kids gone crazy

The kids are driving me crazy. They had trashed their room for the umpteenth time and this time Brandon asked me help clean up the room because he was finding all kinds of toys he hadn't seen in a long time. Now keep in mind that I have tried to make it as easy as possible for them. They have a big toy box for the big toys, and lots of plastic boxes to organize the rest. I have even tried mixing up the toys in the boxes and bringing out a box at a time so they would have different toys all the time, but they always wanted something that was put away. I used to have a rack with different boxes to put their shoes in but they always threw them in front of it and it is right by the door so I couldn't shut the door, so I gave them and old laundry basket to put them in. All they have to do is throw them in but they still put them in front of the basket. Or throw the toys in front of the toy box. How hard is it to put them in the box, even if it is the wrong box. So yesterday we set about cleaning the room. I told them that I would help but they had to do it and decide where they wanted the toys. I figured that if they did it they would be more likely to keep it that way. After the first hour with me yelling at them to help, I finally took a break and told them that when we started again they better help or I was done. By that time you couldn't even walk into the room. I quit after we had the majority of the stuff in the boxes and all that was left was to put the leftover toys that was on the floor in the proper boxes and throw trash away and put Jessie's doll stuff in a pile so I could put them with the rest in the other room. The final straw for me was when they were sitting on their beds eating fruit snacks while I was digging around the closet pulling out toys. I told them what to do and left. When they said they were done, they had shoved everything in front of the toy box so you couldn't get to them, the doll stuff was nowhere to be found, and they just threw the stuff where ever, they even stuffed the trash places instead of throwing it away. One of the bags I had started Brandon threw in the toy box and it opened up so now there is trash in there again. So after a whole day of room cleanup and yelling and Scott trying to smooth things over and mediate, their room is clean if you don't look too closely and it is sort of in order. They seem to be happy with it and I can walk so I guess I should be satisfied. I should be happy that they at least put their dirty clothes in the hamper so I at least don't have to go searching for that. I am not sure if it will be better when we can get a garage and separate them or if I will just have two disaster rooms. At least then it will be more spread out. Maybe all the stress is just finally getting to all of us. Only three more weeks until school starts and I am not sure if that is good or bad or just a new stress.

4th of July and Brandon's birthday

4th of July was like most of our others. We picked up fireworks and had GG's birthday party. GG got a cushion for her outdoor rocking chair, some candy she likes, and a gift card to Walgreens. It was a good day and everyone had a lot of fun. Towards the end, the wind starting blowing really hard and shortly after everyone went home it started to rain. At least it waited until the end. We had a really good heat lightening show too.

Then mom took a vacation the week of Brandon's birthday so they had lots of activities last week. Monday Scott's sisters came out and gave Brandon his gifts. Tuesday we went to the library where the kids got their books for the summer reading club and their next prize, then we went to to the park next to the library and ate lunch and played for a little while. Wednesday we went to Applebee's for dinner because it was kid's day and kid' dinners were only 99 cents and they had a special thing with pony rides and a magician called Mister Magic. They rode the ponies and then while we waited for dinner, Mr.Magic did magic tricks and made a balloon dog for Jessie and a motorcycle for Brandon and also 4 swords. He did extra stuff in honor of Brandon's birthday. Brandon also got a free ice cream sundae. On Thursday, Brandon's actual birthday, we went to the zoo. We spent the morning there and the kids bought some small toys and we ate snacks and then I made homemade chicken nuggets for dinner. We also did lots of swimming that week. On Saturday we had his party. He had a lot of fun. He picked out a GI Joe cup, Transformer napkins, firefighter cake toppers,and Power Ranger dessert plates. The dinner plates were green and our glasses were red. Quite colorful. He was hoping to eat outside but it was too hot and windy. He was really happy with his gifts, especially the scooter we got for him. We don't have a lot of places he can ride that is not really rough but he doesn't care, he rides back and forth between the houses and in the house and everywhere around. He even wanted to take it to the store. We will try to get 8 year old pics done soon, hopefully this weekend, and send them out as soon as they are finished. Once I get my house back in order, I can start focusing on other things. It's close to being done (inside anyway).

Brandon With Scooter

Balloon Toys Made by Mr. Magic

New Bike Helmet

Opening Gifts

Wild Birthday Cake

wedding update

Chris and Rachel should be finally getting their invitations sent out this weekend. Two procrastinators planning a wedding is an interesting challenge. If Mom doesn't go crazy by the time the wedding happens it will be a miracle. We finally took Rachel shopping last weekend to get flowers for her bouquet and look for bridesmaids dresses and next weekend we are going to take her again to get some stuff. Scott took Chris tux shopping this weekend so at least everyone should be dressed. Rachel keeps adding bridesmaids, she's up to five, because one she thought was going to bail so she had a backup and then they all confirmed, so now Chris is trying to come up with groomsmen. Then last night Rachel mentioned she wanted to write their own vows and they keep adding to the invitation list. Hopefully it will all come together soon. Mom and I are trying to help out as much as we can without interfering and it is hard on them because they only have the weekends to do wedding stuff plus yard work etc. Chris is so excited to have a yard to fix up again that he is having trouble focusing on other things besides that.

Scott finally got offered a job. It doesn't pay much and is clear out at the reservoir but at least it is some money coming in and maybe our luck is finally changing and good things will start happening. We are hoping one of the other jobs he applied for will still come in but it is a start.

We are still fighting the insurance company for repair work done on the house from the May hail storm. Hopefully everything will be done by the wedding. The carpet and floor will be done Monday. I am starting to wonder if it is worth it now that we have to move everything out the way to replace it. I will like it once it is done but right now I am not.