Another snow day!

Let me first say that I love snow days. Really, I do. I love them just as much as I did when I was a kid, maybe even a little more. But...(you knew it was coming, right?) today I have mixed feelings about it. First, there's not enough snow to play in, which is a big bummer. Second, my kids are sick. Avery hasn't been to school at all this week, and Brady missed yesterday. Avery has strep, which somehow no one in my house has had in a long time. They didn't test Brady because either he has strep or a sinus infection or both, so he needed antibiotics either way. Chloe is healthy for now, but after playing with the boys I'm not sure how long that will last. That's one of the hardest things about having more then one kid. I'm definitely glad that they don't all get sick at the same time, but keeping them away from each other is a challenge. On top of having sick kids on a snow day, Avery has a new book. He's reading the seventh Harry Potter, which means it's almost like he's not here. This great for Avery to have something to do so he won't be bored all day, but it means that Brady is going to be bored all day! It drives Brady crazy! You have to almost yell at Avery to get his attention, and then he only glances at you before going back to his book. So, we're going to do our best to enjoy this day off, sickness, books and boredom included. I know a lot of you reading this are out of school too, so I hope you enjoy your day as well. (And for those of you who would love to just see snow, I'm sorry!)

There was a little girl

There was a little girl,
who had a little curl,
right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good,
she was very good indeed,
but when she was bad she was horrid.

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
(I actually remember this a little different, but I found this on line. I always thought this was a Mother Goose nursery rhyme.)




Okay, so I don't actually think Chloe is ever horrid, but she is definitely a little girl of extremes. She can be the sweetest little girl ever, and then in the next moment, she's hitting her brothers or boldly defying me. I know this is typical of her age, but I'm constantly amazed by her. Kids grow and change so quickly that I feel the need to write this stuff down so I can look back on later. Some days I just look at her in awe. I still remember thinking two kids was it for us. I just can't imagine not having her.

• I love to hear her songs she makes up. She sings and talks constantly, until we get in public. She has two volumes, loud and not talking.
  
• She has a great and wild imagination.
  
• I never imagined how much she would love her boys. (This shouldn't have surprised me. Being a third child myself, I should have seen it coming.) This morning Avery had an orthodontist appt., so he was going to school late. She told me that she didn't want to take Avery to school because she would miss him!
  
• She's in this stage now where she doesn't want kisses. She'll wipe them off if you're able to sneak one. If you tell her that you love her, she'll say no you don't. We used to agree with her, and then she would say yes you do, but that doesn't work anymore. You can't get much past her.
  
• She has an unbelievable memory, and is too smart for her own good.

I feel like we're getting ready to enter a new phase with her. She is very good now about resting after lunch. She sits in her bed and looks at books for a little bit. Sometimes she's quiet, and sometimes she sings the whole time. About half the time she falls asleep. It's nice right now. I feel like we've got a good routine going, which is nice after the past month and a half of construction. As nice as this feels, it almost seems like the calm before the storm. I know from experience that just as you get used to and figure out one phase, another begins.

Cool website

My friend Mindy and her Mom have started a new business. The website is www.sparklefactordesigns.com , and it has all kinds of bows, barrettes and other cool stuff. So, if you're in the need of accessories, check it out!

LIfe is back to normal...

...whatever that means. Our floor is finally done. They were here all day on Friday getting the house finished and ready. There were four guys working on the trim and painting, and there were three ladies cleaning up all the construction dust. I could definitely get used to having other people clean my house!! They did a great job, and were very thorough. I'm enjoying having my house to myself again.
We had a great weekend with family. It was nice and relaxing, just what I needed. We all went to the boys' basketball games on Sat., and they loved having everyone there. By the way, if anyone got good pictures, could you send them to me? My camera doesn't take good pictures in the gym. I wasn't ready for the weekend to end!
So now we're back to the regular routine of school, church and basketball. Oh how I've missed my routine!!

Lunar eclipse

I've always been fascinated with stuff like this, but rarely am I able to stay up long enough to see it. I'm excited that I won't have to lose sleep to catch this. I'm a little worried about being able to see it at all though. I'm not sure if it's going to be cloudy at this time. I'm hoping that the clouds and precipitation will wait until after we get to see this. I'm also excited that the boys will be up to see it. Well, if you get to see it, enjoy!

My favorite room

My laundry room is my favorite room in the house. I thought the new would wear off, but I still love it just as much as when we moved in. There is at least one good thing that has come out of this whole burst pipe: I'm caught up on my laundry!! I've been stuck upstairs for most of the past month, so laundry is the obvious thing to do. I guess there is one more positive thing that has come out of this. I now know a flooring company not to use in the future!!

A flooring update:
We finally have a floor! It's dirty in this picture, and we still have weights in certain areas, but it's there. We currently have a small army downstairs trying to get the house finished and cleaned. It's a little weird to have other people cleaning my house, but I think I could get used to it!!

Snow day pictures

Before and After

Does this look like I'm ready for company?

I know I'm a procrastinator, but this is extreme even for me!! We have family coming in this weekend, so we told the floor guys that if they couldn't get it done by this weekend, to just wait until next week. They said they'll be done by Friday, but this is pushing it. It took them three days to get the old floor up, and supposedly it will only take them one to put the new floor down. I guess we'll see. I just had to take a picture of the dining room with the toilet and sink in it. If you look closely, there is even water leaking from the toilet. Or at least that better be water!!

Snow Day

I know those of you that live in parts of the country that actually get snow will laugh at this, but this is what a snow day in Tennessee looks like. Okay, so it's actually because there's a layer of ice covering the ground, but still. The best part is that this morning it actually started snowing, and it's still going. The boys are so excited to be out of school, and I'm sure that Chloe is going to enjoy the day with her brothers home!

Conversation with Chloe

The following is my conversation with Chloe at lunch one day. The pictures aren't from that lunch, but I thought they were funny. At first I was just writing down stuff she was saying because it was amusing. Then I started asking her questions to see what she would say.

Chloe: "If we get in the grass, squirrels eat us. And snowmans will. They 'posed to eat us. (smiling) Nooah!"

"Soon I'll be big, and I'll be a mommy, and I'll have a girl."

(holding up her hand and pointing to her fingers) "This is Daddy( middle finger), this is Mommy(ring finger), this is Chloe(pinky), and these are brothers(thumb and pointer)." After I asked her, she told me that Avery was the thumb and Brady was the pointer.

Chloe: "I eat a lot."
me: "Oh, you do?"
Chloe: "Yea, like spiderman eats a lot. Does spiderman eat macaroni?"
answering her own question, "Yea, I think he do."

(she starts asking me about some plants I have, so I tell her what some of them are. I didn't know all of them, so this is what she said. Oh, also, one of my plants is a rubber tree, or at least I think that's the name.)
Chloe: "It's a rubber flower. Write that."
(at this point, she has noticed that I'm writing down what she says. I didn't write this down right away.)
"You can write it tomorrow."

me: "What are you going to be when you grow up?"
Chloe: "a mommy"
me: "How many kids are you going to have?"
Chloe: "eight, five girls."
me: "Oh, and three boys?"
Chloe: "Yea."

me: "What should we get Daddy for his birthday?"
Chloe: (with little hesitation) "a candy can(cane)"

me: "Why do you love Avery?"
Chloe: "I don't."
me: "Do you love Brady?"
Chloe: "Yea."
me: "You love Brady but not Avery?"
Chloe: "Yea."
me: "Why do you love Brady?"
Chloe: "Because I don't love Avery."
(She does this on purpose because she knows it bothers Avery. Even though he wasn't at home, she still trys to aggravate him!!)

Chloe likes to tell me secrets every night as I leave her room. They never make sense, but it's become part of her nightly routine. A few night ago, this is what she said. "If we don't have blankets, we don't have parties anymore." She cracks me up. You never really know what's going to come out of her mouth. Yesterday she called me a dummy, and told Keith he was stupid!! I'll have to thank her brothers for sharing those words with her.

I've had it!

My view of this whole experience, and one of the businesses we're dealing with, has changed. I've mentioned that the flooring company is blaming the problem with our floor on the product itself, instead of the installers. Well, the inspector, we'll call him L, came out today to check it out. He just happened to be in the area and was able to stop by. We let the guy, we'll call him C, from the flooring company know, and he came out as well. Since it really didn't matter to me at all, I just let C tell L about the problems with the floor. I didn't hear the whole conversation, but I heard enough to know that C wasn't being truthful with L. He told him that they started in the dining room and ran out of wood in the hallway towards the carpet. That was his explanation of why there was a different color wood. I was going to call him out on it after L left, but they left at the same time. I didn't really want a confrontation with him, and didn't think I should call him on the phone about it. How unfair to put me in that position. I felt like I was agreeing with the lie by being quiet, but I didn't really know what to do about it. Well, we finally decided we should call the owner of the restoration company, and tell him about it. He's always been really great, and has always been on our side. I don't know what's going to happen from here, but now I really don't even want to use the same company for our new floor. C is supposed to deliver our new wood tomorrow to let it acclimate over the weekend. I'm not really looking forward to it, and I don't know if I should say anything. I think sometimes people mistake my being nice, for being a pushover. They really shouldn't do that. It's going to bite them in the butt.

Happy Birthday Keith!!

Here are 34 of the million reasons I love you!!
(in no particular order)

1. you're my best friend
   
2. you share everything of yours with me(especially your tea or coke when I order water)
   
3. you support and encourage me
4. you always know where you're going
5. you put up with me, in any mood!!
6. you make sure I get up in the morning
7. you make me feel like the best cook in the world
8. you know when I just need to have a good cry
9. the way you play with our kids
10. how you can't keep surprises or secrets from me
11. you put up with a night light in the hallway because you know I don't like it dark
    
12. you make me laugh
13. you don't mind me waking you up if I hear a sound or if it's storming
14. you've taught our boys how to open doors for me, and other people
15. you send me flowers for no reason
16. you still make my heart skip a beat
    
17. you say I'm a good singer
18. you started the conversation about having baby #3
19. being with you makes me feel safe
20. anything I want to know about history, you could probably tell me
21. you encourage me to have time by myself or with friends
22. you're very computer/tech savvy
23. you help me grow closer to God
24. you never hesitate to watch the kids
25. you are completely wrapped around your little girl's finger
26. you're great at tying bows
27. you worked really hard to get your two college degrees
    
28. you love candy like a little kid
29. but your teeth are in great shape
    
30. we talk often during the day when you're at work
    
31. you can reach anything I need
32. you're easy to spot in a crowd (I just look up)
33. you make me look forward to not only each day, but the years to come
34. your smile :)

I know that I've left out something important, and I'll think of it later. Sorry it's taken me all day to get this on here. I hope you had a great day. I love you baby!!

Super Tuesday

What I have to say doesn't involve the real primary that happened yesterday. It involves a mock primary that the boys took part in at school. I didn't know they would do this or I would have made sure that they knew who to vote for, or more importantly who not to vote for. Avery said he voted for McCain, and Brady voted for Hilary Clinton. Wow, that was actually painful to type! He didn't know who anybody was, and he didn't know it was a female, or he wouldn't have voted for her. Unfortunately, Hilary won overall with McCain coming in second. Brady's teacher actually booed when it was announced! I think that's hilarious. I knew there was something I liked about her!! Anyway, some kids in Avery's class told him some stuff about Hilary Clinton that is absolutely hilarious! They told him:

• She is going to send all boys to Ireland and make them wear dresses.
• No video games. (I'm unclear on whether this is just the boys in Ireland, or all kids.)
• She's going to kill all orphans. (Sadly this one isn't too far off. Killing a baby in a womb isn't much different than killing all orphans.)

I'm not sure if the kids came up with this stuff, or if they overheard their parents talking. Anyway, Avery knew this stuff wasn't true, but he decided not to vote for her. He figured if they were making up stuff like that about her, that she wasn't good. Way to go Ave!! I think he's already smarter than the majority of the country. :)

New floor, part 253

We went to pick out new hardwood yesterday, and the guy really irritated me. We had a scheduled appointment, so I thought he might have some selections to show us, but he didn't. Instead he showed us what they had in stock, but not anything that they would have to order. What they had in stock did not look like the same quality as what we had. I think he was trying to get us to go cheap so they wouldn't be out so much money. From that point on, I was frustrated, and didn't trust him. He did bring out a few selections that were more comparable, but only after we asked him. We did chose from those selections. Keith had been looking on line, and there was one that he liked from the manufacturer's website. Now we just wait. They are blaming a lot of the problem with our current floor on the product. We never had these kind of problems before, so that leads me to believe it wasn't the product, but the installers. Anyway, they have someone coming to look at the floor to see who's to blame. I guess they've called the manufacturer and said it was their fault. This guy that's supposed to come out is independent of both sides. I just hope he comes soon so they can rip the floor up and get it ready for the new one. I'm really torn because I'm ready for my house to be put back together, but I'm not ready to be stuck here while they're doing the work. It's incredibly loud when they tear out the floor, especially the adhesive. So that's the latest with the floor. I hope to have pictures of the new floor very soon.

Great mysteries of the world

• Why does shampoo always smell better than conditioner?
• Why does my daughter not know how to pull her covers up in the middle of the night?
• Where do those lost socks go?
• Why does getting up a couple of times in the night to cover Chloe up make me feel like I have an infant again?
• Would it be wrong to staple her covers to the bed?
• How can anyone pee on the toilet seat and not notice? (especially those of you that face the toilet)
  
• Why does no one tell you about all the homework you're going to do when you have kids? (that's what they should tell you in those baby classes)
• How does the laundry multiply over night?
• Am I the only one that thinks it's never going to stop raining? (i know, i know, we've had a drought. i'm very thankful for the rain. i'm just sayin'...)
• Why is Chloe still asleep, but I'm not?
• Does everything really taste like chicken?
  
• How can one little girl make the house look like a tornado hit it? (here's a hint: post-it notes)
• Why do I always see things I want to photograph when I don't have my camera with me?