Phew..

My coworker decided to stay home and have a vacation day with her son. I am in the clear. Back down to 4 tomorrow.

Insanity Plea

I think I may have just officially lost all common sense. Tomorrow I have the four kids (last week of child swap summer 2008) and I planned on doing a little back to school shopping since it is our tax free weekend. No, that is not the insanity part. A girl I work with is having a problem figuring out what to do with her son (a few weeks younger than little monkey) tomorrow since her mom is really sick and her regular babysitter is out of town. Yep, I did. I offered to let the little booger come over to our house for the ENTIRE day. I felt bad, I know how it feels to try to find people to watch your kids... I have missed many 5Ks because of that. And I would have felt incredibly guilty (yes, I am Catholic) if I had not offered.

I think the kids will have a blast. I hope he enjoys my boys as much as they will enjoy having him.

So at my house tomorrow I will have:

one 6 month old girl who pulls up and crawls already
two 2 1/2 year old boys
two 3 1/2 year old boys

Oh, and the new dining room furniture will be delivered tomorrow!! That will be my saving grace, as well as my run Saturday morning.

Last day of school

Well today is the last day at their current school for the monkeys. They were so excited this morning when I told them. Little monkey did not even cry when we turned on the street that the school is on (lately he has been screaming bloody murder which is really annoying sad). Thursday and Friday are still part of the summer kid swap 2008, but then Monday the new nanny starts up. I am very excited and have so many ideas running through my head. I really just need to take a step back and let her do what she has been trained to do! You would think I was the nanny.

I am having some anxiety about this being the monkeys' last day at their school. I have this sad feeling about it all. It makes me want to cry. Yesterday I felt really bad because little monkey's teachers were telling me how much they were going to miss him and making me fib promise to bring him back to visit. I think it really stems from the fact that I grew up as an ARMY brat (dad did 30+ years in the ARMY - HOOYAH!). So we moved all of the time. I did not deal with it well. I was a BRAT to my poor mom. I remember my junior year in high school, coming home for lunch on the first day in a new school and sobbing into my macaroni and cheese. (Of course 3 weeks later I was doing better until my backstabbing cousin made up rumors that I was on drugs - no I was not).

Even mention moving to me right now and my stomach gets into knots. I guess you could say I was/am shy. I just need a little while to warm up to people and then I do just fine. I am not a wall flower but I am not one to walk up to someone I don't know and start up a conversation. I am very pleased when someone starts a conversation with me (unless you catch me at the wrong time!!). This is one of my hesitations for assistant coaching big monkey's soccer team. I have gotten much better with this as the years have passed. I still have the anxiety and every once in a while will catch myself choking over words with someone new, but I push on and make myself do things I normally would not do. This has become sort of a necessity in the south since everyone talks to everyone!!

I know that this nanny move is the best thing for us right now and will be a great experience for the kids. I just have to get over my childhood trauma of moving every 2 years or less. There were many positives to moving so much. I have seen so much of the world and have an eclectic crew of great friends from the places I have lived. And my family had some great quality family time while I was growing up, making us even closer today.

Run, Run

In November, some girlfriends and I are going to participate in a new racing series called ZOOMA. Some of us are doing the half marathon, and some of us are doing the 5K. It is a women's racing series (though guys are more than welcome) and is going to be set up like a girl's weekend. I am so excited. This will be my first half marathon and this makes me a bit nervous. I was prompted to try this one because of the girl's weekend environment. It is intimidating to have all of those lean running men at the start of the race, the ones you know will finish at about the same time I get to the first mile marker! (Though they can be really nice to look at while you are red faced and huffing away!!) Finishers get a necklace and there are all kinds of fun things set up for after the race (massages, wine tasting, shopping). So if you are anywhere near Atlanta, come on and have some fun while challenging yourself!
It is a great excuse to get those college girlfriends that you have not seen in years all in one place. I have a friend coming down from Indy, it is going to be great.
My other good friend has let me sucker her into running agreed to start training to run her first 5K, and she will be the first to admit she is no runner! I am so proud of her.
My mom and her walking buddies are signing up to walk the 5K, and my boys are going to run the kid's run, so there is fun for all!

If you do decide to join us, you can get $10 off the registration fee for the half (enter HREFERRAL08) and $5 off the 5K fee (enter: 5REFERRAL08). But this expires tomorrow.

Lace up those shoes!

Just call me Martha

Look what I made with my own two little hands, and a sewing machine of course! A cute little apron. I have never sewn anything other than a button by hand, and I string popcorn for my Christmas tree every year, so this is quite an accomplishment for me!! It is the second one I made, the first one will fit a 5 year old. I will need to make some improvements on keeping the stitch line (did I just make that term up?) straight before I can make these for Christmas presents.

The boys picked out the pattern, hence the blue color!

Best of both worlds

Why is it that men seem to think that they can have the best of both worlds on everything? (I know this is a generalization). Do their mothers put that unrealistic idea in their heads? If so, I am going to try my hardest to keep that from happening to my boys.

No boys, you can not claim to want a strong willed, independent, equal partner in life and yet tell her she is not fulfilling her "wifely and womanly duties" like a good Southern Baptist wife would.

Not. Happening. End. Topic.

Sleep tight, little ones

Well they all went to sleep for me at nap time. It was a good day for the most part. Little monkey did get his head peed on by buddy while they were all three trying to pee at the same time... I did not ask, just washed hair and was happy for the extra long showerhead!! We went to a local kids play place (for 5 and under) for their story time and some free time (they had a bouncy!). They had a blast and I am going to sign them up for time there with the nanny. We made biscuit pizzas, they love to make their own food. Then it was nap time. The boys took about 30 minutes to fall asleep. The baby was a little more difficult, but she is napping now so I can go vacuum and get dinner started. I got the bathroom cleaned, kitchen cleaned, sheets washed and put on the beds, and dusted. So now to finish the rest.

So should I lie to the other mommy and tell her they were terrible??!! I just don't know!