Should I be worried?

This was what Sterling emerged wearing this morning. Eden's tights, Liberty's bathing suit, and shoes - Sterling is never without shoes - and they were backwards - also something pretty common for Sterling. This was after he'd come out with the bathing suit over his boxers - apparently that was a little cold.

I got my Christmas letter written - 2nd draft, in case anyone cares to know. Nope, not finished. Turns out these little blogs are a whole lot easier to write than a summary of our year in one page. I got photos ordered too - now, for my goal: get the letter printed and in envelopes, complete with address labels, before the photos arrive via mail. I'll let you know on that one. Or we can leave that one alone and all just pretend I get these things accomplished on time and under budget somewhere outside of my dreams...

Speaking of under budget, when did everything get so stinking expensive?! I head out with my limited budget, trying to buy gifts for the kids - wow, that was a frustrating venture. I did get quite a few things, not nearly what is on my list, but enough the kids will be thrilled in spite of my barely-dented list. I found a toddler bed-sized quilt/sheet set full of trucks for Sterling today at the consignment store. He'll love it. Very cool, and that definitely helped with the budget! I get to chalk up original prices when I decide if monies spent were divided evenly, right?

I also got curtain fabric for the living room windows today. I'll post photos of the finished product - if I'm happy with it. :)

Sterling woke in the night in hysterics. He'd peed in his diaper and eczema has his behind rather raw. I was trying to get to the bottom of it all when he came out with "My...butt...really, really... hurts! Really...really...bad!" He never says that many words, that clearly. I felt so bad for him - but it was nice to know he really can talk clearly when he wants to.

Ruby's sleeping through the night! Even through Sterling's fit in the night, she slept. Ah, progress. I actually had two nights - in a row - last week that no one woke up between 8pm and 6 am. So nice. Now if I can rehydrate Sterling's raw backside - or get him to wake up to pee in the night - we'll be all set.

I'm off to figure what kind of curtains to make. I have visions of stripes, but limited ideas for the tops. No ruffles. They remind me of clown collars - and we have enough funny business around here without putting clown collars on the windows!

And, in case you were wondering, you can find a free pattern to make a clown collar of your very own, looking like the one pictured above, at:

http://sewing.about.com/od/hallowee1/ss/clowncollar.htm

On that note, maybe I know what costume to add next to my girls' dress up tote. Hmmm.

Blaine's work for the morning...

For those interested, this is the article Blaine wrote and took the photos for this morning. :)

http://www.pulaskicountydaily.com/news.php?viewStory=1468

Who spilled on my pj's?

December. Really?!

The girls and I watched "The Baby Story" today. They are fascinated with that show. There was a little girl on there today who was named Eden. She was 3 and, well, Eden. Eden means "delightful" and it was so funny to see another little girl with the same name - and so very much the same in personality as well. The mother was due with "Penelope" and she said that they expected her to be just like her older sister Eden - and if she wasn't, Eden would teach her! Ah, yes, that sounds just about right.

We walked around the block today. Our block, while exceptionally big, would be traveled far faster if we didn't have to stop and steal a small amount of gravel from every gravel driveway along the way. Don't worry though, we give theirs to their neighbors, theirs to their neighbors, etc. It's Sterling's mission. I don't ask why - it's hard to know when the answer lacks a few consonants. He "urt" his "inger" (hurt his finger) and wanted a "ar-el" (marble) in his "uck" (truck) tonight before bed. Perfect sense! You should hear him say "convertible". It cannot even be typed. Don't even ask why he knows what a convertible is. He's a boy.

Blaine gets to shoot a book signing with Sarah Palin tomorrow. Pretty cool! I'd go, but then there's the four small children part that throws a wrench in things.

Eden woke me up in the night complaining her pj's were wet. When I asked if she'd wet her bed (something she hasn't done for at least 6 months) she said she didn't know.
"Well, are you panties wet?"
"Yes!"
"Then you probably peed your bed. Are your sheets wet?"
"Yes!"
"So why are we having this conversation?"
"Because I don't know what got on me!"
"Uh, honey, pretty sure we know what is on you. Unfortunately."

Stuff vs. People: A good choice - unless you're Christmas shopping.

I haven't done any Christmas shopping yet. It's bad. I usually have these things at least brainstormed about for a bit, but I rather forgot this year. So I've been trying to come up with ideas of things to get the kids... and Liberty has several things she likes - she's not too hard. Eden, on the other hand... and today, I realized why. Liberty is about "stuff". Eden's about people. When, during Bible for school, I asked them to complete the sentence "I wish I had _____." Liberty answered with several toys she's been looking at lately, Eden answered "Claire". Claire is her cousin. When I prompted her for some "thing" - since I was ready to take notes at this point - she finally came up with "a ball". Yeah, sure. That didn't work so well, and I'm back to no ideas.

It's all in the numbers.

Number of times I've sent children back to bed this morning before 9am: 4. One didn't get sent back, one got sent twice.
Number of times I get told I have my hands full when we go grocery shopping (on average, no lie): 6.
Number of kisses I get in a day (from children under 6): 30
Number of kisses I get from Blaine in a day: usually less than 30. :)
Number of laundry loads I do in a week: 6-8.
Number of times I sweep the kitchen in a week: 10.
Number of times I wipe pee off the wall/floor/potty chair/sink and other random places Sterling manages to hit in a day: 6.
Strangest place Sterling managed to hit in the last week: It's a toss up between the back of Dad and Mom's bathroom door and their bathroom vanity. And yes, the door was open when he hit it, and yes, it did make the door close. I'm almost impressed. Almost. Pretty sure Mom wasn't even close to being impressed.
Yes, Sterling is potty trained. All of the places he hits (or almost always. We'll allow for the rare accident.) are from the potty chair or the toilet. Any minute now he'll develop a sense of aim - but I'm not holding my breath.
Number of times I yell "Ruby Alexandra!" in an hour: 5-10. Unless she's sleeping - then I get a blessed reprieve. Ruby needs to learn to take longer naps before I go hoarse.
Number of times I've been told my hands were full by a stranger when I didn't have all of my children with me: I lost count. 25+. I don't even tell them what they are missing anymore.

Our house is roughly 900 square feet. That's 150 per person, if it were divided evenly. Yet, I rarely get more than 2 square feet around me - and if I try to cross out of those 2, I trip over someone. Why is that? Sadder still, why did I have to hunt down a calculator to figure out 900/6?

The look on the lady's face at Walmart yesterday when she asked Liberty if they were all brother and sisters, Liberty said yes, then Liberty told me that we need more boys for Sterling and I said maybe someday? Absolutely priceless. Shocked, slightly disgusted, and absolutely hilarious. Apparently she thought I hadn't had them all on purpose. Really now.

Fun times, for sure.

Home again. :) We spent the last week in South Dakota at my parents. Blaine stayed home to work and a friend and I ventured north. I left my friend in Iowa with her family and continued on, spending Mon-Sat with my parents. The kids had a blast. Notice all the photos here? Yep, I took so many I can't even stand it. Seriously. My camera never made it out of it's bag. Nice.

We hit one fairly impressive snow storm in the top of MO, saw a lot of vehicles in the ditch, and thankfully drove (35 mph) out of it just before hitting Iowa. I'm not certain if no snow while in South Dakota is a disappointment or not. Sterling freaked out when we stopped during the snow storm on the way there - the snow was apparently attacking him. I rather hoped he'd get to play in it a bit once in SD, but it was beautiful. I guess I can't complain about that!

We went to visit my grandmother there. Grandma was a nurse (still is, I imagine!) and had a photo of herself in her uniform, taken some 60 years ago. She asked Eden if she still looked like that, and Eden told her "No, because you're old now.". Oh, dear. I'm not certain if Grandma was offended or not. But really, why is our age offensive? I'm still pondering that one.

I brought home a bike for Liberty from my parents. I strapped it to the roof rack - something Blaine's used for bikes many times. It took 4 hours and 4 stops to get the straps to stop making so much noise. I was starting to debate the "leave the bike somewhere along the way for some needy soul who finds road noise at deafening decibels tolerable" option before I finally managed to quiet things down up there a bit. I found myself holding my breath as we pulled away from the rest area, waiting for the wind to hit it. The pitch it screeched changed with each stop and attempted silencing, but finally it quit. It did keep trying off and on all the way home though. Seriously. Arriving in Springfield and turning my van off brought blessed silence - until I realized my ears were still screeching along to perfect rhythm. Somebody shoot me.

Blaine's sister and her family are coming for Thanksgiving - arriving sometime tomorrow, I think. She said my messy house didn't matter, but I'm thinking they'd appreciate not having to wade through the animal crackers and rice crispies on the kitchen floor - or the luggage in the living room - or the laundry in the laundry room. Tomorrow's gonna be fun. Oh, and food in the house might be good too. Yep, gonna be a blast. I'm starting to think Liberty and Eden need to start Thanksgiving's school break a day early.

Old Man Pants, Bandaids, and more, at a store near you.

Ah, it's been too long. I know.

The weather here, I must say, is beautiful. 70+ degree days makes for happy kids outside - which makes for one happy momma. It's hard to remember it's November.

This week is a crazy one. Appointments all week, Sunday dinner for the church at our house, then Monday morning the kids and I are headed north to visit my parents for the week. I can't sleep, I've confused days a few times, panicked when I thought I overlapped appointments, and then found one day trying to decide what to do. Company coming, but not for a few more days - cleaning is a pointless venture. The menu's planned, too soon to buy groceries... so I gave Sterling a haircut. I went a little crazy I think, he's looking considerably balder than before I started, but he declared himself "pretty" so it's all good!

Today I had a doctor appointment. Without sharing too many details, let me just say - sometimes, they just don't get it. "Wouldn't that just mask the symptoms?" "Well, yes, but that would be ok, right?" Uh, no, I don't want a bandaid, I want a cause - or just say you don't know, that would work too! Really now. That was a mostly pointless two hour wait.

Ruby. Dear, dear Ruby. Stay tuned for an auction for the highest bidder... "Get out of the cabinet. Don't eat that! Don't rip that! Get down from there! That wasn't supposed to go in the garbage. That hair's attached - and I'd rather keep it attached! STOP IT!" She, of course, looks at me like I've grown a third eye and keeps on keeping on until I physically stop her - then she gets mad. Very, very mad. Look out, she's trouble and giving me a run for my money. Sterling has a foam fish the Bass Pro store guy gave him when we returned Blaine's old man pants - stay tuned for that story too. The foam fish though - he's had his tail glued back on 5 times. Ruby likes to eat fish tails.

And, the old man pants. Bass Pro has an outlet store. They put the catalog props/clothes in there, among other things. Nice stuff, some quite cheap. I found a pair of jeans for Blaine in there for $10. His size is apparently slightly unusual, thus hard to find. Thrilled to find his size, I confirmed the return policy and got them for him. Blaine tried them on that night, emerging from the bedroom with a "Uh, these are old man pants." Old man pants. Old man pants?! Do they really make old man pants? Old lady pants, sure. They are polyester and sit neatly just below the boobs. But in jeans - for men? These were my thoughts as Blaine rounded the corner. I just about cried, I laughed so hard. They had a built in "spare tire below the belt" pouch - for a 30 inch waist. With no tire to spare, Blaine looked like, well, an old man. Less the gut. But hey, we got a free foam fish out of the deal.