Today

After picking up Kori from school at 12:30 we headed to my parents to pick up my mom. We had to pick my dad up from the doctors office today as he had to go and get his arthritis medication via IV today. My sister took him and I was responsible for picking him up. It takes a couple of hours for these injections so we stopped at McDonald's for some lunch and to kill some time before he would be ready. Kori and Kamryn were having a nice conversation and Kori informed Kamryn that we were eating at McDonald's. My sweet, very verbal child promptly repeated, "Yeah, McDonkey's". So do you eat at McDonkey's? We do!

Last night while finishing up Kori's bedtime story Alexis was grumbly and fussing VERY minorly. (Is that a word?) Any way, Kamryn started to call for me. I answered her and she informed me "Alexis wants you!" She did this several times and Kori and I could only giggle. It was tooooooooo cute! She is such a little mother to her sisters sometimes. It just kills me to hear her! She is very verbal and will repeat just about anything she hears. She loves to "read" and is saying more 4-5 word sentences. Alexis and Morgan and doing very well in the verbal area as well. Today Morgan was like a little parrot with everything my mom was saying.

Have I mentioned what it's like with four kids chattering? Noisy but wonderful all the same!

It Has Arrived

The last day of school is tomorrow! We survived Kindergarten! So thankful to Ms. Phillips for making the beginning of Kori's school experience so awesome! She really did have a fantastic year! It was a wonderful say to kick things off!

It seems like only yesterday we were taking her and I was trying so hard not to cry until we got back to the car. She was being so brave and I was so proud of her, yet so scared for her as well. Now here we are eight months later. She can read, she is getting so good at telling time (on a real clock not those stupid digital ones!), she can tie her shoes. She could do none of those things before school started. I can't credit school with all of them as daddy taught her the shoe tying, but it just goes to show how much a little one can change over the course of a few months. She did awesome and I am sooooooo proud of her! No behavior issues, which I didn't expect. Didn't get into trouble too often for talking to much, I was a little surprised about that one. My favorite thing hearing about her from Ms. Phillips at Parent/Teacher Conferences was that Kori wants to do the right thing and is kind and courteous to others. That always makes a parent feel proud!

Tomorrow they are getting their yearbooks and having a luau. She is excited and I am excited for her. I am going to pick her up in the afternoon and drop some "thanks for taking such great care of my child" flowers off for Ms. Phillips.

Time sure does fly!

The Children...

in my life are my world! I know there are times that I must not sound like that is the case, but truly they are! Not only mine, but my niece and nephew as well (even though Cody is at the age where he is cool and I am dorky, I love him anyway. I keep telling him someday he'll appreciate my "coolness"). The kids in my life are wonderful and fill my heart with warmth and love!

Tonight I planted some flowers and was watering them when Kamryn kept sticking her hands in the water. So I started getting her a little wet. Oh no, she loved it! Then came Morgan. When I first got her, she held her breath for a second and made the funniest face, then started chanting "More, more!" Well Alexis was not going to miss out so here she came. She was marching through the yard with her knees going so high I thought for sure they'd bang into her little chest. Kori joined in and it was a party.

My sister, brother-in-law and niece stopped by enroute to get some ice cream and boy did Mallory want to join in. Her mean mommy said no though! Boooooo for mean mommies! (Love ya B!) Anyway she tiptoed up to me and whispered to me (so her mommy couldn't hear) "Get me Aunt Mi-Mi". It was tempting but I didn't want to have to run from her mom with my bad knee and all. Maybe another time cause I am NOT scared of her mommy! :-) She was so cute when they got there too telling me her whole name, first, middle and last. It sounds so cute! The kid is a mess I tell ya! But a good mess and I love her!

My girls would have played in the hose for hours I'm sure. I grabbed some towels and stripped everyone down in the garage before we retreated to the house for baths. It was fun! The giggles and squeals are infectious and can make my heart feel like it is going to burst! Can't wait to do it again!

Better retreat to bed. My knee is throbbing and I have some more book to read. We're down to 3 half days of school left too! Woo hoo! I am ready for Summer vacation!!!!!! Oh yeah, Kori is too. :-)

She's Bilingual!

As I was getting Kori ready for bed tonight I asked her if everything was picked up that had been drug out previously. She assured me that it was. I told her I meant EVERYTHING. Oh yes, everything is picked up mom, was her reply. Well I went in her room and there was a pile of paper on the floor, along with my scissors from the kitchen. (The same scissors I was looking for earlier and she assured me she had not seen or used.) The papers were left overs from an art project she did for my mom before we left to take my parents to Walmart.

I told her to pick it up so she could get to bed. She got to it and as she started I heard her mumble under her breath, "Stupid crap". Uh excuse me? (Crap is totally my fault, because I catch myself saying it A LOT! It's a better alternative than other words I suppose, but still not great for a six year old!) I asked her "What did you say???" Her reply, "Uh, nothing." I informed her that I heard her and she was NOT to say crap. She then pipes up with, get ready for this! "Uh mommy, crap is the Spanish word for paper you know." Nice try I informed her! I took Spanish in school (middle school but she doesn't need to know that) and I still remember some and I'm quite certain crap is NOT the Spanish word for paper. What was her reply you ask? "Well you can't blame a girl for trying huh mom?" No honey, I suppose not. It was hard not to giggle, but I saved it until I was out of her room and definitely out of ear shot!

Her dad got a HUGE chuckle about that! She's a nut I tell ya!

My Parents

As you've noticed the last couple of days I have been my parents chauffeur/errand guide.

My dad still isn't 100% after his fall, add in his neuropathy and arthritis and he's nothing short of slow moving. It's frustrating for him and bums him out. Not exactly the plan he had in mind when he imagined life one year after retirement.

My mom has hurt her back again. She has a bad back anyway, add in lupus, arthritis and other ailments and she's not great either. Add in her doing the extra stuff my dad can't do because she is stubborn and can't/won't ask for extra help and she's just thrown everything out of whack again.

She's some better but driving really hurts her back. So Friday I took them to the grocery store and today we got Walmart shopping out of the way. It kills her to ask/accept help, but she doesn't have any other choice.

She was sneaking around and mowing their grass and added more insult to injury in her back/hip department. The neighbor guy is now doing it. Jason and my brother-in-law Billy both offered their help but when asked she kept saying it didn't need mowing. Next thing we know she'd been out mowing. So frustrating!

After much prompting and prodding I finally convinced her to let me take them to the store. She was quiet the whole trip, which is unlike her. No grumbling or complaining, not even once. She seemed a bit defeated but was grateful after the fact because she readily admitted she would not have made it without my help. I carried in all their stuff when we got home and put things away in the freezer/basement that needed to go down there.

Same with Walmart today. My dad uses a walker and it's hard to carry stuff and hold on to the walker too, so I carried in their stuff.

The girls were happy to get out, happy to see Nanie and Pop-A, and I got my stuff too. Killed a few birds with one stone, so to speak.

I hate to see my parents like this. I make sure to call them daily, usually a couple times a day to make sure they've gotten out of bed and are doing okay. I always check in before bedtime too to make sure they are settled in for the night. It's not always easy because when my mom isn't feeling well she can be pretty unpleasant. There are days I have to talk myself into calling because I know she will be difficult to deal with, but I make myself do it. I'd never forgive myself if I didn't call and they were laying there needing help or something.

My mom worries about asking me for help as I have the girls. My sister works and has a daughter too. My brother is 30-35 minutes away, and they have their things to do as well, not to mention my brother still isn't 100% from knee surgery in January. I don't mind, I keep telling her that, but she still feels badly. I guess I feel like I owe them for all of the great things they do and have done for me, Jason and my girls.

My mom's negativity sometimes interferes with her relationship with my sister. Some days it's hard for Becky to deal with the negativity and pessimism. If she knows mom's "in a mood" she won't call for a few days as it's hard to process sometimes. I know my mom doesn't mean to be like that, but that doesn't make it any easier. Especially when your dealing with things in your own life and your stress or patience levels are 100% anyway.


I looked at my parents while they were grocery shopping on Friday night. They looked more frail and fragile than I remembered, or maybe more so that I wanted to admit. See in my mind I'm still in my late teens early 20's and my parents are still in their 40's-50's and healthy and robust. It's rough. After my dad's fall it was clear to me that they aren't as tough as they used to be. That can be a tough pill to swallow as a child when thinking of your parents. I guess I try and keep that in mind when dealing with them. I think the guilt would be too much to bear for me if I acted any other way and then something happened to them. After my sister passed away it reiterated to me that you should treat others good while they are here, because once they are gone, you can't fix the past and sometimes it's hard to deal with after the fact. I remember grumbling to Jason's step-mom a few months after Maggie passed away that my mom was so grumpy and grouchy anymore. She told me to "Take it easy on her, losing a child is the worst thing a person can go through. It truly makes you go a little crazy and you definitely lose part of yourself". She spoke with some experience as she'd had a stillborn daughter and it was very hard for her. I try and keep that in mind too. My mom has gone through some pretty intense and incredible stuff in her life, it's part of what makes her who she is. She's done so much for my brothers and sisters, for our whole family. Even on her "difficult days" when I have to keep saying that over and over, I am still thankful to have her and my dad for parents. They make me who I am as a mother, daughter, sister, aunt and friend.

Being an adult stinks sometimes!

Happy Memorial Day!

It's hot and humid here, that sure didn't take long to happen. We went from cool days and chilly nights to a few pleasant days before plunging into what I am lovingly calling "swamp air". Yesterday morning it rained a bit and when I got up and turned on the attic fan it was pulling in "swamp air". It quickly got turned off and on came the AC. As much as I love having the windows open and fresh air flowing through my home, once the humidity hits, the deal is off!

It rained again last night and this morning and now the sun is out, making more muggy's. I despise humidity!

Today for our Memorial Day celebration we, drumroll please...took my parents to
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WALMART!

Fun huh? Not really, but they needed to go, I saved up my stuff that I needed to get since they needed me to drive them and off we went. Thankfully it wasn't too crowded.

I pushed Kamryn and Morgan in a two-seater cart, and Kori hitched a ride sometimes too, while my mom handled a cart with Alexis. My dad was on his own in a motorized cart...he's a speed demon, much to Kori's delight!

Anyway, that was our fun day. We grabbed some McDonald's on the way home and after eating the trio took a short nap.

Jason has off-duty this evening, so it's just the girls, my bum knee and I.

It's bath night and I'm dreading the kneeling part. It's not going to be pleasant. I was awake until 4:30 this morning with it. I might have to perch my not so small rearend on the side of the tub for the bathing portion. That should be interesting.

That's about it for us today. I am blah as I am sore and tired, causing a headache. The girls are having a tea party so they are entertained, for now.

Anyway, a big thanks to past and current military personnel for allowing my family to have the freedom and opprotunities that we do! We appreciate your efforts and sacrifices greatly!!!! God bless you all!!!!!

Things

Whew! What a week it's been! Kori had a crazy week at school with "Community Helper" presentations, a limo ride to a pizza party, field day, talent shows. It was a bit insane.

With the help of my sister Becky I was able to go to Kori's field day and help. She was gracious and thoughtful enough to take off of work to come and keep my trio. She was lucky, well as lucky as you can be when watching three almost 2-year olds, that they slept until 10:30 or so. It's tough to get up early when you keep yourselves up late meowing at each other. That's right, meowing. The cat meowed at me from the doorway of their room while I was trying to get them to calm down and go to sleep. This small gesture set off about 45-minutes of constant meowing between the three of them. It was funny though. At any rate, she was here, I was there and Kori was very happy about that. She had a great field day and I had fun helping. It was my first time, I suppose that makes me a parent field day virgin. I'd done field days as a student but never as a mom helping. I enjoyed it very much.

This was Jason's 1st 4-day weekend and man do I love them! He had off-duty on Thursday and Friday but having him home every evening is wonderful! Help with baths, corralling hooligan, I mean, the girls, it is wonderful! I pretend during these times that he's on days and we're just normal people going about our normal daily routine. Hey, a girl can dream huh?

Friday I took my parents to the grocery store. I'll expound more on that in another post in the near future.

Saturday we loaded up after the sleeping trio finally graced us with their presence at 11:15 (more meowing keeping themselves up late) and hit the streets for some shopping/errands. Kori needed a Hawaiian style shirt or dress for school on Thursday as they are having a luau. I got some books for my birthday later this week from Barnes and Noble. I was having some trouble locating the invitations and such I needed for the party for the trio next month. After some calling around I found a place in Overland Park that had what I needed. Gas at $3.75 a gallon, a trip that's 40 miles out of our way, heck with it, I had to have these invitations. Off we went!

Success! Partyware in hand, time for dinner! Well Kamryn invaded Alexis' "no fly zone" and so Alexis retaliated with pulling her hair and refusing to let go. I'm sure I looked like a loon climbing from the front seat to the back seat to get her to release her grip on Kamryn's hair. There were a few casualty strands, but all in all, no real injuries. I instructed Kamryn to stay in her own area and this would not be a problem in the future. Back up front for me.

Back to dinner! We stumbled upon Cinzetti's (I think that's spelled right). I knew it existed but didn't know where, we totally stumbled upon it by accident. Jason was thrilled because the outside signage boasted an "All You Can Eat Italian Feast". We were headed to the Macaroni Grill anyway so we quickly found a parking spot as Jason declared "This is it, we're eating here!" It was a feast. My little eaters were in pasta heaven, as was Jason. Kori and I did our fair share of damage and we declared our meal a complete success.

Well there was a hiccup or two.

Hiccup #1 - Right when we sat down and got everyone settled our waitress came over and started to take our drink orders. Well over came a lady from the next table, wearing a big, yep you read that right a bib. She was a grown woman and apparently was worried about soiling her clothing with spaghetti sauce, thus the bib? Well that's what I'm hoping anyway. Well she popped over and interrupted the waitress to ask, "Excuse me are those there triplets?" Now I was a bit irritated as we were in the middle of something and I said, as politely as I could muster, "Yes they are". She then very loudly yelled to her table "See, I told ya'll they was triplets, I told ya'll!!!!!" At this point I didn't answer any more questions, I quit all eye contact and I continued with our orders. Well this didn't go over well as I heard a few grumblings from their table about my "unfriendliness" towards her and her questions. If you know me you know I am a nice and friendly person. I have adjusted rather well to the peppering of questions and comments, gawks, stares, pointings etc. that we receive when we are out. We had encountered several already throughout the day, even meeting another mom with identical triplet girls, who were 11, at Barnes and Noble. Jason and I enjoyed talking to her a lot! (She looked sane and still had all of her original hair, I was impressed!!!! Hoping that's the case for me in 9 more years, I have my doubts at times and have considered a wig fitting sometime in the not so distant future). I just found this woman to be so rude in interrupting us and her loud yelling after the fact that I didn't feel like dealing with it anymore. My family was hungry, a minute or two interruption to some might seem like nothing, but to hungry kids, it's an eternity. I try and avoid/distract/deter any meltdowns in public, as much as possible.

Hiccup #2 - The table behind us had three boys, ages say 6-10 or so. Well one was about 8 and kept standing up throughout the whole meal. He kept throwing things (food, napkins, etc) and then would want to crawl around and retrieve it. His parents must have told him at least 100 times to sit down and eat. That was a no go. He literally stood and held on to the back of my chair for quite some time, which I found to be very irritating and space violating. I guess I expected a bit more as the kids were older. Goodness knows as a mother of a 6-year old I know they don't always agree with what we need/want them to do, but goodness, the parents did nothing to deter it except the repeated "sit down and eat" statements.

Other than that the meal was a success!

After a stop at Lowe's for flowers/tomato plants we were finally home. We decided the girls should play out for a bit to release some pent up energy. Good idea! After running and sweating it was bath time.

All was going well until I picked up Alexis to put her to bed, tripped over Morgan who had stumbled into my path, unbeknownst to me and fell. I did good to get Alexis semi-sat down before crashing but I banged up my left arm, right knee and right foot pretty bad. It's swollen and green and painful, but hey no injuries to the little ones, which was my goal.

Today was a baby shower for Becky and I. Jason was on kid duty until nap time. Then he and Kori headed out to do some landscaping in the back and tomato planting.

It was a good weekend. Unfortunately Jason had to head back to work tonight. Only 4 more days until his next days off, but who's counting.

Blog Stalker

I have one. I'm not scared though because it's my sister Becky. She apparently has nothing better to do than inform me on how many days it's been since I've updated my blog.

She called me Friday and "politely" informed me that my blog was not up to date. She further informed me that she just knew I had plenty of things to blog about.

Yep I do, unfortunately I don't always have the time to do it.

So here you go Becky, today you are my subject matter. Love ya!

35???

Huh? How in the world did that happen? Jason called to inform me that he took the liberty of scheduling me an appointment for a facial (highly recommended by my hair dresser, I've never had one) on my birthday next week. Sure enough, I checked the calendar today and realized that in 12-days, well 11 now, I will be 35. I did great with 30, no big deal. 35 does not sound as appealing.

My bones are creakier and stiffer than they used to be. I feel a bit older, but I attribute that to have four kids, three of which are the same age, but 35????

I know that's not old, but I was enjoying my early 30's. No need to visit the mid 30's just yet. Jason will be entering his late 30's this year as he will turn 38. Dang, we're getting old.

I'd sigh, but I'm too old and tired.

Daddy's Girl

Kori politely informed me the other day that while she loved me very, very much, she is "her daddy's girl". That comment warmed my heart and made me smile. I assured her that was perfectly fine, as I was my daddy's girl when I was young too. (If you ask my mom I still am because she says I always take "his side" but I don't, so don't believe her).

At any rate, this week Kori and her class, well all the Kindergarten classes are studying Community Helpers. Jason was asked a while back to give a presentation on being a Police Officer.

Kori has been excited about this since the fall when it was first brought up. It seems in her head she has counted down the days.

For the last week I've heard "Only _______ (insert appropriate number) days until daddy comes to my school!"

This morning I woke her up with my normal kiss on the cheek and her eyes flew open. She quickly said "Hooray, daddy is coming to my school today!!!!"

She got dressed without me grumbling, which I assure you this is a rarity. She wanted her hair fixed "pretty" as opposed to the crappy ways I usually fix it?

I bet she was about to bust throughout the day at school.

After the presentation, Jason brought her home from school. She walked in with a smile so big I'm quite certain her face must have hurt. I asked "how'd it go?" to which she replied, "It was AWESOME!" Please understand as a woman who never imagined I'd have one child, let alone four beautiful children, who all love their daddy very much, to hear this melted my heart.

I asked daddy how he did and he said he thought he did okay. He conferred with his expert in this area, and she confirmed that he did excellent! I sent my camera with him so Kori's teacher could take a few pictures for me.

Daddy did a short presentation on the duties of a police officer, went over the parts of his uniform, and took a police car to show them and to let them sit in. Kori informed me that a couple of the girls in her class said her daddy was "handsome". One told her she loved his hair color, that cracked me up!

I am glad that Kori loves her daddy so much. I am so thrilled that daddy could go to school. I truly believe he is one of the best officers, well Sergeants, I guess now, on the department. Someday I hope Kori can appreciate some of the things daddy has had to do and see at work, and realize how tough, scary, uncertain, awful and unpredictable the job and the world can be. But for right now, she's too young to grasp any of that, and I'm glad for it.

I'm just glad for now her daddy is her "super hero". We'll see if that's the case in her teenage years.

My Saturday

Well Saturday was predicted to be a lovely day and it didn't disappoint. My sister and I upon hearing the weather forecast earlier in the week, decided that if that were to truly be the case, we should "do something". Her husband was working on their deck, mine was sleeping of course after working yet another night on that dang night shift. (Still there and I'm still thrilled about it).

Anyway, we decided to go to the Deanna Rose Farmstead in Overland Park. A nice place! I've been lots of times. When I was a kid and then with Kori when she was younger. They have animals, petting zoo, play areas, a dairy barn, Indian encampment, pony rides, pygmy goats you can feed bottles of milk to, fishing in a way overstocked pond (no way you CAN'T catch a fish in it!), hay wagon rides etc. etc. etc.

We headed off! Positive attitudes in check, diaper bags and strollers packed! We stopped for fuel before heading out, grabbed a couple cold (non-alcoholic of course!) beverages and we were off!

Motoring along, singing along to the radio when bam! TRAFFIC JAM!!! Oh painful! Kori began to complain. As if sitting in completely non-mobile traffic was my idea of a grand way to spend my Saturday. We detoured and I decided that I was Ms. Know-which-way-to-go. I should have listened to Becky. Anyway, long story short after a rather frightening journey through a not-so-great few neighborhoods,we were back on the road!

Woo hoo! We got some lunch, ate it at one of the picnic tables before entering the farmstead and we were set. We hit the play area first. It was interesting, that's a good word, keeping track of everyone, but we did. We didn't lose anyone, everyone played and was happy. Moving on!

Kori "mined" for gems. We bought a small sack of "sand" that had actual little chunks of rose quarts, pyrite, etc. in it. You mined the sand out in a little running water area and discovered your gems. She had a great time! We hit the dairy barn after that with the little girls, my niece included, putting on a great impression of the baby cows in there. We attracted some stares and lots of chuckles when others heard the choruses of "mooooooooooooo". As if we don't attract enough attention as it is right?

On to the goats! The littles missed out on this part. My sister took Kori and Mallory and I decided no time like the present for a diaper change on a lovely bench.

Goats fed? Check! Butts dry? Check! Onward! Becky decided we should feed the fish. I eyed a large, roped enclosed dock in the distance. I also spied the feeding machines to buy food. Cool! Uh not so cool. Trying to keep 5 kids from plunging into aforementioned pond...anxiety attack inducing. We quickly agreed this idea was BAD and we were getting the heck out of there! I got scolded since it was "my idea" but I thought we were feeding the fish. Not those fish you idiot, the big goldfish further on" replied my sister (well not in those EXACT words but close!). Ohhhhhhhh I said, just as my heart rate was coming back down and my breathing was returning to a semi-normal state.

After a melt-down inducing visit (for Kori) to a large antique tractor we moved on. We checked out some mud covered pigs, a donkey (Mallory does a GREAT impression if you ever have the opportunity for a listen!) a buffalo and we fed some swans before locating the actual fish my sister had in mind for feeding, prior to the stroke inducing dock visit.

The girls then ran around a little garden area complete with a play house, stepping stones, mini-bridge etc. Oh what fun!!!! Did I mention at this point all the kids are completely filthy and Morgan was a sweaty mess. (She is a big time sweater poor thing!) We had barrettes hanging from single strands of hair, dirt filled shoes, stained clothes, snotty noses, OH WHAT FUN!

After a bathroom stop we decided we'd had enough fun for the day. Thirty minutes later after loading up the kids and equipment in the car, my sister and I proudly deemed the day another success! We're like 6-0 or something so far! How did we celebrate you ask? By getting ice cream...BEFORE dinner! Well some did, I passed. Kamryn celebrated by taking advantage of the quiet time to catch up on her missed nap. Morgan decided after a while that was a good idea too. The others decided they couldn't miss a thing so they stayed awake.

We returned to Jason grilling burgers out, yay!

The girls played on the swing set after dinner, adding more dirt and grime to their already filthy exteriors. The evening ended when Alexis proclaimed to me "Uh oh, ca-ca!" Upon investigating further, I had to agree. There was a brown substance half way up her back and spreading at a rapid rate. Fun over! Time to hit the tub!

Ahhhhh success is sweet!

Allow Me To Ramble

Well we're down to 7 days left of school. Four more days this week and three half days last week. Kori has already said she will miss her friends and Ms. Phillips. That's nice to hear. I will not miss HAVING to get in the car, unless I WANT to. No rushing to get things done in time for bedtime. I'm sure after a while I'll be ready for the bickering, whining, complaining to end, but for now I am ready for the challenge.

Tomorrow Jason goes to school to give a "Community Heroes" presentation to all of the Kindergarten classes about being a police officer. Kori could not be more excited. I think she'd bust if it were possible. I am glad he is doing it. It will be great for both of them.

Wednesday she takes a limo ride to the local Pizza Hut for a pizza lunch as a reward for a fund raiser done sometime back. She's super thrilled about that too.

Thursday is field day. My sister is keeping the little girls for me (thank you Aunt Becky) so that I can go and volunteer. It's from 9:30-11:30. Should be interesting, I'll keep it at that.

Next week is full of fun activities and with it being 1/2 days, the time will fly by. Can't believe she's done with Kindergarten already. I know I was just taking her on the first day and crying as I pulled away without her. Wow, time sure flies.

The little girls and I headed to Sam's today. They were cooperative and we needed diapers, so off we went. Things were going well. We stopped in the bakery section to pick up cupcakes for Kori's snack tomorrow when we happened upon three ladies who were so thrilled to see "real live triplets". Has anyone seen any other type lately??? They were nice ladies, but a bit loud and invasive of ones personal space. Two of my three were none-to-happy about that either. Kamryn started to tear up after a bit. Alexis tried hiding her eyes, but that didn't work so she soon booked a one way trip to Tearville with Kamryn. Morgan just looked at them as if to say "Please remove yourself from my personal space". They really were nice and inquisitive but the in-your-faceness put my little ones off a bit. So from then on I had two walkers and one rider. Oh joy! Thankfully they followed along nicely and didn't make a scene. We made it home with our diapers, cupcakes, and a few other necessities. Ahhhh success! Each time I attempt a trip "alone" I want to shout "I DID IT" from the rooftops. That would only further prove, to those that don't already know, that I am slightly mental.

Ramblings...

My sister not so politely told me to update my blog "because I'm sick of reading is it over yet". So here it is.

Same old same old going on around here. Jason chaperoned his first field trip yesterday. All the kindergarten classes went to the Red Barn Farm in Weston, Missouri. Animals, dirt, fresh air, what could be better. He said except for the 5 minutes they were given to eat their lunch, it was otherwise an enjoyable day.

He was pointing out some of the uh, what's a good word here, uh, kids that require a little more supervision. The same ones Kori talks about that act up in class, no surprise there. One of them, we'll call her "M" her mom actually supervised. Jason said EVERY question that was asked "M" would raise her hand, even though she didn't know the answer. Apparently she did this EVERY TIME. Jason said her hand was the first one to fly up in the air.

Kori then jumped in with a nice story when they were visiting with the pigs. Kori said "Farmer Kelly" was talking about the pigs when "M" raised her hand and asked "Why do pigs poop?" Farmer Kelly responded with "Why do YOU poop? We all poop". Good one Farmer Kelly, I don't think I could have been as nice. I probably would have started with "Well that's a dumb question". Good thing I was home wrestling toddlers. Kori deduced that was the "dumbest question she'd ever heard" and promptly followed that statement with a huge eye roll. Ahhhhh 6-year olds. Aren't they funny.

The whole experience wore out my husband. He was home long enough to briefly fill me in on the events of the day, show me the pictures he took and fall asleep on the couch after about 2.5 minutes. Kori and I were trying to watch Jon and Kate Plus 8, but someone, who shall remain nameless, was snoring VERY loudly and kept interrupting us. Ahhhh 37 year olds...aren't they cute.

Down to 10 days of school left. Three of those are 1/2 days...woo hoo!!!!! Can't wait until I don't HAVE to leave the house every day if I don't want to. Especially with the prices of gas.

I have retrained Kamryn to say homey not homo, well most of the time. That's probably not much of an improvement, but I'll take what I can get.

Two of the three are binky-free now which makes me very happy. Only 38 more days until vacation. Now if only the cleaning fairy would appear and whip my house into shape. Oh a girl can dream!

Ciao!

Is It Over Yet?

Mother's Day that is. I won't bore you with the details, well actually not many details to bore you with. I won't bash on my husband, because I don't think it's intentional that he totally drops the ball on this day every single year. It must just be something lacking inside him somewhere.

My children were less than cooperative today. Grumpy, clingy, whiny, bickering amongst themselves. Jason worked last night and slept today so no sleeping in or breakfast in bed, not that those things have ever really happened anyway. I had the duty of getting everyone loaded up and heading to my mom and dad's. It's normally not an issue, but since they were all uncooperative, it was not an easy task.

Kori made me a cute card at school and also brought home some marigold plants in a little decorated cup, which was very cute and sweet. She made me a card this morning too, which was nice.

My husband "forgot" to have the girls sign my card, which was sitting on the desk, in plain view, for the last 3-4 days. He did bring me home a small boquet of flowers with a balloon this morning after work, but by then instead of them being a nice gesture for being a good mom, it was more along the lines of, I dropped the ball again this year, maybe this will make you not notice. Uh, nope, I had already noticed the unsigned card still sitting on the desk at 1:00 a.m. before I went to bed last night. I knew he would see the girls until 3-4 this afternoon to have them sign it, and to be honest, by then it didn't even matter.

I made my own Mother's Day dinner, cleaned up the mess, did diaper duty, laundry, dishes, bathing duties, bedtime duties. Really it was just another Sunday.

I would like to say that I make this day sooooo easy for him. I don't ask for extravagent gifts. I always ask for plants/flowers for my yard and this year I asked for a pedicure. The aforementioned card I even picked out (I didn't read the inside) but the outside was so cute and it caught my eye. It was something that was "totally me" so really even that took no effort on his part.

I'm really and truly not mad. Sad and disappointed, you bet. Of all the things I try and be, I really work hard at being a good mommy. Not saying I always succeed. If you've read any of my posts you know there were lots of days I failed miserably. It would nice to have had a my nice card waiting for me this morning and something showing some effort was put into it. Normally this is something I would just shake off and go on. Today for some reason, it's bothered me all day and left me bumming.

Oh well, it's done and over. My expectations were low this year, they always are, but even this year I am disappointed.

To all the mommy's out there...I hope you had a wonderful day.

Oh No!

I've done a bad thing. It was unintentional and certainly not something I would encourage, but it happened and I am trying to correct it.

Yesterday I walked in the kitchen where Kamryn was and she said "Hi Mommy" (like they do 1,248,839,398,933 times a day). So instead of saying "Hi Kamryn" like normal, I decided to mix it up. I gave her a nice hearty "What's up homey" instead.

She chuckled and then promptly repeated it. My giggle turned to horror as I realized instead of "What's up homey" from her I got a not so great, "What's up HOMO".

Working on teaching her another cute and more endearing phrase now.

Fabric Softener

I have always been a "Downey Girl". My mom used it, Jason used it when we started co-laundering (sounds much nicer than living in sin). So that's all I've ever used. My mom used the original Downey with the pink cap. I have always used the green cap Downey, Mountain Spring or something ridiculous like that. I'm quite certain a mountain spring would smell fishy and more uh, nature-ish, but whatever.

Any way, I've had trouble recently finding the refill carton to refill my jug. I hate to just buy a new jug everytime. It's wasteful as my old jug is perfectly fine, it's more expensive etc. So I gave in and bought the original refill. Well it gave me a headache. So I bought a new jug. Man it's so expensive. I hate paying $9.00 for fabric softener, especially since I go through it sooooo fast.

So I decided a couple of weeks ago I was going to look for something else. I can't use Snuggle because I get hives and all itchy, it's not worth it. So I scan Walmart and I see something called "Suavitel" and then I saw "Gain". Wasn't crazy about the scent of the Suvavitel and it was a small bottle. The Gain had two scents, smelled nice and was a decent size bottle at just about $5.00. Bonus!

WRONG! I use it in my first load of clothes, which happened to be whites. Great! Jason's t-shirts smelled wonderful, but further inspection revealed them to be VERY SOFT, if you are comparing them to how soft they would feel up against cardboard! Oh my stars they were not soft like my Downey clothes. And the socks! Oh the humanity! It was like putting on an instant pedicure because I think I sloughed off some dead, dry skin. (I have four kids, my feet could probably use some work okay???). So I try some of my "pinks". We have a lot of those. They weren't too bad, but not as soft as I like, or am used to. I now put a little extra in than I usually would and it's decent.

I don't dare use it in things like sheets, jeans, and towels. Oh man, if I put it in towels, I'm afraid I might uh, uh, what's the word I'm looking for here, eradicate, okay that will work, I might eradicate something that I might need in the future. So no thanks.

At my most recent trip to Walmart I couldn't find the green jug even so I had to give in and get the original scent. I have mixed it with my 1/2 of a jug of the green in an attempt to temper my senses instead of shocking them.

DISCLAIMER: I cannot use any of the other Downeys because my husband does not want to smell like, Lavender, Lemon Grass (whatever the hell that is!), a Floral Garden, Tropical Rainforest, any of the new birthstone correlated scents, or anything else that might detract from his rough and tough manly exterior. Who would take one of KC's finest seriously if he walked up smelly like a Flowering Garden?

Life, it's tough sometimes, so many choices!

To the people at Downey, please bring back my Mountain Spring refills again, I am desperate!

Future Diva?

So today I came down the hall after putting in yet another load of laundry only to find Morgan sitting in the living room. She had previously been playing with the play kitchen and the dishes in the family room with her sister.

She was sitting down, hunched over working on something very intently. I peeked to find out what it was, sure it was something she wasn't supposed to be doing.

Wrong! My little sweetie was giving herself a pedicure! Yep, she was filing her toe nails with one of the popsicle sticks Kori has for craft stuff. I think we have a future diva in the making! I would have taken a picture but she was done just then and had to get back to working on a gourmet meal with her sisters.

Wednesday

Today was a good day. Jason was off, all day! No off-duty, no court, no meetings, no regular work, just off and home! After taking Kori to school the littles were still asleep so I cuddled in with Jason and slipped into a sinus-medication induced coma. Oh man did I sleep! I slept for a while, I won't say how long, but it felt good and I felt like I deserved it. Jason is working this weekend, so I called that my Mother's Day gift to myself since I won't get to sleep in on Mother's Day. It was nice!

We went to Kori's school to watch her class, along with a couple of others perform a little musical performance. It was sooooo dang cute! Of course I got weepy. If you know me, you know I would. It's my nature. Still hard to believe I am the mother of four beautiful daughters, let alone one that is Kindergarten.

Kori was "Ducky Duddle" and had some cute little baby ducks that swam behind her as they all sang. It was all very cute! Kori looked like her mom always did during these type of situations...flushed and nervous. But, she did wonderfully! It was so sweet! The littles enjoyed watching as well, which I was a little worried about. I didn't want them to be distruptive, and thankfully with a small baggie of snacks and a few sippies of water, all was well and thankfully quiet.

A big thanks to Aunt Becky for going. Kori always likes having her family there to watch her. My parents unfortunately weren't able to go as my mom is very sick with the Strep virus. Hoping she is feeling better soon.

We had an early dinner at Olive Garden after the performance. Bonus for me since I didn't have to cook. The girls were awesome and ate like pigs...all four of them.

As we were walking out, I was struck by how surreal life can be. I get this way quite often. It is sometimes easy to forget that these special little miracles, are mine. Crazy! My beautiful 6-year old, sassy, loving, funny, silly, crazy, wild, child! And the three gorgeous, healthy, wonderful, crazy, wild, wild, wild, (did I mention wild?) miracles! They truly are miracles! To see them all walking in a line behind Jason (who is the most handsome hubby in the land!) it is just so amazing to me! Kori in her pink shirt and maroon/pink flowered skirt. The littles in their denim dresses and little sandles...oh man were they all ever cute! We garnered lots of attention, which was fine, and we even scored a few compliments on how well behaved they were.

A rather uneventful trip to Walmart followed. I am really starting to detest that place, but I find that I must go there. Alexis decided half way through she wanted and was going to walk. She struck up a nice game of catch with an adorable little boy in the outdoor toy aisle. It was cute to watch her interact with someone unrelated to her. So sweet!

It ended with her protesting as I carried her out. She waned to walk through the parking lot, which was NOT happening. I had to pull rank on her and carried her and she yelled in protest. Oh well, other than that it was a pretty perfect day!

I love days like this! Unfortunately the next few weeks will be NUTS around here so look for some frazzled posts from me!

Photo Session

Yesterday the little girls looked so sweet and I thought it would be a perfect time to get a picture of the three of them together. I don't have very many of those, so I felt I was due.

Is is too much to ask? I just wanted ONE picture of them sitting nicely together on the stairs. This is what I got:

(From left to right they are Morgan, Kamryn and Alexis in case you are wondering)












Just one picture of them sitting and smiling. Instead, notice the last picture Alexis is starting to cry. I was sweating and snorting...it was exhausting! Oh well, they are cute in their own way huh?

Jump Rope Skills

So yesterday while I was out playing with the girls I decided to pick up Kori's jump rope and show her my mad jump rope skills. She was impressed. It was a good idea until my knee popped and started hurting.

I've deduced that jump roping is for younger, lighter people, not myself. While my daughter was thoroughly impressed with my skills, I am quite certain I will shelve them until the next time I feel the need to inflict bodily injury upon myself.

Bad Storms

So Friday morning around 1:40 a.m. I was awakened from my Benadryl assisted slumber to rain, thunder, lightening, and Kori laying in bed with me. I got up and closed the window I had cracked and it was just pouring! Then the winds started. In all of my 34 (almost 35) years I have never, ever seen or heard winds like that. I was looking out our bedroom windows and the wind was actually coming in through the closed windows. The blinds were blowing, it was scary! Jason was working (of course!) and since our satellite was out due to the storm I called him. I was trying to remain calm as I didn't want to freak Kori out, but I'll admit it, I was scared!

Jason said there was a big storm coming in but that it wasn't doing anything where he was. (He's about 20-minutes away). I assured him it was doing LOTS here. I didn't hear the tornado sirens going off, but that's sure what it felt like. I decided it wasn't safe for Kori and I to stay in our bedroom since it's the highest part of the house so we moved down into the kitchen. I listed to the local news reports on the radio in the kitchen and they said a squall line with straight line winds was coming through. Well after a while it passed and Kori and I headed back to bed. (The little girls slept through it all!)

Jason called about 2:30 and said just north of us there was a lot of damage! Houses destroyed, some blown off the foundation.

Well the next day we learned it was an F3 tornado that came through. It touched down in a subdivision north of us, where LOTS of people we know live. One of the girls that works for Jason actually lives there and has some damage. We have another couple that have lost their home. Very scary! To drive through and see the destruction, it sure makes you feel thankful.