Day From Hell

What if I told you the easiest part of my day today was getting my wisdom tooth pulled?? You'd say I was full of crap. But really, it was all downhill from there. I worried so much about getting this wisdom tooth pulled and it was such a piece of cake! Really. The only downfall of it was that part of my root broke off. The Dr. did xrays on it and says he thinks it will be ok and shouldn't give me any problems. (otherwise I'd have to go to an oral surgeon). So I'm on antibiotics to make sure it doesn't get infected. The worst part was when he told me nothing hot to eat or drink, meaning no coffee. I hadn't had time for my morning coffee and was looking forward to it afterwards.
As much as I had dreaded the start of school, the one thing I looked forward to was time to myself every afternoon while Aiden napped. I hadn't had that yet since they had so many early dismissals due to the heat. The only full day of school they had happened to fall on my day to work. So today was going to be my first afternoon to myself. NOT! Aiden had fallen asleep on me at HyVee (after a tantrum, so fun) so that little catnap kept him awake later than usual. I finally get him ready for a nap and as we I go to put him in his crib, his nose starts bleeding. I don't know what 's up with this kid and his nose but he gets nosebleeds that are awful. It looks like something from Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I'm trying to get his nose to stop bleeding, he's touching his nose and touching everything else and pretty soon, there is blood everywhere. So off to the bathroom, clean him up, change his clothes, change sheets and everything else, and clean the carpet, stuffed animals, etc. I finally get him down for a nap at 2:30, the boys get home at 3:05. So my half hour consisted of eating a bowl of lemon pudding I had made for my lunch since I couldn't eat real food and reading some of my book.
But wait, it gets better. The headache from hell that I had the day before comes back, no toothache, which just blows me away but a headache. I'm trying to get supper going before Todd has to leave at 6:00. I go to get the milk out of the refridgerator, and.......I'm feeling faint just thinking about it again........I spill a FULL pitcher of RED Kool-Aid INSIDE of the fridge!! Of course it's on the top shelf and it leaks down to every shelf and every drawer in my fridge and onto my kitchen floor. I just want to cry. I take a few deep breaths and my dear husband comes in to help out as much as he can before he has to leave. It took me a good part of the night to get that cleaned up and mop the floor, etc. The good part is, I had "clean out the fridge" on my list of things to do this week. Well, I guess I can check that one off! It's pretty darn clean now.
So I'm finishing up and take all the wet towels and such down to the laundry room. The boys are all in the living room supposedly watching Aiden. I hear Noah yell that Aiden is in the bathroom. I come running in and the toilet water is up to the rim, toilet paper is floating around and Aiden's arms are soaked up past his elbows. I give up, I just toss him in the tub and Noah hops in too (he takes baths for fun) and scrub them all up. I've about had it with Aiden and the toilet. Now that he knows how to open doorknobs, no rooms are safe in this house anymore.

Those are the highlights of my day. I'm saying screw it to the soft foods since my tooth feels good and I'm starving. I have homemade french fries in the oven-I've been craving them. I also think a nice glass of wine will finish off my day just fine! Tomorrow will be better, no doubt.

This and That

I've sat down numerous times the past fews days ready to blog about something cute and then would get interrupted (imagine that!) so I gave up. So here I sit ready to give it a shot. I'll make it short and sweet.
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Saw the best bumper sticker today....."If ignorance is bliss, why aren't more people happy?" Loved it. Too many stupid people in the world and a heck of a lot of bitchy ones. It doesn't make sense.
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Aiden became obsessed with the toilet. He now has his little potty in the bathroom. I have no high hopes of him potty training at 23 months, but miracles happen. He's happy as a clam to sit on it. And since he now likes to strip all of his clothes off, including his diaper, it's good he has a place to park that bottom.
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Noah had his first full day of school yesterday which means his first day of eating lunch at school. He was a bit nervous about it. I had to make a lunch that required no refrigeration since he wanted to bring his metal Diego lunchbox and Todd had taken the ice pack with his lunch. So I packed a PB&J sandwhich, a banana, and a baggie of dried berries. The poor kid thought I gave him strawberries that rotted and shriveled up to look like raisins so he threw them away. I showed him the big bag of dried fruit and explained that's what I gave him. He must have thought I was poisoning him on his first day of cold lunch. He gave hot lunch a try today.
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Things I am thankful for today:
Air conditioning and the brownies that Todd made for us. Sometimes you just need chocolate......really BAD!!

Drew feeding a deer

Drew is still amazed by this. How many people are lucky enough to have a deer come eat out of their hand??? In hindsight, it was probably pretty stupid to let him do it, but at the time, we were just in awe of this beautiful creature being so tame and gentle.

Little Spidey

Aiden wanted to put on Drew's Spiderman costume. It was way too big and he kept tripping on it, but that didn't stop him from doing his Spidey Dance. We were cracking up. He was wearing down by the time I took this video.

Aiden on the motorcycles at the KofC BBQ

I'm so excited that we can upload videos now!! I have a bunch I'll put on just because I can! YAY!

This is one of Aiden's first big boy rides at the BBQ. Anyone who's been to this knows the annoying sounds these motorcycles make.

NOW THAT THE WORD IS OUT......

I CAN LET OUT A SHOUT....

Woohoo, I'm going to have a niece!!!

1ST DAY OF SCHOOL

I took this picture before school this morning (why is everything underlined?? Oh well) I was a little nervous because yesterday Noah started getting really nervous about kindergarten. He was scared about a new classroom, a new teacher, eating lunch at school, riding the bus, etc. He got up last night after we tucked him in and was really upset because he was worried about leaving Aiden. He was afraid that if I couldn't take care of him by myself, something could happen to him. I assured him I would take good care of him and if something came up to where I couldn't, I would find someone to help me. Todd and I got a laugh out of that. So I wasn't sure how today would go. He was hesitant walking in but when he saw how cool the room was set up and saw all of his friends, he was ok. Before Aiden and I left I asked him if he was going to be ok and he said "I think so mom".

We walked Drew to his room first and when he found his desk and sat down, I asked if I could take his picture. He said "No mom, I think you've taken enough". His teacher was laughing at that. Sheesh, can you really take too many pictures???

Taken outside of school.

So I go to load the first day of school pictures on the computer. I'm looking through them and then I come to this picture...................

I had bought Todd a new shirt for his first day back to school also. So he set the timer on the camera, put it on the counter and kneeled down in front of it for his first day of school picture. As you can see by the clock, it's 6:10 am which is why no one else was up to see him off on his first day back teaching. He makes me laugh. The shirt looks good though, I've got great taste! :)

So all of my boys had a good first day at school. I just about cried seeing Noah come running off the bus with Drew today. He really is a big guy now. They were all sweaty from sitting in a non-air conditioned school but they both had big smiles on their faces. I knew we were in for a good school year.

Busy Weekend

Friday morning we got to watch Blake and Ty while Beth went to the dentist. I don't know who enjoyed it more, me or the boys! All 5 boys had a blast playing cars and we got out ALL of them. It was fun watching them all play together.

We hit the KofC BBQ Saturday night. Luckily the rain didn't last long but it sure was humid afterwards. This year Aiden was big enough for little kid rides. Noah rode the airplane with him and he had a blast. He also rode the motorcycles, the carousel with dad, and went in the bounce house.

Drew rode with Blake on the rollercoaster and Noah rode with his friend Ella behind them (green shirt). It was cute watching them on that.

I have a lot of cute videos from the BBQ and from Fun City. I need to find a way to post them on my blog. Hmmmmm.................

Quincy Multisport Club Banner

Saturday morning was the 1st (hopefully annual) Multisport Club Triathalon that Todd put together. It started with an open water swim at Lake Marian (Todd's parents house) followed by a bike ride and then a run. They had a good turnout and great weather. This pic is on the beach right before the start of the swim. The boys and I got up and went over for the first part and then we had to leave for Drew's first soccer game. Todd was really happy with how he did, he even beat his time from the Tri-Jesus triathalon.

Sunday was Grandma Tunie's 60th birthday so we celebrated with lunch at their house. The boys worked hard to make her some special gifts that she got a kick out of. Sunday night we had a pool party for cub scouts at one of the scout leaders' house. They had a nice pool and it was a relaxing evening. I was so proud of Noah--he swam all the way across the deep end on his own. I didn't realize he had learned how to doggy paddle and he was showing us. He even jumped off the diving board and doggy paddled across the pool. Aiden even went off the diving board into Todd's arms. I love that all 3 boys enjoy the water so much and are so comfortable in it.

Now we are gearing back into another school year. The week certainly didn't start off good though. Last week we were getting ready for Fun City. We got the van all packed up, the 5 of us buckled up and off to pick up Gma T and Gpa K and the van wouldn't start. It made wierd noises but that was it. It had been acting funny when we started it so we thought the starter was going bad. So we had to unload, load up in Tunie's Durango which has one less seat and less storage so we were a bit cramped. We had the van towed and it was going to be fixed when we got back. So they replaced the battery saying the starter was fine and something with the connection to the battery and not holding a charge. So we're good.

Here's how Monday starts out. Todd gets up early for school. At 5:45 am Drew runs in my room saying he's going to get sick. I send him off to the bathroom. (why do they feel the need to tell you first, RUN to the bathroom!). Aiden wakes up 10 minutes later and will NOT go back to sleep. (Drew by the way, never got sick and ended up feeling better but it made for a rough morning.) I'm feeling rotten for the second day in a row from my pulled muscle in my back, HORRIBLE PMS, and a headache and exhaustion. And I've still got to get to work. So I get the boys to mom's house and drop them off. I go out, van doesn't start. What the hell. I can't even take mom's car to work b/c I parked behind her. We finally get a hold of dad and he picks me up and takes me to work (thanks Dad!). Fast forward thru a long crazy day. We get the car to Ford (thanks again for dad's help). Today they call and said it was the battery and they put another one in. I said they just put one in Thursday. He said it was a bad battery and now we should be fine and there was no charge. (thank goodness) So we'll see tonight if the van works. My boys can't be late for their first day of school tomorrow. But even as crappy as the day went, it didn't seem so bad once I talked to Dianna. My best girl friend had an emergency appendectomy over the weekend. Now THAT really sucks!! I miss ya girl, and I wish I was there to help you out as you recover.

Today has been a better day. It's our last day of summer vacation and the boys just wanted to hang out at home and relax. Ok by me!! We just finished getting their school supplies labeled and packed into their backpacks. I always love buying new school supplies. I'm excited for tomorrow and nervous too. This is going to be a big change for all of us.

I'll definitely post 1st day of school pictures tomorrow.

ONE FUN CITY

Just one of the cool play areas for the kids in the water park-this one was indoors. The boys had a blast here.

Aiden loved "driving" in this red car. It had a video screen in it so it looked like you were really driving and it moved back and forth.

Aiden and Grandpa Ken played air hockey against Noah. Aiden would hit the disc and then slide his white piece (what the heck is that called anyway?!) across the board and laugh and giggle. Needless to say, Noah won this game!

They had junior carts also so this was Noah's first go-kart driving experience. He was so cute. He would be so busy looking around and showing off for us, that he would run into the sides. We were laughing so hard. I hope his driving improves before he turns 16.

Drew was just barely big enough to drive the big carts and they gave him a chance--he did great!! He drives very well. I kept trying to take his picture and he kept doing his "cool" pose. He thought he was so big driving the big cars, you should have seen the excitement on his face when he got done!

This is Drew going down the steep purple slide. No way would I go on it, but Drew will brave anything. He had so much fun with all the various waterslides at the park.


Our trip to Fun City was Fun to say the least. We saw sooo many people we knew from Quincy there, it was kind of funny!! We could have gone to the pool here at home or the mall and not see anyone we knew and we saw tons of people there. The water park had something for everyone. Noah was literally about a 1/4-1/2 an inch too short to ride the water slides and some guards would say he was ok only to have another turn him away when he got to the top. I have to say, I was very proud of how he handled it all. Todd and I were getting pissed b/c kids his height and shorter were riding slides and one guard said it's b/c they got a special mark on their band from the head guard making it ok. Todd had a word with her, needless to say. But Noah still had fun on all the kid slides and loved the lazy river. Aiden enjoyed both also. Go-karts was a blast. Aiden was so excited. You could tell he remembered them from our trip to CO. He rode with Grandpa Ken the first time and I don't know who enjoyed it more! Drew and Noah both rode with us and on their own and I know they both enjoyed getting to drive themselves! The arcade there was awesome, even I loved it and I usually don't get into video games much. The boys played Lazer Tag too which was pretty fun. The hotel was nice, the food was nice, and the whole fun city attached to it was fun and very affordable. It was worth the trip and I'm sure we'll do it again sometime.
http://www.onefuncity.com/

We're Going Bonkers!

Blake, Drew, and Noah

Mr. Ty

Us girls met at Bonkers this morning for our play date. We usually hit a different park each week but it was way too hot. Beth and I brought the boys and Johnna came with hers plus an additional two and Erica came with her boys. The kids had a blast. We spent almost 3 hours there and I have to tell ya, I'm beat!! I know that play area is meant for all ages but there are some parts that are hard to get through when you're tall like me. I was practically doing an army crawl through some areas and trying my darndest to keep up with Aiden!! Drew was a great big brother and took him through it too and Blake had fun playing with the big guys. I thought this pic of Ty and the one of Blake,Drew and Noah on the slide were just too cute. I tried to get one of Aiden but he seems to have an aversion to the camera!

Todd did get this cute one the other night. Aiden usually isn't allowed in his older brothers rooms b/c there are too many things in there that he could choke on, make a mess with or break so they keep their doors shut. Last night, Drew took Aiden in his room and they climbed in Drew's bed while Drew read Aiden his book. Aiden got to hold the moose Drew bought in Colorado and then Drew gave his beloved stuffed owl to Aiden to sleep with last night which Aiden loved. Aiden thought he was entering the forbidden land or something when he got to go in there. I thought it was so sweet. Drew said he'd do it again.

Drew may kill me someday for posting a picture of him in his underwear....

If You Thought CINDY Had Nice Melons........

Cindy's Melons http://bozarthblog.blogspot.com/2007/08/my-wifes-melons.html

Then Check Out Todd's Balls

Todd is planning a triathalon for the Quincy Multisport Club. Normally they bike and run on Thursdays so they decided to plan an open water swim and Todd got permission to do it at his parent's on Lake Marian. He decided it wouldn't be hard to map out a bike and running course too so they are doing a full triathalon on Saturday August 18th. He's even trying to get HyVee to donate water and food for the course. Should be fun. So the reason for his big balls is to anchor in the lake to mark off points. He actually has more balls than that, but I had a hard enough time getting these two balls in the picture. You should have seen him trying to squeeze all of his balls into the mini van to take over.

Aren't They Cute Together??

We had a great time swimming at Aunt Janet and Uncle Tim's sunday night and had a yummy dinner. The kids had fun playing and when it was time to head home for bed, we found them cuddled up together watching a movie. How cute. Kayla and Hunter (and Jordan!) came over to play yesterday afternoon before all the family came over for pizza (thanks Jane). We're looking forward to seeing them again this week. The 4 kids are close in age so have fun playing together and Kayla has no problem being the only girl--she can hold her own with those boys! Every time she talks or laughs though I swear I'm sitting next to Jill. She looks and sounds so much like her mom it's eerie. Those kids are so adorable, I'm glad we're getting to spend some quality time with them this week.

This is something you don't see very often.......

Parents are lucky to catch this sighting.......siblings playing together nicely and getting along. It's a sometimes rare occurrence. In all seriousness, this was too sweet yesterday. The two older boys have spent more time playing with Aiden lately and it's so cute. Aiden thinks he's big stuff hanging with the older bros too. In this picture, they decided to teach Aiden to play a Fisher Price Barnyard Bingo game that they had when they were little. Aiden had a blast with it. Drew and Noah have a close bond being close in age and all and I've always worried that with there being a bigger gap between them and Aiden that Aiden would feel left behind. But Drew and Noah are always so good about including him in stuff they do, it warms my heart.

We had the Klauser reunion last night. It was VERY hot but a lot of fun. I love that Todd and I both come from large families. The kids have so many cousins to play with and the had a ball. There are so many little ones too that I got to have my baby fix. Aiden has 7 cousins younger than him on the Klauser side and 3 more on the way. Think we'll ever run out of babies to play with?? Drew and Noah were SOOO good playing with the little ones too and taking them down the slides. It was a wonderful night. The boys stayed cool having water balloon fights. I caught this pic of Aiden eating a cupcake. His hair was all wet and Todd took off his shirt so he was quite the dirty child by the time he ate this!! Needless to say all the boys came home and took baths last night!

Todd taught Aiden something funny. He calls me "hot mommy" and makes a sizzling sound. It cracks me up. It's better than when he calls me Kelly, I guess. He only does that when I'm not answering to "mom" but it's wierd having your 1 year old call you by your first name! He's also been very protective of me lately. He gets mad when Drew or Noah cuddle up to me and tries to push them away. I've tried countless times to explain that I'm their mommy too. So now he'll cuddle up to me, and yell at them "MY Mommy, MY Mommy". I don't think they like that too much.

Is there anything better??

"I wuv ooo Mommy" Aiden has been saying that a lot lately. It just melts my heart. We were playing on the floor last night and he walks over and wraps his arms around me and says that with a big smile. The only thing better than my boys telling me they love me is the cuddles, hugs and kisses that go along with it. It is definitely a piece of heaven.

Aiden has started galloping a lot lately. Which is really funny because it's not like we all gallop around the house here. I'm not sure where he learned it but I'm impressed because most kids don't learn it till around preschool age.

It's been too hot to walk outside lately so this morning I went walking in the mall. I took Aiden with me in the stroller so Todd and the boys could work on cleaning their bedrooms really good. It was so fun. Aiden sat so good with his Barney and Elmo and let me walk for a half an hour and then I let him play on the little playground by Penney's. Then we walked some more while he ate his snack and drank and then we played one more time before coming home. It was just us and about 20 old people walking and they got a kick out of him. We may do that more often. I really need to get my butt motivated to exercise more.

Mommy and Noah 2004

Mommy and Drew 2001

Mommy and Aiden-Children's Hospital after getting unhooked from all the IV's and various tubes. YAY! 2005

Friday night with the girls was a blast. We ate, drank, laughed and had a good ole time. We really should do it more often. In fact, I'm trying to decide when we should have the next get together. The Mojitos were a hit too as were Jen's Appletini's.

Saturday was a busy day. Me,Noah and Aiden went to my goddaughter Ella's 4th birthday party. The kids had a great time and Aiden thought he was so big doing the activities with the "big" kids. Ella got some really cool girl toys as usual. I don't get to see the girly stuff much. I should really go over and play with her some afternoon to get my girl fix. Dollhouses, Polly Pockets, princess stuff, I would have a blast with her. Todd and Drew took his scout den out to Dad's cabin and they did all kinds of activities out there towards some badges and cooked out supper there. They had a great time and saw deer, turkey, tons of butterflies and caught fish. It was a great day. I had to work too after the bday party so by the time all 5 of us got home, we were beat!

Sunday Matt took Todd golfing for his birthday which he does every year. Todd always looks forward to that outing and always has fun. Me and the boys had a nice relaxing morning at home. Drew took Aunt Cindy on a "date" that afternoon. They ate lunch at Kelly's and then went and saw Hairspray. Drew liked it even better the second time around b/c he had had all week listening to the soundtrack so he was more familiar with it. He was so excited to take Aunt Cindy and counted down the days till they went. Luckily he didn't have to many days to count down. Sunday night we ate supper at mom and dad's with matt,Beth,Blake,Ty and Nate. We had a good supper and as usual, it was a little loud in the house with all those boys. We watched vacation videos too which was fun and debated over which house plans we liked the most for mom and dad.

Noah had his kindergarten checkup yesterday. He was 41 pounds and 45.5 inches tall. Dr Noble was so good with him, even giving him a "talk" about nutritions, safety, etc. It was so cute. Now we just need to get his shots done and he's all ready. I am sooo proud of him at swim lessons. He is not jumping into the pool off the edge and going all the way under water like it's nothing. That is a HUGE step for him. Go Noah!! And Drew is really perfecting some things too. He runs and dives off the diving board so effortlessly. I could never do that. When the boys all race to swim across the pool he's usually the 1st or 2nd one across. This morning when Drew got up, him and Todd went to the YMCA and swam laps, played raquetball and basketball, and liften weights, plus they rode their bikes there to begin with. I was tired just hearing about it. Then they rode their bikes to the Village Inn for breakfast---I think they deserved it!! Todd really enjoyed that special time with Drew and I know Drew was so excited about it. Noah and Todd will plan something special soon. When Noah woke up this morning, he asked where Dad and Drew were and when I reminded him and told him it was just us three, he said. "Oh good, just like when they would be at school" It made me sad because I realized we wouldn't have those days anymore. It will be just me and Aiden. I know I need to get over it and move on but sending a kid to school all day is such a hard adjustment. And I know it's small compared to the big changes later in their life but I honestly thought I'd have years before the boys were in school and here I have two that will be full time. Where is this time going?? I hate it. I just wish it would slow down just a bit.