Camp Isaac Chaos

Monday, March 7, 2011

Happy 5th Birthday Bubba!!

It was exactly five years ago (and about two hours) that my luscious lipped stepson Holden was born.

I can't even begin to describe the emotions that I experienced that day.

Everything from horror to agonizing fear to crippling anxiety to indescribable heartbreak to incredible love and adoration.

In the end, all that mattered was that we had another beautiful baby to love.

I have loved him like a mama since before he was born.

first birthday!

Happy Birthday Holden!!

We love you, so so sooooooo much!!!

By rayce =-)
*~Bonnie Lea~*

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Windows are down. Ice is still standing there
*~Bonnie Lea~*

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*~Bonnie Lea~*

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Sunday, March 6, 2011

*~Bonnie Lea~*

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Ooooooohmigosh
*~Bonnie Lea~*

*~Bonnie Lea~*

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I'm stealing drew's little sister cambri
*~Bonnie Lea~*

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Saturday, March 5, 2011

*~Bonnie Lea~*

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Friday, March 4, 2011

wish list

My wish list...

beginners (EASYYY to use) sewing machine

beginners sewing supplies (rotary cutter and mat, thread, bobbines, etc)

photography props like different baskets, baby hats and headbands...

clothes for meeeee (esp shelf bra camis and v-neck t shirts)

35mm lens

uv filters for camera lenses

nice camera bag

wii fit balance board

Thursday, March 3, 2011

*~Bonnie Lea~*

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*~Bonnie Lea~*

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*~Bonnie Lea~*

I really wish the dog hadn't eaten my heating pad, I need it today.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

*~Bonnie Lea~*

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*~Bonnie Lea~*

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bad blogger, again

Yes yes, I'm still a bad blogger.

I've seriously been slacking in the blog department lately.

But we've been busy

helping Drew finish up his move and get his new place and old place in shape

being sick

and all that fun stuff.

And I've been

tired

lazy

and still recovering

(hence the tired and lazy, that's my excuse, anyway!)

The last 48 hours I've been playing with my new photoshop presets, too.

Check out my photography blog to see the first few pics I've played with.

I can't flipping waittt for the weather to get nicer so we can take some pictures outside.

And so we can just BE outside.

And get some sunlight.

Lots of vitamin D

the natural way.

I miss the beach.

I was looking back at the beach pictures last night.

And I almost cried.

THAT'S how much I miss the beach.

And the sun and the sand and the oceannnn and that lazzzzy amazing incredible vacation.

I'm going to take the kids camping this summer.

And to State Park a lot.

I want to get a season pass to State Park.

Anyway, enough for now.

Dinner is readyyyyy.

2/14/11
Dear Mama,
Happy Valentines Day. I miss you. I reeeely love you! What are you doowing rite now? Are you cleaning?

love
Rayce.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

*~Bonnie Lea~*

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*~Bonnie Lea~*

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Saturday, February 26, 2011

ickie sickies

Alright.

Enough already.

I'm done with winter.

Thank God it's almost March.

The girls are *still* sick.

Coughs and snot.

Rayce is sick.

Same thing.

Mom went to the ER yesterday, thinking she had pneumonia.

Mom, like, never gets sick.

And she never goes to the Dr on the rare occasions when she does.

And she went to the ER.

Turns out she has bronchitis, and they gave her an antibiotic and a steroid to reduce the inflammation in her lungs.

Eeek.

I'm sick.

I'm sure I have a sinus infection.

My ears are so clogged that I can barely hear.

I can't breath out of my nose at all when I lay down.

I'm coughing.

My throat and upper chest innards feel swollen from my adams apple down to the top of my boobs.

I've been running some fevers.

I'm sick of it.

Over it.

Done with it.

:o(

Is it spring yet?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

In other news.

My house is completely trashed.

I haven't put clean laundry away in weeks and I can no longer find my bedroom.
It's literally buried in clean laundry.

And I have no energy to deal with it.

Doing my best to at least pick up and sweep the downstairs today.

At least the kids rooms are clean.

*sigh*

Can't sleep cuz i can't

Can't sleep cuz i can't breathe cuz my chest hurts cuz i keep coughing cuz my snot filled nose is gagging me
*~Bonnie Lea~*

Thursday, February 24, 2011

*~Bonnie Lea~*

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Wednesday, February 23, 2011

*~Bonnie Lea~*

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oh yes

And Rayce is now coming down with the cold that the girls are just getting over.

I kept him home today, he's got the junky sounding cough and was running a low grade fever this morning (clearned up very easily with a dose of motrin, thankfully).

I'm hoping he doesn't get it quite as badly as the girls had it.

He usually doesn't get the colds and respiratory illnesses to the same degree.

holy exhaustion

I've been scrubbing Drew's new apartment since 930am.

Almost 5 hours.

Scrubbing.

Mouse poop from silverware drawers, roaches from the microwave.

Grease from every corner of the kitchen.

Yum.

Yummy.

Yum.

I should not have sat down.

I don't know if I'll be able to get back up.

My knee is throbbing and I feel a strange pressure inside of it.

And my body feels kind of achey.

Kids are eating now, and then we're all going to take a nap.

But at least his new apartment is sooooo much cleaner now, and I wouldn't be horrified to have him move his stuff into it.

Now hopefully they get things squared away with an exterminator very very soon.

*~Bonnie Lea~*

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Tuesday, February 22, 2011

dog and chicken noodle soup

Chicken noodle soup.

Chicken noodle soup

with a soda on the side.

Or, ya know, juice.

That's what's for lunch.

The girls are starting to feel better.

Fevers are down.

There have been no cough-till-puke episodes today.

Snot is still dripping, but no sneezy snot splashes recently.

I have a headache, and I'm totally going to nap with the kids even though the house is trashed.

I'm pretty sure the mess isn't going to get up and run away.

And if it does, hey, less work for me.

Brody is doing *really* well today.

He's been out ALL day, and we haven't had any real issues, and he's listening really well when I do have to tell him no.

For all the training collar nay-sayers... take THAT!

(And just an FYI, I did shock myself with it before I put it on him... it sure didn't feel good but it wasn't terrible, felt like a quick prick, really). (And another FYI, a quick and low zap when misbehaving is a lot less cruel that leaving a dog tied up outside for it's entire life, or leaving a dog in a kennel for 20 hours a day because he can't be trusted out and about with the kids, or re-homing the dog to someone that certainly would do those same things because the dog is just so wild and crazy and overwhelming!)

After several days of using the collar, more than half the time, he listens when I say no.

If he doesn't listen, I vibrate the collar while I say no again.

If he still doesn't listen, I use the lowest setting shock.

I haven't had to do that at all today, I've only had to use the vibration button a couple times.

And today, he learned to sit :o)

Nowww if he could learn to take the kibble from my hand gently instead of ripping my fingers off...

He's making some significant progress, and I'm happy with him, because I was very worried for a while that I wasn't going to be able to handle him forever.

I love my puppers and I'm very sure now that he'll get to be a real member of the family and not have to be leashed, crated, or outside so much.

The kids are done with their chicken noodle soup.

And now it's naptime :o)

just stuff

The girls are still really sick.

Fevers.

Baddd coughing.

Crazy amounts of snot and sneezing.

Liliya coughed till she puked multiple times yesterday.

I'm feeling like I'm getting it, too, but not bad yet, just a little congested and my ears and glands hurt.

Rayce sounded a little hoarse this morning, so we'll see what happens with him.

Sheesh.

We've been fairly healthy for most of the winter (compared to previous winters, anyway), and now that it's almost spring, we get slammed with stomach bugs and terrible colds, one after the other.

Tax money should be in todayyyy, I'm so excited!

Can't wait to do a little shopppppingggg!

Speaking of shopping, as I've been purging and organizing the kids stuff, and as we've just had another round of birthdays, I've been thinking about the kids' 'stuff' and what might land in the toybox for a few years instead of being purged in the next round.

I got each of the boys a hotwheels track thingie set for their birthdays, and they're really cool and we all have a lot of fun with them.

This is something I'd like to get more of.

The boys always always always love nothing more than Power Rangers and action figures and super heroes, and the bigger ones seem better (sturdier and not as easy to lose!), so that's another thing I feel good about getting more of.

Also, motorcycle toys are a big hit, as are the magnetic hotwheels (one came with one of the boys birthday sets, I think they're called 'Rev Ups').

Rayce is less and less interested in toys and more and more interested in video games, unfortunately.

As for the girls, it's more of the same.

They love love love Barbies and Polly Pockets and their dollhouse and their 18" dolls and their Littlest Pet Shop toys and their baby dolls.

But having a bin full of Barbies and a bin full of Polly Pockets and a bin full of doll clothes doesn't bother me, because they really do play with them, all the time (and most of those types of toys are small and easy to store!).

I'd like to get the girls more Barbie clothes, in particular.

The kids do not really play with stuffed animals, I want to be sure we don't bring anymore into the house.

The munchkins are calling, I must go.

Monday, February 21, 2011

We've crossed the line from having colds to being *sick*.

The girls are both running fevers now, and Charlize is especially miserable and slightly lethargic.

She is sneezing every minute or two, and the snot literally pours out and splashes on whatever is underneath her.

It's gross.

I hate seeing the kids sick :o(

Sooo, we'll be pushing fluids and watching lots of movies today, while I hopefully get the rest of the mess from the birthday party cleaned up.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Rayce doesn't catch this, although I'm sure it's inevitable.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

My girls have such a

My girls have such a terrrrrible cold. They sneeze and i literally hear a splasg when snot hits floor =-x
*~Bonnie Lea~*

3-4-5 birthday party!

I forgot to charge my camera battery before the party started :o(

Sooo I only got a very few pictures.

Which makes me sad.

But the kids had a blast!

I only got them each a few things, and they loved every single thing.

Drew got them some games, which they played with half the night.

Aunt Carol (came down from the Albany area! It was so nice to see her, we generally only see her 2-3 times a year!) brought silly string (which will have to wait for a warmer day) and glow bracelets and new crayons and colored pencils.

Each of the kids got a gift card to WalMart from Great Gramma Henson, and some spending money from Grampa and MiMa.

We ate too much pizza, ice cream, brownies, and finally, cupcakes.

I paid for it last night :-/

The kids passed out without toooo much of a fight, and they slept in a tiny bit this morning.

I spent the entire morning and half of the afternoon cleaning, and my knee is throbbing still.

I'm thinking I'm definitely gonna have to have it checked out :o(

Anyway, without further adieu, the few pictures...

:o)

Saturday, February 19, 2011

rough morning

I'm having a FML kind of morning.

Don't get me wrong.

I know how much I have to be thankful for, and most of the time, I am grateful for those things.

But this is my blog and I need to vent right now.

FML

I am trying so hard to clean up.

And the kids just don't give a flying flip.

They have absolutely no respect for me.

Really.

My kids have no respect for me.

They don't listen.

At all.

Until I have yelled and screamed and threatened until I am blue in the face.

And a lot of times, not even at that point.

And I'm just really really really freaking sick of it.

Why should I bust my butt getting ready for a party when they won't even clean up their own messes, that they made just this morning?

You have no idea how tempted I am to cancel the flipping party and lock them (somehow, it would be tricky since they have no latches at all on their doors) in their rooms and absolutely refuse to let them out till the flipping rooms are clean.

I cleaned their rooms the day before yesterday.

And I certainly did not make any of the messes.

They are 3, 4, 4 1/2, almost 5, and 6 1/2 years old.

They are plenty old enough to pick up toys and put them in the toyboxes.

This is ridiculous.

It really is.

And I've just now decided that if they don't get their rooms clean, there will not be a party.

End of story.

I'll make them watch me eat all the brownies, too.

=-P

Cleaning for party w 5

Cleaning for party w 5 kids underfoot who refuse to help. Rayce noticed tiny old scratch, he'll limp 4 wks
*~Bonnie Lea~*

Friday, February 18, 2011

Tomorrow is the big dayyyy!

Party day for my 3,4,&5!!!

Until Holden actually turns 5 in a couple weeks, I am proud Mama/stepMama to THREE FOUR YEAR OLDS!

Charlize, Dante, and Holden are all 4 years old.

Yeesh, Anthony!

:o)

I can't even be mad about it anymore.

I mean, I am sometimes.

But right now I find it amusing and I'm chuckling!

Anyway, yes, tomorrow is party day, and I have sooooo much to do in the morning!

My aunt is coming down from Albany and she's going to stay the night, which I forgot about, so I've got to get my bedroom in shape :-/

It's a disaster.

And of course I've got to pick up, sweep, and mop the downstairs.

And clean both bathrooms.

And vacuum the stairs.

LOTSSSS to do.

I guess that should probably be my cue to get these crazed munchkins in bed and either start getting to work or get to bed myself so I can get it all done tomorrow!

Wish me luck :-/

all 5 of my babies

my girlies with their best friend J

my girlie girls

Thursday, February 17, 2011

rambling

I'm feeling much better today than I did yesterday.

I don't know if I was having hormone issues, or if I was PMS'ing, or if being without my zoloft (for a couple days) several days before was finally catching up to me, or if it was just a bad afternoon/evening.

But I was miserable and irritable and slightly hysterical at times last night.

Today I managed to get both of the kids rooms, the upstairs bathroom, and the hallway cleaned.

Of course the kids rooms need picked up again.

Now hopefully tomorrow I can get my bedroom done.

It's always the last thing on my list, and it seems to never get done.

But it needs to happen.

I'm thinking we may not do cake for the party this weekend.

Ice cream and brownies and whipped cream sounds just as good.

And I supposed I'll probably pick up a pack of cupcakes just so the kids have something to put a candle in to blow out.

I only got each of the kids a couple gifts.

They have so many toys, and I'm trying to simplify, so I'm keeping it low-key.

My left knee bothers me frequently, but the last several days it's been bothering me more than ever and almost constantly.

I'm thinking it may be time to admit defeat and get it checked out :-/

Tax refund $$$ should be in within 2 weeks, I can't wait to go shopping, and I especially can't wait to get my photography softbox lighting kit and photoshop preset actions.

Guess that's enough for now, I'm tiiiiired and ready to pass out!

It's official. The dog takes up almost half the couch. Luckily, he doesn't take his half out of the middle (usually)!

I'm slowly but surely getting stuff done around here.

It feels *awesome*.

I can't wait to get every room done.

Decluttered.

Organized.

Scrubbed.

Wiped down.

Washed.

Vacuumed and hopefully shampooed (carpets upstairs).

I'm getting rid of tons of stuff.

Simplifying.

:o)

Liliya woke up w a

Liliya woke up w a dry pull up this morning!!! first dry night!!!
*~Bonnie Lea~*

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Slys preferred method of hydration

3 hrs at pal center,

3 hrs at pal center, 2 hrs of shopping, 3 hrs of cleaning, and i get asked 'what's the issue' because i'm sitting on the couch when Mom walks in

*~Bonnie Lea~*

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Eeeeek

I seem to be having some intense muscle spasms in my back/side.

They hurt.

Luckily they're not happening constantly and they only last for a second or so at a time.

Thinking I'll be digging out my heating pad tonight!

:-/

Am I being unreasonable?

To let Rayce sit at the table for the 15 minutes or so it takes all the rest of us to eat

then to tell him repeatedly for another 10 or 15 minutes to eat

then to tell him I'm setting the timer for 5 minutes

and that if he hasn't eaten most of his dinner by then, he's going right to bed

half an hour early??

Is that completely unreasonable??

I'm not the type to insist my kids clean their plates.

But I do insist they eat enough to sustain them.

I give all three (or five, depending on the night) kids about the same amount of food.

The girls usually eat all of theirs and ask for seconds a lot of the time too.

Rayce is bigger. Older. And involved with some sports.

He should be eating at least close to as much as the girls, if not more.

I can sense when they're not eating because they're not feeling well, and I don't make them eat anything at those times, although I push fluids if necessary.

I would never force them to eat something they truly, really, and honestly do not like.

And like I said, I don't make them clean their plates or eat all of anything.

But they do need to eat enough to keep them from getting hungry again before the next time they will get to eat.

Rayce is the most difficult child at meal time.

Every night...

"What are we having for dinner?"

"XXX"

"I don't like XXX"

even though he asked for it last week.

He insists he doesn't like XXX, isn't hungry, blah blah blah.

Then five minutes after the table is cleared, he wants a go-gurt and some pretzels.

It's frustrating!!

So, I sent him to bed.

Half an hour early.

Because I'm sick of fighting and if he had stayed up and asked for something to eat after refusing dinner, it was gonna get ugly.

*sigh*

de-cluttering my life

I cleaned the boys' room today.

And I got rid of two big trash bags FULL of toys in the process.

Just from the boys room.

How that tiny little room was even holding that much stuff, I have no idea.

But now everything is put away, in it's place.

They have the smaller toys in the bin organizer.

The bigger toys in the toy box (which is currently only half full!).

And the bigger cars/trucks/vehicles lined up under the edge of the bed.

(I'm desperately hoping I can either buy or get my dad to make some big drawers for under the beds, sometime soon!)

I need to go through the girls' dolls and stuffed animals again.

We need to downsize.

They can't possibly play with all 20 dolls and 40 stuffed animals at the same time, anyway.

We'll keep their 18 inch dolls, and their princess dolls, and weed through the rest.

We'll keep the stuffed animals with sentimental value (in other words, the ones that Anthony got them and the ones that used to be mine when I was a kid!) and ditch the rest.

And I still need to go through ALL of our clothes.

Charlize and Rayce have outgrown practically everything in the last few months.

I need to decide what to keep for the smaller kids and what to ditch.

And I need to pull the size 3 stuff out of Liliya's closet... most of it barely fits and now she'll have size 4 to grow into!

I'm feeling really good about getting rid of so much junk.

I'm tiiired now, but I can't wait to get more done tomorrow!

*~Bonnie Lea~*

Monday, February 14, 2011

Rayce cracked his face on a skateboard. My little tony hawk wannabe. Almost broke the skin!
*~Bonnie Lea~*

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*~Bonnie Lea~*

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Sunday, February 13, 2011

I love

my kids

(including stepkids and stepkids to-be ;o)

photography

blogging

journaling

Anthony

my friends

my family

my pets

sleeping in

brown

lists

Drew

Poland Spring

new socks

chinese food

dragonflies

pillows

cool nights

the beach

the internet

bags/purses/totes/duffles

gel pens

crockpots

my camera

fresh notebooks

silence

pictures

parks

smiles

pizza

organization

cats

mango

cute chubby bellies

new crayons

my mini-van

time to think & remember

bean bag chairs

We had a great weekend.

Had my nephews birthday party yesterday.

Jeremiah is TWO years old, how the heck did that happen??

Jonny helping his brother blow out the candles (Jeremiah is the little one in the back)

Today, Drew and I went out to breakfast to celebrate Valentine's Day.

He gave me the key to his heart <3

Have I mentioned lately how incredibly head over heels I am for him?!?!

Then this afternoon we went to Corbin's birthday party, at Jumping Jungle.

Happy SIXTH birthday Corbin!!!

When we got home, we did a quick cleanup.

The kids actually *really* helped.

I made it a race, kind of, and they took the bait.

Then my dad and stepmom came over to visit, and they got a pizza from Pudgies for dinner.

Yummmm. I heart pudgies. Like, for real.

Liliya making sure that grampa does indeed have boobies, as she stated to us all.

Now, the kids are watching Toy Story, and it's almost bedtime.

I am utterly exhausted.

We had a great, albeit busy, weekend.

I can't wait to snuggle with my sweetheart for a little bit tonight and then hit the sack early (as soon as he leaves for work!)