squiddles

here is a super gross and yummy treat for your children.
surprisingly, my kids gobbled it right up and even asked for seconds.















so when you have a good 45 minutes to stick spaghetti through hot dogs one afternoon, you should try it.

five things i am thankful for this thursday

Again, don't look for a commitment from me, that every thursday i will have this list refreshed and ready to go... just happens to be flowing today.

i am thankful i have a job that feeds and keeps my household comfortable. (that even with a silly dem in office, my lifestyle hasn't been terribly affected thus far)

i am thankful i have 5 other amazing people sharing my home with me. 5 other people to eat the food i cook, listen to stories i read and watch my tv shows with me at night. i am never alone, and that is a great blessing to this girl.

i am thankful for my friends. they keep me sane, keep me laughing, keep me in check. they are good people who i would be a mess without.

i am thankful my body is healthy, disease and pain free most of the time. i am able to go run, play, garden, dance all without a second thought.

i am thankful to live in a nice neighborhood with good neighbors, a nice park, pool and walking trail and plenty of great friends for my children. (even if i work every weekend and miss out on all the fun)

so there you have it... when you hear me whining remind me of these things and most importantly, remind me that "whiners are weiners"
(classic quote from a friend)

party with your shirts off

when it is nasty and rainy outside, one thing can always brighten your day. bust out guitar hero and party with your shirts off. ok, well one of us does anyway.

at the wal-mart

here is a funny story that happened to me at "the wal-mart". we ran in to get some things that i forgot when i was there two days ago, and forgot when i was at target the day before that.
i was trying to keep them happy and calm at checkout when maggie noticed a whole end cap full of goldfish crackers. molly and carson were begging for gum and ashton was asking for some sort of sour spray. i compromised on two packs of trident that they could share and started hauling off the cart to the exit.
there was some nice old man that kindly let me walk in front of him while he waited for me to get my ducklings in a row. when we were right outside the door maggie starts screaming in my ear "HEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYY" what baby, what on earth is wrong? "HEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYY"
she screams. but she is looking at that old man. he turns and kind of sheepishly looks at her, and she proceeds to scream for all of the patrons at the wal-mart to hear, "HEY DOZE ARE MY GOWD FISH, MINE" oh my, maggie there aren't any goldfish around here honey, please stop screaming. "HEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYY STOP!!!"
"RIGHT DARE, DAT MAN HAS MY GOWD FISH. HEEEEEEEEYYYYYYY! MINE!!!!"
and yes, sure enough the man has a bag of gold fish in his sack. he just sort of stares at us and goes on his way. that really set her off and she is wriggling to get out of my one arm that is holding her and not the cart. i race to the van and strap the screaming child in while everyone else is just happily chewing their trident.
i mean, seriously, what one year old has enough gall to go chase down a stranger and steal his goldfish? maggie juliette i guess.

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.