and then I laugh-cried and everyone went to bed

Did you know I never need to look at a clock to know when it's 4:30pm? It's true. I always know when it's that time because my children lose their minds. When I had one baby I didn't believe in this "witching hour" thing. Until I got pregnant with my second... and D would need immediate attention right as I started making supper or doing anything relatively important. He would cling to my legs and cry and demand to be held. This trend has continued and I'm afraid it may have gotten worse over the last couple of months. I'm praying/begging/pleading with whoever is in charge of this hour to end this trend because I think this is about as much as I can handle. At least the upset/angry/everything-leads-to-a-fight "witching hour". (About 50% of the time the "witching hour" is just my kids being happy-wild. I am much better with that.)

Spider Man made an appearance last night and fell off his bed. I had just told him and his side kick, Superhero Flying D, to stop jumping on and off the beds. When I returned to my residence (the kitchen) I heard another jump, followed with a hard land, followed by scream-cries. I gracefully scaled some obstacles (maybe one of my other children) and rescued a crumpled Spider Man. I saw some blood (from the nose) and luckily my adrenaline was in high gear (because the nausea attacked when we calmed down a few moments later). I grabbed some tissues and typed furiously into the search engine "kid fell off bed bloody nose" and deemed him fine. (honestly there was more slobber coming from his blubbering than blood from his nose) He was back to being his normal self a few moments later. (Which means he didn't slow down for very long.)

Everything seemed to be better after I gave them a slice of homemade bread. They were quiet for about a whopping 3 seconds. Then they tried to negotiate eating their supper... we'll just have bread, this stew looks yucky. (It was delicious!) Then a little smarty-pants appeared at my table and told me to give him more bread or I'm gonna take your computer away. To which I replied with a you don't make the rules around here mister! He spent some time in his room.

Rose was giving me lots of grief because I wouldn't carry her everywhere. She has been running straight to me and grabbing my legs and I keep on walking/doing what I was while she makes me drag her around. She also bursts into tears any time I put her down, give her an option of graham crackers or cheerios, give her juice, or have to peel her off of my legs. I'm not exaggerating. I have to have something to blame for her crazy actions over the last several days, so I am about 73% sure she is cutting a molar. Or two. I tried to pry open her mouth and look but that's a difficult task and then I tried to feel for one, but the fact that she thinks it's hilarious to bite my fingers frightens me.

The boys (neither took a nap so I'm sure that was a catalyst in all of this) were refusing to eat supper, jumping off their beds, trying to have an excuse for an ER visit, trying to punish me for feeding them, telling me No and not listening. I sent a text to T that read Mind is shriveling. That was after I debated sending him this one: I've lost my mind a million times already! They are trying to send me to a padded room because I made stew for supper!! What did I do to deserve this?! I decided that was a little much. I didn't want to scare him too badly. He called a few minutes later saying he was on his way home and I must really be having a tough time since I texted him about it and I rarely do that. He was so sweet. I may have laugh-cried (which instantly requires a moment of mommy isolation/timeout or she is sure to only see her kids during Sunday afternoon visits in a private courtyard on the outskirts of town.) (That sounds like a nice place... don't be fooled, it isn't.)


T made it home and the house was extremely quiet which may have scared him a little bit. I was folding some laundry (while Rose jumped in it, totally making it pointless) in our bedroom while D was still sulking at the table and Ry had just decided to go on to bed. T was very good with them. He put in bed and told them a story (I don't know what about but I heard Once upon a time there were two little boys who never ate their supper...). Then we put Rose to bed and she was unhappy about that. After a while of her mommy, mommy, mommy-ing I went in and she tossed her blanket at me and I hugged her and said it was night-night time to which she responded with, I want Daddy! I let her have him. Then I inspected her gums and administered some infant ibuprofen (not a full dose, however) she stole some bread from T and then I put her back in her bed where she blew me a kiss and said, bye Mommy! wuv you! She plays the game so well.

Those evenings are hard, but luckily they aren't the norm around here. I guess the whole point of writing this out is to keep things real. I usually don't write much about how the kids were misbehaving or me hiding in my room for 30 seconds to just breathe and find a happy place... So anyone else out there having one those kinds of days- you aren't alone!

Thankfully, today is a new day and we can start fresh. Hopefully we won't have any mega meltdowns or serious injuries. It's supposed to be nice out so maybe we'll go a long walk this afternoon to get the wiggles out before dinner time. Maybe I'll grace the blog again later today with something a little more lighthearted... we'll see how it goes. Have a happy Wednesday everyone!

picture collage and farm update

Someone asked where the pictures were at in yesterday's post. It was not through a comment on the blog, but directly to me while I was eating my third helping of potatoes last night.

T: No pictures?!
Me: (chewing thoughtfully) Um... no? I wasn't sure if I should?
T: .....   (probably thinking about me begging him to go take some pictures FOR me while I scarfed down both pieces of our cake.) (He's a good man.)

So, while he was drawing our future house plans I was making a collage. (I saved you from scrolling through nine pictures, okay? You're welcome.)

I'm such an artist. And a preserver of memories. 

I have no transition here so we'll dive right in with the...

Farm Update

We went from a micro herd of cattle to a mini micro herd. If that even makes sense. They are my brother's and he picked up the two calves and one of the cows last night. So we went from 5 to 2.

Next up are the chickens. We have 22 or 23 chickens. They have steadily dropped their egg production to four eggs (at the most!) a day. I thought, at first, it was just the seasonal drop off... but let's think about it this way: they are getting old, which means fewer eggs, which means I am buying $15 of feed a week for 28 eggs (at the most!). Wow. Those are some really expensive eggs... are they made of gold or least silver?? That's something like 0.53 an egg.  Anyhow, it's not worth it for us to be sinking money and feed into non productive chickens. We do plan on getting a new flock next year, though. I enjoy my chickens for the most part and love the fresh eggs we get. However, I only plan on getting 6-12 chickens. Our main goal in this farming thing we are doing is to feed our family, first and foremost. I guess that's all I have to say about that.

I guess I'm off to try to make some bread. Maybe, or not, we'll see. (leaning heavily on the or not) I try to bake when it's cold out, but I also don't feel like moving much. It's pathetic. Especially since yesterday I did one load of laundry (wasn't even clothes) and didn't even bother taking it out of the dryer. This is a new low for me. Of course, Rose is punishing me for leaving her for two nights in a row this weekend... Velcro child at the max. Hopefully I'll be slightly more productive today.

update: it's always fun to catch errors after you publish... I know it's collage not college. Try to ignore it in your readers, okay? So sorry.

Weekend Details

Guten Tag! We had a wonderful weekend. Friday night we went to a rehearsal dinner, even though we were not part of the wedding. The food was yummy and it was nice to hang out with our friends before their wedding the next day. We got home late and surprisingly we all slept in on Saturday morning. It was a rainy/cloudy day. I spent the morning cooking waffles and then grocery shopping and figuring out what dress to wear. I decided on a old classic black dress I've had for years. (I smartly paired it with a cropped sweater since I am prone to freezing.) We packed up the kids and dropped them at my parents house for the evening and started out to the wedding venue. Since we left early (and the Longhorns were playing) we met some friends at a family bar/grill/Chinese restaurant/ice house to watch what we could of the game. When we left the ice house collaboration they had a live "band" playing Celtic music... so walking out was almost like taking a world/culture tour. It was... different.

We made it to the venue with time to spare and this was one of the best weddings I've ever been to. They started serving drinks prior to the reception (a big hit with all the guys) and due to the weather they moved the ceremony inside (to the reception area since there's no chapel) and we unknowingly picked the best table to sit at for watching the processional. I must say Matt and Jessica had told us Friday that they had a surprise that only T and I would understand... it was the music. They played the theme of Lonesome Dove. I think I almost hyperventilated I was so thrilled. The bride walked down the aisle to Canon in D (which made me tear up because I had that at my wedding). The ceremony was short and sweet. One of their friends is an ordained minister and performed the ceremony (very cool). The atmosphere was relaxed and laid back (which is a great reflection of Matt and Jessica) and really beautiful at the same time.

It was a late night! We didn't get home until about 2am. Sunday we got to sleep in again! It was raining (hallelujah!) so we hunkered down and watched football. The kids wanted to "cook" and we don't have a play kitchen so I improvised and drew a stove top on a piece of cardboard, took a small shoe box and turned it into a microwave and gave them a small pot that I was going to throw away. Rose has some tiny stainless pots and some food that she got for her birthday last year. I really want to expand on that for her birthday and Christmas this year. She has a blast cooking and playing with her tea set. They have a little table with two chairs and I gave them some small paper plates to play with, too. One of their specialties was tomato and pea soup. They really get a kick out of that cardboard stove... imagine if I got them a real fake kitchen!

Last night I made pizza (like always), but someone has started requesting three pizzas instead of our usual two. Well, I ran out of pepperoni and didn't have enough mozzarella for another pizza... So, I turned on my thinking cap and remembered I had bought a rotisserie chicken and bbq sauce on Saturday. BBQ chicken pizza was born. I really liked it and am waiting patiently for lunch time so I can eat the last two pieces!

I guess that's it for now. I have some important Internet browsing to do for Christmas. Who knows, maybe it'll spark some decorating spirit in me because I'm sort of surprised at how unmotivated I am to put up a tree this year. I almost just want to throw a construction paper tree up on the wall... classy.

later wonderful friends!

10 happy things for Friday

It's Friday! I'm in a good mood and I think that's it's going to last all day.

one

My number one reason for thinking this is simply: MUSIC. Music can always put me in a good mood. My musical taste is one mixed up jumble of greatness. However, my itunes library is lacking some of my favorite new tunes so I'm getting my fix through youtube and pandora this morning. For a couple years I thought music was getting super terrible, but all of the sudden there's some awesome songs/bands showing up and I'm so happy.

two

Another reason I'm happy is that tonight T and I are going out. We've been invited to the rehearsal dinner for our friend's Matt and Jessica (they're getting hitched tomorrow). The kids are welcome to come, but we have T's dad lined up to babysit seeing as it's probably going to be past their bedtime about 30 minutes into dinner. So, a night out with an awesome group of people is nice to look forward to.

three

I don't have to cook a real dinner tonight. I'm going to make something for the kids to eat, but not having to really put much thought into it is kind of a relief. (Not that I always put a lot of thought into dinner any other day.) That means less clean up, too.

(Pandora constantly creeps me out... am I really that predictable???)

four

Tomorrow evening is the wedding (in the middle of nowhere) and I never did go get a new dress. I really thought I'd get one, but I have a black dress in my closet that will be fine... ah, but moms and sisters are nice to have. I have an invitation to steal one of their dresses for the wedding! (This makes me think of Rose. I'm glad she has two God-sisters to steal clothes from. Hopefully they will be living closer sooner rather than later, though.)

five

It's raining. Rain is so good. Life giving. Life renewing. It washes everything clean. I have such a new appreciation for rain now.

 six

Paper airplanes. I'm the queen of making paper airplanes in our house. It's pretty cool. (all the best paper airplane makers utilize scotch tape, right?)

seven

 Coffee with cocoa and milk. 'nuff said.

eight

T's pajama pants. Cause I stole them and they way more comfortable than mine.

nine

Picasa. I finally downloaded it yesterday and made my new header for the blog. Awesome. Now I can make a bunch of colleges! Little things like that make me giddy.

ten

Waking up and determining that today will be a good day. No matter how much whining I hear, fights I break up, screams about being clothed... and so far my resolve is working well. I haven't even heard any of that annoying stuff. There's plenty of time for it, but I think I'll be able to handle it quite well. Especially since I've got nine previously mentioned things to keep me in a good mood.

a short, but expensive list

D's Christmas list

(I may have let him trace my letters after I saw the first two lines... he's new at this writing stuff!!)
D wrote a letter to Santa yesterday. We have never done this before. He is very excited! (and was a little bit irritated that it was not in the mail yet when he woke up this morning.) I asked him what he wanted and can you will not believe this (or maybe you will), but one of the first things he said he wanted was a calendar. Specifically, "one of those paper things with the numbers and pictures on it... like the one on the refrigerator with the turkey on it." Sure! I can get that for FREE at our bank. I mean, Santa can. I will let him know. (Or, I am almost positive one of our relatives will gift him one if she comes down to visit.) (That reminds me that I will need to have some kind of picture album of the kids ready to hand over as well.) Anyway, sorry I got sidetracked, his list continues with:

• Train. (one with brakes that work)
• Bullseye (from Toy Story... Santa and I talked and he already has this! Isn't that wonderful!?!)
• Computer (hahaha!! wait, they actually do make laptops for children. And tablets.)
• Cowboy boots (this request might have had some mommy influence)

He also tried making Ry and Rose's lists as well. Such as, Ry needs his own Legos and Rose needs a play kitchen with a microwave. Um, okay? Not sure why he was specific about the microwave. I totally understand the Lego situation, though. I get to listen to them everyday. (also, I talked to Santa about Legos and he already had those, too!)

I guess I better go get some things done now that I've brewed myself some more coffee. At 11am. Don't judge me.