Recovering!

I feel like I'm still recovering from Friday. We did Black Friday again this year...this was David's first year going with me though. The past few years my mom and I have gone but I wanted David to be able to experience it this year so I convinced him to go along with me. I tried to prepare him as best I could yet I told him he still wouldn't understand until he got out there that morning and saw it with his own eyes...of course afterwards he was still in shock and couldn't believe that it was real. He said he had fun though...he'll actually go with me again next year :) We got up at 230 and headed out Friday morning. Everything went really well and we got about 85% of our Christmas shopping for the kids done. That's really all we're doing this year is for kids...not so much for the adults this year. It's been a tough year work and money wise around the house this year so it's important that the kids have a good Christmas and we're focusing on them. I am so blessed to have parents in my life that are supportive and make sacrifices for my family in times of trouble. Even though it's been a tough year in many ways we've all made it through. So it's Saturday night and I still feel like I'm behind....I'm tired and absolutely worn out right now. I love Black Friday...it's a blast and an absolute adrenaline rush but it takes me days to recover. Maybe I'll catch up with everything in the days ahead. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving...we had a fabulous time and ate way too much!!!! Now it's runny noses all over our house...Allie's been miserable all day long and Caleb is beginning to come down with it too. Praying she sleeps through the night tonight!!

Thankful #3

We spent the afternoon/evening with my parents tonight. My cousin and grandmother are here also and being together as a group made me remember how thankful I am for my family. We have such a fabulous family! You never have to search far for a laugh when we're together. I just love it when we're all together and everything in the world feels right. So as I am smelling pies and baking sweets for tomorrow I look forward to spending the day with the people that I am most thankful for. What a blessed life I lead!

Thankful #2

Onto the second installment of my Thankful week.

Today I'm focusing on the little things in life. With the kids running around all the time and it constantly being loud in our house things easily get to me. My anxiety gets out of control very quickly and I can have panic attacks in a heartbeat. There are days I have to sit down and remember to be thankful for the small things and realize just how lucky we are to be healthy and have four happy children and really to just be together.

I'm thankful for smiles!

I'm thankful for laughter!

I'm thankful for a bed that's warm from the electric blanket when I get in it at night....I LOVE that one!

I'm thankful for pink because I thought I'd never ever in a blue moon get it!

And I'm even thankful for the two older boys that make our house the chaotic mess that it is!

Thankful #1

I thought since this week is Thanksgiving that I would do a week of posts about things that I am thankful for.

Today I'm thankful for kisses:  They are plentiful in our house!

I'll miss the day when all the little ones are gone...when it's so quiet I don't know what to do anymore. It's chaotic and loud around our house 24/7 but I'll miss them when they're not here all the time anymore. So for now I'll enjoy the little things and treasure the memories.

I'm so behind on reading blogs....at least a week on most of them. I'm trying to catch up this week....seems I've been exhausted lately on a daily basis and now I've had a migraine for the last two days. Of course the light from the computer screen isn't helping much right now either :)

Still my Baby!

He's my baby and he's on his way back home to me! He was supposed to spend the night at my parents house tonight with Lucas and Jacob. He's been excited for days!!!! Last night he slept with his suitcase beside his bed. When he woke up this morning the first thing he did was grab his suitcase and wheel it into our room while saying he was ready to go to Nendny and Papa's. All day long it's all I've heard...he's going to spend the night with Nendny and Papa and that suitcase has never been more than a foot away from his body. We went over tonight and as soon as we started to leave he was ready to go wtih us. He didn't want to stay so we put him in the car ready to go. As soon as pulled out of the driveway he changed his mind. Said he wanted to spend the night so we got him back out and left him there. I still remember seeing his tiny legs running as fast as they possibly could in the front yard waving goodbye to us. I was putting Allie down for the night when he called....Pulled my heartstrings when I heard what he told his Daddy. "I don't know how to get home." Oh my goodness!!!!! It goes without saying that David is on his way to get him :)

Wordless Wednesday

Lucas' New Digs

In order to get Allie in her own room we had to do some rearranging around our house. We originally had 4 bedrooms but were going to have to either combine all 3 boys or combine Allie with a boy which I didn't like at all. We finally figured out that we could add a wall in a new addition and make Lucas his own room. My mom graciously offered to do it for Lucas' birthday and he was very excited about it! After a week of living in constant mess and dust the wall was up and then all the other work began. We had to move Lucas in his new room and Caleb's stuff in with Jacob. Then we started on Allie's new room. Everything is still a work in progress and I'm beginning to wonder when it will all be done but the kids are all enjoying their new digs!!!!

This was an often occurance in the days before the sheetrock got up. They thought it was the coolest thing to play in the new room. Here's Caleb reading Bob the Builder to Allie.

Here's a look at Lucas' new suite :)

Wait...Do you see that....It's pink!

I can't believe it. It's here!!!! I have pink walls in my house. YIPPEE Allie finally has her own room and that room has the long awaited pink walls. It took me a while to pick the actual color that I wanted but I am so happy with the outcome. It isn't decorated yet but her bed is in there and it's a work in progress...now we just have to finish it. I find myself walking by and standing in awe that we actually have a pink room in our house. It's just amazing to me!

Last night I didn't sleep well at all...it was the first night since she was born that she didn't sleep in our room. Actually it was the first night in 35 months that we haven't had a child in our room...scary,huh? I went to bed last night and actually read with the light on....it was surreal! She slept until 5 before she woke up and came in our room...it was awfully comfy after she was in there with us again. It's going to take some getting used to with her being gone...next step is to get her to go to sleep on her own without being rocked and fed...that'll come with time.

For the time begin....WE HAVE A PINK ROOM!

H1N1

Our school district held H1N1 clinics this past week for elementary aged kids. They started on Tuesday and held 4 separate clincs and each school was assigned to a certain one. They held them from 3 until 8 each day and you were supposed to go on your assigned day with your waiver to get the vaccination. I am particularly worried about H1N1 because of the fact that I have Caleb and Allie at home. With Lucas and Jacob being in school and around sick kids on an almost daily basis it worries me what they will bring home and pass onto the younger ones around here. We all know that all parents don't keep their kids home when they're sick. I have not been able to get Caleb and Allie one yet because younger siblings weren't able to get them at the school clinics..only students were eligible.

And let me tell you...it was absolutely INSANE! The kids got out of school at 230 so we headed directly over to the clinic because I was supposed to have Jacob at a birthday party at 430 on Friday afternoon. When we initially got there everyone was parking their cars and crossing the street to stand in an insanely long line. I parked and got all four kids out of the car and crossed the busy street while two schools were in the middle of dismissing and got in line only to be told that we needed to get back in our cars and get in line. I headed back across the street with four kids and put them all back in the car and got in line the way that they told us we were supposed to. Of course not everyone got out of line to begin with. We then had to be routed all around the school and parked in several large fields only to get back out of the car with 4 kids and stand in one of 3 obnoxiously long lines. I stood in line for 2 hours with 4 kids and felt like I was going to pass out by the time I got out of there. There were well over 2000 people at the single clinic that we attended. We were 40 minutes late to the party but eventually made it and of course we got the shots! I dread the booster coming up in 4 weeks!

Animal Fanatic

Allie absolutely loves animals!!! Cats or Dogs..small or large she doesn't care. She will let them lick her all over and just sit and laugh. I've never seen someone that was so fond of these little ones. These are two of my parents dogs and Allie just loves them! They're little lickers and she loves when they come up and try to give her kisses all over her face. At home she constantly tries to play with our dog,Bandit. Most of the time he gets aggravated at her...he'll sit and growl telling her to leave him alone but of course she doesn't do it. He doesn't do more than growl bless his heart..he just puts up with her before realizing she won't stop until he gives her kisses :) This little girl might just be a veterinarian or something!

Wordless Wednesday One Day Late

Blessed

I've been extremely blessed in my life to have wonderful supportive parents. Although I haven't always realized it in the moment,especially when I was younger,they were always there for me. I've been blessed to have not only a wonderful mom and dad but to also have a select few others that have made an astronomical difference in my life.

One of those is my stepmom...Mom to me...she's been around since before I was one and although I'll admit that growing up with divorced parents wasn't the easiest thing I've come to cherish her. When I was younger we disagreed more than we agreed on things...we had more to argue about than we did in common but in the end it brought us closer together. After all these years I've found a best friend...someone that is there for me regardless...someone that treats my children like gold and loves my family as much as I do. She has taken my into her heart and never treated me any different than if I were her own blood....there is absolutely no difference been her and my biological parents...she is my Mom as much as my biological mom is my mom and my dad is my dad. What a true blessing in life.

When we were over at my dad's a couple of weeks ago she was outside playing with Caleb and Allie...I got some great pictures of her playing with Allie....I could never repay her for everything she's brought into my life and for the friendship that she's given me. She has fibromyalgia and even though she knows after she plays with them and holds them on their command that she'll probably not be able to move the next day it never stops her from getting on the ground and playing with them.