It's finally over!!!

Christmas was crazy as usual. The kids devour their presents as soon as they are allowed to open them. I woke them up at 8am (yes, that's correct, I woke them up) and made them come down to eat something. Of course, no one was hungry. Harrison did eat one powdered donut and drink a little milk, but the other two had basically nothing. Grandma and Grandpa Neville arrived and all they cared about were the presents.

The opening commenced. Overall, I think they were all pleased with their gifts. Ian especially who proclaimed, "this is the best Christmas ever!" Taryn got her Nintendo DS (and a total of six games I believe) and a My Twinn doll that looks like her. Ian got an iPod and the Playstation portable (PSP) he's been wanting for several years. Thanks to his aunts and uncles for iTunes gift cards. And Harrison got the Smart Cycle and the Click Start, neither of which he has mastered and he quickly became interested in lesser gifts. Nonetheless, he spent most of the day drifting from toy to toy, including those that weren't even his.

I was so exhausted I spent most of the day in the recliner, half sleeping or actually sleeping . I've come to the conclusion that giving blood on Friday must have dropped my iron level really low because ever since then I have been absolutely drained. I fell asleep in the recliner Friday and Saturday nights and could easily have gone to bed at 8pm this evening as well, even after napping most of the day. I ate some Cream of Wheat this evening to give me some extra iron and I'll swing by the pharmacy tomorrow for some iron pills.

I won't bore you with the gifts Rob and I received. As adults, they become more practical than fun, though Rob did get some GPS Bluetooth thingie, and I'm not sure what for or what it does. Hope you all had a Merry Christmas. I will add some pictures on here later when Rob has uploaded them off his camera.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Bah Humbug!

With Christmas rapidly approaching, you can see from my lack of posting that I have been very busy. The children are now out of school for the year and will start back on Jan. 3rd. This means even more hectic days at home as they are all home together and fighting.

I gave blood today at the blood drive sponsored by Mom through her employer, the Red Cross. I am feeling very sleepy tonight. LOL! This was after all the other running around we did, i.e. getting kids haircuts and taking them to Target to spend some gift cards they got as gifts. It was a madhouse at Target and the entire mile radius around it. Traffic was atrocious, people were driving even more stupid than usual, and I swore I would not go back there until at least a week after Christmas now.

Harrison's been singing, "Rudolph the Nosy, Nosy." At least that's what he thinks the words are. The only part I can understand of that song when he sings it is, "and if you ever saw him." He does get that right. He has been very crabby lately and I don't know why.

Taryn is growing like a weed and is complaining her leg hurts again, which we suspect are growing pains because she has had that type of pain before. I'm beginning to wonder if she's going to end up taller than Ian. And Ian talked daddy into taking him to see National Treasure 2 tonight, the late movie at 9:20pm. Rob does not like staying out that late, so it was definitely a treat for him.

Seeing as how I can't stop yawning, I will leave it at this for now. I hope I can post more and catch up more after the holidays!

Harrison the Klutz

Harrison is constantly falling down, running, falling, hurting himself, etc. Yesterday, while running to get into the house after we picked the kids up from school, he tripped on Ian's feet near the door to the house in the garage and hit his face on the metal part of the step leading into the house. The result is what you see above. He has a fat lip that was hard and swollen and bruises and red marks from where he hit. Poor little guy.

Busy, busy, busy

See how busy? I haven't even posted in over two weeks. Life gets out of control. I keep thinking, if I can just get through this week, next week on the calendar doesn't look that bad. And then the calendar fills up. Very aggravating.

So this week, I had a Girl Scout District meeting on Mon. night, an HOA board meeting Tuesday night, a school bake sale on Thurs. and a Girl Scout meeting Thurs. night, and tonight I took Taryn to a production of The Littlest Angel at the Charlotte Children's Theater (for Girl Scouts). Wednesday night was the only night I was home. I haven't wrapped a single Christmas present and I know I have more stuff to do that I'm trying to block out.

I cannot imagine what mothers do who work full-time and have children. Of course, if I worked full-time, I would not schedule so much stuff, but even still. There's always dishes, laundry, etc. My house could use a serious purge/spring cleaning and the time is coming. In addition, the whole house needs painting, a task that is so daunting, I cannot even think about it right now.

Taryn's running a fever tonight and says her throat hurts. I hope it's not another strep throat coming on. She caught this about a month ago from a friend at school (who just had it again). More than likely, we'll spend another Saturday at a doctor's office or urgent care.

Enough venting. I should be off to bed. I'm so exhausted from this week that I could sleep for a month!

Weight loss sucks

I went on the low carb thing for two weeks solid and did a pretty good job considering I cannot stand vegetables. It was hard to cut out some things I love, but I lost about seven pounds in the two weeks. This was in addition to about four or five I had lost prior to that just counting calories. However, I am now at a standstill. I am neither going up nor going down.

It should not be fair that in order to be "thin" and "healthy" you have to deprive yourself of the smallest joys in life, such as macaroni and cheese, Ben & Jerry's cinnamon bun ice cream, Jen's cookies, and oh yeah let's not forget pumpkin bars. I mean, geez, it's the holidays. Mashed potatoes, green been casserole, crescent rolls. Can't have any of that. I'll be eating dry turkey and dry turkey.

Another Saturday down the drain

Saturdays are supposed to be for relaxing, napping, taking a break from the normal hustle and bustle of the week, right? Not around here it seems. Taryn had her last soccer game today at the same time Ian had to be out at church for Scouts to go collect food for their food drive, so Rob and I had to split up. I took Ian and he took Taryn. While at the church, I started copying the bulletin. To my utter astonishment (note sarcasm here), the copier at church would not cooperate with me again. This time, however, not only did it eat my paper but it was completely out of toner. I mean, bone dry. I shook that cartridge about 10 times and managed to eke out a few more copies, but that was it....it was empty. So I ended up leaving what was left for the clerk tomorrow who is picking up another toner cartridge. Ugh!

Ran an errand or two and came back home to wait for Ian. I needed to go to the grocery store but wanted to make sure he got dropped off so I waited. Never did get to the store. I had to start cooking macaroni and cheese and cornbread for Ian's soccer banquet that began at 4pm. In between all that, I cleaned all three bathrooms and the kids helped clean up the toys in the left, very begrudgingly I might add. Rob even pitched in (gasp!).

Went to the soccer banquet. Got out around 5:40pm, ran to the shoe store because Ian and Taryn needed new shoes. Dropped the kids off at the movies at 6:05pm to meet Jen, Susie, and Marc, and took Harrison to Target with us for some more quick shopping. Then home to a mess again. There's dishes in the sink, which I should be doing right now, more laundry to do, toys all over the floor, I haven't typed the minutes from our HOA board meeting over a week ago yet, and I've got Girl Scout stuff to get done. ARGH!!!!!

The title of my post is another Saturday down the drain, but it should be that every day goes down the drain. I need a vacation! Calgon take me away!

Jury Duty

So, I got an envelope in the mail today from the city Municipal Court. At first glance, I thought, "great, somebody is probably suing me for something to do with the HOA." Upon opening it, however, I found something even more disturbing. JURY DUTY! Ack! I have been called for jury duty once before when Taryn was a baby and I was able to get out of it because I was nursing and the daytime care provider. That was also for the county, not the city. I have a feeling I won't get out of this so easily. However, I have a GYN appt. that week and I am not missing it for court...it takes months to get an appt. And I have to pick kids up for school every day so I cannot be there at 2:30pm. Ugh. I do not need this hassle right now.

Straight A student

Congratulations to Ian on getting straight A's on his report card again! This will be his fifth quarter in a row with straight A's, which means he's had straight A's since he started getting letter grades in 3rd grade last year. We're very proud of him! Go Ian!!!

If a bear did laundry....

I have to tell this story, because it is absolutely hilarious. Rob was driving Taryn home from soccer one day recently when apparently they got on the topic of helping around the house. Taryn was telling Rob that she could help fold laundry because she was really good at it and she was better than I was. She then proceeded to tell him how she was better than he was, better than Ian was, and then out of the clear blue told him, "I can fold laundry better than a bear." When Rob told her that bears don't fold laundry, her response was, "Well, I could fold laundry better than a bear if a bear did laundry." Where does a five-year-old come up with this stuff?

Freakin' Dodo

Yes, freakin' dodo. That is what Harrison has taken to calling me when he's mad at me now. Can you imagine that? Just picture him yelling that out in church when it's really quiet. Real nice, eh? He also likes to throw whatever he may have in his hand at me in the car when he doesn't like the part of the movie he's watching, or if I haven't responded quickly enough for his demands to fast forward, turn up the volume, or whatever transgression he decides I should be punished for. Red hair, fiery temper. It's a cliche, but in his case it totally fits.

My first blog post

I'm not even sure where to begin, so I will make it brief. Since I seem to have a short fuse, I'm going to use this blog to help vent and hopefully release some pressure. I'll also be adding anecdotal stories and pictures of my kids, because sometimes they are just hilarious.