Chloe's new school

Today was meet the teacher night for Chloe. It was very important because we switched pre-schools for her this year. Daddy hadn't seen the new school yet, so it was good for him also.

You walk in the building and it is so nice, it looks like a high end school. We have a security code that we have to use to get in and out of the building. Her classroom is very large, and broken down into lots of sections. (I forgot to bring my camera today. I'll bring it on her first day of school.) There is a PC station, reading loft, kitchen, dress-up, laundry area, doll house, etc. Then there is the learning mat for the calendar etc. Then there is the art area, and snack area with a real mini kitchen. The kids size bathrooms. It is a wonderful room. Her teachers this year both have a degree in elementary education.

Yesterday, Chloe had her school physical. They asked me if we would like for her to get her school vacsinations. so she got them yesterday. The poor thing feels awful today. She has had a feever most of the day and is so tired. I gave her tylonal and Motin before going to her school and she was fine while we were there. hehe. She was a brave girl through teh 4 shots and teh blood tests. I'm very proud of her!

Occupation

I came on to update that I did get the bathroom finished, the kitchen floor is finished and drying right now. However as I did it, I noticed that I should update my blog profile. So, of all the bloggers out there, you would think a few of them are Stay-at-Home-moms?

It has a drop down menu with choices to put for your "industry" under work. So, what do I pick? Agriculture (I garden), Automotive (I am in the van alot), Banking (I bank), chemicals (with all this cleaning, I use lots of them), communications (goes without speaking hehe), construction (school projects), cunsulting, education, engineering, fasion, human resources, internet, law inforcment, lybrary, non-profit, Religion, science, recreation, security, student, technology, transportation... the list goes on. However all of these would fit. lol In case you are wondering, I went with "Not Specified". I just don't feel that any one covers it good enough. haha

Anyway, before Adam and the kids left today, I did the girls hair and got the clothes out and get the diaper bag ready (which got left hanging on the door btw). Then I left for the farmers market while they finished eating. It hit me as I parked... I can count on one hand the number of times that Adam has taken the kids while I stayed behind just because. Not because I had some other place to be, or so that I could do something specific... just so I could be alone. The last time was in May/June. Adam took the kids to my parents house to eat while I deep cleaned the kids bathroom. I think I blogged on it then.

I think we honestly need to make this something we do more often! I feel sooo wonderful! I have taken out the trash without explaining why I was goin goutside without everyone else. lol I haven't had any other help with mopping, so no footprints. When I was standing on my head scrubbing the toilet, no one hit me with the door, noone moved my bucket or cleaning suplies. The floor is cleaner than it has been in months! However, it is dry now, so I better go get back to work.

Adam, THANK YOU!!! Thank you so very much for letting me have this day, and not making me feel guilty about it!

First Day of School Pics

Alex and Donna on their first day of school. I love thatyou can see the sign behind the kids saying that it is the first day on Aug. 20

Housework

The other day I was talking to Adam about this weekend. I skipped a mission trip so that I could get work done around the house. So I mentioned to him that maybe he should take the kids to DesMoines the the Science Center with my mom so that I could get some work done around the house. He looked at me like I was nuts for a minute, then it change to almost shock as he asked if that is all it took for me to be able to get some of this stuff done.

So then yesterday I was thinking about it. When Adam is deep into his work, everyone at work knows to just leave him alone so that he can get it done, even his boss has mentioned that they do. However when you are a stay-at-home-mom, you NEVER get that time where everyone just leaves you alone so that you can get work done. Not only do you have the constant "mom he touched me!" or "Mom, she is looking at me!" (honestly, not an uncommon thing to hear in our house!) But you have the "MOM Ethan just found some smushmellows(marshmallows) and is running through the house throwing them" (again, happened yesterday) and don't forget the "MOM, Reed just puked all over!!" (tuesday) "Will you please help me get my dolly dressed?" (everyday) "I can't start this DVD" "Mom the toilet is overflowing!!!" (that happens when you toss toys in before you flush) Then we have the *Bang* followed by a choirs of "MO-O-OM" Or better yet *CRASH!!!* followed by silence... then running of little feet to hide. lol

So, I wonder why I never feel like I get anything done?

To answer the question... YES, taking the kids so I can have time to get work done without interuptions really IS all I need to be able to get the kitchen clean, floor scrubbed and polished, as well as the bathroom and my craft corner cleaned out.

I don't know if they will go to DesMoines or not; but hey, a mom can dream can't she?

Cheesecake

I made no-bake cheesecake tonight. I had never made one before. It was a total flop. It must have tasted good, because it was gone very fast, but it was like a pudding that hadn't set up good yet. I was so sad that I didn't even taste it. I'm not sure if it is because I mixed it by hand rather than with a mixer, or because I used rice milk rather than cows milk. Oh, well... everyone ate it anyway. I'll just have to make a real one this weekend.

interesting morning!

Today was the first day of school. Oddly enough, it was also the first morning I didn't wake up with insomnia between 2:30-4:00... so I slept in. ugggh!
Then we are running later than I wanted, but we still have 4 minutes to spare... nope, school starts 10 minutes earlier this year! How on earth did I miss that?!?!? double uggh. Anyway, I didn't get the pics in front of the house that I ALWAYS get, so we will have to do them when they get home. Again, I feel so bad!

So then we went to WalMArt, I forgot how easy it is to run around with out the school kids!!! So we do our shopping and everyone is happy, not big fights or begging. We check out and head to the van. As we start to load things in the van, this nice lady around 60, walks up. She looks at us and says "wow, what a big group you are" to which I reply without thinking "yep, and this is only half, the rest are in school". That is when I look at her and see the look on her face! (I'm so glad I don't get offended!) The poor lady had this look of totally shock on her face like it isn't normal to have more than one child. She exclaims "Oh MY!" as she literally stumbled over her feet and her jaw was dropped. I had to turn around so she didn't see the huge grin on my face as I realised what she meant when she first spoke to me. I sure hope she didn't have a heart attack. I still giggle just thinking about it. Her reaction was so over the top it is hard to believe she really did it. Ahhh God knows just what we need, when we need it! I needed a good laugh after a good trip to the store with the 3 younger kids. I am renewed and energised for the first time in months! Thank you God!

Interesting

You Belong in 1953

You're fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in!

What Year Do You Belong In?

Iowa State Fair

We love going to the State fair every year. The one thing that we HAVE to do is get our charicature done. We started the first year we went to the fair when we were dating. We get our kids done by themself every 5 years and we also do the whole family. We also love to play in the fountains, I didn't get any pics of that because it is hard to keep track of 4 kids with that many eople around! We also do "little Hands On The Farm" That is what the pic is of. Kids 2-10 get to put on the hat(to keep) and an apron and go farm. They plant a seed, pick some veggies and an apple. Harvest corn and soybeans. Get some wool, turn use the soybeans for fuel and drive a tractor (toy), get an egg, feed a cow the corn and milk it. Then sell what they have left for a dollar that they take to the stor to pick out a snack. It is a wonderful thing to do for free!

Parade!!!

The girls and I were in a parade on Saturday. I'll have to check the camera when I get a chance to see if daddy got any good pics. It was with our dance group, and Donna danced the whole way wonderfully! Chloe kept telling me she was to tired to dance, so she and I took up the back of the pack handing out stuff. Little did she know that we covered twice as much ground and had to spend most of our time running to catch back up to the group! I'm to out of shape for that. I need to work out before next year. lol

Alex and Ethan got lots of good candy to share with the girls also.

I have been selling food at a concession stand all week. (Knoxville Nationals week, sprint car races... They are huge! Over 40,000 people come into our town of 8,500) I had the 4-8 shift Wednesday and Thursday, 1-8 on Friday and 11-8 on Saturday. Then we had the clean-up time also. It was fun, but boy do my feet hurt!! My face is also very very very red. My red arms and legs don't even hurt because my face is so bad. I have very white eyes from my sunglasses. Everyone at church today seems to get a good laugh. Not one person looked at me without starring at my face and saying "did ya get a little sun?" it was kinda funny.

Well, we are off to the State Fair tomorrow, so I better finish my laundry and packing for that. (Yes, I will be bringing sun screen!) I'll post a picture later of the girls.

Oh My!!!

We were on our way home from picking Daddy up and doing some shopping when Adam noticed some Hot Air Balloons. We live near a town that has a festival every year and they have hundreds of ballons go up over a couple days. We talked about it and ended up going home a different way so that we could go past them. We had been talking about the, and having Alex try to count them all for a good 5+ minutes when we hear Chloe exclaim "Oh MY!" followed by a long pause. We thought she had seen them, but when we heard that, we knew that NOW she had seen them.

We grumble and complain to eachother often about wishing we had th emoney to take a vacation. However on that day, we learned that we have things around us everyday that we need to enjoy. We had gone to Target to pick-up a gift for my Sister-in-law. Adam didn't really want to drive accross town to my favorite Target, so I suggested we try the one closest to where we were, and on our way home. I was still dissappointed in the store, but while we were at the mall, I suggested we eat at food court rather than drive-thru on the way home. So while Adam took our bags to the van, I tell the kids "We are goin gto eat somewhere new..." then it hit me. Due to not having much money, we never go "shopping". We only go in and out of the stores I need. Chloe and Ethan have never eaten at a food court, and I think Donna was just a couple months old the last time we had gone. So I tell them we are doing something new and exciting. They can look at all these different places to get food, and they can each go where ever they want, even if noone else goes there. Then we will all eat together in the middle. Their eyes got huge with excitement.

There you have it, a mini vacation day for the cost of eating out and driving 15 extra miles. The joy was awesome, and seeing my kids happy and experiancing somethng new was priceless.