$100

So the game center is really coming along! Yee haw! The computers have arrived and the guys are there round the clock getting everything set up. I went over this afternoon for about 2 hours and just picked up trash and plastic bags and twistie ties and carboard boxes. It's a lot of stuff they are unpacking!!


Today was my last day at work, and can you believe that I was $100 SHORT in my drawer today? That never happens and why oh why was I short $100, not over?? I told my boss he could call me Monday if they figured it out. I did NOT want to go out on a note like that.

Chaos

So Josh and his two partners pulled an all-nighter last night. Today we had the fire marshal, the building contractors, the electrician, the property manager and I'm not sure who else coming to check to make sure the building was ready to go. Of course our tables aren't done and so we were there late (I went home at 10:30) painting the tables. The chairs still needed to be put together, the trash picked up. You know, general chaos.


But the good news is, it was all worth it, because we passed the inspection!!!!!!

The good news is...

So the good news is that Carsten slept fine in his bed, after he finally fell asleep. The bad news? He woke up about an hour after he fell asleep and proceeded to puke up his guts over and over through out the night. No fun at all. While I was cleaning it up in the night, I kept thinking that my stomach was a bit off, too. Nothing really happened though, and so I just went to work the next day. That night though, I got sicker and actually threw up myself. So not fun. I missed both services yesterday which never happens.


Today, I'm okay, and Carsten seems fine. When I went to get him up out of his bed today, he was laying horizonal to his bed, on the carpet! I'm not sure how or when that happened, but he didn't seem to care.

Ty was really pokey getting going this morning. He kept complaining that his stomach hurt (great!) and that he was tired. Finally, I said he could stay home if his stomach really was hurting. I mean, it wasn't unlikely that he could have the same flu as the rest of us, right? Well, a while later, I noticed he was up and playing around and then comes in to announce to me that he's hungry. I told him to get his coat on, because he was going to school.

Tonight, we're headed to the store to lay carpet and paint tables. Things are coming together!

Making the move...

I'm kicking myself for not just saying a straight two weeks (which would have put my last day as Friday the 30th) but I was trying to be nice. Now I'm really wishing I had that Saturday.


Big day for us today! Carsten is officially in his toddler bed! I wasn't sure how the transition would go, but it went okay. I only had to get after him 3 times to get out of his brother and sister's room and into his own bed! The other two were moved long before this, but what can you do?

He also learned to say "I love you," today. Gotta love that! It comes out, "eye yove yew'. I've been waiting for that one for 27 months!!

Our house foundation is being poured! We drove by tonight and there's a huge hole and huge encasements which, we're assuming, is holding the concrete in place while it sets. Things are really moving along!

Our store is also moving along quickly, too! Josh and I have been painting a lot of nights, and tonight he went to help finish building the pentagon tables. The carpet is being laid Monday night, and the building inspection is Wed.

Ty's 7th Birthday Letter...

Dear Tyrus,


Today is your 7th birthday, and you are such a beautiful young man. I am so proud to be called your mother. This was the first time you had a slumber party, and from the looks of it, you had a great time celebrating your birthday. You guys stayed up until 2:00 in the morning!! Ha!

This year has been a big one for you. First grade started in the spring and once again, you are excelling at your schoolwork. Your teachers adore you and you seem to really love going to school. Just a little bit ago when we were on Winter Break you told me you preferred going to school, vs staying home on break! I’m sure at some point in the future that will change!  Your reading skills are so much improved from last year! I’m amazed at how much you can read now! Way to go!

You’ve lost quite a few teeth this year. Your top two, and two others on the bottom decided to come out this year. One of the teeth you actually lost, and we’ve yet to find it! You are starting to get your adult teeth in now, and they look so big in comparison to the baby teeth surrounding them. You still have a beautiful smile though, and I love to see it.

I look back 7 years ago when you were a brand new baby, and I think that it can’t be possible that it was 7 years ago. There’s no way that time has gone by this quickly. But it has, and you are a wonderful young man with a sweet sensitive soul. God has blessed your daddy and me to have you, and we love you more than you will ever know.

The year ahead will be a big one for us! Our new house is being built, and you are excited to finally have your own room. Our gaming center is opening soon, and that’s something we’ve all been looking forward to. And I am quitting my job to be able to stay at home with you guys.

The other night, you prayed when it was time to go to bed and your prayer touched my heart. You asked Jesus to touch your dad and mom, your brother and sister, your grandmas and grandpas, your cousins and friends. You asked Him to touch or new house and game center, and for Jesus to help our friends stop smoking. It was very sweet.

Tyrus, I love you so very, very much. Thank you for being my firstborn baby, and for being the sweet young man that you are. I love you. Happy Birthday, baby boy! (And as your 2 year old brother says,“Hapadupaduh!”)

Love,

Mamma

It's time to par-tay!

Ty was just so excited about his party and all that. His friends came and we had a nice party. He just had a grin on his face the whole time. The boys stayed up until 2 AM playing video games/watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and having pillow fights. Only one mishap - Ty standing over me in the darkness at 2ish saying "Alex's nose is bleeding because Isreal stepped on his face in the dark, and I can't find the band-aids."


I fed them breakfast (waffles, turkey bacon, sausage, OJ) and then they all got dressed and brushed their teeth and then the parents started to come and get them. When they were all gone, Ty cried and was sad. I knew he'd have a meltdown - between the major high energy of the party and the super late night, he'd be a mess. And he was. He perked up about an hour later though and was fine again.

Alexis had a grand time as well with her friend Emily spending the night. It was the first time she'd spent the night away from home at some place other than Grandma and Grandpas. She did great! Emily's mom said the girls talked and talked at the store in the home furnishings area like "oooh, this is so beautiful." She said they were a crack up.

Tonight, we had our employee appreciation dinner for my company. Yesterday when I was giving my notice to my boss, I asked him if I could still come tonight. He said yes. Anyway, so many people came up to me and said they were "mad and me" and "how could you leave us" and then from all 4 HR people "you can come back any time you want" or "let us know if something changes - even before you go, you can have your job back." That all made me feel good. Nothing like leaving on the right note, you know?

A Very Particular Child

Tomorrow night is Ty's slumber party for his birthday. The kid is so funny. He's very particular and keeps coming up to either me or Josh asking us questions like, "so if we are going to rent an XBOX game, when exactly would we do that?" So Josh answers him, and then a bit later Ty says, "Ok, so when we go get the XBOX game, which one exactly will we get?"


Thankfully, he did help (as did Alexis) me take up all of Carsten's toys, and clean up his room to make room for the 34 blankets and pillows that will be in here tomorrow night. It should be fun, right?

Carsten's new word for today is "oh tay" when you say something like, "go get your book, Carsten." "Oh tay, momma."

Big Baby

Today Alexis was throwing a fit, like usual, and was insistant that she'd had "this same pair of jammie pants for 20 years!" I said, "Alexis. That's not possible. You're not even 20 years old. How can you have had the same pair of pj pants for 20 years?" Then she says, "look at me! I used to be a little baby, and now I'm a big baby!" And with that, she stormed off into her room.


Uh, yep, girlie. You nailed it on the head!

2 Weeks Notice

So tomorrow, I'm putting in my two week notice to my job. I don't really know how I feel about it - can you tell?! In some ways I'm thrilled to have my days back and thrilled I'll have the kids full time and can have better control on what they're eating and what they're watching, etc. On the other hand, I'm nervous about quitting a job, in Michigan nonetheless, and that I'll loose contact with the friends I've made there. But, when all the smoke clears, I'm making no money at all, really. And Josh is doing great at his job and we're starting this business. So I'm optimistic that this is the right choice!

B...R...A...

Funny thing happened last night - We were in the van and Josh was quizzing Ty on his spelling words. The word was 'brain' and Ty says "B...R...A..." and then we hear this tiny voice from Carsten saying "I..N..!"


It was the most hysterical thing ever!!!

So long!

So I made reservations tonight for Ty's birthday party at our neighborhood commmunity center. I think I'm just going to get some pizza's, pop and cake and call it good. He doesn't care. The family is going to come for the main part, then we'll send them all home and bring the boys back here to let them have fun all stinkin' night long! Ha! I've got to get the invites ready, though.


So we no longer have a highchair in our home. I felt a tad nostalgic about it today when I put it out by the dumpster because it's been a part of our life for so long. All three of my kids used it, plus my aunt used it for her three kids. So it's seen better days for sure, which is why I decided to toss it, vs putting it to Goodwill. Now the kitchen feels so much bigger. Ha! I did give it one more 'love pat' before I walked away, and then I wished it well.

Here are pictures of each kid at their first birthday party in the chair:

 
 

One Year, One Set of Posts

Tyrus turns 7 on the 17th of this month. He's every excited about this and really I think this is the first year that he's known for sure what date his birthday is. Each morning, he'll say things like, "Okay mom. Today is Jan 3rd. That means my birthday is in 15 more days, right?" He's funny.


We're doing a slumber party for the first time for him. We told him the other day we weren't sure yet (because Josh and I needed to discuss it) how many boys he could invite to his party because we don't have a lot of room. The next thing we know, he's gone off and gotten a piece of paper and a pencil and is drawing a diagram of our livingroom marking out where all the kids can sleep! We had a good laugh out of that!

He said to me he's ready to go to school again and prefers school to break. Whatever kid.

Recently, I taught him how to do the Suduko puzzles, and he figured it out, so now he loves those. He loves math, that's for sure.

Tonight, he could sense that I was feeling frazzled with the house. It was a wreck. I've worked and worked to try to get it back into order after 5 Christmases, and boxes and all the stuff that goes along with new things. Today I was gone most of the day at work, and so when we came back tonight we did a mass clean-up. I was getting Alexis cleaned up in the bath, only to come out to see that Ty's cleaned up their room, swept our kitchen floor, put away the rest of the toys that were out, and made their beds! I thanked him and told him I loved him and I appreciated his help. He said, "You're welcome. Can I get some sort of treat or something?"

Alexis is my spunky one. She's going to be 5 in February and is so excited to be starting Kindergarten in the fall. She's also excited to get to spend the night with Grandma and Grandpa on the night of Ty's slumber party.
 
I'm working really hard with her to get her to stop biting her nails. It drives me batty when she constantly has her hands up there chewing on her fingers when she's nervous or whatever. We've talked about it a lot, and a few times, she's been in tears wanting to know how to stop. I wish I knew how to help her with that.


She's really turning into a beautiful young girl. Tonight, a friend of ours who hasn't seen her in a while commented on it. I'm afraid for the teenage years, because with her attitude she throws sometimes, plus her good looks, yikes.

Right now, she's on a Barbie kick. Part of it I think is that she got a bunch of new Barbie stuff for Christmas, so now the poor things actually have clothes to wear! She also has a "pet dog" that she feeds and takes care of and "gives medicine."

I decided the other day that she's old enough to get her self out of the tub and get dressed now. You may say, "of course she is" but the issue lies in the fact that she deals with ecxema, and needs lotion from head to toe. Always before, I helped her with this part because the lotion would be everywhere if I didn't. But, I thought about it and realized she's almost 5 and Ty was doing this stuff all on his own by her age (minus the lotion.) So I showed her how to squeeze the water from her hair, and how to wipe the lotion off her hands if she needed to move her hair somehow, etc. She seemed so excited and proud that I let her. I was just excited for one less chore!! The next thing we need to work on is her learning to shampoo and condition her own hair. But that will come with time...

We still struggle daily with anger and her initial instinct to be angry. We've talked and talked about making good faces and being kind to people and not being mean just to be mean. It's a struggle for her, and I hope we can nip this behavior in the bud. I know she can do it, because she has a good heart and she really wants to be nice. I know she does!

And then, there's Carsten. I looked at him the other day and said to Josh, "where on earth did we get two blonde boys?" Neither of us have been blonde a day in our lives.
 
Carsten is really beginning to talk. Everything is heavy on the "eee" sound, so words like "Gabe" come out "Geeib" and chip is really "cheep", etc. Last night, I turned the light out at bed time and he says to me, "Yight oneee, moma!" He calls himself "my" and Alexis "me." Tyrus is "Ty", Josh is "da-da" and I'm "mom." My mom is "grandpa" but so is grandpa. Grandma Lou (Josh's mom) is "Leew", and Stephanie is "Ni Ni." Cookies are "kiki's" and bananas are "banamanas". He also says "happy birthday" like "hapadupaduh." He also says "buba" before almost everything. "Buba go?" "Buba eat?" It's cute.


The poor kid is still in his crib. I really need to get his toddler bed up and the crib out. I'm feeling a bit nostolgic about the whole thing because then we won't need a crib any more... But, he's really ready and besides, the other kids were in it by his age. (He just turned 2 in October.) Also, when we move to our new house in June, I don't want him to have to adjust to a new bed in addition to a new room (by himself, at that!)

A New Year, a New Start

It's a new year, and a new time to start a fresh journal. This particular song has been on my heart lately, so I thought it fitting to name my journal after it.

There is so much going on right now in our lives. We are in the process of opening up a gaming center, which we are aiming to open up by Feb 6th. We are also building a house that is supposed to be ready mid-May, to June. My mother is having surgery on Feb 11th to remove a tumor that we don't know yet if it is malignant or not. And then, there is all the other day-to-day stuff that is going on.

Often I think about how I'd like to document things and write them down for posterity and also to keep track of what's going on and what's happening in our life. But then, life gets so busy, so hopefully I'll be better this year.

We're done having kids, and my babies are growing up. Things are happening so fast and time just keeps flying by that I keep realizing yet another day has gone by, and have I really hugged and loved on them enough that day? Did we take time to sit and cuddle and just enjoy one another? Did I pray for them? Have I given Carsten the chance to grab my face with both of his hands and plant a kiss on my lips like he so loves to do? Have I hugged Alexis and told her she's my very favorite girl in the whole wide world? Does Ty know that he's so very special to me and that I am very proud of him?

Or have I simply rushed from place to place, from dishwasher-filling, to dishwasher-emptying, to bed and back up again? Do my kids know that I love them more than they could ever imagine? Am I leaving them a legacy that will follow them all the days of their life?

I hope so. And maybe this journal, with a new start, a new title can help me do just that - let them be little.
Let Them Be Little by Billy Dean

I can remember when you fit in the palm of my hand.
You felt so good in it; no bigger than a minute.
How it amazes me you're changin' with every blink.
Faster than a flower blooms, they grow up all too soon.

So let them be little,
'Cause they're only that way for a while.
Give 'em hope, give them praise,
Give them love every day.
Let 'em cry, let 'em giggle,

Let 'em sleep in the middle,
Oh, but let them be little.

I never felt so much in one little tender touch.
I live for those kisses, your prayers an' your wishes.
An' now you're teachin' me how only a child can see.
Tonight, while we're on our knees, all I ask is:

Please, let them be little,
'Cause they're only that way for a while.
Give them hope, give them praise,
Give them love every day.
Let 'em cry, let 'em giggle,
Let 'em sleep in the middle,
Oh, but let them be little.

The so innocent, precious soul:
You turn around, an' it's time to let them go.

So let them be little,
'Cause they're only that way for a while.
Give them hope, give 'em praise,
Give them love every day.
Let 'em cry, let 'em giggle,
Let them sleep in the middle,
Oh, but let them be little.
Let them be little