Pneumonia, Croup and Nightmares. That's what it's all about!

My in-laws sent us this lovely bouquet for Easter. As chaotic as things have been around here - it was truly lovely to come home to this beautiful arrangement of flowers. Thank you.

John e-mailed this to me and asked for it to be included - so here is a story from the hubs...One night at bedtime, I was reading a book to Jack, 'Otto goes to Camp'. One of the page lists the things Otto (a dog) takes with him when he goes camping - things from home to help him not miss being at home so much. He takes his blanket, his bone, something else and a cherry pie. When I flipped to the next page, Jack piped up with a question for me, "Daddy, what's a cherry pie?" So I tell him that its a pie filled with cherries. "Whats a pie?" So I say that its a sweet pastry that is filled with fruits, or puddings, or some other things like that. "What's a pastry?" "Well, its a sweet, thin, flour based bread, shaped to fit a pie pan" Then Jack asks, "what's a flour?" So I explain that flour is a milled wheat, that people use to bake or cook with. "What's a wheat?" So I let this go further by explaining that wheat is a grain crop that farmers grow and harvest so people have food. "Why do they grow food?" "So that you have food to eat". "Why do you need to eat?" "So that you can live." "Why do you need to live?" "So that you can - Jack, I don't know, so that you can enjoy your life in society." Why do you live in society?" " So that you - Jackson, I don't know pal; let's say our good-night prayers before we forget."

After John told me this story, I made a point to pick up a cherry pie and some vanilla ice cream to have for dessert one evening. I waited until dinner was over before I mentioned dessert. The kids were thrilled and Jack DEVOURED his cherry pie and ice cream.

Jack has a freakish ability: He knows exactly where every single train is. He could have 3 in the kitchen, 2 under the sofa, 4 in John's car, 10 in the toy box, 3 in his bed, 2 in Wy's bed, 3 under Wy's bed (and the list goes on) and yet he knows exactly what train is where.

Saturday morning I woke up because Wy was screaming. I went to his room to calm him down and he refused to calm down until we joined Jack in his bed. We must have managed to go back to sleep because the next think I know, Jack was downstairs shrieking at his grandma about not wanting to be in time out. It turns out that child woke up, went downstairs, opened the backdoor and went outside with the intent of getting some of his trains from his daddy's truck. Jack was not happy that Gammy decided to put him in time out over this. He and I had a talk about who was allowed to open doors. We also talked about not going outside without an adult. We'll see how long that lasts.

It isn't a surprise that Jack knows all the songs on his Thomas dvds. The child singers on the DVD are all British and believe it or not, Jack has started to sing the songs with a British accent. It is hysterical.

Melanie bought Jack and Wyatt tickets for A Day Out with Thomas for their birthday presents. Jack and I were having lunch one afternoon (Devlyn and Wy were down for a nap) and I told Jack that we have tickets to go meet Sir Topham Hatt and to ride on Thomas the day after Wy's birthday. Jack looked at me and said "When Wyatt wakes up - is it his birthday?" Now, whenever Jack sees a cake, he thinks it is Wy's birthday cake and asks if we are "going to ride Thomas after Wy eats his cake."

Wy gives "bubble kisses". I think this is a combination of a fish kiss and the sound that a fish makes. When we ask "What does a fish say?", the boys answer with "Blub, blub, blub." I asked Wy for a bubble kiss one day and he came at me mouthing "Blub, blub, blub" without any noise. This is now his favorite way to give kisses. One night this week he walked up to me to give me a bubble kiss and then he pointed at my eye and then bubble kissed it. Then he pointed at my other eye and bubble kissed it. Next came my cheek followed by my other cheek, my nose, my hair, both ears, my neck and the mole on my neck. Each feature was identified and then given a bubble kiss. It was wonderful!

Wy will do something that cracks himself up, then he will steal a huge grinning glance up at you and say "I'm funny!" and just laugh, laugh, laugh.

Devlyn spent Mother's Day fighting down a temp of 104. We had her doubled up on Tylenol and ibuprofen. We finally managed to get her temp down to 101. The little thing slept most of the day but was having bouts of trouble with her breathing - some shallow panting. Fortunately mom had all the paperwork in order that we could get her in to a doctor on Monday. That baby has pneumonia. The doctor's office sent her home with a nebulizer, which she has to use 4X every day. She is pretty upset about having to use the nebulizer because she doesn't feel sick like she did on Sunday. "I don't want to! I'm not sick!" I think we have to do the breathing treatments until her RX is finished...that is not going to be any fun.

Now Wy has croup. He woke us up about 1:00 Wednesday night with a cough that scared me half to death. We got some Tylenol in him and after an hour and a half he fell back asleep - then an hour later, Jack woke up SHRIEKING. He was in bed with one leg and his opposite arm in pj's and leg and arm out of pj's. He was sitting up in bed, holding out his hand, shaking and screaming about a spider on his hand. I couldn't find a spider anywhere. I finally managed to get him back to sleep and an hour later he woke up crying that he wanted to go downstairs. After a round of negotiations we finally managed to get back to sleep. I still say that sleepus interruptus is worse than no sleep at all.










Little Miss Jessica graduated this week. It was a busy few days for all of us. She had her 8th grade retreat on Monday, the class trip to Worlds of Fun on Tuesday, 8th grade mass and breakfast on Wednesday (her last day of school), graduation Thursday night and tonight was a series of parties and other things 8th grade...Here is our beautiful girl with her diploma - and little Wy was so excited about clapping, he could hardly stand it!

In addition to everything else going on this week, I took Jess to the KC Rep's gala Monday night. John and I were supposed to go together, but he wound up having to work late. Jess and I decided to have some appetizers before the house opened. A 60+ gentleman walked up to Jess and said "You have a beautiful ankle." Who says that to a 13 year old? OK - maybe she didn't look 13, but she sure didn't look like she was in her 20s either. I mean - it was a compliment, but it was creepy compliment from a senior citizen to a teenager and Jess nearly had a heart attack. Barbara Cook was the star of the evening. I was in tears when she sang "No one is alone" from Into the Woods... Holy WOW. Jessica refused to believe that we were at a 'concert' because the place wasn't hopping with teenagers. At the end of the concert she said "Well, it was better than I thought." The lady in front of her turned and said "I'm so glad you liked it!" Jess smiled and nodded, then looked at me with a "GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!" look on her face. I hope that someday she will actually at least think that the concert part of the evening was pretty cool.

Speaking of being outside, mom took the girls out for some play time the other day. The adults have been going a bit stir crazy with all these kids cooped up in the house. Now that the weather has turned nice, mom is making a concerted effort to get them out. One evening last week she went for a rather long walk - talking just one kid with her at a time. When she got back home with one kid, she sent them inside to get the next one. They all had a really great time getting some one on one attention.

OK, my pretties, that taps me for the week. Love and huggies to you all. And, as always, blessings, from Owenland Park!

Schadenfreude and Karma

scha·den·freu·de [shäd'n-froi'də] noun, pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others.

kar·ma [kär'mə] noun, 1. The total effect of a person's actions and conduct during the successive phases of the person's existence, regarded as determining the person's destiny. 2. Fate; destiny. 3. Informal. A distinctive aura, atmosphere, or feeling: There's bad karma around the house today. (Answers.com)

Not too long ago, someone sent me a list of the many wonderful and amazing things you can do with a can of WD-40. I don't have the e-mail anymore, but you can follow this link to check it out: http://www.bloggingwv.com/45-uses-for-wd-40. You can also check out snopes.com for the low down on what WD-40's company actually recommends its product for: http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/wd-40.asp. Now that I have that out of the way...

I found the list of uses very interesting and, quite frankly, a little crazy. I sent it on to a few select friends that I thought might be up for checking out a few of the uses, or at least enjoying a good laugh. (One of my friends is a massage therapist who jokingly said he was going to use it as his new massage oil.)

A few weeks after I sent that e-mail, another one of my friends told me that he had picked up some WD-40 to clean his shower. He was very impressed with the results and told me his shower had never been so clean. The next morning my friend hopped in the shower. After two near death experiences in the span of 5 seconds, he realized he needed to wipe down the shower after cleaning it with WD-40. This is where the schadenfreude part comes in, yo.

I was helping the girls clean their room the other weekend - OK, I was supervising as the girls cleaned their room when we came across a can of WD-40. I was very confused. What do 13, 8, 6 & 3 year old girls need with a can of WD-40? Well, I had one of them put it in the bathroom so I could put it away with other chemicals behind our childproof safey locked cabinets. Are you ready for the karma part?

A few minutes later I walked into the bathroom. One step over the threshold and my feet flew out from underneath me. I narrowly missed cracking my head on the counter. I carefully stood up and my feet flew out from underneath me again. This time I noticed a funny little smell in the bathroom. I managed to get to my knees on the floor without killing myself and saw greasy spittle and slip marks all over the bathroom floor. Looking up, I noticed the can of WD-40 lying on its side, half on and half off the counter. I called the girls in to figure out who sprayed the bathroom floor with WD-40. As usual, no one admitted anything. It wasn't too hard to identify the culprit, though. Devlyn (the 3 year old) had a head full of greasy hair. That child thought she was putting hair spray on her head just like Jessica and aunt Amy.

The moral of my story? Beware when you take pleasure in someone else's pain, it can come back to haunt you.

Look who's publilc

Wy doesn't feel the need to strip down for a bath. I had pulled the girls out of the tub Sunday morning and started getting them dressed. I called downstairs for the boys to come up for their bath. I didn't even see Wy slip past the girls' bedroom door. I was busily helping them get ready for church when suddenly I heard splashing and giggling. There was Wy - happy as a clam making HUGE splashes in the tub. He grinned and told me "Spwash! Spwash! Spwash! WADER!!!"

That boy is never without a train in his hands. If I didn't know better, I would think he was born with a cast iron train in his little fist. He is a very energetic kid and can easily become overly excited. Sadly, Wy is not someone you want in your personal space when he is overly excited. He's what I call a 'bonker'. He starts this little dance, raises his arm high and 'bonks' the nearest person on the head (or the kneecap) with whichever cast iron train happens to be in his grubby little fist at the time. It doesn't matter if you are an adult, a kid or a cat for that matter: once Wy starts his little dance, someone is going to get 'bonked'. To my utter astonishment, Libby-cat just sits there when she gets 'bonked' in the face. I am thoroughly confused as to why Libby lets Wy get away with 'bonking' her in the head with a metal train, yet when Devlyn moves in for a hug, that cat starts hissing and spitting and runs away after a few good swipes at that baby girl.

Wy is fond of driving his trains across my head and face. He will be sitting on my lap and cuddling me when suddenly he sits straight up and starts driving a train up my arm. "Chicka-choo!" he cries with a broad smile on his face. Even when I try to get away from the advancing train, he thinks it is fun and funny. "Chicka-choo, mommy! Chicka-choo!"

Dad spent the weekend in Lawrence for on of his Knights of Columbus things. Mom went down to join him Sunday and Monday. This left John and I home alone with the 6 kids. We had just sat down to eat dinner Sunday night when this little conversation came out of nowhere...
Connie: "Why don't you go to church, John?"
John: "Um...I don't know."
Me: "Well, Connie, John isn't Catholic."
Abby: "Yeah, he's public."

The folks got home Monday afternoon. I had just settled Jack, Wy & Devlyn down for a nap/quiet time. I had finally snuggled in bed for some reading when mom got in. I put down the reading and quickly put together the grocery list realizing I had a short window of time to get out of the house with only 1 child in tow at the grocery. I swung by the McDonald's and grabbed a happy meal for Jack. He sat in the back seat telling me just how he wanted his lunch. "I want ketchup on my chicken and my fries, but not on my soh-da, mommy. Not on my soh-da, ok?" Then he started rattling on about trains. "Who is your favorite train, Jack?" I asked. "Oh...Thomas and Annie and Clarabell. That's my trains I love. And Donald and Douglas and Percy and James and Henry and Gordon...and Diesel and Diesel 10..." There were other trains listed after that, but I lost track.

Beth has over sized Lego's at her house. Jack likes to build "towers" with these things. She says he always builds a single tower following the yellow, red, yellow, red pattern. He does not have a fit if Devlyn plays, but he rebuilds the tower if she gets the color pattern out of order. Here he is after having just fixed what she did 'wrong'. Connie has been very difficult the last two weeks. I think she has reached the end of her rope in regards to being separated from her mama. She has begun to work herself into hysterics at bedtime about missing her mom, talking to her mom, seeing her mom, going home...She has very recently started crying "I can't stand it!" How do you help that? Then the 8 year old starts crying and the 3 year old can't/won't settle down. It's no fun.

Jess graduates next week. She doesn't know it yet, but we have registered her for a summer math class. She is going to be soooo mad when we drop that bomb. I don't want to be there for that conversation. She is also registered for her freshman year at Mercy High in Omaha. (My aunt Johanna is retiring this year as the President of the school.) Jess is starting to get very nervous about going to high school so far away from home. She has recently started asking me if Mercy offered acting classes. She had so much fun doing Annie that she wants to do another show. How interesting is that?

Abby & Connie had their spring concert Wednesday night. I had intended to go, but the 3 little ones were crazy people that night and I knew it was just going to be much more trouble than it was worth - so we stayed home. Earlier in the week Abbie and Connie got a hold of a craft project and decided to paint some plaster magnets on the sofa downstairs. John found pink paint smears on the sofa. Both the girls denied being involved with the paint. As we continued through trying to identify the guilty party (or parties) I began noticing things like the fact that Connie had a small smear of green paint on her sock... Then I saw she had paint on her hands and arms. Then I remembered that 15 minutes before we discovered the offensive pink paint on the sofa, Abby bounded up stairs saying she was going to take a bath. I had thought that was odd becausee it was Saturday morning - then it made sense: she was destroying evidence... After a lot of bout of denials and accusations, both girls fessed up to having participated in the paint project on the sofa. Fortunately we managed to get the paint out of the sofa.

John has been working long days this week building and loading in A Flea in Her Ear at the Rep. Thursday night I decided the boys and I needed to have a Mommy and Me night out. I gathered them up and off we went to the park. We decided to take a walk around the lake before getting caught up in the fun of slides and swings. I put wy in the little umbrella stroller and off we went. Jack would run ahead and look around while he waited for Wy and I to catch up. Jack was very concerned that he wasn't seeing any ducks as we were walking. We rounded the first bend on the path and right in front of us were a gaggle of geese and their babies. Jack was so happy! He started hopping up and down and said "Mommy! Mommy, a baby ducks need a cheese sandwich!" "Well, buddy, I didn't bring a cheese sandwich with me." "Oh, is ok, mommy."

Then a man walked by with a black lab and a golden retriever. Jack said "OH! It's a Donald and Douglas dog and a Molly dog!" (Donald and Douglas are black trains. Molly is a yellow train.) We kept walking and Jack said "What's that, mommy?" "That is a bird." "I wike birds." "I like birds, too, buddy." "I will get one in my hand for you." "Good luck with that, buddy." We rounded the last bend on the path and the boys saw the slides and swings. They could barely contain themselves. They had so much fun climbing the slides and running around on the bridges.

Both of them were calling "Watch me, mommy! Watch me!" Jack wanted to swing, but Wy had a stroke when I put him in one - so there was no swinging to be had. I can't swing Jack and keep an eye on Wy while he is running around on the slides like a lightning bolt. On a side note, there has been a request that I not include so many poop stories - so I won't tell you why we suddenly packed up and left the park. Anyway - we were in the car getting ready to head off to yet another dinner consisting of "chicken and fries with soda and ketchup". I asked Jack if he knew what would make me happy. "Oh, yes. Sittin' on a Poppy couch wif Jack and watching cartoons." (On one of my recent days off, I managed to get Wy and Devlyn down for a nap but Jack wasn't having it. We curled up on Grandpa's sofa and turned on cartoons. I dozed a bit with Jack in my lap. When I finally felt utterly refreshed I realized that 2 hours had passed. I told Jack it had made me very happy to just sit there cuddling with him and watching cartoons. He said "Me too." and gave me a hug.)

The boys and I ate dinner at Backyard burger. They were adorable as you can see in my little video here. They were having so much fun making animal noises and making mommy laugh. It was a lot of fun. On our way home, we swung by the Big K-mart (Jack calls it the "K-G-I-B store" which is Big K spelled backwards) and picked up a replacement Thomas video and The Tale of Despereaux. We headed home, jumped into our jammies and curled up in "mommy's bed" to watch Thomas on the portable DVD player. It was a truly wonderful evening. (This is not the video I had hoped to upload but I was running into so much trouble that I settled for this one when the computer finally told me I had successfully uploaded something.

That wraps it up for me. Long winded this time, I know. Well, have a safe and blessed weekend everyone. Love, From Owenland Park.

Geographically challenged.

Here is a little tid bit from my mama. Hope you like the early week update:

Mornings, as I am sure you have gathered, are pretty hectic at our house. Once in a while, we get off schedule. Last Wednesday was one of those days. If Amy took the little ones out to Beth’s, she would be late. I offered to swap with her, she could take the girls to school and I would take the ride out to Beth’s. I had done it twice already with a lovely map drawn by John. No problem, even for someone as seriously geographically challenged as me. HA!

John helped me get the car seats transferred and kiddies buckled in; we strapped everyone into their respective rides, and I was ready to go. Wy was not happy when Daddy headed back toward the house. He was screaming bloody murder in the back seat to make his dissatisfaction as clear as possible. This was par for the course, and the last time we did this, I had bribed the kiddies with McDonald's hash browns at the start of the drive. I commented to John out the window that I might find myself compelled to do it again this trip..

Off we went. We came to the fist stop light and my lovely little map betrayed me by sliding off the passenger seat and onto the floor board. Ok, I remembered as far as I-70, and I knew to take I-435 N, so I didn't stop. By the time we got to the McDonald’s, Wy was calm, the kiddies were chatting, so we just kept on truckin.

Well, I got to the first exit and then second exit, but somehow I missed the exit to get off the interstate. I turned around somewhere close to Parkville, retrieved my map and reached for my phone – which was right by my computer where I would not forget to pick it up on my way out of the house. Ok, I could just read the map backwards and get where I need to go, right? HA!

I wandered all over the countryside, trying to get to Beth’s. The actual address was not on the map. My phone was not in the car. I didn't have a clue WHERE I was. After at least a half-hour of driving back and forth, up and down, in and out of these dirt roads, and me getting more and more frustrated, Jack asked, “Where is Beth’s house?” I replied I don’t know Jack, I’m lost.”

“No, Gammy, you are not lost. No, Gammy, you are not sad.” This was Jack’s mantra for the next five minutes. Finally, I saw a little cemetary with some groundskeepers working there. I pulled over and asked a nice young man where to find Hollingsworth. He told me how to get there (it was really fairly easy – go figure). I was finally feeling much better and as we turned the car around Jack said, “Gammy, where's my hash browns?”

Heebie jeebies, anyone?

I was sitting in church with Wyatt on my lap last Sunday and enjoying the fact that I am finally able to spend my attention on mass instead of children. (You see, I recently had the epiphany of bringing Wyatt's pacifier to mass with us. He calls' it his "passer". Since I have been adding the passer to the 'Sunday go to church' bag - life with Wy has been much easier during mass.) Anyway, there we were sitting together. Wy was on my lap, facing me. He was snuggling and sucking happily away on the "s-eye-r" as he calls it. Suddenly I felt a huge lump on the back of his head. I turned his head for a look and see a good sized scab on the back of his head. My first thought was "Poor baby! When did he fall and why didn't anyone tell me about it?" Then I noticed that the scab didn't feel like it was attached so I took another look. It was not a scab. It was a huge tic.

A. It was really about all I could do to not let out a blood curdling scream in the middle of the Gospel. (I can deal with a lot of stuff, but I really cannot deal with insects in hair.)

B. I couldn't wait for mass to be over before I got this blood sucking creepy crawly off of Wy's head. I picked him up and stumbled across everyone in the pew. (Wouldn't you know I was about dead center in the pew that day.) We headed to one of the rooms off of the gathering space. I got him situated and then moved to pull this thing out of his head and realised there was no way in H-E-Double Hockey Sticks I was going to grab hold of that...THING. It makes me sick to my stomach just thinking about it. Back into church we went to get my purse which has tweezers. I'm sure the two of us looked like our own little comedy of errors, but I just went to my stupid place when I saw this thing happily sucking away on Wy's little head.

C. Tics are amazingly hard to remove. I mean, I had to pull hard to get him off of Wy. And the whole time I'm trying to put steady pressure on the thing so I don't tear his head off leaving it anchored in Wy's scalp. UGH! It just gives me the heebie jeebies. Fortunately I got it out in one piece.

D. I called the Dr.s office Monday morning and they told me to keep an eye on Wy for the next 4 WEEKS to see if he develops a rash. If that happens we are to take him straight to the Dr.s office. No rash, no problems. Keep your fingers crossed.

Devon stayed the week with us. (She came down Monday afternoon and stayed through Abby's First Communion yesterday.) Her Monday arrival was just in time for me to head out to the grocery store. I have told you before how absurd I look tromping through the grocery with 3 kids, 2 carts and 1 me so I was thrilled to head out with just the boys. Jack insisted on taking his toy broom with him. He swept the backseat as we drove to the grocery. He swept the cart, he swept the produce department. Over the last few months, we have made a friend in the produce department. His name is Dehzir (I have no idea how to spell it.) Anyway, he always stops to talk to us and asks how the boys are doing, how the girls are doing and how the adults are doing. He always wishes us a good week. He thanked Jack for sweeping the floor and he tried to chat with Wy. Wy wasn't having it. He tucked his chin down hard on his chest and growled "No, Mo-mmy." Them's the brakes...

Jack is determined that Devlyn is going to the beach. I'm not sure if it is wishful thinking or not. I don't know where he got the idea that she is going to the beach, but he keeps asking when she is going. We will be getting in the car and he says "Is Dvwyn going to the beach?" We come out of a store and he says "Is Devwyn going to the beach?" We leave church and he says "Is Devwyn going to the beach?" I don't get it.

I believe I have mentioned that Jack likes to sleep on the floor? Well, was sleeping on the floor EVERY night. I asked him if he wanted to sleep in his bed and he said "No. Little boys has to sleep on a floor because ats what we do, mommy." John and I had been talking about moving Jack into a twin bed and since we got our tax returns back, we decided to make the move. We rounded up Jack and Mom and headed out to the bed store. Jack had loads of fun bouncing on beds, hiding behind beds, running between beds. He was near desperate to jump on the beds, but that is where John and I drew the line. (The nice bed man said all the little ones want to jump on the beds.) Anyway, in no time at all we sent John home with Jack's new bed while mom, Jack and I went out to pick up bedding. We picked out mostly neutral light and dark blues with one set of Thomas sheets. Mom had the great foresight to pick up a Thomas blanket for Wyatt.

They boys were near hysterical as we were getting the bed ready. They couldn't keep their hands off it. Wy was DETERMINED to be involved with this bed and he didn't want his Thomas blanket, thank you very much. He wanted Jack's bed. Period. Jack was so happy with his new big boy bed that he was asleep in minutes. I was thrilled!

(The next day when the kids got home from Beth's house, Wy ran right up to his room and got everything he needed: his "pass-er" his Thomas book and his Whinnie the Pooh lovey. He climbed right up in Jack's new bed and snuggled in. He hung out there for a good 45 minutes. I kept telling him he didn't have to lay down, but he insisted on 'reading' to himself.)

During the day, Jack loves his bed. He likes to take folks in to show them his new bed. "It is beautiful" he says with a sigh...Bedtime is a different story. He doesn't want to sleep in his bed. He is afraid of his room. He is afraid of the ceiling fan. He is afraid of the shadows on the ceiling. He wants to be close to the door, which is closer to mommy. He cries and cries "I has to get out of here..." My strategy has been to read him to sleep each night. Once he settles down, it doesn't take long for him to fall asleep. The few times he hasn't fallen asleep during reading time, I have kissed him and told him I would be back to check on him in 5 minutes. Bless his heart, he waits queitly and patiently. Most often his is asleep when I get back.

John took the boys out to pick up a pair of summer shoes for Wyatt. As they were nearing the check out, John showed Wyatt the tag and without any prompting, Wy declared "6!" John looked and sure enough the shoes were a size 6. He turned the tag upside down and Wy shouted "9!" Great job Wy! He also likes to say "I'm funny!" whenever someone is laughing with him.

Opening and closing night of Annie was last week. The kids did a great job and Jess was wonderful. I missed her big solo. One of the kids got a bloody nose and needed help to get to the bathroom and get cleaned up etc. By the time I got back, Jess' big moment was over. Argh. She and the rest of the cast went out for ice cream afterwards. And bless her poor heart, she woke up to a migraine the next day.

We went to my cousin Anthony's wedding on Saturday. The kids were getting rather restless because the wedding got started late. I like to reserve the juice and snacks for once services begin, but we couldn't hold off any longer. Things got under way and after one of the songs stopped Jack hollered out "It's OVER!" Embarrassing and funny all in one. My sister Melanie was an usher and Jess was a candle lighter. They were both absolutely lovely.

Abby made her First Communion on Sunday. Gammy made her dress, veil, beaded sox and a little purse. Abby was radiant. I rebuilt a rosary for her out of my Grandpa's stash. All the beads were there, but the pins and chains had all seen better days. And it was missing a crucifix. She liked it so much she took it in for show and tell this week.

And look here. This was a blessed moment of silence and companionship. I put in the movie Cars after dinner one night. They all ran for the sofa and blanket. Those 40 minutes of peace and calm will live in my heart...That taps me, folks. I'll try to get into a better rhythm of updates, we'll see what happens! Love and blessings from Owenland Park!

It's been a long time coming.

I really can't wait for the lifetime of various brotherly love/hug photos. I love each and every one of them!Can you believe how much these boys look like their daddy?

Jess is plowing through the Twilight series. She is constantly running up to me and saying "They just did this!" or she laments about having to go to school "but it just got good!" I know what she means. I hate having to put down a good book to do something like go to work or make dinner. I would much rather read.

She is working on her school production of Annie, which goes up next Thursday. She is very excited about it. She tells me all about rehearsal and how they "have to do this thing called tech" as if I have no idea what tech is about...please. I kept hush about it instead of telling her all about 10 out of 12s (2 days of working noon to midnight while we add in all the light cues, sound cues and costume changes.) Mom and Dad brought Jess, Abby & Connie to see The Witches at the Coterie tonight. (It was opening night.) The girls loved it. Connie got scared when the witches took off their wigs to show their "spotty scalps". She had to go sit with Gammy & Poppy. She was very excited to meet The Grand High Witch after the show though!

Abby is getting ready for her 1st Communion. That happens next weekend. I will be making her a rosary this week. I think it is going to be lovely. I hope she likes it.

Connie has been having a terrible time getting to sleep this week. I think her sleep clock is off. That child lies in bed and talks, sings, flips and flops...she works every trick in the book to do anything BUT go to sleep. It has not been fun, people. She turned 6 last Sunday. Here she is with her Easter basket.

So, I was cleaning out the cat litter in the bathroom one morning this week. (We have a little step stool in the bathroom for all the kids and I was sitting on it.) Devlyn was standing behind me. Suddenly I hear her say in what sounds to me like a BOOMING voice "WOW, Amy, you have a REALLY BIG BUTT!" I said I wasn't speaking to her anymore.

She is starting to get into the fact that her sisters are reading. She flips through books or magazines 'reading' out loud. She was sitting next to John one morning 'reading' a story "Once upon a time there were some cookies in her mouth."

My favorite conversation of the week:
Devlyn: Amy is not a guy, Jack.
Jack: Yes he is, Devlyn!
Devlyn: Amy is a mommy.
Jack: He is my mommy and he is a guy!

We took a trip to US Toy last week. I don't remember why. Anyway, Jack and Wy insisted that we visit the Thomas section - go figure. They have a little kid sized table set up with train tracks and stations etc. Jack LOVES this table. We have been to a few other stores with the same kind of table and I always make a point of saying "We have to leave in 3 minutes." Only I wasn't planning very well that day and when it was time to leave I said "We have to go." Let me tell you, that was the beginning of the end. He had fits. There were tears. There was semi-hyperventilation. There was the struggle to get him into the car seat because he wanted to go back in the store. He continued to sob and cry the whole way home. At one point Devlyn very calmly said to him "It's ok, Jack. Just take a breath. You need to calm down." He looked at her and cried "I *gasp* don't want *gasp* to talk *gasp* to you *gasp* right now!"

I started reading The Witches to the boys at bed time last week. Jack has requested the book every night since we started. The week before that I was still in rehearsals, which meant I was working late. Every night I would come home to find Jack sleeping on a little home made pallet beside his bed. John says Jack didn't mind my working late but when it was time for bed and I wasn't there, he insisted on sleeping on the floor so he could "watch for mommy."

He had a Dr.'s appointment the other week. I think I told you all about that. Anyway, the Dr. drew a happy face and asked Jack to draw one too. Here is the terrifying happy face that Jack drew. The little blobs at the bottom of the page are the arms and legs belonging to the happy face...

Wy gives fishy kisses now. Almost anytime I ask for a kiss, he sucks his cheeks in and pushes his lips out and lunges for my face. It is quite the experience. He wants to "eat-eat!" No one is more excited about dinner time than Wy. All I have to say is "Dinner's ready!" and he runs for his chair chanting "Eat-eat!" He is starting to know some of his numbers. Instead of parroting the number back to you, he sometimes supplies the next number. He is especially fond of the number 8 and knows that it comes after 7.

When he is upset or doesn't like the way things are going, he stomps his feet, tucks his chin to his chest and sternly tells me "No, mommy, no!" He will comply with what I'm asking (like sitting in time out) but he chants "No, mo-mmy, no!" Then a little light seems to go off in his head. It says something like: "Time out is supposed to be bad, but if I don't mind it, then it isn't really a punishment..." Then he sort of leans back on his elbows and swings his feet and grins at me.

The fellas came down to visit me for a dinner break last weekend. After dinner at Fritz's (where your meal is delivered via trains on tracks suspended from the ceiling) we went back to the theatre to visit with everyone and spend a few minutes hanging out before they headed out for home.

Here they are playing with the drapes that seperate the men's & women's dressing rooms. Good times, yo. I have a show to get up in the next few minutes, so I'm going to sign off for the week. Love and blessings to you and yours.

It ain't the Love Boat, but it is exciting and new!

Jess was confirmed on Tuesday. It was a lovely ceremony. Initially I was irritated that John stayed home with the boys and Devlyn, but once we passed the hour mark I was relieved that we didn't have to deal with the younger kids. I almost called John to tell him "OK, you were right...for the second time!" (He has been right more than twice - it just sounds funnier to me to to say it has only happened twice. HA!) So here she is being confirmed. Our cousin Helen was her sponsor.

And then here she is with Bishop Nauman getting her roasaries blessed. (Her friend Gabby came down from St. Joseph with her parents to attend the ceremony and they gave her a lovely rosary and prayer box charm. I carry on a family tradition of rosary making and made one for her.) My sister Devon (the girls' mama) made it into town for Jess' confirmation. She stayed the week with us and helped throw a baby shower for our Cousin, Monica. It meant so much to the girls to have Devon here this week. It has been really hard on them with their mama in St. Joe.

At some point during mass, the musicians started to play something and the confirmandi lined up. Connie piped up to her mama "It's like a parade!" And look who is so handsome in his fancy get up for Jess' confirmation! Daddy is in the Knights of Columbus. I think it is pretty special that he participated in Jess' ceremony with the rest of the Knights.

Wy is a pistol. He has suddenly turned into an energetic maniac. He runs, he jumps, he bounces on furniture, he leaps and bounds, he whips his head back and forth nearly screaming "aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh" and laughing... I do not know what has caused this sudden change, but I blame my aunt Beth. All during my pregnancy with Wyatt she kept saying that Jack was so good I would definitely be in for it with Wyatt... Here is my little monkey on the computer desk. I have no idea how he got up there. I came downstairs to work on the blog and found the boys just hanging out.

Jack tried negotiated with me about getting to sleep in mommy's bed this week. I kept telling him he needed to learn to sleep in his own bed. One night, he finally looked at me and said "Well, Jax just wants to sleep in mommy's bed for 100 minutes." How do you say no to that? It's just too funny. I said ok but only because it was his birthday and that starting the next night he needed to be in his room. He said ok. I said "You aren't going to remember this tomorrow night are you?" and he said "no." He had his 4 year check up this morning. The Dr. is pleased with Jack's progress. We do need to work on his small and gross motor skills though. I'm going to talk to John about getting Jack into a class of some king - karate, yoga, gymnastics...We also need to work with him on things like drawing, tracing, connecting the dots etc. This was the first Dr.s visit Jack has had where he didn't scream his head off. I was so proud of him! He endured stethescopes, being weighed, being measured, poked, proded, turned around, asked tons of questions, demonstrating skills...He did great. And what did we do to reward him? We gave him a shot in the arm at the end. I made up for it with a "wowwy-pop" and he was happy as a clam!

Now, here is the exciting and new part! I simply can't believe I managed to figure out how to take a video with the camera - and then upload it to the blog, but that is exactly what I did. I am a tech rock star!!!. OK, not really. But I hope you enjoy our little froggy. He had a good time the other morning learning new things with mommy!

I'll be back my pretties! (There is a Wizard of Oz exhibit behind the theatre and I couldn't resist having my picture taken on the Wicked Witch's broom!

Love, from Owenland Park!