A successful return

It took 2 days and 750 miles through rain and horrendous holiday traffic, but we got home. ?The children were amazing. And that's with 2 DVD players that quit functioning halfway through. I think the older one may be dead-dead. the newer one just needed a new fuse, which I replaced today.

It was nice to be home, except now I have to deal with the mess and the cranky kids. they have been very good today. The new toys have distracted them, and I rotated toys out of the closet, so there is enough "new" stuff to keep them all mostly happy.

No pictures today. We drove up to Connecticut to have Christmas at my brother's house. SO MUCH fun!! My parents, 5 of 6 of us kids, plus 5 spouses and 12 kids are all here. Talk about crazy fun! It has been a blast. Jonathan has a fabulous house and we've mostly fit fine. The kids are all under the age of 10, and mostly 6 and under, but they have played amazingly well. Today is the first time more than one child has had meltdown issues. Go figure.

Right now Dan and half the grown ups are out to see "National Treasure 2". I'm home with the kiddies. They are enthralled with the "Planet Earth" DVD. Oh, I'm suppose to be helping Isabelle paint her new birdhouse, so I hope that's going well!

I have not run in over a week now. When we got here, there was a lot of snow on the ground. The combo of no sidewalks, no slow traffic areas, and the freezing weather has kept me out of my running gear. Then I decided it was okay to take 2 weeks off. So I'll start up again next Tuesday and work off the accumulation of too much chocolate and tasty treats.

Holiday Craziness!

I love Christmas! I love the songs, I love the sights, I love the smells, and I definitely love the food! We did decorate the house, even though we won't be here for Christmas. The kids have rearranged the ornaments on the tree so many times now. I still have to put bells back on the tree fairly frequently. Their other favorite decorations to remove are the little snowman ornaments that have the kids' names and pictures on them. I find these scattered all over the living room. That's why we have no breakables on the tree.

It was 76 degrees here today. I couldn't decide if I should turn on the AC or not. Not very Christmassy! I also haven't done my usually flurry of holiday baking. I usually attempt to make toffee at least twice before giving up, and I always make several batches of caramels. That's gotta be my favorite! But this year I've only made chocolate pie. A new thing for me, but so very melt-in-your-mouth delicious.

I have a bazillian things on the calender that I have to remember to do, and I have to get everything ready to leave next week. I'm a little worried about fitting everything into the van for our trek north, and I am a little concerned about a 15 hour drive with the kiddies. It should all be worth it though! I love Christmas the most because I love family!

The usual...

The kids were so doggone cute on Sunday! They even cooperated when I asked them to go right into church and sit on the couch so I could get a picture. They all looked good and I knew I'd never get a good shot once we got home, and who has time for a photo shoot BEFORE church?! They were very good. And all 4 pictures were great! That never happens! Usually I take about 15 and there is at least one kid in each shot who is being silly or grumpy, or something!

And then this week, Delaney discovered the toilet. Yep, she followed Marian in there and Marian didn't shut the lid. So I heard splashing and giggling and this was what I found! So pleased with herself about that!

Its late, I'm tired, all the kids are in bed, and I'm up alone and don't want to give up this peace and solitude! Dan has been super-super busy this week, and will be all week. He's working till 9 every night, which is so not normal for us! I don't like it. Tonight was the Little Caesar's Pizza fundraiser for Marian and Callie's preschool. I so wanted to do that and the kids were just rotten. Whining and fussing and complaining! They didn't even want pizza! I couldn't use not going as a threat, because I wanted it more than they did. It worked out okay; after 10 minutes of screaming and crying from 2 of the 3 girls, Marian and Callie sacked out in the car. Callie never did wake up and I just put her to bed at 6:30. So, yeah, everyone is in bed early, which probably means early to rise. So I really ought to get myself to bed too!

Asperger's Syndrome

Well, its been 2 weeks since the kiddie shrink said Marian had Aspergers. I admit that some of the characteristics of it do fit her. Some do not. She is not focused exclusively on certain subjects. She can make eye contact and she didn't have any delayed motor skills. As a matter of fact, she's not only NOT clumsy, she is actually quite athletic. So that doesn't fit. But the speech part is right on. She has a odd manner of speech. The doc called it monotone, but that's not quite right. She has no inflection in her individual words, but she does in the overall sentence. She also has a huge vocabulary and she does use bigger words. She'll say she wants to "trade humans" at bedtime when she wants me to tuck her in rather than her dad.

Web MD has the best description of the stuff that does actually fit Marian. Some other websites are more broad, but the Web MD list of symptons are a lot clearer. These are the ones that fit Marian to a T (Okay, except for starting a conversation. That she does!):

* Not pick up on social cues and lack inborn social skills, such as being able to read others' body language, start or maintain a conversation, and take turns talking.
*Dislike any changes in routines.
*Appear to lack empathy.
*Be unable to recognize subtle differences in speech tone, pitch, and accent that alter the meaning of others’ speech. Thus, your child may not understand a joke or may take a sarcastic comment literally. Likewise, his or her speech may be flat and difficult to understand because it lacks tone, pitch, and accent.

So, that's my girl. She is a sweetie and she loves to cuddle and to be held. She definately wants attention and enjoys one on one time with me or Dan. She also loves friends and wants to play with other kids. I'm not too worried about her right now. I expect when she gets older, the social lack will stand out more, but she's pretty borderline normal right now. We're going in next week to see a family therapist so we can learn how to work with Marian and be good parents to her specific needs. She does not need therapy, I do, to learn how to raise her! She should be fine and grow into a beautiful, wonderful young woman with a few quirks of personality, which is fine with me!

Just Another Day in Paradise

So, we went to Gatlinburg, TN for Turkey Day. Dan's parents, and his sister Jenny with her family were there too (she has 5 boys and one baby girl, so it was fun!). It went really well. Gatlinburg was great, but way too overcrowded and overpriced. Worth mentioning though is that the Ripley's Aquariums all offer a 90% discount to military. Yep, I said 90%!! Our family of 5 got in for less than the price of one ticket! And it was a good time. The kids loved it. these bubbles were my favorite part. The kids could climb underneath and stand in the center, surrounded by the fish tank. Way cool. Dan loved the sharks, Marian thought the horseshoe crab pool was the best, but that's just because she could get her hands wet and touch them. Callie ran back and forth and thought everything was wonderful. Delaney was along for the ride, and I was happy that they were out having a good time.


The kids had a blast with their cousins, and Callie loved her Grandpa White. She can be such a charmer! Joshua learned to play pool on the pool table in the cabin, and he thought he was hot stuff. It did take him a bit to understand that even though it was more difficult, the pool cues where necessary, and he couldn't use his hands. Oh, and Thanksgiving dinner was tasty. My mother in law made the BEST stuffing! I made the pies, and I do admit they were good.


Did I mention that it was an 8 hour drive to get there? The kids were amazing. I did have to trade places with Joshua, so he sat in front and I kept Delaney entertained. He loved being a big boy in the front seat. It was convenient for me as well, that I could adjust the girls' DVD player and help them get stuff. So that was a good thing. We made it, we survived, and we even had a good time! Am I ready to repeat this for Christmas?!!

Weekend of Horror

It started off with Dan being sick, all night Friday. Very pathetic. He lounged around all day Saturday. Callie was over it all by then and didn't seem affected by her intestinal cleansing at all. I thought maybe it was over, but I was so wrong. Joshua started with a colossal splatter of vomit at 11pm and Marian picked up where he left off. They yaked until 2 in the morning and then I finally got to sleep. I will say that Dan got up and helped clean the barf off the carpet. Joshua only did that once. After that he made it to the bathroom. Marian didn't even make it out of bed. She got a 1am bath to remove the vomit from her hair, and she went through 2 sets of sheets.

Needless to say, we did nothing today. None of the kids napped either, which surprised me. I guess they slept better than I did! They did go to bed very easitly tonight and no one made a peep after they were tucked in, so there was a upside! It is now 9:30 and everyone is in bed. Dan is standing duty, so its just me and I'm going to put myself to bed now too! Whoo-hoo. Joshua hasn't thrown up since this morning, so if he feels well, he's off to school tomorrow! Double whoo-hoo!

Kid conversation

Marian is a hoot. Yesterday I said it was time to get ready to go to Amy's house. (Brook was going to babysit her for me for a bit, and she was also going to be hosting PlayGroup, which would start about 30 minutes before I was done.) I wanted to encourage her to get ready, so I said, "You'll have lots of friends to play with at Amy's house." Marian said "Do they like me because I'm pretty?"

Wow, how did I go so wrong?! I said, "No they like you because you are smart and funny." She said "And I'm a good killer?"

Before I worried over that I asked, "A good killer?" and she said "I'm a good monster killer!"

Oh, well, that clarified things and I felt better. I said "Yes, your friends like you because you are a good monster killer." She was satisfied and hopped up to go. And I laughed and laughed.

I'm not laughing so much now. Dan came home from work and let me take a little nap. then he came upstairs and took a nap. He emerged for 10 minutes to say he felt sick, and went back to bed. Then not to bed, but to worship the porclain goddess. Again and again and again. So, a rotten evening for him. Callie came to the dinner table babbeling something about puke. I became suspicious of the wet mark on her shirt. Upon further questioning, I deduced it was she who had done the puking. Wonderful girl that she is, she'd done it in the sink! And after she finished feasting on oranges and spagetti, she repeated the process. I'm impressed that a 2 year old can climb on the toilet and yak into the sink!

Delaney has moved past the excessive puking part. She's having other end issues. Like I had to change her sheets and outfit after her nap, and again this evening. Unfortunately I also had to change my shirt when I realized why it was damp. Ick!

So its a fun evening for us all! It could be worse, and I'll be thankful that it isn't.

Funny, funny girl!

It was really cold on Saturday. I mean, cold enough that I was wearing socks in the house. Joshua wanted to build a boat because he was bored. That was pretty entertaining, because his materials included a pie pan, 2 plastic cups, long pieces of yarn and a lot of tape. Once he had created this marvelous work of aquatic engineering, he wanted to float it somewhere. I told him he could fill up the plastic kiddie pool and launch his boat. He had a very good time for all of 5 minutes and then squished his soaking wet feet back into the house to complain he was bored again.

After several unsuccessful attempts to get Joshua to entertain himself, I realized I hadn't seen Callie in a bit. I opened the front door and there she was... no shoes, no socks, no pants, struggling to remove the rest of her turtleneck shirt, but it was too tight and she was just running in circles with it covering her face. The silly pickle was getting ready to go swimming in the kiddie pool!! In 40 degree weather! (And yes, thats the shirt, and she loves it because it was Taylors.)

Family Pictures

Well, I finally got us in for family pictures. It was like pulling teeth. Dan complained that we didn't need them. Yeah, our last family picture was summer of 2006, when Delaney was barely even in my tummy. So I dragged everyone in and no one wanted to cooperate. Dan was actualy very good, once he decided to be supportive. Callie didn't want to be in the picture and she refused to smile or even try to be cute. Marian was sweet and cute and did everything she was asked to do. Joshua too, except he's perfected the fake smile grimace and it is not attractive at all. Delaney just wanted to slurp on her thumb, but at least she was content.

After pictures were done, Dan grumbled that it was taking too long to go through them and decide what I wanted and needed. I suggested that he could go return the items that I needed to return. He declined. I suggested that he could take my list and go shop. He grumbled some more and then took 2 kids and did that. I picked out the pictures I wanted and Dan was back before I even got to the paying part. He was cross I wasn't done. I wasn't happy that he'd gotten the wrong wet wipes, but I didn't complain.

We finally got out of there, but without any of the shopping I wanted to do. Later, Dan looked at the credit card statement and yelled about how much the pictures had cost. Sigh. I went to pick up the pictures on Saturday and Dan was unhappy with the family pose I had chosen. Why? Why do I even bother?! Because I wanted family pictures, darn it!! And I liked the family pose. Sure, it wasn't classic, or perfect. It showed each personality very loudly. It was US, and it was cute, and it makes me smile every time I look at it. And we have just enough pictures to send to all the family, so it was good for me! I am quite glad that ordeal is over though.

Marine Corps Ball

Let me first mention Halloween. Dan took the 3 older kids out to trick-or-treat, while I handed out candy at home, and watched the baby. The kids had a fabulous time and came home with piles of loot. Waaaay too much loot. I may actually throw some away.

Tonight was Dan's Marine Corps Ball. There are like 50, but the one he can go to was tonight. He's been in long enough that HE has been to 3 of these Balls, and I have not been to one with him until tonight! So not fair. And still not fair!

I was ready by 5:30. And that was no picnic, let me tell you. The number of layers of clothing involved alone made going to the bathroom a difficult chore! Still, I had 2 inch heels and lipstick. When was the last time I did that? I can't even remember. Dan wasn't ready when the babysitter got here. He did manage to get dressed so she could take a couple pictures. The kids were a hoot- they wanted to be in the pix too.

We got out the door and Dan suddenly realized he didn't have his rank insignia on his uniform. Ug. We had to drive to his work so he could collect them from his office. We drove the 30 minutes to the Convention Center where it would be held. It started at 5, and it was now almost 6:30. Dan had to put his insignias on and put the blouse on, and it was cold and windy and we'd had to park forever away and walk.

We walked in about 2 seconds after they closed the doors to the ballroom where it was all held. We missed the band, the ceremonies, the speeches, the cake cutting... everything! Well, everything but dinner. I was cross about that. We finally got in and found that our table had only one empty chair! Ug. We had to wait until everything was over and then we were able to get a seat. On the plus side, dinner was fantastic and the cake was tasty. We got to mix and mingle and see some of Dan's coworkers and some of our friends. It was fun. We never get dressed up and go places! We met the Major General and he ordered Dan to take me to the dance floor, so we danced. As the imbibers got a little rowdy, I was ready to go. We got home about 10pm and the 3 older kids were sacked out in the hallway. Good enough for me! Delaney is currently wide awake and chatting up a storm and its almost 11pm. I'm so tired and I'm ready for bed!

Grrrr...

I've decided that this is my venting medium today. I'm so crabby. You know, that irritated crabby that goes all the way down and colors everything else that you do. And I know its dumb. As I complain here, I expect it will look a lot stupider in writing.

I had to get a passport. Do you know how hard that is?!! The online stuff is a little vague and you actually have to talk to your postman (or woman) or go to the post office to learn that they only do passports on Tues and Thurs from 9-10:30. I didn't find this out till last Wednesday. So last Thursday I took a trip to Walmart, to get my picture done. They don't open for pictures till 10, so no way i could get to the post office before 10:30. ....Irritating.

I had to wait until today, and I was at the Post Office at 9:50. 25 minutes later, after waiting with 3 children, and having been asked already to keep them from running around (yeah, whatever, Lady.), I finally got in to get my passport. Just as an aside, I have a 15 minute rule. If I have to wait more than 15 minutes for an appointment or something that shouldn't take longer, I am done controlling my kids after that. I only manage them for the first 15 minutes, then I'm done.

Anyway, I hauled the 3 children back to the desk to do the paperwork, which I've already filled out, and I have everything on hand. I was so ready and prepared! Then the irritating lady says I have to pay with a check or cash! Um, nothing said that anywhere. She tells me to look at the form where it says "some facilities may not take credit cards." Yeah, that's the only place they mentioned perhaps not accepting credit cards. It is now 10:25. I ask if I can bring a check later and just drop it off. She says no. That means I have to do it now, in the next 5 minutes, or wait till 9-10:30 on Thursday. I look at her and tell her I don't have time to go get a check. She says I can run to the ATM down the road and come back. But I'm on to her little game.

I say, "Its 10:25, by the time I get the kids in the car, get to the ATM and get back, it will be after 10:30" I know if that happens, I am SOL, see ya Thursday. She sighs and agrees to wait. Therefore I drag the kids out, and Marian is crying because the irritating lady had candy on her desk and she wanted some. Callie is crying because Marian is crying. I want to punch the irritating lady. Instead, we zoom to the ATM, Marian crying the entire way. I drive back and we dash into the post office. Did I mention it was with money we didn't have budgeted from that account? One more thing I'm not happy about. I did get it all done, but the whole experience really makes me crabby.

So now I will go make fish sticks for lunch and hope everyone takes a nap!

Running in the Rain!

It was pouring rain this morning. The weather guy said it would slow and stop today, so I was hoping it would just be a drizzle. I decided to run anyway. The kids wanted to run with me! I told them it was raining, but they wanted to anyway. I got them ready and then did the 3 mile loop. Since I didn't see them when I ran by the house, I went around the 1/2 mile loop. I was suppose to go 5 miles today, but the rain was really a downpour.

I stopped at the house and Joshua and Marian came out with their jackets and hoods and off we went. Marian's hood wouldn't stay up, so she didn't want to run. And then their shoes got wet. I told them they could go home, but they didn't want to. We walked half the loop before Marian realized she was already wet, so why not. We ran and walked the rest of the way. But the really fun part was looking for all the deep puddles to run through. I hate having wet shoes, but since it was too late anyway.....

We had a blast! Stomp, stomping through puddles while running full tilt, wearing totally saturated clothing was a lot more fun than I expected! We had a great time. My shoes may never dry out though!

Making Books!

One of my parenting magazines highlighted a website that lets you make books. I do know there are a lot, and everyone has their favorite. I do like Hertiage Makers, but they are quite expensive. This new one is blurb.com, and their books start off at $12.95 for a 7x7 paperback. I do not know how great the quality is, so I tried it out. I made a book about Joshua for him. It looked quite cute on the computer, and it should arrive here in another week or 2. I don't know why I have this obsession with books!

If Joshua's is as cute as I hope, and the pictures look good and the binding is decent, I want to put all the pictures from 2007 into a book. I have no need to digitally scrapbook it, I just want all the pictures in a neat, easy to access and read spot. I think this will be perfect! No huge, bulky books to store and haul out! And I can write the story of what's happening and all that stuff if I want.... or not. I'm very excited about this, so Joshua's book had better be all I hope for! I think it will be so great to have all the pictures made into a book. I think the 8x10 size will be fine.

The prices on blurb.com are great and I love that its straightforward- they have a graph telling you what size and how many pages are how much. And its not like each additional page costs. 20-40 pages is the same cost. Now I'm totally plugging the company..... check back in a few weeks and I'll tell you if its worth it, or not!

Kids are gross

This morning I thought Callie was upstairs with Dan. Nope. I found her in the bathroom. When I discovered her behind the closed door, she was bare bottomed, wiping poop off the floor. She'd taken off her pull-up, which was poopy, and had managed to get it all over the floor and toilet. Don't ask me how, I don't know, but it was everywhere! Ick!

Full of complaints today!

Dan waited till 9pm last night before asking me to cut his hair. Well, not so true. He asked me to do it at 6, but he wasn't ready till 9. Then, as I'm cutting his hair, he starts to criticise my blog! He's so lucky he still has any hair. And you know, if its boring, you do not have to read it!

My other gripe is that my right foot is going numb when I run. I finally got up to 5 miles on Saturday, but after the first 2 miles, I couldn't feel my toes, and it got worse from there. My whole foot was numb by the time I got home. My dad suggested putting Peppermint essential oil on it before running, and that helped this morning. Only my toes were numb, and that didn't happen till the last 1/2 mile home. Of course, I only did 4 miles today. It takes me so long, and Dan has to leave for work about 7:15. 6am is the earliest I want ot voluntarily get up if 'm going to make myself run! And yes, I have made sure my shoe laces were not too tight!

Callie and Marian are still running around with no pants on and its nearly 10am. Do I care? Not enough to make them finish geting dressed. There is nothing we absolutely have to do this morning. Okay, I need to clean the upstairs bathroom, but that doesn't require pants on my girls. Maintenance is suppose to come and fix the fan in the bathroom and put the towel rack back up. I don't really want them seeing a mess when they come in!

The great Why

Why is it that on a Sunday morning, I can get up t 6:45am and take a shower, make breakfast, bathe and wash hair on 4 children, put 2 sets of hair in ponytails or braids, get everyone in church clothes, put on make up, and be out the door by 8:30am. Yet during the week, I am awakened between 6-6:30 and I am incapable of getting out the door by 8:15 to get Marian to preschool on time?!! I only have to get Joshua fed, make his lunch and send him off to the bus by 7:15, and then I just have get the girls fed, dressed and do their hair. And I'm scrambling to leave on time? Its crazy. Last week I dropped Marian off and was on my way to a meeting when I realized I hadn't eaten breakfast! How sad am I?

Calm before the Storm

Well, Dan took Marain out to the movies. She loves her Daddy-Daughter dates. And its funny how things are so quiet when she is out of the mix. Of course, Callie is out at the park playing with another little girl who's mom probably thinks I suck because I'm not out there too. Joshua is watching cartoons and Delaney is happy trying to steal his trains.

However, Callie is tired and cranky and all 3 girls have runny noses. Delaney is already on her way to full-blown sick. She was warm when we got back from Walmart today (fell asleep in the cart, so cute!) and she was pretty toasty when she woke up from her nap. She has been having trouble sleeping the last 2 nights and I was hoping it was just her tooth coming in. Her 4th top tooth finally popped through, a full month after the first 3 up there appeared!

I have a bit of quiet time before Callie comes bursting through the door needing something, or Joshua decides he needs a snack, or Delaney wants to be cuddled. I could be doing something productive with this time, say folding the laundry or emptying the dishes that have been in the dishwasher for 3 days now!

But here is my delimma for the day. the Marine Corps Ball is in 2 weeks for us. I have a dress that may be suitable, but do I want to wear it? Its only knee length, and I feel like it should be longer. It is nice and modest and it looks pretty good, but it is pretty plain. If it were black, it would be a perfect little black dress, but it is maroon.... burgandy sounds better. Anyway, I can't decide if I should stress about finding something better or not. Of course, I have no shoes. I use to have a million shoes, lots of really cute shoes. I know, Sharon, yu do not believe me. I got rid of them all after Marian was born! When would I want to wear heels again!?! I'm thinking I'll ask the YW if any of them wear a 7 1/2 or 8. they all have cute shoes that are in style!

Well, I'm off to poke my head out and see what Callie is up to!

My first Blog!

Wow, this is so exciting. I've never blogged before. Kind of an odd feeling to be tossing my thoughts out into cyberworld and wondering where they'll end up. I'm actually not sure how I feel about that. I mean, how much should I worry that some stalker will pay close enough attention to put together all the details and come and snatch one my truly adorable children? And what fun would it be to write without really writing anything because I can't mention anything that might let someone find us?! Sheesh. I like to think that we're safer because we live on a military base, but ya never know!

So, right now Marian is screaming because she wants to eat peanut butter crackers on the couch. I said no.

I'm thinking about pizza for dinner. Dan has his EWS class tonight, so he won't be home for dinner. Who wants to cook for 4 kids who won't eat any of it? Sometimes I need more appreciation. And Pizza Hut has a good deal right now. Plus yesterday was payday! Hmmmmm.... I think I'm sold.

And with this random collection of thoughts, I think I'm done!