large update

large hm, where to begin.....
well, this last weekend, shaun got my computer functioning again. he spent nearly the entire weekend on it. it's not that it was bad, but i had no internet capabilities, and trying to navigate anywhere on just the computer, took an insane amount of time. it's now got internet, and it doesn't take an eternity to get places!

we had our 20 week doctors appointment for the baby about 2 weeks ago. we learned that our little is a boy! when i told the kids, taylor's face lit up and i thought he was going to go through the roof! he was so excited! the girls are excited as well, but not nearly as much as taylor is. 


about 4 or 5 weeks ago, shaun decided to go back to school, and he's been super busy, trying to keep up with that. 


taylor started 2nd grade in august, and elizabeth 1st grade. unfortunately, as things got very difficult, and we had to move in with shaun's mom, i was unable to do homeschool this year. i'm desperately hoping that i can do it next year. 


shannon does really well, if i stick tightly to feingold. they gave her a red sucker the other day in nursery, and she was a tornado. actually, this might sound crazy, but seeing the difference again, was kind of nice. not only that, but anyone else who saw it was able to realize what a difference it makes as well. we are in the process of trying to potty train her.


ashley has turned into a little complainer. she things she should be able to do what all the other kids do. run outside & play, climb up on the couch and chairs, get into the fridge, basically, be a big kid. but she's not even 18 months old yet!

craziness

life has been crazy since the move. i still don't have internet to my computer. at the moment, i'm at a neighbors house putting this up. when life slows down a little more, i'll do more consistent updates.

update

i had my wic appointment this morning, to get me back on wic as i am pregnant. they didn't like that i was claiming there had been no income at all for about the last 60 days. they started asking me how we paid for diapers. i explained that the church has been helping with that. they wanted to know how we put gas in the car to get to appointments, i'm the chauffeur for my neighbor. she lost her license and to pay me back for the time and effort, she puts gas in the car. she's been doing that for the last 4 months, though. they said they could count that as income. strange.

yesterday in church they released us from the nursery. we had requested to be released. with the new baby and the move, i had more than enough stress to deal with. they didn't call anyone to replace us though.

ashley has started walking. if the floor weren't a total mess, she could probably walk everywhere, but as the floor isn't clean, she trips over things.

shannon is driving me nuts! she won't eat what we give her, but she'll go digging through the fridge, and then turn it off. she'll climb up into the cupboards to find something to eat. i've lost 2 pounds of cheese in the last 2 weeks because of her "hunger."

fourth of july celebrations

what celebrations? we didn't go to anything.

as we are in the process of moving, and cleaning, we decided to stay home. besides, shaun isn't much of a celebration guy, and i really did not want to deal with the attitude as well as all the kids.

ah, moving. how i hate that 6 letter word. this time around, we have 2 families to move, and all the cleaning as well. the problem is, we have to do it all. long story.....
and the elders quorum is supposed to be here to help move our stuff on thursday!? don't think we're going to make it!

i've been keeping a little secret..............in fact, i've been dying to tell people.

i'm growing a peanut tree. it will be fully grown feb 6

hot water

wow, i just typed that title, and laughed! this totally covers my entire day!

shaun and i were cleaning out my father-in-laws shop. well, starting to clean it out. it's going to take a LOT more work. taylor comes over and tells us that the intermountain gas guy is at the house. shaun and i came home and discovered that our gas was being shut off for non-payment. we knew this was coming, but didn't get our 24-hour notice that we were expecting. apparently, they send stuff in the mail, make a phone call, and that's enough. i don't answer 800 numbers!

as my water heater is gas, we no longer have hot water. not a big deal. we can boil water on the stove, and dump it in the tub or sink or wherever else we need it.

this evening after dinner, i decided that ashley needed another bath. she was FILTHY! so, i put some water in a  pot on the stove to boil. i went to pull it off and dump it in the tub. i picked the pot up and discovered that one of the handles was HOT! so, i tried to put it back on the stove and i sloshed over the side all over my hand! i ran to the sink and turned on the water (cause i only have cold water now, right!), and shaun came running in from the office and grabbed the melaleuca oil. we covered my hand in melaleuca oil, and then put the ice pack on it cause it still stung.

my fingers are no longer red, i have 2 little spots that are still "burning," but other than that, you can't even tell i dumped the hot water on my hand!!!!

blow baby, blow!

shannon is trying to turn off a light on a toy by blowing it out! the funniest part is, that it actually worked! (coincidence of course!)

yesterday, shannon was playing on a kitchen chair, and knocked it over. she hit her head on the floor. gave herself a nice little bump. we kept an eye on it, but that's as far as it went. thank heavens!

today, shannon picked up ashley, when she put her down, she dropped her on the back stairs and ashley smacked her head on the concrete stairs.

i think i need to be more consistent in the feingold area!

ashley update

got a call from the doctors office this morning. the culture came back negative.

WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH MY BABY!

unknown illness

the doc called back yesterday morning. he reiterated that ashleys cbc came back normal, but her ua was a little suspicious. he said there were traces of blood, and bacteria in it. the hospital was going to culture it (which takes 24 hours), but he wanted to start her on an antibiotic anyway. i told him i agreed, cause i was pretty sure she had a uti.

her fever went back up a little last night. but it didn't get over 101.

should hear back about the culture this afternoon.

glasses

and.................. these are the new glasses....................

piddle!

i spent 4 hours in town today. 3.5 of that was waiting for ashley to go potty in the bag so they can run some tests. boring day!

*update:5:30pm
her blood work cam back normal. still waiting on ua results

date or family outing?

can it be considered a date if the entire family is there?
went to see pirates 4 at the drive-in. some friends paid for us. didn't have a sitter to watch the kids, so, they all came with us!
elizabeth wet her pants in the car, so we didn't get to stay and watch the new xmen. bummer!

the differences that come with 4 children verses 1. hm............

way cool!

who would have ever thought that you could turn this:

into this:

here's how i did it. 

i printed off the coloring page. taped it to the counter, and taped plastic wrap over it. then i took my tip, made bags from ziplocs, and just followed the pattern. when it had dried a bit, i turned it over on top of the cake, and peeled the plastic wrap off.

way cute! unfortunately, the food coloring is not approved for the feingold diet.

broken

i was doing so well! in the 30 years i have been alive, i had never broken ANY bone.

and then, i got frustrated and broke my finger on my chair. that finally healed, although if i move it the wrong way, it still bothers me occasionally.

today, i did it again. no, it wasn't my finger, this time it was my toes.

ok, to be honest, i did nothing, it my friend. she cannot drive, so i take her most places. she needed to go to DI to buy a bed frame for her son. his mattress has been on the floor for the last month. while we were looking thru them, she moved the cart, and dropped one of the bed frames on my toes. i know for sure one of them is broken, not so sure about the other one.

SHE claims it wasn't her fault, but i disagree!

naked ninja

i just caught taylor doing ninja tricks in his bedroom in just his underwear. oh, and the curtains were open too.

hot baby!

ashley, has been giving me fits for awhile now. she's not happy eating, she's not happy sleeping, she's not happy playing. today has been mildly better, but everytime i picked her up, she was warm. i finally remembered where the thermometer was, and took her temp. 103.2! i checked it again a few minutes later, cause she didn't feel that warm. 103.4! i gave her some ibuprofen, and gave her a cool sponge bath.
i HAD planned to take her in, but i'm going to see what the morning brings. i fully plan on calling the doc in the morning and making an appointment. this is not good for the bug!

sick?

tonight, i find myself strangely queasy. i have another bv infection, and took my meds earlier. now it seems as though those meds are trying to make a comeback.
yuck!

garden

today, i helped my neighbor plant her garden. as a result, my lips are sunburnt, and my arms as well (that's all i've checked so far).

BUT, we got 8 mounds of cucumbers, a row of lettuce, 3 hills of head lettuce, one row of onions, one row of carrots, 4 rows of peas, 6 mounds of watermelon, 6 mounds of cantelope, 3 tomato hills, and 2 rows of corn.

next week, we're planting MY garden!

calm child

we've already noticed a HUGE change in shannon since we have gone on feingold. i will forever be grateful for the visiting teacher who thought of it when the subject of hyperactivity came up. thank you jill!

i no longer have a child that bounces off the walls. she's even started sleeping in her own bed all night! she doesn't get into the fridge just to make a mess. she no longer goes through the drawers in my bathroom.

of course, part of those may just be growing up, but they make a big difference.

clening

its' been a crazy day of cleaning so far. the landlord is coming in the morning to do her inspection. as a result, i have to have a cleaner than usual house. now, for those of you who know me well, you know that the house may be a little messy at times, but it is in no way dirty. but, i'm also not a clean freak. my house is lived in, not a museum.

but, here's what we've done so far. and it's only 4 in the afternoon.
the bathrooms are clean...that includes the shower and tub, the toilets, the sinks, and the mirrors.

the kitchen is clean...that includes the dishes, the counter (that is rarely clean), the stove, the walls, the windows, the curtains, the outside of the fridge, the table.

taylors bedroom is clean and vacuumed. his bed is even made.

my bed has folded laundry on it, but as it is also a laundry day, that is nothing new.

i mopped the nasty plastic porch.

i still need to clean the girls' room, as elizabeth is refusing to do ANYTHING. then the last room is my bedroom, i think. that one might take me all night!

feingold diet

in the true sense of the word, it is not a diet. ok, i just looked it up, and it is a diet. however, i prefer to think of it as healthier eating habits.

as a little background to how this came about, my visiting teachers came over the other day. one of them mentioned that shannon was hyper. i'm pretty sure she is adhd, but as she's only 2 1/2, we can't get a diagnosis on that. the other lady is a teacher at the elementary school. she asked if i'd ever heard of the feingold diet. i had not. she told me she would make sure taylors teacher sent home some info about it.

after i got the info, i went online and started looking into it. it cost $83 to get the info to start it! there was NO way that we could do that, at least not right now. i put it out of my mind until i could get the money together to purchase it.

about a week later, we went to the kindergarten patriotic program. while i was trying to keep track of kids, shaun was talking to elizabeths teacher. he told her that we wanted to start on the feingold, and she told him that one of my good friends was already doing it!

i immediately called my friend, and asked for some help on getting started. she told me to basically avoid the artificial colors, artificial flavors, and the preservatives. by doing that, i was basically doing the program. she also told me that i could get my stuff through her when i was ready. (meaning able to)

in my research into the diet, i learned some very interesting information.
1 - did you know that artificial colors and flavors are made from petroleum?
   they are made from the same stuff you put in your cars' gas tank.
2 - the fda knows that some of the colors are not safe, so they have banned them from being used in food. but they allow them in childrens medicines!
3 - european countries dont' allow the artificial colors & flavors. candy companies make 2 different batches of the same candies. they sell the "cheaper" (artificial crap) to the states, and send the real stuff to europe.

so, i started reading labels. went through my food storage, and decided to get rid of anything that had the artificial colors, or flavors. (i cleaned out A LOT!) within a few days, i started to notice when she'd had something that wasn't on the "diet."
one morning, she ruined a dozen eggs. i'm pretty sure she got into my display of m&m's. i have a WAY cool vase that i put peanut m&m's into, and they are only for decoration. problem is, when shannon gets really hungry, she sneaks them out of the vase & eats them. and then i have a mess to clean up - like the eggs.

i discovered that just about everything in the stores organic corner is safe. and on top of that, anything i make from scratch is also safe. as long as i don't use the artificial colors and flavors.

update

it's been quite awhile since i wrote anything of consequence. life just kind of got away with me...again.

taylor broke his glasses, again. we went in the last week of school to try and get them replaced, but they didn't have another pair of the frames in the office. that means he took all his final tests without them. even so, he did amazingly well. when report cards came home, he had gotten all A's! his reading level is currently 2.3, and shaun let him borrow the hobbit to start reading.

elizabeth got a tooth knocked out this last week. taylor accidentally kicked her in the mouth while on the neighbors trampoline. it bled, but stayed put. then yesterday he knee-ed her in the mouth, and it finished the job. the dentist wanted to see her, so we took her in the morning to have him look at it. the root is still inside, and we decided to wait until her check up in 2 weeks to get it taken out.

shannon has been easier to handle since we went on this new "diet." it's not really a diet. the morning she ruined a dozen eggs, i'm pretty sure she snuck m&m's out of my display vase. she's not quite as crazy when we are able to keep her off the artificial colors & flavors.

ashley has finally started sleeping through the night. she's no longer nursing, and absolutely loves her milk. she now has her vampire teeth. it's actually really funny, cause she has the 2 front bottom teeth, and then her upper incisors came in and are working their way down.

i accidentally got my neighbors rabbit killed. i let the dog in the house yesterday when it was raining, and forgot to lock the gate at the top of the stairs. the dog got a hold of the rabbit, and the rabbit is no more.

shaun has been quite depressed as we haven't been able to pay the bills, or figure out how to pay rent either.

time will show us how to get things taken care of.

1 year old!

sunburn!

ashley and i spent some time outside the other day. it wasn't long, but we had fun.

i didn't realize until it was much too late, but her head got roasted!

she has a tomato red spot on the crown of her head.

yesterday i found a hat. today, i put ribbon on it. hopefully, she'll leave it on.

clean up

today was our ward spring clean up. basically, everyone who can, goes around the ward helping people get things done in their yards. we do this the saturday before the city clean up. anything we chop down, and clean up, can be put in the alley for the city to haul away.

last year, i was very pregnant, and the ward mowed my lawn, and tilled my garden. in the fall, they helped me clean out one of the flower gardens. this year, i was going to have them help me cut down some bushes in back, dig up the last flower bed, and till the garden again. no one ever came by to see if i had anything i wanted help with. needless to say, i was a little upset.

i suppose i could turn up the garden by hand again. i've done it before, but not one this size. the flower bed should be relatively easy, however, things always go faster when there are many people helping. and i only have one shovel. to take down the bushes, i need a chainsaw.

oh, how i wish someone had stopped by to see if there was anything they could do to help!

withdrawal symptoms

so, i didn't get my meds ordered soon enough. i've run out, which means i get to deal with the withdrawal. SO not looking forward to the next few days!

the withdrawal symptoms include:
   dizziness
   trouble thinking
   feeling light headed
   trouble walking straight
   "floating" thoughts - i can feel my brain disconnect from my body and start floating
      i can also tell you how high it is
in my moments of clarity, i do quite well. i managed to mow part of the lawn yesterday. i also managed to make dinner

unfortunately, until my meds show up, it's only going to get worse

camps

my house is camp chaos, and the neighbors house is camp crazy!

update

i know it's been awhile. it is not easy to type with a splint on my finger. my finger is no longer bruised, but it's still VERY sore. case in point, i showered this morning, and now my finger aches!

i have officially named the house/my life as camp chaos. right now, it's really only open part time, as the two older kids are in school. at the end of the month it will be open full time, and frequently have 2 extra kids. i'm okay with that, even if most of the time, it might sound like i'm not .

mothers day was not quite as quiet as i would have liked. i woke up to a pound of shredded cheese all over the front room. (there is only one word needed for most of the messes that are created in this house....shannon) shaun was so upset, that he decided to stay home from church and clean house. he also kept her home. when the rest of us got home from church, mark and his brother were here. they left shortly after. during his cleaning, he found some things that belong in a "camp" across the street, so i quickly took them over while he and the older two took the flowers down to grandmas. when i got back, there were more friends at the house. they were here for about an hour. they were totally unexpected!

finger "trap"

had a rough night last night again. ashley has been driving me crazy at night. she'll wake up to eat, eat, and then fall asleep. when i put her back in bed, she wakes up screaming. and nothing i do helps or makes it better.
she did it again last night. so, instead of throwing her across the bedroom, i punched my chair (i keep a chair in my bedroom specifically for nursing). i would have been fine if i hadn't hit the wood at the end of the arm. my finger nailed the wood.
i was fine until i got up and had to bathe the kids this morning. then it started to ache. i tried an experiment that my sister-in-law told me about. you put ice on something you think might be broken. if it IS broken, it will cause pain that will send you through the roof! if there's no intense pain, you are fine. i thought i was going to die when i put the ice on!

as i have no insurance, and there's nothing they could do for it anyway, we took popsicle sticks and tape, and wrapped my finger up. now that my finger has turned almost black from the bruise, i'm glad the tape is covering it.
i managed to slide my ctr ring off that finger when i was in the shower this morning. that was a feat!

pictures

the other day at school, they did the special pictures. the ones that have the cool backgrounds instead of the flat color. at the same time, they also did class pictures.

of course, when the kids brought home the pictures for us to see and purchase, they both insisted that we HAD to buy them. oh, and we had to buy the class pictures as well. we told them that we were unable to purchase them cause we didn't have the money right now.

taylor wanted his class picture so badly that he took his own money and bought it himself.
shaun feels terrible!

long update!

i realize that i haven't written for a LONG time. life has been slightly crazy!

a month ago, we started a new venture. we started doing xango. shaun has some friends who got into it, and he was exited to try it with them. especially after learning that the compensation plan was amazing, and the products were even more so. we got in, got our first shipment of product and started using it. this was 4 weeks ago. in those 4 weeks, shauns psoriasis has cleared up significantly. i will continue to purchase this product for that reason alone!

we got electricity put into the garage. ok, it's true that we already had some. but everytime the freezer kicked on, shaun's office would shut down. we needed an additional breaker, and permission to do it. now we need to rearrange his office!

ashley cut her first 2 teeth. she now crawls on hands and knees. she climbs up to stand at the chairs and couch. we had to put the side on the crib up so that she wouldn't fall out.

shannon started using more sign, and speaking. unless you know what she's saying though, you wouldn't understand her.

shower fun!

i took a trip down to provo for my future sister-in-laws bridal shower. we had so much fun!

my sister, stephanie, threw the shower. she found some clear glass dishes, and paint to paint them. we painted personalized plates & bowls for them. not a single one is the same. my kids even painted some. ashley as well.

i took tons of pictures, but don't want to share them until i can get the scrapbook pages done. i need to get them done and printed so i can send the to molly as well.

i survived!!

the trip to provo with 4 children by myself. barely, but i survived. shannon refused to stay in her seatbelt. i had to stop multiple times to rebuckle her. the first time, i didn't even make it out of sugar city. i told her that if she didn't stay buckled up, she would stay home with daddy, instead of coming with me. it worked until we got to idaho falls. then, nothing worked. 


before we left to come back, we taped her into the seat using electricians tape. she fell asleep, and didn't wake up until after we dropped my mother off at the airport. the tape kept her in until about malad pass. then she was able to get out. 
when we stopped for dinner in pocatello, i bought some duct tape, and taped her in. it worked until about county line road. then i retaped her in. 


saturday night, i got sick. made for an interesting trip home. i was up half the night throwing up. i finally felt well enough to start packing up sometime around 12:30p. we were able to leave around 2:30p. i was still feeling puny, so we took it easy.

sorry for the mia

it's been awhile. life has been a little crazy!

late feb 24th, we got a call that shaun's dad had fallen in the furnace room. early on the 25th, he passed away. for a week, we focused on everything that needed to be done with that situation.

ashley cut her first tooth on sunday.  she also had her 9 month checkup. she weighs 15 lbs, 12 ounces.

we got our taxes done, and are expecting around $5400 back.

as for anything else, i'm having a hard time thinking.

happy baby!

i took this just today! she is scooted up to the basket, and pulled herself up to a standing position!

peek a bum!

shannon a few days ago, was on a kick of wearing panties. the problem is that she still can't get them on correctly all the time. she ends up putting her waist through a leg, and a leg through the waist.

every time i see her like this, i have to laugh good and loud!

lip ring anyone?!

so, shannon had an accident today. she was trying to climb up into the chair with elizabeth, and slipped and hit her chin on the table. this picture is a few hours old, but here is the result of that slip. 

it's also no the best of pictures. the cut is about a half inch long, and almost went all the way through her lip. she's got a blister/pimple like spot on the outside. 

scrapbooking page

valentines surprise!

 i had to get a little creative this valentines day.

he hasn't seen them yet. hope he likes them!!!

sick mama!

i hate being sick.
i hate being depressed.
put the two together, and it's a miserable time for everyone.

i have clinical depression. i've had it forever. my medication helps out A LOT! but there are still times that i hit a bump or two. started climbing back up the hill recently. only to get sick!

we rounded up the money to get me into see a doctor. he's the same one i saw last fall when i had laryngitis. so he was already familiar with some things. i went in cause i wanted to make sure it wasn't strep throat, or tonsilitis. didn't need the rest of my family getting sick as well. it was neither, thank goodness. he deemed it upper respiratory infection of some sort. (broad category! thanks.) the best part was yet to come though. i got worse before i got better!

i laid around the house for 4 days, and nothing got done. the first 3 days, i couldn't hardly swallow. so, i didn't eat or drink a whole lot. by the end of day 3, i was feeling a little better.
day 4 i could at least swallow and eat, but still felt pretty crummy.
yesterday, i was finally able to get up and take care of basics.

today, i am playing catch-up times 5!!!

valentines day cards

 

 

 

 

funds are fairly tight right now, so i decided to make the valentines cards this year. everything i used was from free digital scrapbooking sites. i had fun. hope you enjoy them!

aaah, haaa, haaa!

shannon is crabby, and on her second nap as i type this.

ashley is running a fever, crabby, teething, and screaming. always wants to be held.

taylor has been down with the runs for 2 days.

the only child healthy is elizabeth!

help!!

i have 2 babies crying for my lap, and only so much room!

meltdown

we had ourselves a meltdown last night in this house.

i had been dealing with sick babies all day long. when it came time to put everyone in bed, things didn't get any better. i didn't get a break! just as i lay down to sleep, ashley was up. when i tried to feed her, she arched her back, and screamed. as i was well past my limit, i put her back in bed, and went to the front room. that way, i could avoid the potential harm i might inflict on her.
i curled up on the couch, and fell asleep, i think.

i woke up to screaming, but not from the baby. it was shaun. when i got into the bedroom, i found ashley laying in bed, and shaun on the floor causing some damage. to himself.

shaun had had the same problem i did. he'd reached his limit, and put her down as well. but he didn't leave the frustration. he took it out on himself instead of ashley. good that he didn't hurt her, not so good that he hurt himself.

improvisation

i made cupcakes today. got the mix made up and then realized i didn't have any liners for my pans. so, i took some cookie liners and cut them up. then i inverted a cup and formed them around it. they worked in a pinch, but i won't do that all the time.

count the messes

how many messes can one child make in a day?!

well, let's see.
8:30a
   bubbles on the kitchen counter and popcorn in the microwave
10 a
   2 quarts soy milk all over the the dining room floor (required mop and bucket, and sponge bathing ashley)
      afterwhich, i washed the towels
4p
   hot chocolate mix all over a kitchen chair and floor (also required the mop)
8p
   cupcake in the chair in the front room

this actually seems to have been a more decent day as far as messes went.

ouch! ouch!

oh man! this afternoon was tiring, and sort of scary!
i have realized that showering when shannon and ashely are awake, is not the smartest idea. so, i've started waiting until naptime to do it.

i put both girls in bed, and climbed in the shower. while i was in there, shannon came in and knocked on the shower door. great! she was up. i told her to go get back in bed. i quickly finished my shower and then got out to get dressed again. just as i was done drying off, she starts crying. she walks in crying, and saying "owie," with blood dripping from her hand.

i grabbed an old cloth and put pressure on her finger. i then called my mother-in-law and told her i needed her help. as shannon wouldn't stop screaming, i sat down with her in the chair in my room. she finally stopped crying enough for me to leave her in the chair and finish getting dressed. while getting dressed, mom showed up to help. i got a bandaid cut to use a "butterfly," and a few others to wrap it up with. pretty sure she didn't need stitches. it was the tip and there's nothing they could have done for it.

brought her out to the front room where there was more light, and had a good look at it. she had nearly cut off the entire tip of her finger. i think she tried to cut something with my sewing shears.

when i was done playing nurse, we both took a nap. by then, my adrenaline was gone, and i was exhausted.

GRR! frustration!

shaun is subcontracted for a local company in town. thankfully, they've had enough work lately that it's helped us pay the bills, and start to get on top of them. unfortunately, they are a start up, and the work and pay hasn't been extremely reliable.

here's the biggest problem with it though.
they have required him to work in the office. that in and of itself, is not really a problem, except that by doing so, they caused him to fail his classes last semester, and they've killed his ability to do his own art. not only that, but he's starting to get frustrated that he doesn't have ownership of his artwork. as he is not an employee, they can't really force him to work in the office. he's not on payroll, he's subcontracted, which means he's his own "boss."
here's what i don't understand. they don't think that working from home, "works." did they have a problem getting the files they needed from him when he WAS working from home? no. was he getting the work done? yes. was the project progressing? yes. so, how can they say that it doesn't work?

i just spent 20 minutes working through some issues with him. i'm going to start putting my foot down. IF they can't abide by the hours he's said he'll be in the office, then he'll start working from home again. IF they need work from him when he IS supposed to be off the clock and at home, i'm going to start having shaun charge double time for it. if they don't like that, they can wait until he's on the clock in the office. if they have a problem with either of those, they can find themselves another graphic designer.

they are already asking him to give up what he loves and has gone to school for. i won't stand by and watch them destroy him any further.

whoops

i just put a status on facebook, that i decided i shouldn't have. i'm glad there's a delete option!

calendars

so, for grandparents christmas last year, i made calendars. i am still trying to get them printed and delivered. but, as all the pages are complete, i thought i would show the images!

 

terrible twos

i have never had a 2-year-old who tries my patience and sanity as much as shannon.

if there's a mess in the house, 9 time out of 10,  she's the culprit.
wet cereal in the front room... shannon brought the bowl in and dropped it.
crackers/bread/dry cereal in the kitchen in crumbs... she got a hold of it and decided it needed to be crushed into the floor or couch.
shredded cheese all over the floors...shannon got it out to eat, and dragged it all over the house.
eggs cracked all over the kitchen floor...shannon thought she'd play in the fridge.
milk pooled on the floor and table...shannon wanted a drink.
toothpaste spread all over the sink...she decided to "brush" her teeth.
bandaids and bandage pads all over my bathroom floor...she wanted to "help".
taylor's money all over the house...she wanted to count it.

she's either going to kill us off from illness or starvation.
in the last month, she's wasted 5 pounds of cheese, 3 boxes of cereal, 3 dozen eggs, 2 quarts of milk.
THAT'S A LOT OF MONEY!!!!

opportunity lost

i am SO sad!
there was the perfect photo opportunity with shaun and ashley the other day. i even tried to take one with my phone, but the pic was too dark to see anything!

sad days! it was adorable too!

ashley tidbits

ashley got a hold of some silly putty the other day. she ate part of it. i know that cause when i changed her diaper it was the same color as the silly putty.
yesterday she found part of a candycane. peppermint. she devoured half of it.
the other day, i also caught her choking on a domino.

ashley had a yeast infection about a month ago. then i was on antibiotics. she started getting another rash, and i thought it was another yeast infection. i started using the nystatin. it didn't respond. i took her into the doctor, and he said he thought it was just a normal diaper rash. so, i started using something else. chapstick. it's all i had at the time, and amazingly, it's the thing that's worked the best!

leggo my eggo

shannon loves to get into the fridge and play. one day i bought a lock for the fridge. recently, it broke. when she learned she could get in on her own, she did.
i would frequently come in to find her cracking the eggs on the floor. in the last 3 weeks, i've lost a dozen eggs a week because of that girl!

today, i got fed up and went and bought another lock. she can't get back in there now!!

snap, snap, snap

i was doing some indexing yesterday when i hear this snapping sound behind me. i turned around and saw shannon taking brand new crayons in her hands and snapping them in two.

buttons

shannon, who is 2, buttoned up her shirt by herself this morning. these weren't the normal round buttons either. these were shaped like flowers.

emergency candles

a couple of years ago, i was trying to get into the emergency preparedness club. (hm, that didn't quite come out like i wanted it to. but it's the best i could think of.) i made some homemade emergency candles. they were quick and easy. i took an empty tuna can, wound cardboard inside it, and then covered the cardboard with paraffin wax. when the power went out new years eve, i lit 2 of them in the kitchen so that we could see in the event we went in there.

i'm not sure i will make them again.
it takes 2 matches to get the flame to start.
they flicker something fierce and give me a headache.
they left soot all over the place.
when they get blown out, they smoke for a LONG time!

break

we had an eventful christmas break.

christmas day, the gas heat stopped working. thankfully, the house has both gas and electric heat, so we just turned on the electric heat, and went on with our day. it started working the next day, and on thursday, stopped again. i called and let the landlord know. she had someone come the next day and fix it.

the day the heating guy showed up to fix the heater, the power went out. he checked what he could without the use of power, and came back after it turned back on.

our new years eve was fairly uneventful. i ran a few errands early in the day. got some things for our "party." we came home and ate dinner, and then started to get things ready for a lazy night at home, as a family, as i did not really feel like going anywhere. around 8 or 8:30, the power went out. GAH! since we had no ideas when it would be back on, we pulled out the hide-a-bed, had the kids put their pajamas on over top their regular clothes, and tried to take it easy. we pulled the hurricane lamp into the front room so that we had some light in there. i lit some emergency candles in the kitchen. (more about those later) elizabeth fell asleep early, no surprise there, she's always the first one asleep. the power came back on around 9:30. i put a movie in for taylor and shannon, put ashley down in her bed, and washed the dishes. shannon didn't make it more than a half hour into the movie. by then, the movie was over, and taylor was ready to go to sleep. we let the kids sleep in the hide-a-bed. they enjoyed it.

shaun was the only one who made it into the new year awake. after the kids went to sleep, so did i. i loved having the kids home for the break, but i was always exhausted.

surprise!

this holiday season was strange from thanksgiving on.
right before thanksgiving, we had been told by an acquaintance that we would be paid for a painting that hasn't sold like it was intended to. that money never did arrive. as a result, we were not planning on having much of a christmas. when i mentioned it to my mother-in-law, she told me not to worry, and they would help us out.
i make jammies every year for the kids. the year they turn 2, daddy gives them a big blanket. so, i already had some presents planned, and the ability to make them. a wonderful friend let me borrow her serger to help make things go faster.

my in-laws came through with their promise of help. the kids got new boots and snow pants. those that needed them got socks, pants, and underwear. and the helped us purchase the gifts from santa.

as i mentioned in my earlier post, we had 3 different occasions of people dropping of presents. that nearly doubled by christmas morning. 

the first was last saturday when the gentleman showed up with food.

the second was last sunday when the bishopric brought the money.

the third was when they left the presents on the doorstep and ran.

then, christmas eve, the bishop showed up in the morning with more money. that night, when shaun got home, he asked me what the bags on the porch were from. i had no idea. someone had once again, left us gifts for christmas. there were 3 or 4 grocery bags filled with presents.

then when shaun went over that night to get the stuff from his parents house, there had been another drop off for us over there. i think my kids got more presents this year than they have any other year!

the lord works in mysterious ways

indeed, he does.

saturday night, 2 gentlemen showed up with 2 boxes. on of them chock full of food, the other one had a few gifts and more food.
sunday night, the bishopric showed up with 2 gifts and a hundred dollars.
monday night, there was a knock on the door. by the time we got there, there was only a bag full of gifts and a smaller one with snacks in, sitting on the porch.
this morning, the bishop knocked on the door, and handed me another envelope. he said that someone had brought a check by. inside was another hundred dollars.

the first 100 helped buy my meds that i had just run out of. this second 100 took me to the doctor to find out what was wrong.

i'm SO grateful that we pay our tithing and are able to receive these small blessings.

oh dear...

what can the matter be?

i have ANOTHER infection. seems like since being pregnant with ashley, i haven't been able to get rid of any of them. as it IS christmas eve, the doctors office isn't open (of course). and the less expensive place in st. anthony isn't open either. therefore, i had to go into the urgent care office. it took nearly every penny i had on me to pay the bill at the office. then i had to borrow a little money from my mother-in-law to get the meds.

hopefully, though, this will take care of it.

jammies galore!

wow! i don't think i realized how much sewing there was to make 11 pairs of jammies. now, don't get me wrong, i'm not saying i don't enjoy it, cause i do, A LOT. but, taking care of the kids, and the house, and food, and everything else that comes with being mom, it takes a lot of work.

oh, but i've had fun! a good friend in the ward (she's actually "adopted" the two babies as her grandkids.), told me i could come over and use her serger. we whipped out almost all of them yesterday afternoon. didn't get the sleepers done, cause there were some tight curves, but it helped immensely and made my life easier. (not to mention the fact that she did all the sewing)

i brought them home, and put the finishing touches on the ones we did, and started on the sleepers. i have only 1 left for my good friend that i'm helping out with christmas. and then my kids' to finish up.

on a slightly sadder note, my baby is colicky. i'm not sure what's going on. she's not nursing very well, she just devoured an entire 2nd stage bottle of squash. she's also not sleeping well. maybe 30-45 minutes at a time. heaven help me, she's trying my patience!

from the mouth of mama

ok, this was funny, but it didn't come from one of the kids. it came from me!

i just got elizabeth out the door for school. was telling her goodbye, i love you, the whole shebang.

the i said one of the most stupid remarks i think i'll EVER make. Drive safely!

more word games

one of the pizza shops in town has funny sayings on their marque out front. but, since i seem to be having troubles reading anything, my brain makes them funnier.

sign: xmas specail
me: i was special

christmas programs

the kids had their christmas programs this week. i must say, they were actually quite boring.
elizabeths was on wednesday, and i was not able to be there. shannon had the runs, and they were all over the place. so, the babies and i stayed home, and shaun took the older 2. he was able to video tape the majority of it, so i dind't miss a whole lot. taylors was last night. elizabeth was supposed to dress up as a toy, or other christmas related thing. and taylor was supposed to wear all brown or gray.

i saw some way cool costumes there. there was a rainbow brite, a stitch, a raggedy ann, a yo-yo, and a who from "the grinch stole christmas."

but, i think the best part of the whole program was the granny that did the jig!

sparse christmas

i had a friend yesterday ask me why we were not signed up for "toys for tots" or something like it. i told her it was because we had other options. i CAN make things. i CAN improvise. i HAVE other options. there are so many that don't have other skills that they can fall back on. if i take a spot in the programs, they are not available for those that have no other options.

christmas preparations

i'm trying to get things rolling on christmas presents. something that's not the easiest to do when there are no funds to help.
this year, we're helping out some friends that weren't sure if they were going to have a christmas. that sounds crazy now that we won't have much of one either. every year, i make pajamas for my kids. last year, i also made them for my brothers. well, i added 7 extra pairs to make on top of my normal 4. (yes, you did the math right, that's 11 pairs of jammies!) thankfully, i have entire cupboards full of fabric. not the kind that i normally use or would like, but it will work. after borrowing some money from my mother-in-law, and scrounging for a little more, i was able to get everything (i hope) i need to get all 11 pairs made. i was also able to get the stuff to make shannons quilt. except the batting.
the miracle is that i went through a friends line at walmart to purchase everything. when it was rung up, i was $2 short. she just happened to have $2 in her pocket she gave me!

now comes the fun part! cutting and sewing them all!!!!!
go me!

allergy

well, it turns out that ashley is allergic to penicillin. she'd been on it 2 days, and had a rash that extended down to her knees. i promptly stopped giving it to her, and made plans to take her in after thanksgiving. when i called in, the office was closed, so i took her into urgent care.
he said it was indeed a rash, but didn't guarantee an allergy. (i disagree with him, but that's not the issue) he did give us a new prescription to give her. she's now on a z-pack, and doing great.

healthy teeth

my two older kids had dental appointments today. around 9a, the office called and said that they'd had some cancellations. (gee, i wonder why? it couldn't have been because of the blizzard we were having, could it?) they wanted to know it i'd be willing to move their appointment from this afternoon to this morning. i was totally okay with that. so, i climbed out of bed, and rushed to get everyone ready to go.

both kids are doing GREAT! not one cavity! elizabeth even let them take images of her teeth. something she hasn't done for a long time.

i made an appointment to take shannon in and have her teeth looked at and cleaned in 2 weeks. 

general update

i've had a hard time remembering to put the labels on these. that's going to take some getting used to.

ashely started running a fever yesterday. i gave her some tylenol and kept an eye on her. as i was heading to bed last night, i checked her fever. it was almost 103! i decided to take her in to the hospital, cause a temp that high at her young age is not safe. at the moment, it looks like it's just an ear infection. didn't get back home and to bed until around 2 in the morning.

i have really enjoyed making these suckers. since my molds aren't complete, i have been putting them in my 1/4 size sheet pan, and breaking them into small pieces. so far i've made raspberry, root beer, pina colada, and butterscotch. the butterscotch isn't as strong as we'd like, and the raspberry is a little burnt. *UPDATE* the cinnamon is TOO hot. even for me!
this morning, i made cinnamon. the cinnamon was really strong, so strong that it made my eyes burn while i was mixing the flavoring in. as the syrup was boiling on the stove, taylor stuck his finger in it to see if it was really hot. (stupid child!) he's got a serious second-degree burn on his finger. i've put some aloe vera and melaleuca oil on it. he keeps complaining that it hurts. (well, DUH! you stuck your finger in 250 degree boiling sugar. it's going to hurt!)

shannon, may need to go on the brat diet for awhile. she's got diarrhea. but it's straight liquid. not sure what's causing it.

we've had so much snow the last few days. it snowed all day saturday. it snowed all day yesterday, and it's still snowing. last night, it started to blow. i'll tell you what, it was a lot of fun to drive into town to the hospital last night in the blowing and drifting snow. there was so much blowing and drifting going on, that they closed school throughout the whole area. since it's a short week anyway, idaho falls closed school until after thanksgiving. still waiting to hear what they will decide to do in our district.

last night, i started addressing envelopes for our christmas cards and newsletters. i need to find paper to print the letter on, and get some nice current pictures to go on it, but other than that, they are all done.

suckers

when shannon had her tonsils out, we were at the end of the budget. so, i thought it would be better to make suckers, than to buy them. not only that, but the only things i needed to be able to make them was the flavoring. unfortunately, the timing was off to be able to purchase the flavorings. they only sell them in the stores around the holidays. as halloween was not past yet, they didn't have any of their holiday stuff out yet.

a few weeks later, i was able to find the flavorings. i decided to go ahead and get some, and make suckers anyhow. then i discovered that my molds were not complete. they are the old metal ones, that you have to put together.

this evening, it occurred to me that i could just pour the syrup in a pan, and break it into smaller pieces. they wouldn't have the sticks, but if they would fit in your mouth, you wouldn't need a stick.

as i was trying to make them, i ran out of corn syrup. so, i called my mother, and learned that i could substitute honey. i don't have a candy thermometer, so i was relying on the cold water method. i started to burn my syrup. it wasn't much, but you can taste the burnt part, and not the flavor.

i'll try again another time.

oh joy

first of all, taylor came home without his sister this afternoon, again. i immediately sent him back to look for her. then when they both got home, they disappeared. elizabeth came in, and then went out to tell taylor to come in. then they were gone. as shaun has been at the office in rexburg, i was alone with the babies. i couldn't leave to go find them, so i called my mother-in-law. my sister-in-law was there, and she and her son went out to canvas the neighborhood.
they checked the neighbor across the street, which i had already done, but that's okay. they checked the school. the first places i would have looked as well. then they started out around the rest of the neighborhood. they found them around the corner. they had tried to go play with some friends, but they didn't ask. i had just started calling around the neighborhood as well, and had just spoken with that particular mom. she said they had shown up, but she told them they were leaving, and sent them on their way home. as i was talking with her, my sister-in-law started up the front porch with my kids in tow.
i tried to get taylor to talk to me about what had happened, but as his aunt was there, he was hesitant to.

i have grounded them both for the rest of the week. they are also not going to be walking to school or home with friends. my wonderful neighbor will take them to school, and walk them home. i am sending notes to school with them for their teachers.

it's going to be a LONG week.

word games

my mind has been playing tricks on me lately.

in my email this morning, i got a message from diapers.com. the title read, "Private Sale: 30-40% off select strollers and diaper bags"
my mind read this, "Private Sale: 30-40% off stolen strollers and diaper bags"
dang! what a difference!

 i frequently have to double check what i'm reading to make sure i've read it correctly.

plans gone awry

this morning, i decided that i would take shaun into work, so that i could have the van to run a few errands. (we must get his car registered!) he packed up the computer, and i packed up the kids. unfortunately, we got a late start. so late in fact, that i had to get food in town to feed elizabeth and then run her straight back home so she could make it to school on time. on the way back into town, shannon fell asleep.

guess i'll wait until after the kids get home from school to run errands.

not only that, but i had a check to cash so we could get a friends car fixed. because the check was so "large" ($450), and the account relatively new (2 months), they had to deposit it, and hold it for 3 days. i can go get it out on friday. hope that's going to be okay with the guys fixing the car. i didn't have a whole lot of say in the matter.

home school

in my brainstorming with a friend yesterday, i was having serious problems figuring out what i need to do to get my home schooling started. lesson plans, what's required by the state, how i'm going to run this "school," you name it. the only thing i had figured out was that i could get basic supplies from the dollar store.

when she had left, and things settled down around the house a little bit, i went searching online. turns out, there are no requirements and no guidelines for homeschooling parents in idaho! that means that i am completely in charge of what i teach my kids. i can teach them anything i so desire. now to figure out a curriculum that i like, and find everything i need to be able to teach it.

and, yes, just so i have finally stated it and not alluded to it: next year, i am home schooling my children.

contemplations

in my last post i mentioned that i was considering homeschooling my kids. right now, i'm trying to figure out if i could handle it.
i used to have the patience of a saint. i no longer do. 4 kids and a frequently crabby husband, have killed that. there are times that i have to fight the kids to even get their homework done. but i suppose with homeschool, we could go at their pace, and they could work ahead on the subjects they are better at. but at the same time, i really enjoy having them gone for part of the day.
i'm torn. i want to be more in control of their education, but i'm also afraid to lose part of my freedom. this is going to take lots of prayer, and research. it's a good thing i have until may to decide what's going to happen next fall.

lots to think about

i've had a lot to think about today.

last night i had a dream that usually means there's another child to add to the fray. in my mullings, i told the lord that he had to convince shaun first. i'm not doing this again without his consent and knowledge. (shaun if you read this, you better start paying attention.) basically, the dream went something like this. i was laying in bed, or on the couch or somewhere similar, and was talking with one of my mother-in-laws (one of two, that's a long story if you don't already know it). for some reason, we were trying to think of a boys' name. all of a sudden in our conversation, i blurted out, "jackson! his name is jackson. and his middle name is boggs." strange!

then, in my blogging, i discovered the blog by rachel, from signing time. her story was quite inspiring.
when i was younger and less experienced, i always said that i was going to home-school my kids. when the time came around for them to be starting school, i completely forgot, and was more interested in getting them out of the house for a time.
finding this blog, renewed my interest. rachel, has 2 girls, both of whom have disabilities. ok, technically, the one is only deaf. the second one has cerebral palsy. in their drive for educations for the girls, they have been told repeatedly that, "I’m sorry to tell you that you can expect your child to graduate from high school with a third grade reading level because she’s deaf.” if you were to replace "deaf" with any other description of a child, there would be riots and picketers. black, gay, hispanic . . . the only public place that these children can get an education, and they are being told that the best they can do is .... not only that, but they are unwilling to do what the parents requested to make sure that they got the same level of education as the other kids there.
i am going to do some research. i think it's time to pull my kids out of public school, and educate them at home. in doing that, there are some things that i can teach them that they would never learn at school. like table manners, and i could make sure that they are not being taught the "popular" opinion versus the truth. we would finish out this school year in the public school if i decided to go this route.

like i said, lots to think about.

cleaning whirlwind

as i spent the last 2-3 weeks sewing like crazy, i had to let other things slide.
the clean laundry piled up. in fact, the last week, the laundry didn't get done until later.
saturday cleaning didn't get done.
beds didn't get remade after children wet them.

now that i am done with the madness of halloween sewing, i've been catching up on the cleaning.
saturday, sunday, and monday, i did laundry. washed and folded and put away everything.
monday, i cleaned the front room.
tuesday, i stole my mother-in-laws vacuum and vacuumed things up. (as i was informed that my vacuum no longer sucked)
wednesday, i shampooed the carpets in the kids rooms, and the front room. hoping to remove the urine in the kids rooms from weeks of peeing the bed while it was the floor. shaun asked me if i was feeling ok. i'm great! how are you?
thursday, i've started laundry again. i was hoping to get the kitchen cleaned, but am lacking the drive at the moment.
tomorrow, i will finish laundry up, hopefully finish the kitchen and get the toy room done.
saturday, i will wash sheets, and try to get bathrooms done.
next week, i will start over, but not have quite as much to do, as it was just done this week!

post operative

shannon did GREAT!
the nurses said she was the best 2-year-old patient they had ever had. we were home by dinnertime that night.
the only time she ever cried was when the pain medication wore off. for the first 2 days, i had to give it to her every 3 1/2 hours. if i waited any longer, it was not good.
while we were still in the hospital, she ate half my sandwich. and a yogurt nutrigrain bar. still struggling to get her to drink.
but, she is sleeping a little better!

i feel terrible. here it is, the week of halloween, and my kids costumes aren't even started. i am such a slacker!
and i really have no defense. job number 2 (max's costume from "where the wild things are"), i had all that stuff a week before i even touched it. job number 1 (the gothic/post-revolutionary war "alice in wonderland"), took me a couple of days to alter the pattern. job number 3 (the mad hatter from "alice in wonderland"), took me 3 days to get started on.
ok, ok, ok. i know i hurt my foot last week, and that's put me behind somewhat. but, i'm still a slacker.

as it is, we were late for the halloween party we were invited to, and i had the hosts' costumes. they were jobs 1 and 3. job 3 didn't get finished in time for the party. i spent the majority of said party trying to finish it to the point that it was wearable. the only things that didn't get done were the bottom hem, and the buttons on the sleeves.
now, job 2 is due by this friday, and i'm out of commission on thursday as shannon is going in for surgery.

crap! i'm in trouble!

mess

oh dear. my house is trashed

i have been so busy working on these costumes, that i haven't been able to clean my house, or put the laundry away. shaun helped a little bit the other day, but there was laundry being washed, so it didn't get taken care of. my kids go looking for clothes, and complain that they can't find anything.

and the thing that makes me the most upset, is that i wasn't even able to finish the one costume in time for the party. we got there late, wo is me, and then i spent most of the time trying to finish it up. i got part of it done. to the point that he could wear it, but it still wasn't complete. i brought it home after the party so that i could completely finish it.

tumble, tumble ..... ah!

as we were walking out of the ent's office this morning, i tried to fall down the stairs. not only that, but i almost threw shannon and ashley down them ahead of me. ashley was in her car seat, thankfully, so she would have been ok, but shannon could have really gotten hurt.

now the problem is that my ankle REALLY hurts. i landed on my ankle on the corner of the cement stair. it's all scraped up, and VERY sore. it's not sprained or twisted, cause there's no swelling, but it really hurts. i supposed if it's fractured, only time will tell!

shannon

oh, my sweet little girl is in for a fun time!

she's had near constant ear infections and sinus infections for the last 2 months. about a week of the antibiotics, and we're back in for another dose. rather than wait for things to get progressively worse, i asked for a referral to the ent. her appointment was this morning.

at her appointment, he noticed 4 things.
first of all, her ears looked good, but she did have fluid behind the ear drums. it wasn't infected because she's still on her round of antibiotics from the last ear infection. however, that means that her Eustachian tubes, aren't working (that's the tube between the ears and the throat). he informed me that when fluid is new, it's clear and very liquid. when it's old, it's thick, stringy, and amber colored. her fluid looks old. he said it's probably been there 8-12 weeks. which is when her first infection showed up.
second, he said her nose doesn't show any irritation that would indicate allergies. YAY!
then, her breathing. she breathes through her mouth, not her nose. he said, if i watched her while she slept, i would most likely notice that she sleeps with her head way back. when he said that, i remembered that i often find her sleeping like that. he also said, that when that's the case, if the head tips forward and blocks off the airway, they wake up and toss and turn. (ninja shannon)
finally, he looked at her throat. the grade tonsils from 0 to 4. 0 being not there at all. 4 being they touch in back. hers are at a 3. they are right up to the sides of the uvula (the dangly thing in the back of your throat). he said, typically with little kids, if the tonsils are enlarged, the adenoids are as well. he said he was willing to bet that the enlarged adenoids are what's causing the eustachian tubes to not work.

next thursday, shannon goes in and gets tubes in her ears, and her tonsils and adenoids removed. it's going to be a long day!

color coding

i have a friend, who receives assistance from the women's crisis center. as a single divorced mother of 4, i think she has the right. at the center, they color code their canned goods. they put colored stickers on the cans based on the year they expire. i decided it was a good idea, so i bought some at the dollar store. unfortunately, i ran out. but, as they were inexpensive, it's not that big of a deal, i can get more.

in the process of putting the stickers on my cans, i dropped a can of tomato sauce on my toes. they have quite the bruise on them now. OUCH!

to do list

laundry washed............................in progress
flower bed cleaned......................check
dishes..........................................check
laundry folded..............................in progress(ok, not really)
house cleaned..............................check
       not vacuumed though
sewing........................................haven't started yet
sheets changed...........................check
dinner started..............................waiting for ingredients
shower.......................................what's that?
kids bathed................................um...later tonight
tieing chairs to table....................waiting on rope
       hurry home shaun!
nap............................................not a chance today
time with my husband.................same as above
relaxation...................................i'll plan that another day

ward clean up

today, we had a ward cleanup activity. basically, you tell your home teachers if there's something you'd like help with around the yard, and on the appointed day, the entire ward gets together and helps everyone. i had them help me clean out the side flower bed. it was full of grass, thistle, and lilies that didn't have enough room to breathe, old bark, and black plastic. we dug it all up and hauled it away. they kept asking me if i wanted to save the lilies. i decided it wasn't worth the trouble to separate them and put them back in the ground. i tried that with the tiger lilies in the other flower bed; my kids pulled them back up cause "they were dead." someone is going to come back and round-up the grass around the side.

now, by no means is the flower bed ready for planting. i'm going to need to till it again in the spring, and do more round-up. but, it's a start!

crazy, busy, loud

i'm in the process of making 3 costumes. and, no, those aren't the ones for my children. these 3 that i'm making are for pay!
the one i'm currently sewing has been a work in process. i'm literally brainstorming the pattern as i sew it together. here's to hoping it works out like the picture in our heads. i've already had a few times that my "brilliant" ideas didn't work out, and i've had to fix them. if the final product looks good, and she's happy with how it turned out, i'm good. it's a gothic/post-revolutionary "war alice in wonderland" outfit. (i can't get the picture to attach, sorry. when i get it done, and she's wearing it, i'll definitely get a pic and post it.)
i have another similar time period outfit to make. this one is the madhatter's coat from the new alice in wonderland. it should be EASY as there are no planned alterations to do to the pattern.
the last one i'm doing is the costume that max wears in "where the wild things are." i thought i'd had all the alterations done to the pattern that i needed, but remembered that i need to make the hood attached, and the gloves as well.

for the majority of the day, i've also had the neighborhood kids running around. usually not a problem, but as shaun and i have both been trying to get important things done, it's made it a little difficult. they were running thru shauns stuff that he was trying to reorganize in the office. they were yelling and running thru the house. shaun was already past his limit, so when the neighbor got home from running an errand, i send them all over to her house.

tonight is the kids last swimming lesson. we are all going up. i'm going to take shannon in and let her swim, and the kids' best friends are coming with us. i thought it would be nice for them to be able to play with the kids in the pool, since it's the last day of lessons, and the last night of spud harvest.

bridges update

found out what happened the other night with my neighbor.

she's been in constant pain for the last 3 weeks. that night, she finally gave in and took one of her pain pills. they made her fall asleep. she went into the dr the next day and got a shot for the pain.

hopefully, she starts feeling better!

oh, man!

this morning, shannon sneezed great rivers of green snot.

i called the dr.

took her in, and she has another ear infection. then i got a referral to the ENT.
this is her third ear/sinus infection in 2 months. if her tonsils are the culprit, i want it taken care of quickly. if her ears are the culprit, i want it taken care of quickly. maybe she'll sleep in her own bed all night if it's one of the two and they get fixed.

cold

i've been very cold at night for the last few nights. haven't been able to figure out why. i thought, "i wasn't this cold last year!" then yesterday, it occurred to me that i was pregnant last fall/winter. i wouldn't have been as cold at night then. so, last night, i put an extra blanket on the bed.
we both slept much better, and warmer too!

bridges

oh, how do i begin. i've started typing this twice, but keep erasing it.

my friend was watching the kids today while i helped another friend shop for costume fabric. celia, who's paying me to make her a gothic/victorian alice in wonderland costume, came to get me and ashley, and i took the other 3 kids across the street while i was gone. shaun called me in a panic about 7. he had found shannon around the corner of the house, crying. my friend, was no where in sight. her daughter said she was asleep. shaun went and brought the kids home.
unfortunately, this means that i don't have a free babysitter for awhile. i can't take them to her, if she's not going to pay attention. and shaun informed me that he won't let me take them to her for awhile either.
needless to say, i'm a little frustrated. i trusted her with the responsibility to watch my kids, and she blew it tonight.

i'm not sure what to do.

experiment

so, i have a very good friend who lives across the street. we do a lot of things together. at the moment, she is having a REALLY hard time. so much so, that she has started to revert to some of her previous behavior. and at the moment, the spirit is not in her home right now.
at this time in my life, i am very sensitive to changes in the spirit. it causes some sadness and pain in MY live when i visit her home right now.
in light of the recent revelations, i have decided to try an experiment. i'm only going to go to her house as necessity dictates.

clean freaks

my landlords come and do inspections a couple times a year. normally, that wouldn't bother me, except that they want the house CLEAN. i have never been the neatest person in the world. in fact, i don't clean a lot unless i'm tired of it. the one room i try to keep decent is the kitchen. you can't cook or bake with a messy kitchen.
so, when they inform us that they are coming do their inspection, a crazy cleaning spree ensues. the last 2 days have been such.
shaun spent all day yesterday deep cleaning the front room and the kitchen. this morning, i folded clothes, and straightened up the bedrooms and bathrooms. thankfully, i have a fabulous friend who is willing to help with just about everything. from watching kids, to cleaning house. and since we spent yesterday cleaning her house, she spent this morning helping me finish up. she cleaned the bathrooms, the laundry room, the toy room, and finished vaccuming. i folded laundry and took care of the baby.
i'm not going to mop floors. my house is lived in. a family lives here, i'm raising children. a clean immaculate house is NOT my first priority. but, the house is clean, and everything looks nice and neat.