Oh the joys of the last days of April

The entire month of April is a crazy one as far as my family goes. There are somewhere around 18 birthdays!!!! Of those, we usually are part of 5 parties, 2 of those I get to play hostess (Ashtyn's and mine, which are generally celebrated the same day). Saturday was my birthday, Ashtyn's birthday party day and Jeremy's going away party night. Um, busy much?! Yeah. I don't do the one party thing anymore, all of our parties have become multi-party parties. But, anyway, Ashtyn had a blast, I enjoyed myself (Thanks for the Dos Equis Brucie) and Jeremy had a tough night, or should I say morning. My cake came out pretty good. I was killing myself trying to come up with decorating ideas. Shrek, Dora, Sponge Bob, My Little Pony, ZuZu pets, blag blah blah.... I'm tired of that kind of stuff. I like the self designed stuff better. If I'm making it then I want it something I made, not Disney or Nickelodeon made.


Sadly, pictures of the cake are basically all I have for photos. I was too busy running around and forgot to snag my mom's photos before she went home. I didn't even get a picture of the cake Sue got for me (which was awesome by the way, Thank You!!!)
Our "Night of Mayhem" was a lot quieter than expected but Jeremy did fire up his chainsaw at 1am to cut up pallets for our very little "bon fire" (I married a redneck). His little shindig was the usual crowd: Me and Jeremy, Brian, Sam (his wife Rene was here for a while and even got to witness me kick Sam's butt in a very random wrestling match....Sam won the 3rd round, but I won 2 out of 3 HAHA), Chris showed up and decided to be "smart" and not drive home...problem was he didn't call his wife to let her know...dummy, I told you so.....and then Jeremy's friend from work Chris and his wife Tracy, and "T-Bone" aka Mack (who "tackled" our F-350) came for a bit and Justin and Crystal. Its sad and funny, as I'm writing this and re-reading it I'm seeing how redneck we really are.....I'm not sure how that happened.....yikes. All in all it was a good night, and day, and I think the fact that about half of the people I invited showed up was actually a good thing. The little crew of us just sat around our mini bonfire and shot the breeze until we were too tired to speak and went to bed.
Reality set back in today and it was work as usual. My morning kid pulled a no call no show, so it was just me and my girls until my afternoon kid showed up around 3:30. Jeremy moves up to camp in 4 days!!!! I'm sad, scared, horrified, and hoping somehow this all works out. My house has yet to be shown, let alone sold. I don't do the two-weeks-without-seeing-my-husband thing. I'm not a fan of the idea to be honest. I only have to deal with it for 5 weeks......hopefully those 5 weeks fly by.

Happy Birthday Jolene!

Ha ha!

Dad-In-Law's 50th birthday party pics

Just a warning or whatever.... the butt shots and cleavage shots (they are covered by clothing) are from Travis taking my camera.....and all the middle fingers are either Travis or Sam being "awesome"... there are around 270 pictures and I don't have time to go through all of them....so you may see quite a few dumb pics...sorry.... there are a few not posted due to my own reasons..... sometimes I'm nice :) .... your welcome Uncle John ;)



Number 1:

Number 2:

Number 3:

Number 4:

Number 5:

Chaotic as always

I have been so busy lately I feel like I don't have the time to breathe. Between trying to get my house up for sale, dealing with my high school reunion stuff, taking care of 8 kids, my own family stuff, birthday parties, Ashtyn's school fundraising stuff, class meetings, jeep meetings, loading-driving-unloading-carrying dowstairs-and stacking 4 tons of pellets so we don't freeze to death this winter, child care workshops, random charity things I'm working on and my fundraiser for Shriners Hospital..... I'm pooped. So for all of you who are disappointed I haven't put up any birthday pictures yet, here's a small glimpse of it and the rest of last week.

Our last "almost warm" day..... Taylor and Ashtyn decided that mud in your hair is "fun".......oh yeah, it tastes good too???


We went out to eat (Jeremy the girls and myself) as a family!!!!! And had dinner at Athen's (our favorite local pizza place) for Taylor's birthday. On our way home Jeremy stopped at his parents to say hi only to find out the cake I smelt cooking earlier was made special for Taylor, so we all went in for some monster cherry chocolate cake. Taylor liked the cherries more than anything and I think she was a bit disappointed that there were no cherries on the cake I made for her.


Auntie Julie, Ashtyn, Taylor and me before the party


I think this balloon, from Zane and "Uncle" Travis, was Taylor's favorite present... she still won't leave it alone.


Taylor half way through the party.....she was so tired she laid down to eat her birthday cake


Taylor and Ashtyn have been fighting to see who can spend the most time on the hobby horse "Grammy and Grampa" picked up for the girls.....and me(....I'm the one that wanted it....but obviously for them to have fun on)

Notice my stupid window is STILL broken.....as if my to-do list wasn't long enough, there's something else I forgot about.

And last but not least.... Ashtyn "allowed" me to take a picture of her...... She found out that food coloring doesn't taste as cool as it looks..... and its not the food coloring that makes frosting sweet....

Every kid wants a giant cupcake cake

This cake is ridiculously large


It doesn't look all that big, but it took 5 boxes of mix


I know Ashtyn is in love with the frosting......I just hope the cake itself tastes good.....and it makes it 'til tomorrow

Happy Birthday "Mayhem"

My little Mayhem is 1 today.....at 8:08am. 365 days ago she hurt me in more places and ways than I ever thought imaginable (and yes, this was my second delivery) She has made up for that pain and suffering a million times over by being an awesome, happy healthy and perfect little angel. And because of her I'm able to meet people I never would have met and do things I never would have done if it weren't for her. Thanks for the trip to Holland. I love you Scooter. Happy first birthday baby girl!


Anyone I forgot in my mass emailing....the party's Saturday at 2 at our house.

Busy, busy, busy....As always

Last Wednesday we went to the petting zoo again and went blueberry picking since the strawberries are done. Jessi and her kids joined us as did Amie and her son. As usual, the kids ate more berries than they picked. But they all had a blast with the animals again. This time they all managed to find peacock feathers on the ground so they got some souvenirs. We had a little PB&J picnic there too which was nice. Thursday morning I drove out to Springfield to pick up the new-to-us brush hog Sue bought for the tractor. I wish I took before pics of it..... bright red, a hint of surface rust, but in all around good shape. Saturday the thing kicked my butt. I grinded and sanded and painted and now my arms feel like they're going to fall off. It now has not even a speck of rust and is Kubota orange (to match the tractor...and the backhoe)...who says you can't be a hick and fashionable at the same time. Then on Sunday....Jeremy, the kids and I made the 2 1/2 hour trek up to Winnipesaukee and surprised my Mom, Dave, Ryan and Julie for Julie's birthday. We surprised everyone else that showed up too. The last time we were up there was 387 days ago...(July 4, 2008)...this was Taylor's first trip to Alton. We all had a great time. Ashtyn had a tea party with Grand Ma Ma and Papa...which no one else was allowed to join in.... And both kids just loved every ounce of never ending attention. The ride home they weren't so happy about but...that's expected. Tomorrow, its going to be almost 90 degrees out and SUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!! So we are planning a swimming adventure. Scary stuff right there.....my white bum in a bathing suit....and in public. Yikes.

The quarter century mark

Happy Birthday to my "baby" sister...... We love you Julie!!!

Rain Sucks!

I think it has rained every single day since April 26th. 12 days! I'm sick sick sick of it. It makes me cranky and puts me into cabin fever mode. All I want to do is sleep. The kids are nuts when its like this. They've both been sick since the 26th too we've done NOTHING and gone NO WHERE and it needs to end NOW! That's another thing that has irritated me for the last 2 weeks: Taylor had a wicked nasty cough and a slight fever. I let it go for a few days thinking it would pass, hopefully quickly, and I really didn't want to drag her to the doctors. Its not that I don't like the kids' pediatrician, I do, he's awesome, I just hate feeling like I'm one of those Mom's who freak out at every little sniffle. But after 3 days of coughing and crying, the pukey diareah showed up and Jeremy said I needed to bring her in. So my immediate thought is: Oh my god, if he says to get her in, I should have done it 3 or 4 days ago. This is the guy who didn't go to the doctors when he cut off his finger....Popsicle stick and duct tape "cured" it......REDNECK..... anyway, so I call the doctor and they get her in at 4:30 that evening, ears look good, throat looks good, no wheezing or anything in her lungs, and the kid didn't friggin cough once. I was not impressed where this was going. "she's fine, but call us if she gets a fever" Give me a f-ing break. So I pack the kids up to go home, pissed off. No sooner do I get outside, Taylor starts hacking and crying. Give me a break! So I get back home and listen to coughing, crying and screaming. So the next morning, about 6:30, she's warm. Jeremy goes to work, still oblivious I brought the kids to the doctor, and I frantically look for a thermometer. I find one, stick it under her armpit, 94 degrees....oh, so my kids a Popsicle! I find another one, I stick it in her ear, 95.1, again my kid has hypothermia. I find the "butt one" 96....so at least she's getting warmer. Then low and behold, I find a bandy-dandy new one. Please let this one work. Into the butt we go, and 102. Finally. So I call the doctors office. "He's not here today....want me to call Springfield for you" seeing how my only alternative is the ER, and this ER would let you bleed to death before giving you a bandaid, yeah, please call whoever. So she calls them and calls me back. 4:30 appointment. So I package up the kids again. Drive 30 minutes to the other doctors office. Wait FOREVER and then finally the doctor shows up, has a nurse take her temperature, check her O2 stats, the doctor comes back "she has a minor fever 100.8, give her some Tylenol", which the nurse then did and sent us on our way home again. Again I'm pissed. I'm pissed that Taylor didn't cough for the doctor AGAIN and I'm pissed that "She's fine".... she's not fine. Saturday comes and goes, this was the day of the March for Babies and Ashtyn's birthday party, I have been religiously checking Taylor's temp every hour or so. All I kept thinking was of Dee's little girl getting sick the summer Ashtyn was born, being repeatedly told she was fine and then passing away on the ride to another attempt at a doctors visit. I kept trying not to over react and look at it rationally, but that morning Ashtyn started in with a cough. At first we all thought it was a joke to get cough drops. But the cough remained all weekend. Monday, I call the girls pediatrician's office again. The evil fill-in-secretary:"he's busy and doesn't have any time today" WRONG ANSWER! Ever so calmly "you look here, I brought my baby in on Thursday, brought her to Springfield on Friday. Its now Monday and now BOTH of my girls are sick" "Both of your kids are sick?" ever so meekly. YESSSSSSS! "Oh. well, I'll tell and have her give you a call" Great. So I wait. Tick tick tick. 2 minutes have gone by....the phone rings. I tell her whats going on, she rescheduled someone's well child check up thing, and we needed to get our tushies over to their office. So we pack up and run over there. Now: Ashtyn has a pretty bad ear infection and bronchitis/bronchiolitis (whatever... phlemmy coughing yuck) and little miss Taylor has an ear infection in BOTH EARS and the same bronchio...whatever. Finally, I'm not insane, they aren't FINE. Some antibiotics prescriptions and we're homeward bound again. Ashtyn's med's are the 4 day kind and Taylor gets the 10 day. At this point Ashtyn has not said a word about her ear hurting. As soon as the meds are gone. "my ear hurts" sure it does, she just wants more medicine..... So I ask what ear hurts.... she points to her left one. Motherffffffffffer. Sure enough, that's the one that had the ear infection. So I have no idea if its still there or what. But today I get to drag them over to the doctors for our 4th trip in 14 days to attempt at making it through Ashtyn's 3 year well child check up and then both of them will get a recovery check up. At least they're smooshing the 3 appointments into one for me.....I hate the rain. Have I told you that lately. You wouldn't be reading this crap if we were outside doing something fun. GRRRRRRR

Pics of the day

Its over....finally

I had almost no sleep last night and am currently running on the 15 million ounces of caffeine I poured down my throat today. Team Chaos and Mayhem pulled off our goal and then some for the March of Dimes March for Babies fundraiser today. Travis and Sam were undoubtedly hungover but they were in brighter spirits (and shape overall) than I was today. I was late...big surprise..... but we did it. Our initial goal was $500, which Jessi killed her first day of donation seeking, so I raised our goal to $800 (I didn't want to go too high since donors were starting to lag)... but we doubled that today too. We raised $1576!!!! Not too shabby for only 2(ish) weeks. I was pretty surprised. The walk was from 10-12 and then it was back to the homestead for final steps in the pre-party process. And Ashtyn's birthday party went very well. Part of the reason for no sleep last night was because Julie and I were up until 1:30am decorating Ashtyn's cake which tasted delicious and looked pretty good for 2 girls who have no idea how to decorate a cake. The weather was awesome... a bit too hot, but we finally got to use the swimming pool we got her 2 years ago which the kids all loved. Pepere and Nonna gave her a wonderful playhouse. My dad.... aka Pepere, built it to resemble our camp. It came out awesome. She got tons of kitchen and fake food things to put in her new house. And a beautiful princess ball gown with shoes from Grandmama and Papa. I still haven't even actually scene half of the gifts since I was dealing with Taylor and everything else but she is spoiled spoiled spoiled. There were so many kids here today and I don't think there was a single episode of bickering, whining, fighting, nothing. Everyone was completely awesome. This one little girl, who I met today for the first time, completely blew me away. She was absolutely in love with Taylor's little hand. She kissed her "smiley" a bunch of times and acted like it was the coolest thing she'd ever seen. Yet again reassuring me that Taylor will be fine. I'm still waiting for the day some little bully picks on her.... I'm really waiting to see how bad she pummels anyone who dares to pick on her, but either way...it will someday happen. Just not today. Today would not have happened without all the help from my family. They tied up all the loose stings I forgot about or just couldn't pull off and helped out so much. Lisa, Mom, Dave, Ryan, Julie, Dad, Jess, Bryan and my hubby Jeremy Thank you all for your help. Thank you everyone who Marched today. Thank you everyone who donated. And thank you to everyone who joined us today. This week has sucked, today was awesome and finally...its over.....now I can get some sleep

Where did the time go?

Spoiled Much

So somehow last night my husband and his parents got talking about Ashtyn's birthday coming up and what she would want for her big number 3. Well, by the end of the conversation, Sue handed Ron the credit card, said "you make the call". He then handed the card to Jeremy and told him to go for it and the three of them tee-heed themselves silly until they called me up to inform me of the purchase. Apparently my sly hubbie informed them of everyone else's dis-interest in contributing towards an ATV for her so Ron and Sue said they'd get it. Um spoiled much!?! My kids (well Ashtyn anyway....Taylor's too young to care still) are spoiled rotten. It is partially because they have agreed (at least for now) that we're not having a Christmas this year....at least not with gifts anyway. So anyway, now I have to figure out where to hide this thing until the end of April..... and I mean hide it from Sue not Ashtyn.... Sue's going to show it to her the first chance she has and Ron and I agree she should have to wait until her birthday...and Jeremy and I need time to get her a helmet and riding gear. Ashtyn is going to freak out when she sees this thing. April 22 can't get hear fast enough. And yes its PINK!!!!! And Jeremy actually is responsible for that...shocker!!!