We had such a neat experience today. There are areas along the Missouri River in Yankton - specifically out near the Gavins Point Dam - that are popular places for bald eagles to nest and hunt for food. Winter is an excellent time to see them, so today the kids and I hopped in the van to do a little bird watching. We were driving along the road that takes us to the van and saw a vehicle had stopped along the side of the road. We pulled ahead of it and could see a magnificent bald eagle sitting in one of the trees by the river. We watched it for half a minute before it flew away, but that was awesome in itself.

There are areas near the dam that are blocked off during the winter so the eagles can nest and hunt undisturbed by humans, so the best place to view them (both for our view and for the eagles' safety) is at the Lewis & Clark Visitor's Center that overlooks the dam. We went there and watched two juvenile (under two years) bald eagles flying around and dipping down into the water. We're pretty sure they were younger than two years old because they were covered in dark brown feathers, and bald eagles don't start getting their white feathers until two and three years of age. It was so neat to watch them coast on the air currents and see how wide their wing span really is, even for the young ones. They were so close that we could even see the patterns of the feathers on the underside of their wings and body. On the way home, we once again saw a bald eagle sitting in a tree by the river (maybe the same one?), and I was able to get a picture of it because it sat in that tree for nearly two minutes.



What else did we learn about bald eagles today? We learned that:
- females are larger than the males
- their eyes start out dark, turn to a greyish-white during their second/third year and eventually turn yellow
- they're mostly fish eaters but will also eat waterfowl or carrion that hawks might kill. Bald eagles are scavengers and eat road kill.

We were talking about how the bald eagle is a symbol of the U.S., and Cole was really amused when I told him how Benjamin Franklin thought the wild turkey would be a much better representative of the U.S. because of its character.

I think we're going to drive out there on Saturday when Cory's around in hopes that he'll see some bald eagles, too. The kids are really looking forward to February when the visitor's center hosts a birds of prey program. When we've gone in the past, they've had owls and hawks to show the audience. It's a different organization coming this year, though, so I don't know what it will be like.

There are times when I'm not thrilled to live where I do, but this was definitely not one of those days.

Guess it might be good to post at least one more time before 2008 ends! We've been back in Yankton since Friday, but I haven't caught up with anything yet, including laundry. We had a really nice time with family and friends but are always glad to be back home, which is probably a good sign. I would post pictures, but our niece Mariah accidentally grabbed our camera because our cameras are almost identical. Hopefully we'll have it back in the next few days.

To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to traveling to Mankato mostly because I knew it would probably involve a lot of stops with Tylan. She turned out to be a pretty decent traveler, though. We had to stop a few times both ways when she was unhappy or wanted to nurse, but that's not too bad for a four-month-old traveling four plus hours.

We got to Mankato on Monday not long before supper and didn't do too much. My brother Jeremy and his two kids stopped by for a little bit in the evening. My mom took Tuesday off of work so she could be with us all day. My friend Heather, her husband, and their two kids stopped by in the morning so the kids could exchange gifts. That was a lot of fun as always. Then we went out to our church in the afternoon to help set up for the Christmas Eve service and so the kids could sled. That night we just hung out at home and watched Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

We didn't do much during the day on Christmas Eve except prepare for the night. Accalia took part in the childrens' service for the first time and had a lot of fun. In previous years she's just been too unsure to get up there with everyone. It would have been even more pleasant if Ella hadn't cried throughout most of the service. I have no idea what was wrong since she was perfectly fine before we came. I don't know if she was actually more tired than she appeared or if she didn't like sitting in the front row in a church filled mostly with strangers or what. We survived, though. It would have been nice to hang around after church a while to talk with everyone, but it was definitely in everyone's best interest to get Ella out of there and back to my parents' house. After that, my brothers came over so we could exchange gifts and stuff our faces.

We were up early and off to Lake Wilson on Christmas Day where we spent the day with Cory's dad, his brother and family, as well as Myron's friend Joan. This part of the visit didn't go as smoothly because we discovered that Cole seems to have allergies to dogs - or at least to Myron's dog. At one point in the afternoon, Cole had buried his head in a blanket that had dog hair on it and Cole's eyes started to itch and water. By night we noticed that Cole was starting to have a little trouble breathing, similar to when he went to the doctor and returned with a nebulizer. It wasn't as bad, though. Unfortunately for us, we didn't have any Benedryl to give him, and there was nothing open where we could go to buy some. We were at the point where we were trying to decide if we should drive home in the middle of the night on dicey roads or take our chances and be prepared to drive him 11 miles to the nearest hospital if his breathing worsened. We ended up staying, picked the room where the dog spent the least amount of time, opened the windows to air the room out, and washed all of the sheets on the beds. His breathing didn't really change throughout the night, although I didn't fall asleep until 2:30 a.m. because I was sitting there watching him breathe. That dog must have some extremely potent dander or something because Cory and I were both having reactions to all of that dog hair and dander by the time we left. It wasn't long before Cole was starting to improve, and by the next day he was completely back to normal. Now we know that we need to travel with Benedryl and definitely have to be prepared whenever we're around that dog again. That doesn't happen very often, though. It hit Cory first that Cole's trip to the doctor that resulted in the nebulizer treatments was probably also partially due to a reaction to the dog since that happened right after Myron had been here for Thanksgiving and we had the dog in the house for a couple days.

It was really nice to be home on Friday, especially because Cory didn't have to go back to delivering pizzas until today. We just hung out the rest of Friday, playing with the Wii, eating pizza, and watching The Dark Knight. Saturday was pretty low key, too. That night we started catching up on episodes of Pushing Daisy, a show that the kids love, too, and are sad to hear has been canceled.

So Cory's been working most of the day today and is scheduled to work until 8 p.m. Hopefully it's slow, though, and he gets out earlier. This coming week will hopefully be pretty quiet, too. The kids don't have any of their regular activities, so the only scheduled thing for us is a chiropractor appointment tomorrow. For New Year's Eve we're all just going to hang out at home and have a bunch of yummy food sitting out. That's apparently our tradition. Cory will have New Year's Day off, so we'll have extra time together this week. Hopefully I'll be able to get some cleaning done with the extra time this week. We shall see!

We've been out of the house and running around for most of the day, and it just now feels like I'm getting a chance to try to calm the chaos of things in this house. The dishwasher and washer are both running, and next I'm going to tackle the mess on the table even though that's the last thing I actually want to do.

This morning we were up and out of the house so Accalia and Cole could go to the party at the art studio while Ella and I did a bit of shopping. She wasn't really in the best mood, though, so it wasn't the most pleasant trip for me. Accalia and Cole had fun at their party - no surprise there! - and said they saw a real elf.

Then we ate lunch and were off to the doctor's for checkups for Ella and Tylan. Ella weighs in at 39 pounds and is 42 1/2 inches tall. Tylan is 13 lbs. 4 oz. and is 25 3/4 inches tall. Both are considered pretty tall for their ages, and Tylan's in the 50th for weight. Both are doing well, but Ella played shy with the doctor and didn't give him a very good chance to look at her eyes. He said if we just notice them crossing occasionally - when she's tired, having trouble focusing, etc. - that it's probably just something she'll grow out of soon enough. If it becomes more persistent, though, we'll take her to an eye doctor.

Then we were back home for a short time before we had to take the van to the mechanic's to have a couple belts replaced. The van's done now, but we can't pick it up until tomorrow morning since Cory's working right now.

I really wish I could magically get all of these household chores done in an instant so I could just work on preparations for our trips to Mankato and Lake Wilson.

FYI - Homemade hair detangling spray - 1 part conditioner to 10 parts water - works just as well as the store bought stuff and smells much better.

I got up too early this morning, so I'm sitting here blogging while I wait for the coffee to finish brewing. Ella fell asleep early last night and woke up early, but it wasn't as early as it's been in the past! Cole's up early, too, because he woke up and didn't find us upstairs. He's falling asleep again on the couch, though.

I have a bunch of laundry to put away today. It will make packing on Sunday so much easier, so I just need to get that done. I need to bake cookies, too, which I've also been putting off. Also have to call the paper to stop delivery while we're out of town. We have nothing going on today, so I should be able to accomplish those things. Cory will be home most of the night, too, after he's finished with a 5 p.m. counseling session.

Tomorrow will be busier. Accalia and Cole have art - and their art class Christmas party - and I might try to take Ella and pick up a few stocking stuffers. We'll see how that goes. She's at an age where I can sometimes sneak things in the cart and she pays no attention, but other times she'll zero in on something and not forget it's there. After lunch tomorrow, Tylan has her four month checkup and Ella has her three year check up. In a recent picture of Ella, I noticed that her right eye is crossed, and I had never noticed that before. Then, a couple days ago, I noticed her eye briefly crossed when she turned to look at me. Cory had crossed eyes when he was little and actually had to have surgery for it. I don't know if it's even a problem with Ella or if it's something that occasionally happens if she's a little tired and having trouble focusing, but I'll ask.

After those appointments, Cory's going to take off work a little early so we can take the van in to the mechanic. Yes, once again. Thankfully this is something we'd been planning to do. There are a couple belts that need to be replaced, and we wanted to do that before we travel for Christmas. Cory works tomorrow night, so we probably won't see him except for when we take the van to the mechanic. He's definitely looking forward to next week, though, when he doesn't work at all.

Glad I had a chance to type while Tylan is snoozing in the sling. It's hard to believe that at nearly four months old (tomorrow!) it's already hard to do things like type while Tylan is awake. Just over the past week or so, Tylan has turned into a grabbing machine. It's clicked with her how she can coordinate her arms to stretch and her hands to grab so she can bring things to her mouth. She's an incredibly oral baby, too. All babies are, of course, but Tylan is much more interested in putting objects in her mouth than either Ella or Cole were. Accalia loved putting everything in her mouth, too. Tylan's also becoming much more demonstrative in her affections with Cory. When she sees him, she'll try to lunge out of my arms to get to him. Then she'll bury her face in her chest and put her arms around his neck. It's such a sweet thing to see. She's ready to come back to me within a minute usually, but she's definitely showing the love to her daddy and siblings.

I am not a confrontational person at all, which is probably to my detriment at times. If I happen to find myself in a confrontational situation, I usually try to get myself out of it as neutrally as possible. This morning, though, I actually found myself having to keep my tongue in check. So strange for me!

The kids and I ran to Wal-Mart to pick up a few groceries and other odds and ends. We stopped in the girls' clothing section to look at the ballet stuff, and Accalia and I stopped to look at a cart of $4 pjs. Ella started to chase Cole around the clothing racks, and as I was going over to bring them back to the cart I saw this older woman veer into the clothing section and start following Cole and Ella yelling, "Children! Children! Stop running around!" I brought Cole and Ella back, and as we were going back to the cart, Ella took one more turn around a rack and accidentally knocked off a dress. This woman was still following the kids, and started yelling at Ella again and saying in a completely disgusted voice, "Children running around! Look at these clothes all over the place!" Normally, I probably would have just gathered the children and left, but today I walked over to where she was mumbling and picking up the dress, and I took the dress from her hands, put it back on the rack and said, "Thank you, but these are my children", and I could see she got my meaning that I didn't care for her attempts to help out. She had such a look on her face, though, when she started back at me. I don't know if it was disgust at my response and how I wasn't falling all over myself trying to thank her, or if it was pure disgust at my out of control kids and what a horrible mother I was. At any rate, I'm sure she left the store knowing she's seen the horrors of modern parents and convinced that if I just started spanking them right then and there all would be right with the world. Oh, I was so ready to say more to her, but I could see she wasn't interested in anything more than quieting the kids.

We finished up our shopping after that, and amazingly no one else yelled at the kids.

Brr would pretty much describe today. I'm assuming we reached 0 degrees, but I'm not sure. It's been blowing all day, but we thankfully didn't get much snow. The kids and I were able to stay inside and keep warm, but Cory was delivering pizzas for a few hours. A helpful tip for those of you ordering pizza (or any sort of food) when the weather is bad: tip! I think it's incredibly rude to not want to go out yourself to get food and then not tip the person who is going out in that weather to bring you the food. That's probably up there with people who tell you they can't afford a tip. Umm, if you can't afford to add a couple dollars onto the cost of the pizza, then you probably shouldn't be ordering a pizza in the first place.

Okay, enough ranting in defense of pizza delivery folks. After he finished that, Cory ran to the store to pick up a few groceries. Then we put our plan in motion for surprising the kids with an early Christmas present - the Wii. While Cory set the Wii up downstairs, I took all of the kids upstairs so we could do a 20-minute clean up. For some reason, the kids find it fun to set the timer and spend that time picking up toys. So we did that and then came back downstairs to find Cory sitting on the couch with a Wiimote in his hand and a game on the tv screen. Accalia and Cole were so excited. Accalia really likes the bowling game on Wii Sports, while Cole likes the shooting game on Wii Play. He also really likes the Freddi Fish game we picked up from a Cyber Monday deal. Ella seems to be happy as long as she can hold a Wiimote and doesn't seem to care whether or not she's actually playing anything.

We have very poor insulation with some of our windows, and so we woke up this morning to find frost on the inside of the windows. Yikes! I had the kids take advantage of it, though, by "painting" on the windows with paintbrushes and warm water.

Okay, I have a couple diapers to change and then the challenge of settling down a bunch of excited, happy kids. We're all on such a late night schedule, and the last few days have been rather rough. I don't mind us being a bunch of night owls. but the last three or four nights have been quite restless and are starting to drain me.

I have hopes that tonight will be a much more peaceful night than last. Ella fell asleep at 6 p.m. yesterday, and I knew that wouldn't be good. I actually tried to wake her up, but couldn't. She slept for a few hours and woke up tired and cranky and stayed that way until 2 a.m. Yay. I think I attempted to get her to sleep three times before it actually worked. Then we were up way too soon, and I am exhausted and continuing to fight off a headache. Ella fell asleep around 8 p.m. tonight, so I think it may go better this time around. Let's hope so because I have LLL in the morning. Last meeting for the group and then I'm shutting her down.

With Ella asleep and Accalia and Cole spending a lot of tonight playing in their room, I sat down and watched one of my all time favorite movies - Love Actually. I always cry at the end no matter what. Cory's probably happy he's delivering pizza tonight and doesn't have to watch it with me. Actually, if he were home we would probably be watching The Dark Knight.

Other than LLL tomorrow, Santa's flying into the airport, so I'm taking the kids to do that. Much holiday cheer should ensue. I also hope to wrap some presents, too.

Let's hope 2009 is a much better year for vehicles with us. Cory's car is in the shop once again (damn Fords) because his alternator went out AGAIN (third time this year). The alternator did have a six month guarantee, though, and it just happened to go out exactly six months to the day, so hopefully we can have that cost reimbursed. An additional expense, though, is that his front brakes are basically gone, so those are being taken care of now, too. He should have his car back tonight, so that will be very nice. We've been using just the van since Friday. Maybe, instead of Congress bailing out the auto makers, they could send a little our way to bail us out. Yikes!

So Cory's coming home a little early to get Accalia to ballet and for us to pick up his car, etc. He has two later counseling sessions tonight, so we won't get to hang out much.

I should really get back to loading the dishwasher. I stopped because Tylan was fast asleep and knew I wouldn't have much longer to type undisturbed, but she's awake now and is practicing her increasingly excellent grabbing skills.

Ella at three is absolutely kicking my butt. Well, starting at the end of two and now the first part of three. There is whining and screaming and crying. I know a lot of this is developmental and maybe some of it has to do with adjusting to Tylan's presence, but it just seems that much worse than it was with either Accalia or Cole. It's one of those periods of parenting where you think, "What did I do so wrong that my child is acting like this?" There are times, I hate to say, that I really just do not want to be around her. Ella at the present and Accalia at age 7 have so far been the toughest times for me to parent. I've felt as if I have no clue what is going on and really start to wonder what I did wrong.

At the same time, though, I can see some of the things that she's working through and how it will hopefully be once we're past this phase. Ella's becoming more and more verbal and more easily understandable. She's vocalizing a lot of her thought processes, whether it's counting, identifying letters, colors, objects, etc. or talking about whatever is on her mind. She's asking a lot of "What's that, Mama?" or "Whatcha doing, Mama?"

The whining, though, drives me absolutely nuts. It feels as if it came out of nowhere and is like fingernails on the chalkboard. If she starts whining, I'll say something like, 'I can't understand you when you talk like that. Can you tell me what you'd like?" Usually she's stop and say in a normal voice, "I want chocolate" or "I want to watch the Wiggles" or whatever it is she'd like.

Oh, but when it's like tonight when Ella is tired and cranky and just won't settle down and I have a headache starting up, I'm so ready just to skip ahead a few weeks or months or however long it will take to get past this.

Thankfully Cory will be home in less than an hour (hopefully!) and I can let him deal with some of this.

It was a second night in a row with Cory home in the evening. Lovely. Tomorrow he'll be delivering pizzas, so I've been enjoying the time. Accalia felt well enough to go to gymnastics today, and I signed up to provide treats for her gymnastics class and Cole's tumbling class when they have their Christmas parties in a couple weeks.

My mom called tonight to tell me that my grandma (her mom) was diagnosed with cancer. Grandma had gone in a couple weeks ago and had a scan because of a blood clot they discovered in her pelvis. They had noticed some suspicious spots during that scan, and it turns out that there is cancer in her aorta, abdomen and kidney. She doesn't plan to do any chemo. I have a feeling the rest of us are probably more sad about this than she is, which is probably not horrible for her. With my grandpa being diagnosed with lung cancer earlier in the fall, one of her biggest fears has been being left alone after he dies. Now they both know that they won't have to be without each other for long, and I think that gives them comfort. Me, I'm working on it. My biggest fear is that they'll linger on and get to the point that Mary was where she was praying and praying to die. I don't want them to have to suffer like that.

I hate to leave this entry on such a somber note, but I have to get a few more things done before bed.

Lately I've felt so exhausted by life. Do you ever have those times? You never seem to get things done and can't quite get up the energy to do anything about it. I'm looking around the house at the clean laundry that needs to be put away and the dirty dishes that need to be loaded in the dishwasher and the toys that need to be picked up, etc. Oy. Sometimes I think it's still adjusting to having four kids and not always being realistic in my expectations for what I will actually manage to do when I also have four children to care for and hopefully just hang out with and have fun with throughout the day. And then sometimes I wonder if I don't have a touch of PPD and that's affecting my energy and motivation levels. I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure that being in bed right now would be a smarter thing than writing in my blog.

Everyone's been a little sick around here. Even Tylan seems to have her first cold. Poor thing. I thought this morning how nice that must be for her - especially when not feeling well - to be carried around all day long. Cole's been the sickest, and I took him to the doctor Saturday afternoon. He had gone to bed on Friday with a cold that seemed to be knocking him on his butt, and when he got up on Saturday he had no energy and had really rapid, shallow breathing. The first thing the nurse did was to check his oxygen levels, and they were around 81/82 when they should be around 91/92. He had a couple nebulizer treatments while we were there, and then we came home with prescriptions and a nebulizer, which Cole has named Nebbie the Smoke Machine. The doctor heard a little something in his right lung but didn't say that it was pneumonia or bronchitis. Cole's definitely feeling better today.

Despite everyone not feeling quite right, Tylan had her first spontaneous laugh today. Prior to this she'll try to make laughing sounds when I tickle her ribs, but today she really laughed. Ella and I were playing with Tylan, and Tylan grabbed on to Ella's hair. I was getting Ella's hair untangled, and Tylan looked at Ella with a huge smile and laughed. It was very cute.

Cole has been busy creating new Christmas decorations. Today he drew Destructor the Snowman and gave him a Broom of Doom. So it's not a Martha Stewart Christmas around here, but it'll do.

Accalia and I have been reading the first of The 39 Clues series and are loving it. It's kind of like a National Treasure adventure. We even have the atlas sitting out so we can track where the main characters are traveling.

Okay, I'm off to bed. Accalia didn't go to ballet today because she wasn't feeling quite up to it, but I have a feeling she'll want to go to gymnastics tomorrow.

I guess Thanksgiving didn't turn out to be as stressful as it might have been with having to scramble a bit to ensure we had enough food and room with Mark letting us know less than two days before that they were coming. It helps that Cory prepares all of the food and I keep the kids occupied. Cory also found it really helped keep him relaxed to have a beer while he was getting everything ready. Mark and Shannon and the kids only stayed a few hours, but at least they finally met Tylan.

It was a hard Thanksgiving for Myron - harder than usual, I guess. It's always difficult because we're all remembering being together at the hospital and finding out after Mary's exploratory surgery that the doctors didn't think there was anything they could do. This Thanksgiving just happened to be on the same date as that Thanksgiving four years ago.

We managed fairly well with Myron's dog, Dodger, in the house. Of course, Dodger spent all of his time while inside in our old kennel. I hate to think of a dog being miserably cooped up for two days, but Cory and I refuse to have Dodger around the kids if he's not in a kennel. He hasn't yet bit one of them, but he's come very close several times and we don't know what's going to trigger him. He's not a good-around-children sort of dog. Myron got him at the Humane Society a little less than four years ago when Dodger - a cocker spaniel - was about five years old. Dodger had never lived with children and wasn't even an inside dog. It's too bad that Myron didn't get a dog that would be more appropriate to have around his grandchildren, but it is what it is.

Cory and his dad did some early morning shopping, but there wasn't anything too spectacular going on over the past couple days. Cory's working tonight and says it's really slow as far as pizza deliveries. He has to be up for an 8 a.m. counseling session and them he's going to hopefully finish up painting his co-worker's house. Then he still has to work a few hours delivering pizzas. Poor guy. It's definitely not a relaxing weekend for him.

We started putting up a few Christmas decorations today. We put up the Christmas village and the tree. Haven't decorated the tree yet. Cory put up some outside lights and decorations.

Baby book entry - Cole lost his second bottom tooth tonight.

This hostess is scrambling a little bit for Thanksgiving. Mark just emailed this evening to ask if the five of them could come here on Thursday! Meal preparations for six have now become meal preparations for 11.

I was going through some old emails that I'd saved and found a link to this website. I like it because I often come across children's books that look interesting, but I never know if the stories will be as good as the description.

Cory and I watched the 24: Redemption tv movie tonight. Now we can't wait for the new season to begin in January! I so need my weekly dose of Jack Bauer!

There's a possibility my cousin Jason might crash here tonight for a few hours of sleep, but I doubt that will happen since I haven't heard back from him yet.

No activities for the kids this week with the holiday, but we are definitely looking forward to going to the chiropractor tomorrow afternoon. Other than that, I guess the main work this week will be getting ready for Thanksgiving. Myron is coming Wednesday evening and staying until Friday. No one is looking forward to him having the dog along, but the dog will just have to spend the majority of his time in the kennel.

Now I think I'm going to try to get ready for bed and hopefully be in bed within the hour.

I have been fighting off a headache since I woke up this morning. I think it will be a losing battle. It doesn't help that I'm also tired and have absolutely no motivation to do anything. I really hope this isn't the start of a cold.

The other evening was so odd. All six of us were awake (well, Tylan was probably sleeping some of the time), but it was so quiet even with all of us on the same floor of the house. I think Cory was at the computer most of the time. Accalia was reading much of the evening, and Cole and Accalia spent a lot of time at the table drawing and coloring. I'm not used to so much quiet with everyone awake, so that really stands out.

If anyone has a Spiderman or super hero loving child to buy for on their list, you might want to check out this great bargain. I was just browsing around the Amazon toys clearance and stumbled across it. I picked one up for the kids. We already have their gifts taken care of, but at that price I couldn't pass it up. All three will have a blast with it, and it should provide entertainment for Myron to watch them since it should be here before Thanksgiving.

Cole's going to help me make supper tonight - meatloaf, corn muffins, a veggie. Cole discovered his love of meatloaf at the hospital, of all places. When I was there after Tylan was born, meatloaf was the supper that night. It looked disgusting to me, but Cole immediately asked what it was and proceeded to eat most of it. Since then it's been one of his favorite things.

It is a windy day today! If not for the wind, I think the sun and relatively mild temperatures (into the upper 30s) would make for a nice day outside. I think this wind will help take off most of the remaining leaves on George, our willow tree.

This week our main activities outside of the house are the three classes at the dance studio and art. I guess it should be a fairly quiet week before Thanksgiving. Last year my parents came for Thanksgiving, but they won't be here this year. This year Myron will be coming, and it sounds as if he'll come the night before and stay until Friday. He hasn't stayed at our house for more than one night for years, probably since before Mary died. That was four years ago on the 10th.

My parents were here Saturday afternoon until Sunday morning, and we had a very nice time. Cory cooked a supper of fettucine alfredo, and then we went to their hotel to swim. We always offer them a room here, but they like to get a hotel with a pool so the kids can have that treat. I didn't go swimming this time but sat at a table with Tylan and my mom while Cory and my dad were in the water. Ella fell asleep almost as soon as we got home, but the rest of us sat together and watched Get Smart.

Yesterday morning Cole and I saw a really neat site on our hackberry tree in front. There were three woodpeckers, and they had such brilliant colors of black and white and red. So we knew they were male because of the red spot on the back of the head, but we didn't get a close enough look at their bills to see whether they were short or long. Maybe we'll see them again to see whether they were hairy or downy woodpeckers.

Now that we're closing in on the holiday season, I've been thinking a lot about how to incorporate more cultural traditions into our celebrations. It's always been hard for me with Christmas because we're always away from home on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as well as a few days before and/or after. So, while we love being with family at their homes during this time, we don't really get a chance to do more things that we might do if we were at home. Our family heritage is mostly German and Norwegian with a few other cultures just barely sprinkled in there. I'm going to do a little research to find some ideas of what we could do. I'd love to hear what all of you do, too!

Speaking of holidays, Thanksgiving is turning into one of my favorites simply because we do stay at home. We still need to do all of our grocery shopping for the meal, though. This year is the local Nutcracker performance, but we won't be able to go. Cory will be delivering pizzas over the weekend, and it's not something that Myron would be interested in seeing. Also, a coworker of Cory's hired him to do some painting at his house. The extra cash will definitely be nice, but all of that will eat up any free time over the weekend.

Lately I've been making short updates on Facebook and keep forgetting that I haven't written anything here for a few days. Go ahead and friend me over on Facebook if you'd like!

Let's see about what's happened between Saturday and today. Cory worked later on Sunday rather than his usual morning into the afternoon, so he took Accalia and Cole to see Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa. The kids always love going to movies even if its not a particularly good movie, but they seemed to like this one. Cory thought it was so so. It would have been really nice for Ella to have gone, too, and just had Tylan had home, but Ella's not yet capable of sitting through a movie. Maybe next year.

On Monday we went over a friend's house in the afternoon since public schools were out Monday and Tuesday. Ella loves going there to dance with the oldest girl, and we didn't see Accalia, Cole or the younger girl for the entire time. Tylan was awake the entire time, too, so we knew it was time to go when she started getting fussy. Accalia had ballet later on in the afternoon.

Tuesday was nice because Cory had off work because of Veteran's Day. He spent much of it on the computer doing some work, but he also went out in the snow/rain (and took Ella) to pick up a few groceries. He also discovered a really flat tire on his car and ended up needing two new tires. It was something he knew was coming but was hoping to go a little bit longer before needing to replace. At least he'll have decent tires for the winter. Accalia had gymnastics later on, and then we sat around in the evening catching up on episodes of My Name is Earl.

Today was mostly a day around the house. I spent some time picking up in the computer room. Tomorrow I need to tackle the upstairs landing. Cory's working for a while tonight but will hopefully be home in about a half hour.

Ella is at an age right now where she's starting to really follow movie plots. Tonight she saw some of Cinderella and was yelling at the tv because of Cinderella leaving the glass slipper behind at the ball. The other day she was watching the Spongebob Squarepants movie and was in tears because she thought Spongebob was dead. I remember Accalia and Cole nearly being in tears the first time they saw that, too. Thankfully you're not left in suspense too long.

I have to finish up my semi annual report for my LLL work by Saturday, so maybe I'll actually tackle some of it tonight.

No one showed up at the LLL meeting this morning, which is what I expected. I was really unhappy to see that the meeting space was not really reserved for a group since half of the room is taken up with the circulation desk while the new one is being installed. I understand the necessity of that, but it would have been nice to have received a call about that as a way to acknowledge the reservation. So, I hung out in the children's area for about a half hour, keeping an eye out in case any mothers showed up. Ella was very happy to play with the toys and put together the puzzles.

It's been a cold and windy day today, so we've just stuck around home. Cory went to work at 3 p.m. and will hopefully be home soon. Cole and Accalia had Book It certificates for free personal pan pizzas from Pizza Hut (yes, homeschoolers can participate, too!), so they had those for supper. Ella had one, too, of course.

Couple entries for the baby book:

- Last night Tylan started making a "b" sound, and it is so cute to watch her screw up her mouth and engage me in conversation with this new sound. Cory hasn't heard it yet.

- This morning Tylan rolled from her stomach to her back. Hooray!

I'd just like to say how happy I am to not be in western South Dakota right now and buried under nearly four feet of snow. Yikes! Here in Yankton we have the wind and the cold temperatures, but we only have a dusting of snow. The grass isn't even covered, but that hasn't stopped Cole from going outside and doing as much as he can to play in that snow. Poor Cory is out delivering pizzas, and I'm sure it's busy with more people probably not wanting to head outside.

Today Cole and Accalia went to art, but that was it for anything outside the house. Apparently it's dangerous enough inside the house! I was loading the dishwasher - carrying Tylan in the sling - and I stepped back, forgetting that a step stool was right there. I fell and was able to turn so I didn't fall straight back, but I still ended up messing up my foot and leg a little. I was, of course, much more worried about Tylan getting hurt, but she was fine. It scared her a lot, though, and took a while to calm her down.

Otherwise, Tylan is doing just fine. She's getting more hair, and it's coming in darker. I wonder if it will stay darker like Ella's has or if she'll be blond like Accalia was for quite some time. Today Ella is taking great delight in falling and then jumping up to say "I okay!" This started before I fell. Cole, other than playing in our trace of snow and engaging me in light saber fights, is wanting to spend more time playing by himself. It used to only be Accalia that requested the gate being put up at the bottom of the stairs so no one else would follow her. Cole's doing that occasionally, too. Accalia and I had to watch the latest episode of Bones online (that's our show to watch together). We're also reading the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip together. Remember that? I loved that when I was a kid.

Okay, I have a poopy diaper to change. Tomorrow is LLL. I doubt anyone will show up. I've already had two moms let me know they won't be coming.

Okay, first to post pictures from Halloween:


The family: Cory (apparently with a splitting headache) holding Tylan, Cole as Venom (without the mask), Ella as a shy princess, and Accalia as Hannah Montana


Accalia and her twin from next door, T.


A picture of all of the kids, including the neighbor girls.


A smiley Tylan to start off Halloween.

The kids had a fun time on Halloween and were ready to stop trick or treating after about an hour. Cory was willing to keep going with them, but they were worn out. Thankfully the weather was perfect for being outside.

It's been so odd having such warm weather in late October and early November, but that is supposed to change starting tonight or tomorrow. Parts of South Dakota are even going to be under blizzard watches. Yankton always seems to miss the worst of the winter weather, but we'll see how this year unfolds.

We really didn't have a lot going on the rest of the weekend. Cory worked, and the kids and I were around. Nothing too exciting. Cory and I watched Baby Mama at some point over the weekend.

The kids are all doing well. Tylan's just a very smiley baby, and the worst thing with her is a mild case of cradle cap. Ella's desire to dump things out has now brought its focus to our board games. That's driving me a bit nuts, but there are only so many that she can reach on her own. That helps limit how much gets dumped out at a time. Cole is kind of going through a phase where he sounds so negative and "I can't do that" or "I don't want to do that." All perfectly normal developmently, but I'll be glad when Cole's no longer so much of an Eeyore. Accalia continues to grow up so much and do so many things on her own. She's been so helpful in so many ways and is now saving up for an MP3 player.

I'm trying to feel less exhausted and more motivated, but it's not really happening. So, if you're coming here to be inspired, most likely that won't be happening for a while!

What an amazing election! I think I'm still in a bit of shock that Obama was elected! Last night was truly one of those times for me when I was so keenly aware of witnessing history, and thankfully this is a very positive, uplifting historical event. I'm so excited to watch how Obama's presidency unfolds.

I know I have a lot of updating to do. Hopefully later on...

Today is Ella's third birthday! It turned out to be a really nice day, and I think Ella was pretty happy with it all. Do you think she looks happy?


Nope, definitely not happy.


Ella started out her day by opening presents. Cole had wrapped up a bunch of little toys from around the house, and he had a lot of fun unwrapping those for her. We gave her a Dora the Explorer backpack adventure kit, crayons and a Handy Manny coloring book, a Yo Gabba Gabba shirt and a pair of pants, and a Yo Gabba Gabba dvd. Can you guess what she's interested in right now?

Then we took her to get her picture taken, and she also picked out her birthday cake. We thought it would be fun for her to wander through the bakery and choose whatever looked good, and she chose a variety plate that had four different cakes. Yummy! We went to McDonald's for lunch so the kids could run around the playland. The last time we went to the playland, I was hugely pregnant and Ella didn't want to come down from the playland without my help, so I would have to haul myself up through the tunnels to get to her and slide down with her. Now she has no qualms about going up or down by herself.

Today we also dropped off the van and picked it up just a few hours later with a new distributor. It runs so nicely now! Cory was also able to pick up his car, so now we have two working vehicles again. Hooray!

Okay, I need to finish getting ready for bed so I can get Tylan to sleep, too.

Thanks for the sympathy regarding Cory's crash with the deer. He's perfectly fine as far as we know. We're all going to the chiropractor tomorrow, so maybe something will pop up there. Anne, (sorry to hear about your car troubles, too!), that deer wasn't even killed! Cory didn't see it anywhere, so he probably just had a glancing blow from the car. We were hoping to hear back from insurance yesterday that they okayed everything so we could get the car in tomorrow, but we haven't heard back from them yet.

Just when you think our car troubles couldn't get worse, they, of course, did! Cory was using the van on Friday night to deliver pizzas and it started to stall kind of like it did a few weeks ago when we had that $500 worth of work done. He was able to get it in Saturday morning only to discover that the van now needs a new distributor to the tune of basically $500. There was a washer inside the distributor that was all mangled to pieces and was causing the worst of the stalling, so the mechanic removed it and cleaned out the distributor as best he could. The van is running good now and should hopefully make it until the new distributor arrives and we get that repaired.

At this point I almost wish we lived someplace where we could rely on public transportation and didn't even need our own vehicles!

Other than that, the weekend has actually been very nice. Cory worked from about 3-9:30 yesterday and 10:15-2:30 today. He went straight from work to buy a few groceries and should be home soon. I'm so glad he could do that for us today because it's a cold and extremely windy day and I wasn't really looking forward to taking the kids out.

Accalia had a birthday party to attend yesterday afternoon and had a fabulous time. The party was at the rec center, so the girls spent a couple hours swimming and going down the water slide. There was music and cake and party favors that Accalia is planning to use for Halloween since she's dressing up as Hannah Montana.

This coming week will hopefully be lots of fun for us, especially if we can get both vehicles back to fine running order. Cory is taking Wednesday off since it's Ella's third birthday. We're not planning anything too major. Accalia, Cole and I are planning a Yo Gabba Gabba party for Ella, and we're going to have lunch at McDonald's so the kids can run around the playland. I have a feeling this may be the last year (maybe second to last) where Ella doesn't really care what happens for her birthday. Then Friday, of course, is Halloween. Cory has that night off from delivering pizzas, so he'll be able to take the kids all over the place and I won't have to worry about the weather being too cold to take Tylan out and about in.

I'd better make sure there's a clear path through the living room so Cory can bring in the groceries soon.

Here are a few pictures of the car (one estimate is around $2500 for repairs):





Notice the deer hair stuck in the windshield cracks in that second picture? From the one estimate done so far, the hood, front fender, windshield, one headlight, and the driver's side mirror will all have to be replaced. Cory also noticed a bit of shaking when he drove the car over 45 mph, so that will need to be checked out, too.

Cory claims to be a huge fan of deer hunting now.

Cory called around 7:30 a.m. (I admit it - I was still asleep) to tell me he hit a deer on his way to work. He was just a few miles from work when it happened. Thankfully he's okay. The car probably isn't so great, but Cory thinks the damage may be limited to a dent on the front fender and a destroyed windshield and side mirror. Another prison employee picked Cory up to take him the rest of the way to work, and Cory thinks he'll be able to get a ride home. If not, here we are waiting. And we're back to having just one vehicle...

In other news, last night Tylan had a bit of a developmental moment. One of her favorite things is to be lifted in the hair and held horizontally so she can "fly". Last night she figured out that if she looks back down she'll see me and see that she's still connected to me. After that, all she wanted was to be lifted up so she could let her eyes track back down to me. It was really cute.

Midafternoon I asked the kids if they wanted to go out to the aquarium one last time before it closes for the fall/winter on November 1, and they were very excited to do that. In all honesty, a part of me suggested that just to get out of the house and away from the neighbor girls. Accalia and Cole could barely come in the house to do anything without the girls being right there wondering where they were and when they'd be out again. As the kids ran to the house to get ready to go, I could hear the younger one yell to Cole, "No, Cole! You don't have to go right now! You can keep playing!"

Anyway, we were the only ones at the aquarium and were there at a perfect time. One of the game wardens was feeding the animals, so we saw him feed worms to the snakes, salamanders and frogs. I don't think the kids had ever seen those animals just swallow their food whole, so that was really neat for them. We also talked a bit about the albino catfish at the aquarium since we noticed that it no longer had this huge lump on one of its "whiskers." It turns out it was a cyst (non-cancerous) that had never been found on catfish before, so that's been documented. The catfish is 13 years old, which is nearing the end of its life in the wild. I suppose it will live a little bit longer since it's at the aquarium.

Other than that, the rest of the day has consisted of Accalia having ballet, finding out more details about a birthday party she's going to on Saturday, Cory having a really good counseling session, and us watching Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Prison Break.

Now I'm just waiting for my hiccuping baby to go to sleep so I can head there myself.

Public schools are off today - I think it's a teacher work day - so, of course, the neighbor girls have been coming over early and often. The first time the doorbell rang Cole was still in him pjs, and he just yelled "We're not coming out to play!" through the closed door. I suggested it might be a little more polite to open the door and tell them he wasn't ready to play yet.

Bullying issues aside, I think Cole is wishing he had a little boy in the neighborhood to play with so he could have more quality time with the games and play that really interest him. They started out great playing a type of baseball game, but then the girls decided they wanted to do something else and Cole was left wanting something else, too. So he came inside where we decided to play Monopoly Junior. Playing a board game is easier said than done with a two-year-old who wants to use the game pieces as a demolition derby. So I suggested we play Monopoly online, which we did until Ella wanted to click away on that game. Back to the actual board game. All in all, that didn't last long.

Then I suggested we make playdough. That turned out to be a big hit with all of them except now Ella is extremely cranky. I think she wants all of the playdough - Accalia has orange, Cole blue, Ella red - and it's not appeasing her to just have a little bit of each color from the other kids. Actually, I think she just needs a nap at this point.

Tylan's awake now so I need to change a diaper. Then it's back to cleaning up, I guess.

I really was hoping for an earlier night last night since Cole actually fell asleep earlier than normal. Unfortunately, Ella had fallen asleep on the couch in the late afternoon, so that shot those plans. Oh well. One of these days it'll happen. I can pretty much guarantee I'll be up around 7 or 7:30 each day anyway simply because that's when Tylan starts to get restless. She needs to get up, have her diaper changed, smile at me for a while, and then get in the sling and fall right back to sleep.

Last night, as Cole was talking to Cory and myself, it came out that he's being bullied by the older neighbor girl. I had noticed that in the past couple weeks Cole was not as happy when playing with the neighbors, and he told us last night that she's been threatening him with physical violence. I feel so guilty about not having stopped this from the very beginning, especially since they always play together in our yard or their yard. I haven't been outside as much simply because it's gotten cooler and I haven't been taking Tylan out as much. For now, I think I may have them play inside a little more often so I can actually be there to intervene if anything starts up. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that this has happened. The older neighbor girl especially hasn't seemed very happy or content in recent weeks. I don't know if it's because of school, her mom, her dad or something else. It's probably a combination. And Cole, while very outgoing and energetic, is also extremely sensitive and takes every little thing to heart. It's easy to see how this might have started.

I guess I need to get us all ready for the day. Accalia and Cole aren't up yet, but I'll have to get them up before long to head to the art studio.

I thought this was a timely post since I had recently noticed how much more common the name Harper seems to be in the past couple years. Harper - as a girl's name - is one Cory and I had considered since my pregnancy with Accalia. Author Harper Lee was our inspiration. We were still contemplating it during my pregnancy with Tylan, but for whatever reason it just has never felt like the right choice. I wonder if now it's going to become rather common.

I think our kids' names will be a mix of the more common and more unique. I've never met or heard of another Accalia, although Myron says he heard a parent calling a child Accalia when we were at Disneyworld in 2002. Cole's pretty darn common, although I suppose that also depends on the part of the country you are in. Ella's somewhat common. I've never met another Ella around here, but I hear the name mentioned often with small children in the blogosphere. Tylan, I suspect won't be too common. While researching it a bit during my pregnancy, most references came up as boy's names and most were spelled Tylen.

I suppose we could keep Harper in contention if there were a baby #5, but I'm ready to be finished. Four seems to be what I can handle, and that's on the good days...

I've been trying to find a few minutes for the past couple days to sit down and blog, but it just hasn't happened.

Friday morning was a happy one because we were able to pick up the van, although it wasn't very nice to pay the nearly $500 for the repairs. It turned out there were a bunch of little things - tune up type repairs - that needed to be done in order to get the van running well again. We still have a couple belts that need to be replaced, and we'll try to get that taken care of before our Christmas travels.

Friday morning was also the first time Cole went to the art studio that Accalia has been taking classes at for the past few years. He recently started asking if he could go, so now he's going along with Accalia. He loved it, and Lita (the owner) was very impressed with his focus and intensity.

Cory worked all three days over the weekend, but they were relatively short shifts so we saw a lot more of him than we usually do. Saturday morning was the first Saturday in well over a month that we didn't have to get up to do anything. No soccer games, LLL meetings, etc. So we took it easy and Cory got our camper ready for the winter. Hopefully next year we'll get more than just one camping trip out of it! Saturday was the day that the new Discovery Bridge spanning the Missouri River and connecting Yankton with Nebraska was dedicated. We didn't attend the dedication ceremony, but we did drive over the new bridge just like most locals were doing. I was supposed to hold the monthly LLL meeting on Saturday, but the library is closed for at least a couple weeks to have new carpet and a new circulation desk installed. I guess the other thing that happened on Saturday was a trip to Goodwill with Cole, Ella, Tylan and myself. I initially wanted to find a winter dress or two for Accalia, but that didn't happen. I did find a couple things for Tylan, though, as well as a new ballet skirt for Accalia, some books, and an assortment of games and puzzles.

Sunday was supposed to be the fire station open house, but that was postponed. I think it was probably because of the weather and the forecast for rain, but it didn't end up raining until the night. It was a pretty relaxing day overall since Cory had Monday off (Native American Day), so there wasn't a bunch of rushing around or going to bed early for him.

Yesterday was a full day, which we had planned since Cory would be home. I took Tylan and went to my 8-week postpartum checkup. Everyone at the office wanted to see Tylan, which is something of a bonus of going to a smaller clinic where everyone remembers you. Everything is fine with me as far as Dr. M could see. I've lost 30 of the 50 pounds I gained during Tylan's pregnancy. I guess we'll see how it goes with those final 20. I haven't actually done anything yet to intentionally lose weight and I never have with pregnancy weight, but I have a feeling it won't be that easy this time.

In the afternoon, Cole and I took Tylan for her well child visit (she's 8 weeks today), and everything is looking good for her, too. She now weighs 11 pounds, 9 ounces (in the 90th percentile and about a 2 1/2 pound gain over 6 weeks) and is 22 inches long (in the 50th percentile and a one inch gain). Over the past couple weeks Ella has developed a case of baby acne on her face, which none of the other kids have ever had as infants. Apparently it usually starts at 4-6 weeks and may last for several months. Her doctor said that babies who develop baby acne are more likely to develop acnes as teenagers. I haven't checked that out, though, to see if that's actually the case. It doesn't see to bother Tylan, so at this point it's just a cosmetic issue. Poor thing.

Accalia had ballet later in the day and has gymnastics today. So far today we've made trips to the bank and to the grocery store. I have a couple packages ready to mail later today. That's about it for running around. The biggest challenge lately seems to be trying to maintain harmony in the home, especially between Cole and Ella. Accalia and Cole never had these problems getting along, but it's another story with Cole and Ella lately. It's basically Ella wanting to be included and Cole wanting to play alone. It doesn't help that Cole and Ella have such similar personalities and energy. Lots of clashes lately. It could be an interesting winter if we aren't able to find strategies to help.

So last night absolutely sucked. Completely. It started when I went to get Cole from tumbling. At first the van wouldn't start, and then it did and there was a weird smell. So I had Cory run to get Cole, which was not fun since Cory had to eat quit and get to work. Since the van is overdue for an oil change, I asked Cory if I should just run out to get the oil changed just in case that was a problem, and he said sure. So we went to Wal-Mart since their tire/oil express department is open until after 8 p.m. They told me it would take 45 minutes to an hour. Nearly an hour later my name was called and I walked back only to be told that they hadn't been able to start the van!

That really wasn't the best news to hear at any time, but especially not with a baby waking up and starting to fuss, a 2-year-old and 6-year-old getting pretty close to crankiness, and a 9-year-old complaining about being hungry. So, since there was nothing they could do, I first called Cory at work and told him what happened. We would have been able to keep the van at Wal-Mart overnight and have it towed in the morning, so I first tried calling the Yankton Transit Service (a fleet of mini buses), but apparently they close at 4:30. Then I tried calling a cab, but they closed at 6:30. Yeah, 24 hour public transportation is not something that happens in a small town. So then I could think of only two people who had vehicles large enough to give us a ride home. No luck getting in touch. So I went out to the van and tried starting it. It started. So I figured I'd get us all home and worry about getting it to a shop in the morning.

Well, I made it about a mile from Wal-Mart when the van died and I was able to pull over to the side of the road. I called Cory, who called back with a tow truck number after getting back from a delivery. So I called and about 20 minutes later the tow truck was there. Cory was able to come and get us and squeeze us all into his car on his way to a delivery. In retrospect, I should have left the van at Wal-Mart, not even chancing that drive and had Cory come right away even though it wasn't the safest of driving circumstances.

Now the van is at the repair shop and I hope to hear back from the mechanic today about what is wrong. Please let it be minor and inexpensive and able to be repaired quickly! This has just been a really crappy year for our vehicles.

The good news is that the kids and I are warm and cozy at home with plenty of food to eat, things to do, etc. Right now the kids are dancing to Halloween music and have been doing things like coloring and creating Halloween/autumn images to decorate the house.

Oh my gosh, I'm tired. Two late nights in a row having nothing to do with Tylan. It's all about Ella. That girl CAN NOT nap. Ever again.

Oh Ella, Ella, Ella. Some days I think it would actually be easier to have two newborns right now rather than my almost three-year-old. I'm sure it's exhausting to deal with it all. At least that's how it feels lately. It's everything from how she's interacting with her siblings (and how they do with her), her frequent uses of words such as "mine" and "No!", her being so close to wanting to use the toilet but refusing to do so, and about a million other things that are all perfectly normal for this age. Did I mention, though, that I'm tired and don't want to have to deal with any of it?

So far there hasn't been anything too spectacular going on this week. Just dance, dance, dance. Cole's all ready for tumbling in a couple hours. Tomorrow I have my first haircut since Tylan was born, and I'll be bringing the little darling with me, hoping she'll either be zonked out in her car seat the entire time or just stare lovingly at me while I hurry the stylist along.

And that is about it. I really need to take care of the dishes now that Cole has moved his elaborate play area from right in front of the dishwasher.

Both soccer games went well yesterday. Cole scored three goals!

Today is overcast. It rained a tiny bit earlier in the day. The next couple days are supposed to be rainy, and that makes me happy. I'm really ready to just hole up in the house for a few days. I'm not sure why I'm feeling like this, but maybe we've just been out and about too much lately. I'd also really like a day or two without the neighbor girls here. They've both been here this weekend, and usually at least one is gone at their dad's. It's starting to feel like summer again when they were around constantly and hardly ever gave the kids a break from their presence. They were over this morning by 9 a.m. before Accalia or Cole were even awake. They don't seem to be in very good moods today either. Actually, they're usually rather cranky since school started.

The kids and I have been putting up Halloween decorations this weekend. Cole isn't quite satisfied that our house is spooky enough, though. There's a bed and breakfast a block away that has gone all out, and that's what Cole is trying to do here.

Okay, Ella's upset now after stumbling outside and I might try to tackle some LLL correspondence that I don't want to tackle.

Tomorrow morning are the last soccer games of the fall for Accalia and Cole. I need to get myself and Cole to bed. Lately Cole has resisted doing pretty much everything until the very last moment. It makes for a big rush at the end when he decides to put on his pjs, go to the bathroom, etc. It's not just at bedtime either. I'm not sure if this is just a phase or if it's a part of his personality that's becoming more prominent.

Speaking of phases, Ella is going through one that has driven me nuts with the older two as well - dumping things out. I'll have just picked up all of the legos or the blocks or whatever, and Ella will come along and dump everything out. For the longest time all Ella wanted to do was to put things away in their containers. I remember when Cole would do this by finding the largest container he could and emptying out the contents of all of the smaller containers. We put up our stack of puzzles when he was going through this, too, because he'd just dump out all of the pieces at once. I remember Accalia doing this while I was pregnant with Cole, and her favorite thing was to take all of our DVDS and videotapes and put them in a huge pile.

Other than those minor annoyances, things are fine. Still tired and relying too much on caffeine to keep going, but I often forget, too, that Tylan is just six weeks old. It feels as if she's been around much, much longer. The chaos of our house is driving me crazy, but I'm honestly at a complete loss as to where I should even start.

Anyway, I'm tired and know I'll be the one rushing around getting everyone ready in the morning, so I'd better sign off.

It's yet another day of being fueled by caffeine. I'm starting to feel rather sleep deprived, but my sleep at night really isn't bad at all. I could benefit from going to bed a little earlier and waking up a little later, but that's not necessarily going to happen with four kids who all vary a bit in their sleep routines.

I paid bills - most of them - this morning. Yuck.

The kids and I went out this afternoon and bought Halloween costumes. For the past couple years, they've just been using whatever we have at home since we have a variety of things to choose from, but this year they were really eager to get something new. Accalia really wants to be Hannah Montana. While she enjoys watching the show every once in a while, she's by no means a rapid Hannah fan. I think the older neighbor girl said she wants to be Hannah Montana for Halloween, so that's what prompted this wish. Cole is going as Spiderman (the black one), and Ella wants to be a princess. I'm going to have to exchange her costume, though, because the Tinkerbell costume she picked out (okay, not technically a princess) is a 3T/4T but doesn't even cover her butt. Tylan is going to be wearing a shirt that says "I love my mummy", and that'll have everyone set for the festivities.

Cole has tumbling in a few minutes (switching to a class with older boys) and then soccer practice later on. I'd better get going, I guess!

So let's say that your child has stayed home from school (or another activity) or come home from school/activity because of sickness. Now, would you let that child go over to a friend's house to play? I wouldn't, but apparently the neighbor mom doesn't feel the same. A little after 1 p.m. the doorbell rang and it was the older neighbor girl. She was only too happy to announce that she wasn't at school because she was sick and that her mom wouldn't let her go outside until she took medicine and could Accalia and Cole play and could she hold Tylan? Oh, and could she play inside? She didn't seem sick, but maybe she has a bit of a cold or had an upset stomach or something. Still, if you're sick enough to stay home from something, don't come over and spread those germs around us! That's really thoughtless of the mom IMO.

Other than that, today was a busy day with Cole's tumbling class (he loved) and Accalia's gymnastics class (she loved). Apparently all of my children love that dance studio and the teachers. Ella started crying when we left so Cole's class could start, and Tylan was held by two of the instructors and couldn't stop smiling and cooing.

It feels as if we've been out of the house more than in it today, which isn't a bad thing. It just means that nothing has gotten done and it really needs to get down. I'd be horrified to have visitors in this house right now.

While there are many things we miss by living in a small town (around 13,000) like Yankton, we definitely don't miss large amounts of violent crime. Unfortunately, that happened here Sunday afternoon when a 58 year old man allegedly (he called 911 to report the shooting and confess) shot and killed three people at an apartment complex. One of the victims lived in the same complex as the shooter, and the other two were friends of the one. The man apparently was waiting for them as they got off the elevator and shot them each multiple times. There are rumors that this was all because of the one victim playing loud music. The other two victims were planning to be married on Monday, and now they're reporting that one of the victims was pregnant. In a town the size of Yankton, it's hard to have something like this happen and not be affected personally. The one victim who lived in the complex was the son of Cory's boss at the community mental health center when he worked there.

So that seems to be what's on everyone's mind around here. In the meantime, life goes on for the rest of us as normal. That apparently means I'm going to bed increasingly late and waking up earlier and earlier. Last night was horrible with Ella. I'm not sure what was going on, but she went to bed rather early and woke up crying every half hour or so. I brought her downstairs, which didn't help, and finally took her back up. She was past the waking and crying for the rest of the night but was still up frequently.

Yesterday we went over to visit friends in the morning and to meet their new guinea pig. Accalia and Cole have decided we need a guinea pig now. Accalia had her first ballet class of the new year, and this morning Cole has his first tumbling class. Then Accalia has gymnastics later today. Monday and Tuesday are the dance studio days around here.

I guess I should try to get myself, Ella and Tylan ready since we're up.

Tylan is starting to become more interested (for very short periods of time) in things other than just nursing and sleeping. When she wakes up for one of her alert periods, she'll actively seek me out to coo at and smile at and try to see if anyone else is nearby. She smiles at Cory and the other kids, too. Her fussy periods in the evening are also becoming less frequent. It's not as if they last very long (usually), and I've been through this with three other children all around the same age. It's just nice to see that she's moving past whatever developmental phase is causing it all.

Yesterday evening Ella had her first bee sting - first of any of the kids - and was not a happy camper. Thankfully she didn't see to have any sort of bad reaction to it, although I've heard that it's the second sting that usually is when a bad reaction will appear. She had been outside with the other kids and came inside crying. I could see a red spot right below her eye and saw something black sticking out. At first I thought she may have gotten a little thorn stuck in her skin, but we quickly figured out it was a bee stinger.

Tomorrow Cole is the only one having a soccer game. Accalia's was postponed until Thursday because there was a lack of referees. Cole's age group doesn't use referees, so he's good to go. Next week is the final week for fall soccer. I'm assuming both kids will want to sign up again in the spring since they both enjoyed it so much.

Okay, time to get ready for bed so I'll be able to get up in the morning!

In the early afternoon, I could tell that there were several things going on that would quickly lead me to be a very cranky person.
1) It was a rather warm and humid day, and without the air on I was getting very uncomfortable.
2) The living room needed vacuuming and the kitchen and dining room floors needed sweeping because one of the kids had tracked in some sand.
3) There was an electronic game hiding somewhere that was turned on and beeping and I couldn't find it.
4) I really, really wanted an iced coffee but hadn't gotten one in the morning as originally planned (in my mind).

So, I closed up the house and turned on the air. Then I vacuumed and swept. Then I found that damn game beeping in a closet underneath a pile of board games. Then I changed Tylan's diaper, piled the kids into the van and went to get that iced coffee. Isn't it nice when you decide to take those simple steps to turn around your mood rather than just letting it grow darker and darker? I know I'm guilty of sometimes not wanting to take that time or use that energy and would rather stew in whatever negative energy is swirling around.

In fact, sometimes lately I feel as if I'm much, much too negative - sometimes out loud and sometimes just in my mind. So, as a way to turn that around, I'm going to list one lovely thing about each of my children that happened today:

Accalia - Today she bought something that she'd been saving up for and let Ella play with it for a while when she really wanted to have it all to herself.

Cole - There were a couple flies buzzing around the house, and Cole killed both of them with a fly swatter. Then he left them on the floor and stood watch because he thought the dead flies would attract any other flies that might come to try to rescue them. I love how his mind works.

Ella - Whenever she gets out of the van, she always stops to plant a kiss on Tylan's head and say "hiya!" as she passes by.

Tylan - She's starting to grab things with her hands in that flailing, lucky to have made the connection newborn way, and she'll grab onto me when I shift her around. I love how snuggly that feels.

It's getting late and I should eventually start getting ready for bed, I guess.

Thought I'd post a quick update while the three older kids are watching a DVD and Tylan is sleeping in the sling.

We had a very nice weekend in Mankato and made it back Monday (my 32nd birthday). It was a busy weekend as usual with lots of time spent with the cousins. There are also two girls that live across the street from my parents, and they come over to play when the kids are there. On Saturday, eleven of the grandchildren on the Eibs' side had their picture taken, and we all actually survived! It was quite the crowd.

Tylan did a pretty good job of traveling. It was easier on the way home when we left in the morning and traveled during the time of day where she's usually napping more. Even though Tylan still sleeps the majority of the time, she's definitely past the immediate newborn phase of falling asleep no matter where she is. If she's been awake and alert, she wants to be walked around in the sling to fall asleep. Kind of hard to do driving in the van!

Yes, at five weeks old Tylan already seems so big in some ways. She's outgrown the newborn sizes of her diaper covers and the few pieces of clothing she had in that size. When she wants to stand up, she'll stiffen her body as if she's trying to stand up herself until I hold her up. Then she'll try to bounce with her feet so I move her up and down.

So much to do at home and I'm once again far behind on emails. Cory is working a lot this week and weekend, so I won't have the luxury of a second adult around much of the time to help out with the things I'm behind on. There's not a lot going on this week. Both Accalia and Cole have soccer practice, Accalia has art, and only Cole has a soccer game this weekend. Next week classes at the dance studio start up for Accalia and Cole.

We need to pack today for our trip to Mankato, and I'm really not that excited about the task. I'm sure it will go more quickly than I imagine. We're not leaving until later in the afternoon tomorrow, too, so we won't have to rush around in the morning. Look at me, I'm trying to psych myself up!

Cole has soccer practice tonight, and Cory will be around for that. So he'll either take Cole by himself or we'll all go and hang out at the soccer fields. We may end up doing that just so I can take a break from the neighbor girls. It's better now that they're in school and have to go in earlier, but spending the day in school doesn't always help out their moods. I think it would make a big difference if they came home from school and just sat inside their own house for a little bit, relaxing, having a snack, etc. That usually doesn't happen unless the older one has homework to do before she can go outside. Otherwise they rush out the second they come home.

Accalia had a soccer game on Tuesday, so the kids and I headed to that since Cory had counseling appointments. An old acquaintance from LLL was also there since her daughter was playing on the other team. We hadn't seen each other in more than a year, so it was nice to catch up. She has a new baby, too - a four-month-old girl.

Tylan has fallen back to sleep now so I'm going to try to get a shower in if she can stay asleep for a few minutes.

Tylan has been in a very conversational mood today. Normally her noises are more of the "I'm hungry, I'm tired, I want my brother or sister to stop kissing my head" grunting variety, but when she's awake and alert and content, she'll just stare at you and almost perfectly mimic a conversational tone of voice and make sounds that are similar to "hi". The other kids love that. Cole is just eager for her to do new things. When I mentioned today that Tylan is four weeks old, Cole asked if she'd start crawling next week.

Yesterday I was knocked down by the same stomach virus that Accalia had Sunday afternoon/night. I woke up early in the morning and just knew I was going to be sick. Thankfully it's a fairly fast moving virus, and the worst of it (the vomiting) only lasts 4-5 hours. I was so tired, though, and could barely stay awake when I wasn't running to the bathroom or changing a diaper or getting food for someone. I called Cory around noon to see if he could come home early (first time I've ever done that), and he was able to get home within a couple hours. It would have been sooner but he still had to do rounds before heading out. So once he got home, I took Tylan and headed upstairs to sleep for a couple hours. That helped so much, and I was actually able to keep food down by the end of the day. I just really hope that Cole and Cory stay healthy and that everyone is in good shape for our weekend in Mankato.

Mel, a big duh from me for not even thinking of trying out boys jeans on Ella! I dug out a couple old pairs of Cole's and they fit almost perfectly! So that's taken care of.

I'm trying to catch up on laundry and especially getting it put away. Accalia has a soccer game tonight, but Cory won't be able to make it since he has appointments.

While there always seem to be reasons to not be satisfied with life, I'm counting my blessings and holding them close to me. A woman I've worked with in LLL over the past few years lost her husband to a massive heart attack. I'm not sure of her husband's age, but I'm assuming it's the about the same as hers (late 30s, early 40s).

Thankfully, our lives have been pretty uneventful over the weekend. Yesterday the kids were so excited to see a huge, double rainbow in the afternoon. Today, while Cory was working just a few hours at the pizza place, we dropped in so his boss could meet Tylan. Apparently she's been asking quite often about being able to see the baby. Later in the afternoon, as we were getting ready to all go together to pick up a few groceries, Accalia declared that her stomach hurt and she felt like throwing up. So Cory stayed at home with her (she loves it to be just the two of them because they sit and play video games together), and I took the other three to get a few groceries. Accalia did indeed throw up and has continued over the course of the evening. She's been in bed since around 7 p.m.

Now I think I'll see about getting Cole, Tylan and myself to bed.

It was another busy Saturday morning. Cole had a soccer game at 9 a.m. and Accalia at 10:15 a.m. It had rained for part of the night and I wasn't sure if they would want to play games on the wet fields, but the fields were full when we arrived. I was only able to see Cole's game because I had to leave for La Leche League. Ella (and Tylan, of course) came with me while Cole and Cory cheered Accalia's team on. Two mothers attended the meeting, including one whose fourth baby arrived on Cole's birthday (Sept. 3).

Cory works for a bit today. Accalia and Cole have been outside playing with the older neighbor girl for much of the afternoon. I think tonight we're probably just going to hang out and watch a movie.

I'm still on a quest to find a pair of jeans that will actually fit Ella. I found a place online that sells jeans that fit over cloth diapers and should be roomier than the slim jeans every other store seems to sell, but unfortunately the size Ella needs was out of stock. I usually don't even bother looking for jeans for Ella since she's never fit into them as an infant or toddler, but on Saturday in Mankato all of the grandchildren on my side of the family are getting their picture taken together, and my younger brother suggested all of the kids were blue jeans and white shirts. Sure, that sounds simple enough, doesn't it? It's not as if Ella is abnormally large. She's definitely more solid than any of my other kids and doesn't have the tiny thighs or bottoms that they do. I may have found a pair from Kmart that will work, but I have to exchange the pair I bought to see if a larger size will be okay. Ella fits into a 3T for the length, but this particular brand has 3T fitting 28-33 pounds, which is way too slim for Ella. Ella's about 37 pounds right now.

Yesterday turned out to be rather eventful for both Cory and myself. A while before Accalia had soccer practice, the kids and I decided to head to the store to look for dress shoes for Cole and Accalia. About half a mile from the store, Ella started throwing up all over herself and her car seat. Of course I didn't even have wipes in the van (since I'm apparently extremely organized), but I managed to get Ella stripped of her clothes and cleaned up, and we headed back home. Over the course of the next few hours, Ella threw up three more times. I have no clue what was causing her to be so sick, but it only lasted for that time and then she was fine.

Since I really didn't want to take Ella to soccer practice if I could help it, I tried to call Cory to see if he could come home early, but he wasn't answering his cell phone. Turns out he had it off because he was in the middle of doing a cell entry with an inmate who was on suicide watch but somehow had a razor and was cutting all over himself. Cory didn't actually enter the cell but left that up to the guards who were in riot gear and used a shield to knock the inmate down. Apparently there hasn't been a cell entry in the past eight years at that prison.

Anyway, the kids and I took Accalia to soccer practice. Ella fell asleep right away. I drove to get an iced coffee for myself and an ice cream cone for Cole, and we drove back to the park to sit in the van and talk while Accalia practiced and Ella and Tylan snoozed. At least that part of the day was relaxing.

Still haven't gotten around to shoe shopping, but maybe we'll do that tomorrow. Cole has soccer practice in the evening as long as it's not raining.

More pictures of the kids...






Yesterday I woke up feeling so achy, but I don't think I'm getting sick. I think I just slept in a really poor position. I shouldn't complain about our nights at all, though. If I didn't get up to change Tylan's diaper once during the night, I probably wouldn't get up at all. She'll stir when she wants to nurse or shift positions, but at this point I don't have to get out of bed with her because she's wide awake or fussy. Of course, that will change in an instant.

Tylan has had some fussy evenings lately, and last night Accalia kept asking what was wrong. I explained that even if the diaper's dry, the belly's full, etc., sometimes babies will just cry a little bit. Once I had Tylan back in the sling and moving around, she was out almost instantly. Tylan does seem to be a rather gassy baby and spits up a bit more than Ella or Accalia did, so that might cause her some discomfort every now and then.

The other kids are doing great. The majority of the adjusting that Ella has been going through seems to have been taken care of within the past week. Not that she doesn't still have her moments, but one day last week she woke up and was back to her old self with much less clinging and whining. We'll see if this continues.

Accalia has soccer practice tonight, and we have a few errands to run, but that's about it for today. I've been feeling extremely unmotivated, although I did catch up on all thank you's that needed to be written.

Tylan's awake and not interested in sitting still at the computer, so I'm going to get moving.

Today was the first Saturday morning of soccer games for the fall season. Cole had a 9 a.m. game, and Accalia had a 10:15 a.m. game. It was pretty cool for Cole's game - around 50 degrees - but it was fun watching all of the little ones running around trying to remember the correct goal towards which to kick the ball. It was warmer by Accalia's game - around 60 degrees - and Accalia seemed to have a lot of fun even though she didn't get a whole lot of time on the field. The kids will have games at the same time next Saturday, and there will be a total of three practices during the week.

This afternoon were tryouts for The Nutcracker, which Accalia had been looking forward to for a while. We got there at the time her age group was supposed to be trying out, and the school (tryouts were at the middle school) was filled with dancers of all ages. As we registered, one lady told us they were running about a half hour behind schedule. But, after sitting around for about an hour, we finally heard them calling for the age group that was supposed to try out about three hours before. We hung around for another half hour, sitting around with friends, before Accalia was accidentally hit in the mouth with a friend's knee. She had a bloody mouth, started crying and eventually decided she didn't want to sit around and wait another couple hours to try out, so we left. I don't blame her for not wanting to wait that long. I wonder if it runs that far behind every time or if this was out of the ordinary.

Ella needs a diaper change and has started screaming about something, so I need to stop.