We have been really busy. Jason has been working 60 hour weeks (six ten-hour days) since March. He is tired. He is hopeful that he can have this coming Saturday off. He should be back to his normal schedule soon.
I have been really busy just trying to keep up with our household. The laundry keeps trying to take over. It has won a few battles but is not winning the war. The amount of toys and other random junk in this house continues to amaze me. I am constantly picking up stuff and putting it away. It seems like that is all I do all day long. The dishwasher runs once or sometimes twice a day. We wash bottles every day by hand. There are six people living here who bathe every single day. Needless to say, the city commented on the fact that our water usage has increased significantly since March.
It seems impossible to keep this house clean. I am not going to apologize for it though. I do the best I can and there is always at least two kids here at all times, every single day. We live here and our house shows it. Sigh. There needs to be two of me - one to spend time and do fun things with my kids and the other to be cleaning up behind them.
Maleah is still working on her marble jar. She has been doing this for over a year now probably. Each time she does something nice for someone or helps with a chore she earns a marble or two, depending on the size of the job. Each time her jar gets full she gets to pick a reward (like going skating, having a friend over, etc.). She has really been trying hard lately to fill it again. Yesterday, I asked her to dust our black sofa table (it shows dust so quickly!) and she said "What?? I just did that last week!!!" I said "Um, yeah. That is the story of my life." Carissa is also working on a marble jar and she decided that she would like to help dust as well. She has yet to fill a marble jar (even though her's is significantly smaller than Maleah's) because she gets marbles removed from the jar all the time for bad behavior. Anyway, she wasn't doing a very good job with the dusting. She basically did one big swipe across the table and that was it. The corner areas were still dusty. I told her that she needed to check it and maybe get the corners a little bit better. Her response? "Mom! I am just a little kid!" By the end of the day the dusting was done though and it was not done by me. :)
Silas is doing great! I think he weighs about eleven pounds now. He smiles, laughs, and coos a lot now. He is very happy. He loves to watch his sisters and is very tolerant of Carissa's hugs. Maleah loves to hold him and she seems to get a lot of laughs out of him. He lost all of his hair over the past month or so but it is now all growing back in. He has very dark and very short hair all over his head. He likes to suck his thumb when he can find it but he also likes his pacifier. He is wearing 0 to 3 months clothes most of the time and has even worn a few 3-6 months outfits. He is big stuff! I can't believe that he is almost six months old!
Carissa has been acting terrible lately. She is trying to run this household and needs a constant reminder that she is not in charge. She is mean to Maleah and tries to be mean to Silas too. She hits and throws things. I think the terrible twos showed up a little late at our house. She is a handful to say the least. I had to break out the parenting books a few weeks ago. Do they have summer camps for three year olds?
Maleah finished up the school year. She loved her first grade teacher, Mrs. Prather, and will miss her very much. She is looking forward to summer and to second grade though. She received a reading award, a principal's award, and a 1st grade award. Her teacher spoke very highly of her reading. Maleah's summer schedule is a little bit crazy. She is on a coaches pitch softball team and her first game is next Tuesday. She will be going to tennis two mornings a week for the month of June. She is going to cheerleading camp next week. And she is going to church camp for an overnight stay at the end of the week. She is also getting a part-time job to help me pay for the gas it takes to run her all over the place. Just kidding.
Calli has had a busy past month or so. She was in the school play at North Clay. It was called Rydell High and was based on the movie "Grease." She played Blanche, the high school secretary. She did a great job! The play was a lot of work and she had practice nearly every night and didn't get home some nights until midnight. Some mornings they had practice at 6:30 in the morning. By the time the play was over I think she was worn out. She also had a senior awards night where she received an award for good grades. And on Mother's Day she graduated high school. Why on earth North Clay had the play and graduation all on Mother's Day weekend I'll never know. Bad planning if you ask me and they didn't. It was an extremely busy weekend and it was a tiny bit stressful to get everything done. The great news is that she graduated and can now look forward to the next phase of her life - college.
Calli with the Cooper and Duquaine kids at her
graduation party at the Duquaine's.
Calli and Hannah
Calli on the right as Blanche and
Hannah on the left as the principal.
Speaking of plays, this past weekend was the annual Depot Show at the high school. They have it every year to raise money to restore our historic train depot in Flora. This year I co-wrote the play with Stacey Earleywine. I also had a couple of small parts in the play. I played a grocery shopper in Mr. Whipple's store for a Charmin commercial and one of the old ladies in the Where's the Beef commercial. The play was called The Wrong Show and was based on The Gong Show from the 1970s. I spent a lot lot lot of hours watching The Gong Show on youtube while I was sitting in Silas' hospital room. I took a lot of notes and did a lot lot lot of rewrites. Maleah also had a small part in the show. She carried signs across the stage after the bad acts that said things like "Are you kidding me??" I think we had a great show though. I am looking forward to doing it again next year!
Maleah in front of the gong.
Me selling toilet paper.
Me and Maleah.
Me, holding script re-write number 12000.
Well, you know I have been trying to win strollers and other various items from BabyGizmo.com for a while now. I tried and tried to win their weekly giveaways and then several weeks ago they had a giveaway each day for 30 straight days. And I won! I finally won!! I won a 4Moms Origami stroller (google it). It folds and unfolds with the push of a button. It has headlights. It has an onboard generator that can charge your iphone, ipad, etc while you walk. It has an lcd screen with a speedometer, odometer, timer, etc. It is pretty cool. The downside is that it weighs a ton, doesn't have much storage, and doesn't recline very much. The stroller costs $850 to buy it plus they sent me an extra seat cover in green which is another $100, so altogether I have a $950 stroller. Unbelievable, right? I think it's awesome but I really needed a stroller that can seat two. So, (forgive me BabyGizmo!) I am selling it on ebay and going to use the money to buy the stroller I really want and spend the rest on vacation. I took some pics of Silas in his celebrity stroller though before I listed it on ebay.
A few weeks before she graduated Calli had her senior prom. She went with her friend Hannah Clifton. Here are some pics:
This picture is from Senior Awards Night.
This post is not in any chronological order that's for sure. Calli also had senior pictures taken by Dawn Cox. They turned out great. She snapped a couple of Maleah and Carissa while they were watching and waiting on Calli.
One day last week I took the girls and Silas to the park for a picnic. We sat in the gazebo at Charley Brown Park and ate hot dogs and chips. We learned that Red-Headed Woodpeckers like Lay's Potato Chips. We had a woodpecker that was keeping a really close eye on what we were doing. I think he must stalk the lunch crowd at the park. I had a hunch that he was waiting on our crumbs so I had the girls set a few chips out in the grass. As soon as they walked off he jumped down there and ate those chips. He was a cute little guy. Here are some pics from our fun day at the park.
We are having a fun and busy summer. I promise I will try to do better about keeping this blog updated!!!
This is all wonderful. Wish I lived closer, I would come and clean and do laundry for you. Silas looks so big and healthy. Take good care of yourself. Enjoy your wonderful family. Much love! C
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