So much to do

It's been raining here all day. They say we might get some snow tomorrow morning but most of the time that means nothing. Maybe the stars will align right and we'll wake up to a foot tomorrow morning. Not! We went shoe shopping today Seriously when you're buying shoes for four kids it gets expensive VERY fast!!! We went out with the intention of buying crocs for all three boys and tennis shoes for Lucas and Jacob for spring. Allie really hasn't worn shoes yet and I will get hers from Stride Rite when I go for Caleb soon. First place we went was this giant shoe store in an old warehouse. I was going to get everything from there but found that they really didn't have a large selection when it came to sizes for the boys. We got their crocs from there and David about had a heartattack when he saw the total. 3 pairs of crocs hit $80 very quickly. Afterwards we went to shoe carnival to get tennis shoes for Luke and Jake since they usually have a better size selection. Of course that was another $80. I still have to go and get Caleb some shoes but his aren't in as bad of shape as the other two right now. When I go I'll try and see if I can find Allie some pre walkers too..lord I can't believe I'm saying pre walkers for my little girl. Only thing I have left for shoes for the older ones will be a few pair of flip flops and hopefully they'll be done for spring/summer as far as shoes go. Seriously..Lucas is incredibly hard on shoes! About three weeks ago I finally gave him and bought him some new shoelaces..he really did need new shoes but I knew if I bought them he'd just tear them up too so I just got the laces for the time being. Here we are three weeks later and those are torn up too! When we got them tonight we made it clear that the older shoes are for playing outside and the new ones better not be in the backyard PERIOD. Now it's clothes shopping for spring/summer..ugh!!!!!!! I dread it! What do you guys do for clothes shopping..I've learned that when you have multiple children it's easier to do alot of it online althought it's difficult because you can't see everything in person and sometimes there is a huge difference in sizes. I've even found that all mediums are not sized the same at old navy. Weird I know! Any tips on getting shopping done with as little stress as possible...I need a personal shopper!

Light of my Life

I can hardly believe it. On this very day nine months ago I was sitting in a hospital with my baby girl in my arms. Today I'm watching her crawl all around the house and get into absolutely anything she can get her hands on. I can't begin to express what she means to me. I never even imagined myself the mother of a girl...Boy after boy after boy and honestly I just didn't think it was in the cards. I was absolutely in love with the "boy" babies and never even thought of having a girl. Everyone knows that we were not trying when we found out that I was pregnant with Allie..we were done and happy with what we had. Caleb was still a baby and we decided when Caleb was born that we didn't want anymore. When I found out I was pregnant with Allie I cried for weeks...I was depressed and could not see the light at the end of the tunnel. The moment I laid eyes on her every doubt I had went away..I was made to love her. I can't explain the connection that I feel when I am with her. I have so many hopes and dreams in the years to come. My baby girl is growing up and as much as I would like for time to stand still so she could stay little for longer I am relishing every moment of her growing up.

Allie-

The past nine months have flown by. It seems like just yesterday that the doctor handed you to me after you were born. I remember your daddy was so mesmerized at watching everything that was going on he didn't even have the camera ready. You came out and the doctor looked at him and said "what by the time the fourth one comes you just forget everything?" :) He immediately remembered and started clicking away. You know better than anyone that the clicking hasn't stopped since. I asked your daddy the other day if he thought you ever got tired of the paparazzi. You're crawling up a storm now..you started a couple of weeks ago and I can't keep you still anymore. You have finally accepted baby food and I believe you are actually enjoying it now. Your favorite is applesauce and bananas. You are not a big veggie person right now. You absolutely hate green peas. You love bath time!!!! As soon as I put you in the bathtub at night you splash and laugh the entire time. When it's time to rinse your hair I lean you back and hold your head in one hand while I rinse you off and your legs and arms start pumping and you laugh and smile the whole time..I love to watch you! Your sleeping habits leave alot to be desired right now. You spend the majority of the night in between your daddy and me although alittle more on my side than your daddy's. Most nights I'm left with about a foot of bed and can't move in the morning. You're still waking up to eat during the night once although it's closer to early morning lately. You're scared of absolutely anyone that doesn't live in our house right now. You're fine just being around them but if they talk to you then you start screaming. You're making sounds and cooing like crazy..your daddy is convinced that you're saying Dada and I let him think it but we all know you're really just talking to me. Allie-you are my world. I love you more than you will ever know. I can't wait for everything to come. I can't wait to buy you your first Barbie and tea set. I can't wait to watch you grow up and experience life with you. I love the way you light up when I walk in a room and bounce up and down with a huge grin on your face. My absolute favorite thing in the world is to watch you with your daddy. He adores you and little girl between you and me..you've already got him!!!! Whatever you want I just know it'll be yours..he's wrapped around your finger already. We love you Allie and we'll always be here for you no matter what!

Here's my baby nine months ago.


I wanted to have a picture of her that was actually taken today. She really wasn't into getting pics taken this morning so this is about as good as it got. I'm going to get some more later and hopefully she'll be in a better mood.

Into It

Lucas loves to play video games and I absolutely love to watch him. He gets so into it. When he plays he moves around constantly and makes the funniest faces sticking his tongue out and making noises. Sometimes I just sit and laugh watching him play. I know they say that there's a certain amount of time that you shouldn't go over with video games and tv but Lucas does so incredibly well in school that I really don't worry about..okay those of you out there that think no more than 1 or 2 shows a day you all have the right to your opinion but with four kids and me by myself all the time sometimes tv is my lifesaver! When Lucas is home on the weekends or out of school he spends a large majority of his time playing video games,watching tv or reading a book. I'll miss watching him make crazy faces when he's older and doesn't allow me to just sit and spy anymore.

Wordless Wednesday

I know it's wordless and all but Allie's obsessed with the sliding glass door right now. She was sitting the other day playing with the curtain and I was clicking away. I love her eyes!

New pics!

I haven't done alot of experimenting with my new camera yet. I also got a much needed camcorder at the same time. The one that I had was one of the ancient ones that took tapes..yes that's right actual video tapes and I didn't have the battery charger for it anymore. When I contacted the manufacturer they told me it would be $150 to get a new charger..so I have been wanting one for a while and honestly I was begging Allie to wait on crawling until I got one so I could get it on tape...until then I'd been using the video on my cell phone. So I found one and found one that went on hard drive so I didn't have to purchase the tapes or mini dvds left and right. It's got me when it comes to the technical stuff though..I can get them loaded onto my computer but I can't get them loaded onto dvds to keep or onto my blog...UGH!!!!! it's really starting to piss me off! I've got alot of reading to do on both my camcorder and my camera. I know there are so many other features to them that I haven't figured out yet. I do have video of Allie crawling and I swear if I can ever figure out how to get it on my blog then I'll show you all because I know you're losing sleep just waiting to see it :) Until then here are a few that I've gotten with my camera that I'm just in love with!!!


I love this picture. The thing I love about my camera is the shutter speed...I can sit and take picture after picture after picture..click,click,click and I'm bound to get something that I like. I really wanted a recent picture of all four of the kids and was soooo happy to get this one..I wish Allie was smiling but I can't ask for the world,right?


This is my FAVORITE picture that I've taken of Caleb so far. I am really interested in learning to take the close ups and to be able to see the features of the face that often times we don't see in regular pictures. I LOVE this picture!!!!


Here's my two during one of the non fighting moments. Seriously those are few and far between right now so this is EXTRA special!!!


And what's a post from me without a picture of my princess? I can't take enough pictures of her..I asked David the other night if he thought she sometimes felt like the had the paparazzi following her? I just love this little girl more than I can put into words.

Not Me Monday

It's rolled around again so that must mean it's time for Not Me Monday. MckMama started this blog carnival and it's a great way to admit what we all DID NOT do during the past week. Head over to her blog and check out what everyone else didn't do last week too.

Now as for me:

I did not eat cookie dough last week and count it as a meal one too many times. I realize the importance of eating a balanced meal and since I ALWAYS make my kids eat them I would want to be the example and teach them the appropriate way to eat. And I absolutely did not tell Jacob no when he came up to me and asked me to eat said cookie dough while I was shoving it in my mouth..that would just be totally unfair.

I did not get incredibly upset when hubbys supposed to be one hour AA meeting turned into a three hour ordeal on Tuesday night..in fact since I didn't get up upset with him I most definitely did not get into an argument with him that upset me so much I didn't even eat dinner that night. I most definitely wouldn't have done that since I hadn't eaten at all earlier in the day either. I tell ya I know it's the right thing but it's wearing me out but I don't ever admit when things are bothering me so I did not just say that!

I did not get the most amazing camera for Valentine's day only to take shot after shot after shot and not load them onto my computer until last night.

I did not get so frustrated last night as I was trying to burn a video onto dvd that wouldn't work that I cussed my computer out. Why can't things be easy sometimes and just work the FIRST time I try?

I did not take this picture of my PRECIOUS little girl with my new camera and I am not absolutely in love with both!


My computer is once again not working right and I have not had to save and restart this post three times this morning so I most definitely did not just tell my computer that if it didn't work this time I was not going to do this again today!

I did not lay in bed last night trying to remember my Not Me's from last week so I could post them this morning. I AM NOT that old and my mind works much better than that!

Crazy few weeks

Things have been so crazy around here I seriously wonder how I make it through the days lately. I've seemed to have fallen into a rut and I can't find my way out of it. I really hope to catch up on a ton of stuff this weekend and get some cleaning done too. Here's a few pics from the past couple of weeks...I say that because I haven't loaded any pics from the past week at all. It's all relative though :)



Who doesn't love cupcakes? This boy will devour them and make a huge mess at the same time. We try to get together with my dad and mom every weekend for dinner and this was at their house not too long ago. The kids absolutely love to go over there so we try to do it as much as possible.





Honestly these past couple of weeks have been a battle with these two. They spent last weekend at my parents so I got a bit of a break then but otherwise it's been trying. My nerves are shot right now and it takes nothing to get me to crack. There have been days when they only time I can get a picture while they are behaving and not in time out is when they are in bed. There's also been early bedtimes alot lately..I've learned that those aren't so bad though :)





Allie loves this fridge toy. I have a ton coming up about her..she's started scooting and cruising up a storm. Once I can get a video loaded you'll see her. I'm going to try and get all that done in the next couple of days. She's been my light these past few weeks. There are times I feel horrible complaining because I know so many others have it much worse than I do and really I am blessed but when you're in the moment and things are crazy it can be hard to remember that. I hope you all have a great Friday!!...i'm going to try to just chill out and breathe!