Play Ball!

Andrew and the girls play a game where they throw a squishy ball up the stairs and watch it bounce back to them. Andrew thinks this game is very funny and will play with anyone who will toss the ball.
He's been kind of like a golden retriever with balls and a few other objects since he got himself mobile. One of his first words was ball and now he's added catch, kick, and run-run-run to his vocab.
So anyway, we were playing ball today and the ball made it all the way to the top of the stairs and rolled out of sight. Andrew turns to me and pointing commandingly says "Get it!".
First two word sentence and dang funny. Usually it would be his job to fetch a ball that went out of bounds but I did indeed go get it for him; although I'm going to have to make a point of retrieval being his responsibility in the future.

Playing With Photoshop

I had so much fun doing the mossy rock thing for the top of this page that I started playing with other pictures. I emphasize the word "playing"; my sister can put the ears back on someone cropped out of a picture and make it look real, I can barely match the edges on two pictures that are exactly the same.

Anyway, I downloaded the recent picture of my brother-in-law and his family and somewhere during the download it turned kind of overly red so I thought I would tinker with it.

Original is on the left, the one I messed with is over on the right. I think I helped the composition but may have done bad things to the color settings... I tried black and white but then the windows were a huge focus. I could not find the sepia button that the computer assures me is under one of the tabs called profile. I would love to take a class on this kind of thing one day.

One day being that imaginary time in the future when I get to decide what I do with my own time, as opposed to present day when I have a one year old with a terrible odor tugging on the back of my shirt. Gotta go change a diaper.

I need a new tent.

Kylie, April, & Andrew are playing under the air hockey table with a sheet draped over it.

April crawls out and comes to talk to me:

April- I need a new tent.

Me - Why?

April - This one too small.

Me - What kind of tent do you need?

April - Giant big, big and big. (she does hand motions like exploding stars in front of her then crawls back into the existing tent)

El Azteca make me feel better.

When Krista was little she had this funny thing she would say when she had hurt herself or was sad about something, "treat make me feel better", she would say it in this plaintive kind of voice and it was so cute and pathetic that it won me over most of the time.
So this afternoon, when I was feeling a bit discouraged about a number of things, including the weight gain measured at the doctor appointment today, I had a "El Azteca make me feel better" moment and went and bought myself lunch.
Yeah, I know, making myself feel better with food is not so much a good idea when I'm gaining weight this fast with this pregnancy but I've got to be realistic about it, the only way to control the nausea is by constant small snacks and there is just nothing I can do to "diet" until some time in October after my 6 week post-baby appointment. Besides, with this kid I crave protein. I'm not a big red meat eater and I don't like fish usually but right now I'm all about a nicely cooked steak or some hamburger or a shredded beef taco... whatever I can get my hands on. So a chicken enchilada, a beef taco, and the combination of beans and rice that form a perfect protein did indeed make me feel better. They also seem to have pleased the "tummy baby" who is doing happy little wriggles now. I resisted the impulse to buy a churro to go with lunch.
I've added El Azteca to the pages I am a fan of on my facebook.

Girl!

Since I haven't been posting very regularly I thought I should get this in here now.

Baby Stone #5 (as far as the ultrasound could tell) is going to be another girl.

Yes, I'm happy about this. Andrew is a one-of-a-kind little boy and I'm not going to test my luck on getting another one quite like him. It would have been kind of nice for him to have a brother close to his age but with four sisters he will never be bored.

As for names... Jared says he really likes Jessica. I would like to go with another girl named after a grandma and do Beth or Anne or Anna maybe so we're still playing with names and ideas. Kylie told me we should go with Chrysanthemum (I don't know if I can even spell that correctly) because of the Kevin Henkes book we just read. The girls also like Tia from the Princess and The Frog or there was another one from a movie but I can't think of it...

My parents always have outlandish suggestions from the family pedigree...

I really don't know very many Jessicas so it doesn't have a gut reaction attached. I tried to find out why Jared likes the name but he's pretty vague so I'm going with the belief that he had a crush on a Jessica in the 4th grade, LOL.

Milk, Eggs, Bread, Cheese, Donuts...

April turned 3 last week. Lots of fun. She's a busy cute little kid with a tendency to do what she wants even if mommy sort of said not to.

We kept asking her what she wanted for her birthday and it was pretty easy to see she really wasn't getting the concept. She told us more than once that she wanted milk, eggs, bread, cheese, donuts, and other grocery items. Her big sisters thought this was very funny and had lots of suggestions on what we could get her instead.

On her birthday I thought, 'why not?' and went with her to Toys R Us to the aisle where they keep the pretend kitchen stuff. We found a great set of food and a nice toaster to go with it. Now she has an incredibly well stocked play kitchen that had a pile of tea party set stuff before we got the new food.

Bunny Cake for Easter

Because I got a kick out of these I thought you might as well. The kids and my sister decorated the traditional cake this year. It's easy to make. Two 9 inch circles and you cut one of them so you get the ears and the bow-tie out of it. Freeze it, frost it, use random candy and frosting to create a unique-every-year look. Eat rabbit on Easter :o) .

This year we found that the bunny had nicely mobile eyebrows that made him a very expressive little guy. Got a couple of pix of the "faces of the bunny".

This last one is my favorite!

Morning Sickness

Yes, I'm pregnant. Again.
I hate being pregnant. I feel sick, tired, miserable, and get a little crazy.
It's kind of huge to think I will have five kids. Four kids keep me completely outnumbered.

I tend to vent on this site, maybe I should give up blogging as it doesn't seem to bring out the best in me. This mostly stems from me sitting down at the computer when I am the most fed up and need a little "me-time". Now I'm trying to decide whether or not to go with the flow and post cheery little updates about my kids antics. There are lots of antics. Andrew is currently wearing a dress his sisters put him in and Kylie wants to make a sculpture out of shaving cream and glue (I'm keeping a close eye on her).

Lasagna for dinner tonight. The kind out of a box. I did make the bread though and I will make the salad.

I'm not wearing any shoes. I put on maternity pants for the first time this pregnancy when even my fat pants would no longer fit. They're a bit too loose but I know that won't last long, sigh.

Never Send A Man...

I love freecycle, especially around this time of the year when people are more generous and when there is a greater need for generosity. I like to fill a few wanteds here and there even if it means spending a few bucks.

There was a woman on freecycle asking for a mermaid costume for her daughter, the only thing her little girl had requested for Christmas was an Ariel dress up costume. I happen to have two of them, one my mom made that I wouldn't part with and another one from Costco that one of my kids used in a performance and had very little sentimental attachment. So, since I had two, I sent this woman a message telling her to come pick up the costume. The only catch; DO IT QUIETLY, as in don't let my kids know what you're up to. With a costume that has hung in the back of a closet for months with no interest shown by the children, the sure way to suddenly make it a priceless treasure is to say you're giving it away. So I didn't say that. I just packed it up quietly. I put the costume in an empty cereal box and propped it on my front porch where it looked completely innocent and this woman could just pick it up and go.

I made very sure the woman understood how this needed to work. Come to my house, take the cereal box, go. No contact needed.

So what happens this afternoon?

Her husband comes to the door, rings the bell and my kids get it. He has a piece of paper in his hand that he is reading and he asks for someone named Shelly (sorry, none of those at this address) well, he's supposed to pick up an Ariel Mermaid costume from Shelly at this address.

THANK YOU MR. IDIOT!

Then he looks at his paper again and says something about possibly a basement apartment. I'm thinking he must be completely dense to be announcing this in front of my children who are now quietly talking amongst themselves about why he wants an Ariel costume. Grrrrr. I am positive that his wife told him what he was supposed to do and he just glazed over on the instructions. My husband does the same thing. Apparently he is a typical male, won't ask for or follow instructions. Thank you for making my afternoon that much more difficult.

So I go out on the front porch, shut the door behind me, and point to the box still sitting in plain sight against the wall. He's like, "Oh, the box?" I'm like, "Yeah." He takes it and leaves. I go inside and tell my kids he had the wrong address for someone name Shelly (that part was true.)

Turtle Pancakes

Turtle shaped pancake.

One of an entire family of turtle shaped pancakes that I made for my kids. Use your imagination. This wasn't the best of them but it was the only one left by the time I found my camera to take pictures. LOL. I just get a kick out of it. Usually, I take request for balls, balloons, happy faces (chocolate chips are involved in those) or the occasional Mickey Mouse-type head. Turtles are a little trickier. Saturday mornings are pancake breakfasts at my house. With four kids my husband and I have lots of practice with the pancakes.

Deserving Children

I heard an ad on the radio a few minutes ago where a woman spoke excitedly about getting her children the new computer they deserve.
This made me cranky.
Just the perky voice made me pretty sure I was supposed to picture a couple of perfect kids who would use their new computer only for the good of mankind.
Yeah, right. I know too many people who teach school.
Instead I'm picturing lazy, internet addicted, selfish kids with a well-enforced sense of personal entitlement.
It's not easy to raise kids who understand they don't deserve to have "stuff" but that they need to earn it, just like their parents have to earn it. I don't mean sending them out to a 9-5. Not until they're teenagers and need some good hard work every day to keep them out of trouble. I mean age-appropriate jobs. A two year-old can put a liner in a garbage can and set silverware on the dinner table.
It makes me sick to see kids who are close to twelve and can't make their own bed or clean up a toy room, let alone cook a simple meal like spaghetti with sauce from a jar.
I know people who felt deprived as children and have made a point of not letting their own children ever feel that way. Kids who get everything value nothing and turn into adults with issues about values and problems with entitlement and learning to work.

Here's a clue people; there is very little in this life that any of us deserve!

I do believe every one of us deserves to be able to work for what we want and keep what we earn (the current tax code is crappy, but that's a post for another day) so I teach my kids to work, to budget, to save, and to respect the property and hard work of others. My kids do not deserve a new computer but I would be thrilled if they worked and earned one.

Need an idea of how to motivate your kids to earn something? I print off a spreadsheet with 25 cent increments for an item like a CD or a DVD my kids want but don't need. For each job they accomplish (sweep a floor, empty trash, set table, etc.) I let them cross off a square. For bigger jobs they can cross off more than one square. When they have filled the sheet to the purchase price of the item we go pick it up at the store. My kids rarely bug me about buying them frivolous items and they take pretty good care of the toys and things they have.

A Moment Of Silence

I took all four of my children to the grocery store with me. It's an adventure every time. By the end of the trip I am in desperate need of either a dozen doughnuts or a bottle of Jack Daniels. So far the doughnuts have won out every time.
After the muzac, the children, the noise of the carts and the other shoppers, the crying and whining of kids who don't get to pick out multiple treats or rent a Redbox, there's a single moment I can look forward to.
Other moms may recognize this moment, I know for a fact my own mother took advantage of it as often as she could.
It's the moment after all the groceries have been loaded into the car and all the children are safely strapped into their carseats and you shut the car door and it gets quiet. Silent, for just a moment. It's blessed relief and for just a minute all the tension eases off enough to take one deep breath of slightly smog filled air as you push the cart to the cart return cage. Alone with yourself for less than a full minute it's still enough to gather the shredded bits of your patience together for the next round about to take place.
I used to wonder why it was my mother took so long getting into and out of the car. Sitting in a hot car on a warm day it seemed like she would take forever to just walk around and get in. Then, when we parked in the carport she was always the last one to make it into the house from the car, sometimes sitting in a trance-like state for minutes before gathering herself to climb the stairs and join us in the house. When my children are all grown enough to walk into the house themselves I plan on using those minutes too.

Mushrooms

Kid: Mom! Did you know the mushrooms in the front yard taste just like mushrooms?
Mom: AAAAaaaargh!

Yes, apparently one of my kids and a few of the neighborhood kids all got together and picked and ate the tiny patch of mushrooms growing in the grass in my front yard.

The mom of the kid next door called poison control.

Poison control gave us great news; there are only a few varieties of mushrooms growing wild in our area that cause death. The ones that kill you do it relatively quickly by shutting down your internal organs. There is no antidote.

Since the kids ate all the mushrooms we couldn't even take a sample in to find out if they're a dangerous kind or not.

It's not like we don't feed these kids. I shell out big money for popsicles, popcorn, pretzels and fruit snacks for the roving neighborhood kid pack. I know other moms on this street do the same. So I have to ask, what are these kids doing eating mushrooms out of the lawn? Who had this bright idea?

No one died; or even got a tiny bit ill, except for a few moms who had minor stress related symptoms. The kids have promised not to ever eat any mushrooms they find in the grass.

I now have the number for poison control stuck to my refrigerator and added to my phone list.

Halloween Candy Insanity

I have been doing really well at avoiding the sweets. Due to a nursing baby who suffers if I serve "chocolate milk" I have had to stay away from the chocolate enough that I know it makes a difference in my diet. Halloween has ruined all that. I did pretty well for about four days and then it started to get to me. Literally calling my name from the pantry shelves...
So yesterday I busted into a bag of mini Snickers left over from the big day and had 'a few'. They were very yummy. Today the baby is barfy and I feel so guilty and yet, the bag continues to call to me.
I gave away one bag to my sister yesterday to avoid more temptation but there are still three large bowls full of the candy my children collected plus two bags of the stuff we were passing out. How did we get back so much more than we passed out? I am seriously considering just letting my kids have at it until they are completely sick and have learned their lesson. Yeah, not gonna happen, the lesson learning part I mean. I know from my own experience as a child that you don't really learn not to eat too much candy when it's offered like this, look at me now scarfing down the bag of Snickers... did not learn lesson as child.
My biggest problem is my kid #2 who has issues with sugar/food. She is completely nuts when it comes to candy like this. First she has a messed up metabolism or something, so with her, a tiny bit of sugar turns her into a monster much like the Hulk or some kind of inverted Popeye. She goes nuts, she can't focus, she throws tantrums (age 6 it's not pretty) and she becomes obsessed with things eg;

her: can I paint the wall?
me: no.
her: can I paint the wall now?
me: no.
her: can I paint the wall just a little bit?
me: NOOOO!
her: waaaaah! I want to paint the wall so baaaaad!!!! waaaah!

Like what is that? OCD on sugar? She's always hungry and I get that, she does have sort of a high-energy lifestyle but the sugar thing is like throwing gasoline on a fire. My three other kids do not have this problem, just her.
So here I am trying to ration out like 15lbs of Halloween candy between three kids and wishing more of the neighbors were the cruel people who give out toothbrushes, stickers, pencils, and fake vampire teeth. WE WANT CANDY!

Anger Management

I'm really tired.
For the last three nights my kids have succeeded in keeping me up at least most of the night.
I just want to get some sleep.
Last night my husband decides to give me the long narrative of his day at 11pm when I've finally gotten everyone in bed.
I did mention once or twice that I was completely worn out and wanted to just sleep.
Apparently a couple of his friends are considering changing jobs and I needed to know all about it.
When he was finished, an hour later, he rolled over and started to snore.
The baby started to cry within seconds of my husband falling asleep.
About four hours later I crawled into bed.
My husband got up at 6:30 and took a long hot shower for more than an hour.
The baby woke up at 6:45.

I am sure, that not once - during his long hot shower - did my husband ever consider, for even a moment, taking a five minute shower and then keeping the baby busy so that I could sleep for an hour.

So if anyone out there is thinking hey, she got two hours and forty-five minutes of sleep, she will be just fine! Maybe you should go find another blog to read.

For those of you thinking, she should have just asked her husband to watch the baby, I was too tired to deal with his eye-rolling 'why me' attitude without losing it and screaming like a banshee (would have woken up other kids) or bursting into tears (I can never sleep when I'm crying).

And so; I blog.

No. Ummm... DOUGHNUTS!

I was getting ready to make dinner for my family so I asked them, "Would you rather have baked potatoes or spaghetti?" Both options being quick and cheap, I figured I couldn't lose. We had complete agreement on spaghetti (miracle in itself) when we got to the last voter, my two year-old. So I asked her, "Do you want spaghetti too?" Her answer was priceless.
"No. Ummm... DOUGHNUTS!"

So I'm standing there thinking to myself, yeah, me too, and trying not to laugh.

Even greater irony came the next evening when a scheduling conflict meant I had hungry cranky kids in my car and another hour before I could get them all home for dinner. I gave in and stopped at a grocery store where I bought a dozen doughnuts so the kids could survive until dinner time.

So, ummm... yeah, doughnuts.

This Diet Really Works!

I find it amusing that when I have a baby I can laugh at those ads that say you will lose 2o lbs in a month or whatever because I lose about 20 lbs in a week. The problem being that I gain about 4o with each pregnancy and the other 20 lbs is much harder to get rid of.

I am very pleased to say that since having my fourth baby I have lost more than 60 lbs and am now able to get into jeans I wore back in the high school/college days. *Doing little happy dance*

So it's a very noticeable weight loss and people have been asking me how I have done it. Here you go, the blog entry on how I have done it.

Ummmm.... I'm not completely sure.

Huge credit has to be given to nursing my baby for almost a year now. Burns calories like no nothing. Then there's the 'no time to eat' factor that comes in when you have four children. I also love the contribution of the part when I fix myself something to eat, a small person with large puppy dog eyes will show up and circle like a vulture asking in a small sad voice if they can please "have just a little" of whatever I made. During meals I make the food, feed small people the food, and then clean up the food. Notice, I don't so much get to eat the food. I do end up scraping whatever was left on my kids plates into my mouth instead of the garbage can or the disposal because I wouldn't want to 'waste the food' and besides that, I'm hungry enough to eat whatever they left half chewed, due to the reasons listed above.

The only real changes to my diet that have occurred are not being able to eat chocolate (it makes the baby terribly gassy and fussy) and drinking A LOT more water. The baby takes it out on me during what little time I have for sleep (that's a whole nother posting right there) if I am so cruel as to serve him "chocolate milk" so I've given it up. Great personal sacrifice that I'll be sure and remind him of frequently as he gets older. The water thing I've been consciously trying to do, but I can't attribute the loss of more than 60 lbs to just drinking more water even though it's the only thing I'm really working at in the weight loss effort.

I walk and ride my exercise bicycle but I've done those things in years past with nowhere near the kind of results I'm having this time. So there you have it. I've lost a lot of weight and I'm happy about that, but I'm really not sure if I get to be proud of myself for having done it because I'm not really sure what I did.

Anger Management

These are the things I would like to be screaming at my husband right now but I'm not because I'm trying to control my temper.

-THANK YOU for showing up an hour late so that I completely missed the baby shower I was planning on attending today.
I REALIZE that my options include a) take the kids with me, b) find a sitter, or c) skip the party. I would like to point out that a) if I take the kids with me I don't enjoy the adult time and it ruins the entire point, b) I have no job and no money and calling my mother every time I need an hour isn't an option because she kind of has a life, c) well, GREAT I get to choose option c again.-

So mostly I'm mad at myself. How stupid is that? Yeah, when I get angry I feel guilty and get even more disgusted and angry with myself because I shouldn't get angry, right? It's wrong to feel that way so it really sucks that I feel that way a lot. Also, I get all 'you should have planned it better' on myself because I could have figured out another way to get someone to watch my kids or something, like it's COMPLETELY my fault every time. I tell myself that I know my husband well enough by now to know that he has complete disregard for what I want to do. His time is so much more valuable than mine and my lack of planning is actually the problem. I should know better by now than to count on him for something like this...

So now I feel guilty, angry, and frustrated and I could have avoided it all by simply letting them know I wouldn't make it in the first place because now I look like the slacker who spaced it or something. Again, my fault, my guilt, my marriage.

Vampires

Love them or hate them, the vampires are everywhere. I actually get a kick out of the stuff. I went through an Anne Rice phase years ago and made it through a few of the books before starting to get a bit paranoid and giving it up. I'm a complete lightweight when it comes to the horror stuff. Couldn't sleep for weeks after watching The 6th Sense and that one isn't even that bad. So, yeah, Anne Rice was a bit much for me.

Twilight on the other hand.... Let's just say I really like Twilight.

I found a publishing company that was having a contest to promote their new book, Defining Twilight, a review for the verbal and language portions of college prep tests like the ACT and SAT using vocab from Twilight. First prize was a signed cast photo from the movie. I entered. I won. Just not first prize; second prize actually. That would be a copy of the new review guide signed by the author. I was still completely excited over this. I get feeling like I'm just "the mom" around here a lot and it's nice to know I still have it in me if you know what I mean.

The downer in all of this is that no one wanted to read my entry before I won. I actually sent it to people who just didn't read it or didn't have time or whatever. Not a single one of them read it, so I did it myself. *Little Red Hen Voice* I wrote it myself. I edited it myself. I revised it myself. I sent it in with only one opinion - the one from myself. Yeah, so maybe you can understand why I felt even more thrilled when I won. Also, maybe you can understand why I won't force anyone to read it by posting it here, I figure if people only want to read it because it won then why bother. Let me know if you want the link to it, or check my facebook, it's on there somewhere.

I did have an inspiration for this post. Also from facebook (I spend way too much time on there) where a friend of mine had this video posted. I thought it was great. Funny, pretty well edited for the random kind of piece it is. Buffy meets Edward, maybe you've seen it. Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZwM3GvaTRM

I still really like Twilight even though I thought this video was funny. Also, I really respect Stephenie Meyer, we've got a lot in common and I am amazed that she was able to write all her books and do so well with all the demands on her time and the sheer insanity that is motherhood taking up most of her life. Maybe one day I'll have a book out and write her a note to say how much I respect what she's accomplished.

PIZZADILLA

Yeah, wow, two posts in one day. Have I done that before? I'm not even sure.

I think I'm in one of those moods where I've been the mom for too long without a break again and I just need to reassure myself that I can still speak English with a basic level of fluency without using the words potty, wubby, Elmo, num-num, or boo-boo. I rarely use boo-boo, not because we don't have the occasional injury but more because I'm usually in high rant about the time one shows up, as in "WHY were you using that stick to keep your brother from getting into your dollhouse!" or "I told you NOT to jump off of the 5th step, even if it does make your skirt puff out big on the way down!" These, sadly, are things I have actually said to my children pretty much verbatim.

Okay, well, the larger point of this posting was that I wanted to see if I could figure out how to add a picture. Haven't done that yet, thought I would try.

As I was making lunch for the kids I had one of those sleep deprived/manic/really random moments where I thought to myself look how pretty that turned out as I handed food to a child who in no way would express appreciation for the loveliness of the food or any effort I put into it. I learned a long time ago they would express the same appreciation for little or no effort as they would for hours of intensive labor so my standards have fallen. Anyway, I'm lucky if we squeeze in a prayer with every ones mouths already half-full.



So here it is. The last piece of the pizzadilla (cross between pizza and quesadilla) that I saved and artistically (I made an effort - notice the cellery garnish) arranged to take pictures of. If it doesn't appear, well, then you'll know I didn't figure out the add an image thing then won't you.

Pizzadilla
1 flour tortilla
2 tblsp spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup grated cheese

You can top it with other things but be warned that multiple toppings affect the "doneness" of the tortilla. It's sort of a less is more thing. Place on a baking sheet in center of oven bake at 35o for about 8 minutes. Remove, slice, let cool and serve.

This is one of those great snack items that you can make pretty fast and serve for lunch or dinner. Today we had kiwi and oranges on the side. You get the idea...