A first

Ruby and Eliza Claire went to the movie theater for the first time today. And Charlotte got to see and sit with her good friend Sloan from school. Much fun was had by all.

Ruby and Eliza Claire called the previews commercials. When the previews were over, they thought it was time to leave. They wanted to know why it was so dark. It was so cute to see them take it all in.

When the frogs jumped in the water at one point in the movie, Eliza Claire announced loudly, "frogs are really good swimmers" in her very matter of fact way. In the next scene when one of the frogs says "it's not slime, it's mucus!" for about the third time Rehm, pipes up with, "and it necessary to keep them alive!" Ah, my little budding scientists!

At another point in the movie, something unexpected happened and both Ruby and Charlotte screamed. It was too cute!

About an hour into the movie all three girls had to go to the restroom. In leaving, Ruby got loud and that turned into a full fledged fit in the restroom. One lady in the restroom, probably in her
40s, thought it was pretty funny especially how Ruby didn't like any of the choices she was being given. Another lady, in her 80s, was not amused and kept giving me dirty looks. After about 5 minutes, and sending the other girls back into the theater, she decided to go potty and quit screaming so we could go back in. Of course, we had missed a couple of pivotal scenes.

All in all, they enjoyed the experience, though a few scenes scared Eliza Claire a bit. If you ask her she'll tell you she didn't like it, but she really did.

Jenn

PS. In case you can't see it in the picture, we saw the Princess and the Frog. It was a very cute movie and all six of us enjoyed it. There were a few comments here and there aimed at the adults that didn't add anything to the movie that I thought should have been left out. There were a few scenes that really scared the little girls but it wasn't, too much. Everyone from age 3 to almost 40 enjoyed the movie. Rehm has already asked if we can buy it when the DVD comes out.

Confession

It is exactly two weeks before Christmas and I am not ready! I have no presents. I have no Christmas tree! I have no indoor decorations. I have no Christmas cards ordered! I barely have a list! Can you tell all of this is starting to bother me, just a little bit?

How did this happen? I'm usually such a good planner? How did Christmas sneak up on me this year? It isn't like the date changes or anything.

Ack! I guess I know what I should go do now...

Here's hoping my children don't actually look like this on Christmas morning!

Merry Christmas!
Jenn

Dates

I bought dried dates at the grocery store this week. Can you buy dates
that aren't dried? I honestly don't know. This is my first foray into
the date world. I'm not even sure why I bought them.

This afternoon I was packing Ruby and Eliza Claire's snack fir school
tomorrow while Rehm worked on homework. He looked up and saw me
putting dates in baggies.

Rehm: What are those?

Me: Dates

Rehm: Are they good?

Me: I don't know. I've never had one.

Rehm: you haven't? So why don't you try it?

Me: do you want one?

Rehm: No, that's ok, you can try them and tell me if they're good.

Me: I'll try them when you do.

Rehm: I'm not trying them!

About this time Ruby walks in the kitchen

Ruby: What are those?

Me: Dates. Would you like to try one?

Ruby: Sure!

Me: How is it?

Ruby: Yummy!

Then Eliza Claire and Charlotte walk in and want to know what Ruby is
eating. They also both try them. Neither like them. All the girls
leave. Rehm looks at me and asks, "so are you going to try one now?"
My reply, "are you?"

Yeah, I know I should have tried the date and pretended to like it.
Those of you who know me well enough to know my food issues
understand. I'm not sure tring it and running to the bathroom to puke
would have been any better of an example. Knowing me there was at
least a 50% chance of thar outcome. Oh well, maybe the next new food
will inspire me to taste it.

And yes, I felt like I was in an old life cereal commercial. I'm so
glad I'm raising at least one Mikey.

Jenn

God in the Details

Sometimes I think the mundane things about my life are too small to be on God's RADAR screen. I'll think God is just there for the big things - job loss, death, serious illness, etc. But then I'm reminded that he tells me that he knows the number of hairs on my head and that I am more important than the flowers (yeah, I'm paraphrasing here because I'm too lazy to go look up the scripture and I hate to admit no longer have these memorized). If how many hairs are on my head matters then the details and mundane parts of my life must matter too.

Last week is a great example. The kids were gone with Grandma and Michael to the Chuy's parade. My parents were both in the house doing stuff. I went out in the yard to spend some time with the dog. He was not doing well at all and I just wanted to spend some quiet time with him. I sat there for about 10 minutes just hanging out with the dog. Then I noticed a drip coming from a pipe on the house. I knew immediately that this was not a good thing. I knew that Michael and my dad had replaced hoses on the washer the day before and there is a drain pipe in the floor under them. So I wondered if one of the new hoses was not tight and leaking. My other thought was the water heater that we knew was on its last legs and going to need replacing soon.

I took a picture of it and texted it to Michael asking him if he knew where the other end of this pipe was. Well, I thought it was Michael. The response I got back said "Dallas says it is either the condensation pipe for the A/C or the water heater." I was confused until I looked and realized I'd texted my sister in law, Cathi, instead of my husband. I then texted my husband and headed upstairs to check the washer and water heater. When I opened the door to the water heater, there was an inch or so of water sitting in the pan. It was leaking! It was within an inch of leaking out of the pan. I have a two story house and the water heater is upstairs. Another day or two and I would have had a big mess.

Michael and Dad replaced the water heater and all is good.


But here is the thing, I never sit in the back yard. I especially, never sit in the back yard facing the house. There is absolutely no reason I should have been there that day, sitting there to see the pipe dripping. I could look at it as a fluke, or fate. But I choose to believe that God aligned things such that I would see that drip that morning. I guess he knew the stress of a water heater leaking on the second floor of the house would have sent me over the edge and straight to the loony bin! I choose to believe that God is in the details of my life. That even the small things that happen to me matter to Him. And I am so thankful He watches over me an my family.

Jenn

Torture or Treat?

This week has been a crazy, busy week. Everything that could be going on this week is. From a major event at church (post and pictures to come), to co-oping at the preschool, to work parties for both Michael and I on the same night, to hosting a chicken stew tomorrow. It is a busy week.

Today was scheduled to be my cleaning/cooking day to get ready for the chicken stew. Given how crazy the week has been so far my house is a mess and I've not had a chance to get started on the prep for the stew. Luckily, I've stayed on top of laundry and already done the shopping for the stew but that is it. Today's to do list is very long. It started with needing to run a few errands. We needed cat food and glitter glue. Yeah, I know it sounds crazy that getting glitter glue was high enough on the list to be one of the early errands of the day. It is actually for work and I have to have it on Sunday. I knew if I didn't get it this morning I would likely forget it and that would be a big problem for the 60 or so children planning to make angel ornaments Sunday morning.

We did the pet store run first and then hit Michaels for the glue. When we walked back to the car I noticed this.


Yep, that would be a screw in my front passenger tire. While I was not losing pressure in the tire (love being able to see that while driving) I knew it needed to be fixed sooner rather than later. And knowing how difficult doing anything with the tires on my van is I knew I would have to take it to the dealership and it would take hours to fix. I didn't want to wait until Monday to deal with it as I knew that would stress me out to no end. I knew just not driving the van until Monday was also not a choice as it is the only vehicle we own that all six of us can get in at one time. And I knew we would want to go somewhere over the next 72 hours together. I knew fixing it on Saturday was going to be as bad or worse than fixing it today as the chicken stew is tomorrow!

So I bit the bullet decided to fix it today. My original plan was to find someone from school that the big kids could go home with and just bring the littles with me. I couldn't get ahold of the friend. So I called my mother-in-law for help. She graciously agreed to have the littles stay with her and have my father-in-law pick up the bigs. So I could wait for the van without having to try to pacify children. The good with the van is the screw had not completely punctured the tire and it could be repaired and the airbag light that is on and needs a sensor repaired is covered under warrenty. The bad news is there was a nail in one of the back tires and both back tires were worn enough they needed to be replaced.

So here I sit two plus hours later. I've had a nap. I've surfed the web. I've read part of a book. I'm now blogging. I probably have another hour or more before the van is finished. My house is still a disaster and none of the cooking has been started for tomorrow. I will definitely have a long night in front of me but for right now I'm thinking that silly screw was a treat as it allowed me the first "me" time I've had in several weeks!

Jenn who is so very grateful for in-laws who will watch children while I wait for the van!

Hair Fix

See I do still occassionally do "fancy" hair.

Jenn

Ack! Two Weeks! The pictures

Ack! Two Weeks!

 

I can not believe it has been two weeks since I last blogged!  It hasn't been due to lack of subject matter, that is for sure. Things have been as crazy as they normally are - maybe crazier

It literally makes me a bit crazy when I go even a few days without blogging. So what happened?

Part of the problem is our current computer situation. My laptop is now a desktop. The screen on the laptop is useless. The kids desktop was useless so the solution was to hook a monitor to the laptop and make them a new desktop. Unfortunately that means I now have a desktop, too and I have to share it with the kiddos.

Then ther is just the crazy life we seem to have. My parents were here for two weeks. There was a major holiday - I have lots of yummy recipes to share. We got and assembled a new playscape. The water heater went out.  The cats had parasites and had to be treated - giving meds to a cat is a horrendous job. Doing it to two cats without help, I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. The dog has been having issues. And half the family (me, Charlotte, and Michael) has been sick.

Yeah, there are several blog posts to be created from the last two weeks. Hopefully I'll get around to it soon. This week is crazy. So dont expect too much too soon.   I'll do my best but I make no promises.

I'm testing blogging by email as I can't use blogger on my iPhone and I'm too lazy and cold to get out of bed and go sit at my "desktop" to blog. Now if Santa would only bring me a new laptop, I might be back to regular blogging business.

Jenn

PS. I'm on my third try with this post. Getting the pictures and formatting right has a learning curve. It would have been quicker and easier to use the silly "desktop."

Four Minutes

It takes four minutes to turn this
into this

or this

using this
(Ed Emberley's Drawing Book of Animals)

Why am I doing this? Well, because as usual, I'm just a bit crazy. And this is my new craziness. Ruby and Eliza Claire have to have a snack for preschool that is packed separate from their lunches. To make them a little more fun I started drawing a surprise on them each day. We do reuse the bags a couple of times, so I don't do these every day.

A Vision

Can you tell someone dressed herself today. Isn't she a vision?

Because life is so dull, boring, and calm around Mayhem Mania

Are you laughing yet?

We will be adding these two cuties to our family today.

Isabella

Phineas

Now, are you laughing? Yep, we've lost our minds. Yep, I may really have a nervous breakdown trying to keep up with two more living things in this house. Yep, we are crazy, stupid, morons who are all thrilled with the prospect of having Phineas and Isabella join the mania. Yep, that's us.

We pick them up at 3:30. Everyone is super excited. Wish us luck.

Things heard in the car on the way to school

While eating breakfast in the car this morning, Eliza Claire asked, "Mommy how do you eat breakfast at Heaven?" I said I didn't know and was not sure if you even ate breakfast in Heaven. She was quiet for a few minutes and then completely out of the blue I heard:

Eliza Claire: I love you, Ruby!

Ruby: What you say?

Eliza Claire: I love you, Ruby!

And then there was silence. Ruby did not acknowledge this in any way. I wonder what that means. Maybe she doesn't love Eliza Claire? Maybe she still didn't understand what Eliza Claire said and didn't want to ask a second time? Maybe she got distracted by something she saw out of the window and forgot her sister was talking to her? Who knows. Eliza Claire sure did melt my heart even if her sister ignored her.

Cursed Jinxed?

Tonight was the fund raising night at Cici's Pizza for our elementary school. I decided it would be a good idea to go. I never go to Cici's Pizza without having flashbacks of this experience. But the last few times we have been nothing too bad has happened.

Michael met me there to drop off the little girls before he left for a meeting at church. He had been gone exactly two minutes when I walk up to the table from getting soup for Ruby and Eliza Claire to find all four children in a dither. Ruby was holding a broken glass salt shaker and Charlotte was panicked because she had knocked over Ruby's drink, which landed in Ruby's plate and had her food floating.




Ruby was spilling salt everywhere. Did you know that when large amounts of salt are poured into Sprite that it foams a lot? I dumped the broken salt shaker in the bowl of soup I was holding and ran to the bathroom to get paper towels to clean up all the Sprite. When I got back to the table, Ruby was using her hand to stir the salt/Sprite mixture and then licking it off of her fingers. It was totally disgusting!

When order was restored and everyone was happily eating again I realized the problem. I was alone with the children at Cici's. These kinds of things never happen when Michael is along. I will not be going back to Cici's with all four children without him again. I just don't think I can take it.

Now Back to our Regularly Scheduled Programming

Michael started a new job on Monday thus ending his three plus month hiatus. So now it is back to our regularly scheduled programming. There is only one problem. I don't remember what that looked like. I guess we will figure it out as we go. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the new job. I love the new job and more importantly the pay check that will come with it. But in the last three months there have been a lot of things Michael has taken off my plate that I'm not looking forward to having back. Things like getting the big kids from school, and grocery shopping were much easier when there were two of us with somewhat flexible schedules.

I am sure that by January of February I will have re-adjusted to having him back at work. But by then I might just be in the loony bin. I guess only time will tell. So for the next month or so, if you see me looking frazzled or the children looking extra bedraggled or behaving atrociously, please remember that I'm doing my best and hopefully with time I'll get back up to at least my normal mediocre standards.

Life is good and jobs are great!
Jenn

The Evil Eye: Ever have this problem?

If you have children over the age of five this is probably not on your radar screen anymore.

This is the bane of my existence. Why would an automatic toilet be a bad thing you ask? Well they scare the you know what out of my kids! These toilets are especially loud when they flush and when you are a small, wiggly child they flush at very unpredictable times. The kids are terrified that the toilet will flush before they are off of them. Rightly so, as it happens every time!

As a good mom I used to always try to cover the evil eye of the toilet with my hand but trying to get to it without blocking the toilet was nearly impossible for anyone less than a contortionist. Then half way through the potty experience I would always managed to move my hand a fraction of an inch and the stupid thing would flush. Of course at that point my child is crying and mad at me! Even thought it was totally the fault of the toilet. On the rare occasion when I wouldn't cover the toilet but tell them to deal they would end up peeing on themselves while arguing with me about why they couldn't just go. Did I mention how much I dislike these things?

Eventually I started carrying post it notes in my purse. This way I could just slap a post it over the evil eye and no worries about flushing. This was a wonderful beautiful thing. No more contortions, no more crying children. Only problem is I didn't always have my purse with me or the post its would mysteriously disappear from my purse. Then we were back to square one!

Finally out of desperation I have found ways to block them without contorting or carrying post its, using only something found in the restroom! Toilet paper! For the ones that are on the toilet and in the place where the handle to flush would normally be, simply fold a piece of toilet paper and drape it over the eye, have your child go about their business and throw the paper in the toilet when they are ready for it to flush. (Sorry for my very basic illustration I did it using an iphone app that lets you doodle on pictures or set backgrounds. I could and probably will write a whole post on the various things I have used this app for.)


For the ones built into the wall tuck the toilet paper into the seat cover dispenser and let it hang in front of the eye. Occasionally, there is nothing to suspend the paper from for the ones on the wall. I have been known in this situation to take a sanitary pad out of my purse and just undo the flap of its little cover/sleeve thingy. Then stick the flap to the wall and voila a nice evil eye cover. Yeah, you waste a sanitary pad this way but it sure beats having a screaming child with wet pants. Of course this backup plan goes back to assuming you have a purse with you and have sanitary pads in the purse. So it still isn't full proof. Apple needs to develop some kind of app where I can just point my phone at the evil eye and cause interference, cause you know I'm never without my phone. But then I might drop my phone in the toilet and that would be very, very bad.


Isn't it funny how something that should be helpful and convenient can be the bane of your existence when you have small children. I get that not having to touch the dirty toilet to get it to flush is a good thing. But terrifying my kid by making them think the toilet is trying to eat them is not a good thing, at all! You know someone who did not have small children definitely designed these things.

I hope this was helpful for at least someone. It only took me seven plus years to figure it out.
Jenn

Published Again

Once again Rehm's QUEST class has done a project where they each make a book. This is his third. Being a Bad Mommy, I actually missed his make-up presentation today. His dad was able to attend while I picked up the littles from preschool.

The cover of the book - If I Were a Light by Rehm. Make sure to note that this is an award winning book. It won Best QUEST Book of the Month! This was completely poetic license on the author's part.

If I Were a Light By: Rehm

If I were light I would be a light bulb that is extremely bright.

If I were a light I would be a light back pack that would not hurt my back.

If I were a light I would be a light blue room that would remind me of the sea.

My name is Rehm_____ and I was born on _______. I have three little sisters that drive me crazy! When I am not writing books I am playing DS. I am also the author of The Bandy Snatcher and Tiger and Bear.

Here is the link so you can read the Bandy Snatcher. Apparently I never blogged about Tiger and Bear. Guess I need to add that to my to do list.

Jenn

Rehm and Recess

This week, Michael and I had the occassion to observe Rehm on the playground at recess without him being aware. It was hillarious! He was playing with a group of boys who were playing football. Guess what position he was playing? Referee! He even had a flag he had made out of a ball and some paper and colore it all yellow. I heard him yell things like "dead ball," "five yard penalty!" The funniest part was that the other kids were actually listening to him and following his rules.



He was definitely in his element, making the rules and being in charge.

Jenn

Rectified

I know it still "looks bad" that Rehm's picture is bigger than the others but at least now all four of them are represented.

Busted!

Ruby was in my office earlier this week and wanted to know why I had a picture of all the other kids and not her. Oops! It really was an accident. Each on the kids pictures that are on my desk have just randomly ended up there. The one of Charlotte I found in a stack of papers on my desk. It is a proof from preschool graduation pictures. The one of Eliza Claire came from a preschool placemat and I'm not even sure why I have the one of Rehm.

I have promised Ruby I will add her picture to my desk before she comes back to the office. I guess I should go look for a picture now...

Jenn

Good Mommy, Bad Mommy

Today it was a bit of both. I guess by the end of the day that evens out into Mediocre Mommy. Hmm. Not sure if I like that but it is better than just ending the day with Bad Mommy.

The Good
Eliza Claire was playing outside with Ruby. She came to the door all excited and trying to tell me something. I was busy. But I actually went over to find out what she was saying. She was point out the door saying, "look Mommy, it is fall!" I asked her what she saw that told her it was fall. She said it was the leaves changing color. I looked at the trees, all of which were still full of green leaves and said, "really which ones are changing?" "The ones on the ground, Mommy!" Then she ran back out to see what other signs of fall she could find.

Ruby came in a bit later with a leaf for me. I thanked her very much. She was very excited and I could see where this was going to go. She was going to be running in every two minutes with another leave or acorn or something for me. They were all going to be strewn all over the house and I was going to be grumpy. So I gave her a sandwich sized baggie and told her she could put anything she wanted me to see in the bag and then bring it all in when it was time to come inside. She loved this idea and quickly ran back out to start filling her bag. The bag did come back inside while I was cooking dinner. She started taking everything out of it. I told her it all had to stay inside the bag and then she disappeared. I wonder where she put the bag and what "treasures" I'm going to find in it when it is found.

The Bad
Rehm told me tonight that he was presenting his QUEST project tomorrow. He then proceeded to say that he was supposed to present today but it got rescheduled to tomorrow because he forgot to tell me about it. All the other kids' parents showed up and they all presented today. Rehm's QUEST teacher emailed last week that the class would be presenting their first projects today. I forgot to put it on the calendar and forgot to go! Ugh! I feel horrible. I did tell him that it was my fault that the teacher did tell me about it and that I forgot. I assured him that I would be there tomorrow. Now, I just have to remember...

Jenn