4 out of 5...

It has claimed us one by one.

The Stomach Flu.

Jason was first, his case was mild.

Austin was next, he's just been sleeping a lot.

It got me last night in the middle of the night. So far, I'd say I have a moderate case.

And Ellie, poor Ellie, she was claimed last night also, at Grammie's house. She's definitely had it the worst. I pray that she's better tomorrow. I hate to see my babies sick.

Annie has miraculously been fine. She's back at Grammie's tonight. I'm hoping we can keep her well.

It's either that, or we just spread our joy to another household.

how did a year already go by?

On September 21st, Austin, my last baby (sigh), turned 1 year old.

I'm finally ready to admit that, and therefore, finally ready to do my post about his birthday!

It's bittersweet. My baby is growing into a toddler. He's very busy, always wanting to explore his environment, and get into everything! He's starting to say some words, and express his opinion when his sister's get too bossy! He's sweet and adorable, and absolutely steals my heart everyday! Here are some of my favorite pictures from his "family" party.

He wasn't quite sure how to tackle the mountain of presents, but with a little help from mommy, family, and friends, he figured it out!

This giant puppy dog was a gift from my parents, and Austin LOVES it! Daddy has affectionately named him Chopper.

I think he enjoyed being the center of attention!

This was the cake I made for everybody at the party! In case you don't know, he has a "grease monkey" themed bedroom, with lots of car stuff and lots of license plates...hence, the cake.

This was his "personal" cake that daddy made him. It's a Tire cake, with a shiny wheel, sitting on a bed of Oreo "asphalt"!

Daddy gave Austin his special cake, but Austin wasn't too sure...

...actually, he HATED it! He fussed and cried until we finally gave up and took him out of his high chair.

Thinking he might be cold, and possibly frightened by the large number of people cheering him on to eat his cake, we moved him to the dining room, and put a shirt on him, and tried again...


...nope! We finally figured out that he REALLY didn't like that cake! So, we tried a piece of the other cake...



...and he was MUCH happier! I'm not sure why he was scared of the first cake, maybe the dark frosting? Oh well, he did eat the second piece of cake, but preferred the bowl...



And then he washed it all down with some yummy milk!


By that time he'd had enough of this whole "party" thing...


...and was ready to get cleaned up!


It was a great party, and a wonderful celebration of this little boy who has claimed our hearts! We love you Austin Cooper!

going... going... gone.

My mind, that is.

I had every intention of posting something cute, funny, and witty tonight.

Yeah....that's not gonna happen.

I'm so tired, I can barely type.

So why, you ask, am I typing this?

Why, to get my name emboldened on bloglines, Of course.

Priorities people. Priorities.

In case you were wondering why I'm so tired, well...

We had the following activities today, all between the hours of 12:30 pm and 6:15 pm:

Go to Nana's to drop off 1 child, take another child with me to kindergarten volunteer training, entertain that child throughout the training, take that child to a doctor's appt. for a non-existent ear infection, take that child back to Nana's, pick up another child, take that child to dance, sit, go home to pick up crock pot dinner, take dinner to Nana's, eat 4 bites of dinner while coaxing another child to finish hers, take that child to dance, visit with Michelle, take that child home to meet hubby and other 2 kids who are all bouncing off the walls, even though it's almost bedtime.

Here is the part where I fall to the floor.

Right after I tell you all this.

Sorry! I wrote my 100th post, several days ago, with great pride and enthusiasm, and then a few days ago I realized that to YOU, it wasn't really my 100th post! See, I was going by what Blogger told me in my Dashboard, and I didn't realize that it counted Drafts in with my actual Posts. I also didn't realize that when you save something, it stays there, even after you post it. So, all that to say ...

This is actually my 100th post.

Whooo Hooo.

Sometimes I'm so brilliant, I just can't believe it.

If you'd rather read the 100 things about me, that should've been here, instead of this amazing post, feel free to click HERE!

Good Night.

loose ends...

So, I did this post last week about some things that I didn't have time to expand on at that time. One of those things was finding a tarantula on our back porch. Here is, as Paul Harvey says, the rest of the story...

Talk about weird coincidences...Michelle called me the other day, and among various topics of important conversation, she asked me if I had seen any Tarantula's lately.

Um, no, and I don't care to, was my reply.

I hadn't seen a tarantula "in the wild" since I was a very young child. She mentioned that she'd heard something about Missouri being unique in it's geographical nature, and that Tarantula's are native here.

Great.

Now, I didn't doubt my dear sister-in-law, but again, I hadn't seen one for over 20 years. She said she'd seen a couple in the few years they've lived here, but I think she said she's just seen them on the road.

Fast Forward to later that afternoon. Jason steps out the back door onto our deck, to go get his four-wheeler and take the girls for a spin around the yard. A moment later, he's back inside motioning to me furiously to come and look at something. I go to the back door, and lo and behold, there is a Tarantula on the deck.

And our dog is trying to play with it.

Oh, we have some seriously smart animals.

Now, I am not a fan of spiders. But for some reason, I wanted the girl's to see this thing. It was HUGE, and HAIRY, and totally freaky, and I knew they would love it. I also knew that they're not poisonous, although they can bite. So, we cornered it behind the BBQ grill, and then placed a large glass bowl over it. Then we called the girls outside. They were satisfactorily impressed. They ooo'd and ahhh'd, and then ran off to play. Jason slipped a Frisbee under the bowl, and took our visitor waaaay down past our house and let him go. Yes, we let it go and did not kill it. After all, they are a beneficial spider, they kill a lot of other creepy crawly things, including mice.

Although I think that I'm good with not seeing one again for another 20+ years!
Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure!

One Month.

One month.

That's all it took for Ellie to grow up.

Or so it seems, sometimes.

I got to visit Ellie at school today for the Book Fair. I met her in the library, and we picked out books together. She pointed out some of her classmates, and then, all to quickly, out time was up. I hugged her, and then she followed her class out of the library, and back to her classroom. As I watched her walk away, without looking back, it struck me how much has changed in just a month. As I was leaving the library, the librarian discovered two of Ellie's classmates that were reading quietly in a corner, and hadn't realized that their class had left! The librarian ushered them out the door with instructions to go straight to their class. The two girls skipped down the hallway in front of me towards the classroom.



All by themselves.



In a Big school.



That's when it really hit me.



They're not little anymore.



Wait! When did this happen? How can Ellie be big enough for this? She's just a little girl.

I'm not sure why it's just now hitting me. But it did, and as I drove away from school, I had this crazy thought to go grab her and keep her home for another year or two. I guess that's why a lot of people home-school that first year. They can't stand the thought of their little child being, well, Big. But even as I realize this, and understand how hard it is to let her grow-up, I know I must. I must let her go, and grow, and learn, and discover. She likes school. Sure there have been hard days, and I'm sure their will be more to come. But on the whole, it's been a really good experience. She seems like she has matured by years in just a month! She talks to me more maturely, and respectfully (most of the time!) She seems so much more capable of handling things, and life in general. These are the things that school is doing for her. Things that I couldn't accomplish if I kept her home. It's hard to let her go...but I must.

I wonder what the ENT would say?

I think my children might have a hearing problem.

Why? You ask. Well...here are some examples from today:

This morning I asked Annie if she needed to go potty before we left the house, she acted like she didn't hear me, so I assumed her answer was, No. Then I had to tell her several times to get in the car before she seemed to hear me. Once we were in the car, she immediately pee peed in her car seat, which leads me to the realization that she obviously must have a hearing problem, since she apparently didn't hear me ask her to go potty earlier.

Of course it just couldn't be that she hears and chooses not to listen.

Not my child.

Then, this afternoon after school, I took the kids for some ice cream. It was a special treat to reward Ellie for having been "caught having good character" at school. I joyfully headed to the DQ with all 3 kids, and called Michelle on my way to see if they could join us. All was well, until Michelle and the girls arrived. The only logical explanation I can fathom for the behavior that then ensued, is that the sugar from the ice cream must have caused their ears to stop working. Repeated attempts at telling them to sit down/be quiet/stop messing with your sister/stop laying on the floor/ ...or we will leave, I'm not even kidding, we WILL leave! ...seemed to fall on deaf ears.

Honestly, I'm concerned.

I mean, my children would never just ignore me.

Right?

However, after we arrived home, and punishment was doled out for the bad behavior at the DQ, their hearing did seem to return.

Hmmm, interesting.

Some things just can't be explained...

Wow, I'm blogging!

Why does this surprise me?

Well, for one thing, we have 5 kids here today.

For another, we're having a party at 4:30 today.

What happened to me? I used to stress over the birthday parties to the point of mental and emotional breakdown! Today, I am calm, collected, and relaxed! I think in my 5 years of party planning, I have mellowed a bit. I also contribute my oddly relaxed state to better organizational skills.

I'm excited about the party. Austin turned one year old on Friday, and I've been looking forward to celebrating that! I can't wait to help him open his presents and place his "Tire" cake in front of him! I love first birthdays! It is bittersweet though. My last 1st birthday. Well, at least until I'm a grammie!

OK, so seriously, it is oddly calm here.

Baron and Ellie are watching Charlotte's Web.

Tessa and Annie are playing quietly.

Austin is asleep.

The cakes are made.

We're ordering pizza.

The house is clean.

The laundry is caught up.

The dishes are caught up.

I look pretty good.

All on the day of MY CHILD'S birthday party.

With hours to go.

This is a weird, weird feeling.

Maybe I oughtta go knock on some wood.