A year of learning.

Instead of talking about resolutions for the new year I am going to look back at last year and talk about what I learned about myself.
First of all I learned that I can remain calm and cool in a scary situation. When Amelia got knocked in the head with a shovel and there was blood everywhere I was able to (along with my sister) get her to the Doctor. Even when she started falling asleep in the car on the way and throwing up in the waiting room I held it together and got through the chaos to the other side which included her getting stitches and a milkshake from McDonald's :)
I also learned that I can be strong and positive when life hands out unfair and unjustified things. Chris got laid off..out of the blue mostly because I think they wanted to hire someone with less experience that they could pay less. Regardless of why it happened , we rallied together and made it through the tough situation of bruised egos and we made it to the other side. He now has a job he likes much better and is actually starting to feel secure again. I on the other hand learned something else about myself when he got this new job. I learned that him working at home is taking a while to get used to and might force me to find a job.
Another important thing I have discovered is I can actually rely on my friends for support. People actually do care about me and are there for me no matter what. They don't judge me on how clean my house is or what I feed my kids for dinner.
Over the past 4.5 years I have had one friend that I have talked to daily through emails and instant messages. I had never met her and had only spoken to her once on the phone until a few months ago. I always called her my modern day penpal but everyone else called her my cyber friend. I had always considered her a true friend but when we met it made things concrete and I love her even more.
Over the next year I hope I can keep finding out more things about myself. I am hoping I can push myself to discover new things and evolve into a better person then even I thought I could be.

Promises, promises.

We promised the girls we would take them bowling over Christmas break and today was the day. We ended up taking a few friends and meeting a few friends. There were nine little girls between the ages of 4.5 and 1o and 3 adults. The bowling alley was packed full of other families who had probably made the same bowling promises. After a long wait we all got our stinky pre-worn shoes and sat down to put them on...Amelia slips off her furry boots and has NO socks on (which was Chris's fault since I wasn't home this morning and he was in charge). Sooo we had to buy her some too big bowling alley socks. We were all suited up and started our first game. The music was blaring and there were sounds of pins and balls colliding . The kids stayed pretty interested through the first half. During the second half they were all starting to beg for a snack and kept wandering over to the arcade games. We got snacks and finished the first game and started a second game...that was a mistake. The kids were totally done. We bowled a few frames and that was that. Our bowling promises were fulfilled for the year.
Now I have a total 7-10 split-ing headache. Luckily, in our family, bowling only happens once a year!

Amelia and Nick's great adventure.

Today my nephews came over. Owen is five and Nick is two. Owen immediately settled in for a long morning of playing Wii with Caroline and Olivia. Amelia took Nick by the hand and led him upstairs to play in her room. My sister and I were busy trying to change my blog design around so we kept yelling up and asking if everything was going OK. Amelia kept saying YES. When she came down asking for a different shirt for Nick we got a little suspicious so I went up to check it out. They had dumped an entire bottle of bubble bath in my bathroom sink and they were splashing around with 10 rubber ducks. I got them all cleaned up and brought them down for lunch. After lunch they got into playing with the Moon Sand (which is a whole other hellish story).
When I took Amelia to bed tonight I found out the rest of the story. Her room looked like a bomb blew up in there...clothes tossed everywhere...stuffed animals piled up ....toy tubs dumped over. I asked what had happened and she told me they were searching for the magic mirror...ummm OK what the heck is the magic mirror?? After a few minute of putting her room back together she yells that she found it! I look over and she is holding a pink hand mirror that lights up around the edges, apparently dubbed the magic mirror. She then tells me how Nick LOVES the mirror because he loves to watch himself pick his nose and then her voice dropped to a whisper and she tells me you know mom he does that picking thing all the time. Finally I gave up trying to clean her room up and told her to get in bed. She then freaks out because she can't find her Leapster. I ask her where it could be and she tells me well Nick hid it today after he threw it off her bed a few times. We then searched for a while and finally she discovered it was under her pillow with all the game disks. Finding the game jogged Amelia's memory and she remembered that Nick had put the Leapster to bed before he left. On the way out her bedroom door I discovered a half chewed piece of gum and a spilled can of rootbeer. I guess the moral of the story is that I should get my butt off the computer and supervise the very inventive four year old and the squirrly two year old.

I have won a major award!

One week into the two week break I have apparently won an award! I am jumping up and down and planning my acceptance speech right now! The award is for the meanest mom during holiday break :) I worked so hard to earn this prestigious award! I asked so much of my children I mean really....
How dare I make the girls clean up after themselves ? How could I make them empty the dishwasher and feed the cats? Why would I ask them to please get dressed when it is almost noon? What is the meaning of me wanting them to shower at least every other day and wash their hair??? I mean HOW DARE I!!! What would be the point of cleaning up their rooms and the basement when it is just going to get messy again?? Why would I get angry when 3 days after Christmas where they received pretty much everything on their lists they come to me and tell me they are BORED and have nothing to do??
I wonder what kind of award I can win over the second half of break???

The invasion.

When the phone rang at 9:30 this morning I knew exactly who it would be on the other end. My mother in law calling to say they were running late ...blah blah blah. I mean really I am able to get myself and 3 kids ready , have my house clean and brunch in the oven yet they can't get here by 10????? Obviously a passive aggressive way to control the situation. Anyway they got here around 10:30 and immediately started oohhing and ahhing about how HUGE the muffins were on the counter...how one muffin could feed a whole family...blah blah blah. Then on to the fact that I was using plastic (throw away plastic). I am sorry that I do not want to use antique china and serve a 5 course meal...and spend time hand washing the china (which they do every single flipping time). NOPE I would rather throw it in the trashcan and spend time doing fun stuff. On to the gifts. The girls adored every single thing they got. There were screams of joy. Before you think my mother in law did a good job shopping and actually knew what my kids like stop and rethink. She asked me to do the shopping for her and wrote me a check. How could she know my girls when she sees them only 4 or 5 times a year?? Oh and they only live about 15 minutes away. Now for Chris and my gifts. Which I need to first of all say I told them no gifts were necessary at all and I meant it. I got a glass Williamsburg Gingerbread house...LIMITED EDITION I was told as I opened it. It is a nice Christmas decoration. It was very expensive I am sure which isn't exactly ideal for a glass house inside my chaotic house. I also received a Longaberger bowl...again a nice gift but expensive and showy. As for the gifts we gave them...they were not to interested. As usual no emotion at all.
The best part was when the girls tried to get them to play Wii. I thought that was a nice gesture and I could just imagine what it might like to see them to loosen up a little. Nope they refused. They would rather discuss the history of the circus or computers. Could their recent obsession with the circus show some sort of connection to their inability to relate to children??
It all ended rather abruptly 4 hours after they arrived. Bye thanks! See you again for Easter.

5:30 am conversation

This morning at 5:30 I could feel hot breath on my face and I opened my eyes to my youngest staring at me. She asked if she could come in my bed. I asked why?? She said.. "well I peed in my bed....but I changed my jammies and underwear." I squinted in the light shining from her room down the hall and saw she had indeed changed and put on her nightgown backward. I told her fine climb in we will just take care of her bed later. I noticed as she was climbing in that her underwear where on backwards and inside out...oh well never hurt anyone. Once she was settled in bed she kept talking. She told me that she was going to give me two lists. One of things she DID pee on in her bed and one of things she did NOT pee on. She had every Christmas present on her bed and one of the cats...LUCKILY she told me when she felt something start to 'happen' she scooted her blankets and toys away and only peed on her sheet...wheeewww. I asked her why if she felt like she was going to go she didn't get up and run to the potty. She told me she was just too snuggly to do that. I am sure the special can of pop at her Mimi's last night contributed to the accident.
Now I am ready to batton down the hatches for the in laws to arrive in a few hours. NOW that should be some really good blog material!

My letter to Santa

**** UPDATED****

Dear Santa,
Despite what you have heard I have tried to be good this year. I have muddled through injuries and job loss and bullies and bad teachers. I have really worked hard to stick to a healthier me program (ummm excuse the cinnamon bread and brownies I have consumed lately) with nutritious eating and exercise (yeah don't look too closely at that either over the past few weeks). I have sacrificed good sense and invited my in-laws etc over once again this year (which I hope will give me tons of blog material oops I mean I hope it will be an olive branch for our relationship). I have tried to be a good friend and a good mom and a good wife. Now for my list..I know you can't promise everything but please at least try to deliver on a few.

1: I would totally love to have extra patience to deal with Amelia's sassy mouth ...well and Caroline's attitude ..ohh and Olivia's tears...and while I am at it I might as well add Chris working from home..that would be wonderful.

2: One extra hour added on to the day so I can get everything done plus sleep and blog and play on the computer without feeling like a bad mom/wife.

3. An exemption from classroom volunteering for the rest of the school year.


4. A cleaning fairy.

and if you can't bring those things I will take...

5. Ugg boots and an IPhone...

I have to add two things on at the very last minute..

6. A lock on my bedroom door (self explanatory)

7. A new mailbox.