The woes of a fourth child

From the infamous words of "Annonymous Truck Driver" to H.I. McDunnough: (fast forward to 4:00 min mark if you don't want to watch the whole clip)

"Son, you got a panty on your head."



I heard Spencer crying. On my way over to him, I was met by Livvy saying, "Spencer hat. Spencer hat." Right. Just what every kid needs- a purple pair of 'My Little Pony' panties on his head.

Ground Hog Day

While shopping at Walmart today I ran into a friend. It seems that I always run into people when I am all dolled up in my pajama pants and t-shirt with my hair pulled back in a pony tail and yesterday's makeup smudged under my eyes. Quite the sight, I'm sure.

I said to her "Nice to see that you dressed up to come to Walmart too" because she was pretty much dressed the same as me. It seems that we both came to the same conclusion when we pulled out of bed that morning, "Why dress up to clean toilets and take a trip to Wal-mart?"

As our conversation progressed, my friend pointed out that her life is like the movie "Ground Hog Day". She wakes up and every day is the same thing over and over. Day after day after day. I would have to agree with her. Sometimes the days blend together because it's all so much the same. I'm not complaining- just sayin'. Life is great. I love my life. I love being a wife and mother. I don't mind waking up everyday to my same husband, same kids, kindergarten homework, toilets to clean, errands to run. It's nice to call the shots and make my life what I want it to be.

That said,

There is one thing I could do without experiencing day after day after day...



Does anyone else see a pattern developing? Surprise! Surprise! Liv had a run-in with the vaseline...again. And not just any vaseline, the next door neighbor's vaseline. Ha! My friend brought her in the house and the first words out of her mouth "I put the hand sanitizer away when she came in. I don't even know where she got this from." You see, Livvy has a reputation. People know about her. They prepare their houses upon her arrival. So if you are wondering what an entire jar of vaseline emptied onto a two-year-olds head looks like, look no further.

While I was cleaning her up, she was still rubbing her hands on her head and then rubbing her arms and legs. You know, spreading the love around.



Isn't this a good look for her?



Needless to say, I'm on my way to the store to pick up some de-greaser. We have never experienced excess vaseline to this level.

Take me out to the ballgame

Monday night was family night at the Bees game. My brother Micah invited us to go along with them. Or maybe we invited ourselves. Either way, we went along and had a great time. I'm not exactly sure how much of the game we saw. I was too busy doing crowd control with the kids to really pay attention.

We took the kids to Arbys for some dinner on our way to the game. But of course as soon as we arrived at the game, the kids magically became hungry. Never mind the entire Jr Roast Beef, curly fries, and lemonade you just downed 15 minutes ago. Little stinkers!

Dave let Taylor choose between getting a treat or a foam hand. He opted for the foam hand. I wonder how long that thing will last before it becomes a casualty at my house. Livvy has a knack for the attack, if you know what I mean.



Here are Sara and Emma with Bumble the Bee. How do I know his name? Well, because he scrawled the name "Bumble" in black sharpie across Sara's arm. Good thing we don't have family pictures around the corner. Taylor's body came out unscathed because Bumble only signed his foam hand.



For some crazy reason my dad is always more than happy to come along and join in the chaos.



Our family at the game. Can you believe I have four kids because I sure can't?!?!

Spencer's Blessing

Sunday was Spencer's blessing day. We had the opportunity to bless him in our home and it was really beautiful. It was fun to have our family gathered around so close.

Spencer with his daddy

Spencer with his cute parents

My parents

Grandpa Vern was the only grandparent there on Dave's side. We are so glad he was able to come and be a part of this with us.

Grandpa Vern turns 100

I did try to put an exclamation point after the number one hundred but it looked more like "grandpa vern turns 1001". Now wouldn't that be interesting.

We spent the weekend with lots and lots of family. Dave's grandpa Vern (aka: gramps) turned 100 on August 9th. He is such a trooper. He is starting to slow down a bit but considering that he is 100, I guess we can cut him some slack. I think he can still run circles around most in the 80+ crowd.

Dave's aunt threw a big birthday bash for grandpa at the church. We had a great time meeting new people and getting re-acquainted with people we haven't seen in a while (or never met, in my case). I got to hear plenty "when David was in diapers" stories. Love that.

We had a photographer there for a while getting shots of the fam. The great grand kids all posed with grandpa here. It was a zoo. I had to sneak in with my camera and take a few pictures. Livvy is down on the bottom left in a blur of non-compliance.

As you know, I only choose the classiest photos to display... This is Dave with gramps and his brothers Jeff & Scott, and sister Amy. Amy seems...happy(if not borderline frightening). Scott...asleep. Jeff...annoyed. Dave...distracted. Grandpa...bored. Love these family shots!

Taylor starts kindergarten

-sniff sniff-

On his way out the door...



Taylor is officially a bus riding/backpack wearing/homework loving kindergartner. Oh what a day! The teachers invited the parents to come and be with their child for the first 20-30 minutes to help orient them to the classroom. It was total CHAOS! Some children had both parents there. Everyone was armed with a camera and the occasional video camera. I think the kids were a bit overwhelmed.

Taylor and his new teacher, Mrs. C.



When I was getting ready to leave, Taylor turned to me and said, "Mom, I will miss you. I love you." It was quite a sweet little statement coming from a boy who has been less than sweet lately. Maybe he will turn out alright after all... He has been acting up a bit lately which I think comes from the fact that his friends have been out of town, a new baby brother is in the family, and he is just plain old bored. Needless to say, I am thrilled that school has started! It's just what he needs!

Coloring a picture of himself at his table.



He had a great time today. When I asked him about his day, he said his favorite things about kindergarten were riding the bus and recess.

The bus dropped Taylor off at our house. How perfect is that?



He is now looking forward to the weather getting a little colder so he can get some new school clothes! I don't know about this year round system. It's strange to send Taylor to school in August. He won't ever know the difference, I guess.

To sum it all up- Taylor is a great boy who had a great day and I couldn't be happier! Way to go buddy!

Just another day

Last night I put a bag of kitchen garbage just outside the door in my garage. It had been sitting on my kitchen floor for a day and I was done with it. Done. Done. Done. So I moved it outside. I was running an experiment of sorts, a battle of wills, if you will, with Dave. How long will it sit at the bottom of those steps before he takes it out or at what point am I so angry that it hasn't moved that I do it myself ? It was full of all kinds of goodies- raw chicken & beef (we made kabobs- they were delish!), diapers, corn cobs, watermelon, honeydew, and cantaloupe rinds... the list could go on all day.

Anyhoo, this morning as I packed up my things and my kids, I walked outside and noticed (besides the awful stench wafting through the air) that the garbage bag was torn up with a few things strewn about. What? Are you kidding me? The only answer to this freakishly freaky situation is that something, some animal, must be living in my garage. Eek! If you know anything about me, you know that I'm not into animals. Not at all. So I start looking around my garage, waiting to be pounced upon at any moment by this mystery animal. Nothing happened. I rushed the kids into the car and got us out of there as fast as possible. And no, I didn't move the garbage. I was way too freaked out.

So I get Dave on the horn and tell him about this garbage/animal crisis. He says, "Oh yah, we left both garages open last night." First things first- I was quite relieved that nothing was living in my garage but then- Whaaaat? We left the garage doors open all night? These are the kinds of things that happen while hauling 4 sleeping kids into the house late at night. Things fall through the cracks!

Later on, my brother Russell, who is a saint, came over while I wasn't home and took the garbage out. I guess I should clarify, he didn't come over with the sole purpose of taking out the garbage, it was merely a necessary step in borrowing a saw from our garage. Had he not removed the garbage, he probably would have died within minutes from the stench wafting through the garage. Really, it was bad when I left in the morning. I can't even imagine the aroma it had conjured up with the stifling heat of the afternoon. It brings me back to the good ole' days when we lived in Mississippi. The heat and humidity of that place provided Dave and I with many disgusting and not-so-pleasant garbage situations, many of them involving maggots. Yes, I said the word maggot on the blog. Gross. Now I have the heebie geebies!

And so no, Dave never did take out the garbage but I'm sure there will be plenty of other opportunities! And please remind me never to have a battle of wills in the sweltering heat of the summer using a bag full of garbage to make my point.