The List

again, a challenge from Ashley

1. What would you most like to appear in your hands right now?
Duh, obvously money. I am not to greedy though -- I think I could make my life good for a cool 2 million. lol...

2. What was the last thing you ate?
Do the pretzels and soda I am munching on right now count? Otherwise I had a taco for dinner last night.

3. What is your favorite episode of a tv show?
I don't know... I love a lot of old shows. I guess the episode of the office where Jim and Pam get together for the first time.

4. Have you ever ridden in a limo?
Once, when my great grandma died, but I barely remember it.

5. Which is better, your cursive or your printing?
They are both pretty good actually, but I guess my printing.

6. What photos are living on your camera right now?
Only a few -- I just uploaded about a week ago, and the camera is now dead. :(

7. How many pregnant women do you know?
Two that I can think of.

8. Three things you did this past weekend.
Last weekend? Took Luke to the State Swim Meet, had awful food at Big Boy, used a netbook in a mcdonalds. lol..

9. If you could only visit three websites for the next month which would you choose:
Facebook, Etsy, blogger.

10. What did your family do for vacations when you were a child?
They dragged us to the beach every year, which I hated -- I was bored stiff. But as we learned quickly "it was our mom's vacation and we were "lucky" to be there" I wish I could sit around and do nothing now, but alas, even on vacation I run around to entertain my kids.

11. Do you mind if guests show up uninvited?
It depends who the guest is. ;) You know who you are! lol...

12. When will you next travel by plane?
ha! When I go somewere without my wimpy husband. :)

13. What did your last text message say?
It was from my mom and it said "did you wake up this morning with any gray hair or arthritits?" lol..

14. When was the last time you got dressed up?
Sort of yesterday for my birthday dinner. I did have on shoes other than my Uggs....

15. The perfect sign of affection is?
Do something for me. Not a present -- you know "something" send a card, bother to call, make a gesture.

16. Do you use your real name online or do you go by a screen name?
Neither. I don't use my "real" name but I do use the name I use everyday in real life. Confused yet? :)

17. What do you miss when you are away from home?
My pillow. I like my own pillow better than any other!

18. What are you completely over hearing about?
Lindsay Vohn, I couldnt possibly care less about how many medals she was going for etc... Michael Jackson (I was over hearing about him about 30 seconds after I heard he had passed away) Brad and Angelina

19. Law and Order or Boston Legal?
Law and Order -- I hate boston legal.

20. Do you reply to comments on your blog?
Yes although I hardly ever get any.

21. Three things you are looking forward to?
That's a hard one right now... I guess vacation, my Busia coming home from Florida and seeing her, bed.

22. What is your favorite kind of tree?
A Christmas tree

23, What is the newest thing you own?
I got a pair of clearance pj's for myself at kohls yesterday for my birthday. They were $6 and I had a merchandise credit.

24. If I do anything well.. it's ....
Pretend to be much more with it than I am. Okay that's a crappy answer. Screw things up? Probably just as bad. Okay, if I do anything well it's ... I don't know I make a decent hair bow.

25. Do you use a planner?
Yes, it's practically the Bible in this house.

26. What is your favorite TV comedy?
Seinfeld.

27. What is your favorite dessert?
something with icing.. those big chocalate chip cookie cakes and cheesecake chimichaunga :)

28. What is your current obsession?
STuff for Charlotte, cloth diapering, and robeez. :)

29. Three signs of spring:
Dance Recital craziness sets in.
Easter
Little League.

30. Do you balanace your bank account or wing it?
A little of both.

31. What kind of grapes do you prefer?
Green

32. What is your favorite store bought cookie?
Unless the gian chocalate chip cookie cake counts, double stuffed oreos.

33. What was your fifth grade teachers name?
Mrs. Jeziorski -- and I am sure I spelled it correctly because it was a spelling word the first week of school. :)

34. High School was: a living hell. lol.. Okay parts of weren't THAT bad but I would not do it again for a million dollars.

35. Describe your dream kitchen:
I don't know -- clean. lol.. Double oven, new refidgerator, lots of cupboard space, and organized.

36. What would you most like to purchase?
A new house. On a smaller scale, a Canon Rebel.

37. How many friendships have lasted more than a decade?
Not to many, I moved to Jackson about ten years ago -- WOW that seems like a long time. Anyway, let's see Jason, Becky, Tammy, ......

38. Are there times when you still feel like a kid?
This is hard because I don't know if I ever felt like a kid....

39. What teacher comes to mind first?
Dr Downs -- Brit Lit. -- she really liked me, and she treated me like a grown up at a time when I really needed someone to do both.

40. What magazines do you read?
Family Fun, Parents, Parenting, and Us Weekly-- I love some Twilight gossip...lol..

It's FRIDAY!

Gosh it's been a long week. I think it must be that time of year because everyone I know is feeling that way! Jason and I have a date night planned for tonight and I am super excited to get out of the house. (I would be more excited if I were replacing my camera but....) Anyway, I just wanted to give a quick update today, the house is coming along, Samuel's last indoor soccer game is Saturday and the competitive season at swim is officially over! Now we hit that spring lull before little league, and recital prep whirlwind us right into summer. I am so grateful for the opportunity to regain control over the house, the schedule, and our lives. We are hoping to have the boys in their bunk beds and the girl's room completely made over by April, although now with the need to replace my camera (the old one has officially bit the bullet) it may take a little longer.

Luke's birthday party is Sunday and as of right now, only three boys are coming. I feel bad for him -- he invited 19. I am hoping a lot of people just didn't bother to RSVP. IF not he will have a BLAST with those who did come I'm sure.

Finally, just a reminder that our "MARCH to a New Menu" month begins on Monday and I have added a link on the side panel here to take you to the new menu blog. This blog will not be replacing our Minivan Diaries in anyway but will show what we tried the night before dinner (recipes and pics hopefully) and list our reactions and thoughts on the dish. The kids and Jason are really excited about a month of new foods so be sure to check it out! (Again, there is nothing there right now but will begin next week!)

Thanks for reading and have an amazing weekend!~Love you all.

Overheard in the van....

Samuel: Is this SIN? (while pointing at the radio)
Me: No Samuel, it is not sin. It's just The Offspring.

:)

"It's not the hardest hit that knocks you to the floor, it's the one you didn't see coming."

- Joe Louis

This was one of the quotes Pastor Phil shared at church last night as a part of his sermon, and man does it hit home. A reminder that we need to guard ourselves against the things that hurt us, against the things that fail us, or even the things that lead us to fail ourselves. In some areas it is so easy to see the temptations that should be avoided. If you drink to much, of course you should avoid hanging out in a bar. If you smoke you shouldn't have "just one", if you have a problem gambling you should avoid the casino -- you get the idea. But for the most part, I think most of our usual temptations are a lot harder to avoid. If you have a problem with food you can't just quit eating, you have to learn to do it healthy way, if you have a problem with shopping you can't just quit shopping, you have to learn to do it in moderation, if you have a problem with gossiping you can't just stop talking. These everyday temptations will destroy you and yet you can't just walk away. So what do we do to guard ourselves against them? We have to try to set up a situation where we can succeed.

I was talking with a friend this week about playing with fire. In some ways the fire is easy to avoid, it's all the incidental smoke inhalation that will kill you. The same goes with temptation. In some ways, it easier to avoid the giant sin, but die anyway from the little bits of playing around it.

So the goal? Rid our lives of the things that "lead us to temptation." There is a plaque in the local card shoppe here in Jackson that says "Lead me not into temptation, for I can find thy way myself." And boy, isn't that the truth. Don't put yourself in a position of being tempted when possible. Even if you know you aren't going to act on the temptation why set yourself up to fail?

And when all else does fail, guard yourself with the knowledge that we have a God who loves us. A God who was tempted in all the ways in which we are tempted so he understands our struggle, and yet overcame it to die for us.

When it rains, it pours. When it snows, it's an avalanche.

Yes it's snowing again. (And I don't just mean that figuratively!) I guess it's just one of those weeks. We had a snow day Monday, this morning taking Molly to school was an adventure in slipping and sliding, police roadblocks and getting stuck on a side street, and of course only Molly went to school.

It all started last night when I went to pick Luke up from practice and he was already sitting out of the pool. He had gotten sick. The coach thought he may have just swallowed water. No such luck, it continued at home. Samuel woke me up overnight from across the house with his coughing, and Charlotte remains congested as heck. Teague appears to be immune. Never mind, as I type this he started coughing in the living room. (insert me pulling my hair out here!) Jason is home too. Joy. Nothing says routine like everything going off kilter! ;)

Oh yeah, and I think my camera has finally died. It is refusing to even turn on now. I am so bummed. I could go out and replace it immediately with a chinsy model (which I am tempted to do I hate being without a camera) but I really want to replace it with a nice model and that is going to take a few weeks of setting some money aside.

That said I still have a lot to accomplish. I need to work out the March budget, and set some new goal lists. The good news is: March to a New Menu calender is complete so that will be going up in a few days! Only two more days until the weekend.....

Same old, same old...

This is what the mailman left on my porch yesterday! Holy Good Mail Day Batman!

That said, the rush of states (and preparing for states) is over, and my tax refund shopping spree has come to an end. (lol...) Which means it's back to the grind her at home. I have a lot of goals to meet in the next month or so and I am really hoping to stay on task with them. Which means the blog posts might get slightly boring ;) Really though, sometimes I wonder if you (that's a collective "all you out there") really care about our day to day goings on. But gosh sometimes they are to funny not to share!

Perhaps a best example of "the same old routine", this morning I broke down and shoveled out my driveway (I did the sidewalk yesterday). Now here's the deal, I have lived here for two years and never once has my young, male, unemployed neighbor shoveled the shared driveway. Not once. Now, nor has Jason but at least he has the excuse of working. (why is there never a snow storm on a weekend?) I digress.... So this morning I am out there at 8 am shoveling the driveway and my neighbor pulls in. One would think he would be feeling a little sheepish, but no he stops to chit chat and mention that his back is injured right now (okay but what about the last two years of shoveling buddy! lol..) but then he says "I have a snow blower to, but it's buried in the garage."

WHAT? Are you kidding me? All this time, I swear you wait to leave your house until I break down and shovel the driveway (it's like playing chicken who will crack first...) and then you tell me you have a fully functioning snow blower in your garage!!!!! I wanted to throw down my shovel, scream like a non verbal two year old, and kick all the piled snow back into the drive burying him in a large pile (picture it in your head like a peanuts cartoon!) :) But instead, I told him I hoped his back felt better and kept shoveling. But it was fun to think. Thank goodness I listened to Molly's recent mantra "Hear the words before you say them....inner monologue."

P.S. Isn't this the cutest baby ever? See the way she even checks herself out in the tummy time turtle mirror! (and yes those are her new pedipeds in the first pic!)

Found in Molly's Backpack.

A flashback pic: this was the night before Christmas eve.


So I was going through graded work coming home in Molly's bag last night and discovered this gem:

A writing assignment titled "Things that exciting to do in the winter"(this was printed on the sheet so I am assuming the teacher's theme)



Molly wrote:

"In the winter I like to go Ice Skateing. It is cold and I go sleding down the hill with daddy. When I groe up I will go to college and then DJ will love me and not Brianna Moll. The we will be dateing and then we will get merried. "



WTHeck?!~ hee, hee..... first of all what does any of THAT have to do with winter and who the heck is DJ?



p.s. I know I owe you all a long detailed post about our trip to state's complete with pics and video but I am worn out today!

Things that excite me...

So one of my blog stalking buddies challenged us to share things that excite us "these days". So for a rare Saturday post.....

Things I get excited over:

*Snow days (it's like being a kid all over again!)
*Charlotte's smile
*Hershey Bars
*Watching Luke swim
*Molly's ballet piece- it is so beautiful!
*Giving Lottie a bath
*Teague asking me "You sit my chair watch UmiZoomi"
*My new Uggs :)
*Ordering Naartjie
*Finding print Fuzzi Bunz for cheap
*Getting ready to open my bow business on Etsy "Lulu and The Princess"
*Summer Vacation
*It's staying light out later in the day!
*Using my GPS-- I love the lady in the box!
*"Damon"- my shiny new netbook!

Happy 9th Birthday Lucas!

Please play the above video -- it's the background music to today's post. :)

I have been really thinking about this post for the last couple of days and I still can't wrap my head around the idea that Luke is 9 today. Nine years. Where in the world did nine years go? So I decided to write this post as a letter to my Luke.

Dear Luke,

I can't believe you are nine already. It seems like only yesterday you came into the world and I smiled at your dad and then exclaimed "Tammy, look at his hair!" You were our first baby, and Grandma and Grandpa's first grandchild, and the first baby out of all our friends. Everyone adored you. Aunt Tammy and Uncle Eric decorated the door of our apartment before you came home to welcome you! (It was so long ago they weren't even married yet!) You spit up alot. We called you Spitter. We also called you Mister. I called you Lukey Lou. You also didn't sleep. Ever, lol.

Then Molly came along and before you could even walk well you were a big brother for the first time. And even though everyone said you would be jealous, and angry you weren't. Even three more babies later you still aren't. You are a wonderful big brother and I am pretty sure it will someday make you a great dad. You are always helpful with the little ones, generally patient with their games, and loving to all of them. You rarely loose it with them or over them and I know how hard that can be sometimes. I was the oldest too. You are better at it than I was.

You are creative and imaginative and not embarassed of either. I love that about you. You know who you are and what you like and you own that. Even when it has you drawing "angry eyebrows" on yourself at 4 with sharpie. :) Or prancing around the front yard in Molly's tutu and fairy wings announcing yourself the "bathroom fairy" when I had asked you to clean up in there to many times last summer.

You dream of swimming in the Olympics, and I secretly think you could. You are determined and motivated, as well as talented. You work harder in the pool than most adults I know, and you do it day after day with little complaint. You're so good you've made me one of "those"moms who constantly talk of their kids activities. And I'm okay with that because I am so proud of you.

I have no doubt you can do ANYTHING you decide to do. When they said you wouldn't talk you did. When they said you would never be in a "regular" classroom you are. When they said you would always need help, you showed them. You excel on your own.

You never cease to amaze me, in fact you helped to save me, because never (not even after any of the other kids were born) never was I more sure that God exsisted than I was when you were born. Because I knew then that there was no way you had come from your father and I . You were a gift from God.

I love you sweet boy, happy birthday.

Mom

Confession time

Okay so I just spent nearly an hour stain treating one of Charlotte's socks and frantically scouring a HUGE load of laundy becauseI found some small blue "staining" and couldnt figure out what else had apparently been "bled" on in the laundry. I was in tears, only to discover it wasnt a stain --- there are little blue "bubbles" on the socks by the goldfish......

Where oh where is my hairbrush?

Or my DVD player remote, or Luke's tennis shoes, or Molly's ballet bag for that matter! Okay so the house has REALLY gotten away from me these last few weeks. We have just been SO busy since oh... Molly's birthday (nearly a month ago), every weekend has been FILLED with swim meets, and dance convention, and more swim meets. One more to go this week and life should start to calm down. Indoor soccer will end in two weeks and then it will only be dance for a little while. (Although I do think it's ironic that indoor soccer ends the same exact day as little league registration!) At least THAT won't start officially until May.

To make matters worse our little Olympic obsession is eating up all evening and sleeping time!

So I am off today to work on the house and if you see me on here (or on face book! yell at me!....lol)

Over heard in the living room last night watching Shaun White win his second Olympic gold:

Jason: (giddy like a school girl!) Did you see that? That's crazy--it should be against the laws of physics!

Luke: Woooowwww dude, that's wicked. (wicked really? Where did he pick THAT up?!)

Molly: That boy is crazy, he's gonna like break all his body! (and) Can I go to bed? Just tell me if the tomato guy wins you know, when I wake up.

Samuel: Totally aweeeesssooommmeee. Where did he learn to that? Can you do that when you're five years old? (Followed by Samuel standing on a pillow pretending to do it in the living room...lol)

Manda: He'll always be il pompodor tomata (phonetically spelled) to me. :)

New News on Lottie

I thought I posted this yesterday (Wednesday) but evidently I only saved it!

So as many of you know we have been having issues with the little Princess and diapers. She appears to repel disposable diapers. The rash was awful, so last week we took a leap and decided to try out cloth diapers, at least while we are home.

Before you run in horror, let me say that I was never a mom who considered cloth. I have enough to do without forever washing diapers, not to mention I do not clean poo. LOL.. Seriously though I am one of those moms who when a kid has a poo potty training incident I toss the panties. As some of my former "rebel board" friends will attest, I am NOT a "scraper" -- I think I may have (okay I know I did) created an entire message board signature for us "Mother's Against Scraping" LOL...... Anyway, it's amazing what we will try for a sweet little baby like Charlotte.

After countless hours online, thoroughly confusing myself on cloth diaper varieties, price, and use, a friend recommended this natural parenting store in Ann Arbor. (Where else would I find a "natural parenting" store in this neck of the woods!) Let me say, despite making me feel like a consumerist out to destroy the planet and poison my family with things like plastics(the horror) they were UNBELIEVABLY helpful. (And only eyed my bucket car seat, and Teague's character winter hat a few times) And let me say, cloth diapering is completely different from the burp cloth diapers and pins you think of.

We ended up getting three different kinds to try, 2 "fuzzi-bunz", 2 "bum genius, and 1 happy heiny-- and yes it was all I could do at first not to giggle when I heard the names. :) Basically they are all what they call a "pocket diaper" in that they consist of a waterproof outside lined with either cotton, or fleece, and are essentially a large "pocket" that you can stuff with a liner (two liners for overnight) and snap or Velcro into place.

Once they get wet or messy they go immediately into the wash, I use a cold rinse cycle and then a hot wash with this special detergent, because apparently normal detergent contains things that cause them to loose their absorbency. ;)
Above: The diaper all assembled and snapped up.

The diaper folded out next to the insert.

The best shot I could get of the insert inside the "pocket"

I don't like a mess so I do wash messy diapers RIGHT AWAY, I will put the wet ones into a special bag until there are a couple and wash them together. (I do this pretty much every night after dinner) It's a lot of laundry on top of all my other wash, but like regular laundry if I do a load everyday I stay on top of it, and then there are the loads for the messy ones.)

The good news is --it's working. Charlotte's rash vanished the first day. Plus, don't tell anyone I said this but those darn Fuzzi-Bunz are really cute!

Editor's Note: The diaper Lottie is wearing in the title picture is not one of the Fuzzi Bunz diapers (our favorites) as pictured in the explanation pictures. It is a Bum Genius.

Randomn Thought of the Week

When you purchase something online and you go to the shipping options page, there should be an option to select :

DO NOT DELIVER ON WEEKENDS OR BANK HOLIDAYS.

That way you know your husband will never be home when such things arrive. Bills should also come with this option! ;)

So this is love...

That's what a friend calls her photo album on facebook and every time I see it I find myself singing it (a la' Cinderella) all day long, hence the title of this blog. (I know you're a blog reader and you know who you are ;) )

First of all, Charlotte and I would like to wish everyone a belated but very Happy Valentines Day! I know some people think it's a Hallmark holiday, but any chance that reminds you to take a moment and make sure people around you know how much you love them is worthwhile!

We spent much of the holiday in these parts at the all district swim meet. The A Cluster as it's called. Personally I think I have spent to much time on the netbook lately -- this is how Teague spent much of the meet:

To be honest, it was NOT our best meet of the year. So often I am on the computer rejoicing our victories but alas, this was not one of them. For the first time, in what has really been a banner year, Lucas left the meet without a ribbon or medal for every event he swam. And even the medals he got weren't as high as where he seeded for the event. Now I know, you can't win them all, and there are gonna be off days. However, the fact that the off day has come at an event the week before state's, where he will swim all the same races in the same pool no less, is making for one nervous mama! Fingers crossed and prayers that whatever is dragging down Luke's time that he is able to swim his very best at the state meet next weekend. I'd really appreciate it.

Even worse, Luke is getting older now and not as easily pacified after a meet. Our conversations go something like this:

Me: Hey Luke! You did really well, your backstroke finish looked spectacular!

Luke: Did you get my medals?

Me: Yeah they're right here! Look how weird they are here (they were oddly shaped!)

Luke: (as he reads the tags) Where is my 25 free one?

ME: Uh.... you didn't get one. But you still did great.

Luke: Why not?

Me: Well, you finished in 13th place (one out of medals) buddy, you looked good it just looked like maybe your start was a little deep or something.

Luke: (Panicking) What do you mean it was deep? So, what was my time?

Me: Um.. I don't really remember right now 19 seconds and some change.

Luke: WHAT! 19 SECONDS Mom what was my 50 time?

Me: Um... I don't know 43?

Luke: 43! That was not good, why did I get a medal?

Me: Because you still finished in 10th even if it wasn't your best time honey you did good, you just do better sometimes.

Luke: No, 43 is not good.

See the problem? It's hard because you don't want to say to your child "It wasn't so hot today." Because A- that would be really mean and B- there is no way I could do it in those times! But gone are the days when Luke could swim, finish in 30th place, and I would say "You did really great honey!" and he'd be none the wiser. So I am left with two options: Lie to him. Which I don't really want to do, and he knows it anyway. Or B- try to find a nice way to say (on days when the meet didn't go our way) Well you now you tried your best but today wasn't your day." As I said -- I am hoping to need to say neither next weekend.

Finally, my camera takes horrible pictures at the pool (On a side note I really NEED a new camera but need someone to come hold my hand at the purchase because I want a nice one!) but this is a far off shot of Luke and his buddy Travis hanging the team banner. It says "We swim for JOY, Jackson Orcas YMCA"

BONUS: For those of you who aren't on facebook, this is Molly and Jason on their way to the Daddy Daughter Dance on Friday. Where, according to Jason, he tried to dance with her and she told him: Daddy you don't really know hip hop. I'll just go dance with the girls -- you can stand there with all the other dads. I think I prefer it." LMBO!

It's Friday..... I think.

I swear the kid has a really nice bed to sleep in, but he prefers this frog. :)



Well yesterday went pretty well. I only got 50% of the laundry done, but I did make it to the craft store, and Ann Arbor. Although we never made it to Dancer's Boutique. I got lost. How lame is that! I went to the baby store first and then got lost. By the time I found the street I couldn't go because I had to get home by that point to get Luke from school. :(



But for an evening when Jason was at work until 10 or so, it went pretty well. Samuel made it on time to soccer practice (with shoes even!) and Luke had a decent practice. Afterwards the kids and I had dinner and I helped Luke piece together his robot valentines while Molly and Samuel showered. I'm really bummed that I forgot to take a picture of the robots -- they were super cute. I'm adding the link her to the instructions so you can get the idea. We wrote "URA*" and "U MAKE ME :)" on them. Finally, once the kids were in bed I made up all SEVENTEEN of Luke's birthday invitations. Phew. I was exhausted.

http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/treat-transmitters-825195/

But at last it's Friday. Except today I have a full day of cleaning, Molly has jazz AND the daddy daughter dance, and I want to get this all done in time to watch the opening ceremonies tonight. Don't forget I'm the sports drama nut, I live for the Olympics, the little stories, the show, the spectacle. We're all actually really looking forward to it, although Luke wonders why they can't swim at the winter games too -- after all he says "the pool is inside". I tell ya' he's a thinker that kid!



P.S. Luke swims in cluster regionals this Sunday so be thinking fast thoughts for him!

Flashback POST

I promised an update post to every week to catch you up on the past several months the blog was down, so this is one of those posts!

This pic is from just a few weeks ago -- Molly's birthday. She had her birthday breakfast of traditional cinnamon rolls but after that was a very good sport about taking her brother to a swim meet. That's right -- the rare Sunday swim meet fell on Molly's birthday. BUT at least it was in Adrian, and we didn't have the morning session so warm up was not until 12:30. (As opposed to say the meet being in St Clair Shores and the warm up being at 7:30 AM.) She was spoiled with a soda at the swim meet, and Luke had a good day as well. He won all three events, the 100 IM, the 25 back, and blew the competition out of the water on the 25 free. (As seen below.) Because this was dual meet and not a huge invitational they were giving the kids little "prizes" after they swam. Luke couldn't find anything on the table he liked so he got a pair of valentines socks for Molly, "because it was her birthday". That kid is a real sweetheart.

NOTE: Luke is in the second lane from the bottom in the video below.

The Word of the Day

Lottie says the word of the day is: PRODUCTIVITY

And yes, I am aware of just how advanced her language skills are!

All kidding aside, I have really been slacking off of late, and it's time to get back into the swing of things. Not just for the family's sake, or for the house's sake, but for my own. The truth of the matter is that I feel better about myself when things are getting done.

For the last couple of weeks Jason has been doing the morning drop offs for me so that I might get to sleep a little longer. The little ones will sleep until about 8:30-9:00 and Lottie is up until about 2. (She's turning into quite the party girl!) While he is a sweetheart for doing this, I have come to the conclusion that it's counter productive for me. My most productive hours of the day as far as housework is concerned has always been between 6 and 9 a.m. So while I still didn't do the drop off this morning I did get up and get to work. This way the little ones still sleep and I get a few hours peace and quiet!

I hope to get the laundry at least 75% caught up today (I think there is to much to do to get all through the wash and dryer cycles.), and am considering an afternoon jaunt out to Ann Arbor. I need to go to Dancer's Boutique and see about some new shoes -- tap for Samuel and Molly has managed to wear out her ballet shoes. I hate that I can't order them online but the sizing on those things is insane and NEVER the same twice it seems.

I am also hoping to stop into The Little Seedling, a natural children's store, to see about this whole cloth diapering bit. I figure even if we used those at home and the others while out it would at least give poor Charlotte's behind a break. She keeps reacting to every disposable I put on her. Anyway, I am not convinced yet but wanting to do some more research on it, and I have done everything I can online. I need to see some of it with my own two eyes you know?

Finally, we have swim practice (ten days until the end of the competitve season!) and soccer practice tonight.

Let's see what can get done!

Snow Day!

Well last night the kids turned their pj's inside out, put a spoon under their pillow and flushed an ice cube down the toilet -- all to ensure a snow day. Evidently this is what local urban legend requires. I didn't have the heart to tell them that by the time they went to bed schools had already called it. They were really convinced their "planning" would make it happen.

So this afternoon we went out to play -- even though all it did for me was make me want to come indoors and research Floridian vacations!

Teague could have stayed outside for hours!

Is it just me or do these two appear to be up to something?

I know they love to play soccer in the yard -- especially Samuel-- but don't you think this is a bit over the top?

Uh Oh -- I think I better run!

Dance was cancelled so....

Well the snow storm has cancelled dance for tonight so I have a little extra time this afternoon, and I thought I would post our dance costumes for this year's recital. they just went up last week so this is pretty current news around here!!

The recital this year is The Lion King so some of these are a little on the wild side!

This is Molly's ballet costume, I am told they are performing two numbers: Shout to the Lord, and Colors of The Wind.

This is Molly's tap costume:

And this is her Jazz costume:

Finally this is Samuel's class costume:

The Mommy Woes

It doesn't seem like the blog is going to be a cheery or inspirational place its first week back and for that I apologize. I am just so tired of being not enough. It seems like everyone of the kids is facing a problem that I am not equipped to deal with on my own -- even Jason (although not one of the kids!) is presenting me with options I don't know how to answer. So I've been praying for answers, strength, energy, and motivation -- what feels like a tall mountain to me is a mustard seed to God and I have to keep reminding myself of that.

Charlotte has developed a nasty reaction to just about every commercial diaper on the market. Some worse than others but it's like she will be fine until you uses the diaper and then you have instant bright red rash, sometimes with what appear to be little hives on it. If you clean her and leave the diaper off a little bit it goes away, until you start the cycle over again. I've tried every kind of diaper on the market -- chlorine free, "naturals", all the regular options. I am about to be desperate enough to try cloth diapers but Jason seems rigidly opposed to this. Charlotte is miserable, and the only way to keep it at a minimum is to change every time she piddles in the littlest amount (she will scream right away) so we are going through diapers at a shocking rate! My poor little princess should not have to deal with this.

Teague is still having baby adjustment issues -- he no longer ignores her, or tells me to "give IT back now"-- in fact he seems to like Charlotte most of the time but has become a mommy leach.

Luke is acting out at school, his teacher- who we loved - is on long term disability and the long term sub doesn't "get him."

Samuel is actually behaving for the most part although he is desperate to play outside and showing it, I think he has some cabin fever!

Finally Jason really wants to cut back on work, which don't get me wrong, would be fabulous not to be a single parent (essentially) Thursday and Friday (he currently works from 8 am to about 11 pm both of those days and Saturday night as well) but I don't know that I want to sacrifice the money -- it's such a tough call and he seems to be looking to me to make the choice myself. I love that man to death but the stress of being responsible for all the family choices is killing me -- quite literally. I had to go to urgent care last week with what turned out to be a panic attack. I was SLEEPING when it started.

Anyway, I was actually told by someone in the last 24 hours that they "know I am doing everything I CAN but it just isn't enough" What are you supposed to say to that?

Mondays come to fast.

Did you ever notice that? It seems like only yesterday I was desperate for a weekend and now -- it's Monday again. I just feel so overwhelmed lately with the task at hand, just getting through another week is so hard. Like all of a sudden I have 600 more things to do than usual, when in reality it's the same stuff I have been doing since September more or less. Actually we don't have art anymore (it ended in December) so I am doing LESS than before and yet it still feels like more.
I know that part of it is that I feel like everyone (outside the family), the swim team, the school, the pediatrician, etc. is always asking something of me, I feel like screaming "don't you think I am giving you enough?" except that the glaring answer to this is no. Obviously they don't think I am doing/giving enough or they wouldn't have asked for more. Which in turn makes me feel more stressed -- how can I possible do/give/be more when I already feel so inadequate to do what I am doing? And how can I feel so overrun when I am not even doing "enough?"

What do you do when you say to someone "I am doing everything I can" and their response is "well I can understand that but it's not enough" ?