Carpet Cleaner

I have come to realize over the past 10 days that the best investment that we have made since we moved to the new house was to purchase our own Carpet Cleaner. It makes cleaning up vomit and diarrhea so easy. Had I know how much I would have used one when I registered for my baby shower, I would have registered for that. :)

Day 10. Vomiting....Diarrhea....YUCK YUCK YUCK! It may never go away and I might have at least 1 child that pukes a day. NICE!

I got my new glasses and I CAN SEE AGAIN! My script barely changed though my astigmatism "moved" and just my that adjustment holy cow! I am so excited.

Back to the World of Vomit and Diarrhea....Maybe see you in the New Year with healthy kids. :)

LAST Christmas Get Together...

Christmas is now officially over as of today. We visited with my MIL, SIL and BIL Jeff. Jeff has not seen the kids since January 2004. It was a really nice visit. I gave MIL her gift and she was so thrilled. If you want to see a pic email me. Kim (SIL) is good as always and gave me a link to a new site for the kids. She also bought Gabe a book of mazes, he sat down and did it right then and there. Next time harder mazes aunt kim. Maybe it will keep him busy for longer than 15 minutes. LOL BIL Jeff was very nice. Things were awkward there are some hurt feelings on all of our part and I will give him a snap on trying to move things forward in a positive note. He and his wife was expecting a baby 2/14 (their first) and it is a boy. I am happy that they are having a healthy baby, but it appears that he is a girl baby daddy. Fayeth let him hold her for a good long time.

Also, there is a new member to the family. Darren's other Brother (Eric) and his darling (not sarcastic she is a love) Kelly eloped and got married 12/26. We got the call yesterday. We are so excited. They are good for each other. Well, he is REALLY lucky to have her ;). :) Eric did inform me that they were not pregnant. I did not ask and was horrified that he even said that. I could careless if she is pregnant...You married her! THAT I am THRILLED about!

And who can resist a pic like this?
The sickies have not left us yet.. Lindsay-becca was puking today. *UGH*

My Favorite Christmas Memory...

This time of the year is always sad for me now that my Gramma is gone. My Gramma LOVED Christmas and she embodied the meaning. When I was growing up my grandparents owned the local hardware store (A TRUE VALUE). Come November 1st my Gramma would bring out the Christmas trees to decorate at the store. She took her time making each tree uniquely decorated and special and perfect. Our store (it was family owned, operated and staffed) was a part of the local Chamber of Com merce. Every year the hardware store sponsored the "Angel Tree" for the area families in need. When she and my mom delivered all the gifts they would take the food baskets that local (and only) grocery store donated. This could take anywhere from 1-2 days (12 hours each day) to deliver.

Every year my Grampa would dress up as Santa and go to the 3 local elementary school in the Northern end of our county and he would pass out candy canes, have lunch with the kids, and let each and every child sit on his lap for as long as the child wanted to. He also went to Head Start dressed up as Santa and would take "goodie bags" filled with coloring books, crayons, candy, small toys, and whatever else suited my Gramma's fancy the day that she went to buy the stuff. We used plain large brown paper bags and we would decorate the bags with glitter, pictures and whatever else we had. We put everything in the bags with love and care. I can always remember WANTING to do this. Wanting to help out others.

There are 2 particular Christmas memories that I can now remember as being my favorite. The first one was of my Grampa. There was a little girl named "Michelle" that went to the local elementary school. She was deaf. The Newspaper took the most awesome picture of the 2 of them. This little girl melted my grampa's heart. Whenever she came into the store my Grampa would talk to her, give her a treat there was just something special about her. Her smile lit up the room. THe Newspaper recognized what a special picture this was a had the photo mounted and gave it too my Grampa with a nice plaque for all that he and my gramma gave to the community.

My favorite memory of my gramma was as she was delivering the Angel Tree items the very last house they went to to deliver did not have a tree. The mom was so very gracious when she received the food basket and gifts. She honestly told my Gramma that if it was not for that food basket they would have no food until her next pay check (10 days away). They had no Christmas Tree and she told my gramma they could not afford one.

My Gramma marched into the hardware store (5 minutes before closing) and yelled "FATHER COME HERE I NEED YOUR HELP!" She always called my Grampa, Father. My Grampa came out of the office and he stood by the register (where I was) and told him what she found out. We closed the store and my Gramma went back and picked the tree. My mom and I started carefully removing ornaments, bows, lights and disassembling the tree. My Gramma told us that she would be right back and she marched out of the hardware store. Now my Gramma was just a little lady, but when she was on a mission NO ONE told her no and she MARCHED with authority to get her mission accomplished.

We were finishing wrapping each ornament up when she returned. She told us that she had to go back to grocery store when the tree and ornaments were loaded into the truck. We loaded everything into the truck and she and my mom left for the grocery store.

When she left the hardware store she marched right into the grocery store and spoke with Tim the manager (and owner) and told him what the last family had told her. Tim had told her to give him 30 minutes and come back he would have something for her. When they got back there, Tim and his wife had gathered probably close to $500 in grocery and gift certificates for milk and bread.

Tim helped her load everything into the truck and she went to deliver the items. When she knocked on the door the lady was confused and my Gramma told her that she had forgotten to delivery a few items and could she do it now. When my gramma started bringing in more and more items and told the family that they had a christmas tree and food the lady cried. She offered to return the tree after Christmas and my Gramma told her that every tree needed a family and THIS tree belonged to THIS family now.

These are the things that my Grandparents did. These are the type of people that they are. I AM SO PROUD to be their granddaughter. Christmas is when I miss them the most. I miss their giving and generous hearts. They were wonderful people and the world is a little less wonderful without them in it.

I love you and MISS YOU!

NUTCRACKER 2006

I am pleased to say that the Nutcracker 2006 is now over. My life can now resume a semi-normal pace. Okay...well after the holidays. :)

Tuesday 12/12/2006
This started the marathon. We were to be at the Holiday Star early to get make-up on the kids, get their costumes on them and take the cast photo. Of course....the photo was nearly an hour late. But the end result will be awesome. The orchestra left a little, okay A LOT to be desired. Someone in the string section was flat....VERY FLAT! They allowed the kids to sit out in the audience and watch the performance. I was the room mom for the boys (small boys) so I only had one child, my sweet Gabe. He sat with Aria and watched the ballet intently. While he was on stage he hit every cue that he needed to for the acting part. (For the kids their age acting is 99% of the scene) He did amazing, as did Aria (6) and Nadia (7). Lind say-becca did awesome. The bon bons were so excited that they were FINALLY going to get to dance our from under Mother Ginger's Skirt. (they have never gotten to come out from under the skirt) Well, no one warned them and the first girl tripped over the Pole at the bottom of Mother Ginger's skirt and literally ALL of the bon bon's piled ontop of each other. *I* was in hysterics. It was priceless. Second time a little girl in the middle came down and the rest came. I was again laughing. It was really quite cute, third time was a charm. By the time we got home the Twins were SO wound up Darren decided to cuddle with them on the couch while I went to my mom's to nurse Fa yet h. (Fa y eth was staying at gramma's as was Hann ah)

Wednesday 12/13/06
First show 10am. Be there at 8am. Doors locked until 8:30am. I sat in the car and did the Tw ins make up. They looked so funny with make up on. Get in. Take Lin dsay-to her dressing room, dressed her, got her settled. Headed out to get Ga be ready. We were completely ready to go by 9:ooam. So, Ga be and I ventured out to explore back stage. We found out way to the window where we could see the parking lot. Ga be was counting school buses. We found our way to the mezzanine. We decided to come back and watch the show from the mezzanine. LOL 9:45am headed down the the green room to get his scarf for the begining of the scene. 9:50am waiting...... 10am rolls around we are waiting for 1 last bus to be seated. there were around 2700 people there. Mainly school kids. Asked Ga be if he was nervous, he asked me, "No, should I be?" Nope buddy you are all good. We went over his "cues" and before I could even ask he told me in order what the cues were. Kara and I decided to watch from the back of the audience. So we gave our children to their "Party Parents" and off we went. They did Awesome!!!!!
Ga be and I snuck out the the mezzanine to watch the Mother Ginger scene. It went off without a hitch. The kids did SOOO good. They were so cute and best of all they just had fun! What more can you ask for.

I loaded the kids up into the car after the show and we headed home. The twins slept for about 2 hours in the car. Thank goodness it was a nice day and I could leave the doors open to the car at my moms house. (They live in a cornfield)

The 7pm show went well. There was a crew there. Gra mma, Gra mpa, Han nah,, Fay e th, Da ddy, Aunt Bec ca, Aunt Shel ley, Uncle Jo hn, Za ne, Oli via, Dar en (our friend) and Gran dma Ha rt man. It was an awesome show. Everyone did great and had fun. When it was over Ga be wanted to go out and do it again.

Thursday 12/14/06
Getting out of bed was rough this morning. LB and G wanted 5 more minutes. Of course as we were walking out the door we got the call that the small party kids could come in a bit later. Too late for us. We hung around the house. Ga be was complaining of a headache.

10am show was the best of the 4. Heidi got the crowd very pumped up and their cheer for the dancers and the energy was awesome. After the show we decided to head home, have lunch and take a rest. Gramma was going to do the evening show. Gramma picked the kids up at 4:30pm and they were on their way. G abe continued to complain of a headache and of being hot. (These are 2 of his major signs of increased ICP) He got ready and headed onto the stage. Lets say about 4 minutes into the performance Gabe went to sit on the couch during the party scene. ***From here on out I am retelling what I have been told as I have been spared witnessing this event first hand*** Ga be leans over the back of the couch and proceeds to vomit on the stage. Luckily it was close enough to the stage right curtains that they were able to continue with the show while cleaning it up and most people did not notice. I immediately noticed that he was no longer on stage and I flew backstage. I was not suppose to be able to go back stage but I went anyways. He at first did not want to go back out and when I asked him if he wanted to participate in the finale he said yes and he wanted to finish the scene. We busted butt to get him changed but did not do it in time to go back on for the scene. He did however take his final bow during the finale. He is such a strong amazing little boy. He had a severe headache and had been incontinent 2 times in the past 24 hours so I think his pressure was up too much.

I AM MOMMA!!!!!

Back when Fay eth was an itty bitty little one she would say MAAAAAAAAAAAAA, MAAAAAAAAAAAA like a little sheep. Then around 9 months she just stopped. Stopped babbling/talking at all. (ear infections)

Recently she started really trying to talk again. She said, "dada", "Bubble", "food". Today she came waddling in here and said, "MOMMA!!!" and handed me a Dora gardening glove to put on her hand. I said, "Fa y eth what is my name?" She replied "Momma". The sweet sounds of hearing your baby say your name again is amazing.

The Difference between a MAN and A WOMAN...

Tonight while I was working (and chatting online to 2 of my many favorite gals) I hear Darren say something. I could not hear him over my machine so I stopped the machine.

Me: "What did you say?"
Darren: "You plugged up the toilet?"
Me: "YOU were in YOUR bathroom last"
Darren: "Well I just peed and the toilet is plugged up. Where is the plunger?"
Me: "Upstairs"
Darren: "OMG!" *Said in a panicked voice*
Me: "WHAT?" *Said in a VERY ANNOYED VOICE"
Darren: "The toilet it over flowing!!!!!"
Me: "GET THE DAMN PLUNGER!!!!!"
He JUST STANDS THERE
Me: "NOW DAMMIT!!!! MOVE MOVE MOVE!"
He runs up the stairs. I grab towels put them on the ceramic tile. Start bailing water with the garbage can. He tried to plunge the toilet. But HE has taken his contacts out.
Me: "Give this to me"
Darren: "I can plunge a toilet"
Me: "Wanna try to cover the HOLE then"
Darren: "Well, I cant see!"
Me: "THAT IS WHY I SAID GIVE IT TO ME"
I plunge the toilet the water level drops and he says..."I'll give you something alright Baby!" To which I replied. Clean up the floor. THAT you can GIVE ME.

I later said to him. "What the hell took you so long. 'OMG! THE TOILET IS OVERFLOWING" and you just STAND THERE!!!" He answered...."I had to think". *ROLLS EYES*

LESSON: Men cannot think while moving. They have to be standing completely still. This is why men cannot multitask.

Oh HOLY CRAP!!!!

I made a HUGE math error. Maybe it was denial but.. my earlier post should say 20 years ago. Yes T.W.E.N.T.Y!!!!! Oh my HOLY CRAP!!!! I am really 32. When the hell did that happen. LOL

The crazy things that you remember...

This morning I woke up. Took a mental inventory. Head...Check, arms, hands, fingers...Check. Chest...Stabbing pain in ribs, what is the pain...Ah! Barbie dolls. Legs...CHeck. What is today's date. Friday December 1st. I know something happened this day...THINKING THINKING THINKING....

*LIGHT BULB GOES OFF*

10 years ago today I broke my nose. I being a SILLY 7th grader was SICK with a 103 degree temp but I wanted to go to school. I got up and headed to the shower. I remember it being particullary cold. I turned the shower on VERY HOT. I step into the shower/tub combo and I try to warm up. I lather up my hair. I so to rinse it, I tilt my head back, close my eyes and the next thing I remember is my mom pulling me out of the floor of the tub.

I PASSED OUT COLD. My nose was bleeding profusely. My mom gets that to stop. Gets me cleaned up. I was completely dazed and confused. I told her, But I want to go to school. Yeah well, that did not happen. What did happen was me staying in bed until my mom took me to the dr to get my nose checked out. Which resulted in a trip to the ER. Which then resulted in the Social worker and police coming down to "interview" me. Asking if my mother ever beat me. How did my injury occur. I was freaking livid and got very pissy with them and will all the energy I could muster I put them in their place. When I went back and told my mom, she laughed and took it all in stride. It's their job, blah blah blah.

By the next morning my eyes were completely swelled shut. I was black and blue and looked like I HAD been beaten.

It is crazy what you remember. I told the kids the story and they all laughed.

Nice of the kids to make fun of their mommy

Leah, YES I wanted to go to school to see "KENNY" the guy that me, Janet, Jean, you all thought was amazing. I remember jean saying, "I wish I could be the mouth piece on his trumpet". LOL I wonder whatever happened to him.

The games we play...

Lin dsay, Ga be Han nah, Fa ye th and I were talking about the meaning of Christmas and how Christmas Day is actually a very large celebration for the Birth of Jesus (please note we no longer say BABY Jesus as she was VERY UPSET at Easter that they crucified BABY Jesus) So she asked if we could bake a cake and play games. I said, Yes we can. So I asked what kind of game should be play. L B says, Pin the baby in the cradle. So I explained the entire manger scene and told her that they slept in the manger. She says, Did Mother Mary CO-SLEEP with Jesus. To which I answered, yes she did. She then asked, "Did Mother Mary BREASTFEED Jesus. I replied, "Yes honey back then almost all children were nursed by their moms. They did not have formula back then". She then comes up with, "Mommy what is formula"? I said, "You know what formula is. It is what babies get if their mommy's do not breast feed". She replies to me, "But Mommy WHAT IS IT"? I scratch my head and tell her the truth. "Honey it is a synthetic drink made up of ingredients that babies need that mommy's give then babies when they can't or won't breastfeed. But it is not the same as breast milk. Breast milk cannot be replicated. You and Ga be were fed formula from 9 weeks on. Han nah and Fay eth got supplemented with it".
To change the subject back to the Christmas Celebration I asked, What games should we play. So she then said, Pin the Baby in Mother Mary's arms. Okay. So I asked about Thanksgiving, Halloween. Then I said, What type of Games could we play at Easter....She says...."PIN JESUS ON THE CROSS". to say my face looked like this :-O is probably and understatement. My reply was, ummm Lind say honey, I am not so sure that I am up to crucifying Jesus. That happened once dear. How about something with the Easter Bunny.

EVIL NASTY HATEFUL EMAIL SENDING PERSON/PEOPLE...

I noticed that you again started hitting my blog on the anniversary of Gramma's death. Now that I wrote that letter to her, which is what you were looking for, will you please stop coming to my blog. I really have no desire for you to be reading about me or my family.

Dear Gramma,

The 26th was the 4 year anniversary of your death. It is so hard to believe that you have been gone for that long. The twins were not quite 10 months old. You were always so awesome to me. I completely hit the jackpot, an amazing mom and amazing Grandparents, I am so lucky. More lucky then most.

When we tried for years to get pregnant, you were always so supportive. Always listened. You would say that you had no clue what it was like to go through what we were going through, but you always let me say what I needed to say and never judged me on it. I remember mom calling you to tell you that I was pregnant. I was standing right there. But she was DYING to tell someone. I could hear you screaming for joy over the phone. When we found out it was twins, you were screaming again. You moved to North Carolina for good when I was 15 weeks pregnant. I was so sad when you and grampa left. I wanted you to be as active in my kids lives as you were in mine. It broke my heart the day you pulled away for the last time. Granted you were back in October for Josh's wedding. But it just made me so sad.

I cannot remember when you started calling the twins your "Miracle Babies" but you did. I remember you calling me to talk and telling me that you were telling the hair dresser, the checkout lady at the grocery store, the lady at the dollar store and anyone that would listen that your granddaughter was having miracle babies. You loved my babies so much before you even got to see them or hold them.

You always had this uncanny way of knowing when someone needed to talk. When something was bothering them. All of a sudden my phone would ring and there you were. You did that when I was in labor with the twins. All of a sudden you were on the phone. "So are you having those miracle babies?" And I was. You said that you would stay up and wait to hear the news. We called and you had just gone to the bathroom. Grampa answered the phone before the first ring had ended. You cried when we told you that we named Lindsay after your dad.

3 weeks later you were here. After spending 15 hours in a car you immediately came over to my house to see the Miracle babies. I think you spent every day with us for the 3+ weeks that you were here. We all cried when you left again.

You were back the beginning of May for Becca's wedding. You did not even make it to Aunt Zorrinea's house before you made Grampa stop so you could see the miracle babies. I nearly fainted when I walked in and there was Aunt Paula. You could not get enough of your miracle babies. I am not sure how many rolls of film that you took. But you had to have your pictures to show everyone. Of course when you left again we all cried. We never realized that that would be your last visit home. The night you got home you had a "gall bladder attack". I told you it sounded more like a heart attack but you would not go to the hospital.

Now that I think back about it, that was the way you wanted to go. Your last visit here you were glowing. You were beautiful. You were just so happy. You got to see all your friends for the last time the way you wanted to.

We came down in August for the family reunion. We had an awesome time. I am not sure that there was a moment that you were not holding one of the miracle babies. We had to go ALL OVER NC to show everyone your miracle grandbabies. You loved them so much.

In September Darren, the twins and I went to Asheville for a getting together with some friends. They were going to go to the Builtmore Estate so we decided to drive over and see you. That was Friday and we were not suppose to come until Sunday. You and I sat on the floor playing with your miracle babies and you said, "So I take it that you came because your grampa has a huge aneurysm that could blow at anytime". LOL, no, I came to see you all but tell me about this aneurysm. Grampa was going to see a specialist about this huge aneurysm in a couple weeks. Your face was all puffy and the walk in clinic told you that you had a sinus infection. We spent 2 amazing days with you and grampa. We had so many great talks. You told me who and what was special to you and your heart. You swore me to not repeat these things to some people. We were so close.

We got home September 24th. September 29th I was at moms. Paula called to talk to me. Then grampa called. You were swollen in your face, neck, arms. I told them that you could have been going into congestive heart failure. GO TO THE HOSPITAL. You were stubborn and finally I just yelled at you to get your ass at the hospital now.

I spent a long time trying to get a hold of you. For some odd reason I knew something was wrong. I could not reach you at home or on your cell phone. So I called the hospital. They put Aunt Paula on the phone. Grampa was in the van. He was not feeling well. (aneurysms have a way of doing that) Aunt Paula told me that your chest xray had an area of abnormality. You asked me what that could be and I lied to her. I told her...Oh it could just be that she was exposed to TB. I COULD NOT tell her you had lung cancer. I knew from the terminology that it was lung cancer. Mom had gone to the bathroom. I told Becca what I found out and what I knew it was. Mom got out of the bathroom and I told her about the chest xray. I told her what I told Aunt Paula and mom looked at me in the eyes. She KNEW I was lying. She could see in my eyes what I had told Becca. We opted not to tell Zorrinea what we knew it was. We just told her an abnormal area.

I went home, told Darren that you had cancer and packed my bags. At 11 pm that night I got the phone call from my mom. I then 4 minutes later got a phone call from Zorrinea screaming. Ever so mellow dramatic. We left 9/30/02 1:00am to head to NC. Me, mom, the twins, zorrinea and cassie.

Those next 8 weeks were awesome. I spent 4.5 of them with you. When they called to tell me that you could not take any more chemo and that your heart was too badly damaged from the heart attack that you sustained at the beginning of November, I came down. I had to tell you good bye one talk time. Who knew that this visit was the most important visit in my little mans life.

The night I arrived we ate then I came with the twins, aunt paula and mom and rick to the hospital. When I walked into your room you looked so sad. The fire was gone from your eyes. You told me that you did not want to die yet. You wanted to see the miracle babies grow up and get married. How I sat there and did not start sobbing I have no clue. Just thinking about that moment now makes me cry.

You were too weak to hold the babies. I put Gabe in bed with you and you would just loving on him and rubbing his head and you told me, "He has a ridge here". I promised you that I would get it checked out. Who would have known that that comment would save Gabe's life. You died so I would be there and you could find that ridge. That is why you died. You saved your miracle baby's life. I cannot look at Gabe's scar without thinking of you.

8 months 10 days after you died, I gave birth to Hannah Euphene. You had told me at Becca's wedding that we wanted Darren and I just to take a pregnancy test and be pregnant. A surprise. That was Hannah. You told me back after I had the twins that I needed to name our next baby girl Hannah Euphene. That you just LOVED the name Hannah and if you had to live with the middle name Euphene then so should someone else.

We joke that for Hannah never knowing you she sure does act just like you. Compassionate and stubborn. A loving soul who can make everyone laugh.

I miss you so much. I look at my Christmas tree and I think of you. That is a story for another day.

I love you, I miss you, I thank you.

A few funnies from the week...

Darren is in the midst of telling the kids a story. He goes "Chapter by chapter". It is the story of how we met and how we got to the point that we are now. Last week Darren was telling them about how we got pregnant with the twins. He says, "The Dr called and said", Hannah did not miss a beat. She yells, "NO MORE MONKEYS JUMPING ON THE BED!" LOL Darren did not find it quite as amusing as I did. But he still thought it was funny.

We have all had special names for the kids while they were in my tummy. The twins of course were Baby A and Baby B. Hannah was Baby Cookie. Fayeth was Baby Boots the Monkey. That same night she asked, Where was I when the twins were in Mommy's tummy? Darren said, You were still an egg in Mommy's ovary. She laughed and told him, "Don't be silly daddy. I was a COOKIE in mommy's ovary".

Friday night we went to the Circus. LB made 2 new friends. They kept petting LBs hair and kept remarking how straight and soft it was. LB would say Thank you and the cycle would start again. Finally LB told them that she was not a dog and she did not need petted. The girls again told her that her hair was so soft and straight. On the way home LB was asking, "Mommy, why were they "petting" my hair and telling me how straight and soft my hair was?" So I explained. "Honey most people with a black skin color have very curly hair and they have to go through great measures to straighten their hair. Your hair is naturally (PAINFULLY) straight". She then again asked, "WHY are they lucky to have curly hair?" I replied, "Honey it is in their GENES". Lb replied, "Ok". Now I could HEAR her thinking. All of a sudden I hear, "Mommy, you know how I have to have my hair in ringlets for the Nutcracker", "Yes honey", "Instead of buying me those icky hair extension can you just buy me a pair of their JEANS?" LOL I tried hard to stifle a giggle and then had to explain GENES and DNA. Which then turned into a LONG talk on that. (Homeschooling at its finest :))

A F ay e th Brag...

I cannot help it I must share...

Fa ye th LOVES her potty chair. The one we have downstairs she will pull into he livingroom to sit on it and watch TV. Last night we decided to move a potty chair upstairs too. F ay eth was so excited. She pulled Gramma by her finger down the hall to show her the potty chair. We let her sit on it with no diaper on and she was just so excited. We showed her how to close the lid and she is just ALL THAT ;).

Today I am making dinner and F ay eth comes up to me and grabs my finger and PULLS me. I follow her down the hall and she goes into the bathroom. She then points at the potty and screams. (She is NONVERBAL, that is her means of communication) I ask, Do you want to use the potty? She nods yes and I remove her diaper. She sits on the potty and starts to grunt. Next thing I hear is a PLOP and we have poop. She claps for herself. Closes the toilet seat walks over to the bathroom door and yells. I call the kids and they come. She lifts the lid and shows them her surprise and then points to her butt. Then they all Clap and Cheer and all if right in the world.

She is such a smug little thing. Let me tell you. She is SO proud of herself. If you ask her if she pooped in the potty she gets all excited and cheers for herself.

How Darren spent his vacation...

Yes. That would be my husband. On the roof hanging lights. He has decided to be competitive with our neighbor. Our neighbor had his lights up last week. (Darren worked, Joe is retired) Now if I could just get him to rid our yard of the leaves like Joe does, we would be in business. ;) The rest of our outdoor decorations will be up in the next 2 days.

Thursday we put up our trees. Yes we have 2. One upstairs and one downstairs. This is our upstairs tree. The kids and I decorated it yesterday while Daddy was on the roof. He said he had enough fun putting up the lights.

This is our tree downstairs. You can see how well my husband puts lights on the tree. It drives me insane but I am trying to ignore it. Atleast I did not have to put lights on the tree.

This is how Gabe puts ornaments on the tree. He lines EVERYTHING up. Ornaments, his food when he eats, his shoes. I told him that with tree decorating we do NOT line things up. LOL

I have already been listening to Christmas music. To be completely honest with you, I have become my mom. Just not that bad. Back when I was in highschool, she would start listening to christmas music starting in September. In past years I have hated to put up my decorations. I was just indifferent to decorating. Now I am not. I am having so much fun. I wanted my trees and decorations up for Thanksgiving Day. We will turn them on Thursday.

I will keep you updated with CLARK's (aka Darren's) need to best the neighbor. This could be interesting. LOL

Why I wont file a complaint...THIS TIME

So many of you have told me to file a complaint. THIS TIME I will not. Since this person is a part of my online FAMILY (meaning they have access to a computer and may or may not be an actual member of my FAMILY) the other online FAMILY members that I have discussed this with feel that THIS TIME we will let it slide with a WARNING. Sort of a WE KNOW YOU DID IT. However, I have been giving full permission and support of my online FAMILY that if it happens again to file the complaint. You can sort of say we are trying to handle this internally. If I had my way, I would have filed the complaint and been done with it.

Class In Session: IP Tracking 101.

First of all I would like to thank all of you who posted such supportive messages. I must say that it really means a lot to me. I do not think that these emails would have hurt as much if they did not come on the anniversary of Grampa’s death. Again, thank you my friends.

Class is in Session:

IP address is a number (in the form of a dotted quad) that is assigned to a computer by an Internet service provider (ISP) to be its permanent address on the Internet. Computers use IP addresses to locate and talk to each other on the Internet, much the same way people use phone numbers to locate and talk to one another on the telephone.

There are these nifty little programs that you can use to track your IP. I used them on my blog, our family web page and my business site (<--- See link over there). I like to know WHO and HOW people find my sites. You can also go as far as to track emails that you receive. Cool, don’t you think?

Miss Daisy was kind enough to foreword me these emails. Now it took me quite a long time to walk her thru forwarding them to me. The FIRST thing Darren and I checked was to see if she was sending them to herself. Well, she is not. Which I am not sure if that made me feel better or worse. Had she been sending them to herself I could say, “Wow, she is really having a hard time dealing with this.” “This is a coping mechanism”. This poor lady lost her beloved nephew and my Grampa all in about 6 weeks.

So we tracked the IP by using THIS and THIS. It was QUITE alarming what we found. This morning I decided to track my IP s that have hit my blog. Can you imagine my disbelief when I realized that the person who is sending these HATEFUL MEAN emails to Miss Daisy ALSO HAS READ MY BLOG? 6 times today as of the moment I started this entry. Yes my friends, the person harassing Miss Daisy if a part of my online family. Someone that I let read about MY FAMILY and my friends.

So, let me put this out there, You should be VERY ASHAMED of yourself. Grampa sure would have been. Harassing a 71 year old woman is PATHETIC! Besides this is VERY ILLEGAL and the next time Miss Daisy receives another email of this magnitude I will be filing a complaint on behalf of her with your provider.

P.S. I KNOW WHO YOU ARE!

Dear Grampa,

One year ago today you left us. You went to be with the love of your life, Gramma. I never in a million years would have thought that you would have outlived Gramma. You were older and less healthy (though still healthy by many standards). We NEVER thought that you would have survived if Gramma went first.

When gramma was sick, you were a rock. You loved her, supported her, and held her hand as she died. You were strong for all of us, the kids and the grandkids. I worried about you so much after she died. I just did not know if you would manage. For 17 months you sat on the couch. You mourned Gramma. You started to live your life again, but you just looked so sad. You started dating and while it was a shock to some, I am glad that you did. You found Miss Daisy and she put the smile back on your face and the glint in your eye.

After Gramma died I got to know an entirely new man. You were always the strong silent support behind the strong and forward Gramma. You were so silly with Miss Daisy. Now, I do not always agree with or even like Miss Daisy 100% of the time. Sometimes I do wonder when you had your heart attack why she did not give you a nitro, but I cannot blame her. Shame on me for the times that I did. I did not walk in her foot steps. I do not know how devastating it was to her to find you. But, she made you happy.

You were always an amazing man. You were a great father figure. From letting me paint your toenails to putting curlers in your hair to our early morning coffee dates when I was 5, you were always so amazing to me.

Mom always says, “Any man can be a FATHER, but it take a special man to be a DAD!” She is so right. Biologically you were not my grampa. But that does not matter. I can remember the time when I was around 6 maybe 7 that I was informed that you were not my “REAL” grampa. But that never mattered to you, because in your eyes I WAS your granddaughter. You always made me feel like I belonged in our family of his, mine and ours.

Someone is doing your honor to shame. Some nasty evil person is emailing Miss Daisy saying that they are you. They are doing it from your email addy. Or they are changing it to make it look like it is coming from your email addy. Aunt Paula gets so sad when this happens. This person does not realize that they are making HER life hard.

1 day shy of your 6 month anniversary of your death this email was sent to her:
“I still get my mail here...Why don't you do the right thing for my family now...Everything belongs to them the house stocks bonds van and all..They told me you were a gold digger and now I can srr it from here that they were so right..You had a few of them fooled but not them all.. ART”

Today she got: “WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME?

I will get to the bottom of this. There is this amazing little thing called an IP addy. That means that we can track this. Paula is going to the attorney tomorrow. This will be resolved. Your honor will be restored.

I love you and I miss you!

Very resourceful

Thursday when we were coming home from the peds office I stopped at a Gas Station. Ga be asked me what type of Fire truck was that. I looked up and it was a Blue and white truck. On the side it said "Federal Bureau of Investigation, Mobile Command Center". G abe got very excited and asked me if we could go look at the inside. I told him no, that I am not sure that the men in the truck would be real happy about that. Gab e replied, "But mommy if we tell them that we are homeschoolers and we are on a field trip. They just might". You know what buddy. You are right, but I am STILL not approaching a FBI truck. Sorry Kid. His little mind just never shuts off...

Need some help....

We are heading out East July 7-14, 2007. My husband the history freak is just wetting himself in anticipation. He is a HUGE history buff and would be happy if we spent all 3 weeks of his vacations driving from historical site to historical site. I will need to PLAN this trip for certain spots at certain times or I will never get to do what I want to (and will do) like see friends.

So, what do you recommend? I know that we will be stopping in Philly (Liberty bell) and in the Kate/Linda area. Plymouth Rock of course is on the list. He is wanting to do Gettysburg but I have been there before and dragging the kids out of carseats constantly to go and look at memorials sounds like A LOT OF WORK. Where are places that we need to see. Need to do. I am placing the fate of my trip in your suggestions. :)

Love is...

I see other peoples blogs about Love Thursday. Well today it just happens to be Thursday so for the first time (and only time) I am going to do a Love Thursday post.

LOVE IS...

Being woke up at 5am by your husband not because he wants some lovin' but because our 4 year old son peed all over him. WOOHOO thank you Gabe for not going on me. (He has increased intracranial pressure that is WHY he has the incontience issue)

Taking 4 children to the pediatricians office to get flu shots. Of course your 1 child that NEEDS the vaccine is too sick to get it. While you are there your 18 month old falls and busts her lip (on the inside). She more than likely should have gotten stitches but we decided that we would just see how it heals on her own.

Getting home and being home for an hour and the noticing that your 4 year old daughter has a forgein body in her ear. Note that it is a peice of paper and you and the spouse attempt to irrigate it out of her ear while she tells you stories about HOW it got there.

Drive the 35 minutes BACK to the peds office to have said forgein body removed. The offending object ended up being a dum dum sucker wrapper chewed up and placed in her ear wednesday night while DADDY was on duty. (Do I need to remind you all about DAD DY, Ga be and GA BE"S object up the nose?)

Drive the 35 minutes home. Make dinner. Have 4 year old daughter help you because you have now decided that the 4 yr old is crying out for attention and you are a shitty mom.

Tuck all 4 children into their beds. THe 3 oldest giggle and laugh about things that have happened during the day. give them kisses and listen to them snore.

Darren and the Fire...

Last night while working (okay chatting instead of working) Darren tells me that he hears the baby crying. I told him it was the neighbors dog but he was JUST CERTAIN that it was the baby crying.

So, since he was in the middle of watching some boring show on the HISTORY CHANNEL. So I went upstairs and I stopped in the foyer to look out the window and check on our pumpkins and I noticed that there were flames shooting out of Fa yeth's pumpkin. I called to my fearless husband and he came running up went to blow out the fire. (Yes my husband the pharmacist, lots and lots of science classes decides to blow on the fire). Next thing I know the flames are shooting higher out of the pumpkin. Da rren tells me to go and get water. I threw him the water bottle and he starts to spray the fire. He must have hit the wax but the next thing I know the flames are shooting out higher than his head. (He is 6'3) then poof fire out.

After I realized that he was okay I was laughing hysterically. Of course tinkled my pants in my weakened bladder state.

Thank goodness that we move our cornstalks or we would have had a huge mess. And thank goodness that our house is also brick. :)

The medicine...

I forgot to share this story, but I just have to. I have to poke fun at Darren as much as I can. When Gabe started back on his Diamox Darren filled the prescription. Since he now has the ability to flavor meds he thought that he would be kind to Gabe. To be completely honest there is no way in hell that Ga be's meds are going to be any better tasting. They have to crush up pills and mix with a syrup to make a liquid and the appropriate dosage. So, while he was at work doing this wonderful act of kindness to his son he asks his techs "What should I favor the meds with?" Sarah tells him, "Cherry or grape". Dar ren says, "Nah! ALL kids LOVE bubble gum flavor that is what I am going to do it with!" Sarah again tells him that not ALL kids love bubble gum flavored at the age of 4. He ignores her.

He brings home the med and he says, "I flavored it for you Buddy". (Please note we are to PAT HIM ON THE BACK FOR DOING HIS JOB) So G abe takes the med and the look on his face was painful. You would have thought that he was swallowing battery acid. He gags it down and yells for WATER. I give him water and he swishes it around in his mouth. He looked at Dar ren (That accusing look that makes it appear that Darren abused him) and says, "Daddy, you flavored it BUBBLE GUM! I DO NOT LIKE BUBBLE GUM!!!!" Dar ren got a guilty look to his face and I reminded him of Gab e and the bubble gum scent for his mask for one of his procedures.

So to try and make amends Darren brings home a little of the cherry flavor to try and hid the bubble gum flavor. Next dosage that we gave him he again looked at Dar ren. Da rren asks, "Buddy, how does it taste?" G abe replies, "Like cherry flavored BUBBLE GUM!"

G abe was very excited when we finally finished this bottle. I honestly think that I only had to chase him down 40% of the time to take him meds. This morning he started Grape Flavored. We asked g abe how it tasted he replied, "HORRIBLE, but better than the bubble gum".

Darr en's Lesson Learned: "Men are a lesser species, they know NOTHING. Not married women who have no children and are only 22 years old know kids better than he does.

This is what parenting is all about...

The letter, written by my 4year 9 month old daughter, reads: "TO WALLY TO THANK YOU FOR LETTING US PLAY IN THE PUMPKIN PATCH".

We have been to the pumpkin patch twice this year. Once with Da ddy and once with Gra mma, Gra mpa, Bi lly and E li. The first time we were the only ones there. Being that this is a small town that we live in, everyone pretty much knows everyone else. Mr Wally has been at the pumpkin patch for years and he is wonderul with the children. He took the kids on a very long train ride, but because they are so well behaved. He explained all the different types of pumpkins and squash that they had at the pumpkin patch. He is just amazing.

We go back Wednesday and on our way home I said, "Do you think that we should write a thank you card to the people at the pumpkin patch for their hard work that allows us to come and play here every year?" I immediately got 3 yes and 1 ear drum bursting blood oozing from your ears scream. When we got home we had to make cupcakes for the bowling carry in and I told the kids that Thursday we would write our letter.

Jen came to babysit and off I went with my mom to bowling. When I got home Dar ren was already home and Jen had gone home. A little while later I go up to get a glass of water. I notice that a peice of paper was sitting on the table. I went and looked and I found that letter. I went down and showed Darren and he replied, "Yeah I know that. Linds ay wanted to write a letter and Jen helped her by spelling some of the words. She told LB though that she had to come up with the words to write on her own."

I was and am still so proud. I went and woke her up to give her an extra hug and kiss and tell her how peoud I was of her. She is better than most adults about writing thank you cards. She is such a good little girl. And has such good manners.

I will admit though, I did think and say to the DH again, I will never have to write another thank you card for them again. LOL

Uploading Vacation Pictures....

House pictures, Animal Kingdom, MNSSHP

Epcot

MGM

MK

My mom

My mom did well. They only had to remove layer this time. She is in a bit of pain. They gave her Tylenol ES for pain. Lets hope this is the last time she has to have this done.

Tidbits....

Tomorrow my mom will be having another Mohr surgery to remove some more basal cell skin cancer cells from the side of her nose (by where the hose peice to your eye glasses sits). After the biopsy the site has looked great so I am hoping that he will only have to remove 1 layer tomorrow. So if you can keep her in your thoughts and prayers I would appreciate it.

Fa ye th is an absolute joy. Well, for the most part. Her last eye tooth is coming in and she is a bit fussy. Yesterday Dar ren took Ga be and LB to rehersal and I stayed home with the 2 younger ones. I decided to vacuum and H ann ah came downstairs to rest in the family room while she watch some tv. Fay eth hates the vacuum and as soon as I turned it on she took off for the girls rooms. I had stripped their beds as G abe had an incontient episode. So, after I was done vacumming I went down to the girls room and THIS is what I found. She is a funny little thing.

I have an LB brag. Saturday was the twi ns last soccer game. For each game (at this age) they allow 3 kids to be on each of the 2 fields. This week we only had 8 kids. 3 of the 8 have barely scored any goals. So, they decided to spilt the kids up into the group that has not scored and the high scoring group. My children combined have scored almost 80 goals up to that game (and we missed 2 games) So they put Tristan, petey and emma on one field. Then the hard part came. Which of the 5 higher scorer do they put with the other 3. So, since Ga be, Gavin and Beau are ball hogs ;) it came down to LB and Mya. Both of which are 1/2 of a twin set. Since Mya and Gavin only had a mom there and Da rren was with me, they split my kids onto 2 separate fields.
So as the game goes on, Coach Becky tells LB, can you pass the ball to T, P or E so they can score a goal. LB said, Oh sure I can. And boy did she. She would line the ball up right by the goal and cheer them on while they kicked it in. She did this repeatedly. Over and over and over again. She did score 5 goals herself, but the other 3 were having so much fun. they blossomed. When Tristan (Our assitant coaches son) scored his first goal we all nearly cried! It was so amazing. After the game Coach Monica, Becky and Mike came and gave LB a huge hug and told her what a great team player she was. They also came to me and Da rre n and told us what an amazing little team player she is, especially at this age when they just want to score a goal. We were so proud of her.

We have SNOW?

When I left from Florida on Saturday it was 93 degrees.... Today I take the kids to the ENT and to do some running for the business and we have SNOW! It is 35 freaking degrees and WE HAD SNOW!!! Granted the snow did not accumulate, but still it is the 12th of OCTOBER! What the hell is this about. Dammit, I am STILL waiting for summer. The pool company has yet to come and close the pool. And it is SNOWING. GRRR! I could MOVE TO FLORIDA! I had not even bought Gabe a new coat. I tried it on yesterday afternoon and it does not fit. His arms are too long. *SIGH* So today the kid got a new coat. If he would just STOP GROWING SO QUICKLY!

On the dance front, Linds ay and the rest of the bon bon's will be dancing at the Su gar Plu m Fai ry Luncheon. Anybody wants to go let me know. She is so thrilled. That of course means an extra practice this weekend. She & G abe took a 45 minute Ballet class to make up the class they missed while on vacation and now they want to take that one AND their tap/ballet class on Mondays. I think they will pass on that. They are 4 and they are not taking 3 classes in 1 week. I think they might be trying to drive me crazy. ;)

We stopped at Office Depot and G abe thought he died and went to heaven. We stopped in the school aisle and that child was SOOOO thrilled. He asked for a TON of work books for christmas. He had me write down the ones he wants so he can ask SANTA to bring them. *Rolls Eyes* CRAZY CHILD.

We saw the hot ENT today. We decided to leave Ga b e ' s tubes in until March then we will eval taking them out. F ay eth's ears look great. Hannah's left tube looks like it is on its way out, but her right looks great.

We are HOME!

I must say I had a great time in Florida. I always hate leaving. I feel at home there. But I am always happy to get back to my house. We left Thursday at 1pm. Ri ck (my step dad) decided that since I had room in my car that he was going to go too. He packed his bags and on our way we went. It was a fairly easy road trip. Our first day we made it south of Atlanta. Friday we finished the rest of the trip.

The house I rented was amazing. Private back yard, nice pool, the house was very clean. was in hog heaven. They had puzzles there and he, LB and grampa did all the puzzles in the house. Grampa also taught the kids how to play WAR and solitare. G abe now plays solitare all by himself. LB is not as into it.

We took Grampa to look at properties that he could turn into rentals. He has some ideas in his head. Probably when we go back in May he will buy a few. They are investiments you know. LOL

We went to Animal Kingdom on Sunday. We met my SIL Kim there. It was a nice time. Grampa walked all over the park very slowly. But he did it. We went on all the rides the kids could go on. G abe freaked out on Dinosauer and got to go into the control panel and see what the ride did. He will tell you all about it. but he still would not ride it. LB rode Expedition Everest twice and was upset that she could not do it a third time. LOL That is an AWESOME RIDE!! A MUST DO if you go to AK.

Monday we looked at a few more properties and then headed to the Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. That was AWESOME!!!! The kids had a great time. The Flan Clan met up with us for the party. We had a great time. Little F ay eth and Cor bin are the best of buddies. They really just hit it off. They were so aweet and amazing together.

Tuesday afternoon we did E pcot. It was fun. We did not stay for the fireworks. But we got to see Mickey, Minnie, Chip -n- Dale, Pluto and Goofy. Fa yet h slept thru that.

Wednesday was the Magic Kingdom. We had Brunch at the Crystal Palace. Our friends the Flan Clan joined us. We were able to catch up with the Knight Family. The kids, my mom, jess and I rode Great Thunder Mountain. Our 40 minute wait turned into 1hr10 minutes. After that we all went our separate ways. Grampa got a scooter today and it helped a lot. We saw both parades and the fireworks. It was amazing.

Thursday we did MGM. Lind say, G abe and Ha nna h rode Tower of Terror. It is now Han nah's favorite ride. Well that and Its a Small World. We caught up with The Knights and the Fowlers. Rode the Rock and Roll RollerCoaster. We went our separate ways but I met up with Jess at Playhouse Disney and the Stunt Show. LOL Actually, I met up with Jess OUTSIDE the stunt show and Bryce and Fa yet h were not pleased with the loudness of the show.

I was suppose to meet up with the girls at Downtown Disney. However when we left the park F aye th felt warm to touch as did Han nah. When we got back to the house I decided to take the girls temps. Fa ye th was miserable f ussy and Hannah was whiney. Well...Han nah had a 103* temp and Fa yet h had a 102.something temp, LB was 101. something. Motrin to all 3 girls and after that Ha n nah vomited a little. I decided to stay at the house. Ga be also had a nasty headache thursday. My mom offered to keep the kids and let me go, but what type of mom dumps her 4 sick kids and leaves them with gramma? Not me.

Friday was a run around and finish filling up the autograph book and later we went back to see Fantasmic. If you do not see Fantasmic you just did not complete your experience at MGM. It is amazing. My mother sat speechless!

Saturday we were also able to meet up with the Flanders for Breakfast before we headed out. I was also able to make to to Chez Flanders during our visit. I told her point blank I did not care if my kids got the tummy flu. They wanted to see their FL friends new house. We were treated to a show that Ja son directed and produced. Co rbin and F ayet h were buddies, it was just a nice time.

I will upload pics today and post them tomorrow.

"He never waited"

On September 11th 2001 Lisa DeRienzo lost her other half. She lost her twin brother Michael. Michael, an avid athlete and traveler, was a broker for Cantor Fitzgerald on the 104th floor of 1World Trade Center. Michael was frequently traveling to a sporting event or on vacation. He and his sister were to meet in Chicago on Friday 9/14.

His sister reported that he never put off a trip util the following year. Which is the way that he would lead his life. Always living it to the fullest. His sister reported that he had travelled to France, London and Italy in 2001 and that he had also returned from a trip to Tibet with nothing. He had given it all away.

He and his sister had become even more close after the death of their mother in 1997.

This was a man who lived his life to his fullest. Family and friends meant a great deal to him. The world became a little less special when this amazing man was taken from it. God Bless to his family and all the families affected by that day.

Thank you GRAMMA!

I forgot to share this and a few of you will have a great appreciation for this. My children RARELY say a bad word. Even though their mommy does. So my mom comes over for lunch 5 days a week. My house is closer than hers to work and this way she does not have to spend the majority of her lunch hour driving back and forth.

So... It was the day before Han nah's birthday party. My mom had come for Lunch. Da rren was home and had eaten lunch with us. As my mom was leaving she decided to torment my husband (which it is pretty much open season on Dar ren all the time, but she does not usually pick on him much) However she said, "Hey Da rren you need to get out there and mow... B-I-T-C-H! *Giggles* She spells it out, not a big deal...RIGHT??? All of a sudden LB looks at Dar ren and says, "Daddy was does B-I-T-C-H spell" We were all *OMG* Dar ren decides to be funny and gets the all hurt and offended look on his face and sticks out his lower lip and says, "Gramma was mean to daddy. She called him a bad word. She called him a BITCH" *he then gasps in horror* LB goes oh, So B-I-T-C-H spells a bad word that I cannot say. Ga be and Ha nnah then repeat it.

The next day Dar ren's mom came up before Han na h's party and the twins said, "Hey Gra ndma H wanna hear what we can spell?" and before I could say NO. They spelled out "B-I-T-C-H"
Gra ndma H was all, "Atleast they are not saying it. And atleast Hann ah is not spelling it" Ha nnah looks up and says, "I know how to spell it and spells B-I-T-C-H"

So THANK YOU MOM! LOLPublish Post

O.B.S.E.S.S.I.O.N.

This is my hell. My son, while a loving and joyful little boy is OBSESSED! Anything with letters, completed words, numbers he is your man. The first 2 pictures are from Wednesday afternoon. I was working on my webpage before lunch. He kept talking about something and I could hear him counting on his fingers and finally I was getting a little aggrevated as I was trying to concentrate. (WHICH IS NOT EASY WITH 4 KIDS +1 HUSBAND) So, A light bulb went off and I told him to go and grab the abacus. (Yes we have an abacus in our home, I told you the kid was obsessed) I showed him how to use the abacus instead of his finger. The Boy sat there and did 10....10 pages in the workbook. O.B.S.E.S.S.I.O.N. He had to pry the book from him little fingers to eat lunch. After lunch he went and washed his hands and face and came back and got his book and abacus and started back in.

This morning, (6:45am) I was just getting snuggled back down in my covers all nice and warm, baby nursing and I was sure I could get a few more winks in. (Baby was up nearly all night with a croupy cough) and I hear.

Ga be: "Psst...MOMMY"
Me: *grunt*
G abe: Psst MOMMY
Me: GO back to bed it is not time to get up yet.
G abe: Mommy, we have to get up! I HAVE to do MATH!!!
Me: Buddy, crawl into bed. You can lay on Daddy's side.
G abe: Mommy, I HAVE TO DO MATH NOW!!!!
Me: Buddy come on I am tired. After breakfast.
G abe: Mommy, I have to do it right now. I JUST HAVE TO!

Least to say, that last picture was taken this morning. Around 7am. It is 7:57am now and he is S.T.I.L.L. D.O.I.N.G. M.A.T.H.

Nookie Dollars

As some of you know, I am working on starting a business. The husband has been pushing me (encouraging me) to gete motivated on this. So I asked for his help getting the tax forms signed and sent out and he volunteered to research where to get our webpage.

We decided that the business would be a sole proprietorship (so just MY name is on the business). He then decided to say to me. Since you cannot have employees and I am helping out I think that my pay should be in NOOKIE DOLLARS. I looked at him and said, "WHAT?" He then decided to explain...

Darren: Well, I get paid X amount of dollars an hour at my real job and I know you are too stubborn to pay me that in nookie dollars so I will be generous and say that I get $5 nookie dollars for an hour of working on your business.

Me: Yeah?

Darren: Well, I figure after I get X amount of nookie dollars then I could cash them in for NOOKIE. (Imagine a 15 year old horny boy when he said that)

Me: Really?

Darren: Yeah. Like after I get $100 nookie dollars I could cash them in for nookie.

Me: Buddy your an ass. First of all I am not CHEAP nor am I a whore. If I were to do this cpncept of yours just to touch would be $1000 nookie dollars and that would still be in a non sexual way. ASS!

Darren: I still think it is a great concept.

Me: That's okay because I am not a WHORE and I still think your an ass. AND if you want to collect Nookie Dollars that is just fine, because for everything I do for you I collect CANCEL OUT NOOKIE DOLLARS and you would never be able to cash any dollars in. But you are STILL AN ASS!

He was so proud of his little concept and he shared his idea with Lee (Uncle Dumpy) (Nicole Pikles husband). Of course Lee thought it was a great idea. I think Nicole is on the same page as me.

We had a peeper!

Well, tonight we had our first peeping tom. I was on my office (in the lower level) embroidering a baby bib. I heard something hit my window. Which has the blinds completely open and pulled up. I looked up and I saw a legl running from the window to the back of my house. I am not sure if the person ran onto our deck because all I know is that I was upstairs in about 2 seconds flat waking Darren to go out and protect his family.

He quickly got dressed and got his weapon of choice and out he went. We did have 2 bulbs burned out, however we changed those and our house is lit up like the griswald's at christmas. I am freaked out, but the alarm system is on. I cannot shake that feeling of someone watching me though there is no way that they could be watching me now. All blinds are pulled.

Also just wanted to send some extra {{{HUGS}}} to Sabrina. Emily will have a great time at school tomorrow! I hope momma holds up just as well!

Creative input needed...

I am thinking of starting a business, embroidery that is. Darren has come up with Blue Eyed Creations. What do you think? SHould I use that or should I come up with something else. What is your idea for a name?

An update of the last few weeks...

Lets see...Things have been busy....

The end of July I took Rick (my step dad) to Pickerin gton, OH to visit family while I was visiting my friends in Columbus. His sister (a realtor) asked his opinion on a house there and the next thing I know he is trying to bribe me into moving to Pickerington. He is a wise man. My mom will not leave the grandkids. So he tries to con me into moving there so she will. Not gonna happen buddy! My next move (if it is going to be out of state) will be to the great state of FL. :) He was looking at the house as an investment. He could have probably gotten it for 350K and when it was finished it would have assessed at over 1million. Sorry Amy P. I know you and Jen are close...I just cant leave my sister.



Han nah's party was great! Thank you all for the wonderful birthday wishes!

We went to North Carolina August 9-15th. We took a new route and to tell you the truth I think it is a little faster. We took I-65 to I70. Then at Dayton we took 35 all he way to 64 in virigina. Then we took 77 all the way in. Let me just say....WV has the most beautiful capital building. Plus WV avd VA are so beautiful to drive thru. It was a nice trip. We did not see M iss Da sy. However we did some things around the house and yard for my aunt. Pau la wrks too many hours and is never home. So we did some cleaning in the house, cleaned gutters, trimmed the shrubs and raked some leaves. When she was home we gave one of her employees 2 chairs out of her living room and we rearranged her living room. We also cleaned out the shed and organized it so she knows where things are. We pitched a ton of old clothes. My gramma and grampa had a lot of stuff. We went to our family reunion. It was great to see my cousin's Dan and Lu kie, and the entire Concord NC crew.

The kids started Soccer. They missed the first practice. However at their first practice I nearly peed my pants. I have never laughed so hard in my entire life. They did really well and LB made a goal. Yesterday they had their first game. OMG!!!! It was a hoot. Let me start off by saying that they only play 3 kids at a time, however they have 2 fields for each team. So technically 6 kids from each team are playing, just on opposite fields. They do not keep score at all until tourney time. That does not start until ages 11. So no matter how long you play or how old you are, they never keep score. Which I think is a good thing. It is about having fun and learning the game. Also all kids play. And there is 8-5 minute "quarters". I will say though that d arren and I were keeping mental score and on the twins field the orange team scored somewhere along 11 goals and we scored 2. LB and Ga be scored those 2 goals though so that is why I know. The orange team has been together since last Fall with only a few new players. The Green Team (our team) is a brand new team and NO ONE has played soccer before. But they did awesome. LB and Gab e are really go getters. They are right there in the action. LB had one moment where she was doing pirouettes on the soccer field. And when she came off the field I told her, "LB, when you are ON the soccer field you play soccer, when you are in the dance studio you dance. Any other time...you can do whatever." LOL They had so much fun. Gabe got overheaded and nearly passed out on us. He came to the sidelines and started crying and said, "mommy I am hot". Thinking he just wanted to sit down I told him to go back out and finish this quarter. He looked at me and said, "I am going to be sick" and his little eyes rolled back into his head as he pitched himself onto my lap. the quarter was over and we cooled G abe off with cool rags. I know he was not dehydrated because they are HUGE about water and hydration. He finished the game but you could tell he was not 100%. (He was probably 95%, he is a driven young man).


The kids have requested that we "start school". I said, how so? and they want books, pencils, workbooks, ect. So I am going to get some paper out and work on writing. I am looking at curriculums. I like the alpha omega one the best right now. I am trying to decide between the preschool and just buying grade K. We will find out tomorrow where they stand with writing leters and numbers. If anyone has any input on curriculums I am more than open to hear about them.

Well that is all that I can think of for the moment....

Changed Look

I have changed the look of my blog. If you could please take the time to check out my link over <--- Bailey for Brains I would appreciate that. Please foreward that link to everyone you know. This is an amazing little girl!

Cuddles...

Tonight Da rren was sitting at the dining room table eating dinner. The kids and I had eaten earlier so Fa yet h and I were keeping him company. Well Fay eth (who is fussy because she is sick) goes up to daddy to be held. She cuddles up to his chest and he looks at me and says..."She just wanted to cuddle with daddy". She lifts her head and I said, "Ummm honey...she spit up on you." He looks down and...There she blows! ROFLMAO! She baptized the husband in puke.

Of ALL THINGS the DH CANNOT handle...That would be vomit. ROFLMAO!

Thank you sweet baby for not puking on mommy! I love you!

My Dirty little Secret...

I will share with you my dirty little secret. *I* supermom wannabe not only is ordering ALL the food for Han nah's 3rd birthday party, but I also ORDERED HER CAKE!!!! Yes people, get back up OFF THE FLOOR, you DID read that right. I am ORDERING and not making it all myself. I did give making candy suckers a try and the first batched turned out good. Or so the kids told me so I might finish doing that. It just depends.

It has been a busy month. We did quiet a few home improvement jobs. Not that the house needed inprovement, but these were just changes to make it OUR place. I have painted the kids room, put up borders, bought the girls a trundle bed (as close to a bunk bed as my wild ones are getting) bought an over the range microwave which required us to move the cabinents above the range up 6 inches and wire an outlet (which I did thank you very much) bought a new chandelier for the foyer and a 5 in 1 ladder. We got everything done with the exception of the chandelier. Darren got the light down, started to put the new one up, but he dropped it. It was wired in and he thought that it would hold long enough for him to rest his arms and he left go. All of a sudden we heard a pop and DOWN fell the chandelier. Only broke 1 globe and of course tore the hell out of my woodwork, but the husband was not hurt. So now I currently have wires hanging OUT of my ceiling because Darren is REFUSING to get back on the ladder to hang the chandelier. *I* am not getting on the ladder to change the light as I am PETRIFIED of heights. I will post pictures later.

MIA....

First of all I am going to try and update this thing later today. I cannot believe that I have not posted since July 12. So much has been going on (mostly in a good way :))

However I am going to be pretty MIA for the next few days. I need to clean and get things ready for Han nah's birthday party! I cannot believe that she is going to be 3. And I will be 32. LOL Today I will be having a picnic at my house with some swimming. Yeah!!!

Also, just incase I do not get back before Friday, Happy Birthday Tiff D!!!!!

A little bit of everything...

For starters, I have finally motivated myself to paint the girls rooms. Of course I have already missed 2 deadlines for when I wished to have this completely, my new deadline is August 1. However I will have house guest from 7/27-8/1 so I had to do it BEFORE they came. Of course I have been a little embarassed by the fact that their room already had the border tore down so it was time to get it done. Jess has been to my house once and Carie twice however they were both kind enough to not point out the fact that the room had not been painted. It had been purchased....Purchased since 5/11/06. The YELLOW will not cover the white that was on the wall before. I have put 4 coats of paint on the wall and I will need to buy another gallon tomorrow. The purple, well it is purple. Why could they not just agree on pink or something I was prepared for. Main Street Lights and One Enchanted Evening are quite bright colors. Oh did I tell you that I HATE PAINTING? I think the only thing worse than painting yellow is painting BARN RED! My grandparents shed took 10 zillion coats of paint.

The kids recital pictures are up. You must create an account to view them. (It is free) They are both doing so very well in Tap and Ballet. Han nah is completely enjoying Preballet/Tumbling. She cannot wait until recital so SHE can dance on the big stage. :)

Lin dsay-bec ca is now swimming pretty well. She swims underwater a bit and can freestyle 3/4 of the length of the pool without assistive devices. We were quite amazed by this. She is also jumping in from the side holding onto her kickboard. She will practice diving but prefers to wear her arm floats when she does that. She is a very brave little imp. She is always coming up with something new.

Hannah is doing well. She has been able to spell her name for a while now. On rare occasions she will say it is A-H-N-N-A-H. She is too cute. She is a little spit fire. She will not jump in from the side, though last year she would. She will not swim without her arm floats on. She has however stopped wearing her swim suit with the built in floats. She informed me that she was not a baby. Okay little missy.

Gab e is doing okay. He can swim the width of the pool underwater without coming up for a breath. he can swim some freestyle. He will jump off the side with his kick board only. He gets SO UPSET when LB jumps in without anything on. He will start crying and get all concerned that she will drown.
Thing 1, Thing 2 and Thing 3 surprised me the other day and informed me what our phone number is. I was shocked to say the least.

Fay eth is doing well. She started toddling some on July 3 and took quite a few steps in sucession July 4. A whole new meaning to Independence Day. ;) She has SO MUCH TO SAY! We just are not sure WHAT she is saying. Also she actually SAT IN A CART and let me push her around in it at Target. That is amazing. Normally she will over stimulate and freak out on me.

Tonight I will think of some funnies that they have said and I will share them with you tomorrow. I must go and get into bed. Who knows what time her Royal highness will wake and want to nurse.

5 things...

5 things in my Fridge:

1) Milk
2) Cheese
3) cucumbers
4) carrots
5) juice

5 things in my closet

1) clothes
2) tote of baby clothes to be packed up
3) Darren's hunting socks
4) a box that still needs to be unpacked of our bedroom (nick nack crap)
5) Down comforter (too darn hot to use it)

5 things in my purse (substitued backpack/diaper bag for this)
1) Diapers
2) Sun Screen
3) wipes
4) hand sanitizer
5) Wallet

5 things in my car
1) 4 car seats
2) Shell Card
3) Atlas
4) book
5) wipes

5 people I tag

1) SABRINA
2) Carie
3) Susan
4) Aritha
5) Suzanne :)

Toddling...

Here she is

Prayers Needed...

In 2004 my pediatrician Dr A, put me in contact with another mom whose little boy Andrew had craniosynostosis. Andrew had his surgery at the end of August 2004. Ellen, Andrew's mom and I, keep in contact. It is not as frequent as it could be, but still she and I know the right thing to say when we are frustrated.

Ellen even came to visit us when Gabe was in the hospital for his second surgery. Andrew was having a follow up with our plastic surgeon.

However, Ellen has a beautiful new baby boy named Jonah. Last week while on a walk with her husband and children she noticed a ridge on his little head. They took him into the peds and his soft spot is almost closed. Tomorrow he has a CT scan, however there will not be a team there to put his under, he has to sleep thru it. He will also be seeing the NS and PS. If you could please say a little prayer for Ellen, Jonah and their family I would be so appreciative.

I found them!!

Woo hoo!!! Today while unpacking my office I opened at tote and guess who I found in there? It was my grandparents! Can I tell you the sense of peace that I got over that. LOL WOOHOO!!! I am really quite relieved to have found their cremanes. :) They will be placed in my curio cabinent when I go back upstairs. :)

New Photos Up....

Here the are...

A few little funnies...

Today at lunch Hann ah saw a young couple cuddling. He had his head on the girls chest, very near her breast. Hann ah yells, "Look mommy she is breastfeeding her little boy too".

After a 22 month 6 day break my least favorite aunt paid me a visit. I was prepared here for her, however since I had to be out and about today and I am not in the habit of packing tam pons I left without any today. So after I picked the kids up from Bible School we headed to the best pharmacy in the whole wide world (C V S) and purchased tam pons. Ga be asked me what I in the box and I informed him tam pons. He then asked me what they were for and I was unable to think fast enough on my feet. That question earned a text message to my resident expert mom on call and she aided my brain in answering he big question.

Then the poor kid is probably scarred for life. We were at Jo Ann Fabric and we were in the bathroom. So I attempted to very discreetly and quietly replace said previously purchased item and Ga be had to turn around in time to see red and he went hysterical. In tears crying that I was bleeding to death and that we needed to call Dad dy at work. I needed to go to the hospital. I say he was HYSTERICAL would be putting it mildly. Of course the bathroom had to be full of people and it took me 20 minutes to settle him down. Of course now everyone in Jo ann fabric KNOWS that AF is here. You have to cut me a little slack on this people. I have only had her visit 5 times since May 2001.

Cancelled

Well, I did it. After much thought Da rren and I decided to cancel Ga be's surgery until we get back from FL in October. The ENT said that there was really no rush and since after surgery he cannot swim we decided to just postpone it. It just is not fair to not let him swim when the other kids can. Nor is it fair for us not to let any of them swim. ESPECIALLY after I have dumped 100# of chlorine into that pool.

Also, thank you for the nice messages today. I was going to apologize for my entry, but I am not going to make excuses nor apologize for the way that I feel/felt. But thank you those of you who care :). I wuv you too!

The Snow Princess and Prince and their Teacher

gabemissangelalbrecital,
originally uploaded by 4 blue eyed babies.

Carie asked if that was Jess ica Sim pson, but no...It is Miss Angela their instructor. The Husband has decided that if she is their instructor in the fall HE wants to take them to class. I forgot to tell him that you cannot stay and observe. LOL

This Summer they will have Miss Amber for Ballet and Tap. I am not sure how the Fall schedule will work out.

Snow Prince and Snow Princess

resizedrecital,
originally uploaded by 4 blue eyed babies.

Here are the Snow Prince and Snow Princess. My cousin Karley and my Great Aunt Jane came to do hair and face (aka make up). Boys do not wear make up, it is called face. :)

The Dynamic Duo

Last night was your first recital. And I think I am very safe in saying that it is the first of many. I was slightly concerned after dress rehearsal that recital would be a flop. To say that dress rehearsal was a train wreck was putting it lightly. Gabe at rehearsal you lead the girls out like you are suppose to. As soon as they turned on "the big lights" the girls froze and the smiles melted off their faces. You continued to smile. Lindsay, you looked straight at me and had a look of panic on your face. I know I gave you the, "Get your ass out there and dance" look, however you then did smile and started dancing. After you got off stage you told me that the lights hurt your eyes. I told you, Sweetheart there is an easy fix to that. DO NOT look at the lights.

Yesterday the 2 of you were so wound up. For my mental health and your safety ;) I had you lay down. When you woke up Great Aunt Jane and Cousin Karley were here to do your hair and make up. You both looked so amazing. We got to the hall to get ready and I got you dressed. You were both breathtaking. Amazing. Beautiful. And SMILING. Before you went on stage I got the 6 of you lined up in line and we went into the hallway to wait. Lind say and Ga be you were the only 2 smiling. When we got back stage and we waiting to get you on the stage you were amazing. Ga be you just smiled and smiled and smiled. LB you reminded me that I told you not to look at the lights. Even Mrs T told you not to look at the lights and you would be fine. LB, you had such an amazing smile on your face it was priceless. As Miss Angela lead you onto the stage Jen and I ran down the stairs to sit in the front seat to watch you perform.

Ga be you were holding Miss An gela's hand and as soon as everyone saw you bringing your girls out the entire crowd said "Awwww" and applauded. It was amazing and moving. You and Li li ndsay SMILED the ENTIRE TIME you were out there. G abe when you started to twirl the girls Audrey sort of froze and you have her the twirl signal with your finger. It was really too cute. When you got thru turning 1.2 of the girls the crowd started applauding again. You stopped and looked at them like they were nuts. The look on your face easily said, "But I am not done yet". You did not knock off 1 tiara. You were amazing.

Lind say, I know that it was very hard for you knowing that G abe was dancing with Audrey and posing with Audrey at the end of the number. I have to say you really stepped up to the plate and did not let that interfere with your dancing. You made me so proud. Not allows can you do what you want and you made me proud by going out there and smiling the entire time. You and Gabe LOOKED like you had fun.

You asked as soon as you got off stage if you could go and do it again. :) Yes honey in another year. Next year you get to do 2 numbers! 1 tap 1 ballet.

Last night I was so immensely proud of how brave you were to get on that stage. I love you both so very much! It is hard to believe that you were those itty bitty babies that I brought home from the hospital. You bring me so much happiness and joy.

I LOVE YOU,
Mommy

Family Bathrooms

In our local mall there is a child care area where there are separate rooms for moms who want to breastfeed in private and there is a very nice bathroom with 2 potties. "A mommy potty and a little kids potty". Sweet Hannah, my emotionally scarred 2 year old, much prefers the Little Kids Potty vs the regular potties in the mall. So I trek 3 kids and a baby thru the mall to get to her favorite potty and we get there and the bathroom is occupied. Now of course Hannah is refusing to walk across the food court to the ladies bathroom because that would be where she fell into the toilet and the automatic flush toilet nearly sucked her into the drain. Now we all know that her fanny was NOT going down that drain, but in that instance that caused us to have to carry a potty chair in our stroller at Disney. We wait and wait and wait some more and 20 minutes later a teenaged couple walked out of the bathroom holding hands and giving each other mouth to mouth recussitation. During this time, I have befriended a Daddy who was out with his twins (boy girl also) and they were picking out a birthday gift for their mommy.

Well, I could not let it go. Hannah nearly peed her pants waiting to use the Little kids potty, I said to the couple... "Excuse me". They both turned around and gave me the Are you talking to us look. You know the look where you completely realize that these urchins now look at you as a MOM. A vile and evil parent that are out to spoil their fun. I continued, "This is a family bathroom and since you are sucking on each other like you are, I am completely hoping that you are NOT family. However, since this IS a family bathroom in the future can you please go find a dressing room in which to use to have you fun. Innocent little children who have nearly been sucked down the toilet on a BIG potty would really appreciate it." The couple looked at me and the Daddy of the other twins and said, "You can't tell us that YOU have never gotten it on in a bathroom". The daddy laughed and said, "Actually we can, WE are not a couple, never have been, and probably never will be since we JUST met waiting for you to get done". The young couple just walked away and I cringed at the thought of having Hannah use the potty. The Daddy and I looked at our kids and said, "The potty is broken we will have to use the other potties." I was not about to take my kids in that bathroom after those kids were doing their thing in there. NASTY

I will never look at a public bathroom the same. I thought that they were dirty nasty before....Now YUCK! I might have to start carrying a potty chair for me to use while we are out.

...Gets TORTURED!!!!!

Let me just say, he may have gotten chiggers.....I got a SICK HUSBAND! Yes you read that right. The worst form of torture. A sick man in the house. That is by far worse that 4 vomiting and pooping kids by atleast 100 times.

It seems my husband's allergic r esponse to the chiggers of nausea, diarrhea and the occasional episode of vomiting rendered him bed ridden (or couch ridden). The debilitating nausea and the crippling diarrhea were just too much for the strong man to handle, it caused him to slip into a state of sleep. (Not that that is hard at all) However during his moaning, groaning and belly aching (excuse the pun) *I* deemed that he indeed got the last laugh. He had fun at Geekfest and he got to come home and torture his wife.

Today he was "recovered" and decided that he had best kiss some ass. So the non-handy one went to Lowes and bought the closet organizer for the girls room. He even assembled it with some help from me and the kids.

Now if I can just teach him to put his laundry in the correct hampers we wold be going good...

She who has the last laugh....

I am going to sound very biter in this post, but guess what...I can if I want to. LOL This year my dear and devoted husbandsc-section causing GeekFest was held May 25-28th in Dallas. Last year it was April 29-May 1st. Yes both times I have encouraged him to go and have fun at his GeekFest.

Last year, my indiana academic diploma winner packed his cell phone in his suitcase and his 38 week pg wife could not get a hold of him that the dr wanted to induce her on Saturday. (Can you say LESS THAN BRILLANT DEAR?) So I ended up having to wait until Tuesday which resulted in our dear daughter turning breech again. I had a version (Think evil torture) and then a c-section. I DID say to my husband, while he was sitting next to me very pale and looking like he was going to vomit then pass out... "See what YOUR get together did to me. *I* could have had this baby Saturday and instead I am having a c-section. Thanks for packing your phone IN your luggage." All my OB could say was, "Man, I would hate to be you right now". LOL Yes I was sort of joking, but there was a part of me that was not. I was not thrilled with the entire process. I did not have much choice on the c-section either. My blood pressure was way up (198/127) and I was 5cm dilated.

This year I encouraged him to go even though he would get home 1 day before our daughters first birthday party. He went and played paint ball and had fun with the guys. You know...fun that included sleeping THRU the night (not something that I have done since before I conceived Hannah) eating with adults and not having to run a child to the bathroom during your meal, doing WHATEVER you wanted and not having to worry about if your kids would want to do it. You know THOSE types of things. So, he gets home Sunday and says, I think I got into poison ivy. He had this little blisters all over his chest, arms, belly and hips. He was itching like mad. I, the support wife that I am, told him to get his ass on the lawn mower we were having a party tomorrow and the grass needed mowed. I showed him MUCH MORE SYMPATHY than he gave me when I had my c-section. (Yes Darren, I DID SHOW YOU MORE SYMPATHY! :))

He doses up on benadryl, zyrtec, and whatever else he could to help with the itching. He has been miserable these past few days. Yesterday he was nauseated at work and just had to leave work. (rolls eyes...there is NO WAY most men could be mothers) He goes to the Dr and the Dr tells him that he got into chiggers. His nausea is his bodies response to the many bites he got while playing paintball at GeekFest. :) So while he is suffering, *I* get the last laugh. As evil as it sounds....What comes around....does go around dear husband.

Rectial costumes...

Sorry for the poor quality...they were taken with my cell phone. Here they are. Ga be will have a blue vest to match the dresses however it is still being made.

Dance Classes....

We have been discussing what summer dance classes the kids are going to take. So Friday night at dinner the kids and I were sitting around the table. (Darren was at work) And this is how the discussion went...

LB: What classes are we taking this summer?
Me: Hannah is taking preballet/tumbling. You and Gabe are taking ballet and tap.
LB: Mommy, when I am 5 can I take pole dancing lessons?
Me: I do not think so. I think you have to be a bit taller to spin effectively around the pole. You might want to ask your father about that.
LB: I will do that.

I was thinking to myself...I bet you will. She forgets NOTHING. So this morning Darren is getting ready to leave for work...This is how it goes...

LB: Daddy, I have to ask you something.
Darren: Yes honey
LB: When I am 5 can I take pole dancing lessons?
Darren: Umm, I DO NOT THINK SO!!! Ummm....NO!!!!
LB: How about when I am 6?
Darren: How about NEVER?

The conversation was dropped there. Later LB tells me. I asked Daddy if I could take pole dancing lessons when I was 5. I said, Oh really what did he say? She replies....He said never. But that just won't work.

LMAO.... Please DO NOT let all the money that I am putting into dance class go towards my daughters future career as a pole dancer.

:)

In other dance news... Recital is in 2.5 weeks. The kids dance number is sort of like a train wreck. It is just something you cannot stop watching even though it is horrifying.

Organized sports....
My Nephew plays Tball. I went to their first game. Now let me tell you. THAT is hysterical. Little 5 year olds playing TBALL is so much fun. They all did a great job but there are a few that just make you laugh. The day I went there was a little boy who obviously had to pee. He gets up to bat and he is yanking on his crotch. My brother, mom and I start snickering. We just KNOW what this kid needs. He gets into position (and their coach was pitching to them) and the kid drops his bath to grab at his crotch again. I am telling you...my sick MOM humor about did me in. Kid finally gets on base and he is just a grabbing at his crotch. They finally take the field and this kid is short stop. He continues to have these issues with his crotch. Finally it must have gotten too much for him and the kid comes running off the field in the middle of a play and runs straight to the bleachers to find his mom. Mom and Kid run off to the Port a Po tty. Really it was priceless. I cannot wait until next year when my kids can play. It is going to be so much fun.

A question....

A friend and I were discussing this earlier in the week. However my friend made a comment, "It all comes back to the mom. Our kids will be in therapy in 15 years and they will be blaming everything on THE MOM." So, my question is....Since there is an increasing number of SAHD, will the children of the SAHD be blaming the MOM or the DAD on who is to blame for their said disfunction? Are we moms finally going to be cut a break? Just food for thought.....

I lost them...

When we were paking to move my husband wanted to pack the box containing my grandparents cremains. I however nearly gave birth to an entire farm of cattle when he said that. I told him that they were a carry to the new house. Well....my husband made the last few trips to and from the old house. I have almost the e ntire house unpacked. My office needs unpacked and organized and a few boxes in the garage. However it seems that I have lost my grandparents. I cannot believe that I have misplaced them.

So much to blog!!!

If this ends up being epic, please forgive me. There is so much going on in my head I need to empty up some space and put things out here.

First of all, our trip. For the most part it was wonderful. We had a few rough patches, but mainly it was good. I do have some funny Darren stories to share. The Thursday before we were going to leave one of Darren's techs was diagnosed with rectal cancer. (Her prognosis is excellent) but that news brought Darren to the conclusion that he needed to give up one of his vices. So, armed with this knowledge, 4 children nearing recovery of the stomach flu, 1 mommy recovering from the tummy flu and a daddy who never quiet got that damn stomach flu we leave for vacation. Saturday was not bad at little edgey but he rested a lot in the car. Kristin and I dubbed him, Mt Restmore. LOL He completely agreed. We arrived in Kissimmee at 12:30am. Unpacked the car, got the kids into bed and got ourselves into bed.

Sunday morning I got up at 6am and upacked the suitcases, repacked the diaper bag for the M G M and got myself showered and the kids fed showered and ready. We head out to M G M and I decide to stop at Dunkin Donuts. Of course this one did not have a drive thru so I parked and went in. Darren stayed in the car with the kids. While I am in this VERY LONG LINE I look up in time to see someone back into my car. A VERY BAD WORD came out of my mouth and I see the guy start to drive off. Darren jumps out of the car and I notice that the guy had parked 2 parking spots away from my car. (The 2 he left between us were handicapped parking spots) No damage done to the car and they go on their merry way. I come out of DD with donuts, apple juice and the XLG French Vanilla Coffee 4 cream 4 splenda concoction that will help me get thru my very fun filled day at the Happiest Celebration on Earth. We head the the theme park. We arrive and are going to park. There are 2 lanes and the right had to merge into the left. So we immediately merge and so does everyone...except the 1 jackass that has to speed to the front of the line to cut that person off. That said person was me. Since he also had a big truck I tapped my horn as I stomped on the breaks to keep from hitting the jackass. He decides to flip me off. Iroll my eyes and wave and think...what a great guy. Nearly hits me them flips me off when I let him know that I was in the place he wanted (and took) We go to park and Darren is brewing and brewing and brewing and then starts to laugh. Jackass is directly in front of us. Jackass has to park next to us. Darren, my spousue who has been viceless for 48 hours, decides that he needs to say something to this jackass. I was all, Darren DO NOT do this here. This is not something you want to teach your children, darren DO NOT SAY ANYTHING. Of course, does he listen to me? Heck no... we park. I BARELY had the car in park and my husband throws open the passenger door and jumps out of the car in a fashion that resembled the nursery rhyme Jack be nimble and heads to the truck next to us. I jump out of the car to struggle with the 4 children, double stroller, single umbrella stroller, back pack and camera bag. I see my husband march over to the drivers side window and proceed to KNOCK on the window. Now I am starting to get nervous when the man rolls his window down. My husband proceeds to very tactfully express his concern over the guys behavior to this man and all he could say was, I just wanted to park. Darren was all, "Dude, I got my kids in the car and you flipped us off." The guy decided to open his mouth and say, "WEll I have my kids in the car and I did not like that your wife honked at us." To which Darren lost it a bit. He leaned in towards the guys window and informed him that he was not teaching his children how to handle things well by giving them the finger and that if he was not trying to cut us off he would not have gotten the horn honked at his especially since we had already been hit by another stellar driver down there. I was so concerned that Darren was going to pull the man out of his truck being that he was viceless. During this time, LB looks at me and says, "Mommy what was that guy doing when he stuck his middle finger up at us?" (That child SO does not need glasses) I am not sure wether Darren's behavior or my brain frenzy on how to answer my daughter caused me to drop my coffee but I did. I scramble to inform my daughter that, "Honey that is the way that some people in FL say HI. However WE NEVER say HI that way".

Darren all proud of his behavior and armed with an apology comes back to the car and beats on his chest. I mean he takes the baby while I load grab the children and strollers, backpack and camera bag and we head off the the tram.

We load the tram and get off, and I notice that I have both strollers, backpack, camera bag and 3 children. 1phone call placed to the Flan Clan asking them to purchase a DD coffe for me and I will GLADLY reimburse, me reshuffling belongings and we are off to have our body cavities, I mean bags searched.

The rest of the day went pretty well. I got to meet the amazing Sabrina, Mr. Sabrina and the beautiful and very talented Emily and Bailey. Let me just say, this family is just so amazing! I LOVE THEM! It was so easy to meet them. It was truely like I have known them forever. Maybe it is because we have spoken almost daily for 3 years or the fact that I have seen so many pics of their kids, but it was just SO EASY! I will say this, the Mr Sabrina attempted to make a funny in which resulted in me crying. Of course not from it being funny but in humilation. LOL Just think AIRPORT and you will know what I am talking about. Those of you who do not email me and I will fill you in. I actually can laugh about him doing this. I even poked fun at him later in the week about making me cry. (Truely Mr Sabrina is a VERY NICE GUY and DID NOT MEAN to UPSET ME) It was truely funny after the fact. LOL * Smooches Mr Sabrina *

The Wonderful and HEROIC FLAN CLAN came to my rescue and brougt my IV of Caffiene. The kids were AMAZING together. It was like they have known each other for years. It was just SO EASY! The sweet Miss Emily cozied up to Gabe at Fantas mic. She had her little arm wrapped thru his arm and LB wrapped Emily and herself up in Kristins sling. It was just too sweet to see how all these kids interacted. Jason was Emily's other buddy. It is a good thing that Mr. Sabrina knows how to shoot a gun. If Mr Sabrina is ever missing....better check the shooting rangem he better get into practice before the boys come a knocking. ;) Bay is amazing. At the sweet little age of 20 months she has a full blown case of OCD. She can actually fasten the seatbelt clasps on t he strollers. Not just hers, but everyones. She is SUCH A LOVE!!!!

The Flan children were as always just SO AMAZING! They are so wonderful and compassionate to others. Lily took LB under her arm and they went everywhere together. Jason had Emily and Gabe. Kelsey had Lil Hannah with her. I wish I would have gotten a pic of ALL the kids together. They were just amazing. It was so much fun. I am not sure if I had more fun watching all the kids or being with my amazing friends. :)

A momentuous moment that day was that the Mommies and the Aunt (My SIL Kim) got to ride on the Rock and Roll Roller Coaster. The daddies stayed with the 9 children. (The 10th child road the roller coaster with us) However, when we arrived back to the men, ALL the children were accounted for AND we had an extra one. :) Only one minor injury and that would be my clutzy ballerina tripping over her own 2 feet. Of course the first aid kit came in handy.

Monday we went to M G M t catch the STUNT SHOW (A MUST SEE) and I was text messaging Lynn. It went sort of like this...
Me: Are you at the Stunt Show
Lynn: Yes upper left
Me: (I was looking around while getting ready to type my reply and looked over and noticed this lady that looked just like lynn) Are you wearing a white and pink stripped shirt w ith a white pony tail holder and your sunglasses on your head? If so look over your LEFT shoulder.
Low and behold this lady looks over her shoulder and it was Lynn! We were 2 rows apart and maybe 10 people apart. It was so nice to catch up with her after the show. After that we hunted down the Flan Clan and the Sabrina family.

Wednesday we had breakfast at the Crystal Palace. The Flan Clan and The Sabrina families were unable to make it. The Flan Clan had the tummy flu and the Sabrina Family decided to head back to the base with the DH. I however got to meet another amazing mommy. Julie (Goober) and her 3 amazing kids. Hunter, Colton and Maddie are just so beautiful! They are so sweet kids. We all ate a wonderful breakfast and had birthday cake for Fayeth's first birthday. I had so much fun with Julie. She is an amazing source of energy. We also caught up with Lynn and Victoria at the MK. A great day was had by all.

Friday we met up with Lynn and Victoria and did some shopping and played in the water fountain.

I had such a great time and I am looking foreward to October. I am not looking foreward to the drive...But it should be great fun with Carie and Conor. If you know of any good road trip songs please leave me a message. We will have 3-4 year olds, 1-3 year old and 1-1 year old with 2 parents and hopefully 1 grandparent. :)