I Deserve a Freaking Award!!

My husband was away on business the beginning of this week.

Last night, I got 4 small children fed, bathed, dressed, brushed, read to and in bed by myself...ON TIME. (although, is it just me, or does bedtime always seem to go much smoother when husbands are out of town..??)

I unloaded the dishwasher. Then I reloaded the dishwasher.

I folded and put away all of the laundry that was beginning to over run my couch (yet again).

I took the dog for a walk. Ok, so really I took the dog out in the front yard and yelled "Hurry up you slow poke. Do your business! I'm a very busy woman!" which then made me break out into song "and I haven't got all day! It won't cost much...just your voice!! Which, of course, needed some choreography as well. And then I waved to my neighbors who, I am pretty sure, refer to me as "the crazy lady." I fed and watered the dog.

After I came inside, I packed lunches for my children for school. I gathered up their clothes, including shoes and socks, and laid them out so they would be all ready in the morning when I had to drag all 4 children out to the bus stop that is a mile away from our house.

I decided to take a short break and check my email. I signed on to my Yahoo page and noticed the little box that has the weather in it. I looked at the numbers. I laughed a little and though to myself, "That's funny. Yahoo messed up the temperature. It says it's going to be 47 tomorrow. I'm sure it should be 74." I decided, just to be safe, to check a second weather website. Crap!! CRAP CRAP CRAP!! 47 degrees?!? I had laid out shorts for my children to wear. They can't wear shorts when it's 47 degrees outside. Well, they could, but then I wouldn't deserve my freaking award now, would I?? So, I went back and dug to the very bottom of their drawers where, luckily, they each had one pair of pants that I always keep, just in case......

I sat back down at my computer and started to blog surf. Big mistake when it is already 10:30 at night! I was good though, and I actually set a timer for 45 minutes and made myself get off the computer so I could go put the load of dishes away before finally heading off to bed.

I think it was about 12:15 when I looked at the clock before I drifted off to sleep.

Less than an hour later, at 1:07, I was woken up by a shrill scream. I run into the bedroom just in time to see Evan's dinner (for the second time if you get my drift) all over his bed.

I tell Kaily and Kyle to go sleep on the couches in our toy room. I figure it will be quieter and darker on that side of the house. I strip Evan and put him in the shower, where he throws up again. I get him out and redressed and put him on the floor in the hallway while I strip his bed and clean it off as best I can in the midst of my grogginess.

I spend the next 5 and a half hours on mommy duty. I will spare you all the lovely details. Trust me, you're very thankful.

Then, I have to wake up Kaily and Kyle and get them dressed and fed and ready for school while running back to Evan every 10 minutes or so to make sure he is getting to the toilet when needed. I get Alaina up and dressed and fed. I dress Evan (who was such a sweetie and, after much persuading, agreed to wear a pull-up out to the bus stop so if he had an accident, it would be contained).

I even managed to remember to pull the garbage cans out to the end of the driveway because it was trash day. (See, I am definitely award worthy!)

After I sent Kaily and Kyle off, I came back home where I waited for my sister to drop off my niece and then spent the next 9 hours playing with and caring for two psychotic toddlers and a cranky, crabby, stinky, exploding 4 year old.

Oh, and tonight was Kaily's school musical performance that she actually had a speaking part in. So, after I got the kids off the bus I had to oversee homework, make and feed dinner and then get everyone dressed so I could run over to my sister's where I dropped off my niece, Laney and Evan, and then took Kaily and Kyle and went over to watch Mikaily do a FABULOUS job in her musical. (Despite the fact that she yawned 3 different times due to lack of sleep from the night before.) I'm sure I will post more on her Emmy Award winning performance at a later date.

I then went back and picked up my children from my sister's and drove home only to find that three of my four littles were sound asleep and needed carried in. *sigh*

Now I am home and running on less than an hour of sleep and what am I doing?? BLOGGING!!

I am soooo going off duty this weekend!!!!!

I *heart* Evan! (and his big mouth)

My sweet, adorably beautiful Evan. He is getting so big. He turned 4 last month, you know. I love everything about him. I love his curly hair. I love his big (make that HUGE) brown eyes. I love the fact that he has an imaginary friend named Aliena that he has recently started kissing. I even love that fact that he would rather give a high 5 than a kiss. I love everything about that crazy little boy.

Lately, he has been starting to notice differences in people. So, we will be walking through the store and he will blurt out something like "Woah! That is an old guy." Or we will be sitting in a restaurant and he will say "That person doesn't have any legs!" All of his observations are true. He never intends ot be mean or hurtful. However, I have started trying to explain to him that there are certain things that we keep to ourselves because saying them out loud could hurt someones feelings and make them feel sad.

He still isn't getting it. The other day, I was laying on the floor beside him, playing dinosaurs and he says "Mommy, you are huge!" Ouch! That one stung a little. So, I told him that Yes, mommy was much bigger than he is, but that the word "huge" is one of those words that could make someone feel bad. He said he was sorry and we went on playing. I have to admit it I let it bother me more than I should have. I started thinking about how I should be getting more exercise and about how I probably should be more careful about what I eat. (Because I haven't been good about that lately).

Later that day, we had piled into the van to go get Mikaily and Kyle from school. While we were waiting, I turned on Cinderella for him. It has become his favorite movie. We were watching the scene where Cinderella was getting Gus out of the trap. Evan let out this squeal and then exclaimed "WOAH!!!! Cinderella is huge!"

I didn't feel so bad after that.


This is just a little video I stuck in here for my mom. He sang this for you and told me to put it on my 'puter so you could see him. :)

My Weekend (in a nutshell)

This past weekend we had some friends that came down to visit from Ohio. We went over to Orlando and went to Disney World and Sea World and hung out in the hotel and went swimming and just had a really, really good time. I can't wait to see you guys again!
Now, I am way too tired to type out any details. So, if you have any question or are wondering about any of the pictures, either ask me in a comment and I will answer after I catch up on my beauty rest or you can just make up a story and go with that. K??

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Kyle is a total and complete Dinosaur freak! Last week, they opened up a restaurant at Downtown Disney called T-Rex Cafe. We figured it would be the PERFECT Birthday present for him. It. was. awesome! The dinosaurs are life-size and they move and ROAR and the ceiling is made to look like you are sitting under a huge tree canopy. Then, every-so-often, the lights dim and they make it look like you are in a meteor shower (which Mikaily kept calling the "meat-eater" shower). The staff was impressed that Kyle knew the names of all of the dinosaurs (including pachycephalosaurus and parasaurolophus). The food was slightly overpriced (as is all of Disney) but really good. If you are ever in the area, I definitely recommend it.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I can't believe he is 6!!!

Playing Wii Bowling. (This was HI-larious to watch!)



He asked for an underwater cake. I was so glad because this one was super easy!!

RaNdOm GaRbAgE

Today has been one of those days.

I had to go to WalMart. WalMart is always an interesting place to go. It's always good for a laugh....or a cry...or a total and complete mental breakdown.
At one point when I was there, I was looking through the racks of clothes in the little boys section. Evan was looking at the shirts that had Spiderman on them that were folded and stacked on a shelf. A WalMart employee came walking past, took Evan by the shoulders, pulled him back away from the shelf and said "Don't mess those up by pulling them off of there kid." I karate chopped her in her wrinkly throat. Ok, not really. But I wanted to. I did in my mind. I grabbed Evan's shirt and pulled him over to me and told her I would appreciate if she didn't put her hands on my child. That'll teach her!

So then like 7 minutes later I was walking through the cereal aisle and just about got run over by an old man in his electric wheelchair. Then, that same old man just about made Evan road kill as we were getting in line. I had to yell at Evan to get out of the way. Evan saw the guy at the last minute and squealed like a girl and took off running. I threw an egg at the back of the old guys head...in my mind, of course.

You wanna know why I decided to go to WalMart instead of going to the little, local grocery store that I loved so much? Because I am a weirdo, that's why! This little store that I normally go to is awesome! The store is clean, the employees are genuinely nice (They still carry your groceries out to the car for you) and the shelves are always stocked!! Which is why I can't go there. You see, I used to stand at the end of the aisle and look down at all of the food, pulled out perfectly to the end of the shelf. Everything was always in it's place. Then one day, I thought to myself, "How is it that all of their products are pulled out to the end of the shelf?" I had seen people on a few occasions fixing them, but not that often. So then my next thought was, "I wonder if they have little product trolls that sit on the back of the shelves and, as people take whatever they want, the little trolls run up and shove the other items to end of the shelf, therefore making everything look perfect. Then, as I walked through the aisles to finish my shopping, I pictured these little, hairy trolls, covered in gloop, lying in wait.....

I can't go back there anymore......or at least not for awhile.

This afternoon, I found my 16 month old in my kitchen sink. She (aided by her big brother I am guessing) pushed the big bucket of Lego's over and climbed up on top of it. I would have snapped a picture but I was afraid while I was running to grab the camera she might A) try to climb out and fall and crack her head open on the tile floor B) grab a dirty knife and plunge it into her heart (Yes, I know, slightly dramatic) and C) the sink was full of dirty dishes and...how embarrassing for me to post my dirty dishes for all of my blogger buddies to see (because I am sure you all have pristine, sparkly clean sinks)!! So, you will just have to use your imagination on this one. I guess I am gonna have to find a safe place to hide the knives now, huh?

I actually encourage her to climb, though. I know you probably think that's weird. But here's my thinking: If I grab her and pull her down every time she climbs on anything, she won't get any better at climbing and the probability that she will fall and hurt herself is much greater. So, letting her climb and become an expert is a much better option than taking everything out of the house (which would include, but is not limited to, my kitchen table and chairs, our sofas, her crib, the toy box, the highchair, the side tables, the toy shelves, the bookshelves, the computer desk and chair, the TV stand, the drawers in the kitchen, the dressers and the treadmill and apparently every box of toys we own) that she could possibly hurt herself on. You can tell from the last post that trying to clear out one room and gating her into it is no longer an option. So, look out Mt. Everest! Here Laney comes. I think she can probably start her training by climbing the mountain of laundry we have accumulating in the hallway!

Ok, so there you have it. Just some random garbage I thought I would share. Hopefully you don't feel dumber now for reading it!

What Goes Up....Must Come Down

Would it be weird if I just made her wear a helmet around all day, every day??

Evan is Cute, But He Sure is a Weirdo!

Each day when it is time for Kaily and Kyle to get off the bus, Evan helps me round up the babies and herd them towards the door.
Today was no different.... except for the fact that I was running around, trying to find my other red flip flop. So that left Evan trying to herd the babies all by himself.
Somehow, he managed to do it (probably with a little more brute strength than either of the babies required). He was standing at the door, hand on the doorknob. I heard him sigh loudly a few times as he tried his hardest to keep the babies wrangled at the door, ready to go. I found my shoe (sitting on the mantle in front of the fireplace, of course) and headed for the door. Evan stuck his head around the corner, looked at me with his beautiful brown eyes and exclaimed "HURRY UP, YO!!!!!"
And if that isn't evidence enough for you, check out this short video. I bet you can guess which part is my favorite.