I am a Working Momma and.....

have been for the past four months!!! Whew that was something else, stepping out into the working world after being home for the past 6 1/2 years and two extra kiddos!

Sadly, it has gone by very fast and I feel like I've been neglecting my children a little bit. I work nights so all I want to do during my work week is cat nap. On my three days off three of the four girls are in school so I still feel like I'm missing out on what they are doing.

This week was spring break and I still didn't get to see them. Sean took the girls up to MO for the week so they could see family and he could bring home his 'original girl'!

Isn't she beautiful??

I have spent the week DEEP cleaning and I went and got my first tattoo!

Pretty sweet, right?

I cleaned out the playroom and ended up with three bags of trash and a whole car load went to Goodwill!! Yay me!! I was so proud of myself! I used to not be able to get rid of anything!!

Now I've been working on my craft room and that isn't going as quickly as I planned! I already have a Goodwill pile going and I've taken one bag of trash out already! Now I think I will crash for a couple of hours and get at it again before the family gets back this evening! 15 hours and they should be home! I miss them like crazy when they aren't here! But that's kind of why I got the tattoo I did. That way they are ALWAYS with me!

School Days.....School Days....

We just finished the First Week of School! I have been blessed with kids who LOVE to go to school!! Taylor (L) started 3rd grade, Dakoda (M) started Kindergarten and Madison (L) started 5th!

Believe me when I tell you I am still shocked that I am old enough to have a 5th grader!!!

Dakoda has been so excited with school starting that she cried the first couple of days because school was over and she had to come home!

Does/have anyone else's kids do/done that?
Or are we just a 'freaky' family?

Hayleigh (R) is going back to Mother's Day Out on Wednesday's and Friday's and I am completely 'kid-free' for 10 hours a week! I know I probably said that last year, but I ended up babysitting a little girl last school year and her MDO was on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

But this year is different, I am NOT babysitting!

Sean doesn't like this 'kid-free' thing so far, because I've been catching up on my shopping that I haven't done EVER!!

Favorite Photos so far this year!!

A New Month.......

and a New Attitude!!!
Thank you friends who gave me some words of encouragement!!!

I felt much better after my little rant!!
But isn't that why some of us start a blog?
To rant about what we think is bad in our lives at the moment....
or rave about what's so fantabulou s!!

I know that's why I started this!! and it helps me so much!!
I kept many journals when I was younger and I kept writing until I had my second child,
Then after the 4th I started this blog!!
Talk about a life saver!!! And ALL of the wonderful friends I have made!!!

So I've decided to grab this 'bull by the horns' or LIFE as we so often refer to is as.

Thinking back to some or more like most of my posts, I have been so negative and that is not who I want to be or people to think of me as. Since this month we celebrate THANKSGIVING! I want to be more Thankful and Positive!!

Can you believe it is already November 1st???
I still can't!! Where has this year gone? It seems like only yesterday when I posted the GREAT SCRAPBOOKING WEEKEND!!!
Which ended up turning out very well, Sean is not making the 7 hour drive home again, Thankfully! he has a fun weekend planned at home with the girls!! I am actually leaving this weekend for another one and I'm thinking about working on some new crafts for MY ETSY SHOP instead of actually scrapbooking.

So here are some of my positives!!

• We are loving are new church, as I have mentioned before!
• All four of the girls LOVE, LOVE, LOVE school and are so good at it!!!
• My husband has a job!
• We have a place to call home!
• I just recently started a NEW blog for all of my 'Homemaking adventures' if you are interested it is http://www.littlemissoldfashioned.blogspot.com/ I will still be posting the ups and downs of my life here, hopefully more ups than downs though!!
• I'm trying to make more things for my Etsy shop and I really love making cupcakes now, I just wish I could sell those too!! and if there is anything you would like to see made, I'm open to suggestions, I haven't found my niche yet of what I just LOVE to make!!

Thank you my loyal readers and friends!! It's so nice having you around!!! :)

Capital D.....

pressed!!!

That's how I'm feeling!!

All I know is that I have had a really great past 2 weeks or so and TODAY?? not so much!!!
I guess it really started yesterday, but I ignored it because Sean was home and I did absolutely NO chores around the house! and I took a 2 1/2 hour nap, which hasn't happened in a really long time. I've had a sinus/alergy thingy rearing it's head for awhile now and I guess it wiped me out....cause I couldn't believe I had slept THAT. LONG!!!

So I'm sure that's what led into today. All the girls were home today! #1 and #2 didn't have school because it was 'Fair Day'. I don't know how everybody else does it, I'm guessing they have their fair during the summer? I don't know. But Dallas has theirs in the fall and our school district gets a Monday off for the kids to go to the Fair!

They get 'FREE student' tickets, but we are so damn broke right now, that doesn't even help!!

We are making two trips home this month, 1st for Sean's parent's Retirement Party and 2nd is for my cousin's wedding! and ALL 5 of us girls are in it!

You know? I was super excited about both of these trips back in June when we had the money for them! But now? It's kind of put a damper on things. Don't get me wrong, I have money saved up for the trips, but I just keep thinking of all the other things I could be putting that money towards! (new eyeglasses for me and #1, extra groceries, or just keep it in SAVINGS!!!)

My headache just keeps pounding away as I think about all of this!

I'm sorry... I'm glad that Sean has a job and we can afford the things that we have! But that's even in limbo now! He came home today and said his job is question because of some stuff that's been going on! What ticks me off is that he's been doing more than necessary and he's getting his A$$ chewed for other things! GRRR!!!

I finally finished some things for THE NEW etsy shop I'm going to open, but I'm afraid that's not even going to be enough money coming in and I'm struggling with other ideas of what to make.
I wish I was disciplined enough or smart enough to make money off my blog.

I know this is a complete 180 from my last post and I'm thinking ALOT of it has to do with Aunt Flo arriving in a week!
I think I'm in denial that I have some serious hormonal issues! I have not been to the ob/gyn since my 4 week checkup after #4 was born and she's 2 and 1/2!!! Very bad, I know!!
I just keep making excuses not to go!!

I really need to get off here and fix a meal before I head off to Girl Scouts!!

I know it's bad, and I know I keep saying that, and I know...blah, blah, blah.....

This WHOLE day all I have been thinking about, that makes me happy, is watching HOARDERS tonight!!!

Isn't that horrible?

One day a month......I don't like ANYBODY!!! Not even myself!!!
One week a month....I am the UGLIEST BITCH!! my family has EVER encountered!!! I'm still surprised my husband is married to me!
3 weeks a month......I LOVE EVERYONE!!! I LOVE MY HUSBAND, CHILDREN AND THEY LOVE ME BACK!!! I WANT TO DO THINGS FOR PEOPLE AND I DON'T CARE IF THEY APPRECIATE IT OR EVEN ACKNOWLEDGE IT!!

that doesn't look too bad!
only 1 more week and everything will be good again!
I just hope we all make it!!

Things HAVE Changed!!!

I am no longer such a 'home body'.

I have LOVED being a homebody and did not envy the other mother's who were racing their children everywhere!

Our evening outings last school year consisted of: one night-Girl Scouts (#1 and #2 where in the same troop) and 3 nights later, gymnastics (#1, #2 and #3 had class at the same time!)

Pure AWESOMENESS!!!!
Some may think I was very, very LAZY for doing this! and maybe I was, but my reasoning was, the least amount of time I spent driving in the ol' van, the less money I spent on gas and eating out, because I was always able to make our meals.
AND....... I had a one year old who is hard to drag around everywhere and I just didn't want to be a distraction to anyone.

Now, let's comeback to what's going on this year!!
I. HAVE. COME. OUT. OF. HIDING!!!!

Our week at a Glance!!

Sunday: Church

Monday: #1 and #2 have Girl Scouts
(which I have to be at now because I am filling in as co-leader and I am now in charge of the Juniors, plus this will be my 3rd year as this troops Cookie Mom!)

Tuesday: I have Girl Scouts
(Yes! You read that correctly! I helped out with a GS Recruitment Day and realized I wanted to help out more! That's how I agreed to be more involved in my older two's troop AND signed on to be a leader of a new DAISY troop that was forming!)
So while I lead my Daisy Troop, my 4 daughters will be at AWANA!!
That couldn't have worked out any better if I had planned it!

Wednesday: NOTHING
( Our free night!)

Thursday: Gymnastics
(Only #1 and #2 because #3 decided she wanted to take dance)

Friday: NOTHING again!!


As far as #3's dance class goes?
The Mother's Day Out Program that she goes to offers a class during her pre-k program on Friday's.

I feel bad that I don't get to see her in class but they will be having a recital in January.

I am just very excited about this!!!
Sean thinks I'm crazy, but what else is new?
I don't feel so worthless anymore!

Rainy Saturday

This morning I woke up to a blink of lightening and rumble of thunder! I snuggled under the covers and I thought I was going to be in for a little 'stormy treat'!
But of course that wouldn't just happen here! It was already 7:30 and all the munchkins started waking up!
I ended up just sitting up in bed and watching the rest of 'Medium' that I had to turn off so that Sean and I could watch 'Supernatural' together.
I'm such a Scify junky! ha!
Sean was so nice this morning. He brought me a big cup of coffee!! and entertained the kids while I watched tv!!
I LOVE lazy Saturday mornings when we have nothing that HAS to be done and we don't have to worry about S getting called to work!

Around 10:30 I was tired of doing NOTHING so I decided to tackle the PLAYROOM!!!
After I got started, I wasn't sure if that was such.......

*hold on, I have to help Sean look for the remote!

Well, I'm back, and after 20 minutes of searching......no Luck!!! 1 culprit is asleep and the other 2 swear they have 'no idea' where it is! (I didn't forget anyone, she's at a sleepover!)

okay, let me reread so I can figure out where I was!

Oh Yeah! Starting the Playroom!
Yikes! Back in July, my mom was here for a visit and she helped me switch the playroom with my craftroom. That switch really didn't go as planned.
My craftroom is in tip top shape, but everything just 'got thrown' into the playroom!
The only playing that's been done in there for the past couple of months has been the girls playing games on the computer!! I'm afraid somebody will get hurt or even worse GET LOST!!!
IT. WAS. BAD!!!! I didn't even take a BEFORE picture of it because it was soooo BAD!!! I DID NOT want that picture haunting me!!

A quick run down of how that went!

I sorted, threw away, put away, picked up, shooed kids out, ate a snack, checked Facebook a couple of times, sorted, threw away, put away, filled GOODWILL boxes, ate a late lunch, picked up, shooed away, picked up again, vacuumed, put boxes in my van, put more toys away. VACUUMED again!!

Around 6:30 I WAS DONE!!!!!
I now have 7 boxes to take to Goodwill tomorrow because I was too lazy to take them tonight!
Plus, I hadn't showered yet and I knew once I did, I was going to be done for!! No driving across town for this chica!!

I didn't even eat dinner, I felt so cruddy and tired!

However, S and the girls ate and then he told everyone to get in the truck because we were going to Dairy Queen for BLIZZARDS!!!
You bet your buns I was ALL OVER THAT!!!!

We got the girls the Minis and we got smalls because we are cool like that!!
Or maybe I was hungry because I didn't eat dinner? Hummm..... Nope! We're Cool!!

I've only been in the Playroom ten thousand times this evening to look at it!!!
Too bad that won't last any longer! The girls don't have school on Monday!!!
So that should be fun!
It will!

Off to bed....
and it just so happens I have to walk past the playroom again to see my accomplishment for the month!!





I have a really cute couple of aprons I was busy on last week! Hopefully sometime in the near future I can get those pics up!! I'm really trying to stay on track here!!

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.

Titles are so hard for me!

When I have 'free' time, I don't use it like I should. When I have things planned or going on, that's when I think of ALL the things I could be doing!
Last week, for instance, I babysat that cute little princess in my last post! And I was able to get absolutely nothing accomplished! I didn't even get any of my cleaning done that is on my daily cleaning calendar!! I completely forgot how hard it is for me to get anything done with a child in this house who is younger than oh, I don't know? Entertaining themselves age!! ha!
My house is by no means spotless! I am a MESSY!! There, I've said it!! I have tried so hard my whole life to keep things clean and clear of clutter but I NEVER succeed! I have to tell you my friends that I am getting closer! I am going through all of the girls clothes, toys and what nots and I am putting them in a garage sale!! There are things in the garage that have been boxed up for almost two years this month and I am going through them and getting rid of things!! I have held on to too much for sentimental reasons and that is just stupid. I see that now. I have been coming across things and wondering why in the heck I still have it!?!?!

My goal this week is to continue adding to my garage sale pile! but of course I have an excuse! For the past couple of days I have been working on a poodle skirt for my friend. They are having a Sock Hop at the girls school next Friday and she was needing one! Of course I told her I would do it! I LOVE doing all those crafty, sewing projects!! The only down side is that I have put the little girls' skirts on the back burner! Then sweet Mad told her teacher that I was making a poodle skirt for my friend so her teacher wants one also! Hopefully that one goes quicker. I tend to take forever the first time and then get the others done ALOT quicker! No matter what the project is!

Okay, so that is one excuse! What's next? It just so happens to be 'Teacher Appreciation' week and I have nothing done for that! Go Me! I was wanting to send something each day, but I'm afraid it will have to ONE BIG ORDEAL on Friday!!

and the third is actually a little exciting!! We paid our van off the beginning of March with the intention of 'bulking' up our savings. Well, we all know where good intentions take us!!! Don't we?
Tay ended up breaking her arm and the lovely Dr. we took her to for the cast doesn't work well with Personal care accounts. So we ended up paying $600 out of pocket that should have come out of that! Yippey!! And we will NOT be recieving that money until the middle of this month because they like to wait until ALL of the insurance claims have been filed and then just cut one big refund check! Why do things have to get so complicated? Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy that we even have this insurance, it's just such a pain in the butt to wait to get OUR money back! So, as you can guess, NO money has gone into savings!
Back to what will be going on tomorrow evening......Sean found a truck he liked yesterday that will hold all 6 of us and he really wants to buy it. There was some things they needed to fix on it tomorrow so as soon as they are done we are hoping to go pick it up.

I apologize for this kind of straying. I just lost my train of thought. I sat down on the couch to type this up right quick while the littles were on the other computer and sure enough they high-tailed it in here to 'yap' in my ear!! Dak has been constantly talking to me during this whole post so honestly I can't even remember what I just typed!!!
I guess I just need to go to bed and start everything tomorrow!!!

I did it again.....

or should I say DID NOT get anything done? The skirts are laying unfinished on my kitchen table, I haven't gone through the girls toys yet to have ready for a garage sale and I haven't switched the playroom and my craft room.

But I tell you! I do have a really good excuse for not getting anything done!!

Isn't she precious? Well worth putting off today what I can easily do tomorrow.... or next month!

A friend of mine from M&T's school needed help finding a babysitter for her grandaughter and guess who came to her mind? Ol' reliable of course! :)

I was only supposed to keep her for three days but since she had such a grand time with us, I will have her for atleast five more days!! (I apologize for any misspellings or weird wording. I am typing one handed because 'little precious' here will ONLY nap while I am holding her!!)

I better get back to reading blogs and trying to crochet with a baby on my arm!!

I've got High Hopes!!!!

I have started yet ANOTHER couple of projects!! I thought these would be quick but they are turning out to be so much more than I bargained for!!
But maybe this is a good thing. I can't get my pictures to upload to my computer anyway!!
I know I keep promising I'll post more, but I really promise this time!! :)
Promise!
Oh who am I kidding??
I am such a scatter brain!!

and then I cried.....

Sunday night I put the two LG's (little girls) in the tub and told Hubs to watch them. I was heading out the door to grab a Sunday paper from Kroger for my coupons!! I figured I'd be gon 10 minutes the longest!! and what do you know? It maybe took 8!

I enjoyed my little trip up to the grocery store, radio blastin', windows down, singing out loud!! Ran into the store right quick, grabbed my paper, flew through the self-checkout and back to the car! Repeat first sentence of this paragraph, only heading home this time! ;)

Getting ready to walk in the door to the house feeling very pleased with myself for my trip not taking long at all! Record breaker trip!! (We all know that gets us in trouble!! Feeling so good like that!)
I step into the living room and Sean is still sitting in his chair watching tv.
Me: Are the girls alright?
Him: Sure.
Me: Okay!
take paper and purse to kitchen
Madison: They did it again mom!!!
Me: what?
Madison: Poured a whole bottle of shampoo in the tub!
Me: which one?
Madison: The kind you used on Taylor's hair last night!
Me: WHAT!!!!!

okay now here is the little back story:
Saturday night I combed a HUGE RATS NEST outta Taylor's hair!!! It took 45 minutes to get that bad boy out!!! so then I washed her hair with some moisturizing shampoo.
Sunday morning I used THE SAME shampoo to wash my hair!! OMGosh!!! That stuff was AWESOME!!! Usually when I blow dry my hair it is crazy frizzy!!! hence the 'straightner' comes in!! I hardly had to use the 'straightner' after I used that shampoo!!! I had THE BEST hair day I think EVER!!!!! I was only going to use that shampoo from here on out!!

Now, lets proceed to Sunday evening!!

Me: WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! MY SHAMPOO IS GONE!!!!!!!!!!
as the tub overflows with milliongazillion bubbles!!!

Okay, so I know it is silly to be so upset about this! but It was PANTENE and that stuff ain't cheap. Granted, I wasn't crying because all that money was washed down the drain (because I used a coupon on it and got it for a dollar or so!) It was the fact that all that creamy goodness that made my hair so beautiful was gone and I was NOT going to pay full price for it!!!

After the girls were in bed Hubs has the nerve to ask, "What happened in the bathroom?"
Me: They emptied my new shampoo into the tub!!
Him: Oh.
Me: grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Today I'm not crying though!! I heard that Walgreen's has there Pantene products clearanced and I still have a couple of really good coupons that I found!! Guess what Mama is gonna do?
Well, go and buy 6 more bottles of the good stuff of course!!!

one month and one day....

since my last post and I know there has been things to blog about.
I just don't sit down to do it!

1. We built a new kitchen table but I didn't want to blog about it yet because we haven't finished the benches yet!
2. We made a week long trip to see fam in MO and ended up staying an extra day because of the Freak snowstorm! (which by the way my kids were excused from school for!! I heard that another family called in because they were still in Mexico and the Principal wouldn't excuse it because 'it didn't snow there.'!!!!
3. My third daughter turned 4 and we had a heck of a time at Chuck E. Cheese's!!
4. I dropped two pants sizes but I've gained 4 lbs!!!! (somebody please let me know what's wrong with that!!!!)

Hopefully I will have better things later and not just 'catch-ups'!!

Starting to Settle In....

With Sean's job we have moved around ALOT!!! We have lived in 7 homes in the past almost 10 years that we have been married. I realize that to some this is not bad at all but I only lived in to 2 homes during the 18 years I lived with my parents. And the house we moved into when I was 7 was no strangers. We simply 'traded' houses with my Grandparents so we could see my dad more often!!



Now, the longest Sean and I have lived somewhere was when we were living in MO. We were in that house for 4 years. It was nothing fancy and to say the least, my Mother was quite appalled when I told her which house it was before we signed the contract for it! We made it our home and brought two babies into that house! We also had a Garden!



I just realized that this is only our second garden since we've been married. The other of course in MO. I think it is because I feel like we are a little 'settled in' when we start to hit the 2 year mark in a home. Which is where we are now!



This is our Garden we built as a Family on a whim Saturday. We are no means professionals and I'm sure there are better, cheaper and faster ways to go about this, but we had a great time!!

Contrary to what some of the pictures may be telling you!!

Do you like my garden? Probably not yet! This is what it looked like around 11am Saturday morning!! It does get better! I promise!

My 'Twins' helping Daddy measure the boards before cutting!

This is serious stuff here guys!! Can't you tell by the look on Mr.'s face?







I promise I trust him, but I was cringing EVERYTIME he cut a board!

Time to Screw!!!

The boards together of course!! What did you think I meant?? and have a snack and be right up in daddy's business and be little girls!! What else could you ask for?

Oh, I don't know. Maybe some extra 'help'!! H was doing something VERY important!!

D with 'her seeds'!! This little lady about drove us nuts with the seeds!!!





Breakin' down the cardboard!!

Sean's attempt to throw the hose over the fence and onto the ground!!

No dull moments here!!

Cardboard is down and we are ready for the dirt!!

D is a tad unhappy because we can't plant the seeds yet.

Finally some dirt!!

Now what??

Seeds maybe??

Nope!! Not yet!

We still need to make it look like a square foot garden!

And NOW we are ready for the...................

SEEDS!!!!!!

The three older girls each got to plant two different kinds of seeds. We will plant more in April.

Dakoda posing with 'her' garden!!!

What do you think about our Plant markers??

I guess saving ALL of the dial-up cds we used to get really did pay off!!

Hopefully I will have some pictures later on with a little green in them!! If not, at least we ALL enjoyed the expierence!!

Plates, Cups, Candleholders and a Surprise Find!!

Almost two weeks ago my Mom and SIL came down from Missouri for a lil' visit! On that Friday we wanted to drive out to the Cowboys Stadium so my nephews could see it! We couldn't go to early because we didn't want to be sitting in rush hour traffic so we decided to run over to the Goodwill first.

I usually don't get to look at the 'breakables' too closely because there are two little girls who are always tagging along with me and they like to touch everything also.

But this time I did and look what we found!!!

Actually, my Mom found it!!

It's a Longaberger Woven Traditions 1-Pint Crock!! (Paprika)

Do you know how much this retails for? Well, I didn't at first so my mom called her friend up.

$15.00!!!

How much did I pay for it? Are you ready for it? 99 cents!!!!!

Not a single thing wrong with it!! It is Bee-U-tee-full!!!

Onto my other purchases!!

I think I paid about 79 cents a piece for these little beauties!!

And between 59 cents and 99 cents for these cups and candleholders.

Now you are probably saying, "Wow! That's cheap! But what do you plan on doing with those mismatched items?"

Well, I have a plan!!! and they are almost finished, I just have to find the right place to put them and then I will post the pictures!!

Hopefully before the end of the month!!!