Here are a few pics from the weekend.  The highlights were swiming and visiting Grant’s Farm.  Cousins are so awesome – so wish we had more time with all the cousins on both sides of the family!

Cousin Joey, poolside

Samma Jamma

Cousin Matt

Sean feeding the goats

Goat feeding on Maria

Paige and Sam

Jack and One Big Horse

Too funny not to share.

I did pretty well.  Everyone had green except for Maria.  I figured we’d do her hair like we did for the parade and that would be that.  Well.  I figured wrong.  She was not interested.  So, the good big brother Jack gave her his green sweatshirt and he went with an orange t-shirt.

I screamed threats at the kids and demanded their presence in the kitchen immediately called to my little darlings for breakfast, where I presented them with GREEN Cheerios (Luke, Sam and Maria) and VERY GREEN oatmeal (Jack).

Truly, I expect excitement, but then a refusal to eat.  But, to my amazement, all of the kids ate their breakfasts.  And had green mustaches the rest of the day.

Green Cheerios. Made simply with food coloring in the milk. By lunch, however, I discovered a much better recipe - sprinkle cereal with green sugar crystals.

I can't believe he ate it. Don't know that I would have.

Green and orange. If you look closely, you can even see that Luke is sporting a green tongue!

Bert has taken the kids to school before, so (despite my control-freak nature) I didn’t feel the need to give him any specific instructions.  It was a Lukie day, so he had to park and walk the kids across the street and then take Lukie into his classroom.  He’s done it before.  And it’s pretty straight forward.

Or so I thought.

Upon his return, I asked him how things had gone.  “Okay, but I had to yell at the parking lot attendant,” he told me.

“What?!?”  I demanded.  (My van is very recognizable, as it has Uppercase Living info on the back.  Plus, EVERYONE knows my kids.)  I was horrified – not only that Bert had felt the need to get into it with someone, but because the parking lot attendant is a teacher at the school.   One who spends every morning out there, freezing her tail off, so that the kids don’t get run over.

“What happened?” I asked, dumbfounded.

“Well, I drove into the parking lot from XY Street and this woman was standing there, blocking my way.  I waved at her to get out of my way (cue: Bert madly waving his arms), but she wouldn’t move.  Then she came up and said, ‘I know you don’t do this very often, but you need to come in the other way.’  I told her that they should have the entrance FLAGGED OFF, so that people like me, who ‘don’t do this very often’, KNOW this.”

“What’d she say?” I asked.

“Nothing.  She just stood there,” Bert said.  “Then I had to back up out onto XY street and go around the block to get into the parking lot!” Bert said indignantly.

“You’re supposed to pull into the parking lot from XX Street,” I said.  “It’s always been that way.  We do it that way every time we go to the school.”

“Well, that’s bullshit,” he said, ending the discussion.

Sheesh.  It’s a good thing I don’t have any more appointments coming up.  ‘Cause I don’t think Bert will be taking the kids to school again any time soon.

*Names have been changed to protect the guilty.

We kicked things off with the whole, dog bloat-kid puking thing late Friday night.  That was fun!

On Saturday it snowed.  Again.  A lot.  A FOOT.  I had thought that we’d already seen as much at one time that we’d see.  Ha.  Oh, and we’re due more this afternoon.

Also on Saturday, I put on my professional work hat, got out my tool box and installed a new cable outlet in our bedroom.  I had rearranged the furniture in there on Friday and forgot that we only had one cable outlet – on the opposite side of the room to where I had moved the TV.

Looks professional as hell, doesn’t it?  I have to admit, I’m pretty proud of myself.  Not only does it look good, but I think I saved myself around $85.

On Saturday evening, Dan and I stayed up really late so I could watch Disc 1 of the first season of Damages.  I caught this season’s season premier last week, loved it, and wanted to catch myself up.  I’ve got two more discs to go.  Awesome show.

Because we stayed up late, we were slow getting up and decided to go to 10 a.m. mass instead of 8:30 Sunday morning.  The kids were unusually well behaved.  Maybe it was the different time?  Or were the stars all aligned?

After a gourmet lunch provided by Dan, the big kids went off to play, Sam went down for a nap and I went to Home Depot while Dan got started on our latest project – replacing the interior doors.

When I returned, I realized what a loser I am. Dan rushed off to deliver Jack to the party and when he returned we worked on our project.

Because this house was so beautifully built and well-maintained, changing out the first door went smoothly.

Because nothing in this house is right, and because we hadn’t done it before, hanging the first door was a little challenging.  However, we persevered.  We learned a lot and it looks damn good.  We rock, Dan and I. (Note: it still needs to be painted.)

I cannot wait until we have them all done.  It really makes a difference!!!  (The brown door below is what’s currently throughout the house.  They’re in terrible shape.  Oh, and each door has different hardware.  Go figure.

Despite my efforts, though, I think we might be leaving too many clues.

Like all the yelling that goes on with four little kids and one big, mean mommy each time we leave the house to go somewhere.

And all the yelling that occurs between the van and the house upon our return.

Or the chasing of the dog parade that occurs occassionally several times a day when someone “mistakenly” lets Cheerio out of the house.

Or all the beer bottles in our recycle bin. (At least it’s good beer.)

Or all the screaming, crying and carrying-on that goes with a fall from the bicycle due to a sister’s meanness.  (Or not.  It was her fault. No it wasn’t. Yes, it was. No, it wasn’t.  Yes, it was…)

Or the dirty, bare-footed 2-year-old who doesn’t mind stripping off his pants and diaper for laughs.  In the yard.

Or the mad-faced 3-year-old who is always threatening (loudly) to send someone to jail (when, in fact, it looks like it may be him that faces jail time one day).

To top things off, we discovered last night that we’ve had our blinds turned the wrong way since moving in three weeks ago.  (Have I mentioned that there’s a window in the bathroom?  And that our neighbors are very, very close?)

I figure I need a pretty label for this house. It sounds nice and warm, sunny and happy.

Something to combat the dark cloud hovering above us. Which Will. Not. Go. Away. Each time we see some blue sky peaking through, it disappears in the blink of an eye.

So. Yesterday I called the plumbing company because I hadn’t heard back yet on when to expect my new downstairs bathtub parts, new upstairs toilet and new upstairs bathtub. The woman I spoke with told me she’d look it up and call me right back. Ha.

Next thing I know, Dan is calling me to say he just got off the phone with someone from our home warranty company who informed him that bathtubs are NOT COVERED (per section such-and-such of our warranty.)

Apparently we have the nice, expensive home warranty that covers everything, including pre-exisiting conditions. Everything. Except bathtubs. And their parts. Not to mention the labor to install said tubs and parts.

It would have to be the upstairs tub that needs to be completely replaced. A new tub shouldn’t be all that expensive… it’s just the removal of the existing cast iron tub (which involves a sledge hammer) and the installation of the new tub that will keep us from retiring before we’re in our 90′s.

I think if you combined all three bathrooms together at this point we still wouldn’t have one completely functional bathroom. But who needs a functional bathroom?

Maybe the bathrooms in this house are jinxed. I’ve mentioned, haven’t I, that the upstairs laundry room is in the bathroom?

Last night, while cooking dinner, I heard what sounded like a helicopter landing on our roof. I asked Dan if he heard it. Unconcerned, he assumed it was the kids making the racket. I knew not even my kids could have produced this noise, so I went upstairs to investigate and found that the noise was coming from the washing machine. Well good. Who needs clean clothes when you can’t take a bath anyway?

Let’s see… what else is going on. Oh, yeah. Dan’s work car was ticketed last night because we forgot to get it off the street before going to bed. Now there’s a good way to spend $25!

Today our big, dark cloud opened up and it’s raining. Great weather for getting the kids to school, let me tell you. It’s a preschool day for Luke, which means that I couldn’t just drop Maria and Jack off, keeping the number of drenched family members to two. Nope. We had to park and all of us had to get out and get drenched.

Maria did have her very stylish purple leopard skin umbrella keeping her fairly dry. And, I did have a bigger umbrella, but it wasn’t very effective. The wind was constantly trying to blow it from my hand and when you’re trying to hold it with one hand, push a stroller with the other and herd three kids, an umbrella is just a big pain in the ass. I guess I need to start shopping for rain gear. One of the preschool moms that actually came prepared for the weather said we’d be needing it. A lot. Yipee. At least we have plenty of room in our new house to store a bunch of rain gear (and all we’ll need for the upcoming winter). What else would you do with the bathrooms?

Well, I’ve got to run, but please come visit when you can. Just be sure to bring money for parking, quarters for the laundromat, lots of deodorant (depending on your length of stay), a plunger and your rain gear.

There’s a fairly new show on HGTV where people who are thinking about buying a house spend the night in it first to try it out. Right. Like anyone is going to let you do that. Plus – what a hassle, right? Well, I’m starting to see the brilliance in that idea.

The first day/night in our big yellow dwelling was spent moving in and unpacking the necessities. Exhausted after a long day, we went out to eat, came home and went to bed bath/shower-less. Gross, I know, but it was late. Everyone was dragging.  I didn’t hit the sack until much later because I had so much to get done.  Better to do it without “help”.

Early the next morning, the cable/tv/phone/internet guy was due to arrive, as was the washer hook-up man. I dragged myself out of bed and started working on the house some more and dealt with the guys. After a long day, the house was looking much improved. As of right now we only have some book boxes left to unpack in the main part of the house. After that are the boxes in the basement (which I’m tempted to dispose of unopened.)

Jack had his first full day of school today, so last night we needed to get the kids bathed, fed and in bed quickly. But, we still had to get Dan’s work car from the hotel parking lot. Rush, rush, rush. I ordered pizza and Dan got started on baths. We chose to use the bathtub downstairs because the upstairs tub needs some sealing around the drain. There’s a leak somewhere below where the tub is and we think it might be the tub that’s leaking.

Dan started to fill the tub, only to find that it wouldn’t hold any water. The lever thingy that adjusts the stopper wouldn’t work. At all. So, desperate to get our kids clean, we put a washcloth over the drain so we could fill the tub and limp through. When we went to drain the tub, however, it wouldn’t drain. Ugh! Dan took some things apart, said a few thousand choice words and we moved the rest of the bathing to the upstairs bathtub, despite the possible leak.

Also in preparation for school, I washed some uniforms yesterday. I’m going to have to remember to keep the door to the “laundry room” open while the washer is on, ’cause if the spinning cycle causes the washer to walk at all, I won’t be able to get back in. There is just about zero clearance between the door and the washer. Guess I won’t ever be getting the kick ass kind.

It’s a good thing we don’t use a lot of ice… we discovered we don’t have an ice maker. Two fridges, but no ice maker. The fridge that came with the house doesn’t have one and the one we brought and put in the basement doesn’t have a water line anywhere near it. And, no, we don’t want to switch them ’cause ours is white and the one in the kitchen is almond and matches the range. (Which, by the way, has a non-working burner on it.)

At the end of another very long day of unpacking and arranging – frustrating when there is no cabinet space to speak of and you have the shallowest pantry ever (you can’t even put a box of cereal in there unless it faces you), I looked forward to a hot shower. The tub had finally drained, so I started the water, found a temperature I liked and switched on the shower head. I reached up to adjust the direction of the spray, only to have it start spraying madly all over the place (from places it’s not supposed to spray from). Dan was able to adjust it, but I’m not allowed to touch it again.

By the time my shower was over, I was standing in 5 or 6 inches of water, but whatever. I was clean, finally. And, all our clothes were put away (albeit in several different closets throughout the house, since the “master” closet is the smallest.) Yes, we could have chosen a different room, but then we’d be sleeping on twin beds. Because anything bigger can’t fit up the stairs. Really. Maria has a queen sized bed and the movers had to CUT THE BOX SPRING IN HALF to get it upstairs. But that’s okay. Dan is going to nail it back together. Some day. Good as new.  Until then, she’s sleeping with the mattress on the bed frame, which causes the end of the mattress to sag.  No matter. She sleeps up at the top part of the bed.

This morning I was able to get in another quick shower before starting the before-school routine. I was able to get clean, apply my make up and brush my teeth.  However, drying my hair was slightly challenging. There is ONE outlet in our bathroom. ONE. And, it’s on the opposite side of the doorway and vanity. So, I had to dry my hair with very little cord give and hope that no one walked in and clotheslined themselves.

At breakfast time, we discovered we bought a house not equipped with a disposal.

Later today, the upstairs bathroom toilet quit working.  It won’t flush.  Plunging doesn’t seem to help and somehow, it doesn’t seem to be clogged so much as refusing to work.

Oh, and Lukie just bashed through the sliding screen door.  As if we didn’t have enough to worry about already.

At least we have a roof over our heads (for now – it is on the older side) and I have the internet while the kids have the TV. There is beer and juice in the fridge, so we have the necessities. No matter what happens, we’re well equipped!

Okay. So, here it is. Our big yellow house. It definitely needs some work, but it’s not a fixer-upper, either. Lots of room for the kids.

Our first order of business is a new kitchen and we’ll hopefully get started on that in the next couple of months. After that, it’ll be a little here, a little there. Eventually, we’d really like to add a porch the full width of the house. That would be a dramatic improvement. The shrubs there now are definitely on their way out – just as soon as the chain saw is unloaded from the moving truck.

We all went to the house this morning to look it over before the closing at 11.  Since there is NO WAY we’d be dumb enough to take the kids to closing, I signed over power of attorney to Dan so he could do it all himself.  While he went off to the closing, I took the kids to our new neighborhood park.  It’s just down the street from our new house.  It’s great – wonderful playground, bike path, tennis courts, ball fields, etc.

While I sat lazily on a swing, the kids played.  Mostly they played in the sand, ’cause that’s the dirtiest, messiest thing they could find to do.  But, I digress.

As I sat slowly swinging and watching the kids play, I noticed a man suddenly running across the playground.  I looked over to see what he was running toward and had to laugh.

There stood his son (or grandson) on the highest point in the park, with his pants around his knees.  From what I could gather, the child had just peed on a nearby tree but was having getting his pants back up by himself.

Yep… we’re going to fit right in around here.