Pukester Pete, a Little Pica, and Stickers All Around

Noah seems to be following in his brothers' footsteps. He likes to leave his mark everywhere we go with a some spit up.....um...barfs to put it more descriptively. His new nickname is Pukester Pete. He even does it when I don't notice. Maybe we should nick name him the ghost puker instead. Here's what I found the other day as I was getting into the car: I don't even know when he did that, but he definitely left his mark. The worst is when we are standing on a hard floor and we can hear it splatter as it hits the floor. GROSS!! I guess if I am trying to look at it positively, at least I will never get lost because I can just follow the barf splatters to find my way back home.

Matthew's bus drivers like to encourage good behavior on the bus. If Matthew has a great week he gets to pick a prize on Friday. This last Friday he picked some stickers. He was thoughtful enough to get enough stickers for all his brothers and sister to have one--even Noah. He came in through the door and Noah was the first one to get his sticker put on. Matthew put it on his hand. I left it on long enough for Matthew to see then took it off before Noah could suck it off his fist since he is an avid fist sucker.I guess I am not entertaining enough for Daniel. This morning he stopped talking to me and this is how I found him: I guess he was showing off his sweet contortionist moves. Thankfully, Noah didn't mind the loss of his foot space too much.

Today we had a picnic at the park. I must have not brought enough food for Sarah because she started eating the sand after her sandwich was gone. She was even more excited when she found a spoon because that meant it was easier to shovel the sand in her mouth. YUCK!! I am afraid she might be the kid who eats the glue/paste in school. At least I can say she definitely doesn't have a food texture problem. With her the more gritty it is, the better. A little pica, which is craving and eating of non nutritive things, never hurt anyone.....too much, anyway.Monkey see, monkey do. Sarah has seen her brothers ride their scooters all over and attempted to ride it when Daniel set his down. It did not end very well--she tipped over. However, I am sure she will keep trying because she is one determined little girl. She has also seen her brothers eating cereal for breakfast. When I am the one getting breakfast in the morning she gets a pop tart. However, the other morning I just couldn't get up because Noah was a stinker and kept me up a lot of the night so Josh got everyone breakfast that morning. That is how Sarah got cereal with milk. That was a fun mess to clean up! She was pretty happy about it, though.

Sarah is starting to recognize when she is dirty. The other day after filling her diaper she looked at me and pointed to her bum and said, "Poop." Oh I just can't face potty training right now....so I won't. Do kids have to be potty trained for kindergarten?--just joking. Anyway, she has found her happy place, though. If she turns up missing and she's not getting into mischief and I find her hiding behind her bedroom door, I know that a stinky diaper is lurking in my near future. Daniel loves his school shoes. He even keeps them under his pillow at night. Why? I have no idea, but at least he can find them whenever we need to go anywhere. I don't think that would make for a comfortable night's sleep, but who am I to say that? I am not the one who has to sleep on a very bumpy pillow. Maybe he wants to keep them close at hand because he did inform me the other day that they make him run faster. He even demonstrated his faster running ability for me. He is quite the comic relief in our family!

The Soccer Boys

Here's Josh and his team the Eagles: Here's Daniel and his team the Tigers:

Single Mama

This week Aaron had a business trip. We all took him to the airport about 6 am and I never stopped running ever since. I came back and finished getting the kids ready for school then headed over to Daniel's allergist's office to pick up some paperwork she had to sign in order for Daniel to attend preschool. Right after that I headed over to his preschool orientation. Now for this preschool orientation there were no children allowed. Who has ever heard of a preschool orientation that doesn't even allow the preschooler to attend. Anyway my neighbor helped me out and watched my kids while I headed over. When I got there I handed Daniel's teacher the paperwork along with his Epi-Pen and some Benadryl. She looked at it and I then asked if she had any questions. She said the nurse was going to train her on how to use an Epi-pen and then she asked what to avoid. I told her diary, eggs and nuts. She then asked so he's still ok as long as he doesn't eat these right? I told her no and if he comes in contact with any of the allergens he will break out in hives. She was a lot more nervous after that. I just have to pack his snack for him every day. I am just hoping there is no problem. With his first day down, so far so good.

Every day was busy. I would get the kids up, breakfasted, showered and ready for school. Then I would clean up the house fix lunch for Sarah and Daniel and then run errands. Then I would pick the kids up from school come home and work on homework. We then would head over to the soccer games and come home and have dinner then get ready for bed. That is what I did the whole week and Josh and Daniel have had soccer games every single day this week. Now getting the soccer player ready--trying to find his uniform socks, shirt, shorts, shin guards and shoes as well as taking five kids along to the park with water, blanket, nursing cover and phone with me is not the easiest thing to do, but I managed. Luckily, there is a playground at the park that kept the non soccer players busy part of the time. Josh made his own fun by filling his pants pockets full of sand and rocks. I happened to notice his bulging pockets as he came to get in the car. When I found out what was in them I made him empty them. There is now a huge pile of rocks in the middle of the parking lot where a very unhappy Josh had to empty his very full pockets. Then coming home every night after soccer and getting all 5 kids fed and ready for bed alone is not the easiest thing to do either. I was glad to have Aaron back yesterday.

While Aaron is gone I don't like to let a lot of people know I am alone--I am a little paranoid about such things. However, Matthew does not feel the same way. We gave up on the weeds for the rest of this year because were fighting a losing battle. We contacted Chem-Lawn to finish up the summer for us. The Chem-Lawn guy came out to our house early Wednesday morning. I was up getting ready to get in the shower when Matthew answered the door. I hadn't even heard the knock. The next thing I know Matthew is chatting it up with someone. My ears perked up when Matthew told the person that his Dad was out of town in California. I hurried downstairs in my pajamas and bed head to greet the Chem-Lawn guy. He just wanted to let me know he was here to do a treatment. The rest of the week I was just waiting for the Chem-Lawn guy to come and get me since he now knew I was home alone. Thankfully, that never happened, but who knows how many other people knew we were home alone thanks to Matthew's gift of gab.

All I can say is I was not cut out to be a single parent because I am exhausted!! However, working with cute kids like this it makes it worth it....most of the time.

Busy Week

We got back from the cabin Sunday night (we had to leave early because we didn't take enough of Josh's medicine up there). For dinner Sunday night we had breakfast and I had the kids help me make it. Daniel and Matthew were on toast duty. How would you like some toast with that butter (margarine)? Monday to celebrate Labor Day we took the kids for lunch and then out bowling. We didn't do so well this time around. No one even broke 100. Josh likes to help his game by doing a running start. He gets clear back by the chairs and runs up to the lane with his ball and launches it down the lane. He decided to try it out to help his game when he ran right out of his shoe and ended up launching the ball down the gutter outside of the bumpers. It was hard not to laugh because he was so embarrassed. Sarah was the little cheerleader from the stroller. She was strapped in the stroller for containment purposes. I love her T-shirt that says, "Dad answers to me!" Quite appropriate I think.For school this year the boys picked out their own school shoes. As luck would have it they all wanted the same shoe. I tried to talk them out of it, but they of course didn't listen to me. When we brought them home I had to mark everyone's shoes some how so we could tell the difference. I got out the marker and Josh told me I can't mark them. I asked why and then he pointed to the sticker on the bottom of the shoe.I laughed and told him it was ok and proceeded to write their initials on the side of the shoes. I thought this would be easy to tell them apart. Not so much. Josh got up early Wednesday morning for his star appearance on TV. He got dressed and left before the other kids even woke up. When everyone else got up and going for the day Matthew got out of the shower and went to get dressed. It was then he realized that Josh had worn Matthew's shoes and had left his own at home. I tried to get Matthew to squeeze his feet into Josh's shoes, but it just wasn't going to happen. I desperately tried to find some shoes to fit him before his bus came. We only had a few minutes to find some. I had thrown away his shoes from last year because they had huge holes in the soles. I finally found some too small sandals, but he still wore them because desperate times call for desperate measures. It all worked out, but now I make everyone check their shoes before they get them on. Also next time someone needs to get up early I need to remember to turn off their alarm. Josh's alarm went off the next morning at 5:25 am again. It was even worse because Josh had turned it to the very LOUD beeper instead of the radio. It has been a long time since I have been jarred awake like that and I hope it's another really long time before it happens again.

Josh is my animal lover, but the animals really don't love him--he is so allergic to them. At soccer Wednesday night he just couldn't resist petting his coaches dog. Unfortunately, by the time we got home his eyes were about swollen shut. I gave him some Benadryl and sent him to bed.He still looked pretty rough the next morning, but I sent him to school anyway. I was half expecting a call from his teacher about it, but luckily I didn't hear anything.Thursday was Daniel's first day of preschool. He was so excited. He got dressed along with everyone else in the morning even though his preschool doesn't start until the afternoon. He was so excited he pulled out his shoes, but had to leave them out while he went and took a shower. Sarah seized the opportunity and slipped them on. Daniel wasn't too happy about it and Sarah was even less happy about taking them off.Every 10 minutes Daniel asked me if it was time to go yet. Then he would say, "Hey Mom, let me know when it's time, ok?" Finally it was time to go and I have never seen Daniel hop in the car and get buckled in so fast. Here's Daniel right before we left for school showing off his Iron Man backpack. Have I mentioned he was so excited to go? When we got to school I dropped him off and he ran inside and didn't even look back. His teacher had to tell him to come and tell me goodbye. He must have had a lot of fun because he was like this about 30 minutes after he got home:
Sarah's brothers really take care of her. This morning at breakfast they even did her hair for her. Yes it is in her eyes, but at least they got the pretty flower in it. She didn't mind.

Josh's Stardom

Today at Josh's elementary school they were spotlighted by the local news station for being a "Cool School". They got to show all the neat and educational things they do at the school. In order for the kids to participate in the news broadcast they had to be at the school by 6am. Of course Josh wanted to do it. He told me he wanted to be a star. Last night he was so excited to be able to set his alarm to get up so early. I also set my alarm, but a few minutes later than Josh's because all the kids' clocks are set slow or so I thought. I was startled awake by Josh standing over me. Aaron had set the kids clocks for the right time and didn't let me know. Anyway, he got dressed and ready to go this morning with no help from me because he was so excited. I asked him if he wanted me to comb his hair. He thought about it and finally decided I better comb it since he was going to be on TV. I was surprised to see that he actually made one of the segments. It is a math portion about even and odd numbers that the second grade did. In the first and second clip in the even numbers song he is behind the #1 sign on the back row. (Blogger would only let me add clips in thirty second increments so there are four videos total.) On the third and fourth clip on the even number song he got to hold the #4 sign and hammed it up pretty well. He even said, "Hi, Mom!!" He will be so excited to see he actually made it on TV. He's pretty funny! And yes I am recording this with the camera sitting in front of the TV so there is some background noise from Sarah and Daniel who are playing together.

Grapes of Wrath, the Cabin, Park City

The other day in my Bountiful Basket Coop pickup I got a bunch of Champagne Grapes. These grapes are very small--about the size of a pea. Sarah and Daniel love grapes so I gave them some with their lunch. I went to do something and came back to find Daniel had invented a new game. You place the grape on the counter and smash it with your fist to see how much of a mess it makes. Too bad Sarah learned how fun this game truly was and joined in. I had a huge, sticky mess that was not as much fun to clean up. Later on that night Aaron came home from work and was showing off for the kids how well he can throw pieces of cereal in the air and catch them in his mouth. Guess what I came downstairs to find the next morning--yep monkey see, monkey do. There was smashed cereal all over the counter and floor. Too bad we had just mopped the day before all these "fun" games were discovered. I would have waited and let Aaron clean up the cereal mess, but I kept stepping on them and smashing them even more and then spreading the crumbs all over the house. Thanks Aaron!!

Also in my Bountiful Basket I got some mangoes. I don't know quite what to do with these so I made them into some Daniel friendly ice cream. I found a soy based creamer called Mocha mix which has no dairy in it. Then added the pureed mangoes, pureed peaches, some vanilla and sugar and it turned out pretty tasty if I do say so myself. I had to make another batch the next day due to the high demand.

We have not had too much of a problem with toys--bikes and scooters left everywhere. Unfortunately it has to start somewhere, though. Josh rode his bike and then parked it right behind the suburban right next to the bumper. Not the best place to park a bike. Later on that night I was backing out and ran right over it. I was in a hurry so i didn't have time to assess the damage. I just called and let Aaron know what had happened and kept going thinking the bike would be a total loss. I came home and was pleasantly surprised the bike is still in working condition with a few extra scratches. It seems it didn't get under the wheels just stayed in the middle so it didn't really get "run over" just straddled over by the suburban. We'll just call this his free pass--next time I don't think the bike will be as lucky.

For Labor Day Weekend we went and spent time at G&G T's cabin with G&G T and my sister Johanna and her family. The cousins had fun playing with each other. We also took advantage of the chance to go to Dairy Keen--the ultimate in delicious fast food. It is the best place to get a heart attack on a bun which is the Train burger. Their whole theme throughout the restaurant is trains and the kids beg to go their every time we visit the cabin. Of course we couldn't let them down so I am sure I have a bunch more poundage on my hips I will have to work harder at getting off--but it sure was yummy!! Back at the cabin with everyone in close quarters we ended up going to bed late Friday night hoping to sleep in at least a little the next morning. Unfortunately, early Saturday morning Matthew decided the light needed to be turned on at 6 am which in turn woke everyone up. Other than that we had a good time riding the four wheeler and going to Park City. Aaron and I took turns taking the kids for a ride. The funny thing is my kids actually think it is called Park City because it is full of parks. From their point of view it kind of is because they get to play on the playgrounds while I get to do some shopping at the outlets. It's just funny to see what kids can put together. Later on that afternoon we came back to the cabin and had a hot dog roast and made smores. We also roasted Starbursts something I had heard of but never had tried. They were good, but next time I think I will use a fresh stick for roasting the Starbursts because mine tasted strangely like hot dogs since I used the same stick for roasting both. As you can see from the next two pictures we were all pretty worn out by the end of the day: Sarah didn't even move from me wrapping her up and putting her in the pack n play because she was so tired.Noah snuggled up to Aaron and they both fell asleep:

Here's the hot dog roast:We had some strawberry flavored marshmallows and as you can see they were pretty good and pretty gooey!Sarah's personal favorite was the ketchup dipped watermelon--YUCK!!Sarah is turning out to be like Josh in the fact that she has no fear. Aaron tried her out on this rope swing that happens to have about a five foot drop off underneath it and let her go. Thankfully she held on and she LOVED it! She would just giggle every time it swung back and forth.It was a good time.

Giggles and Mass Pandemonium

Noah started giggling last night. However, as soon as I grabbed the camera he stopped so I just have a picture of his big smile. Sarah has found her own "pretty". I made her a bracelet and put it on her wrist. The only way she would leave it alone and not try to pull it off is if I called it her "pretty" and told her it made her so pretty. I guess she wanted her own "pretty" and found this hideous blue rubber band she insists on wearing. You can see it on her wrist in the picture. We are going on day #3 and she throws an absolute tantrum if I even attempt to take it off her wrist. She now has a "pretty" for both wrists now--even though one is absolutely ugly!! Aaron and I have been evaluating Aaron's life insurance coverage through his work. It is expensive and does not pay too much so we have been looking around for some different plans. In order for them to consider covering anyone, you have to get a check-up done. Since Aaron was the one getting the check-up I had him schedule his own appointment with the nurse to come to our house because he knows his schedule a lot better than I do. They also recommended being in calm, relaxing environment for the check up. That is because they have to check your blood pressure and if everything is calm and quiet the blood pressure tends to be lower which is what you want. He scheduled the appointment three weeks ago for this morning. He unfortunately, did not write down a time for it. He asked he yesterday what time his appointment was for. I told him I had no idea, but vaguely remember him telling me 9am--possibly. He vaguely remembered it being at 8 am. Well this morning I got up and got the kids' breakfast going and hopped in the shower. I was surprised when I saw Aaron come home at 7:45am. Since Aaron was home I didn't rush through my shower. I got out just in time to hear Aaron yell, "Matthew, your bus is here!!" Then I heard Matthew scream because he didn't know where his shoes were. His bus came 15 minutes early this morning and we were not ready for that! Aaron opened the front door to signal to the bus driver that we weren't quite ready and to wait. Matthew just froze up screaming because he couldn't find his shoes. Now if you know Matthew, you know he has a hard time finding stuff. If you put his shoe in an empty room devoid of any furniture, toys or anything he would still have a hard time finding it. A few seconds later he went into full meltdown mode while Aaron was looking for his shoes and I am sure all our neighbors heard because our front door was left open. About this time Daniel was teasing Sarah and got her good and screaming, too. Noah was hungry and he was screaming as well. I was trying to get dressed as fast as I could so I could help out when Daniel came and told me someone was here. About that time I heard the doorbell above all the screaming. I guess I was wrong and the appointment was really at 8 am--oops. I was finishing pulling on whatever clothes I could find and Aaron was still trying to get Matthew's shoes on and get him out the door while he and everyone else continued to scream. Aaron didn't notice the nurse standing in the doorway until she had been there a few minutes. She got to experience the mass pandemonium craziness of a school morning along side us this morning. So much for a nice, relaxing environment for a low blood pressure reading. In talking with the nurse she let us know she didn't have any kids so I am sure it was even more crazy for her this morning. I am a little embarrassed, but hopefully we won't ever see her again.

Later on I had an appointment with the school nurse to draw up a health plan for Daniel's preschool since he has the food allergies. She came by this afternoon and I have to have the doctor sign some paperwork and then I have to write down the instructions step by step on what the teacher should do in case of a reaction. I am still scared to death to send him to school, but he needs to go. I just need to make him understand how important it is for him NOT to eat anything at the school. Hopefully, we won't have any issues this year. I am going to be crossing my fingers while I am sending the Benadryl and Epi-Pen with him to school!!