the In-Laws

Da-da-da-dummmm. Well here it is Monday evening. Greg and I made it home before Grandpa Frump pulled in. Whew, that was a close one. Greg and I had a 2:15 pm meeting in Grand Rapids this afternoon and didn't even get started until 3:50 pm.... the only good thing about it was the babysitter had to deal with Lauryn and her homework tonight, THANKS MOM!!

Grandpa Frump and Grandma Patty don't get along... to say the least. It has nothing to do with her dementia either! So she's not looking forward to him being here, and Greg and I are doing our best to make sure all goes well. Grandpa stays as happy as we can keep him, and we don't leave the two of them alone together for longer than it takes one of us to pee!!!

Grandpa came up because he has been gracious enough to loan Greg and I some money to get a minivan. That will relieve a lot of the stress of getting Liyah to and from school!!! Thank you Jesus. It will also cause us to owe G.F. money.... but that will be paid with the wonderful income tax return next spring. Again, Thank you Jesus!!

I think tomorrow will be quite the shopping experience with both G.F. and Greg looking at cars. One has certain opinions of what he'd like to buy.... call it two full weeks of internet research. The other one holds the purse strings. I told Greg it's not always easy to put away your pride and be grateful for what you get. But we WILL NOT look this gift horse in the mouth, WE WILL be grateful.

G.P. will probably think that she will be getting taxied around town everyday now that we will have a vehicle during the days Greg's at work. That will be nice to get out and about more, but it won't be everyday.... unless she wants to pay for a maid service. Something about keeping things running smoothly in a house of 5 keeps me home the majority of the time!

Although, the babysitter did do 3 loads of laundry while we were gone too!!! Now I'm going to have to pay her more money (although 0 x anything is still 0 right!) Thanks mom!!

Well, I may have some more interesting info to post tomorrow!! I'm hoping it isn't going to be a 9 am- 9 pm day!!! Whoo- hoo!!!

Here comes the Fall!!

The best time of the year, not freezing cold, yet cool enough to wear jeans and sweatshirts!

The girls are getting into the schedule of school and things. We just started the AWANA kids program at our church this past Wednesday evening. It makes for a late night (especially for Lauryn) and not much fun in the attitude department the next day. I think it will be worth it though.

I truly don't know where the time flies. I have yet to do the housecleaning at my sister's house. It's already Friday and I haven't quite found the time to run down there and get it done. Now today Liyah is home from pre school due to coughing and crying all night, so I will either take her down there and make her take a nap @ grandma's while I clean or go down after naps and let her play with Lauryn while I clean.... neither one is the best but you do what you have to. Cleaning is a must as it pays for the insurance on Cheryl's car that we are borrowing.

There hasn't been too many things driving me insane since the girls are in school. It is nice to know I'm not my own insanity maker. I'm for the most part pretty laid back and easy going.... until I had my own children.

QUESTION: Is it okay to tell your child she is acting like a brat? Then have to define brat to her?

The Quick Rundown

Here goes:

MONDAY

Sent Lauryn off to school (ahhh a little less stressful around the house)

Liyah's teachers came to visit with her @ 8:30 am

Walked 2 miles w/ mom

Had a business meeting @ 7:30 pm with potential business partner

TUESDAY

Walked 2 miles w/ mom

Went to business mtg. in Hudsonville tonight, potetial business partner didn't show

WEDNESDAY

Walked 2 miles w/mom

Went to farm down the road and loaded my dad's Dodge Ram w/ rocks (3 of us over an hour)

Brought them home and unloaded them w/ Greg

Went to Pre-school orientation w/ Liyah @ 5:30 pm (had Annie overnite)

Went to another business mtg. in Big Rapids @ 8 pm

THURSDAY

Walked 2 miles w/ mom

Cleaned the living room carpets

Gave blood @ Red Cross blood drive in Lakeview

FRIDAY

Lauryn home sick with fever and snotty nose

Cleaned 2 overstuffed chairs and couch with steam cleaner

Moved rocks around the flower beds (4 of them), spread lime under back porch where cats have been making a stink, threw smaller rocks under there so they won't use it for bathroom anymore

Cleaned house

SATURDAY

Cleaned house some more

Went grocery shopping

Cleaned house some more

Grandma Patty came home, Mark, Michele, Hannah and Abigail brought here up.

Went to Craig's Cruisers with everyone

SUNDAY

Church with everyone

Grilled lunch

Played with kids

Mark, Michele and girls headed to hotel to rest and swim before long trip home on Monday

Went to King's Trading Post for ice cream

MONDAY

Greg off to work

Walked 2 miles w/ mom

Girls and I coloring

Cleaned up kiddie pool in the backyard for the winter

Cleaned up doggie diarrhea from backyard

Took Lauryn, Liyah, GP and Annie to the lake for one last swim of the season

Grilling out at Dad and Mom's for dinner

Getting both girl's ready to go to school tomorrow !!!!!!!!!!!

That is my week in a nutshell, a very LARGE nutshell!

There hasn't been to many CRAZY moments, mostly just tired ones. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, when I get to have some quiet! Oh, and check out why two companies over in England have charged my debit card over a hundred dollars, pay two overdue bills and call the Dept. of Human Services because I forgot to fill out a form making sure Lauryn and Liyah continue on Medicaid! The craziness always circles back around, just like vultures!

Is it over yet....

This month has been good, but very busy. Lauryn started school today, without a lunchbox too. The time got away from me and we forgot. So she brown bagged it.... won't kill her!

She said she had a wonderful day, and that she didn't have any homework, of course I didn't think she would.

Liyah met her pre-school teachers today. She was soooo very excited. Then mommy has to be a hardnose with the transportation dept. about getting the bus out here. I don't know if I will win or not, but it may make a difference in whether she goes to school or not. AAAAHHHHH! I hate things like this.

We had a wonderful 3 day vacation last week. Actually got to swim at the beach one day. The other two days were toooooooo cold! Rats, but of course the one day we went mommy didn't take care of herself and got a MAJOR sunburn, still hurts 5 days later. Why do I do that?!

No catastrophic happenings on vacation. Liyah fell out of the camper door once, and was sure she broke her leg. That changed as soon as she got out to go to the playground again! Lots of bug bites, and cold mornings. We fished in a little pond on the campgrounds, Greg caught a little trout and I caught a small trout, sm stripped bass and a large sunfish (about 9 inches long and wider than my hand). We had fun, Lauryn wanted to catch some fish so bad. She caught a small turtle (by the front leg nonetheless). Wanted to keep in for a pet. She was devastated when I threw it back in the water. But then again, she wants to keep every little frog and toad she catches too!!

The only other "annoying" event was when Liyah went out to play in the playground and played in the car instead. Ran the battery down when she left the lights on, we had to have it jumped 2x's before it would stay running!! That was enjoyable. Greg wasn't happy at all, I think he was getting too hungry and we were planning on going out to eat (something about not wanting to roast hotdogs two nights in a row, what's up with that?!).

We made it home just fine and no one was worse for the cold, sand or bug bites!! Although I think we are all still ITCHING!!

Earwax Song

Okay, this was something that entertained the girls on our 3 hour trip down to Dundee on Saturday. Greg thinks I'm teaching them stuff that may or may not be appropriate. I said, "Atleast it doesn't have anything to do with Poop or Farting!!"

Enjoy, if you can.....

Earwax Song: (to a tune I can't remember now)

Earwax, earwax

I like to play with earwax.

Earwax, earwax

Yellow sticky goo.

Earwax, earwax

I'll wipe it all on you.

Earwax, earwax

Sticky, icky earwax.

Earwax, earwax

I roll it all around.

Earwax, earwax

Then flick it on the ground.

Then I ran out of words that rhymed. We were all laughing so hard we forgot to make up anymore. We tried making other silly songs, but couldn't come up with a topic that was a gross/funny as this!

If you have a funny song that you sing with your kids, or maybe you sing it to yourself when you are ready to go insane, I'd love to read it. I'm always open to fresh funny things to get my kids minds off the mundane things in life!

I couldn't do this without my family

I wouldn't have any material to share with those out there reading my blog!!

Greg has informed me he and the girls have made a pact (a tight one) that they are going to do their best to continue to give me material for my blog. I'm sure they didn't have to sign any contract to make it a sure thing either!

I love my family, I love, love, love them!!! I did inform them that if they want me to have a long and healthy life they should not hasten my trip to "Insanesville". If Greg wants to be sitting in rocking chairs, gumming down our dinners, and yelling to hear what each other is saying without our hearing aids he'd best let me keep some of my sanity!

This past week has been busy. Everyday G.P. has thought that her sister Linda was coming to take her to Ohio for a visit. I had to keep reminding her that we were meeting her in Dundee on Saturday! It really doesn't do much good, but she wants to know. We successfully passed her on to Linda yesterday. Had a great lunch together before heading back home.

Now the four of us are gearing up to go camping this week ahead. We are going up north to Manton, MI for three nights at a campground where my parents have their RV sitting. It's the first time all summer we've been just the 4 of us, and I'm looking forward to spending some quality time (and quantity) with Greg and the girls, without other responsibilities.

There really isn't much in the way of "stories" to share with you my readers. Except for the fact that I've been looking for the package of ponytail holders for a week and finally found them when I cleaned the kiddie pool in the back yard this afternoon. Of course Liyah didn't know where they were!!!! It was about 200 of those little ouchless bands, had to rake them out of the yard. Hope the cats don't eat them and get "bound up" LOL.

How does time fly...

so quickly!

It wasn't that long ago that I wrote, was it.

Today has not been a good day, in my head. I haven't wanted anyone to talk to me, touch me, look at me... and of course all that and more has gone on all day. I've wanted to be snappy, selfish, grouchy and hibernate. I've grocery shopped, fixed meals, snacks, boo-boos and hair. I've wanted to scream, yell, cry and whine. I've kissed, hugged, smiled and tried my darnedest to talk nicely to everyone! I've wanted to read, sleep, eat (chocolate) and runaway. I've cooked, cleaned, dressed (myself and 2 others) and worked around the house.

I have done really well at ignoring the dirty bathroom, laundry room, master bedroom (and girls room to be honest). I've read books, played Barbies and dropped of videos @ the library (with 2 overdue books).

Have you ever had "one of those days", this was one for me (and no I'm NOT PMS-ing).

Lauryn starts school on the 31st of this month. G.P. is going down to Ohio again to visit Linda and her other sisters (until Labor Day). Liyah starts pre-school on Sept. 8. Greg and I are starting up a business with my parents. We are going camping next week. I'm needing a hair cut, as well as Lauryn and Liyah. I've got 2 cleaning jobs this week. I don't know why everything has waited until the end of summer vacation to happen but that is the way it's going. Of course if I could have spaced things out I wouldn't be rushed and stressed and then what would I have to write about.

I think I need a good weekend at a really inexpensive spa, sans husband, mother-in-law and children. Girlfriends definitely. I gotta go, the girls are getting tucked in and I want to say goodnight..... FINALLY!