Thoughts

Today's post is mainly about Merry Grace. She is so cute and fun. I love her giggly laugh, her excitement over the mundane, her sassy responses, and her mothering ways. Today she "helped" me by organizing all the pillows on my bed into a little cave for her to snuggle down in. She layed there and rested and played with her purse while I worked on laundry. After a while she requested that I lay down with her. So Paige and I climbed onto the bed and snuggled in beside her. Merry Grace said, "You can lay on my arm if you want to. Or my shoulder." "Okay," I told her and snuggled in even closer. Apparently not close enough, though, since she responded with, "My shoulder is right here, Mommy", and pointed to her shoulder. I thought of how many times I have let her fall asleep lying on my arm or propped up on my shoulder. I guess she wanted to return the favor. :) Merry Grace is at the age where she wants to do everything I do. She is my little tag-a-long. If I am cutting up squash for dinner, she will pull her chair right over beside me and offer to help in whatever way she can. When I take a load of laundry downstairs, she toddles along right behind me and always puts the detergent and fabric softener in. If I am folding clothes, she brings her babies or her purse in my room with me and plays with them while I work. If I go outside to water the garden, she comes right along with me, holding the water hose for me. When I take a shower, she comes in and sits on the stool and talks to me while I shower. The other night I was using the bathroom, alone for once, when I heard Merry Grace calling for me. "Mommmmmmmyyyyyyy....", she called out. "I'm looking for my Mommy," she said to Cory. "Your Mommy?", he asked, "Your Mommy, who?" "My Mommy Barnett," she said. Sure enough, within a few minutes, she had found me in the bathroom and come in to visit. I suggested she go visit with her Daddy for a few minutes and then we could talk. "No," she replied, "I just want to be with you." I can't imagine anyone I want to hang out with in the bathroom, but I'm touched she loves me that much. That, my friends, is true love. I just love that little girl. I love it when she asks to eat "wackyroni" (macaroni) or when she offers to bring me the "waybee wipes" when I change Paige's diaper. I love the ways that, even being the third child, she's found to be unique. And now its almost bedtime and that means snuggle time. So I'm off to give her some attention. But I couldn't ask for a better, or cuter, shadow. :)

Hair Anyone?

Merry Grace made me laugh this morning by telling me she wanted me to fix her hair into a "Hair Dude" just like Elise's. Too cute and funny!

Mr. Sandman

Somehow my kids missed out on the sleeping gene. On most normal nights, they fall asleep well, get a good night's sleep, and wake up early in the morning. Really early. Which normally isn't too bad. Its just something we've adapted to. So while they are good sleepers, I somehow managed not to get a single great sleeper. You know, the kind who fall asleep at 7pm and wake up at 10 the next morning. Or the kind who come in so pooped from vacation that they sleep 16 hours straight. Since we got back home from our wonderful vacation, I've yet to get a good night's sleep. Some combination of the kids have been up several times during the night. Each night. And now I've about had it. Last night, Elise got up twice to use the bathroom, Ian got up once with a bad dream and ended up sleeping on a blanket by my bed. Merry Grace got up twice, both times to climb in bed with Cory and I and snuggle in, and let me tell you, when that girl gets in the bed she makes it her own. The second time, instead of just laying her back down in her bed, we gave up and let her stay. I awoke bright and early only to realize I had been sleeping on her foot for heaven knows how long. Comfy. Before I could move, I felt a nice, warm sensation spread over my back. It only took a second for me to realize it was also quite wet. Of course. Merry Grace picked this morning to wet the bed for the first time ever. How lovely that she could do it in my bed. Oh, and did I mention that Paige was up twice last night with a pitiful little cold? So now I'm exhausted, in desperate need of (at the very least) a nap, and not a chance of one in sight. *Sigh* Such is the life of a mom. And truthfully, I wouldn't trade it for anything. :)

Things We Love About Camp

We're back from our 4th annual trip to camp. It was wonderful. We enjoyed every minute of everything we did. The weather was great, the food was delicious, and the company was the best. Here are some of our favorite memories from this year and just a few of the many reasons we LOVE Camp Singletary.

Afternoon rain showers

Playing in the mud

Sweet Kisses

Best Friends

Lots of time to be a Superhero

Having CRAZY hair is Okay

Places to go and people to see

Best Friends

Swimming time EVERY day

Naps

Wrestling Matches

Foggy mornings by the lake

Being Underwater

Walking the Dog

Splashing

Lots of time with our Moms

And lots of time with our Dads

Playing Red Rover

Snacking

Getting covered in sand and then washing off

Playing Cards

Looking Fancy

Discovering You Love the Water

And realizing that eating sand is Yummy

Snorkeling...Or just being Silly

Cute Baby Chub

Pranking the Uncles

Revenge

Lazy Days on the Dock

Goofing Off

Being Silly

Canoeing

Playing the Balancing Game

Going to the Water Park

And most importantly, just being together!!!!

So we're sad the week went by so fast, but we couldn't possibly have enjoyed our time any more than we did. Right now we're just thankful for our family and grateful for the memories we made and anxiously looking forward to next year!

I Am Losing My Mind

The other day I was trying to find some flip-flops to wear outside (which shouldn't be a problem because I have a million pairs), but I was trying to reach around things and I was in a hurry and so I ended up with a left teal-colored flip-flop and a right pink flip- flop. At that point I was just glad to have a pair of anything, even if they didn't match. Well, wouldn't you know I got busy with daily life and the next thing I knew I was at Ian's Kindergarten Readiness class and one of the other mom's pointed out my shoes...yep, still mis-matched. Sheesh. And while it was slightly embarrassing, I really didn't care. But I don't plan on starting a trend. :)

And then yesterday, I decided to take advantage of Ian playing with a friend to run out to the Bath and Body Works sale to get a couple of things for Elise's teachers. While I was in the process of paying, (by this time holding a fussy baby who is ready to eat and a dealing with a cranky toddler who is also "starving") I discovered that the new check card I'd been issued with my new checking account was actually an ATM card. Just an ATM card. What the heck? Do people even use those these days?! So after two calls of frustration to the bank (one to activate what I thought was my debit card, although it clearly say "ATM card" on the top and one to voice my displeasure--remember the grumpy kids--) I was told I'd just have to go to my bank's ATM and withdraw money to pay in cash. I was not a happy camper and neither were my kids. At the ATM, after entering my temporary pin number, the machine would cancel my transaction and spit my card back out. After another call to the bank, I discovered that the pin number I received was actually to a debit card that I never received. I also never received the correct pin for the ATM card. And of course, this helpful person had no access to pin numbers, so the card is useless. Which it pretty much is anyway, if I can't use it to buy things. At long last, I went through the drive-thru, withdrew cash, fed my kids, went back to the store and--finally--bought the s-t-u-p-i-d teacher gifts (which at this point I no longer even cared about) and silently cursed the bank for their idiocy. (Obviously its their fault, not mine. :))

And lastly, this morning I drew the lucky assignment of taking Max to the vet at 8am with all four children. Cory had early appointments and had to leave at 7:15, so it was up to us. I think I'd rather have a root canal. We survived the appointment, though, and took Elise to school. She was about 15 minutes late at this point, and once we got her signed in had a semi-meltdown. Leaving her at school today was worse than the first day of Kindergarten. Terrible. When I got back to the car, Ian and Merry Grace were sobbing because their Sissy had to go to school and I was traumatized because I had to send her off in tears. We finally made it home at 10:15, only for me to realize that I'd forgotten to send her with lunch money and after the morning we'd all just had, I couldn't bear to have her just eat fruit. And she has an early lunch, so 5 minutes later we loaded back up in the car to eat lunch with her. The good news is that she loved us being there and when we left her this time, all was right with the world. :) So now I have to decide whether I should be effective or just collapse on the couch since everything I seem to touch turns to disaster...

Oh well, sometimes you just can't win for losing.

Nothing Noteworthy

I sometimes feel like something interesting actually has to happen to blog about it, but most of the time its just little things here and there that make up our days. So here is my blog about nothing and everything. :)

Friday afternoon I had the kids help me get the house cleaned up. We did "Power Clean-Ups" (which is said with a quick 'left-right' combo). I put on Merry Grace's princess crown and proclaimed myself Queen of the Clean Up. We set the timer for 5 minutes and "Power Cleaned Up" each room. So in a quick 30 minutes, we had the house in ship-shape. (Well, sort of ship-shape...as long as there are kids in the house, my house will never be spotless. :))

We spent most of Saturday out and about. We mad e a trip to Old Navy and took advantage of their sales to get Ian some school clothes. His favorite item by far was a pair of athletic basketball pants. They're so slick, and he just thinks they're great. We found a couple of things for Elise and Merry Grace (who LOVE clothes), although they didn't really need that much, but we did get some great deals on some clothes for Baby Paige. I just love getting stuff for $1.00!!! After our shopping trip we went to the park where we threw a baseball, frisbee and football for a while. There is this little amphitheater in the park, so Cory, Uncle Adam and I sat in the seats while the kids played on "stage" and used their healthy imaginations. I made up stories (have I mentioned I'm horrible about making up stories?) and let the kids act them out as I told them. Everyone enjoyed (and by "enjoyed" I mean laughed at my goofiness) the productions of "The Three Little Trolls and the Great Blue Monster" and "Mama Grasshopper Gets Her Wish Granted." (Did I mention I really cannot make up make-believe stories?!) It was a really nice day and we all enjoyed being together.

This morning I went out to water the garden. I've hardly had to do that at all this season, which is wonderful. I had to put the sprayer on the end of the hose first, then turned the water on, only to realize I'd put the sprayer on crooked and had water spraying every which way. So I turned the hose back off, fixed the sprayer and went to turn the water back on. I was almost to the faucet when I saw overhead (where I'd already walked under twice) a black snake curled up in the lattice. Great. Just great. So I had Cory (who adheres to the strict philosophy that the only good snake is a dead snake) come out and take care of it. Adam also came out to help and he pulled the snake out of the lattice and Cory attacked with the hoe. Thank goodness for men. Today we get moth balls. I can't wait!

And now I really need to get on with my odds and ends of the day. There are beds to be made and laundry to be folded and toilets to be scrubbed. :)