7:18 PM....

and I'm already in bed.  Yep, dinner is put away, kids are in bed, my contacts are out, and my benadryl and melatonin have been ingested.  I'm guessing that I am going to be in dreamland sometime after Happy Endings and before Law & Order: SVU.

There's laundry in the washing machine, but I'm ignoring it.
My family room looks like a tornado (aka the Beast) went through it, and I'm ignoring it.
My counters are dirty, and I'm ignoring it.
The sink is full, and I'm ignoring it.

Why?

Because it's been this kind of day:

Yep, it's official, I'm losing it.

It's been a long couple days.  My frustration level on a scale of 1-10 has been consistently at a 9 over the past couple days.  Cy chose to pee in the wood chips on the playground yesterday, Princess won't stop talking and asking me "Why?", and the Beast is in a throwing stage.  I've gotten pretty good at dodging flying objects like the TV remote, wooden blocks, and remote control cars.  I dragged all three kids to two stores yesterday where they repeatedly asked me for candy and other crap.  Any effort I make to clean up is immediately destroyed by the Beast.  I've been battling a migraine for two days now.  There's a painful bump on the top of my head that actually woke me up in the middle of the night, and I can't even remember hitting my head.  I worked late last night and then got up early this morning to work some more.  I'm tired and just plain done.

So earlier this evening while I was in the kitchen attempting to get dinner started and some muffins made, the Beast came and started pushing on my legs, pulling at my pants, and screaming "Milck".  I got him his milk and then I started to unload the dishwasher.  I noticed my mistake with the milk WHEN I went to put a stack of plates in the REFRIGERATOR.   A STACK OF PLATES IN THE REFRIGERATOR.

Click-Clack.  That was the sound of me punching my time card.  I'm officially off the clock.  I'm going to bed with a positive attitude that tomorrow WILL be better.

Tomorrow I will tackle my messy house.
Tomorrow I will exercise.
Tomorrow my head will FINALLY stop hurting.
Tomorrow Princess will ask "Why?" one less time then she did today.
Tomorrow my son will NOT pee in an inappropriate place.
Tomorrow, the Beast will be nice and obedient and he won't throw anything at my head.

Well, a girl can dream right?

Cy turns 7: Part 1

Cy's birthday ended up being WAY more hectic than I thought it would be.  Not only was it his birthday, but he also had a soccer game AND it was the first day of General Conference (LOVE GC.  It seriously fills my soul and helps me charter the course of my life through the next 6 months until we have it again).  I thought everything would move along pretty smoothly.  I was prepped and prepared for everything, or so I thought....

On Wednesday, Dave had 2 surprise root canals that were started.  They told him he needed to come back on Saturday to finish the job.  His first appointment was scheduled during the soccer game which I was seriously stressing about.  We have to park pretty far away from where the games are held and I was trying to figure out how to pack 3 chairs, an umbrella, an umbrella stand, a diaper bag, 4 water bottles and 3 kids across 2 parking lots and 4 soccer fields BY MYSELF when Dave called to tell me that his appointment had been moved to first thing in the morning.  HALLELUJAH!  The appointment was going to take place during the first session of GC, but I figured that wouldn't be a problem.  I had been very proactive and made Conference Packets for Cy and Princess.  I had printed up pages of Conference Bingo, bought M&M's and Skittles for bingo markers, and bought prizes for the winners.

I imagined a serene enjoyable experience watching conference.  I envisioned Cy and Princess happily playing Bingo and coloring pages out of their packets, the Beast quietly stacking his blocks and playing with his toys while I sat on the couch, folding laundry, absorbing the good Word of God.

I was wrong.

Perhaps, I was being a bit naive.  Perhaps, starting out the day with sugar laden donuts (Cy's breakfast of choice) wasn't the best idea I've ever had. 

You can read what the Beast did during the first session of Conference here.  Cy and Princess weren't much better.  They had spent the half an hour prior to Conference starting, coloring in their coloring books so that by the time Conference actually started they were stir crazy and hyper.  Oh, SO hyper.  The sugar from the donuts had kicked in ten-fold by then.  Add onto that the excitement of Cy's birthday and these two were LITERALLY bouncing off the couch and the walls. 

I solved this problem by breaking out the Conference Packets and the Conference Bingo.  I told the kids they could eat their candy markers once they had won a round of Bingo AND they also got to pick a candy treat out of a grab bag when they won.   What?  You're supposed to fight sugar with sugar, right?!?!  Nothing like the hair of the dog that bit ya...if ya know what I mean.  Conference Bingo was a SUCCESS (except for the parts when the Beast would kick their boards, displacing all of their markers, and take off with the bag full of their candy markers "laughing all the way, ha ha ha!").

In an effort to keep the Beast occupied I gave him his own bag of candy to munch on, but that wasn't good enough.  Oh no.  The Beast had to have whatever the other two had and he had to have it NOW!

After each winning a game of Bingo and picking their prizes the kids wanted to start coloring their Conference Packets.  Cy got right to work and was left alone to color in peace.  Princess was not so lucky.  You see, she had picked a Ring Pop out of the grab bag as her Bingo prize.  The Beast wanted a Ring Pop REALLY bad.  I wouldn't give him one.  I didn't think he needed anymore sugar than what he already had.  When he realized that I wasn't going to budge the Beast followed Princess around screaming at her like a banshee and tormenting her mercilessly.  He kept stealing her crayons, ripping her papers out of her hands, pulling her hair and trying to snatch the Ring Pop right out of her mouth.  She tried to seek safety at the kitchen table to no avail.

She finally finished the Ring Pop and being the "generous" sister that she is, she gave the Beast the plastic part of the Ring Pop.  The Beast was thrilled!  He popped that plastic in his mouth, stopped, ripped it out, looked at it, noticed the candy was gone, gave Princess the dirtiest look an almost 2 year old can muster (he's actually pretty good at the dirty looks.  My sister-in-law Teri recently told Dave, "I'm not too comfortable with the looks that the Beast is giving me."  Ya, he can be pretty intimidating.), threw the plastic part on the floor and then proceeded to scream and cry for the last 20 minutes of Conference. 

So much for absorbing the good Word of God. 

To be continued......



Coming up next in the Cy turns 7 Series:

Lunch, Alarms, and a Present...Oh My!

Style

If only I could pull this look off as confident and sassy as she does.  

She really knows how to rock the headband.

Well done Princess, well done.

Distractions

I hate play dough. 

It makes a huge mess, and it smells.  I HATE the way play dough smells.  Only freaks and weirdos like the smell of play dough (cough, Dave, cough).

Princess got play dough from the treasure box for being "on green" (meaning she was well behaved) all  week.

She asked me every day for 5. days. straight. if she could play with her play dough.  I gave her every excuse in the book.  Then, I ran out of excuses.  So, in an effort to distract her, I did this:

Every time Princess asked me if she could play with the play dough, I would draw something new on her face.  It started with the flower and the heart on her cheeks, then moved up to her forehead with a butterfly.  I couldn't resist enhancing her "already there" unibrow (poor little girl is super hairy.  she gets it from me and from Dave.  double whammy.)  Then I gave her some eyelashes and a mustache.  I finished off my masterpiece with a chin face and a curly q nose. 

I know she doesn't look too thrilled in this picture, but trust me, most of the time she looked like this:

After each drawing she would run into the bathroom so she could look in the mirror and discover my newest creation. 

Then she would come back laughing and ask for her play dough.

The face art didn't distract her for long and when all was said and done, I put away my pen and gave her the play dough.

It made a mess and it smelled.  I may, or may not, have dry heaved.

I really, really hate play dough.



Cy and the Beast didn't want to be left out of the picture taking so here are their close-ups for your viewing pleasure:

Wouldn't allow any face art.

Wouldn't stay still for any face art.  But,oh my, look at those lashes!  Jealous?  I am!

This school thing is going to kill me.

 
Today was the first "official" day of school.  Yesterday was just kindergarten orientation.  That makes two days in a row that I've been up at 6:45am.  6:45.  AM.  This sucks.  I am so freaking tired I can hardly see straight enough to write this blog. 

It's been rough on my kids too.  We put them to bed last night at 7.  Princess is always up around 6:20 (thank goodness for ipods.)  But Cy, he likes his sleep.  Last year we put him in afternoon kinder for just that reason.  Poor kid.  I tried to wake him up at 6:50.  No go.  So I went back in at 7 and he finally opened his eyes to a very fine slit and looked at me in disgust.  I was like, "Sorry kid, it's the law, you've got to get up!"  So he arose and shuffled to the kitchen table.  I put a nice big bowl of cinnamon toast crunch in front of him and then left to go get dressed.  When I came back he was just staring at his food.  He hadn't moved an inch! 

Great.  My kid is a zombie in the morning.  Who knew?  I snapped him out of it, yelled asked him to start eating and moved my attention over to Princess. 

I put a bowl of cheerios in front of her at 6:45.  She finished eating at 7:15.  A half an hour.....30 freaking minutes.....to eat a bowl of cereal?  Are you serious???  Yes, she's always been a slow eater, but we've never really been on such a time crunch before.  Arghhh!  I yell ask her to hurry up then I go brush my teeth, when I come back little Princess is NOWHERE to be found.  Guess where she was.  Just guess!

In bed!  IN FREAKING BED!  She told me she was still tired.  I just started laughing.  I mean really what else could you do at that point?!?!

I'm sure eventually we'll get the hang of it and they'll learn their new morning routine, but in the meantime this school thing is seriously going to kill me!

Still half-asleep, and starting 1st grade.  

Cy, new shoes; new backpack; old uniform from last year.  Like I said in my last post I buy clothes for my kids with room to grow.  Yes, his uniforms were a little big on him last year, and we may have had to roll the waistband on his shorts so they could fit, but who cares!  They fit him great now and I get two years worth of uniforms for the price of one!

Taking her sweet time with a siesta or two, and starting kindergarten.

Princess, new backpack; new uniform; old shoes.  Yep, those are her shoes from last year.  Why get her new ones when her old ones still fit????  Actually, these are hand-me-downs from my sister Yvette. I'm nothing if not practical!

Here's to the start of a new school year!  May it be a great one filled with learning, fun, and lots and lots of caffeine!

Kinder, baby!

Seriously, how cute is she!?!?  Love it!  Today was her kindergarten orientation.  She got to go listen to stories and do a fun activity, while Dave and I had to go to a bore-your-brain-out kind of meeting.  Dave had to skip out early because of work (RIGHT!! wink, wink, nudge, nudge).  I entertained myself during the meeting by playing on my phone.  After all, I had sat through the EXACT SAME meeting last year when Cy started Kindergarten. 

She was so excited and looked super cute in her uniform.  Can I even begin to tell you how much I LOVE uniforms.  Yes, having to buy your child a whole new wardrobe at the beginning of the school year can be a pain in the butt, HOWEVER if you think just a little bit ahead, and buy everything when the uniforms go on CLEARANCE, for the year to come, then it's not so bad.  When I buy clearance, I also make a point to buy everything a size or two larger than what I need.  I give my kids room to grow, in every sense of the word.   

Tomorrow is the first official day of school so be prepared for more pictures of Cy and Princess.  Princess is in half day kinder, so the Beast and I will have 3 hours together everyday.  Alone.  Just the two of us.  If you don't hear from me in a day or two it's most likely because he has me tied up and stuffed in the closet so that he can wreak havoc on my house to his little heart's content. 

Sigh.

I'm tired just thinking about it.

Princess turns 5

My Princess turned 5.  FIVE.  She starts kindergarten next week.

Sigh....

I remember the day she was born, I went into labor at 5:30ish in the morning and she was born a little after 8 am.  We drove to the hospital which was 20 minutes away.  They took me back and gave me my epidural.  I was at 5 cm when I went in.  The doctor came in and broke my water to help speed things along. 10 minutes later the Princess was born.  The nurses couldn't find my doctor so a resident came in to deliver her.  Everything happened too fast and they were still trying to prepare for the birth when out she came.  (Gross but funny tidbit about the birth.)  She traveled down the birth canal with such force and speed, that when she came out all sorts of birthing juices came flying out with her.  Dave was down at that end watching the action and was subsequently covered in birthing juice.

The birthing shirt, as we now call it.  When I went into labor with the Beast Dave made sure to change into this shirt before we left for the hospital.  Don't worry, we washed it after Princess.  We're not superstitious or anything.......

For her 5th birthday, I let Princess call the shots.  She got to choose the day's menu and then we invited her best friend and family, and her surrogate grandma (Sister Carr) over to celebrate.  (We started a tradition last year of only having big parties every other year.  Saves on money and time, and helps to make the parties more special.  So on odd number years we just have a small get together or take the kid out to a movie or something.)

She requested banana-applesauce-chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. 

McDonald's for lunch.

She asked for a chocolate cake a week ago and like the good mom that I am, I went out and bought everything that I needed to make her the yummiest chocolate cake ever!  The morning of her birthday she informed me that she had changed her mind and that she wanted a strawberry cake with strawberry frosting.  Hmph.  So off we went to Wal-Mart and like the good mom that I am I bought everything needed to make her the yummiest strawberry cake ever with homemade strawberry cream cheese frosting.  Then she helped me frost it.

I bought this to write Happy Birthday Carma because she wanted her cake to say Happy Birthday.  Word to the wise, don't buy this.  IT SUCKED.  At first it wouldn't come out, then it came out like freaking gang busters.  It was impossible to write with.  This was the only thing that Wal-Mart had, and I will NEVER buy it again.

How the cake turned out with that lame ass frosting can.  I was not a happy camper.  As you can tell I had to redo Carma's name twice.  Good thing she could care less and thought it was an awesome cake. 

We had pizza for dinner, then a rousing game of chase the dog with the party blowers!  G-dog didn't like the party blowers which made the game that much more fun!

There's Tay trying to sneak a peek at the presents while everyone was occupied with G-dog.  Sneaky, sneaky!

Princess, T & T, and Cy

Princess with her birthday loot.

Britany containing the Beast (she's got mad Beast Whispering Skills) and half of Dave.  He was NOT happy with me after I took this picture.  Apparently, having the flash go off that close to your eyes is slightly uncomfortable....who knew?!?

With her AWESOME birthday cake. 

It actually tasted pretty good and I didn't even cry and hide out in the bathroom when the writing got all messed up.  A HUGE improvement from her Dora cake disaster I made her when she turned 2 or 3?  Yikes, I can't remember!  It was such a traumatic experience I've blocked it from my memory!

One happy birthday girl who is going to need some serious waxing when she gets older.  Seriously, look at those eyebrows!  Poor girl, she got her hairiness from Dave and I.  She was cursed from both sides.

5 fun facts about Princess:

1.  She loves to do make-up with me on Sunday mornings and puts on eyeshadow all by herself.  Sure sometimes she goes to church looking like a streetwalker, but hey...whatever works.

2.  Her best friend is Tana.  She begs EVERYDAY to play with T.  Seriously, not an exaggeration.  She loves that girl.

3.  She comes into our room every morning around 6:30 and asks to play with my Ipod.  I always let her so I can get at least 1 more hour of sleep.  She usually lays down on the couch and turns on Netflix.  Bless you Apple Ipod, and Netflix.  You've made my life so much easier.

4.  She needs constant approval.  All day long I hear, "Are you proud of me mommy?"  "Did I do a good job?"  "I listen, don't I mommy?"  Now, you would think that I don't praise her enough, but I swear I do.  I think it's a middle child thing and that eventually she will grow out of it.  Don't tell me otherwise.

5.  She STILL loves to 'nuggle and cuddle with Dave and I.  I have also taught her the joys of having your arms, back, and legs tickled, so she will request it often, much to Dave's dismay.  I'm more than willing to oblige because she will return the favor and she usually does a pretty good job!

Love you baby girl!

Diva Much?

My Princess.  She's got attitude, spunk, and some serious fashion sense.  She won't let me pick her clothes for her anymore.  Every morning she comes into my room already dressed, that way I have no say in what she is wearing.  I've given up caring what she wears.  I make sure I brush her hair so she doesn't look completely like a vagabond and then I call it good.

Mud

Last week we had a few days of cool weather, which is actually kind of shocking for Hotter than Hades, Arizona.  When Cy got home from school I forced the kids outside to enjoy the beautiful weather before it ended and the hell that is summer sets in.  The kids asked if they could use the hose to put water in the dirt and make some mud to play in.  I bit back all of my OCD cleanliness tendencies and let them have at it and I am so glad I did.  They had a blast.

Chores

Chores are a big part of life at our house.  Every day around 4:30 we stop what we're doing and everyone chips in to help pick up and clean the house so it can be presentable before Daddy gets home.  Sometimes the chores are done cheerfully.  Sometimes, like today, not so much.  But either way the jobs get done and that's all I really care about!

I made up the chores one day on the spot when I took a look around the house and noticed all the things that needed to be done.  I got tired of having to do it all myself so I figured out the things my kids could do and then I made encouraged them to do it.

Here's the chores that they have right now. 

Cy & Princess:  Clean their room, pick up the floors in the kitchen, family room, dining room, put away their clothes on laundry day, and brush my hair.

Cy:  Clean off the table, and wipe it down.  Wipe down the bathroom sink. (they can't seem to brush their teeth without getting toothpaste all over the counter.)

Princess:  Sweep the kitchen floor

Beast:  Mess up everything that Princess and Cy are trying to do.

Chore Time at Our Casa!

The Beast even likes to get in on the action!

Princess picking up toys.  First on the list.

Cy wiping down the table.

Princess sweeping and the Beast waiting to walk through her pile.

Cy putting away clothes.

Cy helping Princess finish so they could eat dinner and watch a movie.

Had both kids brush my hair.  The Beast isn't allowed to brush my hair.  The brush is a serious weapon in his hands.  Have added this to the chore list starting today.  What?!?  You know you're just jealous!

Where I'm thinking about putting a chore chart.  I need it to be cute because it's going to be out in the open.  But, it also has to sturdy and Beast proof.  I'm still working on it.

The Beast helping unload the dishwasher.  Ya, we start 'em pretty young.