Lets see what stories my camera tells.

I don't have anything in particular to blog about. But I do have time, seeing as my two oldest are on a sleep free kick. Last night they didn't go to sleep until after midnight and woke up at 7. It is currently 10 p.m. and seeing as Izzy took a 3 hour nap at the table when I told her she couldn't get up until she ate her dinner, I am not expecting this night to be any earlier. So I now present to you, Random Stories From The Camera!

How cute is this? This is from Stone Soup Day at Izzy and Ava's pre-school. They were both dressed as pilgrims on their way to eat Stone Soup. The director said they tell the story as Indians and Pilgrims instead of a wandering pig and the unfriendly farm animals. But thats beside the point. This picture could have only been cuter if one of them had been a native and the other a pilgrim.

The other night we got to watch the older Linker children. This picture was in between cake making and our epic jellyfish making fail. I'm not really sure what they are doing, and I feel bad that the only boy somehow ended up in the girliest of our costumes. Its apparent Emma thinks he is pretty great and it makes me so happy that she has a friend.

This is a persimmon tree at my in-laws house. We pulled up and saw that there was only one fruit on the tree and it was so weird I had to take a picture. Who knew the picture would be full of symbolism. A single fruit. A dying tree. A ladder with no one to climb it. Yep. I went real deep on that one.

This is a picture of Warwick Davis from the Harry Potter Celebration event I went to in Orlando. I know I shouldn't be telling what I got people for Christmas, but RJ never reads my blogs, so here it is. I got RJ an autographed copy of Size Matters Not the autobiography of Warwick Davis. I am so excited to see his reaction when he opens it. I am a notoriously bad gift giver and this year, I think I may have redeemed myself.

The santa questions

This time of year is a particular favorite of both RJ and myself. I love that there are a lot of craft activities readily available and very cheep that I can use to entertain myself and my daughters, RJ loves buying us secret gifts when he is supposed to be at work, we love getting extra gifts, I give up on my extra strict budget for a month. And we enjoy spending a little extra time together and with family.

This time of year brings about a slew of santa questions. " Is santa real?", " How can Santa get all of the presents made if he is at the mall?" " How can santa get to everyone in the world?" And here are my answers. " He is real as long as you believe in him, thats why so many grown ups don't get presents." " Santa doesn't come to the mall. Those are just guys santa hires to dress like him and then tell him what all the little boys and girls want" and " Imagine the world is a beach ball. Santa starts at the first time zone and works his way back. That way he gets extra time. So its really like he has 2 days, and sense not all kids believe in santa he doesn't have to go to everyone's house."

Now that we have that under control, we just have to kick this cough that keeps circulating throughout the family.

Procrastination Station

Turns out, I only blog when I am procrastinating. Who knew? I guess anyone that has read more than one entry into my blog.

Today's topic is much more on point with the title of my blog than most of my last blogs have been. Today we are talking about girls and clothes. I never knew that this would be a subject at 7,4, and 1 but apparently, what to wear is a HUGE issue with 2 out of 3 of my daughters. Gwiny is putting up the best fight as she is now 7 and is in to fashion ( ha ha, that is sarcasm).

Gwindolyn is the most like her mother of my girls. She doesn't give a flip about what other people say or do. She cries when she gets a bad grade on a test, she wants to help others, and she thinks she runs the place. She has been a fairly easy going child all of her life. But these days I find myself wanting to pull my hair out from about 8:15 to 8:40 every morning. Gwin only wants to wear very, very tight clothes. She has attempted to wear Emma's ( 2T) clothes more times than I can count. She thinks that she can wear leggings without a skirt on top. Now that she is in second grade, I have to put a stop to this. So she cries, and I dress her in Jeans and a loose fitting top every day. And still she fights. This has been on going for about 2 months. You would think she would get the hint already. But I will keep fighting.

Izzy, she doesn't care what she wears. For her, the weirder the better really, so no problem there.

Emma, has now started to pick up a desire to pick out her own clothes. She basically spends 10 minutes in her drawer throws all her clothes out and then says. "I'm nakie." So i pick something and she says no, and runs away. Then I grab her, throw her clothes on and we are good to go.

Girls, gotta love them.

October Update

Yesterday, I said " For some reason we have been so busy lately." RJ responded, " That's just what you do." Its true. I thought I would be far less busy after I cut my driving in half. Sadly, no. I picked up on a couple projects to do here. I am currently...

1) Sewing Gwiny a pink Jasmine costume.

2) Sewing Izzy a Rapunzel costume.

3) Decorating a pink bra for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk.

4) Making a pumpkin BINGO game for a Halloween dinner event on Thursday.

5) Trying some new candy recipes for a care package I need to send. ( Today's project of easy fondant was a fail. Turns out, local honey is not the same as Walmart brand honey)

6) Creating treat bags for a halloween party at Gwin's school.

So thats what I need to have done by Tuesday. Yet, this is the time I do a blog? I guess I better get back to some of those things I need to be doing.

What happened to September?

I am pretty sure I have not blogged in over a month. I where did that time go? In fact, where did the end of August go? What year is it? Sad but true fact: I asked my friend why they were playing the OJ Simpson trial at McDonalds. Then quickly said " Whoa, what happened there, I just slipped 15 years into the past." I guess my time warp is beside the point. Here is an update on what we have been doing for the last 2 months:

Emma: She has started talking in full sentences. Yep. My baby is a talker. She frequently says " I wanna hold you." (i.e. she wants me to hold her). Today she said " I wanna snack" She knows the names of all of our friends and family. She is constantly asking " Where did Grandpa go?" even though she hasn't seen him in 2 weeks or a month (as we recently established time and I are not on good terms right now.) Emma is also bound and determined to wear panties and be potty trained. You know, aside from the fact that she has yet to develop the ability to tell when she has to go potty. This is causing me a great deal of stress. In particular, she yells potty! Then I pick her up and run to the toilet while she yells " Go, Go, Go" then she sits down and doesn't do anything. She also likes to color.

Izzy: Today I said " Izzy, I think you are awesome." She said " I think you are awesome." This was after we sang a duet of One Republic's "Good Life." We love to sing. Her lyrics are mostly better than those of the real songs. Yesterday I was laughing so hard when she was singing Bruno Mars " Sky full of Lighters" and the part that says " We've been kicked down forced to fight." She sang " And we beamed down for supplies." Izzy is now in a much, much better school! She goes to school in Tallahassee with Ava. I 100% have the Linkers to thank for this. They recommended the school and help out with transportation. In the words of Isabel, we think the Linkers "are awesome".

Gwiny: Gwin is now a Girl Scout! A brownie! We found her a great troop and I think this may be an activity she doesn't immediately want to quit. Hurray for Girl Scouts. She has really gotten in to playing Wii sports. But she cried when I beat her at bowling. She doesn't take losing well. She is also an amazing artist. She got all the skill I always wanted. Her school doesn't offer art, so on Mondays we have our own art class here at home. Check out this Lego picture she made for me tonight.

Me: I got a horrible hair cut. When it was cut it looked like a boy haircut in the front, mini mullet in the back. Now that it has grown out it looks like Rachel Maddow's haircut. RJ tried to tell me I looked good as Rachel Maddow...I went with the dramatic squirrel face. ( Please someone get this... ) I also got on to Pottermore. I was sorted into Slytherin cause I am cool like that and my fake wand is made of Cedar and Phoenix Feather. Oh my.... really.. news about me is a joke about my favorite news show and a Harry Potter web site. I think I need a life.

RJ: You know, he doesn't like me to talk about him. He is wearing a giant red beard like a viking. Acting like a superhero saving the planet and all that.

See you in a week.. or two.. or month.. or ....

Random Facts

Here are a couple of things that have either happened or I have thought about in the last couple weeks:

Really? There is a song that says " Don't take this the wrong way, but girl you look better with the lights off." How do you not take that the wrong way?

I asked Emma to point to her nose, she points to her nose, I say point to the kitties nose, she points to the cats nose. I show her the cats tail and say " Do you have a tail?" She says " Yep" and points to the pony tail I put in her hair that morning.

I love the new One Republic song. I want to listen to it over and over.

Izzy started her new VPK program. It is amazing as are the Linkers who are saving me 40 minutes a day of driving.

Gwiny is turning 7 in 6 days!

I am super addicted to pintrest.

We are going to sign Gwin up for Girl Scouts tonight. Yay for 3 generations of Girl Scouts!

I am taking the GRE again in 5 days, I better stop blogging and start studying for the GRE like I should be doing with every extra bit of time I have.

What I have learned in the last 2 weeks

Only 2 weeks ago my husband and I signed the papers to own our very first home. Not just to own our first home, but this is the first house we have ever lived in. Over the last 8 years of our marriage we have never lived in a house, always an apartment. I knew things were going to be different, and they sure are. Now we can...

10) Mark the girls heights on their door frames.

9) Play in a back yard!

8) Put all the girls to bed in their own rooms.

7) Lock the pantry door.

5) Walk to the car as many times as I want to without worrying about leaving the kids inside.

4) Learn how to clean off a plate properly, as we have no garbage disposal.

3) Do cartwheels in our living room, yes we have.

2) Make 3 cakes in one sitting and I did it today.

1) Walk to the car without wearing shoes.

The first day of school

Today was Gwiny's first day of second grade ( just saying it makes me feel old), and Izzy's first day of Pre-School. I would say it is a bitter sweet day for me, but in reality, it is just sweet. While I only have Emma I am going to... Start a Yoga program, study for the GRE, get my house clean, and write more blog entries. In 6 months you should remind me that I was going to do all of these things, I will maybe have done one, but I have good intentions.

Gwin came home today ecstatic, she loves her classroom, her teacher, her new friends, her bus driver, and even loves last years dreaded lunch period. It has been a long time sense I have seen her so happy to go to school, and it makes me very happy to know that I will not have to battle a crying 7 year old every morning for the next 9 months.

Izzy, however, was not so impressed. But no one was more angry when I picked her up, than her lovely, red eyed mother. It started when I dropped her off and her teacher says " Oh, you don't need that lunchbox." Me: "They don't have a snack, I just put juice and crackers in there." Her: " I'm not sure, we will figure it out." Me: " Ok, well if you have snack it is in there." And then the rest of the questions I ask her.

___" Where do I pick her up?" " I'm not sure how it will work Monday."

___ "Where do I drop her off?" " I'm not sure. I think there will be a card thing you swipe." "What does that mean?"

And then this happened:

___ Her: " She told us she can't drink cows milk at breakfast and we didn't believe her, but then when she said she can't drink cows milk at lunch we looked it up and your paperwork said that she is lactose intollerant, you need to fill out this form." Me: " She ate breakfast and lunch? Where do I go to pay for that?" Her: " I'm not sure, but you could check in the office." So I go to the office with the intention of asking why she had breakfast and lunch. And the response I get " Yes, they eat both breakfast and lunch here. " Me: " Its a 3 hour program." Them, " I know my daughter goes here and I thought it was weird too. But she can bring her own breakfast in a lunchbox."

And now, I request a transfer.

A story about Emma

Because I am feeling adventurous, or maybe because I don't want to pack, I am going to attempt to write 2 blog entries today. OOO AAHH.

I finally decided, that if I am a remotely good mother, I needed to take Emma to the doctor today. She has been eating poorly, falling down a lot, and been extremely fussy and whiney for about 2 months. The signs of an ear infection. For the last 2 months I have been thinking, it might be teeth, so lets just wait. And then all of her teeth came in and I had no excuses left. So off we went to the doctor. They ask how long she has been acting like this, and I feel a little nervous to tell them, I mean, what kind of mother allows their kids to act sick for 2 months and not take them to the doctor. Guess what. She got a clean bill of health. Why does she keep falling down, congestion you say? And what that also explains her bloody nose? That coupled with the genes given to her by her mother that has broken her toes 4 times by kicking things and tripping. MY DAUGHTER falling down for no good reason? Yep, makes sense.

And just because we are on the topic of Emma. She has learned a new word, "pony." For those of you who know and love her rendition of "puppy." ( for those of you who don't it sounds like someone hyperventilating but instead of heavy breaths it is the word puppy repeated over and over and over.) She now has issued a sequel. "pony" it sounds exactly like she is saying "pooey" repeatedly. So hopefully this one stays in the confines of our house.

And just for fun here is Emma's quote of the week. Keep in mind she is only 17 months old.

" I wanna doughnut"

Harry Potter Party... Part 2

I am a full blown Potterhead. I own more Harry Potter collectables than people would think possible of a grownup. In fact, I have 2 shelves of my bookshelf with wands, a lego burrow, Chocolate Frogs, Fudge Flies, Droobles, A notebook with a quill, all of the movies, a wax seal thing that sets as Ministry of Magic, A butterbeer glass, a Hogs Head Mug, and a Ministry coffee cup. I also own 2 sets of the books. One for the girls and one that came in a special box set, it looks like Harry's Hogwarts trunk. Oh and I have 3 shirts and a hoodie. It seems a little obsessive now that I write it all down.

In November we hosted our first Harry Potter Party to coincide with the release of the Dealthy Hallows Part 1. Yesterday, we hosted our second Harry Potter Party. I spent over 5 hours this week baking cakes, making snitch pops, creating challenges, and collecting prizes. I even created an all new type of cake. I call it Pumpkin pie cake. It was fantastic. I used a white cake mix, added in half a can of pumpkin filling, and used 1/3 of a cinnamon candy cane mixed into the batter. I also spent over 6 hours cleaning my house to get it ready for company.

We ate a meal, drank butterbeer, had a scavenger hunt that ended in Brianna having to drink half a pitcher of tea to get to her item, a hot potato trivia game, wii wizards chess, a polyjuice potion making (who can make the worst tasting soda) competition, and we ended the night by attending the last movie.

The party was a success aside from the fact that as the night came to a close, I nearly fell asleep during the Harry Potter movie and my throat was burning. I barely made it 10 min. after our company left, until I fell asleep on the couch. But I did get raving reviews of my cakes, and that is almost as important as the movie itself.

What can I do in one day?

I have been riddled with this question for years now. I always feel like everyone is much more productive than myself. It could be that I am just self critical. I mean, I am almost entirely sure that I am self critical, but I have been feeling like I am always full of excuses to myself. Why is my house not clean? Response: Because the girls haven't been sleeping well and I am tired. Then I think, the girls are never sleeping well and I am always tired. What is your excuse now? Well Emma is cutting teeth and wants me to hold her all day. Response: Emma has wanted you to hold her all day since the day she was born. NEXT...

And so goes my circle of self criticism until I end up eating four Lindt chocolates that I was given for my birthday. Don't think I had that much self control. This is only the 4th day I have been in the presence of those Lindt chocolates.

And so I decided to think back on what I had done today, and wonder why I can't get anything done. Here it is, my day:

Wake up

Get dressed

Make Coffee

Do the dishes

Wake up the kids

Get ready for a movie

Take the kids to a movie

Come home

Make lunch

Administer Lunch

Clean up after lunch

Watch the kids put on a show while eating my own lunch

Start nap time

Start a load in the washing machine

Go on a playdate

Make dinner

Order Harry Potter Tickets

Go to publix

Put the older kids to bed

Emma stays up

Make popcorn

Eat lindt chocolates instead of dinner

Drink a mountain dew

Get Emma to sleep

Watch storage wars

Blog

Now Sleep.

If you could have any Mutant power what would you want?

In memory of the amazing date night RJ and I had last weekend, where we went to see X-Men First Class. Which was super great by the way. I let the girls watch the first X-Men movie the other day. They LOVED it! You know we are nerds, as evident by my last post.

Izzy was an especially huge fan of X-Men. We used to play super-powers where we would get into a huge family battle. Gwiny has always had force field power. Izzy, Purple cats that scratch you. Me, Ice. Papa, fire. So yesterday I posed the question: If you could have any mutant power what would you want?

Gwiny: Force field.

Izzy: A packet full of unicorns.

Me: A packet full of unicorns is not a superpower.

Then curiosity got the best of me.

What would you do with them? Are they shrink wrapped and come out of your packet super-sized? How do unicorns help you save the planet?

Izzy: They come out baby unicorn size and they poke people with their horns.

Of course. A unicorn packet. Now, who do I see about getting these made as a form of anti-rape protection? Cause the way I see it, lets fight rape with unicorn horn pokes.

Geek Central A.K.A. My laundry room

Two days ago I made the girls clean their room, the result, 3 loads of laundry. Add that to the 3 or 4 loads of clean laundry to the floor of my tiny little laundry room and I was in trouble. I spent over 4 hours folding laundry!

As part of my "you're growing up and you have to start pitching in around here" initiative. I require the older girls to put their own clothes in their dressers after I fold them. Sure enough, they dropped or pushed their clothes into their drawers so far they are no longer folded. New INITIATIVE.

I am not just seperating the girls clothes, sticking them in one of those 3 drawer plastic containers, and making them take their clothes into their bedroom every night. We will see how it goes. I think it is going to revolutionize my laundry folding.

But the whole point of this blog is to talk about the type of clothes I folded. There was a good amount of regular clothes but here is what I found:

* Note: I let all of my girls pick out their own clothes when we go clothes shopping

Gwin's shirts - "Why ask for Prince Charming when you could have Edward?"

Another Vampire shirt, I don't remember what it said.

A Hannah Montana shirt

Izzy's shirts- A pink skull and crossbones with a tiara.

Pink and Black tights with a black dress.

A gray shirt with a big pocket in the front that looks like a purse.

Emma's shirts - About 4 shirts with monkeys on it.

My shirts - A hufflepuff house shirt

A Forks High School shirt

A shirt that says " I love diet coke"

Papa's shirts- Like 4 Star Wars Shirts

A shirt from Professor Leighton and the Unwound Future

For some reason, this shocked me. I have seen us all wearing them multiple times, in addition to all the other ones that were not currently located in the laundry room. But it was a real, wow, we are a nerdy family. Until I look at Izzy's clothes again. What?! How is my 4 year old cooler than the rest of us?

Cue Sesame Street Song: One of these things just doesn't belong here, One of these things just isn't the same.

The best someone else's date night ever

Last Friday one of our favorite families had a special occasion. It was Josh's Birthday and I got a special Linker present. Ava and Izzy! It was one of those weeks where everything seemed to be coming at me so fast I couldn't keep up. (Not that those weeks are abnormal, it just so happened this was one of them). The house was somewhat clean, the dishes were washed, the laundry was overflowing out of the laundry room, the baby had a morning round of 15 month shots, and we anxiously awaited our friends. " How long until they get here?" " 2 hours" " How long now?" " An hour and 45 minutes." And so it went on 15 minute increments until AT LAST! THEY ARE HERE!!

First, we made pizza from scratch. By from scratch I mean I cooked frozen sausage, pulled out a store bought crust, a jar of spagetti sauce, and shredded 3 different kinds of cheeses. I like to shred my own cheese because block cheese is cheaper and has more variety, also Cabot carries 3 types of cheddar cheese that are lactose free, so my Izzy can eat it without consequence.

I laid out 5 napkins each with the 3 types of cheese and some sausage. Everyone tried the cheeses and then decided which ones they would use on their slices. In a style unlike anything I have ever seen, each child took turns decorating their two slices, and no one fought or complained about who got to go first, next, or last. Seeing as Israel doesn't eat pizza, he had no problem going last.

The pizza cooked, they played, the pizza cooled, they played, the pizza was done, they ate.

We set up a big floor full of blankets, pillows and more blankets on the living room floor. There were 7 blankets, 5 pillows, and 5 zoobles. We read stories and then we watched Despicable Me. Which everyone loved. Although I think RJ and I laughed harder than any of the kids, and we have seen it 5 times!

We had one little disagreement, when Gwin said Ava hurt her feelings because she didn't want to lay next to her. But Ava quickly said she was sorry when we pointed it out, she still wouldn't let Gwin lay next to her, but she said she was sorry, and then once the popcorn was brought out Ava didn't care who sat next to her, so it was easily smoothed over.

And right as the credits were about to end the Linker Mama came and collected her little ones. As I said, the best someone else's date night ever.

I don't want to be a mommy because...

I spent part of today in the doctors office waiting to see our family doctor because of yet another ear infection. I always talk a little funny before it has been treated because the side of my face feels like it is swollen. I told the girls this morning I wasn't feeling well as I am sure they don't notice the subtile difference in the way I talk.

I let Izzy and Emma watch much more T.V. then usual. I also yelped in pain when eating. All of these things Gwiny missed while at school. But then, while sitting outside with friends, I hopped up off the ground to answer the call from the doctor. I then heard a pop and a sting of pain from my hip. Now I can't chew, I can't walk, and I sound funny when I talk. So after homework, I turned on Tangled and sat on the couch, something rather unusual for me.

While sitting there, Gwin turned to me and said. " I don't want to be a mommy because..." and in my mind I was thinking, 'cause mommy's are old with bad hips and have to work while sick?' but she finishes the sentence " I don't want to have to spend all of my money."

You don't want to have to spend all of your money. I find that as good of reason as the other. Especially from my little frugal mini-me. But it surprises me that a 6 year old would even think about something so few grown ups consider.

Not only has Gwiny proclaimed her 6 year old version of why she doesn't want to be a mom, a few moths ago, Izzy did the same same in her own 4 year old way. " What do you want to be when you grow up? " Izzy: " I want to be a superstar." Do you want to be a mommy like me too?" "No, I never want to be a mommy."

And I bet you first started reading you thought I was going to complain about why I didn't want to be a mommy. GOTCHA!

Learning a lesson

We woke up this morning. I packed a lunch, checked the weather, put 50 cents in Gwin's backpack for a popsicle. I found all three kids clothes in my giant pile of clean laundry. ( Izzy flooded the toilet last night and all the kids clothes and towels had to be washed, 3 loads!) I filled juice cups, found socks, tied shoes. Got everyone out the door, walked up the steps, Izzy fell and I had to take Emma up, then return to carry Izzy up. We got to the car. Put Emma in, Gwin got in, Izzy got in. Buckled Emma, go to buckle Izzy and she says " MOOOOM, I can do it my self."

I am trying to buckle a child in the car who wants nothing to do with my help, in the end she couldn't do it herself, but it did nothing to erase the comment that sent me into a flashback.

" Izzy!! Get out of my purse, you can not have any more gum" And as I turn around she grabs another piece. " Izzy, give me that gum, you have already snuck 3 pieces and you can not have any more." And then she shakes her head at me. So I proceed to slap the stick of gum out of her hand and march her out the door so we can go get milk and juice at Walmart. On the way to the car she starts yelling " I am not talking to you any more!" I told her "Thats fine." She says " I love you." " I love you too, Izzy." " But I am not talking to you." " Ok."

5 minutes later, " MOOOMMM, " Cue hysterical sobbing. " I am not a baby, you are always treating me like a baby!" Oh good grief. Are we really gonna do this now? " Why won't you let me go across the road by myself. I can run home and get it." "Gwiny, we are in the car, you are not getting out to run home and get a stuffed animal, when her dad said he would get it next time." " But I can do it, you are treating me like a baby and I am not a baby." " Gwiny, its not because I think you can't do it, but we are in the car leaving. It is fine."

45 minutes later, " Get in this cart. You two have lost your walking privileges. Running around this store like it is your personal playground. You are d.o.n.e."

And so is my flashback. Well at least it is Izzy upset at me, instead of me upset at them.

Kara's cell phone photo challenge

Maybe she didn't mean it literally, but whenever I hear the word challenge my mind always says, " Challenge Accepted." ( You How I Met Your Mother Fans will appreciate that one). I have been trying to figure out what to make my latest blog about and Kara's blog seemed to offer me a perfect solution. Random pictures from my cell phone. They are always on there, taking up my phone memory, but it is rare that I do anything with them.

So following the tried and true method. Here they are:

This my oldest picture. This is the week before RJ started his LL.M. in Vermont. They had this little hut by the river with the rocking chairs in it. I had to get the girls down there to take a picture. I just love how they look like tiny old ladies.

We recently won tickets to go to the FSU circus event. They had students performing circus tricks. The girls were so excited they got a blue snow cone. They found out 2 bites into it, they don't like snow cones. Imagine that, Mom says "If I buy that for you, you better eat that cause I hate ice and so do you."

You guys made me ink.

This is my most recent picture. While at a play date Emma fell asleep. After laying her in the kids bed and then walking away. I returned to find her wearing a spiderman hat. Too cute kids. Too cute.

I promise to one day figure out how to rotate these pictures.

Oh and just an update: Gwiny asked for a Unicorn boost yesterday!

Digging for Gold

Sometimes I do things I am not so proud of. Sometimes I do things that I am so proud of that I want to shout it out to anyone who can hear me. And some times I do things I am not proud of, but still want to tell people about. This one falls under the third of these categories.

This is going to be a story about my middle daughter, Izzy. Izzy is a very special little girl. She loves to sing and wear bathing suits even when she is not going swimming. She likes to color and watch t.v. She hates going to bed and listing to anything I tell her to do or not to do. This one, again, falls under the third of these categories.

Like I said, Izzy hates to listen, and the most difficult of all, neither punishment nor reward convinces her to do what she has been told to do. She either wants to do it, or she wont. She doesn't like to be spanked, but she gets them anyway, and then continues to misbehave. She likes to get a toy at the dollar store, but not more than she likes to do whatever she wants to do.

Izzy is the most loving of my children. She wants to hug and cuddle, give you kisses, and praise you for things. She is the most considerate of my feelings and the things I need from her. But.... She doesn't really care about her older sisters feelings or just the general rules of sanitation. ( You are starting to catch on now, huh?)

Izzy picks her nose. She picks in the store, she picks on the floor, she picks in the car, she picks near and far. She wipes it on the seat, she wipes it on her sisters feet, she wipes it on the floor, she wipes it on the door. We have insisted she use a tissue when she picks her nose. We have tried supplying tissues at every location in the house, spanking her, praising her, sticking her in her room, telling her she is going to make her nose bleed, etc. Nothing has worked. She wants to pick her nose and put it on things.

Last night she picked her nose and wiped it on her sister's blankie. And thats when I did it. I sat her in her bed, put my finger in my nose, then wiped it on her. She looked at me with a disgusted look on her face and I told her. " Now you understand why you need to use a tissue. This is gross."

It has been less than 24 hours but I haven't seen her finger in her nose.

"Why aren't you wearing a bra?"

As a mom of 3 I have virtually no privacy. I go to the bathroom, someone walks in. I take a shower, Emma screams at the curtain until she gets to come in. I lock the door, someone bangs on it until I open it up.

I also get very little sleep. Izzy wakes up about 4 times a night and every time she wakes me up. Gwiny wakes up 2 times a night and every time she wakes me up. Emma. Well she is my only good sleeper. Averaging 1 wake up a month. Last night was the best I have gotten in a long time 3 times being woken up in a 7 hour period. The worst 9 times in 7 hours, that was last Saturday.

Sometimes the two of these things couple up and get the best of me. Resulting in a very grumpy mama. Here is how one of my talks with Izzy went last night:

I had just stepped out of the shower that at one point all three of the girls had been in the bathroom. Here comes Izzy again " Why arn't you wearing a bra? Me: " Cause I just got out of the shower, why aren't you wearing one?" Izzy : " Cause I don't have big boobs, I have little ones."

And thats how it goes with three daughters.

My last couple posts have been mostly about me. But this blog is not supposed to be mostly about me, it is supposed to be about my girls and my relationships with each of them. So today I am going to show you how many crazy things we do and say. So here is a little sample:

Izzy has been unbuckling her seat belt and today I decided she needed to be spanked. So we re-buckled and I told her she would be spanked when she got home. She worried and worried all the way home. When we got home and I took her out of her seat Gwin says to her " Just pretend you're at the beach and you just got a little bug that stings your butt." I had to hide my smile because I thought it was so sweet.

"Izzy, stop wiping your boogers on your car seat. Here is a tissue."

Izzy after eating a whole king size m&m in one sitting. ( I tried to take it away but couldn't reach because she was in the back of the car) " My tummy hurts. You shouldn't have gotten me the King size. I need a Princess size."

Emma: " Mama, Mama, Mama, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mama, Mama, Mama. Puppy"

Me: " Don't cry Gwiny. He doesn't mean to hurt your feelings. You hurt his and maybe you should say sorry." ( as a side note, it never helps to tell a little girl with hurt feelings that they may have done the same. It just makes them cry more.)

Husband: " Izzy just asked me why boys and girls are different. I told her to ask you." Thankfully she forgot. I guess I better practice my answer for when she remembers.

Gwin crying: " I don't want to wash my hair." Me: " I don't care, get your stinky butt in the shower."

Emma: "Mama, Mama, Mama. Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, woof, woof, woof, puppy, puppy. Meow"

Me: "Emma, I know I wanted you to say mama, but can you give it a rest."

Recharged

When I last left off, 2 months ago, I was on a quest to find myself. I am proud to tell you I have both failed and succeeded at this task. I wouldn't call it a disaster of epic proportions, but a disaster none the less.

I started by deciding to become a cake designer. I made a couple cool cakes, but I am no Buddy.

I tried my hand at vacation planning. I scored four, 4 day tickets to Disney World and 3 nights in a hotel off property that provided breakfast for a total of $820.

I tried extreme-couponing. I bought Tangled 4 disc combo pack for a little over $6, bought a pair of jeans for $1.24, saved over $90 on my grocery bill, and even found a coupon on my recipt at Disney and saved 10% on our entire souvener purchase.

I tried laying in my bathtub drinking apple wine.

That is until I was interupted by x, y, or z.

And after all of these attempts at finding what was right for me. I realized that I am good at all of these things. Good, not great. And in the end I realized that all of these things have something in common, they are things that make for a good mother and a good wife.

And because I don't like to be that sappy, I would just like to end with one of my recent Izzy quotes. " I can't eat my dinner tonight." Me: "why?" Izzy: "Because I don't have any teeth." My husband " Really, your gonna go with no teeth?" Izzy curling her lips around her teeth. " Yep, I don't have any teeth so I can't eat this food I don't like."

Finding myself

I became a mother at 21. My life in B.D. (Before daughters) consisted mostly of reading. Reading Nancy Drew, Harry Potter, school books, anything really. I loved to read and I lived my life entirely surrounded by my books and my friends that were as secluded from the knowledge of the real world as I. I never really made an attempt to try new things because I knew what I was good at, school.

I graduated from college with a B.A. in History at 19, got married at 20, and had my first daughter at 21, I had my second at 23, and my third at 26. I thought I knew what I was good at being a mom. Until recently.

I have started a new journey of self discovery. I am now going to attempt a new project every week, until I find something I feel is my 'thing'. I have realized that there has to be something that is mine. School is not my 'thing' it is just one thing that I am good at. Being a mom is not my 'thing', it is something that I give to my girls all day and all night.

So watch out for my newest adventures.

The Girliest Weekend Ever

When I say The Girliest Weekend Ever I wish it was more like mani-pedis and romantic comedies. However, the reality of my weekend was more a mix of super charged emotions and a fantasy sequence where I lived in a world where my bathtub didn't have a bucket of poopy cloth diapers in it, but bubbles that smelled like strawberry ice cream.

First of all, I must appologize for any spelling errors that you may find in this blog entry. I am terrible at spelling and my wonderful Macbook spell checks for me as I go. Tonight, I am using my husbands work PC while he is playing a video game on my perfect little Mac. It's not worth the fight.

My weekend started with a desperate trip to the mall. Desperate in the fact that I had to get out of my house. My daughters had been sick all week and woke up Saturday morning feeling better. So I siezed my opportunity and yanked everyone out of the house. So with my husband, a walking daughter, and two daughters strapped into a double stroller that I roughly equate to a mini-bus, we walked into a crowded mall. We split up almost immediately, RJ and Gwin to the game store, and the mini-bus and I to Bath and Body Works. Upon entering, I had a wonderful employee come up to me and say " Would you like a hand massage with one of our new fragrances? As a young mother I am sure you need one." I responded with a big "Yes, thank you." But my thank you was more a " Thank you for calling me a young mother!" Not long after I realized it wasn't as big of a complement as I thought it was. I am a young mother.

We got home, I baked some bread, we took the girls outside to play, I put on makeup, and I went to one of my best friend's baby shower. In true Tiffany style, I arrived 5 minutes before the guest of honor was to arrive and flipped out over how late I was. I then ran up three flights of stairs to find out that I was in the wrong entryway, I ran down 3 flights of stairs, over to the next entry way and then back up 3 flights of stairs carrying a gift and a corningware bowl full of bread. I then felt bad about how out of shape I was cause I was huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf trying to blow the brick house down.
Lucky for me, we had a wonderful time. Kara was showered with lots of super cute cloth diapers and we played a ton of fun games. I was blown away during the game where we named all the baby animals we could think of. I never even contemplated the fact that there are eel babies, let alone that there is a special name for them. The things you learn at baby showers, who knew.

Today, Sunday, I woke up to clean up my bread mess, proof read an essay, talk on the phone with another one of my best friends, take my kids out to play with some other kids, went to Sams club to buy turkey, and then it started. I took the girls out to play again. Emma had a poopy diaper, Izzy knocked my soda over, Gwiny sat on the bench. I told them if they wern't going to play we were going home. They both sat down. Izzy told me her leg hurt then ran all the way home. Once home Gwiny told me she was going to make me dinner tonight because I always make her dinner. It was the sweetest thing. But then she asked me to open the hot dogs, she put them on a plate, then asked me to put the hot dogs in the microwave, then remove them. It was the thought that counts. After dinner Gwiny cried for an hour and a half because she doesn't want to go to school tomorrow. Izzy cried cause she couldn't get her panties on (she stuck both legs in one hole). And Emma cried because I wouldn't hold her when I was getting her sisters out of the bath tub. Currently Gwin is crying because I told her I won't pull her tooth out yet. Oh, to be the mother of three daughters.

Death by sleeplessness

11:53 p.m. I just yelled at my middle daughter to shut her lips. I should feel bad about it seeing as this is the meanest thing I have ever said to any of my children. I feel like a red ball of firey anger has taken over and soon I will be able to shoot lasers out of my eyes with just an evil mom-like stare. If only these lasers could be sleep rays I could happily rule my stubborn middle daughter with an iron fist. lets take a little flash back to Friday night.

1:00 a.m. After watching a semi-uninterrupted movie with my husband we finally get to bed. We get very little alone time and wanted to watch a movie with 'bad' words in it, thus the super late night.
2:00 a.m. Izzy yells for me.
2:20 a.m back to sleep.
3:00 a.m neighbors wake me up yelling at each other.
3:20 a.m. Back to sleep
3:49 a.m. Izzy yells for me.
5:00 a.m. Back to sleep. But now I am on the couch.
7:15 a.m sneak off to my bed.
7:30 a.m All 3 kids wake up for the day so I'm up.

Saturday night..

10:30 p.m. Go to bed.
11:30 p.m Izzy yells for me.
11:40 p.m back to bed.
Do this 3 more times.
3:00 a.m. Emma wakes up.
4:00 a.m Put Emma back to bed, Izzy awakes.
4:10 back to bed.
7:15 a.m. Wake to Gwin whispering to Izzy " Let mama sleep."
7:16 a.m. Smile and think about how much I love my kids.
7:30 a.m. Emma wakes and so do I.

Tonight...

9:10 p.m. Gwin falls asleep
10:50 p.m. Emma falls asleep.
Izzy won't sleep.
11:10 p.m. Izzy falls asleep in my bed.
11:15 p.m. Husband carries her out.
11:17 p.m. Izzy is crying so loud about not being able to go to sleep that she wakes up Emma.
11:20 p.m. Emma falls asleep. Then starts to cry so loud that she wakes up Gwin.
11:21 p.m. I yank Izzy out of my bed, into which she has climbed while the other two awoke. I said " If I don't get to sleep in my bed you sure don't."
11:22 p.m. Izzy says " I can't sleep.". I say " Shut your lips. I don't care if you sleep or not but you are going to be quiet."
12:27 a.m. I feel just a tinny bit bad for what I said. All children are now asleep. But I still wish I had sleep lasers that shot out of my eyes.

A new day a new cut

This week has been a particularly trying week. As much as I love my children, they are driving me bonkers. The baby keeps biting me, the middle one is talking back, and my oldest is refusing to go to sleep at night. Just as soon as they calm down it seems as though something gets me. In the last 4 days I have....

Given myself a paper cut in the face with an envelope.

Paid for some 8x10 photos at Walmart that were left at the checkout and spent 20 min. on hold before hanging up because no one came back to answer my question.

Cut my finger in the car looking for spare change to give Gwin for a school fundraiser. Cleaned my whole house sans my bathroom.

Had to console Izzy after she got her arm shut in our bathroom door.

Had to jam a weeks worth of homework into 3 days.

Had to break up a fight when Izzy spit in a little girl's face and then the girl pushed her. Consoled my husband when he found out that his degree, the one we moved across country in order for him to attain, is now an on-line program.

Been bitten probably 20 times by a teething baby.

Received my new detergent that was supposed to smell like oranges and vanilla. It smells like sunscreen. Stinky sunscreen.

Found out Emma has a high white blood cell count and has to have blood tests every month. In the last 7 days I have...

Spent quality time with my in-laws. Found an awesome store called Cotton on, and bought myself pajama jeans. Oh yeah. Played in some synthetic snow with the girls. Been given a super cool owl ring. (Thanks sis) Gotten Emma's 1 year pictures taken by the best photographer in Tallahassee. (Thanks Kara) Met some pretty cool new people. Walked into the living room to find my husband hooded by a twilight blanket and being beaten by all three of our girls. Had a singing and dancing party with the girls.

week 1

Try not to be too scared of the arm in the bucket.

Disaster 1 - As previously stated, I hate poop. Emma, 10months, decided to break in her cute little gdiapers with a serious of epic poopplosions ( a combo of poop and explosion). I had to learn to clean poopy cloth diapers fast.

Disaster 2- Gwin, 6, decided she hated school her first week back from Christmas and cried and screamed her way out the door every day. It was so hard to just leave her crying in the classroom. I had to toughen up, I pulled her arms away, told her I loved her and left.

Disaster 3- Look at this.

I had so much laundry that my basket collapsed! It is all clean, that counts for something right?

Disaster 5 - Izzy, 3, has decided that she wants to go to Disney world. She told her Papa (what she calls her dad) " I want to go to Disney world, cause it's the place where all my dreams can come true." It melted his heart, now he wants to take her. I think she has just seen too many commercials. Now I am charged with the task of finding reasonably priced tickets to Disney World for 1 day. Ha!

Disaster 6 - We found the most delicious cake on the planet. Thats not going to help our 'eat healthy' plan. Does it make it healthy if it comes from an organic grocery store? Yes daughters, it does.

The most wonderful thing happened to me this week though. My wonderful friend Kara and her husband watched all three of our kids, so that my husband and I could go on a date. She even watched Emma while she was poopploding out of her new diapers.

Oh and Izzy asked me for a unicorn boost into the car. I didn't know what that was so I picked her up and poked her and said it was the unicorn horn. She said she never wants a unicorn boost again.

Gdiapers

Well, I am fruuugallll. As far as you can stretch the word, I try to stretch my money. I mean I hate spending money. I get some sort of weird high from saving money. I assume I got it from my dad, but I remember my favorite part of going grocery shopping was a kid was watching how much money came off the total after the cashier took our coupons. That being said, I don't buy something on sale just because I can get it cheep, like those extreme coupon people I saw on TV.

So my best friend in town exclusively cloth diapers. My husband is an environmentalist and my mother in law exclusively cloth diapered. So with Gwin, my oldest, I was pushed hard to cloth diaper. I didn't. I have always been opposed to cloth diapering for myself. I don't like poop. I don't really like the diapering process at all. In fact, I started potty training my older girls at 20 months so I could get them out of diapers faster. So in 10 months, look out for a potty training post.

Well, I have caved. I have given in to something that people are no longer pushing me to do. In fact, it was my idea. ( Is that a sign of being stubborn?) I have been eyeing the gdiapers for months. I love that they are cute, have an option for cloth, and an option for disposable. I thought, these are for me. So with a sale on the diapers and a 30 percent back incentive I bought 6 little gpants, 120 biodegradable refills, and 12 cloth inserts. I spent $160 if you don't count the incentive. This roughly equates to 4 months of disposables. So I figure, try it for 4 months, if I love it, then I have saved a ton of money by keeping her in the gpants for the remainder of my diapering career. If not, when my time is up I will go back to disposables.

Day 1 - Consisted entirely of washing the cloth inserts. They recommend that you wash and dry them 6 times prior to the first wear for maximum absorbency. I made it to 4 and then gave up.

Day 2 (today)- With my only 4 times pre-washed diapers, I slapped them on the baby butt with ease. It was so simple to snap in the plastic liner then tuck in the insert. Then velcro to the baby. Well done Gdiapers and me for not failing at this simple task. Then I decided to do a test to see how long the diapers would hold. I made it 4 hours then she pooped. I undid the diaper wiggled the poo into the toilet and that was that. New diaper, same test. At 4.5 hours she leaked out the sides. I think I can do this!

Welcome to my world

Well, I am no expert on parenting girls, but I do have three daughters. Right now, I am only coming to terms with the disasters that await me. My girls are 6, 3, and 10 months. I feel as though we have some sort of major disaster every day. I am sure this is no different than those with boys, but usually our disasters are emotionally charged. So I figure I will set up a blog. I have never done this before, so it may get rocky at times, but I will find my way. Hopefully I will bring insight and wisdom to what it is like raising 3 girls. Most likely, my readers will say, "Wow, I am never going to do that." and I think that is great too. The biggest reason I am doing this is because I was posting another facebook status about something absurd my middle daughter, Izzy, did and I thought " Why am I boring these people about what my kids say. They are probably all thinking about what a pathetic person I am. Why am I subjecting them to this." and then I pushed the send button. So now, if you are reading this, it is not because it was pushed in your face by the status update on your facebook.