It's Baaaaack!

Well there were a few days in there somewhere where we were all healthy at the same time. But alas no more. Rose got sick last weekend. After a fever and vomiting for a week, I finally took her to the doctor this morning. The verdict? Pneumonia. Poor kid!! Having had that for 4-5 weeks earlier this year, I can totally sympathize with how rotten she's feeling. The good news is that kids recover from it easier than adults do. So with the Zithromax she was given she should be feeling better by the end of the week. Of course she has declared that the Zithro tastes like throw-up and doesn't want to take it. Even mixing it with juice can't disguise the taste. Sorry Rose!

In other Hahn news, we got Matthew signed up for preschool today. This is a Christian preschool that David and Rachel both attended. It meets once a week for 4 hours and is free! It is a terrific program and I can't say enough good things about it. The kids are taught by wonderful people who have volunteered their time for over 20 years now to make this a success. The kids learn Bible stories, make crafts, play and do lessons (colors, shapes, letters, etc.). It's only for kids going into kindergarten the next fall. But kids MUST be potty-trained. We're working with Matthew and he';s making progress. But now we have a deadline. Yippee!!!

This of course raises the question. What am I going to do with myself for 4 hours once a week without any kids to take care of. Hmmmm. The possibilities are endless. Exercise? Lunch with friends? Find a hobby? Sleep? At this point I'm leaning toward catching up on my sleep, but I'm sure that'll change as it draws closer. My kids are growing up!

Rachel's birthday, Part 1

Ya know, when I originally started this blog, my plan was to update it every couple days, complete with clever titles, cute pictures and humorous anecdotes. However having 4 kids keeps me busy enough that I have very little time to actually blog about the children. I'm sorry I don't write often. I'd like to.

Well today my parents came down to celebrate Rachel's birthday. She is going to turn 6 this Tuesday. I can't believe she's 6 already!! Good grief how time flies. I had gotten her some presents in early January that were clearanced after Christmas that I knew she'd like. And I didn't even lose them! Aren't you impressed? Well last night I was going over the plans for today and realized that we didn't have ice cream or decorations or anything. So much for being prepared. Time for a trip to the dollar store.

Matthew saw I was leaving and wanted to go along. In a moment of weakness, I agreed to take him. I admit I was nervous because after all, he is 3. But we actually had a great time. He obeyed me really well and even helpd pick out the birthday plates and streamers (plus a couple presents) for his sister. I was pleasantly surprised! My kids are getting big enough to behave in public. I was excited and sad at the same time. Why sad? This should be a good thing right? It absolutely is! But I am moving out of the era of having small children around the house. They are growing up. The days of hauling a diaper bag everywhere with me, multiple car seats, using the bathroom with an audience, having to leave places because my kids are screaming, and arranging my schedule around naptime are coming to an end. I was just starting to figure out this whole parenting a preschooler thing and now we're moving into the era of having pre-teens. it's a whole different set of issues.

Ok, I got sidetracked. Back to Rachel. Her party was fun. I put up lots of streamers last night so she woke up to see Happy Birthday streamers everywhere. I baked pink cupcakes, which she loved. She'd requested oreo ice cream, which I was happy to get. Yum 8-) It was so fun watching her all morning. She is always a happy, bubbly, bouncy energetic girl. But today was multiplied a thousand-fold. She was so excited and couldn't stand still. She so desperately wanted to eat her cake and open her presents. And finally it was time. She got a lot of nice things, including a pink spring jacket, headbands, a Webkinz and a coloring book. But the things she likes the best so far are the Newborn Duckling FurReal Friend that we got her, the Ariel the Little Mermaid art set from me-mom and pop-pop Hahn (she screamed out loud when she opened this) and this really cool flower mirror that comes with beads and glitter you can decorate the mirror with (also from me-mom and pop-pop). She's really excited about opening the mirror and making it look pretty.

And she just can't wait for Tuesday, her actual birthday!

Valentines Day weekend

Valentines Day was definitely more chaotic this year than last. Having 3 kids in school meant that I had 3 class valentines parties to plan for. The girls both had typical parties in their classrooms, which meant hauling out the valentines I got last year on clearance and having the girls sign one for each of their classmates. David's class did something a little different this year. His teacher decided that each child would be given a secret Valentine buddy (someone else in their class). You were supposed to secretly do something nice for your buddy each day last week, like sharpen his pencil or leave a piece of candy in his mailbox. Then on Friday, bring in a Valentine or special treat for your buddy. She thought that rather than having 2 dozen small valentines that would get lost, each child would have one special one from a classmate. I really like that idea, especially since David has already lost the card from his buddy. Seriously though it's nice to see the kids being taught to focus on doing something nice for someone else.

Fridays are always busy in our house though. I watch my best friend's 4 kids on Fridays. And of course now the Maddux bowling league has started. So every Friday from January until early April I take Rachel and Matthew plus the other 4 kids I watch and head to Maddux to pick up Rose and David. Then we all head to the bowling alley (riding illegally with 9 people in a 7 passenger mini-van. Shhh!) where I watch 3 of my kids bowl, keep track of 8 kids including 2 3-year-olds, fend off repeated requests for money to buy french fries or quarters to play video games. Fortunately 4 of the kids are picked up by their father after he gets off work. But this particular Friday all the kids were hyped up on Valentines candy so they were running around more than usual.

But I survived and headed home with my 4 kids. Phil and I got Brett to watch the kids and went out to celebrate V-Day by ourselves. We started out at Carrabbas Italian Grill. Oh boy do they have yummy food. I ate waaaaay too much but loved every bite of it. Next we headed to Newport on the Levee to do something. See a movie? Play at Gameworks? We actually ended up at Barnes & Noble browsing for a couple hours (and spending too much money). All in all a delightful evening!

On the actual Valentines Day we got heart-shaped pizzas for dinner. The pizza place down the street does heart-shaped pizzas every Feb. 14. The kids loved the novelty of it! I got a picture of one but still can't find my camera cord so I can't get the pictures off my camera onto the computer. I swear I never used to to lose things before I had 4 kids!! Anyway, we also gave little gifts to the kids. I started a tradition last year that I continued this year and really like. I took each child on my lap one-by-one and gave them our gift (a small toy and some candy). But I also told them what I love about each of them, what makes them unique and how special they are. Matt of course was only interested in the present. I want my kids to grow up knowing that they are loved and hearing it from me on a daily basis (I didn't hear it much growing up so it's really important to me that my kids do!)

Sunday was a fairly uneventful day. David played at a friend's house but the rest of us stayed home and rested. Monday was a holiday and we decided to do something fun as a family. After lunch we headed to Museum Center. I took the younger kids to the Children's Museum while Phil took the older 2 to the Cincinnati History and the Natural History Museums. It was exhausting for us grownups but the kids had a blast! Matthew loved playing with the balls and playing in the water area. He got so wet that he stripped off his shirt and refused to wear it wet. I stood under the hand dryers trying to dry it off, but it was soaked through. So he ran around shirtless for about an hour until we decided to go and forced him to put it on. Can't have him going outside in the cold with jacket but no shirt! Phil really enjoyed taking the older kids through the museums, pointing things out to them and talking to them. They saw the cave, some dinosaurs and something about the ice age. Completely worn out we headed to the van to go home. Matt was tired and cranky so I dropped him and Phil off at home while I took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner. We had promised them this if they were good at the museum. I think we over-estimated our energy level when we made this promise! The kids had so much fun eating pizza and playing games. And even dear tired mom had fun playing Deal or No Deal and one or two of the other games. I admit it-some of the games there are actually fun!

Well it's after midnight so I'm headed to bed now. G'night friends!

I'm on a mission!

I know it's been awhile since I posted anything. You would think I would have had plenty of time to blog, what with the kids being off school 5 days in the last 2 weeks because of snow. Ugh. But somehow it is almost impossible to get anything done with 4 kids around the house, fighting with each other. And my kids aren't real fond of snow or cold weather so they were inside pretty much constantly. But we are having very glorious atypical warm weather so the snow has melted and life is returning to normal.

I had some pictures of the snow and of one of our cats playing in it. I was hoping to post them here; that's one reason I haven't written for so long. But alas I have lost (again!) the cord that plugs in from my camera to my computer to download the pictures I've taken. I've also lost our checkbook-the new one to replace the one I lost earlier. Fortunately I've found the one I lost so now the new one is the only lost one. Make sense? Ya know I didn't use to lose things before the kids were born. I was very clean and organized. But somehow having 4 kids, plus a husband, plus 4 cats, plus a man living in our garage has made me scatter-brained and prone to losing things. It's very frustrating! But I digress. On to the mission I mentioned.

So what is my mission? Potty training. I have been changing diapers constantly for the past 9.5 years and I am TIRED OF IT!! For a brief time we actually had 3 in diapers. Boy that was seriously unpleasant. And now Matthew is 3.5 and it is past time when he should be trained. So that's what we've been busy working on. It's going pretty well as long as we're at home. I haven't been brave enough to put him in real underwear yet, but that's next. Just think of all the money I'll save on diapers. Yippee!!!!! I feel like I'm approaching the end of the tunnel of raising preschoolers. Of course the tunnel of raising teenagers is approaching faster than I'd like. Yikes!

I remember when. . .

Phil and I actually got a night out together on Friday. it was all very spur-of-the-moment, which is normally difficult to do when you have children and have to get a babysitter. Luckily we have a live-in babysitter, in the form of Brett. He's the man who lives in our garage. Confused? It's a loooong story. Basically he's a friend of my husband's who needed somewhere to live awhile back. He made an apartment in our garage and is living happily there. He pays some rent and babysits the kids whenever we ask. It's kinda nice having someone around to help with the kids. But I digress.

So we went out to dinner at Outback Steakhouse. We had a giftcard from Christmas to spend. Yummy food!! I had a teriyaki sirloin that was fabulous. Of course I can't even think about how many calories were in the steak, loaded baked potato, salad and bread. I hate to spoil the memory of such a perfect meal with the depressing reality that I ingested well over 1000 calories in one meal.

So after we were done overeating, we went to Blockbuster to use a giftcard my husband received for Christmas. One advantage to working for the school system is that he will ocasionally receive gift cards as a Christmas thank you from grateful teachers he has helped throughout the year. So we were walking around Blockbuster browsing. I haven't been in Blockbuster in years and years. And I was struck by how different it was. I remember the olden days (7 or 8 years ago probably) when the whole store was nothing but VHS tapes. Then there was a small section of DVDs added;the latest in movie technology at that time. Now the whole store is DVDs with nary a VHS anywhere. And the DVDs aren't even lined up neatly. They are stacked one on top of another so you have to turn your head sideways to read the titles. Back in the day, the VHS tapes were all standing up facing you so it was easy to walk and browse the available selection. And now there are more than just DVDs. There is a section for Blu-Ray DVDs. I admit to being technology-stupid and having no idea what the difference is between these DVDs and the regular ones such as those that we own. There are shelves and shelves of video games available to rent; Wii, Playstation, Nintendo and more.

But the most depressing discovery I made was the absence of a section for musicals. I LOVE watchng musicals and wanted to see how many they had. Back in the day there was a section labeled "Musicals." I walked around the store 3 different times looking for such a section. Alas, my search was in vain. When I asked a Blockbuster employee about this, he said that the few musicals they had were scattered throughout different sections of the store. How sad!!! Am I the only one who appreciates the great Rogers & Hammerstein musicals of the past?

We did find a few movies to rent; 1 for us grownups and 2 or 3 for the kids. I enjoyed seeing the new movies that are out there now. But I was sad at the loss of my favorite section. I must be getting old if a simple trip to the video store starts me reminiscing about "the way it used to be." Can I even call it a "video" store anymore if there are no actual videos anywhere in the store? maybe I should call it a DVD Store? Or a DVD and Video Game Store? Or a DVD and Video Game and Fattening, Junky Snacks Store? But I digress. . .

It all started with jellybeans

So there we were sitting around the dinnertable having a family dinner and fighting about something. I've noticed that our family tends to argue over things easily. Phil says that his family was the same when he was growing up. He loves it; personally it irritates me to have people fighting over little, stupid stuff all the time.. Anyway. . .

Rose had this brochure about Jelly Bellys and was checking out all the different flavors that those yummy jellybeans come in. And, as is oh so typical of my eldest child, was regulating who could look at her brochure and when. I told her that it belonged to everyone and anyone who wanted to look would get a turn. She replied that she had gotten it from her Uncle Brett and that Rachel had one too that had a bite out of it. Huh????? After questioning Rachel, we discovered that she wanted to see what paper tasted like and took a bite from her Jelly Bellys paper. So what did it taste like? Garbage, she replied. And here is where the conversation got strangely silly. Rose told here sister that of course it tasted bad because it had writing and pictures on it. If you want to taste good paper, it has to be plain. That's when it tastes the best. The girls were carrying on a serious conversation about how different kinds of paper taste. I just burst out laughing at this. You just never know what those girls are going to come up with next. I commented that this would be a perfect story for my blog. Rose was horrified and begged me not to. Sorry kid but I just had to. It's one of the perks of being a parent :-)

Empty Bunkbeds

Living in a 3 bedroom house with 4 children requires the use of bunkbeds. So why is 1 of our 2 sets of bunkbeds standing empty and unused? Simple. My boys have decided to sleep elsewhere. David still sleeps in his room, but is now camping out on the floor with his pillow, teddy bear and several blankets. I remember David went through a phase of sleeping on the floor when he was around 4 or so. He slept on the floor directly behind the bedroom door, making it almost impossible to open the actual door and get in. Now at least he sleeps away from the door, in the corner next to the nightlight and bookshelf, so he can read in bed.

Matthew, however, does not even sleep in the bedroom he shares with David. He has chosen to sleep in the living room on the couch. What's up with that? Surprisingly he is good about staying on the couch after we tuck him in. He just reads books until he falls asleep. So, since he doesn't cause trouble or wander around the house, we just let him sleep there if he wants. I figure he'll move back in his bedroom someday. But if not, David can enjoy having his own room.

The only problem with this arrangement (which might happen even if he slept in his own bed) is that he tends to wake up between 4 and 6 a.m. and come get me. We get him milk from the fridge and head downstairs where he curls up with me on the couch down there and falls asleep again. Why? I have no idea why he does this! Sometimes I sleep decently on the couch away from my dear husband's snoring. Sometimes I don't. I always mean to sneak back upstairs once he's asleep, but by the time he falls back asleep I am too tired to make the trip back up to my own bed. No wonder I'm tired all the time!