My hamper floweth over

Sick, sick, sick. That describes the overall health of our family. And my attitude about it. As in I am sick to death of all the sickness! I would believe it was a curse on our family, our very own plague, if I didn't know so many other families who have been hit hard this winter. And I know we haven't had the worst of it. I know several families who have had this extremely icky stomach bug that lasts for days, seems to go away, and then comes back to strike again just when you feed your kid something really gross like spaghetti. We only buy natural peanut butter, so my kids have avoided and peanut butter and salmonella sandwiches, and we haven't had strep throat once (and no ass strep, which is strep that presents itself, well I bet you can guess, like one friend's son had).

What we do have is this annoying "not the flu" virus. At first, we were ecstatic that Lillian didn't test positive for the flu. But now, on day 5 of fever, ridiculous congestion and drainage, and no appetite, I think the flu couldn't have been much worse, and at least we could have treated them with Tamiflu. And it's not just her, Ashton is sick as well. And Max just got better.

So here comes the part where I start to sound mildly disturbed. I believe the only cure for all of this is.... SPRING! Yes! Green grass rubbed across your cheek, pretty little blossoms, the sound of the wind blowing through new leaves, basking on a warm sidewalk, the first skinned knees of the new year, SPRING! I simply can't bear the teases we have had. We pulled out the capris and short sleeve shirts for the two wonderful 60+ degree days we had, only to cover them with sweaters in the days to come. I need, no we all need spring! Please come quickly, my favorite season of the year! Nurse the Keith kids back to health, lift my spirits, bring new life! That is my plea. May it be heard.

Mom to many (too many sick kids)

Wow! February has definitely been he month for Jordan! She is going to be Kim in "Bye, Bye Birdie". Although this discovery was initially met with some major sibling jealously on Ashton's part (who wanted to be Kim's best friend), she seems better after getting the script and seeing that she will get to sing most of her favorite songs, has a small solo in "The Telephone Hour" and will be in a lot of scenes. Jordan is ecstatic!

1. The biggest news this week is that Jordan was accepted to Classen in the vocal music department! I can tear up the brochures for military school! I am ridiculously proud of her, she really did a lot of work, a lot of growing up this year to achieve this goal.

2. Pierce is sooo excited about learning EVERYTHING. He reads every sign he sees, if he can't read it, he will spell it and ask what it means. He is always counting/adding things, and loves to do inventive writing. He wrote several pages about our trip to the zoo today. "Wee sal seels." Yes, we are raising yet another okie, who adds an "l" to the end of any "aw" word. And he loves for me to sing to him at night, even though I have never sang a single note in tune (I don't quite have that Lizzee touch). He thinks I have a beautiful voice. His favorite song right now is "On top of spaghetti."

3. Lillian wants to read. The other day she and Pierce were having an argument as to whether or not Lillian was really reading a book. I told her that although she was not reading the words like Pierce was, that she was telling wonderful stories, and it is a great thing to be a storyteller. Not satisfied, she started making letter sounds "Ca, ca, cat. Ta, ta, turtle. See mommy, now I sound just like Pierce when he reads, so I am reading." She can now write Chad, mom, Max, and Lillian from memory.

4. Ashton loves riddles. She has been checking out riddle books from the library, and is proud to remember those she finds particularly clever. Like, "What is the first thing a bumble bee puts into your drink? His bee-hind."

5.Max, poor Max. He is still having a very hard time adjusting to mother's day out. He doesn't like sharing me or anything else with the other kids. He is very aggressive, and is even having nightmares about the whole thing. Two nights in a row, he would scream out, "No! No! Mine! Mine!" He is really taking one for the team. Pierce, Lillian and I are loving our new environment, I hate to see him suffer for the greater good. We had a great weekend, though. We borrowed a Laurie Berkner video from the library, and he loves it. I loves a change from The Wiggles and Dora. He also loved the zoo today.

Hope your Valentine's Day is filled with cheese...

It's cold. That's an understatement. It's ?*!@ cold (insert your favorite explative). and I hate the cold.

I have a cold. An icky one. And it is interrupting several projects. The major one involves about eight years worth of pictures. I thought I would like scrapbooking. Not so much. So I had all of my pictures stored in picture boxes until last year. I got them out with the intention of buying regular albums to put them in, and Max dumped them. So I scooped them all up and put them back in the cabinet where they are stored. I have tried not to think of them too much, all those pictures, in no order whatsoever, but i couldn't take it any longer. So I pulled them out a few days ago, and have been trying to put them back in order. That's hard to do when you take Nyquil at 8:00 every night... And I pulled out all of the kids' last year spring/summer clothes to decide what I wanted to sell on Ebay. So there are piles. Lots and lots of piles of things, everywhere.

valentine's Day is tommorow, and we are not quite ready. I had to make one last trip to Target. I took the three little ones this afternoon, in the ridiculous cold. max was already poopy, he had done so on the way to take the girls to acting, so we ran straight in to the bathroom. "He's missing a shoe?" Some horrified woman pointed out. Yes, Max had taken one shoe and sock off in the car, and I hadn't noticed when I carried him in, in the freezing cold. And the other two? Were horrid. And that's a bit of an understatement too. Whiney, fighting, begging; horrid. Oh! And the top button of my pants? I realized it was unbuttoned when I got back in the van. Nice.

I'm eighteenminutes overdue for my Nyquil. Wish me luck for a better day tomorrow.

One of the women I work with loves to find fun music for kids that doesn't make adult ears bleed. I have been a fan of Trout Fishing in America and TMBG kids cds for awhile,and I am always up for something new and NOT Dora. Max is still convinced that the Wiggles are the best, and doesn't show much interest in anything else, but if I have to hear Hot Potato one more time, I may shove a few hot potatoes in a few Wiggles. That's right, I'll wake up Jeff...

I was browsing through children's music and found this site which turns music we grew up with into lullabies. What a fun idea! You can listen to samples on their website, and while at first it might seem a little wrong to listen to "head Like a Hole" on a glockenspiel, it grows on you. Just another idea that cold have/should have been my million dollars...

I had a bad "mom" day yesterday. You guys ever have those? Where you feel like the gorillas in the zoo are better qualified to raise your kids than you are? Where you are convinced that every other mother in the world has it more together than you do? Well, I have them sometimes, and yesterday was a bad one.

It wasn't that anything in particular went that much different than normal. It was just me, my attitude, my mood.

I woke up early, made it to work on time (been having a hard time with that), and had the house pretty much picked up before I left. After work, I came home, and we walked to pick up the girls. We played at the school playground. I let Ashton bring home a friend, and then I took them to their auditions for "Bye, Bye Birdie"


I told the girls I would stay and watch them, and I really wanted to. But, of course, all 3 younger kids were with me, and while they were not horrible, they made it pretty much impossible to really watch the girls. I stayed until they were finished singing, but had to watch from the doorway.

And then I cried. Most of the way home. I started thinking how many times Lillian had said "watch this mom!" at the playground and I had to respond with "hold on, I have to get your brother." I thought about the fact that we only read to or with each kid about four times a week, how we hardly ever let them have friends stay over. I cried for all the hand-me-downs they have to wear, the fact that we never go to the library anymore, that I don't feel like doing anything when we get home in the afternoon.

"why did I think I could do this? I can't even keep plants alive! We can't even remember to put the phones back on the charger at night! Why did I ever think I could raise five people?"

I came home and made dinner. Pierce said "Are we having chili? That's okay, I just won't eat."
Max cried while I made chili. I refrained.

I got on the computer after I had fed the children who were nice enough to eat the food I had made. I looked at Classmates for the first time in probably six months. There was a message from a good friend I hadn't talked to in about three years. It said she was now a proffesor of chemistry at a local junior college, she had been divorced, remarried, and in addition to the two children from her first marriage, she had three stepsons that lived with them. (If you are counting, that makes cinco, all boys, by the way) and?! she is pregnant! With a girl. And that will make six. More than me, people! I have no friends (away from the internet) with more than three kids. Her phone number was attached. I called right away.

See? That's why I believe in God, and that's the kind of God I believe in; although at times it isn't immediately evident, I believe God is practical. He gives pratical help, practical solutions to overwhelming situations. That was just the thing I needed to make it through the evening. I know it may not make much sense, but there it is. My faith is backed up by many small "miracles" if you will. coincidences, some may say, but they are too frequent and predictable for that. Always just enough to give me perspective, hope, and faith in other people. And I thank God for remember me enough to offer the help even when I forget to ask.

Oh! And I still can't comment? Something about my e-mail not being verified? And yet I can post? Blogger, I am sorry for all the bad things I have said (my fingers were crossed). Please stop making my life difficult.

Mom to many out

I am feeling a little silly after Pam explained the whole commenting thing. I really am going to be the old lady who doesn't watch T.V. because she can't figure out how to use it. I am looking forward to commenting again, though.

I have been having a whole time with the kids growing up thing. We find out about Jordan's Jr. High application next week, so I am having to admit to myself that she is really going to Jr. High.

And to top it all off, Max turns two next month. I can no longer justify calling him a baby. I HAVE NO BABY! What am I supposed to do? I guess I will have to buy a puppy. Because I could seriously end up being just like this lady I was sitting next to at Jordan's audition. We were talking about our kids, and she said she had 11 year old twins, and a baby at home. I asked how old, and she laughed, and said, "I guess he's really not a baby. He's six years old. but he's my baby." Yeah. that will be me.


And then I my cd with camp pictures from last year came in the mail today. Yes, my husband made the cd, and yes, I have had access to the pictures for months, but there was something about getting it in the mail. I realized the pictures are almost a year old. They are of seriously smaller kids. Here's a sample, and a really cute current pic of Jordan singing. She does it a lot, and she does it well.