In-laws...and Dollar Stores

Oh, let me tell you how much I love it when my in-laws come for a visit... go on, start laughing now and I'll start at the very beginning:)

My in-laws like to come up for a visit pretty much every single sunday.  Yes, they do miss some of them, but they are here A LOT!!!  They say it's to see the kids but I think it's to get out of their house and sit on someone elses couch and have someone else make them a big huge meal that they don't have to clean up after (and I'm talking like a full out old-fashioned sunday dinner)... oh, and to find new things to complain about.  Here are the standard things I hear when they come:

- Clap Paddy's... (now this is directed to Francesca...though, it's been said to all of my children)
- Oh, who loves you... PopPop loves you
- Why don't you want to sit with me...do you not love me anymore???
- Oh, are you spoiled sitting on Mommy's hip
- We brought you dinner (oh, you know, they bring the 'raw' ingredients for us to cook...)
- What do you mean you don't like the chocolate donut... you said you liked chocolate and I bought you an ALL chocolate donut so you have to eat it...What do you mean you aren't eating the cucumbers...you know I bought those just for you...blah blah blah

You see...when my FIL is here, it is all about him and what he has brought my children or us and he needs to say it LOUD and lots of times.  Today, he thought he'd bring us some chicken for our freezer and 8 jars of Goober (you know, the PB&J stuff mixed in 1 jar).  Yes folks...8 of them.  Because he feels the need to 'buy' my children these days.  And the donuts that never get eaten fully are always a must.  It's a GREAT lunch for my kids...wondering when he's gonna bring Franny Girl her own donut...LOL

Oh, and thank goodness my MIL doesn't go out and talk to the neighbors these days.  I wonder what she'd say to them...b/c you know she used to talk to them about me when we first started.  You know, like my table is always sticky (yes, I know, it's a problem around here), and I don't have many friends so if they could stop by and be my friend that would be great.  ha ha ha...yes, I hold grudges... but she gets annoyed when I actually do my 'chores' or run errands when they are here... you know, they are here to 'see' the kids, not ME.  And yes, if I'm going to nurse my baby, I'm going to do it somewhere else...not sitting in my living room with both of them watching!!  So BOO!!!  OK...I think I'm done!!  It was just so nice that they hadn't come up for awhile this summer...

We are leaving for vacation this Friday, so I had lots to do today.  One of those things was to go to the dollar store and grocery shopping!!  How does one spend $43 in a dollar store???  LOL... I am trying to make the drive this year more FUN!!  We are going to play games, earn prizes, and they are going to have lots to do... ha ha ha  We will all see how that goes now won't we:)  I barely spent $$ on groceries for this week...mostly on stuff for the trip.  So, I will have to be very creative with meals and snacks this week..ha ha ha...I say we starve until we get into the truck on Friday morning!!

Now, I still have lots to do.  But I have to say we had a very good hubby today!!  He says I don't put any of the good stuff in here, so here goes:  I left to do my shopping and he did get Max's sheets off his bed, washed/dried and towels were washed/dried/folded.  He also put the chicken in the oven when he was supposed to!!  Go Hubby!!  I think the FIL peeled and cut the potatoes and took the husk off the corn (something he would NEVER help his wife with...but for some reason he feels the need to do this in my house).  However, they all neglected to feed Franny Girl while I was gone...but she did eat lots and lots at dinner... chicken, carrots, mashed potatoes, corn, puffs (it was like I couldn't feed her enough..

Oh crap, the power just flicked on and off...now I can't finish watching my show.  You see, the problem with not having DVR and some of your shows not being on the internet to watch is that you wind up watching them at midnight b/c they don't show as repeats every other day...ha ha ha oh, back on...yeah!!

All right, Franny knows Kyra is in the room with her... and she knew before that Kyra was gonna be in there you know... she was tough to put down and she started crying out a little while ago (just so you know, I left her and she did continue sleeping).  But, Kyra is in there with her so I hope they both sleep.

And, I hope the truck is ok and there isn't too much wrong with it!!!  Please hope with me!!

OH- in light of my 10 year wedding anniversary coming up, I have decided to write a good thing about my hubby instead of just a random thought...perhaps reminding myself what I do Love about him.

Good thing about hubby: He will bathe our kids (even if he complains sometimes, he does it).

A Family Affair... First Ever Camp Out!!!

Yes...This Family went to a Backyard Camp Out last night and we ALL had a GREAT time.  OK, so we were in someone's backyard and I actually didn't sleep in a tent, but everything else was like actual camping out...LOL... well, maybe not everything.. but, we went there as a family, we stayed over as a family, and we had F-U-N!!

I've never in my life been camping.  Well, actually, now that I say that, I have been camping.  ha ha  It was called Girl Scout camp... we walked about a mile away from the actual camp (where we slept on wooden platforms with beds and no walls) to pitch tents, make a fire, carry our gear and sleep outside.  Yup, that was a long long time ago and I don't think I really ever wanted to go after that.  Last night I could definitely do.  And, I think I could do the 'real' campsite thing if we had a camper...maybe.

Lots of families were there, lots of kids for our kids to play with, lots of food, and did I mention lots of fun??  Hubby had a good time and thinks we should definitely make this into a yearly thing.  So, that's 2 things this summer that we have done as a family and had some fun doing it.  WOW...what is this world coming to??  We will have to keep it up!!  I love it when we do this crazy shit:)  Even Franny had fun...she crawled/walked around eating leftover food, drinking juice boxes that were wrecklessly abandoned by the older kids, and tried sooooooo hard not to fall asleep.  Max kept up with the big kids as long as he could.  We think he was a bit delirious by the end of the night.  Kyra hung out with the BIG girls and DJ just ran around being a boy and not getting into too much trouble. 

And so, I will leave you with some pics of us and our 'campgrounds'...Have a great night:)

Thanks to my good friend over at http://just-starting-out.blogspot.com/ for hosting!!!  You ROCK :)

Does Hubby Know...

So- someone asked if my Hubby knows about my blog and if so, does he read it.  I wanted to write this answer in a post so that you got it...

YES- he knows

YES- he reads it

(look...we were young, playful and in love... it will be 10 years next month...)

He says- if it makes you feel better to bash me in your blog, cool.  He says he's ok with it and you know what, I believe him.  The problem with that is this: he thinks I'm just venting and that there are no issues between us.  He is a man and as one, they tend to forget why we get mad.  Now, I'm not sure how many other women out there get frustrated with their hubby's and how many don't.  I'm sure we all get angry and/or frustrated to some kind of degree.  My hubby and I have always been like this.  While I may be realizing that I don't like 'us' like this, he continues to think that there are no issues and we are perfectly content.  Perhaps my fault b/c I do not actually make an effort to sit down with him and discuss.  Perhaps partly his fault for not realizing what's been going on between us.  I do believe that we can work 'Us' out...but I'm still working on how to do that!! 

Perhaps some communication???  Perhaps more time spent with each other away from the kids (sooooo hard to do these days)??? 

Suggestions??

But, for now, we are trying to be 'overly' nice to each other in the attempt that it will become real again.  Read this in a magazine...who knows, maybe it will work.  But, you must also know that HUNTING season is upon us and I just completely LOATHE it!!  And so, we may not be able to really work on anything until this damn season is over b/c I fear I have too much resentment about this obsession he has.  And, he thinks it's not an obsession but merely a hobby...

So, that's what I have to say about that!!  Can't wait for our drive down to NC...trying to get some stuff/games together for the kids to do in the car...