Whew

It has been a while. First, the party and parade went well on Saturday. I'm glad it was a short one. The kids enjoyed themselves and I made hubby happy by riding in the fire truck with him instead of marching with the girls. We got out goodie bags from Santa, but did not wait in the long, slow line. Austin was half asleep sitting in his chair, Laiken was running around like she was possessed and Morgan, bless her heart, couldn't stop coughing so we packed up and headed home. Sunday we went shopping in the morning and then I took Logan to his scout party while the other kids and dad stayed home and rested. Well, sort of. The toilet in the downstairs bathroom started leaking so I got called home early and Mike had to run out in a freezing rain storm and get some parts to try to fix it. My parents made it in safe and sound, but the toilet decided the next day to start leaking again?!? Finally think he got that fixed.

School Program:
The school program was wonderful. My kids did such a wonderful job. I was so proud of both of them. Morgan looked so grown up sitting up there singing her song and playing her bells. Logan's class was holding stars on little sticks and the little girl behind him accidentally knocked his out of his hand. Poor grandma thought he fainted when he bent down to pick it up and since it seemed like forever before he stood back up she was ready to head up there to the rescue since none of the teachers were going to help! All was well though. Logan reappeared only slightly ticked off and finished the song. They finished the program with everyone singing Silent Night. Was kind of bittersweet because this was the very last program in the old school. The new school will be finished in June. There is a battle going on in town now over trying to save the old school as it is the oldest one east of the Mississippi River, but it doesn't look like it is going to happen. I think it is going to be too much of a burden on the small town.

We went out to eat and did some Christmas shopping last night. Seemed kind of odd without Austin there. He went home with my parents on Tuesday and seems to be doing okay so far. We will be heading back there for the annual family Christmas party tomorrow. It is kind of crazy, but a lot of fun. My mom's entire family gets together for a huge Christmas party with Santa and everything. At last count I think there is like 30 kids under the age of 10 there, 27 adult grandchildren and eight original kids with spouses. This year is going to be a little rough though because my Uncle Don passed away this year and it will be the first Christmas with just the seven of them. They have always been such a close knit family even though they are spread across two states and they are all taking it pretty hard.

I'll probably not post until after the weekend now as I barely have time to sleep these days, so take care. I'll have lots of pictures when I get back.

Page error

I got up this morning to work, but keep getting the page error message and since it is still dark and I'm cranky, and... and.... I don't feel like getting up to do anything else, except go back to bed, I may as well post. Took Morgan to the doctor yesterday, she just wasn't getting anywhere with the albuterol. They put her back on prednisolone and an antibiotic as she also has a stomach virus and respiratory tract infection. Funny, she took the steroid yesterday and one dose of the antibiotic and last night was the worst night so far. She really coughed and wheezed. I was up again almost all night. She has stopped vomiting though and her fever isn't quite a high now. We'll see how she is when she gets up. The doctor said if she feels like it she can go to school today as long as her fever is down. Now that we know she also has a virus, I'm hoping and praying the other kiddos don't get it. As you know we have a busy, busy weekend coming up... parties. parade. visits from Santa and grandma and pappy bringing early Christmas gifts and then the big Christmas program on Monday that the kids have been practicing and practicing for. They are so excited, especially Morgan since this is her first one.


Well, I just thought of something I can do while waiting for the errors at work to be fixed without getting my lazy but out of my computer chair so I am off to make out my grocery list. Gotta get the stuff to start my baking this week. Enjoy! Before I go here are a few more pictures trying to get our Christmas card ready. Hopefully tonight we'll get it done.


We took this one in front of the tree. If we don't get another one, I'll try to crop out the Pamper Cruiser.



I like this one except for the way they are sitting.




This is the fireplace we finished this summer.



This is Laiken taking an apple break.

Asthma sucks

Morgan was home from school today. She is having trouble with her asthma again. It isn't an all too frequent thing, but when she has an attack, it is usually pretty bad and somewhat lengthy. I'm not too familiar with asthma, but I can remember my brother using his inhaler and usually within minutes he was better. She uses her nebulizer every four hours and sometimes it takes her a couple of days to get fully over it. I truly wonder if it is asthma or something else.

Everyone else seems to be doing fine. We have another busy weekend coming up so I am hoping she will be well by then. We have a Christmas party Saturday, a parade Saturday evening and another Christmas party following the parade. Sunday we have Logan's scout party and Monday we have the Christmas program at school. My parents are coming out for the program. The kids are excited. Then I really have to get busy and start my Christmas shopping. Yes, I did. say. start. This year I feel like such a lousy mom. I just can't find time for anything. Of course I really wouldn't change anything in the world just to give me more time. I love that my children are healthy enough to participate in this stuff and it makes me sad to see Morgan having a hard time, but in reality I think it would be harder on her if she had to miss these activities. I'll be heading to the doctor tomorrow if she is no better. She already feels bad enough about the asthma, I won't have her missing out because of it.

Let is snow, but not too much and no ice and, and

it would be great if it could snow at 75 degrees. We awoke this morning to frigid high winds and our poor Christmas decorations scattered all over. It looked like Santa and the reindeer lost control or something. I was outside at daybreak trying to clean up the carnage. They are calling for a foot of snow from this morning through tomorrow morning. So far we havn't gotten much so I'm crossing every part of my body that it slides right on by. Did I mention I absolutely hate snow with all my being. I know, sort of silly living in Northeast Ohio right near the lake, but this is where DH was at so I followed and after 10 years I'm still here and still hating the snow.



We had two parades and a birthday party this weekend. First, let me say my son's poor friend. This is I think every child and every parent's worst nightmare. Nobody showed up for his party except my son. He is such a sweet boy too, but kind of shy so he doesn't have a lot of close friends. Logan always includes him at recess though so that makes me proud and sort of easier to overlook the other things Logan does to absolutely drive me crazy!



Now the parades: Friday night was so windy and cold it was insane. Thankfully a very short parade though. The girls all had fun and my kids loved seeing the parade and seeing Santa riding the float. DH was waiting at the end of the parade route with the car nice and warm. We piled in and were patiently (all except for Laiken) sitting waiting for the parade to wrap up so we could head for home. All the sudden the car shakes and I turn to look out the windshield and there sits this little old lady in a motorized wheelchair against the hood of the car. Apparently they were in the parade too and as she made the final turn (sounds sort of like a NASCAR race) she lost control and slammed into our car. My husband jumps out to make sure she was okay, which she was. By this time Morgan is in the back of the car crying her poor little eyes out. I asked her what was wrong and she stuttered daddy is going to go to jail becuase he just ran over that little old lady. It took me a long time to convince her that we weren't moving and that she ran into us. By the time she went to bed that night she was pretty convinced and then thought it was kind of comical. She re-worded the song Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer to Grandma got run over by a Buick leaving the Christmas parade last night.



The next night we had another parade and who would be in that one but the Blue Belles again and that same woman in the wheelchair. Needless to say Morgan stayed real clear of her!! We get home from that parade to find Morgan was running a pretty high fever, but once we got the Tylenol in her and all her extra layers off, it went down pretty quickly. One more parade this weekend and then bring on Christmas, no not really. It is too much to ask for another week or month or two?? I'm so not ready for this Christmas. I think this is the worst one yet. Oh well, time to get busy and try to get some things accomplished before I have to hide from the snow and wind. I have a real mature way of dealing with it. First, I close all the blinds on the doors and windows so I can't see it and second, I don't go out from now until April unless someone drags me kicking and screaming. Thankfully Mike is understanding and drives my sorry butt wherever I need to go (or better yet goes for me) when he gets home. Did I mention I don't like snow or cold? Afterall, I wouldn't be here in the godforsaken snow if it wasn't for him anyway!

Laiken

I have been trying to get some pictures trying out my camera on different settings. Here are a few of Laiken as she was the only one home and cooperating yesterday. I'm going to try to get the group one tonight for the cards and then the pressure is off a little to get individual ones as that is only for grandparents and us.

Just a side note: That outfit she is wearing was her big sister's first. Thought it would be cute to have pictures of both in it. Can't find one right now, but Morgan was 11 months old when she wore that outfit..... Laiken is `18 months old!!

Christmas pictures

Another thing to stress over, that is all I need now. I still haven't done my pictures for the Christmas cards. My mom's family has a party on the 15th so I kind of need to have them done by then. See, we hand deliver the cards there instead of mailing all 30 something of them. See... I don't even have my list done yet. Anyway, my mom is getting me this cool printer for Christmas that will print right from my camera card, but I'm out of ink for my current printer and hate to buy ink for it when I'll be getting a new one. Of course, if I have to print that many pictures it will probably use almost an entire cartridge. Hey! I just solved my problem while typing it out, (patting myself on the shoulder). I sent an e-mail to my husband venting yesterday about how I couldn't finish my Christmas shopping until after the 17th and between work and everything else, we would have to finish up on the 22nd and then how was I going to get everything wrapped and my baking done, etc. He sent me an e-mail back full of blah, blah, blah's. I sent him a blank e-mail back. Of course he e-mailed me asking about the blank and I told him that was me not speaking to him. Needless to say when he came home he was very attentive. Now he keeps asking me what he can do to help. I told him if he would have done that in the first place instead of being the a** he was, he would have scored extra points for doing the same thing he is doing now trying to dig himself out of the hole.

I told him a mom with four kids at Christmas is oh so much worse than any woman with PMS so he better buckle in for a long ride. The smiling faces Christmas morning are oh so worth it, mine is the biggest of all, but each year I realize just how strong women are since spousal abuse is higher on Super Bowl Sunday that Christmas Eve!!

Thanksgiving down Christmas to go

Well, the feast is over and now the hustle begins. Why does it seem like Thanksgiving is gone in the blink of an eye? Maybe because mere hours after you finish eating the Christmas hustle begins. For the past few years my SIL and two of my cousins have been hitting the Black Friday sales, sadly usually not even looking for anything. I guess we just enjoy punishing ourselves or maybe it is that the crowded malls and frigid temperatures are easier to handle than our crabby kids after a day without enough sleep! I'm guessing that is it since my two cousins, neither of which have kids, chickened out this year. My SIL and I still had a good time. We met up with one of her friends and shopped for a few hours. We got some good deals at Old Navy and Bath and Body Works. Penny's also had some great buys if you needed coats, which all four munchkins did, but my aunt grabbed those up for Christmas gifts. You know the saying the early bird gets the worm? Same is true for Christmas gifts. My list is seriously shrinking for the kids and I haven't gotten a thing yet. Everyone else is grabbing up things on my list. Guess I better start hitting the ads again. Course it doesn't help when the kids can't come up with even one thing they want!! Morgan asked me if Santa will still get her gifts if she can't think of anything she wants. I told her that I was sure she would get something and that she could just write him a letter telling him what types of things she likes to play with and he could handle the rest. She told me she felt much better now that she didn't have to worry about Christmas! Wonder if Santa will handle all my Christmas worries. The kids are planning Jesus' birthday party already too. Every Christmas Eve we have a party "in the living room" (that is the most important part) and that is Jesus' birthday. Then we go outside and sprinkle magic reindeer dust, head in to check the computer to track Santa's progress, surefire way to get them in bed early (hopefully the kids will stop believing in Santa before they realize Paris France is not next to Ohio!!). Then Mike and I settle in with a glass of wine until we are sure the kids are sleeping. Mike refuses to help arrange the gifts because he can't quite grasp my "method" or madness as he calls it. Anyway, I think I am more excited than the kids. I love seeing the excitement and joy this time of year brings and we remind our kids daily as we hustle getting everything ready what this whole season is about. Austin told me the other day in his four-year-old way that he knows Jesus is very important because he has a great big party but gives us the gifts. I love this time of year the most and not becuase of the gifts or parties, but because we spend so much time together as a family, as a couple, as an extended family. This is the busiest time of the year because of all this, but also the happiest. This coming year I hope to be as busy with family as I am at Christmas instead of putting these things off because we are too busy.

We're off

We will be hitting the happy trail tomorrow afternoon. Why do I feel like saying "And they're off!!"? Probably because while the trips home are always enjoyable, relaxing they are not. First stop: Aunt Shelly's for dinner with her, Aunt Connie, Kyle and Kelly. Then on to my mom's house where we will spend Thanksgiving and will visit with the aunts, uncles and cousins Thursday evening. Hopefully my brother and his family will make an appearance. Friday bright and early as I said it before "the girls" head out shopping and for breakfast/lunch. Sometime Friday I am hoping to get to see my grandfather. Friday night we are going to meet up with Mike's cousin Brian and his family. They moved to South Carolina a little over a year ago and haven't gotten to see them. We used to hook up with them at least twice a year. Maybe Saturday we can relax a bit and then Sunday afternoon we head home to get everything ready for the happy hunters. Logan has scouts in the afternoon and then Tuesday it's back to school and work as usual.

I was a very busy girl today and got about half the Christmas decorations up. Now I should be working to get a head start on tomorrow so we can leave at out appointed time. So I will leave you with a wish for a very Happy Thanksgiving. If you are traveling, I pray you will be safe and enjoy seeing loved ones we unforutnately don't get to see as often as we would like. May God bless you and keep you safe.

Over the River and through the woods..

We'll be leaving Wednesday afternoon so the race begins: baking, packing, cleaning, working, shopping. First before I can bake I need to head to the store. Ideally I would like to get both in school first so I only have to take two with me, but seeing as how Morgan doens't go until the afternoon, I would really like to be baking by then. We shall see. I am doing laundry as we speak to get stuff packed, hopefully by Tuesday evening so Wednesday all I have to do is work, whip up my dip and straighten up the house. Logan has scouts tonight and they asked me to stay and help work on the float, not that I could get anything done in less than an hour, but still stressed me out! What are the Holidays without a little stress and a lot of wine, RIGHT?

Laiken had a dance-a-thon in the basement yesterday. She really gets into the dancing! She had her whole little body dancing. Next time I'll have to try and record it, especially the "after" hairdo! She looked like the cartoons after they stick their finger in an outlet. Come to think of it, that pretty much sums up her whole dance!

We rearranged the furniture today to start putting up the Christmas decorations. Not looking forward to that with Ms. Laiken though!!

Oh well... off to get ready for turkey day and shopping with my SIL and cousin. It has become a tradition that we try to shop every black Friday and then have breakfast/lunch out. Unfortunately, my cousin T can't make it this year as she has started a new job and we just couldn't convince her we were worth a sick day! So it looks like it is just Kel, Jen and I this year! So sorry T! Don't know if I'll get time to post again so if not Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

Another weekend gone

The kids really enjoyed making their turkey recipe card holders at Lowes. Guess who will be bearing gifts this Thanksgiving... They gave them little safety goggles and Lowes aprons. These have come off rarely since then. Morgan has already decided she is taking her new treasures for Show n Tell on Friday. Kind of puts the pressure on this Christmas competing with Lowes.

Logan had his Cub Scout Pack meeting yesterday and they walked through town handing out bags for the food drive. They have to go back on Saturday and collect any donations. Morgan has a parade Friday night. We are really kind of excited about this because it is the first "Christmas" parade of the season. I think the girls are marching in three or four this year. Logan is in two, only one is the same as Morgan's.

The highlight of Austin's week is the trip to the library. I can only imagine next year when he is becoming involved in things! I really don't want to think about it yet. I may be hiring an assistant! We have cut his "homeschooling" down to three days a week because he is really breezing right through the stuff and I don't want him to be too advanced when he starts kindergarten next year. He is already doing some 1st grade stuff.

Laiken has turned into a little girl overnight. She is just a little chatterbox. A lot of it we can't understand, but she sure does carry on the conversations. She had her first tea party last night and I sat there and bawled like a baby. They had real snacks, but pretend drinks. Well at first Morgan didn't give her a plate for her snack, so she just took Austin's. She sat there like a little girl and ate her snack and "drank" her drink, asking for more and then she took her turn serving the tea and poured tea for the other ones sound effects and all. Morgan was playing babies last night and Laiken got a baby too. Morgan would put her baby to bed and so would Laiken. Morgan was getting a little ticked and put her baby in the stroller. well, Laiken was not about to be outdone. She put her baby in the stroller. Then they. had. their. first. fight. Morgan yelled at Laiken who then threw her hands in the air, started to walk away and turned around and gave Morgan an earful! This time the tears were from laughter. But perhaps her greatest feat of the weekend was tackling the sit n spin. Of course she found out as fast as the other kids it is much more fun to put small objects on it and give it a good spin and see how far they will fly! I wonder if this is a natural instinct or if someone has been coaching her!! She still loves her a good snuggle and I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world. I know those days just don't last long enough.

We did it!!

Well the local elections are finally over and I am happy to say we did very well. We elected the mayor we wanted, the trustee we wanted and the fiscal officer we wanted. We won all around. The "losers" are already causing trouble, but all they can do now is run their mouthes for the next 2 and 4 years and if they try again, we'll be ready!! People don't understand what this means and think we are making a big deal out of things, but this could have meant big trouble for the village as a whole, actually causing people to move and also could have had major impact on our fire department, and those of you who know us, know our entire family is deeply involved in the fire department. We are thrilled that people listened to us and continued on the path we have been working for so long to pave. Enough said.

Logan is finished up with his dental work now. Who knew acid reflux could have such an impact on his teeth seven years later. The other two go for their check up on Tuesday and hopefully she won't find the same thing happening with them. Morgan didn't have reflux and Austin's wasn't near as bad as Logan's so they really should be fine. Logan's just happened so fast, I'm hoping this pediatric dentist will know more what to look for with the others and if they do have a problem, it won't get out of hand like Logan's did.

I have been getting hit really hard at work and with Christmas coming trying to get as much done as I can. Mike has been super busy lately between wrapping things up for the election, fire department meetings, township meetings, overtime at work, inventory at work. So between me working extra, him working extra and his meetings and the kids functions, I feel like I haven't seen him in forever. Well, last weekend he was around more, but with his parents here it wasn't the same. He won't get home until after 8:00 tonight so I'm hoping to have all the kids in bed so while he eats and relaxes we can have some time just to ourselves because this weekend is going to be hectic again. Although he will get to spend some time with the three older kids. He is taking them to one of those workshop things at Lowe's. Lakien and I will do what we do best, shop, while they are doing that. I had plans of having lunch out somewhere afterwards, but might not now because Logan has a "hot date" with his friend in the afternoon. Sunday we have a scouting function and something else I can't think of right now. Have to find time somewhere to get things ready for Thanksgiving and dare I say it... Christmas. I need an extra month this year, sorry, just gotta put everything on hold.

Here we go again

Once again sickness is the topic of discussion in this house. I have been fighting a stomach bug for two days now. Thankfully my in-laws left before I got sick, but hopefully I didn't pass it on to them before they left. Both girls have colds and coughs again, but neither of the boys or Mike is sick. They never get sick, which is a good thing because they are total babies.

We had a nice visit with the in-laws, well actually my MIL. My FIL was fishing just about the entire time. Never could figure out how someone could stand in the water ALL. DAY. LONG. He would get up and leave by 6:00 AM and not come back until after dark.

The kids were complete hellions. With all of our family living out of state, we rarely get visitors for any length of time and they just don't know what to do with themselves. The fact that I'm usually stressed out the whole time doesn't help matters. Up until the last few years I didn't have a very good relationship with my MIL and my husband really still isn't as close with his parents as I think he should be. So with that in mind I feel she is constantly judging me, so I'm afraid to be too hard on the kids when she is here, but at the same time afraid she is going to run back home and tell everyone how horrible the kids are or how mean I am or how messy my house is or, well the list could just go on and on. I know I shouldn't let that bother me, but if you had a MIL like that, you would know how I feel. But anyway we survived. She called when they got home to tell me they might be back out in two weeks. This is my major cleaning time. I like to get everything all done by Thanksgiving so that I can put up the Christmas stuff. I have so much to do and I hate to do anything like that when anyone is here. I'm talking taking everything off the walls and wiping everything down, cleaning out all clostes, cupboards etc. It gets rather messy. Oh well, I guess that is a good excuse to stop right?

I need to go to bed. I'm feeling rather lousy, but first I have about six hours or work to do. Don't think that will be happening. Off to get the kiddos in bed and then probably myself.

I'll have pictures of the weekend tomorrow, I think.

Is it 3:30 already??

Boy did I not want to get up this morning. It was very late by the time I got to bed last night and the amount of work I have to do today was enough in itself to make me pull the covers right back over my head. The fact that Mike was threatening to bite my toes was finally enough to get me up and the fear of being so tired I'd sleep right through the alarm to get the kids up has kept me up. I so do not want: a) to have to run them to school today, or b) even worse have them home all day! It is going to be hard enough trying to get them out of the house today with my in-laws here.

Speaking of not going to school.... Logan comes home on Wednesday saying the neighbor girl wasn't in school and there was a note asking Logan to bring her work home to her. I told Logan they weren't home, I just saw them leave while I was out getting the mail. So when it starts getting later he said he would just run down the road and put her work on the porch. Okay, no text books, just papers in a folder, no problem. Whoa nellie! Her school picture packet was also in there. Not a chance. I told him I didn't feel comfortable putting that huge packet of pictures on her porch (they have been known to stay at Grandma's all night if dad is working away). So Logan, "and the winner for most dramatic actor is...." declares he will lose his recess if he didn't give it to her, yada yada yada and is near hysterics by this point. So I simply tell him I'll write his teacher a note explaining to her that I wasn't comfortable leaving the stuff on her porch and that I also left a message on Chloe's machine asking them to call when they got in, but didn't get a call. Well, its a good thing I didn't leave the folder on her porch because they still haven't come home. So when Logan gets home from school yesterday this conversation took place:
Mom: Did you give your teacher the note?
Logan: yeah.
Mom: Well, did you lose recess, did she hang you from the ceiling, did she put you in the corner with a dunce hat?
Logan: Funny mom. She said she didn't ask me to take her work home.
Mom: Huh?!? Who else would put the official pink slip on your desk asking you to bring the work home?!? Who else would put it neatly in a little brown folder complete with instructions for completion?!?
Logan: I dunno.
Mom: I'll have that drink now.

Here is another conversation from last night:

Austin: Wow! Look how many birds are flying out there, it must be millions!
Morgan: They are hibernating to Mexico, we learned that in kindergarten today.
Logan: No they aren't those birds are nocturnal.
Morgan: No they are hibernating.
Logan: They are nocturnal!!
After about 6 more times I very calmly say: I THINK YOU BOTH MEAN MIGRATING!!
Logan and Morgan: NO!
Mom exiting: Where is that drink!?!
Lesson learned: Don't argue with your kids, they think they know more than you and can "prove it", afterall they go to school every day, you on the other hand sit at home and pick your toes and drool.

Happy Halloween

I think. It doesn't even seem like Halloween. Our jack o' lanterns are rotted, the costumes are all put away and I'm ready to tear down the decorations. With trick or treat and the party on Saturday it feels like Halloween is already over and getting ready to move on to the next thing.

Logan's dentist appointment on Monday went well. He has to go back this coming Wednesday to have some work done on the other side. Not much going on this week, thankfully. I have been busy outside trying to get my flowers cut off now that it frosted and they are starting to die. I hate seeing the old rotting flowers laying throughout the bed. Tomorrow I'm going to have to work indoors though, my in-laws are supposed to come out for a weekend visit. They call and tell us frequently they are coming though, but rarely do, so I'll be quite surprised if they actually show up. Oh well, gives me an excuse to clean my house, not that I don't constantly, but you know how it is with company.

Laiken is being quite the little stinker lately. She is teething and so not in the best of moods anyway and she has discovered she really. Loves. Smarties. She will do anything for them, including climbing on the table, biting knees, throwing herself down and if need be, eating them right through the wrapper. She has also discovered the fine art of hair pulling. We're not talking the casual grab and run, we're talking dig those chubby little fingers right to the roots and yank until subject falls to the floor screaming for mercy and more often than not it is a two hander! At the same time though she can be soooo sweet it melts your heart. Tonight Morgan ran into the side of the tractor (don't ask) and put a nice bruise on her hip. Well, needless to say she came in the house near hysterical and Laiken right away was trying to soothe her saying sissy okay, sissy okay and rubbing her arm. She actually has a pretty good vocabulary for being 16 months old. She says: Jake, Gizzy, Mommy, dada, ball, baby, bear, drink, eat, more, night-night, hi, bye, bus, outside, go, eyes, nose, thank you, here, all gone, and a few others I can't really think of right now.

Well, I am getting really sleeping and I still have work to do so for now, goodnight.

And the winner is.......

Laiken for most original costume and Austin for scariest costume. The kids had a good time trick or treating and at the halloween party. It rained, but not real hard and we were okay with umbrellas. We didn't stay real long at the party though, once judging was over we headed home for hot chocolate and to sit by the fire. Today I got up sick so Mike took the kids down to the church for the pumpkin party there. they had games with tickets and then you could use your tickets to buy prizes. My wonderful kids all put their tickets together and "bought" Laiken two stuffed animals. Then the kids wanted to go see Mr. D, a friend of my husband's. He is in his 70s and lives on a big farm and my children just adore this man. He has had some hard times lately losing his wife to illness and a son-in-law to a terrible accident. I'm helping him with some things and Mike had to go pick up some paperwork from him so he took the kids with him. From there they went to see another friend of my husband's, Mr. M and he had a nice surprise for them for Halloween.... not so sure if it is nice for me or not, but he gave them a puppy. He is a cutie, but still............ He is a full blooded beagle pup and he is white and tan. My daughter, the vet, is just beside herself.

We have another trip to the dentist tomorrow so I really should try to get some work done tonight and will close with some pictures of my goblins.

I can see the finish line

Today marks the end of Morgan's special week at school. She has to take her treats in today, which I remembered at a decent hour last night. Logan goes on his much anticipated field trip today. The Playhouse is putting on a Max and Ruby presentation for the schools and Logan's grade is going today. His lunch is packed and ready to go.

All the costumes are finished except for Austin's, which cause me some grief last night, but I think we figured out a way to do it now. Logan wanted to be a spy (like the ones you see hiding in the bushes covered with leaves!!). Oooooooookay, so I need to sit and sew leaves all over your clothes, which will need to be done at the last minute so they don't crumble all over the place. Well, needless to say I didn't think of artificial leaves soon enough. I know I am wierd, but I don't like to go anywhere the days the kids go on a field trip. I'm afraid my cell phone won't work or something. So with twirling tonight I just didn't see a trip to the store in my immediate plans. So Austin and I did some digging yesterday and we came up with a Darth Vader outfit for Logan. The boys got talking Darth Vader helmets last year for Christmas from my two nieces. They even change your voice. We didn't think he would actually go for it, but we had fun making it. He actually liked it!! Of course in his 8-year-old brain he needed someone else to be Darth Vader too so they could fight, the light saber didn't actually light up so he thought we could attach a laser to it (uuummm yeah just as soon as I pull the one out of my ear that i have been keeping for just this occasion) and the light saber (made from an old witch's broom from years gone by) really should be a couple of inches longer!! By this time I was ready to make the light saber disappear, if you know what I mean!! This all from a costume he loved! Can you imagine if he only liked the costume. So now Austin's mummy will only require another 36 hours and at least that many drinks.

I have so much work to do, still one costume to make and my house looks like we have been burglarized and they thought the good stuff must be well hidden and oooohhhh yeah, my FIL called to say he and my MIL (whose house is spotless at the worst of times) are coming out this weekend, probably tonight. They say this frequently, but usually don't end up coming. Would it make me a horrible person to hope this is one of those times?!? Oh well if it does, that is my wish!! With that I must go, just in case.

Spongebob goes to the dentist

Logan had his dental appointment yesterday. They confirmed his teeth are bad because of all the problems with reflux and feeding issues as a baby. Thankfully his permanent teeth are coming in nicely and so far seem healthy. She is going to put a sealer over those teeth, fill the ones that have little cavities in them and he has one tooth that has to come out. He cut his gums while eating a potato chip and it got infected. She said the infection is gone, but still irritated and since the new tooth is ready to come in, they are going to go ahead and pull it so it doesn't get infected again. She had spongebob playing while she was cleaning his teeth doing some of the beginning work so Logan has not a clue what she even did. He goes back next week to have the tooth pulled and depending on how that goes she will do the fillings that day or another day.

We are going to the church for a Harvest meal tonight once Mike gets home. Then I need to finish costumes. Laiken's just needs some finishing touches, Austin's need painted and tacked to his outfit, Morgan's needs put together and we haven't even started Logan's yet, but have to wait until the day before and that day to do his as some if it will die if we start too early. Why do I feel the need to be the mom that makes all the costumes? Trust me, it isn't the need to be Mommy of the year as much as it is I am cheap and just hate paying all that money for something they are going to wear one night and probably ruin so we can't even pass it down! Although each year as I'm sitting up the entire night before trying to finish up the costumes, I swear the next year I will buy each of them the most expensive costume I can find if it means I don't have to make them.... Here we are again!!

Okay, off to shower now that Laiken is in bed, Austin is watching a movie and the other two are in school.

Here I am

I survived the weekend with no major snags. Logan's party was nice. The kids seemed to have a good time. My parents made it for the party, my in-laws were late. Logan had a blast on his haunted hayride. I wish I could have gone with him. The boys are all still talking about it. The reverse raffle was fun, but none of us won a thing. Guess I should have gone on the hayride. Logan's scout meeting/party on Sunday was a lot of fun. The parents did a real nice job decorating and the scout master had lots of fun games for the kids. They got a nice little treat bag and lots of food to eat at the party. Back to normal today. We managed to squeeze Morgan's poster out and her information sheet last night for her Student of the Week presentation today. All that is left now is her snacks on Friday and two more Halloween costumes to make. Laiken looks so cute in her potato head. She has some trouble walking in it though, so thankfully she will spend most of the night in the wagon. She fell on the kitchen floor yesterday and couldn't get back up. She was rolling and rolling on the floor and I was laughing so hard I couldn't pick her up. Nice mommy that I am. Austin's costume is about half-way done. Same with Morgan's. We will get started on Logan's tomorrow night. Well I will close with some pictures from this past weekend.

Birthday treats

My mommy points have been redeemed. I totally forgot to make rice krispie treats for Logan's birthday treat at school, almost. I was lying in bed last night, finally at almost midnight, just settled down in and then suddenly remembered. Had the usual battle in my head "You can just run to the store and buy cupcakes, he won't care. Isn't that secretly why you told him not to tell anyone what he was taking anyway??" "But I told HIM that is what I was making and I know he'll be disappointed". Nothing like laying a guilt trip on yourself. So I climbed back out of bed to make his treats. Thankfully it was something fairly easy anyway.

We are still working on halloween costumes. Still on the back burner. We have to get through a birthday at school today, birthday party tomorrow, hayride tomorrow night, reverse raffle tomorrow night, pack meeting and Harvest party Sunday and make Morgan's poster for her Student of the Week next week, treats for that, visit to the school with the dog and two more halloween costumes. Laiken is going to be Mr. Potato Head (Thanks Mom!!), mine didn't turn out too well so she is stepping up and helping with that one. Austin wants to be a mummy. I have the strips ripped, but need to tack them to his outfit so they don't keep falling. Morgan either wants to be a pirate or Marge Simpson. Logan has said anything from a dead waiter to a zombie to the grip reaper to an invisible man to I'm afraid to ask him this morning. Whatever he decides we will have so much fun. We go through our little town first and then our fire department has a party for the kids at the station. We provide apple cider, hot chocolate, popcorn and donuts and games for the kids. There is a costume contest and just a whole lot of fun. Mike and I really enjoy seeing all the kids having so much fun. Even the older ones fall asleep on the big 2 mile trip home. Maybe then things will settle down a little bit. Oh, who am I kidding. With the parades, parties, holidays, school pagents, etc. we won't catch our breath now until mid January, just in time for pancake breakfasts as the fire hall!!

I'm going to give up two of my accounts on Monday. I'm just not getting it done. The days that they all send in are just too stressful. I talked it over with them and we decided it would be best to reassign those accounts and then on my lighter days I can request more work. I started those two because my one big account was slowing down; however, they added two new dictators so are much, much bigger now. It's just hard for me to admit I can't do it all.

I'll have some pictures to share soon!

Slept in

Well this day is going to be rough. Mike didn't go to work today. He is sick now so obviously I didn't get up to work at 4:00, which means I am now super behind. Logan is also sick, but determined he is going to school because he is afraid to miss this close to his birthday. Tomorrow we have to take treats in. I have to make rice krispie treats for his scout meeting on Sunday so he decided he wants to take those for his treat at school as well. I also have to practice his cake tonight. We are making a bleeding cake of Frankenstein's head. It sounds pretty neat, but I've never done anything like that before so I want to do a practice round. Bronchitis is hitting pretty hard right now so I really don't know how many kids are actually going to make it. Out of the seven he invited three have been out sick so I'm really not looking for them.

I took this picture two weeks ago of the kids. As you can see, this was an impromtu visit. Had no intentions of going into the water. Don't think the kids seemed to mind though.

Well~~ back to upper GIs and colonoscopies now so I can get paid.

I am sooooo tired

Well, here it is again.. 4:00 AM. I swear it just keeps getting earlier and earlier. I am so far behind in my work. I must say they are wonderful to work for and don't get upset, I just hate having that much work on my site. I also have so much to do to get ready for this weekend. We are so busy I don't know if I'm going to make it through after hardly any sleep this week. Next week I'll be dragging for sure. Friday I have to take treats to school for Logan's birthday, Saturday at noon is his birthday party. Then in the afternoon we have a reverse raffle at the firehall, that should be fun. Logan also has a hayride with scouts that night so I'll have to run home and take him to his friend's house so he can go with them and then pick him up when it is over, take him back home to the babysitter and then back to the firehall. Sunday, Logan's actual birthday, he has his scout pack meeting and harvest party. Going to be a lot of fun, but not much in the rest department. Did I mention we will be working at the reverse raffle? I will be having my parents, my in-laws, my sister-in-law and her boyfriend at my house for the weekend!! So.... I guess I better start working now so I can clean the kids rooms today. Never know what you might find in there.

School Picture Day

Gotta love school picture day!! Morgan bought a pretty pink sweater for her picture, has her hair bow picked out. Everything is hanging on the door ready to put on. Logan, on the other hand, will wing it and make the final decision when he can see the flashing lights on the school bus.

Lakien is starting to feel a little better. She is still coughing a little bit and has a runny nose, but I think we are on the downside of the cold. Of course now I think she is teething. She keeps sticking everything in her mouth sideways trying to bite just in that spot where her tooth is missing.

~~birthday update~~
The list is now up to 9 boys! I don't know how this keeps happening. Although I'm sure they won't all show up, even three 8-year-olds along with my own kids is too much for anyone to be expected to handle! Now OF COURSE they are calling for rain. Guess Mike better be hosing out the garage. I'm kind of excited though because we are going to attempt to make a "bloody cake". Of course I'm going to practice tonight so we may be doing one of Logan's famous plan B at the last minute, but I sure hope it will work.

Well, I really didn't get up at 4:00 AM to blog so I better start typing what I actually get paid for before everyone starts crowing.