Top 10 reasons I'm ready for my kids to go back to school...
10. Less arguing
9. Quieter
8. Lunch time in peace
7. No one bugging Pitt
6. Less people to wake up sleeping babies
5. The food bill will go down without people here eating ALL DAY LONG!
4. Less toilet paper used (4 girls)
3. No "can I" ALL DAY LONG!
2. No one saying 37 times in 37 minutes that there is nothing to do.
1. Less arguing.
Top 10 reasons I'm NOT ready for my kids to go back to school...
10. 5:30 am
9. Kids will be at 3 different schools on 3 different time schedules
8. No one to play with Pitt while I take care of Finn
7. No one to hold Finn while I take of Pitt
6. No one to leave Finn and Pitt with while I run an errand.
5. Homework
4. I will spend 1/2 of my day getting kids ready for school.
3. Too quiet
2. No one else here that can form complete sentences
1. No one to blame why I watched a whole hour of Disney Channel in the middle of the day.
The bottom list outweighs the top list. We (Finn, Pitt and me) are going to miss those girls. I'm psyching myself up for sending one to high school for the first time and one to kindergarten. I will not cry. I will not cry. I will not cry. I don't know which one I am more emotional over. Yeah, I've got 2 more at home, but sending that girl to high school/kindergarten is HARD! Sending one to kindergarten has not gotten easier over the years and I will assume that sending one to the sharks, I mean high school, doesn't get easier either. For us homeschooling is not an option right now. I want them in public schools. I want them to be a light in the dark world. This is my prayer today...
Dear Lord, I have trained up my girls in the way they should go and I pray that they do not depart from it. I pray that when they enter a situation that is not right they make the right decision. I pray that I haven't forgotten something to tell them, some little piece of advice that would help them. I pray that they have friends to sit by in the cafeteria. I pray if they don't have friends to sit by that the language around them is not too worldly. I pray that if it is foul they don't let it sink into their heart. I pray they have someone to walk home with or ride with on the bus. I pray that when "that kid" says something ugly they don't laugh. I pray that they are not "that kid." I pray they don't cry during the day. You know that is the worst thing in the world when one comes home and you found out they had cried during the day. I pray that the next 1460 days go so unbelievable slow for Abigail. (Just got misty eyed typing that last sentence) I pray they don't learn the hard way about why it is bad to gossip. I pray they find a young man that one day a long long long time from now will be Mr. Right. Lord, I am handing my kids over to you for 180 days, thank you that each one of them will be with a Christian at least part of the day. I pray that each one of those teachers will love my kids and teach them to the best of their ability. I pray that my kids will love each one of those teachers and learn to the best of their ability. Lastly, I pray that the next 1825 days for Finn go even slower than Abigail's 1460.
I'm not even going to say amen because this will be my ongoing prayer until 4:00 May 22, 2014.
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Thursday, July 25, 2013
She works hard for her money.....
This time last summer Abigail and I were planning to head to Guatemala for a mission trip in March of 2013. We both had our passports made and were starting to think about how to get the funds to go. Much to my surprise in August we found out about my sweet little Finn and he would be arriving right around the time of the trip. I cried. And I cried. And I cried. I wanted to go so bad on that trip and then I realized that I couldn't hold Abigail back from going. It took a while but I just let it go and allowed her to go without me but only under the close supervision of a good friend. She left without me crying in the parking lot. I actually didn't lose it until she called from the Atlanta airport and said they were about to board. Then I sobbed. My baby was getting on a plane, flying over the Gulf of Mexico and Mexico to travel to a foreign country. I sat by the phone and computer awaiting messages from her the whole week while I was "great with child" at home. The 75 second phone call sustained me the whole week. As did the Facebook pictures from some of the folks there. I would look all through them happy even to see her shoe in one picture! She had free wifi one day in a McDonald's and emailed Amelia a picture. I stared at that sucker for a while. When she got home I looked over and over through the pictures wishing I had gotten to go with her. She had an amazing week and no doubt was changed for life.
Fast forward to this July. Rusty has agreed to Abigail, Amelia and me going in 2014!!! He will be taking the week off work to stay home with the other babies. You have probably seen me posting pictures to Facebook of various jewelry and now book party info. Here is what we are doing to raise $3000! Abigail had some money already in her Sponge Bob locker, where she is saving money. She babysat for a week all day long a sweet little boy. Next, she dog-sat for a neighbor. Abigail and Amelia actually split that one. For 2 weeks now they have gotten up early, I mean 6:30am or 7:15am! Abigail is almost fully funded for her part but I told her she could start helping Amelia. Amelia has been selling mostly earrings. She is making them each by hand and selling them pretty cheap too! So far she has made almost $200! I'm hoping they can both fund the trip on their own. Not that there is anything wrong with parents paying for someone to go or just getting donations but I am loving watching them count money and realize that THEY did it! Last Christmas Abigail and I offered to wrap Christmas presents for donations. Strangely only one person took us up on the offer but keep that in mind this November and December again. ;) We will be doing it again. For myself, I have started selling Usborne books. Now this is not strictly to pay for me to go on the mission trip (I've got kids to feed with it) but I hope it will help.
Here are a couple of links...
Jewelry pictures...
https://www.facebook.com/kelly.j.riley/media_set?set=a.10151471175456126.1073741825.503271125&type=3
Usborne books...
https://w3799.myubam.com/shop
Thanks to everyone who has already helped! Don't think we are crazy, just doing what the Lord commanded us.
Fast forward to this July. Rusty has agreed to Abigail, Amelia and me going in 2014!!! He will be taking the week off work to stay home with the other babies. You have probably seen me posting pictures to Facebook of various jewelry and now book party info. Here is what we are doing to raise $3000! Abigail had some money already in her Sponge Bob locker, where she is saving money. She babysat for a week all day long a sweet little boy. Next, she dog-sat for a neighbor. Abigail and Amelia actually split that one. For 2 weeks now they have gotten up early, I mean 6:30am or 7:15am! Abigail is almost fully funded for her part but I told her she could start helping Amelia. Amelia has been selling mostly earrings. She is making them each by hand and selling them pretty cheap too! So far she has made almost $200! I'm hoping they can both fund the trip on their own. Not that there is anything wrong with parents paying for someone to go or just getting donations but I am loving watching them count money and realize that THEY did it! Last Christmas Abigail and I offered to wrap Christmas presents for donations. Strangely only one person took us up on the offer but keep that in mind this November and December again. ;) We will be doing it again. For myself, I have started selling Usborne books. Now this is not strictly to pay for me to go on the mission trip (I've got kids to feed with it) but I hope it will help.
Here are a couple of links...
Jewelry pictures...
https://www.facebook.com/kelly.j.riley/media_set?set=a.10151471175456126.1073741825.503271125&type=3
Usborne books...
https://w3799.myubam.com/shop
Thanks to everyone who has already helped! Don't think we are crazy, just doing what the Lord commanded us.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Week in a coco-nutshell
So according to my last post we were supposed to be having a staycation week. I had planned out various things to do each day and different restaurant inspired dinners. Then life happened. The first day of our staycation was ruined by various mishaps. The next day we had our Mexican restaurant taco night and it was great. That started making up for the BAD day Monday.
Wednesday we spent the WHOLE day at the zoo with almost no one else there. It was hot but not crowded at all! At one point we were the only ones with the sting rays. I would put those on your list for the summer. It does cost extra but it was really fun. My 65 year old mama was sticking her hand right into that pool to pet the rays and sharks! I bet when she was my kids' age she could never have imagined touching a sting ray. We went to Jerry's Sno Cones after the zoo and waited in line 45 minutes for our supreme sno cones. I mean they were good but not sure I would make a special trip out there. Here's what I noticed while people watching, if you weren't wearing Chacos while waiting in line you were a loser! I'd say at least 3/4 of the people were wearing them. The other 1/4 lived in the neighborhood or was one of my crew! Here is what else I noticed, while 2 moms were talking, who later got into a van with a fancy private school bumpersticker, one of their kids was playing the trash/dirt beside the building. The boy was maybe 3! I laughed actually. After we got home everyone cleaned up and we went to church for various activities. Dinner was super late but it was a Polynesian themed pork dinner and delicious! I was wore out when I hit the bed that night.
Thursday was the day I thought I might go to the water park and then decided it was too stinking hot! We ended up cleaning and playing the Wii. Dinner that night was seafood restaurant inspired coconut shrimp from scratch and might I add delicious! A little night swimming to finish the day off so I didn't feel like it was a complete waste.
Friday my little Adeline went to Camp Big Enough, an all day camp at church. Bible studies, inflatable water slide, crafts and much more fun! I started my afternoon by picking her up at 4. Came home quickly changed and packed again for a slumber party and Annabelle packed for a sleep over too. I did some grocery shopping at Walmart for my mother-in-law who has a broken foot right now. I tell you what, shopping for someone else is hard! I didn't even know what some of the stuff was! I now know the various uses for jet dry. I dropped off her groceries and Annabelle, went straight to the slumber party to drop off Adeline and on my way home stopped by my grandmother's to check on her. My dad was trying to check her blood pressure for her and her toilet was running. I got the blood pressure monitor working and then had to run to Lowe's for a toilet part. Somewhere in there I dropped off my milk that I bought like an hour prior to that (it was good this morning still thank goodness!). Back to my grandmother's to help my dad fix her toilet and then home to squeeze in dinner. Friday's dinner was bar&grill themed bacon infused hamburger sliders. Yummy! Either I was super hungry because it was late again or Rusty cooked them to perfection, I'm going with the latter.
So now to Saturday, we finally needed to face the elephant in the room, the leaky shower pan that has buckled up over half of our bedroom floor and all of the closet floor. Rusty cleared out the closet, started moving furniture around and pulling up floor boards this morning. I tell you what, I have loved the wood floor laminate since the day we put it in, now not so much. The floor is ruined and probably cheap enough to come in right under our deductible but I called today to make a claim anyway. The shower pan has to be replaced, which means tearing the shower to the studs. The crazy part is we did this 5 years ago when we bought the house to this same shower and because I don't want to speak ill of the dead I won't mention what I'm thinking about the plumber that installed it! It's looking like we will have concrete floors in our bedroom for a while not to mention being down to 2 showers for a while too. I don't even want to ask the plumber how much! I'm totally being Scarlett O'Hara, I'll think about it tomorrow, after all tomorrow is another day! Thankful it is not the whole house and thankful we have 2 backup showers.
On a much happier note, if you haven't checked out Amelia's earring line that she is selling to raise money to go to Guatemala in 2014 please check this link and pick something cute out! We are changing things constantly and making new stuff everyday so check back often!
https://www.facebook.com/kelly.j.riley/media_set?set=a.10151471175456126.1073741825.503271125&type=1
There's our week in what I thought would be a nutshell but it was so busy I turned it into a coco-nutshell. Check back next week for the insane adventures of the raccoon cat food thief!
Wednesday we spent the WHOLE day at the zoo with almost no one else there. It was hot but not crowded at all! At one point we were the only ones with the sting rays. I would put those on your list for the summer. It does cost extra but it was really fun. My 65 year old mama was sticking her hand right into that pool to pet the rays and sharks! I bet when she was my kids' age she could never have imagined touching a sting ray. We went to Jerry's Sno Cones after the zoo and waited in line 45 minutes for our supreme sno cones. I mean they were good but not sure I would make a special trip out there. Here's what I noticed while people watching, if you weren't wearing Chacos while waiting in line you were a loser! I'd say at least 3/4 of the people were wearing them. The other 1/4 lived in the neighborhood or was one of my crew! Here is what else I noticed, while 2 moms were talking, who later got into a van with a fancy private school bumpersticker, one of their kids was playing the trash/dirt beside the building. The boy was maybe 3! I laughed actually. After we got home everyone cleaned up and we went to church for various activities. Dinner was super late but it was a Polynesian themed pork dinner and delicious! I was wore out when I hit the bed that night.
Thursday was the day I thought I might go to the water park and then decided it was too stinking hot! We ended up cleaning and playing the Wii. Dinner that night was seafood restaurant inspired coconut shrimp from scratch and might I add delicious! A little night swimming to finish the day off so I didn't feel like it was a complete waste.
Friday my little Adeline went to Camp Big Enough, an all day camp at church. Bible studies, inflatable water slide, crafts and much more fun! I started my afternoon by picking her up at 4. Came home quickly changed and packed again for a slumber party and Annabelle packed for a sleep over too. I did some grocery shopping at Walmart for my mother-in-law who has a broken foot right now. I tell you what, shopping for someone else is hard! I didn't even know what some of the stuff was! I now know the various uses for jet dry. I dropped off her groceries and Annabelle, went straight to the slumber party to drop off Adeline and on my way home stopped by my grandmother's to check on her. My dad was trying to check her blood pressure for her and her toilet was running. I got the blood pressure monitor working and then had to run to Lowe's for a toilet part. Somewhere in there I dropped off my milk that I bought like an hour prior to that (it was good this morning still thank goodness!). Back to my grandmother's to help my dad fix her toilet and then home to squeeze in dinner. Friday's dinner was bar&grill themed bacon infused hamburger sliders. Yummy! Either I was super hungry because it was late again or Rusty cooked them to perfection, I'm going with the latter.
So now to Saturday, we finally needed to face the elephant in the room, the leaky shower pan that has buckled up over half of our bedroom floor and all of the closet floor. Rusty cleared out the closet, started moving furniture around and pulling up floor boards this morning. I tell you what, I have loved the wood floor laminate since the day we put it in, now not so much. The floor is ruined and probably cheap enough to come in right under our deductible but I called today to make a claim anyway. The shower pan has to be replaced, which means tearing the shower to the studs. The crazy part is we did this 5 years ago when we bought the house to this same shower and because I don't want to speak ill of the dead I won't mention what I'm thinking about the plumber that installed it! It's looking like we will have concrete floors in our bedroom for a while not to mention being down to 2 showers for a while too. I don't even want to ask the plumber how much! I'm totally being Scarlett O'Hara, I'll think about it tomorrow, after all tomorrow is another day! Thankful it is not the whole house and thankful we have 2 backup showers.
On a much happier note, if you haven't checked out Amelia's earring line that she is selling to raise money to go to Guatemala in 2014 please check this link and pick something cute out! We are changing things constantly and making new stuff everyday so check back often!
https://www.facebook.com/kelly.j.riley/media_set?set=a.10151471175456126.1073741825.503271125&type=1
There's our week in what I thought would be a nutshell but it was so busy I turned it into a coco-nutshell. Check back next week for the insane adventures of the raccoon cat food thief!
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Staycation gone wrong
I wasn't going to write anything else until next week but the last 2 days deserve a note...
This summer with the addition of a new baby boy, Finn, plus our older baby boy addition, Pitt, we decided it would be better to stay home this year instead of going on a vacation. This week I had labeled our staycation week. We were going to spend longer than normal at the pool & even pack a lunch to eat by the pool, we were going to the zoo, make a stop at the suddenly famous Jerry's Sno Cones, a trip to the movies, and a visit to the sprinkler park. I'll be honest, I hardly ever go to the sprinkler park because it is just plain miserable to me. I had planned out a menu for dinner for the week of yummy stuff like we were going out to eat. So we got the extra long, day at the pool done first. Hung out with some friends there, enjoyed cheese puffs and pb&j's poolside and everyone came home with pink cheeks. That is my kind of vacation day. Everything running smooth, right. That afternoon Abigail starts complaining she doesn't feel good. Amelia and I both thought she was faking so she wouldn't have to help with dinner and little siblings. Don't judge me, you know you've been there and I'm just publicly confessing, sorry Abigail. I cooked our family favorite Fettuccine Alfredo. Rusty took one bite as we were making plates and said what did you do different. Nothing of course, Kroger brand alfredo mix, same chicken, same pasta. I tasted it and quickly spit it out! The milk had apparently scorched when I was making the sauce and the whole thing was awful!! Just awful!!! So, Digorno pizzas to the rescue. Staycation set back #1.
Next, Rusty says, "Hey Kelly, I need you to come look at something." That is always something that makes me nervous. He took me back to the bedroom and is saying as we walked back, I saw this this morning and didn't think about it but I just saw it again and I know it can't be right. I was getting that I'm gonna puke feeling in my stomach. Our bedroom floor was pushing up and wet. Yippee! A water leak. I checked the closet, very wet and very buckled up. I called my trusty plummer and of course he is on vacation and can get to me Wednesday evening. I like him so much, I'll wait. In the meantime, I'm keeping the water off and turning it back on ever few hours to flush toilets and get drinks of water. 6 kids + water off = a very sad mommy. Staycation set back #2.
After dinner Amelia and I made a quick trip to the store for some jewelry making supplies, more on that later, and when we got home Abigail was under a blanket saying she was cold! I checked her temp and of course she had a fever! This morning I heard her awake at 7am and when I went in to check on her she was in a sweatshirt and under the covers. Five minutes later she was puking! Yippee for puking and needing the water off! Staycation set back #3.
So here I am trying to have a decent fun week for cheap and now I'm just trying to remember what Bro. Chuck said about trust Sunday morning. Someone help me out with that because my zipper was stuck in my Bible bag and I couldn't get my stuff out to take notes this week. I'm looking for something to be thankful for. #1, I'm glad I had a coupon for the pizzas and had a few on hand. #2, I'm glad I wasn't on vacation with a pinhole leak springing while we were gone to flood the whole bedroom and destroy stuff before I got home. #3, I'm thankful that Abigail will get better in a day or so and that we have health insurance if she needs to go to the doctor. #4, my mom will be here soon to take 1/2 of my kids to the $2 movie. They better use the potty before they come home! #5, I just realized I can listen to the sermon online. Guess what I'm doing after I hit publish? There we go, officially more things to be thankful for than be upset about.
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Finally getting with the times
So here we go with the first blog. When I'll have time for this I have no idea but lets see how it goes. I always seem to have the craziest stuff happen and I like to make fun of my own life by sharing these crazy things with other folks. I also seem to have a lot of information to share, sometimes asked for most times not. I'm a terrible writer, my sister is the one with the English degree, so forgive any punctuation errors or grammar problems. I'll just start with a day in the life of the crazed eight Rileys...
Finn, the 3 month old, has been sleeping all night for a few weeks now, except he wakes up around 6:30am and now that I'm 35 years old I just get up that early, disgusting. So this Saturday morning I was up at 6:30 to sit quietly and do whatever and I really just enjoy my cereal without Pitt begging for some of it. By 8:30 everyone was up and Rusty and I were tackling the forever replenishing pile of laundry. On a side note, we have gotten into the habit of standing in our laundry room together and folding the load in the dryer quickly. It is actually kinda nice because it gives us time to talk for a few minutes. There's another thing about being 35, I enjoy spending time with my husband folding clothes. At some point in the morning I mentioned that Finn hadn't had a dirty diaper since yesterday which is great since for the last 3 months pretty much every single diaper has been dirty! After lunch I, on a whim, decided to take Finn for his 3 month picture at Portrait Innovations, which will probably be his last professional photo ever. For some reason we decided to take all the kids with us. Rusty dropped me off and he took all the kids for a stroll around the mall. There was a $7.99 deal this weekend so I was there with 87 other people and I tell you what, $7.99 brings out the best kind of folks! So, I'm waiting our turn when Finn starts filling his diaper, very loudly. Thankfully, there were tons of kids in there so no one could hear him. He was laying on my chest and when I picked him up I had a poop stain the size of Shaquille O'Neal's shoe ALL OVER my shirt and Finn but more importantly my shirt. I took him to the bathroom hoping I could wipe it off with some paper towels, HA! No such luck. I got him cleaned up and in the extra cute outfit I snagged as we walked out the door. Thankfully, I remembered we had just picked up Abigail and Amelia from spending the night with Gran Gran and they still had their bags in the van. I quickly texted Rusty to send Abigail in with a shirt from her bag. She comes to save the day with a Collierville Dragons class of 2017 shirt. Anyway, Finn's pictures turned out great, of course, and I didn't spend a fortune. I have learned after 6 kids how to not get sucked in by those crazy photographers and I can say no to pictures of my kids. We came home to a yummy BBQ chicken dinner and my girls all spent 2 hours hanging out together. 11:30pm is here, I've been up almost 17 hours and I think I have finally finished my day. Back up and at 'em tomorrow morning getting 6 kids out the door by 8:55am for church. There is my next blog topic, getting 6 kids to church without swearing.
Now for the sweet picture of little Finn and I'll spare you a picture of the dirty shirt. And no, that's not a tooth, just a glare . Isn't he adorable!!
Finn, the 3 month old, has been sleeping all night for a few weeks now, except he wakes up around 6:30am and now that I'm 35 years old I just get up that early, disgusting. So this Saturday morning I was up at 6:30 to sit quietly and do whatever and I really just enjoy my cereal without Pitt begging for some of it. By 8:30 everyone was up and Rusty and I were tackling the forever replenishing pile of laundry. On a side note, we have gotten into the habit of standing in our laundry room together and folding the load in the dryer quickly. It is actually kinda nice because it gives us time to talk for a few minutes. There's another thing about being 35, I enjoy spending time with my husband folding clothes. At some point in the morning I mentioned that Finn hadn't had a dirty diaper since yesterday which is great since for the last 3 months pretty much every single diaper has been dirty! After lunch I, on a whim, decided to take Finn for his 3 month picture at Portrait Innovations, which will probably be his last professional photo ever. For some reason we decided to take all the kids with us. Rusty dropped me off and he took all the kids for a stroll around the mall. There was a $7.99 deal this weekend so I was there with 87 other people and I tell you what, $7.99 brings out the best kind of folks! So, I'm waiting our turn when Finn starts filling his diaper, very loudly. Thankfully, there were tons of kids in there so no one could hear him. He was laying on my chest and when I picked him up I had a poop stain the size of Shaquille O'Neal's shoe ALL OVER my shirt and Finn but more importantly my shirt. I took him to the bathroom hoping I could wipe it off with some paper towels, HA! No such luck. I got him cleaned up and in the extra cute outfit I snagged as we walked out the door. Thankfully, I remembered we had just picked up Abigail and Amelia from spending the night with Gran Gran and they still had their bags in the van. I quickly texted Rusty to send Abigail in with a shirt from her bag. She comes to save the day with a Collierville Dragons class of 2017 shirt. Anyway, Finn's pictures turned out great, of course, and I didn't spend a fortune. I have learned after 6 kids how to not get sucked in by those crazy photographers and I can say no to pictures of my kids. We came home to a yummy BBQ chicken dinner and my girls all spent 2 hours hanging out together. 11:30pm is here, I've been up almost 17 hours and I think I have finally finished my day. Back up and at 'em tomorrow morning getting 6 kids out the door by 8:55am for church. There is my next blog topic, getting 6 kids to church without swearing.
Now for the sweet picture of little Finn and I'll spare you a picture of the dirty shirt. And no, that's not a tooth, just a glare . Isn't he adorable!!
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