Dan's Home

I probably shouldn't use him as an excuse for ignoring my blog because he slept most of the day yesterday and went to work today (mean Army bosses), but I'm going to anyway.  He rolled into bed, literally, at 2:30 am Monday morning.  The kids and I are very excited to have him home.  We'll be glad when he's adjusted to our time so he can stay up with us in the day :p!

An Expensive Day

Thursday night, I noticed that the light fixture in the girls' room had a flickering orange glow coming from inside the switch box.  If I flipped the switch on, the glow went out.  I know some switches are made to glow (like a night light), but I've never noticed this one glowing before.  Add in the flickering and I was worried.  I popped the circuit breaker (turning out the power to both bedrooms and a bathroom) and put the kids to bed with camping lights as night lights.  After going back and forth with my Dad "consulting" I decided I shouldn't replace it myself (although I really think I could have).

Friday morning I started calling electricians after I dropped Caden off at school.  For such a bad economy, electricians must be doing okay because out of 6-7, I could only get 2 to answer and they said they'd have a technician call me back (they never did).  I ended up calling BGE Home even though I knew it would be expensive, but at least they answer the phone.  I needed the switch fixed and the lights back on so the plumber could see in the bathroom to get the toothbrush out when he came in the afternoon.

The electrian was awesome (I have his card encase anyone needs one) and he fixed it and charged me the minimum even though technically he should have charged me more.  I think $89 for a 20 minute house call (of which 15 minutes was spent talking to me) is really good money.

Next, the plumber showed up.  Remember all my ramblings from February - toilet still isn't right...toothbrush still stuck!  He had this huge auger and had the toothbrush popped out in 5 minutes.  Then he proceeded to charge me $170!!!  I was shocked, but what could I do, but pay the man.  I need to find me one of those augers and go into business...Handy Help for Moms!  Caden owes me a hug and kiss for each of those dollars I spent getting that silly toothbrush unstuck!  I still can't believe he did it.

So, I'm $259 poorer, but our house isn't going to burn down and the kids can go potty in the mornings without going through my room and waking me up...priceless!

A First ~ The Day Has Finally Come

I didn't think this day would ever get here and I'm sure it might not repeat again for awhile, but today I'm in a wonderful mood because....I slept till 9:15 without being disturbed.  The kids all got up about 6:30.  I told them to go downstairs and normally I would have been up right after to referree because of fights and screaming.  Not this morning.  Jaelyn got everyone breakfast and then they watched TV.  They watched yesterdays Enurances (our newest favorite show on DKids - think Survivor for teenagers), Spririt and were putting in High School Musical 2 when I wokeup to peace and quiet on my own. I'm not sure what we'll do today, but it's going to be something fun as a reward!

SPRING

The first day of Spring 2010 is Saturday.  I think my plants are in agreement.  I wandered around the back yard checking things out while I was waiting for paint to dry (literally) and found some new, exciting things.

My iris are coming back...lots of new shoots everywhere.

A baby coreopis (from seed?) - Mommy and Daddy coreopis are not looking so good.

The first bud on my hydrangea

Along with the plants, I also noticed this

It's a hole - either the kids are getting the ground ready for some seeds or they are trying to tunnel out ala Hogan's Heroes style.

Sorting, Updating, and Organizing

I love to be organized.  I feel happy when everything has a designated home.  It makes picking up so much easier.  About a month ago, I came across this in a magazine for $5.95.  I can never find a remote.  I have a set place to put them, but no one else in our family can seem to do that.  I bought this handy dandy remote holder and we are all using it.  I hardly ever have to hunt for a remote anymore.  Yea. (Kat, I bought it thinking how proud you'd be of me!)

Another thing that has been driving me batty is the girls' stuffed animals.  They've been using a pop-up bin from Ikea.  It's great to throw things in, but the problem comes when the kids want to get something out.  They dig through it, pitching animals left and right until they find what they want.  A struggle usually ensues when I tell them to put everything back.  Our Lowe's is redoing their closet section and had a bunch of their floor models clearanced.  I bought a shoe storage rack for $5 to store stuffed animals.  It's perfect.  The smaller animals go in the shoe slots and the bigger animals get piled on the shelves.  Every animal can be seen...no need to pitch animals around the room to find what you want.  Well, that's my hope anyway.  We'll see.

I was actually at Lowe's to buy new lamps for our bedroom.  We've had Tiffany lamps for about 10 years.  They are dark and low for reading by and honestly, I've been tired of them for several years.  Dan's has actually been cracked for the last year or so.  One of the kids knocked it over and broke out a few pieces of glass and cracked a few other.  We've continued to use it by turning the broken part to the back.  No more.  It's going on Freecycle and I'm giving mine to Caden. 

I bought the part to rewire the lamp so it would have a pull chain to turn it on and off rather than a little knob to turn.  I'm game for trying anything, but I've always been leary of wiring and electricity.  I carefully read the directions and followed them step by step.  Caden was so proud of me when we plugged it in and it worked.  He's excited about his new lamp that he can turn on and off easily.  I think the lamp looks very pretty on my Great-Grandmother's dresser.

And finally, my room.  I bought our old bedding six years ago with my birthday money.  I've been hunting for something new for the last 6 months.  I ordered a set from Penney's, but when it came the colors were totally wrong.  I went shopping yesterday with my coupons (thanks, Mom).  I bought a new quilt that I love.  I actually bought the same quilt after Dan came home from Iraq, but returned it when he bought something expensive on the same day.  He'd tell you I'm silly.  I'd tell you I pay the bills and would rather not spend all of our money.  I'm too practical.  Anyway, I used my birthday money this time so I don't feel guilty about spending so much.  I bought new lamps today and I'm so happy with our room.  The colors are similar, but it feels fresh and clean now.  The other just felt old to me.  I am still waiting for my new dust ruffle.  Who knew it would be so hard to find a queen ivory eyelet dust ruffle.  Not me...

before...

after...

A Glimpse of Generosity

Jaelyn can be mean at times.  The other night as I was rocking Caden, he said "Mommy, I wish God hadn't made Jaelyn as mean."  Dan would tell you she takes after me :-p.  And like me, she also has moments of generosity.  She came home from school to tell me she wanted to go to Five Below (a local store where everything is $5 or less - think the dollar store only nicer stuff) and that she would give Allie and Caden each $5 so they could buy something.  They've both spent all of their Christmas money, but Jaelyn still has money from selling her Barbie house.  It was a really generous offer.  I should probably tell you that she's been asking me to take her every couple of days and my response is always the same...."I'll take you by yourself as soon as Daddy's home because Allie and Caden don't have any money left.  It wouldn't be fair to them to take all of you and them not get anything."  My reponse has apparently been stewing around in her head and she finally came up with a good solution...share her money.  She did it for a selfish reason, so she could buy herself something, but she didn't have to do it.  She could have waited 5 more days for Dan to get home.  I'm proud of her. 

Wondering what they bought?  Caden bought a new set of handcuffs (metal this time, not the cheap plastic ones), Allie bought a new hippity hop ball, and Jaelyn bought 1 smencil and 3 Japense erasers.  Encase you are wondering, a smencil is a pencil that smells yummy...hence the name, smencil!

I also did some shopping today and spent some early birthday money.  Thank you, Joanie.  I'm redoing my bedroom.  I'll share when I'm done.

If I Were a Leprechaun

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  We layed out the kids green outfits last night, but when I looked in my closet this morning, I was amazed that I have no green clothes.  Odd, I used to, but I guess they went to Goodwill since I didn't wear them.  I found 1 ratty green sweater in the back of my closet and that was my green for the day.  Other than wearing green, today was a pretty normal day (with blues skies and temps in the 60s).

Allie brought home a cute paper she wrote.  I was especially impressed with the "Super" written on it since she gets in so much trouble with Mrs. R, her subsitute.

My favorite line has got to be "I would feel leprechaunish."  Leprechaunish...awesome word, Allie!

Feeling Better to Enjoy the Sunshine

Since my last dreary and sick post, everyday has been pretty much the same.  Rain, rain, rain and me on the couch doing the bare minimum to take care of the kids.  Of course, time change did nothing to help.  All my friends talked about how their kids slept till 8 new time on Sunday.  Not mine...they were up at 6 new time, 5 old time.  Jaelyn thankfully is a pro at taking care of her brother and sister (when she wants to) and made them waffles and juice for breakfast so I could stay in bed.

I woke up feeling so much better this morning (even though I was up part of the night with Caden who's started with drainage now).  I felt even better after I opened my curtains and saw blue skies.  It's been a wonderful day ever since.  Caden and I went grocery shopping this morning and then he's helped me clean the house this afternoon...at his request.  My kids are as addicted to Clean House as I am.  Saturday and Sunday mornings, while I slept in, they didn't watch cartoons, they watched recorded episodes of Clean House.  I think that's just hilarious.  They also love cooking shows.  They watched an episode of Iron Chef and Challenge (extreme cake decorating) without me too.  It feels good to get the house cleaned up and Caden is excited it's clean for his friend Nathan to come play tomorrow after school.

In other news, my parents have firmed up their plans for their visit in May.  I'm excited.  We are going to Hershey over Mother's Day weekend to camp and visit the park.  It should be a ton of fun.  We video conference with my parents several times a week to play games.  The kids are going to love having them here to play games in person!  Can't wait!

Also, we have this week to go and Dan will be home from Korea...late Sunday  night, I think.  I've dealt with some pretty bad tantrums from Jaelyn and Allie's been getting in trouble in school.  I'm be glad to have him home.  We miss him.  We just need him here, not traveling, playing war games in Korea.

Dreary and Sick

Our beautiful sunny days have turned to cooler, rainy days.  Yuck.  My mood matches them, though.  Allie's had a cold since last weekend and I finally caught it on Wednesday.  I spent yesterday and today on the couch.  Caden went to a friend's house after school yesterday, but he was bored to tears today.  I think he watched TV or played his DS all day.  Bad Mommy!  Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow.  My house looks like I've done nothing by lay on the couch and hide from Hurricane Kids (which is what's been happening).  I totally rock this single parenting thing until I'm sick and then I just want my husband home to take care of us!

More Metal in Her Mouth

Jaelyn's laterals have finally come in enough for brackets.  Dr. G put them on today.  He's going to help them in the rest of the way, get everything straightened, and then we'll be done.  I can't wait to see Jaelyn's smile without her braces.  Her smile has always lit up a room, but add a corrected bite and wow.  She's going to be beyond beautiful.  We are going to have to beat the boys off with a stick.

There's one hygenist that Allie just loves.  Katie also talks to Allie and tells her a joke.  Allie told Katie our 2 newest jokes today.

What did the green grape say to the purple grape?...... Breathe!

Knock Knock

Who's there

Interrupting cow

Interrup - MOOOOOOO

Teased By Spring

The weather has been absolutely beautiful.  We hit 64 today with clear, blue skies.  I got outside and did some cleaning out in the flower beds.  I can't wait for things to start coming alive again.  I get such joy from my flowers and we've been here long enough that I'm getting to see the fruits of my hard work.  So, if you've been wondering where I've been, I've been outside soaking in all the vitamin D I can before the rain comes tomorrow ushering in the last of winter.  I saw about 100 geese in a V flying north on Monday morning.  I sure hope they know what they are doing. 

Monday, I ran errands while Caden was in school and then we joined several of his friends at the giraffe park for a picnic and playday.  He had so much fun and I enjoyed the adult time.  We even got to see Kelley and crew.  I spotted Caden running around holding hands with a little girl that looked a lot like his friend, Alyssa.  What?  Sure enough, Kelley wasn't too far away.  Another mom overheard Caden introducing Alyssa to his friends.  "Maggie, come over here and meet Lyssie.  You have to play together.  You'll have so much fun."  I love that he got to play with Alyssa, Maggie and Naomi all at the same time.  He ponders who he's going to marry a lot.  The other day, he told me he couldn't decide who he wanted to marry.  He knows Alyssa wants to marry him, but he likes Naomi and Maggie also.  Naomi is Caden's tickle buddy at school and in the end, he decided he'd marry Naomi since they like to make each other laugh.  Laughter is an important ingredient to a good marriage.  Dan loves to make me laugh when I'm mad at him and don't want to :p.

The girls rushed through their homework Monday afternoon and then we headed back out for another hour in the backyard.  We opened the back gate and a couple of girls that live behind us came over to play.  Bedtime was a breeze again last night.  That's 3 good nights in a row!

An Answer to Kat's Questions

My friend, Kat, asked a question on my last blog entry.  "fun fun fun! but i have to ask ... are they pastel coloured m and m's????"  She lives in Australia and apparently is very deprived.  They only have the standard colors of M&Ms.  It makes me sad for them.  She gets sad that we don't have an abundant supply of tim tams, so I guess we are even. : )

Kat, we have holiday themed M&Ms.  Normally they just change the color, but for Easter, they add the animals.  I only remember the bunnies from last year.  The lamb and chick must be new.  I can't decide if I like the lamb or the bunny the best.

Another Beautiful Afternoon

Yesterday was such a success.  Jaelyn even commented to me "Mommy, this morning was bad, but the rest of the day has been fun!"  She was right.  We played all afternoon, had an easy dinner and then settled down to watch an episode of Clean House.  I'm trying to brainwash my children.  They love the show and always ohh and ahh at the reveals.  Jaelyn wants to spread stuff all over our house and call Niecy to come clean it up.  Too funny.

Back on topic - a successful Saturday.  Bedtime was so easy.  Usually I'm fighting to get everyone into pjs, get teeth brushed and get them into bed.  Then the real battle begins...being quiet and going to sleep.  Last night, everyone cooperated, climbed into bed and I never heard another peep.  They were so quiet that I checked on them after 15 minutes because I was sure the girls were getting into something.  They were sounds asleep.

The sun came back out today with temperatures in the mid-50s so after lunch we headed back to another park.  Yesterday was the giraffe park.  Today was squirrely park.  Yes, we name our parks: giraffe park, squirrely park, ladybug woods, snakey woods.  It all depends on what we see at the park.  Today's is inhabited by really freaky looking black squirrels.  They are big and scary.  We've never seen then anywhere except this particular park. 

We took the kids' scooters and let them go around the loop a few times.  We took breaks to go onto the docks and play "pooh sticks." The playground was full of playmates for games of tag and hide and seek. 

Two hours later, we headed to Giant for the fixings for sundaes.  We saw an ice cream truck and nothing makes me want ice cream more than ice cream truck music.

I'm hoping for another easy evening with long baths and a quick bedtime!

Pillows Are Piling Up

I had enough material left over from the first round of throw pillows for the girls' beds to make another set.  I didn't want them to be white so we bought a packet of purple rit dye today.  Jaelyn helped dye the material and then both girls helped design and sew their own pillows.  Jaelyn went with a heart while Allie wanted a circle.

This is such a fun easy project to do with your kids.  I spent $6 for the clearanced  material, $1.50 for the dye and we used old pillow forms and polyfill to stuff the pillows.  That's $7.50 for 4 throw pillows, a lesson in sewing, and fun times shared with my girls.

Caden likes the pillows too.  He wants to make some for his bed.  I'm not sure a boy should have furry pillows on his bed. What do you think?

PS  GUC -Click on the picture with the heart pillow to enlarge it and look at the purple picture frame on Jae's shelf.

Hello Mr. Sun

Everyone one is going stir crazy.  I worked in Caden's class yesterday and you could feel the pent up energy from the kids.  The girls' school has been blocking off the bus parking lot and using it for recess in an attempt to get the kids outside because there's still snow on the playground.  I woke this morning at 6 to Allie screaming like a banshee because Jaelyn was annoying her.  It continued all morning.  They just need to get outside.  Thankfully, the sun cooperated.  I was thrilled to see beautiful blue skies when I looked out the window this morning. 

We had lunch at McDonalds and then I took the kids to the giraffe park.  They ran and played for an hour and a half.  As usual, they spent a lot of time on the tire swing.  Then, they made a couple of friends and played hide and seek and tag.  It was still cold and windy, but I can deal with temperatures in the 40s as long as the sun is shining on my face. 

When we got home, we got out the scooters and let the kids playing for another 30 minutes before I'd had enough of the cold.  We are supposed to have pretty, warmer weather next week.  I'm looking forward to it.

The Land of Little Things

Do you ever pine away for the days when toys were huge?  While I like my bigger kids who are more independent, I miss their baby and toddler toys.  The colors where all so bright and cheerful.  Even though they were big, we had fewer so they were easier to store.  Cleaning up was a snap.  I didn't have to worry about missing pieces because everything was attached.

Today, It's an entirely different story.  Our toys are tiny, but we have a lot of them.  Polly Pocket shoes have been the bane of my existance for a while now.  I've hit the point where I don't pick them up.  If they get vacuumed up, they get vacuumed up.  Allie has a fishing tackle box to store them in.  Caden's gone from his great big 8 inch tall Planet Hero men to 2 inch tall Star Wars men.  Don't get me wrong, I love the Star Wars men and they'll definitely be a toy I keep for my grandkids, but I hate stepping on them in the dark. 

Now Jaelyn has joined the land of teeny tiny things.  We donated our mega blocks at Christmas because we weren't playing with them.  Of course, Baba hooked us up and we came home from Christmas with two new sizes of legos.  The legos have become quite the hit again.  I hear them being dug around in quite a bit.  So far, we are storing them in a draw string back my mom made a few years ago.  It's time to get sewing because we are about to out grow the bag.

And I thought Polly Pocket shoes were bad.  Trying locating the head light to a contruction truck in the pile of your carpet.

Do You See What I See?

You have to look closely...

...

Do you see it?

...

Grass! I see my grass.

Hip Hip Hooray. All the snow has melted in my front yard. Now the back, that's another story because of the amount of snow.

I wish I had tulips and daffodils planted in my flower beds so I could see that spring was really going to get here one day. Come on spring. The sun is shining brightly today trying to warm everything up for you!

A Good Night

Bedtimes have been horrendous again.  Last week, I heard a noise one night and asked Dan what it was.  "Spitting."  What?  Apparently it's been going on for a while.  I just haven't heard it.  Jaelyn, in the top bunk, has been spitting on Allie in the bottom bunk.  Then, Allie spits up at Jaelyn (guess they haven't taught about gravity in the 1st grade yet).  I am totally grossed out by my daughters spitting at each other.  I've used a drop of vinegar on the kids tongues off and on for a long time.  We've called it fibby juice and sassy sauce.  Lately, I've just been calling it vinegar.  It's not working, though.  They don't like it, but they don't not like it enough to stop the behavior (did that make sense?  It's late and thinking about it is hurting my head). 

Anyway, I switched to Tabasco Sauce.  Before anyone starts screaming at me.  Dan and I both tried it.  I put a drop on their tongues followed immediately by a small cup of water (unless they spit it out, then they get another drop with "no water for you").  The first night, one drop was all it took and my spitters turned into sweet girls and went to sleep.  The second night, it took 4 drops for Allie and 3 for Jaelyn.  I was ready to scream.

Tonight, instead of listening to music, the girls put in a book on CD (Frog and Toad).  They did stay awake longer because they were listening, but they were quiet and not interacting.  Jaelyn whined for a few mintues because I wouldn't put in CD 2 when CD 1 ended, but Allie was settled and went right off to sleep.  I'm sure it's one of those things that'll only work for a night or two, but I'll take it.  Dan's been in Korea almost a week and I'm tired by bedtime.

Speaking of bedtimes, it's past mine!

PS  Sorry if there are typos.  I'm trying out bloggers new editor and there's no spellcheck.  That's crazy.

Lovin' the Library

This week has included fun field trips to the library for everyone.  Caden went with his preschool class on Monday.  They had a great time listening to stories.  The best part was that the kids got their own library cards.  It was much easier to keep track of everything when it all went on my card, but they sure do seem proud of the books they are checking out.

Caden and his friends listening to the BEST book

The girls' school highlighted reading in February.  Every child that read a certain number of books was allowed to go on a field trip to the library today.  It helps that the library is next door to the school.  They had 150 super star readers participate.  It was a mob scene at the library.  I only stuck around long enough to snap a few pictures before getting out of there.

Happy Birthday to My Two Favorite Jen(nifers)

I have 2 wonderful friends who are celebrating their birthdays today. I've known the first Jen since we were 12 and she is the most awesomest friend ever (I don't care if that's not a word).

I met my other friend Jenn on-line in the midst of our infertility journey. We've been blessed to get to see each other many times over the last 8? years and she has turned into someone I can share my heart with who just gets it!

I hope you both have a wonderful day celebrating YOU! Take the time to pamper yourself today.