Noted-I need to SLOW down

 I screwed up....I have been in the process of getting school apps together to apply to various Kindergartens for Gavin. In my usual Type A way, I had all apps together and in order that they were due. One of the important ones was 2nd to last because it was due 12/21. In my head....it was 12/21. Wednesday, i went to website to check that i had all the paperwork i needed to submit app. Website informed me that open registration was closed. WHAT!!? My heart dropped....how did i miss this?! i never miss things like this, the closing date was not until 12/21. WRONG....it was 11/21. wth?:/ I still submitted app but Gavin wont be in the lottery, just waiting list AFTER lottery. We had a very slim chance to begin with but now we have zero.

I was pissed, Marcin was upset. It was a mistake but not one I would normally make. I realized that i need to slow down. Life is busy enough as a family of 5 with just the day to day things....add preschool, outside activities, speech therapies, drum lessons, life events,etc and you have a lot going on.

Clearly I'm spreading myself too thin. On an average day i have a difficult time remembering things or putting coherent sentences together but when life gets hectic, i have more issues remembering. I am well aware the my, eh hem, age does not help things. So i decided to take a step back and prioritize a little better. The holidays probably aren't the ideal time to do this but I am. Every holiday i'm cooking and baking like crazy to ship it all out to family & friends. Just last week I was thinking about this and wondering how on earth I was going to accomplish it this year....there just isnt enough time. After this incident, I simply decided I wouldn't be able to. The stress, time and my sanity wont survive it:-P Plus the boys are having a great time with the holiday season...i want to enjoy every minute of it! So if you were looking forward to my zucchini bread & other goodies this year, I apologize but maybe it will come next year:)

I'm going to stay home more often during week. This can be challenging with 3 energetic boys but it needs to happen. Not only does this allow me to spend more down time with boys but i spend less ( marcin will love this! ha!) but it gives me an opportunity to get more done around the house like the never ever ever ever ever ending laundry. Seriously, i cannot keep up. i hate it and i need to get
over it because it's only going to get worse lol

I need to start meal planning so dinners are taken care weekly and im not stressing at 4:00 what im going to cook.

I need to put my phone down. Jakob brought me my phone the other day.... another sign. This means even my 2 year old has picked up on how often i have my phone:(

I need to stop worrying about cleaning.... the mess will still be there in 30 minutes after im done watching Gavin's 'show' :)

I have more ideas on my mind but I'm thinking i should start with baby steps. Lets face it, my Type A self only allows so much lol I will be utilizing my phone calendar...yes this means using my phone but i need to remember things. I should probably add Gingko to my morning vitamin/supplements:-) Lesson learned...

My amazing Goodwill find!

I don't do the Black Friday shopping or I guess we should call it 5 Days a Week Black Friday since really the sales started 4-5 days early? Sorry but that takes all the fun out of it! lol Anyways....I won't start on that tangent.

This past Saturday Goodwill in Delaware was having 50% all clothing items. Mind you....kids clothing is already usually btw $2-8 depending on which location and what you are buying so this was a great deal! I had planned to make a morning of it and browse around to see if I could find any good spring/summer things for boys ( I did but more on that later).

The Elkton Goodwill store is 10 minutes from my house and I haven't been there in a long time. I thought I'd stop in and see if there was anything good whether it be frames I can paint, clothes/shoes for kids, toys, etc. As soon as I walk in, its like the heavens opened and the sun was shining on one item....a Roland td-5 V electric drum set.

Pretty sure I don't need to tell you about Gavin's love of drums but he really and I mean really loves the electric drums. He first discovered these at drum school and he loved them. Unfortunately for him, they were sold at a nice hefty price of $1100. Gavin would ask me if he could have some electric drums someday and I always told him that they cost alot of money so probably not anytime soon:-(

So you can possibly imagine my unbelievable excitement when I saw this set at Goodwill. I thought surely the price would be way too much (even at Goodwill) and a lady was browsing around them talking on her phone and started telling her friend about them....WHAT?! No no no no no....these drums were mine! If only I could see the darn price tag! She walked away for a few minutes and I snatched the tag off of them to give to cashier, hehe. I was shocked that the price tag said only $40!!!! I thought surely it couldn't work or was missing a major component. It had clearly been in a corner or storage for a while and needed a good cleaning. i needed an amp or headphones to listen to them...oh yes, electric drums have a headphone input, aaaaaahhhhh silence while Gavin drums away. I had to run to Big Lots to get a cheap pair of headphones, switch cars ( I was in fun car) and I came back to hook this sucker up. IT WORKED! From my research on google, it also seemed to have all the parts. I text Gavin's drum teacher to tell him what I 'd found and if there was something I was missing here. I sent him the pics and specs, he said it all looked to be there and if it worked, I had found and incredible deal because this drum set costs btw $500-1200 depending on the condition. The motherboard alone is currently $160 on ebay. This exact set was selling on ebay for $800. I told you it was an amazing deal. I am still excited about finding it 4 days later! Gavin is going to be over the moon excited when he sees this....he probably won't get it until his birthday because 1) he doesn't need it right now 2) it is better for him to learn more on the acoustic drums 3) where the heck are we going to put it? I guess we need to build an additional room on our house and pad the walls for Gavin's music room lol

I found some other great deals this day also once I recovered from my excitement :-) I bought 34 items mostly Underarmour, Carters, Gap, Old Navy, Sonoma, Madden Girl (super cute NEW sandals for $8!), tanks from Target NWT, some large PJ pants for me to have for after my surgery and a really nice fleece lined Gap coat for Gavin (not for a couple years but in such great shape I couldn't pass up) all for the grand total of $36.75. Nice, huh?

It was a fantastic shopping day for me :-) I also did a little Cyber Monday shopping to check some family Christmas gifts off my list, more great deals. It just makes me so happy!!!!!

countdowns.....

I have alot of countdowns!

Thanksgiving - 2 days.
How is this possible? When did time begin to go so quickly!? I don't like it. I can still remember clearly as a kid the summers when I was 9 or 10 years old how summers would go on forever and forever. I was bored to death and couldn't wait for school to start. Hmph...note to self, make sure boys appreciate being a child while they can :-)
I am very excited for Thanksgiving! I love to cook and I especially love to cook Thanksgiving! We will be staying in Delaware for the holiday. We felt like the summer was just so hectic that we needed to stay home. I am jealous because my dad and Gay are hosting Thanksgiving at the river house and I know it will be great! Very sad we are going to miss it but I just can't imagine packing up car and driving 12 hours:-P
Our Thanksgiving menu will consist of- Baked brie with cranberries, pecans (Fresh from my grandmother!), roasted red pepper bruschetta, fried turkey, small ham, stuffing & giblet gravy (minus the giblets!) baked mac&cheese, sweet potato casserole, squash casserole, roasted butternut squash, lemon pie, chocolate chip cookies, pecan pie and I am sure Marcin's mom will bring some other yummy dishes :-) It is going to be a good eatin' day! I can't wait! lol

Christmas - 30 days.
WHAT?! I am proud to say I finished shopping for boys in September, WOOT! I am also proud to say that most of their gifts were from consignment. Yep you read that right. Toys in perfect condition for a steal, I do love to save some money! I just need to get some of their stocking stuffers. Marcin and I aren't exchanging anything big this year. There are a lot of house projects like expanding our shower and granite in kitchen that we hope to do, so those will be our gifts to each other. Also our stocking stuff. I need to get started on my baking and family gifts, after Thanksgiving. One thing at a time!
Is it bad that I am not looking forward to decorating for Christmas? I love it but I hate taking it all down and putting it away. We are going to have the tree within every ones reach this year....anyone want to start a bet on how many times it will go crashing to floor? LOL I am really hoping for zero :-P

My *gulp* 35th birthday, ACK! - 37 days. January 1
Let's discuss this....how in the hell am I so close to 35?! That is old (Reh...I don't need any of your comments here, I am well aware, thank you very much!). I don't feel that old....although my primary doc is quick to point out my age when I complain of my knees making a weird noise up and down steps, my back hurting, arms falling asleep while I sleep, being tired all the time.....she says this is all natural process of aging. hmph. I need to find a new doctor who will prescribe me a placebo pill to make me feel like my concerns are warranted lol Other than that, I don't feel old. I look around me at people who are older and they don't seem old either. It is just the number 35....halfway to 40. Any chance 35 is the new 25?!
I wonder what fabulous party Marcin has planned for my 35th birthday? ****WINK WINK**** I am sure he understands what a milestone this is and how we MUST celebrate, right honey? I am also certain he has already started planning the shin dig, I have the best hubby ever!

Tummy tuck - 47 days. January 11
Excited. Nervous. Scared. Relieved. Terrified. My pre-op appt is 12/24. My thoughts on the surgery shift from day to day. I know in the end I will be happy I did it but my lord the recovery scares me to death! Surgeon said recovery will be worse than c-section recovery due to him repairing my abdominal wall muscles (aka...putting them back together). Apparently the muscles healing is what causes the most pain and I will be walking like a hunchback for a few days because I won't be able to stand up straight. Lovely.

It seems like so long ago I scheduled this and now it is less than 2 months away. They are going to have to give me a Valium or something to take 24 hours before surgery so I will be calm enough to show up! Kidding...I will show up because I will have already given them money by then LOL

A friend suggested a website, www.realself.com that has alot of forums and before/after pics of all sorts of plastic surgeries. While I know better and I should have skipped the pictures, I am sucker for before/after pics. I love them!Weight lost, makeovers.....and now plastic surgery. Some women were posting pics from a day or two after their surgery.....EK! Their tummies literally looked like mrs. frankenstein with stitching from hip to hip. Surgeon said this would be the incision but it will be below bikini line. He then said I should in a bikini by summer....whats that? a bikini? we shall see :-P A friend asked me if I would post before/after pics because she too loves them, knowing how much I like to see progress, I might but I am on the fence. I will definitely be taking them along with measurements because I am curious how many inches I will lose from my waist. On realself.com, I will say that the post-surgery 10-12 week shots looked great. Maybe I should just concentrate on those?

I am five pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight with twins. The more weight I lose ( I haven't lost anymore weight since August), the worse my 'kangaroo pouch' became. I have not tried any ab exercises because after my first consult with surgeon, he said it was a waste of time. While some of my muscles in my abdominal wall are attached, most are not.They were ripped apart by two big, healthy baby boys :-) Surgeon also believes that once he repairs my stomach muscles, it may alleviate some of the back pain I constantly have. Below are my post from my first consult with surgeon and then a nice before/after pic of abdominal wall.

http://michalskifive.blogspot.com/2011/06/abdominoplastyscary-stuff.html

http://michalskifive.blogspot.com/2011/08/it-has-name-diastasis-recti.html

In the meantime, I feel like I need to prepare like I did for all my babies to be born by making lots of freezer meals, numerous trips to BJ's to buy bulks of paper products, frozen pizza and dinosaur chicken nuggets and get things ready! I got a cleaning service for Mothers Day and she is scheduled to come 2 days before surgery so that is set :-)

Thanks for listening to my ramblings and happy thanksgiving everyone! I will be busy cooking for next 3 days so probably no blogging. I suck at the blogging everyday. I just can't do it....it is just too much effort sometimes to get off couch and get my computer. However, I am aiming for 2-3 times a week :-)

I am in love with a vacuum...

A few months ago Marcin and I were at Kenny's Asian restaurant. I had one martini type drink and with my zero tolerance, let's just say its a good thing I was not driving, sheesh ( LIGHT WEIGHT!). So we are finishing up our dinner and a server comes by to clean under the tables. He was using some sort of light vacuum. I stopped him and inquired what this wonderful product was and then declared I needed one right then! The server thought this was funny....Marcin did too and was making fun of me for not getting out more and the fact that I couldn't stop talking about this little vacuum/sweeper thingie. In my world, it is the little things :-)

I am forever sweeping or vacuuming our house, especially the first floor. The boys just leave a path of crumbs and dirt as they walk, even if they aren't eating or wearing shoes. By the end of the day, I would have swept at least 3 times and maybe one more time before I go to bed. So when I discovered this little vacuum.....I immediately got on Amazon to see what was available.

I found this and it is aaaaaaaamazing :-) http://www.amazon.com/BISSELL-Perfect-Cordless-Rechargeable-2880A/dp/B00440EO6S/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1353208611&sr=8-9&keywords=bissell+vacuum

It is the perfect height instead of bending over constantly to sweep and it can get all the edges and some corners because it has the little spinner brushes on the front corners to catch things. I can use it on the hardwood and carpet! So instead of bringing out the big vacuum, I can do a quick sweep over things downstairs which can buy me at least a week or two until I need the bigger vacuum for a good vacuuming!

Possibly the best thing of all with this cute little sweeper....the boys love it! Seriously, they fight over whose turn it is. When they make a mess on the floor, we just have to ask them to go get the vacuum and clean it up. Believe it or not, they listen!!! I am certain this will not continue forever so we are enjoying this little slice of heaven while it last!

It is easy for them to turn on and manuever, WOOT!!!

This is for all the strangers who tell me repeatedly how my house will never be clean again having three boys in my house.....TAKE THAT! LOL

So if you are wondering what to add to your Christmas list....this, you need this!
 

drums...drums...drums and more drums

We definitely have a 'drummer boy' this Christmas. I am listening to Gavin play in the basement now while lil guys nap. Gavin drums on everything....his hands are constantly drumming on something picking out a beat and asking me, "hey mom...did you hear that beat? pretty cool!" I even asked his teacher the other day if he drums on the tables at school...yes he does. He drums in the car, on the deck, on the trees, his bike, his seat in the car, the car, his legs, my legs, Marcin's leg, J&K if they would sit still long enough....the kid is always drumming :-)

Even when we are eating....he is drumming with his fingers on the table. For a few weeks we attempted to break Gavin of this habit because it is not the best manners to drum on the table. He doesn't even realize he is doing it....as soon as we would tell him to quit, he would look at us as if questioning what we were talking about and then look down at his hands like he just remembered what he was doing. We finally decided to pick our battles and let him be :-P Meal times are chaotic enough at our house....a little finger drumming on the table isn't going to hurt anyone. The rare times we all go out to eat, we will put this rule firmly in place but at home, it will be ok :-)

This is what he set up today in the living room, along with the ipad for beat support (the app he was using allowed him to record him drumming along with the beats). He had every pot, pan and lid (cymbals) out, sitting in the chair drumming away :-)

He is constantly rearranging his drums downstairs because the cymbals sound differently in different locations (he claims) or one is not in a reachable (is that a word?!) location so it needs to be relocated. A new cymbal is adding to his Christmas list daily because he informs us he needs a Ride cymbal, a Crash cymbal and a Splash cymbal. Thanks to his drum teacher, I now know what these are but at $100-300 a pop....not anytime soon :-P Even on Craiglist, they are expensive :/ One of the guys at the music store did sell me a Ride cymbal for $20, perfect! I need more of those. You may wonder where Gavin got the idea that he needed all these drums as cymbals. We have Neal Peart to thank for this (for those of you not up on your rock bands, he is THE drummer of all drummers and is the drummer for Rush). Gavin watches him on You Tube all the time :-) Mr. Peart often has this sort of set up when he plays,

 

Can you see where Gavin is going with his pot/pan set up? Yes....these pictures above are Gavin's dream. I am pretty sure he is going to be beyond thrilled when he sees his Ride cymbal on Christmas morning. Along with his electric guitar and amp. Yes we are glutton for punishment. The guitar amp does have a headphone input though, yippee!!! I had originally found the guitar on a consignment site over the summer thinking it would be a birthday gift but he ended up getting a larger drum set so we held off. I still am not sure if he is responsible enough to take care of the electric guitar but we will give him a chance....there are going to have to be some strict rules put into place to ensure he learns how to handle it and care for it. Regardless of whether it was a used item or not....to him it is brand new (and in great condition!) and he is learning to take better care of things, I have a feeling this will always be a work in progress.

I get the question often," How do you cope with those drums in your house?!" I'd have to guess two reasons I/we can handle it #1) Gavin is pretty good and can carry a beat. It is not endless banging the drums. #2) I tune it out, most of the time. Being a mom to 3 boys, I have learned to tune many things out :-P

Here is a little sweet song from Gavin that Marcin caught on video,

 

Kindergarten?!

How is our "baby" already needing to register for kindergarten? It seems very surreal to me to be completing applications for Charter schools and other districts (in Delaware you can 'choice out' to other districts or other schools within your district that aren't in your feeder pattern). The boys will not be attending the elementary school in our feeder pattern. Period.

When we moved into our house, I was well aware of the fact that we were moving into a not so great school district. I worked in the district for a few years. Many of the teachers and principals I worked with were great...it was the student population I wasn't crazy about. Some kids just had too many life experiences at a young age that we didn't want our kids exposed to in 1st grade or playing spin the bottle in 3rd grade during lunch. The kids were NOT exchanging a kiss. Spin the bottle has upped the ante over the years:/

However, when we moved into our house, we figured on two kiddos and we could send them to an averaged priced private school or choice them out. Obviously we figured incorrectly on the two kiddos part :-P So average priced private school is out. We thought we had a good chance with a Charter school here but we miss the 5 mile radius criteria by literally 2 inches. Our next door neighbors are in the radius but we are not, hmph. We are still applying but it is a lottery so we shall see. It can't hurt to apply :-) That leaves choicing out to other districts or within our district. Thankfully Marcin works for one of the districts. One particular school in his district I worked at for a few months while the school counselor was on maternity leave. I loved it, great school and the principal is great! And Marcin can take Gavin to school! It is about 20 minutes from our house, which is fine by me :-)

Last year we discussed possibly keeping Gavin back a year since he is a July baby. I guess that is still on the table, we haven't really talked about it much this year. Gavin seems to be doing really well in Pre-4. His teacher says he really enjoys their activity tables, he focuses (especially on things that interest him!) and works well with others in the class. I am looking forward to more feedback in the Spring.

Marcin and I were also discussing J&K future preschool. I'd imagine they will also go to same preschool Gavin has attended last 2 years.  J&K miss the age cut off in Delaware by FOUR days :-P So I inquired with the school whether or not they made exceptions for students so close to the deadline. I was told that yes they do but students must be assessed for school readiness by the teacher in August of the attending school year. Like I said....never know until you ask :-P

This is very interesting.....this would mean that J&K could start preschool NEXT year! All of our children would be in school, WOO HOO!!!! lol But we talked about it some more and we aren't 100% that this would be ideal for J&K.  They are both smart little guys but I remember Gavin when he was there age. {yes...yes..yes.. I know we shouldn't compare but it is impossible not to!} By their age Gavin knew his ABC's, could count to 10 and knew all his colors. He was also already an avid drummer.  Granted he was our first and only child for two years so we had oodles of time to obsess and teach him things. J&K have zero interest in ABC's although Kaleb does recognize a few letters. Jakob LOVES to spell his name. Kaleb can sometimes count to 5 but after that he skips around. Jakob, no interest. They are both learning their colors. They are getting there and I know all of this could change within a matter of weeks but here is my thing...they are boys. Energetic boys at that :-) I would much rather have them start preschool right before they turn 4 in 2014 and succeed than possibly set them up for failure if we start them too early. If a student is not challenged in school....there are advance placement classes and other ways to make it more interesting/challenging. If a student is struggling, different story. They will be pulled out of regular class for special services, get discouraged and overall have a difficult time.

Not to mention this puts 3 years between Gavin and J&K in school! So 3 years between Gavin starting college and J&K starting college...if they choose to attend college. I can't even think about college..... current tuition costs terrifies me, what will it be in 14 or 16 years?! We started college savings accounts for the boys when they were born so hopefully if they go, we will be able to cover one freaking year, ugh!

Toddler beds for twins....

I am NOT looking forward to this transition and hope to put it off for as long as we can! lol Even though I look at J&K and they seem so big in their cribs. I feel like they both can crawl out if they wanted to but *knocking on lots of wood* they haven't yet. Gavin never did.....he never even attempted it. We moved him to a toddler bed right before his 3rd birthday!

I sold both of our pack n plays because I had them put out in basement when the hurricane came thru, just in case we needed to sleep down there. They discovered them and climbed right in.....and over....and from one to the other. They had a great time! However, I did not. I was not ready for that. I was ready to sell them and get them out of the house but where will they sleep when we go somewhere?!

So that got me to thinking about toddler beds for two kids at once. Gavin was awesome once we moved him. He stayed in his room and played until he was ready for sleep. He wouldn't stay in bed and we found him in various places throughout his room asleep but he wasn't a kid who would try to leave his room repeatedly. Jakob, I will admit...I am a little anxious to think what he will do with the freedom to roam his room. I can see him being the one to climb onto his dresser and use his room as a romper room! I know for a fact he will not stay in bed and will take a while to go to sleep. We are going to have to put safety locks on everything in his room and remove everything! HA!!! I am not as anxious for Kaleb but being that he loves to 'BIG jump' off everything and has no fear, I am little worried about what he will discover to get into. Kaleb doesn't play around with his sleep....I think he will stay in bed and go to sleep.

They are not in the same room....me, being the sleep nazi that I am, was to worried they would wake one another up. I know everyone says twins learn to sleep through it but I couldn't take the chance. We had an extra room upstairs we were using as a guest room and thankfully we had recently finished our basement with a spare room. So we did two nurseries upstairs and moved guest room to basement. Their rooms are across the hall from each other though so I envision them yelling back and forth once they figure this out, hehe

As always, should be an interesting transition (That we hopefully won't make until another year!)

sweet tea

I love the stuff! I grew up on it....I cannot remember a time in my life when sweet tea wasnt as readily available in my house as water. I suppose this is part of life in the south, hehe

So, of course, I have also always had sweet tea in my house until a couple weeks ago. It was a sad day when I realized my kids were addicted to the stuff. Seriously, I was making at least 2 gallons a week! Eh hem....way too much sugar for our already energetic boys lol Even though I always make decaf tea, the sugar is not helpful. So Marcin decided to cut back also. So I decided to see what life would be like without sweet tea in our house. Being that it hasn't been hot outside, it wasn't too hard to live without it....I missed it. There were days when I REALLY wanted a nice, cold glass of sweet tea. If it were summer....it would be harder to give it up!

Granted, we did survive those two weeks and the boys only asked for it a couple of days and then finally learned to stop asking :-P Hooray for us for surviving but I caved today and made a gallon, omg.....so good! I bet it will be gone by tomorrow!

Argan oil! BEST STUFF EVER!!!!

A friend pinned this on FB a few months ago. As with a majority of the things i pin, i pin it in hopes of possibly #1) having time to read about it later #2) REMEMBERING to read about it later,HA!!

Pinterest is a perfect way to waste time because i feel productive pinning all these fantastic things ill never have time to do, mainly because i'm wasting time pinning when i could be using that time doing more productive things, meh.

Anyways, i finally found time to get the Argan oil. Sephora had it online at about $40-50 a bottle!! Um...i dont think so:-P  http://www.sephora.com/argan-oil-P218700
So i checked on my ever trusted Amazon because I ALWAYS check there for better prices and perks of Amazon Prime!!! It didn't let me down, 1oz bottle for $8! http://www.amazon.com/ELMA-SANA-Pressed-Organic-Certified/dp/B00397XUIK/ref=cm_lmf_tit_3_rsrsrs0 HOORAY!!!

Perhaps is it because I am more aware of this oil now that I notice it now but I see it everywhere! I saw a commercial with Garnier hair products with argan oil added to it. I asked my stylist when I got my hair cut last week if she heard of it and she said yes, she loves it! Her salon sells a 2oz bottle for $55 :-P So jump on the wagon now before it starts becoming expensive lol

Did I mention I love this stuff?! It has alot of uses from skin care, hair care and you can eat it! I have been adding a couple of drops to my facial moisturizer, my skin is so soft!!! Seriously, I can tell a difference. Now I don't have good skin....I had my share of pimples growing up and I STILL get them at 34, what's up with that?! Ugh. Due to this I was a little hesitant to add an oil to my moisturizer but I did it and so happy I did! Surprisingly it did not cause a break out (yippee!!) and my face has never been softer. I have also noticed that since having my sweet children, my skin changed where it didn't heal as quickly from blemishes. It would always have a pink spot for months! Not anymore :-) The oil claims to revive your skin cells and I guess it really does what it claims....imagine that?!

Also being that I have fine, not so thick hair I cannot use a conditioner on my hair every day. I can use the argan oil at night on my ends and after my shower the next morning, super soft and healthy hair :-)

If you are interested, here is more info on Argan oil.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303768104577460504019108684.html

lol "You've Got Your Hands Full!"

I know I complain about this comment but in this case, I really DID have my hands full! After dropping Gavin off at school this morning, J&K like to go look at the 'flowers' before we go to the car. Of course they are cooperative until I tell them it is time to go. Kaleb is yelling, "HAND! HAND! HAND MOOOOMMMMMA!" while Jakob is yelling with arms stretched up to me, "UP! UP! UP!" So I take Kaleb's hand and pick up Jakob. Of course once I get us all situated....Kaleb wants up and Jakob wants down, oi vey! So I pick Kaleb up and put Jakob down. Then Kaleb decides he wants downs and halfway down, Jakob wraps his legs around me because apparently he doesn't want to get down anymore!!! So I just picked them both, one on each hip and started walking to car. A lady stops and tells me, "My goodness! You have your hands full!!" Now in this case, I didn't mind this comment because I literally had my hands full! :-P It's the little things that make me laugh!

Gavin is the man at his preschool!!! His friend Reese was talking about him yesterday while she was at school. She in the 3's class but has the same teacher as Gavin on Tuesday&Thursday. Today when I took Gavin, his teacher asked me if Reese and Gavin were friends. I said yes and that Reese has asked Gavin to marry her a number of times but he keeps saying no :-( Yesterday Reese was drawing a picture and informed the teacher that she was drawing it for Gavin because she loves Gavin. I asked Gavin a few weeks ago if he loved Reese, he thought about it and says, "Hmmmm....some days I do and some days I don't." Typical male answer. Apparently they start at a young age :/

There is girl in his class that loves Gavin!! They have been friends since last year but this year, I do believe their love has grown for each other, hehe!! Lately, I have not been able to leave my house on time. It doesn't matter if we are all up early or late, I stll cannot manage to leave at reasonable time for preschool...meh, one day. So most days Gavin is usually last person or 2nd to last person there. His friend Olivia will stop what she is doing and run up to give Gavin a hug. The first few times this happened, she was very concerned that Gavin wasn't coming to school that day =0 Every day after school Gavin informs me that we must wait for Olivia to walk to the car! So cute!!

Oh man......we are going to be in trouble if this continues! lol

socks

Adding these to my ever growing list of why I strongly dislike cold weather, hmph. I realized the other day that I didn't really mind so much all the laundry I was doing over the summer. Then it began to get cold outside and we all needed shoes that required SOCKS. They have always annoyed me with their disappearing act somewhere btw the laundry basket, washer, dryer and their home in our dressers.

With our 3 boys, its like they are in on a conspiracy with the socks!! Seriously! I put them on them when I dress them in the morning....within 5 minutes they are ripped off! Jakob is the champion at taking his off first, hmph. Inevitably this leads to socks all over the house....upstairs, family room, basement, pantry, trash, refrigerator. Anywhere is a 'good' place for socks to be. I try my best to pick up socks and put in laundry room before they are dispersed but as you all know "I've got my hands full!" so it doesn't always happen right away.

I also don't like matching the socks. I tried to make it a fun game for Gavin so he could find all the matches for me...he wasn't having it. Not interested, hmph. That's fine for now....he has the rest of his life to put socks away. I have 3 more loads of laundry to finish up today and I can count on there being a basket full of socks to match, ugh.

It would be grand (and ideal) if I could somehow manage to complete 1-2 loads of laundry a day....when I say complete I mean wash/dry/fold/put away. Thank god for the extra rinse cycle on washer and the 'touch up' cycle on the dryer :-P

I need to learn to build a bridge with this one though because laundry is only going to get worse with 3 growing silly boys!

Speaking of silly boys...Kaleb is cracking us up!!! He will now pretty much repeat anything we say and he says it so clearly!! Last night I excitedly (and sarcastically) said after they were finished watching Little Einsteins it was BEDTIME!!! Kaleb shouts, "BEDTIME"He said something else that Marcin had said, I can't remember but he is just too funny! Jakob is watching and imitating Kaleb which is fantastic for his speech! not so much for his physicality. Kaleb is very agile and not much deters him from jumping off the couch "big jump!" he will say. Mind you...it normally IS a big jump, one that makes my heart skip a beat because I feel like it is too high. Not for Kaleb. Kaleb will land on his feet softly like a cat or roll into the fall. Jakob does not lol If we don't make a big deal out of it, he doesn't either but my goodness that child is going to have a lot of emergency room visits lol Poor kid seems to have inherited his mama's gracefulness ;-)





 

HA!! no snow here!!!

thank you, thank you mother nature!! i really wasnt ready for snow yet. im still pretty disappointed that it would seem my favorite season was cut short,hmph:/

Today was a dreary day and i was so tired!! i am still tired with my eyes barely open:-P kaleb has a terrible sounding cough:/ i just want to go scoop him up out of bed, snuggle with him and take it all away so he feels better. You wouldnt think from his silliness and playfulness that he feels bad but the cough sounds awful! All 3 boys have had this cough for almost 3 weeks....all of them started antibiotics monday and going back on their allergy meds!

i should probably get some sleep in case im woken in middle of night by a coughing child! good night!

Will the Redskins predict our new President?

 

The Redskins Rule, as it's known, goes like this: if the Redskins win on the Sunday before Election Day, the party that won the popular vote in the prior election will win the Electoral College in the next election. If they lose, the party out of power will triumph.

Back to 1940, the Redskins have been won nine times before Election Day -- and the incumbent party is 9-0 in those years. The nine times the Redskins came up short, the party out of power is 8-1 (the only outlier is the 2004 election, where the Redskins lost to the Green Bay Packers but President George W. Bush defeated Sen. John Kerry).

 

I am not a big football follower but if you know me, you know that Marcin is a Redskins fan....a true fan because season after season he continues to cheer them on. While they are doing better this season....I can't say as much for the past few seasons (sorry babe...) Marcin was at the game this past weekend in DC where the Redskins lost, this would predict that Romney will win.

 

I took J&K with me to vote today. They were fine until I stepped behind the curtain and Jakob couldn't see me. He was screaming "MAMA!" The poll worker was trying his best to make him happy...little does he know how futile his efforts are :/ Jakob is Jakob....he just either needs to see me or become distracted to be happy again.

 

If anyone has any good books on disciplining 'spirited' or strong willed children, please send me your suggestions! Yesterday I was looking at various books and reviews. They all said one similar thing, that spirited toddlers can be a challenge when they are young but they often grow up to be motivated and successful adults. Interesting yes but this isn't very helpful to me now. Basically we shouldn't 'break' his spirit at such a young age or he will be unsuccessful. Hmmm.... there were also some suggestions on the way to discipline such as not starting sentences with the words "don't...." or "no....." Let me tell you how hard the 'don't' part is. We do use "no" sometimes but I have always tried to provide an alternate activity instead of always saying no.  I remember from my school counseling days that we were always encouraged to redirect. It isn't too hard to redirect a toddler..the hard part is for ME to remember to be patient (because this is the probably the 1000th time I have asked Jakob NOT to stand on the chair) and redirect. I have been trying very hard because I am noticing that the ways we use to discipline Kaleb and Gavin do not work for Jakob. He obviously needs a different approach....he doesn't like time out but it doesn't work for him. I am more concerned for his safety. Usually if you ask Jakob not to do something....this guarantees he will do it. So instead of asking him not to do something, I have also been trying to redirect. For example, if he throws a car. Usually I would say, "We don't throw cars." I try to remember to tell him, " Cars are for racing!! let's race!" Then he gets distracted from the fact that he is mad at Kaleb for not sharing and moves on with a new activity.

 

He likes to smack things when he gets mad or frustrated. I feel like his lack of speech also leads to alot of his frustration. He is getting better with his words but we don't always understand him, which is frustrating to him and us :-( It is ok for him to express his frustration...he can hit a pillow or a stuffed animal, just not people. So instead of saying 'Don't hit," I have been saying "Hands are not for hitting. Hands are for playing...let's go play with your blocks" Wish me luck....is isn't the easiest thing to do, especially when I am trying to take the time to discipline Jakob while Kaleb and Gavin are arguing over whose turn it is with a toy *sigh*

 

Must go get boys antibiotics :-( They have had a persistent cough for almost 3 weeks....sinus infections? Everyone is going back on their allergy meds to see if that makes a difference. I take mine year round so maybe they need to also.

I don't like giving my kids meds every day. Then I get my hair cut/highlighted tonight, YAY!!!! Followed by some yummy apps with a great friend...talk about a good evening!

"Will it be Christmas after I rest?"

Gavin is very excited for Christmas! He has been talking about his wish list since July. He wants:
1) Electric guitar
2) wire for electric guitar
3) speaker for electric guitar
4) stand for electric guitar

I kid you not....this is what he tells me just about every day. Persistent, eh? Luckily for him Mama found him a Fender Mini Squire electric guitar on a FB consignment page for a steal in perfect condition. All it needed was a 99 cent string :-) I then found a pretty good amp (with headphone input....WOO HOO!!!) at a yard sale.

So he asked me if it would be Christmas when he was done resting today. I tried explaining to him that christmas was about  100 rests away....he measures most activities in 'rest' times. Afternoon down time = 1 rest time. Bedtime = 1 rest time. So most days are measured in 2 rest times :-)

He didn't want to hear it. He wanted to know when Mr. Christmas (elf on the shelf) would be coming to visit. If it was time to write his letter to Santa and if it we needed to stop by the Christmas tree farm by our house to pick out our tree. Love this kid!!

So in the spirit of Christmas, I let Gavin help me make our wreath for front door. He loved it!! We just used a straw wreath I found at Goodwill for $1, some silver garland, bells and floral pins to attach everything. He had a blast attaching the bells.

Cute, right? Super easy, cost me about $10 and Gavin had a blast. Eh hem...no I did not find this on pinterest!!! I had a similiar wreath in my hand while I was at Joanne's a while back. The price tag on this wreath was $45.00!!! WHAT?! I knew I could make it cheaper than that! Next on my list is to make an advent calendar :-) This idea I did get from pinterest but the tins I wanted to use were $1.29/piece... I need 25, you do the math. I could just buy one and save myself the work. I found clear plastic containers that I can paint and will be perfect! I have all the other supplies so this project will probably cost me around $12.00 and Gavin can help me with that too. Hopefully that will buy Mr. Christmas some time because I...eh hem, HE is not quite ready to get here :-D

I now understand why people with children decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving, their excitment is very contagious! However, I am still sticking to my rule of no Christmas decoration until AFTER Thanksgiving....for now I am sticking to it. Never say never.....
 

coffee cup #3

Thankfully the boys cooperated this morning! We had a serious discussion last night before bed that I really needed them to sleep until at least 6:00 a.m., especially since coincidentally Marcin spent last evening in DC for a friends bachelor's party.....convenient right? AND he gets to sleep in and go to Redskins/Eagles game at 1:00, hmph. I think I will plan a night away next year for the fall back time change :-P

So it is only 8:45....I feel like it should be at least 10:30. This stinks, thank goodness I got a good nights sleep. I would love to get some cleaning done or work on my ongoing projects. I have learned to set very small, super tiny goals when boys are running around. I can never finish anything when I want...most days I can accept this with little fuss. Some days, not so much. I just want to finish a project in a timely manner. It is just impossible to do with 3 little ones wanting to help you. Bless their little hearts that they just want to help and learn, I do my best to be patient because I know its just curiousity but the non-stop talking wears me out! lol Gavin helped me paint the med cabinet the other day...I let him paint the back, he had a blast and kept telling me how cool it was. J&K were sleeping. I would never let them near a can of paint! lol Kaleb likes to use the little vacuum and do the rugs. He also wipes the table down pretty well. Jakob will bring me things to put away but thats about it, hehe Gavin is a great helper with pretty much anything we ask him to do unless he gets distracted, hehe

So here we are...yes my children are watching tv while I type this. Don't judge, its the only way I can get them to sit still and not argue over something for 20-30 minutes. It is a much needed break after our morning of adventures in the basement :-P

Thank you all for your help with the front door curtain! I like the circle one but I thought it would be too many circles for that area with the rug having circles also :/  Now I just need to find a coupon or hope website has a sale on the fabric. I was back at Joanne's yesterday and found another fabric I want to use for bathroom curtains. Initially I thought it would work for the front door but I prefer it for our bathroom. I am also going to attempt a DIY bench cushion..wish me luck. It may be a disaster but I found a few on pinterest that don't involve sewing so I think I can manage lol I wish I remembered how to sew :/ My grandmother taught me growing up but that was a long time ago :-P I remember buying a sewing machine shortly after Marcin and I got married. I tried it and became so irriated with it that I returned it. Thank goodness my MIL can sew and my good friend is willing to help me out with my lack of sewing skills :-)

Hmmmm.....the boys didn't even last the show. They all went to basement. Gavin tells me, "Mom, you don't need to come downstairs. You can finish on your computer. I am going to close the door, ok?' You stay upstairs." This could only mean one thing...and he just came upstairs to make sure I was still 'working' on computer. Going to check......oi vey, first I walk to the door and there are little white footprints on floor upstairs. Then I walk downstairs to this,

LOL Was I really just talking about how they were such helpers at cleaning up things? The entire canister of styrofoam balls and dust was dumped onto floor/rug :/  J&K used their sock mops to help clean up the dust. Gavin got the small vacuum and helped me clean up also.

Good thing I did NOT clean the floors yesterday like I wanted to, otherwise I would be pissed!!!

Finally it is 10:00!!! WOO HOO!!! Getting closer to nap time, lol enjoy your day!

 

Prayers for a sweet family please!

A friend of mine needs many, many of your prayers. She has two handsome little boys and just found out a few days ago that her youngest has a tumor on his brain stem. They have a long journey ahead of them and I know could use every prayer and/or thought you can send their way! She started a blog if you would like to keep up with them, http://www.graysonsavery.com/2012/11/an-upside-down-world.html

Don't forget to change your clocks back tonight!! Good luck to all the families with small kiddos who will wake up even earlier tomorrow, ugh! lol



 

Bathroom pics and need your help!

Well not the best pics because it is hard to get a pic of the entire bathroom but you get the idea :-P

So here are the builder oak cabinets when I started.....

No hardward on them, just plain on cabinets. White rugs and a white shower curtain and really just a hodge podge of things leftover when we moved that would work in there. It also had the really large mirror. We replaced the lighting in there when we moved in. Random but we must have found it on clearance or something lol

So here is after, we added hardware, painted cabinets, framed out mirror with painted molding, new rugs, new shower curtain and I installed towel hooks behind the bathroom door. I know this will come as a surprise to you but the boys all thought the towel rack they could reach was something to hang on, so it was time for that to come down. I also had to remove the toilet paper holder from under the window because they were using it as a step stool to look out window. Wine...anyone have some for me? A case perhaps? lol Anyways, here are the after pics.....

My girly shower curtain (yes this is girly in our house!) and new rugs....

The cabinets with hardware and you can see a little of the mirror.....

Nothing fancy but a big improvement to us!!! We really like the way it turned out!!

Now I need your help picking out fabric for front door side window panels. Remember this pic...

If you missed it, here is a recap. I want to do this but not with one long curtain rod. I want a 16 inch rod on each side to cover the side windows. Here is our front door....rug is cream background with circles in shades of blue, green and brown.

Marcin does not like green so that color is out. The walls are already brown so I decided to look for shades of blue. We narrowed it down to these two fabrics....which do you like the best?! Or maybe neither...that is always an option LOL I am still looking but these are the two we like best so far :-P

Back to my painting upstairs! Thanks for your help!


 

Almost done!!

Started on our bathroom yesterday....I need one more coat on the back of the cabinet doors which I should be doing now instead of trying finish blog, watching CMA's, checking facebook, chatting with Marcin and texting with my lil brother who found he is having a BABY GIRL!!!! OMG I GET TO BUY PINK THINGS!!!! So very, very, very excited for them and the fact that I get a little niece to spoil rotten because she will be spoiled rotten, no doubt!

Sorry...distracted, back to the bathroom. I used a Rustoleum Cabinet Transformation kit from Home Depot, AWESOME product.

Seriously, I cannot say enough good things about it. I am usually pretty skeptical of these types of products because it sounded way too good to be true! No sanding necessary. See, too good to be true, right?! It takes a few days because it is a 4 step process but I love the end result! I need to get to Home Depot and find hardware!! This bathroom is going to take a while but I will have it done by Thanksgiving, hopefully!

So Gavin decided he wanted to go trick or treating. He was under the impression that if people came to the house for candy, they could come inside the house and play. He got this idea from Doc McStuffin's. If you haven't seen the halloween epi they show a million times a day on Disney....Doc helps her dad decorate the inside of their house and people come into the 'haunted house.' So Gavin thought this was how it worked. He was sad but quickly recovered once he knew chocolate was in his future. We have a few dress up costumes here so his options were a fireman, spiderman, lion or a robot. He picked a fireman. Jakob and Kaleb only had a choice between a dragon or a tiger. Jakob picked the tiger and Kaleb reluctantly picked the dragon...he was NOT amused by wearing the costume but he came around. Gavin is an old pro at trick or treating so he tried to show his brothers how it worked but they were too distracted and slowing him down, so off he went. Kaleb did great in his cute dragon costume....he walked on the sidewalk carrying his little flashlight and treat bag. Kaleb had to eat a piece a candy as soon as it was put in his treat bag!!! Our passionate child, Jakob, was another story...he was very excited to  wear his costume and looked adorable! He took off running down the sidewalk. He kept bringing me his flashlight, treat bag, wanted me to carry him, would not hold my hand, would not stay on the the sidewalk...RRRRRR. At one point, Marcin was talking to someone, Jakob actually stopped and yelled, "TATA!!!!!!!!" lol I guess Marcin was taking too long :-P We made it back home in time for Gavin to set up his speaker and microphone in front of the front door so he could 'welcome' trick or treaters when we opened the door. LOL Followed by Jakob trying to dig in people's bags and take their candy!!! I am guessing Jakob saw an opportunity while the kids were distracted by a fireman on a microphone greeting them so he could snatch their candy while they weren't looking? oi vey...never a dull moment in my house, never!

It's November 1!!! Let the holidays begin!! Well not officially Christmas until after Thanksgiving but I have a feeling the Elf on the Shelf will be making his appearance well before Thanksgiving :/ Although at one of the houses we stopped at for trick or treating last night, their Christmas tree was already up and FULLY decorated. There was just something completely wrong with that.....you should not be giving out Halloween candy with a Christmas tree in the background....weird.

November also starts NaBloPoMo!!! You get to look forward to a blog from me every day!! This will be challenging...be prepared for some ramblings because my life really isn't that interesting to blog about every day but I am sure I will come up with something whether its a crazy story about one of the boys or a pinterest recipe/project gone bad, lol

ok I have seen Carrie Underwood perform on CMA's, now I can go to sleep.....LOVE her!!!