Marley's Birthday Blog

There are so many pictures.  When I see them, there might be a story, but let's get goin'.

Marley got to pick her cake from Safeway.  They had, at one point, a cake that looked like a pizza.  She really wanted it, but by the time we got there the next day, it wasn't there anymore.  :(  This cake looks sad.  Kevin got icing to write on it with, so I stepped up to the challenge.

Not bad, eh?

She got a dreamlight, Dora chair, gymnastics lessons, a musical Dora book, and money.

My mom made cupcakes and the kids decorated them.

Look at how much Logan and Marley look alike in this picture.

She stuck her face in the cake.  I don't know if it was on purpose or not.

Cousin Samantha made cupcakes...pink and purple for the girly Marley.

By the way, do you love the reggae candle colors?  Fitting since she was named after Bob.

Something for a jumpy Marley.  We were schooling the other day and Rory said, "I'm itchy."  Logan said, "I'm hungry." Then Marley said, "I'm...jumpy."  It was funny.

We couldn't get it open, so Kevin ripped it open and poured it out.  There were Peppermint Patties.  I LOVE Peppermint Patties...because of my mommy.  :)

And then she celebrated it at school today and got a birthday ribbon.  She's looking so grown up.  :(

 

Wordless Weekend

I know I said wordless, but really quick....When we were picking apples, a bunch of them starting to fall.  I said it was an Applelanche!  I think I'm hilarious. 

My Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day 2

Every Thursday morning Kevin and I have Adoration.  We go and sit with our Lord for an hour.  It's a perpetual Adoration, so every hour someone is there with Him...except for when there's Mass.  We take turns doing this, and this morning was Kevin's turn.  My day started with prayers, and the moment that did it in.  I told God that I was going to not scream at my kids at all today, and I prayed for patience and strength because I was determined to be a great mom today.

I got Marley up, and she was in a good mood...so far so good.  We came upstairs and watched Arthur.  I've loved Arthur ever since Kaelyn was little and watched it.  The kids got dressed, teeth brushed, ate breakfast, all good.  While I was eating breakfast, they got all their stuffed animals down from the shelf.  It was when I told them to put the animals back that things went sour.  Rory simply said, "no."  That is one of my buttons.  Do you know what would happen if I had said no to my dad when I was her age?  Do you know what would happen if I did it now?  I wouldn't even think of doing it now.  It's disrespectful.  I wish my kids respected me like I respect my parents.  I don't know how I missed that lesson in parenting.  

I kept my calm and told them to put the animals back again.  Rory again said, "no" and the other kids followed.  They kind of know when a storm is coming, and they hunker down together.  I'm not sure how it got to the point of Rory throwing her stuffed animals at me and screaming, "NO!" at me, but I lost it.  I screamed back...LOUDLY.  I spanked her, and I don't believe in spanking.  

Meanwhile, Kevin's still not home because the person that has the hour after ours decided not to show up today, so he stayed for their hour too.  Otherwise, I would've gotten him and let him be the bad guy.  I dragged Rory to her timeout, and she stood there screaming about how much I didn't love her and blah, blah, blah.  I decided to take a timeout myself and went downstairs to breathe.  Logan came down after me and just lingered in the doorway looking at me.  Marley was upstairs crying.  I hate when my kids witness me being a crappy parent.

I came back upstairs and decided to ignore Rory because it was going to be the only way to make it through the moment and move on.  Just then someone knocked at the door.  It was Nana.  She thought Marley had school today and was coming to watch Rory and Logan.  I apologized profusely and explained the difference for school this week since they are introducing the kids a little at a time to the class.  I was waiting for Rory to blurt something out about our fight, but she didn't.  I'm sure Nana could feel the tension when she walked in.  I told her I was ignoring Rory for her own safety.  She left, and I got on with school with Logan and Marley. 

At some point Kevin came home, and Rory started fluttering around cleaning the house.  This is what she does when I'm mad at her, Kevin and I are fighting, or there's just general discord in the house.  I apologized to her and told her to clean up the animals and get into a timeout.  She finally did it.  I took away a privilege for tomorrow, so we'll see if she connects the dots.

We got some school done and it was time to drive Kaelyn to class.  She needed to go to Walmart first to get something for school.  At this point it was raining, and since the van's AC is out, Kevin put Marley's seat in the back of his little sedan.  Logan's seat on one side, Rory in the middle, and Marley in her seat is a recipe for disaster.  We waited for quite some time for Kaelyn to get done at Walmart.  I just pulled up and had her run in.  I should've just taken everyone in for how long it took.  And we were off.  

As we start on the road to school, I have a raging headache.  The kids are so loud in that small car, and they're all sitting on top of each other, touching each other.  Ugh!  I turned to Kaelyn and told her that if this doesn't make her want to get her license then I give up.  She said it wasn't bothering her that bad.  What?!  We got to her school and, of course, I can't drop her off right in front because she doesn't want people to see her mommy driving her to college.  So we have to drive down all these rows looking for parking like the 10 other cars in the same row.  She finally says, "forget it" and tells me to pull over.  Then there were too many people, so I need to keep going.  Finally I just told her to get out.  Then Marley said she had to pee.  REALLY?!?!  That's why I made them all go before we left!

So we park a mile away, and I get all the kids out to go to the bathroom.  They all have to go now.  As we're walking back to the car, I realize that I didn't look to see where we parked because I was too busy huffing and puffing about my rotten day on the trek in.  We finally find it, and I was only one row over.  Next stop is the gas station because the light came on heading out there, and Kevin said not to risk trying to get to the gas station that's on the way home.  It's a bit of a stretch of road without one.  So I head north on the road the school is on.  I figure something will look familiar at some point.  Nope.  Then we find ourselves in bumper to bumper traffic.  Just when I'm about to literally pull over and cry, I see a gas station on the corner.

We get gas and are headed home.  For just two minutes, I seriously consider stopping at the ice cream place we are passing.  We were already late for Marley's nap, and I'm really trying to eat healthy.(cough, cough)  We get home and get Marley to bed.  I take a rest and get a snack.  I take Rory and Logan to the library.  Things were looking up.  I head back out to pick up Kaelyn.

She drives home, and we survive.  Still looking up.  We have a comforting soup and rolls dinner and head to the gym.  At the end of my workout, Rory comes and finds me.  She's screaming about something in the kid's yard of the gym.  I hurry off my machine mainly because everyone is staring at my spastic, screaming kid, so I'm trying to get her out of there.  In my hurry to grab my things off my machine, the pedal comes back and knicks me in my ankle.  Ow.  I hobble down to the kid's yard and pop my knee.  Are you kidding me?!  I finally see the tower of cups she has built, and we're on our way home.  

I'm flossing Logan's teeth, and I'm not sure what happens, but he screaming crying and there's blood all over the side of his mouth.  I thought I popped one of his new caps off, but it doesn't look like it.  I told him we would take him to check on it tomorrow if it still hurt in the morning.  Then Rory goes to the bathroom and when I remind her to flush, she reaches over and spills her flouride cup...on me...and the floor.  *sigh*  

There is still time left in my day, so I don't want to jinx anything.  I'm finishing this, showering, and going to bed.  I will not be mentioning anything about how I want my day to go in my morning prayers tomorrow.  It's Friday, so it's got something going for it already.  Since I hate to leave you guys without a picture...

Rory got her haircut.  She brought in a picture of Selena Gomez.  This looks pretty much like the picture did.  As you can see, Rory loved it.  I love when her smile reaches her eyes.  She's so beautiful!  It's going to be painful taking her privilege away tomorrow.  :(  I hate being the bad guy.

Happy Birthday, Miss Hot TaMarley!!!!

My baby is turning four today.  FOUR!  According to plan, here is her acrostic.  (Shout out again to Beckie for this brilliant idea that I stole from her!)  I'm going to use her given name of Marley as opposed to her many nicknames such as; Mar, Mars, Marbars, Marmar, Marscapone.  Rory and Logan call her Marsbars. 

M- MISCHIEVOUS  Marley is very smart.  Smart enough to get into just enough trouble on her own, let alone with one of her older siblings.  MIRACLE  She should not have been born a healthy baby or at all for that matter.  She is a force.
A-  ACTIVE  She is almost always moving.  One in a while she will want to cuddle with you on the couch, but she is mainly moving.  Her preferred mode of transportation is jumping.  When she dances she looks like she's doing the pony (for you visual people out there).  
R- RAMBUNCTIOUS  Are you seeing a theme here?  There is one thing to be said about this child...she likes order.  She's a helper, an organizer, a cleaner (we're working on that last part), but she definitely likes things a certain tidy way.  It's not OCD...yet.  She might be like her daddy in that department.
L- LOVING  Marley takes care of everyone she can whenever she can.  I see this mainly with Logan.  I've already talked about how she takes him to the bathroom or just upstairs and downstairs in homes.  He was complaining to Kevin today that he hit his arm on something, and Marley walked up and kissed it.  When he forgets his drink, she'll get it for him.  She does things for Rory too, but Logan normally requires more attention.  ;)  She's probably spoiling him.  I'm hoping this situation reverses in the teen years.
E- EAGER  She's normally the first to respond when a request is asked.  She's actually a very good listener in the, "get your shoes on" and "grab a snack and drink and head to the car" scenarios.  She wants to vacuum, bake, iron, sew, if Rory and Logan are doing it, she's up for it.
Y- YUCKOMAMA  I can't think of anything for a "Y".  This is a phrase coined by Marley.  I think Kevin was saying Yuckorama, but Marley changed it to this.  It's hilarious.  I just can't believe she's four.  

She had her first day of preschool today.  We home school, but there are a few things going on that need my focus in home schooling right now to have Marley roaming and ruining the house while working with the others.  (Can you diagram that sentence?)  Here are some pics of her first day.  

Mars with her Thirty-One tote bag.  She picked the outfit and hair, and we got her name written on it.  Oh, and I didn't pick her outfit today either.  She chose that Thirty-one shirt all by herself.  :)

Happy Birthday, Marley!  I love you!

Labor Day Ramblings

Happy Day After Labor Day by the time you read this!  

We had a busy weekend, and I got no pictures.  Miss Marley turns four on Wednesday, so we redid her room.  I didn't take before pictures.  It was a light green for Logan when it was his room.  It was fine, but Miss Mar is a purple girl.  We gave her a purple room.  We put Marley down for nap upstairs in Rory and Logan's room and went to work.  We managed to get the whole room painted even with the help of Rory and Logan in two hours.  Craziness!  We added a rug and some wall stickers, and it was all under $100.  We had some black shelves from other parts of the house.  I don't like that they're not brown, but I can't win them all.  She LOVED it!  She's so excited!  She got a dreamlight for her birthday from my parents, and she has it lighting up the ceiling.  Hopefully she gets some sleep because her first day of preschool is tomorrow!  I hope I get some sleep knowing that her first day of preschool is tomorrow.  :)  Roll film!

This was the green in the room.  Look how young Logan and Rory look!  Oh my goodess!

Her reaction.

I'm so glad you like it, sweet girl!  Happy almost birthday!