I haven't been on for awhile. Actually, I haven't felt like being on in awhile. I have had so much drama to deal with. My extended family, parents and brother and his family, have been driving me nuts!

    This is the whole reason why I stopped communicating with them in the first place. I thought last year, when they came back into my life, that God was trying to tell me something... that they were being brought into my life for a reason and so I prayed about it. I prayed for them, I prayed for me, I prayed for everyone. I did what I thought I was suppose to do. I helped where I could. I gave where I could. I did everything, but I suppose it wasn't enough.

    I'm just not sure what I'm suppose to do. or why they are in my life giving me this drama? What am I suppose to learn from this? Am I suppose to treach them something? If so, then I am failing miserably! I am trying to do good... I am trying to spread the word of God and enlighten them... I just don't know.

    Once again my brother and his family are homeless. Once again it is all because he and his wife do not want to work. Once again they are trying to get everyone else to bail them out instead of helping themselves. They have even gone as far as giving a pitty story on Myspace.com to all of the people on there and the people have thrown an auction and raised money for them to put aside for a house, rent and security deposite. But do you know what they are doing? They are not saving that money! They are spending it on whatever they please! It drives me nuts!!! These poor people are thinking they are doing a good dead and giving money and my brother and wife are spending it on clothes and cigaretts and drugs. Oy! If only they knew!

    And once again he is trying to give his daughter to me. He tells me in so many words that he and his wife are tired of dealing with her and don't like being around her. How sad is that?

   I would gladly take her for good. I would gladly raise her as my own, but I no sooner get they girl and break her into our family routine (which she is not use to and fights me tooth and nail on rules) and then they come and get her or visit her and all my work goes out the window!

    CPS is suppose to be involved here because they aren't sending the kids to school. I'm just wondering why CPS hasn't removed these kids yet. They are living with my brothers wifes mother in a one bedroom apartment. Their 16 yr old dd is now dropped out of school and living with her 17 yr old boyfriend...

    ... drama. Too much drama and I'm wondering why or what I'm suppose to do. What does God want me to do? Should I even stay involved. I don't want to. I want to cut all ties and just explain to them that I can't help them since they won't help themselves.

    Did I get your attention with that title? Wouldn't it be nice if there was a Macaroni and Cheese diet? That would be the yummiest diet ever, lol!

    So as you all know I have 5 kiddos running around here. I consider myself to be somewhat of an expert when it comes to raising kids... ok, so an expert in the first years of kids. I am only beginning the teen years so I can't say I'm a complete expert on kids yet. Anyhow, we mothers soon realize as our kids get to toddlerhood that the kids start getting picky and trying to voice their opinions on things. What am I talking about? I'm talking about the food fazes that kids go through. We moms have all delt with our share of our kids only wanting to eat hot dogs, or fish sticks, or cookies, etc. You all know what I'm talking about now, right?

    So I wasn't completely aware of this stage in toddlerhood until I had my first child. My first child was a great eater! She ate everything I ever gave her and liked it. She wasn't picky at all. it was great. Until one day in her toddlerhood when she was about 1 1/2 or 2 yrs old when all she would eat was bologna. I couldn't get her to eat anything else for about a year. I would go to her doctor and explain my fear but they reasured me that it was normal and one day she would start eating normal again. Well, lo and behold she did grow out of it and she is now a healthy 14 yr old who won't eat bologna  go figure.

   When my second child was born I was all ready for this stage of toddlerhood. I was expecting to buy stock in oscar myer since I figured I would be spending tons of money on bolonga. But much to my surprise his food faze had a bit more variety. Once DS hit the age of 2, all he wanted to eat was veggies and fruit. For about 2 years he went vegan. I didn't worry as much seeing as how his faze was a bit more healthy and had more variety. I constantly had to have a veggie tray and fruit tray out at all times.

   So, as my third child hit toddlerhood i was prepared for anything and thought to myself that I would not stress and just let it happen. But much to my surprise, DD didn't go through a food faze. She ate normally. Phewww!

    So when my twins came I thought for sure that I would just let them eat whatever their little hearts desired and not stress a bit over it. I figured, as long as they ate something I would be fine with whatever they threw my way. I always wondered if they would have the same food faze or I would have to deal with two seperate ones. So as my twins are headed out of toddlerhood now (they will be 4 in August) I thought once again that I was in the clear and they weren't going to make me go crazy with the food issues. I thought I had made it and would never have to deal with the struggles of getting a variety of food into a screaming, swirming toddler.

    Life is funny though, isn't it? Always something new to amuse you... as of about 2 weeks now, my twin DS will only eat macaroni and cheese. I can't get him to eat meat. I can't get him to eat fruit. He won't even look at a vegetable. He won't eat breakfast. He won't eat lunch. he won't eat dinner. That is, unless I make macaroni and cheese. I am guarenteed that he will clean his plate if I put a big bowl of macaroni and cheese in front of him. So there we have it. macaroni and cheese for breakfast? Macaroni and cheese for lunch? Macaroni and cheese for dinner? Yes, yes, and yes.

   I pretty much can make mac-n- chez with my eyes closed. I'm an expert at boiling the water and getting the noodles just right. And the cheese sauce is perfect! Ahhh, ya gotta love Kraft!

    Oh, and my twin DD doesn't seem to being going through a faze as of yet, but I'm waiting... as of now, she will eat anything I put in front of her. She's my little piggy  She thinks she is a real live princess so i continue to tell her that princess' eat everything on their plates that their mommy gives them. this so far works and she will eat everything I give her and then say, "see mommy. I am a princess and I ate everything." Ya gotta love that trick  it also works on keeping her clean, lol. She won't go outside and get dirty like the boy, because princess' don't get dirty

   I'm glad it is the end of the week. It kind of flew by. I have gotten off track a bit with house work and my schedule so I have been slowly getting back to order. By tomorrow I should be back on track. I just have to make sure I stay there. It seems whenever DH is off of work during the weekdays, it throws me off. I have to stop letting him do that.

   Anyhow, I'm looking forward to relaxing this weekend. It is suppose to be in the low 80's for the next 3 days so I am looking forward to hanging out on my deck and watching the kids play in the yard. I am just going to relax the whole weekend and take it easy. I figure I am owed that. I never just take time to relax and enjoy things I want and this time I'm doing it.

    I plan on baking a few cookies this weekend and just keeping up with the vacuuming and sweeping of the florrs and that is it. I will be on my deck the rest of the time just taking it easy... sounds nice, huh?

   So yesterday, my middle DD had a doctors appointment. It is the doc she sees for her ADHD. On her last visit the doc put her on the same kind of meds she was on but only in the time released instead of just regular. Even though these meds are the same with the only difference being the time released, they didn't seem to help her as much as the regular pills. I expressed my concerns and told her the differences of the meds and then I expressed some concerns that I think she might have something more than just the ADHD going on. As her mother I just know her... I know how she is and I can tell certain things. You moms all know what I mean, it is that mother's intuition. Not to mention, as her teacher also, I see certain things. So I have a leg up, ya know? Anyhow, after much talking and trying to figure things out, we have come to the conclusion that middle DD might have a high functioning form of autism or some other form of a learning disability. We are going to have to go to a specialist and get her tested.

   Frankly, I don't believe she is autistic. She doesn't really have the tendencies but better safe than sorry and we'll still have her evaluated for it. As far as another kind of learning disability, well, I do believe it is possible. Although DD acts and talks and plays, etc, like most children, when it comes to learning it is a struggle. I see how hard she tries... I see that she is giving it her all and gets upset when she knows the answer but can't figure it out.

   ... I do hope, in a way she does have a learning disability. This will explain so much and let us learn how to teach her better... how to function... let us relax a bit and know it is okay to take our time.

    It's kind of funny because after talking with her yesterday and her waking up this morning, she is going through the house in a great mood and seems a weight has been lifted off her shoulders. I think it is a relief to her that it isn't "her" that isn't getting the school work that it might be "something" else.

     *** side note. I do not think it would be a "horrible" thing if my DD does have autism. I never said it would be a "terrible" thing, I was just stating that she does not have the "tendencies" of autism.

    I have forgotten to post my menu at the beginning of the week. I knew I would forget to do it sooner or later. I'm not good at remembering to do those things. Hopefully, after a few weeks it will burn into my mind to post the menu on Mondays instead of Wednesdays... however, I did notice this morning after reading over blogs, that some of you other ladies forgot to post on Monday too so I feel a bit better.

    I will start the menu off with tonights dinner since Monday and Tuesday have past.

WEDNESDAY : spaghetti, cheesy bread

THURSDAY : hot dogs, french fries, baked beans

FRIDAY : Fish of some sort (no one can decide what we want yet ) corn on the cob, twice baked taters, biscuits

SATURDAY : leftovers

SUNDAY : bbq ribs, baked beans, tater salad, pickled eggs

     I don't feel like cooking this week. It has been rainy and gloomy and I think it is starting to affect my mood. I can't wait for the sun to be out everyday.

    We're not doing much this week. I have had a headache for the past 2 days and it just won't go away. It is killing me. I don't know what is wrong. I've tried a nice warm shower running on my neck and back, I've taken pills, I've laid in a dark quiet room, I've relaxed, I just don't know how to get rid of this headache. I didn't even have a good nights sleep because I felt the headache all night long. I hope it goes away soon.

    Am I the only one? Am I the only one by the end of Easter day that hates the Easter grass in the kids baskets? Easter morning I can deal with the grass, easter afternoon I am getting upset with picking grass up everywhere, and by the end of Easter night I am ready to pack the baskets away again.

   I do believe, if I had only one child or even two children, that I could tolerate the grass on the floor. But with 5 kids and 10 baskets... oy! there is just too much grass!  

   Ok, with that said and many of you probably thinking I'm carzy for that little rant, I will tell y'all about our Easter.  We had a nice day. The kids enjoyed themselves and dinner came out wonderful. The twins really seemed to enjoy themselves. This is probably the first Easter they will remember. I don't believe they remember last year because they were awfully surprised that the Easter bunny came and left them candy. My twins don't seem to be candy people so I didn't expect them to be as excited as they were but man oh man, my twin DS was just blown away, lol! It was like it was Christmas all over again for him. I don't even believe he was that excited at Christmas, lol. It was very cute.

    So, we just stayed around the house and enjoyed family time together. My parents came over in the afternoon ( that will have to be a whole other topic though) and didn't stay very long. After the kids came down from their sugar high, we got everyone ready for bed and had a nice relaxing night. It was a nice Easter.

   As I had stated before, in a post a while back, since we didn't move when we were suppose to my DH had let me restock our food supply. Over the winter I had used our stockpile and never replenished it. DH didn't want to drag along a ton of food with us. So of course when plans changed and we realized we wouldn't be moving until next spring, well, I had to do grocery shopping. DH let me buy whatever I wanted to restock our pantry. It has gotten to the point where we now want to end up with a yrs worth of pantry food. So far, we have about a 3 month supply of food in the pantry. I have a 3 month supply of meats in the freezer. I am not going to stock up any more on meats. I will keep a 3 month supply of meat in the freezer and no more. Pantry food however, well, alot of that food can last yrs so stocking that I will do. Canned goods and box foods can all be easily packed and moved with us when the time comes.

    The point of us wanting to stock pile food is for that "just in case" moment that something terribly wrong will happen to this country. Whether that be the price of food sky rocketing or a terroristic attack, or more war, etc. We want to make sure we will be able to live for a year without worry.

    Now realistically, the chances of something major happening and us needing a years supply of food are slim, but with 5 kids I feel it to be better safe than sorry.

   As of right now, we can only afford to supply our house for 6 months. I am in hopes of course to adding more things over the months and hope to catch up to at least a 9 month supply  of food.

   DH has totally gotten into the whole stocking of food  and making sure we will be self sufficent if neccesary. He has always been alright with me doing this but he never really participated with me. I now find him bringing food home from work with the excitemnet that he got a great deal on it and it will be a good pantry item. LOL, he's so cute

   So with that said, I will now post what we will be getting this coming week to make us have a 6 month supply of food on hand.

This list is for a family of 7

                          6 month supply of food :

- pasta : 26 boxes

- pasta sauce : 26 jars

- corn : 150 cans

- peas : 150 cans

- carrots : 150 cans

- tomatoes : 20 cans

- tuna : 55 cans

- salmon : 15 cans

- chicken : 15 cans

- baked beans : 25 cans

- various dry beans : 20 lbs

- stove top stuffing : 20 boxes

- mac-n-chez : 50 boxes

- canned fruit : 100 cans

- pumpkin : 5 cans

- applesauce : 100 lbs

- jelly/jams : 6 jars

- peanut butter : 8 lbs

- evaporated milk : 12 cans

- dry milk : 10 lbs

- cocoa : 5 lbs

- raisins : 4 lbs

- honey : 3 lbs

- maple syrup : 4 bottles

- salt : 15 lbs

- baking powder : 10 lbs

- baking soda : 25 lbs

- white sugar : 75 lbs

- flour : 75 lbs

- crisco : 10 lbs

- canned pastas : 100

- canned soups : 100

- egg noodles : 13 bags

- ketchup  6 (6 lb) bottles

- vanilla : 1 huge bottle from Sams Club

- pancake mix : 6 boxes

- cat food : 80 lbs

- ramen noodles : 10 pkgs

                               Non-Food Items

- tooth paste : 6 tubes (already have year supply no need to buy)

- shampoo/conditioner : 7 bottles each (already have year supply no need to buy)

- deodorant - 50

- body wash : 7 bottles (already have year supply no need to buy)

- bar soap : 6 bars

- toilet paper : 365 rolls (HOLY COW!)

- paper towels : 50 rolls

- tampons : 6 boxes

- pads : 6 pkgs

- laundry soap : 6 jugs

- clothes softener : 6 jugs

- bleach : 12 jugs

- batteries : various kinds, get many

- matches : a couple boxes

- aspirin : 6 bottles of 500 pills

- cough medicine : 6 bottles

- sore throat medicine : 2 bottles

- q-tips : 3 boxes

- band-aids : 6 boxes

- hair spray : 25 cans (yes we can 4 woman in this house so we need a lot of hairspray)

- burn cream : 2 tubes

- anti-itch cream : 2 tubes

- vic vapor rub : 2 jars

- razors : 6 pkgs

- flushable wipes : 10 pkgs

- floss : 6

- baby wash : 6

- alcohol : 2 bottles

- peroxide : 2 bottles