Overheard

The Princess was going into another room and needed to leave her Polly Pockets on the table out here. As she's leaving she yells to the teenager (who is playing a video game with a friend) "Bubba, don't touch my Pollys! You can't play with them." I don't even want to know...

It's Friday!!!

And not only is it Friday, it's the Friday before vacation! Woohoo!! Mark and I both took next week off. We usually don't take time off in the summer as we prefer to travel when things are less crowded, but this year we decided to take a week off and stay home! We've got lots of things planned for next week including a BBQ with some other friends who have 4 kids (including the boy who likes SB and has since 2nd grade! She likes him too!), lunch and a movie with said boy and his mom, a trip to Waterworld, a night away for Mark and I, the circus, our normal 4th of July picnic and fireworks with my mom, Mark's dad, and sometimes Mark's brother and his family. It looks to be a fun week and we all desperately needed a mid summer break!

Spacing

I sometimes get comments from people about the spacing of my children. Generally the comments are negative, in the "they're so far apart they'll never have a relationship" vein. They aren't THAT far apart! There are four years between the first two and three years between the others. This does make for 11 years between the first and last, which, if they were the only two, might make a relationship difficult. But, honestly? I wouldn't change the spacing for anything! Really. I got to have time with each child before the next one came along. They got to be the baby for several years. I wouldn't trade that. Ever. Has it been challenging? Of course. But not in the way it is challenging for a mom with two very close together. My challenges didn't come so much with the kids as with their activities. My challenges came in that I had an 11 year old playing football and a brand new baby. So she went to her first football game at a week old or so. She was at the kids school at 5 days old. There was no seclusion for us. Ever. The two youngest, but especially the Princess, spent a lot of their baby time in the car.
Things are sometimes difficult in the field of entertainment in that what the 16 year old can see/do, the 4 year old can't. But, thinking about that, even if they were all 2 years apart? Then it would be a 16 year old and an 10 year old. They still would not be able/wanting to do the same things. I don't see much of a difference there.
I didn't start out to write about this though. I really wanted to write about the relationship between my oldest and youngest. Because I ALWAYS get comments about them and how they will barely know each other. How wrong my critics are. The teenager was in the delivery room when the Princess was born. He is her biggest fan and vice-versa. I think she is the reason he held it together during the really challenging years. He adores her and she him. Yesterday at the dentist, when she was scared? He's the one she wanted. When she's feeling left out or sad or mad at me? It's him she runs to. Today when she wanted to dance and the music was over and the other kids wanted to move on? He took her into his room and played guitar for her so she could dance. Things may change a bit if he moves out in a few years, but I think they have a pretty firm foundation to build on.

Fun at the dentist/orthodontist

It was the day for the semi annual crack of dawn trek to the dentist today. The appointment was originally scheduled for April but because of something happening at school, I had to reschedule. It didn't occur to me to change the time of the appointment, just the day. So we had to get the kids all up at 6Am so we could leave by 6:45. Because their dentist/ortho is downtown. Which is 40 minutes away. Why? Because my mom used to work in the same building as this office and we started going there when the Teenager was 2. And I really love it there. I love it more than the hassle it would be to change with two kids involved in ortho work. So, we make the trek. Anyway, all four children have great teeth, no cavities. But, SB has a baby tooth that's been hanging on for far too long. The ortho gave her one month to get it out herself. If not she's having it pulled so that she can start on her braces! Top braces in August and bottom braces in the fall. At least she'll get them out of the way before high school!

We survived

The bedroom is cleaned, sheets washed, beds made, floor vacuumed. Any bets on how long it lasts?

Wish me luck

The girls and I are cleaning their room today. If you don't hear from me by Wednesday, send in the National Guard. Yes, it's that bad.

Lovely Weekend

We've had a wonderful weekend here including lots of family time which has been in short supply lately. Mark made a water fun land in the backyard where we all played today and got soaking wet! Dinner is in the crockpot for after church and I have some yummy homemade strawberry shortcake. I love homemade shortcake and it's actually the one dessert Mark eats as well! Hope your weekend has been as wonderful!

TGIF

I am ready for the weekend! Hopefully I'll get to see my husband since I haven't seen him in a couple of days except for the middle of the night. He went to work at 7AM yesterday and came home at 1AM. This morning he got up at 5:30, but let me sleep until 8 while he got up and let the daycare kids in and fed them. As soon as I got up he took off for work and he won't be home until midnight tonight. Tomorrow morning he's leaving at 6 AM to hike with his dad as they are getting ready to hike the Grand Canyon in October. When he gets home I have a lunch date. After that though we should be able to connect!lol! He figured out that we've only been able to have dinner all together twice this month. That's pathetic.

I have grand plans to clean up my sewing area today. There are 7 weeks of summer left and I have to get this stupid quilt finished so I can move on to some other projects. UGH! I also want to get some scrapbooking done in the next few weeks.

I got Preschool paperwork in the mail for the Princess last week. Can you believe they have a supply list? For Preschool? There's not a lot on it, but you would think, with what I'm paying, they could supply some glue and markers!lol!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Why I Love Birthday Parties...

Cake for breakfast!

All Done

The party is over, the dishes have been washed and the little ones are in bed. We had a full house tonight. 14 family members and 7 of the teenager's friends. It was lots of fun and very loud and we went through lots of food (but I do still have a lot of yummy chocolate cake left!) I really enjoy giving parties. I love my house being filled with people. I love to feed people and make them feel welcome. The teenagers were AWESOME! They very willingly allowed the Princess to dance for them and clapped and cheered for her. It was so fun! And, my shy one? The Social Butterfly? She did her hiphop dance for them as well! And they cheered and clapped for her too! Great kids. I am exhausted. I'm headed for bed.

Shout Out...

To my "loopies"! I have a group of women friends that I met online in 1998. We all had babies in August or September of that year and have remained in contact the entire time, although sporadically at times. There were days in the early years when my email box was constantly full of email from these ladies. The threw me a virtual baby shower for the Princess, complete with gifts they sent and I opened while we were online. On of the ladies was on the short list of people we called from the hospital when the Princess was born, she spread the word to the rest of them. We've lived through a suicide of one of our loopies, troubled marriages, life threatening health-situations, new babies, teenagers, an international adoption, etc. I've met one of them in person when she had a layover here and I drove like a mad woman to spend 30 minutes at the airport with her! I just recently(yesterday) discovered that one of them has been reading my blog and another will be stopping by soon so I wanted to say "hey" and I love you girls!

Happy Birthday Baby!

16 years ago today my life changed forever. I became a mother. At 12:48 PM on Thursday, June 21, 1990, my first child was born. 8 pounds, 8 ounces, 22 inches long and ALL BOY! I remember my first glimpse of him as he was hanging upside down while the doctor held him by one foot. I started hyperventilating. I was so stunned and awed that this baby had come out of me! My first words were "Oh my God, he's so beautiful!" followed only seconds later by "Oh my God, he's so big!" I was immediately, completely, helplessly in love! He was an incredibly easy baby, easy toddler, easy preschooler, easy kid. We won't talk about those early teenage years, but he's a treasure once again!lol! He makes me laugh every single day. I adore him completely. I thank God for him and the way he changed my life. I can not imagine my life without him. Happy Birthday sweet boy!

Heartbreaking

This is devastating. Our state is getting hit hard with wildfires already this summer, but this one is threatening homes in one of my favorite places on earth. If you pray, the firefighters and the evacuees could use your prayers.

The Party is over...

Dance recital is over for another year and summer actually begins! The girls were amazing! The Princess was so adorable. She knew her dance very well and did a great job including a curtsey at the end which none of the other girls remembered to do. That made it even cuter of course!

SB is such a great dancer. She's beautiful doing ballet, very graceful. She's adorable doing tap. She really just has this great natural easy way about her on stage.
But hip hop? That girl can DANCE! She has so much energy and is really very good. Good enough that someone we didn't even know stopped her to say how great she was. And good enough that someone we do know whose daughter dances in the Performing group at the same studio stopped SB once and her dad twice to talk about how talented SB is. This is definitely her thing!
The girls each got huge bouquets of roses from their dad and I. Hot pink for the Princess (surprise!) and a gorgeous orange color for SB. They also were blessed with myriad other gifts from family and friends, including the cutest tiara hair comb from Karin for the princess. The Princess actually told me we would need to go get her a new dress to wear with it. She wants to wear it for her Bubba's (the teenager) birthday on Wednesday. She's not getting a new dress as she has nine million pink outfits and I'm sure we'll find something adorable for her to wear with the comb. She also got this Hollywood Hair Barbie from her aunt. She would not put it down and SB said she wanted one of those too!

Swim lessons start tonight for the youngest two. They were both swimming at the end of last summer, but a year away from the water is always hard so we'll see how they are doing tonight. And today I've got to start getting the house ready for the teenager's birthday party on Wednesday night. He's leaving (on a jet plane) on Friday to go to Texas to visit the girlfriend. He paid for his own ticket. I've talked to the parents about all the little details. They'll be picking him up at the airport and they have a little apartment over the garage where he will stay. He'll be driving back with the older sister in two weeks. I'm sure he'll be fine. It's me who might have a nervous breakdown!

Happy Father's Day

To the most amazing father ever. The father who says that there is not one thing he would rather do on Father's Day than go watch his daughters dance. The father who works like crazy to make sure we have all we need and want. The father who knows that he needs to hold my hand very tightly when our girls are on stage because my heart is about to burst. His is as well. The father who took on the job of parenting a ready made family with never a hesitation, never any type of distinction between his children by birth and his child by marriage. He is my hero, my life.

Busy Busy

It's dance recital time this weekend, so we've been busy with rehearsals this week and last. I love recital time, but I do feel the summer doesn't really start until it's over since we're still running around a lot. My girls are ready to dance! They both look adorable in their costumes. It's so much fun to watch them.

We're going to a Diamondbacks game tonight with Cub Scouts. I haven't been to a game in a couple of years...Actually, maybe not since the World Series in 2001! I can't quite remember, but I love going so it should be a good time.

Next week in the teenager's 16th birthday. 16...Where does the time go? It isn't possible that I've been a mom for 16 years! It really seems like just a short while ago he was a baby, a toddler, a preschooler. Now he's going to be old enough to drive! Not quite sure how I'm going to cope with that one!

People Suck!

So the kiddos and I were at the grocery store this morning. It's relatively quiet since it's Sunday morning but I see this family a couple of times. A male and female and two children. The children are being yelled at both times I see the family. This is irritating to me. Not that I don't ever yell at my kids. Please! But these people seem so exasperated with these small kids. One in particular. A boy. No older than 4. He seems to be bearing the brunt. So, we are in the parking lot loading the groceries and I hear sobbing. I look over and there is the boy standing by this minivan while the egg and sperm donors are putting in groceries and buckling another child. As I watch the male person spins around really aggressively and puts both hands on the boys neck and lifts him up by the neck and throws him into the van. I immediately yell "Hey". The guy looks at me and says "shut up". I grab my cell, which interestingly enough had been in my purse until we were in the check out line at which point I felt the need to put it in my pocket... I call 911 and go to the back of their van to get the license number. While this is happening and they are screaming at me, I've told my kids to stay in our van and another couple has come and stood near me. I talk to 911 all the while the female is yelling at me that I don't understand and I have no idea. I'm sorry lady. I may not know your exact circumstance, but I do know that there is NO EXCUSE for what just happened to that boy. They leave, the police are on their way, and I am sobbing. Sobbing for that little boy. What will happen to him? I got a call from the police a few minutes after I got him. They are still looking, but no luck so far. The license plate was out of state, so I'm not sure there's much hope...

Summertime...

It is hot here! I'm going to the grocery store this morning but then no leaving of the house shall take place today!

I finally got some sleep last night. Various events in my life this past week have conspired to keep me from sleeping and I really did not think last night would be any better as I still have a lot on my mind and Mark is out of town. I think my body just finally had enough though. I went to bed at 10:30, got up at 11:45 for an hour (I'll explain that one in a minute) and then went back to bed and didn't wake until 8:00. Amen! Most of the kids were still sleeping. Only FE was up, because as his nickname implies he is an early riser type personality. That being said, I got him some books that he loves and he's been reading for hours at a time so he's very quiet! SB and FE have both finished the entire summer reading program since Wednesday! That means they have each read over 12 hours in 3 and a half days! Amazing!

The break in my sleep last night was caused by the teenager. He was out for the evening with his friends, planning to spend the night with a friend, but ended up at a party where there was alcohol and no parents involved. So, he called me. To come home. Because he did not want to put himself in that situation. He actually left the scene of the party and walked to a nearby fast food restaurant to wait for me. So, as big of a pain as it was to load three sleeping kiddos in the van and wake up myself, knowing that this boy has an AMAZING head on his shoulders made it all worth while.

Hmmm...I've got an idea...

Be the grown up! Just say no!