When I scheduled some time off, I didn’t intend to be up at 2:45 a.m. with sick child on Day One. But, alas, those baby people whom I gave birth to had other plans. I gave them the gift of life and they can’t even give me the gift of sleeping in.

I had grand plans to not write anything. Seriously, I did. But yesterday my interim publisher finally gave me the okay to plan a public forum - in less than two weeks! I started asking my former publisher in July. I’m thankful for the opportunity, but considering the fact that I’m technically on vacation until the day prior, I’ll need to actually work. And because of this forum for mayor candidates, I’ll also have to write stories to promote it. And while I’m doing that, I might as well just go ahead and make it a day, working on stories for our annual publication whose deadline is looming.

I’m such a sucker. I really am. Me and my big ideas, right?

Jenna woke up awhile ago with a fever. She’d been better most of yesterday, save for a runny nose, but spiked a fever just before soccer practice. A few hours ago, she woke up with a fever and came to lay with me. Of course, I couldn’t find any Tylenol or Motrin in this house. Seems what was not eaten last week has been taken since. As always. I did find one Tylenol downstairs, so I gave her that and sent her back to bed. And I couldn’t sleep.

Now it’s after 5 a.m. I have to wake the older two up in an hour and a half. Jenna’s teacher is off today, so she and I get to spend the day together doing God knows what. Hopefully she is feeling better because we’d planned to go to Arlington to eat lunch with Darin at work.

(Ooh. Just realized today is payday. AWESOME.)

As for vacation plans, the only thing we have scheduled is a trip to the Memphis Zoo on Tuesday. Katie’s still on maternity leave, of course, and so we’re meeting up and taking all of the babies down there. Apparently it’s free after 2 p.m. on Tuesdays. So yay for free. Personally, I hate the zoo (hate seeing the poor, depressed animals), but whatever. We didn’t get all the way around when we went in July, so we’ll just take another trip.

Other plans include preparing for the move. A week from today we’ll be homeowners! I’m excited, yet nervous at the same time, due to the volatile nature of the economy and housing market. (We have a fixed rate, by the way, that’s not my issue.) We got a great deal on a spacious home and huge lot. We got a great interest rate. I’m just waiting on the other shoe to drop. Shanee said ‘the other shoe’ is the fact that we’re going to paint it ourselves. lol. (In the living room, the ceiling is 17 feet high and flat; the dining room is 12 feet tall and flat.) Just hoping we didn’t make a mistake with this house. But YAY! Next Friday it’s going to officially be ours!

In short:

Jaiden is still doing her coughing, though not nearly as bad. She seems to be getting a UTI for some reason, possibly?

Jenna, I believe, has croup.

Emma had a fever today.

Darin says he’s not feeling well. He’s a man, though.

I’m getting sick, too. (Can feel the sore throat coming on.)

Jaylen seems to be the only healthy one of the bunch right now. One out of six is not so great.

Darin put a lot more primer on the walls at the new house tonight while I worked late.

In addition to working late, now have to write, write, write.

Am drinking coffee with cream, Vanilla Caramel cream, actually. Yum. And it’s so yummy with a bowl of Multigrain Cheerios.

I’m so tired and I just want to lay down and rest. Ha.

After tomorrow I’m scheduled to be ‘off’ until Oct. 20. Let’s laugh at this one, too, because today I think I might have FINALLY convinced my boss that we should hold a public forum. And we only have a few weeks to work out the logistics and git ‘er done. Oy. Must work on stories for upcoming municipal elections. I hate elections, by the way. (Used to be a poli sci geek my senior year in HS. Miss that at times.)

I need to do laundry and start packing our stuff. That’s what I plan to do next week in addition to getting the kids on some sort of insurance and getting tires (because The Mister (to be) says I have no excuse to not already have this done) and … there was something else. Perhaps doctor visits, too, depending upon the state of the sickies in this house. Want to switch pediatricians, too.

We want a doggie. A chihuahua. But … yeah, we’ll see.

I’m tired. Did I already say that? But tomorrow is my Friday. I can sleep in eventually (like when my kids are teenagers). Hasta luego.

Happy Tuesday!

Today is a very special day. It’s my brother Tyrel’s 26th birthday, and today Shanée gave birth to a beautiful baby girl! Miss Emma Elizabeth was born at 5:35 p.m. EST and weighed 9 pounds, 6 ounces. She was 22 inches long and Shanée said she is a mini version of her daddy!

I am so excited for them! They have tried for awhile and I know that Miss EE was long-awaited. Especially since she had to be evicted at 41 weeks, 2 days! lol. But welcome to the world, EE! And welcome to being the frazzled parents of two beautiful daughters, Shanée and Art!

Yesterday Jaiden lost another tooth. That child is really growing up. When she was 2, she had to have a tooth pulled due to an abcess; the dentist told us that it wouldn’t affect her permanent teeth, but four years later I know they will be crooked once that long lost tooth comes in. Assuming it does. The tooth fairy went to bed early and inadvertantly forgot to visit! Oops. BAD TOOTH FAIRY! But she snuck a dollar under Jaiden’s comforter at the last minute possible. Wouldn’t it be awful if she forgot altogether? It totally would. She used her dollar for ice cream today at school. lol. I’m really hoping that other tooth comes in soon, by the way. And I’m very proud of her; she usually has a wiggly tooth for months before it comes out and this time she twisted it out a few days after it got really loose, and actually lost it at school.

Meanwhile, my son was misbehaving down the hall in Pre-K> Sigh. Nothing too awful, just pushing and pulling kids on the slide. But still.

We spent the entire weekend working on our house! It was so exhausting. For real. Six adults, five kids (my three plus Caiden and Khloe). A five-gallon bucket of primer and a hefty to-do list.

The kitchen was a mess. It was our indoor deposit for everything: cleaning supplies, drinks, diaper bags and purses, my camera and even my butt a time or two.

The guys - Darin, Tyrel and my dad - worked on guy stuff: destroying my columns out front and rebuilding them (on purpose), drywall, other woodwork, primering said woodwork, getting on ladders and whatever else it was that boys do.

Us women folk did what women folk do: picked out paint colors, vacuumed, cleaned. Mom immediately got to work on the upstairs vanity (removing the ridiculous paint/stain/whatever and staining it dark brown) and I put poly on the trim she stained in the kitchen while Katie vacuumed. I also cleaned toilets and my whirlpool tub, which I found out takes an entire 30 minutes to fill (just over the jets, really!) because our faucet is more narrow than Sarah Palin’s mind. On Sunday, Mom continued with the vanity and Katie and I started to put primer over the crazy paint colors the previous homeowners chose. Moss green and gold. Wee. And that took, seriously, the entire day.

I was pooped, but not as much as Caiden was on Saturday.

The kids? Were pretty good, surprisingly. My kids had bikes to ride and toys to play with. Caiden also had toys to play with. Khloe, on the other hand, demonstrated that it really is hard out here for a pimp(ette). She slept through everything, seriously. Vacuuming in a house where the floor is tile and the ceiling is 17 feet tall? Is not quiet. In fact it is very loud. And it echoes. Crazy echoing going on. Crazy children being very loud and giving kisses. And a crazy loud table saw being operated outside on the front porch. And yet, the child slept.

The older two enjoyed getting all mavericky on my columns with the belt sander. And we all enjoyed our picnic-style lunches on any flat surface we could find.

We don’t yet have screens on our windows and bees kept flying in. A good reporter always comes prepared - my notebook killed many a bee. Late Sunday afternoon, I needed a break so I grabbed the camera and took a short walk in our little patch of woods, taking pictures of the beautiful colors (of poison ivy, ha). And I found out why the bees buzz through our windows (sounding like friggin weedeaters, for real): our huge bushes of thistle. At least I think that’s thistle? That’s what color my ‘thistle’ crayon is, anyway. Hopefully we can take those out, though I dig the purple.

We left Sunday night after Darin had an episode with low sugar. We didn’t necessarily need to leave once he was feeling better, but everyone was getting hungry and bored, so we headed out to a local restaurant for some yum food. And ice cream.

The good news? Everything that had to be done and replaced and repaired per our mortgage company has been done.

The bad news? We still have to paint a room with flat 17′ ceilings and a room with flat 12′ ceilings, plus the four bedrooms, the hallways and the garage. That makes me want to gag myself with a paint roller. Somehow. What a huge thing to have to do. Oy.

We’re hoping to close next week, but we won’t actually move in until the painting’s been done, I think. That frustrates me. I’m impatient. I’ve been waiting for 2½ years to move out into my own place. I’m being a bit of a whiny, spoiled brat about this because I just want it to be taken care of already! Grr. (The line, ‘O ye of little patience ..’ was actually written just for me.) My mom is supposed to help us paint and she’s leaving Sunday and will not return until Halloween. Just days after that, Darin leaves town for five days. So at the very earliest, it seems we’re looking at mid-November before we move in. Seriously? Not too happy about that. And neither is my ADD. But I digress.

I was flipping through Darin’s mom’s Pottery Barn Kids catalog today. The Brooke Bedroom took my breath away. Be still my beating heart. I would LOVE that for the little girls’ room! Even the Marissa is uber adorable (and reminds me of Emily). Jaiden also found several she liked. But, alas, I do not have Pottery Barn money. I’m thinking I should add it to our wedding registry and pray. Am also loving the birdie fabric listed on the registry - hoping to use that as drapes for our bedroom.

A girl can dream, can’t she?

You have to see the Flickr set of photos from this weekend. lol. Everyone talks badly about me and makes mean jokes because I always take pictures, but I’m glad I do.

And on that note, I’m headed to bed!

I have a ‘what would you do?’ kind of question: would you have your child tested for allergies against your doctor’s advice?

And here’s the situation.

During the school year every year, Jaiden stays sick. I don’t mean the normal ’sick’, I mean bronchial issues. The cough that sounds like a barking seal, from August to June. The first year it was bronchiolitis (rhinitis is what is in her chart, says the NP we saw last). Last year she was in the hospital with pneumonia. This year, same deal. The barking seal cough. All kinds of mucus in the lungs. She’s coughed so much she has thrown up three different night this week (not just a little mucus vomit, either; she threw up everything in her stomach).

When she was sick a month ago with something else, the ridiculous seal cough was just making an appearance, so I thought I’d be proactive and talk to the nurse practitioner about it. She told me it could be allergies and when I tried to discuss allergy testing, she gave me the answer I hate getting (my mom says it all the time): “Well my kids lived with allergies and all that mucus. And besides, do you know how many needles are involved with that?”

Um, I think so? My son had allergen testing done when he was 15 months old.

The NP gave me a bag full of medicine that she gave her kids when they were little and sent me on my way, pretty adamant that she didn’t recommend doing allergy testing for what she suspects is allergies. She just wants me to bring her home, pump her full of meds when she’s mucus-y and stay this way?

This, honestly, goes against my preferences. I’m not a person who regularly medicates herself, much less her children. If they need Tylenol or Motrin or Benadryl or Dimetapp, let’s do it, but they have not been diagnosed with medical conditions which require daily medication. If you’re going to send me home with a bag of pill bottles, give me a diagnosis. Find the problem, don’t just treat the symptoms.

My doctor’s office and I are not necessarily compatible. When Jenna was jaundiced as a newborn, they advised me to discontinue breast-feeding and put her on the bottle, stating it would help (no, and that advice is not very supportive of breast-feeding mothers). A year ago when Jaiden had pneumonia, the NPs we saw advised me to rush her to the children’s hospital in Memphis, scaring the hell out of me; the doctor who owns the clinic told my brother later (he is involved with my brother’s mother-in-law) that the trip to LeBonheur was unnecessary, that he could have treated her here. And yesterday, when I called and asked for advice because I suspected that Jenna ate a bunch of chewable children’s aspirin, they told me to rush her to the ER, but poison control said it wasn’t a lethal dose when I called them.

Simply put, I think for myself. I know that there are other ways to do things - more natural ways, for instance. Just like a smart consumer, I research diagnoses and treatment. And I know that I don’t have to go along with what they say just because they have a diploma on their wall. I’m really questioning this advice I was given, and now I’m asking you, oh Internets, what you would do? Listen to your child cough every school year until she graduates (three down, 12 to go!) or try to find out why she’s coughing?

So let me know what you’d do.

That aside, yes, you did read that Jenna ate Tylenol yesterday. Poison control told me she’d be fine. But she stayed with me at work because her teacher wanted to play it safe. I work next door to the hospital (literally; so close their employees smoke on our property) and if something happened, we’re right there. She was acting fine all day. No issues. Well, issues because she’s two and does not sit still longer than five seconds, but no problems as a result of the Tylenol. She went to lunch with Gwen, Emily and I and had fun. After lunch, we stopped by the new house to show it off to Emily. When we got back to the office, I set up the Pack N Play I’d neglected to take out of my car (see, came in handy!) and she eventually went to sleep (this child doesn’t watch TV or movies, unless it’s Calliou, so it’s difficult to get her to sit still). She slept until about half an hour before it was time to leave.

I send my kids to school during the day for a reason: so I can actually work. I did get a few things done, but not as much as I wanted. lol. Oh well, it was Friday.

Last night we had dinner with Darin’s parents. It was their anniversary - next year is #20! And next Oct. 3, we’ll all be down in Texas for his sister’s wedding. I can’t wait. She bought her dress when she was here during Hurricane Ike. It’s beautiful.

Afterward, we went to Wal-Mart to buy Jaylen some pants (it’s 47°F here right now) and ended up getting things for the new house. Well, things for the bathrooms. Shower curtain rods, one of those things to put over the toilet to hold towels and whatnot and toilet paper holders that match the existing fixtures (all are the brushed bronze). We got a white shower curtain for the kids’ bathroom (walls are tan, trim is white) and then sky blue, apple green, buttery yellow and white towels. I also bought white 5×7 frames and a pack of [Martha Stewart] scrapbooking papers in the same colors, then framed them last night. They look so cute! (Hoping they don’t curl because of the humidity.) There are some whimsical little rainforest animal things like toothbrush and soap holders at Wal-Mart that I think we’ll get because they also go in the room. I’m really excited about it! I also had a shower curtain that I’ve always liked and wanted to use and planned to use in our bathroom, but I changed my mind. Hoping Target has something with more robin’s egg blue than just teal and yellow and brown and white stripes.

Today we have a soccer game and then working in the house all day. We plan to close in two weeks! I’m so excited!

I feel like Meredith Grey because I talk about this so often. All you Cristinas out there can tell me to shut up, you’re tired of hearing it, but I just need to get it off my chest. (Be my person, all of you. lol.)

I don’t like being an only parent.

Single parents everywhere know what I mean. The fighting. The rebellion. The dirty diapers and clothes. The responsibility of three is overwhelming. The bills (today I’m paying for school pictures, a fund-raiser and snack for 39 children because both older kids have snack today). It would be nice to have a ‘daddy’ weekend once in awhile, for instance …

But more than all of that, I don’t like being the only one of their parents who is actually involved with them. Our relationship is over, but I still wish I could call their father and say, “Hey, you’ll never guess what Jenna said today!” or “Jaylen made THE CUTEST little person today!” or “Jaiden’s teacher says she’s super sweet and very smart!” and have that met with more than just an “Oh, okay …”

Sometimes when I look at them, I remember how they were as babies. And I think about just how much I miss certain things. Then I get angry because he is choosing to miss all of this. How can someone do that? I know firsthand that children are difficult, but to elect to miss years of your child’s life is just beyond me.

A few weeks ago, his sister asked how anyone could possibly be happy to be divorced, and among my long list of reasons, I noted that he didn’t even fight for visitation with the kids. He has been awarded none. And I think that’s sad.

Honestly, it really hurts my feelings. I don’t talk about this with the kids because I don’t want to upset them (and it’s just not a good thing to do, in my opinion), but I know they hurt too. I just wish that I could fill in that void (or that Darin can), but I’m pretty sure having your father blatantly ignore your existence, except for every once in awhile when he calls or sends money, is a scar that is not easily healed.

Just before we left for church this morning, I started feeling pukey. Goes right along with how I felt yesterday. But we went anyway and while we were there, I developed a very painful headache. Gotta love it.

But today was Sunday and we had things to do, so I gladly gave up the thought of laying on the couch complaining about dying. We wanted to get some work done with the house. It was a gorgeous day and the kids could play in the backyard, so that’s what we set out to do. We got all of our things together - Pack N Play for Jenna to sleep in, bikes for the kids, sidewalk chalk and random other things, plus cleaning supplies and tools - and headed out. I got the master suite completely vacuumed - floors, windows, walls, corners and each and every crevice - before I started feeling really, really pukey. The house had been winterized, but the water’s back on and so I had to clean toilets. Or just one. Last time we were there, all of the kids had to use the bathroom, and my coworker that lives down the street, who was there with us, took Jaiden down to her house. Meanwhile, Jenna pooped her pants. So I brought bathroom cleaner this time. That toilet? Is the cleanest thing in that house.

We were supposed to have dinner with Darin’s best friend - whom I’ve never met! - but they didn’t want our first meeting to happen when I was not feeling my best. (What the heck? We’re not going on a first date! lol.) So we scrapped our plans to meet with him because I was still feeling icky. We were also supposed to go to Tyrel & Katie’s while we were down there to see Khloe, but I didn’t think it was such a smart idea to see my itty bitty niece and my sweet little nephew with a tummy bug, so we didn’t go there either.

We had some errands to run at Lowe’s, and thanks to a wonderfully generous gift from Darin’s parents, we’re able to purchase what we need for the house and thensome. See? There IS a God! Such a huge weight off of our shoulders, seriously. Anyway, we’d had a refrigerator picked out at our Home Depot, but since the giftcard was to Lowe’s, we headed there. I insisted I was fine, sure that the tummy sickness would just go away if I ignored it. We picked out our fridge, an over-the-range microwave, bought two digital thermostats, two doors and special ordered one for the linen closet. And it took forever, it seemed (EVERYTHING feels like forever when you have four kids fighting).

But we got what we needed at pretty decent prices. We stuck to our planned budget on a refrigerator, even though we could have splurged. (Darin said that’s what he loves about me. lol.) The existing appliances in the kitchen are black and stainless steel, but we went with a black fridge. It was $200 cheaper than it’s stainless and black brother and seemed like it’d show a lot less fingerprints.

The kids and I were beyond impatient and cranky and afterwards we stopped by IHOP for dinner. I was hungry, but not in the mood to eat what I’d ordered. And by this time, my tummy was feeling mostly better, but my body? Um, yeah right. It felt like I’d been up and running for 24 hours or something. It was all I could do to drive home. lol.

I seriously should have rested, though Darin had about the same progression with this on Friday/Saturday. What I have - the stomach flu or the flu AND a stomach bug - is going around.

It’s now Monday morning (I fell asleep) and I’m going to have to take a sick day. Which I hate doing, especially because it’s paper day. In a few minutes I need to drag my children out of bed so we can get dressed and they can go to school. When I get back, I’ll need to write up my stuff for the paper. I hate getting sick because, as a mommy, I’m pretty much left to fend for myself. Darin would come over and take care of me (he did last night), but he has to work. Wah.

Remember the title of the last entry about the house? Yeah, not so much.

We had the appraiser come out on Monday and the home inspector on Wednesday. The home inspector so graciously gifted us with a list of defective items - like the downstairs AC unit and the doors that are not hung properly (seriously) and drywall repairs and whatever a GFCI is for the whirlpool tub. The next day, the mortgage company sent us the appraisal and will require us to make repairs to the house before it can close. And it’s a totally different list!

Um, yes. Freaking out. Because apparently they expect us to fix rotted wood siding and a column in the front of the house, plus other things, before we own the damn thing. Are they serious? Darin got into it with our contact at the company, asking her just that. And yes, apparently they are serious. He relayed some message to me about escrow and paying the money to the lawyer and whatever, but all that is just over my head. Also, we’ll be doing what we can ourselves (or, should I say that my dad, Darin and my brother are doing what they can themselves) and so there was also something about having to pay the lawyer for our own services or something? I don’t know.

Thankfully, the repairs don’t seem to be as bad and as costly as we’d originally thought. Yesterday Darin went and got measurements for doors that are missing and wrote up a list of what needs to be replaced and repaired and where. Not a terribly huge list, I’m told. I just wasn’t expecting to see all I did on the list (and I’ve been told that some things really aren’t that big of a deal). And hopefully the AC just needs to be charged after sitting for so long (almost 180 days). Let’s just hope. (Although we did find that the digital thermostat’s batteries were dead, so I’m hoping that THAT is the reason the inspector couldn’t get it to turn on.)

Thursday was not one of my better days, so when I looked at the list, I wanted to just bawl. I saw dollar signs. Big ones. We don’t want to go bankrupt any time soon, so we are not going to charge a lot of things. And whatever we spent on fixing the house - these things we didn’t plan on, like the AC - will come from our wedding budget. We were already working off of a skeletal budget and thus, my friends, if you will be at my wedding, don’t come expecting a meal. lol. Don’t come expecting the now popular “out of town guest bags”, which I would love to do (you can get a free copy of our annual publication, Discover Tipton County 2009 instead). I’ll work with what I’ve got, just don’t come expecting a whole lot. I will budge where I can if I need to, except on my photog. Food be damned, I will have Emily taking our pictures. lol.

It’s also really, really hard to save money when you have to cover for your ex because he is not living up to his obligations, or his company is not living up to their obligations for wage garnishments or his state is not sending you the money it should. Or whatever is going on. Yeah, I’m lucky to get anything, but I don’t know what is more frustrating, getting nothing or getting a check that is a quarter of what you should be getting. I’m supposed to get $422 every two weeks, but the amount I’ve received in the last month and a half is less than that. Frustrating? YES. So I called South Carolina and I called Tennessee, and no one has returned my calls. I also have to go back to court to straighten out the paperwork my f-ing lawyer screwed up, which will likely cost me MORE money. Hear that? Those sobs? Yes, that’s me.

Truth be told (yet again), I am SUPER excited about the house. It is appraised at $14K over our selling price, which Darin says is good. I was expecting - and hoping - for more than that, but apparently the state of the economy has something to say about it. The list price on the house was $6K more than it appraised for, so I’m glad we got the price we did. We would have been happy paying the list price for that house, honestly. lol. It’s big enough for our little family of six and sits on nearly an acre and a half - it’s a great price. Our paperwork told us that in May 2007, the house sold for $169,500 and this past February [I’m assuming the bank bought it] for about $144K. So hopefully the market rebounds in the near future, making our appraised value go up as well.

See, in a few years, construction on our segment of I-69 is supposed to begin. TDOT officials have not yet released their timeline of when they will begin to acquire the right of ways (meaning, buying up folks’ homes and properties). But we will live in between two interchanges (and a third will be just minutes away). Like RIGHT in between two interchanges. I don’t know if they intend to purchase this property or not, but if they do we would like to see an appraisal above what we currently have. WAY above. And if they don’t buy the property .. eh, whatever, I guess. At least Darin will be very close to the interstate, which will be great news for his commute.

Anyway. Tired of hearing about the house?

We have another busy weekend. As always. I feel like a broken record when I say that, because we are rarely not busy. This morning we have a soccer game and today is the Heritage Festival in Covington. Which I am expected to work. Except that Darin was going to watch the kids and he is sick. And I’m getting whatever he has, of course, and passed out at about 8:30 p.m. last night. Tomorrow we’re supposed to be having dinner with Darin’s best friend and visiting Khloe, but that depends on who’s sick and who’s not. Next weekend is BBQ fest. We have soccer games up until Nov. 1. And work? Ha. We’re going to be busier than ever, which really pisses me off, honestly. A special section or something EVERY SINGLE WEEK until the end of the year. PLUS our Discover book, which is HUGE. I ALREADY do not have time enough with my family AND we don’t get paid OT, which we work every single week as it is. So Sherri and I are not exactly thrilled about all of this. I know this time of year is always busy, but when you more than double our workload, it sucks. Sherri has three boys, Gwen has two kids (and one is a brand new baby) and I have my three plus we’re moving and planning a wedding … I just don’t see how this will all work out smoothly. Quite frankly, I’m unhappy. Very much so.

Yesterday I surprised the kids and had lunch with them at school. I miss doing things like that. In the afternoon, I had a story to cover at their school, so I got to see them a lot during the day. It was great. But here in the next couple of months, I’ll get to see them less and less, which I absolutely hate. Is it worth it? Yeah, I don’t know. Especially when I’m volunteering my time. I understand that our interim publishers are trying hard to turn things around at the paper money-wise, but the editorial staff does not benefit from that. With added special sections, sales reps make more money off of the ads and the paper makes more money from those ads, but us? Yeah, we’re salaried. Which can be good, but when it comes to the point where you’re getting paid for 40 hours and you regularly work 60, it’s not all that great. I really do love my job, I’m just disgruntled today and already very stressed out before I even heard about all of this extra stuff at work. (DEEP BREATH.)

While I was at the kids’ school yesterday, I talked with Jaiden’s teacher and she was telling me that Jaiden was so sweet and so smart and everyone loved her. It’s always nice to hear things like that - and I have heard that three years in a row now from her teachers. lol. Everyone DOES love Jaiden.

Jaylen has been misbehaving in school lately and it’s frustrating me. He knows how to behave, and I wish he would tell me his issue.

Alrighty, gotta get the babies breakfast before we head out to soccer. Next season we’ll live about three minutes from the fields, I can’t wait!