A day in the life

The end of the school is year quickly creeping up.  I'm going to miss these days.  Next year, Maddy won't be walking home with me.  I'll be waving to her on the bus too.

There's certain things we do everyday.  We have to walk to the school bus because they go to school in a different school district.  On the way, we MUST do this:

Then we wait and look for fish, ducks, geese, and even crayfish and the otter at the creek.

On rare occasions, we see a fox, bunnies, and deer, but more often just the woodchuck.

And our day would not be complete without doing this before heading home:

We're not in Brooklyn, anymore.

What I've been up to...

Whenever we go shopping, we have to do it all in one day because we live so far from civilization and gas is ridiculous.  It's hard on Maddy and Daisy so I have to pack the house or make lots of extra stops for snacks.  A few weeks ago, we stopped at TJ Maxx hoping to find our favorite organic lollipops but I stumbled upon some organic apple chips instead.  They were yummy and Maddy LOVED them. 

When we got home I looked them up and found out they sourced their apples from, gasp, China!  Yes, just like every other apple chip company that we've tried.  I quickly went to Facebook and jokingly commented on their page.  I don't think they liked it because it was deleted in a few hours.  It said something along the lines of, "Really??  Another apple chip brand sourcing their apples from China?  I guess I found an industry to get into."  But that's all it was...a joke.

I thought there had to be a way to find some made in the USA.  Google wasn't much help.  I had to make them myself.  And they were so easy and they were awesomely addicting!!  I can't keep any long because they are quickly gobbled up by everyone including myself.  The only problem is that they are so time consuming. 

The next day, I picked the girls up from the bus.  It was Friday so the Farmer's Market was set up in the parking lot and a light bulb went off.  These would be great here.  The only kid friendly stuff they have is cookies, cupcakes, and ice cream.  Parents would love these.  Who wants to give their kids sugar filled treats when they are getting ready to serve dinner, right??

So tomorrow I'm bringing a bag to the Market Manager.  She's expecting me and really excited.  Wish me luck :) 

Bowling, anyone?

I just signed the girls up for 2 free games ... A DAY ... ALL SUMMER!

Bowling <----- Click your state to find available bowling alleys.

You can also sign up for 4 adults to play all summer for a one time $25 fee.  Not bad, not bad at all.  Yay for free air conditioned activities :D

Snow and Pajamas

I was getting lunch ready for Maddy and Daisy when Kaity ran outside to play in the "snow". A few minutes later, I hear the door close as someone else ran out. I stopped what I was doing about to call Apani back in because I knew she couldn't possibly have cleaned her mess that fast. So I get to the door and see that it's Maddy. And forget the cold, I had to grab my camera.

Yes, that is her SITTING half naked in the snow after making a snow angel.












Yes those are slippers! Is she just so darn cute?!

Trying, I am

I really don't like children...
Not mine, I love mine. And chances are, if you're reading this, I love yours too.

As I was tucking the girls into bed tonight, Abby told me that Kaity licked the floor because the girls on the bus told her to. I send her to school hoping she will be safe and cared for and the kids are pushing her around. She's such a sweetheart and they are taking advantage of her. I don't know what to do. I feel like I'm failing her, like I'm not teaching her how to love and respect herself. Why didn't she say NO? How dare those little girls!! This is not the first time Kaitlyn has been pressured to do something. What am I doing wrong?

I really "hate" motherhood, sometimes. I wallow around in my own personal pity party and self loathe wondering what kind of mess I've gotten myself into, while dipping my hands into a box of chocolates trying to ignore the nearly constant whining between Maddy and Daisy, hoping that with just enough dark chocolate I can drown them out. It doesn't work and I'm going crazy. Days are difficult and stressful and all I want to do is runaway, or hide in the bathroom for a minute or 10. But I don't, obviously runaway. I like to think that with chocolate and a deep breathe I can get through anything, but I don't. I try, though. Apparently, I'm not trying hard enough. Things like this happen and it brings me even deeper down.

I feel like I spend more time being a drill sergeant than a mother. I yell and yell and yell. And then I yell some more.

Every night, I go to bed, regretting many things I've done during the day. Wondering what I could have done differently and pray that tomorrow will be better. Tonight, I'm looking back on the past 7 years, wondering what I've taught them. They are all good kids. I'm always approached by teachers at school and church and the people who get stuck in the pew behind us who do nothing but compliment us on how well behaved they are. So I must be doing something right, but why is Kaitlyn letting people walk all over her? I may be doing something right, but I'm also doing something so wrong. How do I teach a child to love and respect themselves and know that it's ok to say no. I thought I've made that clear, but obviously I haven't.

I've been contemplating home schooling and as hard as it would be, I'm beginning to think, for Kaitlyn, that might just be what's best.

So tonight, instead of worrying about the wrongs I've done today, I'll cry in prayer about the ones I've made for the past 7 years.

Now, Where's my chocolate...I've got another party to attend. Party of one, over here, care to join me?

I should be

... preparing lunch boxes
... packing the bookbags
... laying out uniforms
... finding the shoes, scarfs, mittens, and hats
... setting my alarm
... FINDING MY PHONE SO I CAN SET SAID ALARM
... cleaning
... folding laundry
... sleeping

We're all ready to go back to school, but I'm not prepared for waking up at 6 again. Who am I kidding? I never got to sleep in, but at least I didn't have to jump out of bed and walk 2 miles in the cold.

Maddy, Daisy, and I shall miss them, but I'm sure they will start fighting as soon as they walk in the door and I'll be reminded how important time apart is!

Eggbert

We saw Eggbert. I don't know what a big egg with a crown has to do with Christmas, but if you grew up in Orange County, you saw him every year...and he knew your name...everyone's name. I just found out that after the owner died, there was a huge fire destroying everything. They only just realized Eggbert survived. This was his first year back. It was very exciting.

Even the New York Times wrote about his return.

Christmas, country style

When I think of Christmas as a child, I think of two traditions. The Dyker Heights lights and Eggbert.

While we may not get to see the lights in Dyker Heights, we do get this!



This is one of the families homes from the girls' school. I think we can settle with this.

Tomorrow, we're going to Devitts. Nearly every Thanksgiving we came upstate to my Aunt's house for the weekend and would go see Eggbert at Devitt's. Then we would shop at the nursery and my brother and I would get to pick out a new Christmas ornament. Several years ago, the owner of Devitts died and the nursery closed, so I haven't been able to bring the girls. The whole community was devestated. Everyone went to Devitts after Thanksgiving, it's a tradition. Well, I just found out that some old employees bought the store and it's open again! Yay! And the best part...Eggbert is back. Who's Eggbert? You'll just have to wait and see....

I love this kid!

I'm not talking about one of mine. I don't know where this kid, Preston Leatherman, came from, but he's hilarious! I saw the video yesterday and must have seen it at least 20x already and I"m still laughing!!!

My little booger, Abby

If you haven't been following my dramatic posts on facebook this week, than you would not have know that Apani came home Monday with the Coxsackie virus ie Hand Foot and Mouth Disease. Fun. By Friday, all the girls had it. They are not allowed in school until the last blister dries up so it's been a crazy house.

It didn't bother Abby. She just kept showing me her blisters.
Daisy got a fever Thursday and cried, whined rather, all day. Really, non stop. She wouldn't eat or drink because of the sores in her mouth.
Despite countless warnings, Maddy kept drinking out of Abby's cup and Friday she had sores in her mouth and a fever in the middle of the night.
Kaitlyn came home from school Friday and really hasn't eaten much but popsicles.

Talk about stressful! So I decided this morning to make some cinnamon buns. You know, something fun for the kids. I told Apani my plans and you know what that little turd said??? "I'm pretty sure, I love you now."

The good news, once they've had it, they are immune to it! So in a few days, we shall be virus free...till someone brings home the flu. :/

Did you attempt Black Friday?

So I attempted Black Friday this year. I never would have back in the city, but I convinced myself that Poughkeepsie is comparatively small and the towns around it are small, mine is tiny so it couldn't possibly be too bad. Afterall, there's a mall, TWO outlet centers, everyone would be going there, Target or Walmart. I could manage to snag a few deals from Toys R Us. Right?

LOL! Wrong!

We walked in...and out. The line literally wrapped around the store, wrapped. You couldn't even get into the aisles. The shelves looked worse than when we were expecting that hurricane (thanks to food storage, it wasn't a problem for us). It was a waste. Lesson learned. Arrive earlier!! Just kidding. Never again!

Recovery

There is no recovery with 4 little girls. It's more like trying to survive til bed time.

The first night home, I got home just in time to say good night. I guess Maddy really missed me because an hour later she was awake. I tucked her in and an hour later she woke again, this time leaving "gifts" for me on her carpet. She peed. Two hours later, Kaity woke up coughing and needed her asthma medicine. Unbelievable, really.

I finally got to sleep after that. But Fri and Sat (and probably tonight) I've had to help Kaity with her medicine.

I'm in bed nearly the entire day. I'm in so much pain, but the medicine just makes my head spin. I don't know what's worse, the pain, or the dizziness and nausea.

Apani woke up with a fever this morning. My luck, when it comes to health, just stinks! As the day has gone on though, I was feeling myself feeling better. I even made pasta salad. Then Daisy head planted into my gut and I'm feeling like I over did it. But I imagine tomorrow will be even better. I really just want a day or night to myself so I can rest up.

I'm glad I waited, there's no way I could have done this while nursing Daisy. I thought this was a minor surgery and recovery would be much quicker. Even more importantly, I'm so glad I was able to get it done before Thanksgiving and I can eat without fear!! Hide the scales!

To do - To do - To do

Now that Daisy is weened, I feel like I can work on my To Do List.

First up ~ Gall Bladder Surgery. Let's hope all goes well on Thursday. Thursday!! I'm a little nervous. I know it's routine surgery and a common one at that, but as he was explaining the risks (which are 1 in 300) I got a little scared. But, Thanksgiving is next week and last year I was too afraid to eat, I will not pass up pumpkin pie again!! I may even eat 2 slices with extra whip cream!

Next ~ taking that darn 5 hour class for the DMV which will be more like 7 when you include the trip there and back.

After that? Can you say, ROAD TEST??!!

Truth be Told # 2

I forget things, I mean, everything.

Since having kids, Truth Be Told # 1

keeping the house clean is a battle I can not win.

How we're doing Christmas

Now that ALL the girls are in bed at 7, I try to make money by doing small things on the internet since there's still 3 years before Daisy starts school and I can start working.

Between everything, I've probably earned @ $1000.

Amazon has a task site called Mturk. People use the site to promote business, they promote blogs, universities use it to conduct research, to rate web content, and so forth. I like to do the research or survey tasks because most of them are quick and tend to pay more. But if any task is offering you more than $3, it's usually fake, don't waste your time.

I sell coupons on ebay.

I set up an etsy site.

Now that Maddy is old enough to remember things, unless stores decide to be open 24/7 and I can go when she sleeps, I have to shop online. And ALWAYS use Ebates. If you haven't signed up yet, do it! I love ebates. I got my "big fat payment" today which is in my paypal account and will go towards gifts. And whatever shopping I do will be through ebates to earn more cash back.

I've also been "earning" "money" through Swagbucks. EVERY site I go to, I just search for it in the swagbucks toolbar and earn 'bucks' which I redeem for Amazon gift cards. It's tedious, but every little bit helps. I earned $100 in amazon gift cards in just a few months. Not too bad and not only is it Christmas, but there's 2 birthdays in December.

I love the daily deal sites. I've gotten a few stuff from Plum District and Totsy.

And the other thing I do is Paid the Fastest, which is a little more complicated. But I'm at the point where I get free referrals and let them do the work for me. I've earned the most $$ from there.

I also won a contest that gave a Chuggington gift pack which was filled with a train set, books, puzzles, and dvds. So we're pretty much set. Awesome!

How we survived the power outage

that lasted 74 hours. Some people are still out of power.



Lots of painting...LOTS. Nearly sun up to sun down.



I took the video games out of the closet.





Daisy fixed furniture into her own personal playground.



And play-doh made a quick appearance.

The kids were fairly good sports, til they got bored. By Tuesday it was all fighting. Thankfully, they got to go to school today. Our district, however, is still out. It's unbelievable! I wonder if these are counted as snow days. I'm so scared for winter now.

It got so cold. The temp in the house was in the 40s! The girls would wake up with rosey cheeks and red noses. Daisy was going to bed with a long sleeve onesie, socks, and 2 fleece jammies and her feet would still be cold. It felt so good to take a shower again! I'm so thankful it's over!

I'm joining the revolution!

My own revolution. I'm boycotting laundry. I'm occupying my basement waiting for someone to do my laundry.

I've thrown it all on the bed and am trying to fold it. Daisy comes along and throws it on the floor. But not just any of it, only the folded stuff. Thanks Daisy.

Then she runs to the closets and throws that laundry on the floor. And where do you suppose it ends up? Oh, she brings it to the pile of dirty laundry. And for the most part, I don't realize it til it's covered with actually dirty laundry.

Do you have any idea how much laundry is washed and washed and washed without being worn? Too much!

Why should I have to do my laundry? Why do I have to work hard? Someone should do it for me! I want to be lazy too!

Painting

I thought it would be fun for Maddy to paint today...face and all! The angle that the picture was taken from, is where I was sitting while the whole thing went down. I was watching her do it, but for some reason, nothing was registering.



See those white chairs in the background? They're there because Daisy keeps using them to climb onto the table. Exhausting!

See the high chair? That's what I should have used to feed Daisy and maybe I wouldn't have had such a huge mess to clean.

On the other hand, she painted her face rather well, don't you think? I think purple is a good color for her. You?

Learning Language

Maddy says the cutest things. I don't know if it's because she's so darn adorable or because she hears her sisters say things and tries to use it as though she knows what she's talking about.



Maddy told me today that she was going to show me the best trick of her "whole entire life." That's 3 whole years! Are you sure???



While checking out at Kohl's, she picked up a gift card and with difficulty attempted to put it back, she says, "This doesn't make any sense!"




She was rubbing her eyes with her blankie and said, "I'm tired. Is it nighttime this year?"



I find myself often reminding the girls, "You need to behave."
They hear, "You guys need to be - hAve."
After a few minutes, Maddy will ask, "I being - hAve?"
It makes perfect sense because I also tell the girls that they need to BE good. In turn they ask, "I'm being good?"
It reminds me of when Kaity and Abby were about Maddy's age, one learned from the other to ask, "I being - A - hAve?"




We went out to eat the other day, which is something we rarely do because 4 kids are exhausting just to think about. So on the ride over I was preparing them and telling them what there would be to eat. You know, so there's less time deciding and waiting while we're there and can leave faster and hopefully avoid any and all potential meltdowns. I told them, that first, we would have salad and breadsticks and Kaitlyn excitedly yelled, "I want a breadstick. ... Do they have cheese?" I said, "Ummmm? I'm not positive." Maddy quickly piped in, "I want a positive!"