It's my Etsy-versary!!!

And that means a giveaway! :)

I've been on Etsy for 3 years now... and while it has not done what I intended it to do (to help pay household bills while being a stay at home mom), I have made lots of good friends through my teams. Sometimes that is more valuable than having lots of sales - not that I wouldn't mind my sales going up just a bit... ;)

I am giving away this necklace:

It has a lovely summery feel to it, with shades of blue and turquoise. You can find out more info here. To enter, just pop over to my shop and pick your favorite item. Come back here and leave a comment, with a way I can reach you if you are the winner. Winners will be chosen Monday, July 19th. For additional entries, you can tweet about this giveaway on Twitter or like me on Facebook. Good Luck!

I've also just come back from our vacation. Every year we take our son back to Nebraska and Kansas to see his grandparents. I'll be sharing the trip with you little by little over the next week or so. This trip wasn't the ideal trip, but we did manage to have a little fun. I guess we should have known it wasn't going to be a wonderful vacation when we had to take a commuter plane from Denver to Kansas City... Who knew people didn't want to fly to KC from Denver?




We took Colin to the T-Rex Cafe in Kansas City, KS. They have a Build-A-Dino there, and Colin got a new dino thanks to Grandma and Grandpa. He got one a few years ago that he named Rocky, and he wanted Rocky to have a friend. When it came time to name his new dino, he named it Rocky! Here's Colin giving the new Rocky a bath...


That's all for now... Tomorrow I'll tell you about our trip to Emporia, KS! :)

Total chaos...

As the 5 days winds down, the kids are getting harder to control. We've had a few time outs today, 3 injuries, lots of tears, a marked increase in whining and the noise level is deafening...

and the wii has been banned since lunchtime...

But we did get the kids to help clean up, so the house looks fairly presentable. They also assisted in decorating the cake and making a sign for their parents - who should be here in about 45 minutes...

Colin will miss all the room here as we head back to our cramped apartment, but he is losing his patience and wants some quiet time. Friday one of the teachers at school asked him how he liked having brothers and sister - he said "uh huh". We asked him that again yesterday - got the same response... ;)

So how much toilet paper can fit in a toilet?

Unfortunately, we found out the answer today as the "it wasn't me" phrase went around... I'm guessing it was almost a full roll. (a big thank you needs to go out to my hubby for dealing with the toilet... love you, sweetie!)

Tomorrow is the last day with 4 kids. I'm holding up pretty well.. the nap I had this afternoon helped immensely - at least until the toilet fiasco... ;)

Kids were everywhere today - mine was at a social function with his dad til early afternoon. One of the boys went to his baseball closing ceremony, and the girl went and played with neighbors. I'm in trouble with the remaining boy, as I banned all computer games for the rest of the day. He spent a good portion of the morning playing so it was time to quit.

Tomorrow we are baking a cake and decorating it, as well as making a welcome home banner. I hope my friend doesn't cry - but I'm thinking she probably will... :)

So.Very.Tired.

Ok, so it's Friday afternoon...

I haven't posted since yesterday morning.

I have decided the most exhausting things are getting 4 kids to bed on time and getting them up, fed and dressed for school at the same time.

Funny thing is it seems the whole school knows what I'm up to this week... so many have come up to me to tell me I'm very brave or a saint for doing this. I like to look at it as giving my friend a break so she can have a few days of fun with her hubby.

The kids have all been pretty well behaved. Mine is suffering the most, as he's an only child and it's quite a shock to go to having siblings overnight.. He gets a new DS game on Sunday.

This weekend should be a lot easier.. no set times for bedtime, and sleeping in will be encouraged! ;) Tonight we're heading over to school to a cub scout info meeting, and afterwards we're taking them all out for dessert. My hubby and son will be at a party tomorrow morning, then one of the triplets has a party in the afternoon.

Kudos to all the multiple moms out there, as well as those with more than one.. :)

It's not so bad!

Last night was my first night as a mom to 4... It really wasn't bad at all! I was a bit more tired than usual when I went to bed, but other than that all the kids got along and meal time went smoothly.

I was a bit surprised that mine went to sleep first, and he was up first this morning! 3 of the 4 are up; 2 of 4 have eaten breakfast; 1 of 4 are dressed... not a bad start with an hour left before we leave for school!

Tonight for dinner I'm having the kids make their own pizzas... should be fun! Stay tuned for Day 2 of adventures...

UPDATE: 4 of 4 up; 3 of 4 have eaten; 2 of 4 dressed.. half an hour left... :)

Instruction Day...

Well, we went over to get instructions for our 5 day journey into being parents to four... The kids played very well together, so that bodes very well for the coming week! Considering that Colin and Ben were butting heads just a few weeks ago, it seems like a miracle that they are friends now!

I am, however, now concerned that my son - an only child - will have some meltdowns. He's so used to having my full attention, as well as alone time... I'm starting to think this will be hard for him. He may surprise me though. We will see...

On the bright side, he's very tired after several hours of non-stop play. :)

Yay! A new post!

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted here! So much seems to be going on lately with the end of school and fun extracurricular activities..


We had a lovely Memorial Day with friends at the beach, ending with a bonfire and s'mores.


Next week I will make a point to write about my experiences as a mom to four. Yep, I'm going from one kid to four overnight! We're watching 7 year old triplets while their parents are out of town. I think the biggest challenges will be getting them all up for school on time and having some down time for my son. As an only child, this will definitely be an eye opener for him on what it's like to have brothers and sisters. Wish me luck, and I'll see you next week! :)