Today is my gorgeous, smart, wonderful oldest daughter's 14th birthday! I can't believe that my sweet little red haired (it was bright red!) baby girl is already fourteen. We're having a birthday party for her tomorrow and she's so excited. This is the first year that she and Cami have had separate parties and they are enjoying it.
Happy Birthday, sweetie!!
Easter is on its way! We are MOSTLY prepared around here. We're dying Easter eggs tonight and tomorrow we are having a party for Cami whose birthday is on Easter. She's excited and I'm stressed! I have a huge lecture exam tomorrow in one of my classes and I'm nervous. Also, my mom is going to be up here this weekend so I've been in a tizzy trying to get the house looking awesome. I think we've done a great job!
Sorry I haven't posted much lately; I've been busy with school. The applications for the nursing program were due yesterday April 1 and I filled one out for both the RN and LPN programs. I won't find out until the end of May/beginning of June.
Have a great Easter!!
When we moved into this new apartment, we decided that Alex and Cami would share a room that was bigger and had a huge walk-in closet, while
So far, this is working out well, except that most of the furniture we had for that room wasn't really something for an older girl.
So, I went to Wal-Mart and bought a comforter set for $30.00 and my mother, God bless her, bought a dresser to go in the room. We moved the armoire to the back of Cami and
While going through Ems closet and the armoire, I had bags of clothing that no longer fit her or, if they were too large, she would never wear, so I packed them into the van to drop them off at the local Goodwill store. Most of the items were like new and what wasn't was still in great condition (my uncle's wonderful, wonderful wife gives the girls lots of clothes, she is amazing) and I know that I'm always tickled pink when I find stuff like that while browsing the aisles. Anyway, I digress; I dropped the bags off and planned to go straight home, but decided at the last minute to go inside and look around. I wasn't really searching for anything in particular, I just wanted to look at house stuff. Imagine my surprise when I found a wood twin sized headboard with a shelf for...$15.00! I was ecstatic and bought it immediately!
We brought it home in the van (Bless Alex for helping me carry that thing up the stairs), set it up, and it looks amazing! It's a tiny bit darker than the wood on the dresser, but its not noticeable unless you're looking for something to complain about. We moved the bed 90 degrees and now Alex's room looks awesome! We also figured out that we have enough room in there to place an old desk we have, so we're going to paint it white (the dresser is white and maple) and put it in there for her to do homework and/or work on her laptop. I'm so excited! Total cost for her new bedroom set up: $60.00 (comforter set, headboard, wall hangings/art, and paint for the desk). That's not bad!
Anyway, that was my excitement for the week. ;-) I'm at home today with a sick kiddo and one who just received shots, so it's been kind of quiet (they've been sleeping). It was a crazy morning, but the day has gotten better.
Have a good one!
So, the girls wanted to make a Home Management Journal of their own, titled, respectively Girls' Home Journal. They wanted a place to keep school work, friend's numbers (besides their phone), and copies of routines, etc, so we set up a small binder for them. It's been working rather well, they like having all their stuff in one central location and I thought I would share it with you!
Immediately after opening we have a list of Emergency numbers, which I've uploaded for you to use here. Behind the list of Emergency Numbers, we have a list of family and frequent contacts such as Mom and Dad's friends, etc.
Next, we have a generalized list of their daily routine, followed by the Morning Routine, After School Routine, and Evening Routine.
Each girl has her own section, which has a calendar for her to put anything on (birthdays, games, parties, etc) and behind that we have a list of all their friend's phone numbers. Also, in each section, they will have any pictures or school items that they want to keep in there. Their school schedules and report cards are in the master HMJ (Optimus Prime), but anything else would go in their home journal.
We plan to add more as we go, but I think it's a good start. Good luck with your own. Personally, I think HMJ's (or JMJ's if you're working) are great for Moms, Dads, kids, families, and anyone else who wants to stay organized. Honestly, I keep one for my schoolwork, too!
I entered this post into the Tip Me Tuesday giveaway at Tip Junkie. Check it out!
My husband and I have been working on a new daily routine for the girls since we have moved. It's actually been an easier adjustment for them than it has for me. Since I drive them to school and pick them up, they get to sleep later and get home earlier than they did when they rode the bus. In addition, they get to eat breakfast at home instead of at school and they really like that (plus I can make sure that they are eating well).
Anyway, back to the schedule issues. My girls are messy, very, very messy, especially
MORNING:
AFTER SCHOOL:
BEDTIME:
This is how they left their room this morning. I can't believe I'm actually showing this since it's embarrassing, but at least you know what I'm dealing with here. And, this isn't even showing all of their room! Alex likes to complain about it because she feels that she doesn't need one, however, she's the first to not make her bed or leave the straightening iron out. I'll update you and let you know if it works.
Tomorrow we'll get into the chore list and what Nate and I are trying to implement in regards to their electronic Christmas presents from Santa. It goes along with this routine.
Have a good day!
Update: They picked up their room and made the bed when they got home from school and it took 5-10 minutes. They did a great job!
One of my favorite little life blessings is a sweet, cuddly, just woke up baby! Baby D gives hugs and kisses when he first wakes up and is so sweet. Then he gets completely awake is active as all get out! One of his favorite things to do is knock the tray off his high chair, so that it makes a loud noise and scatters food everywhere. He thinks its hilarious, while I am not so amused. I find myself sweeping constantly and finding Cheerios in odd places, like kitchen chairs, cabinets, etc.
Today when he woke up from his nap, he had crazy hair! It was completely adorable and I had to take a picture.
Have a great day!
We went to Boo at the Zoo for the first time last night. It was a lot of fun, but we had to wait for a very long time!
That's Baby D waiting in line, people watching! Sorry for terrible photos, they were taken with my cell phone.
I brought along snacks and drinks for Baby D, but didn't even think about it for the rest of us. Only Cami, Ems, Baby D, and myself went since Nate was working and Alex was at a slumber party. Luckily, the zoo provided cups of hot chocolate, at the whopping price of $2.50 each! Wow!
It was a lot of fun. The kids got candy, got to see the animals, and Ems had her face painted. She looked adorable!
I'm glad we got to go this year.
On a funny/weird note...there was a gentleman there who wanted to take a picture with me because he said that I looked incredibly like Christina Ricci. Flattering, yes, but it made me feel kind of weird. I'm sure that my face was bright red!
Hope your weekend was wonderful!
One of my favorite life blessings is cuddle time with the kids. Alex isn't as cuddly as she used to be, but I still give her hugs as much as possible. Cami has always been the most cuddly of all of my children, Ems likes to cuddle when she is tired (as the picture shows), and Baby D is the same way. I'm hoping that he will get cuddlier as he gets a little bigger. He was big on cuddling as a little thing, but now, he wants to be on the go all the time!
Nothing can replace cuddle time. Whether I'm cuddling with Nate or one of the kids, it's my favorite time of the day!
We are trying to rid the house of all pacifiers. The girls never took a pacifier was readily as Baby D has, so we've never gone through this before. However, I don't think that children should keep a pacifier past 18 months, at the most. We plan to have him off the pacifier by 15 months. I'm not exactly looking forward to it.
We've been slowly weaning Baby D off the bottle for the past few months by introducing cups of milk instead. He was a bit resistant, but, for the most part, as long as he received his milk he was fine. As of now, he is drinking completely out of cups and drinking whole milk about 80% of the time. I just want to make sure that he continues to get all the nutrients that he needs, so I've been hesitant to completely give up formula. My baby is growing up....
The pacifier is a completely different story, unfortunately. He is very, very attached to it. So far, we've got it down to two uses per day, at naptime and at bedtime. He is totally and completely resistant to giving up his paci at those times. Unlike the girls, who would tire themselves out by crying, Baby D will NOT go to sleep without his pacifier. I've tried rocking, cuddling, singing, all to no avail. So, I'm worried that phasing out the paci is going to cause sleeping problems for him and for me. If anyone knows anything that can help, please let me know!!
Have a great day!
Angie, from Pigpen to
I have digressed, as usual. Back to Saturday Picture Surprise. This week's random picture is from May 2009, # 7. Here it is, a picture of Cami and Ems acting silly in their bedroom.
In past years, the first day of school has been a real milestone for Ems. She is the child that likes to stay up all hours of the night and sleep all day, so the first day of school usually wears her out and sees her wanting to take a nap immediately after getting home. Yesterday was an exception and shows me that she is growing up. Her sisters are both in middle school now, so she rides home on the bus by herself and seems so excited about it. She actually didn't get home until 3:30pm yesterday, which caused me too much worry since they usually arrived home around 3:00pm from school, while Alex and Cami didn't get home until around 4:45pm. Talk about late! We didn't have dinner until a little after 6:00pm and everything was thrown off schedule. I've really got to get back in the swing of things.
I missed the ladies terribly and I think that Baby D did, too. He was so excited to see all three of them when they arrived home from school. He waited at the door with me for Ems to get off the school bus. He's such a sweet little man.
I hope that everyone had a great day, today. I'll be taking a small break for a few days so I can spend time with Nathan until Friday, then spend time with the whole family. I can't wait! The girls are wanting to try scrapbooking and so am I!
Have a great weekend!
Today is the first day back to school for the kiddos and it's strange not having them at home. I did get quite a bit more housework done, however, so that's a good thing. I plan to start working on their room and getting rid of clutter and clothes that they don't or can't wear and give the ones that are in good condition to Goodwill. Eventually, I will do the same with Baby D's room. I have a ton of baby boy clothes from 0-9 months that in good shape. I'm not sure if I will donate them or attempt to sell them on ebay. I think that I would rather donate, since there are so many people who need gently used clothing and cannot afford to pay much for them. Helping others makes me smile.
Today is Cami's first day of middle school and she has been so nervous about it. Alex is in 8th grade and they don't integrate the different grades like they did when I was in middle school. Each grade has their own hallway, class section, etc. It seemed very strange to me when Alex first started middle school since integration with other grades was the part that I enjoyed most and, as an adult and parent, I feel that they should be with all grades so they know what to expect in high school. However, now I've learned that the high school here is divided into sections, too, and most students stay mostly within their section. I personally feel that they should associate with all other ages since they will in their adult life. I suppose that's what college is for.
Ems is in second grade this year and she got her favorite teacher, so she is beyond happy! Alex and Cami tell me that Ems knows all the teachers at the elementary school and they, in turn, all know her and love her. When we go out to Wal-Mart, we invariably see someone from the elementary school and Ems MUST go up and hug them. She is an incredibly sweet, loving child and has the charm that all members of Nates family have. There are very few people who are immune to that charm. :-)
Alex is excited to see her friends, but she isn't happy to have gym first period. She started wearing mascara, eyeliner, and lip gloss (no foundation, powder, eye shadow, or blush for a 13 year old!) this year and she says that it will get messed up in gym class. She's worried about that, so I said that she could take her makeup to school with her and fix it if she must. I made sure that she didn't wear too much. Some young girls wear entirely too much makeup and it doesn't look good on them. I've tried to teach all my girls that less is more when it comes to that department. I wear very little makeup myself and hope that sets a good example.
Have a great day people! Please, check out my friend Kristal's blog, MommyLivesOnline. It's a blog "blog about coupons, free stuff, samples, shopping tips, reviews, and online deals." So, go see what she has!
Today is Baby D's first birthday! For his b-day we went to a restaurant with family and had lunch along with cake and ice cream. He had so much fun! He didn't know what to do with the cake. He picked it up at first, then sat it back down and brought his mouth to it. It was adorable!
Eventually, he picked it back up and attempted to eat the entire piece. He's never had sweet stuff before, so who knows what he was thinking. First birthdays are always exciting.
I remember how it used to seem like it took forever for my birthday to roll around when I was young, but now that I'm older it gets here faster and faster. I wonder why time seems to go by so much faster as we get older? Is it because we are wasting our life away by worrying about bills and such? I, for one, try to count my blessings every day, even if I'm not in the greatest of moods. The fact that I have four wonderful children is enough to make me smile even on the worst of days!
What makes you smile?
Alex and Cami are back, yay! I've missed them terribly and the household just hasn't felt the same. Ems has said everyday how much she misses her sister and I've felt sorry for her because I've been wrapped up in finals and haven't been able to play games with her as much as I could previously. However, she did get into a lot LESS trouble while her sisters were gone. Maybe she felt more responsible?
I know that I haven't written much about myself, mostly focusing on routines and the Home Management Journal, but I'm not really sure how much you actually want to hear. I'm 31 and married to the love of my life. We have four amazing children and I'm in college to get my nursing degree. This semester has been a real bear since it's my first time back in school in years. I took English, Psychology, Medical Terminology, and Algebra this summer and they were 8 week courses instead of the usual 16 weeks. I'm proud to say that I made A's in English, Psych, and Med Term and a B in Algebra (I'm not a math person so I'll take it!).
Alex is our oldest at 13 and she is followed by Cami at 11, Ems at 6, and Baby D at almost 1 (his bday is August 4th). They are all so very different and such blessings in my life. I couldn't imagine life without them and, honestly, wouldn't want to.
Nate is pretty amazing. We've had our ups and downs, but we've put a lot of effort into our relationship. Part of growing up and growing wiser is realizing that marriage is hard and you can't just get by on 'love', there has to be a strong foundation on which to stand. Luckily, we have that and because of that, I feel doubly blessed. I married my best friend and couldn't ask for more.
So, enough about me. I want to hear about you guys! Feel free to drop me a line anytime!
