Crash course in parenting - Life as a foster mom

C is always highly fascinated by his poop. I don't know why. We have had lots of poop issues in the past so maybe this is part of it. Today he pooped, then Y needed to go to the bathroom as well. C told him "Y, you can go on my snake!" Y got scared: "Dere's a snake! Snake!" Me: "No honey, it's not a snake. C was just pretending." Y after getting finished: "I flush the snake!" C and Y were coloring at the kitchen table. D plopped down and started coloring too. D: C you want to come color with me? C: Yeah! D: Come over here! (motioning to Y's booster seat) C: That's not my seat. D: Well it's a booster seat...you can still sit there. C: (getting out of his chair and storming off to the living room) I am not gonna sit there! I'm not Y! He was so mad. It was hilarious! Then he just went into the living room and started playing with his other toys. :)

Who had a piece of pie and pumpkin bread as her entire lunch today? Not me! Who has eaten no less than 5 slices of pie in the past 3 days? Not me! Who has had to give her dog two baths in three days because said doggy keeps rolling in nasty stuff in the back yard? Not me! And who has loads of cleaning (and laundry!) to do, even though she just cleaned basically the whole house a few short days ago? Not me! I stay away from pie. You could call me a health freak, if you wanted. After all, when you work your body hard it's important to feed your body the nutrients it needs to perform! Also my dogs are very proper and well-behaved - no rolling in poo or any other schmutz at our house, no sirree! And I always keep a ship-shape house, even when are not expecting company. In other news, I have run 7 days in a row for a grand total of 27 miles. I feel amazing. I thought I would be tired, but I actually have more energy than usual. Also my running times are fast - I have been averag...

We had a really nice Thanksgiving - we went and spent the afternoon/evening with my husband's mom, step dad, brother, and nephew. We got to go downtown and watch the Christmas lights turn on which was pretty neat. Then I very stupidly decided to go to WalMart for the 10 p.m. deals. Whoops! Never doing that again. Like, ever ever. It was terrible. I saw part of a fight and started almost feeling sick because it was so claustrophobic, you couldn't even walk around and people were just jammed in there going nowhere. I was able to get two things on my list but missed out on the other stuff - and I do not care one bit. :) Never again, my friends! Then in the morning I went to a sports store - I didn't wait in line before it opened, I just showed up about 10 minutes after they opened. It was so much nicer than Wal Mart. Still crowded for sure, but I was out of there in less than an hour and got everything I wanted (again). Then I went to Target and again was able to get e...

Time to update again I guess! I am finished re-finishing the kitchen table. I should have taken a "before" picture, but I didn't. But anyway, it looks really nice. It's not perfect but I think we can all agree that it looks a LOT better than it did. Plus I only spent like $15 on supplies as opposed to, say, $200 or more on a new kitchen table! Now hopefully it will stay looking nice for at least a few years. It was kind of hard work to get it all cleaned up and I don't think my brain can take any more chemical saturation for a while! Now someday I am also going to get new kitchen chairs...like, maybe we could have a whole set that are the same and not broken or otherwise chewed up by dogs. Ha ha! :) Or since I am feeling brave with one re-finishing project under my belt, maybe I can buy a set for cheap and fix them up. Brian's grandma passed away on Saturday, and we had the funeral today. We didn't want to bring the boys for several reasons - just ...

We went on vacation to Florida, and it was pretty much awesome. I went running every day, and the weather was really nice except for the one day when I almost had a heat stroke. :) Southern FL is as flat as a pancake and kind of boring to run in as far as scenery goes. I got to get up when I wanted, I did not have to deal with any accidents or getting kids to the potty on a regular basis, I did not have to cut up any dinners except for my own, when I sat down to eat I did not have to get up 15 more times before the end of the meal, there was zero crying, I was not responsible for getting others dressed, bathed, etc. It was extremely refreshing and I got back and had a ton of energy and just feel rejuvenated. So even though we were only gone for 4 nights and we missed one of our flights, it was still a really wonderful experience. We rented bikes and rode on Sanibel island, we went on a boat tour to see dolphins (this was a substitute for going fishing, which I really wanted to do but a...

Bio mom canceled the visit last night, and bio dad canceled the visit this morning! It is very unlike them - they have both been so reliable lately. It was nice to have all of us home for the evening with no football practice, no church stuff, no games, no visit...just all of us at home on a cold, rainy day eating slow-cooker enchiladas. After I drop the boys at daycare and school tomorrow I won't see them again until Tuesday! :( I started preparing C today. I told him me and Brian are going to take a trip, and he and Y and D are taking a trip to go see a respite provider (thankfully, someone they know was able to do it so they know where they are going). And I told him when we get back then he will come back to our house. He seemed excited about it so that was good! I hope he'll still be excited tomorrow when they pick him up from daycare. The flooring we picked out for the kitchen hasn't arrived...so now, 2 days before our remodel begins, we are picking out new flo...

D fell asleep in the bathtub the other night. WITH the bathwater running. It overflowed and went down into the basement. Thankfully the bathrooms are right on top of each other, so the only damage in the basement was to the ceiling. Tonight at 5:20 he told me he was tired and asked if he could skip walking the dogs and go to bed early. He promised to be in bed by 8:30 if not earlier. This is a child that HATES going to bed and even if he was completely bored out of his mind he'd rather sit on the couch doing nothing until the very last second before his bedtime, and then sprint to bed to avoid being late. Needless to say, I don't think he's getting enough sleep at his mom's. I feel like he gets into a deep sleep deficit every weekend, then it takes several days for him to catch back up...then he just does it all over again the next weekend! Also his grades are getting bad...as in, he has a 29% in one class. And a D in another, and a C in another. He had all A's...