Out numbered

We picked up four extra kids for three days. While some may think four extra kids is a lot, it really is less work for me. Maybe I have to cook a little more food or load more dishes into the dish washer, but having the extra kids actually makes things easier. I love their conversations. They are making such great memories. We had a fantastic day today and look forward to another tomorrow. Now if I can just get this blogger to work.

We're back!

After a long break, I hope to return to writing on here. It's been too long. I've missed it terribly. The change for me was switching to a tablet and now my phone. I don't like the change, but find it no longer part of my routine to sit down at the desk top and write. We will see if this new ap helps. I am hoping to acquire some new electronic device, but that is not high on the budget and or wish list. So, we will just go with this for now.
We are starting over. All new characters and experiences. Hope to make it real this time!

And it's Friday again

Hard to believe its been another week. They seem to fly by these days. This week we enjoyed the pool and time with friends.
I have joined a new group of moms from our church. We are going to form a new moms group through the church. This has been attempted before, but did not continue. I think this group will be different. We would like to make it more than a few play dates. We would like to have thus group be a resource for the moms if our parish. It is exciting to be a part of this voyage. Oh time is up. Hope to elaborate on this topic again.

Friday

Keeping up with a family of six has its challenges. We are not as involved with activities as others I know, and I still struggle to maintain balance. I believe my husbands weird work schedule has a lot to do with it and can make things more difficult.
There are days where I could use a person to either be here for them when they get off the bus, or stay home with three for an hour so I can take the fourth child to their activity. I used to not have such a hard time because I had a neighbor I could turn to on such occasions. She has since moved and I have not found someone else like her. Its a challenge with no family around. You either have to pay someone or work it out with a friend. I have a great set of friends that I have turned to many times. There are those times when your friends are busy, or you seem to be asking them too frequently, the same people for everything, or you would like your kids to be home because its so close to bedtime. Regardless, it is a challenge I face frequently. Take last night as an example: Seven had a class for her sacrament preparation. N was out of town for work. It was -5 degrees outside. I would have preferred to leave three kids at home for the night instead of hauling all of them out to the church. Granted, I love all the time we spend at the church, but lately we have been lucky to not be in the situation like last night. N has been home and the one on one time with Seven has been great.
Another challenge I face, spending one on one time with a child. Its hard when you get so busy with the weeks events, trying to keep it all together. I forget to make time to spend with each child individually. Sometimes the situations present themselves like the church classes, but other times I need to make it a priority with my children. One week at a time I guess.

Wednesday

Parenting can be such a tricky occupation. You have so many things to balance. You wear many hats as a parent. First, you are the loving, ultimate caregiver for a baby. You meet all their needs day and night. You think that is the hard time, but really, the hard work is yet to come. Once you get past all that baby time, you have not only another person depending on you, but also more opinions about your situation.
The challenge with four kids. Four different ideas, four different opinions. Our most recent challenge: time on electronics. With so many days off in a row and temps too cold for outdoor play, we had excessive electronic use. This had led to poor habits and crabby people. The crabby people part was shown when I cut the electronics. This seems to be a common situation with many parents. Just today at a luncheon with a new friend, she too has a hard time with electronics and her children. Her kids are 4 and 3. At least I am not alone in this battle. You want your children to have good, wholesome lives. We want them to know good from bad, right from wrong. When they leave my house, I expect them to behave to a certain standard. In public, I have had many people tell me how good my kids are. I work hard to have good kids. At home, they behave differently. They have their guard down and sometimes forget the every day manners.
With the Lenten season upon us, we were challenged by Fr. B to go deeper in our giving up for Lent goals. Sometimes we yell. I know we are not alone in this, others yell too. We decided as a group we will not yell for Lent. They decided the consequence would be if you yell, you have to do three nice things for the person you yelled at. And, you lose electronics for the night. If its after 6 pm, you lose electronics for the next day. We made it an entire week! No yelling at each other. Then, 5 days cooped up in the house and there was yelling. I knew we'd have issues, there was no way we could make it 40 days. I am proud of making it an entire week. I hope we learn from this experience and it continues after Lent. Its just a bad habit. A neighbor once told me her parents never yelled, not in her entire growing up. I was jealous and sad to have not been like that. Its never too late to change. While more difficult with older kids who are used to being allowed to yell, I hope it is something we can change. Its a daily struggle we will continue to work on.
Last spring I was challenged on my life and parenting skills. It nearly broke me and left me with so much doubt a out nearly everything in this life. I questioned so much about myself. It was a real blow. Took me months of prayer to realize no one has the right to judge someone else on every aspect of their life. That is between the person and their maker. He is who I will answer to on my judgment day. For now, I will follow him and do the best I can. One day at a time.

Tuesday

I wanted to dance when the bus came this am. Yes, dance. Last week we did not have school on Monday due to the holiday. Tuesday, children off to school as normal. Wednesday, same thing. Oh was I surprised to get the 5 am phone call, there would be no school. Too cold. Cold is cold. I get it. Who wants to be out when it's -25. I left those cold temps and am too afraid to go back. We spent the day at home, like a bonus day. N returned from his work trip. Happy kids. All was great with life. Friday am rolls around and again, I am surprised to receive another 5 am phone call. No school, too cold. We make the best of our day at home, again, another bonus. We go swim at the pool and bring a friend along. Even though we discovered it's only lap swim during the early hours, we still managed to enjoy our swimming time. Our pool pass has done wonders for my little swimmers. Needless to say, after two cold no school days, how shocked was I when the canceled school again! Yes, it was cold, but they could have gone in two hours late. Today, it is also cold. The kids in MN would never go to school if they used these standards.  I think they should have given more for picking up students or started late. Canceling school when you can't get down your road, that makes sense to me. I guess it just goes to show how people adapt to their surroundings. Now we are left with one snow day left. Hope we don't need more for actual SNOW days. Our school year is already too long going into June. We don't need to add more days.

I know, it's been awhile

Password problems and signing in gave me so many issues. I haven't written for years! I do miss it and think about it from time to time. I have a new location and all new characters. It's like starting over. We will see if this post goes through.

Blogger Problems

I have somehow created a couple accounts on google. Needless to say, they are not connected and from time to time, I am unable to sign in to write on my blog. It can be quite frustrating. I hope I have a handle on it now. Kids are home. Spent all my blogging time trying to connect and sign in. Oh well. Maybe another time.

A few firsts this Friday

Eight wore different clothes to school! If you don't know him, it may not seem like a big deal. It is. We've been struggling with clothing with Eight for many years. He has a hard time with change. He likes clothes to fit tight for security and self soothing. For this entire school year, I've been trying to get him to wear the new clothing he picked out before school started. It's not like I want him to dress up in khakis and button down shirts. I gave up on dress clothing a long time ago. The clothing I am talking about are things he wants to wear. Ninjago shirts, angry birds, Mario bros. etc. I even found pants that one would think should meet his approval. I struggle and try so very hard to accommodate him. This morning, all of his clean laundry was downstairs, in my room. He had very little time. It was time to get on shoes and coats, the bus would be here any minute. Finally, he comes out of his room wearing clothing he's never worn before. I was so happy. We've been taking him to OT weekly. This is the first result I've seen. At his last apt. she introduced us to brushing. It's where you use a surgical brush on the child. She demonstrated on his arms, legs, back, etc. Brushing on skin is the most effective method, but you can do it over clothing. It's to help the child build a tolerance to textures. As soon as we walked out of the appointment, Eight made it perfectly clear he was not doing that. Great. Her other suggestion was trying to wear something new at home for 15 minutes. I told him if we weren't going to try the brushing, we were going to try the new clothing for 15 minutes. He said that would be alright. It was a huge jump in a new direction when he came down the stairs all on his own in new clothing. I was so proud and told him so. The second first we had today was Nine getting upset from something that happened in school. He never has issues at school. Poor boy. He was so upset. He really struggled to get out his story. Every night we sign his planner. Every night he asks us and makes sure it is signed. Somehow, last night it didn't get signed. Rule is he had to stay in for 5 minutes of recess. This wasn't the problem. Apparently someone told the teacher another student didn't have her planner signed. When Nines five minutes was up, the teacher asked him to find the girl and tell her to return to the classroom. Turns out this information was false, the girls planner was signed. The teacher outside then tried to teach Nine a lesson. He sent him all the way across the playground to fetch a ball that turned out to not be there. When Nine returned without a ball, the teacher tells Nine that's how the girl felt having to go back to the classroom when her planner was signed. Lord help me. Nine was so upset. He doesn't get into trouble. He was just doing what his teacher asked. Why the teacher could not have checked the girls planner before putting Nine in the middle of all this, I do not know. I felt bad for him. I did email the teacher so she knows how upset he was by the situation. We'll see how next week goes. He won't forget to have his planner signed I am certain. It surprised me, he's usually so on top of that task. I know I asked him to bring it to me last night. Christmas prep is going well. We have nearly a week until departure. I've got a great start to holiday baking and will be able to deliver next week. I hope to get it done in the middle of the week. We will then be able to enjoy the weekend getting ready. We've been enjoying our new Advent activities, too. I never make ginger bread houses. Thankfully, my people were easy and willing to compromise. We used plastic containers for a base and layered frosting with graham crackers. I pulled out what little candy I had and they were happy. The icing on the house was I gave them each a star cut out cookie to use. I had just made cut outs that morning. Six wasn't too thrilled with me. Her exact words were "How dare you bake without me!" Oh boy. Just trying to knock some of these tasks out. I wanted her to be able to participate in icing. We're doing well and will be happy when we drive out of town. We always love the journey to Gmas house. The littlest one is requesting cereal. Time is up.

Thanksgiving Thursday

Thanksgiving started out with a stressful drive to the cousins. The weather wasn't too bad, but the ice on the roads left us worried and stressed the entire drive. What was supposed to take 1 hour 45 minutes turned into much more. We left the house at 9:30 am and didn't arrive at our destination until noon. We brought the boat to N's sisters for storage for the winter. After dropping off the boat, we headed to the cousins house for our holiday celebration. We had brought a 5 bean dish in the crockpot. Everything was ready to be put in the crockpot, but it took awhile for the food to heat up. It was ready when we were done eating. Some still had a bowl of beans later and they were delicious. The night before, the kids and I made some treats to take. They did most of the work. This was the first time they really wanted to do it themselves. I let them go to town. They turned out great. Nine made puppy chow. He measured everything and doubled the recipe. Six and Eight worked on dipping pretzels. I let them do as they pleased and some were thicker than others. I did the sticks and they sprinkled colors to decorate. They made the Ritz cracker peanutbutter sandwiches and I dipped them in chocolate. It was a great cooperative effort. I made pumpkin bars, too. Everyone was happy with the treats we brought. The kids ran and played. They haven't seen each other since the summer. Sunflower shared with us she'd like to see us more. She said she would come this direction. Ultimately, that is why we don't see each other. Honestly, I got tired of always going there. We moved into this house in August. My sister made it here before anyone else. She had to buy plane tickets. Long story short, it will be great to have them. We discussed New Years. We will see if it works out, weather permitting. Days at home with the kids now. We cleaned the basement yesterday. We have lots to haul away to goodwill this week. I dug out the tree. N will need to bring it upstairs. I really didn't even want to put up a tree, but Six begged me stating that was her favorite part of the holiday. We've stepped up our advent activities this year thanks to our church supplying us with lots of ideas. Looking forward to bringing our focus in the right direction. We are leaving for MN in almost exactly 2 weeks. Going early shaves off prep time for me. I will bake and have all teacher, bus driver, etc. gifts ready in advance. Hope I can get it all done.

Wednesday

Eye appointment, check! Dentist, check! 1 pan of pumpkin bars, baked, frosted and delivered, check! So much more to do, but lots accomplished before noon. Happy kids and content mom. Poor dad in recovery from root canal. Hopefully I can keep the house quiet for him to rest. Looking forward to the holiday weekend!

Parent teacher conferences

Trying to keep it together can be a weekly/daily struggle. I have a big calendar to write everything down on. I keep it in the kitchen, all are able to see what is coming up. Tonight, I failed. Actually, last night I failed. Turns out I was off a night for Eight and his parent teacher conferences. I had no clue his was on Monday. My calendar said all on Tuesday. His teacher was as sweet as can be and we will meet at another time. Eight was disappointed in me. I felt bad. On another note, it was so great to hear such good things about our children. I think I get so wrapped up in the daily routine. We've been frustrated with Eight. I feel like frustration has taken over our life. I feel frustrated way too many days a week. It shows in my children and their behavior. We are wound too tight and need to relax, get more energy out. Nine has straight A's and is doing very well in school. His teacher loves having him in class. The boy never has any homework. She said she knows, she can see how hard he works in class. He makes the maximum use of his time during school hours and gets everything he needs done during that time. I told her we never study spelling words, it comes naturally to him. She already knew. We couldn't be more proud of Nine. I will have to write about Eight after we get to meet with his teacher. She did give us his papers and I saw a report card he gave himself. He was quite honest with his answers, for that I was incredibly proud. Six is also doing a great job in school. She is above where she is supposed to be in all categories. Her reading was probably my biggest concern, but she's right on track. Above actually, she is doing very well. The teacher told me about when Six gets to a word she doesn't know, they have been working on attacking it to figure it out. Six is quiet and not aggressive with reading, but she is getting better. Lately, she has told me when she can figure out the word she is reading. She doesn't want me to help her figure it out. We've been reading more at bedtime. It's been great. Baby Girl even joins in on the reading fun. I felt so good after conferences, minus the failing to meet with 3rd grade. It is nice to hear kind things about your children from others. With all the frustrations, we are doing a good job. I feel guilty for the frustrations and hope to keep them out. We need to work on not letting the frustrations take over the day. For now, that is my goal.

Just another Sunday

I love Sundays. It's a day when we don't have to rush out the door. Today is our church Thanksgiving potluck. It's been awhile so we need to have another potluck. Fr. B continues to bring us together, and food is usually involved. My pumpkin bars are done, ready to frost and go. The kids are just as excited as I am. Poor N will miss out. He has the am shift. It snowed for the first time yesterday. Oh were there happy children when they realized what was outside. We have a row of trees in the back yard. They've made a fort in a section. Our backyard is just what I wanted. It's not too big, but fenced in and the right size for my group. They can be out there and I don't have to worry about them too much. They were outside twice yesterday. Some days, outside time seems challenging when it's rainy Michigan weather. They don't get to go out for recess. They are all cooped up and get wild. Those days, I am thankful for the basement. I can send them down there, and not have to be involved with the chaos directly. Lately, we've been struggling with behavior problems. I have been so discouraged with the children and myself. I get frustrated way too easily. It's not too bad, but still disappoints me. We've had too many upsetting days. Part of it is trying to deal with Eight and his ever changing mood. He's started OT to get some of his frustrations under control. Turns out he has weakness in his hands, thus his hate for writing. He wants to wear tight clothing because the tightness is a self soothing mechanism, keeping him on task at school. He works so hard all day long staying on top of things and being good at school. When he gets home, he can relax and lets go. Sometimes the pressure will cause him to blow up. Doing homework can be too much to ask. Just another expectation that frustrates him. This situation has taken over our day/night many times. We're finally doing better in the am with him. One day at a time. If we don't do homework right after school, the entire night can fall apart. It's a challenge we are still working on. His teacher says she doesn't see any different behavior at school. He does very well. Our challenges are at home. We've been praying more to remedy this situation. I'm trying my best, all we can do is keep trying and keep praying. Six can be a challenge in the am too. If it's not one, it's another. She does alright as long as she gets enough sleep. Would you believe a difference of as little as 20 minutes more sleep time can change her attitude? I've discovered it's best for her to be in her bed before 8. She always falls asleep with a book in her hands or on her face. I turn out her light and move the book away each night. She's such a good girl. I've also tried really hard to not have an opinion on her clothing choices. I will let her wear whatever she likes, as long as it's weather appropriate. Sometimes, that is a challenge. The ever changing MI temps make it difficult. For awhile, she wanted to go without socks. Reluctantly, I said okay. Eventually it was not an issue, as the temps began to lower. She's doing very well in school. She gets all her spelling words right every week. It was that way with Nine when he was in first grade. She loves her teacher and her classmates. I was fortunate to sub for the gym teacher last week. I got to teach Six and her class. It was great fun to see the kids in action. I love spending time at the school. Friday was the kindergarten bake sale. Only one more sale in January. They decided one bake sale per class this year. Too bad, I know the teachers could have used the extra funds. Last year, Eight and his class got to go on two field trips with bake sale money. It was out of my hands as far as how many each grade could have. Nine is doing great, too. He is such a good boy. Every morning he gets up, gets dressed, packs his lunch and is ready for breakfast when I get up. He nearly always wakes up at 6. He asks me to make his sandwich in his lunch, otherwise he does the rest on his own. All of last year and so far, all of this year he has taken his own lunch. He still has the same money in his account from the first day of school in 3rd grade. He does very well in school. I am so proud of him. Our other challenge this year was attending faith formation at our church. I teach Six and her class on Tues nights. I signed the boys up to attend class that same night. Well, Nine wasn't so comfortable with the teachers. Eight wanted to be with his friend on Monday night. Long story short, the boys go on Monday, girls on Tuesday. It works out well. I always struggle with spending quality time with the kids individually. This is forever a struggle with N and his schedule too. Attending faith formation two different nights gives N quality time with the girls on Monday nights and quality time with the boys on Tuesday nights. Too bad it will all end in January. Just when I get it figured out, it will all change. N put in to have Sundays off in January. While I am thankful for him being home on Sundays, the pay cut and change in schedule will be difficult. We will see. Change is hard. Guess that is all for now. Better get a move on for church. Happy Sunday to whomever is still reading these!

Quite settled

It's been months since I've written on here. Just got out of the routine I guess. We are loving the new house. The space is great. Each kid has their own area. Today we created a new space. I gave them a "fort" under the basement stairs. I remember having a fort under the stairs at the original Anderson household. We stapled fabric to create walls and used carpet pieces to create a floor. I hung a curtain over the "doorway" and happy kids for the afternoon. We continue to make changes in the house. It's so much fun to have something of our own, finally. It's been too long. We left our house in Texas when Six was 2 months old. Here we are, almost 6 years later to date and finally in our own home again. Baby Girl is growing fast. She's got all these new words every day. She thinks she is 6 and can do anything the big kids can. She brings joy to us and has been a fantastic addition. We've made a few videos for my family. I love being able to share videos with them from so far away. We will see each other at Christmas, even though it won't be the exact right day, I know it will be great. We look forward to it every year. The kids are excited to have a fire place this year at Christmas. Nine has a picture in his mind of how he wants the night to go. I am excited for him and hope we can live up to his dream night on Christmas eve. Well, I'm being summoned for a milk cup. Time is up for now.

Back to school

After a three day weekend, tomorrow we head back to the school routine. Happy to share the diorama was completed and handed in on Friday. The paragraph was finished today. He is not crazy about writing, completed the task after some influence from N and info online, he finished. Baby Girl is sleeping better. Five lost her first tooth. I can't remember when I last wrote on here. I haven't used the laptop. That is where I am missing these entries. So much to catch up on, no time to complete. Card making has taken a new turn. We've come up with new ideas and designs. I still enjoy making cards so very much. We also got a few new tools and paper, the motivation is high! We've come up with some really great baby cards. Maybe I'll post some pictures.

Hopefully Back

Things have been frustrating lately, I think it's the lack of blogging. Haven't been on here since we moved into the new house. I hope that can change. Hope to be back online soon. For now, it's bedtime for a crying girl upstairs.

Life without a microwave

I hate to admit how much I use the microwave. I really didn't think I depended on it as much as I do. Take it out of the picture, you quickly find out how much easier it makes your life. We can't reheat things quickly. We usually heat up our coffee in the microwave. Baby Girl tends to sleep through lunch, I find myself heating up her meal later. Today she gets peanut butter bun. We've been home for many days in a row and its starting to show. I may have to get them out today. They've been after each other this am. Poor Five. Most of the time, all too often it's her vs. the boys. She gets so very frustrated with them. I wish I could just have her go play with a friend some days. We used to have that set up, but not so much anymore. It's hard when distance is created in friendships. You don't feel like you can just call at the last minute and set up the play date. School is right around the corner. I can't believe all we have to do before then. I printed out the lists. I only have a couple things per child, we have a ways to go. I feel bad I didn't meet some of my summer goals. I wanted to set up some play dates with friends, never happened. I am not sure where July went. Here we are, almost the 2nd week in August and I still feel like I haven't accomplished enough. My new goal, just take it one thing at a time. So what if it doesn't go the way I planned. I've got to just roll with it. I'm still not feeling good. I can't afford to be frustrated, it will only make me feel worse. So what if the baby room isn't all painted before we move in. Would it be nice, yes. Will it get done, probably not. Is it the end of the world? No. Perhaps I just focus on that part after the kids are back to school. Baby Girl has become part monkey. She's constantly climbing on things. I've caught her sitting on the kitchen table playing with the snowmen hanging from the light fixture. Yes, I still have the snowmen up. Guess when we move out I'll take them down. She's a turkey and we love her. Her little personality is shining through every day. She's got so many words for 15 months! Yesterday she said watermelon! She's also said the name of her little friend, Hudson. Somehow, she thinks its okay to go down the stairs facing forward. It is scary to watch, but she doesn't fall. Guess that's all for now. Hopefully I can keep this going!

Getting stuff done

Slowly, but surely I am getting things crossed of my never ending list. While yesterday seemed so rough, today has been surprisingly pleasant with a few minor hiccups. I took all 4 kids to the chiropractor yesterday. I've had friends watch them so many times lately it seems, I hated to ask. Also, I believe no one was free. I went prepared, only to be flustered before we left the house. We were able to take it easy in the morning, the appointment wasn't until 12:50. I fed them a late breakfast/early lunch. I wanted it to be substantial so they wouldn't be hungry as soon as we left the house. They love egg sandwiches and we had tons of sub buns in the freezer. I thawed 4 in the microwave. Seven stated he didn't want a sandwich. Fine. I can do that. Well, he changed his mind once he saw his order. I pointed to the bag of buns and told him to toss one in the microwave. I use the defrost setting normally, but his had been out for awhile and wasn't completely frozen anymore. They've been using the microwave for many years now. Our rule is one one/11. That's all they are allowed to use. Occasionally something will require two two/22. I don't know what he pushed, but the next thing I know the microwave is smoking. Yellow smoke coming out. The entire kitchen filled with smoke. The kids instinct was to rush Baby Girl upstairs. I didn't even tell them. They whisked her away while I took the glass tray with the burning bun into the back yard. They all grabbed the fans in their rooms and we tried to blow the smoke out. Every window and door was open, even the garage. I couldn't believe it. Good thing this wasn't right before we had to leave. That was enough excitement for one morning. I was surprised no one mentioned a smoke smell on any of us at the varies places we visited that day. Perhaps they were too kind to say anything. We made it through the 10 minute chiropractor appointment. Baby Girl wandered down the hall, inspecting the room I was in. The big kids were supposed to watch her, but lately she screams if they get in her way. It was harmless her coming down the hall. They colored in the lobby. After that, I was exhausted, but the day must go on. Home to make a nice lunch. N was due home shortly from the early shift. BBQ chicken sandwiches, chef salad, sweet potatoes and corn on the cob were on the menu. By the time I got it all together and done, N was home. Just enough time for me to eat, beg everyone to clean up and head to the dentist. Yup. Not my favorite place. Sure disappointed in myself when I left my cleaning with two small cavities. 45 minutes in the dentist chair and I thought of Daffodil when I heard Debbie Gibson and Belinda Carslisle. How many instruments can they fit in your mouth at once? It's been awhile and I'd forgotten what that experience was like. Survived another event in the day. By the time I got home, I was spent. Disappointed when I walked in the door to find the baby had just laid down for her nap. I had wanted her to be napping while I was gone, not until 5 pm. On with the day. After an hour nap for her and N, we were ready to plan the rest of our day. I wanted to hit the pool. I've been having neck problems and them same headache for 2 weeks. The pool always calms and relaxes me. Five was the only one who wanted to go. The boys complained. N was not interested. I just felt more and more stressed. I couldn't find the things we needed. No one wanted to go. I could make them all go, but N didn't really want to. I didn't feel up to being able to take all four kids alone. In the end, just Five and I went. It was just what I needed. We went at our own pace. We swam where we wanted. We did a few laps, then went to the lazy river. I sat in the hot tub and tossed her diving toys. It was wonderful. After we stopped at Target. I spent $8 on her. She got new shoes, a purse and a pair of sunglasses. She was so pleased. It was a very nice night. We came home and had a late meal with N. They had grilled steak and baked some seasoned fries. Watermelon put a smile on Five's face. We ate at the table in the backyard. The temp was perfect. It was a wonderful evening. Late, but wonderful. Kids brought all the dishes in the house and I washed things up. N rode his bike to meet his friends for a few hours. I got everyone to bed and chatted with a friend on the phone. Today we took at our own pace. No rush, no worries. Baby Girl was the first to wake. Usually a big kid retrieves her from her crib, but this am, no one would rise to her scream. Took me awhile to wake, but I got her. It was 7 am. Everyone else slept for another 45 minutes. This was the first morning she's ever woke up holding an object that has been in her bed. I've got soothing objects for her, taggie blankets, lovies, satin blankets, small soft dolly, and somehow Seven's old Curious George was in there. It's George in his pj's. G and G gave it to Seven when he was really little, 1 year old I believe. She was holding on to George as tight as she could. I think he's the new fav. We had errands to run and eventually got out of the house around 11am or so. N had to stop at a boat shop. Last part he needed to get the boat running, at least that's what he thinks. I wanted to return the last two library books before they get lost again. We also needed groceries. Of course a late start meant hungry people. We're trying not to eat out at fast food places. Not that we do that often, but it seems to happen more frequently to us in the summer months. Luckily, the library handed out great prizes for reading this summer. One of their prizes were Big Apple Bagels. Each kid got a free bagel and cream cheese. After the library, we stopped there for a snack. It was just what we needed to make it through the next errands. We lost Seven in Walmart. Never happened before. They were running around and didn't pay attention, I don't know what happened. He wasn't following us. We were all the way in dairy and didn't see him anywhere. N backtracked faster than I could with the cart and Baby Girl. He was in Electronics with the person working in that department. He was crying and really upset. I was proud of him for going straight to the desk for help. We've never had an experience like that before. It was so quick. After that, everyone stayed close and maybe finally realized why I've kept after them all these years to stay by us. Needless to say, that was it for our day. Home we came for a meal and naps. I made a couple of cakes, one for a birthday girl today and one for us to share with whomever comes our way. We are waiting on Mr. Gene to wrap up the closing on our new house. I have half the house packed, but need to get moving now on the rest. The kids bedrooms are my plan today. The basement is close, just the things the kids have been playing with lately. Little, by little, we will get there. I want to be as organized as I can. Yeah for two blog posts this week! Are you happy with the return? leave me a comment so I keep the momentum going! Please!

August is already here

It's been awhile, where did July go? Not sure why I haven't fit blogging into the routine. It's been a difficult month. The chaos started when we were trying to buy a house. It seems like it shouldn't be this difficult to buy a house. We started the process and things seemed great. The mortgage guy said we has 99% of what we needed to get the house. We thought all was well. A few weeks later we got the disappointing news. We did not meet the qualifications for our loan. Turns out it was an error in our file. Our file was turned over to another mortgage guy and he seems to think this will all go through. I have my doubts after last time. I'm anxious to get moving. I've packed up nearly the entire house. It was supposed to happen yesterday. Last weekend, when we didn't think things would go through I unpacked the kids rooms. We'll see. I feel stuck in limbo. I don't know whether to pack or unpack. All this stress left me with a bad headache that lasted for nearly 2 weeks. I went to the dr a few times. A visit to the chiropractor helped, but still am not feeling 100%. I hope things get better this weekend. It's been real low key around here. The past two days I've taken 3 naps. I hope things get better. I hope we are able to make it through the next few weeks with little stress. N has been really supportive and great. I hope to keep his stress level down, too. Kids are kids. They were sympathetic to me during my rough days. Last night they practically made their own meal. Tonight they did as well, along with cleaning up the table. I am thankful to have big kids to help me out with the baby. Well, that is all for now. Hope to be back sooner than later.

Saturday Canceled

Today we had planned to attend soccer games, then hit the pool. They closed the fields, too wet and muddy. Kids decided against the pool. Poor mom was out voted. Church instead and an evening with friends. We had an inspection on the new house. It went very well. We are so excited to move, it will be hard to wait all summer. At least I have plenty of time to get organized! I tackled the basement a few weeks ago, but there is always room for improvement. I really want to do it right in this house. While I am giving up some spaces I am used to, I am also gaining new ones. The laundry room for example. Here it serves not only for laundry, but craft, lunch and tote supplies, paper goods and more. It's quite a versatile space. The new house does not have a laundry room, just machines in a closet. It will be a challenge to decide where new homes will be for the rest of my things. I want to create a mud room feel in the garage, right next to the house entrance. I want cubbies and hooks for each kid. The craft supplies I hope to create an area in the basement especially for such projects. I also want to have an area for the kids to sit and play board games. I have high hopes for the basement areas. Getting a new house can only come with the desire for new things. My mind is a swirl of pinterest ideas. Shelves for everything, organized areas and a bigger table. We've found plans for a farm house table. N said we could give it a try. I'd love a new, bigger table to fit our family more comfortable. It would come in handy during when we get together with family and friends. The ideas are great, but executing them will be a challenge. First, to get the hubby on board the building train. Wish me luck.