My little brats!

So I tried again to take a nice picture of all of the kids. Um yea...my kids are brats. Even the baby wasn't cooperating....the others are wearing off on him. So here we go...


This was my very first shot. Not too bad but I was sure that I could get a better one so I kept going. I really should've just stopped right then because I know my kids and I know they have the attention span of their father...but surely they could indulge me for a few shots right?


So I moved around a little bit and got another semi decent shot. But I just couldn't get Joey to smile in this one and Brooke is sporting that constipated look again...so I continue on. What the hell is wrong with you Jenny?!


So then I decide that I want that classic shot of all of them looking away from me...and I don't have to worry about getting a smile. The idea in my head was birth order but being that Joe is still pretty content on sitting like a big blob and not standing on his own he needed to have someone hold both hands. Believe me...we tried it and he just kept plopping on the ground face first...of course I'm fairly certain that Drew was purposely letting go of his hand so he would fall =P It's cute... but not quite what I was looking for. Really Jenny...you've got 3 decent shots...be done already!



I decide at this point that I want a bit of a different background. We walk around for a few minutes but just can't find what I'm looking for. So we pile back in the car and drive for a minute. I tell Matt to stop and I hear the kids groaning. They thought we were done! Hannah mumbles that no one wants to do this. I of course give her that glare that only a mom can give. So I plop them down for the next shot. And this is where things start falling apart. Joey discovered that eating leaves is YUMMY...and choking on them and barfing all over your shirt is fun!


I love this pose and the background so I REALLY want a good shot of this so I continue on...fairly certain Hannah is flipping me off in her head, Brooke is clearly NOT going to smile ( or brush her hair for that matter ,what's up with that?), Drew is loving that for once he's not the one getting in trouble, and Joey..he's got another lead in his hand...and when told don't eat that...well that's the grin I got...letting me know that before long he's going to be just as rotten as the rest of them!


So we try another pose...I loved this but now both girls looked like they haven't brushed their hair! And Joey is eating the leaves again damnit! Seriously Jenny....they're done! Enough already!


So another grand idea...put Joey on Hannah's back. And this soo doesn't help the whole looks like she hasnt brushed her hair in a week!



I decide that maybe taking a quick break of shots with the 4 of them might help. Alex was along with us so I decided I would work on getting a nice shot of the 2 of them. Well it appears when she actually WANTS her picture taken that she can behave! Seriously..this was taken right after Joey playing tornado with her hair...and yet she looks perfect again! These kids are adorable and I love this one :)


Since the others got to play for a few minutes...and Joey got to eat some more leaves...I figured I might be able to get 1 more nice shot of them. I wanted Alex in this shot too. My vision in my head ( I really need to stop listening to these voices in my head!) was to line all the kids up according to height. Cute huh? As soon as I started putting them like that they started singing the song from Brady Bunch. And it was downhill from there. Joey's still eating ( and barfing) leaves, Brooke and Drew can't keep their hands out of their mouths, and as if Alex doesn't tower over all my kids anyways..he feels the need to jump on Hannah's back so he's even taller!


I could've saved myself an hour that day and just gone with the first one. But noo...I STILL haven't learned my lesson that there just isn't a perfect picture with 4 kids! Get over it Jenny... the kids will ALWAYS win...it's time to admit defeat!

Homecoming dress shopping!

When Hannah was younger I used to have visions of shopping together for her dresses for Homecoming and Prom. Similar to the scene in Pretty Woman where Julia Roberts walks down Rodeo Drive in a beautiful suit, big hat and multiple boutique bags in hand. Sales ladies are at your beck and call to bring you 20 dresses that would look good on you along with a snack if you so desire.

But then reality sets in...we live in Dayton! We will have to settle for the mall. I take Joey with me as well since Matt wants to take the other 2 to go do something for the day. Since we had great luck at Macy's last year...we head there first. As we approach the dress department I see that almost every other high school girl in Dayton has decided that this would be a great day to get their dress too! Holy crowded!! We stand at the outside and Hannah immediately says it's too crowded. She hates crowds! But I know if I don't find a dress today then the selection just gets so picked over. So I tell her I'm going in! I basically used the stroller as my machete through the sea of dresses and crazy moms and daughters. Poor Joe! I pile 20 dresses on top of the stroller. Hannah really wants a strapless dress this year but I'm really going to try to find one that's not! ;) After a quick game of Marco-Polo ( remember we are short people so we can't even begin to see each other over the racks and swarms of people) we head to the dressing room.

Since we got there early...most the girls are still out looking at dresses. So there's still a few rooms open. I hand Hannah her stack of dresses and she promptly hands back 15 of them...apparently I have terrible taste! She heads back with 5-.....only 1 of which is strapless! And of course she tries on that one first. =P She comes out and says she loves it. I really love it too....but Matt is going to crap when he sees this because let's just say the "girls" have really grown over the summer! I tell her to try on the others and she hates them all...except for the strapless one...of course!

By this time the dressing room is packed! And here I am standing with the stroller right in the middle of it. She won't let me in the dressing room with her...even after I promised to just stare at the wall while she changed. She wants me to go look for more dresses but I'm afraid Joey might lose an eye if I try and push him through the hurricane of hangers again. Hannah says to just put him in the dressing room with her. At this point I realize we have an audience. A group of moms are down at the end trying to figure out if he's my baby or hers! lol

I head back out into the eye of the storm this time to be met with even MORE people! This couldn't be further from my Rodeo Drive vision! Not only is there not a sales lady to be found ( okay truth be told they're probably buried under the 500 dresses stacked up at the cash register!) but no one is even offering me a snack! Pure crap I tell ya! I run out and grab another dozen or so dresses and make it back in 1 piece...minus a big chunk of my hair that got caught on a hanger that some little brat ripped out of my hand! I show all the dresses to Hannah and she let's me know that I'm obviously stuck in the 90's because these dresses are horrid. She agrees to try on 2 but I can see her mind is already made up...she wants that strapless one! Naturally...the other dresses fit funny/are scratchy/straps are weird...you name it. Anything to get out of having to get anything but that strapless dress!

So I admit defeat! The strapless dress it is! This is just too hazardous to our health. I now need a wig and Joey is covered in glitter! And the snotty ladies down at the end are now positive that Joey belongs to Hannah.

I head to the register with my 20% off coupon in hand.....you know me...always have a coupon. ;) Sales lady rings it up and tells me I can't use the coupon since it's a regular price item. What? I've never heard of that. Oh well....at this point all I want to do is get the hell out of there so I'll pay regular price!

So Hannah now has a beautiful homecoming dress....that is strapless! Anyone have a turtleneck she can borrow?

The spiders have returned!...and I beat my kids.

There are pros and cons to having a corn field in your backyard. Pros....I could practically lay out naked and no one would ever know! ;) Cons....CORN SPIDERS!

Yes...the corn spiders have made their annual return! And these suckers are HUGE!!! Great big brown fuzzy things that attack my house from Sept til November or so. There supposed to be harmless...but you'll see further in my post that Drew begs to differ! For the most part they usually stay in the basement and only ocassionally will we see them in other parts of the house. FYI....when we haul out our Christmas stuff I always stand back a bit because I just know those little effers are back there! ;)

This year though they seem to be alot more daring. I saw one just casually climbing up the main stairs, found one in the laundry room and one in the hallway. I know theres lots more but I'm pretending that there not there unless I actually see them okay?!

So even though I know these things are in the house..they still scare the bejeebus out of me when I find one. Yesterday Drew comes walking into the kitchen as I'm packing up Brooke's lunch and I say good morning to him. Imagine the horror on my face when I see one right.on.the.front.of.his.shirt! OH MY HELL! So me...being the fab mother that I am....I'm going to kill that sucker! I grab the closest object ( Brooke's lunchbox)and start whacking at it! Wham on Drew's chest, wham on his arm, wham on his back..this thing just keeps moving! Drew starts crying at this point and I said just stand there I'll get it honey. He says stop hitting me I don't care about the spider. OMG...in my moment of insanity I realize that I'm beating Drew to a pulp with a lunch box.. which is fully loaded might I add =P Oops! The spider then drops to the floor and we quickly put it to it's death with a flip flop!

The kids are now laughing at what a raging lunatic I became trying to kill this thing. And Brooke points out that it's a good thing that it was just a soft sided lunchbox within my reach and not a frying pan.


Go ahead... check exterminator off my list of thing to be when I grow up as well.

Check that one off the list!

So in my quest to figure out what I want to be when I grow up...I'm slowly finding things out along the way that I'm not cut out for!

This morning's event...

Brooke: Will you do my hair?
Me: Sure!
Brooke: I want a bump then a high ponytail...with no lines.
Me: No problem

At this point I do the "bump" with 2 clips then a high ponytail...with no lines! Brooke goes to check it out in the mirror

Brooke: Oh my god Mom you can't even see the bump! And there's lines everywhere!
Me: I'm sorry...didn't realize you wanted to look like Snookie! And those lines are your freakin highlights! Let me try again!
Brooke: You are terrible at doing hair! You're not touching my hair! I look like a freak! I'll just do it myself!
Me: Have at it kid!


So she redid what I did...and the end result was pretty much the same =P But of course to an 11 year old it looks SOOO much better! Because mom grew up in the Little House On The Prairie days where they all just wore bonnets and didn't worry about Snookie bumps!

So I can officially take cosmetologist off my list of things I want to be! I wouldn't dare want to mess up a Snookie bump on someone's wedding day!

Drew's first day of Kindergarten!

I've been anxiously awaiting this day for quite some time for 2 reasons. First- Drew doesn't like to leave me and I was worried about how he was going to do. He had already told me several times the day before that he was going to miss me too much to go to school! The 2nd reason- Drew wears me out! And call me a bad mommy...but I need a break for a few hours everyday from this little boy that doesn't stop...and hasn't stopped for the last 5 1/2 years!

He's in P.M. Kdg. There are normally 25 kids or so in a class. But most people want A.M. so the P.M. classes are really small. Apparently most kids this age still need to rest in the afternoons. If we went by that criteria Drew could've done P.M. at 1....he gave up napping then! There are only 12 kids in his class!

He woke up at the crack of dawn, got dressed and asked when the bus was coming. You only got 6 hours to go buddy! Then Matt came home around 11:30 to eat lunch with us and see him on the bus...which comes at 12:20. He told us he was going to go stand at the bus stop for the next hour and wait! Guess he is ready to fly the coop afterall!

He got on the bus with a big smile and I tried to take a picture of him in his seat but you couldn't even see his little head...the curse of my runt children!

I then came in the house, put Joey down for a nap and wandered around aimlessly wondering what to do with myself! I haven't had any quiet time since March 27,2005...the day Drew was born! And speaking of quiet....Joey took a 3 hour nap! He is usually interrupted by Drew barging in the room, bouncing a ball down the stairs, etc. P.M. kdg is going to be wonderful for us! ;)

When he got home he told me he had a good day but it was too short! Don't worry buddy....next year you get to go ALL day!

A new school year!

Well after severely neglecting this blog ALL summer I'm ready to get back into the swing of things! School started back yesterday. Hannah a sophomore, Brooke 6th grade and Drew will start Kindergarten next week! Thank god I still have Joey home with me :)

Here's some recent pics of all the kiddos....


Yes...this kid is my clone!


When did she stop looking like a little kid?!


Drew was sitting with me while I did this post and insisted I put up this pic of him and Ty :)


Don't ya just want to squeeze him?!


When time allows ( maybe during the nights where Joey keeps me up ALL night) I'll put some posts up about our summer days. We had a good summer swimming, Kings Island, boating and my cousins visiting for 2 weeks. No big Disney trip for us this summer since Joey doesn't do well in the heat. Yes we went in March...but I wanted to go in June too! I guess he's worth the sacrifice! ;) Oh...and I've gained 10 pounds! As Joey goes through growth spurts....so do I! =P Whoever said nursing makes you skinny is full of shit! All it's done so far is make my butt even bigger and my boobs are waving at my knees! Sacrifices galore for this kid I tell ya ;)

MUCH harder than it looks!

I've been wanting a DSLR for a long time. The pictures you can take vs. a point and shoot just can't be compared. Especially with kids! You just need that faster shutter speed to snap away and capture that perfect shot!


I've been complaining since the baby was born that I'm missing all these great photo ops with him because my camera is just too slow. So Matt ran out and got me a Canon Rebel with all sorts of goodies. He knows in the long run that this is MUCH cheaper than the other option....keep having more babies so I can get those perfect shots! haha

So I plopped the kids out in the yard and got this great shot right on the first try....ha! Out of the 50 or so that I took...this is the only one that is somewhat decent. The lighting is way off because the sun is behind them. Joey isn't looking straight on and I hate that I didn't notice my neighbors ugly swingset in the background. But believe me...it was by far the best!



This shot wouldn't have been too bad except Brooke looks like she needs to poop and Joey's doing what he does best...sitting there like a blob staring at nothing.




So then I decided I would have them face the other direction. At which point all 3 of them proclaimed that I was trying to blind them for life by making them face the sun. Just shut up, smile and open your eyes damnit! Do you see the baby there...he doesn't look real secure huh?



And here we have the very last shot...







Yep! They faceplanted the baby! At this point I declared them all brats, grabbed the baby and stomped inside. As I'm stomping away I hear Brooke simply say, "Mom's having a mood swing."