Disney Pictures - Katie's Birthday

The Tree of Life

The battery started acting up and I couldn't get any more pics of Goofy but I do have where they took some for us. Once I figure out how to get them I will e-mail you all pictures. I got a hug from Goofy too!!

As you can see; Logan adores Mickey! (So does Ryan; the only way to keep him calm while waiting in line was to pick him up and show him Mickey!!)

The Birthday girl!

Ryan; the Super Fussy BOY!

I was trying to get a picture of the deer but it was nice to catch something else in the frame!

This is supposed to be a picture of Mount Everest but as you can see I didn't do a good job!

Slow updates

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted but as usual it's crazy here! Katie turned three today and we celebrated by taking the kids to Disney. I was prepared early yesterday; packed all three bags and everything else in the morning after making my list (and yes, checking it twice). I remembered everything but forgot to charge the portable DVD player and the camera. Luckily the camera had enough juice to get most of the shots I wanted so it wasn't a total bust. (I don't feel so bad, Curtis forgot his cell phone so had to use mine to check in at work!)

I have to say, this trip was the most non-stressed trip with the kids that we've had in a very long time. I just decided I would make sure to take pictures so that we would have something to show and to not stress when the kids started to scream as all the kids do it. Good thing I decided that ahead of time; Ryan screamed for the first hour or so every time we stopped the stroller to look at something. We had to stop to change diapers so Curtis let him out to run and once that happened there was no putting him back in a stroller. It was quite funny and it sure helped with the nap later when we left! I love the camera I received for Christmas; I was able to push a stroller and take pictures at the same time. (Although, a few did turn out a little fuzzy most of them were super!)

On the way home, Katie, Ryan and Marie (YES the nine year old actually fell asleep too!) while Logan watched Boo Bahs on the DVD player. Lord, but I can't stand those stupid things!! They are more annoying then the other pink, purple, yellow and red "blobs" that came out before them. Of course, now Logan has decided he really REALLY wants to watch that DVD and listen to them sing so it's on continuously!! What in the world was I thinking?!?!?!?!

Tons of fun!

Wow, what a week we've had! Marie got off the bus last Friday with a note from the school clinic. It just said that she had a stomach ache but no fever and she had rested and then went back to class. If I had only known what I was in for.....

She didn't want to eat at all Friday which is very very unusual. Saturday more of the same and complaining of a stomach ache still. She then admitted that she had vomited on the way back from P.E. but didn't tell the nurse. We did finally get her to tell us that she had eaten a gummy worm off the floor in the classroom YUCK! She ate some ramien noodles with broth and a few saltine crackers on Saturday but that was it. On Sunday, only wanted water but I made her eat some crackers so she'd have something in her stomach but by lunch time the yucky stuff started.

She would vomit two to three hours after eating something. She could keep some water down but not much else so by Monday when it didn't improve we made a trip to the doctor. She gave us something for vomiting and nausea and warned me that she could continue to vomit for another 24 hours. If she didn't improve her liquid intake we would be making a trip to the E.R. for some IV fluids. Those stupid pills they gave her cost over $10.00 each. The first one came back up but by the time she took the 2nd one she was able to keep enough food and liquid down to start improving. On Wednesday morning she woke in the best of moods to announce that her stomach didn't hurt anymore and that she was ready for school. Of course, I couldn't let her go in so she stayed home trying to get caught up on homework all day.

We skipped all of Ryan's therapy because I couldn't bring Marie into the hospital while vomiting or while her immune system was a little low. (Lord knows what she would have "brought" home after one visit!) We made a trip (between vomiting episodes) to the school on Tuesday to get some work for her to do once she was feeling better. By the time Thursday rolled around, I was so looking forward to taking Logan to therapy it wasn't even funny! Usually by that day I'm dead tired and still have another day to get through before the week is over.

Lesson learned this week: Marie will NEVER EVER pick up food off the ground and put it anywhere near her mouth no MATTER WHAT! If she does it again; we go directly to the E.R. to get her stomach pumped (or at least that is what she thinks. We went into great detail about how they do it and what it's like so that maybe JUST MAYBE she will never do it again!)

The kids are home from school today as it's a teacher duty day and off again on Monday at it's Martin Luther King's birthday. That should give Marie plenty of time to get all of her homework caught up. (She's already starting the "Mom, Ms. O'Donnell said I didn't have to do all that reading work". First it was because "it's the beginning of a four day weekend so I don't have to do it." then it became, "it's the end of the grading period and she said I don't/can't make it up" My how the stories change!!)

A little something about Ryan

Ryan has been progressing with leaps and bounds lately. The other day we were at the hospital waiting for the therapist and I was trying to distract him from getting irate. Katie and I started counting on our hands. Ryan decided to join in by moving his fingers around and counting from one to ten. He is now saying all the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse characters too. (Mind you, Daisy sounds like Sissy and Micky sounds like boogie but we all know what he's saying)

Yesterday we were relaxing and playing waiting for Marie and Logan to get home when he did something that surprised me. He put his hands over his eyes and started counting. "1, 2,3, 4, 5; ready or not here I come." Of course it's not as clear as that but it was so close I knew what he was saying. I had him repeat it several times then I thought to go grab the camera to try to get it on video. Needless to say I lost that opportunity because when he saw the camera he started saying "cheese!" as he thought I was trying to take his picture. I will do my best to get him on tape and post so you can laugh with me.

I tried again to get him on "tape" doing this but he sat there and said cheese and proceeded to run over to Katie and steal her toy. Katie is now allowing him to play with her little "computer". She's such a good and loving big sister. Now if we can work on her attitude about eating.....

Katie and Ryan napping

Mommy's little angel all tired out.

He was playing hard and then decided to lay down to watch Mickey Mouse. Next thing you know.......

Back to school day

Well it was back to the old grind today as the older two were off to school first thing this morning. I had made lunches last night and done a few things so I wouldn't be so crazy this morning. I'd really like to continue doing these things in the evening so I can relax a little in the morning. This morning Ms. Katie was very clingy and I know it's because she knew Marie and Logan were going back to school.

Ryan went back for therapy and did okay. It had been two weeks since he'd seen his Occupational Therapist and I thought he was going to be a little cranky. He was so ready for her; he said Hi and when I asked if he was ready to go see her he said a very loud YES! Katie was very happy to see Ms. Cheryl; as soon as she came out of her office Katie dropped her dolls and went over and put her hands up in the air to be picked up. These kids adore Ms. Cheryl.

Ryan fell asleep on the floor with his butt up in the air about an hour ago. I set Katie up in the highchair so she could have a sandwich but it wasn't enough so she demanded some chips. She's asleep with her head on her hands. I want to get her down but I'm thinking I should just let her be. If I try to get her down she will wake up very cranky. I have a picture of each and will post in a minute or two. I'm enjoying the quiet time since it will only last about another 20 minutes until Logan and Marie hit the door. It will then be time to make some bread and bake Logan some cookies and start bugging Marie to do her homework.

I have now become my Mom; I now know why she (and all the other Mom's) looked forward to school starting back up!

Holidays are over

Well, the holidays are over and the kids are ready to go back to school. Okay, not really but I am ready for them to go back to school so does that count?? I made it past midnight on New Year's Eve which for me is a miracle. Don't think I've done that since.....since....I really can't remember! I actually stayed up until after 1:00 as I had found a funny show on TLC around 11:00. It's called Jon and Kate plus 8. It's hysterical! It's about this family that had twins through invitro and then decided they wanted one more. Well instead of one they got six; three boys and three girls. We don't have to deal with anything compared to what this family does which makes our crazy life seem almost normal. Curtis watched the episode that came on after midnight and we laughed and decided we will make it a must see for Monday nights.

We got up at a respectable 8:00 on New Year's Day and decided to go ahead and take the decorations down. I was getting really tired of tripping over all the stuff we had to remove in order to get the decorations up inside. We stored it all in our room which was a little annoying as we had finally gotten that room organized. (We will be organizing it again sometime this week.) It took us all day to get everything down and organized in boxes. Curtis called himself the "pack master" as he was able to get all our decorations plus the couple of bags he purchased on Sunday into all the same boxes and still managed to have one empty box left over. Yes, I did say one empty box left over. I couldn't believe it either; let's just hope that it's worth it come next Christmas. I'd really like to have all the tree decorations to be in one or two boxes instead of scattered through out all of them again.

On top of all that I made us breakfast and got some blackeyed peas on the stove to cook for New Year's lunch. I had to stop in the middle of packing to throw some corn bread in the oven because what is BEP without cornbread??!! It was a very good lunch break and I even took about a 10 minute nap while he talked on the phone with friends and his Dad. I was very thankful for the interruption as with all that it still took us until almost 6:30 last night to get everything down, in boxes and put back up in the attic. I still had to vacuum up, do dishes from breakfast and lunch and make dinner. (I did take the easy way out on that meal; sandwiches with chips) We had good meals for two of the three meals so what the heck right?!

I was so tired that I made the BIG mistake of making coffee around 7:00. I took my last sip around 8:30 and it wasn't until Logan finally fell asleep at 11:00 that the stupid caffeine kicked me. I went to bed as my body was protesting it needed sleep. I tossed and turned until Logan came in to get me at 1:00. He was able to fall asleep rather quickly but I was still awake at 1:30 when Ryan woke up. I think I finally settled into a nice deep sleep sometime after 3:00 and I was up around 8:00 with the kids. Next time I decide I want coffee after 7:00 p.m. I'm going to just go to bed and say the heck with that! Yes, I'm drinking a cup of coffee right now as I'm having trouble staying awake and that's with all four children running around and making noise.