Mom's Favorites

September 26th!

2009-09-29T10:39:00.002-04:00

All my presents!

Cool!

But Mommy, I don't have the thing that uses these! Yes, she grabbed this out first but as you can see in the above picture, she has the "thing" that uses them. LOL

We hid all the gifts in this backpack so she had to open each compartment to find all her goodies. That was actually a better idea then wrapping them and she enjoyed it too!

Her birthday celebration actually started on Friday. We had been planning on Daddy taking the day off from work and taking her to Universal. She's been such a tremendous help with her smaller siblings and helping Logan on the bus. She deserved something fun just for her as she rarely gets one-on-one time with Mommy or Daddy.

On Wednesday, we received her interim report. Her test grades were awesome!! She is, at this point, carrying all A's and B's except for on her homework. Her homework grades for a few things were F's!!!!! So Mommy was a little evil. I made her do all the homework she missed even though she wouldn't get a grade for it. She did all her current work due on Thursday night and on Friday morning I told her she had to stay out of school to get the rest caught up. I told her she was having to go to work with Daddy and get it all caught up. Needless to say, she wasn't a happy camper at all. LOL

I'm still not sure how she didn't figure it out sooner since it's only about 30 minutes to his work and it's a good hour and 30 minutes to Universal. By the time they hit the parking lot, she'd figured it out. LOL They had a great time! She even rode on a couple of roller coasters! One he coaxed her on and the others she wanted to ride and not once but twice!! Wow! she sooooo doesn't take after me. LOL She didn't mind getting caught up on her homework on her actual birthday since she had so much fun with Daddy the day before.

July 16th!

2009-09-29T10:30:00.005-04:00

Thank you Gramma Meralyn and Grandpa Clark for both my Rescue Heroes and my Tigger!

This is his favorite!

Katie and Ryan fight over this one; good thing Logan likes to share some of his toys!

Little Einstein's Rocket

His favorite loud toy! Takes this to bed with him. I have no idea how he gets it up the ladder to the top bunk and I'm quite sure I don't want to know. LOL

Cool! Another loud toy! Thank you Katie, Ree Ree and Ryan!!

Oops! It's been awhile!

2009-08-24T10:52:00.003-04:00

Sorry for neglecting to update this blog. The summer is now over as the kids started school today. To say it was hectic would be putting it mildly! LOL The bus for Marie and Logan didn't show up. It was supposed to be here at 8:06 and by 8:25 I'm ready to pull my hair out. I loaded everything into the van including the two youngest kids at 7:55 and then grabbed the older two to stand to wait at 8:00. Hmmm, twenty five minutes later still no bus and Katie was late for Pre-K. She was NOT a happy camper!!! We decided that we couldn't wait for the bus and packed everyone in to head to school. Dropped Ms. Katie off by 8:35 and no, she didn't cry or even acknowledge that I was leaving. Her teacher had to tell her to say goodbye to me and she did it without even looking up at me! Here I was worried my little baby would be a handful at drop off time. Mommy would have cried if she had time to do so.

I couldn't drop Ryan off as it was too early, so run to the van and high tail it down the road to the other school so we could sit in the drop off line for ten minutes (which really pissed Logan off!). By the time we were able to pull up, the new principal is telling me no, don't park there go to the left. Sorry there fella but I have an autistic 7 year old in the beginnings of a full blown melt down. Go bug someone else ya' hear?!?! Grab him up (yes, kicking and screaming) just about throw him over my shoulders when he sees one of his favorite people, Ms. Maryann. He calmed right down and smiled at her like he was an angel. Into the class we go, with Marie in tow. Little did I know I had grabbed the wrong back pack. We get into his class room I tell his aide, just give him his brownie and he'll calm right down. I have to run the other one back to the other school. Did I mention I grabbed the wrong backpack?? Did I happen to catch that before we left the school and got stuck in traffic??? NOOOOO! Thankfully, Ms. Nickie was more on the ball than I was and called me before I got five minutes away and back to the school we went.

By this time, Ryan had been in the van for almost two hours and he wasn't a happy little guy. Another meltdown but at least, it was a different kid. Mommy's everlasting supply of lolli's came to the rescue and said meltdown stopped as soon as the red lolli hit his tongue. Whew! Back on the road again after exchanging the backpacks, back to being stuck in traffic and heading back to the first school we went to that morning. We got him to school about 30 minutes late and that was with having to go to the school's other main office to sign him in which is up the block and around the corner. Yeah, they realllllly need to work on their sign in/out procedures but I was just happy to have everyone safely in school. LOL

No time to go to a nice sit down breakfast like we planned as we have to get Ms. Katie picked back up by 11:30. Said breakfast will happen around lunchtime and with an addition. I don't think Katie will mind going to breakfast with Mommy and Daddy, do you?!?! LOL

A stormy day outside but inside......

2009-06-30T15:11:00.002-04:00

Is it just me or....

2009-06-22T08:48:00.002-04:00

does everyone have children that are attached at the hip with them? I can't go to the bathroom without a little rugrat following right behind me. If I get the bedroom door closed quick enough I can make a run for it but then I have to listen to the screaming and pounding on the door. Really, please someone tell me that I'm not alone on this one or I'll go stark raving mad!!

I can't eat dinner when it's hot because the same rugrat wants to be in my arms and snuggling with all my attention focused on him. Most nights I just eat a lukewarm or cold dinner or if I get really lucky he'll be still sleeping on one of his marathon three hour naps. That just causes trouble later in the evening or early in the morning when he's still up and wants me to be up and talking coherently with him. LOL

I can get a nap in if I'm holding said rugrat and he happens to fall asleep with me. I was lucky enough to enjoy such a nap yesterday and I think it was a good hour or more before I became uncomfortable enough to wake up and lay him down. DH said neither rugrat nor me were snoring so that was a plus for him. LOL (no noise and one less cranky child)

Actually, I wouldn't trade any of my children for a millon dollars or more. I do love them and enjoy spending all my time with them (well, most of the time I do LOL) Yesterday we had a nice relaxing day. We hung out inside until around 2:30 when we went out to play in the kiddie pools for an hour. Even Logan joined us a couple of times. He'd come over and stick his feet in to get cooled down or even better; he'd stick his head down and get the front of his hair wet. He'd stand there letting the water run down his nose onto his belly and just grin. Mommy's little goofball!

Marie's tires on her bike are all filled up and ready for her to show us her stuff. Of course, since DH isn't home today, the little ones will be playing out back in the water while she rides in front of the house where I can keep an eye on her. Gee, I wonder if she'll really want to ride her bike while the others are playing in the water??? Logan will probably spend most of the time on the swing with occasional trips to dip his head. Ryan and Katie will take turns running between the two pools and getting lost of grass and mud in both. Lots of fun! I can't seem to get pictures because I have to sit in there with them and don't want to get the camera wet. I don't bring it outside with us because "we" have a tendency to splash just about everything within reach including the towels. Can you say lots of summer fun?!?!

Ryan

2009-06-01T13:01:00.002-04:00

He was more interested in sliding down the slide then finding the easter eggs! But, then again, so was Logan! If you look closely, you can see Logan's feet and butt where he's swinging on the swing!

Mommy's little giraffe with ladybug boots! This is how he stayed somewhat dry last week.

Exhausted boy! He kept insisting he wasn't tired but when he snuggled in my arms he fell fast asleep within minutes. Poor little tired boy!

I will try to get some more recent pics of Marie, Logan and Katie and post them on here soon. This is the last full week of school (Friday and next Monday are half days) before school lets out for summer. I've got lots planned for my little rugrats and I'm looking forward to having a month of sleeping in (Yeah right! LOL) and not getting up before 7:00 to get them all ready for school. July will be summer school for Logan so I'll be getting up with him as he catches the bus around 8:00 or so and will be back home by 2:20 or shortly thereafter. The rest of us will take the time to work at home with Ryan's therapy (Me and him only) and playing school so that Ms. Katie is ready to start Pre-K in August. She's so excited about going to school next year and being at the same school as Ryan. I wish they all four could be at the same school but at least they are paired up.

It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is.....

2009-05-19T11:11:00.002-04:00

You get the picture right??? WOW! We've received over six inches of rain in the past 24 hours and it's not exptected to stop before Wednesday night. The good thing is all this rain might, just might, get our rain index where it needs to be. We've been in drought conditions here in central Florida for quite a while now. The threat of wildfires has been way WAY up there. In fact, yesterday there were at least six different fires that we knew of in the state. I don't think there are any new ones now. (Yeah, don't know how they could possibly start, let alone catch on with the deluge we're experiencing)

It's been fun getting the kids to the bus and school each day. I was able to get Logan to put on his rain coat but forget the hood. Marie refused the coat but put on the boots. (No boots for Logan) and used a teeny tiny umbrella that didn't protect her very much. I had a huge umbrella and was fighting the wind and Logan to try to keep us dry. Not much was dry on me by the time the bus came and we were only out there for five minutes!

I came in, changed clothes and prepared to get the little ones ready. Ryan with his little ladybug boots and his giraffe rain coat was just too adorable! Of course, the boots were a cast off of Katie's and were a little big so when I tried to pick him up to carry to the van they fell off. Back to the porch we went, put them back on and he was walking to the van. I no sooner pick him up and put him in the van then both those little buggers fell off. At least they were in the van and dry for that moment. He's in his seat but not buckled in and I run back for Katie. Now, she's a hodgepodge of clothes. She has her green St. Patrick's Day stretch pants, pink boots and Logan's old red raincoat on. What a colorful combo she was though! Too cute! I grabbed her, my purse, lock the door and off we go again. Did I mention that the umbrella is trying to make me fly like Mary Poppins the whole time?!?!?!

Katie is in the car and strapped in when I run around to get Ryan's boots on and strap him in his seat. I got the one boot on but the umbrella is about to take flight so I gave up on the other and strapping him in and just run for my seat. Whew! I'm almost soaked at that point but not too too bad. I strap the boy in, put his other boot on because if I don't the screaming won't stop until we get to school. I get my glasses on, at least with those I had some (very little, but hey it's better than NOTHING) common sense. I put the case in my purse so they were good and dry. Get the car on and running the heat because, hey, it's mid May in Florida and the temp is ONLY 70 degrees!!!!!! In my 25 plus years in this state it's never EVER hit that temp in May.

The drive is almost uneventful except for the moron talking on his cell phone who almost sideswipes us merging onto the road. Traffic is slow and bunched up because, GASP, the construction workers ARE ACTUALLY WORKING ON THE ROADWAYS!!! Yeah, I can't believe it either. They never work when it's sunny. You see five guys standing around talking about work but you never actually SEE them working.

We get to school and I swear to you the wind picked up just as I shut the van off. I grab the umbrella and fight to get it open. Katie is out and we're running for the overhang. She is behaving for the moment so I fight the umbrella and the Mary Poppins flight to get to Ryan. Now, at that point my brain FINALLY kicks into high gear. I pull the useless P.O.S. umbrella back down and throw it in the van. I'm able to get Ryan out of the van with his backpack and his blanket shoved into the front of my shirt to keep it dry. (Yeah, I look 9 months pregnant but who cares, the blanket is dry!) I have enough sense left to hold his boots as I gently set him down in the lake, I mean puddle next to the van. We walk quickly to get Katie and head into his class. Half way there we meet them heading to the cafeteria for breakfast. Well, at least it's a lot less walking to do right?!?! He's settled with the class and Katie and I head back out into the hurricane, I mean spring showers and head home. Katie is giggling and dry while I'm grumbling and shivering because I'm drenched and freezing.

The moral to this story is that a grown women of 40 years of age should have sense and wear a rain coat and just drink a ton of coffee before going out into such weather!!! I'm enjoying my coffee as I snuggle in a nice big blanket and listen to the downpour continue. I'm looking forward to the trip back to school to pick Ryan up. No, really, I am and did I mention that today is speech therapy for Logan??????? I'm not even going to think about it right now. Coffee, COFFEE give me MORE COFFEE!!!!!!!!!!!

A giggle or two....

2009-04-01T15:48:00.004-04:00

Last night while making dinner, Katie asked me "Momma, can you give me something to tie me up until dinner?"

"DAADDDDYYY, go get the bungy cords out of the garage for me PLEASE!"

"What?! WHY?"

"Your daughter wants something to tie her up until dinner so I want to oblige her, duh!"

"Um, honey, I think she meant she's hungry and wants something to get her through until dinner."

"Really? Hmmm, well then, Katie what would you like to tie you up until dinner?"

"A lollipop please!" Yeah, okay, that happened and I won the lotto too. She's a charmer that one. This is the same child who when reminded that she must behave will say, "Mommy, I'm SMILING, that means I'm behave!" Yeah but just because you're smiling it doesn't mean you're behaving sweetheart.

Ryan's favorite response to being told No is "DON'T TELL ME NO!!!!!!!" He has also become Italian while we weren't looking. "Momma, maka da babba!" or "Momma, will you maka da babba?" Oh, and today we reached another milestone with school; he waved and said "bye bye Momma!" in other words; you've done your duty now get out of my class! Yeah, no more tears and clinging!

Logan is having a rough time right now at school. His teacher had to retire unexpectedly the other day due to health issues. She'd broke her foot a few weeks ago and had several subs in the class and finally just had to let go. He adores her and has a big time issue with change, as all autistic kids do so his behavior has been extreme this week. They finally have one person in the room who will be there until they find a permanent replacement or the end of the school year. He still has his regular aides so at least that won't change. Thankfully! Keep him in your thoughts and prayers that this new transition will be over soon.

Marie is wellllll, she's Marie. I love her to pieces but sometimes I have to remind myself how I was at her age. She came to me yesterday evening and reminded me that she had a project that was due that morning. Can Daddy get me a piece of posterboard? Thankfully, he was able to stop by Wal-mart and grab one for her but it made for a very late night. To top that off, we still had to get up an hour plus early this morning so she could finish it. We didn't get to work on her speech at all last night with the regular homework and the project so hopefully we can get back to that tonight. She has to prepare and do the speech in front of her class then the entire school next Tuesday. Well, that gives us the whole weekend to tweak it at least. Yes, she does get her procrastination from me but I don't remember (cough, choke) ever waiting until the night after a project was due to inform my parents I needed some supplies. AND I wasn't the kid who if the homework didn't fit in his back pocket it didn't get done either, so there. (tongue sticking out here folks!)

Just a little rant...

2009-03-11T09:05:00.003-04:00

about doctors and nurses and their files. First, most of you know that Ryan has some feeding issues. Okay, major if you ask me but it could be so much worse. All the boy will eat are baby 2nd foods bananas with applesauce and baby cereal mixed with it. I can get him to eat the bananas alone but the applesauce is a hard thing to get ingested without the bananas. He has been licking the salt from chips, crackers and french fries but if he gets any particle of this in his mouth he gags until he vomits. This is the major reason he's in the school system's PreK ESE program. He finally had his occupational therapy evaluation on Monday and then the therapist came on Tuesday to start her sessions. This has to be the fastest I've ever seen them schedule either boy for therapy. Usually the eval is done and then a week or two go by before a session is scheduled. Obviously, she found major problems and had to get right to work.

The original doctor knows this and it SHOULD be in Ryan's file at their office here but I don't think anyone bothers to read this. Ryan has been in school for four weeks now and he loves it but he's having some trouble adjusting to the eating/drinking schedule. I think he's having so much fun that he doesn't want to stop to eat or drink. Oh, another part of his issue is that he refuses or can't drink out of anything but a bottle and will only drink his formula with a little bit of rice milk added to it. We talked to the doctor about this over a year ago and all decided that he needed to go to the infant formula so that he still gets all his vitamins and minerals. Thanks to his occupational therapist we were able to get him started on some rice milk which we add to the formula.

This last week and weekend he's not been eating or drinking like he should even at home. I knew something was wrong but couldn't figure out if he's not feeling well or just not in a growth spurt right now. As with all kids, when they are in the "growth spurt" they eat like little piggies non-stop. Same for Ryan so I usually don't worry about him. Monday, we finally figured it out. The poor little baby was constipated. I had a call into the nurse at his Pediatrician's office but in the meantime I figured out what the problem was and "helped" him with it. No more graphic details forthcoming but use your imagination.

When the nurse finally called me back two hours later, I let her know that I figured out the problem but wanted to know some options to keep this from happening again. I explained the school situation and the eating but I swear she was either not listening or didn't understand. (Either of these are quite scary in my book!) She suggested prune juice. Okay but he's not really into drinking anything so what are my options with that. Put it with other liquid, okay I can attempt that. Each time she suggested something new I had to tell her again about his limited diet. At one point, she got very irritated with the fact that he's still on formula and procedeed to explain to me how he should have been off that at one year old. No really?!?! What parent in their right mind would continue paying these disgusting prices for a can of formula if they didn't have to?!?!?! Do you know how much a can of this crap costs????? If you're lucky and can find it on sale you can pay $18.99 but if no sale then you pay ove $21.00 for 24 ounces. Come on lady, really, do you think with this being my fourth child that I'd be that friggin' dumb?!?!?!?!

I REALLY don't think it's that hard to actually pull the file and scan it before making that phone call or during the phone call even. I'm not asking you to read the stupid thing from cover to cover but somewhere on that actual FOLDER is the shortened version of the issues each child has if it's going to be an ongoing problem. Please, just take a minute or two to scan it so you can be informed before you make yourself look extremely stupid and before you really piss the parent off. Okay, I'm getting off my soapbox now. Thanks for letting me vent.

Been awhile....

2009-03-02T11:50:00.002-05:00

Since I've updated the family blog. Sorry about that everyone! All is well here for the moment. LOL Ryan has settled into school with no problems. He was a little skittish about me leaving him but once Katie and I were gone he was fine. This is the fourth week for him and he's now walking to class rather than having me carry him.

Katie is doing much better with dropping him off too. Today she couldn't wait to get to the classroom and took off running. (she likes to play with the toys while I get Ryan settled) Only to promptly fall on her face in the grass, thankfully it wasn't the concrete. She jumped right up and said, "Come on Mommy, let's go!!" It wasn't until after we dropped Ryan off and got back in the van that she noticed she had grass stains on her knees. "Mommy, you need to wash my pants, I don't like them dirty!" Sorry kiddo, you are going to have to wear them all day. Just in case you do it again later LOL.

Marie is doing good in school again. I just hope she keeps it up so she can get back on the A/B honor roll again. So far this year she's missed it each marking period. I think she really wants to go on stage to get her certificate this time so hopefully she'll stay on track. She likes her new haircut just like mine. It's easier for her to deal with although she still refuses to brush it unless I remind her a couple of times. Today she claimed she did brush it; I had to tell her using her fingers as a brush didn't count. Gotta love her for that one! LOL

Logan is doing great as well. He loves school and riding the bus. His behavior is getting a little better at home and he doesn't act up in school unless there is something wrong. He lost another tooth last night so he's really got a nice gapped smile. Still trying to use every piece of furniture as a trampoline but maybe we can break that habit soon. I'm not holding my breath but I can dream can't I???? The couch went outside on the patio (on it's way to the trash tomorrow) last night and he actually spent the ENTIRE night in his "big boy bed". Now, if he can just continue to do that life will be great! I was all ready for an all nighter last night and went to bed with one ear on alert and one eye open. Slept pretty good considering I was ready to spring out of bed at any time. Keep it up Logan!! Great job mommy's big man!! Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Ryan!

2009-02-10T11:26:00.003-05:00

The boys favorite show; Thomas the Train and no Ryan didn't eat one bite. He sure loved playing with the Thomas train though. LOL
Logan's favorite toy; yes it was a gift to Ryan but Logan swooped in to grab it and never let it go. Ryan didn't care as the dancing and singing was freaking him out a little bit.

His favorite toy of the day. Thomas the Train phone that sings and teaches numbers and other fun stuff. Another noisy toy to add to their collection. I think I'm going to stop buying batteries. LOL

Wow! He really looks like Marie in this picture. Too cute!

Cheese Daddy! I believe this was Katie's favorite. Ryan liked it but only when Katie started playing with it. Isn't that just typical?!?!

This will go to school with him; it's full of fun stuff to color and paint. Yeah, it's going to school for sure. I'd rather he experiment with painting walls and desks there. LOL

Today was his 3rd birthday and his first day of school. He did great at school, whimpered once while we were trying to get out of the room. I did pretty good if I do say so myself; I waited for about an hour and a half before calling to check on him. He was fine, never shed one tear and was laughing up a storm in the background when I called. When it was time to pick him up, he walked out with such a jaunty little step that I was laughing (and yes I did shed a tear or two). He caught sight of me and yelled, "Mommy!" and ran right up and gave me the biggest hug. It just melted my hear right then and there. He had no nap and no bottle at all during the day but made up for the no bottles when he got home. He didn't nap once he got home and was out for the count around 9:15 which made for a nice restful night sleep for me. Way to go Ryan!!! Mommy loves you birthday boy!

Happy 4th Birthday Katie!

2009-01-26T11:16:00.002-05:00

Her favorite shows on one cake. She loved the cars and liked the cake without the icing.

Ballerina outfit, bar and mat that came with it's own instructional DVD.

Kitchen stuff to play with now; it even makes noise too. Hmmmm not sure if that's a good thing or not. LOL

I think this was her favorite; her piano with microphone. They will fight over it I'm sure but as long as they have fun we can live with that.

Mommy's little princess a/k/a the birthday girl. The earrings came off as soon as the flash went on the camera. She's definetly my daughter LOL.

I can't believe my baby girl is four years old already. It seems like just yesterday when I was toting her to work with me. She was such a good quiet baby you didn't even know she was there. She's still a good girl and mommy's little angel. Happy birthday baby girl!

Update for the family

2009-01-16T08:14:00.002-05:00

Okay, it took my Mom e-mailing me to remind me that I had started trying to change the background on my blog and got stopped in the middle of it. Oops! I had been trying to get a nice Valentine background but something in the code was not sitting well with blogger (go figure!) and then the kids got really crazy and that was the end of that. So today, I opened my e-mail to see a note from Mom and it took about 3/4 of my first cup of coffee to understand what she was trying to tell me. I've just spent about 30 minutes trying to just get back the old background and of course, that was a no go. I've settled for a generic blogger background just so I can bring everyone up-to-date with the happenings here.

So, without further ado here is what has been happening at our house for the past month. Let's see where to begin...... Well, DH is no longer working for the company he's worked with forever but he's still at the same resort. Another company bought out the managment company so now he's working for a nice big timeshare developer. Things are different but yet better so it wasn't a bad move (or at least we haven't seen anything that we can live with). Insurance is different which has caused me to start jumping through hoops to find out about therapy for both boys. Logan is covered for the moment but Ryan will be without as soon as he turns three which is less than three weeks away. I've had to get with the school board to see if he will fall into their PreK program that handles therapy during the school day. I've also had to contact the local CARD office to see about getting the Autism evaluation for him. I've got a ton of paperwork to fill out and still can't seem to find time without major distraction to do that. I'm hoping to do that today before it gets crazy.

Logan's disability is doing it's auditing this year so I'm having to find all DH paystubs for 2008. It's amazing how easily they get lost. I've got five more to find but I'm hoping they'll take what I have and wait for his old company to get me copies of the rest. If finding a night time job and being able to keep it weren't totally impossible it would be more beneficial for me to do so but not anytime soon. The boys are still having issues sleeping through the night and I can't ask DH to wake up with them four times a night and get up refreshed in the morning and head out to work. Maybe some day....

Logan had a meltdown on Tuesday and was inconsolable so he had to come home from school and ended up staying home the next day as we didn't know what was wrong. Turns out the poor little guy had another loose tooth and it was really bothering him. It came out last night but before I could nab it he'd swallowed it. I'm told this is more the norm with autistic kids but still it freaked me out a little. DH laughed and said just check his diaper tomorrow and you'll get it back. Yeah, okay, I'll be sure to dig right into that mess and save it for the tooth fairy dear. Ewwww! Marie wants to write a letter to the tooth fairy and explain the situation which really got me laughing. I can't wait to see that!

Ignore the mess and enjoy the laugh!

2008-12-20T09:25:00.002-05:00

Halloween Pictures - a wee bit late!

2008-11-18T11:34:00.002-05:00

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!!!!!!!!!

2008-10-08T11:56:00.002-04:00

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!

2008-10-03T08:37:00.002-04:00

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

2008-09-29T10:01:00.002-04:00

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

2008-09-01T11:59:00.002-04:00

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

2008-08-20T10:32:00.003-04:00

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

2008-08-12T11:56:00.002-04:00

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......

2008-08-07T12:03:00.002-04:00

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!

2008-08-05T11:50:00.006-04:00

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...

2008-07-21T12:52:00.002-04:00

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!

2008-07-16T11:20:00.009-04:00

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

2008-07-15T10:05:00.002-04:00

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!

2008-07-07T15:13:00.002-04:00

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!

2008-07-04T10:02:00.003-04:00

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!

2008-07-02T13:46:00.008-04:00

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

2008-06-21T22:32:00.003-04:00

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

2008-06-21T17:44:00.002-04:00

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?!?!

2008-06-17T14:12:00.003-04:00

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!

2008-06-09T10:15:00.002-04:00

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....

2008-06-04T10:41:00.002-04:00

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

2008-05-27T11:34:00.002-04:00

Party time at our house

2008-05-23T09:36:00.012-04:00

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

2008-05-23T09:30:00.002-04:00

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

2008-05-10T10:05:00.002-04:00

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???

2008-05-06T17:16:00.002-04:00

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

2008-04-23T15:50:00.000-04:00

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

2008-04-23T15:41:00.001-04:00

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

2008-04-21T09:52:00.003-04:00

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!

2008-04-14T08:38:00.002-04:00

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!

2008-04-12T08:52:00.003-04:00

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

2008-04-11T12:19:00.006-04:00

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

2008-04-08T14:46:00.003-04:00

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

Spring Break!

2008-04-05T09:35:00.002-04:00

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

2008-04-05T09:09:00.008-04:00

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

2008-04-04T11:24:00.005-04:00

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

2008-03-25T11:36:00.002-04:00

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

2008-03-13T18:05:00.004-04:00

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!!

2008-03-11T16:27:00.003-04:00

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.

Tag - borrowed from Meari

2008-02-27T08:23:00.004-05:00

1. Where is your cell phone? In my purse where I always keep it. Afraid I will forget it when I walk out the door.
2. Your significant other? Curtis, my wonderful husband.
3. Your hair? Very dark brown with gray; time to color again.
4. Your mother? Very stubborn
5. Your father? Deceased but also very stubborn
6. Your favorite thing? My family, cross stitch and my coffee
7. Your dream last night? Didn't get much sleep between one sick child and two cranky ones so not sure that I did dream.
8. Your favorite drink? Coffee
9. Your dream/goal? To be able to have my husband stay home too.
10. The room you’re in? Living room
11. Your ex? Ex what??
12. Your fear? heights, snakes and bees
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? More money and my husband a stay-at-home Dad (while I'm a stay-at-home Mom).
14. Where were you last night? at home like always
15. What you’re not? patient - never have been and doesn't look like I ever will be.
16. Muffins? Blueberry or banana
17. One of your wish list items? to have all the children sleeping in their own beds and in their own rooms this year!!!!
18. Where you grew up? In a small town in Connecticut
19. The last thing you did? changed a diaper and made a bottle.
20. What are you wearing? Sweatpants, t-shirt and socks; I'm cold!
21. Your TV? which one?
22. Your pet? none
23. Your computer? HP desktop
24. Your life? Full of therapies for the boys and lots of fun times with all.
25. Your mood? Very groggy but happy
26. Missing someone? My dad
27 Your car? Blue Dodge Caravan
28. Something you’re not wearing? Shoes
29. Favorite Store? Target or Dillard's
30. Your summer? Spent with all of the kids while they are on summer break; maybe a trip to Houston to visit family. I sure hope so!!!!!
31. Like someone? In love with my wonderful husband
32. Your favorite colour? Purple
33. When is the last time you laughed? this morning
34. Last time you cried? Sunday night; I always cry when I watch a sad movie.
35. Who will/would re-post this? I dunno, but I want to know if you do so please leave me a comment!

Cole Family Artwork

2008-02-26T12:19:00.002-05:00

A week ago Monday, the kids were off school for President's Day, so when Ryan's O.T. came for his scheduled visit they all got to work with him for his session. Since it was raining, we couldn't go outside so she decided to try some finger painting. I have to admit I've never tried this with the kids. I know, bad Mommy! For the most part Ryan enjoyed playing in it and Katie and Marie had a ball. Logan ran up a couple of times saying, "Paint!" and then would run back off. He even stuck his finger in some purple paint and made one little swipe at the paper but wouldn't do more than that. This picture is the end result of Katie, Marie and Ryan fingerpainting that day. I believe I will have to invest in some washable paints so that the kids can do this more often. They all loved it and didn't give me that much of a fuss when they were done and heading in to a nice warm bubble bath. Why didn't I think of this before? Katie hates to get into the bath and then hates to get out. After the painting session she was almost ready for her bath and didn't fight like normal. She still didn't want to get out of the tub but I can live with that!!

I think I'm going to put this up on the wall in the playroom to show off their combined efforts at fingerpainting and add more pictures to it as they do them. I can make a finger painting wall of pictures and I know they will love looking at their beautiful artwork!

Kid Fun Time Saturday

2008-02-26T12:02:00.002-05:00

Saturday mornings are spent cleaning up before Ryan's 10:30 S.T. session. I have to block the rest of the kids on the other side while Ryan is in therapy or they will distract him too much. This Saturday Logan and Katie were not happy with being blocked. Once Ms. Kathy left, Ryan fell asleep in my arms and I put him down for a nap. I let the others out of their "cage" so they could have the run of the house to calm them down. This made Katie and Logan very happy as they like to run up and down the hallway or ride one of the push/pull toys up and down.

Once Ryan awoke from his nap we played in the living room and some how started playing hide-n-seek. I would grab Ryan and hide under his blanket while Marie counted. It was so much fun but hard to keep him calm enough until she'd rip the blanket off our heads and he'd scream with laughter. We then had him count to 10 while we hid under a big blanket and every time he'd coming running over and say "Mommy!" and grab the blanket off while Katie and Marie giggled. Logan watched this for a little while then decided he would help Ryan or whomever was counting. Once I threw the blanket over our heads I would feel Logan grabbing at my head and he'd giggle. We even got him to get under the blanket to hide a couple of times. He was having a great time right along with the rest of them. We decided to let Mommy count while the rest of them hid and I think they enjoyed that even more. I found them the first time because I could hear Katie saying, "I want to go see Mommy" so I came around the corner and yelled "Gotcha!" They all screamed and laughed and of course I had to keep doing that until everyone got way to hyper and we had to all take a time out.

Ryan had his O.T. yesterday afternoon outside in the front yard. She brought a storage bin that was really long but not too deep and it had a ton of rice and dried beans. She had hid some small plastic animals, some shells, some loose change and some small balls. He had to sit in the bin with his socks and shoes off and search for these things and put them in little bowls. He sat there the entire session and only threw things a couple of times. He seemed to like running his hands through all the stuff and didn't mind his feet being in it either. Although, he did have his toes curled at one point like he wasn't too sure if he wanted to be in there but after that he was fine. We will be making a trip to Wal-mart for a bin that size to put our 15 lb. bag of rice in and to buy some dried beans to add as well. I know that Logan likes to run his hands through stuff like this because he has a smaller version in his classroom or did the first year. We had planned on making one of these but couldn't find a bin with a lid so we didn't complete it. Now that I see what she used I'm heading out to purchase one today (or better yet, will have Daddy pick one up on the way home!)

Pics

2008-02-15T11:02:00.002-05:00

Katie playing while Ryan was napping

Ryan and the nasal spray

Birthday and other stuff

2008-02-15T10:42:00.003-05:00

Ryan turned two years old this past Saturday. Poor little guy was so under the weather we didn't celebrate until Sunday. Since he wasn't the only one not feeling well, we didn't do much other than to bring out his presents and let him play. He's afraid of Tickle Me Ernie, didn't care about the Happy Birthday Diego and his Elmo Knows My Name wouldn't work. He lay in my arms and let Logan and Katie press the button every time Diego stopped singing. Logan loved the Ernie and promptly took him in the other room to play which didn't bother Ryan in the least. We will be doing something more this weekend to really celebrate his birthday now that everyone is on the mend.

I think Ryan's napping patterns are back to normal or at least they were Wednesday. After his physical therapy, he climbed into my lap and fell fast asleep, snoring loudly. I was able to lay him down on his pillows and he slept for almost two hours. What a nice break it was, even though Katie did try several times to wake him up. She was successful the last time she tried but at least he had slept for almost two hours. Yesterday we spent the day with Daddy and he slept the entire time we were in Target and a little bit of the ride after that. He even took another nap when we got home, of course, he had to be in my arms to do that but at least he slept. Katie took a tiny nap on the way home; we had a 30 minute drive and she slept for the last 15 minutes but at least she did sleep.

Last night we had a good laugh when Ryan picked up my nasal spray bottle (cap tightly shut, of course) and put it to his nose and made a sniffing sound. I've been using it because I've been so stuffed up due to the cold and allergies. Apparently the little guy has been watching Mommy this week and decided he wanted to try it too. I was in the other room tucking Katie and Marie into bed when I heard Curtis bust out laughing. I came around the corner to see him doing it and promptly grabbed the camera to get a few shots. (pictures to follow)

Gone but never forgotten

2008-02-05T15:49:00.000-05:00

A little dedication to my Dad who may have left us on February 5, 2006 but who is never far from our thoughts and hearts.

He was friends with my grandparents before Mom brought us back from California. It took them a long time to begin dating but he'd been in my life as long as I could remember.
Before they got married, he was always there for us even though he had to support a son from his first marriage he still made sure that we had everything we needed.

Three generations of West men; Bernie, Virgil or "Pap" as I always knew him, and Gary. Later when all of us kids started families Bernie became "Pap" to all the grandkids.

One of my favorite pictures; we would always spend a day snapping green beans and any other veggie we could to can for the winter. He would get up at the crack of dawn and head out to a farm to get all the fresh produce and bring it home for canning. It seems that it always ended up that he and I would be the ones in the kitchen getting the veggies ready and then Mom would start canning them. They were always up until after midnight finishing up. Oh those green beans were soooooo good!!

In Florida a couple of years after we moved down for the warmer climate.

Mom and him at my house at Christmas one year.

This picture still shocks me; I asked him if he wanted to hold his grand daughter while feeding her and he said sure. I didn't think he would but he did hand her back as soon as she messed her diaper and said that was Mom's job to clean up. Always a smart remark that made me laugh.

**********************

Some of his favorite lines; take a short walk off a long dock (for when we were driving him nuts) I hid some green jellybeans outside for you; why don't you go look for them (if there wasn't snow at Easter) or I hid some white jellybeans outside (when there was still snow on the ground) The always funny (to me and him at least) Go play in traffic. The classics: Here's a kiss for ya or I think someone stepped on a frog.

****

The time Don tore his engine up while studying engine mechanics at the local VoTech school. He yelled and then spent the day with Don putting it all back together. Don't think Don got grounded for that one.

****

The time he, mom and some friends went to the Daytona 500 in the infield to watch the race. He came home with a very irritated look on his face and said "where's the beef?!" Apparently Mom had packed everything in the cooler for the race but forgot the hamburgers and hot dogs. They had ketchup and onions on hot dog buns. That was hysterical! He laughed about it when he got home but I don't think he was too happy at the time. He NEVER let her forget about that either. I think it was one of his favorite stories to tell.

****

We were moving into the house in Ormond after being in a rental for a few months (after first moving down here) and there was a HUGE palmetto bug in my dresser drawer. I thought nothing of trying to swat at it until it flew at me! I started screaming, Mom ran in to see what the problem was she swatted at it while telling me there was no reason to scream and when it jumped on her she screamed bloody murder. Bernie ran in mumbling something about damn silly woman and took care of the bug. Our hero!!

****

The time I was laying outside in the back yard and my husband (at the time) was across the street visiting with him. A HUGE rat snake fell out of the tree, I ran screaming out of the house and across the street and he laughed so hard I thought he was going to wet himself when he found out why I was acting like a moron. They calmly walked over to see just how big that snake really was so they could tease me about it for years to come.

****

It's still hard to deal with but if we remember the fun/funny times then we can laugh through our tears.

Disney Pictures - Katie's Birthday

2008-01-26T16:45:00.000-05:00

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

2008-01-26T16:35:00.000-05:00

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!

2008-01-18T10:09:00.000-05:00

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

2008-01-12T08:14:00.000-05:00

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

2008-01-07T16:01:00.000-05:00

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

2008-01-07T15:51:00.000-05:00

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

2008-01-02T14:35:00.000-05:00

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.

Christmas at the Cole's

2007-12-26T11:16:00.000-05:00

Katie and her My Little Pony. Ryan has really enjoyed playing with this. My Little Pony has a walker and will move all around talking. Ryan will either follow her or let her bump into him. It's great that they all love each other's toys.

Logan's favorite toy: Ryan's talking Eeyore. Logan did get a new piano keyboard and he was loving it. He tried to smash at the box it was in. This boy loves his music!

Marie's wish came true, sort of; a Disney Princess laptop instead of a Barbie laptop. She's decided she likes this one a lot more!

Ryan and his very own Mickey Mouse! Katie's Tigger is almost as tall as she is and yes Logan grabbed him to play with as soon as her back was turned. Logan decided he liked all the big stuffed animals and took them into the recliner where he was sitting. He had no room left after he added Katie's Tigger, Ryan's Elmo and his own Batman!

The children chomping at the bit; ready to see what Santa brought them. Can you believe that they let Mommy and Ryan sleep until almost 8:30?!?!

Ryan and Katie

2007-12-26T10:34:00.000-05:00

Ryan and Katie playing with an awesome toy that they bought with their gift cards from our friends Karen and Alex. Thank you!!!!!!!!! These kids love Mickey Mouse Clubhouse so it was a no brainer on what they were going to choose.

A little funny

2007-12-19T14:06:00.000-05:00

The kids all had a very enjoyable time at the Magic Kingdom yesterday. We took them all in (since Ryan was awake this time even he got to enjoy it) to Mickey's Philharmagic. It was a little too loud at times for Logan but he was a trouper. When Aladdin was on his magic carpet flying through the air, Logan was saying "AWEEEEEEE" and giggling. He refused to even try on the 3-D glasses so it wasn't as good as it could have been for him. Ryan kept his on for a little while and kept trying to talk to the different characters. Katie would reach for things as they would pop out. They all wanted to ride the carousel so we all jumped on once and then I took Marie, Katie and Logan back on a second time. Logan and Katie both loved sitting on their horses. Logan was smiling and saying "AWEEEEE" again while Katie gripped hers and grinned from ear to ear. At one point she said, "look at me Mommy, I'm riding a pony".

They were able to catch the end of one of the shows that the characters perform at the castle. I used that time to grab the little ones one-by-one to change diapers. They were able to see most of the show and Marie told me about everything I missed. "Mommy, you missed the fireworks while you were in the bathroom!" I believe we may have been able to get a picture of them on the camera but will have to load those few pictures a little later. They all (except Ryan and I) went on Buzz Lightyear. Logan's favorite Toy Story character. He was in total awe of the huge larger than life Buzz that was in the waiting area. When they came back from that ride even Katie was talking non-stop about it.

We left a little early as Ryan was tired and fussy as was Ms. Katie. On the way out of the park Katie was singing the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse song. Only her version was just a little off. It sounded like, "Mickey Mouse Craphouse, come inside it's fun inside. It's the Mickey Mouse Craphouse." She said she wanted to take a picture with "Gooty and Puto". She had us in stitches for most of the ride home. When she wasn't being cranky she was cracking us up. She was able to get a nice nap towards the end of the ride. Logan didn't get a nap at all so he was a very cranky little man later on. He was fine when we got home but around 1:30 this morning he was not being nice Logan anymore. I think he had way too much feedback yesterday with all the neat rides and shows. I'm hoping that he will sleep better tonight so I can too.

Marie didn't want to miss school because she was afraid she was going to miss some exciting Christmas thing. By the time we got to the park she was happy she came. Who would have thought that anyone would rather be in school than go see Mickey and friends???

Is it over yet? or Are we there yet?

2007-12-17T15:09:00.000-05:00

School only has this last week before they get out for the winter holiday. We are going to take the kids to Disney tomorrow so they can see Mickey and Pals in all the Christmas decorations. We can only go through this week and then it's blackout days until after New Year's. Our passes don't expire until the beginning of February so we will have a little more time after the holidays to take them. Sea World is having a nice Polar Express thing going on at their Wild Artic exhibit so we hope to hit there too. I believe those passes expire at the end of the year so we need to get there this coming weekend or next week. The Polar Express exhibit will only be there through Christmas Day so we need to go this weekend or miss out all together. Since they all love the movie (especially Logan and Ryan) we really need to try to get them there.

I have the sound track from Polar Express in our stereo. Whenever I turn it on the kids all come running. Ryan and Katie stand at the gate just staring at the stereo while Logan runs around saying "Po Spess". Marie always joins in the fun too singing at the top of her lungs and manages to get the others to follow suit. It's quite histerical to watch; I may need to tape it one of these times and put it on here. I laugh so hard my sides hurt. That's what kids are for; to make you laugh, cry and just about every other range of emotion.

Katie should (should) be just about out of her terrible twos as she turns three at the end of January. The other day they (Katie and Marie) were in their room watching a movie as it was too early to be up and out of bed. I walked by their room to hear Katie telling Marie to "go stand in the corner RIGHT NOW!" Apparently Marie had done or said something she didn't like. She also loves the word NO right now. She tells me that all the time especially when I'm telling her to go stand in the corner for time out. It reminds me of Marie at her age and I have to tell myself she should be growing out of that nasty stage soon. Ryan should be hitting that when she gets out of it. (at least I hope and pray he waits until she's done before he starts!)

I'm looking forward to Christmas and then it will be over and done with until next year. By the time it gets here I'm so tired of it all that I'm glad it's done and I know I can't be the only parent who feels this way. We still have to take them to get their picture with Santa. That's another stop I need to add to this week's list. Here I thought I was almost done with getting ready. Oh well, at least there are only 7 days 8 hours and 25 minutes left. :)

Outside; DONE!

2007-12-12T08:50:00.000-05:00

Well, Curtis took the day off yesterday and spent it getting all the outside decorations up and looking pretty. (He had already put the lights on the house but he took a break from the yard decorations) I wanted to get a picture of everything last night but the dew pretty well obliterated anyone from seeing the snowmen in their snowglobe. He had everything on when Marie got home from school yesterday and she was so excited!! She had to go check everything out and make comments and say thank you to Daddy for putting them up.

Logan didn't go to school yesterday or therapy either. He was up like normal and dressed and just about the time I was going to put his shoes on he ran in and said "diaper". I grabbed a diaper and the wipes and knew we were in for something when I changed it and found just a "squirt". I bagged it up and had Marie take it to the garbage so I could wash my hands and here he is saying it again. I dried my hands and did it again. This time nasty stuff but I still thought okay, he went and now we can get him ready for Daddy to take him. (Daddy had volunteered to take them for me so I could have a break. What a great Daddy he was trying to be!) I start to wash up from that one and here he is saying it again. It happened one more time like that and I said forget it. I called the school, attendance and the therapist to say he wouldn't be going anywhere. Poor little guy! He wanted to go to school so badly; he came up and put his backpack on and was saying "bus!"

Of course, after I cancel with the therapist and call him out of school for the day, he went one more time and it was normal. I'm glad I kept him home as it would have been bad for Daddy to try to deal with that at the hospital or on the way to school. Here he was trying to help me out and he couldn't. I say it's the thought that counts. It made my day that he wanted to do this for me so I gave him a big hug and said thank you anyways. He was able to devote the rest of the day to getting the decorations done and all the kids loved that so it wasn't a bad day after all.

The poor neighbors woke up this morning to discover that all their belongings in their vehicles (that weren't part of the vehicle) were gone. Some lovely person took everything from them. They had left their vehicles unlocked and that is how they were rewarded for being very trusting people. What a horrible time to have it happen! It's a violation anytime it happens but it just seems so much worse during the holidays. We have always locked our vehicles; habit from where we used to live. It paid off for us this time but a year or so ago it didn't matter that we locked them. Some lovely bored teenagers went through the neighborhood slashing tires. They got both back tires to the van to the cost of $200 give or take. Thankfully the neighbors were missed that time.

What is wrong with people these days? Why do they have to do stuff like this especially at this time of year??!

Inside, done! Outside, not so done.

2007-12-03T13:46:00.000-05:00

The very first thing to get put up was the tree. I almost gave up after that as it took a couple of hours to get it all done. Thankfully Marie and Katie helped me. (Ryan supervised)
Should have put a sheet down on the computer table so you don't get the background. Will remember this for next year (or this year if I can find a plain white sheet that's cheap!)

I love this sleigh set. Can you see where the reindeer's antlers are missing?? It's called check the box BEFORE you leave the store.

Our first Christmas decoration from when we were first married. It has issues but we still love it! (Notice girl at top of the stairs is missing her legs?!?!)

Our stuffed Christmas bear/Santa collection. (most of it)

Kids favorites; Mom's nightmares. (That's why they are the very top shelf where no child can get to them)

Our Disney sets that we have bought the day after (or whenever they go to 50% off) Christmas.

Need more batteries and another electrical strip to get these working. Marie likes the town on the left. (Ice skating)

Our stocking holders; note no stockings?! I had to pull them back off when we figured out Ryan can pull them down now. Will save the stockings for Christmas Eve.

More stocking holders and some singing Santas.

I love this set but I don't want to lose the little pieces so I left everything in the box.

It's not all that we have but it's enough for now. I'm tired just looking at the pictures. I was almost done when Curtis came home from work or so I thought. He did the Disney scenes all by himself and it took him at least an hour to get it all done. I love those; looks so real especially with the lights off. I did try to get pictures of the tree and those items the light up but I can't figure out how to get the flash to not work so it all looks like I took them during the day. One day I will learn the ins and outs of the camera and then we'll probably buy a new one.

Work, work, work and more work!

2007-11-30T10:42:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-27T15:41:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-25T14:07:00.000-05:00

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!

2007-11-21T10:10:00.000-05:00

Pictures from this week

2007-11-18T16:00:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-18T15:48:00.001-05:00

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

2007-11-14T16:59:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-06T12:56:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-01T17:57:00.001-04:00

Ryan before the bottle....

after the bottle AND trick or treating!

Halloween

2007-11-01T17:35:00.001-04:00

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)

Updates

2007-10-29T11:40:00.000-04:00

I've just spent my morning getting everything scheduled for Ryan's next MRI and rescheduling the follow up visit with his neurologist. (Spent most of the time on hold between the insurance and the hospital doing the MRI) He is scheduled for the 6th of December so we have some "down" time for a little bit. Yeah - no doctor's visits; at least not in Orlando anyway. I have to wait a little bit to schedule with the neurosurgen. It's almost lunch time so I have to wait until sometime after 1:00 to call to schedule that. Whew! what a morning! Between the torrential rain we've been having, we had to stand on the front porch WITH the umbrella this morning waiting on the school bus, and all the phone calls I feel like I've run a marathon and it's only 11:42 a.m.!!!!

Ryan and Katie are happily playing together while watching some Barney. I get some kisses in between all of that when they feel like visiting with me. Ryan was watching Sesame Street and at the end they always show Oscar and his pet worm. Today they had several pet worms and they were in sleeping bags going Nighty Night. Ryan said, "Night Night!" At first I thought he wanted to go for a nap but then realized he was just commenting on the end of the show. He's very much aware of things; so much more than Logan was at that age!

Fun Friday

2007-10-27T11:38:00.001-04:00

We had another Friday of no school this week; last week they were off on Friday too. This week we had Marie's friend and her sister come for the day. Most people think I'm nuts when I ask to borrow their child(ren) but the additions keep my kids calm. If there are no other people around Marie gets bored and irritates the others. Yesterday was a good day! The girls played games and hung out in Marie's room. If they got tired of each other's company we would hang out in the living room and watch a movie.

They were able to go outside and play in the driveway and back yard for a while as long as they stayed where I could see them. This helped take the edge off for the others and enabled me to get Ryan and Katie to nap, AT THE SAME TIME! I made popcorn the old fashioned way and it was so good. I melted butter in one pan while I threw the popcorn and oil in our old fashioned popper on another burner. Butter, salt and popcorn; Yum Yum! The girls loved it and even asked if it was "homemade" a/k/a not microwaved. Since we don't use the microwave anymore this is the only way to make popcorn. I have to say, I enjoy this popcorn a whole lot more.

We played operation; what a hoot! I couldn't get anything out without the stupid buzzer going off to save my life. Hard to believe when I was their age I was good at that game. They attempted to play Monopoly but I think it was a little hard for the younger girls (Marie) so they got aggravated and quit. They did enjoy playing Battleship and operation so the games weren't a total loss. It brought back memories of when we would play games during the summer whenever it rained. (the fighting really made me laugh)

Remember when..... Aunt June and Stephanie were visiting and we all were either playing Monopoly or a card game and were fighting just a little too much? Aunt June had enough finally and told us to stop fighting. I believe she used a "soft" cuss word which totally shocked us as we never EVER heard her cuss. Needless to say, we stopped fighting and found something else to occupy our time. Do you remember the other time that Steph was down by herself and Dave shut the screen door and the sliding glass door and Steph opened the screen door and ran smack into the glass door???

Another story of stupidity

2007-10-25T20:43:00.000-04:00

I'm having issues with lights this week. It was a dreary morning with a little bit of rain during the drive to Orlando for Ryan's Genetic Testing consultation. I had turned my lights on in town and it stopped raining so I turned them off. I had to turn them back on as it started to rain a little more as I got closer to Orlando. By the time we got to our destination it had stopped raining but I had forgot that I turned them on. We were about 40 minutes early so I parked and rolled down the windows and turned off the car. We sat like that for about 20 minutes then I decided it was okay to head into the office. I heard the extra warning sound when I opened the door but just thought it was the normal "you've opened your door" ding and kept right on going.

Over two hours later when we came back out to leave, I couldn't get the doors to open with the automatic opener. As I looked in I noticed that the headlight switch was still pulled out. CRAP! I'm about an hour and a half away from home; don't know a single person and can't get into the car. I, of course, panicked and called Curtis to say go get the kids and come get us!!! He was very calm and proceeded to tell me to go to the driver's side and use the key to open the door. DUH! Open the trunk and get the jumper cables out and see if someone will help and give the car a jump. The second person I asked wasn't happy but must have felt sorry for me and agreed to do it.

Thankfully it jumped right off the bat and we were able to head out. I was so afraid that I would stall it (driving the mustang) that I of course was more nervous than normal and really stressed out. The entrance ramp was closed so I had to take a detour through town to get back on the highway. I hadn't eaten since breakfast; was figuring on stopping on the way home but since my stupidity with the lights I wasn't taking any chances. I drove straight home, grabbed everything headed inside and grabbed a quick bite before heading out to Logan's parent/teacher conference. (I drove the van to the conference; didn't feel like dealing with the battery in the mustang)

You got it, the moral of THIS story is: TURN THE LIGHTS OFF STUPID!

Sunday

2007-10-22T08:39:00.001-04:00

I was able to spend a lot of Sunday with my Mom unpacking from her move. When we get together we always have something to laugh at so I will share our story about the bed. Dave and Don did the moving of all of her things. The poor guys were exhausted and left me a few things to do when I got over there Sunday morning. I was hoping that they would leave me some stuff to do. I wasn't able to get over there on Saturday when they did the actual move because Curtis has to work on Saturdays. I'm not being a smarty pants, I'm really glad that they left me some things to do to help out. (They live closer so they help 100% of the time and I only get to help out some. I feel guilty but there isn't much I can do so when I can help out I'm thankful!!)

Now about the bed..... Mom doesn't have very many tools which made putting her extra bed together an adventure. I thought, how hard could it be? It looked really simple so I jumped right in to the task. Mom had to use her broom handle to measure so I could tell where the bed frame had to be in order for the boxspring not to fall right through to the floor. Once we figured that out, it was time to turn the little clamps to tighten the frame. I couldn't twist the little clamp to tighten as much as I wanted and I had visions of a visitor falling through to the floor in the middle of the night. Mom went hunting for some plyers; nope none of those. She suggested scissors but you know how clumsy I am so I had to veto those. As most of you know, Mom used to be a nurse. She happened to have a pair of hemostats left over from her nursing days so we made do with those. I thought I had tightened by hand a lot and would only need the hemostats to do one crank. HA! I believe I was able to turn them around at least three full times. Boy am I glad she had those stupid things. (Dave, when you go to put up her curtains you MIGHT want to bring a pair of plyers and check my work)

Oh - one more funny story and then I will let it be. The a/c wasn't working when I got there. I checked the fuse box (or so I thought) and then checked the controls. Mom had turned it off and on to see if that might be the problem. After I checked the fuse box, I turned the a/c down to 60 to see if that would crank it on. Nothing worked so I told her that I couldnt' work in the heat and we needed to get someone out right away. Ten minutes later, after finding all the info on her apartment complex, I made the call and left the pertinent information. The tech called us back right away and tried to tell us about a reset button. No such button on there; so he started saying he was 2 hours away and would be here in about 2 1/2. I (thank goodness) took the phone back over to the fuse box to ask him about it. Only this time the kitchen light WAS ON. I started to tell him that everything was on and had to say "Uh no actually it isn't." He had me flip them on and of course the a/c started right away. He was very nice and just said that if for some reason it shut off again to call him and he'd come and take a look at it. The moral of the story is: Turn the light on STUPID.

Play time Thursday

2007-10-19T09:57:00.000-04:00

Ryan had his MRI yesterday and we were able to make it home by 1:00 p.m. Once I had relaxed and got enough coffee in me to kill the tension headache, we cuddled a little bit. Surprisingly, Katie wanted the most cuddling. Ryan was wanting to play with the toys but would come over to us for a kiss every so often. Katie must have missed me since Daddy got everyone up and ready in the morning. She is used to Mommy being home all the time so it was a different morning for her. I have to admit, it made me feel good that she missed me because when Daddy gets home they ALL want to be with Daddy and don't even know I exist. (Most times that is fine with me; I need a break too :)

Logan and Marie were home by 4:20 and since Friday is no school there was no fighting to get homework done. Everyone did their normal afternoon routine; screaming for juice and a snack while running around and fighting with each other. I think they truly miss one another during school time but they don't want Mommy to know so they fight when they get to see each other every afternoon.

Once everyone was settled for the evening we played and cuddled in the playroom. Logan wanted me to lay down next to him on the floor while he watched a movie. Katie likes to jump on me whenever I get down on the floor and Ryan was playing "Ring around the Mommy" and coming in for kisses the whole time he was giggling. Marie was right in there with the rest of them. She'd play with Ryan then come in for a cuddle with the others. She got down on the floor at one point and Katie decided she was fair game. She jumped on her and proceeded to sit on her so she couldn't get up.

This was the most fun and relaxing time. I really needed it after the day we had and I think the kids knew that. They are Mommy's little angels; Daddy was able to enjoy the baseball game for a little while at least. :)

Dinner at downtown Disney

2007-10-15T18:11:00.000-04:00

After SeaWorld we hit downtown Disney's Fulton's Crab House for an early dinner. The food was scrumptious and the view was something else. It's a building that looks just like a big ferry boat. The kids had a good time as it was so noisy and packed with other families you couldn't hear our kids at all. It was nice to get out for a nice dinner where everyone could relax and enjoy themselves.

Katie was using a fork and spoon to eat. When she had the french fry almost in her mouth with the fork she'd grab it with her fingers and shove it in. I wish I could have gotten a picture of it. Spoon in one hand, fork in the other while shoving a french fry the size of her fork into her mouth. Logan practiced the gravity test but into his bowl thankfully. Marie and Alex had a blast drawing on the tablecloth and eating burgers and fries. Can't get kids to try something new at all....Ryan was wanting both Mommy and Daddy so we shared him throughout the meal. Daddy was able to eat most of his meal before it was his turn to take over. The bottle of Next Step only last so long and then he wanted to play.

By the end of the meal Logan was getting bored; he'd been so good all day but didn't get to run around much so by the end of the meal he was ready. They brought us our moist towels and he proceeded to throw mine at the lady sitting behind me. She was great (You can tell when they have children of their own) and said "No problem; as long as it's not a fork I'm good!" We headed out shortly after that and thought the little ones would nap all the way home. Katie fell asleep about 10 minutes away from the house but we were able to get her in the bed where she slept the entire night! Yeah!! Ryan had other ideas....... It was a great day, relaxing and lots of fun with friends we don't get to spend enough time with but we plan to fix that soon!

Sea World - take 2

2007-10-15T17:47:00.000-04:00

It was a nice breezy day at the park.

I couldn't get much closer; right after I took this shot several dolphins came right up and splashed the people standing next to me.

My sweet Marie and my little buddy Alex.

Alex and Marie wanted me to get a shot of the turtle but it wouldn't cooperate so this was as good as it got.

Daddy, Katie, Logan, Marie, Alex and Karen deciding where to go next.

Alex, Marie and Karen checking out the pretty birds. Marie and Alex were expert at making the same sound as the bird.

Comments anyone?

2007-10-13T14:51:00.000-04:00

I have fixed the comments section so that anyone who wants to leave a comment can. For some reason I had left it to where only those people who have a blog can comment. Brain dead that day obviously!

Thanks for visiting!

I love you - both boys

2007-10-13T11:13:00.000-04:00

Repetition

2007-10-12T20:31:00.001-04:00

Ryan loves Barney and it's starting to pay off. He is saying "I la You" if we say I love you he will repeat it back to us. He just started doing it this evening right before Daddy got home. He is currently sitting with Daddy watching the baseball game and saying it everytime he hears one of us say it. (Now that I've typed this the little cutie pie just said it out of the blue with no prompting!) I will try to get him on the video tonight or tomorrow so you can see and hear him in action.

A little something cute

2007-10-10T16:59:00.000-04:00

In the movie Madagascar they sing "I like to move it move it". I guess Logan has watched it a little too much because he was just running around the living room singing it over and over again. I put the movie on for Katie so she'd take a nap and it was playing when the older kids got home from school. It's the little things that can make you smile.

The Girls

2007-10-08T19:17:00.000-04:00

Marie playing with the little kids blocks

Mommy's little angel

The Boys

2007-10-08T19:07:00.000-04:00

Not again Mommy!

This is my last smile; stop taking my picture!

I'm having another Calgon moment!

2007-10-08T19:00:00.000-04:00

Usually it's Logan taking the food and dropping the crumbs where ever he can. Tonight, right after I finished vacuuming the playroom, dining room and hallways, Katie decided to try the gravity test out. She took the bowl of crumbs from where she ate Logan's cookies and dumped them in the middle of the playroom. (Logan got bored with his cookies right away so Katie decided to eat them for him.) Ryan is throwing the puzzle pieces all over the room and laughing. These kids aren't happy unless they are making a mess.

Logan is playing with the Learn Through Music (which explains why he got bored with the cookies) and is playing Blues Clues over and over. He should be able to say "It's so amazing when you stop and stare, color colors every where!" I've already fought two of the four into the bath and washed them up including their hair. It's so funny; getting them into the bath tub can be as bad as trying to get a cat to take a bath. Once they have their hair washed and are playing they act the same way about getting out of the tub!

School and colds

2007-10-06T09:48:00.000-04:00

School has been back in for about six weeks and this is the second go round with a cold. Ryan has been fussy lately and had a little cough as has Marie. This morning I woke up to Ryan sneezing yucky stuff all over the place (and all over me). Katie came in for an early visit and started coughing and sneezing as well. These two are not and have never been in day care and so they catch everything that Marie and Logan bring home.

What a way to spend your Saturday morning. Marie and I are running around with tissues trying to get to them before they get it everywhere. Both have been medicated so I'm hoping that will put off the yucky stuff for a little while so I can now clean up and disinfect so Logan doesn't get it. I know, good luck with that right?! Marie is Mommy's little helper and she's great. One of her friend's have a sleep over party tonight and she can't go because she's coming down with this too. I think she got it first and shared it with Katie without meaning to of course.

I have to figure out something fun to make up for her missing her sleep over. Anyone have any suggestions??

Thank you!

2007-10-04T21:16:00.000-04:00

Sale ALERT!!!

2007-10-03T09:04:00.000-04:00

Dillard's is taking an additional 30% off already marked down merchandise today through Saturday. I signed up a while ago to get e-mails from them so I wouldn't miss any of the sales. With four kids, if we want to get them the clothes they won't destory after one wear we have to pay the price, just no where near FULL price. If you have a Dillard's near you, call to see if they are doing the same thing. Sometimes, the Sanford mall has their sales a week off from us but I can't remember if that was for JC Penney or Dillard's. :\

F.Y.I. you can find some really nice shirts for the man in your life at a really good discount which means you can buy twice as much!! :)

Marie's Birthday

2007-09-29T09:55:00.000-04:00

Marie and Ryan with her Little Brats backpack

Hmmm, I wonder what this is?!

Cool, a video game system of my very own!

Look Mom - it's a neat game called School House Rock

Marie and Ryan checking out her neat birthday gifts.

I want one of these Mommy!

You will notice there are no pictures of Katie or Logan. Katie had fallen alseep on the playroom floor watching one of Logan's movies. Logan decided he didn't want any pictures taken of him so he ran back to watch his movie with Katie. Marie was able to enjoy her cake but had to have a small piece as it was very late on a school night!

Another Fun Friday....

2007-09-29T09:19:00.000-04:00

It's all Mee Maw's fault; well, not really as I was the one to take her to K-mart the other day when the little ones and I went to visit. We have been trying to find a bunk bed for the girls room for a long time. We had a toddler bed in there with Marie's big full size bed but that left very little room for the toys etc. I spotted this nice bunk bed when we were with Mom the other day but the kids were fussy so I didn't get to really check it out then. We had Ryan's EEG appointment on Thursday and Daddy was his usual angel self and drove us. He didn't want me to deal with the I4 traffic and trying to keep Ryan awake. After we were done, we headed down to the K-mart near Mom's house.

The bunk beds are made out of nice smelling pine and we thought it would be pretty easy to build. Daddy started it yesterday around 9:00 and finished it around 2:00. It would have taken half that time but there always has to be something that takes twice as long and it was the same with this. Also, "someone" had not looked at the directions like "he/she" should have and after we got to the very last thing we realized that a board needed to be flip flopped. Since there were two of us doing it at this point it didn't take as long as it could have.

I had the brilliant idea to bring the full size bed out and leave it in the playroom while we were putting the bunk beds together. I should have taken the extra time to rearrange the garage (for the 1000th time) and put it in there. Logan proceeded to jump on the bed like it was his personal trampoline and he's still doing it. I thought maybe last night when he got tired he'd lay down on it and fall asleep but no, he just jumped off it onto the couch and settled down to sleep. I have to figure out what to do with the stupid thing until we can get rid of it or go bonkers.

Today I need to get the playroom back together then hit the boys room. You guessed it; that's where I shoved the blankets/sheets and Katie's toddler bed. I can't get near the changing table or either boys dresser so the clean clothes are sitting in baskets ready to be put away. I really need to get that room fixed pretty quickly; if I leave clothes in a basket too long Ryan and Logan both think they are fair game. Logan will throw food and toys into the basket where Ryan just pulls all the nice clean folded clothes out and tosses them around the room. It's my boys way of telling me to put the clothes away and stop being lazy.