Dance Baby, Dance!

Leah got this adorable toy for christmas from my MIL. It's called "dance baby, dance!" There is a little monkey on it that spins and dances as the music plays, and a mat to trigger the music as she steps on it. For the first time christmas day, she started dancing to the music after we got this all put together! It was so cute! She pulled up, and started shaking her leg like Elvis!

Choo-Choo Heaven

Our nieghbor so generously loaned us thier sons old Thomas the Tank Engine wooden train set for Beau to play with. I was so gracious. Not that he is in NEED by any means, but what a nice thing for someone to do! ♥

Day AFTER Christmas...

Well, never made it to get kids photos done for christmas as I usually do. So, today, I took them out back, and took a picture of them sitting on a log that has been overgrown by ivy and this is what I wil send out in christmas cards. It's not too late yet, is it? OOPS! I never mailed out any cards either!

What a Christmas Morning!

I went to bed last night, expecting only to rest my eyes, then rouse to "play Santa". Well...at 3:30 this morning I awoke, jumped up realizing that I had not stuffed stockings nor placed presents under the tree. So, I quickly got out of bed, and did just so. Then, I realized I we had not left out any cookies for Santa, so I quick thought of something, and drank some milk and left the cup out next to the empty plate. On my way back to bed, I then realized that all the batteries to the camcorder, and digital camera were DEAD! SO DEAD! So, I had to round up the chargers and get batteries charging for morning. By the time I got back to bed, Jack's alarm went off to get up for work, (yes, he had to work on christmas!) so I got up as he showered, made him some breakfast, and went back to bed. Leah then woke, so I fed her, then as she was falling back to sleep, I could hear Beau crying from his room, so I just got up, and stayed up. He was sooo whiney, over tired, late night christmas eve, and early rise. So, he was not quite too thrilled with opening presents(not even one's specially wrapped in choo choo paper!)...Grace had to wake up Drew or we would never have gotten around to opening gifts, and when she opened the first present, she started balling..."I didn't get a gameboy, I asked Santa for a gameboy, why didn't I get a gameboy?" Grace said, "Drew! YOU asked Santa for so much things, he can only choose one thing on your list!" Then,the next gift was a gift certficate in a box, so very light, like an empty box, as she removed the wrap from that box, she exclaimed with tears running down her face, "I JUST GOT A BOX!" I had to laugh! She got over it, and the day got better, but I am so exhausted. Thank goodness it's all over...till next year that is.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a Good Night!

To My Man

So, recently, my husband butted in while I was posting in my blog. He asked to read, I said, fine, you go ahead, and let him sit down and read awhile. To my dismay he came away from the computer stating I was a "B", and that he should start his own blog. Apparently he had some wild fantasy that my blog was not about the normal, daily things that happen to me, but rather a blog of professed love for him, and never ending praise for "all the things he does". Don't get me wrong. I LOVE THIS MAN, SO MUCH IT HURTS! But, my average day does not consist of much interaction with him, rather, my very demanding and all consuming children. So, I must give him something to read, to understand just how much I feel for him, should the occasion occur that he reads my blog again...

Jack (and I say that affectionately with very little sarcasm), I love you more than I could ever love a man. YOU make my life complete. To me, you are the most handsome fish I could have EVER reeled in! YOU gave me 3 beautiful, amazing children for which I could never be more thankful. In them, I see you every day. If ever a day came that you did not arrive home after work as expected, should some unfortunate event take you away from me, I would die inside. I am not perfect, I know this. I will try harder every day to let you know how I truly feel. I am sorry for all of the angry words that I have said. I am sorry for always trying to push you to make the decision that would be mine. If we had nothing, I would still love you. I love you forever, and always.

Sick of Kids

I awoke yesterday with what seemed like the start of a mild cold, but today it is a full blown head cold! I feel miserable. Yet, everyone still expects that I 'hold the fort down', and act happy as ever. I feel terrible! SOOO terrible. I have taken tylenol 3x, with no real relief, my head is pounding, and my nose is stuffy, my throat sore, and a hoarse, nasty cough, along with occasional forceful sneezes. I hate this. I am usually not the one that gets sick, but I failed to avoid it this time around.
Because I feel so horrible, I had the girls go to bed tonight at 9:30. They just about had a heart attack right there in front of me, "but it's not a school night!" SO WHAT! That's all I could stand to argue back. They are undoubtedly mad at me, but I just cannot handle anymore fighting, no more noisy T.V., and I am not going to be getting up to make sure they turn off the T.V. in a few hours from now. They are in bed, but they did not get there without some rebellion. And, what does Daddy do, but come right in after me, and say, "You can stay up late tomorrow, Mommy will be at work!" So, they respond, as I'm listening in from the bathroom, "Mommy works tomorrow? Good!" Nice. That makes me feel wonderful. Now I just want to cry.

He's a Big Boy now!

Today, I turned Beau Michael's crib into a toddler bed. He was so excited for me to finish so he could just climb up into his bed. Once I was done, and I showed him that he could get in and out all by himself, he did just so, climbing in, and sliding out, "up...down....up...down". Shortly afterward, he was way overdue for nap, so I made him his ba-ba, and he got into bed, and I said, "you stay in your bed, naptime!" He nodded yes. So, I came out here to my room, and started picking up toys, etc. then next thing I know, I hear some rustling in the cupboards, and here comes Beau, with a bag of cheerios, and sits on the couch! "Ba-ba, gone!" Ha! I chased him back to his room after taking the bag of cheerios, which made him scream, but he did stay in bed this time, and napped quite a long nap. He is now in bed for the night, only 1x up, for 'more ba-ba'! Not bad for the first night of newfound freedom, huh?

Christmas is here!

I get my children an ornament each year that somehow signifies an event that occurred in the past year, or something they really enjoyed. Beau just loves airplanes, so for his 2nd christmas, I got him this adorable little biplane. He won't leave it on the tree!

I just love the sparkle of white christmas lights on a dark winter night!

My son is also a 'choo-choo' fanatic. These are the first words out of his mouth each morning, and they continue ALL DAY LONG!

My Sweet "Lela" ~ 9 months

T'was a bad day today.

Good vs. Evil

I have debated upon blogging this. A rather horrible part of my life, in my opinion. I have nearly lost my mind, and my husband! My stepdaughter is no longer living with us at this point. A tremendous trail of events lead to this. We found notes, web pages she created (all parents out there, beware myspace.com), her sneaking out, running away, attacking my husband & scratching him till he bled. She has been nothing short of pure evil in this house. We are both at a loss of what to do, and so she is no longer in our home. I am sick of sacrificing the happiness, and attention that my 4 children so greatly deserve! However, her crack head mother continues calling our home, multiple times during the day, making threats, blaming US for the events of the past year, when everything she is saying could not be farther from the truth. I just cannot understand how a Mother could lead her child to a life of drugs, dishonestly, hatred, anger, irresponsibility, and mischeviousness. How could a Mother choose drugs over her child? How could she stand to live? She has turned my stepdaughter against my husband, her own father, all for her own satisfaction. I fear the person she will become having been in, and raised around all of this drama. But, I do know, that I must go on, MY children need ME! And, I cannot allow them to be slighted by my preoccupation with all of this. I will not let this affect them like it has affected me, and my husband. We were near divorce, so very near divorce so many times this past year due to dealing with the problems created by this Meth Mom, and her daughter. Satan back down!!! I will not let you use them to destroy MY family! The love we have for eachother through God will win this one!

And he speaks...TOO MUCH!

I just could not wait for this boy to start talking, and now I am thinking I should not have been so eager for him to start! He is never, and I mean, NEVER quiet anymore. One good thing is the binky has taken a backseat more often than not. But, my home is now so full of noise at all times of the day, my brain is frying! If it's not Leah crying, it's Beau screaming "CHOO CHOO", or Drew begging for something to eat, whining to play with somebody, or Grace retelling what happened on some TV show that, quite honestly, I just could care less about, (sorry Grace!).
It is quite cute however, how they say things at this age. He says "neenee" for binky, "hush", "lee-la" for Leah, "pop", "pease?" for please, "pay" for play, "mam" for Grandma, "Gayce" for Grace, "dew" for Drew, "baf" for bath...the list goes on and on, I wish I could think of it all right now.
I do just adore that boy. Man, do they have it right with the 'planes, trains, and automobiles'. I have watched Thomas the Tank Engine's greatest hits so many times I know the songs by heart. And, did you know that Alec Baldwin is one of the narrators? I now stop everytime I see a choo choo train, or truck in a store. Something I never did before in my life. I love this new part of me that wants to join in as my son pretends to be the choo choo train, or run through the house pretending to be an airplane, arms stretched out. He is so amazing. So, beautiful. SO BOY! I just love it! ♥♥♥

HIDING

I'm hiding, I'm hiding, and no one knows where,

For all they can see is my toes, and my hair.

And I just heard my Father say to my Mother,

"But darling, he must be somewhere or other."

"Have you looked in the inkwell?", and Mother said, "Where?"

"In the inkwell.", said Father, but I was not there.

Then, "Wait!" cried my Mother-

"I think that I see him under the carpet.", but it was not me.

"Inside the mirror's a pretty good place."

Said Father, and looked, but saw only his face.

"We've hunted,"sighed Mother, "as hard as we could,

And I AM so afraid that we've lost him for good!"

Then I laughed out aloud, and wriggled my toes,

And Father said, "Look Dear, I wonder if those toes could be *Beau's.

There are ten of them. See?"

And they were so surprised to find out it was ME!

♥This was a poem in an Child Craft book that was handed down to me from my Mother, who recieved them from her Mother. This stuck out in my memory once I took this photo of my son, "hiding" beneath a stool. I added his name to it. It's such a cute poem!♥

Pretty in Pink

Morning Mowhawk

Leah awoke the other morning with a mowhawk, it was hilarious! The girls giggled till Drew about pee'd her pants, and insisted that I take a picture...so, here it is!

Mmm,mmm, good!

Little Leah is an absolute monster when it comes to eating. She is still under the spell of the booby, and refuses to eat much more than baby rice cereal. The doctor informed me that she must have more than rice cereal and said to just mash up real good, whatever it is I made for dinner. So, I have been doing that. Tonight, I made macaroni&cheese, green beans, and chopped up some vienna sausages for the babies. She loved it! Green beans and all! Crazy baby!

My Incredible Boy

A House without Handsome?

My adorable little man is spending the night with "PaPa" tonight. It is sooo much more empty feeling in this house without him. It is not quiet, Leah keeps the volume up, but it most definitely is strange feeling. By 8pm, both Grace and Drew were saying, "I already miss Beau, he's so fun to play with!" And, I keep expecting his little body to come running out to me yelling, "Mama! Ba-ba! Hug!" I just adore him. I guess I should be enjoying my one baby night, after all, Leah is sleeping in her crib vs. my bed! I am enjoying the freedom, there's just something about that boy that makes me feel whole.

Beau Micheal Joseph...YOU ARE VERY MUCH A WANTED BOY!