huricane Katrina

Last night Greg prayed with the kids about the Hurricane situation. Today that has lead to several questions. The kids are too young to worry about this, so I'm trying to talk about it but make it less scary (I guess).

Anyway, Austin brought me the puzzle peices of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. He asked me practically all day, "what happened in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana" He kept telling me that some houses were floating and the people had to run away. (Greg- that might have been too much info honey) Ashley and Mason joined in by saying, if we were by the ocean we would throw a stick and run away.

I tried to tell mainly Austin (he's the most concerned) about the hurricane and that it brought lots of water and now some people have to find some new homes so we need to pray for them. And I tried to emphasize that we are safe here.

Poor little fellow--he is so concerned about others. It is really sweet.

cheese puffs

I forgot to write about this. On Sunday, we had lunch at church and we had some Cheese Puffs. Mason didn't know what they were called so he asked for more Tennessee's. Think about it. The cheese puffs are the same shape as Tennessee. I thought that was really cute.

Meatballs

I took Austin on a "special trip" to the grocery store tonight. He said, "I go on special trip cuz it's my bir..."Then he stopped himself and said, "because it's somebody else's birthday today." LOL! _____________________________________________

So since, the weather is not so great, I've decided to make several crafts this week to give them something to do.

Tonight I was going to try out a recipe for Rubber Flubber before giving it to the kids. But they saw it.

A year or 2 ago, I did a kid's recipe swap. One person did GAK. Another person did Rubber Flubber and a 3rd person did Glob. Turns out that all of these are the same thing. So as I was making this, I was thinking why would anyone want to play with this. Ashley was so curious in what I was making and just had to have some. BOY am I glad I made it. This was the best fun! No matter what anyone else calls it....to my kids it's meatballs. Yep- Meatballs! They threw their meatballs and ran after them. I'm sure that they got this idea from the Elmo Video where Snuffy is running after his giant meatball. They had so much fun! They didn't want to put it away at bedtime. Well now we have playdough and Meatballs to play with tomorrow for another rainy day. I might get brave and make puff paint, but we will see.

playdough

Today I made playdough. I have a really great recipe for it (if anyone wants it). We had such a great time. So before I tell you, can you guess who made what?

Ashley likes to make little balls and collect them in a container, stealing the others playdough when they are not looking. (hoarding rather than what she made is more like Ashley)

Mason- Can you guess? He made cakes and cookies. (Food- that's my Mason!)

Austin- Can you guess? He made letters with letter cookie cutters. (And Letters- Exactly like Austin!)

Well, when I was making letters with Austin. He made 3 letters (IAM). He asked me what it said. I told him it wasn't a word and I took away the I. Then he said AM. I said that's right. So then he said, lets write SAM. I asked him what letter we needed and he said ssssssss S. So he wrote the word SAM. Then he wanted to write Rebecca, Daddy and Austin Doyle. :)

pretend food

Why is it that kids fight over PRETEND food/things?

Ashley and Mason got in a fight yesterday because Ashley drank all the pretend soup. As soon as Mason makes the soup, Ashley will slurp it up and says yum yum yum yum yum and laughs. THERE IS NOTHING THERE! They are probably 6 feet away from each other. Mason cries Ashley keeps taking my soup.

I tried to tell him she couldn't touch this bowl of soup; it was only for him. HA! That didn't work. Or there is a magic sheild up and she can't get to your soup anymore. That didn't work. Ok, so then I try to say Ashley stop taking his soup. That didn't work. Why did I even get to there level of fighting over NOTHING? Oh well! I guess I'll just let them fight.

My triplets

Greg said something like, How are Daddy's triplets?
And Austin who argues everything said, "They're not JUST Daddy's triplets they're Mommy and Daddy's triplets ."

LOL- He makes me laugh!

Oh I also love it when we are trying to get him to say his name. We will say and here is muffin (or some other word). And Austin always says, "I not muffin I Aussie Michael." A lot of times he will say, "I not Austin, I Aussie". It's so cute!

My little teacher

I love this!

Today in the car we were talking to the kids. And Greg called Ashley a little lady. Austin said she's not a lady she's a great girl. So we tried to explain that lady is another word for a polite woman. Then we tried to explain what a gentleman was. Heres the conversation that followed:

Austin: I don't want to be a genteman. I'm going to be a teacher.
Mommy: Who are you going to teach?
Daddy: Children? teenagers or grownups?
Austin: grown ups
Mommy: What are you going to teach?
Austin: I'm going to teach them letters and numbers.
Daddy: Austin, did you know that I'm a teacher?
Austin: yah, I a teacher and you a teacher too Dad.

Happy Anniversary!

Hey there! Happy Anniversary to my parents yesterday! (August 26, right?) So how many years has it been?

Today was a MUCH better day! The only bad thing that happened was that I accidentally erased all the pictures I took today. But I only had 2 or 3 really good ones anyway.

The kids wanted to ride their tricycles today. So we went outside to play. Austin had to have Dorothy Red sparkling shoes on! Ha ha ha! That was one of the great pictures I took. I was going to have you guess who's feet these were.

The other picture I was going to share with you is one of Ashley. My sweet precious little girl stuck a number up her nose. When we asked her why she did it, she said, "because it's funny". and then giggled hysterically. We couldn't help laughing. Yes this encouraged her to continue to do it. I always thought my boys would stick things up their noses before my little girl did it. But no not the case.

Yes- I had a boy in girl shoes and a girl with a plastic number up her nose.

It was nice to have Greg home and get a little relief!

Last night was nice too. We got a babysitter and went to see JAM night at the movies. It was so good. (Mom- You will love this one!) It was The Coming of the King. I watched this movie and then went into another part of the church to scrapbook. I really didn't get anything done. But I had a good time with some friends. Then we went out to Shoney's. I hadn't been there in years. I was actually impressed with the Cheeseburger I ate. Yum. (And JAM picked up the bill- another wonderful thing)

Thanks for your prayers, I needed them.

Ok! I think I need some prayers. It has not gotten better today. And I'm sure it's because I didn't send out that chain letter to 10 people within 5 minutes. :)

Anyway, I just HAD to get out of the house (plus I truly needed groceries). So I took the kids to WalMart. Have you tried to wheel 2 carts around? Well that's beside the point. While we were there Ashley had diarrhea. It was pouring outside and I had a load of groceries. I thought she had just a regular BM and I was hoping to finish up my shopping and then get out to the car and then change her. But it soon became a nightmare. She starts standing up in the front of the cart and you can imagine....It had gone through her clothes, running everywhere. She didn't want to sit back down. So I have to buy diapers, wipes and a new outfit for Ashley (good thing I wasn't at Sax 5th Avenue or some other expensive clothing store). Then trying to get them all in the bathroom at Walmart and clean up this mess. UGH!

Alright let's think of the positives:

1. I remembered to put my belt on so my pants didn't fall down
2. A lady at McDonald's commented on how good my children were behaving (I get this all the time and I think if my kids are behaving how do other kids act.) But hey, it's a compliment and I'll take that today
3. I get to go out tonight. And I might get to sneak in a little scrapbooking.
4. The rain stopped in time for me to bring the kids inside and the groceries too.
5. It could have been all 3 with diarrhea.

Just need to vent

Today was an exceptionally hard day. I feel like I'm falling apart. I just can't get ahead to save my life!

Yes they look cute- but they are toddler terrorists! I cleaned the Family room, within minutes you can not tell that I did anything. I folded clothes to put away and the kids dumped everything on the floor so they could have "boats". I was putting clothes away in their drawers when a mirror came crashing down and broke into several peices. It hit Ashley, but she was not hurt. And I'm surprised Austin and Mason weren't hurt either since they ran through the glass to get out of the way.

So while I was cleaning up the mirror... I had to just about beat the kids to keep them out of their room, yelling Danger this will hurt you. Well finally when I got the broken vacuum out they went running. They don't like the sound so they went in my room and the bathroom. OH NO is right! They used all of the dixie cups, they got into the toilet, threw things down the steps, threw things down the vents, got into the toothpaste, dumped the soft soap, dumped toys all over, etc.

The only way the vacuum works right now is with the attachment. So I vacuumed the floor on my hands and knees going over all that I could. I think I cleaned it up well. I did find some in a drawer, which means I have to wash all their clothes.

This happened right before naptime. So I couldn't just lock the door and deal with it later. Oh speaking of LOCKING the doors. The kids locked themselves into my bedroom. Thank goodness they unlocked it. This is the room we had to call a locksmith to unlock.

At nap time... Ashley and Austin got a swat because they got out of bed. They made me so angry I put myself in time out! They cried themselves to sleep. And I took 2 Advil and watched Oprah with a big bowl of ice cream and choc. chip cookie dough. (I know! Don't get on to me!)

Oh and did I mention I'm potty training?

Mason held it ALL day. He is terrified to pee on the potty. He had a meltdown b/c I made him sit on the potty today. Ashley and Austin peed in their underwear more times than I can count and they know how to use the potty. Ashley and Austin had a meltdown b/c I wouldn't give them a treat since they peed in their underwear.

Ashley got mad today and threw her orange juice. So I took it from her and told her she couldn't have any more juice today. So of course that was an issue today too. I told her she could have water or milk. You would have thought I took away her security blanket.

Oh speaking of security blankets. She spilled cereal on it and I have to wash it. She doesn't have it for bed time. She didn't seem to be too upset tonight. Thank goodness.

Ashley also got mad at me because I couldn't (not wouldn't ---couldn't)find her giraffe chair. (which is shown above in the picture)

She was such a brat today! She had a few spankings and deserved them too.

Today was BAD! They ate french toast sticks for breakfast, cereal for lunch and cereal for dinner. Well then Mason and Austin had a PB&J sandwich right before bed.

I really want to cry! Thanks for listening to me vent.

the stopped train

On our way to church tonight, we passed under a train that was stopped on the railroad. I said, "kids look there's a train". Ashley said, "Oh No it's not moving. It needs new batteries." :)

Alexis has been FOUND

Thank you for your prayers. I don't know any details at the moment except that she has been found and she is being returned to her family.

Would you like some?

Greg had helped Ashley make some more happy spiders. If you are not aware of what a happy spider is... you fold a peice of paper in half, trace around your hand, cut off the thumbs, open it up and decorate it with eyes and a smily face (got this off of Barney). Anyway, Greg helped Ashley make 5 happy spiders tonight. When she was finished she put them into a bowl. Here is the conversation that happened next:

G: Are you making Spider Soup?
A: No, I'm making Spidersghetti
G: Why don't you go tell Mommy that?
A: Mommy, want some spidersghetti?
M: Yummm!
A: Don't really put that in your mouth, that would be YEUUCK!

So anyone want some?

Tonight- I gave Ashley one of her paper spiders in bed with her tonight. I told her if she gets scared to wave the spider in the air and that will make her smile. She's already waved it about 10 times. But so far it's working. I hope she doesn't get out of bed tonight. I'm very tired.

I was going to do the same thing with Austin, but i was going to give him a little flashlight. But he fell asleep before I could give it to him. I really hope he sleeps tonight!

Friend Missing

Friends- Please pray and keep an eye out for 13 year old Alexis Holmes. I'm not able to put a picture right here, so please check out the attached link.

The whole family are dear friends of ours. We are praying for her safe return. She lives in Hermitage.

http://www.newschannel5.com/content/news/13921.asp?print=true

squeeky clean

Today the kids were pretty good. They only dumped one full bottle of bubbles in the bathroom floor. (eyeroll)

I was on the computer (that's when things usually happen I should have learned my lesson by now), Austin comes in and says, "I'm not getting in trouble." I said, "good" Then he said, "Ashley and Mason are getting in trouble. Come Mommy" I said, "What are they doing?" And he said, "I not getting in trouble, they are getting into the bubbles."

I locked the bathroom door until I could get back to it and clean it up. When I finally got to it, it had spread over the entire bathroom floor.

I've been informed

I have been informed by Mason that Cookie Monster is handsome. I just thought I'd let the rest of you know incase you didn't know that.

show off

Talk about a show off.... I was so tickled when we were at church yesterday in the library. I was showing Austin on the globe where Alaska is located. And he saw the United States and started naming just about every state. He said there's Texas and there is Nevada and there is etc.... etc... And he did this right in front of a man who was in the library. He was totally impressed. I have to say I am totally impressed too. It's one thing to remember on one map, but to recognize them on different shapes and sizes maps it just blows me away. Way to go Austin! Mommy is really proud of you!

hammer

I had to laugh at Ashley today when she was making a happy spider. I would cut shapes and she would glue them to her spider. She was upset because the paper wasn't staying down on all sides, so she asked me for Daddy's hammer! I didn't give it to her of course, which caused a meltdown. But she would hit the paper and say, "pound, pound, pound, I need a hammer" I was able to glue the sides down for her so she could cope.

Another funny

When I put the kids down for their nap today, Ashley had a folding chair in her bed. She wanted to sit in it. I said," Ashley you need to lie down on your pillow." She said, "I need to sit up here and watch over Austin and Mason." And then I said, "Well then who will watch over you?" She said, "Mommy, you will watch over me." And I said, "Ashley, since I'm watching over you, I can watch over Austin and Mason too. You need to lie down on your pillow." I guess she couldn't argue with that.

Smiley Face

This is Mason's first time drawing a smiley face. I'm so excited. It really looks like it. Anyway, he drew another face that had a frown. He told me that that face was sad. And I said, "why is he sad?" And he told me, "He was sad because HE lost his PURSE."

I'm so glad I had my camera with me to catch this on film. I've asked him since then to draw me another smiley face, but he hasn't done it for me.

U.S. Puzzle

I finally saw him do it! I knew Austin could do the whole puzzle by himself, but I never saw him do the whole thing until today. I still don't know how many states he knows. I'm sure it is not all of them, but he knows most of them.

Hey Mom- Can you tell me if you were automatically emailed to tell you I updated my blog. I'm trying to figure out if I have to do something else.

Picture

Here is a recent picture of the kids. Wish I could get Greg's arm out of the picture.

(This is just a test to see how to put pictures on my blog. I see that it works now.)

Scanned with permission from the photographer.

Notify list

Well I finally figured out this notify list. If you want to be notified when I update my blog, there is a button on the right near the bottom where you can sign up.

The dentist

Well I can’t believe I forgot to write about them going to the Dentist for the first time on Wednesday. I’m glad Greg met me there or I’m sure it would have been chaotic. But I took Mason back first. He did so well. He got a little wimpy near the end and started to pout, but I was right there to comfort him. Mason’s teeth were in great shape! Next went Ashley. She was so good. She opened her mouth and just did everything the dental hygienist asked her to do. The dental hygienist could tell who had the sweet tooth. Her teeth were still in good shape they just had a little more plaque. Then it was crazy Austin’s turn. The little stinker refused to open his mouth. But with much coaxing he finally opened up. He had a little tiny spot on one tooth. He kept wiggling his tongue around and made it really difficult for her. She asked me if he was the most talkative one. Then she taught me how to floss their teeth. She made it look so easy. When I got home to try it, I couldn’t even get my fingers in their mouth. Anyway, being the shutterbug that I am I did take pictures of their first dental appointment. Let me know if you want to see them.

Ashley's night time routine

Ashley does this many nights. It makes me laugh...

When Ashley wakes up in the middle of the night (typically around 3:00) she comes to our door. She stands there one or two minutes to make sure we are sleeping. (that's an odd feeling to know she is just staring at you, but you don't want to move.) Then she closes our door. She goes into the bathroom and into her room and collects STUFF. She brings it to the hallway in front of our door and at the top of the steps. (yes, we have the gate up!) Then she plays for 5 to 10 minutes. Then she gets up, opens our door and then falls asleep right there in the hallway. It makes me laugh because she has this routine. Anyway, I stay awake listening to her until she falls asleep making sure she doesn't get hurt. But I don't dare move or she will be up in bed with us or wanting me to go downstairs with her, etc.

I wonder why she closes our door. Does she think she is going to get in trouble? or does she not want to bother us? But after she is done playing she opens the door again. funny huh?

Greg never hears it. He usually is a sound sleeper.

Getting Caught Up!

Wow what an incredibly busy week! I think I can breathe now.

Tuesday: I took Ashley to the orthopedic doctor about her knee. They found nothing wrong. I am supposed to give her motrin every day for 2 weeks. If she complains of her knee hurting during this time and 2 weeks following I am supposed to document when and where she says she hurts. I think she is getting better and that we won't need to go back, but if she does continue to hurt we will have to take her back for blood tests. The doctor is concerned that it continues to be the same knee.

Wednesday: I took the kids to church only to find out that this was family night and they didn't have classes. With the way the kids have been acting (mainly crazy Austin) I was so looking forward to getting away from them for an hour. But I picked up some Wendy's food and we ate in a classroom. On our way out to the car... I slightly triped over a hole or something on the ground. Austin said, "Careful Chelle". I said, "thank you Austin but you call me Mommy." How sweet and what stinker at the same time.

Thursday: I stopped giving Austin the antihistimine. It was causing him to be hateful! He had to continue with the steroid. I could live with him being crazy, but the antihistimine made him tired too. crazy + tired = hateful! One second he was whining to be in my lap and the next second he was kicking me to get away from him. I just couldn't handle that. He acted better today. Or maybe it is because I took the kids to Star's house so I could work on the consignment sale stuff. I truly needed the break- This has been an awful week! (Obviously I stopped the potty training temporarily b/c I was going insane.)

Friday: Greg got the day off from work to help me watch the kids and help me set up at the sale. I'm so glad that he did. Our neighbor across the street, Bruce, helped us take 2 car loads of stuff to the sale and set up.

Saturday: I had to work the sale so Greg watched the kids. Greg said he had a good day with them. Greg asked the kids what they wanted to do when they grow up and Austin said, I want to play the piano. So the other 2 of course said they wanted to play the piano too.
I have a good estimate about how much I made at the sale... I made $700. Wahoooo!!!! So tonight we celebrated by going to Outback. YUM! (my favorite!) Austin was a bit hyper, but all in all it was great! It's so funny how many people tell us how well behaved our children are. We are always so amazed by this!

Sunday: Today- I had to teach in the kids' class today and they were SO bad! I was so embarrassed. One lady commented that it 'really wasn't fair to me or the kids that I teach their class' (eyeroll) That was her nice way of saying your kids are acting terrible! And another lady just kept giving me looks like aren't you going to do something. I held up during the class, but I cried when I got out of there! I felt like such a bad Mom today. Austin fought with another little boy over a toy that Austin plays with every Sunday. Austin flipped out! I finally asked one of the helpers to take Austin out of the room. Are the steroids still in his system?



Sunday

Austin's allergic reaction

Well last night Austin's ear doubled in size. It look like an elf's ear, pointy and sticking straight out. So Greg took him to the children's emergency room. Thank goodness it wasn't infected, like they first thought. But he is having a severe allergic reaction to some bug bites. We had a follow up doctor's visit with Dr. Mary today. She said that is looked like flea bite. FLEA bites? We don't have any animals. Anyway, we are having Cooks pest control come out tomorrow to spray for fleas.

Dr. Mary told us that Austin's medicine will make him emotionally unstable. And boy is it! He has been so awful today. I don't know how to handle him.

I've backed off on the potty training because there is so much going on. Not totally quitting, but not pushing it either.

Tomorrow, I take Ashley to see a Doctor in Children's orthapedics. I hope they can help her.

All da way home

When we are out in the car and we are nearing home, Ashley starts singing, "We're we're we're we're we're we're we're" She sings it to Barney's Me and My Best Teddy Bear tune. I immediately knew what she was doing. And I giggle to myself everytime she does it. But Greg was with us the other day when she started singing it. Greg asked her what she was doing. And she said, "I'm singing we're we're we're all da way home" When we pull into the driveway, she yells "We're home!"

Ashley has a great sense of direction and is well aware of her surroundings. Mason, bless his heart (as they say in the south), he gets all turned around. It baffles me, since I have a good sense of direction. But he insists that we came in a door on the other side of the building or this is the way back into the party, etc. when he's wrong. Austin seems to know his way around.

Hot and Cold!

Do you know the song Deep and Wide? Well we were in the car yesterday and Mason starts singing: Hot and Cold, hot and cold there's a fountain flowing hot and cold. Both Greg and I told him no it's deep and wide, but he kept singing hot and cold. Finally Greg asks Mason," Who taught you hot and cold?" And he said, Jesus. I looked at Greg and said, "Well if Jesus taught him then I guess that's what the words are." We just laughed and laughed. Ashley joined in with the hot and cold and Austin sang deep and wide.

It was a hard day!

The training: I've had a hard day today.

Everytime I said it was time to sit on the potty, Austin would say, "NO" or "I don't need to". Well of course he didn't need to, he had peed all over the house. Today has been harder than the last 3 days!

They wanted to play in the laundry baskets, so they dumped all the clean clothes out on the floor this morning. UGH!

Ashley put a whole roll of toilet paper in the toilet and has peed. So now I have a stopped up toilet and a real mess to clean up. She has told me over and over today that she broke the toilet.

She also played with water downstairs, while I was upstairs with Mason. She had water all over the bathroom floor.

Then to top it off She got into my makeup and put on my lipstick, that never comes off, on her arms. She is upset that it won't come off. Austin and Mason were in to the make-up too (atleast they used the non-waterproof mascara). Austin and Mason had make-up all over them and they just kept saying Ashley did it. I said yes, I know Ashley did it, but you did too. And I picked up Austin to show him his cheek. And he said, "yes I did this all by myself". And you are asking where was I when they were getting into the make-up? On the computer telling some friends that I was having a hard day. They are asleep now, I've learned my lesson.

I got really depressed today and decided I HAD to get out of the house. So I took them to the Parent-Teacher Store. I didn't think we would be there that long. I put on pull ups, because I didn't want to deal with a mess then. We got there and they fell apart! I didn't know how I was going to get them out of the store. I'm glad the customers were understanding, one of them even said to me, "we've all been there." The clerk on the other was not very happy. But I think he was having a bad day before we even walked in the door. They fell asleep on the way home. I tried to nap, while they were napping, but it didn't happen. I did get a little rest though and I feel rejuvinated.

We started the chore chart tonight. 1. Put dishes into sink 2. Pick up toys 3. Put clothes into laundry basket. They liked putting the "stickers" (not stickers but for lack of a better word that's what I'll call them) on the chart. And it worked so I suppose tonight ended on a much better note.

Big stickers!

Today the kids found my "pads". They have realized that they are big stickers. So when I walked into the bathroom this morning, they were stuck all over the cabinet. I should have taken a picture---but I didn't.

He DID IT!

Well Mason finally peed on the potty today and it scared him to death! He didn't like it at all. But we still made a big deal about it and took him to the dollar store to pick out a present. He was so cute when he went into the store (so proud). He picked up dishes and cups and was so genuinely interested in so many things. But he finally settled on army men (which is the same thing Ashley picked out). Mason knew that's what he wanted before he walked into the store, and sure enough that is what he picked.

Ashley's still doing great, except when they were taking a nap she decided to come sleep with me and peed in our bed. ugh!

Austin is doing fine. Sometimes he is gung ho about going and other times he is really annoyed that I ask him.

Potty Training Day 2

Austin Pooped in the potty (standing up). He got to go to the dollar store tonight and pick out a toy.

Ashley did great today! She pooped too. She got to pick out a toy too.

Mason wants the toy, but continues to tell me it is too hard to go. I have the toilets set up in the family room so they could watch tv and sit on them. I was hoping this would help him relax, but he won't sit on it period!

How long does this take? I'm tired.

Potty Training

Ugh! This is the first real day of potty training.

Ashley has got it down pretty much. Austin can do it, but for some reason just refuses and then pees every where. He knows he is peeing and doesn't feel any remorse at all. I think he thinks it's cool to watch the pee pee come out. Too bad it is not on the potty.

My Mason. Poor little fella. He sat and sat this morning and all he would say is, "it's too hard". When I ran upstairs, he had an accident on the floor and just fell a part. By the cry I knew what had happened. When I got downstairs, Ashley had a towel and was wiping it up. It took several minutes to console Mason, he was crushed. Then he was sitting on the potty and got a dot on the seat and fell apart again. I tried to tell him he did a great job. We called Daddy at work and told him...etc.

I hope tomorrow is easier for him (well for all of us).

He told me that He IS big but wants a diaper.