ME!

I was thinking- Ooh!  I'm going to write about what we did this weekend, and how much the boys loved the river and how great Cole did at his baseball tourney (see I snuck that in there anyway), but I decided not to.  I often forget that I am me without my kids.  I'm working hard on doing things for me and remembering that I am a person and I can enjoy my life too!

Sooo....This is what I've been up to:

*I just ate a root beer float and it was AMAZING!

*I soaked my feet and painted my toenails last night!

*I am getting uber attached to playing "Friends with Words" on my phone

*I have been editing pics like crazy from Beau's cousins senior session

*I realized how much I am loved this weekend!  I got to spend quality time with my parents (with no interruptions), got to visit with my Aunt Linda and Uncle Fred, chat with my friend Ladonna's mom, and spent time with my old neighbor Miss Jenny......

*AND then went out and had fun with Angie!  We cruised around listened to music, went to the bar and laughed our butts off!....My longtime friend Ladonna and her family stopped by and I got to kiss on her adorable son and rub her belly!  Two great friends, Allison & Nathan drove out to see me & brought their daughter Sophia!

*I bought myself a cute belt & went to the rodeo on Friday night with the Clark's.  We used to spend TONS of time together when I was in high school and haven't even seen them in over 8 years, but we had SOOO much fun!  None of us have changed a bit!

* I got to ride on a boat and spend time at the river (I LOVE boating)...and got to catch up with some girlies!

* I spent the evening of Beau and I's Anniversary with my best friend (Beau, duh!)

*I get to spend Friday night with just BEAU!  Going out to eat and who knows what else...but just him & I!

Picture I took of Kaleb

Allison and Sophia-love these girls

Night on the town and combined Momx8!

Love this guy!

Fun times with the Clark's

No wonder it's 9am and the boys are still sleeping!

Went to the Days of 56 Rodeo

The boys rode bulls & LOVED it!

Had friends who I haven't seen in 8+ years come stay with us!

Rode Horses

Pouted a little

Blake Rode Horses

Got dirty on the river for the 1st time

Dug holes in the sand and found water!

Shared some yummy drinks

Played some horseshoes

Rode on a boat

Snuggled my boys

Spent time with my BEST friend

And ended it with a cold one....of milk!

Cleaning your house is like brushing your teeth....

While eating an Oreo! (Thanks Pinterest for the quote).  This morning was like this.  I picked up downstairs this morning.  I have been working like a mad woman to go through every closet, every drawer, every box (I'm pretty sure if we haven't yet unpacked it, we don't need it) and an other nook and cranny.  It has been a daunting task, but I'm feeling good knowing where everything is and all the clutter is going to be gone!

The only two places I have to go through is the back porch and the basement. Duh-Duh-Dun!!!!!  Anyways.  I was upstairs going through closets and drawers and totes...I was a little nervous about leaving the boys downstairs but I was more worried they would  destroy what I was trying to do upstairs.

I must admit that they did very well. I could hear them playing well together. They were laughing and not beating the crap out of each other (maybe I should do this more often). I came downstairs and found this.....

And then they were sitting so nice on the couch actually sharing the ipad....

Oh the joys!

Stay-at-Home-Mommy's (How Do You Do It)

It's Father's Day!  I am grateful to have two of the best Daddy's in the world in my Life!  I know, everyone says it, but in this instance it's true. 

We don't have any big plans today.  We are going to McDonald's for lunch (classy, huh?) and then make a stop at Wal-Mart (soo much excitement I know), then ????  It's our niece's birthday so maybe Beau's Mom and niece might come over for dinner (if Beau would ever call them like he said he was going to do...yesterday).

So, of course I thought it would be a nice gesture to let Beau sleep in.  We have been staying up too late and the boys get up at 6:45am EVERY day even if they go to bed at midnight.....So letting Beau sleep in and am questioning if that was a good idea.  By the time he gets up, he might have 1..or 2 less children!  They are driving me NUTS! 

"I am so lucky to have summer's off.  I LOVE spending time with my kids and watching them grow and develop!  I need to cherish my time with them"....Pshhhh!  That's how I think I should feel. How I really feel: "If I have to break up one more fight I'm going to duct tape them to a chair.  I would give one of the two older ones away but I'm pretty sure they will have killed each other by the end of the summer.  And the little one....oooh!  He can be the worst.  If I have to take him off the top of a table or a chair he has pushed up to the counter or pull his hands out of the toilet one more time, I may scream!!!!

I just downloaded and am starting to read Confessions of a Scary Mom.  It may be one of the best, most real, funniest books I have read in a LONG time.  I couldn't put it down last night.  If it was about a kid under the age of 5, I could relate to it.  It talks about pregnancy, delivery and raising kids.  The author, Jill Smokler is a Mom who tells it like it is.  She started a blog to try to keep her sanity and it turned into people she didn't even know reading the blog and a book.  At the beginning of every chapter there are statements that anonymous Mom's have written on her blog!  I love the honesty!

"I pee when I cough, I fart when I sneeze, and I'm sure I'll crap on the delivery table."

"I'm eating for three.  Problem is, I'm only expecting one and she's the size of a pea right now."

"To the new mom who left the hospital looking like a million bucks: I hate you!" 

"My baby's vibrating bouncy seat broke yesterday, so now my "top of the shelf drawer" toy is wrapped in a receiving blanket and tucked into the side of the car seat.  Desperate times call for desperate measures."

That's as far as I've gotten.  I'm on Chapter 3 and secretly thinking I need to have a bout of diarrhea so that I can sit in the bathroom in peace and finish reading it today :)

But instead  I'll attempt to cherish the happy moments and give Beau a Happy Father's Day!

Oh- and I'm going to try to write a confession every time I blog...Showing that I am Human!

1.  I didn't want to cook the boys breakfast yesterday so I let them eat oatmeal cookies...And justified it being "ok" because there was oatmeal in them.

This is how we roll on Friday nights!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPMAG02cPa4&feature=youtu.be

The time has come....

If you live in Northeast Nebraska, you know exactly what I'm talking about.  If you haven't experienced it for yourself, well "What is wrong with you?".  People from all over the midwest have heard of it and we decided that the boys needed to experience it!  Yep, that's right.  Bob's Bar!

If you're reading this and not from around here, I can see the puzzled look on your face?  It reminds me of Sweet Home Alabama, "You have a baby!  In a bar!" :) 

Bob's is someplace everyone should experience once.  I wouldn't say it's because of the ambiance of the place, or the convenient location.  It's because it has good food and a lot of it!  You go in and recognize familiar faces or smile at a table of "newbies" who didn't quite understand the proportions and has enough food to feed the whole town. 

I'll stop jabbering and get to the pics!

This is Bob's Bar :)

The nicely prepared condiments.....

Me thinking taking 3 boys (and Beau) out in public might not have been such a good idea.

Loving time with Daddy!



A single order of cheese balls!

A single order of french fries (and Hunter digging the cheese balls)

A $3 burger

Blake isn't sure about pickles yet.

Pretty proud of his pop!

It was a great day and I'm pretty sure we won't eat (or poop right) for days :)

FB and the toilet go hand in hand!

I wasn't going to post this to save my modesty, but everyone reading this and knows me.....and my lack of modesty :) 

It's been one of those mornings.  I woke up to screaming, fighting children who I'm sure were beating the crud out of each other.  I should have gone downstairs and refereed, but nope.  I closed my eyes as if I didn't hear it at all.

After getting all the dishes done and put away and the microwave cleaned and floor swept and mopped (my parents are coming & my Mom still believes I am a good housekeeper. Ha!).  I headed for the bathroom.  While checking facebook (Oh come on!  You know you cruise the Internet while on the pot too, so don't judge!), I saw a post from one of my friends:

"If ever you feel alone, go sit on the toilet. your kids will find you or the phone will ring."

 

Oh so true!  As I was reading that there were hysterics happening in the living room.  Cole apparently took a balloon from Hunter.  Hunter threw a clothes basket and Cole.  Blake stepped on Hunter's head while Hunter was throwing a fit.  They are all screaming and crying.  Then Blake must have found the unopened 12-pack of Bud Light....He brought me in an unopened can of beer.

 

Thanks little buddy.  I think I may need that today!

 

 

Whirlwind Week

Whew!  I must say the first official week of the summer was a SUCCESS!!!!  It was crazy, busy and insane.  I had a lot of laughs, a lot of worries, a lot of proud moments, many times where I wanted to pull my hair out, and looking back it was amazing!

When I said I would be the director of Vacation Bible School at our church, I don't think I truly understood what I was getting myself into.  I thought, "Hey I can handle this.  I'll kids kids signed up, do some PR, make sure everyone has their materials and order shirts."  No problem.  Ha!  I wish.  I did do all those things but I also talked to parents if their kids had any problems, I had to "remind" the Jr. High helpers (over and over again) why they were there and that their jobs were to help with the kids, not to socialize, I had to learn how to work the sound system, computer, get pictures uploaded every day, make sure everyone had materials, count offering, ring bell, write newsletters, talk during closing every day, kiss boo-boos, coral kids, etc, etc, etc.... :)

It was stressful and I had 2 things I worried about most of all.  1.  The Merry Go Round (It scares the crap out of me...I know it's a VBS tradition but 50 kids and 10 helpers going a million miles an hour while I am waiting for it to fly off its hinges and into orbit with kid parts speckled everywhere).  2.  Talking in front of people (Give me a room of little kids and I'm fine.  Once you get large groups or adults in there, I can't do it.  I want to puke in my shoe at the thought of talking in front of people.).

This week, no one got hurt on the merry-go-round and I didn't puke and talked every day.  I would say that's an accomplishment.

It was a fun week.  I helped out last year and loved watching the kids grow and mature.  Cole is growing up way too fast!  Here are a few pics from the week.

Other highlights of the week:

My sister and niece came and stayed the week with us.  Kimm and I went and got our hair done and our cartilage pierced on a whim.

Blake and Hunter stayed with Nana in the mornings while we were at VBS and Hunter shut Cole's face in the car door.

We went swimming lots.... and I decided that sometimes it's important to do what you WANT to do, not what you HAVE to do!

And had some much needed "adult time" Friday night!

My Feet Hurt....

Rundown of the last 24 hours:

9pm: Still working on VBS stuff getting ready for tomorrow

11pm: Went to bed

12:30am: Still can't sleep so I take a little Melatonin to help me fall asleep (no I don't do this often and don't judge :)

1:30am: Wondering if someone secretly replaced Melatonin with little capsules of crack!!!!  Still no sleep!

Sometime after: Fell asleep

6:20am: Alarm went off, hit snooze, but Blake apparently didn't want to hit snooze and started wailing!

6:25am: Got up, got showered, got kids up, got sister up, got kids ready and got out the door by 7:45am

8am: Dropped Hunter and Blake off at Nana's and picked up my niece and her friend.

8:15am: (My niece is SLOW) Got to the church and the chaos began.  Trying to do a bazillion things for a bunch of people needing something (that's ok though), greeted parents and tried to socialize a little followed with bouts of mass chaos.

9am: VBS starts and my heart is happy.  I looked out at all the kids singing and doing the motions and it brought tears to my eyes knowing that they were having fun, and learning!!!!!

12pm:  VBS over after lots of questions and worries about whether I was doing it "right" or not.

12:30pm: Get kids home and make quesidillas- attempt to keep the 18 month old from falling asleep in his food.

1pm: Try to get Blake ready for nap while Cole, Hunter and Myles whined about when we were going swimming, trying to get their swimsuits on, lotioning them up with sunblock, getting them towels, yadda yadda.

1:15pm: Blake is asleep, kids are in the pool, time to clean!!!  Cleaned the house in peace.

1:45pm: Went outside and said forget all of the stuff I have to do and dove in the pool with the boys and Myles!

1:50pm: Became a water horse for three kids that enjoyed riding on my back and getting on their knees and jumping off.

2:30pm: Herded the children up and had them go inside...on the way in Cole had swallowed too much water and puked up his quesidillas and mandarin oranges on the way inside the house while Myles let us know how much she didn't want to take a nap.

2:45pm: All kids out of swimsuits and cleaned off, in regular clothes and went down for a nap.

2:45pm: Worked on the roster and VBS stuff for tomorrow

3:15pm: Showered since I swam and felt like my skin was going to crack because it was so dry!

4:00pm: Started making dinner, woke up Cole and got him ready for his baseball game.  Made pizza for Cole, Beau and Blake (we only had 1)

4:45pm:  Got Beau and Cole off to Wynot for team pictures and then the game

5pm: Woke up Hunter and Myles.  Hunter is not a happy camper when you wake him up so had about a bazillion meltdowns.  I made chicken nuggets and mac and cheese for the rest of the crew.

5:15pm: Got everyone dressed and ready, diaper bag packed, waters in diaper bag....kids out to the car and buckled in (may sound easy, but this is a big task!)

6pm: Got to Cole's game where he did AWESOME at!  So fun to watch him play

7:45: Left Wynot and got to hear Myles' sing BINGO all the way home and then make the ehhhhhhh sound while driving over the bumps on the gravel road.

8pm: Bathed all 4 children, got them ready for bed, read them a book and laid them down.

8:30pm: Started cleaning the house and doing dishes, sweeping the floor, etc...

9pm: Worked on the closing for tomorrow that I get to do (even though it makes me want to throw up in my shoe.

10pm: Sat down with a glass of pink moscato, played on FB and am now writing this blog wondering why in the heck I am still up and not asleep :)

Whew!  Now that I just realized all I did, I'm going to bed!...Was going to add pics, but internets being dumb, won't upload...Deal with it! :)

....My own saying...

So as all of you know, I LOVE Pinterest!  I have a board titled Health/Fitness.  It has good ab excersizes, smoothie recipes and of course quotes.  I was going to post one onto this entry but they just weren't fitting....

"Take Care of Your Body, It's the Only Place You Have to Live"

"Yesterday You Said Tomorrow"

"It took more than one day to gain it.  It will take more than one day to loose it."

"No Matter How Slow You Go, You're Lapping Everyone On the Couch"

..... While these are all great and grand, none of them seemed to fit just what I was thinking so I came up with my own saying.....

"I've had 3 kids and somehow my ass has implanted itself in my stomach.  I cringe everytime I look in a full length mirror, I have a road map of strech marks on my belly, and I'm sick of cropping every picture so that it's from the shoulders up."

I've tried to diet and workout.  I get all gung-ho about it and do really good for a few days, then life happens.  I have to grab something on the go.  I need caffeine so I don't get a headache (and regular pop tastes way better than diet).  By the end of the day when I have a few minutes to myself, I don't have the energy to work out....

Soo....Here's my plan.  Take it slow and simple.  I'm going to walk a mile every day and I'm going to switch to diet pop.  I got a fun free app called Sports Tracker...Check it out I love it! That's it.  Well see how it goes and hopefully my ass will find it's way back to where it belongs :)