunday our Pastor challenged the married men to renew their wedding vows with their wives. So he read from the Bible about marriage and then we read our vows to each other. We were both crying at this point. Afterwards we prayed together. It was so awesome. Then we checked out.

Another exciting thing that happened and I don't really remember when it was but I know we were in laying down in bed and the baby was jumping around and I grabbed J's hand and placed it on my tummy and he felt the baby move for the first time!

After we left the bed and breakfast we walked around the town and looked in all the different stores. It was a very neat little town. The buildings were very historic and it was so cool to walked into these stores that used to be houses. We bought a caramel apple with peanut butter pieces on it and we tried candy that looked just like rocks. Then we stopped for lunch at a restaurant that used to be a barn. It had the most wonderful food I had ever tasted. After lunch we headed home with a plan to stop at the Outlet mall. We made some purchases there and got back on our way home. We ordered pizza and it arrived as soon as we pulled in! The kids were so happy to see us as we were them. It just makes me realize how much I really do love those little burgers! Now they are in bed and I am going to go get my pj's on!

P.S. I really encourage you to go away with your husband for the night. We were both completely blessed by being with each other. We talked and talked and talked and more but I won't share that part *wink* *wink* It was really truly a time to reconnect as husband and wife and refresh as parents!

Life

The kids had their second day of school today and I really miss them when they are gone. But I haven't missed doing their homework with them! Our bathroom is almost finished. We have to wait for the grout to dry then it has to be cocked then more waiting for that to dry. Once that is dry we can use our new shower. We are going to seal it on Sunday and then all we have to wait for is spring to pain. I told J that the glue smell was too strong and I wanted to wait until we could open the windows to do the paining, but we picked out the color. No need for our family to be high from the paint fumes :)

As for the rest of the day we are waiting for J to get back from court then we are going to do our errands and go to the school's basketball game. I think the kids are going to wear their new school shirts!!! But right now they are making crafts at the table while Red is sleeping. I do need to do their Awana stuff with them sometime today...

I'm SICK :P

I hate being sick and especially when throwing up is involved. My sweet husband took the day off to help with the kids which I greatly appreciated. I got on here because I didn't want to forget what Red did yesterday at lunch. We went out to eat with grandma and some friends from playgroup. When his plate was empty he held both sides of the plate and pretended to drive it like a car, complete with "beep beep" sounds a car makes. It was really cute and it entertained him so well!

The big day...

J had his surgery today. It went great the doctor said but I am thinking J isn't in agreement. He is in pain and can only breath out of his mouth. I feel so bad for him. He has an appointment tomorrow and we have a few questions for the doctor. I am just praying for a fast recovery time. Nothing much else happened today I just did a lot of waiting and praying.

The week is OVER?!?!

I can't believe this week is already over...where did the time go? J and I got the kids pictures taken on Tuesday, they turned out so cute. J got the results of his CT scan and he needs to have surgery. He is a little freaked out about it so if you could keep him in your prayers that would be wonderful. He has to have surgery on his nose so he told GlamorGirl and Monkey, "When I come out of my surgery I will have black and blue eyes. My nose will have stuff in it to keep it from bleeding." You could tell Monkey was really thinking about what J was saying because his response was, "Daddy isn't going to have brown eyes like me anymore? I will be the only one with brown eyes." It was so cute the way he said it, all I could do was give him a great big hug. Yesterday the kids and I met my mom and grandma at the Mall and then we went to our friends house for a quick visit. They are expecting their 3rd baby, I am so excited for them! That's all for now...

Who's Your Daddy?

We rarely get cop cars on our street unless J stops by while he is working. Well you can image how confused Red got when a cop pulled over a car on our street, right infront of our house. The cop got out to go to the car and this is what he hears...
Red: Daadeeeeeeee Daaadeeee
Me: No baby that's not daddy
Red: Hi Daaadeeee Hi Daaadeeeeeeeeee (as he is waving to the policeman)
Me: Come this way Red that is not daddy. Let's play basketball.

This goes on for the whole 10 minutes the cop is parked on our street doing the traffic stop. Poor Red he really thought it was daddy. It is really hard to distract a 16 month old from a squad car that has its cool lights on, especially when he thinks it is his daddy! GG and Monkey laughed which didn't help my cause, go figure.

My Girl, I totally want to freeze time or just completely skip her teen years. She has a drove of boys who just really like her. It makes me feel better to know that the girls do too but if it is like this now what is it going to be like in 10 years?!?! One of the moms in the Sparks group at Awana told me tonight that her son constantly talks about GG. They see each other once a week at church. She said last week he told her that GG took her shoes and socks off and played the games barefoot. She told me that her son knows what GG is doing at all times and usually the first thing out of his mouth is something about her. I just don't know what to do but I can't say I blame them...I really like her too :)

Oh the Sweet smell of new candles!!!

I had a candle party about a month ago and the order just came in!!! We got 5 candles free from hosting the party. That was the best party I have ever had, so easy to sell those things. Plus, I got free candles which J and I love :) I hear giggles coming from the living room and as I look in there I see Monkey playing with Red and making him crack up. The girl is mesmerized by the tv, she has been begging to watch all day and I finally gave in because I needed to start dinner and I wanted some alone time on the computer. A little selfish on my part but it is the only break I have had today because J left early this morning to go snowboarding. Must be nice to just up and leave...can't do that when you have a nursling. The whole snowboarding thing was a huge debut between us yesterday on, when he should leave, and come home, and yada yada. I would have to say the children got a great lesson in learning how to handle disagreements without yelling or fighting. We talked through it at dinner with them right there. Oh yeah the kids had a blast sliding on Sunday it was funny to see them so bundled up in their snow gear. Monkey could barely move, too cute. Yesterday I got to go out to lunch with a friend, of course, the baby came with even though J said I could leave him. We went to subway and the fans entertained him while we ate and talked for over an hour. Sara kept saying, "He is such a good baby. He hasn't made a peep." She doesn't realize though that I just fed and changed him before I came so he was content. Then today the baby and I had playgroup which is fun as always. News flash, this just in :) Well not really but we have had some really cool firsts! On Sunday when we got to church GG unbuckled her seat belt, which is sometimes hard for me to do. She has been getting herself buckled and unbuckled ever since. Very exciting for mama of 3 one less person to get in and out. We are now starting to work on Monkey buckling himself. Oh and to top GG doing her own she gets out and unbuckles Monkey for me. What a *HUGE* help that has been! So if he can buckle in and she can get him out I can focus on just Red! On to that little bean. He is so close to rolling from his back to his tummy. But he has started to wave at people. It is so sweet. He is sitting up really good now with the occasional throw of the head back. I just can't believe he is getting so big. All of them need to stop growing NOW!!! Just kidding I love that they are growing and becoming self sufficient little people. That's it for now.

I was going to update last night before I went to bed but I was just too tired. J was off of work Monday through Wednesday. So here is what we did. Monday after Monkey got up from his nap we went to the Library. We haven't been there in a while and the kids really enjoyed the time there. We started out coloring pictures and the next thing I knew Monkey had written his whole name on the page. I was so amazed, because I really haven't worked with him. Just the other day his teacher sent home a page to learn how to write the e, I believe that is the only time I have sat down with him and did letter writing. His fine motor skills have really taken off since the beginning on the school year, I can totally tell when he colors pictures, he tries to stay in the lines now. I guess I should start writing more letters with him since he has the interest. My friend Julie has a little boy about Monkey's age and he is starting to write too. So when they are ready there really is no stopping them. Then we picked out some books and movies and headed home. J and I got the movie Super Size Me. There was one part I thought I was going to throw up but I didn't thank heavens. I guess you could say it motivated us to start working out. So we took "fat pictures" neither one of us are fat but we wanted a before picture to see how we change at the end of 6 weeks. I got 20 minutes of a work out before Red needed me and J got 30 minutes. Tuesday I met my friend Silva at the mall and we walked for a hour and a half. I was not as sore as I thought I would be but I could feel the work that I had done the night before! That afternoon we hung out playing with the kids all day. Then Red and I went to the LLL meeting, came home and worked out again. Yesterday Red and I went to Bible study, got the kids, came home had lunch and then Monkey and I went on a date. We went to Starbucks to get some hot chocolate and a cookie. I let Monkey pay, which he thought was cool. Then we sat down and I took his coat off and explained to him why we should take our coats off inside. As I went to sit down this lady says, "I just want to compliment you on your mothering skills. I like the way you are interacting with your child." I was a little shocked and said thanks. You never know when someone is watching what you do or say. When we got home GG wanted some one on one mommy time so we popped in the movie Ice Princess that we got from the library and snuggled on the couch. It was a cute movie and I got to hold my little girl while I watched it with her. I love my kids so much. Then last night J and I got into a discussion because he said he wanted to go snowboarding at least once on his days off...first we don't have the money for him to go every day off and secondly that is our family time. So basically it came down to I could do things on my own but I always want the kids to be with us. Which is true I like having my kids with me, how else are they going to learn how to act or behave if you keep them locked up with a babysitter???? Don't get me wrong I am all about going out with my hubby on dates which the kids *need* to stay home but other than that I like having them with me. Well tonight the kids have Cubbies and I was going to take Red shopping for J's Christmas presents but I really don't really want to be out in the cold. This morning we dropped the kids off at school and went to 3 different grocery stores and the to get Red's 6 month pictures taken. Yes he is 6 months old TODAY! I can't believe it. Tomorrow GG has her Thanksgiving program at school and so does Monkey at different times (yay) J and I are going to help with that, the kids have costumes it should be really cute, I can't wait. Then at night we have our couples small group Bible study (my dad and Roberta are babysitting, they just got back from CA and have gifts for the kids) and Sunday is Red's baby dedication. And they have next week off of school, a whole week of not getting up at 7am should be restful. Later

Things have slowed down enough for me to update this journal. The kids and I went to my mom's house last week for a couple of days which was real fun. Monkey got eaten up by mosquitoes though. Poor little guy had about 20 bites. We got back Friday night and unpacked to repack so we could go to WIU. We left here at 7am and got there about 10:30am not bad! Saturday we met friends at the park for a picnic and playing. Then went back to our hotel and swam. Sunday we slept in and went out for lunch then had some friends over to the hotel for some more swimming! That night we went to eat at Rocky's we can't go to there and not eat at Rocky's and ISS....YUM. It just happened to be the night of karaoke at Rocky's. GG wanted to sing so we convinced J to sing the "Carlene song" with her, it is the only country song that J knows absolutely all the words too. The soccer girls gave him a CD with country songs on it and that one was GG's favorite song because for some reason she thought it was about one of the soccer girls named Carlin but they call her Carley. GG was so cute she took the mic and said, "Hi Everybody!" before the song started. Then Monday we came home after seeing a few more friends on our way out of town. Tuesday it was grocery shopping and the kids school orientation. Only 5 more days til school starts...I'm getting excited ;)

This morning J and GG got up and went fishing. GG caught her first fish and it was pretty big! It was a large mouth bass about 2 pounds and at least a foot long. Yesterday morning Monkey went with J but they didn't ketch anything but still had fun. J is loving his father's day present...the fishing pole they have been using :)

I can't believe it the last two days the kids have been outside riding bikes and today it is snowing!!! J is on his days off and then he goes to midnights :( We ran some errands today and tomorrow we have a lunch date with J's mom. Saturday we have our ob tour and April from church is coming over to watch the kids, they will be excited about that. Then we have a wedding. GG's teacher was also invited to this wedding so that should be a lot of fun for GG to see her teacher outside of school. I feel bad though because we are missing a different wedding from friends at church. They are getting married 2 hours away and their reception 30 minutes from the wedding , last time we had two weddings on one day we just didn't go to either but this time I made J make a choice between the two. So we are going to the one of his friend from High School, it should be like a high school reunion...and J can show off the kids! Well I need to start dinner.

I was going to update last night I was just too tired. I ended up going to bed at 9pm! That is super early for me. I am glad that I went though because Monkey woke me up twice before it was even midnight. Anyways, yesterday the kids and I went to work then got home in time to eat lunch with Daddy on his break. Then when J got off he took the kids outside to play while I paid bills and balanced the check book. That is always so much fun. Then we bathed the kids before bed. Instead of putting them to bed right away we played hide and seek. It was so much fun. The kids would hind in the same spot each time, which was their tent in the playroom. Then J and I would hide and they would try and find us. We would yell "we're hiding" to help them find us. I tried to hide in places that I could see them looking for us and I would end up laughing so hard that they found me. J, I would have to say had the best hiding spot of all. He waited til the kids found me and then ran into the playroom and hid in their tent. After about an hour of playing that we stopped. By that time it was dark outside so we gave the kids each a flashlight and had flashlight wars on the ceiling. It was so much fun. This is going to sound redundant but now that we live in our own place we can do whatever we want, when we want, and be as loud as we want. It is GREAT! I kind of forgot what that was like after living with my parents for almost 10 months. On to today...

Today is J's Birthday!!! Happy Birthday wonderful husband of mine :) I love you so much. In my best Monkey voice!!! This morning the kids and I hung around the house for awhile and we called the Fish radio station to request songs and GG got to talk to the man on the phone. It was too cute. She was singing him the songs she wanted to hear instead of telling him the name! Then we went to the grocery store to buy daddy a cake and a special dinner. While we were in line the guy in front of us flipped out. He told the cashier that he didn't want his groceries. It was pretty funny. Then we came home and the R kids came over Grace, 5, Jake, 3 1/2 and Noah 2. They brought McDonald happy meals for the kids for lunch. So we had a picnic lunch! Then the rest of the afternoon the kids played. I pulled GG and Monkey out separately to help make daddy's cake. I even got Monkey to take a nap during all the busy-ness. Then J got home from work and all five of the kids jumped out from behind the chair and screamed "happy birthday!" Now we are heading out the door for dinner. J decided he wanted to go out to eat! I don't have to cook so I am there :)  

Day 2 of the training! He did so great today. He had one small accident...he started to pee and he stopped himself. He put everything else in the potty!!! It's so funny how the two kids learn differently. This method would never of worked with GlamorGirl. For Father's Day, GG and I made Daddy breakfast in bed. He got a glass of oj, scrambled cheese eggs, bacon, and toast. He liked it and I loved doing that for him. Right before I started to update my dad told me I had to mow the lawn. I have never mowed the lawn and why would I start now. I cook dinner for everyone everyday why should I have to do another chore??? There are 2 adults that live here that don't have full time jobs so I feel they should take turns doing that task. The reason I say that is because they want J to take a turn which I know he will have no problem with but he shouldn't have to take a turn, and in a few weeks he won't even live here anymore. It is just my lazy family trying to do as little as possible. We need to get out of here so that their laziness doesn't rub off on my children. I don't want them growing up to be slobs. Ok I got off on a tangent. Really that is all I have to say.

This morning we went to the police pancake breakfast. On the way there GG was teaching Monkey his ABC’s it was really cute to listen to her say one then Monkey repeat it! When we got there our friends for the Y were there and we sat with them while they ate then after they left we met a bunch of J’s friends. We also got invited to a cookout on Friday with three other couples, should be fun, all police officers! While we were at the breakfast I heard Monkey say, “monkey child” as I watched him pull a chair on top of himself. He got hurt but recovered well. Then what we did this afternoon is on my other journal. It isn’t pleasant so if you don’t want to read some venting…don’t read it! We had a pretty good day except for the 2 hours this afternoon. When we got home from the day the kids and I ate and we are relaxing now. I have music on and the kids are playing with their toys, nicely! Oh I forgot to mention I have been doing some research on the internet and I think I have found some grants that we can get for when we buy a house. A couple grants are for 7,000 and the one that I really want is for 22,500!!! None of it needs to be paid back which is the best part. I will let you know when I get more into it. But if we got some of those grants we could buy a real nice house. I really want to at least wait until summer when there are more houses on the market but it doesn’t hurt to get them ready now.