Outside fun

We had fun outside yesterday. I stayed in the shade as much as I could and then I moved inside and stayed by the Kitchen window where I could see everything they were doing. This is the first time I let them play outside by themselves. Granted we have a fenced in backyard and I still watched them like a hawk. So to you experienced moms...When did you let your children play outside by themselves?




Austin just loves the water. He would jump in it and get his hair wet and just had a great time.


















Mason did not like getting wet. He did
everything he could to walk around the water. He was so upset that his pants (swim trunks) got wet. He liked playing with the water just not in it. In this picture he is happy because he is not getting wet but spraying it at Ashley.








Ashley had a fun time too. But she mainly liked to pick it up and spray everyone else including me. I put on a cute "Memorial Day" looking bathing suit on her, but she would have nothing to do with it. She had to have this one on.



Today we are back to our normal routine. I just got them dressed for the day (2:00PM) and I'm still in my nightshirt. I've tried to start several things, laundry, dishes, picking up toys and I keep getting distracted. I'm surprised they haven't come up here while I was working on this blog. Oh here they come!

So now I need to go get dressed and try to get something done before we go pick up Daddy at work and go to 99 cent Chic-Fil-a. Talk to y'all soon.

Happy Birthday Nana!

Today is Nana's birthday! Happy Birthday Gayle. We made you a cake and sang Happy Birthday to you. I've got it on a little video, I hope it won't be too large to send via email.

I didn't have a cake mix, so I looked up a yellow cake recipe in the cookbook. I was surprised at just how easy it is and tastes better. Why would I want to buy another box again?

Ashley wanted pink icing and Austin wanted purple. And Mason just wanted to dump sprinkles on it. I hope you had a nice birthday! We love you!

Permanant marker

Even though I told most of you this story, I've got to get it in writing.

Yesterday, Austin and Ashley found a permanent marker and wrote on a Kitchen chair and up under the Kitchen table. I was able to get off the marker on the chair, but I didn't try too hard to get the marker off the bottom of the table.

They KNOW better than this! I really got onto them and told them, "I'm sorry but I have to give you a spanking". And Austin said, "We were just trying to make it pretty." And I explained, that I'm glad that it's pretty, but it doesn't matter if it is pretty or ugly we are NOT allowed to draw on anything but paper. So after I spanked him about 10-15 minutes later he came up to me and said, "I forgive you Mommy".

Oh THIS child! I couldn't help but laugh!

Oh the wonderful things....

...my kids can get into. Yes isn't this cute? I guess they got hungry. So they decided to get the Whole Bowl out of the refrigerator. And if you look to the right of the Mason's knee you will see they put parmesan cheese on it too. Isn't is lovely?














And then later in the day they found a rubber band ball. Let's look to see what they did with it...















Oh the wonderful things they get into!




Then Wednesday Dana and I started homeschooling our kids together. As we were discussing what we were going to do first, the kids got on her exercise machine. Check them out...


They had a blast.


















So for our homeschooling check this out: Dana's kids are 8 months younger than my kids, so we started with the short sound A for them and we did the "ai" sound for my kids.

The theme for the week is trains. So we have learned about the different cars on a train.
Then after we went over most of the posters, we read some books, played some games and then had our art project. They p"ai"nted and glued on "a"pples. I think it went very well.

busy

I've been really busy. I'll update soon though.

I can't wait to go to the crop tomorrow. I need a night off.

One of THOSE days

Well we were having ONE OF THOSE DAYS today. Is it a full moon? We went to Pizza Hutt and the kids were all over the place. Climbing over the booths, getting under the tables, running to and from the bathroom. I was so embarrassed. I know if this was someone else and I was witnessing this, I would have thought, "Gee get your children under control". Believe me I tried. There wasn't much I could do. I tried putting Mason in my lap for time out but he just screamed. I was ready to spank, but you can't do that in public anymore.

Anyway, one guy came up to me as I was looking so flustered and talked about how when his child was that age he wished that age away. And now he regrets wishing it away. His son came around the corner and he was about 14. Then he said as he was leaving, "You know what they say, God doesn't give you more than you can handle." And I said, "Yes, but also in the
Bible the people begged and prayed for a King and God said ok and gave it to them." He got a chuckle out of that.

So do you want to see a scary picture? I know I would be embarrassed to wear this in front of any of my friends, so I thought I would just get it over with and show the whole world...



pretty huh?

But I am sleeping very well because of it!






Last night I went to Dana's and scrapbooked. I got 2 layouts done, and I organized some. I also got 3 easy layouts done before I got to her house. I'll have to take pictures and put them on later (probably tomorrow).

Tonight Greg and I are going to see Annie the musical. We haven't gone on a date in a very long time. It will be nice to get out.

CPAP night and Alias

So you want to know how it went?

Surprisingly I feel better rested today. You are saying surprisingly?

Yep, I was up a lot last night. It doesn't help to drink 8 8oz glasses of water the second half of the day. And I really need to get use to this machine. I woke up in a panic that I was getting carbon monoxide poisoning, and I was having a hard time waking up. I forced myself up and went downstairs to read more about the machine. I felt a lot of air coming out the back of the mask and I thought that wasn't right. So I called the 24 hour support line at 3 in the morning, to find out that is what it is supposed to do.

I slept the rest of the night on the couch. Mason came downstairs and said, "Mommy? Mommy? Did you get a good night's sleep?"

You should see me...this machine makes me look like a monster. I guess I won't be waking up with perfect hair anymore. :(

It kind of scares Greg to see me hooked up. It makes him think that I'm in a hospital or something fighting for my life.

But all in all... with the little amount of sleep I did get, I think I feel better. I'm a bit groggy, but I have more energy than usual.


Now....Ughh! with everything going on yesterday I forgot to tape Alias. Urrrr...Anyone out there taped it and can let me see it? I'm embarrassed to ask Tracie again. :) (but Tracie if you are reading this, I would be so obliged if I could borrow it). Is obliged the right word?

CPAP Machine

I GOT it today!! Wahoooo! I got my CPAP machine. I know it will take time to get use to. I'm a little nervous. I'm afraid my ears will pop. They said if you are congested to call your doctor and ask if you should use the machine, because there is a possibility of your ear drums bursting. That really freaks me out. I'm not overly congested. Just my normal allergies. But when I was trying it out earlier, my ears were trying to pop (like if you were going through the mountains). They said that might happen, but it still freaks me out.

Anyway, I'll let you know if I got a good nights sleep tomorrow.

Electric Toothbrush

So if you found your electric toothbrush on and wet would you:

A) Rinse it off real well and put it back in the drawer.

B) Try to sterolize it thinking it might have been in your child's mouth.

C) Throw it away and buy a new one, because who knows where it has been. It may have fallen in the toilet, been in the dog's mouth or used to clean the grime off the floor.

Yes, that happened and I didn't take any chances with three 3 year olds. Luckly I went to the store and was able to pick one up before I needed to use it again.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!

Today was a very nice day.
Greg made pancakes for me in the morning.
Ashley actually sang a "mommy song" instead of a "daddy song"
The kids cuddled with me this morning and told me happy mother's day.
It was very sweet.

I teach the 2 and 3 year olds on Sunday morning and we made a really cute craft for Mother's Day. We asked each of them to answer questions about their moms and we wrote them down on paper flowers. Some of the answers were hysterical. I asked one kid how old his mom was and he said, "um...like 10". And another...Why do you love your mommy?...because I like it when she buys me gifts. I love this answer from Austin...What is your Mommy's favorite thing to do?....Eat and wash dishes. LOL! They were a hoot!

Doris and Gabriel joined us for lunch today at Outback. Unfortunately Outback took a tremendously long time to get seated and a tremendously long time to get our food out to us. The kids were tired and by the time we got our food they were ready to go home. Outback is my favorite resteraunt, so I know what the food usually tastes like. And I was extremely disappointed with the food today. I sent my steak back because I asked for medium and I got WELL DONE and tough. Then when my steak finally got to me the second time it was RARE and so much seasoning on it that it tasted bad. I don't mind medium rare, but rare is nasty. I brought it home. I figure if I cook it some more Greg will like it. But it was still nice to be out and not have to think of something to cook.

My Mom and Mother-in-law got their gifts yesterday in the mail. I think they really like them. Here's a picture of my Mom with her gift. (Hint hint Gayle) I made those altered clipboards for them. You can see Mom's in the picture. And Gayle's is like mine, made with pinks and blues. I took Ashley's dress and scanned it in to use as paper on ours.

Well I hope your day was a pleasant one and that tomorrow is even better.

I need suggestions please!

Well my kids' birthday is coming up in 2 months. My friend, Stephanie who's twins were born 4 days after mine, has her kids birthday already planned. AND she has a baby on the way. I on the other hand am still trying to figure out if I'm going to have a big party or small party or what. So I need your help.

My kids will be 4 on July 27th. I don't want to spend lots of money. Do I "try" to let them pick out their own theme? I don't see how they will all agree on the same thing. Do I "try" to make a party with 3 different themes? Should I just pick a theme and not even ask them?

I have 2 boys and 1 girl. I'm not willing to have 3 parties. I'm sure that will come later on.

What things should we do at the party? Play games? We attempted musical chairs last year and pin the tail on the donkey...they were all too young for it. I was a basketcase last year...I think I want things toned down or just be very well prepared. Do you have any suggestions?

ALSO, I want to make the guest bedroom into Ashley's room for her birthday. But Ashley doesn't want her own room and Austin does. So what do I do now?

updates

Here's an update:

I had my sleep study last night and I did very well with the CPAP machine. I should receive a call from them tomorrow asking when they can come by and set it up. YAY! I went into my REM sleep 6 times last night. I woke up several times thinking that surely the night was over. I wasn't use to getting that kind of sleep. The sleep tech said it will take time for my body to get use to it. But I still feel better than usual.


I need to get to the post office. My Mother's Day gifts will probably arrive late. But what else is new? (Sorry) Have I ever been organized? Ok maybe when I was on Ritilin. :)

I want to scrapbook. There is NO crop this weekend. You would have thought I had enough last weekend, but nope. Now I'm in withdraw. I started a layout that I haven't finished and I want to work on it. The next crop is not for another 2 weeks. (oh my I'm getting dizzy) I'm gonna have to figure out how to crop at home.

This is the last day of school for the kids. I've signed them up for the Summer and they go back in June. But that is 2 weeks without a break, no scrapbooking, even my friend Dana is in Chicago. It's so nice to have playdates at her house. The kids play together and we are able to usually do something crafty while they play. What will I do? You say, Clean my house? Oh man that doesn't sound like much fun.

The layouts I did over the weekend

Well here they are. I will write out the journaling underneath the photo if there is any.

-----Journaling---------
Ashley: Mommy, I want my Coke.
Me: Ok
Ashley (starts to giggle): I mean my Dr. Pepper, did you hear me? I said coke.
Me: You know what Ashley? In the south people call Dr. Pepper Coke.

You are my delight in little chipboard letters and tag.

----Journaling----

Every night at bed time we liten to Twila Paris' lullabys. I like to sing this song to you because all of you are my delight. You are my treasures! Mommy

In letter brads around the layout it says: What I want to be when I grow up. I put journaling on the back: Ashley age 3 (October 2005)

I asked the kids what they want to be when they grow up. Mason says a fire fighter. Austin says an engineer (train) and Ashley says she wants to be a princess.

---journaling reads---

Ashley on the left ~ age 3 and that's me on the right ~ age 3 1/2.

---journaling reads---

Mas was trying to give me a raspberry, but he wasn't doing such a great job. So I said, "Mason, you're spitting on me." and he said, "Mommy, I'm not spitting on you, it's just raindrops from my mouth."

---journaling reads---

Since Ashley has gotten her haircut, she always says she has Mommy hair. She does look just like me. The other day she said she wanted to be like Daddy. So she messed up her hair and said now I look like my Daddy.

No journaling except I put Easter 2006 on the back.

I actually made this tag as a make and take at the CK convention. I rarely use my make and takes, but this went well.

---Hidden journaling reads----

Today I was teaching my kids' Bible class and I slightly unprepared. So when we were playing with Play doh I tried to relate it to God. So I said, "God made our hands. Do you know why God made our hands?" I was expecting to hear "to feel" or "to touch". But Mason chimed in, "to keep them to ourselves." That's the funniest thing I've heard in a long time. He must have learned that from school.

---just a little journaling on the back---

I just love it when Ashley wheres piggy tails. She doesn't let me put them in here hair very often.

Ashley December 2005

Our Couch

We got our new couch yesterday. I love it. They gave me a 4 hour window of when it would be delivered. The window was from 10-2. I dropped off the kids at MDO came home sat down for a minute and called Greg. Then the doorbell rang. They were actually 1/2 hour early. I was glad because I had several things I wanted to do today. But, they had to give me a chance to vacuum. It was hard for them to get it in the door, but it's in here and I'm happy. The kids like it too. Who knows what Greg thinks. I think he is just happy if I'm happy.

Now I can make the guest room into Ashley's bedroom, because this one has a hideaway bed.

Just us girls

Yet again I find myself without any time to write in my Blog. But I wanted to leave you with this cute picture. That's me and my daughter Ashley!

This week

I went to a scrapbooking retreat this weekend. I am so excited I feel like I was so successful! Usually I do 1 or 2 really great layouts and the rest are kind of mediocre. But I got 9 layouts done and I am proud of everyone of them. I suppose I need to scan them in and put them on my blog.

I'm so tired and drained I might just go on to bed. The kids are actually asleep.

Tomorrow the kids have their second interview/comprehension IQ. I need to be prepared and take some toys to play with and a magazine for me.

And on Tuesday....Yahooooooo! We get our new couch.

And Wednesday night I have my sleep study. Whooooopeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

I'll post more later when I'm not so out of it.

I hope you have a great week!

Catching Up!

Well I'm tired....but what else is new? Actually, I have my sleep study scheduled for next Wednesday, May 10th. I can't wait! I hope they call and have an opening this week, I sure would like to start getting some good quality sleep and be rested for the BIG SCRAPBOOKING RETREAT this weekend.

Alot has been going on since I last posted. My Mom came to visit onThursday. We went to the CK scrapbook convention on Friday. Here is a picture of us hanging out with Lisa B. We had a great time getting ideas and buying way too many things. On Saturday she wasn't feeling well so she left to go home early. Please pray for her, she is not sure why she has pain in her face. She thought it was an abcess tooth, but the dentist is saying that that is not the reason she is having the pain in her face. I'm sure it is part of it and I hope when it is fixed the pain will go away.

She had brought the kids birdhouses to paint while she was here. So before she left on Saturday, even before breakfast I got out the paint so they could paint their houses. We didn't get any pictures. HA! (More like we got 500.) With both of us being shutterbugs, it was ridiculous how many pictures we actually got.

Saturday, we went to a fabulous wedding! We are so excited to finally see our friends get married. He is 52 and this is his first marriage. The place was packed! He is a cinematographer, so when the preacher presented them as Mr. & Mrs. Mark Pleasant then we heard the beginning (oh shoot, I don't know what it is called). When you go to a movie and you hear the music go from one ear to the next. Well that's what they played. The kids fell asleep during the music and then we woke them up for cake. They were one of the highlights after the wedding was over. We sat there while everyone exited and commented on them. Well they do look awfully cute!

We had another big day on Sunday (as usual). At church they had the baby dedication day. I love this day now, 5 years ago it was too hard for me to watch. But I cried with joy as all those parents brought their children forward, especially for those who adopted or had a hard time conceiving.

Monday, we had a playdate with Braxton and Dalton. The kids painted and had a great time. I love that Ms. Dana is so crafty. She is a great Mom and friend.

That gets us caught up to today. Are you still reading? Thanks! Today, I took the kids for their interview with a counselor to try to get them into Encore. All 3 of them passed part 1. Now they need to go back on Monday to take a comprehension IQ test for part 2. I don't remember what they each need to get, but I thought it was kind of high. So now I'm nervous. I was VERY pleased to hear Ashley passed the pre-reading test. I wasn't sure if she would. The boys usually outshadow her. All of the kids are above average, which is nice to hear. And I was very pleased to know Austin is well beyond above average. It was hard waiting there while they tested. I was out in the hallway with the 2 that were not testing at the time. It was a long hallway with no pictures, drab walls with a dark reddish looking stripe and a table with 3 chairs at the end of the hallway. After Ashley tested I asked the lady for some paper so they could draw. That helped a bit with the waiting. But there were no toys, I was quite surprised. Next time I will be ready. All the kids were thirsty and hungry and I had nothing to give them. Needless to say I was drained by the time it was over. She explained some things, but most of it I didn't understand. I think I'll send Greg next time. LOL! Well that's it! Thanks for reading!