Happy Birthday Tobi!

Oh my goodness...I guess I should have called Chuck E Cheese's to see if they were expecting to be busy, because we picked the night they just happen to be having a fundraiser and the place was PACKED! We were just barely able to find a couple of tables, although they were not together, but close enough. Not that it really mattered, because all the kids really wanted was the tokens and to fight through the crowd for the best games.

Tobi playing a game.

Tobi opening her gifts...finally.

Dwayne gets in on some games himself...even with the help of some mysterious little boy.

The older kids have just as much fun as the younger ones.

Tobi shows off the her new jacket that matches a beautiful new princess dress from her Grandma Nancy.

No matter the crowd, we still had a good time. We started around 6pm and left there around 8:30ish. I got to drink my favorite Cherry coke, enjoy the pizza (bring home leftovers...yum for my lunch) and I even got to play one game of skee ball (My favorite game too, Tonya!). I would have played more, but I am not joking when I said the place was packed. I look forward to going back some lunchtime when it is quiet and I can have fun too.

Today is Dwayne and I's actual 4th anniversary. We are so excited. I got him a new cordless drill, which added much trouble to my day yesterday. The first time I got to Menards yesterday to buy the new drill, Claudia, the little girl I babysit, puked all over herself just as we pulled into the parking lot, so we had to leave right away, go home and clean her up. I was finally able to go back right before Tobi's party without anyone getting sick. All of our kids are headed over to their Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Marty's house tonight, while Dwayne and I just go out and enjoy ourselves. I am just glad I am healthy enough to actually go out tonight...YEA!!!

Wednesday Ramblings...

Tomorrow is my youngest ones 5th birthday. We will be enjoying Chuck E Cheese with her. Now, unlike some people, I actually like their pizza. Dwayne does not enjoy going...at all, but I keep reminding him that she is our last one to request going and he only has to go once a year...that is pretty good. At one time, we had up to 3 kids who requested spending their birthdays there, so it is getting better for him. I enjoy going and I even like playing the games. And the fact that they have Cherry Coke only works in their favor in my eyes.

I am recovering today from another batch of the stomach flu....How long can all this sickness last? I feel like a broken record these days constantly saying I am sick or someone in my house is sick.

On a very good note...my son won the school spelling bee yesterday and he will be moving on to the next round. I am very upset that I missed it yesterday...I have been to his other 2 school spelling bees and I miss the one that he wins the whole thing...life can be very unfair. If it had not been for the upset stomach, I would have been there. I am very proud of him. He really enjoys spelling...he has been on the spell bowl team and in every spelling bee he could be in. If only I could get him to transfer some of that love over to math, but oh well...this is his thing. We will just have to leave math to Sari.

Waiting....Again!

It was just last week that my darling husband was gone down to Georgia on business, but yet here I am again waiting on him to come home. Of course this trip was not business and it was a very quick trip, so it has been even more tiring on him. It has been a slightly messed up trip for him, which I am sure he will share the story in his own words. It has felt liked a messed up week around here after having Monday off from school, Tuesday Dora came home sick from school and then Friday...Brighton comes home sick. I kept planning to run into Muncie to pick up a few things, but the more it snowed the less I felt like driving out in it. But finally today looked promising and I loaded up my 4 children, took them to town and even bought them some lunch. I must say, we have been fairly relaxed around here while Dwayne has been gone. Honestly, I did not want to push the kiddos too much for fear that someone else will get sick and then pass off to me. And I really don't want to get sick any time soon, because with all good luck and prayers Dwayne and I should be heading off some where next weekend to celebrate our 4th anniversary.

On a totally different note....Don't you just hate it when you lose something? I have some how, some way misplaced my church keys. They have this cool little 40 days of community scripture key chain that I keep all my church keys on and I can't find them any where. I can't even think where I could have possibly left them and it would have been like 2 weeks ago when I used them last and a lot of things can happen in 2 weeks. It just bugs me. I will be sitting and doing something and then all of sudden I will think...maybe I left them here...so I will have to get up and go look there. Then they won't be there and then I will get all settled down again when another possible place will come to mind and I will have to look there. I can be a very figity person, this can drive Dwayne crazy sometimes. Anyways...this is just bugging me and I am sure they will turn up somewhere....I just don't know where yet...probably in the last place I look, because you know...every thing is found in the last place you look, because why would you look any more once you found it?

Family Pictures...

Have you ever tried taking pictures of kids? My hubby will be flying out to California this week to attend the funeral of his grandmother, so I had the bright idea to take pictures of our kiddos and then go and get them printed out. This way he could show off his beautiful children. I thought taking the individual pictures were hard, but that was nothing compared to when I started taking group pictures. Here is just a taste of the poses I got...

Here the kids look fairly normal.

Not sure what Sari is going for here...

Wait...You are taking the picture now?

Not sure what the point was here...

Tobi was having another one of her meltdowns...again.

Is it possible to get a 4 year old to take a good group picture?

I was able to get some decent pictures. I took over 100 pictures and then let Dwayne pick what he was the happiest with. I think I see the good side of going to a professional photographer now...lol.

What is going on these days?

I am getting so tired of being sick, or having sick kids. Dora ended up being sick on Friday. Now with Dora it is really hard to tell when she is really sick, because she never slows down. She did not have a fever, so she went to school on Friday, stayed for her cheer clinic, but by the time she got home, she informed her father that she would NOT being going to the game that night to perform the cheer she just learned that day. Tobi came down with a fever Friday night of 102 and by Saturday morning, Dora had the 102 fever and Tobi was feeling better. Brighton and I got up early to go work at Angel Food, but I was glad to be done and back home by 8:00am, because I was starting to feel bad. After resting all day, Dwayne and I went out, but by the end of the evening I had a fever. Why is all this sickness going around? It just really drains a person to always be saying...yes, someone in our house is sick....AGAIN. Well, it looks like the girls are on the mend and after having another resting day today, I hope that by tomorrow, I will be on the mend as well. I just want it all to be done.

Back to Normal...

Well, as normal as life can be at the Lott house. I am never a very normal person. Dwayne is back home safe and sound. Dora was very glad to see her dad Thursday morning. I got to go to the school yesterday to see my son place 2nd in his division in the science fair. How great is that, he gets a ribbon on top of getting to blow things up? That should be every boy's dream.

I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day yesterday. Dwayne and I never do much for Valentine's day, just because our anniverisary is just 2 weeks after and really...who has that kind of money. I must say I can still remember my very first Valentine's day with Dwayne (20 years ago). Let's see...we would have been dating for about 5 months and this would be the first time I had an actual serious boyfriend on Valentine's day. Now, this is every girl's dream to have a boyfriend give her some wonderful gift. I pictured flowers, box of chocolates....I am not sure what all else I was expecting. (I was young and hopeful) As I look back now, he really did a great job, but at the time, I was disappointed. He gave me 3 roses and a box with jewelry in it. Sounds wonderful, huh? OK...they were 3 SILK roses, not real, silk...that was not what I had in my mind. I will say this though, I do still have those roses, which I would not have if they had been real. Then you ask...What about the jewelry, that had to be good, right? Ok...they were plastic jewelry...a pale pink plastic earrings, necklace and braclet. They have long been gone, but you know what he did great? The box that the jewelry in was a sturdy gift box with a bow on it and I STILL have that box. It might take me a little while to find it, but it is still around here. I think he figured out early on that I liked little things like special boxes, jars and stuff like that. In fact while he was on his business trip and was eating breakfast out, he got a cute little jar of syrup with his food and he saved it for me and brought it home...just because he knew I would like it. The guys he was with were just impressed that he thought to do that....lol. So, anyways from silk roses, plastic jewelry in a gift box to simple clear little glass jar...that is what 20 years has done to our Valentine's days....and I am good with that...lol.

Ok, I do have to add that he left me a wonderful love note on my pillow when I got home from the youth retreat, but was it really because of Valentine's Day?

While dad is away...

While dad is away...the rest of us will play. Kind of weird how it worked out, but Dwayne left on Sunday before I got back from my Winter Sneak weekend. So, whenever my hubby goes on one of his business trips I get a little relaxed in my usual cleaning mode. I mean after all, if he is not here to be bothered by the mess...hey why clean it up? I would be a very messy person if it were not for my wonderful hubby. Last night after Brighton and I put the finishing touches on his science fair project, the kids and I headed into Muncie to enjoy a shopping trip to Target and eating out at Rally's. I love Rally's, they are alittle more pricy than McDs, but much better in my mind. I really needed to stock up on a few things just in case we got this winter snow storm they were talking about, which we didn't, but if we had...we now have plenty of Pop Tarts to keep my kiddos filled.

We will all be glad to have Dwayne back tomorrow. Dora has mentioned every morning that she can't wait until he gets back home. I think the kiddos have gotten quite spoiled having their dad in the house all the time. But this has been a good trip for Dwayne, he really needed to get out for a bit. Dora was reminded yesterday morning that she is just very lucky that her dad still lives with her by some of the the kids who hang out at our house every morning waiting for the bus. It was really sad for me to listen to these other kids tell Dora that their dads were living in different states, one in Missouri and one in Florida, and how they won't get to see them until maybe spring break or summer. It was a tough reminder how much divorce hurts kids and why God hates divorce, not because He is keeping us from some happiness, but because He knows what kind of pain divorce really brings. I am glad that I really can not remember my parent's divorce, since they were only divorced for about a year and then remarried.

Well, I am thinking I may clean a little today. I guess Dwayne's freaky cleaningness has worn off on me and the dishes are piled higher than I like...lol.

A great weekend!

I just spent the weekend at Quaker Haven Camp with a bunch of teens for a cool Winter Sneak weekend. We only had 4 teens go from our church, but they are some of my favorite to hang out with anyways. I also got to see some teens that I have not seen in a long time and it was fun catching up with them. I am very fortunate that my daughter does not mind that I go to these events. I really have been enjoying watching her leave her comfort zone and go out and chat with new people. In the begining when I would go, she would usually stay close to me. I can be a very chatty person, so she would stay by me and I would be the one chatting with the new people, but this weekend I watched her talk with different girls and she seemed much more sure of herself. She hung around me only about a couple of times. I love watching my kids moving towards their independence, but I also love letting them know I am always here when they need me.

On a side note, James has finally came up with a nickname for me, but the mean man is making me wait until the next newsletter comes out....I am so sad....:(

Today is only FEb. 5th...

Today is only Feb. 5th, but at the very end of this month is Dwayne and I's Fourth actual wedding anniverisary (Dwayne always says...4th anniverisary, but it feels like 16 years....lol). It will be the very first anniverisary that we will celebrate without a child under the age of one. I am excited. We are really hoping to be able to possibly get away, just the two of us. I am a huge fan of dating (dating between spouses, not my 14 year old daughter dating). I really love dates with my hubby. In fact, we are really due for a date sometime soon. We also love to double date, that is always fun. What is really funny is that over the years, all my kids love it when we go out too. In the past when they would have a babysitter, they loved having that attention from someone besides mom. Now that they are older they just love having the house all to themselves. It is even better when mom and dad go out with friends that have kids, because then they get to hang out with other kids, in their house, without any parents...every kid's dream. It works out really well when we go out with the Clouses. Their children are in the same age range as my 2 oldest, so that puts a lot of older children in the house. The only downside is sometimes when we come back home, I am a little bit afraid to walk into the house. For some odd reason, when you leave a bunch of kiddos in charge....the house can become quite a mess. I always carry my cellphone, for those rare "emergencies". Let me think of some examples for you...

1. Sari: Ummmm....mom, can we have pop to drink?
2. Sari: Dora is not listening to me.
3. Brighton: Ummm...mom, I just knocked out Dora's tooth...she called me fat, so I went to kick her, she moved and I kicked out her tooth.
4. Sari: Can we watch (insert title of movie)?

Anyways you get the idea. Their "emergencies" are the same kind of questions I get when I am home. I think I am really ready for another date night...lol.

Long Week...

It has been a long week around my house. I started getting sick on Monday evening and my hubby finally made me go to the doctor on Thursday. I think the last time I went to the doctor was about 6 weeks after I had Tobi. This visit was very short, he checked me out in about 2 minutes, prescribed me some medication and sent me on my way. By the way, why do those pills have to be so big? Dwayne has had to split them in half for me, because I do not do well at taking pills. He really likes to prove how tough he is when he swallows 4 pills or more at one time. There is no way I could do that. So, anyways, that is one of the many reasons my blog has suffered this week.

My oldest has been super busy this week at school. This is homecoming week, spring musical tryouts (and she got a part, she is the evil step mother to Cinderella), and a talent show...all in one week. The poor girl has not been home at relaxing time at all. Let's just say at the Lott household...everyone is glad that the weekend is finally here.

On a different note...Sari did absolutely wonderful in her music contest last week. She got a gold medal and she was just one-half a point from a perfect score. I kept telling her she did a good job, but seeing how I am not musically talented at all...it meant tons more when her dad told her. The judge even clapped for her when she was done and he gave her some advice right then on how to improve...Dwayne said this is unusual. He would know, he did many of these contests when he was in high school. I am sure his pride was showing last Saturday.