Angela

smileybabe @ 2009-12-24T08:06:00

2009-12-24T13:07:00Z

Our Christmas tree finally went up last night. Ugh! I'm so not ready for Christmas! There's so much that I wanted to get done and it's just not. I still have some shopping to do. I have to get a gift for our three nieces. Dad asked me to get something for him to give his girlfriend since I would be out shopping today anyway. We're supposed to have dinner at Katherine's parents tonight after church and I am supposed to bring a dessert. Tony asked me to make cannoli for him to bring over there Christmas morning. I told him I would. In a previous conversation he asked me to bring a cassata cake for dessert tonight and I also agreed to that but forgot when he asked about the cannoli. There's no way I'm going to get that cake done. I have other stuff to bring (candy and cookies that I've made) so I'm not showing up empty handed but he's already told them all that I'll be bringing a cake!

I guess I better get moving. I need to be done shopping and home early enough to get in the shower and get all the boys ready for church. Matthew & Michael are singing tonight. I cant wait! I'm very excited. :)

Oh but first a rather amusing conversation between Bryan and I. We were talking the other day and he asked what he should get his masters in since accounting doesnt seem to have been a good choice. I jokingly told him he should become a doctor, he'll never have a problem finding a job. (Really I think that'd be great but I just dont see Bryan ever being a doctor) Then he says he could become an OB and schedule a bunch of csections so he can make his tee time. He definitely knows how I feel on the subject of OBs and csections! I told him I'd be kicking his ass back into the hospital to apologize and do it right because no husband of mine is going to ever do something like that. lol

smileybabe @ 2009-12-23T10:23:00

2009-12-23T15:25:25Z

The virus Jacob had worked it's way through the house. Matthew and Bryan both got sick this past week. Matthew actually missed a day of school. It also visited Tony's house. Katherine & Tasha caught it. Tasha ended up in the ER because she vomited so much. A shot of anti-nausea medicine kept her from iv fluids. It made it's way to other friend's and family's houses as well. I'm the only one here that didnt get sick. Thank God!

I'm so glad the kids are on break. I love having them all home. I needed the break from school just as much as they did. It was such a crazy week! It's nice that Bryan's home too.

Saturday we took the kids to the Christmas party at the Eagles. Jacob is terrified of Santa. He cried while Bryan was walking him up there. Poor baby :( Matthew got a cool remote control car. It drives on the wall. Aside from that fact that it's LOUD I like it better than normal ones. It doesnt get stepped on or collect hair/carpet fibers around the wheels from the floor.

Sunday Bryan and Kirk planned to go to Khuhnnens. I called Aimee to see if she wanted to go. I took all the boys to Tony's and we had a nice couple hours away. I tried a couple different wines I hadn't before and they served wassail. It was all very good. I ended up buying a bottle of Green Apple Riesling to give to Dad as a Christmas gift.

I thought I was all done Christmas shopping but then Ron called to see if we were coming up or not. I had been putting off buying gifts for the girls until I knew for sure we were going. I want to get them books. Pinkalicious for Paige, a vampire novel for Katlynne (Ron bought her one of the Twilight books), but I'm not sure what to get Lexi. Ron said she loves to cook and I just checked out this book from the library called The Science Chef. I bet she'd love it but it's more than I wanted to spend and hard telling if I could even find it as it's an older book. He said to just get her some packets for her easy bake oven. I dont know. . .

We went to Frankenmuth Monday. Worst trip ever! All the boys did was complain the entire time. We stopped at Borders in Birch Run figuring I could grab books for our nieces but that store is closing so their selection was minimal. We went to Bronners because I needed a stocking for Jacob and I wanted it to match Matthew & Michael's. We weren't even in the door and Matthew's whining that he's bored. They didnt have stockings like the other boys have so he got a blue one with a snowman on it instead. It's pretty but not what I wanted and definitely a lot more than I wanted to pay. Michael had a meltdown in the store but I cant even remember why. We went to Bavarian Inn for dinner. I had forgotten how expensive that place was without coupons. Their website didnt have any this time. Matthew took ONE bite of his chicken leg because he had been drinking lemonade and it gave him a stomach ache. So we spent lots of money and had a crappy time.

Yesterday we told the boys we had to clean the living room up. We've been telling them this for quite some time but nothing has been done. Yesterday was the last chance they had to help clean or the tree wasnt going up at all. They weren't listening so Bryan shut the tv off. Typically what we do if that's what is causing the distraction. Well one of them got up and turned it back on. Bryan just unplugged the whole thing and took it out of the entertainment center. Michael helped to clean up most of the morning but Matthew went to his room and sat there. When we were just about done I asked Matthew what he thought his consequence should be since obviously it wasnt fair that Michael was the only one helping. He said not helping to put the tree up. I told him that wasn't sufficient and to go back to his room and let me know when he came up with something better. He came out a short time later and said he should be grounded from the Wii. I told him the Wii and his DS and asked how long he thought he should be grounded for. He said a week! I wasnt going to argue with that but I made him look at the calendar and see which days that covered so that he understood. He's going to be so pissed Christmas morning when he opens up Rock Band and cant play it for another 3 days. But hey, HE picked his consequences, not me. He does have the opportunity to knock some days off that but so far hasnt made an effort to do so.

Tony & Katherine came over yesterday. Katherine wanted me to sew a patch in her jeans. She cleaned my carpet while I did that. Matthew thought it was cool so after they left he took off the jeans he was wearing and asked me to put a patch over the hole in his knee. She brought Christmas fabric over so now they both have a pair of jeans with a Christmas present patch. lol Michael ended up staying the night over there for the first time in a long time.

I baked cookies and mixed up some sugar cookie dough to bring to Alysia's this morning. We're having a little cookie exchange and we're going to bake sugar cookies for the kids to decorate. The boys are all going to get a haircut this evening. They all need it. Jacob has SO much hair! But it's just long and straight, no more beautiful curls.

We'll put the tree up tonight, tomorrow we're going to Katherine's parents house for dinner then Christmas day Mom, Teresa and maybe Tony & Katherine are coming over for breakfast. I think I'm going to make a french toast casserole but I have to go to the store to get everything. I've been SO bad about grocery shopping lately, it's awful. Then we'll head up to Ron's for dinner. We have to be sure to stop in at Dad's before we go to Ron's though.

I better go jump in the shower and get Jacob to clean his mess. Pauline gave me a ton of Little People and accessories. Jacob's loving it. His favorite seems to be the bus and the house. He opens the house up and sticks a person on the toilet. lol He has them all over the living room though and I refuse to come home to a mess.

I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas!

smileybabe @ 2009-12-14T20:51:00

2009-12-15T01:52:20Z

Jacob's sick. :( He started throwing up about 5 hours ago. Actually he seems to be fine now. He's back to his sassy little self. He threw up about 6 times in 2 hours. The poor thing couldnt keep anything down, not water or breastmilk. He'd nurse for a bit then 5 minutes later it'd all come back up again. I'm glad he's better. I wasnt looking forward to a long night of sick babies. Michael had the same thing Friday. I was at school picking the boys up and about 5 minutes before the bell rang his teacher sent him to the office. He threw up all over the foyer on his way. The principal cleaned it up! He got sick a couple more times that night but was fine by the time I left.

Teresa did my hair Friday night. It's darker with some blond and red highlights. She cut it shorter too. I'm not sure if I like it.

We decorated Matthew's classroom to look like a rainforest on Friday. It looked very cool. His teacher got the cardboard tubes that carpet comes on and we cut them to stand up from floor to ceiling. We used crepe paper for leaves and the kids made paper chains to hang from the ceiling for vines.

Saturday morning we had a funeral to go to. The church was beautiful! The mass was in Latin. It was a very interesting experience. There was a communion rail where everyone went up to kneel down and communion was placed in your mouth. I wish Matthew had been there. I think he would have enjoyed such a unique thing. He and Michael stayed the night at Cathy's house. They both had choir practice at the same time as the funeral so Cathy dropped them off and picked them up for me. They also stayed the night there.

Bryan and I spent the afternoon shopping with Jacob. I bought each of the boys a snow globe snowman ornament with their names on it. Our tree isnt up and I havent decided if I should give it to them for Christmas or when we put the tree up. I think that was the only thing I bought actually. We walked around the mall then picked up some groceries and went to dinner. We went to Pepperoni Grille. It was ok. It's a very pretty place and it was a nice evening out. Jacob was still in his suit so it was cute watching him sit in a booster chair with his tie still on feeding himself soup. He was looked like such a little gentleman. He was also soaked by the time we finished. lol

Yesterday we had dinner with Aimee & Brian. Brian did the brakes on my van. I made lasagna and a cassata cake. We played Phase 10. It was a lot of fun. We always have a good time with them. Bryan also bottled his beer. I think it will be done next week so we'll probably end up there again next weekend.

I had to go work with Dad last night. The store didnt start until 8pm. On the way there we passed a gas station. The name of the station was Obama. Seriously. It had his campaign logo on the sign and the building was painted the same way. His picture was even on the sign. So ridiculous. The store was nice and neat and clean, a rarity, especially in that area. It didnt take us long but then the guy wanted the liquor done again because he didnt think it was right. It was after 11:30pm when I finally made it home. Then I couldnt sleep!

Bryan took the boys to school this morning and I slept much later than I ever do. I didnt even get dressed until I left to pick the boys up. Bryan and I cleaned the living room and stairway up and I started to make chocolate covered cherries. Right now they are wrapped in fondant and chilling. They just need to be dipped in chocolate. These cherries have stems. I hope they turn out ok, I've never done cherries with stems before.

Tomorrow I have to take Jacob to the doctor for his 18 month check up. We're a little late. lol The office switched to open access appointments. That means I cant schedule an appointment more than a week in advance. Normally I would schedule the next appointment at the end of the last one. By the time it was close enough for me to call I'd be busy and forget until after hours. Or I'd call and be on hold and just hang up and try again another time. Finally I remember to call and our doctor is on vacation so I had to wait another week. This whole thing is so aggravating.

After his appointment I'm going to go shopping for a couple gifts for Bryan. I'm hoping to have all our shopping done by Friday when the boys get out of school. I have absolutely NO Christmas cookies made at all. I need to get them done this week so I can make gift baskets for the teachers. I'm planning to make chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin and oatmeal with white chocolate/cranberries, and I have no idea what else. That's probably all I'll get done this week. . . if I'm lucky.

After the boys get out of school tomorrow we're going to Cathy's. I'm going to make dinner for the kids before they go to catechism then help Cathy make "snowman soup" for the class she's student teaching in. Wednesday is her last day.

I spoke too soon, Jacob's puking again. :(

smileybabe @ 2009-12-06T15:21:00

2009-12-06T20:22:58Z

Wow. I posted this link on facebook http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091206/NEWS06/912060418/1318/Bill-could-end-harassment-of-moms-who-breast-feed&template=fullarticle and said it's about time! It caused quite a stir when my cousin commented that she disagrees. She was bombarded with comments from those that support breastfeeding, which is several of my friends. I do feel slightly bad about that but am not going to apologize to her for my friends expressing their opinions, especially since I share the exact same views. What gets me is she's seen me nurse Jacob several times and has never said anything about it. I had no idea she felt that way. Again, not that I really care. She is entitled to her own opinion, even if it is wrong ;P

I went to work with Dad today. We inventoried a doctor's office. It was the cardiovascular physicians for all the Detroit sports stars. One of the doctors is leaving the practice. It was rather odd. We've never had to inventory office chairs and televisions before. We've done medical equipment and supplies but this was very different. I was also rather disturbed at how much patient information was just laying around the office. Lots all over the nurses station, some all over the various doctor's desks, more in the different testing rooms. Lots of HIPPA violations!

Yesterday was breakfast with Santa at school. It was fun. We got off to a rocky start but overall it went well. We started cooking pancakes on electric griddles that we brought. Two were plugged into the same outlet and another was plugged in next to it further down the wall. While we were waiting for the griddles to warm up Cathy had set a bag on the cart next to the griddle. It melted right to the griddle. We shut that one off because it was facing what was a very busy walking area at that time. We started cooking and someone else brought another griddle over and plugged it in where we had just taken Cathy's out of. It blew a fuse. :( She moved her griddle down the wall to where a refrigerator was plugged in. That worked until she brought another one over to the same outlet. It blew that fuse too. The principal was there and had no idea where the circuit breaker was. She called a maintenance man who was kind enough to come in on a Saturday and fix it for us. Meanwhile we had to find other places to cook because people were arriving and we had no pancakes to serve! Two of us cooked in the hallway and the other lady with the crazy power sucking griddle went to the office. After that it was all good. We had plenty of food, Santa came and each child had their picture taken with him and received a candy cane and pencil. I really wanted a picture of all three boys with Santa for our Christmas cards but Jacob cried. :( Clean up didnt take too long. I wish I had taken a picture of the cafeteria. It looked so pretty. We spent lots of time after school on Friday decorating.

Mom called as we were leaving the school and complained about her Christmas tree. She hates putting it up anymore because it always looks like crap. She asked me to come fix it. We hung out there for a while and then went to Aimee's so Bryan could do the next step in brewing his beer. Aimee's husband made us dinner, we played some Guitar Hero and then Aimee and I attempted to watch her copy of New Moon. The color was a bit funky but other than that it was a good copy. The kids and husbands were just too noisy for us to really watch it. I tried a bourbon stout that Aimee's brother brewed. It was actually pretty good. I brought some very yummy cheesecake with us. I made a cappucino fudge cheesecake the night before. YUM!

Wednesday was Santa Shop. That went very well! We made $1340! We only had 7 kids show up with no money. They were each able to pick one item. All but 2 I think choose a gift for someone else and 1 is a Jehovah's Witness so we encouraged her to pick something out for herself when she said she's not allowed to celebrate Christmas.

I'm very glad that week is over. Now I need to focus on this weeks project. Matthew's class is studying biomes. His class is doing rainforests. They each had to pick an animal to research. Projects are due tomorrow and presentations will take place throughout the week. Friday they will have a "museum" open for parents to come in a look at all the great work. His teacher asked me to decorate the classroom to look like a rainforest. She's getting long cardboard tubes that carpet comes on that we will wrap with crepe paper for tree trunks and hang hang leaves from the top. The kids are going to make vines by linking circles of paper together that I can hang from the ceiling. I need to decorate the outside of the door to show the 4 layers of the rainforest. I need to find out what animals are found in each layer and figure out how to do this. We also need to plan Christmas party activities because that's less than 2 weeks away. AAAAAHHHHH!

smileybabe @ 2009-11-29T09:44:00

2009-11-29T14:48:23Z

Michael's birthday party went really well. I made a big turkey dinner and it was like Thanksgiving with some of my closest friends. :)

Dad bought Michael a bike for his birthday. Dad and Linda came out to dinner with us on his actual birthday. That was a crazy day. I had actually gone to work with Dad hoping to make some money to go shopping. He had one store in Gaylord to do. It was a small one so I should have been home before the boys got out of school. No, instead it turns into a fight with the state because they seized the store and wanted their money before we could touch anything. Well the guys at the store didn't have all their paperwork together so we all sat around and waited. Finally at noon the people from the state treasury department said they were leaving and tossed us all out of the store. It took 4 hours to get there, 3 hours of waiting and 5 hours to get home. 12 hours later I finally get home and only get $50. I was expecting twice that for actually working so I was pretty mad that I wasted an entire day. I cant really complain about getting $50 for sitting in the car reading all day but still. Then we went out to dinner so there went that $50.

Tony came over the day after Michael's party with two surprises. The first was a new bike. Michael walked outside and says "I already got my new bike" Tony gets mad and wants to know who got it for him. I told him Dad did so he said he'll just take this one back to his house for him to use there. I was really pissed because he didnt get Matthew anything for his birthday and I've been after him for 6 months now for the money that he owes Matthew. He cant give me that but he can buy a brand new bike for Michael.

The second surprise was Tasha. Her mother has been calling Tony telling him she's been so bad and he needs to do something about her, etc. He's told her several times that he'll come get her for Thanksgiving break but she says if he does that he has to take her back up here with them. He decided to just wait until Christmas and she still insisted that she's coming back with them. He had called me the week before asking if he could take Michael with him. NO! He wanted to fill his extra seat so when he got there to get Tasha there wouldnt be room for Jenny. Frannie ended up going with them. They werent back for Michael's party so he came over the next day. The boys were so surprised and excited to see Tasha. He enrolled her at Reach Academy because Jenny wants her in an academy. She started the day before Thanksgiving and I guess it went well. I dont think that school is going to be a good fit for her. Who knows, maybe it's exactly what she needs but I would NEVER send my kids there. EVER!

Michael's been having some issues. Not anything new, just an escalation of what's typical of his behavior. Monday night was such a bad night, as was the whole week previous. It was all over juice. They dont get much juice. Maybe 1 glass a day and some days none at all. I had let them have juice with dinner. Jacob didnt finish his so his was still on the table. Michael asked for juice and I said no, he already had some. He got mad and cleared the table with a swipe of his hand. Now there's juice everywhere. Matthew picked up the cup and I told Michael he needed to get a towel to clean his mess. He wiped it up then threw the towel right in my face. I didnt even have a chance to say anything to him because Bryan picked him up and put him in his room. There was lots of screaming and kicking and hitting which continued once the door was closed. I went to talk to the counselor at school the next day and ended crying. I just have no idea what to do with him. Right now he's small enough that I could just hold him until he calms down. But what happens when that passes and he's bigger/stronger than me and this is still going on? I cant take much more of the violent outbursts. He purposely tries to hurt Jacob. He smacked him the other day and left a hand print. :( This just cannot go on! Unfortunately nobody seems to really have any ideas for me. We've tried spanking which proved not to work at a very early age with Michael, we've tried timeouts, holding him, given him a punching bag which he just destroyed. I just bought him a new one so we'll see how that works out. At least it's something for now. I just dont know!!!!! The whole thing makes me want to scream!

Michael's teacher was out sick that whole week so she had to reschedule conferences. Ours happened to be on Tuesday so we talked with her about this. She also has no advice to offer. :( BUT, Michael is doing fantastic in school! :) His reading went up 3 levels in just these 2 short months! I'm so very proud of him. He's doing well in science, which he loves, social studies and is ok at math. He knows the material but he's not one that likes to be tested. He's only going to do what he wants to do. The assessment test she gave was the same throughout. He only answered about 50% of the questions correctly. 2 in each section were correct, the other 2 were wrong. Usually it was the first 2 correct. Patterns were at the end of it and only the first one was right. The other three were wrong because he didnt even look at the pattern, he just answered them all as the first one. The only issues at school are his disrupting others by talking in class. lol Surprise, surprise. Michael loves to get up and sing but not during appropriate times. lol Luckily all the teacher has to do is ask if he's done with his work and if he's not he'll go back to his seat to finish. Then he's up again in a few minutes. I'm wondering if he's just bored because the work is too easy. It'd be so much easier to tell if he'd actually DO the assessment! lol

Thanksgiving was nice. We attempted to go to the parade in Detroit. It was COLD and windy and people were rude. We left half way through. We were sitting a block or two from the beginning so by the time we got home, the float going by on tv was the one we saw when we left. The kids watched the rest of the parade on tv then we went to Linda's daughter's house. Dinner was ok. Dad didnt cook which is so disappointing but oh well. Everyone was really nice. One of Linda's daughter's has 3 kids all of which are very close to Matthew & Michael's age. They had lots of fun playing together. They played on the computer, watched tv, played video games and then they all jumped on Papa and wrestled around for the last 45 minutes we were there. We left and were home by 7pm.

Friday was fabulous! I went shopping with Cathy & Pauline. We went to Target first. Aimee and her brother Billy were there. Billy greeted me by coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around me telling me how much he loved the sweet potatoes I made for Michael's party. (I sent a plate home with Aimee for him) He asked for the recipe and made them for his family on Thanksgiving and said everyone loved them. They joined us as we went to other stores in the mall then Billy left me for my husband. Bryan and the boys met him back at Aimee's house to brew beer while Aimee stayed with us and continued to shop. I didnt do too badly. I spent about $200 and my Christmas shopping is almost done. We were gone for about 12 hours though. Everyone was exhausted by the end of the night.

We had to go to Mom's so I could borrow a dress from Teresa. Saturday was baby Mathilda's baptism. Alysia had invited us all to the church then to her house and I wanted something different to wear. All of my dresses are spring/summery since normally I'd wear pants and a sweater. Teresa gave me a red sweater dress and a pair of boots that came to my knees. I picked up black leggings and Michael picked out a very pretty silver necklace for me to wear with it. Cathy's is Mathilda's godmother so I had her boys sitting with us during church. This is the first baptism I've ever been do where they actually immerse the baby in the water! Very interesting. The service was nice. The boys all behaved but Pauline drove me nuts. I later told Cathy that I'm so glad Pauline doesnt go to church because I couldnt handle her yelling at the kids to be quiet the entire time we were there! She kept telling Luke to be quiet and make his mommy proud. He was perfectly fine! He had questions to ask about what was going on and wanted to see better, there's NOTHING wrong with that!

Matthew & Michael ended up staying the night at Alysia's house. I have to go pick them up in about 20 minutes so we can go to church. I'm sure they had a blast. They've been asking to stay the night there for a long time. The last time Alysia had a houseful of kids we were leaving for Oklahoma so my boys couldnt stay.

Another busy week ahead of us. Tomorrow I have to go load up my van with all the stuff we bought for Santa shop. Tuesday we have to set up for Santa shop which takes place on Wednesday. Catechism is also on Tuesday. Friday we're having coffee and donuts at school for the parents. We're hoping to make this a monthly thing so I really want this one to go well. Saturday is breakfast with Santa. I'm making pancakes that morning. My boys also begin choir at church that day! I'm very excited for that. The children's choir sings at Christmas Eve mass. The boys are really looking forward to it, they both love to sing. :)

smileybabe @ 2009-11-24T14:34:00

2009-11-24T19:35:09Z

I have 15 minutes until I have to leave to pick the boys up from school. I'm in the process of uploading pictures/video of Michael's birthday party but photobucket is always super slow for me so they may not be in this post. Can anyone recommend a better photosharing site? I've been having problems with photobucket for months and months now so I just dont bother putting photos on LJ anymore.

Michael's birthday cake turned out well. I was very pleased with how it looked. I made a chocolate hazelnut cake with chocolate buttercream then dripped chocolate ganache around the top edge and down the sides to look like lava. I cut a hole in the center and inserted a metal cup inside. When it was time to sing and cut cake I tossed a chunk of dry ice in the cup and poured strawberry jello inside. There was lots of smoke so I couldnt tell how full the cup was. It wasnt exactly the effect I was going for but it was good. Lots of smoke and bubbly jello but nothing spilling over the sides of the cake.

Ok so photobucket froze my browser up and didnt upload anything. I posted this video on facebook. Let me know if you can see it.

smileybabe @ 2009-11-14T10:00:00

2009-11-14T15:01:41Z

Mentos dropped into red pop does nothing. lol Oh well. Jello/dry ice it is. I will still try it out before adding it to the cake.

Book fair is all set up. We have a few more decorations to hang and then we have to go through all the books and put a sticker on the last copy of each book. That will take a while but it can be done while the fair is running. Also a good job for our cashiers Monday morning since it will be a slow day. Thursday I was there until 6:30pm. We needed a few more things but couldnt get them until Friday so we stopped for the night. It also happened to be Burger King benefit night so we went there for dinner. There were only 3 of us setting up the book fair and while it took a while it went smoothly. We had so few people because originally set up was scheduled for Friday after school. I mentioned that I cant imagine setting up with more than 2 or 3 people (depending on who those people are) because it seems like there would just be way too many hands involved. Amy mentioned that last year the mom/grandma combo was there to help and every time she suggested something they would suggest something completely different. This was shortly after our Christmas party and all the problems I had with them so Amy was not happy at all. Yesterday after school Amy and I were finishing up the decorations and the mom walked in saying she was there to help and wanted to know why it was all done. I couldnt even look at Amy without laughing after that. lol We were beyond thrilled to be done and to have not had to deal with her. I think for the spring we're not even going to request volunteers for set up. Michael insisted on staying with me Thursday after school. He ended up following the janitor around the building, talking her ear off. When I was leaving I found him with gloves on helping her. lol He's such a sweet kid. :)

I'm so glad it's the weekend. I think I'm going to make spaghetti sauce tonight. Only problem is I have NO room in my freezer to put the leftover sauce. :( I'd like to get some baking done too. I started cooking the pumpkins FINALLY! I had to toss one out because Jacob's been throwing it all over the place and it had a soft spot. This would be so much easier if I had one very large pan that I could put them all in at once then puree it all at once instead of just 2 at a time. There are so many things I want to make, just no time to do it all. I have apple filling I still need to use, I'd like to make some pumpkin cookies with this pumpkin before I freeze it all, pumpkin pie, baklava, banana cupcakes because I have bananas that are very closer to over ripe. Hmmmm. . . where to start, where to start. . .

Tomorrow I'm going shopping with Cathy and Aimee for Santa Shop. I cant believe how CLOSE that is! Less than 3 weeks away for both Santa Shop and Breakfast with Santa.

We have a teeny tiny bit of Christmas shopping done. I bought a pair of pajamas for Jacob. They are ADORABLE! They have Cat in the Hat, Thing 1 & Thing 2 and kites all over them. I love it. We also picked up Guitar Hero for Matthew and Michael for a great price. $20 for 2 guitars and the game. I really would have liked to buy this for the Wii but oh well. I need to sit and make a list of what I'm buying the boys. I'm going shopping Friday after Thanksgiving with Cathy & Pauline and maybe Alysia so I want to have an idea of what I'm buying rather than just randomly picking things up. For Jacob so far we've decided on a drum, a giant stuffed dog, and I'm not sure what else. Pauline and Aimee have a bunch of Little People that they are giving me so I will wrap those up for Jacob. Matthew and Michael will get a pair of pajamas, a game for the DS and probably Madagascar Racing for the Wii as well as some board games. I think Matthew would really like Connect 4 X 4 and I want to go to Learning Gizmos to use the gift certificates I received for running a game at Family Game Night. There were a couple games that the boys wanted that I didnt buy. Doodle Dice is one of them so I want to see how much Target/Meijer/WalMart sells it for before going there. I really dont know what else to get. There's not anything that they NEED. Santa will probably bring a dvd player for mom & dad. Bryan's PS3 is not working so we have no way to watch movies in our room. Hopefully I can find a very inexpensive one to put in there. I miss snuggling up with Bryan or the boys and watching movies together.

I better get moving because none of that baking or cooking is going to get done with me sitting here.

smileybabe @ 2009-11-11T12:28:00

2009-11-11T17:54:08Z

I've been busy, busy, busy. Book fair is coming up. It begins Monday. I had no intention of taking it over completely but it appears that I have. Not that I mind. I do enjoy it, I just wasnt ready for it. Now I'm overwhelmed because I dont have the timeline of what needs to be done when in front of me. The lady that was supposed to do this has it and she's turned out to be quite unreliable! I'm doing the best I can with what I have. I did the bulletin board for One for Books today. It looks pretty good. All of the fliers and scavenger hunt papers went home or are going home today. We begin set up on Thursday so the teachers can have a sneak peek on Friday. I have to print out flags to the countries that we assigned the teachers to put on their baskets for the books they want for their classrooms. That's all I know off the top of my head. The rest I'll deal with as it happens I guess.

Family Council was last night. Quickest meeting ever! We were done in a half hour! The teachers/staff provided us with a Thanksgiving dinner. Everything was excellent. Seriously I think we spent more time eating than we did on our actual meeting. Then there was chit chat and visiting after. lol Someone made scalloped corn. Yummy! It's like corn bread with corn inside only on the softer side if that makes any sense. lol Definitely something I will attempt to make.

Our winter coat exchange is not going as well as I had hoped. We only have one full tote of coats and a few hats. :( Hopefully more people will bring stuff in this week. We'll set it up Monday for the taking and leave it up throughout the week while conferences go on. Whatever is left will get donated.

Dentists R Us was at the school yesterday. Both boys got their teeth cleaned. No cavities! Yay! I thought for sure Michael had two and Matthew had at least one. It's such a fight to get them to brush. Michael was scared so the principal sat with him and they called Matthew down to sit with him. Apparently some kid in his class told him they were going to use a needle so he was terrified! :( My poor baby. The worst part is I was IN the building while they did it and had no idea he was so scared! I felt awful! I asked them later how it was and Michael told me it was lots of fun. Matthew told me "It was good. I dont have any cavities, same for Michael. . . well, they thought he had a cavity but it was just his snack. " I laughed so hard. Hilarious and disgusting all at the same time. lol

Michael's birthday is next Friday! How the hell did that sneak up on me?! He's going to be 6. He wants a volcano cake. I am super excited about doing this! The shape is no big deal. I'm going to bake two 8in round cakes and another cake in my mixing bowl. After the three get stacked it's the perfect shape with a nice height. I'll frost it in chocolate buttercream and probably pour chocolate ganache over top so it sets nicely. I want it to erupt. This is the tricky part. I dont want anything crazy messy so I need to experiment with how much liquid and what to use to make it bubble. I have a few ideas. First was to try Red pop and mentos. I THINK it should just roll right off the ganache rather than ruining it. Another idea is to use red jello and baking soda. I think that would taste nasty depending on how much baking soda is needed. Or I could forget the eruption and just have it smoke with some dry ice and water. But one of the best cake decorators I know suggested red jello and dry ice. As the jello oozes out the top and down the side of the cake it will set up and have a nice effect. I really think this is what I'm going to end up doing, as much as I dont want to spend the money on dry ice. I'll probably try each of them (minus the dry ice/water) before I do the cake. I have more Choice Theory training the day before his party so hopefully I can get everything I need for his party done before that and when I have a free moment during book fair week. He keeps changing his mind on what he wants for dinner that night. First it was lasagna, now it's chicken fajitas. I'm sure it will be something else by the time I actually get to the store for it all. lol

smileybabe @ 2009-11-01T09:57:00

2009-11-01T15:58:28Z

We had the most awesome Halloween ever! The kids had a Halloween party at the Eagles. Jacob won the costume contest and his prize was a dog dressed as a devil. It bounces around in a circle to chase it's tail while barking. He laughed SO hard watching this thing. It was great. From there we went to my Dad's so he could see their costumes. We only stayed for 20 minutes or so as we had to pick Bryan up and get to Tina's. We met the gang from school at Tina's house and had dinner then went trick or treating together. We had 13 or 14 children and 10 or so adults. We all stayed together and it went very smoothly. It was a bit chilly but nice as far as a Michigan Halloween goes. We were out for about an hour and a half. Some of the kids wanted to stop when we arrived back at the house but others wanted to keep going. A few parents stayed behind with the kids that were done and the rest of the group went out for another 45 minutes or so. Then it was time to get out of costumes and play. The men sat in the kitchen and the ladies sat in the living room wile the kids played upstairs and down. We had a few drinks and LOTS of laughs. We left around 1am because Matthew had an accident. Tina would have given me clothes for him to change into but Michael had already had an accident that night and Matthew would have been really embarrassed about it. Plus Michael was sleeping already so it was time to go. I imagine that the party went on for at least another hour after we left. It was a fabulous evening though. :)

The night before was absolutely GORGEOUS! It was nearly 70 if not warmer. The church had it's first trunk or treat. So much fun! I sat and passed out candy while the kids ran around trick or treating. It was nice not to have to worry about where they were. We went in and had some food and the kids played games. Ran into an old friend's aunt and uncle. It was nice to see them, they're very nice people but pretty awkward at the same time. After that the kids went home with their dads and the ladies went back to Cathy's house for a game of Scatergories and some drinks. Mike drove us all home around 1am which was so sweet of him.

That morning was the kids Halloween parties at school. Such a crazy morning. I was so aggravated because Pauline kept changing things right up until the last minute. We had the same 5 activities going on in 3 classrooms. Since Matthew's teacher was out sick she wanted to rotate because the sub didnt know what was going on. Rotating through classrooms is a pain in the ass! That's not going to help any, just make things harder. Pauline was the only one that wanted to rotate but this didnt come out until after she had already put all of the supplies into groups by activity, not by class like they had been. The other room mom comes out and says she's not rotating with us because her class has gym. That really pissed Pauline off and she refused to help separate materials for her. I ended up doing it which put my class way behind schedule. Ugh! Too many people involved in all of this. The party did end up going well. The sub was phenomenal! He worked so well with all the kids and kept them entertained while we were getting things ready. He even stopped at the store on his way to school to buy the kids candy and a movie to watch in case there wasnt anything planned. I heard that Michael's party went well too but I never made it down there to see. At the last minute I helped his teacher plan some edible crafts and sent out a letter for supplies but had to leave Aimee there to run it all.

My grandpa died Wednesday evening. :( The funeral should be Tuesday or Thursday depending on when his ashes come back.

I've been fighting with my Mom's cousin John all week over my van. So stupid! Bryan got laid off so we dont have the money to pay him what we were. Bryan told him we'll pay him when we get the money, likely with our income tax return. He calls up whining he's lost $2500 a month from work, his trust is losing money because of the economy and he's fighting with his mortgage company for his house so he either needs the money or the van back. NOT A FUCKING CHANCE! There is no way I am going to sign that title over to him! I sent him an email saying he signed the title to my Mom and she signed it to me therefore the van is from my mother not him and if he has a problem with that to take it up with her. Now he's threatening to take me to court for stealing his van. When I told Mom he wanted the van back and the reasons he gave she told him if he was having trouble paying his mortgage he needed to sell one of his own vehicles to get money and leave me out of it. He then had to bring up that we seemed pretty happy he had all those vehicles when our car broke down and he loaned one to us for three months and this is house he gets repaid. I told him he was thanked, repeatedly, for that but if he really wants to talk about that how about we talk about the THOUSANDS of dollars we lost trusting his mechanic to fix our car. Such a mess. Bryan thinks I should just sign the title to him so now we're fighting about it. He wants to know why I'm not worried that John's taking us to court. I told him because there is nothing between me and John in writing saying that I'm going to pay him, it's all between John and Mom and from what I've been told a verbal agreement over $500 wont hold up in court. Plus the van is LEGALLY mine. Katherine seems to think that if he takes me to court I'm still going to have to pay him because I took the van knowing there was still money owed on it. I told her that I'm not responsible for it, Mom would be. It'd be like selling our house for half of what we owe, we're responsible for paying the other half, not the people buying it from us. Then Katherine said I should ask him if he'll accept a payment much lower than what we agreed to. She doesnt understand that there is NO extra money coming in. There isnt enough to pay our bills and I'm not going to commit to paying him any amount when I cant afford what we already have. So, that's been my week. I'm sick of all the bullshit but I'm glad our week ended on a much needed good note.

smileybabe @ 2009-10-13T11:49:00

2009-10-13T16:38:33Z

Today is Matthew's birthday. He's 8 years old. How the hell did that happen? I remember that day so vividly, not that I want to but we wont go there, and it sure doesnt seem like it was 8 years ago. He had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, which Michael pointed out is NOT healthy! I told him it was a special day so it was ok. He wanted to know what to do if his teacher asked what he had for breakfast. LOL He's such a sweetie. Matthew's first order of business today was getting rid of his car seat. LOL He tells me "I'm 8, I dont need this anymore!" I told him he has to sit in it until he was 100lbs. He wasnt having any of that. He just looks so tiny sitting in the car without a seat.

This information comes a couple years too late for me but is still no surprise. http://ican-online.org/community/users/ican-blog/blog/vba2c-safe-repeat-cesarean-research-finds It's been found that VBA2C is just as safe as after 1 csection. Someone needs to do a study of VBA3C so that by the time I get to that point I'd hopefully have less of a fight on my hands.

The autopsy results finally came back on Bryan's sister. She died of a sudden massive heart attack due to an enlarged heart. The coroner said Ron could have been standing right next to her at the time it happened and wouldnt have been able to save her. She was an organ donor though and helped to save 62 people. At least Ron has some sort of closure and he can honestly answer the question "why?" when his girls ask it.

Tonight is family council. We have such a busy month! Our Halloween party is next week! I love October but it sure does fly by. I have to start getting things ready for Matthew's birthday party. That's this Sunday.

Kristen's wedding was beautiful! I posted pictures on facebook. I'll get them up here too eventually. Michael looked so handsome in his little tux and top hat. We had a great time!

Jacob just woke up and brought me stuff to make him a sandwich. He must be hungry. lol I better go feed him.

smileybabe @ 2009-10-11T08:54:00

2009-10-11T13:42:22Z

The wedding is today. I'm very excited. I really should be getting in the shower so I can do my hair (hopefully) later but I'm not motivated enough for that yet. The boys are going to look so cute. We had the rehearsal dinner Friday. That was awful. Matthew whined the entire time that he was bored or tired or hungry. Michael ran around the chapel, crawled under the seats and was just in a generally goofy mood. We had dinner at Aunt Kathleen & Uncle Nick's house. That was nice and laid back. So much better than a restaurant where my children would not have sit still. Aunt Kathleen sent the boys home with a giant bag full of candy. At first she grabbed a couple small snack bags. Bryan, being the smart ass he is, says she should give them a gallon size bag instead. She didnt have any so she gives them a turkey bag! They emptied her entire bowl into it and she grabbed two more bags of candy and dumped them on the table. They also took half of that. We played Aggravation. I forgot how much I like that game. The boys enjoyed it too. I should buy that for Christmas.

Jacob fell off the porch last night. :( Landed right on his head. His head and face are all scratched up. He looks pretty bad.

We went to the mall last night to get nylons. The damn things better fit right. I HATE buying nylons and then not having them fit properly. Mom bought some from Sears that I loved but I have no idea what kind they were. Hopefully these are similar. We also hit a couple jewelry stores. I cant believe how expensive some (all!) of this stuff is! Even the "cheap" jewelry was ridiculously expensive.

Matthew's birthday is Tuesday. He's going to be 8. (How the hell did that happen?!) He's been asking for a DS. That's not happening. Finally he told me he wanted a bike for his birthday. I had considered that earlier but Bryan said his birthday is a bad time to give him one because he's not going to have much time to ride it before winter. We went to look at some a couple days ago and I wanted to cry. :( $60-$80 for a 20in bike. There's no way we can afford that. Pauline offered to put $10 towards it, Tony might do the same and I thought about asking Mom and Teresa but we'll see.

Tony's been driving me crazy. I'm so sick of his everything's-all-about-me attitude. He's collecting unemployment and works for cash. He says his unemployment is enough to pay his bills ($1500) but nothing else so he works to have extra money. He still hasnt bothered to pay me back for Kristen's shower gifts. It's beginning to piss me off. That was money that I took out of Matthew's communion gifts expecting to get it back right away. I cant deposit it in his bank account without it because it's not like I asked Matthew to borrow it. Any time I ask Tony for it he doesnt have it. Mom's birthday is Thursday and she asked for a table for her basement. She told me to see if my brother and sister would help with it so I did. And of course I'm waiting on an answer from Tony. Mom asked about it yesterday so I told her I was waiting on Tony. Well she asked him and he calls me complaining that Mom shouldnt know about it, etc. I again explained to him that she knows because she told me what she wanted! Then he complains that Matthew told Michael to ask Tony to take him to McDonalds for lunch because Matthew wanted a toy. Like I have any control over what Matthew says to Michael. Give me a break! John just had a heart attack last week and Tony didnt bother to call and tell anyone. I only found out about it because Frannie posted it on facebook. How nice. But apparently Tony & Katherine spent a couple days up at the hospital with him.

I finished putting the directories together for school. They are all copied, stapled and folded all I have to do is figure out who gets them and deliver them to the correct classrooms. I spelled one families last name wrong. :( I checked so many times for mistakes and missed that one each time.

I really need to get moving. Not only do we all need to shower and get ready, I have to pick Michael up from Tony's so I can get him in the shower and dressed. I thought about just bringing his clothes there and having him change but he will smell like smoke and that's not something I want to smell all day. NASTY!

smileybabe @ 2009-10-03T08:51:00

2009-10-03T13:32:33Z

I had better not be getting sick! I feel like crap today. I'm nauseous and have a headache. I have so much cleaning to do and dont feel like doing any of it. :( Plus Matthew wants spaghetti for dinner and I planned to make sauce today. Nice cool rainy day for it but I'd rather just lay in bed.

I just about finished the directory last night. I have all the information entered. I need to get someone to scan the business cards so I can add those to the "yellow pages" Then there were a few names that I needed to have confirmed as contacts for the different family council action teams. Hopefully I get it out to all the families by the end of the week.

I bought a top hat for Michael for Kristen's wedding. It's not what I was expecting. It's a satin hat but around the top of it is all worn out. That to me is not a brand new hat. After emailing the seller she points out if I would have read the entire listing I would have seen that it's a cheap satin and that's what happens. I was pretty pissed. I think I could have gotten a better one for only $10 more. I did go back and look at the listing and at the VERY bottom, after a ton of pictures for other stuff (suits, shoes, etc) and shipping/sizing policies, there it was. Whatever, it's not going to show up in pictures and you cant even see it. I only noticed because I ran my hand over it so it will be fine. I cant believe the wedding is coming up next week! Ugh! I so can NOT get sick! We have to take him for a fitting for his tux Wednesday, haircuts for the boys and rehearsal dinner on Friday and the wedding is Sunday.

Dad took me shopping Wednesday. We havent done that since I was 12 or so. We had a good time. I just about had a heart attack at the amount of money he spent. . .all on me. I offered him money several times but he said no.

Michael is so incredibly noisy! All he did last night was scream, and again this morning. Not for any particular reason. He's just playing and is so loud!

Jacob said bamboo this morning. I started up my laptop and every time I do he points to the screen and says bubbles. I have bubbles as a screensaver and he loves it. I told him it's not bubbles, it's bamboo and he says "oh, bamboo!"

I have a winter coat for Matthew and Jacob. Just need to get one for Michael. They need snow pants too. Michael is going to get Matthew's boots from last year, thankfully he likes them, and I will just get a new pair for Matthew.

Matthew's birthday is coming up in 10 days. I need to figure out what to get him! We're having his party on the 18th since Kristen's wedding is next week. He wants a DS but there's no way that's happening. He wants me to make him a cake that looks like a DS. :/ He wants spaghetti and meatballs for dinner for his party so at least that's cheap and easy.

Bryan's father called the other day. Stupid me answered the phone. I looked at the number and as I'm saying hello I'm thinking this was a bad idea. Sure enough, it was! Bryan talked to him while he played catch with Matthew. Hopefully he doesnt bother to call back again. He didnt really say anything other than what he kept saying at Bryan's sister's funeral except that his family only lives to be 60ish. Great, thanks so much for that!

Michael's teacher is going to drive me crazy! She's asked for help with centers. Originally she asked me for Wednesday and Thursday. I told her Wednesday and Friday would be better but I was doing to be there this Thursday so I'd do that day too. Wednesday I go in and she says she's not doing centers because her class is too wound up. Thursday she tells me she's not doing them because she has meetings all morning. Ok fine. Yesterday after I did spelling tests for Matthew's class I go into her room and she says she's not doing centers because she didnt have anyone signed up! WHAT?! I told her I would be there and another mom that was there doing spelling tests said she'd be there too! Besides that, why would she not be doing centers just because she has nobody signed up? I dont know how she can be so inconsistent!

Jacob's chasing Matthew around the house saying "tickle tickle tickle!" So adorable.

smileybabe @ 2009-09-29T21:36:00

2009-09-30T02:05:20Z

I'm interested to hear what all of you think about this, especially those of you with children of your own? http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090927/ap_on_re_us/us_more_school Do you think we should have longer school days and longer school years? Personally I do not. I'd be all for an extended school year with say a few extra weeks but longer Christmas/Easter breaks and shorter school days but definitely NOT longer school days and surely NOT 3 hours longer! Some nights there arent enough hours in the day to get all of the homework, reading, studying done and still do dinner, baths, bedtime at a reasonable hour with my first and third grader and I'm a stay at home mom. I cant imagine how much more difficult it would be for a working parent to deal with all that. Not to mention that all these countries that Obama wants us to "catch up" to get 100-200 LESS instructional hours per year than we do. To me that clearly says the number of hours we're in school is not the issue here. Perhaps we need to look at the curriculum instead.

I had to cut stick tack out of Matthew's hair today. :( I was not too happy about that. I need to say something to his teacher tomorrow. His locker partner did it. And it appears that someone had tried to cut it out already but stopped. I'd like to know who that was. I'm even more upset that someone tried to cut it out than it actually happening. Thankfully it doesnt look terrible.

Michael woke up yesterday morning and was a bit on the crabby side. The first words out of his mouth were "My shower's too loud!" LOL He's so funny. He was just tired and didnt want to be in there.

I found a top hat for Michael. $24 after shipping. That's not too bad but it's more than I wanted to spend. Oh well. Hopefully Aunt Kathleen will offer to pay for some of it. It should be here within the week. I cant wait to see it on him. He's going to be so adorable.

Jacob has been talking more and more lately. I love it. Today at lunch he was so silly. I made stuffed cabbage for dinner Sunday and we were eating leftovers for lunch today. He ate a lot of it Sunday but only wanted mashed potatoes today. I snuck a bit of cabbage in his mouth with and he almost immediately took it out. He tossed it on the floor so I told him not to do that. A little while later I snuck him another bite and he did the same thing! Again I told him we dont throw food on the floor and he tells me "Doggie get it" We DONT have a dog! I dont even know why he would think that! lol He wakes up in the morning and then goes to wake his brothers up for school. He stands at the head of the bed and yells at Matthew "Get up!" With Michael he just steals his blankets. lol He gives the best kisses and hugs but he's quite stingy with them. I can't believe he's 18 months old already!

I went to Dad's tonight. We had a bottle of Witches Brew from Leelanau Cellars. It was good. His girlfriend invited us all up to her house for Thanksgiving. She lives out in Holly. Or I should say, she has a house out near Holly, she's at Dad's way more than she's at her house. It should be fun. She says she has lots of property. She wants me to bring my boys out to her house to go sledding this winter. They would love that! They are pretty crazy about her already. I think it's awesome that she gets down and plays with them.

smileybabe @ 2009-09-26T08:39:00

2009-09-26T12:49:44Z

The walkathon at school was yesterday. It was fun but I was exhausted by the time I got home. It went well but we'll make lots of changes for next year.

Curriculum night at school was Wednesday. I'm liking Michael's teacher a little more. I think she just needed to be a bit friendlier. Plus her telling me how sweet Michael is helped. lol

I made cookies with Dad yesterday. We made apple cookies. It's something that my great grandma used to make and was Mom's favorite but we had no recipe for the apple filling. I talked to Dad about it a while ago and he loved them too and attempted to recreate the apple filling. It turned out well. They were really good but the consistency was off. I'll try again, maybe later today since it's supposed to rain. This filling cooks on the stove for 7-8 hours and I still have a half bushel of apples I need to use up. I brought some to Mom before she went to work and she was thrilled.

We took Michael to be measured for a tux after school yesterday. Matthew threw a fit that he didnt want to go so Cathy took him home with her. So spoiled. Then Michael was mad that he didnt get to stay and play at Cathy's as long as Matthew did. Ugh! It never ends. lol We have to find a top hat for Michael. I'll have to spend some time looking online I guess because I'm not finding any in stores. I may check the costume shop to see the quality of the ones they have. I want something nice and not really costume-ish but if the price is right. . . We'll see.

Jacob is 18 months old. I cant believe it! Time just flies! He's talking up a storm and he's such a happy baby. It's great. I love every minute of it. He's very smart and follows direction well. Bryan says he doesnt remember the other two being like this at all. They were, Matthew more so than Michael. Michael just loved to make people laugh. He was such a silly baby. He still loves to make people laugh.

Bryan commented yesterday that he doesnt remember unemployment being like this, having so much time to do nothing. Of course not, we had a brand new baby! I am loving having him home. The house stays relatively clean, laundry is kept up on but best of all, the kids come home from school, sit down to do homework, reading and spelling and there is little argument about it. Matthew has been reading OUT LOUD for about a half hour at a time to Bryan. He wont do that for me. Drives me crazy!

I'm hoping to go to the farmers market today. It's supposed to rain so I'd like to go early. I should go wake these lazy boys up and drag them out of the house.

smileybabe @ 2009-09-18T12:10:00

2009-09-18T16:53:41Z

I'm really beginning to hate September! Bryan just got laid off! :( He's been fortunate enough to escape these seasonal layoffs for the past 4 or 5 years but not this time. He can go back in the spring. Usually these layoffs are done in October so this means the company must really be hurting to start layoffs so early. I do wonder about Michael's tuxedo for Kristen's wedding. Bryan's boss just told him yesterday to bring him in to get measured next week. :/ I was really hoping to NOT have to pay for his tux.

Yesterday was a fabulous day. I made french toast casserole and homemade breakfast sausage at Cathy's house for all the ladies. Alysia, Pauline and Tina were there. Aimee and Heidi also joined us. We had lots of laughs. It's always a good time with them. :) I'm so blessed to have such a great group of friends! We sat on Cathy's deck and enjoyed every minute of the gorgeous day. Jacob played in the sand table and with the various balls that she has. The garage was open so he could go in and grab things as he pleased. I noticed him playing on the other side of Heidi and then when I looked again he was gone. I asked her if he was in the garage, she turned and didnt see him so got up to look. He wasnt there. I called his name and Cathy jumps out of her seat screaming "Oh God! He's under the deck!" Sure enough, he was under there. He crawled out and Heidi spotted the ball he was after. She crawled under as best she could to retrieve it and Cathy's dog jumped on her butt and started humping her. LOL We were laughing so hard and the little kids that were there just stared at us wondering what the heck was going on. lol Cathy's oldest and Heidi's youngest both came home from school sick. :( Simon had a slight fever (99.2) and Dominic was throwing up but apparently he makes himself throw up so Heidi has to come to the school. The principal insisted that they go home because of the swine flu they cant take any chances. I'm sure there are going to be LOTS of kids sent home from school. There are already several children missing school and this is only the second week. Yuck!

Ron and the girls are coming over for dinner tomorrow. I told Bryan to invite them over and ask Ron what he wants for dinner. I told him if he gives me an answer like my husband gives me (I dont know/I dont care) I'm going to be really pissed. He said pasta of some sort but asked that I please keep some separate for Paige because she only likes butter noodles. Last time that was asked she didnt even eat it! I havent decided what I want yet. I'm torn between making homemade sauce with ravioli and either meatballs or sausage or making chicken alfredo with broccoli, carrots and sundried tomatoes. The only problem with that is I SUCK at making alfredo sauce so I'd be buying it. I have quite a bit of cleaning to do so that would certainly be easier. I dont know. . .

Yesterday while at Cathy's Tina reminded us all that tomorrow is her block party. I really wanted to go but since Ron is coming over I doubt we'll make it. I'm hoping they'll be gone by 8pm and maybe we can still make the outdoor movie.

Sunday all us girls are supposed to take Pauline out for her birthday. Originally we planned to take her to the Renaissance Festival but we couldnt all get together for a full day before it ends. Instead Aimee has 2 extra tickets from last time she went so the plan is to take her to dinner Sunday, buy a child ticket and stick all three in a card for her as a gift so she can go with her family. I think I may skip dinner. :/

All this crap with Tasha is starting to cause problems with Tony & Katherine. Long story short, Tasha was supposed to leave, her mother put it off for weeks then she finally leaves the day after labor day which happens to be the first day of school here. Mississippi started Aug 6! The kid has already missed a month of school! Anyway, they leave and the next day Jenny calls Tony up crying he has to come get them, they're in a really bad part of Dayton, OH and she just cant drive all by herself. Tony & Katherine drive to OH to get them. Find Tasha sitting in a car by herself while Jenny's in a store changing her clothes. Jenny comes out in hoochie shorts and barely a top on. Tony drives Jenny's van and Tasha rides in the car with Katherine all the way down to MS. They get there and Jenny's boyfriend is throwing a fit that she rode with Tony and that they all stayed in a room together for the night. Tells her they are through and she can find her own place to live. Jenny wants Tony to take Tasha back with him but all her stuff that was sent there already is unpacked and everywhere. Tony told her to call him in 2 weeks and he'd come pick her up with a U-haul! He even goes as far as to tell her they can stay with them until she finds a place up here! :O They get back here and Jenny decides she's staying there because her and her boyfriend have made up but she wants to know if Tony will send her a phone because she doesnt have one. Katherine is mad! I dont blame her one bit. I'd be angry too! There's more to the crazy story but whatever. It's all so stupid.

I dont know that I'm liking Michael's teacher much more. Really I think she just needs to be friendlier. I'm trying to be nice and help her out and give her the benefit of the doubt but I dont see myself being in that classroom too much. I think that's ok though. I was in Michael's class just about EVERY day last year. I'm the room mom for Matthew's class this year and hope to spend lots more time with him in his class this year. With Bryan laid off for a bit I can definitely spend the morning in there without having to take Jacob with me.

Speaking of school, I better go get Jacob ready to leave. I'm putting together our school's directory this year and need to go pick up the sheets that are supposed to be returned to me so I can organize them and get that started. It'll be a few weeks yet but hopefully I dont have any major problems while I figure this out. I've never used Publisher before but it's nice that the mom that did this previously is still at the school to help me this year. Really all I have to do is change the addresses from last years so it's not a big deal. The formatting is all done which I assume would be the hard part.

smileybabe @ 2009-09-13T22:17:00

2009-09-14T02:58:10Z

The funeral for Bryan's sister was yesterday. It was so much harder than I expected it to be. I've been to plenty of funerals before, but never for anyone young. It was awful! The viewing was Friday. We took Jacob with us and the other two stayed the night at Cathy's house. They had a blast. I met Bryan's father for the first time ever. I've been with Bryan for 11 or 12 years. I've known his sister for 13 years and this is the first time ever seeing the man. Bryan said it's been 16 years since he's seen him. Crazy. I've never heard a good thing about him. It's all been about abuse or neglect. Definitely not someone I want to get to know. My first instinct when Bryan said he was going to be there was I do not want my children there. Obviously they needed to be there so they did come but I wasn't about to leave them alone with him. Friday when we arrived we said hello to a couple people and were on our way across the room to see some others. This guy calls Bryan and as Bryan turns around he hugs him and starts apologizing for all the stupid things he's done. I realized who it was and walked away. I visited with a few people and Bryan came over to introduce me to him. He starts out saying "I'm the asshole of the family. I've done a lot of bad things in the past" His wife cuts him off and says he needs to drop it and he says he hopes I'll have mercy on him. I was going to tell him I'm not the one he needs to beg for mercy from but then Mike came in so I excused myself to say hello. I wouldnt even look at the man. He didnt try talking to me the rest of the evening or weekend for that matter though he did pay way more attention to Jacob than I liked. Bryan and I were talking later and he told Bryan that he could take a swing at him if he wanted and he'd just stand there because he deserved it. Bryan told him not today and his reply was he'd be there the next day too. At the church during the service the priest asked if anyone had anything they'd like to say. He was the first to get up. He had a piece of paper and read from that. It was the exact same thing he had been saying to Bryan the entire time. He's been a jerk, etc and he's screwed up but Dawn gave him a second chance and he hopes Bryan will too. I looked at my sister and had to bite my tongue. Bryan was a pall bearer and he sat with Ron and his mother so I was a few rows behind him. As soon as we got to the car to head to the cemetery I looked at Bryan. He said "wait a minute" rolled the windows up then said "go ahead." lol COULD HE HAVE PICKED A MORE INAPPROPRIATE TIME?! That had nothing to do about his daughter and everything to do about him! What an asshole! Not to mention he was taking pictures the entire time. Who the hell wants a picture of their daughter's casket just before it's put into the ground?! Creepy! I'm sure Bryan was ready to take that swing by the end of the day. lol

I feel so bad for Ron and the girls. Ron's grandmother died Friday so he'll have to take the girls to another funeral this week. :( He's a mess. As a mother I feel bad for his mother as well. She told him if there was anything she could do to take away the pain of it all she would do it in a heartbeat. I cant imagine what she must feel like having to see her son suffer like this.

The girls seem to be doing well but I'm sure that will change as time goes on. From what I hear the middle one hasnt cried yet. The youngest has but Ron thinks that's because she sees everyone else crying. She keeps telling everyone sorry. Bryan's cousin or uncle or whatever he is thinks that's because she thinks it's her fault. I told him it's probably because she hears everyone else telling Ron and the girls that they're sorry so she's just repeating it because she thinks that what she's supposed to say. That guys really bugged me Friday. He was all up in Ron's face, enough that I had to step back because I was uncomfortable, talking about suicide and other crazy things. I cant even remember exactly what he said but I remember thinking Ron didnt need to hear about that stuff right now.

The funniest thing happened to Bryan's mother though. Friday night after the viewing she was drinking, as was everyone in the house. She had enough to make herself sick and came back to tell Ron he's going to be pissed. She told him she got sick in the upstairs bathroom. He asked if she cleaned it up and she said she lost her teeth. She flushed her teeth down the toilet! I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard. My stomach hurt from laughing. The best part though was the girls going around telling everyone. LOL I told Cathy that today and she said when we get old if she ever drinks enough to get sick I better tell her to take her teeth out first. LOL The nastiest part of all that though was that she wanted to take the toilet out to see if she could get them back! :X

smileybabe @ 2009-09-08T21:59:00

2009-09-09T02:39:44Z

We got a call at 3am from Bryan's mother that his sister died. We are still in total shock. No idea why this happened. All I know is Bryan's mom left for work at 10:30pm. His sister told Ron to go to bed since he looked tired. Ron woke around 12:30am, went to the bathroom and then to make sure the front door was locked. He found her sitting in a chair slumped over like she was sleeping with her laptop on her lap. He told her to come to bed and when she didnt answer he started yelling at her to stop screwing around and went over to her, touched her shoulder and she fell over. He tried CPR and called 911. She was taken to the hospital and I believe she was pronounced DOA. A neighbor was sitting with the girls and Bryan's mother left work. This morning Bryan went out there. Ron didnt want to tell the girls so the chaplain came over to do it. They have three daughters age 12, 9 and 3. The oldest and youngest just celebrated birthdays last week while we were in Oklahoma and the middle one turns 10 in a couple weeks. The youngest just doesnt get it. She keeps asking to call mommy to tell her she loves her and misses her. Ron has been letting her call her cell phone and leave messages. Bryan said the oldest just sat in the corner and wouldnt talk to anyone so he went to sit with her and comfort her. Ron has called to start making arrangements but we havent heard anything yet. Nothing can be done until the autopsy anyway. That will be done tomorrow at the earliest.

We were up until after 5am and somehow managed to fall asleep for about an hour until the alarm went off. We got the kids up for school but havent told them anything yet. The counselor at school said to let him know if there's anything we need. I think we'll wait until we find out why she died and when the funeral is to tell them. I'm so exhausted. It's been such a long day. Tasha left today as well. I'll update about that later. It's so stupid.

Bryan's ok. I'm worried about him but at the same time I dont think I need to be. He was like this when his grandma passed away too. Very lucid. I think that's always been his role in that family, man of the house, the one to get everyone on the right track. I dont know. . .

smileybabe @ 2009-09-04T15:11:00

2009-09-04T20:48:26Z

We have internet back on. Yay! I've caught up reading my friends page for the last month. I was sad to see that someone I really enjoyed reading removed me as a friend.

We went to Oklahoma and had a lovely time. On the way there we stopped in Chicago, went to Shedd Aquarium which was wonderful and then Ed Debevic's for lunch. I wanted to go there because I thought Bryan would really enjoy it but then the more I thought about it the more worried about bringing the kids I was. It was nice though. The kids enjoyed it. The funniest part had to be when our waiter brought us drinks and Jacob was nursing. He walked away mumbling "Boy am I glad I came to work today" then from across the restaurant he yells "Now I know why they didnt order you anything kid!" lol The boys giggled a lot when he came to take our order and wouldnt let them speak without interrupting them. From Chicago we drove to St Louis for the night. The hotel had a heated indoor pool. Love it! After swimming for an hour we went back to our room, Jacob and I showered then Matthew and Michael took a bath. They loved it. Cant take baths at home, only showers. All three kids slept GREAT! Jacob didnt move at all. lol The bed was so comfortable. We are so buying a new bed this year! The next day we were about half way to OK and noticed we were leaking transmission fluid. Yikes! I thought we were stuck. We added more, drove a bit then stopped to check again and all was ok. It was very odd but we made and had William look at it. He found no reason it was leaking. It stopped leaking but we put some stop leak in it just to be safe. It's been fine since then. The first day we were there Cathy was on her way home and got into a car accident. She was driving her little jeep and hit the side of a car and destroyed it. Ripped the metal right off, you could see into the trunk. Her jeep had no damage at all. The woman she hit is on her mail route and this woman actually gave her a hug after it happened. Cathy ended up cutting her leg on the woman's car so we took her to the hospital for stitches. We didnt do too much in OK. Sat around and enjoyed the peace mostly. There was a storm one night. I have an awesome picture. Actually I have a ton of pictures but dont feel like dealing with Photobucket to get them up here. The boys flew kites for the first time. They helped feed the chickens and collect the eggs. The last day we were there we went to Oklahoma City and met Claire at the zoo. That night we went to the fair and I finally tried a deep fried snickers. It was pretty good. On the way back to St Louis for the night we stopped in Springfield, MO and went to Fantastic Caverns. I wasnt thrilled. I wanted to stop somewhere to walk around. This was strictly a drive through the cave. It was expensive and not worth it at all. The history part was good but the overall experience was not. They crammed everyone into what is essentially a wagon with two bench seats along the side. It's pulled by a jeep. Being inside the cave with no ventilation, breathing the exhaust fumes left me feeling nauseous. Every time I tried to take a picture someone's head ended up in my way. It's not a place we'll be going back to. There are definitely some other ones I'd like to see though.

Tasha is supposed to be moving to Mississippi. I dont remember if I posted about that or not. She ended up with permission from the judge to take her. The fact that Tony signed the paper saying she could go helped that along. I cannot believe him! UGH! I tried so hard to get to see her before we left for OK just in case. He called while we were there saying she's leaving Sunday. We came home Monday night so I missed her. Or so I thought. Monday night Tony calls and asks if I want to take her for the night. I was so mad because I had talked to him at least twice that day and he mentioned NOTHING about Tasha still being there. I happened to be on the phone with Mom when he called so she asked what he wanted. She had no idea Tasha was still around so she went and picked her up for the night. We went to Mom's first thing in the morning for breakfast and visiting with Tasha.

That turned out to be a very crazy day. While at Mom's Michael was riding a bike out front. He popped a wheelie and fell. His chin hit the cement and took a nice gouge out. It was a very deep abrasion. It was gushing blood, there was so much. There was a puddle on the ground the size of a 50 cent piece. We covered it with a washcloth folded in quarters and he bled right through it. I immediately thought he's going to need stitches. Then I looked at it and seen that there was no skin flap, just a hole. I had Bryan meet me at the ER. He ended up with 3 stitches. :( It was such an awful experience. They injected the lidocain and I could hear him screaming from down the hall. (I was in the bathroom) I came back and he's screaming "I HATE THESE STITCHES!" and flailing around, kicking and trying to escape. They bring in a papoose to strap him down. As soon as they get him strapped down he starts yelling he has to go to the bathroom. The nurse holding his head is yelling at him to calm down and stop wiggling. Michael's looking right at me screaming "WHY ARE YOU LETTING THEM HURT ME?! PLEASE MAKE THEM STOP!" :( I stood there and cried right along with him. He was very mad they wouldnt let him up to pee and made him wet his pants. He was kind of funny towards the end though. When they actually started the sutures and had the first one in he said he only wanted one. Then when they started the next he said he only wanted two. Before the third was started he said "ONLY THREE!" He probably could have used one more.

While we were in OK Michael started complaining his ear hurt. The next morning he was ok so I waited until we got home to deal with it. The ER doctor looked in his ears so I asked if there was any fluid. He told me it was red. That doesnt answer my question! He wouldnt even discuss it. A few hours after we left the ER I had to take him to the family doctor to have it looked at. He does have an ear infection but it's viral. :( I cried all over again. I thought we were making progress with the fluid in his ears and now this. He's supposed to go to the ENT in 2 weeks and I know he will push for tubes. I talked with the doctor about it and he said he could write me a prescription for antibiotics if it gets worse or we could just wait and I could call him if I thought he needed it. I told him I'd rather just bring him back if it gets worse to be sure he needs the antibiotics. He was ok with that so we were both happy. Then he asked who was taking the stitches out and offered to do it and re check his ear before we go back to the ENT. That made me very happy. Then I made the appointment and got mad because he's not there that day. None of the doctors I know are there that day. :(

Between the ER and the doctors office that took up the whole day. Ice cream social was that night. I hadnt decorated Renee's door yet and I had to help set up. Pauline picked me up so Bryan could feed the kids and meet us there later. The principal was there early to help with set up. She even helped scoop ice cream! She was also there the weekend before to help with grounds clean up two days in a row. She felt bad that even after two days it still wasnt done and it was just the same few parents there weeding that she hired a landscaping company to finish it up and lay mulch. Those parents weren't happy that the landscaping company covered the mulch they already had in place so it was a wasted $200. It was very nice of the principal to do that though. She's really making such an effort and is so friendly. I think she's going to do wonderful things for the school. :) We have a lot of new teachers. There are now 2 kindergarten classes. One of the teachers is new. Both first grade classes have new teachers. There is a 3rd grade only class with a new teacher. The two 2nd/3rd and three 4th/5th are all teachers that have been there a while. I think there is a second art teacher that is new and a new gym teacher. Oh and all grades will be taught spanish this year as part of the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme. The name of the spanish teacher sounds familiar but I'm not too sure if he's someone I know or not. Matthew has the same teacher he's had for the last two years. He's not too happy. He said he really likes her but he wanted the other 2/3 teacher. I knew that but I know he'll be better off where he's at. He's wanted this other teacher since he started 1st grade. Her son was in his first grade class and he really liked him. She sent him to a school by their house so he can make some friends over there. I dont know how I feel about Michael's teacher yet. I introduced myself and told her if there's anything at all that she needs to ask. She seems very unorganized. :( I'm trying not to judge her too harshly as she is just getting settled in her classroom, etc but I really hope she's organized. I've heard she's a good teacher. She's been teacher 1st grade for 11 years. We'll see. I can't believe the kids go back to school on Tuesday. I'm so not ready for this! :(

Today I took the kids to get haircuts. Matthew's isn't so bad but Michael's. . . well. . . I dont know. I hope it does lots of growing in the next month! The way his mohawk was cut left his hair looking pretty funny. :/ Jacob's is pretty long and I skipped having it cut. I'll probably do it next month before Kristen's wedding.

After haircuts we went to the orchard with Dad. We were eaten alive by mosquitoes. YUCK! It was terrible. Despite that, we had a good time. So expensive though! A bushel of apples was $35. We picked up cider for $6.50/gallon as well as donuts as $6.25/dozen I believe. The kids wanted carmel apples and they were $3.25 each.

Tomorrow we're supposed to go camping with Frannie & John. I have no idea what time we're leaving though. I still havent packed anything. Hell, I havent even unpacked from Oklahoma yet!

Bryan's home so I should go get dinner started. I attempted to make chicken alfredo last night. It tasted really good but the cheese didnt melt. That's the problem I always have! No idea why. Tonight we're having tacos.

smileybabe @ 2009-07-29T12:23:00

2009-07-29T16:24:52Z

We will have no internet for a while. No idea how long. Call me if you need anything. I'll update again when it's back on.

smileybabe @ 2009-07-27T14:59:00

2009-07-27T19:38:35Z

Jacob is learning words on a daily basis. The other day it was "bubbles" today was "cookie." There was another one yesterday but I cant remember what it was. lol He likes to say "eeeewwww" and "uhoh" a lot and thinks it's funny when you say them back to him. He goes to the doctor tomorrow morning for a checkup and shots. :( Just one I think and probably a lead test since it didnt get done last time we were there and we never brought him to the hospital.

I finally finished the second book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. I only owe $1.05 in late fees to the library so that's not bad. lol

I made a ham for dinner last night. Dawn and her youngest two girls came over. I brought a big plate to Dad. Uncle Jimmy was there. I didnt ask how Maria was but Dad had told me earlier that she's been home for about a week and still is unable to walk. She can move her legs when she's sitting but they just wont hold any weight. :( Poor baby girl. There's a benefit for her Sunday. I'm going but I'm not sure if I'm taking any of the kids with me aside from Jacob. We'll see.

I had breakfast with Dad yesterday morning then we went shopping. He spent $140, mostly on clothes for Matthew & Michael. Matthew loves the pair of jeans with a belt and the gray shirt with the skateboarder on it. I havent showed any of Michael's clothes to him yet because Matthew wanted to wear the skateboard shirt. I told him they're school clothes so no wearing them until school. He's not too happy.

We went to Rose's house this morning. Matthew did really well but Michael was not interested at all. He was being very stubborn today.

I have book club tonight. Yay! I'm excited. I picked the book we're reading up from the library rather than buying it. We're meeting at Jefferson Yacht Club since we cant meet at school. I'm not sure where that's at though. Behind Jefferson Beach Marina is all I know. lol I hope Bryan is home from work each week so I dont have to bring the boys. They are able to go swimming while we meet but I wouldnt feel comfortable with that.

Matthew rented Wii Sports Resort. I like it. I wish we had the money to buy it. I kicked the boys butt in basketball last night. lol

smileybabe @ 2009-07-25T10:18:00

2009-07-25T14:37:45Z

We didnt make it to Port Huron Tuesday. The weather didnt look like it would hold out so we opted for Detroit Childrens Museum instead. It was ok. No where near as good as the Hand On Museum in Ann Arbor but it was nice as a place to go for a couple hours. Matthew spotted a giant chess set as soon as we walked in and spent a good 20 minutes there before checking out anything else. Jacob was able to get down and play as well so that was nice. We went to the planetarium and that was good too. The instructor there was very entertaining.

We did get to see Rose Thursday. The boys were not too happy about having to do work and as soon as they read one book for her bolted out the door. I was so mad at them for being so rude. Michael ended up back at Tony's, of course! Matthew and I just hung out for the day.

Tony brought Michael home yesterday morning because he had a funeral to go to. He brought him home but not his carseat. I was pissed! I called Tony and asked where it was, he forgot it at home. Ok, you can forget books, diaperbags, etc at home but NOT a carseat! You know that's missing the minute you get to the car! He was just too lazy to walk his butt back up the steps and into his house to get it. I asked him what I was supposed to do without a seat for Michael and he says "Oh are you going somewhere?" He KNEW we were going out! Such a jerk. I asked Michael if he rides in the car with Tony without a seat and he said sometimes. I told him he wasnt allowed to go back there. He got mad but I told him if I cant trust Uncle Tony to keep him safe he cant go over there. He said he'll make sure he has his seat every time.

Last night I went to Lisa's for game night. It was so much fun. I made dinner, ate a little then left. I asked Bryan to wash the dishes and he gave me a look. I told him nevermind make Matthew wash them but he should do the frying pan. Guess what's left in the dirty dish water that never got dumped. The frying pan! I wouldnt be so upset about that except that Bryan told me Jacob had been asleep since about a half hour after I left so there really was no reason he couldnt have washed ONE pan! I also wasnt too happy to come home and find Matthew outside playing. It was 9:30, not quite dark but dark enough that the street lights were on and he was down the street!

Today we're supposed to go to the corn roast at the Eagles. I would have liked to go for a bike ride but it's supposed to rain all day. Yuck. I dont want to go sit out in the rain for the corn roast either.

Jacob has been interested in the toilet. More than just playing in it. ;P He's been grabbing the seat, putting it on top then backing up into the toilet until someone puts him on it. He hasnt actually gone yet. I'm so not ready for potty training!

smileybabe @ 2009-07-13T08:48:00

2009-07-13T13:31:19Z

I was lucky enough to score two tickets to the sneak peek of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince last night. Bryan and I dropped the boys off, got stuck in traffic getting there but actually made it in time to get seats. We decided to skip dinner and go straight to the theater just in case. I enjoyed the movie. Bryan. . . not so much. He liked it but complained there was lots of important stuff left out. Since I haven't read the book I had no idea what to expect. Some parts I had to ask Bryan to explain because I didnt understand them. Like the half blood prince. Harry finds a book that belongs to the half blood prince, later Hermione says she tried to find out who he was at the library but was unsuccessful and then at the end that character announces he's the half blood prince. I had no idea why or what that meant. It was a nice evening out though. It was at the Emagine Theater in Novi. Pretty nice place. I was surprised to find out they serve alcohol! One of the people in front of us brought a mixed drink back to her seat. She paid $9.25 for it!

This is going to be a busy week. But fun! I'm looking forward to it. Today I'm meeting with Pauline and Cathy to go shopping. We're picking stuff up for our trip Wednesday. We're headed to Hartwick Pines in Grayling with all the kids. Pauline's mom lives in Houghton Lake and we'll all be staying the night with her. I'm very excited! Must remember to bring my camera! I need to figure out what we need to bring aside from clothes and food and get us all packed. Michael is coming. Yay! He's not happy that I'm making him come home Tuesday night and not just picking him up on the way Wednesday morning. Silly kid. He's really not going to be happy that I'm making him stay home Thursday night too.

Tomorrow we're going to the park. I thought we'd be going to Metro but I think I also heard Memorial park. Suzz you're welcome to join us no matter where we go. Let me know!

Friday morning I'm meeting Rose. I need to get some cookies baked for her! She's going to tutor the boys in reading once a week until school starts. I'm beyond thankful that she is doing this for me. She's lost her job and I have no way to pay her. Cookies is the least I can do! It will be nice to catch up with her too. :)

Our weekend was nice. Saturday at the graduation party Andy & Dave were there. We havent seen them in so long. I miss them! It was nice to catch up a bit. They left shortly after we arrived. They rode bikes out there and wanted to go back home to grab their truck and some chairs. I tried to invite Andy with me to some of our weekly get togethers. She said she's going to try to be more social but she's busy on the days I had invited her. They did come back and I would have loved to see them more but I had to leave before they made it back. Kristen's shower was nice. I took Jacob with me and regretted every minute of it. He was so crabby! Kristen won a topsy turvy cake for her shower. It was pretty. Watching my aunt try to cut it was hilarious! She didnt do too bad with the top layer but come the second she tried cutting the layer in half and didnt know there were supports. She said she was thankful I knew how it was constructed. lol I wouldnt help her cut it though. Just held plates and passed them down. I REALLY want to try making one. Just a tiny one though.

Jacob had a nap just before we picked him up last night so he was wide awake and not wanting to sleep when we got home at 11pm. It was close to 12:30am before he finally went down. He slept in his crib all night, woke up and nursed for a bit then curled up with my pillow and blanket and went back to sleep. I wonder how long that will last.

smileybabe @ 2009-07-11T09:46:00

2009-07-11T14:20:03Z

I had no children at all Thursday afternoon. It was sort of nice. Michael went to Alysia's house to play with Connor. Matthew & Jacob stayed at Tony's house while I dropped Michael off. I went home and started cleaning. I got all the laundry folded and put away. I sorted the kids clothes and took out what no longer fits. I did the same with all Jacob's baby clothes. Hung up his stuff and sorted the rest into boxes. I'm pretty bad about cleaning out the stuff that's too small. And holy crap did Michael have a lot of clothes. This tells you how long it's been since I've had the time to do it, I had 2 stuffed boxes of size 3 clothes. Michael wears a 5, going on 6 now. I also grabbed the box of 12 month clothes for Jacob. It's all summer clothes but they will still fit. Long pant/shirts need to be 18 months though. I didnt realize I had so many pairs of shorts already, I probably wont even take the tags off the two new pairs I bought for him a couple months ago. I got all the diapers folded and stacked up neatly on the floor but then had to go get the kids. Tony called and said "Jacob wants you, he's pulling on Katherine's shirt." lol I didnt get the diapers picked up before I left and when I came home with Jacob (the other two stayed the night at Tony's) he got into them and tossed them all over.

Alysia gave me her kitchenaid the other day so I of course had to use it. I made a cheesecake with homemade blueberry sauce to bring to the park yesterday. It all turned out very well. I have lots of blueberry sauce leftover and no idea what to make with it.

Yesterday Jacob and I had lunch with Suzz then picked the other two up and met Alysia and Cathy at Memorial park. It was a perfect day for it. I couldnt believe how sleepy I was though! Jacob fell asleep on the way to get the boys then they were so noisy they woke him up. He was crabby, I was crabby, it was not good. Bethany walked him around the park for a while so that gave me a bit of a break.

It's after 10am and everyone is still sleeping!

Today is Stephanie's graduation party. Hopefully the rain stops. I'm in n o mood to sit at the park in the rain. Kristen's bridal shower is this evening. I'm going from one to the other. I'd like to wear a dress to the shower but I dont want to spend all day at the park in a dress. :/

I better go get dip made for Steph's party before Jacob wakes up. He is not so good when I'm in the kitchen. He always wants me to hold him so he can see what's going on. Sitting in his chair at the table is not sufficient.

smileybabe @ 2009-07-03T21:42:00

2009-07-04T01:55:43Z

I just found out my 3 year old cousin Maria has leukemia. :( She starts chemo tomorrow. That poor little girl. She hates doctors to begin with and cries every time she gets sick because she doesnt want to go. And my aunt and uncle, I cant even fathom how they must be feeling right now.

smileybabe @ 2009-07-03T10:24:00

2009-07-03T15:05:45Z

We spent the whole day at the zoo yesterday. It was marvelous. We had a great time. I baked cinnamon rolls and made some granola to bring along. We went with Alysia, Cathy & Pauline. We all brought sandwiches and something to share. The kids loved it. I loved it! We went to the dinosaur exhibit. It was an extra $3! I dont remember having to pay for that the last time they had dinosaurs there.It was neat. Two of the dinosaurs spit which was amusing to watch as the kids freaked out a bit. lol We also did the dinosaur simulator ride. Also an additional $3. That was cool too but I was rather dizzy since Michael wanted to sit in the front row. That was really all we did. The kids were busy walking through the various trails and eating and not too interested in seeing animals. Oh and the playground, we had to stop at the playground. lol The kids all wanted to play at Cathy's house when we got back so it was 6:30pm before we got home. We ended up going out for dinner. I had nothing pulled out to make. We went to mongolian bbq. The kids wanted dessert and I thought that sounded pretty good. I love the peanut butter cups they have. They dont have them anymore! :( We shared a brownie sundae instead. Jacob grabbed a spoon and dug right in. lol So funny.

The night before we all went walking together. We went to Bryse Park. It's a really nice park. Their trail is 1 mile and they have a playground in the center. It was raining so we walked in the rain. Matthew was so mad at me. He didnt want to play in the rain. Once he got with his friends though he was fine and had a great time. We're supposed to go back tonight. We were going to go yesterday but it was late by the time we all got home and had dinner.

I had to practically twist Michael's arm to go to the zoo. Actually he told me he wasnt going. I asked him and he hung up on me. I called back and had Tony ask him. He told Tony only if he was going too. Later Tony decided they would all come. Great, I just love how he invites himself along! Then they decided not to because it would cost too much money and we're going to Algonac Saturday. He told me he really tried to get Michael to go but he doesnt want to. I talked to Michael again and he says "I know it's going to be fun but we've already been to the zoo." I said that's fine, I just wanted to make sure he knew we were going to see the dinosaurs. He got really quite and then says "Can you take pictures?" What a brat! lol Matthew was so disappointed. On the way home from the park he asked why Michael wasnt coming and when he was coming home because he really missed him. He called Michael when we got home and talked to him. Michael decided to come. All this indecisiveness drives me nuts! I was happy he came. It was just our small little group and we had such a nice time.

Michael did wander off at the zoo a few times and once had me in tears because I really thought he was gone. What made me even sadder was that he really didnt seem to care. :(

Jacob woke up this morning and went into the boys room. He yelled "Get up!" LOL Then he went to get a ball and threw it at Michael.