TGIS?

I'm not sure I can actually thank God it's Saturday today. Today's been a rough day, with mouthy, naughty children, a dog that for some reason thinks she's a house dog today (not in this lifetime is she going to be in my house!) and a lack of ambition that resulted in very low productivity. I just don't know what happened, but my plans all fell apart today. I was hoping to finish my tonage of laundry, decorate the Christmas tree and work on the Christmas pageant costumes that I only have 2 weeks to finish and they are not even close to being done. I did get the laundry done and that was it. I was so discouraged and worn out from squabbling children and a cluttered house that I didn't get anything else done. I sat down this afternoon and read a book. Really, I did.

IC's got a really bad streak of backtalk going and Miss A has a really bad defiant streak going and when that doesn't work, she melts down and has hissy fits-loud. crying. going limp. fits. E-bunny, is well, just E-bunny. Into everything and I repeat, EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME. I'm tired just chasing her. And it doesn't help, I've had a cold for awhile and am catching Miss A and E wiping theirs on the couch daily. Sigh.

I'm terribly tempted to NOT decorate for Christmas this year. The trees already up (thanks, mom, for letting us borrow the prelit tree this year) and that may be it. I'll let the kids put their ornaments up on the tree, if they ever are good again. So, we may not even do that this year, if they keep it up.

I have 2 short weeks to get these costumes done and I just am not getting any desire to do it. This, by the way, is not like me at all. I'm usually getting things done WAY ahead of schedule, which tends to annoy my hubby a little (he's a procrastinator). It's been different since E bunny was born, though.

I've actually accomplished very little the past 3 days, which makes today's fiasco even worse. Thanksgiving day we were at my mom's part of the day for dinner. Yesterday, we were at my MIL's for dinner part of the day. Yesterday, was the first day my hubby had complained in a long time about my MIL's food - or- actually, lack of it. For some reason, she was a little short on food (unusual for a holiday in general) and she didn't have a definate meat dish. It was a casserole (which, basically, none of my family liked). I don't know what happened there. Of course, the wacky SIL showed up unexpectantly-I don't think this made my MIL very happy. Unusual for her to actually indicate to me this feeling-she's normally one of those-don't let on how you really feel-people.

Glad to hear my 6 yo friend, B is doing great and looks to be getting out of the hospital soon-Way to go, bud!

Now, if I could just accomplish SOMETHING today (laundry doesn't count, by the way)!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! We are headed to my mom's this am for dinner and I believe my parent's in law will also be there. E-bunny started with her 2nd cold this month a couple of days ago-she's back to coughing at night. Poor girl. She's also managed to give it to Miss A, and I think IC and I have a mild version of it. Fun-as I am finding snot everywhere!

Baby, it's COLD out!

My mud room mess for the next 6 months-coveralls, coats and boats, oh my!

E-bunny in her favorite place-situated beside the dog dish so she can steal the dog food! No, I'm not kidding-she still likes to eat dog food. With the other 2, one taste and they were done-not E, it's becoming a diet staple!

The kids all bundled up in their coveralls and heavy coats. I could only get E to wear a hat today and with her, I still spent most of the time chasing it down in the yard and putting it back on!

This was my experiment in trying to do an angled photo-I didn't get the angle quite right-but the doll I photographed still looks cute!

It's that time of year-to break out the winter coats and hats and gloves, etc. That time of year when it takes 20 minutes to get the kids and myself dressed to go outside for a half hour. That time of year when I struggle to keep hats and gloves on kids and constantly have to chase them down in the grass on the lawn. That time of year when it takes a LOT of will power to make myself go outside in the bitter cold. Today, I dressed the kids in coveralls and heavy coats. We've had a few days here and there where we had heavy coats, and even had a day or two of a dusting of snow. But, it didn't feel more permanent until today. Now, I'll probably have a full wall of coats and boats in my postage stamp size mud room for about 6 months. Sigh.

It's kinda been busy around here this week for some reason. I'm glad I didn't have to go anyplace special or it'd been REALLY crazy! I caught up with a friend on Monday (by phone) who moved to Texas a year ago August. Her boy is the same age as IC and they had played together for a couple of years at playdates until the family moved. B is her son and he has a heart condition. He had surgery once for it and was set to have it again today. At last check, he'd come through well and is well on the way to recovery. YEA, B!! I miss this family a lot and IC was also affected by their leaving as well; he misses them, too. Miss A and their youngest are also the same age and she remembers her friends, but not as well. We are putting together a little package for them to send, which I promised IC we'd work on Saturday, hopefully, as we have 2 Thanksgivings to go to - one on Thursday to my mom's and one on Friday to my MIL's. We also have plans to decorate W/Christmas stuff on Saturday. IC would be most offended if he couldn't help and I need a picture to put in the photo calenders I am giving for Christmas.

Anyway, some other news for us:it's amazing how E-bunny is growing-she came up with 2 new words in the past few days. "Nee" = "candy and "How" = "help". E-bunny hadn't had any new words for awhile, so 2 at once was pretty good I thought. She also says "EE" for her name, for eating, and for brushing her teeth.

E just ran up with her jammie pants in her hand. I can't get Miss A, who's three, to dress herself, but the 19 mos old can take off her clothes and put her shoes on (sometimes) by herself. I think, though, E has a fear of being left behind-I'm not sure why, as I've never actually left her accidentally.

Today was a special occasion. Miss A has a Loving Family Dollhouse, with lots of stuff and the doll family has twin boy and girl babies. Well, little boy has been missing for probably a month. We looked all over IC's room and in nooks and crannies E might have stuck him, but no luck until today. Miss A found him and was estatic! She was really excited. It was nice that she'd actually found it herself for once.

How's that for a managerie of news? Life's never dull around here!

Busy Weekend

It was a busy weekend. Mom and I drug three impatient children to the medium town on Saturday for the monthly run for supplies-bulk groceries and wal-mart supplies. By the time we got done with the day, E-bunny had slept a couple of hours in the car seat (luckily, it was nice enough for mom to stay in the car w/her) and the other 2 had gotten to the really naughty stage.

Sunday, after church, we spent the afternoon at home, until 3pm, when we ran back into town to visit with Santa. E-bunny didn't cry-I thought that was pretty good. IC asked for Starscream (transformer) and a Nerf gun (not for awhile, if I can help it). Miss A wants a Barbie doll house and a Littlest Pet Shop train. (I've told her repeatedly there's not a pet shop train, but oh well.)IC told Santa that E-bunny probably wants a doll. It was nice not to have to wait in line, as we were probably the last ones there. Then, we had to run back to church for a few minutes to look for IC's missing piece for his transformer. Very annoying and they didn't find it-imagine that! After that, back home and we worked on putting my computer desk together-now I just have to find time to get it arranged in the right place- without little hands helping!

Thanksgiving Party

Our week has had some good things this week. Miss A got to try on her purple tutu for her recital and got excited again about dance class. Then, IC's Kindergarten class had a nice program today. The two classes converged for several short songs and poems, before going back to their class rooms for games and snacks. J.J. (my hubby) said that it was appropriate for IC to be dressed as a "wild Indian". Please don't take that as a prejudice against Native Americans. I worked with many when I lived in South Dakota and I respect their heritage. What he said pretty much fit. :)

Miss A got to participate in the games, although she only was interested in one of them.

Snack was pretty good. E-bunny and Miss A just preferred the candy, instead of the popcorn and pretzels. It was enjoyable afternoon.

Nativity

It's been another busy week. I've been deep in thought all week as I have been asked to be in charge of the costumes for the Christmas program this year. This year's theme was my idea, believe it or not. Are you ready for this? I came up with . . . . the Nativity/Christmas story. How's that for original? No big production, just a simple Nativity story, read from . . . .the Bible. Wow. Cool, huh? Of course, my simple story didn't stay that way. It turned into more than I wanted, but what can you say-I'm a peon on the music committee. Oh, well. I'm doing costumes-Joseph, Mary, 2 shepards, 3 wisemen, halos for the angel choir and stars for the little cherub choir. I made an executive decision to purchase a nicer Joseph and Mary costume, ones without 10 holes/tears in them. I don't think I can pull off buying ALL new costumes, so I'll have to make due with the other costumes. Most have moth holes in them and the crowns for the wisemen aren't in great shape, either. It's been awhile for these things being in the closet upstairs. I have about 3 weeks to get everything done-I can do it and hope it will turn out great! (despite the moth holes!)

IC Birthday Party

These were some pictures I took yesterday. I took the kids' to mom's and when I went to pick them up later, I tried to get a nice picture for our Christmas card. I actually did get a halfway decent one, but these were some of the others I tried to get. If IC would have behaved, I could have gotten several really good ones. Typical-there's always at least one who doesn't behave.

Today was IC's (family) birthday party. He got a couple of transformers, books, remote control car and transformer jammies. He did well. He wanted chocolate cake, so I baked one and put transformers on it.

Tomorrow, Miss A gets to try on her recital purple tutu at dance class. I am having mom watch the other 2 so I don't have to worry about chasing E-bunny around while getting Miss A dressed. On Friday, is IC's Thanksgiving party at school that we are invited to and Saturday is our monthly trek to the middle city for Wal-mart and grocery supplies. THAT trip isn't nearly as fun, esp. when I'm taking ALL 3 children, but it's ok and we'll do alright, anyway. May there only be 2 meltdowns instead of 5!

E-bunny, the future dancer

I have some awesome footage to embarass E-bunny someday. I have this as a little movie on my camera, but don't want to bore the anyone with a video. E is having a great time dancing to "Hannah Montana" soundtrack in her diaper and tutu. Truly, it's priceless.

IC's Birth Day

IC at birth, 1 year, and this year, in his first year of Kindergarten.

Today is Friday the 13th. I meant to blog yesterday, but we all know how things go-you get busy and run out of time, or even energy, which I've been using to my fullest this week. This is the week of IC's birthday, so I am in the process of cleaning up the house and have been working quite a bit. That being said, I will digress to yesterday.

Yesterday, my oldest child turned 6. Six years ago, I had been in labor after being induced for 12 hours and after pushing for 3 hours with no progress, I was wheeled into the surgery room for a C-section. The boy just didn't want to come out-maybe that should have been a sign. Anyway, the following months weren't easy with a colicy baby w/reflux who rarely slept. Now, my 6 yr old sleeps most nights without a problem and can be the most onery child I've ever seen. That's my boy.

It's one of those nights-the kids are wild and loud. REALLY, REALLY LOUD. I took away evening TV privileges after some disrespect, ignoring of mom's instructions, and hitting took place. I dislike having to do that-the kids get into more trouble in the evenings, it seems. Although, at this single moment, they are actually getting along-the planets must be in alignment. Right now, they are concocting some sort of house with blankets covering the recliner, which is extended out. Well, there went the moment. E-bunny fell and is now outright bawling and Miss A is whining because IC won't let her into the blankets. Sigh.

E is still got a runny nose & cough. She's been having one coughing fit in the wee hours of the morning for the past 4-5 mornings (I've lost count). I'm getting pretty tired from it.

I started cleaning the house today, a little deeper than usual. IC turns 6 this week and we are having a family birthday party on Sunday. It's been a long time since I really cleaned the house well enough for guests.

Being I am a big organizer, like to be clean person, I've really let my house go a lot lately. I'm rather appalled at myself, but between running here and there for kids, harvest lunches and chasing E-bunny out of trouble 20 + times a day-cleaning the house is coming last a lot. Not a crime, I know, but the guilt's still there. I will actually clean all of the house this week-just so the kids can make a mess after 5 minutes.

My Girls

The girls were fighting, I mean, playing My Little Pony the other day. Miss A loves to line things up in a row. E-bunny likes to try to comb hair.

Miss A yesterday went outside by herself and hung out with Sasha, her buddy for a little while. While the dog makes me ticked when she jumps on a house during a thunderstorm and digs EVERYWHERE in my yard, she's a pretty good buddy to the kids. The girls, especially are fond of her.

FINALLY!

WE ARE FINALLY DONE W/HARVEST! PTL! I am very, very tired of making lunches and worrying about the weather. Yesterday was my last day of making 8 sandwiches and running them out to the field. Lunches really aren't a big affair-at least the guys don't want some big hot meal out in the field. They'd rather have something simple that they can eat while going. My bigger challenge this year included trying to keep E-bunny out of things while I put the sandwiches together. She's rather good at pulling out the step stool, unfolding it and climbing on something. Today, the guys are just going to run the beans in the full truck to town before it decides to rain this evening.

E-bunny has been doing pretty well with her cold, except she still has a runny nose and usually has 1 fit of coughing, often 1st thing in the morning. I am hoping she will kick it soon, or I'll have to take her in if the cough doesn't improve.

Inspiration time!

These are a couple of 2 page layouts I did for E-bunny. Both sets were pages I did in workshops at my local scrap store. So, all I had to do when I got home was put pictures in them.

These I did for Miss A. The first one is a one page LO of her when she was almost 2. The second 2 page LO I did this summer. I used stickles to outline the flowers and my sewing machine to stitch the decorative borders under the pictures. That was kinda fun, one of the first times I tried using my sewing machine. On top of that-it's new. It's a new, old model, as a new-new model is riduculously expensive.

Last, but not least, are 2 of IC's LO. The 1st was a page I did recently to try out my new Making Memories Slice design card called "Big Kids". The 2nd is a 2 page LO I did in another scrap workshop and were pictures from 2 years ago already. My, how time does fly. Next week, that little boy in the picture turns 6!



Today, I had a little time to look through a pile of layouts on my desk and I came across some of my more recently done scrap pages-and by recent, I mean, this year:) I haven't had a lot of time to do much with my paper and photos and have really been missing it. But, I am taking 2 classes online, one about scrap kits and one about photography and was looking through things and I thought I'd share some pages. Mind you, I didn't get over my pages very straight to take pictures of them-sorry, I only have 1/2 of Dora the Explorer to get much done :)

E's update

E-bunny is hanging in there. She's still coughing and has a runny nose, but her temp went away as quick as it came. We did not end up visiting the dr.-I'm glad I waited. Now I hope she can kick this cold mess soon.

We are headed to our hospital's health fair after school today. There's a little show for the kids, a healthy snack for them, a drawing for a couple of prizes, dental hygiene learning, and a sign up for me to get a regular, run of the mill blood test later. Hubby is headed there today to get a flu shot before heading to the field.

I went back to the foot dr. today and got my shoe inserts. They will take a few days to get used to, but I think they will help with my feet pain. I go back in 2 weeks to check with him how they are working.

Doctors, dance, and frustration

I am facing a delimma this morning. E-bunny is running a temp, she's been slowly building this thing up for several days now. She started with a runny nose on Halloween, a slight cough and runny nose on Sunday, a barky cough and a slight temp w/some gunky nose running yesterday and a raging temp of 101.9 w/barky cough and some gunky nose this am. On the way to school, she vomited the water she drank. At first, I was worried it was H1N1, but now I wonder if it just wasn't all that snot in her tummy that made her tummy upset. So, now, I wonder what to do. If I call the office, the nurse will say, "come in" and we'll really get exposed to stuff there. Then, the dr. will look at me like I'm a paranoid mom and send us home w/if she gets worse, call. Ugghh. If it weren't for this toxic flu going around, I'd probably not worry about it too much, unless her fever runs another full day. Sigh. On top of that, yesterday, I called the clinic because Miss A's yeast infection was back, actually, it never left from last time. They called later and said they called in a rx to the pharmacy. I get to the pharmacy yesterday, after fighting to get Miss A dressed for dance and get her and E loaded in the car, with 10 minutes to spare before I had to pick up IC. I wait and wait and wait. There were 2 people ahead of me. Neither of their rx had been filled and one they couldn't find. After 15 minutes of waiting, she got to me, searched around, and concluded the clinic hadn't sent them the rx, either. You've got to be kidding me! We have one pharmacy in town, and while they are swamped most of the time, they were'nt very helpful either. So, after all that, I was late to pick up IC. Now, today, I need to check and see if the rx is there, as she really does need it-now to just figure out whether to take E-bunny to the dr and make one big trip. Of course, one problem is that I am currently washing E's car seat, since she vomited all over it this am and Miss A will be home in 2 hours. E is napping right now, and she's so miserable I don't want to wake her up.

Now I have to wonder if IC or Miss A will get this mess and will they have it right when we have IC's birthday party on the 15th. In January, E-bunny got the stomach flu the morning of Miss A's birthday party, thereby postponing it. That was a slight mess, plan wise. We ended up having it mid-week, since I already had the cake completely decorated and then aunt and uncle couldn't come, so they stopped by a couple weeks later, etc. Anyway, I guess time will tell this time-we'll just have to make due, right?

Yesterday, by the way, was the first time Miss A did NOT want to go to dance. I had picked up IC from school and taken him to KFC with a friend and Miss A had fallen asleep. When we got home, she was hard to wake up and had a "nap hangover"-and yes, their awful, but you'd have thought she was dying. She bawled almost the whole hour before we left for the pharmacy and to pick up IC. She kept saying she didn't want to go, but I made her dress in her outfit because I KNEW if I didn't have it ready, she would decide to go to dance. And she did, eventually. And she was excited by the time class started. She's complicated. Very. Complicated.

It hasn't rained for a couple of days and hubby just headed out in the combine to the corn field. Looks like I'll be making lunches this afternoon, barring that the clouds that came out, which weren't supposed to according to the weatherman, don't drop any more rain any time soon.

Halloween:the day after

We made it through the Halloween weekend, with only the girls getting colds. Not too bad. Now, we'll see what the kids were exposed to in the coming days, if they come down with anything.

Thursday, was Miss A's preschool party, so I sent her with her costume and rice krispie bars for the kids. I saw a good friend from Texas on the street-he was up to visit town for a couple of days. I didn't get to talk much, DH and I were headed to the bank to sign papers for farm stuff-uck, you feel like you sign your whole life away. I picked up Miss A and her stuff. She came home with loot, A LOT of loot-it was close to ridiculous. In the afternoon, we carved pumpkins, perfect for another yucky, rainy cold day.

Aren't they cute? At least, I think so. My Husker cheerleader, Optimus Prime transformer and Tinkerbell were so excited to finally get to dress up for Halloween. We've had the costumes for 2 months, by the way.

Friday, was IC's party at school, so he was sent with his costume and krispie bars. I roasted 1/3 of the pumpkin seeds while he was in school, but I didn't do a great job-I'll have to try again sometime soon. After IC got home, Daddy joined us and we went to "scare on the square"-trick or treating at the business' in town. It was more freezing cold than scary. WOW! E-bunny learned quickly and was soon putting candy in her bucket despite the freezing temps.

Saturday was a day of little goblins at home-boy, did they get naughty. They were somewhat bored and more anxious to go trick or treating - understandable, but annoying. I tried to move some pictures around my livingroom. I ended up breaking a photo frame glass, putting the wrong screws in the wall so that a couple of pictures hanging hooks don't fit now, and unearthing more holes in the drywall-it turned out to not be a great idea. I'll get it fixed before IC's birthday, I hope :). Anyway, at 4 pm, we headed to my mom's to get treats, as she lives in the opposite direction of town. Then we headed home to eat supper and pick up Daddy, so we could go into town for trick or treating. We stopped at my MIL's home and hubby's aunt's house to show off children before hitting the streets. E-bunny had a great time, she was right in there getting candy (sometimes too much), filling her bucket and running down the sidewalk to keep up with the older 2. Miss A was determined to be the leader for awhile, even though she didn't have a complete idea what she was doing. Last year, hubby was in the field, so he didn't go along. It was nice to have some help this year, especially since E-bunny's very mobile. It was actually pretty fun this year, and the kids have enough candy to last them til next Halloween!