Born at the wrong time... Emma totally should have been a pioneer, she was born about 150 years too late. She has always loved to dress up like this and play pioneer. I was happy to see her dressed up tonight...proof that she's still my little girl and getting all grown up on me yet. She came down like this tonight and told me that she'd already knocked out her Sat. morning cleaning chores, and was all ready to play pioneer tomorrow. I told her "great, what are you going to do". She responded, "I think I'll plant a garden". I told her she may need to wait a few more months on that, maybe let the ground UNTHAW first. Then she said, "I'll make bread then, can you help me? I don't want to use any electrical things, I'm stretching it and punching it all by hand". I told her sure, how could I say no to that?....just as long as she cleans it all up by hand too!! I love the creativity...if only it could be mess-free.

This afternoon, Isaac, in cleaning up blankets for a fort they had made, knocked a Book of Mormon off of the top of the TV (the big hardbound family edition) and it smacked down on the floor. I said, "Be careful Isaac, it'll break and we won't be able to read it anymore". He thought for a sec and then said, "Is it true Mom, are the words all true?" I responded, "Yes Isaac", then he said, "Are the pictures all true too?" I had to laugh as I responded "yes" again. He's too funny. It was Isaac's turn for a daddy-date night tonight. He made a list this afternoon of all the things he wanted to do: 1. Burger King 2. Dunkin Donuts (lucky for us, there's one on every corner here) 3. the gym (to hit at the batting cages) 4. Barnes and Noble. They actually hit everything on the list except for Dunkin Donuts, and hit Home Depot instead. He came home w/an airplane book for Jacob from B & N (that Jacob had begged for earlier in the week when we'd been there for storytime) that he bought w/his own money, $10! He seriously has such a giving heart, he LOVES to buy things for other people! I'm always telling him to save it for something for himself, but then I feel guilty...what, am I encouraging him to be selfish? If he wants to spend it all on other people I guess I should let him.

Lastly, the house remodeling is still slowly dragging along....I love knocking down walls, sheet rocking, painting large walls....stuff that you can see drastic changes quickly with. I HATE all this finishing work, it takes FOREVER! So, take a close look at the baseboards by Emma's feet. They're new this week. And no, we don't just go buy baseboards, not my husband...first we buy the wood, then cut it in half (legnth-wise), then route the wood, then prime it, paint it, then put up the baseboard!! Nothing's simple! Really though tonight we split, routed, and primed in about a half hour all we'll need for the girls room tomorrow. And only spending about $.60/sq. ft. vs. $1.50-$2.00, which adds up fast when you're putting it up on half the house. And its really not even the cost that is driving this DIY, it is the fact that you can't even buy baseboards the size that we need them. This house may be old but it was custom built way back in the day and we are trying to keep the look as consistent as possible. Next is crown molding....sounds a little more complex than baseboards....

Comfy?
I can think of more comfortable places to sleep...like a BED...but this is the one he chose a few nights ago after his nightly bedtime struggle.
This morning Jake was bawling that Isaac was calling him something. It was hard to understand him through all the tears, but I finally understood that Isaac was calling him a "human being". I explained to him that that's ok, it's just another name for a "person". He stomped his foot and said, "I just want to be Jacob!!"

We had Sarah's big 9th birthday bash Friday night. A sleepover w/6 girls. I kept them so busy they didn't have time for much girly drama....we made pizza's and crafted all night long. Seriously, I was all crafted out by 10:00, but Emma and Sarah knew I had one more, and wouldn't let me off the hook. We finished the frames at 11:30!! Then half a movie, and finally the giggling stopped at about 1:15, and I went to bed exhausted.

We mouge pouged (sp?) frames, feathery ribbon covered pens, and made purses from a pant leg. (I didn't cut up the girls' jeans, I had a stack already intended for making some denim quilts)

It looked like a... Today Isaac popped a chocolate chip in his mouth, and found to his disappointment that it was a bitten off brown marker end. You gotta watch out with a 1 year old in the house, you never know what you'll find.

The girls are in Houston w/my dad, step-mom and sister, having a TOTAL DREAM VACATION: Luby Lou's, shopping, eating out, movies, malls, Build-a-bear, parks and still horse back riding tomorrow. I thought I was going to have such a hard time w/my babysitters gone, but it actually has been nice just having preschoolers home...I hadn't realized how insanely hectic our evenings have become w/all their lessons and activities!

Adam made it home safely Saturday night, with lots of Japanese snacks and 100 yen toys for everyone. Today we spent the day doing house projects. Adam stayed busy on his new router making baseboards, and I painted a rocket growth chart for the boys room. The boys are very happy with it, so it was a success.

The mind of a 5 year old...
We awoke Saturday morning to another tragedy in the family....the boys bunnies had been running loose in the basement all week since Monday when I had been doing laundry and decided to let them have a little freedom, and then could never catch them all week (they're pretty fast little devils). Anyway, Friday night I had been able to lure Simba into the cage with a couple of carrots, but couldn't find Nala. So, Saturday morning I asked Isaac to help me find her. He yelled out a few minutes later that he had found her, she was laying down, and he thought she might be dead. He was right. She must have eaten something?? Nala was Jakes bunny. Later after I'd emailed Adam about it, I told Jake that "Daddy said he was very sorry". Isaac said, "Why? Did he do it?" I said, "Of course not! How would Dad do it anyway, he's in Japan?" To which Isaac responded, "I don't know, maybe he set up a rat trap before he left". Too funny. You just never know what's going through a 5 year old's head.
Saturday morning was the "Lego Challenge" at the library, Isaac's been counting down the days for about a month and a half now. When I signed him up for it, I had intended for it to be a daddy/son morning...but instead I got to take all 5 kids and an extra that slept over. Isaac had PLENTY of help. He built a rocket and a space car. We didn't win, but hey, we were competing against a bunch of older boys who had drawn up plans, and practiced several times before coming. Ours was impromptu, and we had fun. This coming Saturday is Sarah's 9th birthday. I let her open up her presents today, since they will be leaving for 8 days in Houston on Wednesday morning. I swear we just had a long Christmas break, but here they have a "Winter Break" as well in Feb, and then spring break in Apr. Originally winter break was intended for the schools to save $$ because it was the coldest point of the year, and they could shut off the heat while the schools were closed. Now it's just tradition. Sarah had been dying for a camera. She totally knew she was getting one, but she still genuinely FREAKED OUT while opening it.

I felt bad, she was SO excited about using it today. All the kids helped and they had a photo studio set up for pets, stuffed animals, and people. Then the disappointment, the camera would only take 3 pictures!! I had originally thought she could use one of our memory cards, then after reading and looking the camera over, I understood that the camera had internal memory....so when it would only take 3, I was convinced it was broken and had all intentions of taking it back tomorrow....until Adam talked me through it on the phone tonight, and I found the memory card slot hiding next to the batteries (of course it takes a different kind of card than the ones we already have!). When did they start putting them there?? So I'll buy a memory card tomorrow instead of a new camera.

One more pic from last night, how could I forget this one? He's getting every bit as naughty as he looks in this picture.

Another day down...
Sarah had a gymnastics meet tonight. I was able to pawn off Emma to a friends house, but took the 3 boys. I had bought a new portable dvd player...it didn't work quite the magic I was hoping for, but it did help. The meet did end one hour earlier than the last meet though, phew.

Don't know why each day has to be so eventful....but it does. After school I picked the girls up and Sarahs friend as well. I was driving Emma over to a friends house from church. On the way, I looked over my shoulder to change lanes, not sure if it was the car was so packed full of kids and chaos, or the fog on all the windows, but I missed a car. He layed on the horn, and I immediately swerved back into my original lane. I was a little shakey for a minute, but just kept driving. On the way to the girls house, I needed to stop at the music store and grab a few books quick. I missed my turn, and had to turn around in a parking lot, and go back. As soon as I parked, I notice the car I had almost hit pulled in right behind me. I thought, "man, this guys really mad. I don't think I'm going to get out of my car...might not be safe". So I stayed in, but then notice that this he was circling his car, like something was wrong w/it. I rolled my window down and asked if everything was ok. He replied, no, that I'd hit him. Shocked and confused, I got out of my car to inspect. Couldn't find a single scratch (except those that my kids had already put on it), and couldn't find any on his either. Not finding anything, he said, "You must have hit my bumper". Seeing that his bumper is red, and mined looked fine, I wasn't sure how that could have happened either. Then he ran to the edge of the parking lot and waved a police car w/lights and siren on in.

What on earth? The policeman nicely told me I could get back in my car, so I did. Then I overheard the man tell the cop that I'd been all over the road, hit him, then fled the scene and tried to lose him. Too funny, he thought when I'd turned around I was trying to lose him. I had no idea he was even following me!! Anyway, the cop could see that I hadn't hit him, that the guy was a little off his rocker, tried to calm him down, and sent him on his way, and told me I could go too. ENOUGH DRAMA ALREADY!!!

Waiting for the worms... I was downstairs unloading some groceries, and I found a row of paper cups filled with dirt. I asked Isaac what they were. With confidence, he answered, "They're Jakies. Yesterday he killed a worm. We're waiting for it to resurrect."

I

Sad day for Sarah..... Wow, today was one of the hardest days I have had in a long time! My neighbor came over this morning about 1000 and told me Fiona, Sarah's cat, had just been hit by a car. She had noticed her in the road and thought it was a big squirrel, then went out side and saw the pink collar....I found a box, and put a princess pillow Sarah had sewed last summer for her inside, and went out and got her. She had got hit just barely on her jaw, it looked like it killed her instantaneously. So I was glad she didn't look bad and apparently didn't have to suffer. I dug a grave in the backyard, working around rocks and tree roots, but finally got it deep enough that I thought she wouldn't get dug up. I had her in the basement, and Jacob checked on her on the hour all afternoon. I was sad myself, but stressed more than anything about breaking the news to Sarah. She has always considered herself a cat kind of girl, and had always wanted one. Fiona was her first cat. We had gotten her this summer as soon as we got settled in the house.
At 2:30, my neighbor came over to watch the boys for me, and I went to the school to check her out a little early. She was very curious as to why I was there. I said, "Do you want the good news first, or the bad news?" She said good. So I told her about the Hannah Montana 3-d movie tickets I had just bought for tomorrow night. Then she nervously asked, "So what's the bad?", as we were getting in the car. I told her, and she started bawling and repeating "no" over and over. So we both sat there in front of the school bawling for about 5 minutes. I felt so bad for her. One of those times as a parent you'd do anything to take the pain away, take it upon yourself instead, but there's just not much you can do. She just sobbed and sobbed. We drove to the grocery store and bought flowers for the grave, since nothing is growing in our yard right now. Then we went back to the school and picked up Emma, who has such a soft spot in her heart for ANY animal, and didn't take the news a whole lot better. Then we went back home and had a little burial service before time for gymnastics and swim team. I thought about ommitting them tonight, but decided getting out of the house might be the best thing we could do.
So now it's 10:00, and the kids are all in bed and asleep. I layed in bed by the girls while they went to sleep, and we talked for a while about death. They had a lot of questions about when my mom died, and about what she was like. We talked and cried, and I shared things about that experience that I've never shared w/them before....they're growing up so fast, it's crazy I can have such REAL conversations w/them. I love it!
Hopefully tomorrow will be better....

We'll miss you Fiona!

Swim meet today...
This mornings endeavors took a lot of planning and preparation. Adam and I got up at 0515, got ready, threw our bags in the car, snatched kids out of beds in pj's and into the car. Breakfast on the road...mmm...thank goodness we live in the Dunkin Donuts capital of the world, one on every corner, and we were off. Dropped Emma off at her meet for warm ups at 0700, then to the airport where we dropped Adam off for his 2 week trip to Japan. We are all quite jealous, to say the least. Then back to the meet for the next 5 1/2 hours for me and the kids. I was actually surprised at how well the kids did, considering our portable dvd player is broken, and the laptop is broken, and Sarah and Emma BOTH can't find their cords to charge their Gameboys, and when we arrived, we discovered Isaac's Leapster had dead batteries. Not off the the greatest start, but I had brought a lot of snacks, and the boys got to play with some good old fashioned legos and matchbox cars! Although about a couple of hours into it, they started conviently making friends with other kids w/the dvd players. Emma swam 5 events: 100 IM, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke, 200 Freestyle (she was NOT happy that I'd signed her up for that one), and 50 Free. Being the awsome Mom that I am, I only missed 2 of her 5 events. I was disappointed, but I figure for juggling 4 other kids by myself, I guess that's not too bad. The first one we miss because we were in the bathroom, we had thought they were starting on the events that they had actually done last night. Oops. And then the last one we missed because Luke was in DESPARATE need of a nap, and I was scrambling to find something to put in his bottle, best I found was a hot chocolate packet for $1.00! But, by the time I got him squared away, we walked in just in time to see her pull herself out of the water. But, through all that, I did get a few pictures with my telephoto lense.

Long story short....the past week Adam and I have noticed our snot being black. Kept hoping it was nothing, hoping it would go away, but yesterday I finally figured out the problem. After cleaning the kitchen and realizing that all of the white cupboards were covered in a thin layer of black soot, I discovered the door going down to the basement off of the kitchen looked like this!

I immediately called our oil company and a repairman came out by last night. I was worried all day that it was going to cost us thousands, but it ended up costing nothing...just replaced a nob on the boiler and a cap on the chimney flew. Yeah!! It's going to take me weeks I'm sure to catch up on all the soot, but at least the problem is solved.

Hopefully that wasn't a sign of what I having coming the next 2 weeks flying solo.