Mud

The last two days we had beautiful weather with temps in the mid-60's.

Today it's snowing and cold and nasty and school is closed.

But for two glorious days the kids escaped from the house and ran free and wild in the back yard.

Only to return like this.

Maybe the snow's not that bad...

Bad Attitude This and That

Have you noticed a lack of pictures on my blog lately?  I have. It's because Cole is OBSESSED with pictures and video lately.  To the point that I have to hide my camera and phone because he will sneak them away and fill up the memory card with photos and videos.  (Yes, my phone has a password; he keeps trying to crack it.)

So I just don't even want to get my camera or phone out for anything because it's not worth the huge FIGHT with him about it.  Growl.

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Did you know you can shrink Crocs in the wash?  I got some Target brand crocs on clearance for Cole last fall and he LOVES them.  But they got so filthy the other day and I was washing a load of towels and stuff, so into the washer they went.  And then I forgot they were in there and into the dryer they went.  Oops.

Well, hopefully Tess can use them in a year or two.

Maybe this is why Cole keeps giving me such a hard time in so many ways.  I keep ruining the things he loves.  (Or maybe he's just a punk.)

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We had an RS activity last month about learning to clean like a pro.  I hadn't been happy with my cleaning routine lately, so in the last few weeks I've switched a few things around and shaken things up and bought some new cleaning supplies and now?  I like cleaning again!  Well, like is a strong word.  Tolerate more?  Hmm... well, I'm happier with it, which means my house is staying cleaner.

Well, clean is a strong word.  Clean-ish?  With the kids and spring mud and the herd of neighborhood children who are obsessed with coming in and out of my home, my house is never fully clean.  But cleaner than it was, yes.

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Tess still won't poop in the potty. She also won't use the potty anywhere but at home.  It's Cole all over again.

Which makes me wonder - what in the world did I ever do to deserve such potty training misery?  Seriously, I've read and researched a ton about and have tried everything I can think of and... nothing. Nothing but pain and misery and frustration and lots of poop.

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Josh is still having tantrums. Like, serious, fall on the floor, kicking and screaming, cartoonish tantrums.  It's ridiculous.  When will this phase be over?  Can I start charging him for each tantrum?  The boy does like money...

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My hormones are still out of whack.  My medication dosage has been changed again, so it's a wait and see game.  I have trouble sleeping, my mood swings are stupid, even if I do get enough sleep I'm super tired and weak, and I even have muscle aches and pains.  (Actually, the aches and pains are often what tips me off that things aren't right.)  All during church on Sunday my legs just ached and ached and all I wanted to do was go home and down a bottle of ibuprofen and soak in the tub.

Not that I don't like my GP, but I'm wondering if it's time to go see an endocrinologist.  Could they be of more help, or would it not be worth the time and expense.  Hmm...

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On a happier note, it's been warm enough that I went running the past two mornings.  It felt great, considering I have been running in several months.  But now another big snow storm is coming.  Dang.

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I've run out of things to complain about.  This is good.  But it felt good to get it all out.  Thanks for your patience.

Dirty Math

1 extreme, never-ending winter + 4 slobs for children + a mom's who's tired of getting after the kids to clean up + again and again and again = 1 disastrous house

Seriously.  It seems like all I've been doing lately is picking up and wiping and cleaning and then starting all over again because while I pick up one room someone is destroying the next room.

I give up.

I think I need a sign for the front door that says something along the lines of "Abandon Hope, All Ye Who Enter Here".

I bet there's a free printable for that somewhere on Pinterest...

Well, whaddya know!

Coat Closet Redo

With four kids, two adults, and one ridiculously extreme winter, our coat closet was out of control.  It was stuffed to the gills and the Command hooks I had on the door for the kids kept breaking because those dang kids keep growing and their dang coats keep getting bigger and heavier.

Here's the before picture, only I forgot to take one before I took out the 387 coats and jackets and snow pants that were jammed in there.

Pinterest came to my rescue with a pin that showed a closet that got rid of hangers and just used hooks.  "Aha!" I thought, "That's the fix I need.  And it'll be super easy, cheap, and quick to do."

How foolish I am.  You'd think I'd know better by now.

It actually was easy and cheap.  But quick?  Try two and a half weeks.  First we had to wait for the hooks to come from eBay. (Thirty hooks for $30, including shipping.  Can't beat that!) Then I decided to use some old paint for the inside, because why buy new paint?  Except I chose the darkest blue and had to put on coat after coat after coat of paint, and that's with primer and stuff.  Sheesh.

Then I had to buy the wood, but things kept coming up and I couldn't get to the hardware store and when I finally did I waited and waited and waited for them to cut it but no one came even though I was told three times they would so whatever.  So then Lance had to measure it and try to cut it and then take it to our woodworking neighbor to have him cut it the right way. :)

And then it needed to be sanded and painted but another freakin' POLAR VORTEX came into town and it was too darn cold in the garage to do either of those.  Then Lance was super nice and sanded them for me and I bit the bullet and decided to paint them in the kitchen.  Only I realized halfway through that the paint I used wasn't true white but rather a very pale grey but at that point who cared?!

As soon as they were dry Lance put everything up in the closet.  I think he was pretty tired of all the winter coats on our floor.  (Side note: Lance had the largest number of random jackets in the closet.  Just sayin'.)

So as of last night, this is what the closet looked like.  Much better!

Okay, ignore the Grover Monster from Sesame Street blue - it's actually a lot darker in person.  It really could have used another coat of paint, but I ran out and there was no way I was going to buy more paint for a closet!

And finally this morning I was able to get everything back in.

See, you can hardly see the blue paint, so it doesn't even matter.  The bag-looking things on the left are rolled up snow pants, in case you were wondering.

Now everyone has their own coat hook - several of them!  No more excuses for coats left on the floor.  Not that that will stop Josh - that kid couldn't hang up his coat to save his life.

I still keep all of the hats and coats and stuff on top because my darling daughter has a tendency to get into things like that and leave a path of death and destruction in her wake. (Read: she likes to bite and unravel winter accessories.)

We even have room for visitor coats, whereas before the make-over I didn't even want to open the door, it was so awful.

I'm pretty happy with the whole project, even if it did take way longer than it should have.

Cookie Thief

Last night I caught Cole pilfering a cookie right before bed.  Thus kind of infraction is pretty minor, but according to Josh (king of ABSOLUTE FAIRNESS IN ALL THINGS), this was an offense worthy of capital punishment and couldn't believe my lax attitude.

Josh does not yet understand the wisdom of picking your battles.

As I was tucking Cole into bed I started singing "Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar? --"

"Cole.  It was Cole." Came the rather terse response from the bottom bunk.

It was all I could do not to pee my pants from holding in the laughter that would surely have offended the seven year old cookie cop.

I love these kids.

Haircut Princess

Tess has been in love with the idea of a haircut ever since her last hair cut was finished.  (She wasn't so happy during the haircut, but was apparently not traumatized by the event.)  About every other day she asked if she could go have a haircut.  Today was finally the day I could say yes!

Tess dressed very carefully in her sparkle tutu and pranced all the way into the salon.  She was disappointed that I got to get started first and that she had to wait, but she was so patient and good about it!

Finally, it was her turn.  She patiently sat through the spraying and snipping and styling and even more spraying.  Her reward was a rather large red lollipop and a new crown! (Miss Robyn knows how to cater to the two year old crowd.)

What a little diva!  I have to admit, though, that it's pretty fun to have a little girl to come to the salon with me.

A Pretty Good Description of My Day

Apparently Tess is trying her hand at wine making because I just found a handful of fermented grapes at the bottom of her lunchbox.