egg hunt at MiMa's

my sweetie and his precious girl

opening the eggs... candy & coins!

making silly putty! (trying to anyway!)

It's Saturday night and it's been a long weekend already.

Drew and Reni and Drew's little brother Chance spent the night last night.

We were planning to work in the backyard last night but it was cold and rainy.

This morning I got all the kids ready and we went out to my dad and stepmom's for an egg hunt, since last weekend was cold and rainy.

The kids had a blast.

MiMa had a project planned for them for after the egg hunting.

They tried to make silly putty.

Something didn't quite turn out right, and their putty ended up more like rubber balls.

But they had fun anyway!

They got lots of candies and coins, and I got some cute pictures :o)

My stepmom and I didn't have the best relationship while I was growing up.

But now, I feel like we have a great one.

And every time I see how much she truly loves my kids, I love her that much more.

It's a great feeling :o)

Drew kept the kids for an hour and a half tonight while I helped Holden and Dante's mom move.

Again.

I hope they can stay in this apartment for a while.

With all the moving they've done, they sure have gotten good at packing quickly, though!

I brought the boys witth me when we were done, picked up my kiddos, and we came home.

The kids ate too much candy, stayed up too late, but now they're finally asleep.

Tomorrow, we're headed to Syracuse to see Anthony's family.

Grampa Tony, Nanna Betty, cousins Lanaya and Kyle, Auntie Lisa...

and we can't wait!

Another long day ahead, better catch some ZzzzZZzZZZzzzZ's while I can!

Charlize is registered for kindergarrrrrrtennnnsss

Charlize is registered for kindergarrrrrrtennnnsss
*~Bonnie Lea~*

Liliya at 3 1/4 yrs,

Liliya at 3 1/4 yrs, 37 inches, 33 pounds
*~Bonnie Lea~*

And my brave girl didn't

And my brave girl didn't cry one tiny bit when she got her hep a vaccine!
*~Bonnie Lea~*

Liliya at 3 1/4 yrs,

Liliya at 3 1/4 yrs, 37 inches, 33 pounds
*~Bonnie Lea~*

My sisser has an ultrasound

My sisser has an ultrasound todayyyyy, i can't wait to find out if she's having b/b b/g or g/g babies!!
*~Bonnie Lea~*

Holden at five years, 44

Holden at five years, 44 inches and 40 pounds
*~Bonnie Lea~*

*~Bonnie Lea~*

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I put those sugar'high, obnoxious,

I put those sugar'high, obnoxious, over'tired kids in bed at 645. They all went right to sleep. Believe it!!
*~Bonnie Lea~*

We grew some sprouting leaf buds overnight!
*~Bonnie Lea~*

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Day in the life... Easter dinner
*~Bonnie Lea~*

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Happy easter!! bonnie, rayce, charlize, and liliya
*~Bonnie Lea~*

picssss

For more pics of this sweet pudgy guy and his tiny red-headed cousin...

visit my photography blog and enjoy :o)

*~Bonnie Lea~*

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*~Bonnie Lea~*

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Wow, I slept like crap all night :o(

Gonna be a longggggg day.

I

I never have any good titles for my blog posts anymore.

Because they're all just random thoughts or updates.

I got about 5 loads of laundry done today.

The kids 'cleaned' up their rooms.

Which means I have to go behind them and put things where they actually belong.

But at least they made an effort.

My stomach was giving me terrible issues this afternoon and tonight.

Ugh.

I've got so much to do in the morning.

Photo shoots with 2 precious babiesssss.

My step-cousin Joey's 1 month old daughter, Khloe.

And Joey's sister's 4 day old son, Dexter!

Two babies, cousins.

Can't wait!

I've gotta run and print some pics at CVS first thing in the morning so my stepmom and I can scrapbook after the pictures are done.

Busy busy busy.

It never ends.

Also, must find Easter dresses for the girls.

Like, soon.

Never, before now, have i smiled when i found the kids avoiding bedtime or being sneaky. But i found rayce hiding under his blanket, reading =-)
*~Bonnie Lea~*

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Rayce (shaking his head no):

Rayce (shaking his head no): but i didn't really think that one through.
*~Bonnie Lea~*

Charlize: rayce said he would

Charlize: rayce said he would help us clean our room if we helped him.
*~Bonnie Lea~*

Welcome to my life
*~Bonnie Lea~*

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My skin already looks a lot better!!!
*~Bonnie Lea~*

It's been a reasonably successful day, so far.

The girls and I started off this morning doing our monthly Salvation Army trip.

Didn't find too much, honestly.

A couple pairs of shorts for Rayce.

A few t shirts.

Then we made a stop at the PAL center.

I had to drop off a friends Easter props that I used for my weekend photoshoots.

So we stayed for an hour and played.

Then we hit WalMart for a few random things like dog food and egg noodles.

I bought myself a face cleansing kit that's a lot like ProActive.

I hope it works.

I'm sick of being stuck in this place, with my skin, with huge zits like a 15 year old and fine lines and wrinkles like a 45 year old. 

C'mon, mother nature.

Cut me some slack.

I'm hoping this stuff helps.

While I was at WallyWorld I found the bikes my friend Amy had been telling me about.

Mom and I are going to go back at some point to get bikes for the kids for Easter :o)

I'll just get them each a tiny basket, and hang their baskets from their new bikes.

I'm terribly excited!

As soon as we were about to leave WM, said friend called and told me she had found some lunch containers on sale, just like the ones I have been eyeing, with the freezer pack built right in.

It just so happened that there were FIVE of them left.

What are the chances?

So she grabbed them for me and then I swung by Weggies to meet her and pick them up and pay her back.

They even came with little sporks and knives that have a little compartment in the lid!
Thank you Amy!!!

It's already after 4pm but I'm feeling like it's been a fairly productive day.

Now, to get to cleaning this pigstye :-/


~*~*~*~*~*~

It took a looong time but I got the downstairs *mostly* picked up.
The kids were so very uncooperative.
I ended up setting the timer for 10 minutes and throwing away whatever wasn't picked up from the sweep pile at the end.
The kids lost about half of their colored pencils and a handful of play-doh toys, among other things.
I'm just OVER being the only one who cleans up.
My kids are still young.
6, 4, and 3.
But there's NO reason they can't help pick up.
If I say to them "Mama's trying to clean up. Rayce, clear off the dining room table. Charlize, pick up all the toys that are on the floor in the living room and put them in the toybox. Liliya, pick up all the shoes and put them in the shoe bin.", they should be able to do those things.
It's not like I'm asking them to wash the laundry or mop the floor or scrub the outside of the second floor windows, ya know?
Maybe next time they'll take me a little more seriously.
I'm just really, really, really over it.
Completely.
They need to learn to pick up.
In addition to losing what was left on the floor after ten minutes, they also lost the Wii for the rest of the week.
I'm gonna start being a real hard-a$$ about this.
They need to learn to be responsible.
Really.
Not just cuz they'll get an allowance if they clean up.
But because being responsible is the right thing to do, they need to do what they can to help the family function at its best.
So they're gonna start losing their stuff if they don't take care of it.

I've got serious amounts of laundry to do tomorrow.
I was feeling caught up.
But now I haven't done any laundry in days and I'm terribly behind again.
And I forgot the borax, again, even though I walked right past it at WalMart.
*sigh*

And bedrooms to clean in between loads of laundry.

I've recruited Drew to help me get the backyard in shape, for the weekend after this coming weekend.
We've GOT to get some grass growing this year.
Not having grass in the backyard drives me NUTS!

Anyway, must sleep.

>.<
    ZzzzZzzzzzzzzZZZzzZzzZZZZzZZ

We have a slight book overflow problem. A good kind of issue to have though, no?
*~Bonnie Lea~*

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Looooove this book
*~Bonnie Lea~*

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bad blogger, random updates

I've been a bad blogger, yet again.

The truth is, I've been crazy busy.

It never ends.

Sweeping and mopping, temper tantrums, and laundry.

And editing photos from this past weekend.

Which you can check out here on my photography blog.

Not much has been going on here.

Same old, same old.

Rayce is back at school after spring break.

Charlize has been having more demonic fits of rage than normal.

Liliya gets funnier every day.

Dante is the only night-trained kid who wakes up dry regularly.

Holden has been having some serious attitude problems lately, worse than usual.

I finally got my bedroom picked up enough to find and vacuum the floor.

Which resulted in tons of laundry to wash.

Laundry that had previously been clean.

Until the kids went on a rampage while they were home with gramma, and tossed every clean piece of clothing all over the floor.

Where it sat. For a couple months.

And now has to be washed again.

But at least my floor is clean now!

I'm beginning to feel kind of blah again.

And I realized just now that it coincides with a lot of other issues I have that have to deal with that time of the month.

I'll have to keep an eye on that and write it down and see if does that every month or it's just a coincidence this month.

Hmmmmmmm.

Rayce brought his report card home yesterday.

He has missed a LOT of school.

3-5 kids pass around a lot of germs.

But the amount of school he's missed is crazy, and I had no idea the days had added up so much.

His reading level finally went up.

B3

Third grade reading level :o)

My smart cookie.

I was beginning to worry, because his last report card of kindergarten put him at level 21.

And it's stayed at level 21, for 3 report cards, until this most recent one.

I was relieved to see it at the next marker.

Other than that, his report card was typical for him.

A lot of 3's in effort (rated 1-4), a few 4's, and a lot of M's (meets grade level expectations) and A's (above grade level expectations).

His 'constant chatting continues to be an issue'.   :o(

We had a long talk last night about personal responsibility.

And how right now, his responsibility, his job, is to work hard at school.

I don't know if he gets it.

I tried to explain to him how he's so smart, and he has a little bit of an advantage over some of the kids in his class, and he needs to work to keep that advantage. That he needs to put effort into his work to stay a little bit ahead.

He really tends to just do things as quickly as he can to get them over with.

Which results in careless mistakes, sloppy work.

He's very, very distractable, too.

I plan to talk to his teacher about his attention. 

She works with kids, she has forever, so she's seen a lot of kids his age.

I just want to check with someone with lots of kid experience to make sure his issues are relatively normal.

(in the back of my head, part of me is wondering if he's borderline ADD, the only thing he can sit still for and focus on is TV and video/computer games)

I've never had an almost 7 year old boy before, this is my first go-round.

So I just want to cover my bases and be sure.

Anyway, must go...

got to get Rayce ready for school.

*~Bonnie Lea~*

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Bubba bird's got rythym!! and he liks eminem
*~Bonnie Lea~*

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*~Bonnie Lea~*

*~Bonnie Lea~*

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By rayce, on my phone
*~Bonnie Lea~*

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Over seventy dollars to put

Over seventy dollars to put gas in my car. Are u effing kidding me??
*~Bonnie Lea~*

*~Bonnie Lea~*

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*~Bonnie Lea~*

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Thought i was getting a stye. But no telltale bump on the eyelid, just a very sore and swollen and pink pouch under my eye and a red and sore lower lid.
*~Bonnie Lea~*

I love it when kids sit on their feet. I think it's adorrrrable
*~Bonnie Lea~*

Having a fenced in backyard

Having a fenced in backyard w an awesome playground and a trampoline... It's wonderfullllllllll!!!
*~Bonnie Lea~*

*~Bonnie Lea~*

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30 day challenge

Just copying and pasting my 30 day challenge (so far) from FB :o)

by Bonnie Lea Isaac on Thursday, March 24, 2011 at 10:15am

Day 01 - A picture of yourself with fifteen facts.

*~Bonnie Lea~*

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1. I'm 26 years old. Which is closer to 30 than it is to 20. I'm starting to feel 'old'.

2. I always wanted nothing more than to be a mom.

3. Now that I am a mom, I love my kids more than anything in life. But I spend a portion of every day wanting to rip my hair out.

4. I used to be an 'animal person'. Now that I have kids, that's changed, drastically.

5. I have some OCD, namely, list writing. I write lists. Lots of them. It calms me down. Even though I never look at them again, usually, after I've written them.

6. I ADORE photography/pictures.

7. I desperately crave more 'me' time.

8. I feel incapable/incompetent a lot of the time.

9. I hate going to the Dr's, because I HATE being weighed.

10. I prefer baths over showers.

11. I'm a diet pepsi addict.

12. My favorite TV channels are TLC and Discovery Fit & Health.

13. My mom drives me nuts every day but really, she's like my best friend and I don't know what I would do without her.

14. I'm terrified of spiders. But I think snakes are awesome and I used to keep snakes as pets.

15. I'm glad I'm on number 15 because I'm out of ideas.

Day 02 - A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest.

Day 03 - A picture of the cast from your favorite show.

The TV shows I watch don't have a real cast. They're mostly real shows and documentaries on TLC and Discovery Fit and Health. Soooo I'll post a picture of the cast from the show of my life :o)

Day 04 - A picture of your favorite night.

The night Rayce was born. Surrounded by friends and family. The most amazing day of my entire life.

Day 05 - A picture of your favorite memory.

Our beach vacation, summer 2010, when the kids first experienced the ocean/beach. <3<3<3

Day 06 - A picture of a person you'd love to trade places with for a day.

Day 07 - A picture of your most treasured item.

Day 08 - A picture that makes you laugh.

''i'm sure you had a hard day, but i don't think there is such a thing as a chocolate i.v.'' ''well, there should be''
*~Bonnie Lea~*

Day 09 - A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most.

mommy

Day 10 - A picture of the person you do the most screwed up things with.

(I've never really done anything too effed up, so I don't know what/who to put :-/  )

Day 11 - A picture of something you hate.

lies

Day 12 - A picture of something you love.

*~Bonnie Lea~*

Day 13 - A picture of your favorite band or artist.

Day 14 - A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without.

*~Bonnie Lea~*

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Day 15 - A picture of something you want to do before you die. X

live on the beach

Day 16 - A picture of someone who inspires you.

My Aunt Lori. She's the kind of mom I want to be. The kind of wife I want to be. The kind of person I want to be ♥

Day 17 - A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently.

How did i get this lucky?? It feels strange to feel lucky after everything i've been thru. But the past can't be changed, we can only look to the future, and this goofy adorable face is what i see in mine ♥
*~Bonnie Lea~*

Day 18 - A picture of your biggest insecurity.

nuff said

Day 19 - A picture of you when you were little.

me at about 3, my sisser at around a year

Day 20 - A picture of somewhere you'd love to travel.

hawaii. or any tropical beachy islands

Day 21 - A picture of something you wish you could forget.

Day 22 - A picture of something you wish you were better at.

Day 23 - A picture of your favorite book.

Day 24 - A picture of something you wish you could change.

Day 25 - A picture of your day.

Day 26 - A picture of something that means a lot to you.

Day 27 - A picture of yourself and a family member.

Day 28 - A picture of something you're afraid of.

Day 29 - A picture that can always make you smile.

Day 30 - A picture of someone you miss.