Making Christmas Cookies

Making Christmas cookies in our house is a messy deal. I just tend to line everything up and step back. They all have fun doing what they want and I just have to clean up afterwards. But regardless of how pretty they turn out, they always get eaten. Toss in a few cheesy smiles for mom and everyone ends up happy.

What happened to Fall

I've been a bad bad blogger. But I've been a very busy mommy so I will use that as my excuse. So here is a very brief update on all that has happened since summer ended.

We had our first day of school. K. joined Hoss at the elementary school. Z. is off to Middle School now and my youngest A. is at preschool 3 days a week. They all seem to like it but don't like the homework. Does that ever change?

We had Hoss's 7th birthday party in October and it was a lot of fun with friends and family.

We visited the Pumpkin Patch and had all kinds of fun there. Although it was so muddy this year we didn't stay and play as long as we normally do. Can't really say that I minded that part of it to much though.


I even remembered to get in one of the pictures that Z. took this year. It doesn't happen that often so I thought I'd post it even though I don't like the way I look in it. But do we ever really? But the fact that both Hubs and I are in it is a rarity and worth posting about.

That naturally led us into Halloween where I was fortunate to have two Snow Whites, a vampire and a Ninja. I kid you not, Z. came home with over 7 pounds of candy all by himself. I didn't weigh the other kids bags since I was in a state of sugar induced coma by then.

In between all that we had 2 soccer teams and 2 baseball teams we were having practices and games for. I spent a lot of time at fields all across North Texas. It's slowed down a bit now and I'm very grateful for the break.

We had Thanksgiving at our home this year but since I was so busy cooking, I forgot to get any pictures. Just imagine all of us stuffing ourselves silly and then taking naps during the Cowboy game and that was us.

So now that brings us to December and all the busy things that come along with it.

Seems like a brief and silly summary of what is technically a third of the year but sadly that is it. Hopefully life will not get so crazy and I won't be so lazy as to stay away from blogging more often.

Well I've squeezed all I could...

Well I squeezed all I could out of summer and then some.

Then we got busy with getting my parents moved in to their new house. They are now only about 15-20 minutes away versus 5 hours. I do love that. But the whole moving thing, well it still stinks. Even if it's not you moving.

The kids are all in school and getting used to new routines. Sports and practices are going strong again and things are just busy. What else is new right. But things are good and I'm very blessed.

I just have to keep reminding myself that on crazy days and weeks like what we have been having going on.

The Last Drop

It is the last week of summer for us here. And I have finally convinced Hubs to take some time off from work. So this week we are trying to do some fun things with the kids close to home since we technically didn't go any where for vacation.

Yesterday we took the kids to Six Flags. It was not that crowded but very hot. Also, it was just me and Hubs and the kids. And for the record, I don't do roller coasters. They make me sick so I stay away from them. Hubs does some but they eventually make him sick as well. The boys rode a lot of the rides together and K. got in on a lot of the action. A. and I well we took it easy and got on all the rides with a mild rating. We stopped for lunch and went out to the car and had our picnic. No way was I going to spend that much money for food. Thirteen dollars for a refillable all day drink was more than enough of their prices. But it was still a lot of fun. And we did get a few pictures in here and there. Mainly of the characters. For whatever reason, A. wanted a picture of every character she saw so we have more than enough of those.


We stayed until almost closing time which for us was a major feat. And crashed into bed with dreams of motion sickness affecting any one who rode a roller coaster.

Today we did it a lot more tame than that. We had heard of a Pizza Place with go carts, bowling, mini golf and bumper cars. So we piled the kids in and got in on the Tuesday special of drinks and buffets along with cards loaded up for the fun to be found. So we ate and played. Then the kids wanted to eat again and play so they did. Then I had enough of the fun and said it was time to go so we went to redeem the dreaded tickets. (We had 52 between all 4 kids) The guy behind the counter realized real quick that my four would not be very happy so gave us an extra 2000 tickets just to keep peace in the family. (Thank you to that boy's mama for raising such an observant son who is generous with those darn tickets). So all the kids got to pick out something and they were happy.

So here it is the last week of summer and I'm trying to squeeze out every last drop of fun I can out of it. Summer is almost over and I'm so glad and sad at the same time.

A play write conversation overheard

I'm always surprised at what my kids come up with. This one still has me laughing days later so I thought I'd share.

Main Characters: Mom, Hoss and Pappy who was visiting us.

Scene: The staircase, lots of noise and activity especially around the staircase with younger sisters running up and down.

Script:
Mom- You kids quit running up and down the stairs and screaming your going to hurt yourselves or someone else. (This is said as Pappy is trying to make his way up the stairs)

Girls- ignoring mom, continue to run up the stairs making as much noise as possible.

Hoss- (squeezing himself as flat as he can against the wall of the stairs as Pappy tries to go up the stairs) Looks at his Pappy and says "Go Ahead, Old Man"

Mom and Pappy start laughing and scene fades.

Disclaimer- I know where he gets it from and it's me. It's what I tell the old people who are driving to slow in front of me or who are just annoying me. I haven't figured out yet if Hoss was annoyed with Pappy yet for being so slow on the stairs or not.

Fun and Busy Days

We have had a couple of fun and busy days this week and I've been way to lazy to post about any of it until now. Which makes perfect sense, because I'm very tired and it's already past my bedtime. So now is the perfect time for me to blog right?

Anyway, we met some friends this week at a small water park on Thursday. I had my kids plus two friends. And we met some other friends and moms there as well. We packed our lunches and ice chests full and set the children free. The big kids were off and going while the little ones stayed close to us in the kiddie area. This water park is small enough for me to be comfortable with the big kids going off and yet still big enough (for now) that they aren't bored by it. And for only five dollars, it can't be beat. I took a few pictures with my phone camera but they didn't really turn out that good. So if you want to see pictures of our fun day then you will have to visit Courtney's blog post about our day.

Today, Z. went to a sixth grade roundup at the middle school. I was not allowed to take my camera to this so have no pictures. Not that I was there for that long. They pretty much told us parents to leave the kids in the good hands of middle school teens to show them around. So all us parents left our children there to fend for themselves with the help of the older students. They all seemed to have survived the lockers and were given lunch as well. Just one more milestone which seems to be passing way to fast before my eyes when it comes to my kids growing up.

And then tonight we went to a swimming birthday party for one of our friends little girl's. It was fun but I'm worn out now. I'm tired of swimming for the time being. But my children aren't so I'm sure we will swim some more before school starts. So that's what's been going on here lately. Hopefully I'll have more pictures next time.

Patio Pictures

I have been very lazy in downloading pictures lately. So the other day when I finally did get around to downloading my camera, I had a lot. In fact I forgot that I even took these pictures until I saw them.

When we bought the house, it had a small patio and I've always wanted to extend it a bit. Well our friend Janne came back from Finland and heard about it. So he lit a fire under Hubs and before I knew what was happening they were digging out the dirt to extend my patio. No way was I going to slow that train down. So I let them.

After they dug the dirt out and framed it, they arranged for a cement truck to deliver the cement. So all we needed was lots of friends and wheel barrows and good weather. We struck out on the good weather for three weekends but on the fourth we got lucky and here is what was going on in my back yard.


The cement truck would fill up each wheel barrow and the guys would take off to pour it out.

But first they had to make it up this monster incline with a very full and heavy wheel barrow. I think I may have actually heard a swear word or two while I was standing here.

Once at the patio they would pour it in and someone would spread it out. This went on for a very short time.

Then finally all the cement was delivered and it was time for more spreading and leveling off.

This is where the guys who were still capable of standing would stand and eat the breakfast burritos we paid them with and catch their breath. Meanwhile Janne and another Finn were busy finishing off the leveling.

As you can see, lots of help from the friends and kids and lots of work. I wish I could say that I've gone decorated my new patio and got it looking all nice now, but I can't. It got way to hot to be out working in the yard shortly after we finished the patio. So now I will wait for fall.

Janne and Hubs are now talking about renting a bobcat or excavator or whatever it is they need to level out our backyard and build a retaining wall. All so that they can put up a batting cage in our back yard. Me, all I want is some new flower beds. Guess we will see which gets done first.

Wordless Wednesday

Sand Diva!

For other WW participants click here.

Fun at the lake

I took the kids to the lake yesterday. They had been begging to go for days now. So I made them help me with all the chores around the house that needed to be done and promised them a fun reward for afterward. After a quick lunch and a stocked ice chest we headed out for a fun afternoon.

The kids liked swimming and wading into the lake but as always it's the sand and mud that attract my kids so that's where they spent most the time. I pretty much let them have free reign with what they wanted to do. Since the swimming area that we were in was only to my shoulders at the deepest part, the boys could go where they wanted but the girls were fine with wearing their floaties the entire time. So after swimming for a bit, some serious sand castle making and burying the kids in the sand followed.


Everyone had to get buried but since we started with Z. the biggest, everyone else just sort of fit in his leftover space and then we recovered them.




It was a lot of fun and they are already asking when they can go back. With school starting in a few short weeks, I'm hoping to get back there at least once more.

Is it to early for military school?

It has been a bit crazy in our house lately. The kids are running free and doing pretty much what they want. And because of that the behaviour of my kids has gotten pretty rotten. It's to the point that I wonder how soon I could ship them off to military school. At the very least I am anxious for school to start so that the routine will start back up. And I will be honest, I'm ready for them to be in school when they are running around the way they have been today. Structure does wonders for them and I've been sorely lacking in that department. My own fault I know. I have to own up to my part in their bad behaviour. But in the meantime, I have been given the suggestion by Hubs to make my own military school.

Yes, that's right I can be my own drill sargent. I can make these kids get up early, make their beds, do their chores and send them off to run sprints. All before 8 AM. Then I need to take my children out in public and hope they misbehave so I can fix the problem immediately and make an example.

Have to love my Hubs sense of humor. I was all over everything he said, right until he mentioned the part about being up before 8 in the summer. Once he said that, I just checked out and started checking the prices at New Mexico Military Institute. It's really not so bad, I could sell everything we own and then we'd be set.

Darn the bulls eye

I did it again. I went to that darn bulls eye store with the intent of buying a short list of things for the kids. Instead I walked out much lighter in the wallet. But a lot of the clothes for the girls and some for the boys are now taken care of. Not to mention that backpacks have now been chosen by all but Z. Why do I go to that store...why oh why???

End of Season party

We had Z.'s end of season party yesterday. Lots of boating, inner tubing, swimming and eating. The kids all had a great time and so did the parents. We are very fortunate to have a team where the parents all like each other enough to want to spend time at these parties as well as the kids. The kids all like each other and are on a constant rotating basis of sleepovers at other players houses. Every house seems to have at least one piece of clothing that belongs to another player. So now all the parents just ask if they have clothes as their house instead of going home to pack a bag. Kind of convenient in one way and difficult to keep up with at the same time.

The team ended up losing more games than winning this year. But they somehow managed to come in 3rd place in AAYBA Little League World Series for their division. So that was a good way to end the year. So now things will settle down a bit for the next month and we can enjoy some more summer for a while longer.

Dawg Days

We have been busy this week. Z. was competing in the Little League World Series tournament this week. Seven games in six days in hot Tx. weather makes for a long week. But it was fun and our boys ended up in third place for thier division. So we are proud of the effort.

Just to finish the day off, we went to the water park for a few hours this evening. And it was fun. It's the first time in years where I haven't been afraid the entire time that one of my children was on the verge of drowning at a moments notice. The boys are old enough and swim well enough that I didn't see to much of them. They took off and enjoyed the park and periodically came back to spray water on me. The girls and I hung out in the shallow play area and the lazy river. It was fun. Fun to know that we are finally getting to the point with our kids that we can do things like this and not have to worry about every little thing. They are getting bigger and older and are easier (at times).

So while I realize that time is fleeting and they are growing way to fast. It's fun to be able to do some of the "big kid" stuff with all the kids.

Tap Tap Tap...Hello anyone still there?

Okay I have been gong a very long time. It was proven to me this morning when I typed in my blogger password and had forgotten it. Once I thought for a minute and retyped it, life was good again.

So since I've last blogged I have been busy with summer life. I now officially have all my kids potty trained. Never thought the day would arrive but it's here and boy am I excited.

We have been going to summer reading tutoring for Hoss the last few weeks. He's doing better but it's almost over and I will be glad. It's at a bad time for me. One in the afternoon, right in the middle of everything so it's been hard to get there and still do anything before or after that feels like fun summer stuff for the kids.

We have seen more movies and eaten more popcorn than should be legally allowed, but now that the kids are all old enough to sit through a movie we are finally getting to do it.

And lets not forget swimming. K. is determined to be in the big pool without floaties this summer. So we spend lots of time at the pool trying to get her swimming like a big girl. The boys are fine in the pool and A. is usually close by with her floaties. Won't be long until I have four little swimmers on their own.

I wish I could say that I've been a dedicated walker and exerciser lately. But I haven't, it's been sporadic at best but I do seem to get in at least three or four days of some kind of exercise. Not the greatest but at least it's still something.

June was crazy, we had an anniversary and two birthday's to celebrate. So now that July is here, we are back to sanity for a while at least. Hopefully I will not be as infrequent a poster now. But it seems to be a standard thing for me to say lately so we will just have to wait and see what happens.

Dare I say it?

I am afraid to say it out loud. So maybe if I just type it I won't jinx myself. I'm sure by now you have guessed it. My youngest and most stubborn daughter, A. has been in big girl panties for over a week now with out an accident. I can hardly believe it's finally happened. I think I now officially have all my children potty trained. Considering I have been changing someone's diaper non stop for the last six years and eight months (but whose counting)I think I have a right to be excited.

Can you feel my excitement!! Can you really?? Because I am.

Almost here

It's the last week of school so summer is almost here. Only three more days of having to get the kids up, dressed, fed and out the door before eight. I can hardly wait for that part. As for the rest of summer, we have lots of baseball and swimming ahead of us. Toss in a few movies and sleep overs here and there and we will be enjoying ourselves in no time. I can hardly wait.

Our Lucky Day

Well since we were so unlucky with the rain on Saturday, I guess our luck was bound to turn. And it did on Sunday. The weather was beautiful and as I was finishing up all the planting in the front flower bed I decided we really should be at the Ranger game instead. We had bought some discounted ticket vouchers from one of the neighborhood boys and need to get started on using those passes. So without much trying, I was able to convince Hubs and the kids that it was the perfect day to be at the Ballpark. So we packed up and headed off.

We got there at the beginning of the 2nd inning and I got in line to get our tickets. A very long line (seems like everyone thought the same thing I did). While I was waiting Hoss looked down and saw where someone had dropped some money. So he picked it up and started asking who lost it. No one claimed it and finally everyone around us where it was dropped said he should keep it for himself since it was only $2. Hoss was off to a good start already. Hubs and the rest of the kids were sitting on the bench waiting for me when someone walked up to him and asked he if he wanted these 6 free tickets since he didn't need them and they were going to go to waste. Since it was 6 we needed, he said definitely and came and got me from the back of the line.

We got inside, got the kids their free t shirts they were giving away and headed off to buy some food and drinks before we got to the seats. More long lines, where they ran out of hot dogs (how is that even possible) but by the time we got to the front of the line, hot dogs were again ready. So we were once again lucky. We got to our seats only to discover they were in the shade. Our luck continues. So we sit down in our free shaded seats surrounded by lots of happy people right on the 3rd base line side to enjoy ourselves. We ate, we drank and we cheered. Then the people behind us decided that our kids were to cute and well behaved (they obviously don't know us that well) so they bought some Cotton Candy and gave it to the kids to share.

To top it off, our beloved Rangers beat the Angels again to sweep the series. So we headed off into the traffic to head home. Once we got to the car, I saw where people were leaving the parking lot without a long line so sent Hubs that way. We discovered it was a roped off exit but for a small $1 donation some entrepreneurial college boys would hold the rope up long enough for us to drive through it and be on our way. So we paid our money and headed home with a twenty minute shorter drive.

So yes, we had the bad luck of rain on Saturday, but Sunday with the great family day we had more than made up for it.

One more day

Normally there is nothing I like more than having it rain. Especially when I don't have to be out in it unless I choose to. The past few weeks here have seen a lot of rain. In fact we are now officially out of our drought again. Well until July and August, then I'm sure we will be back in our drought since that seems to be permanent thing. But anyway, back to this rain.

The rain has been a bit of a pain to me personally lately. Between all the cancelled and rescheduled baseball and softball games, I should be crazy enough. But it's never really that simple is it. You see about three weeks ago, Hubs and his good friend decided that the time was right to finally extend our patio. So since I've been begging for one since we moved in I was certainly not going to stop them once they got going.

So they started to dig. And then it rained. Then it dried up so they started to lay all the brick sand during which time it started to rain. I then had a 10x20 ankle deep muddy swimming pool off my patio. Then it dried up enough to add more sand. Then just for good measure, it rained again. Finally it dried up enough for the guys to lay and weld the re bar. That was on a Thursday and the cement truck was supposed to come that Saturday. Only Hubs came down with some really bad kind of chest infection so was out of commission for a few days. So we missed our window of dry sand,good weather and available volunteers. The next weekend was Mothers Day weekend which was harder to get volunteers for (rightfully so) and lots of makeup baseball games. Which now leaves us with this weekend. We have rescheduled the cement and volunteers again for this Saturday. I have run out and coverd the sand pit anytime the rain started this week just to keep it from flooding completely. But as I watched the weather last night and saw the 70% chance of rain for Saturday, well I just had to shake my head.

I'm not sure when we are going to finish this patio, but hopefully it will be before it gets to hot to actually enjoy it. Meanwhile, I just keep sweeping up the mess on the floors that having an open sandpit five feet from the door always leaves inside. So for Pete's sake save the rain for one more day, that's all we need, just one more day.

My Muffin Message

It was Muffins for Mom this morning at my daughter's preschool. And while the muffins were good, I love the things I get from my daughter even more. I have all sorts of cute things all around my counter tops right now.

But as well as that, I get a letter with fill in the blank spaces that my daughter answers all about me. In my letter, I am told my name and my age (I'm 20 by the way, boy do I love that girl). According to K. my favorite place to shop is at a "store". She knows how much I hate to shop so she can't even name a store apparently. My favorite thing to do while she is at school is "read a book". Yes, she's right that is my favorite thing to do. Sadly, though it doesn't seem to happen often enough. My favorite food is "vegetables". Have to laugh at that one because I really thought my favorite food was chocolate but we won't disillusion her just yet. And my favorite is, she loves her mom because I do so many nice things for her. Have to love how simple it all is my sweet daughter. And I definitely have to love my sweet daughter as well.

Riddle for ya..

What do you get when...


You mix days of heavy rain followed by a day of high winds?

You get all six of us in misery with allergies that are out of control.

There are not enough klenix and allergy medicine in this house right now to help us all. Just have to love days like these when you can't do anything accept sneeze and tear up everytime you walk outside.

Oh No He Didn't....(as my son says with attitude)

I'm a little ticked off today. Okay really a lot ticked off. I had a comment left on my FB page from someone I haven't talked to in 20 years. Instead of the normal hey, great to see you comment. It was something more offensive. Not to mention completely untrue. So I immediately deleted it after it had been up for about an hour. Then I sent a private email to the "friend" asking what gives? Now if this was just a joking around comment, it was in very poor taste. Especially since it's been so long and I've obviously lost my sense of humor. So I'm waiting to hear back, if I even will to find out what that was all about. Obviously this guy has forgotten that I am not one of those people to take rude comments like that and just ignore them. So yes, I'm ticked off and considering for the first time ever actually de friending someone. So me and my head bobbing self chanting Oh no he didn't...will calm down before I make a decision. Until then, if your on my FB page and you see any offensive posts, well I would just stand back and wait for the fireworks to begin.

Being Lazy

I feel lazy. I have been lazy in my blogging. I have been lazy in my walking. I have been lazy in my cleaning. And I've been lazy in my flower beds. By now I've already got new things planted. And it's not that I'm not busy doing things that take a lot of time, it's just that I've been lazy in delegating other things as well. So blame it on all the rain we've been having. So here I am on a Friday morning probably enjoying my last day with all the kids in school (I'm convinced schools will close here soon due to the Swine Flu paranoia). And guess what I'm feeling lazy. I need to go buy groceries so that will probably get done. But I'm reading this book right now which seems to be taking up a bit more time than it should and so I have a feeling that I'll continue to be a bit lazy a little longer.

S-P-A-N-K-E-D

We spent this past weekend in the lovely town of Ardmore,OK. Where the sun shines brightly and winds, well they blow...and they blow big time. No really, it was so darn windy. Why were we there? An out of town baseball tournament for Z. We decided that since we had a game Friday night, two on Saturday and one on Sunday to make it a weekend with the whole family.

We and the other players families all rented cabins and planned on a long and busy weekend. We get there Friday night ready for our first game. We went into this tournament knowing our team stinks compared to a lot of the teams that would be there. But we also had the bad luck of the draw. Our first team to play against was in what is called a major classification. It's the best there is when it comes to little league and in fact just returned from Florida where they competed and placed 5th in the nation. We did not realize this until we got to the game. Just to share our pain with you we only played about 45 minutes of the 90 minutes allowed. They called the game when we reached the mercy rule of being ahead of a team at any time by 20. Not only that, we only batted the first 6 players in our lineup, yep, that's right, 3 up 3 down each inning. We were glad to provide them with some batting practice. It stunk! But the other team was amazing.

Saturday we were hopeful for a better game. Z. was having a good game with his pitching when his worst fear was realized. He threw a ball and it ended up hitting the batter in the head. The batter ran to first to take his base and said he was okay. But then the first base coach noticed all the blood dripping down from his helmet. So they stopped the game to check him out. Turns out he was bleeding from his ear and at first they thought if was from inside the inner ear. Instead it turns out he had a defective helmet which cut int the cartilage of his ear. He was deemed okay by everyone and continued to finish his turn around the bases. ( I saw him the next day where he proudly showed me his war wound) We played better but still lost.

Second game was pretty similar but without the blood. So we finished up early and went back to the cabins to enjoy our down time. We had a cookout with everyone where pretty much everything had to be bolted down or it would blow away. Lots of playing around with lots of 10 year old boys and siblings was going on. And us parents, well we were busy supervising...well okay I admit it not much supervising going on. But we did get lots of talking done, and a little bit of cow tipping. Just kidding! No talking involved, it would have alerted the cows we were there. Then we all went back to sleep in our cabins with some of the biggest spiders ever seen.

Sunday's game was good, we had them and our boys were playing well. But a few bad calls by refs and some good hits by the other team and well we were packing it up and heading home.

All in all, we were S-P-A-N-K-E-D this weekend in baseball. But the boys enjoyed themselves and the parents enjoyed themselves. And now I'm home and trying to wash out half the state of OK. out of my laundry. There is sand everywhere but at least I'm not out in it anymore.

All things mermaid

I am surrounded by all things mermaid lately. I have made it through the first three children without the mermaid fascination. But my youngest A., has other ideas.

She plays mermaid in the tub.
She plays mermaid on the rug.
She plays mermaid on the stairs.
She plays mermaid with her hair.

You get the idea, it's all mermaid all the time. And silly mom that I am dug out the Little Mermaid dvd to see if she would like it. She does, so it's on constantly. At this time, my A. would very possibly answer to the name of Ariel. I should try it out and see what happens. I didn't expect this latest craze and it's been pretty fun to watch and enjoy so far. Well except for the constant DVD running on the TV. It just goes to show you how even after four kids, you can still be surprised by the little things if you notice them.

Very Disappointed

I'm very disappointed in my kids school today. My oldest came home and told me something his teacher told the class which I didn't agree with. It's not the first time I have had issues with this teacher this year. Normally I email her and get it resolved. This time I've actually scheduled a conference about it for next Monday. This teacher is not my son's homeroom teacher but has him for two classes through out the day. She has been through an unimaginable year which resulted in her losing her husband to cancer. She has a lot to deal with, and I understand this and have tried to empathize with this. In the best of times, I have heard that she is a good teacher but prefers girls. Now in the worst of times, well lets just say it hasn't been easy for my oldest son.

But the thing that has me the most upset is that his teacher has told the class on two separate occasions that they are her least favorite class ever and that she hates them. Yes, she actually said hate. Now my first reaction was to make sure I heard it right. Z. said that what she said the first time was that she disliked them more than any other class she has ever had. But on Tuesday she said she hated them more than any other class she ever had. I decided to call a friend who has a son in the same class to see if he heard the same thing my son heard. And it was confirmed that yes, she did say she hates them.

So I decided to talk with the assistant principal about this. Not only for my child and the other students who should never hear from a teacher that she hates them. But for the teacher herself. It may be that she needs to take a bit more time off or something, I don't know. But they need to be aware of this. While the assistant principal listened to me, I don't feel like she felt all that concerned about what is being said to these students. She seemed much more concerned about all the teacher is going through. Which I agree is awful, but still my child does not need to be taking the brunt of her emotions. My friends husband was going to also talk to the assistant principal today, maybe since he's also an assistant principal in the district she will listen a bit more to what out kids are being subjected to.

Meanwhile, I am also intending to bring this up during our conference, it's one of the few things I want to discuss. I hate that I have to do it, but I have a son who up until this year loved school and now doesn't. Yet he still makes the honor roll every six weeks. I have a son who is being told both verbally and in the actions displayed to him that he is not worthy. And I do not agree with it. I am my son's only voice and unfortunately I am now being forced to use it. I'm very disappointed in this entire situation. Up until this year, I've never had a serious complaint, but now I can not say that. I'm mad, I sympathize with his teacher but I'm still mad.

Poor planning

I suffered from some seriously poor planning this morning. What's that saying, you know the one, the road is paved with good intentions or something like that. Anyways, I thought I would wake up early and get my treadmill torture out of the way early this morning before the boys had to be taken to school. But instead, I woke up at my regular time. Then I thought, that's okay I will still have torture time after I drop the boys off but before I had to get K. to pre school. Only I got distracted by GMA talking about the singing sensation Susan Boyle on Britain's Got Talent. I totally love stories like these by the way so if you get the chance then click on over.

So instead of my torture time on the treadmill I drank another cup of coffee and took K. to school. When we got home I was faced with another dilemma, treadmill torture or a really nice brisk walk around the lake. So naturally I chose the walk around the lake. (Now what am I going to tell Hubs who has been sworn to keep me going on treadmill)

Then after our walk I came home to see my neighbor out planting flowers. So naturally I had to stop and talk flowers with her and catch up with all that was going on. Then another neighbor joined us and we had us a good visit. Finally I realized I really needed to come in and get showered. It was then I realized the time. I had both the lawn company and the exterminator coming to the house at the same time. Crud, I realized that the inside was a mess. Now I know the exterminator is no reason to clean up but I just have issues with strangers seeing my house with no beds made and a dirty kitchen. Plus, I didn't want him to say that any bugs found, were probably there because it was so messy (not dirty...messy. Well except for the kitchen, that was dirty with all the breakfast dishes) So instead of a slow shower, I ran a marathon and got the house in order just as the lawn company was finishing up. Then within five minutes the exterminator was there. But at least the crumbs and mess were all gone.

So now I'm finally on track again. Well except for the treadmill torture. But I promise tomorrow to get up early and get back on it and cry some more. At least that's what I'm planning.

Cereal-iously

Ok, I know that's not really a word, ceral-iously, but it could be. It's morning, and I'm faced with the day to day dilemma of what to feed myself and my kids for breakfast. The boys are easy and choose to have egg burritos at school, the girls aren't to bad either. They pick cereal, Berry Crunch to be exact.

So that leaves me. I decide to join the cereal bandwagon and join in the crunching going on. So I wander off to the pantry to see what kinds of mom cereal there is in there. I see three boxes sitting there to choose from. I have my Crunchy Go Lean, I have my Fiber One and I have bran flakes. Ooohh, what to choose. I finally decide on Fiber One and go to put it in my bowl. Only to discover that there is hardly any left, not enough to even count as half a bowl. So I decide to move onto my Crunchy go Lean (this is really not one I like that much but I decide to eat it just to get rid of it) and discover that this to is hardly worth putting in the bowl. About this time, I'm wondering what is going on here, I am the only one who eats mom cereal how did this happen. Then I remember, we had company this past week and mom has to watch her sugar levels so she probably had some at some time or another.

So I am faced with the decision of do I just go for a bowl of Bran flakes on there own or do I mix all the cereals together to make a hodgepodge breakfast mix. Or I could just have two small separate bowls of cereal but that doesn't sound so good. But now that I know these essentially empty big cereal boxes are taking up some high dollar pantry shelf space I want them out of there. But do I want to be wasteful and toss them, it seems such a shame to be like that. I am trying to cut down on the grocery budget and this just doesn't seem to fit into it at all. I decide to just get over it and mix the cereals together. I was really a bit disappointed, I mean if I like them by themselves, then surely mixed together they would be equally as good, but they weren't. I guess I like my cereal in it's purest form and mixing them just doesn't do it for me.

But on the bright side, I now have more shelf space in my pantry and was not wasteful. Just doing my part to save money for the family budget. Well unless you count those really great tops I bought at the store the other day, but cereal-iously that's not the same thing at all.

Facing the facts

I can't deny it any longer. Swimsuit season is almost here. I'm being reminded of this from every direction. Time to refocus and start walking again on a daily basis. It's hard to do this time of year with all the practices that are going on but I just need to give up a TV show or two and it should all work out. Hopefully by the time I actually have to force myself into the swimsuit, it won't be as bad as it would be now.

I may say that just a bit to much

I hear myself in my children. What I tell them, usually comes back to me sooner or later. Sometimes it's not so bad, other times I'm embarrassed and then other times I just have to laugh.

I've been listening to A. quite a bit lately. And I must say, she is definitely repeating things that she hears me say. But in my defense it's not the embarrassing phrase of darn it (only it really wasn't darn). Instead it seems that everything she is seeing or noticing for the first time requires a very loud and enthusiastic Holy Cow! (Mental congratulations to myself that it was not anything worse than that) So since this doesn't fall into what I consider the offensive category, I'm enjoying her Holy Cows. Everything from a new roll of toilet paper being put on the roll, to a dead bug in a window sill gets a big HOLY COW.

So I've decided that I may just actually verbalize my thoughts a bit more than I should. I must try to keep things where I really am thinking Holy Cow inside my head, instead of verbalizing them. But Holy Cow, it's harder than I thought it would be. So maybe I will just give it up and be glad that at least it's not quite as offensive as Bugger, which I've been know to say a time or two. But if we aren't actually in England is it still offensive? Just something to wonder about.

It's that time again...baseball season

Baseball season has started up for us again. We now officially have three kids we have to shuttle back and forth to practices and games. So for my friends that I see on a regular basis, I'll see you around June sometime. But contrary to what you may think, I love it. It's fun to watch the kids as they grow and get better at sports. You can really see a difference in them from season to season.

This past weekend we watched my oldest son Z. play in a weekend tournament. He is with a new team this spring. And we decided on this team not for their winning records (which they didn't really have) but for the coaches and parents of the other boys out there playing. We are really enjoying being on this new team. Since we've joined them, the boys have finally started to click and they are finally playing pretty good. They finally finished a tournament and got a bit of hardware (ie. trophies, medals, rings) to show for it. They didn't win this tournament so they didn't get the championship rings (which I'm still laughing over) but they were all so excited to have done so well. Hoss my youngest son is now the official bat boy for this team and even he received a medal. Talk about an excited 6 yr old.

So if you start to hear more and more talk about baseball than you really want to, I'm sorry. But that's pretty much all I'm going to be doing for the next 3 months so I won't have much else to talk about.

So pull up a chair, grab some sunflower seeds and start spitting, it's baseball season.

It's Spring Break

We are on spring break this week. I have high hopes for everyone getting and staying healthy this week. So far it looks like it may actually happen. Z. is fine and at baseball camp this week every morning. Hoss and K. and A. are all better and for the most part seem to be better as well. So that leaves me to plan a few things to do this week. I'm planning but it's a bit hard to do the long all day activities when I have Z. at camp until noon. After being physical and on the go all morning he does get a bit tired. But I'm sure I can get him to go on an extra long all day outing if it were worth his while.

So that leaves me with a lot of free mornings to fill this week. And what seems to be filling it? One of my all time favorite TV shows as a child. My son Hoss has discovered Little House on the Prarie. He likes it because of the horses. I just like it. I can honestly say I've seen every episode ever made. And I can name and place every episode within 60 seconds of sitting down to watch it. I was a bit obsessed as child I think. But I can't deny that I still love this show. Who knows, if I'm lucky I'll get to watch it more than once this week on spring break. It is my kids putting it on to watch, not me. And I will indulge them on this one.

Sick and Tired of Being Sick

I have to say it has been a hard winter for us. For the last two months straight, we have had one person after another in our family getting sick. And it continues to rage on. We have never had it this bad before and I hope to never see a winter like this again. It all started at the end of January when Hubs came home sick from a business trip. Hoss then caught it and developed pneumonia. Then K., A. and I decided to get the flu and spread the love to my parents who were visiting. We finally get through that then Z. comes home with strep throat. Now we are battling the dreaded stomach virus for a second time this winter. Both K and Hoss are fighting this one right now. It's just not seeming to end.

I must say, that I am so tired of being sick and caring for sick children. They've been great but it's just been really hard. I'm hoping that the kids will soon recover and get over all these viruses soon. That should leave us healthy to deal with all the allergies that are about to hit and the asthma problems that go with it. I am hoping that we can spend spring break next week home and healthy. So now you know why I've been gone so much lately.

Birthdays are in the air

We are starting our next round of family birthdays. Today is Hubs birthday. He is now 41. It's really not that upsetting to him so that's a good thing. So what does Hubs want for his birthday? Who knows. He doesn't have anything that he really wants and doesn't really need anything. So we are just going to go out and let the kids pick him something that they think he would like. It's always fun to see what they come up with. One year he got a bag of marbles, Z. really felt that he needed those. And of course he felt he had to play with Hubs in the process. I've already been requested to make his favorite birthday cake. So of course I will do that, what flavor you may wonder. It's almost embarrassing to say it but he really likes pink strawberry cakes. So that's what he gets, even though the girls have told daddy that it's a girl cake. He doesn't care though and still wants a pink cake. I guess he never believed that whole boys don't like pink theory.

So Happy Birthday Hubs, we love you very much. Enough to eat pink cake and play marbles with you. May your upcoming year be filled with as much love and joy as you give all of us on a daily basis.

Sick Again

We are sick again. The girls and I are suffering from the flu. Hoss has recovered for the most part from his pnuemonia so that is a bright spot. Z. and Hubs seem to have dodged the bullet so far. But my poor parents who came up to visit, they went home with the flu. Courtesy of us of course. I feel so bad about that. They always seem to catch something when they come to see us. I am amazed that they continue to risk it but they love thier grandkids and can't be kept from them. But hopefully we will all be well soon. Because I have to tell you, this being sick with the flu is for the birds. I must remember this next year and get a flu shot.

Can you see anything

The last few times I've logged into blogger I can't see anything. I was just wondering if it's happening to anyone else or if it's a user error. Will you leave me a comment either way letting me know if you can or can not see my posts.

Company is coming

It's really sad how excited I get when we have family come and see us. You would think I'd be tired of it by now. But I'm not. In fact, they really don't come enough for me or the rest of the family. Yes, even Hubs thinks they should come more often. But starting tomorrow, we have company in town for about ten days or so. My parents are coming which is not all that unusual but still a reason to be excited.

But during the time that they will be here we will have more company. Hubs sister and her husband are driving down from Missouri to Houston for a cruise. So they will stop and stay with us along the way both coming and going. It's been a while since we have seen them and we are looking forward to it.

I can imagine now all the cooking that will be going on in this kitchen. Because that is what we do when family gathers, we cook. Lots of food and all of it delicious. It's amazing how we cook so much more for company than we do just for ourselves but we do. Hmm, maybe that's why I'm so excited when company comes. It means that good food is sure to follow. It's worth considering....

A Talk with the teacher

I had a talk with K.'s teacher this morning. It was very enlightening to say the least. Ms. Tammy asked me if my husband was doing okay. So I told her yes, he was doing good and would be back from Finland very soon. At this, she looked very relieved and started to laugh. She then told me about a conversation she had with my daughter.

K.,my daughter told Ms. Tammy that her dad was in heaven. Ms. Tammy asked her if she was sure and K. said yes she was very sure. Her mommy had dropped her daddy of at the drive thru and then he went to heaven. He'd be back in a few days.

Of course by now I am laughing and wondering why she came up with this. I can only guess that to her the airport is the drive thru and the planes then fly up to heaven. I still don't know for sure and will talk to her this afternoon about it. But I'm still laughing at this. Especially since I didn't drive Hubs to the airport, he drove himself and left his truck in long term parking.

I'm just glad that he was able to get a return ticket from heaven and I'm sure when I tell him, he'll be just as relieved.

Wordless Wednesday

For other WW participants click here.

Another way in which girls are different than boys

Having girls is different from boys. In so many ways. But I recently realized a new way they are different. Birthday parties. In particular, girls only parties. Now my poor girls will never have a girl only birthday party simply because of the fact that they have two brothers who will always be at their parties. So that along with the fact that my girls like to do a lot of what the boys do means that we very seldom have true girlie time.

But one recent Saturday K, my oldest girl was invited to a girlie party. So dad packed up the boys and took them off to basketball games while I packed up the girls and took them to parties. The girls were then treated to an experience they won't soon forget. We got to the party where they were whisked off to put on princess gowns. Then they were put into big director chairs and had their hair put up in pretty buns complete with glitter hairspray. After that they were rushed off to get their nails and makeup done. Once all the girls were finished, it was time. Time for the big presentation. One by one all the girls made there way onto a runway through a curtain of golden beads. There they walked the catwalk showing off the new princess look they had. They were then presented with a crown and a certificate.


I'm thinking to myself, what could possibly top this for these girls. Then it was cake time. They had the most beautiful cake from my favorite bakery Candy Haven. So naturally I had a piece. And then we opened presents. Lots of fun. Just when the girls thought it was over they put on their regular street clothes and jackets and went outside. There they were greeted by a very big and long pink limousine in which they all piled into and went for a ride. They loved it. And I was once again left to wonder at how different things with girls can be. Now while my girls loved it, I know I will never spend the money on that kind of party for my girls. I just can't imagine doing it. I know that from now on though that anytime either of my girls gets an invite to a party like this again that my boys will be begging to go. They are pretty mad that both of their little sisters have already ridden in a limo and they haven't. They assure me they will suffer through the whole party if they can go in the car afterward.

Yes, boys and girls are as different as princesses and hot rods.

On my own again

I'm on my own again this week. Hubs had to leave for work for a week. Could have been much worse, he somehow managed to change it from 2 weeks to 1 week. So for one short week, I am the sole chauffer. But at least it will be busy and go fast. We did a quick and quiet brunch (since we only had A. with us) before he left to fly out. It was very enjoyable. Sometimes we forget about how simple it is to eat out with only one child. In fact most of my food was hot while I was eating it. That hasn't happened in a long time. So this week will be an easy week for cooking since the kids are so easy to please. But still, Friday night can't get here soon enough.

Love ya' Award...right back attcha!

Nicole surprised me with an award the other day. She's my friend in real life, so I take it to mean that she really does like me and not just what you see on the computer screen. That's nice to know. I think I'm supposed to pass this on to other bloggers that I read and appreciate. I have several bloggers who I think deserve this, but since some of those blogs are private it makes it kind of hard.

This award is officially called The Love Ya Award, and here's why:


"These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be
friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when
the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated.
Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight
bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into
the body of their award.”

So thanks Nicole for appreciating me. And I want to pass on this award to a few of my favorite blog writers. I don't know if I have eight though, so if I break that rule, well I'm sorry. I can be lame like that sometimes.

Ginny is my friend in real life and just started blogging. She always writes about things that are important to her. She's amazing.

Lauren is one of my first ever blogs that I started to read. I always enjoy her posts about her life, books and Disney Trips.

Keelan just makes me laugh. I can so relate to her stories and am sure you'll enjoy her to.

Heather, Lynn and Kim are more of my favorite blogs to read. But they're private now so you'll just have to take my word for it. But I want them to know how much I enjoy their blogs.

So if you get a chance, stop by and visit them. I think you'll enjoy their blogs.

Quick Takes

I am so stealing this idea from my friend Nicole. I know she will understand. I just give a few random things (I think)about what's going on. This saves me from actually having to come up with a true blog post.

So without further ado.

1. I cut K. hair for the first time ever this week. She's 4 1/2 and it was long enough to get caught in her bottom during bath time. Enough said. It is now a short and sassy length (to her) of mid back. She can wear it down, and I can still put it up. See everyone wins.

2. I am also a dork like my local friends who are excited about a new grocery store opening close to us. Another option without the traffic is always something to be excited about. I plan on going here in a bit to so some shopping and enjoy all the freebies that go with a grand opening.

3. I think I have found a solution for my child care issue on the few occasions that I need it. Some of my neighbors have used this facility before and it's a pay as you go type place. Plus it's good for all ages and stays open till midnight (can you say date?) I am checking into it further but so far it seems promising.
Plus they have all kinds of camps they offer during the summer months when the kids tend to get bored.

4. The treadmill and I have come to agreements. I don't like it as much as walking outside, but it's pretty darn convenient. So I'm still using it.

5. Lost started back up this week. Can I tell you how excited I am. Very. I now have something non reality to waste my time with. Can't say it's time better spent but it's still good.

6. Tomorrow is K. first back to back birthday party invites. So it should be fun for her and torture for me. I have a dollar amount that I allow for presents but the ones she picked out were even below that. So she added these giant circle lollipops to the gifts. I think she is more excited about those than anything else.

7. Homework has been hard this week. Z. has two teachers that for whatever reason both had huge projects due. So with all this nice weather we have been having, we have missed alot of it since homework has to come first. Stinks to be a grownup sometimes.

So there we have it. For more quick takes visit Jen

Not Possible

Today is the inauguration of our new President. And yes I know this is a historic day on so many different levels. I'm excited about some of the the history being made. I'd love to be able to have my children witness this change of power in person someday with me. Of course it will never happen because I just don't like being in crowds, but it would still be awesome to watch. But at the same time, it is barely 8am and I'm already tired of some of the news coverage going on. The things that they feel we need to know just in order to fill air time just drives me crazy. So while I will probably tune in to watch the actual inauguration process where the new President will be sworn in, it's not possible for me to watch it all. So just give me the highlights and leave all the fluff alone already, I've still got a house full of kids to take care of today.

Is there anything better

Today is going to be a cold day. And I am so excited that I really only one obligation so far that requires me to leave the house. Is there anything better than getting to stay inside where it's nice and warm when it's cold outside. I myself think it's one of life's little pleasure. Kind of like when the kids are all quiet and happy and not getting into mischief. It doesn't happen that often, but when it does, I try to enjoy it. So my plans for the day don't include to much running around. Instead I think I will stay home with the girls and stay warm. Is there really anything better than that?

Just not right

It's January, one of the coldest months in the year. But even though it's January, I am off to have the AC in my car fixed today. Why? Because the weather is so crazy going from 80 to 40 on a daily basis it seems. And on those regular occurring warm days it gets down right stuffy in the car. And since I'm part of a family whose allergies who are terrible, we never have the window down. So even though to me it just doesn't seem right to have to fix the AC in January, that's what I'm doing. Crazy isn't it, this Texas weather.

A bit of this and that

In case your wondering, and I'm sure you not. Things are still hectic around here. Here's a bit of what's been going on around here.

-School started back so kids are up and going early. Mom, not always the case.

-I've been to some more training classes that I probably didn't really need but had to have anyway.

-Dropped off K. at school and headed to the dealership to have my A/C fixed. (Yes I know it's January but this is Texas and we still are seeing the occasional 80 degrees) So get to dealership and wait while they figure out what's wrong. Get the call from preschool saying daughter is having severe allergic reaction to something can I come get her and can they give her benadryl. Yes give her medicine and I'll be there as soon as my car is off the big rack they have it on. Then go tell them to get it off the rack and I'll be back later for them to fix it. Get to preschool and K. is all better and doesn't want to leave. Still don't know what caused reaction. Now I'm waiting for my part to come in so I can take the van back to be fixed.

-Went and played Bunco with some friends. Lots of fun.

-Hubs and I have talked about getting a treadmill. Discovered Hubs boss just bought an $1800 one last year that has only been used around 6 times. It's now being offered to us to try out. At no cost. If we decide we still want it in 6 months then we can talk about price then. So Hubs said yes and will go get it this evening.

-Talked Hubs into painting girls bathroom last week, now just need to get the rest of the house done. It's just hard to decide on the color I want since there are so many of them to choose from.

-Really need to get the kids used to not interrupting me on the phone when I'm talking. They are having a hard time with it, but since I am now on the phone alot with work stuff, it's vital they learn. The big ones have it, but the girls are still struggling.

So there you have it, aren't you glad you read this far. We are just so exciting in our house. So until I bore you again, that's it for bits of this and that.

Last Day of Vacation

Since today is the last day of vacation for the kids I thought we would do something fun. But instead it started to rain and get cold which pretty much put a stop to any outdoor fun I had in mind. So I did what any good mom would do, I started the laundry that's been piled up since last summer I guess. Now I have half the laundry done and four wound up full of energy kids running crazy through the house. But, I can't say that it's really been all that bad. Well except for the whole laundry thing.

The rest the week should be busy as we get back into our normal routine and all the running around it takes. So it's really a good thing to get caught up on laundry instead, although I'd ditch it in a second if something better came along. Just being honest ya'll. See I told you all that I have one of the most boring life's of all. And yes, I'm still happy with it.

Hershey Kiss

Hershey Kisses calling my name.
Hershey Kisses make me gain.
Hershey Kisses go away,
I want to zip my pants today.



Can you tell what I'm craving right now...