Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

Last mother's day it was just my gracie girl and me.

But this year, I got to spend it with my 3 beautiful kiddies.

Of course Chuck had to work so we spent the day at Grandma and Grandpa's. Auntie Amy made breakfast. I dressed Evie and Presley in "mommy" wear too.

Even though Evie doesn't look like her mommy, she still loves me!


And Presley knows that I am way cooler than the other mommies out there.

And Grandma had fun being with all her grandkids today too.

We gave her a special present with everyone's handprints. There is room to make more as they get older too.

Then we went down to the the Joliet Historical Society. They had a Wizard of Oz display going on for a short time. Unfortunately, you couldn't take any pictures of the stuff. Gracie was impressed and was looking at all the stuff saying the characters names and "I'll get you my pretty." We looked around after that. Gracie met an astronaut.

And she had fun pretending to drive Grandpa and Presley around in the car.

And all the kids enjoyed learning about Route 66 sitting in the old drive-in seats.

And Gracie even met the Blues Brothers.

It was a great day. I may not have gotten to sleep in like I wanted but I did manage to squeeze in a nap with Gracie. Hope everyone had a great day!

All the Juggling.........

So I know I have a lot to be thankful and I am. Sure I have the world's greatest kids, and I have an awesome husband who helps out, and I have supportive parents, many caring friends, a job working with people I love, and a roof over my head (even though we are packed in like sardines) most days I hit my stress level with

All this juggling!!!!!!!

For one, I work fulltime. I would LOVE to be able to stay home and play with my kids all day long. Thinking about it today, I really only get about 4 hours with my kids each day. (That obviously doesn't count the hours they are sleeping.) And since I have 3 kids, that means I get roughly about 1 hour and 20 minutes per child. Yes, it is hard having 3 kids under 3 and while I am blessed with twins, it's hard to give them the separate attention they both want. The babies go to bed a few hours after we get home each day. I feel horrible when I turn Gracie into my "gopher" when I ask her to hand me a burp rag or ask her to throw away a dirty diaper. She wants attention too! There is never any down time which is fine (although sometimes it's very hard). It's hard to find time in the day to even play outside. By the time I get home, the twins are ready to eat. Then Gracie and then I need to eat something too. And if it's bath night? Forget it, even less time to play. All the chores that need to be done have to be mixed in there too. Besides the dishes everynight and a load of laundry or two practically everynight, the other stuff has to wait until the weekend. And that gets hard to do too because of my husband's job.

And yes, I am thankful he has a job, I'm just going to say it......his hours suck! Besides working every other weekend, he also has to close 3 nights a week! The weekends he works he is gone the entire time (from breakfast to way after bedtime.) I am thankful I have parents who help me out a lot but it's not the same as having my husband here. Of course it messes with plans constantly, I have to now plan when I will run errands or go grocery shopping. I have not been brave enough to really take all 3 kids shopping just yet. Not sure I really want to deal with 2 shopping carts. His hours are horrible when I too have to work. And some mornings he is already gone by the time everyone wakes up. I can deal with that but if I have to actually shower, get dressed, get my 3 kids dressed and out the door by 7:30....well, that's soooooo hard. I hate those mornings and instead of spending a few minutes playing with my kids, I am running around like a mad woman and literally dripping sweat by the time I pack the kids up, put them in their carseats, put them in the car and then finally plunk my butt in the car. The morning has barely started and I am ready to go back to bed! (and it's usually those mornings that someone spits up after they are already packed up so I have to quickly unpack them, change them and repack them.) The nights are just as hard. My parents come over but still it gets hard to put everyone to bed myself. By time I put Gracie down, I lay down with her and fall asleep myself. And let me tell you, toddler beds are not comfortable! But at that point I am too tired to care.

I know it sounds like I am complaining about my kids and I am not. I just want more time with them. How would it be different? Well for one, I could actually slow the pace down and spend more time just doing crafty things with Gracie, going for walks, going places. I won't have to rush around all the time. I miss spending time with just Gracie too. When I was on maternity leave, we took some classes and went to the library for class. Now I can't do that. I tried signing up for like the one and only class they offered at night but it ended up getting canceled. Go figure. She is going off to preschool. I won't even be there for her first day because I will be working. I will never be able to help out in her class because of work. And that is a whole other issue.

Being a teacher is harder than most people think. There is a lot that goes into planning the daily routine. There is a lot of paperwork too. If you can't multitask, then teaching will never be the job for you. It's the not the same as it was when I first started and really has changed since I have had kids. My job is not my life anymore and I haven't taken work home with me in years because I know it will never get done. Some days just make me feel so cranky and crabby. So many things have changed and it's just not as fun as it used to be. I had a very hard time coming back and I absolutely dread dropping my kids off at the babysitters too. Not to mention how much money I now have to pay in daycare $$$$$! Sometimes I wonder why I have to pay someone to spend time with my children. I want that job. And instead I get to spend time with other people's children. And yes being a teacher has its advantages, Christmas break, spring break, summers, when it really comes down it, it doesn't matter. It goes by way too fast. And really, if one more person tells me how lucky I am to be a teacher because of that, then I will just have to punch them in the face.

So now that I have ranted on and on about my life, I must figure out an easier solution to all this juggling. Sometimes it's hard to not feel like a single parent when you work, take care of the kids, and don't see your spouse. I know what you are thinking too. A lot of people do this everyday and deal with it fine and have worse jobs or worse commutes or whatever. But you know what? Some people are fine with it. Some people want to be at work and not at home. Some people just can't sit still and need to keep moving. I need things to slow down. My babies are already almost 6 months old. And I'm pretty sure Evie rolled over for the first time at the babysitters the other day but I know she would never tell me that because she knows how upset I'd be. I just need things to slow down enough where I can enjoy a cup of coffee and play with my kids without having to rush out the door and not chug 4 cups of coffee at work. Summer break is just around the corner (thankfully) and we'll see what happens then. Maybe then, I will have time to think, play with my kids, smell the roses (in my invisible garden) , and leisurely sip on some Starbucks! 21 days! Can you tell I am ready?

Hunk and Chunks of Burning Love

This family is an Elvis-loving family. Daddy had the day off the other day. Can you guess who dressed everybody?

Gracie knows her dad and Elvis are rockstars.

Evie is all shook up.

And Presley is just a hunka hunka burning love.

My Babies are 5 Months Old!

I can't believe that my babies are 5 months old already. It really does seem like they were born yesterday. I know I keep looking forward to things like them sitting up by themselves but on the other hand, I feel like I literally just blinked and here we are today. I want things to stay where they are right now. I won't lie; there are many days that are hard and I get frustrated and cry but there are many good days too. I just feel that now I am back at work, things are moving WAY too fast and they need to slow down. I want to enjoy them more than what I can because the next time I blink, they will be a year old already!

Busy, Busy, Busy

It's been a crazy week for the Weiss family. Between working full-time and dealing with my kiddo's, I am so dang tired that I hardly ever have time to post anything. So here is what we have been up to this week.

Thursday, I decided I needed my hair cut pretty bad. It hasn't even been so much trimmed since before the twins so I needed something. I wanted Gracie to come and get hers trimmed as well. We have trimmed it here and there but now she needed some more help. I had to bribe her by telling her we were going to Jewel (her favorite store), which we did go to. And then it was off to Cost Cutters because it would be quick and easy. She watched me as the lady chopped my hair. She told me I looked like Batman in the cape that they put on you.

Then it was her turn. She sat so still and patiently as the lady cut her hair. Granted it only took her like 5 minutes. She probably thought I was nuts snapping pictures but oh well. Your little girl gets her first real haircut only once right?

Then Saturday, it was off to Olivia's birthday party. She was turning one but her older sister Jackie was there to play. Gracie was excited to go. She was really looking forward to come cake.



And of course there was a bouncy house.

My friend Tracy K. came with us to help with the kids. She even had fun jumping with Gracie after mommy decided she needed a break!

And Grandma Patti, who just celebrated her 50th birthday was there too! She had to keep Mr. Presley happy. He was hungry as usual.

And then today, it was Anne's baby shower. The theme was "a baby is brewing" because Anne loves coffee and because we had to keep it a neutral theme since we don't know if it's a boy or a girl. We had fun planning it and of course I made her a scrapbook so that all she has to do is fill in the pictures. She has a cover page, where she can say the name, weight, lenght, time, etc. There is a page for every month complete with a spot to record what happened that month, a "welcome to the world" page, a coming home page, diapers, strollers, first halloween, first christmas, first birthday, bath, sleeping, i love mommy, i love daddy, baby's room, and bff page (with my kids pics already on it, see below). So she is set. I was even approached by one of her friends about making one for her pregnant neice. She would pay me too! Now don't get me wrong, I have thought about making and selling them. Maybe something to think about. I enjoy it and I can whip 'em up. It's just finding the good chunk of time to do it.

Here are just some of the pages.

And here is my and my girls. Anne doesn't know what she is having, so making the scrapbook was a little tricky since everything is pink or blue. I think she is having a girl so we'll find out next month if I am right. Please ignore the "twin skin" as it doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon!

An Egg-citing Easter!

When we woke up this morning, we were egg-cited to see that the Easter Bunny had been to our house and left us these fun baskets! They were filled with all sorts of goodies like sandals for summer, summer clothes, books, movies, toys, and even money!

The Easter Bunny even hid eggs around the house for Gracie. She had fun finding them and espcecially had fun when she realized what was inside. Guess what she wanted for breakfast?

Presley and Evie got into the spirit too by wearing some bunny ears.


All the kids posed for a cute picture with their Easter baskets.

Then it was over to Grandma and Grandpa's where guess who had been there too? That's right! The Easter Bunny sure was generous to our family! Everyone had thier nice clothes on. (until the babies spit up on thiers)

And the sisters? Well they loved their matching dresses.

The Easter Bunny even heard Gracie is starting preschool in the fall so he left her a new backpack. She did say that she needed one for school.

And because Mommy found some matching Easter shirts for the twins, she had to put them. Poor Evie. She will always either be matching Presley or big sis Gracie. That's why she is

egg-stra special!

And Auntie Amy wanted to get in on all the picture taking too.

And of course Gracie was so egg-cited about all the goodies, she stopped long enough for me to snap this.

And Grandma and Grandpa had fun too!

Gracie even got Candy Land game. We tried explaining how to play but she just plays the way she wants. Oh well. She still had fun. What's not to love when it's all about colors and candy?

And then we had another Easter egg hunt at Grandma's. But Gracie stopped to go down the slide. It was a great day. Good thing we got that in before the rain hit!

But she found lots of eggs again. And inside them for plenty of stickers!

And then Auntie E brought over some egg-strodinary Easter baskets that her dad made. Gracie already has one. How cute are they?

And finally, our family. Our beautiful family of five! Hope everyone had a hoppy Easter!

Fun at the Zoo!

We took advantage of the beautiful weather today and headed to the zoo. Grandma and Grandpa came with us because I certainly cannot do this trip alone anymore. It was a bit hectic getting there but we did it. Gracie loves the zoo. We are members so we can go whenever we want. This was the twins' first real outing, not counting the mall, so I was super excited to finally get them out in the fresh air.

We also got to try out the new double stroller I ordered. We have one already but the car seats attach into it and I thought they might like to watch what is going on. They loved it!

As soon as we got there, Gracie wanted to go and brush the goats. So that is what we did.


And Grandma and Grandpa came sporting their "twin" shirts that they got for Christmas. Aren't they proud grandparents?

Presley ended up passing out from all the excitement.

But Evie, she was interested in what was going on. She stayed awake pretty much the whole time!

And no zoo trip is complete without visiting llama mama!

And then it was time for the merry-go-round. Gracie first rode on the panda bear. No surprise there.

And then had to go back and ride the zebra.

And then after many times going on the big-girl potties, (yeah Gracie), it was time to head home. Everyone slept soundly and if Mommy wasn't driving, she would have too!