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.

Rumors

No, I did NOT fall off the the face of the Earth.  I was NOT abducted by aliens.  I did NOT just wake from a coma.  I was busy.  Yes, too busy to Blog.  Tax season was here in full force, but my season is now almost over.  I am even on Spring Break along with the kids.  Today I took 3 of the 4 (4th one stayed home not feeling well) kids shopping in the city- amazing that when they have money in their pocket to spend they will even consent to be seen in public with me.  I started working as a part-time receptionist 3 years ago, and this year I worked 60 + hours a week.  I must say  that now I will be continuing part time a couple days a week through out the whole year.  But the good news is that I have time to blog again!!

Molly is developing fast..... She is walking running all over now. In fact, she has only been walking a couple of months and the other night she was cruising backwards through the living room. Silly Baby!!  She also likes to help clean up - so much in fact that she throws everything away.  We had to finally install child safety locks - not to keep her from getting into everything in the cupboards, but because she keeps throwing things away: phones, remotes, sunglassses......  I don't like having to go through the trash before we can change the bag to make sure it is only trash in there.  The big boys think this is a pain to have to unlatch things, but Mike had to point out to them that things were child proofed when they were little making life a bit less convient for everyone else.

Oh well.  Watch for more regular updates from now until next tax season begins!!

Sorry, Guys

Well, I have finally  dug my way out from under a HUGE pile of tax returns.  Every week has been  bringing 15-30 hours of overtime since tax season kicked in.  That just depends on if I need to take a day off for silly things like taking kids to doctors appointments or such. 

Let's see, Zach has had a couple post surgery appointments and is good for 3 months now before he needs to go back to the doctor.  He is cathing all by himself now, home and school.  He is on a preventative antibotic to help keep infection away while he gets his routine down for cathing and making sure he keeps his hands clean.  Today he woke with a fever of 102, so he stayed home from school.

Peter is doing pretty well.  He is getting ready for his confirmation at church.  He is working today on picking his saint.  His aunt teaches confirmation class at her church and has sent him a list of saints she thought he might like.  He now has it narrowed down to three that he is researching tonight.

Steven had a very nasty bladder infection that spread out to his skin.  Two rounds of antibiotics later, and missing 7 out of 10 school days, he is finally better.

Molly is a full fledged toddeler now.  She walks a little more than she crawls, but she is definately mobile on 2 legs.  She knows the word "map" now, since we have a huge map haning in our living room, but she thinks all pictures are maps.  She LOVES looking at family pictures.

I will try to blog more now that things are slowing down at work.  See ya all soon!!

Boys!!!

Last week was a very  busy week for me.  I'm back to work at H&R Block, but this year I am doing the taxes instead of being the receptionist like I was the last 2 tax seasons.  I had spoken to the boss about working day shifts at the same office I was at before which meant shifts of 9-4, so I could be home with the kids after school.  My in-laws agreed to watch Molly during the day - and from what I can tell they are loving having her.   BUT..... while we were in China,  the boss bought another accounting/tax business (which is actually closer to home for me) and now I am working much longer hours than planned.  Last week I had my 40 hour work week PLUS 26 hours of overtime.  My kids think I am avoiding them.  My husband has new respect for my ability to get the kids up, take care of them all day AND get things done around the house.

Yesterday I worked a half day and in the evening the kids and I started picking up the house while Mike did a couple of projects getting Pete's new room finished.  I sighed when I saw the 3 boxes of cereal on the counter - they belong on top of the fridge.  Let me point out they were walked PAST the fridge to put them on the counter.  I grab them to put them away, and they are all empty.  Sitting on the counter on top of where the burnable trash goes.  So I open the cabinet and put them in there.  Mike's been doing the laundry, so Steve was told to take all his hanging clothes to his closet.  He comes back up
aren't those yours too??
Oh, yeah. 
He comes back again - what about this stuff?  Looks like yours to me... 
Oh, didn't see those. 
Thank you Mr. Oblivious. 

Pete was told to match and fold socks.  When I checked them I found pairs that are not pairs (let me point out that Mike has several different styles of black work socks from all the times we replace bad ones)  Hmmmm, this pair is unique - one dark black new sock, one off black old sock -totally different styles.  Wow!  Not so unique- here is another pair just like them. 
"Um, Pete, you better fix these before they get put away"
Oh.

AHHHH, maybe there will be new respect for all mom does for them when the tax season is over.