Life In Kansas Every Year Before The 4th

The last week has been nothing but Harvest out here. If we lived in town, it might be a bit different but we're out here with tons of fields among us. I was dodging around grain trucks last night slowly creeping their way to the long line at the Co-Op waiting to be weighed. Grain Truck #2
This one of the like 5 combines I passed in a field when picking up Alex from practice.
Notice someone lost some wheat on the road. Whoops! This is Main St of the tiny town my kids go to school at. Main is about 5 blocks? I think. lol!! We live between the 2 towns so the gas dilemma has been fun you can imagine. If you click this picture, you will see gas there at Cenex is $3.80 a gallon. We still haven't went over $3.80 since this whole crazy gas war started. Anyone else as lucky?
Crappy sun wouldn't let me take a pic of the Co-Op.
And things you may not imagine seeing in the prairie fields. This is a rescue organization off the highway that houses tons of zebras, camels, kangaroos, Emu's and Ostrich, and llama. This ostrich was chasing another which missed the picture. Heck it could have been a mating dance the way it looked. lol!

Well things the past 2 days without my sister's kids has been much easier. I felt awful yesterday because I guess M the 8 yr old cried and cried when being dropped of at the YMCA but by the end of the day she was ready to come back the next day.

So far this pregnancy has been going rather well. I believe I discovered recently that the reason I haven't felt a bunch of kicks is because I guess she hasn't flipped. The past week though she's started kicking like crazy just really low. I feel nothing above the general pelvic area. I feel like I'm starting to slow down some especially on the basement stairs. I take those about 10-12 times a day so I'm feeling winded quite often. Other than that and this ugly purple mess on my leg that feels like a horrible bruise, I'm doing well. I am going to make my physical soon with my GP to see what he thinks of it as it seems to be going into my foot now. I've had it since my pregnancy with Damien and don't know what you even call it besides varicose veins. It is but it's different as it's all ran together causing a purple mess. My left foot has some small veins but nothing like my right. It does go away some when I'm not pregnant, but it's still completely noticeable.Which brings me to say I'm starting to get abit freaked out about this next C-section. Sheri seemed to make it far too real by posting a lovely story on her blog about pulmonary embolism and a man who lost his wife earlier this year due to it after her C-section. (thanks Sheri! ;) After what happened after Mia's birth, I know far too well that anything can happen after birth. I had Mia on January 9th (a tuesday) and by that Sunday the 14th I was back in the ER uncontrollably throwing up this awful brown stuff known as bile and unable to move I was in so much pain. Honestly we both thought I was going to die then just by how the hospital staff was talking to us. We'd never even heard of pancreatitis, never knew how dangerous it was, didn't know if you tried holding out at home you could die. So it's a good thing that finally after I couldn't breathe that morning, we went to the hospital. lol I don't worry about dying, I worry about leaving Dave to take care of 5 kids on his own and how my kids would handle me dying. I'm sure I'll be posting my farewells the week before surgery like normal. lol

I am still having Alex take charge around the kitchen more in preparation for the fair. She helped put together this banana split pudding (as I call it) the other day. Pretty soon we'll be getting into bigger recipes but for now she's doing alot of easy measurement type things (AKA from a box)

Harvest has started in our parts so everyone's allergies are kicking up. Alex was at my bed at midnight needing something for her cough and nose. Poor kids. There will be no opening up the windows in the morning anymore. Leaving early living in the country at this time is always important due to combines and grain trucks hogging the roads. When outside the humming of combines and farm equipment can be heard for miles. Every time it gets to this time of year, I always reminisce playing in the grain trucks as a kid with my cousin Aimee as our dads and our other uncles combed through acres of wheat.

Problem Solved

Well, my mom hinted to my sister about finding someone else so on Monday they start at a center. I told her M could stay here but gas is just too much to do that. I feel really bad but this is for the best since I'm her aunt. I don't want to hate the kid. lol My sister is a bit freaked on paying $800 a month for daycare but she understands how difficult K can be.

Yesterday I took them all to our Kroger store and to Orschlens. We did fine till we got to Orschlens and she broke a bottle of horse spray (in a matter of seconds) known as Shiney Hiney. LOL I was so mad and was going to just pay for it ($10) but I know a lady who works there so she said they would just comp it. But still. I have never had my kids break anything in a store so I was embarrassed.

In other news, Alex is really learning her way in the kitchen, trying to get ready for what projects she'll enter into the 4 H County Fair. I have a feeling when it arrives, I'll be 30lbs heavier. Here's our cookies for today.

My Mother's Outlook

I had a few lovely conversations with my mom about my niece ordeal. My mother and sister are 2 peas in a pod so I knew she'd probably be in a tizzy over the whole thing. Last night she tells me that she knew this was a bad idea and she should have left them at the center they were at. I told her I was trying to help J because she's broke and complained how much they were going to charge her during the summer so I offered to help. She tried to make it sound like at first that I am a threat to K and she didn't like to be bossed around. I told my mom that one day when she was coming to pick up K and M for my sister that K started saying "I don't want to go with that grandma, I don't like her." So she must not like her rules either. lol She didn't care to hear that. ;) According to my mom K is an angel at her house, she never has problems. Whatever. Everytime K and M are over there I hear her yelling at them about this that and the other. So when I could hear K in the background at her house making my mom mad she wanted to quickly get off the phone and put them in bed because they were "tired"..... she could tell.

She calls me back this morning at 7:30 am. Apparently when my mom tried putting the kids to bed at 9 (mine had already been in bed for 1 hr) it didn't work and they wanted to go home. I believe they were just missing their mom since all K said was how much she missed her mommy when she was here all day. Her sister M had said, "we don't get to see her till tomorrow!" So that sounds like missing mom to me. Anyways- Finally at 11 pm she took them home when my sister got home from school. She said she expressed to them how mad and hurt she was that they weren't going to stay over which out of my mom would be screaming (lol) and that they weren't going to stay the night ever again. Nice eh? Sounds like she has a handle on them well right?

So she tells me that she hopes I'll reconsider and watch them all summer long. I told her I would watch M but not K. So here's a list of what she tells me. PS: she has never watched all 4 of mine or all 6 grandkids EVER. This post is basically an FYI for me to go back and read so I can remember how horrible she really is sometimes.

1) I don't do anything with the kids and if I did puzzles and games, interacting with them that they would probably act better.- sure i don't do puzzles and games with them. They are 5 and 8 yrs old! I get out things for them to do and they do them together! I'm sure Alex really wants me on the floor playing Polly Pocket! I do play with Mia and Damien though especially outside when they need alot of guidance. Mia and Damien are always by my side helping play clean or drawing when we're in the kitchen or we play with puzzles, books, toys in the front room.

2) I don't have the patience for daycare.-advice from a mom who ran her own daycare and screamed at them and us all through our childhood.

3) If I didn't have so many kids maybe I could do daycare better.- Mia is the only one I've added since I quit doing daycare and I had 6-8 kids on a normal basis before Mia with no behavioral issues with any of those children.

I'm just going to ignore it (Dave of course is dying to lay into her) I felt like crying by the time we got off the phone though. She is just evil.

So, What Are Your House Rules?

By the title, I'm sure you've guessed, things are just not getting better. I think I'm going to give my sister a month to find someone else and TRY my hardest to not feel bad about this. I'm just going to tell her the truth, I can't say "it's too much because I'm pregnant" because this pregnancy doesn't interfere with our normal family life. I don't feel really pregnant yet! I'm just going to tell her K (the 5 yr old) is just too much for all of us. The 8 yr old is a really great kid and Alex and Dominic love playing with her but as soon as I say K's coming over they groan and so do I! lol

Today she just lost a few bolts while we were outside playing and that's kinda made the deciding factor. I mean the past 4 weeks have been really hard and if I'm not in the same room all hell breaks loose but today was a bit too much. It all started with a balloon her older sister had in her pocket that K wanted. She wanted it so bad she tried prying it from her which I told her to quit and asked M to put it in her pocket which she did. Then a few minutes later she wanted the bike that her sister was on so she tried to push her off and ended up tripping over the back wheel and skinning her knee. After that she started jumping in place screaming that she wanted the bike. Then she ran away from me when I was trying to put a bandaid on her knee. Got that on and then she was still pouting, chasing her sister and then threw herself on the cement kicking and screaming. She started throwing her shoes over and over,whining, running and jumping in place to get her frustrations out. Finally Dominic said, "K you're a big baby!!" Laughing. I told him to knock it off but saying it once she started shrill screaming "I'M NOT A BABY!!!!!" Over and over still throwing her shoes and then beating Dominic (still laughing) with her horse webkinz. Finally I had her come in and sit on the couch. I can only imagine what my neighbor was thinking standing over in his yard talking to his company.

I really think that my sister has no control over her kids and the way she acts herself is rubbing onto them. She's 25, treats K like a princess, has an on and off relationship with her abusive cop significant other, leaves the kids anywhere with whoever will take them so she can get some alone time. I don't think I mentioned this but back in May my 8 yr old niece was on the playground and kicked a basketball at this 80 yr old woman with a cane walking to her car from the school trying to trip her and was laughing at the old woman when she almost fell. The teachers saw it and put her in ISS. My sister pulled K from the daycare she was at because when K was throwing a fit at the center and my sister was standing right there, the director said "you deal with this because I can't." and then she walked off. I'm not the only one who's had problems with her behavior.

A few days ago K came up and said, "does David live in a new house?" My sister and her cop man now are seperated but still always together. I told her "no we don't fight so he lives here with us." She spouted out, "well my mommy and daddy fight all the time. When my daddy's mad he says 'fuckin shit! fuckin bitch!! fuckin assssssss!'" I told her we don't talk like that because those are really bad words and she continued to say them and then told me "it's ok because I'm just telling you what my daddy says." Dave said something to my sister who said the exact same thing. Sorry but my kids aren't EVER allowed to cuss no matter what!

So anyways the fights, fits and other crap is driving me over the edge. I know if I tell my sister I'm quitting on her she'll probably try to have my 70 yr old grandma try to watch them and that's not right. I told my grandma about the mess of how she was acting today and she was making excuses for her. When my grandma showed to take the 4 oldest skating I told K I don't know if she should go because of her behavior today in which she replied, "it's ok because I'm always good for Grandma." I told my grandma to go ahead and take her but I worry if she throws a fit how my frail grandma is going to hold her own. Grandma says she'll be fine (of course) but I don't think so. She's getting to the age where she's had health issues and needs to be careful.

So anyways we'll see. For now I want to make a big rule sheet and stick it on my fridge. So in my situation what rules should I write down? My kids know the rules and they know if they act up they lose something. Usually a favorite toy or no favorite internet site. Something small it's timeout for 5-20 minutes depending on their age. That's easy punishment that works here. Usually just a loud warning of "CUT THE CRAP OUT!" works for Dominic and Alex, not so much for Damien. lol For K I've been doing timeout, taking her toys, warnings of an approaching nap and finally a nap when she just won't behave after all the warnings.
What are your rule suggestions. And consequences. Please I'm begging.

Sanity Is Out The Window!

I have no idea how much more I can handle watching my sister's two kids. I chatted with another daycare provider friend the other day about it. We both agreed, kids UNDER 5 are much easier to manage. I feel like I'm constantly screaming which is just not something I normally do with my kids except when Dominic whines. These 4 (my kids and nieces ages 5 and 8) are at each others throats when they are supposedly playing with each other. I will take any suggestions on how to fix this. LOL! They are constantly in need of something different to do every 10 minutes. I just try to keep thinking when school starts It'll just be me and Mia. Won't that be nice! Well atleast for 2 months until the baby comes, then I'll be busy again!



Dom had his first ball game this season on Saturday. He is doing so much better than last year. The other day he told me, "mom, I'm going to play ball and soccer and football and karate and basketball!" I said, "are you going to be my little sports nut?" He said proudly, "YEP!" It's great because I've always been told that sports are one of the best things for ADHD.

Here he is catching and then after he hit a ball.
In the Outfield
On the bench

Ranch Makes It ALL Better

What is it with ranch and kids? Alex loves ranch on raw veggies, Dominic loves the ranch not the veggies. Damien.....anything goes good with it. I could serve cooked greenbeans and Damien would stick his nose up at it. Add some ranch...it'd disappear! Damien dipped all his fries, chicken nuggets and macaroni in ranch making a happy plate yesterday. This only happened because I was making chicken ranch wraps for myself and he eyeballed and begged for it. Silly kid.

One Of Those Long All Over The Place Posts.

So far summer has been stressful, crazy, and fun. I won't lie, there was a day again last week Dave walked in the door and I completely fell apart. I know my own flaws though. It's not the kids although they keep me frazzled, it's the fact that I just feel like I can't get anything done and I NEED it done. I am so obsessive of that. I feel like a failure constantly and geez there's just not enough hours in a day even with me up at 6 and down at 11. I could work and work on my house inside/outside all day but there's 20 more things I just didn't get to. There's hobbies I want to do, projects I want to do with the kids and I just can't get to it all. By 5 o'clock the kids are just unruly wanting dinner, screaming at the gate since they can't come in the kitchen, it's at dinner time where I just go off the deep end. It's going to be a long summer is all I'm sayin. :)

We had Alex's friend birthday party on Saturday at the YMCA pool. The kids had a blast. I do friend parties in the morning from 10-12 so it's done, out of the way and we have the rest of the day to ourselves. So far I have never had a parent tell me they hate my morning parties. lol She had about 14 girls come this year for the fun.

Dominic (in the green tube) was the only boy which was hilarious since he's a flirt. He had a grand ol time though and I'm thinking I'll just do his friend party there in February as well.

They let us use the afterschool room for gifts and cupcakes. I must say her friends know her quite well because they gave her mainly all crafts. Oh but the best to her was the black Poodle Webkinz. (sigh) We took her out on her birthday to pick out her own present. She got a double Hannah Montana disc and a Littlest Pet Shop Panda which is similar to a webkinz.

I'm not sure if anyone had noticed by pictures that I had been letting Damien's hair grow out. I think the last hair cut we gave him was before Christmas. Dave had been wanting to buzz him for awhile but I loved his new long hair. He had this surfer boy thing going on and I was wanting to hang on to it.

Finally though, I decided to go ahead and let Dave shave him off. We knew he'd probably do fine since he had in the past but Dominic went first to let him watch and see how easy it was to let Daddy cut his hair. Then Damien hopped up there on the sink holding a mirror as daddy shaved it all off.

I fed him M & M's as I always do to keep him busy. By the time Dave was done the sink was full of hair and it was done. I think it looks great either way but it was nice to see what it would look like all grown out. The weather has been just awesome lately. July we'll all be dying in Kansas of the 100 degree weather but right now it's been 70-80 degrees so we've been taking full advantage of it. Usually by 9-10 am I get the kids out to start burning off energy and we stay out till lunch time. They play on all the equipment, play ball but their favorite part is when I let Toby and Oreo out for play time. Then after lunch I put them out again around 1 when I put Mia down for her nap. I'll let them play in the pool, sprinklers ride bikes, swing. Anything to keep them moving. lolThey stay out for about a hour and come back in usually crashing while watching TV. AHHHH.... The things we do for sanity. :) With all this extra summer time together, Alex and I have been trying to do little crafts. Somedays I feel so bad because I tell her "later" about 15 times. It's always at the worst time when she wants to do something. I'm sure others can relate! Makes me feel like a horrible mom but I can't just drop what I'm doing to do a project. Today we made a whole slew of cards. Mine are the 4 tall ones. She got alittle sticker happy with her's. lolI decided a few weeks ago to change around our little office area so it accommodates the kids and they can do crafts and other projects downstairs. I have so much to do before I can call it finished but I've made some major headway on it. I've put all the puzzles and games in one spot. All the schooling books and other things related to school in an area. Our craft area is a bit still unorganized but it's all in one spot. Eventually I want to get all the books in a bookshelf instead of a hundred here and there in everyone's rooms the way it is now. I have wanted to do this for awhile so it would be easier to find things. I get so annoyed traveling around looking for a game, book, etc. Remember Dave's computer hobby? Well the bar is loaded with monitors and junk for him to get rid of so we can use it for crafts, puzzles, my coupons, etc. Here's a few pics of it so far. Now to organize it better. lol Then last week I took 3 afternoons and alphabetized all of our CD's. They had been packed up since last year when we swore we were going to move. Maybe I'm nesting, Dave thinks I've lost my mind. Made me feel so much better to have it done though.

Daycare For 5 years, A Momma For 8!

Where a clean house, backyard or driveway are hard to come by.Our tornados drama was short lived. The band of storms going from Oklahoma all the way to Nebraska was traveling 60 mph. 4 officially touched down but none close enough to take cover. The night about a week ago when I said we slept through the sirens was about 15 minutes away from us.

All day I debated on letting the little ones out to burn energy. Finally decided we should take advantage of the wind with bubbles! Those awesome bubble wands I bought from Target? Oh with 60 mph winds we were whippin out hundreds of bubbles at a time and they were traveling down the street even! It was so much fun! I had them all lift their wands on the count of 3 which was how we were making so many bubbles at once. The wind just blew them straight off the wands.

Today is Alex's 8th birthday! Thanks Angela for remembering! Crazy to think I've been a momma now for 8 years. I was so out of it on June 6th, 2000. Alex was born at 1 am. I was induced at 4 pm June 5th. I went to my OB appt and they said go to the hospital and we'll "try" something. She didn't expect Cervidil to do much obviously. However my water broke at 4:30 pm with severe contractions. I started throwing up like crazy, peed the bed over and over!!! I called home around 5 asking Dave if he got my note about the hospital and he said he hadn't even looked at the table. He was getting ready to go out with the boys!!! I told him nicely (hee hee!) "GET YOUR ASS UP HERE!!" I felt like I was going to rip apart. I held out to 6 cm and finally got an epidural and that was heavenly!

Pushed for about 30 minutes around 12:30 am when they gave me news while completely out of it that a c-section had to be done NOW no if ands or butts due to a steady heartbeat of 70bpm, something was wrong. I kinda wish I hadn't been so strict with my birth plan letting them try forceps or a vac. I hate that I may be limited on births now due to multiple C-sections. They wisked me off to the OR with my family yelling this and that to me on the sides of the gurney. One thing I'll never forget with all the chaos is in the OR, Dave crying and some guy in the room in scrubs trying to get him to get a grip with his arms on Dave's shoulders. Dave was shaking his head crying saying "I can't do this, I can't do this, I have to go." The man agreed with him and I saw him walk out. I was crying out to him to stay but then I went to sleep. I was all alone during my first surgery. When I came to after surgery there was all sorts of people standing around me and I was gasping for air whispering "I can't breathe!" I felt like I couldn't breathe, dying there in front of them, but Dave being a smart ass said "if you can talk, you can breathe." The anaesthesiologist agreed with him. At that point I had no idea I had even HAD Alex I was so drugged up. A nurse comes in with this baby and says are you breast or bottle feeding? I said, "breast." She opens the side of the gown, grabs my nipple and starts trying to latch this baby to me. I looked at Dave and said, "is this our kid?!!?" He said "uh yeah that's her." Well I was freaked out because she was not how I envisioned our baby to look. She had so much hair, definitely needing a hair cut at birth and she had this red mark under her nose. I told Dave she looked like a monkey and asked over and over if he was SURE this was our kid. She was so tiny, right at 6 lbs since I had her early due to pre eclampsia. They didn't want to take any further chances since I'd already been hospitalized twice, put on bedrest due to high blood pressure, and gained over 10 lbs in one week. People called and visited the hospital all day on June 6th and I don't remember a thing of it!

It's hard to imagine Alex as a baby or litte one. I have to watch home videos of her to even remember her little now. Thank God we recorded it all. She was not planned. I missed 5-6 days worth of pills I will just guess because I was out clubbing nightly and always coming home hammered. Who remembers to take pills before bed when they are pooped from partying? lol Dave was not happy to be a dad yet at 22. I really don't know how to explain it but he was negative throughout the whole pregnancy to me but towards the very end he actually would tell people happily we were expecting our first. After she came you couldn't get her out of his hands. She still hangs on him all the time, has HIM put her to bed, goes to him when something is wrong. I don't really mind but sometimes it makes me sad. She is definitely Daddy's little girl.

Could Someone Just Wish Away These Tornados?

I'm just sayin. That circle is about 10 minutes East of us. There's one on the ground 30 minutes of my house up North too.

First's For This Summer

Damien had his first day of Speech Playgroup today.........

Alex had her first ballgame this season and they won 15 to 14!!! Here she's hit.....

And then she runs!!
This is Mia's first summer to play outside and she is soooooo enjoying it. She loves trying to keep up with all the big kids.
Another first this summer, my BIL left the road as a PO and became a detective not too long ago and helped crack this case. Click here to read! I knew last week he said they were pretty sure they had an idea who the sick-o was and then they announced yesterday they found him.

Run To Target!

I know a few frugal couponing mommies who read on here are going to love this. Ok so #1 rule when couponing/refunding with kids is always stay on task. Don't get distracted, always keep your mind focused on the goal of getting whatever you're getting free/discounted/on sale. Have everything ready before going to the store. If possible, don't take the kids. lol

I about jumped of the couch Sunday when I noticed Target was doing a $10 giftcard if you purchased 2 Fusion Razors at $7.99 a piece. Wow. What a great deal! What's even better is that $4 coupon off the purchase of 1 in the Proctor Gamble Sunday Coupons. Especially if you have 2 of this coupon.

Here's the math:
$7.99
$7.99
-------
$15.98
-$4.00 off one
-$4.00 off one
-------------
$7.98 For 2 Fusion Razors AND you get the $10 gift card making a profit of $2.00 in the end!

Ok so here's where this is going. I went to Target after playgroup Monday morning with 5 kids in tow. First thing first. Grab the product. Then I got distracted. The kids wanted to look at the toys so we headed over there. I wanted some new giant bubble wands anyways so we checked out the toys, video games, clearance endcaps of course. Kids are getting anxious, it's time to go. By the time I go to pay I have 2 wanting to run to the water fountain, one trying to climb out of the basket, one playing with this noisey $1 horse out of the front dollar bins. I FORGET THE COUPONS ARE IN MY PURSE!!! OMG I was so mad at myself when I got home and realized this. It was definitely a Doh Homer Simpson moment mixed with pregnant hormones. I wanted to cry and kick myself at the same time. Ultimately I got the razors for $3 a piece when you subtract out the gift card. Now I'm going BACK today to do the same thing, with 5 kids and this time taping the coupons to my forhead. And I'm using the $10 giftcard that I got yesterday to pay for my purchase. (sigh)

Weekend

Once again this weekend, I refrained from spending any money! I am dying to go shopping for this little girl. Baby Depot would be my first stop. Then a few doors down Kohls and BRU. Then after that Old Navy, Baby Gap, and Children's Place. I can't believe I've held out this long. 5 days after finding out the sex? For me, that's LONG! The frugal mommy in me is figuring right now.....with gas......shop online I just haven't had a chance yet.

We did have a great weekend though at home. Daddy ended up working till about noon. He BBQ'd 3 times for us so that was nice for me. Back in the day before pest control, lol, he worked at Applebee's, Lonestar, Amarillo Grill, and Shoney's so he's an awesome meat cook. Dom's ball game was canceled due to a small storm that came through early morning. We spent most of the weekend outside like we have been and it was great. I'm still white as can be while all my kids (except Mia) are turning dark like their dad. Sunday Dave and I helped in the nursery at church and then the rest of the day was at home again. It was so nice. I told Dave yesterday if he had noticed how much we've been out already this spring/summer and he said "yeah because Mia isn't a baby!" So true. Although the kids can go out back by themselves for the most part, I like to go out there with them to keep an eye on things but last summer it wasn't easy to do much and I always had a baby monitor attached to me. Here's a few pictures of the kids this weekend.

The Pool Cleaner

Playing in Daddy's truck.

Damien on the glider

Sprinkler fun

Man if I could afford them, I'd buy all the Rainbow Reef fish.

I thought this was a cute pic of Dom and Alex.

Mia trying to ride a tricycle. She is so independent when it comes to any of the ride on's now wanting to do them by herself.