Been Away for A While

Wow, I stepped back a bit to get things done, and totally got behind on this blog. Course it doesn't help that I lost my password again either, lol.
Been really busy, to see what we've been up to come see the other blog at mylifeslittlesurprises.blogspot.com

Now that I have my password again I *should* be able to at least keep up with posting once a week, if not more.

Still Slacking!

Been Super busy as of late. Still homeschooling, still looking for a place to move, still posting at the other blog. ( http://mylifeslittlesurprises.blogspot.com )
Thinking seriously about deleting this blog since I rarely post here. Not sure I want to do that though. Mainly just wondering if 2 blogs is 1 too many.
The kids are good, we are good. Not much else to say there. Read it at the other blog lol, so I don't have to re-type it all.

Boy am I slacking!

I had planned to try and post at least 1-2 x a week, just to update things and let anyone who reads know how we're doing. Ha! Hasn't happened!
I've been trying to post at my other blog, as often as I remember to. That's gone a little better.

Right now I have a LOT of things going.
1) Trying to start saving for the eventuality of buying our own house. We have at least 2, maybe 3 years, to get this done. We've figured that we'll need a minimum (with fees, closing, and down payment) of $10,000. And with the way our luck is, it will take at least that long to save lol.

2) We are currently homeschooling 4 kids (or rather I am), 3 of which need extra academic help in reading and spelling areas. Fun! Always an adventure. Gabe is the hard one, with him functioning at such a low level, he has a hard time keeping his attention on things for long. So, I'm doing things in 5-15 minute spurts throughout the day.

3) I keep de-cluttering on weekends. And I do mean every weekend! Today was toys, and I have 2-30 gallon trash bags full to go to goodwill. Next weekend is clothes (again, we did this a few weeks ago, and I found more stuff when I was doing laundry that needs to go), and maybe books/papers.

4) We are doing "Life Skills" with the kids. This consists of them learning about the many different jobs that are included in running the household, looking for work(though too young for a job yet), and cooking. Right now, the kids (besides Gabe) take turns helping with dinner, and doing dishes and some of the chores in the house(ie pick up bathroom and bedrooms, or vacuum, learning to do laundry, etc.). Mike and I still do a majority of the stuff around here, but the kids get chores to do every week, and that's how they earn money, toys, games, etc.

5) Mike is working full time still at Tyson, but they have started cutting back some hours. He no longer works most Saturdays, and I'm sure that there are going to be days in the future that he comes home early. We are hoping and praying that things continue to go well for his job, and that there are no layoffs in his future.

6) I'm working on some personal struggles in my life as well. I'm not going to post about them right now, but suffice to say, if I need help (or prayers) I will post that as well. I'm also working on making my yes mean yes and my no mean no. It's a hard one for me, because many times I've told the kids, "no you can't do this" and then just to shut them up or busy them for a bit, I give in and let them.

That's pretty much what's going on here in a nutshell. Feel free to comment or give advice or ideas! I could use some constructive criticism.

Closings...

Cub Foods in Beloit will be closing March 13. With the economy the way it is, I think it's time to take a good look at what we can do to try and minimize the impact of the crap that's already hit the fan, and try to bring ourselves back around.

We've already had the multi-billion dollar bailouts for the car companies, mortgage companies, and banks. Where's our share? We need to get something working here to save the mom and pop places, and the places that keep our cities running, our kids fed and bills paid.

It's gotta turn around sometime. We just need to push to make it sooner than later.

Anyway...

There's been so much going on here. To start with, Gabe, who's almost 8 now, is almost potty trained! Not at night yet, but he does wear undies during the day! We are homeschooling now, and with his present level, we are working on Kindergarten and some areas of pre-k (letters, numbers). He knows all his colors and shapes, and we're learning to count.

The twins are finishing out a 2nd grade curriculum, both are doing well, Caleb needs more help than her in reading and spelling, so we've been working on getting him interested in what he's reading about (snakes, spiders, reptiles).
James is working on finishing a 3rd grade curriculum, and wants to try an accelerated program next year to get caught up.

We've had a better year so far than last year. This time last year, we had just moved, and been foreclosed on, and then had to move again. Mike was off for a couple of months when Tyson flooded this summer, but thankfully he qualified for unemployment so we were able to get by.
I had to get rid of all the birds, except 1, that I had been breeding for extra income. We had to find a new home for our beagle, because where we moved we could only have 1 dog.
1 week into school, the kids had to change schools, because of us having to move. That was a major factor in us choosing to homeschool.
Well, this is long enough for now, I'll try to post more later.

Been AWOL for a while!

Well, since I last posted a LOT has happened.
1) Mom got married
2) We moved
3) Baby sis and her family moved to Missouri
4) We pulled the kids to homeschool
5) I lost my password to my blog (lol) and couldnt retrieve it because I didn't have access to the email addy it went to.
6) Because of the previous, I started a new blog! The new blog is at www.mylifeslittlesurprises.blogspot.com

Check it out! Now that I've got all this straightened out, I'll try to post regularly on both.

So Far This Week....

Wow it has been SO busy! Well, Wednesday I got Adrian, Thursday I dropped off Austyn and picked up his brother Skylar. Sky is a little over 2 yrs old, a sweet little guy, and he loves playing with my kids. I dropped him off on Saturday morning so Sis and I could go do more wedding shopping. Yay! Fun, NOT. We had her two kids, and Bubba and Caleb. That was such a not so smart move. Bubba and Caleb don't do well with crowds, they can cope, if the crowds aren't too thick, and they have room to breathe. Well you know that wasn't gonna happen. Long story short, UGH! We didn't find what we were looking for, so we ended up home about 2 ish, then went to my mother in laws for dinner for our anniversary.
Sunday was busy busy busy! Yesterday wasn't too overly horrible, and today wasn't too bad either. Just want to get through the week. We have a wedding rehearsal on Sunday.

Day From H*ll!

Wow! I think today was one of the busiest days ever! I finally went to sleep around 2 or so this morning. Bubba was upstairs at about 3:30 or so, and Honey left for work at 4. The kids were up around 6 but I stayed upstairs til around 8 when Sis called to make sure I was still gonna go to her house today and do more wedding stuff. Ugh!
Made it over there around 9:30, all 5 kids in tow. Baby Sis showed up around 10, and Mom was already there when I got there. So, there were 9 kids, 4 adults, and 2 crazy dogs there, in that small small space. Not great, but do-able. Sis had movies for the kids, and coffee for the adults. Yay! No wonder she is my favorite sis! (We drank 3 pots of coffee today!)
We got all the goody bags done, got the dress taken care of, now that's an interesting story! Baby Sis bought this white dress at Hot Topic, she was gonna wear it for her wedding, but it didn't fit by then cause she was 4 mos preggo. So she wore this other dress that was a friend of ours mom's wedding dress. She looked beautiful! And she had me walk her down the isle, Caitlin was the flower girl, and JR was in the wedding too. Well, the dress she was going to wear originally is the dress that Mom is going to wear for her wedding. Kinda sorta almost Goth looking if it wasn't white...there's a picture for you to wrap your head around!
It was a psycho sort of day with all 3 of us girls getting on each others nerves and messing with each other. The kids did fairly well, no major meltdowns, just some little minor things here and there. They watched the Bee Movie, and Mr. Magoriums Wonder Emporium (or something like that, lol!) and watched Night at the Museum.
Busy Busy Busy! We finally got home around 4, and I threw dinner in the oven. Pork Loin Roast with Red Potatoes. Yum! Gotta love those oven bags where you just throw the stuff in and walk away. Got the rest of the dumpster filled, and 3 more loads of laundry done.
Then Adrian's mom called and asked when I want him next, I said whenever, so she came and dropped him off. I'll have him until Sunday or Monday, and Austyn goes back home Sunday afternoon. Boy my life is never dull. The next 4 days at least I will have 6 kids! Ages 10, 8, 8, 7, 6, and 10 mos. Wow!
So the plan for tomorrow was to meet Sis and go look at dresses for her and I to wear for the wedding. Yeah, that's a smart idea, as we'll have 9 kids between the 2 of us. Hmmm, lets think about that, NOT! And I also have to run to Janesville, to drop off a bag of diapers that Adrian doesn't fit anymore, and a can of formula, for a lady on our freecycle list. That should be an adventure in itself.

Adrian ate 2 jars of baby food, a handful of cheerios, 2 bites of me roast, and 1/2 a baked potato! He also had a 6 oz bottle. Little chub! Got him down to sleep around 8, the other kids down at 9, and Mr. Bubba is sitting here watching me type, cause "i not titer mommy." I love how he says tired. We are watching MythBusters, a repeat that we've watched several times, but I'm hoping that it will knock him out. Hoping being the operative word.

Busy Day Today!

Wow today flew by so fast! I had a long night, and Bubba decided it was a "no sleep" kind of night. So we passed the time on the couch, watching pretty much anything but infomercials. He finally passed out around 11-ish. And of course, wouldn't you know it, by then I was too tired to sleep! So I stuck him in bed, knowing that by the time I did fall asleep, he'd be there to wake me. Yup. I must have dozed sometime after 2, because I remember changing the channel just before then to watch something else. The next thing I know, it's 5 am, and Bubba is laying on me on the couch!
So I wake up, and the kids are still sleeping. Make coffee, check email. Kids were up by 7, and Bubba got up with me at 5-ish. Busy day! We (I) folded 5 loads of laundry, sorted into piles and put away, plus 2 more loads (which are now staring me in the face, begging to be folded). We cleaned bedrooms, swept the living room and the hall and kitchen. Mopped floors(while the kids were outside and not messing them up). Cleaned up the back patio, and filled the dumpster almost to the top.
Of course, with so little sleep for Mr. Bubba, I had to stop every 15 minutes or so, to pull him off someone, or pry his fingers off someone else's things. And we had about a 1/2 hr or so today of just plain screaming. Hitting and kicking because he wanted something and/or didn't get his way. I have claw marks on my right wrist, because he wanted loose to go after one of the other kids who had a toy of his. He was so sorry when he was done though, and he cried and kissed my scratches. I know he doesn't mean it, but it gets harder as he get older to deal with his outbursts and meltdowns. And it's especially hard in public, because it's not a visible disability, so people think he's just a bad child. In reality he really not, he just can't cope.
Got outbid on Ebay for the dress we were thinking of for Moms wedding, so I'll be looking far and wide tomorrow for something similar. Sis finished cutting out the tulle circles for the treat/favor bags, so tomorrow we are going to her house. That should be an adventure! Bubba does fairly well with Sis' younger boy, but him and the older boy just don't get along. And Baby Sis and her 4 yo and 18mo old are gonna be there too, along with Mom. Something tells me it's going to be a LONG day!
He's laying on the couch sleeping as I'm writing this, he finally fell asleep about 10:30, but he woke up again when I tried to move him to his bed. I have Austyn this week, since it's spring break. He and Bubba have been getting along fairly well, which is new because Bubba is usually insanely jealous when Austyn is here. Caleb on the other hand, he doesn't care a bit if Austyn or Adrian are over, just as long as they leave his stuff alone. The funny part is, Austyn is 8 mos younger than Bubba, but emotionally, mentally and in almost every way possible is ahead of Bubba. Ironic? Maybe, but I just like to blame it on the fact that Austyn is the oldest of his moms kids and the fact that he grew up around mine.
Caleb has been having a hard time falling asleep too, but he had the same issues as Bubba when he was younger. Not sleeping, or sleeping only a few hours. Waking in the night all the time. His Dr. says that we can still do Melatonin with him, but it's hard enough getting him to take his regular meds, much less trying to get him to take anything extra.
Caleb, like Bubba, has this amazing ability to memorize movies, and songs. He loves Big and Rich(a country group), Rascall Flatts, Diamond Rio, Mark Wills, and almost any other country group. And Bon Jovi(don't ask, long story, lol).