Quinn is perfect!

Quinn had his 6 month (can you believe it???) check up today and he is perfect. He weighs 19lbs 15 oz and measured 27.5inches. We are going to start a whole new feeding regime tomorrow - he needs to cut way back on the formula and increase the spoon feeding, so we'll see how that goes.

My mom and aunt came out yesterday and spent the day with the kids while Chris and I went into Atlanta. We had been wanting to see Molly's new antique booth in the Highlands and we needed to go to IKEA. Well, I hate Atlanta. When I was a teenager, my parents often encouraged me to drive in the city to learn my way around and there was a time when I felt comfortable going into Atlanta knowing that I would be ok. This does not really hold true any more. We made it to the highlands without incident, but struggled to find a parking spot...managed to get myself horned a few times...and was somewhat stressed by the time we actually made it inside. Then, going from the highlands to IKEA (approx. 6 miles away) took us a about an hour. We saw the aquarium, CNN center, the olympic park, none of which was on our list for the day. Stupid Atlanta - not on a grid! But, we did hit the jackpot at IKEA and it wasn't as terrible of a time there as it has been when we've gone with the girls. :)

Whew! Christmas is over!

Well, Christmas is over and the teething has begun! Seriously. He's been Mr. Drooly boy for months now, but he woke up with erupted teeth this morning...both bottom ones. Hopefully it won't be too very terrible. :)

We spent Christmas Eve with Chris's family - at his parents' house and then going to church. All of the children were well behaved, so that was a bonus. They were also very gracious in the gift receiving department...it may have been my talk with them in the van on the way over there - you will like what you get (no matter what it is) and you will say thank you and if I hear one "aw, shucks!" I will take you outside and aw shuck you. That may have had something to do with it.

The night was somewhat of a nightmare though - Quinn woke up at at 3:30 (kicking, laughing and ready to start his day, so I turned him over, stuck in the pacie and rubbed his back), then Casey woke up SCREAMING!! with a nightmare (the preview for Coraline did it - she was dreaming that I had button eyes), so I laid with her and rubbed her back, only to then realize that she had a fever, so I was searching for medicine in the kitchen at 4:30am. When I came back up with medicine and a spoon she said "Has Santa been here?" and I said " I don't know Honey, I haven't been downstairs." She replied with, "Well then where did you get that spoon?" (I did not think that "out of my ass" was an appropriate response, but at 4:30 in the morning that is what I wanted to say. So I told her that yes, I went into the kitchen, but I didn't even look in the living room.) I was back in bed just in time for Quinn to wake up at 5am for a bottle. Fabulous.

The girls were apparently good this year. Santa brought them each an American Girl bed, a clothes closet for the dolls, an American girl doll vanity, and two outfits for each. They also got electronic drums, a guitar, a project runway designer set and a fur real friends teacup poodle.

My mom, stepdad and brother Matt came over for the rest of the day. My parents spent the night with us before going to the airport this morning to pick up my aunt. We really had a nice day and it was good to stay home.

All Better

And just like that, the girls are all better! They are actually at the movies this afternoon with Chris's mom, and Chris drove out to my mom's to pick up Quinn (yay!). It's amazing how worked up we all were for nothing. I must admit, I was fully expecting having to change bloody gauze, etc. So I am very pleased that it was such a minor procedure.

I have done the grocery shopping, finished wrapping the presents and put together some toys of Santa (aren't I a good little helper?!). I am mucho ticked though because I ordered photo books for our parents on December 12th and they just shipped them today (they were supposed to be processed and shipped within 3-5 days after ordering)! Amazingly enough, I emailed customer support this morning and then I received a shipped notice this afternoon. Suspicious, if you ask me. I am slightly irate though and have toyed with the idea of letting the company know this, but I cringe at the thought of being put on hold. Seriously. Very frustrated.

Children on Drugs...Not Cool!

So the girls had their surgeries this morning. They were both given a sedative prior to going back and being put under. They were very humorous before the surgery - silly and sleepy - they rode in red flyer wagons back to the surgical area - waving at everyone like they were in a parade. Chris and I were in the waiting room for about, oh, uh, 4 minutes when we were called back to recovery for Casey. She was weepy. Then she was sobbing. Then she was bawling, hysterical and wailing...."Why? Why did this happen to me? My lip! My lip!" and then she would stop and look around and go, "Why are we here?" sniffling. "Well, Case, remember, you had your surgery." And then it would start all over again. "I want my old lip back!!!" This happened probably 8 or 9 times.

Then Chan was wheeled in and she was fantastic. We only had to tell her 3 or 4 times what had happened and she didn't cry at all. Their beds were next to each other and Chan kept asking why sister was crying. Then she would say to Casey... "Just hold my hand, sissy. Hold my hand." So sweet - their arms through the railings hold hands. It reminded me of when they were born and in the NICU together - Chan would suck on Casey's nose and Casey would suck on Chan's chin.

They were STARVING by the time we got home. So far today, Chan has had 12 scoops of ice cream, and Casey has had 8 scoops of ice cream and 3 containers of yogurt. They are all set up in our bed, in their doll matching American Girl jammies, watching Disney. We put the baby monitor in there so that they can just talk to us through that when they need something. It goes something like this "Mom? Dad? I'd like some more ice cream please. Thank you." or "Mom? Dad? How are you doing down there?" Amusing and Chris says that it is much better than a bell. :)

I'm sure I'll post another update later today!

My Freakin' Gramma

My grandmother received our Christmas card today which wishes people to have a "Merry Freakin' Christmas"...

Me: Hello?
Gram: Angie?
Me: Yeeeessss...
Gram: It's your freakin' Gramma.

Yes, this is seriously what my 78 year old grandmother said to me. Then, later in the conversation....

Me: I sent you a couple of Christmas presents earlier in the week. They should be there in the next day or two.
Gram: Oh, Honey, you shouldn't be sending me things.
Me: No, no, it's just the calendar and then a little thing that probably only you and I would like.
Gram: Well then I am sure that I will freakin' love it.

Apparently, my grandmother feels that if it is an acceptable word on a Christmas card, then it is acceptable for her to use as well. And she is going to start using it often.

Bathrooms clean? Check.

Whew! Sometimes, ok, most of the time, I have no idea where the time goes! Last weekend we actually had NOTHING planned - which was outstanding! We were able to spend time with the girls, run a few errands, clean and finish up the Christmas shopping...without feeling rushed. Of course, it is 4 days later and I am again swamped in laundry, and I left work at 2:30 today (we're given "leave early" passes) so that I could come home and clean the bathrooms (my, how they sparkle!) before going to get Quinn.

But, for all of the relaxation of last weekend...this weekend is jam packed. Tomorrow morning, Chris is taking the girls to Athens Regional for their pre op appointment. I will be grocery shopping on the way home from work. Saturday morning I am meeting some dear friends of mine for a scrappin' good time. Saturday night, Molly will be joining us for gingerbread house construction, dinner and drinks (drinks!). And my parents are coming out on Sunday to see the girls before the big surgery and to take Quinn back home with them until Tuesday. I am tired just thinking about all of it.

Here's a little tidbit of our dinner conversation from last night (with a strangely familiar ring to it...)

Casey is licking her asparagus, which Chris roasted in the oven with olive oil, salt and pepper on it.

Me: Casey, stop licking your asparagus! That's not good table manners.
Casey: But its sooooooo good! I love spicy foods. *dramatic pause* I wish I was a Mexican. You know, my best friend Luciana is. And Josefina (her doll), she's a Mexican too. *big sigh, twirling asparagus on her plate*

I do love that Casey is so fascinated by another culture and have even tried to get Eunice (the Spanish translator at my school who is Mexican) to take Casey home with her so that she can learn more about it. :) I just wish she would stop putting the "a" in front of "Mexican". Apparently I still have some more work to do with this one.

Quinn - not smiling :)

Quinn is an incredibly happy, smiley baby...except when I press the button to take a picture...laughing, smiling, cooing...and then the button is pushed the light flashes and every picture ends up with this look of confusion and pissy-ness...big sigh...I am afraid that the blog readers will not see a good picture of Quinn for some time now. :(

Christmas, Round One

We decided to let the girls open their presents from Dad and Ger last weekend. It is really better to space these things out - it gives them more time to play with everything!

Hazards of Rolling Over

Visiting Santa

I love living in a small town! One of the best parts about where we live is the Santa visit at the train depot. The women's group does this every year - Santa arrives on the fire truck with police escorts, pictures with the kids, gift bags (filled with carp, as Chris says) and then we're out of there. We got there at 9:50 this morning and were in the van, pulling out at 10:23. Yep, that's right - a grand total of 33 minutes for all 3 kids to get pictures with Santa. And, it doesn't cost a dime! Can you even believe that???

Casey is slightly confused about how the whole "telling Santa what you want" thing works. They wrote letters this week to him and she asked for an American Girl doll bed. This morning she asked him for an ATM machine. Her reasoning? If she asks him for something different each time, then she will be able to get a lot more things. Um, really? It doesn't quite work this way.

We did indeed get the tree put up last night. We wrapped presents galore this afternoon. Then we had a birthday celebration for Chris's sister, Emmy, at his parents' house. And THEN I went into Athens to finish up the Christmas shopping. Whew! I am pooped!

In other news, the girls had their consultation with the ENT this week for their frenectomies. This is where they are going to snip the muscle between their gum and top lip. Casey is also having the skin that attaches her tongue also snipped a little. We should have had this done awhile ago, but the dentist kept telling me that it would break in a fall. We have had many falls, and it has yet to break. So, they have pre-op on December 19 and the surgery on December 22. :( We are not looking forward to this at all. But, at least Santa will come right after it to make it all better. :)

Chandler's questions of the week:
1. Is God a boy or a girl? Or, is God a fairy?
2. Was God born?

I told her to ask Chris's mom, who is a wonderful Sunday school teacher. :)

Not Me Monday

One of the blogs that I follow, My Charming Kids, (www.mycharmingkids.net) does a posting every Monday entitled "Not Me Monday" and I thought that I might give it a try...

This past week I did not eat an unbelievable amount of food. Absolutely not me. I certainly did not take the last of the corn casserole without asking if anyone else wanted any.

I also did not become completely annoyed with my husband because we desperately need new windshield wiper blades on the van. Something I did not know until driving through pouring rain on our way to Chicago. It was also not my fault that we didn't have said windshield wiper blades since I was not the last one to take the van in for service.

I completely planned out packing for my family days and days before our trip so that we would not forget anything. It was definitely not me that forgot to pack diapers and had to search gas stations at 4:30am looking for some. Nope, I packed everything that we would need to be on the road with a 5 month old, someone must have taken them out...

I did not allow my daughters to sleep in their "exercise" clothes Saturday night and then wear them all day on Sunday.

That child that you saw peeing in my yard Saturday afternoon? I certainly did not tell her to. I would have come up with a better solution when the door inside the garage was locked and she had been holding it in the van for 25 minutes. It was freezing outside...I would never have encouraged my child to drop trou and squat in the yard.

I did not cry like a baby Thursday night at the thought of leaving my father, not knowing when the next time is that I will see him. That was not me with the puffy eyes and snot running out of my nose.

**I have been wanting to participate for weeks now, but didn't quite get to it on time....

Chicago Recap

Monday - resting (lots and lots of resting), wonderful dinner with Uncle Mike and Aunt Sheila, Beth, Ryan, Mike and Jen
Tuesday - morning coffee at Starbucks - without children - yay for us!! That afternoon we went to visit Dad, Ger (stepmom), Joey and Tony (brothers). I was nervous about seeing Dad. I knew that he had no hair (head, eyebrows, mustache) and I was worried about how the girls would respond to this. My fears were wiped away when Dad answered the door shouting "Get your asses in here!" The girls started laughing hysterically and ran into his arms. He was anxious to pass out hugs and kisses and couldn't wait to hold Quinn. We had yummy Chicago style pizza for dinner.
Wednesday - Gram and Aunt Pat came over for lunch. Neither of them could believe the size of Quinn. We went back to Dad's in the afternoon and had beef sandwiches from Portillo's for dinner.
Thursday - Thanksgiving! We celebrated at Dad's along with cousin Phyllis, Aunt Patsy, Uncle Hal, Derek and Yvonne and their kids Kylie and Lucas. The food was outstanding! Ger kept going on and on about how she sucks at Thanksgiving and that it is her worst holiday...I, personally, have no idea what she was talking about. Some of my favorites - brussell sprouts with bacon and beans, corn casserole (can of reg corn, creamed corn, jiffy corn muffin mix, sour cream, can of mexican corn, and sauteed green peppers and onions), and Ger's mashed potatoes (mixed with sour cream, cream cheese, butter, ranch dressing mix, chives and cheddar cheese). Dad wasn't having the best day - he napped for about two hours on the couch. The girls thought he just wanted to snuggle with them. :)
Friday - We got to spend the whole day at dad's! We set up the Christmas tree and let the girls decorate it. We had left over Thanksgiving for lunch and pizza for dinner. Leaving was harder this time than it ever has been in the past, but I tried to prepare myself for that.

Throughout the week, everyone commented on how well behaved the girls were and what a good baby Quinn is. Chris and I were so proud of them. Everything that we harp on with the girls on a daily basis - manners, clearing their plate, following directions, not farting at the dinner table - all fell into place while we were there. According to the girls, "Dad was so proud he could cry!"

I know that I talked about food a lot, but I felt that it deserved a huge mention because I gained 3 pounds while we were there. :)

Also, Quinn was up and ready to start his day at 4am everyday that we were there! What????

Driving to Chicago

Packing for our trip to Chicago began the Tuesday before we left. Our plan was to head out Sunday night after Quinn's last bottle (between 5 and 6). This way, we would have Saturday and Sunday to take naps to prepare for the 12 hour drive. Sadly, naps did not seem to fit into the schedule, so when we rolled out Sunday night, I had been awake since 6am and Chris since 9am. The girls began asking "Are we there yet?" approx. 23 minutes into the drive. Quinn went right to sleep...the girls watched a couple of movies and then went to sleep too. The major snafu of the adventure happened in Tennessee. Apparently, I chose the wrong fork in the road. Instead of taking 24 to 65 (which is the way I have always gone) we should have stayed on 24 to 57 in southern Illinois. We were trying to avoid Indiana because the northern part of the state gets a lot of "lake effect snow" this time of year that often shuts down the interstate. I did not realize my navigational mistake until a little after 1am when we crossed into Indiana. Argh! So, we bought a map to find a route from 65 to 57. Success! We could take 74 out of Indianapolis to 57. Keep in mind that it had been pouring rain since Nashville and we had no idea what kind of road 74 would be like. Let me tell you - it was a pitch black road. A pitch black road with nothing but semi trucks and lots and lots of rain. As soon as we hit the Chicagoland area, it started to snow. Fun. Our 12 hour drive turned into 14 hours. 14 really, really long hours - in the rain and the dark. We were staying this time with my wonderful aunt and uncle who were ready and waiting for us when we got there. We visited for a little bit and then they took over with the kids and Chris and I slept for a few hours. Thank God.

Worth It

Even though it took 14 hours to get there and 16 hours to get home, our trip to Chicago was totally worth it. (Longer post at a later date!)

Chandler's book fair experience

The girls did extra chores around the house last weekend so that they could earn $5 to take to the book fair. We told them that they needed to buy a book. Their teacher told me about this at our parent teacher conference this week...

Chandler: Mrs. B., how much is this? (handing her a felt poster coloring set)
Mrs. B: It's $7. More than you have, and I think you need to buy a book with your money.
Chandler: *in slightly whiny voice* But all of the books that I want are posters.


Um, what????

The Nightmare Begins

We are leaving Sunday night for Chicago...and hence, the nightmare begins. Packing for 3 children is my worst enemy. I also have last minute shopping to do...errands to run...laundry...cleaning the house and finishing up what is left to do of my grad school work. Big sigh. I am exhausted just thinking about the next 48 hours. So much to do, so little time to do it in.

Dad Update

My dad had scans last week and got the results back when he went in for chemo yesterday...

The PET scan did not show any cancer activity.

The CAT scan showed that his current tumors have been reduced in size.

This is fabulous news! He sounded great when I spoke to him, looking forward to getting #6 behind him and then be done with this for awhile...a long while, I hope. :)

It will really give us something to be thankful for when we spend next week together.

Proofs!

If I haven't already sent you an email.... We had a photo session with our WONDERFUL, FABULOUS, AMAZING friend Frankie this weekend, ok, this morning, and the proofs are UP!!! You can look at them at

www.stylizedportraiture.com/clients

then scroll down until you see the Pendley gallery, click on it and you're there!

I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love, love, love these pictures!

Success!

The weekend was definitely a success! Not only did we do the usual things (laundry, grocery shopping, class) but we actually squeezed in a few other things...
1. Chris had an outing with all 3 kids to the bank, McDonald's and the bookstore.
2. We had family game night. (Operation, Guess Who and Sorry)
3. We had a photo shoot of the kids with one of our bestest friends (according to Casey she is one of her top friends), Frankie. I am soooooooo, waaaaaayyyyy, super, unbelievably excited about the pictures that she took today. I am excited about these pics like I was excited about getting back our wedding pics. Yes, that excited. I will, for sure, be posting more about this!
4. Had lunch at Chili's and shopped at Old Navy...all 5 of us!

Now, for the BUSY week ahead...The girls and I are having a day at dentist's tomorrow and taking the van in for service before the big haul to Chicago. Wednesday we have parent teacher conferences with the girls' teacher. Thursday I have professional learning after school. And then I am sure that Friday and Saturday will be jam packed with us preparing for our Sunday night departure to Chicago. God help us, we have decided to make the 12 hour drive through the middle of night while all the little ones sleep.

This is my first holiday in 12 years with my dad. I'm not really sure why it has happened that way, but it has. It is also the first time that we will be seeing my dad since his cancer diagnosis and the beginning of chemo. I am both nervous and excited. He has his 5th treatment this Wednesday and will get the results from his last scan then too. We are staying with one of my aunts and uncles so that it isn't a complete invasion at my dad's house and that he is still able to have some downtime to rest. My kids are a lot to handle even when you are not going through chemo. :) According to Dad, we will be going out for Chinese on Thanksgiving...we'll see what my stepmom has to say about that. :)

More on the ABC order...

Chan: If we were to put us in ABC order by middle names, would I come before Casey?
Me: Well, what's Casey's middle name?
Casey: Lulu
Me: Really?
Casey: Ok, its Harper.
Me: So, Ha - what is the first letter?
Girls: H!
Me: So, Chan, what about you? What's your middle name?
Chandler: Batricia.
Me: No, Chan, Pa-Patricia.
Chan: With a P?
Me: yep, with a P. So would you be before or after Casey?
Chan: Well, with a P I would be after, but if we spell it with a B I would come first. I think we should use the B.

Books

Not that I don't have a billion things to do in my life right now - raising 3 children (and ALL that entails), work, a ton of grad school stuff (I continue to be waaaaaay behind), scrapbooks (I still haven't put the first picture in of Quinn, let alone the 800 others that I have taken since he was born), trying to maintain friendships and keep in touch with family, etc...BUT, for those of you who truly know me, know this about me...I almost always have a book with me. I typically carry one in my purse. I keep one in the bathroom. Chris and I used to read before bed every night. I kept a reading log with notes and usually added 2 books a week to it. And then Quinn came along. Since he was born, I have made it through 2 books period...in 4 months. Until this last week! We drove out to Mom's which afforded me 2 hours each way to do nothing but READ! It was pure bliss! I finally read MARLEY AND ME (Grogan), which made me both laugh and cry. If you are a dog lover, it is a definite MUST READ! I also finished FOUND (Haddix). This is a new series by the author that brought us ELLA ENCHANTED and THE SHADOW CHILDREN SERIES (fabulous, if I do say so myself). I am really excited about this new series...quite the page turner! And I am about 50 pages from the end of book 3 in THE BLUE BLOODS series. This one is another vampire series, not nearly as wonderful as TWILIGHT, but drenched in pop culture. When I am reading, I actually feel that there is a small slice of normalcy to my life...despite the fact that we have a 4 month old in the house, twins that are trying their best to keep us on our toes at every turn in the road, Chris and I are both juggling grad school and careers that follow us home every night and the hours that I have spent on the phone since the beginning of school with various friends and family members trying to deal with and make sense of my dad's cancer. Reading takes me back to a time when I didn't have all of this on my plate...a time when I was just a little girl stretched out on the floor of my walk in closet, book in hand, with my mother begging me to go outside and play.

A Few Tidbits

For dinner tonight we had quesadillas and spanish rice. Here is a snip of our conversation:

Me: Casey, do you want any spicy tomatoes? (salsa)
Casey: Yes, because you know I love spicy food.
Me: Yes, I know. Do you want it on the side of your rice or on top?
Casey: On the side. You know who else loves spicy food?
Me: Who?
Casey: My best friend, Luciana. She's a Mexican.

So then we had a long conversation about if she made the assumption or if Luciana actually told her this....

In other news, Quinn is now responding to his name...but only when Chris says it. So, he is already ignoring mom...like everyone else in the house. :)

Chandler is upset because they have been lining up in ABC order in their class and she, of course, has to stand behind Casey. This is completely unfair (according to her) because she had to be born after Casey too. So, she wishes that she was named Casey so that she could at least be first in line.

Three

4 month check up

Quinn had his 4 month check up Friday afternoon. I am officially raising a future sumo wrestler. he weighed in at 17lbs 8 oz and is 26.5 in long. Seriously. He is more than half of the girls' height and pretty close to half their weight. The girls weighed 8lbs when they were 4 months...about 14lbs at a year. We have been given the go ahead to begin spoon feeding...hence the spoon feeding pictures. :)

The House in the cul-de-sac

We invited our friend Sally Ann to come over Friday night with her daughter Savannah to go trick-or-treating with us. It started out to be the typical Halloween night. The girls were having a great time. Sally Ann and I were having a great time chatting while walking behind the girls. Chris was home with Quinn answering the door. Everything was going quite well. Until we got to the house in the cul-de-sac. They had a fog machine. And lights. And the spooky music CD. People hanging in the windows. The graveyard in the front yard with bones coming up out of the grass and skulls. Sally Ann and I could see people hiding behind the bushes in the front of the house. Sally Ann and I had already discussed how both of us were major sissies...hate scary movies and haunted houses...I have issues with masks and such...So, it took us about ten minutes just to cross the street going towards the house...making statements like, "You don't have to go over there, girls." "It is just pretend. It is just pretend. It is just pretend." At one point, as Sally Ann and I were going to stand on the sidewalk and send the girls down the driveway by themselves, Savannah turned around and said, "Um, you're the Moms. Aren't you coming with us?" So we clutched onto each other and slowly began making our way...behind the girls, of course. The whole time we were out there debating, the people could hear us and at one point someone called out "Do not be scared." I took this as a good sign. Wrong. As we got closer, a man dressed in a suit, hunched over with a cane and a full head mask with long straggly gray hair and a skeleton face, came out from behind the bushes. The girls took of running and screaming for their lives. Sally Ann and I took off with them. It took several more normal houses for them to even get back into the swing of things. There was crying. And I warned all the other parents of small children to avoid the cul-de-sac. :)

Not to bring politics into the mix....

But, I actually had people at work make these statements today:

1. Obama is a Muslim and that they are afraid that he will take away Christianity
2. Obama does not say the pledge
3. Obama takes the oath on the Qua ran
4. Obama was put through college by family friends in Iraq
5. Obama's grandmother was Black, but no one else in his family is

And then they continued on to say that they just wish people would educate themselves about him before deciding to vote for him and not McCain.

Seriously? Seriously.

Guess What...

I had a flat tire on Friday. Go figure!

Busted!

We have a rule in our house that the girls are allowed to buy ice cream at school on Fridays and only Fridays. The girls know this rule and understand the rule. Well, I checked their lunch account on-line Thursday night after they went to bed. Chandler has apparently decided that everyday should be ice cream day and bought it every day for the past two weeks. The real kick in the pants is that she asks Chris every morning on the way to school which day of the week it is and on Fridays she cheers that it is ice cream day. What? Scamming us at six years old???

So, Friday after school I sat Chandler down and pulled up the account on the computer.

Me: Chan, do you know what this is that we're looking at?
Chan: No.
Me: It's your lunch account. Mama can look at it from home.
Chan: *complete look of shock, horror and fear* Oh. I think I know what this is about.
Me: You do? What is it then?
Chan: *monotone voice* I've been buying ice cream every day when I'm not supposed to.
Me: That's right. So now you can't get ice cream until after Thanksgiving break and we'll check your account together every week and if you don't follow directions, you will need to pay me for all of the extra ice creams that you've bought. Do you understand that?
Chan: Yes.
Me: Do you have anything that you would like to say for yourself?
Chan: I can't help it. I love the ice cream so much.

I hope that this is not the beginning of a serious addiction. :)

Weekend Accomplishments

1. I was in bed at 9:15 Friday night! :)
2. I finally was able to visit my dear friend Melinda, her husband Patrick and their new baby James. He's not even 6lbs yet! It was wonderful to see them and a delight to hold such a tiny baby again.
3. I helped Christy Beth and Drew figure out which items are really just a racket on the Babies R Us registry list. Quite a few of them are, I must say! I mean, really, what is the difference between stroller toys, high chair toys and just regular toys??? The girls went with me and were fairly well behaved...which is always a bonus.
4. I took Quinn to the grocery store this morning. It was fantastic - he slept the WHOLE time!
5. I completed all of the insurance paperwork that I had to do.
6. I listed our treadmill on Craig's List...and have gotten a bigillion emails about it.
7. Chris made a terrific bratwurst meal tonight. I love bratwurst.
8. I am slowly but surely working on grad school assignments.
9. And, I have completed about 8 loads of laundry.

Woohoo! All in all, a successful weekend!

Salt

Chris: Did you know that salt is a rock?
Chandler: Yes, I did know that because I tasted a rock once and it tasted just like salt.
*adult laughter*
Chandler: What? I didn't bite it, I just sucked on it a little bit.

Need I say more?

Yay for the weekend!

While I was at class today my mom came and got the girls so that they can have several sleepover parties at her house for their fall break. They won't be back until Tuesday. Chris and I are hoping to get a lot accomplished in their room while they are gone...it desperately needs to be organized, organized, organized! I also have big plans of getting some of my grad school work done. Hopefully Quinn will be in the mood to be a good baby for us. :)

Quinn's First Book

I'm not really sure if he enjoys reading or eating the book better!

New Pictures

Can't I Make it Through a Weekend Unscathed???

Last night, after dinner, Chris and I were talking about how the weekend wasn't nearly as productive as we had hoped, but that we were doing better than we had in the past couple of weeks. And then we went to bed and the bottom fell out. No sooner had we laid our heads down on the pillow, and Chan walked in complaining that her tummy hurt. So I said, "Well come climb in and I'll rub your back." She started walking over to the bed and moaned weakly, "I'm gonna frow up." And she started walking back to the door to run down to their bathroom. At this point I am trying to hop out of bed, Chris is throwing back the covers, and I'm telling her to just go in our bathroom, but she's disoriented, etc. so Chris picked her up to carry her into our bathroom and she didn't quite make it - vomit on the bedroom floor, the bathroom floor, and then all over the toilet area. So, I emailed in sick today, and slept with Chan in the spare bedroom - she threw up 11 times...all over her bathroom, all over the spare bed...it was not a fun night. I took her to the doctor this morning and she has a stomach virus. The doctor came in the room and said "Chan, I hear that you have been vomiting and that you have a fever." Chan said, "And frowing up, too." :) We slept the afternoon away.

Chris came home with Casey and Quinn. By 6pm Chris was throwing up and is now in bed with Chan while I am trying to maintain somewhat of a normal evening for Casey and Quinn. I really, really hope that it doesn't spread to the rest of us. Big sigh. It is never dull in our house.

The B word...

Chandler (very seriously) told us tonight that someone at school said a *VERY* bad word. It was the "B" word. She would not repeat it, but she could spell it. B-U-T-T

Unbelieveable

I am convinced that most people would not believe all of the things that happen in my life....

When I got the mail yesterday, there was a letter from the IRS. This is not who you ever want to get a letter from. Apparently there was some kind of mistake on our 2006 taxes having to do with our FSA account and daycare and we owe then $1100. YIKES! So, I called the accountant told him about the letter, blah, blah, blah and we do actually owe the money. Then, to make matters worse, we also owe another $620 dollars because the same mistake was made on our 2007 taxes. Seriously? Seriously.

Back to the car situation...We had a friend of ours take a look at it to give us some kind of idea of what the problem was and how much it would take to fix it. Well...the belt was missing (meaning that the bang, smell and smoke was the belt burning up). But, he thought that we would have enough of a charge left in the battery to make it to the dealership. So, we had Drew and Christy Beth (wonderful friends of ours) come down to watch the girls and I was going to follow Chris to drive it up to the dealership to do the night drop for our 9am service appointment. Well, we made it to the intersection of Hwy 53 and I-85 when the battery died. Because we live in small town, USA, we had 3 police officers come to help us. It was a blue light special. We stood out in the road for almost an hour waiting for the wrecker to get there. About 30 former students drove by during that time, rolling down the windows, waving and hollering hello to us. It was a very humbling experience. We finally got it towed to the dealership in Gwinnett. We now know that the gas crisis is very real there. The lines into the few stations that had gas were hours long.

This morning Saturn called to tell us that in addition to the belt, the air conditioning compressor was locked up and the battery would need to be replaced. Big sigh. So, we went to the Honda dealership, talked them into having my car towed to them, giving us a small amount for a trade in, and then lowering the price on a used Accord that we liked there. All in all, I am very pleased with the 2007 Accord EX that I bought with 15K miles on it and 34 MPG rating.

And there you have it. Maybe the weekend won't be that bad after all.

The Weekend Has Started With a Bang!

Literally. My car has been making some noises lately - it has a 120,000 miles on it and is 7 years old - so it didn't really worry me too much. Chris took it in for an oil change last night and there is apparently something more wrong with it than I thought - possibly the compressor. So, we made an appointment to take it in Saturday morning, but I don't think its going to make it.

Ok, change of topics, so stick with me. Casey showed me this "rash" on the inside of her thighs last night and said that it itched and burned, so we tried some Benadryl, which made it sting and burn even worse, so since we're going into the weekend, I decided to take her to the doctor today. BUT, I wanted to go into work this morning because I didn't know when the doctor's office would be able to fit us in. So, I got her in at 10:30 and left school to pick her up and take her.

Back to the car....when I started it in the parking lot there was this really loud noise, horrible smell and smoke coming out from under the hood. Yes, smoke...from under the hood! It started and the battery light came on. I called Chris at school and he basically told me "Good Luck." I was a nervous wreck driving the 22 miles from my school to his so that I could get the van to take Casey to the doctor. I have no idea what is wrong with it.

I traded vehicles with him, checked Casey out of school and headed over to the pediatrician. Diagnosis: chapped skin. No, I am not kidding. I took my child to the doctor for dry skin. I felt like such a moron.

So, now I am at home, on the phone with the bank trying to figure out how much we can afford for a new car if it comes to that. Argh! I have class tomorrow for grad school and there is a Georgia came tomorrow night, so going to a dealership in Athens is going to be next to impossible.

Wish us luck!

The Weekend Update

Sorry to say, but this weekend felt like a major bust.

1. Friday night - I did massive amounts of laundry to ensure that what I wanted us to wear for family picture day on Saturday was all clean, laid out and wrinkle free.

2. Saturday a.m. - The girls raced up the stairs, squealing with excitement, to their room because I told them that the remote to their t.v. was in the top drawer of the dresser. (They had supposedly lost it weeks ago.) They sounded like a herd of elephants. Then, there was a massive boom followed by silence. Chris and I took off, full speed. Once we hit the foyer there was a second massive boom...and still no sound from the girls. As we took the stairs two at a time I hollered up to them. Only Casey responded. My heart filled with dread...I just knew that the t.v. had landed onto of Chandler, and I prepared myself for the worst. Casey was holding up the tall dresser with her arms, standing in a pile of movies and clothes that had spilled out of it. Chan was in the middle of the pile with a completely dazed look on her face. To make a long story short (or at least shorter), they were both ok. Casey has a bruise on her arm and Chan has a knot on her head (or blow hole as she likes to call it). Casey had tried to climb up the drawers, even though she can reach the top when she is on her tip toes. The dresser start to lean, the t.v. fell off the top and the cord ripped out of the back of it. It is now officially a dead soldier.

3. Saturday afternoon - After cleaning up the damage from the t.v. incident, we began to prepare for the family pictures. Mom and Tom arrived. The girls showered, dressed, had their blow dried and fixed. Quinn had an afternoon bath. Chris and I both got ready. We headed into Athens. We began the picture taking festivities (with our favorite photographer and close friend, Frankie). About 5 minutes into it, Chan had to go to the bathroom. She came back, took another picture, and had to go again. And again. And again. She kept holding herself and saying that it was hurting to pee. Big sigh. So, the big family photo shoot ended much earlier than I had planned. We went to the Med First - me, Chan and Chris, while Mom and Tom went to our house with Casey and Quinn. We spent the next two hours there, while our child refused to pee in a cup, and then proceeded to tell us that she felt much better once we were in the car. In the end, she peed 3 drops, they looked at them under the microscope and found nothing. She has also been fine since.

4. Saturday night - We were supposed to go to Chili's in Athens after the photo shoot, but with all of the issues, dinner ended up being at 8pm and was take out Beed O'Brady's. My parents stayed for the first half of the UGA game, then left, and we were asleep within minutes.

5. Sunday a.m. - Homecoming at church. It is difficult to get everyone ready and out the door.

6. Sunday afternoon - Homework, and Quinn - off schedule and not wanting to nap. :(

But, the girls are about to go to bed and Quinn is almost ready for his night time bottle. So, I guess we have survived. I am slightly more tired now than I was Friday night.

2.5 months old and already bored

Apparently we are bad parents

Over the weekend Chris asked if I could pick up the girls on Wednesday because he had a meeting after school....but, I thought that I also had a meeting. So he said that even though his was at the high school he thought that he would just bring them and that they were old enough to sit in the back and color or read or write and not distract people. That was how we left it. I got his email when I got home that he would be a little later, but with no mention of the girls. I foolishly assumed that he had them. Now, we all know what happens when you assume things....

He just walked in. He looked at me. I looked at him. He was wondering why the house was so quiet and I was wondering why he closed the door to the garage before letting the children in.

Yep, we both failed to pick them up. Apparently, we are bad parents.

Big Boy

The Beatles

Another moment from Aunt Janet and Uncle Martin's visit...

Aunt Janet and I were inside with Quinn when Chan came running in from outside...

Chandler: Mama, I've got some very bad news.
Me: You do? What is it?
Chandler: Bend down, I need to whisper it in your ear.
Me: Ok.
Chan: (whispering) Two of the Beatles are DEAD.
Me: (trying not to laugh) Yes, Honey, I know.
Chan: They don't make any more new music.

Thanks, Uncle Marty, for ruining her childhood. :)

A story about hamsters

In May, the girls won a big award in kindergarten and Chris and I were so proud of them that we let them get hamsters. Casey named hers Gia Sassafrass and Chandler named hers Rosabella (although her first name choice was Black Love...not kidding). Rosabella turned out to be mean - she would bite - HARD - and a little on the crazy side. Her favorite thing to do would be to climb on the bars of the cage, gnawing off the coating on the metal. The week before school started, Rosabella died. It was very traumatic. We had a funeral in the backyard. And, we got a new one...Isabella. She was much calmer than Rosabella and somewhat tame. Everything was going great until last weekend when I noticed that she was running in her wheel much, much more than usual. I told Chris that I thought she was losing it. Which, apparently she was, because Wed night we found her dead in her cage. Big sigh. Seriously? So, we've had yet another funeral and pet burial in the backyard. Now she is holding out, begging us to get her a kitten. What to do? What to do?

My aunt and uncle have been in town this week to stay with my cousin, Chantal, who had her baby boy last week. Rebel Lawson is his name. No, not kidding about that either. Anywho, they came to have dinner and visit with us last night. The girls were thrilled because Uncle Martin let them play with iphone...they took about 50 pictures of their stuffed animals.

We have been glued to the Hurricane Ike updates. My youngest brother, Matt lives outside of Houston and decided not to evacuate. We are praying for his safety.

I will write more over the weekend...I have to go get ready for class now!

What are chicken nuggets made of?

For dinner we had bratwurst, sauerkraut, and potatoes (a favorite in our house). This led to a discussion about sauerkraut being cabbage...which then led to a series of questions - What is a hamburger made of? (cow), etc. etc. And then Casey asked, "What are chicken nuggets made of?"

Me: Seriously? What do you think they are made of?
Casey: ummmmmm......pig?

At this point, Chris and I died laughing.

Chandler: Duh, Casey, chicken nuggets are made out of chicken.
Casey: Oh, so that's why they're called chicken nuggets.

Chris and I decided to not mention the fact that in our house we actually eat the Morning Star chicken nuggets, which of course, have no chicken in them. :)

I am also attempting to take pictures of all three children every weekend. It is really difficult to get all 3 children to do what you want them to....



I also had a little mishap with the van today. I dropped the girls off at a friend's birthday party and as I was backing down their driveway I realized that their driveway was actually a little bit trickier than I first thought. Towards the bottom of the driveway, I could no longer see the pavement out of the side mirrors. There were also large vehicles parked on either side of the driveway and a huge honeysuckle plant covering the mailbox. So I decided to just back up as straight as I possibly could to avoid hitting anything and making myself look like an ass. So, instead of hitting anything of theirs, I crashed into the mailbox across the street. Yep, backed right into it. So much for not looking like an ass. I jumped out and surveyed the damage. Luckily for the homeowners they have one of those really fancy black iron mailboxes, so it could stand up to a crappy driver in a minivan. Unlucky for me, it was one of those really fancy black iron mailboxes....the back of the van is scratched and slightly dented. :(

Excellent Work

Georgia just kicked some Central Michigan tail! Awesome work! 56 - 17

It's About Time...

I must admit it...I am a blogaholic. I LOVE reading other people's blogs. I pretty much check my friend Jessica's blog everyday (and usually laugh out loud), along with a variety of other people's, blogs for school, blogs in the SLM field, random blogs that I stumble upon...essentially if I know that you have a blog, then you can count me among your readers. Why has it taken me this long to start writing my own blog? I have no idea. So, it is definitely about time.

We are actually in the middle of a busy weekend and I am procrastinating. I have a TON of homework to do for grad school (class on Monday night) and we have been on the go, and are of course, watching the Georgia game, but starting the blog sounded like a really good idea. :)

The girls went to softball camp at the high school today. They have decided that they definitely want to be cheerleaders more than they want to be softball players. Chris and I were completely expecting a phone call this morning to come and get them because of some crazy injury. There was an injury, but no phone call. :) Casey decided to catch the ball with her forehead - she has a lovely purple bruise. She wanted to know why its called "softball" when the balls are not soft at all.

The weekends are hard with Quinn. He was 4 1/2 weeks old when I went back to work, so we never really got an "at home" schedule worked out. At the sitter's he takes good long naps everyday and we have a pleasant evening together, but over the weekends we're all off schedule he sleeps in these little nap segments that end up not doing anyone any good.

We had a great long weekend last week - I'm going to attempt putting up some pictures from it. :)