Why my life is chaotic

I run nothing, if not a chaotic household! It's no wonder I can't get anything accomplished. This morning as I was trying to get Rena ready for school...well, let me start with this.

Since Rena is the only one that goes to school today, I figured I'd wait 'til the morning to give her a bath since the little girls could take one later. I was really hoping that she'd take a shower...quicker and easier...then Riley wanted to take a shower....then Rachel wanted to take a bath....then Rena decided she'd take a bath instead....then we started to run out of hot water (go figure) so Riley got in the bath too. In the meantime, I'm trying to keep my coffee cup full, pick out clothes for the day, start laundry...etc. Then, I hear laughing and squealing coming from the bathroom. And this is what I find.....

Yep! That's Jake. He had 'retrieved' the stuffed Winnie the Pooh from the tub. What are you gonna do? He is a retriever after all. And on a side note, who needs a tub that big?

The rest of the day has proved to be just as chaotic. While Rena was in school, Riley and Rachel were playing with an aquadoodle in the foyer. You use water to write on it. When it dries out you start again. Well, if you are three, then you start thinking if a little water is good then alot of water would be great! So Riley filled up a tea kettle and poored it all over the entry. Flood! So I made the girls clean it up and then it was time to head to the grocery store. Then to pick up Rena.

On the way home from picking up Rena I decided to stop and pick pecans from this tree that I had noticed earlier. It's right off the highway and kind of behind a warehouse type thing. By the time I got there the twins were asleep so Rena and I picked them up. I got a whole grocery bag full. Let me tell you, if you haven't eaten fresh pecans, you don't know what you're missing. Yummy! We had alot of fun picking them up too. As I was walking back to the car the guy that works there and owns the house next door came out and talked to me. He didn't care that we picked them up and he even showed me their chestnut tree. Have you ever seen one of these things? It looks like a mini porcupine and feels like one too. Youch! We got a few of them just for the novelty of it. Are they even edible? Or do you just roast them on open fires? I'll have to google it.

When I got back to the car with Rena, I discovered that the twins were awake and crying! I felt so bad. I was sure they would sleep the whole time we were gone. (By the way, I could see the car the whole time and if they had looked to their left, the would have seen us too.) But the upside is that they didn't nap for very long so hopefully everyone will go to sleep early tonight.

On the way into the neighborhood, a deer crossed the road infront of us! It was big too and just strolled across the street and back into the woods that back up to my house. Who knows, maybe he's still back there. It was really cool and that's the first one I've seen in the 'hood.

Then I tried to get the girls to go outside and play. But nobody wanted to. Too bad. I guess it's too cold for them. Now everyone is whiny and driving me crazy. I'd feed them dinner and put them to bed now if I didn't think I'd pay for it about 4:00am!

God Bless America

I tend to have a pretty tough exterior. It's not necessarily and act, there just isn't alot that gets to me. I can see both side of most situations and I tend to not be that emotional. I run on an even keel.

HOWEVER, my achilles heel is when I hear children sing. I don't know why, but get a group of kindergarteners together singing the ABC's and I become and emotional basket case. And I taught Kindergarten for YEARS. (Sidenote: I can't read the Polar Express without crying either and I usually had to have my assistant finish reading it everytime I read it to my class. One year she was busy and didn't realize I was circling the drain. I did finish reading it, but I was a mess. It was awful!) Anyway, I was mopping the kitchen this morning and the girls were sitting on the back of the couch watching me. What? You didn't know that mopping is a spectator sport. So Rena starts singing God Bless America. I didn't even know that she knew this song, but she didn't miss a word or a note. Her sweet little sincere voice got to me. I had to turn my back to them so they wouldn't see me. And when she finished she said..."Mommy, did you like my song?" Bwahaha. I was bawling! Beautiful.

Happy Halloween 2008 style

I sent my computer off to Dell on Monday. The whole thing was falling apart...literally. I'm kinda hard on things. So all week without a computer. Yikes! Except I did have one. My old computer which actually works just fine except the power adaptor only works if you hold it just right against the back of the computer. And even then you have to move it around alot to get a connection. Oh and the battery won't hold a charge. Anyhoo I could at least go online and check email, etc. While I was there I checked out some old pictures that are still on that computers.

3 years ago. God, aren't they just delicious? Rachel is in front and Riley's in the back.



Halloween 2005.

What a cutie little fairy this one was. Recognize the dress? It's the same one that Riley is wearing in the majority of pictures of her on this blog.



2 cool cats.

Halloween 2005.

My front porch in Wake Forest. Rachel on the left. Riley on the right. Ray wasn't too happy about something. Riley did alot of sleeping in the early months. So they were about 7 weeks old in this picture. Wow. where has the time gone?



The BIG sister. And what a great big sister she has been.




My how time flies. Now the twins are older than Rena was in these pictures and we live 2 states away.


So Halloween 2008

We had a GREAT time carving pumpkins.

Trick or Treating was fun.

Can you say Sugar Overload?

Rena turns 5!

So we had Rena's 5th birthday party in October. For the longest time I couldn't decide what I wanted to do for her party. My sister in law suggested a treasure hunt. That sounded like a lot of work at first but the more I thought about it the better I liked it. So that is what we did. I did a treasure hunt where everyone had to find clues to find the next clue.

The last 'clue' was a ticket for the hayride to the pumpkin patch where everyone got to pick a pumpkin to take with them.

So it was a bit of a 'redneck' hayride.

But I think everyone had fun.

Rena had decided that she wanted an all girl party. That was fine with me. It has started getting more difficult trying to decide who to invite and who not to. Rena has LOTS of friends. So a couple of the neighborhood boys had been left out of the party plans. But that didn't deter them. Once they found out it was 'girls only' they decided to take matter into their own hands.

It cracked me up! I gave them cupcakes and sent them on their merry, crossdressing way. I'm not sure some of our guests knew exactly what to think.

There was a kind of Fall/Halloween theme to the party so I made a black cat for the birthday cake. One of the guests informed me that it was brown not black. No cake for YOU!

The kids always seem to end up sitting in the foyer eating cake at every party. Too funny.

The birthday girl got a little clingy with Daddy around.

So another birthday party down. I really can't believe that she is 5. And she is such a great kid. Everyone loves her. She's smart and funny and sweet and generous. She is everything that I hoped she would be and more. I taught this age for many many years. And I had some really great kindergarteners in that time. Rena would rank #1! I love her more than words could ever express and I'm so lucky to be her Mom. Happy birthday Rena.

THE PARADE

Our preschool does a Halloween parade of sorts. The children get to dress up in their costumes and then they parade around the carpool lanes while happy parents and grandparents snap pictures. It is very cute.

RANDOM THINGS

On the nights I play tennis one of the neighborhood girls comes to watch the girls for me. She loves to have them dress up and do fashion shows for me when I get home. It is hysterical. They love it.

Riley in particular!

Now the babysitter is kinda young and shy and quiet. So it surprised me when I showed her this picture of Rachel

and she said "Well now you know how she's going to be looking at you from the time she's 12 until she's about 17."

Turns out she's funny too!

And because I'm constantly amazed at where and how this child can sleep, here you go. She's asleep with her finger stuck in her hair.

And now for the truly amazing. THIS is my side of the bed. That right. That's where I sleep. Just moments before I took this picture Riley had her arm slung over Rachel's waist. Rachel wants her space when she sleeps. She always has. So a few minutes later I ran into Rachel in the hall headed to her room. "I'm going to sleep in my woom." she said in her most groggy voice.

That's rude

Rachel's favorite thing to say lately is "That's wooed" She hears that alot "close your mouth when you chew" "Put your dress down" "don't spit" All followed by "That's rude"

So last night the puppy I was bragging about earlier peed on the kitchen floor. Ack! Rachel came to inspect and said "Mommy, That's wooed"

Ah so true

Rub-a-dub-dub

Wellllll. Evidently if you want to get comments on your blog you just need to post random pictures and tell people there's a story behind them. hahahahaha!

This past week has been extra busy. What can I say. I've descended from messy disorganization to complete and utter chaos. I've been off balance ever since school started. I'm not quite sure why but I've never managed to catch up. I my defense we did start school, where I seem to have volunteered for every event this fall, I've thrown 2 big birthday parties in the back yard, I've had a yard sale, taken a roadtrip to Raleigh, what else? I'm sure there's something else. Oh. We added yet another dog to the pack, bringing the grand total to 3. So a better more anal person could have handled it all AND cleaned the house, but that person is not me. So right now there are dishes stacked up, laundry lined up down the hall and my car looks like grocery bags have exploded in there. BUT, I'm taking tomorrow OFF. Kinda. OK, I'm just not taking the girls to school. What? Don't looked so shocked. It's not a big deal, really. It's a half day. Yep, they do that in preschool. So that means I would have to drive for an hour for Rena to go to school for 2. (The little girls don't have school.) Ain't gonna happen tomorrow.,,,,,,,

So a few picture to perhaps explain some of the craziness that makes it's way into my life. This little cherub is Riley. Evidently she is part squirrel. See that grocery bag in her hands? There
are about 6 more downstairs on the toyshelf. She's been 'organizin' '. Helping. All this helping is going to kill me.


So I had her empty the contents of her bag so we could see what all was in there. She's not happy about it. Suspicious comes to mind. So let's see. We have a box top to a game that came with 54 pieces...none of the pieces are located in the picture. A writing board. A coloring book. A game piece from a clown juggling game, a pretend vase from a plastic dressing table, a baby toy piano and a large bag of baby wipes. Now remember, there are 6 more bags just like this and I know for a fact that some of them contain small cans of tomato juice taken from the pantry.

And see this next picture. Those are the cards that belong in the gamebox above. This is not all of the card, of course. They have been unequally distributed throughout the 10+ rooms of this house, the garage and the car. And those tiny little things? Those are pony beads. You can make necklaces out of them or if you're really talented you can use them to decorate your hair. If you are of preschool age evidently the thing to do with them is gather them up and then sling them across a room. No need to collect them a second time because there are PLENTY of them. I'm convinced that they are able to multiply on their own....like tribbles, maybe. I like to think of them as seeds from hell. Especially when I walk around barefoot.

I have finally taken a serious stand on the little beads and those that appear when I vacuum are sucked into eternity. The luckier ones have been (re)contained in a rubbermaid cannister where they will live until the girls learn to really pick up after themselves...or the stone bruises on my feet heal.

Next up we have our trip to Raleigh to pick up this little guy from our 'friends'. I have to put friends in quotes because they are the people who gave us Nixie who is a big fat pain in my ass. But I still love her. Kinda. Anyway this is Jake. We got him so Nixie would have someone to play with. So far it's working out great and this little guy is pretty cool so far. Nixie's happy. I'm happy. Max is happy. All the dogs are happy. Great. Really. It is really hard to get a good picture of a black lab puppy. First off,, he's black. Second he's a puppy so he wasn't slowing down much as I tried to take his picture. And he was curious about the camera. So he's actually cuter in dogperson.

At least a trip to Raleigh enabled me to visit some of my favorite haunts. I got my haircut from my most favorite hairdresser. She's fabulous and I've managed to have her continue to cut my hair even though I'm 6+hours away. I haven't made a special trip to Raleigh just for that but I would! Then I did a little shopping at NOFO at the pig. Really very quickly. They had these cool cups for the girls and I wanted more. Then I drove past my Grandparents' house. They don't live there anymore. They've been dead for over 22 years. Wow. And I'm still driving by their house. hmmm. Well they lived in what is now a hot real estate market. I really wish I had bought their house when they died. It's worth a fortune now....seriously. It was on the market for about $260,000.00. It's about 800 square feet on 1/8th of an acre. But it's not the fortune I'm after. I just think it would be a really cool place to live. Of course I would have to do a little renovation I'm sure. That's what's happening to all the houses on that street. They are being torn down and replaced with 4000sqft homes. There are lots of complaints about it but I think they are doing a nice job. And those original houses have run their course.

Next stop was the State Farmer's Market. I was hoping to see some really cool jack o lanterns since they had just had a decorating contest, but most of those were gone. We did get to see some really beautiful pumpkins. I LOVE pumpkins! This one was bigger than my whole family!

I love the textures...

and colors....

and patterns on all these beautiful gourds.


I also love the way they are all lined up ready for Halloween! I'm talking about the pumpkins, not the girls.


And now for a picture that I just think if funny. The girls usually take a bath together although they are about to outgrow the tub. I call this our indoor pool. Why is the water super cloudy? 'Cause it has a whole bottle of soap in there.

Rain

I'm up way too early this morning. I don't know why. I've actually had almost 30 whole minutes to myself but as I type this I hear the first one thumping down the steps. It's Rachel. She wakes up happy and has come to join me in the dark in the chair. She just wants to sit beside me and suck her thumb. I think she's getting a cold. Probably the one Rena has given me.

Outside it's raining. I really can't remember the last time it rained. It's sad and a little scary. While most people down in Atlanta have probably forgotten the water restrictions that have been in place and tightened for the last 2 1/2 years, I drive over Lake Lanier almost everyday and I see our water supply quickly diminishing. I watch this one boat that has been neglected and left to rest on the shoreline by the receeding waters. One corner clings hopelessly to the water's edge, waiting for the day it can be launched again and set free from the muddy bank. Sometimes I wonder if that's truly going to happen. The vegetation optimistically sprouts on the new shoreline, taking over where waders used to tread. Hopefully it's days are numbered. But not by this rainshower. Simply a drop in the bucket that will quickly be siphoned off and processed and pushed through a hoseline in some upscale neighborhood to make sure their grass stays green and the HOA stays happy.

Well the days have been busy here. This fall caught me a little offguard...lolling in the last days of summer. Unstructured days and late nights sitting outside watching my children play barefoot in the street, riding bikes and chasing frogs by the light of the streetlight. The sound of children's laughter coming up from the darkness as they squeeze in one last minute with their friends. But now here it is October. My favorite month. And there's so much I want to do. Many things pass me in a blur. But it won't be those things I've missed that I'll look back on. It will be the things we managed to get done.

Last friday I took the girls to pick apples up in Ellijay.

The weather was beautiful and the apples were plentiful! I was going to take them the week before but I couldn't find gas and I didn't want to use any extra if I didn't have to. So the girls had a full week to get excited about it. We've actually been every fall since we've been here. The first year we went with a playgroup. Last year we went as a whole family. This year it was just me and the girls. The apple house has added a petting farm. It's only open on weekends but the girl at the counter told me we could go in as long as we didn't let any of them out. So we did.

Rachel is a natural around animals. Completely in control.

Rena likes them too.

Riley, not so much.

It was great. I must have been a farmer in a past life. The girls were pretty much done after we saw the goats and they were ready to go! I wasn't and I made them pick more apples as they complained bitterly about how tired they were. Oh well.

Little girls can pick a lot of apples in a short period of time. So now I have a bushel and a half of apples sitting in my garage. So far I've made an apple pie and apple bread. I'm making apple jelly today. It's been a long time since I've canned anything. I figured I'd start with something simple and work my way up from there. I'm hoping to do some applesauce and apple pie filling. Because I have so much free time. I sent some apples to school with the little girls. If I get really inspired I might bake something to send in for their classes to eat and some for the teachers too. We'll just have to see how much I can get done in a day.

35 Things

My friend Mer shared this on her blog. I love those things so I decided to play along...instead of emailing to all my friends who really don't care! ;)

35 Odd Things About Me

1. Do you like blue cheese salad dressing? Not really
2. Do you own a gun? Yes
3. What's your favorite drink at Starbucks? grande latte
4. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? coffee coffee coffee
5. Do you do pushups? not if I can avoid it. That must be my weakest muscle.
6. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? a heart necklace that Rena drew and my mother in law had it made into a necklace.
7. Favorite hobby? tennis
8. Do you have A.D.D? probably
9. What's one trait that you hate about yourself? procrastination
10. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment: I should get the laundry going...is Rena really asleep?...the computer is a horrible thing for procrastinators.
11. Name 4 drinks you regularly drink. coffee, water, wine, coke
12. Current worry right now? that Ill never get my 'office' organized
13. Current hate right now? politics
14. Favorite place to be? the beach any beach
15. Do you like to travel? not really but I like the final destination usually
16. What color shirt are you wearing? red
17. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? no. too cold. give me flannel
18. Can you whistle? of course. I can even use my fingers to whistle
19. Favorite color? blue...no, green...no, blue. Actually I LOVE blue and green together.
20. If you could would you be a pirate? I am a pirate. ;)
21. What song do you sing in the shower? I'm usually too busy shouting orders to sing (don't hit your sister, leave the dog alone, turn that down....)
22. Favorite girl's name? Lauren. But I didn't name any of my girls that.
23. Favorite boy's name? Scott
24. What's in your pocket right now? Don't have pockets. But usually it's a receipt from somewhere or a hair clip
25. Favorite bedsheets as a child? Didn't have any
26. Worst injury? Hmmm. I have lots of them. The worst was probably when I dislocated my knee because it's been a constant source of problems ever since.
27. Do you love where you live? NO
28. How many TVs do you have in your house? 3
29. Who is your loudest friend? If I can't think of anyone, it might be me, right?
30. How many pets do you have? 2 and counting
31. Does someone have a crush on you? I doubt it. Unless you count Riley.
32. What is your Favorite Book? To Kill a Mockingbird
33. What's your favorite candy? mini reese's cups
34. Favorite Sports Team? ECU pirates
35. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? Damn dog!

If this looked like fun (and it was) do one on your own blog and let me know. Or email me with your answers. I really do love these things.

Recent happenings.

Well the girls had a great time with their Dad at Grandmom and Grandpop's house. They got to go play on the beach sound side

and go to the aquarium. Blair was really good about sending me cellphone pics along the way.

I really missed them but I really enjoyed my freetime. At first I thought I was going to spend the whole time furiously scouring my house until it was spotless. But alas, that didn't happen and I was OK with that. Instead I just spend some quiet, calm time doing a little of this and that. I did clean and do ALOT of laundry. I played alot of tennis and napped some too. I went to the movies with a couple of friends and took myself out for lunch. Once I realized that the house was not going to get scrubbed from top to bottom I made a goal of getting all the toys back together, sorted out, and put out of reach of the children. The don't NEED that many toys at one time and they end up just stringing them all over the house instead of playing with them. My girls would rather be outside playing with their friends than inside playing with puzzles. And because we NEVER have a rainy day, our indoor toys aren't really getting that much real use. So I managed to get that job done. What I really enjoyed most about them being gone was that I got to do things on my time table. I slept when I wanted and ate when I wanted and watch tv when I wanted. Things moved at a much slower calmer pace.

They got home Sunday but I wasn't here! I had to go play a tennis match and I didn't get home until after they did. I was so happy to see them! Even though they had only been gone 4 days they all looked like they had grown to me. And then it was business as usual.

Well the good thing about not having rainy days to play inside is that we have beautiful weather EVERYDAY. Really. The weather is gorgeous right now. Because we've been in a drought for sooooo long it's really changed my thinking about the outdoor activities. Whenever planning an outdoor event, a rain date doesn't even cross my mind. We've also been rewarded with some amazing sunsets.

And beautiful blue skies.

And if you pay close attention to the sky you might see something a little out of the ordinary.

What's that in the sky? Is it a bird? Is it a plane?

No, it's the goodyear blimp. Really.

So this week I've been trying to get ready for a yardsale. I've been cleaning out the twins clothes and some of the toys. What a monumental task this is. It's amazing how many clothes we end up with. And shoes. Good lord. I don't even have that many shoes. And of course I can't get rid of anything until the last person has 'for sure' outgrown it. But now I'm to the point that it has GOT to go! All this clutter is making me a little crazy. So next weekend is the big sale. I'm both dreading it and looking forward to it at the same time. It'll be nice to get a little cash for some of our stuff, but I always feel seriously ripped off. And I LOVE some of these little clothes that I'm selling. It's a good thing I'm not a hoarder or I would keep all of their little clothes. (Stop growing!) It'll be nice to have a little room in the garage again...not that we park in there, but it would be nice to have that option...just in case it rains.