LOVELY DAY

This afternoon I received a phone call from Miss Janelle over at St. Croix Prep. She called to tell me some very good news. Some oh- my- God- you- are- the -best woman- in -the -world- can- I- drive -over- there-right-now- and-kiss-you kind of news. Yes, that is what I said to her when she told me that they have a spot in one of the first grade classes for this sweet little boy,

my Lucas Alexander next year.

Ever since Ava was miraculously accepted a few months ago, I have hoped, prayed, and obsessed over him getting in as well. This is honestly the best news I could have received.

What a truly lovely day.

CAN WE SAY TRAIN WRECK?

Today was not a good day. As that little kid Alexander said, it was a terrible, horrible, no good very bad day to be exact.

It started with me waking up a bit late, as some how the volume on my alarm clock was turned down so I was unable to hear it when it went off. I am guessing this was courtesy of Miss Liv, as she enjoys playing with my alarm clock during the day.

After rushing to get myself and all the kids ready, I decided to be the best Mom that I am and run to SA to get the kids a doughnut before school. So I hoped in the car and slowly backed out of the garage - all of a sudden there was a loud crunch. I quickly found out the crunching sound came from me running into my lovely husbands gargantuan trailer attached to his truck. Apparently he was too tired last night to drop the trailer back off at the Marina, so he brought it home with him. Not a problem if he would have warned me it was there, or if I would have walked out of the garage and looked before pulling out to see it was there. But of course neither of these things happened.

I got out of the car to assess the damage. Turns out I have a nasty scratch and large dent in the back side of my car. Lovely. Off I went to get the doughnuts.

After the kids snarfed their breakfast treat down, I got Lucas on the bus, and left Ava in the care of Dad so that I could get Anthony and Liv to Grandma and Papa's in time for me to turn around and get to Maplewood by 8:45am for my Glucose test. Anthony cried the entire way to Grandma and Papa's as he had forgotten his orange juice at home. He continued to cry when I dropped him off, and was making it nearly impossible for me to get out the door. I finally managed to sneak out and began making my way to Maplewood for my appointment. I was making good time until traffic came to a dead stop on 694, 5 miles before my exit and 10 minutes before I was supposed to be at the Dr's office.

Things were not going well.

By some miracle, I was able to make it to my appointment. I was 10 minutes late, but I made it. I sucked down that lovely syrupy tasting garbage as directed and planted my butt in the waiting room for an hour to wait. The time finally came for the finger prick and glucose test. And what do you know, I failed. I was upset to say the least. Although my day was already going so horribly, I guess I should not have been surprised. So what did this mean? 3 hour glucose test at the hospital is what it meant. I cried, no, sobbed the whole way home. Not just because of the failed glucose test, but because of how the day was going as a whole. And it was only 10am. I was not sure what to expect next.

The Mr. called as I was mid melt down and attempted to calm me down as I ran through how horrible my day had gone thus far. He suggested we meet for lunch, and I agreed. As we were getting ready to eat he broke some more bad news. My tire was flat. Apparently when I ran into his trailer, scratched my car to hell and dented it, I also slashed the tire which resulted in it going flat.

So, after lunch we made our way to Tire Proz to get it fixed. We dropped it off and were told it would take 3-4 hours to fix. My afternoon to run errands was lost - I just added that to my list of things that were going wrong.

I decided to make the best of it and just relax on the couch until Lucas got off the bus. At about 2:40 I made my way out front to wait for his bus to arrive. At 2:50 I was wondering why his bus was late. At 3 o'clock I began to worry a bit. By 3:15 I was beginning to panic. Where in the heck was my child? Did the bus driver get wasted and drive the bus into a ditch? [I know, a little irrational] Was there an accident? Was the bus broken down somewhere with Lucas scared and crying on it? I finally got a hold of the bus company to find out where my child was. After holding for a few minutes, I found out his bus had broken down in the school parking lot, and that an alternate bus was on its way to pick the kids up and bring them home. Finally, 40 minutes late, Lucas arrived home safely.

At 5pm my lovely neighbor drove me down to Tire Proz to retrieve my car, while my other neighbor watched my kids for me. I assured her it would just be 10 minutes. Of course, I get there and they say my car was so out of alignment [whatever that means; I did not ask} that it had taken them a lot longer than they expected. So I sat and waited an additional 30 minutes for my car.

Once it was done, I raced home to pick up the kids and get to Grandma and Papa's to get the two youngest arriving 45 minutes late. Amazingly the drive over there and back went without incident. I am truly surprised by this seeing how my day had gone thus far. Truly surprised.

And that was how my day unfolded. Now that constitutes a terrible, horrible, no good very bad day - does it not?

Tomorrow morning I have an appointment at the hospital bright and early for my 3 hour mind numbingly boring Glucose test. Wish me luck, 'cause Lord knows I will need it.

WORTH THE EFFORT

I mentioned a while back that the kids had decided to pool all of the money they had gotten as birthday gifts, all the money they had saved up in their piggy banks, from doing chores, and all that jazz in order to buy something big. Their idea of something big? A trampoline, a hot tub, an in ground pool, an electric scooter,they had so many ideas.

I ever so slyly pushed them toward saving for the trampoline as I thought it was an attainable goal. They seemed happy with this choice and went about continuing to add to their savings.

Last week they asked me if we could go to the bank to see how much money they had. So we all packed into the car, extra large durable ziploc bag full of coins in hand, and headed to the bank. While we waited for the bank teller to give us a total, we decided to make a guess as to how much we had. Lucas guessed $101, Anthony said he did not know, Liv knew nothing of what was going on, Miss Ava was still at school, and I guessed $150.

Finally the lovely teller returned with a total - $178. Combine this with the cash they had at home and they had saved $380 dollars. Heck, $380 is a lot of money to this 33 year old Mom, can you imagine what the kids thought of that much money? They had a look of such pride on their faces; and I have to say Mom was incredibly proud as well. To think they had decided all on their own to share their money with one another, and continue to save and work hard together to get something they all wanted. They get their trampoline and learn a great lesson in the process. Win, win in my book.

Of course, after they found out they had enough money to actually make the purchase, they would not leave Dad alone. "Dad, can we go get our trampoline today?" "Dad, how about now?" Dad, when do you think you will have time to get our trampoline?" "Dad, you know we have enough money for our trampoline now, can we pleeeeeease go get it?" He finally relented and headed to good 'ol Sams Club to pick up the kids ever coveted trampoline. And of course after he got it home and into the garage the kids did not waste a minute starting in on him again: "Hey Dad can you put the trampoline together?" "Maybe after dinner can we do it?" " Dad, I really want to jump on our new trampoline." "Pretty please can you do it now?" "How about now?" This time Dad relented within hours, and put the trampoline together. Now that's one smart man I married.

As we were putting the finished touches on it before we would let them jump, Ava said

"Wow, this is so cool."

"You really like your new trampoline, don't you?"

Yes, but it is so cool that we saved up all our own money and bought it."

The Mr. and I both smiled.

Finally the trampoline was ready for all of our little monkeys to jump on. The Mr. and I sat back and relaxed as we watched them happily bouncing around together.



Miss Liv was out of her mind happy to be able to jump, and of course, Miss Ava was found laying on the trampoline pouting as she could not jump high enough with Liv on it. Woe is me, woe is me.....

She finally came around.


As we were heading in for the night, I overheard the kids talking about saving up for something else. I jumped into the conversation asking what they wanted to save for. Their response? "A hot tub!" Dad and I both looked at eachother thinking the same thing - now that would be something we would love. And of course, also that is going to take a whole heck of a lot longer to save up for than that trampoline did. But we decided not to ruin their excitement and said, "Sure, that sounds great! Maybe Mom and Dad will even help save for that one."

LIKE MOTHER LIKE DAUGHTER

Ever since I can remember, I have woken up in the morning looking, well... nothing short of scary. For real. For some reason I toss and turn like crazy at night when I sleep, which results in some pretty crazy looking hair do's when waking up.

Early on in my relationship with the Mr. he would wake up in the morning in a state of shock after rolling over and getting a look at my lovely locks. After some time, the shock eventually wore off, and now it does not even phase him. I am guessing he just got used to waking up next to a woman who looked like she had just recently stuck her finger in a light socket.

Sometimes I think he is a little too used to my morning hair, my "bed head", and this has clouded his judgement a bit. Example? There have been mornings when I wake up late and have to get Anthony to preschool without time for a shower. Go figure. I am most often in a panic: "Look at me! How can I bring him to school looking like this? I will scare the other parents and the teachers." His response? "You look fine, if it bugs you that much put a hat on." This is how accustomed he has gotten.

Anyway, since Miss Liv has been sleeping a big girl bed I have noticed that she has been cursed with my horrible habits. You know, rolling around all over the bed and tossing and turning at night while sleeping, which results in some pretty horendous looking "bed head." This morning she had it the worst I have seen yet;

I may even just have to say worse than I have ever had it.

I MUST ADMIT...

I am having a love affair with an inanimate object. And the Mr. knows all about it. I have been having this affair for quite some time now and seem to be unable to end it. I have wanted this, pined after this, even dreamt of this ever since Christmas when I saw it a newspaper ad.

Yes, it is true, the object I am having a love affair with is a refrigerator. But not just any refrigerator I must say.

This beauty is a 28.5 cubic foot french door stainless steel refrigerator with through the door ice and water, power freeze and cool, 6 slide out tempered glass shelves, 2 humidity controlled crispers, 4 gallon size door bins and internal LED lighting. A mother of 4 (soon to be 5) kids dream. It is much more spacious than the dirty, old, white refrigerator [equipped with a broken icemaker] that is taking up residence in my kitchen right now.

Side note: For those of you who don't know, I simply cannot drink anything in a glass of any sort without ice in it. So not having an icemaker is a huge deal as the Mr. is made to go to the store and purchase ice now that it is broken. If we don't buy the beautiful gem pictured above soon, I am certain we will spend what it will take to purchase it in ice at our local Super America.

After months of pleading with the Mr, I think I have finally gotten him to agree that we are in need of a new refrigerator. And more importantly the refrigerator we are in need of is the one pictured above. I even took him to Best Buy so he could see for himself how very wonderful it was.

As of right now, we are saving up to buy it with the hopes of having it gracing my kitchen with its presence sometime this summer. I can't wait....

NEW DIGS

A few months back, I went about getting Miss Liv out of her crib and into a big girl bed. With all of the other kids this transition seemed to go without incident; so I was not too worried about her.

I happily took a few days to shop, find a quilt and some cute wall decor to match Ava's since the girls would be sharing a room. Once their room was all put together, I decided it was time for Liv to leave behind the crib.

The first night was pretty much par for the course. She got up about 15 times or so in order to explore the hallway and the other rooms upstairs she has seen thousands of times. I remember all the other kids doing this as well, they were all sort of in awe that they were free from the cages of the crib and had to get in and out and in and out of bed to see if it was real. To see if they really could get out of bed on their free will.

As with all the other kids at this stage, each time she got up I would calmly put her back into bed and tell her it was bedtime. Before I knew it she was fast asleep in her big girl bed. Mission accomplished. Well, until 4am when she decided to wake up and have a little party in her bed. She ripped down all of the flower and butterfly wallies on her side of the room; the ones I painstakingly put up one by one using a level to ensure they were applied in a straight line. She then managed to grab the lamp off of her bedside table and chuck it onto the floor. This part I was not aware of until I entered the room after hearing a loud thud, and stepped directly on it hearing a loud crunch. That being the lamp shade. Liv did not seem to be all to fazed by her late night destruction; Ava on the other hand started crying uncontrollably when she woke to find me next to her bed with a broken lamp at my feet. "My lamp Mom, Liv broke my lamp!!"

Trying to get Liv back to bed after this was a nightmare, she kept getting up, jumping on her bed, yelling, keeping Ava awake which would make her cry, and just being a plain old stinker. This late night crap was nothing I had experienced with my other 3, needless to say, this part of the first night in her big girl bed was not so "par for the course." So I gave up, and put her in the her crib for the rest of the night so that I could get a few more hours of sleep.

The next morning I was feeling a bit disappointed in myself for giving up so easily. So much so that I vowed to not have her go back to her crib for any reason that night.

That night I went to bring her to bed and instead of going into her new room, she literally ran as fast as her little legs would go to the room where I had stored the crib. She stood next to it saying "up! up!" with a look on her face that told me she was just going to die if she could not sleep in that crib. Naturally, I picked her up, placed her in her crib with Nuck and blanket in hand, and what do you know? She was as happy as could be - off to dreamland she went.

So much for not putting her in her crib for any reason whatsoever.

After a very peaceful night of sleep, I decided to give up on the big girl bed thing for a while as we did have quite some time before this new baby was coming. She just did not seem ready for the change; of course it had nothing to do with the fact that by the end of the day I was so utterly exhausted the last thing I wanted to do was fight her to sleep in a bed she did not want to sleep in. No, it had nothing to do with that.

So I let it all go, and she spent another month in that crib of hers happy as could be. Until last week when I decided it was time. And amazingly after one sort of sleep deprived night and one fight at nap time the next day, she was accustomed to her new digs. Alleluia!

Yesterday at nap time I decided to peek in on her to make sure she was actually sleeping on the bed, and not in front of the door or in the closet or something. Weird you say? Not for Liv, she is a busy little bee and I would not put it past her to explore her room, mid way through decided she was too tired to continue, and plop her little self down wherever she was to fall asleep.

Anyway, I quietly opened the door and found her peacefully sleeping. I think she is enjoying how spacious this big girl bed really is.

In my quest to get a picture of her cuteness, I woke her up. Oops. As she was rubbing her eyes in an attempt to wake up, wondering what the heck her Mom was doing standing in the doorway snapping pictures like the Paparazzi, I noticed her hands. Hmmmm. They were.... orange. Turns out she was not too sleepy when I had first put her to bed, so she had gone snooping around in big sisters drawers and had come across some markers. So why not color all over herself as a fun pass time, right?

I scooped her out of bed, washed her hands up and told her I would call it even. She colored all over herself (which Mommy hates,) but I was so rude as to wake her from her nap by taking pictures.

Last night, before I went to bed I stopped into everyone's rooms to check on them and give them one last kiss. Something I do every night. When I made my way into the girls room, I found this.

Turns out Liv must have gotten a little lonely in that big new bed of hers. To cure her loneliness she snuck on over to her big sisters bed, snuggled right up to her and fell asleep. Again, I had to take a picture; thinking this would be one the girls would love to see when they got older. Luckily my need to document every little part of their lives did not wake anyone up this time.

So I think I can say we are officially all settled in. Anthony and Lucas are happily sharing a room, Ava and Liv are now happily sharing a room, and we have one little empty room with a crib in it waiting to be filled by this sweet baby boy growing in my belly.

All is well.... For now at least.

MUCH BETTER

I finally made my way to Target and was able to get Anthony that new helmet of his.


Adorned with both Buzz Lightyear and Woody.

He says he likes this one much better than Ava's pink flowery one; and I would have to agree.

I think I may just be the best Mom ever in this little boy's mind.

LOOK MOM....

No training wheels!

He was not very happy about having to wear his sisters bright pink flower helmet [which will be replaced today with the Buzz Lightyear one he has been eyeing up for months at Target] ;

but he got over that quickly once he realized how excited we all were to see him ride without those pesky training wheels. Yay Anthony Thomas!!

SHOES, SHOES, SHOES!

Shoes are beginning to become an issue in the Shelton household. The issue being we have way too many pairs.

I know, I know, we have 6 people that live under this roof, so it is to go without saying that there is no way around having many pairs of shoes.

But enough

is enough.

Really.

A thought worth mentioning: These are just the boat loads of pairs that have made their way to the back entry. There are plenty more to be found in the kids' closets, the Mr's and even mine. I admit, it is all a bit out of control, isn't it?

PURPLE BELT

I have to admit, this special graduation of Lucas' in which he graduated from his green belt and was given his purple belt happened last month. That is how far behind I am - oops! I like to think better late than never, right?

So here is the momentous occasion documented in pictures...

Showing Dad what exactly it was that got him to the point of obtaining the purple belt.

Receiving his belt; alway such a proud moment for both Lucas and Mom.

So here we are at the purple belt. Next will be blue, then blue with a black stripe through the middle, then red to finish the program off.

Talk of the next Karate program; the black belt program, came up when we were given the breakdown of what it would cost us. Lucas did not seem overly excited about continuing on to the black belt program; which secretly both the Mr. and I are very happy about. Why? Maybe because the cost of that little program is $5500. Yes, you read that right folks; $5500 dollars.

Anyway, we are planning to enjoy the time he has left with Karate, and hope that when it comes to an end he does not change his mind and want to continue on. It is always so much easier for us parents to have children decide they don't want to do something rather than us having to tell them they can't. Does that make me a bad Mom for saying that? I hope not.

KARATE MASTER

Lucas and I were sitting out front this afternoon, enjoying the nice weather when I decided to break the news that a babysitter was coming over tonight.

Which one Mom?

Ali, the one that lives straight across the street from us. You remember her.

He seemed to still not know which babysitter I was talking about.

You know, the one that walks past you at the bus stop every day on her way to the Highschool? Chad and Riley's sister?

Oh! I know her. But how do you know that she walks past me at the bus stop every day?

Because I watch you out the window until you get on the bus.

Why?

Because I want to make sure you get on the bus alright.

Do you watch Ava get on her bus too?

Yes.

What do you think will happen if you don't watch us? Do you think a stranger will come and try and get us in their car? [I admit, we have had way too many conversations about not getting into cars with or talking to people we don't know. I am a tad bit neurotic about all that]

Well no, I just want to see you get on the bus. [I have say that the real answer would be yes, but I did not feel right telling him that.]

If a stranger did try and get me in his car would it be alright to use my Karate moves on him?

Yes, of course. Do you think you could get him away from you with your Karate moves?

Yes. [Long pause]. But if I couldn't would you bring me out my bo so that I could use that on him?

I turned in my chair a bit at this comment so as to hide my laughter and smile. Like I would be watching this all unfold out the window and do nothing to intevene. Until, of course, I noticed he was in need of his bo. Right? I turned back to him once I gained my composure.

Yes, I would bring you out your bow. But do you hit people with your bo or do you just spar with one another? I thought you sparred with them, like you do at Karate practice and that would mean the stranger would need a bo too.

No Mom, you hit them with it. I would stab him in the face first, and if that did not work I would stab him in the neck. If he still wasen't dead [as if being stabbed in the face and neck with a sharp object would not result in his death] I would stab him really hard in the stomach.

Oh, I see.

And we left it at that.

The imagination of this 5 year old boy never ceases to amaze me.

THE MYSTERY THAT WILL FOREVER GO UNSOLVED

For some reason every single pair of jeans I purchase for my boys end up looking like this within months of being purchased.

Nothing of the sort happens to either Ava or Liv's pants. Ever. Just the boys. And I know I am not alone as every other Mom that has had the pleasure of having one or more sons empathizes with me and knows. They are all the same. They can't seem to keep a pair of jeans hole free for more than a few months; and none of us Moms can figure out why.

Each time Lucas or Anthony has left the house in the morning for school all neat and tidy and ended up coming home in the afternoon with a huge hole in the knee of their pants I question them.

"What happened?"

"What do you mean Mom?" Followed by a blank stare, such as this:


"Why do you have a huge hole in your pants?"

"Oh, that? I don't know, it just happened."

"How? Did you fall on the playground? Skid across the gym floor on your knees? Take a pair of scissors to them?"

"No, I don't know how it happened, it just started out as a really little hole this morning and then got really big by the end of the day."

This is usually how the conversation goes every time. And every time this is when I shake my head in frustration, sigh and walk away thinking of how many hundreds of dollars I have managed to spend on jeans and how many more hundreds I will spend before they are able to purchase their own.


Boys; you've gotta love 'em.

WAITING FOR BABY

We have a few very excited little monkeys around here. What are they so excited about you ask?

Well, that would be the upcoming arrival of their baby brother.

Anthony and Liv seemed more than happy to love him to pieces yesterday. They jabbered away to him through my belly button [Anthony insists that he can hear every word he says]; asking him when he was going to come out.

When tired of chatting to him and getting nothing in return, they decided to turn on the affection by giving my belly plenty of kisses and hugs.

I love that they love their baby brother so very much; I have a feeling he is going to fit right in to our nice, big, crazy family. 17 weeks to go!

OUR ANNIVERSARY

8 years ago today I married my man.

These 8 years have brought us a new home, 4 (almost 5) kids, and many, many amazing adventures. What a journey we are on together; I simply could not be happier.


I love you Mr. Shelton. You always have been and always will be the one for me.

HAPPY EASTER

Hope everyone had a wonderful and very happy Easter day, filled with yummy food, family, beautiful weather, and some great photo opportunities in which you found all of your children present; adorned in their fancy little outfits for the day.

We had a fabulous Easter day, yummy food, and beautiful weather all spent with my family. What we did not have was 4 little monkeys all dressed up in their Easter attire and camera ready.

I guess two out of the four isn't bad though.

Funny that it was the girls that were all dressed up and ready for their photo op. The boys? Outside getting in every last minute possible to ride bikes, play basketball and roll around in the dirt outside with their neighbor friends. Go figure.

Happy Easter!

IF I AM NOT....

If I am not throwing a load of laundry in the dryer, I am probably loading the dishwasher. If I am not putting away 2 laundry baskets full of clean clothes, I am probably loading the hamper full of dirty ones I find littered all over the bedroom floors. If I am not scrubbing the toilet and its surrounding area from the boys lack of aim, I am probably cleaning out the sink of dried up toothpaste. If I am not cleaning up after lunch, I am probably making dinner. If I am not on my hands and knees washing the kitchen floor, I am probably vacuuming the goldfish cracker ridden carpets. If I am not scrubbing out the bathtub full of dirt and grime courtesy of the kids dirty bodies from the night before, I am probably sweeping the remains of snack time off of the wood floors. If I am not comforting someone who just fell outside while riding their bike, I am probably breaking up a fight. If I am not helping Anthony pass an all important level on his PSP, I am probably helping Ava finish her homework. If I am not reading books with Lucas to help him perfect his reading skills, I am probably snuggled up with Livi and one of her touch and feel animals books. If I am not dropping Lucas off at Karate, I am probably picking Ava up from dance class. If I am not changing a dirty diaper, I am probably wiping a runny nose . If I am not laying in bed with Anthony at the end of a long day, talking about our adventures and saying prayers, I am probably rocking Miss Liv to sleep while singing her favorite song. If I am not, if I am not, if I am not....

My life as a Mom is full of "If I am nots." Some are most definitely better than others, but I know each and every one of them is par for the course; just a part of being a Mom. And I find comfort in that.