FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL...

Well, it has finally come - Hailey started school this week. Sonny and I went to her school on Tuesday evening for orientation while Patrick stayed home with all five kids (thankfully three were sleeping). We were able to meet her teacher and see her classroom. On Wednesday, Hailey and I went for a one-on-one for 15 minutes. She was able to bring all of her school supplies that day and put them all in her cubby. As we were leaving, I stopped to talk to a friend, until Hailey informed me that we were not there to chit chat (guess she boss already).


The night before school, we had a big ordeal trying to pick out her clothes - I am sure that is the first of many to come. On Thursday, she had her first day and we ALL walked her to the door (I think we might have embarrassed her too). Here are a few pictures.

WAY TO LONG...

It has been so long since I have updated this that I don't even know where to begin. Our summer has been fun, gone by quickly and has been very busy. The kids have loved playing outside with our neighbors. They have spent most of their time "exploring" and "frog hunting". I have a few pictures of them in our woods and some of the frogs they have collected.

Just last summer, Hailey would cry if any bug came too near. Now she is chasing frogs, grass hoppers and anything else she can get. When I ask her why she likes bugs now, she tells me it is because she is in Illinois. She just didn't like California bugs. Gotta love her logic.

Now Hannah is our one who doesn't like bugs. She screams if a fly even comes near her, however she always wants to play outside with the big kids. She tries so hard to keep up, but just can't yet.

What a face!!!

OUR NEW ARTIST!!!

As any parent knows, the worst noise of all is no noise. No noise always means someone is up to no good. So two days ago when I was making dinner and Hannah was extremely quiet, that should have been a red flag - however, I chose to enjoy the few minuets of quiet. Big big big mistake. I soon found out that she found a crayon and colored a huge mural on our wall and carpet!!! Needless to say she went straight to bed (although I don't think she thought she did anything wrong)

After trying three different cleaners, I finally had to Google "crayon removal". Come to find out, WD40 works perfectly. I think my wall may be cleaner now that before. My carpet is different story. My attempt to clean the crayon only smeared it. Hopefully our cleaning lady will be able to take care of that for us.

Hope you all enjoy your July 4th. We have two different bbq's we are going to. Should be a fun day.

TGIF!!!

Friday is here and I coudn't be happier. This week has been so busy and yet I feel as though nothing has been accomplished. Lots of little projects (both for work and around the house) have been started and then left undone, but I guess I should be use to that by now.

I finally received my labtop from work last week, which is both good and bad. I now have access to all of my reports that people have been referring to, but I also had 7 test waiting for me to take. As of 8:oopm last night I am happy to say that all 7 are taken - I will find out later if I past them all. I went out on my first sales call this week with a co-worker and we (basically just she) closed 2 deals - my boss was very excited and happy for me. I officially have $25,000 in sales - only $5,975,000 to go - shouldn't be to hard, right???

The kids have been in rare form this week. Samantha has cut her first two teeth and the third one should come through any day. I have been attempting to feed them both cereal everynight. Alexis loves it - even though she likes to spit after every bite. Samantha pinches her lips together so I can't feed her. Hopefully this will change soon. Alexis has also learned how to screech and will do it anytime she is not getting attention - which in a house with five kids is pretty often.

Hannah is definatly in the middle of her terrible 2's. I sent her to her room yesterday after she had her 4 fit of the afternoon. While in there, she decided to go into her bathroom and squeeze toothpaste ALL over herself and the walls. Later that evening, while I was nursing Alexis, Hannah climbed into my bathtub and turned on the water. She was splashing it all over herself and window. She is lucky she is so cute and lovable :)

We have a very exciting weekend ahead. We are having our neighbors over for dinner AFTER all of the kids are in bed. Hopefully it will be nice and relaxing. Then, we have family coming into town on Saturday. My cousin hasn't seen Hailey and Brody in 3 1/2 yrs and hasn't meet the youngest three. She has no kids, so it should be interested to see what she thinks of our crazy yet fun house.

Hope you all enjoy your weekend.

TOO CUTE FOR WORDS

We finally took pictures!!! We did Brody's 4th b-day, Hannah's 2nd b-day and the twins 6mth pictures all at one and since four out of the five were all dressed up, we had Hailey jump in a few pictures so we could get a new family picture. It was extremely crazy at the studio. Thank goodness we were the only one there and we could spend as much time as we needed. I think they turned out great. Let me know what you think...

Our new neighbors moved in last week. They live right next to us and they have five kids ages 3, 5, 7 and 9. The 5 yr old is a girl and the other three are boys. My kids are enjoying having playmates live so close (so in Sonny). While I was working yesterday morning, Sonny had our oldest three start a water fight with them. They all loved it and came in the house soaking yet!!! I wonder what new adventures await us.

WE NEED AN ALICE!!!

Everyone remembers Alice from The Brady Bunch, right? We need her at our house!!! We need someone who can keep our house spotless, keep laundry clean AND put away, have dinner on the table every night and NEVER looses her patience with the kids!!! Any volunteers?

It is almost noon and I have spent the entire morning cleaning when I should have been working and yet you cannot tell any difference in the house. Hannah the Hurricane follows me and destroys everything I have just cleaned. I finished cleaning the glass on the fire place and she put her adorable yet sticky little hands all over it. I put her laundry away and she pulls it all out of her drawers. And that is in addition to the mess the other four kids are making. How did Alice do it? Any helpful comments would be appreciated.

I will soon be putting the oldest three kids down for rest time and the twins are still sleeping, so maybe I will be able to accomplish some things while everyone is in bed. Now for the big questions: Should I be a good employee and try to work, or should I finish all the house work I have started???

Only time will tell - I may just lay down myself for a while. I think I deserve it since I was out of the house by 5:30am to go to Walmart and Krogers!!!

Good luck to all you other moms out there going through this same struggle!!!

WHERE DOES THE TIME GO???

So, obviously I am not very good at updating this site yet - hopefully I will slowly get better. The past few weeks have been VERY busy for us. We had Brody and Hannah's b-day party with all their friends - which means we had over 20 kids under the age of 5 here. It was crazy but fun. Our plan was to let all the kids play outside with water balloons, but the weather was not cooperating - it was rainy and cloudy. So instead, the dads who were here decided to play dodge ball. Needless to say, the kids loved it.

I started work last Monday and it is taking me quiet awhile to get my mind in the game. I find myself cleaning the house and do laundry during my conference calls instead of listening and learning like I should be. Hopefully I can learn to be a more dedicated employee soon.

We spent this past weekend in Chicago celebrating our cousin Christopher's 8th grade graduation and my 29th birthday. We had such a great time!!! We went to Lincoln Park Zoo on Friday and the kids loved looking at the animals. Hannah enjoyed the monkey and Hailey enjoyed the snakes - Brody just liked it all. On Saturday we went down to Navy Pier and the beach. The kids loved playing in the sand so much that we had to go back again on Sunday before our drive home.

Now we are back home for a while and trying to start our summer routine - Wish us luck!!!

Hope you enjoy these new pictures...

Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Yesterday was a pretty rough day at our house. We dropped Mary, Sonny's mom, off at the airport in the morning. All of us were sad to see her go. She is planning on coming back out for Thanksgiving, but we would love to see her before then. I don't think there is much chance of us going out to CA to visit here any time soon though - I don't think all seven of us would make it through the flight alive.

In the afternoon, Hailey and Hannah had check ups at the doctor. Hailey had to get a physical for school and Hannah had her 2 year appt. Poor girls, they both had to get shots. Hailey had four - two in each arm and Hannah had three in her legs. Hailey was very brave during her shots, but then she started crying when Hannah had hers. Hannah screamed so loud the entire office could hear her!!! Everyone seems to be doing much better today.

We finally had to turn our air conditioner on!!! I expected to make it much later into the summer since we are all use to Southern CA heat, but the humidity is just to much to take. Even the kids were complaining about it. Can't wait to get our first bill for that :(

I will give it an honest attempt!!!

So, I have been enjoying our friends blog, and have made the decision to attempt to keep one of our own - HOWEVER - I do not promise anything!!! Things at this house are always crazy and who knows how this will go. Just hope for the best.

New info - for those of you who don't know, Sonny has bought a house here in Washington and is in the process of remodeling it and we are hoping it will be on the market within the next month. He is working on it with my Aunt Terry and Uncle Andy. They took the upstairs down to the studs and have restructured where the rooms are. There were previously four bedrooms and a 1/2 bath upstairs. There will now be 2 smaller bedrooms, 1 master bedroom and 1 full bath. Plus they are redoing the entire kitchen. Here's hoping for a large profit!!!

As of June 4th, I will once again be employed. After not working since Sept of '06, I am not sure how I feel about it. I am completely excited, scared and nervous all at once!!! I will be working for American Express selling their corp. card to local businesses. My territory will go from Peoria down to St. Louis but I will be working out of my house most of the time. Now we just need to find the right person to watch all the kids - any volunteers?

Hope you all enjoy this blog. Let me know what you think!!!