It's been a while!!

Ok. So I haven't been able to get on here for a while so I have some catching up to do. First Halloween! The kids were super cute and had a blast at our church's annual festival. Here are a couple of pics... Dylan is Ghost Face from Scream. Paige is Green Lantern and Joy is just cute!!

Then we had Thanksgiving! We had a blast at the Vincent Family Thanksgiving! So much family. The kids got to play bingo. I think everyone won at least once or twice!

And now we are rollin' into Christmas! The decorations are out and we are playing keep away with Joy and "No it's not Christmas yet. You can't open your presents yet." with Paige. We almost have all our shopping done! Can't wait!!

School!

Ok.. so as we all know my time and attention has been taken up with my WAR on LICE. I have school news! Paige went back for another test and FAILED! So now she has failed two test and will get in to school! She starts Monday and she is really excited. She gets to ride a bus and everything, which she has been really trying to figure out a way to do. She will go Monday and Wednesday for 4 hours. During that time she will go to speech. I hope this helps her. She is ready to go!

Update on the War

Just checked Dylan. He has lice too! Shaved heads for the guys!

The War of 2011

So.. as some of our friends and family know, we have been battling LICE for a few weeks now. Poor Paige has been treated multiple times for these pesky little pests and the whole family is paranoid they are going to get them too. The other day I finally broke down and called in for a script of lice treatment and so far so good. My nightly checks go as follows: Paige- clear, Dylan- clear, Joy- clear, David- clear, Me- clear. So tonight in my constant state of paranoia I did our nightly check. Paige- clear, Dylan- clear, Joy- clear, David- clear, and Me- AHHHHHHHHHH!!!! For only the second time in my life I HAVE LICE!! Just great!! So here I am at 4am with lice treatment on my head telling all of you about this war I thought I was winning but find I am currently loosing! For the life of me I cannot figure out why God created these little buggers. I understand bees, they make us honey... mmmmmm. I understand flies, as annoying as they are, they help stuff decompose. Heck I even understand mosquitoes, birds find them tasty, but lice? What do they do? They jump from person to person sucking our blood. No animals eat them. They are not part of the food chain. I don't get it. I guess this is another question I will have when I get to heaven!

Sleeping....

Sleep is a issue in my house. David works at nights and goes to school during the day. He doesn't get home usually until around 1 a.m. and that is about the only time I get to see him. Which if I didn't have 2 morning gals wouldn't be a problem. They get it from their dad. I really don't understand morning people. They annoy me. So what do I do?? I marry one!! Since David is a morning person he looks (and feels) like he never gets enough sleep. Makes sense because he doesn't. I am a night owl. It is very hard for me to go to sleep before 1 a.m. Even when I have had very little sleep the night before. Dylan is my little buddy. Me and him have always got along great on the sleep front. And just to be extra special he was sleeping through the night at like 2 months! Dylan and I both prefer the stay up late and sleep in life-style. Paige loves to get up in the morning. She always comes marching out of her room with a big smile on her face ready to greet the world! She is not fully night trained so every other night I am changing her cloths and bed at 3 a.m. The best sleep issue is being saved for last. 3 guesses who I'm talking about.... Yep that sleepy one in the picture above. She is 6 months old and.... is in training to sleep through the night. She still wakes up every 3 hours thinking something needs to be done. My whole family (except for Joy, she still gets naps!!) is extremely sleep deprived!! Yea! I would nap when the kids do... except Joy is the only one I can put down for a nap. Dylan and Paige both quit the nap thing at 2 years old. If I gave them naps they would stay up late. Paige was never quite as bad as Dylan. Her idea of staying up late was 10 or 11 o'clock at night. I could kinda deal with that, but Dylan would be up 'till 2 or 3 o'clock. That would drive me nuts!! Moma needs a break from the babies some time!!

Exercise!

Ok... So I have know for a while that I could do with a 10 lb. weight loss. (Don't think I'm fat, just want to get closer to my recomended BMI.) Anyway. I have been trying to find a way to go on a daily walk that works with having a 4yr old and 6 mo. old still at home. Paige, Joy, and I have been going on morning walks but it's hard to walk with them. (Joy not so much she's in a stroller, but Paige is on the loose.) The loop I walk should only take me about 30 min. but with the stop and go of a 4yr old it takes me about an hour. And not a real consistent work- out. So I'm still looking for a good walk. I think I found it. All you need is a little white dog that is half chuwawa half alaskan american named: Snowball. I forget how much energy that little dog has!! I just went on a 30 min walk around my neighborhood and she gave me a good work- out. Nice speed and pretty motivating. She was ready to go wherever I went. I'm going to give it a go again tomorrow and see if I will be able to do this with some consistency. Wish me luck!!

Crazy Rules for School

For the last month I have been on a mission to get Paige into the public schools preschool speech program. What an adventure in patience. Paige has been having a hard time telling us what she wants or needs. I took her to testing a month ago and she failed. So they scheduled us to come back a week later. Came back and it was just to fill out paperwork. Scheduled us to come back in another week. They called and rescheduled for a few days later. Went to that testing and she failed one test and passed the other. Now here is where to me it gets really stupid. The speech lady tells me Paige needs speech, but according to the rules she has to fail both tests to get in. So based off the tests taken she can't get in. So she is going to pull another test and see if Paige fails it. If she does she gets in. I don't understand why they have these rules. If a kid needs speech a kid needs speech. I pay my taxes, heck I pay the taxes for the house we live in and we don't even own it. We also participate in all the fundraisers for public schools. I do my part so the schools should be doing theirs. So for now I have to keep trying to decipher and translate Paige's crazy words and hope I get it right the first couple of times I make her repeat herself so we don't have any melt downs. I don't think I have ever prayed for one of my kids to ever FAIL a test, but in this case it needs to happen!! Wish us luck!!

Body Image

I am one of those odd women who has never really had body image issues. I actually like my body. Ok I say that, but lets face facts: I have always thought I am to tall (5' 11"-6' depending on who is measuring), and after 3 kids my favorite parts have changed just a little. but all in all I am very satisfied with my body. While teetering on the see-saw of normal to overweight I have never felt fat. I have my days when I look in the mirror and think I look HOT and the days when I think not so hot. But mostly I just don't think about how my body looks all that much. Until... I see a overweight woman holding one of my babies and... I get jealous. Yes you heard me right. Jealous. Why you may ask does this cause me to be jealous? What kind of weirdo am I? Well.. while being blessed with a long relatively easy to maintain body, I am not blessed with a baby friendly body. The length of my sternum is LONG and I am not big chested. Babies are constantly head butting me in this no fat zone area. I feel like I'm going to knock a baby out! In my head I picture babies looking at my body and thinking "I don't want to cuddle that!" But they look at a heavier more endowed woman and think "Now that's my spot!" I know, I know. Babies don't think like that! It's all in my head, but there it is. My body image issue.

Things My Mom Tried to Teach Me and Things She Should Have Told Me!

My mom is one awesome lady! I know she's my mom and I should think that, but I know it's true 'cause other people have told me that too. She tried soooo hard to prepare me for adult life. She made me help her in the kitchen, taught me how to clean house, and how to keep a clean house. Did I listen? Did her lessons stick? Well.... yes. However I am not good at implementing them! My house is NEVER as clean as hers, my cooking needs help, and I am not good at making my kids pick up after themselves. How in the world did my mother get 4 children to make their beds every morning? How did she get us to pick up our toys when we were done playing.. every time? I don't remember my mom ever yelling at us to get it done. My few memories of whoopins have nothing to do with not picking up after myself. What was her trick? I wish she had told me! My mom is a lead by example kind of lady. You can look at any situation she is dealing with and watch the magic happen. She has conquered uncooperative school systems, raising 4 children, and experienced natural disasters with such grace it is impossible not to see God working through her. That's not to say my mother never gets rattled. She is human, at least that's what she tells me. I'm still not sure. She can lift you up with words of encouragement, even when you have let her down. She can stay calm and shove a tooth back in her baby's head when it's knocked out by a church pew. (My littlest sister Adrianne accomplished that one.) She will go up against a school system when they are not meeting her children's educational needs. All the while never raising her voice or being disrespectful. I am not my mother. She has shown me MULTIPLE times how to handle situations like that. I can stay calm in a medical emergence, and I can lift people up when they need encouragement. I can listen like she does without judging. But.... you know that verse in the bible that talks about the tongue being a sword. Well.. I got that tongue. And man do I have a temper. I joke about my fuse being short, but it's really true. My fuse is REALLY short. I get mad quick, and lash out sometimes... in a not so pretty way. My mom should have told me how hard it really is to raise multiple children. She made it look so easy. Yes we fought, and lied, and didn't always treat our parents with the respect they deserved. But we also deeply love one another and tried to do our best... most of the time. How in the world was she able to meet each one of our unique needs and never freak out? How did she stay calm in the face of 3 very different girls and one boy trying to tear each other apart throughout the week? How did she get us all to clean our rooms and pick up after ourselves without threatening us with bodily harm? I wish she could have told me! I know she tried to teach me!

Quest for a Activity Bouncer

This past weekend I was on a quest for an activity bouncer for Joy. The ladies at church told me Joy really enjoyed the one in her bible class so I figured it was time to get her one. My great plan was to have a garage sale... in 100 degree plus weather... I am officially insane. It was so hot during the sale that I thought multiple times of giving up, but I powered through and got er done. And it was worth it! Joy has been enjoying her new toy, and so have the big kids. They are so good with her! When Joy isn't in her bouncer Paige is putting her babies in it and letting them have a good time too. Dylan just likes to push the music buttons for Joy. I think Joy secretly likes her toy because it seems to draw the kids whenever she is in it and that is instant attention! 

 

OHH THE HEAT!!!

Oh my gosh! It is soooo freakin' hot outside! Today we are already tied with our all time high of 113f. I have a feeling we are going to break it. Fires are breaking out everywhere in my area. I can't hardly take it, plus my kids are going stir crazy from being stuck inside. Ok, I'm going crazy too. I have always been a summer person. I love going to the pool and having outdoor adventures, but this summer has broken me of that! I am seriously contemplating a move to Alaska's far north! I HATE the cold. So that's saying something! I will risk achy joints just to be cool for a while. It's so hot David and I can hardly sleep at night we are so hot! This has got to end NOW! Please!

My Baby is 9!

How dare my little boy get so big!? I keep telling him to stop, but he just won't listen! I love that he is growing into such a responsible young man. He usually does what is asked of him without attitude and a bunch of questions. He tries very hard to take care of his things, and he is soooo respectful of authority. He had a GREAT birthday. He got a DS, a few games, a new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, and a nerf gun. He loved everything he received... especially the DS. I can't keep him off of it! This year I had the idea of a silly string fight with his friends. This went REALLY well. They all thought that was just the coolest thing. We had a sleep over as well and the boys stayed up until 3am. Good thing I'm a night owl! All in all I think he had a successful birthday! Happy Birthday Dylan!!

Differences

It amazes me how different Dylan and Paige are from each other. Dylan is rather introspective. He's my thinker. He's not really into the BIG adventures, and definitely not my risk taker. Paige on the other hand is my go getter. She loves to spend hours playing make believe. Her Little People are always going to do something interesting and fun. She would march into the woods on her own and never be afraid. As babies if you tossed Dylan into the air he would scream and cry like you just beat the living daylights out of him. Paige would just laugh and laugh and ask for more. It took Dylan until he was almost 6 to put his face in the water. Paige who is 4 has decided that it is time to dive in and swim. I love all the little difference. It makes raising them an adventure. I never know what I am going to get! I can't wait to see how different Joy is from her big brother and sister! I'm sure she will have lots of fun little surprises of her own!

I need a break!

Ok.. so much as I would like for my first official blog to be totally positive that's not going to happen. I need a break! I have 3 kids, who I love dearly, that are driving me nuts right now. I really do love my kids. My oldest Dylan is 9, Paige is 4, and the baby, Joy, is 4 months. They are all awesome in their own little ways, however there is a conspiracy to drive me nuts. Dylan has entered the, I can talk rudely to my mom stage. Paige has entered the every emotion is on overdrive stage. Which I thought we wouldn't get to for about 10 more years, but apparently I have an overachiever on my hands, and Joy hasn't started sleeping through the night yet. In her defence she is still just an infant, everything is still biology. Now don't get me wrong, my kids are unnaturally good kids. Generally they listen well, are respectful of others, and a whole lot of fun to be around. However I haven't had a good nights sleep in forever and no school means no break. On top of all that it is way to hot to send them outside when I need a moment to myself. The other night I finally got to sleep at around 2 a.m. Dylan woke me up around 2:30 with a nightmare. Got him back down. Joy woke up at 3 ready to eat. Got her back down. Paige had a accident around 4. Got her back down. Do you see a pattern here? Couldn't go back to sleep. Finally got tired enough to go back to sleep around 6:30 and what do you know Joy was ready to eat at 7. I gave up at that point and just stayed up. Like I said "I need a break!"

Hello!

Well this is my first blog here! I hope I'm never boring, always entertaining, and don't ever sound crazy. I'm sure at one time or another I will fail at all 3, but I'm going to give it a try! Of course since I have sat down to do this my children's ability to interrupt whatever I'm doing, just for fun mind you, has kicked in. I have 2 being really loud for the fun of it and one that's decided that she needs to eat! I will get back on here later and try to give a brief overview of what I'm all about! Thanks for reading!