Memorial Day 2009

The girls are so funny to watch while they play. Ava was pushing the Fisher Price lawn mower down the hall and Piper was sitting on a little booster seat right in her path. Piper started to fake scream as if to say "don't run over me." Chloe ran up to her and stood in the path, then she proceeded to give hand signals as if she were a little traffic cop! It was the funniest thing, I have no idea how she knew to do something like that.

10 minutes later I draped a blanket from the couch to the recliner to make a tunnel for them to crawl under. As soon as I was done straightening it out, Chloe tried to do a belly flop right on top of it. Splat! Then she looked at me like what'd ya do that for?

Praying for the boys in Alpha Company at MCRD, San Diego and also our fallen heroes today.

A Marine news story clip

http://www.kten.com/Global/story.asp?S=5309421 Click on this link and find the video of this news story. I found it interesting. It shows a bit about Marines.

Summer is here! When does school start?

It's been a busy week. Logan is done with pre-K now and so I don't have free time during the day anymore :( Levi is getting a hair cut this weekend! The Disney kid look has gotta go. The cat is gone already, it couldn't handle the stress! We fed her good and nobody pulled her tail, it was just the noise and all the commotion I think. I have lost another 8 pounds putting my total loss in the last 8 weeks at 30lbs!! Yay, it's amazing how much more active a person can be with stomach muscles. If you count my preggo weight I could say I have lost 78 lbs! Wow thats sounds better huh?

Today I am wondering if my house will still be standing after the littles are bigger. I had problems with teens tearing up stuff-mostly punching holes in walls, some foster kids that destroyed things like tvs, and now we are losing blinds and screens out of the windows!! One screen in the living room where the girls watch for the bus ;has popped out at the corner and of course WE didn't notice it but THEY did and it is now pulled and tugged out really far. We can't open that window now until we fix the screen because they could fall out and heaven knows that they would throw out every toy in the house! And let all the flies in, the girls run after flies and shout NO! at them and wave their arms to shoo them away,lol. The sliding screen in the dining room has a rip in it where everyone holds on to open and shut it. Yesterday Logan rammed the Cozy Coupe into the sliding screen door and made 2 more holes where the wheels hit it. He is lucky he knocked the door off the track because I couldn't get the door open far enough to get at him! BUT-trying to help, Levi jammed on the screen door and when it came loose--it smacked me right in the face!! I started yelling and the boys scattered pretty fast at that point. I have a knot the size of a marble on my eyebrow. Whoever thought of installing that dumb door like that anyway? It isn't a sliding door; but the screen is. The "door" part is a regular glass door on one side and a solid non-opening door on the other. Duh? It's in the dining area where you are supposed to have a table. How can you have a table when the door opens up into the room and the room is so tiny anyway and there is another regular door right on the other wall. I would love to be able to extend the kitchen/dining room out farther. There's no hope of that happening until the girls start school though. 

Snowy in May and ginger monkey antics

We have a new family member. She is a white cat with blue eyes, she came out of the woods and I went out and snatched her up before the dogs chased her away. She is really thin but really lovable, we fed her and she has been here for 2 days now. She doesn't belong to any neighbors so she was most likely dumped off. We had to put our kitty Fluff a.k.a. Fluffernutter to sleep a couple of months ago because of health issues. She was almost 14 years old. I had decided to wait and not get a kitten until the girls were older, I have enough messes to clean up for now. But when this kitty came I guess we just decided she chose us and for now she is just staying outside in the play house.

I checked her out and made sure she wasn't sickly or mangy before I called for Logan to see her. I told him come out on the deck, he won't believe what's out there. He smartly said "what it's snowing?" He's 5 and just getting the hang of sarcasm. He ran out and saw the pure white cat and shouted "It's a snowy cat!" So that's when she became Snowy. Logan wanted her to come inside just as badly as she wanted to and I told him "No, she might not be potty trained." He said I should just teach her. Well that's just what I need, another potty training mess maker. NOT.

Here is a clip of what it's like to potty train triplets. They are 21 months now and all about becoming independant just like any almost 2 year old, but when there are 3 of them it makes for a circus. In the clip you can see my ginger monkey on the big potty (it's ok she's covered) and the other 2 are right in there getting in on the action, Piper keeps flushing the toilet and Chloe keeps saying "kankoo" that's monkey talk for Thank you. Chloe also is shouting No! when I ask her to get off the potty. Normally I just pick her up and remover her and she lays on the floor throwing a tantrum for a couple minutes but for the movie I thought we'd leave that part out. :) I will also put in a pic of the little potties that I bought for them. They are used for scooters on the hardwood floors and also make great dolly chairs. Nobody has an interest in peeing in them at the present time.

Logan only has 2 more days of Pre-K next week and then he is off for the summer! Levi has a couple more weeks or so. The girls enjoy watching the bus come to drop them off every day. Ava is still tiny enough that she needs help up onto the couch.

I love summer and love having my kids at home but at the same time it's hard because I run out of things to entertain them. Maybe this summer will be easier because the girls are old enough to "play" and go outside. I can dream can't I?

My babies are growing up! Waaah!

He is still considered a Recruit, not yet a Marine :) I am going to be obnoxiously proud of him, well , I already am!

I took my oldest son to MEPS on Mother's Day, he spent the night and got up at 4am to get going and be shipped to MCRD in San Diego. I am worried about him, even though I know he is tough and strong and he will do well, he is still my baby.

If you have little ones, please hold them longer and kiss them more and take lots of pictures because they will grow up sooo fast that it's hard to believe when it happens.

When I came home that day with my red, swollen eyes from crying the whole 2 hour drive home, Logan was in the drive way riding his bike WITH NO TRAINING WHEELS!!

Levi said "oh, we are ALL growing up." "Stop it!" I said, I really meant it but I don't think they will stop growing up. I of course started to cry again and when Gary tried to console me I said some things about how I'm worried and won't get to see "him" for so long etc... Logan spoke up and said "It's just cuz I was going so fast mom." He thought I was crying about him riding his bike. So sweet. Levi is a teenager now and the girls are going to start potty training soon. They went to the preschool room with Logan and his teacher yesterday and they sat there and listened to stories and played right along with the other big kids.

Some days feel like I am so busy doing the daily tasks just to keep the house from falling apart that I can't even really spend much time with the kids. I try by doing the routines for bedtime and things like that but man, it goes so fast. We should all try to slow down and enjoy life a little more.

Hi, Short entries this week. We have been sick all week including me. :( I shouldn't have made that crack about the swine flu from the pediatricians office huh? Well I'm certainly not going to get us tested, for cryin' out loud they'd shut down the school! We don't want that now do we. Don't tell Levi that he'll run to the office and tell everyone we have the plague.

We have ticks to watch out for now and weed poison as well. I posted this sign after finding a tick attached to my butt cheek while showering, I haven't been out in the woods or even the yard so somebody brought it in with them and it somehow found it's way to latch onto my butt!

Tomorrow's post will be about some awesome re purposed clothing, I'm getting the pics ready later. See ya.

What happened to the Panda scrub jacket?

I fiFinally finished this project! Mom and one of her friends found this really cute scrub jacket with panda print fabric that was being recycled. I love to repurpose and recycle anything but especially fabrics. I forgot to take a picture of the jacket as a whole before I got so into chopping it all up and making stuff out of it. I ended up with 2 toddler sized halter tops and a pair of toddler pants. I made my own bias tape to match the pink pants I think it looks a lot nicer than the white trim on the other top. To get all of that I had to use a piece with a pocket on it for the front of one of the halter tops, it just wouldn't work out to be in the center so I put a strip of pink beside it so it wouldn't look so off center. The model in the pics wearing one of the tops and a pair of pink pants is Piper. I'm happy to get this project finished, I have lots of summer clothes and dolly dresses to make.

Walk and park outing, Logan was sick

Ava-not at the park but so cute.

We went for a walk by the river and then tried out the new playground by the Beach. Logan liked the slides but the place was not toddler friendly. The platforms that you slide from are very high off the ground for little ones and there are openings in the railings for kids to slide down poles and other things. Not safe for toddlers. I was nervous the whole time afraid that one of them would get too far ahead of me and plummet to their death by falling over the edge or Chloe might even just jump and try to get on the pole. She is the dare devil of the group. Here are some pics. Notice Logan was sitting down a lot and walking ahead trying to get to a spot to sit. When we got home he had a fever! Poor kid, I thought it was allergies and when we left home he had no fever, he did say he was cold while we were at the playground-I was too though but I haven't felt the greatest either. I am adding lots of pics, I love taking them and can't wait until I can get a better camera. Enjoy.

Well baby check up, only 2 months late

Ava and Chloe are both in the 8th percentile for weight. Piper is in the 75th percentile for weight. Everyone is healthy and strong. We just had 1 shot each today. Ava's muscle tone is great! She has always been a little "floppy" but that is all gone. She is just as strong as her sisters now. Ava is a puffalump-she looks heavier than she is! Logan went with us and everybody was well behaved the whole time. The girls sat in the chairs in the waiting room, as you can see by the empty chairs behind us, we got in first and the room was almost empty. Our ped's office is great about keeping us away from germs, yay! Love Ottumwa Ped.'s!