And Fenix says...

"Your hair is purple mom!"

Of course this is to be expected, isn't it?? I mean because if it's not....

To say that I am under an unusually large amount of stress would be an understatement.

Preparing for a trip to California, 

Preparing for A LOT of family coming to town right after my trip,

Preparing to have our carpets cleaned and stretched,

Working way to hard all day and well into the night to get everything done that needs doing.

The flower garden.

The vegetable garden.

Finally painting my table.

And many other projects that have yet to be started and finished.

Every morning my body screams at me for abusing it so.

Now,
 I am all for hard work, but sometimes too much is too much.

Add in not nearly enough rest, not nearly enough hydration, and not nearly enough good meals.

Well all together it just plain old makes me want to barf.

So much to do so little time.

Now add in the fact that my darling sweet children cannot seem to do anything, 

or listen to anything I say or ask.

My daughter who only wants me to hold her.

ALL THE TIME!!!

It's enough to make a grown man cry...

Now add to all of that:

One of my neighbors yelling at my 6 and 3 year old boys.

For hitting a few balls over our back fence.

Just out right yelling at them when I am not in sight.

Superman and I were right inside the door working on dinner.

Superman hears yelling and asks me if someone is yelling at our kids.

I step into the doorway and sure enough, there is a grown man yelling at my kids.

Now I can understand being irritated about neighbor kids.

I've had many little ones pulling at my trees, break the branches, 

strip the branches of their leaves in my front yard.

I am pretty sure almost every kid in my neighborhood has tromped through my flower garden.

I am not worried about it.

If I see them doing it,

I kindly, but firmly ask them:

"Oh dear, please stay out of the flower garden."

I'm not yelling at them.

I am not freaking out about it.

Sometimes" kids will be kids" is just a plain old FACT.

There is a certain point where that fact is surpassed and no longer can be applied to the situation,

but plants and balls is hardly there.

Now had I not had experience with adults yelling at little kids I might not be so irritated about this.

I might have turned to Superman and told him,

"Holy crap that guy needs to get laid!"
And then hustled my children inside for dinner.

But when I was little I was yelled at by adult neighbors.
And it doesn't feel good.
So (without yelling) I told the guy that I would do my best to keep my children from hitting anything over the fence.  That in fact I had been doing my best.  I then apologized to him (without groveling).
He couldn't leave it at that, he went on to tell me that I needed to be a better parent.
I NEED TO BE A BETTER PARENT...
REALLY!!!
He tried to throw at me that his kids aren't out there hitting balls into our yard.
I couldn't even believe it.
I stood there with my mouth open not even able to utter a word,
though I'll tell you I had plenty that I wanted to say to him.
If you knew this neighbor you might know exactly what I am talking about when I say this guy has absolutely no room to be complaining about a few balls...

It was quite clear that this guy was trying to pick a fight.
So I go back to my original thought.

Holy crap that guy clearly needs to get laid!!!

So yeah, I am a lotta bit stressed out.

So this is how I am coping.

I'm sending my stress out into this world wide web where it can be lost in the shuffle.

Be absorbed.

Be forgotten.

And out of my system.

Tomorrow I will write about being invisible.

Turns out it's not all it's cracked up to be.

Blogging for therapy, lol!

I think so :D

PS-For those of you who are wondering which neighbor I am talking about, I am not going to say names, but I will say that this neighbor is NOT the neighbor that lives to the south of us.

No, we really like that neighbor.

:D

Home made, I mean school made...

He made it for me for mothers day.

At school.

My Mom loves me

My mom likes to do gardening

This is my mom she is 22 years old
I love that he said I am 22!  Lol!

My mom likes to eat I don't know

I like to watch movies with my mom

My mom is afraid of rats

Dear mom I love you love Bear
My name is Bear and I have 1 brother and 1 sister
and I am 6

I always wondered if moms really liked gifts like this.

Now I know they are the best presents :D

The kind that bring tears.

The kind that take a moment of a child's life and freeze it for you to cherish always...

Downhearted sometimes, but still just fine ;D

After the concern expressed after THIS post I felt it necessary to explain the reason for the downheartedness. I am fine, all is well. Sometimes I go through moments of downheartedness, but I quickly bounce back to a state of blissful happiness, so no worries.

That particular moment I happened to be surrounded by a completely torn apart messy house. I don't deal with disaster well, especially when it comes in the form of dirty dishes, unswept or un-vacumed floors, and toys everywhere.

The fact that my boys were making yet another mess, was just too much to handle, thus my downheartedness. Fortunately I was able to resist the urge to scream at my boys, and then break down in tears. I saw just how much fun they were having and knew it wasn't worth ruining. I remember being a kid, moments that I remember fondly are the ones uninhibited by angry adults. This is what I try really hard to remember when my boys are doing something that yes is destructive, but also harmless. As long as they are happy and laughing about it.

So please, no worries, all is well.

:D

Having three little ones (not twins or triplets)...

Its funny because I have had several people ask me how it is with three kids, in the last two weeks. I thought I ought to make a blog post on the subject.

Note that my kids are 5, almost 3, and 9 months. The below details what I have found to be true with my own kids.

Okay so here goes, no holding back:

Three kids is immeasurably harder than two! You have your first baby and you think its hard until you have your second and you realize that NOW its hard. Then just when you think you have it all figured out you have your third and suddenly life as you know it ends.

With two you at least have two hands to hold each with, with three your arms are already full with the baby so you just hope and pray that the first two will listen to you and for the love of life hold onto your pockets and not let go when you cross the street!

Of course if your kids are older than mine were when your baby is born it is possible that that could make things easier. A five year old is probably capable of getting you things if you are stuck on the couch nursing the baby, or realize too late that you need a wipe after you've already taken off baby's poopy diaper and are stuck holding legs and arms out of the mess and cannot reach a wipe. A three year old would probably want to be a little mama/papa and try to nurse (yep my sons did try to nurse my baby) and cuddle with baby, possibly keeping them from trying to act like a baby themself (my 2 yo still acted like a baby he would start blah blah blahing and whaaa whaaa whaaaing, and still does). A five year old is probably old enough to carry your diaper bag when you forget to grab it before picking up the baby in the car seat. And a three year old can probably put baby's pacifier in baby's mouth when it falls out while you are driving and can't do a thing about it.

So maybe having three will just give the older two something to do and you'll just have to referee ;D But then again I could be wrong. There could be more than just the helpfulness....

They could resent the baby for taking all your time and energy. They could gather around you telling you to put down the baby and play with THEM! They could show no mercy for the lack of sleep you've gotten and come bouncing wide awake into your room to wake you up. They may entertain themselves when they are bored by teasing the baby, giving baby choking hazards, carry baby around the house dropping him/her along the way. They could wake baby up from a much needed nap, taking away your much needed break.

At some point you may go stark raving mad and decide you are leaving and never coming back only to change your mind when you think, "but if I'm gone who will feed the baby?"

Yes, I will admit that this has happened to me a few times.

And don't even get me started on how much harder it gets when you get sick and still have to tend to three children rather than stay in bed all day trying to get better. Of course you can't really do that anyway if you have kids, but you can't ask a baby to just watch some TV so you can rest.

So that in a nutshell, is what its like to have three little ones (not twins or triplets I am certain that would be much harder) Still, having 3 is so so so so hard, but I don't regret it for a second, I love each of my children and can't imagine life without them. They are each unique and precious in their own way. They each love each other and are each a strength to one another. This is as much true of two as it is three and four and five.......

Kennedy Space Center

I was tired, I was very hungry, and I had a terrible headache.

We left around noon to go to the Kennedy Space Center. I told Phil I had a hankering for Taco Bell, So he ought to find one for us to go to. He figured that if we just headed in the direction of the Kennedy Space Center we would run into one.

Well, we didn't. As he pulled into the parking lot I was furiously hungry, the boys kept asking when we were going to eat. Ugg! Let me just tell you now, if you plan to go to Kennedy Space Center for the day, eat before you go. The food there is well lets just say you don't remember it for its tastiness, you remember it for its price.

Anyway, Kennedy Space Center was decently cool. It would have been cooler if it had been free admission, but it wasn't and we paid about $30 for each ticket, and we got three!

The 3D movie was alright, but left me feeling disoriented and it hurt my eyes. And believe me when I say that I am not typically sensitive like that.

Most of what they have going on there is information you can easily get

from the internet for free. It seems the only reason to go is so you can say,

"We went to the Kennedy Space Center."

Although we did get some pretty good pictures if you ask me.

I don't really recommend going, especially with little kids, although I should add that Bear thought certain parts were awesome, but for $30 dollars....

It was a bit of a waste of time and money.

Worst part of the trip for sure.

We have yet to see the shuttle launch. I am really hoping that all will go well with that.

:D

Lyon cracks me up...

If a picture says a thousand words what do you think this one says?

lovin the view

Can you tell that we love Home Depot
We go there every chance we get, don't you?
; D

okay not every chance, but we choose it over Lowe's and um... other hardware stores
because Uncle Nate (AKA Nate the great) works there.
So it would be just short of blaspheme to go somewhere else ;)

Bear and Lyon aren't always happy to be there
and dragged all over the store, when they would rather play with Nate.
How do you explain that he is working and can't play.
Just tell him "Hi" give him a hug and come on.
No, they don't like that.
So they find other ways to enjoy themselves
A ride on the cart is one of those ways
At least until Lyon smashes his fingers under the wheel
or Bear bonks his head on the basket
;D

Thats not gonna work,

He wants to feed Fenix every time I need to feed her.

I'll say "I need to feed Sissy"
He'll say, "No you feed Sissy, me feed Sissy!"
So I at least let him try ;D