Being the 'FIRST' isn't always a good thing!

I haven't blogged in awhile. I always think I have so much going on but then when you decide to start a blog nothing seems that interesting anymore :(  My mom came to town on the 16th. She bought our old house a few years ago and recently started renovations on it. I thought that when we bought the house from Jeffs mom (yes we like to keep it all in the family) that we had made major changes to it, but what we did is nothing compared to what my mom is doing.. I can't wait until it's done. One, because I can't wait to see the finished results, but two, because then I won't have to constantly go over there and meet contractors or hear about it (hopefully) anymore! See, my mom lives on the West Coast. This house is supposed to be where she will live when and if she ever returns to Goldsboro. It's kinda hard to get things done when you live thousands of miles away from where the work is being done, so guess who gets that lovely job? Yay me!! ;) BUT like I said mom came to town and things really started getting dirty at her home. She had the kitchen gutted and bought all new everything! Course, now she is gone so it's going to be up to me to make sure it actually gets finished! LOL Still it's always nice to see her and the kids get soooo excited when she comes. We didn't do a whole lot while she was here..the kids were in school and mom was trying to get as much accomplished in the 10 days she would be here as possible.
One thing that did happen tho while she was here was the Sullivan family had their FIRST bone breakage!! Yes, Jeff and I managed to go 13 years as parents with a clean record until that fateful Sunday March 20th! I was taking my littlest girl Peyton to a birthday party at Coco Darlings and Jeff was planning on going somewhere with Dylan..which left my mom with Madi and Kaitlyn. Coco Darlings is a cute little place that allows little girls to play dress up and then they can get mini makeovers and make bracelets and have tea parties. At least that is what they did that night, I think you can do different things tho in different party packages. I got the call about midway thru the party. When I answered I noticed I had several missed calls. It was hard to hear in the place with the Hannah Montana music blaring. The call was from my oldest daughter Kaitlyn. Her first words were.."Mom, first off, Madison is alright"...nothing good can follow a statement like that. She then told me that Madison had fallen outside on her ripstix and she was ok but dad was going to be taking her to the hospital. A ripstix is like a skateboard but instead of 4 wheels it has 2. Kinda like inline skates vs regular skates. Oh and also you are supposed to kinda wiggle back and forth to make it move that way you don't actually keep pushing off with your foot to make it go. Madison is quite good at it and goes back and forth on our road mulitiple times without stopping. However, when she fell she wasn't on the smooth pavement of our road. She was on our driveway..which is segmented..she hit one of those segment lines and the ripstix stopped and she kept going! lol Jeff said he had JUST told her to get off of it and she said she wanted to get on "one more time" to show her Grandpa who had stopped by something. Isn't that always the way? One more time always gets u in trouble. So I called and called Jeff many times ..called home to see if they had heard from him., not knowing if they had gone to the ER or to the immediate care...nothing..so after the party I drove to the ER..there they were in ER room 15. She wasn't crying or anything..but she did have a broken arm :( She got a little teary when they told her, not because she was in pain, but just the realization of her "poor little arm" being broken as she said! It really sucks for her tho because just the day before had been her first soccer practice for Spring soccer. She LOVES soccer and is really good at it. She has played with her same coach and the majority of the same kids since she was 7! They have been undefeated for 4 or 5 seasons now.This year she was going to be playing on 2 teams too one 9/10 and one 11/12 (she is 10) She was determined to still practice and play..even had Jeff check out the rules about it. Which by the way said she COULD play as long as the cast was wrapped in foam. However rules don't matter when the doctor says NO and so does the coach :( They both said that they would worry about her falling and messing it up even more. I knew she wasn't going to be playing but was more than happy to let the coach and Dr. be the bad news bearers.  So she got her cast on Friday ..red with glitter...and is supposed to get it off on April 29th. Her coach has them practice for about a month before the games start so hopefully she will only miss a week or 2 of games..we'll see when the schedule comes out. It's difficult for her. Right now she would be practicing 4 days a week..instead she sits and watches all her teammates on Wednesdays when I take Peyton to her practice. It's hard for her to not run out on the field with them. Hopefully the month will fly by for her. She has alot of other stuff going on with school the month of April so hopefully it won't seem so bad..

Competative? Who me???

So today was Kaitlyns 2nd soccer game of the season. The first game did NOT go well. Kaitlyn has played since she was 5 years old thru the YMCA, on a traveling team one season (only girl on the team) and later thru the Spring Creek Youth Association (the last 2 seasons again the only girl on the team, other than my younger daughter Madison who would also play on the 11/12 year old team even tho she was 9 because they didn't always have enough players). I've gotten used to winning. Kaitlyns team always won..Madisons team has been undefeated for 4 straight seasons. Winning is fun... I often would worry about how my girls would take it when they ever lost. I always tell them before a game there are 2 phrases I NEVER want to hear coming out of their mouths... "It's not fair" and "They cheated"....I say, you are on top now but eventually you will come against a team that is better than you are or your team will have an off day - so be happy about the wins but never gloat on the field..save it for the car ride home! :)
So now Kaitlyn is in middle school and is on the school team and the majority of the girls on the team have never played before (should of saw that one coming since like I said Kaitlyn was often the only girl on her team). Therefore I shouldn't of been surprised when we lost our first game. But I was. I think I was MORE upset than Kaitlyn..and Jeff (who used to play soccer and has coached) was worse than I was. After that first game I DREAMED of it several times..replaying it in my head and the things that should of been done differently. Their coach I don't think had done much coaching before either which is unfortunate. Five minutes into the game the goalie got her glasses broke and Kaitlyn had to go into the position. Kaitlyn hasn't played goalie since she was 8. No one wants to be goalie. I hated it when she is in the position when she was young and I esp. hated it during this game because she hadn't practiced in that position at all. People tend to blame the goalie when they lose a game but I never have. Like I told the mother of the first goalie ..they have to get past every other girl on the team in order to score..and if they can do that, then how can you blame the goalie? Kaitlyn missed 6 goals.. :( However she blocked over 20 :) Which tells you how good her teams defense was that day. She was bummed but like I said Jeff and I were sick..I honestly couldn't imagine having to go to a whole season of games that were played like this game was. Isn't that terrible of me?!!! I of course told Kaitlyn how great she did and I WAS very proud of her, but still part of me was just cringing inside thinking of how this was how the rest of the season was going to be. Which leads me to todays game...

It was like a completely different team stepped out onto that field today!! They passed the ball, they were aggressive, they power kicked..it was amazing to watch! And after they scored their first goal you could see something come over each of the girls faces..excitement, confidence, and pure happiness! And within 10 minutes they had scored ANOTHER goal!! This one assisted by my daughter! :) She kicked a long ball from left field the went to the far right side of the goal and was going in, when her teammate Madi sealed the deal by running up and drilling it into the back of the net!! OMG! Thrilling!! Kaitlyn actually had 2 other goals that unfortunatley weren't counted but that is ok. The whole team completely stepped up to the challenge today and it was wonderful to see! I was sooo happy after the game and I wish Jeff had of been there to see it. But it really really made me stop and think and question myself. I like to think that I'm a good mom and that my talks with them about being a good sport win or lose are getting through to them but if I get as upset as I was over that first loss, then how can they take me seriously??? I mean - it's not like I was ranting and raving about it to Kaitlyn or anything. I told her how great she did and we talked about things that she can work on, but could she tell how disheartened I was? Did she believe me when I told her I was proud of her? Winning IS fun but losing with a good attitude is seriously important..Kaitlyn handled it well enough but I REALLY worry about the day that Madisons team loses..she takes after me WAY too much! So....moral of the story?...doesn't matter how old you are or how many kids you have, it's never too late to learn something about yourself and try to be a BETTER parent. I clearly am too competative and don't want my kids to learn the bad aspects of that from me. So gonna work on that...we'll see how it goes...with Kaitlyn, Madison, and now Peyton too all playing soccer I will def. have plenty of time to do so! Hopefully they will all just win so I won't have to do too much soul searching! ;) kidding.....lol!! Congrats Lady Gators!!

All The Preparation in the World Can't Help Me...

  Well Friends, sorry I haven't blogged lately. A lot has gone on..some interesting..some not so much. Tonight was my baking night. Valentines Day  is tomorrow and I had the bright idea of making cupcakes for Peytons class. Some of you might remember that I actually practiced for this event. I had all these wonderful ideas in my head. During practice I made ladybug cupcakes. They turned out cute but I thought I might get carpal tunnel after making about the 10th one and getting the candy hearts to stick to the licorice pieces for the antennas was nerve racking! So I had it in my head that I would do something simpler. Also during practice I had made raspberry frosting and cherry frosting for yellow cake. The kids vetoed them :( So tonight I made red velvet cake and made the cream cheese frosting from scratch. It actually turned out yummmmmmmmy!!! I thought to myself ..this is really going well tonight! I should not of gotten ahead of myself. I took the cupcakes out of the oven a little too early so the nice puffed tops that I thought I had ended up sinking a little. BUT I had my ace in the hole. I had my super yummy frosting!! I figured the frosting would cover up any imperfections. I really wanted to pile the frosting high and then I had these heart sprinkles, as well as Xs and Os, sanding sugars etc. I was almost giddy thinking how cute they would turn out.    .....    This, my friends is where it ALL went wrong. I took the frosting out of the frig where I had put it to firm up some and it was at that moment that I said outloud "I should tint this!!" : /   So I put the bowl back on the Kitchenaid stand and get out my gel colorings and added just a bit of pink to the frosting. Mix it up....B-E-A-U-tiful!! Everyone crowds around to oooohhh and ahhhhh over it. I'm the best, most smartest mom in the world!!! It was at that moment that Madison says "Oh mom that little jar is knocked over"....that 'little jar' is the food coloring. It's gel so it made a nice big blob on my WHITE counter. The deer in headlights eyes come out! I said grab something HELP! I pick up the jar just as Madison grabs my white kitchen towel and SMEARS the red food coloring gel all over the counter. ZOINKS!! Jeff is sitting at the opposite side of the counter on the computer just staring at us. I don't know if he was in shock or just restraining himself from seriously hurting me. Either way I can honestly say I don't or wouldn't of blamed him. So I get out clorox wipes, baking soda, vinegar..I'm throwing EVERYTHING on this stuff (and in the mean time also manage to fling the toothpick I had used to add the coloring to the frosting on the floor where it bounced off of Madisons Ugg boot---cue the conniptions!!!!  "AAhhhhh, MOM they are ruined!!!! RUINED!!!"---and there goes the best, smartest mom in the world status..it happens just that quick folks) Jeff stands up finally and says "What are you doing making a volcano? Please stop." ...the baking soda and vinegar did foam up quite nicely :)
So he gently removes me from my kitchen and goes to work cleaning my mess..while I seek out the computer to research cleaning methods. You know what it came up with? Shaving cream. Jeff wouldn't let me put it on the kitchen counter, but I did put it on Madison's boot. All I can say about this remedy is...They lied. My hands reek of shaving cream too, which totally ruins the affect of licking frosting off your hands. By this time my hero Jeff, totally removed the red coloring from the counter with an SOS pad and elbow grease..although I think my concoctions helped!! I went back to decorating cupcakes but by then my thrill was gone!! I plopped two hearts on top of each one and called it a night. Really at this point I don't even know if I will let Peyton take them in the morning. Should of just hit up WalMart instead....yea I'm in that kind of pissy mood.

On a much better note. Yesterday was the end of the fundraiser for our dear friend Joey McAlduff. He was diagnosed with cancer and had been undergoing treatments at DUKE 5 days a week for the last several weeks. It ended a little while ago tho and that is why we chose the drawing day to be what is was. So he could come. Tickets were $5.00 each and the winner of the first ticket drawn could choose from either a 1/2 carat diamond or a Browning shotgun. Then the second ticket drawn got whatever the 1st person didn't choose. The fundraiser was a great success!! People not only bought the tickets but many people also just donated money!! All the funds raised went to Joey and his family to offset their medical bills. They were sooo appreciative and really I just thought it was such a beautiful thing to see how many people were willing to donate!! Jeff and I used Facebook to reach out to people and tell them about the fundraiser and so many people that we went to High School with responded. People that we and I'm sure Joey, haven't seen in 15 years! Wonderful news too is that Joeys doctors are very optomistic!!

So now it is off to tuck in the kiddos. Jeff my hero , has lost his lofty title tonight too, seeing as how at this very moment he is making a cake. I know he is just doing it to rub it in my face that it doesn't have to be a difficult task. Bet HE doesn't tint his frosting....chicken!
 XOXO

 

Hey, it's ME!!

Hey y'all! I really don't know if anyone will be reading this or not but just in case, let me introduce myself. My name is Victoria, Tori for short. I am the stay at home mom of 4 beautiful, crazy, smart, drive me nuts kids! There is Kaitlyn 13, Madison 10, Peyton 6, and Dylan 4. I've been a stay at home mom for 10 years!! Really, I'm lucky..blessed in fact..although it doesn't always FEEL that way! The other day another stay at home mom friend of mine mentioned how she should write a book with all of her families adventures and the wise person that I am suggested she start a blog! The more I started thinking of it, the more it started to sound like a good idea for me too! A place where I can write down all of the crazy, pull my hair out antics that my kids do. A place for me to vent so to speak. I figure it's like scrapbooking, only less expensive and time consuming..and one day my kids can look back and realize just how good they had it with me as their mom! It will be great for my scattered brain as well, since I swear I lost brain cells after each child.

So, where to start?? I guess with today :) My day usually starts at 6:45am. That is when my alarm goes off so I can wake the kids up to get ready for school. Truthfully tho I am up at 5:30 when my husbands alarm goes off and I have to wake up to walk around to his side of the bed to turn it off and then shake him awake. The man could sleep through a tornado!! I then lay back down, wait 10 minutes and then kick him to make him get up. Then I pretend to be asleep until I hear the front door shut. The pretending is NECESSARY! If he knew I was awake then he would say "Tori, will you grab me a towel while I'm in the shower" "Tori, find me something to wear" "Tori, will you get me a pair of socks out of the sock basket?" "Tori, where is my belt?" :/ So you see, pretending to be asleep is NECESSARY!! I really feel like I'm doing him a favor, helping him on his path of self sufficiency! Feel free ladies to steal this grand idea from me! I am all about sharing ;)

But as I was saying..I wake the kids up at 6:45am. Then start making lunches. At 7:00am I yell upstairs and tell them to get their butts in gear and get downstairs. Then they come down finally, eat a bowl of cereal, get dressed, and if you can believe it-- we are out the door by 7:30am!! Not bad huh? I have it down to a science. Yeah it requires me running around like a crazy person, barking orders, but if I woke my kids up any earlier...umm..no..It would NOT be pretty! Kaitlyn is in the 7th grade ..even tho her school is further away we drop her off first. She has to be there at 8am. My other 2 girls have to be at their school at 8:15. Then it's just me and Dylan. We usually come back home and take a nap..ahhhh yeah...SLEEP!!! It's a good thing! That hour or so of sleep does wonders for the two of us the rest of the day. I know some ppl might would take their nap later on..say after lunch. But that just interferes with the rest of my day. Isn't this enlightening reading? Are you wondering right now how you ever survived without knowing about my morning routine?? I know..and you're welcome :)

Anyway, after our morning nap, Dylan and I took off to Michaels Craft Store. I really WANT to be a crafty person. I like the stores ..I like the items.. I like buying the crafts...the DOING part is what always seems to get me :/ My mother is extremely crafty..and artistic..it's kind of annoying actually how good she is at stuff and how confident she is in knowing she can have an idea and just go create it. I am not crafty or artistic, but I like to pretend I am. I have GREAT ideas!! I see things in my head and then rush out to the craft store and buy everything and then come home and get to work and then spend the next hour or 2 cussing under my breath at how it never turns out and telling the kids to quit using up all the oxygen in the room, because I swear I hold my breath when I work on things and of course they are all crowding around me watching my struggle.

Today Valentines was on my mind. I really want to make cupcakes for my kids classes. Cupcakes might be an easy thing, but when you are a mentally visionary crafty person like myself, nothing is easy. I want them to look like I went to the bakery and bought them, so that I can beam proudly and tell the teacher that I did it all by myself! Today I bought different flavoring oils, coloring gels, 3 different kinds of cupcake liners, and 4 different sprinkles, and some candies. I wanted to practice my ideas tho before they were actually needed for Valentines Day so that I could perfect them and save myself the mumbled cussing and panic attacks. The kids were getting out of school early today, so I figured it would be the perfect day to bake, since I would have all this extra time today with them...course nothing ever works out the way I plan.

My husband Jeff called me as I was leaving Michaels and on my way to go pick the kids up from school, to tell me that his friend called and has ONE extra ticket to the NCSU basketball game tonight and I "wouldn't mind if he went would I?" Of course not. :/ Well great..now he wants me to run home and find his tennis shoes, his levis, his NCSU hat and if I can't find his shirt then go buy him one and bring it to him at work. Soooo..I go pick up the kids run to the house..find one of his tennis shoes in our closet, the other one in the front hall closet..no hat...no shirt..grab 3 pairs of levis, certain ONE of them has to be the right one and not taking any chances..then go to the mall and hit up 3 different stores to finally find the LAST NCSU long sleeve shirt! After I dropped it all off to him and wished him a fun evening (not even feeling jealous..ha aha ha ha) I stopped at the grocery store and got cake mix and frosting..then home to bake. By this time it was the normal time the kids would of been home. So much for all that extra time I was gonna have today. But that is ok..I was on a mission. We got home...did homework...cleaned our kitchen work area and made some cupcakes..Yea...they were ..cute...but puppy dogs are cute..I want them to be AWE-some..so I'm gonna have to practice some more. We made some with Raspberry icing, Cherry icing, and Vanilla icing. Guess which ones the kids liked best? Vanilla. .... They clearly do not have my culinary palate and vision. I really want to take one of those Wilton cake classes one day...I figure if I'm ever going to open up my dream bakery one day I will need to know how to do that kind of stuff really well :) 

The rest of my night was kind of blah..made hamburgers and fries for the kids, watched Sky High..argued with my teenager..who ..UGH..acts like a teenager...and started this blog :) It's 9:40pm now and all the kids are in bed..either asleep or pretending to be (pretty sure my teenager is upstairs texting). Jeff isn't home from the game yet..So I'm just enjoying the quiet..I think I might like this blogging thing..it's kind of relaxing..course now that I've explained my titillating morning routine I'll have to think of other exciting things to tell you about..good thing there is always something going on here at the Sullivan house :)