What?

Yes, it's Monday, the day everything was to begin. Kids went off to school, J, Squiggly, and I came home I put Squiggly in her excersaucer and jumped on the treadmill. Now I said I was going to start exercising which I did, I started over the weekend.
As soon as I got into my running mode I can see Squiggly starting to get fussy. I've only done 2 laps. Now I remember why I didn't like to run when my kids were that little. They are so unpredictable, you think they're going to be okay, they've been fed, diaper changed, and are happy when you put them with their toys until............................you move away.
Well, there goes that, I get off, turn off the treadmill, close the window, and close the door behind me. Once I take her out she's just fine, figures. I can't go off and clean up the kitchen or pick up the front room especially now that Squiggly just wants to explore, so I sit with her, watch her play, and just pick up whatever I can in the room that we're in.
Finally I get her down for a nap but of course now that she's sleeping I don't want to make noise that might wake her up and you know there's nothing worse than a baby waking up when they aren't ready to.
Squiggly sleeps long enough for me to at least get lunch for both J and I, we ate and then I cleaned up a little quietly until she woke up.
Happy, happy, Squiggly is what she was, fed her lunch, let her play and off we go to pick up the kids from school. We do our usual, meet up with a friend who usually walks the same way we do to our cars. Jr. and J run off way in front of us to get to the car first and as usual Jr. gets to the car first, J screams his head off because he wants to be first and Jr. just looks towards me smiling. Same story different school day even though I've told him over and over again "don't make him scream, let him get their first once in a while".
Well, I can still hear J screaming and now I see Jr. jumping up and down on something. I get over there and Jr. tells me "Mom, J was stepping right there and a bunch of red ants started crawling up his legs and biting him so I knocked them off".
Um, didn't we just have a lesson about the ants the other day? You would think J would've remembered the sting he felt when they bit him the first time...Oh, and now that I look I see what Jr. was doing, he was jumping up and down on the ants which only bothered them even more so now I can't open the car door to put Squiggly in because then the ants would crawl on me!!
I now tell Jr. and J they are no longer allowed to run off to the car because of all the drama it causes every day they do it. We come home Mom Jr. gets right on her homework because she goes back to full dance mode this week and today starts it off.
She does part of her homework and figures she'll have time to finish the rest when she gets home. I put her hair in a bun for ballet. Daddy gets home and jumps on the treadmill so Squiggly and I take Mom Jr. to dance. We pull up and I tell her "I'll walk you in" "You don't have to Mom besides Squiggly fell asleep" "Well, that's okay I can just carry her in and what about your skirt, who's going to help you tie it in the back?" "You can just help me right here" "alright".
I help Mom Jr. with her skirt and she goes in the door, back in my car, I drive off to get home before Squigglys Mom gets there.
After Squiggly leaves I clean up the kitchen and decide to leave to go watch the last half of Mom Jr.'s ballet class. I get there and she is just walking out the door with a friend and her Mom. "What? you're already done?" her eyes start getting watery as she's trying to laugh instead of cry. Her friends Mom said there was no dance. "what?" "why didn't you call me?" "I don't know, there was no phone" "you could've went next door and asked to borrow theres". Ugh, this girl sat there for an hour and a half instead of just going next door and asking for a phone, it wasn't like she had to walk outside these two places are inside the same area just down the hall from each other. I felt so bad for her, silly girl, I know she wanted to cry but because her friend was there she didn't.
I know this would've been one reason she would've said she needs a cell phone. Some kids in her grade have cell phones, I'm sorry first of all I don't need an extra bill, second of all, I personally think there is no reason for them to have one. What's the reason to have one when you're in elementary school, you don't go off anywhere by yourself, who are you going to call? and when, in between math and reading or how about recess? Even after school, all your friends are there with you and if your parents aren't picking you up, they're working.........I don't know, I don't get it, even as busy as my daughter is, yes, it would've been nice if she would've had one for this one time but on the other hand she should've known when dance really started (or I should've).
Well, another lesson learned, make sure we know our dates!!!!

Just a Mom glad to know we have one more dance free week!!!!

Wash your hands!!!!

Our number one phrase these days....So who else out there is terrified of this flu virus sweeping the nation??? Especially with kids who love to touch everything they see, rub their nose with their hands, put their fingers in their mouth.....
I must say I send my kids to school with hand sanitizer in their backpacks and hand wipes in their lunch pails. I've told them "you clean your hands when you go out or come in from any breaks, recess, or lunch". When they get in the car from being picked up I have wipes sitting in one of the cup holders in the back where they are, they each get one and clean their hands.
Usually it's just me getting on them about their hands, now their Dad has joined me.
This morning we all went to Costco and as we're going down an aisle Jr. has his finger sliding across the items as we're walking. "No touching!" And of course as usual there are the testers out which of course they all have to get some. Daddy is putting water in the cart and he sees Jr. playing with 2 toothpicks by the garbage "throw them away!".
At least J is in the cart where he really can't touch anything, well, except for the cart itself!
We make it home, put the stuff away and head out one more time to pick up Mom Jr. from her friends, stop at my Mom's, and then to the video store. Again you hear the comments "Stop touching, come here, J no running, hands off your face!!".
Come home and of course they're starving even after the smoothie they got at the store and eating the testers.
They come in the kitchen to get their lunch that I have put out. "Did you wash your hands?" D looks at me with his big brown eyes..."Did you wash your hands?" Jr. takes off to the bathroom and J is still just staring at me, "DID YOU WASH YOUR HANDS?!?!?"
He mumbles something then Daddy tells him "Go wash your hands right now?!" "What have I been preaching all day to you all?" Mom Jr. just stands there with her hip out to the side and a look on her face like she's tired of hearing it all. I tell her "stand right!" "Well, I already know this, I've heard it before" "And you'll hear it again until you do it!"

Ugh, all we want to do is protect them as much as we can, ultimately knowing they are going to be exposed to whatever other kids and people have when they're at school or anywhere else. We've tried talking to them about the virus, they've heard about it at school and still they just don't see how serious it can be. So Daddy tried the blunt truth, "A girl just died, one day she had what seemed to be a stomach flu and by the next morning she was dead".

Hmm, we can only hope they will use the items we've given to them when we're not around...

Just a Mom hoping they got it, understood it, and will do it................CLEAN YOUR HANDS!!!!

Friday, yes!!!!

So glad to see the end of this week!! Not that it changes anything but, it's over, it's been said, it's well known and now let this week lye at the end of this chapter in our lives and move on to a new one.
Don't get me wrong the helplessness feeling is still there, but now it's time to try and turn the fear into determination.
Determination to get things in order, get appointments set up and taken care of, start browsing for job opportunities for either one of us.
The kids are well aware of what is going on, do they really understand how serious this could eventually be? No and that's fine by me, they're children, for us our main concern for them is to do the very best in school, sports, and anything else they are in.
So, Mom Jr. ended up staying the night with one of her best friends, I let D choose any ice cream he wanted for dessert to have with Jr., J, and I'm sure Daddy. I want them to be happy, worry free and since they really don't get as much as most kids I will give them what I can now.
Nothing's better when you see them smile, it's like a special treat for them to have pizza, root beer, and then ice cream.
To make things just a little better, lighter, happier for them we are going to just enjoy a family weekend with barbecuing hamburgers and hot dogs, swimming in the pool and trying to let our worries and fears that are hanging heavily on our minds and hearts set aside. Let us smile and enjoy now!
We are just one family affected by the decision that was made to close the business, I'm sure there are plenty out there who feel just like we do.
Times are tough, let's just pray for a brighter future for all!!!
My little J, he must know he is the last of the bunch. This boy, always just blows my mind with the things he does. My other two boys never did the things he does. It's almost like starting all over again, like I'm new to this (and obviously I'm not!). J is my first child to have "friends" and what I mean by friends (which if you've read my previous entries you'll notice I use that phrase when it comes to him) is his imaginary friends from the shows he watches (Diego, Caillou, Dora, Boots, etc.). He'll ask me "Mama can my fiends come ova?" Sure. "otay, ding dong, they're here!". He runs around like he really has friends with him. J will play tag with his "friends"
"yo it!, ha, ha, ha, no yo, it! ha, ha,ha".
He always finds a way to make me just think "oh, yeah, no doubt in my mind you are it!" Yesterday I was going to take him on a walk in the jogging stroller, I stop to talk to a friend and we hear him start to cry, I think "oh, what did he do now?" He's standing there and then walks over to me quickly. I'm looking at him "what's wrong?" he starts stomping his feet, I look down at his legs and there are red ants crawling up his legs. I immediately start knocking them off of him (and I am totally not a bug person who would've ever think of touching any type at all). Standing above me as I'm kneeling on the grass is Mom Jr. who is giggling as he is crying from the bites he's getting from the ants. I continue to knock them off trying really hard to ignore her giggles. When I finally think I've got them off I stand up and tell her "that's not very nice, I've had a bad enough day, you better stop".
Now, that has never happened with my other 3. I think I experience more with J than I did with the others. Maybe it's because the other 3 are closer in age so they didn't really have an older sibling to learn from. All I know is J definitely makes every day for me a complete new one.
Mom Jr. still wishes for a baby sister, the other day she said "Come on Mom, why don't you have one more baby?" "No, sorry this is it!"
We are just a family going through a tough time as I'm sure there are a lot of families dealing with the same fate as ours...
Let's be thankful for our health, our strength that will ultimately prevail, our faith, our ultimate determination that will not let us just curl up and just give up. We are a family who will only grow stronger from the obstacles that are thrown in front of us.
One way or another we'll figure it out, we'll be standing tall in the end because we are a strong family who will never give up!!!

Just a Mom determined to secure her family no matter what it takes!!!

One more time...

the only difference is this is the final time..I'm talking about my husbands job, we've had so many ups and downs. The roller coaster we have been on regarding the fate of his job has finally come to an end.

It was put out, plain and simple the company will close. Is it simple? Not really, on the business side of it I'm sure there's still a lot to be hammered out between the employees and the business. On the personal side, definitely not!

Okay, so we kind of knew what was coming, we were semi-prepared, so you would think when the actual words were said it wouldn't be so difficult...WRONG!

The thought, the rumors, the predictions are now reality. The personal part is obviously the hardest part.

So, there I saw it in black and white staring at me as I stared back and read the words one by one slowly so as to make sure there was no misunderstanding, this is it..................

I just sat there, numb, didn't feel like moving, couldn't think, just sat. J was playing and came up to me "Mama what we gonna do today?" Okay, snap out of it-"We have to go to Grandmas to water the plants", "Oh, Mama I good at dat, I do it too, K Mama" "Okay, you can water too". It was like he knew something was wrong. J put his shoes on, grabbed mine and brought them over to me "Here Mama, I got yo shoes fo you, let go".

Get up, I think to myself, go about your day, nothings going to change the words are there to stay they aren't going to change no matter how hard you stare at them....

Off we go to my Mom's house, we water, get the mail, lock up and make our way back home. I end up talking to Daddy who now has confirmed what I basically already know. He seems better about it than me. "Don't worry, we're a strong family, we'll be okay" he says "we have time to figure out what to do" "It could be a blessing in disguise","we'll find a way".

"Okay" is all I can say as tears are now rolling down my face. I try hard to keep him from hearing me getting upset. As we walk in the door J asks if he can play out back for a while. I tell him okay and there I find my way back to where I first began, at the desk, the computer in front of me as I sit hoping to see a message from my Mom who I first sent a message to. My Mom, she's the one I usually turn to, here I am a Mother myself, who is still looking for the comfort only a Mom can give....unfortunately, there is no response. I place my elbows on the desk, rest my head in my hands and just cry. Scared? Of course I am! There I sit releasing my fear, my feelings of helplessness. I hear J coming in, okay now stop, wipe your face, don't let him see you sad. J comes over to me "Mama what you doing? You on da computer?" "Yes, I'm getting off right now though so that I can start cleaning up" "Oh, otay Mama", "Mama, you make me lunch? I getting weally hungy!!" "okay, clean up your toys in here and I'll get your lunch" "Ooohh, Mama dat gonna take a looong time!" "that's okay you can do it".
Get his lunch and start cleaning up. I think to myself, just keep going. I continue to clean as tears continue to stream down my face. Well, I figure at least I'm getting stuff done.
I pick up the kids from school, bump into a friend, it's almost too hard to tell anyone what's going on. I feel just as bad telling them because you can tell they aren't sure what to say. Sorry, if there's anything we can do? When really there's nothing left to do... I don't like to put people in that position, I don't like being in that position.......
We come home, Daddy gets home, the kids are running around getting ready for soccer practice and ask Dad "Is your job closing down?" "yes" "oh".
Get to soccer practice, take J on a walk as Daddy coaches his team, cry a little more as I talk to people who already know what's going on from seeing it on the news. My main thing is just don't hug me, not trying to be mean but I would just crumble.
Came home a little early, started dinner, finally I get a response from my Mom, the one person I needed to hear from all day. "At least we know now and have time to prepare, when one door closes another opens, maybe it's Gods plan for him to find a job closer to home".
Text messages are definitely not the same as the phone!!
It's the end of one eye opening, heart crushing day. Point is time doesn't stop, the clock keeps ticking as the night will soon turn into morning. A new day will begin and we'll continue on our daily routine.
Our minds of course will be spinning on ideas and thoughts of what to do for the near future....
And all the positive sayings will continue to be said from friends and family trying to be positive for us as we are the ones in limbo. It'll be just what we need, where we are weak they will be strong for us.

Time will tell, our future shall be bright because there is just no room for darkness in a family with 4 young children who are depending on us to continue to nurture them, support them, protect them..........................

Just a Mom trying to find the strength with in myself to push me through the tears and fears of what the future holds for us...

What? You ARE?!?!

Yup, he is, my Husband who has not been on a "team" for as long as I've known him has been invited to play on an indoor soccer team.
Now, yes, my husband is a sports FANATIC, he watches every type there is....when it came to soccer that was one I actually never saw him actually get into until....................
our kids started playing. Now he coaches both Mom Jr. and Jr.'s team and D is coached by one of our friends (see we swapped we coach his daughter along with ours and he coaches D along with his boys).
I do see him watching it, reading about it, even having me record certain games. I thought that was as far as it was going to go. Well, my Birthday Buddy's husband asked him to join an indoor soccer team. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad he's doing it, good exercise, nice to get out, have fun at the same time with friends...
WAIT!!!! What?!?! He's going to start doing what?!?!? NNNNOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

EXERCISE!!!! Man, now I have no choice, no more excuses, tired- too bad, no time-better find it, leg hurts-wrap it!!!
It's a known fact men lose weight faster than women, especially 30 somethin' women, when it has been said our metabolism has slown down.
I can just see it, you know that commercial where the husband and wife are both trying to lose weight, they start some diet pill method - he loses like 40 pounds and there's the wife still looking like she swallowed a beach ball, you know carrying all that extra baby weight from 10 years ago-it just kept accumulating on her body with each child she had (totally understand that one!! Remember I have four!). Oh, don't get me wrong she lost weight also, come on, she did start taking those magic diet pills just like her husband after all. Yes, she did, she lost a total of 5 pounds!! That's right we really can't tell but that's what the scale said (you know that's just water weight right?!?).
Well, that can't be me!! Husband is going to start working out getting ready for this team he's joining (not to mention he has a competitive streak so he's going to try that much harder), you can bet my a** is going to work probably twice as hard!!
We are planning on taking a family picture for Christmas this year, the last time we did that D was a baby and I must say I was pretty happy with my size at the time (don't know what happened, blame it on age, stress, that extra glass of wine, whatever ), point is I don't want to be Mrs. Claus in the picture while my beautiful, healthy children are in good shape posed nicely along their Dad who I'm sure will look great in shape!
So, I have a choice I can pose as Mrs. Claus in the picture or get busy so that I can be just as happy as my family will be in the picture.....
Hmmmm, what do you possibly think I'm going to do?!?!?

Just a Mom who is embarking on a new mission..........................

Sssslllloooowwww Motion Tuesday

This is exactly how I felt....My mind was like Speedy Gonzalez, but for some reason my body felt like it was moving like a turtle.
In my mind I was thinking....Okay, drop the kids off at school, go to Mom's house borrow her vacuum because my vacuum is about on it's way out the door. We bought the vacuum back in the day when they were getting away from those heavy vacuums and before they came out with the lighter type that are bagless. Poor vacuum, the holder on the side no longer exists for the extended part that you would use to do corners, chairs, couches... Now when I use it I have to put my hand under the end of the extended part so that the vacuum gets the maximum suction while cleaning off the carpet...It's a pain, it works, it's on the list to be replaced....until then I'll make it work....or borrow my Moms when she's out of town.
Anyway I had to go over there to water and get the mail, I needed to go to the store to pick up the last school items requested by Jr.'s teacher, dishwashing detergent to start my dishwasher which is now fully loaded without any soap, the grocery store for items needed to finish off the week, put in the last load of laundry, call the sporting goods store to find out the cost and turn around for putting names on our soccer teams jerseys, type up soccer information sheets.....
Go, go, go....lot's to do before I have to pick up the kids from school.
All of this is flying through my mind as I try to get myself motivated to move....
J and I leave the house to start our day after we dropped off the kids, put in a movie for J, put on Black Eyed Peas for me to get me going (nothing like listening to some hyped up music to get me moving).
We finished our shopping, didn't make it to Mom's, cleaned up the kitchen, laundry got done, started preparing dinner, worked on Soccer sheets and printed them out.
We went to pick the kids up from school, D came out first and said he was going to the restroom. I sat and waited for Jr., Mom Jr., and her friend. J of course wanted to go the bathroom with J but I wouldn't let him (I can just imagine a 3 year old walking into a bathroom being used by kids all day and touching everything in there, germs!!!). So I'm sitting on a bench looking towards Jr.'s class, I turn to look towards J and he has his shorts down to his ankles and he's pulling his underwear down to his knees!!! "What are you doing?" I immediately grab him and pull his underwear back up, I don't even think he knows what he's doing! By this time he's in whine mode, as usual. "Mama, I hot".
We get home and I still feel like I'm in slow motion, I'm still working on dinner, printing out the last sheets needed for our first girls soccer practice. Meanwhile Jr. is asking me to check his homework, D is asking for a snack, and J is following right along....
I manage to get what I need to done before Daddy leaves with Mom Jr. and her friend for practice, I follow behind with the boys in my own car knowing I have to leave 30 minutes early to start dinner and get the boys in the shower.
Made it to practice, met the parents, took J around the school as he rode his trike. Lesson learned, J still needs to go in the jogging stroller when I go on a brisk walk. He likes to play too much, talking to his "friends", not paying attention to riding straight.
Evening is here, dinner is done and served, kids have had their showers, and now, I need to head back into the kitchen to clean up what is left over from dinner, make Daddy's lunch for tomorrow, and start all over tomorrow...J is still going by the way, I thought he'd be done early tonight, although it doesn't look like it.....

Just a Mom feeling slow as I make my way through the day...

Sunday Night

Finally, finally, our head strong boy J has been defeated by his sleepy eyes!! This boy is unbelievable at times!!
So as I signed off last evening after Daddy and Mom Jr. read my entry and now we all remembered it was our anniversary we decided to play Guitar Hero. Jr. and D take their positions with the guitar and bass and Mom Jr. and I were doing something else at the time when all of a sudden we hear Daddy saying "J what did you do?" J comes running out of the room crying to me. Mom Jr. and I now look at each other as we hear Daddy say "He just pulled the wires straight out of the drum pedal!" What? I thought how could he possibly do that? Mom Jr. and I see Daddy walk by with the pedal in one hand and the chord which is suppose to be attached to the pedal in the other hand with exposed wires hanging out of it.
Unbelievable! This boy is one surprise after another. Mom Jr. and I tried to find another one on line, we did find one but we decided to wait and try out our Rock band pedal with Guitar Hero. It worked, we rocked out until we were all exhausted.
Sunday morning comes around, Mom Jr. and I hit the grocery store. When we get back Daddy and the boys are outside washing the windows and screens. J is running back and forth having the best time playing with his "friend". We go about our Sunday doing a little cleaning up, washing clothes for school, preparing items for dinner...
J continues to play in and outside, just having the time of his life!! I'm thinking he is definitely going to fall asleep early tonight!
As we eat dinner we keep checking on him to make sure he's awake, yup sure enough he's wide awake....
"K, Mama I finish my food, now can I have a muffin?" Mom Jr. made cupcakes with chocolate frosting which he had been eyeing.. "In a minute, let your food settle". He does a little whining but then leaves to the other room. It's again very quiet so we peak in, nope still awake!
So they all get a cupcake with milk. The other three are now laying there ready for bed. We say our good nights and off they go.
Daddy and I are watching a show and J comes running in "I not going to bed yet, I not going to bed yet", he is running back and forth like it's in the middle of the day. What is going on?

Daddy says "Okay J I'm going to bed now I have to get up for work", "Oh is Mama going to bed too?" "Yes, we are all going to bed" "Noooo, I not tired I watch Dragon Tales". I came in the room trying to get him to calm down and be quiet before he starts a chain reaction of children waking up and not being able to fall back asleep which will then really turn into a long night for me.
So, here I sit, once again at the computer, trying to keep my eyes open as J finally layed down and started watching his good night shows once more. I look one more time to my left and there J lays completely sprawled out on the floor probably dreaming of his "friends" that keep him company all day long......
Breathe in, breathe out, the weekend has now come to an end. Monday a new day, back to school, Squiggly comes over, time to prepare for soccer practice which begins Tuesday.............

Just a Mom ready to head off to dreamland..............

Oh, no we didn't!!!

YES WE DID!!!

Here I am sitting at the computer looking around trying to post my blog on other websites to bring more people to our website and blogs.
You know all day I kind of felt like there was something I was forgetting, missing, I just couldn't really figure it out. It was there in the back of my mind, behind the stupid cold that is still hanging around me, behind the soccer kick off ordeal, behind this humid hot weather we are experiencing today....

Ugh!!! Just figured it out, it came up to the front of my brain finally!! You know when you have something on the tip of your tongue but it just doesn't come all the way out!?!? Well, it hit me just as I was exploring another site to add my blog to......

Today, this evening, 11 years ago I became a wife to my husband in the backyard of my Moms house. It was a warm evening much like today, the yard was traced with little white lights, there were white chairs lined in rows leading from the door in the living room that opened up to the right side of the backyard which was the back of our line up leading to the pastor in the front. I was getting ready upstairs with my cousin (which is Squiggly's Mom, my closest cousin), I remember taking pictures upstairs and then walking down them, butterflies in my tummy (along with Mom Jr., but ssshhh, the pastor didn't know that part). For deeper reasons my Father was not in attendance but I had exactly who I needed to walk me down the aisle. My Grandfather walked me half ways, I remember as we started out my dress got stuck on a hook, as we hit the half way spot, there my one and only Brother who I completely adore, love, and admire for being exactly who he is, for being there for me when we were little, now, and forever...He stood there with his arm out for me to hold on to. He was exactly where he should be, next to me, the one to give me away, the one who deserved the honor of giving his blessing for this unity to take place.
In my mind all I was thinking is "please don't hiccup!!" with my pregnancy hitting the 4th month I would let out these loud hiccups, I just kept telling myself over and over again "don't hiccup". Wouldn't you know it, the minute we are standing there hand in hand, quiet as can be....here it comes my loud hiccup!!!
We just smiled at each other...the ceremony was nice, sweet, and simple...my Grandfather paid for Mariachis to come and play for us. We had a dance floor set up with a d.j. It was beautiful, friends, family, not too big, just perfect for us.....
11 years later, here I sit at my desk, with all that we have brought out within that amount of time. A house that turned into a home, children that laugh, play, and love life to the fullest, friends that we are happy to have found, thankful for all that we have, healthy children, a great extended family, a wonderful community around us..........................................

Happy 11th Anniversary to my Husband who never gave up on us, who told me we would have beautiful children, who could see what I couldn't or was just afraid of letting myself believe was possible............................................A Loving Family!!!

If I don't say it enough............I do love you, my husband of 11 years and here's to many, many, more.........................

Just a Mom who's been married for 11 years!!!!

F-F-F-R-R-R-I-I-I-DAY!!!!!!!

Yes, we made it!!! You'd think we were on some crazy, intense schedule right?!?!?
Well, it kind of felt that way this week. It started off really good, everyone was eager, getting ready on time, making sure any type of homework that was given (which was really just given to Jr. the first day and Mom Jr. followed the following day with her work) was done and neatly I might add from Jr.
Wednesday rolls around, you know the day I said we had back to school night and Mom Jr. had her last night of her summer sessions of dance. Thursday morning hits, and Mom Jr. gets up extra early so that she can take a shower before school since she got home late the night before. She asks me to put her hair up in a high pony tail. Okay, so I've mentioned before my husband is 6'5", I'm 5'6", my daughter is close to reaching my height and she's 10 years old!!!!
I can't see the top of her head to hold up her hair enough to get it up there, so I grab a chair and stand up on it. She says "No, you didn't just stand on top of a chair to put my hair in a high pony" "Um, yes I did, since I don't have Inspector Gadget arms to hold your hair up high enough to put the pony on!". Unbelievable!! I myself couldn't believe the measures I had to go to to put her hair up!! Ugh, I can just see my future with these children of mine who are going to high tower me........me, looking straight up with my finger pointing at them as I try to discipline them....them looking down at me with a smirk on their face "yeah, sure, Mom whatever you say".
Lucky I have a strong voice because that and my "mean Mom look" is going to have to get me through the times their Dad is at work!!!
On we go, school is waiting. Now, Jr. has a hard time staying focused on what he is supposed to have done. For this reason with all of them I constantly say "does everyone have their lunch, water, homework??" Jr. always says yes. First day of school Jr. leaves his brand new lunch pail outside at school, Wednesday comes around Jr. forgets his water bottle in class but swears he remembers bringing it home, Friday, oh Friday, I take them to school, go to Target, get home, hear a message from my Aunt who is staying with my Grandma while my Mom is out of town saying they wanted to come over and visit for a while, I look at the counter and what do I see? Jr. has now forgotten his lunch!! There it sits, on the counter. Did I not ask if they all had their things for school? Did he not reply with a "yes"?!?! I'm talking to Daddy on the phone and telling him "well, now I have to put Squiggly back in her seat one more time and get J to get back in the car to take Jr. his lunch" Daddy says "No, don't take it to him, let him not have lunch for the day". "But that means all day he has nothing, no snack and no lunch?""Too bad, next time he'll make sure he has it". I thought for a minute "I can't do that","yeah, I know you can't but you take it he'll just know if he forgets it next time you'll bring it" "the school will either allow him to call me or they'll just let him charge a school lunch","yeah, well, we didn't say he could do that". Daddy knows me too well, I can't let my kids go all school day with no food, especially my absent minded son who will starve down to his feet if he is not fed on schedule.
Back in the car Squiggly, J, and I go. We get to the school J is carrying Jr.'s lunch. We get to his classroom right when J says "Mama I too tired to carry this anymoe!!". I open the door as the teacher is in the middle of a lesson. I tell J "see, he's up there in the very front just walk along the side here and take it to him". Just then the teacher (who was Mom Jr.'s teacher last year) turned around to continue with his lesson to the class as he saw J walking over to Jr. and Squiggly and I standing at the door. The teacher says "Oh we have a little someone bringing something to someone" Now the whole class turns around including Jr. J hands Jr. his lunch and Jr. looks towards me, the whole class look at me as well. I look at Jr. and point at him "You owe me sentences". I say good bye and walk out with J and Squiggly....
Finally we're done, we come home, go about our normal day or what is left of it before again we go out to pick up the other 3.
With the 3 in school J is pretty calm compared to when they are here. Squiggly is able to take a nap without all the noise, served lunch to both, they played and then it was time to go. Squiggly falls asleep on the way, I stick her in the stroller, and on we go. One of my Mom best friends meets me, we talk as we walk to pick up our kids. Get our kids, back to the car, get home, Jr. has a paper waiting for him to write his 50 sentences saying "I will try to be more responsible". He didn't question me, didn't whine about it, just took the paper, went to his room and got busy.
Daddy got home, played a little with Squiggly, J ended up falling asleep, Jr. finished his sentences and Daddy told him "you're lucky it wasn't me cause I wouldn't haven't taken your lunch to you".
Squiggly left, Daddy took Jr. and J as well as Mom Jr. who went along knowing one of her best buddies was going to be waiting for her (of course she was it's her brothers birthday party) to the birthday party. We were all invited which would've been nice to go but J was asleep so I stayed home with him.

Ugh, the first week of school is completed, back to school night- done, summer dance session-done, the first birthday party of the school year-about done,

Just a Mom taking a deeeeeeep breath between events!!!!

And so it begun...........

As you can probably tell since I have been neglecting my blog(s)!!
I'm still fighting whatever freakin' bug I caught!! I guess it had to be one to make up for all this time that I haven't been sick.
So, school, yes, it surely has begun! The night before the first day Mom Jr. and Jr. had a hard time going to sleep. Mom Jr. came to my room and said "I just can't believe I go back to school tomorrow!""Yes you do so go read for a while and go to sleep". A few minutes after she went back to her room Jr. came walking in with a big smile "I can't fall asleep I keep thinking about school tomorrow!" "I know, why don't you get a book and go read in your room and then go to sleep". Off he went, I am now starting to fall asleep and then right before my eyes close all the way I can see this stick figure walking towards my room (of course from my side of the bed I can see directly down the hallway!). My eyes pop open quickly (you know just in case it's a ghost or something creepy like that). Jr. is looking at me, "I still can't fall asleep I just keep thinking about school tomorrow" "Well, just take a deep breath and try to relax, you can leave your light on and I'll turn it off in a little bit". He walks back to his room (this is how I can tell he's growing up, usually he would've just stood there until I lost my patience and got up to lead him back to his room as he would start to cry and wake up everyone else. Thank goodness, I really hope that's done with).
So now I'm wide awake once more, I watch T.V. until about 11:00 and then quietly make my way over to the boys room and turn the light off. I was not going to attempt any time earlier just in case he was awake.
In the morning I make my way downstairs and start their lunch, the boys come down fully dressed. Hmmm, has to be just first day excitement because normally they'd still be in their pajamas. I end up making them pancakes with peach slices and a glass of milk.
We get to school, the place is unbelievably packed with cars everywhere (especially now because there are no more school busses) so we ended up parking down the street from the school (yes, I know time to use those bikes like I had planned to).
We walk onto the campus together and as I'm walking with them to their classes Mom Jr. goes off on her own way. Okay, well "Bye" she says bye and off she goes. I continue on with the boys and get stopped by some Moms. I talked to them for a minute and turn around to see my boys have now left me too. It's just me and J........
We decide to walk over to see the boys classes, they're both in their, we walk over to them, say our good byes, and leave.
J and I come home, a day to ourselves, hmmm, I'm almost tempted to just sit in silence as J plays and watches his shows......
Then my mind starts going, I need to shampoo the couch, the recliner chairs, and the carpet (one last time, before we rip it out of here!), I need to go to one store for fruits and veggies, another for the other food items, and another for cleaning items (hey, it's all about the best items for my family at the best prices I can get!!), my SUV really needs to be washed, I also need to pick up around the house...........
All this is traveling through my mind as I sit on the couch unable to actually get up and move. I'm still not feeling well, although I know my time is limited. I manage to get the shopping done and from there I figure I'll just do what I can, after all it is just the first day of school.
Time to pick up the kids, they are all smiles, love their classes, they are very excited...hmmm, maybe this year is going to be great!!!
Filled out all the same paperwork I fill out every year for them, same info. just another year. We had back to school night, Daddy and I split up for the boys classes, I took J's and he took Jr.'s and then we went together to Mom Jr.'s. I dropped them off and went to pick up Mom Jr. at dance from her last summer session dance!!

Yes, the school year has begun. We're right back into "go" schedule. Here comes our crazy time. Dance is done for 2 weeks but soccer kicks off this weekend and again we're back to 3 different practices along with school, homework, Squiggly..................

Hang on it's going to get a little bumpy with in the next few months...........

Just a Mom jumping into a new school year and all that it brings!!!

Here we go!!!

What's that I hear?? It sounds like lunch pails being packed, zippers closing on backpacks, and the big pitter patter of shoes walking out of the house and on their way to........SCHOOL!!!
Yes, that's right, school officially starts tomorrow for us. Haircuts-done, school supplies-bought, clothes-washed and ready, lunch items-ready to be packed up.
I am happy to report all the kids are now fever free, vomit free, and all achiness gone....as for me, it's been a lingering cold that seems to be going away a little everyday. Today has been the first day I actually stayed out of my room. I managed to do some much needed cleaning in the kitchen and I had the kids give the rest of the house a good wipe down once more.
Okay, so I am hoping this was the virus of the year for us, got it, went through it, and we're done!
Yes, I have mixed emotions about school starting, I always do. Now I know you're probably thinking "are you crazy? Kids gone for about 7 hours total 5 days a week?!". Well, I do get use to having the drive-me-insane-want-to-make-me-scream loves of my life with me 24/7. I try to remember them just as they are this past summer because next summer they are going to be a little bigger mentally and physically. This is when I'm sad that summer vacation is over, no more staying up late, no more watching them playing outside in the morning, no more giggles or overhearing their conversations during the day.....
Tomorrow I will get up early, come downstairs to get some coffee, make sandwiches for their lunch, not sure if I'll make them breakfast this school year since over the summer they started getting their own breakfast on their own....either way I'll offer, if not, I'll make my way back upstairs to get ready to take them.
Of course I will have the camera ready for their "back to school picture" which I take by the front door. I've taken a picture of them in the same spot every year since they started pre-school.
Off we'll go to school, J and I will stay long enough to say good bye to them and then we'll start our first day by ourselves. I don't know if J understands the kids will be back in school tomorrow. He keeps saying "Be good guys cause we might go wimming". I told him "everyone already took their showers because they have school tomorrow". He says "oh, otay Mama".
Daddy asked him "Is it going to be just you and Mama now?" "No, Dada Squiggly be with us too" "Oh, okay".
The end of sleeping in, staying in pajamas if we all felt like it, swimming in the morning or early afternoon, staying outside until it got dark...Summer 2009-done

The beginning of going to bed at a set time, getting up early and out on time, school functions, homework, dance, soccer.....

Just a Mom gearing up for back to school mode..............

And so it continues....

no matter how hard I try to wipe down everything with anti-bacterial cleaning wipes, spray everywhere with disinfectant antibacterial action spray, wash all the clothes, sheets and towels the virus still finds a way!
Got up this morning thinking I was going to feel better since the kids who had gotten sick were pretty much over it within 24 hours (give or take an hour).
Nope, no such luck for Mom...I get up and already can tell I'm still not feeling well, I go to the bathroom. While I'm washing my hands I look in the mirror and see one eye is more swollen than the other from just constantly tearing, my nose is red from blowing and wiping, and my ear is still plugged!!
I grabbed the spray came downstairs, opened the windows and started spraying. I then grabbed the wipes and wiped the bathroom down as well as all the door knobs and the complete rail up and down the stairs. By then my nose was like a faucet and my eye was doing it's usual tear fest. I went back upstairs to lay down.
Mom Jr. wakes up all excited knowing we were suppose to go shopping for the rest of her school items. Okay, so I thought, no I'm not feeling well at all but, if for some reason she ends up getting sick I better take this opportunity and just suck it up and go. Besides then I at least will have 2 days in a row of staying home since they don't go back till Tuesday.
I talked myself into it, got up and dressed, pushed my hair back with one of those hair bands, and put on my sunglasses.
Off we went, we were out by 8:00 in the morning, stopped at a grocery store that was having a great deal on cereal and yogo snacks (oh, they even had a buy one get one free coffee from their cafe area). We get to the register and I notice I didn't even bring my wallet! Lucky for me I had enough cash to pay for the items (shows how cheap the stuff was cause I don't carry much money at all).
We made our way to the next store to get her school items, I am now just a mess, along with school supplies, juice for their lunches, and of course hand sanitizer I threw in Kleenex!!! Sorry, but the toilet paper is just not working anymore, my nose is killing me and besides I needed it now!!
One more store!! We make it to the next one and get the last remaining items.
We're home, yahoo!!
The rest of my day consists of washing clothes, laying down, switching laundry, laying down, folding, laying down.
Jr. is now a lot better this morning his fever was 100.4 but continuously yet slowly went down to normal. He is still tired so he too just layed around all day. J was just fine, running around as usual, D too seemed fine but we could tell he missed his buddy time with Jr.
Oh, and as for Mom Jr. she enjoyed sorting out her school items, talking to her friend on the phone, and looking at her clothes........
It's now evening, Daddy went out to return some movies and a game and get new ones. He also decided to pick up his "dinner items" for the kids.
While he was gone Mom Jr. said "I'm cold" I looked at her and said "It's not cold at all it's in the low 90's". Time to check her temperature....................101.4, here we go again!!
By the way, I did re-wipe everything again including the phones and all the remotes.....please oh please let this be the end!!!

Just a Mom sick of being sick as well as seeing me kids sick!!!

Summer Vacation is over...

And how do we spend the last summer vacation week??

It started off okay, got most of our shopping done, spent a little time at the park Wednesday morning with the kids, Squiggly, and some friends. That was nice, kids got to play and run around until Squiggly said time was up, she was ready for a nap with a bottle.
Headed back home, afternoon went as usual with an unexpected nap from J (wow, if I only would've known he would've gotten so tired from the park I would've done it more often). Mom Jr. also took a nap before she went for 3 hours of dance (one more week for that).
Thursday morning comes around and J is not quite himself. He comes and lays down by me on the bed and ends up falling back to sleep (not like him at all).
When he does wake up, he's crying and is just laying around, well, turns out he has a 102 fever. I give him some fever reducer, give him a cool bubble bath, and then his favorite, an ice pop (he doesn't realize it's the kind with electrolytes).
By the afternoon I start to notice my throat is getting a little sore...hmmm, maybe it's from having the windows open all night, but then how come it didn't bother me this morning? I now have the air on and I didn't step outside at all today. Now I just feel tired, my body's starting to get achy so I decide to just sit down on the couch. I felt kind of guilty because this was suppose to me my cleaning time but J was hanging by me constantly so I didn't feel that bad because with me laying down he layed down too and fell asleep.
With the day going on so was the way I was feeling. By the evening my throat was hurting so bad I didn't eat or even want to talk. I made dinner and just went upstairs to lay down. As the night went on my throat got worse.
Am I sick? Hmmm, that doesn't happen to me..........I'm the one who takes care of everyone else, does the cooking, shopping, cleaning. I can't get sick because when that happens everything basically stops.
Morning comes around and yes, I have given in and accepted that I am sick. I don't know what gave it away...um, maybe the runny nose, the scratchy throat, the tiredness...
Still, I had to continue as much as possible, I still had Squiggly coming (I did warn my cousin ahead of time). Squiggly gets here and her Mom says she had a fever over night also. I told her I sprayed the house with Lysol, opened all the windows, drilled into J that he had to stay away from Squiggly (which since he still wasn't feeling well was fine by him).
Squiggly's Mom said she was going to get out of work early. J was still just laying there on the chair with a sad face.
I had the hand sanitizer out and told the kids to wash their hands...they can't get sick....school starts on Tuesday!!!!
I think this might be like a 24 hour bug because all of a sudden J was like himself again. He started getting into Dora's adventure, jumping around, putting on his spy glasses. Wow, okay, I'll take it!! Squiggly had a low grade fever, gave her a little fever reducer and put her in the swing cause she had sleepy eyes. She dozed off for a little but when she woke up she too was back to normal, wanting to explore, ate all her lunch, be her little giggly self.
I still was sick but seeing the kids better made me feel a little better.
Daddy came home early knowing we were sick, Squiggly left early with her Mom, and I headed upstairs for some rest time for me (because honestly I didn't feel well).
Mom Jr. comes upstairs and says "where's the thermometer?" "who now?" "Jr."....
Here we go again....Jr.'s temp.-104, fever reducer, cool wet towel on his forehead, and here I sit with him trying to cool him down. He started getting achy, I managed to get him to relax but for Jr. that's really hard to do, he kept wanting to see T.V. or know what time it was...We just told him don't worry you can catch up on everything later.
Daddy took the other 3 to school to find out the teachers for Mom Jr., Jr., and D. They came home happy because they all got the teachers I requested!! Yahoo.....
Now the evening is setting in...I'm praying no one else gets sick, it's going to be a very warm weekend which leads into our school schedule. I'm hoping to feel better by morning because "Mom" has to keep going-Mom Jr. has her school materials list that we need to shop for as well as lunch items....
Here I thought the last week or even weekend would be spent in the crystal clear pool we completely re-did, barbecuing, and taking the last few pictures for the end of the summer vacation of 2009.

Just a Mom hoping for healthy children to begin their new school year!!!

School shopping time

It's crazy, especially when you have to shop for 3 (and sometimes 4 who decides he needs something new too).
I had it in my mind what to buy, what they really needed.........
Luckily my Mom (my savior) said she'll go school shopping with me. My Mom coming along makes it a lot easier especially when I'm trying to get it done in one day (yes, I know, total procrastinator). So we head to the first store to shop for backpacks. I'm glad they're all out of the stage of buying a "character" backpack. My children are starting 2nd, 4th, and 5th grade. Now I don't remember having heavy backpacks in any of those grades, although, with times changing, so does the amount of books and work the kids get from school. Hey, I'm not complaining, I'm just saying for that reason they need a good, sturdy backpack.
I didn't give them a choice of where to buy it I just chose the best quality for the price and they chose from the colors....
Next, we go for clothes and shoes............
Okay, so I'd like to know who first came up with the idea that kids need to get new clothes to start school. It's been a tradition that has been going on for a long time (I should know, I remember needing to have a new outfit for everyday of the first week of school at least).
A positive thing about living out here in the valley is that it's too hot to start school in anything but t-shirts, shorts, capris, or skorts.
Having to buy for the three of them, I told them "okay, you can pick out 2 shirts each, and a pair of shoes". We still need to go through their shorts to see if they actually need any.
The boys love to shop for t-shirts. They love to get the ones that have comments on them. Anything that talks about video games, sisters, or school works for them. They read all the shirts, laughed, and then chose their favorite two (of course they know they can share them so it's like having an extra two).
Off we go for Mom Jr. She's transitioning slowly from a little girl to a tween and believe me I'm in no hurry to have her change but at the same time I don't want to interrupt the process, I just want to welcome it slowly together, baby steps, so that both her and I are comfortable with each new step.
I show her the "cute" undies, the ones that don't come pre-packaged, the ones where she can actually choose different styles and designs. I myself, was never given that option. She liked choosing different designs and styles. I had her try them on to make sure we get the right size. Now my daughter takes after me when it comes to germs "Mom do I have to take off my underwear first?" "No, just try them on top". Off she went to try them on and I was choosing a bigger size just to make sure. As I was walking towards the dressing room I passed the under shirts and then the "trainer" bras. Okay, maybe this is too much info. for some but my daughter is entering the 5th grade, is she ready for major changes in her under garments? No, but I myself would like it to be a slow, smooth transition for both her and me.
I grab the smallest ones and take them with me. I enter the dressing room and tell her "here try this size in underwear also, oh, and try these too". I throw over the little training bras. I here her grunt. "Mom, I don't like these things". "I know but eventually you're going to need them, just try them on and let me see".
I remember the episode in Sex and the City when Miranda needed to find a black bra to wear to her Mom's funeral. She never had that type of relationship with her Mom, helping her find the right sizes of such things. That wasn't going to happen here.
She trys them on, shows me, and I tell her "see they fit you perfectly". "It's just a few for you to use and get use to". "Okay, Mom but I'm still going to wear my under shirts". "That's fine".

Yahoo!!! We both made it through her first real experience of trying on something new that will eventually be used all the time.
I thought it would make me sad, my only baby girl, changing......you know what? It's a new stage that I can handle and that's okay.
We go on and she picks two new shirts, she doesn't see anything else she likes (okay, yes, I might just buy her more, but she doesn't have anyone to share clothes with)
We meet the boys and Grandma in the shoe department and the boys (all of them) are having such fun deciding on what shoe they want. Jr. tells me "Mom, I didn't think shopping was going to be so fun". I told him "yeah, well when your shopping for yourself it's lots of fun!". My boys (especially Jr.) tried on all types. Eventually the chose a pair each and of course J chose a pair too with Grandma and Mom Jr.'s help.
We put it all on hold, knowing the next day our discount would work along with their sales.

I went back on my own to the store while the boys went swimming with their Dad and Mom Jr. was at dance. As the woman was pulling out the items on hold I was shocked into reality. My children are growing up. She pulled out the shoes and I thought, wow! their shoes look big. She was checking the sizes, and going about her normal cashier duties. She pulled out J's shoes and said "awww, so small". "Yeah, they're cute", but hey, what about the other ones? I see, they have reached the not-so-cute stage. They were kind a big, even I thought "are those the right ones? You must have me mistaken with someone else with big boys". Nope, they belonged to me.
I walked out of their spending a lot but less than I thought especially for 4 children.

School's starting, another year, another grade, another video I'm going to have to watch for a 4th and 5th grader...more physical changes, more confusion, more learning (for them and me).
As I take a deep breath and start to think how easy it was when they were little.
Point being, we, as parents always seem to think every stage our children embark on is a hard one, rolling over (can't leave them on the bed), crawling (they don't want to be held now or stay in one spot wherever we're at), walking (forget it, it's over, gates everywhere, running and chasing is the name of the game), talking (couldn't wait for this, once it starts, when do they stop or even just take a breath?), running (grab em'!).............................
You better hang on tight Parents because from now on they just keep going.

Enjoy all the stages your children go through, embrace them (believe me, I know they're hard, if you approach them the right way together they don't have to change who they are at the age that they are). Let your children enjoy every new stage they come upon and together it'll be a lot easier (this is at least my approach on the changes my children will be experiencing).

Just a Mom getting ready for a new year.................

All She Wants to do is....

Dance, dance, dance......

For the parents that have children in dance classes, I'm sure you must experience the same thing. Although for Mom Jr. and me it just really started this past year.

Okay, I get it with as much time as she invests into dancing she obviously loves it! There's no way anyone would put so much of their time into something and not feel that way.

At home she is always dancing, stretching, leaping, twirling. I'll be in the kitchen cooking some meal (as usual) and on the side I can see her dancing her way over to see what I'm doing. Now she's dancing right next to me as I'm preparing a meal. "Stop! or go in the other room". She can stop for a few minutes but before I know it there she is moving around again. Dance just flows through her body like blood flows through our veins, she just can't help it. I get it, I enjoy watching her, just not when I'm cleaning and she's spinning around on the floor, when I'm watching T.V. and she's stretching to make sure she has her splits down, when I'm helping her with her workbook and she's watching but still dancing!!!

There comes a moment where I am taken by surprise by her dancing..........

Mom Jr. likes to go with me to any store I need to, basically if I am leaving to go anywhere, she's coming along...

Off we go grocery shopping, we are in the produce area and I'm talking away to myself (of course the positive thing with taking kids no one thinks your crazy). "What's the price for one garlic clove compared to buying them in the net?""hmm, oh that's right, my Mom said it's cheaper to buy them in the net".....I go to grab a netted bag of garlic, I turn around and notice three different boys and a man staring in the same direction.......................What are they staring at? I'm wondering.......It's like slow motion, I begin to turn towards my shopping cart where Mom Jr. and J are at and.........................................................................

SHE'S DANCING!!!!

Aaaahhh!!!!!! Watch out, I go into instant bodyguard mode (for those that know me, you know exactly what I'm talking about!!!)!! I quickly walk over to her and say "stop dancing people are staring at you!!". I turn to look at those eyeballs staring her way and give them my "Mean Mom Look". Hey, we're in the grocery store, my domain, don't make me turn this banana into a boomerang and throw it at your a** cause believe me I will!!! Cucumber? What, you don't think I could throw this like a dart and hit you right between the eyes with it??? Try me, you're looking at my CHILD!!!!
The eyes quickly leave our area, in fact they are now standing at the end of the produce area waiting for whoever they're shopping with to come along so they can continue through the store.....
We make our way out of the produce area and again I'm watching all their eyes. They make contact with me and instantly look the other way.......My daughter, she is just 10 years old, okay, yes she is tall (she obviously is going to take after her Dad), but she is a child who doesn't think people are looking at her the way I KNOW they are.
We finished our shopping and had a discussion about dancing and where it is appropriate and where it isn't. I get it, she doesn't think about it that way (obviously, when I'm constantly reminding her she can't stretch like that with those shorts on, with that swimsuit on...).
I feel bad sometimes because she is a little girl who just wants to get better at what she loves to do, she loves to practice her moves, her exercises that they teach her, she just wants to be the best she can be and is not worried about anyone else around her.....
Well, don't worry my baby girl, cause Mommy is watching out for you. I will allow you to be the age you are and continue to practice what you have learned behind closed doors. I will help you understand why it is not appropriate to practice in public, you are innocent, naive, and you should be. For that reason alone, I will protect you in every way possible, soon your brothers will step in as mine did for me. I am not worried about you because I know you will always be protected by all who is around you, your Auntie Lala (I was and am there for her and I know she'll be right there for you), Uncle (yes, he has his own 3 girls but he'd be right there if he was needed, without a doubt!), Mom-Grandma (there's a reason her name begins with Mom, she will always be there for you as she would be for any of her grandchildren, just as if they were her own), and ultimately the first one (behind me) your Dad, no one is going to mess with you, you are the Princess of this family, you will be protected as one always!
So, you parents out there of dancers brace yourself, if your child has not begun to be a little braver and more open to where they practice their moves take this entry to heart and be aware of what's to come....and for those of you who are enjoying this phase with me of your dancer displaying their moves anywhere and everywhere just get your "Mean Parent Face" out and be ready!

Just a Mom............turning into the Protector of her little ones!!!

One week left....

Is all my three kids have left until "Back To School Day"!!! We 're getting down to the wire. Um, have we shopped for any school supplies? Shoes? Clothes? Backpacks? Lunch Pails? Nah. I think this is the first year we have put if off till the very end. Well, I guess the school is following in the same fashion with sending out notices to let the kids know who their teachers are going to be. My kids have been checking the mail everyday, now they're even looking for the mailman, they're getting so anxious!!!
Yesterday at our county fair Dora and Boots from "Dora the Explorer" and Diego from "Go Diego Go" were making an appearance. Well, of course once J knew about it, that was all we heard about!!
My Mom and my Sister said they would take him to see them. Turned out D and Mom Jr. wanted to go also and Jr. decided he'd stay home with Daddy. Squiggly even came along with her Mommy.
So we all got ready and made it to the fair right when it opened. We made our way over to where they were going to be and there was already a long line!! We immediately got in it, just figuring it would get even longer!! Boy, were we right, it just kept growing. We were moving slowly but steadily. Luckily we had my Sister there to be the "food" person.
Well, we made it, TWO HOURS later!!! Yes, that's right we, us MOM's, Aunt, and Grandma stood in line for 2 hours so that J and Squiggly could get a picture with their favorite "friends" as J calls them. As we got closer and J could see them he would put his hands out and say "Wait, I'm coming!!" He was so excited!! I really think if he didn't like them as much as he does he would've definitely lost it waiting so long just to see them.
As we got really close the guy up on the stage said we should have our cameras ready, and only one picture per family. Wait, what happen to the "meet and greet"? We got up there, they grabbed our strollers and pushed them to the other side. Um, yeah, my bag with my wallet was in there?!?! Immediately they start to gently push the kids between Dora and Diego. I immediately start taking pictures because they are definitely not wasting any time. Next thing I know they're scooting the kids away from Dora and Diego. Poor J wanted to give them high fives and say hello but unless he turned into Speedy Gonzalez that was obviously not going to happen.
And that's when it went downhill....J started crying, he was so upset. I don't know why they called it a "meet and greet", they should've called it a "drive by picture taking moment" "have your smile on and your finger on the button!" It was crazy..........
I immediately made my way over to the soft ice cream to get J his treat, he was fine while he ate it but once done the tears started flowing again...Hey, on the plus side, Squiggly actually stayed awake throughout it all and never got upset!!
By the time we left J finally fell asleep. I carried him out of the car and layed him down. Through the night he would cry and talk in his sleep. I guess next time I'll just take him to one of their "live" shows........
Now it's Friday, made it through the day, I even got a break when my Mom took the kids swimming. It was just me and Squiggly. It was so quiet, it's hard to even remember what it was like with just one.
Tomorrow we are heading to the fair once more just to finish up the ride tickets we got last weekend, look at the exhibits, and just enjoy our day/evening out.
The end of summer, the end of sleeping in, staying in pajamas for a while (unless your the boys who will stay in pajamas all day), staying up late, not worrying about the next day................

It goes by so fast, even when you're home, their last week.....
Let's all enjoy it,

Just a Mom feeling kinda sad that summer's ending (I know I'm a little crazy like that).......

Ugh, keep going.....

So I started the week off with pre-school preparation. Since my husband was able to get the double jogging stroller fixed in record time (oh, no, did I mention, the T.V. was still waiting for the bulb we ordered for it). I decided to take "all" the kids for a test run to school so that we could time it and know what time we would have to leave on the first day.
First I had to try Squiggly out in the double jogging stroller that my friend with twins graciously let me have (thank you my friend!!). As I was fixing the restraints for her J climbed in on the other side and said "See Mama I sit right here". Both fit well and Squiggly was all smiles!!
I told the kids "get your bike stuff on and let's go for a ride". I put on my proper gear to go for a run (ladies you know what I'm talking about, gotta hold the ladies in nice and tight, no need for any black eyes around here!!). Of course I did the normal "Mom preparations", took a bottle, some wipes, an extra diaper for Squiggly, a water bottle for me (and of course knowing it would eventually be shared among those who neglected to get their own), band aids for just in case, a toy that hooked onto the stroller, water for J, cell phone, oh and most importantly my ipod!!!
Off we went, Mom Jr. heading the pack, Jr. right behind her following closely behind was J and the little ones and I were right behind them all.
Huh, I could do this, I'm running while pushing about 50-60 pounds. The little ones are doing just fine, J is singing away and Squiggly is playing with the toy I hooked on to her belt while she is plugged in with her pacifier. We make it to the school and they are both about to doze off until I don't notice the dip in the corner of the grass where it meets the cement. Whoops!!! The jogging stroller takes a little dip to the side. Poor J who is leaning against the side hits his head on the bar of the stroller (make mental reminder: tell Grandma is she could make a cushion of something to put there for the future rides). J starts to cry but Squiggly is fine but now wide eyed looking around. I let J out and he runs off to the playground. Mom Jr. takes Squiggly out to walk around with her.
We made it there in 20 minutes, not bad, could be better if I had started running ahead of time. Can't go backwards, we were just going to continue everyday for the next 2 weeks so that hopefully I would get a little better at it.
On the way back D is riding side to side. Eventually I see the three all stop. D's front tire managed to get poked with some sticker and now is leaking air. We make it home, the little ones are now asleep. I'm still feeling pretty good. Surprised I did pretty good.

Until............................the next morning. I got up, did my usual for Daddy, went back to bed. When I got up the next time I felt a little tight. Missed that feeling, as the day went on that feeling only intensified.
By mid morning D came up to me and said "Mom aren't we going for our bike ride again, you said we'd do it everyday". Okay panic set in, now that the soreness has set in quite noticeably, I don't want to take back what I said then I think bike-tire-sticker-air leak. "Well, did you ever get your tire fixed yesterday when your Dad came home from work?". "Oh, no I don't think he got to it, but I'll go check". Off he went to the garage. D came back in "Nope, Dad didn't get to it so I guess we can't go today". "Oh, man, I was hoping we would've been able to continue".
Lucked out of that one unfortunately I still had the reminder of our first test run in the soreness of my body.
Today is now Wednesday, we've been a little busy with other things so the bike still isn't fixed. The bad thing, I haven't continued which means I'm going to really hate life when school starts. The good thing, I'm still sore, can you imagine if we were able to continue with our daily rides/runs.

Ugh, just a Mom wishing I would've continued my running at the beginning of summer, cause now I'm really going to pay for it...................

Watch them grow..

If we can try our hardest to guide them in the right direction we will have accomplished our job as parents, the rest lays in their hands to ultimately make the right choice.
I'm reminded quite often to really try and enjoy this stage with my children because they are at the age of transition. They are going to soon leave behind the make believe age and move on to the next stage in their adolescent life. What that is I am happy to say I'm not exactly sure yet as I haven't noticed it from any of my children.
Yes, Mom Jr. is going through a few changes but it's not anything drastic. Am I ready for the next stage? Mmm, I think so. Would it make me sad? Definitely! Do I think a little girl going through changes with her body will make her mentally change? Yes, and yes that also makes me sad. I like passing by her room and seeing her playing with her barbies. I like that she has dolls sitting in the corner of her room. At the same time she is interested in the tween things. She now has a poster of her favorite Twilight Series hanging above her bed. My little girls princess room that her Daddy and I spent a three day weekend painting as a surprise for her is also starting to show changes. She is always one step behind us. I was reading her blog and the more I do, the more I think it was a good thing for her and us. She is starting to slowly open up more about her personally. Her latest she talks about her favorite music and her liking to sing. At first I was a little surprised to read some of the names of her favorite songs. I did ask her about them and she said "Mom that's just the name of the songs, I really like the music". Now, I think back to when I was her age and some of the songs I listened to like Prince. If you know his music it has a great beat, I would even sing along. Did I at that age think about the words and what they meant? No. I loved and still do love his music. Of course, I now get it but at the time that wasn't my concern.
I thought about that and then said "It's okay, I know you aren't going to repeat words you aren't suppose to say and you are really enjoying the music".
Mom Jr. being a dancer listens to all types, if the least of my worries happens to be a song that doesn't necessarily have a bad word in it (just in our household it is not allowed to be said) but has some not good choices for our family, it's okay because I have enough faith in my daughter to know what is right.
One thing I know for sure is to be completely open and honest with our children. My Mom was (and still is) always open to discuss anything with us. We knew we would never have to hide anything from her because she made us feel comfortable enough to tell her anything. I also think for that reason I was never in a hurry to be intimate with anyone or experiment with things I shouldn't be.
I know how that made me feel to know that my Mom trusted me enough to allow me to have the freedom to choose what I listened to, who I hung out with, what I wore, and of course how I did my hairstyle (I totally had the 80's hair). Because of this, I was in no hurry to drastically change, go out and do something I was not ready to. I was fine being exactly who I was.
In the same fashion, as I watch my children grow and change I am making an honest effort to allow them to choose the hair style they want, the clothes they feel comfortable in, the music they choose to listen to....
I am embracing their differences between each other, their uniqueness, and so far I have nothing to complain about. I am hoping they too will follow along the same path and know there is no hurry in growing up....

Just a Mom noticing the little changes of her babies......growing up

Shopping Cart Kids

I have come to the realization that there are different types of "shopping cart kids".

1. Shopping cart baby- This age is to ease the parent into taking your baby with you as you shop. The baby lays snuggly in his/her carrier, usually asleep from motion of moving or of just finishing nursing or having a bottle. Once in a while your baby will start to cry but it's very rare and if your baby takes a pacifier, your in luck, plug it in and continue on your way.

2. Shopping cart toddler- Hello!! At this age you have your toddler (who is now sitting in the front part of the shopping cart) talking toddler language, wanting you to sing his/her favorite show song. Warning: beware of the toddlers quick change in mood. One minute your gliding your way through the store happily talking with your toddler and BAM!! the next your toddler decides to throw a tantrum to the point where everyone is looking at you as you try to calm them down before you lose it. Toddlers are very unstable, shop with caution!!

3. Shopping cart toddler 2- Yes, there is a 2nd stage to the Shopping cart toddler. This is when your toddler now tells you what they want from the store you are at. If you deny them their request the tears along with wailing shall occur. At this point you are probably over the glances you receive from other people. You now have a choice, deal with the temper or depending on how long you have left in that particular store and if you have anywhere else to go you might just try and come to a compromise with your toddler (such as "Okay, if I get you some fishy crackers or milk, whatever the request, you have to promise to be good and let Mommy finish her shopping"). Also at this stage you have to really watch how close you put your shopping cart with your toddler in it next to items in shelves. Yes, I know it's only the courteous thing to do to move to one side as you look for what you want but, at the same time your toddler is eyeing things on the shelves in arms reach for them to grab and conveniently drop in your cart. It's happened, you go to the 10 item only register and turn around to notice you are over the limit and now you have people behind you in line giving you dirty looks because they think your just being rude!!

4. Shopping Cart Child 1- This child is the one who wants to run around the store and get in the way of other customers shopping carts. Maybe you as a parent aren't too concerned of the looks the customers are giving because since they are running around the customers don't actually know who they belong to.

5. Shopping Cart Child 2- This child is the one who knows better to even think about running off from you. At the same time this child likes to hold on to the shopping cart. Every move you make you have to tell them ahead of time so that they will move with you and the cart instead of getting run over or pulled in another direction. The positive side to this is you know your child isn't bothering anyone else. The negative side is it's completely driving you insane!!

6. Shopping Cart Child 3- This child stays close to you constantly. When you're looking for something they are jumping on the sides or front of the cart to try and get a ride. At first you let them but then when they jump off spontaneously and scare you half to death because you think you're going to run them over with the cart, you immediately stop that. This child then decides to just stay right next to the shopping cart whether in front of it in line of right next to you as you shop. You find yourself saying "Move away from the shopping cart","Your feet are going to get smashed from the wheels", "Your too close back away just a little".

Okay, so that's as far as I can go seeing as I have experienced every one of those situations (well except for #5, I've experienced that one in being the customer).
Right now I am dealing with #3 and #6. Recently Mom Jr., J and I went to the grocery store. As Mom Jr. and I were looking for a certain granola bar, I moved the shopping cart over to the side so I would not be in the way of fellow shoppers. Mom Jr. and I found what we were looking for and me being a Mom veteran of #3's I looked just in the nick of time to see J dropping sugar cereals that had cute cartoon pictures on them in our shopping cart. I took them out and told him "Sorry, we don't eat that cereal" J said his famous phrase "Awwww, mannn". As we continued to shop he started asking for milk (he likes to get a small carton of milk when I am shopping in the grocery store). I told him no, because I was buying milk and we had chocolate at home. Okay here came decision time for me.....J began to cry loudly in the store and what made it worse was Mom Jr. started to laugh at him!! That did it! I told him "Okay, I will get you your milk but you have to stop crying and not touch anything else throughout the store". Then I looked at Mom Jr. and told her "You can't have one because you made the situation worse by laughing at him which only made him louder". She tried to play it off "I wasn't laughing at him". Yeah, okay, what could possibly make you laugh right then in a grocery store? Whatever, you can't have one!"
After the deal was made all was well on the shopping front, we finished our stuff and made our way home happily!!!
Now, I also have #6 going on, especially this summer since when I have to shop I have to take them all with me. The three older ones fight to be on either side of me. As they hang on to the cart, I am constantly saying "move away from the cart", "back up".
Well, at the end of last week we went to Costco. You know how they have those overgrown shopping carts....again I was saying my normal phrases to them. I eventually got busy looking at some items, I started to move the shopping cart back as I was moving backwards, all of a sudden the shopping cart stopped (now I was moving slowly back but still getting touched by one of those wheels would hurt). Jr. was hanging on to the cart and did not notice me moving back, and yes he was wearing flip flops to top it off. I could see in his face it hurt (of course it hurt, it's happened to me before because I wasn't paying attention. Hmmm, um, maybe that's where they get it from...Anyways). Jr. is one to get extremely upset at the littlest things, to the point where he'll start crying uncontrollably (and of course I'm praying inside he doesn't lose it in this huge warehouse). He just looked up and kept blinking so that tears wouldn't run down his face. I am feeling really bad because I know how much that had to hurt. Being a Mom, I throw out "How many times have I said to move away from the shopping cart". He still isn't saying anything but he's keep a straight face and I know he's doing all he can not to lose it. I happen to have some of his favorite gum with me. I give him a piece and the two other older ones don't even ask as they can see in Jr.'s face how much it hurt. J has no problem in asking as he is sitting in the top part of the cart. "Momma I want piece". I tell him "no, is your toe flat like a pancake like Jr.'s?" He looks down at his toes "No, Mama, lemme see Jr.'s" By this time he's okay and wiggling his toes.......
Fast forward to shopping with Mom Jr. and J at the grocery store this past weekend. We're at the register and I'm paying, I start to move the shopping cart through so that we can leave and Mom Jr. has her foot right in front of it. Here we go again (at least it wasn't one of those heavy duty overgrown shopping carts). It wasn't so bad for her but as we were leaving she made a comment "Just run over my foot". I told her "how many times have I said to move away from the shopping cart (now I' m even using my hands to demonstrate to move away). She giggles and says "mmm, I don't know". I stopped the shopping cart on our way out of the store, I told her "okay, let's just get it over with, put your foot in front of the wheel". She said "No way!!" I told her "why not? I've warned all of you so many times and you still don't get it, maybe if you really have it go over your foot you will". The smartie that she is, she just laughed and said "I don't remember you saying that?" I told her "yeah, you know why because it goes through one ear and just keeps going right out the other". Smartie girl said "what? what'd you say?" as she giggles and gets in the car.......

Right then and there I knew I had to blog about this....
For all the new Mom's out there, this is for you, for you veteran Moms- yes, let's all shake our heads up and down at the same time...

The question is...Do you think they learned their lesson???

Nah, maybe not, although I sure do hope so!!!

Just a Mom trying to get through to her kids.......

Fairytale Land....

Is what J calls it although to us and everyone else (except maybe those other imaginative toddlers) it is know as the fair. The kids look forward to the end of summer for one reason and that's because the fair comes around right before they head back to school.
This is J's first year to be so excited about going. Our little EverReady bunny couldn't stop talking about fairytale land all day.
I think the anticipation of going was just too much for him! Since Daddy's T.V. was broken he went out and did some work outside (hmmm, maybe I would've pulled the plug out a long time ago?). We ended up going in the evening. Once we walked in the gates J could barely sit still in the stroller, he kept moving back and forth as if that was going to make the stroller go faster.
First thing his eyes got caught on was the big soft ice cream cones. Now all the kid were eyeing the ice cream, one of their favorite things to get. So they all got ice cream and on we went. We made it over to the kiddie ride area. J got out of the stroller and just couldn't stay still, his eyes were wide open as he was looking at all the rides. We took him over to the rides and thought we'd start him off on just the simple rides where you get in a truck and just go round and round, no bumps, no flying, just round and round. Well, he was just beaming!! We managed to get Mom Jr. to go on with him (which of course was definitely not her choice of ride but she did it). The ride started and he couldn't stop smiling. He was putting his arm out with a fist. Once the ride ended and Mom Jr. told him they had to get out, his smile turned to a frown and he started crying. Daddy had to go get him, he just scooped him up and carried him over to another ride, the flying elephants. Now it was D's turn he was going to go on it with him except J wasn't tall enough so Daddy had to go on with him. He had a blast!! By now the rides were lit up with lights, we made our way back to the food because who goes to the fair and doesn't have a corn dog (well in exception for me, I'm not a big hot dog fan)? As J was eating his, you could see his eyes were getting quite heavy. He tried to keep them up, he would open them wide and smile at us, and then they'd close again. We thought for sure he was done for the night, we layed the back of the stroller down and he laid back. As soon as we started to move he popped up wide awake.
We made our way to the big rides and we knew there was no holding back J. He wanted to go on all the rides! Daddy bought him a sword that lit up hoping that it would keep him occupied enough to not get upset about not going on the big rides. Now my challenge was just to keep his sword away from people that came anywhere with in his reach to poke them with it. Yeah, that's all I need, for him to poke someone in the back and let's face it he's not going to hit anywhere higher than their waist.
Mom Jr., D, and Jr. headed over to their first ride. They all rode together, now this was D's first time being able to get on the big rides, last year he wasn't tall enough. They were laughing and screaming. Once that ride was over Mom Jr. and D ran to the next one. Jr. stayed behind (personally I think it was a little much for him), so Daddy, J, and Jr. went over to the Super Slide. Then Jr. and Daddy hit the big Farris wheel and the rest of us headed back to the slide. As we were walking back towards the food area for their last snack Mom Jr. saw this ride, she said "I wanna go on that one!!". Both boys saw it and said "nah, we want to eat something". Well, Daddy is one that you don't have to ask twice about going on a ride, especially fast ones. The two of them went to get on the ride, J was now curled up asleep in the stroller, and the boys were running around a tree.
I watched the ride begin, I saw them, the ride got faster and faster, so fast I couldn't see where they were, it was a blur. I started to catch glimpses here and there. I could see Mom Jr. leaning on her Dad with her head down and then up. When they got off and came towards us they both looked jolted. Mom Jr. said "I need some water". Daddy said "that was an intense ride, it was worse than the zipper!".
We ended the night with some snacks and made our way home. Everyone slept in and when J woke up he had a smile on his face. We will go back 2 more times, once just for J to go see his friends, Dora and Diego, and the last will be to spend the rest of the ride tickets.
With all the craziness that happened over summer vacation it was really nice just to take the kids somewhere to just have fun, laugh, and really enjoy the smiles on their faces.
They needed it, we needed it, and as J says "It was the best Mama!!"

Just a Mom enjoying an evening out with the family............