Poor G

G wants to be a cuddly big brother, but underestimates his power. He's very strong, and doesn't realize how rough he's being, even when he's just being lovable.

(yes, our children do wear clothing, just not in these pictures!)

ok, that's good. I'm not so sure I like this snuggling thing.

Now I really don't want to snuggle.

I'm screaming because I want you to leave me alone, not because I want kisses.

Here's a happy brother, perhaps he'd like to snuggle.



Nope, not him either!



Let's try this again.... Nope, he still doesn't like it!

S's duck lip (a week later)

Scenario: I'm cooking dinner, E's in the living room playing with thing 1 and thing 2. S was playing with Z in the boys room.

Disaster waiting to happen: S came running down the hallway, bent over, "driving" the big monster trucks (one in each hand). The rubber tire got funky, caught on grout, S's face planted straight into the tile floor.

Result: Busted top lip, sliced upper gum line from lip to front teeth. Still a happy boy, just with a big-o duck lip! TBD if he'll be joining his brother in the rank of sporting a dead front tooth. So far things look pretty good, but it's still healing.

Alright already

I am: an overachiever and a perfectionist.
I think: people think we're insane for all we've taken on in the last few months.
I know: outsiders see my side of the family as being closer than we really are.
I want: to be on vacation already.
I dislike: sick babies, people touching my face, and black pens.
I miss: Chicago and it's cold winters.
I fear: that one of our sons will become "lost" again in his own world.
I hear: N & G wrestling in their room, despite it being quiet time.
I smell: nasty! I'm hoping to take a shower after I'm done posting this and finish emailing my world religions professor.
I crave: to stand face-to-face with God and ask him why he had to think so highly of me.
I cry: only when people are not looking.
I search: the internet in hopes of finding solutions to "fix" things I'm experiencing.
I wonder: if I'll ever overcome being a perfectionist, and learn to let things go.
I regret: not busting my butt earlier this semester so I don't have to play catch-up..... I don't totally regret it though because the kids really needed my attention.
I love: my husband and all the things he does for our family.
I care: about my GPA. I expect nothing less than a 4.0 from myself.
I always: over analyze financial decisions.
I worry: that the boys will eat us out of house and home when they're teenagers.
I am not: so good at always eating only because I'm hungry... sometimes the food just tastes really good!
I remember: the first time I was awake during an entire c-section (with the second) and how strange it felt to have him pulled out.
I believe: that God has a sense of humor.
I dance: like a black girl.
I sing: along to songs I probably shouldn't know the words to.
I don't always: follow the dr's recommendation to not use q-tips. (Do I really need to explain how impossible it is?)
I argue: with the kids, but never with E.
I write: papers really, really well... now if only my writing transferred over into my oral conversations.
I win: monopoly every time.
I lose: my cool more times than people realize.
I wish: I could make things the way I'd like to have them, but I can't.
I listen: to music every day.
I don't understand: why some people get things handed to them.
I can usually be found: doing twenty things at one time.
I am scared: for the pain my friend and his wife will endure if their baby does not survive more than a few days after birth.
I need: to take a shower and finish doing my homework.
I forget: what my stomach looked like without a c-section scar.
I am happy: when the kids are playing nicely together AND my house is clean.

Tag #1 done.... #2-3, still to come! =)

Everyone who has read this and not done it, consider yourself tagged!

Mommy always wins!

I have a lot of pet peeves. One of them (besides the "usuals": black inked pens, people touching my face, people touching my butt, people stepping on my feet, loud noises, clutter) is doors being slammed. It's a scar I've carried with me ever since traumatic things happened during childhood, and I haven't been able to overcome it. Something about slamming doors just brings out the craziness in me. A few weeks back, G was a little over-the-top for me. He was being horrible (licking- saving it for another post), so I asked him to go to his room. Of course he didn't listen the first time around, so I waited 30 seconds and then instructed him (again) to go to his room. He stomped his foot and did the "uuhh, no" thing. Ok, apparently he needed a little helping finding his room. I took his hand and guided him to his room. He threw himself on the ground in protest, but I left it (him) alone and walked back into the other room. Just as soon as I reached the kitchen (it's the first place you reach when exiting the hallway with their rooms) he slammed his door. Umm, did he just do what I thought he did? His 5 year-old brother quickly confirmed what I thought I witnessed before I could even finish my thought.


I walked back to his bedroom, opened the door, and warned him not to slam his door again. If he did, he wouldn't like the consequence. I turned around, walked back down the hall.... WHACK! Oh, nuh-uh, he didn't just do that.


As I was walking back to his room, I could hear him fiddling with the knob. By the time I got there, he had locked the door. You wanna play that game, little boy? Mommy can play too. The difference.... MOMMY ALWAYS WINS! I don't care if Daddy at work right now, you will NOT be doing that in this house...




Try slamming your door now, Mr. G!

*update: after 2 1/2 days, he "earned" his door back. He hasn't done it since.

I know, I know

It's been forever! Things have been very, very busy to put it lightly. Our camera finally bit the dust [it was 4.5 years old- prehistoric in the tech world] so we were without a camera for almost 2 months. We finally got around to ordering a new one so we would have something to take pics with for G's birthday party. I finally got around to uploading pics from the old memory card and stumbled across these from 2 months ago...

More posts to follow (hopefully soon)...

Summer School 2

Here's to a bunch of catching up. There's 3 other posts that follow this one, but I made sure to include pictures for those of you (you know who you are!) that only look for pictures and don't read any of the journaling.

It has been about 3 weeks since the last post. Yes, we are all alive and well. Our family is still intact after my summer classes and E's closing shifts (minimum) 4 days a week. I'm so glad they're over. The routine went a little something like this....

6:00 Wake up and shower (if I was feeling generous)
7:00 Class starts
9:20 Get home
9:20-10:30 Finish dispatch
10:30-11:55 Attempt to spend "quality family time" without thinking about what was due the following day
11:55 E leaves for work
12:30 Put kids down for naps
2:30 Leave to pick up N
3-8:30 Chaos/crowd control (snacks, N's homework, dinner, baths, etc.)
8:30- ? Get 4 kids to bed, start laundry, get dishes done, pick up around the house
11:00 E gets home
?- 5:59 Finish a minimum of 2 assignments per night, in addition to one weekly 4 page research paper (typed, SINGLE SPACED)
6:00 Repeat

Looking back at the stacks of work that I have completed, I'm very proud of myself. Just shy of 40 assignments, all packed into a 5 week session. I managed to survive, largely in part to a fabulous husband that supported me. He would sleep in the office while I worked on assignments, and woke up whenever I needed some input. He sometimes carried the load of a single parent on the weekends while I did research. I am looking forward to having a more relaxed, further spaced out fall semester - at least as normal as it could be with the little last minute twist recently thrown in. (for those curious, NO, the twist does not equate to pregnancy)

Summer 2's grade.....

Darn straight! 96%

First Day of School

N started kindergarten: 1 kid down, 3 to go! I'm a little (2 1/2 weeks) late, but this is the first time I've got to sit down to blog in a long time.

I had class the same day so I went in as usual, then midway through I ran home so we could all take him to school, then off I went back to finish my class. N is doing really good. It was interesting to pick him up the first day and explain why he got a stick taken away. :) We don't blame him because we never put him in preschool and raising your hand to talk isn't something they strongly enforce at primary. He said, "Mom, Mrs. J took away a stick because I kept forgetting to raise my hand before I talked." I asked him why he kept forgetting and he said that it was because his teacher was asking lots of questions and nobody said anything. "Mom, I had to tell her the answers because I know everything and the other kids don't know anything." Hmm, I wonder where he could have picked that up from?

Lining up with his classmates


is his backpack big enough? he picked it out himself


"Have fun! Don't get in trouble because I'm not coming back until 2:40 to pick you up!"