a giveaway

Ok, not a giveaway from me, but a pretty good one anyways...

One of the blogs I follow is offering up a one year subscription to Clickin' Moms ($50 value) and although I'd hate to lessen my chances of winning ;), I thought I'd still pass it on. Go on over to Outnumbered By Testosterone Reviews and check it out.

The contest runs through to-nite!

*Update on Reganne-still can't keep anything down, but no fever and fine otherwise other than showing signs of weakness...who wouldn't when they've got no food in them...:( Poor girl. Is begging me for food, then throws it back up (toast, crackers, oatmeal-yes, she insisted on that...) Just trying to keep the fluids going...

end of a good day

So that good day I was talking about. Yeah, it ended. At about 1am. Reganne came into our room, a common practice of hers, came to my side and as I reached over to pull her up, she proceeded to throw up all over me.

Nice.

We hopped in the shower, Joey cleaned up the bed. Made a little bed out of thick bathmats next to us and by 2ish, we were wide awake.

Reganne quickly fell back asleep and slept fine. She woke up asking for food. I hesitated, but after a call to the doctor, gave her a little. She has no fever, acting fine. Then as Marryn and I sat down for lunch, she came over, begging for more food and then threw up again.

Still no fever, acting like herself and laughing at the cartoons.

Good thing I managed to finish all the laundry last night;) Got a butt load to do now.

Ugg.

an apology

As I was hanging out Sunday afternoon (Joe was at church teaching a lesson, I was home with three snot-nosed kids), after a nice weekend, I was thinking about my recent post of "a single mom." (If you're reading this on Facebook, you'll have to look it up on my blog. I needed to make a change and once it posts on Facebook, I can't change it-so it got deleted.)

I feel I need to apologize. Apologize to any actual single moms out there. And to those non-single moms who really are living a single life. I know that I am very fortunate. Right now the evenings are lonely without my hubs, but this is temporary. And weekends are still spent together.

My complaints of Joe working late hours are not because he's not here to help, I'm actually doing quite well (surprisingly), but no, they're because I miss him. There is nobody else I'd rather be with than him. That would be why I married him;) So to have the night fade upon me, and him not being home, well, it just makes me a little sad. I'm spoiled. I know.

So again, to those mothers who really are single or to those whose husbands work alot (weekends and all) or to that mother whose husband is the bishop;), I apologize for my petty complaints. I may not have it as great right now, but it could be worse.

As for today. Wonderful 70 degree weather. Lovin' our new patio (extended it from a 10x10 to a 15x17). The kids have been in and out all day. Literally. That's what Christian does. Goes out. Walks around. Throws a ball. Comes back in. Walks around. Then repeats the process. Love our sliding glass door (with screen) and big windows looking out back. Our last house had none, so I hesitated to send the kids out by themselves. The ice cream truck even made a stop in front of our house. I have never bought anything from him, but the girls were so excited and they did each get a dollar from Grandma in the mail today, so I let them pick out a Popsicle. Or course they only had a choice of 2 that were a dollar. Good thing they're little still;) And as for that mountain of laundry, it's gone. Almost. And all our pots and pans. Clean.

Today was a good day.

And Joe will be home early tonight. Broncos are on;)

all hallows eve

No, I'm not as creative as I wish. Made the garland, but from a kit. Purchased it at a scrapbook store last year from Making Memories (and copied it to a T...). The cobwebs I found at Wal-mart, and they're not the typical ones. They might not have even been cobwebs... Then the crows are paper cutouts from Martha Stewart. The girls have them stuck all over the house;) Found the SPOOKY blocks at Marshalls and the skeleton and pumpkin candle holders are from Michaels-bought last year at their Halloween clearance. I love it and even Joey noticed and complimented it when he walked in the door that night!

Thanks for all your compliments as well!

a single mom

Yes. That is what I've been feeling like lately.

Joe's been swamped at work. It's the end of a big financial...thingy(?), he's still somewhat training a new hire and his most recent boss left a few weeks ago for another job. So, getting home around 8pm if not later has been the norm lately. But I've been managing everything fine. Well fine if you agree that that means lots of take out, piles and piles of laundry (oh laundry...don't let me get started on that!) and stacks of dirty dishes;) It's not my ideal way of life, but I understand. Joe's job is important. It is what provides for our family. The good news: Joe has earned a promotion.

Yippee!

But with a promotion comes a price. A price in more time. But we're excited for this new opportunity for him. We know that this is a blessing from Heavenly Father. So, I better settle into my new role as a single mom. At least he's home to brush their teeth and put them in bed before we start watching Friends reruns;)

Well, what has a *single mom* and her family been up to lately besides that never ending mountain of laundry and running kids to and from school? Lets see...

***

Painted the girls' room while Joey was gone for the week in Cali and Kansas. Not quite the color I was envisioning, even Marryn said it looked "gold." But I think I'm liking it. (Hopefully I'll get the shelves and *stuff* put up soon-then we can really tell if it looks good.)

***
Went to World Market with my 25% off coupon. Proceeded to stare at this table.

Bought some oil jars and left.

***
Finally finished the backyard. Well, finished for this season. All that dirt is just waiting for some plants.

***

Marryn had her 5 year check-up and 5 booster shots. 38 lbs - 50%, 44 inches - 75%

***

Christian had his 15 month check-up with only 4 shots. 21.10 lbs - 25%, 31 inches - 55% (at least he's getting a little taller...Joey's really worried he's going to get my short genes...)

***

Put up some Halloween decorations.

***

Got hit with some pretty cold frost and a little bit of snow.

***

Eating lots of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Vegan approved for Joey.

***

Had to get Marryn a new pair of school shoes. Her $10 Target brand maryjanes are just not holding up. Trying to find a solid white pair of sneakers was not easy. Nor pretty. She loves her no-tie curly q's though;)

***

bad drivers

Since moving to Colo Springs, our car insurance has shot up. Well, actually it didn't shoot up until like 9 months after moving. I thought I had changed our address through the website, but then one day got a forwarded piece of mail (everything else was paperless-so I didn't notice). I then looked it up and no, my request did not make it through. So I did it again, this time I knew it was changed because we suddenly owed so much more. Seriously, it jumped about $350, for our 2 cars, every six months! We tried to tweek it to make it more manageable, but in the end, had to switch. We were pretty sad to do so, our *agent* was a good friend of ours from Fort Collins... But anyhow. I have now learned why it is so much more expensive here.

Bad drivers.

Over and over I have come home to tell Joey stories about what I have seen. And all in the area minutes from our home. Like the other day. I was at a stoplight in the turning lane. One car in front of me. The arrow turned green. And the car didn't go. I waited. Still didn't go. Was about to tap my horn (I really don't like using is, it has become such a rude thing) when I noticed why the car wasn't going. Here comes a car, just cruising through it's red light. Not in a hurry, so it obviously wasn't paying attention. Really glad I didn't honk. And this wasn't far from a small intersection that an off duty police officer was killed when someone turned into his motorcycle...

And then a few weeks ago, I was in a in front of some stores (Home Goods and TJ Max for those of you here) and a car started to back out. So I stopped. For 2 reasons. One, to be polite. Two, as to not get hit by the car. Then the idiot behind me whips around me as if I had stopped for no reason and then had to slam on his brakes to avoid hitting the car I was stopped for. Now, what if I had stopped for someone to cross the street? This is a parking lot. Would he have smacked into them?

Well, I have prided myself on being a courteous and good (not always great, but better than most;) driver. So the other day, I'm going to pick up Reganne from her pre-school. It's in a neighborhood a few blocks over. As I come upon the house, I flip around in the street so I can park *correctly* on the houses' side of the street. As I'm about parallel in the street, I notice it. A FedEx Truck right behind me, slamming his breaks as not to blind side me.

Oh. My. Goodness.

I was so embarrassed. I rolled my window down and apologized, which he was really nice and just laughed it off. But then there were 3 of the mothers, standing out in the driveway. Nice. At least he didn't hit me. That would have been way worse. For many obvious reasons.

Yes, not one of my best moments.

But I guess I can take some learning experiences from this.

Watch out for more than just kiddos in the small neighborhoods.

And you're never as good of a driver as you think;)

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