My New Blog Spot

Just wanted you all to know that I've found a new place to blog...

http://blog.myspace.com/poppycorn95

Hope you will all join me there. My husband and I are TTC - hopefully in May or June and I'm posting all my updates on my myspace account.

Anna

Busy Busy Busy

My life is so busy! *lol* It seems like I never have time to post anymore. I'm sorry for those of you who still check in here. I'll try to do better at posting more often. Can't promise it'll happen, but I'll try.

So what's been happening? Well I'm babysitting for my cousin. Her daughter is almost seven months old, and is really starting to interact with me. I have her twice a week while my kids are in school. So far it's not too hard to watch her, and it's giving me my baby fix.

What else? I signed up for college again. I already have an Associates Degree in Business, but I'd like to have something I can actually get a job with making a little better money. I don't want a job right now, of course, but I'd like to have a good degree to fall back on. So I'm going to get a Computer Information Applied Associates Degree from my home! Yep - all internet classes! I'm VERY excited!!

We're gearing up for Christmas around here. I've offered my foster children's grandmother the chance to have her three grandkids for Christmas. They'll be at her house until Christmas Evening, then they'll come home for OUR Christmas. I thought it was more important for them to get to be with actual family than with us. Plus it helps not having to buy Santa presents for them. We're still giving them a Christmas though.

Guess that's the update for now. Emily is demanding attention...

Vegas Trip Was Awesome!

My husband and I recently left for Las Vegas for four days. We decided we needed a grown up vacation without any children. Partly because we're foster parents are were feeling VERY burnt out, and partly because we hadn't had any time as a couple in almost a year. It's very difficult when you have seven children in the home to get out and do anything fun!

So anyways, Matt and I - along with his parents - went to Las Vegas last week. We stayed at the Excalibur Hotel and had a blast! We walked most of the strip and visited almost every hotel on the strip. I have to say that the Venitian was my favorite decor, but Circus Circus was were I won big!!

Speaking of winning... I won... $1058.00 on ONE slot machine!!!!! It was awesome! The bells and whistles were going off, and people were stopping to see what was going on. Then ten minutes later my husband won another $300.00!!!!!!!

It actually worked out that we came home with $1400.00!!! After factoring in our hotel costs, our airline costs, and our food while we were there. We actually came home with about $115.00 more than when we left! *hehe* But it was so much fun!!

Matt made me go to the Hilton's Star Trek attraction while we were there. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I am NOT a Trekkie!!! But he enjoyed it, so it was worth it.

All in all it was a great vacation. We came home relaxed and ready to be parents again!! Of course, we didn't factor in the fact that the kids were going to be all over us and demanding our attention then minute we walked through the door!!! But it's ok. We're both refreshed enough now to handle them.

Now ask me again in a week and I'll probably be ready to pull my hair out! But for now, it's all good.

I love gymnastics!

Tomorrow my daughter has her second gymnastics meet of the year. I'm really hoping she does her best! This is her second year in Level 4 gymnastics, and she's really enjoying it!

I absolutely love gymnastics! I don't just love watching my daughter perform, I love watching all the girls. They don't even have to be on my daughter's gymnastics team for me to root for them. My husband just doesn't understand it. He likes watching Jenna for the few minutes that she performs, but otherwise he is perfectly happy reading a magazine.

That's why when I go to Jenna's gymnastic meets I usually take my mother or go alone! It's just more fun when I don't have him sighing in boredom! Plus it saves on babysitting fees. If he's not going to enjoy it then it's a lot easier to leave him at home with the six other kdidos.

Not to mention that it's my break from everything. I love sitting there for three hours knowing that I have nothing important to be doing. I don't have to worry about the kids getting in trouble in the back rooms. I don't have to worry about what is for dinner. I don't have to worry about entertaining my husband. I can just sit there, zone out if I want too, and enjoy watching my daughter at her best sport.

Now I just went to take Conner to Indianapolis to be tested for gymnastics. He is in the boy's class at our local gym, but they don't have a boy's gymnastics team here. This other gym was very impressed with Conner and said they would immediately move him to Level 4 and start him competing in December!!!!!!!

Unfortunately I can't do it. The hours they practice and the 1.5 hours it would take to even get to the gym make it out of the question. But I did find one in Lafayette that is only 45 minutes away from us. They only practice twice a week for two hours. I'm still trying to convince Matt to let me sign him up.

He is worried about the money, the gas, and the fact that I would be gone for 4 hours twice a week. And I understand his concerns, but we gave Jenna the opportunity to grow into a team gymnast so we need to give Conner the same opportunity.

Not to mention that I LOVE gymnastics and know that he'd be an awesome gymnast! If only I could talk our local gym into starting a boy's gymnastics team. Right now they are just not interested.

Are you just being you?

"Are you just being you, or are you like, on your period?" That's the question my 11 year old daughter had the nerve to ask me this morning. Yeah she's still alive, and No I didn't act on any of the thoughts going through my head.

And what, you may be asking, brought on her comment? She is selling crap for a school fundraiser and I wouldn't let her spend $21 on three items so she could have a $.50 bracelet. Apparently they have deadlines on when certain amounts need to be sold before they can get any prizes. Well I'm sorry, but I don't have the extra money right now to help all four kids in the school sell $20 worth of products for a cheap bracelet.

Drama. It's everywhere in my life right now. And unfortunately, I'm having to stop and think about Jenna's question. AM I just being me? Am I really turning into a period crazed hateful woman even off of my period? If so then I need to make some major changes. Because I don't want to have my children look back on their childhood and think of what a horribly mean mother they had.

I'll tell you what my problem is. I'm overworked. I may not have a job outside the home, but I sure work enough for three working women while I'm home. For one I'm never here. I'm constantly running these kids around. for another the laundry is NEVER ENDING!!!!!!! And I'm just so tired.

Something has to change. I want to be the fun-loving mother I was when my kids were little. Somehow someway I'm going to have a better attitude. Maybe I'll start tomorrow. Right now I'm not feeling nice. In fact I wanna just SCREAM! *ugh* I need to go back to bed.

So I'm a Little Obsessive

I'll admit that. When I find a project that I enjoy I am all into it. Take scrapbooking. I went to one party and had such a good time that I just HAD to purchase the entire Creative Memories starter kit! But that's not all, I then had to buy every tool I could find to do with scrapbooking. Didn't matter that I didn't know how to use most of it, I had to do it! And heaven forbid I see a sales add for Hobby Lobby or Joann Fabrics! If I know there are scrapbooking supplies on sales, well...I just have to go! How can I resist a 40-50% off sale?!?

Well my latest project has been the no sew blankets. My friend thought she was being a good friend and gave me the instructions on how to complete them. So of course I had to try it out to see if it was as easy as she said. That's all it took.

Man alive. My husband is ready to kill me! I've spent a good $530 in two weeks on fabric. BUT in my defense, it was all on SALE!! Joann Fabric Store was having a 50% off sale on their fleece fabrics. But it's sort of his fault.

You see I was just minding my own business making a blanket for Macie's bed when Matt walked in and started going on and on about how little time that it took me and how they'd make GREAT Christmas presents. He actually suggested that I make them for everyone.

So in all honesty it was my husband's fault. He gave me total control of getting Christmas presents for my ten siblings, my two sisters in law, and of course, blankets for both sets of parents, the grandparents, and one aunt.

In two weeks time I have completed 27 fleece blankets. Obessed? Yes I am. Burnt out? You betcha I am! My poor fingers are killing me! Especially my cuticles. They are raw and so sore right now. Not to mention the fact that I had to take a three day break from making these blankets, because I damaged a nerve in my left hand.

But these blankets are so cool looking! Not one of the kids' blankets are the same. And they really are super fast to make. The worst part is tying all the little knots together.

The good news is that I only have three more blankets to make and then I'm DONE WITH CHRISTMAS!!!! Never again will I attempt a crafty project like this for Christmas. It's too time consuming, and when we added up all the money we spent on fabric, we realized these really weren't cheap to make! About $20 per blanket. Which isn't really bad, but it's a little more than we should have spent on all my mom's kids.

Oh well, this is something they can use for years, and I know they'll love them. Now I'm off to see if I can finish these blankets once and for all. Hopefully Matt won't think of anyone else that needs one. (He's good at that!)

Here Comes Christmas

I can honestly say that I am not looking forward to Christmas this year. It's so hectic for us that it's not really enjoyable. Oh sure I love to get together and see all the family members, but we have seven Christmas parties to attend every year.

Yes you read that correctly - SEVEN.
1. Our family Christmas (Christmas day)
2. My parents' house (Christmas eve)
3. Matt's parents' house (Christmas day)
4. My grandma's house(Christmas eve)
5. Matt's dad's extended family's house (Weekend before Christmas)
6. Matt's mom's extended family's house (Weekend before Christmas)
7. My grandpa's house (Christmas day - if we go)

And HEAVEN FORBID you don't go to a party. The world will come to an end, the silent treatment will be unbearable, the guilt will be laid on thick. It's just NOT acceptable to miss a Christmas party.

It doesn't matter that we have seven children, and that all but two of the parties require us to purchase our OWN gifts for the children. I mean really, we must be made of money, right? But forget about trying to go without a gift. Why it just isn't Christmas if the kids don't have at least one gift to open at each party.

We found out the hard way that extended family members feel that foster children should NOT get the same amount of gifts as the adopted/biological children. It's obvious that they still have family members who purchase Christmas for them on their visits and it's not right for them to get more presents that our own kids. (So they say). So we always have to purchase a few extra gifts to sneak in in case a grandparent or aunt attempts to give uneven gifts out. Now I agree that gifts should be even. But a child does not understand why they don't get a gift and other kids do. It's not their fault they are in foster care. But family members (Not all, but several) just don't understand that as long as the children are in our home, they ARE our children. And they get the same gifts and attention that our own children receive.

So anyways, we have two more months until Christmas and I am so not looking forward to the parties. Just once I'd love to be able to stay home and let the kids have a Christmas at home - where they could actually play with their toys, lounge around in their pjs, and just enjoy the relaxation. But alas, when you live within fifteen minutes of every relative, it's just not possible.