BUSY WEEK/WEEKEND - RANDOM BITS AND PIECES :)

Well, today is the day!  Gwen starts college!!! I hardly believe I am old enough to have a college Freshman! But alas, there I was wishing her a good first day.  She was nervous but I know for sure she shouldn't be. She will do great!  School is her thing, she is good at it and she wants to spend her life being a teacher so I think she will be fine once she gets used to the freedom that college allows.  She is all set, she has her own car, her school, and her job. We couldn't be more proud.

We have had a sickie on our hands over the weekend. Miss Crazy had a high fever and a sore throat.  We were thinking strep, but the fever broke and she was running around and playing so we will sit tight for now and see if the fever comes back or if the sore throat persists. Don't you love school germs?  Especially when they come home the first week!!!! I am just glad that I don't have to send my sick kids to school and risk losing my job like some parents do.

Lil miss Little Butt is coming down with a cold but so far no fever thank goodness.  I'm just waiting though, waiting for it to spread through the house. :(

My car broke down the other day.  We aren't sure what happened to it yet, but I sure hope it isn't anything too expensive! On top of everything else, my wallet went missing.  I'm pretty sure I left it at the dentist's office on Thursday, but they say it isn't there.  I've checked everywhere else it could have been left. Now we have to tear the house apart to see if by some chance it isn't lost in the big bad world, but in our very own house.

I had my book release party the other day and it was really fun!  I hope some of you were able to join us.  We had contests and giveaways and sneak peeks at the next book.  I also had book 1 of the series set for free on amazon.  We had a great response and I even sold my first book overseas! I mean actually sold, not given away!!! And we actually had a bestseller rank to be proud of - click on the picture to see what it was!!! :)

I want to share a facebook post I made today because this means so much to me and kind of rejuvenated me after I had the depressing time after finishing my book. I hope you will check it out.

Have you ever had a review that made you cry? A review that reminded you why you became a writer? A review that let you know that you accomplished exactly what you set out to do with that particular story/book/article? This is one of those reviews. One that I will cherish forever! Could I please get some YES votes on it? Thanks!

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1QLHAP976O3E6/ref=cm_cr_dp_title?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00EP01L2W&channel=detail-glance&nodeID=133140011&store=digital-text

Until Next Time...Don't fret when your oldest starts college (or gets married or has kids) because if they are at that milestone it means that you have done something wonderful.  You got them to where they are and they are alive!!! ;)

BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT

Last night was back to school/meet the teacher for the littles. We gathered up all of the school supplies and headed to their little school. Miss Crazy was excited to see old teachers and friends and Mr. Insane was excited to start a new adventure all while being very nervous. And me?  Well, I was just emotional to see my little boy in a classroom and around other kids.

She's going to miss him!

This year they are doing things differently for the kindergartners. The first three or four days of school are only partial days. One reason is to let the little cuties get used to being away from home.  And the second is to be able to do evaluations to see which kids need a bit of help and which kids already know their stuff.  Mr. Insane will probably be in the needs help section, at least for awhile.  As most of you know, I don't believe in teaching kids too early and on top of it all, he learned a lot of stuff from his siblings just through filtering down but he forgot a lot of it when we had the great Singulair disaster.  He literally forgot a lot of stuff he used to know because of that horrible medicine.  But he will catch up quickly (as long as he doesn't rebel by not listening to the teacher. lol)  The knowledge is there, it just needs to come back out.

I don't like the fact that my days will be totally trashed because of the weird kindergarten schedule the first week, but I do like the fact that they won't be trying to teach the kids at the same time as they are doing the assessments to decide which group they are in. That just created a lot of confusion for a lot of kids.  Mr. Insane has his evaluation on the Tuesday which is cool.  Get it out of the way! But the kids are going crazy not knowing which teacher they will have yet.  By the end of the week they will have a 'home' teacher but in this district most of the schools have the teachers share responsibility.  They might have one teacher for math and one for reading and then the other for science etc.

He's going to be doing a lot of this soon!

One thing that really irks me...On thursday I think it is, I will literally have to pick up the boy and come home only to have to leave again a half hour later to pick up The Sophomore and then head over to pick up Miss Crazy.  It's just too hot to head to the school to sit in the car with everybody to wait for The Sophomore to get out.  At least Little Butt can crawl in and out of the car by herself now and all I have to do is hook her in. Yay for kids getting older. haha

SIDE NOTE: Sent an email to the high school protesting some bogus fines and they erased them all, even the ones we were willing to pay.  I love making people fear me. :p

Until Next Time...Don't let your kids see you break down on the first day of school, it just makes them anxious. I never really broke down with my kids until Miss Crazy and even then it was only a couple of tears in the car after I left her in her classroom. But with Mr. Insane I'm getting teary eyed every day leading up to it.  I'm going to have to kick him out of the car and let his sister remind him where his classroom is and then boob all the way home and have Little Butt say "it okay mama, you no cry please." :D

LOTS OF RANDOM CRAP :D

BIRTHDAY PICS - I was asked for some pics of our birthday celebration for Miss Crazy. Here are the only ones I can seem to get uploaded at this point. :D

Hugging one gift while sharing another with friend

Rapunzel wig.  It reaches the floor! :)

Princess ring birthday cake- chocolate!
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SCHOOL SHOPPING: School shopping is DONE DONE DONE!!! We got all five kids clothes today for under 200 dollars. Some bought at big box store and some at our favorite charity thrift store. :D  I was so proud of us.  But....Next year I will remember to try to get the clothes earlier in the month because the thrift store had no shoes for any of the littles and no pants for Mr. Insane. But the expensive part is stuff we dont' usually buy at thrift stores. Socks (pairs never really match) and underwear (new are much better unless all you can afford are used). those right there were fort five dollars. (Of course we had to buy Little Butt some too. :)

LITTLE BUTT Well, she is doing much better but because she is under five they have to do an ultrasound on the 30th to make sure there isn't something structurally wrong.  I'm pretty sure it is from her sitting butt naked in the yard when she sneaks her diaper off, but no one listens to the mom. :/

RELEASE DATE: Well, the release date for my next novel is August 24,2013. Hopefully won't have to change it.  As long as editing is done and formatting isn't as difficult as I think it will be, we will have it out.  Hop on over to http://www.facebook.com/writerjjellis to find out about our relase day event!

OTHER BUSINESS: So, I got this email yesterday and I wanted to know what you all think about it.  They asked me to find beta testers for their product.  I will post the email here and let you check it out and I ask you to let me know what you think...(I in no way am endorsing this as I don't know much about it yet) I like the idea but am always wary of uploading my pics to strange places (I felt this way about dropbox at first too)

KairosLife.com is a place for families to save digital memories and heirlooms for kids and loved ones. Then digitally deliver those keepsakes to them at a predetermined date in the future, kind of like a digital time capsule or gift. 

Our founder recently lost a close friend who passed suddenly without warning and was again reminded of how quickly life can be taken away, at any age.

He woke up one night with the idea of this site.  He is a father of three and was thinking about the memories we want to keep forever - and how could they be stored, kept for the future, and delivered at just the right moment to have the greatest impact.

How does it work?

1. Upload photos, videos or letters from your PC or mobile device to a “KairosMoment” which is the album or capsule that will be delivered to your loved one on a future date.
2. Tag your loved ones to that KairosMoment and set a reveal date when it will be delivered.
3. As the reveal date approaches, if desired, other family members and friends can share their thoughts on that KairosMoment to add to the memories for that loved one.
4. Then on the reveal date, the loved one will get an email notifying them of a KairosMoment that has been unlocked.

We are still polishing up the site and are giving complimentary memberships to people who can help us. Just visit www.KairosLife.com and enter your email address.

Until Next Time...unplanned busy days lead to BS blogs, haha.  Do I hear complaining? ;)  See ya Friday! :)

GOOD NEWS, GOOD TIMES, GOOD DAYS!

So, I was sitting here on the couch fuming because I am not getting the drive free summer I had planned, and no one was listening to my directive that I would not be giving rides, when my phone rang.  I had no clue who it was, but I answered it because the first three numbers indicated it was from the school district. Boy am I glad I did answer it!  They were calling to let me know that they now had room for my son in our school of choice!!!  Woo hoo, that means I don't have to drive all over the place next year getting both of my smaller kids to different schools and different activities at the exact same start and end times. (You know it would have been painful having to get Little Butt in and out of the car an extra time when I would have to take my son into the school because he's not quite ready to just go himself.

I cried tears of joy. Really, I did. You guys don't realize what a relief this is to me.  With the snowy roads that aren't plowed worth a crap, and having to drag a sleepy, cold two year old everywhere, my life will now be so much better and easier and better, and did I say easier?  :D :D :D :D Oh yeah, and less painful too!

And in other great news, Gwen got a clean bill of health from the doctor. We are thinking her feeling 'off' is caused by stress and low blood pressure, which she is treated for.  That is a huge relief and weight off of our minds.

So now that the family is (maybe) finally getting healthier, we can move on to have a good summer.  I am going to be busy getting Mr. Insane ready for Kindergarten and writing my books - I have decided that I am completely insane.  I am writing the last three books at the same time.  I wrote chapter one of all three books and then onto chapter 2 of all three books and so on.  Oh, and I am also still writing that book with my daughter.  Did I mention that I am completely insane?  I do believe I did above and have many other times. :)

I am also starting a new program to try to get healthy.  I will tell you more about it when I get everything finalized, but I must say that the change I have seen in my college friend who is helping me get involved in this, is amazing.  I think she is down 121 pounds now and is feeling great. Her whole family is much healthier and that is exactly what I am hoping for my family too.  Stay tuned for details!!!

Overall things are going good now...thank goodness. I'd hate to have to bore you with my complaining again. ;)

Until Next Time...Please, please, please, enjoy the good times to the fullest!

KINDERGARTEN - MY KIDS ARE DROPPING LIKE FLIES ;)

Today I am happy. Today I am sad. Today I signed my son, my one and only boy, up for Kindergarten. :'( 

We usually do online enrollment here in this open district but I forgot. Then I had them send me the paperwork, then  it got lost, then I called and asked them to send it again, then they never returned my call. So, we trudged across town and filled out the paperwork.  The good news?  It's an easy thing to do. The bad news? The school we wanted him to go to is full so he will be going alone, without his sister. This is the one thing that I was afraid of, he is a shy boy and doesn't like people very much and now he won't have his sister there to back him up...yet.

We signed him up for a different school relatively close to our house and put him on the waiting list for the one his sister goes to. 

We thought about transferring his sister to the school he is going to, but their second grade is full.  Not only is this a pain in the ass because they will be receiving two totally different educations, but now I have to drive to two different schools and I HATE DRIVING KIDS TO SCHOOL DAMN IT!!!!!. I love school busses. ;)

He can be bussed, but I would have to drive him to the nearest bus hub which is about as far away as his school is.  So there goes that idea.

So here is what we know:

 Mr. Insane will be going to school A but is on the waiting list for school B

Miss Crazy will be going to school B but is on the waiting list for school A

One way or the other the kids will be going to the same school eventually!!!! 

And this is important not only because I want older sister to help younger brother to acclimate  but because both schools start at and end at the exact same time so one will always be left waiting.  So annoying! 

I need to put all of this aside and focus on the fact that my baby boy is GOING TO SCHOOL FOR THE FIRST TIME SOON!!! Oh my, it is one of those mommy moments that brings tears to the eyes, especially since he is my only boy. I will stop the proud tears from The Senior's graduation just in time for the proud tears for Mr. Insane going to Kindergarten to start.  My head is going to be stuffy a lot this year. :/

We have so much to do. Make sure he knows his ABC's properly and his first 15 numbers and make sure he can write his name and know his address and phone number.  Dang!  This will be a busy but fun summer I think.  Come August I will only have one child still at home, it will be bittersweet. I will get to have alone time with my last baby, which will be great, but I'm going to miss my son. We've had some great times together the last five years!

Until Next Time...Do not take things for granted when it comes to your kids..  Children  hit milestone after milestone so quickly that we blink and they are grown up, married and have kids of their own. (It seems like just yesterday The senior was starting Kindergarten and now she's graduating!) 

Also, if your kids go to an open school district, if you can't run away screaming, do not ever miss the open registration days or you may be spending your whole life driving your kids to different schools, which when they are involved in activities, is such a pain in the butt.  And bussing will be a nightmare too. On second thought....JUST RUN AWAY AS FAST AS YOU CAN!!! ;)