5 Dogs = 5 Crazy Days

This blog will be short and sweet because I am so tired. I will run down the pros and cons about what is going on. So here is the situation: Sarah-Kate and I are house sitting my parent's house. Fine and dandy, but they have 2 Golden Retrievers and 1 Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Teddy, and he eats EVERYTHING. We brought up our 2 dogs also, and I honestly thought this would be easy because the dogs slept all afternoon. The real reason we volunteered was because my parents have cable and we don't, so this is a big deal to us.

We are in day 2 of 5 of house sitting. So far not to bad, feeding time really stinks because the dogs want to eat each others food. So my parents dogs eat first because they inhale their food, honestly I don't think they chew it. They just suck it up in one breath. Then I have to kick those dogs outside, and lock the door because Keeper - Golden Retriever, knows how to open the back sliding glass door. Then my 2 dogs eat and it takes them forever to eat. Then I have to give my parent's dogs their medicine, aka- "Pill". All the dogs know that the word "Pill" means, more dog treats. Cause if you give one dog a treat you have to give them all treat. Finally everyone is done, and we ALL chill out together for a bit.

My Dad did give me the lovely chore of watering the yard 2x a day. The whole yard, this one chore takes 2 hours....Not even kidding. Now I'm no idiot, but my Dad had to show me where to water, how long, and how to use the sprinklers. I'm fine with that it's whatever, I'm only 41 with a yard, family, house, and my own LAWN. So I'm pretty sure I know how to water a yard, but not his yard (I guess). Not only does my Dad take me on a "How to water MY yard" field trip, he has also drawn out a diagram of the yard with house, bushes, and trees on it. It shows where to water, directions how to water, and guidelines to knowing even if I should water. My parents are so retired. But my Dad takes his lawn very seriously....maybe too serious, I'm just saying.

So other than feeding the dogs, cleaning up poop from the dogs, giving them their medicine, and the 4 hours a day I spend watering the yard it has been a nice little get away. It's weird to not have Mike sleeping next to me and having to be quiet if I can't sleep. I watched TV till 1 am this morning, even though my parents bed is a king size there still isn't enough room for "everyone". Dasher the oldest Golden sleeps in between the pillows with his head on mine. Keeper the youngest Golden sleeps in the middle of the bed. Teddy sleeps right next to me, taking the covers. Boo, our dog, sleeps on a pillow on the floor by the bed. And little Miss Millie sleeps in front of the pillows next to me on the bed.

It has been fun staying here with Sarah-Kate and the dogs. Everyone needs some time alone, well almost all alone. But I wouldn't have had this weekend any other way. I love you Mom & Dad, and I love you my beautiful husband & kids.

Thank you Lord, Oh Thank You Lord

As a mother of four children, one out of the house and 23 years old. Two teenage girls, the sympathy can start now. Last but not least we have Joe who is 11 years old. In my previous post I think I explained Joe pretty well. OH, since that post Joe has received 2 more detentions, we are so proud :) As a stay at home mom, sometimes you just want the kids to go away. By this time I would pay someone for privacy, food in the house, and silence. We are so busy, and I keep thinking that it will slow down but it doesn't. When there is a chance that the silence almost went away, you attitude changes. Even though your children will break glasses, plates, or tables from dancing on top of them your love for them never go away. When your kid starts to learn to ride a bike they fall a lot, and do you notice how your arms are. They are reached out even though you might be out of range to catch them. The same goes for driving. Your child backs out of the driveway, arm out the window waving goodbye. And then the praying starts, lots and lots of it. But at times even the Good Lord lets things happen to the people we love. We don't know why it was their time, you can't question it...it is just God. Today Sunday 18, 2011 I received a phone call from a Kansas Trooper. This call could be about Nate or Sarah-Kate. Sarah-Kate had just left for work at Hollister in Oak Park Center. And my fear was brought to life, Sarah-Kate was on I-35 Northbound in the middle lane, lost control of her car and at 65-70 mph and hit the concrete wall head on. Mike was working, so I couldn't get in touch with him, but my parents were over and my Daddy and I drove on the right shoulder to her wreck. All my Daddy kept saying was "you didn't tell me that is was on the highway". He must have said it 5-6 times. My Daddy and I had to cross the highway which wasn't moving because of her wreck. It was so weird to be on the highway and trying to keep it together for Sarah-Kate. So the "Pink" car is now totaled, but so what. We bought that car for a couple hundred dollars, Sarah-Kate is priceless. There are so many miracles that happened today, and you can't say "it's weird", cause it's not. It is God. So here how they go 1- The State Trooper driving behind her was headed to another accident on I-70, he saw it all 2- She was wearing her seat belt and walked away with a bloody nose 3-My parents were at my house so my Daddy and I could go to Sarah-Kate 4-The car is totaled, but she is not 5-No one else was involved 6-Our love for Jesus Christ grows everyday 7-To know that it is our Lord that kept her safe....and a seat belt.

OH MY GOSH, JOSEPH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My youngest son, Joe, is so sweet, so kind, and can be such a butt! The bad thing about that is he can be all of these at the same time. There just has to be something about the youngest child. You know, you're more chill with them, they get a car at 16, they get in trouble...kind of, and so basically they are spoiled. But I can only speak for Joe, he spoils me back. He is always the first one to call someone out if they say or do anything disrespectful to me. I love that in him, he is always out to help the "Underdog". It's the way he does this that can be seen as wrong, protective and loving, but just wrong.

I have so many stories of how he has done this, so I will only share a few. The first time Joe admitted to saying a bad word was in 4th grade. A friend of his told Joe that his mom said I was irresponsible. For the record I am not, I like to think of it as chill but with a side of hot. This all happened on the playground without any teachers around (thank you Lord). Joe's friend continues to say this to him until Joe just got so mad. Joe pushes the kid down to the ground, stands over him and says, "Well at least she isn't an asshole like your mom". I know, I know, not good behavior from Joe. But of course he isn't going to get in trouble for it. He was sticking up for me, and I thought is was cool. I would have done the very same thing, so I know where he gets his attitude. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

This other time I wasn't involved in, finally! Joe and the girls were fighting, the girls were at the top of the stairs and Joe was at the bottom. Right there this fight isn't fair, 2 against 1 not good odds for Joe. They are all yelling back and forth and yada, yada, yada, when the girls scream that Joe flipped them off. Unfortunately I wasn't the one who responded to this, Mike was. Mike doesn't like all of this giving the finger and language crap. That is what he calls it, "Crap" not bullshit or just shit..."Crap". But since Mike didn't see Joe flipping the girls off he let it go. All that did was escalate the fighting. Then from out of nowhere we all hear, "You guys can go f*$k yourselves". Where the heck did that come from? Mike marched right back into the entry way and took Joe to the kitchen sink. And as you can imagine the girls were laughing, which only made Joe more upset. Mike had Joe stick out his tongue and Mike slapped some "Soft Soap" on it. Then he made him sit in the dining room for 2 minutes. That had to be the longest 2 minutes ever.

At that time Joe was fair game, if you know what I mean. The girls would go look in the dining room at him then laugh and run away. It was so mean of them. Then Joe would cuss at them again, and he would get in trouble. This went on for so long that it started to get funny. The soap didn't teach Joe anything, he will still get caught giving the finger or cussing. What are you going to do?

So this afternoon I get a message from Joe and he got detention. He has only been in school for 2 weeks!!!!! I don't know what it is for, but I will find out. Maybe I will keep you posted.

School Enrollment or School Scam....You Decide

First off let me say that I don't remember my parents having to pay fees for me to go to school. I watched the news the other day and the Shawnee Mission school district is getting their "panties in a bunch" because they will have to start paying fees at enrollment. Well, all I have to say is "Cry me a River". In Olathe we have paid a fee since my oldest started school. I will still have to pay that fee for another 6 years. The news said that the fee was a mandatory $75.00 in Olathe School District, well yeah we have that. But what the news forgot to mention are the fees for Room Mother $10.00, riding the bus $300.00, plus some other fees which add up to $25.00. So this year for my children to go to school the District's fee was $75.00, BUT we have yearbook and game passes also. So now, without clothes or school supplies the grand total to enroll my children was..............$495.00

If that doesn't shock you, well then we have the school supply list. I do have to say that my children love to go school supply shopping. I have no idea, but they do. Sarah-Kate says she loves the smell of new supplies...whatever floats your boat Sarah-Kate. Allie and Joe just like to spend money. They prefer the shopping for clothes rather than supplies. On the supply list they had the craziest stuff: stapler, stapler remover, post its, and other things. Luckily I had the girls with me because they knew what to get and what you can borrow from the school. Personally, I think with the school fees being that costly that we should not have to pay for supplies. But that is just me.

Do you remember the days that you could dress your children in anything YOU wanted them to wear. Now that they are older their fashion statements are a bit peculiar. I have no room to talk though, I used to wear long underwear under my skirts. But starting in about 6th grade I have noticed my kids get very "labelized". Name brand for this and name brand for that. I actually had Sarah-Kate go get a job at Hollister at the mall. We need all the discounts we can get. She is just happy to have a job, money, and now a car of her own. It's not the prettiest car, it is pink. But Mike calls it purple, he is wrong. The first car I drove was a 2-tone mustard color car. I wrecked it of course. My mom still talks about that car and how she loved it. I don't see me doing that with the PINK car.

But with this new school year we will have the same attitudes we had before. But one thing that won't be the same are my kids' teeth. They are either in braces or out of them, so they won't have the same teeth (which is nice). Another thing that won't change is that the girls will cry over boys, boys will try to beat each other in strength competitions, and you know that really doesn't change much when you grow up.

Ouch!!! Not Again!!!!!

So I am going to try to type this post without any mistakes. I'm sure that won't happen though. See in February, 2011 I fell on the ice in our driveway and hit my head. I suffered a 2nd grade concussion which in turn ended up going into Post Concussion Syndrome. I don't have a very good short term memory, my speech is not the best, and I can't do math if my life depended on it. When I go to the doctor for my checkups I have to take an easy test to most, but I'm not like most anymore. My doctor will just ask me what day it is, who is the President, and so on. I get most of them wrong. But he is such a nice guy that he will tell me that I did great. But then he will in his polite way tell me I failed...Bummer!

The last time I took the test I failed, but I did improve. That was such a great day! Then some day last week, I don't remember when, I had a metal bar fall on my head. Here is what happened: the bar bonked my head, I threw up, I went to bed, and Mike made me go to the ER. The doctor there said that my eyes were severely dilated. I guess you couldn't see the brown, only the black pupil. So I went in for a CAT scan, no bleed, thank you Jesus. Then I went home. Someone had to be with me for 24 hours, and Mike had to work the next day. My mom volunteered to come over, and I have to admit there is nothing better then having your mom by your side when you're sick.

I'm back to square one. I have another severe concussion, and everything hurts. I am super tired, which I don't want to take naps during the day. I was waiting for my daughter at the mall to fill out some paperwork at Holister because she just got a job there. I was sitting in one of those wonderful leather chairs they have and fell asleep 3 TIMES!!! I had my phone in my hand and dropped it, that is what woke me up. There was this guy sitting next to me, and the only thing he said to me the whole hour was that I was snoring. It took everything in me not to say anything rude, so I just apologized.

We are going to see what happens next with the whole bruised brain thing. The kids continue to get out of their punishments. They will do something wrong and I will ground them from something. Then in an hour I will see them doing what I grounded them from. Then I will ask them, "Didn't I just ground you from that?". They will say no or say you grounded Blah Blah from this. And I don't feel up to interrogating them, so I let it go. I'm know it is wrong, but I have to carefully pick my battles. So, I will keep you posted on everything and if this contains wrong grammar I apologize. But if it contains not one error that is because I proof read this about 100 times. It only took my 3 days to write it....I was being sarcastic.

Where Were You?????

My youngest daughter came home today from a 2 1/2 week stay at my sister's house in Winnetka, IL. I was so happy to see her get off that plane that I think I might have cut her air supply off. When I was up at the airport with my youngest son, Joe, we were looking at all of the different types of people. I was telling Joe how before 9/11 we were able to sit right in front of the gate door to welcome or send off our family members. And how Security hardly ever went through your items or pat you down. We were able to joke with the Security Officers about having a weapon and how we could even bring drinks on the plane. He just could not believe it. And then I realized how life has changed so much.

Our world will never be the same after that horrible day in September, 2001. I completely remember where I was that morning. I had just had knee surgery, and was stuck in bed. Mike was getting ready to leave for work, he stayed home a little longer that morning to take care of me. Mike was literally walking out the door when I yelled for him to come upstairs and watch on TV what just happened. We watched the TV together for awhile, but he went off to work. I asked him not to go, but he really did need to go.

I was watching the "Today Show", which is based in New York. Katie Couric was on the phone with another reporter. The reporter told Ms. Couric that a plane hit the tower, and Ms. Couric said something like..."Surely not, surely you're wrong. I'm sure this was an accident". Then another plane and another attack only this one was live on TV. That is when I think everyone got a sense that this was not an accident. We were under attack, but who would do this?

In my mind I was almost making myself believe this was an accident. I couldn't even wrap the thought around my head that there were passengers on the planes. I asked Mike if he thought there were innocent people on the planes, and he looked at me dumb-founded. I didn't want to believe it, and Mike would always protect me from truths like that. For example, if there was a dead animal on the side of the road he would always say the animal was "sleeping". I knew it was dead, but with Mike saying that my mind would be at ease somehow. This time he didn't "sugar coat" anything, and that is a scary thing when you're used to being "sugar coated".

Then the Pentagon was hit and then the plane went down in Pennsylvania, and with that the feeling of severe panic sets in. Where there children on the planes? Did we know anyone on the flights? What city is going to get hit next? When is this going to stop? I was watching TV but I wanted to stop, I couldn't. It seemed like the destruction and devastation from that day went on for days, months, and years. This was the day the United States lifestyles will be forever changed. My children will never know what it was like to fly before then. But...Mike, myself, and our children will be able to tell generations to come about..."Where we were" on that day. ...Where were you?


I don't know if it was just me, but I am so glad I'm not flying all the time. I am glad I stay home with the kids, and can be there for my family at all times. I have God and my husband to thank for that.

"Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Fish, Blue Fish"

I spent some time with my older sister, Kim, and her four children. She has all girls, and lost her son when he was 2. Luke died from the flu winter of 2003. Our family will forever be changed, but that doesn't always have to be a bad thing. Don't get me wrong, losing Luke was the worst thing our whole family has ever gone through. You are not supposed to have a child die first, we the parents are to go to heaven before them. But, for some reason God took Luke first. Kim and her husband, Mark, have changed, some for the better and some for the worst. But I have no idea what it is like to have your son taken away so soon, and I don't judge. But "Big Sisters" never seem to stop telling "Little Sisters" what to do.

I took my three younger children, Joe, Allie, and Sarah-Kate to Iowa to meet up with Kim and her four children. Kim is three years older than me, but I did almost everything first. I got married before she did, I had a baby before her, and I went through a major illness (which she has never gone through and I pray never will). My children are older than her children. I have a 23 year old boy, a 17 year old daughter, a daughter who is 13, and son who is 11 year old. Her girls range in ages from 13 - 4 years old. My children have put my husband and I through so much it is almost sad. But I have emotionally grown up, and learned so much from all of it. That is what Kim doesn't see, that I am a 41 year old mother, wife, and woman. And this drives me crazy!!!!!

I don't know if this is how it is with all older sisters, I am the youngest child in our family. I know Kim has a HUGE heart, and she bosses me around with the best intentions. She would never deliberately hurt me, ever. I know that, and love that about her...but sometimes she makes my head spin. She will ask me about this kid or that kid is doing, and I tell her what is going on knowing the whole time I am setting myself up for a lecture. Then it starts...."Well Kristen, you know you have to do this or that because of this or that". I don't even argue anymore, I let it slide because it isn't worth fighting about. I actually take it as a compliment, this is one of Kim's way she shows she loves me. I like to know that my sister has my back if I ever needed her. She is a very comforting thought to me. I love her and her family dearly.

Kim has these funny things she does to her kids that are very smart, but I have to laugh. For instance, if any of her children go outside for anything, they get lathered up with sunscreen. I'm not talking one sunscreen I am talking two different kinds and lots of it. She puts it on herself and her face looks like a clown for a good 5 minutes. It will truly take her about 5 minutes to rub it all in. And she does the same with her girls. This is such a routine for them that now Kim will put a bunch on their faces and not even rub it in. Her girls are getting older and she thinks they will rub it in. Little does she know that they don't. And when we were together one of her daughters laughed and said, "I'm not going to rub it in Aunt Kris. I'm going to leave them like dots so my sunburn will look cool". As an Aunt to these beautiful girls I should help them rub it in, but I can't. I just can't! I love to see Kim go berserk. So I'm laughing, and when I do Kim pops her head up to see what's going on. Then she gets mad she will say, "Kris, Rach, Tess, whoever you are just stop it!" Usually by the second wrong name we help her out and give her the correct person's name she is yelling at. Which make it all the more hysterical.

All nine of us were at dinner at a place called, "Machine Shed" in Iowa. Now keep in mind Kim lives in Chicago, and the slow country life doesn't sit well with her. We ordered our food and it took about 15 minutes to get. Fine right? Nope, at about 10 minutes she was asking where our food was. No one was in a hurry, but Kim's infamous words were said, "My kids are starting to loose it". She says that a lot!

So, finally the food comes, we are eating dinner and I get out my fancy phone that has an App for a Whoopi Cushion. I start pressing the phone and these great & loud fart noises start up. People in the restaurant are starting to give us unkind looks. My kids, myself, and 3 out of the four girls are laughing. So we blame my son, Joe, for farting. Kim has a "talkin to" with him. She is saying stuff like how her girls are impressionable and she wants them to learn how to act in a restaurant. But the sounds keep coming and we are even laughing harder because Kim's lecturing Joe on manners. All the while her kids are running from chair to chair, and Tessa's, 4, in her booster seat that is connected with her chair tips over on the side and crashes to the floor. Then Kim tells us we have to go NOW. That was probably one of the funniest things that happened on this two day trip.

I love my sister with all of my heart and feel blessed to be able to call her my sister. Her husband and daughters mean the world to me. And Luke will be waiting for us in heaven, and until then I will love him like crazy. A family wouldn't be a family if no one cared, if roles weren't established, if the younger kids weren't bossed around by the older kids, and if in the present you can all laugh about the past and then dream together about the future. God will always be my first priority and second is my husband, and then the rest of me goes to my family. We always have each others back, and are always ready to correct each others children. Because correcting our own children isn't half as fun as correcting others.