You know you're a bad housekeeper when....

1. you're blogging when you should be cleaning up something....mountain of laundry, dishes piling up in the sink, etc.
2. you leave your house just so you don't have to look at the mess
3. you decide to take a nap during your kids naptime, or just read a book in the middle of the mess. Naptime is my time!
4. you use your port-a-crib to pile the clean laundry into instead of folding it
5. you're too lazy to put the port-a-crib away from the last time that you watched a baby (Jack) because he will just be back sometime and where would you put the laundry???
6. you make a pile downstairs of all the stuff that needs to go upstairs and you get around to emptying it sometime......that's when you find all of the stuff you thought you lost (earrings, kids clothes, socks, etc)

This list is in no way comprehensive to all of the stuff I put off doing. And, since this is Mother's Day Weekend, I might just take it off!! To all of you who do some of these things I am not saying you are bad housekeepers. I just thought I might get a giggle out of a few of you who might know what I am talking about. Most of the time my house is somewhat presentable, at least downstairs. Upstairs is another story! Well, to all of you mothers out there, Happy Mother's Day. Sit down, put your feet up, eat a bon bon and don't worry if your house is a mess. There is always another day to clean it all up.....or just take the kids out....'cause if you can't see it, it's noth there, right????

The Dark Side

Ok, so I have finally made the switch to the dark side....Diet soda!! I said I would never switch. That if it was a choice between diet and nothing, I would choose nothing. I know it is horrible for you (so is regular--I'm not that deluded) and it doesn't taste as good, but let me tell you something else....being over 30 sucks!
What ever happened to the good old days of eating whatever you wanted and it didn't matter? Well, getting married, then having kids, and then your metabolism does a huge nosedive! I just finally realized that you can't count calories and still drink regular soda. There is just no room in there for them if you want to eat!!!! So I switched. At first it was terrible. I hated it. But after about a week I started to get used to it. I would still rather drink a regular one right now, but I am hoping that in a couple more weeks I won't be able to notice as much.
For all of you fellow Dark Siders out there, write me a line and tell me how it was for you. As for me, I'm just going to keep on exercising, trying to eat right (the weekends kill me) and hope I don't die on one of our runs....thanks Brook for making me do something good for me!

More Disney World....

Emma roasting a marshmallow

Brooklyn and Paige watching "Enchanted" on the beach

All the girls watching the movie

Brooklyn, Paige, Zachary, Emma, and Abby striking a pose in their fabulous shirts!

Paige and Cinderella....don't look at Paige's tennies!!

Ok, so here are some more photos of Disney World. The top pics were some of my favorites. The hotel had a different movie every night on the "beach". It was a white sand beach right on the water, only you couldn't get in the lake because of the alligators. I guess they had nets and stuff up, but crazy! Anyway, you could get a smores kit and roast marshmallows. It was so much fun! I stopped counting how many marshmallows Emma consumed!

I just have to add that my camera was lost/stolen, so we lost our first 3 days of pictures. I hate to say it was stolen, but one minute it was with our stuff, and the next thing we knew it was gone. Luckily, Cherie let me use her camera for the remainder of our trip or I don't know what I would have done. Anyway, if it was stolen........I hope you jerks needed it more than I did......and you could have at least left me the memory card! Sorry, I'm still bitter.

Disney World....finally!

Emma and Cinderella

Paige and dad waiting in line for the dinosaur ride at Epcot

Rachele and the kids on the ride in DinoLand

After all day at Disney World, the kids still weren't done with rides! This little train was a big hit!

Zachary, Brent and Emma on the Magic Kingdom train

Ok, so finally I have updated my blog and put some Disney pictures up. We had so much fun. After thinking March would never come, it did....and it was so much fun! How can you not have fun in a group of 24 people....13 kids and 11 adults!! And you want to know the crazy part....it wasn't crazy! The kids got along super well, the adults still love (and like) each other even after 8 days of togetherness! It was the most fabulous trip ever!

Zachary's favorite ride was the barnstormer in toon town--this was a stretch for him. He's not huge on the rides. Paige's favorite ride was Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain Railroad. NOT The Tower of Terror. She wanted to go on that one because the big kids were talking about it so much. She is a thrill-seeker, but apparently that one was too much! Emma's favorite ride is Snow White's Scary Adventure. If you ask her, she will tell you she is not scared of the witch when she turns around, but the first time she went on this ride she cried the entire time!

This truly was a trip of a lifetime, and our kids still talk about it every day! Thank you so much Cami and Jeff!! It was the best time, and coming home was so sad. We are still sad that we can't live at DisneyWorld everyday!! We love you!

I scream, you scream, we all scream for KRISPY KREME!!

Olivia, Navy, and Paige striking a pose

Will, Emma, Navy, and Paige

Olivia, Annikka, and Paige

Always ready with a smile! Who wouldn't???......It's Krispy Kreme!

So, Paige had a field trip to Krispy Kreme last week. It was so much fun and the kids loved it! I had never seen the doughnut conveyer belt, so it was pretty cool to check it all out. The doughnuts they got were nice and warm, gooey with the frosting...yum! But, I refrained and didn't have one. If we had gone to Dunkin Doughnuts it probably would have been more tempting for me.

Paige, of course, didn't like the doughnut she was given, so I had to buy her another one. Emma ate her's and the one Paige didn't want. She just likes to lick the stuff off anyway! It was a good day, and I think the mom's had just as much fun as the kids just hanging out and talking to each other. It was a fun day!

Happy (Late) Birthday, Emma

Christmas day, 2005

Happy First Birthday, Christmas Eve, 2006

How she looks when she applies her own (make that her sister's) make-up

I feel badly that I haven't gotten to Emma's birthday post, and I am still missing some pictures, but I thought I'd better get it on here before I'm even more behind! Can anyone tell by the number of posts lately that I'm done with my last book and don't have a current knitting project??

Emma was our surprise baby, and she hasn't done anything to change her status! She is always surprising me with things she says and just by being so different than her sister. I didn't know that 2 and 3 year olds could have so many opinions about their hair and clothes. Paige never gave me and problems with those things. I put Emma in one of the outfits that got handed down from Paige a month or so ago. I think it is cute....it's from Gap, just a pant outfit and is super comfy. Well, she proceeded to tell me she didn't look cute in it, she looked ugly. I tried to tell her how cute it was, to no avail. So, in she comes a couple of minutes later with a princess dress over her outfit, saying, "now I look beautiful!" What a stinker! Emma is her own person and nobody will ever tell her differently. I love her for it, though, and I know that she will be a strong person when she gets bigger. Here are some other things that she loves!

*puzzles...she has been able to do 24 piece puzzles since she turned 2

*dora the explorer

*pottytraining....just kidding....I only wish she loved it...or would even attempt it! Oh well, I've been buying diapers for almost 7 years. Why stop now?

*singing songs

*swinging by herself (something she also has done since she was 2)

*painting

*bugging her big sister

*making up her own rules

*taking Paige's toys

*snuggling with mom

*pretending to be my baby, sometimes

*crying when you even look at her the wrong way

We love you , Emma. You are the best Christmas present we have ever gotten, and we can't imagine our lives without you! I can't believe how big you have gotten and how I can't keep you my baby forever, but I will try!

Move over, Karate Kid!!

Zachary had his Karate awards ceremony a couple of weeks ago, and he levelled up from a white belt to a green belt! He was so excited and surprised to skip yellow and go straight to green! Now, before you think I'm too biased, a lot of other kids skipped yellow also. I'm so proud that he finished something he set out to do!

You would think that a kid who just did great at something would want to continue doing it....maybe even for the rest of the year......but not Zachary. We had to bribe him to keep going through the rest of this school year. I'm not ashamed of it, either! Anyone who knows Zachary knows that he loves to be home and in his element.

Whatever struggles we have next school year getting him to sign up for some other sport, just know that we are so proud of you now and hope you keep wanting to try new things! We love you!