Can't believe it is already Wednesday!

I am trying to remember back what we did the last few days. Sadly, I need to look at my calendar to remember.

On Friday, we had a plethora of opportunities. However, it was too much to try and do them all, so we did two activities. Bill and I drove to Lexington with the kids so that they could swim. Our friend Cari-Lynn teaches swim instructors and they needed some kids to teach. Mine were all too thrilled to help out. So they got to swim with an instructor for an hour. After leaving there, we came home and gave the kids lunch and had the two youngest nap. At 3:30 pm, we headed to Bemis Nursery in Spencer for an egg hunt. It was gorgeous out. Best weather for it. There we met Meri, Rebecca, Cari-Lynn, Janice and their kids. They searched for eggs and also took a great picture with the Easter bunny. We then headed home for dinner. It was a great day.

On Saturday it poured, so I scaled back everything we had to do. We went to Walgreens and had the kids sit with their Easter bunny for a picture. Scariest bunny ever. We met Ashly, Bobby and the kids there. It was nice to see them. We then headed to Lowes and Target. Pretty boring overall, but we needed to get some stuff. Ayi Meri stopped by to give the three kids a handmade basket. They are beautiful. I can't wait to get a bigger one that I can take out every year.

Sunday was Easter. Can't say that the day started off well at all. Bill got up with the kids and fed them. I got up shortly after to shower. Yamira comes up and says how much she loved her Easter basket. I was floored. Why would she have her Easter basket? Bill gave them to the kids. I was so angry. Like beyond angry. I held in my feelings for about an hour and then I just cried. I was so crushed that he would do that. That isn't like him. We never do anything without the other when it comes to something like this. I was positively crushed. We all ended up in tears. Ping was devastated that I was so unhappy. I quickly pulled it together for the sake of the children. We then jumped in the car as we were late at this point. We headed to Sarah and Brad's to visit for a short time. It was great to see them and her family. At 2:00 pm we headed to Donna's for dinner. Brad unfortunately had to work. However, we saw Nicole, Michael, Donna's mom and her mother's husband Bob. At 4:00 pm, Donna's friend Carol and her husband Bob came over for dessert with their sons Brian and Matthew. The kids did a little Easter egg hunt and got some Peeps from Ayi Donna and Uncle Brad. They were thrilled. Everyone had dessert and sat around and chatted. I even managed to have a tiny bit of cake. It was tiny, trust me. Donna had a birthday cake for me and Brian. Brian's birthday is the 24th and I am the 25th. After hanging around a little longer, I decided it was time to go. The behavior from the two youngest ones was less than decent. They were off the walls. So we needed to leave in order to leave Donna's house intact! Once home, the kids went straight to bed.

Monday was my birthday. Bill got a call on Sunday night asking if he would work at the station from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm and so he did. I was home alone with the kids. So I got the two girls to school and then came home and cleaned the dining room, the kitchen and the bathroom. I did a lot of other things as well. A lot of straightening and organizing. Not a bad day, but not a day I would suggest for your birthday. It is what it is, right? I took the girls to their swim lessons at 4:00 pm with Manny in tow. It's so boring for him and so hard for me to watch him while the girls are yelling "Look at me Mommy." We came straight home and I fed the kids and then took Ping to Daisies at the Old Stone Church. They had a special meeting there. Bill was driving by as I was dropping off Ping, so he jumped out to give Ping a kiss and walked her down to where everyone was while I sat in the car with the kids chatting with another mom. Bill went back to get Ping at 7:00 pm. Once home, all the children went to bed.

Yesterday was a good day. The sun was shining and Bill was home. I got up at 9 am because Bill took the girls to school. I showered and headed downstairs to find that Manny had gotten into the adoption party invitations and had ripped up a bunch. Needless to say, I was angry. He should not have been left alone. Bill left him while he went to pick up Yamira. He wasn't left alone as I was in the house. However, he was left alone in a room and that is never a good idea. He destroyed the invites and the stamps! UGH. Anyway, I redid the ones destroyed, did a few other things and headed out the door alone. I had errands to do and leaving the kids at home was perfect. You can move so much faster when three kids aren't in tow. Went to the dry cleaners, the bank, Walmart, FW Webb, Gyboree, Famous Footwear, Payless Shoes and then to the Greendale Mall. I didn't get everything done. I did the best I could, but ran out of time. Bill had training, so once home, I had the kids try on their new clothes and shoes I bought them so they could show Daddy and then off Daddy went. I brought the two younger ones upstairs and let Ping finish watching one of her favorite programs. She then came upstairs and they all went to sleep. Poor Manny coughed most of the night. I actually woke him to give him some cough medicine because he was thrashing around. I spent the rest of the night watching some TV.

Today I slept through my alarm. I woke up just in time to have Bill run the girls to school. He had a 9:00 am meeting to discuss future schooling anyway, so he had to be up. I got up and got ready and headed downstairs to get Manny his breakfast. Now I am home making calls, making out bills, catching up here and waiting for my contractor to arrive to go over a few things. After he leaves, I am hoping to run the rest of the errands I didn't get to do yesterday.

Well I better get moving if I want to get anything done. Have a great week. Check back soon for more adventures with the crazy Nicholson children!

Mama Out!!!!!!

Swimming class.

A dragon.

The dragon again.

Collecting eggs.

Ladybug love.

The whole crowd.


Our three.
Meri and the boys.

Walgreens scary bunny.

Love.

Skyler and Teresa.

Meri and the boys.

Fooling around instead of making Chinese cookies like she is supposed to be.

Beautiful baskets hand made by Meri.

Easter baskets.

Yamira thrilled with her new purse.

Yamira thrilled with her new butterflies.

Ready to go.

Silly kids.

Manny with a basket.

Ping and her dragon.

Pretty girl.

Handsome tyke.

Ayi Sarah and Uncle Brad bought these for the kids. So cute.

Me and my gorgeous friend Sarah.

Nicole and Manny.

Nicole and Yamira.

Sarah and Brad's beautiful shop to soon open.

Our school vacation is coming to an end

So far, this has been a great week. Sure we have had a few moments of unsavory behavior between the three, but for the most part it has been a great week.

Yesterday I got up early and took the kids to Natick. I had a Groupon buy for a jumping place. We had a reservation for 10:30 am. We got there and the kids threw their sneakers to the side as well as their coats and jumped right on into the action. The hour and 15 minutes went by quickly. I would never return, but the kids had a blast. There were so many older kids that they were knocking into the little ones pretty badly. There were also a lot of older kids doing stuff they should not have and parents who could not be bothered to supervised. The place was being watched by two young ladies. At one point I literally went to the front desk to ask if anyone was watching. They said they had cameras. Oh good, then clearly they just saw a kid jump off of something the wrong way and got hurt right? Wrong! I blame that one on the mom who was too busy chatting to care or correct her son. Anyway, I just didn't really like the place much, so I won't be returning. Glad I got a deal on it. They tried to not honor the deal, but they gave in after I made a point to tell them that the deal should be honored. I bought a deal for three visits and checked to see if I could take three kids to one visit. I was told yes. The last thing I wanted to do was return two more times to Natick. Not my favorite ride. I hate Route 9 in that area.

I headed straight home after and fed the kids and got the two youngest ones to lay down and nap. Bill then took Ping and Yamira to gymnastics. I didn't feel well, so I accidentally passed out for 5 minutes. At that time, Manny chose to get under the contractors feet. Oops. That ended that quick nap. Once the girls got home, they all had dinner, colored and watched some TV before heading to bed.

Today I was able to sleep in a bit. I fell asleep on the chair last night. I woke up several times, but never got off the stupid chair. Needless to say that I had one awful neck this morning. Around 6:00 am, I headed upstairs because I could hear Yamira jumping around. Good grief child, stay in bed!!!!! She wanted to get dressed, but I told her to go back to her bed and sleep or look at her books. I was grateful I got upstairs before she woke up the other two. I jumped into bed after literally having to displace the three cats all resting comfortably on my side. I hated to disturb them, but where else was I to go? I ended up sleeping and waking and sleeping and waking. At one point Yamira came in and showed us Manny who she had in tow. He had a bloody nose. I guess he was jumping on her bed. Such a no no!!!!! Bill got up and cleaned up Manny's nose and then took them downstairs for breakfast. After another hour or so, I got up and showered and joined the clan. I had an OT evaluation for Yamira at noon, so we left around 11:30 am so we could get to her appointment on time. The appointment went well, but she wasn't tested. We just chatted really. I had to fill out some paperwork tonight and will be sending that in tomorrow. We ran to CVS and then home for lunch. We left about an hour later for the magic show at the library. The show was adorable. We had a great time. It was nice because Rebecca and Ashly were there with their kids too. The kids had a great time. We then hung out and played in the kid friendly room. Before we knew it, it was 6:00 pm and so we headed home to feed the kids dinner. Once in bed, I tried to watch a little TV because I was so tired tonight. I kept passing out. Finally I stayed away to watch a show and now I am here on the computer. I am so behind on movies I have typed and magazines here. Who has the time to get that stuff done when you are running around with children all day long? One of these days I will catch up, right? Tell me I will please!!!!! I was going to watch a movie, but decided to blog so I could go to bed at a reasonable hour. Had a stomach ache all day. No fun. I am hoping when I wake up, it will be gone. Not sure what is going on, but between the neck and stomach, I have not been the happiest camper. Hasn't hindered any plans though, so I really can't complain. My stomach has been off for about two weeks. No clue why. However, I am not going to worry about it as I know that I will have a good run again at some point. Well off to do a few things before bed. Hope you are enjoying the week.

Mama Out!!!!!!

My sweet Manny with Ping's shoes. Remember him. When he is older, he is going to be throwing triple axles. I just know it!!!!

Ommmm. What the hell is she doing?

Thank god this is foot operated.

Waiting on the magic show. Took Bill for kid support.

Precious Ping and a dino. Shocking.

Ping and Matthew.

Teresa, Yamira, Ping, Skyler and Manny at the library. This is becoming a common photo shoot area.

Vacation week here

I am trying to get caught up on as many things as possible. I was out earlier today, but have been at the computer since about 4:00 pm now. I was catching up on ordering photos as well as a bunch of other things. Now I am going to get caught up on this blog. I am trying to do it at least weekly.

I left off at Tuesday night, so let me think what we did going forward here. Hmmm, good question. Okay, I think I can remember.

On Wednesday, I took Ping to the Craniofacial Clinic at Umass. I take Ping ever six months to the clinic. It's a long appointment. We are usually there a few hours. We see the cleft doctor, a speech pathologist and the ear doctor. Ping still has her right tube in, so she has to have surgery to have it removed. She was just thrilled to hear that. No pun intended. She will be fine though. We jetted out of there and I drove her to school so that she could still be counted for the day. I stopped by Ayi Meri's first to pick up Manny's birthday invites. Meri designed them. They are too cute for words! Once I dropped Ping at school, I came home and addressed the invites so that they could get in the mail immediately. I spent the rest of the afternoon doing some things at the house. Cleaning and organizing as usual. Bill took the girls to gymnastics in the afternoon and then he was on call from 6:00-10:00 pm.

On Thursday, Bill took the kids to school. I had some errands to run in the morning. So I headed off and he headed off for the school. I picked up Yamira at 11:15 am and took her and Manny for a hair cut in Clinton. We were out of there in 10 minutes. Does not get better than that! After running home and dropping off the kids, I ran for a little afternoon play date for myself with Lisa Devine. We met at Barnes and Noble in Millbury. We chatted for a few hours. I could have stayed longer, but had three errands to do before heading home to grab the family for the open house at the school. We visited Yamira's classroom and then Ping's and then Yamira's again. It was a mad house. I felt bad because Ping said I wasn't paying attention to her. She was right. I felt awful. Manny and Yamira were off the walls and I was busy trying to make sure that they didn't destroy anything in the classrooms. At one point I decided to ignore them and just focus on Shayla. However, I really wasn't concentrating on her at all. I felt bad. She was so proud of all the work she had to show me. Mind you that I could not be prouder of her. Just too crazy after a long day. That hour isn't good for the little ones either! Had a great afternoon catching up with a friend though. Made the whole busy day worth it for me.

On Friday, I took Manny to his swim lesson. He did great. Just wish he would listen a little more and splash a little less. I get all the water in my eyes and then can't see anything! After swimming, I went home and showered and then took Yamira to therapy. She did great at therapy per her therapist. She does pretty well overall when she goes to visit her. Yamira really likes her a lot. In the afternoon, we were going to go to the library to meet with Ashly and Bridget, but their girls haven't been feeling so hot and I had a ton of things to do at home. As much as I would have loved to see them, I canceled. Bill was on call from 6:00 pm - 10:00 pm again.

Saturday was a great day. We started the day at 10:00 am at Pride Park. The town of West Boylston was putting on an Easter Egg Hunt. So we piled in the car and took the kids up to do the hunt. There we met up with Ashly, Bobby and her two kids as well as Bridget and her two girls. We also ran into a lot of other people in town. Each child collected 10 eggs. We emptied the eggs and kept the candy. It was cute and quick. We then headed to "The Chapel of the Cross" in Westboro where we have gone for the past three years. I asked Ashly and Bridget and their respective crews to come with us. We parked and grabbed the shuttle to the front of the church. We had a 12:00 pm hunt, so we walked around for a few minutes. At 12:00 pm, the kids ran out into the field and each collected 12 eggs per the rules. We then fed the kids hot dogs and chips as well as slushies and cotton candy. All of it was free. They also jumped in the bounce house. We then headed out as it was really pretty cold out and we couldn't stand it anymore. After a few errands, we came home. I put the younger two in for a nap. They were exhausted. Bill and Ping headed out the door to do a few errands and I had the house to myself. Go me! It was way too short. It was totally enjoyable. I could do a few things at the computer and I could hear myself think. Awesome. We spent the rest of the day at home. We were so wiped out and we had another busy day coming. I did a lot of cleaning because we were having company the next day. I also tried to catch up on watching some programs. I need a full day to get caught up on my programs. I am getting further and further behind.

On Sunday, Bill took the girls to Sunday School. We picked them up at 10:30 am and headed over to the Sterling Gym for an egg hunt. Ashly and her family met us there. We had an 11:00 am hunt. The kids were able to search for 10 eggs each. The kids them jumped in their cool bouncy house, decorated a $2.00 cookie and then had their faces painted. It was all free except for the cookie. We then took some photos of the kids and headed home. I still had a bunch of things to do before our friends showed for our egg decorating party at 1:30 pm.

At 1:30 pm, almost everyone showed up. We had the kids dye all of the eggs and then decorate them. Bridget came with Sophie and Emma, Ashly with Bobby, Skler and Teresa, Donna came alone, Rebecca came with her daughter Hannah and then Kirsten came with her husband Roger and Molly. The kids all had a great time. They played after they had some snacks and then went home. Kirsten, Roger and Molly stayed and had dinner with us. We sat and chatted and then Bill cooked dinner for them and the kids. We had a wonderful time chatting. We never get a chance to sit with their family and chat. Such a great way to spend the day. After they left, we finished cleaning the house and passed out on the chair and couch respectively!

Monday morning came way too early. Bill had to work. He went in for 6:00 am. Yamira came to bug me at 6:15 am. Not a happy mommy about that. So not a morning person. I got up at 8:00 am after I told Yamira to go back to her room. Of course she didn't! I took a shower and ran out the door with the three kids. I dropped Manny and Yamira off at Ashly's home. Bridget and Ashly were kind enough to offer to babysit my younger two so that I could take Ping to the Build A Bear store with her Daisy troop. I was so grateful. It's so hard to bring the younger ones because then they would have had to make something too and they just recently got bears from there. That and if I didn't let them, it would have been an argument. More importantly, Ping deserves to go to her Daisy events alone. She has had to share so much in less than a year. The least I can do is take her alone. So big thanks go out to Ashly and Bridget. Unfortunately, Sky woke up sick again. She has had the stomach bug as has Bridget's little Sophie. I felt bad dropping off, but since they were all with each other the day before, I didn't see the use in keeping them separated. The kids were really decently behaved or so I was told. Ping had a wonderful time making her new bear. She named the bear Ned. NED? Why is this precious child of mine against everything I want to do? How about Fluffy? Snuggles? Something cute and cuddly. Nah, NED! Oy vey. Anyway, Ned wanted a pretty outfit, so I suggested we call Ned by another name or at least Neddy. Ping has changed his/her name several times, so I am not sure what the name is at this point. After getting Ned some shoes and a pretty dress along with the adorable Daisy vest that came with a patch for Ping and her bear, we headed out to get the kids. Took Ping to Wendy's for chicken fingers and a shake. I never let her eat in the car, but I really felt like she deserved the little treat. We got the little ones, went to CVS and then to Walmart and to get gas. I so didn't want to go to Walmart, but we didn't have any toilet paper or paper towels. Not even one sheet of paper to clean the table. So we had to go! I changed Manny when he got home. He appeared to have some sort of stomach issue. Yamira was in the bathroom at the same time and she said she had a stomach ache and was having GI issues. Needless to say, I swore we were doomed. After getting everyone cleaned up, I took the little ones to their rooms for a nap. Ping laid out on my chair and watched TV. She was exhausted. I did some stuff at my desk. I can't even remember at this point what I did. All the kids watched a movie in the afternoon and then they colored, ate and had a nice bath. They went to bed a little late, but no big deal there as it's vacation. The stomach aches seemed to have subsided. I could only pray they would stay subsided.

Today I slept in. I was asleep on the chair when a call came in at 3:00 am. So Bill jumped off the couch and headed out the door to the call. I decided to watch the rest of a show that I fell asleep during. When he got home, we went to bed. Of course sweet child Yamira was up at 6:15 am. What can we do to stop this. It's insane. Bill got up and ushered her back into her room. Before long, all three were yelling and screaming. Then they were begging for Daddy to feed them. So Bill got up with them. I kept passing out. I finally got up way too late. I wasn't even rested as I wasn't sleeping really. I slept bad when I did sleep because my neck was killing me and it did all day long. I finally got up and showered, got the girl's hair done and off the three of us went to a tea. We met Kirsten and her two beautiful girls there. The girls all brought their bears as it was a Teddy Bear Tea. They were read a story. Not sure what the story was though. I didn't listen as I was walking around and taking photos. Then the girls all put their bears on the stairs and went and sat down at their seats. They had an adorable teddy bear cookie at each place setting. The girls had apple juice. Kirsten and I had raspberry tea. Yummo. We got up and walked into the main room to get snacks. I had fruit and a few pieces of cheese. The girls had sweets, some sweets and more sweets. They literally piled on the treats. Usually I don't allow that, but I just decided to let it go. It was a treat for them to go. After they ate, they pulled some raffles, but we didn't win. We were all bummed. Kirsten and I both clapped for the winners and said "Good for them" and then promptly turned to each other and stuck out our tongues. You don't get better examples than us. It was hysterical. The girls all then went and got their bears which has earned their very own ribbons and were not called Volunteer bears. It had to do with the story that was read earlier. They all paraded around with their bears and then we collected our stuff and headed out the door. I had a fabulous time as did the girls. So good to sit with our friends. Such a treat. We came straight home. The kids all colored and then they ate and went to bed. I have been sitting here for hours. Just getting caught up on stuff. Tomorrow I am taking the kids to a bounce place. I really should get some rest. However, I am sitting here and listening to some of the best songs ever. Bill just got back from a call and it's nice to have a quiet house. Quiet in the kids sense. Well tomorrow is another day. Better get to bed despite me wanting to play here for another few hours. In the morning I will kill myself if I don't get upstairs.

Hope you are having a fabulous week my dear friends.

Mama Out!!!!!

Meg in Florida.

My chickens in the car.

Lowes hellions on wheels.

Slide time.

Having fun and not beating each other when picture was taken.


Craft.

Yamira at Chapel of the Cross.

The chickens.

Teresa and Ashly.

Dragon and kids.

Ping loves dragons.

Bouncy.

Yamira being eaten.

Teresa and her cookie.

Ping and her cookie.

Skyler, Ping, Yamira, Teresa and Manny.

Skyler.

Manny and his heart cheeks.

Ping and her dragon. Looks like a salamander to me.

Wacky.

Best buddies.

Trying to get all in a picture smiling. Just impossible.

My three loves.

Decorating.

Decorating.

Bill, Roger, Kirsten and Rebecca.

Donna and Yamira.

Fluffing Ned.

The Daisy girls.

Sisters.

Girls with their bears.

Sisters.

All the girls.

Love Ping and Molly looking at each other.

Awesome pink lady.

Tea.

Ping and tea.

Yamira and tea.

Bears.

Secrets.

"They talking about me?"

Gorgeous ladies.

Gorgeous young ladies.

Me and the crazy girls.

My sweet babies.