Great Christmas Present!

It's been great having Thayne home but my routine has gotten a little off. I usually blog while the kids are having "quiet time" but Thayne and I are using that time to play games or just hanging out so my blogs have been put on the back burner. The kids have been counting down the days until christmas. We didn't do a christmas tree this year for several reasons: first, we're not going to be here for christmas; Second, I don't need another thing to keep the kids away from; Third, I wasn't going to do it by myself and Thayne didn't have time during finals; and Fourth, we just didn't feel like it! I know...we're scrooges...but the kids didn't complain. We just kept telling them that Grandma and Grandpa have a tree up at their house just for them. So, we're heading to their house for about three days over Christmas. I'm a little nervous about it because Thayne's parents house is full of antiques and other fragile stuff and I know my kids well enough to know that they can't keep their hands to themselves. I hope I don't have anything broken to report when we get back!

Our HUGE Christmas present this year is.........THAYNE GOT A JOB!!!!! Yep, he got a call a couple of days ago with an offer. Right when Thayne told me that they offered him a job a HUGE cloud of stress dissappeared from above my head. I could tell that Thayne was stress free as well. It's a law firm in Terre Haute, which is about 50 miles away from where we are. Thayne really liked the firm when he was interviewing for them but felt like the interview didn't go as well as it could. Fortunately, they thought differently! The firm does tons of litigation (arguing cases in court) which is exactly what Thayne wants to specialize in. He loves being in front of a court room and judge arguing about cases. It's a twelve week internship so he'll be working the whole summer. They don't want him to work anymore than 4o hours a week so it shouldn't be that bad. We'll still see tons more of him then we would if he was in school.

So now I get to start planning my summer vacation :). I'm going to take the kids to Utah for a week or two and then we'll head to Washington to spend a week or two with my sister. I'm a little nervous about being away from Thayne for that long with FOUR kids so we'll see how things plan out as time gets closer. I've never been away from Thayne for more than two or three days since we've been married. He might have to fly out and meet us for a weekend or two while we're traveling.

We mailed out our Christmas cards out only three days ago, so hopefully you'll get them soon. We hope you all have a safe and Merry Christmas and that the new year is full of blessings for you and your family!

Happy Family

Thayne finished his last final today and he's home with us for several weeks. He had an 8 hour final today. He was telling me that the final consisted of 3 questions. Can you imagine spending 8 hours on three questions? I don't know how he does it but after the final he said he felt like it went very well. I think I would have given up after the first two hours. I have no patience for that kind of stuff. I'm so proud of how hard he has worked this semester. He was studying non-stop, it seemed. The kids are so excited that "Daddy" doesn't have any school for a while. They each gave him HUGE hugs when he got home tonight. Thayne has been so stressed, anxious, and distracted lately because of finals that, when he came home tonight, he almost seemed like a different person. He was relaxed, happy, laughing, and truly enjoying himself with the kids. I left him to "party" with the kids while I went to "party" with my friends at BUNCO. Life is bliss at the moment!

A Cheerleader for both sides!

Jaed got into quite a bit of trouble this morning and at one point he turned and ran from Thayne. As he was running away, Indi yelled, "Go Jaed, Go!". Thayne got up to chase after him and this time Indi stood up with her hands in the air and yelled, "Go Daddy, Go!". Thayne stopped, turned around, came back into the room and started laughing. He tried to tell Indi that we didn't need her help but couldn't quite get it out. Indi shrugged her shoulders and started watching cartoons again.
I was at the store yesterday with all three of the kids and Indi was in the cart. Josie and Jaed were taking their own sweet time to catch up to Indi and me. Indi finally got her finger out, pointed right at the two of them and then at the ground where we were and yelled (very loud), "Get here RIGHT NOW!". Of course, they ignored her. I can't imagine where she heard or saw that same thing being done. If she hears you tell Josie or Jaed that they are doing something naughty or that they are being stinkers she speaks right up and says, "You naughty" or "You a stinker".

It's amazing that I had one bossy child, then a quiet (not bossy) child, and then another bossy child. Hopefully our next one takes after Josie. We are getting way to many chiefs in our family and not enough indians.

Embarrassing moment!

I am really surprised that I don't have more embarrassing moments to blog. Well me and the kids were shopping yesterday afternoon and I stopped by JoAnn's (fabric store) to pick up a couple of items. Once we entered the store I smelled poop and my eyes went right to Indi. Yep, it was her. I decided to stick it out and grab the two things I needed and then change her when we got back out to the car (I should have known better!). Halfway through the store Jaed yells, "MOM, Indi is poopy!". I immediately tell him to not be so loud and that I am aware she is poopy. Jaed was constantly looking at her bum with huge eyes. I was afraid to look, so I didn't.

After I got the things we needed we headed to the cash register where there were 10 people in line and one cashier. It was obviously going to be a long wait. The whole time in line I'm telling Jaed to calm down and quit being so loud with his shooting sounds (he was aiming at everything with his finger gun and shooting it), I was telling Josie to stop touching stuff which didn't help because she knocked down two big displays, and Indi was whining non stop because I wouldn't let her out of the cart. I finally made the two older kids come and hold the cart because it was more than a little wild but as soon as Jaed grabbed the cart he looked at Indi's bum and yelled "MOM, Indi's poop is coming out of her pants and it's going to fall on the floor!". We were still number six in line and there were atleast 4 more people behind us. All eyes went right to Indi who yelled, "I NOT POOPY!". I wanted to cry and then scream but instead I just started to laugh. I looked behind Indi and sure enough poop was bubbling over her pants. I shoved her shirt down in her pants because I had no wipes on hand. I know everyone was disgusted around me but I just kept giggling and shaking my head. We finally got up to the register, I paid for my things, and we made it out to the car without loosing any poop on the ground. I had to strip Indi naked, change her diaper and she rode home in her carseat with just a diaper on. All the way home Jaed kept saying, "It stinks like poop in here Mom.". He said it about 4 times with absolutely no response from me. We all were suffering with the smell, except Indi. Even Josie said to Indi, "You're naughty for pooping your pants, Indi!". Which resulted in a very loud scream from Indi followed by, "I NOT POOPY!".
When we got home, I turned cartoons on for the kids and laid down on the couch to rest!

No party on Sunday

Jaed was invited to a birthday party for his friend at school, but it is on Sunday. When I picked him from school he asked all the way home if he could go and I just kept saying, "we'll have to talk about it.". I knew that he wasn't going to be able to go but I didn't want to tell him without Thayne and I talking to him first about why we he can't go. We decided before we had children that Sundays were for church and family time which meant no parties, no play-dates, etc.. So, when Thayne got home we sat down with him and told him that the party was on Sunday and asked him what we usually do on Sunday. He answered, "go to church", but he wasn't very happy about it. We told him that Jesus would really want us to go to church and spend the day with our family and he said, "Well...Jesus wants me to be happy and the party would make me happy!". Thayne and I just sat there for a few seconds trying not to laugh at how cute he was. Finally Thayne said, "Jaed, Jesus wants us to go to church so we can learn about him and you can't do that at the party. Also, mommy and I have a rule that Sunday's are for spending time as a family after church so that's why you can't go to the party.". Jaed was so sad. I almost just wanted to say, "Ok, you can go!" but I knew I couldn't. Jaed cried in his room for quite a while. Thayne and I decided to tell him that he could go to the store and pick out a present for his friend even though he wasn't going to the party and Jaed turned his frown into a huge smile and said, "That will be great!". So, we all took a trip to the store and Jaed could hardly stand it. Everything he saw he said, "I know Ritchie would love this!". Thayne had to help Jaed pick out a gift while I tried to keep the girls from grabbing stuff and throwing it in our cart. They couldn't quite believe that they weren't going to get anything. We did leave the store with Indi crying because she saw a princess that we had to pry out of her hands but by the time we got home everything was fine.
Jaed took the gift to school with him this morning and he went right up to Ritchie and said, "I can't come to your party because we go to church on Sunday but here's a present for you." We were so proud of him.

Fire alarm = dinner's ready

The apartment we lived in, before we moved in the house, had a VERY sensitive fire alarm. I could make toast and the alarm would go off. The kids, well Jaed and Josie at least, soon learned to grab a book or paper, run over to the alarm, and wave it as fast as they could to get it to shut off while Indi ran around screaming. Thayne taught the kids to say, "Moms burnin' down the house" so they would chant that as they waved the papers or books at the alarm. This little scene occured several times a week as I cooked dinner so I assume the kids associated the fire alarm with dinner being done. Since we've been in the new house, this has not happened which should tell you that I am a pretty good chef and don't burn everything I cook. It was the sensitive fire alarm not me! Well, Thayne asked if he could help me make dinner last night and I assigned him the garlic bread. He had to butter the bread and broil it in the oven. I knew it wasn't going to work very well when I saw him running up to his computer every 30 seconds to check on football scores. I was busy cooking the rest of the dinner and started smelling something burning. I yelled for Thayne and he came running down, swung open the oven, and a cloud of smoke burst out. There was the bread, black and very crunchy looking. And then the fire alarm went off. All three kids came running up the stairs chanting, "Mom's burnin' down the house", and then sat at the table where Josie announced, "Dinner's ready!". I was not amused but Thayne certainly was. He even had the gull to chant "Mom's burnin down the house!" with them with a huge grin on his face. I was going to protest and make sure my children knew that it was not me who set the alarm off but I turned the other cheek and let them have their fun. It's amazing that I can be in a house full of stinkers and not be one myself!

A Visit to Santa

I took the kids to see Santa no Saturday. We had to explain several times to Jaed and Josie that they would not be recieving gifts on Saturday, but would be telling Santa exactly what they want him to bring them on Christmas day. I was so worried that Josie would get there and wonder where her gifts were and it would be me dragging her to the car after seeing Santa. Fortunately, it went so much better than that. Last year, Indi didn't want anything to do with Santa. She screamed and cried everytime we got her close to him. This year we were there waiting for Santa to show up and when he sat down he said, "Who wants to be first to sit on Santa's lap?", Indi was the only child who ran right to him. I was shocked. Josie, of course, was right behind her ready to be the next one in line. Indi told Santa that she wanted "pwincesses and a plute (princesses and a flute)" and Josie told him she wanted "ponies and a plute". Now Jaed, well...his list was a bit more detailed and a little longer. He wanted a blue and purple lightsaber, a new lego-starwars game, and more. I could see Santa wanting to move on but Jaed wasn't getting off his lap until his list was completed. I think the best part about it was when he tried to lift Jaed on his lap....hehehe... Santa gave a little grunt but got Jaed up on the second try.
The kids talked about seeing Santa all the way home and then again when Thayne got home from studying. It feels good to know that we got them the things they mentioned to Santa. I know that we won't be able to do that every year but it will be nice for this year.

Pregnancy brain..

I’m in the seventh month of my fourth pregnancy, and I have “pregnancy brain”. Yes, this extremely scientific-sounding disease, is just another way of saying I’ve become forgetful. Really, really forgetful. I have noticed that it gets worse with every pregnancy. I went to the grocery store the other day and had to sit in the parking lot for over 10 minutes because I couldn't remember the one specific item I needed to get. Thayne sent me to the store another day with a request for me to get two different things. I went over and over the list in my head all the way to the store but by the time I got home I only had one item.

I have been thinking about my lack of memory and wondering, why does this happen? I know it’s hormones, yada, yada, yada, but why? Supposedly it affects about half of pregnant women. What a weird side effect of pregnancy!

I’ve always heard that certain symptons of pregnancy are supposed to prepare the new mom for actually being a mom. One example almost every pregnant woman has heard is that being uncomfortable at night and having trouble sleeping (either because you can’t get into a comfortable position being so huge, or because you have to go to the bathroom 80 times) is a way to get you ready to pull all-nighters with your new baby. Of course, whether I believe all these “preparation” tales, I can’t really say. But, if pregnancy symptoms are stages of mom training, I find it ironic that forgetfulness is one of them. What is it really meant to prepare you for?

Forgetful-preparedness seems especially harsh considering that, when becoming a mom, you have about a zillion things you need to remember, for example:
Who is allergic to what foods, what soaps, detergents, sunscreens and fabric? Who will eat what kind of veggies? Who hates juice? Whose toothbrush is whose? Who needs to be where at what time and when they need to be picked up? Who will only wear one particular kind of dress to church? Who will only eat the purple chewable vitamins and who will only eat the orange? Is there any milk left in the ‘fridge?

Of course, that’s only the “mom” part of life. There are whole other parts of life to remember in areas such as spouses school/work, extended family, friends, bills, clubs and community. The list goes on and on.

When I looked up “pregnancy brain” and “forgetfulness” in my go-to guide for pregnancy (written and published by a top-notch medical institution, I might add) it talks about this being a normal part of pregnancy, due to hormones, etc. It provides a few helpful hints such as “keep lists” and “reduce stress”. It also says that this is the time to “have a sense of humor”. Hmmm. Is that very helpful?

Oh, the joys of pregnancy! There’s the gassiness, constipation, queasiness, and exhaustion, the forgetfulness, crankiness, the frequent mood swings, the crying for no reason, and the constant worry. No woman can avoid all of these symptoms or discomforts and humiliations, but most are too polite to complain or too embarrassed to talk about them. Not me! I have ALL of the above and more!

This is how my kids look at me all the time now. I'm sure they are constantly wondering, "Who is this lady and what did she do with my mommy?". Poor things, they looked so confused and stressed out!

Jaed turns into DarthVader

Jaed came into our room today looking like the picture below. I asked him what he was and he said he was "Darth Vader". I thought his costume was quite creative for a five year old. Those are Thayne's church socks on his hands and feet. What a physeec!!

The holiday is over!

I SURVIVED! I decided on to do much preparation for Thanksgiving dinner until my "guests" got here so they could help out. I figured even if we didn't eat until 6 p.m. it was better than being a crab and exhausted all day. When they showed up my Dad started helping me right away. Him and I put the whole Thanksgiving dinner together within two hours and everyone was smackin their lips. There were several comments about the amount of food there was because I seem to ALWAYS over do it when I cook a meal. Thayne thinks it's a funny idiosyncrasy I have. For example, I made a jello salad and used 10 boxes of jello plus 4 cans of fruit. I wanted to make sure we had enough....well....my dad suggested we invite the nieghbors on the block to eat it with us. I think they should just be thankful there was enough for seconds =). By the end of the day I was exhausted but I felt good about what "we" had accomplished together. My father sure was a life saver!
The kids had so much fun with their cousins and it was nice not to have to check on them every ten minutes. My older nephews kept a good eye on them and let me know when things were getting out of hand. They all loved the new house and said so many times. It felt nice to be able to host that many people and still felt like there was a space in the house you could go if you need a few minutes to yourself and it wasn't the bathroom!
Jaed turned in to some strip-tease boy for most of the time my family was here. I started to worry about him a bit. He thought it was so funny to take his clothes off and run around the house laughing and saying, "Look at my bum crack!". I was pretty embarrassed and smacked his bum a couple of times but it didn't stop him. Now our little Indi is smacking our bums saying, "bum crack, mommy". I know that I"ll have to have a parent-teacher conference with Jaed's teacher because he'll be mooning his class and yelling, "LOOK AT MY BUM CRACK!". I guess humiliation comes with being a parent.
Josie, Indi and their two twin (four year old) cousins played "princess" most of the time they were here. Everytime you turned around they were in a new princess dress. Although the constant dress changing is very typical for Indi. She loves to put a new dress on more than she poops her diaper and she does that at least 4-5 times a day.
My dad stayed with us for several days after my brother and his clan left. It was nice to visit with him and see him get to know my kids again. They all wanted to be by his side constantly which thrilled me. It was sad to see him go because we don't know when we'll see him again. I hope to get to Utah for the summer but without a summer job for Thayne and don't think that will be possible. We'll see what happens, I guess.
I really do miss my family. More now then I have since I moved here. I think it's because I've always been around family when I had my other children and it feels very scary to have a child without that support right at my fingertips. I never had to worry about who would take care of my kids so that Thayne could stay in the hospital with me, or if my kids were driving them crazy because they loved my kids even with their naughtiness. I try not to think about it too much because it stresses me out so we'll see how things unfold as they come our way.

One holiday down and one to go!! I might have been a little harsh to say that I would NEVER host again but it will be a very long time before I offer.

(My Dad, my brother's six kids, and my kids)

Hosting...

Ok, I'm hosting Thanksgiving dinner for the first time in my life, I'm seven months pregnant, I have zero energy, and I'm emotionally unstable. Do you see a problem here? Um....yeah! I WILL NEVER HOST THANKSGIVING DINNER AGAIN!!!!! My brother,his wife, their six kids, and my dad will not be here until Thanksgiving day around noon so I"m left to do all the prep work. I'm not a happy camper and when I'm not a happy camper neither is my little family. Poor Thayne, every little thing he does wrong I point it out. My kids have had tons more time outs than normal only because my patiences is very thin and their all riding on my very last nerve. I'm a wreck. Maybe I'll wake up sick, really sick....like the flu or something and I'll have to stay in bed all day. Wow, that would be bliss. Can you pray for things like that? My luck, I'd pray for it and then I'd come down with walking pneumonia with bronchitis on the side. It's a toss up which would be worse at the moment. I hope I have more positive things to say tomorrow night AFTER the "party" is over.

Housekeeping stinks!

I am so tired of cleaning my house. If I miss one day of cleaning it's a TOTAL disaster. I feel like going on strike as the house keeper but my husband isn't around enough to care, my kids love messes, so in the end I"m the only one that would suffer. I did find these rules of housekeeping that I might start living by:

Ten Rules of Housekeeping

1. Vacuuming too often weakens the carpet fibers. Say this with a serious face, and shudder delicately whenever anyone mentions Carpet Fresh.

2. Dust bunnies cannot evolve into dust rhinos when disturbed. Rename the area under the couch "The Galapagos Islands" and claim an ecological exemption.

3. Layers of dirty film on windows and screens provide a helpful filter against harmful and aging rays from the sun. Call it an SPF factor of 5 and leave it alone.

4. Cobwebs artfully draped over lampshades reduces the glare from the bulb, thereby creating a romantic atmosphere. If your husband points out that the light fixtures need dusting, simply look affronted and exclaim, "What? And spoil the mood?"

5. In a pinch, you can always claim that the haphazard tower of unread magazines and newspapers next to your chair provides the valuable Feng Shui aspect of a tiger, thereby reducing your vulnerability. Roll your eyes when you say this.

6. Explain the mound of pet hair brushed up against the doorways by claiming you are collecting it there to use for stuffing handsewn play animals for underprivileged children.

7. If unexpected company is coming, pile everything unsightly into one room and close the door. As you show your guests through your tidy home, rattle the door knob vigorously, fake a growl and say, "I'd love you to see our Den, but Fluffy hates to be disturbed and the shots are SO expensive."

8. If dusting is REALLY out of control, simply place a showy urn on the coffee table and insist that "THIS is where Grandma wanted us to scatter her ashes..."

9. Don't bother repainting. Simply scribble lightly over a dirty wall with an assortment of crayons, and try to muster a glint of tears as you say, "Junior did this the week before that unspeakable accident... I haven't had the heart to clean it..."

10. Mix one-quarter cup pine-scented household cleaner with four cups of water in a spray bottle. Mist the air lightly. Leave dampened rags in conspicuous locations. Develop an exhausted look, throw yourself onto the couch, and sigh, "I clean and I clean and I still don't get anywhere..."

Josie's big sickness

After I picked Josie up from school today she started to complain that her stomach hurt. I thought she might be hungry so I fed her lunch but the complaining didn't stop. Several times she was bent over in pain almost in tears. I asked her several times if she needed to "poop", but she always answered no. I finally gave her some tylenol but that didn't even help. Josie has a very high tolerance of pain so I knew that it had to be something that really hurt for her to keep saying "It hurts, mom, it hurts!". I called the Dr. and got her an appointment. I started to worry (paranoia) and think the worst. She wanted me to hold her, kiss her, rub her tummy, etc.. These are not typical requests from Josie. Finally we got to the Dr.'s office and they wanted her to pee in a cup so I took her in the bathroom and she pee'd in the cup and then did a HUGE number two. When she got off the toilet she said, "It doesn't hurt anymore, Mom!". WHAT?! That was it? All she needed to do was a HUGE poop and the pain went away? Hello...I'm a mother of almost 4 and I didn't get that? I wanted to leave the bathroom and go directly to my car, but I didn't. I went back to the room with Josie and we waited for the Dr to return while Josie was bouncing off the walls, laughing, talking and giggling. I wanted to tell her to lay down and act sick but I resisted. Finally the Dr came in and all she said was that her urine looked very clean and that she must just have an upset stomach. I agreed and we quickly left.

I was totally bugged with myself all the way home. How lame could I be? That's totally something a first time mom would do, right? When I was telling Thayne all of this he said, "Ally, you are mom that gets her kids into the Dr. when they say something hurts. I think that's great! There are a lot of moms who wait until it's so severe because they think it's nothing or it'll go away. You're a great mom!" AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! That is exactly what I needed to hear. I guess I would rather be safe then sorry. I'm sure I will have many visits like this to the Dr. in the future and probably be just as embarrassed but I'll know I"m being a great MOM!

Girls Room

I finally got things up on the gir'ls bedroom wall, so I took some pictures. They love their princess comforter set, especially. Sorry some of the pictures aren't great. Our battery is going out so sometimes the pictures come out a little discolored. Notice the wooden letters that spell their names. My sister and I did those while she was here a month ago.

Slips or dresses?

Indi and Josie found some slips that I bought a while back and decided to put them on as dresses. The one that Indi is wearing is actually a size 12 months but she loves it! They dance around and call themselves "Princesses" (of course) and love the way the slip twirls around them. I don't think I'll ever be able to use them as slips since they've been used as dresses, now. Josie put hers on this morning and Indi didn't want to put the other one on because she already had a princess dress on and Josie got so upset. She came crying to me and said, "Put this on Indi, PWEEEEZ!". I tried to convince Indi to wear it so that she could be a princess like Josie but she wasn't going to do it. Josie sat on my lap and just cried. I couldn't believe how upset she was that Indi wouldn't wear the slip. Finally Indi dissappeard in the playroom with the slip and came out dancing with the slip on. When Josie saw her she jumped off my lap and started to dance with Indi. They danced all around the room together. Girls are so funny!

A proud wife

Thayne entered into a huge competition at the beginning of the school year called Moot Court. In the competition the participants (about 200 law students) have to write an appellate brief (around 35 pages) and compete in three rounds of oral arguments. The first round they have to argue their own brief, the second round they argue against their brief and then the third round they find out 24 hours before the argument to see what side they'll be arguing again. They argue their briefs infront of Legal practitioners and judges from around the state who donate their time and lend valuable insight to the Law School by serving as competition judges.

After the three rounds are over the judges take several weeks to decide who will move on to the next part of the competition. Only 32 participants are chosen to move on out of the 200 who signed up to participate. Thayne worked really hard on his brief and I could tell that he was so proud of it. He loved arguing infront of the judges as well. Today he found out that he was one of the 32 participants to be chosen to move on in the competition. He was a finalist!!!! Not only that but his brief got HONORS which is a huge deal. I am so proud of him. His hard work paid off and I know that he is feeling pretty good right now. I think he really needed this ego boost.
Next semester he has to write another brief and argue it just like before. We find the results of that part of the competition in late Febuarary. I know he'll do a great job!!

A night to party

I get to host a party tonight and it's one of those parties that people invited HAVE TO show up to. My kind of party to host!!! I participate in a Bunco group once a month and this month is my turn to host. Bunco is a game we play but in reality it's just an excuse to get together with 11 other girls and gossip, chat, and laugh the whole night. We start out with dinner and then play the game and end with a delicious dessert. I look forward to this "get together" every month. The group will get together one week after I have my baby....do you think I'll go?......hmmm.......if you know me well enough you know the answer to that one! Let's see how many of you know me...

Family coming to town

My dad called me last night and said that he's coming in town for Thanksgiving. I haven't seen him in almost a year so it'll be good to spend some time with him. I'm sure he'll be surprised to see how much the kids have changed too. My brother, wife and their six kids are also coming for Thanksgiving so we'll have a full house for the turkey holiday. I'm so excited for them to see the new house and enjoy it as much as we do. I"m sure it won't seem that big to them, especially with so many people here but it's like a mansion to us! I haven't told the kids that everyone is coming next week. I think I'll wait until the day before because they seem to get so excited when visitors come that they forget the rules around the house and are jumping off walls with excitement and anticipation.

Thayne is starting to get really nervous about finals. He only has two more weeks of class and then it's complete study time. I'm gearing myself up for 'single parent' mode for the next four weeks. He may still come home for dinner (1 hour) but then it's right back up to school. The only thing that will get me through it is knowing that he'll have a whole month off of school and can play Mr. Mom the ENTIRE time. No word on any jobs yet. He hasn't gotten any rejection but no offers either. We just keep praying and trying to have faith!

Jaed has been doing so well in school these last two weeks. He did get into a little trouble a couple of days ago because he picked his nose and wiped it on the carpet. His teacher gave him a "yellow" (warning) for it. Thayne and I had to wait to talk to him about it until that evening because we knew if we did it earlier we would both be laughing during the "talk". So right before bed we talked to him about using a tissue and not the carpet, his clothes, under the table or another person to wipe his boogers on.

Josie has learned the word "hate" now and uses it all the time. I heard her say to Indi "I hate you" and I almost cried. I took her aside and told her sad that it makes me feel to hear her say that to Indi. We talked about "love" and how the word "hate" is a naughty word. I introduced the pepper to her and told her that if I hear her say she hates someone then I'll have to put some pepper on her tongue. My fear is that she'll like the pepper and it won't phase her a bit. What next? Cian pepper? Hmmm...we'll see what happens. Maybe I won't even have to use it at all.

Tooth Fairy came to visit

Well Jaed's tooth finally came out while he was eating some waffles. He was so excited he even danced around the room. Our little boy is growing up, that's for sure.







































I even make Jaed a tooth pillow with a little pocket for his tooth. The Tooth Fairy came that night and took his tooth but left 50 cents in the pillow pocket. The next morning, Jaed yelled, "I feel somethin in my pillow pocket. I think she left me a lot of coins.......SHE DID, MOM, SHE DID!". He carried that pillow around for most of the day and kept checking to make sure his money was in it. He even made Thayne sit down beside him so they both could really look at the money and talk about how wonderful it was.

Pics of kids

Here is pictures of the kids when Thayne's parents were in town. They're sitting on our new window bench in our living room. They love to climb up on it and watch out the window for Thayne to come home in the evenings!

Parents and making out

Thayne's parents and sister were in town for the weekend. They never stay for very long but the kids love every minute of it. They were putting up blinds in Jaed's window and I walked past the room and they were making out. Without even thinking, I said "Get a room!" and kept walking. I don't know if I was more embarrassed that I saw them passionately kissing or that I blurted out the above remark. Which ever it was, I was pretty embarrassed. Thayne was coming up the stairs and I said loud enough for his parents to hear, "I just caught your parents making out!". Thayne responded, "That is sick. I don't need that image in my head.". Thayne's mom laughed a little and then said something about it being okay for older people to do such a thing and Thayne shook his head and said, "Stop talking about it because it's making me ill!". We all laughed and that was the end of it.

The first six years of our marriage I don't remember seeing Thayne's parents be very physical (holding hands, etc.) with one another. But in the last three years it has been obvious that they have rekindled something. Thayne's mom said that she read "The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands" by Dr. Laura and it changed their marriage, so maybe the magic is in the book. It's so funny to me to see Thayne get so creeped out about his parents closeness. I wonder if our kids will be like that when we're old and kissing? I guess we don't even have to be old. If we kiss now and Jaed's in the room he yells, "Stop guys" or something like that.

Bully in the making

Thayne and I (and kids) went to a party tonight with several other couples and their children. Most of the night we were hearing kids crying and found Indi in the middle of it everytime. Sometimes we would find her laying on the crying child, pinning the crying child in the corner, chasing the crying child, and hugging the child very tightly. We could not believe what a bully she was being. We tried to talk to her about being nice and she would answer, "Ok, Mommy", but it would happen again shortly after the little talk. I was hoping she was just going through a stage but I'm starting to think she's just a bully in the making. I'd like to act like I am appalled and can't believe that a little girl could be so mean, but I think she's taking after her mom. I was held back in kindergarden because I had "social problems" but it really was because I was a bully, I think. I'd like to think that I grew out of it so hopefully Indi will too. I"d like to know how to speed it along :).

I use to think that Jaed was a bully but I realized that he just didn't know his own strength. The only time I see him get aggressive with others is when they are aggressive with him or one of his sisters. Josie is very unpredictable except when it comes to protecting her brother or sister. We were at the community center a little bit ago and a little boy came up and pushed Indi down. Josie wasn't that close to them but she obviously saw what happened bacause she marched right over to that little boy and shoved him to the ground and said, "Don't push my sister!" and hugged Indi then walked off. I went over and talked to Josie and told her I was glad that she didn't want others to hurt Indi but she shouldn't push them back. Her response was, "but he pushed Indi first!". I tried to teach her that it was okay to use her words but not okay to push back. I'm not sure she got it so I guess will see what happens the next time someone tries to hurt her sister or brother.

Recent conversation with Jaed...

"Mom, is Grandpa and Grandma (Thayne's parents) married?"
"Yes, Jaed, they're married"
"Is Gram and Bompa (my parents) married?"
"No, Jaed, they're not. They were married when I was a kid but not now."
"Why not, Mom?"

VERY LONG PAUSE (I was hoping he would get distracted if I didn't answer for a bit)

"Mom, I asked you a question!"
"Oh, what was it?"
"Why isn't Gram nad Bompa married?"
"Well.......um....because they don't want to be married anymore."
"Why not?"
"Jaed, sometimes people who are married don't get a long and need to not be married anymore."
"Was Gram and Bompa mad?"
"Probably, but now they're not. They're friends now."
"So why don't they get married again?"
"Because they just want to be friends."
"Well who takes care of Grams now?"
"Grams takes care of herself."
"Who takes care of Bompa? His dog, Buddy?"
"Bompa takes care of himself and I'm sure his dog helps."
"Oh."

I never learn..

So this is my fourth pregnancy and you would think that I have things under control. Well, you thought wrong. I have a real problem remembering to drink water. With Jaed, I was in the hospital three times because of dehydration, with Josie I was in the hospital three times and with Indi I was in the hospital twice. It's a very LONG day when I have to go in. They put an IV in my arm, pump me full of...whatever the liquid is and then give me drugs for pain and after observing me for 3 or more hours they send me home. The pain is like one VERY LONG contraction that never stops and the time spent in the hospital is extremely boring and dull. Why don't I learn?

Well, I got dehydrated again. It ruins my whole day. I pretty much have to lay around and not do anything which may seem nice but not when I don't choose to. It's only nice when I choose to lay around. At least, Thayne stayed home with me so I wasn't totally bored but I swear this is the last time I am going to have to learn this lesson. Especially with Thayne around. He has turned into the waterboy and is continually harrassing me about drinking now. I'm sure the next step is to put signs everywhere in the house that say, "DRINK MORE WATER or GO TO THE HOSPITAL!".

What a cutie!

We were at the store today and Josie found a pink hat and matching gloves that she fell in love with. She put them on right away and wore them around the whole store. She would stop people in the aisles and say, "I'm a princess". Of course, many didn't know what she was saying but they thought she was so cute. Thayne said he can't believe how obsessed Josie and Indi are with princesses and pink stuff. I don't think it's much different with Jaed and star wars. He sleeps with his star wars guys and plays with them constantly when he's home. I'm glad we have a house full of princesses (and a Queen, of course) instead of house full of Luke Skywalkers. And we are adding another princess in a few months. YIPPEE!!

I called Indi a stinker today and she said, "I no stinker, I princess Indi!". Enough said!

(Josie is ready for the snow!)

Rough Day....

Wow, Jaed had no school today and I cancelled Josie's school because she seemed pretty sick the day before. Well she was fine today and Jaed was...well...I found a cartoon that described how he was. It's probably a little inappropriate but it made me laugh when I saw it so here it is:

(I'd like to say that the girls were the Dr. and nurse but they
were heading down the same naughty rode Jaed was. His briefcase
would say "The Little stinker who never stopped"!)


















We've been telling Jaed since he turned five that he needs to do more things on his own such as (put his shoes on, put his clothes on, pull up his underwear after he goes to the bathroom, etc.). These are things we know he can do by himself but he LOVES to be helped and served. He really thinks it's a punishment when we ask him to do these things. He stomps off and says he's not going to do it and that he doesn't know how. It's a daily routine for us. I found this cartoon that reminds me of these little arguments we've been having with him:




















Will this be Jaed when he's finally decided to do things on his own?


















Running on to these cartoons made me laugh which was a great medication for a rough day. I do love my kids and especially Jaed, but today was a little rougher than normal. It was raining so going outside wasn't really an option and he had TONS of energy to burn.

New house, old house

Jaed asked me today that when our "new house" gets old, will we move to another new house? I did tell him that when Thayne is done with school we'll move to a new town and new house. He wanted to know who would help us and if they would forget his bed. I assured him that those that help us will make sure to remember his bed. He then wanted to know if the the new baby would be moving with us. I had to chuckle. Does he really think we would leave anyone in our family behind? I guess he just can't imagine a baby being apart of our family. Right now it's just an idea to him, maybe. I told him that the new baby will be apart of our family and will go wherever we go. He said, "Oh good!". He is fun to have a conversation with. His innocence is refreshing and I always get a big smile on face when he asks questions.

I had my six month check up last week. Can you believe I only have three months left? Wow, time is going by so quickly. I feel less prepared for this baby than I have in the past. I think it's because we don't have the money to go buy a bunch of stuff that we need like I did with the others. By this time with the others, I had stacks of newborn diapers and wipes, every piece of clothing you could think of for a newborn to six months, and much more. You could say that I was OVER prepared with the others. It's a wierd feeling not to be like that with this one. Oh well, we'll manage and I know things will work out okay.

Girls vs. Boys

Why is it so hard for some people (mostly guys) to understand the differences between boys and girls? It seems like in the last couple if days I’ve had to remind Thayne that the girls are GIRLS and he has to treat them as such. It’s like he forgets that we’ve had two girls in our family and not three boys. I know that they are extra sensitive and more emotional than normal while they are sick, so I should give him some slack, but I haven’t. When Jaed gets hurt you pat him on the head or even give him a quick hug and he’s ready to play again. With the girls, well…it’s a little more than that. You have to hug them, hold them, kiss the spot that hurts (which I did with Jaed until he was 2 ½ then he didn’t want it anymore) and wait until the are ready to go play again which could be a.s.a.p. or 5 or more minutes. If you don’t do it that way the girls will keep crying and then the small things turn into big things and they’re crying about 10 different things instead of just that one thing. I think I’ve shared this lesson with Thayne TONS of times since we started having girls and he normally does really well but this weekend he’s slack a little. He did make some comment about wanting his girls to be tough (and if you know my girls you know that they are tougher than Jaed in most circumstances) but being tough physically and being tough emotionally are two very different things.

I know it’s a little more extra work to calm the girls down than Jaed but in the long run it saves time and energy. Thayne has learned that lesson the hard way again this weekend. At one point he said, "Raising girls is a lot of work and exhausting!". HEHEHEHE!!! I would think he would have known that being married to a girl. AND we're having another girl in three months. There's no hope for him and his ideas that girls need to be tough. He'll be surrounded by girls and their emotions for the rest of his life. Wait...does that mean I'll have to keep reminding him about the differences between girls and boys are? Probably.

I do have to say that I have to remind myself to hug Jaed, kiss his cheeks and tell him I love him more. The girls come to me for it but now that Jaed is getting older he doesn't come for those things as often. The same situation happens to me with regards to Jaed. Even though he is a boy and seems to be tough emotionally he needs the hugs, kisses and "I love you's" that I constantly give the girls and sometimes I forget to do it as much as I do it with the girls. I want my kids to grow up feeling very comfortable hugging and saying "I love you" to family members and to help this along I need to work harder on saying it constantly to Jaed.

What type of sick person are you?

We have a house full of sick kids right now. That dang cold hit our house hard this weekend. Although, I do like to have all of them sick at the same, that way they get done around the same time too. It's funny how different they all are when they are sick. Jaed wants to be cuddled, hugged, mauled, and waited on. Josie wants to be left alone and checked on every once in a while and Indi....well...she's just a mean emotional sick person. She cries about everything, screams if you try to help her and hits and if you're not doing it right. WOW! I hope she doesn't get sick a lot in her life. Her poor future husband! Anyway, Jaed is a lot like me. I like to be cuddled, mauled and waited on constantly. It makes me feel like someone cares that I feel so sick. Josie is like Thayne. He just wants to be left alone and if I try to take care of him too much he feels bothered. He doesn't like to be touched or talked to when he is sick. Who knows where Indi gets her behavior from. It might be the worst of both me and Thayne put together.

It's hard to treat someone how they want to be treated and not how you would want to be treated. Even after nine years of being married we have to remind each other how we want to be treated sometimes. I always miss my mom when I'm sick because she knew exactly what I needed when I was sick. I love having a warm washcloth over my forehead, warm blankets, and I love to be asked about a million times if I need anything else. I could say "I don't feel good" as many times as I wanted and she would always respond in a very calm and caring way, "I know you are, Sis, what can I do for you?". Now I have to fight my kids for attention from my husband when I'm sick and I have to act like I'm dying to get the kind of sympathy that I want. It's pathetic. Oh well, that's life as a grown up, I guess. Maybe that's why I have my mom in the delivery room when I have my kids. She steps in and does the things that Thayne forgets (ie, washcloth on forehead, rubbing my arms, etc.) and when Thayne steps up to do it she backs off so he can feel like he's important. They make a great team and I feel well taken care of the whole time I'm in labor. What would I ever do without my mom? Not something I want to think about.


(Jaed, Josie and Indi laying on the couches watching a movie while they have a fever, runny noises and coughs. Poor guys!)

BIrthdays....blaww!

Today is my birthday. I've been trying to avoid it but it's not possible when Thayne has been counting the days down with the kids. My birthday use to be one of my favorite holidays. I think it was because I'm the youngest of six kids and was always so spoiled on my birthday by gifts and attention. It was great! Well, now that I'm a mom....it's just another ordinary day. I still have to cook, clean, referee, discipline, changed poopy diapers and wipe poopy bums. It stinks (literally, too). I think it's almost more of a depressing day...... of course, by my own choice. I miss having those birthday parties and inviting a tons of friends over to chat and gossip. But now with my party phobia, I don't think I would attempt that :).

Thayne really wants to take the kids to the store and let them pick out a gift for me. But I think I"m going to take them to the store and let them choose a toy for themselves. I really can't think of anything I want (that is within our budget) so I'd like to see my kids thrilled and excited. When my kids are excited and happy, it warms my heart. Thayne tried to argue with me about it but I reminded him that it's my birthday!

On a side note, Jaed has his first loose tooth. He's so excited about wiggling it. I get to wear another hat as a mom, the tooth fairy.

Pretend or not pretend...

Well I came home tonight from my craft club and Thayne and Jaed were watching star wars. This isn't the first time Jaed has seen star wars so he was familiar with the movie and knew what was going to happen. In the very last part of the movie one of the main guys is in a light saber fight and he ends up dying. I look over at Jaed and tears are streaming down his face. I asked him if he was okay and he said, "I hate this part, Mommy!". It broke my heart. (I know most of your are saying to yourself, "He's too young for those movies!", well....try telling his dad that. I tried for months and lost the battle.) I looked at Thayne and I could see in his face he was just as concerned as I was. So for the next half hour Thayne and Jaed had a huge discussion on pretend, acting, and movies. I really think Jaed got it and understood that it wasn't real. Thayne has a great way of communicating with Jaed and doesn't stop until Thayne is convinced that Jaed understands.

After Jaed went to sleep I said to Thayne, "What do you think about what happened?" and Thayne mumbled something about Jaed being a little to young for that movie. I could have responded with "I told you so" but I've matured a little and decided that he knew I was right. I don't know if I'm mature enough not to bring it up in the future, though!

Candy for everyone!!

Wow, what a Halloween. I forget what it's like to go trick or treating in a neighborhood where people give out more than bubble gum and suckers. As soon as it was dark the kids were ready to put those costumes on and get out the door. Before we left the house we had a big discussion on saying "trick or treat" and then saying "thank you". We practiced it a couple of different times to make sure they each knew what was expected of them. We even talked about only knocking on doors that had a light, which Jaed made it his job to look for.

The first couple of doors were pretty successful. Great chocolate candy and happy kids (and parents!). Then Jaed started to get lazy with the "trick or treat" and "thank you" part and Indi started saying it before she even got to the door so the person couldn't hear her. We started to fall apart as a team. SO we re-grouped and went over the expectations again which seemed to take care of it for the most part. One thing we didn't go over is that you only knock, not knock and then open the door. Jaed did it the first time. He knocked, turned the door knob and opened the door. Thank goodness the man was almost to the door. I was so embarrassed. We apologized about ten times and then had to have another huddle about that one forgotten rule. Indi did it the second time, but she just knocked and pushed the door which happened to not be closed all the way. Again, there were several "I'm sorry" 's and another huddle. Finally about half way around the block we had things under control.

There were two houses that gave out normal size candy bars. Thayne and I were shocked. A lot of other houses just put handfuls of candy in our kids bags. I was a prepared mom and had brought extra bags in case the kid's bags got to full. I had to empty their bags twice in to mine because they got sooo much candy. The best part was it was all GREAT candy. Does it seem like I'm a little obsessed with the candy part? Well, I guess I am. The priviledge of being a parent was in my mind as I thought about how I couldn't wait to get home and go through their bags with them and pick out the ones I wanted. When I told Thayne that he just rollled his eyes but guess who was right beside me digging in their candy too. THAYNE!!! Yep, he was picking out his favorites and putting them aside. I know, it sounds so childish and ridiculous but it was soooo much fun.

We gave the kids 15 minutes to eat as much candy as they could (we didn't tell them that though, we do have some parenting skills) and then we put the candy away for the next day. I got the girls ready for bed and we stayed in their room singing TONS of songs since they were both on a sugar high and Jaed got to stay up with Thayne and pass our candy out to the trick or treaters. Jaed had so much fun doing that. I hear him say to some kids that came to the door, "Do you want two pieces or seven pieces". One boy responded, "Two" and the other one took the offer and responded, "I'll take seven".

Halloween was super fun and WE all are enjoying our trick or treat candy!!!

(Indi as a beautiful princess!)



















(Jaed as a ninja)




















(Josie as a unicorn)

Halloween fun...

Well here we are again, another Halloween and our kids no nothing about carving pumpkins. Both Thayne and I HATE carving pumpkins so we decided before we even had kids that we would not do that as a tradition in our home and so far we have had no complaints or from our kids. I do think we'll probably draw faces on pumpkins or I've actually seen fake pumpkins you can buy at craft stores that are carve-able, which I wouldn't be against. But right now, Halloween is all about costumes and candy, not pumpkins, for our family.

Jaed is a ninja this year, Josie is a unicorn, and Indi is a princess. I actually bought cheerleading outfits for the girls to wear for Halloween several months ago, but yesterday we went to a store that was having a HUGE Halloween sale (BIG MISTAKE). Indi saw this beautiful purple princess dress that she grabbed and wouldn't let go of. She threw the biggest fit and was crying hysterically when I took it away. My heart was breaking....and ....well...I GAVE IN. I know, I shouldn't have but I did. I confessed to Thayne and he just laughed at me. He knows that my girls can pull my heart strings faster than anyone can.

The Law School had a big halloween bash last night for law students and their families which the kids loved. They gave the kids "evidence" bags and the kids went trick or treating at the professor's office doors. Everyone commented on how dang cute Indi was in her purple dress. A couple of times Indi would do a little twirl for them if they told her how pretty she was. Our kids left the party with very full bags of candy. Indi was even dragging her bag because it was so heavy. I asked if I could help her with it and she said, "No mommy, I help it.". So I just let her drag it along beside her. Josie was our double dipper last night. Almost at every door she would say the routine "trick or treat" and try to grab as many hand fulls as possible before she was told to stop. At first I was so embarrassed but the professors would just laugh and say, "Oh she's a hungry unicorn, it's ok!". We tried to lecture her about it but nothing worked. Jaed even reminded her several times that she better only take one this time, but she was in her own world as usual.

I'll be posting pictures of their costumes tomorrow and I'm sure I'll have great stories to tell after Trick or Treating tonight!

Like Mother like son

I need to start off telling you a little story from my past so that you can understand the gene that I have passed on to my son.

When I was in 5th grade my parents let me get a neighborhood paper route. The first couple of weeks deliverying papers was fun but then it started to get old. My neighborhood friends started tagging along on my paper route and keeping me company which was nice. Then I slowly started letting them throw the papers to the door, and even roll the papers and put the rubber bands on. Within the next couple of weeks I had several neighborhood kids rolling ALL the papers, and deliverying them for me while I played at home and waited for them to finish and report how they did. I remember giving them each a dollar for the month for helping me. This went on for sometime until my parents found out. Boy, did I get into trouble. I had to give up my paper route and got a huge lecture about doing my own job.

Well yesterday we had a "cleaning party" here at our house and I sent Jaed to his own room to pick up his toys while Thayne and I cleaned the kitchen. I heard Jaed calling for Josie and Indi and then saw the girls running up the stairs to Jaed's room. When Thayne and I finished the kitchen, I decided to check on how Jaed was doing. When I got close to Jaed's door, I heard him say, "Ok Josie, now put all my legos in this bucket here. And Indi, you pick up my dragons and put them over there." I quietly peeked inside the room and saw Jaed seating on the bed with a book in his lap and the girls where crawling all over the floor picking up the toys. I guess Jaed thought they needed a bit more motivation because he said, "If you pick up all the toys girls, I'll let you play with three legos." Indi eagerly responded, "OK!". I decided to break up the slave labor scene and walked in the room. Jaed's eyes got huge and jumped off the bed and started picking up toys. I told the girls to go see dad and Jaed and I had a little talk about doing his own job.

Settling in

We've been in the house almost one week now and it feels so comfortable. My dishwasher is a huge time-saver and joy! The kids are enjoying the space as well. They have caught on to the rule that food stays in the kitchen rather quickly. I was sure this was going to bea constant fight but to my amazement they have done well. I even make them go to their rooms for an hour of "quiet time" and they are doing great with that. I get to relax, blog, and answer emails while they play in their rooms.

Thayne had a second interview with a large national insurance company today. He left yesterday and will be back later tonight. He really would like to get involved with corporate law so this would be a good fit for him. It would be a summer clerkship for him and then if all goes well over the summer they will hire him full time after his final year of law school. The company is based in Illinos so that's where we would be moving if all goes well with the interview. We should know more in about two weeks.

Jaed is having troubles in school again. I am hoping that it's the move that has disruptive his life a bit and that in a couple of weeks he'll settle down and start doing well.

Josie is also having a little trouble in her two schools. The biggest complaint is the lack of interest in participating in activities. The Joy School that she's in is getting a little more formal than I had hoped for, I think. Two moms have opted out of continuing for their own personal reasons and now I'm left to decided what to do with Josie. My in-laws will pay for a preschool for her if that's what I choose but I just think she's two young to have so much structure in one week. She gets the therapy preschool twice a week and that seems to be good for her, and the Joy School was suppose to be more fun and socialization, I thought. I guess I'll have to think about it some more and decided what's best for her and me.

The kids are so excited for Halloween. Jaed is counting down the days until he can put his costume on. It's so great to see them get excited about such a simple holiday. The Law School has a huge Halloween Party for law students and their families the day before Halloween. All the professors use their offices as "trick or treat" doors and the kids go from one office to the other and ask for candy. I think they get more candy doing that then they do in our own nieghborhood on Halloween night!

The big MOVE!

Ok, now to blog about the move to our new house. Thayne had a fall break last week and didn't have to got to school. We took advantage of the free time and made about two or three loads of boxes, to the new house, a day. By the end of week, we had everything but furniture over at the new house. I even unpacked several of the boxes we took over to the house so I wouldn't be so overwhelmed on the weekend. I know the kids were quite confused. We'd take their toys over and then return to the apartment with nothing. Josie, especially, was upset that her toys got to stay at the new house and she didn't.
On Saturday, we rented a Uhaul and waited for church members to come over and help us out. Thank goodness some showed up (Four great guys!!!!) to help Thayne load and unload all our furniture. Two guys even offered to take their shoes off in the new house and be the ones to carry the furniture from the door to whatever room I directed them. I was amazed at how careful they were not to ding the walls. Maybe I shouldn't be, but when we moved in the past furniture got broken, walls got dinged and we just had to throw up our arms and say "Oh well!". I should say that most of those moves were done by family (siblings) volunteers which we appreciate a ton but maybe you are more careful when you don't know the family moving as well. Who knows!
The worst thing to move was my large commercial size treadmill. Thayne has made comments before that the treadmill is a huge pain to move and since I dont' use it we should sell it. I either ignore him or tell him that if he talks about selling it again I'm going to get mad. I do use it.......when I want to. Ok, so it's not everyday, but it's my treadmill that he bought me and it's my business when I use it. I have gotten in a routine and used it everyday or every other day for a while, but then something happens and I miss using it several days in a row and my routine gets all messed up. I don't know why I feel like I have to explain myself about that stupid treadmill. I guess I just need to find the perfect excuse and writing it out always seems to help! :)
After all the furniture was in the new house, Thayne and I started putting together room by room. Of course, we started with the playroom....thinking that we could get that room ready for the kids and then they would play and leave us alone. We must be really dumb. Here we are, parents of three young children, and we actually thought that they would stay in one room of a new big house and not bother us at all. Can you believe we even got frustrated when they didn't do it? They just folllowed us from room to room and tried to help as much as possible.
When we finished the girls room and I put on their new princess comforter set, Josie and Indi were in heaven. They crawled into bed and pulled the comforter up to their chin and stayed still for several minutes. Indi had graduated from a toddler bed to her first twin bed and she was even more excited than Josie, I think.
We had bought Jaed a Star Wars comforter set for his birthday and when we put it on his bed he was thrilled. He jumped around and climbed in and out of his bed several times. He was sleeping on a futon but we got him a twin bed as welll so he was so excited. That night, all three kids slept all through the night without even one little peep. It was a great night for all of us!

Jaed's Birthday!

Well, I'm settled and ready to blog again. I think I'll start with Jaed's birthday party. After stressing about it for a week and driving myself insane, the party day finally came and I was ready as I was going to get. We had 4 kids RSVP, and I was praying that at least those 4 didn't get sick or forget about the party. My sister flew in from Washington state the day before so she was there to make the party fun even if no one showed up. So, we had everything ready by 12:45 p.m., and the party started at 1:30 p.m. at the park right next to our apartment. At about 1:05, the phone rang and it was a father of one of kids invited to the party wondering why no one was at the park yet. I hurry and grabbed an extra invitation that I had and looked at the time I had put on it and he was right! It said "1:00 p.m.". I thought I was going to die. I knew everyone had shown up and left because we weren't there and the party would have been a flop because of me. I apologized several times to the father on the phone and told him we would be there in less than 5 minutes. My sister and I grabbed the stuff and rushed the kids to the car and we drove 200 feet to the park. We set everything up and waited to see if anyone else was going to show up. To my amazement EVERYONE that RSVP'd showed up a few minutes later than we did (except the father that called) and the party was a success. I was thrilled and was able to relax and enjoy watching Jaed have a great time. At the end of the party, Jaed said "this was the best birthday ever, Mom!". Even with my bad luck with parties, this one was a complete success.

Unfortunately, the adventure didn't end after the party. Thayne had to leave half way through the party for an oral argument he had to give at school, so he took his keys (which I grabbed rushing out the door to get to the park) and the car and left. WELL..... as we gathered things up and started towards home, I realized I had no keys to the house and Thayne wasn't going to be home for at least another hour or more. My sister suggested that we just let the kids play at the park and wait for Thayne, which we did. Josie peed her pants three times and we had no extra clothes, Jaed and Indi played in the mud, and my sister and I were starting to get cold. I finally took Josie's shirt off and made her wear it as a skirt so that I could take her wet pants and underwear off. She had a sleeveless undershirt on under her shirt, and that was it. After about an hour we walked home and waited in front of the door for another 25 minutes but no Thayne. We decided to walk to a friend's house to call Thayne and see if he was on his way home or not. We had to walk to three different friend's house to find someone home but Thayne didn't answer his phone. As we were leaving the friend's house, Thayne had called back and my friend chased me down with his cordless phone. Thayne had just finished his oral argument and was on his way home. Ten minutes later we were all in the apartment, trying to get warm and relaxing on the couch.

WOW! What a day! Even after the second half of the adventure, Jaed still thought it was the best day ever.
























































(Jaed and his Aunt, my sister)

Keep checking in

We're in the middle of moving to the new house and my sister was in town visiting last week so I haven't had a minute to sit down and do much blogging. I'll update you all after this weekend. We should be settled in the new house and back to our routine. Keep checking back!!!

Throwing a party...

I absolutely hate throwing parties. I've thrown so many parties where only one person (or even none) show up and I"m completely embarrassed forever afterwards. Some how I seem to jinx any party I throw. I had a small birthday party for Indi and another friend who's child was turning and one person showed up, but my mom was in town so we just called it family party with friends to make me feel better. Now Jaed's birthday is right around the corner and I struggled with whether or not to throw him a party. Finally, I decided to go for it and I made really cute invitations and handed them out to all the boys in his class and a couple of good friends from church. The party is in three days and only two boys have RSVP'd. AHHHHHH!! I should be happy that at least two RSVP'd right? At least that's more than one. Well, Jaed will have fun with two or twenty friends....he doesn't care, so neither should I. I have no idea why it stresses me out so much. I guess I hate to feel "lame" and I do when the party is a flop. Maybe that's why I want several kids...then if no one shows up to a birthday party at least it's still populated with kids (all siblings) :). Maybe I"m getting crazy over nothing. I"m the worst about RSVP'ing and often times just don't do it but I still show up, so maybe there are other moms like me. My sister is coming into town tomorrow so she'll be here to make the party fun no matter who shows up. We'll be just fine....I'll keep telling myself that.
I have a friend who really wants me to throw a make-up party and I've been avoiding the topic with her for months cuz I'm scared to throw it and have NO ONE show up. That just seems so humiliating to me. I know she's gonna ask me again, and I'll probably cave in and have one but I"ll be praying the whole time that people show up. I know, it's ridiculous....but we're all allowed to have ridiculous fears, right? I have "get togethers" or scrapbook nights and am not even worried if my friends show up to those, so what is the difference between those and parties? Who knows. In my funny mind, there's a different. So maybe I should start thinking of parites as "get togethers" instead? Although, I"m horrible at trying to fool myself. It never works. I'll probably fear parties for the rest of my life, but I'll keep attempting them hoping that each one will be a HUGE success. Wish me luck!

Hmmm

I thought I would just post a little update of our family:

Thayne just finished one of his biggest projects for this semester so we may see him a little more until finals. He's had tons of job interviews but no catches yet. I know he's stressed about it but I know something will come around soon. He keeps telling me how much he enjoys his classes this semester and because of the more hours he's putting into studying, he's less stressed.

Jaed has been so good at school. He's gotten a penny everyday for those three skittles that he gets to buy. I can tell that he's very proud of himself as well. His teachers seem to really like him and I've heard them tell Jaed that he's a good example to the other kids. WOW!! I seriously never thought I would hear those words from one of his teachers. His teacher, last year, told us that he will ALWAYS be a difficult child for his teachers throughout his school years. Boy, was she wrong. Maybe I'll email her and brag about him :).

Josie has truly turned into a little girl. She now calls herself a "big girl" and thinks she can do anything that Jaed can do. The other day I asked Jaed and Josie to go get the table ready for dinner and I heard Jaed say, "Move, Josie, I'm the strongest and I can do it by myself!". Well that obviously made Josie mad. She said very loudly, "I'm strong too, Jaed!". Jaed informed her that girls were not strong, just boys. Josie yelled, "I'm strong Jaed, I'm strong!". Everything got quiet after that so I guess they worked it out.
Josie loves school so much. She gets pretty upset on the weekends when there is no school and even pouts about it. I haven't recieved any concerning letters from her teachers so I guess she's doing very well.

Indi has become quite the teaser. She is famous for ripping a toy out of Jaed and/or Josie's hand and running with it. And then when they tackle her to the ground and get the toy back she comes crying to me. I try and tell her that she can't take the toys away from them but within the hour she's doing it again.
I have had to assign jobs to my kids because they were fighting over who was going to do what. For example, when we leave the house, Indi is incharge of making sure the TV is off. If Jaed or Josie move towards the TV she yells, "NO, my job!" and they quickly back off. She loves to help pick up things too. She is really a good helper for only being two. It is a pleasure, not an extra job, to let her help.

Me, well I'm just taking care of my little family and trying to mentally prepare for another baby. Somedays I'm excited about the new baby and other days I'm full of anxiety. I know that as soon as the baby is here, I'll get us on a routine that works for me and things will be okay. It's amazing that even after 3 children I"m shocked when I feel the baby move. You would think that after several kids you would be familiar with the feeling but it's not true. Everytime the baby moves, I say to myself "There really is a baby in there!". Four more months is all that's left and with the holidays coming up, I'm sure it will fly by.

Chuckle

I took the kids to the grocery store with me today and Josie picked up a brochure of some kind and she opened it and started to follow the words with her finger while jabbering. Then all of sudden I heard her say, "Dear Hebenly Pader, tank u por dis day" (Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for this day..) and then she just started jabbering again. I said to her, "Is that what it says on that paper, Josie?" and she just shook her head yes and kept on repeating it.

Boy or Girl?

Well, well, well.......we went for the ultrasound today and the nurse took forever to get down to the parts we really wanted to see. Then when we got down to the real thing, the babies legs were crossed. So she went back up and showed us the heart, spine, fingers, brain, etc., and then she went down again. This time she saw what she wanted to see and announced, "I think you're having a girl!". Of course, I stop thinking when she said, "I think...". But the more she pointed things out the more she was determined that it was a girl. So, I guess it's official...we will be adding another girl to our family. I was actually relieved. I just think girls are so much easier for me to deal with, but I am basing that decision after only having one boy. I don't want people to think that I don't love Jaed as much or that he was a hard child, I just seem to relate better to girls and I understand them more, I think. I remember being a teenager and saying several times to others and myself, that I wanted to have all girls. I think it will be mostly true :). I am still kind of nervous that I"ll have the baby and the Dr. will say "It's a boy!", so I don't think I"ll go crazy on the clothes shopping.

When we told Jaed, he didn't seem to care a whole lot. He kept saying that he thought the baby was going to be a boy but when we told him it was a girl he said, "Oh" and that was it. I asked him if he was sad that it wasn't a boy but he said "No" so I think he's just excited that it's a baby! Josie gets bugged that we go to the Dr. and don't come home with a baby, she doesn't care what sex it is. And Indi can't even comprehend that I have a baby in my tummy, so the day that this baby is born will be an adventure of each one of them (and us, of course)! Thayne said that he's glad that we have Jaed and if we have only girls from now on he's fine with it. So it's going to be GIRL POWER in our house!

No more poopies!!

I was laughing at Indi today and thought I'd share the chuckle. Indi hates poopy diapers and even more, hates throwing them away. You either have to hand her a little tiny corner of the diaper for her to grab hold of and take to the trash or shove the diaper under her arm like a football and say, "Hurry, run, Indi" and she takes off running towards the trash. This morning after I changed ANOTHER (she has 3-4 a day) dirty diaper, I showed her the diaper and she started to whine. I told her that it's her diaper and she has to throw it away, so she came over to me and lifted up her arm waiting for me to shove it under it. I did as she wanted and said "Hurry, Indi, run!" and she took off, threw it in the trash and looked back at me. I clapped my hands and said, "Yay, you did it." and she smiled and bowed. She's never done that before. I laughed and laughed. She's our little star!

A whole new kid..

Jaed's teachers have caught on to the idea of rewards for good behavior and have implemented a reward system in class. They have all of the children's names on a chart and at the end of the day, if they have been good then they get a penny and a sticker by their name. They, then, use the penny to buy three skittles from the teacher. If they get 5 stickers at the end of the week then they get a toy (cheap one). Last week was the first week using this reward system and Jaed got 5 stickers! They use stop light colors to determine how the kids are doing. They all start on green and if they get a warning they get moved to yellow and if they still aren't behaving they move to red which means they don't receive a penny or sticker. Jaed got one yellow last week but still got his penny and sticker. I was so proud of him. He could still be kinda bad and settle for yellow everyday but he strives to get green! The teacher told me, today, that Jaed is like a whole new child. He listens, behaves and is a huge help. WHAT??? My little Jaed??? It's a MIRACLE!!! No, I'm just kidding. We have always known that he loves rewards (especially candy) and can really behave if he chooses to. The difference here is that his teachers are constantly reminding the kids to stay in "green" and so it's constantly on his mind. We tried rewarding him at the end of the day if he was good but I think he would forget about it and be naughty sometimes. I love his preschool. They really try to find out what works for the kids and what they can do to have an environment where they can teach and the kids can learn the best. It's a true relief to not dread picking him up because I didn't want to here that he was naughty. Now, when I go to pick him up, I just wondering if he just got a warning or not. Life is bliss (at the moment)!

From the Past to the Present

I was looking through some old pictures of the kids and I thought I would share them. It's amazing how fast they grow!

Here's Jaed, before and now:





































































Here's Josie, before and now:













































































Here's Indi, before and now:





























































Here the are together:

Jaed and Josie





















Josie and Indi