Totally random things....

I have a confession...I am so not organized. I like to get organized...but there are forces here at home that work against me. For some reason and I think there are 4 of them...and I can not STAY organized.

So here is my April 25 resolution...I am going to force my kids to help me be more organized. We are going to have ORGANIZATION BOOT CAMP here at our house!! I am the 4 Star General and the boys are my platoon. I will force them into submission. We will either get this place organized or I will have them peeling potatoes or scrubbing the floors with a toothbrush!!!

Now on the lighter side...I walk out into the schoolroom today  just in time to see Scrappy jump from the top of the fireplace mantle onto the small trampoline! I tell him that I am sure this is not a good idea and he reassures me that it is. I walk out of the room shaking my head thinking what a "great story" this will make when I have to go to the ER with all 4 boys by myself!! Then tonight as I am TRYING to herd the boys to bed by myself...Scrappy thinks he needs a snack. I tell him that we already had a snack. His reply was startling and yet very funny. He was not ugly or using a harsh tone, but he said..."Sheesh , settle down Mom, settle down."

We have taken Skeeter's paci away because the dog was taking them away from him and chewing on them. Since we did that(about 2 weeks ago) Skeeter has stopped taking naps. He is 2 and no where ready to give the nap up. Scout is out of town and bedtime is a complete chaos session. It is like herding worms!! Especially when there is only one to do it. It goes much smoother with 2. Anyway, I caved today and went and bought more pacifiers. It is almost heavenly here. Skeeter went right to bed tonight. Usually it takes about 30 minutes of him wandering before we can get him to stay in bed. That $3.96 was the best money I have spent in a long time!! 

Time you can never get back...

Melody tagged me..and since all the people I know have already been tagged....here are 7 random things about me.....

1.  I love to go to the Zoo. So far our favorite is the St. Louis Zoo. It is free to get in!! That makes it even better.

 

2.  I broke my tailbone when I delivered Scrappy.

3.  I like to collect rocks and sea shells.

4.  I  hate camel crickets....those things should be renamed kangaroo crickets...man can they jump.

5.  I have never been pulled over/gotten a ticket. I leave that to Scout...I honestly can not tell you how many he has had.

6.  I love chocolate milk.

and ...........

7.  Once upon a time, I helped to sculpt a very large male anatomy part out of snow (Right Mary Jo???) Which I later had a TON of regret over!! 

So, there  you have it...7 random things that you never knew about me and now you can never get those 2 minutes back!!

Purge Mode

I am full blown afflicted with spring fever!!! I am on a whirlwind tour of getting "it" out of my house!!! What is 'it' you ask??!! Oh it really doesn't matter. If it is laying around...it is gone. If it doesn't fit someone in this house...it is gone. If it is broken or missing pieces...it is gone. If it is not being used...it is gone. I just want IT out of here!!! I am finding excuses for more and more stuff to go!!!!

I am just so tired of looking around at all this stuff and actually seeing that we are blessed so far beyond on measure and we often do not even appreciate it because we have so very much. 

If only I got this bug before the church give away....but I digress!!

Anyway...check with me on Sunday to make sure that one of the boys didn't find themselves being labeled an it!!! No I am just kidding! Well mostly!!

This is me venting!

Today we had another doctor appointment. It was for Skipper. We were filling out papers to try to get TEFRA for him as well. We have done this 2 other times for the two little boys...but it is so time consuming to do it! The doctor was great. He was all for it and did what he could to convince the medial review team to help us out. (Thank you blog stalker Christie for watching the other 3 boys  for me!!!)

We have had a couple weeks of new "problems" or what ever you want to call it thrown at us.  And really I do not know how I feel about most of it-yet. I do not want to seem like a cry baby, because I know there are TONS of families that have way more things going on than we do. But this is my life and it is all that I know. 

I am so tired of having a specialist for each of my kids. We never go to Little Rock with out working in a trip to Arkansas Children's. We have great doctor's do not get me wrong. I just think it is odd that we have to have them. We have been given  more things to add to our 'list.' A few with Skipper and 2 with Skeeter. I hate that I can not fix things for them. I wish I could wave my fairy wand and make everything better...for all 4 of them.

I want to stand and yell...this is not fair. Enough Already!!! I want a do-over!! But that is not going to happen in this lifetime. I know that none of this stuff changes who God is or who we/I am in Him. I know that he never promised an easy path. So for now I take a deep breath-and keep my eyes on the prize. And try to help my kids do the same.

HUH???

Today at lunch. Scrappy got very upset. He comes crying to me and says that he doesn't want the Oreo cookies I gave him. He doesn't like them. Then he finishes with, I just want broccoli!!!

WHAT?? He doesn't want Oreos?? He wants broccoli??!!

Go figure.

My Favorite Things

In no particular order...

• cotton candy
• snow cones
• movie popcorn 
• baby ducks
• the ocean
• old family mementos
• daisies
• Ironstone
• The Princess Bride
• snow globes
• bubble baths
• love notes
• new crayons
• flea markets
• pictures drawn by my kids
• my hubbie
• my kids
• a cozy blanket
• sleeping children
• roasting marshmallows
• Black & white photos
• Gone With the Wind
• Crime & Punishment
• scratch & sniff stickers
  
• cupcakes with butter creme icing
• vanilla cokes (from Sonic)
• my iPhone
• zoos
• Calvin & Hobbs
• The Scarlet Letter
• old friends
• The Glass Menagerie
• The Book of John
• Purple Lilac bushes
• Christmas Eve
• snowmen
• my mom's sugar cookies
• anything Scout grills
• porch swings
• kids laughing
• peppermint white chocolate mocha's
• notepads
• pens
• sharpies
• new friends
• unexpected gifts
• stickie notes
• digital cameras
• my parents farm
• Jose's salsa
• banana splits
• The book of Proverbs
• kisses from my boys
• hearing Scout laugh
• new socks
• The hymn How Great Thou Art
• The hymn Amazing Grace
• Southside church of Christ
• e mail
• my family
• really good sweet tea
• Tracy Brown's chicken salad
• The song The Lion Sleeps Tonight
• Play-dough
• KLRC (that's KNWA to you Christie!!!  ;0)

My new favorite quote

OK, I gave it a good run! I tried to blog yesterday, but things(read kids) just kept needing my attention!!

 

I was looking up quotes the other day and I ran across what I think may be the most profound quote outside of the Bible. It really hit home with me. I felt like it was written for me, to me and about my family.  

Here is that life changing quote:

Boy- (noun)- noise with dirt on it.

I can SO relate to this. This is Scar. He is by far the noisiest of all the boys. He just makes noise ALL the time. The fact that is unproductive grunts, squeals, squeaks, yelps, screams, barks, gunfire, snorting...whatever is the truly amazing part. You name it, he makes it.  (there he went...just a loud yelp thing!!) I am honestly amazed at him. He just never (he yells and then utters some jibberish) seems to tire of the constant noise thing!!! (Fart sound)  It would be funny  to record all the sounds he can make in a day.

Well I am going to gather all my noises with dirt up and get ready to head to therapies! 

May the Lord bless you and keep you!!

Okay...I am 2 for 2!! Be impressed, be very impressed!

This past weekend a great bunch of ladies from our church went to Little Rock for the Women of Faith Conference. It was unbelievable!!! It was like a cool cup of water being poured over me on a hot day. I am grateful that Scout insisted that I  go and was gracious enough to take all the kids to two different baseball practices and a baseball game on Saturday. Thank you Scout for doing that....you are my hero.

Lest you think that today was uneventful for us...Scrappy learned to ride his "Deigo" bike without training wheels!! Scrappy has a motor-planning disorder. His body knows what he wants or needs to do, but sometimes the message gets lost. So the fact that he can ride a bike is nothing short of amazing...but that he can do it with out his training wheels is even better!! We all stood in the yard and cheered and yelled as he took off. Mommy may even has teared up a little!! Now...he can ride it...but he can not figure out how to stop it! (See me smiling here!!) He reminds me of my brother's friend who couldn't figure out how to stop when snow skiing...so he would just run into Jess. That's Scrappy, he just stops by running into things ie..walls, trees, a van..and even Skeeter! So I am hoping that we can get this fixed before he is 16!! (see me smiling again!!)

And  I wouldn't want to forget to list Skeeter's accomplishments today. 1) He used my mascara as a paintbrush in the bathroom and on Scrappy. 2) He dumped my face powder all over the bathroom a little later. Last but certainly not least 3) He squirted Dawn soap on the wood floor!!

I am a random blogger...

At least I was told that this weekend!!! So I told my friend ...who will remain nameless(CB) that I will blog everyday this week!!!

So brace yourselves...I will be here EVERY day with something! Regardless of what you might think....it isn't really always that crazy around here!  Okay, well maybe it is....

Today we skipped church and spent some time together as a family. We went and ate at Krispy Kreme and then went on a walk/bike ride on a trail in Bentonville. We had a great time! The weather was great! We got to a little area where the stream was flowing quite nicely! The kids threw rocks and sticks. Then Skeeter decided to see how far he could throw himself. Surprisingly...he can't throw very far. Then with in 30 seconds to 1 minute...Scrappy thought he could jump across a 3-4 foot stream to the other side...needless to say he misjudged his ability to leap that far!!! I am terribly ashamed to tell you that while Scout lept tall buildings to get to Skeeter...I thought I was going to pee my pants when it happened to Scrappy!!! The truly astonished look on his little face was just too much for me.

Easter Family Trip

This year we went to Denton, Texas where my Papa was born and raised. It was a huge family affair. All 6 of us went, my mom and dad, my brother and his wife and adorable nephew and my granny and papa. We had an awesome time. 

We went to Uncle Curtis and Aunt Pauline's house. They still own a little of the original homestead that was staked after the Civil War. 

My Papa is one of 17 kids...yes...17!  There have been a total of 7  of the kids(I think) that have passed away. We wanted this to be an extra special Easter for Papa. He is not in great health and we wanted a chance for him to show all of his grandsons off! I am so very glad that we went. There were over 80 of the Burch family there. A total of 4 generations. With another 4 generations buried up at the Old Alton Cemetery.

The bridge in the picture is the Old Alton Bridge. It is the bridge that my Papa and his siblings had to cross to get to church. I wanted a great picture of our boys on it and I think that we were very able to capture what I was wanting. This picture will be Papa's  and Daddy's Father's Day gifts!