Ten for Ten

Today Paul & I are celebrating our 10 year anniversary! He surprised me with roses this morning when I came downstairs as well as a very large lovely cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee. He also took me & Jacob out to breakfast after we deposited all the girls at school. Such a nice way to spend the morning! Tonight we're going out for sushi! Yum!

I was trying to think of a clever blog post to commerate our ten years together. I came up with 10 awesome memories from the last 10 years...these are just a sampling of the wonderful times we've had together:

1. One year anniversary: signing a contract on our first house
2. Paul's 30th birthday party
3. Surprise Valentine's Day trip to NYC - 2002
4. Running the Race for the Cure together - June 2002
5. July 2002 - finding out we were pregnant for the first time.
6. Births of all our babies (Mar '03, June '04, Jan '07, Sept. '08)!
7. 6th anniversary trip to Mohegan Sun in CT
8. Summer 2005 - trip to Chicago and Tim & Tina's wedding
9. Family trip to NYC after Thanksgiving 2006
10. Disney Trip - March 2009

It's been a wonderful 10 years - I honestly could not ask for more. I have been so blessed!

Clothing Drama

Scene in my house at bedtime last night as we begin to pick out clothes to wear today:

Me: It's going to be cooler tomorrow so we'll need to wear pants or capri's.

Emma (7): NOOOOO!!!!! I HATE PANTS! I HATE CAPRI'S! IT'S SPRING - IT'S SUPPOSED TO WARM!

Me: Well..I'm sorry but there is a cold front and it's going to be cooler tomorrow

Emma: I'M NOT WEARING PANTS. I DON'T CARE IF I'M COLD. I'M NOT NOT NOT WEARING PANTS.

Me: aaaahhhh!!! You can wear capri's or pants. I'm not changing my mind. (And I lay out pants to go with the shirt she picked out)

Scene this morning:

Emma: I TOLD YOU I'M NOT WEARING PANTS! I WON'T GO TO SCHOOL! I HATE PANTS! (insert crying, more screaming & yelling).

Me: (trying to remain calm) Again, I'm sorry it's cooler out today. I can't help the weather. Please get dressed.

And for the next 20 minutes she screamed, cried, yelled and generally had a meltdown about the issue.

I could have given up but honestly it was 45 this morning and they'd be going out for recess before it got warm . I knew she'd be cold. Also...she was just being unreasonable. They get out early on Wednesday and I told her she could change when she got home.

We've had this ongoing weather/clothes issue for some time. At different times I've taken away the "privilege" of picking out her own clothes - and oh boy does she hate that. I get that she like summer clothes better but I can't help what the temperature is going to be for the day. So..I brainstormed and made a chart that the girls can use to help them figure out what to wear for the day. Hopefully it will help them make responsible choices for what to wear and cut out some of the drama of choosing what to wear. Here's what I came up with:

Crossing my fingers it helps!

When You're Really Glad Your Next Door Neighbor is a Doctor

I wanted to post about this yesterday but I couldn't think of a clever title. Clearly I still didn't think of clever title but wanted to post about it before I forgot the story (4 kids plus strep throat puts a little damper on the short term memory).

Sunday afternoon some of our good friends came over to hang out. They happen to have 3 adorable girls about the same ages as my girls. The kids all get along famously (well for the most part) or at least they generally like to be together. Their oldest went with my older 2 to AWANA Sunday night leaving the 4 little ones - 4, 3, 2 and 1 1/2 - at home. (We're quite something when we all go places together - its A LOT of girls but that's a whole other story.) Paul and Steven went to pick up the older girls so Frances & I were holding down the fort. Julia and their 4 year old (Roo) were playing outside when Julia runs in crying. She kept telling me her nose hurt. I thought she was just trying to get out of cleaning up so I dismissed her and told her to get outside and pick up the toys. She kept crying and a few minutes later came inside again. I asked her what was wrong and she said her nose hurt. I finally figured out that something was in there! As I ran upstairs to get the tweezers Frances got the 411 from Roo. Apparently Julia had put a screw up her nose. A screw! Seriously?! Thank goodness there is no bleeding but we don't know how long the screw is or where she even got the screw. Frances & I tried to get it out but again we didn't know how long the screw was and we were a little scared to pull too much. Paul thankfully gets home a few minutes later. Our next door neighbor, who happens to be a dr. (a cardiologist but still very helpful) was out mowing his grass. Paul asked if we had asked Jason to look at it. I'm like "um no..he's a heart doctor not a pediatrician" but Paul insisted we should at least ask him to look at it and see if he thought we needed to make a trip to the ER. A few minutes later Jason came over with some tool (thanks to his fabulous wife for finding said tool) and in about 25 seconds had the screw out of Julia's nose. Phew!!!!!! Thankfully there was no bleeding or anything so the screw didn't go in too deep. But honestly, who puts a screw in their nose?? When asked why Julia responded: "Roo told me to." Peer pressure at 3..who would have thought?

I think Julia has learned a valuable lesson as to not put anything in her nose. Hopefully my other children will learn from this too. And hopefully this will be the last house call that my neighbor has to make.

Small Spaces

Lily was awfully quiet which is so rare that I had to go investigate. Here's how I found her:Apparently the toys bins aren't just for toys.

Tiny Dancers

Today was picture day for Lily & Emma's dance recital. I snapped a few before we went. The lighting is terrible & Lily felt so weird wearing lipstick that she wouldn't smile right but you get the idea.

Here's our Featherduster:

And our Storm:

Emma's in Hip Hop in case you couldn't tell.

Julia - 3 years old

I've been so behind in getting pictures of the kids. Julia was "dressed" up for school pictures yesterday so I decided to try and get her official 3 year picture. This is about the best I could get!

Cookie Thief

I made some cookies the other day for Julia's teachers. I was doing stuff in the kitchen while one batch was cooling and one was in the oven. I glanced at the cooling rack and noticed one was missing.

Then I looked in the family room and found the culprit:

Apparently he wanted do some light reading while he ate his cookie. His choice? "Power of a Praying Parent." Maybe he was trying to send us a message??

Thursday Thoughts

1. I feel like I've been neglecting the Blog but I haven't much to say lately. Weird. I know.
2. I hate Tax Day (well except for the freebies offered today. BOGO at Subway? Yes please). This year we had to write a check. I cried all the way to the post office.
3. Found out this week some friends are separating. This also made me cry. I hate to see a marriage end.
4. Paul got his new company car this week. This made me cry tears of joy.
5. I am neither 16 nor Pregnant but I can't stop watching this show on MTV. It never fails to shock me how these girls end up pregnant (seriously in this day and age and you still don't know about birth control if you are going to have sex...I don't buy it) or how "easy" they all think it's going to be. I wish more of these girls would chose adoption. And..I think every teenager should watch this show and get scared.
6. I am also loving the Marriage Ref. It's just funny. The couples are funny. The celebrities are (mostly) funny and the arguments are funny. I mean really you had to go on TV to ask an opinion about keeping a motorcycle in the living room?
7. I am sorry that my 7 year old has terrible allergies. This year has been tough for her. I am ready for her eyes to look normal again. Bless her heart.
8. In more TV news I am loving this season of Survivor. I was sad though when Boston Rob got voted out. I'm a sucker for all star seasons. And I wish more reality shows would do them...Tyra..are you listening? Bring back some Top Model favs please.
9. We have dance this afternoon and it's "Costume Pick Up Day." I get to go to a meeting to find out how the hair should be styled and if there are any sewing requirements for the costumes. If sewing is required I want a refund. I paid a lot of money for those costumes - they ought to be just right.
10. I don't really have anything to add but I have an even number issue (hence the 4 children) and couldn't leave the list at 9. Happy Thursday!

Fun in the Sun

I set up the sprinkler in the backyard the other day since it's been so hot here. We invited our neighbors over to join us and the kids had a blast running around. They didn't even seem to notice the ridiculous amounts of pollen in the air. Jacob had a great time too - finally something he could do with the big kids! The water was freezing but they didn't care! I'm so glad they all had fun!!

Easter Getaway

Since Paul got a job (yay!) and the girls had a 3 day weekend we decided to head to Myrtle Beach to see my mom and have a little getaway. We picked the girls up a little early from school on Thursday and headed down. We took an hour pitstop at a McDonalds so Paul could take a work conference call but otherwise the trip down was pretty good. Of course the girls had to stay with Gagi which meant Paul, Jacob and I got the condo to ourselves. Not a bad deal (for us at least). Friday morning Paul & Jacob met up with Mom and the girls at the indoor pool not far from her house. They all had a great time swimming and even got to participate in a water egg hunt! We decided to go to the state park for a picnic lunch on the beach. The Myrtle Beach State Park is a great place to go..plenty of picnic tables, playground, showers and bathrooms - all right on the beach. The temperature was comfortable and it was very sunny. I had brought a bunch of sand toys so the kids could play in the sand. I didn't expect them to want to play in the water but that's exactly what they did! Despite the *freezing* cold ocean water the kids couldn't stay out of it! All 4 of them were jumping the waves and wading in the ocean..having a marvelous time! Jacob was soaked to the bone so eventually we had to leave with the promise to come back the next day. That evening Paul and I got a chance to get out for a date night. My oh-so-brave mother kept all the kids at her place. So nice! Saturday we went to the beach first then the indoor pool to swim. Again..a wonderful time was had by all! This time I let them were their bathing suits to the beach. And again the freezing cold water temperatures didn't deter them from playing in it. They loved it! Sunday we left in the morning to head back to Nana's house for an egg hunt and Easter lunch. Unfortunately Julia wasn't feeling well so we didn't stay too long. The older girls had a great time hunting eggs (sadly, because I am a slacker, this was the only egg hunt they did) and Jacob just loved running around. All in all a nice holiday! Very relaxing and a great way for Paul to begin his new job! Here are some pics: