Katie Neustaedters House of Total CHAOS

The First Five

2009-03-14T16:24:00.000-07:00

The First Five
I got this off of my sister in law Laurie's, blog, and it sounded like a fun way to be creative and think of other people. ♥The first five...The first people to leave a comment on this blog will receive something made by me.However there are some limitations1. I make no guarantee that you will like what I make. 2. What I create will be just for you.3. It will be done this year. (might take a while)4. You have not clue what it is going to be, poetry, shoes, bags or a little invention of my own. I may bake something and mail it you . Who knows? Not you that's for sure!5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. It may blow your mind!Here is the catch, if you choose to do this. You must post this on your blog and be ready to make something for five people too. This will be fun! When you receive the fabulous item I make you, you must post a picture of it on your blog.
ps the above is punctuated and spelled perfectly because i copied and pasted.....thanks Laurie.

OUR CRAZY LIFE

2009-03-11T20:01:00.000-07:00

HELLO...................I don't know if anyone will even read this, since I have'nt blogged for at least 3 months. But that is because Im just way to busy. Well we are doing good, we made it though the rest of the holidays and life has just been busy busy busy.
Devon loves his brother so much....he never hits him ......he is very soft with him....its funny cause he will be mad and hit someone then turn around and very softly pat Fintins head and tell him "I love you Fintin."But he is really sweet and a good boy.

My little Vampire.....He likes to suck your blood...ha ha

The precious moments we all look forward too!!!! Madison is so cute with the baby. She loves to be the mommy and take care of him. She loves to be in charge.

He is getting so big it is deppresing. I held a tiny baby at church and ......well....don't be surprised if I end up pregnant soon.....j/k

Hope got glasses....So cute.....well till Devon broke them.....then when I went to get them replaced the insurance wouldnt pay for it or let me buy the frames that fit those lenses.....so I took her to a different eye dr. who said she doesnt actually need glasses, so now she doesnt have them anymore......well it was fun for a month. She will need them eentually but for now she doesn't. She is doing really good though. We went to the cardiologist last week and the Dr said she is doin great, she may eventually need heart surgery again but for now, she is doing fantastic.

Ginger Bread Houses......'Tis The Season

2008-12-15T16:15:00.000-08:00

Well I was trying to be festive and create memories for my kids, so I had them invite friends from the niehborhood over and make ginger bread houses! It was a lot of fun. I had Madison invite her friend from down the street and she brought her sister and her sisters friend, who ended up being diabetic! I was so scrared to have her here when i saw the pump hanging out of her tummmy, i tried to very sweetly uninvite the uninvited by leaving and pretending to not be ready yet, but when I returned well they had all come back! OY! Anwyays I couldnt stall anymore so we got to it. I had gone to get my sister to help me out as always....thanks Aleah, and we got to it. It was busy and messy and tons of fun! The kids were so good and they were very creative and stuck to it till they were done. I was so proud of them, it was a great memory that they will all remember for ever.

The friend that was supposed to be invited....well her sister was invited to but it makes the story better when i tell it my way...lol

Aleahs bus and car... very creative

Omars friend....building a shack

Omar very serious.....his frosting was my first attempt and he was very patient with the hard clump that was not so cooperative.

Hope...just getting started

The friends sister

The friend of the sister....she was very good about not eating the poisoined candy!

Madison.....so proud of her creation

Devon...he was happy and had tons of fun but just wanted to look at his picture, he wont smile till he holds the camera

The group....It was tons of fun to watch and do.

CHOO CHOO

2008-11-18T11:44:00.000-08:00

We decided to be very festive this last Halloween and do lots of fun things. Well we ended up only doing 2 really fun things cause this one got spendy. But it was worth it and Im excited for Christmas to do this same thing. We were supposed to go on a train ride from Horseshoe bend out to a pumkin patch. We got to the train station, which was fun and festive, and nobody was complaining about anything.....yet! We were all bundled up thinking it was going to be really cold, well at least we were prepared. When we were finally able to board up we didnt want to get back off the train so we just sat and waited, unfortunantely nobody told us that trains are broiling hot! And we had to wait on there for about an hour! then the complaints started. The little treats and things I had brought were no longer good enough and I was desperate to make this a fun experience. So to the treat and toy trolly we went. They all got tons of treats and still had a great time. My sister Aleah was with us to help out with the kids. We had our 10 year old pcs kid our 5 year old 4 year old 3 year old and 4 month old, and remember that we are all miserably hot and trying to hold onto our coats and blankets and thigs.....really it was a good time. I stripped the baby down to his onsie and that seemed to help. Aleah walked the kids up and down the aisles, and then we heard it....."ALL ABOARD".......Aleah came back to sit with me and was all gitty then she said"did you hear it" "hear what" " i got to say the big all aboard" . It was so much fun!
draft

Madison decided to protect our pile of pumpkins so nobody else could steel them, then eveyone had to have their pics taken on the pile....my kids are so stinkin cute

Devon the next protector

Hope seems to have lost the pile

Devon....."dont touch my punkin"

Me and my precious Fintin

Steve with Omar and Devon....notice his hands are free and not holding anything.....hmm?

Thanks Aleah for coming to help me out.....couldnt have made this very fun memory with out you.......you are awesome

They really had fun and love talking about the train ride.....I just wish that wed worn shorts!

Steve and the boys

Pumpkin Patch

2008-11-06T14:18:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone! Yes yes yes I finally have a chance to get back into the life of blogging! I have a ton of things to blog about but I will try to keep it simple since I have so much saved up. Its been a very busy but fun month of October! We went to a couple pumpkin patches, had Devons 3rd birthday, got a new PCS kid, had halloween, and it all ended with everyone having a cold.
This is our first pumpkin patch.....arent they cute? Devon is so in love with Winnie. She is his best friend and wants to spend all his time with her. He is always asking "can we go to Winnie. i want winnie. winnie is my girl friend!"

Here is Fintin. Now 6 months old. Doing his favorite job.....sucking his thumb, and in his favorite spot for family outings, his sling! He is soo adorable. He is rolling now. And eating baby food. He is my easiest baby so far, well except for right now since he is sick with a yucky cold and cough and not sleeping well at all. But doing well otherwise.

Kind of blurry but thats cause we are on the hay ride out to the pumpkin patch. Madison is so much fun at stuff like this. She makes sure we dont miss out on anything! She was so funny at the patch trying to pick just the right one, i think she touched every single pumpkin trying to find the right one, she walked a very long ways to do this and then got upset cause she couldnt find it. When the hay ride came back around to get us the pressure was on and suddenly she saw the perfect one right by the trail and was very happy.

Hope cant seem to take a smiling picture ever! she is always making a funny face! She had a lot of fun too. She enjoyed the ride the hay maze and the pumkin picking. She loves to do what the other kids are doing and is a ton of fun to watch.

We all had a really great time! Steve isnt in this picture cause he is taking it, but he had a good time too. Hope is the only one that could really carry her pumpkin and at this point Madison still hadnt chosen hers yet. This was a fun outing. I love fall when it is getting cold and hot chocolate sounds so tasty! Its fun to start getting ready for the holidays.

Hopes Surgery

2008-10-11T12:27:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone.....well i dont have any pics to put up, but i thought it would be easier to put up a quick blog, rather than trying to email everyone. Ok so as some of you may know Hope had her g-tube taken out of her tummy about 2 months ago, well the hole never closed like it was supposed to and so she had a little surgery yesterday to close up the hole. She is doing fine.And she is so excited that her tummy isnt going to leak anymore. She would get so upset when she would eat or drink anything and the moments later her shirt would be wet and covered in what she was eating....chocalate cake or beans or cereal or chicken or whatever.....anyways she is doing really well and we will hopefully go home tonight. She is sitting by me right now asking for icecream so i think she will get over this real fast. Last night she was so bored before she fell asleep and discovered that if she pushed the red nurse button on her bed that the nurse would come in. I of course was letting her do whatever I could to make her happy so i didnt take it from her, and so every few minutes they came in and I played dumb....sometimes shed ask for something but mostly she would just laugh and then push it again a few minutes later. It was really funny to watch. She is being fun and entertaining....well she is being really insititent about getting back to her room for that icecream so i better get going....

CHORES

2008-10-03T13:00:00.000-07:00

Ive decided that its time for my kids to start having
regular chores. I don't recall when this began for me
as a child but the fact is it did start. They have been
helping with the little things for awhile now, its just recent
that at they are doing the bigger things. Its still new enough
that they think it is fun, so I took pics today of what great
kids I really do have!
Madison dusting......"can i spray by myself this time, please mom!"
Hope cleaning the bathroom(except the toilet), "I like cleaning the bathroom, can I do upstairs too!"
Devon vacuuming......"I do it myself Mommy...stop!"he only missed 2 spots this time.....hes a great vacuumer
Fintin just sucking his thumb.......thats enough of a chore for now!
Madison actually dusting.

Putting the laundry basket away....how obiedient...sometimes....lol!
"HOORAY WE ARE DONE......CHEESE"!!!!!!
After all that I went to take a shower, when I came down I was sure to find some sorta mess, instead I found Madison making lunch....she did a really great job too.....she made peanut butter and honey, fruit snacks, crackers and marshmallows. it was a very fun day and now we are off to the dollar store(cause Im el cheapo) to reward the hard work.
Devon enjoying Madisons lunch
Hope wanting more fruit snacks

CULLEN VS. MALFOY

2008-09-27T22:27:00.000-07:00

OK THIS IS COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS BUT I HAVE TO BLOG IT ANYWAY. ITS ABSOLUTELY EMABRASSING BUT HERE IT GOES......IM NOT A BIG NIGHT TIME DREAMER BUT WHEN I GET INTO SOMETHING THEN I DREAM, WELL LAST NIGHT AMIST A VERY SCRUMDIDILIUMTIOUS SLEEP FULL OF CRAZINESS WHILE COVERED IN MY CHILDRENS FEET IN MY FACE AND GUT, I SAW WHAT I THOUGHT WAS EDWARD CULLEN SINGING OPERA.....YES OPERA.....APPARENTLY THE MOVIE WILL BE A MUSICAL. WELL I NEVER PICTURED EDWARD TO BE SO NASTY AND GREASY AS HE LOOKED IN THIS CRAZY DREAM, BUT AS STUMBLED CLOSER ,AND SAW THAT HIS EYES WERE BLACK .AND HIS HAIR WAS NOT REALLY GOLDEN IT WAS.... DYE....
I FELT SOME VERY BIG WARM HANDS UNDER MY ARMS SWOOPING ME UP AND THEN I WAS FLYING..... FLYING TOWARDS ....DRACO.....DRACO MALFOY.....WHAT IN THE WORLD......I LOOKED UP AND EDWARD WAS CARRYING ME AS HE FLEW ME AWAY FROM THE DANGER THAT DRACO WAS PUTTING ME IN.....I SOON REALIZED ALSO THAT THE WEASLEY TWINS WERE PLAYING A GAME OF WIZARDS CHESS AT A NEARBY TABLE.......WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME I WASNT ME AT ALL I WAS BELLA? OK CATS OUT OF THE BAG IM A NUT. I WAS GLAD TO WAKE UP TO THE FEET IN MY FACE AND GUT AND REALIZE IT WAS JUST A DREAM

7 PM ALIENS

2008-09-27T20:47:00.000-07:00

YOU KNOW HOW SOMETIMES, TIME JUST GETS AWAY FROM YOU, AND LIFE GETS BUSY, AND YOUR FOSTER CHILDREN MOVE OUT OF THE HOUSE, AND TIME JUST GETS AWAY FROM YOU, AND ALL OF THE SUDDEN YOU HAVE A SERIOUS SITUATION ON YOUR HANDS

MOMMY WE ARE SO HUNGRY OUR FACES ARE MORPHING INTO ALIENS AND WE ARE NEVER GOING TO BE THE SAME AGAIN. PLEASE FEED US! PLEASE!

IM GOING TO GET IT !!!! IF ONLY I WAS JUST THE NORMAL SIZE! WELL AT LEAST MY FACE IS'NT MORPHING.

OK THINGS ARE SMELLING BETTER NOW, AND FACES ARE LOOKING BETTER, I THINK THINGS WILL BE OK!

OH THANKS MOMMY! I LOVE THE SOUND OF THAT! ARENT THEY PRECIOUS. ALL THOUGH IT WAS A BUSY DAY IM GLAD IT DID COME TO AN END AND EVERYONE WAS HAPPY. BUT OUR TWO FOSTER KIDS DID MOVE OUT THAT DAY BUT IT WAS FOR THE BEST FOR ALL INVOLVED, BUT WE WILL MISS THEM VERY MUCH. WE HAD THEM FOR 7 MONTHS, AND ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING STARTED WITH PCS. HOPEFULLY WE WILL GET OUR FIRST KID NEXT WEEK. WELL LOOKS LIKE EVERYONE IS HAPPY FOR NOW. SO GOOD NIGHT FOR NOW.

2008-09-25T16:49:00.000-07:00

So these are my four perfect children. I need to take a better one of Devon. I'll get right on it! So Madison is 5 now and is in Kindergarten. She loves it, I think she mostly loves socializing and riding the bus, i went up to the school one day to see how she was doing on the playground cause i was worried about her just sitting back and being bullied well what i witnessed was shocking! I saw my sweet little 5 year old Madison running across the playgound with her two friends in her flank, they ran right up to the 4th graders on the swings and she said "Hey its our turn now so get off," well they didnt get off, so she stepped closer that the bigger kid couldnt swing anymore and said, " I said its my turn so get off!" so they got and ran off and she happily got on the swings and then noticed me watching she skipped over to my van and sweetly said "hi mommy" i told her what i needed to about playing nice and that was that. I guess I dont need to worry about her getting bullied on the playground.

Next we have Hope she is 4 now. And I swear she must have ADHD. shes nuts. All her Drs are always wondering how she has so much energy with the bad heart that she has although her heart is doing great right now they do excpect that she should be more tired than the typical 4 year old. She really does very well and Im very proud of her i just wish shed listen to me once in awhile.

Devon is almost 3 years old. He is a great boy. mischevious but good. He is a very good listener for the most part and is doing great potty training. He is very loving and kind to his brother and sisters.

Fintin is almost 5 months old. he is precious. He is my best baby ever. He loves to suck his thumb and is self soothing. He sleeps through the night and Mommy is still his favorite person.

Today we bid farwell to our first set of foster kids. we had them for 7 months and taught them a lot I'd like to toot my own horn and say i did a great job with them Im sad to see them go but it was really what was best for our family right now. I wish them luck and hope they do well in the rest of their precious little lifes.

Look Who Forgot To Log Off!!

2008-09-23T21:36:00.000-07:00

This is NOT Katie. I am Sara (Katie's BFF). Katie was creating a blog at my house earlier today and forgot to log off. Now I have total power and since it may be my only opportunity to post whatever I want on her blog, I am going to take it. I tried to very casually look over her shoulder as she was making her password to see if I can steal it (<--just a reminder to all that theives are everywhere) for this very reason.

Well, what should I post about?? The pressure is on now.

I think since Katie didn't give much details about our fabulous trip to Jump Creek, I will. The picture you are all enjoying is me with my three kids. I had a forth at the time but she is not pictured and no longer lives with us (thank goodness <--J.K.). So this day started out as many of our days with the Neustaedters do, at the Horse Troph, a.k.a. Golden Corral. Neustaedters like to eat at this place because all their kids eat for free and Strassers (me) like this place because of the all-you-can-eat-do-it-yourself-ice cream dispenser. Well, as soon as we are all un-satisfied but our tummies were full we left. Usually after our shmorgashborgs, we will over to a park near someones house. So I decided not to use the germ infested public restroom and just wait until we get to one of our houses to go to the bathroom. As usual we load up our kids and then since we are too lazy to walk from one handicap parking space to the next to decided where to go now, we just drive away we call each other on the cell phones. As we are discussing where to go, Steve makes a wonderful <--being sarcastic, suggestion that we go to Jump Creek. Well of course Katie and I don't want to take 9 little kids and a teenager with a bad attitude to Jump Creek but Morgan took Steve's side and since he was driving and in the lead, that is where we went. I told Morgan I needed to go pee but he assured me that they had REAL bathrooms up there. I didn't recall there being plumbing in the middle of nowhere but if any of you know Morgan, he is always right. So I just continue to "hold it" with a very stuffed tummy for the thirty minute drive to Jump Creek. And to make matters worse, I had no cell phone coverage so I was unable to ignore Morgan the whole time while I talked to Katie. We finally get there and I can see the restroom. I quickly dash over and get inside and IT WAS A PORT-A-POTTY!!! Oh no he didn't!! Okay well I really had to pee so I tried to psych myself up for it but as I peered into the deep dark toilet, all I could imagine we a giant snake living down there, waiting for an unsuspecting girl to place her bare bum on the toilet seat. Snakes are such perverts. Anyways, I just couldn't do it. So I leave the bathroom and tell Morgan I need to leave but he says, "Oh stop being a baby and just take a cup, pee in it, and then dump that in the toilet." Genius! It was quite easy to find a cup since my entire car was filled with McDonalds happy meal cups. I grabbed my cup, ran to the bathroom, and started to relieve the pressure off my bladder. UH-OH! This cup is very big. I also didn't "prepare" my self well enough to be able to tell when I was getting close to the top of the cup. Not a big deal. I will just stop right now, empty the cup, and then finish. Well, unfortunately, I was already at the very tip top. As I VERY carefully tried to move the cup away from my clothes while still having a half full bladder, I ended up spilling most of it on my pants. Crap! Now what? Oh I tried to play it off like it was no big deal. "Oh that, it is just a little pee I spilled all over my pants. It happens." Steve took the opportunity to make fun of me as much as possible but I don't think any of the 9 kids thought it was a big deal cuz "Peeing your pants is the coolest." Well, at least it was just my family and the Neustaedters who saw. Except as we hiked to the waterfall we accually saw quite a few people. I tried to make loud comments about how stupid I feel for falling into some pee smelling water so that when the strangers were wondering if I fell into some pee smelling water or if I peed my pants, they would think I just fell. I am not sure if they bought it but I like to think they did. We finally made it to a very crowded waterfall and I quickly sat down on a rock and crossed my legs for the remainder of the time, acting like I was tired and I will make the sacrifice of sitting here taking pictures. Once my pants were dry and I now smelled like stale urine, we pack up the kids and left. I was quite anxious to get home and take a shower. After wearing pee pants for several hours, the shower never felt better. So now I have TONS of pictures to remind me of the day that I basicly peed my pants. The moral of the story, Don't use port-a-potties. Perverted snakes live in them and they will bite your bum if you sit on one.

Thank you Katie for letting me use your blog. I know you secretly left it open for me. And I apologize to anyone who felt like this blog was TMI (Too Much Information) but really you could have stopped reading at any time but you were enjoying reading about my misery. SICKOS! Don't forget to read Katie's post below and leave lots of comments for her so she feel popular!

A trip to jump creek

2008-09-23T13:54:00.000-07:00

This is my very first blog post! i would appreciate a lot of praise!!!!! Im not at my house so i dont have a lot of my own pictures i will get on top of it soon and post more later cause i have a great family and will enjoy showing them off.......these are a couple pics from a trip up to jump creek. it was fun and secluded although there were a ton of people there in the end and they were jumping off the cliff and it was really really scary to watch. the kids had a great time, and loved the hike. i hope this thing has spell check and grammer check cause im a terrible typer...or maybe just lazy.