Zzzzzz

I know the feeling kid, I know the feeling.

My Bad

It takes me exactly 13 minutes to get Chiggie ready for school. I didn't have this number until this morning when I woke up at 7:41. My alarm had been going off for approximately 1hr 20min. Hmmm, I must've been tired. I ran upstairs in a frenzy, flung Chiggie from her bed, and practically carried her downstairs. She was in the shower by 7:45 and out by 7:50. She got dressed and I helped her with her hair. She grabbed her jacked, a bag of cheezits, and her backpack. We were on the porch waiting for her ride (carpool) by 7:58. 2 minutes to spare!

Up until yesterday my Mom would call at around 7:15 just to make sure we were up and moving. Cocky me informed her that we no longer needed this call. In fact the ringing of the phone was waking the baby. Yeah, I'll have a glass of milk with that giant slice of humble pie please....

Ouch!

Today the girls and I all got our flu shots. I don't know what the deal is but my arm is killing me. I've had flu shots before and my arm is always a little sore, but not like this. Oddly the girls haven't complained at all. In fact neither Tea nor Midge even cried when they got the shot to begin with. Chiggie and Boo on the other hand to be a bit more emotional when strangers are coming at them with a needle.

The girls are very excited for Friday. And so far everyone is in good health unlike last year. The King gets off early so he will be able to trick or treat with us. This came as a surprise to me today so I was pretty excited! He's also bringing us home another surprise. Stay tuned you'll love it!

Halloween Teaser

Early Voting

I voted today. I can't express how much I love early voting. No lines. No last minute deadline. No little girls crying loudly while I waited. So I voted today. Have you voted yet?

To Sleep or not to Sleep

Last night was one of those nights. You know the kind where you think it will never end. Then it does rather abruptly and you're devastated. It started with Boo. Coughing and coughing and hacking and hacking. Not really sick so to speak just congested enough in the chest to be miserable when laying flat. Finally I had no choice but to hold her in a semi-upright position while she slept soundly on my shoulder. All the while my body was begging me to lay down.

After a great deal of time in this position I attempted to roll her onto my bed and it was a successful drop. She snuggled in, I covered her, and slid in thankful to be on my way to sleep at last. Just as I was about to drift off the kitty came into the room and jumped on the bed purring like a lawn mower. Seriously I have never heard an animal weighing less than a pound make this much noise. The neighbors probably heard her. Of course this woke the baby who sputtered and coughed and reached for me. Thus beginning the cycle all over again.

By the time I did the second roll and drop I was delirious. It was again successful and this time I remembered to shut the kitty out. I snuggled in and had nearly fainted when I heard Midge crying in her room. I ignored her for about half a second and then mustered up the strength to go check her. Her left big toe was hanging out of the covers and apparently covering it was a job she saw fit for only me. I covered it stroked her hair and she smiled sleepily. She's a little manipulator that Midge...

Back in my own bed I checked the clock. By now it was 4 am. Good 3 more hours left until the new day would be upon me. Who would've guessed that in that 3 hours we would have: a bad dream, much more coughing and sputtering, purring that sounded like a jet taking off, and one more "my big toe is cold" incident. Now I can't say that this is a typical night. It's not. Usually the kids are down at 8 and I follow around 11 and we see each other again in the morning. Which is hopefully how tonight will go. I can hope, cause darnit I'm tired....

Cross posted at Larger Families

Customer Service Stinks

The girls Halloween costumes are late. As in, they were supposed to be here last Wednesday, late. I tried to give the company the benefit of the doubt and didn't call them right away. Today though, I got a little worried. I decided to give them a call just to make sure everything's still okay. I of course had to wait until everyone was down for the night so that it would be quiet enough for me to make a phone call.

It turns out everything is not okay. Apparently the costume that I ordered for Boo is sold out. Why, during the course of the last 4 weeks, no one has bothered to call or e-mail me I do not know. The other costumes are supposedly ready, but they haven't been shipped. I asked the representative to have the other stuff shipped to me immediately to which she informed me that I would have to wait and speak with someone in the "help" department tomorrow. Ugh! What a disaster. I have no ideas for a back-up for Boo. At this point I'm worried the other costumes will even get here in time.

This is the first year I've even done something like this. I don't sew so making my own isn't even an option. I'm not impressed with anything I've seen in local stores (think really small town) I really hope this works out. Even if it does this will be my first and last time ordering from this company.

Fall Break

Even though we didn't have any major plans we've had a really great fall break. The days have gone something like this:

• Friday- Grocery shopping. As mundane as it sounds the girls really enjoy this chore. Chiggie never gets to go anymore so she really liked coming along and picking some snacks out. After shopping we straightened up the house, made dinner, and then enjoyed a relaxing evening watching Disney. The girls all went to bed good and I had some time to relax solo as well.
• Saturday- My little sisters had their birthday party at the skating rink. It pretty much consumed the whole day as it was in a neighboring town. We had a lot of fun and the girls burned off energy which is always good. On the way home we grabbed a couple of pizzas and then had another relaxing evening. Late that night the King got home and even though his visit was brief it's always nice.
• Sunday-We all ( including the King) went to church and then out to lunch afterwards. On the way home we stopped at the store to do some shopping. The afternoon was spent lounging around and just enjoying him being home. Unfortunately he had to leave that evening, but we were glad for the time we had. The girls were exhausted from another busy day and fell asleep right away.
• Monday (today) - We are going to McDonald's for lunch and then swimming at the gym. The weather outside is cool and dark and I'm loving it. Maybe we'll get to top the day off with a fire!

It's been great getting to sleep in a little. It's amazing what a difference an hour can make! Chiggie has also enjoyed some time away from the school schedule. She's also found time in the last four days to read two chapter books. Her reading and comprehension skills continue to amaze me.

Birthday Fun

It's that time of year again. My little sisters birthdays are on the 19 and the 20th. They're so close in age (2 years apart) that they are able to have a joint party that's twice the fun. Camie skating towards me at an incredible pace
Marlee cheesin' for the camera
Chiggie skated over to the wall to say hey!
Tea has amazing determination. She would not stay down.
Midge skating by. She can skate. At 2. Wow.
All Boo cared about was the glow stick she got. Very entertaining.

Pumpkin Patch 2008

Attempting to get a shot of all 4Waiting to go in the corn mazePoor Chiggie was just sure we were lost foreverMidge thought this pumpkin was perfect
Cheering up by the fire
"Look they gave me a s'more!"Having fun singing songs by the fire
Boo loved the pumpkinsStaying true to herself, Tea took forever to choose


If you want to see how much the girls have really grown check out last years pics!

Brrrr

The high today was 44. Right now I am warming up by a toasty fire. I'm glad we ordered our wood earlier this year. It's nice to have it all stacked and ready to go. This weekend I ordered Chiggie's winter clothes online. I hope they come soon with temps this low. Until then she's just gonna have to wear her jacket!

Busy but Fun

Unfortunately the King had to work all weekend long. That left the girls and I more than a little bummed out. Knowing they were upset I tried really hard to make this weekend a fun one. That was tough being we had a lot of work to get done. On Saturday the weather was cold and dreary. We all loved it. The girls made tents with blankets in the family room while I did a really deep clean of the downstairs. After I got done we made halloween candy with a kit that my mom bought the girls. They had a BLAST. It was delicious too. The older girls stayed up and we watched Casper.

Sunday I decided to stay home from church and finish my upstairs projects. I was shocked that I got it all done. All the clothes are now neatly organized and the girls rooms look so neat and tidy. I put all the electric blankets on the beds, washed the sheets, and put away loads of laundry. I feel so relieved to have it all done. Especially since this week promises to be busy. We are going to the pumpkin patch on Wednesday evening with the youth group and then Chiggie is going on a field trip to the apple orchard on Thursday. School is out on Friday and this weekend is both of my little sisters birthdays. Now that my work is done I feel more prepared to enjoy the fun!

Day Out

Yesterday we just couldn't take being cooped up in the house one more second. The weather, while a little warm for fall, was perfect for a day at the park. Of course Chiggie was at school having adventures of her own, so it was just me and the little girls. Tea enjoyed the freedom.
Boo loved exploring.
Midge ran all over the place.
Tea didn't want to leave.
Boo was getting tired.
Midge is just plain cute!
Weeee!
All that playing made them oh so thirsty.

(check out Boo's 'fro)

Yuck

This is my second stomach virus in under 3 weeks. I am NOT happy. The girls seem to be avoiding them which is good, but still. After they eat their dinner I plan on making a quick run to the convenient store from some stomach settling soda. Here's to a full nights sleep!

New Goals

I've set some small household type goals for myself. A little something to keep me motivated and on task. It seems lately I've had trouble focusing on small projects and things have had a way of getting a little out of control. Then everyone is grumpy because none of us can really function in disorganization. I hope to get these first things done this week, but really there's no deadline. Every Monday I'll try to post my To Do list and see just how much I can accomplish.

• Clean and organize girls rooms
• Finish putting away all fall/winter clothing
• Clean the master closet
• Vacuum out the car
• Order new window coverings for family room windows
• Take all of the newborn clothing to Loaves and Fishes

It doesn't seem like a lot, but on top of the normal everyday type stuff I'm sure I'll keep busy. Hopefully by Friday I'll be able to say I got it all done. I think I can, I think I can....

Excuses, excuses!

Well so much for blogging everyday. It's funny, when I first started blogging I had to think a lot about what I wanted to post each day. Sometimes just coming up with an idea was difficult. Not so much anymore. Several times a day I will think about something that I want to document, or a funny happening from the day. Really it's just finding the uninterrupted time. Coupled with the fact that my computer is running slooooow lately you have a hit and miss blogger. I'm going to try harder I really am. I love to go back through my own archives and I'm surprised at how much I have forgotten in under 2 years. Sometime soon I plan on live blogging my day. I did that about a year ago and enjoyed it. Regardless look forward to more pictures this week!

Survival

While browsing through photos today ( I was supposed to be cleaning) I came across this one and had a good laugh. It's funny how your perspective changes over time. At the time I'm sure I was mortified. Now I love it!