I left my brain at the door!

It is definitely Monday....I was getting Riley in the car this morning to go into church to clean and stuff and I spent 10 minutes trying to find my keys. Doesn't sound like a big deal unless you realize that in order to lock the door as you leave the house, you have to have keys! I apparently made it out of the house, lock the door and then they simply vanished! I tried to call my husband to have him tell me that I had not lost all touch with reality only to get his voice mail! Finally I found them (after 10 minutes of feeling like a complete dunce...it that how you spell that.....I'll get the hat and sit in the corner!). Great way to start of the week.
To top this off, I am feeling a little grumpy and realize that I am apparently PMSing. ANYTHING ELSE!!!!!!!!

The kids are back in school from spring break and so Riley and I have to get back into our routine. This morning he went to play with Jonah and Noah. It's so funny, if you ask him if he wants to go, when he gets up, he gets upset and says No but then later, after breakfast, he tells me that he's not crying anymore and he wants to go play! He is soooo funny sometimes....all the time. I can't say enough what a lifesave Suzanne is for taking him on Monday mornings! Things just get done so much faster without an extra appendage!

Speaking of funny...we were outside over the weekend (my husband and Cooper had the bright idea to have 4 of Coop's friends over for a camp out, tent and all, in the woods behind our house...that's a story for later!) and I had gotten Riley an Icee from the convenience store. He's walking around in the garage, take a big drink, looks off to the side a little and says, "MMMM, that is dericious!" We about fell down laughing. Where do they come up with this stuff. He will definitely be the class clown when he gets in school....Great. See you in the principal's office!

Fish, Cheerleading.....anything else!!!!

Where to begin, where to begin......this is the first chance I've had to get anywhere near the computer in 2 weeks! We have been running ragged! Let's see.....Jo had cheerleading tryouts this past Friday and lo and behold, I know have a bonafide cheerleader in my house. She told me that it will probably cost us about $800.00 for everything....OH GREAT! Anyway, she was the last name read off and she proceeded to fall on the floor in the fetal position and bawled! Then for the next 2 hours she ran around the house, with a phone in her hand, screaming! I'm not sure that anyone on the other end got anything intelligible out of it but you know how teenage girls are..they have their own language! She's off on a mission trip this week during Spring Break in Mississippi, trying to help out down there.

The Fish. We have a new family member....as if we needed something else in our house. His name is Nemo...pretty elaborate, huh!? The fish story is really very exciting. We get Nemo in a Wal-Mart fish bag as a gift. The goldfish is huge and the water in the bag is a little nasty. They brought us a little round fish bowl that is made for bettas and when I put him in I notice that this is definitely not enough space for the monster fish. I didn't have time right then to go get a tank but we did get one later in the day. Supposedly you need to add the chemicals to neutralize the chlorine, blah, blah, blah, so we filled up the tank and put in all the froo-froo and let it set for about an hour. I'm out in the garage doing something and Ronny comes out and says that he doesn't think that Nemo is doing very well. I come in and Nemo is doing the side stroke...without the stroke! We tried to get Riley to let us put him out in the garage under the premis that Nemo needed a nap but that only started the "Nemo will be scared without me" bawling fit. Then we tried to get him to let me put him in the den and that didn't work either....but....as I set the bowl down on the desk, I notice that Nemo jerks. So I set it down a couple more time to ensure that my eyes aren't playing tricks on me, and he does it every time. I know that he is on his way to visit the heavenly ocean in the sky so I figure what can it hurt if we go ahead and put him in the tank with all the chemicals? He's on his way out anyway, right? Well, we were sorely mistaken because Nemo made a complete recovery in a matter of about 15 minutes!!! Is that not absolutely crazy. Guess he just overdose on grimy water. Anyway, he is doing well in his new home and Riley has decided that Nemo is no longer scared without him so he (Riley) needs to sleep in our bed all of the time! Aren't we blessed!

Keep me in your prayers because Cooper is out of school this week and the boys can't seem to be in the same room for longer than 30 seconds before they are yelling or hitting each other!!!!! HELP ME!!!!!!!

Still Here!

I am still here....barely! My weeks have become just more days like the one I wrote about earlier. There just seems to be no time in any of my days for me...but I'm sure that none of you have any idea what I'm talking about.

I am just so tired. This is going to be my pitty party moment so just let me have it and then I'll shut-up! I have been running the kids, here and there and back again. Between baseball tryouts, cheerleading tryouts, play-dates, orthodontist appointment, practice this and that, I don't know if I'm coming or going. I am doing all the house stuff at night because I haven't been home during the day and then I'm leaving the house at 9:00 pm to pick up Jo from one place or another. That's usually the time I get to sit down and just veg for 10 minutes before bed! Forget reading or stamping or scrapbooking. I can't do anything I want to do and I feel like I'm paying the price for it. My brain is a mess of mush and somedays I think I might just go under so I can sleep...oh wait...I don't get to do that alone either!!!!! Anyway, thank you for the listening ear and I'll stop belly aching now!

Bottom Sheets

Okay, so I get up this morning (dragging myself from bed, while grumbling the entire time) and do my Kinetics. I get finished and am feeling good about myself and I wake up the rest of the family and figure that I'll get a few little things done while they're getting up and around so I walk into the laundry room....Who in the heck invented the bottom sheet!? Is it just me or does the whole thing seem like a conspiracy? I spent 15 minutes trying to figure out how to fold the stupid thing, and being that this one has elastic all the way around the edge, there was no middle to be found to fold on. I ended up semi-folding, semi-wadding the crazy thing and calling it a day. Please tell me I am not the only one who can't figure this out. Telling me that there are other female adults that find themselves entangled in sheets, in the laundry room, praying that someone will save them?! If there is a secret...PLEASE let me know!

Yesterday was CRAZY!!!! Left the house at 8:30 and didn't make it back until 5:30. Went to the church to pay bills, etc and ended up there until 10:30, got my teeth cleaned at 11:00, got Riley and my hair cut at 11:30, grabbed some food at McDonald's and went to the dealership to eat with the hubby, headed to Wal-Mart for basics and some medicine for Riley, went to the Methodist Church to pick up paperwork for Riley to start pre-school next year and dropped a packet off by Kristy's, picked up the kids from school early for a 2:30 appointment at the dentist to get their teeth cleaned, took Jordyn back to school at 3:20 for her accountability group, went to have Coop's haircut at 3:45, ran back to get Jordyn from school again at 4:10, stopped and ate at Taco Bell, headed home about 5:00 only to come back into town to pick up Ronny's drycleaning and drop Jordyn off at gymnastics. This sounds hectic but take into consideration that the entire time I am toting around Riley who is not feeling good, running a low-grade fever and has had NO NAP! Feel sorry for me yet? Craziness! The really sad thing is that by the time we headed home from dropping Jo off at gymnastics, Riley is nodding off in his seat, so when we got home he slept in my lap, on the couch, for about an hour, running a high fever. Poor little man. Hopefully the antibiotics, that I think I picked up during the marathon, will get rid of whatever this stupid bug is that has implanted itself in my house! IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS HOLY GET OUT!!!!!!!! Needless to say, I was TIRED!!!!!

Moms...ARGH!!!!

Here I am writing a blog about being a parent and I am still dealing with being a kid of sorts! My mom calls tonite and told me I needed to be careful about what I am putting in my blog...kids info, pics, etc....and I know that she has a point but come on! Just read it and say "That is really cool"...no lecture (even if you're right, Mom), no worrying. I re-read everything to make sure that I didn't put in too much and I feel okay with everything....stop worrying Mom!

Okay, maybe adult is not so bad. You grow up and after years of having just a few close friends, in 30-something years, you realize that you are surrounded by Wonderful friends. Kristy, Diana, Suzanne, Carolyn, and so many from our church family make me feel so secure and loved. I get constant reassurance that I am a good parent, I can reveal my deepest fears and tell them that I had to bite my lip in Wal-Mart so that I wouldn't cry (long week with a 3 year old + monthly hormones). There are so many times that I feel so alone and I'm not. God has surrounded me with precious angels...friends. Usually when I feel the most alone, it's not because my friends have deserted me but because I have walled myself in. Thank you guys for seeing my flaws and loving me anyway!

Yesterday was a pretty good day. I actually got up at 5:40(can't believe I actually made myself crawl out of bed) and did my exercise before anyone else got up. It's crazy how good you feel once you do it but getting started is a pain in the butt. If any of you are looking for an awesome workout that you can do at home....Nike Kinetics. It's made for the Playstation. You have to have or get an Eyetoy, but it is incredible. It has cardio, combat (lots of punching), yoga, Tai-chi, etc. and it gives you one heck of a workout. I absolutely love and would recommend it to everyone. It never gets boring because it changes the routine(Wow, I really had to think how to spell that) everytime you use it. It is generally 3, sometimes 4 days a week.

There are some days that having kids isn't such a bad thing. Jo stayed home again because she felt better but was still tired. She is such a huge help when it comes to her little brother. I never worry about leaving Riley with her and it frees me up to just run those "quick" errands that take forever when you're having to get a toddler in and out of the car 50 times!

I spent the entire morning doing "homework" with Boogie (Riley's nickname). We are part of the HIPPY (not sure exactly what that stands for) program and they bring learning things and books to us everyweek to start learning just basic ideas like full/empty, open/close, story retention and things like that. We got started in the program a little late and so we are doing 2 and 3 lessons in a week and he loves it. Anyway, we got all of our work done and then we all went outside. It was a gorgeous 70-something degrees and we blew bubbles, he rode his tractor and chased the puppies.

After I got Cooper from school, he, Boogie and I went out to play catch. Tryouts for baseball are in 2 weeks and we're trying to get ready. I think that Coop would rather play catch with someone who could actually throw the ball to him. I'm trying to be cool and about that time I'll wing off to the left or the right!!!! Oh well, at least he's getting in some practice at having to chase after the balls! Boogie was helping too. He can really throw a ball at 3. He threw Coop the ball from where I was standing and it reached him! I have been blessed with 2 athletic boys.

Went to Kristy's for stamp club and it was a blast as usual. She is really talented and we all enjoy learning new techniques....and especially buying new stuff. New stamps, new paper, new paperpunches, new ink, new, new, new!!!! What's so funny is that I get new stuff and have no time to use it! Wait....I do have time to use it but no alone time to do it. Everytime I start to do something Riley is right there grabbing, pulling, "Can I hep youing," etc. Oh well, like I said, we are counting down to preschool next year!

I got home and I ask Boogie if he was a good boy for Daddy and he proceeded to tell me "I didn't say retard, stupid or butt crack." Am I a proud mother or what!
What more could I ask for!

This is SO my life!

This picture is truly the explanation of my life. My kids did such an awesome job in the photo booth and other than the fact that you can see clear up my nose, mine didn't turn out too bad either! Aren't they absolutely adorable!!!!

Poor Jordyn has been home from school for 2 days with one of the cruds that are going around right now...strep, stomach flu, bronchitis, regular ol' flu...it's a wonder that we aren't all dead! I've had bronchitis for a month, Riley woke up this morning with a fever and a soon as I say that Cooper hasn't gotten sick he will wake up feeling bad in the morning! It truly works that way for me...everytime.

I have to change the subject from my kids for just a minute...how great is our God. For those of you close to me, we all know how far away we can feel sometimes, but right now I feel like I could just reach out and touch him! I was reading a book and the author said her goal was to walk closely enough to Jesus to get his dust in her face. How incredibly awesome is that vision! I have to say that having a 14 year old has actually brought me closer in the last month or so...I really don't mean that in a bad way. I have just been able to disciple her in the situations that she is dealing with in school and with her friends and it has actually strengthened me. Back home (up north) if you were involved in church you were a Bible thumper and got a lot a crap for your faith and so sharing my faith has been an incredibly hard thing to do for me and somehow talking with Jo, while we're fixing dinner or she's crying on my shoulder, has relieved some of the fear I have about sharing my faith. Isn't funny how God uses our children to humble us and bring us into a better place...sometimes.

Anyway, I am really looking forward to our Stampin' Up stamping club meeting tonite at Kristy's. After I had Riley I scrapbook 98% of his pics and once he became mobile I found that it was more of a hassel to try to sit down and do ANYTHING, so stamping and scrapbooking fell by the wayside. I am now about 2 years behind on Riley's and I figure that if I play my cards right I could maybe get Jo and Coop's school scrapbooks done by the time they graduate! I am still hopeful that when Riley starts 2 day preschool in the fall that maybe I can begin to make a dent. Who knows maybe by then I will have officially lost my mind and won't remember who any of the pictures are of!

Where's MY space!?

Here we are yet again. Can't believe I actually have time to post...time that I should be cleaning house, laundry, etc, etc. Oh well!

Hey, I wanted to clarify something in my first post. I re-read what I posted and I made it sound like I was upset with my husband for not disciplining the kids more and I didn't mean that at all. You have to take into account the brain cells lost from giving birth 3 times, talking on the phone while trying to type and simply trying to come up with something funny to say. I was really just trying to emphasis that the "discussion" is one that I had had 3 billion times before and ended up with the same results. Anyway.....
Yesterday was actually a pretty decent day in the whole scheme of things. We started a new playgroup at the park with some of Riley's friends and they had a blast! I have to say that it took us moms several minutes to remember how to have an adult conversation, but once we started we rambled on for the entire hour and a half. I really think that I will enjoy it so that I can be reminded that I am not the only mother who thinks that she is losing her mind!
After picking up the other kids from school we had to run to Pine Bluff (the closest place to Monticello that has something other than Wal-Mart) to pick up some pants for dad and we ended up in Old Navy. How can we go wrong in Old Navy. It is like the must have staple in any shopping event. Anyway, we went to get Riley some new jeans (can 3 year old really grow that fast?) and mom ended up with some pajama pants, and the other kids got a few sale things. As parents we should know better than to actually believe that we can go in to ANY store for just 1 thing. It is physically impossible!
On the way home, Riley asked me for the thousandth time "Will you play in my woom?" I told him that dad would be home when we got there and he would play with him and he proceeded to ask me "Why can't YOU play with me?" Keep in mind that I have had him suction-cupped to me for a week straight (you how they waffle between which parent they love the best...I won this time) whether it be peeing, showering, cleaning, playing or even trying to sleep in MY bed with my neglected husband. Please tell me that all of the "personal space" will be mine again!?!?!? I think that for the past 2 weeks Riley has slept in our bed more than in his own. I have to explain how he sleeps with us.....one leg over my hip or one foot in my underwear, arm around your neck, face right up in mine and Mom falling off the edge of the King sized bed. Don't get me wrong, I love him with all of my heart but there are sometimes that I just want some space....even if it is only when I am sleeping. The funny thing with last night is that Dad got his share of closeness this morning....he woke up to a small little hand right in the middle of his face! At least he is sharing!