Patience???

Why is it that my husband has so much patience with so many things, and yet not so much on other things???

The man will sit for HOURS on doper time, waiting for the drug deal of the century to go down, nabbing the suspect in the process.

He will sit for HOURS waiting for a suspect to reoccupy a stolen auto, thus nabbing the suspect in the process.

He can sit and watch baseball or football for hours, never losing interest.

He golfs for goodness sakes. One of the most boring "sports" on the planet (sorry golf lovers). It certainly takes patience for that.

Give the man a gingerbread house and all patience goes out the window.

So without further adieu, (for the sake of my kids feelings, please, no laughing)I give you our 2009 Gingerbread "Creation":

So glad...

That this holiday season, well most of it, is behind us. I was so happy in fact that on Saturday after my last family guest left, I took my tree and all the inside decorations down. I put my tree up just before Thanksgiving so I was ready for it to come down and have my living room back.

Christmas Eve we took the girls to see Alvin and the Chipmunks -- The Squeakwel. It was super cute, and the girls loved it! Even better they all sat in their seats quietly and watched it.

Admission for the six of us: $35.00
One large soda, one large popcorn, one small popcorn, one order of nachos and one pizza for daddy: $32.00 It would have been more but I smuggled juice boxes in for the girls.

So $67.00 later, our first movie out with the 6 of us was a success!!!

We hurried home since the rain was turning to sleet. Then came the snow, lots of it. Add in the winds that made it a blizzard and man was I thankful to not have to go anywhere. I had a mini-breakdown reminiscing about my dad, but was thankful to my hubby for helping me through it.

We watched Christmas Vacation (the girls watched Santa Buddies) as is our tradition every year. The girls were eager to go to bed so that Santa could come. So daddy read 'Twas The Night Before Christmas and off they went.



They camped out in Kori's room in anticipation of Santa's arrival:





And sure enough, Santa came!!! They got lots of goodies and had a great morning opening gifts. We had a big breakfast, complete with homemade waffles, thanks to my new waffle maker.

It was a nice relaxing day. We would have been snowed in if we would have had to be anywhere, but we didn't so we were happy to stay home. We stayed in our jammies all day and played with our new loot. It was blissful!

Saturday we had a "Mexican Fiesta" here with my family. It was nice and relaxing, which is sometimes unusual when my family gets together. There was no drama and good times were had by all! Woo hoo!!!

So now we look forward to 2010. I am ready to put 2009 behind me!

December -- Thus Far

Nothing too exciting happening in December. Kori is two days into Christmas break. Everyone has received the first booster of the H1N1 vaccine. Kori turned eight on the 17th (I can't believe it!!!!), and lost a top front tooth on the 18th (thanks to daddy pulling it). Times they are a changing!!!

Christmas shopping is done (Thanks Becky and Jason for keeping the crew so we could get it done!) It hasn't been wrapped but that's okay, I still have a little time. I have done lots of baking and I'm trying to psyche myself up for it all. It can be a bit overwhelming.

So that's the past couple of months for us in a nutshell.

Merry Christmas!!!!

November

Well it went by like a big ol' blur. It ended not so great. But now here it is,three days before Christmas?!?!? How in the world did that happen?????

The majority of November was pretty uneventful. It ended with a bang if you will. Thanksgiving was nice. Very sad for me without my dad. It was typically "our day" we have always loved Thanksgiving. So for me it was especially bittersweet without him here with us. He didn't come strolling in like he usually did with the specially holiday section of the paper in his hand. For the past several years he brought it because he'd found some recipe he thought "sounded good and maybe you'd like to try it too". That was code for I want you to make this for me. He was right, it usually was a pretty good recipe. I missed that so much this year. I thumbed through it but it didn't hold near as much appeal as it did in years past.

Dinner was great. Jason deep-fried a turkey and we had ham as well and all the trimmings. We had a little "family drama" but hey, it wouldn't be our family if we didn't. I'm over it and trying to get everyone else to let it go as well. **Sigh**

So the day after Thanksgiving we headed out for family portraits. I had ZERO expectations this year. Last year I assumed since the girls were 2 it would be easier. NOPE! Except for Kori there wasn't a smiling kid in the shot. Thankfully this year was MUCH better!!! Everyone did so good!!! Hard to find a bad shot. We went to see Santa and ride the Christmas train at the mall and then headed to Five Guys for some burgers for lunch. We came out of lunch with Alexis claiming that her back and throat hurt. She asked for a nap when we got home, even though everyone else was going to be outside riding bikes and "helping" daddy with the outside Christmas decorations. After her nap she was warm so I gave her some Ibuprofen. As the night wore on the fever went up. Finally at 103 degrees and 8:00 pm I took her to Urgent Care. After an extensive wait she finally was taken back and swabbed for the flu's. She had a chest x-ray because the doctor thought he heard something in her lungs. We left with four prescriptions and a diagnosis of the flu and pneumonia in the left lung we got home just before 1 am. Saturday she spent most of the day in my bed watching TV but seemed to be responding to the medicine good enough. Sunday she was up and playing a bit and ate a little. Monday, not so good. Back in bed. Fevering again. Rapidly breathing. Unable to stay awake. Finally about 1 pm I called the doctors and got her back in. Her oxygen saturation levels were low and her lungs still sounded bad so we got sent to the Emergency Room at the local children's hospital to get checked out.

I dropped Morgan and Kamryn off with Jason, who had picked up Kori from school, and then headed off to the hospital. We were admitted since her fever was still very high and her oxygen levels were very low, even with oxygen. No problem, I figured a day or so, they'd figure out what it was and fix us up. Well her new x-rays came back clear from pneumonia and two flu swabs were negative. We kept hearing what she didn't have but not a lot of what she did have. Jason stayed with Kori and Kam and Morgan and I stayed with Alexis at the hospital. I came home for a bit on Tuesday for a shower and then Wednesday to see the other girls for a while and hang out with them. Finally Thursday afternoon she was stable enough and was deemed to have "some sort of infection" and we were on our way with new inhalers and a follow-up appointment with our pediatrician. She slept lots once we were home but no surprise there. We were both exhausted and so glad to be home.

Friday night Morgan woke up about 1am complaining of her "face" hurting. After giving her some Benadryl (she gets a rash on her face sometimes -- I thought that's what it was) she then complained it was her ear. Some Ibuprofen and she went back to sleep with no problems. Saturday morning she professed her ear to be "all better" and no need to go to the doctor. I should have went with my "mothers intuition". Well about 12:30 p.m. Kamryn started complaining about her ear hurting. Off to Urgent Care we went. Her left ear was infected and we were given more "pink medicine". I no sooner walked in from the Pharmacy and Jason left for off-duty before Morgan started crying about her "ear hurting too". Seriously????? So I take Alexis, Kori and Kamryn to my mom's and off Morgan and I go to Urgent Care. The staff was so surprised to see me, yet again. Morgan's right ear that had previously been declared "all better" was infected to the point of the ear drum bulging and the left side looked "angry and red" as well. So more pink medicine and we were off to pick up sisters and search (in vain) for a drive-thru liquor store for me.

So in a span of about 10-days there were: Three Urgent Care visits, two Pediatrician visits, $120.00 in co-pays and $170.00 in prescriptions co-pays. Thankfully everyone is healthy now and I've regained some of my lost sanity back.

Time To Catch Up

Hmmmm, what have we been doing? We've been busy! Let's see we made cookies to celebrate the arrival of Fall:







We watched some cartoons, very intently one day as you can see. Mommy got a much need minute to catch her breath that day:



We went to the Pumpkin Patch and took a hayride out to pick out the perfect pumpkin:






We carved pumpkins:



We had a "Fall Party" (we must be politically correct you know!) at school:




We went trick or treating:







We enjoyed some lovely weather the 1st weekend of the month. Unfortunately outside means running and playing, and at our house it often results in this: (Poor Alexis!)






And I was hit hard by H1N1 (still currently suffering as I type this). That resulted in a $50.00 for:



And way too much time spent here:


With the only person willing to hang out with me:

The Return

Well daddy has returned home to the fold! He actually got home on Friday afternoon while the girls were napping. They were sooooo happy to see him when they woke up. Morgan ran to get Alexis who was still sleeping and as soon as she drug her upstairs she proclaimed, "Ta-da, daddy is home!" Good times, good times.

Saturday we took the girls to pick out some pumpkins. They enjoyed the hayride, fried pies and apple cider. The weather was cool, but at least the sun peeked out at the end of the day.

Saturday night I met up with some old friends at Whiskey Tango. It has been 15-16 years since I've seen a few of them. What is amazing to me is that you can pick righ up where you left off without any weird or akwardness. It was a late night, but worth it! So much fun to catch up!

Sunday dawned sunny! Woo hoo!! So great to see the sun!!! The weather-man said the other day that it had been 170 hours since the sun had been out. Depressing! The girls got to play out for a bit, which they enjoyed. It is supposed to be warmer for the next few days which I well relish to the fullest extent, because I know it won't last long.

So that is it for us! I turned in early last night because I was pooped from my late night the night before. Amazingly, you actually pop right up in the morning when you get an adequate amount of sleep. Who knew?????

Picture Time

Well the girls were dressed and their hair fixed today and since it's been a while here are some pictures of the little girls. I will have to catch Kori this weekend since she was at school.

She's Right...Kinda

I shall proceed this blog entry with an apology to my sister Becky. I am sorry, but it truly is too good to pass up. Love you!

Okay so yesterday I was talking to my sister. She has graciously offered to host my little girls, individually, for play-dates with my niece Mallory. She mentioned it a few weeks back, and since then Morgan has talked about it EVERY SINGLE DAY. There hasn't been a day that's passed since that she hasn't brought up "when I go to Becky's to play with Mallory". So we were discussing what day it should be. Today came up and I made sure my sister didn't want to get her housework done (she'd be grumping about needing to get it done). Well I assured her we could do the play-date on Tuesday and she could get her work done today. Well she told me she couldn't get it done on the days that Mal doesn't got to school. I joked with her, "You can't clean your house with your kids there, I do?" She then came back with something to the effect of yeah, but two of them are infant twins. Oh yeah, I've never cleaned with infant twins. Which is true. But I did clean with infant triplets. Silly girl! As soon as it came out I could tell she wanted to suck it back in and take it back, but it was already out that and fodder for my blog. It was priceless!!!

I was happily able to inform the girls today that daddy will be home TOMORROW!!! Yesterday was a rough day. I must have heard 2,342,937,432 (approximately) times "when is daddy coming home?", "is it Friday YET", "I miss daddy","daddy needs to get here NOW". By the end of the day I wanted to sew my own ears shut. It is hard to relay the concept of time (especially in complete days at a time) to three year old's. Usually I can break it down in how many movie or TV show's, but this is not the case. I don't think they'd totally get that daddy will be home in say, 75 Spongebob's, 4 Jungle Junctions, 5 Sesame Streets and a couple of Fresh Beat Bands. Oh well, we're at the 24-hour mark now so they are understanding now.

In retrospect, it has been an okay week. For all the dreading and worrying about it. I can say I did it and am coming out okay on the other side. No major issues. The house is still standing. The kids still love me. I even cleaned out their closets and dressers. I gave myself a little "to do list" for the week and as soon as I finish my little bit of housework that is left I will have completed the list.

I have been trying to come up with a week long training session for stay-at-home mom's that I might attend. Heck it could be for any moms. Speed Vacuuming. Dishwashing 101. Extreme Sheet Changing.

For now, I know one thing, I need a vacation.

Clever

This morning was a marathon session of running the kiddos here and there. Out of the house at 9am for a 9:25 visit at the doctor for Kori to get her flu mist. Then we took her to school. Dropped something off to my sister. Ran in Michael's for a minute and then ended up back at the doctor for the little girls to get their flu mist. Whew! I was tired and it wasn't even 11:30 yet.

So the little girls are sitting on the exam table lined up so cute, patiently waiting. In walks the nurse and Alexis pipes up with, "Morgan is going first". The nurse kind of chuckle and said, "Okay, which one of you is Morgan?" Morgan looks around with an "Oh crap" look on her face and in her sweetest and most sincere voice says, "She is!" All the while pointing to Alexis. Alexis promptly corrected her and informed the nurse that she was very much indeed Alexis and NOT Morgan. It was too faunny! The nurse and I started cracking up! I did what any mother would do, I made them go in birth order. So Alexis first, then Morgan, than Kamryn. They all did excellent and we were off in a flash with our stickers in hand.

The day was busy, but actually not to bad. I am hanging in there in the single parent role. I am not relishing it or enjoying it much, but I am doing it, and feeling like I'm doing a great job. The kids are happy, the meals are cooked, the house is looking awesome, no problemo! I even ironed 117 pieces tonight. It took forver and it's done. For now. Until laundry day tomorrow. While I am "doing" it, I informed my husband tonight that I have ZERO INTENTION of EVER being a single mom so if he was thinking of dumping me, he can get it out of his head right now. I further informed him I would move in with him and whatever woman he tries to replace me with. He assured me this was not an issue but he would keep it in the back of his mind.

Toy pick-up went super smoothly tonight. It was done WITHOUT me asking, which NEVER happens. Bedtime was also smooth as well. Everyone got into their beds, didn't get out, and I only had to remind them to be quiet once. Now I would like to see this happen every day, but I am worried that God was just messing with me today. I fear that tomorrow I will get my butt kicked and kicked good! Praying that is not the case!

So onward and upward my peeps. I am now proud to say I have more days behind me than I do looming in front of me, so I think we're all going to make it.

That being said, I'd like to inform the sun that it is perfectly OKAY to come out of hiding. I don't think it's been out in well over a week. It's been cold and gray now for so long. Today rain came in and apparently it's going to stick around here for a few days. The "normal" high for this time of year should be 69. Our high today? Drum roll please.....brrrrrrrr....45! Boooooooo! I like a nice gray cozy day as much as anyone, but enough is enough. A little sun would be so nice!!!

I shall now crawl into bed and prepare battle for another day.

One Day At A Time

Okay, we're well into day #2 of "Operation Daddy Is Gone -- Let's Drive Mommy Completely Insane". Daddy left for Camp Dodge in Iowa yesterday around noon for a week of training. I tried clinching onto his leg and begging and pleading for him to stay, but he assured me that it was something that he had to do. So I let go, wiped my eyes and tried to regather some dignity. The girls did okay, but were super concerned this morning to find that Daddy was STILL gone. They talked to him at bedtime last night and on his lunch break today.

Yesterday DRUG by soooooooooo slow. I was glad to see that today went a little faster. Only three more full days left! I don't count Friday cause he'll be home Friday afternoon. Woo hooo! I know that I do it all most of the time alone, but it sure is nice knowing that he's in the same state as me if I need him. It's also nice having him home at night. I just don't sleep well when he's gone. It's a subconscious thing I think about worrying that everything that needs to be done is on my shoulders should anything happen. Oh well, Friday will get here and we will survive.

Today we took my mom to Walmart and then had a burger out at Culver's. Only about an hour until bedtime and then I can regain a bit more of my insanity that I've lost various places throughout the day.

Tuesday

Oh Tuesday you were cruel to me. On Tuesday I SERIOUSLY wanted to run away from home. It was a LONG, LONG, LONG day. BRUTAL! Jason had off-duty and then went on to work after that. The girls woke up grouchy and stayed that way ALL DAY LONG. Oh man, they were soooooo crabby. They were hitting, pinching, biting, scratching, screaming, crying, whining, fussing, griping. So basically if it ended in I-N-G, they were all over it. I was on the "naptime countdown" at breakfast. That sounds sad doesn't it? I couldn't wait for naptime to get here. I wasn't sure at a few points in the morning that we would all make it to naptime, but we did.

I prayed and prayed that when naptime was over the demons would awaken and be returned to a semi-angelic state. Uh, not so much. The previous I-N-G type things returned. Booooooo!!!!

Kori got off the bus grumpy and stayed that way all evening as well. So I found myself on the "bedtime countdown" too. Sad that all day long I was counting down the minutes until my kids would be sleeping and not causing a ruckus.

I told my husband that I used to think I was a great mom, then I had triplets and that whole perspective changed. Sometimes I get a nice big ol' dose of reality. It is rough! I informed my husband Tuesday night that if the girls were like that on Wednesday I would be running away from home and I was NOT kidding. He asked if he would be able to locate me, which I replied to that question with an unequiovcal, "Not a chance in HELL!" Oh it was rough.

Thankfully Wednesday dawned a new day. I awoke with a HORRENDOUS headache. Probably leftover stress and tension from Tuesday. I got Kori off to the busstop, made the girls breakfast and retreated to the couch. The girls were off to a good start. I told them that mommy had a headache and Kamryn brought me some sunglasses to wear. (Okay they were super small for me, but it's the thought that counts. Alexis asked why I still had my jacket on (I was FREEZING) and when I told her it was because I was cold, she covered me up with one of her prized "loveys". Awwwww, so sweet!

So the day was better, much better. Heck anything would have been better than Tuesday, and I didn't run away. Yet. :-)

That being said, on Sunday my dear husband leaves for a week of training for work in Iowa. To say that I am dreading this is the understatement of the year. He's gone away for a weekend here and there, only once since the trio arrived, and only a couple of times before when it was just Kori. But a couple days sounds a lot better than FIVE days! He will get back Friday evening sometime. I am so NOT looking forward to it. I can do it, I will do it, I don't have a choice. But all day, all night, 24/7 for 5 days without a break seems so daunting to me. It will be fine, but it will be tough. I have warned a couple of the neighbors if they see mee sitting on our front stoop crying with the world's biggest pitcher of Margarita's to think nothing of it. I have told my husband if he returns and the girls are here alone with a big bowl of food and water, to just know that it was more than I could handle and I'm halfway to somewhere.

All kidding aside, I am not looking forward to it but I'm trying to have a more positive outlook on it. I think it might help. Not really. No I'm kidding. Maybe. No I am. I think. Stop. Really. It will be fine. A beautiful disaster. Is it next Friday yet????

Dear Computer Guy

I took my computer in AGAIN today. It was in last Monday and I picked it up Thursday evening. Good as new...yeah right. If good as new was the fact it still wasn't working then yes, it was good as new.

So I take it in today and had to wait for him to roll in. Apparently the sign on his door that says 10:00-6:00 are just guidelines. He'll get there sometime around there. Oh right, more like 10:30 but whatever.

So I carry in the hard drive and he says, "What's it doing?" Uh, well it's not really what it's DOING, more of what it's NOT doing. It's doing NOTHING. Freezing up. Nothing. Can't check my email. Won't go anywhere on the internet. NOTHING.

He looks at me like I'm crazy and plugs it in to "see what's happening". Nothing is happening I assure him. Hmmmmm...looks like I'm right. So he then says there was info from Yahoo that we need the old browser uninstalled and a new updated one installed. Whatever, make it happen. Will it take a while? Nope I'll do it right now, only a few minutes. 30-minutes later I was informed that it was taking longer than expected and I could just leave it and he'd call me later. **Sigh**

Thankfully I have my sisters lap top so I am good to go until my computer is once again "as good as new". Fingers crossed that is really the case this time.

Here!

I am, I swear it! It's been busy here as of late. Oh heck, when isn't it busy here? Never!!! I was sick with bronchitis for about 10-days and am finally feeling better. Jason has been getting adjusted (or the rest of us have I should say) to the new job. The hours are okay. Sometimes better than others, but at least he's here at night with me. I've slept better in the last 5-weeks or so than I have for the last four years. We've also had computer problems. It was in the shop for 4 days last week, only to get it back and discover it still isn't fixed. Grrrrr! Back to the shop tomorrow! BUMMER!

School is going good for Kori. She is doing great and having fun! So glad for that!

The little girls are doing well too! They are just turning into such little people. Bittersweet that my little babies are growing up.

Kamryn is so sassy and "adult-like". She longs to be just like her big sister. Her mouth gets her in trouble often. She likes to have her hair fixed and look her best at all times. A mini-Diva in the making for sure! She gives wonderful hugs and kisses though! Love the hugs where she plays with my hair. So sweet!

Alexis is the most dramatic. She cries...a lot. Sometimes over important things (like Morgan biting her --- yes we STILL do that occasionally!) and sometimes over some not-so-important things. Her favorite phrase lately is, "I CAN'T!" So SICK of those too words! She is also very loving and a snuggler for sure!

Morgan, oh Morgan. Some days so easy, some days, mostly likely to drive her mother insane. She gives the most wonderful hugs...when she feels like it. It must be on her terms for sure. She plays hard and passionately.

There are days when I find myself tired and stressed and ready to cry. Then at night when I check on them before bed they look so sweet and peaceful and I remind myself that tomorrow is a new day and all is well again.

I will keep reminding myself of that next week while Jason is out of town for work from Sunday-Friday. I will probably be bald and sipping margaritas 24-7 by Tuesday. LONG days with no breaks. I am not ashamed to say that I am NOT looking forward to it. We will survive though!!! I think. No, I'm kidding. We will! I hope. No, stop, I mean it, we will. Where's the tequila?????

My dad would have turned 66 on September 25th. I took my mom to lunch and to run a few errands with me that day to try and get her out of the house for a bit. Keep her busy you know? It was a rough day for us all. Hard to believe that my dad has been gone for five months almost now. Wow!

On September 26th, Jason and I celebrated our 11th year of marriage. We will go out for a nice dinner once he returns from training. I am sure I will be more than ready for it by then. 11 years! What an accomplishment! Hoping for so many more. Even though he drives me crazy often, I still love him more than words can express!!!

That being said I almost strangled him a couple of weeks ago. I had been sick for 10 days or so and decided to head to the doctor. Even though I was sick I still made a roast and some oven roasted potatoes and peas for dinner. I didn't eat before I left for the doctor and told him I would just eat when I got back. I got back around 8pm to find that my roast was gone. ALL of it! Not one piece left. Jason and the girls ate the whole darn thing. I could not believe it! I was able to chuckle (only a little) after a few days but I was really stunned that night to say the least. I guess I should be thankful that my family found it so delicious that they ate it all. It was a big roast, I was just surprised that there wasn't ANY left for me. My sister made one last week and was kind enough to bring me a big container over, complete with carrots and potatoes. It was DELICIOUS and I was so appreciative!!!

This past Friday my mom and I went to watch my nephew play football for school. They won and are now 6-0. They played Raytown South and they were the worst sports ever! Horrible sportsmanship! It was awful! Crotch grabbing! Heckling the fans! One player bit one of the players on my nephews team, causing him to bleed a lot. So much his parents are filing charges against the other player. So very sad to see, to say the least. I was glad to see that Fort Osage kept their cool and won with dignity and self-respect. What is WRONG with people sometimes???

Saturday it was the girls and I as Jason went to the KSU vs. ISU game with some buddies from his home town. We took my mom to dinner and then went by my sister's for a bit. It was nice to get out.

Today was AWESOME!!!! My sister and her in-laws invited me to go to the NASCAR race here in town at the Kansas Speedway. It was awesome and so much fun! We had track passes and everything. We got to go and see the cars up close, be on the track etc. It was so great! I am so thankful that they thought of me and my husband manned the ship so I could get away! It was wonderful! Beautiful weather, a good race, great company, perfect!

So that's it for us. I will do better! I promise! My sister has loaned me her lap top until our computer woes are sorted out, so that will help!

Can't believe another week gets underway tomorrow! That weekend went by FAST!

Blah-ging

I'm here. Just a bit uninspired as of late. My days have been filled with fixing meals, cleaning up mess from said meals, laudndry, kid messes, homework, housework, laundry. All mundane tasks I know. But this morning I figured it could be worse, I could be the girl that was driving the Northland Poop Scooping truck through my neighborhood. She stopped at our neighbors and got out with an arsenal of utensils, shovels, scoops etc. The truck contained several different bins, which I won't even think about what they contained (yuck!). What an awful job. Driving around scooping up the dog excrement of others. No thank you!!! I'll pass and stick to my mundane tasks.

School is going great. Jason is loving the new job. The little girls are trying hard to drive me insane. Life is life. My mom celebrated her 65th birthday last week. It was a bit rough without my dad but we all got through it. We took her to dinner on Saturday. My crew, plus my sis and her kiddos. 4 adults, 7 kids, no fiascos= SUCCESS!!! My mom celebrated further by getting a nasty case of poison ivy or oak. Not fun!

So that's where I've been and what I've been doing. I'm going to give being a better blogger the old college try!

Six Years Ago

I lost my sister Margaret. This will be a redundant post, every August 25th, for as long as I blog. She was truly one of the most beautiful people ever! Yes, she could drive you absolutely crazy too, but who doesn't?

Tiny and petite with a laugh that at times could seriously hurt your ears. She was a lover of dancing and having fun in any sense of the word. Although she had a heart condition her whole life, she was always game to do anything. Roller coasters? Check! Dancing until you were about to collapse? Check! Bike riding? Check (she did go slower than most, but she stuck with it). She was not a great cook, and an even worse baker. We all cringed at Christmas time when she would announce all the things she was going to bake. Her list of 10 or more things would dwindle to one or two after the recipes didn't quite work out, or they got a bit more done than she intended. Funny although she wasn't a great cook, she taught me how to make a wonderful lasagna, the best white cream gravy ever, and she taught Becky her stir-fry secrets.

She was a lover of animals, all of them, but especially dogs and cats. She would have saved them all if she could. Housework was not her thing but we all knew that. Her closet often looked as if a volcano had erupted in it, but that's part of who she was.

Hard to believe that at noon, six years ago, my sweet and beautiful sister, one of my very best friends, gave up her lifelong fight with heart issues and succumbed to it all. She was a fighter to the end and is missed so very much by each and every one of us.

Back To School, Lonely Littles and A New Assignment

My 2nd Grader!!!




Bus buddies!


Off she goes!




Tuesday began the start of yet another school year for Kori. She is now a proud 2nd grader. I can't believe it! She decided this year to ride the bus with her buddies from the neighborhood. Huh? What kid doesn't want their mom to take them and pick them up? Her! So I relented and let her ride with her friends. She LOVES it! Loves everything about it. We'll see if that's the case when she has to ride the bus in high school.

The little girls are missing their big sister, big time! The 1st day they were sleeping when I walked her to the bus stop. When they got up they asked 1,459,234 time where Kori was and when was she coming home. The 2nd day they walked with us. Alexis and Morgan burst into tears when Kori was getting on the bus. They sobbed all the way back home, "Kori come back". They are so happy to see her in the afternoon when she gets home.

Jason has a new assignment! No more over-night shift!! Woo hoo! He was asked to take over as supervisor of one of our Tactical Response Squads. Like SWAT I suppose you'd say. The hours aren't great, but we will survive. There are pro's and con's but we'll make it through together, we always do. I am glad he will be here sleeping with me at night again. Let the snoring commence! Tonight is his last night of working over-night. He is going to miss his guys that work for him now, but is ready for the new assignment as well.

So that's it for us! We're looking forward to a great weekend! Jason is off and the weather is going to be nice, what to do, what to do???

Dear Children

Try as you may, you did not succeed in driving me stark raving crazy today. It was a valiant effort that began around one a.m. when Kamryn woke up from a slumber screaming for me to open her ice cream. After some hard earned convincing on my part, she finally understood it was time for sleeping and the frozen treats would have to wait.

Mother Nature decided to toy with my emotions as well and about 30-minutes after settling Kamryn back in she fired up some storms, which we all know Alexis HATES! So I get her calmed down only to see Morgan sitting up in her bed now. She looked at me and proclaimed, "Oh I'm peeing" and she did. All over her jammies and sheets, oh and the pillow too. AWESOME!

After getting her cleaned up and fresh sheets and blankies back on the bed. Getting her a new pillow everyone was once again quiet.

Until about 3:30 or so when more storms blew in. AWESOME again! I finally plopped down in the floor of their bedroom so they would go to sleep and hopefully stay that way.

The morning came with Morgan grumping about something trivial (so trivial I can't even remember what it was about). I informed all of my beautiful children that I was tired and grumpy and not particularly in the mood for silliness today. They must have heard the exact opposite of what I said. The day was a wreck. Fighting, fussing, whining, crying, screaming, yelling, ignoring me.

Thankfully around 2:15 my knight in shining armour (okay it was just Jason in a t-shirt and shorts, but whatever) arrived to save me. Or so I thought. He sat for a minute and then proceeded to start putting on shoes and socks. Wait, where are you going I asked? I have a meeting at 3, I won't be gone long. No matter how much I begged and pleaded not to leave me alone with the beasts, I mean our beautiful daughters, he did just that.

To escape some bickering/whining, I retreated to the quiet of my bedroom to "sort some laundry". That was code for hide and hope no one found me. I sat on my bed and watched some TV for a while alone. Thankfully true to his word my knight wasn't gone too long.

So anyway, to my children, you'll have to rearm and try again tomorrow. Or not, I am okay with that. I am going to do some house work, I think, so beware, I might attack back.

Love,

Your Frazzled Mother

Manwich

Tonight for dinner I made Manwich. Not my favorite, but it is quick and easy. Jason needed something to take to work that could be whipped up quick and ready to go before he left for softball. So Manwich was the choice. The girls and I had lunch out with my mom today after we went to the orchard to get some peaches. (Oh they are soooooooo delish! -- Tomorrow I'll be making a homemade peach cobbler -- my first!)

So anyway the girls ate late. I kept asking if they were ready to eat and kept getting "NO" X 4. So finally they decided it was dinner time. Everyone ate an entire sandwich and asked for more. I also gave them sliced up fresh peaches and nectarines and some Sun Chips. So after asking for more Morgan comes running up to me and states without hesitation, "Mommy I need more man sandwich!" I thought I would die. I was eating a tuna fish sandwich (I just wasn't feeling the Manwich) and it about came shooting out my nose. Kori started busting up too, after clarifying that she had indeed heard the request for a "man sandwich" as well. It was too funny!!! What made it even funnier was the fact that they had eaten the last of the hamburger buns so I used up the last of the hot dog buns left over from lunch a couple of days ago. I figured they would be easier to hold/keep together than regular bread. So my daughter asked for a "man sandwich" which was going to be served on a, quoting my mother here, a weiner holder!!!! Oh my stars, are you kidding me???? My life some days is just comical!

Now mind you it came from the kid that went the entire morning and afternoon without underwear under her skort. This morning we were getting ready to go to the orchard with my mom. The girls are big on getting dressed themselves lately, which is fine. Every morning they take off their undies (bad habit from the "take off your pull-ups" days). I reiterate every morning for them to leave the undies on, but someone always seems to take theirs off. I asked even if everyone had them on and got a resounding "YES" X3.

So imagine the chuckle I got this afternoon after we returned from our orchard journey to hear Morgan exclaim from the bathroom "Oh no! Mommy I lost my underwear, I can't find them!" So after some giggling and such I located them, still inside her pajama bottoms.

These kids are so funny sometimes. I mean seriously, I couldn't make some of this up if I wanted too. A man sandwich!!!! Tomorrow I'm going to tone it down

For Sale

I'm kidding. (Sort of) No really I am. (In a way). She is super cute though right???

Today the girls and I were getting ready to go and watch Jason play in his weekly softball games. We hadn't made it to a game yet this year, and the weather was nice, so why not. As I was putting on a bit of make-up, (no need to embarass the family with how scary I was looking) Kamryn picked up a small electric razor that I have. It's a small one, I believe the term is "personal trimmer". It has several different tools for trimming your eyebrows/nosehair, bikini, underarms, legs etc. Well it was plugged in and charging on my bathroom counter and she picked it up and in her sweet little voice (it sounded like nails on a chalk board once I heard what she said), she said, "Mommy is this for your lip?" (Insert me first being speechless (a rarity) and then me sobbing!) Kidding I didn't really sob, but I sure thought of it. I'm hoping she is thinking of daddy's razor that he uses to shave his face and such for work.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't checking my top lip constantly in the mirror for the rest of the day, whenever the opprotunity arose however.

Now I need to find a good picture of Morgan so I can put her up for sale too. She has informed me on more than one occasion, "Whoa mommy you have a giant butt". I always inform her that I was much thinner and more trim before I got pregnant and gave birth to all 4 of them.

Darn kids!

Briefly

Today in my house all of our clothes were washed, dried, folded/hung, ironed and put in the proper closet/drawer. WHAT? I ironed for quite some time while finishing up the laundry and got it all put away. YAY! So for about 4 or 5 hours today my hampers were empty. In my head I invisioned them (the hampers) to be very sad and lonely without their friends, mounds of dirty clothes. I do laundry pretty much every day and yet today I managed to scrape up about 7 loads. Granted I had sheets from yesterdays marathon house cleaning session. Not to mention the millions of kitchen towels I seem to amass on a daily basis. My hampers seem to have survived the sadness of being all alone and are now full of a few pieces of dirty clothes. It's a vicious circle, I tell you.

So I washed my car on Thursday, inside and out, and since I have refused to take the beasts, uh, I mean my kids, anywhere in it since, it's still clean. No fingerprints on the windows, random toys strewn about, bits of paper/cracker/fruit snack/candy etc., no drops of juice or milk. It's amazing! Now my house is clean to. And the laundry/ironing is done???? It must be a full moon. The stars never line up quite that good for me.

On another note. Tonight my neighbor (she's a young engaged gal) had some friends over. Lots of cars parked in front of my house. Further inspection, well I noticed it anyway as I was watching the kids play on the sidewalk in front of our house, revealed one of the vehicles to have a giant "Passion Parties By "Sherry" " sticker on the side window. Fun. I guess. At any rate, later I heard a noise. I looked out and saw a limo pulling into my driveway. What? For me? Oh no, I didn't do my hair, or put on make-up today. Could I go in a limo in my shorts and a shirt with Kori's school name and mascot on it? I sure the heck could!!! Only my delight was shortlived as the driver realized he had the wrong house and pulled back out of my driveway only to pull up in front of "J's" house next door. **Sigh** Well a bunch of young, gussied up women came out and looked ready to hit the town. It must be "J's" bachelorette party as she's getting married in September. Now, let me tell you how close I was to running screaming from my house, towards said limo screaming, "Take me! I wanna go!!!" I decided that would be scary, very scary, and refrained. Instead of read Kori a couple of bedtime stories and folded the last batch of towels we amassed after bathtime tonight. Man my life is exciting sometimes!

I've Said It Before...

And I'll say it again. Trying to clean house with four kids underfoot is as much fun as shaving your legs, while riding a roller coaster. Whew! It takes forever! Thankfully Jason got up around 3:15 or so and help to manage the crew. They put on a lovely concert in the living room using Kori's new Hannah Montana cd for inspiration.

While cleaning my husband asked, "Hey didn't you JUST clean the house?" I replied "Yes, last Friday". Kori then quickly pointed out that houses get dirty fast. You bet they do, when the occupants try and do their best impression of barn animals. Why am I the only one who can put dishes in the dishwasher? Put them away when they are clean? Wipe off the kitchen table? Pick up toys/food/cups/clothes etc. etc. etc. off the floor? Oh well, once again it's spotless. It should last about 2.7 seconds in the morning before the beasts, uh, I mean the kids start to destroy it.

I washed my van on Thursday. It's spotless inside and out. It will stay that way until the next trip somewhere. I've never seen kids who can make such a mess in such a short amount of time.

So my house is clean and my van is clean. Tomorrow I will celebrate a beautiful Saturday by catching up my laundry. I might further celebrate tomorrow evening by doing my ironing. I know, I know, I really should live a life that has a lower volume of excitement in it, but hey, I'm a risk taker,it's what I love.

I Have Not...

Fallen off the face of the earth, in case you were wondering. I will admit however that I am having a hard time hopping back into the routine of things post-vacation. I think Jason and I have a bit of post-vacation depression, or PVD as we like to call it. Nothing to look forward to anymore. No more beaches. Palm trees. Okay enough, I don't need to depress myself anymore.

I am suffering miserably the last couple of days with allergy/sinus stuff. Good times. Factored in that my hubby is being not so dear, and my PVD, good times, good times indeed.

I had a wonderful conversation with my oldest daughter this evening. She can be a riot and she truly doesn't even mean to.

Our life insurance agents had to stop by today so I could sign some paperwork as Jason and I just upped our coverage on our life insurance policies.

Kori: Mom, what were they doing here?
Me: Just doing some life insurance stuff.

Kori: What's life insurance?
Me: Something that you get so that when you pass away things are taken care of.

Kori: Like what kind of things?
Me: Well like if I passed away daddy would get money and you guys could pay the bills and everything and keep living here and there wouldn't be anymore drastic changes due to me dying.

Kori: Oh.
Me: Oh and the money is also used for my funeral so you guys could bury me.

Kori: Can't we just use a cardboard box?
Me: WHAT?

Kori: Well we'd get a nice big one.
Me: Gee thanks. Can't I even have a nice casket?

Kori: Well we'd decorate the card board box with stickers and stuff.
Me: Awww, that's sweet honey.

Kori: But I wouldn't cut you out a window because that would let the spiders and worms and bugs and stuff in with you.
Me: Thanks, you know I'm not a fan of the bugs and such.

Kori: Just looking out for you mom. Did you see Brooke's (our life insurance lady) shoes?
Me: Yes, they were cute weren't they? (They were zebra/leopard skin high heeled contraptions -- they were cute for people that need to walk after wearing them I suppose).

Kori: Oh man they were spankin'! I couldn't stop staring at them the whole time.
Me: Spankin'?

Kori: Yeah you know cool, awesome, neat. Get with the program mom.
Me: Uh yeah, sure okay.

This kid cracks me up sometimes!!!!

So that's it for me. I need to sort through the 300+ pictures I took on vacation and post some. They are too adorable!

14-Hours

That is how many hours we spent yesterday at Magic Kingdom. My girls did GREAT! It was 98 degrees, with a heat index of about 108. Oh man it was hot. I was sweaty from the time we got there until I crawled (almost literally) into the car. Alexis actually crashed in her stroller for about an hour and a half. I had two battery operated fans clipped to her stroller canopy and she slept really good. We were parked in the shade. I stayed with her while everyone else did some stuff. Kamryn dozed on my shoulder for a bit while we were waiting in line for Goofy's Barnstormer. They enjoyed their first roller coaster ride. They all asked to do it again.

In Mickey's Philharmagic Show I got a little teary when I looked to my left and my family and saw them enjoying the 3-D show so much. The little girls were grabbing at the things on the screen. Kori was singing along with the songs. I saw Cody even singing along to "I Just Can't Wait To Be King" from the Lion King. That brought back lots of memories as that was one of his favorite movies when he was much smaller. It just made me so grateful for the family I have left. It made me miss my sister, who loved all things Disney, especially Winnie The Pooh, and my Dad, who loved seeing his grand kids enjoying life.

The tears returned when the girls got to meet Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Belle. As soon as they saw Aurora they all stopped dead in their tracks. Their mouths were hanging open. They were in complete awe! Even Kori was enjoying the moment so much! The princesses were all so wonderful with the girls. Interacting with each of them and giving out lots of hugs. The girls were telling them how pretty they thought each princess was. It was too cute! It was, at the risk of sounding cliche, so magical! Jason stood with a big ol' smile on his face watching the girls all interact with a few of their favorite people. Even Cody said that moment was one of his favorites of the whole day. Just seeing the girls all enjoying the moment so much. I was so grateful for a husband who works so hard to allow us to do such great things as a family. For God for blessing me with such beautiful and healthy children. At that moment, even if it was hotter outside than possibly the surface of the Sun itself, all was right with the world.

The Spectro Magic parade was another high point. I had Kamryn and Alexis with me while the rest of the crew rode Splash Mountain. They got a kiss blown to them from the Genie from Aladdin. They returned and he caught it and acted like he was falling over. Ariel blew them kisses too. Peter Pan came over to shake their hands. Lots of waving and such from others too. Even Sleepy from Snow White came over and pointed to himself as he yawned. The girls thought that was funny. It was a gorgeous parade as usual. Kamryn and Alexis sat in their stroller with their ice cream shaped rice crispie treats waving and smiling. Once again...magical!

So we all piled in the van and headed for home. We got home at around 1am. After baths to wash the sweat and sunscreen off, the girls had a bit to eat and then went to bed. It was the easiest bedtime in the history of bedtimes. Even Morgan didn't make a peep. Maybe I should take them to Magic Kingdom every day for 14-hours. Jason and I joked that a day like that could possibly be considered as child abuse.

Today we slept in. I woke everyone up at 12:45!!! Yes you read that right. Alexis and I were the only two up for a while this morning. We finally started waking the others up. If we hadn't, no telling when they would have gotten up. We had a low key day today. I made bacon and scrambled eggs and toast today for brunch. Then we hit the pool at our house. It rained on us a bit but the pool is screened in so it was okay. We only got misted on. We had fun clowning around and acting like a bunch of loons.

I was doing a bit of laundry before we were going to head out for dinner. Kamryn came to me in the hall and told me her throat hurt. Weird I thought. Well then she told me that she swallowed a coin!!!! WHAT????? So I called our pediatricians office and had the nurse return my call since it was after hours there. She said to give her a piece of bread and some water to make sure things were moving along like they should. She said if there were no complaints of throat pain, stomach pain, fever, etc. everything would be fine. She was actually chuckling as her 3-year old had just done the same things. She said I could "look for it later, if you want, but it's not necessary". No thank you, raising three year old triplets is about as adventurous as I like to be. You'd think at three we'd be passed this kind of stuff, apparently the girls didn't get that memo. So we had a nice talk about not eating coins. So we finished getting cleaned up after that and headed out to the Crab House for dinner. Jason was in heaven with the All You Can Heat Hot/Cold Seafood Buffet. He ate a lot, especially the crab legs, he loves them. The food was delicious, dessert was even better and we all left full and happy.

So now everyone is snoring away and we are gearing up for Hollywood Studios. It's supposed to be about 5 degrees cooler than yesterday, but the humidity is going to be a bit less, so hopefully we won't sweat ourselves to death.

At any rate, vacation is going good and we are having fun, that's what matters right?

Whew!

Man oh man is it hot here! 97 today with a heat index of 107!!! Blah! After we all slept in ridiculously late, we slathered on the SPF 50 and hit the pool! We went to the big resort pool instead of the little one we have here at the house. It was a really great pool! Only 4 feet deep at the deepest part. It was zero entry, where it gets deeper the further you walk in. The girls had a blast! I put sun screen on them lots and am proud to report after about 3 hours, no sunburns for the clear kids, and their mom. Their dad is a bit more stubborn and decided he wanted to "tan". He's a bit red, not too bad, but that's his problem, not mine. :-)

We after we swam we showered and headed out for dinner. I made everyone suffer through at the Sizzler. I loved them as a kid and we don't have them in KC anymore. It was good and we all left full and happy.

We drove by the hotel where Jason and I stayed when we were here on our honeymoon. Just as fancy and lovely as I remember.

Then we headed out in search of mini-golf. We hit Congo Mini-Golf and had a blast! The little girls fed the alligators they have there. They thought that was cool! I had to be extra dilligent that no one snuck any of the 'gator morsels. They were cut up hot dogs, which is a fave of my girls! We finished without eating any and then hit the links. I am proud to report that the hole in one totals are as follows: Kori 2! Daddy 1. Cody none. Kori was so excited! Hers were back to back ones no less.

After golfing (and sweating our rear ends off) we headed back for home, where we bathed again and are now bedded down in anticipation of the Magic Kingdom tomorrow. I hope the girls enjoy it as much as I have pictured it all in my head. I know the heat will play a huge part in it. We're prepared to drink lots and hit as much of the air conditioned attractions during the hottest part of the day.

So Mickey and Minnie, Cinderella, Belle, Aurora and Ariel, get ready! Your all my kids have talked about for a very long time! Be afraid be very afraid!

Better get to bed and rest up for a busy day!

P.S. Happy Father's Day!!!! I am really missing my dad today. I know he's looking over us, but sure wish I could give him a big ol' hug! He gave the best hugs. Love you Pop!

Greetings From...

Tennessee!!! The 2009 Rusley Family (and Cody!) Vacation is underway!!! The loaded to the gills van pulled out of KC this morning at 0800 hrs. After a stop to fill up we were on the road. (Can you hear Willie Nelson singing? On the road again, just can't wait to get on the road again...).

After a potty stop just past Columbia (and also a slight DVD repair, I think some gunk from some donut stick hands was interfering with the sensor) we were back on the road.

It was a really nice 10-hour ride. The girls were exceptionally well behaved. I packed them some PB&J sandwiches, some ham and turkey and cheese ones for us, as well as LOTS of drinks and snacks. It was so enjoyable! Jason did all the driving today.

We are bedded down for the night at a Comfort Inn and Suites in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Oh the mountains of Tennessee are GORGEOUS!!!! We were all speecheless from it all! Cody summed it up perfectly, "Whoa, the best things in life are free". It was so beautiful!

So after some pizza and salads were delivered and eaten in our room, the girls and Cody and Jason hit the pool to burn off some energy from being in the car for so long. Everyone is now sleeping and I'm off to shower.

Breakfast in the morning and then we're headed back on the road for the 2nd leg of our journey. Hopefully it goes as smoothly as the 1st leg. Next stop Orlando!

A big thanks to Becky and her crew for taking care of Cuervo for us! I hope he's behaving like a good doggie.

On a sad note today, Pete Aretakis lost his battle with cancer today. Big prayers for his family, in the traditional sense, as well as his brothers/sisters in blue. Life can be so unfair sometimes!

Announcing the arrival of...

Gavin and Parker! My sweet nephew and niece were born on Wednesday, June 3rd, at 7:52 and 7:55 a.m. Gavin weighed 6 lbs. 14 oz., and Parker weighed in at a petite 6 lbs. 3 oz. They are both absolutely PERFECT!!! My sis is doing great as well! She did an awesome job growing them sweeties! We have a hard time getting pregnant but once we do, we can do a decent job!

So without further ado:

Parker:


Gavin:


They came home today and hopefully will have a great night back home as their family of five. I took them some dinner so they didn't have to worry about fixing or getting something, yet had something yummy to eat! Mallory is adjusting to life as a big sister very well!

That's about it for big news here. The girls and I went to some of Cody's games on Thursday and Friday but that's about it.

I will share pics of the girls holding their new cousins:

Another Year Older

Dang it's been a while since I posted. Sorry about that! In the meantime I have turned a year older. I am now 36. Yuck! It just doesn't sound good. **Sigh** Nothing I can do about it so I might as well embrace it.

Kori ended up getting sick a mere two days after finishing up school. The Sunday before Memorial Day she started complaining of a headache, achiness, a sore throat etc. By Sunday evening she was burning up with a fever. This pretty much continued all day and night Monday so Tuesday we headed off to the doctor. Strep test came back negative. Due to the size of her glands/tonsils they sent us for blood work. The next day we received word that she has mono. Oh joy! Tuesday night Alexis and Kamryn started fevering. By Wednesday Morgan had joined them. They lounged on the couch for the day on Wednesday and were feeling better by Thursday. I think theirs was just a cold. Kamryn and Alexis are now struggling with allergies. Kori is feeling better, but still gets very tired. Not uncommon to find her flopped on her bed or the couch watching TV.

Jason, my brother-in-law and a friend of theirs from work poured a concrete extension to our patio yesterday. It was hot and hard work, but it looks nice now. It makes us have more space, which is always good. When we get the pool up after vacation it can go there and not crowd the other patio.

We are on the count down to babies! My sister is set for a c-section on Wednesday morning. So baby Gavin and baby Parker will be here then! I'm excited! Ready for some babies to love. The best kind...the ones you can give back. :-) My sister is ready to be done being pregnant but it anxious about all that comes with two new babies.

Also only 14-days until the little girls turn 3. WHAT? How int he world did that happen?????

We are also on the count down to VACATION!!!! We leave for Disney World on June 19th. We're driving half way the first day and then getting there the following day. We've rented a great house with a pool and plan on having lots of fun! We're dragging my nephew with us too. The more the merrier right? My sister keeps threatening to stow away, I better check our luggage before we leave.

So in a nutshell that's it. We're enjoying summer break! Except for going through the drive-thru on Saturday for some lunc at McDonald's, I hadn't left the house until today. Jason took us to Red Lobster for a belated birthday dinner. Yummy!

So I vow to be a better blogger. And I'll post some pictures soon!

Summer Break!

Woo hoo! Today was the last day of school! It was an early release day even, so Kori got out at 12:30 (they actually came out at 12:20 but don't tell anyone). We were home at 12:30 and Kori was in trouble and in her room by 12:35. Apparently she was irritated with Alexis (already????) and decided to put a mark on her face with a crayon. **Sigh** It might be a long summer. Other than that, the day was pretty uneventful. I had a headache all day, couldn't get the stupid thing to go away.

So now summer break is upon us. We have befriended several neighborhood kids and it seems our house is the "place to be" so there's always someone coming and going. I did frown at a couple of them that decided 8am was a good time to ring our door bell the other morning. I had Kori inform them that her father works nights and sleeps during the day and he would NOT be happy to be awakened all summer with the door bell ringing. Silly kids.

Not much going on here as of late. The past week was busy with stuff. Jason working, off-duty, school things. I worked at Kori's school on Thursday to help with Field Day. It was sunny and warm, unlike last year when it was in the 50's and raining, so they got to do all kinds of fun outdoor water stuff. Good times! Kori was soaked, but had a blast. Thank goodness I sent an extra change of clothes and a beach towel. I had a pretty cush job. I was in the cafeteria with a few other ladies passing out pink lemonade and popcorn for the snack/break period. Inside in the air conditioning, easy peasy!

My girls are outdoor junkies. All four of them. They would be outside 24/7 if they could. They have been grubby little pigs every night. My bath tub had sand bits in it on more than one occasion. Jason and I can't figure out why everytime they are in the sand box they are dumping sand on one anothers heads???? Silly kids.

So pray for my sanity. I am hoping we get into a good rhythm and I don't spend the whole summer fussing and grumbling.

I had to laugh the other day. Kori asked me several things and unfortunately it was one of those times where the answer always seemed to be no. Finally she said, "Ughhh, that's all you say is no, no no" as she stomped off down the hall. It made me giggle just a bit.

Tonight we went for ice cream with my sister and my niece Mallory. The girls were being silly and noisy in the back seat. My sister kept fussing at them and after a few times, Kori proclaimed, "Man, you always stop us from having fun". It's a tough job being a mommy somedays.

Flying By Yet Standing Still

Time that is. How can it be that it feels like my world stopped spinning last Wednesday, but yet it has now been over a week since losing my dad? Unreal.

I had an okay Mother's Day. We went to dinner on Saturday to beat the crowds. We got my mom out of the house and took her with me. My awesome hubby also bought me a new Canon Rebel digital SLR camera. It's a combo birthday/Mother's Day gift. I really love it! I am having fun taking lots of pics with it!

I started my housework on Sunday. I figured why not. Jason was home and could help mind the herd so I got some done. My house was neglected in the housework department so I got lots of stuff done. I finished it all up on Monday. Wish it would just stay clean. Oh a girl can dream.

Jason's dad and step-mom came down on Tuesday afternoon. They came to check in on me and do a little pampering, which I appreciate. We had take out for dinner which is always good. My step-MIL made a nice lunch on Wednesday and invited my mom and sister up too. It was very nice and so appreciated by us all. It was nice having extra people here to keep my mind from wandering. Jason had returned to work on Monday night so it was just me and my thoughts. Night time seems to be the worst. The kids are in bed and the house is quiet a dangerous combination.

Today I took my mom to the Social Security office to take care of that paperwork. Then we went on to the retirement office and got pension paperwork taken care of. Then we got a call from the funeral home director (an angel here on earth) saying that my dad was ready to be picked up. Great! He was going home, where he belonged. So many things done that allowed my mom to have a little more peace in her crazy sad live these days. My sister kept the little girls so that they didn't have to trollop along with us.

This afternoon we headed to the park to watch my nephew play in his final two games of the Jr. Varsity baseball season. They won both games, the girls enjoyed the fresh air, it was a good time.

So that's about it here. We are managing. I still feel so very sad, but am trying to put one foot in front of the other, as my dad would have wanted. I just miss him so very much.

Gone

I don't have the energy to post everything, but my dad, the best, sweetest, most loving dad and papa on the planet passed away tonight about 7:20.

I am so sad. Sounds silly to use that word, but it's so appropriate. I am just so very, very sad. Sad for myself, my children, my mom. While I am sad, I am not selfish enough to wish him here just for him to suffer more. He is in a much better place. The small amount of comfort I get from all of this, is knowing that he has been reunited in Heaven with my beautiful sister.

Growing Up Is For The Birds

I am 25 days out from turning 36. In my mind I am still 18-ish and my parents are still in their 40's. Not the case I know but that's how I like to think. That way I don't have to worry about my parents and their declining health and where I am going to be emotionally when they are no longer in my life here on earth.

My dad is not well. He hasn't been for a while, but it's getting worse. He has trouble eating. Has blood pressure issues. He has neuropathy and has for a while. A couple of weeks ago he went to the doctor and it was determined that really nothing else can be done for him. He has an advanced directive and it's no secret that he's never wanted any artificial interference with keeping him alive. I've known this for years, but everything in my heart screams to get him to the hospital so they can help him. Isn't that what hospitals do? They fix people.

I went Saturday and saw my dad. Took the girls too. He was up and around and told me he was "feeling a little bit better". My dad has lost about 70 pounds or so and is thinner now than I've ever seen him. that was clearly evident on Saturday. He did have a bit of an appetite on Saturday, which was good. He's been eating so little over the last couple of weeks. We have been doing their yard work, by we I mean Jason, since physically my dad can't do it anymore. He was up and around and it made things seem not quite so serious. Unfortunately on Sunday he was bad either in bed or sleeping in the recliner in the living room. Last night he started getting bad abdominal pain. He's taken some pain meds and has been in bed most of the day, except when he got up and at 6 or 7 bites of oatmeal for dinner. Everytime the phone rings I about jump out of my skin. Worried it's going to be my mom with bad news. My dad is only 65 years old, and to me that is still so young. I still have a lot of things to do in my life and I need him here with me while I am doing them. My girls need their Pop-A for a lot longer.

I am just so sad and scared and anxious and did I mention sad? I remember when my sister Margaret passed away six years ago so clearly. The absolutely horrible, gut wrenching, despair and sadness I felt. I still feel it. I am not sure I can do that again. I just don't think I can. I am a pretty strong person. Or I like to think I am. I am a 10-year melanoma survivor. I have had some surgeries here and there for various minor things. I have four kids that I tend to mostly on my own. I carried triplets to 35w 3d without bedrest or major complications. There are a lot of things I know I can do, but I don't think that this is one of them.

During stuff like this I tend to clam up. Keep things to myself. That's how I deal. How I cope. When my sister passed away Kori was only 18-months old, she didn't understand when I told her. I don't know how I'm supposed to tell my kids. I worry my girls won't remember their Pop-A. It will be up to me to keep his memory alive to them.

I know he's not gone yet. I'm hoping for a miracle, believe you me. I just feel like getting older and having to be grown up is for the birds.

Procrastinating

I have a super wonderfully craptastic project that I need to do for the PTA for Kori's school. I get to trim 1000+ labels collected during the recent label drive. They get money for each label collected so it's for a good cause but it's soooooo boring. I did 2500 in the fall. Now I have two gallon sized Ziplock bags awaiting me. I've had them since Tuesday of last week. I need to just do it and get it over with. Easier said than done.

Today I ran in the book fair at Kori's school and got her a couple of books, a book for the girls, a book for my niece Mallory and three books from Kori's teachers wish list for their class. One of the other mom's told me that one of the other mom's (did I lose you yet???) was going to be getting in contact with me. Oh goody I thought. What awesome (insert sarcasm here) project am I going to get now. Apparently she just found out she's expecting twins and wants advice from me. Would it sound strange if I told her immediately after the birth she should run like hell and never look back??? Hmmmm...better not say that. As much as I feel like it somedays, it might not sound so good.

Today as I was leaving to go to the book fair and to pick up Kori, Kamryn and I were in the middle of a tiff. It's just one of many over the last few days. The girls have been super grumpy, whiny, mean to one another, it's been FUN! NOT!! Well today Kamryn didn't like the pants I picked out for her after her nap. She was wearing a red Old Navy shirt with a flag on it. I knew they were going out to play so I didn't want anything nice to get all dirtied up so I set out some black pants. Uh, that was an no go chief. She was NOT having it. So she finally picked out her own pants. Did I mention they were purple plaid??? Oh she looked like a HOT MESS!!!

I have had a headache the last two days. I woke up with it on Monday and it hung out all day. Went to bed with it and surprise, surprise, it was here again when I woke up today. **Sigh** I have some sinus issues working so I am hoping it's sinus related. Trying not to get all paranoid in thinking its the swine flu. Kidding, but dang if that doesn't give me another germ to worry about!

Well I guess I better get to trimming. I've put it off long enough. **Sigh**

A Valuable Lesson

My sister commented on my lack of blogging as of late. So here I am! Lucky you guys huh?

Jason had a "guys weekend" with his buddies from high school. They came down in honor of the NFL Draft (zzzzzzz.....) which is really nothing more than a glorified excuse to consume alcohol and relive their "glory days". (zzzzzzz....) So it was all mom, all weekend. What else is new huh? I have determined that in my next life I am coming back as a man, preferably one like my husband who has such an awesome wife and mother to his children.

Okay, enough of that. Today I was a bonehead. There's really no other way to say it. I cooked a big breakfast for Jason's step-brother Brock (he was down for the Beer Fest, uh I mean NFL Draft get-together) and was heading back to Iowa this morning. So I cooked breakfast before he left. After that the girls got dressed and ready to go outside. Jason was going to do yardwork today before more rain moved in. I decided there were some things I wanted to piddle around with as well. So I did some stuff and then decided that there were some grassy issues in between our landscaping rocks that were bothering me. Sooooooo...I fired up the weedeater. No problem! It's not my first weed-eating rodeo. I've used one before. I should have known that God was sending me a "your wearing improper footwear signal" when a piece of the string broke off and wacked me on the top of my foot. I had to have Jason fix the spool and he pointed out my poor choice of footwear too. I assured him I was fine, that I was just doing a spot or two and all was well. Dumb move! So I'm a weed eating fool and all was going well until...I got my big toe on my left foot. Oh man it hurt soooooooooo bad! I thought I was going to pass out so I quick turned off the weedeater and set it down. Then I was afraid to look down at my foot for fear that I would see my toe missing and thrown somewhere across the yard. I managed to sneak a peek and was relieved to see it still attached with the other toes. I was not thrilled to see it looked like something out of a Freddie Krueger Nightmare on Elm Street movie scene. It's all hacked up. Not good, especially now that flip flop season is underway. So it's been cleaned and bandaged. I have learned a valuable lesson. No weedeating in flip flops! They just don't mix!

My children played outside for six hours straight today. They didn't nap. You'd thing at bedtime they'd just give up and to go sleep right? Nope. Kamryn gave up sooner than the other two. They were still goofing off. I was talking to my mom on the phone when all of a sudden it got very quiet. Further inspection of their bedroom premises revealed this:



Of course before moving them I had to grab the camera and take a picture or two. I took a picture with my camera phone and sent it to Jason at work and he commented that they looked like drunks that had passed out. Well I'm sure they felt like it too. They woke up at 9am, 6 1/2 hours outside, no naps, I'm surprise they made it as long as they did. I think it kind of resembles a crime scene photo or something similar. Silly kids!

Yesterday the girls didn't nap either. We played outside in the afternoon for several hours, and they had been out earlier in the day with the sitter (Jason and I went to a wedding) so they were pooped. I was talking to my mom on the phone and noticed Kamryn missing. I called for her and she didn't answer right away like she usually does, especially if she's doing something she's not supposed to. So I did some investigating. I found her asleep in her bed. Apparently she'd had enough and put herself to bed at about 7:45. She then slept until 9:30 this morning. Silly girl! So cute though!

Kori had a school program last week. It was a mini-musical and was very cute! Here's a picture of my sweet girl:



She was rehearsing for the musical in her room the night before the big performance. I couldn't help but giggle as I heard coming from her room, "My country disagree". So funny!

Okay, so in a nutshell that's been our life for a while. My dad is having health issues which is causing me great stress and anxiety, but I'll safe that for another day. It's bedtime!

Alive

I am here, and we are alive. The weather here has been so nice and we've been outside a lot.

Things of course are crazy busy as usual. My dad's health has been giving him issues, so there's been added stress with that.

I will update (hopefully Sunday) and add some pictures too!

Donuts And Milk

Sounds harmless right? Well to normal people in the normal world, yes it does. In my crazy chaotic world, not so much.

This morning the girls had powdered sugar donuts and milk for breakfast. While not the most nutritious breakfast I know, they like them so they have them every now and then. They eat enough veggies and such, and are generall good eaters, that I don't fret over this kind of stuff in moderation.

At any rate, I set everyone up with their breakfast and then went down the hall to Kori's room. I take Kori's sheets off her bed, put on new ones and put her old ones into the washer, start the dryer for clothes that were still drying and return to the kitchen.

What do I find there you ask? Three red headed two-year olds with milk in their hair. Apparently it was a GREAT idea to take their sippy cups full of milk and shake them on their head. So little drops at a time they now have milk covered heads.

So after not even being awake for 40-minutes, it's bathtime already.

Hope today isn't going to be one of "those" days.

I have Easter pics I need to post, maybe later. For now I'm off to wage battle with the two year olds and keep them under control. It's a never ending battle by the way!

Good thing you can pick your friends...

since you can't pick your family. Whew, somedays family can be exhausting. I guess my husband mailed out an email he got the other day.

(Here is the text of it)

Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul , Minnesota ,
points out some interesting facts concerning the Presidential election:
Number of States won by: Democrats: 19 Republicans: 29
Square miles of land won by: Democrats: 580,000 Republicans: 2,427,000
Population of counties won by: Democrats: 127 million Republicans: 143 million
Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Democrats: 13.2 Republicans: 2.1
Professor Olson adds: "In aggregate, the map of the territory Republican won was mostly the land
owned by the taxpaying citizens of the country. Democrat territory mostly encompassed
those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off various forms of government welfare..."

Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the "complacency and apathy"
phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation's
population already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase.

If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million criminal invaders called illegals
and they vote, then we can say goodbye to the USA in fewer than five years. If you are in
favor of this, then by all means, delete this message.

If you are not, then pass this along to help everyone realize just how much is at stake,
knowing that apathy is the greatest danger to our freedom.


My husband is a Republican by the way. While I tend to vote Republican, I don't always 100% agree with everything in the party lines, politics really isn't "my thing". It was received from him as a forward from someone else. Jason sent the email on to several people including his brother and sister-in-law. I skimmed through it and deleted it. It wasn't super interesting to me so I didn't dwell on it.

I hadn't given it a 2nd thought until I had an email this morning from Eric that was bashing us for sending the email to them. Stating "you guys" "your views" "idiotic and misinformed" etc. etc. etc. Whoa, wait a minute. I didn't have ANYTHING to do with the email. Jason and I maintain separate email accounts, we don't share. It boiled down to they didn't appreciate the email (apparently they are Democrat and VERY Liberal) and please stop sending that kind of "crap" to their email. It went on to state that the email was borderline "racist and hill billy". WTF? Huh? I may be from the midwest but I'm not hill billy, nor a racist. Grrrrrr! I was not happy.

I sent off an email making sure they know that I didn't have anything to do with it. I find that family isn't the place for discussions on religion or politics. Jason is in law enforcement his brother is a public defender...it makes for some interesting conversations to say the least. I am totally okay with agreeing to disagree on most things and leave it at that. I didn't like being lumped in along with idiots, the misinformed, hill billy's or racists. It stung.

The email I received in return was that "The reference to "you guys" was to Jason and the people who e-mail him these e-mails" and the fact that he doesn't want to receive these types of email from "those people" anymore. Uh okay. But what if the group of "those people" just get them as forwards just like I did, and they did for that matter, and they chose to delete them instead of calling people names? Now you've offended a whole group of people? **Sigh**

So I guess it's a good thing that they live in Las Vegas and we're here in Hillbilly-ville. I would hate to hear the heated discussion that would have resulted.

So much drama. Way more drama than I have time for. I have four kids, three that are very busy two-year olds, laundry to wash/dry/fold/put away, meals to prepare/clean up from, a house to clean, errands to run and other things. Way too little free time on my part for this. Next time I'd just like to be excluded from it all thank you very much.

Oh well, tomorrow is a new day. Hopefully it will be sunny and politics free.

Trouble

In the event anything ever happens to me, my kids are in TROUBLE! Of course I've always know this, but sometimes I get some more proof. :-) On Tuesday I left the girls with Jason for a bit so that I could go to my nephews high school baseball game. It wasn't until almost five o'clock and it wasn't super warm that day. I knew it would only get cooler so I didn't want to risk the girls getting sick from sitting out in the cool air. So Jason said he'd mind the store. I picked up my mom and off we went. So nice to get away alone for a bit. It's a rare thing, especially if I'm not going to the store or doing boring errands like that.

At any rate, before I went I got the fixings together for Jason to make some meatball subs for dinner. Easy peasy right? Wrong! I had pre-made meatballs, jarred sauced, hoagie rolls and grated mozzarella cheese. I also had some smiley faced fries that the girls love. No problem! **Sigh**

I should add that my cell phone broke a couple of weeks ago. Jason needed a new MP3 player and was waiting for our cell contract to be up later this summer as he was going to get a cell phone with a built-in MP3 player. Well since mine broke, I told him I'd just take his phone and we'd switch my number to it and he could get a new phone/MP3 player thing. (I know, I'm a super nice wife). So I'm not used to the ringer he has and I haven't switched it or downloaded a new one. I guess he called a few times with questions about dinner. He left me FIVE voice mails before I even realized he'd called. The voice mails were hysterical! In the 2nd or 3rd one he started just talking and saying, "Hey voice mail, it's me again. Haven't talked to you in a few minutes". Stuff like that. Do I use both jars of sauce? Do I use all the bags of meat balls (there were 3 -- they weren't huge), what kind of cheese do I use? Do I put them in the oven to melt the cheese? Holy cow! I left an easy dinner and he had to call me five times to figure it out? My poor children. At any rate, they survived and had dinner so that was good.

I kept the voice mails for a bit because they are too funny! I was listening to them as I was driving and they were totally cracking me up. He thinks he's funnier than he is most of the time. This time though he was pretty entertaining.