July 26 Mom moment

Out of the mouth of Jacob...

"Mom you always make the best food, everything you cook is SO delicous, your food is awesome".

At least someone likes my cooking.

July 25 Basement update

"WARNING! Men at work"

Ever wonder why they need a sign? Women work all the time only we don't have to warn anyone. (Borrowed)

We finally got the basement completely dry and this afternoon housing maintenance sent TWO crews to deal with it. First off, I pointed out the hole next to the house where dirt has just been washing right in and ask what they can do about it, then I took the other guy down to look at the cracks and mold. At first they kind of shined me on about the hole outside then, about 20 minutes later, I come out and they are pouring dry cement in it. The guy looked at me and said, "that hole was pretty deep". They also poured cement around the window well. The other guy cleaned/bleached the mold and sealed the window well again and some of the cracks in the wall. The amazing part is that they actually did something. We haven't had a significant amount of rain nor has the hose been left on again, so we shall see how this holds up.

July 23 What a week already

Let's see this week so far...

Mon-fix mower, mow jungle, help Elle watch a friend's three kids, barbeque burgers and dogs for dinner, chat with two other deployed wives, clean kitchen, and realize that I have been ignoring a killer headache that is rapidly getting ugly. Take a deep breath and try not to throw up on baby while she is nursing.

Tues-baby up to nurse at 2400 and 0400, storm rolled in (loudly) shortly thereafter, second storm rolled in and hour later just as I was finally drifting off too sleep, baby up again at 0700. Not a good start to the day, my whole body feels icky. Get out of bed and realize that every square inch of my house is a disaster. Why did I get out of bed? Oh yeah, I have kids and they need to be fed and ferried to their stuff. Piano lesson, try to sign up for Volleyball since my calendar says sign ups began on the 20th, try and figure out why they are looking at me funny, why are you looking at me like that? Process (finally) that sign ups are on AUGUST 20th just like the nice people keep repeating, just like my calendar says, leave quickly before they call someone, mental note - send Ben back to sign up for volleyball. Library, lunch, and pool with friends. Warm air, sunshine, warm water, ahhh, head and body beginning to heal. Reluctantly (snort) send kids home with friend and go to comm alone. Pick up kids who had been fed dinner and dessert (we love you Stacey!) and head home, unload, baths, children read for most of the evening, and baby went to sleep easily. House is still a disaster, it will still be there tomorrow.

Wed-Overcast and gloomy outside but no rain, try and pick up house with baby nursing every three hours again. The big kids were tremendous help today with the baby. Great mom moment. I captured these. Beks loves her big sister and being in her room, not just because her big sis is wonderul, but because she has a full length mirror in her room, and what baby doesn't love a cute baby face to look at?

Note Elle's 'baby' in the pictures, Leia the dog.

I did manage to get a lot done in the basement today. I put up new shelves and re-arranged a bit to accomidate them and the new storage totes I bought. We picked up and put things on the shelves where they belong. I cleaned out under the stairs and got it swept. Now only garage sale stuff is under there and it is organized. I went through the momento/scrapbook boxes that were under the stairs and placed large keepsakes that can't be scrapped into a new rubbermaid. I got the toy buckets in place and now I am working on the kid's art. All this time the kids took turns dealing with Bekah and helping me, thank you guys. It is starting to look decent down there. After dinner, shower, bible study, ice cream, and kids in bed, I went down and worked some more on the basement. The last corner has been reorganized and more things are out of boxes and into storage totes. Almost there.

The highlight of my day came late at night as I was emailing my hubby the day's events. I caught him at work and was able to chat with him via email for a few before he had to go actually work. That was a treat.

07-17 Summer with a sense of humor

My girlfriend Stacey and I have been heading up outings to the movie theatre for the summer movie program. The first week we had 16 kids and no other adults with us and we all had a blast. But it seems like every week there is some kind of drama. This week's movie was Nim's Island and we all got there a bit later than we wanted so we all would up sitting apart. One mom with her 3 kids, another with her two boys and Jake, Stacey's 2 girls and Elle with one of the other mom's 3-year-old in her lap, and me and Stacey with our infants...on the floor in the aisle next to the girls. I promptly knocked over my stroller, and spilled my popcorn, when I took Bekah's infant seat out, Stacey's 14 month old kept trying to walk across the front of the theatre, and we very quickly discovered that the carpet along the wall was wet. But hey, the movie was good, the kids had a good time, and at least the floor wasn't sticky. We had a good laugh throughout the movie.

After the movie I was forced to go to the 10th circle of Hell, I mean Wal-Mart. I needed to find some baskets for a friend that I only find there and a three other household things that I looked all over town for and couldn't find. I would have even been willing to pay the extra to not have to go in this store. After that I ran to Lowe's to see about replacing the missing screw from my lawnmower. They conveniently sell a two pack of the knob and screw sets, this is so common.

We met a friend for lunch, another deployment gal. After we ran to our favorite second hand store, met Stacey to give her Jake (Elle had a game), then headed home for naps. A short while later another lovely midwestern storm rolled in. No game for Elle.

This turned out to be a good thing as we were able to get to the VBS closing on time. In fact we got there just in time to find Jake and his buddy in a time out in the lobby instead of with their group. It was a good thing it the last night. So we all gathered in the Sanctuary and they did a (very loud) review of the theme and daily lessons, then all the kids got up on the stage and sang and danced to some songs they learned this week. It was a really large VBS undertaking and the kids had a great time. After they had root beer floats, yum. Jake kept begging me for the companion cd so they could have the songs so I bought it (it was only $5) and they sang to it the whole way home. Worth every penny.

Thank you so much Stacey for involving my kids and taking them with you. You are my superhero!

July 16 I am taking back my house!

A lot of mess has threatened to overtake it. I made laundry soap so I could do laundry. I washed all the small appliances it takes to make laundry soap and baby food. I cleaned all the pots and pans I used to make baby food and dinner the night before. Pick up toys, not sure who has more out, the baby or the dog. Rescue half the couch from three loads of laundry, the other half from mail and other junk. Vacuum. Wash and put away baby's laundry. I think I may have washed every towel I own. Watch Bekah have a very intense conversation with the vacuum. Vacuum some more.

Baby actually played near me while I cleaned. Then we spent a quiet evening together, had dinner, read Sunday's paper. I am still not accomplishing things at the speed I did before baby, but oh well. She is only this small for such a short time. I know it will be over too quickly.

And sadly, staying home and cleaning was less tiring that all the running around is.

T-ball cupcake cake

My decorator broke and I forgot to take pictures until after these had been in the sun. Not as cute as a Holly creation, but they tasted good and the kids loved them.