Slothly Shopping

Actually, I think it's just plain smart shopping. I'm almost done with my Christmas shopping and I haven't gone inside even one store! Woohoo! Amazon has been my friend this year! I even signed up for a free one month trial of Amazon prime so I could get free shipping that was even faster than what I would have paid for. My stuff starts coming in 2 days! =)

The really cool part (although I'm not sure it gets cooler than NOT going through the mall with a double stroller plus a 5 year old for hours on end), is that I bought some really cool things for the kids that I don't think I would have gotten otherwise like this super cool educational game called Wild Planet Hyper Dash:


and this magnetic toy that is the greatest I've seen in all my years of raising a boy:


and a number of these drawing books for Julia:


Of course I had to get something for myself (well, technically this is for the kids if you think about it):

And then I noticed this cd:



and realized that I never bought it when it came out! And I got it for only$2.40! I LOVE Hillsong kid music!

These digital bookmark timers are so great that I bought one for each of the older kids. We can use them for recording John David's school reading time or we can set it for a certain amount of game time or whatever else we want to do! I can't wait to get these!



Please hurry, Mr. Mailman! I love mail!

Buckskins? Tunics? Naked?

John David is supposed to answer the question "What would a boy or girl from the Apache tribe wear?" for a school project he is doing. We have no trouble finding the answer for what an adult would wear, but a child? Even wikipedia proved to be no help. (Oh wikipedia, how you've failed me!)

I absolutely can't squeeze in a trip to the downtown library right now (it's freezing cold, four kids, busy trying to move, yadda, yadda, yadda, same ol', same ol'), so the internet is all we have to go on. The internet and YOU! =)

I wonder if we should just give the description of what the adults wore:

" Originally Apache women wore buckskin dresses and the men wore leather war shirts and breechcloths. In the 1800's, many Apache men began to wear white cotton tunics and pants, which they adopted from the Mexicans, and many Apache women wore calico skirts and dresses. The Apaches wore mocassins or high moccasin boots on their feet. An Apache lady's dress or warrior's shirt was often fringed and beaded for decoration."

John says the kids probably ran around naked. That would cause a problem though since part of the project is drawing a picture of a boy or girl standing beside their dwelling. Ha! Wouldn't that be funny! I'm pretty sure his teacher would not be amused as she's a pretty no-nonsense kind of gal. (I do love her though!)

Any Apache experts out there?

(This post reminds me of a funny story about John when he was little. I think he was about Julia's age or so when he drew a bunch of pictures during church and then tried selling them afterwards. He was a pretty decent artist so you can imagine the reaction he got when people saw what he had drawn - a side view of an indian wearing only a breechcloth! And I think there was a breeze blowing that breechcloth around!!! John's mom still has that picture somewhere. Maybe one day I'll get to scan it in and post it for your viewing pleasure.....)

What Does This Say About Me???

While in Dallas, I mentioned we went to the Museum of Art. We sat down and spent some time at a station where you were supposed to create art with a limited amount of supplies. I got right down to business making mine. Admittedly, I am not the most artistic person in the world, but I try my best. I was pretty proud of my creation, which I lovingly called "Bug from the Hood" (notice his grill)........


until John produced his.....

Julia's Mouth Strikes Again

Did you know that when your panties are shriveled and backwards they are uncomfortable? That's what Julia tells me anyway.

She also referred to my bra as a "nurnie park". Nurnie comes from whenever I've nursed, as in "the baby wants some nurnie now", but "park"? I'm clueless on that one. That girl really cracks me up.....

I think some duct tape over her mouth is in order....

I braved Target today (with four children and LOTS of shopping mobs) to buy a couple of birthday gifts. We found a really cute Hello Kitty diary set for Julia's friend and I thought it was a great gift. We were almost to the cash registers when Julia made it clear that she did not agree. She could be heard loudly saying, and I quote,

"I don't want to give my friend diarrhea! She already has a diarrhea and I don't want to give her another diarrhea!"

Yes, shopping with children is most certainly at the top of my list titled "things worse than getting your upper lip waxed". (Not that I've ever done that. I'm just guessing on that one.)

He'll Be Home For Christmas

My manly man is finally home and not leaving after just one or two days! Yea! He doesn't have to go back to work until January 4th. How great is that? I'm not going to think about how he'll be gone for four weeks straight (most likely) when he leaves again. On the other hand, it will be kind of fun to get the new house all beautiful looking before he arrives back home. It will just stink to not have a set of muscles around in case I need them. Oh well. I'm sure I can handle it - I do, after all, still have those python arms from having loaded and unloaded those three van loads of tile. Yes, I know I look like a fragile flower with my sweater and coat on (I chill easily you know), but I'm actually quite _______ - I can't for the life of me think of the right word here. Muscular, strong, hefty, sturdy. None of those sound right, but you get the idea.

My day is filled with birthday parties the kids were invited to, errands, laundry, and other equally thrilling things. If you're good, I'll post the details later. hahaha.

Adult Fantasies

Well, in keeping with how the title of my last post apparently sounded (seriously, what is wrong with you people?), check out this post. This really cracked me up and it is oh so very true!

Girl Toy Worth Buying!

I totally LOVE the girls' new Mrs. Goodbee doll house. They got it for their birthdays and they have played and played and played and then played some more with that thing! It's great!

The thing that is so genius (and yet so seemingly obvious) is that it can be played with on both sides so more than one child can happily play. (In other words, it gives mommy some time to catch up on blogs! or put on make-up or take a shower, but please, let's keep our priorities straight.)

Our kids get tons of toys (what can I say? they have lots of fans.) but this is one toy that hasn't been forgotten about after just a couple of days. That's a win in my book!

Shhh....don't tell my eight year old son I told you, but I've even caught him playing a time or two!!! hehehehe

For more things getting some love today, head over to The Diaper Diaries for Things I Love Thursdays....

I'm Large and In Charge

Hopefully mostly in charge, but if the shoe fits.....

I'm in charge of John David's class Christmas party. It will last about one hour and there will be games, crafts, food, or whatever else I want to plan. I have a list of parents who will help so I'm not on my own. John David is more than excited about this and tonight he said that I could be the queen and he could be the king of the party. hahaha, what a funny boy.

On to the point of the post - I'm looking for ideas. So gimme, gimme, gimme!

I'm Not Ready!!!

My little man-child is growing up! There are so many things bringing this home lately and it just makes me want to squeeze him tight and never let go.

Tonight he made his first phone call by himself. Are my children sheltered? He's eight and this is the first time. Anyway, he brought home his best school bud's phone number and asked to call him. We practiced phone etiquette first (as I could totally envision him talking in some weird alien voice when the child's mother answered) and then he dialed the number. He forgot to say "This is John David" and skipped right ahead to the "May I speak with Samuel please?" part, but that's ok. He was still very well-mannered sounding. (Quite the accomplishment if you ask me.) He and Samuel talked and laughed for about 10 minutes until I told him it was time to get off the phone. He was grinning from ear to ear and I could see the wheels in his head turning - a whole new world had just opened up for him!

And then there's this:

I don't have the picture of his exact bed we're getting, but his is just like this except in black and silver, not black and camo. The point being, he's going to be such a big kid with his own room and his own desk for homework. (And legos. You can't forget the legos and that right there should make me feel better. How big can he be if he still plays with those, right?)

He is also losing teeth like crazy. It's a wonder he can still eat. Speaking of eating, the child never stops! I think we might have to follow Dewey's lead and leave a pot of beans on the stove all day for his black hole of a stomach. After I picked him up from school today I had to run a couple of errands and he seriously thought he would die of starvation before we got home. He wanted me to stop at every fast food place we saw and was leaning over moaning dramatically. Puh-lease.

Such a big little man he's turning into.

Mini-Dallas-Vacation

I know it's late in coming, but that's just the way I'm rolling these days. We had a great time on our little mini-vacation in Dallas. It was awesome to only have the older two kids! Staying in a hotel was actually enjoyable - not a huge drag like it usually is with the babies. And you just can't beat that Embassy Suites breakfast every morning! We ate until we were stuffed every day and then didn't need to eat again until late afternoon. It really saved a lot of money on food.

We did go to the King Tut exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art, but they don't allow any photography inside. This photo taking mama was sad. It was very interesting, but not really as great as I thought it would be. King Tut is not actually there because they won't let him leave the Valley of the Kings. (or something like that.)

After the Tut let down, we went over to the rest of the museum. There was a tunnel you walk through and when you get to the end you are in a big room with a special kind of light that eliminates all color! It was so strange! I kept thinking of Julia's Care Bear movie where an evil villain takes away the color. Or maybe that's Strawberry Shortcake. Who can keep up?

We also went to the Reunion Tower only to find out that it's been closed for months for remodeling. We went up the elevator for the adjoining Hyatt hotel, but it didn't go up as high. It was still cool though.

I took the kids to see Bolt at North Park Mall. I was really tired and kept falling asleep (hey, it was a dark room and my rear was parked in a comfy chair. what can I say?) so I'm probably not the best person to give a review. The kids liked it a lot though.

Rain Forrest Cafe was fun since the kids had never been before. John David really wanted that volcano dessert, but as it was $15, I talked him into getting a smoothie instead. Well, dumb me. By the time we all got our dessert of choice, (Daddy - chocolate covered banana and strawberry, Me - sliver, yes SLIVER, I promise!, of fudge, John David - smoothie, Julia - dippin' dots) it cost even more than the volcano. Oh well. It was fun.

We got to visit my grandma and she surprised the kids with early Christmas presents.

We ate at Pappasitos - yummy, yummy, yummy! Is there a reason why that restaurant is not in every city across America? It should be.

And for the record, I tried to be in a picture. I gave John the camera and said, "Take my picture so everyone will know I was here too!" I held the kids and smiled. It was all for nothing though. My wonderful, extremely intelligent man could not figure out my little camera. So you'll just have to take my word for it - I WAS THERE.

One more thing: while I totally LOVE my squishie little babies, it's going to be so great one day when they are all a little older and we can go and do things again without great difficulty. Oh, and I'll be able to take a nap too. Oh yeah....

(these pictures were all taken with my old, not so great anymore camera. thankfully, my new charger has arrived for my good camera so no one will be forced to endure pictures like these again.)

I feel kind of sorry for John David

Why? I was doing some housework today and looked up to see all three of his siblings messing with his stuff while he was off at school, helpless to shoo them away. Julia was into his new dinosaur play set, Aulora was messing with his spider man lego set he just put together, and Joshua was sucking on the Wii controller.

You can bet your bottom dollar that I didn't tell him all of that. It's going to be so nice when he has his own room soon.

I Missed Out

....or so it seems anyway. This is the first year in I don't know how long that I haven't gone Black Friday shopping. I think I'm glad I didn't go, but it seems like I surely must have missed all kinds of good shopping. The remembrance of extreme exhaustion after that early morning madness was my main motivation for skipping out this time. I would have gone for sure if I could have come back home and gone back to bed, but we all know that wasn't happening! Besides, my shopping buddy wasn't with me this year. She was in Colorado not shopping too.

So now I'm getting ready to go to bed and I'm really itching for some shopping! Did anyone get any incredible bargains?

We're Off!

I'm about to go put the bags in the van so we can take off! The kids are excited, I'm excited, and Daddy is super excited to have his family (part of it anyway) coming to see him. We'll be back by Monday........

Down to Two

Have I mentioned that the two baby monkeys are with their grandparents for the week? THE WEEK? I haven't had just John David and Julia since before Aulora was born!

First off, I just have to say that all of you mommas with only two kids, well, quit the complaining! Just kidding. ;) But seriously, going from four down to two is a huge deal. Especially when it's the babies that are gone. I would sooo be having a vacation this week if not for that stupid Piece of a house that will apparently NEVER be done! (I can do it. I can do it. I can do it.)

I'm taking them tomorrow evening to Dallas to meet up with John for the weekend. We're really excited about this little mini-vacation of sorts. Daddy is off Friday but then he works from 9-6 on Saturday and Sunday so he won't be with us the whole time. We just figured we might as well use that nice hotel room that he was going to have anyway!

We're planning to see my grandma while we're there and then some other things we're thinking about are:

• seeing the King Tut exhibit (John really wants to do this!)
• going to the movies (Bolt maybe?)
• Rain Forest Cafe
• Model Train exhibit
• Underground Dallas
• Eat at Reunion Tower (that's the ball in downtown Dallas)
• see a show at the Omni Theater
• eat at Pappasitos!

Any suggestions from anyone else? I really want to make the most of this time with just the older two. This is pretty rare!

Awesome Site for Kids

Either everyone has been holding out on me or no one else knows about this site because it rocks! Julia LOVES to play on the computer and today I found Starfall.com. She was already reading, but she's taking off now! If you have young kids, check it out!

Finding this site got me thinking though. There must be other sites out there that I'm missing out on. Are there sites your kids use that you recommend? Please share!

The Birthday Party

Another birthday season has come and gone. That always brings relief tinged with plenty of emotion over my babies being yet another year older. With all that we have going on right now, it was nice to have their party at Chuck E. Cheese's just so there was nothing to worry about other than getting them dressed and picking up the cake (which Gran actually took care of for me!). I really wasn't feeling well all day, but a mommy can't miss her own kids' birthday party so of course I was there. We made some birthday memories, I hope!

It's the monkeys with ol' Chuck himself right after the birthday show.
(It's funny how much John David's teeth resemble Chuck E.'s teeth!)

Here's Little with one of his school friends, Samuel, dancing together during the show.

Silly friends - Samuel, John David, Kelen, and Aidan....and for the record, those glasses on top of John David's head are his laser tag glasses he randomly decided to wear for the day.

Julia and her friend Madison. (This little girl is the reason Julia longed for curly hair for sooooo long. She finally got her wish since Mommy and Daddy bought her the special curling iron for her birthday!)

Cameron, Morgan, and Julia - happy girlies.

Sister love...

Renee, Andrew, and Timothy gave both of the kids their own gift card to Walmart. Does it get any better than that? Julia already spent hers today on a Littlest Pet Shop set.

Julia's teacher, "Mrs. Anchez" (as Julia says), gave Julia a Webkinz kitty. Can you see the pure delight on her face? She named it Amalia. There is never a shortage of fairy tale-ish sounding names around here.

Daddy and Joshua were mostly just trying to stay out of the way.

Hey! I'm there! See? It's me in a picture!

I think we were singing happy birthday in this shot.

This is Ronnie, one of the kids' friends from church. She actually had a massive head injury during this past year and had to have emergency brain surgery. She had a miraculous recovery and we were so happy she was with us for the party!

Julia's friend, Azariah, gave her lots of jewelry that she has been quite thrilled about. There was a best friend necklace set and yesterday, after telling her what the different words on the jewelry said, Julia came in to see me. She handed me the necklace that said "Best" and said, "Here, Mommy. You can have this one because you are the best mommy in the whole wide world!" And then I got the sweetest kiss you can imagine.

The boy in the red shirt is Tommy and he's John David's friend from church. His family doesn't have very much so he sold some of his toys to get some money to give John David for his birthday. He was also excited about giving him tickets he won during the party. Isn't that the sweetest thing? (There was also another little boy who came who couldn't afford a present, but his dad works at Walmart so he brought John David a container of bakery cupcakes!)

Julia's friend, Cameron, gave her this shirt and you would have thought Julia had won the lottery. She was so excited about it and put it on when we got home from the party. I finally pried it off her body tonight so I could wash it. She had even been sleeping in it!

Happy Birthday, Babies!!!

Confessions of a Bad Mommy

First of all, SHHHHHH, don't tell my kids that I'm the tooth fairy.

Now that we got that out of the way.......

On a Mommy scale of 1 to 10, 1 being the most pathetic mommy ever and 10 being world's best mommy ever, how awful is it that my son lost a tooth and excitedly put it under his pillow only to find it still there this morning when he woke up?

He better hurry up and get to sleep so I can go all tooth fairy and not forget again.

The Highway From H*ll

I'm not sure I can adequately describe what transpired in my car between 1:25 and 2:05 yesterday, but it was straight out of the Twilight Zone. All I can tell you is that I was downtown and needed to go to a different part of town. I was stuck on the same stretch of highway for all of that time and couldn't find my way off. Instead of naming all the different highways names, they use numbers and I can't keep them straight. I kept trying to exit only to find myself going completely the wrong direction. It would not be truthful to say I kept my cool either. In fact, I'm pretty sure I had a nervous breakdown. John was trying to help me over the phone, but he wasn't quite right on the exit number so I was jacked up yet again. And then he laughed at me. Or maybe I should say with me, since I was laughing at myself in the midst of my crying fit. It was horrible!

Then, when I finally found my way off the highway from H*LL, I came upon this:




Traffic was completely stopped as workers tried to figure out what to do. I had my window down at first to look at it and take a picture, but then the wind shifted and waves of water came shooting in. My electric window just couldn't go up fast enough at that point!

The end result of all of the weirdness was a messy mascara face and a very late mommy picking up her babies from preschool/mother's day out. I should probably avoid all highways for awhile.....

Bath Convert and a Present Picture Hint

I know I said I would show what Julia's present was, but first I have to throw in some bath time pictures. These never get old for me! Monday night was the first time Joshua has ever taken a bath of any kind without crying. He's probably had not quite enough baths in his little lifetime just because the sheer terror he seems to experience breaks my heart.

This time he was impressed with the bubbles and the toys. And then he discovered splashing water with his hands. He was an instant fan of bath time as he giggled over and over when the water drops would land on his face. I tried to capture it on video, but I didn't get my camera in time. (Don't call CPS - I'm a good mom. I sent someone for it so he wouldn't be alone.) I fell in love with my little man all over again as he was so cute and giggly!

Clean at last! Clean at last! Thank God Almighty, we'll be clean at last!

Best Buds

We just need John David now.
Sorry Little, you're just a little too old for community bath time!

I wonder if you can tell what Julia's present was by looking at these (not too great) pictures I took of the kids at bedtime. They were busy looking through the Target catalog circling what they want for Christmas.

That's right, John David. Circle away. Just circle away.

Shhhhh.....

Daddy doesn't know it yet, but he bought Julia's birthday present today at the mall. I think it's just the coolest thing ever and can't believe that I've waited this long to get one. Julia is in heaven too. Pictures will be posted soon......

Recipe For Disaster

One Mommy who desperately needs to go potty (but not because she drank way too much Dr Pepper - no never)

One five year old who thinks it's hi-freakin-larious to beat you up the stairs and run to the bathroom and block the potty as she laughs like a hyena

Yep, that's pretty much it.

Bye Amadeus

I was on the way home this evening with all the kids when Gran called and said that her dog (who has also been the kids' dog since we've lived with them) was going to be put to sleep. They found out he has stomach cancer and he was in a lot of pain. I drove to the animal hospital and broke the news first to John David outside of the car. Amadeus is his buddy and they really love each other. It was heartbreaking to see him cry for his friend he was losing. I sent him in to say goodbye and then told Julia. She cried equally as much (or more), but I think her tears were due more to her drama queen nature. She said she wished there was a shooting star right then so she could make a wish for 'Deus to be all better. I figured it wasn't the best time to lecture her about shooting star wishes versus prayer.

When we were driving away, Gran called to talk to John David. She didn't know she was on speaker phone and I'm pretty sure I heard her promising John David his very own cocker spaniel for our own house when Daddy was done with school. Hmmmmm......

Getting them to sleep was no easy task tonight. Julia was howling and crying great big tears for a long time, so I finally went in and scratched and rubbed them and sang every old school worship song I knew until they both fell asleep. Whew.....



Bye Amadeus. You will be missed. =(

I Cannot Tell a Lie....

I am ticked off. My children are determined to hide or lose my stuff. The latest three things are:

• my camera charger - I gave up looking for it and bought a new one on ebay
• the remote for the tv - this is not a matter of laziness. you can't change the channels and access the recorded things without it.
  
• the stylus for my palm treo - one of the monkeys was just admiring it today and now it is mysteriously missing. hmmmm.

I know, know, know that my monkeys are responsible for these items. It's not uncommon for them to get into my things or misplace stuff, but these are three significant things all at the same time. ARGHHHHHH!!!

It's worse too because this was just one of those days. The kind of day where it's bright and sunny when you leave for the grocery store and pouring down rain when you leave. Children take off diapers and other children have accidents. You get thrown up on and the dog barks and snaps at the baby and makes the baby scream. Kids don't do their homework right and there was a lot of it to begin with.

A day like this reaches perfection when you eat the remains of your kids' corny dogs for dinner along with some cookie dough from the fridge. Oh, and ultra perfection when you have what has got to be a bone spur in your foot. Ouch!

So now I'm going to take a hot shower and breathe in some of His peace. Which reminds me....

I was walking to my car in the parking lot a couple of days ago. It was a day that was filled with decisions and, frankly, uncertainties. I don't mind change, but I do not like uncertainty. I was almost to the car when I heard God speaking that old song (by Kathy Trocolli I think?) called, "My Life Is In Your Hands".

My life is in your hands
and though I may not see it clearly
I will lift my voice and sing
for your love does amazing things.
Lord, I know my life is in Your hands.

This is what keeps me going right now - just knowing that I don't have to see it all written out clearly before me. We just need to obey one step at a time and we'll get wherever we're going.

John David and Mimi

A few weeks ago Mimi took me, John David, and Joshua to Olive Garden for dinner. The girls were in Tulsa and we didn't want to cook! Mimi is the kids' great grandma and boy do they love going to her house. Every Thursday is "Mimi Day" while I teach piano lessons. She picks up the boy from school and then they go with her until dinner time. Sometimes she takes them to Chuck E. Cheese's or McDonald's and sometimes they go to her house. Last Thursday she taught Julia how to make blueberry muffins and this week they are going to make cupcakes. Her house is a museum of everything vintage and they have the best time with her. Thanks for the good times, Mimi!

So Much To Post, So Little Time

I don't know about you, but when I have lots to do (or in this case, lots to post) I just start shutting down. I can't do anything at all! So in an effort to not totally shut down, I'm going to post here and there as I think of a few small things. There won't be any pictures for a while though because my camera battery charger is MIA. I'm pretty sure monkey #3 is responsible for this, but I don't have proof yet.

First off, happy birthday first to John David who celebrated his eight birthday last Tuesday! (Did I already mention that? I can't remember and I'm apparently too lazy to check previous posts.) I took him McDonald's for lunch and, at his request, we ate at IHOP for dinner. We took some pictures, but you won't be seeing them tonight (refer to paragraph one). Sorry.

Today is Julia's fifth birthday! Now that is just really hard to swallow. I made a deal with her last night that if she would stop growing, then I would give her more birthday presents. She agreed! Hmmmmm.....Do I really want a four year old Julia forever? Probably not. (refer to sidebar of this blog)

John David is currently flying the most annoying little ufo toy up to the balcony. Who buys my children these things???

At lunch on Sunday, the kids went up to the ice cream counter to order their dessert. John David had the money and was in charge of ordering. He ordered himself and his friend big waffle cones and then ordered Julia a small kiddie cone. When asked why he said, "Because little princesses don't need to get fat." No lie, that's what he said. I'm sure everyone there thought that's what we tell our girls. Great.......

The girls pooled some of their birthday money together to buy a Mrs. Goodbee doll house. What a wonderful toy for them to share! They have spent many hours already playing together just like little sisters should. I love watching them. It's the stuff sweet mommy dreams are made of.

Julia also got her first bike! It's a decked out Barbie bike and, although it still has training wheels, Julia thinks she is quite grown up. Pictures of that will come later.

We just finished up several days of visiting with all grandparents and what a whirlwind it's been! Of course the kids were in heaven since anything they could possibly want was given to them before they could even ask for it. Now it's back to reality as it's just us again. Their little bodies were surely in shock today as they heard "no" quite a bit. They would have heard it even more if it hadn't been Julia's birthday.

It's time to do some homework now so off I go.......

Lots to Post

I've got tons to post, pictures and all, but I have no time! This is birthday season for us right now, which means we've stepped it up from "super busy" to "running-around-like-a-chicken-with-its-head-cut-off-busy".

So I apologize, but all postings will have to wait for now. =)

Mystery Solved (I hope!)

Well, after some serious thinking and pondering and staring long and hard at that calendar, I think I finally cracked the code.

At first I thought it stood for "pumpkin patch" and that I had accidentally written it on the wrong day, but that couldn't be it because the words "pumpkin patch" were already on last Thursday's square. Hmmmm....

But then, I noticed that above the mysterious "p.p.", it said "Aulora - wear messy clothes". Oh yeah! Aulora's class is going to "paint pumpkins"! But why the time 9:30-10:30? That still didn't make sense.

More thinking and eye squinting led me to believe that it must stand for "pumpkin presentation". Julia's teacher is carving a pumpkin in front of all the kids from 9:30-10:30 on Thursday and talking about how it is like Jesus' love for us. They sent home a paper letting us know about it and inviting us to come if we wanted.

What a code cracker I am. Clearly, I'm the next Sherlock Holmes.

Mystery Appointment

I keep a calendar by my desk that is vital to our family's existence. Every engagement, appointment, responsibility, and bill that needs to be paid is on this calendar.

I looked over my week this morning and noticed that on Thursday, from 9:30-10:30, I have written "P.P.". What is that??? I obviously thought I would know what those initials meant when I wrote them, but I don't.

This is not good. I really, and I mean really, need to figure out what that means! Any ideas?

In case you were wondering....

.....what John is doing today, he's driving the band MercyMe around town. Yep, I'm at home with my hair in a bun and doing laundry and cooking hamburger helper (really, I am) and he's hanging out with a famous music group. Some people have all the luck.....

Aulora goes to the pumpkin patch

Yesterday Aulora's class went to a pumpkin patch to pick out their own little pumpkin. It was a cold morning, but we were so glad we went! She really had a fun time.....

Cheap Entertainment at the Sullivan House

This video is a double bonus - you get a laughing baby and a cute baby bottom! Woohoo, could it get any better???

First Piano Lesson

Julia has been begging to take piano lessons and I whole heartedly wanted her to, so tonight we had our first one. (We tried yesterday, but the whole church nursery disaster happened and I spent the rest of our time before church trying to take care of that.)

She was so excited to learn and payed very careful attention to every little thing I told her. We learned how to sit and all the finger numbers. We went over quarter notes and half notes, bar lines and double bar lines. And then she played her first song called, "First March". She picked it up so fast and was even counting it out loud as she played.

As a piano teacher, I can usually tell you if a child has any musical talent pretty quickly. Some are awful, some are great, and some are just generally smart so they can pull it off. It was very clear within only a few minutes that this girl has music in her bones. Really.

I know John and I are both somewhat musical, but what we can do pales in comparison to what some of our parents and grandparents can (or could) do. It's so amazing to see my baby sitting there playing those notes so tenderly and perfectly. She was in her element......

Whose Idea Was This????

Who in the world invented church on Wednesday night that goes from 7:00 to almost 9:00? It's 10:20 and my kids are still awake in their room! We didn't get home until 9:20 and then they needed something to eat and then had to get ready for bed. They're trying to go to sleep now but they're so wound up from seeing their friends and eating candy!

I don't want to not go to church on Wednesday nights, but Thursday mornings are a nightmare around here. They are getting a full two hours less sleep so you know it's not pretty come rise and shine. I did finally figure out that if I turn on the Arthur cartoon at 7:00 then they wake up without being too grumpy.

Now, if I can only figure out a way for me not to be too grumpy. =)

Overwhelmed

That about sums it up. I keep making lists and I'm accomplishing those things on a daily basis, but then there's more. There's always been a lot to do, but the magnitude of all the these things that have to be done are HUGE. There are constantly decisions that will potentially make us thousands more or thousands less. And all of those big things are surrounded by tons of tiny things regarding birthday parties (this is birthday season for our family), homework, field trips, housework and laundry, church responsibilities (just today I spent an hour and a half finding fill-ins for nursery workers who couldn't be there at the last minutes because of their own sick babies), bill paying, doctor appointments, blah blah blah blah blah.

Busy does not necessarily equate to busy for me, but all that's going on right now does just because it's complicated and big. I'm ready for a vacation now......

Report Card Time!

My boy got his report card today and he did good! Here's the rundown:

• Math 94
• Grammar 97
• Reading 96
• Music, Art, Citizenship A
• Bible, Computer, P.E., Social Studies, Science, Handwriting Satisfactory
  

I'm not sure why some of their grades are actual numbers, some are letter grades, and then some are on the satisfactory/needs improvement/unsatisfactory system. Either way, he did good!

He also made the principal's honor roll and he got a citizenship award! He's finally shaping up and bringing home mostly happy faces. I'm so super proud of that sweet, smart monkey right now! I'm pretty sure I'm beaming. =)

No Brownies For Me

There were no brownies in the house last night, but alas (I've always wanted to use that word on my blog so please don't make fun of me), there was the ever alluring pint of "Half Baked" ice cream in the freezer.

I had successfully kept the kids out of it all day so I felt I was deserving of its goodness once they were in bed. I'm not sure I was deserving of the whole pint's worth of goodness, but whatever. It was super good and my jeans still fit this morning just fine. My new jeans which are the size I was in before Julia was born, thank you very much.

John may be gone, but I still know how to have a great time with my good friends Ben and Jerry. Thanks guys, we'll have to do it again for sure....

I forgot to tell you....

where I took the pictures of Joshua with the pumpkins. It was in the Walmart parking lot! They had pumpkins and hay bales set up as a big display and it looked like they wanted people to take pictures so I took them up on it. I was there anyway so it was a super easy photo session. =)

Speaking of Walmart though - I had my oil changed there today. I was not so impressed. I asked them to please replace my headlight that had gone out and the manager said he would tell them to do it. When I returned (after shopping for an hour with the three youngest monkeys), I paid and checked my paperwork which said all the various things had been checked. Filters, fluids, lights, tires, etc. But when I got to the car and checked the headlight, it was still out.

So that mechanic and I had to have a little talk. I explained how I no longer felt confident with their services if they say all these things have been checked, yet something very obvious is still wrong. The man fixed it for me (while the monkeys were hungry and crying, ready for lunch and a nap) and then said it was on the house. Well, I should think so. But I graciously thanked him several times anyway. I think my John Mayer cd was in the player when he drove the car and not a Hillsong worship one, but still. I wouldn't want to be a bad witness. hahaha.

I'm mostly just happy that my oil is changed, my registration and inspection is current, and my lights all work. That's a pretty productive day in my book!

Joshua - 9 Months Old

They're Baa--aaack!

All four monkeys are back at home again. Funny how big they always look after you haven't been with them for a few days. Aulora just held me and squeezed me and I think she may have even called me George (just kidding). She's not used to being away from Mommy for that long! Julia was full of hugs and kisses too, but she's an old pro at going off without us.

They had only been home for about 30 minutes when all of the following began:

• I was cleaning up a spot on the floor from one girl-child who had an accident and shall remain nameless
• I was also trying to keep Joshua away from the wet spot
• John David announced that the toilet was overflowing
• Daddy was trying to clean all of that up
• Joshua was screaming because he wanted a bottle and bedtime but Mommy didn't have any more clean bottles and Aulora's milk was already in the last one
• Aulora was throwing a fit because her clothes were being removed for jammy time. Her fit led to mild discipline which in turn led to her screaming even more and almost making herself throw up
• Joshua was still screaming because Mommy still hadn't found a bottle. Daddy couldn't take it anymore so he held him while he was cleaning the bathroom.
  
• Daddy went downstairs to get the mop for the bathroom and left John David to dry up the floor with some paper towels......but John David is curled around the base of the toilet on the still wet floor so he can reach back behind with his little piece of wadded up toilet paper. Can you say gross?
  
• The boys finished cleaning up the mess and John David was put in the shower
• A bottle was found for Joshua and he was put in bed (one down, three to go)
• Aulora's fit subsided and she apologized to Mommy then went to bed (two down, two to go)
• Julia's teeth and hair were brushed and she told me the name of her newest Build a Bear creation - Kristen Sullivan Care-a-lot Four Leaf Clover Bear. She repeated it over and over so I wouldn't forget. I guess it worked. I kissed her good night and tucked her in. (three down, one to go)
• I got John David out of the shower and helped him put his jammies on. We then had to sing the "boom-boom-boom-boom" song and "God is Bigger than the Boogey Man" song. Finally, he was down too.

Can I go to bed now???

Coolest Walmart Checker EVER

Since you can't see me rolling my eyes or hear the sarcasm dripping off those title words, just know that this was absolutely not the coolest checker ever. I've had my share of weird/bad/slow/dumb/annoying/scary/he-she/rude checkers, but this encounter shot right up to the top of the list. (Well, except for maybe the bag lady checker back in SA. I'm not sure you can beat that one. That was just soooo annoying.)

John was crawling up in the attic installing lights and he said he wouldn't need my help for about 30 minutes. So, being quite optimistic about the time involved in even a "quick" Walmart trip, I headed down the road to pick up just a few things. (hahaha - does anyone ever leave with just a few???) I was actually doing ok on time and found a short line (relatively short anyway). I hadn't been there too long when I realized that I had indeed managed to find the slowest moving line in the store. And it didn't take long for me to figure out the reason for the slowness - the checker.

This checker talked and talked and talked. And talked some more. And being that he was a man, of course he couldn't scan things and talk at the same time. So he would just stand there holding something as he talked. And then when he did scan something he would meticulously put it in the bag. All clothing he took the time to neatly fold as if it was about to be photographed.

I could see the clock in the background behind him and I could sense John's growing frustration even from miles down the road. I warned the people behind me to find a different line and they were smart enough to listen. But me? I figured I was better off to stick it out than to try changing lines at this point.

When it was finally my turn, I didn't really want to say hello lest he thought I wanted to have conversation. (Just for the record, I like conversation and I'm usually very friendly and talkative to cashiers. But I just didn't want to get this guy started.) I opted to not be rude though and offered up a quick hello. It was as I had feared. He now thought I wanted to be his best friend.

When he came to my 2 gallons of milk and the formula he asked if I had WIC. I told him I didn't and he said that was too bad because all this stuff was so expensive. I agreed.

He continued to say that when his wife had a baby one day that he was going to tell her she needed to breastfeed because that was so much cheaper. He asked me why I didn't breastfeed. (Just so you can visualize this guy, he was about 20 years old and very hippy looking.)

I told him that sometimes it just doesn't work out. I was trying to be vague as I didn't particularly want to have such a conversation with a man I didn't even know.

He couldn't leave it alone though. What do you mean "sometimes it doesn't work out"?

Sigh. Sometimes a mother just doesn't make enough milk for the baby, that's all.

Ohhhh! When my mom had my little brother she made so much milk that when he got older she had to go get her milk stopped. (whatever that means.) See, you need to be on WIC so you can get all the milk and other things so your body has the uh, uh, nutri-, uh, uh, nutrition, uh, uh, nutrients it needs to make lots of good breast milk. Yeah, you should totally be on WIC.

This guy should so be the WIC representative......

And I take it back. Now that I've relived the experience, this cashier definitely takes the cake. Any man cashier who repeatedly uses the word "breast", "breast milk", and "breastfeeding" just has to take the cake. Don't ya think?

Terrible Confession

You know what I had for breakfast today?

brownie

You know what I had for lunch today?

brownie

You know what I had for a snack in between when the first brownie didn't quite last until lunch?

another brownie

You know what I had for a quick tide-me-over-until-dinner-because-I-have-a-5:00-meeting-right-now snack?

yet another slice of chocolate brownie sin

I did at least have a hamburger right before church started. But I was really in the mood for something sweet after that, so when I got home from church you know what I had?

You think you're so smart. You thought I had another brownie.

Well, I didn't because someone else ate ALL the brownies ALL gone! So poor La didn't get hardly any of the yummy brownies that Mimi made. Boohoohoo.

If you read both my blogs and you know what I'm about to go do right now, then I apologize. I'm a total glutton I guess. I just LOVE chocolate!

I'll Show You!

Joshua is not too thrilled with the big baby gate we put up across the living room. He really likes his freedom and he says that thing is cramping his style. As he started pushing the whole thing down, I told him it was for his own good so he didn't kill himself going up the stairs or eating Comet under the sink. He said he didn't care as it came crashing down. He was bustin' out.....

It's In My Blood

Yesterday I headed into Mardels (a super big Christian bookstore in case you've never heard of it) to look for a book I needed. To find this book I had to look first through all the youth and church ministry stuff and then finally over in the children's ministry area.

It was so hard to be in the middle of all of those things and not feel an overwhelming desire to be back in ministry. I'm telling you, it's in my blood. Not so much the youth stuff. I loved helping John with his stuff, but I mainly loved doing things with kids. Teaching them, pouring into them, training them, encouraging them, making them laugh, giving them hugs, listening to them, telling them we're having broccoli cake for a snack, playing games involving huge over sized underwear or plungers, sliming and pieing people, and so much more!

I know right now my job is to be Mommy. I love that too. But I really, really hope that one day God can use me again to share Him with children.

Joshua Poses with Pumpkins

You'll never guess where we took these pictures! Maybe I'll tell you later.....

I Need a Snorkel....

......because I'm buried under mounds and mounds of outgrown kid clothes! Aaaackkkkk! I hate it when I have to do this, but at least twice a year I go through everything and sort it out. I have to determine which of the following categories everything fits into:

• clothes to go to goodwill
• clothes to sell on ebay
• clothes to take to the resell shop
• clothes to be put neatly in a labeled tub for future use by a younger sibling
• clothes that can be hung back up and still used now

It doesn't really sound too bad when I put it like that, but it's bad. My shoulders are burning from the pure misery of it all. What makes it the hardest is that so many of my nicely organized clothes tubs are in storage. And not in the front of the storage room where I specifically told my husband to put them. No, they're are about 2 layers deep in there. I can see them and almost reach them, but not quite. If only I was Elastigirl from the Incredibles! (And by the way, if you've never seen all of my tubs you're really missing out!)

The dumbest part of all of this is that I don't really have time to be doing it. It started when I went by the storage unit and was miraculously able to reach one box of bigger clothes for Joshua. Well, of course I had to sort through and then make room. It then proceeded to turn into one of those "If you give a mouse a cookie" scenarios. My body is screaming for bed, but I sooo want to finish! I'm kind of stuck at the moment though because I don't know if the resale shop I will be using accepts all seasons or not. I hope they do because I really want to be done with it all!

Unloading My Camera

Good grief, I'm so behind. I really don't think I'll ever catch up on all the little things I've meant to blog about lately. I think I'm going to unleash a rainstorm of randomness while my pictures are loading....

• Last night John David slept with me (John's gone right now) and we had some great cuddle time. Anytime I cuddle him, I have to wonder how many more times it will happen. There was no school today and it's been overcast all day so this morning we slept in until 9:00! Absolute heaven!!!
• Both my girls are in Tulsa this week with Clay and Sandy. I miss them, but oh my goodness - do you have any idea what's it like to go from 4 kids to only 2? Especially when the 2 you have are the boys and only one of them talks. This house is so quiet!
• I'm glad that the color we chose to paint our Piece is roughly the same color as the interior of our van, because if it wasn't, well, I might have green or red carpet and floor mats in there now. A gallon of paint is not a good thing to spill in your car. Thank you, Walmart.
  
• Never buy your paint at Walmart.
  
• I don't know how my husband is doing all that he does. He is working a lot, traveling to get to work a lot, preparing all of his law school applications (this is no small thing), writing all of the question sets for the Gold Cup quiz tournament again, tutoring LSAT students, working the "helpline" for the LSAT, and working on the Piece when he's home. I told him I didn't know how he was doing it and he said he just does whatever is most important right then and he doesn't worry about the rest. I guess that philosophy works until you have more than one really important thing and then you're just jacked up. Like, if I lived by that rule, there might come a day when one kid was dangling from the roof and another kid was setting the house on fire and I'm supposed to figure out which thing is more important at that very moment. (And in this hypothetical situation, we're assuming that the other two kids aren't into something, which I think we all know is pretty unlikely.) So I don't see how I could ever go for this way of thinking, but it works for him I guess.
  
• Painting ceilings is a horrible, no fun way to spend the day. Lucky for me I only painted walls today.
  
• Unlucky for me, I will paint ceilings tomorrow.
  
• John David had to do his first school report tonight. It's due tomorrow, so in the spirit of Daddy's advice above, it wasn't the most important thing until the night before it was due! The report was on giant squid (he chose his own animal) and turned out quite nicely. I was remembering a fantastic report I did on the state of Texas when I was in the 5th grade. It was both a written and oral report and I went all out doing it because we lived in California at the time. I distinctly remember my mom telling me to go away and leave her alone because she was working on my report though. I got a great grade so I guess it was worth it! hahaha! It was quite tempting to do that with John David tonight. It would have been SO much faster.....but I didn't do it. Pat on my back.
• My parents are coming in less than 3 weeks to visit!
• Is anyone still reading this? I think my pictures are done loading - on to the picture show....

Aulora loves sunglasses, bags and purses, baby dolls, and her play stroller. I keep thinking she'll get tired of these things and move on, but every day it's the same thing. Too cute!

My girls are gone but guess what I found? A half eaten peanut butter cracker in the cabinet. Hmmmmm.....Someone didn't eat as much as I thought!

John David poses with the rat. Chuck E. looks like he's about to chomp his head off if you ask me.

Last night, John David wanted to take some pictures of us so here we are acting quite silly. I really shouldn't post such pictures of myself. Oh well.....

Awwww, I miss my girlies! This was taken at Olive Garden last week. Julia has the hardest time just smiling and keeping her eyes open nicely in a picture. She always does something weird. What a goofy monkey she is.....

Whew! That's all I've got. Maybe I'm caught up after all......

He's - sniff - not a baby - sniff sniff - anymore!

I'm not one to go so long between posts, but there has been precious little time for any posting lately. That's due in large part to the Piece, but also because of all my monkeys. My youngest monkey (and I say youngest, not smallest, because he is quickly catching up to the third monkey) is getting pretty big. I had a dream a few nights ago that he was walking. It was so real and so scary! What's more scary is that I don't think it will be too long before my dream comes true. ("dream comes true" makes it sound so happy and good - I don't want him to start walking soon!)

Anyway, please overlook all the red eyes and unedited pictures because like I said, I'm stinkin' busy! These are just some proof of how un-little my baby is. sniff sniff sniff......

Notice the difference (or lack thereof) in Aulora and Joshua's size.

I'm not exactly sure what this face was all about, but I found it amusing.

Hey, it's a rare shot of me! Who cares if my children aren't exactly posing pretty and we're leaning up against a Teletubbies ride - we're in a picture together!

This is what I found him doing a few days ago when I lost track of him for a moment. I think my heart only missed 2 beats.

He was thrilled with his new discovery. We've since started using the huge long baby gate that blocks off the whole living room. Getting out of this two story house can't come soon enough! =)

Big Thieving Rat

John David and Julia both want to have their birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's this year. I thought, hmmm, why not? We'll combine their party, save money, have a great time, and they'll love me forever.

Then I went to the website to check their party prices. Sweet fancy Moses, as George Costanza would say.

So we're scratching the whole rat themed party to do something more along the lines of a fun party at the park. I just have to figure out how I'm going to tell my kids that.......

Car Talk

I love to listen in on my kids' conversations in the car. Sometimes they sit in their seats and just make loud annoying noises, but other times they actually say some cute things.

This morning, on the way to church, Joshua made a "baaaa" kind of noise that sounded a lot like a sheep. John David said, "Awww, he's a little lamb - a little lamb of God!" That made me smile.

And then we passed Chuck E. Cheese's which has recently been remodeled. After some talk about all the cool new games John David confidently announced, "Yes, Chuck E. Cheese's is now 10% better than it was before." Wow, 10%! What are we waiting on? Let's go right now!

The Hiding Place

Every time I think I've seen it all, Julia does something new that leaves me shaking my head. Like tonight - we were getting ready to go out to eat. John is out of town for work (suffering in Key West, poor man) so I was getting the kids ready by myself.

I had everyone ready to walk out the door and all I needed to do was change Joshua's diaper. But then I looked down and saw Julia's jeans on the floor. The jeans she had been wearing just a few minutes ago. I examined them quickly but didn't see any sign of an accident, which is normally the case when I find her pants abandoned on the floor.

I started searching for her and finally found her hiding in my bathroom, naked from the waist down.

"What are you doing??? Did you have an accident?"

"no-o-o."

"Then what are you doing? Everyone is ready to go and we're waiting on you!"

It was obvious at this point that she did not want to tell me what the problem was. At last, she held up her leg and pointed at her knee which at first appeared to be covered in blood and scraped up skin.

"What happened? Are you hurt?"

She slightly shook her head no, so I looked more closely at her knee. It was something red for sure. And sticky. And very gooey. Red and sticky and gooey. And, wait a second, what's that smell? Strawberry! Red, sticky, gooey and strawberry!

Now I'm seeing that whatever this gooey mess is, it's smeared down her legs and on her feet and even at the top of her legs near her bottom. And she still wouldn't tell me what it was!

Everything in me wanted to shake her and demand that she tell me what she had managed to get all over herself. But that's not how it works with this child. If you lose it and holler, she shuts down. Trust me, I've learned the hard way. And not hollering is just so stinkin' hard to do sometimes because, man alive, she does things that just ask for a good hollering!

Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.
Gather your composure, Mommy. Remain calm.

"Julia, what is on your legs?"

She finally squeaked out a soft answer. "Barbie Pop tart."

"How did a pop tart get on your legs?"

"I don't know."

"Of course you know! These are your legs! How did a pop tart get all over your legs???"

Long pause.


"I put it in my pants."

"You put it in your pants? Were you hiding it from me?"

Little head nod. "I wanted to eat it."


So there you have it. If ever you need a good hiding place, try your pants. Even if it's gooey and red and sticky, by all means, put it down in your pants. After all, what's a little red pop tart goo between friends?

I forgot how wonderful it is....

....to take a nap!!!

Both of the babies are sleeping and the big monkeys went with Gran to see some dog movie. I got a blanket and leaned back in the recliner and stayed there sleeping for 30 glorious, amazing minutes. Wow! It's been a really long time since I did that.

What's better is that the babies are still both sleeping. I could go do it again if I wanted to, I guess. Nah - better not push my luck. I'll go do some laundry. =)

Miss Bossy Pants Is In the House (once again)

Here's one snippet of that boisterous talking that my previous post referred to:

Julia: Here, Bubba! I brought you something!

John David: Oh, cool! I like that.

Julia: Uh, you need to say thank you for what I brought you please. [hands on hips]

John David: Thank you for what you brought me. I like it.

Julia: Thanks for saying thank you for what I brought you. I appreciate that you like it. Really, I do......

One Child....

...really makes a difference around here! Julia was with Sandy in Tulsa all week and they got back home around 6:00 tonight. Up until then, things were very calm and relatively quiet. The house was clean too.

By 6:05 everything was polar opposite. Things were strewn all over, children were hollering (some were happy, some were mad), Joshua was crying, Aulora was a Tasmanian devil with all of her big sister's newly acquired treasures, and I was hurled out of my heavenly bliss of 3 children and back down to the reality of 4.

Let me tell you - Julia has not stopped talking since she has been home. It's almost 11:00 now, and although she is in bed and should have been asleep long ago, the child is STILL talking. I can hear her in there! Poor John David was so tired he was able to fall asleep in spite of it. All evening long I found myself saying, "Shhhh. Please stop talking." Or, "Julia, you don't need to talk so loud please." Nothing worked though. The chatter remained nonstop and quite deafening.

I love my children. All of them. But honestly, I don't love everything about them. (Is that okay to say?) I do not like endless chatter - not even from adorably cute little four year old girls!

Hopefully, things will settle back down tomorrow. Please Jesus!

Another Fun Shopping Trip

Yesterday I headed to the granite and cabinet store as soon as I left work. I had both Aulora and Joshua with me so I knew I was in for some fun! This was just something that really needed to be done though and so I was determined to go.

Aulora didn't want to stay in the basket seat (what's new) so I was trying to juggle her and the papers I was working with to write down numbers and colors and stuff. She waited until I was in the middle of an important conversation with the manager of the store to start pointing in my nose saying, "Boogies! You got boogies!"

I tried to divert her attention and ask her if she had boogies in her nose, but to my embarrassment she continued to point at my nose and insist that mommy had boogies.

It was hard to concentrate on what the man was telling me about counter tops because I kept imagining what horrible "boogies" might be hanging out of my nose.

Who taught this child to talk?!?!?

Fast forward to the end of this shopping trip and you have:

• a very cabinet and granite informed momma
• two salesmen needing some advil
• a store full of very amused shoppers
• two happy babies
• a very tired momma who ended up carrying both babies at once and bouncing with them all the way out to the car to keep them from crying

Sometimes you just have to get something done though. I may get things done slower because I've got kids, but I will get it done.

By the way, there were no boogies. Trust me - I checked as soon as I got in the car! hahaha!