It's Official...

Today I put my oldest child on the bus for the last day of 2nd grade! What? How in the world did THAT happen? I am quite certain that she just finished Kindergarten! Right? Man where does the time go. Add in the fact that my nephew is now officially a Senior, my niece and nephew turn 1 next week, and I am about to cry real tears. Holy cow, I don't know where the time goes! One day your 21 living life and having a ball. Next thing you know you are 2-days from being 37, your kids and loved ones are growing at warp speed. STOP THE WORLD I WANT TO GET OFF!!!!

We are on the final countdown for vacation. We will leave next week after the twin's first birthday party. We are planning to drive all night and straight through and hope to get into Myrtle Beach, with some sanity left, around dinner time. Oh I am ready for some sand, sun and no agenda! We can't wait!

That being said, I better get back to my agenda and get some things done around here!

That Kind of Monday

A couple of Monday's ago, I had one of "those" kind of Mondays. You know the kind, they don't start off great and go down hill from there. Well I woke up with the mother of all headaches. So I was kind of dragging anyway. Got Kori off to school. Went through some other mundane tasks in an attempt to call the day semi-productive. Jason was working 3pm-11pm so he was home with us a bulk part of the day. Around noon he started wrestling around with the girls. No biggie, happens all the time. They love it, he loves it, I warn someone will get hurt. I can't help it, it's the mother in me. Well my predictions came true. As Jason was rolling over and taking Kamryn with him she started screaming, "Ow, ow, my arm, my arm!!" It was clear it was hurting and she wasn't moving it. It didn't appear to be broken. This has happened before and after a bit it works itself out and all is well. Not the case here. After an hour she was still not moving it and favoring it. She ate her lunch with one hand and didn't move the injured arm at all. Well my wonderful husband starts getting ready for work. Apparently he had court and would be leaving sooner than I expected, I'm usually the last one to know. I was less than thrilled that he caused this injury, but yet I was now left to "clean up the mess". Grrrrrr....

Long story shorter I ended up making an appointment for Kam when after a couple hours things hadn't improved. After getting Kori off we raced to the pediatrician. Nursemaid elbow was the diagnosis and after some twisting and turning and LOTS of shrieking and screaming from Kamryn, things were re-set and all was well. She left with a mini-pinwheel, a princess crown, and everyone got coupons for a free ice cream cone from McDonald's. Awesome! As it was it was dinner time and I had planned on McD's for dinner. We'd kill two birds with one stone. Off we went!

Well things were going well until Alexis went to get down from her seat for some reason. He foot was tangled in the seat back and she started to fall. In an attempt to save her and the tray of food she was taking with her, I reached out quickly. Grabbed and saved the food, and rammed my elbow into the back of her little head. The cry indicated something was wrong. I apparently bumped her head into the metal chair back and cut her head just above her eyelid. Oh darn!!! So off to urgent care we went.

Two-three stitches would have worked, but in an attempt to keep it as trauma free as possible we opted for the Dermabond glue/steri-strip route. It's healing nicely and she doesn't seem too scarred from it all. I however, feel horrible still to this day.

So there it is, my not so great Monday!

So...

My sister has mentioned to me several times over the past few weeks they she's sick of logging in and seeing my last post from AGES ago. So here I am! My computer has been in the shop...again but I'm here. I made this long post the other night from my Blackberry to appease my sister and get her off my back (kidding...kind of) and the Blackberry apparently enjoyed it so much, it ate it. At the risk of wearing out my thumbs trying to do it again, I waved the white flag of surrender.

So since I can use a full-size keyboard, voila, here I am!

Jason is back today from a week-long trip to Alabama for training for work. The girls and I took him to the airport last Sunday. His flight left KC at about 10:15 and by 11:30 I know that I had been asked at least 100 times if it was time for daddy to come home. Hmmm, how to rectify this situation? I finally went to the calendar, showed the girls what day we were on, marked a big ol' heart of Friday, the day he would be coming home, in an attempt for them to actually visualize the days that needed to pass, and me not have to answer that question a million times a day. It helped, a little. Oh well, they were missing him, I understand.

Of course Sunday night everyone was sick. Fever for Kamryn. Kori had been home Friday with a sore throat/cough/sinus pressure etc. that lasted all weekend so she was home sick Monday as well. Alexis and Morgan had coughs/congestion. Of course! Tuesday I took both Morgan and Kamryn to the doctor. Morgan had been up at 1am complaining of ear pain. Kamryn informed me that morning at breakfast that if Morgan was going to the doctor, she was going too, because her ear hurt too. Awesome! Off we go. Ear infections for both. Pink medicine for both. Life is good!

With the magic of technology Jason was able to send a video every night at bedtime, telling them good night, blowing kisses etc. They LOVED it! Every night they couldn't wait to watch it. It was so cute seeing them waving when he waved, and blowing kisses back.

I was actually relatively unstressed about this trip and took it in stride. Unfortunately I think that means I am getting used to doing everything myself and am adjusting to it all. That might not be such a great thing.

We kept a great schedule, everyone got to bed by 9pm every night and I was able to have some "me time" and recollect any sanity that had become dislodged in its attempt to flee.

Alexis had the most trouble with it all. Everyday she would express, several times a day, how much she missed and loved daddy. It was very sweet. Morgan seemed annoyed by the whole thing. Every morning she would go up to our bedroom, discover that daddy was once again, not sleeping in our bed, and in her most grumpiest voice declare, "Ughhhhh daddy isn't here YET???? He is gone every single day!" And off she'd grump back downstairs. HYSTERICAL!

Thursday night as I was silently celebrating the week and surviving it all, in my own head while finishing up the kitchen/after dinner mess I heard Alexis crying. In she came and informed me Morgan pushed her. Not unusual for some sort of violence to take place unfortunately. So I turn around casually only to discover that Alexis is bleeding a bit from her nose. So I clean that up, summon Morgan, and plop her in the floor in the kitchen where I can properly supervise her while I finish up my work. Kamryn decides this is a great time to come and pester/heckle Morgan. That won her a similar spot on the floor, just across the kitchen from Morgan. She then proceeds to start with the sassy mouth. Ooooooh, this girl can be sassy. She is perfecting the art of eye rolling which is not going over well with me I must say. I advise her it would be in her best interest to cease the sassy talk and aforementioned eye rolling. So she told me, "You are being ridiculous and you need to get over it". I warned her again of her mouth and then she informed me she was going to "find somewhere else to live". I offered to help her pack. So the sassy/temper won out, she declared me "mean" and got a trip to bed without a snack or bedtime story. Now you'd think that Morgan would learn from her behavior. Not so! She informed me, as I'd taken 3 steps back into the kitchen from putting Kamryn to bed not 10-seconds earlier, "Kam's wight, you are being weally, weally mean" (yes I meant it to be spelled that way). Guess what she got? Yep, to bed sans snack and story just like her sister.

Oh kids, they are so sweet aren't they? I am blessed to have them and never have to remind myself of that once I see their sleeping sweet faces every night.

I was rewarded after a long week of daddy being away, with him having to go to work a mere 3 1/2 hours after his plane landed. I am thrilled he has a job, in these economic times, don't get me wrong, but it's a little easy to lose patience with it sometimes. Oh well, I'm just used to it.

So that's it for us. I will have to post soon about my "Monday" that was everything a Monday could hope to be. It was AWFUL! I will save that for another day and another post. For now, I am tired.

Becky, I hope you are happy now! A new post and already a promise of another one! Mwah!

Hey Lookie Here...

It's me! I'm here! I didn't disappear! Life has been a bit crazy, but nothing out of the norm for us here.

There has been some illness, some nice weather, a freak snow storm, the melting of said snow the next day. It's been interesting. We are definitely ready for Spring around here!!!

I have decided that as a mother I am taking my house back. My children decided that they were in charge. Listening was a thing of the past! Doing your own thing seemed to be the newest trend. My days were spent saying the same things over and over and over, and quite frankly it was getting exhausting!

So we initiated the rule that I will tell you once, warn you once and then there will be consequences for your action, or in some cases, inaction.

For example, the girls LOVE to drag out the big tub of dress up clothes. Unfortunately it was a fight, which usually resulted in a melt-down when it came time to pick them back up. I warned them that times were changing. Warned them of the new rules and gave them ample time to adjust. That resulted in me confiscated the tub of clothes. They are put up in the sub-basement. Along with a tub of Polly Pockets, a bucket of bristle blocks, a Barbie RV and a bunch of accompaniying pieces.

We have been taking my mom once a week for the last several weeks, to the doctor for injections in her knees. We've been having lunch out afterwards and the girls know there is no dessert if you don't eat your meal, not all of it, but a good portion. If you don't have room for the main course, there's certainly no room for dessert. We had lunch at Culver's this past week. I reminded them several times that if they didn't eat lunch they wouldn't have custard for dessert. Morgan and Kamryn caught on. Unfortunately for Alexis she didn't get the memo. So while the other two enjoyed their cups of custard inside with my mom, Alexis and I went to the van so she wouldn't disturb the other patrons with her grumbling. I am thinking, or hoping at least, that they are catching on.

Other than that we enjoyed Spring Break here at home. Nothing special. Kori was glad to have a few days off and enjoyed staying up a bit later than usual and sleeping in some too. I enjoyed being able to sleep in some too.

Still working out. With the exception of the last couple of days due to knee pain. I am having MRI's tomorrow on my knees to figure out if I have a torn meniscus in one or both knees. If not (which I am hoping that is the case!) I will have cortisone injections to "clear up the crackles" in my knees.

Yesterday the trio and I watched my niece and nephew. Triplets and twins! Wow! The girls are very good sitters. I didn't have to do much. I did forget how much work little ones are. I am glad that stage is over for me. My heart no longer aches for more kids. I hit that mark several months after the girls were born. Who can blame me right? :-)

We are headed to Iowa next week for Easter. We will spend Good Friday with Jason's Grandpa Leroy, who is turning 96. He hasn't seen the girls in a while and we're excited to get them up to visit with him. He sure enjoys seeing them! After that we'll head to Jason's dad and step-moms for a couple of days. Should be a good time! Looking forward to getting out of the city for a couple days.

So that's it for us, I will try, key word, try, to be more dilligent in my postings. Again.

Darn It!

I specifically remember in my last post, aeons ago, that I was going to do better about keeping up with my blog. Rats! So here I am again...behind again. Sorry about it, again. It's a viscious cycle!

I have been working out still. I am at 18-pounds lost now. I wish it were coming off faster, but I am toning things up and can tell in how my clothes are fitting. I hate the two weeks that Jason is on the 3-11pm shift. I sometimes can't get to the gym before he has to leave for work, which leaves me on the treadmill here at home. It is sooooo boring! So I suffer through, but I don't enjoy it as much as going to the gym.

I am ready for Spring! I need to see green, now gray and brown anymore. It is so annoying! There is still some snow on the ground here from the last burst over a week ago. That netted us about 7-8 inches. YUCK!!! Even Kori grumbled about it. You know it's been a long winter when the kids are complaining about more snow. It's supposed to be in the 50's for the next few days so hopefully it will melt. Next up I'd like to order some Spring green please. Grass, plants, leaves, anything green, I am down with it!

The girls are doing great! Daddy pulled the 2nd of Kori's top teeth the other day. She is now missing the top two teeth and looks completely adorable! I love to hear her talk, it is soooooo cute! She is doing AWESOME in school! I am so proud of her every day!

The trio are wonderful as well! I am getting ready to check into pre-school screening for them so try and get them into the pre-school program at Kori's school. Yikes! It would only be for about 3-hours a day, but the thought of it just scares me to death! I'm pretty sure they were just born! Weren't they??? Wasn't this just a couple of days ago???



Now it's pre-school talk, and before long Kindegarten. **Sigh** I remember the days so vividly when I thought I wouldn't survive the first six months, yet here we are, almost 4-years old! Unbelievable!

We have booked our vacation home for the 2010 Rusley Family Vacation. This years excursion will take us to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We are looking forward to some sun, fun, swimming, beaches, golfing (Jason), seafood (Jason) and much, much more! Another long car ride in our future, but everyone is up for it! Heck it's a couple hours shorter than last years Disney World trip. Just over three months to go, I can't wait!!!

So that's about it for me. I won't waste your time with promises to do better,I just will really try my hardest.

I leave you with the cutest kids in the land:

Greetings!

My sister and I were having a conversation the other night about someone we know that has a blog. She mentioned that this person had been lax about keeping it up to date. I mentioned that I wasn't doing so good either. The look my sister gave me let me know that she was well aware of that fact, so here I am.

There just isn't enough time in the day to get everything done! At the 1st of the new year I decided that I was tired of being overweight and out of shape. I started running on our treadmill here at the house. Well I was doing a run/walk combo program. Along with some ab work on my stability ball. Then I had a talk with our Chief of Police while visiting with my friend Liz at her work one day and was granted priveledges to work out at the exercise facility at our Police Academy, which conveniently enough is less than a minute from my house. So I've been going there pretty much every day, give or take a few days when we were sick with the stomach flu. It's been good for me to try and get myself back in some sort of shape. To give myself an hour or so of "me time" doing something just for me. I have a love/hate relationship with the elliptical machine. I hate the first five minutes or so when my legs are burning, as well as my lungs, but then the other 20 I am great and get in the zone. I have been bumping up the intensity with pushing myself harder or adding more time to the workout. I do some weight work too. So far I've lost 15-pounds. I have LOTS more to go but am please so far. I'd love to see quick results but we all know that isn't how it works. So I am trying to be patient and not get frustrated.

All is well with the kiddos too. The trio currently all have colds but nothing serious. Kori is still doing GREAT at school. We are in the middle of a big penguin project. I'll have to post pictures when we're done. It's making me tap into my inner "not so crafy side" and try and be a little more artsy and crafty. They are all still trying to drive me crazy, but I have managed to elude their efforts thus far.

So there you have it, a not so exciting update from me,and yet another promise to try and be better with my blogging.

Ugh! Ick! Gross! Blach! Ewwww!

The stomach flu has hit our house! Boo!! Last week a few of Kori's school mates were home with a stomach bug. The little girl on the bus in the seat behind Kori barfed on her seat mate. Great! That always starts the panic to rise inside me. I have emetophobia and I fear vomit. Mine. Theirs. Yours. It doesn't matter. I am non-discriminatory. It causes me great anxiety. I hate it, but it is what it is. My theory is nothing should come flying out your nose/mouth if it was once inside your stomach. Okay, enough with that.

Friday Kori woke up with some tummy issues of the bathroom nature. She burped and gagged a bit so I decided to just keep her home. It was a half-day. She hasn't missed any school yet this year, no big deal. She kept a very low profile in bed all day watching TV. She was better Saturday and we had a belated bowling party for her 8th birthday. It went great! Lots of fun! One of the little girls there, one of Kori's schoolmates, was just getting over the stomach flu. She was out of school Thursday and Friday but was better Saturday. Jason ran into their mom Sunday morning at the convenience store down the road. Apparently the older sister, who was also at the bowling party, was now sick. As well as the neighbors husband. I figured it was bound to hit. It seemed to be running ramapant.

So low and behold Sunday night about 12:30 a.m., Alexis decided to kick things off. Lots of barfing. Bathroom issues. Etc. About 4:00 p.m. Monday afternoon she perked up, ate a pop tart and was find. Cool. That wasn't too bad.

Fast forward to this morning at 3:20 a.m. I am awakened by Morgan who is claiming her "tummy is hurting". I get her settled back in her bed. Sit by it for a while until she falls back to sleep, and as an afterthought before leaving, I throw a couple old towels on the floor next to her bed. Oh you know what they say about a mother's intuition. It was dead on. I no sooner got back in bed and covered up when I heard the tell-tale coughing/crying. So here we go, round #2.

About 6:00 a.m. here comes Kamryn. I'd heard her whining and kind of moaning around 5:00 a.m., but she's a sleep talker so I didn't worry to much. Well she decided Morgan shouldn't barf alone so she joined in too. So there my husband and I sat ready to do battle. Which we did until around noon when the barfing subsided. There are still bathroom issues, but they are up and around, have proclaimed their tummies feel better and are watching Cinderella as we speak. They ate a light lunch and some dinner and so far so good. I am hoping for a barf-free remainder of the week. Hey, I'm going to aim higher, how about the rest of the year! No need to limit myself. I am hoping Jason and I are spared. I have washed my hands so much they are cracked open and bleeding. I wiped light switches, toilets, counters etc. with a water/bleach solution this evening. I've sprayed Lysol religiously. I am hoping this is the end of it and it goes away and stays away.

So that's the end of this really disgusting post. It is definitely not one of the finer points of this little thing called parenthood. But it is what it is.

Man am I tired. I think the washing machine is about to go on strike too.

Resolutions

I actually made a few this new year. I don't usually because past experience has shown me that I do not stick to them, no matter how bad I want to. Something this year "felt right", so I made a few. I resolved to not curse. I don't do it a lot, but a little is too much. It's just not lady-like, Christian-like, its yucky. So I am doing great in that area.

I also resolved to lose weight. For some reason, all of a sudden I'm tired of being overweight. It's no secret my body took a hit when I was pregnant with the girls. The added weight from the medicines I took to get pregnant, stay pregnant, etc. didn't help either. The triplet pregnancy completely wrecked my abs. My abdominal muscles are completely seperated. You can stick your fist in this. This makes me unable to do a sit-up, but there are other things I can do. So I have been trying to eat better. Heck, I do good to actually eat at all. Sometimes I'm just too busy, I forget. I used to think my mom was nuts when she said she forgot to eat...now I understand.

So I've been trying to eat breakfast and lunch and dinner and have healthy snacks. You know pretzels, apples, etc. It's going well. Probably the best I've ever done. I'm down about 4 1/2 pounds in nine days. Woo hoo! I have been doing a walking/jogging program on the treadmill. Walk for two minutes, jog for a minute. I am finding that I dread it less and can actually run the whole minute without feeling like I'm going to puke, pass up or die, generally in that order. I strap on my headphones and get to it. The 30-minutes I do for now actually goes fast. When I first started I was at about 1.3 miles. Then I was up to 1.5 miles, then 1.6 I am now up to 1.75 miles. I am increasing the speed and even ran for two whole minutes the other day at 5 mph! My husband is surprised, yet pleased and encouraging with my progress.

The girls are good about watching a movie on my bed while I do the treadmill since it is in our bedroom. The first day I got on it the little girls informed me, "That's not your treadmill, that's daddy's treadmill!" Uh sorry, not any more girls. The other night at the end of my workout, Kori informed me, "Hey you did good mom. You were running good, you didn't look like you were going to pass out or nothing". Uh, thank you????

At any rate it is January 12th and I'm still at it. I can't wait until I can actually see the results, or feel the clothes getting more roomy. Woo hoo!

Dear Winter...

I am so very much over you. The white Christmas was beautiful. Very nice! Loved it! I especially appreciated it because I did not have to go out in it. The snow over the school Christmas break was a nice touch! Kori had a ball playing in it!

Then you decided more was needed. And more. And more. And yet even more. Then to just be even more cruel you threw in some sub-zero, freeze your hiney off temperatures. Not cool!!!

So Christmas break was extended by a week. A whole week. Not to mention it was too cold to let anyone play in the beautiful snow you sent us. So I had four kids with extreme cabin fever. Definitely NOT cool!

I am now a bit concerned that I am finding the thoughts of temperatures in the 30's to actually be appealing, and thinking they actually seem warm. There is something seriously wrong with that.

If you could whoa down on the dramatics, the rest of your season will go much better and we will appreciate you a bit more.

Signed,

Me

What Happened???

So today was what I thought a pretty good day. Aside from me pulling our wooden blinds down from our bedroom window off the brackets and onto my head (oh man did that HURT! I have a knot to show for it and wouldn't be surprised if I didn't have a mild concussion), it was a pretty good day. Even though we woke up to freezing cold temperatures and 3-4 more inches of snow.

We met Jason's dad and step-mom for breakfast before they headed back to Iowa. That went good. Everyone ate well. Nobody cried, yelled, spilled, fought, hit, kicked, punched, or otherwise caused any negative attention to us. Success in my book!

We got back and Kori and Jason and I shoveled the drive and sidewalks...again. (Have I mentioned I am very much over Winter??? -- If I haven't, let it be noted that I am, very much so!)

The girls played nicely, always a bonus.

At about 2:30 Kori and I left to pick up Becky and we headed to our long-standing, eagerly anticipated, group date to see New Moon. Hey, better late than never huh? We had a nice time, no issues.

Got home and did some stuff. Wrestled in the floor. Gave the little girls a bath.

Kori came in to take her bath and I noticed she'd been crying. So I ask her what was up? I assumed that something must have happend with daddy or Alexis, because they were the only two that had been with her, Kamryn and Morgan were in the bathroom with me.

She told me, through her tears, that she feels like she isn't part of our family sometimes. HUH??? I asked her what made her feel that way. She told me that she feels like I favor Alexis and I don't make her feel like she's part of our family. It was all I could do to not burst into tears at this point, but I didn't want to discourage her from sharing her feelings with me if something is bothering her. I told her that as mothers we are gifted with the ability to love all of our kids equally, no matter how many we have, and that's how I am. I love each and every one of my girls exactly the same. No more for one than the others. I just was so shocked as to where all of this was coming from. I hadn't fussed at her or anything all day?????

I have been feeling a little "Cinderella-ish" lately as I've been the only one to do things around here. I have been doing everything, with little or no help from anyone else. I just had a conversation with Jason about this a few days ago, but it only helped for a day or so. Apparently my family thinks I'm their personal maid. I am tired of picking up after everyone, all the time. There is rarely a day I get to sit down and relax with all the laundry, housework, dishes, cooking, cleaning, etc. etc. etc. that I have to do. Every night I pick everything up that is left out, because it drives me crazy to leave it out. Surveying all the things I pick up 99% of them are NOT mine. They belong to Jason and the girls. So now on top of feeling like Cinderella, I also apparently am not being a very good mother.

Man this parenting thing is so hard sometimes. The days I try and schedule "family fun time" someone is grumpy or uncooperative and it ends up being "family not-so-fun time" and backfires on me. I try and make sure that I am loving an attentive to my kids even though I don't have a minute for myself, and that apparently is not working out so great for me either.

Feeling very much like flying the white flag of surrender right now.

Okay...pity post over now I guess.

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.