A quick winner post

I had full intentions to make this a longer post, but it seems mother nature has another idea. We’re all doing fine in our neck of the woods, just a few more ball games left in the season! I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing, but it’s supposed to actually get HOT tomorrow. Like 102 degrees hot! So I’m sure we’ll be spending more time in the pool. So sad the thing has been up for a month now with only about 30 minutes of swim time for the kids. It’s been a chilly start to the summer, and with ball we just haven’t had much time.

Alright, my headache is starting to get the best of me so I’d better get the winner of the Boogie Wipes package posted!

Lucky #3 is :

Rough few days

Wow, as I sit down tonight to write this post I have to admit it’s not one I figured I’d write.

When Joel got offered the chance to switch to 3rd shift I thought it would be great for our family. Amazing in fact. He would be gone while we slept, and there when we all woke up. He can run on little sleep most of the time and so I knew we’d have him in full swing participating with us by lunch.

It’s true that he’s run on little sleep the past 4 days. But I’m totally worried about him. Constantly. Worried that he’ll be to tired to do his work and get hurt. Worried he’ll be too tired to drive home and fall asleep at the wheel. Worried the kids won’t be quiet enough for him to get some sleep. Just plain worried.

He’s been a real trooper. The kids have been not too bad good for the most part.

Me, well I’m doing okay. I feel horrible most of the time because I’m not letting him get enough sleep. And to say this is easy, would be a lie. I’m not used to having my husband home all day. Every day (normally) I look forward to 2:30. I then have a purpose to get stuff done, and have the house in order. The kids and I are used to having our days, and having daddy get home at 2:30. I forget that he’s here. I forget that I need to check with him before we make any plans.

We’ve been fighting quite a bit this week. It’s been tough on our marriage to say the least. This has tested us.

In the last 4 days I’ve realized this is NOT a blessing. This is NOT something I want full time. I want to have something to look forward to every day.

As I was writing up this post Joel text me. After a bit of confusion on my part I called him. I was blessed to find out that starting Monday he’ll be back on regular hours. I’m THANKFUL! Not only for the fact that we’ll have our routine back, but thankful because earlier tonight my dad informed me of his hours for the next few weeks. You see, my dad works at the same factory Joel does. My dad’s last day of work will be the 1st of July until the 14th of July when he returns.

I’m saying extra prayers tonight, and thanking God that he is looking out for us. He realized I couldn’t do this another week but at the same time he realized we couldn’t do this another week. Financially and martially.

Happy Father's Day

Well Father's Day is already almost over and I'm just now getting around to posting! Seems that's how it goes!

We had a great day. It started with Joel getting to sleep in, since he stayed up most of the night. We then headed out to church where we attended the blessing of a new parish hall. The hall is beautiful! We're so blessed, our children will have a safe, nice place to attend catechism and learn about our lord! It was a nice lunch with great friends!

After a quick trip to town for a new coffee pot (I accidentally broke it last night) we came home and took a 3 hour nap! It was so peaceful. Thankfully I was thinking ahead and super was cooking while we napped!

posted from Bloggeroid

Ramblings

It’s 12:10 am as I sit down to write this up. It’s crazy that I’m still up. A few months ago you would’ve found me on my computer every night, but here lately I’ve been in bed and asleep by 9pm! It’s nuts!

The reason I’m awake? Joel starts 3rd shift (10:00pm-6:00am) tomorrow night, and so he’s trying to get used staying up all night. Thankfully this is only a two week shift transfer. My guess is I won’t be sleeping much the next two weeks either so I might as get used to it. The plant he works in makes mufflers for cars, and you see it’s about that time of year when the “new” models come out (2012). When this happens the car manufacturers don’t have very big orders so thus there isn’t much for Joel to do at work. He had the option of staying on 1st shift (6am-2pm) and possibly not having any work for two weeks (which means not getting paid), or go to 3rd shift and have hours to work. Thankfully he choose the obvious thing for our family.

Sadly I wish I could change and rewrite that last line to say that he chose to stay on 1st shift and we decided to take a two week long vacation. Unfortunately I can’t. We’re just not in a position to do that. If I were to take a vacation though, I’ve already decided it would be at least a couple weeks long. It would include a visit to my mom in Canada, as well as a stop in Michigan to visit a long time online friend (we talk almost every day….in fact my husband thinks something is wrong if we haven’t talked in a day!), a visit to Ohio to visit another bloggy friend, and a visit to Wisconsin to visit yet another bloggy friend. Too bad we couldn’t just pick a middle point and all move there! LOL

The reason for my absence here this week? Crazy work schedule. Thankfully Joel has been a champ at figuring out what’s for supper. I think I’ve only had to figure it out and cook once this week! Not to mention we’ve had ball games 4 nights a week for the last couple weeks. Thankfully this week is our last week of ball. Then just tournaments and we’re done for the season!

I realize that last paragraph sounds like I hate ball season. It’s not so much that I hate ball season, it’s that I hate running. I’m not a big fan of being gone 4 nights a week, and trying to figure out what’s for supper. What can we make easily. Joel and I coach Dahrran’s baseball team, it’s been so much fun to watch them “get it” as the season has gone on. MacKenzie has a great coach and has helped her learn. She still has a long way to go, but she’ll get there!

It’s now almost 1am, and I’ve finally decided I’m headed to bed. Joel is up watching some odd movie that I probably have no interest in. :S Oh well!

Ever have a moment?

When you wish there was someone in the room just taking pictures? Or to even be a “fly on the wall?”

I had one of those moments on Saturday. We’d just gotten home from a long day at softball tournaments (well Joel and the kids were at them, I was at work until the last game!) and everyone was cranky. Joel and I laid down on the bed with our legs dangling over the sides. In came the girls, soon MacKenzie had made her way on top of me to cuddle. For no reason whatsoever Kaitlynn started to cry, and all she would say was “mooom-mieeee.” Eventually I got her to crawl up on to our bed and climb on top of me (after some persuasion to MacKenzie to move.)

It was one of those moments when I KNEW everyone was going to crash within moments. I summoned Dahrran into our room and told him to lay down. Within 5 minutes everyone was asleep except myself. Even Joel was snoring. I laid there and thought to myself, it would be so awesome to have this moment on film. To just have us all as a family, and laying here.

I then decided I wasn’t going to let this moment go. I slowly worked my way out of the pile and took a picture. I was laying there underneath Kaitlynn. Such a precious moment!

Happy Birthday MacKenzie!

Since I’m all sorts of behind on blogging I figured why not catch up in order! When Dahrran got into school we decided we weren't going to do big parties for EVERY birthday they had while in school. We set the rule at one big party in Kindergarten, and we would go from there on the rest of the years. Thankfully Dahrran hasn’t asked for anything but sleepovers since!

MacKenzie wanted to take everyone to Chucky Cheese for her birthday, which would’ve been an okay thing except the closest Chucky Cheese is an hour away. Which still isn’t bad except the fact that there are 7 girls in her class and my car only holds 6 passengers (besides myself). So we settled on bowling instead!

She wasn’t quite sure at first how to get started, but with a little help from daddy she was well on her way to being a great bowler!

This is a super blurry picture but it captures most of the moments when each of the girls would get it all the way down the lane!

   

Since the bowling alley we went to only had one set of bumpers there was a lot of laying around during turns!

I got the idea for MacKenzie’s cake from Family Fun Magazine! We improvised some and I’m glad I did! I’m not sure the kids would’ve eaten the coconut on the cupcakes!

  

I love that these girls are already friends. There are a total of 24 kids in MacKenzie’s grade, and only 7 girls! (one was sick unfortunately the day of the party) Hopefully they’ll grow even closer as the years go on!

Even Kaitlynn got to come to her “sisters party” and she loved every minute of it!

Wordless Wednesday!

Aunt Bridget came and help the kids dye eggs this Easter. She loves coming to help them dye eggs but it’s been a while! (go ahead check out that blog post, I’ll wait! You’ll want to see how cute the kids were!) While she came up to dye eggs, she also got the chance to take them to the Easter Egg Hunt. Last year we were so proud of MacKenzie. She wasn’t afraid of the bunny, but this year was another story! Completely afraid. :(

 

We did lunch at our house again this year, (seems to be my holiday to host!) For Easter my dad got the kids Alpha & Omega, so we all sat around and watched movies and napped afterwards. Such a peaceful day!

Spring Game Fun

We’ve taken the kids to other spring football games in the past, and kind of decided the last couple of years to not go. This year we’d thought about it, but just decided to not go again. That was until a lady Joel works with offered him 5 tickets. We really didn’t have anything planned that day except hanging out at home so we thought why not!

MacKenzie wasn’t really excited at first to go to a football game for her birthday (oh forgot to mention it was scheduled for her birthday!) but when we told her we had decided to go out for supper she was all about it.

The week leading up to the game was cold, rainy and even threatened snow in April!!! But thankfully come game day it wasn’t too bad. By the time the game started we were sitting on our coats! I’d made these super cute dresses for the game, and they did get to sport them for a while! (even though I don’t really have decent pictures of them, hopefully it’s a post for another day!)

 

We also decided to just get a motel in Lincoln with a pool for MacKenzie’s Birthday…….but of course by the time we got to the motel BOTH my camera’s were dead! :(

Happy Birthday miss MacKenzie!!

Hanging out in the sun!

posted from Bloggeroid

Waking up

So lately I've been having a hard time trying to be a great wife, mother, daughter, and sister. It's been rough. I know the person I want to be, but I'm lazy. Simply put. There are visions in my head of who I should be, really who I want to be. I would love to be the mom/wife who is up before the household, has a load of dishes in the dishwasher, has folded a load of laundry, has another one started and when her kids wake up is ready to help them begin their day.

Instead, I'm the mom who is still in bed a good 20 minutes after her kids have gotten up. Every.Day. I could set my alarm and hit snooze for an hour or more, even though my alarm clock is across the room and I have to get out of bed to push it. Who am I? It is true that I'm more of a night owl type of person. Ask anyone in my family and they'll tell you about how I could stay up until the wee hours of the morning and then sleep until noon or later the next day. It's not healthy I know, but it's who I am.

Have you ever come to a point in your life where you truly wonder who you are, and what your purpose is on this earth? I'm having a moment like that here lately. I have good intentions of being a great wife, but I need to stop being so damned lazy. That might actually help with my self esteem as well......cause I could really use to not be so lazy. The pounds I've packed on since the kids were born is crazy. Sure I'm comfortable in my body, and I really think some days I look good. But is a hot and sweaty mother really who my kids need me to be? ......this usually happens after walking down the upstairs, and to the basement with a load of laundry....for cryin out loud!

I guess what I'm asking is: How do you get motivated? Any exercises programs you use? (I have Zumba for the Wii, and love it, but hate doing it when anyone is around) How do you wake up???

Kaitlynn’s Spring Program

Kaitlynn’s program was held on a different night than the big kids programs. They did cookies and a gathering afterwards and it was kind of nice! We LOVE LOVE LOVE Mrs. Rockenbach. She’s so sweet, and she’s amazing as the kids teacher. We even got to meet her before school started last fall when she came to the house for her “home visit.” I love that they did that, Kaitlynn wasn’t quite as shy to go into her classroom on the first day of school.

And of course I couldn’t leave you without a video. I love videos these days. They let you in on a little bit of our life. There is a part where we all bust out laughing, you can hear MacKenzie, as well as the camera shakes some! Enjoy!

  

Boogie Wipes Review & Giveaway

I was recently contacted to review Boogie Wipes and graciously accepted. Kaitlynn has a runny nose 10 months out of the year. It’s not uncommon for me to be wiping her nose constantly. Even though we no longer cloth diaper, I’ve always got a stash of cloth wipes in my purse so I can catch a runny nose at any given moment. We were sent a 30 count package of Great Grape Scented wipes along with 3 individual packages in each great scent, Great Grape, Minty Menthol and Fresh Scent.

Anyone who has ever had to wipe a child’s runny nose knows the battle.  There are usually tears involved at my house!  Boogie Wipes is an amazing product that can help you battle! We love Boogie Wipes because they’re moist, and can get any of the crusties left behind by regular tissues.  I’m a picker mom. You know the type. The one that picks their child’s nose until you get every last crust off of their poor little face. Kaitlynn now doesn’t mind getting her nose wiped because she knows that I’m using Boogie Wipes!

What makes Boogie Wipes different? Their website says,

Boogie Wipes are made with natural saline to dissolve boogies (mucus) caused by the common cold, allergies or otherwise booger-filled kid moments.

Extra soft, alcohol, phthalate and paraben free, Boogie Wipes are available in Great Grape, Fresh Scent, Magic Menthol and Simply Unscented. Recommended by pediatricians as a gentle, effective alternative to a dry tissue.

How do they differ from a baby wipe?

• Made with natural saline to dissolve mucus
• Hypoallergenic
• Alcohol-free
• Moisturize with vitamin E, aloe and chamomile
• Fun scents
• Phthalate & paraben free

My favorite part other than the fact that their moist is that they can handle the job. The wipes are sturdy and do not fall apart at all, and one wipe handles most jobs!  I also love the fact that they come individually wrapped so they’re easy to throw in my purse! Another great thing, they were invented by moms! So not only are you going to love them, you’re going to LOVE them!

Since Kaitlynn is in preschool all day I’m not able to be there with her to constantly get the crusties off her face. She usually comes home with boogers stuck all in her nose, and the battle ensues. The moms behind Boogie Wipes have come up with a great solution to this. The came up with the teacher/daycare provider kit!

The Teacher kit includes : a poster with Save the Sleeve pledge guidelines,
50 Boogie Wipes samples, 50¢ OFF coupons and 2 classroom canisters.

After using these wipes I’ve become a firm believe in them. I’m planning on buying at least one teacher kit for Kaitlynn’s classroom this fall. More than likely I’ll get two!

Buy it:

Head over to the Boogie Wipes website to buy any of their products.  Also, be sure to check out Achooz, the adult saline nose wipes.

Win it:

The generous ladies at Boogie Wipes want to give one of my readers something! Winner will receive : 2 30-count packs of Boogie Wipes, 2 $0.50 off coupons, 9 sachets (3 of each scent – Great Grape, Fresh Scent and Magic Menthol), 2 Achooz sachets (fragrance free and Cool Mint)

Be sure and leave your email in the email address field so I can contact you if you win!

Mandatory Entry

Visit Boogie Wipes and leave a comment below with one thing you learned from their site.

The above entry is mandatory. If you would like additional entries, you may do any or all of the following (and leave me a separate comment for each telling me you’ve done so):

• Submit this giveaway to any current online giveaway Linky’s: Unlimited extra entries! You’ll get one entry per site you submit it to; the site’s linky must be new within the past 7 days. You can also submit to online contest listings/forums. (Leave the site you submitted it to and the date in your comment)
• Like Among the Mess on Facebook and leave me a comment with your name. (ex. JoAnn Smith or J. Smith)
• Like Boogie Wipes on Facebook and leave comment on their FB wall saying that you entered to win Boogie Wipes on our blog (tagging us!) then leave a comment here telling me you’ve done so
• Follow Boogie Wipes on Twitter and leave your Twitter name
• Follow Among the Mess on Twitter and tweet exactly the following:I just entered to #win a Boogie Wipes package (http://bit.ly/jW03vw) over at @amongthemess @BoogieMom #Giveaway You can do this once per day, just leave a separate comment with your Twitter ID and a link to your tweet in your comment.
• Join the Boogie Bunch

Contest Details: Contest ends on 6/15/2011. Valid email address is required. All entries without a valid email address will be disqualified. Winning email notification must be responded to within 48 hours or that winner will forfeit the prize and a new winner will be selected. Winner will be selected with Random.org. Winner will be notified via email.

Disclosure: The product mentioned above have been given free of charge from the company in exchange for being featured at Among the Mess. The views and opinions expressed were 100% my own and not influenced by the company.