Ignore the mess and enjoy the laugh!

Halloween Pictures - a wee bit late!

Ryan loves Elmo! Well, at least he did before Halloween LOL!





Logan hates dressing up; can you tell?? He refused to wear the ninja's outfit correctly. No hood for this boy.



Smile!

The girls wanted to trick or treat again and since we don't allow them to have too much candy, I traded all the sweet stuff for some fun things.

Potty Trained!!!!!!!!!

She did it! She did it! Once Katie decided she wasn't afraid of the potty she took to doing her business in it like a duck to water. She's now been accident free for four days and that's including nothing in her diaper each morning. I believe that by the weekend we can stop putting her in diapers at night and declare her 100% potty trained! YEAH!

We've been working at getting the house organized again. Yes, we have to constantly work at it because of all the stuff and kids. I dream about the day when I can get rid of all the infant gates and baby toys and just have regular furniture. (This dream also includes sleeping through the night every single night so I don't see it happening anytime soon) Oh well, until that day I just constantly clean up and by the end of the week I'm going from room to room grabbing things and putting them back in their place. Some weeks are worse than others depending on what we have done that week. This week has been worse than normal because of the dresser situation but they are now in place and clothes are in them. I even took the time to go through my clothes and bag up what I haven't worn in a while and knew I wouldn't wear again. Now, I just have to get them to the needy clothing bins near the supermarket.

I'm still stumped on how to get the boys to sleep in their beds the entire night. Logan will start off in his big boy bed if I lay down with him until he falls asleep. A couple of hours later, he's coming to get Mommy to lay down on the couch with him. Ryan has to start in the big bed with Mommy and Daddy. When he falls asleep he goes into his crib because by this time, I'm not quite awake enough to stumble through the house and put him in his big boy bed. Within an hour (two at the very most) he's up and screaming to be put back in the big bed. This makes for very little sleep for Mommy and Daddy. If I could get Ryan to not take a nap and fall asleep early each night I might could get him to stay in his big boy bed but that's hard to accomplish right now. He's on that have to have my nap around 4:00 or 5:00 each night and you can't keep him awake. If you try, you will find him in the middle of the playroom floor just crashed out. Any suggestions?!?!?!?!?

Hello again!

Hello from sunny and somewhat cool (mornings at least!) Florida. The kids are all doing great and seem to be over their colds. Katie is almost completely potty trained on the big potty now. Ryan is talking more and more each day and exploring new ways to get in trouble. The other day he pushed our supply of boxes over and decided to jump off them. Now, jumping is part of his therapy so that was a good thing. It's the climbing the new potty stool and trying to jump off that could cause problems. It's a two step stool with a hidden storage area and the top is a little wiggly.

We found a GREAT deal on dressers at Target yesterday. Marie likes to rearrange her bedroom every other week and has moved Katie's cheap WM dresser one too many times. The one drawer was just laying on top of the other and we'd been searching for a cheap priced but not cheap material dresser for a couple of months. Target marked down these nice, REAL WOOD, dressers to 75% off. At that price, we paid less for a good dresser than we did for the cheap piece of crap that Katie was using.

Of course, by the time we got them home (yes, I said them as I need one too. Mine is a long dresser with very little space inside but a spacehog in of itself) it was time for the kids to get home. The ball game started a little before so Curtis was watching the ball game and putting together Katie's dresser. He took over my stove for his cordless drill and because he had some "issues" putting the dresser together I wasn't about to say anything about dinner until he was done. We ate sandwiches around 7:30 last night with no protest from him.

Speaking of Target, we found another great deal! A 7" dual digital picture frame for 75% off original price. We'd been wanting to get one for a while now so this was an unexpected but wonderful surprise. Of course, I always take my pictures off my memory card and put them on the computer so I can e-mail etc. It took me several hours to figure out how to get them back on the stupid thing. I can blame the constant interruption of running back and forth between the bathroom and the computer as that was loads of fun... NOT! I found that all you need to do is put your memory card in the slot on the computer tower (if you have one and thankfully we do) and just drag and drop the pictures from the computer onto the card. DUH! Usually, if it is too easy then it isn't going to work but not this time. Of course, if I had tried the easy way first, you know it wouldn't have worked right?!?!?! Now DH has a lovely picture show for his office that will not take up any more room. We've had to just keep replacing pictures in the frames rather than add to his collection because he was running out of room and now we don't have to do that.

It's been a great but very tiring week in the Cole house. I feel like I've accomplished a lot with getting the van fixed and the sink in the kitchen fixed. Not to mention that Katie is almost completely potty trained (don't want to jinx myself so not saying she is completely trained until weeks after she really is LOL) The boys have been starting off the nights in their big boy beds but always end up back on the couch and in Mommy's bed before the early hours of the morning. If I could just get some uninterrupted sleep in the next century my life would be almost perfect!

Family update

Sorry it's been so long between posts. A lot has been going on and before you know it almost a month has passed!

I have to make this quick as Ryan has therapy in less than an hour so I will get right to it. The boys are both doing great. They had a head/chest cold that didn't make them vomit which is a first time in a long time. (Something to celebrate!!!) Ryan had his evaluation for school transition and it looks like he won't qualify on his scores from the test alone. I'm having mixed feelings about the outcome. Yeah in one way, as that means he's come a VERY long way in under a year with all his therapy. Boo hoo in another because the psychologist said he really needs the extra help that the school would provide between three and five when he starts kindergarten. We have asked that he be tested for Autism (spectrum disorder) as we still see lots of "symptoms" that make us believe he's on it. If he gets a diagnosis then he should qualify for the school system at the age of three.

Logan is doing great and talking a little more each day. Not a lot that a stranger would understand but the family does so that's a plus for us. He really loves school now and enjoys getting up and getting ready with very minimal fussing. He and another student decided to follow the fifth graders rather than walk with their class the other day and almost gave his teacher and aide heart attacks. The good thing was they were walking nicely in line and were found pretty quickly. (Hmmmm, the boys are six and younger and fifth graders are 11 or older so I don't think it was too hard to find them LOL)

Katie is having progress with the potty training (minus yesterday as Marie told her to just go peepee in her diaper since Mommy was up yet!) That caused a set back of an entire day but at least we didn't have to go back four whole days. Today, as soon as she got up she said she had to go pee and sat on the potty. It did take her about an hour (of getting up and down, up and down.....) before she finally relaxed enough to actually go. I have resorted to bribing her now. She can have a much loved doll baby if she goes peepee in the potty all day today. If it works YEAH! If not, very BAD Mommy for resorting to bribery.

Marie had a great birthday. She actually had two days of celebrating as she had a friend stay over night on her birthday (not planned but they had an emergency and she ended up staying the night) They had tons of fun; playing, dancing, watching movies and pigging out all afternoon/evening long. The next morning I made them a nice breakfast and let her open a gift so they could play the newest version of Twister. Later on we had cake and let her open more gifts so she could go to bed early. I'd forgotten how it was with sleepovers; they stay up half the night or seems like it talking and playing. They probably fell asleep around midnight and for Marie that was late. It made it hard to get the others settled down enough to sleep and of course, everyone was up at the butt crack of dawn the next morning. Marie woke up at 5:00 and woke up her friend so they could play video games. Of course, you know how it went from there. Can you say sleep depravation for Mommy?!?!?!?!

Today I get to call the insurance company to have someone come out to replace the van's windshield. A nice big crack has spread out from that tiny rock crack that happened a couple of months back. I also have to call the realtors to get a plumber out because we have a nice big leak in the kitchen sink. I was trying to get the dishes soaking in hot water this morning and noticed that water was running down the door under the sink area. It wasn't running down the door but coming out from around the door. I opened up the cabinet and WOW! what a sight! Apparently the pipe has been leaking for a little while and it got bad enough to start coming out this morning so in between getting the kids ready for school; I was trying to get everything out and get it dry. What a way to start a Monday! Imagine what the rest of the week is going to be like. Can you say CALGON take me away with a few Margartias on the side?!?!

Labor Day Holiday Weekend

A quick update as the kids are all home on this holiday Monday.

Daddy chose to work today as he would have been bugged at least ten times today from work anyway. Just as he thought, he's extremely busy and probably won't have time to get a bite for lunch! He's supposed to take tomorrow off to make up for not having the holiday off and I'm hoping he gets to so we can spend some time together at the beach if possible!

The kids are all having a ball in the playroom playing Pooh Bear and the honey field. Marie and her imagination! Logan has decided he hates his diaper and has taken it off too many times to count this weekend so I've put him in some big boy underwear with plastic pants. The timer is set for 30 minutes and we will hit the potty every 30 minutes throughout the day. Here's hoping he'll actually hit the potty today rather than the pants! I'm going to have Ms. Katie sit on the musical potty when Logan sits on the big potty so maybe she can just get used to sitting on it without being terrified.

Ryan is being Ryan. Running around with the bigger kids and letting them know when he's mad by screaming like a banchee! Never a dull moment in this house. I'm over here to grab the camera so I can hopefully get some good candid shots of the four of them. I'm hoping to get the sun out for a longer period of time and take them out back to play on the slip-n-slide around 2:30 or there abouts. I will post pictures and another update later today after everyone is settled. (Don't be surprised if it doesn't actually get posted until tomorrow or the next day!)

Happy Labor Day everyone!

The summer storm

So we survived Tropical Storm Fay with no problems. (thank goodness!!) Today the kids are back in school and what kind of weather do we have? We are having a thunderstorm! The kids were off of school from Wednesday on through the week. We got rain off and on Thursday night and Friday during the day. No thunder storms and barely any wind which almost makes today's weather comical. What's happening right now is soooo much worse then what we dealt with last week and I'm really thankfull for that. So many people to the south of us were overwhelmed with rain that a lot of places had to evacuate. It flooded so much that it seemed like every time I turned around they were evacuating another housing development. Here's hoping we get a couple of weeks of nothing but sun so that all the flooding will go away and the home's and businesses can all dry out.

It was hard getting Logan up this morning and ready for school. I was sooooo brilliant that I set up his and Ryan's occupational therapy for first thing Monday mornings. Today he almost had to skip it but thankfully finally woke up and got a little nicer. After only two days of school then being cooped up in the house for the rest of the week, his schedule was all messed up. Marie, on the other hand, got right up and dressed herself and even helped get things picked up for me. She was still a little groggy and almost forgot to eat breakfast. Last Monday afternoon she informed me that she hadn't eaten enough breakfast and was "famished" in the afternoon. Hmmmm, could it have been the excitement of the first day of school that made her not want to eat much?!?!

Katie and Ryan were easier to get up as they both love to see Ms. Andrea come in to work with the boys. Ryan did really great today. We did some food therapy with him by having him eat some marshmellow fluff with his bananas. He only gagged when I gave the fluff by itself but when I hid it in the bananas he never even knew it was there. He never noticed that his hands got a little sticky and his face too. He's so picky about stuff being on his hands so that's another step up.

An end to the summer is near

Summer vacation is almost over and we've been having a lot of fun. We've gone to the beach twice a week and plan on continuing to do so after the kids go to school. Of course, on one of the two days, we'll only have two of the four but that will be a little easier to handle. Of course, I remembered to bring the camera but not to actually get it out and take pictures last Thursday. Sunday, I completely forgot to take it. It would have been a good day to get some pictures but I plan on putting it in my purse as soon as I sign off here so I will have it for Thursday. (Now to remember to actually take it out and use it!)

On Sunday, we stayed a little longer after getting an earlier start. Logan loved the water this time. It only took a little coaxing to get him to come with me and he just stood in almost to his knees and loved it. He kept smiling, laughing and waiving his hands up and down like Katie does. He didn't want to get out of it for very long so next time Daddy will have to take turns with me. Katie and Ryan wanted nothing to do with the water so I don't think it will be too hard to deal with them when it's just the four of us next week.

The kids start back to school on Monday! I'm almost ready for them to get going. I've got the clothes done, the backpacks are out but now I just need to get the school supplies together so I can take what I have when we go to meet their teachers on Friday. Of course, then we'll get those teacher's lists and have to get more supplies together but at least it won't be as much that first day. I need to bring some diapers and wipes for Logan but I'm really low and had ordered a delivery for last week. Of course, they didn't deliver and when I called to inquire about it I was told they were waiting for the items to come in. Hmmm, why not take a minute or two to inform someone that things are backordered rather than let them get irritated and call you back?!?! I guess I'm the only one who thinks about stuff like that. Perhaps I should write a book titled: How to Make Your Life Easier (for Dummies!). I guess it comes from dealing with the public so much during my working days. If it makes your life easier it also makes their life easier and they will be nicer to you the next time they have to call. Hmmm, it's also called using common sense but.......

A little something funny......

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm as graceful as they come....NOT! Well, I managed to do it again this past week. I was attempting to walk outside to the recycling bins and twisted my ankle. I landed on my bottom on the damp mat in front of the door in front of the neighbors and anyone driving by the house. Thankfully, no one said anything and I was able to get back up and slink back inside. I pulled a muscle in my left leg, bruised my right knee and pulled a muscle in my right wrist area. No big thing just a little painful for a few days.

It doesn't stop there though. On Sunday I was walking out the door for our date afternoon and almost did it again. This time, thankfully, I was able to catch myself before I twisted it too badly but not before Curtis saw that oh so graceful walk. He had to ask, "Did you just twist your ankle AGAIN?" What could I say, other than, "yes isn't your wife just so graceful?? but it only happens when I have shoes on so perhaps I should just not wear any when trying to walk outside the house!" No, it doesn't stop there either...

At the restaurant, on the way to the table, a waiter who had been kneeling next to another table jumped up and stomped on my other foot! By this time, I'm laughing and having to tell him it's okay, I'm fine. All through dinner I chuckled along with Curtis about how graceful I am. No, it doesn't stop there but this last one really is my fault. After we got home and got the kids ready for bed, I had to lay down on the couch with Logan. Normally he doesn't want me to lay down, just sit there while he falls asleep but I was tired so I lay down. He wasn't as tired so he decided to play with his little piano. Does anyone see where I'm going with this??? He jumped up on the couch and threw the piano down. My foot was there under the blanket so he really couldn't see it and yes it landed on the left foot. Talk about a bite your tongue and lips moment! It throbbed the rest of the night but is much better now and only a few bruises on both feet are now visible.

When I told my Mom, she was laughing and saying isn't this deja vu?? Remember the story about the chainsaw and the dining room chair from when I was a teenager?!?!?! Enough said!

More Summer Fun!

It's nice and calm first thing in the morning at the beach.

Daddy and the little ones playing in the sand.

More fun in the sand with Daddy.

Notice Logan hasn't budged from his chair?!?!

Logan went to the water and decided he didn't really want to play. Everytime I would try to get him to get up and come play in the water he'd just say "sit down!"

Another Monday...

Well, it's Monday again and last week was almost as fun as the week before. Well, maybe not as much fun but it sure was close. Let's see, we had a good start to the week but by Thursday it all just blew up. Logan has had this growth on his face called pyogenic granuloma and it suddenly started bleeding Thursday morning. I thought he had scratched it but later I found out that they just start bleeding on their own. I tried to stop it by applying pressure (oh yes that was fun with a 6 year old autistic child who hates being held down in any manner!) and then by putting on two bandades. Those bandades didn't last but five minutes before I had to grab some first aid pads and fold one in half. That lasted until we got to the doctor's office 15 minutes later.

Thankfully the doctor was still in town as he was leaving for vacation that day. He used some type of chemical on a swab to try to "cautorize" it but had to use another one and still wasn't getting the job done. It did slow it down to a nice slow leak so that we could get to the dermatologist 30 minutes away. How cool was that? The doctor took his cell phone out while we were in the room, called her office and had her agree to see Logan right away. He gets the good doctor vote in my book! She has him beat though. We walked into her full waiting room, I signed him in, got the new patient paperwork to fill out and went to sit down and here came her nurse pulling us back into the room already. The doctor immediately walked in the door and started talking and filling out the paperwork for me! It had finally stopped bleeding so she talked to me about what it was and what could be done, which unless you cut and scrape it out isn't much. We decided that day was as good as any to perform the procedure.

With the help from me and her nurse, she was able to get him still enough for the two minute procedure and the only thing he felt was a slight sting when she had to give him a shot to numb the area. I kept promising him if he behaved I'd take him to McDonald's for some french fries and he did great! I was soooooo proud of my little man. He was a trooper and fussed just a little bit. He did decide that he'd gone through quite a lot and wouldn't share a single fry with me at all. Too cute; I tried to get him to hand me one but all I got was "the look." You know, the look that says "over my dead body" or "when HELL freezes over." He figured he'd been the one to get somewhat traumatized so he deserved every last stinkin' fry. Too cute!!! I now have to wash the area twice a day with antibacterial soap and put some neosporin on with a bandade to keep it dry. Well the bandades we had irritated his skin so we had to switch and now he fights me on washing his face. Go figure right?! Poor little guy has been through enough and he's rebelling! I'm currently bribing his good behavor for wash time with every color balloon we currently have in the house. At this rate we will be out by tomorrow!!

I thought that was the end of the traumatic experiences for the day but NOOOOO I had something else in store for me. On the way home, we were on the interstate (in the middle of a torrential downpour, I might add!!) the windshield wipers just stopped! Now, of course, my luck being what it is, they stopped right in the middle of their sweep range which meant right in front of my face. I had to slow down and put on my hazards (or so I thought) and stay right beside a small truck so I could tell lines on the road. Once the rain let up, I jumped behind a nice big truck and slowly followed him the rest of the ride home. The rain started and stopped several times for the rest of the ride home. The diagnosis on the van: not sure as we can't get to the wiper cable because it's blocked by some type of bolt that we have no tool for which is how they build them now. They want you to have to go to the dealer and pay out the behind once your warranty is done so you will get fed up and buy a new car. Yeah, that will happen when I can find a job on the night shift!

Happy 6th Birthday Logan!

Happy Birthday Mommy's little man!

Looking out the window, waiting for Daddy to come home.

This is my little angel smile....

I'm a little tired, I think I'll chill out for a while.

Logan's first Astros game.

Take me home already Mommy!

His very first picture; 8 lbs. 6 oz. 7/16/02 at 5:56 p.m.

Tuesday morning update

Let's see, where were we before the week got in the way?? Oh yeah, now I remember. After we found the key last week, Ryan got sick and kept us up most of the night for several days. He was able to finally get some sleep Saturday night thank goodness. He also had to be held the entire time so I didn't get much cleaning done (Darn!) or laundry (Oops!) but as long as he was being snuggled he was almost content. It wasn't until he started feeling a little better that being snuggled wasn't cutting it; he wanted to be snuggled but he wanted to be well enough to play so he got down right CRANKY! He's now much better but still a little clingy.

Mom came up to play in the kiddie pool with us yesterday and we all had a great time. The kids loved seeing MeeMaw and playing cards with her. Marie and her played Go Fish and she let Katie hold all her finished matches. They then played War while Katie and Ryan watched them. Logan came in to watch and would climb up in the chair with MeeMaw to see what she was up to every now and then. We then jumped into the van and headed to McDonald's so we could get Logan some fries as a special treat for all his hard work in therapy. Of course, we couldn't just get him fries so all the kids ended up with fries, MeeMaw got some dinner and I had a lovely iced carmel coffee. That was soooooo good! It could have been almost too sweet but it was so hot and the a/c is tempermental and will work with no noise only when it feels like it so rather than go deaf I don't bother with it. Of course, the sun was out and it was HOT so we were all sweating our bums off. She will be making another visit up our way sometime soon but will head up in the morning before it gets too hot so we can go sight seeing with her.

So, today it's back to the cleaning and laundry as I didn't do any of it yesterday between the three therapy sessions and MeeMaw coming up. (Thanks Mom, I didn't want to do any cleaning and you gave me the perfect excuse and NO that isn't why I had you come up. We miss you!) I need to get some laundry started and then go tackle my closet. It has gotten to where I can't walk in there without stepping on something. How is it that adults let their closet get as bad as a kids? I never let Marie's closet get like that ('course, I don't let her in hers either!) I was looking for my sandles the other day and it took me ten minutes to find them in our mess and I was sweating when I finally did locate them. It's getting to the point that we can't hide stuff for the kids in there anymore anyways as Marie is too smart for that. Time to clean! Okay, maybe after one more coffee which is my total day limit but hey, did I ever tell you I'm alergic to cleaning?!?!

What a fun Monday......NOT!

Today started out with us waking up late and Logan having to be at school for therapy at 8:00. I had to jump up, get dressed, wake everyone else up (except for Curtis) and start changing diapers and getting them dressed. As I was rushing to get my shoes on, Curtis went to grab the keys for the mustang which blocked my van in the driveway. I had taken the mustang keys yesterday to put the car seats back in after Curtis did some major cleaning of the van. I remember locking the door with the push alarm button but don't remember anything with it after that point. Of course, it was time to start loading the kids up when we discovered the key was MIA.

He grabbed the alarm key that wasn't working; low or dead battery and headed out the door. He got it open and the alarm off in time to roll it back far enough where he could back the van out and around it. We set off to therapy only ten minutes late. After we got home I started the massive cleaning and search for the key. The living room has been ransacked and put back together very neatly. The desks have had the same done to them as well as the kitchen. I finally sat down and asked him to check the truck when he had a free second in the off chance that he took the key yesterday on his way to get gas for the lawn mower. Neither one of us had much hope that it was in there and I was starting to ransack/clean up the master bedroom when the phone rang. Almost six hours after I started the ransack/clean up of the house, the key was found in the truck. I'm just thankful that he found it before I had to rip apart the bedroom and bathroom areas. I'm all for the Spring/Summer cleaning but this isn't quite how I wanted to do it! Now I can relax a few minutes before Ryan's therapy starts this afternoon and get back to picking up the bedroom and start on some laundry. WHEW, what a MONDAY!

Happy Independence Day!

I was just going to put a little something about today being the 4th of July but then I read a friend and fellow bloggers post. Please visit her site www.crossedpurposes.blogspot.com to see a truly inspirational note for today. Thanks Beth for reminding us all that today isn't all about fireworks, food and fun!

Happy 4th of July and Happy Independence Day to all of you!

July is here!

Katie and Ryan ready for some water fun!

What is Marie doing???

Mommy's little helper; getting Katie's shirt on to keep the sun from burning that fair skin to a crisp!

Katie falling asleep sitting up in Daddy's chair.

I can't believe July is here already! What in the heck happened to June?? The kids have been out of school for almost a month now and the time has just flown. They've not been able to enjoy going outside much the past week because of the weird weather we've been having. I try to take them out in the a.m. and then later in the afternoon when it isn't so hot but it's rained a lot lately and we've been stuck in the house. Today, I decided come H E L L or high water we were going to get some much needed outside time.

We were outside by 10:30 and playing on the newer (smaller) Nemo slip-n-slide. I like this one a WHOLE lot better as I don't have to fill the front bumper with water and then fight to push it up until I can get the valve (half way down the slide because of the way the bumber sits) to hook up the hose. The Nemo slide has a little side chute that you hook the hose up to and it's so much easier. The bumper pad is to be blown up (No problem; I quit smoking over 6 years ago so I can handle that!) and I can put the bumper away from the wall so no one gets hurt as the little water chute is at the other end! YEAH!

They played for about an hour and a half even though Logan just skirted around it most of the time. So after everyone was tired of playing I pulled it up and threw it over the swing set to dry. I realized that I needed to clean it off by hosing it down and the old slide too so I grabbed the hose. Everything went fine until dummy me decided to keep from spraying the kids and back hand the hose behind me. I had kept pretty well dry up until that point. Why I was trying to keep the hose off them when they WERE ALREADY WET I'll never be able to figure out. I traded the hose from one hand to another behind my back and totally soaked my backside!!! What a nitwit! The kids were wet, granted they did have their towels on but still.....DUH!!!!!

Saturday - Part II

I'm waiting on Daddy and Marie to get home from the game. He's called several times and even once during the game. Astros lost the game in the bottom of the ninth inning but all-in-all it was a good game. I know that they had a great time; good quality Daddy and Daughter time which they needed. Katie has been at the side window at the front more than she's been playing today. She really has missed her big sissy Ree Ree! I don't think the boys have really noticed; they've been the normal playing hard, pooping up a storm, selves all day. I've really missed my little helper. She needed some one-on-one time with one of us and the others needed some time away from all the fighting. There wasn't much fussing today; other than the normal he's/she's taking my toys that goes on all the time.

Miss Katie "I'm afraid of the dark!" requested to be carried to her room and put to bed with a movie. I tucked her in the bed, put a pillow and blanket on the floor for Ryan, threw Dora on the DVD player and turned off the light. So far, Ryan has come out for some bananas and a baa baa but no screaming from Katie and no getting out of bed. It's early yet for that; if she isn't asleep by the time Dora is finished playing then I can pretty well guarantee that she will be coming out for a snuggle by then. Now if I can just get the boys to settle down for the night I just may get to bed by 1:00 tonight. Wish me luck!!

Saturday update

Today is the day that Marie and Curtis go see the Astros play the Rays in Tampa. I think she figured out yesterday that she was going because she and Katie were up before 5:00 a.m. this morning. She claims Katie was afraid of the dark and crying but..... The light from the television woke Logan up so he came in to snuggle/kick me around 5:00. The only one who got to sleep in today was Ryan. Lucky little guy!

The good thing about everyone waking up so early was that Katie and Logan both fell asleep for about an hour this afternoon. Kind of nice to have two of the three at home sleeping and quiet for a little while. I couldn't get Ryan to take a nap until a few minutes ago. He wanted to snuggle so he climbed up into my lap and quickly fell asleep. Of course, the other two have been awake for about an hour or so now. Oh well, I've had my coffee and I can stay awake with them later tonight.

Marie and Curtis got off a few minutes earlier than planned but the weather was looking really nasty so I'm glad they got a head start. Of course, they did leave a couple of things at home. One thing being the directions on how to get to Trpicana Field. It's okay as I was able to give him the few instructions he needed over the phone. I'm sure you've run into the same thing; you get directions off the internet from MSN Maps or Mapquest and the directions aren't quite what they should be. You always have to take into consideration that there may be construction going on wherever you are traveling. They are going to have a great time!

It's Tuesday.... when does school start back again?!?!

It's the second full week of summer and already I'm counting the days until school starts. The kids are always bored and never have enough toys to keep their attention. Hmmm if you could see their playroom I doubt you would believe it either. Marie is always bored and wanting to do something else. Today we started out with therapy for Ryan and we played outside the whole time. She brought over the cutest little doggy sprinkler that she bought at Cracker Barrel. (Think I may have hubby stop in to their place in Ormond to check it out!) The kids had such a ball with that. Okay, everyone but Logan enjoyed the sprinkler. He didn't want to get near it and hung out at the swingset up on the perch where he could watch everything without getting wet.

After they played with the sprinkler we got the slip-n-slide out and they all loved playing on it. Logan finally came down off his perch and would walk on it. Marie had been sliding down the slide and slipping over the end of the slip-n-slide. After she gave that up and started playing with the sit-n-spin Logan decided he wanted to slide down and across the water. He really had fun with that and would giggle and grin the whole time. I stuck the hose to the sit-n-spin so Marie could play with Ryan and Katie. Katie still isn't into that as the water is too intense for her but Ryan loved it and even wanted to do it by himself. Too cute! After two hours in the hot mid day sun we gave up and went in for some lunch. They have been eating non-stop since we got everyone changed and dry!

I'd say that the morning festivities were a hit with all of them; now if I can get them calmed and quiet for the afternoon movie that will make for an almost perfect day. How could it be perfect you ask? We'd have Daddy home and playing right along with us! Speaking of Daddy, he plans on taking Marie and going to an Astros game in Tampa this weekend. We haven't told her the plans because we want her to be surprised. I'm so excited for them; wish I could go too but I don't think the other kids would enjoy it as much. Maybe in a couple of years, when the kids can sit still for more than one minute at a time and if the Astros come back this way!

It's Monday!

Things are somewhat calmer around here this week. Or at least I like to think they are; at least school is out for the summer! Katie fell asleep in my arms yesterday for about an hour in the early evening and I fell asleep right along with her. I must have had some kind of premonition because I made myself a small pot of coffee around 6:00 last night while making dinner. At 11:30 Ms. Katie was still awake and very whiney so I put her in a nice warm bubble bath for about 20 minutes. Everyone else except for Ryan and Daddy had been asleep already so we had to be very quiet and that's almost impossible when you give a three year old a bath. Somehow we were able to keep things quiet so that even Daddy and Ryan could go to sleep.

After her nice bubble bath I had to go in their room and put on a Dora movie so she could slowly relax and fall asleep. I decided to go ahead and sit on the floor next to her bed and read for a little while. Right about the time by bottom was getting numb, I looked over and thankfully she was sound asleep with mouth wide open! Off went the light and television, on went the flashlight so I didn't kill myself getting to my room. It was 12:35 and it took me a while to fall asleep. It seemed like just a few minutes passed but it was closer to 4 hours when Logan came in to join us. Up onto the bed, taking my spot the little stinker and just as I was thinking I should give up and go out to the living room Ryan woke up. Poor little guy was having a tough time with his stuffed up nose so we went out the recliner for a while. I gave up trying to get him to go back to bed and made a bottle around 6:00 and just lay down on the other end of the couch and put on cartoons for him.

Katie came out to join us around 7:00 just about the time I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore. I did get to cat nap for a little while in between screaming and fighting over toys. Marie started playing with those balloons that are attached to the long rubber bands that you kind of punch and they bounce back and forth. Those things are soooooo loud when you are exhausted! Ann and Charlie have officially become our newest set of grandparents. They brought them each one when they came to babysit on Saturday night. It reminds me of the time my Mom purchased a very loud and obnoxious toy for my oldest brother's son. I believe Cory was maybe three at the time or maybe it was for Blake. All I know is that started my other brother thinking and the war of the obnoxious toys began! Lord those battles are always fun aren't they???!!!

Someone remind me to tell the story about the water pistol fight between the ADULT children a couple of years ago. Now that was funny!

I hate mornings like this....

No time for a shower because I woke up later. Hmm, could it be because I went to bed only to wake up two hours later by Logan who was upset and wanted some company. I did try to get comfortable on the other end of the couch and just go to sleep but he wasn't having any of that. He wasn't into sharing any leg room so I had to grab a book and read for about an hour before he finally settled down for the rest of the night. Of course it took a little longer to fall asleep so I'm sure I nodded off after 2:30 or so give or take 30 minutes.

Once I was up and getting lunches/breakfast ready; Logan decided he wanted to watch a Barney DVD. The only problem was he threw the actual DVD behind the entertainment center last night. That thing isn't easy to move so I said forget it. In the fit that ensued from that the DVD holder ended up behind the couch (believe that was my fault but not 100% sure) so when I went to look behind the couch for it I saw all the cookies and crumbs that he had thrown back there. He threw the toy box over because I refused to get the DVD or DVD holder right then and there so I picked up all the toys put them back into the toy box only to have him do it again. I know I'm PMS'ing because that brought me to tears and I tried my best to hold on to my temper. Most times stuff like that causes irritation but not quite that much. Marie started in at that point by trying to take something to school that she was told no about yesterday. Another battle popped up faster than a brush fire in the middle of August. She couldn't find the other gift for her best friend's birthday so she was very grumpy too.

I was able to get those two calm and on the bus although Marie was still not a happy camper. I've gone through the playroom; moved the couch out and vacuumed, moved the entertainment center over so Logan can't throw every toy and DVD behind it anymore and still no little gift wrapped package. I did go in her room and attempted to look through everything but when I found the newly washed clothes thrown in the corner with her pencils etc I thought it best to get out of Dodge before I blew a gasket. I've cleaned up the entry way and no sign of that gift package. It's small; just a sample cross stitch pattern and materials I received from DMC in their mentor program. Marie did her class project last week on how to cross stitch so I thought it would be a nice gift for her friend who was interested in learning about it. Hopefully, we will find the gift today as tomorrow is the last day of school for the year. This afternoon Marie and I will be cleaning her room together and looking for that gift as well as sitting down to make nice cards for their teachers for tomorrow.

If all else fails, I will give her the other kit I received for her friend and we will keep looking over the summer. It should be easy to find as she wrapped it in Christmas paper but we may never find it until we move someday (NOT in the near future; more like when Ryan graduates from high school!)

The only good thing about the way this morning started is that it's not Monday and it's not quite summer vacation yet. (that starts tomorrow at 12:15 when school lets out; for me it's when they get off the bus about an hour later) Katie and Ryan both woke up in a good mood so that turned this crappy morning into a pretty good one.

Okay, the kids will be home in about two hours so I'm going to go enjoy some peace and quiet (or as much as Katie and Ryan will allow me to have) before I jump into more cleaning and then laundry. Coffee and chocolate HERE I COME!!!!!!!!!!

Memorial Day Fun

Party time at our house

Okay, so a little tumbling etc. too
Mommy's little ballerinas

Giddy'up horsey!

No more pictures, please. (note the 2nd tooth is now missing!)

Chugga Chugga Choo Choo!

Just a drivin' down the road

Say cheese Mommy!!!!!

I think my feet shrunk Mommy, these shoes are a little big on me!

What 'cha doin'?

Whew! Glad that's over with

I think we've finally gotten rid of that nasty stomach bug that came through this house. First Marie, then Logan, then Katie and Ryan. Thankfully it's gone now so I can go back to the normal routine. Cleaning and lots of it are on the agenda for today along with laundry. I've done a lot of picking up but now it's time to get back to the mopping and scrubbing; doesn't that sound like fun??

Last night the kids were feeling good and playing well together with minimal fighting so I grabbed the camera and took "some" photos.... 147 later I thought DUH! why not do a little video but by then the battery was totally wore out as I hadn't charged it in forever. They were playing so cute together. Marie, Katie and yes little man Ryan too; they were playing ballerina. I think Ryan just likes to be in the thick of things and doesn't care what he does but it sure made for some good laughs for Mommy last night. Pictures to follow...

Rough week

After all that rearranging I did on Monday and Tuesday all I really needed was some rest. That didn't happen at all. Poor Logan came down with the stomach bug and is just now starting to move around and eat some. I've been trying to keep the little ones away from him so they've been playing in the living room for most of the week. I was so afraid that they would get it next that I washed my hands every time I went near Logan. If all I touched was his blanket, I washed my hands. My hands are so dry and raw they are cracking and bleading and hurt like heck. It's worth the pain (especially when washing dishes and hands) if none of the others get this bug.

I knew he was starting to take a turn for the better when he scratched me yesterday morning. He was upset about feeling yucky and just wanted me to know. Now he's being a lovable little guy so I'm enjoying it while I can. What I'm not enjoying is all the cleanup from it. The house looked like a tornado hit it yesterday so I drank a couple of cups of coffee around 5:30 so I could start cleaning. Apparently I had a little too much caffeine as I couldn't get back to sleep once I woke up with Logan. By the time I was ready to fall back to sleep around 4:00 Ryan and Logan had other ideas. Needless to say it was after 5:00 before I could fall back to sleep and with this crew I was back up around 7:30.

I'm hoping the kids settle down to a dull roar a little later so I can get a ten minute cat nap in before Curtis gets home this evening. I don't want to have coffee later than 3:00 so I can sleep tonight. I can remember a time I could drink two cups of coffee at 9:00 pm and still fall asleep an hour later. I guess those days are over.

Are we having fun yet???

Seriously, are we having fun yet?? I decided yesterday that I needed to rearrange the playroom again because Logan has this nasty habit of climbing up on the game cube and jumping off. That boy has more bruises and cuts on his legs because he has no fear of anything lately. While making dinner the other night I glanced in the room to see Katie, Ryan and Logan all standing/jumping on the couch and screaming their little heads off. Okay, I know that jumping is Logan's thing and it's something that Ryan likes as well but on the couch?? Where little ones can fall off and hurt themselves?? I need to pull the mini trampolene back out of the garage and let them jump for hours.

Back to the rearranging yesterday, I moved the couch over so that he couldn't use that to climb over to the toy cube. It took me about an hour and a half to move things, vacuum the nasty area behind where the couch had been and pick up all the toys and put them away. Last night I realized that I made a boo boo moving the couch. The alarm has just enough light to be annoying and of course, where the couch was, it shined right where Logan lay down. So after a night of very little sleep, I decided I needed a change again. I couldn't get to it first thing because today is therapy day for both boys. We headed off to therapy at 8:30 and all things went pretty smoothly until we got to school. The buses were still sitting in the drop off so I had to park way down which I knew was going to be trouble. Logan decided he didn't want to go to school after all and had a mini meltdown. Marie realized as she was getting out of the van that she didn't bring her backpack/lunchbox. What a morning! After dragging Logan to class, (he likes to throw himself down or scratch, pinch and hit if he's upset about something) the little ones and I headed home to wait for Ryan's therapist. Once that was over we had to grab Marie's backpack and head back to school. It was noon by the time we got back, I was tired and hungry as I hadn't eaten anything for breakfast or had any coffee yet.

So after all that I made a pot of coffee and some lunch because it was that time of day and sat down to contemplate where in the world I was going to put things so that Logan can't climb anymore! I finally figured it out and set about getting things where I needed them. That stupid couch is so heavy and with already being a little draggy it was harder the h*e* double toothpick to move. Of course, with Katie trying to help me it was all I could do not to fall on my butt from laughter. Trust me, trying to move anything with your three year old helping just doesn't happen! She kept asking me, "Are you done yet Mommy?" as she pulled toys out and proceeded to litter the floor that I just cleaned up. Or even better, she'd jump up on the couch as I was trying to push it and say, "look at me Mommy!"

So after all this, Logan should sleep through the night or most of it anyways on his favorite bed/couch. I now need to take a nice "Calgon take me away!" bath so I can rest by aching back and other body parts. I threw the roast in the crock pot this afternoon (yeah, I forgot allll about it this morning!) on high so we can have a nice easy meal around 8:00 tonight. I can do the dishes and take that much needed Calgon moment right after that. Heck, maybe I'll just take that Calgon moment as soon as we're done eating; the dishes can soak overnight!! Besides, if you soak your dishes the food comes off easier. Right Mom?? (this comes from the teenager who didn't do pans, knives, forks or glasses LOL)

Logan's first tooth

Okay, it's not exactly what it sounds like. It's not his first tooth but his first baby tooth that fell out. He came up to me early Saturday saying boo boo pointing to his mouth. He allowed me to look in and touch it but as soon as I wiggled it he bit me! He wouldn't let me touch it again so I couldn't be certain how loose it was at that point. I did write a note to his teacher to let her know about it just in case it suddenly disappeared. Because he's autistic and doesn't speak much he couldn't tell me it was loose or when it felt like it was coming out. I did receive a call yesterday around lunch time from Ann who said she was able to get it before he swallowed it. Yeah Ann!! Of course, getting him to smile for the camera was a chore in itself. It took about six shots before I was able to trick him into smiling for me.

Logan

Not a very clear picture but the only one I was able to get with him smiling so you could see the gap in his smile.

Balloons

The kids all love balloons, heck, what kid wouldn't right? Logan happens to love them a little too much right now. He wants to have all the balloons to himself. I have to blow him up two and then blow one for each of the others and still he somehow ends up with three or four. Marie is a really good sport about it. He always ends up with hers by the end of the day.

It all started the other day while we were trying to get them ready and on the bus. Logan started having a meltdown because he wanted to have a balloon. I didn't think the bus driver would allow him to have it when Marie quickly let me know otherwise. She said, "Mom, if it will keep him quiet they will let him have it. They do it in the afternoon because they don't want to hear him scream all the way home." Okay, fine, I blew up the balloon for him. Oh, what a beautiful smile I received in thanks for that little chore. He even signed thank you while saying it at the same time. I knew I was in for it at that point.

I had Curtis pick up a pack on the way home. Okay, I thought I asked him for one pack but he likes to do things in a big way. He came home with four packs of balloons! Now I have plenty or you would think so at least. I wanted to blow up enough for them once a day and no more. Logan, on the other hand had a different idea. He came up to me and said in the sweetest little voice, "I want balloot, pease!" Big angelic smile added to him actually requesting something using a complete sentence; what was I to do other than to give him what he wanted! Now the little stinker knows exactly how to get to Mommy and Daddy. I guess Daddy will be making another trip to Wal-mart for some balloons today or tomorrow.

Monday - first day back at school!

Okay, it's the first day back at school for the two older children and it's soooooo quiet in this house. I do have the television on so that Katie can watch her absolute favorite cartoon; Dora the Explorer. Once that is over, it's being turned off and the cd player is going on. This past week, Marie had them all dancing around and playing while listening to a cd I made for Logan about a year ago. If anyone tried to turn it off Logan would have a screaming fit until it was turned back on. I love it!!

I can now clean up the playroom, vacuum and fold all the blankets and the room will probably stay that way all day. Okay, most of it will. Alright, you got me; I won't have to vacuum it again until after Logan has his snack this afternoon so that's a good thing. Katie and Ryan will pull all the stuffed animals, blankets and pillow off the couch and roll around playing on them at one point today but it will get picked up with very minimal fuss.

Okay, one thing I want to complain about and then I will be done for the day. Freecycle is great when you want to find something. However, if you want to get rid of something it's not always so great. I will freely admit that I have responded to an offer and completely forgot to get it. As soon as I realized that I did that I e-mailed the person to let them know and apologized up one side and down the other. I've been paid back for that in spades. I hate to take the baby clothes to the clothing bins when I know people could really use them but when you get a couple people respond to your offer and they are all no shows it's quite annoying! I always give them the benefit of the doubt but it's not asking too much to have someone just respond and say something like; "I'm sorry I can't make it so go ahead and give it to the next person on your list" or "I'm sorry I completely forgot, let's make new plans for me to pick up!" I have had several people who, like me forgot but then promptly e-mailed me or called to apologize and then picked up promptly. It's the no-shows that drive me completely batty! Anyone else have this happen to them???

Spring Break is over!

All in all, Spring Break turned out pretty well. The weather didn't cooperate during the first half of the week but we had fun anyway. We didn't use the water toys at all but could have yesterday as it got up to 81 degrees. Today it's supposed to be more of the same but tomorrow it's only supposed to get to upper 60's lower 70's. With the much needed break for Mommy and Daddy on Thursday it made for a very nice week indeed. Thank you Ms. Ann and Mr. Charlie for coming over to watch our little gang!! The kids had such a good time and were so exhausted that they went to bed with minimal fuss. Not only that but they got up and were still very subdued the next morning. They didn't hit their normal stride until around noon which was pure heaven!

I was able to still get a lot of housework done and Curtis was able to get some of the stuff on our BIG project list done as well. We started out with 16 things listed and we are now down to 10 which is great. I do believe that we may be able to get another couple done today and tomorrow. Now, as long as we don't add any more to the list we will actually have accomplished some this week!

A cute little story before I sign off today.... You know from a previous post that I absolutely HATE bees. (HATE HATE HATE THEM!) There have been two incidents where I had the kids outside and these bumble bees started flying around. The first time it was with Ryan, Katie and me so I grabbed them and headed inside. Those two bees flew around Ryan's swing all afternoon which made it impossible for me to go back outside that day. Once this week after we'd been outside for almost 45 minutes they flew near us again so I figured we'd been outside enough it was a good excuse to go inside. Of course, while we were at the movie and dinner this week the bumble bees came back. Charlie and Ann aren't afraid of them and told Marie that if she just stood there the bees would go away without stinging her. (Please note that a couple of weeks ago Marie had a friend over and the bumble bee was outside with them. They both came running back each time it flew out near them.)

Yesterday Marie was giving me the "lecture" about standing still and the bees not stinging. (Too cute for words!) So, later in the afternoon when the one came around to check us out I thought, I can handle this, no problem. I did extremely well if I do say so myself. As I was just finishing up hosing Katie down, it came for another fly by. Marie was standing on the patio when it buzzed her. I turn to look and here she is just flapping her arms at it. I'm between the bee and freedom so I started to scream at her to stop flapping her arms. It buzzed by me and flew off to parts unknown without bothering anyone, including the two little people who were right by me during this whole exchange. I had to ask her what happened to the stand still and it won't sting you routine. She was so funny; I had to crack up. "Mommy it was gonna sting me and I hate bumble bees they freak me out!" Hmmm, I wonder where she got that from but what HAPPENED to the if you stand still it won't sting you? I stood still but would keep an eye on where they were at all times. I guess my constant vigil/terror got to her.

Some spring time fun

Boys having fun on the swings.

Marie making a nice picture, before getting paint all over her hands.

Katie having fun with the paint. Before she was done she had it up both arms and on her face. I had to hose her down outside before I could take her in to the bath!

Ryan following Katie through their "Fort".

Everyone playing on the swing set.

Some spring fun

Our swings need some oil or something as they are just a little noisy!

Spring Break!

Yesterday at 3:15 Spring Break officially started. I'm sitting here trying to plan the week so the kids don't go beserk with boredom. Here is what I have come up with so far:

Games:
Go fish (Katie, Marie and I play)
Looney Toons board game - Marie loves it so it keeps her calm
Operation - you all remember that one I'm sure!
Life - it's a little old for Marie but it's easier for her than Monopoly at this point so...

Outside:
Swing set
Slide
Sit and Spin with water
Slip and Slide

Movie time: once a day we all sit down together and watch a nice Disney movie.

Walks: Marie pushes Ryan in the stroller while Mommy pushes Katie and Logan in the double stroller or pulls them in the wagon. (I can get some exercise this way!!)

Thursday is Mommy and Daddy "Date Night". We are going to go see a movie and then have an early dinner. It's going to be a lot of fun for us and I know the kids will have lots of fun with Ann and Charlie. Marie has been working with the younger kids (except for Logan) having them dance and sing for a show that they will perform for us and then for Ann and Charlie. Logan loves to watch them dance and depending on his mood, sometimes gets upset when they stop! I'm going to try to get a little video of this next week so I can post it on here for you.

All of these fun things with the therapies for both boys should keep us pretty busy all week. I still have to do the normal cleaning which will be twice as hard with them home but then again I will have Marie's help keeping them occupied.

Hoping to have lots of fun and still keep my sanity!!

Pics

Logan hates having his picture taken. As I tried to get a shot of him just now he ran away from me and then proceeded to close his eyes each time the flash went off.

Here is Mommy's little angel sound asleep in Daddy's arms.

While I was cooking dinner last night, Katie and Ryan played Dora the Explorer. Katie was Dora and Ryan was Boots the monkey.

How 'bout a little kiss for my baby brother?!

Say cheese!

Friday updates

We've been lucky this week as Logan and Ryan have pretty much slept through the night in their own "corners". Logan has slept on his favorite couch every night except for one this week. Ryan, once he goes down for the night has slept through the entire night. Now getting Ryan to get tired enough to go to sleep has been the issue this week. We've been up to at least midnight every night so far this week. (Since the Astros have been playing in San Diego that's no big deal as we were trying to stay awake to watch the games)



Wednesday night we didn't get to bed before midnight and Logan came in to join us around 3:45 so Curtis didn't get a very good rest. Yesterday afternoon he took a small nap while Katie and Ryan watched Dora or Teletubbies. I thought Ryan was watching it while sitting with Daddy but when I glanced over to them I noticed he had turned to face me and had fallen asleep. I couldn't resist and grabbed a picture of that. (Of course, Daddy insisted that I not publish his picture which I promised I wouldn't so I have a picture to post of just Ryan sleeping like the little angel he is with only Daddy's arm showing. ) Please note that they were in my recliner at the time.



Later last night after two of the four were asleep, I was trying to get comfortable and put my feet up in said recliner when it broke. Curtis spent almost two hours trying to find a nut and bolt to fix it as one had sheared off and was useless. By 11:30 we had to give it up as a lost cause so he took the other bolt to work with him today so he could find a replacement. At one point he looked at me after I apologized for the broken chair and said, "you know, if you were going to break the chair, you could have at least done it earlier in the evening" and proceeded to chuckle at me. I didn't break the chair on purpose but I felt so bad for having him working those two hours when he could have been relaxing or sleeping. While he was fixing the chair I was chasing Ryan around trying to keep him out of the tools and away from Logan who had finally fell asleep.



Anyone with kids knows there really is no point in getting nice furniture. They all at one point end up in our chairs eating something. They get caught and are told we only eat at the table. (Yeah right Mom! You so funny!) While pulling the back of the chair (thankfully it has velcro all along the bottom) we were bombarded with toys and food crumbs. Hey, there's Ryan's favorite toy; I wonder how it got in there?!?! He had to look at his chair to figure out how to pull it apart and guess what?!?! Yes, more food and toys came out and I do believe that he had a whole lot more toys then food. I also found a few of his vitamins that had dropped down in and he couldn't reach them. I guess I need to go through the chairs every night after the kids go to bed and get rid of all the food/toys and anything else that ends up in the cracks of the chairs. I now need to clean up the mess from the chairs and find all his tools he left laying around and put them up so they don't get snatched and end up in a toy box or behind the couch.



I've put off the dishes, cleaning and laundry as much as I can today. We got up, got the kids ready for school and on the bus and headed out to the local farmers market for some fresh veggies. What a zoo that place turned out to be today! There was some kind of art show that was going to be going on so they had the booths set up but no one in them. Lots of parking was blocked but no one there yet! I had to drive around the block a couple of times before I finally got smart and went to park along AIA. Not too sure how smart that was as I then had to push the stroller through the damp sand as it rained a lot last night. A couple of times I thought I was going to get it stuck. That was a nice work out but kids weren't too happy with me as they wanted a longer walk! They loved looking at the ocean and Katie was flapping her arms like a bird all the way back to the car as they both said "Aweeeeeeeee!"

Easter

Easter is over again for another year and yes it snuck up on me again. Why is it that it always gets here way before I'm ready for it? We have a few decorations that I always mean to get out and never do get around to it. This year was no different than the previous ones.

We don't give the kids candy as all of it is too full of sugar not to mention the nasty food dyes. We had to scramble around Sunday morning (Yes, I did say Easter morning!) to find little toys and things to put in their baskets. I then had to sit down and stuff eggs full of GF/CF food that Logan could have just in case the eggs got moved from one basket to another. Who am I fooling? You know the eggs were moved around so many times that we would have never remembered who had which egg no matter what. Marie commented on the fritos and cashews in everyones eggs so I told her the Easter Bunny didn't want Logan to get something he shouldn't have so he gave everyone the same thing. Not to mention the fact that they all love to eat what he has sitting in his bowl anyways.

I made chili with corn bread for our "different Easter dinner" and then boiled some eggs so Marie and I could color them. Once the eggs were dry, we grabbed them and all the other stuffed eggs and sent Daddy outside to hide them so we could have an Easter egg hunt. They had fun; but the one who really enjoyed the hunt was Katie. She was running everywhere trying to grab all the eggs. Her eyes were so big and her grin was from ear to ear! I had Logan and Curtis had Ryan trying to help them find eggs and keep them from running off. Logan would find and egg and hand it to me so I could put it in his basket which he was holding. He was more interested in the airplanes flying around and the swing so his hunt was over pretty quickly. Once he was on the swing he was totally happy to be pushed and sit there doing nothing.

We put Ryan's swing on so we could get him on there too. He didn't seem to like it at first. What a terrified face! I'd say that lasted two seconds then the biggest smile came across his face and he didn't want to get down; not even for the bubbles! The boys had a ball on the swing set with Mommy pushing them while the girls ran around playing with the eggs then having a race. After that got boring Daddy grabbed the bubbles and proceeded to blow them so they could chase them down. I think Marie had the most fun chasing the bubbles. At one point she was trying to kick them out of the air and almost connected with my hand as I had taken over the bubble duties from Daddy. She's such a funny girl!

Talking

Today we spent the day with Daddy and everyone loved it. Okay, maybe not everyone as Logan and Marie had to go to school but the little ones loved it. We try to get down to see Daddy once or twice a month and meet him for lunch and they love it. Today, we went shopping and hit a Cracker Barrel for breakfast in between stops. As we were getting back into the car after breakfast, Katie says to Daddy, "Thank you for meeting Daddy for lunch, you have to go back to work now." What a funny little girl! Daddy will call us from the road when he's on his way home or on his way back to work from lunch and I will let Katie talk to him. She cracked me up yesterday when she asked him, "Are you coming home Daddy?" Daddy said something to her and she looked at me and said, "Daddy come home later." When she's ready to end the conversation she will say, "I love you Daddy, be careful!" and then proceed to give the phone a big kiss. Mmuuwwaaa!

Ryan has been repeating a lot of what we say lately and I didn't realize just how much he's taken in until today. I went into the kitchen to make him some fruit and cereal for lunch, as I was telling him what I was putting into the bowl he said, "Awesome!" He loves to watch Go Diego Go! and Dora the Explorer whenever he can and when Swiper comes on both he and Logan will say "oh man!" For those of you who haven't seen Dora, when Swiper the fox comes along he tries to take whatever they have so they say (three times) "Swiper, no swiping!" and after the third time Swiper says, "Oh man!"

It was funny to hear Ryan say that today but it was especially funny to hear Logan say it. He came up and tried to take something I had in my hands so I said the Swiper no swiping to him and he looked at me and said (no joke, he really said it!) "Oh man!" That boy is such a card. Imagine what he will be like when everyone can fully understand what he's saying. I still have a hard time understanding most of what he says but there are a few things that come out so clear. Last night he was playing when all of a sudden and clear as a bell he sang out, "Now I know my ABC's next time won't you sing with me!" We knew exactly what he was saying and it was just the funniest because we didn't hear him singing or saying any of the ABC's just that one part.

Ok, this last isn't about them talking but it's a cute little something that I hope to be able to get a picture of someday. The little ones will fall asleep in the car whenever we go for a ride of at least 30 minutes especially if it's after a meal. Today, on the way back from our little shopping trip they both fell asleep. Ryan sits behind the driver's seat and Katie behind the front passenger seat. 99.9% of the time when they fall asleep they do it with their heads tilted toward the other. Somehow they both fall out with their heads tilted into the middle of the car. It looks like they are trying to lean on each other's shoulder. One day when I'm not driving I will be sure to take the digital camera with me so I can get a cute shot of this.

They are best buddies as they are with each other most of the time. Of course, there are times when they fight over toys. It seems like in the afternoon when one or both are ready for a nap they both want what whatever the other is playing with and start to scream. Ryan has learned how to get what he wants (even from his big brother Logan) all he has to do is scream at the top of his lungs, stomp his little feet and flap his arms up and down. Most times this will get Logan to give him whatever it was he wanted. Katie has learned this trick and will just turn her back on him which will sometimes start WWIII. For the most part, they adore each other and will even give hugs and kisses but they are siblings so yes we do get the fights.

The cold bug from Hell!!

We've been fighting this cold bug for weeks and it's never really left. This past weekend we opened up the windows as it was nice and crisp during the day. We were hoping to get rid of all the germs so we could start over but of course, that didn't happen. Ryan has had a cough for about a week now but it was finally becoming really productive. I guess with his gag reflex a really productive cough isn't so good. He had his bananas and wanted a bottle so I gave it to him and let him lay propped up on the pillows on the playroom floor. I had made dinner and served everyone and went to sit down. About half way done with my dinner I hear a cough, then Ryan crying and Marie screaming (at the top of her lungs) "MOMMY, HE HURLED!"

Poor little guy must have rolled in it, by the time I ran from the living room to the playroom he was covered. Now I can laugh at how he looked but last night, not so funny. I grabbed him up and headed for the bathroom. Started the bath, wiped him up with towels then stripped him to find he had left me a nice gift in his diaper. Lovely; it never rains, it poors! I had to wipe that up and then get him into the tub and scrub the poor guy's body. I hate the smell of formula/milk after it comes back up. It's totally disgusting so I scrubbed and scrubbed and he splashed and had a merry old time. Logan wanted to join him so I grabbed him up to add him to the mix and low and behold he had also left me a lovely gift. After wiping him up , he jumped in to splash. I had Marie stand in the bathroom while I took Ryan out to dry off. I do this right outside the bathroom door so I can keep an eye on whomever is still left in the bathtub. I had let Logan use the cup we used to soak them with and all of a sudden I heard it. Yup, you guessed it. He took the cup, filled it and proceeded to dump it outside the tub. He was aiming for Katie's potty that makes the music when something gets into the pot. Most of the water hit the bathroom floor and poor Marie was just scrambling to get the cup from him and grab towels to throw down on the floor. Today all of this is very funny but last night I wasn't a happy camper.

After all that, Ryan and Logan are still having issues with the time change. Ryan was still moving around and talking in his crib after midnight and Logan came in to join us around 1:30 so I didn't get a restful night sleep. I'm hoping the boys adjust to the time change soon because I'm just a wee bit tired.

Poor Ms. Katie woke up with a nasty cough and a pretty good temperature this morning so we cancelled all therapies, put the two eldest on the bus and proceeded to cuddle and watch cartoons for most of the day. Ryan was much better today so he wanted to color and play. Katie was pretty well shot for the day being very whiney and clingy. She's now feeling a little better and watching Marie play her game. Keep fingers and toes crossed that they start feeling better tonight so we can all get some sleep.