Awards Ceremony

Welcome to Mama's 1st Annual Award ceremony. All five of my children have recently achieved some pretty important things, therefore I decided they deserve to be recognized for their fabulous accomplishments. Please join me in congratulating them as well.

We will begin with......

ANAKIN

Anakin has had a little bit of a rough year this year in school. It can be hard to convince him to sit down after school and do his homework. However, as of the last few weeks, he has done his homework without being reminded and (for the most part) has been remembering to turn it in. Good job, Anakin, for your efforts in working harder in school. Your hardwork will pay off in the end!

Now, on to.....

CARE BEAR

Care Bear has had a real issue with stage fright in the past. Anytime there was a performance she was in, whether it be at church or at her pre-school, she would just stand there on the stage with a "deer in the headlights" look, regardless of all of the encouraging, hand-waving, and stupid looking faces I would throw her. However, this past Christmas, she was in our Church's children's Christmas program, and for the first time, she actually performed!! I was so excited and so proud. I wanted to do a "happy dance" right in the middle of the aisle. This past Tuesday, she had her "Kindergarten Showcase" at school. I was holding my breath until I saw her step on to the stage hoping that her Christmas performance wasn't just a fluke. And it was not. She sang her heart out and did all of the motions all the way through (with the exception of one song that she said she hated and proclaimed early on she would, under no uncertain circumstances sing that song.....and she held to her word...). So Care Bear is awarded for overcoming her "stage fright". I'm so proud of you, sweetie!

Next is, little miss.....

FEISTY

It's no secret that Feisty has had some issues surrounding the potty. And while she has not yet mastered the skill, she has improved greatly and I am very proud of her. She no longer even wants to wear training pants at night (however, mama overrides this....for now....)which is a good sign. While she is hesitant to go at first, once she does, she is sooo proud of herself and likes to show the world (or whomever happens to be around at the time)how good a "job" she actually did. Congratulations, sweetie, on getting the hang of going potty. Keep working on it and hopefully by fall, you'll have it mastered and can go to PRE-SCHOOL!!

On to the mini-twinnies.....First up.....

KATIE

As I've mentioned before, Miss Kate can be a little fuss budget. Afternoons seem to be rough for her. But lately (due to more sleep, I firmly believe), she is such a little "ray of sunshine" in the morning. This morning I woke up and heard some noise coming from her little bed. I was half waiting for a wail, or a scream, but I went over there and she was laying on her back, just looking around the room and gave me the most beautiful of baby smiles. What a great way to start the day. So, Katie is being awarded for her improved sleep patterns and that beautiful smile (which is much preferred over your snorts, miss Kate!)

And last, BUT DEFINITELY not least.....

EMMA BEMMA!

Emma Bemma has turned into my "champion sleeper". She has even surpassed her big sister, Feisty, a couple of nights this week. As a rule, she has been sleeping 8-8.5 hours straight a night lately. Not always, but more often than not. Her twin isn't doing quite as well yet, which is why Emma-Bemma is being awarded for her "superior sleeping skills". You are my hero Emma. Thanks for letting Mama sleep a little more. I love you, sweet pea!

And that's it....I think. Five awards. Five kids. And that is all there will ever be.

I love all of you and you make me oh, so proud!!

Those Kids Of Mine

First, I want to thank everyone for the nice birthday wishes this weekend! Nothing spectacular occurred over the weekend for me in regards to birthday celebration; as I mentioned before, most of the celebrating had already happened. Care Bear was a little dismayed over the lack of excitement for my big day exclaiming "What is a birthday without a party or a cake?!" Hard to explain to an enthusiastic 5 year old party connoseur that the older you get, the less you care (in fact you actually prefer) to have your birthday made a big deal of.

I did go to a Scentsy party on Saturday at Sherry's house and purchased a warmer and two scents. Right off the top of my head I can't remember which ones they are, but they smell good! I was going to get Cozy Fireside like Karen suggested, because it is definitely yummy, but she would have had to order it and I was simply too impatient to have to wait to use it, so I got one that was already in stock.

We are currently in the midst of our first major snowstorm of the year here in Colorado. It's lovely to look at, and I would be thoroughly enjoying it if I were sitting at home in my giant recliner, snuggled up in my electric blanket by the fire drinking a steaming hot cup of coffee. But instead I had to brave the storm and make my way up north and the drive which normally takes me between 15-20 minutes took me an hour and a half. An hour and a half people! I was over 30 minutes late to work this morning and as it was I gave myself 45 minutes to get here, which I thought would be plenty of time. I should have known better.

Last night, when I arrived home from work, my kids were in full Christmas spirit mode. They had been outside building snowmen and Care Bear was in the process of writing and illustrating a new Christmas Carol. When it was complete, we all had to assemble on the couch where she taught us the new Christmas carol and led us in a sing-a-long. Anakin and I were to sing the song with her, and Feisty was to provide background vocals. I am going to post the Christmas Carol now for you and I advise you to learn it because I am 100% positive that it will be the next great Christmas Carol of our time!

"SNOWBALL FIGHT DAY"

"In my stocking is a candy cane and some candy"

"Outside there is a snowman and snow"

"Under the tree there is some presents"

"The tree is so pretty"

Once we learned the new carol and she felt satisfied that we had sung it satisfactorily, she hopped on "stage" (the fireplace bricks) with Feisty and they performed "Jingle Bells" and "Rudolph". This was all done with a rather "goofy" and lighthearted air, but then Anakin wanted to perform. And he got up on stage in all seriousness and proceeded to sing "Away In A Manger" in perfect, falsetto pitch. It makes me sad that he can not ever be a part of the children's musical performances at church because he is never there on Sunday. I know without a doubt that Miss Tammy (the children's music director) would have some great part for him in their performances because he really does have an amazing voice and ability to sing on pitch. Anakin's singing ability is one of the few things that he has a high level of confidence in. I wish he had the opportunity to showcase it more.

After the performances, we had to rush to church to practice for Mom and Dad's (a.k.a. me and Mike's) deal on Christmas Eve. The praise band is leading the Christmas Eve service this year. I don't think that's ever happened before, but I think what we have planned is going to be great and I'm looking forward to it. On the way to church for practice, I told the kids about Grandma Dawn's accident in Hawaii and that we needed to be sure to remember to pray for her when we went to bed that night.

Feisty became very distraught at this news. In a little teary voice she said that she wanted to get Grandma a "washcloth with ice in it to help her feel better" (Feisty's answer to any type of pain whether it be a cut, scrape, bruise, splinter or tummy ache is water, whether in the form of a bath, a warm cloth, or a cloth with ice wrapped in it.) I told her that Grandma is in Hawaii right now, but I'm sure she would love that when she gets home. Feisty sat there for a minute quietly then said, "I'm worried about her. In the morning, I am going to get her a washcloth with ice in it to make her feel better." Since reading Grandma Dawn's post today, I am going to have to let her know that she is feeling better today so she can quit worrying so much. She's also very concerned about the pain I will be in when I have the babies. She assures me she will be there to "take care of me". I love that child.

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Random Tidbits

I'll start with some pictures for this random post:

Care Bear's Official Kindergarten Picture

Don't you just want to eat her up?! Mmmwwwaaahhhh!!

Feisty in Grandma's Backyard

I'm not quite full yet so I'll eat her up a little bit, too! She'll be getting some professional pics done soon.

The Family at "Light In The Night"This was taken at our church's annual Halloween activity called "Light in the Night". The kids look forward to it every year and it is really a lot of fun. Anakin actually got a picture taken with his mom and was off out and about running around the church so we couldn't track him down to get a picture taken with us. He dressed as Harry Potter. Good boy. He looked very cute.

3-D Pics of Little SquirtPics of Little Squirt who would not sit still last time for a snap shot. She did a little better this time. The top one is her foot, and the bottom two are of her grabbing onto her foot. Mike said he thinks this one looks more like Care Bear. When I told Care Bear that Daddy thinks that one of the babies looks like her, she asked me, "Is she going to wear glasses, Mommy?" I almost hope for her sake that maybe she will. Almost.
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A quote from Feisty as she got out of the tub last night but wasn't quite in her jammies yet:

I've got juice bumps on my tummy mommy!!

I will heretofore be referring to goose bumps as "juice bumps" because I think that is just about the cutest thing I have ever heard! Daddy was beginning to tell her what they are really called. I stopped him. I like juice bumps better.

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Care Bear received an award yesterday at a school assembly in front of the whole school for selling the 4th most amount of cookie dough for their cookie dough fund raiser. She has a pretty award with her name on it and she gets an extra recess and gets to go to lunch at McDonald's with the principal and the other winners. The play place McDonald's...that part is very important, you see.

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I've been having baby related dreams as of late. In one that I had a few weeks ago, I dreamed that each of the twins was born weighing in at 10 lbs a piece. Two nights ago I had a dream that when they were born, one of them fit in the palm of my hand. I remember vividly in my dream while I was holding the baby in my hand that my first thought was, "How am I ever going to find diapers to fit this baby?" Proof of how ridiculous dreams are because if one of my babies was born that small, I highly doubt my first concern would be that of appropriately fitting diapers. I don't know which scenario would be worse....10 lbs twins or twins that fit in the palm of my hand. Neither are a very good option. I'm not sleeping so good lately because of these dreams. *sigh* Will I ever sleep again?!

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I suppose I should get back to work. At least it's already Wednesday.

Picture Day At School

My kids are getting their pictures taken at school today. This is Care Bear's first official school photo. And although Feisty doesn't attend school anywhere as of yet (potty training issues, still.....) she had to get in on the action as well...

Anakin--4th Grade (age 9)

Care Bear--Kindergarten (Age 5)

Feisty (age 3 1/2)--should be in pre-school

Are they not precious?!

Care Bear has a big day today because besides it being picture day, she also has a field trip to the pumpkin patch farm and the fire station. She was almost giddy this morning! Ahhh....to be in Kindergarten again!

The "Baby Name Game" will continue throughout the remainder of my pregnancy (or until I decide on names, whichever comes first). Click on the button in the sidebar to add any names you think of. This is much harder than I thought!

All Kinds Of Stuff

When we last left off, it was Care Bear's b-day. That was last Friday. It's already Thursday(?!) and I'm just getting to talking about the weekend. And what an insane weekend it was. We packed as much into one weekend as we should have all summer. Good grief. This mama is still recovering.

Friday evening after work was the obligatory Chuck E. Cheese party for Care Bear. I really wish one of these days my kids would pick another venue for their parties rather than this germ-infested hole that serves sub-par pizza. I just have to remind myself that it's not my party, so I can't cry if I want to and enjoy it the best I can. The kids love it and they can suffer along at my b-day party when I choose to go eat raw fish or something like that.

Anyhoo---first order of business---some pics from C.E.C. (Ask my Mom how many pictures I took on her digital camera this weekend--go on, ask her. Then ask her how long it takes her to download them and send them to me.) Someone just get me my own--consider it a "pregnancy from hell" present.

The birthday girl (a.k.a. little miss Colorado) with her

crown, flowers and cake

Feisty with her consolation "It's not my b-day" present

(in my defense, I don't normally do this, but Feisty didn't get quite the

huge b-day Care Bear did so I felt she deserved it)

Feisty's favorite game

Care Bear doing what she does best....Coloring (the modern way)

Anakin, the video game conneseur

Mmmm.....cardboard pizza and a mini build-a-bear....
Life doesn't get better than that!!

"Dude, Chuck E.....what is with your pizza, man?! I might as well
be eating Chef Boyardee!"

"Wait, you're kidding right?! Six more months?? Gag me! No, wait...don't do that, PLEASE!"

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Our big present this year was really a present for all the kids which Mike spent the entire day Saturday putting together. So that was the following day. Let me tell you the deal we got on this thing. It was originally priced at over $500....on clearance for $130. When do we ever get a break like that?! We were a little excited!

We're having a "friends birthday" party for her this weekend on Saturday for cake and ice cream and swing set fun! Yee-haw!

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Saturday evening, Mike's mom showed up to bestow on us a few little "knick-knacks" she picked up for us. She arrived with a trailer hitched to her SUV carrying with her a new dining room set and patio furniture set for us. Happy birthday to us! I didn't get any pics of that, though. But when Mike's mom shows up, we are never short of things to do. Her plan was to treat everyone on Sunday (after church of course) to a trip to Elitch Gardens (Denver's answer to Six Flags). Of course everyone was beyond excited about that (even me despite the fact that due to my "condition" I would be unable to ride any of the fun rides). The plan went a littly awry, however with MILs chronic condition of piddly-ness, slowness, procrastination-ess, etc....We didn't get down to Denver until almost 6:00. Elitch's closes at 9:00 once school starts back up. In addition to that, as we arrived, this is what greeted us:

So we aborted the original plan, decided to do Elitch's the following day and made our way over to Casa Bonita which is an extremely fun Mexican restaurant in Denver. Click on the link to see about it. The kids were, suprisingly, OK with this little change in plans. It turned out to be a fun evening:

The outside of the restaurant

The whole group

(I got many, many more pictures from this little outing but I think my mom was tired of downloading pictures. What's up with that?!)

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The following day we finally made our way to Elitch's (another outing that produced many pictures as well as videos, but alas.....) This was Feisty's first trip to Elitch's and true to her name she relished it in all of her feistiness! (the others enjoyed it as well!)

The Tower

Some Water Slides

Feisty's Boat Ride

Enjoying the Ferris Wheel

Massaging Our Feet

Feisty The "Trucker"

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Needless to say, we were all a little exhausted by the end of the weekend and unfortunately there was not a day to recover from it all because the next day called for school and work. No rest for the weary!

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As far as I'm concerned; I'm set for my amniocentesis next Tuesday, the 11th. In preparation for that, this week I had to get a "quad-screen" which is doctor speak for "let's squeeze as much blood as is humanly possible out of this person until the point of almost passing out" and have an ultra sound just to make sure the babies are still alive and kicking. And kicking they are. Literally. The tech said it's amazing how wiggly they are in there considering the amount of room they have. Everytime I see those two they are squirming in there like they're ready to take off. The position "big baby" was in made it difficult to tell if the membrane that they are so concerned about is still there. I'm going the "denial" route and choosing to believe that it means it's really not there anymore. "Small baby" is consistenly growing and keeping up...although still measuring a week smaller. That's all I know about the babies right now until the results of the amnio....which the doc told me could take up to a week to ten days after the test. Don't you think with the amazing amount of technology around today that they could figure out a quicker way to get test results than making an already anxious mother-to-be wait TEN MORE DAYS to find out how her babies are doing? Good grief already.

More good news for me, though! Yipeee! Doc thinks I have a hyper thyroid which required me to go have more blood drained out of my body yesterday. I was also informed that my chances of getting pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes are pretty good. Woooooo-------hooooooo!! Let me tell you how upbeat and happy I felt after that appointment. And in addition to that, due to all of the blood loss, I was nauseous all night and got very little sleep. Or maybe my body just lulled me into a false sense of security the last week and now is saying, "HA! You thought it was over, but we fooled you, you FOOL!". But I'm not bitter or anything. This pregnancy rocks!! Don't you think that expectant mothers should get their entire pregnancy off of work--PAID? My MIL (who lives right near the border of Canada) told me that a friend of hers from Canada got her whole pregnancy off paid. PEA! Can you confirm if this is how it works up there? Because if so, I'm headed your way. Do you have a spare bedroom?! ;-)

Enough for now. That should keep you going for awhile until I know more. If things go my way this weekend, I'll be taking some naps. But I doubt they'll go my way.

Happy Thursday!

The good news? Hubby got a job.

The bad news? I’m still full time and am now dealing with the hassle and expense of daycare for the kidlings. The job came rather quickly and unexpectedly after several months of nothing so all of a sudden I was in a mad rush to locate someone….anyone (within reason of course) who would watch my kids without breaking the bank. Forget a formal daycare setting. Every single daycare I looked into within a 30 mile radius was going to cost me almost my entire check to put them in….and that’s part time (because my mom can still watch them in the afternoons). I checked with father-in-law who is a school teacher. I thought to myself, “Self….here is a great solution. FIL can watch them until noon in the mornings since it’s summer and he should be off, then mom can pick them up on her way home. What could be better than having grandma and grandpa watching them on the same day?!” I should have known better. This is a man who so immerses himself in his students and his work during the school year that we’re lucky if we can find one single weekend out of the entire year that he can watch them or help us out. Nope. FIL teaches a summer band in the mornings. So I said to him, “Hypothetically speaking, what if my mom were able to switch her schedule to afternoons and she could watch them in the mornings, you in the afternoons?”

“Uh, well, I’m probably going to be doing some house painting in the afternoons
for some extra money so I can’t commit to anything regularly. I can look
at my schedule and help you out when
I can.”

Well, gee, thanks, but I think I need to have something more set in stone for my kids than “maybe I can help you now and then.”

I checked with a friend (Jennifer) from church who has watched them before; we exchange play dates with her kids and they have a great time together. Last week she was preparing for a wedding this past Saturday. Next week she’s going on vacation. She can possibly help some this week (that we are currently in). I check with Sandy. Who better to have watch my kids than Feisty’s best friend?! Even better, she has a son just one year younger than Anakin and they get along great. Sandy had just committed to working her other job that week and after that would be leaving on vacation.

“But what about Ginger?” she says.

“Ahhh….Ginger,” I say to myself. “Why didn’t I think of that?!” Ginger is a stay-at-home mom who has one little girl Care Bear’s age. She’s rather new to our church and gotten very involved. I call Ginger. Ginger, thankfully, can watch them last Monday and Tuesday. A little relief. That gives me a few more days to figure out what to do with the rest of the week and beyond.

First day to Ginger’s goes fine. Granted, getting the kids up at the crack of dawn was no picnic, but they were pretty good and I assured Care Bear that, “Yes, you can sleep on the way to Ginger’s house.” Feisty even did great, which I was utterly shocked at. The following day was more what I expected. Fits at what clothes to wear, who was going to sit where in the car, and screams of, “I wanna stay home with you, Mama!!”. I knew it was too good to be true.
Then came the 4th of July. A day off, but not without the stress of figuring out where they were going to go the next two days. Then it occurred to me that my cousin was in town with her two boys, Care Bear’s age and 18 months. Perfect. They can play together for awhile and it’ll be someone they can feel comfortable with and who I am comfortable leaving them with. Cousins says, “Sure I can do that!” But there was a mis-communication. I thought we had arranged for Thursday and Friday; she thought Thursday only. Crap. Back to square one. I ended up having to take the morning off on Friday.

Over the weekend I continued to stress, lose sleep, stress, have bad dreams, stress, eat midnight snacks and have some slight indigestion over what was going to become of my children over the next several weeks until school starts.

Sunday, I hit Jennifer up again. This was the week that I thought Jennifer said she would be able to help me out.

“Well, the girls have swimming lessons this week. I can probably help
Thursday and Friday because I can take them to Bible Study on Thursday and then
the weekly park playdate on Friday. I can possibly help on Tuesday and
Wednesday, but definitely not tomorrow.”

It’s about at this point in time that I’m ready to say “Screw the full time job. This is causing too much stress and will cost too much money.” I end up calling my last resort. Not last resort because I don’t think it’s something suitable for the kids, just last resort because it’s so far south of where I need to be heading, probably more $$ than I want to pay, and a completely unfamiliar environment for the kids. For Care Bear and Anakin that’s not as big an issue. But for Feisty, who has never been cared for by anyone other than Mommy, Daddy, Grandma and Sandy (and FIL once a year), this is a major, huge adjustment. But at this point I had no choice. It is more than I want to pay, and it’s too far away, and Feisty was breaking my heart when I dropped them off, but I don’t know what else to do. There is a teenager in our church who is going to college in the fall who may be an option (less expensive and can come to my home) for the rest of the summer, but she is currently on vacation. So, we’ll see.

In the meantime, I continue to have restless nights, annoying dreams and I fear I am getting an ulcer. I just wish things were the way they were before. And I thought life was complicated then. The grass isn’t always greener……
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So, this post wasn’t so random after all. But I do have one random thing to mention. Wanna know what my new, extremely weird obsession is? Picking weeds. Ever since I weeded my garden a few weeks ago, everywhere I go I see weeds and they drive me nuts. I pick weeds at work, at church, in the park….no weed is safe when within my line of vision. But it’s driving me nuts. Plus, I’m allergic to them. I should find a less “sneezy” obsession. I might as well just start picking fleas from cats hair. Not really.
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My dad took my kids on a hike this weekend. Check out the pics and then dare tell me I don’t have the cutest kids in the world!!

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And one more thing: Here’s a picture Care Bear drew quite awhile ago of herself that I’ve had hanging on my bulletin board forever. I have a scanner sitting right beside me now at my desk so chances of you seeing a lot more of Care Bear’s artwork in the future are pretty good.

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That’s it for me for now……anyone have any good, strong, indigestion medicine?!