HAPPY NEW YEAR

We're having family over tonight for a little poker. Brian's all excited to play tournament style...I think I'm more excited to just relax once the kids are in bed, play cards and snack for hours on end *LOL* For some reason playing cards= eating for me! Hopefully all the kiddos will sleep all night since we'll be up so late and they'll get up so early. Hope everyone has an AWESOME New Years!

More kids = more sickies

Well Brandon was sick from Halloween through Thanksgiving and then the day after Christmas his nose was looking green again. Then I started getting sick the next day and last night Melanie and Brooklyn both woke up multiple times with a stuffy nose. I was hoping to ring in the new year healthy, but it's looking like we're all going to be sick. Hopefully Brian won't get it, but I'm sure he will too...it seems to just get passed around the family. By the time the last one is better the first one has something else to pass around...ARG! I'm thankful it's not the stomach flu though...I'll take colds anyday over that!

Random pics

We took the kids up to this park by our house where they have a train. At Christmas they decorate the train and park with lights and call it the Christmas train. It stops about half way and drops you off at Santa's workshop where you can take pics with Santa. Then when you arrive back at the station it's snowing (which is pretty exciting for us southern californians). Well, Brian's boss' brother (you follow that) owns and runs the train so we got free tickets and got to go through a special entrance which took us right to the front of the line...it was awesome because the tickes are usually $6 per person and the line was probably over an hour long. Anyways, here are a few pics that we got.

My sister ROCKS!

Yesterday she stopped by to pick up some maternity clothes and she brought me a smoothy. then she asked me if she could take the kids for a walk so that I could have a bit of a break. So I got to take a much needed shower without worrying the whole time about the wild ones killing each other! Then she called me last night and said that she made a bunch of mac'n'cheese (homemade...yummy!) and wanted to bring one over for us for dinner tonight. She is such a stud, I hope that I can be just as helpful when her little one arrives.

My week of organizing

Brooklyn's been sleeping in almost everymorning this week so I have had time to organize some things that have been on my to do list FOREVER. Yesterday I went through all my pre-pregnancy clothes as well as my current clothes and weeded out a ton of stuff (now I won't feel as bad buying some new clothes *LOL*). I found a bunch of maternity clothes that I had borrowed from a friend as well as a bunch of my maternity clothes that I gave to my sister.

The day before I realized that I wasn't going to have anymore laundry baskets if I didn't empty out the three in the kid's room that were filled with clean clothes. so I had them play upstairs and I put away all their clean clothes and took out all the clothes that don't fit them anymore. I forget about some of the cute outfits they have because they sit in the laundry basket for so long.

Today I need to hit up the goodwill to drop off all of the goodies that I'm getting rid of. I think I'll go through the kids sock drawers first...they seem to be filled with random socks that don't match or don't fit. I bought some new socks for them yesterday, so I should get rid of the ones that they don't wear anymore.

I think that's all I have on my list of things to do for the day...fun and exciting ;o) I'm hoping that today will be better then yesterday with the wild ones fighting...so far it hasn't been too bad, but it's only 8am!

As hard as it can be

I really do love staying at home with the kids. Brian went back to work this morning and I was a bit bummed. But I love that it's 8am and we're all still relaxin in our jammies. I don't really know of too many jobs where you can stay in your pajamas, eat a bowl of cheesy eggs and watch your kids play together. I'm sure I'll be ready to get out of the house once the fighting and whining start though...heehee! I guess I'll enjoy it while it lasts :o)

Feeling like a domestic goddess

I decided that I better not sit on my butt this morning since Brooklyn was napping and the other kiddos were so content watching Dora. So I mopped the kitchen floor...and I don't know about you, but when I mop it with my nifty swiffer it just doesn't so it sometimes. I can usually get in about 5-6 mops with the swiffer before I have to get the old bucket and sponge and really clean the floor. So I got down on all fours and scrubbed that floor. It feels so good to have a clean floor. Of course when I'm down there I notice that the kids booster seats are filthy. So I took them apart and cleaned them too. I also folded all the laundry, loaded up the dishwasher and started it...WOOHOO!

Well, like I said I was feeling like a domestic goddess, until I realized that my cabinets are filthy, the washer and dryer really need a good wipe down and the carpet really needs to be vacuumed. So I thought I would pour myself a cup of coffee and sit in front of the computer instead. I guess I'll go pick up the kids toys so that I can actually see the carpet before I vacuum it ;o) Only my friends in blogland will even know that I cleaned so much since nobody else will really notice or give me an atta girl *LOL*

This mommy stuff sure is messy

Today we went to the park (which seems to be like a laxative for my kids) and Melanie had an accident as soon as we got there. I should have taken her to the bathroom before letting her play, but she said she didn't have to go so I slacked! Of course I only had an extra pair of Brandon's sweatpants, but they worked for the moment. Then on our way out to the car I realized that Brandon had a poopy diaper. after changing him I still smelled something poopy and realized it was Melanie. When I asked her if she pooped she said, "yes mommy, but it's down there!" Since she only had on sweatpants with no panties the poop had gone right down her leg...GROSS! So after cleaning up two poopy kiddos we headed home for bathes! After Brandon woke up from his nap he walked up to me pointing at his leg and it had poop on it. Not sure if I need new diapers or what but I sure am tired of cleaning up poop! I hope that we can get through the rest of the day without anymore poop laying around ;o)

Things to do

Melanie took a late nap yesterday (5-8pm) so while she was asleep I got so much cleaning done! I swept and mopped the downstairs tile and even vacuumed! Then I got all the laundry done and folded and the dishes loaded into the dishwasher. It was so nice to wake up this morning and not have those chores hanging over my head. So today I need to:

Put breakfast dishes in the washer
Put clean clothes away
Run to Staples for a few calendars for Brian
Hit costco for a TON of grocery shopping

Well I guess I should get the kiddos dressed before we can do anything! Brandon is sitting here next to me with his hand up my shirt pinching my stomach...what you'll endure for some computer time *LOL*

!@*$ computers

We have a laptop and computer that are both fairly new...and yet there always seems to be problems with things...ARG! I spent hours making this cool DVD slideshow for Brian for Christmas and spent even more hours trying to burn it. I finally gave up and ordered a DVD through shutterfly. Now I'm just trying to burn some photos from the computer onto a CD and I got one disc burned and I can't get the rest to burn onto another CD. I know it works, but it's being so tempramental for some reason. Sometimes I really HATE computers!!!

Christmas craziness

It seems so hard to find any time for the computer these days...which is such a bummer because it is so relaxing for me. But all three kids are actually napping (I think God knew that this Momma really needed that) so I actually have a minute to unwind! I can't believe it's almost Christmas already. It's so magical because Melanie and Brandon are so excited this year. I'm trying to remember to keep Christ at the center of things, but Melanie is definitely most excited for Santa and getting presents. It seems that there is always one more thing to do these days, and I can't ever really finish my to do list. But I keep telling myself that I'll have many years ahead where my house will stay clean and the laundry will be less then it is now...and that helps me not to go nuts with the chaos :o) I need to wrap a few more things and get some gifts together, so I'm outta here.