busy busy busy

Justin's fam is here visiting. We are having a blast, and are halfway through our visit. Here is a link to some pics we posted of the fun things we've been doing on the Lisonbee family blog!
http://michelle-controlledchaos.blogspot.com/2007/08/cousins-catch-up.html

It's a little crazy, all kids have several bruises or other battle marks. Lots of scraped knees, an abundance of scratch wounds from an unnamed little one, even a black eye. Still, they whine when we separate them to sleep at night. (It's the only way to get any peace.) Wish we could get together more!

28 weeks

I am now going on 28 weeks pregnant...it's not going fast enough.

nevermind

Today I hate year-round school, because this is our last week on then we are off for three weeks. Thursay and Friday are parent conference days, too, so only three more days of blessed peace and fewer children and then I'm back to my full-time entertainment job. Hopefully the time will pass quickly--the Lisonbee's are coming out to visit so if I'm alive still on August 1st it will be easy after that. Expect reports of meltdowns coming soon.

Thank heaven for school!

And for year-round school, for that matter. My kids started a week ago and things around here are already going a little smoother. Camille loves kindergarten, she tells everyone that she is a kindergartner. She is pretty excited that she gets her own Thursday Folder (the way they send info home from school) because she has watched Emma get one for two years now. She talks about recess a lot, that and snack time. What do you expect--she's five!

Emma also is much better behaved when she is in school. Honestly I think she just gets bored, and I don't have the time or energy to entertain her all day. She likes her new class and there are lots of kids from last year so I think she got comfortable quickly.

Now if only it wasn't so bloody hot I could happily run around and do my errands and work with only one child for the limited time I have that option. Since it is bloody hot we go to the pool or stay in air conditioned spaces--it's all I can handle.

Baby Chicks

My kids have been pestering me at every turn today! They are out of school, of course, so I have to keep them busy. We went to the pool yesterday, and today I thought I'd run a couple errands and then let them have friends over while the baby napped in the afternoon. We got all ready and drove 15 min. away, walked into the first store, and had our first two tantrums there not 5 feet from the store entrance. I turned around, took them all out, got back in the car and drove home. Not just a little bit annoyed that they had spoiled my plans.

So we got home and had lunch, and they were good for 15 min. while they ate Spongebob macaroni, then the baby threw another tantrum about taking her nap. She cried hysterically all the way to bed and didn't stop when I shut the door. Then Camille took over from there. She shadowed Emma pestering her and making annoying noises. She tried to play games on the computer but didn't have enough patience to wait 2 seconds for the screen to load so she had the computer frozen clicking buttons and then freaked out. I sent her upstairs for quiet time (which incidentally she was already supposed to be doing.) She continued to argue with Em all afternoon, just hanging around and bothering her.

Poor Emma had a rough day. She was great up until the time I lay down for a nap, then she would not leave me alone. I tried to call a friend for her but they weren't home, and so we were waiting for them to call back and she checked about that every few minutes, otherwise she just sat right beside me balancing and messing around on Justin's exercise ball and hovering. I snapped at her and asked her to put it away, which she didn't. After not too long I went up to my room to escape their bickering, and Emma followed me. She kept coming in my room to tell me what Camille had called her and ask when I was getting up. At one point she told me to get up in 5 min and I said NO! I had barely slept at all.

Then Ash got up from her nap and started calling me from her room. Naptime over. Now it is 5pm and I'm feeling extremely edgy, but Emma's friend finally just got here and they are playing upstairs and not hanging on me for the first time all day. Time to make dinner.

I read once that being a mother of toddlers was like being pecked to death by baby chicks. I don't think it applies exclusively to toddlers.

family fun...

We have been having such a blast with our kids this summer. I took them camping again last week with my little brother Mike while Justin was away at Scout Camp. Then last night we went bowling with them for the second time. The kids just eat it up. I can already see the positive effects between the girls. Emma and Camille have been playing so well together, I'm loving it!

Ashy Bash

Ashley is currently terrified of bugs, also dogs. She freaks out when she sees a fly in the house. She has to point it out to me and won't relax until we swat it. Heaven forbid it actually fly toward her, it causes a full scale panic. She also points out all spiders and any other crawly things on the ground. It often turns out to be a little piece of mulch from our back yard, but better safe than sorry, right? Just last week the girls were playing outside finding roly polies. Camille loves them and brought one in the house to show me. She and Em were taking turns holding it, and then they took it back outside to let it go. Unfortunately just after earning his freedom Ashley squashed him. She was proud of herself but the other girls came to tell me all distrought and crying. It was quite comical. Our neighbors have two wild little dogs that frequently escape when their daughters go in our out of the house. My kids will run screaming for the house or the back yard when they do, all in terror. Ashley gets so scared she will freeze and just tremble. She likes to see the dogs but prefers they take no notice of her.

A Few of her favorite things include sunglasses, babies, band-aids, playing outside (especially without shoes), fruitsnacks (which she is begging for every morning by 7am), baths, going potty, trying on shoes, purses, chapstick, and Grandma.

She knows the names of all our friends in the ward, but calls the dads only by their last name. Sunday she saw our friend Bill Nalen across the hall and said, "Mom! I saw Nalen!" Jerry Larsen is "Larsen," even when she is speaking directly to him. Anybody we don't know is a "danger." It sounds pretty funny when she runs in from playing outside and says, "Mom, there's a danger!" Meaning she saw someone out there. If we see someone in the store she will either ask, "What's that Mom?" or ask if it's a "danger."

Bash likes to be the center of attention, and get a laugh. She makes faces, pretends to burp at the table, snorts loudly, announces every time she toots, and has a hilarious fake laugh. Once I was getting mad at her because she took off her diaper and peed in her bed during naptime. I sat her on the potty and gave her a mean look to show her I was very upset. She made a little face and said, "Am I funny mom?" I said NO. She then gave a little pout and said, "I wanna be funny!"

She is such a lovey, snuggly little thing. When someone leaves the house to go somewhere she says, "Huggie, Huggie!" and gets very upset if she doesn't get one. She comes up to me lots and asks to be held, or to snuggle me. She also spontaneously grabs my leg or hugs me and says, "I love mommy." She does it to Justin, too. When I get mad at her she won't be happy until I sit and hold her for a minute and she knows I still love her. If I stay mad she hovers around me whining and pouting until I'll stop and hold her a bit then she can go about her business.

I wish I had a picture of this but she has a fettish about getting stuff inbetween her toes. She will sit down and examine them one by one, pulling them apart and swiping with her finger if she finds "nasty the toes!"