Playing with the kids...

Dear God, It's Me Jodi....

Tonight I was in the organizing mood. I started in the office and began putting pictures in the kids photo albums (which have needed done for well over two years). It didn't take long for the kids to catch on to what I was doing and soon all five were in the office, sitting on the floor with me.

They each grabbed an album and starting oohing and aaahing over their baby pictures, except Marea. She jumped from each of the other girls' books but never said anything about looking at her own (which was laying on the floor right next to her). Finally as I was putting away our family albums she asked if she could look at hers. I told her it was right on the floor. She leafed through it, asking questions but seemed rather uninterested. Megan finished her first album and got up to get another one. Marea watched her and turned to me and said, "Do I have another one too?" I showed her where her other album is. This album is pictures of Marea before we adopted her and before she came to live with us. She has seen this album before but it has been a good two years or so since we have looked at it. Of course had a gazillion questions as she tried to piece together the story of her life. Soon she was rolling on the floor in fits of giggles and then she would be dead serious as she analyzed her pictures. She got to the page where the album goes from "before adoption" to "after adoption". She looked at that page and looked at me and said, "Now I am dead." And she shut the book.

I replied, "No you are not dead." She said, "I mean I am not in that part of the book anymore." I agreed with her and explained that that was her life as a baby with another family. Now she was a big girl living with us. She then decided she wants to be a baby again. I told her that is not possible. And trying the gross factor, I told her babies wear diapers, and they can't talk or walk or eat real food. She still wanted to be a baby. Then she opened the book again and looked at her 1st birthday pictures. She wanted to know where the shirt was someone had given her. I just said, "I can't keep all those clothes. We would have a pile as big as our house." She wanted to know why I couldn't keep even one. Instead of opting to explain again that I wasn't with her then (which seemed somewhat upsetting to her) I found a page with her sitting on a blanket that I HAD kept, Thank goodness! I told her I still have that blanket though. She said, "Can I have it?" So tonight as I tucked her into bed, she snuggled with her baby blanket.

I cannot even begin to explain to you how significant this seemingly small event was for an adopted child with RAD. Much of the therapy centers around treating these children as infants to help them learn that bonding, loving feel they should have experienced as a baby. Hopefully Marea will take this event and use it to grow and change for the better and not crash and burn. Cross your fingers!

This ones for you DAD...

Meg's reaction to your gift!

Is your fridge ready for some artwork???? :)

Christmas over.... booo hoooo!

We had a wonderful holiday here at the OC's household. The kids woke at 6 a.m. and scrambled downstairs. The night before we told them when they get up they were allowed to get into their stockings but NOTHING else so we could sleep until a reasonable hour like 7 or 8. It was a grand idea until we heard little feet scrambling down the stairs. Billy and I both popped out of bed and ran after them.

Mr. Bill gave us a little scare on Christmas Eve morning by puking up his breakfast. I thought we were in for the flu but an hour later he ate three bowls of cereal and a banana. He never puked again. Thank goodness eh!

Can you guess what I got for Christmas? I will give you a hint:

And now my husband is off on a business trip until Thursday so it is just me and the kids and a houseful of toys. Fun!

She's 10!

Happy Birthday to my first baby girl! She is 10 today.

She was actually due on January 14th but decided to be early. We sat up all night on Christmas night playing the new super nintendo games we had given each other. I finally gave up and went to bed at 4:30 a.m. Shortly after laying down I realized I had to pee. I got up and as I did felt a slight gush. I looked at the bed and there was a wet spot about the size of a fist. Thinking it was leaking urine, which all of my pregnancy books assured me could happen during the final weeks of pregnancy, I finished my trip to the bathroom and then went to bed. Billy finally crawled into bed at 6:30 a.m. At 11:30 a.m. my SIL came over and knocked on the door, thus waking us both. I got up to use the bathroom again (the joys of pregnancy). During that trip I noticed blood and called the hospital. They told me to come in and they would check me. Upon arrival at 1:00 p.m. (I had to shower ya know!) the nurse discovered my water had a slight leak (the spot on the bed) and I was already 3 cm and having contractions every three minutes. She said I was staying! Oy! I hadn't brought a single thing with me!

After what I consider a fairly easy (but extremely painful) labor, Rebecca JoAnne was born at 8:41 p.m. She was the most beautiful and content little girl. I remember holding her and just gazing into her eyes. At that moment I knew my life would never again be the same.

Now I stare at a tall (she comes to my chin now!) 10 year old with a big heart and a loving smile. She is such an awesome kid. Tonight as I tucked her into bed she thanked me for all she had gotten for her birthday and for her party. We did good!

It's Friday!

Yahooo! I am so happy it is Friday and almost Christmas.

Today I got the best gift in the world from my husband. I left the house at 10 a.m. and went shopping and got my hair cut and just RELAXED!

I needed that!

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On a side note, I probably won't be back until after Christmas unless I get bored of watching my kids play with their new toys so I will say...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

See you on the flip side!

Just me...

I debated about putting this on my blog because there are some people who read my blog that don't really need to hear this, but there are several others whose opinions I value and so I give this up to you, oh internet, to either rip me apart or hold me up, your choice....

A letter to my husband:
When our kids are teenagers, what will I have left? Five unappreciative kids and a husband with the same affliction. Right now I am hanging on to our son and his unadulterated love for me. But that will not last much longer and then I will be left feeling like a hollow shell, and empty person with no direction or support.

How do we rekindle that flame? How do we find a relationship for ourselves again? I feel like we are careening down a path that will lead to nothing but I don't know how to stop it. I fear if ever another man would make me feel valued, special, important, that I would run into his arms and savor those lost feelings. I want that with you. My heart aches when I think of you. I love you with every cell in my body and the emotions run strong. I want to feel loved, appreciated, valued, and important to you. I want you to tell me how much you love me, want me, and need me. I want you to show your love. I want to spend time with you alone where we can talk and make that flame grow and blossom. I want you to be my lover and my best friend so when we get to the other side of parenthood, we have common ground. I want to emerge victorious and feeling on top of the world.

Did you really think I wouldn't comment?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/eo/20051221/en_celeb_eo/18016

Someday in another life......I can marry him right? ;)

He's free! He's free! Oh la la... He's free!

I am soooo excited!

I love Christmas! I love watching my kids excitement when they open their presents and get exactly what they had been wishing for. I can't WAIT!!!!!

Last night my husband went shopping....for me! I have presents locked in his trunk, just sitting there, waiting for me, to come and get them! I MUST RESIST!


Someone duct tape me to this chair until Saturday night would ya!?

I survived!

The sleepover went okay. We had some fighting, some bickering, a sick kid who went home early and a few other normal kid activities but all in all I think they all had fun.

We also had 15 calls for the kittens. Three left on Saturday and I have two on hold for pick-up right before Christmas. I have one gal who left a message that I need to call back today and if she wants the last kitten then we will have successfully found homes for all 6 of them! I can't believe it. Becca cried and cried on Saturday after the sleepover because her favorite kitty was one of the first to go. I wanted to cry with her because I will miss them and I worry about whether or not they went to a good home.

We trekked to my SIL's for the weekend after the sleepover and had our mini Christmas. We exchanged gifts with each other and talked and ate. It was a grand time. We had to be home early on Sunday though as no one had done homework on Friday. We stopped and did a little shopping on the way home but still got home in time to frost cookies and get homework done.

Today I am cleaning up the disaster of from the weekend. I already have swept and mopped all the floors and vacuumed the living room. I need to get to the laundry next. Hi Ho, Hi hooo.....

Yikes!

We are about to step into the realm of girl sleepover parties. Tonight after school approximately 6 extra girls between the ages of 6 and 10 will be entering my house for a night of sleep-over fun.

I wish I could be as excited as my girls are. Something about sleepovers make my stomach churn, whether I am hosting them or the kids are going to them. I have to clench my teeth and agree to let them come or go, whichever the case may be. It isn't that I don't like having the kids over, or that I don't trust my girls, or that it is too much work. I just can't put my finger on why these sleepovers get me so stressed.

When I was a kid I hated going on sleepovers. I don't remember if something traumatic happened at one to set off this hatred but I remember one incident when my mom had to leave to go somewhere and we were staying the night at some friend's house. I knew these people extremely well, they lived with us for over a year when I was 8. But for some reason I did not want to sleep over that night and I cried and cried and cried and begged my mom not to leave me. I know she tried to comfort me and reason with me but beyond that I don't remember how that ended.

So, fear or no fear, there will be 11+ children running around my house in about 3 hours. Say a prayer for me....

I told you it was cold...

When it's Christmas in South Dakota,
And the gentle breezes blow,
About seventy miles an hour
And its fifty-two below,
You can tell you're in South Dakota
'Cause the snow's up to your butt.
You take a breath of Christmas air
And your nostrils both freeze shut.
The weather here is wonderful,
So I guess I'll hang around,
I could never leave South Dakota,
My feet are frozen to the ground!

----Unknown

Sometimes it pays to yell....

Yesterday I received a speaker sound bar I had ordered from a "shall-remain-nameless" computer company. When I had placed my order online I could find no specifications for which monitors the speaker worked on other than it had to be a flat panel monitor. Well my monitor is most definintely a flat panel so I ordered the speaker.

When it arrived, I attached it to the back per the instructions. Then it said to plug one cord into the montior near where the monitor power cord plugged in. Well here is the first problem, THERE IS NO HOLE! Nope, not a single hole to plug the cord into. After much confusion on my part I called the "shall-remain-nameless" company and immediately got connected to a foreign gentleman. Not that foreign is a bad thing, it just takes me a few extra seconds to process each statement he said before I knew what he had just said. So after being on hold with him for over an hour while he looked up this... and looked up that.... he tells me there is an adapter for this speaker that I needed to purchase. Okay fine. So he connects me to the sales department after giving me the part number to give to them.

The sales guy comes on the phone and informs me that the part number is not valid and he goes in search of the part I am trying to order. Another half an hour on hold. He finally comes back and informs me the particular speaker I ordered does not have an adapter but he found a speaker that does and would I like to order that one. Well sure. After we complete the ordering process I say, "Now what do I do with the one I have?" He says I can return it but I need to talk to someone in "Customer Care". He would be happy to transfer me. He also tells me that I need to be sure to let them know how annoyed I am and make sure to point out how long I had been on the phone. I felt like he was hinting to me that in order to get the part returned and get what I deserved I needed to throw a fit. In my head I am thinking, "Oh no, these people would not be like that."

So the sales guy transfers me to "Customer Care". After explaining what I have just been through, the guy informs me I have been transfered to the wrong department. He will transfer me now. He transfers me back to the main menu of options that is 35 button-presses away from speaking with a human. I cuss and press 1, then *, then 25, then enter the 7 digit extension, then type fu*k you just for the fun of it. I finally reach another human, who over the course of the next half an hour transfers me or hangs up on me several times.

Finally I get Katherine on the phone. She is in the right department and would be happy to help me get my return. She pauses while she types stuff into her computer. "Alrightly she says. I have issued a return for you. We need you to take the speaker to the nearest UPS office and pay to have it shipped back to us." Okay, now see, before I got hung up on, disconnected, and transfered to the wrong department 14 times, this might have been okay. But after the last 45 mintues I WAS IRRITATED and had no problem playing the role the sales guy suggested. I told her it was insane for me to drive 30 mintues to the nearest store and PAY to return a part that was obviously incorrect for my monitor. I got the whole, "We are sorry but..." routine from Katherine. I gritted my teeth and said, "I am soooo irritated!" She immediately put me on hold and ran off to "talk to her manager." (I think they go have a cup of coffee.) She comes back and tells me she has made it so that they will refund my money and I get to keep the speaker I already have. Well fine.

But now I am left wondering what I do with the perfectly-good-brand-new speaker that is not compatible with my monitor? Ebay anyone?

Fairy Tales

Once upon a time there was a little boy. The little boy was 3 years old but even so he still had a pacifier. His mom and dad didn't mind too much and so kept giving it to him. The little boy had several kittens living in his home. They didn't notice the pacifiers until one day the little boy left one on the floor.

One kitten picked it up in his mouth and carried it around, dropping it and batting it like a toy. The other kittens thought this looked fun so they joined in too. Eventually the kittens were tired and so they lay down to take a short cat nap. One kitten kept guard over the pacifier while the others slept. While he was watching the pacifier he got bored and began to chew on it. Soon he found he had chewed through the whole thing and the nipple was no longer attached. The little boy walked into the room and saw what the kitten had done to his beloved pacifier.

He screamed, he cried, and he moaned for what was his last pacifier. His mommy tried to comfort him and his daddy did too but nothing would make the little boy stop crying. Finally the little boys older sister pipes up and says, "They sell them at Walmart. We can always go buy another one." The little boy stopped crying and rubbed his eyes. "Walmart?" he said. His sister nodded. The little boy jumped up and put on his coat. His mommy asked him where he was going. He replied, "To Walmart silly!" Fearing for the worst if they didn't go along, the mommy and daddy got on their coats and ordered their other children to do the same. "And hurry!" yelled the mommy.

Finally everyone arrived at Walmart and were safely crusing the baby aisles in search of the beloved replacement pacifier. Down the second aisle, there they hung. They came in blue and red and pink and orange. The little boy smiled and said, "I would like blue please." The mommy handed him a package of two, one of which was blue and then grabbed an extra pack and put it in the cart. The little boy smiled and hugged his package of new pacifiers.

The family paid for their items and went home and they all lived happily ever after.

Never fear...

SHE is here! See I knew I had nothing to worry about. Why did you guys all have me stressed out? I KNEW she would show up. Oh yes, I did! No baby for me now or EVER, if I have my way.

Today I got to go to Marea's Kindergarten class and help the kids roll out gingerbread dough and cut out gingerbread cookies. We had so much fun. I realized while I was there how open kindergarten kids are. The ones who don't even know me would walk right up to me and start talking to me like I was their best friend.

Once we got all the cookies cut out it was "play time" as the teacher referred to it. It look more like mass chaos to me. Kids were everywhere, toys were flying, and voices were loud. The teacher walked around like this was a normal everyday occurance. She turned to me at one point and said, "I think they are a little more wound up than usual today." I am thinking, "Oh my gosh I hope so!" I cannot imagine taking on 20 kids under the age of 6 on a daily basis. I think by lunch I would need a nap for the next 10 years or so.

Hats off to the teachers around the world who love what they do and do it so well!

SPLAT!

This morning Mr. Bill pooed in the toilet and proceeded to wipe his butt "BY MYSELF!" After he has done something good I usually give him a high five. This time, something stopped me.

I know how well he wipes and lets just say usually the toilet paper isn't usually the only thing covered in poo.


No high fives for this task. No sireeeee. A smile will have to suffice.

Meme ME!

I was tagged by Chris....

FIVE LITTLE KNOWN FACTS ABOUT ME.

1. I have never kept a job for more than 4 months. But I have never been fired from one either.

2. I had two children while in college.

3. I love to sing along to music but I cannot carry a tune to save my life.

4. I love to read juicy romance novels.

5. I have never tasted alcohol of any kind.

Now I tag: Amanda, Rana, Cora, Tee, and Margie

Squishy Squashy DEAD

Billy and I have been having....problems, to put it mildly, with our computers. His malfunctions all exe files as soon as he turns the thing on, thus not allowing him to open any programs. His is also networked to mine so everytime he connected the network, my computer bogged down big time. We attempted to reinstall and update our Norton Antivirus but it wouldn't even install the dumb thing.

So we picked up the new 2006 Norton last night while shopping at Target. We came home and after much cussing and manipulating, successfully installed it and then did a full system scan. My computer picked up just over 400 virus' and Billy's picked up over 800. When it finally finished we discovered that all 1200 bugs were exactly the same one. A nasty little critter that spreads itself around your computer and any others it can get to and creates havoc with your files.

After it finished scanning it fixed all 1200 virus' and even removed some adware and spyware. Take that you nasty bugs!

P.S. Af is due here any day in the next 5 so someone say a prayer that she makes her regular visit this month. I would hate to pay for this little incident for the next 9 months.

Frozen Solid

When you walk outside and your nose hairs freeze instantly, you know it is cold outside.

When you can ice skate on the top of your car, you know it is cold outside.

When your kids pretend to "smoke" each time they exhale, you know it is cold outside.

When your hands refuse to open after gripping a frozen steering wheel, you know it is cold outside.

When your car thermometer reads "ice", you know it is cold outside.

When your body goes into hibernation mode, you know it is cold outside.

When you live in South Dakota, you know it is cold outside!

Shopping

I took the girls shopping last night. You see, they have their Christmas program on Friday. They could have worn the dresses I bought them last year since they are still in great condition and they still fit, but what fun would that be?

We hit JcPenney's first only to discover all of their dress clothes were 50% off. Can't beat that. Becca and Megan got dress shirts and skirts and Cassie and Marea got dresses. Not wanting to leave Mr. Bill out, his daddy buys him a Minnesota Vikings Helmet complete with a uniform. It was 50% off too. We are NOT sports fans of any kind, so it was sort of odd that he even knew what it was.

First thing this morning, he put on his gear.
My future football player?


P.S. I don't know why this looks so blue. Does it to you guys? My camera seriously needs replaced I think. Anyway it is Viking Purple. :)

Following Tee's Lead...

I saw an online ad for this new cat litter for small spaces yesterday. So I headed out to Walmart today to buy some, even though I just purchased 60 pounds of another brand a few days ago. It is supposed to keep your cat room (such as a bathroom, laundry room, or small apartment) more odor free than with other cat litter. It was 8.47 at Walmart for a 20 pound container. Not toooo bad. I got home and poured it in my 2 new cat boxes.

(A side note here, I discovered on this cat litter website that I was reading, that the experts suggest one cat box for each cat and one extra. I have 10 cats currently and ONE litter box. No wonder the babies were peeing behind the t.v.! Remember my new Bissell Green Machine? It has been getting a daily workout thanks to the baby cats! Blah!)

So anyhoo, I poured it in and was amazed to see it looks more like little balls of litter rather than dirt like the other scoopable stuff. Before I even got the two boxes down and filled the cats were inspecting them, climbing in them, and the momma cat took a crap as soon as I set it down full. So far it has been about two hours and I smell nothing, and when she goes in the other one, it stinks! I am cautiously optimistic that this will work as well as it says.

UPDATE: THIS MORNING I SCOOPED AND THE WET SPOTS WERE ACTUALLY CLUMPS NOT WET SPOTS UNDER THE LITTER! SCOOPING IT WAS SOOOO EASY. I CAN'T COMMENT ON THE SMELL YET AS ONE OF THEM "MISSED" THE BOX LAST NIGHT SO THE ROOM SMELLED WHEN I OPENED THE DOOR. I THINK I AM SOLD.

Merry Christmas Giggles

My Dad, he is so silly!

Today in the mail, I get a note from him. An abbreviated version of it says this:
"I told you that you had better be careful what you wish for. It did come true." (Included was a printout of a deal at Office Max for 5 boxes of printer paper with 5000 sheets in each box). He also sent money and has instructed me to go purchase it!

I will and I will get photographic proof on Christmas day, oh yes! I will. The kids will be in paper heaven! And I bet for at least a week I will be able to print on real printer paper! :)

He also says at the end of the note, "By the way there now is no excuse why I can't receive a couple of hand drawn pictures in the mail."

Ummm, you WANT pictures??? Why didn't you say so!? I have millions and millions more are being made as we speak.

How big is your fridge Dad?

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

....everywhere I go! (Or at least every window I look out of!)

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Mr. Bill's favorite Christmas Song....

Deck the Halls
Deck the Halls with bows of holly. Fa la la la la la la la la
Throw Salami at your mommy. Fa la la la la la la la la
Deck the Halls. Fa la la la la la la la