I owe UPDATES

Of course I got a TON of pictures from graduation. I still have to upload them to photobucket...but if you want to see them at Facebook (which is easier and faster than uploading them here and that's why they get uploaded there first....) Click HERE

Immediately after graduation, Robert went with his dad to Evergreen (not all the way to Wyoming!)...got $350 in cash and a new laptop of his own. He and Kelly got back this morning about 11:45 just to leave at 12:30 for a graduation party. They returned home at 7:30 and asked to go out with friends again--leaving at 8:00 to go swimming. Kelly was TORQUED that I said the only way she could go is if she could be home by 9:00 since it's a school night. "But ALL my friends are going and it's not my fault I'm not a senior and have school tomorrow"...Irregardless..you have school tomorrow so curfew of 9:00 pm stands...there's only 7 days of school left...Of course she's got an excuse why they can't just have all their fun after she gets off school for summer vacation...all of her friends are going on a road trip (but they don't know how they are paying for it?! Do you really think they're going with no money?! LOL)...

Oh well, the saga of having a teen daughter continues...I really don't remember wanting to be with my friends THIS much at this age!!

Robert's new "job"

I've been so lax in making posts and in taking pictures...I don't think I've taken one picture all week! Makes me feel like just an awful mom!

Things have been crazy...Trying to get Robert ready for his 3 day field trip...and dealing with his attitudes! Last month we had discussed with him how he's always expecting a money handout...and not small amounts but $35 and $50 at a time?! We told him in preparation of the outside world, he should keep a time sheet of what he does since he seems to think he does "so much" work around the house. So when the first rolled around he started complaining about how we never paid him for the month of September. We asked for his timesheet and he says he "forgot" to keep a timesheet; to which we replied well you didn't "forget" you wanted to be paid for doing things...sad part is both he and Kelly have slacked so bad...and are doing less and less around the house to help the closer I get to surgery!

So we went round and round about it...first I reminded him that we pay $6 a week for him to go to his Sunday tournaments. Next is the $40 I spent to replace the cell phone he lost...plus the $15 fee to transfer the service from the lost phone to the new phone. Then I reminded him that his dad is only paying $15 of the $40 a month for his cell service. And the $16 we've given him as "spending" money when he goes on his weekly field trips to various hotels with his VoTech class. Oh and the $60 we had to pay to reserve his hotel room for his trip. Well he doesn't think any of that should count because we didn't give it to "him" directly?! He says "well you GAVE Kelly $85!!" Umm, no we didn't...we gave the insurance company $85 as a deductible to replace Kelly's $250 cell phone! (We had insurance on her phone)...the mp3 player in it had stopped working, a couple of the keys stopped working and we had to make the claim before they decided it was "Too old" to replace!

What this was all about was a video game he wanted for his DS for the trip to Glenwood. So I took the liberty of typing him up a timesheet--The headings are:

Name of chore/date/time start/time end/total time/acceptable?/time credit/parent initial/attitude rating

So we went and got his game for him...with the understanding that he now owes us $37 worth of work...at $5 an hour (training wage!).

So Saturday morning he shocked me...while Andrew was gone doing some 'personal time' to destress I got Robert working on moving stuff in the storage area of the basement so that we could insulate it with foam sheets...he even helped to place the sheets and move the shelving back. Then we tested the sump pump to make sure it was working becuase we hadn't heard it go off all summer long. He amazingly enough kept a great attitude and I was very pleased!! He worked a total of 2 hours so he's well on his way...However when he got home from his tournament yesterday we asked if he had anything on his timesheet for today and he said no. The chore board still had a few simple things on it (like vacuuming the living room and hallway), sweeping the kitchen floor and doing dinner dishes. He decided he just didn't want to earn any time towards his debt. He was informed that IF this debt of $37 is not paid off by the end of the month, there will be no more "advances".

I think it's a fair trade...Of course, he's gonna be gone a total of 6 days this month...3 days with his dad and 3 days with his field trip...but he still has 25 days to work it out! That's plenty of time to work another 5 1/2 hours off his debt!

Now, we're gonna have to do the same thing for Kelly...seems she thinks all we are good for is passing out money and taking her driving...she's not been doing any chores AT ALL since her birthday on the 20th of last month. When I approached her about it last night she pops off about how "about the time I played with the kids today?" well, that can't be counted as babysitting since I was right there watching the kids...and that I thought she was just "playing" with them...not intending to be "watching" them so I could accomplish other things"....

*sigh* and it's just the beginning!!

Happy Birthday Song...

Warning: they sound awful, but it's still funny!

Dirty Fun!

Tyler wanted to plant flower seeds...even picked out the flowers he wanted! What he doesn't understand is mom doesn't have a green thumb...I've never been able to grow anything from a seed...but he insisted it had to be from seeds...Thanks Curious George!


Zachary was a little jealous that he didn't get to play in the mud too...so I let Tyler share his mud bucket with Zachary


They were having fun making mud pies....


Zac liked watching the mud pour out of the measuring cup....


He tried to drink the mud next...it was in a cup after all!


Mud is quite the sensory experience ya know?


My sweet little mud baby asking to go in the swing...I know the shadow's screwed up the pic....but you get the drift I think?


We got a little muddier than that, but didn't want to get mud all over my camera...or worse yet drop it in the mud...It already went swimming twice last summer!

Here we are all washed up...Love the hair -- and those precious little teeth!


AND...I'm gonna round it off with a different kind of dirty....

We were teasing Robert that we needed a pic of him with his after prom party date...and here they posed together....

Did you find the Frog?

here ya go!

I didn't see it at first either...Today it's melted and the roads are DRY!

Harley's heading out to see Monsters vs. Aliens with respite today...he's been planning it for WEEKS!

I'm hoping to get started on painting the kitchen some time this week (I mentioned this about SIX months ago!). The older kids won't be going ANYWHERE today so they can help...they've been slacking off and having so much fun they've not been doing their chores...but

They got to go sledding yesterday and I had to let that happen since the snow won't be around long! (sorry, no pics, I stayed home with Zachary and took a nap!!)

Of course I still have a chunk of housework to catch up on today, but they're gonna help so it should go well....

Just pictures....

A collection of pics from the past week or so....I tried to keep it to a minimum :)

I started to sing the David Lee Roth song "Just a Gigilo" to Andrew when I saw them all sitting on the hammock together...(This is our neighbor Andrew sandwiched between Kelly and Rachel)

Zachary at the mall...


Gag Dad with a spoon!


Tyler teaching Zachary how to color with markers (on the whiteboard)


Tyler's mustache -


Lovin' the smiles!!

The Gang

Today's the BIG day!!

The kids move in permanently today!! Yahoo!!

I have so many things going on...I'll have to come back and blog about it sometime...I have NINE teens coming over tonight too so I've got some work to do (and some paper plates to buy!) before they all call to get the ride "home"...

Man oh man, I know it won't be easy, but I'm really looking forward to the day when everyone's settled in!

Moving....

Things are hectic with ex moving out of town THIS Friday!! Thursday Andrew has to go to ExDH and get a bunch of the kids' furniture, beds, etc. In the meantime, we're still trying to get things re-re-organized in the basement to build a separate room and have to get a couple of heater ducts installed as well.

The kids are throwing a big party on Friday...well it's supposed to be at their dad's -- they invited all their friends (at his coaxing) to "help him put things in the truck"...hehe...he's never managed a group of 8 teens before !! Muwwwaaahhhhahaha (sorry that's mean!)

Ends up he 'bribed' them with pizza...then he asks Kelly "will two pizza's be enough for you and your friends?" -- She laughed -- and then called me....

So all of these friends are coming over here (since I get to provide transportation either home from ExDH for all of the teens who can't drive!)...Good thing we have two vans now and can carry up to 14 people!!

Now they tell me that they are treating it as a goodbye, good riddance party for Kenny (in my basement?!?)....

I figure it will keep their minds off of things. Neither are willing to admit it, but I think that they are feeling...what's the word?....Abandoned?? I mean their dad gave them less than 3 weeks notice he would be moving out of the state and out of their lives? Did he really believe that they would want to leave all their friends, school, siblings and go to another state with him in 18 days notice? We've had some lashing out times, but I really think they are stressing over it...

BUT I get to have my fun!! IF the weather is warm enough on Saturday morning, they get to go to the St. Patricks' Day parade...and they are all fine with that and looking forward to it....

Sounds like so much fun! I can't wait.

But Andrew is home and O time is around the corner so I'm leaving now! Be back sometime tomorrow to finish my bloggin'

What a Day!

Yesterday was quite a "fun" day...Just add another "Worst mom of the year" award to my wall!

I wanted to get a shower in first thing in the morning, but I can't run water in the bathtub when the boys are asleep...they get so excited thinking they're getting a bath that they wake up screaming (and would've woke up the whole house!)...it was only 5:30 in the morning and I was just not ready for them to be up...

Robert comes upstairs and has an attitude...Tyler threw something and it hit him so he spanked him (a BIG no-no!!) so he was pissed off and ran downstairs -- So I tried to call Kelly up so I could take a shower -- and she finally gets up after 30 minutes and then hops in the shower for another hour!! When she finally comes upstairs she's mad at the world and being mean to the younger ones, so again - no shower for me! She starts crying and yelling at me about how she doesn't have any friends anymore because she can't text to them and they quit texting her because she can't text back - so now no one talks to her -- and of course it's my fault! (I explained that maybe she will learn to stop ditching classes...she would've gotten her texting back this week, but now she's got another two weeks added onto it!--her own fault!)

We had to run to the bread store and it's best to hit them first thing in the morning because that's when you get the best markdown stuff! (mmm, coffee cakes, lunch snacks for Harley, danish!). We left the two older kids home to have some "cool down time" and then came home and invited them to go to lunch with us. Still, mom hasn't gotten a shower yet!

Out to lunch we go...Usually we can keep Harley to two plates of food and two desserts when we go to Country Buffett...Just as we were packing up to leave, they put a "blizzard making bar" up...Harley had one ... and somehow sneaked another one...and promptly puked all over the mens' room - flooding the toilets in the process (yes, EVERY toilet in the men's room, even the urinals!). I don't know where I *was*...I don't think I was mentally there to watch Harley and keep track of what he was doing...Maybe I was busy with the two little ones while Andrew was in charge of Harley this time?

Afterwards we went to the library and got some books and movies for the kids in hopes that I can get the older kids to watch the kids for an hour or two so that Andrew and I can have some time as a couple (not dtd :) ) -- just time to reconnect. He and I have been arguing over stupid crap quite often the last couple of days (the story's on my other blog).

Since we were driving right past Dollar Tree we stopped there too...bet you can't guess what I bought! LOL -- We bought some other things too (no food items) and Harley proceeded to try to sneak a candy bar up on the belt...we told him no, that he doesn't need anymore to eat...he needs to learn not to purge so that he can eat more!! (the older kids had stayed in the van and Andrew, I, Harley, Tyler and Zachary went into the store, so we didn't have any extra hands to help out)...Harley proceeded to start beating on me and body slamming me while screaming that I am a big ass and he NEEDS his chocolate bar!! We get Kelly to come and take Tyler to the van...Wouldn't you know, we had decided to park in the far corner of the parking lot rather than the handicapped spot right in front of the store...Andrew passes Zachary off to me (because Robert refused to come and help with anything) -- and we had to do a take down with Harley in the middle of the Dollar Tree store...Then "escort" him out of the store using a two person hold (while holding Zachary on one hip and Andrew carrying the bags with our purchases).

Finally we get to the van...I decided I would drive up the mountain a little ways because I just need a little break and this is the closest thing I get to a break - when I'm driving. The whole time Harley is going off screaming but I am able to block it out to a point. After about 20 minutes of driving he is calm and we start heading back down to go home!! Maybe I'll get my shower in?

Fat chance - again, no shower for mom! Zachary's bed time hits and I am sooo ready to put him to bed....Tyler is being his usual Tornado Self and Zachary can't calm enough to sleep, so Zachary ends up staying up till 9pm...Kelly, Andrew and I get a deck of cards and start to play while Tyler is winding down some. He just gets more and more wild as the night goes on. Finally at 10:00 I try to take him to bed (and Andrew is leaving for work). We play the "I need a drink" game...I get him a drink of milk and "its in the wrong cup--wants the blue and green cup!" and proceeds to have a MAJOR temper tantrum...I am just trying to calm him so that he doesn't wake up Zachary...FAT CHANCE!!....By 10:30 he's screaming at the top of his lungs while Zachary is screaming in his bed...So I try to get Tyler to go into his room -- after all he's already woke up Zachary so at this point it doesn't matter if he's screaming in their room....

Well, that just keeps them both going until 11:45PM!! And then finally they both pass out from exhaustion -- I'm so wound up I can't sleep now...and back to I can't take shower because the sound of the water will wake them up and get them all excited thinking they are going to take a bath...10 minutes later, Tyler is screaming again so I let him come to the living room with me and he falls asleep on the floor. I cover him up and figure I'm just gonna let him sleep there and 20 minutes later Andrew gets home from work....He heads directly to bed while I decide it may be best for me to wait up...and finish watching the last 20 minutes of Without a Trace.

Finally, 1:00AM I am in bed...I must've passed out right away....fast foward to 5:30 this morning...Tyler wakes up SCREAMING! I try to coax him back to bed, but no luck...by 6:30 Zachary's up and ready to start his day.

I have a load of dishes (in the sink--I HATE a dirty kitchen!) and a dishwasher full of clean dishes...I start on that and at 7:00 Andrew gets up (has to be out the door by 7:20). I'm about in tears...Exhaustion is setting in and I have so much to do. I've not done laundry for two days so I've got 4 loads to catch up on now plus bed linens. I have to get my house vacuumed since that never happened yesterday. I already got the dishes done (well the dishwasher is running now), got the upstairs bathroom cleaned, the trash out, the fridge cleaned out. Still have to mop the kitchen and bathroom floors...Sadly, I still have not gotten that shower in :( - Kelly is sleeping in but I'm really not ready to deal with the tears and bad attitude again today...Harley is raiding the fridge (well, I put the lock on it already - which means I have to watch him closely because he gets violent when I lock the food up)--and that is why I am sitting here writing this entry rather than getting my work done!

I am so hoping today ends up being a better day than yesterday. No respite today or yesterday (Scott is out of town til next Sunday)...The older kids have to be dropped off at their dad's at 6:00 tonight...and then back to the grindstone...Andrew's paperwork, errands to both of our jobs, Harley to/from therapy, dealing with the schools and not getting my return calls about Harley's placement...Crap, Harley has an appointment with his psychiatrist tomorrow! Oh and he gets a cleaning, two fillings, a tooth pulled and a full set of mouth x rays on Friday (thankfully I'll be sedating him for that!)

And the worst part? I'm still hoping that this week ends in a bfp for me!