My baby turns 4!!!

This girl is something else. She certainly has kept me on my toes. I love her something fierce but no one can get me as mad as fast as she can. Wow that girl is a lot like me. She is strong willed to the core and I am really hoping that that will help her in life one day. She is my little me, heaven help me! Today was a day that I worked so yesterday we went on a field trip to celebrate her last day as a 3 year old. We went to the zoo. I got two free passes from the library...love that place. Then my wonderful friend who has a membership had a few free tickets for the dolphin show, stingray bay and the motor safari. On a typical visit we would of just walked around and looked at the animals that were free to look at but since I had these tickets for myself the child tickets were cheaper I bought them. I am so glad I did. It was really cool to see the dolphin show, though we did get wet and that is what Peanut tells everyone about that show! I didn't think I was going to get her out of the stingray bay. That girl LOVED petting the stingray. I must admit that was pretty cool. They were an interesting feeling that's for sure. Then we got to take a ride on the tram and see animals and have them explained while resting. It was nice and it made my feet not hurt so much at the end of the day. We left just in time to pick the other kids up from school, score. Today I had Bible study at my friend's house. She has 4 boys. I told her she was going to watch a movie while we did Bible study but I warned her there weren't going to be any princess movies because they didn't have any girls. Her response, "I bet they DO have princess movies. If they have a princess movie you have to give me a kiss. And if they don't have a princess movie I have to give you a kiss." Sounds like a good deal to me!!! She says some of the funniest things, and where did she learn this betting thing?!?! After Bible study we came home and put on warmer clothes it didn't get as warm as predicted and did school work. Then we met Jeff for lunch and she opened her cards and present from us, a Tangled dress up dress. Now she can be Rapunzel :) After lunch we headed over to my nanny job. I let the girls play instead of fighting them to take a nap because we had to pick the kids up from school at 3:35. Then it was off to church for Awana and Children's Choir. I now have 3 kids in the choir. Can't wait for them all to be in it! I know that my little princess felt loved today. She got phone calls, facebook messages and in person Happy Birthdays with hugs. Oh I almost forgot when she woke up this morning and saw her door decorate she says, "I'm the birthday girl. I can't believe I'm the birthday girl." She was just so excited for it to be HER birthday today. I just love her so much.

Dear Peanut,
These last 4 years have changed my life more than you will ever know. I love your sweet little personality. Your smile lights up the room. I am so glad God gave you as my daughter to love and teach. You truly have blessed our whole family. I love you Peanut!
Love, Mommy

Homeschooling

Not sure if I mentioned that I was homeschooling Peanut this year. I have the curriculum from school and the first few weeks we are going to go over things she learned last year in preschool. I also want to work on things like cutting, which is her FAVORITE thing to do. I save the cutting for the end after we have gone over everything else that needs to be learned for the day. I forgot to make shapes while she was doing her sheets so I did them right before I gave her the paper. While she was waiting she was just opening and closing the scissors and accidentally got some hair in the scissors. It was the funniest thing. Probably the first kid to cut their own hair without willingly trying to cut her hair. She didn't even notice until I pointed it out to her, silly kiddo :)

This is where her hair landed
Her holding the evidence...she was really sad as she is trying to grow her hair out like Rapunzel's!

My Mom

This weekend we went to my mom's wedding. All four of my kids and myself were apart of the bridal party so that was a lot of fun. I do wish I would of bought the curlers instead of using a curling iron the day of the wedding. I think it would of been a lot less stressful for me. But I will remember that for the future. However, having the curling irons at the wedding was so helpful because my mom's hair had gone flat from the curls she had at the hair salon. The wedding went pretty smoothly just a few little volume/sound issues. I loved seeing all my brothers. I really wish I could see them more, they are so fun to hang out with. But I have to say that my little nephew Jeremiah was one of the bright spots in my day. As I was standing in line greeting everyone he gave me the biggest best hug EVER! Then at the dance reception he was busting a move. The best line of the night goes to him as well. He was dancing then he would point to my grandma (his great grandma) and say "dance" then he pointed to me and said "dance" he pointed to Jamie my brother Kory's fiance and said "dance" then the best line of the night was when he then pointed to Monkey and said "dance dude" It was great! I also got to meet my newest nephew too! Another highlight was dancing with my little Peanut to the song Brown Eyed Girl. I always tell her that is her song because she is the only brown eyed girl in our family. As we were dancing she walked up to the guy singing the song and tells him "this is my song! I've got brown eyes." I love that girl. She was so cute all day. During pictures she was not having a good time but as soon as the photographer would put the camera up and start to count she would snap on a sweet smile. It made everyone watching the pictures crack up. The kids did so great and behaved so well and it was a LONG day for them with really not a whole lot for them to do. The day started at 8am and ended for them at 10pm. Peanut did get a 30 minute nap in the van on the way to the dance reception which I think helped extremely. The next few days are going to go by so fast...tomorrow is the boat with grandma and grandpa M., Tuesday is dentist appointments and orientation at night, Wed is chiropractor appointment and school pictures at JC Penney's and then school starts Thursday. Oh my I'm not so sure I'm ready for this...

My Girls...

10 year olds are very frustrating to me lately, especially when it comes to food. A few days this week we have gone to the pool after VBS in which I packed a picnic lunch for the kids. The first day I packed GG a salami and pepperoni sandwich. She got mad and said she hated that kind of sandwich. I told her I was sorry but I thought that is what I saw her make herself for lunch the day before. She proceeded to tell me she had a salami with mustard sandwich and she likes those better. Well after that horrid episode of hatred towards the sandwich I made her I decided to ask what she wanted for lunch. Knowing that we were going to the pool and I was going to be packing another picnic lunch. Guess what? She never answered my question. The other two kids told me what they wanted but her NOTHING. Not. A. Single. Word. We get to the school and off they go inside. I do my school supply shopping while I only have one child in tow and completely forget about my earlier question until I get home and start making those blasted lunches. UGH...she never answered my question. I think to myself well the other day when she hated the sandwich I made she said she liked the salami and mustard sandwich so that is what I made her. Fast forward to opening up the picnic lunch. She says, "What kind of sandwich did you make me." I reply with, "Well since you never answered me when I asked you what you wanted I made you the salami and mustard sandwich because you said you liked it." Here comes the tears and the whining about how she hates salami and muster sandwiches and she wanted a salami and pepperoni sandwich like I made her the other day. WHAT? Didn't she spend that whole time complaining about eating said sandwich. I just don't understand 10 year olds. When we are home we never have a problem because she makes her own food it is just when I pack picnics.

Onto my baby girl Peanut. This girl has just taken off in the pool this week. We have gone swimming 4 times since Friday which is pretty normal in a weeks time. She has started to really go under the water and hold her breath for pretty long periods of time. Today she was even jumping off the side of the pool into the water, would go under and swim to me. I was really impressed with how well she was doing! A few times when I picked her up and was taking her back to the side she would say let go. So I did and she swam the rest of the way. She is also learning how to back float this week. She does good until she starts to get freaked out, then she starts sinking. I just think she is too funny when she holds her breath goes under water and kicks her legs underneath her and moves her arms all crazy. I was teaching her today to kick behind her. I had her hold on to the side of the pool and kick her feet to splash the water and she was doing it. Then she was holding on kicking and then stuck her head in the water. I think next year she is really going to take off! I might get her some swim lessons this school year as part of her gym class! Other than that her swim suit got a big rip in the bottom today so after her nap we are headed out to find her a new one!

A day for the record!

It was absolutely gorgeous outside today and tomorrow is suppose to be the same great weather! I packed a picnic lunch for the kids and we ate at the park and played for a little over an hour with some friends. Then down for a quick nap and then to get the kids from school. Then it was a quick dinner and off to drop Monkey off at his baseball game and GG at soccer practice. Then we headed over to the game. I let the little kids play at the park while we wait for the game to start. As I was getting the kids ready to head over I noticed something was up with Peanut's shorts. I asked her to come here because I wanted to see what it was she told me she pooped in her pants. I looked and she sure did. SO GROSS. This kid has been potty trained since she was 18 months old and I can't even tell you the last time she has had an accident. I was not happy. I had to take her home, clean her up and get GG from practice so we could get back to the game to see Monkey pitch. He was on the schedule to pitch the 3rd inning. We only missed seeing the very first pitch he threw out. He got the first batter out. Then the second batter out. The third batter hit a ground ball right to Monkey he scooped it up and threw it to first getting the 3rd guy out! I was so proud of him. I was so nervous he would be one of those kids that walked a bunch of batters but he didn't! YAY. Then the second time he was up to bat (I wasn't there for the first) they switched pitchers right when he got up because that pitcher had walked 4 guys. They put in their best pitcher and he struck Monkey out. But he did get a few good swings in there!!! I'm just so proud of him for trying. When I went to pick GG up at practice her coach walked over and told me how she had picked up a hot pepper off the ground and ended up touching her face which caused it to sting. I will NEVER understand what would possess my 10 year old to pick up some random food item off the ground. REALLY? When do they out grow that nastiness??? Well that was pretty much all our excitement for the day.

My snuggler

Last night right before I went to bed. Peanut woke and was crying. I asked her what was wrong and she said she was scared and wanted to come sleep with me. I let her and all night we snuggled. She is so sweet. She slept great and has been feeling great. I pumped her full of vitamins and natural immune boosters and she was fine by Tuesday. Praise the Lord for healthy kids.

Sickness!

This is the first time in over a year I can say one of my kids is honestly sick. Peanut was up half the night coughing a very croupy cough. She has no other symptoms other than that nasty cough! The first time she started coughing we were still awake and Jeff went in to check on her. Then she woke coughing again about an hour and a half later. I went into her room and laid with her. I propped her head up with my arm and she was breathing really great. Once she was sound asleep and my arm was also. I headed back to my bed. A few hours later she was coughing again. I went in and laid with her again. This time I brought an extra pillow and put it under her head to see if that would help her and it did. I went back to my bed. An hour later she was up coughing and needing to use the bathroom. I had been giving her drinks when she had coughing fits. She went pee and I put her in our bed. It was about 4:50am. She coughed while in our bed and Jeff scooped her up and held her so she could breath without coughing. At some point he left and I didn't hear him! I always hear him in the morning. I tried to let her sleep as long as I could but as soon as the other kids get up she gets up. I have Red going to school all day today because we are having our small group over tonight and I figure it would be easier to keep the house clean if I only had one kid home! I hope to get her down for a nap earlier in hopes she will sleep longer. I have been pumping her full of natural immune boosters to help her. Well off to start cleaning :)

Cookies and Junior High Girls

That is a very fun combination! Today I invited all the girl JAM students and leaders. I think we had a perfect turn out. Not too many people but not a super low number either. We had 6 girls and 3 leaders (well 4 if you count Jeff but he's a guy and it was a girls only thing) and also my GlamorGirl helped. After we made, sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies and oatmeal butterscotch cookies we played celebrity. The girls liked it so much they wanted to play it again! That game is always a crowd pleaser and is SO easy to play. Then we had a chat session about the ever so fun topic of BOYS. I thought it was extremely funny when my 4th grader says, "And why are we talking about this?!" She couldn't wrap her head around why they were so obsessed with this subject matter! I'm sure she will get like this at some point I just hope it isn't until she is much older and can really understand liking someone. I can hope right!

On a totally separate topic today was the toddler program at church today where the little kids get to go on stage and sing and say their lines. It helped that Peanut is in preschool and they just had their Christmas program on Friday singing the very same song they sang this morning. She was the loudest singer! I was so proud of her. I hope to come back and update this post with the video of her singing but the video is on the computer downstairs and I am all cozy warm in bed upstairs! Another funny thing that happened this morning is our friend Josh asked Peanut, "Who's the present?" Referring to her dress. She simply replied, "Me," as she pointed to herself. That girl cracks me up. She refused to take a nap today while the girls were here and on the way to church totally conked out complete with drool running down her coat, to that I say, stinker!

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 :(

Naptimes

This time of day is the most happy and most dreaded part of my day. I love when the little one is asleep and I can get things done but I hate the process of actually getting her to sleep it is killer for both of us. And for anyone who thinks that maybe she is out growing her naps. I will nip that thought in the bud right now. She hasn't. I know this because on the days she fails to take naps she is about asleep at 5:45pm and her naps are about 1 1/2 to 2 hours in length. When my kids outgrew them they started taking 45 minute to an hour nap. Most days I feel like I need a nap myself after getting her down for one.

My Baby is 3 years old!

Last night we went out to eat with my dad and step mom because they are leaving for Greece on Friday and Monday was the only day both of us were available to celebrate Peanut's birthday. We went to our usual eating establishment. She got the cutest outfit for her birthday! She is planning on wearing it tomorrow to school.

Last night after she went to bed I decorated her door with letters she got and a birthday sign and then I decorated her bed with streamers. About 1:30am she woke up. I told her to climb into our bed in between us. Apparently she was sticking her fingers in J's ear so he kicked her out about 2am. She was scared so I told her I would lay with her for a few minutes. I was trying to wait til she fell asleep but everytime I tried to ease out of the bed her little hand would swing over and touch my face to make sure I was still there. By 3:15 I was done laying with her and I didn't care anymore that she still wasn't sleeping. I kissed her and told her I was going back to my bed. She gave a small whimper and that was it. I have no idea when she went back to sleep. She said she was scared of the dog in the house because it was trying to bite her. I think she got woke up by one of the neighbors letting their dog out to go potty and it barked. Needless to say, this morning came super duper EARLY. Peanut woke up and got showered with birthday wishes, hugs and kisses. She opened her cards before we took the kids to school. Then we went for a birthday breakfast just her and I. We had to do some not so fun things like go grocery shopping but it needed to be done. Then she had gymnastics! Which is her present from J and I. We are having her party in a couple weeks. We are going to go out as a family for dinner at her choice of places so we'll see where we end up...the kids are trying to persuade her to say Chipotle, she isn't a big fan of their food, it's too spicy. But when I made it she LOVED it, I didn't put as much spicy ingredients as the recipe called for. Great now I'm hungry for Chipotle. Peanut has had a wonderful birthday so far, but her birthday always means my is right around the corner!

Dear God, thank you for this precious little bundle of enormous JOY that is my Peanut. She brings happiness to our family and to other people she meets. I love watching her grow into such a sweet little girl. I pray she will follow hard after you Father. I pray Proverbs 31 for her. Thank you for letting us parent her it is such a privilege. Amen

My Girls!

I finally have learned how to get the pictures off the new camera onto the computer! I know it took me long enough :) GG had a friend over for a play date and this is the sight I saw and HAD to take pictures of them they were too cute.




Next is my youngest on her first day of GYMNASTICS!!! She was so excited to be a BIG kid :)



And just for a little look back this is MY GG in the same outfit when she was in gymnastics!

Emotional

The last few days have been quite the roller coaster ride for me and not in the good way. Two members of our family left to go to camp. I got to talk them the first night away. Monkey wasn't having a good time because he had gotten bit by mosquitoes all over his body and mainly his face. Poor kid hasn't even met any of the other campers and his face is swollen with bug bites. J said the first night he wanted to come home. Yesterday the rest of the campers got there. Monkey has never been my super out going kid that makes friends where he goes. He has pretty much had a built in friend since he was born in his big sister and she is really good at making friends at the park and then he plays too. As hard as this is on me I really think they will be a great experience for him to spread his wings and meet some kids on his own. He is a kid that will be just fine being by himself and couldn't care less that no one is playing with him. J said that he has been walking to meals by himself. That breaks my heart but I highly doubt he really cares if he walks with someone. His cabin leader is my sis-in-laws boyfriend so he knows him, which is good. I just hate hearing reports from J and Liz that he is not having fun. I don't want his first camp experience to be bad, but he is a different kid then his sister. So I am consistently thinking about him and praying for him. Then we have what is going on at the homefront. The first day wasn't too bad. I had a really sad Red because his brother and playmate left. He was super sad at bedtime because he was alone in his room. I offered for him to sleep in my bed with me. Half way through the night we had a really bad storm. Peanut woke up and got scared so she came to my bed too. Red didn't like the closeness of having 3 people in my bed so he want to his bed at that point. Then we had a play date with Peanuts friends (twins) and their baby brother. Their dad is at camp with our guys so it was nice to hang out and share our missing of the boys. They left after lunch and right in time for naptime. I put Peanut down for a nap and went downstairs to clean up after lunch. I hear noise upstairs and when I went up their Peanut was covered head to toe in my hair tac. Apparently she brought it to her bed and then put it all over herself then went into my bathroom to try and wash it off. So it was all over her bedding, the toilet, sink as well as her. I was so upset. I know I was a handful to my parents but I don't remember getting into stuff. ALL. THE. TIME. It never ends with her. The only time I can get anything done is when she is sleeping. And I have to stay close by to make sure she stays in bed and does fall asleep or we have episodes like the above mentioned. She is tiring to the core. I almost feel bad saying that I am looking forward to her starting school. I thought I would be so sad to send off my youngest but at this very moment it can't get here fast enough. We'll see what I say when it actually happens.

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.

The Babyisms...

So I have been noticing lately that Peanut has her own style of communication. Completely opposite of "normal" people. I'll explain. This morning she was hungry so she says to me, "Mommy my tummy is so full. Can I have a hard boiled egg?" Or my favorite at naptime when she doesn't want to go to sleep she says, "I woke up early." Her logic is so funny sometimes! She also messes up the difference between eating and drinking she will say, "I'm hungry can I have some water?" None of the other kids have said stuff like this so it is uniquely her! But like all the other ones of my kids she does the were tenses to words too which I think is really cute as well. Like she interchanges her and she. "Her like my book." I just love listening to her talk though she never really STOPS! She is my little chatter box that is for sure :)

Also on the Peanut topic. Yesterday marked the one year of her being potty trained!!! We haven't had to buy diapers in a year it has been so nice. We also only bought two packs of pull ups for night time. I believe she only peed in maybe 5 of them the rest had to be thrown away because you can only use them so many times before they start to fall apart ;)

Our Easter Star!

Here is our little Peanut doing the toddler program at church. I was so proud of her for saying her line! Though she did lift her dress a few times and was the talk of the church afterward but you can't have everything ;)

Here is one of the two songs they sang! Too cute with the motions...

Last but not least is the best shot I got of the kids outside! The header was taken at church...

video

I feel like I should walk around with my video camera because at any given moment Peanut will burst into song. My favorite is when she starts singing Jesus loves me. She doesn't know how to stop the song so it repeats over and over until she gets tired of singing. One of my other favorite songs she will break out singing is Mighty to Save by Hillsong. You might not be familiar with it so here are the lyrics and if you want to hear it just search Mighty to Save on Youtube! She busts out in JESUS CONQUERED THE GRAVE! Yes she shouts it.

Everyone needs compassion,
Love thats never failing
Let mercy fall on me

Well everyone needs forgiveness,
Kindness of a savior
The Hope of the nation

(Chorus)
Saviour, He can move the mountains,
My God is mighty to save,
He is mighty to save
Forever, author of salvation,
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave

So take me as you find me
All my fears and failures
Fill my life again

I give my life to follow
Everything that i believe in
Now i surrender (and i surrender)

(Chorusx2)

Shine your light and let the whole world see
We're singing, for the glory of the risen king, Jesus
Shine your light and let the whole world see
We're singing for the glory of the risen king, Jesus

(Chorusx2)

Shine your light and let the whole world see
We're singing, for the glory of the risen king, Jesus
Shine your light and let the whole world see
We're singing for the glory of the risen king, Jesus

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!

Frustration

I have really been slacking on this blog. I really don't only think about food...haha. Though you would think I do. Anyway, I am really struggling right now with my youngest offspring. I know I mentioned in a previous post how she is with eating but it doesn't stop there with her. The last two days she fights me on naps. She is 2 1/2 years old and she IS going to take a nap. I need the break from her for my sanity and her well being. Yesterday she laid in the bed for over an hour and a half sucking on her arm so that she wouldn't fall asleep. She had the biggest hickey. I practically had to lay on her to go to sleep 2 hours after I had put her to bed. Today she didn't take a nap for me. I finally had to let her up so we could go get the kids from school. Then she fell asleep in the car on the way home at 4pm. People this is NOT a good time for a toddler to be napping. But we had church tonight and I knew she would be beyond bearable if I didn't let her sleep so she got about an hour nap. Now it is 9:20pm and she is laying next to me in the bed talking. At least she is laying down though. I just really don't know what to do with her. It is driving me CRAZY. I just don't know how much more of this I can take before I loss all sanity. How do you get a 2 year old to take naps without basically strapping them to the bed and gluing their eye lids shut?! I would never do either one of those things but I feel like that is my only hope of getting her to sleep. I just have to keep telling myself that I have to be consistent and stay on top of her with this testing her boundaries and it will get better but man is she really sticking it out for the long haul. I really truly do not remember my other children being this strong willed. Well tomorrow is a new day and hopefully one of a nap for a 2 year old. Please pray for me. Oh Lord give me the patience and strength to deal with this stubborn 2 year old in all areas. Ok I feel somewhat better...