Tax Slave

Yes, I was the tax slave to the IRS yesterday and today. Ummm... that's pretty much it in a nutshell. That's why there was no post last night. At 1am, I made myself go to bed so I could function today, but I forgot to post something brief. This year, I used Turbo Tax online, very helpful I thought, and will probably use it again next year. I got myself a big fat refund, thank goodness, although it's going to get sucked up by medical bills, and the credit card payment. Extras for the time log - I did exercise both days, that's good. Can't think of anything else.

Check out a post of pics from this weekend with Sue. I'll do some more tomorrow. I may have even more pics from Saturday!

End Post #69, 2009

Cousins at the Playground

All the cousins had a good day at the playground on Friday, April 10th. All the bases got covered: playing in the sand, sliding, swinging, climbing, and just having fun. Here's the proof:


I know Dani's kind of in a chunky phase, but even so, there are times I look at her, and I see how beautiful she is going to be when she grows up. Heck, I think she's pretty cute now.

Monkey bars!

Connor never misses a chance to roll down a hill.

I'd skipped out in the beginning to pick up some beads at Wal-Mart, so I came in at the Second Half. Dani and Lily were getting worn out.

Mackay slept through a lot of it, amazingly enough.

Sue, snuggling Mackay, and playing with her girls.



There's no doubt, Amelia got the cuteness award at the playground that day.

Connor saw Amelia trying to climb, and he showed what a big monkey he could be. At the top - standard goofy smile and all.

Dani and Lily (mostly Lily, who was shorter and had longer to fall), showed how brave they could be jumping down from the top of the platform.

Connor kept racing to the top of the slide, practically shoving poor Amelia out of the way. "Mom, watch me!"


And, let's end with a goofy pic. Insert your own caption.

End Post #68, 2009

Back to the Daily Grind

Well, Sue and I had fun this weekend. But note to self: No kids sleeping in the tv room. How else can Sue and I be slugs together after all the kids go to bed? And really, we spent most of our time herding kids, so next weekend together, we've got to ditch the kids. It was amazing today. After the teenagers went back to school, it was so much more quiet and peaceful! I think it was because there were just less kids in the house, and the teenagers seem to ramp up the overall noise level and drama in the house. Too much Rock Band II!!

Time Log -

Got up at 8 with Emma, gave her a bottle & let her play with Lily, then I crashed in my bed again (oh, lovely bed, how I long for thee!). Then, Sue and I spent the rest of the day being productive, cleaning & packing. I exercised, did laundry, cleaned the kitchen, helped Lily & Amelia sew more buttons on their Woobies (Amelia's had broken off, then she picked 2 replacements, then Lily wanted more, too), and I helped them bead a necklace each. Sue got on the road around 3:30 pm. I ran Gil around to various places to pick up more job applications, and I did my shopping. Then, it was dinner, watch part of movie, put kids in bed, then get busy on my taxes. I hope to finish them tomorrow!!!

End Post #67, 2009

Early to Bed, Early to Rise...

The late nights have caught up with us, so we are going to bed. But here's a teaser picture from today:



...and we made ourselves sick on chocolate. What a way to die!

P.S. For a really good easter message see Sue's Blog or go to the church's website www.lds.org and see the easter video they have there.

It's Like Christmas

Yep, 3am, and we're just going to bed. Why? --->

Beading, of course. What else would be doing just before the Easter Bunny visits? It's like the wee hours of Christmas morning - finishing those last projects for the "Big Reveal."

Our completed projects for all the girls: Emma got a fixed ladybug binky chain and a new matching bracelet, Lily has the yellow & silver bracelet, Dani is black and silver, and Amelia is pink and green.

More tomorrow! Must get a few hours of sleep before church at 9am.

Boy, Kids are Work!

Well, it's 12:42 am, and I'm about to fall over, so no long blog tonight. We basically just took care of kids all day. There are two adults, why does it seem like more work? But I shot some great pics at the playground today. I'll post them tomorrow. But here's a pic of dinner. I made pizza for everyone, taking requests for various toppings. We had cheese pizza, pepperoni, hawaiian, and barbeque chicken. It was so good, so good, I feel tempted for a midnight snack. But no! I must refrain!

Goofballs!

Sue was right, we were the bedtime nazis tonight. In fact, I was cracking the whip so hard, sounding like a drill seargant as we made the kids clean up their messes before bed, that Susie whacked me in the butt with a wooden spoon she found on the floor as we were cleaning up. She told me to chill, that I was stressing her out. It's that military upbringing, the inner Patton or Great Santini. "Get with it, people, no lollygagging!!!"

But then we got to chill out by about 9:45 pm. We breathed a deep sigh of relief, stuck an old 80's flick, Can't Buy Me Love, into the dvd player, and Sue ate ice cream while I worked on a beading project. More pics tomorrow!

End Post #64, 2009

Let the Good Times Roll!

Susie came a day early, so here we are! Apparently, Lily decided she'd rather skip her Friday swim lesson and just come play with the cousins. Yep, should be fun!

Sorry, no time log today. There's not much to report. I pretty much got up, did the Mom stuff (kids & house), started cleaning/organizing/filing so I can do my taxes, exercised, spent an hour drooling over beads again, then I planned meals for five days, did the shopping, cooking (I am soooo sick of cooking chicken, which I bought on sale at Smith's, I've got enough for three months of chicken meals I bet), cleaning, and then Sue got here. We had dinner, rounded up totally rowdy kids, and got everyone settled down for bed. Oh, and I did a lot of emailing today about an eBay auction I had. So, there you go. But I've got some cute pics of Emma and Mackay:

Emma was very interested in this new little person in her house.

But maybe it was just about his cool binky! Binky Thief Alert!

Poking his face was also interesting to her.

Boy, the kids were rowdy tonight! We'll see if Sue and I actually get anything done over the next three days, or if we spend most of our time herding children...

Also, thanks for the response on my request for advice. I knew I needed a kick in the butt of some kind, just to solidify the rambling thoughts in my head. So, thanks! And I have a new, and better, plan for everything else, which pleases me very much. Good job, ladies!

End Post #63, 2009