Oh, I'm so far behind on blogging again.  Most evenings I've either been folding laundry or doing dishes or snuggling my baby or drinking a margarita and watching trash tv.  Either way, I just haven't taken the time to sit down and write anything.  So tonight I'm catching up.

Saige's fever came back Monday evening.  It never spiked high, but went between 100 and 102.5 until last night when it finally broke.  We don't know if that's a good thing or not at this point (hopefully it doesn't mean that her body is giving up fighting whatever infection she has).  Clint ran a urine sample over to Coldwater yesterday afternoon so they could run an analysis.  Her white count and bacteria were high.  It takes 3 days for the culture, so we won't know what is wrong until then.  She is eating and sleeping fairly well and is acting fairly normal, but something is wrong on the inside.  Dr Fowler started her on an antibiotic again until we know what's wrong.
Also on Monday evening, Sloan cut the bottom of her foot open on a piece of glass while playing outside.  We have kept it wrapped up during the day and took the bandage off at night so it could get air.  She's been pretty tough and it's healing well.

I've been working on painting Jaide's room which was going to be a short, easy project, but it's turned into a pain in the butt.  I filled the nail holes and sanded them and painted them, then painted flowers on her wall.  Well, when the wall color dried where I filled all the holes, it was darker than the rest of the wall color.  I painted that room when we moved here 8 years ago and in that time the wall color has faded.  There is no way for me to blend it in and there isn't enough paint in the can to cover the whole room, so I'm mixing a few different colors I have together to see if it will be something I like.  That's just what you do when you are an hour from civilization and don't want to drive and spend money on something else.  The part of it that really bothers me is I took all the time to paint cute flowers all over her walls and now I just have to paint over them and start over.  So disappointing.  Rant over.
 
"Doing dishes" while the boys are at school...

Clint took Sloan to pee in the middle of the night and after she pee'd she told him, "The toilet's are sure going to get full, aren't they, Daddy."  She always has the funniest things to say, especially in the middle of the night.

This morning I asked Judd what cereal he wanted for breakfast.  He said, "A cookie."  I told him that we don't eat cookies for breakfast and he said, "But you give us cinnamon rolls for breakfast and it's almost the same thing."  Valid argument.

The kids were feeling better yesterday.  Everyone woke up with a normal temperature.  The nights have been pretty rough around here lately.  Jaide hasn't slept very well.  The boys have been coughing.  Sloan has been fussy and uncomfortable.  Saige has been having bad dreams.  Clint and I have been a little short on sleep, but it could be a lot worse.  Even though we are short on sleep, I still stayed up last night and painted in Jaide's room.
Yesterday, since they were feeling better, the 4 big kids went to play at Larry and Diane's.  Clint and I loaded up all the baby things to take to the consignment sale in Coldwater.  We stopped in town and played 9 holes of golf first.  I haven't swung a golf club in over a year.  We took turns holding Jaide.  I only played about 4 holes, but it was still enjoyable.  Then we took our stuff to set up at the sale in Coldwater then came home.  This evening, all the kids played outside and jumped on the trampoline with the sprinkler underneath.

Clint and Larry played in a golf tournament today in Ashland.  All 5 kids were being little turds off and on all day and I didn't have the required patience to deal with it most of the time.  I yelled too much and I know it.  The kids were tired by the end of the day.  Jett told Saige she could lay in the chair by him while they watched a little tv before bed.

I didn't blog last night because, honestly, I didn't want to take the time to do it.  All 5 kids have been sick off and on for the last few days.  The girls haven't been sleeping well at night.  The boys got off the school bus today and had fevers of 104.  Saige and Sloan weren't feeling well the past few days, but neither of them had a fever today.  They have had a little cough and runny noses, but thankfully no puking.
In all my spare time (which means when the tiny humans are sleeping), I've been sorting through all of our baby stuff to give away and/or sell at a garage sale.  I've been working on it for a couple weeks.  Last night after I did the dishes I worked on it for awhile before Jaide woke up.  I've got all of the baby stuff and clothes that the kids have outgrown in her room so I'm ready to get it all out of her room so I can paint and decorate and possible move her crib out of our room and into hers.  Granted, she hardly ever sleep in it at night, but she does nap there during the day.  She is taking 2 naps a day.  She is standing up on her own so easily and is very close to walking.  Yesterday, she took one step on her own then fell on the second step.  Yesterday afternoon, I had the 3 girls upstairs with the baby gate over the stairs and I worked on sorting baby clothes while the girls played.  I would take a break and read them a few books, then go back to sorting, then hold Jaide for awhile when she was fussing, then go back to sorting.  It's quieter in the house with only 3 kids during the afternoon.

Tonight the kids just wanted to snuggle and watch tv.  Since they haven't been feeling the best, we thought that sounded like a good idea.

Those farmer legs don't see much sun.

Saige is always so good helping with Jaide.  She was hitting the ball with her hands and Jaide was giggling.

Today was picture day at school.  Clint and I decided not to spend money on the school pictures (sorry grandparents and other relatives/friends).  I took a few quick pictures of the boys before I took them to town.

Judd

 

Jett

a kiss for his Momma

Hopefully no one is getting tired of seeing our cute little boys with their backpacks on ready for school.  It's hard for me to not want to take a picture of their cuteness before they leave.  They are so cute when they get off the school bus and tell us about their afternoon.
They are going to school Monday through Thursday from 12:30 to 4:00 and the bus has been dropping them off at 4:30 pm.

On Friday after lunch we loaded up and drove to McPherson (3 hours away) to spend the weekend with our friends, Scott and Alana.  Alana is due with her third baby in a few weeks, so we took her some girl clothes, etc.  Our kids loved getting time to play with their boys, Bo and Cole and I loved getting to spend time with one of my best friends.  Clint and Scott played golf on Saturday.  We got home around 5 pm this evening.

Eating popcorn and watching a movie

This is how Sloan fell asleep last night.

Saige fell asleep on our way home and woke up just before Pratt and threw up.  Tonight was her last dose of the 10-day antibiotic for MRSA.  She started running a fever again this evening and threw up again right after we put them to bed.  Seems like the poor girl can't catch a break right now.

The boys getting their backpacks on to head out to door for school.  Clint took them in by himself today.  He stayed in to play a little golf.  The boys were hugging the girls (and their Momma) before they left.

The boys and Clint had, literally, just pulled out of the driveway and Saige said, "When are my boys going to be back?  I miss them."  Saige and Sloan played good together this afternoon.  Jaide took a nap so I was able to get the laundry folded and put away, the dishes done and push Saige and Sloan on the swings for a while.  The girls wanted to swim later this afternoon, so we did that and when the boys got home they got in also.  I actually picked up a few toys and vaccuumed the rugs today and when the boys came in they asked me who was coming over.  I told them "no one" and they said, "Then why is it so clean in here?"  We had leftovers for supper, which didn't go over very well.  I made spaghetti for lunch, at Jett's request.  He asked if we could have "those long skinny noodles".  He doesn't like macaroni or any other form of noodle, but he likes spaghetti.  He was a happy boy at lunch and ate two helpings.

The boys had a good second day of school.  It's cute to see them get off the bus and we ask them how their afternoon was and look at the papers they made.  I asked Jett if he made any new friends in his class today and he said, "Nope, they were the same kids as yesterday."
Jaide took a good nap this afternoon and the girls played good, so I was able to get a few things done.

The first day of preschool...
The boys asked for cinnamon rolls for breakfast, so that's what they got.   I let the boy pick out their clothes this morning so they would be ready.  Judd wanted jeans and boots, but when I helped him put his boots on they were pretty tight and he didn't want to wear them.  Jett got a new pair about a month ago because he had outgrown his and I guess it's time to get Judd a new pair also.  He opted for jeans shorts and tennis shoes.

On our way to town we were talking about how the boys were going to ride the bus home and Judd asked, "Do I need to pay to ride the bus?"  Valid question.

I tried not to smother them when we dropped them off.  I really would've liked to have stayed a little and watch them play and make new friends, but we left pretty quick.  The boys had no problem staying and weren't concerned at all about us leaving.  (I knew they wouldn't be.)  Sloan was disappointed she didn't get to stay.  We hadn't even been home for an hour when said asked, "When are my brothers going to be home?  I miss them."  I didn't have a hard time at all when we dropped them off, but when we got home, Saige wanted to look at pictures on the computer and we started watching videos of the kids.  Yes, I did cry just a little while watching the videos of the kids.  Not because I missed the boys that much, just because I love them and am proud of them.  I'm so glad we have pictures and videos to help us remember everything.  Ok, I'm sidetracked.  When the boys came off the bus and walked in the door, they pulled out papers they made and Jett handed one of them to each girl.

Tell me about today.
Jett: We go'd to school and we played.  We go'd to play at the playground.  We had story time and learned stuff.
Judd: We had fun with Mrs. Hoffman and we played on the playground.  We spinned on the spinner.  Jett and me helped push our friends.  We maked pictures.

What was your favorite part of school?
Jett: playing with the other kids
Judd: riding home on the bus

They wanted a picture of their backpacks

The girls were running out to meet the bus.

The first thing Jett said when he got off the bus was, "We didn't get sent to the principals office!"

After we heard about the boys afternoon, we got in the suburban and went to Greensburg.  Our friends from Germany are here visiting so we wanted to go up and see them.  Dad and Mom had pizza for supper and the kids swam.

Jens and Dorothy brought gifts for each of the kids.  They got bracelets for each of the girls and airplanes for each of the boys.

We babysat our friends two kids until about mid-afternoon today.  The kids had fun playing.  We went out to look through the cows and the kids played in the "cow pool". 

The rest of the afternoon and evening I just really enjoyed spending time with my babies.  I watched them while they swam (in our pool), we played a game together at the table and they had a pillow fight in our room while I put laundry away.  We talked Clint into going to town to play men's night golf.  He helps with the kids and at the house so, so much that he deserves to take a few hours and enjoy playing golf.

My baby boys are starting school tomorrow.  When I've expressed to a few people that I will miss them while they're at school, I've gotten some snarky responses.
Here's the facts:  I like my kids.  I like being with my kids.  I like to teach my kids new things.  I like them.
It amazes me that some people are so anxious for school to start so they don't have to be around their kids so much.  My mind just can't comprehend that.  Now, maybe ask me again when I have two 16 year olds, two 15 year olds and one 13 year old.  Oh my.

We've been busy and tired and now I'm behind on blogging so I'll try to catch up.

During the night on Thursday night, Saige's fever broke and her temperature dropped down to 95.5.  We were concerned about it being so low and Clint was up almost the whole night checking her temperature about every 30 minutes.  By Friday morning, it had slowly crept back up to normal.  Dr Fowler called me on Friday morning and said that Saige has MRSA and that we needed to start her on a different antibiotic.  There is only one oral antibiotic that she can have that will hopefully treat it (because MRSA is a drug resistant staph infection).  Clint went over to Coldwater to pick up the new medicine and we started her on it right away.  She is on it 3 times a day for 10 days.  She takes her medicine so well and yes, we have to use a little bribery with candy, but I don't see anything wrong with that.  She is a tough little girl.

On Saturday morning we went to Ray and Pat's to help with sweet corn harvest.  The kids all had so much fun going to the field and picking the corn themselves.

We tried to get a picture of all the kids together.  This is typical...the Petty boys smacking each other.

Mid-afternoon we all headed down to Tanner and Jill's for Tanner's 30th surprise birthday party.

This afternoon we went back over to Tanner and Jill's for Wyatt's 5th birthday party.  Jill had a fun treasure hunt for the kids followed by cake and lots of playing.

reading the first clue

Judd was good at finding the clues

Jill got each of the kids binoculars and a toy compass.  They were so cute looking around in the binoculars for the clues.  Our kids played with them a lot once we got home this evening.

He found the treasure chest.

Happy 5th Birthday Wyatt!