My life as a Mommy of 4 little boys

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Working from home?!?!!!!

I'm loving Mark's job!!!!!!!!!! It was really tough at first, insanely long hours, a few nights even staying away the entire night! It was a really tough adjustment but it's gotten much better. His boss is wonderful. For all of Mark's hard work on the computer system they have put in place he decided to just let me have the macbook we got from him that we were going to pay off! Brand new macbook...FREE!!!! How amazing is that?

Then now he has suggested trying working from home until their new office is built...probably about 1 1/2mo. Tomorrow is the first day they are trying. I'm so excited about this, I really hope it works out. Right now we share a car so during the week I'm stuck at home, I'm going crazy being in these 4 walls....Casen and Hayden are bored, too. This will be much better for everyone involved. I will be able to start attending playdates again! Very exciting. It's the little things haha

Tomorrow is our first day, perfect day because it's story time at the library. Which falls great because our books are due...ok that's not fully true, they are OVERdue....oops. They were due Saturday.....shhhh don't tell. But we will go to story time and then check out some books...gotta check the playdate calendar, who knows maybe we'll go to a playdate too. Or maybe just go see Becky...gotta call her. Do need to go to the store...need toilet paper, don't let me forget

Monday, October 26, 2009

Landon's first ever progress report!!

Today Landon brought home his first progress report! This year they are actually doing number grades for them so it's his first time having anything besides S (satisfactory). He did sooooooo good! We are so proud of him! These are his grades

89% in Language Arts
88% in Science...but they only took 2 grades (100% and 80%)
96% in Social Studies
98% in math!!!!!!!

I'm especially proud of his math score he's doing so well!!!

He is even now up to a level 8 DRA reading level! He's been going up an average of 1 level every 4 days or so!!! He's been doing so good, I can't believe how much he is really GETTING it now

Tonight Mark stopped by Target to buy him a reward for doing so well. He got him a pretty awesome GI Joe toy that talks and moves...he LOVES it, yay!

We also got Casen a new toy because he's been trying so hard, learning so much. He is now counting to 100 fully on his own and can name pretty much every number between 1-100 when you point to it. He knows all letters, uppercase and lower case and the sounds they make and is learning to read more everyday. He is also learning how to sound things out to spell. So Mark picked him a new Cars race track...he loves it...so does Hayden :)

Loud noises

It's official....Hayden is terrified of any loud noises! On Thursday they were preparing for the Alliance Air Show right at Hayden's naptime..of course. Well it didn't start until a few minutes after I put him down but he hadn't fallen asleep yet....well he completely freaked out! It scared him really bad. Well it kept on forever, I held him until he fell asleep but he barely slept...about 45min. It happened again the next day. On Sunday we showed him the planes outside and he loved them but he still doesn't like the noise.

Last night it was storming really bad and woke him up and he was, again, terrified. He was really freaking out last night. He was up for a good 3hrs too scared to go back to sleep. You'd think if he lost 3hrs of sleep he'd sleep in today right???? Well of course not!!!!! I'm so sleepy today :( Oh well, maybe I'll go to sleep at a decent time...he just better nap good today so he's not too grumpy

Halloween Party

The Halloween party was great!!!! So much fun!

As most know I'm not big on partying anymore, I rarely go out without the kids so these past 2 weekends have been a really nice break but I'm done for awhile...I feel bad even though I know the boys had so much fun with Mark.

Last night was the party and I picked up Becky around 3:30 to head out to Arlington. We had to stop by and get some stuff from Steph first then go to my mom's work to give her some toys for her boyfriend's niece that stays there Sun-Friday, she doesn't have anything there to play with so I went through the boys toys and got stuff to give her. Then we went over to Heather's to get ready!! All of us had some "stupid" moments. I sat on Becky's pitchfork and broke it. I left my shirts at the house! How? I have no clue!!!! But that's ok, Heather ended up having something that looked even better. Then we had to run to Target but David had Heather's car which had her house keys so we had to leave the backdoor unlocked...well we come back and found out Heather only unlocked the top lock not the bottom haha so we were locked out! So Mary (Heather's mom) luckily has an extra key and came and let us in. She wanted to get some pics of us all dressed up so I got my camera out for her to take pics of the three of us with too....well I left my freaking memory card at home, too!!!!! It just wasn't our night lol. But once we finally got the party it was great! We all had alot of fun and took tons of pics which are on my facebook if anyone is interested :)

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

A spider....a monster.....

Today I found a spider in the house, crawling on a wall. It was HUGE!!!!! It was black with white spots and just all together horrific. So I was panicking trying to figure out how to kill it...called Mark as if he could do something. He told me to get a fly swatter..but this thing was so fat I was convinced it didn't have enough force to kill it lol. So then it starts crawling towards the front door...still high up on the wall. I decided I would open the door and hope it crawled out. I sat there on the couch watching it forever...I'm saying atleast a good 30min lol. I did not want to have to go near it. It kept taunting me, acting like it was going to go out but then not going quite far enough. Hayden was so into watching it, he watched it the entire time lol. He ran and got his puppy at one point (stuffed puppy) and was talking to him, couldn't understand him. But he points the puppy's face towards the door and said LOOK like all shocked. He was def telling him about the spider haha. But I finally gave in, I put Hayden down for his nap and realized the stupid spider was not going to leave voluntarily. So I got the broom...I was going to get it. I had to pump myself up for awhile lol. I had the door open still, it was sitting on top of the door so I took the broom and shoved it off and outside the door lol, then slammed the door. But the whole time I was doing that I was screaming. I'm sure my neighbors now think I have completely lost my mind, from their point of view, I was attacking the door with a broom while screaming....I'm sure I was a sight haha. But I WON! The spider is gone!! Go me

Monday, October 19, 2009

Night out with some old friends

Well as most of you reading already know, I rarely ever go out without my kids. Actually other than my birthday and Saturday it had been atleast 2 yrs. But Saturday I just felt like going out so I called up Heather and she decided on the nugget. We went out there and had a few drinks, saw lots of old faces I hadn't seen in awhile. It was actually really nice. Had a really good time! When we first got there Lil Jason and Mexican Justin were there...crazy, haven't seen either of them in a really long time! Then more people came, we just sat around drinking and talking, nothing crazy (like the old days haha). Becky even came out, but wasn't able to stay long. The nugget isn't exactly what you'd call "high class" it's a pretty run down bar but that doesn't really matter. But I was sitting on a bench, where I had been sitting most of the night and I look over and there was a HUGE roach!!!!!!!! I almost died. I jumped up and over James who was sitting next to me so fast, all while screaming. I'm sure it was a sight, but yeah I don't do bugs and this thing was monsterous! But Steven came to the rescue and killed the thing. But then he thought it was amusing to pretend something was crawling up my leg...no Steven it was not. Hung around for awhile and then this guy came in selling tamales...which I don't usually like but Mark does. I decided to get a pack to bring home to him. I left around 1 to come home and when I got here we ate some and OMG they were amazing!!! They have some green sauce that was so good. I want to go out again just to buy those things again lol. They were so good, 100x better than any I've had before

Also this weekend Landon had to learn his address, which is pretty long, how to spell it all and write it correctly. He's so smart, he got it right away, now let's just hope he does it right when he gets tested on it this week at school!

Today, Sunday, we also had to take my computer back...for the 2nd time because it can't stay connected to our WIFI network for some reason. Well Mark's boss had an extra macbook pro he was going to take back or sell to his dad, he bought it just recently for his assistant who has now quit. Well Mark asked if we could buy it from him and just pay it off to him and he agreed!!!! So now I have an AWESOME pretty much brand new Macbook Pro!!!!!! Exciting stuff!

It's been a good day! Not only did I get this awesome laptop but I also won a contest on a forum I'm on. I got to pick from the "What to Expect" books and also got to pick Hayden a pair of See Kai Run shoes!!!! I've been wanting their shoes for awhile just never bought any. So I'm super excited about that. I already picked the ones I want so they should be on the way soon!!!! I can't wait to get them.

Also this weekend we weighed and measured the boys, they are getting so big!!!!!!! Even Hayden grew, FINALLY! He is now 25mo, 33in and 25lbs!!!! (12th% for weight and 14th% for height) HUGE growth spurt for him. Casen is now 43in and 36lbs (29th% for weight and 73rd% for height). Landon is now 47 1/2in (he is soooo excited because at 48in you can ride more rides at Six Flags haha) and 46lbs (36th% for weight and 63rd% for height). Some skinny kids lol

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Wonderful Weekend

We had such a great weekend!!! It started early because Mark got Friday off and Landon had just a 1/2 day at school. After we picked him up from school we went out to Grapevine Mills and I ran into Osh Kosh to look for lightweight jackets for the boys. Well they were having great sales so of course I couldn't just leave with those :) I was able to get Landon a jacket, pair of wind pants and then 3 long sleeve shirts...Casen a pair of jeans, pair of wind pants, jacket and 2 long sleeve shirts....Hayden a pair of jeans and only spent $100...not bad at all :) After that we went out to the State Fair of Texas!!!!!! This was the first time the boys had been since we lived in Colorado for most of their lives. I use to go as a kid and so did Mark so there was so much we wanted to do with them that we had done when younger. Our first stop was the ferris wheel :) The only thing we all went on. It was great, the boys had a blast. Hayden especially loved it, he was watching out the entire time. After we did that we took them to play a game and they all won a toy. Then Landon, Casen and Daddy rode a roller coaster ride. I took all 3 boys on the carousel. And then Mark and the older boys went on that pirate ship that swings really high. They loved them all but I guess they didn't realize how high the ship went and they FREAKED out!!!! They came off the ride crying, but a few minutes later wanted to do it again haha. Then it was time to EAT!!!! Pretty much the best thing to do at the fair. We set off looking for the fried butter we had been hearing about. Like I thought it wasn't what most people were thinking...a stick of butter fried...NOPE!! This was amazing!! By far the best thing we had! It was about 1/4 teaspoon of butter then battered and fried. It was really more like a biscuit fried with a buttery inside then they topped it with grape jelly (we also tried the garlic which tasted like a breadstick) it was AMAZING!!!!! If you go you HAVE to try the grape jelly version. Mark makes something similar...which we had to do last night because we were craving more of it. He takes biscuits or croissants and fills them with jelly and bakes...SO good too! We also tried fried pizza...not so good, not bad but not worth having again. Then I was wanting a caramel apple but knew it would be hard for the boys to eat but we found a booth that was doing them in wedges with hot caramel all over them so we got that, that was the boys favorite, they were in heaven. When the apple was gone they were eating spoonfuls of caramel. We told them that that was the one day they could go crazy and have whatever they wanted to eat since we are usually pretty strict about that stuff. They even drank coke *faint* granted only a couple of sips each but it was killing me haha. Then we also had TCBY frozen yogurt in the 50 degree weather, they thought we were nuts. We did a few more things and then left, my legs were killing me and I hadn't brought ibuprofen. On the way home we stopped and the boys saw Grandpa Henry for a bit then fell asleep on the way home, they were worn out.

Saturday we had a meeting in the morning that we went to then came home and just hung out together. Later in the afternoon I went and picked up Becky and we went to Gap to get me some clothes. I found out that Gap jeans fit me soooo good, better than any others I have ever tried. But I was out to find jeans and a grey sweater for family pics. I got them both plus a few extra shirts and then went and bought some boots. I love it all. I dropped Becky off and came home and Mark had cleaned the living room, fed the boys and was making the jelly filled things. We had a really good night.

Sunday Mark let me sleep in and when I got up he was cleaning the kitchen for me :) After that we played with the boys for a bit. Then we went to Costco and got some stuff, came home and ordered pizza for dinner. Then we had our family game night, Monopoly again. After awhile the boys were done playing so we had a tickle match...I WON!!!!!! Haha the boys were so worn out from laughing and running from me they passed out as soon as they hit the pillow.

It's been so weird having Mark home for 3 days...and now Landon is off tomorrow too for Columbus Day so it's an extra long weekend for me...it's thrown me off. But I'm so happy, everything this weekend has just been great. The boys have been in the best moods, Mark has just been awesome (even more than usual)...everything was just perfect. Tomorrow I think Becky is bringing the girls over to play since they are out of school. Hopefully this next week is just as good as this weekend has been.

Check facebook for tons of pics :)

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Flip flops are dangerous!!!

When we had Hayden's birthday party a few weeks ago now and that morning it was raining really bad. I had to take Hayden and Casen with me to Costco to pick up his cake. I was wearing my flip flops, carrying Hayden and holding Casen's hand and we tried to walk fast to get into the store....well I slipped and fell flat on my back taking both boys down with me. It was not nice...I had to still go into the store, my backside completely soaked. Luckily the boys were just fine though.

So tonight Mark had to go out to the car to get his laptop, and it's raining. So he just grabbed my flip flops to wear out there. What happens???? He fell!!!!!!!! OMG I'm dying...since he's ok it makes it hilarious. Especially since he laughed at me when i called him to tell him when it happened to me lol. He said one leg went one way and the other another way and he screamed....he said "I hope I didn't scream too loud and no one looked out their window". He was wearing just boxers and a tshirt because it's pretty late lol. OMG so funny

Very long frustrating day...and it's not even over yet

It seems that since becoming pregnant with Hayden my patience has dramatically reduced. I don't get it. I thought maybe it was the hormones from being pregnant...but that's long gone now and still it's not so great. I've really, REALLY been trying lately. Starting last November.....I can't believe it's been almost a year...seems like just yesterday sometimes. I guess it's just a mix of everything, tons of change, it's been pretty hard on the boys and us. I feel like things are getting back to normal now though, thankfully. But I'm really trying to work on my patience for the boys. Doing lots of reading on gentle discipline and all that...which is what we've always done but more a refresher course, getting more ideas because I have found myself loosing my temper more often :( Maybe having the blog will help...somewhere to vent if needed. Starting now...

Today has just been pretty crappy. It's a yuck day outside and it makes me really tired...I have no energy for the boys today. And it sucks because yesterday was a really good day. But the boys have TONS of energy today. Got up after only a few hours of sleep last night and got Landon ready for school, he had his first 1st grade field trip today :D I laid on the couch and right as I started to doze off Casen got up so I turned on a show for him and just relaxed on the couch for a bit and then Hayden got up so I made them breakfast. Then Hayden has just been in a mean mood today. Him and Casen were playing and he bit him...he's been hitting all day and throwing things. I know he's 2 so it's to be expected....well Casen and Landon weren't like this but I know it's normal 2yr old stuff and he's getting much MUCH better at listening and not being mean but today was just a bad day for him for whatever reason. So we played for awhile, had lunch then I put them both down for nap...I just needed it today. Hayden went right to sleep, yay!! But Casen didn't want to so he laid in my bed for awhile, also played in the bathroom apparently too, didn't find that out til he woke up after he finally went to sleep. But he got into paint from my closet and got it all over the bathroom sink...luckily it was just poster paint and came right up....still frustrating, Casen is usually so good, he knows not to do that stuff but not a good day for him either apparently. Hayden slept 3hrs and Casen 2, I couldn't believe it...Hayden's naps lately have been really crappy, he's never been that great of a sleeper and still wakes up almost everynight atleast once. They got up right as Landon got home from school and he had a really good day, lots of fun on the field trip BUT it wore him out so him and Casen have been picking at each other all afternoon and Hayden's still hitting and not listening. Landon has also been driving me crazy with asking me the same question over and over hoping I'll change my mind. Today when he got home from school they had snack of toast with nutella and apple slices with some juice. (first time we've had nutella and OMG sooooo good, if you haven't had it you have to try it, new favorite here for all of us) Well he wanted gogurt, I told him no, he has since asked 6x....he thinks I'll change my mind but I have assured him I will not. But he's been doing that alot lately...quite annoying. Then just other little crap and all of it on top of being very tired and it's just a rainy day out so makes you even less motivated = crappy day all around. And it's not even 6pm yet. Now I have to figure out what to make for dinner and get that started here soon to get our nighttime routine going. I don't know yet if Mark will make it home for dinner or bedtime...hopefully he will.

I need to find some more indoor activities...tomorrow we are going to do homemade playdoh and I have a thing for homemade finger paints we might do the next day. I'm running out of ideas after this HOT summer...too hot to play outside so I used most of my ideas then. Now that it's cooling off I've been trying to walk Casen and Hayden down to the park everyday before lunch but it's been raining so much we haven't been able to as much as I'd like so I need something to do during that time that keeps them stimulated, not just playing with their normal toys. Anyone have any ideas????

Sunday, October 4, 2009

End of the weekend

First Landon isn't sick, yay!!!!!!

This weekend was nice, pretty relaxing. Friday Gail and Ludwig came over to see us for a little bit. When Ludwig got out of the car, we were waiting outside for them, and Hayden ran up to the car and gave Ludwig a big hug, it was so sweet. For the rest of the evening they were all buddy buddy. Ludwig likes the boys of course but he's never really into them I guess you could say lol. He likes doing things with them, like he took them fishing and we go boating with them and all that...he's just not really a kid person. But Hayden was hanging around with him most of the night. We went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse and while waiting for a table they were eating peanuts and he kept helping him get them and he took him out the bench and was sitting with him helping him opening them. It was just cute. But we had a nice dinner with them, by the time we left it was 10pm and the boys were worn out! They passed out in the car almost right away.

Saturday we tried to stay home most of the day, the boys like just being home, we've been out almost every day of every weekend for a few months now. So we just hung out at home for awhile. Around 4pm we decided to go to Target to get a baby gate I saw online...my first time ever to buy a baby gate, 3 kids in lol. Hayden's my little hellion, he's a total sweetheart but into everything, very spirited and strong willed lol. So I had to block off the kitchen. Well target didn't have it in stock but we did find the boys costumes!!! We already bought Landon a SWAT officer and Casen a firefighter costume, but I hated Landon's then I shrunk it on accident so too bad, had to get something else. He really wanted to be Darth Vadar so I gave him and got it for him and Hayden is baby Yoda. I do have to say they look really cute. It made me want to get Casen a Star Wars themed costume but he's just too damn cute in his fireman costume so we didn't. We then went to Sprouts, my all time favorite grocery store. Then to Home Depot and found an even better gate than the one I was looking for at Target so we got that instead. Then went grocery shopping. Got home around 9 and the boys went to straight to bed.

Then today, Sunday, the boys stayed home all day. After lunch I took Hayden and went to see Becky for a bit...poor Natty is sick, hoping she feels better soon!!! They are getting moved, I can't believe how quickly they got everything out of that house!! I can't wait to go see her new apartment! Then I took Hayden and went to Kroger to get Boar's Head meat...YUM! He was such an angel at the store, it's amazing the difference in any of them when it's just one out with you. I mean they are great kids and very well behaved (most of the time) anyways, but when they are all 3 together they tend to pick at each other and play off each other..but when they are by themselves they are just awesome. Hayden was great though. When we were at the deli counter they gave us a sample of the 2 meats and 1 cheese I got and Hayden would take pieces of it and I had some and when it got to the last piece he would take it and tear it in half and insist I had to have half of it :) So polite! We came home and played and hung out. I made a yummy roast for dinner then we had game night...played some more Monopoly. Then had some dance time and the boys went to bed.

We have been able to have our a/c off all weekend!!!!!!! LOVING this weather!! I hope it stays around...took fall long enough to arrive in Texas! This next week should be good, I think since it's cooled off so much I'm going to add a trip to the park daily before lunch then naps...give Casen and Hayden more to do. Tuesday Landon has his first field trip of the year, he's really excited. I wish I could go but no one to watch the other 2 and siblings can't come on this one...oh well maybe next time.


Thursday, October 1, 2009

Not again :(

It looks like Landon is getting sick again :( We were all sick last week and now are all better, he was the first one sick and we each had it two days so it's been a little over a week for him since he got better. Today he came home from school coughing like crazy. No fever, no congestion, nothing else right now but we'll see in the morning. I know H1N1 is really bad around our area right now so I'm kind of expecting it since he's in school. Hopefully tomorrow morning he won't be any worse.

Mark's schedule has been so crazy this week...it sucks!!!! 2am coming home, midnight, 3am...tonight he made it home around 7pm though and finally got to spend some time with the boys, they were so excited :) Hopefully tomorrow he won't be too late