Funny story

Yesterday was a busy day. As previously stated, we had friends over to the house most of the afternoon and everyone was really tired. About 7:15, I fell asleep for about 10 minutes in the recliner. Mallory was in my lap and also fell asleep.

As most of you know, I have weird sleeping patterns. If I get a late nap, I can't go to sleep for hours afterward. Therefore, I was up late last night. When I finally decided to lay down (12:36) I couldn't go to sleep. My stomach (and baby) decided they were hungry. I tossed and turned hoping I could just drift off and wait until breakfast. But no such luck. At 1:27, I finally got out of bed. The only thing that sounded good was Oreos and milk.

Quietly I make my way through the house and decide against turning on the lights in the panty. I knew where the Oreos would be on the shelf. However, I didn't realize what would be in their surrounding area. So you can imagine my surprise when suddenly....I hear a loud shattering noise and begin to feel wet stuff down the side of my leg. As I struggle to turn on the light, I realize that a new bottle of hot sauce was on the same shelf. I must have knocked it over when reaching for the cookies.

At 1:30 this morning, I was cleaning hot sauce off of almost every item in my pantry/laundry room. I was all over the door, my ironing board, me, the wall, the floor. No to mention that I didn't have shoes or socks on. I had to get all of the glass up off the floor too.

I was awake enough to want cookies, but not excited about what it cost me. Ahhhh...what we will do when our cravings take over!

Tornado Alert!

Yesterday we got together with our friends at our house for a play date. Emily was watching Sandy's kids, and Melinda came over with her two. There were 8 kids here, ranging in age from 8-2 years old. Us moms mainly stayed in the kitchen talking while the kids had the run of the house. (My house isn't that big so they couldn't go far!)

Below is just a glimpse of what snack time was like. Check out all of the popcorn on the floor!


Mallory was really enjoying her popcorn even after everyone else had left the table.
The kids were really good and had a great time playing. They were all very tired when it was time to take everyone back home. We love being with our friends!

Sweet love

Yesterday I was supposed to take the kids to a movie with my friend Emily. But the kids didn't get to bed the night before until late, and I hated to wake them up so early. So I told the kids we would rent a movie and have a date in their playroom.

So we get the playroom cleaned up and I popped popcorn for us to snack on. I asked Mason to get us some pillows to lay on the floor. He came back with four pillows. He gave me his and Christian's and kept mine. When I noticed that he had mine, I asked him if he wanted to trade for his pillow. His response was, "No, Can I keep yours? I like the way your face smells and I can smell you on your pillow." My heart just wanted to leap! He's such a sweet boy.

Chores to do

So, as the children get older, I try to introduce them to new things around the house called "chores". Sometimes it goes over well, and sometimes not. In the last few weeks, I've been having them sort their clothes and put them away. Most times they don't complain. Mallory likes to help me unload the dishwasher and Mason is good to feed the cat. So today, I was preparing to clean bathrooms. I've never really wanted them to be involved in this part of house-work, but today, Mason was insistant.

As I pour the Pine-sol in the toilet bowl, Mason comes in to ask me what I'm doing. As I tell him, he says, "I want to learn how to do that." With reluctance, I told him to come back in a few minutes and I'd teach him.

After 30 mins. or so, he asks if its time. By this time, he's gotten Mallory interested in the job. I teach Mason how to hold the brush, scrub the undersides of the basin and flush when you think you are finished. Mallory comes in during this process and asks if she can have a turn. Needlesstosay, Mason doesn't want to give up his new-found task. He feels a little control over the subject. As they proceed to the hall bathroom, Mallory is asking for the toilet brush. Mason refuses to give it to her, stating that "this is his new job and she can take out the trash!" A small fight develops and all I can think of is: My God. My children are fighting over cleaning the toilet. If I'd known then, what I know now, I would have started this teaching habit a long time ago!

After the fight settles down, Mallory says, "Mommy? Will you buy me a toilet brush so I can scrub like Mason?" Ahhhhhhhh! Another day in the life!

Summer ending

Summer is coming to an end for us and it went by so quickly. We've had a full summer packed with fun, but now I'm into buying school supplies, uniforms and bedtime schedules. Ugh! But the upside is, they go back to school and I don't. I'll be staying at home next year to raise my growing brood.

Mason seems excited about going back to school. He really likes GCA and Ms. Janie. She keeps his mind challenged and doesn't put up with disobedience. I'm looking forward to the calm and respectful child again. (Don't get me wrong, he's not bad. He just has a stong opinion.) He's been practicing his letters and reading over the last few days. He's even gotten Mallory involved. Mason tried on his uniform pants from last year and they were about 2 inches short on his legs. They still fit perfectly in the waist. Thank God he got his dad's genes. So we'll be looking for navy blue pants next weekend during the tax-free shopping weekend.

Mallory also seems excited about starting back to school. She just wants to be with Mason, doing whatever he is doing. She tried on her uniform dresses yesterday to make sure they still fit. I advised her that she would be wearing a dress every day to school next year. She didn't seem affected, and even liked how she looked in the dresses. Now...I should have prefaced this by telling you that Mallory cannot stand to wear a dress. Every Sunday is a battle about what she is going to wear. She is a T-shirt and shorts kind of girl. And don't even discuss panty hose. I can hardly wait for it to get cold outside and I have to force her into a pair of tights. I'll probably have to have them spraypainted on her legs so she can't get them off. Nonetheless, she said she would wear the uniform dresses to school. Hopefully when she sees that all of the girls have on the same thing, she won't mind as much.

Tax-free shopping is next weekend and I have my list ready!

BTW - Did I mention that Sandy went back to full-time work today? Back to public school for her. I was sad. No more swim days or McD lunches.

Yesterday we took M&M to a water park in Gwinnett Co. We had heard about this place from several of our friends, but had never been. Last Friday, we didn't have anything else to do, so I took the kids up for a short while. We had such a good time, they wanted to go back again yesterday. I called Betsy and she met us there. It is owned by the county, but it was clean and its a big place. They have an area just for little kids, there are big slides for older kids and grown-ups and there is a "lazy river" area too that has a constant current.

These are Mason's feet. He just came down the little slide head first (which is a no-no) but it was really funny to him.

They have a smaller slide on the other side, which Mallory was more interested in. She went down the yellow slide one time and got turned over. When she uprighted herself, she wasn't real happy that she'd gone under water. She wouldn't go down it again. The red slides were just enough for her.

This was/is Mason's favorite thing to do. Run and Jump! He must have done this 1000 times while we were there. One time, however, he jumped in the wrong direction. He jumped into the 4ft. area, where he couldn't touch. He was struggling and the life guard had to jump in and save him. He was a little scared at first, but thought it was really cool that the life guard jumped in after him. From then on, he was more careful about where he jumped. Last night when he was telling Christian about his experience, he was just rattling on. I said, "Daddy, he wasn't even scared!" Mason looked at me, and said, "Oh yes I was. I almost drownded!"

When we first got there, Mason jumped right in. Mallory on the other hand, took the cautious way in . The water was very cold, and you can tell it by the look on her face!

They have a nice picnic area where we had a picnic lunch. And a place for us to sit in the sun to warm up. The high was only 85 yesterday, and the water was very cold. It was a great day. The kids had a great time with their Aunt Bet and it only cost me $13.00 for 4 hours of entertainment.

And the real reason..

I haven't been posting much is because I have been really sick the last 5 weeks. All because of...

this little guy (or girl). I'm 12 weeks pregnant with our third baby. We are so very excited! In this picture he/she is looking right at you. Baby has webbed fingers and toes at this stage, but its heart and brain are getting bigger by the day. But yes, I've been realllllllly sick the last few weeks and haven't felt like blogging. I've been doing good to watch after the other two kids we already have. They also have been good for me. They don't know that they will have another sibling soon, but they have been good to let me rest, help me around the house, or just play without tearing up too much stuff.

I'm due January 24, 2010. I just had a visit with the doctor yesterday and all is going well. I'll keep you posted. I'm feeling better with each day.

4th of July

I know. I'm late. But better late than never. We went to the parade in Oxford for
4th of July. It was so much fun. The kids always have a good time. We've been going every year since Mason was a baby. Mom and Dad came out to watch the parade too. We went back to our house and had an impromptu cookout. The kids were just glad to have something fun to do with their dad.






Later that night, the kids had a great time lighting the fireworks. They loved the sparklers and wanted to do 2 at a time. Christian bought some barrel bombs and they let out a lot of fireworks.

In her own words

Mallory has always had to have a say in what her daily attire would be. Most of the time, I don't fight it, but there are days when I have to use my "mother voice" and say no to the dress. On this particular day, I sent her to put on some clothes for herself. We weren't going anywhere, so it didn't matter to me what she put on. This is how she came out!

Gotta love her sense of style. Atleast she had on a skirt, even though the skirt sings a song all the time. Thanks, Em!

Brotherly love...

A few days ago, we went swimming with our friends at the usual place. When we got home, the kids were so tired and just wanted to chill out. I sent them to their room to change clothes, while I changed and settled in to the recliner for a short nap. I never got to sleep because I kept thinking they were being so quiet. After about 30 min., I went in to their room to check on them. I found Mallory sitting on her bed, while Mason was kneeling at the side. He was so focused on what he was doing that he didn't even notice I was standing there. Mallory was beaming because her brother was finishing up the last coat of paint on her fingernails. It was so sweet! He was being so gentle with her so as to not mess up the paint. It was probably the sweetest thing I've ever seen them do together.


After the nails came make-up. He wanted to know where the make-up went and how to apply it. It was funny teaching my 5 yr old boy how to apply make-up. It was even funnier watching him try to get it on Mallory. In the end, her eyes were REALLY blue and her lips were REALLY pink.

It's been a busy month

It's been almost a month since I've posted to my blog. I've got so much to fill you in on, so I'm not sure where to get started. Hopefully I'll be able to remember most of it. I think I'll start with the most recent stuff and work my way back to my last post. Hold on to the ride!