What A Glorious Sunday!

I thought I would right something really quick before I get ready for Church.
YES! I said church! I am so EXCITED to be going! We have not been going regularly for the past 6 months! Now that I've actually counted that out I am not happy with myself. No wonder I've been in such a slump!
I kind of had a falling out with the last Church we had been going to for almost 2 years. I just wasn't feeling fulfilled anymore. It just felt like there was too much drama going on! And we all know how well I deal with Drama!! I'm just not good at it!

We tried another church 2 times and I thought I would enjoy it but we just didn't have the drive to go back!

A little background to my religion:
I was born/baptized/raised/confirmed LCMS Lutheran. I never questioned anything! I still don't question it.
However, were I am living, there are LCMS Lutheran churches, but you have to drive into the next town over or 2 towns up and I am so spoiled with going to a church that's pretty close to us.

I never really felt a part of the church we were going to this last time because EVERYBODY was from that town EXCEPT US!! We couldn't have 'Gatherings' at our house because, 'Nobody wanted to drive that far'! True quote!

So what have we done?
We are going to a church that is pretty much literally in our backyard! You stand in our driveway and look East and there you have it!!
I HAVE NOT told my mother this. I'm afraid she would be very upset and I want to make sure we like it and will be attending regularly before I tell her.

I know this is the same as if I was lying to her, but I just don't have the drive to tell her yet!

And the kids love it! They are going to the AWANA program and just LOVE it!! #1 and #2 were super bummed that they have to miss 2 weeks a month because it falls on the same night a Girl Scouts. Yesterday I received a text from their GS Leader and she asked if another night would work better for us!!! OF COURSE IT WOULD!! So now the girls can go every week! I have to wonder, would God really open that door for us, if this is not were we are supposed to be?

And Sean enjoys it too. He says he doesn't mind were we go since he wasn't raised to go to any particular church. A plus that it is so close is that if he gets a 'trouble call' for work he can just walk home instead of us ALL having to leave!

Now that I've shared this I need to hurry and get ready or we will still be late!!

A Tad Better

I was only able to get a couple of things done yesterday.
Rediculous, I know!

To argue my case, I will say that I was up at 5:25 waiting for 'the girl' to get here(I guess I need to do a whole post on that story!)
She did NOT arrive until 6:01!!! A phone call or text would have been nice!!
I didn't stay ticked for long. I ended up picking up toys and such off the floor and finished up the kitchen. (since I had felt watching 'Vampire Diaries' was more important then cleaning up the kitchen!)
I took 3 & 4 to school around 9:15 and came straight home to load Bella (my black mini van, I know, I know, so original!) That took a lot less time than I figured! I thought it would be 10:30 before I was ready! I got it done at 10:00!!
But get this.......I came in the house and sat down on the couch for 30 MINUTES!!!! Why? Because I was having SERIOUS ISSUES with taking my stuff to GOODWILL!!!!
I am having serious heart palpatations just typing this!!!!
I know some of you are probably wondering what's the big deal? Is it because I'm not making money on it? Honestly, that has nothing to do with it!!
It is way worse!
I GET SERIOUSLY ATTACHED TO MY THINGS!!!
I sent off clothes that my oldest, WHO IS NINE!!!!, wore when she was a baby!!! and my SEVEN year old wore some of those exact same things!!! and then my FOUR year old wore them 3 years ago!!! and my TWO year old wore them last year!!!

If Sean wasn't the man that he is....we could have a serious HOARDING problem on our hands!!!
I use to brush it off as being a clutter bug, which I'm pretty certain that's as far as it was allowed to go, but the next step after that COULD. HAVE. BEEN. BAD. PEOPLE!!!!

HOARDERS on A&E has gotten me FREAKED. THE. EFF. OUT!!!
I watched the one last Monday night and I made a beeline to the kitchen to get my dishes done!!!
The lady had been Shitting in Wal-Mart bags and throwing them on the stairs for 10 years!!!
That DEFINATELY. WOULD. NOT. HAPPEN. here, but I just had to throw that out here!! It was BAAAAAAAAAADDD!!!!

Okay so if you are still with me I guess I better get back to me sittin' on my butt!!!
At 10:30 I decided I should probably take ol' Bella's load to GOODWILL before I unloaded it all back in the garage!
I blasted the radio during my 15 minute drive. Pulled right into the drop off and a lady came out to get my stuff! *tear*
It took TWO!! YES TWO!! of their big yellow cart things to haul my stuff in!! I was handing that poor lady the second to last box and she looked me square in the eye and asked me, "Is that it?" I said almost ma'am! Here's one more box! :)

I started on my drive back home with an empty van and a clear head! I called Sean and told him that I didn't even cry!! He was so proud of me!!

Then I cam home and got absolutely nothing else done!!

I never made it down to the shop to drop off the custom bow.
I didn't get my floors swept or vacuumed.
I didn't get anything cleaned or dusted!
Instead I started working on a cute little craft skirt I made out of Jean legs, back pockets and a little fabric! I worked on that bad boy the whole rest of the afternoon!
And then I started another one! I'm hoping to get that one done tomorrow!
I would have finished it today but we had to go to that CrAzY A$$ PlAcE everyone calls Chuck E. Cheese for a Birthday party! Then I had to take Thing 2 to a slumber party this evening.
Tomorrow afternoon we have to go back to that place for another party!!

Off to bed I guess!
But first I need to pry the Lakeshore Learning Catalog and pen from my 4 year olds hands because she's circling EVERYTHING she wants for her Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Valentine's Day, Her Birthday, Easter and everything in between!!

Surprise!!! or not......

A Month and A Day since my last post!!
Maybe I should just make it a habit to post Monthly and I will feel more accomplished!! At least I shouldn't have any trouble meeting that goal!!

I know that I said there would be all of this Fabulous stuff I would get done in the 10 hours a week that I have absolutely no children!! But who was I kidding? Myself apparently! ha!

I've (1st Wednesday free) bought groceries(1st Friday) hung out with an old friend watching a couple episodes of Buffy reruns and then meeting my husband for lunch!
(2nd Wed) I got my hair 'done'! (2nd Friday) Went to this AWESOME place called the 'SalePlace' that sells tons of Ribbon, Tulle, cake decorating, floral, if you want to craft it? that is the place to go my friends!! and an AWESOME little Thrift Store that is right next door!! Super Cheap finds!! and then I cam home and mopped my floors! I didn't realize how quick that goes when there is nobody else here!!
(3rd Wed) cannot for the life of me remember!! NOT GOOD!! that means I probably didn't get anything accomplished!! YIKES!!! (3rd Fri) I ended up babysitting for a Teacher friend at the girls' school. She's Hayleigh's age and that girl talks up a storm!! Super cute! I was able to deliver a custom bow holder to the hair salon that is letting me sell bows there and then ran to Hobby Lobby to buy more ribbon for a custom bow order!
(4th Wed, yesterday) I ran the custom order to the shop and ended up staying for 45 minutes because my 'AWESOME HAIR-LADY' wanted to try a new 'no-frizz' treatment on my hair! Very cool! Then I made a trip to GOODWILL and ended up finding 4 outfits for $24!! I was in Heaven!! It was so AWESOME to actually get to look at stuff and not try to hold to kids down in the cart at the same time! It almost makes me tear up thinking of all the good stuff I didn't see because I didn't want my kids to fall out of the cart!!

TOMORROW-- Oh Tomorrow! How I have BIG plans for you!!! I just wish they would work out!
So here's my game plan!!
5:30am-stumble to the door, start to open it and realize the alarm is on!! Make a mad-dash across the house to turn it off! Go back to door and let in little girl that I keep before school!
(wednesdays & fridays i have to open my door at 4:30! YIKES!!!)
5:40am-go back to bed
6:30am-Wake Up! Make coffee and hook up my IV drip!! ;)
6:45am-Fix everyone breakfast (I'm thinking toast and the yogurt I made today!)
7:00am-Pack 4 lunches and other various things I forgot to do tonight!
7:30- ship 3 kids out the door to school
7:45- take a shower
8:15- pick up and put away everything that's on the floor so I can stick-vac and mop sometime before 2pm
8:30- make sure Thing 3 & 4 are dressed and ready to go
9am - put everything in 3 & 4's backpacks and head out the door!
9:15 - drop them off at school!
9:30 - head to hair salon and drop off custom bow
9:45 - load up EVERYTHING out of my garage that I was going to sell in a Garage Sale, but now I'm thinking it's not even worth it, so I'm going to take it ALL to Goodwill!!!!
10:30 - Either go back home and clean the house really, really good since we will be at Chuck E. Cheese's both Saturday AND Sunday for 2 different B-day parties!!!! UGH NO DOUBLE UGH!!
or hit up that Thrift store!!
The jury is still out on that one!! :)

Okay so that all looks pretty easy right? I mean, I should still have atleast 2 hours to myself before I have to pick up 3 & 4 by 2:15pm!

If only my life really went that way!!!
I guess check back in a month and I'll let you know if my day went as planned or not!!

We are STILL ALIVE!!!!

There is so much that has gone on in the last two months!!!
and I can't believe none of it has showed up on here! I start talking to myself about what we have been doing this summer and then I look at my blog and it's not on here!!!

Let me tell you I have BIG PLANS for getting that straightened out!!
School starts in 1 week and I have never been so excited to ship my kids back to school before!!
Do you know why I am so excited??? It's probably mean of me......just a little..... but my younger two are going to 'school' also for 2 days a week!!!! Sean let me enroll them in the Mother's Day Out Program and I am going to have about 9 1/2 hours a week, all to myself!!!
Grocery shopping by myself!!! What's that??? This is going to be a whole new deal to me!!! The last time I was able to go grocery shopping by myself and not have to rush to get back was 9 years and 2 months ago!!! Scary stuff, huh??

I'm hoping to finish getting the house organized (aka decluttered), set up for a humongo garage sale, make hair bows and other crafts to sell, work my scrapbooking business, set up a meal plan so I can 'freezer' cook for the month, BLOG!!!!, and probably a few more things....... Now that I'm looking at this list, I'm getting super scared and I'm probably going to end up sitting in a corner sucking my thumb and rocking my self for the first 2 months that I don't have ALL of my children with me!!!!!

Wondering where I go wrong?!

I'm thinking that I posted the last Post too soon!! When will I learn that I need to finish something out before I start patting myself on the back?

I took the girls to the Library around 10 this morning so they could return/pickout more. Our Library has a reading program every summer to earn 'bucks' for prizes! Thank goodness my girls like to read or I'd be wondering what their intentions of wanting to go to the library 3 times a week were!!

H threw a nice little fit in the Library!! She's been nice and quiet and sweet before! But NOT today! She got mad because I walked past the book baskets and didn't let her get one......she got mad because she couldn't carry the HUGE basket with her books in it!.....even more mad when I tried to help her carry it!!! (I might carry it off or something?!) I wanted to grab a book to read but while I was looking she was screaming because we couldn't see sisters and 'I WANT SISSIES'....shhh, we will go back to them, please for the love of pete just let me pick out a book I will actually read!!!.....we walk back over to sisters and H starts screaming: my seat! my seat! M moves over without even being asked, H crawls up in the chair and proceeds to throw puzzle pieces all over the floor.
All I can think at that point is WHO IN THE HELL IS THIS KID?? WHERE DID SHE COME FROM AND HOW DO I RETURN HER???????
I'm telling you, she really does NOT act this way all the time. At least I don't think she does? Maybe I forgot my 'rose-colored glasses' at home and have seen how my 2 year old really acts?

We left!!!! With our books of course! I just could not make anyone else upset by leaving without them! Besides what were the kids going to do later when we got home while I was rocking in the corner and sucking my thumb? God knows I cannot leave them to their own devices or I will be in much worse shape then I began!!!

After we piled into the van ( I really want to name her, any suggestions?) we headed up to the school for free lunch! I planned on letting the girls play on the playground after we ate, but you know what happens when I plan something fun!!
H was up and down, up and down, off the seat. Then after she finally ate, we went to throw the trash away, but she ends up dropping the tray and uneaten corn kernels bounce like beads all over the floor! NICE!!! la sigh ..... So I had to wait for 'the cleanup lady' to come over with her broom, I said I was sorry and off to get D's tray. I made the mistake of not taking her up with me.... so as I'm dumping her tray, I hear fast footsteps! and it's D and H chasing each other around the cafeteria!!! Then I hear DON'T RUN!!!! YOU WILL FALL DOWN!!! YOU KNOW YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO RUN IN HERE!!!! NICE!!! again!

I tell all the girls we are not staying to play. Which really bummed them out because they were eating with one of their friends and we had to leave. She was sad, I'm sure her mother was pissed. How do I know that? Because I just got a snarky little text from her that I could have mistaken as being sent by a teenager if it wouldn't have had her name on it!

I've realized today, I think I have made an uber-huge mistake but there is NO way to fix it!!
I HAD TOO MANY CHILDREN....and that makes me sad that I am not doing a very good job with them. I feel like I am over-extending myself and I am not tending to their needs very well.
I mean the easy stuff is taken care of, food, shelter, clothes. But I feel like I am not providing the other things, discipline, manners, fun times......
and it is very hard for me to be friends with moms who only have 1 or 2 'perfect' little angels. Huffing at me, rolling their eyes.... Wondering if I missed out on the Birth Control class?!

H is napping now. She ALWAYS wakes up happier after a nap. That will happen today too, right?
And tomorrow we have plans to go back to the lake! The sandy beach, some cloudy water and the sun....that will make it all better too!!! Ya, all better!! (my thumbs calling me)

First Week of Summer Vacay!

This morning starts the end of our first week of ALL four of the girls being under the same roof once again! And honestly, we've had a pretty fun week! The first couple of days, D and H were having a hard time having 'sisters' home all day. (We are having to re-learn sharing toys and mommy!) By Wednesday, things had started to smooth out a bit!

I told myself that I was going to try and 'keep house' a little better this year so if somebody calls and asks if we want to do something that day, I won't be making excuses to stay home because the house is a mess! (I feel so bad leaving the house a mess!) So, Monday morning after we had all ate breakfast, I had the girls start their chores. M is in charge of dog clean up, picking up hers and T's shared bedroom and taking out the recycables. T is in charge of unloading the DW, bringing dirty clothes down from their bedroom and sweeping off the back patio. We are ALL in agreement that we cannot do any 'fun' things for the day unless chores are done!!
They didn't believe me at first, so it was 2pm Monday before we made it to the Library!! Tuesday, they decided to have everything done before lunchtime!!!

I am helping a friend out by keeping her daughter every Wednesday through Friday this Summer. It works out quite nicely actually. I know I've posted before what a hard time I have getting along with T. With this little girl here, there has been ALOT less back-talking going on!

I don't know if anyone else has expierenced this, but usually when my girls have friends over for long periods of time, the bickering begins!! This time has been different for us! The little girl has also spent the night Tuesday through Thursday nights and no fighting has occured!!! Yippee!! I can only hope it goes the same way next week!! And every week after!!

Our school district offers free lunches during the summer for children ages 1-18. We took advantage of this GREAT program last year a couple times a week. We would have went daily, but I didn't want to drive the 2 miles because we were 'really' low on funds last year! This year our school is offering the program. It started on Wednesday and we've been walking up to the school instead of driving. So, not only are the kids getting free lunches but we are getting 1 mile of exercise in daily!!

I better go and do 'my chores' right quick before the rest of the crew wakes up! I'd like to say everyone is sleeping in but that is so not true! Wake-ups around here are ranging from 7:30-8:30!! Considering that on school days, wake-up time was 6:30, I guess this is better than that!!

such a change.....

I've had all of these wonderful things floating around in my head for days. I've been wanting to post such pleasant things. I even had something float through my head a little earlier today.
Now I just feel like a big ol' bag of messed up craziness and all those pretty things are gone.
Hopefully my happy self will be back tomorrow cause this really sucks!!
I think I'm just finally fed up with feeling like everyone wants me to be around as long as their things are getting accomplished but once it's done so are they. GRRR.