Saturday, August 25, 2007

Sibling Justice

So today the Horde was playing upstairs and all the sudden I hear James screaming bloody murder. So I yell for him to come downstairs. He arrives and is crying and carrying on. I can't understand a word he has said. So I tell him that as soon as he stops crying I will gladly solve his problem for him. I finally get him so he's just snuffling and whining.

"Jayden hurt me."
"OK, I need something more than that. How?"
"She stepped on my face."
"She what?"
"She stepped on my face."
"How is it that you were where she COULD step on your face?"
"I was on the floor."
"Why were you on the floor? Were you playing?"
"I tripped."
"So you tripped and fell and Jayden stepped on your face?"
"Yes."

By this time, Katy and Jayden have both come down stairs as well. Katy keeps trying to butt in and tell me what happened. While I appreciate this tendency, I do want to hear it from the involved parties first and foremost. So I turn to Jayden.

"Did you step on James' face?"
"MmmHmmm." Jayden is nodding in agreement.
"Did you do it on purpose or accident?"
"On purpose."
"You went over to James and stepped on his face on purpose?"
"Yes."

At this point I'm wondering if Jayden even understands what on purpose means, being only 5 and all.

"Katy, did Jayden step on James' face on purpose?"
"Yes, but..."
"Thank you Katy, that's all I needed. Jayden, you are going to get a spanking, you do not step on your brother's face."

Jayden starts to really cry, James is still caterwalling and carrying on and Katy is really trying to get a word in edgewise. I have Jayden placed on my lap in preperation for her spanking.

"Mommy, I really need to say something."
"What Katy?"
"James was holding Jayden's feet and that's why she stepped on his face, she was trying to get him to let go."

Um, that doesn't jive with what James just told me about tripping.

"James, come over here."
He walks slowly over, still snuffling and sniffing, holding his nose, which does look red and a little swollen, but no bruising or bleeding, so I'm thinking it's not broken.

"Were you holding Jayden's feet like Katy said?"
"Yes."
"So you lied to me about tripping?"
"Yes."
"Then you deserved it, go to your room."

James goes and sits on the stairs and cries and kicks his feet. He was really hoping for some justification for his pain and suffering. I think that maybe he'll learn not to grab hold of his sister's feet.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

For the past couple of days, the Horde and I have been walking around in our neighborhood, running errands. Thankfully, we don't need the van to complete these errands, so it saves on gas, which saves money, and the Horde gets out and has some exercise. On Tuesday, we went to the Horde's new school. Come to find out all 3 of the older ones will be enrolled in the same hallowed halls of academia. Well, that certainly makes that a little easier. We walked there, taking the busy road, which they will not be allowed to walk on, even though there is a sidewalk. Katy I trust walking on the sidewalk and obeying traffic laws. I trust Jayden to an extent, after all, she is only a Kindgergartner. James I trust not at all. I love the boy dearly, but he tries to break rules that HE makes.

We go in and I give the secretary the girls' paperwork. James' stuff is still at the Admin building. I had called over there and was told that as the girls' school would have the resources to meet James' needs, that he would enroll there as well. I need to call the school tomorrow to ensure that yes, they have received James' info, along with the stuff from all three of their old schools.

There is a HUGE playground in front of the school. I constantly hear "can we play?" the ENTIRE time we are at the school, from the point they spot the playground a block away, until we leave the grounds and cross the street and go in to the store. The Horde wants to know which teachers they will have and where their classrooms will be and yada yada yada. Well, I don't know any of this. I call the school later that day and find out that teachers aren't assigned until NEXT week, the week before school starts, when we will have to once again walk down there to find out who has which teacher. Izzy spends the entire trip trying to climb out of the stroller. I add the shoulder straps to his harness and that just frustrates the poor guy to no end, as he was pretty close to getting out of just the lap belt.

On the way to and from the school, Katy is trying to memorize the way there and back. It's not hard, however she does ask me to draw her a map for the first few days of school. I told her that I would walk with the kids the first few days (I'm thinking the first week, tops) until I know they know the way. Katy will be walking with James and Jayden to school, and just James on the way home, if Jayden is attending morning class, which I hope that she is, which I need to mention to the school when I call tomorrow to verify receipt of said papers from before. I will be walking there to get Jayden from class in the middle of the day, and doing a check up on James at the same time.

Realizing that the Horde will be walking back and forth to school means that they are going to need so many more things for school than I had planned on. They will be walking in fair and foul weather alike. No rides from me for them as Jason leaves for work very early in the morning, long before we will even be awake most likely. I am not going to get everyone up super early to keep the van on the chance that it might rain to be able to drive the kids to school. I walked when I was a kid, so can they. They are going to need umbrellas and raincoats, and probably some kind of rain boot. For winter they will be outfitted to the gills as well with scarves, mittens, hats, coats, boots, and snowpants.

We leave the school and cross the street where the crossing guard will be standing come the school year. Katy is talking to herself about how that is where the crossing guard will be and wants to know why they HAVE to cross there and not down the block at the light. I tell her because people get tickets for running red lights, but go to jail for going through a crossing guard. I'm not quite sure this is true, however it is sufficient of an answer for her.

We go in to the store. I want to pick up something for myself for lunch, and something for the Horde (including the youngest) if possible. I have just over $13 to use. We pass the Little Debbie display. MMMMM.....chocolate chip cremes...much like the oatmeal cremes. Yes, definately a box of those, Jason will like them for work as well. Over to frozen foods. Yeah, they have the Buffalo Wings that I like. 2 boxes of those. The 2 boxes of wings is about $7. The cookies are just over $1. Ooooh, pizza rolls would be perfect for the Horde for lunch. The bag is almost $4. At this point, my brain forgets how to do basic math, thankfully, I have an almost 5th grader along with me.

"Katy, how much is 7 plus 4?"
"11 Mommy"
"Are you sure? It's not 12?"
"Um, no, it's 11"
"Really?"
"Uh yeah. 6 plus 4 is 10 and 7 is 1 more than 6 so you add 1 to 10 and you have 11"
"OK, I'm trusting you, but I swear it's 12"

We get to the check out. I hold back the cookies, as I think I won't be able to get them, but I still want them and I want to see what my total is. It was just over $11. Hey, they really did teach Katy stuff in school! Moral of the story there is to always have a 5th grader with you when you need to do math.

We leave the store and walk to the house in the way that I want the Horde to walk back and forth to school. It's a very simple way to go. It is a little longer, but not enough to make much difference, and there is little to no traffic, so it's MUCH safer, especially with the child who can't follow his own rules along for the walk. This is when Katy asks for a map. She can remember what 7 plus 4 is but can't remember how to get home from school?

On Wednesday we have 2 errands to run. We need to go to the Dept. of Water to have it transferred in to my name and go to Dollar General to pick up some basic school supplies for Katy, as she is the only one that still needs a back pack and that kind of thing. Both of these places are also a relatively short walk from our house, in the opposite direction of the school.

Once again, Izzy goes in to the stroller, however starting off with the shoulder straps on, which he promptly becomes upset with. It stormed the night before, so his stroller was a bit wet, so we put a blanket in his seat so he doesn't become soaked on our journey. It is much warmer than the day before, so everyone is in shorts and tees where the day before they were in jeans and sweatshirts. Izzy goes barefoot, his preferred state it seems.

We walk the 1/2 mile or so to the Water Dept. Building. We all go inside. I fill out the application to have the water put in my name. The Horde sits on the long couch while I do this. Izzy tries to climb out of his stroller and gets very upset that he can't manage it. James calls to him like a puppy, by making kissy sounds and saying "here baby baby baby", even after being told to stop. Jayden is annoying Katy by rubbing her head (which was shaved on Tuesday evening, a story all of it's own) and touching her, and it's hot and sticky outside so I am getting annoyed with them all. It takes 10 minutes for them to put my name in the computer and for us to pay the deposit and leave.

A block away is Dollar General. James and Jayden begin talking about all the things that they want to get for school. I promptly inform them that they don't need anything like I am buying and they aren't getting a thing. Jayden begins to cry a little and James definately pouts. Katy giggles.

We buy folders, pencils, mechanical pencils, a couple of decorative pens, some notebooks, memo pads, a note pad shaped like a K, a dictionary/thesaraus, and a back pack for katy. James and Jayden each get a goofy pen and a small note pad. And we pick up mini pizzas for lunch. All told, we spent less than $50.

As we walk home, I begin to hear the many complaints about how hot it is (and it was) and how they all want a drink of water when we get home, and then they begin to argue over who gets to have a drink first. And all the while I am thinking to myself "I have to work tonight". For Thursday, we aren't doing anything. We are staying home. Jason put the a/c units back in to the downstairs windows (we took them out while it was super cold out) and we are vegging out. In the evening, I am meeting a friend at the mall to have a girls' night out, though it won't be a late night. Just some time with a grown up and I'm not running errands by myself or going to work or doing anything with the kids. Sounds like heaven, doesn't it?

Monday, August 20, 2007

my very first time...

No, you pervs, my very first blog. Sure, I've done this on MySpace, but hasn't everyone? I thought I'd give this a try. Use it as a venue for my rants, my raves, my projects, to toot the horn of me and my darling heathen horde. Ah yes, THEM. My horde, the heathens that I spawned. There is Katy Beth who is 9 1/2 and I swear going on 20. James who is 8 1/2 and the man with the issues galore, we see the doc for him more than when I was pregnant all times combined! Jayden, my darling 5 year old drama queen. Yes, she has a "boys" name, but so did I as a child. And Izzy, the baby. Though Jason and I are putting forth a concentrated effort to usurp him from that post! Yes, ANOTHER! Yes, we are insane. Yes, we know how they are made. Yes, we CAN care for them all. Once I get the hang of this blog thing, I'll post pics and videos and what not.

First, let me tell you about my day today. I slept late, very very late. Oops. The kids allowed me to do just that. Why? Well, so they could play video games of coarse. After all, those coveted games are VERY regulated, and while school is not in session, if they awake before me, as they often do (I still find 6 in the morning MUCH too early) they are allowed to play those tantelizing bits of graphics and story as long as there is no arguing and they leave them when I awaken. So they leave me to sleep. On a normal day, I am awake and up around 9. Not today. Jason came home at 11:45 to bring me the van for errands this afternoon and found me still in blissful slumber. HEATHENS! Not even the baby woke me, as he has taken to sleeping late himself with teething and all.

So I scramble to get myself somewhat dressed, and everyone to have jackets and shoes so we can make it out the door and all in the van to get jason back to work on time. We all come home. I feed everyone, myself included. Have them all get dressed. James wants to wear shorts. It's 65 outside. I tell him to go change. "Change what?" "Your pants" "I don't have any pants". I know for a fact that this is inaccurate because I am the one that hung the pants on the hangers and Jason is the one who took them upstairs and put them in the boys' closet. "Yes you do, go look in your closet" He walks away mumbling about pants and shorts and why does it matter, yada yada yada.

"Katy, comb your hair and stop licking your lips"
"Jayden, put on your jacket."
"Katy, please go get an outfit for Izzy while I get myself dressed"
She brings me a pair of pants (at least SHE was paying attention to the weather) and a shirt that is supposed to be worn with an undershirt. I send her back up to get the undershirt. And a onesie, which she tells me that Izzy has none clean. (Yes he does, Jason put on one him after his bath tonight).

Jayden starts crying because as she is putting on her shoes, per usual, she puts them on the the WRONG feet, why can't she get it? She's 5 after all. It should be 2nd nature by now. James tells her "Jayden, that's the wrong foot" and it's a HUGE crying jag. She then asks Katy to verify that yes, it is the wrong foot, and Katy tells her this is fact, and Jayden starts to cry even harder. I can FEEL the headache coming on. This is a clue to how my afternoon will go, I just don't realize it yet.

OK, everyone is dressed, Izzy has no shoes because he has outgrown them since the last time he wore them. He hasn't needed them in MONTHS because of the warm weather. So on Friday, I get to take all 4 Heathens to Payless because of BOGO (buy one get one) and as I'm buying FOUR pair of shoes (the youngest three need tennis shoes, Katy needs some kind of dress shoe), I might as well get them as cheap as possible, yes? Now imagine me at Payless with all four kids. Jason must go with us on this kind of adventure. Why? Well, it takes James and Jayden about 2 minutes to find the shoes they like. It takes me about 7 minutes to find shoes that I like and that fit Izzy, it takes Katy 20 minutes just to decide what KIND of shoe she likes, let alone an acutal pair. While I am suggesting things to Katy, and slowly but ever so surely losing patience with the pickiness, Jason wrangles the middle two while I hold Izzy and allow him to chew his new shoes or the box or whatever he can get his pudgey little hands on.

Anyway, everyone gets in to the van. Katy needs to remember to close the slider on her side after the middle two get in, which she needs to be reminded of, EVERY TIME. James must help Jayden do the straps of her carseat up while I am fastening Izzy in to his, which he complains about, EVERY TIME.

Ok, everyone is fastened and we are off. We head to the Admin building for the school district. We recently moved and we need to enroll the oldest three in the new district. James receives special ed services for his issues, and the other two are in regular "main stream" classes. Well, come to find out, I can't enroll the girls at the Admin building because the schools are now open (though not in class until after labor day) so I have to go to the school to enroll them, however we leave James' info there so the woman who handles special ed enrollment can look his stuff over. While I am talking with the woman about enrolling the kids and where they will be going, Izzy is chewing on James shoe. Apparently, James thought it was ok to give him a dirty shoe to chew on. I tell James to put his shoe back on. Katy is full of questions. She MUST know the plan for the day, step by every little step. Jayden is laughing at James because Izzy is climbing on him and pulling his hair. James starts to yell.

We leave the Admin building, all pile back in to the van, and head to the doc office for Jayden's annual physcial. She finds out she has to get her finger poked and here come the tears. She finds out she needs a shot, and she is just balling, unwilling to be calmed. Bribery of a popscicle once we get home only goes so far. She pees in the cup, gets her finger poked, gets her blood pressure, weight, height, her shot, and TWO stickers for the cause. It took an hour. All the while, James and Katy are goofing off and Izzy is sitting there making noise and doing things to get the other two's attention. Katy and James are sharing a chair because there are only 3 in the office and Izzy has one of his own. Then James goes to sit with Izzy and complains and yells when Izzy butts his head, pulls his hair, pokes his eye, nose and mouth, and kicks and hits him.

All done there, so we all pile back in to the van to go to my work. I work as a server at Denny's of all places. I work 3 nights a week. I work overnights on Fridays and Saturdays and then only the evenings on the other nights. This past weekend I was scheduled for 17 hours between Fri. and Sat. nights. I haven't worked, standing on my feet like this, in 5 years. I HURT when I get home. I'll get used to it. Do I NEED to work? Well, no, not really. It helps us out, so I do it. Jason works Mon-Fri during the day. Anyway, we go to my work for a mandatory meeting. I learn NOTHING new. We are late to pick Jason up from work.

This was my day. Tomorrow, I get to walk with the kids down to the girls' (and possibly James' too) school to enroll them. I am hoping to go to the gym tomorrow evening, just as some time to myself, doing something for myself.

Are they great kids? Yes. Are they a handful. Oh absolutely. I know that life would be so much more quiet if they weren't around, but I think it'd also be so much more dull.

Right now, I am working on painting the girls' bedroom. It was supposed to be a project that took a week at the most, it's now going on it's 2nd. Why? Well...I started washing the walls to get them ready for the paint. There were a couple of air bubbles near the window that I was going to remove, after all, I was repainting, those spots really wouldn't be noticed. When I removed the air bubble, a HUGE piece of the paint came up. Um, that's NOT supposed to happen. The paint has pretty much stopped sticking to the wall. Oh fun. So I strip it all. Well, right now I only have 2/3 of the room stripped. And underneath the paint is a layer of dust. Broken down paint is my guess. So I need to scrape off the dust, then wash the walls very well and then tape them off and THEN paint, and the room will need TWO coats now because the color that the walls strips down to is grey. The top paint color is white. Someone primered over wall paper with grey paint. The wall paper is holding the plaster underneath together.

Katy really wants to help paint. What I can't seem to explain to her in a way she will understand is that she really wouldn't be much of a help. Yes, she did help strip the walls of the paint. However, her picking up a roller and painting the wall will only be more mess. The child is CLUMSY. The LAST thing I need is for her to step in the paint, or knock it over in some way, and have pinkish peach paint all over the carpet. Oh, and I've decided to add stencils to the top of their walls, to make it "prettier" I guess. Why do I do these things to myself? I made a small project in to a MUCH bigger one just by prepping the wall. And I know the girls will most likely NOT appreciate it, let alone thank me for it. Who knows, I may be pleasently surprised by that, but I doubt it.