Another one bites the dust...

Yup, that is right.. We killed another toy already.. Andrew has also lost his inflatable chair to the great unknown... Personally I would not have bought these monsters ANYTHING inflatable.. BUT Ben wanted his brother and sister to have them and Daddy could not say no....

The holiday behind us.....

Can I tear down the tree yet? This past week has been chaos... Sunday we had my husbands family party at our house. During the afternoon I noticed Ben was getting crankier and more miserable then ever. I decided to see if he had a temp and he did. This is important because I only get a temperature when I am SERIOUSLY ill. The kids have taken after me in that respect. So a temp is HUGE- he was pushing 102. I medicated him well that night and planned on calling the Dr first thing in the morning. Poor Ben woke up Monday morning miserable. I gave him water and he fell back to sleep. Slept in until 11am! So I had made the appt for him when I noticed Andrew had this HUGE raw looking spot on his tongue.. No explanation for it, no injury.. it looked like a good chunk of his tongue was torn off. I called back and they added him to the list.
~~but wait.. it gets better~~
If you recall it was FREEZING that day.. single digits. I took the van to get gas and came back. When I was ready to go warm the van to take the boys to the Dr the Battery was dead. We knew this was coming but THIS was not a good day for it. SO I had to rip 2 car seats out and put them in Michael's car, yell at the boys to get ready and GO! Of course we got stuck behind an accident and were slightly late.
Got to sit and explain all the latest medical woes to the Nurse Practitioner who we were seeing. Andrew kept coughing while we were talking. So she checked him first. Looked at his tongue, felt his throat, checked his ears.. YES.. he has two ear infections.. How did this happen???

So then she gets to Ben.. Two more ear infections.. So that is 40 in copays, 18 in antibiotics and another 18 and change for probiotics so I can try to counter all the meds they are on....

Spent Monday and Tuesday cuddling and comforting sick little boys. Weds found me fighting something in my intestines which led into the cold that I am finally getting over. Now today Madeline is starting to sneeze, snot and cough..
Will it ever end? Will the junk go away?

So the important information is that Christmas was nice, way too much stuff and the kids will not keep things picked up. Ben is thrilled to have Rock Band drums to play on and I can already see that he has picked up rhythm.. Now if I could figure out how to get him pitch...
We lost two presents already.. on Christmas day in fact. The super nerf blaster thing... well that great pump action power broke instantly. Plus the inflatable princess chair blew out a seam right away. Nice...

So that is the life in my house.. Sickness and broken toys.. Happy New year!

Cough, Cough, Wheeze, Snort... repeat...

Can anyone STAY healthy? My goodness this is getting annoying. Ben did a round of antibiotics for a single ear infection in November. Took maybe 8-10 days and he was complaining again.. This time we hit the Pediatrician (last time was urgent care) and she found double ear infections and the same upper respiratory crap that everyone else has that is VIRAL! So 5 more days of meds and he was fine. Thursday he comes home from school super cranky.. I assumed he got a purple day but he said no.. stayed green.
After a while of Mr. Crabby pants I felt his head.. WARM! His temp was around 100 so I popped him some Tylenol and juice.. He was fine. Went to school on Friday and seemed fine. So yesterday he is congested again.. Coughy, snotty, nose getting red from being rubbed.. SICK again.
Michael went to bed complaining that he comes home healthy from a trip and now feels his throat itching.. .I swear half of his problems are allergies BUT what are you going to do..
Andrew is rubbing up against me coughy and snotty... YEAH ME!

PLEASE can they all stay healthy? My neighbor said that 1st grade sucked for them too.. She stayed home and did not do preschool either. Also half day K. So when full day 1st grade came it beat the crap out of her daughter too. This year 2nd grade she is MUCH healthier.. GOSH I hope that is the truth... Which also REALLY adds to my desire to put them in 3-4 day preschool next year.. BUILD, build build those immunities...

Off to the store soon for Michael's prescriptions, more sinus meds and maybe tissues??

Portraits

~BUSINESS PLUG~

I wanted to get a nice photo of all the kids for holiday gifts. I Usually go to Picture People and have to travel to Chapel Hill Mall and battle the mall crowd. I decided I would rather shove splinters under my nails then deal with that on a Saturday in December. I called Portrait Innovations in Green and made an appointment there. I figured I would get at minimum the the $10 package and hopefully at least 1 kid would be cooperative.

AMAZING!

I believe this was the absolute BEST photo session I have ever experience. They have a photographer and a handler to the shots. I sat in a chair from the waiting room and they did the work. All I did was pick out the pictures! I usually am sweating by the end of a picture shoot b/c I am running around keeping kids in the frame, on the spot, not fighting, smiling and not pouting.

I will definitely be back. We need a new family portrait and the twins have a birthday coming up in March. I plan to keep them in business and send others there also!

Morning Breath

The twins have horrible morning breath. It is truly foul. They are also very snugly in the morning and want to curl up on our laps and rock. Michael has taken to joking with the kids about eating stinkbugs in the night.

This morning the two slept in later then their usual ( Hallelujah!). Ben was almost out the door when Maddie walked in the room, Andrew followed minutes later. Andrew climbed on my lap and was in my face telling me how he made his bed. I recoiled at the smell and gave him a hug and told him he must have eaten a LOT of stinkbugs last night. He looked at me and asked if I ate stink bugs at night. I said NO mama never eats stinkbugs. He leaned over and gave me a huge kiss on the lips and proclaimed "THERE! now you have stink bugs too!"

Out of the mouths of babes...

On Saturday I had a friend and her kids over for the day. I had to leave around 645pm to take Ben to a late bday party. Since she had an hour drive ahead of her she planned on putting the kids in their pajamas and then bathing them in the morning before church. I told her to just bathe them here.. Why wait till the morning.. So the baby sat by the kitchen watching me load the dishwasher while my friend got the tub ready and washed her 5y/o daughter and Maddie. When they were done I gathered the baby, lotion and all the clothing and started to get the girls all greased and dressed while my friend refilled the tub and bathed her 3 y/o son and Andrew. This worked out great b/c my two would be ready for bed after we returned from being out and her evening was done except for the drive.

While I was getting shoes and socks on everyone my friends daughter looks at my feet and then ran a finger on my heel.. She looked at me and said " I tell my mom this and I will tell you.. YOU need to Ped-Egg!"

I laughed so hard. I offered to get her mine and put her to work on my feet. She looked at me like I was crazy and told me " OH NO! That is too dangerous for a kid!"

Saturday Morning Fun!

You know things are looking barren when you realize that you have enough time to empty and clean out the refrigerator while the french toast sticks are cooking in the toaster oven! AND you actually do it!

I'll admit it. I am weird in the fact that I like seeing things get *Mother Hubbard* like. I like seeing that I am using it all and things are not going to waste. I hate finding 2 month old yogurt cups back on the bottom shelf or shriveled petrified carrots and celery in the crisper drawer...

I picked up the Market Day order in Tuesday and that brought in a package of personal pizzas, gingerbread cookies to bake, popcorn chicken, shrimp(for Christmas), some chicken breasts and previously mentioned french toast sticks. So my freezer is looking fine.

Today I am picking up an order from Angel Food Ministries, http://www.angelfoodministries.com/, for the first time. When I first heard about it there was never a site local to me. Our church participates so I thought I would give it a try. I bought 1 regular box and a fruit/veggie box.. The kids will be thrilled with fresh fruit. I just opened my last can of mandarin oranges for breakfast.

So after I pick up my order and put that away I can make a list and see what I still need.. I know bread and orange juice top that list... Maybe the twins and I will hit Marcs tonight while Ben is at his Pump it Up Bday party!

~*~ See what fun you are missing Michael.. While you are *stuck* at the Colorado Country (country club) Christmas party.... I will be scavenging the junk aisles at Marcs.. WITHOUT YOU!~*~

Inquiring minds want to know.....

WILLMAR, Minn. - A 50-year-old man who told authorities he was fed up with teens toilet-papering his house decided to defend his property — with a squirt gun filled with fox urine.
Now, Scott Wagar is in trouble with the law.
Wagar pleaded not guilty on Wednesday in Kandiyohi County District Court to misdemeanor assault and other charges. He was released on personal recognizance.
According to police, Wagar was on his property Sept. 16 when he used night vision goggles to see 15-20 people running toward his place. He told police that he told them to leave, swore at them and sprayed them with the fox urine. He also allegedly struggled with one of the teens.
A phone message left at a home listing for a Scott Wagar was not immediately returned to The Associated Press.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28191199/?GT1=43001


So my question is...

Where did this guy get the Fox Urine???????

Wrapping packages...

The kids are *helping* me wrap for the adopt a family, cousins, daddy.. that kind of stuff.. Maddie and Andrew found some leftover scraps of paper. So they have VERY nicely folded and wrapped and taped and found scissors and cut ribbon.. Brought it to me and had me tie a knot in the ribbon...

I just realized they forgot to put anything IN the wrapping paper...LOL! But they are folding very nicely!

We can plant an apple tree..

Maddie comes up to me, out of nowhere, and says excitedly,

" We can get a pile of dirt, poke a hole in it, put the seeds in and pour water on and it will grow into an apple tree!"

I laugh and say "You want to plant an apple tree?"

She nods emphatically and says "Oh yes! I have the seeds in my pocket!" and she sticks her fingers in and brings out a few little apple seeds.

Apparently she took Bens apple core out of the trash and tore it open for the seeds...

Is she trying to tell me something?

The other morning Madeline came out all messied haired from her bedroom and climbed up on my lap for a cuddle. She looks up at me and says ( with her nasty morning breath), " I slept in my bed all night.. But I need to go practice my jump rope.. I just cannot do it all myself"

I was like WHAT? where did that come from?

So then last night I was talking to my friend Robyn when Maddie stops by me and proclaims " I need to go practice ice skating mama"

WHAT???? Robyn was like " did she just tell you she needs to practice ice skating?" I laughed and said.. that is what she said..

SO now she just tells me I need to get her into diving practice.. b/c she is still holding her nose shut. This kid is cracking me up.
The only thing they have ever used a jump rope for is a whip or a lasso, she has never seen an ice rink besides on the television and the closest she has been to a diving board was at my friend Debs house back in August.

Crazy girl.. I think she watched too much tv!

It only took 2 days....

I pulled out the tree and a pile of ornaments and the kids had a blast decorating Saturday evening. You can see the musical holidays *decorations*. The Grinch, grandma who got ran over by a reindeer, the singing snowman and the musical bears... None had even been batteried up yet. I put them ALL away yesterday. I have no idea how many times I had to tell the kids to put the ornaments BACK on the tree, stop swinging the Grinch by his hat, Stop hitting each other with the snowman pillow. All chose to ignore me( Ben was home with bi-lateral ear infections) so when I saw that someone ripped the tasseling off the decorative pillow I grabbed an empty tote and piled it all back in and put it away. I threatened them with removing the entire tree. I *think* they believe me or at least fear I might follow through with this one... So for now.. things are a little more peaceful.

Doesn't it just figure...

Michael is getting ready to leave (for way too many days) tomorrow and his ear is killing him. He was put on antibiotics on Friday for the sinus mess.. so is it an infection or just water from the shower? THEN I have Ben.. The sinusy stuff is apparently coming back.. Sounding congested again. Yesterday he complained about his ear for a while. I gave him some Motrin and a decongestant. He stopped complaining. NOW after church he is fussing that his throat is hurting him some.. I see some red in his throat but then, I am not a Dr.

I envision that my week will be starting with dropping Michael at the airport and driving to the Pediatricians.... yeah.

Well, I learned at 5:00am....

That the child who has no issue with wearing his sisters fluffy pink ballerina costumes all day long DOES have an issue with waking up to find out he was dressed in pink footed jammies for bed!

Andrew fell asleep on the way home from Target last night and despite my best efforts, refused to wake up. SO I stripped him and went to gather jammies. Maddie found her Princess jammies and dressed herself. I only had 1 clean set left in the closet. Being that I was too lazy to walk down to the dryer I grabbed those and proceeded to dress Andrew in the adorable light pink jammies with dark pink dots. He never woke enough to process the whole event so I rocked him a few minutes and laid him in bed.

Fast Forward...

Around 5am- after a few hours of tossing and turning sleep I was finally in a good dozy state- I feel a cold nose on my face and I pop open my eyes as I JUMP up in my bed. I grab Andrews hand and head to the bathroom as this is usually the issue. Not this time. Andrew stands in the hall and starts to cry LOUDLY. "Why I wearing girl jammies? I NOT wear girl jammies" WAHHHH. I grab him and drag him OUT of the hall so Ben nor Maddie get the desire to get up that early. I hug him and rock him and just tell him nothing was clean. I also told him it was his fault b/c he was asleep when I put him in them. Who cares if it is blaming the victim! I rocked him a few more minutes and tucked him in bed. When he woke later around 730am he again realized his predicament and went to work correcting it immediately. Since the closet was unlocked he got into the drawers and came out dressed in a air of BOY underwear, jeans and a pirate t-shirt.. A VERY masculine outfit for a 3 year old.