Life according to me…

It’s no secret that I get overwhelmed VERY easily and regularly feel like I will never get everything done that I have to get done. To cope with this I make to-do lists and cross things off because I read in a magazine that doing so is a mental boost helping you to feel less overwhelmed and get things done. At the current moment, I just feel overwhelmed and am going to make a list here rather than on a notebook that Sarah will eventually find and color all over therfore causing me to need to rewrite said list due to it’s messiness and my OCD.

Here is some of the things I need to take care of this week:
-Clean out all closets - send things to goodwill, sell them on craigslist or throw them out
-Go clean out storage unit, gather Christmas items
-reorganize toys to fit Christmas Tree in house, get rid of old/unused toys
-scrub down crusty chairs in dining room to prepare for eating a meal at it and filling up the chairs
-get both cars in for an oil change
-get carpets cleaned for holiday season or clean them myself
-sort winter clothes for kids and pull out what doesn’t fit in their current wardrobes
-order free otc medication from kids insurance
-dust so that any decorations i put up won’t be in a cloud of smoke/dust/whatnot
-sort out dishes and get rid of extras that we just don’t use
-call kids insurance and see about open enrollment so they can change doctors
-work - always pending and always on my mind because i never feel like i give it enough time - thanks joe!

that is the summary for right now. today i hope to get the closets at least done and make a huge trip to goodwill. maybe i can go ahead and get the dishes sorted so they can go also. its hard to be productive for me, because i could make this huge list, but then that doesn’t include the hour of dishes i just finished doing, the toys that need to be put away so i can walk across the floor, the beds to make, the bathrooms that need a good bleaching, or the other random chores i have regulary to do. it’s frustrating sometimes.

so if you are bored and would like to either a. come help with the list or b. come help with the kids so i can work on the list, FEEL FREE!!!

yeah i didnt use caps. sometimes people just don’t wanna use caps, k?

So. Last weekend Aunt Britney called and said she had tickets for everyone in our family (the 6 of us, her mom, my dad, her and her boyfriend) to go to the Kennedy Space Center for the day. It just happened that Steve was closing on that day and could spend the day with us. So, we packed ourselves up and went! The kids were very excited because we were going to see ‘rockets’ which they are familiar with thanks to Disney’s Little Einstiens.

When we first arrived, we decided to let the twins use the stroller and let Maria walk. This was silly. Maria walks very slow and is in that independent stage where she doesn’t want to hold hands or anything. We put her little monkey backpack/leash thing on her and she did walk with us up to the gate, but at that point we switched and let one of the twins walk instead. We really should have grabbed both strollers but I just didn’t see someone else pushing a kid all day in addition to the double stroller being pushed. We know now for next time…and wouldn’t it be nice to have a triple stroller???? Ah, one can dream…I digress.

We got through the gate and wandered over to the Space Shuttle Launch Experience. This was not a kid friendly ride so the grandparents took the kids into the space shuttle model that lets you walk in a replica of the shuttle while Steve and I went on this ‘ride’. The actual ride was sorta like driving over speedbumps. They prepped you as to what happens in a launch with a few videos - showing you when the rockets go off and engines change over and stuff including special lights and fog during the movies. All very interesting. Then you get in the simulator and it shakes you and moves you around somewhat. The astronauts on the info video who are being interviewed claim this is the closest to what a real launch feels like. It was pretty cool - but not as exciting as they built it up to be. I went in the gift shop and got a postcard with the simulator logo on it so I could say I had been through training for launch. Hehehe.

We then went over to the Astronaut Memorial Garden where the kids were hanging out after going in the rocket. This is a beautiful big black wall that is lit up by the SUN (My dad says it is lights but I saw a documentary on it where they have positioned it so the sun will light up the names of fallen astroanuts as the day goes on) in addition to a few more memorials and things. At the end of the gardens is a pond, and floating in the pond was a 6-foot gator and a family of turtles! The kids were amazed. We took some pictures which I still haven’t uploaded because I can’t find the freakin cord…but I will upload them soon. Everyone enjoyed seeing the little fish, big fish, turtles and then the big ol gator come around because Nana Sandy was throwing crackers in the pond. Shh…don’t tell! PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE WILDLIFE!

After this we walked over and took some pictures in a little astronaut thing where you stick your head in but the body is an astronaut. We got some hilarious pictures which I will also upload soon. Then it was time for lunch. They have like a cafeteria type setup which is pretty neat. The prices were typical but everyone behaved through lunch which was very impressive. The kids were having a great time. Yes, lunch was expensive but I don’t want to get into the complaining about theme park prices. We were there for free, I guess we could pay 7 dollars for a hot dog.

After lunch we headed over to the IMAX movie about the moon. Well, most of us headed over. Sarah went the wrong way and turned right when we all turned left and Daddy had to go and get her. She was walking through people…turned her head around…saw Steve was coming after her…AND TOOK OFF! She giggled and ran and Daddy had to run and fetch her. It was HILARIOUS - though I am sure not for Daddy! She was giggling when we got her back and we took that time to strap her back into the stroller. We THEN headed for the IMAX movie.

Stephen wore his 3-D glasses for the entire movie and loved every minute of it! At some points, rocks/dirt spray out appearing to come towards you and we saw him reach out and try to grab them. Sarah was less interested. She wouldn’t keep her glasses on and ended up crawling into my lap and falling asleep. It was very cold and dark in the theater - I think Papa fell asleep at some point too.

After the movie it was time for the Rocket Garden and a few exhibits that were there because the World Space Expo was going on. Here is where the fun began. We walked in and out of the exhibits and gathered the little pins/pens/stickers/temporary NASA tatoos that they had. One exhibit even had bouncy light up balls on a string that attached to your wrist so the ball would come back to you. Elisa had to answer a question on a map to get her ball - what state is this? (Florida) and what ocean is this? (Atlantica). She got them both right - but yes, that is what she calls the Atlantic Ocean - which was cute. We then went outside and looked around as the air show was about to begin. And, oh my gravy, did that show have a BIG BEGINNING…

All of a sudden a large fighter jet flew over very close to our heads with what had to be the loudest noise I have ever heard in my life. Sarah and Stephen were walking at this point and both took off for their parents. They were scared TO DEATH of the noise! I tried to explain to them that it was just an airplace and asked them to look up because another one then flew over and circled above us, but they would not. They were very worried about the noise. Poor things. It was funny, though to see them get freaked out like that. I know, I am a bad mommy laughing at my freaked out kids! Maria didn’t really cry though. She just looked up like everyone else was. The planes flew over towards the coast and were doing some very cool flying acrobatic things. One would fly straight up into the air and then tumble down towards the ground and flip over and over. It was AWESOME! Unfortunately the only way to see the air show was to take the launch pad tour buses over and stay there for four hours, and we didn’t want to get stranded over there with the kids in case they needed to leave or freaked out, so we missed the rest of the air show. I was very sad about that as seeing those fighter jets was FREAKIN’ AMAZING!

We walked around the rocket garden some more and let the kids wander through the exhibits. Little Maria decided to be a buster and started picking on Stephen who was sitting in the stroller in front of her. She began with hitting him in the head with a water bottle straw and he stared whining, NOOOO WEEEIIIIAAAA!!!! to which she would laugh hysterically and hit him more. I was able to get the straw from her and she then resorted to just bopping him on the head with her hand to which he would fuss more. He needs to stand up to his sister! I asked her about 10 times to stop and she kept on laughing and then moved to kicking the back of his seat (insert more NOOOO WEEEIIAAAAAAA!!! from the whiner) so finally I just let him get up and walk around and left Maria alone in the stroller. She likes to pick on them because she loves to hear them whine, I am convinced.

We wrapped up the day with some Dippin’ Dots ice cream, a few more exhibits, and then headed home. The children behaved beautifully and it really helped that we had 4 other adults there to keep them in line. They ran around a bunch, got to see things they rarely get to see, and had a very fun filled day. Everyone slept on the ride home and was in bed early that night. We are going to try to get out to the next shuttle launch in December when Katie and Matt come to visit. Space rules!

As our supernanny letter indicated, we have had mega issue with the twins going to sleep. Unless they have not napped or something else has happened to tire them out, when we put them to bed together in their room, they stay up and talk and play until like 11pm. This was becoming more and more of a hassle for everyone since it really effects me when I don’t get to my down time at night like I am used to. Everyone knows if momma ain’t happy, nobody is happy - so we had to find a solution to them staying up and playing all night long.

Well, we decided to swap out Elisa and Sarah and have the girls sleep in each other’s bedrooms. Can I just say, SCORE!!?!?! Not only are they going to sleep faster, but Stephen is staying in his bed almost until the sun comes up now! Of course, the time change jacked it all up and he got up at 5am today…but that would have been 6am which is SURE BETTER than him getting up at 2 or 3 and wanting to lay in our bed! Yay! All it took was having Sarah sleep in the room with Maria and Elisa sleep in the room with Stephen - and now sleeping is not an issue! The second night we tried this, Sarah did not want her sisters bed. So, we stopped calling it “Elisa’s bed/room” and started referring to it as “Sarah’s bed in Maria’s room”. Elisa didn’t want to switch (because sleeping with her BROTHER is just so GROSS) so we told her she is just sleeping in there in the bed next to him, not WITH him, and that the other room is still hers, and so far, so good! Sarah asked to go in Maria’s room and sleep in Elisa’s bed tonight…which was nice because we were all too tired for a fight. I hope she will soon understand that the bed really is hers now, but if she doesn’t - WHO CARES AS LONG AS SHE GOES TO SLEEP!!! Yay!!!!!

I’ll try to keep up on posting updates on the sleep situation since that was the biggest issue we had and wanted Supernanny to address.

As an aside - the guy from Supernanny wrote me back and was kinda rude, basically said that I have too many personal issues and that there are plenty of other families who will do whatever it takes to get Supernanny’s help. Um, I personally have decided I didn’t need her help that badly - my kids don’t hit me (much) or swear at me (unless it’s Maria and she is just a parrot and doesn’t understand) or beat up each other (as long as Maria doesn’t get a hold of a spoon, then maybe there is some beating up) - we are just fine and will get along just fine without Joe Frost’s help. They are good kids, their father and I are trying as best we can to be good parents and have a good marriage so they see what a healthy family is supposed to be like, so I am fine declining an intervention. I think they are hard up for families which is why they decided to speak to me in the firstplace. So sorry that I took up the time of one of their casting people when we actually didn’t need to do the show. Poo on them. LOL.

Sisterswap updates will follow soon!

So, it’s high time the Coyles start getting out in public and stop hiding just because it’s difficult to take out 4 little kids. Saturday night we decided to give it a try. We sold some stuff on craigslist and had the cash and Daddy had gotten home from work so…we took the kids to Denny’s!

I was very nervous as we had never taken all of the kids to a restaurant before. Why would you, it’s a recipe for disaster, isn’t it? Two three year olds, a hyper seven year old and a toddler in a public place? NO WAY! Well, we did it!

Lucky for us the UCF game was still happening so the Denny’s was practically deserted. Just a few people at a few tables and so we sat in the back and got things underway.

The twins did really good at first, sat and talked with us and played with their silverware. We then had to convince them that they wouldn’t need their butter knives and after some coaxing they gave them up. Everyone had a serving of apple juice and was behaving. Then their food came, and nobody really wanted any of it. Sarah decided she wanted to get down and hide so she went and sat under the table next to us for a bit.

Well, then Maria apparently had a bathroom issue. She was trying to um, move her bowels, and couldn’t. So she was in pain and crying and only wanted to be held - just as the food came. So I ate my meal with a crying Maria in my arms…my poor baby who NEVER fusses was upset most of the rest of her meal. She eventually calmed down and I got my food down one handed and all was well, so we set out to use the coupons Danae so graciously brought with us - and guess what! We didn’t need them! KIDS EAT FREE SAT NITES FROM 4-10! AND MONDAY AND TUESDAY NIGHTS TOO! How freakin’ cool was that???? Score! That’s like a savings of 20 dollars for us! Note to selves!

So, Daddy took the kids out to the van and mommy went to pay up the bill. Ha! I get all done and go outside and Daddy has the children running up and down in this big grassy area in front of the restaurant. I suppose they were letting off steam, but it was hilarious - kids running everywhere! Little did I know this would be foreshadowing as to how most of my Sunday would go…but it was cute. We got them loaded, had a little more family time chillin at Danae’s house, and then headed home to bed.

It was not bad for our first evening to dinner with our children. And was cost effective too!

They have gone too far!

It used to be, when my children watched Blue’s Clue’s - Blue and Steve/Joe would get a letter in the mail and sing a happy jingle about it.

“Here’s the mail it never fails, it makes me wanna wag my tail, when it comes I wanna wail MAAAAAAAIIIILLLLLLLLL”

Ha! Not anymore! While casually flipping through children’s shows this week trying to find something to stop Sarah and Stephen from fighting with each other, I saw Joe and Blue - but instead of a letter, THEY GOT E-MAIL!

“Here’s email it never fails it makes me wanna wag my tail when it comes I wanna wail EEEEMMMAAAILLLLLLLLL”

What.
The.
HECK!?!?!?!??!!

So now I am going to have to get my toddlers some e-mail addresses so they can EMAIL BLUE AND JOE???? I don’t think so! Go back to getting letters like all good little kids are supposed to still get!! No e-mail for Blue’s Clues! I won’t have it! It’s not right with the world! I know we are moving forward, but any little kid who watches that show is not going to have a COMPUTER! Or shouldn’t!!

Ok, rant over. You will now join our regularly scheduled programming already in progress.