Weekend Overload

We had a busy weekend, but it was fun.  Yesterday our hayride got rained out so we went shopping instead.  I got the materials for my Christmas craft exchange.  They will be so awesome when I am finished.  I can’t wait.  I wrapped Christmas presents and did some  light cleaning.  Today we went to a luncheon at the fire house.  The chicken was awesome, and there were a bunch of us there.  The kids were so well behaved it made me so proud of them.  We get a lot of flack about the size of our family and the guys tease me about popping out more so it was wonderful for them to sit at the table, eat politely and not fight.  We had a really good time.  We are planning on doing a Thanksgiving meal as well. I think I may attend that one and go to the family meal in the evening.  I really miss the guys at the station and today was a lot of fun!   My mom and Charlie came over this afternoon and helped me fix some things in the house and take the last air conditioners out of the windows.  Now I won’t be pumping the heat to the outside at night.  Orren and Charlie played with the trains all afternoon. It was so cute.  They stayed for dinner too.  I wish I could talk to Eric, but I assume he is out in the field and really busy.  I missed his call Thursday evening and I left him a message yesterday, but haven’t heard from him.  I miss him so much and I just love to get a phone call from him.  I did get a call from the 2-112th FRG which surprised me.  They are planning a Christmas party and dinner and it shocked me that I got a call after 3 years.  Too funny.  I think we might attend as long as it falls in with our other plans. 

Boy are the dogs wound up tonight.  I keep having to correct them and  they just will not stop roughhousing.  Goofy dogs.  I think I am going to watch some tv with the kids before they go to bed.  It is a nice time to relax a little.

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Another day, another problem

I am feeling so frusterated today.  I have a million projects going through my head and I can’t get any of them done.  It seems to be a recurring theme in my weeks.  Aaorn is really getting to me right now.  I know he is only a baby, but he is getting to be really demanding and he is into everything.  I can’t even go to the bathroom or fold laundry without having to go find him and get him out of whatever he is into.  He has discovered the toilet and now the trash can.  I am constantly fishing things out that he has thrown in. Socks, shoes, toys, his sippy cup.  You name it, he has tried to throw it away.  I need to mow the grass but I have no way of keeping him occupied long enough to do it.  Now it is supposed to rain tomorrow and Sunday and the grass is already high.  I love my baby but I will be so glad when he is older and I won’t have to chas him constantly.  Orren is a great age and a really calm kid.  I wish Aaron was like that too.

I am planning on cleaning out the basement sometime in the next week.  It is a nasty mess and I cannot find our Christmas decorations since they are scattered throughout the basement.  I think I am going to purchase a couple sets of shelves to better organize what we have.  Lofty goals to be sure.

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It’s Monday

It’s Monday again!  We are all sick here.  Most are getting over it now but Orren and I are still sick.  We went to an Octoberfest event on Saturday and a hayride and cookout Saturday evening.  I didn’t enjoy the Octoberfest very much.  We had a pretty good time at the hayride and cookout though.  The hayride wasn’t haunted like most years, but still it was a good time.  Yesterday the kids went to Sunday School at church without me.  I was still pretty sick and just wanted to rest a little.  It was a good break for me.  We are going to soccer tonight and the local Halloween parade is this evening as well. I hope to take some pictures while we are there! 

Wednesday we will be walking in another parade in Mt. Holly.  That should be a lot of fun.  We were invited as part of the family readiness group from the armory.  So far we have about 15-20 families participating with us.  Hopefully we will get the two Humvees to go with us.  I know the kids will love them!  I am really trying to get the kids into a good routine and helping out more.  We instituted a new reward system this week.  I bought a 16 month calendar (Elvis of course) and wrote their names and their list of responsibilities on the top.  For every day they do their chores, I will give them an initial. For every 10 days out of a roughly two week period, they will earn money and if they do all 14-17 days they will earn an additional prize.  I hope this will motivate them to do their chores without me having to constantly be on them.  It takes so much energy for me to get on their cases than it does for them to just do the chore.  I need to come up with a consistent system so we can stop living in the mess.  I am embarrassed to have anyone come over most of the time because it is so bad. 

The boys are calming down a whole lot though.  I think they needed to grow up a little bit and now they will hopefully settle down and be good pets.  They still like to play and do get a little rough, but they are coming along.  I was even able to take them to Petsmart and they did not drag me through the store. I am starting to like them a lot more now.

The weather is turning colder and it will soon be time to turn on the heat.  I do like fall, but it seems to go so quickly.  Winter is not my favorite season, but we are fortunate to live in a place where we experience all the seasons, not just one season all year long.

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What a week

We have had quite a whirlwind week here.  Tuesday we had a small electrical fire in our house.  Everyone is fine and we don’t have much damage, but it could have been so much worse.  The kids were great about evacuating the house quickly and following directions, even though they had been asleep.  The fire department and the police officers were awesome and really helped get the whole thing taken care of quickly.  I already have the repairs made and we are back in business so to speak. 

Saturday we had such a busy day.  The annual Harvest Festival for the Arts was held in town and we spent the  morning wandering around the vendor stalls.  We bought some really neat stuff.  We even had yummy funnel cake as a treat.  In the afternoon we took a trip to the gourd farm and make jack o lanterns out of gourds.  The kids had a great time. 

Sunday we attended an event for the Family Readiness Group and make cards for the soldiers, packed envelopes, made crafts, took pictures and painted pumpkins.  It was a really busy day.I followed all the fun by working a 12 hour shift last night.  We had 2 calls, but they were both a lot of work.  I am tired, but satisfied with  a job well done. 

Today  the kids have off school for Columbus Day.  We are going to get some fall cleaning done in each of the children’s bedrooms today.  I love having help with the bedroom cleaning! 

Aaron got 2 teeth this week too.  He has two more coming in soon.  He is so pleasant, but those teeth can be so tough on his little bum.  He gets a horrible rash when he cuts teeth.  I hope the other two come in soon so he can feel better.

I get to talk to Eric so much more now that we have cell phones to communicate.  I miss him so much and getting to hear his voice is so great.  I look forward to hearing from him although I don’t have a lot to talk about.  I am so lonely without him, but I know he is missing all of us too.  I have to get new glasses this week.  Mine broke last night at work and I can’t see to do much of anything without them.  There is no hope of repairing them either.  Hopefully it won’t take too long.  I taped them together, but it won’t help for long.

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It’s Friday!!

It’s Friday!  We have had a pretty good week here at home.  The kids have been so busy with sports and activities that we have hardly been home.  This weekend is so busy for us too with car show parking detail and Aislinn’s birthday that we will not be home much either.  It was so great to hear from Eric Wednesday night.  Even though it makes me miss him more each time I hear his voice, it is still great to talk to him.  The two little boys have been sick since last night so I was up most of the night cleaning up the messes.  I hope they are better soon.  I created my first newsletter for the FRG this week and it will be mailed on Monday.  I feel productive with projects like that to do for the soldiers and their families.  We are going to put together care packages next weekend and mail them. That should be a lot of fun!  The kids are going to make crafts and we are going to take a lot of pictures.  I have done a lot of Christmas shopping this week too.  I love buying things for my kids!  Christmas is not my favorite holiday by far, but I love to see their faces when they open their gifts.  That makes it so much more fun for me.  I have a lot of cupcakes to make for Aislinn’s school and soccer snacks on Monday. I think I will make one batch this weekend and the ones for soccer on Monday.  I think it will be easier that way.  I also have sticky buns to bake for Sunday.  Yum!

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