I'm telling!

I am so very tired of the tattling. It's not needed tattling. There's no point to it. Each of the six kids tattle at least 40 times a day. According to my math, thats approximately... a hell of a lot of tattles. Here's how it works:

"Mom (or Kelli depending on the tattler), Emma's standing in the middle of the bedroom looking at my toy."

"Mom, Braydon said we have to go to bed later."

"Mom, Hannah won't look at me when I talk to her."

"Moooom, Josh touched my toy when I left it on the floor for ten minutes."

"Mooooooooooom! Eric said that my shirt is red and it's orange, so he's LYING!"

"Mom. Morgan is making faces at me!"

We've tried everything. Earlier in the year we tried sending every child in the house to time out when someone tattles. That was lots of fun when we had friends over. But their parents didn't mind since we got the idea from them. Boy were those boys pissed when they realized that was the rule here too. :) But we had to abandon that when they started tattling just so the sibling they were mad at had to go to time out. They were willing to stand there too just to screw with the others.

After that we moved on to the I don't care response. But I don't care is pretty harsh so we went another way. When child A tattled on child B, the punishment was that child A had to go give child B a hug and a kiss. Of course that didn't work. They giggled at that, and then used it as a way to make their sibling hug them when they weren't in the mood.

So I'm not sure what the next attempt will be.

Maybe the tattles will stop when they find me in the fetal position in the corner mumbling and ripping my hair out.

I doubt it though, they'd probably just go tattle on me to Alex.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to share your ideas!

~Kel

Blanket forts, they rock...

This week the kids have been obsessed with forts. A few comforters and the bunk beds become hours of entertainment. They have had a pirate ship, a club house, and a stage among other things, and they haven't been fighting very much at all, which is just fabulous.

At some point in the last few days one of them took a package of, well they are called chenille twists now, but in my childhood they were pipe cleaners. I've been ignoring this because they have been having tons of fun with them, and being really creative. I've seen a headband with a bunch of hearts for antennas, necklaces, bracelets, and Josh brought me a handful of blue ones that he turned into hearts for me.

We have a lot of stuff planned in the next week. We are going to the zoo, and probably lots of swimming, since it's right in the back yard, and the city fireworks on Saturday, and a 4th of July party at my house on Sunday. I'm really excited about it, Alex's mom got us lots of fireworks to set off, and I love hanging out with my friends!

I think that's all I have to say today. Thanks for reading!

~Kel

A general update

I realize it has been a while since I've blogged. I'd like to say I have a good reason, but I just don't.

Lots of things have happened since I last updated which I believe was in March. I think the quickest way to get through the updates is with a list! So here we go:

(not necessarily in chronological order)

1. I was in a play, and I loved it. LOVED it. I did some plays in high school, but I had forgotten how much they meant to me, and I'm so glad I found that again. I also seem to have infected others with my excitement, because Alex and Adam both plan to try out for plays later this year.

2. Morgan, Hannah, Josh, and Eric were also in a play (well, musical). They also seemed to love it, and came away with some great friends.

3. I turned 33. I try not to dwell on age, or focus too much on that, but somehow 33 seems a lot older than it should. I feel like time is running out to do the things I want, so this has led to some decisions in my life, to hopefully move things along.

4. I transfered to a college that I can actually attend classes at, and it is much much cheaper than the other college I was going to, and it gives me a chance to transfer to a traditional school for my final degree. This will look so much better when I get out of school and start looking for a career.

5. The triplets are keeping the tooth fairy in business. They have all lost two. Though technically Josh lost three. Since he was a baby and his teeth came through, two of the ones on the bottom came through and were like fused together. Earlier this week he had to have that one pulled out, because one of the fused teeth had an adult tooth coming through, and they weren't loose at all. At our house, when you have to go to the dentist to get a tooth taken out, the Tooth Fairy brings a toy instead of money. Hannah had some pulled a few months ago, and got a set of pandas, and this week Josh got a stuffed koala. It hasn't replaced his well loved koala or anything (from the last post), but he loves it.

6. The kids did a million cute things! I can't remember them all. I try to write myself notes, so that later, when I feel like writing I have stuff to use. Sometimes this works. Sometimes I find myself staring at a sticky note that says "If there's a booger in your bed, it belongs to you!" and saying to myself, "What the hell does this even mean?!"

I can't think of anything else major that has happened to share with you all. Now that we are all done performing onstage for a while it's time to relax and enjoy summer. Which I think to my kids means fight and tattle as much as possible.

I think I'll end this now. Thank you for reading, and I promise that I'll try REALLY hard to not go so long without updating.

Kelli

Meet "Koala"

Koala was an impulse buy along with a turtle named "Buffalo" and a bear one day at Goodwill to keep the kids happy while I shopped. Since then, Koala has become Josh's best friend.

Koala used to have a flocked fuzzy nose. Josh rubbed all that off by rubbing his nose against his face as he fell asleep. Josh still does this. If Koala happens to wander off, Josh is a wreck until he turns up again. Asking everyone every five minutes until he is back in his hands. Since Koala came home with us, Josh has acquired several other Koalas, but none of them are as important to Josh as his first Koala.

Lately, Josh has been giving me his Koala every morning before he leaves for school. I take this as a big complement. Josh is trusting me with his most prized possession every single day. I love him for it. He does this without hesitation, and with complete trust that he will get his Koala back when he comes home from school.

It's a big job. I hope I never let him down.

Thanks for reading!

~Kelli

Birthday madness!

During the two week period that makes up the end of February and the beginning of March we have 4 birthdays in my house. To be fair, three of those birthdays belong to the triplets, so while it's three birthdays, it's a little easier to deal with than four separate birthdays. Of course once they get older, they might end up wanting to celebrate separately. But we will deal with that when it comes.

The first of the THREE parties occurred this last weekend. That would be the triplet's family party. We are doing a family party for each birthday, as close as possible to the birthday, and then a friends party at Chuck E. Cheese in the middle of the two birthdays for everyone. Hannah, Josh, and Eric got lots of good stuff for their birthdays, and seemed to have lots of fun at the party. As usual, I stressed myself out trying to get everything perfect for them. Even though I know they wouldn't care if it wasn't perfect.

I lucked out a few weeks ago and found cake toppers in the clearance section of Wal-Mart, and immediately picked out five that were vaguely something that each kid would want. There wasn't a lot of options, but I feel like I got something each kid would want, and so far I've been right. Three down, two to go. (Emma's birthday is in May, two days after mine!)

So there are the cakes, they all begged me for the "Big top cupcake" that is all over TV, and I found a good deal on one, so I gave them what they wanted.

Thanks for reading! I'll update with more cakes as they happen!

~Kel

Boring stuff, and laptop issues!

Someone kindly sent me a message today letting me know that I hadn't blogged in a month. I guess it's a good thing when my fan demands more. LOL

I've actually been fairly busy lately. Alex got a job, so now I have to make sure everything is calm and quiet during the day when he sleeps. Have you ever attempted to keep six children quiet at the same time for 8 or more hours? I would compare it to trying to plug the holes in a dam made out of swiss cheese. When you get one to be quiet and stop jumping around, the other five start yelling.

So my laptop stopped being reliable about two or three months ago. The screen quit working, so I started using one of Alex's old ones until I could go get it fixed. I finally dropped it off with the Geek Squad about two weeks ago, and have been checking it's status online every few days since then. I saw where they tested it, ordered parts, repaired it, and then sent it back to Best Buy. I went to pick it up yesterday.

So I'm at the counter talking to one of the Geeks, and he tells me they replaced the mother board, and power cord. Well, I had dropped it off because the screen quit working. Before I had taken it to them, a quick Google search revealed that this was a common problem with that model, along with the mouse troubles I had been having the first time I took it to the Geeks. So I was a bit surprised that they replaced the motherboard, rather than the screen, so I decided that I should make sure it worked before I left with it, and asked the guy to turn it on for me.

He tried. He tried tried different ways, and could not get it to power on. So, I still don't have my laptop. I left it with the Geeks. I was fairly angry, but no where near as angry as I would have been if I didn't have another laptop to use.

To be honest though, as much of a pain in the ass as it is to drive the 45 minutes to the nearest Best Buy to pick it up and drop it off, I like this MUCH better than dealing with some incompetent asshole on the phone who thinks I'm too dumb to know anything about computers. Which is why I made the decision to only buy laptops from them after getting my last one there.

There are other blog entries on here detailing my past history with tech support. You've probably read them if you've known me for a long time, if not, get busy! LOL

Thanks for reading, sorry if it was boring today, I'll try harder next time.

~K

Welfare and druggies, my take!

This blog might be setting me up a little. But I feel like I have to share my opinion, whether or not it changes anyone's opinion is irrelevant, because really, what is a blog for if not to tell the world exactly what you think, so they can judge you and tell you that you are wrong?

So there is a group on Facebook titled "Make drug tests mandatory to get welfare."

Now. Don't get me wrong, it's not entirely a bad idea. Most people are of the opinion that they have to take drug tests to get jobs, so welfare recipients should be required to test too.

My problem lies in the generalizations, and judgmental opinions about those who do receive welfare, medicaid, food stamps, and other assistance. Some of the people in this group say some pretty nasty things about people who receive assistance.

We are not all drug addicts, living off the system to pay for our drugs. We are not all lazy assholes who don't want to work for a living. We are not all baby factories biding our time to have another so we can get more government money. We aren't all fat people who need the food stamps to pay for their ding dongs and twinkies.

The people in this group are demanding not only drug tests, but mandatory birth control (some are even saying forced sterilization!), and forcing specific food on people because they don't agree with the food choices that people on food stamps make.

The people are bitching because people getting assistance have cell phones, or nice clothes, or nice cars. Because you know, the person can't possibly have owned those things BEFORE everything went to shit requiring them to need assistance. Those nice things can't be leftover from a life they had before they lost their income. The fact that they have those things and someone not getting assistance doesn't MUST mean they are abusing the system.

I'm not saying that no one abuses the system. I'm not saying there aren't drug addicts getting welfare. I'm saying this group is offensive because it is making judgments about everyone who gets assistance.

Some of you know that I don't have a job right now, so my house is relying primarily on this type of assistance to survive. Family members help out some with the monthly bills, but other than that, child support and assistance is how we are surviving. I have tried to find a job, but no one is calling, because the reason I lost my last job, on the surface looks really bad. But these false allegations are causing major issues for me, and with the lawyer appointments and hearings and whatnot, I'm not sure I could keep a job, because clearing this up, is the most important thing right now.

Now, lets look at the idea of drug tests. First, this will likely cost more money than would be saved by removing the drug users that get assistance. I'm not really clear on drugs and how long they stay in people's systems, so feel free to correct me if you know differently, but from what I understand one of the only drugs that will stay in your system long enough for a urinary or blood drug test to even be helpful is marijuana. As far as all the drugs in the world go, that is one of the least harmful and destructive. So what would be the point really? Hair follicle tests can go back further, but are VERY expensive, and would cost way more money to execute than could ever be saved.

I feel like everyone on this group needs to stop and consider, thats it's not just the trashy druggie people who are getting assistance. The economy is shit right now. There are lots of former professionals, who are well educated, that lost their jobs and cannot find another no matter how hard they try. Even if they are willing to take something below their former station, they cannot get those jobs as they are overqualified, and are surviving due to assistance alone. There are parents with disabled children who need to stay home and tend to the daily care of their children. There are families who would love to have a job that's just not there, and there are people who are bettering themselves through education while getting assistance so that it is not a lifelong thing.

In short, don't be so damned judgmental. You could end up there too someday.