I Am Still Alive, I Swear!

Well my idea of posting more after the kids were in school went completely out the door. Having even just Mia and Sophia home half the day and trying to get other things done is a challenge. I do get online but usually it's 5 minutes here and there. I leave it on all day, just in case I can jump on.

Sophia just turned a year old last week. It's hard to believe it's went so fast. She surprised Dave and I by starting to walk at 10 months vs 14 for Mia. She's started climbing up things which has been really scary! The past year has been hard dealing with Mia and how she treats Sophia. She thinks she's doing good but hugging her in a choking position and pushing her while she walks are not funny or good things. I can't leave the 2 unsupervised for a minute in fear that she's going to hurt Sophia so I'm always putting her in her crib for safety if I need to go get the mail or whatever.

We've been really busy with activities. Dave is still working his crazy long days and most Saturdays too but we chug on. M-Thursday something is usually going on with 4-H, Girl Scouts, Awana, and Flag Football. I'm usually the one shuffling everyone where they need to go but if he makes it home before 7 he will help with what he can. Damien starts Basketball next month just as Football ends. This will be his first sport so it will be interesting to see how he does at it. After he's done then Dominic gets to play the next session of Basketball which he is so excited to play again. lol Alex enrolled herself in a slew of 4-H activities this year. She's doing Horses, Rabbits, Ceramics, Arts and Crafts, Foods, Buymanship, and Photography. Shoot me when the County Fair arrives. ;)

We added some new additions to our family this summer....

This is Romeo our new guinea pig. We got him in June, it's been about 2 years since we lost Vinnie and when Petco opened here, well I bought him. lol He's a sweet guy but very skittish which is opposite of Vinnie. Hopefully he's going to calm down as he gets older.

2 Jersey Wooly rabbits. The Broken Black/White is a buck, the Blue Otter is a Doe. We decided to try another breed for next year's fair. These are so much easier to handle than Mini Rex. Should be easier for Alex when it comes to Showmanship. We have yet to name them even though we got them in September. We are such good owners. lol!

I'm still doing Girl Scouts but decided to hand it over at the end of November right before the baby comes. Mainly because of the stress this new council woman is causing me but mostly because I need to take care of my own family and move on. December 1st is our scheduled C-section date. Everything so far has been textbook, no problems at all. Infact this is probably one of my easiest pregnancies. I have to wonder if this baby isn't as big as the last 3 because of certain TMI issues. But in general there's not much pressure, his kicks are not as high or hard, I can breathe easier. If he's bigger than Damien's whopping 9lbs 13 oz, I will be very surprised. It's hard to imagine that this could very well be our last baby. We've decided to wait on permanent measures but i will not be getting pregnant again at all or anytime soon. I need the break for my sanity. :) We have 40 days left as of today.

County Fair 2008

These are some pics of the County Fair I had been really stressing over. I am soooo glad that's over. All in all, hauling my self and the kids up there by 8-9 am daily went well. We did it M-Th, it ended Th after I took the kids up there for a free BBQ for 4 H'ers and their immediate family. Yeah, doing a BBQ with a double stroller is quite the challenge. Good thing Alex and Dominic have 2 hands each to help carry plates and help out. I told Dave next year he's taking the week off to help out. I'm just glad the baby inside cooperated and allowed me to be able to do all of it, even in 100 degree heat. Alex did really well on all her projects for her first year! This whole experience has made her confidence and self esteem go through the roof. lol She's already picking out projects for next year. Poor Dominic really wants her trophy saying it's TOBY'S trophy, not hers.

Here she is waiting to model her Buymanship outfit.
Modeling her outfit.Answering the judge's questions about one of her outfits. This was taken before we left Toby on his first day at the fair.
This is Alex doing her Showmanship back to the judges. This was one of the most difficult things for her since rabbits scratch she had a hard time flipping him and being in control of him. She got a Champion ribbon and trophy for Showmanship for ages 7-9 though! They were impressed with her eye contact and trying her best.This was Alex's food entires. She entered Peanut Butter Cookies, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies, Strawberry Walnut bread, and Lemon Spice Muffins.She won blue ribbons on all and a purple on the Strawberry Walnut bread. The Food's judge is trying her foods in this picture and asking her questions about what she made. Here she is with Toby and the ribbons she received with him.

Ribbons! She's a very happy little girl. And the trophy was for Showing Toby (the rabbit)
Modeling her outfit at the BBQ Wed night. Dave was there to help with this cookout thankfully. Don't ask why she had to stick out her tongue when I took her picture!
After the BBQ they had tons of blow ups for the kids to play in. Here's Alex and Damien going down the slide.
Damien playing some football. Couldn't keep him away from this!

Shoe Conspiracy Must Have Happened In The Closet Last Night

Well this is the week of the County Fair and my stress level has been turned up a few notches. Maybe I'm expecting too much but I just wish Dave would say someday to his boss, "hey I need a day off to help out with a few things at home." I have let him know the past few days how stressed and mad I am that he hasn't helped at all with this 4H ordeal. Alex and I spent who know how many hours Sunday in the kitchen baking as you can see. We made a dozen Lemon Spice Muffins, 2 loaves of Strawberry Walnut bread, a few dozen Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies and a few dozen Peanut Butter. We found 2 like sizes and like proportions of the cookies and muffins and picked one loaf to enter. I was a bit upset that our loaves did not crown all the way. I'm not sure what we did wrong. However the muffins have huge peaks which is great.

This morning according to the paperwork I had it said everything (unless specified) needed to be exhibited by 10 am. I had planned to get up around 6 so we could do this early but we didn't get there till 9 am. I have no idea what I'm doing so I hollered at some guy outside when we arrived asking where we dropped off rabbits. He said I was at the right place so I unloaded everyone and we headed in. I had Dominic carrying a bucket with Toby's supplies, Alex carrying our small carrier with Toby in it and I was pushing the double stroller. Dropping off Toby was not much of a challenge, I was happy and Damien and Mia were actually doing pretty well. Then as we were heading for the door, I was told not to forget to go to the office and get the Project Cards. WTH?! Ok now the day is about to fall apart. I was told I needed to bring back these project cards for Toby so as we were leaving for that, my sandal broke. Yeah. Since it was a flip flop I had no choice but to head back to the car...dragging my right foot slowly. (sigh) I was told the office was a box outside so we drove around for 15 minutes looking for this place. Couldn't find it plus what are project cards??? We decided to unload and try dropping off her food entries. Dragging my foot due to the broken sandal, we went up to a lady asking about the foods who said, "Oh my. You'll have to bring those back tomorrow, that's when they are accepting food entries." OMG! I just wanted to fall over right after hearing that. Not only could I not find these project cards at this make believe office, I have to come back at 7:30 am tomorrow morning to drop off food and then stay because they'll be judging her food then and she has to listen. I must have called Dave 20 times by this time complaining and yelling at him for not taking time off.

After realizing I could not keep doing all this with a broken shoe we drove back out to our house so I could get a new pair of sandals and Alex grabbed her swimming suit. We'd already missed playgroup and I needed to get the kids to their lessons. I was able to drop them off at the pool with my grandmother and go BACK to the County Fair looking AGAIN for these project cards. I finally found the office, INSIDE a building, not outside like I was told. I gathered Alex's project cards for her entries and put them with the rabbit and the rest will go in her food entries. By this time Mia and Damien are screaming and freaking out. I was not amused and it was 100 degrees. We loaded up again and went to go pick up Alex and Dominic from my grandmother. We unloaded, started walking and guess what? My freakin other pair of sandals I had went back to the house for earlier broke. I have no idea why. Crappy luck maybe? I also didn't get my Avon order placed before the deadline this morning, we didn't make playgroup, we made all our food a day early so hopefully it tastes as good on Tuesday, and I have no daycare help this week so I'll have to tote Mia and Damien along to judging at 8 am the next two days. I am in some serious need of chocolate. And some new sandals.

OMG! We Made It Through!!

I have been a nervous wreck the past week up until today for this 4-H Fashion Review that Alex was doing for Buymanship. First, I have NO CLUE what the world I'm doing since this is our first year. Second, I am not competitive at all and modeling is not my thing. Third, holy cow the stress of all of this!!!!!!! One thing I love about all the activities the kids are involved in is meeting other moms. One mom who's daughter is in a different school district but our girls attend the county rabbit meetings together, told me next year will be much easier and less stressful. Looking at the other moms with older daughters combing their hair, fixing their make up, rehearsing answers they needed to know if a judge asked, and in general seeing how completely frazzled they were along with myself... I'm thinking it's not going to be any less stressful or easier. This is always going to be much more stress for the parents than for the kids. The kids competing were all happy and having a ball! I'm sure next week I will be just as exhausted with the showing of her rabbit and her 4 food entries.

A majority of the work to prepare for the show was done over the weekend. We went shopping not only for Alex but for the boys as well for back to school deals. Sunday we had another meeting with her Buymanship leader on how to model and we started doing the mountain of paperwork we had to submit to the judges. We went to Claires after the meeting and bought a bunch of cheap accessories and used some stuff she already owned like the purses. These 2 pictures are the outfits she chose and the pictures we submitted. Outfit #1

Outfit #2

We arrived early (we were told to) at 9:15. She was supposed to be judged on her first outfit at 10 am. It was more like 10:30!!! If I would have known we'd be there for 3 hours, I would NOT have taken Mia and Damien in the double stroller. My grandmother was able to help until 10:50 keeping them entertained until she took Dominic to swimming lessons for me. Alex obviously missed hers!! She modeled her 2nd outfit at 11 when lessons started. (sigh) By this time Damien and Mia were getting a bit cranky and I can't take them into the judging area because as a courtesy they needed it quiet. Thankfully I got a bunch of video and pictures BEFORE grandma left. They called back all the girls to look at them all again and then picked what they thought was the top 2. Alex told me she froze up on one question which was "Where did you buy your outfit?" So I knew she might not get chosen as a top 2. It was the 2nd outfit, it came from Walmart on their clearance rack and I paid $8 total ($3 shirt, $5 capris). The sandals were more than the outfit and they were $10 from Kmart. We finally left at 12:15 and went to McDonalds for a well deserved meal since Mia and Damien whined a bunch but there was really no tears. Anyways here are some pictures of today.

Alex and her 2 friends waiting to be judged.

Picture of some of the competition

Alex waiting at the doorway to model her 2nd outfit. She's holding her paperwork she hands to the judge when she first gets up there.

Answering the judges questions. Hard picture to even get because of all the red backound they had set up.

Modeling Outfit #2 for the judge

The Schedule Of An Avid 4H'er

Before enrolling Alex in 4H last year, I asked my fellow mommy friends on the Large Family Babycenter board if anyone could give me any advice about how 4H worked and if the kids would benefit from it. I was told it was a great program and they would learn so many different things for later in life so I was sold. We have just enough land that we can do a small amount of livestock as projects but back then I thought all it was just agricultural projects and you showed veggies and livestock at the fair. I was way wrong as there are a huge variety of things to do, without living on a farm. This year Alex chose Rabbits, Buymanship, and Cooking as her projects and now we are in high gear preparing for the County Fair so she can "show" what she has learned. This past week, every day was dedicated to 4H. Sunday she did some novice practice modeling with the girls, cooking school Monday where she baked for the market and learned about judging foods, Tuesday she met with her 4H Rabbit club and worked on the correct way to show Toby to the judges, Wednesday she worked at the Farmer's Market, and we went on a shopping trip with 2 other moms in buymanship for accessories for their modeling. It's been a bit overwhelming for me but I am SURE next year will be better and I won't be as stressed since we will have more of an idea of what is going on.

Here's a few pictures of this week.

Working their bake sale at the Farmer's Market, this is all stuff they made at cooking school.
Some cookies and muffins we made at home to help make sure there was enough for the bake sale.
Trio of Buymanship girls after having the gals at Dillards put some light make up on them.

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.

She's Sew Cute!

I was one of those kids who wanted to be in 4H but instead I was in Brownies and Girl Scouts for all of my Grade School Years. I think had my mother checked into 4H, she would have realized that it was more than just for the Farm and Ag kids. There are so many opportunities in 4H. Cooking, Sewing, Quilting, etc. And this being our first year and not knowing WHAT we were doing, I enrolled Alex in the 3 things that she saw on the list that appealed to her. Sewing, Rabbits, and Cooking. What I didn't realize was how much work those 3 categories would be and how time consuming on my schedule they would be either!

Alex will be sewing something on my Singer and modeling it at the State Fair. She will be caring and raising to perfection a rabbit hoping to win a ribbon, and she will be cooking up some goodies for the judges in hopes to win over their taste buds.

Today we had her first sewing meeting. Since I sew myself and she loves to watch, she was a bit familiar with how it worked although she had never sewn anything. She had them sew little rice filled heart pillows that you can warm up for sore muscles or whatever. I told Alex when we got home she could play with mine some. So tonight she made 2 beanbags (with kids you can never have enough of those!!) and a little blanket for Dominic's Burger King Icat. She's hooked. lol

Ramblings

I ate 6 fortune cookies yesterday. Was really hoping to get a fortune or some "sign" saying Aunt Flo wasn't going to arrive, but she did right on time this morning. (sigh) Ever think God is talking to you through fortune cookies?? One I opened said "an exciting sports opportunity is approaching." I stood there thinking we just got done with Soccer and that's done till March, the kids are already in Gymnastics, Ball is not till May. Then I remembered the church newsletter saying they needed people to sign up for their Volleyball team. I wasn't planning on throwing Volleyball into the mess of activities we already do every M-Th. I don't think I could if I wanted either. I hope I don't get in trouble for throwing that fortune away. Get struck by lightning outside or something. lol


Tonight after Gymnastics, Alex has a 4H Rabbit thing going on. I'll leave here at 4:45 with all 4 kids and then when Dominic is done at 6:45 Daddy will have to pick up the 3 and I'll drive our truck to the rabbit meeting with Alex. A woman will be chatting with the kiddos on proper care of rabbits, showing techniques, etc. She's also bringing rabbits for the kids to pick one out and for us parents to buy. So we may be bringing home a new pet tonight and I am THRILLED about that let me tell ya. Another cage for me to clean that's all I want. lol I just have to think of how excited she will be to get a ribbon in the State Fair. (sigh) I thought about how maybe I could just stick the guinea pig and rabbit together, I could clean all the poop, one cage at one time, then I read that the Carl and Ray scenario for Blockbuster really is not a good idea since both can become territorial.

So that plan was foiled. I'm sure she'll volunteer to help clean it's cage that first time or two but then just like with Vinnie over time, I'll be stuck doing it all myself. Ugh.