the unholy trinity................

of bodily fluids that is. Poop, puke and pee. I dread cleaning them up in that order. It's no surprise that I wanted to crawl back in bed by 8 AM this morning after cleaning up ALL 3!

J has been sick since Wednesday when she puked on the living room rug. Nothing since then until I went to check on her this morning. She looks up at me and says, "Mom, I puked last night but was too tired to get out of bed." *sigh* First thought- great she's been rolling around in wet puke all night. Thankfully, she quickly leaned over her top bunk and puked on TJ's clothes from the day before that he forgot to put in the can(hamper). Great aim J! Now I only had some splatter on the carpet and laundry to do instead of shampoo the entire area again.

In the middle of Pukefest TJ wakes up and announces he peed all over his bed. *grrr* By itself that is easy to take care of but I'm still worrying about J and the puke.

And the final straw? Coop wanders in the kids room with the cutest look on his face and poop streaming down his leg. *Aaahhhh!* Suddenly, I am wishing hubby would magically walk in the front door complete with superhero cape to save my day. No luck. He's busy saving the world one patient at a time at school/clinic.

So the plan of attack became-
1. clean the kids up and turn on a cartoon for them to watch
2. clean up all the mess as quickly as possible and throw everything in the laundry with an extra kick of bleach
3. Bleach the kids room, bathroom and well, basically the whole house and forget about the entire morning.

As a Mom I have to expect days like this. I'd like to think I am learning to handle the chaos more calmly and with less stress. Seriously, I'm ready for a nap at noon.

Six flags

On a cooler note, we went to Six Flags Marine World in Vallejo with Ken & Cassie's family and Grandpa and Grandma on Monday. It was hot! We had lots of water rides and fun to keep us cool. It was the highlight of the weekend- next to Dan's wedding, of course. The kids loved all the water rides and play areas. The big kids LOVED the huge roller coasters, especially Medusa. I haven't been on a coaster in at least 10 years. Not because I don't like them. Dave and I went twice in a row because there was no line, and we might have gone a few more times if the fam wasn't waiting for us. Good times.

We saw Shouka the whale with her trainers and a fun dolphin show. Shouka was hammered from the heat too. Instead of a full show they did a 10 minute training session. The trainer would ask Shouka to wave or splash the audience and she just floated on the surface as if to say, "Are you kidding me with this? It's too freaking hot to move!" Come to think of it, Grandpa Bob was heard saying the same thing.

There's so much to do for all that we had a great day! We are definately buying season passes next summer!

LOL! As I am typing this Jessie is saying a prayer over the food in the kitchen. All I hear is "thank thee for this food and thank thee that I could ride the Cobra at Marine World..........." Yeah, it was a memorable day.

Melted wedding weekend

Our day of rest this week was Tuesday. Chillies and I were layin' low in this incredible heat and doing laundry. We just had an action-packed weekend with family here for my brother Dan's wedding on Saturday. The time flew by. Everything was perfect- except for the weather.

So the weather here in Northern Cali has been beautiful this summer- until last Wednesday. It was hot as Hades all weekend while our fam was participating in Dan and Lauren's wedding. We spoiled Bay Area Californians are NOT used to temperatures above 95 degrees for more than a day or two. From Wednesday to Monday we boiled as the temperatures went past the big 100 degrees every day. Dave just told me that 80 people died in the Bay Area in the last week because of the heat. Yikes.

My big bro. and sis-in-law and their 4 kids packed into our little 2 bd. apartment to sleep every night because the place we planned for them to stay had no AC. Sorry Ken! I still feel bad thinking about you guys sleeping on my living room floor. :( It will be funny as soon as it cools down, eh?

The wedding ceremony and reception on Saturday were beautiful. Most of our family arrived on time and even early which was quite a feat. The ceremony was overlooking a pond and waterfall in a huge grove of redwood trees in the Santa Cruz mountains. The setting couldn't have been more picturesque. Unfortunately, after the ceremony we all roasted at the dinner and reception in an open-ended barn in full sun. It must have been 105+ in that place with no escape or respite from the heat.


Our little J looked up at me after the dinner and said, "Mom, I am melted." That's exactly how we all felt sweet girl. Melted.

Single Mom on strike

Notice to hubby:

So, when you made plans to go to your last ART seminar in San Diego over Father's Day weekend I was okay with it. We tried to bring the family along for a mini-vacation, but decided to save the money we didn't have for the trip.

Then the soccer team wanted you to travel with them over the weekend for their back-to-back games two weeks later. Again, we tried to make a family weekend out of it, but it just wasn't going to work.

Finally, Tom sprung plans for a bachelor weekend for Dan on you for the next weekend. So while you were eating out, playing and lounging in a fishing boat at Pinecrest with the guys I got to thinking.................

I'm tired of being a single Mom on the weekends. If I have to put the kids to bed alone, pack everyone to church and back, and wake up to your empty side of the bed again any time soon, you might come home the next time to an exhausted shell of the hot wife that you once knew. All of this has made me realize what a great Dad and companion you are. We miss you so much when you're gone.

So, my dear hubby, consider yourself forwarned- the next time you make plans to be out of town for the weekend I am inviting myself and the kids to tag along. period.

love you.

things are changing............

I realized not 5 minutes ago as I was checking email that a lot of aspects in my life have changed the last 2 weeks.

First email- reminder of a Young Women's/Young Men's activity next Wednesday to see the Giants play at PacBell Park. As of Sunday I am no longer a teacher in Young Women's. I was just called as the Primary President for the kids in church. I look forward to being in Primary with the sweet kids. More responsibility and demands on my time is something I am starting to worry about.

Second email- a reminder from CAVA (J's homeschool academy last year) about summer activities for the kids. Hubby and I decided that J is going to public school for 1st grade. She will be such an awesome 1st grader! I have no doubt she will make the transition just fine. I am left to phase out our just-perfected routine at home and switch gears to carpools, homework, and making school lunches.

Third email- reminder from Lillian at the office about repairs and scheduling for #17 turnover. Dave and I have decided to take on extra work at the apartments when possible to pay off the credit card. While Dave's been on break from school we are painting the 2 bd. upstairs (hallelujah those tenants are gone!!!). It's convenient to be able to work 20 seconds from home, but our already tight schedule is getting stretched thin. On the bright side- I usually start painting first to get a little alone time (which is kind of sad, really) while Dave spends some much needed time with the chillies.

On a related note, we are beginning to get nervous about what lies ahead next year. Dave will finally graduate December 9th and be an official Doctor of Chiropractic soon after that. Now that we're in the home stretch time is flying by.

Lots of change.........I'm not sure I deal well with change. We'll see.