Happy Valentine's Day!

I just wanted to tell everyone "Happy Valentine's Day!" I hope you all have a wonderful day tomorrow and I hope your valentine is sweet to you! I have 3 valentines this year! Here is a picture of them....don't you just LOVE them!

I Survived!

The sleepover is officially over and has been over for exactly 42 minutes and I could not be more exhausted! There were officially 10 boys in the house last night. Taylor, Austyn, Chance, Ashton, Andrew, Timothy, Dennis, Bryson, Tyler and Brandon! Chance was the only boy to not stay the night. He went home, and his mom later went to the hospital around 11 pm. She was in labor! She had a baby girl around 1:30ish!
Okay, so the night started out a little rough. The boys were rowdy and starving. There were board games out for them to play with, along with anything in Taylor or Austyn's rooms. I enlisted a friend of mine to pick up pizza for me, only she was running late which added to the chaos! Pizza finally arrived around 6 PM, and we passed out salad, breadsticks and small cans of soda. Yes, about 5 kids actually asked for and ate their salad! Shocking, isn't it! lol Everyone gobbled down their dinner and some asked for seconds.
As soon as we were done with dinner, everyone gathered in the living room to play Simon Says for a few minutes. They played while I quickly threw away plates and gathered the gifts. Taylor zoomed through each gift and then we all retreated back into the dining room. That is when I unveiled my masterpiece! HAHAHA!
So, this was my first real experience with a layered cake and frosting the layers and outside and yada yada yada. Taylor requested a white cake with red frosting in between the layers and blue frosting on the outside. Well, the red turned out a little more pink than I expected, so his cake slightly resembles something that should be for a baby or at a baby shower. The kids didn't care what color the cake was, they just wanted to eat it! We sang happy birthday and Taylor got frustrated with the candles. I'm a funny mom and I like to do funny things. So, Taylor's candles were 7 sparkler candles that really didn't sparkle a whole lot, but they did reignite themselves after they were blown out! That was the frustrating part for Taylor. We scarfed down cake and ice cream and then the boys lined up to wash their hands and faces and get their jammies on.
They each brought sleeping bags, pillows and blankets. They picked a spot on the living room floor and made themselves comfortable. We had 4 movies to choose from. They were The Gameplan, Daddy Day Camp, Firehouse Dog and Shrek the Third. They voted to watch Daddy Day Camp first, followed by The Gameplan. I popped snack sized bags of popcorn and grabbed a small bottle of water for each kid. They were set for the night!
About halfway through Daddy Day Camp I started to notice a lot of droopy eyelids so we stopped the movie for a potty break. About 15 minutes later, the boys were about to find out what happens when you are the first one to fall asleep at a sleepover. Andrew was the first to fall asleep!! We didn't have whipped cream, so we resorted to the next best thing, magic markers! Each boy got the chance to draw or doodle something on his face! They were giggling the whole time and saying how much fun this was. Each one said they were going to be the next one to fall asleep! Ashton, Andrew's older brother refused to do it. He just wouldn't give in to the peer pressure! I even called their mom and had her tell him that it was okay to do. Even after he got the 'okay' from Mom, he still wouldn't do it. That's when the boys turned to me, and said, "It's your turn!" They sure are some little pressure pushing kids! I wrote his name on his face.
All of the kids were asleep before the second movie was even over and no one woke up crying, wet, or sick! I slept on the sofa to make sure no one wandered out of the house. I am exhausted and didn't sleep very well at all!
Most of us were up by 7AM. We had homemade donuts (It's not as complicated as it sounds) with sprinkles on them and orange juice for breakfast. The kids all had a great time and told Taylor that his house was awesome and this was the best birthday ever! All in all, it was a fun experience, but I don't know if I would do it again!

Sleepover=1 crazy babysitter!

We decided to not do anything big for Taylor's birthday. We thought we would just invite a few kids over, have pizza cake and ice cream and be done with it. HA! Right. Well, first of all, the "party" is tonight because some of our good friends will be moving back home to Texas on Taylor's actual birthday. Taylor would have been totally bummed if they couldn't make it, so we pushed the party up a week. Taylor wanted to invite the boys from his class, and ask if they wanted to sleep over. I thought, okay, this isn't so bad. In the past, only like 1-2 of Taylor's classmates have actually showed up to the party, and since none of the parents know us, the odds are not many will be staying the night. I know if Taylor were invited to a kid's party for a sleepover, I would want to meet the parents (if I didn't already know them), go to their house and see what its like and all that jazz. I guess other parents don't think like me because 5 of Taylor's classmates are coming tonight! I am just floored by people's false sense of security. We live on the navy base, so that must mean that we are good people, right? WRONG! Well, WE are good people, but that doesn't mean that everyone that lives here is! I guess that having a sleepover basically means that these parents get rid of one kid and possibly be kid-free for the night. The best part of all, is they don't have to pay me!
Okay enough griping. Really, it isn't that bad, and I'm not really upset about it. It just bothers me that so many people are willing to let their kids stay without having met me before. Taylor, I'm sure will have a blast! Austyn will be in on the action as well. It'll be a fun night, and I'm sure I will learn a lot of things from this experience! Wish me luck!

I'll post pictures and tell you guys all about it tomorrow!

Letting Go

You know, at some point we all have to decide to let go. Well, I am letting go, but not completely. Watching your kids grow up right in front of you is so rewarding, scary and sad all at the same time. You never want to let go. You want to keep them young and innocent for as long as possible, but you realize that to be a good parent you have to loosen the slack on the rope.
Taylor is my oldest child. He is only a week and a half away from turning 7. This means two things to me. One, I am 7 years older than I was when I had him. haha Two, He is seven years older than he was the day he was born. That means he is growing up. He no longer wants the reassuring hugs and kisses when he leaves for school. He no longer needs me to hold his hand when we cross the street. He's capable of doing so many things on his own. We look for those milestones when they are young toddlers and babies and we get so excited about their accomplishments. You can't wait for them to be able to pee in the potty without having an accident. As they get older, you wish there was something left for you to do for them. Isn't it ironic?
Okay, so enough about the realizations that we have come to, and more about letting go. Today I decided to let Taylor walk to school by himself! He was so excited about this. The school is literally a driving minute away. There are crossing guards on the main road, and Taylor is familiar with the path we take to school. We walk to school the same way everyday (when we walk), and we drive the same way to school every time we drive. The walking path is along the exact route as the driving path, so I'm confident that he will get there in time and all on his own. Walking to school on his own is such a big accomplishment for him. I'm sure all of his friends and teachers will hear about the freedom he was given this morning.
Off to other "letting go" topics. Austyn has stopped "letting go" of his pee in the middle of the night. lol. He has not had a single accident since Mark has left! We are so proud of him right now. Mark has declared that today we must go to the store and let Austyn pick a surprise for doing so well! He will be thrilled to hear that he gets a prize!
And then there is Ryleigh. She isn't really letting go of anything these days. Especially not me! She is almost always glued to my side, although she really does enjoy roaming the house and playing alone or with the boys. She knows where all of her toys are and knows exactly how to make a big mess! She won't be letting go anytime soon, and I'm okay with that!
Here are some pictures of my oh so grown-up kids! Taylor has begun to bald! Not really of course! Mark just thought it would be funny to make him look like a little old man while he was shaving his head!
And here is Austyn and Ryleigh. They were waiting for Taylor to finish taking a shower so they could take a bath in their "new" bathroom. They are so cheesy! And Ryleigh is so "mexican" compared to Austyn! haha

Migraines, Fleas and Defiance!

Boy am I glad the weekend is coming to an end! It has been long and gruesome. Friday night wasn't so bad. I had errands to run and a Dr. appointment to go to, so Ryleigh and Austyn were able to play at a friends house while I did all of that. Shortly after visiting the hospital for my appointment, a migraine came over me. I hate when I get migraines because they are so awful. Unfortunately, for me and my family, the only thing I can take is Motrin. I have tried stronger meds and I've tried meds made for migraines. It doesn't matter what it is, if it is stronger than Motrin, I have every single side effect listed on the side of the bottle! Usually the side effects go away after about two or three days which is far worse than the migraine itself. So, I am stuck taking 800mg Motrin and taking naps to sleep off the pain. Lucky for me, I have an awesome friend who was able to pick Taylor up from school that afternoon. I took a very long nap and woke up refreshed!
Saturday was awful! Okay, so really it wasn't that bad, but it definitely could have been better. Just recently we discovered that Roscoe somehow contracted fleas! I was beyond livid when I found this out. He has never had fleas before and we have never had a problem with fleas in our area before. Not to mention, fleas are known to 'come out' more during the warmer months. It is definitely not warm here. It actually hailed today and freaked poor Roscoe out. lol. Anyway, back to the fleas. I took him in to the groomer to have a day of pampering. haha. He had a warm bath, followed by a soak in flea shampoo and flea treatment. He spent the day there and I spent the day bombing my house and wasting time at Target. We bombed our entire house and sprayed our backyard for fleas. I really hope they are gone. It disgusts me to have them in the house. I think he got them from our new neighbors' cat. I often see the cat in our backyard, which drives me crazy. The cat has sprayed all of our bushes in front of the house, so anytime I walk out to the car I smell the lovely scent of feline urine. Its absolutely wonderful! I wish there were some sort of cat repellent that I could set in the backyard. That would be great.
Its Sunday night, and here we are (We being, Roscoe and I), sitting at the computer when we have chores to do. Today has been a fairly decent day. It didn't start out so great. Yesterday when I bombed the house, I turned off the refrigerator per the instructions on the package. Well, this genius lady I know forgot to turn the fridge back on! Yeah. That would be me. I can't believe I forgot to turn it back on! Needless to say, all of the food in the fridge and freezer needed to be thrown out because it was almost lukewarm, and melted. We were planning on going grocery shopping anyway, so maybe it was fate. haha. Taylor, Austyn and even my beautiful little angel, Ryleigh have all been testing my patience today. Taylor seems to think that falling down while he is walking is hilarious. It drives me crazy, and I think it's stupid! Austyn thinks he is the boss and is constantly telling Taylor and Ryleigh what to do. And Ryleigh, well, that girl, she is something else! Today, she found a marker and I asked her if I could please have it. Well, normally, she would happily turn it over and clap, but not today. She shook her head 'no' to me and took off down the hallway. I told her that she doesn't tell mommy no, and I asked her again for the marker. Again, she shook her head no, and she put the marker behind her back! She's getting smart. So, again, I tell her she doesn't tell me no. This time, she shook her head 'yes' as if to say, yes, I can tell you no! I eventually got the marker. I just couldn't believe her rebellious little behind today! Roscoe has been the only good one, it seems. We'll get crazy and give him two treats and a pig ear for being so good! lol
And that was our long weekend. It doesn't seem so bad when it is all summed up, so maybe it really wasn't as bad as I thought it was!