Work, work, work and more work!

Curtis and I have been getting the boys room put together so that they can sleep in there every night. It has taken us two days to get it all done as it had become a storage room since neither boy wanted to stay in there. We moved our television in there so they could watch movies and pulled all the extra clothing and shoes out. We went through all the clothes and I ended up with two hampers full of clothes that Ryan, Katie and Logan can wear. This just made more work for me for after I get the laundry folded. I will need to go through their drawers and pull all the too small clothing out. In Logan's case I can box that up to save for Ryan but with Ryan and Katie I will be putting it all in bags for the goodwill or anyone I can find with little ones.

Curtis hurt his back this week so we still haven't cleaned the carpets and I was able to talk him into waiting until after we pull the Christmas tree and decorations down. I need to go through that area one more time so I can start that project on Saturday. Marie has been chomping at the bit to get everything up and take pictures. The neighbors have some of their outdoor decorations out already so every day I get a reminder to get my stuff in gear. It will take us (me) all day Saturday to get everything put up so I'm declaring Sunday my FREE day to relax and rest my arms, legs and everything else. Daddy can help me change diapers and cook on that day. I think he needs a break too; I've run him ragged this week with all the housework.

Katie

Katie after Thanksgiving dinner. No, she didn't have any turkey but she was very tired from waking up early and refusing to take a nap.

After Thanksgiving

Normally, I would have had all my inside Christmas decorations/tree up and the boxes put back into the attic by Saturday late evening. This year it didn't happen that way. We discussed cleaning the carpets first as we've been meaning to do this area for months now. I'm glad that we agreed to do that. I cleaned up the area where the tree goes so we can move one side of the room into that spot, clean, then move everything back to the other side and clean. I should be able to put up the decorations and tree by this next Saturday.

Marie was very disappointed because she loves to help with the decorating. She has been sick since Thanksgiving with a sore throat and swollen glands. Poor baby got that kind of stuff from me. Growing up; whenever I got a cold I also had swollen glands. Back then (okay, WAYYY back then) the doctors told my mother that I needed to get my tonsils out. (Dave and I had it done at the same time; the hospital never was the same again! I remember him riding a Big Wheel up and down the hallways and running/shouting at the top of his lungs before surgery. His tonsils were supposedly worse then mine but that didn't stop him; he wanted potato chips and pickles when we got home from the hospital. I was smart and stuck with the ice cream.) It would stop all the sore throats and swollen glands. Yeah Right! I still get them. A lot of good that did and I believe now a days they don't take them out unless it's absolutely necessary.

The rest of the children have been sickness free for the most part. I am trying my best to keep it that way. Today, Marie is reading for her November book report project which is due Friday. Gee, she is a procrastinator.... I wonder where she got that from?!?! The rest of the kids are watching..... you guessed it a Christmas movie and playing with their toys. It's a pretty quiet afternoon (as quiet as it can be with this group) so I'm going to sit down with a nice cup of tea and relax for a minute or two.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Pictures from this week

Logan and his "chippies"

Ryan watching Polar Express

Marie showing off her coloring - great job Ree Ree!

Katie in time out.....hmmmm don't think we're getting the point across

Best buddies - Ryan and Katie

Saturday Date Night

Curtis and I were able to celebrate our 6th anniversary (a week late) on Saturday night. We had Ann and Charlie come to watch the kids. We are so very thankful to have them in our lives. Not only does Ann take really good care of Logan at school, but she and Charlie volunteer to watch all of the kids so we can go out. When the doorbell rang, I opened the door and before I could say hello, Katie screamed, "Gamma!". Marie had put the gate up near the kitchen to keep all of them on the playroom side so Katie decided to stand on a box and about crawl over the gate to get to Ann and Charlie. Logan was screaming "Charlie, out" meaning he wanted to be let out so he could jump up on Charlie and Ann.

We had a nice dinner at Stonewood Grill and had time to run for a cup of coffee before heading home. We still were home by 8:30 even after stopping in at the grocery store for a few things. When we arrived back home, the kids were all settling down until we walked in the door. Katie was so tired she said she wanted to go to bed. Logan was whiney so we put his favorite night night movie on, turned off the light and he was out within 15 minutes. Ryan was fussy but finally settled down after about 45 minutes so we could go to bed. Pretty sad for a Saturday night but we were all in bed by 10:00. Give me a Saturday night like this anytime!!!

A little bit of everything

Logan has decided he likes the play telephone. He picked it up the other day and it really looked like he was talking to someone. I grabbed the camera and told him to say Hello and Bye Bye.

Katie wanted to get in on the fun. If you have a camera in your hand you will have Katie right next to you. Mommy's little cutie pie.

You know Ryan with his Elmo. He won't go to sleep if he doesn't have his Elmo in the crib with him. Elmo is bigger than he is but he doesn't seem to notice. He will drag him all over if you let him. I tried to get a picture of him with his head down just laying on Elmo but he saw the camera.

Marie had her friends over again on Monday. They spent a good part of the day outside playing in the back yard. When it was time to come in to get ready for the girls to go home, I told them to put the stuff away and come inside to cool down and relax. Marie was covered from head to toe in dirt. Jordan was fine with a little dirt on her feet from where she had taken off her shoes. When I asked Marie if she had been rolling around in the dirt, and why Jordan wasn't nearly as dirty as she was; Jordan replied, "I didn't dig in the dirt at all but Marie...." Once the girls left I had Marie get into the shower. She wanted to take a bath but I said No Way! Imagine what the tub would have looked like. As it was, she took two showers. Yes two, I had to make her get back in and wash her hair and body one more time.

Jenna asked if she could get another cross stitch project to work on so we went hunting in my stash. She picked out a very pretty and hard pattern of a horse. I did the other horse pattern for my dad at least ten years ago. I hope Mom still has it so I can snag a picture of it. I can't wait to see how Jenna does. I was able to lend her all the supplies she needed so I told her that all I ask is either show it to me when she's done or take a picture for me.

Ryan and Katie have been playing hard together lately. They have been chasing each other up and down the hallway. Today, when Katie was on the floor Ryan gave her a taste of her own medicine. He lay down on top of her and wouldn't move. (Exactly what she does me when I get down on the floor for whatever reason) He also wants to play ring around the Mommy a lot more too. He tends to try to do that when I'm changing diapers. I have to either go in the bedroom and change diapers on the changing table or back myself up against the couch so he can't get near me.) Between Katie and Ryan; they both head right for me when I'm changing a poopy diaper. Katie will ask me over and over (and over) "did he poop Mommy?"

Tuesday morning

Tuesdays are therapy days for Logan. Usually, I have to get their lunches packed the night before so we can get up, dressed and out of the house by 7:55. Occupational Therapy starts at 8:15 so we have to have time to drive there, get everyone/everything out of the van and get into the hospital. This week Ms. Corey was out (finally got to take her trip to Hawaii to visit with the hubby) so we had extra time this morning.

I went ahead and prepared 90% of the lunches last night while baking Logan his regular and banana bread. I was already in the kitchen waiting for the banana bread to bake so why not get lunches done. This gives me a little more time in the morning to either sleep in or have a chance at a cup of coffee (Neither of those happened this morning) I set the alarm for the normal 6:24 wake up and hit snooze for 10 minutes thinking I could take that extra time to wake up slowly. Maybe 3 seconds after I got back into bed, Logan came in and jumped into bed with all of his blankets. A few minutes after that Katie was climbing into bed with me. Curtis had already brought Ryan to me as he was fussing around 5:00 so I now had 3 little ones and myself in the bed. So much for waking up nice and slowly :) It was nice; Logan next to me jibber jabbering, Ryan on the other side and Katie next to him. Katie would talk to Ryan and then give him kisses. He woke up in the best mood; I'm sure the kisses from Katie helped.

Too bad I can't wake up like this all the time; the only way it could have been better is if Marie had come in and joined us. She was still sleeping as she stayed up late watching Santa Clause Is Coming to Town with Katie last night. (Katie fell out really quick; when I went back to check on them at 9:30 Marie was still awake)

Before and After

Ryan before the bottle....

after the bottle AND trick or treating!

Halloween

I tried to get all four in one picture but Ryan wasn't a happy camper.

Here is Mr. Logan a/k/a Superman (note Katie talking to herself in the mirror)

My Hello Kitty Witch (she liked her outfit from last year so much she insisted on wearing it again!)

I tried to get a picture of Logan by himself but this was as good as it got.

Here's Mommy's little "piglet"; she loved trying to catch her tail. Yes, it was like watching a dog trying to catch it's tail.

Daddy's little Darth Vader; hated that hat (and didn't think too much of the rest of the costume until AFTER he had his bottle)