It All Started SO Innocently.....

I have been pretty sick this week- Molly gave me her cold which in me turned into Bronchitis - and I finally felt pretty good this morning.  The hubby and kids did their best to keep up with the cleaning, however, the state of my house was driving me crazy.  Considering this was my last peaceful day to do things (the last day of school for the boys), I decided to get to it.  I began with the need to sweep the living room carpet (hairy dog, long haired cat, 4 kids.... every day is a vacuum bonanza).  As I walked on the carpet while running the sweeper, I could feel things under the carpet (it's a LARGE area rug).  I lifted the edge and noticed I really needed to roll up the rug and do the whole floor.  HHHMMMMM, now I need to move the sectional sofa off the 2 edges of the rug.   Gross..... how did all that dirt/toys/trash get under the couch?  Ok, I may as well move the couch and do it right.  Well, now that I have the couch moved, I've been thinking about a new way to arrange the living room.  Guess I may as well put it back together trying the new way.    And WHERE did all these dust bunnies come from?  Every time I think I got them all, dozens more show up.  Maybe that is why they are dust BUNNIES and not dust puppies.   Mike and the boys moved the TV cabinet for me when they got home today and then spent the next couple of hours changing how all the electronics are hooked up/ placed in the cabinet.  I finally was able to do that carpet sweeping about 7 PM.  It's now 10 PM and as I look around, the house is not much cleaner than when I began this morning.  Steven hates my new house set up, Pete loves it and Mike is reserving judgment until he lives with it for a while.

Part of my new set up involved re-opening the entrance to the living room from the  hallway.  Molly has never known that doorway to be opened so she spent the afternoon running circles - leave the living room through the kitchen, turn the corner to come down the hallway, re-enter the living room from the hall......... then repeat, repeat, repeat ....... 

Too Cute

Zach went downstairs to bring Sadie up, since Zach thought it would be cool to shut Sadie in his room- Sadie did not think it was so cool since Zach then came upstairs and left her alone.  When Zach brought Sadie up, he did not shut the kitchen door to keep Molly in the living room with us.  So I asked him (when I heard Molly walking around the kitchen) if he had put the baby gate up to keep her away from the basement stairs when he came up:

Zach, did you put up the baby gate?

HHHUUUUUUUUUU (GASP), I WILL SAVE YOU MOLLY!!!! as he ran out to the kitchen and carried Molly back into the living room (and then remembered to shut the door this time).

A little mello-dramatic, but I'm glad he loves his sister

I Hate When That Happens

Ya know how it is when you find a product you love, then you can't find it again when you want to replace it?  Most memorable for me was the PERFECT PURSE and a pair of very comfy casual shoes.  Neither of which can I find anything even similar.  I should know to buy more than one when I find "the thing".  Today it is a backpack.  I bought Steven and Peter backpacks from Landsend several years ago.  These are wonderful backpacks, they last several school years (unlike the ones you get in the stores which sometimes need replaced twice in one year).  So, it is now time to replace their backpacks, this time I need ones for their school laptops, since Steve tells me the school bags are not any good.  I very confidentially logged onto the lands end site, to get the bags I needed for the boys (all 3 of them, since the small backpack that both Steven and Peter carried finally wore out for Zach).  This time there was only one medium size backpack (no large ones) and several kids small bags.  And the reviews on the med bag said it was not big enough for high school.   Drat, I was counting on that bag.  Oh, yeah, Sears sells Lands end now, I'll try them- no luck there either.  Guess I will cross my fingers that they are simply between school seasons and later this summer the backpacks will have the selection I am hoping for.

Happy Mother's Day

I guess I should be glad that with 4 kids they are not hitting growth spurts at the same time.  Zach has been SO HUNGRY lately he has been in tears right after a meal because he is still HUNGRY!  But Zach, you just ate a hamburger and a half (big homemade 1/4 pounders), pickles, an apple, and beans.  But Mom, I NEED to eat more!!  Hard to argue the point with a boy who without his shirt on looks like he has just emerged from the concentration camp.  I have heard from several people about how much he has grown since they just saw him last week, last month.... Yesterday the boy ate practically nothing after breakfast.  Guess he's done for now.  Molly is not an eating machine, she is a sleeping machine.  Since we picked her up last month she has always taken one nap, slept ok through the night, and has been a very happy camper.  Now she is taking long morning naps, as well as an afternoon nap.  She has not woken up at night for about 3 weeks (YEAH!!).  I think she is in for a HUGE growth spurt with her body resting up so much.  Pete is at exactly the same height as Steven, who when we saw some friends over the weekend that we haven't seen since last summer remarked on how tall and grown up he looks this year (he will be 14 next weekend and is almost 6 feet tall).  Steven has been holding at ALMOST 6 feet tall for a couple of years now and is so frustrated that he has not been able to grow that last 1/2 inch.  He's only 15, he'll make it, his growth spurt is just lying in wait for us to be complacent then WHAMMM!  He will grow another 3 inches or so I'm sure!

Thank you my little eating/sleeping machines for making me able to celebrate Mother's Day with the best kids in the world.