Yearly Update

I decided I had better do something with my hands, or I was going to be snacking on chicken wontons all night long. I am still behind a couple of ideas for posts, but I can't guarantee full attention on my writing, since I'm home with the baby while Perry is out getting my present (hopefully he can find it, lol), so I'll have to do something that won't suffer from getting up every 2 minutes.


***For some odd reason, I can't upload our family picture, even though Perry was able to. I have tried every way imaginable to get it and am left with this as the only option: this

2006 for the Perry John Family

Caleb- Caleb turned 8 this year and was baptized. He also started Cub Scouts, which he really likes. He's excited for his first pine wood derby next month (Perry's bugging me for some power tools for that one). School is going pretty good. He's in the gifted class once a week. He hates finishing the worksheets in class, though. I can tell he's going to be one of those "aces the tests but are still failing the class because he won't do the homework" types. He loves video games and all things Star Wars. He tries to be a big helper most of the time, even if he isn't very appreciated all of the time by his youngest sibiling.

Mischa- Mischa turned 6 and is the biggest reader. If it's a book, she's reading it (we caught her reading about diaper rash in my What to Expect the First Year book). She is in the gifted class, too, and is a "perfect" student, according to her teacher. She loves being cute and tries to be her best always.

Joshua- Our 4-year-old clown. He is just so fun to be around. He loves to count things. He's also really into video games and Star Wars, too (I think his brother is responsible for that). He's a real love bug, and I always get a quick cuddle first thing in the morning before his "pop-tarts and Disney channel please".

Anneliese- Well on her way to turning 2 in March, she's had quite the year. She loves being a helper. And she is a HUGE cuddle bug. Not as much as last year, since she has things to do now, but I think she'd rather be held most of the time. She isnt' talking too much, so we're teaching her a little sign language here and there. She's up to 9 teeth and 20 lbs. She's eating a lot better now (she wouldn't do textures until 18 months old). She loves chocolate and strawberry milk. She likes to imitate her brothers and sister. Josh Josh is her favourite right now. She loves it when she wakes up before him and gets to climb into bed with him to wake him up.

Me- Busy as ever. Both Cub Scouts and Brownies are going well. Room parent and PTA stuff is going well. I'm babysitting after school for the neighbours on both sides of us. It's been kind of crazy for me, and I'm really missing "me" time to unwind. I think when Anneliese starts playing more by herself and doesn't want up on my lap everytime I sit down, it'll get better. I'm enjoying living close to my dad and the opportunity we have for the kids to know their "Oompah" better. I'm enjoying my sewing lessons, too.

Perry- Working hard, traveling a lot. Losing weight like crazy (totally jealous about that one). He's teaching the 17-18 year-old Sunday School class at church. I won't say much more and make him blog about it.

Overall, it's been a good year. Some things I wouldn't want to go through again, some things I'm sad won't happen again, some things to look forward to. Now bring on those wontons!

The Most Awesome Husband in the World

To say things have been crazy around here lately would be an understatement. A lot has fallen by the wayside as I get things done by their deadlines. Housework would be one of those things. On his day off yesterday, while I was getting things finalized for the class party that afternoon, Perry worked his butt off cleaning. I had more than a twinge of guilt when Michaela walked into the house after school and said, "Wow, it's clean in here!". Thank you so much for your hard work, honey.

An Eye for Detail

Michaela coloured this Christmas tree last night. The very top of the tree is light green because the star was glowing onto the tree.

Life Is Too Busy

I've been wanting to blog since Sunday, but everything has been coming at me fast and furious. I was hoping for a slow down, but there are cookies that need to be baked on Thursday, which hopefully will all be delivered by Friday or Saturday. I had a class party today and a Cub Scout party tomorrow, so I'm dead. I just thought I'd share the little funny that Joshua told us at dinner.

"Remember, mommy, don't eat the spicy round hot dogs."
"Okay, Josh. Why not?"
"Because the wind comes."
I don't think I want to know where this wind comes from, do you?
Ah, the mind of a four year-old.

For My Sister

I would probably post more if you commented more, lol! And you need to start a blog or you suck. Plus, you get to share cute pictures of your kids.

Or..........

You get to embarass your sister with her 7th grade picture. Love ya!!

Rudolph's Nose Isn't the Only Red Thing This Time of Year

Silent night,
Holy night.
All is calm,
All is bright.
Round yon virgin,
Mother and child...

"Mom," a little voice in the back of the car pipes up, "what's a virgin?".
"This one's yours, " my ever so helpful husband tells me. Thanks. Thanks a lot. As I mull over how to explain to my 6 year old daughter this little Christmas lesson that wasn't exactly in my holiday to do list for this year, we see something out the window and mama gets a pass. Until last night.
I had seen pictures of a show on the National Geographic Channel called In the Womb, about animal development. Once we sat down and watched it, even I, a pre-vet student, learned some really cool things. But the fun of how we discovered it was on. I was flipping through the channels, trying to find a Christmas special for the kids. Michaela was the main driving force on this, so she was watching the screen intently. We pass a shot of white squiggly things swimming. I instantly recognize the little guys and keep flipping, making a mental note to come back after the Amazing Race and watch the show. "No, no, mommy, go back to the white things. I want to watch that!". I flip back, and have to do a little sperm and egg talk real quick. I am spared the embarrassment of explaining how the sperm gets there, however, as the show does a little "flashback" of that very thing with Golden Retrievers. The act itself was very brief, but in dogs, the male is "tied" to the female from 5 to 20 minutes. Fortunately, seeing two dogs standing end to end was too funny for Mischa to ask further questions. My nightmare was that she was going to go to school and share her new found knowledge with everyone. I'm sure that would be a phone call that was just as awkward to make as to receive, lol.

Really Neat Website

For the most beautiful pictures of snowflakes, check out Dr. Kenneth Libbrecht's website. Better Homes and Gardens has a bunch of ideas for using his pictures- either printed out onto cards, or onto sticker paper to stick onto your presents. Chances are you'll see his photography this Christmas in your mail- four of his designs were chosen by the Post Office for their holiday stamps.

Third Times a Charm

I went to bed Saturday night with the thoughts of hot dogs going through my head. Thought I would share my yummiest hot dog recipe ( broiled Ball Park franks on a toasted buttered bun, topped with melted sharp cheddar cheese and sour cream), how I absolutely can't stand boiled hot dogs but how, when I was younger, would eat uncooked Oscar Meyer hot dogs (the texture finally did me in), and how I can practically eat a whole package of hot dogs (including buns) in one sitting if they're done on a campfire.
I never had a chance to post on Sunday, and went to bed Sunday night with a whole different post in my head. It's too much to get into right now, since I don't have time to do it justice.
Leave it to Caleb (who lost his 3rd tooth last night) and Mischa, though, to give me something. We were finally (their impatience, not mine) getting around to putting ornaments on the tree. Anneliese was starting to get into it, too. She would get mad when the other kids would take her ornaments away from her to hang on the tree. Anyway, Caleb and Mischa were having a great planning session how they were going to be missionaries and go up to the North Pole and teach Santa the Gospel. I hope they remember their parkas, lol!

Opposite Day (Cuz I Got Nuthin')

Today and yesterday were all grey and yucky. I went out to the bus stop yesterday afternoon and got rained on. It was raining this morning, too. I'm glad I took this picture to remind me how pretty the day can be. I don't know if it's the weather, or what, but I've been a little down lately. Even the nonstop Christmas carols on the radio have been able to get me in the spirit of the season. We're putting our tree up tonight (we'll probably do the ornaments tomorrow, but a bare tree with lights is one of the prettiest things). This ought to be a fun Christmas this year, though, since this is really the first Christmas that Anneliese will be able to get some of the things going on. Caleb has now declared it the best Christmas ever. All based on a half put together tree. Glad to see there aren't any high expectations for decorations around here, lol!

Bad Mama Moments

Poor little Liese. She has been such a pill lately. Wanting up, wanting down, all that fun stuff. She wants to nurse, I let her, she then decides to switch sides, kick her legs while I'm trying to type, or falls asleep and starts biting down (which causes me to pry her mouth open really quick, thereby waking her up and starting the whole thing over again). Perry discovered the answer to the mystery of why she was such a grump- in addition to the eye tooth that was starting to peek through, and the other eye tooth that might be breaking through in the next few weeks, she was getting two molars coming in. I feel like such a bad mama for being short with her. Poor little baby!

Locks of Love

I have donated my hair twice to Locks of Love. The first time, I came home and Caleb burst into tears. I showed him the website and where mommy's hair was going to go and he thought it was pretty cool. Today my daughter, Michaela, joined me in my donations. She has had the longest, prettiest, blonde hair forever. She got it trimmed once, but that's been it in all of her 6 years. I was going in for to get a few inches off and asked if she wanted to go. She went and thought it was the neatest thing. She got just over 10 inches cut off.

Before


After

No Words

Face Fun

My sister sent me a fun link- myheritage where you can upload your picture and it tells you what celebrities you look like. Using this picture:

I got the following results:
Annette Bening (74%)
Claudia Schiffer (72%)
Norkys Batista? (70%)
Toni Morrison (68%)
Christie Brinkley (66%)
Cat Deeley (66%)
Jang Nara? (66%)

This site is my new best friend.

Frustrated

I am so ticked I could spit. Yay imagery! This whole girl scouts thing is driving me crazy. We have a troop treasurer, and so far her only job has been to open an account. She got the position in May. We still have no account. I have asked her several times, and have even said that if she was too busy (since she's the PTA treasurer for our local school), I could open the account, no problem. Now we have a problem. We had 3 girls join the troop and they aren't registered because we had all the parents make out checks to the troop. And so the checks sit in my house. With all the paperwork, ready to go. I have already written a check to cover one of our activities that the troop was going to pay for, and now it looks like I'm going to have to do the same for this. My service unit director is going crazy, and rightly so, because the new girls aren't covered by girl scout insurance. I'm going crazy because I delegated and what's the point of delegating if I have to basically do it myself through nagging? I've emailed her several times, asking what she needs. I emailed her one form, then she finds out that she needs the checks to open the account. I've offered to drop them off at her house or at the school, whatever works for her. Then my co-leader forwards me an email the treasurer sent her, basically saying that she (the treasurer) is confused at what we need to do. I'm done. I called the service unit registrar to see if she has a membership form that I need, but no one has called me back. Now it looks like I have to call the service unit director who isn't too happy with me to get the form from her. I'm just not in the mood to be in trouble, especially since it isn't my fault.

Pretty close

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have low extroversion. You are quiet and reserved in most social situations. A low key, laid back lifestyle is important to you. You tend to bond slowly, over time, with one or two people. Conscientiousness: You have high conscientiousness. Intelligent and reliable, you tend to succeed in life. Most things in your life are organized and planned well. But you borderline on being a total perfectionist. Agreeableness: You have medium agreeableness. You're generally a friendly and trusting person. But you also have a healthy dose of cynicism. You get along well with others, as long as they play fair. Neuroticism: You have medium neuroticism. You're generally cool and collected, but sometimes you do panic. Little worries or problems can consume you, draining your energy. Your life is pretty smooth, but there's a few emotional bumps you'd like to get rid of. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is low. You're a pretty conservative person, and you favor what's socially acceptable. You think that change for novelty's sake is a very bad idea. While some may see this as boring, many see you as dependable and wise.

The Five Factor Personality Test

Four years

Four years ago I went into the hospital to give birth to baby #3, our second son. Joshua has been such a joy in our lives. My mother told me I could stop after Michaela, since I had a boy and a girl. I'm so glad I didn't. Josh Josh has been more of a joy than I could ever imagine. He is so happy, and that happiness is contagious. He's probably gotten away with more than he should have over the years. He loves his video games and can sing everyone's theme song in Star Wars. He loves to look at animals, but doesn't want them within a 10 foot radius of himself.

A thank you, 8 Brownies, and a belated birthday and anniversary

I just wanted to say thank you to all those who have served in our military. Some of you have been to hell and back, just so I can have peace of mind when I tuck my kids into bed on the other side of the world. Thank you.

Last night my Brownie co-leader and I took our girls out to Target for our service project. We adopted 2 little girls from the Appalachians. Six of the girls were ours, 2 were older sisters of two of the girls. Near the end, it became more of a "ooh, I want that" trip, but we ended up not being kicked out of Target and our two little girls are going to have a really great Christmas.

Yesterday was a complete beast. I helped Caleb's teacher do some copying in the morning. Came home, ate, and went to a neighbourhood playgroup. We ended up staying til it was almost time for the kids to get off the bus, then it was time to clean up a little, make dinner, then head out to Target. Needless to say, having a few minutes on the computer were hard to come by. I wanted to wish a belated birthday to the Marine Corps. Semper fi!

Yesterday was another big day. 16 years have passed since I became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I can't believe it's been that long. I can't even imagine what my life would be like if I hadn't been baptized. Well, the baby's crying on me and grabbing at my arm, so typing is next to impossible. I'll have to write my conversion story another time.

Stone Mountain

The kids love going to Stone Mountain. We had a family pass last year and it was well used. We didn't do it again this year, and so when Perry's office picnic was being held there, the kids were all excited. We had a really great time. Michaela participated in the dance contest and there was tons of great food, and Joshua won a round of BINGO.

A Miracle? For Me?

I was reading my sister-in-law's blog the other day. She had experienced a miracle of her own. Perry and I were thrilled for them, as they deserve all the good things that come to them. Da Momma at Motherhood Is Not For Wimps had been experiencing some pretty awesome things in her life, too. Little did I know that I was next in line to have that touch of divinity in my life. Now before I tell you about my miracle, I need to set the stage. Being Election Day, there is no school. Four kids home. It's pretty much going to be a rainy day all day. Perry is going out of town this afternoon, so he has to vote in the morning. I went with him, and we took turns going in and sitting in the van with the kids. Since he went in late, and is leaving early, coming home to help me really isn't an option (I know, you'd come if I really needed you, but I'd feel so overwhelming guilty, Honey). I had had some flu-like thing over the weekend and had spent yesterday lying on the living room floor, so queasy I almost thought I was pregnant again. Today, however, all I had was a sore throat. So, the scene is now set. Three bored kids (Michaela insists she wasn't bored), stuck in the house, and a mom that, although feeling better, is having that getting better energy drain thing going on. It was at this moment in my life that God blessed me. And He blessed me-













with poo.

Yes, poo. And I was happy with the poo. Now that I've lost any reader that doesn't know me, or isn't a mommy, let me explain. This wasn't my poo. Oh no, I'm not into spilling every secret that happens to me. This blog exists more for the future. Like when my kids' friends are googling their names, Anneliese will forever be linked to poo. Anneliese is weaning herself from nursing and eating more and more solids. However, she really hasn't started to up her liquid intake all that much. Lately, you can tell when she's filling a diaper. 99% of the time, we giggle at her little face, all focused on the task at hand. This time, however, was that dreaded 1% of the time. Poor little Anneliese was having a hard time at this one. She was crying and moving all over the place. She didn't want to be held, couldn't be distracted, anything. It was heartbreaking to me. When I went to her, I could smell what was bothering her. By this time, 15 minutes had passed and she was exhausted, so her crying had stopped. I went to change her diaper, and it looked like she was giving birth. The poo was crowning, but it wasn't going anywhere. I put her diaper back on and nursed her, feeling like that might be enough pain relief and relaxation that she could finish the job. Nope. I called a friend of mine who has 4 kids, thinking the more kids, the greater the likelihood of a mutual experience. She hadn't, but luckily her friend with 5 kids was over and she said that she had used a Q-tip dipped in Vaseline to lube up the area a few times and that had always worked. I had both of those things in the house (yay! no going to Wal-Mart in the rain!). Nada. About 15 minutes later, I gave her a triple dose. Nada. Michaela came over and suggested we pray. She prayed for us. I tried to gently scoop some out with the Q-tip, hoping to get rid of the stuck point. I succeeded in letting it slide back in. Relieved of the obvious pain, Anneliese quieted down and I nursed her again. She slept for about 30 minutes. I'm trying to look up on the internet anything else I can do, short of taking her to the doctor (that phone call would grant us instant name recogition for the next 16 and a half years of Anneliese's pediatrician-going life). After her nap, she went right back into the crying and crouching again. I started looking up things in my parenting books, and they give the Vaseline thing and to call the doctor before giving an enema. Before I call the doctor, I picked her up around her middle, hoping to give some help through pressure. It worked. I am now the proud grandma to a Snickers bar. That poor kid! She was up and dancing and singing minutes after I changed her diaper, so her little tushy doesn't seem to have any long-lasting soreness going on. I proudly announced to her siblings that we had a successful poo, and Michaela started telling me that this was a miracle. And although most miracles are small, and not very easy to notice when they're happening, God knows how to give us exactly what we need. I would start thinking of a way to need a new car, but I would probably end up with a couple of miracles bringing me to my living room floor again with a new 15 passenger van sitting in the driveway. No thanks, I like my poo. And I am very thankful for it.

Quick quiz

***Your Career Personality: Detail-Oriented, Observant, and Hard-Working***
Your Ideal Careers:
Designer
Family counselor
Independent store owner
Interior decorator
Museum curator
Nurse
Preschool teachers
Social worker
Stay at home parent
Teacher
The Quick and Dirty Career Testhttp://www.blogthings.com/quickanddirtycareertest/

Baby Kisses

Is there anything better than a baby kiss? Especially since she's learned the closed mouth technique, lol!

Lookie What I Did!

I made a dress! And it lasted the whole day without coming apart (which is more than I can say about anything I made for my poor Barbie dolls!). My stepmom is teaching me how to sew, and even with Perry being gone over a month (I went to her house on Wednesdays), I got this done in time for Mischa to wear it! Yay me!

Happy Halloween!

Anneliese was a butterfly, Mischa was Princess Genevieve, one of the 12 Dancing Princesses (Barbie edition), Caleb was Darth Vader, and Joshua was a gingerbread man. We had fun at my dad's church's family fall festival.

1000 Words

I'm slowly adding pictures to my previous blog entries. My goal is at least one entry a day, if I have something to go with it, and probably some new entries to go with the pictures I do have. Poor Poor Anneliese, Run to Grandma, and The Weatherman Must Die are done. Let's see what Joshua has to say about the new upgrades...

Ugh

Welcome to the sick house. The baby and I are suffering from some sort of cold/sinus thing. The whole head of cotton and runny nose thing. Then, today, Caleb got sent home with possible pinkeye. Quick trip to the doctor, followed by a trip to the pharmacy. He gets to stay home with me tomorrow. Maybe I'll have him be my babysitter while I spend an hour or so in a hot shower to clear up my head. My friend has the flu, so I guess it could be worse. Except I was talking to her yesterday, so I'm hoping I stayed far enough away. Perry isn't feeling so hot, so I guess the odds aren't so good for Mischa and Joshua. Of course, everyone sick and sleeping it off sounds pretty good...Who am I kidding, it would last a whole 30 minutes, then they'd be fighting and cranky.

Baptism

What a wild weekend this was! Four adults and nine kids- all together for Caleb's baptism. It was a whirlwind getting it all put together- most of the planning happened a few days before, but it all came together in the end. We have such a wonderful ward that supported Caleb (or Calem as was printed in the program, lol). Seeing Caleb in that little white jumpsuit with rolled up pantlegs overwhelmed me with such wonderful feelings and memories, both of my own baptism almost 16 years ago and the previous eight years. Caleb hasn't always been the easiest to raise- he has a massive stubborn streak and quite the temper (I think it's to show that my sister Toni wasn't adopted- those genes have to be linked somehow!), but he can be the sweetest and most caring kid out there. I love how his mind works and the connections he makes. I loved the face he made when his Uncle Dave offered him some frosting in his talk on baptism, and right before Caleb got to it, dipped it in dirt and asked him if he still wanted it. Remember, frosting with dirt isn't good. His excitement in making this covenant with Heavenly Father just showed in his face. As a mom, you wonder sometimes if your kids will ever "get" certain things. You can explain something until you are blue in the face and get that blank look on the face staring back at you. I have no doubt that Caleb felt the Holy Ghost that day, testifying about the joy Heavenly Father felt about Caleb making this step, and that this was the right thing to do.
I was also in awe of the Priesthood power used for this baptism, and to know that my husband is a worthy holder of it. I have been blessed by the priesthood many, many times, and know it has been restored on the earth today, but to see it in use to bless the eternal life of my child was just amazing. Wow.

Alone

I miss you honey!! I hope you have a great time in Spain, if all I have for solace is that you have to wait until 9 p.m. to have dinner, lol!

You know your 3 year old plays video games too much

When your 17 month old is starting to sing the Star Wars theme. Of course, it doesn't help when the 3 year old knows 3 different Star Wars songs and sings them over and over and over and over. And over.

Eight Is GREAT!

Caleb turns eight today. Sigh. Where does the time go? It seems like only yesterday that I was going in for my second day of induction (followed by a c-section at 11:54 p.m.). Having a baby was such a crazy experience. There were many times that dinner wasn't until 9 p.m. that first few months. He has been such a source of amazement and wonder. He's also been a source of total frustration, but I guess that goes with the territory. He has such a good heart and sweet spirit. He's really excited to get baptized next month. He had his bag packed the day after we came back from Baptism Preview in January. He starts Cub Scouts on Wednesday, and after a year of going to Daisy Scouts with Michaela, he's more than ready for something for him. I couldn't ask for a better son, frustrations and all. I love you, Caleb!!

Free Chocolate!

Thanks to Kristine I found out about this free bag of chocolate promotion. I've been curious about making a molten chocolate cake, so maybe this will be the thing that gets it done.

Nestle Chocolatier

Not Too Sure About This One

You Are Animal

A complete lunatic, you're operating on 100% animal instincts. You thrive on uncontrolled energy, and you're downright scary. But you sure can beat a good drum. "Kill! Kill!"

The Muppet Personality Test

I really don't see myself as Animal, although he was one of my favourites. Maybe a little of my life is seeping into my subconscious. Between being in charge of tracking volunteer hours at the school for PTA (I did get a permanent name tag for that one, though!), being a small group discussion leader for MOPS (luckily that starts in 2 weeks), co-leading a Brownie troop (next week was supposed to be our first meeting, but the school moved Curriculum Nights to that week, so we have a week to figure out what needs to get done), being guilted into taking a room parent job two days ago (and I have to have everything ready before above mentioned Curriculum Nights), making Upside-down cupcakes with Umbrellas for the Letter U themed snack for Mischa's class, having Perry out of town, and recovering from a bad week headache-wise, banging on some drums sounds pretty good.

Mom, It's Still Alive!

I was getting everyone's snack ready this morning when Caleb yells down the stairs that there is a cockroach in his room (and it's a cockroach, not a roach, he informs me). I told him I'd get to it in a few minutes. In the hustle of last minute hair/teeth/shoes/bug spray, I forgot about it. I was brushing Michaela's hair and in the mirror I see him in the dark bedroom behind me. "Mom, it's still alive!" He dangles the roach, sorry, cockroach by the antenna. Ack! I yell at him to drop it, so now it's in my room! Double ack! Luckily I had a plastic cup (see Honey, my OCD is useful!) nearby, so scooping and flushing was painless.

Tiger and Me- the Even Dozen Club

This Sunday, Tiger Woods won his 12th PGA tournament, and Perry and I celebrated our 12 anniversary. Unfortunately, this won't be the reason why this anniversary will be so unforgettable.

I got up Saturday morning to do my usual chores of making a menu for the next week and create a shopping list from it. In doing this, I realize for the first time, that my anniversary is the next day. Crud. I can't believe, even with the crazy week I had, that I would forget. 50 lashes with a wet noodle for me.

Evening comes, and I'm waiting for Perry to get home from getting some home repair stuff so I can go out and get him a gift. At 8:30, I hear a thud and then Michaela starts screaming. They have some video game chairs that rock and it seems that she was standing on one end and Caleb jumped on the other, propelling Michaela into the air. She came down on her back and whacked the back of her head really good on the floor. I get her to sit down and put some frozen corn on it- wow, veggies are good for something after all! At 9:00, Perry gets home and the vomiting starts. As the resident concussion specialist, and recent first aider, I'm getting scared. Perry calls the nurse helpline, and even though she sounds OK, we decide to take Michaela in. Perry drives to the nearby urgent care center, to find out that it closes at 9:00. He then had a fun time with a toll booth cashier because he missed his exit when Michaela decided to go to sleep on him and worry him. After about 5 minutes, she decide that the state of Georgia can live without Perry's 50 cents and sends him through. At 12:30 I get a last update before I'm told to go to bed. Michaela is going to have a CT scan as a precaution, then they're going to give her some Gatorade to see if she keeps it down, then send her home. They got home around 3:45. Our actual anniversary celebration was pretty subdued. We kicked the kids to the kitchenette table, and had a nice adult dinner, while Anneliese walked around, begging corn and pork roast off of our plates.

I am so thankful to have Perry as a husband. He has kept me sane more times than he knows. He is the rock in this relationship and I appreciate everything he does for me. I could not have asked for a kinder, more loving man to be my husband forever. Perry, I love you, and you will be getting a gift, either today or tomorrow. Promise!

Oops!

*I finally got the pictures downloaded- Thanks Perry!!

I mentioned Caleb almost getting a concussion in a previous post, and then forget to say what happened (must be a thing with me and concussions, what do you think, Perry?). The day started out normal enough (after all of the rain and what not). I went to the school at 10 to drop off Caleb's Epi-pen and Benadryl. There was a little girl there that was just being picked up by her mom. The school nurse and I chatted a little about how sad to be sick on the first day of school. Three hours later, I get a call (I have the clinic but not the school on my list of numbers on my cell, how sad is that, lol) from the clinic- Caleb tripped when he was walking up the stairs to the playground and bumped his head pretty good. Off I go to the school. He has a HUGE knot on his forehead and two cuts by his eye. He also scrapped up his elbow. On the way back to the car, Joshua tripped on the sidewalk and scrapped up his knee. I think I'm going to go buy some huge boxes, cut some arm and leg holes and a face hole, pop the kids in them, and fill them with packing peanuts. I'll have to see about uploading the pictures- poor Caleb!

Bananas!

Anneliese LOVES bananas. I was holding a piece and letting her take bites off of it. I wasn't paying attention, and the next thing I knew, she had grabbed a hold of my arm to bring it down so she could reach the banana. With every bite she was dancing and mm-mmm-mmming. After she swallowed, she would say, "Yeah".

Now, as if waiting for a late bus in the rain this morning, and Caleb practically getting a concussion on the playground wasn't enough- I now have the COMPLETELY INCOMPETENT afternoon bus driver. We're near the end of the route (3 more stops after us), but they have it on the schedule as 4 minutes away from the start of the route. Last year they got out at 2:15 and were home by 2:30, 2:35 at the latest. I went out to the bus stop at 2:15. At 3:15 (yes, 3:15) still no bus. Finally I see the bus at the next stop up, where my friend's kids get off. He let them off the bus and just sat there. My neighbour drives up and asks if the kids were home yet. I said no, the guy is just sitting there. So he drives up and talks to him. At the corner where I am, he's supposed to turn left and go up my street to the next 3 stops (2 are on my street). He stops at the corner, lets a girl off in front of her house. Then keeps going STRAIGHT!!!! I try waving him down, but he keeps going. I call my friend to see if Michaela was on the bus, and she tells me her kids say she was, and the little kindergartener next door wasn't even on the bus! Her mom had NO idea where she was! I call the school, they tell me to call Transportation. I've been trying for over an hour and the number has been busy (wonder why?grrrrrr). The school calls me at 4, telling me the driver took her back to school. My friend came over to sit with the kids since the two youngest were sleeping.

The Weatherman Must Die

Well, okay, maybe not that drastic. Thumbscrews, maybe. Or babysitting for me for a whole weekend. Yeah, that'll be good punishment. I keep the news on in the morning so that I can hear the weather for the bus stop. Everything looked good this morning. Last year, the bus driver moved the stop to the end of our driveway since we were the only ones getting on at our scheduled stop. She told me at the last day of school that she might not be coming back, so we trekked next door to the bus stop. The bus is scheduled to be here at 7:22, so we leave the house at 7:15. Things are going great, then around 7:20, it starts to sprinkle. By the time I run home and get an umbrella, the bus will have come and gone. So we decide to get underneath a pine tree and all is well. Then I start hearing louder rain, and you can see it moving down the street. It's about 7:30 at this time. Great. By now, the tree is getting saturated, so we're getting dripped on. The 3 older kids are hiding under my shirt, because I'm convinced that any second the bus is coming, so it's not worth going back to the house. Anneliese is loving the rain. At 7:35 the bus comes, with a new driver. I take the youngest two and we trudge back to the house in the rain, which is starting to let up. About 2 minutes after we get back in the house, it stops completely. Ha ha ha. Good one, Heavenly Father.

Huh?

Joshua came up to me just now, asking me to watch him take his head off. Okaaaay. I watch him try in vain to pull his head off. "Mommy", he says sorrowfully, "it won't come off." It took everything I had to remain somber, trying hard not to laugh at his seriousness. I wonder what made him think that his head would come off, and then I wondered what he would do with it if it could come off. Better leave that one alone. I really don't want to know the answer to that.

The Last Hurrah of Summer

School is almost upon us. Tomorrow the kids will go and meet their new teachers, and Monday is the first day (excuse me while I go do the dance of joy). It was nice spending more time with all of the kids, but I won't miss the fighting they did with each other. Well, it was mainly Caleb and Michaela against poor Joshua. He got so used to being top dog for most of the day during the school year and they reminded him daily that he wasn't. Unfortunately for him, I think Anneliese has plans for a coup d'etat.
Yesterday was a doozy. I have a friend from my MOPS group that moved in last year just down the street. She has four kids, too, so we like hanging out together because, as she said, it makes us look less crazy. Our kids get along really well, although we think it is funny that they have all teamed up boy-girl. Her oldest, a girl going into 1st grade, is in love with Caleb. We thought she and Michaela would get together, but I guess we were wrong. She has twin boys going into kindergarten. One hangs out with Michaela, and the other is attached to Anneliese, much to his mom's worry, since that attachment is in the form of him carrying her around. Joshua has teamed up with her 2 year old girl.
The whole basis for the day started out with Backyard Burgers. On Tuesdays, they have Kids Eat Free night. For $6.37, we got 4 orders of waffle fries, 3 orders of chicken fingers, 4 sodas, and a really delicious mushroom Swiss burger. I think I have a new Tuesday night dinner plan when Perry goes out of town. Anyhow, the only one that my friend knew about was in Cumming, so we were trying to figure out something to do up there to make the trip worthwhile (just looking at the website, the closest one to us is a few miles away- YAY! I really like the food, can ya tell?). She has a friend who invited us to go swimming, so that killed a few hours in the afternoon. Last week when she told me about Backyard Burger, she told me about a park she had found, so we decided that this would be our morning plan to tire the kids out. It was a really nice park. Lots of shade, places for the kids to play, and a little manmade creek running next to a sand pit, so the kids could make sandcastles. Our day pretty much went like this:
9:45 Leave for park
10-11 Play
11-11:30 Picnic lunch at park
11:30-1 Play some more
1-3 Go home, get ready for swimming
3-3:30 Drive up to Cumming
3:30-6:30 Swim
6:30-7 Get everyone dressed in the cars for dinner
7-8:30 Dinner
8:30-9 Drive home

The kids had a blast. Anneliese even had fun in the pool. She usually grabs on to you and whimpers, but yesterday she was splashing, head butting Michaela, letting me put her on her back, and hold her out and spin her around. I thought the kids would fall asleep in the car, but everyone was awake when I pulled into the driveway. The kids had slept in a fort under the dining room table the night before, so I said they could sleep in it again last night. Caleb and Michaela pretty much went straight to sleep, but Joshua was up for over 30 minutes. At 3:45 in the morning I was awakened by the t.v. coming on downstairs. Both of the boys were up. I sent them back to bed. Everyone slept in. Joshua was up pretty close to his normal time, and Michaela followed not long after. Caleb was asleep till almost 9, and Anneliese slept until 9:30. That was nice. What's not nice is the housework I have for today. Ugh. Guess I'd better get started.

Breakfast for Dinner

Growing up, I remember occasionally have breakfast for dinner and it was always a big hit. I've done it a few times since the kids have come along, and no one but me seems to really enjoy it. It seems like Perry is just humouring his wife's strange eccentricities, and the kids all insist that you can't have pancakes for dinner because it's breakfast food (they also correct me if I call lunch dinner by accident). We had Kris's recipe for buttermilk pancakes, since I had some buttermilk left after making some KFC clone coleslaw (it was really good- which was good because I had tons of leftovers after the pool party). The buttermilk was very different from the kind Perry usually makes. He adds vanilla, which almost makes it like a dessert, it's really good. So go and mess with your kids' heads- make breakfast for dinner!

Good Morning Mommy!

How I was awakened this morning by my 3 1/2 year old.

"Mommy, the pee come out! And it was banana pee!"

Yummy Lunchtime

Boy, you know you're life is slow when you start posting about a sandwich, lol. I'm really trying to start eating healthier (and lose weight!) and lunchtime doesn't seem to have the same promise it did when a 99 cent chicken sandwich with fries was on the menu. The Sonic being built next to the church I go to MOPS doesn't help, either. Mmmm, Sonic....Lunchtime around here is pretty dull. Leftovers for me, corndog for Joshua, that sort of thing. I'm not very inspired to cook when the weather is so hot, so ungrilled cheese sandwiches are often on the menu for Mischa. Caleb will have a double mustard, mayo, and ketchup sandwich with tomato (he'll even have it without the tomato, lol). Today I was trying to come up with something that would compete with the evil fast food and came up with this- a grilled turkey and tomato sandwich with cheddar and mozzerella cheese. Pretty yummy, and Mischa even got her sandwich cooked, too! I might have to go out and buy some more bread and tomatoes. It was hard eating just one, but what good is healthy eating if you eat too much. Darn those calories!!!

My Sleepy Baby Is Gone *sniff*

When Anneliese was a baby, she would wake up around six in the morning, but I would be able to nurse her back to sleep, and she would then sleep until 10 or so. It was so nice having such a warm and soft baby snuggling against me. I would touch her cheeks, marveling at the soft colour under the surface of her peachy skin (I had read an article about Madame Tussaud's wax museum and remember how they said that this quality was important for them to make the statues lifelike, but that it is really hard to do). Her soft hair would tickle my nose. Now she is entering her toddler years, with all the zest of life and energy to go with it. Getting her back to sleep is just a dream now (even when she woke up at 6:30, well ahead of her new wake up time of 8, I knew it would be hopeless). She can't sit still long enough to get sleepy. Always looking around and wanting to play. I watched a show yesterday about the first three days of this couple bringing home their baby, and watching the little baby sleeping in his crib made me want to rush over and pick him up. I guess I'll have to wait until I'm a grandma. *sniff*

Favourite Song

This has been one of my favourite songs for a long time now. It always makes me mist up now that I have kids. I hope that they always remember who they are and how special they are.

Fingerprints of God
By Stephen Curtis Chapman

I can see the tears filling Your eyes
And I know where they're coming from
They're coming from a heart that's broken in two
By what you don't see
The person in the mirror
Doesn't look like the magazine
Oh, but when I look at you it's clear to me that...

I can see the fingerprints of God
When I look at you
I can see the fingerprints of God
And I know it's true
You're a masterpiece
That all creation quietly applauds
And you're covered with the fingerprints of God

Never has there been and never again
Will there be another you
Fashioned by God's hand
And perfectly planned
To be just who you are
And what He's been creating
Since the first beat of your heart
Is a living breathing priceless work of art and...

Just look at you
You're a wonder in the making
Oh, and God's not through, no
In fact, He's just getting started and...

Hear it here.

Is Daddy a Superhero?

Today was Caleb's singing debut in Church. He sang in a quartet, with each kid getting to solo on half a verse. He did really, really well. Definately gets it from his dad's side, though, lol.
When we were leaving, though, the funny thing happened. Everybody walked through one set of doors, but Joshua went to the right instead of straight to go through the next set of doors (there were kids his age over there). Perry kept calling out, "Joshua. Joshua". Joshua looked up and said, "Are you invisible?". He finally turned around and saw Perry, wherein he remarked, "You're not invisible!".

I've Gotten Better Since High School

I guess motherhood has sucked out all of my nerdiness- I probably would've scored higher, but I didn't remember a lot of my periodic table. Mr. Forsman would've been sad.

Family Ties

Today is my uncle's birthday. I feel bad because it just made me realize how unclose (is that a word?) I feel to most of my family. We've lived 30 minutes away from him for two years now and I haven't seen or spoken to him. I saw his wife, once, taking Grandma back to their house. My dad works with him and rarely sees him. They have no kids, so there are no cousins for me to feel connected to. But it's just not this uncle. I an uncle in South Carolina and an aunt in North Carolina, and I haven't called them since we've moved here. My other aunts, uncles, and cousins live 1-3 days away and even when my mom talks about how close her family is, I can't help but not feel close to them. It's not awkward when we get together every 5 or so years, but I could go just as long without calling them or only exchanging Christmas cards. Even with my mom and sister, they do most of the calling.
All of this makes me miss New Mexico, when we lived in the same town with Pat and Kris and their kids. It was the closest I had had family, and I wanted my kids to have a chance to be close to family. They now have 2 cousins that they get to see once or twice a month and more cousins that we see every 6 months or so, but it was great to get together twice a week or more. When we were deciding whether to move out here or not, that connection carried a LOT of weight. I miss that.
Happy Birthday Uncle Paul!

Redecorating

Today the blog- tomorrow the bathroom! Yeah, if I had the time or energy or inclination to live with the mess. I have it all planned out, though. For me, the hardest part of any project is what I want the finished product to look like, so I'm over halfway there!

A Male Perspective

Well, Perry has decided to join the blogosphere, so now you might be lucky to get his take on the craziness that is our home. He is very competitive with his twin and now he can claim the most posts title- and I get the credit, lol!

Run Away! Run Away!

I had been promising to take the kids to feed the ducks for awhile now. We tried one pond that I knew of, but there was a sign posted not to feed the geese. So, I talked to my friend when I overheard her mention taking her kids to feed the ducks. Turns out there is a lake not too far from us and she said the ducks were usually nice, though the last time they went, the geese started to get a little snippy. Deciding to take our chances, we gather our stale bread and head on out. We find a nice parking spot by the lake and an adult and 3 juveniles (they were still downy, but were getting the colouration of adulthood, but the markings were grey) come waddling out of the water and into the grassy area between the lake and the parking lot. The goslings were peeping left and right, it was really cute. I take out the bread and instruct the kids to throw it away from us as far as they can. I hear some loud splashing from the lake- there are more geese showing up. It was really neat to see them landing in the water. I look down the path along the lake side. More geese are coming, and coming fast. Joshua starts crying. He's got his bread and those geese are as tall as he is. I look around and we are outnumbered 10 to 1. I counted 40 geese around us, with probably about that many on their way. I decide to cut and run while we still had time. "Ok, kids, back to the car, and fast!" The geese started following us to the car. I was starting to feel a little scared at this point since I was the one holding the bread. Luckily, Joshua dropped his entire piece of bread. The goose that grabbed it couldn't swallow it, so the other geese were following him, trying to get their share. Those geese got only 4 slices of bread. I guess the birds in our yard will be getting a little treat tonight.

Procrastination

A few years ago, my sister sent me a magnet that said, "Housework is evil. It must be stopped." Now, I don't know about it being so evil that it must be stopped, but a little procrastination here and there can't be too hard a punishment for it. Contrary to what my mom might remember about my teenage years (and college years), I love organizing things. My problem is that I have to find *just* the right system for whatever I'm organizing. And that hardly happens when I need it to. Flylady is helping ("you can't organize clutter"), but I'm not as devoted to that as I need to be. I'll let things slide one week ("it's not that bad today, I don't feel like doing it"), then the next week they'll be too big to do in the limited amount of time the kids let me have. I also have a little Gemini cleaning personality- a room that is constantly clean and organized makes me feel really calm and happy. On the other hand, the rush of accomplishment I get when I wipe away noticeable dust or pick up a very cluttered room gives me a sense of pride ("did you see what I did?"). The downside to that is the anxious feeling I get and I can't think straight in a messy room.
Well, the laundry is piling up and the dishes stacked on the counter are balanced precariously, so I'd better stop procrastinating and get cleaning.

The Upside of Travel

Perry does a lot of traveling, which isn't the funnest thing for me at home. I'm SERIOUSLY outnumbered, especially now that school is out. Finally all of that craziness paid off. Perry called last Friday and said that he and some co-workers were talking about their Fourth of July plans and where they were going. Perry realized that there was no reason for us to hang around home and started looking online at places near the beach. He found a sale using his hotel miles and later that night we were starting to get things ready to go to Destin, Florida. This would be everyone's first trip to Florida but mine. We took off early Sunday morning- Caleb even set his alarm clock to 5 a.m. Michaela made up songs for Alabama and Florida when we entered over the state lines. The hardest part of the trip was trying to explain the time change to the kids when they were hungry for lunch at 11 for them and it was only 10.
We arrived about an hour early for check-in. We went to a nearby store to buy beach towels and then crossed the street to go to the beach. Joshua, who had made us take his shoes and socks off about 10 minutes into the drive, insisting that they had sand in them, stopped and would not move when it came to walking on the sand. We had to carry him, kicking and screaming, down the sidewalk and onto the beach.
We checked into the room and went out to dinner. After dinner, we went to the pool. Anneliese hated the water, even though it was really warm. The next morning we got up, ate, and headed to the beach. We are used to California beaches and were unprepared for the complete difference ahead of us. The water was WONDERFUL! So warm. I still remember how freezing the water in San Diego was 3 years ago. We wore water shoes, familiar only with the rockiness of California. Anneliese cried the whole time, even sitting on our laps on the shore- and let's not talk about the screaming that took place when the water would occasionally come up to where we were. Josh cried and wouldn't even make sand castles. Whenever the waves came up, he would hold his hand out, palm facing the wave. We finally asked what he was doing and he replied that he was using his "blue power"- I think I have a Jedi knight in the making. Caleb and Mischa loved the water. Mischa loved the "ooey-gooey sand" that was a mixture of water and sand. We went to Destin Commons, an outdoor shopping mall that evening and got dinner at a drive-thru since Josh was losing it. We were originally planning on hitting the pool before check-out the next day, but made an 11th hour decision (okay, it was more like 10:00, lol) to hit the beach instead. The kids fought us a bit on that in the morning. We decided just to wear sandals instead of the water shoes because it was such a pain getting the sand out of them the previous day. The instant our feet touched the velvet softness of the sand, we were kicking ourselves for wearing shoes the previous day. We had a rule, that since the kids didn't have floaties, that they couldn't go in more than knee deep without one of us. Caleb found himself in trouble a few times the day before. He got knocked down a few times, and it was funny to hear him say "too deep!". Right before we left the day before we had a scary moment where he was in almost literally over his head. I'm glad I looked up to see where he was while I was rinsing the sand pails out. Josh and Anneliese didn't like the water that much more on this day, but they calmed down once they were out of the breaking wave section. Josh played in the sand and used the force on the waves some more.
We took off back for home on July 4th. We made it home in time to eat some dinner and head out to watch the fireworks. Last year, it rained and stopped only enough to have the fireworks show. This year, the rain started right after the show. The three big shows in downtown Atlanta were cancelled. The Roswell (where we were) and Stone Mountain shows started about 15 minutes early, since they saw the rain coming in.
All in all, it was a really nice vacation. The drive was a good length (and the DVD player didn't hurt), the weather was perfect, and we got to spend time together. And the hotel was almost free. Couldn't forget that little factor that made the whole trip a possibility.

Run to Grandma!

Deepo and the kids at the Georgia Aquarium



My mom came and visited us last week. The kids were soooo excited. They went with Perry to pick her up from the airport while I stayed home and did some last minute picking up. The weekend was pretty quiet- grocery shopping, church, the usual. On Monday, we went to the Georgia Aquarium. That was pretty neat. There were 4 whale sharks there. Tropical Diver and Ocean Voyage were the best exhibits. We went really early, to avoid the crowd. We took the light rail train there, so that added to the adventure. One part of the Ocean Voyage exhibit I thought was really neat was the schools of rays "flying". I had never seen them in schools before. The Tropical Diver had the jellyfish and garden eels. It was kind of creepy to see them sticking out of the sand. This aquarium was different, in that it almost felt like a theater. Music was a big part of the experience. I did wish that they had more docents telling about the animals.

A school of stingrays

One of the four whalesharks

Too bad this one didn't turn out- they were in front of a huge glass wall

Do ya think Caleb thought it was cool?

We started potty-training Joshua on Tuesday. Not fun. He hasn't had a successful poop yet, but at least he isn't peeing in his pants anymore. He won't voluntarily go to the bathroom, though. He has to practically be bursting, and even then he might not go. He just cries and cries. He's been really cute, telling me "no, thank you" when I ask if he has to go, and when we told him once that getting off the toilet wasn't an option, he insisted that "it was an option".
On Wednesday, the kids played in the pool and went to Jeronimo's. Right now the kids can jump free on Wednesdays, from 3-5 p.m. In July and August, he's having a special of a $50 family pass, unlimited jumping. We are so going to be there, lol. On Thursday, we went shopping and got some outfits for my birthday. I hate clothes shopping for myself. I am never good at finding the deals or what looks good on me. My mom did a really good job in picking things out, things that I would've never picked for myself. I'm slowly moving away from my jeans and t-shirt college look. The only bad thing was that I'm a size 10 now. Really gotta get cracking on the exercise. It didn't help, either, that my mom bought a whole bunch of snack foods. If they're in my house, I'll suck them down like there is no tomorrow. I even quit buying the poptart flavours I like just so I won't be tempted.
All in all, the week went by way to fast. Perry was gone Wednesday-Friday, so the company and help with the kids was really nice.

Another year gone

Well, I'm 34 now. So far it doesn't feel much different than 33. It doesn't seem too much different than 33. Now when I hit 35, that just screams middle age. My wonderful husband got me a pillow. My poor pillows were in such sad shape. I hardly washed the pillow cases because the pillows had rips and feathers would go everywhere. But they were very comfortable squishy pillows and I couldn't find any that I liked. This seems like it will do the job quite nicely, thank you very much.
I'm not feeling all that philosophical about this birthday. Yeah, I never imagined myself with a son going into second grade, a daughter going into first, getting ready to potty train another kid, and a walking baby that I worry about not eating. I never imagined being crazy enough to be leading a Brownie troop, MOPS discussion group, and having a job in the PTA. If 34 is like 33, I'm going to have a great year.

What a week!

Perry was gone this week to Louisiana. I dread him leaving, not just because I'll miss him and I hate to do the single mom thing, but almost every time that he leaves, something MAJOR breaks. I've had the car fan die, my apartment start to flood in a hurricane, and the main breaker to our house go in the middle of summer. This week, I had the fan on our 3 month old fridge die. Luckily, they were able to come and repair it the next day, and I had our old fridge in the garage, so losses were minimal. I let the new fridge cool to the right temperature all day, then moved the food over. About 5 minutes after I finished moving all of the food over, the power went out. Go and check the houses around me, no power. Call a friend of mine down the street. Her husband said that he heard an explosion right before the power went out. Great. Took the kids to the park for an hour. Saw the electric guys checking all the boxes. Come home and still no power. I decide to make a little run to the Publix down the street just in case this isn't a temporary thing. Grab some dry ice and M&Ms (a must have in every emergency) and come home to find the lights on in the house. The neighbour next door said that the lights had been on for about 5 minutes, so if I had waited another 15 minutes, I wouldn't have had to make the trip. But I also wouldn't have my M&Ms either. Silver lining. So the next day I decide to take the kids to McDonald's. Turning right out of the subdivision, I hit the curb. Hard. Great. Say a little prayer and keep driving. No noise, no pulling. Just before I get to the first place that I could pull off the road, the noise and pulling start. I quickly moved over into the right turn lane of a little subdivision. The tire is decimated. There is a hole the size of the tire jack handle in the sidewall (as I found out later). I open the back of the van and call Perry. I can't decide if I want to cry or laugh, so I do both. Caleb had done this very same thing (back right instead of front right tire on the same curb) with Perry a few months ago, so he was talking me through how to get the jack out. I was such a mess. Just after I got the jack out and was about to figure out how to get the spare down, a man pulled over and helped me out. He showed me the hole. It really was the hand of God getting me there. I went back and looked at the other 4 places I could've pulled over at along the way- 2 were parking lots of churches (not very populated on a Thursday), and the other 2 were side streets into small subdivisions. I probably would still be trying to figure out how to get the darn tire on if I hadn't gotten to where I ended up. An hour at the tire store and we were on our way. I know Perry's at home for at least the next 2 weeks, so I think I'll go into hibernation as soon as he walks in the door.

The Relative Quiet Is Almost Over

The bus comes in 50 minutes, dropping my two oldest off from school for the entire summer. I need to come up with a routine for them, or they're going to drive me crazy with their bickering. I've made up a rough outline of everyday chores, and I've decided to really restrict their tv/video games/computer time. We'll see how well this goes over. My 3 year old will have the hardest time, I think.
My fun for the summer will be Ferberizing my baby and potty training the 3 year old. I'm going to have to focus on those days in the future that I'll be able to get my exercising done first thing in the morning and not having to worry about waking up the baby. I've been able to do the Pilates in the morning without waking her up, but the treadmill is too loud. And the thought of having the house quiet at 8:30 every night- pure heaven!
Forty minutes and counting....

Jet lag

This week has gone by in a fog. We went to Phoenix for our best friend's daughter's sealing last Saturday. We left Atlanta at 9:30 p.m. and turned out the lights in our hotel room at 12:30 (3:30). We woke up at 5:30, trying to convince our bodies that it was 8:30 to them (our bodies then replied that if we were playing that game, we went to bed at 3:30). We drove over to my mom's house to surprise her and take her out to breakfast. We put Anneliese (the other kids had a weekend at Grandpa's) in her car seat with a note saying "Can I take you to breakfast?" on the front porch. We knocked on the door and hid around the corner of the house. My mom stood there dumbfounded. She was telling herself it was Anneliese, but there was no way it could be Anneliese. We popped out of hiding, and since she was about 5 minutes away from going to get her car's oil changed (the one snag in surprising someone), she was dressed and ready to go, so we got to spend 2 hours with her. We then left to drop the baby off with our friend's 3rd daughter so we could do a temple session with Perry's parents before the sealing. We finished the session with about 30 minutes to spare. About 15 minutes before the sealing, we were starting to get worried. We had seen only other people we knew. Perry went off to see if he could find someone else when he ran into the daughter we were surprising, who had just arrived. She didn't get it at first, asking him why he was there. He said, "Well, why are you here?". She started crying. It was a hard secret to keep for all those weeks, but it was worth it. I love temple sealings. Other than the fact that you have the knowledge that you are sealed to your spouse for time and all eternity, you learn so much. During the session before, I had something pop out to me that I hadn't noticed before, and the sealer ended up talking about it. After the sealing, Perry mentioned what the sealer had talked about and how that that had popped out to him for the first time earlier. We then met up with his parents to go show them the baby (the other sister was babysitting for some of the other kids, so the baby was at the temple), then we headed off to the get together. We left Phoenix at 10:45 p.m. (2:45 a.m.). We had a last minute stopover in Dallas to pick up a donor heart and got into Atlanta at 6 a.m. We got to my dad's house at 7, Perry sat on the couch and slept for 2 hours. We got home at 9:30 and I slept from 10-4. I have been dragging ever since. I have taken 2 hour naps on two days and haven't done a whole heck of a lot cleaning wise. My dad just called and said that since we hadn't talked all week that he wanted to make sure that we were showing up for my stepbrother, stepsister, and sister-in-law's birthday dinner since we hadn't talked about it since Sunday. I was going to call him because I hadn't heard if we were doing anything or not. I still don't remember talking about this on Sunday. I think I'll go to bed early tonight. *yawn*

Divine protection

Yesterday was pretty scary. Caleb had his first field trip involving a sack lunch. When he was getting off the bus, it looked like he had been in a fight- his eyes were really swollen and there were a few red blotches on his face. When he got to me, I recognized it as an allergic reaction. Took him in, popped a few Benadryl in him, and asked him about his field trip. They had gone to a museum with a chocolate exhibit and I told him that if they handed out samples he couldn't have any because of his peanut allergy. He then told me that he had a peanut butter sandwich in his sack lunch. He had opened the sandwich to see what it was. His teacher said that she didn't notice the swelling or blotches, but when DH came home 4 hours after me giving the Benadryl, he could still see it. We've never come up with a field trip plan so I know his Epipens weren't with him. I am soooo thankful that Heavenly Father granted me this "freebie" to learn from. I wrote the principal and teacher, and needless to say, we will have a plan in place for the rest of his school career.

Supper at a comedy club

We were eating dinner at home tonight. Michaela noted that Anneliese, our one-year-old was picking her nose (more like just sticking her finger in there). After a few seconds of her going, "Ewww", Caleb piped up, "I eat my boogers when I'm hungry". Good thing my chair had sides, or I would've been rolling on the floor. I told him that I never wanted to hear that he was hungry and wanted a snack ever again. Kids.

Adrenaline rushes

So much for lazy Sunday afternoons! The family and I were waiting for our Home Teachers to show up and gathering what we would need for choir practice. The Home Teachers show up, Perry and I sit around with them chitchatting. Caleb then comes in, crying. In between sobs, we get the story that he had stabbed himself with his Epipen Jr. in the hand. OH CRAP!!!! I ran into the living room. Anneliese had apparently learned how to unzip the diaper bag (which I had left on the floor for the first time instead of putting it straight into the closet when we got home from Church) and Caleb decided to see how the pen worked. The HT helped give Caleb a blessing (good timing) while I called the Nurses Helpline. They gave me the number to Poison Control, which I called while Perry got his and Caleb's shoes on. They told me to put his finger in warm water and go straight to the ER. Perry took off and I found the literature inside the Epipen, since I remembered a warning about not sticking yourself in your hand. Yep, go straight to the ER because it will restrict blood flow. Perry got to the ER, and Poison Control had already advised them that we were coming (gotta love 'em!). Before he could say why he was there, a nurse came up and told the guy at the front desk that they were shut down to new cases. The guy looked at Perry and said, "I guess you heard what she said." Perry then said that his son had shot himself in the hand with his Epipen and the nurse said, "I guess we're open for one more" and brought him straight back. They determined that even though there was pain and the finger wasn't as pink as normal, the fact that there was still blood flow to the tip of the finger kept us out of "panic mode". After talking to the hand specialist, they applied nitroglycerin paste to his finger and put it in a heat pack. Perry then slept pretty much the next hour and Caleb watched a Harry Potter movie. They were sent home with instructions to keep a heat pack on it until bedtime and keep an eye out on the colour. Caleb showed them how he activated the pen, and he's very lucky. They said that because it was half-strength and he didn't get it fully into his hand (the needle barely went in), "panic mode" was adverted. If he had gotten it fully into his hand, it would've shut down blood flow to the entire hand.
I spent this time recovering from my own adrenaline rush. By the time I called my dad, I was in the shakes aftermath. And on the hunt for chocolate. Hey, if it works against Dementors, it should help here, right? I found 6 Hershey Kisses left over from Easter, which my dad said was enough to give me the energy to hunt for more chocolate. He asked if I had any ice cream to go with them, and I told him I didn't, but that I had some chocolate pudding. Which would go well with the vanilla pudding. I never got into the puddings, but I had about 3 Dr. Peppers. Normally I charge myself for every soda past my morning one, but I think I'm going to let these be freebies, lol.
Whew, what a day. I don't think I'll ever be an adrenaline junkie. Too stressful!

Happy Birthday Michaela!

Six years old today. Boy, how time flies!! Mischa was by far my toughest C-section recovery. I couldn't lie down and remember hating my hospital roommate for being able to toss and turn in bed. I slept semi-sitting for over a month. I also had my first bout of postpartum depression with her. I remember sitting on the couch, looking into her sweet face when she was about a month old, and seeing that sweet smile for the first time. She has since grown up into quite the young lady. I think she truly does believe that she is a princess. She loves to draw, and has quite the eye for shading and detail (she tackled a Chinese pagoda last year). She always has a smile on her face and tries her hardest to always do what's right. She is a great sister and a great daughter. Some boy is going to be very lucky 20 years from now. I love you, Michaela!!

Poor, poor Anneliese

Yesterday my baby, Anneliese, turned 1. The big 1, and I didn't post. Hopefully this isn't an indication of what being the fourth has in store for her. I tend to think of the 1st birthday as more for the parents than the kid. My stepmother was going to call, then said, "it's not like she'll remember I was a day late". First birthdays and Christmases are pretty boring around here. My oldest daughter, Michaela, will be 6 next week, and I had a niece born 3 days ago, so my stepmom is a pretty busy lady right now. We're going to have a shared party for my daughters, with me doing the cakes. My other kids had really nice first birthday cakes (I do cake decorating), but with most of my stuff still in boxes, and the fact that no one is going to eat 2 cakes, I'm trying to find a way to scale down. I'm thinking cupcakes this year.
I wanted to wait to post until I got a picture of her, but I forgot to 1: tell Perry to help me with it, and 2: even if I did #1, I took the camera with me to take pictures of my new niece. Such is my life.
Kristin, the cute new niece



























Noone got to escape the birthday hats, not even my 93-year-old grandmother (whose preferred drink of the evening was strawberry milk, as you can see).

I'm now a WAHM

I've been a SAHM since I became pregnant with Caleb, my first. I worked as a veterinary technician and in a small town, working in a small vet clinic, I would've been pretty useless (no x-rays, cat kennel duty, etc.) and I didn't think anyone would want to hire me for the short-term, so I used my pregnancy to unpack from our recent move. I'm not the worst housekeeper, but I'm definately not the best. The house is usually ready for drop in visitors, thanks to Flylady, but some of the little things weren't getting done. In January, I made out my resolution list and a daily checklist of things I wanted to do each day to make those goals. It worked for about a month, then I noticed that the small things were slipping through the cracks again. I was never like this when I was working. The details were my pride and joy. My hair bows matched my scrubs, I labeled everything at the clinic, I colour-coded our surgery packs. Where was this person now? I needed her now more than ever!! Today is the first day back on the job. I'm not as work now, play later as I once was. I think that was my downfall earlier. I'm also paying myself. When Perry saw the payment plan I had on my to do list, he was upset, as he felt that I should know that I can buy whatever I want, no explanation or accountability to him. I explained that I knew that, but I need a little inspiration. I'm paying myself $1/day when I finish my daily chores. Losing weight is tied into that, too. At my weekly weigh-in, each pound lost or gained is worth a dollar, be it added or subtracted to my total (I felt it was necessary to tie in some negative reinforcement). I let myself have a soda a day, and any extra soda is worth $.50. If I go to Wendy's and buy my son's meal, that comes out of my balance. I know $1/day is pretty low for all I do in the day, but I figure that most of what I make will be spent out on my Saturday grocery shopping lunch, or a stop by Wendy's in the middle of a hectic day out. If I make more, I'll go out more, which is not good for either the waistline or the bank account. I'm going to throw in little incentive extras along the way, such as making a weight loss goal, or doing extra work in a different zone. I hope this system will let me stay on top of the kids' daily destruction, as well as regain control of the house, little by little.

Sick babies

There is nothing more pathetic than a sick baby. With both of my girls, you can see it in their eyes that they are sick. The baby has had a fever for the past few days and her little cheeks get so pink when the Tylenol wears off. She acts fine when she's dosed up, but you can definately tell when it's almost time to give her more. She's all cuddly and still while you're awake with her, but in bed she tosses and turns nonstop. I fell asleep with her inbetween my husband and I and woke up with my legs corraling her in- it looks like she fell asleep after climbing over one leg and never got to the next one. On the exciting side, she took her first real steps tonight!!

Happy St. Perry's Day!

Today is my wonderful husband's birthday. He has a twin brother named Patrick (the name was already picked out and they were several weeks overdue, so it wasn't his parents trying to be all cutesy). In our house, we celebrate St. Perry's Day. And a saint my husband is, to put up with me. He is the kindest, most loving, gentle, fair, happy guy I could've found. He is a wonderful father and makes up for all of my shortcomings as a mother. He is hard working and doesn't complain. He loves me just the way I am. He is truly my best friend. I love you, Perry.

It doesn't get any better than this

Nothing is better than a warm baby sleeping on your chest. The slow, rhythmic breathing. The way the blond tufts of hair on her head waft gently whenever you breathe out. The way she lifts up her head, groggily opens her eyes...and head butts you in the mouth. Ouch.

I'm a slacker

This is our latest family picture. The really sad thing is that our soon-to-be-born baby is turning one in two weeks. I just got Joshua in for his 3 year-old pictures and he turned 3 in November. Life got pretty crazy with traveling to a wedding, kids taking turns getting sick, and the holidays. I really need to be more on the ball for birthday pictures this year, especially in the fall when I have to get Christmas pictures, too.

And just so she doesn't feel left out, this is a picture of the baby, Anneliese, at a few months old. I have older pictures on the digital camera, but my mind keeps telling me uploading is harder than it really is (I think just finding the cables is the hardest part, lol).

Bring on the gypsies

I have a 3 year-old boy for sale. In addition to the previous 3 bottles of lotion, he's added another bottle of lotion, half a bottle of carpet shampoo, several small bottles of bubble bath, a brand-new bottle of conditioner (my house smells really good now), a large bottle of white acrylic paint (we have dark green carpet), and a small bottle of green acrylic paint. I've gone through a whole roll of paper towels just on the paint alone. *sigh* My mantra is going to be "just adding ammo for the teen years, just adding ammo for the teen years".

Careful what you wish for

After complaining that my favourite blogs haven't been updated, I've been swamped at home so much that I haven't had a lot of time to even check the state of those blogs. My husband, Perry, tore a tendon in his calf a week ago and has been couch or bed-bound, while his foot elevates. Our oldest son, Caleb, is possibly ADHD and we're filling out diagnostic forms for that. Our youngest son, Joshua, has decided to have a personal vendetta against body lotion. In the past 2 weeks, he's emptied 3 brand new bottles on my carpet. On the second bottle, he decided that salt was needed (whole shaker full). I'm trying to finish the stenciling in the girls' room, but it's going slow. I think I should have it pretty much finished by the end of the week, though, if Joshua cooperates, lol.
Needless to say, it's been pretty stressful around here. I need to figure out a good substitution for eating and soda, though. I gained 2 pounds last week on soda and fast food alone. I'm tired, but I'm afraid to rest, since the latest lotion incidence happened when I took an hour nap.

Twiddling my thumbs

Sometimes I have the sorriest life. I've been bored, waiting for the people who write my favourite blogs to update. In my quest to forget the slowness in my life, I've forgotten that they have a life. I've had a migraine, the little mobile virus infection units they call kids have been running underfoot, and a whole lot of nothing has been getting done. I want to escape, darn it! Is it too much to ask that they call in sick and spend the day writing witty things to entertain me? I know my 3 year old will entertain me all day long (starting with a box of oatmeal poured out on the carpet, followed with a nightcap of a whole bottle of body lotion on another carpet). So maybe it's not excitement I crave, really, just a little vicarious, out-of-the-normal adventure where I'm not responsible for cleaning up.

Products I wouldn't want to live without

Mr. Clean Magic Erasers
The dark day when I realized I had no life came when I made Perry come and see what these little rectangles of goodness did to the refrigerator door. I had actually left a little before and after sample. To this day, these are almost the first things I reach for when cleaning.

Mrs. H.S. Ball's Chutney
There's chutney, then there's Mrs. Ball's. When Perry came back from South Africa raving about the chutney, I went and bought a bottle of Major Grey's to go with some curry I made. He didn't seem all that thrilled with the chutney. I thought maybe it was the variety and bought several different types and brands, all with the same reaction. Yeah, they were good, but they weren't like what he had in South Africa. I gave up looking. Then, one day, he sends me a link to a website telling me he's found it. Mrs. Ball's. Never heard of it before. Christmas shopping for some German mustard in our Harry's Market, I find it has an international section (with lots of varieties of German mustard) and to my delight it has a South African section. Filled with 3 varieties of Mrs. Ball's chutney. Skeptically, I tried some on a cracker. HOLY COW! Now I can see what he was raving about. To this day, I've probably eaten more of the chutney than he has.

The Blue Bulb Nose Syringe
You know, the ones they give you at the hospital when you've had a baby. Nothing cleans out a baby's nose like those. Ours broke on our second baby and we bought the one that has the wide tip. Totally sucked (or rather, didn't). I found one at Babies R Us and grabbed it.

The Hello Kitty Monster

"Mom, I a monster!". After the ketchup styling he gave himself, do I even dare to look and see the latest Joshua monster. I look. I shouldn't have. His legs are striped with 5 or 6 different colours. Some of the stripes are on his khaki church pants. His palms are a dark purplish magenta. But what really takes the cake is his face. Almost his entire face is either purple or bright pink. Oh. My. Gosh. What has this child done? I grab a wipe and start scrubbing. Not much is coming off. Perry tells me to imagine it's model paint and you're really sick with the flu (he's going to have to start a blog about all of the crazy things he's done in his youth). I go upstairs to clean up the markers and see they're from Michaela's Hello Kitty art set. Clean up the markers and I can only find the top to the stamp pad. I call Joshua upstairs to show me where the stamp pad is. Another thing I shouldn't have done. He goes into Michaela's room, where I'm busy stenciling a garden all over her room. There, on the white picket fence that I had just finished shadowing the night before, are pink and purple rectangles. That won't come off. With anything I try. The good news is that Joshua finally came clean after Perry threw him in the tub and that the stamped portion of the wall was pretty small and easy to paint over. From now on, though, I think I'd better be a little more curious when there's silence coming from a room my children are in. I wouldn't want another monster visit.

One of those days

You know you've stayed up too late and shouldn't have when you wake up to the news radio guy telling you that it is 6:11 and you've set the alarm for 6:00. How I missed all of that talking right next to my ear, I don't know. I'm even single-momming it for the week, so my ears should be alert for anything. The kids decided that they weren't going to understand English for the first part of the morning (as far as I can tell because the first 3 times I told them to be getting dressed it went right over their heads and the 4th time a look of understanding lit upon their faces as I threatened to send them to school in their pajamas). I was brushing my oldest daughter's hair on the way to the bus stop (luckily it's at the end of our driveway). Sent them off to school and sat in the quiet deciding if I wanted to take a shower when the baby woke up. She finally woke up and I had just finished feeding her when the phone rang. Michaela is itching really bad and can I come pick her up from the clinic. There goes the shower. Dress the two youngest and out we go. Pick her up and head over to Kroger to pick up some candy for my oldest to give a friend whose candy he stole (a whole other entry in and of itself), grab lunch, and head home to prepare for Daisy Girl Scouts. I'm co-leader for Michaela's troop. It's a really fun thing, but you throw in our 10 Daisies, 2 Brownie helpers, the sister of one of the Daisies that stays most of the time, my 3 kids, plus the girl next door that I watch after school, and 3 or 4 toddlers from my co-leader's daycare, and it's really easy to go crazy. I felt like I was thrown into The Grinch that Stole Christmas- all the noise, noise, noise. It didn't help that we were doing recycling crafts and some of the girls decided to create maracas out of the stuff that we brought. Home brought a clingy baby who was angry when I put her down to throw some dinner together. For such a little angel baby, she sure can scream. As the night went on, it became clearer and clearer that she was getting sick. I hate those nights. I hate it even more when you're alone to handle those nights of endless crying, where nothing is soothing. Makes for very long and cranky days for me the next day. I will have to say, that before we tried to go to sleep, she was the most talkative baby she's ever been, probably about an hour of nonstop babbling. It was really cute when she was lying beside me on the bed and we were both looking up at the ceiling, to just listen to her talking to me. I would look over at her and she'd look at me and smile. I'm convinced cute is a defense mechanism to make tired moms forget that it's the 10th dirty diaper of the day or to ignore the slobber when their little ones try to give them a kiss.

Russian Roulette

I've really debated this post. I have a real hard time showing the bad in my life. I'm usually a very optimistic person. I find joy in all that I do. In the end, I decided that since this is my journal of sorts, I would be doing a real disservice to my kids and future generations if I didn't share my struggles. Maybe in a year or so I can look back at this time and decide that I can survive whatever crisis du jour I have then because I survived this. Who knows. I will preface this by saying I have no real desire to end my life. I had a friend in 6th grade whose father committed suicide. I couldn't wrap my mind around it then, and even though I can understand more of his state of mind, I couldn't do that to my babies. Not that I could do it to my husband, either, but seeing how it affected a kid is my perspective on that.
This is my second bout with post-partum depression. Of my four kids, I've only gotten it with the girls. I've never had the baby blues or any indication that this is coming. It just hits out of the blue. Because I've been through this before, I know there is a light at the end of the tunnel (on some days though, it seems like that light is from a train). I've been suffering this time for about 8 months. My last bout lasted about 1 1/2 years. Knowing that I might only be halfway through this is enough to make me depressed if I wasn't already, lol.
When I'm depressed, things are blown up in severity. No, we're not in the best financial situation, but we're not as bad as I see us as. Yes, I'm bummed I can't give my daughter gymnastics lessons and my kids piano lessons. Did I survive without years and years of gymnastics? Yes. Is ist so important that my kids don't get started on the piano before age 8? Not really. I felt bad throwing away a fundraiser from the school the other day. For $20 I could have both of my kids' self-portraits made into a tile that would be placed on a wall celebrating the 10th anniversary of the school. Then I realized that in 10 years we would be done with the school forever (if we hadn't moved before then). I've never gone to check out my old elementary schools (even online). Why spend that money? Heck, for that money I could take them to some indoor inflatable center and have them jump themselves unconscious for a few hours. The peace and quiet I got after that would be worth it to me!
Anyway, to try to get this rambling post back on track (I think subconsciously I'm still avoiding it). I've been in dark places before. I've been in a pit of nothingness, all of the joy completely sucked out of my life. I've lived in a state of constant anxiety that made me more anxious because I felt like I was going to throw up without a second's notice (luckily this was short-lived and never happened). I've had thoughts of shooting myself (although I think my brain has picked this way to die because 1. I'm deathly afraid of guns, and 2. getting a hand gun is too much of a hassle). Lately though, these thoughts are coming more and more frequently. They aren't as abstract as they once were, either. It used to be more of seeing a glimpse of a gun in a hand, but now I can almost feel the weight of it. I can hear the click as I pull the trigger on an empty chamber. I'm confused because these thoughts come out of nowhere, sometimes on the heels of happy moments. These moments aside, I would classify myself as having mild depression, the kind that's normal during these winter months. I don't know what's going on, if maybe my medication can't handle this little bit of extra depression, or what. Hopefully that's the reason and the close arrival of spring will get me back to "normal". I guess for now my optimistic thought will have to be that I haven't put any bullets in the chamber.