Football season is here...

Well, tonight marks the beginning of football season and the start of 10 weeks of not having Bryan around very much.

Most of you know that Bryan is a local football referee for both the Broward Schools and the local youth leagues. Last year, he spent the year flying up to West Virginia on the weekends to be part of the referring league in the West Virginia college football assoc.

This year he won't be traveling to West Virginia because he is wanting to keep his family together and I was going to stangle him if he thought that leaving me alone with four children for days at a time, on a regular basis, was a good idea.

So, he is back to regular varsity football.

This means that he is away from home most - Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays at night, and either AM or PM shift on Saturdays (which are 8 hours long).

It is a long season.

He just called - 10pm - to let me know that they, the crew, were done for the night and that he, and the crew, were heading off to a pizza joint for a bite to eat.

Let me lay this out for you... four nights a week he gets to go out with his friends, run around a football field (stars of the show), gets paid $$$ AND then goes out for an uninterrupted meal?????????????

I'll bet if I promised him a little something (you know what that is) when he came home IF he came right home and didn't go out to eat... he'd be eating peanut butter and jelly right now, with a big smile.

But, alas, that will NEVER HAPPEN! I refuse to use sex as a bait.

So, I guess I just need to go to bed and be happy that he (at least) called when he was on his way to the restaurant.

It works for us.

I chose myself over my daughter...

Alone for the day - Bryan's football season is starting this weekend - I had a crazy day.

Birthday party at 2pm, dinner hour dealing with Wade on a sugar high, and the 4th load of laundry sitting on the couch waiting to be folded was just too much overload for me.

I had to do dinner dishes, wash the ones that don't fit into the diswasher, bathe the kids (not Paige, no time), straighten up the blankets and toys that managed to fall to the floor (not to mention the whole house looks like a tornado hit it) and attempt to get the kids in bed at a decent hour since nobody took a nap.

Poor Paige was in the exersaucer playthingie and she was CRYING and CRYING. But I KNEW it was because she was wanting to go to sleep... but I wanted to...

... first put away the pants that I had left sitting on the couch.

... finish stacking the sippy cups into the dishwasher.

...move the 5th load of laundry from the washer to the dryer.

...make popcorn for the kids' snack.

...wipe down the two table that managed to get dirty during dinner.

...pick up the puzzle the Wade threw about his room.

...yell at the girls to please dry themselves before they get into PJs.

...get Wade into his PJs.

...wipe up the mac and cheese that fell to the floor under the table.

Meanwhile the baby is going nuts.

I'm thinking to myself... 'All I want is to get into my own PJs.'

So when I was in the master bedroom, putting away towels... I took a 2 minute shower - serenaded by my crying daughter in the other room

By the time I rushed out... I saw the photo I'm posting.

I felt SO bad that I chose my own shower over her going to bed... but not bad enough that I didn't get a photo first, right?

Olivia's muluscum

I'm not sure who all knows that Olivia has been dealing with muluscum - but she has been living with this skin condition for almost a year.

For those not familiar with it - it is a disease, of the skin, that causes wart-like lesions to occur on the body. They are very contagious and can last for more than two years.

When she had her first two pop up, on her right shoulder... our doctor told me not to worry about it because it was something that people with allergies get. WRONG! Then, last October, those same two became inflammed and were swollen like cysts.

We took her to a dermatologist who diagnosed them and basically said that they are benign and would eventually go away on their own.

What he didn't say was that they could take up to two years to be gone and that they would continue to pop up new ones every so often - the older ones never really go away.

Not to mention that they leave scars.

The poor kid has had to swim in a t-shirt all year and has had to limit the sleepovers we could attend, or host, because I don't care to explain them to the other kid's parents.

Funny thing is that when other parents DO hear about it, they are not concerned. Maybe it is the way I tell them about it, but it is just NOT the best thing to be dealing with... not with four children in the house.

I only pray that the other kids, and me and Bryan, don't get them. I just want this whole thing to go away.

Right now, she has between 20 and 30 lesions on her torso and neck, thankfully covered with shirts, but she has a few that look infected.

They aren't really infected - we've figured out a pattern... they start our as a small wart, then they get really ANGRY looking - all red a swollen, almost as big as a silver dollar... then they start to go away.

I'm confident that the few that are angry now will be totally gone in less than a month, but there are so many more to go... I feel bad for her.

Tropical storm Fay - delays start of school.

This week was interesting. Tropical Storm Fay came very close to us... close enough that it delayed the start of our school year by 2 days.

Me and the kids have been stuck in the house, dodging rain and wind, for 2 days now.

Tomorrow is the first day - Wednesday.

I'll be honest - I'm spent! I'm tired of cooking, cleaning, folding laundry, changing poopy diapers, picking up toys and referring fights between any combination of two children.

It'll be nice to go back to work, to not have to cut up someone else's food and clean up dishes after 5 people have eaten.

Meals don't normally bother me, but when I'm planning, cooking and cleaning 3 meals a day, for all of us, it gets really tiring.

I know... whine, whine, whine.

On a bright note, I'm still going ahead with my basket business.

I spent some $$$ today to hire a logo company and have them create a logo for it. Once I get the logo, I can use it to label all the lotion and soap bottles and for the sticker on the top of the basket.

I'm excited for what they will be coming up with.

I'm looking forward to doing this business.

.... in my spare time. LOL

Went to visit Bryan's family this week.

We took advantage of a few days of no school and no work and drove over to North Fort Myers to see Bryan's parents and grandmother.

It was a short stay - only 24 hours, but I think that any longer we'd wear out our welcome.

Bryan's father, Steve, kidnapped me and took me to lunch (at his favorite Mexican restaurant), then he took me to get an hour long massage!!!

He told me that he felt bad because every time we've visited, he has taken Bryan out for a game of golf and lunch; but he realized that they always left me home with Bev to watch the children.

So he wanted me to have my own special day out, without kids.

I was touched - really touched.

I should treat myself as good as he treated me that day.

Here is some photos of Nanny or Bev with the baby.

It was a nice visit.

Dirty towels!!!

Yesterday, I had the entire day to myself - which hasn't happened in many months.

I took advantage of it and cleaned out the kids' closets and drawers - not to mention the amount of laundry I did AND put away as it came out of the dryer.

It was an exhausting but productive day!

So, can I tell you the fury I had this morning when, after a quick shower, I looked for a towel to use on my hair. (I usually use two towels - one on my head and one on my body.)

I'm not picky - they don't both have to be clean and I KNOW I just washed three loads of towels yesterday, so how dirty can any towel be?

So, dripping wet - I march into the closet and find two towels on the floor!! I'm thinking,'What is the matter with this family? Can't anyone reuse a towel even one time!!!'

So I grab the closest one - very wet and too bulky for my head.

Then I grab the second one - lighter and only slightly damp.

Great!, I think, and begin to towel off my hair.

But, before the towel makes it to my head - I give my face a quick wipe...

BIG MISTAKE!!! I found out WHY the towel was only used once.

Can I ask you... is there anything more disgusting than a towel that smells like B-U-T-T????? And I planted that part of the towel RIGHT ON MY FACE!!

HOW DISGUSTING!!

Worst thing about it is... I don't know whose butt I was smelling - I'm hoping it was at least one of the kids.

I love my husband but not THAT much!

My Dad's 70th birthday!

Thanks to Aunt Linda and Lisa, who came over to watch Wade and Paige, Bryan, Me, Olivia, and Meredith were able to go out to dinner with my parents and my brother, with his fiance.

It was a nice dinner. The girls were bored - they like attending a buffet better than ordering a meal - and were constantly asking about when the food would show up.

Other than that - it was pleasant.

Here's some photos of the dinner.

Organization is the key!

It used to be that I'd take the kids out and people would offer free advice. Most would see me struggling with 3 kids and want to interject how they think I should be doing something to better accomplish my task.

Now, however, since Paige was born, it seems like people just don't say anything other than... 'Are they all yours?' and 'God bless you'.

I guess that they figure since all four kids are well fed, hair combed (usually) and don't have any bruises (showing) that I must have figured out how to raise them all.

I do hear a lot of 'How do you do it?'. Which made me think... how do we do it?

I'll tell you... the key is organization.

My mornings start the evening before. I make the coffee and set the dishwasher to go off during the night.

I lay out the clothes for the morning on the couch and make sure I at least know where everyone's shoes are.

I find the kids' favorite brush and return it to the bathroom.

It's like running a race. I think that the more you rehearse the day in your head, the better the day goes.

Last week, Thursday was splash day for Wade. He was supposed to arrive in a bathing suit and flip flops, with a bag of clothes to change into.

Well, Bryan got him ready and I was distracted with other things. I didn't realize the mistake until we were walking out the door. So, he went to school with the bag full of water clothes. I'm sure I can't be the only parent who forgot.

But I did manage to get his hair cut that afternoon, so in my head, all was even.

The preschool is bumping Wade up to the 3 year old room next week. Talk about pressure! He needs to be potty trained to be in that class and guess what - he's not.

Although, the staff tell me that he is VERY trained at the school. Time will tell. They want him moved up because he is just too advanced to stay in the 2 year old room. I'd thought they would at least wait until the kid turned 3, in Sept., but they said no, now is a good time.

I'll keep you posted.

A long overdue update...

I don't even know where to begin. I'll start with the important stuff...

Wade is doing much better. Not to say that he was ever sick, but that lump on his neck got smaller with the antibiotics that the ENT doctor gave him. It pops up every now and then, kind of odd, but the doctor says that it isn't anything to worry about and he is not concerned. YEAH!!!

Paige is great. What a mild mannered, easy to take care of, kid. She is a dream. Only cries when she is feeling pain... which is never... and when she is ready to go to bed and no one is putting on her PJs.

She is losing her hair, though, slowly going bald... which would be funny if she lost all her dark hair and it regrows back blonde.

I went back to work last week... one of the reasons I haven't updated. It was a tough first day, but we all survived and I have to say that I like the new preschool better than the old one AND it is much, much cheaper. So I think we are good in that respect. Just waiting for all the colds, coughs and runny noses to start.

Gotta end for now. Bryan made it to national news because of a murder in Pembroke Pines. I wanto to go watch.

I'll write more later.