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Ok, so for those that know me at all, you know I not a fan of surprises. I am not spontaneous at all. I like to have a plan. When things happen that are not planned it is very hard for me to adjust. You would think at some point in my 30 some years I would have to learn to be flexible. I have to some degree, but even my kids spoiled me by needing to come by c-section, so I knew exactly when it was going to happen. NO surprises.

However, I think I have found myself a little in over my head with this whole selling a house thing. I have not had any showings for a couple weeks, but every time my phone goes off I get small chest spasms wondering if I will have to scurry and have the house in order. I hav eno idea when or if it will sell, and if it does, I am still not certain where we will live. These unknowns are getting to this type A personality girl. Between this and the day to day, I am found out there is a limit to the amount of stress you can handle. I looked up the physical symptoms of stress and I have ALL of them.

So today I threw caution to the wind and spend a whole $20 on myself. I didn’t think about what else we could spend it on (ok so I did but only for a second).

What do you do when you reach your stress limit?

Ok, so yes today was the first day of school, it went smoothly and the kids were both happy after school and both-so far-love their teachers and are happy to be one year older and wiser.

Lauren’s only complaint was that now that she is in fourth grade she has to tuck in her shirt. Aaron’s only complaint was that some people still called him AJ from last year. See he has decided that each year he is going to go by a different name, rotating between Aaron and Aj. His direct quote, “I want to keep them guessing”.

I am so grateful that these are their “big issues” because I know for some kids in some schools there are much greater complaints. I am also grateful that even though I worry about them being away from me, I know they are safe and have a great school to go to.

Don’t get me started on the bus though….

I hope all your children had an equally good first day of school. Oh, and I’m not the mom that is able to get the great first day of school pic, Here’s all I have:

Don’t judge, it was 7:30 in the morning!

My 6 year old is wonderful. However I am convinced he was sent to me to teach me exactly what patience is, and possibly the reason that ice cream was invented. He daily tests my ability to keep control of my emotions, and I can’t lie, some days he makes me laugh and cry within minutes of each other.

Over the years I have tried just about every parenting tool known to man. I have tried to ignore him, give him time outs, take privileges away, and yes, I have even threatened to send him to my friends house and make him sit on her couch-ALL DAY.

However I think it has only taken me 6 years to realized that I should have just pulled out the tried and true punishment that seemed to work on Leave it to Beaver ( or one of those shows). Send him to bed without supper. Last night he was having an exceptionally hard time controlling his temper and therefore he lost the privilege of having Subway for dinner. When we got home, he was sent to his room until he could calm down, and after awhile I went to check on him and see if he was ready to have me fix him some dinner-still not giving in on the Subway issue. I found him asleep.

This evening he started to act up again, right around dinner time. My advanced mom skills kicked in and  instead of my usual, go to your room, or “I’m taking the IPAD away”. I went with, if you don’t change your attitude you will go to bed without dinner again. It was like a magic phrase that was the secret to unlocking the key to AJ’s world. He immediately headed to the kitchen to help me make dinner and he apologized for his behavior. He helped his brother and was nice to his sister. it was a miracle I tell you, a miracle!

I am not sure it will always work, but for now, he was scared straight. I didn’t mean for him to miss dinner last night, I had every intention of making sure he got proper nutrition, and all of you out there thinking I’m horrible for not waking him up last night to feed him, relax, he had yogurt and chips at 4ish, just not a real meal. So chill out. AND I was not really going to deprive him of dinner tonight either (but he doesn’t need to know that, right?)

Oh, and he got a new hat today for being so good, don’t worry I didn’t bribe him…..his Grandma did, but that was one of the tactics that I can tell you did NOT work in the past for me.

Love you AJ!

When I was a teenager I went on an all day canoe trip, I was never so sore or exhausted in all my life physically. Until last weekend.

Recently we decided to put the house back on the market again. We did this a year ago and didn’t have any success, so we had debated on even trying again. Last weekend we spent the whole time cleaning and scrubbing every little blemish so that the house looks as best it can. We painted doors, and planted flowers. Lauren worked just as hard as the adults and a sense of pride set in as she worked just like my dad had taught me, you don’t stop until it’s done.

We completed our task and we got it listed. And now we wait. No calls yet, but we are hopeful that we will be successful this time and be able to move to a house that will be closer to school for the kids (that is if they still get to go to that school, side note, I am at a memory loss if I completed the paper needed for them to still go there, and we have been unable to reach anyone at the school to find out for sure). Ok where was I, oh yes, selling our house.

Now it is back to daily cleaning, picking up, making beds, taking out trash, and cringing every time someone walks on the kitchen floor or eats a snack.On the 4th of July we made a fire in the back yard and roasted marshmallows, lit some fireworks, talked to neighbors and watched fireworks two houses down all from our back yard. In that moment I was a little sad that this may be the last holiday we spend in the only home my kids have known but at the same time, a little anxious to move on to new memories.

Hopefully in the case of selling our home, it will only take two times to be the charm, I’m not sure I can do this a third time!

Today was supposed to be pretty calm and low key. However I remembered I needed to get by TB test at work. So I loaded up the kids and we headed to the hospital. The kids of course wanted to go to the office for candy. We then decided to go meet Dad for lunch. We hadn’t met him for lunch in awhile, so why not?

After that I was determined to finish some chores and get all the bills paid. While I thought the kids were nicely playing together I went to the computer in the other room to look up a bill (since my laptop is broken and I can only seen half the screen). Two minutes later Dylan was screaming. He usually just cries for a minute or two and then is fine. Not today. He screamed, and cried, and screamed some more. He had hit his month and although there was no blood, he lip was very swollen and he was not happy. I gave him some Tylenol and stopped what I was doing to rock him.

His sweet brother and sister both stopped whatever they were doing. Lauren got him ice, and AJ rubbed his arm. They both sat down with him and watched Backyardigans. This may sound like a normal thing to all of you out there, but my older two have not watched this show for years. They were laughing along with the show to get him to laugh.

The bills did not get paid, dinner did not get made, but I know that when it matters these three are going to be there for each other (at least if it is an excuse not to clean their rooms).

We sat down, made a list of must dos this summer, and of course, swimming at Aunt Mary’s was the top thing to do. I personally was not looking forward to this summer break, because my little water dogs this year would be different.

This year we would not be able to just walk a few steps to get to the pool and be able to go whenever we wanted. My aunt and uncle are not next door anymore and this is the first summer since my kids were born that they did not have this luxury. I loved the memories I have of us swimming almost every day each summer. I would know that the minute I got home from work on work days they would be waiting with suits on and would swim until bed and not even want dinner. I loved that each day they were so worn out that they would not fight bed time. I never heard, “I’m bored.

So as we made the list I was a bit sad, and also dreading having to tell the kids that we can’t swim as often because it would take a lot of gas to get to Aunt Mary’s new house and that we hav eto plan ahead because we now have to make sure someone is home to let us in.

I have no idea what I was worried about…let the new memories begin!

I have to get a little sappy for this one. Today my second child had a kindergarten graduation. When Lauren graduated kindergarten I have to be honest, I was sort of thinking, what is the big deal? She did not struggle, in fact she was very ready for all day school and learning to read and write and do math. She had 2 long years of pre-school where things came easy and she learned quickly. She was ready to get on with the show.

When it was AJ’s turn for the big K, I got it. I really got it. I could not believe I was sending him off to school all day. I had no idea how the teacher was going to survive. He did not like to sit, he did not like to learn, he did not even like to talk. He was so little and seemed not ready for school at all. I was a nervous wreck for a few weeks. I wondered how he would do and if he would be behind the other kids. Surprisingly he never had a note sent home about is behavior. He starting getting stickers for the end of the day after just a few weeks. He was meeting his expectations and his first meeting with the teacher she said he was shy but was a hard worker. I could not believe it. He even testing into above average work in some areas.

I can take no credit for this at all. I could barely get him to listen to a book for 20 minutes each day, let alone get him to practice math or writing. All of his success this year is a direct reflection on his teachers and how great they are at getting kids to learn. I would like to dedicate this post to all the teachers, home school included on how great they are at their jobs. I will never be able to do what they can do to help instill a desire to learn!

Well folks, I have been battling a sinus infection for a couple weeks. I thought maybe I could just make it go away with some over the counter treatment and just plain stubbornness. I don’t recommend this method.

My sinus infection traveled to my lungs, and I did not go to the doctor until my chest hurt and the cough had begun. The doctor told me I had some lung congestion as well as sinus congestion. I believe his technical term was there was “gunk” in my lungs. He gave me a ten day course of antibiotics and told me to rest. What he did not say is that night I would have chest and back pain, spasms in my lungs, dizziness, and what I think was shock. My teeth chattered, I cried, and basically thought I was not going to live through the night. I resorted to some of that “good” medicine I still had from when I had bronchitis, however not even this was taking the edge off.

Two times I came close to telling Ellis to take me to the hospital. But then I thought about the bill, and from the little I knew about the hospital, if I had pneumonia they would keep me. Keeping me would mean an IV, because of course that is what they do to you at hospitals. I waited it out, and thanks to my husband and very attentive 9 year old, I made it through the night. However, the next day I could not move. I did not have the energy to get up, walking to the kitchen was a chore, and my daughter asked me why I made noises when I breathed.

I have no idea how I made it through yesterday. Ellis had to work and that morning he was in the garage trying to fix his car. I do know that yesterday AJ tried his best to be a good big brother, and I found Dylan outside in his pajamas and his brother’s flip flops. I did not have the energy to go get him, so AJ dragged him in kicking and screaming. Ellis was home during this time so it wasn’t totally my fault this happened. I also know my mom took the kids for an hour to get them dinner. I also know that Dylan stayed right by my side. If I was on the couch, he was in my lap, if I was in bed, he was right next to me. Lauren got snacks for her siblings and played with them.

Moral of the story, when you first see “gunk” just go to the doctor. Don’t be a hero.

I have been so busy lately that I have not had time to blog. I was not happy about this because I have had several things to blog about, however I just couldn’t squeeze it in. So here is a random post with all my random thoughts. Enjoy:

First: I finished grades for my class, and I get a much needed break until July. I am excited to have a break because I have had back to back classes since January, however I am worried because it will be awhile before I get a check. PB and J for lunch kids!

Second: AJ is the most entertaining and exhausting kid I know. He has come home with a ripped shirt 2 days in a row and has no idea how it happened. He also made me the cutest Mother’s Day present ever. It made it at school, so I have to thank his teacher as well, but it is a picture frame that when you push a button says, “I love you Mommy”. It means so much to me because when I look back on 4 years ago, I was afraid I would never be able to communicate with him, let alone have this wonderful phrase recorded for me that is perfectly clear. I wish his First steps speech therapist could hear him now!

Third: Lauren has had several accomplishments lately. She tried out and made the school news group for next year. She is so excited and hopes that she gets to do the layout design. Her dad is so proud. She also had a picture in the art show, and she has really developed her compassionate side because she helps her brothers all the time without being asked or even wanting something in return. She also got hit in the head with a basketball today and managed to chip her tooth doing it. Which if anyone reading this knows me at all, knows that is exactly something that would happen to me. Poor girl.

Forth: I got a new couch! I feel like a grown up now. I have never had new furniture EVER! I appreciate that I have had friends and family that have given my things,(Dawn, if you read this, yes, I still have the microwave you gave us)  but I was excited to be able to buy my own furniture that actually matches not only each other but also the room it is in. However, why is it when we make a decision to spend the money and feel good about the price and the fact we can pay for it up front, then my computer screen cracks?

Fifth: Ellis graduated with his Masters. I am no longer the only one in our house to have a Masters degree. I am praying he gets something soon that will reward him for his efforts. One because he deserves it, but two because I am tired of working all these darn jobs.

That is enough random thoughts for today, stay tuned, I have many more!

Well April did not turn out to be such a great month. We had car troubles, my 6 year old had some anger troubles, and my 2 year old had some infection troubles. It seemed as though things just kept happening to keep us from being able to enjoy ourselves.

However today my son’s infection is better, despite the fact that the doctor admitted today it was the worst one she had seen, and she had seen a lot of bottoms! Although that does not sound great, I am just relieved that he is doing better.

My 6 year old, yes, still spirited and has his outbursts seems to be doing better. I believe he suffers from “middle child syndrome”. Even though he has this disease, he has become the funniest kid I could ever ask for. Just when I feel that my day can not get worse, he says something that just cracks me up. Just last night I said that I thought Dylan looked like me, and he said he couldn’t look like me because I don’t have the right “equipment” if you know what I mean!

I got a new dishwasher, finally, and my hubby will get to celebrate getting his Master’s on Sunday. Lauren is great as always. May also has the last day of school! I can’t wait to be able to spend some more time with the kiddos as well as finally getting a day to sleep in!!!!

Oh yes, May is looking a whole lot better than April.