dinner & dancing

sorry, no time to blog lately. i have been self indulged in the twilight series, reading this crazy vampire story every free chance i get.
i have also had lots of time off work (comparatively speaking) and have been soaking up my family, reintroducing myself as mama in this crazy house. we spent the night tonight watching old home videos of molly and carson when they were babies. so amazing how time flies by. jeff and i talked how we would pay every last cent to go back and relive just a moment of those early days. then we looked around us and realized we are still in the early days, still surrounded by other little bitty bodies. here is a glimpse at today's silliness, just more maggie dancing. i guess some day i will be watching this video and wishing to go back to these days too.

one more, me trying to get supper on the table. time out for a quick battle between the princess and ashton over who drank out of whose sippy cup. always a peaceful time, 5 o'clock.

I have had sick children at my house for the last week. high fevers, coughs, crabby mean children x 4. when i was leaving the house tonight, they were all stir crazy and my husband decided it would be a fun outing to go swimming at the community center. as in, by himself with all four and a large area of water. did i mention the baby hadn't napped today and was throwing herself on the floor screaming at my three year old "im da princess a-ton, im da princess!!" i said, im glad there are lifeguards, have a good time.

so he called me after they got home and i asked how it went. well, maggie loves the water now, and so does ashton. the kids had fun swimming and going down the giant water slide while jeff carted around the little ones. they stayed in the water until 8:20, which is late for my children.
he got maggie and ashton out, dried off maggie and changed her back into clothes and a dry diaper. he got her little fur boots back on and in that time ashton had stripped down to nothing and headed back into the pool. naked. in front of all the other children and families. of course nobody helped him, they just giggled and watched the entertainment.
so he runs into the pool and gets ashton out, who is having a ball with all the attention.
in that time maggie took off running right into the water and started climbing up the little froggy slide, fully clothed. back in the water he goes, grabs a soaking wet maggie and wraps the little streaker in a towel. who proceeds to flash anyone who will look at him.
i forgot to mention the lifeguard blew his whistle on him both times to tell him you can't swim naked, and you cant swim fully clothed.
i thought taking four children swimming might be a touch ambitious babe.

two things

a couple things touched me tonight. i was walking into work on my fourth night, the ucc is packed beyond compare, standing room only, and i was following in this guy. he was walking ahead of me and had on carhart jeans, work boots, roughened dirty hands and a scruffy face. a blue collar worker, big, burly guy. in one arm was a bag with a soft little brand new pink bear, in the other a take out bag of dinner. a daddy going to see his little girl in the hospital, who thought to stop and buy her a pink teddy bear on his way in. i don't know why, but i wished for a camera, he was so gruff looking, and then his arms full of things for his daughter and wife just melted me. maybe im just working too much.

anyhow, on to the other thing. i sent my friend a copy of this poem when she found out she was pregnant with number five. it has always been a favorite of mine, and i saw it posted on mcmama's blog tonight.


i will post it here, its just another little thing that gets me right in that (love your children so much it hurts) spot.

Song for a Fifth Child.

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth, Empty the dustpan, poison the moth.

Hang out the washing, make up the bed, Sew on a button and butter the bread

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?

She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue.

Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due.

Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo.

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew.

And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo

But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo

Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue? Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow -

But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!

I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

love and logic

i can't remember how to love and logic. im the queen of love and logic, ask anybody i could work for the authors. i must find my books and re-read them. this little pistol of mine is just trying to outsmart me, test my parenting skills, prove that i haven't learned anything in eight years and the three children who came before her.

i tell her, "no maggie, no cookies, not now we are getting ready for dinner." she says,

"mmmmm cookies!!" like she is just so happy and how could i say no to that?

i say, "no cookies, its dinner time."

she says nothing, just picks up the bag and walks over to me and looks up at me with her big blue eyes, gives a tiny grin, and then hauls off and smacks my leg.

i crouch down to her level and say very calmly "maggie, no hitting, ever. do you understand me?"

she looks right in my eyes and says "NO."

i grab her chubby little arms and hold them down and try again. "no hitting anyone, ever maggie, do you understand?"

she looks right in my eyes, pauses, thinks a little, and again says "NO."

we do this three more times, and then she says, "mimi hab cookies, mmmmm, and they mine."

what did we learn from this? that i have lost my touch.

tomorrow we will be starting the whole, "uh oh, that's sad mimi..." you know the drill.


***if you haven't read holly's latest blog post, please do, it will have you in stitches.

rock paper scissors

so we spent the day playing in the rocks, as usual when its nice out.



where is molly you ask? oh ya, we were busy playing with scissors, her and i.
i don't know what got into her, but today she was determined to give her hair to locks for love. so we did. i cut an 11 inch pony tail off in one swift chop and took her down to the hair dresser to even it up.


it came out darling, but she looks so stinkin old! where did my baby molly go? although i love how it turned out, i can't help but feel a little bit of sadness when i glance at that long curly ponytail... its just who she always has been, the little girl with long blond hair. now she is this super sophisticated looking big girl. she loves it and is just giddy excited over her new makeover.


as with everything else, mama will get used to it.

oh poop.

oh poop is right. it is never good when you go to pick up your almost four year old from preschool and his teacher is standing in the doorway with a pale face. and then the smell hits you.
oh no.
that is right.
she says, "he's in the bathroom and there is poop everywhere."
well, i look in the bathroom and there is my little blond headed boy buck naked standing in poop, covered in poop. what the heck? was there an explosion or something? i mean, its all over the floor, the toilet, his back, legs arms, feet. its everywhere. and it smells oddly familiar... like rota.
so i just start grabbing wipes. after 15 wipes and not making much progress, i throw the free give away clothes on him and move him to the corner. on my hands and knees i start scrubbing poop off the floor, the smell is overwhelming and the whole school stinks now.
my poor little guy is in the corner, glassy eyed, coughing and cheeks rosy red with fever. i swear he was fine this morning. im so sorry to the other six mothers who will be dealing with this in approximately 3-5 days. its my fault.
i used to be a cool, cute hip little college girl a dozen or so years ago. my biggest concern was finding the perfect outfit to wear to each and every outing i had planned for the weekend.
i now find myself in levis and a sweatshirt, on my hands and knees cleaning up poop for all the other parents to see. my biggest concern now, my poor little boy with those big sad eyes, and how i want to scoop him up and carry him away from this whole mess.

valentine's day.

while i had a lovely weekend at work, not too busy, not too much drama, and lots of cute babies... my husband was forced to stay home and deal with this - sick super sassy magnolia blossom. look how sweet ashton is being, loving his valentine's day goodies while she just sits and yells at him.



after the first "bad boy", if you listen close, unfortunately there is a little bit of a curse word. not sure where she picked it up, but it has been used a lot lately... hoping she doesn't teach it to her older siblings!




and all of them with their loot.