Great things about this Week

I have discovered how to get the house cleaned. It is amazing! For Christmas, my parents sent me a cd of ragtime music. I LOVE ragtime music! How can you not wiggle and dance to it?! So that's what we do. We put in the cd and shake it to the music and see how much the kids can pick up before I stop the music. Sort of like musical chairs with toys. Or maybe not like that at all. I just know they have a blast. And I get a kick out of watching them dance. Dance may not be the right word, but it sure is fun to see!

Here we have Delaney feeling overwhelmed by the gyrating antics of her siblings. Marian is convulsing on the floor in some strange, yet vastly amusing dance move. Joshua is trying to break dance and Callie fell over spinning. I laughed much. Yes, I did.

And here is a clearer shot of it all. Same thing, except Callie is showing me her ballerina moves. They had me in stitches. Plus, they got the living room nicely picked up! (PS- Aren't Delaney's pajamas awesome? So ugly they are adorable!)

Also fantastic this week was the arrival of a box of chocolates. Most of you may know that my brother and his wife work for Harry and David. Don't feel bad if you are not familiar with Harry & David. I'd never heard of them till Adam got a job there. They do mail order fruit, chocolate and gourmet stuff. And while some of it is a bit odd, its all yummy!  Adam lovingly scoured their after season sales and sent me a huge box of goodies. (So I'm set for Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, birthdays...!)  If you wonder what a 38 pound box of future hip-padding looks like- here it is! I laid it all out on the couch so I could revel in it.

Okay, actually, I wanted to roll in it on the floor, but I was concerned that it might melt some of the chocolate. I did sample some and while the chocolate covered graham crackers are still my ultimate favorite (hence the presence of so many), I did LOVE the chocolate covered oreos. Ahhhh..... yep, add a nice 50 pounds to me right now. Wait. Why is it that 38 pounds of goodies will end up as more than that on me?

And the last really fun thing I wanted to share was my Activity Day. That was Wednesday evening. We talked about modesty and I had cut out 10 giant paper dolls. Yikes. That was a test of my (non-existent!) artistic capabilities, since I first had to draw it, then cut it out. Not so fun. Fortunately, "War Games" was on Sci-Fi channel, and I watched that as I laboriously snipped out my dolls from posterboard.

That evening the girls had a variety of craft stuff to design modest outfits for their dolls. They were amazing! I was really impressed with their creativity and imagination. I'm only posting one picture, since I'm not sure how all the other moms would feel about their kids' picture being here.

But check out the outfit! And the hair and the boots, I think are awesome. So yeah, it was a fun night!

And those were some highlights of the week! Now I'm going to have a pizza picnic on the living room floor and watch a movie with the kids. Because sometimes I AM the fun mom!

Dental Complaints

I am a bit cranky. I loved the dentist in NC. Mango & Mango. Fun name, great place, good dentists (Nice husband and wife team). I really liked them. I also liked (a lot!) that when you needed work done, they printed out a sheet for you. This nifty sheet told you what they wanted to do, how much they would charge, what insurance would pay, and what you would have left to pay. It was awesome to have this at my fingertips. Let me mention that this was NOT a Tricare approved place. They were not on the Tricare list. Mango & Mango simply agreed to accept Tricare terms and pretty much acted like an approved provider. Did I mention that I loved them? And the dentists were great. I didn't even cry when I went there after 6 years of no dental visits.

Now we move here. Sigh. I went to the Tricare website. I found the list of names, and then I asked my friends. I had a military and non-military family who both recommended a guy. So I figured I should be good. That's where I went. He IS on the Tricare list, which again, means he agrees to the Tricare charge limit for services. And yet he billed me in excess of the Tricare limit. The whole reason to be a Tricare approved dentist is so that this stuff is covered. I'm really ticked about that. Sure, its nickle and dime stuff (to the tune of $30), but come on! He's charging me when he shouldn't be and that really ticks me off. More so is that I requested a quote for the 2 fillings he wanted to do and I was told they couldn't do that. What?! How can you not know what you are planning to charge me?! Ug. Again, this guy was on the list.

Admittedly, I did like the dentist himself, and they hygienist was very good. I will allow that it perhaps is not the dentist himself, but his receptionist and secretarial staff that are the root of my irritation, but I'm still mad about it!

Fun with Kids!

They say that having children keeps you young. Sometimes I think that is true. Sometimes I think it just turns you into a raving maniac. Today we are going to see some things that could make you pull your hair out and scream, or laugh. I prefer the laugh, but sometimes its a close call.

Delaney likes to play for an hour or so before she falls asleep. Note the mess in her room. It did not look like that when I put her down. Note that she is wearing her sister's pajamas, and that the shirt is on inside out. She picked them out and she refused help to get them on. Forcefully refused help. "No, Go AWAY!" Yep, that's what she said to me. She was so cute, fast asleep on the chair though.

Oops, the flash woke her up. It was actually a good thing. A middle of the night diaper change helps keep the sheets dry in the morning.

Ah, a funny thing here. I know she is wearing the exact same thing, and yes, the top is on inside out and backwards. The sad thing.... its not the same day. Even sadder, it really is the same, unwashed jammies, and I don't even care. The point of this picture, actually is not her attire. Its her hair. The silly pickle got into a tube of bacitracin and thought it was hair gel. The entire tube is now gunked into her hair. Ug. I washed it 4 times and it was still a bit greasy. At least it wasn't Desatin.

This was this morning. The girls were in their matching dresses and we had 20 minutes till we needed to leave for church, so I went ahead and took a picture. I figure if I take a picture every week, eventually I will have one nice picture of the children! This was the nicest one this morning. Sad, isn't it?! They are so goofy without even trying to be goofy.

At least with the official goofy picture they are all making faces! (Check out that all the girls are wearing ruffly socks and black shoes! I am SO the mom today!) Everyone commented on how adorable the girls were with the matching dresses. Thanks Grandma White!

The forces are conspiring against me!

I don't even know where to start. This is so not a fun week for me.... and it's only Wednesday! Ug. I didn't plan to be on a complaining kick, so perhaps I'll just share the facts as I know them and you can judge for yourself?!

Yesterday I awoke to the sound of Marian retching. On the plus side, she made it to the bathroom and hurled into the bathtub. (Its a bigger target than the toilet.) So I couldn't send her to school, especially when she barfed again. Unfortunately, Delaney had her 2 year old well-baby check up scheduled, and I had to meet with a lady who would put in for labs so I'd have lab-work done by my real appointment on Friday. This meant I really really needed to go to the doctor's that day and I really really did not want to cancel. The morning was a bit crazy before I got Callie off to preschool and I dragged poor Marian (and her big green bucket) off to the hospital with me and Delaney.

Marian was amazing! She puked in the bucket on the drive and several more times at the doctor's. She was pretty much down to nothing in the tummy by then, so it wasn't a big deal to rinse the bucket and continue on. Delaney's doctor decrees her a happy, healthy 2 year old. But the doc nearly had a heart attack when she saw the nearly empty shot record. I let her think I was a slacker mom, when the truth is, I didn't want her vaccinated till she was 2. Now she's 2, so I'm okay for her to get shots. And Delaney got 3 of them.

Marian was great. We did Delaney's appointment first. We waited a bit for the shots, but I was running out of time to meet with my lab lady, so we ditched the shot place and hustled to meet my lab lady. She had me sign paperworks and sent in for lab work. (I have been cold and tired for a couple months and I'm worried about my thyroid or iron levels and want those checked out. Seriously, I am freezing cold, all the time! Its a new experience for me and I do not like it.)

I trotted the girls, the stroller, the backpack, the blankie, and the green bucket back to the shot place so Delaney could get her 3 pokes and 3 stickers. She only howled till she got the stickers. Then we decamped to the lab, where I'd get blood work done. The girls were about out of good behavior by then. Well, not Marian, she was content to just follow along with her bucket and sit when told to sit. Delaney was getting tired and cross. After 15 minutes, they called my name and that's when I discovered there was no record of me in the computer. Ug. So we just went home. I love my friend Shelly. She kept Callie for an extra hour after preschool was over and Callie still wasn't ready to go home!

That's the first half of the story....

Dan had worked it so he could go to work late today so I could run down to get the lab work done this morning. Unfortunately, Marian spent half the night throwing up. I thought she was in the clear, because she was okay all yesterday afternoon, drank a lot of juice and ate some dinner. She woke up around 1 this morning with horrible tummy cramps. She was so pitiful, crying and clutching her belly, and there was nothing I could do for her. So sad. I finally kicked Dan out of bed and put Marian in his spot so I could pretend I was sleeping while pat-patting her and murmuring "there-there" to her. Then she started vomiting again. Sigh. I spent the rest of the night cleaning up puke or waiting for her to do it again. She did hit the bucket or tub every time though. She is an amazing kid! I'm so proud!

So, no sleep last night and I got up early so I could be out the door around 7:30 to get to the lab. I was there early, the place was empty. They sent me back and I got to watch a boy of about 6-7 scream bloody murder as they drew his blood. When it was my turn, I sat down and just started crying. It was pretty embarrassing. I couldn't stop. My only excuse is that I was so tired. On the plus side, the guy was very good and very fast and it really didn't even hurt! Which makes the crying even more embarrassing. Sigh.

That's been my week so far. I'm not really liking it. Fortunately, Delaney seems to be suffering no effects from her shots (the others were always cranky and fussy for a day or 2 afterwards.), she's her usual sunny self. I like that. Marian is a fabulous sick kid, but I hate vomit. I nearly tossed my cookies twice last night as I cleaned it up. Not fun. Sometimes it stinks to be the mom. I'd say things can only get better, but we all know I have 3 other children and that things could be much much worse! I shall count my blessings now!

Look who's 2!

Yep, Saturday my baby turned 2! Amazing to think how fast the time has gone. It seems not so long ago that I had her. I didn't even get to hold her before they whisked her off in a helicopter and she spent a few days in the NICU.


This was my sweet, very fat baby. No, drugs didn't make her fat. She just was. 9lbs 4oz and 21 inches long. She was pretty hefty. She's still a solid kid today!

This was the first time I got to hold her. Such a special moment. She will always have a special place in my heart because I wanted her so badly. I wanted ALL my children, but to be denied the ability to hold her for so long, made it a very sweet moment.

Now here she is! All my silly chitlins! They were all dressed and ready nice and early yesterday so I had to get a picture. No, none of the pictures looked great, but hey, funny kids is good!

And we celebrated her birthday yesterday as well. She's obsessed with pajamas, and that's why she's wearing them. She takes off her clothes and puts on PJs every chance she gets. Ahhhh, a girl after my own heart! So, anyway, I made a tasty yellow cake with fabulous homemade chocolate frosting, because that's what I wanted and she doesn't care.

It was darn tasty cake too! Just ask the birthday girl! She ended up wearing about as much as she ate.

And then it was on to presents. This year she knew what to do and enjoyed it very much. (Oh, Grandma, she did open her present from you on Sunday before church and she was quite pleased!)



Today was a lazy afternoon day. I walked into the living room and saw this:

Its all 4 children hanging out with Dad, watching the Indiana Jones movie! Very cute.

And now a special mention. The reason Delaney didn't get a party on Saturday is because I had an Achievement Day activity. The A-Days girls and I decided to offer Valentine's Day babysitting. So we collected at the church from 4-6 and babysat about 10 children (plus several of mine!) I had 8 A-Days girls and they did a great job! The parents seemed pleased to have a kid-less evening, and the girls seemed to love it. It was a bit noisy, hectic and crazy. I had Dan drive over pizzas for dinner, and I do think it went very well. I have some thoughts for improvements next time, and I am glad its over! Next activity is modesty and giant sized paper dolls. I'm really excited about that one!

Follow up

Good news! I have clothes that smell fresh and slightly lemon-y. It took 4 cycles through and on the last wash, I let the suckers soak in Thieves household cleaner ( a whopping 3 capfuls of the stuff) and about 10 drops of Purification essential oil blend. I finished the load and it is now smelling poop-free. A glorious day for us all. The really sad thing is that I had washed it with Joshua's clothes. He had waited till he was seriously, all out of clothes before complaining. So I washed his clothes with Delaney's poop encrusted dress from Sunday. And when Joshua got ready for school yesterday, all he had that was clean was underpants and a long sleeve shirt. I should have made him wear the shirt, but it was up to 70 degrees yesterday and it seemed wrong. What was even more wrong is how poopy the poor kids smelled when he got home from school. Yikes! My kid was the smelly kid yesterday! I made Joshua change clothes and shower. Fortunately, he has clean clothes that really do smell clean, and not like poop. So that has a happy ending.

I know I was going to not complain, but I am a bit cross. I know that when the repair guy was here on Tuesday, he said, "I'll be back tomorrow at 2pm." To me, tomorrow means the following day. I believe I have mentioned that he never came. I called the management company last night to let them know. This morning at 8am, the repair guy called and said he be here today at 1:30. At 9:30, I had a message from the management lady saying I must have been confused, because there was a 1:30 appointment for today. Grrrr. Stupid lady.

That said, and now out of my system.... The man did actually show up on time today! Shocking, I know. He was able to replace the garbage disposal and it is so nice to have one again. Let this be a lesson to you, keep track of all small items in the sink vicinity that could potentially disable your garberator.

The nice man also fixed the problem with the dining room light. Yay! It turns out it is a good thing I did not try to do it myself. The light switch itself was probably just fine. There was a problem with the wires further back. So if I had done it, the flickering and buzzing problem would have still existed. However, now it is fixed and all is well! And to add to the joy, Delaney actually is napping and although she pulled off her diaper 3 times this morning, it was empty each time.

I shall now list 5 things I am happy about:

1. Joshua is an awesome kid. I told him to be home at 5:30 for dinner, and at 5:20 I looked out the window and saw his short little legs churning away as he ran down the street, through the neighbor's yard and over the fence so he'd be home on time! Is he awesome, or what?!

2. Marian came home with a bag of snacks yesterday and promptly started divvying it all up to share with her sisters. She can be so sweet!

3. When I picked Callie up from Joy School today, her teacher gave me 3 extra Valentine's things from their party, because Callie said she needed them for her siblings. I love that she thinks of them and wants to share what she has.

4. Delaney is starting to say the cutest things. Well, they have always been cute, but now you can tell what she's trying to say. "May-May" is Marian's name. So cute. "Kai-yee" is Callie. It is just adorable when she calls for her sisters. And I figured out she was saying "Backow" for Grandma the other day!

5. Survivor and The Amazing Race both premier in the next little while! Yay!

These better not be the best years!

I'm not sure if the world hates me or if its just a phase. I'm thinking I'm done, either way. To start, let me mention that I think I have a thyroid problem. Me, who is never cold, is now bundled up every day. the thermostat has not changed, but I am freezing. Seriously. Me, who kicked covers off at night, now sleeps in sweat pants and under 2 blankets. I hate being cold and I'm cold all the time. (I do have a doc appt but its in almost 2 weeks. blah.)

So, I'm already cranky. Add to that the not sleeping. I actually did sleep more than I thrashed around last night, although I still woke Dan up once. (And the man does not wake up for anything!) I'm tired, I'm cranky and things just seem to keep happening!

You may have read about my ill fated attempt on the bathroom drains. I called them in and the guy said he be here at 1pm yesterday. 1pm came and went, no guy. By 4:30 I called the company and left a message that he was a no-show. 5:30 and the doorbell rings. It was the maintenance guy. Wow, only 4 hours late!

He snaked the drains and they are now clear and I am quite happy about that. He did not bring a garbage disposal, so he scheduled to come back today at 2. If you note the time of posting, you'll know he's at least 3 1/2 hours behind again. I'm really grumpy that he hasn't showed up again.

Also noteworthy today, I walked into the bathroom (okay, I ran, but that may be TMI) and discovered that Delaney had dumped the whole roll of toilet paper into the toilet. Fun-fun! Later, I put her down for her nap. An hour later it was pretty quiet, so I peeked on her. She was laying on the floor, buck naked, poop on her bum and a wet mark around her. AAACK!

She had taken off the poopy diaper, so the only poop was on her bottom and on the diaper. She'd just peed while lying there. And then she stayed, laying in the puddle of pee. Can this get any more fun?! I cleaned it up and was very grateful it was just pee. and I put Delaney back to bed. She never did go to sleep. Sigh.

And there is a poop smell I can't get rid of. Delaney had a blowout at the end of church and had poop all over her tights and her dress. I cleaned it up and somehow after washing it, it caused the whole load of laundry to reek of poop! What's up with that?! I have run the clothes 3 times now and I swear I can still smell it.

I'm done. I've complained enough for today. I promise to have something more positive next time!

Sunday Morning Antics

There are some great advantages to now having church at the 11am time block. I have all the time I need to bathe and dress 4 children. Heck, I can even make a good breakfast if I want to! And I have time to get the girls' hair done. You may have already heard my theory, but here it is: you can tell how good a mom is by how cute her girls hair is.

I know, totally not true, but that's what people think. I first noticed this in Little Rock. The moms who had girls with really cute hair were automatically labeled as moms who could do it all. And how could they not be! If a toddler has cute, perfectly done hair, it would take a genius to do it, so that mom must be wonderful! I vowed then that my girls would have their hair done all the time.

This mostly works. I have to do their hair anyway, since they all have cowlicks and hair that grows directly into their faces unless I do something to keep it out of their eyes. I can do cute pony-tails and stuff, but I do not have prissy girls. I do not have girls who WANT to keep their hair looking cute. This is a bit of a problem on Sunday mornings. If I do their hair at 9am, and we don't leave for over an hour and a half, lots of things can happen!


Here is Calli, posing for a picture. she has been running around, but her hair is still presentable. A bit wispy, but good enough.

Marian is in a phase where she only wants one ponytail in the back. She eventually will have little wisps all around her face. It doesn't matter how much mousse I use. I refuse to use hairspray yet.

And here is my little stinker. This is what I found her doing when I came back downstairs after getting myself dressed. She was hiding in the cushions! Do you know what that does to Ponytails?!!

Yes, so pleased with herself and having a very good time while her sisters laughed at her and giggled at her silliness.

And then Marian wanted in on a picture as well. Good thing they are such cutie pies!

Disaster (mostly) averted!

The sink and tub in the bathroom have been slow to drain. This means when I shower, that I have to make the decision: Do I want to have great water pressure and be ankle deep in water before I'm done, or will I be happier to have a trickle of water on my head, but have none lapping at my shins? And the sink.... you really don't want your spit floating arund for 5 minutes after you spit while brushing your teeth. Plus, cleaning out the soap ring leftover from washing my hands is no fun. I got tired of going through this on a daily basis. So I called my favorite handy man and aksed what would be best for clearing out the system. I mean, why call a plumber if Liquid Plumber will do, right?!

I was informed that there is a fabulous heavy duty item at Lowe's. It is SO heavy duty that it comes in a plastic bag. They recomend you wear eye protection, gloves and a face mask. I got gloves. Armed and ready I decided to tackle the job today. Dan took the older 3 to Mt Vernon, and I put Delaney down for a nap. It was me and the bathroom.

I decided to try to remove the U joint under the sink first. Why make the stuff work harder if I can pry a few feet of hair out first? Unfortunately, I couldn't get the durn thing off! It was stuck on tight, even after I unscrewed the big screws. I called and talked to my sister who suggester hammering a wedge to pry it off. I didn't think I wanted to chance that. So I screwed the screws back on, checked that they were tight, and got down to business.

I poured the serious chemical stuff down both drains and ran away. Okay, really, I opened the window and closed the door. The stench permeated the entire house in about 3 minutes anyway, Yikes! I opened all the windows and was grateful that its 55 degrees out today.

I waited the required 15 minutes and braved the foul smell and entered the bathroom. At this point, I was suppose to be able to run cold water through fresh-flushed pipes. Imagine my dismay when I saw that the sink was full. Not just full of brown chemical. Nope. Full of truly disgusting nasty black stuff. And it wasn't draining. Let me be clear here- it drained (just slowly) right up until I poured the evil, cancer causing chemicals into it!! AAck! On the plus side, the tub was clear. It still doesn't seem to drain well, but at least IT wasn't backed up!

So, I have a sink full of disgusting black ick, and it's putting off an aroma that simaltaneously makes you gag and pass out. I called my favorite handy man for more help. He said I was screwed. His best suggestioon- other than calling a professional plumber- was to use the hacksaw to saw through the PVC U-joint to get the stuff to drain. I don't have a problem with that, it was the whole hassle and procedure of having to go back to Home Depot and find someone helpful (few and far between here!), and replace tha U-Joint. Acutally, I think he called it a Pea- Trap. (P-trap? Pee trap? hee hee hee!)

Under just a bit of pressure, I decide tackle the romoval of the P-trap/U-joint in the usual manner; I unscrewed the screws. That got a trickle of icky stuff to come out and lowered the level in the sink. I thought it would work well enough to drain the sink so I could wait till Monday and call for a plumber. After 30 minutes though, it became clear that the thing was not draining fast enough. I thought about Deborah's advice and hunted down my flathead screwdriver. I used it and after much gnashing of teeth and great heroic effort, I actually got the joint off! It came in a splurt of gross liquid, but I was prepared and the towel was the only casualty! Yes! I drained the sink and cleaned the P-trap/U-joint. Whew! Mission Accomplished!

Well, sort of. The stinking thing still doesn't drain properly. So I'll have to get a real person to fix it anyway. Sigh.

My Day

I wanted to go running this morning. Dan offered to let me go at 7am, but I don't like getting up before 7:30. I am so spoiled! (And I like it!) So I figured I'd just go later with the girls. Unfortunately, about 7:30 it started to snow. No problem, I thought, its not much. I got Joshua and Marian off to school and got ready to run. I put the girls in my fabulous stroller and put up my lovely plastic rain rain guard, that I am very proud of. And off we went. I got to to end of the block before turning around. It was coming down too hard and it was sticking to the street, making it a little slick. Plus, gigantic snow flakes kept flying in my eyes and I couldn't see. So I consoled myself with the elliptical machine.


Here's Callie, before our ill-attempted run. she's catching snowflakes on her tongue!


And, to randomly jump to a totally different topic....

I believe I have mentioned that Delaney has learned to climb out of her crib. Now, we have a lovely white metal frame bunk bed that is currently un-bunked. Actually, one half of this bunk bed is dismantled in the basement. The top part to this bunk bed is currently in Delaney's room. (This matters because it has the bars to keep kids from falling off. It also keeps Delaney from rolling off the bed too.) I placed the bed right next to the crib so she can climb out of the crib and into the twin bed.

This is now how she sleeps:

This is Delaney today, at nap time. It does take longer to get her to sleep, but once she does, its so cute!

Check out the drool spot! She's so sacked out she didn't even twitch when the flash went off.

I think she may have permanently transitioned to the big-girl bed. In few days I'll move the bed away from the crib. I don't think she's slept in the crib in 3-4 days already.

The Normal Mormon Husband

For those of you unfamiliar with the Normal Mormon Husband, this does not refer to my own husband. It is a blog done by a man who calls himself that. An amusing blog. I love the Normal Mormon Husband blog. And his most recent post was so well done, I had to tell you to go there. Somewhere at the bottom my blog is a list of links to my favorite places. NMH is on it. Click and visit and enjoy. I know I did!


(This is my PS- I am referring to the post about being Un-American and Misinformed.)