I bought Kevin Rudolf’s In The City album – clean version.

Normally, I don’t do this, but this time, I want to be able to share the music with my children (7 and 5.5), and it was nice to be able to purchase the versions that will be played on the radio and not worry about having the cd in the car.

I like that there’s an option if I choose, especially in this instance. So far, I’ve been pretty good at shielding the little gels from cursing. In our house, the “s” words are “stupid” and “shut up.” There’s plenty of time for them to learn profanity and appropriate use thereof.

5 yr old just finished lesson 3 of 7 of intro to skating for 4-6 yr olds. She moves pretty well on the ice, and seems to be motivated even though she has the occasional spill. We'll be doing skating practice tomorrow.

New gym uniforms for both. We have three gym shirts, and I couldn't find any of them Thursday evening without cleaning rooms. I'm not like Dawn where I venture into the room and 30 minutes later it's clean. No, I make them do it, and yell and nag constantly to make sure they do the work. Anyhoo, $43 dollars later, 2 new gym shirts and one new pair of sweats (without scissor holes). If scissor holes appear, they'll have to either give me the replacement money, or work it off. Harsh, yes, but necessary. I'm such a mean mom. They tell me that several times a week.

Okay, if you didn’t watch cartoons in the eighties, you may not get the reference.

Anyhoo, on my daily read list is the Yarn Harlot. Last Friday, she wrote an entry hysterically funny about editing her latest knitting book. Well, she reminded me of PBW, who’s at the top of my daily read list. So I ran down the list of PBW entries, to where she gave her email, and I sent her the link.

Lo and behold, not only do I get a reply in my email, today’s PBW entry comments on the Harlot, and references my name. I’m famous! I have affected the blogisphere! I have the Power!

To be fair, I haven’t kept up this blog, and I’d get more readership if I did, with links to others, for it is with trackbacks and comments to others that one builds their own blog, but still. For little old me to have such an influence, tiny that it is, on such a highly read and respected blog, it boggles the mind.

And I’m still recovering from the birthday party at Chuck E Cheese’s. Luckily, the charge goes on next month’s bill, and since it was the Husband’s idea, I can say I told you so when he yells. 2 hours of screaming kids, lousy covers of pop songs, keeping track of 12 kids and making sure they and the parents they brought all ate and drank satisfactorily, and got enough tokens, then hauling the presents home, the list as she opened them, the baths, the attempt to calm them down for Sunday night bedtime – oy! It’s a good thing I had a quiet work day today, or I might have come across as the witch my kids think I am sometimes.

Time to enforce 8 pm bedtime. Witch practice. Yes, that’s “Witch” - with a W, not a B. I’ll hear that later, in about five years, I expect.

 

 

 

20 pounds. As advertised. However, it would have been more, but I had some bad days at the beginning of last week, so that slowed my rate down. I kept my cal count down, but the food choices on the bad days weren’t the best.

This week, I’ll be adding in the walking, as recommended by Medifast – 20 minutes 3 times a week. Don’t know when, just yet – possibly at lunch time at work.

On the knitting front – can’t find the camera, so you’ll just have to imagine in your mind – I’ve got the triangle blanket halfway done. I bound off the baby sweater torso, only to determine it’s too short, so either I have to go back and add about 6 rows, or scrap the whole thing. Nephew is due on valentine’s day, so I need to decide soon.

Today is the six yr old’s part at Chuck E Cheese. Ugh. But, this is her first big, non family party, with invitations and thank you notes and everything. So, I’ll be listening to screaming kids for two hours. I’ve warned the husband that if he’s home when we get home, I’m going to take an hour off to recover my sanity. He has to work today (maintenance weekend for the govt computers), so he’s excused from party duty.

I had my first off site client visit last week for the new job. I’m definitely out of practice, but I think I did okay. I was pretty nervous, so I told the 4.25 yr old at drop off that I needed to hurry because I had my first big meeting with the new job. So, at pickup, the first thing out of her mouth was “Mom! How did your meeting go?” That made my afternoon.

After 3 weeks on Medifast, I’ve lost 15 pounds. I seem to have settled on 3 lbs a week after the water loss. So this is the real work. Medifast recommends getting used to the program before starting their exercise for sedentary folks (walking) program. So, next weekend, I will begin that. That should help as well. That may increase the 3 lbs a week, or may just help with inch loss.

The 5.95 turned 6 on Tuesday. I’ll have pics from the big Chuck E Cheese party which is next weekend.

The 4.25 has recovered from her cold and has spent the last 6 nites in her own bed all nite. Yes! Remember, this is the child who’s also called the Klingon. (Cling on, for those not aware of Star Trek).

The knitting – well, not so much. New Nephew is due in 4 weeks. Hat is done. Sweater needs sleeves. Still need to do booties and matching blanket. Other blanket (to match nursery) is almost half done. 18.25’s sweater – supposed to be done for christmas – needs sleeves.

I have my first on-site client visit on Tuesday with the new job. I have to make sure I can present a professional enough appearance. Also gotta remember to take my business cards to hand out.

I’m doing some personal coding, but time is short.

I’ve got a new story idea wandering around in my head, so I’m putting some of the stuff on paper, but I haven’t been really writing in ages. I guess I’m not as serious about it right now as I used to be.

We’ve lost the TV Remote (my fault – I put it somewhere, and now can’t remember where) so now I’m off to clean in hopes of finding it under the clutter.

Update: Found the remote. It was in a box I had thought I’d looked in before.

Excuse the housekeeping, but I need to check this from many PCs.

14 girls invited.

3 Cousins accepted

1 Sister accepted

1 Non class mate accepted

4 Class mates accepted

-2 Class mates declined

We have to pay for 11 kids (Chuck E Cheese), so this helps my math. I may send out a bugging email to others.

(In our fam damily, we do this on purpose. Mostly to hide the fact that we do this accidently, too.)

Yesterday was Medifast day 3, and I peaked at the scale and had lost 7 lbs. Yes, you read that correctly. Now, most of it was water weight, I know, since I was visiting the facilities on average every 45 minutes, but it drives the confidence up.

The hardest part of doing this is not sneaking bites of little girl food. But, I’m keeping to a 1000–1100 calorie diet, and as long as I follow the program I’m not hungry. The shakes and pudding and oatmeals are enough to keep my sweet tooth satisfied, and every 2.5–3 hours, I’m eating. And I get one real “Healthy” meal a day. As long as I follow the rules for “Healthy”, I’m good.

New Years Eve, Hubby was ill, so I entertained 2 4.2 yr olds and one 5.95 year old. We managed to stay up to watch the ball drop, and we toasted with caffeine free diet soda, and they were excited to see Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers standing next to Dick Clark. Fifteen minutes later, they were fast asleep.

A new topic here. Questions from a four year old.

“Mommy, why do birds build nests?”

And the monsters got up extremely early. Still working on adjusting the time clock. We’re up, had breakfast, and the kitchen has been cleaned. I cleaned the microwave, and hand washed the glass plate. Hubby is now cleaning off the formal dining room table – the repository for all the stuff we don’t want to put away since pretty much Easter (or even last Christmas).

I finally decided that until I was happy with the knitwhit prototype, I wasn’t going to port it to the web. Also, whatever job I end up having, the web version will be my practice area. Currently, there are four web versions, all using different methods of programming, with pretty much the same database. So, it’s in Access for now, until I get the pattern database stuff finalized, and then I’ll make it multi-user, then I’ll port it to the web and start asking for beta users. It WON’T be another ravelry – purely a project management app, not a social one.

I have two packages to get in the mail between now and Monday – one for my knitting secret pal, and one for my sister.

I’ve made a little progress on my NaNo project, but I’m behind, and I’m actually using it as a reward for my must dos, rather than the other way around. Otherwise no laundry would get accomplished.

I’ve lost ten pounds, also – mostly by not eating or eating one or two of the one-hundred calorie snack packs. And drinking gallons of iced tea.

Well, the clock is chiming the hour, so the girls have to be given their cleaning instructions. We’re all working this morning.

To finding a job closer to home, doing work I want to do.

To Shenandoah Sheep and Fiber Festival.

To Halloween with Spider Girl and the Vampire Queen (I found my camera, pictures will be procured and posted).

To getting rid of lots of clutter and getting a craft room for me.

To trying to eat right, once again, or just giving in and doing the gastric bypass.

To wrapping up the year on a positive note.

 

So, yesterday, I parked the littel monst– girls, and waved at the husband, and took off to Baltimore to Stitches East. Just for one day, to check out the vendors.

Takeaway – knitters need big wallets. Seriously. Yes, it was all nice, and custom dyed, and fantastic quality, and almost nothing machine washable (other than superwash wool, which we all know I can’t touch). So, I saw some knitting gurus – I spotted Lily Chin there, and I bought a book from the Cabin Fever ladies, but other than that, I had to shop real hard to justify any other purchase.

I did buy 10 balls of Lucci tube cotton – 4 bucks a ball. This was a low price booth – the manufacturer/distributor booth. White and mint green, 5 each. Prolly a layette set for the boss, or a spring time thing for a monst– girl.

And I had to pay 9 bucks just for the priviledge of entering the market, and 20 bucks to park. And 5 bucks for a pretzel and a 20 oz bottle of diet soda.

Takeaway – I’d rather spend my money on machine-washable, affordable yarn, than the good stuff. I’d prefer my stuff to get used, not put away. But hey, that’s just me. I’ll just stick to Lion Brand, and whatever’s on sale, thanks (except Vanna’s Choice. Don’t like the feel or the colors).

That was what I asked myself when my favorite blogger went off line for nearly two weeks. I mean, even to post something saying she was taking some time off?

Of course, over the last two weeks, I’ve had the same difficulty posting – not necessarily due to lack of something to say, but finding the time to say it right – with pictures and everything.

So, I’ve decided to stop being the hypocrite, and stop being the perfectionist and just post – even if I don’t have the pretty pictures downloaded from the camera and ready to go.

Here goes:

The in-laws just left after a week’s visit. They’re great. I love them, but it’s nice to have my home back to myself (so to speak). Really, they’re wonderful. They both clean (I’m not quite the world’s worst housekeeper, but they may think so), she cooks, and they both dote on the little monst–, uhm, girls.

Of course, I get a head cold last week, that this week is trying to migrate into my chest. And I don’t have Columbus day off, with this new job, so I’ll be dropping you know who off at my mother’s.

I’ve made progress on Ellen’s Surprise, and Holly’s Custom Sweater (Light blue with up and down white stripes). I’ve started and ripped and started Cara’s Matrix Thing.

I’ve watched all my shows from last week – Bones, NCIS, Bionic Woman, CSI, Numbers, and Cold Case. I started Munich – about 45 minutes. I finished Highlander: the Source. Ugh. I was never a fan of Duncan McCloud.

Next time, I promise to have pictures. Gotta go wake 5.5 yr old, and dress us all, and head out.

Hot, crowded, but still very exciting.

They loved taking a picture with the Real Power Rangers. Then we went to Burger King with a playground, then dropped cousin off. Now we’re home, they’re in jammies, and watching – you guessed it – Power Rangers Operation Overdrive (Once a Ranger episode) until bedtime.

After bedtime, I’ll do a good knitting post.

When we got up after abbreviated nap, guess what I found? A Secret Pal gift, just for me. Yippee.

I had my girls and cousin help me open, and they were very good at waiting. So, I shared some lifesavers.

From left 2 right: redhead is mine, 5.5 (the kindergartener), blondie is mine, 3.9 (the preschooler), the teenager is mine, 17.9 (the college student), and the 3.9 year old is my niece (the cousin).

Now, we’re off to the surprise.  I’ll post specific thanks later, but I love it all!

They’re playing with Daddy. So I get a few moments to tell you how I’ve procrastinated regarding laundry.

I’ve finished the second bootie, cleaned off my computer desk, and worked on the teenager’s former bedroom – moving all the stuff she left behind into the closet, and doing some dusting – which will become my knitting room. I don’t know if the computer will move up there, because I’m not counting on her being gone permanently, and so the room has to be able to do double duty if she comes back.

We survived week one of Kindergarten, and the very first ever soccer practice. This coming week will be continuing adjustments as we get into the routine of packing lunch everyday.

As soon as I find my camera, I’ll post some pics.

Well. What a hullabaloo. I think we remembered everything, and we labeled everything, and she wore the required clothes, and she was there on time. And the 3.9 Yr old was fine, as well, on her second day in the fours class. They’re going to Chuck E Cheese today.

We ended up tightening up the belt, so the shorts fit better. Tomorrow is PE day, so the uniform will be slightly different. And we’ll be taking the 3.9 yr old first, most likely.

I pick her up in 3 hours (8–11:30 this week, 8–1 next week, then finally all day kindergarten with after care starting the tenth). It’s a good thing I have a decent job, and can work from home. Speaking of work, I have enough to keep me occupied until 11ish, then it’s time to collect the kindergartner. House work? Are you kidding? Not bloody likely.

It was Hubby’s Scheduled Work Weekend, so I had the littel gels, and then some. Last nite, I took them, and Cousin H and Cousin L by Marriage (Sister married, then divorced, L’s cousin) to Burger King with a playground. 90 minutes of two 3.9 yr olds, and one 6 .01 yr old, and one 5.5 yr old. Then, we met my mother and the Teenager at BigMart. Then, after buying new shoes for Catholic School, we went to QD for ice cream.

Now, when my mother’s involved, there’s no such thing as doing things quickly. So, we didn’t get home until after nine, and bedtime was around ten.

Today, we met my mother and Cousin H for breakfast at Greasy Mac’s, and then she took the girls (Thank you!) for a coupla hours, while I picked up a few things at AC Moore, then gelled.

She returned the littel gels, plus Paskettios for me to nuke for their lunch, at 1:20. So, nap time didn’t happen until 2.

Tonite, after littel gel bedtime, is worktime for the day job, so I won’t have knitting progress to post until tomorrow.

Have a cute kitteh pic instead: Funny Kitteh

It seems blogger/blogspot is down this morning. None of the blogs (okay, most - I got one to work) I usually read from there are working. From a technical perspective, it will be an interesting read when it's back up and the explanation is posted. From a blogosphere perspective, it will be interesting to see how the overal web society responds to the outage.

Okay, enough geek musings.

I'm taking the baby sweater to visit my grandmother this evening. While she didn't teach me to knit (I actually took a knitting class in elementary school), it has been another thing we share, and it seems I'm the only one in the family who enjoys it as she does. Since she's ninety, and her body's starting to complain, she doesn't get out much - if at all. So we'll marvel at the techniques, and discuss a few things, and continue our bond, while the little gels run around the back yard of my mother's house. (At least, that's the plan.)

The Not A Tulip Sweater, she has been finished! Finally! Although, it really only took 11 days, and I was sick the last five, so it was a fairly quick project, but WAY too much finishing work for me. The I-cord around the neck - I worked it separately then sewed it on, since I couldn't wrap my head around the applied directions (doing I-cord while attached to the sweater) - is now complete, and and all ends woven, knotted as needed, and snipped. The hat is done. The blanket is about half way done. I found a good set of seamed booties, so the layette will be complete.

Once this set is done, I need to finish the blanket and booties for the other Michelle, and I'm done with baby stuff for a couple of months. (Pics will be forthcoming after Labor Day - both boxes must be in the mail by Sept 1.) My boss and my sister are due in January and February (in that order), so they'll be the next baby layette recipients.

Next up on the priority list is finishing the green sweater for Cailin, and doing one each for the other two daughters. My husband doesn't wear sweaters, and I'll work on mine as I work on the girls'.

In the meantime, have some LOLCat cuteness. And if you're a geek, you might enjoy LOLCode.

[Geeks, be patient. I have some good marriage tips coming up for you - whether you are one, or are married to one, or both.]

In Kid News, the the five year old starts kindergarten next week, so that's our big building up to event. We did some homework a bit tonite, to warm up brains. Both the 3.9 yr old and the 5.5 yr old did two pages in the little books I got for them from AC Moore. We're setting up the routine before the school year starts, and easing them into it.

Yes, folks, apparently some of you ARE reading this. Which means I gotta be more disciplined in posting.

Chicken Pox Update: Hubby was down for a week. He eased back into work last week, but until this past weekend, that was it. He'd go to work, pick up the girls from school, then be useless the rest of the evening. Only the essentials - dog feeding, pool maintenance, trash to the curb - got accomplished. Needless to say, I wasn't Happy Harriet Homemaker. I'm an overweight, cranky, menopausal forty-year old. (Yes, it's menopause. Been confirmed.) So, the house is still recovering.

Finally, this weekend, he seemed back to normal. And then the five year old started having a nose. Sheesh, it never stops.

I started my not quite a tulip baby sweater last thursday, and I've made it to the first sleeve. Knitting in the round on dpns is not my favorite activity, but as a knitter, it's a necessary skill. I tried magic loop, but it stretched the stiches too much. I looked all weekend for the camera, and I found it this morning, so hopefully I'll get some pics up this evening. And I need a set of size 6 dpns.

Back to the day job.

That's what the husband has. The doc said he might get it when the 5 yr old got her shot, so we postponed her shot, and his doc told him to get vaccinated, and he did, then two weeks later, she did, and now he has chicken pox. So it's either from his shot or hers, no one knows. He's pretty miserable, and pretty disgusted with the medical advice, and I'm exhausted from sole care of girls, and they miss their dad.

(New Paragraph, finally.) I have knitting pics, but I haven't taken the time to sit at the computer in the evenings and upload them from the camera. Today is Thursday, which means Grandmother gets them from daycare, and keeps them until about 8-ish (ish can be anywhere from 15 to 50 minutes, BTW), so I can work late or relax. So maybe I'll get stuff done then. Don't count it.

At the day job, I have to rassle with InstallShield script - who knew how complicated a progress bar could be?

Barely. Husband is sick - started sunday afternoon when he came home from weekend work. He's pretty sick, fever/chills, dizzyness, soreness everywhere. Since he hates me to fuss over him, I just concentrate on the girls. So I get pretty cranky sometimes.

The party was a success, for the most part. I tried to take pictures, but of course the batteries were low, and the moment was lost.

AC Moore has/had a one day sale today, and I found some fuschia Microspun for 1.87 a ball - I got all 7 balls left. I'm trying to schedule in a trip to the other store to see if they have some. I'm working on a microspun baby blanket for one of the michelles, and while it's not gonna be pink, the yarn is pleasant to work with, and at that price, I can stock up and work double if I want something thicker.

I'm gonna try to take/post more pics tonite. Either of knitting, little gels, or both.

(Beware, I'm into alliterations.)

I'm hosting a cousins' Christmas in July party tomorrow night. I need to plan dinner and crafty thing for 2 almost 4 yr olds, and 5 to 6 yr olds (We invited the neighborhood boys, but they won't sleep over). If the weather holds, I'll wear them out in the pool, then plop them in front of a project while I fix the food.

I'm trying to figure out what exactly to feed them. The craft is set - I got cheap t-shirts and fabric markers, and I need to pick up some stencils, and we're set.

I'm getting a tiny bit exhausted just thinking about this, but the kids just love it when I do this, so I try to do one every other month, when the husband is scheduled to work all weekend.

Brain break is over, back to coding at the day job.

I'm such a geek. While I like ravelry.com, it's a little too social for my taste, so in my spare time, I'm working on my own. I was going to make it a plain desktop app, but what with Vista, and Mac and Linux ppl, for now it's browser based, in vb.net 2005 and sql server. When I'm happy with the overall usage, I  may make it multi-user, and do more with it. The big thing I want it to do is price my projects and keep track of my yarn inventory based on yarn usage.

In other news, the teenager is moving out today. I'm trying not to be too mushy ("oh, mom!"), but she's been my life for the last 18 and a half years (including gestation). She turns 18 in September, and she'll only be six miles away, but still.

On the diet front, over the winter and chaotic spring I had gained back all my weight loss, so now I'm back on medifast. I'm gonna use up my existing supply, then order more. The girls and I took a walk to the playground this weekend and the next morning I could barely get out of bed. And, since the 5 yr old was signed up for fall soccer, I gotta be able to teach her some basics in the next 30 days.

So far, no actual writing has occured, but now that I'm no longer at the overtime-crazy job, maybe I'll be able to better utilise my free time for more than just making sure the kids have clean clothes and snacks for tomorrow. I'm slowly but surely recovering.

BTW, I haven't read HP 7. I stopped after 2.

I signed up for SP11. It's a secret pal type thing for knitters and crocheters. So, expect some knitting type posts around here. 

In other news, I'm adjusting slowly to the fact that my oldest graduated high school, and expects to move a couple miles away to go to community college part time, while living with her grandparents. She's been with me for the last 18 and a half years, and it will be different to not have her around, or returning in a few days. Yes, I'm proud of her. Yes, I want her to be successful in her own life, but I'll still miss her.

The five year old taught herself to swim in the last six weeks - seriously. I bit the bullet and signed her up for fall soccer. It's mainly for health and social reasons. I hate the game, but it's what kids play now, and it's important for her social development.

The almost four year old is definitely eligible for speech therapy from the county. So, a therapist will be working with her on her enunciation - she's smart, but can't pronounce half the words correctly.

Work is good - no stress. Inlaws were up for two weeks and are leaving tomorrow.

More when I get my knitting thoughts organized.

I didn't realize it had been that long.

We made it back from the trip, I started the new job the next day, and I've never looked back.

New Job: No timesheets, no client support, learning Install Shield's script (kind of like Javascript, but not), C#, Dot Net 2.0, the new portal, SFTP (Secure FTP, which is implemented completely differently than FTP), packets, and buffers and streams, oh my!

The 5 yr old graduated from Pre-K (January kid, poor thing, can't wait for kindergarten, reading already). The 17 yr old graduated from High School (not looking back, either), and turns 18 in Sept. The 3 yr old turns 4 in Sept and got her own room. All three are enjoying the new pool.

I turned 40. My Dad turned 60. My surviving grandmother is still kicking at 90.

I've gotten back into knitting in a big way. It's amazing the free info now found online. And the yarn. Beautiful lovely yarn. Aha, aha.... Sorry, you prolly don't get the reference (Disney's Robin Hood).

Anyhoo, I'll be trying once again to get the site(s) regularly updated. Keep your fingers crossed.

Some tips:

• Don't sit them next to each other.
• Make sure you pick the right sized headphones.
• Make sure you choose your DVD selections correctly.

Other than that, it took us 13 and a half hours. We reverse the process on Monday.

There's a new place called Monkey Joes that has opened up in middle Georgia. We're there now. Free high speed internet, and free computer stations! Kids are going to wear themselves unconscious. Some one needs to open up one of these in northern VA.

The kids - 3.5 and 5 years old (20 months apart).

The plan:

Buy a Portable DVD Player with dual screens/headphones.

Put the kids in the way back of the minivan, with mom in the middle, and dad driving.

Have plenty of books/toys.

Stop every three to four hours and let them run.

We start first thing Friday Morning. I'll let you know how it goes when we get back Monday night.

I start my new job on Tuesday. I'm looking forward to learning new things, and doing something the public (well, more than just classified Navy Users) can see and use.

Hubby will be changing his job schedule with the new month - he'll be working evenings, for most likely the month of May. He's not looking forward to it, but I am. He can take the girls to school when they're nice and cooperative, and I'll pick up the cranky monsters and feed them, and put them to bed.

I've started Intermittent Fasting. Eat 24 hours, Fast 24 hours, from 6pm to 6 pm (In my case it's more like 7 - 7). Today is my first fast day. I will most likely be fasting Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I didn't weigh today, and we have the road trip to the inlaws this weekend, but I'll get a baseline tomorrow morning if I can, and I'll try to repeat every week.

On the writing front, not much is happening. Current job ends tomorrow, which has basically been all consuming of any free time (hence the job change). I have several stories in the various mental stages, that I'd like to start putting down on either paper or electrons.

By the way, does anyone know if reflected light is different than direct light? How does the reflection alter the light wave/particle makeup? Anyone? Anyone? ... I guess I'll have to look it up, then.

The Daily Question at our place is "what's for dinner?" With two little ones, a teenager, a diabetic dad, and a mom who tries to accomodate them all, it gets to be a challenge. Tonite, the littel gels are going to be eating beans and hotdogs. I'll prolly nuke a can of green beans, just to get something green in there.

Hubby will prolly do his own thing for dinner. The teenager, well, who knows? So, I'll prolly eat whatever is left of the beans and dogs to minimize leftovers, and fill in with something healthy if I can. I'm borderline type 2 diabetic, so I try to keep it healthy, but I don't sweat the small dgressions.

Yes, I know we need to get organized. But right now, there are two diverse meal requirements, and three finicky eaters, two of which aren't even consistently finicky. Something they liked one time, when served again the next week, they'll pick at. And versy vicy.

So, what's for dinner at your house?

I know it's supposed to be calm, but I've got the two five year olds and the two three year olds here, with just me and the dog. What fun. Breakfast is over, and they've finally had enough TV, so they're coloring. I'll start contacting parents at 10. We're having some weather, so I'll let them have a bit of kidless morning, then call them to come get their kidlies.

Bedtime was interesting. 3 yr old cousin was the most difficult. She tossed and turned and turned and tossed, and finally fell asleep between 10:45 and 11 pm. 5 yr olds fell asleep on the family room sleeper sofa after I turned the TV off at 11, but that was to be expected.

Everyone was up by 7. I expect good naps today.

I was able to put dasBlog up today (since you're reading this), so they haven't been too bad. They've now migrated to the other room where they're playing with the kitchen toys.

I'm nuts. Or so I've been told. We're hosting cousins - one three, one 5 and a half, so tonite I'm going to have two three year olds and two five year olds. We're going to make Porcupine Meatballs and Home made Banana Milkshakes. Hubby's working tonite, so he'll miss most of the fun. And Teenager's going out two, so it will be me, the kidlies, and the Five Point Five's mom until she tries to leave. And, oh yes, the dog.

I'm still working on getting pics working, but I'll update with them as soon as I can. And I'll post the recipe once we know it works.

Imagine, if you will, - oh wait. You probably won't get the reference. It's linked if you want to check it out. From my wild youth.

Anyhoo,  I had to entertain my littel gels and cousin holly yesterday, so we made a cake. Chocolate. Now, a five year old and two three year olds make for interesting cook's helpers. But it fended off boredom, and they loved helping, and licking the bowl. There were a few disagreements about who was hogging the remains, but they are girls, after all. Then after lunch and after teenager frosted the cake, they put sprinkles on it. LOTS of sprinkles.

UPDATE: Pics will be included as soon as I get the teenager to send them to me, and then I figure out how all this stuff works.