To Sleep...perchance to dream...

Finally, sleep. Mark got home last night and I actually slept the entire night through. This was a good thing, as 4 straight nights with little to no sleep make me very grumpy. I feel a hundred times better this morning!

We have a busy week this week. SB has cheer tryouts this week which means taking make-up dance classes after tryouts. This makes for many long days. And Mark has something every night this week, so he won't be around to help out. But, at least he's home and will be here when I'm going to sleep!

My sewing machine is all better. It just needed service. And the serger was able to be fixed as well! Woohoo!

Have a great day!

How My Brain Works

Okay, anyone who knows me in real life knows that I have an awfully hard time with my kids getting older. Tonight SB is at the Welcoming Party for the Junior High youth group at our church. it's just a chance for the 6th graders to meet teachers and see what goes on before they officially start next school year. So, this is hard for me, but this is what ran through my brain all the way home from church.

"I can't believe SB is going into 7th grade oh my gawd the teenager is going to be a senior next year there are only 6 weeks of school left that means 30 school days until Sb is in junior high 30 days of school left oh my gawd that means the princess only has 12 days of school left oh my gawd 12 days until my baby is not in preschool anymore they are all getting so grown up soon they'll all move out what am i going to do when they move out I miss my babies" and on and on and on...Someone help me...

Bucket

We found a new dog for my mom! Karin suggested a trip here if the Human society didn't work out. it's kind of a drive from my house, so it wasn't really going to be on our list, but before we left I took a look at the dogs they had online and found one I thought was perfect for my mom. We went to the Humane Society and didn't see anything suitable, so made the trek to the other place. My mom fell in love at first sight, as did all of us. Bucket is a three year old male basset hound mix. We have a special love for bassets as we had one from the time I was 3 until i was 16. He was a special dog and this guy has some similar traits. We sat and played with him for over an hour. He adores the kids and has this great deep bark coming out of this little dog with the shortest legs and biggest feet ever. My mom is in 7th heaven! Welcome Home Bucket!

How Much is that Doggy in the Window??

I don't think I mentioned it here, but my mom's beloved dog, Patty the pachyderm, died almost two weeks ago. She had cancer and we knew for a while the end was coming, but it was still so sad. Patty was an amazing awesome dog. She was HUGE, like 125 lbs huge, red haired and sweet as could be. She thought she was a lap dog and would constantly try to climb on the lap of whomever was sitting at the moment. She adored my kids and they climbed all over her and played with her and loved her deeply. My mom lives alone and Patty was a great companion for her. She's very lonely without her. When Patty first died, my mom said she thought she really wanted to wait to get another dog because she was so sad, but she's found it difficult coming home every day to an empty house. So, today the kids and I and my mom and brother are all off to search for a new companion for my mom. It's very important to her that the dog get along well with the children, which is why we all go together. My brother goes as the naysayer. My mom and the kids and I picked out Patty without him. She was really too big for my mom to handle alone, particularly at the end, so my brother feels like he must go this time so we end up with a "reasonable" dog! Hmph!

On another completely unrelated note...in a testimony that children really do learn from what they see you do...One of the things my husband does to surprise me sometimes is this speed cleaning of the house. Say, I run to the store or whatever, he'll get the kids together and they get everything done as fast as they can before I get back. I always love it, of course! This morning while I was in the shower? My kids did a speed clean of the house and car, including making MY bed! When I came out of my room, the house looked wonderful and there were no kids to be found. They all jumped out of the kitchen and yelled "surprise!". Very cool kids!

Seriously...

I kept the two middle kiddos home from school today. They've been testing all week and were worn out last night, plus none of us slept a whole lot. I heard the teenager up in the kitchen at 3 AM.
When i went to wake him, he said he hadn't been able to get to sleep until about 4. I asked if he wanted to stay home today. At first he said yes, but then he said "No, I have to go. I have a math test." To me, this coupled with asking him if he wanted to stay home with us on Good Friday and him saying no because he had two projects he wanted to turn in, shows such a leap in maturity. In this respect, he's far more mature than I was as a junior in high school. he gets better grades, always goes to class, and takes his commitments seriously. I'm impressed. I'm pretty sure he'll so something immature again soon, because he's 16, but today? I'm impressed.

Anyway, the other three are playing. Guess what they are playing...Go on...take a guess....




SCHOOL!!!

I overheard one of them say to the other "If you're not going to play the way I want to play, I'm not going to play with you. You need to take this seriously!".

All By Myself...

Not really because who is ever alone when they have kids, but Mark is out of town AGAIN! He'll be back Monday night, but still...I hate it when he's gone. Bah. Humbug!

For Rochelle-the musically deprived

Rochelle, THIS is Air Supply!

A Sick Little Boy

has one wish. Can you help???

Happy Anniversary!

Today, along with being my brother-in-laws birthday, is the 22nd anniversary of my first date with my husband! 22 YEARS!!! I was 16 years old! It's actually quite convenient that it falls on my BIL's birthday because that's how we remember it!

Our first date was a concert...and to really date myself, I'll even tell you what concert it was (no laughing, Rochelle!). It was :::::drumroll::::: Air Supply. (I'm all out of love, I'm so lost without you...!lol!).

So, 22 years. I still love going on dates with him. And I'm more in love with him every day.

Liar, Liar Pants on Fire!

don't ya just hate it when you KNOW that someone is exaggerating a story, but you don't want to be the jerk who interrupts them and tells them they are NOT telling the truth?

Yesterday at dance, one of the moms of a girl in The Princess' class was talking to another mom about AIMS (our Arizona State mandated standardized test). She is a teacher, so she's administering AIMS this week, but she was actually talking to this other mom about her friends kid, in high school, who took the test and passed all three areas so she didn't have to take it again. As a freshman. The flaw in this story? Freshman in Arizona do not take this test. The state requires that Freshman take another test, and the AIMS High school test is administered the first time as a sophomore. I didn't say anything, just kept my mouth shut. But, oh, the temptation...

Two Ears are Better Than One!

FE has infections in BOTH ears! Yippee!! 10 days of Augmenten for him. He's doing fine. Had a little ear pain, but no fever or anything. He went to the office for some Motrin today and the nurse decided he needed to see the doctor. I just LOVE going there and waiting for 40 minutes to have a 2 minute visit with the nurse practitioner. Ugh! Oh. And? For all of you who have had kiddos who've had the Chicken Pox vaccination? Our Dr.'s office at least is recommending a second dose for all children! That means I get to take three of them to have a shot sometime over the summer! Happy Happy Joy Joy!! The teenager had chicken pox as a child, so he's home free!

On a happier note? Karin made me a photoshop tutorial on making a banner and I did it! I made my new banner! and I LOVE it! Thanks Karin!

Good Times!

Easter weekend was truly joyous for us! We had some great family time all weekend long and the best day yesterday. Our day started at 7 Am with Easter baskets and egg hunting, followed by freshly baked cinnamon rolls, a glorious Easter Mass, a lovely meal with extended family, another egg hunt, a rowdy football game in the back yard, lots of laughter and conversation! Our first guest arrived at 2:30, and the last ones to leave were my in-laws at 8 PM. We had so much fun! I truly felt amazingly blessed and happy to have such a great family, and a lovely home to host our gathering in. Happy Easter, indeed!

Glorious!

Happy Easter! Jesus Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

Frustrated!

Updated to add: My machine is ill. Very ill. It's going to the doctor as soon as I can get it there. I finished enough of my project to live with it until I get my baby back. But I was soooo close...




I've been working on a major sewing project this week, (not the quilt!) and I'm in the home stretch, but it's been so frustrating. I may be done tonight, in which case there will be pictures, but honestly, I've never done anything seemingly so simple, but so time consuming and physically wearing and expensive. And I think my machine is going to need a major tune-up and TLC when this project is done.

Happy Birthday!!!

It's Rochelle's 21st birthday!!!! Happy Happy Birthday my friend!! I know you'll have more fun today than I had on my 21st birthday. Which I celebrated with milk. As I was PREGNANT!
I hope you day is as wonderful as you are!

Playing With Photoshop

I love this picture of the Princess. I love it even more with only the pink parts

in color. I'm addicted to Photoshop...Do you think there's a support group???

Randomness

My weekend turned out much better than expected. My husband and kids ROCK! no pun intended! Mark went to his dad's for three hours on Saturday and got as much done in those three hours as had been done in all the hours prior. His parents were going on and on about what a hard worker he is and how they raised him so well! Too funny! Then yesterday Mark and the three oldest kids went and finished moving all the rock and raking it and were done in two hours! The kids all made a little money and my FIL even gave the teenager some bonus money because he worked so hard! They all just wanted to get done. so we ended up having a nice day anyway. We got tons of stuff done in our yards and courtyard over the weekend and my house is looking lovely!

FE is home sick today. He was warm last night after church and was up a lot all night. He still felt warm and icky this morning, so I kept him home. He's fine now! Of course!

Made my second grocery trip with the coupons today. One of the things to wrap your head around is buying stuff that you don't need right now, but you will in the future, and it's much cheaper now! It's about stocking up when things are at rock bottom prices. And I did! I saved almost as much as I spent. 45% savings. I am going to another store tonight because some of the stuff I need is much cheaper there. I used to do multiple grocery stores but had gotten away from that. I think i can manage two though if my savings are going to be so great!

Short week this week. the kids have no school Friday and Mark and I are off as well, so we're going to go play! Mini golf and a movie I think. I can't wait!