Hello!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and managed to stay cool. There were parts of the state that reached 115 degrees over the weekend, and I'm sure it's gonna be a hot week, too.

Well, the boys LOVED their movie. They were SOOOO good, and I was so happy because there were kids everywhere and they were all chattering throughout the movie, so I didn't feel so bad when the boys asked the occasional LOUD question.

The Princess had fun being the belle of the ball at my mother's house, and my sister-in-law brought a sweet little girl she was babysitting over to play as well.

The kids played hard yesterday, and now it's back to business as usual.

I'll be cleaning and working on my chapter today, so I'll be back on Wednesday.

Later.

Controlling the Uncontrollable

Well, since my last post, Mrs. Grump has gone on a mini-vacation, but she could be back at any moment.

The kids have been bribed into cooperating for the next couple of days. The twins are determined to see the new Ice Age movie, and I have used their desire to go to the movies against them. (Insert evil laughter: Mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!)

So far they have cleaned their room, picked up all their toys around the house, picked up all their toys and junk on the back patio, and have promised to help pick up the toys they got out in their sister's room and the spare bedroom.

And I've come to the conclusion that we have WAY too many toys in this house.

The fighting has been contained to the minimum brotherly spat because I threaten them with not going if they continue to fight. They grumble, but the screaming and hitting have stopped for the time being.

I'm just going to have to resort to mafia tactics to keep the kids under control: bribery, threats, torture (taking their toys away and forbidding video games), and confinement when I want them to behave.

Sounds like a plan to me.

I hope y'all have a great weekend. Stay cool and safe.

Later.

Mrs. Grump

Good morning.

Well, it's sort of good. I am a mega grouch today, and this post will probably be lemon-sour, so you might want to skip today and read again when I am in a better mood.

The summer is half over (yay!!!), but the kids are making me CRAZY!!!

The twins have figured out how to help their little sister out of her crib in the morning, and I woke up to an enormous mess. The twins are becoming more independent and the more they try to do it themselves, the more I have to clean.

They know where the Pop-Tarts are, how to get them out, and they even give one to their sister. But they have no concept of how to clean up the mess they make with the crumbs on the floor, wrappers left on the floor and counters, and the box sitting in front of the pantry and a trail of unopened pastries leading from the kitchen to the living room (this would be the work of the toddler).

Toys are dragged out, but not put up, and the constant laundry is giving me nightmares about being attacked by my washer and dryer.

When I make them pick up their toys, the high-pitched wailing can be heard in the next county, and I know the neighbors probably think I beat them on an hourly basis. And don't think I haven't considered beating them every hour, on the hour, just to make them listen.

I guess I'm just grumpy from the NEVER-ending cycle of cleaning up and it's dirty again before I can sit down to enjoy the results.

But I also know that's life with kids.

The fighting is driving me insane, and I completely understand my mother's policy of, "I don't care who started it, I'll finish it!!! Now, GO TO YOUR ROOM!!!"

As I type this post, thanks to a brilliant suggestion from my mother-in-law, the twins are locked outside, literally, although I am typing by the open window right beside the patio and can see and hear every little nit-picking detail of their skirmishing.

But they aren't doing it in the house.

The toddler is in her play-yard reading books, and doesn't have her partners in crime to bust her out. So I have a few minutes to finish this up, although I've probably been interrupted ten times since I started writing this post.

All I can say is I can't wait for school to start in the fall, and I am going to be looking for more ways to keep the kids occupied and out of trouble. And to keep me sane.

Hope you have a great rest of the week.

Later.

Hey everyone.

Sorry no post on Friday. We were at my mom's house since Thursday evening, and she has no Internet access, lucky woman.

Well, we had a good July 4th weekend. It started Thursday evening with dinner at my brother's house. The Princess loved chasing the dogs and kittens around their yard. The boys were pretty well behaved, and did much better after we let them play Mario Kart on Wii.

Then Hubby and Mom took the kids home, and sister-in-law and I watched the movie Taken. VERY GOOD. How far will this guy go to get his daughter back? Apparently all the way, and taking out anybody even remotely connected to her kidnapping or who gets in his way.

Very Cool movie.

Friday, Hubby took the boys to the farm with my brother, and the Princess and I hung out at the house. Mom got off work early, and we all went to the swimming pool that afternoon.

The twins wore their life jackets in the deep end of the pool and had absolutely NO FEAR going off the diving board. They jumped, dove (sort of), and flipped (yes, really flipped) off that diving board until I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I was sure they were going to break their necks, but they returned home safe and sound.

The Princess napped while the boys watched a movie after swimming. Mom sent Hubby and I to dinner and a movie (The Proposal, which was super funny, at least I thought so), and we had a great night. THANKS, MOM!!!

Then we went to the farm Saturday morning, got groceries that afternoon, and kept the kids entertained as long as we could until it was time to go watch the fireworks. We saw one show in a nearby town, not a huge show, but it was nice just the same, and then we came home and went up to my sister-in-law's parents' house and watched them and the neighbors set off fireworks. And that lasted for over an hour.

Poor Hubby started to feel sick before the first show, and stayed home with the little girl during the in-in-laws show.

We went to church the next morning, but again, Hubby stayed home and he still doesn't feel all that great today, either. Head cold, which really stinks, but hopefully he'll be on the mend soon.

We came home yesterday afternoon, and tonight we have an End of the Season Pool Party for t-ball. And then I think we can rest easy for a couple of days. At least, I hope so. I'm really tired and looking forward to a few days of staying home and doing . . . nothing!

Hope your week goes well.

Later.

Hey folks.

I hope your week is going well.

The boys won their final t-ball game, and did okay. They didn't play nearly as well in the last game, and it was obvious as a parent that the kids were just wore out on t-ball. They will be having a pool party next week and will receive trophies for second place in their division.

The boys insist they still want to play in the fall, and they had me outside in the heat yesterday morning so they could practice. But they definitely weren't into it. They whined about who got to hit the ball first, and when they were fielding, I got yelled at if I didn't hit the ball straight to them.

Not exactly a great practice. So we'll probably lay off t-ball for a few weeks to let them recuperate.

We have new neighbors across the street with young children, two boys ages 5 and 2 (the poor Princess is never gonna catch a break and have another girl to play with). The twins like playing with them, and I have a feeling there's gonna be a lot of time playing outside with the neighborhood kids this summer.

I'm also gonna have to keep the house picked up and invest in a few summer necessities like paper cups for drinks, a ton of Kool-Aid, and snacks.

But today I'm having an early lunch with a friend, so I need to get the kids and I ready to go.

Hope you all get through the rest of the week. Be back on Friday.

Later.

Wild Weekend Rides

Hi everyone.

Well, as predicted, the weekend was fun, but HOT!!!

The kids all had a great time at the theme park. The twins were roller coaster monsters, and wanted to go on all the coasters all the time. If it looked dangerous or vomit-inducing, they wanted to ride it.

Their cousins weren't so big on the roller coaster idea, but the twins eventually wore them down.

The Princess did pretty well until mid-afternoon, and then she faded fast. Hot and wilted would be an understatement, but we found some air conditioning, continued to wet her down throughout the day, and after a short nap inside, she bounced back and was ready for the rest of the night.

The adults were exhausted, sweaty, and overall grossed out by the sticky, slimy, grimy day (or at least I was), but we survived and got everybody home in one piece.

Hubby's family had to leave early on Sunday, and we were sad to see them go, but we still had lots of fun. The boys went swimming with a friend yesterday afternoon, then we all (us and the friend's family) had pizza, and practiced t-ball that evening at the park.

They had a good time, went to bed as soon as we came home and got baths, and slept in this morning. YAY!!!

And today we've got to get to the t-ball field early because they have team pictures before OUR LAST GAME OF THE SEASON!!!!

I am SOOOO excited!!!

I know they had a great time playing this year, but I have to say I'm glad it's over . . . at least for a little while. The summer is getting hotter, and I am getting older, and I appreciate being inside with air conditioning during the hottest part of the day.

But I'm sure we'll find plenty to keep us busy for the next 6 or 7 weeks until school starts again.

And now I need to go get the Princess some breakfast. I hope you all have a good week.

Later.

Long, Hot Summer

Hello, all.

Hope you had a great week, and are ready to kick off the weekend. I'll be picking up around the house today and washing bedding in preparation for family visiting later today.

And I'm also gonna try to get some writing done, but somehow I don't think it's gonna happen. It's going to be a really busy day.

The boys played t-ball last night and won their game. It was HOT!!!!! VERY, VERY HOT!!!

I was ready to just call the game and find an air conditioner. But the boys played through and won. They were hot and thirsty, but seemed mostly unaffected by the heat. Lucky. I felt like I was melting.

We have one more game, and that's it for the season. There's the possibility they'll be playing again in the fall, but we'll have to see.

And that's it for us. Tomorrow we're off to the theme park for a scorcher, and hopefully we'll be able to find ways to keep cool throughout the day. I know it will be fun, but very hot.

Have fun this weekend and stay safe.

Later.