Tori's teeth

Tori has more and more teeth coming in. She seems to be chewing on her pacifier more than sucking on it these days :)

Monday Randomness

Random things from this past week:

1. Ellie: "The good thing about having a big family is that you always have someone to blame!"

2. Nick: "My nose doesn't work!" (He had a runny nose this week)

3. Nick: "My dad is the best soldier in the world. That's what it says!" Nick was wearing a shirt that said My dad is the man.

4. For the past couple of weeks, Nick has been putting his hand up to his ear and having fake phone conversations with Andy throughout the day. He misses his dad :(

5. I almost hit a moose last night! There were two in the road just around the corner from my house. It seems like there are a lot of them out right now.

Monday Randomness

TORI
Tori is becoming the wiggliest little thing on earth. I can barely even hold her anymore. She wants to move, move, move. She's constantly turning and pushing and squirming when she's in my arms. She is starting to give me quite the workout! When she's in the walker, she is scooting all over the places, getting into everything within her reach (which unfortunately is a lot!)

NINTENDO ZOMBIES
Yes, when the kids are allowed Nintendo DS time, they turn into absolute zombies.

I thought that I was being smart last week when I had the girls bring them to Tori's doctor's appointment. I figured that way they would be kept busy and happy through all of the waiting.

What I didn't anticipate was how hard it was to PEEL them from the games when we needed to walk somewhere. Seriously. Kate was about 2 inches from being left on the elevator because she wasn't even paying any attention. Luckily, I shoved my arm in there at the last second :)

And, they ended up leaving a game on the doctor's desk (which didn't get taken to the lost and found!). So, everyone got a week away from them...

MY NEW PHONE
I have to say that I absolutely LOVE my new phone. I feel like such a nerd, but I don't care. I don't even talk on the phone very much, but it's nice to be able to check my email during the day. I love the GPS in it also - I'll never be lost again! I even have a really cool boggle-type game on it for those moments of boredom while I'm waiting for the kids to be done with a class.

PIPES
The water pipes are thawed, but the heating pipes are now frozen (and have been all week). I am still trying to decide what to do. We have space heaters, so we're not freezing (and it's only the bedrooms), but I am concerned that it could cause further damage if I leave it. I just have no desire to spend $1000 on getting it fixed. It could be less than that, but I won't know until it's said and done (and it could end up costing more!) So, I am procrastinating.

Pics from Homeschool Club

Here are some more pics from Homeschool Club. The rest are on my other blog :)

I got a new iPhone today and I am learning how to use it.

I am blogging from my phone :)
Sent from my iPhone

More Tori Cuteness

You can see her first tooth :) The second one is about to come through too!

Look at those rolls on her arms!!
She looks practically buried in toys :)

Monday Randomness

CAMPING IN OUR OWN HOME
The past couple of days without running water felt a bit like camping at home. There were buckets and jugs of water everywhere. We all had greasy hair. We were eating off of paper plates.

I am glad that it was a quick fix. The pipes were frozen, but they thawed pretty quickly - and without bursting!! It only ended up costing $350 (it was over $1000 the last time it happened!).

The water is flowing, so everyone bathed tonight. I ran the dishwasher and I started on the laundry. I feel human again. I can leave the house in the morning without feeling like "Pig Pen" from Peanuts.

BEDTIME
I am shocked and surprised to report that Nick seems to be doing well in his new bedroom downstairs. I had been worried that he would wake up in the middle of the night and have problems being disoriented, but that has yet to happen. He has actually even fallen asleep a few times ON HIS OWN and IN HIS OWN BED without any assistance from me. I am hoping that this is a trend that we can keep going.

Ellie and Kate are enjoying their own bedrooms. Lexie is the only one that doesn't seem quite satisfied with the new arrangements. I hope that it grows on her...

BIRTHDAYS
3 of the kids (Kate, Lexie, and Nick) have birthdays coming up over the next few weeks.

I am a horrible mother - I admit it. I am not doing birthday parties. I'm just not up to it. I'm not saying that I'm not going to let them have a cake and presents, but I just don't want to invite a bunch of kids I don't know over to the house for a day of insanity while I'm by myself.

Kate was the only one that had expressed the desire to invite people over. I talked her out of it and promised that next year when Andy is here to help out, she can have a full-blown birthday bash. :)

Lexie says she wants a Littlest Pet Shop birthday and Nick insists on having a "Thomas Happy Birthday Party" He has mentioned it a number of times. I can handle that.

Happiness is...

Flowers from my sweet husband.

Happiness is....

Playing in the bathtub

Monday Randomness

TORI IS GROWING UP
Tori is starting to move around a lot. No more peacefully holding her. She is a wiggle worm! She is crawling and sitting and crawling again. Today she was on her knees in the crib, with her hands on the crib rails. She kept pulling herself up and then falling and hitting her head on the crib. I have no doubt that she will soon be standing up on her own.

ELLIE IS REWARDED
I don't know what I would do without Ellie during this deployment. She is my only help around the house. She has done a ton of babysitting Nick and helping around the house over the past few months. I decided that since I was putting so much responsibility on her, I would reward her with an ipod nano. She has been wanting one for quite some time (what kid doesn't?). They were out of green at Sam's Club, so she chose blue. I loaded it up last night with music and a movie. She is such a happy kid!! An ipod and her own room in one week. She can hardly contain her happiness :) She has already invited a friend over for a sleepover this weekend. She is excited that they can spend time in her room without being chased around the house by all of her siblings.

Ellie, the proud owner of an ipod :)

NICK IS BORED
We all have cabin fever, but Nick is the one that is having the hardest time burning off energy while being inside the house all day long. I have found that whenever he gets bored, he gets into trouble. When he's bored he: gets scissors out, climbs on things, draws on things, goes into his sisters' rooms, plays in the sink, etc. You get the picture. Keeping him busy is a full time job. I feel bad that I'm not spending enough actual time sitting with him.

I am considering taking him to preschool a few days a week next fall. We would get SO much more schoolwork done during the day. So much of my time is spent trying to keep him out of trouble. We'll see. I'm sure that by fall he will have matured much more also, so it might not be quite the issue that it is right now. He has changed remarkably in the 4 months since Andy has been gone, so I know that he might be a different little boy by September - one that doesn't get into quite as many things. I can dream, can't I?

He is currently covered in various bruises. He keeps running in the house - which results in him running INTO some piece of furniture or someone. I can't wait for summer, so that I can throw him in the backyard!!

Mischief in his eyes and bruises on his head. Maybe he should wear a helmet when he plays...

HOUSE REARRANGING
The majority of the house rearranging is done. The bedrooms are clean and orderly. I just need to buy a desk for Kate's room (if I can find one for a decent price!) and I think I will be done.

No more spacious playroom. It now has two beds in it. They still have room to play though and the castle which Andy built is still there :)

LEXIE'S QUESTIONING
I overheard the girls this morning:
Lexie: "How many days has it been?"
Kate: "How many days has it been since what?"
Lexie: "How many days has it been since we've been alive? 2 million? 3 million?"
Kate: "We haven't all been alive the same amount of days!"

Lexie is making a funny face as always!

WHAT WAS I THINKING??
Like my house isn't noisy enough with 5 little kids in it. I, for some crazy reason, decided that I would buy a karaoke machine for them. (It was really cheap on clearance at Wal-Mart). Let me tell you: none of them needed to be amplified. I am hoping that it breaks soon.....

SCARY MORNING
I have been worried having Nick and Lexie downstairs where I can't hear them well at night. I got a new baby monitor which I hooked up last night. I woke up this morning to the sound of a kid playing - and a man's voice. I JUMPED out of bed and ran downstairs, only to find Nick and Lexie sound asleep. No strange man in the house. Apparently I was eavesdropping on my neighbors, unbeknownst to me. I guess I will try changing the channels on it tonight...