Thanks Kim

My cousin Kim was kind enough to send this fabulous "sprinkler" to the kids. I guess she thought it was only fair that they get to play in some water since the indoor water park is off limits. Thank you very much for thinking of the kids...THEY LOVED IT...even if it was only 70 degrees!!!

I love 6 year olds!!

I have said it before and I will say it again...I love my kids. I love them all for different reasons...mostly for just being themselves. Allison loves to draw and write. Her most prized possession is her journal. She has been driving me crazy with the ever famous line "How do you spell...". Mrs. Johnson told her that it was OK not to be perfect (with her spelling...Allison and her crazy ways...takes one to know one I guess:)!) just to sound out the words. That has led to LOTS of writing! She even wrote a story about a princess saving the kingdom. I LOVED the fact that the princess saved the kingdom, not the prince!!

Anyway, yesterday I am cleaning off the table and see that she had written out her letters and numbers...again! Of course her crazy tendencies had to kick in and she had to write name (literally!) and added a new twist...her middle name...I LOVE how she sounded it out.

Jimmy then tells me to go look at their doors. Come to find out, Allison made hers first and Isaac wanted one too. He told me that he "hired her to make him a sign because he didn't know how to spell the words". Little does he know, she doesn't either!!! He did add the stickers himself:)! Way to make it your own, Isaac!!!

Yes, that is a picture of Ashley and Allison. I have no idea why these things made me so happy, they just did. I think maybe because I have been in such a bad mood about things I can not change...so why be mad. I have so much GREAT things in my life that I need to spend my time thinking about that and enjoying this phase with my kids. It won't be like this for long!!!!

Oops...

I forgot the picture of the class.

Ashley's Last Day

Ashley had her "official" last day of three year old preschool today. Seams only fitting...she is four now:)! This was the girl who was fine the first two weeks of school and then cried every time for the next two months. The same girl who just stopped crying one day because "Grandma with the pool asked me to". That is my Ash in a nut shell. The girl can switch moods like she switches her clothes...OFTEN!!! Yes, we have had to put a lock on her closet she changes outfits so much. She is very independent, which is a blessing and a curse. I think I forget about Ashley a lot...not that she lets me, but I do. I do forget that she is not the "third twin", that she is only 4 years old. She has spent her life "keeping up" with the other two...by HER choice...sometime I just forget to "enjoy" her. She is so crazy and keeps me on my toes. She will tell you exactly what she thinks...good or bad. She is a lover and a hater in one second...just ask Kyle. She is a baby and a big girl all in one...just ask her mother!!

Thanks Ashley for being you...the best you, you can be. For being the pissy girl that I love to love. I hope your craziness never leaves...maybe take it down a few notches:), but never leave!!!

I bet you did not know we had a ho-down, did you??? Yes, just another Ashley trait...dancing and not to mention her "gumby-ness"...she is the most flexible thing!!! Almost freaky flexible!!!

Happy Birthday James

With all that is going on at Camp Chaos, I forgot to mention that T had his birthday last week. I am such an awful wife, he didn't even get a present. I know, horrible!!! If he even dreamed on doing that to me...we don't want to go there!! I did take him out to dinner (he even got to choose the place) and got him an ice cream cake from Marble Slab. We are going to celebrate both of our birthdays on my birthday this year. When life is a little less crazy!! In the mean time, I want everyone to know that I think this man ROCKS!!! He is the ring leader of the crazies, but he melts me every time. You know, everybody has "that friend" who has the nicest husband in the world, the one who never fights back, always does what the wife wants...you know that type. My husband is anything but that and I LOVE IT!!! I like that he is crazy, that he has to be doing something, that his mind is always going, that he fights back, that he has an opinion, that he keeps me in line. He really does complete me! I love you T!! Hope you had a great birthday!!!

Bad Mood Explained

I am still dealing with the flood waters at Camp Chaos. Every time I think we might have this thing under control and make an appointment with Servpro to come over and extract the remaining water, dry the place, and most important make sure no mold grows we get more water! It is never ending. I keeping saying (and believing!) that this could be so much worse than what it is, but it is just overwhelming me. My house, my place of "zen" if you will, is a place I HATE to be. Who hates being at home? I pull in the driveway and I'm instantly pissed; everything is off. I have an overflowing dumpster, the yard hasn't been mowed, I am parking outside, there are no flowers planted. I walk into my garage...aka Jimmy's closet...he literally has clothes hanging from the tracks of our garage door. EVERYTHING that was in our basement is in boxes/totes in our garage. I walk into the "shoe room" and I instantly smell the water. I walk in a little further and see chaos. Now, I live(d) in chaos, but this really is too much for me. There is no break. I have not played with my kids in weeks. They have been good (kinda:)!) about it. I feel like I am on vacation, you know the END of vacation when you have been gone to long and just want to get back to your home, your surroundings, your comfortable place...I just want to go home!!! I guess this too shall pass. I did have an appointment for Servpro to come out today, but woke up this morning to a few new additional inches of water...so it will be awhile...again!! No point in paying thousands of dollars just to do it again.

My most wonderful friend Dirk (yes, you will only hear me speak GREAT of this man...he really is one of those rare breeds...always kind and willing to help a mama out!) Rather ironic really that this is the man who helped build my basement... that he would be the one to help take it apart. Of course, he did it with a smile on his face telling me destruction was way more fun. He even had me kick the wall to make me feel better. Let me say, kicking my mushy wall did nothing but make me cry, but his heart was in the right place. Only on little boo-boo to speak of. I am not sure how he felt the next morning...Jimmy was sore, throwing the drywall and insulation out the egress window because heaven forbid someone use my front door...my birds have to be safe:)!

In order to draw the water away from the house we had a well point system put in. They basically drive 8 points down into the ground, hook them together, hook up a pump and push it out. I now have Lake TenBrink forming in my back yard, but not under my house. The water has been coming out of the 2 inch pipe for almost 15 days straight. It pumps out 90 gallons a minute; that calculates over 2 million gallons of water pumped into Lake TenBrink!!

A picture of the basement before the insulation taken out. Currently, the water is back above the wood base. I keep telling myself that we have done all we can do. The walls are open and circulating, the drywall and insulation are out, now it just needs to stop coming in.

Dirky waving hello and blowing everyone a kiss... Thanks again Dirk for all you do to help!!!

I would also like to thank Keith for helping remove the carpet. It was very kind of you too!!

Love You Kelley!!!!!

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Before I was a mom

I received this as an email from my great friend (and 2nd mom to my children) Shelly. Yes, I am sure everyone has read this a time or two, but it still holds very true. Thanks for reminding me Shelly, I needed that today:)!

Happy Mother's Day a little early to all you WONDERFUL moms out there that can relate to this!

Before I was a Mom, I never tripped over toys
or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or notmy plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming childso doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at nightwatching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just becauseI didn't want to put her down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,
I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body..
I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mom .