Holiday Weekend

Typically a holiday weekend means that Jeff works a half day and I am home with the kids. This year wasn't much different. Jeff was in the parade and he asked Peanut if she wanted to be in it too. The three older kids were in the 4th of July parade a year or two ago with daddy. I wasn't going to go to the parade but figured I should be there to take pictures since I got pictures when the other kids were in the parade it would only be right. Anyways fairness is a totally different topic! Peanut looked super cute in the car because you could really only see her little hand sticking out of the window waving most of the time. I guess halfway through the parade she told Jeff her hand was tired of waving. After they went past us we jumped in the van and drove over to the end of the parade to pick her up. Jeff said some friends were at the end of the parade so we walked to where they were and watched the rest of the parade with them. When the parade was said and done we made plans to go swimming. Then my friend called and asked if we wanted to come for lunch. So we headed to their house for a bbq and water fun. After we ate we drove to the pool and it was PACKED, we decided to go back their house and let the kids play in the sprinklers. They ran around for about 2 hours getting muddy and wet. Then we called the pool and decided to head back. It was still a little crowded but was starting to clear out. It was nice for the kids to have friends to play with at the pool. But the coolest thing of the day was right before we left Red went off the diving board. It took him three tries before he actually jumped off but once he did he didn't want to stop! I now have 3 diving board kids, oh boy! He was so proud of himself. Though we do have to work with him to jump off the front of the board and not off the side ;) After all the running around and swimming the kids were so tired and I had such a hard time waking them up this morning.

Lovin IT

This time of year and the weather being warmer has been so exciting. I have decided that I thrive on being active. I love doing stuff with my kids and planning get togethers with my friends. This is the run down of my last few days. Monday after school to the chiropractor, homework, dinner and baseball practice. Tuesday was Red's birthday so after school was a spontaneous play date at the park with some friends (it was beautiful outside) and then to his birthday dinner. Wednesday we had BIC graduation for the junior highers who completed the course. Monkey also had a game but my step mom graciously took all the kids to it so we could be at the graduation. Thursday was a BIG day. We had Red's party at Chuck E Cheese at noon until 2pm and then right after that we picked up the older kids from school (early) and went to the chiropractor, rushed home and got dinner and off to Monkey's baseball game. Today Peanut had gymnastics this morning and then a field trip at school and then we did a picnic at the park with some friends. I still have to clean up the kitchen from dinner and breakfast but I am waiting for Peanut to fall asleep so I can go downstairs. If I leave before she is asleep she will stay up and we have a meeting at church tonight that will last until 9:30 or so and with all the running she NEEDS to get a nap today.

Just a side note about the birthday dinner for Red. We went to Chilis because the kids eat free on Tuesdays. Jeff and I decided that we were going to have the crew sing happy birthday to him. We have never done this for anyone's birthday before. He was so stinkin cute sitting there with his hands by his face. I don't think he knew what to think.

A Birthday Letter

This is the letter that Red will read from me in the morning when he wakes up as a SIX year old.

Dear Red,
Six years ago you became apart of our family. What a wonderful day! I can't image our family without you. Your smile lights up the room and your hugs and kisses are so very precious to me. You are such a blessing. You have so much energy and always keep me on my toes! I am so thankful that God choose our family for you to live, love, learn and grow in. I am so proud of you for doing a great job in school, learning God's word and hiding it in your heart, and being a good brother to your siblings. I love seeing the man you are growing up to be! You are so sweet and fun. I love you so very much. Happy Birthday!
Love, Mommy

I just can't get over how fast these years are flying by me. I feel like it was just yesterday that I was holding that 6lb 20z baby in my arms and now he is 48 inches tall and almost 50lbs. I am on the laptop that doesn't house all of our pictures otherwise I would post that award winning smile of his. It melts my heart every time. I am such a sentimental sap!!! Only on birthdays do I get this way...

Shopping

Remember how I said I only wanted to take the kids shopping once this week well this is one of the reasons why! Yesterday day before Peanut's gymnastics class I loaded the kids up and we went to Trader Joe's to get a few last minute items for the week. The kids were being really good and helpful while we were in the store. BUT about 20 minutes into our shopping trip Red decided to stand on the front of the cart in which Peanut was sitting in. In a matter of two seconds the whole cart went forward on top of Red with Peanut sitting in it. He didn't get hurt by a pure miracle but poor Peanut is bruised in a few places from the fall. It happened so fast and I was standing right next to the cart, helpless to stop it from going. Though the scene was pretty surreal with the food in the back flying through the air as the cart went down. I was thankful that the store was somewhat busy as several people rushed to help pull the cart off of Red and back up and asked if Peanut was alright. I tell you my kids and shopping carts don't mix well. When Red was about 19 to 20 months old we were at Lowes and he was sitting in the front. The two oldest for some reason decided to both step up on the side of the cart (the SAME side) and the cart went down sideways with Red in the front. I need to design a fall proof shopping cart. Though one of the ladies that witnessed the fall yesterday said that her kids have done the same thing on several occasions. That made me feel better, to some degree, but I think that I should really design a more stable cart! I just feel so bad for Peanut as she is the one who has the bruises that hurt to the touch. I picked her up that afternoon and she told me it hurt her just to be picked up :(

Seriously?!?

Wednesday nights Jeff is usually gone working with our junior high group at church. Most Wednesday nights I have friends lined up to come over and hang out while he is gone. For some reason I had a complete mental block that he was leaving last night so I didn't have anyone here to keep me company. Instead of being upset I decided that the kids and I would take a bike ride to the park. They wanted to go to the old neighborhood first and see some friends. Since we left right after dinner we had plenty of time to do both. We got the our old block and NO ONE was home, at first. Then Patti came out and we talked to her for a short time because she had a softball game she needed to get too. She just recently bought a trampoline and told me that the kids could jump on it. After she left I let the kids jump for a good amount of time. Then we were getting ready to go to the park. Monkey rode down to our old house, he wanted to climb the front tree. I went to get him and the guy who bought Jack's old house (our grandparent-like neighbors who passed away not too long ago) came home. I had heard he did a lot of updating to the house. I asked if I could see all that he had done. He isn't living there yet because the house still has more work to be done on it. As we walked to the door, GG found one of Marilyn's decorated rocks. She picked it up and just started bawling. The guy let her keep the rock, which made her day. The door that we went in is right next to our old swingset. The kids of course ran to it. Even though I told them not to. With in 30 seconds Monkey was screaming and crying because he got stung by a wasp. I told the kids not to play on it. What do you know, my little strong-willed stubborn Peanut didn't listen. Next thing I know she is screaming and crying. I run over to her and pick her up. I'm so surprised I didn't get stung. She had a wasp hanging from her arm. I shook it off. I saw 2 stings right away and I iced them. Once I got her somewhat calmed down I put her on the ground and looked the rest of her body over. She had 2 more stings on the other side of her arm. We were on bikes and I didn't bring my cell because I figured we probably won't need it but good ole Murphy's Law went into effect. The fire department isn't too far from the old house so we rode over there and had the Paramedics take a look at both the kids. We now know that neither one of them are allergic to bee stings. What a junky way to find that out! I think Peanut will be scared of any flying bugs for a very long time. I just still can't believe she didn't listen to me right after her brother got stung. I should of just picked her up and brought her into the house and not given her a choice. But I didn't and maybe this will be the life lesson that teaches her that "um maybe I should obey mom, she's got my back"

As I type this Red walks into my room on a day that is suppose to be 91 with a long sleeve shirt asking if he can wear it because he is really cold. Yeah, I have the air set at 78, it's NOT cold in here.

Other than that I have been bad at writing out our menus for the time we have lived in this house. I have made 3 new recipes. Fire roasted Chicken Salad (Everyone LOVED), Stuffed Acorn Squash, (it was ok) and last night I made Rolled Eggplant, Jeff LOVED it, I thought it was pretty good, the kids did not like it one bit, it was a little too spicy for me but not too bad.

My Sweet Red

Today is Red's 5th birthday. It is just so crazy how fast these 5 years have flown by. He has certainly been a great addition to our family. He challenges J and I in ways we NEVER imagined possible! But even through the hard times with him I couldn't imagine life without him. He came into this world our smallest baby 6lb 2oz at 35 weeks, considered a preemie. Now he has broken another record in our family as the biggest 5 year old we have had so far. I highly doubt that his baby sister will be bigger. He is a pro at tying his shoes and he is learning to ride a bike without training wheels...that scares him a bit. Once he gets a few successful runs under his belt he will excel, I have no doubt! My prayer for Red is that he grows to be a strong, caring, loving, and compassionate man we lives for Christ and puts others first. We love you Red! I wish I had a baby picture of Red but they are on the other computer that is packed up. I just checked back and I can't find his birth story or any baby pictures from 5 years ago :( I am going to go through some more archives and see if I can find something to link too either picture or birth story. I found his birth story! HERE

A Poop Kind of Day

I wasn't really looking forward to this day to begin with since it was the day of our dental visits. My poor little Peanut woke up with her left eye glued shut with eye boogers. It took both J and I to help get it opened. Seeing as most of our day was going to be spent at the dentist I really didn't know how we would be getting in to see a doctor. My plan was to go to my chiropractor appointment and then take her to the school nurse before Red and my dental appointments. During my chiro appointment Peanut says she has to poop. I put her on the potty and she goes then she says she is all done. You know the rest...wipe, dress, blah blah blah. I continue with my stuff and she says it again. Red helps get her on the potty as I was detained at that very moment. A few minutes later she is done. I go to wipe and it was ALL over her butt. I look at her underwear and sure enough she had pooped her pants. I'm thinking GREAT now I won't have time to get to the nurse before our other appointment. As I was cleaning her up it wasn't as bad as I had thought and we made it out of there in pretty good time to stop at the school. The nurse looks at her eye and says it doesn't look like pink eye but to keep an eye on it. We leave and get our teeth cleaned. Red went first and the lady told him to make sure that J and I floss his teeth. He comes out after the cleaning and says, "mommy you have to dental my floss." I just thought that was the cutest thing ever! After my cleaning Peanut says, "My turn now." They are going to see her next time when she is 3 years old. Just a side note I just signed her up for the 3 year old preschool. It was so sad to think that my baby is old enough to be going to school. Moving along with the poopcapades. Fast forward a few hours...Peanut is napping at school and Red's teacher comes to get me. Apparently, he had gone to the bathroom for a long time and when he came back to the room didn't smell so good. I pulled him out of class and asked if he pooped at school. He said yes and that he wiped himself. Another GREAT moment. I took him to the bathroom so I could check him. I wouldn't have thought he wiped at all if I had not seen some of his crumbled up poop filled toilet paper on the ground. OY. I had to give him a makeshift bath and then get him new underwear and pants. I could not get the stink of poop off of his hands though. I sent him back to class. After school the older two kids had their appointments as I was sitting with Red in the waiting room doing his reading homework with him I just couldn't shack the smell of poop. I took a closer look at his shirt and I found a couple different spots of poop that he must have wiped his hand on when he got poop on them. I made him take the shirt off because it stunk so bad. So there he sat in the dentist waiting room with no shirt on in the middle of winter. At least he had a coat to wear. I will say that I think I am DONE with poop for awhile. Why in the world did two of my kids have almost the same identical mishap on the same day?! It was pure craziness. I think God was strengthening my patience.

What to title?!

At nap time today I laid with Peanut and stayed in the room until I thought she was asleep. As I left the room I thought I will be able to blog about how much better today went with nap time. Even if it still took her 45 minutes to fall asleep. I came back in the room 25 minutes later to her having taken off both her socks, her sitting up reading a book and books all over the room. UGH. I was mad. We had to be leaving in 15 minutes for a doctor appointment and she wasn't going to be getting a nap in that amount of time. I let her come out of the room but she had to sit in the time out chair. I thought she would fall asleep on the way to school to get the kids but she didn't she ended up falling asleep again at 4pm. This time instead of letting her sleep I woke her up as soon as we got home and told her she is going to bed at 7pm. She said, "ok" it is now 7:45 and she is still not sleeping. And so the battle continues and I will win!!!

Other than that issue the older kids don't have school tomorrow so they are going with me to my Bible study. The two oldest are joining a homeschool group during the time of the study. GG is really excited about it but Monkey is not. He doesn't like change and I think it is funny since he is the one who wanted to be homeschooled first! We shall see how it goes tomorrow. Silly kid that is all I have to say :)

Also my sister in law and two nephews are in town. They got in last night and Isaac went to Cubbies with Red and they had a blast together. Well apparently, Red had to poop at Cubbies but he didn't want his leader to go get us and said he wanted to wipe himself. Yeah, he doesn't really know how to do that yet. I guess he did a pretty good job so I told him today that I will start working with him to master wiping his own bottom. Which means I will only have one child that needs bathroom help. That seems a bit weird to think about but exciting at the same time!

Busy Bee

that is what I have been. I am sitting at church right now while the two oldest are in children's choir and the two little ones are hanging out in the coffee house. Having no Internet has been somewhat of a blessing especially because we don't have a dish washer in our new place! I never realized how many dishes 6 people can use in one day!

Yesterday Red was home from school because he had a low grade fever on Monday night and he had a cough as well. He woke up without the fever but still had a pretty bad cough. It was nice in the sense that I was able to clean the house, get laundry done, get all the dishes cleaned and got dinner ready. Then I had to leave for a chiropractor appointment and get the kids from school. Then it was the 30 minute drive home and then homework, dinner, baths and bed. Then I had to make the lunches for today and finish the dishes from dinner. Simply put I'M TIRED!

Funny story about our new meals. I made a spicy chicken soup. It has chicken (obviously), onion, tomato, zucchini, and a few spices. The kids kept calling the zucchinis cucumbers. I was not about to correct them because they think they don't like zucchini. They all ate the soup. Though I did bribe them with dessert.

Today I worked in the garage going through more stuff and I got a lot done. While I was at the house our neighbor Jack came out. He has been in and out of hospitals and nursing homes for about a month and I haven't seen him in so long. I know I mentioned this before but he has been diagnosed with 3 different kinds of cancer. Since we are putting the house on the market I wanted to tell him in person instead of seeing a sign hanging on our lawn. It was one of the hardest things I have had to tell someone. We love Jack and Marilyn like grandparents. He told me he was sad to hear that and that he hopes we never sell it. I felt so sad. That is all of my update for now as it is Mom's night at girls Truth and Training and I need to get the kids to the locations they need to be at. Thanks for all your kind comments and encouraging words. There is a learning curve to this eating healthy business.

interesting

First thanks for letting me know the font was too dark, I hope I fixed it and it will be easier for you to read. Yesterday our internet was down and I wasn't able to get on here and update, which is funny because I actually had things I wanted to blog about! The first one was that I went into the doctor and they can't get me a referral for the chiropractor I want to see, but they possibly could get me one for someone else, not too fond of that idea. The next thing is the reason for the title...

Yesterday my step mom came over to watch the kids so I could go to the doctor without all four of them. Though I didn't have an appointment when she came over because I had to call that morning and I was fortunate to get in at 11:30 well that was about 2 hours away and since I didn't sleep very good the night before because of stomach issues, that are getting more frequent and more annoying, she let me sleep for those 2 hours and I was out cold. Anyways, when I got back from my appointment my dad was pulling into our driveway. I asked what he was doing here, I thought he was working. He said he came to take us out to lunch. The kids and I went out to lunch with him down the street from our house and across the street is an ice cream shop. Well my dad wanted to take them there after we ate. We walked in and the ice cream section said closed, then two more groups of people walked in after us a single women and a man with a boy about the age of 10. Since we were the biggest party they waited on the others first. While the kids were waiting to get their ice cream my dad was goofying around with them by blowing the straw wrappers at them. Well Red went to hit my dad on the but and missed and hit the kid's butt. What happened next will probably be itched in my mind forever...

The kid turned and looked at my dad, I was sitting at one of the tables across the room watching it all transpire, and says, "Your son just hit me." My dad tell the boy, "He's not my son." Then Red walks away and towards me. Meanwhile the man that was with the boy asks him, "Did you get injured?" The boy said, "No" then took his ice cream and walked outside crying. When Red got to me I told him he needed say he was sorry because he made that boy cry and if he didn't he would not be getting any ice cream. Red asked if I could walk with him, so I did. We got to the boy who you would have thought just broke his arm the way he was carrying on crying. Red said he was sorry two times to the boy and he just turned and walked away. I was annoyed at this point and I said to the boy, "You could at least acknowledge his apology." I seriously feel bad for this boy he obviously is going to have major problems down the road, first Red didn't hit him that hard to make him ball his eyes out and secondly he had no respect to acknowledge Red's apology. My dad kept saying what a wimp, he so doesn't help situations like this. I had a long talk with Red about spanking in play which my dad does with them ALL the time. He didn't mean to hurt the kid he wasn't even aiming for him. It was just an all around interesting experience.

Oh yeah and the boys camped in the living room last night. J put our smaller tent up and that is where the boys slept so fun and cute!!! What a great daddy.

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.

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!

Funnies

A lot of silly things have been going on around here though I really only have time to put it on my facebook status! Two of my favorite funnies over the last week were Peanut and the potty. She had on this really cute outfit that the pants are like spandex. When we are home she goes by herself and I hear her peeing. Well the day she wore that outfit I hear her peeing and when I walk in to wipe her she is sitting on the toilet with no shirt on and her pants and undies still on! The shirt was outside the bathroom door on the floor. I found it funny because she couldn't get her pants off so she opted for the shirt! She put all of the pee in the potty she just peed through her clothes to do it. And the best part is she was clueless that she was doing it wrong at that moment I walked into the bathroom because she started clapping for herself ;) She is such a funny and sweet little girl. I get compliments all the time out in public on how friendly she is and what a great little personality. I would have to say I completely agree!

The other funny happened on Red's birthday. On the way to church he asked if he had to take a nap. J told him that since it was his birthday that he didn't have to take one. After church he got to choose where we went for lunch to celebrate his birthday. This is one of our birthday family traditions. He wanted Pizza Hut and then to go to this arcade place. We left to go home around 4pm and half way home, it is about 3o minutes away, Red was out cold. I found it funny because all day he kept saying in various ways, "It's my birthday and I don't have to take a nap today!" It was all about how he didn't have to take a nap like a baby because he was now 4 years old!

Race for Education update: Red got a trophy for running the most laps out of all the boys in the entire preschool. He was so happy, that was his goal. Monkey also got a trophy for running the most laps out of all the boys in his class or grade not sure how they did that. GG didn't get a trophy but she won a $25 gift card for having the second most sponsers for the race. It was a good day because they all got something!!!

Red turns 4!

If you want to read his birth story go here. It starts on the 16th because that is when I went into labor but he was born on the 17th just past midnight. I just love this kiddo with all my heart. I can't image what life would be like without him. Somethings I want to always remember about my Red.

* when we are at church and I can't find him the chances are pretty good he is in the pastors offices. He loves Pastor Paul because he reads to him and he loves Pastor Shawn because he has a toy Yoda in his office.

* he tells us he wants to be a Pastor one day and I believe him and think with his personality it would be a great fit!

* he has such a kind heart. Pastor Paul had a heart attack at the end of April. We were able to give him a call a last week. Red told him he wanted to give him one of his toys to make him feel better.

* his smile...not the forced one he gives when we try and get pictures. Enough said.

* he has a temper to match his red hair but on the opposite side he is so sweet and snuggly. We are working at taming the temper and I can see a huge difference in him already.

* his humor...though I can't really put it into words...it's just funny and cute.

* his passion about all things Star Wars, Karate and Buzz Lightyear, yeah I know he is all over the place with those passions but that is what makes him HIM.

Well I only meant to do 4 things because that is his age but I did 7 and I could go on look at this face!


Dear Red,
I am so glad that God chose to place you in our care. You have been a blessing to our family and have grown your daddy and I in our parenting endeavor. We all love you so much. Can't wait to see how God uses you in the future to bring Him glory. You are certainly a handful but I wouldn't trade you for the world. I hope you have a great 4th birthday.

Love, Mama

Stay tuned for pictures of the banquet/prom that J and I went to on Friday night! We had a great time and as always I enjoyed getting all dolled up for a night out with my hubby.

For my record

Red will be 4 next month he still has 29 days to be 3. Over the last couple of weeks I have noticed his pants are starting to get short on him, high water short. These pants are a size 4T this kid is a beast! I have a feeling that Monkey and Red will be wearing the same size clothing in the next few years unless Monkey does some major growing. I just can't believe how fast he and the other kids are growing. He is getting so excited about his party and has started to plan who he wants to invite and things like that. I really love this kid. His facial expressions crack me up all the time!

Today we took our first family bike ride to the library. Red rode his "new" two wheel bike with training wheels. Watching him ride I have a feeling that he will be riding his bike next summer without the training wheels. Which will actually be prefect because then we won't have to put the training wheels back on Monkey's bike so Peanut can have the girl one. Monkey is going to be getting a bigger one next summer as I think this will be the last summer for his current one...man these kids grow too fast.

**Adding**
Yesterday we went out to lunch with my dad who always pays the kids to scratch his head. They get a dollar a minute. He is helping them save for Disney. HA! Well the two older kids each made 8 dollars at lunch. When we got home I had them play outside while I put the two little ones down and then I joined them 5 minutes later. They had picked some wild flowers and set up the card table and started making a sign to sell their flowers. I thought it was too funny. They were selling weeds flowers for 25 cents a piece. The funniest thing is that they made 4.50 in the hour they sat out there. They got a few neighbors to buy them, a couple taking a walk, and some teenagers that drove by stopped to buy some. They are my little financial wizards :)

Oh Facebook!

J's brother birthday is today. Happy Birthday Joe! We were talking about what we should do for his birthday last night. I said to J, "Let's make a video of us all singing to him and then put it on his wall." Red was sitting at the table listening to this conversation and says, "How can we go to his house and put it on his wall?" We both had a good laugh. J then explained to him that we were talking about facebook on the computer. I love that kid!

Presenting...

This morning I went into the school with the kids which I normally just drop them off and park by the preschool and take Red inside. But today was GG big Italy presentation. She was so excited and was trying to hide it from her classmates, too cute. She had many visual aids for her presentation which is why I helped her. She had the poster board, focaccia bread (we call it pizza bread), Italian style pop, a shirt from Italy, a book, and money. I really hope she did a great job and I'm sure she did. Well I was helping her Monkey went to his class and Red followed him. When I went down the hall to get Red for school he was sitting at Monkey's desk reading a book. The teacher had told the kids it was D.E.A.R. time (Drop Everything And Read) so Red followed suit and was reading! The teacher let him take the book home for the night which made his day. It was just too cute to see him sitting at his brother's desk reading like the big kids.

Peanut and I did all the usual errands came home ate lunch and grandma came over to watch her while I went to the doctor. Guess what? He wants to take more blood from me. OY. He wants to have all the information needed to give me a correct diagonistic which I can understand and I'm thankful for but I'm so done. I'm hoping that this will be the end for me and then I can start to feel better. Well I just got online looking at flights for the two Disney trips I'm taking and I am so excited. I found some really cheap tickets too and also have a coupon for 5% off...score. I love that Mouse :)

How does this happen?

In my 8 years + being a mom, unless my memory fails me, I don't believe I have ever had a child have diarrhea in the middle of the night. Throw up yes, the other end, I really don't think so, that is until last night. A little after 2am I hear Red and I look and see the bathroom light on. I thought I heard him say he peed his bed. I got up ready to deal with a wet bed. As I got into the bathroom he was crying and said he pooped his pants. Sure enough there was diarrhea on the floor. I get him and the bathroom (it was on the toilet, floor, and cabinets...that one I don't understand) all cleaned up and put him in bed. As soon as my head hit the pillow Peanut woke up and wanted to nurse. Up she came. When she was done and asleep she was squirming and I had to take her back to her bed. Then she woke up again when she normally wakes in the morning about 5am and came back to my side of the bed wanting in. I really didn't want to deal with her but I really wanted more sleep. So in the bed she came and stayed there until my alarm went off. I got up and got the two older kids up and ready and sent them to school with J. I was hoping that Red would of stayed sleeping but all the noise woke him up. He really dislikes missing school. This is how our week started hopefully it will end better!

Unmotivated

The last few days I have been unmotivated to blog. I think it probably has something to do with the fact that I'm not feeling the greatest. I had a wonderful mommy moment yesterday were I put my two oldest in tears. I didn't yell I simply told them I couldn't handle the fighting and teasing anymore and that maybe I shouldn't be there mom anymore since they don't listen to me. I was in tears too. It is EVERY. LITTLE. THING. with them. I think when I have bad days health wise I let things slide because I physically can't handle them. Something needs to change and I'm praying it is my health. But in all things God will give J and I the strength and wisdom to guide and train these children to His honor and glory. After J got home and the storm quieted down I was able to take Monkey out on a date. We had been trying to get a night that I could take him for the last few weeks and last night I just said tonight I'm doing it! We had a great time just the two of us. I really love that kid...he is super funny!

Today so far as gone a lot better. We needed to get to school a little earlier today because Red had his Christmas program that got snowed out in December. Monkey was the first ready and he helped with Red and other things that needed to get done for me. The kids had asked if they could go to the program and I told them I didn't know. Well I decided that they could come and they were very well behaved and GG took pictures for me. J did the video recording and I handled Peanut, who was not wanting to stay still and watch the program. Before we left the house this morning Red said to J, "Do I look handsome?" as he did a little dance with his fancy shoes on! And he DID look super handsome ;) Here are some of the pictures from today...

He was doing the motions to the song their were singing so sweet!

today is Tuesday right?

I don't believe I mentioned this but yesterday I moved all the Christmas presents in our room to make some room for the crib mattress to go in the corner so that Peanut will have a bed of her own to sleep in. She has been waking up for 2 to 3 hours a night for the last 2 weeks and we are both exhausted. Well last night she started out in her little bed until about 1am. Then she woke up and instead of walking to our bed she started walking through the house crying. I got up and got her to bring her to our bed. I quick nursed her (I know I was backsliding) and then handed her over to J's side of the bed. She quickly went to sleep and slept the rest of the night!

This morning after taking the two older kids to school Red, Peanut and I went to our friends house to play. Her oldest turned 4 at the end of October so he is about 7 months older than Red but they usually play pretty well...except for today. They had this love/hate relationship they basically hated each other the whole time we were there until I said it was time to go. Then they clung to each other for dear life. BOYS. We were the first to leave because we needed to get to Peanut's doctor's appointment.

At her doctor's appointment Red was a holy terror...I thought about making the appointment for when he was in school but that would be in January and I wanted to get it done so I went today. Since she was a new patient I had so many papers to fill out and Red was climbing on the wheelchairs and playing with the drinking water and bringing Peanut down with him. So annoyed. I even told him at the beginning when we got there if he could be a good boy I would take him out to eat for lunch. Well that didn't happen. Ok back to her appointment. The doctor checked her motion in her hips and he said that looked good. She showed him how she walks and then he had her get an xray. That pretty much freaked her out. They had me take her diaper off and lay her on this cold metal bed and then hold her chest and legs down. The xray showed that everything looked good. The doctor wants to see her in 2 months just to make sure everything is the same or better. That is so good to know that there isn't anything majorly wrong with her hips.

As for me I have decided that I need to start working out. I am so active in the summer and I feel good during those months and then it gets cold and I shut down most phyiscal activity. I did a 20 minute work out today and will probably be really sore tomorrow but tomorrow I'm going to do 30 minutes. We'll see if this helps me. Just wanted to document when I started this journey.

Well going to go serve dinner that just got done and then it is family movie night with Babes in Toyland! Oh yeah couch snuggle time :)