Day 9

I am pretty sure the ring of dirt in my bathtub is permanent. Out of the 4 bathrooms in our house, for some odd reason, my tub is the tub of choice when it comes to washing away the willies...and the kids always leave a gritty mess in the bottom. And now that summer is here, the itty bitty toes are especially dirty. Couple the dirt with the remains of slathered on sunscreen and you've got one hell of a mess.

I am really hoping Sam doesn't come down with a nasty case of salmonella in the next day or so--he helped me whip a dozen eggs this morning for breakfast and before I could stop him, he lifted the whip to his mouth and took a great big lick. Ewww. I'm kidding about the salmonella thing as he's ingested so much raw cookie dough in his day that I'm sure he's immune to it! (as is his mom!:)

I think I'll call it a night and head upstairs for dinner...the troops are getting restless because they are starving, of course. The plan is to watch 'Untraceable' after the little ones are sound asleep, but then again, I was invited to a birthday bash with some girlfriends tonight--and it's at a bar, so maybe I'll head there instead!

G'night!

Day 8

Since I started my back-to-school-countdown on the last day of school, today marks one week...or 8 days, but who's counting?

I am running on fumes right now, so I apologize for grammatical errors and boringness. (see?)

Today was actually a really good day! It started out with a trip to the doctor for Eli and Caleb's camp physicals. Then to the grocery store for produce, and of course, Starbucks. Then to Wal-Mart for yet more groceries, 2 birthday gifts, and 3 prescriptions. I'm sure you're thinking that I have gone a little more off my rocker--hello? Since when does going to the store(s) make for a great day? Nope, it was after all that the fun began :)

The kids and I were invited to a sponaneous 'water fun' party at a friend's house up the street. The kids had blast squirting each other with water guns and tossing around water balloons...but, I think the moms (all 3 of us) had the most fun. I'll just say that 3 pitchers of frozen mudslides were involved. How could there NOT be fun?

To top it all off, one of the moms I was with today won tickets to see a showing of Sex and The City. AND, she offered up her son and husband to watch ALL of my kids! A free movie and childcare? Yay me! I've never been a huge fan of the Sex and The City series, but the movie was a complete hoot and I REALLY needed some great big gleeful belly laughs.

I am happy to report a very decent day here. Now, let's hope for more of the same tomorrow...

Day 7: One week Down, Almost

Tomorrow marks a week since the last school bell rang. Wow. It's been unreal. Really!

It's been a pretty good day so far today. We went to a friends house to hang out all morning and the kids had a blast playing with the other kids. Said 'friend' (I really don't know her all that well) has 4 kids and seems just as, if not more, dysfunctional than me! Score! Just kidding...really, it's nice to know that I am not the only mom that goes a little crazy sometimes.

I went to a financial counselor yesterday to talk about getting onto a debt management program. We went over all of the necessary information and at the end, the counselor said that in her opinion, we would be "better off filing for bankruptcy". Turns out (as if I didn't already know) that we are in the hole almost $1800 every month. There is no way I can make that up on my own unless I work full time to come up with the deficit and then work a part time job to pay for daycare while I work full time! It really feels like we are trapped with no real way out. When I told hubby what I was told, I could tell he was feeling really bad about it. He knows that his getting fired from his well paying job over 2 years ago put us in this tailspin, so I did not mention it again. Really, I have learned that it does no good to rub that in his face.

Ironic thing is, it will cost us $1200+ to go through a bankruptcy attorney. How weird is that--'We know you're broke enough to have to file bankruptcy, so fork over the money so we can file for you'. Ah...whatever.

Life goes on, right?

Signing off as the kids are on the move and are yelling the roof off the house.

Day 6: Unoriginal, I Know

I know I said a few days back that I wouldn't number all of my posts this summer, but I think I'll take that back. Besides, it wouldn't be a countdown without numbers, now would it?

Today was a looooonnnng day. I think all of the fog and drizzle we woke up to made it a weird day from the start. Not much of record went on though, unless you count Abbey (the dog) running away at least 4 times. I swear that dog drinks rocket fuel, because she is super hard to catch when she's gone off on a 'run'. I don't know what she finds so appealing about galavanting around the neighborhood--at first, I thought maybe she had a love interest, but seeing as she darts in a different direction each time, I doubt it. Oh well, at least the kids got a ton of exercise chasing after her today.

Sam colored all over the wall and himself this afternoon. I was quite shocked to see him sporting hot pink and purple stripes and swirls all over his face. Hmmm, come to think of it, maybe Gracie did the coloring? Couple that with the green clay they smeared onto the wall, and I suppose I'll have to make a day of it to get the cleaning done. Magic erasers are the best invention. Ever.

Signing off to get back to life...

Day 5...Really?

It seems like the kids have been home for more like FIFTY days...not just five! I can't imagine how long it'll feel when they've actually been home for fifty days. Repeat after me: I love my kids. I love being a mom. I love my kids. I love being a mom. I love summer vacation, uh, wait, that's taking it a little too far :)
I do love my kids though--and I do love being a mom.

I worked today, so I got to have an 'escape' for a while. Things were pretty calm when I got home as well. Sam was sleeping, Gracie was at the neighbors house, Eli was up the street at a friends--but, never fear, Caleb and Josh were here, noisy enough to make up for the absence of the rest of the kids. It was happy, joyful, getting along noise though, so I can't complain. It's almost nice to not have so many things to do and places to be. Sometimes doing nothing and moving at a snail's pace is actually a good thing!

Hubby was off to work within minutes of my return from work, so not much said there. We are hanging tough and muddling through this mess of our lives and marriage. I have to make an effort to choose my words to hubby more carefully, but I know that effort will pay off HUGE in the long run. It really shouldn't be hard to say nice,respectful things to one another, should it? No, it shouldn't...and fortunately, it's getting easier as the days go by.

Signing off to finish up the dishes and laundry--and hopefully kick back and watch a movie called 'Bella'.

Tune in tomorrow, for more of these are the Days Of Our Lives :)

Day 4: All Out War

Sleepovers are evil. Maybe it's not so much the sleepover itself, but rather the day after when the kid is so tired from not sleeping enough that he's a complete bear. Caleb slept over at a friends house on Saturday night, and he came home a complete emotional wreck. He went to bed at 4pm and didn't get up until this morning at 6:30.
Funny (not!) thing is though, he's still cranky.

The boys have been battling it out all day. Push came to shove between Eli and Caleb, and the PlayStation ended up being hit by a flying pillow and knocked to the ground, damaged of course. The look of terror in Caleb's eyes when he saw what he had done was almost enough to not punish him. Almost. What is it with these boys and their fighting? Somebody, anybody, PLEASE tell me it gets better? And if it doesn't get any better, please LIE to me and tell me it does.

Summer camp is less than 2 weeks away...summer camp is less than 2 weeks away...summer camp is less than 2 weeks away... (said in a chant like manner)

Day 3,403--I mean, Day 3

It's Sunday. Again. We all know how pleasant Sundays are around here. It started off as usual, bright and early, with me anyway. Hubby got to lounge in bed much longer than the rest of us, of course. I dealt with making breakfast, changing diapers, breaking up fights and cleaning it all up--by myself. Oh joy of joys.

Darn it. There I go again, complaining. I guess just nevermind the sarcasm in the paragraph above. It's just my frayed nerves talking. Sorry Hubby, I do love you, but you are driving me crazy.

Anyway, hubby was in one of his 'moods', right off the bat, so I packed up the kids and went to the park. It was all well and good until 10 minutes into spinning on the merry-go-round Josh announces that he has to go to the bathroom. I quickly scanned the park for a Porta-John or even a tree...none. So, off we went. I was feeling sort of adventurous, and quite honestly not wanting to go home to face He-Man, so I made the decision to stop off at Taco Bell for a bite to eat and for the use of their 'facilities'. Amazingly, the kids were actually very well behaved except when Gracie and Josh were doing flips on the handrails by the cashier.
Even Sam sat, in his own little way, and ate his cheese roll-up in peace.

Since lunch went so well, I decided to take the kids to the movies. I KNOW! You must be thinking the worst of me...seeing as I've gone crazy and all. I did think ahead and made the decison to take Sam home to nap with Hubby and not take him though. I'm not that crazy. The rest of us went to the local $1.50 theater and saw 'College Road Trip'. It was quite funny, although I could not get Josh to sit still in his seat. He would not stop tapping his feet on the ground and kicking the (empty) seat in front of him. I also could not get Gracie to stop stealing candy from her brothers and then whining about it when the protested. BUT, the experience wasn't half bad, especially when you compare it to other outings we have had.

Hubby is still a grouch, even though he won't admit it, so I am hiding out in the basement for now.

I suppose I'd better get something going for dinner, or more complaints will be voiced here shortly...

Keep praying for me and my sanity! How many days left until August 11th?