Help...........PLEASE!!!

The pictures pretty much speak for themselves huh??

We had just gotten home from purchasing paint for the boys room. Caden wants to move in with Spencer and I had always said that when the little ones were ready to separate they would let me know. We are moving the boys into our computer room as its bigger. I will share some pictures when and if we ever get it done.

Caden came with me and was trying to be a big helper. He was "helping" me carry one of the gallons of paint in the house when he dropped it and it burst open. He had this look of terror on his face and was saying "sorry Mommy" right before he ran upstairs screaming. It was not his fault, it was an accident. If anyone was to blame it was me for letting him carry it. Poor little guy was sure he was in trouble. I finally was able to go up and get him and tell him it was ok, but not until after I scooped up as much paint as I could and tried to wipe up the rest. Bob and I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed..........get the idea? I think we got most of it up, but now there is a clean spot and we need to scrub the rest of the walkway. It still has a slight blue haze to it, maybe we will have to paint all the sidewalks blue. Who knows we may be starting a new trend.

Its no wonder nobody gets anything done with kids around. We could have had the room painted in the time we spent cleaning. Now I get to go and buy ANOTHER gallon of paint and start the whole process over again tomorrow.

Carnival

It was the end of the year carnival for Spencer's school. They divided up all the grades and they each got an hour to go outside and enjoy all the activities.

Spencer really wanted us to go, so we ventured up. I had warned the little ones that they could not play or get their faces painted as it was a day for Spencer. They were fine with it too. Everyone was so nice there, they included the little ones and let them have sno-cones and play games too. They were thrilled.

I must have tied 20 pairs of kids shoes. Who sends their 5 and 6 year olds to school with shoe lace that they do NOT know how to tie. It must make the teachers CRAZY.

They had moon walks, treasure hunt in the sand pit, popcorn, sno-cones, face painting, hair coloring, finger nail polish, tattoos, obstacle course and bead necklace making stations.

We met Spencer't music teacher from his first year in preschool and he had NO idea who she was. He adored her a couple of years ago. How quickly they forgets.

On the mend now

Sydney went to the doctor today and she indeed does have a raging ear infection, but only a touch of swimmers ear? He said it was just a coincidence that we were in the pool for so long. She is now on 10 days of oral antibiotics and antibiotic ear drops on top of that.

We took the downtown train from the park to the doctors office to avoid the almost $10 parking fees, plus the kids LOVED the train.

Poor thing was up last night at midnight with a 102 temperature. Followed shortly thereafter by Peyton who had to pee and then Caden wondering where everyone was. There was NO room left in bed for me. lol I shouldn't complain though as they very rarely ever sleep with me, I am lucky in that respect.

Ouch

Poor little Sydney has an ear infection. We were IN the pool for at least 10 hours on Sunday.....no joke. Well, Monday night she started complaning that her ear hurt and was crying and holding it at bedtime. I figured better late than never and I put alcohol in it to see if it would help and dry it out. I also chased that with some tylenol.

Today at daycare she was miserable and they called to ask if they could give her some tylenol as she had a low grade fever. Well that only means one thing...its now infected. Good thing it was the daycare and NOT Spencer's school. His school nurse insists on sending him home with the sniffles. She makes me CRAZY, but thats a whole other really long story for another time. lol Just suffice it to say that I told her NOT to call me again unless he needs life support...........now she calls Bob.

We have a doctor appointment in the morning (only because they would not prescribe antibiotics over the phone). I talked to her on the phone when I was at work and told her we were going to get it fixed up tomorrow and she cried because she doesn't want to go see him.

Its too bad she has to suffer another whole day though waiting to see him.

Kindergarten program

Spencer had his year end kindergarten program at school today. Last night he told me he was nervous about standing up in front of everyone, but you wouldn't have known it to watch him. He told me that he was nervous inside and I just couldn't see it. Bob took the day off so he could go and watch him. Spencer was asking if he could go so that made him really happy.

Nana and John surprised him and came to watch him too, that thrilled him.

I can't believe that was my little baby boy up there looking so grown up and doing such a GREAT job. I am so proud of him and how far he has come.

Nice weekend

We had a nice weekend. We went to the train rides Saturday morning and the kids always like that. Apparently everyone knows about them now and we had to wait in line for about 45 minutes. Peyton and Sydney insisted on taking their dolls for the ride and of course Peyton dropped hers while we were on the train. They were really nice and stopped it and one of the men went back and got it for her. She held on to her REALLY tight for the rest of the ride.

The kids swam again even though the pool is only 70 degrees. I can't believe how cool its been down here this spring. We even went for a bike ride to the park. Daddy got to stay home and mow the lawn. :) The boys rode their own bikes and I took the girls in the trailer behind my bike. Several people asked me "are ALL those kids yours??" The boys do really well and do not try to go on the road. We even took the long way to the park with no complaints. Well, at least from them.........my legs were burning.

We started a fire on Saturday evening and I was just about to sit by it and relax and it started raining, I couldn't belive it!!! Spencer and I stood in the rain and roasted a few marshmallows anyway as he missed it last week when he was sick.

Happy Mother's Day

I had a wonderful day today. It all started with a bath to soak in the bath salts Spencer got for me. Of course the little ones had to come in and help me have a bath. The just LOVED washing my hair and rinsing it. That was about all the relaxing I had for today, but it was great anyway.

Poor little Spencer woke up sick with a high fever and just feels awful. He tried to go to his room to get the presents he made for me and had to run back to the bathroom as he was sick. He was so disappointed, but he felt a little better later and was able to at least watch as Daddy gave them to me. He made a beautiful wooden flower bouquet and some great pictures and cards. The little ones made some very cute pictures for me too. I actually threw away the Mother's Day cards they made at daycare. I had no idea that is what they were, what a BAD Mommy!!! I was so afraid they were going to ask for them. Bob distracted them and helped them make some more and they didn't even mention them.

Bob and I did tons of yard work. We finished planting the flowers in the little gardens, then placed rocks in them. Then we tackled the big garden behind the pool and raked out the weeds and planted a few plants. We are still not done the big garden, but it looks a lot better already. Peyton, Sydney and Caden swam all afternoon with their float belts on as the pool is STILL too cold for me to get in. They were little dare devils jumping in and swimming all over.

I found a snake in the garden while planting. I of course had to catch it and put it in the bug catcher. Bob ran around freaking out saying it was a cotton mouth snake and that we were all going to die when it bit us. Sydney wore the bug catcher around her neck like a necklace which freaked him out more. It was just a LITTLE brown garden snake.

We had my favorite Mexican food from Los Cucos for supper, we did take out. Poor little Spencer wouldn't even try any.

Then we had a fire and roasted marshmallows - I love them. I had my fill too, as everyone wanted to roast them, but I was the only one that would actually eat them. We brought Spencer out and made him a little bed with pillows and blankets beside the fire so he could enjoy it too. Caden and Sydney fell asleep sitting out there.

I can't imagine better kids to spend Mother's day with. I just love them so much!!!

We are so hot

I took the kids to see Sleeping Beauty today and then to the zoo afterwards. Sleeping Beauty was playing in the park right beside the zoo so I thought it was a good idea. There were about nine million other people with the same idea so we had to park far away. By the time we "ran" to the where Sleeping Beauty was playing we were drenched with sweat. The girls had also convinced themselves that we were going to Disney Land to see her. Much to their disappointment it was NOT Disney Land and indeed Cinderella was NOT there. They kind of enjoyed the show, but were way more excited about going for the picnic we had planned for afterwards. We stayed and watched the entire show though, we were not leaving after the trek I had to make to get there.

We had our picnic in the zoo and the kids thought the best part was feeding the koi. We then went to see the elephants, then decided to cool off in an indoor exhibit. Peyton put her hand in where the turtles were and was surprised when it bit her. Well you think it bit her hand off the way she was screaming. Caden and Sydney were quite concerned about her little finger too. After that I decided that we had endured enough excitement for one day and we came home. They fell asleep in the car before we hit the freeway.

Who could be mad at that face???

Spencer came home from kindergarten with his very first yellow dot yesterday. They have a little calendar in their folder and they get green for good, yellow for a warning, red for bad and black for spawn of satan.

He has come home with green EVERY day since he started school. They didn't bring home their folders on Monday and he didn't say a word to me about it either. Well when I came home from work tonight Daddy told me to check his folder. (Yes, the kids were still not in bed). Spencer was very worried and looked at me all sad and says "do you still love me Mommy?"

I looked at him with his sad little eyes and you could tell he was just crushed. I just had to hug him and tell him it was perfectly fine. He was talking....imagine that? I wonder where he got that from? I would have had black every day for talking if we had that chart when I was his age.

I think perhaps I should get a color coded calendar system at home, do you think it would work????

A sad day

We sold our quad stroller today and I was very sad to see it go.

Caden was WAY more upset though. He kept saying we needed to keep it and he wanted us to take him for a walk to the park in it. They still fit in it too, but barely.

Look how small they were in it when we first got it compared to now.

When the couple was here to pick it up he ran upstairs to his room. I am not sure what happened, but he must have slammed the door really hard or flung himself against it because the door knob part was on the opposite side of the door jamb. He was crying and saying he could not get out. I wasn't sure if were going to be able to get him out at first either. lol

We cheered him up by letting him pull out the geotrax with the 9 million or so pieces that go with it. Then we playing in the back yard and the kids "swam" in the baby pool with hot water added. I can't believe its been so cool down here. Our pool is still only 70 degrees and thats about 15 degrees colder than I will get in to. I wonder how many pots of hot water I would have to carry outside to warm it up?

We set up our new patio set and ate supper outside. Actually it was an all you can eat buffet for the flies. Then we started a fire and relaxed for a while. It was a great day. We snuck in some yard work too, much to Bob's disappointment.

Walley world is closed!!

We left Sunday morning to go to San Antonio for Seaworld. It was kind of cool, but lets face it, we live in Texas...........how cold could it be? I dressed us all in shorts and tank tops and took our bathing suits for the water rides. The high was 63 degrees with gale force north winds. We were freezing to say the least. We were all fighting over Peyton's cinderella towel. We finally gave up and decided to leave around supper time and just come back in the morning. We got up and checked out of our hotel and the clerk asked us where we were going. We told her Seaworld and she announced that it was closed!!!! Walley World was actually CLOSED. It felt like the scene from National Lampoon's Vacation.

It is only opened on weekends right now. I could not believe it!! The kids actually took the news very well. We decided to go to the Alamo and show them the River walk. Then we went to a really cool park and had a picnic and played until it was time to come home. Not quite the excitement of Seaworld, but they enjoyed it anyway.

Spencer was begging to go on the "steel eel" roller coaster at Seaworld the last time we were there and I just couldn't put my baby on it. I finally gave it and thought he would be scared to death and not ask again when he got off. He LOVED it. The first two hills were scary he said, but then he put his little arms up for the rest of the ride like a pro. I can't even put my arms up. As soon as it stopped he asked if he could go again. What a brave little man. I don't have any pictures of him as I would have dropped my camera on the ride.

kidzfest

We took the kids to "kidzfest" yesterday. It was awesome and FREE. The kids did TONS of crafts, went into about 5 or 6 different bouncy houses, got their faces painted, rode on a train and a bunch of other things I can't think of off the top of my head. We had planned on going for a couple of hours and spent 6 hours there.
They had a woman there with some snakes and we thought we would just stop and look. Spencer and Peyton held a snake for a few minutes, Caden just touched and refused to hold them. Sydney held all the snakes. We were there for about an hour and she had a snake in her hands the entire time. I had never touched a snake before and they were actually VERY cool. I want one now, just can't get over feeding them mice. I had to MAKE Bob hold one - and he did, just long enough for a quick picture. I wonder where Caden gets it from.

A few older boys came up to Sydney while she was holding one and wanted to touch it. When it moved they jumped back and Sydney looked and them and said "You're silly! He won't bite, he's nice!" It was just too cute. She is definitley her Mama's child when it comes to animals. The kids are just exhausted after such a busy weekend. I am sure Bob wishes I was working weekends again so he could have a rest.

Click here to watch a photoshow of our fun day

Soccer parties

Today was the day for the end of season soccer parties. I took the little ones to their party after their game while Bob stayed with Spencer for his game. We met at Spencer's party in another park. They all got trophies which thrilled them to no end. Then we took them all to Chuck E Cheese for their own little party. We had pizza and played a ton of games.
We came home and took a short break and then it was off to the YMCA for Saturday Night Live.

They stay from 6pm to 11pm and Bob and I get to go out all ALONE!!! I'm not sure who has more fun.......them or us. lol Of course they are exhausted when we pick them up. Poor little Caden fell and had a huge goose egg on his forehead.

We went to the Texas Crawfish Festival and had a feast. Actually some of the crawfish was so salty we could not finish it. We met Bob's brother and his family there and hung out. I am really glad I did not take the kids because there was a big fight near us and someone got stabbed with a pair of scissors. You have to love people who get drunk and act like idiots. They can't seem to talk without a string of expletives either when they drink. lol

She got it

Peyton finally decided she was going to ride a regular bike AND pedal it herself. I have tried to teach her in the past and she was just not interested in the least. Today she asked for the bike and just got on it and rode it all over the place. I knew she could do it if she tried, but I guess she was just waiting until the day SHE wanted to do it. She is a pro at it just like Caden. Now I need to get Sydney interested enough to try it out. lol

Little acrobats

I was trying to clean up after breakfast and ran when I heard the hysterical laughing coming from the stairs.

The little ones had gone upstairs and taken some blankets and pillows and piled them up on the landing of the stairs and then proceded to jump on them from about 5 or 6 steps above.

Of course I had to take some pictures before I made them stop. I love how they think and the ideas they come up with. You just have to love kids' imaginations!!

Boo boo

I have a boo boo this time. I have had a sore back for over three weeks now, but since I am the woman I am not allowed to be incapacited for any amount of time or the house falls apart. My solution to this is to take large quantities of ibuprophen and pretend that it doesn't hurt......has worked very well for me in the past .
I even took a bunch to mask the pain so I could go and play tennis with my children, something any good mother would do right????
Well Sunday I got up and literally could not walk accross the floor on my own. I have a very high pain threshold and thought that it was ridiculous. I just told myself to stop being a wimp and walk like a normal person. Well, everytime I tried a muscle spasms from hell attacked me and put me in my place. I am now on muscle relaxants and steroids and can at least walk around like a semi-normal person again. I think I have learned my lesson and will take better care of myself. Of course I say this whenever my back gets sore. When its better I will exercise and make sure it doesn't happen again. Once it doesn't hurt I amazingly forget all about the exercises until it hurts again. Its never been this bad so I should remember this time. I am also told by my Dr. that I need to see a chiropractor, figure that it can't hurt to try it out. My back has been sore more than not lately.
As for my poor house, it indeed HAS fallen apart and its really hard for the control freak part of me not to run around and clean and pick things up. I know that will only make it worse. I am just now able to sit at my computer chair and type. I have had some serious withdrawal in that department too.
Caden has been really sweet and keeps trying to take my hand VERY gently and help me walk, he is such a nice boy. Spencer hasn't even noticed. The girls will ocassionally rub or kiss my head as they are walking by. They are taking advantage of the fact that Mommy can't get up and make them stop fighting or stop doing what ever annoying thing they are doing at that particular moment.
Bob is blaming my job for my back, I have been insisting that its the years of picking his dirty underwear off the floor that has done me in. I don't think he's buying it though.

BRRRR

Yes those are pictures of my kids in our pool. Its been very nice here, but not quite nice enough to warm the pool. It was only 67 degrees and they had a ball and kept telling me it was not cold.




I somehow could not be convinced to get in to try it out. I have had a sore back and the thought of having to jump in the frigid water to save them just made it worse.

They stayed in for about an hour and I had to MAKE Caden get out. He kept telling me that the water was warm.

Morning with Mom

Today I got to go to "morning with Mom" at Spencer's elementary school. The little ones came with us and we had donuts, juice and milk. Spencer really enjoyed having us there and gave us a tour of the school. We saw where he takes PE, music and art. Then we went to the library for the book fair and he got a book.

Happy birthday Daddy

Today was Bob's birthday and the kids were thrilled, they love birthdays.

We made him a cake and shopped for his presents. Ok, so not what every man dreams of but he liked them anyway. A vacuum and a swivel sweeper. We really needed them and he does the majority of vacuuming.

Works for me as Caden just LOVES the swivel sweeper so I may never have to vacuum or sweep again.

We went to Los Cucos after Bob came home from work with our friends Sharyon and John and their daughter Kellyn. It was delicious as usual. The kids favorite part was when they put a sombrero on Bob and sang happy birthday and then smeared whip cream all over his face. My camera died at that exact moment and can you believe I had NO spare batteries.

Happy birthday Daddy, we all love you!!

Soccer

It was picture day at soccer today. We spent from 9:30 this morning until 2:30 this afternoon at the YMCA in the heat and humidity waiting for pictures and playing games. The kids are exhausted. I think I may be more tired than them though.


We came home and all flaked out and layed around watching tv all afternoon. Caden fell asleep on the couch and almost drowned in his own drool he was so tired.

The kids all did great again today.

The girls got to be the goalies and did great, the did not let one ball past them.

Spencer really needs to play football as he spends most of his time laying on the ground like he was tackled.

I am just counting the days until the pool is warm enough to swim in. They were handing out flyers to sign up for late spring sports. Its already too hot to stand there and watch. The poor kids are just burning up from running in the heat and sun.

We are NOT doing the late spring ones this year, we learned the hard way last year. This year we will lounge in the pool and drink icees.