The Wedding

Today, my younger brother got married. It seems so strange to me! The wedding was beautiful, so was the bride. My brother was looking handsome. Nicholas was the ring bearer and of course, he looked adorable!! I can't wait to see the pictures.

My sister told me today that sometime soon, we are all going to have our picture taken (that's 8 from my bunch, 4 from my sister, 2 from younger brother and 3 from other brother ~ 17 people total) as a Christmas present to our mom. That will be nice! I'd like to have a picture of it as well. So I'm off to lose more weight to look nice in the picture, I'd hate to be the fat one.

It's funny how at weddings, family you haven't seen in ages come out of the woodwork. My aunt and uncle who I haven't seen since my other brother's wedding (6 years ago) came today. We don't see them much, since my dad died. There was a rift between my mom and uncle (my dad's brother), and we hardly ever see them. I guess except for weddings and funerals. Sad, really. I wonder why some families are like that.

Anyway...

The reception was fun. Jimmy (my brother) took about 5 minutes trying to take the garter off. He kept lifting up her dress and diving in, it was hilarious. Rich (my hubby) had the DJ play our song (at every wedding including ours, he requests When A Man Loves A Woman by Percy Sledge). I think the reception was nice, everyone seemed to have fun. The wedding itself was beautiful.

Toys and Dishes and Clothes - Oh My!!

So I decided to get the kids to help me clean up downstairs (toy/storageroom, familyroom, laundryroom and garage) today.

What a mess!! There is so much stuff thrown in boxes. I guess when I told them they needed to clean up the mess, their solution was to cram everything in storage boxes and close the lid. I found 3 cups, a plate, some silverware, a baby bottle, dirty clothes (that didn't make all the way to the laundry room), toys, a piece of cheese and bits of cereal all in one box. And there are about 20 boxes, maybe more down there, all filled up like that. Oy!!

Now you ask why I make them clean up the family room and toy room. Well, because they are old enough to know better than to make a huge mess and smart enough to know that if they make a big mess that they are gonna have to clean it up! Rich (my hubby) and I both grew up doing chores. A friend of mine, didn't have to do any chores and when she moved out on her own, she had a hard time adjusting to doing everything herself. So Rich and I are trying to teach the children life lessons. They need to know that there aren't little blue fairies who clean up the house when they go to bed, ya know?!

So the kids and I have been decluttering, tossing and organizing all the toys, clothes and various other crap that has accumulated downstairs. I have bagged up two trash bags to throw out and five bags of stuff to give away (I don't have time for yardsales, plus I'd rather just get rid of it then and now rather than have it pile up). And we're still not done!!

My weight loss so far and other junk

When I last posted about my weight loss, I said I was 182. Today, I weighed 177. It's a long, hard road to lose weight, but I'm well on my way. My little mini goal was to weigh 175 by August 18 (my brother's wedding) and I think I just might make it!

As I mentioned in my profile, I work part time as a certified nursing assistant. Well the nursing home where I work has been short staffed all summer, it's insane! Today I worked two hallways by myself (about 30 people). I put them all in bed, fed them, changed them etc, by myself. I did have alittle help from one of the nurses, and some help from a new trainee (who mostly just stood there and watched). Anyway, I was doing really well, even the other staff said they thought I was doing great.

That is until, one of the RN supervisors came in to "help out". She was supposed to help me and I swear it took 20 minutes per person to just change them for the last rounds. Afternoon shift is 3-11 and I didn't get done until 11 and I still had to fill out ALL the paperwork, because the RN wasn't going to do it. UGH!! I finally punched out at a quarter til midnight! I was so mad! I hope that I don't have to work with her again.

I never did mention how Nathan's birthday party went. It was really nice. We had 20 people come. He got alot of new clothes in various sizes (some to wear now, and some for him to grow into), some toys and money. I think everyone had a nice time. Now I just have to get my act together and write out the Thank You cards.

I'm off to fold a gazillion baskets of laundry...

It's August already?!

How did it get to be August!? Wow time flies by so quickly, it's hard to keep up with it. I will need to do some school shopping soon. School starts on August 28 here. I can hardly wait. It seems every year I can't wait for school to be over and then I can't wait for it to start. I love my children dearly, but sometimes, you just need a break.

During school, I do nothing but run them to one activity or another. And what's really sad, is that they only have 2-3 activities a piece - it's just running nonstop because there are 4 children who have activities to run too. And I'm thinking of taking Nicholas to story hour this year, so he can interact with other kids his age. And during the summer they fight, scream and pick at each other from about July on. They get along really well the first month, then do nothing but pick at each other the rest of the time.

Soon school will start and they will be happy and I will be happy and life will be good again, until I start missing them being at home...