JUST IN CASE THERE IS ANY CONFUSION....

The kids kept themselves busy this morning, sifting through their sticky, colorful letters in order to create a name tag of sorts for everyone's chair at the kitchen table.

Surprisingly, they did not give up half way through the project when they found they had run out of A's and V's. They simply used different letters, turned them upside down, or cut them to create the letter they were missing. Very smart children I have if I do say so myself.

After about 30 minutes of organizing, searching, cutting, and strategic placement - here are the fruits of their labor.

When I asked why they had thought to put everyone's names on their resective chairs, I was given this answer: "Well, so that everyone knows where they are supposed to sit."

You know, in case after 6 years of sitting in the same chairs there comes a point where anyone forgets where to plant their little bottom at dinner time. Just in case.

But it was a cute little project they came up with. A cute project that kept their little minds busy for 30 minutes, and off of any thoughts of beating on each other, calling each other names, fighting,yelling or any other sort of torture brothers and sisters love to inflict on one another. For this reason, it was in my opinion, one of their best little projects they have come up with to date. Yes, indeed it was.

BANANAS OVER BANANAS

My Olivia loves her bananas. If she could, she would eat them for breakfast, lunch, dinner and anytime in between.

Yesterday, I gave her a banana at snack time and decided to let her roam freely around the house while eating her favorite food. I figured it would be an extra special treat to not be restrained by the confines of her high chair.

Turns out she enjoyed this very much....


Wow - I am kinda in shock that Mom is letting me wander around with this banana in hand, I wonder how far she will let me go with it.

Oh, time to stop for a moment and take a few bites.

What, Mom? I am so not going to trying to make a run for those stairs that are a just a mere few feet away. No, I would never try and go upstairs with my banana. Never....

Alright, I will stop right here at the bottom of the stairs, squat for a bit and enjoy a few more delicious bites of my banana. Hmmm... Not tasting the same - oh, silly me! It is upside down!

There we go, I have it right now. Deeeeeeelicious!

I wonder how this peel tastes? Ummmm, not so good.

On my way back to the kitchen now cause Mom just won't let me go up those darn stairs. Time to take a load off for a while.


Almost done with the banana now, and I do have to say that I am just so thrilled that Mom let me have it without being in my high chair. What a great day!

ANOTHER FIRST COME AND GONE

Tonight was a big night for my Ava. Tonight she went to her very first slumber party at her friend Lauren's house.

It was such fun to see her excitement and anticipation for this big night all day - actually week, long.

When I finally dropped her off today at 4 o'clock, all of her pent up excitement and anticipation came flowing out, along with Meghan's and Lauren's. The three girls ran around in the front yard, screaming, being silly and laughing with delight at the fact that they were all having their very first sleepover with girlfriends. It was really so very sweet to see.

Over the past seven years I have been witness to many of my Ava's "firsts". From saying her first word, crawling, walking, going off to preschool, making the big transition into Kindergarten, having her very first play date, riding her bike without training wheels.... so very many "firsts." And now tonight, another first. I brought her to her friends house for her very first sleep over.

I am so very happy to have been able to witness all of these wonderful milestones in her life, and especially the ones that are being met now as she is getting older. The sleepover is the first of many wonderful experiences she will have as a child. I am so looking forward to all of the others, ones that I recall quite vividily from my own childhood as some of the best times of my life.

TO SNIP OR NOT TO SNIP

The Mr. has been not feeling so swell for the past week and a half. He has been sleeping 8-9 hours each night and still waking up feeling tired and run down, complaining that his head feel "full" and he is just plain old feels like crap. There were even a few days over this week and half that he arrived home early from work and climbed into bed - and there was even a day where he just stayed in bed and did not even attempt to go to work. This is all very strange as he usually pushes through head colds, flu type symptoms and other things as heaven forbid he were to miss a day of work.

Anyway, yesterday he sent me a text (aren't we hip, texting and all), saying he was coming hoome for lunch. As we sat together with the kids eating some delicious hamburgers I made for everyone, he said "Can you make me an appointment?"

"An appointment? You mean a Dr's appointment?" The reason I had to ask is he never ever goes to the Dr. He hates going as every time he gets sick enough to make his way there, he waits for hours to actually see the Dr, only to find out that, yes, he is sick, and he will just have to push through it. No antibiotics, nothing to make him feel better.

Why does all this make him so angry you ask?

Well, in his words, "because all I have to show for the stupid visit to the Dr. is a wasted afternoon spent in the waiting room, and a $150 Dr. bill all for 10 minutes spent with a Physician only to have him tell me I am sick and there is nothing they can do about it. I know I am sick, I did not need to pay someone $150 to tell me that."

Anyway, back to the question: He wanted me to make him a Dr's appointment?

Answer: "Yes please."

So I made one for him, and out the door he went to see this Dr. in the hopes that he would get some sort of relief from the constant pressure he was feeling in his head. Relief being some sort of antibiotic.

I received a phone call from this husband of mine about an hour later, cheerfully asking me if there was anything I need at Wal Mart. I did not even had to ask, he had gotten a prescription, and he was happy at last.

He strolled into the house a while later with a smile on his face and this in his hand

First of all, I have to say that this is the cheesiest brouchure I think I have ever seen. A husband and wife holding hands, lovingly looking into one anothers eyes, walking down the beach with a children's amusement park in the background. Really?

So beyond the ridiculousness of the brouchure, I have to say that I was very surprised. The Mr. has always been a bit hesitant, alright, very hesitant to even think about a Vasectomy, and now he is coming home with all the brouchures and forms to go ahead with it and "git 'er done?"

I asked what in God's name brought this up in conversation while at the Dr. getting his sinuses checked? He simply said he decided to ask him about it, and that he actually got his intital consultation over with, so that when he wanted to go ahead with it all he had to do was call and make the appointment. Then came the question: "So when do you want me to take care of this?"

I said nothing. I had to think for a moment, or more like a few months. This is a big decision. Yes, I know we have four beautiful kids, two boys two girls, a perfect little family. (This is what everyone says to us, and I do agree.) But I still have such a problem with doing anything permanent in this department. Even though I am 99% sure I do not want anymore children, I still do not like the fact that this little procedure would make it so that I would be never be able to ever have children again. Well, at least not with my husband. (Kidding, kidding.)

Today at lunch, he asked again, "So when do you think I can go ahead and get snipped?"

My answer? "I don't know."

And really, I don't know if I will ever know. Which should make him very happy, even happier than he felt right after getting that prescription in hand earlier yesterday. As at least for now, I am sparing him the pain and recovery of what has to be done in order to make it so that we are never, ever able to have children again.

MY LOVER OF MUSIC

Liv loves to dance. Every time any sort of song comes on the radio she is waving her arms around and cautiously (so as not to loose her balance) bouncing up and down rocking out. If Ava is playing Jonas Brothers on her boombox, Liv can be found smack dab right in front of the speakers, dancing away happy as can be. If we are in the car where she is confined to her car seat, you can still find her saying her head from side to side, clapping her hands and waving her feet around in excitement. If we are playing at home and watching T.V. She will even interrupt her play time if she happens to hear the theme song to ICarly come on in the family room. Yep, she does. When the music starts she picks herself up off that playroom floor and scoots her little self as quickly as could be into the family room to get her groove on. When the song ends, she makes her way back to the playroom and continues to play with whatever it was that had captured her attention before the music had pulled her away. So you get it, the girl loves to dance.

Yesterday we were out in the garage, listening to the kids Bible school CD on Ava's boombox. All the kids were dancing to the ever so famous "I Get Down" song, "This Little Light of Mine", and some others, and Liv was right where she always is, in front of the speakers, dancing away all smiles. All was well.

Then Ava decided to go into the house and return with her, actually my very expensive headphones that she has no business playing with, and plug them into her boom box so that she could listen alone. Nevermind all the other kids that were enjoying the music, and happily dancing along. (As of late, this is typical behavior from my 6 1/2 year old, something I need to work on....) The other kids frowned a bit, but were not too affected my the sudden stop in the dancing festivies. Maybe they were tired out and needed a break, whatever the case they all moved on to their scooters, bikes and other outside fun toys. Everyone but Olivia of course. She was NOT having this at all. She wanted her music back on, and she wanted it back on now.

Ava took one look at her screaming sister half way through her lack of music induced temper tantrum and decided she would share her headphones with her and placed them on Olivia's ears. And what do you know? She loved them. She was a bit confused as to how these large things that were placed over her ears were producing the music she so loved....

At one point, she glanced up at me with a look that said, "hey, Mom, what the heck are these things?"

I did not take her long to get used to them, and even figure out how to keep the much too large for a 1 year old headphones on her ears by scrunching up her shoulders so they would not fall down. Smart little girl I have.

The time had now come, it was afterall inevitable, that Ava decided she wanted the headphones back. She swiftly took them off Olivia's little ears, and placed them on her own without a second thought. And of course, another temper tantrum ensued. She screamed and screamed.....

until Ava relented, and placed the ever coveted head phones back on here ears, where they belonged (according to Olivia).

Ava lost interest, or maybe just gave up on ever retrieving the headphones for her own personal use without listening to Olivia melt down, and walked away. This made Olivia quite happy. She spent the next 20 minutes or so (no kidding) happy as ever, dancing away in the garage with the headphones on. Finally, she removed the headphones from her ears, placed them around her neck and looked up at me with a look saying, "Can you believe this Mom? These things are so cool!"

Miss Olivia Grace, my music lover....

AND THE HITS JUST KEEP ON COMING

This pictures is a perfect description of how I am feeling today.

Totally crazed and stressed. Back from a fabulous 4 day boat trip with friends, catching up on laundry, house cleaning. Dealing with cranky, overtired kids who are asking me what we are going to do what seems like every other second. And following that question with a resounding "I am boooooooorrrreeeed!!"

This is usually how it goes the day after returning from a vacation sans the kids. I wonder if they are secretly trying to get me back for taking an adults only vacation by torturing me so with all their fighting, yelling, crying and general out of control state. I am thinking they are.

Whatever the case, I am beginning to think these adult vacations are not worth it. Alright, not that bad as to get me to give up the few adult vacations I get a year, but it is bad.

ARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!

Alright, that felt good. Stress relief via complaining and screaming on my blog. Now off to take Lucas to Karate, finish up laundry, feed kids, put them to bed, pick up the 350 piece puzzle Olivia just dumped all over the floor, and fall into bed myself in hopes of a better day tomorrow. Tomorrow will be better, yes it will. It will.

SWIMSUITS - EDITED WITH AN UPDATE

For the past 6 years I have not really thought much about bathing suits. Why? Well, because I have pretty much been pregnant or recovering from a pregnancy for the past 6 summers. Because of most summers I have been wearing maternity swimsuits, or not wearing them at all and doning capris and tank tops while on the boat so as not to scare anyone with my fresh post baby body.

Well it has now been 14 months since I had my last baby, and for the past 2 months I have been toying with the idea to go in search of a bathing suit. I have just been toying with the idea as every woman knows shopping for bathing suits can be quite the ordeal. Same as the whole dress shopping thing goes - You find bathing suit after bathing suite that looks great on the rack, but terrible on. Or you waste a whole day at the mall in persuit of anything that would look half way decent on and end up leaving empty handed, day wasted. These are all things I have been through in the past, and I really dreaded going through it again.

But we have our annual boat trip with friends coming up this Thursday, so for the past few weeks I have been looking. Online. I know, it is not the greatest idea to look for swimsuits online as you tend to do a ton of ordering, returning, exchanging, which usually lands you with a huge shipping bill. BUT, Victoria's Secret seems to be the only place I can find swimsuits that work for me.

What do I mean by work for me?

Well, I have found that after having 4 kids, my "girls" are just not as perky and full as they used to be. It really is a sad state of affairs, that at age 32 my breasts look like a 75 year old womans do. So very sad... But no sense in crying over something that cannot be fixed, right? I simply need to find a swimsuit that will give me some good lift and some good support so as to make my "girls" appear to look somewhat reminiscent of what a gal in her early 30's should look like. And I know from looking around over the past few months that it is nearly impossible to find a swimsuit in any store that has an underwire for great lift and straps that do not go around the neck. Everything out there is either the itsy bitsy teeny weeny bikini that just does not work for me, or the one piece grandma looking thing. So this is why Victoria's Secret works for me - they have just what I need in the support and giving good lift department's. It is called their Miracle Bra swimwear line, and let's just say it is nothing short of a miracle. Here is one that I purchased - granted I so do not look like this model with all her voluptuousness (I'm thinking that is not a word) and things, but it makes me look decent, and that is what counts.

After finding such joy in this swim suit, I decided to go back online and look for another one. I figured, why not? I was so happy with my first purchase, maybe I would be able to find that joy again. Maybe.

I persued their online selection of Miracle Bra wear once again and found this:

Oh, how I love thee.

My intenal dialogue on this one: I have found the cutest swimsuit ever. I love it. I love that it is white, but gosh, white? I am sure I would have it stained within minutes. Why would I want to buy a white swimsuit? But it would look so nice with a good tan. Should I? Maybe not. I don't have near the body that this girl who is wearing it does. She is in such great shape, has nice boobs, and nice legs. All of which I do not posess. But maybe I would be pleasently surprised, maybe it would look good on me. It is half price, I should give it a go. I can always return it.... Alright, I am going to go for it. C'mon Maria, click the darn purchase button. No, I should delete it from my cart, and get a more standard suit, that I know will look decent. Yes, I will do that..... No, I am going to get it, I am.

And I did, I bought it.

I am still awaiting it's arrival from my lovely UPS man, which is expected to take place on Wednesday. When I do get it, I am hoping that I will try it on and love it as much as I loved the first one I purchased. One can hope, right?

So I just received my swimsuits in the mail. I was pleased with the look and fit of the leopard print one I orginally purchased but needed a new size in. But the white one that I just thought was out of this world cute, different and all around fabulous? Not so much. I tried on the top only to find it was so not the right size - actually, way too small. My "girls" looked ridiculous being smooshed, and having my stretch marked flabbiness spilling out over the top of the suit was just plain horrible looking. I did not even bother trying on the bottoms - so very dissapointing this delivery was. I would have returned this suit as well, and tried a different size, but seeing that we are leaving on our boat trip tomorrow, that would be pointless as I would not have it in my possesion in time to actually wear it. But what did I expect ordering swimsuits online, right?

Oh well, I guess I can consider it a success seeing that I was able to find one swimsuit out of the 4 I purchased.

FUN FOR ALL

Today is a very rainy day, we are all stuck in the house, bored, the kids are bouncing off the walls, driving me crazy. I had to think of something for us to do, and since it rained pretty much all day yesterday as well, I was beginning to run out of rainy day fun ideas.

But have no fear, as Ava came up with a grand idea. I could paint her and Livi's toenails. I agreed to paint hers, but thought better of attempting to paint Liv's as cute as it may look, it would be next to impossible to get her to sit still to paint them and to let them dry.

So we began painting Ava's, all the while discussing what we wanted to do with them, flowers? Polka Dots? So many choices... As we were in the throws of decision making the boys wandered over and decided they wanted their nails painted as well. I thought heck, why not?
After finishing Ava's nails, (We decided on the Polka Dots, nice, right?)

I started on theirs. Of course, with a clear nail polish so as not to upset Dad too much when he woke up. I know he would not be too happy seeing his two boys running around with bright pink and white polka dotted toenails, and I guess I would not blame him.

As I look at this picture I realize that my children were not blessed with pretty feet. Which is really no big deal as there a much bigger things to worry about than having pretty feet, but I had to mention it as I have never really took the time to examine their feet until now. Until looking at a picture of all of them here together. In any case, here they all are, with freshly painted toe nails...

This fun little toe makeover took about a half hour from start to finish which was not as long as I had hoped for. Now what? Paint their fingernails? Do eachother's hair? Or maybe give them all a bath? After looking at the close up pictures of my children's feet, it is clear that they are in desperate need of one.

All I know is it is now 9am, and it is still raining. It could be a long day.

A FEW OF HER FAVORITE THINGS CONTINUED

Liv has always been head over heels crazy for Ava's American Girl doll. Everytime she sees it her hands start waving up, down, and sideways, and her eyes are always open wide as she squeels with excitement at the prospect of being able to hold this ever coveted doll. Ava most often obliges, and let's Olivia touch her beloved Julie doll, and give it a short hug, but it is always taken away from her quite promptly as Ava is too worried about Olivia messing up Julie's hair. Heaven forbid.

When the doll get's taken away, Olivia most often throws herself on the carpet in a heap, sobbing uncontrollably most likely in the hopes that Ava will give the doll back.

This scene plays out a few times each week, and every time it gets me to see Olivia so very sad over this doll. What to do?

Well, buy her a doll that is just for her. No, not an American Girl doll, at least not yet. But I figured I could swing by Target and get her her very own newborn Cabbage Patch doll. She would love it just the same as the American Girl doll, and it would cost me about $100 less. Win, win.

So I bought her the doll the last time I was at Target, and presented it to her that evening. And it was love at fist sight.

She spends much time hugging and loving her new baby....

And much time carrying it around from room to room....

As you can see, she has some work to do when it comes to properly holding and carrying her baby, but heck, for being just one I think she is a pretty good Momma, don't you?

SOMETHING SMELLS....

I will start by saying this is really not a topic I ever thought would come up on this blog of mine. As like I have said in the past, this is a place for me to document memories, and other important tidbits that the kids will one day grow up and appreciate reading. But I felt the need to write about this, thinking it could be cathartic, and end in me getting said topic out of this head of mine. So with that said, here goes.

I was driving home from dropping the kids at Grandma and Grandpa's on Tuesday for their weekly fun day when I came upon the KDWB morning show. I had not listened to this show in what seemed to be years, so I thought I would keep it on for awhile, and see what was new, and if they had anything entertaining to speak of.

After listening for a few moments, I came to the realization that there was something quite entertaining to listen to on the drive. Entertaining, and disturbuing, and gross.

What, you ask, were they talking about?

Well, on occasion they open the phone lines and let people call in with questions/concerns/thoughts about the show, or about themselves. Things they may need advice one, or help with, etc.

Some guy happened to call in Tuesday morning with quite the question. He was wondering what to do about a problem he had with his girlfriend. A problem with being intimate, having to do with a certain type of smell "down there". Of course, my mind goes right to the va-j-j. Thinking he thinks she smells after a long day at work "down there," and does not know what to do about it, if he should tell her or not. This is old news as I have heard all kinds of stories such as these about girls not smelling so fresh down there, and needing to "clean up" before getting busy so to speak. So I was about to change the channel until I heard something. I heard this guy say that she smelt like sewage. What? Sewage? Like poop smell? I was really grossed out, but intrigued so I kept listening.

And I was right, he was saying that she smelt like poop. That the smell was not coming from the area that I thought he was speaking of, it was actually coming from her butt. Gross. Poop? Really? How hard is it to wipe yourself after you go number 2? One should never, ever, ever, smell like poop after going poop.

So they proceeded to have random people call in to give this poor soul some advice on how to handle his girlfriends terrible misfortune of having an apparently very smelly butt. I figured he would not get much in the advice category seeing that I could not see many others having the problem of their girlfriends smelling like poop. But I was wrong.

There were a plethera of people calling in saying things such as:

"Oh I had the same problem with my girlfriend, and I sat down and just told her. She was O.K. with it. Really. She said that she would just start taking showers before getting intimate."

"My boyfriend had this same problem and I told him that he needed to start using wipes after going # 2 so that he would not smell. He did start to use the wipes and things got much better in the smell department."

"I told my girlfriend that she did not smell very good and that she needed to wipe better. It did not go so well, she got very mad and did not talk to me for a few days. She ended up calling me a few days later and said she understood and that she would start taking better care of herself."

Really?

First of all, I am so very surprised that there were so many people that were afflicted with this problem. And second of all, I am suprised at how well all of the people took being told that they smelt like poop and their partners could barely stand being intimate with them because of it. I don' think I would be so understanding.

I don't know,maybe I have just been out of the loop for so long - being married for 7 years and having 4 kids, that I don't know what today's big "issues" are in the dating scene. I will say that if these are the sorts of things plaguing today's single crowd, I am more than happy to be where I am. At home, happily married to the Mr. and taking care of our 4 kids.

OH HOW I LOVE THEE

Recently I was doing some blog surfing when I came upon a post about a website called shabbyapple.com.

Shabbyapple.com? Hmmmm.... Never heard of it. Wondered what it was all about, what they sold, how expensive their clothing was. I was intrigued. So I navigated myself right to that page minutes after reading the post.

And what did I find?

Oh good Lord. I found the most fabulous collection of dresses ever. Really, this shabbyapple.com just took my breath away. I was without words as I clicked on all the different dresses. There were a plethera of styles and colors, and they were unique to boot. It was truly love at first site.

Why, you ask was I so very smitten with a website full of dresses? Because it is nearly impossible for me to find dresses that I like, AND that fit well. Everytime I have to go to a wedding, funeral, holiday party, or any other sort of function that I need to dress up for I dred it because of the simple fact that I need to find a dress to wear. And I am never successful. All the dresses I seem to try on seem to look cute on the rack and horrible on, or are not the right color for my skin tone, or are too long, too short, too boxy, too fitted. But the worst part of it is I spend days on end in shopping malls wasting away my time in dressing rooms in pursuit of the perfect dress that seems to be nonexsistent.

But just a few days ago, my search ended. I finally found the perfect dress. I loved the way it looked both on the model who was wearing it on the website and on myself. And here it is....

Go here to see what it looks like on an actual person. I am sure you will love it as much as I do. Realy.

So here's to my new favorite place to shop for dresses. http://www.shabbyapple.com/. Go there, shop and be merry.

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY

I have been busy as all heck lately. So busy and crazed have I been, that I ran out the door this morning, looking like this to drop my Ava off at her summer success program.

Yes, that is me, (picture taken by my Lucas) in my pajamas, glasses on, no make-up... I did not even bother to make an attempt to fix my hair or even throw a hat on so as not to scare any of the other Mom's or kids when dropping her off. Now I have said in posts before, that I really don't see a point in getting all dressed up, hair done, make up on and looking all pretty every day of the week. But I should at least have the decency to make myself look somewhat presentable in public, right? Seems in my crazed state my general appearance has fallen to the wayside among many other things. What to do?

So I have been spending the summer running here there and everywhere, and finding next to no time to do anything, much less sit down and post anything on this blog of mine. The one I promised to write in at least 3 times a week so that I would not find myself going months without writing in it.

My point in writing this little post today? To document the fact that I promise to get back to writing at least 3 times a week soon. Very soon. Meaning, most likely when the kids are in school and things seem to slow down a bit. Oh, and to document the fact that I promise to keep up with my general appearance from now on. You know, take care of the basics : showering, doing the hair, and making sure to wear a pair of pants that you are not able to see my underwear through. (Look closely at the picture above, and you will see that it is true, I went out in public in a pair of see through capri pajama bottoms.)

Yes, I promise to do all of this to show my own self-worth, but most of all so as to not embarrass my daughter when I drop her off at school.