Too cold for school?

I go a full week without really anything to say, but then bam! Two posts in one day. Wow.


Dave's gone tonight, and I got the automated call from school this afternoon telling me that school is canceled tomorrow because of cold weather (wind chill of -30 to -40 below until Friday noon). When Dave travels, as most people know, I'm fine. I don't mind the empty house, the kids' schedules, the hectic moments, for the most part. But there's always just a little bit of me when he leaves that panics. What if I can't do it this time? What if they get the better of me? What if I really do lose my mind? And then, when it's too cold to even have school, my stomach leaps into my throat, and I worry about what the heck I will do with these kids all day. Luckily, my head usually kicks in and says of course everything will be ok. Even if it's hour by hour, minute by minute, it will be okay. And it always is.


Tonight, I actually had energy! It could because of the nap I took while Max was napping and Nolan was watching TV. Nolan probably loves this pregnancy thing... he gets to watch more TV than ever. You want to watch another show? Great! Can you be quiet so I can sleep longer? But at least if I get a nap, I might be able to keep up with them at night. After dinner, I gave Max a bath, and Abby and Nolan came in the bathroom, with Abby's ipod and player, and we cranked the music and danced, danced, danced! Then, we came to the living room and danced some more! Everything from Please Don't Stop the Music to I Want a Hippopotomus for Christmas and Grease Lightning. Even Max got into it, and got mad at the kids when the sat down and wouldn't dance with him anymore. It was pretty fun. And now, the kids are still up (except Max), watching TV, and I figured why not... there's no school tomorrow!


Speaking of tomorrow, I'm supposed to be meeting a preschool friend of Nolan's and his mom at a local indoor playground place. I really want to, but it's SO COLD. But if I don't, I may just lose my mind! Hmmm, lose fingers to cold, or lose my mind? It's a tough call.

Here's some pics of my dancing fools... Max dancing with his monkey when no one else would dance with him.

Go Greased Lightning!

Some funky moves goin' on!

That's the ipod player behind Max and the monkey... he also liked being the dj! That kid can feel the groove!

Be warm!

Two weeks later...

Ok, so the title could almost refer to the amount of time inbetween posts this time, but rather, it refers to Dave's wedding ring. Two weeks after Max flushed it down the toilet, we found out that he didn't really flush it down the toilet. I mean, Dave heard the ploop into the toilet, and heard the flush. And he looked everywhere in the bathroom, and took the toilet apart, and to no avail. And later, just to be sure, I prayed to St. Anthony and looked around the bathroom myself. Nothing. Then, two weeks later, Max pulls Dave into the bathroom by grabbing his hand and using his pteradactyl words (no real words, just the squaking of a pteradactyl) so Dave follows him. Where Max miraculously produces... the ring! What?!? How can that be? We really have no idea. No idea where it was, if he knew the whole time, what happened. But it's back. So, maybe, I'll take that as a message that he'll be ok after all, and will mellow. Someday.

So, outside of trying to figure out Max, things here have been quiet. I may have updated sooner, but I'm not really feeling so great. Tired... very tired! My hope is that it will go away soon and I'll get some energy back. But, when that happens, I'll also start showing and this baby thing will become more real. I'm not sure I'm ready for that! And we're trying to deal with the COLD. I can't handle winter anymore, it's really kicking my butt. But we do try. I refuse to go outside, but every now and again we try to bring the outside in to us...

A bounce house in the basement!

Abby made everyone casts. Max loved his!

And I run a tough ship around here... here's the boys doing their homework.

I hope everyone is surviving the cold. If you don't hear from me, it just means I'm hibernating!

Jill

Not my proudest mommy admission

From the moment Max wakes up, I count down the hours until he's back asleep again. Maybe not even the hours. The minutes. Seriously. When he sleeps in, I'm so grateful in the morning, but then I just know naptime will come late. When naptime comes and he takes a great nap, I'm so happy. But then when he wakes up, I just know bedtime will be late. That little kid does not stop. Ever. Tonight he threw a candle off the table. I cleaned it up. He dumped goldfish (the crackers, fortunately!). I cleaned them up. He spilled juice. I cleaned it up. I brought toys to the basement. He brought them up. I think 90% of my day consists of cleaning up something he just did. Did I share what he did last week? Either way, it's worth sharing again... he flushed Dave's wedding ring down the toilet. Yup, just got it off the sink while Dave was shaving, dropped it in the toilet, and WHOOSH! Down it went. Whatever it is, he's in it, on it, under it, spilling it, stepping in it. This, THIS, is what I expected when I started to stay home with the kids. Luckily I know it's temporary. And on the upside, considering he can bring the ladder anywhere he wants, get things out of the fridge, and refuses help on anything, at least in the next year, he'll be the most independent, self-sufficient kid ever! (Hey Max, mix me a drink, get me some chocolate!)

Anyway, thanks to everyone who commented and emailed me their support for this new baby. Considering Max's current temperment, I'm a little scared. Nicole, you're the best for offering to do my summertime drinking, but you may have to fight Dave on that. I have a feeling he'll be doing a lot of drinking between now and then! And Jenny, I hadn't even thought of having to change my blog name and masthead. Geez, this kids a lot of work already!

Happy mid-week everyone!

Is it a planet? The moon? What is that?

Why, it's baby number 4, of course. Yes, you read right... baby number FOUR! For those of you thinking four? Really? I thought they were done with three? My answer is SO DID WE! We really thought we were done. But, I guess life has a way at throwing some curve balls at you that you just deal with. I'm not sure who was more shocked, me or the doctor. Well, I know Dave was the most shocked, but hopefully he'll come around. We both will, I'm sure. Eventually. You know, in the middle of summer, when it's hot out and I can't drink all summer again! Arrgghhh! It will be ok... it will be ok... it will be ok... you say it too, ok? Then maybe it really will be ok.

Due date: August 13.

New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Year! 2009... so full of promise, so full of promises! What are mine? Well, I decided my resolutions will focus on the kids. Here they are, from youngest to oldest.


First, Max. Poor Max, my resolution for him, ahem, I mean, my resolution involving Max, is getting rid of the nuk. 12 months and one day for the other kids, 18 months for him. Geez! It's time. And, actually, this one should be done soon. I took it away yesterday upon waking (Happy New Year, Max!) and didn't give it to him for nap or bedtime. Nap he cried for about 10 minutes, bedtime was about 45 minutes. But, once he was asleep, he didn't wake up at all all night for it. That surprised me, since he often cries for it if he can't find it on regular nights. Today's nap started in the car (sans nuk), and he woke up after 45 minutes. But, I got him back down for another hour. And then, tonight, we read books, he cried for 30 seconds, and that was it. Will it really be this easy? I feel like I should make another resolution for him!


On to Nolan. I'm going to try to spend more time with him. I mean, I'm home with him every day, but yet, I still don't get into the things he gets into. He loves playing Wii Star Wars Legos. He plays with his Bionicles. Crossbows and Catupults is his favorite game. Ugh. There's just gotta be something I can do with him that we can connect on. I'll find it!


And finally, Abby. I'm going to try to keep her young this year. I know I often lament about how quickly she's growing up, but still she's only six. I can't help her maturity too much and what she learns in school, but I can control her clothes! She's recently grown out of the size 6 clothes she has, which are mostly in the little girls' section of clothes that have princesses, Dora and pink fuzzy outfits, into size 7/8 clothes, which seem to be in the grown up section of clothes that have half shirts, short skirts and high heels. Geez. It's really tough to find clothes that cover things, don't have suggestive messages, and don't advertise shows that are made for high schoolers and marketed to 5 year olds. But there are clothes out there... I will find them!


And that's it for me this year. Sounds easy, huh? Maybe it is. I'm sure I'll add plenty as the year goes on, but hopefully, next year at this time, I'll be able to look back at this post and feel like I at least accomplished this.

On to the pictures. I haven't gotten our family pics off Dave's camera yet, but here's some from mine...

Max was exhausted and fell asleep in his macaroni and cheese. The other kids did this when they were little, he waited until he was 18 months. Still cute!

This is a lot of snow. Luckily, some of it melted now, but man! Could we catch a break between the snow and the cold?

Christmas at the cabin... We were at the Dells this past weekend with my mom and dad, my sister and her husband and three kids. We stayed at a log cabin, which was pretty nice, and had a nice Christmas, with access to a water park, which is always a good thing! Here are the kids with their new Quillows, which my sister made.

Max got a new scooter that was a hit with everyone.

Cole got a soccer goal, which he and Nolan thought was a tent so they camped.

What did Santa bring in her bag?

KIDS!

Over new years, my great friend Renee and her husband Jon came in from New York. They have one son, Ben, who's five days older than Max. Ben is a hugger (and sometimes a biter!) and Max is more of a rogue toddler. It caused a little dissention at first, but then they started hanging out and playing together.

Ben says all kinds of words. Max? He squeeks like a pteradactyl. Gotta love it.

Our great neighbors Rocky and Jenny came over with their boys, too. Here's Abby and Rocky with matching tiaras.

Ben loved crawling on Abby, which means Max decided to crawl all over her too. Poor Abby!

Happy New Year!

Abby and Cody made it till midnight. The picture I forgot to take was Nolan asleep on the couch!

Hope everyone had a safe and fun celebration... Enjoy 2009 for all it's worth!