this girl and her goldendoodle

What... how do you watch tv?  Not on the back of your dog?  Oh.  Weird.  

Just another Manic Monday

I actually feel like I got something accomplished today and that feels GOOD!

Hudson doesn't have preschool on Mondays so he was home all day. Honestly, I prefer him to just be home all day and I think, to tell you the truth, if I had to do it all over again I'd have kept him home this year and (forced) myself to do my own preschool curriculum.  It'd have saved me $150/month and the hassle of packing up the kids and taking him to school at noon, and then packing up the baby again at 3 to pick him up.   Oh well... what's done is done.

Anyhow.... I'm already planning a fab 5th birthday party for Hudson.   He's really into painting/art right now so we're going to have a painting party!  I'm going to actually put some effort into planning his party because the last few years he's done Lightning McQueen parties and they've literally been bo-ring to plan for.  Not to mention I've put in minimal effort.  

What was I saying?   Oh yes... the party..... I have lots of ideas... I'm super excited about it!   Today we painted a big "5" on cardboard.  We're going to have a photobooth, face painting (per the birthday boys request) and painting a canvas picture.   Super duper fun stuff!   I love Pinterest.... have I said that yet??

What else did I accomplish today?  Oh yes.... Duncan.  Duncan Duncan Duncan.   He was looking like a polar bear, and his hair was getting matted on his hips where he laid down.  I wasn't wanting to spend $50-$60 on his haircut (so many other things I could use that for right now!), so I decided to play doggy groomer myself.   Hacked up his hair.  I sure did!  I did wash him after this and brush him out, and he looks SO much better.  Not too bad, really.  

Hudson was being such a good listener today and was really campaigning to take his rest on the couch. He talked me into it by voluntarily picking out some books and reading on the couch while I got Amelia ready for her nap.   By this time I'd battled ants (ugh... ants are back AGAIN... every darn spring..... I tried something new this time.  Borax + Sugar + Water.   Currently I have about 100 ants in a pile on my office floor sucking up this concoction.  They'll either die tonight or be back tomorrow for more sweet treats.) and was feeling exhausted so I laid down with Hudson on the couch.  This weekend he found the little mini pocket bible that each of the kids have and has been carrying it around.  (Overheard this weekend, as Porter asked Hudson to help him clean up toys.  "In a minute, Porter.  I'm reading this book.  Called.  The BIBLE."  Cue the sassiness as he said THE BIBLE haha!).  He asked me to read some of the bible so I got through part of Genesis and decided to go get his kids bible and read him a few of those stories.  Then we headed upstairs and I took a good hour nap.  Much needed!  

I also managed to slip in a little mini session with my kiddos for a prop shoot I needed to get done for my From Her Lens photography group (more on that later!).   It didn't turn out as great as I'd envisioned but oh well....

The weather was fabulous today.  I really want to mow the friggin lawn... we have patches that grow longer than others and it sooo needs to be cut.   However, the drive belt or something broke on the lawnmower so it's out of commission right now.    The boys had a blast all evening outside.   They rode scooters, pushed Amelia around in the blue car, had McKenna over to play for a bit and played on the swingset.   My yard looked a mess by the end of the day but that just means we had a good day, right??   

Ry's dad came over for dinner, and afterward I went grocery shopping.  WHEW.   Finally sat down at the end of the day around 9pm and then chatted photo biz stuff with Carrie for a few hours.  Long long day, but I feel pretty accomplished, so that's good.  

iPhone Dump

Cuteness overload.   Love. This. Girl.  

Ella loves her too.  Yes, we have a cat!  Can you believe it?   We finally are attempting to let Ella back upstairs (her home has been the laundry room for the past... uh... year?? ever since she peed on the guest bed in teh basement).  She loves Amelia.  Amelia loooves to grab her. (I imagine her saying in her head "SHE'S SO FLUFFY I COULD DIE!" cue Despicable Me)

Dude needs a haircut.  But... he really wants to grow it out, so I'm letting him. Ry isn't happy but I think he should have a say in how he wants to look.  Let him be who he is, right?  So what if it means shaggy baggy hair.

Uhm, Dunc Doodle.... you've got a leaf tag-along.

This was going on this week... crazy kids.  Amelia thought it was pretty fun.   A little circus in our back yard.  All ours.  Jealous, aren't you? 

Gawwwwd I love this kid.  She is so cute.  Teeny tiny thing still wearing 3-6mo Old Navy jams that typically run so tiny small.

Someone feels entitled today..... Hmm....

This moose....err... pony....errr...dog cracks me up.  

Monday Porter came home from school and asked me to pull his tooth out.  EEWWW.  I did it, though.  Out with the tooth!  That'd be #4!

And while Porter is LOSING teeth, Amelia is getting them in.  She has her first tooth on the bottom!

Tell me this isn't funny?  I found it on Instagram under #Goldendoodles.  No, this is not Duncan.  Though I wish it was.  It is hilarious!

Look who is starting to crawl!  She has found her knees.  Now to figure out the coordination!

Last week I went upstairs after Porter left for school and saw this in the hallway on the dresser.  Totally stopped me in my tracks.  Makes my heart hurt for him.  

I got a text from Aubri last week.... cracked me up... "What are you doing girl"  HAHA!   SHe and I have been texting back and forth.... I send her pictures of Amelia and the boys, and we tell each other good morning and good night.  SO sweet.  LOVE IT.

Porter's Christmas List:

Nerf gun
Real Dirt Bike
I want a real shotgun
18 inch bike- green "rules" (ironically he found a bike that says something about "No Rules" Oh boy...)

Ipod Green Case
Skylanders Giants and small Wii game
Skateboard ramp
Xbox Halo 4 Game (WTF?)
Xbox for home
Tv for home in my room

Porter 2012
(sadly, the poor boy is going to be very disappointed this year...)

(I love that he dates it, too!)

Friday Madness

Friday morning Porter's school was cancelled.  A high school teacher/coach had passed away in the middle of the night.  So so sad.  He was only 48, and a well liked person in our community.  While I felt terrible for the reason he was off school, it was so nice to have my 3 babies all home with me.  It was just like "old times" when I had Fridays with both boys.  Only this time Amelia was here too!

Our day was a bit dramatic.  Here are a few highlights (and some pictures to go with!)

Amelia was super needy throughout the morning.

The boys were in the front yard playing and climbing the tree.  I hear banging and laughter.  I look out and find a stool being thrown around the yard and Hudson peeing.  Nice.

Cooper ripped a hole in the fence and escaped.  The boys were insanely worried and wanted me to load up the van and drive all over God's green earth to find him.  Sorry.... not gonna do it.  He'll come back.  Porter had this great idea that just killed me.  "Mom, I'll draw a picture of a bird and tape it to a stick and Cooper will see it and want to chase it and he'll come back!"  And so he put his idea into action.  So so cute.

Then Mr. Mischief (Hudson) dumped out some of our art supplies in the dining room.  He said he was making me a project.  Mmmkay.  He told me he was picking out all the hearts.   I let him "create" for a bit then asked him to clean up.  Well... this is Hudson we're talking about.   Stubborn and lazy.  Porter even helped him clean up a bit but Hudson refused to finish the last few bits.  So, I let him sit there pouting.

During this standoff, Cooper had come back and was filthy- he'd been running through the swamp.  Porter and I decided to give the dogs a bath outside.

I came back in to find Amelia screaming and Hudson screaming, still refusing to finish picking up.  He cried and screamed for over an hour that "his belly hurts!" and "I'm hungry!"  all the while his lunch sat on the counter waiting for him to get over himself.  Yes, this boy would rather cry and scream and gag for an hour than just clean up his mess to begin with.  He did finally clean up.... momma always wins.  :)

It was definitely naptime by now.  We had plans to go to the Cruise In for the evening. It is a monthly event where the streets in downtown are blocked off and all sorts of old and new cars are shown off.  There are super old cars from the 1940's to brand new Transformer edition Mustangs.  Lots of eye candy for my guys, that's for sure.  We headed downtown around 6:30 and spent a good hour and a half checking out cars.

 

n@ked little monkey

I'm not sure if I have a future nudist on my hands or what, but this kid LOVES to be naked.  He most often sleeps naked (both naptime and bedtime) and during the day it isn't uncommon to find him running around the house (or yard!) naked.  Poor UPS guy and neighbors HAHA!  It drives Ryan CRAZY but I say, hey, let him be free.  He's 3.  Who cares?   

Yesterday I picked up a new pair of sandals for him (he had a pair but the one random time Duncan decides to chew he picked his new sandals to chew!) and he wanted to wear them.  Thing is, he didn't have a stitch of clothes on otherwise.  It was hilarious watching him play around the yard in just his sandals HAHA! 

 I keep adding things to our Summer Bucket List (and deleting things that now, in the middle of summer, don't sound too enticing anymore).  We crossed off another yesterday.... refill the sand box.  A truck bed full of sand and we have new "sand dunes" for the trucks to drive on!

And I got a few good shots of the Doodle yesterday.  He's a beast.  The best beast.  He's due for grooming next Friday but I'm contemplating pushing it back another week or two.  I kind of like his hair this length.

Watch what you're thankful for...

Of course it backfires when I decide to be optimistic about the rain and be thankful that it has created such beautiful greenery around us.

It was cold and rainy all. stinkin. weekend. 

This was not good for our plans to put up 4' wood fencing around our yard.  Ryan got about 5 of the post holes dug and posts concreted in, and he also purchased all the fence panels but was unable to get anything else done.  Friday WAS beautiful, I can't complain about that.  Only.... I spent the day... the only gorgeous day of the weekend... doing a garage sale at my sisters.  I made a whopping $60 (ok, so its $60 more than I had before Friday and I didn't have any other plans but to sit around all day anyhow... which is what I did at the garage sale).  I hate garage sales.

Today is sunny but very chilly.  When will it warm up???

What else is new:

• Duncan got his hair lopped off on Friday.  I was so ready for it to be trimmed and ultimately decided to let her go shorter with his hair so we could go a little longer in between haircuts.  It had been 3 months since he was last groomed and that is TOO long.  We're going to try 8 weeks this time.  My word... I spend more on his hair than I do my own!  $55 every 8 weeks??? GAH!  I didn't' realize this when I decided to get a Goldendoodle.  We love him though.  

• Today started out just like a Monday...  I backed into the trailer that Ryan parked in the driveway full of fence panels.  I didn't see it on that side of the van and it is low so I didn't see it in the rearview.  Jacked up my bumper... made a hole in it .  GRR.   Then the vending machine in the lounge was out of water AND pop. And then I found out that while I had been hopeful at the prospect of 2, possibly 3, positions being open at my school next year... it isn't so.  Other people are filtering into those positions and its likely there aren't any openings at the other elementary schools either.  The next few weeks I'm going to get resumes ready and do my annual "turn in your resume to every school around" event.  Ugh.  I'm thinking of applying out of town as well... I hate to do that because of gas and I'd hate to have to commute and cut into my time with my kids. 
  
• I've decided to go back on Zoloft.  Target Pharmacy is filling my scrip as I type I'm sure.  While I've learned a lot of techniques to dealing with my stress/anxiety, I'm finding that the stressful things are piling up and I'm spending more time talking myself down from the stress and spending more time helping myself get through my anxiety than I am enjoying my life.  I think for the time begin I need a little helper and hopefully once life is a little more stable... I'm not working 2 jobs etc... then I'll try ditching them again. 
  
• There are only 4 weeks of school left.... this one being the only full week!  I can't wait for summer. Stressed though as we're about $1200 short  of having enough $$ to cover my checks throughout the summer.  I'll be picking up a few extra photography jobs this summer and trying to stay away from stores as much as possible.
  
• Last week Porter started t-ball.  He has 2 left hand mitts (so, for right hand throwing)... of course he's the opposite. He has practice tonight at 5 and I am not going to be able to get to the store to buy him a new mitt.  Hope he can muster one last practice being backwards HAHA!

And even older news:

• Our second follow-up with Dr. Bloom and Porter's ultrasound (May 2nd) was pretty much inconclusive.... everything looks a-okay inside and he hasn't been having his "episodes" lately so as of now we're doing nothing.  If things start acting up again Dr. Bloom said to call and make an appointment but for now he doesn't see the need to do anything else.
  
  
• During these trips to Mott's, I've really been enjoying my time with Porter.  I need to make more one on one time for each of the boys. They are such special little people and its amazing how their true personalities shine when they are my main focus.  These trips have also made me realize how incredibly lucky and blessed I am that we are only visiting Motts for a simple pee issue.  We have seen so many young children... and babies... with so many battles they are facing.  It makes me really count my blessings and be thankful that our visits here are for simple issues and that my children are healthy. 
  
  
• 3rd Annual Mega Meet/Archiver's trip (May 6th) was great.  This year it was me, Jane, LeeAnn, Jessica, Lori and Cristi that went.  I didn't get many pages done at Archiver's but I did get some great new product.  I was almost ready to back out of the the trip because of my crazy "missing my kids" feelings (oh, and Hudson also barfed Friday morning but we have a fabulous babysitter who said "GO! and I'll take care of it!" Bless you, Sam!).  I'm glad I went.
  
  
• Easter... boy I never blogged Easter.  Well, same as every year... we went to Lori and Don's, had dinner, egg hunt.  Kids played, I napped for a bit, everyone else played Phase 10, took some pictures outside of the monkeys in bunny ears.  Good times all around. 

Cone of Shame

Duncan was neutered on Friday and came home yesterday wearing the Cone of Shame.   We have been cracking up ever since... he runs into our legs, into the walls and can barely make it up the stairs without getting his Cone of Shame caught on every step.  Poor guy.  He has to have it on for a week!!