Look what Gerry did!

Santa got them each an art box which included scissors. Way to go Santa!!!

Sam flooded the house today...

...and it's my mom's fault :) I was downstairs in the basement and Sam was upstairs in my bedroom watching the Wiggles. All of a sudden she comes down and says she needs help. I told her to wait a minute and she got very agitated and said, 'no mom, I need help now, I did something bad-hurry up" Well that peaked my interest. So I went upstairs and our bathroom sink was running fast (and we have a slow drain) so the water had overflowed on the floor and was proceeding to go through the floor (through a vent I think) and came through the ceiling in the living room. Fortunately (I think) we had a small hole in the dining room ceiling from where G had tried to hang a pinata once (don't ask). So all the water was coming out fast through the whole. I imagine if we didnt' have the hole, then it would have pooled in the ceiling and caused water damage. Hope we don't get mold now. Thank goodness she had enough sense to come and get me-that could have kept going for a long time.

Oh, why was it my mom's fault? Because Samantha was in the bathroom trying to wash her hands because they were sticky 'cause my mom bought her a bag of candy today-even though she already had ice cream earlier.

Just saying hi

Not much to talk about here. I did need to announce that Abera lost his tooth last week. I have a picture of his new smile but it's not on the computer yet. I'll post it soon (yeah you've heard that before). When it started to get really loose, I went to the bank to get a silver dollar (they're not silver anymore-but you get the point.) Anyway, we were all set for the toothfairy to come and wouldn't you know it-he lost the tooth one evening after I had gone to work :( (And I had left the coin in my wallet )Since I want' coming home till the next morning, we werent' able to use the nice dollar we got. So Gerald just used 2 quarters. Abera didn't know the difference. He was excited anyway. The next day at school the teacher got him in front of the class and he walked up to all his friends to show them his missing spot in his mouth. It was so cute. All the kids were saying, "ooh, wow", and stuff like that.

Also, can you tell, I wasn't working this past summer. I was looking at the link to my posts on the side of the blog. There were so many more posts in July and August. Then it totally drops off after that. Oh well. At least I got some laundry done today. Brandon wants to play on Noggin's website right now, so I guess I'll go.

Halloween Pics-I finally did it!!!!

Guess I don't need to say much-the pictures say it all!

Testing, testing, 1-2-3

Anyone still out there!

To anyone who's still reading.........I'm so sorry about the lack of activity. Yeah I know I do this all the time. Things finally have started to settle down with work. I finally have gone to nights and am working only 3 nights a week. I just started this past week but already it feels more normal to me. I have much more time with the kids than when I was working 4 day shifts a week. When I told the kids that I'd be going to work at night when they sleep Gerry, shouted out, ' oh I know mom, that means you're nocturnal!" Guess he learned that one in kindergarten.

Now about those pictures, those are pictures of Gerald when he was little, I think he's screaming in the one pic 'cause the boy behind him is his brother and he was tormenting Gerald at the time. Why are they there you ask? Because I was looking for our Halloween pics but G downloaded them onto his computer so I can't access them right now. When I was looking for the pics, I came across these pics and couldn't stop laughing so I posted it. Sorry, Shea, I will try and get on G's computer later tonight and post the Halloween pics.

One thing accomplished

We bought everyone's Halloween costumes today.

Sammy will be a yellow Power Ranger (I thought for sure she'd pick a princess again). As soon as she tried the ranger costume on she started doing karate kicks and going hi-ya hi-ya! I hope she doesnt' kick anyone at school when they have their Halloween parade.

Gerry will be a blue Power Ranger. He is very happy with his choice now, but originally wanted to be a Star Wars storm trooper. Not just any storm trooper -but the 'deluxe' storm trooper. It cost $5o!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He refused to choose the cheaper storm troopers and pouted for a while but then came around. That boy always picks the expensive stuff. The last time we went shoe shopping he went straight to the $70 pair. I guess he has expensive tastes.

Abera ended up choosing the Dark Knight Batman. Funny, cause for weeks he's been saying he wanted to be Iron Man or Optimus Prime (or a lion or a pumpkin or an "A" for Abera) but once we got there, he chose the Batman.

And Brandon got his first choice. There was never any doubt...he wanted to be the Hulk and he got what he wanted. He got one with fake muscles-it's hilarious. He kept making a tough 'hulk' face.

We took some cute pictures today but I won't post any costume pics until Halloween. It should be interesting this year.

Life Goes On

Everyone seems to be settling in better at daycare. We've spoken with them more about the teasing issue and are dealing with it. The kids actually say they like it there and I think I"ll leave it be if they seem genually happy there...that's what counts I guess.

More Daycare Ranting

Here I go again, complaining about having to work and complaining about daycare. It's been one catastrophe after another. First thinking I would only have to work one month of day shift and then finding out my first week that it would be at least 3 months of days. So we frantically look for daycare and find a great nanny who quits when she walks in the door on her first day. She gave us 2 days notice. Then we find a daycare center which seems nice but I have a few complaints. Friday was their first day. I had to work 7am-7:30pm so Gerald had to drop them off and pick them up.

1.) They told me when I visited them the first time that they serve healthy full meals, not just snacks. Well, the kids told me they had poptarts for breakfast. Great, real nutritious. I"m pretty desparate for daycare right now (and this is a temporary situation) so I"ll live with it...but why say you serve real meals and then serve poptarts? Strike one.

2.) Abera and Brandon don't have preschool on Fridays so they were at the center all day. Abera excitedly told me he watched "The Jungle Book", a movie with alot of cats, and Tom and Jerry. Grrrr, I really hate Tom and Jerry!!!!! Oh did I tell you that they advertise that they are academically based. I thought, 'great, these are more than just babysitters-they'll be more structured than that'. Guess I was wrong. It kills me that I have to pay them more than half my paycheck just so they can sit my kids in front of the TV. And come on, now --days,IF you're going to do TV, there are soooo many better options that Tom and Jerry-really? Tom and Jerry?!?! Strike two.

3.) We got an incident report about Samantha (and they spoke with Gerald about it when he picked them up). Apparently, a kid called Samantha the 'R' word on the bus on the way to school and Samantha punched him in the leg (please imagine me jumping up and down with a huge smile on my face, screaming "THAT'S MY GIRL!!!!!!!) Of course, I didn't say that to her face. Gerald said, the boy got spoken to on the bus by the adult with them and they were going to address the issue with his parents. That's good. But Gerry told us that 3 kids were teasing Sam in the morning before the bus. Calling her a baby and a Kindergartner (she's in the second grade). We only knew that from Gerry. No one told us that. I'm pretty sure if she hadn't hit the boy and they werent' forced to write out an official incident report, then we would have never known Samantha was being teased at all. Pontential big strike three!

So, if anyone's reading this. Do you think I should look elsewhere...give this place some time? I MAY have a potential lead on a home based daycare. I ran into an aquaitance at church today and of course was mentioning my daycare problems and she said she had a friend who is going to have openings soon (preferably preschoolers, and she does before care too for school-agers). They are in our school district and could be bussed to school. What would you do? Gerry is not happy about going to daycare tomorrow. It makes me so sad. They loved the nanny we had for 2 days. They werent' wierd about me leaving them with her the second day (they were excited). Now none of the kids are thrilled with going to the center tomorrow :( At least I only work 8-4:30 tomorrow so I get to drop them off and pick them up and can speak myself to someone there. If this were permanent, then I would surely be looking elsewhere but I keep thinking, it's only temporary, let's see what happens. I'm pretty sure I'll be calling that home daycare mom this week to see if she would even take us-then I"ll go from there.

Here's some pictures!

The first one is Brandon's from school. Don't know why it came out sideways. Monday, Brandon came home talking all about Humpty Dumpty. He thought it was so amazing that I knew who Humpty Dumpty was :)
This pink and black one is Abera's caterpillar and something to do with a kickball too. Abstract I guess
This one is Gerry's. He drew everyone in the family including Jake (the dog). He also has Grandma and Grandpa and his kindergarten teacher. He started it last night but it wasn't complete until he woke up this morning and drew beds for everyone too. Too cute.
Samantha drew some family members too, although I'm not sure who's who. I love her smiley faces and curly hair. Oh and the crayons below. I have no idea who took that picture, but Gerry and Abera are at the top of list of suspects.

OK, these wonderful pieces of artwork aren't all from school but I thought they were cute. The kids were coloring the other day and wanted me to put their pictures on the computer. Also, a little daycare update. I think we found a daycare provider that will work for us. We originally wanted a nanny 'cause we thought it'd be cheaper but we could not find one on our own and it would have taken too long to find one through a nanny-finder service. We also couldn't find any home daycare that had room for all 4 kids and who could transport everyone everywhere. We found a daycare center that came recommended from a friend. I went to visit and liked what I saw (especially compared to the last crappy place I visited). They will transport all the kids to the public school in the morning and take care of the preschoolers throughout the day. Our friend who uses this center has a girl with DS. When I told the director that Samantha had DS and asked if they'd have a problem with that. I got a, 'no problems here. We believe in mainstreaming. "Jane" who comes here now with DS, we excpect her to do her homework just like all the other kids in the afternoon. We will make accomidations at parent's suggestions but we believe all kids will achieve if the excpectations are there" AMEN sister!!! Gotta love that . I hope this works out. I like the place but I'm still nervous as I've never used a daycare center before. It's all so new and rushed. I had to take off work today because I was getting the health forms together from the pediatricians. Luckily I have off tomorrow and I'm planning to take the kids to the center on Friday. Keep your fingers crossed. This will be temporary until I start working nights in Dec.......Anyhooo, here's the pictures. Oh well, the pictures came first. I'm no good with the computer. It's a miracle I have a blog.

This job is kicking my butt!!!!

I'm still alive!!!! I just have not had time to post. I have been keeping up with my email and 2 forums that I frequent, but I keep forgetting to post here. I just got off of a 12 hour shift (really ended up being 13 hours). It's my 3rd day working in a row (not all 12 hours though). I am pooped! I can't wait till I'm done with this training program so I can set my own hours. I don't know why I'm posting - I think I"m falling asleep right now. I was apparently nominated for a blog award from a sweet fellow blogger but for the life of me I can't follow up with the rules of 'accepting the award'. Sorry Shea-you understand, I hope :) We had a nanny for 2 days but then she quit (no my kids aren't that bad!!!). She got engaged and was moving to be closer to her fiance. It's a shame cause the kids really liked her. Grandma's watching the kids tomorrow (yeah, I have to work tmr too :( Then we have until Wednesday to find another babysitter. The kiddies are doing great but I can't think of any cute things they've done lately. Oh, I did take pictures of some of their cute artwork from school but I don't have an example of each kid's work yet so I can't post them yet. Next time I post I"m going to show you all funny smiley faces Samantha draws and other cute stuff from the kids. Good night for now.zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Never underestimate Samantha :)

Sorry I haven't posted much. This new job is messing up my routine. Can't wait till I'm working my normal night shift and not 5 days a week.

Today I had to laugh. Gerry and Abera are video game gurus. They know what they're doing and they take it seriously. Samantha rarely plays but sometimes gets into the Wii. Today Sam was playing a game against Abera and I don't know how she figured it out but she kicked his butt!!! Just the other day, I was kind of bummed that she still needed a lot of help with the controler and figuring out the game. All of sudden she just got it -she figured out how to do the Hammer Throw and the Long Jump and kept winning. The boys were dying. She was getting tough too. She started talking trash to them. Saying 'nah, nah, nah ' in a real teasing way and then (I shouldn't be writing this ..but) sticking her booty out and making a farting noise in there direction. (No I don't tolerate that , I told her to stop) But it was funny. Then she played another game and lost and she started yelling at the TV and saying 'stupid Wii!'. We are trying so hard to stop that word (stupid) in our house - it seems to be a losing battle but we're trying.

Never underestimate Samantha.

I have a new job!

Well, I started my new job on Monday. So far it's all been orientation and such. I"m actually getting more excited about this new job. If anyone doesn't know, I"m going back into nursing after a 7yr break. After nursing school 10yrs ago, I worked 3 yrs at a county Health Dept. I loved that job but had an opportunity to work from home after Samantha was born. Unfortunately that opportunity was gone as of last July and since we need the money, I have been forced to return to nursing. I would have loved to go back the the Health Dept but seeing as I have 4 kiddies at home and the health dept pay stinks, I would have lost money due to daycare. So now I am getting trained at a hospital to work on an oncology floor. It is a far stretch from the health dep. A big learning curve, but I am part of a long-term training program, so I'll be in good hands. I will be working 3 nights a week and my mom and sister will be helping to watch Brandon and Abera so I can nap a little during the days after I work. I"m going to try and work mostly weekends.

Bad news is I have to train on days. I wasn't given any concrete info on how long the day training would be. I was thinking it would be 4 weeks of days but I found out this week that I will be working days for 9 whole weeks. We are in the process of finding temporary daycare for the kids until I go on my night shifts. We mostly need someone to watch the kids from 6:30am until they get dropped of at school at 9:15 am. This daycare stuff can get confusing.

Abera's first day of school

Sorry, no pictures...I"m such a bad mommy. I forgot to take pics of Brandon's first day also. It was a long, tiring day today. 9:15 drop Sam, Gerry and Brandon off at their school. Home till 12 noon to pick up Brandon. Had to be at Abera's school by 12:15 to help set up (it's a co-op and it was my turn to set up/clean up). Then back at Abera's school by 2:30. By 3:15 we were done cleaning up at Abera's school. Then off to pick up Sam and Gerry at 3:50. We would have been too early if we had driven strait to pick them up, but it didn't seem worth it to go home with Abera and Brandon just to get back in the car like 20 minutes later. So we parked at the bottom of the big school hill and walked to school. OMG it was hot this afternoon. Everyone was exhausted by the time we got home.

So anyway, Abera had a great day. He went in to school fine. The teachers said he had a great day. Since I had to come early to help clean up, I got to see him at story time. He seemed to be sitting still and listening and answering questions. I asked him if he wanted to go to school tomorrow and he smiled and said "Yes!".

Brandon's teacher said he had an excellent day!!! Boy she's a miracle worker :) I told Brandon how I heard he had a great day and he said, ' yup mom, I didn't make a big mess with the water today"

Tomorrow, will hopefully be a little calmer as I don't have to work at Abera's school, but I'll still have a lot of driving around to do. It may be a pain to have the 2 little ones in preschool at different times but already I can see it's good for both of them to have some one on one time with me.

Nothing exciting but I said I'd post

It's been a couple of days now. Nothing exciting going on at home. I went to a lovely wedding of an old friend from nursing school tonight. It was good to see some old friends. And it was very nice to come home to 4 sleeping kids! I guess I should get some sleep tonight. We have cousin M's birthday party tomorrow.

Happy Anniversary and some random thoughts

Today is our anniversary. First of all, I forgot all about it, but in all fairness, I had no idea what date it was. I just knew it was Thursday. If I had realized it was the 28th, I would have remembered. Gerald remembered. I didn't think much else of it. We usually don't do anything too fancy and this year money is tight right now, seeing as I"m temporarily unemployed (and loving it-I'm dreading Sept 8th but that's another topic). So, G comes home from work today with a card, a cake, and the best present ever...a pint of Ben and Jerry's Brownie Fudge Ice Cream -with a cute little bow on top. I felt really bad that I didnt' at least get a card. Usually, I always do cards. He's having fun making me feel bad that I dropped the ball today. I can't wait to eat my ice cream tonight-it really was a good gift. Thanks G. I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now some random thoughts

1.) An update on Brandon's first day (yesterday). According to his teacher, there was some oppostional/defiance issues. And some kind of incident with water at snack time. Yeah, I kind of forgot to tell her that he has an obsession with water. He could make a mess with water all day long. The first day he refused to hold any kid's hand. But teacher said today wasn't perfect but it was better and when I dropped him off I saw him walking in to school holding hands with 2 little friends. Not bad Brandon. Yesterday, I asked him about school and he got mad and said, 'I don't like my teacher'. I asked him why and he said 'she won't let me have water' in a very pouty voice. Luckily she had already told me the water story and I knew he couldnt' have more water only after the 'water incident' had occurred.

2.) Gerry likes school and is doing well. Thank God for that.

3.) Samantha is doing well. Not perfect but good. She's had 2 pee pee accidents and thrown up once all in 4 days. They don't pay those teachers and aids enough money!

4.) I just realized that Samantha talks like a pirate. Tonight she got out of bed and said, "My blanket be falling off" I couldn't stop laughing and just kept imaging her saying that with a cheesy pirate accent....arrrr my blanket be falling off!

Back to School!!!

What a wonderful title-what a wonderful day! The kids were so great getting ready this morning. Today was Samantha and Gerry's first day back. Over the summer, we didn't have much of routine and it seemed to take us like 2 hours to get out of the house. I was determined to start the school year off right. We woke up and they all ate together. Then all the kids got dressed at the same time and all brushed their teeth and made their beds without any fights. I think Gerry was really excited and so he was compliant and the others kind of followed along. Everything was going well until we stated to walk to school. We got to the end of our street and Gerry said his pants were falling down. Sure enough they were and I couldn't send the poor boy to his first day of Kindergarten in that condition. I ran back home and got a new pair. By then I was worried about being late if we walked. I like to start walking early so we don't have to rush-it makes everyone happier. Then we get to the end of our street again and Abera says he has to go #2 and it can't wait. Ahhhh I hate being late. I started getting rushed and told them all that we now don't have enough time to walk-we'd have to take the car. Sammy lost it. She wanted to walk so bad. She sat down on the sidewalk and just started screaming. So after the potty, I decided to take a chance and still walk. We had to rush and Sammy unfortunately cried almost the whole time because she couldn't keep up with her brothers. Usually it's not a big deal because we make it a slow walk but she just couldn't keep up the pace. She had composed herself by the time we got to school. She found her teacher (whom she adores) and never looked back. Gerry was actually excited. He's been so nervous about things lately but today he didnt' seem that scared. He let me kiss him goodbye and found where his class was waiting outside and found his old friend and that was that! They both had good days today they said. Gerry said kindergarten is very fun!

So in the afternoon, I decide to walk to pick them up and we finally get to school and Samantha wasn't there. After checking with a couple staff members I discovered Sammy was put on the bus. I have no idea why but she was listed as a bus rider and even had a bus #. We don't get bus service from our house because we live so close to school but Samantha qualifies for the special ed bus. But I told everyone and their mother from last spring on that she wouldnt' need the bus because I'd be taking Gerry to school everyday anyway and they won't let him ride the special ed bus so no use in sending Sammy on the bus if I have to take Gerry anyway. Anyhooo, the bus came back to school quickly and Samantha got right off and saw me and said hi. She didn't think it was strange that the bus took her and brought her back. She had had fun. The whole walk back Gerry and Abera kept saying "next time please take the car". It was hot out by then and they were being lazy... Oooh and Abera picked up a dead bird!!! Luckily it was near our house so I grabbed his arms and ran inside and scrubbed his hand off for a long time. I don't like dead animals!

Well, sorry this was so long. Just felt like blabbing about the first day back. I'll have all the details of Brandon's first day back on Wednesday(should be real interesting). Abera starts after Labor Day.

A Major Award!

All I could think of was the dad from a Christmas Story when he won that lamp. The other day the library called and said Brandon won a raffle prize from the summer reading program. He won a goody bag from the library. I told him about the prize and he was sooo excited. We didn't know what would be in it and the next day we went to the library to pick it up. When we got it and he opened it up he kept saying, 'I'm so happy!' and 'This is my lucky day!' He carried that bag around the whole rest of the day and showed it off to everyone he saw.

There was a wooden puzzle. 2 books. A coloring book with crayons. Lots of rubber bath toys. A beach ball and an inflatable spider. I hope I didnt' forget anything :)

Here's a picture of him with his 'surprise' (not prize) from the library.

What do these things have in common?

I was changing Brandon yesterday at the pool bathroom and there is an echo in there so he started having fun and screaming random words. This is what he screamed:

Daggone Cars!!! (that's what we call the Disney/Pixar Car movie)
(pause)

Speedracer!!!!
(pause)

papertowels!!!
(pause)

goldfish crackers!!!!!!

It reminded me of that old gameshow where you'd have a word and the person kept naming things to describe the word so the other person could guess.

Oh and I also forgot another conversation we had:

Brandon: Mommy, I have girl friends
Me : Oh good, it's nice to have boy friends and girl friends
Brandon: Yeah, I'm not afraid of girls anymore.

Samantha's Birthday

Samantha had her party this weekend at a local petting farm. It was a beautiful day-a tad bit on the hot side but only in the sun. It could have been alot worse. I'm too tired to run upstairs and get the camera so I don't have any pictures to show. Maybe tomorrow night. Samantha did get a bicycle with training wheels and is doing really well. Her right foot was having some problems slipping out and she would end up pushing the pedals backwards and braking when she was trying to pedal forward. She was getting frustrated easily but ended up doing much better by the end of her first ride. Other than that, we went to the pool this weekend (very cold water!) This week we will be getting ready for school. School doesnt' start until the 25th but this week we have an open house/meet your teacher day. I also need to get all the last minute school supplies that we need. Oh and I never ordered a Care Bears backpack so I guess Brandon will have to use his ugly scary Incredible Hulk backpack. Sorry, nothing exciting going on lately.

One mom's review of Tropic Thunder

A very wise mother went to see the movie the other day and wrote her review. I think it was very well written. This will probably be my last Tropic Thunder post and then I'll go back to my usual postings.

http://rejenerations.blogspot.com/2008/08/i-saw-tropic-thunder.html

It's a very well written review-please take the time to read it.