ok, i am re-reading the 5 books i read on sunday and monday. let me tell you, charlaine harris is a fantastic writer. i can really get into her books. i started reading the "sookie stackhouse" series, and i can't wait to read the other 3 books that i haven't read yet. i really to love her style. i grew up reading stephen king and dean kontz, and of course anne rice...but i think i like this series much more. her books are anything but predictable. that is something i have found lacking lately. most of my normal "fave" authors are so, well, predictable. in the first chapter or two, you can pretty much figure out what is going on and who caused it...and how it will be resolved. not so with these stories. (at least not for me) i haven't watched the hbo series "trueblood" but i am looking forward to it...as long as it can compare to the books.


the kids are going to with my step-mom tomorrow night. my dad is leaving today for virginia beach, and so she volunteered to keep the kids for us. so very nice of her. so hubby and i are trying to figure out what to do.

haley is spending the night at the zoo with the girl scouts. she's so excited! i would be too if i was her. seriously, that's my idea of a fantastic night! lucky kid!
she got glasses over the weekend. they look really cute on her. so grown up. uh, too grown up if you ask me. i think i'd rather her be blind.


alex did well in the math competition. he tied for 3 with three of his friends out of the kids from our school. there were several other schools that were represented. he did great. we were so proud of him.

grace started indoor soccer. they lost their first game. they were surprised, but i'm glad. this team deserved to win.

sorry, i had to go outside. the new little girl was telling me about the new gray kitty sleeping in the garage. well, since smoke was where i could see him...and there are no other gray cats around...i had to check it out. hubby was just leaving when i was out there...and had to flag him down to help me because the cat wasn't a cat...


it was a possum. sleeping in an old towel in the trailer for josh's little ride-on tractor. i ended up pushing the trailer out with a shovel, and then tried to get it towards the woods. unfortunately, it woke up when i accidentally dumped it. whoops! and then it looked up at me, snuffled back to the towel, and tried to go back to sleep. i guess i don't cut a very imposing figure! when i pushed it with the shovel, it took off to the woods. i followed it halfway to make sure it made it. it wasn't very big, smaller than smoke.. poor baby. hope it finds a better place than my garage to sleep tonight!

seven today

my grace is 7 today. it's hard to believe that the little 9lb 2oz baby i brought home is now a 65lb 7 year old that is taller and prettier than i ever hoped. and smart.
man is she smart. she's a bit of a ditz, and because of that, i didn't realize how truly intelligent she is. (i seem to under estimate my girls for some reason)
she has a kind heart, except on the soccer field...there she's a monster!
she may not be the most graceful child, but she's more than i ever was! she does cartwheels through the house, and enjoys sitting on her head on the couch. yeah, i know, she's totally weird.
she is a math whiz, and loves reading as much as i do. i love having kids that i can share that with.
she's not much for animals though. i don't see her wanting to raise a pig. she doesn't even like taking care of the cat!
she wants to be a babysitter like me. which gives me conflicted feelings...it makes my heart sing because she wants to be like me...and yet, i want her to be her own person...and if her own person means a college graduate with a home, husband and kids that she can stay home with without too much of a strain, eh well that's ok too.
this kid is the biggest baby...and by that i mean she still wants to sit in our laps and wants to be carried...unfortunately she's 65 lbs, and i just can't do it anymore.
she's growing up before my eyes and it's scary! even if i complain about her whiny tone of voice, i'm going to miss it when she grows out of it (if she ever outgrows it).
she likes american girl dolls, webkinz, the jonas brothers, hannah montana, zack and cody, and all those tween shows on disney and nick.
she has crushes on boys already (YIKES)
i can't believe it's been seven years since you entered this world.

hello? anyone there?

hello there! well, it's been a busy week or so here at the zoo!

friday was our "breakfast for dinner with santa". i know, the name isn't the greatest. i have no idea why they couldn't come up with anything a little...um...snappy-er. but it is accurate. we had pancakes and sausage for dinner...and the kids were able to get their picture with santa. of course alex didn't want to go...so i didn't make him. i figured he got his "just desserts" by me not making dinner and his friends were all there having a great ol' time...and i let him know it. haley didn't want to look like a baby..even though a bunch of her friends had a big group picture with santa. i don't know what her deal was. but she was super helpful and i was so happy she was there. i pretty much talked the whole time i was there. well, until the work had to be done for the craft fair. we set up tables and chairs...we cleaned up...we brought in waters...it took a couple of hours. it probably wouldn't have taken as long if there wouldn't have been 10 kids (and one dad) playing basketball while we were trying to work. poor paul, he had been working out of town all week and came home just in time for his wife to have him come up and work setting up tables and measuring and well, work.

the craft fair went well. it looked very busy. i don't think it was as busy as we had hoped (another craft fair was going on at the same time across town...with santa arriving by HELICOPTER in the morning) but it was better than the first one we did. my sil did well with the doll clothes. i think there were other people that also did well...and there were people that didn't sell a darn thing. i got a couple of things. not much. i'm not sure i spent more that $20 but well, i can't see spending a bunch o'money on stuff i have no need for or that i can make myself. i worked there from 12:30 until about 5:30.

sunday we made cookies at my mil's house. i totally screwed up some snicker-doodles (added twice the amount of butter needed) but my sil fixed them and all was well. they actually turned out really good and fluffy looking. we cooked up there until 9, then i went home with the little guys. (hubby had already taken the older ones home) i love to make cookies. i really really do.

now i am getting ready for tomorrow...josh is joseph in his pre-k play and he has 2 lines in it. he is a little nervous and doesn't like to talk about it. the other kids were disappointed because it's at 11, and they don't get to see it. the girls are in their program on thursday too. haley is a narrator. she has more lines than any one else in the program. grace gets to sing. that is at 2 and again at 7. poor hubby, he has to miss all of them. he works 11 to close (like 9:30) and so he doesn't get to see anything. i'm going to get the video camera going and tape it (hopefully ) for him.

this friday the kids are supposed to spend the night at my dad's house and make cookies with my step mom's parents. well, haley has a girl scout christmas meeting that night. they are exchanging gifts and going caroling. so now i have to let my dad and stepmom know that she's not going to be there right away. hubby is off and i was planning on going out with him, but i'm not sure i will be able to since we may have to take haley over to grandma and grandpa's.

this sunday is the annual cookie bake at my grandma's house. it's also the day my hubby is going to chicago for training with work. i have to drop him off at 10 am sunday morning. he doesn't get back until sometime thursday evening. so i will be a single mom for almost 5 days. i am not looking forward to it. at least i will have lots of cookies to drown my sorrows in!

school confrences

well, the day of the great sickness (that's last friday folks), we also had school conferences. i had to send the hubby in my place. he doesn't usually do school stuff, but since i had been dealing with puke for about 6 hours at that time, not to mention all the other kids, well, he knew better than to just leave me and go to work. so he did the parent teacher stuff.

6th grade alex: his teacher said that he is amazingly smart. well, the standardized testing* said he was amazingly smart. he is in advanced math (basically a grade above his peers) and tested better than 98% of his peers nationally. now, as great as it is to have a smart kid, she also has some concerns. nothing terrible, just that things come easy to him. he doesn't have to work for good grades. so he hasn't learned how to study, or how to work. it is something she's been trained to look for (she's our former gifted teacher) and she's seeing some of that in alex. no surprise there, i've been a bit worried about that myself.

4th grade haley: her teacher is awesome. she said haley is a pleasure to have in class. haley also tested about the same as alex (actually 99%) and the only thing she really mentioned was that haley takes a long time with her work. at first she was a bit worried, but as she got to know haley, she realized that haley takes great pride in her work. her penmanship, the detail in her artwork, all of it she takes her time in doing. as a result, her work is something she (the teacher) really enjoys grading. haley is also in advanced math. her math teacher had no issues.

1st grade grace: grace's teacher is so happy with grace. she said she wants to have grace tested for the gifted program at the school, and also thinks she would benefit from the special gifted program at our local public school. it's a one day a week, all day program that runs through the school year. um, not so sure i would want to do that. i know she's smart. i'm not so sure the benefit would be enough to make it worth the extra school work, and missing time with her friends. i don't want to burn her out on school and learning. i would have to talk to some of the other parents that have kids in the program before i would make that decision. oh, grace is also a wiz at math. the teacher is actually worried that she's going to get bored with the work.

i'm glad hubby was the one that got to hear all these good things about the kids. i wonder sometimes if he thinks i make all the good things up. it was nice to get some really good and positive info on my kids...especially on a day that i really needed it!

*i don't necessarily think that testing is perfect. believe me, i've had my own issues with it and my kids.

whew!

it's not the pox!!!! i am really happy that, well, it's not chicken pox.


what is it?


well, it is something bacterial...



like a strep infection in the skin (been there done that before)


or a small staph infection in the skin (been there done that too)


or impetigo (don't think we've done that one)


basically, while it is still spreading, it isn't nearly as bad as it was the other night. doesn't make sense does it? she's still getting little bumps (like bug bites) but they don't itch that badly, and they don't hurt as bad as they have been. the ones from the other day have started to fade quite a bit. so she's getting better...but i still have to give her some meds.

and she's not contagious.

so i let everyone at the school know that it's not the pox. and i let all the family know, and the families that i watch. so we should be good to go!


i'll let you all know about alex's soccer game, and baseball game, and leaving for his trip to (ha you thought i was going to tell you!) and the bookfair family night. no major funny-ness, or anything. just boring old me.

*thanks for the prayers for rachel, she's doing well!

a pox upon your house!

grace could have chicken pox.

just in time for the book-fair family night tonight.

i don't think it is, but my MIL said it looked like what her kids had when they had the "pox".

they only itch a little bit, but they hurt if you touch them.

they are only on her trunk.

they looked like whiteheads on her belly, sternum, and sides...oh and a few on her back and arms.

no fever, no feeling bad. just these hurtful little bumps.

and she's had the vaccine! couldn't go to pre school or regular school without it.

we see the doctor today...hopefully it's something else!



**please pray for my dear friend rachel. she's having surgery today. you can check her out here http://theotherhuse.blogspot.com/.


i need to get back to my scratching. ever since i saw those spots, i'm the one itching!

ok, so i didn't get around to posting last night...sorry. after getting home at 8, i had to fix dinner, help some kids with homework that should have already been finished, and watch american idol. come on people, i have priorities! anyway, i was sorry to see brooke go. i really liked her. she seemed so genuine, so pretty, and so nice. in the beginning, i thought she was the one to beat...well, i was wrong. it's a real shame. i think she could go on to have a good career anyway.

anyway, alex's hair looks so much better. when jeff got home from work, he said it looked like alex lost 10 pounds. i said "yeah, it was all hair too!". the kid doesn't have curly hair (as i'm sure you can tell in our family pic) but the longer it gets, the bigger it gets. he looks like he has a hair helmet.

my dryer is broken. not that it doesn't dry clothes, it does...just not all the way. when you look in your dryer, there are like 3 or 4 little wing things in there (at least there are in mine), and one of those things fell off. i took it out, but now there are like 6 holes where it was attached and i guess the heat is escaping from there. why couldn't it have been my washer that broke? i want a front loading washer so bad! maybe i can talk jeff into using it to buy me a front loading washer and dryer... ok, how pathetic does it sound that my biggest dream is a new washer?

we started our garden...well, we started some seeds in the garage. i'm not good at telling weed from wanted plants, so i start my seeds, or buy the plants. we had about half of them sprout. the kids kept watering the seeds that hadn't sprouted, and i think they are dead. so today i planted some more seeds (to take the place of those that didn't). the kids helped, of course. they are so proud of the plants that are growing now. all of our lettuce seeds sprouted, 2 bean plants, a zucchini, 3 tomato, and no watermelon. i felt bad for josh, he was the one that wanted the watermelon. he would go out everyday and look to see if any of them started to grow. so we planted some more today. i hope some of them grow!

i love spring time. i love to look out at all the trees and plants, and watching them turn green and bloom. it's amazing to watch. don't get me wrong, i love all the seasons, but i love watching the babies animals, and they are around so much more in the spring! i love opening my windows and letting the fresh air in. i love smelling people grilling, and flowers, and just clean fresh air wafting through my open windows.

bacon bits is doing well. she is loving being outside now. it's so funny to hear her when she sees the kids out playing. she runs to her pen door and grunts at them! she loves to be washed with a wash cloth, and have her back rubbed. the only complaint i have is she's getting spoiled. she does what she wants when she wants to do it. that won't fly with the judges at the fair. so i have been trying to get alex to work with her more. i'm not sure what i should be doing, but i'm hoping we are doing it right. i think if we want her to have any shot at her being something other than sausage, we have to get her to listen and listen well!

we are going to Florida this month. my dad has been there for a few months for work, and he wants us to come down for memorial weekend to visit. the only bad thing is we are going to miss grace's kindergarten graduation. that bites! she's ok with it. i just hate missing stuff like that.

jeff had a good april. he sold more than 10 cars, that earns him a bonus, plus he is tied for first place sales for the month (another bonus). i'm really proud of him. selling cars isn't easy, especially for someone like my husband. i don't mean to make him sound like he's not a good salesman. he is. it's just that he wants to make sure he gets a person a great deal on a car they are going to be happy with for a long time. not as easy as it sounds, unfortunately.

that's about it for us. at least that's about all i can remember. happy may everyone!

field trip mix up

grace is in kindergarten. her teacher has been teaching for, well, i think this is her second year. she's a nice girl...she just didn't realize what she was signing up for when she signed the kids up for a field trip to orscheln's. you see, she thought it was a farm...not a supply store. they do have chicks and ducklings and turk-eh well, what do you call baby turkeys...hang on whilst i google...poults. the field trip was only supposed to last a couple of hours...but how long can you keep 25 kindergartners focused on a couple of chicks, ducklings, and poults..oh wait they do sometimes have a couple of baby rabbits. but seriously, they won't be able to hold any of them, and let's face it, what fun is looking anyway? thankfully, a mom heard about the supply store field trip, and offered to let the kids all come to her house. they have chickens, chicks and cows. i actually just got off of the phone with grace's teacher because she was hoping i could bring the pig over there too. sure, what the heck! she needs to learn how to travel anyway. the other mom is hoping to get some sheep from across the street too. that should cover the bases when it comes to having animals from a farm...even if the pig lives in a house.

speaking of pigs, i started walking again. yesterday i was up before the crack of dawn (5:45) and walked a whole mile. yes i realize how pathetic that sounds. i am sore today. yes, i realize that sounds even more pathetic. my oldest said he wanted to get up and walk with me, but come time to get out of bed, he opted out. i'm kind of glad he didn't go...i would have felt like a complete fool, you know being exhausted after a measly mile, not to mention that i was doing lunges and swinging my arms like a fool too. i'm sure the 2 people that drove past me were thinking the same thing. did i mention i'm a little bit sore today? not terrible or anything, but i can feel it in my calves and my back. why my back? no clue. the one thing that isn't sore, that i was really worried about, are my feet. thank you Jesus, my feet are better! those surgeries actually worked! i can't tell you what a relief it is, knowing i won't have to crawl around on my hands and knees because i walked in the morning and my feet hurt so bad in the evening. so if you live in the greater st. louis area and are in need of a good podiatrist, let me know...

by the way, i didn't walk today...not because i was too lazy to get out of bed, but because it was pouring down rain. i have been walking around the house and doing some stretches. i am going to try to get some crunches done today too. i seriously don't want to be this big going into my thirties. i am trying to figure out a good challenge for myself. i told my husband i would like to lose as much weight as the pig gains...but he said 14 pounds a week is unhealthy. so now i have to think of another one. maybe just walking 5 days a week? i don't know.

i will try to get an american idol post together, i was going to yesterday, but ended up not really feelin' it dawg. too much sadness to think about paula's "boobage" (to quote a good friend).

updates and a question

update on bacon bits (aka the pig).
she is gaining about 14 pounds a week. seriously, 14 pounds. she is growing so fast, i don't know if i will be able to pick her up much longer. yes i pick her up. i can't get her out of her cage if i don't. so try to imagine picking up a pig, roughly 60+ pounds, and squirming and throwing her feet and head. ok, if you are having a tough time visualizing that, try a toddler throwing a tantrum and trying to hold on to that toddler. not an easy feat my friends! good thing i have more than 11 years practicing for this period of my life.

a little more than 3 weeks and one of my families will be back. there are 4 kids, one of which is a brand new baby girl. i can't wait. she is so pretty! i miss the kids. my house is so quiet...i am so not used to quiet!

alex and haley start baseball/softball next week. haley finishes up basketball this weekend, and alex should be done with indoor soccer soon. grace starts t-ball next month. the hubby is her coach. he uses his day off for a day to have practice...unfortunately, the weather hasn't really cooperated the past 2 years. last year, and now this year, every tuesday is rain. rain rain rain! hopefully the kids will get atleast 2 practices in before they start their games. haley's team also has tuesday practices, but they also have practice on saturdays. alex's team has mondays...of course, they have had 2 practices and their first game is this monday. they decided to change the colors of alex's team shirts so we have to go buy new pants and socks for the kids. i haven't heard what color haley's team pants/shorts are supposed to be. (am i the only person who finds it crazy that girls wear shorts and not pants to play softball?)

ok, now down to my question. we live on a family street. this is great most of the time, and not so great some of the time. i have 2 nephews that are roughly the same age as alex. T lives next door to us and is 50 weeks younger than alex, J lives a couple of houses down and is about 4 months older than alex. T and alex are close friends...J and alex don't get along so well. i am not one of those moms that thinks her kids are perfect. they aren't. J's mom and dad think he is. (we have had some issues in the past i will not get into, but let's just say, if he comes over, i am watching him like a hawk.) anyway, alex has heard that J has been talking about him. i know he is hearing these things from his mom...i have people letting me know she has made the same comments. alex totally blew J off the other day when he came to our house and wanted to play. he said he doesn't want to have anything to do with someone who talks behind his back like that. i understand that, but...we are family.
i guess my question is (or are because i think this may be more than one question) what do i tell my boy? do i tell him to just ignore him? do i tell him to tell him how he feels? (like "i don't want to hang out with you because you talk about me behind my back") or do i just keep my mouth shut. i don't want my kid to feel like i'm not there for him, but i don't want to over-involve myself either.

please, any advice would be appreciated!

i love my kids, but...

i have a tough time talking about how great my kids are. time after time, when people talk about their kids, i have a tough time talking about how smart my kids are, cute, talented, nice, whatever. i have never been one to brag (i don't think i have been) and i guess that's what it seems like when i say something about them. it's not like i sit in judgement about people who do. i have several people who talk about their kids all the time, how advanced they are, whatever. my sister in law talks about her 2 kids all the time. her daughter is beautiful (and she is) and they boys swarm her. her son is so smart (not so sure about this one) that she has asked for him to be tested for the gifted classes. not the teachers, mind you, she asked. several times. now, i know my kids are smart. i don't have to rub it in when i talk to her. and i don't. i just sit there and nod sympathetically. what else do you do? i know kids make mistakes all the time. i don't want to put unwanted pressure on my kids because they feel they need to live up to my standards. i remember trying to do that for my parents. so i am going to try today to brag about my kids.

alex- my oldest very smart. in 3rd grade he was reading at an 8th grade level. now, he's in 5th and can read anything he wants (except books below a 6th grade level) he remembers everything he reads (like he dad). he has the most beautiful blue/gray eyes. he is helpful and polite at his friends houses. he helps with his little brothers. he loves sports. he's great at baseball, basketball, and soccer.

haley- my oldest daughter is brilliant. she is in an advanced math group and an advanced reading group. she may come across as ditsy, but the child is so very smart. she is absolutely beautiful. i am seriously afraid of my girls becoming teenagers. she is athletic. she is a great softball player, soccer player, basketball player, and swimmer. she is so sweet natured and helpful. she loves to "mother" brothers.

grace- my youngest daughter is so friendly. she makes friends everywhere she goes. i won't say she doesn't know a stranger, but she is always quick to make friends. she loves attention. she is also very smart. she went into kindergarten not knowing her letters very well, and is already reading books. in fact she just started the reading counts program. she makes friends quickly, but she also keeps them. she and her "best friend" claudia have known each other for 3 years now, and are as close as can be! she is such a love. she loves to help me. anything i ask, she's there to do it for me. she is my other beautiful daughter. my girls may not look exactly alike, but they are still beautiful. haley is darker complected, with beautiful brown hair with golden highlights and eyes like mine. grace is blond, lighter complected, with blue/green eyes. they both have those awesome thick black eyelashes like their daddy.

josh- my middle boy is gentle giant. he was my smallest baby (8lbs 2oz), but is my biggest kid (4 years old and 50 lbs...not a bit of it fat either). he is into all things mechanical. i know this kids is just as smart as the rest of them. he loves cars, trucks, tractors, basically anything mechanical. he really listens to you when you talk to him. he loves girls too. it's only girls that are his age at my house. he plays with them just as good as gold. he loves his family. he has the same eyes as my oldest...beautiful blue framed by thick black lashes. to look at him, you would think he is much older than he is. he's the same size as most of the kids in grace's class, and speaks just as well. he is, by far, my biggest help in the house. you just ask him to do something, and it's done!

zack- my youngest is the only one that looks like my side of the family. he is a scrappy little thing. he doesn't take any s#%^ from anyone! he has the most beautiful and contagious smile. he also has the same blue eyes at the other two boys. to talk to him, you would never guess he's only 2. he's also the friendliest of my boys. he is definitely not shy! he and josh are the closest out of my 5 kids. not just in age either. zack loves his daddy. as soon as he sees him, he runs to get some pretzels so they can sit in daddy's chair together. he always wants to help out too.

ok, that ends my bragging session for today. you can see for yourself how beautiful my kids are in the picture of my family. just pay no attention to the fact they are wearing clothes that don't match. i am not the most organized mom, so i am just happy they are all wearing clothes!

my personal goal is 20 items per room.
i have 9 (gulp) rooms.
my extra focus room is the little boys' room (yikes!)
i think the lbs' room will need extra attention all week. yes it is that bad.

what am i talking about? the cleaning challenge at martie's house at
www.martieshouse.blogspot.com. she had 9 kids and keeps a clean house. i only have 5 and my house looks like a tornado went thru it most of the time!

how 'bout that superbowl?! i was so excited to see the underdogs win. i don't know what it is, but tom brady really rubs me the wrong way. i don't know why. but peyton manning used to do the same thing to me. now i love the guy. i think it is all the commercials he does. he is so freakin' hilarious. congrats to the manning family! 2 superbowl champs!

both my girls have colds (please let it just be colds). they have the cough and runny noses, no fever and no stomache aches. we have been exposed to the flu. twice now actually. 2 different families that i watch have had it in the past month. (is it past or passed? i can never remember) i don't know why it would be only my girls that would get it though, it was the boys' friends that had it. we shall see.

2 weeks until we leave for our cruise! i'm getting excited, but nervous. my dad will be in florida. my step mom wants to take care of the kids for me. or at least the ones not in school. the only problem is that she is having foot surgery a week from this coming friday. she was stung by a sting ray the last time they were in florida. the venom didn't dissapate in her bloodstream, it formed a ball of infection in her foot. so now she has to have surgery to remove the infection. she said she can still watch the kids, and the only day she would need help is on wed when she goes back to work (hairstylist). i just hate doing that to her. my mother in law and sister in law also said they would help.

friday, my alex is doing the "stations of the cross" in church. he volunteered to do it. (huge)
he is playing barabas (i probably butchered the spelling). he is doing this in front of every one at church...and this is usually pretty packed. i am so proud of that kid. i don't think i would have been able to do it. i was a little more shy. that's one of the great things about our school. from kindergarten up, the kids are involved in speaking in front of church. it could be readings, or just saying a few petitions (prayer petitions), but they get up in front of everyone...and we have daily mass, so the kids get many opportunities.

back by popular demand

last night a good friend came back in town. bryan and his daughter brielle were visiting his mom and stopped by for dinner. well, it was bryan, brielle, bryan's brother mike, and mike's wife, denise, and their daughter paige. we had a pretty nice night. we ate pantera's pizza, and talked about old times, new times and times yet to come. the guys went to nathan's house to see all the changes he's made since he bought it from us. (nathan is in australia for the next 5 or 6 weeks for work) you realize how much you miss people like that when you get to see them. i know bryan was always jeff's favorite brother, mine was always mike. but honestly, it was more because i got to know mike more. bryan was living in AZ when i started to date jeff. when he came back, well, i thought he was a bit full of himself. i haven't changed my mind either. when he came back, he was. now, he is married and a father of 2. he's more down to earth...a real person. his wife is great too. she's so nice. the kids are adorable. zack followed brielle around all night. we had a great night. can't wait for the cruise in feb!

today is my grace's birthday. she's 6 today. it is amazing to me that she's gotten so big. she's my littlest princess. she is smart, funny, beautiful, talented, and talkative. she is one of those people that gets joy out of everything. she is such a great kid...and she's mine.
god definitely blessed me when he gave me my grace.

weekend recap

ok, quick nephew update. he is doing great. he is going to be moved to a rehab hospital this week i believe. he is mentally all there...a little whiny, but what man wouldn't be? physically he is doing great. thanks for all the prayers! they definitely worked!
friday
jeff and i got away from the kids for the night. we went and saw "i am legend" and went out to eat. the movie was ok. not a "wow" type of movie. not an original idea for a plot, that's for sure. i won't ruin it for anyone, so i won't tell you what movies it was like. it was good, but not great. had will smith not been in it, we wouldn't have gone to see it. i don't think anyone would have. my brother in law was having friends over, so we stopped by. his friend, alexa, was there. her parents took one of the puppies. she said he is like 35 pounds already, and her parents love him like a kid. they are going to take him to obedience classes starting this week. glad to hear they love him.
saturday
grace had her first indoor soccer game this past weekend. she scored a goal and her team won 6-3. their game started at 7:30 AM and the place is a good 30 minute drive from my dad's house. the kids stayed the night there and so my dad drove her to her game. on the way back, she threw up all over herself. my dad is a little hard of hearing, and she didn't speak up, so she was pretty gross when they got home. she slept most of the rest of the day. they brought all the kids home after they dropped alex off for his game at 12. alex's team played the other team from his school. alex's team won. he scored 5 points and fouled out in the 4th quarter.
i got to go out with a bunch of moms. i went to my friend jen's house (the nurse) and she had a "spa" party. a nice lady selling beauticontrol products gave us mini facials, foot stuff, all kinds of good stuff. me being the youngest there, i didn't get as much stuff done to my face. i have fairly clear skin, and not too many lines and/or wrinkles yet, but most of the other moms were atleast 7 to 10 years older than me. it was so much fun to sit around and talk, and just be a woman.
sunday
second sunday in a row that we actually all made it to church. jeff is not an early riser, so we made it to the 11 o'clock mass. the boys were so good in church i was amazed. we had several people make comments about how good the boys were. always nice to hear good things about your kids. we came home to grab jeff some food (he hadn't eaten breakfast yet) and the neighbor's friend (who took a puppy) was out with the puppy. they named him marley. he is a good 5 pounds bigger than sally. he seems happy and healthy. she loves him. i'm glad he has a home where he is loved like he is. from there, we went to the hospital. jacob is doing well. he is in a normal room, his roommate is a teenage boy too. i don't know what happened to him, i didn't ask, but i heard he's a wrestler. we stayed there for a couple of hours. we left there in time to get to alex's next basketball game. he's in a tournament. he played the same team again, the really tough team that totally creamed our boys the first game of the first tournament they were in. (did that make sense?) we didn't lose by as much. only like 13 points. we actually outscored them in the second half. had our team played the first half the way they did the second, we could have taken them. that's nice to see. our boys were so sure they were going to lose going in, i don't think they realized how close they came to winning it in the end.

did i ever say i don't really like watching basketball? i still don't like it much, but when it's my kid out there, i can get interested.

it's begining to sound a lot like christmas

i am not going to post about how stressed out i am this time. i promise. i thought of something else. today, we are cleaning up so we can hopefully get our tree up today. as i sit here listening to old school rap (some fat boys, snoop dogg, and warren g) it made me think of something.

perhaps not what it may make you think of.

what is your favorite christmas carol and why?

mine is "The Little Drummer Boy". i don't think i even knew why. i tear up every time they sing the line "i am a poor boy too". i loved the movie. i remember people saying things like "why didn't he just give him the drum? why did he play it for him?" well i think it was a lesson on the gifts we give god. we can honor him in so many ways. could we just give god our children (for example)? maybe, but do we honor him more by teaching and caring for them? god doesn't want stuff. he wants us to give of ourselves. as a catholic, i hear our priest talk about the 3 T's...time talent treasure. god wants us to give of ourselves. time is first because it is hardest to give up. talent is something that is great to donate...if you have one. treasure is actually the easiest. how often do we spend a few extra dollars just for the convenience of not having to spend more time on it. we will spend $20 for shipping instead of having to go to the store and pick it up. same goes for lots of people at church. i know quite a few people that would rather give money than have to volunteer their time. that's fine. we need those people too.

now as i write this, i am thinking "after all my big talk, what am i going to do as a gift for god?". i really don't know. sometimes (alot of the time) we lose sight of what this holiday is all about. trying to get to see all our family, rushing around trying to get gifts for those we buy for, we don't take the time to think of god. for us catholics, christmas is the second most important holiday of the year. (easter being the most) i think we forget why it is a holy day.

disclaimer: by the "we" above, i was meaning my family only. i don't know about anyone else's family, and did not mean to point fingers

i am helping grace write her christmas list right now. top of her list...baby sister.
sorry babe, not happening. although jeff told her in a few years we will be adopting. and i think he plans on a girl, you know, to even it out. she seemed ok with that, but she is still asking for a baby sister.

i wonder if the next thing will be mommy and daddy's divorce...because i am sure if i came up pregnant, that would probably be next.

did you know?

here is something you may not know about me. i have been married twice. now before you start racking your brain trying to figure out how, let me explain.
we were married twice. my husband and i. the first time was after our oldest was born. in fact he was 9 mos old and at our wedding. we were married in a church, not our church, but just a church. i wanted a church wedding, you see. not necessarily a church or religion, just a church wedding. did this wedding mean anything? of course it did. you see, i love my husband. i wanted to be his wife. i also had some mixed emotions about marriage and men (thanks to my parents' nasty divorce). i also had some trust issues to work out. so this first wedding helped me toward being able to believe my husband loved me and wanted to marry me, not just because we had a son together. so anyway, we were married again in 2001. this was the year i went thru RCIA (rite of catholic initiation for adults..i think). i became catholic. which means that i went thru 9 months of classes to learn about the catholic faith and decide if it was really what i wanted. the night before easter, at the mass, i was baptized, given first communion, made my confirmation, and was married again, all in one night and in front of the entire church. i was the only one who did all of this. there were others who received some of those sacraments, but i was the only one who had to receive them all. it was a god-filled night. my two oldest children were there, my grandpa was there (and also became my godfather that night), and people i hardly knew, (but now know) were all there for that night. my first wedding was stress-filled. this one was awe inspiring. god was there for me, took care of my fears and worries, and the following month i found out i was pregnant with my grace. sometimes i forget He has a plan for me, and that i need to trust him. i guess i need to remember those 2 wedding days. thank you god. thank you for those you put in my life, and those you have taken from it.

kids and puppies and a couple of jens

my friends, the jens, just left. jen f. is a nurse with 4 kids and a great hubby. she stays home during the week and works weekends in the oncology ward. she has a definite calling. i don't know that i would be able to work there. she came over with her 2 youngest. benny is an adorable newly 3 year old boy. he will be in my zack's class. and meggy (meghan) who is around 7mos. beautiful kids. jen s. is our vet. well, she and her hubby are both our vets. she has 3 kids. she brought over joe (who will also be in zack's class), cora, and syd (he is her friend jessica's boy). this was the first time they had gotten to see the pups. they were all very impressed with the size and friendliness of the whole litter. jen s. said she thinks they will be at least 80lb dogs. if you have ever seen a newfoundland, that is what our fluffy pups look like. if you haven't, just google it, and look at those pics. adorable, i know!

rachel, thanks! i hope i didn't sound like a total freak in my last post. it's just with guy friends, you can get that male perspective. i love my husband, but it's hard to talk to him about him. my friend chris was fun to talk to, but when he started on the whole "well amy, if you stay home, maybe you should do more things like keeping up with all the house work, and doing laundry". i totally dropped him after that. i mean really! he's supposed to be my friend. i'm just kidding chris! you are still my #1 back-up plan if jeff decides that he can't handle the dirty house and annoying kids. (you can still afford a maid right?)

i hope anyone reading this gets that i am just joking about that. (unless it's you reading it chris)

i guess i could go into a little more detail about alex, haley, and grace's report cards and my meetings with their teachers.
i'll start with alex. he made high honors. what that means is he had all a's and only 1 b. (basically a 3.9 gpa) now this is impressive even if you didn't know how much harder the grading scale is in a catholic school. 90% to 92% is a b+. lower than 70% is failing. i was very very happy with his grades, and his test scores on his iowa basics test. that is the standardized test all catholic schools in the arch diocese take. he scored better than 98% of all the 5th graders nationally. congrats alex!
haley didn't make honor roll only because they don't start honor roll until 5th grade. she had all a's. her teacher said she is a great student and always very dedicated to getting her work completed and very neat. the teacher is also going to start her and some other students with some harder math. she said that haley is doing so well, that she is afraid this math that she is teaching is way below their level, and they need to move up to multiplications now, before they get bored. and she was the kid i was worried about. she is my child that has a hard time sitting still. always fidgeting. not in school apparently. she also took the iowa basics test and scored better than 98% of the 3rd graders nationally. who would have thought i would have such intelligent kids?
now we come to grace. kindergarten doesn't have letter grades, but the teacher was very happy with her progress. she is now bringing home books to read, by herself, every night. how awesome is that! she is a reading fiend now! all the time, this book, that book. it is awesome!

i am sooo proud of those kids. not just because they get good grades, but because they try hard and are just good kids. i was so happy yesterday when one of the moms from the field trip told me how good alex was. not that i was surprised he was good, but apparently he was great. he helped her out with directions (he's been there enough, he should know his way around), watched out for his 1st grade buddy, and just a huge help to her. i am so happy with that. it's nice he's that good for strangers. now if only he could do that for ME once in a while!

weekend potpourri

well, since last posting, we had a birthday party (well a half birthday party), kids' had a day off of school, we closed up shop at the bookfair, had 4 soccer games, and met the girl that broke nathan's heart about a year ago. it sounds like alot, but it didn't seem like much.

the birthday party for haley went really really well. it was a sand volleyball party for haley and her friend katy. all the girls from the class showed up, and one boy. (apparently the boys had a soccer game at the same time) the kids had a blast, it was really inexpensive, and the girls got a lot of very nice stuff. and the parents who stayed had a great time too.

today the kids were off school for teacher's workshop. alex spent the night at a friend's house last night, so i still have yet to see him. the kids here had a pretty good day. it didn't rain so they played outside for a while. they painted their nails, and they went to grandma and grandpa's house for a while. fun had by all but me...got a mean belly ache today.

closing up the bookfair was more of a hassle this year than the past years. the teacher that normally oversees us is a regular teacher this year not resource/gifted so she had to go to the meeting friday and i ended up closing it down with debbie, and a bunch of kids. not so easy. we were constantly having to remind the kids where they were supposed to be putting stuff, and making sure the teachers had all that they were supposed to have. not the most fun 2 hours i have ever spent.

the kids had their soccer games. haley played goalie again and didn't let a single goal get by. and they played a tough team too. alex's team won their first game. they had moved up to division A and the competition is fierce, but there is no reason why this should be the first game they have won. grace had 2 games, she played goalie in the first one and let 3 goals by...she didn't play goalie in the second game. unfortunately they haven't won a game yet...but they don't know that.

we met this girl last night. she and nathan started talking again recently. apparently she had an epiphany about how she is self absorbed (shocker?) and realized (with her parents telling her constantly) that she never gave the relationship she had with nathan a chance. she seems like a nice girl. jeff works with her. i don't know if they will start dating again. i told him that he needs to take it easy. she hasn't exactly proved to be someone he can trust with his heart. so i am really hoping that i didn't totally overstep there. i couldn't say i didn't like her, because the whole time he dated her (like a year and a half) she never once met his friends or his family. not one single time. he met her family, friends, acquaintances, whatever. she had no interest in his family or friends. strange, huh? oh well, it will work out the way god wants it to.

oh yeah, we have 6 boy puppies and 4 girl puppies. i guess the kids had a harder time figuring out which was which. but i think we have homes for 5 or 6 so far. not bad considering they are just over a week old. i hope it works out.

ever shrinking bauer zoo

yes, now we are shrinking. apparently taking care of baby birds was a little more work than my kids wanted to do. after trying their best to feed them as often as possible (every couple of hours as opposed to every half hour for 12 hours), four died after about 4 days. the 5th one i told alex to put in another nest in the barn. yes, this is what i told him to do before bringing them all home, but he insisted he wanted to take care of them. so hopefully the 5th one will have a better chance of survival.
but we may be expanding again soon. one of our feeder guppies looks like she is pregnant. so we will be expanding again, but then again we will be shrinking. (they are turtle food after all!)

grace gets to do her kindergarten screening tomorrow. i was so nervous with alex, making sure to quiz him on things they may ask. now i am lucky enough to remember the appt and get her there on time. i think she's going to do fine. i got lucky enough to have some pretty smart kids, and they all pick up stuff fast. alex and haley are reading well above their age/grade levels. i guess your first child is the one you worry more with, try to get them to accomplish more and do it early as possible. why is that? is it to validate us as parents? are we afraid if they don't do better than soandso's kid then we must not be good enough parents? or is it just inexperience? i had no idea what alex should have known by the age of 5. the preschool i chose was not into teaching things like the alphabet and numbers. their philosophy was more "we teach them those things if they want to learn about them". they weren't a bad school. they dealt with more of the kids with issues. blind kids, deaf kids, learning impaired, autistic, physically impaired, you name it, they dealt with it. alex had none of those problems. why did i send him there? i was a teen mom, and my parents as teachers educator suggested i send him there. alot of those kids (teen parents' kids) had some big issues and they were able to figure them out sooner by having them at this school. not to mention it was free. that played a big part in it too. but when we did alex's screening, i found out he really didn't know any letters, only a few numbers, but did pretty well on the rest of it. (he had 2 screenings. one for zumwalt, which he passed with flying colors, and one for st. paul, he passed with half mast colors) haley did well on her screenings. better than alex. her school focused more on academics, as did grace's. if i had it to do over again, i don't think i would change what schools the kids went to. alex did fine in school. kids learn at their own pace. you can't force them to learn something when they aren't ready. they will get it eventually. no need to freak out that little jenny can read already, and grace only knows 23 letters. she'll get it. i have no doubt. and she'll do great, when she's ready.

only 3 more years until i have all 5 in school. i am actually excited about this. i haven't been one of those "weepy" moms. i don't cry on their first day of school, first communions, anything like that. these are momentous occasions, don't get me wrong, but i can't cry at them. maybe i will when it gets down to the last one. i don't know. i haven't gotten to that point yet.