I’m a Complainer

I sounded a bit whiney in my post about the beginning of tax season.  I don’t feel bad at all that you all just rolled your eyes!

Really, it’s not so bad.  Tax season only lasts somewhere between 10-12 weeks.  And it’s not 24 hours a day.  I’m so incredibly lucky that I’ve never had to send my sweet husband off on a military deployment.  I can’t imagine saying good-bye for that long.  In fact, I am lucky enough that Jared only travels once a year for a few days (and I whine about that too).  And, while I sometimes feel like a single parent, I know I am far from it.  It makes me want to cry to even think about being the only parent – not having that physical presence there to relieve me when I’ve had it (which is more often than I’d care to admit), or that shoulder to cry on when I feel like a complete failure.

I know I am lucky to get my sweet hubby home for dinner most nights.  And waiting until 6:30 (which doesn’t happen often) is really not a big deal.  Did I really complain about that??

What I feel most blessed about, though, is that Jared CHOOSES to go to work very early in the morning so that he can be home and spend some time with all of us in the evenings.  He makes a conscious choice to put our family first.

Oh, and did I even mention how thankful I am that he has a job?!?  Of course not – I’m a complainer.

Really, I am truly blessed.  More than I deserve.

Happy V-day!

All you need is love, right?!!  I’m in good shape, then, because I LOVE these cuties!

And I LOVE when they won’t cooperate for pictures…

…because then I can start talking about farts and how they smell, and all that stuff that kids like, and I get pictures like this!

{Better, but I think my technique needs some work!  At least they’re all looking at me and “smiling”}

Em was so excited to dress up for Valentine’s Tea at school.  Josh was not so thrilled.  But they both had a good time and came home with lots of Valentines (which means CANDY) from school.

We had our own little party for FHE.  We had a yummy dinner of parmesan chicken, roasted RED potatoes, asparagus, pomegranate Sprite, and these babies…

…pink rolls!!  I have to admit, they reminded me so much of playdough when I was mixing them up that I was a little surprised when they actually tasted like yummy home-made rolls!!  And as I got looking at them, I decided that they remind me of pig snouts!  Very delicious pig snouts!

After we had our little FHE lesson, we played Valentine’s Yahtzee and Valentine’s Bingo.

Oh, and one of the best parts of the day came first thing in the morning, when we had another ultrasound and got to see cutie #5 again!  He wasn’t in the mood to cooperate though (what is it with our kids?!?!) so we didn’t really get to see his face…boo!  But it was good to see that he is still growing and everything looks as expected.

Happy love day everyone!

Time to Lighten Up

I took a long, hard look at myself this week, and I decided it was time for me to lighten up. 

No, no, no – I’m not speaking about abdominal girth.  That will have to wait.  {Which means I can keep eating ice cream and chocolate and cinnamon rolls and feel sort of OK about it, at least for a little while longer!}

I really do need to lighten up and live a little.  Sometimes I make life too serious.  Sometimes??  Really??  Nah, not me!  But that’s not where the lightening up was needed.

It’s my hair!  And I’m not talking color.  {That’s the one thing I actually love about my hair, and it’s completely natural, even the gray.}  I’m talking about length.

Yup – couldn’t stand it anymore.  Got myself an appointment today, found a couple pictures I liked, and completely whacked it off!  Not exactly sure how many inches, but I’m thinking somewhere in the vicinity of 9-10!!

While I *think* I like the cut, my hair is in hair shock, so I don’t think it looks completely like it will.  I think after a couple of days it will look better.

And now I’ve got your attention, because you’re thinking I look absolutely freakish right now, and you think you’re going to get to see a picture.

Aw shucks!  I just don’t do hair shock photos!  You’ll have to wait a couple days until it settles down. 

And So It Begins...

Tax Season, that is. It becomes official when Jared has enough work to do that he has to go in by 6 a.m. I bet next week he'll be going in by 5 a.m., and it will stay that way until the work is done, which happens to be April 18th this year.

This year marks an important milestone - our 10th tax season!! Wow!! {I guess that explains why it feels like they're getting old.}

Really people, you just haven't lived until you've experienced tax season with a CPA husband. Little things like ironed shirts become a big deal - otherwise you're getting up at really obscene hours to iron in your sleep so said husband doesn't go to work looking like he slept in his shirt.

And if you thought dinner time was fun before - with hungry kids running around wondering when they'll be fed while you try to make dinner...and it's only 5 p.m. - you'll be amazed at how enjoyable it is during tax season, when you push it back as long as you can in hopes that hubby will be home by 6:30.

And Saturdays - oh Saturdays. Can someone remind me what those are??

And don't forget about those little extras, like parent teacher conferences or family get-togethers. It really is a lot of fun to drag all 4 kids to things all by yourself. Really. Seriously. It gives one such an appreciation for what single parents go through. {I'm glad I don't belong to their club, and I'm glad Emily can babysit now!}

There's no need to worry about the stress of planning and carrying out a vacation for Spring Break. But don't feel bad - you can make up for it when you try to come up with something fun for Valentines Day, St. Patricks Day, Easter, and all that time off school for spring break.

What? You're not sold? Neither am I.

Baby Stuff

I don’t think we’ve remembered (or even had a chance) to show this to anyone.  It’s pretty darn cute, but I wish we could see his entire face!  He is snuggled right up into the placenta, and since it’s on the front, it’s hard to get a good picture of him.  This was from our ultrasound in December.  (I’m pretty sure he has an arm…I think it just looks like it’s cut off with the way things scan!)

I have spent a lot of time looking over all the pictures we have, from this baby and also from Rachel and Caleb (we got one or two LOUSY pictures for Emily and Josh, and the rest on VHS…haha).  Looking back, the 3-D ultrasound pictures of Rachel and Caleb look nothing like them as babies (they were a waaaay cuter in person!), so I expect that to hold true for this baby as well. 

Other than this, we’ve hardly seen his face.  They seem to be all-business about ultrasounds these days!  The other kids have great profile shots, and we hardly get to see anything besides organs with this little guy.  Don’t get me wrong – I’m glad we get to see those, I just want to see his face!  I know we have at least a couple more ultrasounds in the near future, so maybe I’ll get brave and ask for a profile shot at one of them.

We’re all getting anxious to meet this little guy.  Rachel is especially weary of the wait, thus I hear, “Why is the baby taking sooo looong to come out??” almost daily!  But as much as I’d like to meet him, he better keep on baking until after April 15th (which is actually the 18th this year…grrrrrrr)!!  We’re going to have enough excitement at that point as it is!

Welcome to Ripplinger Tower

Jared and the kids got busy with the Legos (on Josh’'s Lego table that Jared recently completed) yesterday.  They spent every free minute constructing what has now become known as Ripplinger Tower.  Take a look at the masterpiece!

That’s a lot more Legos than you would think, and when the light shines just right, the “R” glows! 

I think Jared is trying really hard to live it up before tax season starts.  If you ask me, this was a perfect way to spend the day (and it didn’t hurt that I was able to get a few things done too)!

What lucky kids – to have a Dad sit down and play with them for an entire day!

Jumbo Elephant

This is for all the grandmas out there - for your enjoyment!!

Potty Training

The time has finally come for potty training Caleb.  Actually, I think he’s been ready for a while – I just haven’t been ready myself! 

Potty training is one of those things I absolutely DREAD, and I’m sure you can relate!  Ever since our experience with potty training Emily – HORRIBLE is putting it nicely – we decided to wait as long as we could with the others so THEY were absolutely ready.  I figured that for Caleb it would be sometime next summer or fall.  But he’s been wanting to use the big toilet for quite a while, and he throws a fit when he doesn’t get to.  Hmmm….

Since it’s so cold, and it’s getting to be such a huge pain to go anywhere, I figured now is as good a time as any.  And maybe, just maybe, we won’t be changing diapers on two kids!  That’s enough motivation for me!

And I am soooo happy to report SUCCESS and hardly any frustration.  Caleb did pretty well the first day, but had a really rough second day, and that seems to have done the trick.  He was dry all of Thursday and Friday right up until bedtime!!  And we had a successful #2 today (is that TMI??)!!

The funny part about all of this is Caleb’s motivation.  Don’t get me wrong – he loves to get a piece of candy, but sometimes even he forgets about it.  What seems to really motivate him is getting to sing the potty song when he’s done!  I love it!

January

In the interest of being positive, here’s my list of things I *LOVE* about January!

1.  I don’t have to worry about how the yard looks – everyone’s looks the same!

2.  Since it’s so stinkin’ cold, I don’t feel as guilty staying in my PJs for a good part of the day.

3.  There are rarely any sales people that stop by and wake someone up from a nap.

4.  There are no birthdays (at least in our family) and no major holidays to shop for.

5.  I can make soup for dinner several times a week and get away with it.  Which means I can make lots of cinnamon rolls and not feel guilty!

6.  Since it’s so stinkin’ cold, I have no desire to leave the house, so Caleb is getting potty trained!!!!  (Maybe we won’t be changing diapers on two kids after all?!)

7.   I actually feel the DESIRE to clean my house (now that doesn’t mean I actually DO the cleaning)!

8.  Since it’s so stinkin’ cold, and the air is usually bad, we get fog, which makes the trees so beautiful and frosty.  (I’m not exactly sure of the cause and effect in this situation – maybe it’s the air quality being so bad that causes the stinkin’ cold and the fog??)

9.  By the time January is over, winter SHOULD be half way done.

10.  The rock chucks are hibernating, and thus not eating the garden and pooping all over the yard.

A Little Christmas Cheer…

Hoping you all had a great Christmas season.  Here’s a look into the happenings at our home this year.