easter break, part 1

yesterday was a fun day.  zach had his preschool easter party at school, and sawyer had a blast hanging out with all the kids. 

they were singing silly songs, and one of them was called tootie ta  and watching sawyer try to do all the moves was hilarious!  he finally fell down and came to sit with me and watch.

after that, they went out to find their bunny baskets.  zach had a hard time, but finally found it hidden on the slide!

next we went inside, and zach shared his days with froggy.

ok, that's probably enough to share for this morning.  i'll be back later with more easter break fun! 

cuties

three peas in a pod

his first medal

and he made a goal in the last game of the season!  go zach!

snitches get stitches

tonight troy and i walked inside to find all three older kids arguing.  aj was changing emma's mii and she was yelling at him to stop.  and then when troy asked the kids if they had asked permission to come inside and play wii, zach immediately threw alex under the bus, saying how he was going to watch netflix but aj changed it.  sigh. we really want them to protect one another, be true friends and so seeing them be so quick to tell on each other is sad.

so we started talking about tattling, and i said "you should only tattle on someone if what they are doing is dangerous to themselves or others."  that should be the end of this discussion, right?  nope.  alex says, "yeah, like if someone is going to kill you.  or they have a bazooka."  and zach said, "yeah, or a baaay-beee gun."

which of course got all the kids cracking up talking about how a baby gun would either a) turn everyone into a baby or b) shoot out babies everywhere.  and i'm pretty sure none of the lesson soaked in.

the older kids spent the night saturday with lyla & claire, and when i met up with wendy on sunday to pick them up, the first thing she said to me was "they never shut up." yes.  yes, i know.  and i'm pretty sure the next thing she said was "they are so loud."  sawyer spent the night with mom & dad, and had fun being the spoiled grandbaby.  he roamed their backyard, and played with the dogs, and ate a bunch of ketchup with his french fry. 

troy and i went out to scipio after the ku game, which was a lot of fun but hurt terribly the next day.  so i stayed home with the younger two and troy took em & aj to their end of season wrestling party.  alex drank 4 soda pops and ate a bunch of candy and i'm pretty sure thought it was the greatest day ever.  and emma won an award!  she got grandpa's heart award - which is so sweet!  keith loved her, called her his wrestling buddy, and always told me how great she was doing.  troy said keith got a little choked up when he presented it to her.  emma told me later she was glad to win it, she said he always helped her and was super nice and she liked it when he cried :)

man, i suck...

at this mommy blogging.

so, where were we?  emma's at a sleepover tonight, for a classmate's birthday.  alex was sad after school, saying "i miss emma!"  she's doing amazing in school - already mastered her sight words up to 12th grade, writing little stories, just being funny.  she made a scrapbook, it's so cute!  i set up all my scrapbook stuff in her room so she can play with it.  i never made anything with it, she might as well!

the boys are out of control lately.  especially zach.  you tell him to stop something, and he grins and says "no." and really won't stop.  i am so flustered with him - not sure what to do with him.  troy says take the wii away, but that's the only time he's not misbehaving is when he's playing!  he's also starting wetting the bed at night, so strange, because he never has before.  i think it's because he's given up naps completely, and he's just worn out and sleeps too hard.  i keep trying to get him to lay down and rest in the afternoons, but he usually won't.

emma and alex wrestled last weekend in ottawa.  it was state for 6 and under, so the competition was tough.  alex got two pins and two losses.  if you watch the match above - ignore my voice, listen for emma's little voice cheering him on, and wait for the mad face aj gets around 2:23.  priceless!

emma didn't win any matches, but they both wrestled hard, and i for one am glad the season is over.  2 nights a week was a lot.  thank goodness for the cranes bringing them home most nights, because keeping sawyer up until 8:30 was making it rough too.

but of course, soccer starts in a week or so, tuesday nights and saturday mornings.  zach gets to play this year, and i am so excited for him!  it will be great for him to work off some of that energy.  i watched them at preschool yesterday, playing at recess.  i lost count of how many times mrs. circle said "zach..."  he was everywhere, doing things he shouldn't.  nothing too bad - he was picking up the rings that were on the ground to hopscotch through and throwing them.  or picking up the board from the balance beam and taking off with it.  you know, crap like that.  but he's such a little turd lately!  and he laughs or grins while he's doing it.

sawyer has started saying uh oh.  mostly it's just oooohhh.  and he will go get me a diaper if i ask.  he knows where his nose, ears, hair, teeth, toes, and belly button are.  he likes to snuggle the cat.  he's not real big on the dog yet though.  i started taking him to books and babies at the library during preschool, and he seems to enjoy the other babies.  he's also throwing big time tantrums, throwing himself down on the floor, tossing his head back, ugh.

tents and trains

man, time flies by and i am not keeping up very well!  we had more sickness this week, sawyer had a double ear infection and an eye infection and is on amoxicillan to treat it.  troy hurt his back, and spent a couple days in bed and still isn't 100%.  but we're getting better!  the kids have a 4 day weekend coming up, i know they could use some downtime too.

next weekend is the ottawa wrestling tournament, should be fun.  emma spent the night at grandma's with her girl cousins last night, and should be getting home anytime.  me and the boys came home and had a movie night, which ended up being just me and aj watching because both other boys crashed.

today sawyer started saying uh oh after he'd throw a toy down.  it was pretty cute.  we're getting cabin fever around here, so we made some tents and trains.

lollipop!

ok. no soapboxes this evening.  emma had a dance clinic saturday and if you can be the best at shaking your butt around, she was it.  so cute.  and retarded, but still pretty cute.  she's in the front row, white tee black leggings.  lollipop!

she will be dancing at the basketball game this friday, i am excited to go watch and leave the boys with mom.  i have been such a witch lately, and the boys are responding to it by being extra naughty.  i caught alex with a tube of spree sticking out of his pocket at country mart, zach stole my nook and hid it under the dresser in my bedroom, and sawyer throws himself backwards when he doesn't get his way.  thunk!  on the kitchen tile.  thunk! off the wall or couch.  you'd think he'd learn, but after he hits his head, he always looks surprised and then pissed.  at me.  like i did it to him.  whatev.

after a day of listening to zach complain that he's not having any fun, can we go somewhere, we never do anything fun...and listening to sawyer scream because he wants whatever zach has in his hands, well, i'm back to daydreaming of running off into the sunset.  alone.

i love my new nook!  troy bought it for an early valentine's, and so far so good.  the screen froze on me today but other than that no problems.  i have found some free books and am addicted to angry birds.  that damn green guy better stop grinning at me.

i am going to wrap this up with a cute pic of the boys taken when i wasn't screaming at them.

although i'm sure i was soon after i snapped it.  and here's our bad ass cat indy:

sunflowers are best!

we got this sweet postcard in the mail the other day.  troy brought it inside and handed it to me.  here's what it said:

so i'm reading it aloud, and when i got to the sentence "i like the bud a lot too" i just started laughing!  and troy gave me a stern look, but i couldn't help myself.  and then, i realized alex was watching, and he started saying "i like the bud a lot too!" because it was making me laugh!  oh my gosh.  so funny.  not really appropriate, but still, so funny.

today emma went to a dance clinic, and shook her butt like nobody's business!  it was so stinking cute!  friday night i'll take her to the basketball game and they'll perform at halftime.  we went to play with cousins afterwards, and had dinner at jeff & amy's.  their huge dog hank was leaning against my leg, almost pushing me over(he's a bull mastiff and enormous!)  when i got home, einstein was crazy jealous, sniffing my leg and following me around.  so funny!

earlier tonight my MIL was talking about some family she knows where the mom was a "dopehead" and the dad was all "drugged out" and she said "i think a lot of people just think oh, it's just marijuana, it's no big deal, but then why is it illegal?!" and i couldn't help it, i said "because the alcohol and tobacco industries wanted it that way" and she gave me the strangest look.  le sigh. 

but i did refrain from getting into a discussion about decriminalizing and regulating marijuana and hemp farming as a way to reduce the nation's debt.  and how our founding fathers had hemp AND tobacco farms.  or that the paintings of Rembrandt and Vincent Van Gogh were painted primarily on hemp canvas, often with hemp oil based paint.  in the 1930's a lot of rich folks (dupont, hearst) made changes to the laws to ensure they continued to get rich - and that needs to change.  if they can put rendered beaver anal gland in my vanilla ice cream, why should this plant be illegal?  they are both "all natural"...

sick

apparently, getting influenza causes my inner bitch to be unleashed.  after sleeping, shivering and coughing my way through thursday and friday, i went to the walk in clinic sat morning.  mom met me up there to watch the kids while i saw the doctor.  so i sat, freezing, in the waiting room wearing a turtleneck, coat, boots, scarf, hat, AND gloves for an hour. 

then i began sweating, & crying, and had used up two boxes of their kleenex.  and i started getting really mad when people i saw come in after me were being called back.  i had already been up to the window once, and was told first come first serve.  but after a lady who had commiserated with me - even said "i know you've been waiting a long time, you were here when i got here" was called back - and didn't even say anything like, "um, she was here first?" i exploded at the desk.  the memory of my whining voice still haunts me.  so embarrassing.  they said i was next.  i said forget it and stormed out.  climbed in my van and was telling mom what happened when i had a coughing attack so bad i peed myself.  bless my mom, she went back inside and asked them to still see me. 

and they did.  and they were so nice.  and i apologized to everyone in sight for my tantrum.  and they stick a swab up my nose - the nurse told me not to hit her - and shut the lights off and had me lay down while they ran the test.  yep, the flu.  duh.  well, the tamiflu and cough suppressant they gave me doesn't seem to be doing much.  i'm not as tired as i was, but i'm still hacking away. 

and this morning sawyer woke up with 102* fever and cough.  i went to the clinic and they luckily got us right back - no tantrums, phew.  stuck a swab up his nose, and yep.  more flu.  he's on tamiflu now and slept all day.  the boys are coughing a little too. 

and i feel like punching something.  i am filled with rage, and i don't know why.  i screamed at the kids because they made a mess in the family room.  i sorta hate myself right now!!  i wish i could go to sleep, wake up, and this would be just a nightmare.  and that i could stop crying.  and peeing myself.  :(

let's get ready to RUMBLE!!

today was wrestling at burlington - aj's 2nd and emma's 1st tournament!  i wasn't planning to go, but troy had to work the night before.  they had to be there to weigh in before 8am.  bert rode over with me, we almost ran out of gas, and i was a nervous wreck before we even got there.   troy met us in the parking lot and saved the day.  he got them signed in and where they needed to be.

 zach found hunter and followed him around all morning.

mom and dad go there just in time for the matches to start, and the fun began! 

aj wrestled first. this was the first time i've ever gotten to watch him. 

i thought he did awesome - but i don't really know anything about it.  what's that ref doing?  is that good?  does that mean points for or against?

but he was so focused and determined and i was so proud!  he won that match. 

emma was up next, against another little girl, and they were so polite and gentle.  it was emma's 1st match, and i'm glad it was an easy one.  she won that one. 

troy had to leave to go get some sleep, and bert went with him to take sawyer and zach home, which was a relief.  my back was killing me from carrying him around, and it was too busy to let him run free.  he would have ended up in the middle of one of the mats!  mom and dad headed out too, and the rest of the day it was just me, emma, and alex.  they hung out in the bleachers with the other kids, mooching off of other people's ds's and headphones.  we seriously should buy our kids some toys of their own. 

the next match was pretty rough on her.  the boy was a good wrestler, and he just got the better of her.  she started to cry a little but didn't give up.  she was madder that she cried than that she got beat.  she knew troy didn't want to see tears, but the kid kept stuffing her face into the mat!  luckily she had a longer break between it and her last match.  she won that one, and placed 2nd.  woo hoo!

aj lost two and won two, and ended up placing 4th in his bracket.  :)  medals for both!

***i'll keep trying to add the video here***

he got pushed around pretty good by this kid, harding, from SEK.  afterwards he told me the kid was trying to choke him - to DEATH!  he kept coughing and was upset and crying but still had a great attitude.  the boy who won, ended up winning the bracket.  i think.  i'm still not sure what was going on.  but he was a tough little guy, that's for sure.  and alex wore him out - it wasn't an easy win.

oh - and where did this crazy sports mom attitude come from?  i was all "KILLKILLKILL" when the kids were wrestling!  grrr!  get em, nobody better touch my babies!  maybe i don't want the video on here after all...

all in all, a fun day.  probably would have been better if i had gotten some sleep saturday night.  but i can sleep when i'm dead, right?  at least, i hope.  otherwise, death's gonna suck.

bringing the pain

well, after finding out today that some people do still read this little blog, i will try to do better about updating it!  :D

alex turned 6 on the 6th!  he's getting so grown up!  he wanted a mario cake but didn't tell me that until that morning, before school.  i threw one together, and he really liked it, even though it was a train wreck of a cake!  after school the crane's came over and they walked the timber trying to flush a deer out.  then he played wii with hunter and later kirby came down to watch them while troy & i went to a party.  he seemed to enjoy his birthday!

we went to the movies saturday to see the chipmunks movie, and then...

he had his first wrestling tournament in bonner springs last sunday, and he took 4th! which i thought was pretty cool for it being his first time.  emma and alex both are wrestling at burlington tomorrow, and troy is working so i will be taking all the kids along, fun fun!  bert's going with me and mom & dad are coming, so hopefully we can keep an eye on all four of them and get the little wrestlers where they need to be.  troy will get off work at 7am and meet us there, but he'll have to leave and catch a nap before going back in for the night shift.

emma's excited about tomorrow - but i hope it doesn't overwhelm her.  she's pretty good at practice, but she gets upset when someone is overly aggressive.  i understand how she's feeling, but i hope she can keep it together and get mad and go get em!  she told me she was going to bring the pain.   too funny!

oh my, speaking of funny.  tonight i listened to alex and zach argue over whether justin "beaver" was a girl or a boy.  zach says girl.  

merry christmas

christmas has come and gone for another year!  well, not really.  tom & trav will be in town tuesday, so we have a couple more days of guilt free eating and gifts. 

the kids seem pretty happy with their presents.  emma got squinkies, a guitar and harmonica. i broke one of the strings trying to tighten them.  zach got a new leapster to replace the one that got crushed under his bed, and a ball glove. 

alex got an official red ryder "baby" gun.  (that's what zach calls it)  and an mp3 player for the bus.

and sawyer?  well, he got a gyro bowl and a toy we stole from troy's mom's toy box last night.  because there was absolutely nothing that we don't already have.  troy and i opted to forgo gifts this year, but are planning a night away for dinner and romance.  hubba hubba.''

mom and dad came over for lunch, and brought ham and rolls and nana's fruit salad.  nana was going to come, but sawyer, troy & i all have colds, and she didn't want to catch it.  sawyer sounds the worst, his cough is pretty ugly.  but he's happy and active and eating like a horse, so we're just watching it.  

christmas eve we had dinner at bert's, and it was awesome.  homemade rolls, breaded pork cutlets, mashed potatoes, corn, and apple pie for dessert!  and then we played the game, and i won a gun!  yes.  really.  i'm kind of excited about it, i'm hoping troy will show me how to shoot it tomorrow.  troy won a bunch of tools and stuff, and other things i'm too tired to remember right now.

anyways, hope you had a merry christmas, and enjoyed yourselves!

countdown to christmas

we are coming up on christmas break, and that means another busy week of things to do!  today was joy's cookie exchange, tonight we went to crane's for a party and tomorrow is schaffer family christmas in kc.  tuesday zach has his preschool program, i can't wait!  and wednesday the kids have parties at school, and then they are out for the year!  yay!  thursday emma's having a slumber party with her cousins, sat we'll go to bert's and sunday we get to lounge at home.  i can't wait. 

sawyer has changed so much the past few weeks.  he finally figure out how to climb up on the bar stools in the kitchen, and from that moment on, he's refused to use the high chair.  he eats his meals at the island like the other kids, thank you very much.  he also doesn't want a sippy cup, although he will still use one.  but at meals, he has to have one of the plastic cups like the big kids have.  i have to say, i'm not ready for this independence.  i should be, but it makes me sad.

speaking of sad, i had a sonogram friday, and seeing one without a baby in it?  sad.  it looks so empty.  i actually found myself tearing up, and turned my head to stop looking at it.  only there was a poster of a teeny baby on the wall.  not helping.  ugh.  anyways, no large tumors or anything crazy, just waiting on test results from a biopsy that say everything is normal.  which i'm sure they are.  lots of hoops to jump through for legal/insurance stuff so i can get a procedure done that i've been asking for since i had sawyer.  but it looks like it will finally happen.

troy has been cutting lots of wood and got a water tank for our cellar.  the project is sort of on hold until spring at this point, but at least we've gotten this far.  hopefully, after christmas, we can put up some walls for bedrooms, and then the boys will stop driving each other crazy at bedtime.  and troy and i can reclaim our room from lumpy.  and we will have two more closets, each kid will have their own, it will be awesome! 

hohoho!

the greeley christmas program was thursday night, and the kids did such a great job!  it was a "musical", and they did the motions and sang their hearts out!  they dressed like carolers and a few older kids were santa and elves.  zach was sitting with us, singing all the songs, since they've been practicing around the house.  afterwards, they got to see santa.  zach was at the head of the line, but got nervous and didn't want to sit on santa's lap.  he just wanted to say hi.  so he gave hom a high five and grabbed his goody bag and ran!

i asked them what they asked santa for.  emma said she told him she was thinking about it.  alex said a DS.  man.  christmas is going to be disappointing, i'm afraid.

progress reports

hmm, let's see how the kids are doing in school.  1st up, emma!

our little worry wort.  before she even got it out of her back pack, she said "i got all smiley faces except for the other.  i want all smiley faces."  so troy looked at it, and said "just try to do better next time, emma."  and she was staring at the floor, pouting, and started to protest and i told her he was teasing her.  and i suggested we write whining in the space next to it, so she could get a smiley face since she's pretty good at it.  ha ha.

ok, alex is next.

whaaaat?!  he likes to do things his way?!  has a hard time following directions?  alex?  our alex?  i'm floored.  seriously, shocked.  actually, i think it's funny.  i fight that boy over everything.  down to his underwear or socks.  he wants to make every choice and will argue it until you are both in tears.  he wore shorts to school last week, and probably froze his butt off.  and told me later mrs. bunnell (vice principal) told him he couldn't wear shorts to school anymore, it was too cold.  and i said, huh, really?  isn't that what i said? 

anyways.  sawyer had his 15 mon. checkup friday.  he's grown an inch and gained a pound in 3 months.  he's doing great, although he was mad as hell when they called our name, because he was playing with a bead chaser in the waiting room and didn't want to leave it.  so he looked like this when we went back.

and he looked like that when we left, too, because he got three shots.  poor guy.  then today he fell outside and cut his lip, it's swollen and bled quite a bit.  i was in the shower, and he was playing with alex while troy kept an eye on them.  alex said he fell on this:

emma's shelter project from school. (isn't it cool?) i told them to put it outside for a fairy house.  and so i guess he cut his lip on those pokey bark pieces.  or something.  anyways. 

tonight we went to cousin will's 1st birthday party.  it was a blue valley rec center, and it was a gymnastics party - the kids had a blast!  pizza, cake, and trampolines?!  yes please.

happy birthday will!  thanks for the pizzas and fun!