kids = shop vac!

I haven't been here in awhile.............need to update.
So J puked ALL OVER the kids room last Thursday night. Dave wakes me up with, "Hey babe, J puked last night. I gotta go." Perfect. He got to help later though. My back and shoulders hurt so bad after being hunched over the floor half the day that he gave me some much needed adjustments and muscle work.


J has thrown-up more this summer than should be allowable for any kid. It's not hard to imagine the magnitude of grossness that is the stomach contents of a 6 year-old all over the floor. The worst part is she sleeps on the top bunk. It not only dropped but splashed everywhere. So gross. As I was cleaning the entire carpet I thought back to one piece of advise my big brother gave us right after J was born. "Buy a Shopvac!" he said. You WILL use it. At the time I thought it was kinda crazy. Not anymore. I decided to tell all my friends to buy a shopvac when they have kids. I couldn't have cleaned up without it.

another hurtle cleared....

J's first FULL day of school was today. I pretty much wasted several hours piddling around the house and with the boys just waiting for time to go by. I'm just not used to having my girl gone so long during the day. I hope she gets as much as possible out of school cause it sure does suck up a ton of time. She's having a grand old time though. That makes it easier.

TJ, Coop and I hung out on my bed and read stories, had tickle wars and just snuggled. It was great spending time with the boys all morning.

bittersweet week

It's been a roller-coaster week. J turned 6 on Monday and started 1st grade yesterday.

I am:
*missing J's spunk, giggles and help with the boys during the day already
*looking forward to a little more me time to scrap, read, and just veg during naptime
*annoyed that our morning schedule has changed- no more early morning walks around the lake with Grammy
*happy to see J growing up and developing a sweet (very spunky) and smart personality. She's a hoot to be with. The last six years have really flown by.
*confident that J will do well in school but bothered by the fact that school is so long, hourly and yearly. I love being with my kids. I love early release Wednesdays! School should be from 8:30 to 1:15 every day! It should teach my kids how to read and structure sentences, math, and pure science/history and leave the "diversity training," "I Have Two Mommies" literature and liberal sex-ed out of it. It would take up much less time that way. Then teachers could work on stuff that they usually take home for that extra hour or two at school. That's my idea of public school. *whew* that soap box slid right under me ;) *jumping off now*

So on a lighter note- I learned the hard way yesterday that you don't take a dietary supplement with natural sources of caffeine after 12 PM. I was so sluggish and tired all day that I popped a serving of Dave's BioLean supplements at about 3 PM. I was awake until almost 3 AM! COULD NOT sleep if I tried. I now know why the directions say to take them in the morning. I did get a lot of Photoshop time in though. Had fun playing around and made my first photo collage.

It's definately rough but I learned a lot putting it together.

J had a spoiled weekend with a b-day party Sunday evening at Grams and another party on her b-day on Monday. We had the whole family/friends plus J's 2 friends over for dinner at our place Monday night. It was fun filling our apartment with people. We had 21 people in our little 2 bd. apartment and we all fit pretty well. Then it was off to Golfland for some mini-golf craziness. With 4 kids to look after, Dave and I didn't get a REAL game in. It turned out to be watch the kids hit their balls willy-nilly until they guided them in the holes. Pretty funny to watch. The seven holes we did play Dave beat me by 1 stroke. Grrr. We will do family night there again soon for a re-match.

J's first day of school went great. Dave played hooky from his first class to come with us to drop J off. Her favorite part of the day was coloring a birthday cake ("even thought I didn't finish" she said) and playing at recess. She's right on track- what kid doesn't like recess?

Now everyone needs to get used to the new routine and we'll be set. As I type this at 10 AM both TJ and Coop are sleeping. So strange since it's early for Coop's nap and TJ NEVER naps. I'm lovin' the quiet time to do me things right now.

i can make an impact

So I was browsing J's elementary school website when I found this. The first 2 weeks of Kindergarten last year our J was lost twice because there was chaos at arrival and dismissal time around the open gates. What good is a gated Kindergarten wing when there is no enforced procedure? Any scary Joe off the street could have walked in there and led a kid away and the teacher standing near the gate (which happened to be J's teacher!) would look the other way. Needless to say there was no procedure or direction given to parents to drop off and pick up their children safely. Heck, another kid was lost the same day as J.

I had one futile conversation with the principal and wrote a firm letter to said principal and the superintendant of schools. See Dad, I did learn something from you. Namely, you can accomplish a lot with a strong letter! :) Too little, too late for us but it feels good to see that the school is formally doing something about the problem this year.

back in the shoes again

So Mom and I have been walking Lake Elizabeth religiously since..... oh, at least April. We both had dresses to get into for Dan's wedding. It was time for the summer slimdown. Dragging the chillies out every MWF at 7 AM was necessary to shed some weight and feel better. Some days I had to talk the offspring into it- sometimes not.

Well, the wedding is over. and J got sick the week after that (couldn't in good conscious drag her to the lake that way). then Mom was gone the next week. then I was camping the week after that. then Mom was gone to Girl's Camp the next week. then J goes and sabotages this week by messing up her lip (see post below). And all this translates into the fact that I haven't raised my heartbeat for longer than 10 minutes in weeks. I feel soft and flabby again. I learned it's a lot harder for me to get 3 chillies out the door by 7:30 am if there is no one at the lake to meet us. Heck, it's impossible because I didn't do it once while Mom was gone.

So in exactly five hours I'm going to lace up the running shoes and try again. J feels well enough to ride the scooter again and my friend Jen is coming with us. I will pick up where I left off and finally shed some weight FOR GOOD.

With that I am going to bed. Five hours sleep is really not enough.