Someone carry me to bed, please?

I am so crazy tired.  We've had a very full, very fun weekend. 

I started the weekend off with the annual Heart Walk.  Then I went straight home to start cleaning and doing laundry.  We finished off the day with a big steak dinner at the campground with Bill's mom and her boyfriend.  I had to make a quick dash to the store before bed and decided it would be best for me to buy Isabelle's birthday cake rather than bake it.  I've never done that before.  It's not like I'm even a decent cake decorator, but I try and it's a heck of a lot cheaper to make one at home.  I'm glad I did, because I really wouldn't have had the time.

Today, we had a little party for the soon-to-be-6 year old.



I had planned to have the party next weekend, but moved it up since Bill's mom is in town.  We kept it very low-key.  I only invited one kid from Isabelle's class (who, thankfully, showed) and a friend of mine that has the cutest 3 year old twins.  She made Isabelle this awesome blanket out of a curly fur fabric... and I gave Isabelle a furry pink pillow (I didn't get her handmade stuff finished.... ) and I am not sure we'll ever get her out of bed will all that soft fuzziness.  In fact, my husband wants a blanket just like it for our bed.



My coworker brought Isabelle a bat and ball.  I have to get Isabelle into softball now.  She's never played before and was really good at both pitching and hitting.  She liked it too, she had me out there after everyone left throwing the ball at her.  I'm not so good at pitching. 



We have honeysuckle growing on our fence.  That is my favorite smell.  Best part of the year is when the honeysuckle is blooming.  (yes, totally off-topic)



Bill's mom and Dan are here for two more days.  The girls have just loved having their Nana around.  And thank goodness for Dan.... Izzy's friend came with her little brother and that child never stopped.  Dan chased him around with water guns most of the time.  I swear he was like a little tornado... his poor mom was so worn out. 

And now, let's just look at how amazingly gorgeous my children are.  Because I'm not proud or anything... ;)


She fights me so hard on taking pictures.  I'm sure that won't change much as she gets older.


Can't believe this one is about to be 6.


Almost every dress she's put on the past few days has been too short.  Make her stop growing!  She's my baby! 

Knit & Crochet Blog Week and Paying It Forward

Have you noticed the little box over to the side?  The one with the cute little girl all happy about Knit & Crochet Blog Week?  Well, here's the deal:

A little while back, I ran across one of the cutest blogs:  Eskimimi Makes  She's hosting a Knit & Crochet Blog week next week and I have decided to participate.  You can go see what it's all about and get the list of topics here.  Each day has a post tagging code to make it easy to find other bloggers posts on the topics as well.  It should be a lot of fun.

In other, somewhat related news, she had a Pay It Forward post today.  She is giving a handmade gift to the first three comments to the post and those people have to do the same on their blog.  I think I made the cut... I haven't heard anything official from her.... but either way, I am going to pay it forward.

The first three people to comment on this post will get a little handmade something from me.  It will be send in the next 365 days, but most likely sooner than that or I will totally forget all about it.  Just keeping it real.  ;)  Maybe it will be crocheted, maybe it will be sewn, but I promise to try to make sure it's something special just for you.  If your email address isn't attached to your profile, you can either leave it in your comment or email it to me privately (jifeeyore @ yahoo . com) once you know you were one of the three.  That way I can get your address and all that jazz. 

In return, you have to do the same.... post on your blog that you are Paying It Forward and send three people a handmade something within the year.  Got it?  Good.  =) 

Let's spread some happy....

Fingers Crossed

It's hard to believe it's only Tuesday... it's been a super-full week already.  I'm behind on Isabelle's flower pillow for her birthday.  I have it about 90% finished, but I still need to make the pillow insert.  I have only found one round pillow insert and it was the wrong size, not to mention $15 dollars!  I have some muslin and stuffing on hand, so I think I'll make my own.  I'm hoping to finish it before Isabelle's party on Saturday.  And her stuffed cheeseburger. 

Bill's mother and her boyfriend (it seems odd to call people in their 50s boyfriend and girlfriend, doesn't it?) are in town and we've spent the past two evenings at their KOA Kabin.  The girls have had a blast.



They gave the girls these toy chicks the first night.  They look really creepily like taxidermied chicks, but they aren't (thank goodness). 


Have I ever mentioned that I totally love my kids' sense of style?

That's pretty much the reason I haven't had much time for Izzy's presents.  But, tomorrow they are headed to Louisiana for the day, so I will have some time tomorrow night.  At least I can get the pillow cover finished and I'll get the insert done sometime...

Spending time at the campground has us itching  to go camping now.  We have had plans to go to the Memphis Zoo next month, and we've decided instead of getting a hotel room the night before that we'll rent a cabin at the Memphis KOA.  It's cheaper and a step closer to tent camping than the usual cabins we camp in.  Yes, I'm a big weenie when it comes to camping.... plus, with three little girls, tent camping is pretty intimidating to me.  The KOA cabins don't have bathrooms, so it's more "roughing it" than we've done before - yet I still get to sleep in a bed.  =)

Yesterday, I had to take Isabelle back to the ENT for a follow up on her failed hearing test.  I really thought we'd get the "all clear" and finally... for the first time in a couple of years... I would get to leave the office without an appointment card for one of my kids.  It wasn't meant to be.  Isabelle's hearing hasn't improved enough to be "normal" and she still has a lot of fluid behind her eardrums. (Sounds bad, but you'd never know she has any hearing loss and she's never complained once about it) Since it's been about 3 months since she failed the school's hearing test and antibiotics failed to correct the problem, we're moving on to the next step.... tubes.  The surgery is scheduled for next Tuesday.  We've been through the surgery twice with Olivia, so I know it's super quick and basically painless, but I'm not thrilled all the same.  I never would have imagined Izzy would need tubes... she's had the least ear infections of all of the girls.  But whatever we need to do.  I just hope the tubes eventually fall out on their own and that we don't have to have them removed someday.  We had to have Olivia's last set removed and that was definitely not fun at all.

I Give Up.

I decided to give up the fight on two accounts today.  Oatmeal and making my house look like people other than my family lives here.

I've talked before about my desire to find some way to enjoy oatmeal.  I saw this pin on Pinterest a while back and thought maybe this would be the way...

Source: sugarfreemom.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Maybe the chocolate chips fooled me.  But this was certainly not the way.

Don't get me wrong... I'm sure if you like oatmeal, you'll like these.  I don't, so I didn't.

We were watching the latest episode of Victorious (Nickelodeon... if your kids haven't progressed past Nick Jr, you probably are like, "what?") and Tori gets warm oatmeal poured into her hands.  She laments that it feels like vomit.  I can relate, because that is what oatmeal feels like in my mouth.

Have I grossed you out?  My work here is done...

=)

My Mother-in-law and her boyfriend are due to be pulling their RV into the local KOA tomorrow.  I've tried my hardest to make my house sparkling clean, but it's like running up a landslide.  Then I realized... we lived with Bill's parents for 10 months when Olivia was a baby.  She knows I am not Susy Homemaker.  If she thinks two more kids have magically transformed me, she is on crack.  I'm tired and want to weep at the idea of washing dishes right now, but I have to because the girls will have to eat cereal tomorrow in coffee mugs with forks if I don't.

I believe I've talked Bill into finding an alternative to private pre-K for Zoe.  He wants me to get her evaluated for speech therapy.  That's the one and only thing that would qualify her for public pre-K since we don't meet the financial guidelines.  We thought Isabelle might qualify that way, but they said her speech wasn't bad enough to need therapy.  Zoe is harder to understand than Isabelle was, but I'm not going to hold my breath.  We were driving down the road the other day and Zoe was telling me something that I just couldn't figure out for the life of me.... I told her I didn't understand her and she said "Mom.  I don't want to say this over and over again like last time."  Sassy child. 

My Little Bookworm

A while back, Olivia brought home one of those Scholastic book order forms.  I loved those things when I was in elementary school.  I ordered some Judy Blume books (the younger ones like Super Fudge... not the teen ones like Blubber) thinking I'd read them to the girls at bedtime like I did with the Ramona books.  They finally came in today, much to Olivia's surprise.  I never told her I ordered anything for fear she'd ask for some stupid Spongebob book. 

She pulled them out of her backpack when I picked her up and was pretty excited about them.  She told me her friend got the whole set of Junie B. books, and I was jealous... I love Junie B. maybe a little more than I love Ramona, which is a lot.  But the set was $60 or something like that and I couldn't swing it. 

I had to stop for gas on the way home, and when I got back in, I realized Olivia was reading one of the books.  Here I thought I would have to read it to her and she can do it just fine on her own!  So exciting.  =)



To be honest, I don't think I've ever read any of the books I bought her.  I've read the teen Blume books, and the one or two adult novels she's written, but I somehow missed these.  I think my first real chapter book was a Nancy Drew novel.   I have a few of those put up for the girls. 

Olivia said that she's going to read a little bit of it every night before bed.  =)  She said it might take her a few days to finish it.  I told her that it sometimes takes me weeks to finish a book, so she shouldn't expect to get through it too fast. ;)

What to do... what to do...

I seem to find little reminders on a daily basis that summer is fast approaching.  I kind of dread the summer.  The girls are all out of school, even Mother's Day Out takes the summer off, and three bored little girls plus one sleep-deprived father equals one nervous mother.  We've experienced home hair cuts and epic messes the past few summers and I can't help but worry about what I might come home to.

Zoe begins pre-K in the fall, and since we do not meet the qualifications for public pre-K in our district, we have enrolled her in a private school.  We did this with Olivia, but didn't with Isabelle.  We regretted that we didn't put Isabelle in pre-K, because her preschool teacher didn't work with them at all and she was behind before she ever got started.  Zoe knows things now that Isabelle didn't going into Kindergarten.


Chuck E. Cheese takes a much more flattering picture of me than I do...

I'm coming to realize that this gives us a bit of a dilemma.  When I really sat down and crunched the numbers, once our tuition payments begin in June (which are about 30% more than we currently pay for MDO), our extra cash pretty much flies out the window.  I'm not used to paying any sort of childcare in the summer, so we have had extra money in the past for me to use to do things with the girls to alleviate their boredom.  We won't  have it this year.  After figuring in gas and the increase in groceries due to having them home all day.... we are running a much tighter budget that I am comfortable with. 

Part of me thinks maybe we should take Zoe out of pre-K and find another MDO program with a 4 year old program.  Our current MDO is a part of the private school, so they've eliminated their 4 year old program.... to boost pre-K enrollment, which only makes sense.  Since Zoe has gotten more education from her teachers than Isabelle did, I'm not as concerned with pre-K.... but I know it would be a tough argument to win with my husband.  Olivia has excelled so much in school and Isabelle has had a bumpy year. 


Bumpy, but definitely not all bad...

How much is the pre-K factor and how much is just the individual child?   Am I being selfish or practical?  It's definitely a big discussion we need to have, but unfortunately one that we won't get to have for a few more days because of our schedules.  

In the meantime, I've been thinking about ways to maybe bring in some extra cash.  I have been revisiting the idea of having a booth at The Memphis Flea Market (in Little Rock).  I'm debating going this weekend to scope it out again... see what kind of stuff they have already and if I would be able to bring something different to the table.  I think... no, I know... I have a confidence issue here.  I just keep thinking, "Would I even be able to sell enough to cover the fees?"  Then I wonder if I'd even have time to make enough.  And what if I don't sell anything?  But there is a part of me that says, "So what?  If you suck, at least you'd know you suck."  I have to make some kind of leap sometime, right?  I know my work isn't horrible... I was asked just today if I could make something for Zoe's MDO director.... I get compliments all the time on the things Zoe wears to school that I make. 

The worst that can happen is that I lose a little bit of money, right?  And who knows... maybe it would be the push to get me moving in the right direction.  Away from working at a soul-sucking desk job and into doing something I truly enjoy.

I definitely need to just go check it out, see what's out there selling and then make a plan.  I actually have a friend who helps run the place, so at least I wouldn't be flying blind in that department... she'd definitely walk me through it. 

Can I do this?  Should I do this?  Should I keep Zoe in pre-K?  Give me some opinions, points of view.... =)

I blame it on the lack of creme eggs.

Tonight as a I watched all the photos being posted by family and friends of their adorable brood all decked out in their Easter finest, it just made me sad.  Because this has not been an Easter for the record books.  I've been exhausted and cranky all day, disappointed in how the day just didn't seem special at all.  Awake at 5am after just a few hours of sleep, my kids on a sugar high all day wearing mismatched everyday clothing, the inevitable crash and meltdown before bed.... just a suckish day.

And I have yet to have a single Cadbury Creme Egg. 

But that's just a crappy attitude, now isn't it?

So... I pulled out my phone, uploaded some pictures and I'm going to force myself to stop having a pity party and see that it wasn't a bad day after all.

The girls have been begging for one of those Pillow Pet Dream Lights for Easter, and it just didn't happen.  They're too expensive and I never saw them in the stores anyway.  I decided to buy my girls some shoes instead, because they do love shoes (they didn't get that from me, for sure) and I saved a few bucks by blinging them out myself instead of buying the already jeweled ones.  They never suspected I did it - even though they were with me when I bought the jewels.





Our magic jelly beans grew like crazy this year.  They only planted 3 jelly beans and look what grew!



I don't think even half of these coupons were read, but Olivia did find one of the Mommy or Daddy date ones and she picked me =)



Olivia ran around part of the morning with her new book, reading while walking and playing.  And she recorded the morning's events in her tiny little notebook.  I think it's so neat to see her starting to keep a little diary of sorts.  Too bad one day she'll stop running to me with it so I can see what she's read.  ;)



We went to my parents' house and they got the girls the exact stuffed animals I had debated getting them.  I'm glad I passed them up.  Zoe, the giraffe lover, was just head over heels in love.



Somehow, this picture was dug up.... it's our family photo from 22 years ago.  And yes, it hurt my feelings to realize I was a teenager TWENTY TWO years ago.  I am proud to be the only one of me and my sisters without ridiculous looking hair.  =)  And my poor little sister.... such an awkward child.  She's simply gorgeous now, though.  My mother is the same age in that picture that my older sister is now.  My Daddy beardless and with color to his hair.... our windshield-sized glasses... my older sister's 2 lbs of eye make up... just so much fun in that picture.



And the gold lame'...  you'll be seeing this again.  It's for a project for my sister.  Her sock monkey to be exact.  But there will be alot of leftover fabric and I said I was going to make Isabelle some shorts out of it.  I was told that was inappropriate.  I said shorts, not hot pants.  Geez.  Then we got all into Leslie Hall and now I want to buy even more gold lame' and make someone a gold body suit.  Why?  Why not?

Really, it wasn't such a bad day.  The Dodo fell asleep in my lap immediately after protesting that she was not "pleepy."  Olivia and Isabelle whispered across to each other as they got settled in bed that they didn't get their Dream Lights.  The Olivia said, "But we did get really cool shoes, so it's OK."

So, yeah... I didn't get the day I wanted, but it was still good.