It's Offical....

Well its offical, I've lost my mind. Ive been thinking I was losing it for a while now, but when I went to go change a load of laundry the other day and found my cell phone at the bottom all freshly washed, I knew my mind was gone. Now my phone is drying out. It has been for 2 days and I'm starting to realize that there is no hope for it. It doesn't do anything, so dont bother trying to call on my cell because its literally washed out.
The other thing that is offical is that the house will be on the market Thursday the 9th. We had the realitor over. And basically he bursted our bubble. The price to sell a house after you add in everyones commision, fees, and then of course all the goverment fees. Man oh man its out rageous. And then of course the market had kinda changed since we have started looking in to selling the house. So we wont be getting the money that we thought we would. The upside is that the realtor said he doesnt see the market changing much over then next few years, so maybe we can come back and buy a house for the same amount, that would be great.
Also the bathroom is nearly finished. Good job Mr. I will post pictures soon!!!

Can't believe it's over with

Ok so yes I have fallen into the Harry Potter craze. I have purchased the last 2 books on the day they came out. Yesterday I finished reading number 7, which I thought was really good, not to many slow parts. That is all I will say about that as to not give anything away for the other fans. The thing that is just weird is to think that there will be no more books, no more hogwarts adventures. And the other thing I would like to say is please someone eles read it soon( hint hint MR.) so that I can talk about it with somebody.

Oh a few other things that I have been meaning to post. I would like to welcome my sister, Laura, the the blogging world! She started a blog a few weeks ago! Welcome!! Also I wanted to say welcome home to my 2 brothers. It been so fun to have them home and watch them interact with the kids. I am excited to live closer to them in rexburg, and maybe be a small part of all the fun they are having!!!!!

The Plan

So our plan has changed a little bit so I thought I would catch you up to speed, for those of you who care. The Mr and I were really hoping to have the house on the market by now, but we seem to just keep running into snags with the bathroom. As of right now the plumbing needs to be redone for the shower and tub so we are in process of finding a reasonably price plumber to do the job quickly. Then we have to finish up the rest of the bathroom, and a few other odds and ends to a have it ready. So the plan is to put it on he market the day before we leave for our California vacation. So that we can have the house stay clean while people are walking through it. And if we are lucky we will have a buyer by the time we get home and then finish packing. Also we have found a place in rexburg. Its an apartment in a 4 plex, it's a 3 bed 1 bath. It's going to be hard going back to apartment living and not having control over wall colors and stuff like that. But it is really cheap and if it ends up just not working we will just move, again!! I think the Mr and I are both very anxious to just get the move behind us. This move has been looming over our heads for way to long now. So everyone pray that we an get our house sold in the 9 days we are partying at Disney land, sea world and the beach, and not while I am home with 3 small kids desperately trying to keep them from making a mess and having people showing up to look at my house at any given hour. Lets pray that for my sanity every thing goes according to plans. ANd that the hsoue can sell while we are having fun in the sun!!!!

Growing Up!

So I thought it was time to put some updated pictures of the kids up, and catch everyone up to speed with how we are doing. Einstein is doing good, he is eating us out of house and home. He is just a growing boy. Not around the waist, which I wouldn't mind so his pant waist could actually fit him, but he is just getting taller and taller. His 5t pants and shirt are to short. So we now shop in the big boy section, which means that since the 5ts were to big around the waist but to short, the next size is huge on him around the waist but a good length. He will eat 2 bowls of cereal for breakfast and 20 minutes later be asking for lunch. Go figure. As you can see from the picture of him he is loving t-ball. His favorite position is playing catcher because he gets to wear the gear and gets to catch the ball and throw alot. Sometimes if he is in the Field were you don't get many balls, he will be out there pouting with his face covered with his cap. Boys, what can you do. He also had his first solo camp out Sunday night. He slept in his "tent" ( under the kitchen table) all by himself. I didn't think he would make it through the night on the hard floor, but he did no problems. Funny kid.

Picasso is growing up so much as well, he to is a growing boy, but he doesn't seem to eat as much as Einstein. He is talking in full sentences now, which still catches me off guard most of the time. HE seems to be taking after his older cousin who calls Lovebug "sexa",Picasso does this to. So when we are at he store and Picasso starts yelling " Sexa stop it" I get a little embarrassed. Picasso also loves t-ball, he not old enough to be on the team but he doest care. he needs to be out there right next to his big bro. or with daddy doing some base coaching. If I try and take him and keep him with me on the side lines he just screams. Luckily for us the rules are pretty laxed and so most times Picasso gets to be on the Field, and hand the batters their bats so he feels like he gets a turn to. HE is also potty training himself, he always want to go potty when big brother goes, so i bought some pull ups and he wears those. I havent been pressuring him to much cause well with all that's going on I figure we wont get to serious with it till after we move.

Lovebug is just our big drama queen, she really knows how to scream and get your attention. But it is so fun to have a girl. She is definitely being a mamas girl this month, and i don't mind at all. She is starting to pack around her dolls and bears, and carrying purses. But she also loves playing with the boys and getting dirty she has no problems with that

She is also in the process of moving into her big girl bed. I know it seems a little early, but honestly all my kids have moved to beds earlier then most. I found this cute bed frame on line along time ago but it was so expensive and then to add shipping on top of that crazy. So I kept looking and finally the Mr. and I on a date night went into a mattress warehouse and they had the bed in one of their books for way cheaper so of course we bought it. I love it. You cant tell in the picture but it has a picket fence foot board as well. and then of course the comforter and sheets to go with her lady bug decor. She has been sleeping in her bed for the past 2 days and no problems. lets pray it stays that way so we can finally put the crib away after years of use. When Einstein saw us putting the big bed up he asked what was going to happen with the crib, he asked if he was getting a new baby sister to sleep in it. I laughed and said no, we will be putting it away. Then he said I want a new baby sister. I laughed again and said "not right now Mama just needs a break". A good long break!!!

Demolition Day

Well Saturday was the big day. We finally got around to the bathroom. And literally the wall came crumbling down, well once they got the siding off and the window out.

They, the MR. and a guy from our ward, were able to just pull the old 2x4s out. They had it cleaned out in just minutes.
Once they got the out side wall out, the Mr. was able to shovel the old tiles and stuff that had fallen into the old bathtub out into the backyard.
And then they just pushed the bathtub out. As you can see we have quite the pile up in the backyard. I think we will be making numerous trips to the dump.
Oh yeah I forgot to mention that they also took off the railing to my deck so that they could have easier access to the "whole in the wall"
After the gutting was done and yet another run to home depot they were able to get the framing for the new wall done. So basically right now we have a bunch of 2x4s with gaps in between them and a tarp covering them. And of course anyone knowing my families luck can guess what kind of weather we have been having since the tarp has been put up. pouring rain and thunderstorms. but so far all is ok.

On a much better note My hardwood floors are finally done and I love them. I also love my green walls and white cabinets it looks so much better then the dark ugly wood. We still have some cabinets left to hang, and some touch up painting to do where the walls meet the ceiling, but it looks great ( well for having 30 year old cabinets, just thrown on some paint and get all new hardware and they look good) And yes oh yes i finally have something other then carpet under the table. I will happily sweep 3 times a day then have to vacuum and carpet clean everyday. I love it!! The Mr. has done a great job!!!!

face lift

Well as you can see we are giving my blog a face lift. I found a couple of different people that had the same background as I did and I just didn't like that much so we changed it. Its still a work in progress, we are still playing around with a few things. So bare with us and hopefully it will be super cute when we are done.

Laundry makes me a basket case

So I have gotten behind. It has been piling up, and now I need to get my shovel and start digging. My laundry situation is out of control. With us doing the kitchen floor and having all the dining room furniture moved throughout the house, and everything in ciaos, doing laundry just didn't happen last week. So now I pay the price. This is what I will spend my day( if I'm really on the ball and just some plain ol' luck, or else I will be shoveling for the week)doing. Now I don't you to get the wrong idea, and think that every other week I totally conquer the laundry pile. Because it just never happens, there is always another load to be done, another pile to be found, more clothes getting dirty. I was for the first few years of marriage doing all the laundry in one day, once a week. That worked until we had children number 2 and 3. Now I have switched to trying to get 2-3 loads done a day. It works if I really stay on top of it. But it seems lately that with so much other house stuff going on my laundry is piling up and up and up. So now I will try and go conquer the pile, and lets hope I can get to the bottom of it and have some peace before it really piles up again.

My Mr. Fix It

Somehow I really got lucky when I married The Mr.. Don't get me wrong, I've always known that he was a great person, talented at tons of stuff. A great husband, dad, and best friend. He is very smart and seems to just know stuff, and how things work and how to fix them. But this last month I have really been so impressed at how far that knowledge really goes. As many of you know we are getting our house ready to go on the market. And in order to do this we have had to do some updates. My Mr. is just so handy. He is doing everything. I try to help but usually my job is to hand him stuff and hold stuff in place. So not much help at all. How he knows how to do stuff is beyond me. Some of the things that he does is fixes our cars, no matter what the problem. He just buys the part then fixes it. And then all the house stuff. Laying a hardwood floor. I never really saw him read instructions. I know he watched a how to video for about 5 minutes and then he just did it. He only made one cutting mistake where he measured wrong and that's it. Our dining room looks so nice. And now we are working on the kitchen floor. He has also done some major things it the bathroom. Some pluming and electrical work and before to long he will be doing some framing and drywalling. Then of course tiling. I don't know how he knows how to do it all but he just does, and he always does a really nice job. My dad is like that, he can fix anything. I always just thought he was on of a kind, but of course I went out and found me someone just like him, with out really knowing it. I just want to tell my Mr. that I really love him, and that I really appreciate all the hard work he does for us and our home. The kids are really learning some great lessons from you and hopefully when they grow up they can be Mr. fix its too!! I love you Babe!!! You are the best husband ever!!

Campin'

Yep we braved it. We took the crew camping. We went up to ensign ranch to camp. We choose the camp sites closet to the flushing toilets. It started out well, except for all the adults being attacked by the hordes of mosquito's. I don't know how any of the kids managed to not get any bites, but lucky them. And of course Love bug managed to find the only mud puddle and fall in it. But she really didn't seem to mind!

The kids really were loving it. The dirt, the bugs, the camp fire, everything. Most of the kids had their first attempts at skipping rocks and sticking the feet in freezing cold water. That was fun to watch. We had alot of people (tents) squeeze into 2 tiny campsites. We had 9 adults and 5 kids 4 and under. And let me just say that most of the time 9 adults were not enough to keep the kids in check.

Mr. Einstein was trying to be like the adults and wanted to do everything they did. Especially when it came to the fire. He wanted to put wood in and have a huge fire. One time he saw some one blow their nose then throw the tissue in the fire, so from then on he blew his nose constantly when there was a fire and would sneakily throw it in the fire cause he knew he would get in trouble if he got caught. He also preferred the biffy's as opposed to the flush toilets in the nice bathroom. He wouldn't want any help or anyone to go with him. But I was able to get this great shot of him when I was beckoned to do some wiping!

Sunday Morning we woke up to some cold weather. But we were able to take some nice warm showers and get all dressed up for church. So we headed to church in Enumclaw. That is always an interesting experience. When we got back we had to really get bundled up cause it was so cold and the wind wasn't helping. Of course the kids didn't let that stop them and they were just having way to much fun. But the adults were reaching their limits. Not to mention that the MR. was pretty sick. Which wasn't fun for him.

As Sunday rolled on things just got worse all around the weather was just getting colder, the MR. was getting sicker, and the kids well they were being especially crazy. So at 8:30 pm we decided to pack up and come home. My mom and sister took over the kids and the Mr. and I did the fastest pack job ever. Of course by the time we were done my mom and sister had worked their magic and all three kids were asleep on there laps. so we loaded them in there seats said our good byes. I didn't want the Mr. to drive cause he had taken night time medicine and i didn't want to chance it. And of course as I'm driving it starts to pour, and then it gets really foggy. And any of you that have driven through the Pass on a normal day knows there is a few trick parts. But in pitch dark, with pouring rain and tons of fog, lets just say I went under the speed limit most of the time. We eventually made it home right before midnight. We left everything in the car, except the kids of course, and just went to bed. So what have I learned from this whole experience? That no matter how much you love to go camping, it is just not easy or really worth it with kids. Even if you have 9 adults to help.

Disaster Strikes

So our bad luck continues. Our life has been cruising right along, Conner has recovered just fine from his hands. Colin and I have been really working hard on getting the house and our stuff ready to move. Everything was going ok, stressful but ok, till Saturday. So we have known that we needed to re-tile the upstairs bathroom. The tile that is around the bathtub walls, a few of those tiles started to pop up from the wall. We haven't been using that shower/tub for about a year now to prevent any water from getting underneath those tiles and making matters worse. The Mr. and I have been a little worried as to what we would find behind the tiles cause we knew something had to be going on to make the tiles pop up.Well Saturday the Mr. decided to start pulling off tiles so we could know what we need to get in order to re-tile. He started on the wall that had the tiles popping up and no big problems, put in some new hardy backer and then tile. Easy enough. Then he starts pulling off the tiles from the back wall, the wall that has a window in it. He gets a couple of tiles off and then it all came crashing down. The old dry wall was corroded, and it was in pieces. The smell was horrible and that is when we knew we had a major problem. The more tiles the Mr. got off the worse it got. All the dry wall gone, the installation is covered in mold, the wood framing is basically mush. In some spots you can see right through it to the outside. Which means that the siding on the outside has to be replaced. When we bought the house it was obvious that they had re tiled the back wall in the shower, cause they used different tile then the 2 side walls.We now know that they discovered a problem and instead of fixing it, they hurried and just covered it up again. Once again the bad luck that my family has comes into play. So basically after we discovered the problem we realized that mold smell was probably really hazardous. The Mr. decided to stop everything for fear that since there is no tile to hold the wall together the wall could fall in. So we have called our homeowners insurance and we pray that they will cover it. Cause if not we are looking at thousands of dollars to get it fixed. We are pretty sure the whole wall framing and all will have to be rebuilt. We are not sure how far the damage (our luck alot of damage) goes. We hope that its covered and that we only have to pay the $1,000 deductible and we can just hire someone to come in and just do it all. Lets hope with this aspect we have good luck. Here are a few pictures of our pathetic bathroom.We have taken painters plastic and duct taped it up around the bathtub so mildew/mold smell isn't dangerous, and we have air purifiers in there going full blast. During the day we pretty much keep it locked up but at night we unlock since that is the only upstairs bathroom and we don't want to make our 4 year old go all the way down stairs for his nightly pee run. I really hope things aren't as bad as they look, but you know we really aren't that lucky.

Dinner Time!!!

So Conner has discovered his own way to eat and drink his food. The Mr. and I have both tried to feed him so that it is easier for him. But he is very determined to feed himself. Here is some video of how he does it. Its pretty funny. I have caught him throwing food on the floor then dropping to his knees and eating off the floor, poor guy. And who ever would of thought that I would depend so heavily on straws. He can't really get cups up to his mouth so straws have been such a great help. Only 5 days left and then we should be able to get back to normal. As you watch the video you will probably think that his cast are really dirty, THEY ARE. We were putitng socks on his hands to keep everything protected, we cut out a whole for his fingers but it still managed to restrict his finger use, so his cast are just gonna keep getting dirty. Oh well. He has a pretty big smear mark on each cast where you can tell he wipes is face of. We had enchiladas for cinco de mayo so they are red smears. What is a mother to do??

This and That

So I thought I would update you on all the stuff that has been happening in our crazy lives. Our Little Einstein has just finished up playing soccer. When he got his trophy he was so excited. He carried it everywhere and even had to sleep with it. That was a few weeks ago, now he has moved on to T-ball. He has been to 2 practices and he loves it. His first game is this Saturday. So we will see how he does. It was really fun to watch these young kids play soccer, I'm sure t-ball will be even more entertaining. Little Einstein is so full of energy its amazing. I wish I had even just some of that energy and I'm sure I could get a lot more done in life. He never seems to just walk, he is always running, flying, or driving ( which all means running fast and just pretend to do the others).

Our Little Picasso has had a big week. Yesterday he had his surgery on his thumbs. It went well. He is in cast that go above his elbows,the Dr said he did this cause he has had kids that have been able to pull their cast off and that causes all kinds of problems. So above the elbows they are so that he cant get them off. Which means that he cant bend his arms, so he cant get his hands to his mouth. So you guessed it, we get to feed him and hold cups for him to drink out of. So far so good no big problems. But it has only been a day and he is still high on pain meds. I guess we will see what happens once he is off those. The good news is he only has to have the cast for 10 days. So we are all counting down to next Friday, so our poor little Einstein can has his freedom back and we an see how those thumbs looks in the upward position. The MR. and I cant wait to see his reaction when he realizes that he can move his thumb. That should be fun!!!

Our Little love bug is getting so big ( for her, she is still small in the 25 percentile) is is just every where. She is really starting to talk more. She says Mama really good. So I hear a lot of " Mama, Mama, Mama" during the day. She is a true girl, drama and all. She loves her princess phone she got for Christmas. She talks and talks and talks on it. She carries it around on her shoulder like she talking into it. Her favorite button on it is " Well Hello Little Princess". So we all say that to her when we see greet her. She loves to be playing right next to her brothers and trying to do all that they do. she is a Big time daddy's girl. She loves to snuggle him and to just be with him at all times when hes home.

As for the Mr. and I, we are surviving. Our days are long, and filled with lots of noise, and demands. The stress of all we have to do to get moved is really starting to build up. Way to much stuff to do and just not enough time. But we are excited and looking forward to our adventure. I think the Mr. is really looking forward to learning new things. The kids are excited to move to "college". And me I'm excited to live close to all our brothers who are there going to school. And maybe if I'm lucky they will meet the women of there dreams and I can live close and be involved in the process. What do you think guys? No pressure right!! I'm also excited for when my little sister will come over and go to school, and to be there for that and get to see the fun stuff she does. I look forward to Sunday dinners when they all come over. Yes that is a invitation to you guys!!! Now we just need to find a place to live, and get over there!!!

2 thumbs down

I know 2 post in one day, I guess this is what happends when you have alot of stuff happening. Today we took Picasso into the pediatric orthopedic. It was something that we hoped we never had to do, but it was time. Picasso 2 little thumbs do not unbend. They are locked, bent at the knuckle. We aren't sure if he was born this way but we noticed it really around 6 months. We have been hoping that they would correct themselves. No such luck. At his 2 year check up his Dr. reffered us to this orthopedic Dr.. Today was our appointment. And our fears were confirmed. My little man needs surgery on both of his thumbs. He has what they call trigger thumbs. This is when they get stuck in one position, and most of the time they lock and unlock at random times . Picasso's never unlock they have stayed in the same position. The Dr said today that most kids born with this out grown it by the age of 2, if they are going to outgrow it. Since picasso is already 2 and his thumbs have never unlocked he is going to have the surgery. The surgery in and of it self seems really simple. The Dr. said it would take about 15 minutes for each thumb. They simply go in and cut a small whole in the tendon so that it can have room to move. He said patients only lose about 2 drops of blood. The things that I am worried about is Anstheisa, and then after word. Both of his thumbs will be casted. The dr said that little kids seem to find a way to get the cast off the thumbs really quickly so they have to cast the whole arm to keep things stable. He will have both arms cast for 10 days. So that means I get to spoon feed him and all of that fun stuff. It will not be fun. On the positve side, by getting this taken care of now, he will never have to be frustrated by it because it could be a big problem in learning to write and play sports, anything like that. So tomorrow I call to schedule is surgery. And pray everything turns out ok.

The Honda Curse

So the Honda curse continues. Let me tell you about our /my history with Honda's and then you can decide if you think its really a curse. Let me take you back to about 10 years ago. It had only been a few months after graduating from high school that I bought my first car. It was a Honda and very old Honda. I'm not sure of the year but it was like 15+ years old. It ran great and it was in great condition. Honestly I really loved it. I'm not sure if it was because I purchased it on my own or what, but I really liked Beauty (my sister gave it this name) . After having the car for awhile it was stolen. My dad woke up for work and it wasn't there. Honestly I was shocked, it was so old who would want that. The police found it a few hours later just a mile or so away. We think it was just some punks out for a joy ride. But in order to start the car they had to rip apart the steering column, and then they stole everything that was in the car. Radio Cd's school stuff, everything.
A few months later Beauty was broken into again and my newly purchased replacement CD player and Cd's were stolen again. At least this time they didn't take the car. I purchased a Saturn soon after and that car was never touched. When I met the MR. he was driving a Honda. After we were married and pregnant we traded in my Saturn for another Honda. So now we had 2 Honda's in the family. Everything was going really good till we went to the Space Needle for dinner. We parked in paid parking in downtown Seattle. When we were done with dinner and came back to the car it was broken into, the stereo was gone, Cd's gone, stuff riffled through. again. When we started planning on kid number 2 we traded in one Honda for a minivan. So we haven't had any problems in years. Until yesterday. The Mr. still has his Honda and it has been a great car. He works in down town Seattle and he rides the train to and from work. But he drives his car to the train station and parks in a parking garage. Yesterday when he was coming back form work he had gotten off the train and was walking to his car when he noticed lots of glass and basically his driver side window laying on the ground. The curse had returned. Some one smashed out his window (cutting oneself in the process, there is blood all over the dash board and side panels and in the trunk) they tried to take his radio but they couldn't get it. Not sure why. But they did manage to get his radar detector, his nice speakers in the back and the sub woofer. His glove box was open and stuff gone through. Luckily the car was still there, and the blood is all on stuff that can be cleaned. A new window is being put in tomorrow. So the bad luck is on going. I think the Honda curse will continue to "haunt" our family till we get rid of our hondas. Unfortunatlly for us we really like the cars and will probably always have one around.

Mr. Independent

My little boy is growing up. Sometimes it catches me so off guard. He's only 4, but my gosh he seems to be way older then that sometimes. My how times goes by so quickly. It was just yesterday it seems that I was holding him in my arms for the first time and realizing how much I love this little baby, more then I ever realized I could. It was very overwhelming. Now he is 4 and he just doesn't need me as much anymore. I appreciate his Independence, don't get me wrong, it makes my life alot easier, I am just sad to think that he isn't my little baby anymore. You are probably wondering what has brought all this on. Well let me tell you. This morning Einstein wanted breakfast and he wanted it "right now". I was in the middle of changing lovebugs and Picasso's diapers and getting their clothes on for the day. So of course I told Einstein that he had to wait till I was done then we would all go eat breakfast together. He went off sulking, and I didn't see him for a few minutes. After I was done with the daily tackle of changing out of PJ's to clothes. we headed up to eat breakfast. And there was Einstein sitting at the table with a bowl of cereal. I had to stop and think, did I get it for him? Then I looked a little closer and noticed the chair in the kitchen he pulled up to the cabinet with bowls. He of course got the big bowl out so he could be like daddy and have a huge bowl of cereal. Of course cause he had a big bowl then he had filled it up with tons of cereal . But he was almost finished with it. He also had poured him self a cup of milk with it. As I'm getting Lovebug and Picasso settled into there chairs, Einstein finishes his breakfast and pick up his bowl and cup and takes and puts them into the sink. He comes back and asked if he could go play now. I gave him a big hug and thanked him for being such a big boy and cleaning up is dishes. He then proceeds to take the gallon of milk that I have left out after pouring milk into our bowls and puts the lid on and puts it back into the fridge. As he walks out of the kitchen he turns off the light and heads down stairs. I sat there stunned for a few minutes not sure to be happy that he finally is listening to all the nagging of cleaning up after himself and turning off the lights, or be sad cause he doesn't need me to "get him cereal " anymore. I decide it was ok to be both. Its great that he is starting to do things for himself. And I am so excited that he is growing up. I swear he is already smarter then me, he just doesn't know it yet. When he figures that out I might have a big problem on my hands. But for now I will just cheer on my Mr. Independent, and encourage him to be all that he can be. And I can just sit back and be the proud mommy, till he decides he needs me again!!!!

Better Late Then Never

Here are some pictures of the kids in their Easter Clothes. We really tried to get a cute one of all 3 of them together but it just didn't work out. Kids what can you do.

Isn't she getting so big? I don't have a baby to snuggle anymore. I guess I'll have to go snuggle my new little nephew. And that reminds me congratulations to my sister in law Erin, and my good friend Heather. They have both found out they are expecting boys!! I am so excited for you both!!!

Memories

Over this last week I have been reminded of a memory 3 times. I had forgotten all about this memory until I was at my sisters house the other day. I was there helping her get stuff ready for a huge crowd of people coming over for lunch after her little baby's sweet blessing. We were cutting stuff up for sandwich's when she grabbed a pickle and asked for a slice of cheese. This is something that as kids we used to eat all the time for a snack. A pickle with cheese and sometimes a slice of meat wrapped around it. So when my sister asked for one the other day I could only smile as the memory came flooding back and i just had to chuckle. Dad and LJ do you know where I'm going with this? My other reminder was 2 days ago. I was siting down stairs folding laundry while my kids napped, or so I thought, when i heard a big thud from up stairs. As I'm running up the stairs I'm thinking someone fell out of their bed. Wrong. Einstein was up and trying to be a big boy and help himself to a big cup of red koolaid. Yep you guessed it. The cup spilled because he over filled it, then he dropped the pitcher to save the cup. Unfortunately he was in the dining room and my carpet was covered. The walls were covered. It was just one big red mess. So as Einstein and I are cleaning the mess I told him that he was grounded from the koolaid. He was clueless, he's never been grounded (yet). I was totally serious about no more koolaid. Then the memory came flooding back and I started just laughing. Now today I was standing in front of the fridge with the door opened trying to devise a plan for lunch and I saw the jar of pickles and laughed. That is when I decide that 3 reminders in one week was some kind of sign and that I needed to tell my dad that I totally understand now why he did what he did.

Along time ago when I was 12 or 13 and my younger sister, LJ, was 10-11 we were just home from church and looking for a snack to hold us over till the big Sunday dinner was done. We being me, LJ, my 2 younger brothers, and youngest sister. We were downstairs and we told LJ to go make us all a snack. She complained but she knew she was way out numbered so she went up stairs. She came down a few minutes later with a plate full of pickles with cheese wrapped around them. Being the bratty kids that we were, we decide that those were not good enough, and told her to get back to the kitchen. So apparently she went up and threw them away. I'm sure she brought something else down but I don't remember. The next thing that I remember is all of us kids being called upstairs by my dad. As we gathered around the garbage can he asked us " who had thrown away all these pickles" now my dad being very mild mannered usually, was pretty upset. So of course I and the rest of my siblings offered LJ up as the culprit. She was told that she could of put the pickles back in the jar and LJ was trying to explain that she had done something nice but we didn't want them. Somewhere as this is happening my dad very seriously and sternly tells LJ that she is grounded from the pickles. Now I don't remember if we thought it was funny at that moment but I know for the next month or so while LJ was "grounded" from the pickles we all got a great laugh and made tons of fun of my dad and LJ. Still to this day something will come up and we all joke that dad might ground us from that.
So now as I am a mother and I have now officially grounded my son from koolaid, I must say dad sorry for laughing at you and thinking it was the funniest thing in the world. When now I know you were dead serious. I think LJ has always known though cause after all she couldn't have pickles for a month.

What Would I Do?

Today I found myself wondering how I couldn't live without a few things in my life. These are things that I never in a million years would of thought that I would depend on, on a daily basis. So I decided to put together a list of the things that I consider must haves. Of course I can't live with out my husband, kids, and extended family. I love them all to much. but this list more of things that I use. So here goes.

1. My carpet flick- clean messes well, and is a good thing to use while kiddies are sleeping. I love this thing.
2. My new carpet cleaner- why it took me so long to buy one I'm not sure. We use it alot now that we have it.
3. My family room door- this may seem weird but this door is a lifesaver. It keeps my kids in while I take a shower or try and cook dinner. And its just noisy enough that I can always hear if someone escapes.
4. My pledge multi purpose wipes- we love these. they clean my coffee table which has both wood and glass. And they are also great for the kids to "help clean" the slidding doors. Works great on all my bathroom mirrors too.
5. My phone- its my connection to the real world and adult conversations during the day. Some days I probably annoy my husband, mom, and sister with how many times I call. Sorry guys!!
6. My tv.- there i said it. some times is just the best babysitter.
7. My Costco card- where eles can you get large quanites of diapers, wipes, formula, and meat for so cheap. Gotta love that place.
8. 2 cars- if the Mr. took the car to work and I was stuck at home I would go stir crazy.
9. Radio Disney- the kids love it. its clean, fun and actually have some upto date songs that we can all sing to, plus all the oldies but goodies.
10.Lots of hugs, kisses, and snuggles-this one I think seriously is the most important to me. It gives me energy through out the day and just keeps me going with a smile on my face. I never can get enough hugs and kisses!!!!

So theres my list. If you have something that you can't live without. Tell me. I would love to hear some of the crazy things that you guys have to have!

Why Didn't Someone Tell Me...

So why hasn't anyone told me that I'm not superwoman, or should I say supermom. You may laugh and think this is a joke, but I promise you that I'm serious. Now I don't think I'm a super hero, But I have always thought that I would be better then other moms and the problems that they have, will never happen to me, and that I could and would handle anything. I mean I've taken enough child psychology classes and childhood development that I should be well prepared and will be able to handle everything cool and rationally. With my first 2 kids I didn't let them hold me back. If I wanted to go shopping I would, and that was that. Grocery shopping no problem with 2 kids. I always thought that those moms who wouldn't take their kids to any stores were ridiculous. My kids were pretty good, and I was handling this motherhood thing well. Then something happened to me. I had my 3 child. It wasn't when I got pregnant. I still thought I could handle anything. But when love bug was born my supermom theory was shattered. It has been the hardest thing I have ever done. I do not have 3 arms, and I don't have enough lap space for them all to sit. It's hard to concentrate on all 3 of their needs at the same time. I do not take 3 kids to the store buy myself. And as you can see from my last post even if I have help it still is crazy. Grocery shopping gets done late at night with no kids. My house is a disaster zone on a daily basis. My 4 year old son is in this stage where he knows everything and he is always in your face telling you what you've done wrong, or what the right answer is. He also has figured out that he can say hurtful things when he is angry. I have heard " I hate you mama" one to many times this week. Why don't they teach you any of this stuff in all those early childhood development classes? So now I humbly apologize to all those that I thought that I was better at this "mom stuff "then they were. I was wrong, oh so wrong. And to my mom, can't believe you survived 5 kids. I apologize for everything that I ever did wrong. I am so sorry for ever saying I hate you, and for thinking that our house being messy was your fault. I just didn't know. So now in my humility I am going to go find a shovel and get started on the pile of laundry, that I swear I just did, and try to get my messy house clean. Then maybe I can sit down and snuggle my 3 kids, and maybe for a few minutes I can once again feel like a Supermom!

A Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

As I left the house this morning I thought that things had gone well when getting the kids ready this morning and we were even out the door almost on time. I was ready to go do some shopping with my mom and sister. The diaper bag was loaded with snacks and drinks. I even had note books and pens if the kids wanted to draw. The Semi ( this is what we call our double stroller, cause it is just so long) is in the back of the van. Einstein has been told, and retold to hold on to the semi or my hand at all times. So as I'm driving I'm thinking "OK this is going to work". Now let me interject that I am not a lucky person, never have been never will be. It always seems that I get to do things the hard way. With that said, as I'm driving from our house to the mall to meet my mom and sister I seem to hit every red light and then in the one lane road i get stuck behind the person doing 30 in a 50. So now instead of being just 5 minutes late( which is good when I get myself and 3 kids ready and out the door before 9:30am)I'm more like 15 minutes late. But that's ok my mom and sister will understand. Evey thing is still good. We finally get there and I get Lovebug and Picasso loaded in the semi. Einstein is holding my hand. We cross the parking lot with out incident, we get in the mall find my sister and mom. Then we enter JC. Pennys. That is where every thing changes. Almost instantly upon entering the store Lovebug starts to whine. So I pull out the sippy cup. That should do it. Nope, it was thrown into the next rack of clothes, so down I go to retrieve it. She does the same with snacks. But I don't realize it until I start rolling over teddy grahams with the wheels of the stroller. I pick up the big pieces, and push the rest out of the walk way and just pray that someone with a broom will come along soon. At this point Picasso has joined in on the fit throwing, and Einstein is "flying" all around the clothes and up and down the walk ways. Oh and I forgot to mention that my sister has 2 kids and 21/2 year old girl and a 1 month old boy. At one point when my sister was trying on clothes, we thought we could let the kids get out of strollers for a few minutes and play in the empty dressing rooms. Didn't work so well. The baby started to get fussy. So grandma was holding him and the rest of the kids were everywhere. Slamming doors and 2 of them managed to get out, so off I go running through jcp trying to catch the fast kiddies. Once everyone was rounded back up and strapped in to the strollers, we headed over to the shoe section to see if the have any good sandals for all of us to go with our Easter outfits. So there were 3 adults and 5 kids that wanted to try on shoes. The poor lady was really hating her job. None of the shoes she brought out fit any of us. We had stacks of shoe boxes that didn't fit. Of course as the moms try to find shoes that fit, the kids are everywhere. Lovebug is just tall enough and enjoying the freedom of walking and has pulled all the shoes from the bottom shelf off the display, Einstein is off flying like buzz light year again, and Picasso thinks that the stroller is his very own jungle gym. I have tried on tons of shoes none fitting, this is what happens when you have long skinny feet. So this is when I had reached my boiling point. So I quickly loaded up the kids and and walked around for a minute then just decided to go. what a terrible, horrible, very bad day. but wait its not over yet.
I had check ups scheduled for Lovebug and Picasso later in the afternoon. Their 1 and 2 year checkups. I thought I would save my self a trip and schedule their appointments together. so grandma is watching Einstein. Everything is going fine. They were great in the waiting room, loved the fish tanks and finding "nemo". The nurse called us back, did all the measuring and weighing. Piece of cake. now we are just waiting for the Dr. . When he walked in both of my kids started to scream. They both were clutching on to me for dear life. we decided to tackle Lovebug first. So he checks her eyes, ears, the whole time of course she is fighting him pushing his hand away and trying to just get away. It was horrible, but we still had one more child to go and shots for both of them. Picasso is up, and he has a death grip on me and just giving me that pleading look that says " please don't put me on that table" but there I was holding him down so the Dr could do his stuff. And of course Lovebug is still screaming and clutching my leg, I try to hold her while holding Picasso down, doesn't work, so back to the floor she goes. Finally the Dr. is done. He tries to talk to me and tell me something, cant hear him over all the screaming so finally he basically starts yelling so that I can hear all the details. Then the nice Dr. that he is comes over and puts his arm around me and asks how I'm doing. I of course answer quickly that "I'm fine". I don't want to even think about how my day is cause I might just have a break down in the dr office. plus I don't want him to think I'm a frazzled mom. So I start apologizing for all the screaming and craziness. He looks at me and says " what are you talking about? your kids were great." what a good liar. I'm sure he has a few scratch marks to remind him of our visit. But what a good guy with the kids and the frazzled moms!!! I think we will keep him. After the dr. leaves we take a few minutes and have a snuggle session to get everyone calmed down. I get them dressed and we are out of there. I get them loaded in the van, and we are off to grandmas house to pick up Einstein. Once Einstein is in the car we head home. Half way home I noticed that all the kids were asleep. So I decided to just keep driving. I knew if I went straight home they would all wake up once I tried to move them. So I just drove and drove and drove. Trying to recoup from the days events. Finally after about an hour Einstein woke up and was panicked that we were lost. So I quickly drove home reassuring him the whole way that I knew where I was. As I pull into the driveway I just prayed that my Horrible day was over and that we could have a decent night and that the kids will go to bed early. I can only pray!!! I just want his day to be over with.