Gearing up for a better day!

Last night after talking to husband I told him that I was going to make the kids a schedule for this summer. I know, I know, summer is supposed to be a laid back, fun time for the kids. However, after living through yesterdays chaos I think we need some kind of structure. So, this morning when the kids woke up they found a little schedule on the fridge. Wanna see it?

Summer Schedule

• Eat breakfast
• Get dressed
• Brush teeth
• Make bed
• May play wii of computer, but no later than 9:00
• Play either inside or outside
• Eat lunch
• Read books
• Either practice flashcards or use workbook for 20 minutes
• Play either inside or outside
• At 5:30 may either play wii or computer
• Dinner
• Bath
• Story time
• Bed 

So far today it does seem to be working. I realize that I did not include things like running errands and special activities. My hope is that they'll only have to refer to this for a short period of time to get into a routine of sorts, thereby lengthening their lifespan and saving my sanity. And if all else fails my parents will be back from vacation at the beginning of next week and I can always enlist their help.

School is Out

Wednesday was the girls final day of school. I'm ready for them to go back. Seriously. Not only am I ready for them to go back, I'm ready for them to take their little sister with them. You see today was not a good day. At all. Kylie and Audrey normally have to be forced out of bed every morning for school. Oh, but not today. Today they were both up bright and early and ready to go. I woke up to the sounds of the wii (big no-no, they're supposed to ask permission to play), the whines of "I'm hungry!" and a disgustingly messy house. Husband was home yesterday and he was 'supposed' to clean the kitchen, yet this morning there were dishes all over the place. As I've mentioned many times on my blog I am a tiny bit crazy when it comes to keeping my house neat and clean. It's not the nicest home in the world by any means, it's small and could use a ton of work, but darn it I keep it clean. Obviously we were not off to a good start. I made the kids eat breakfast and then they had to help clean up. After that I had to pick up some medicine for my mom and on the way home I thought I would stop and get the girls some lunch to bring home and eat. That's when things got ugly. Before I go into the ugly details let me give you a little background. I actually started my blog about three years ago. I started it because I honest to God thought I was going to lose my mind dealing with three kids five and under. Sophie was such an incredibly wild child that I rarely ventured out of the house. I promise you this is no exaggeration. I would give husband a grocery list and beg him to go to the supermarket for me so I wouldn't have to go anywhere. The few times I would venture out with the girls it was bad. I mean really bad. The kind of bad where I would call my husband, my mom, basically anyone that would listen and cry for thirty minutes about how I just didn't think I would make it. The kind of bad where little old ladies would come up to me and pat me on the back and say, "Don't worry honey, she'll outgrow it one day." When I would put Sophie in the stroller she would freak out and hang her entire body over the side and try to put her hands in the wheels. She wouldn't let me carry her and putting her in the front of a grocery cart was out of the question because she would try to flip out of it. She did this because she wanted to walk. The problem with letting her walk is that she would not hold my hand and would run off. Oh, and the reason husband didn't help is because he was (is) not home that much. He leaves for work at 7 a.m and doesn't get home until 8:45 p.m and he works a lot of weekends too. So I started my blog to kind of let out some of my frustration (now you know why the title is grammatically incorrect, I couldn't think straight!) and eventually things began to settle down. Since this time Sophie has rarely had one of her crazy fits. Until today. I drove through a drive through and ordered the kids lunch. I told them they could eat it when the got home and they could eat outside and have a picnic. Sophie went nuts. Apparently she wanted me to give her her food right then and there. She kept kicking my seat and screaming at me. Then she did the same thing because I was listening to a song on the radio that she didn't like. We finally make it home and she refuses to get out of the car. It's been in the mid to upper nineties here lately so letting her sit in the car and pout? Not an option. I go to get her and she actually lies down on the front lawn and pitches the biggest fit ever. She eventually gets up and I go inside to give everyone their lunch. She is still carrying on. I give her her food and she tells me she wants to eat inside. Okay fine, eat inside. Then she tells me she wants to eat outside. Fine, I put her food on the patio table and she proceeds to scream at me and sling her plate of food all over the  yard. Umm, not a good move. I had to leave the room so I could calm down. It has been like this off and on all day long. Then she did this:

T

That would be a tassle she decided to destroy. When I asked her why she told me she couldn't remember. Then she went in Kylie's room and did this:

 
By the way this is after Kylie went behind her and picked up stuff. Then she went in her own room and did this:

You can't see in the picture, but on the other side of the dollhouse there is a huge mound of toys, books and crayons that she dumped out. As you can tell we're not off to a very good start.

Wordless Wednesday-Fun in the Pool

Fun in the Pool

Linking to Angry Julie Monday.

My birthday surprise

Friday Husband told me that I needed to find something to do on Sunday because Kylie was plotting planning to do something with him and I could not be around. So yesterday Sophie, Audrey and I went to do a little shopping. To say it was a bust is putting it lightly. It was over 95 degrees outside and no matter how cold the a/c setting was it didn't seem to ever cool down until it was time to actually get out of the car. Then of course I had to deal with my two youngest children acting like crack monkeys. Normally they are a dream to take shopping (really, they are), but for whatever reason yesterday they were acting totally nuts. And of course I couldn't find anything at any of the stores I went too. Needless to say I was feeling a bit grouchy by the time I arrived home. Kylie met me at the door and told me that she had a big surprise for me and then proceeded to drag me into the kitchen. 

 Today is my birthday and even though I tell everyone in my family not to make an issue of it they still feel obligated to do something. My mom bakes me a cake every year, but this year my birthday happened to fall during the time she and my dad went on their much deserved cruise. Kylie did not want me to do without a cake so she baked me one herself. Yes, it is crooked, but I almost cried when I saw how much work she put into it. She made it yesterday since she had school today and she knew her dad would be home to help her with it. Oh, and even better? She had to make it in the toaster oven because apparently my *@$#! oven is about to kick the bucket. Luckily she decided to forgo the candles.

Uh-oh, I smell trouble!

I have sort of a confession to make. For ages I've heard my friends talk of their love of Vera Bradley and just didn't understand it. To be quite honest when I thought of Vera Bradley I thought, umm... old lady purse. I know, I know that sounds awful and by no means am I some super hip fashionista myself, but I would kind of cringe and think 'never in a million years'. Then it happened. A friend of mine posted a link on facebook and I clicked on it. It was for this:

 Isn't it cute? So I thought I would check out the site a little more and found some other cute things like this:

 Apparently they not only have purses, but other fun stuff like umbrellas, stationary, pens, luggage and shoes. Fun right? So now I am off to make my wish list.

We're almost done!

I cannot believe this school year is almost over! The girls have to go half a week next week and they will be done. I am so proud of them for doing so well this year, but at the same time I'm sad to see this year end and know that next year I will be the mom to a first and third grader. Even worse, next year will be the last year that I have a child at home! I am going to cry like a big baby when I send Sophie off to kindergarten. Anyway, I realized a few days ago that I still needed to pick up a little something for the girls bus driver and Audrey's speech teacher. They are both so sweet and take such great care of my babies. So Tuesday Sophie and I went to the mall and tried to find something for them. No luck, just a lot of aggravation. I thought I would make something for them and this is what I came up with: 

I took this picture before I added some loose candy to it, so they weren't really quite so bare when they took them to school. They were really fun to make and I hope that they like them (and that they're not on a diet).
This week was also my dads birthday so I took the girls to my parents house to visit.

They love their Paw-Paw so much and one of their favorite things to do is pop his suspenders. Even shy Audrey will sneak up on him and pop one and then run off giggling. We had so much fun that I really hated to leave (darn school nights!). And no the blond one is not mine, but I love her like she is.

Bedtime stories

When Kylie was a baby I was incredibly lucky as far as sleep went. I could put her to bed and she would sleep all night. Then came Audrey. I had Audrey when Kylie was just a little over the age of two and when she came along the bedtime routine went flying out the window. Audrey had colic and was the most miserable baby in the world. When I say that she never slept, I'm not exaggerating. She was not one of those babies that slept for a few hours, woke up and fussed for a while. No, she was one of those that would sleep *maybe* twenty minutes at a time every few hours and then wake up and scream constantly.

 Hard to believe this sweet baby could disrupt a household so much isn't it?

Needless to say her constant crying really messed up everyones sleep schedules.  I was told by all the 'experts' to start a bedtime routine.  After much eye rolling once I finally got past the nursing stage I tried it.  It worked. Every night after bath time I would read to the girls. For a while Audrey would just kind of ignore me and do her own thing, and when Sophie came into the picture she kind of did the same thing. Kylie, of course loved it. Storytime has become my absolute favorite thing to do with my children. Not because it means that they'll soon be asleep, but because that is when we get to snuggle together and after reading a good book we just talk about anything and everything.  This past  year however things have changed. While Audrey and Sophie are the ones that are really into storytime Kylie has gotten to the point where she would rather read on her own. I get it, I really do but I so miss that special time together. She has always been a somewhat precocious child, reading books that are a few years above her grade level and she would get bored and roll her eyes at the things that I would read to her sisters. I've just recently discovered a way to stretch storytime out a little longer with her and I am so happy! Since moving Audrey and Sophie into a room together I now go and read to them, then I go read to Kylie. I picked up the Narnia series from the library and we've been reading it together. Of course I am well aware of the fact that she has been reading ahead without me, but she just giggles when I say something and we'll start back at the chapter we left off so that I'll know what's going on too. She and I have been having the best time! I realize she is growing up and I won't be able to do this much longer so I am planning on squeezing in just as much of storytime with her as I possibly can.

Christmas shopping

Yep, that's right, Christmas shopping. I've already begun and yes, I realize it is May. You see I'm one of those mean moms that in general will only buy toys for my kids birthdays and Christmas. The bad thing about doing that is that two of my children have birthdays extremely close to Christmas.  One is two days before the big day and one is two weeks after so I kind of have to wait a  long time to buy anything. Hence the buying early and putting things away. Now I just have to cross my fingers that they will still like American Girl and Webkinz seven months from now or I'm going to be in big trouble.

Time to break out the swimsuits!

Last week I was complaining talking to husband about how we need to change our summer plans. We live along the gulf coast and usually spend a LOT of time at the beach with the kids.  I'm sure you have all heard about the oil spill  by now, well obviously the beach is pretty much out for us right now. I've been trying to think of something that we could do this summer that wouldn't cost an arm and a leg when Sophie and I spotted one of these in Target.

I know, I know they are cheesy, but hey, we're a cheesy kind of family so we brought one home. The kids were so excited over it so I knew we made the right choice. So far they have been in it every single day. Yes, I realize that it most likely won't last past this year, but I think for what we have invested in it we will definitely get our monies worth from it. Judging by the looks on the girls faces I think we already have.

A proud mommy moment

Allow me a moment to brag on my eldest child if you will. Last week I received notice that Kylie qualified for the pace program at her school. I'm crossing my fingers (but not holding my breath) that she will not be so bored with school now. At first she was a bit upset about making the program. She does not like doing anything that calls attention to her, it embarrasses her. She found out that some of her friends will be in the class with her so that seemed to appease her. That and the fact that the class will be taking several field trips. She'll be going to New Orleans twice next year on a field trip so if you see a paypal logo appear on my blog you'll know why.  Just kidding. She also received citizen of the month this month at school so she'll be receiving a certificate Tuesday night at the schools P.T.A.  So as you can see I am quite proud of my baby girl.

What I really want for Mother's Day

Since the purse I've been dropping hints about (for months now) has sold out I thought I would make a handy dandy list for my family to help them out. By the way wouldn't you think these 'hints' would be strong enough? "Oh, look honey, isn't this purse cute?", "You know that purse I really like? It's on sale now!", "That purse that I really, really like is on sale and has free shipping. Isn't that great?" "Umm, honey? Only three more days of free shipping on that super cute purse I love." "Honey, you know that purse... oh just forget it." So without further ado here is my list of what I would like to wake up to:

• To wake up in the morning in my own bed without a childs foot in my face.
•  To not wake up to the sounds of "Moooooooom, she did....." or "Mama Mia" or "It's Mario time!"
• To wake up and find that all the wax privit in my neighborhood mysteriously died overnight. The cloying smell everytime I open my front door (not to mention the sinus headaches) is killing me.
• To wake up and find that groceries magically appeared in my kitchen overnight. Oh, and that someone else put them all away.
• To wake up and not have to explain to my four year old for the 938,394,281,594 time why snack cakes are not an acceptable breakfast.

I think that about covers everything. I wish all of my mommy friends out there a Mother's day as fabulous as you are!

Kids, cleaning and a link up

This week I am participating in the Friday Follow from Midday Escapades.  To participate in Friday Follow head over to Midday Escapades to link up!


Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing.
Phyllis Diller 
Couldn't have said it better myself Phyllis. As pretty much anyone that knows me will tell you I have this 'thing' about a clean house. I have to have it. My kids will even tell you, "A clean house makes mommy happy." The bad thing is that it not only has to be clean, but everything and I mean everything has to be put it it's own little spot. Yes, I realize that I'm anal retentive.  Some might would even say that I'm OCD, and they may be right. Of course if they don't have a title that ends with 'ist' I'm not listening to them.  Having three young children and living in a very small house means that I constantly have to stay on my toes. I clean up through out the day and then when Kylie and Audrey get in from school and make a mess I clean up again. After I get the girls bathed and ready for bed I go through and clean yet again so that when I wake up in the morning I will have a clean house to start the day. So I'm sure you can only imagine how thrilled I was to wake up this morning to this:

I wonder if this might have anything to do with why I'm so tired all the time?

Thank you Knock-off wood!

Some of you may have heard of the knock off wood blog. It is a blog started by Ana White with the sole purpose of teaching the average person how to make furniture and accessories like those found in expensive catalogs. I love to look at it and one day I think I'll work up the courage to make one of these for Kylie's room.  She really needs a headboard, but I haven't found one that I like and the ones that I have liked have been way too expensive for my cheap tastes. Anyway, the other day I noticed that Audrey had a ton of books on the top bunk and I told husband that she really needed a shelf next to her bed to contain them.  Sophie has a cute little shelf from Land of Nod at the end of her bed, but I thought it would be too big for the space and I also didn't want to shell out all that money (again, I know I'm a cheapskate).  I thought I would check out the knock off wood site and see if there were any plans for a simple shelf and lo and behold there was.  For less than $5 we now have this:

 Seriously, less than $5 and ten minutes time and it was done. The plans give you a choice of two different lengths, one for the 24 inch shelf and one for the 36 inch shelf (we went with the 36 inch one).  When Audrey came home from school she was thrilled with her new shelf and began to fill it with some of her books. As you can see she's already  putting it to good use.

I

I think it's safe to say we got our moneys worth. 

Please tell me..

That my house is not the only one where musical beds seems to be played on a nightly basis?  Last night Sophie fell asleep in Kylie's bed. Sideways.  That meant that Kylie could not get into her bed without waking up the beast her little sister.  She went into Audrey's room and got into the bottom bunk. In the meantime Sophie woke up. She then went into the living room and fell asleep in a chair.  Kylie decides that the bottom bunk is not comfortable enough for her so she gets into my bed.  That's right my bed.  I finally crawl into bed and as soon as I do she kicks off all the covers.  I'm one of those people that absolutely has to sleep with a cover so I tried pulling it back over me.  No go.  This kid is like a furnace, I was almost to the point of sweating from having her so close to me so I get up in search of another bed.  This morning I woke up in the bottom bunk bed, and found Kylie and Sophie both in my bed.  No clue where poor husband ended up last night. Maybe one day I'll get my bed back. Maybe.

Yippy, it's Monday!

It's a rare occasion that I get excited to see Monday roll around however, today I am very excited.  You see the new Sookie Stackhouse book will be released in less than twenty four hours and I cannot wait! If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you can always read this to get up to speed. I realize most  people are into the whole twilight thing, but frankly it just doesn't do much for me. I guess I'm just too old for it. Anyway, I pre-ordered the new Sookie book from Amazon a few weeks ago and I'm crossing my fingers that it will arrive soon. You don't think husband and the kids will mind too much if the dishes pile up and they have to eat cereal for dinner while I'm reading do you?  I didn't think so.