The Goofy Goober

I only title it that because Xavier loves Spongebob. Derek still calls him Baber Bave. Lately I have been saying E-Xavier because I combine Eli at the beginning. I cannot get names right. He tells me that E-Xavier is not his name. Derek took he and Eli to the skate park the other day even though it was like 28 degrees outside. Xavier loved it. He sat on his skateboard and went down the half pipe a couple of times. he is trying to ride on one foot on the concrete and has been trying to do tricks on his board at home on the carpet. It is cool to see him build confidence. We got a couple large boxes and Xavier has spent the last 2 days building a fort. First he drew a steering wheel on it and it was a car. Now he has cut holes all over it and he likes to get in and close it and it is a fort. I swear boxes are such great toys. They require imagination and provide hours of fun. Plus they are almost always free.

Eli and the cats

From the day we got our cats Eli has been very attached to them. He carries them around, picks them up from their naps, pulls their tails and throws them holding just one paw. He traps them under baskets, boxes and in the closet. He pulls their fur and drops them into water in the bath. But when it comes to bedtime they always curl up next to him. Every night they get onto his bed and literally sleep on top of him. The other night he was sleeping under a warm blanket and Shadow was grooming Eli's sweaty forehead.

Eli still likes to hold my hair when I hold him or rock him at night. He hasn't been feeling well and has woken me up a few times to ask me for a handful of hair. He just holds it or brushes it over his face and then falls back asleep. The other kids have blankets. He never got attached to his the same. I guess his security is found in my hair. As sweet as it sounds it can be quite uncomfortable sometimes. i cannot believe that he will be three next month. He seems so much older most of the time.

Days Gone By

Time is flying and yet I don't feel as though I have gotten anything accomplished. My kids are all bathed, fed and healthy except for the occasional sniffle. So I guess we are doing OK. It got cold, very cold where it doesn't get over 40 in the day so we have been stuck indoors. We try go go out but never last long. I took the kids down to watch Grampa Glade and Marty pour cement at the house. I do believe that my dad can work harder in one day than I have worked everyday in my whole life added together times 2. We are lucky to have him building our house. It will be built well and at a better price than imaginable.

The boys keep busy making forts and fighting a lot. Alexandra is busy at school. Vanessa is the biggest trouble maker I have dealt with. She climbs on the table, pushes everyone out of her way, empties drawers and cupboards, dumps cat litter, fights for toys, and can now open doors. So the kids used to be able to build and play without her by going in the room and shutting the door. now they have to lock it. But she is hilarious. Derek was wrestling with Eli on the bed so she climbed up and laid right nest to them. Every time Eli laughed or let out a squeal she would laugh too even though she wasn't actually part of the playing going on. I was thinking at what point does the cute little "momma" she say turn into the horrible "mom" my kids say. when she says mom it is so sweet. when everyone else says it I just think, what do you want. That sounds so terrible when I write it but there are days I think the word mom should be limited to 50 uses/day.

Another Typical Day

Unfortunately the events you are about to read are typical. We start our morning way too early. 6:15. Since I stayed up and watched CSI last night that only gave me 7 hours of interrupted by children sleep. Derek went to work. Alexandra got off to school OK. Eli hit Vanessa in the head with a foam padded bat. I attempted to clean the house doing 7 full loads of laundry so everything will be clean when we come back from camping this weekend. Vanessa opens the kitchen drawers and tries to climb them like stairs. She gets into everything. Pulls out the chairs to climb and stand on the kitchen table. I have pictures to add later. She climbs in the bathroom and proceeds to brush her teeth with whatever toothbrush is available. I have replaced every ones toothbrush at least twice in the past couple weeks because after using them she carries them around and loses them or puts them outside.

Eli has been wanting to dress himself lately. I think it is great. One less thing for me. Today's ensemble was Winter boots, Surfboard swim shorts, and a backwards Halloween shirt. After putting his shirt on backwards he looked down and said "Hey, there's no picture." Since I had no plans of leaving the house I didn't really care We did end up going to Kimbers to pick up Winslow to come and play. Vanessa fell there and hit her head hard on the corner of the door frame.

At home I was just completely exhausted trying to stay awake. Vanessa took an early nap. Yeah. I used that time to do dishes and be lazy. The boys rode bikes and even though it is only in the low forty's filled up water balloons.

The cat just bit my retractable mouse cord in half. That's what I get for typing on the floor.

We went to gramma's. Vanessa emptied one of her cupboards of cake mixes and canned food. Xavier and Eli jumped on the trampoline. Eli ahas traded his winter boots for cowboy boots. I get my hip length jacket out of the closet for the first time this season and it was a bit more snug around the hips. Lovely, like I need the constant reminders I need to lose weight. My van was full of storage unit stuff so we went to the storage unit to unload. My key broke in 1 of the 2 locks. I was glad I had already locked one. Decided to hit Walmart on the way home to get supplies for the weekend out of town. We all looked like scrubs. It was awful and I am so glad I did not run into anyone. Barely got home to greet Alexandra as she got off the bus at the wrong stop b/c the bus driver forgot to stop at her stop.

Back at home made dinner, more water balloons, Vanessa filling every ones cups on the table with Cheetos. Eli driving me nuts. He doesn't want to take a bath until I tell Xavier to go first. When it is finally his turn he throws a fit as to what order his clothes have to be removed. Fit over, no bath, put to bed. Alexandra and Xavier start fighting and get sent to rooms. Kicking walls and crying. Now of coarse it is almost bedtime so they are hungry again and begin playing great. I swear they get along well and play so loud when I just want some peace. I love that they are playing and getting along but why do they get louder. I think I am just done for the day. Thank you 8:00. Bed time. My time. I am ready to crash but want to wait up for Derek who is getting his tattoo finished. I will never bore you again with this but I wanted to put in a day in the life.

Fall

Down went the temperature. Down comes the leaves. I love trees. Especially ones that shade the yard but the amount of leaves is ridiculous. The kids thought it was fun to put more leaves on the trampoline and jump around. They had a pretty good time sliding all over the place.

Vanessa is no longer the baby. Except when she sleeps. She is a toddler and running with the older kids. I was telling the kids to look at an image on the computer and she came right over pushing her way over them to see what it was all about. She keeps up with them so well. We have a little Spongebob couch that she has claimed as hers. If Eli or Xavier or even Derek sit on it she comes over and pushes them off. Literally using all her strength to push. But what a doll she is. I am really blessed to have the children I have. I love them so much. Even though they can fight and argue and drive me crazy I couldn't ask for better kids.

Halloween

Eli is Mr. Bones, Alexandra Army Girl, Vanessa witch (wouldn't keep hat on) Xavier Motorcross Driver(didn't like helmet.)

As with many holidays I was ready to cancel Halloween. Trying to get everyone in warm clothing then putting costumes over them. Eli and Xavier both wore two pairs of pajamas under their costumes. Alexandra couldn't find any pants that didn't bother or make her itchy. Vanessa kept pulling on her dress trying to get it off. But we did it, we got ready and went. We went to Uncle Marty's first then Aunt Shamra's. Eli was dumbfounded after receiving his first piece of candy. That was it. All the hype about trick or treating and all he had was one peice of candy. I had to explain we had to go to lots of houses in order to get lots of candy. At 5:30 we went to trunk-or-treat at he church for fast candy and hot dogs. That ended by 6:00 and the kids were ready for more. After calling around Derek decided to meet up with Roy and his kids. We went with them last year. It was freezing but the kids didn't mind. Eli and I straggled behind so I tried to catch up by crossing someone's yard instead of going down the driveway, sidewalk and back up the other driveway. The neighbors door was 20 feet away straight line instead of 100 going around. Bad idea. The lady came out and yelled at me. I was so emberrassed. Of coarse I knew what sidewalks were for but she felt the need to remind me. It took me a little while to get over that. Anyway, the kids got loads of candy. Happy Halloween