Mommy Messed Up!!!

I just had a heart attack courtesy of Andrew, but totally my fault!! I set Mady in her swing for just a minute while I grabbed the clothes out of the dryer. I heard Andrew (who was not in the room when I set her down) saying "My baby! My baby" and came out to see him CARRYING MADELEINE ACROSS THE KITCHEN!!

Luckily I was able to stay calm as to not spook him and make him drop her. She never made a sound and when I got her from him she was laughing. Mommy.....had a heart attack!! He was very proud of himself for bringing her to me.

For some reason today he has been very possesive of her. He has not wanted his brothers messing with her and he has been calling her either "my baby" or "My Mady".

Shame on Mommy for not buckling Mady in the swing all the way! I can guarantee you Mom has just learned her lesson!!

My queation....how did the two year old walk by his three older brothers (who tell on each other for EVERYTHING) carrying his two month old sister and NOONE NOTICED?

New Puppy

We have been back and forth for a few months on wanting to get a small dog. Paul wants one he can kayak with and I have wanted a small cute housedog. Today we went and picked one out. He is only 5 weeks old, so we can't get him for about three weeks, but he is SOOOOO cute.

We have done a lot of research on what kind of dog to get that would fit our family well. We are very active and on the go alot, so we wanted something somewhat small (but not too small with four crazy boys), but that could keep up with us. We were looking at Scotties and Westies, but from what we have read, they are not overly great with kids.

We chose a Havarnese. We had not heard of them before yesterday, but after lots of googling and talking to a breeder, we decided it sounded like the perfect breed for us. They are supposed to be fairly easy to train and they like to be family dogs.

Our little guy is adorable. We don't have a name for him yet, but we have some time to choose one. At five weeks old he is already active and attentive. When you call him he stops and looks for you. He was away from him mom for the first time while we were there today, for about 30 minutes. He was given a small rope toy for the first time to play with. Not only was he fine away from his mom, but he actually picked up the toy as soon as it was put down at him and started playing with it and growling at it.

Havarnese dogs were the original circus dogs (partially because of the ease of training them). You can get toy or minis that top out at around 3 pounds...obviously a little to fragile for our brood, or you can get them where they top out around 10 pounds, which is what we got.

Here are some pictures of ours at three weeks old. I will definently post more when we bring him home.

My Baby Doll

About as often as I get the questions about 5 kids, four boys and finally getting a girl, etc, lately I am getting comments about Madeleine looking like a doll. When I am carrying her people frequently tell me they had to do a double-take because it looked like I was carrying a baby doll.

Maybe people see me with four boys and think I have lost my mind and have decided to carry a doll with me everywhere I go.

Still HOT!!

Tomorrow will be a week without ac. It is bearable with what we have as long as we are not moving around much! That means LITTLE housework is getting done. Especially laundry. I can't get excited about running the dryer when it is 100+ degrees outside.

Do you remember that commercial where everytime the babies foot touches the floor he cries, but as soon as he is picked up off the floor he stops? That is Mady lately. Except, it is not her foot and the floor - it is her butt and her carseat. She has basically lived in her carseat the past week while we are running around trying to stay cool out of the house. Today, other than grocery shopping, we have decided to stay home and brave the heat. We ALL need a break from running around.

I talked to the VP of the warranty company today. Our AC unit was SUPPOSED to be delivered yesterday, now they are saying "sometime tomorrow", which means the earliest it can be installed is Thursday.

I will believe it when I see it!

Happy Father's Day!

(This was the best picture I could get...Noone (and I mean NOONE) in the picture wanted to cooperate and I gave up.

This is Daddy's first Father's Day with a little girl!!

Daddy got cards from all the kids. Then we got breakfast on the go and went to the first showing of Up in 3D. It was a good movie. They only have 3D glasses in one size, which was way too big for all the kids (really even big on Paul and I). We ended up using one of Madeleine's headbands around his head to hold the glasses on Andrew. It looked like he had a head injury and was wrapped from under his chin all the way over the top of his head and back around.

After the movie we went to a sporting goods store across the street. Paul is trying to get kayaks for the older three boys, but we can't find one small enough for Bryce. So, we decided to get another one that fits Paul (a sit on top this time), but that Bryce can sit in too. The one Paul already has the hole is too small for he and Bryce to both sit in.

Trying to Keep Cool

Someone Paul works with let us borrow an ac window unit. We have been moving the two around to try and cool where we are most in the house. In the mornings we have the two units in the living room, then at bedtime we move one to our room and one to one of the boys rooms.

Last night we decided to go to Home Depot and get another ac window unit and a big utility fan. Now we have two units in the living room with the big fan and one in our bedroom with a small fan. AJ and Mady are sleeping in our room and the other three are sleeping in the living room.

As you would expect, a utility fan is pretty loud. It is even louder inside the living room! However, it does an amazing job of spreading the cool air around the house. At this point we will take the extra noise for the extra coolness!

Mady's room and Caleb and Isaac's room are on the west side of the house (as is the living room). Mady's monitor in her room has a thermometer built in. Every evening it reads between 95 and 97 degrees in there. Caleb and Isaac's room actually feels hotter than hers. Those rooms are basically taped off at this point, no one goes in unless it is early morning or an emergency and the doors stayed closed!!

HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY BRYCE!!!

(he ended up choosing a smoothie instead of banana split or birthday cake...this picture was AFTER he enjoyed his Smoothie King smoothie)

Bryce decided to do things differently this year for his birthday. Earlier this week I was at Starbucks and he asked if he could have coffee on his birthday. I said he could. He tasted it, said it was good and then asked if they had smoothies. So, this morning we went to Starbucks. He got an orange mango banana smoothie. He was very grown up with his Starbucks drink!!

After Starbucks we took a drive. We have been in need of a small trailer (5x8 or 5x10) since we stopped owning trucks. Paul got a third kayak and is going to be getting a fourth (he has figured out he has a better chance of getting to go kayaking if he takes kids with him!!!). He cannot fit all of the kayaks on his Jeep anymore, so he needed a trailer to carry them in. Not to mention all of the other projects we buy lumber for and rig it on top of and inside vehicles, and the times we have to take two vehicles to get things (people in one and whatever in the second). He found a place about an hour and half away, but they close at one on Saturdays. We got a trailer and headed back home.

We saw a Toys R Us where we stopped to eat, so we let Bryce go pick out his present. We have found that for birthdays it is easier to take them to get their gifts than for us to try and pick something for them. After looking at EVERYTHING a couple of times, he chose an airplane lego set and a cargo truck lego set. He and Daddy will be putting that together this evening.

He chose Burger King for lunch, tacos for dinner and opted not to have a cake this year. Instead he wants banana splits for everyone. This is a GREAT option considering how hot it is (inside and out).

Tomorrow we are going to all go to the movies to see Up. We were going to go today, but did the trailer thing because they are not open on Sundays. I guess the movie can be a birthday/Father's Day outing.

2 Month Appointment

Mady had her two month drs appt today. She weighed 9 pounds 11 ounces (25th percentile) and was 23 inches long (just above average). She checked out great on everything. He told us we could start her on cereal if she is not sleeping well and we could also give her some water with a little juice (for flavor) if she seems to be eating extra frequently during the day or if she seems to be getting dehydrated. That might be a good think to keep in mind with no air. I am not ready to start her on cereal and overall she is doing great at night. We occasionally have nights when she doesn't sleep well, but she is still normally waking up once or twice, eating and going right back to sleep.

She got three shots and is not handling them well. She did great when she got the shot. Screamed when the shots went in, but stopped as soon as I picked her up. I had given her some Tylenol before the shots. She ate at 10 and went to sleep. She slept until 1:45 when I woke her up to feed her. She ate a little, but has mainly screamed and does not want her legs touched (which is kinda hard when she nurses :)

We go back in a month.

I forsee a LONG night!!

Still No AC

We still have no AC. A contractor for the warranty company came out this morning and diagnosed the problem (again). I called the warranty company this afternoon and they said they have had it since this morning, but they are waiting for approval. From what she said, it is as easy as someone pushing the "approved" button, but noone has done it.

Meanwhile, we spent the day at Target and the mall. Yes, we made a day of it - they have air conditioning at both places. Nice, cool, air!!!

The warranty company SAYS the ac company will do work on weekend (it will probably take at least a day to get the compressor when it gets ordered, but they can't order it until the work is approved). They also SAY that as soon as their contractor submits the work order it will be approved so the work can be done. Day two...no approval. I am guessing no air this weekend!

On the up-side....no fires so far today :)

Update: Just got off the phone with the warranty company....they are now saying we SHOULD have an answer sometime tomorrow...which is a FRIDAY....have to order a new compressor, which takes at least a day!

Bad Behavior and Jail

The boys asked me what noise pollution was the other day. I explained what it was and they asked what happens if the police have to come because of noise pollution. I told them they would get arrested. Caleb said his teacher complained one day because some kids outside kept her up late with their noise and she said next time she was calling the police..

Now, when the boys start getting loud, I can frequently just say "noise pollution" and they all get quiet!

I was reminded of this today while at Target (basically wasting time because it is air conditioned...unlike my house!). There was a group of teenagers (I would guess 16-18 years old) running around, throwing toys, bowls, books, games, etc. Basically acting like a toddler having a temper tantrum, except they were laughing about it. The employees were trying to get security to get the guys. The guys heard and took off.

They had almost hit one of my kids with a ball they were throwing, so I was already irritated at them. They were one aisle over and I loudly said "Boys, this is exactly how you should NEVER act in public." Caleb says "yeah, they look like foolish idiots". They did!!

A bit later, the guys took off running and almost ran the boys over (who were staying right with me like they are supposed to). I saw one of the employees that had been looking for them and pointed her to where they were. Her and a guy employee went to talk to them, but the guys took off out the door.

When the employees came back in, they saw me and came to apologize. I told them it was not their fault. She said these kids have been coming several times a week for the last several weeks and they always do this. There has been as many as 7 guys at one time. She said her manager said to call the police as soon as they are seen next time and have them arrested.

Now, my boys think if they don't behave in a store they will get arrested!

I am not telling them differently.

I know...I am taking advantage of the innocence of my children, but if it makes them behave better in the store....

The guy employee said he would expect and accept behavior like that from kids the boys ages. I told him there was NO WAY they would get away with an inkling of what those teenagers were doing!

Fire

Well, to top off our great day, our grill caught on fire while Paul was cooking our hamburger patties! The boys came in and told me they thought Daddy's grill was on fire because it was smoking big time. I asked if he was out there and they said he was. I figured it was just smoking from the grease, until I walked by the kitchen window and saw orange flames coming from it.

Paul was standing there the whole time and really thought the house was going to catch on fire. The ironic thing is that Saturday we were at Home Depot getting supplies to organize our storage closet outside. Paul insisted we buy a fire extinguisher. I said I didn't want to spend the $70 on it, but didn't fight too much about it. Guess what was used tonight?! Glad I didn't argue too much, otherwise our house could be burned down right now and no ac would be the least of our concerns!

On that note, Paul got down our small ac window unit. All seven of us are sleeping in our bedroom. That will be nice when the alarm goes off at 5 am and Daddy has to get ready for work! But, at 9:30 pm it is 88 degrees in the house! As Caleb put it "it feels like a bakin' oven in here!"

No AC

I always do all of my running around first thing in the morning, before nap times, lunch, kids get a chance to get in bad moods, etc. I did it as normal this morning. When I got home though, I found that our air conditioner had stopped working. This is one time I wish I had NOT done my running around early!

As I type this I am sitting outside under the fan on our back porch. I am SO thankful we have our patio furniture!! The temperature INSIDE the house is 88 degrees (I think it is 97 outside). We have a window ac from the hurricane last year, but it was in the attic and I could not get it down.

I spent most of the day going in circles with the ac company and home warranty people. When we first called the ac people to have them come out I had forgotten we had gotten a home warranty when we bought the house. Of course, the people we had come out to see what the problem was are not contracted with the warranty company. So, we now know what the problem is, but unless we want to pay $1500 out of pocket instead of $50 we have to get someone else to do the work (and pay the diagnostic fee for the company that already came out).

The piston in the compressor seizes everytime it trys to move. When it seizes it trips the breaker. Basically, they will have to replace the compressor. We have someone coming out in the morning from the warranty company. We have no idea if they will have to order the part (the first company said they had to order it).

I have figured out that Mady did not have acne. I sat here and watched her face break out and her neck has basically stayed broken out. She is getting heat rashes. Little girl (and all the boys) will have to stay in just a diaper tonight!!

Momma is VERY cranky this evening. After dealing with the oh so nice people (that are sitting in the air conditioning not caring that we don't have ac) and being hot and dealing with cranky kids....I think it might have to be an early bedtime for EVERYONE!!

30th Birthday

Tonight my hubby took me to dinner at Not Your Mama's Cafe and Tavern. YUMMY!!! I had a huge steak, loaded baked potato and salad. With fried mushrooms as an appetizer.

The funniest thing was that my boys HATE mushrooms. It has always been a big deal if they see it in food we make. Tonight, we told them they all had to taste the mushrooms to get cake. Who knew that a taste would turn into mushroom after mushroom. All four of the boys ate all of the mushrooms. It was a huge plate and they did all but lick it clean.

Paul made me a pink cake (strawberry) with pink icing (strawberry) and pink and red candy hearts. It was yummy and very pink (YAY).

As far as being 30....I am very happy with where I am in my life. I have a great husband, and beautiful family and we are all healthy. Everything else is just icing on the cake. My only wish is that my kids would stop having birthdays!

I hope I am as okay with 40 as I am with 30!

Pretty Girl

I had my follow-up appointment today. Paul picked up the boys and I took Madeleine with me. Madeleine loved all the attention she received! It was sweet though because the nurses and doctor also asked about how the boys were doing with a little sister.

Mady was awake the whole time we were there and in a very good mood. She laughed and smiled at everyone. I always call her pretty girl when I am talking to her. She smiles when she hears it. Seems like today EVERYONE was calling her pretty girl - and she smiled everytime it was said. I told them she was going to think that was her name because she hears that more than Mady or Madeleine.

But...she IS a pretty girl!

Moby Wrap

Today I bought something I wish I had bought when I was pregnant with my first, instead of my last child! I had a drs appt and while I was at the hospital I stopped in the gift shop. I had bought a sling before I had Mady, and put her in it once and decided I did not like it, so I took it back. It did not look at all comfortable for her...looked like it folded her in half.

She still really prefers to snuggle and be against us and I really need some free hands from time to time. So, I finally broke down and bought the Moby Wrap. I looked at this with Andrew, but I didn't want to spend the money on it. It was worth the money and I have only had it for a few hours! There are many different ways to use this. We have tried four or five ways and there was only one she may not have liked (not sure if it was the wrap or the fact she was hungry...or both). The first way I put her in it, she was crying before I put her in. Once I got her in she instantly stopped crying and fell asleep.

I have two free hands, it is comfortable and most importantly Mady seems to LOVE it! I might need to get a second one for when she poops or throws up on this one!

MRE's

Daddy brought home a box of MRE's (like soldiers eat). Someone at the office gave it to him. The boys wanted to eat one, so he let them pick out one. They picked out the chili and macaroni.

The older three each ate some of the chili and mac. Caleb ate a toaster strudel, Bryce and Isaac had some bubble gum and wheat "bread" with cheese and jalapeno sauce, Andrew ate the apple sauce and Mom ate the Skittles :)

All and all they said it was all good.

Then....

about 30 minutes after they ate it, Caleb went to the bathroom. When he came out he says "MRE's are not intended for kids!"

Chili probably wasn't the best pick either.

Gotta Brag

Last weekend I went somewhere alone with each of the kids. Nothing big, or really even fun, but some one on one time. Caleb went grocery shopping with me. Without being asked or told he helped three elderly ladies (at different times). One was trying to get some 12 packs of sodas that were way in the back. He crawled back and got what she needed. Same type of thing with the other two.

I was very proud of him to step up and help on his own. The ladies were very appreciative also.

Another Life Lesson

Some lessons are harder than others!

Our cat Grace (the boys called her Gray Gray) ran away. The boys are HORRIBLE about closing the door behind themselves and anytime the cat saw the door opened she tried to go out it. She apparently slipped out unnoticed one of the times it was left open and we have not seen her in three days. She is good at hiding out (what animal wouldn't be in a house full of kids), but would normally come out when she heard her food. I realized yesterday morning that I had not seen her since late Sunday night. I think she got out Monday morning. I was in and out getting stuff ready to leave and kids were following and not closing doors.

I am not as broken up about it as I should be! Yes, Mom and Dad...I realize I am the one that used to bring home the stray animals. But I was little then with little responsiblities. I am a big girl now with LOTS of big girl responsibilities, so one less is not so heart-breaking for me.

It is sad that is comes so closely after one of our dogs dying though.

I would like to make it clear that I am not responsible for the death or disappearance of either animal! Just bad luck, I guess! I have attempted to find the cat. We have driven around the neighborhood, we have walked around the neighborhood and I go out off and on all day calling for her. She was an alley cat before we got her and chances are pretty good that she went back to her alley cat ways. With any luck she will return home, but....

HOPEFULLY, this will teach the kids to close the door behind them!

Growing Baby

My pretty girl is growing :( This past weekend she had to move up to size one diapers and while they are still a little big, she is wearing her 0/3 month clothes (at almost two months old). I am loving that she is starting to fit into these clothes though because I am ready to do some serious dressing up!!

Luckily, so far anyway, she tolerates Mommy's dress up session very well!! I will enjoy it while I can!

Zoo and Jail

AJ loved seeing the monkeys. He talked monkey talk and then translated it to "Andrew English" He waved at them and told them all hi and bye. It was very cute. I think this is the first time he has been that he really understood and enjoyed it.

This is how Mady spent her first trip to the zoo. I don't blame her...I would love to have someone pushing me, while napping in a shady stroller!

I took the kids to the zoo this morning. We got our annual zoo membership, which in this family almost completely pays for itself in one visit. The pass was $40 and the entrance fee is $6 per adult and $5 per kid! Smarter to pay the $8 extra dollars and get in free for a year!

The kids had fun and were very well behaved. I told them on the way that when Mady started getting fussy we had to leave (she sleeps a 3-4 hour stretch in the mornings). I also took the double stroller and told AJ that if he would stay with me he did not have to sit, but if he ran off he had to have his seat belt on. He stayed with me the whole time and got in and out of his seat as he wanted. When Mady did start fussing the boys told me it was time to go and we could come back another time to see the rest of the zoo.

On the way to the zoo there were prisoners picking up trash. The boys were asking why a van that had a trailer with a portapotty was following the people picking up trash. I explained that they were prisoners and when they have good behavior they are allowed to pick up trash but they are not allowed to go anywhere or do anything else and they have to be watched at all times. I also explained that because they are not allowed to go anywhere else, if they have to potty they have to use a porta potty on a trailer at the side of the road. Caleb's take on this...."well I guess it is worth being bad in jail."

Hmmmm....how about "I guess it pays to have good behavior OUT of jail so you don't end up in jail?"

Stop and Smell the Roses

or eat them

Sweet Enough to Eat

Gifts From God

(the only important gift in my life that is missing from this picture is my great husband - we REALLY need to get some family pics now that the family is complete!)

I have been wanting to do this post for over a month, but I have had a hard time putting my emotions into words. This morning I heard the dj on the radio talking about the struggles she went through to have her son and after 20 years of trying, drs were able to help her get pregnant. Then less than two years later she got pregnant on her own. She was talking about how she really prayed about it, even when she had given up on having a baby.

While I was very fortunate to not have fertility problems and healthy pregnancies and babies, I had my own struggle. Please don't get me wrong, I love my boys more than my life, but I always felt like something was missing. My family did not feel complete, even though we had decided after Andrew it WAS complete! We had decided that AJ was our last baby, but I never stopped praying that I would have a girl. Just like the dj on the radio, I prayed and prayed for Madeleine. Even after we "completed" our family, I kept praying. It is not that I was being selfish, I just in my heart of hearts felt as though we were supposed to have a girl (maybe I was being selfish too...I don't know).

When we worked with the two year old class at our church in Bryant, the girls in the class always gravitated towards Paul. It was hard to see him interact with the girls in such a different way than the boys. I was so used to seeing him make airplanes and play rough with the kids that it was strange to see him sitting down coloring and drawing everything the girls asked (he does this with the boys too, but not as much as "boy" things) and playing kitchen and babydolls. I don't really know how to explain it, but it was different.

I think God wanted to teach me who was in control. This is something that I have really had to work on in my life. I turn things over to God, but I have a tendency to decide he is not doing anything about it or he just needs me to help him get started on taking care of things. In short, I take it back from God and decide I can do a better job. If Paul had not traveled so much for work when we were in Arkansas, we would not have been able to have any kids after AJ. But he was never home long enough to "take care of things" ;) When we moved to Louisiana so he could be home with us, he was at a new job and could not easily take off work. By the time he could, I was pregnant. At the time I did not see any of this. I did not see that God WAS working, in HIS own way and own time - not mine.

Honestly, I prefer God's timing (with this one anyway) :)

Without a bigger miracle than the one we have already had, we can't have more babies now. I remember how hard that was for me to accept after Andrew...before anything was even done. I can honestly say, I am at peace with that now. I feel like my family is complete. I cannot imagine things being any different than they are right now. If God wants pull off a miracle and give us another baby, that is what He is in the business of doing and we will glady accept that.

I think I have grasped the giving it to God and letting Him KEEP it thing. I am sure I will slip and try to take things back again, but my daughter is a CONSTANT reminder that I need to let Him be in control because He does everything for a reason. Even if I don't understand the reason at the time, in the long run.... think of what we would have missed if we were in control of these situations.

I have four wonderful boys that I have so enjoyed watching grow. Now I have a gorgeous, sweet baby girl. I try to think of my daughter-in-laws to come when we raise the boys, now I will try to think of my son-in-law when we raise our daughter. As much as I have enjoyed my daughter, there is nothing I enjoy more than watching her Daddy with her. It is such a sweet relationship between a Daddy and his daughter. I have always loved the song Cinderella, but the first time I heard it after we had Mady, I cried through the whole song.

I wanted to put this post on here so badly because I don't want it to take 30 years for my kids to learn this VERY important lesson. I know I will slip. I will have my bad days. They will too. But God forgives us and doesn't give up on us, no matter what.

I truely believe the kids teach me as much as I teach them. I must have had a LOT to learn (that is why He gave me five kids!!) They each have their own personality and they each bring something different to our lives...including different lessons.

I feel truely blessed that God has given us our wonderful kids and hope that I can make Him proud of how we raise them. I am also blessed that I can stay home and be there for everything they do. It can be so overwhelming sometimes, but when you get to see all of your child's first and you get to see them come home from school excited about something they acheived or something new they learned it is SO worth the frustrating times.

I want my kids to know they are truely gifts of God and I could not ask for anything more than what I have. I am incredibly lucky and I love them all very much!

BOYS! (Insert exasperated sigh here)

This morning I had several errands I had to run for Paul and a couple for me. About half way through running our errands, I ran in to Babies R Us to exchange some diapers. As we are walking in Bryce decided to see how hard he could stomp on a bbq container (like what you get at McDonalds).

Let me tell ya....he can stomp pretty hard. So hard, in fact, that it ALL landed on MY leg and brand new shoes. MOMMA WASN'T HAPPY!!!

If you were at one of the places I walked into after this happened, and you suddenly started craving bbq chicken....I apologize. It was me, wearing my newest brand of perfume. A little bit of sweetness and a little bit of smokey...makes me smell
bar-b-licious!

Another story for my life with boys!

Patio Furniture

We FINALLY got some patio furniture. I was so excited to have it delivered yesterday. We have been looking for quite some time, but have had a hard time finding something we like that was not outrageously priced. Actually, it appears that patio furniture as a whole is priced crazy, but we wanted to REALLY like what we spent the money on!

This is all we have so far. We are now looking for a love seat, two chairs and end tables to put under the roof on the patio.

We opted not to get a larger table that the whole family could fit at because we did not want the whole patio full of furniture. I think we will get a picnic table and put whereever we put their play area.

So, this is where I will be spending my summer while the kids play. :)

June's Weather

I need to be a weatherman. This was seriously the weather report I just heard for our area for the month of June.


Hurricane season through November 30th, possibilities of hurricanes

HOT and will stay hot

could be thundery

could be showery

WOW!!!! I wonder how much research they had to do for that forecast.

The Irony

Paul is in Toronto Canada eating at places called Lone Star and Baton Rouge.

HMMMM.....

Flowerbed Friend

One of the things the kids and Paul like about our house is the "wildlife" (as Caleb calls it) that live outside. We have many types of frogs, toads and lizards that enjoy our massive flowerbeds that are all the way around the house. And, tons of birds of different kinds (the finches love to sit in our chimney cover...very annoying when they echo down the chimney at sunrise! Then there of course, are the mice we are again battling this year. Luckily they are only outside (knock on wood), but gross and annoying nonetheless.

Last week I found some "wildlife" that I actually like. One wall in my dining room is a HUGE window. When I open the blinds, the cat likes to sit in the windowsill. She has seen a mouse outside and gone crazy trying to get through the window before. Last week I saw her in attack mode. I figured there was a mouse, but I went to see what she was seeing anyway. It was a rabbit!

Since the first time I saw it, he has scared me to death on any number of occasions. When I am standing on the front porch he likes to run from one flowerbed to another right in front of me. Twice he has run over my feet. We have had guys putting curbing in around our flowerbeds and it is obviously disturbing our little bunny friend and making him nervous.

This evening, while I was doing dishes, I looked out the kitchen window and saw him sitting on the driveway. By the time I dried my hands and picked up the camera he was hopping off. I managed to get a picture of him and cropped it to where you could see him. Sorry the picture sucks, but I was trying to hurry and the window has a screen on it.

Cabinet Locks

Our pantry is the type that has cabinet doors. Today I had to go buy locks for them :(

Andrew has started helping himself to whatever in the pantry. Instead of sitting at the pantry or the table though, he walks all over the house with his loot. After cleaning up cereal dust from all throughout the house, I decided it was time to lock it up. He really likes getting out the vinegar and I don't want that spilled all over my house!

We also have a child that likes to take food and hide it. Of course it is only sweet food that he takes. I found a whole box worth of fruit snacks in the bathroom trash can. I caught him in the act of stealing someone elses candy last night....which he KNEW was not his and we have had MANY discussions about him taking the food.

So, tonight when they noticed there were locks on the pantry, he acted shocked. He wanted to know WHY there were locks on the pantry and WHY all the candy had disappeared. I just looked at him and he quickly said "nevermind".

Now I can be out of the livingroom/kitchen for more than 30 seconds without having to worry about food disappearing.

Mady's Appt

I took Madeleine in to the dr this morning just to make sure her broke out face was baby acne. Of course, her face looked better this morning than it has looked in over a week!

It is baby acne, although the dr said they have been asked to no longer call it acne because it makes parents think their children are predisposed to acne as a teenager. Aren't MOST teenagers predisposed to acne in their teenage years? Anyways, she gave me some tips to help when it is really bad.

In other news from the dr....Madeleine gained a pound in 12 days!! She is the same length so I guess she is pudging out now! Maybe her 0-3 month clothes will start fitting her now!

The dr and the nurse commented on how much she laughs. She was in a very good mood while we were there and did lots of talking and laughing. They ate her up!

I took all five kids with me to the dr. I must say, they were very well behaved (yes, this is surprising the way the last week has been!). The exam room only has two chairs, but Isaac and Bryce nicely shared a chair and Andrew was in the stroller.