Practicing For Her Upcoming Birthday

"Jesus! Your Birthday Cake is so good!"
"I'm Done! Get me out of here please."

Happy New Year!

We have about 3 more days till Christmas Vacation is over for the kiddos. It's been nice having them around but I NEED them to go back. lol Not that I don't enjoy having them here, I just want my house clean again. All I have done is pick up toys and put them back only to have them return to the front room 20 minutes later. I have to admit though it's been funny because Dominic and Damien have stepped or tripped on alot of their own toys and started screaming (or crying) at me because of it. I though return by telling them toys aren't supposed to be in the front room and that it's their fault. They kinda stand there thinking about it and then slowly pick stuff up and take it back where it belongs. Hee hee!

I am having a hard time believing we are entering the year 2008. Anyone else? It's hard to believe that I have been a mom for almost 8 years now. I've loved every precious moment of it. Each year I have the same horrible resolution about losing weight. Notice I said each year. lol I think one of my resolution this year will be to read more of the bible and to grow more spiritually. I can't really say attend church more often since we are there twice a week but I don't read into the Bible much unless Alex and I are doing her Sunday school homework or something for Awana. I'd also like to make it a priority this year to be as frugal as possible. I need to make sure to use my coupons more and send off for more rebates when I can. Cutting all corners. I'd like to learn a new craft this year with Alex. Something indepth that we can do together. I'd like to volunteer more where I'm needed. Is that not insane? I still don't feel like I do. Leading Brownies, helping with Awana, being room mom and on the PTO just isn't enough. lol I really would like to help the elderly or children in our town.

What resolutions do you have this year?

The Clean Up Process~Every Parents Nightmare

Well Christmas went well and I am glad it's over. It's one of those things you love but then when it's done, it's a relief. I had hoped for less toys this year but it didn't happen. We downgraded on gifts this year (only spent $75 per kid instead of $200) so I figured it would help some but I guess in return the 3 sets of grandparents, 2 sets of great-grandparents, three aunts, and one set of godparents and decided to make up for it. We bought Mia and Damien 3 toys each and the other two kids 6. They weren't all that big or space consuming which was another thing we had hoped not to encounter. Dave and I received the normal (cash and gift cards) and well a 50 inch High Def Plasma TV that we may have to go to AZ to pick up. D's parents are also buying the kids a laptop since mine is fought over. Don't laugh but our other laptop is "too slow" for our 7 and 4 yr old. The websites take longer to load and it drives them nuts.

After hosting here and bringing home tons of toys our house was in pretty pitiful shape. D knows that I start to freak out when the house looks terrible so he was more than willing to help Christmas night getting the house back in order. We started by putting everything in the bedrooms and then cleaned the front room and kitchen. The kitchen was a crazy mess from all the food I had made over the past 2 days. Although I had done all the dishes there were still things everywhere. So by the evening on the 25th we had atleast got the front room and kitchen cleaned and there wasn't twistie ties from toys on the floor for Mia to try eating. D hauled about 5 trash bags of trash sitting in the front room to town and dropped in a carwash dumpster. I feel awful that I didn't even try to recycle any of that cardboard but I was so overwhelmed.

But then after that was cleaned you entered the bedrooms and there were all these toys everywhere that needed opened and some had already been opened. Ugh. I hate the after effects of Christmas. I love seeing how happy the kids are though with their new toys! lol We went ahead and gave up and I figured I'd finish yesterday. My step sister came over from 6am-8:30 so I could go by a ton of after christmas things I really didn't need and then after that I came home and started revamping the bedrooms. My hands were so dried out and in pain from opening so many toys and Damien, Alex, and Dominic would bring me their toys when I was opening someone elses. I was soooo done. By the end of the afternoon I had the babies room finished and Dominic's but I STILL have Alex's to go. We hauled of a ton more trash yesterday since our trash doesn't get picked up til Saturday.

It seemed this year that presents were a bit easier to open but still a big pain in the butt. I don't understand why toy companies can't include a set of wire cutters per box. I noticed with some toys this year they had these little plastic turn pieces to "release" the toys. That is the greatest invention. Several of the toys just needed turned and they would slide off the cardboard. Others though had so many twist ties I wanted to just throw the dang thing away. I noticed that Bratz this year put a label ontop saying "Easy Open Package." If you've ever opened a Bratz doll you'll remember how fuming mad you were after you finally got the doll out of the package with half it's hair missing. So anyways most of the gifts are now unwrapped, the house has been put back together but I still have a ton of sweet foods I made when we hosted that didn't disappear. We still have a ton of chocolate dipped, puppy chow, sugar cookies, Jesus cake, and chocolate cornflake bars to get rid of. Alex and I even put cookies on plates and took them to our neighbors last night wishing them a Merry Christmas. Dave took all the dipped stuff to work today and I'm going to just suffer with the rest of it here and pray I'm not tempted to eat it.

Today I'll still be cleaning up finishing Alex's room, taking loads to the recycle center, and sorting all the things I didn't need that I bought yesterday morning. I went a bit overboard and dh was ok with it but not the happiest that I spent $255. I bought a bunch of decor for next year and quite a few gift sets for birthday gifts. I think I just got alittle carried away that I was by myself this year and he wasn't there to disagree with what I was grabbing. Now we just wait for Target to go 75% off. lol

Christmas Traditions

Christmas is my favorite holiday with Halloween and Easter tied for 2nd place. Every year it seems to get bigger and better as the other little ones get clued in to our family traditions. Like Damien this year making his "Santa Plate." He was so excited and even though he can't talk he knows what that plate is for. Dominic understands completely this year that we are celebrating the birth of Jesus and has made it known to every person he talks to what Christmas is all about! It's rather cute. It's not just the opening of gifts that makes up all the fun at Christmas, it's the things we do to prepare for the celebration. The kids love helping with all the other things we do to make Christmas special. Here's a few of the special things we usually do.

The ornament we made for everyone this year were these little smores snowmen. Alexzandra has been bugging me for ages about making smores ornaments so we did it.

I decided to try my hand at making gift jars this year. I've always wanted to try making them and I'm glad I did. Alex really didn't get to help much as I was afraid of her breaking a Mason Jar. She loves them though and I think I'll let her try helping more next time. I made Pumpkin Spice Muffins and Spicy Chili Mac with beans.

Every year we always make Baker's Chocolate dipped molds, pretzels, marshmallows, brownies, etc for everyone plus a plate of sugar cookies. Instead of cookies this year the kids wanted to put chocolates on their Santa plates. Damien's plate is on the left, Alexzandra's right.
Since she's learned to write she always leaves a note of some sort for Santa.

And right before bed I let them run outside and throw out some reindeer food (Oats and Glitter) for all of Santa's special reindeer.
I am so happy that Alexzandra is still a firm believer in Santa. I think it will devestate me when she starts asking questions about if he's real. lol I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Christmas Starts with Sea

We had Alex's Christmas program last night and it was really cute. It was a piratey Christmas play with all the "yo ho ho's!" coming from little pirates. I really couldn't get any nice close ups since I have no idea how to work all the do dads on my camera. Alexzandra had a solo and so afterwards I had a lot of other parents come up and comment how she had such a pretty voice. That was flattering!! If I can figure out how to get my DVD recorder to put video online I'll post a video later. This was the cutest program I think I'd seen so far at her school.

Alexzandra's in the middle with the hat and scraggly pirate dress on.

Mia 11 Months

Little late due to lack of electricity, but Mia is 11 months now. She has started doing so much this month it's actually in a way refreshing since the boys were/are so far behind. I would say she's possibly going to pass her brother on speech. She already says "Dadda, Momma, yes and uh oh!" She realizes so many things now and is communicating with Damien all the time in their own little babble. She loves climbing over things on the floor and climbing up on her brother's toddler bed. She walks against furniture and pulls up on everything but has not tried walking yet.

A few months back I posted about her willingness to switch from bottle to sippy cup. Well, I wasn't consistent enough and kept giving her bottles and so now we are having a hard time getting her completely on a sippy. In fact she throws big temper tantrums when I give her a sippy cup most of the time. She has two sides to her with the sippy. Sometimes she'll go berserk and other times like the 2nd video she'll drink from it no problem. I've noticed for awhile but Mia having two older brothers is going to have a total different personality than her older sister. She's much more rough, loud and her fits are well....crazy. We never had that with quiet, shy, easy going Alexzandra. She also enjoys playing with the boys and their cars/trucks. She pushes them making noises.

Jaimie Lynn Spears Pregnant

I'm just wondering what others are thinking about this. I think everyone knows this is Britney Spears sister. I think her career is about to down spiral like Britney's. I know young girls look up to her on Zoey 101 so I'm curious as to how Nickelodeon is going to handle this. How should we all tell our 7-15 yr old kids that the little cute Zoey is pregnant?!?! I have nothing against young parents but I really don't think 16 is quite old enough to be a mother. I saw my sister do a lousy job at 17. I lost my virginity right at 16 yrs old and it scares the living crap out of me that my daughter is only 8.5 yrs from that age where she COULD get pregnant. In fact it makes me quite ill!

Well Dave is gone yet again to Oklahoma without me. I hate when he goes on trips and leaves me behind. He's at a business meeting in Tulsa this time but should be back late tonight. Thankfully all the roads are cleared off now a week later from these storms so that's not much of a worry til Friday that is. Yep more snow and ice expected Friday. A friend of mine named Joe shared some pics he took of the ice storm with me so I thought I would show some of the damage at his house and WHY we were out of power for so long. I think they have most people restored but there are still some without. I drove around last night while Alexzandra was in gymnastics and the trees around town just look terrible. Half of the trees i would say are waiting at the curb for pick up to the dump. Seriously. Some people haven't got to their mess so the yards look like a tornado rolled through.

This is not that great of an example but this is what I was talking about trees looking like "peeled bananas." They would leave a bit in the middle and the sides would fold down.
This is what my step grandmother along with a few hundred others encountered was the branches ripping the lines and boxes off the house. Her house though, caught on fire.
Big branches barely missed the van.
I'll have to ask him but I'm thinking the top of the shed must have had one go through it because the tarp ontop. If they were crashing through roof tops I'm sure they crashed through metal sheds. lol
More of that splitting effect.

Alex No More

Yesterday my daughter came home from school, came in the kitchen, and asked for a snack. She grabbed a NutriGrain bar and sat at the table and then said, "momma, why do people call me Alex?" I said, "well it's just a short nickname I gave you and it stuck so everyone just calls you Alex now." Then she said the words I feared were about to come out of her mouth. "Well I don't want to be called Alex anymore, I want to be called Alexzandra but no one will call me that except Mr. George. I don't like Alex." I told her we would TRY to start calling her Alexzandra around here and she'd have to remind everyone at school. This is going to be soooooo hard. I've called her Alex for about 6 1/2 years. When she was born and little we'd call her by her full name but then it just changed and we started to just say Alex. She then said "Dominic's nickname is Dom and I don't think people like that." I told her that only close people call him Dom because their grandpa's name was Domenico and for short they called him Dom. Some people who don't understand the meaning of it might not like Dom as a nickname. Then I told it was the same with Salvatore being called Sal.

So all night long I'd slip and say Alex on accident and then corect myself. I know she's doing this because there is a boy in her grade named Alex. She doesn't believe it's universal and said so in the past. But I will respect lil' Alexzandra's wishes. I'll have to start undigging all the hidden Christmas presents and relabel them all.

It Just Keeps Getting Better and Better!

When I posted last we had just got our power back. Well, that was all just a tease. It went out after having it about half a day. It was right after I stopped doing things I needed to do with electricity when it went off again Thursday Morning. We finally just got it back Saturday evening at 8 PM. Thank God too because I was a bit worried our Kerosene heater wasn't going to make up for the 9 degree temp outside. It has been an extremely hard week roughin' it here with 4 kids who have no idea what in the world is going on. Dominic after about the third day got the point that he couldn't play on the computer or Xbox and finally by the 5th day no power he just stopped asking, period. Mia has screamed and screamed so much just to be held all dang day. She slept with us two days and then one of those nights we had both Mia and Damien in bed with us. They would wake up every night screaming hysterically like they were dying. I had a candle on a hallway shelf and I think just the unfamiliar-ness of everything was getting too hard on them. Dominic and Alex slept on the couch and love seat all week since Dom's room gets so cold and Alex's in the basement was about 50 degrees!

Most of our neighbors had either whole house generators or little generators like us and stuck around. Some didn't and just abandoned ship so to speak. We used our generator mainly for the fridge and freezer, a kerosene heater for heat, tons of jugs of water to flush the toilet and give baths since the pump had no power to get water to us. Dave ran to his aunts twice for showers but I just warmed water on the stove top I bought to take baths. We had no phone since we had Cox so we had to run our phones out to our car and hook the chargers on a converter we have to charge them up.

By Friday I had finally hooked up a 13 inch TV to our generator and started watching the 5 air channels we could get with the bunny ears. They were reporting some serious snow fall for Friday which ended up knocking out our plans of eating out with Dave's boss and coworkers because it was falling an inch a hour. So along with all the ice we then got snow too. Sigh. Saturday we woke up to 8 inches and being totally snowed into our house. I told Dave to get up because if we didn't clear the drive we'd never get out if it kept snowing so both of us cleared the drive to the road so we could get out. Two hours later I opened the door to see one of my neighbors with his huge tractor in my driveway grading it clean the rest of the way. I wanted to bawl. Everyone out here has been trying to cope yet still has time to help each other out. Dave and our neighbor Levi who's trees fell on our horse pen will be trying to get that mess cleaned up when the weather gets better. Living in the country we don't normally see our neighbors as much as someone who has someone right next to them in town but when situations like this happen our neighborhood seems to stick together. The guy behind us who lost tons of his Cottonwood had about 3-4 other neighbors over there cleaning up with him.

Dale's Cottonwood- or I should say what's left of it.

We heard a lot of comments about our choice (or I should say MY choice lol) to stay here instead of going to a Red Cross Shelter or staying with family. Everyone offered to take us in but I felt we would be fine at home. I really don't feel selfish for my feelings of doing this but I think plenty of people thought I was. We had water, food and heat. Like a friend said, "if they'd just come over they'd see we're not in that bad of shape." So true. I wasn't going to leave our fridge and freezer to go bad either so we needed to keep the generator on in spurts to keep that from going yucky. There's probably a good $500 + in food in both. I had the little electric stove top or toaster oven plugged in to the generator to make food. They weren't great meals but it was food! Dave had a hard time and just wanted to escape from it all. He didn't want to stay at the house at all. I seriously called him a pussy because of the way he was acting. LOL! Electricity is a blessing but everyday hearing people in the Walmart, etc complaining to a friend about being out was really starting to get on my nerves. People in town at least had water and didn't have to go somewhere twice a day for it. They could take hot showers, and they were first priority when it came to putting power back on. It really makes you wake up and think what would happen to people if there really is an energy crisis or something.

So the kicker was that this happened at such the WRONG time. Before Christmas I mean. We probably spent $200 on things we really didn't need to buy this week. Kerosene was $42. Gas was $14. Eating out three times $60. Misc. survival supplies at Walmart $100. I can't imagine the people who spent $500 + right before Christmas for a generator. My friend spent $900 on one big enough to power their pump to pump water again. Even though the wrong time, all of us can agree here in town that this whole ordeal brought friends, family and neighbors so much closer. Our kids were all lovey and hanging on us constantly. We had a hard time keeping them off of us and although cute, it was sometimes annoying. lol

Another kicker, I started itching my head and I think I just got the beginnings of Alex's head lice during all this so I did the 2nd treatment of RID Saturday on everyone and did Vinegar/Mouthwash on my head last night. Today I am coloring my hair Auburn. lol They should all be dead after today I would think. It's hard to believe that it's already Monday again, the day we lost power and Dave is back to work. What a crappy vacation but I was so glad he was here at home during it all.

What A NOT so Beautiful Mess I'm In.

Geez! My weeks just get better and better. First off Dave is on vacation this week (he's been off since Friday) so that's good right? lol Well, we had heard bad weather was headed our way but I guess didn't realize it was going to be THAT bad. Monday morning we tried going to our grocery store and at 10 am there was no parking. I figured it was just because all the old retired people go there in the morning so we tried again at 1 and it was still the same way. We parked way out (making our own parking place) and went in. It was a mad house and then I started noticing all the water being bought which meant people were thinking this was gonna be a dozy! When we left it had started to rain quite a bit and it was in the 30's. Well I started writing a blog post Monday evening to report that Dave found a recipe for 1/2 Vinegar and 1/2 Mouthwash and we killed all the remaining lice in Alex's hair using that recipe! Then the lights started to flicker. They kept going dim and then lighting back up till eventually at 10:30 PM the house went dark. I had already lit about 10 candles "just in case." We live out in the country so looking outside it was pitch black, raining, freezing cold, and the trees were creaking with ice. Our back tree was teetering on our power line to our house making us a nervous wreck. We went ahead and brought Alex up from the basement to the couch and went to bed HOPING they'd come back on by dawn.

My Apple Tree has taken quite the beating.

It rained all night and by Tuesday morning we were freezing in our beds and no lights. Did I mention in the country? This also means no water because our water is pulled from a well. Yeah. So no lights, no water Tuesday morning, it's freezing and branches of ice are cracking everywhere around us. We went out to start our generator that I made Dave get as a rewards incentive for work because I knew living in the country we needed one. Our neighbor's 100 year old Cottonwood was losing massive branches left and right while we were standing outside. Not only was it sad it was frightening because the crack of the branches breaking sound like lightning.

Our Power line with a heavy branch just waiting to take it out if the wind picks up.

So Tuesday morning we warmed up the house with our Kerosene heater and put our refrigerator on the generator and turned on a radio. We decided by 10 am we'd take the monkeys to Walmart since power obviously wasn't coming on soon. We ended up buying an electric cook top, a camping water storage container, board games, a Carbon Monoxide detector so the kerosene wouldn't kill us. lol We came home and I hooked the stove top in to a generator cord and made burritos for lunch. I thought for sure we'd get power soon. It didn't. We made it threw all Tuesday and Wednesday using our generator for electric items and gallons of water to flush our toilet. Yes because with no power we have no water, I keep 20 gallons of spare water in the basement for flushing the toilet. lol Our poor kids were so bored. We colored, played games, Leapster, etc. They were stir crazy because we shut all the doors to the bedrooms and they were forced to do everything in the frontroom so we could keep us all warmer. Mia was screaming so much out of pure confusion I'm sure. All of us sleeping in the front room together was a bit different for her and the others. We told them we were having a slumber party. lol Out of the blue, the power came on tonight at 5 PM right as it was getting dark and I was lighting candles all over the place to prepare for another night in the dark. None of us had taken showers or baths in 2 1/2 days so we flew as fast as possible to the bathroom to get started just in case this was just a cruel joke and it was going to go out again.

The lights are flickering again as I write this so I may not get it posted. We'll see. There's over 10,000 people out of our town of 40,000 out of power last I knew. They were estimating 7-10 days to get everyone back on. I heard that before our's came back on and I figured with how far out we are we'd be in 10 days. Thank God I was wrong. Our town though is trashed. My step grandmother's laundry room caught on fire from a branch hitting her power box and igniting. My grandparents yard is a disaster. My mom has an evergreen blocking her driveway and still has no power. Most of the trees are either doing ok or look like a peeled banana. Just standing outside makes you cringe because the sound of crashing limbs is so frequent and you can only wonder what they are hitting. My brain is fried from playing Chutes and Ladders about 100 times in 2 days but Dave and I honestly did enjoy all the extra bonding time with the kids. It was refreshing! (and so were today's showers! lol) Dave is just lovin' this vacation so far.

Trees fallen on Echo's horse pen. I'm hoping the poles don't break because I really don't want her out. The branches spooked her yesterday and she almost ran me over on accident from running away.

Head Lice......It Bites!!!

Thanks y'all for feeling so bad for me. LOL! I seriously thought if I picked her hair like a monkey for days and did the treatment that it would be the end. Sadly, that's not the case. I examined her head this morning and found two tiny nymphs still alive. Dh (working in pest control) said that it'll be OK and that the chemicals will work. To me it's not working fast enough. I am so neurotic when it comes to pesticides, medicines and other junk I can't believe I just automatically jumped at pouring pesticide in everyone's hair "just in case." Well Alex needed it but still. I want this gone like NOW so the rest of my treatment will be all the homeopathic methods everyone has mentioned to me. You should see what these nasty things have done to poor Alex's head and neck. They bit the living crap out of her. She's got scabs on her head, neck, and behind her ears. It's sad.
I didn't pick her hair on Friday but Thursday night I spent 3.5 hours on it. I've been doing daily checks on the other 3 and trying to check my own hair too. Right now I'm terrified I'm feeling things crawling in my hair. I think this is normal right? I'll sit still for a few minutes and then take off running to the bathroom mirror to examing. Friday Alex had a cooking class for 4H and a friend of hers who was to ride with me canceled. I'm trying hard to believe there was some other reason she sent her with someone else. (sigh) Word in a small school spreads like wildfire too. It's like some parents have called and cringingly asked and some have came out and said "oh I am SO sorry for what I heard you've been going through!" So anyways I picked Alex up from this cooking class and they had put a hair tie in her hair!!!!!!! I felt like throwing up right when I walked in the door. I don't think any of the 4H Mom's knew since there were only a few 2nd graders there. I took it out and threw it in the trash when we got home just silently venting and hoping there was no head lice on it from someone else.

Even though I ignored my other 3 kids HOURS a day while picking Alex's hair, a few things exciting things happened around here. Mia now says "uh oh!" It's adorable. She's also popped her bottom 2 teeth so she's got 4. She looks so grown up! She has finally started crawling on all 4's! She's been army crawling all this time. Damien is saying pa-pa on demand. We're not sure what it means to him but he's saying it! He's also started saying "oh" for "no."

And a rotten Mommy Moment: Yesterday I took Dominic, Damien, and Mia to Walmart and shopped for 2 hours. I didn't mean to be in there for 2 hours but I was Christmas shopping and getting food. Dominic found a Shake n Go Police car which turned into a bawl fest when I told him to put it back. To shut him up so we'd have a nice shopping trip, I said put it in the basket. When we checked out I made him go to the arcade and told the woman I didn't want it. I actually do this a lot, I know it's wrong, but if we say no in the beginning it turns into a huge fit and we have to leave. When he came back from the arcade he was all happy asking for his car and I said to wait till we get to the car. Then I buckled him up and told him I accidently broke it so I didn't buy it. He fell apart. It was the end of the world the rest of the day. On and off he cried at home about me breaking the car and how he still wanted it. I tried assuring him that Santa would probably get it for him but it didn't work. Before bed he was talking to my mom on the phone sobbing about the car. He was trying so hard not to cry but when I questioned him if he was telling her about the car he broke down again. (sigh) Needless to say, Grandpa Kent is watching the kids tonight and I'm going to go buy a Shake and Go Police Car.

"You'll Get Through This, I Promise You Will"

I have heard this comment from so many people the last two days. Ok first off, head lice just sucks so much worse than the stomach flu. So, when I thought going through Stomach Flu about 4 times a year here was bad, well I just hadn't seen anything worse then that in my 7 years of motherhood. Now I can say I have!! And when someone says, "my so-n-so's got head lice" I can say "OH! I feel so sorry for you! I have been there and it SUCKS!" We have had so much sympathy from people on this. It's like a secret too. I remember when I miscarried people I had no idea would say they had almost like they keep it a secret. Well head lice is definitely a secret parents don't like to reveal. lol!

Yesterday at 10 am, school called me and said Alex looks great, still some nits but she can stay. 11 am school nurse checked her and they called back saying they found more live bugs and I need to come get her. So back to the school I went and this time I chatted with the school nurse. She said just keep doing what we have and be aggressive so that's all we can do. At this point I'm feeling hopeless, broken, exhausted. I gather Alex and the others and we go back home to pick Alex's hair.

I'm realizing that Alex has had this going on for quite awhile. My mom said that her head was so much worse than my sister's and I when we had it growing up. I found about 15-20 adults in her hair and about 5 baby louse. Going by the RID Chart, she's had them for at least a month, maybe longer to have all those adults in her hair, especiall by the size of them. It's just sickening. It took 8 hours to pick her hair on Tuesday since we did it twice and yesterday I spent 4 hours doing it once. This morning I spent about 15 minutes and found a few more nits but I sent her to school. They say if they find more than 10 they'll call me to come get her so pray for me that they don't!! Between Dave's aunt and myself Tuesday we must have picked 100-150 eggs. Yesterday I'd say I probably picked about 50. This morning about 4-5.

Luckily I have only 1 girl with hair and myself. Boys if they get this, you just shave them off it's as easy as that. Girls though, especially with longer hair is where these boogers love to hang out. At this point I've found a few nits under Mia's ear and a few on the back of Dominic's neck BUT nothing else other than that. For the rest of their lives in the house, I have vowed to do this weekly on all the kids before it gets out of control like Alex's hair. Part of the problem with Alex is she wants to be grown up. She's taken showers for years and this school year she started doing her own shampoo and conditioner herself and then for the most part combing her hair since it was cut short. Mia''s hair being so short we'll see a bug travel and the nits are easy to spot so I'm not too worried about her.

Everyone has been so supportive. We missed gymnastics Tuesda and then Dave and I didn't help with Awana but left Dominic and Alex. He told the pastor's wife what was going on and how we were de lousing the house and she said we needed to get that done before worrying about helping there.

Here's what we have done so far.

• sprayed all the carseats and interior. Still need to vaccum them.
• sprayed all stuffed animals
• washed all pillows in scalding hot water/dried on high heat
• washed all bedding off of 4 beds in scalding hot water/dried on high heat
• washed and dried all coats in the closet
• threw all daddy's work outfits in the coat closet out for CINTAS to clean
• vaccumed all the carpet (daily)
• sprayed 2 couch and loveseat sets
• vaccumed the couch and loveseat sets
• washed all brushes and combs in scalding hot water with rubbing alcohol
• contacted Dave's cousin who did Alex's hair at the wedding, contacted my sister to search her girls hair, contacted my other sister who slept on my couch at Thanksgiving.

If you have been there, done that and I am missing something I SHOULD do, please let me know. This is just physically draining. Two minutes after hitting the sack, I'm asleep. My eyes hurt, my hands are dried out from laundry, picking and washing my hands so much. Sure everyone says I'll get through this since they've been there, but picking Alex's hair and still finding things makes me wonder.

Bugs

Well it finally caught up with us. Alex brought home a note Monday about head lice and by noon yesterday the school was calling me to come get her. 8 long ass hours we pulled nits and bugs from Alex's hair. Dave was at work so Dave's aunt and my mom came by at times to help me out. Damien's SLP came over at the same time I brought Alex home from school and she kept the boys busy for a hour while Helen and I picked. Poor Alex was in tears, not only from the pain but she was embarassed too.

When I read that note, I had noticed Alex had been itching but I guess I was being one of those "holier than thou" parents thinking "oh she couldn't possibly." Then when I fixed her hair I thought the brown junk in her hair was possibly flea poop since we had our stupid dog bring fleas in the house and we've been battling that. I pulled 2 what I THOUGHT were fleas off her head but I later found out when she came home they were adult lice because more fell out and after RID treatment she lost about 15-20 more. After that I treated the boys and Dave. My mom doesn't think I have any but I'm treating my hair this morning. Mia can't be treated but everyone else looked fine so I think it was just Alex.

So I am exhausted, not only from picking hair for 8 hours but listening to my other 3 cry and whine about my lack of attention to them and the massive 15 loads or so of bedding and coats I've been washing. I kept calling Dave to come home yesterday and finally got him here by 6. It was then when he finally realized this isn't some quick fix and takes effort to get rid of.

Alex is now is a firm believer on why momma has always said you should always keep your coat in your bag and don't share brushes with others. Her teacher will let her keep her coat on her chair from now on so that'll be a big help. I plan on checking her hair daily till she moves out at 18. I'm not taking any chances.

Holiday Food

From about Halloween on, I am all about the holidays. I love the smells, the food, the awesome deals at 6 am, the extra school activities, the time with family. But most of all I love making food! Anyone else? This time last year I was a miserable mess. I tried so hard to get into Christmas and just couldn't. I was 9 months pregnant with Mia and in so much pain. If I only would have known the pain was not normal pregnancy pain and was actually my gallbladder going out, I would have probably had a better ending to my pregnancy! I couldn't be up long or away from the bathroom, didn't leave the house much at all, didn't do but the basics of housework, etc. My pregnancies I am usually great till the day they are pulled out. Then even my January was horrible because we still didn't know my gallbladder was going out till a gallstone got into my pancreas and about killing me and leaving me in the hospital for 2 weeks. My poor husband, I've never seen him cry so much. I think he honestly thought he was going to be a single dad.

So I didn't bake or cook much last year at all. LOL! I'm making up for it this year. I thought throughout December I'll post some super easy and yummy desserts we make around here to share with others. So here's the first one I'll share. It's highly addictive and you won't want to stop eating it once ya start. lol PS: In January my posts will be all about losing weight.

Pumpkin Whip

2 Packages Butterscotch Instant Pudding
3 Cups Milk
1 Can (15 oz) Pumpkin
2 Tubs of Whipped Topping (thawed)
2 Teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice

In a large bowl, mix pudding with milk and whisk until thick. Stir in can of pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice and one tub of whipped topping. Mix all together and chill in refrigerator for 20-30 minutes. Put it into a 9x12 pan and then topped it the other tub of whipped topping.

This weekend the kids were so excited because I said we'd put up the trees. It used to be the day after Christmas when we'd decorate but in the past 4 years, our tree has been beat, raped, and tortured in the front room by multiple kids so I kinda put it off now. I halfway stuck to my promise though and we got one Christmas tree up. In the basement. Where Mia and Damien never usually go since I have to take them down there. The one in the front room I will put up today and then let the kids decorate when they get home from school. We still have a blow up turkey on the front lawn to take down and daddy will put up our Santa and snowman.

I tried so hard this weekend to get a picture of the kids for Christmas cards. What a nightmare. Went through 2 sets of batteries, days worth of clothing and poses, and deleted about 100 worthless pictures. If photographers have to ask me if they can photoshop then I'm sure you know what I mean. I bribe with candy, put hands under legs, have toys dancing above the camera, etc it just never works. I just can't get a picture of all four looking at me smiling without hands in eyes, mouths or eyes closed. (sigh) So these were the best 2 I got and as you can tell the 2nd is fuzzy.

Went to church yesterday and it was amazing. They had a beautiful 10 foot tree set up in the sanctuary and had this old man soloist who reminded me so much of Frank Sinatra who song Joseph's song and Merry Christmas with Love. The message was This Christmas Believe and he discussed how not only do we need to believe IN Christ we need to believe ON him and trust him. He talked about how many of us say we believe in him yet we don't take all the steps in life to show that we are true followers of Christ. I know that describes me in a big way! Someone cuts me off on the road it's going to take alot for me not to blast my horn and call them a few choice names. lol It was refreshing as always though.

We have been discussing again if I should go back into Daycare. I'm still selling Avon but I'm not making hardly a dime on it especially right now because they have such awesome gifts so I'm buying everyone Avon for Christmas! lol We're doing OK just on his income but his commission checks now that he's management and in the office, aren't what they used to be. He gets paid twice a month and to put it one way, his commission check used to cover everything and then some. Car, House, all the utilities, cable, YMCA, etc. bills is about all it covers now. Anything extra comes from his other check. This time next year, I will have 3 in school (2 full day, 1 half) and one at home. I know by then he's going to tell me to make some money. So I'm thinking of picking two kids up in January to get started again. Most likely they will be infants but Mia will be 1 so it shouldn't be so hard. I have had 3 born 2 weeks apart when they were just 3 months old-18 months old. I have a pretty good feel for what having twins or triplets is like. An extra $600-700 a month would do us some good though. We'll see.