Big Things are Coming

That's right. There are some big changes happening over here at the Dailey Zoo. Em is starting Girl Scouts again, Matt is starting football and Lauryn will be going into daycare/preschool because Mommy is going back to school herself. That's right folks, it's going to happen... come hell or high water I will be going back to school this fall. It's going to be one crazy chaotic adventure to say the least since hubby will be gone for school/training while all this starts. Wish me luck, but most of all, pray I don't lose my mind during this endeavor.

Happy Belated Mother's Day

I haven't posted much lately. Things got crazy hectic as it normally does in Spring. Birthday parties, work parties, parties just to party because the weather is awesome parties. Well, you get the drift, right? I also signed up at www.houseparty.com. It's a website that hooks you up with companies that send you stuff to host a party featuring their products for free. Every so often they send you emails about parties that are available to host; if it sounds like something you would be interested in hosting you fill out the questionaire and then cross your fingers you get picked. LOL! So far I have been chosen to host a Kraft Taste of Summer party. They sent me a party pack with free food and and tons of other goodies for my guests. All I have to do is host a party, offer the free food to my friends, play some games, take some pictures, post a blog on their site and enjoy my day. My party is this Saturday, so keep an eye out for a blog on how successful it was.

I've also started working out. I'm a planner to the extreme and well, I have just 6 months to fit myself into a TO DIE FOR gown for this year's Marine Corps Ball. In order to get my body into it's top physical form I started a program called P90X. For those of you who don't have insomnia and haven't seen the infomercial... it's a 90 day extreme boot camp type workout. I'm 3 weeks in to the 13 week regimen and am loving every minute, but it does take up the better part of my "free" morning time. Well, since I am lucky enough to still have a sleeping toddler this morning I am now going to try and get my workout done without her underfoot. Hope everyone has a great day.

TGIF... maybe

This week has been a blur, seems like it just flew by. I've been reading a book called " Making Children Mind without Losing Yours" by Dr. Kevin Leman. It has started to open my eyes to the reality of our family. Emily was gone for the first 3 days this week and her absence also brought a lot of perspective. She has a huge impact on this household, one we really weren't giving her credit for, unfortunately, it's a negative one. For months now I have been trying to "fix" Matthew's behavior. He's a willful child, who at the age of 6 (almost 7) was throwing temper tantrums that could easily rival that of a 2 year old. Everything seemed to be a struggle with him, but the three days that Emily was gone... he was an angel. He did his homework, chores and listened like an angel, he even lovingly helped his younger sister. The minute Em was home, he was back to old Matthew, fighting, yelling, getting defensive, distracted, hard to keep on task. So I decided to sit back and pay more attention to what was going on. Emily, and I hate to say this, is an instigator. She goads him on with little digs here and there. She tattles to try and make herself look better and then sits back and loves watching Matt get in trouble. I think now his acting out is not only to get attention, but at the sheer frustration that we as parents were not aware of what was happening to him. It's going to be a long road to try and correct the negative behaviors Emily and Matthew have picked up and an even longer road to get to where they are well behaved and loving siblings towards each other.

It's Raining, It's Pouring...

The old man is snoring. Woke up this morning to thunder rumbling and the rain coming down by the gallon. It's the last day of Spring Break and I am going to be stuck inside trying to entertain three children that are polar opposites. Is that even possible? Three kids and all of them completely different? Speaking of entertaining my children, Matthew just woke up and the first thing he did was walk in and ask me since it's raining can we play checkers now. LOL! He hasn't even wiped the sleep out of his eyes and he wants to play checkers. In his defense I did know it was going to be raining today and I did tell them we would play board games and watch movies today. I'm even thinking of ordering pizza for lunch.

And to think yesterday it was implied by my husband and my daughter that I didn't do enough to make Spring Break fun. I think they just need to reevaluate what the word fun means. Fun is not defined in the Webster's dictionary as " always saying yes to sleepovers, trips to the beach and sharing meals with the neighborhood".

The Light At the End of the Tunnel

I've almost made it through Spring Break in one piece! Managed to get caught up on the housework Tuesday. Even got all three kids out of the house and home in one piece after glasses shopping for Emily yesterday. I'm thinking we might brave a trip to the park today. It's suppose to be the last nice day of the week. Tomorrow calls for thunderstorms and high winds. Can we say movie day? For now I think I will just sit here and enjoy my coffee, the sunshine coming in through the windows and the birds singing in the backyard. For at least a few more blissful minutes my children are asleep.

Spring Break... is it the devil?

Last Thursday started Spring Break here in North Carolina. So far it has been one calamity after another in this house. Kona, our 10 month old Chocolate Lab demolished my oldest, Emily's only pair of glasses and her cell phone. My middle child, Matthew decided that he was entitled to the little neighbor girl's allowance so he stole it and tried to hide it in his piggy bank. =( Top that off with my youngest regressing on the potty training. I swear that girl pees and poos in her panties more than on the toilet.

Spring break has not only wrecked havoc on me mentally it has wrecked havoc on my home as well. There is still a pile of dirty laundry sitting in my hallway, not to mention the 4 loads that need to be folded. My kitchen smells like a brew pub thanks to my sweet husband's new hobby of beer brewing and his laziness when it comes to cleaning up after himself. I, kid you not, have 3 5gal buckets sitting in my kitchen. One is full of water and beer bottles that he was cleaning and didn't need. The other two are full of beer remnants that didn't make it into the bottles. You would think with all the extra hands around the house would be neat and orderly. Unfortunately, children's hands are much more adept at making messes rather than picking them up.

Well, it's time to end this... I can hear Lauryn screaming, Matthew bellowing about only having 'unders on and Emily trying to referee. And this is all from the back porch at 9am in the morning. I'm sure my neighbors LOVE me. LOL!

Shamrocks, Leprechauns and Green dots. Oh My!

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! My husband has duty tonight. For those not "in the know" duty is a 24 hour post where they sit in an office, man phones, tour the barracks where the junior Marines live and basically act as security/peacekeeping officers. So the kids and I are all on our own for the next 24-36 hours depending on if they require him to work a full day tomorrow. Under normal circumstances I would be making a traditional Irish meal today, homemade soda bread and all. But with the hubs being gone it just doesn't seem worth all the work.

Yesterday my six year old came home from school full of stories about the mischief the leprechauns carried out at school while they were gone for the night. Apparently, they messed up the classroom, left footprints and shamrocks everywhere. He is completely convinced that leprechauns exist and he was bound and determined to catch one last night. He set a trap and searched his room up and down for signs of mischief this morning. Of course he didn't find any signs of mischief until he made it to school and looked in his lunchbox. There was a bite taken out of his sandwich and someone or something had written "HA HA, Can't catch me" in green food coloring marker on the top of it. ;-).

A Day In the Life

My husband told me I should write a blog after watching an episode of House on the DVR last night. I informed that I had in fact started a blog eons ago, but have failed to keep up with it. So here I am trying my hand again at blogging.

There is nothing more demoralizing than potty training a toddler. Especially when said toddler would rather squat, grunt and fill her Elmo panties with turds than sit on the toilet like a normal person. Some days I just want to collapse on the floor and cry puddles of tears until either; A. I drown in them or B. I float away.

Well, I guess that is it for today considering the aforementioned toddler just brought me a dishtowel covered in poop that she was trying to clean up off the kitchen floor... oh, lord please save me.