It's Monday morning: Jessie and the kids have been gone 3 days already. It's hard to believe. I miss them terribly. It's been strange not having them here, when they should be here. This has been a good test run too, on how things will run when they are in school everyday.
I haven't done to much out of the normal, but I think Cyril has liked the fact that everytime Gordon has laid down, or if Nana is here holding Gordon, then that's more time I get to spend with him. My little mommy's helper has even returned. All last year, everytime I was cleaning something he wanted to help. Since sometime in April or May - he stopped wanting to do it as much, if at all. And I think we will have to go to the library this week, whether or not the older two are with. We've read thru all the books we checked out. Cyril is loving that he gets story time, whenever he wants this week. lol. We have had some interesting days too. The 1st day they were gone, the little boys were crabby, we missed a playdate, I lost my cell phone, we had severe weather that included 3 tornado warnings, 1 of which resulted in our seirns going off, or so I'm told. The little boys and I fell asleep, we slept thru the whole thing. Good thing, nothing touched down in town.
The quiet has been really strange for me to get used too. I thought I would love having all of that quiet, but to my surprise I've discovered that I don't. I love the sound of children laughing. I miss the sound of the kids talking, pestering me with questions, tattling on each other, and etc. Granted when I'm in the heart of it - it drives me insane on many, many days...but thru this trip I've realized how much those sounds mean to me.
Jessie has been checking in almost everyday. The kids are going to have some interesting stories to tell when they get back. Some are funny (even though Dawn will not think so right now.) and some are just interesting I guess you could say. Who knew- they would enjoy playing with the walkie talkies so much. They found a dead snake while they were biking around the campgrounds. Dawn lost a sandal in the lake because she freaked out thinking she had a leech on her. No wonder they didn't get any fish that time....wonder if anyone else did on the lake with how loud she screamed. lol. Then they go back to the campsite, because she needed her tennis shoes, only to discover they were in the truck with them the whole time. Did I mention the camp site was 30 miles away??? Jessie didn't find it so humorous at the time that he told me, but I think it's funny.
Wonder what interesting adventures they will experience between now and the time they come home?
God Bless~
Showing posts with label kids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kids. Show all posts
Monday, July 19, 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
1st Camping trip
Well - it's 8am in the morning and I'm not sure what to do with myself. lol. The little boys are sleeping. Jessie, the older kids and my brother in law Kenny, left this morning for a 5 day/4 night camping trip. This is the kids 1st big camping/fishing trip. We decided that the little boys shouldn't go because Gordon is too small, and that the older kids need this trip with just dad. No younger siblings.
I'm so nervous about it, because it is their 1st big camping trip, not sure how the kids will handle not having any modern day technology. lol. No TV, no video games, and no computer. lol. Plus the last time Jessie took Spencer fishing, he didn't have a good experience. It was ice fishing and his foot fell in the hole. He swore off all fishing forever. lol. But this week, he had been getting more and more excited about going so we'll see. I just hope he has really good days, and none of his bad days like he's been having lately. Dawn has been like a typical teenager. One moment she wants to go, and the next she's too "cool" to be going. Plus lately she has been having gluten attacks. At least a couple times a week she's been sick, so I'm starting to wonder what's triggering the gluten attacks. I just hope she doesn't have any while she is up there. That would make for a miserable trip. I packed a bunch of gluten free foods, but we'll see. You know how kids can be when you restrict them from foods they love.
They've only been gone 2 hours but I miss them terribly. lol. It will be a nice break for me, especially with the challenges Spencer has been giving me lately, I guess in a way it's respite care for me. Cyril was just sad at the though this week of not being able to go on the camping trip with Daddy and his siblings. But so far this morning he's handling it okay. He got sad at 1st, but I told him that we needed to do something fun for just the 3 of us. I asked if he'll help me think of some fun stuff, but secretly I've already got some stuff planned. We will go to the splash pad or the wading pool, go to the library, maybe even go to the local fast food place that has a kids play area. I think he'll have some fun. Plus it will do him good, to spend some time with just momma, when Gordon is sleeping. It's been tough for him having to share his mommy.
This is going to be an interesting day I think, I wonder how it will go and the rest of the week will go without all of my family here.
God Bless~
I'm so nervous about it, because it is their 1st big camping trip, not sure how the kids will handle not having any modern day technology. lol. No TV, no video games, and no computer. lol. Plus the last time Jessie took Spencer fishing, he didn't have a good experience. It was ice fishing and his foot fell in the hole. He swore off all fishing forever. lol. But this week, he had been getting more and more excited about going so we'll see. I just hope he has really good days, and none of his bad days like he's been having lately. Dawn has been like a typical teenager. One moment she wants to go, and the next she's too "cool" to be going. Plus lately she has been having gluten attacks. At least a couple times a week she's been sick, so I'm starting to wonder what's triggering the gluten attacks. I just hope she doesn't have any while she is up there. That would make for a miserable trip. I packed a bunch of gluten free foods, but we'll see. You know how kids can be when you restrict them from foods they love.
They've only been gone 2 hours but I miss them terribly. lol. It will be a nice break for me, especially with the challenges Spencer has been giving me lately, I guess in a way it's respite care for me. Cyril was just sad at the though this week of not being able to go on the camping trip with Daddy and his siblings. But so far this morning he's handling it okay. He got sad at 1st, but I told him that we needed to do something fun for just the 3 of us. I asked if he'll help me think of some fun stuff, but secretly I've already got some stuff planned. We will go to the splash pad or the wading pool, go to the library, maybe even go to the local fast food place that has a kids play area. I think he'll have some fun. Plus it will do him good, to spend some time with just momma, when Gordon is sleeping. It's been tough for him having to share his mommy.
This is going to be an interesting day I think, I wonder how it will go and the rest of the week will go without all of my family here.
God Bless~
Saturday, April 17, 2010
33 weeks...
This past week has been an interesting week as far as the family goes and my pregnancy. I met with Dr. B this week, things are looking good. Baby is not longer directionally challenged. And Peanut's heartbeat was in the 140's. Movement is slowing down, but when it does move they are big movements.I only gained 1 pound in 2 weeks. He and I talked some more about my weight gain, and why the last huge jump really bothered me. He is still not concerned, because he said it's right within the limit he wants me to gain. I did tweak my daily food diet though. I discovered that even though I've been snacking on a lot of GF snack foods, and some breads. They can still be just as high as Weight Watcher points, so I need to be mindful of that, and plus this last month I really got away from eat the 7-9 servings of fruit and veggies, that I've been eating this pregnancy, which would explain it too. So I'm back to eating more fruits, veggies, and protein like before and it shows with the only 1 pound weight gain. I'm not starving by any means...wasn't before the pregnancy either. :) I'm back to drinking my water too, I've had to increase it because the swelling is here to stay I feel till the end. :(
The kids and I have been enjoying the gorgeous sunny weather the last couple of weeks and going on almost nightly walks w/the kids riding their bikes. Which helped too. Gotta get that vitamin D too. :) I swear Cyril is the typical little kid, he wants to be outside all the time. We've had to really keep an eye on him, because he loves to go out by himself, and ride his bike...or cause mischief.
On Wednesday he did something that I swear NEVER entered my mind of a kids doing. One of my daycare moms was picking up her girls. When all of a sudden Cyril comes in and tells me "Momma, poop". I assumed he had to go, so I told him too. "Nope, all done" I asked if he had flushed and washed his hands. "Not in there momma." By this point I was very confused, so I asked him where did he go? "Outside momma." Where outside I asked him. "Me -poop on deck." His eyes were shining with pride, and he had the biggest grin on his face. I did not believe for a moment he was serious. I figured out all of our children he'd be the one we see peeing outside on a tree. So I went and looked, sure enough, on the deck he did. Between the kids roaring with laughter, and me trying not to laugh, he beamed up at me with pride the whole time. I know it probably wasn't the thing to laugh, but I was speechless.
Now the deck is clean and disinfected. Hopefully the Clorox bleach will not destroy the deck...that would not be a good thing. Cyril and I talked about where it's okay to go to the bathroom and where it's not. But something tells me this won't be the last time we have this conversation....
God Bless,
Carlena
The kids and I have been enjoying the gorgeous sunny weather the last couple of weeks and going on almost nightly walks w/the kids riding their bikes. Which helped too. Gotta get that vitamin D too. :) I swear Cyril is the typical little kid, he wants to be outside all the time. We've had to really keep an eye on him, because he loves to go out by himself, and ride his bike...or cause mischief.
On Wednesday he did something that I swear NEVER entered my mind of a kids doing. One of my daycare moms was picking up her girls. When all of a sudden Cyril comes in and tells me "Momma, poop". I assumed he had to go, so I told him too. "Nope, all done" I asked if he had flushed and washed his hands. "Not in there momma." By this point I was very confused, so I asked him where did he go? "Outside momma." Where outside I asked him. "Me -poop on deck." His eyes were shining with pride, and he had the biggest grin on his face. I did not believe for a moment he was serious. I figured out all of our children he'd be the one we see peeing outside on a tree. So I went and looked, sure enough, on the deck he did. Between the kids roaring with laughter, and me trying not to laugh, he beamed up at me with pride the whole time. I know it probably wasn't the thing to laugh, but I was speechless.
Now the deck is clean and disinfected. Hopefully the Clorox bleach will not destroy the deck...that would not be a good thing. Cyril and I talked about where it's okay to go to the bathroom and where it's not. But something tells me this won't be the last time we have this conversation....
God Bless,
Carlena
Sunday, February 28, 2010
It appeared!
The it that I'm talking about is our federal tax refund. Compared to years past it's a small one this year, but we are just thankful that we didn't need to pay into taxes for it or have it taken for child support for the twins, like our state stuff is. (Which is fine - a whole long story about that.) This year, knock on wood we didn't need it for car repairs...yet. And with Jessie having only been able to work less then 1 month since the beginning of the new year, it came at a perfect time for us to get things catch up, and get some things that we needed too.
As a result we were able to treat the family to dinner. We took the kids out to eat at Mexican Village restaurant and it was a great time. I was nervous to take the kids out to eat on a Saturday night in this town. If your town is like ours on a Saturday night it's CRAZY!!!! lol. We actually didn't have to wait to long (30-45minute wait @ around 6:30), and service was great! I love going there because they have a good gluten free menu for me to choose from, but they have stuff equally that everyone can eat. The only down side was that mom wasn't able to come. That's her favorite restaurant, but she was in Rochester visiting my relatives there, and they all went to the near by town that my uncle Greg is staying at.
Back to the restaurant, Cyril was funny, while we were waiting to be seated. He has been becoming more of a chatterbox every day, and he loved telling me what color birds where hanging in the lobby area. lol. And if had a lot of colors, his hands get spread as wide as he can make them, and says "Lots and lots of colors mom." :) All three of the kids were pleasant to be with, and another miracle accord with Dawn & Spencer....NO ARGUING!!! :D
I'm so glad that the evening ended on such a great note.
God Bless~
Carlena
As a result we were able to treat the family to dinner. We took the kids out to eat at Mexican Village restaurant and it was a great time. I was nervous to take the kids out to eat on a Saturday night in this town. If your town is like ours on a Saturday night it's CRAZY!!!! lol. We actually didn't have to wait to long (30-45minute wait @ around 6:30), and service was great! I love going there because they have a good gluten free menu for me to choose from, but they have stuff equally that everyone can eat. The only down side was that mom wasn't able to come. That's her favorite restaurant, but she was in Rochester visiting my relatives there, and they all went to the near by town that my uncle Greg is staying at.
Back to the restaurant, Cyril was funny, while we were waiting to be seated. He has been becoming more of a chatterbox every day, and he loved telling me what color birds where hanging in the lobby area. lol. And if had a lot of colors, his hands get spread as wide as he can make them, and says "Lots and lots of colors mom." :) All three of the kids were pleasant to be with, and another miracle accord with Dawn & Spencer....NO ARGUING!!! :D
I'm so glad that the evening ended on such a great note.
God Bless~
Carlena
Saturday, February 27, 2010
FlyLady is spreading.....
I'm happy to report as this month comes to an end, that I have managed to keep the kitchen almost Flylady approved status all month. There was a couple of times, that I didn't do it, or only did my kitchen sinnk, but that is a huge improvement compared to what it has been this winter.
Funny thing has started to happen: FlyLady is getting Jessi,the kids, and my daycare kids on board too, without them realizing it. It's been really easy this last week or so in getting my daycare kids to help clean up after themselves (3-4yr olds I mean). Last weekend Jessie had Dawn & Spencer clean the livingroom, and I mean really clean it. They moved all the furniture, cleaned up the toys, dusted and vaccumed. He then had them pick 2 of the bathrooms to clean, Dawn did the upstairs, and Spencer, did the main floor one. It's been amazing this past week how it's only taken a little bit of prompting to get them to pick up after themselves, and keep those areas clean. Plus I reminded them, and my oldest daycare girl a couple of times "Your maid has left the building, please do...." Even Cyril helped out too. lol. He took about a half a bottle of Windex to clean the windows that he could reach, but he helped.
Now today, we deep cleaned the upstairs bedrooms. Dawn for the most part has been keeping her room clean since this fall. She is trying to prove that she is old enough to stay up later then 8-8:30 on a school night. So she didn't have too much to do, the boys' room on the other hand is a completely different story. We still did to their rooms like we did to the livingroom last weekend. We moved all the furniture...okay I didn't move any furniture, Jessie & the kids did. Then we vaccumed, or swiffered the floor, dusted and etc. It's so nice to go upstairs and see how clean their rooms are. I'm hoping that Spencer, will do a better job at keeping his side of the boys' room clean, but we'll see. That's a work in progress all of it's own.
Now if we can keep the main rooms and upstairs clean, that will be a nice present to ourselves. I'm still thinking of printing off some Riley challenges that the FlyLady has for kids, and see if we can't build some great habits in the kids, especially the older two. Cyril has been doing a great job, he loves to help clean, now if I can just "let" him do it, and be okay with the imperfections. I hope that I will encourage some great habits, and undo the old ones.
God Bless~
Carlena
Funny thing has started to happen: FlyLady is getting Jessi,the kids, and my daycare kids on board too, without them realizing it. It's been really easy this last week or so in getting my daycare kids to help clean up after themselves (3-4yr olds I mean). Last weekend Jessie had Dawn & Spencer clean the livingroom, and I mean really clean it. They moved all the furniture, cleaned up the toys, dusted and vaccumed. He then had them pick 2 of the bathrooms to clean, Dawn did the upstairs, and Spencer, did the main floor one. It's been amazing this past week how it's only taken a little bit of prompting to get them to pick up after themselves, and keep those areas clean. Plus I reminded them, and my oldest daycare girl a couple of times "Your maid has left the building, please do...." Even Cyril helped out too. lol. He took about a half a bottle of Windex to clean the windows that he could reach, but he helped.
Now today, we deep cleaned the upstairs bedrooms. Dawn for the most part has been keeping her room clean since this fall. She is trying to prove that she is old enough to stay up later then 8-8:30 on a school night. So she didn't have too much to do, the boys' room on the other hand is a completely different story. We still did to their rooms like we did to the livingroom last weekend. We moved all the furniture...okay I didn't move any furniture, Jessie & the kids did. Then we vaccumed, or swiffered the floor, dusted and etc. It's so nice to go upstairs and see how clean their rooms are. I'm hoping that Spencer, will do a better job at keeping his side of the boys' room clean, but we'll see. That's a work in progress all of it's own.
Now if we can keep the main rooms and upstairs clean, that will be a nice present to ourselves. I'm still thinking of printing off some Riley challenges that the FlyLady has for kids, and see if we can't build some great habits in the kids, especially the older two. Cyril has been doing a great job, he loves to help clean, now if I can just "let" him do it, and be okay with the imperfections. I hope that I will encourage some great habits, and undo the old ones.
God Bless~
Carlena
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Name changes....
Cyber friend of mine, had something horrible happen to her, in regards to her blog. Some people were kind enough to give her a heads up. Someone had been stalking her blog. This woman stole pictures of my friend's oldest daughter and renamed her. So as of this day, I have changed the kids names on the blog for their safety. I'm not saying someone is doing that with my kids, but in regards to history I have with Dawn's bio-father, I can't risk a chance. Plus the there are scary people out there, as we were recently reminded of that on my friend's blog.
So they will forever be known as Dawn, Spencer & Cyril...for now. We'll take more steps if we need too.
God Bless -
So they will forever be known as Dawn, Spencer & Cyril...for now. We'll take more steps if we need too.
God Bless -
Let it snow, Let it snow....
This past week we've gotten several good snow falls. The kids have hated hearing the words "It snowed." They have had to help and shovel, which their Nana says I'm being mean by making them do it. Heck even little Cyril had gotten into it.
Today ended up being fun watching the kids. We had gotten about 1/2 -1 inch of snow over the night, and Dawn volunteered to do all of the sidewalks (5 of them) and Spencer only had to do the driveway (a really good deal on his end). He was having one of his sensory mornings, so it was touching to watch Dawn volunteer and be such a kind loving sister. (They've been bickering a lot lately.)
The next thing Jessie looks out the window and the kids were making a fort at the end of the driveway...TOGETHER! It was amazing to see the team work, see the smiles and hear the giggling. It's been awhile.
Even Cyril wanted to get out and see what was going on with the big kids, and so he got suited up, and went out with his big sister. She had wanted to come in, but agreed to help out with him. (She is such a great big sister to Cyril...wish it stretched to Spencer more.) Then the two of them went to the back yard and were trying to locate icicles, and were using my broom to get them. lol. Then Spencer saw all the fun, and joined them. It lasted for about an hour before they came in.
I got some great photo shots of them goofing around. I laughed so hard at the three of them, my sides hurt and I bet the baby was wondering what the hec was going on out here.
By the way it hasn't stopped snowing all day. It's about time we get a good snow fall, we haven't gotten really anything since Christmas time last year. I'd love to make a snowman with the kids.
God Bless,
Today ended up being fun watching the kids. We had gotten about 1/2 -1 inch of snow over the night, and Dawn volunteered to do all of the sidewalks (5 of them) and Spencer only had to do the driveway (a really good deal on his end). He was having one of his sensory mornings, so it was touching to watch Dawn volunteer and be such a kind loving sister. (They've been bickering a lot lately.)
The next thing Jessie looks out the window and the kids were making a fort at the end of the driveway...TOGETHER! It was amazing to see the team work, see the smiles and hear the giggling. It's been awhile.
Even Cyril wanted to get out and see what was going on with the big kids, and so he got suited up, and went out with his big sister. She had wanted to come in, but agreed to help out with him. (She is such a great big sister to Cyril...wish it stretched to Spencer more.) Then the two of them went to the back yard and were trying to locate icicles, and were using my broom to get them. lol. Then Spencer saw all the fun, and joined them. It lasted for about an hour before they came in.
I got some great photo shots of them goofing around. I laughed so hard at the three of them, my sides hurt and I bet the baby was wondering what the hec was going on out here.
By the way it hasn't stopped snowing all day. It's about time we get a good snow fall, we haven't gotten really anything since Christmas time last year. I'd love to make a snowman with the kids.
God Bless,
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Smell of Vicks....
What is it about the smell of Vicks? For me- I smell that smell, and I instantly feel soothed, and feel better when I'm sick. I LOVE the Johnson & Johnson Vapor bath stuff, because it has that smell too. Wish I could find a more natural product to use that works just as well....
Last couple of weeks we have had several bugs going thru the house. UGH! First that vicious stomache bug as I mention earlier, and now poor Cyril has a really bad head cold. It's starting to sound croupy and that makes me nervous as a mommy. Since both times that he's had it in years past, he winds up in the hospital because he can't breathe. :( Fingers crossed it doesn't get to that point. It's getting bad though, because he woke up with it now in his right eye too. :( Guess it's time to load up on some Vitamin C, garlic, zinc, cuddles and more vicks.
God Bless,
Carlena
Last couple of weeks we have had several bugs going thru the house. UGH! First that vicious stomache bug as I mention earlier, and now poor Cyril has a really bad head cold. It's starting to sound croupy and that makes me nervous as a mommy. Since both times that he's had it in years past, he winds up in the hospital because he can't breathe. :( Fingers crossed it doesn't get to that point. It's getting bad though, because he woke up with it now in his right eye too. :( Guess it's time to load up on some Vitamin C, garlic, zinc, cuddles and more vicks.
God Bless,
Carlena
Sunday, January 24, 2010
1st day
Today - is the 1st day where I have felt more like my pregnant self, even after sleeping really fitfully on Dawn's bed with her. Man- she has a soft bed and so many blankets! I don't get how that child can be cold with all of those blankets. Jessie was sick all night the poor guy.
Why is it after a mommy starts getting better, the housework we normally do seems to exploded and multiply? I often forget how much I pick up after everyone all the time. Lately though - I've gotten sick of doing it, at least for Dawn & Spencer. Last week - I told those two and my oldest daycare girl/helper "CC" that "Their maid has left the building." Spencer didn't get it at 1st and when we explained to him- he looked shell shocked. But seriously is there a reason I have to pick up after them in everything? Dirty clothes, left everywhere, dirty dishes not in the sink, rinsed off, etc, etc. So we'll see what happens.
It's funny how 2 & 3yr old LOVE to help. They don't do it perfect, heck sometimes not what you would call "helping", but I love it! I didn't always like their ideas of helping, and I think that's part of the problem with the older two. With them, I've learned NOT to go back and fix what they did, no matter how streaky the mirrors or windows are. I expect more from the older two now, but Cyril- I just let him help. Except I have to tell him when the door is cleaned enough or he'll use the whole Windex bottle. lol.
He loves to help with the laundry. Pouring in the laundry detergent, or the softner ball. He loves, helping to put clothes in the washer or the dryer when I use it. This morning, he climbed on top of the washer...just started giggling. He thought it felt funny. I bet with all those vibrations. Fingers crossed he'll continue to be a good helper as he gets older.
There's the buzzer.
God Bless.
Why is it after a mommy starts getting better, the housework we normally do seems to exploded and multiply? I often forget how much I pick up after everyone all the time. Lately though - I've gotten sick of doing it, at least for Dawn & Spencer. Last week - I told those two and my oldest daycare girl/helper "CC" that "Their maid has left the building." Spencer didn't get it at 1st and when we explained to him- he looked shell shocked. But seriously is there a reason I have to pick up after them in everything? Dirty clothes, left everywhere, dirty dishes not in the sink, rinsed off, etc, etc. So we'll see what happens.
It's funny how 2 & 3yr old LOVE to help. They don't do it perfect, heck sometimes not what you would call "helping", but I love it! I didn't always like their ideas of helping, and I think that's part of the problem with the older two. With them, I've learned NOT to go back and fix what they did, no matter how streaky the mirrors or windows are. I expect more from the older two now, but Cyril- I just let him help. Except I have to tell him when the door is cleaned enough or he'll use the whole Windex bottle. lol.
He loves to help with the laundry. Pouring in the laundry detergent, or the softner ball. He loves, helping to put clothes in the washer or the dryer when I use it. This morning, he climbed on top of the washer...just started giggling. He thought it felt funny. I bet with all those vibrations. Fingers crossed he'll continue to be a good helper as he gets older.
There's the buzzer.
God Bless.
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