IT'S ALMOST FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

my dad, my little brother, and my kids, are almost finished with the chicken coop. they had to work on it at my dad's house because, well, my brother is not allowed to leave the house. (long story, and not mine to tell) anyway, they started on it saturday, and for the most part, it's done. it just needs the nest boxes, and some stain, and i think i may put in some linolium (for cleaning). that's it! well, it needs a door, and it needs to be moved to my house.

my dad had the kids all help him. he was really impressed by zack though. he said zack was hammering like a champ. he was most impressed with the way he did it correctly (bending his wrist). how many 3 year olds do you know that can do that? shoot, i'm 30 and i can't!


alex leaves on friday for his "birthday present" trip with my stepmom. alex still doesn't know where he's going! i don't think he would ever check my blog...but i don't trust the kid so i won't say until friday where he's going.

this is bookfair week. i already have been there, and helped out. but i have to go back on thursday for the "family night" event. my sister in law and i run that. it's pretty easy. really really easy. all we do is make dinner for about 200. no sweat! we usually have about 6 helpers, and that's plenty. the money we raise goes to our library, and buying tests for the kids.

and apparently this is also the first day for the runners club at school. i thought it didn't start until next monday. i still have to send in all the sign up stuff to school. and bring clothes and snack and water up for my kids that are doing it.

that's about it for now!

karma

yeah, after yesterday's post, um, well, i broke the youngest child. not my youngest, the "youngest" in the previous post.

well, i didn't exactly break him, he broke himself...but at my house and on my watch.

i heard some screaming and yelling (not exactly an uncommon sound at the zoo) and so i went out to see what was going on, and to yell of course. instead, there is youngest with a mouth full of blood. not the "oh i bit my lip" bloody saliva, but the "i think i knocked all my teeth out and bit my tongue off" blood drip-age*.

i got him a cup of cold water and had him gently swish and spit in the sink. as he screamed and cried, i tried my best to comfort him...but i find that soft voices and nurturing words often make them more scared. (sounds mean, but that's what i've found) so instead i told him to calm down and quit his screaming...

and then he pulled out his tooth...

and i about puked...**

and then i thanked God it was just a baby tooth.

and he kept gently swishing as i babbled about tooth fairy money...

and then his sister came into the room and said "oh my God, oh my God"...

and youngest started crying again, and screaming again...

and i told her to get out that wasn't helping...

and i told him to be quiet, screaming was only going to make things worse...

and he believed me...

and he swished and the blood stopped...

and i looked in his mouth, and about puked** again..

i then called his mom's cell phone to tell her about the gash in his gums, and that it may need to be looked at.

what happened? well, he and josh wanted to see who weighed more. there's a pvc pipe out back that they put in between the fork in a tree trunk (think teeter-totter) and each took a side. i guess youngest won, and then fell off his side and busted his mouth on the pipe. after seeing his mouth and all the blood, all the children agreed that they never ever ever wanted to do that again.

*i have no idea how he did this, but he didn't get a single drop of blood on his clothes. tell me, how do you have a mouth full of blood, and not get a single solitary drop on your white shirt?

**i have some issues with blood and injuries. i tend to pass out or get sick when i am around it. granted, most of the time, it was mine, but i have actually passed out at the bedsides of sick relatives. so if i hear you are in the hospital, please don't expect me to visit.

adventures in babysitting

just a warning, this is a self serving complaing type of post! basically i just needed a place to let it out...

i lied. there was no adventure. only aggravation. not even a major one at that.
as i'm sure you know, we have soccer practice on tuesdays and thursdays. haley has practice both nights, josh has it both nights. i also watch haley's coach's kids after school. on tuesdays, the oldest one stays at school for some activity. the younger one hangs with me until around 5 when his dad picks him up.

except for yesterday....yesterday, dad forgot.


not the "oh man, i need to turn around and grab him real quick" type of forgetting either. the "had no clue because i'm too focused on one kid" type of forgetting. to focused on making his oldest a great athlete, and completely forgot all about the younger (not athletic at all) kid.

not too big of a deal. i just stayed at my house, waiting...and waiting some more. finally at 5:25, i loaded all the kids up and left. i was late for josh's practice. this would normally not be a big deal, but coach d. wasn't able to be there because he had to meet his new boss. not a meeting you can miss. i thought i would have no problem getting there in time. i had 3 kids, hubby took 2 (zack and alex) to alex's game. sometime between 5:45 and 6, the mom called another coach's cell to find out if i kept the youngest with me or left him at my house*. he was with me. she picked him up and apologized profusely. then later last night, her husband called to apologize too. i told them, not a majorly big deal. i just would have liked to have known so i could just take him up with me. that way, i'm not all pissy when i get to my practice.

whew, i feel better letting that all out.

*oh, like i would leave a 7 year old at my house alone!?! seriously? why would you leave your children in my care if you think i would do that?

happy birthday!!!

today is my dad's birthday. he's 54 today!


today is brendan's birthday (one of the kids that i watch), he's 12 today!


today is little mia's birthday, (nike's daughter) she's 4 today (i'm pretty sure, that or 5).


happy first day of autumn too!

miracle monday (and some other stuff)

the kids are home. they had a great time...you know, almost dying on the river.
that's how they put it...almost dying on the river.
i guess the river is a little high, and well, a little cold. they got the raft stuck under a tree. as it filled with water, my dad said all he saw were the little faces in the raft with him..."thank God i brought the kids that can swim" was what he was thinking. (he brought my 3 oldest...and skipped my 2 neices that are in between haley and grace)


this actually happened when i was a kid, too. except when i was a kid, the raft popped. my dad went under, along with the cooler, and for several terrifying seconds, we didn't know if he was going to come back up.

he did, and he still had the cooler. priorities man! the cooler had all the beer! (the soda was in the kids' cooler).

only half of the raft popped. but it was next to impossible to paddle. so they gave it to us kids, and we took an extra couple of hours (no joke) to paddle it back.

*the place we rented the raft from actually tried to make us pay for the raft...saying that we did it on purpose. i don't think we ever went back there after that.

those were some of the best hours...just me and zack and caleb (my dad's friend's 2 sons that were so very very very cute).

that is one of my most favorite childhood memories. i'm not sure why my dad almost drowning in a river would be, but it is.

anyway, back to the kids. they had a great time. no raft popping, just one lost fishing pole, some name calling, and lots of laughing and fun.

next weekend, my dad gets to help us build a chicken coop.

whooo-hooo! i am so glad he's home from detroit!

now i have to design it, and decide where it will go.

do i put it directly behind the neighbor's house? or ours? or do i move it all the way down by nathan's? who should i stick with the stink?

anyway, hope everyone had a great weekend!

**beth, i'm not sure if this would be considered miraculous...if you don't think it is, feel free to delete the link.

my josh...and my team

WE WON OUR FIRST GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i was so proud of those kids! they played their positions. we have a new little guy on our team...i was really scared he might get hurt. he's not "clueless", but he's pretty uncoordinated and well, really small. i think he has some kind of "condition". i'm not going to ask about it. it's none of my business, but i do try to be a little more aware of where i position him...and who with. i try to put him with two stronger players, that way they take more of the attention away from him, and he doesn't get run over. i don't think he noticed. he played all the positions (except goalie...i don't think i would put him in there). and he did his job.
anyway, i had several kids score goals today! no one scored twice, but.....................


JOSH SCORED HIS FIRST GOAL TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

he almost scored at the first game, you know, the game i wasn't at. i am so glad he did it today! i would have felt horrible if i missed his first one! oh, today was pictures to. i don't know if they got his goal in their action shots, but how cool is that? tomorrow, we play again.. i sure hope they play as well as they did today.

you know, it's not that they won the game, or that they scored several goals, it's that they listened to what we've been saying. seeing them actually use some of the stuff we've been working on with them....man there is nothing better!


well, and seeing your son score his first goal is pretty cool too!

ballgame, ball practices, and a couple of sign ups

i love it when everything hits at once. alex plays baseball tonight at 6, haley and josh practice at 5:30 until around 7, and we have to sign the kids up for 4-H tonight.

i sure wish i had a money tree growing out back.

oh, well.

it looks like there will be 6 children raising chickens at my house.

funny, i'm pretty sure i only have 5 kids...and only 2 that can actually raise animals in 4-H...

i told the parents of the kids i watch, and those that i used to watch that it would be ok if they wanted to raise them at my house. these kids live in subdivisions, so it's not like they can raise chickens at their houses. plus, they spend quite a bit of time at my house. plus, by the time the chicks get here, they will be getting out for summer break. plus, these kids are great kids. they are always helpful. i know that they will be responsible.

so, i am really looking forward to my dad coming home. he's been stuck in detroit (apparently people up there don't like showing up for work*) and he's hoping to get the job site to a point where he can come home...with some stuff to help us build a chicken coop.
well, chicken and turkey coop. alex wants to do turkeys too. i told him to think about guineas. they eat ticks. that would be pretty darn useful!

so i guess i will be missing alex's game tonight. he's going to miss his soccer game this weekend (him and grace both) because they will be on a float trip. haley's going to miss her volleyball game (darn, 9pm game, and i'm going to miss it). they're going to be back for haley's soccer game on sunday.


*i've never been to detroit. i'm not "hating" on it. that's just the issues my dad's had with some of the contractors up there.

the bestest doctor ever!!!!

hello all. i think everyone has had experiences with doctors that were less than ideal. my first ob/gyn was not the most friendly...he treated my questions as annoyances. perhaps that had to do with the fact i was 17 and a senior in high school. most of the people he saw were welfare recipients and/or teens. i guess it's understandable...but, well, i wanted...no i needed more than that.
then i found the bestest doctor ever. i was 19 and pregnant with my second child. we had decent insurance at that time. this doctor had really long hair he wore in a ponytail. he was very talkative, and i probably know more about him than i know about my own father. that being said, the man listens. he loves babies. oh, did i mention he listens? he has a great bedside manner. he delivered my middle 3 kids.
then our insurance changed. i had to find a new doctor. the new doctor i found was adequate. he was a 5 minute appt man. in and out in 5 minutes. no time to answer questions. when i told him about my 4 previous labors, and some of the issues and what we did that worked, well, he smiled and said "uh-huh". let's just say, i was not impressed with him, or his 2 partners (2 of the 3 women i mentioned above).
i realized how special my other doctor was. well, not just him, his whole staff. i went back for the first time today for a regular check up. only one change in staff has happened since last time i was there...4 years ago. his wonderful (seriously if she had been an ob/gyn, i would have gone to her) nurse died of cancer a few years ago. she was just like him. you could talk to her. she was there when i was having bleeding when i was pregnant with josh. she was there for me when we had some family issues to work out. she was truly a wonderful woman.
ok, back to my doctor. he is a doctor that takes his job seriously. i may have to wait an hour in the waiting room, but if it was me in labor, i would want him to be there for me like that. in fact he was, 3 different times. his care is worth the wait.
anyway, if you live in the st. louis area.. and are looking for a great doctor, let me know. i'll give you his name!!!

miracle monday

i have been thinking about this post for a while. i guess trying to figure out the right way to put this out there.

when i started high school, my mom asked me about some of the people in my school...you know, names, in case she knew anybody's parents. it is a small world, and as it turned out, she actually knew a couple of people's parents.
one in particular was terry. he was in a wheelchair. our moms were friends in high school. as terry put it "we rode in car seats next to each other". terry's mom had lost her brother tragically, the year before he was born. she named him after her brother. she was young, i think 16 when she married terry's dad, and had terry.
our moms lost touch after both of them moved. they kept up with each other a little through a mutual friend...but really didn't keep up as they should have.
and then we had to move, and i went to high school. and there was terry...in a wheelchair. he had been diagnosed with MD when he was a pre-teen. he had been athletic..played sports, and was a pretty outgoing kid. his parents were told it would be a miracle if he lived to be 18.
terry was a party guy. my husband and several others would go and pick up terry and take him to all the parties. he had lots of friends, even if he couldn't walk, and you had a hard time understanding him sometimes. high school was great for him. he wasn't left out, as some may have been. he lived his life to the fullest.
funny thing about doctors, they aren't always right. terry lived to be 18...and 21...and 30...in fact, he's still around. it hasn't been easy. his MD has progressed.
for his privacy, i won't go into how he's doing as of now...
please pray for him. i had no idea how much pain MD can cause. please pray for his mom, she is having a really hard time right now. please pray for his sister, and the rest of their family.

busy busy day

i have about 45 minutes before we start going...the two girls have games at the same time at two different places. after that, josh plays right away, then alex plays 90 minutes after that at a field that is about 30 to 45 minutes away. i should be done with soccer, and home around 5 tonight. then volleyball at 8.
these are the times i really miss having a husband that is home on the weekends.

hubby

hello all!
hey, i have a favor to ask, please pray for my hubby.
he is making some pretty major decisions right now...and i think he could use all the help he can get!
nothing bad...just change, it's never easy.
please pray for God to lead him in the right direction!
thanks!

soccer and a mayo sandwich

let's start with the mayo sandwich...i know you are all wondering "what is that?"
well, my boys like cheese sandwiches with mayo/miracle whip (same thing in my book). but i don't have any cheese today. hubby cleaned me out. so zack wanted just a "bandaise samich". he ate every bite. now haley used to eat pickle and mayo sandwiches.

no, i have no idea how my kids come up with such weird ideas.

on to soccer practice.

josh is having some breathing issues lately. i guess it's the asthma flaring up. i hope so anyway, as i was giving him breathing treatments. he did really good, considering he lost steam about 20 minutes into practice. we had enough kids to scrimmage. we worked on playing in our positions. i don't mean to sound like i know soooo much, but my half of the team played their positions...and even scored a couple of goals. coach d's team, uh, not so much. i made sure my side knew their jobs: offense-score goal, defense-stop the ball, goalie-catch the ball. coach d focused too much on just the offense, so his defense was playing in the grass. i think as long as you are making sure they are staying focused, it's an easy job. focus is the main thing they need to learn. they are little kids, so it's not easy. you have to make sure you praise them when they are doing the right thing. if they stay in position, that earns MAJOR praise. that's one of the hardest things for them to do. they have to focus on doing their job. it's really rewarding to see them do what you tell them to. and when it works, and they are scoring goals, it shows the kids they are doing it right.

hubby is taking haley to the doctor right now. she has poison ivy (i'm pretty sure) and in the week she's had it, none of the normal treatments have helped. in fact, it's spreading more. she has spots of it all over her lower leg. one is pretty big. we've tried caladryl, ivy dry, benadryl, and cortisone. all of that, and it spread. so off to the doctor. hopefully they don't put her on steroids. poor alex put on like 15 pounds the first time he was on steroids. well, i guess it doesn't matter as long as it clears it up. it's really nasty!

off to finish my lunch!

miracle monday

i spent this weekend with my mom. we have not always seen eye to eye. to say we have "issues" is putting it mildly.
my mom loves me. it may not always be apparent in the choices she's made or her actions, but she truly loves her kids. she has done her best to be a good mom.
we talked quite a bit over dinner saturday night. we talked about when she was diagnosed with cervical cancer (she never had HPV for those who think the vaccine is a cure-all) and when she had her surgery. we didn't get to see her for weeks. that was her choice. she had left my dad about 6 months previous, and we were stuck at my aunt's house, going to a school where we knew no one, and our mom was totally out of commission living at our grandparents' house because she wasn't able to take care of us. i guess is still held a little resentment about this.

and then it happened.

she told me about how hard it had been to not see us. how scared she had been because she hadn't been told about how hard this surgery would be on her physically. i don't think she thought she'd be walking out of the hospital the next day, but to be almost completely unable to walk on her own for weeks...well, that she wasn't prepared for. how, it took all her strength to put on make up for the one and only visit we were able to have with her in the hospital. she waited until she was off of most of the machines (or they were well hidden) so not to scare us more than we already were. (i tend to pass out with that kind of stuff...something i got from my dad.)

i started to see things a little differently. God opened my eyes. i know that as a mother, i make mistakes every day. every single day, i pray that i have done right by my kids. that i haven't done anything that will damage them as a person, or that they will hold against me in their hearts.
i realized that is exactly what i have been doing to my own mom. she has made plenty of mistakes. some she takes responsibility for, some she doesn't. that doesn't matter. i know, mother to mother, that she did the best that she could. she tried. she succeeded for the most part. she didn't raise perfect children, but she did the best she was able to. that has to count for something.
i forgave my mom. in my heart, i know she meant me no harm. she did what she thought was best. that's what really matters. i love her.
thank God my hubby talked me into going with her, and having an open mind and heart.

weekend in chicago

well, it's official. my weekend is over, and i had a good time. we didn't get in until 9pm friday night. i was pretty tired (so was my mom) so we had dinner on our way up, and just slept after we got there.
saturday we had to be at the spa at 8:45. we went to mario tricoci's. let me just say, those people working there are so nice. we had a great time there. we started our morning with massages (hot stone one for me) and it was the best massage i have ever had. sometimes, you feel more bruised after one (especially if they have to work hard on specific muscles) but i got up feeling absolutely wonderful. thank you louisa! then on to the facial. it was good. i've had better, but she did a good job. then it was off to have an olive oil scrub. you have to take off everything, and then put on a disposable thong. yeah, laugh away. i was basically scrubbed with olive oil, plus a few other types of oil, and sea salts. it was harsh, but in a good way. you come out glowing with radiant skin. i've never had anything like that before...it was pretty cool. my skin still feels soft and smooth. then they put makeup on me. my mom said it looked great (really heavy around the eyes) but i just think it was too much. i don't really wear makeup...not unless i'm going somewhere special. so maybe it was just the fact i don't wear any that made it seem like too much. anyway, then i had a manicure and pedicure. a pumpkin pedicure to be precise. very different. but my feet are so smooth (and pumpkin smelling) and pretty right now. i screwed up my manicure when i changed my clothes (my fault totally). just one nail. after that we were done (my mom got the same stuff done that i did) and we headed back to the hotel. i washed my hair (it was pretty nasty from the oil) and we went to pizzeria uno. really really good pizza. after that we went back to the hotel and took naps (i know, how exciting.) and then went out to dinner. we went to this place down the street from our hotel, flemings prime steakhouse. oh, my, gosh, it was some of the best food! of course i had a steak. it was perfect. we both had a wedge salad with blue cheese. i've never seen that much blue cheese on a single salad before. it was more like for a salad to feed 4+ people. really really good. then i had a baked potato that was one of the best i've had in a while. butter, sour cream, cheese and bacon...mmmmmm!
sunday we went to shedd's aquarium. it was ok. lots to see. but it made me miss my kids even more. we didn't stay there for long, just enough time to see a few exhibits and pick up some stuff for the kiddos. then we drove home. it was a pretty good time. very little talk of politics (thank God for that, we are total opposites) and we got along pretty well.
the kids were excited to see me. i was so happy to be home. jeff kept me updated on how all the games went. alex's team lost their game...pretty badly. haley's team won their soccer game. she played goalie and only let one get by. they won 6 or 7 to 1. they had a lot of shots on her, but she blocked all but one. josh's team lost 2 to 1. he almost had a goal, but my MIL walked up as he was getting ready to shoot, and he stopped to wave at her. priorities! grace's team won. she played goalie for half the game, and had an assist. her little friend claudia had 3 goals. she's the size of my 3 year old, and 6 months older than grace. small but mighty! haley's team lost 2 out of 3 of her volleyball matches. she did good, they just haven't had much practice.
that pretty much sums up the weekend. well, my poor hubby was so lonely. the kids stayed the night saturday at my dad's house. so he came home to an empty home. poor guy!

anyway, got to get back to the kiddos!

only a couple of days left...

until i go to chicago. actually i leave on friday. i am excited, but i'm also a little worried. it's just me and my mom. we are about as different as you can get. she is waaaaay more wild than i ever was.

no, seriously.


i'm not joking.

i'm not much of a drinker. i'm not much for being pushed to drink, or whatever. so, we will see. i really hope i have some great stuff to tell.


anyway, coaching is still, well, coaching. last nights practice was cancelled. well, coach d and i cancelled josh's, and grace's was cancelled (not that she was going to go, she came home from school with a headache ) but alex and haley still had theirs. and since i had to be there anyway, well, i had a very small practice. just josh and 3 or 4 other boys. and another dad helped. he was very nice. cracked me up too. he tried to tell me he'd never played soccer before. well, he had some pretty mean foot skills, so i find that hard to believe. anyway, he was there helping me for about an hour. his little guy is so adorable. all of the boys are adorable. i'm actually surprised at how fast i've learned most of their names. the only one i still mess up (in my head) is one little guy i want to call "paco" all the time. his dad is the one that was helping me last night. and yes, they are from mexico. but that's not why i want to call him that, he actually looks a lot like paco. (rachel, you remember him? he was a senior when we were freshmen) his dad doesn't, but the little guy sure does.

anyway, i need to be off to haley's volleyball practice. she's doing really well. she's one of the few girls that can serve the ball over the net and in the court. and she can hit the ball once it's served to her. that's pretty impressive...to me. i don't know about anyone else.

sorry, i got distracted. kids are watching the cheetah girls movie.

dance me, dance me if you can!

ummm, no, i can't dance.