A little modesty is in order!

Hmmm...I think it is time to kick the 3 year old out of the changing room.

I was getting dressed the other day, and my little Knight looks up at me and says, "What are THOSE mommy? Why do you have THOSE?" I told him I have them because I am a mommy. He went on to say, "I LOVE those!!"

Yep, definitely time to kick the 3 year old out of the changing room! Yikes!

TGIF!

This has been a long week for a short week.

Princess didn't have school on Monday, and yet this week has drug on and on and on. I am still trying to shake this cough I have had for several months. Apparently the allergens that run wild in this city have chosen this year to attack me. Not really, but it feels like it. People with bad allergies have told me that they lived here several years before the allergens finally caught up with them. That must be what happened to me. I was up for at least an hour coughing last night. I am tired BUT I am still heading for the gym. :) More later.

5 Minutes For Mom Giveaway!

Check out 5 Minutes for Mom purse give away! Wouldn't it be fun to win? Go to 5 Minutes For Mom to sign up!

Throwback Thursday - Princess Easter Past (2 1/2 years)

Here is a picture of my little Princess. She rarely would let me put her hair up when she was little. This is one day when I talked her into it. She is playing with her Easter Bunny and the Prince's Easter Bunny. My little Knight had yet to make his presence known.

Wordless Wednesday - Cousins in the Snow!

Wednesday Run Around!

Today will not be as busy as yesterday, but the boys and I have a lot to do.

Before 8:30, I need to run the money portion of our Silent Auction Donation to the school. Then we will head to the park to play for a while. After that it is Week 3 Day 2 of my Couch to 5K training. I am starting to look forward to the days I can run. Is that sick or what? I don't know if it is because I get some time to myself, which does not happen very often these days, or if I am actually enjoying the running. Time will tell!

After the gym, the boys and I will come home for lunch and naps. My little Prince has his last basketball practice tonight. Princess has her last practice tomorrow. Their last game is on Saturday. It has been a fun season!

Princess will have homework tonight but not as much homework as last night.

What a Crazy, Busy Day!

Tuesdays are generally nutso around here, and today was no exception. Here is a play by play!

6:00AM - wake up and get Princess out of bed
6:30AM - make sure Princess is eating, brushing teeth, packing backpack, etc.
6:56AM - Princess's bus picks her up
7:00AM - Shower and get ready for the day before the boys wake up.
7:02AM - Sit the Prince at the table with a bowl of cereal
7:15AM - 2nd attempt at shower
7:30AM - Remember that school Silent Auction basket has to be turned in today by 9:00 and I still need to pick up a gift card.
7:35AM - Wake up the Knight
7:45AM - Drive to the Pet Store only to find that it does not open until 9:00
7:46AM - Curse under breath so boys do not hear.
8:00AM - turn in partial Silent Auction basket
8:30AM - Head back hope to pack lunch for the Prince
8:45AM - Frantically email other room parents to remind them to turn in Silent Auction Baskets
9:00AM - Pack lunch for the Prince
9:15AM - Drive Prince to pre-school
9:30AM - Get groceries with the Knight
10:30AM - Finish getting groceries and rush home to unload gr0ceries
11:00AM - Throw what is left of the frozen/cold items in the freezer or frig and head out the door to have lunch with Princess at
11:15AM - Have lunch with Princess while wrestling with the Knight because if he gets down he races through the cafeteria
11:20AM - Chase the Knight around the cafeteria
11:45AM - Bid farewell to Princess and take the Knight home
12:00PM - Feed the Knight again because he would not eat what Princess's cafeteria was serving
12:30PM - Welcome DadOf3 home for lunch
1:00PM - Set timer to remind you when it is time to pick up the Prince from Pre-School
1:30PM - Turn off beeper and head out to pick up the Prince.
1:45PM - Pick up the Prince and head home.
2:00PM - Change the Knight and send the Prince and the Knight to naps
2:15PM - Chase both boys back to bed
2:30PM - Field phone calls from a class parent who has a late donation to the Class Basket
3:00PM - Pick Princess up from the bus stop
3:05PM - Get Princess a snack
3:15PM - Start Princess on her homework
3:30PM - More homework
4:30PM - Homework is done!
4:45PM - Start Supper
5:00PM - Call DadOf3 to see how late he is going to be.
5:45PM - Welcome DadOf3 home!
6:00PM - Feed kids because they are bouncing off the walls
6:30PM - Chase kids upstairs to clean their rooms (DadOf3 did this)
7:00PM - Work on class newsletter
8:00PM - Bedtime for kids! Get everyone through the potty, brush teeth, pjs, pick outfits for tomorrow, etc.
8:30PM - BLOG ABOUT IT!

Thank you Nice Lady from the Gym!

This just made my day!

A gal who was working out at the gym stopped me and told me that I was doing a really good job on the treadmill! She said that she would like to be able to run too but didn't know where to start. Of course I pointed her to the Couch to 5K website. I hope she is able to start running too. I really enjoy it so far - maybe not at the time - but afterwards. I can even tell a difference in the way my clothing fits. I picked up a pair of shorts that I could not wear last summer and tried them on. They may not exactly fit but I got them buttoned and zipped! Ha! That is success in my book! Now maybe they will fit better next week!

:)

Conferences - yahoo!

First of all, I have updated my running blog. If you are interested, check it out!

I went to Princess's conferences this morning and this was the best conference ever! Her reading skills have spiked upwards, her spelling tests are great - 99%-100% most weeks. Their main concern was about how she holds her scissors, of all things. She is a lefty, and she does hold her scissors funny. My main concern is that she points them towards herself when she cuts. We will be working on this!

I am seriously just tickled. This teacher is not one to hold back, so for her to say such good things really means something. Whoo whoo! Go Princess Go!

Conferences

All three kiddos get to stay home with me today. It is conference time at Princess's elementary school. I meet with Princess's teacher at 8:00 and then the rest of the day is ours. I am planning to go to the gym and have the kids play in the playroom while I run Week 3 Day 1 of the couch to 5K program. Then we will all go swimming. They love to go swimming and it is a fun "special day" activity for them. It will be nice for Princess to go too.

I am tired. DadOf3 worked in the yard all weekend. I am glad when he gets stuff like that done, but I didn't get a break this weekend from the kids. I didn't get a break last weekend either because I worked upstairs cleaning out baby stuff from one of the bedrooms we cleverly dub the "middle room" because of its location. I packed up all of the little girl clothes that were too small for Princess and all of the little boy clothes that were too small for the Prince and the Knight. I didn't want to do it. But I did it. It took 5 hours on Saturday and at least that many hours on Sunday to get everything sorted, bagged, and recorded for tax purposes.

All of my sweet baby clothes were reduced to a tax write-off. Strange.

Breakfast in FamilyOf5Land!

We had a great time last night. We went over to one of DadOf3's co-worker's house. They have a 14 year old son and an 8 year old daughter. Princess loves to play with their daughter and the boys just love their son. Their son is so patient with the kids even though he really looks forward to playing cars with the adults. We played Sequence (a very fun game) and Speed. We usually play Pitch and Euchre. We got home very late last night, around 11:30. So the kids slept in this morning.

When they got up the Princess and the Prince had breakfast together. It was so cute. My little Princess asked "How was your day?". The Prince answered, "Great! How was your day?" It was 8:30 in the morning but they were mimicking our dinner time ritual when we go around the table and ask everyone how their day was.

I love that we have dinner together as a family. There is only one night in recent memory when we did not have supper together. (Princess had supper with AB and his family last Tuesday.) Dinner is a time to reconnect and take turns listening to each other. It is so important that we have a forum where everyone has a chance to be heard.

It just made my day to hear Princess and Prince do this without my prompting this morning at breakfast! :)

MOPS Friday

Today was another MOPS day. It was fun to get out and see the other moms. The speaker today was great. It was all about keeping your toddler busy and thus keeping yourself sane! Ha ha! A lot of this I have heard before, but a refresher course in keeping kids happy is always welcome.

We have a fun night planned. We are going to start having Friday nights be game nights. We will break out the Sorry, Operation, and any other games the kids want to play. It is a nice way to wind down the week. Now I have to get back to cleaning so things are calm for the start of the weekend.

TGIF!

Update!

I updated my running blog! We did make it to the gym today. If you want to know the gory details, you can visit my running blog!

Throwback Thursday - Princess (3) and her Grandpa Dancing!

Almost 4 years ago, my parents came to visit us from Iowa! Princess received this pretty little dress from my sister. Isn't she a pretty Southern Belle? Grandpa talked my 3 year old little Princess into dancing around the room. This brought back great memories of dancing with my dad years and years ago when I was a little girl!

New Blog!

Since I have become serious again about the Couch to 5K thing, I created a new blog to record my workouts. I will not be recording them in this blog anymore, so if you are curious, you can click on the link at the top of the page!

Wordless Wednesday - maybe I like living in the south afterall!

Week 2 - 5K Training - Day 1!

Okee dokee! I missed 2 weeks because we have all been sickos around here, BUT today I made it back to the gym

On the running agenda today:

Walk 5 minutes,
(Run 1.5 minutes, Walk 2 minutes) repeat until 30 minutes is up.

I thought after missing 2 weeks I might have to go back to Square One, but I was able to do this. I also lifted weights. Both of the boys were good and OK going to the play room, thank goodness. That can be a show-stopper as I found out last time.

Two new awards!

What a happy day!

After 2 weeks of fighting sickness, the kids, DadOf3's and my own, we are feeling better. My cough is lingering, but we are going to make it to the gym this morning for the first time in 2 weeks.

I woke up today and found something fun from Mama Zen! She awarded me a "This Blog Is Rated 'E' for Excellent" award. Thank you, Mama Zen! You made my day! If you have not done so already, please visit The Zen of Motherhood! You will not be disappointed. I start my day off reading Mama Zen ever day!

With all of the craziness of the last few weeks, I realized this morning that I have not thanked KC over at the Mindless Chatter of a Busy Mom for the award she bestowed upon me! KC gave me the You Make Me Smile award back in January. I read KCs blog every day too. She is a fun and busy mom of 4! Check out KC's blog - she is one of my absolutely favorites!!

Thank you ladies for your encouragement. When I started blogging almost a year ago, I really thought it would be for just posting pictures to share with relatives who life far away. It has been much, much more!

I will award others when we get back from the gym! Yee haw!

Birthday Pictures!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Little Knight!!!!!!!!!!!!!
His birthday was on
Friday and we had a
great day celebrating!
He spent about three
hours outside - his most
favorite place to be - and
we had chocolate cake
after a homemade pizza
supper! All in all I think
his third year has started
off to his liking!

Friday morning (his birthday) the Knight,the Prince, and I went to the park and it was so nice that we stayed for 2 solid hours! We came home after that for lunch and naps. After naps we picked Princess up from school and actually brought one of her little friends (AB) over to play. My little Knight got to play outside again (before it started to rain) and had a fun day! Then it was time for supper, presents, and cake! Here are some pictures from the day!

<==Aunt Jennie and Uncle Chris sent this neat mailbox!




<==Fun times opening presents! The Prince and the Princess kept trying to help. In their defense, in years past, we have asked them to help. The Knight is 3 now and able to open his own presents!








<==A fun new game from Grandma and Papa!
















<==A fun airport game from Grandma and Papa!











<==Princess got all dressed up for the Knight's birthday! Here are all three of my little royals!










<==The Knight got a neat life-sized doggie from Ben and Breezie!












<==My little Knight opened his gift from Grandma and Grandpa: lots of neat DVDs! We will have fun with those!












<==The Prince got a neat stenciling book from Grandma and Grandpa!















<==Princess got a neat calculator book and lots of jewelry that I had when I was a little girl. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!











<==My little Knight wanted a Sponge Bob Squarepants cake!

















<==Time to blow out the candles!














<==The Knight eating his chocolate cake! Happy birthday, little man!

Happy Birthday to my little Knight!

Can it be? Can my little Knight really and truly be 3 years old today? My calendar says "yes", but my heart says "No!"

You cannot really be three years old. You are my baby, and most likely my last child. I know you can walk and talk and pretend, and give your sister and brother a run for the money, but in my mind you are the little baby I carried around all day because you loved to cuddle. Looking back at these pictures takes me back to the day you were born....

You were my first winter baby. It was nice to be pregnant and actually be able to wear clothes that camouflaged by big, baby belly. Because my blood pressure was high and they suspected it would only get higher, the doctor decided to induce at 37 weeks. It was not a huge shock, but I don't think I was completely ready. It is difficult to understand how a baby will change your life, be it your first or your third.

The day my little Knight was born, we were supposed to call the hospital at 5:00 in the morning to see if we could come in. We did call, and to our dismay, they said no, we could not come. There had been a baby boom and they had no rooms for us. They asked us to call back at 9:30. By that time, there was a room, so we loaded up the Princess and the Prince and took them over to a neighbors house. (These neighbors were very nice and kept my little Princess and Prince overnight so DadOf3 could stay with me in the hospital. It sucks to not have family in town sometimes.)

When we arrived at the hospital, I changed into the ever so lovely hospital gown, had the IV inserted, and waited. I think DadOf3 went back and forth between the kids and me for a while because nothing was happening fast - so much for third children coming faster than first or second children! They started the pit drip and I asked for my epidural. This is where things started to go downhill.

At first the epidural was doing its job. I was pretty much pain free and reasonably happy. Then slowly but surely, the pain returned. When I told the nurse that the epidural was not working, she gave me the patronizing, "It is normal to feel some pain with an epidural." That line may have worked on a first time mom, but I'd had an epidural with both of my older children. They still made me wait until I was about braking the rails off of the bed before they called the anesthesiologist back. When he finally arrived, he added some medicine to the drip that turned my arms, legs, and face numb. Apparently this was the test to see if the epidural had moved into a vein. It sure would have been nice to have been warned before that little test. The test was positive and it looked like I was going to have to have the epidural put in again.

My state of mind at this point was not good. I am normally a pretty in-control person. The thought of the doctor reinserting the needle into my back was more than I could bear. Between that and the pain of the contractions (pitocin contractions, I might add) I started to cry. I never cry in public. I felt that no one was listening to me (and they weren't), I felt like a number in the system instead of a mom giving birth (I was no one special to them). I just wanted to go home.

My doctor came in - I think the nurse was afraid I was losing it, and maybe I was. She seemed very much in control and asked me what I wanted. She helped me get a grip on things. My choices were 1) attempt to reposition the epidural, 2) get a new epidural, 3) use other pain medications, 4) bear the pain and don't use medications.

I said I wanted to try to reposition first. That made the most sense to me. Luckily for me, it worked...for a while. It failed again while I about 9 centimeters. I think the anesthesiologist was pretty sick of me at this point because he gave me a shot of a narcotic in my epidural drip. I wish I could remember what it was. It did take the pain away. When I hit 10 centimeters, I pushed two times and out came my little Knight.

We had not found out whether we were having a boy or a girl. To be honest, since I already had one of each, it really didn't matter to me if the baby was a little boy or a little girl. When we found out we had another little boy, I was so happy for my little Prince to have a brother. He was only 19 months when the Knight was born.

We only stayed in the hospital for one night. DadOf3 went to our neighbors early the next morning and picked up my Princess and my Prince. Then our new family of 5 went home together.

Throwback Thursday - Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head

We went to a Halloween party about 5 months after we got married. I made the costumes for us. The facial features were hooked on with Velcro so we could rearrange them. This was one month and one day before we found out that Princess was coming!

Something Fun!

You Act Like You Are 26 Years Old

You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel like an adult, and you're optimistic about life. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. You're still figuring out your place in the world and how you want your life to shape up. The world is full of possibilities, and you can't wait to explore many of them.

What Age Do You Act?

Wordless Wednesday - Nap Time!

Tuesday Update

We are all still under the weather here. I bonded with the couch last night so I could sleep sitting up. I got some sleep at least. Usually when I got colds, they go straight to my ear. Since October, that pattern has changed. Now things are going into my lungs. I am coughing and wheezing. Yuck!

I sent Princess to school again. She has school pictures today. She insisted on wearing a dress and since it was not a P.E. day, what the heck? She looked very pretty today and so grown up! She is still coughing but no fever.

The Prince will go to pre-school today too. I was half-way tempted to keep him home and just watch movies all day and cuddle with both of my boys. My little Prince just loves his pre-school though. I am kicking myself for not starting him earlier.

The Knight and I are going to take it easy today. It may be a Chicken Little Day. I am not going to attempt the grocery store. We have milk. We have juice. We have eggs. We can make it a few more days.

Something fun

You Belong in Paris

Stylish and expressive, you were meant for Paris. The art, the fashion, the wine! Whether you're enjoying the cafe life or a beautiful park... You'll love living in the most chic place on earth.

What City Do You Belong In?

Warrant issued in Kidnapping Case

A warrant has been issued in the Kidnapping of the 5 Year Old Boy case! I will update as I hear more about this.

Sickos

We are all a bunch of sickos with hacking coughs and runny noses. I sent Princess to school. She had a 99 degree temperature, not high enough to keep her home.

No gym again today.

MOPS Friday and horrible thoughts.

The boys and I had MOPS this morning. It was OK. One of the pastors talked about inspiring our children using the Bible. At times he was funny but a lecture is still a lecture. I am used to people just getting up and talking to us at MOPS. This was very dry and I was just not in the mood. I walked away with the message he was attempting to convey: actions speak louder than words, but as he talked I daydreamed....about a nightmare.

***

There was a report on the news last night about a 5 year old little boy who was kidnapped yesterday morning. He was in his car with his mother and his sister getting ready to drive to school. The kidnapper opened the door to his sister's side, climbed over the sister and took this little boy.

They just took him.

The mom and the sister fought for him, but there were two men, and they were too strong.

They just took him.

As I was watching this on the news all sorts of horrible thoughts went through my mind with my little Prince in this little boy's place.

I was physically shaking - with anger, fear, and more anger.

How can a person do that? What kind of sadistic madman could take a child from his mother? My heart went out to the mother. She was there when it happened and she could not stop it. As moms we are supposed to be able to protect our kids. She was there. In my mind last night, she was me. Can you imagine fighting for your child and losing. My God what is this world coming to?

My mind raced to all of the horrible places they could be taking this child. What they would do to him? Was he even still in the country? Why did they want him?

He is only 5 years old.

There were stories on the news all day yesterday. They called them updates, but there was nothing new to report. The boy was missing and no one knew where he was.

Then, around 10:00 last night, a miracle happened. The little boy wandered over to someone's house. The man recognized his face from the news and the Amber Alerts.

He was safe.

I just cried. I cried for this little boy. I cried for his mother. I cried for his distraught big sister who had pleaded to the camera for the people who took her brother to not kill him. I cried for myself and my precious, precious children. I cried for this world where someone could take a 5 year old from his mother's car, climbing over his big sister to do it.

But he is safe. His mother was able to tuck him into his own bed last night - another miracle. Or maybe she held him in her arms all night long. That is what I would have done.

I hope they catch ^$!%ing @$$holes. Throw the book at them. Get them the hell away from our children.

It was premeditated. The big sister had seen these men stalking her and her little brother. She told the school. They normally walk to school. That is why the mother had been driving them yesterday.

But he is safe.....

Throwback Thursday - Baby Princess and Prince

This is one of my favorite pictures. Princess was 2 1/2 and my little Prince was just a baby. At the time we were thinking about having a 3rd. The Prince was finally sleeping through the night. Daddy loves his cuddle time with the kids. :)

Looking at this picture makes my arms ache for the babies that they were.

Wordless Wednesday - Cousins!

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Moms

Well, I did make it to the gym yesterday. Does that count for something?

I dropped the Prince off at pre-school and then the Knight and I headed for the gym. In the van, the Knight told me that he "didn't want to play with kids" and I should have believed him. When I dropped him off, he started crying. I figured I would at least try to get my workout in, but about 7 minutes into it, the childcare people paged me. My little Knight was distraught. I scooped him up and we went home and cuddled.

We will go to the gym again today. The Prince will be with him so hopefully it will go better today.

Sigh...

Week 2 - 5K Training - Day 1!

Princess had yesterday off from school. The plan was to go running/walking and then go swimming with the kids. Unfortunately the big weekend caught up with me and I was sick. Ick! I am better today so we will take the Prince to pre-school and then head to the gym. I have to go Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week to get my 3 days in because I have MOPS on Friday.

Week 1 - 5K Training - Day 4

Friday was crazy but I did make it to the gym. That was 4 days total for the first week! Yippee!

Brownie Fun!

Princess and I headed out around 5:00 for the Big Brownie Camping Trip. It was a fun time but there was absolutely no down time. I was wiped out by the time we got home Sunday. Princess had fun! The boys had a good weekend too. They pitched the tent on our porch and slept outside on Saturday night. They got a little taste of camping too!

<==Princess and her troop playing while they wait for an activity to begin!













<==Princess on her favorite tree at the camp!


















<==Princess ready to shoot some arrows!











<==Princess the archer!
















<==Check this one out! The arrow is still in the air!












<==Princess is ready for some kayaking!















<==Princess earned 2 Try-Its this weekend!






<==Happy Princess!

















<==Princess and her troop!












<==Princess and her troop with her leaders!











<==The Brownies had to clean the cabin before we headed for home! They were all fighting to clean the toilets and mop the floors! Such enthusiasm!!









<==The girls made crafts to SWAP before we headed for home!










<==We camped with the 2nd grade troop from Princess's school!