Who Are We?

Who are we? We are women, we are mothers, and we are so much more. We are called SAHM (say at home moms) but are we really? My husband would argue that I am very rarely at hom, more of a stay away from home mom..but it is necessary. between school, errands, sports, scouts, ect. how do we stay at home? But the real quetion I sometimes wonder is.. WHO ARE WE? We are mothers and my four children are by far my greatest accomplichments but who am I really? Sometmes I sit and wonder what I will be when these little ones do not need me anymore. My whole life is caring for them and already 2 are off in the big world of public school. What am I going ot do when they don't want me to walk them to the busstop or eat lunch with them or stay and watch karate or ballet? I asked Barrett yesterday if he though he would ever be too old to hold my hand in the parking lot. I LOVED that he so innocently and genuinely LAUGHED and said, " You're silly mom. That won't happen." I certainly hope not...

HE DID IT!!!!

Well, my husband finally caught on and realized that being married for ten years is a really big deal. We celebrated our 10th anniversary in June and I just got my long promised gift...a beautiful diamond ring. He did good. It took some serious poking, prodding, and begging but he did good in the end. He does not buy jewelry very often. If fact, he has only bought me 3 other large pieces...One being my wedding band, one being earrings for turning 30, and one for being a mom for the fourth time. I guess it takes a seriously large milestone to get him to do it. I don't care, at least he realizes the BIG ONES!!! Now, all I have to do is wait another ten years for something else??? NNNAAAHHH, I am happy with what I got! I love you Chad and thank you!

Mom Uniform

The mom uniform...we all know it and most of us stay at home moms wear it daily. Some sort of excersice pants or shorts, jeans or khaki shorts. Then up top, a tshirt. Not a clean tshirt mind you, a dirty tshirt. Now it did not start out dirty, in fact, when I get up and shower I feel very clean and fresh and put on very clean and fresh clothes..then it happens...the children. You find yourself in a sweat by 9am, trying to get to the bus stop on time, buckling 3 others in the car, waffles, cereal bar and chocolate milk smeared across your front, dirty tissues shoved in your pockets, and you are not even out the door to your first of 15 errands for the day. WELL, it must stop! I have a new resolution! I am going to be clean! Now this may sound like a minimal thing but it is a BIG DEAL for most of us SAHMs. I am going to try and wear clean clothes when I go out. MAybe not out for errands, but at least out most of the time. Just in the past week, I have found myself changing shirts and or pants at least 4 times in a day in order to stay clean. The downside now is the amount of laundry this n has added to my day and you KNOW how I feel about laundry. Maybe I should tweek the resolution a bit, maybe just be clean when I GO OUT or maybe just be clean on the weekends. Oh well, whatever I work out at least it is a start.

Wishful Thinking

I thought that with the start of school, I would have much more time for posting. Sadly, this is not true. Just yesterday and the day before, while Cooper was having quiet time and the Park man was napping I spent my down time going through mounds and mounds and MOUNDS (17 extra large tuperware containers worth might I add) of clothes for the kids. When we first began having children, I saved everytihng. It is a good thing becasue when it comes to clothes shopping, I really have to do very little. HOWEVER, I had begun storing all of these clothes 7 years ago and they were a MESS!! All different sizes, all different seasons, AND both genders in each box. SO, I set out TO ORGANIZE THEM. 17 boxes later, I have them all organized and sorted by season and size ( the gender thing was too difficult, I mean come on..white turtleneck, jeans, they can go either way) I have all the boxes placed up in numerical order in the attic. Now, when I want something for them to wear I can easily go up in the attic and pull down the size and season and VOILA! Clean, folded clothes. Now all I need is for someone to do all the laundry as they wear them! Thanks for checking and reading!

Going to the store

Okay, I know I need to go to the store. The fact that we have no bread, sandwich meat, granola bars, cereal or cereal bars, fruit, goldfish and other snack items. We do have peanut butter but nothing to put it on. Despite this empty cupboard, I STILL DON"T WANT TO GO! I DON'T WANNA I DON'T WANNA I DON'T WANNA! Hey, if it works for my kids, why not for me? Somehow, my husband and hungary children don't take that as a legitimate reason to avoid the store. They feel I need to be the adult and ignore the aching pains of anxiety that often occur when entering the store. I must bite the bullet and go for it. Hey, bite the bullet, can that be snack for today so I can get out of the store until tomorrow? I wonder if you can put peanut butter on it...

A Little repetition

I know those of you with preschoolers will understand that most preschoolers THRIVE on repetition. I get that. BUT if I have to watch the new disney princess video one more time I might scream.
Cooper and I are going through a transition phase now that Logan is in school all day. Up until now, the two girls played every afternoon together. NOW, she wants ME as a playmate. I don't mind because I really love the chance to have the one on one time with my peanut BUT I also did not realize how much I depended on that time to do the other thigs that keep the house running smoothly. Now we are trying to work out some Cooper/Mommy time and some Mommy time. The princess video is helping with that (hence the ability to post on my blog as we speak with Aurora in the background) so I should not complain too much but couldn't we have a LITTLE variety? Is that asking too much?

September 11th

For those of you who know me, I try and live in my own little bubble. It makes me very happy. I do not watch the news, read the newspaper, or listen to the radio. It makes each day a wonderful day. A day not filled with the tragedies of the world around us. Whatever bad is happenng out there, it is not going to change what I make for dinner or what time I pick Cooper up from preschool or what time the bus arrives and when karate starts. It simply makes me sad, while still having to do everything else at the same time.
However, on today September 11th, 2007 I feel the need to take a step back and think about our world. IF you listen to the news and radio or read the paper on a regular basis, one might tend to think the world is a terrible place. One might be scared to raise a family during such a scary time in our country's history. BUT, there is so much good out there. Think about the GOOD things that don't make it in the news. Not the numbers who died on Sept. 11th, 2001, but the numbers of those saved. The familes and people who became closer becasue of the tragady, not the ones torn apart. My charge to you out there is to try and focus and find 5 wonderful things out there that might not make it in the news today but certainly make this world a better place to live in. Mine may not effect the whole world but certainly my life within my bubble and that is what matters most to me.
Here are my five:
1. Little children playing imaginary games, talking and laughing to themselves
2. FInding the love of you life and being able to spend the rest of your life with him or her
3. Teachers who take so much time out of their own lives to care for and teach our children 40+ hours a week
4. Having the health and the physical ability to walk to school on a beautiful fall morning and observe the world around us as we go
5. Loving, caring, friends and family that are such an intergral part of my life and make each day brighter

Silly questions people ask

" WOW! Are they all yours?" This is what I hear just about everywhere I go with my children. I smile and say "Yes they are" and try to continue with my errand. Most people smile back and continue on their way. I do run in to the few though who push the point. They continue on with, " DId you mean to have four? Did you plan it? You must really have your hands full!" What kind of statements are these. First of all, I did not make fun of them when they asked if they were all mine. I mean come on, who would volunteer to take 4 small children to the grocery store or Walmart or worse yet, take the car in for an oil change. Part of me wants to answer them right then and say, " No they are not mine. I have never seen them before in my life. They simply followed me in here." But I don't, I smile, nod, and give them there peppy answer of "They sure are..." but to continue on with "Did I plan it? Wow you must have your hands full..." Give me a break! I want to scream out at them "YES I planned it, Yes I know what causes it and yes I sure as hell do have my hands full so if you would simply leave me alone and let me continue my shopping I would most appreciate it! OR better yet, here is my list and if you could get the rest of the items that would be great and I will meet you at the checkout and don't forget the diapers on aisle 9!"

She has four kids..

That is what my name is, not Ginny Gill, GInny, Virginia, or even Barrett, Logan, Cooper, or Parker's mommy. I am known around town and introduced to new people as, " This is my friend. She has four kids." I smile and say , "Nice to meet you, my name is Ginny" but they do not hear that. What they hear is SHE HAS FOUR KIDS...
Four is a large amount of kids but it is not a crazy amount. In this day and age, a family of six is indeed a larger family. I love that it is! Barrettt asked me the other day why I wanted so many children and I answered very quicly and simply, What would I do without you guysl in my life? i can not imagine what my life would be like without my little troop as their daddy calls them. They always have a playmate around, and always have their own cheering squad and don't mess with one of them unless you want the other three to come running to their sibling's defense. We can be our own team in games and create a party wherever we go. It is wonderful and as I have said before, I would not trade it for the world!

Another Saturday Morning

Well today is a typical Saturday morning. We started out with a good family breakfast then it is off to Karate, the grocery store, Lowes, the dump, Pointe ( a ballet store to get new ballet and tap shoes), home for lunch, quick nap, birthday party then back home again for dinner, bath, and bed. We decided to seperate to overcome more errands in less time so lucky me gets the girls and I must say, I got the EASY JOB! Off to the ballett store!

Back to School Pics...

Okay.. here are the pics form Barrett, Logan, and Cooper's first day of school. The older kids started on Tuesday and Coop started today. After dropping off the last child, the car was eerily quiet and I turned around to see Parker grinning from ear to ear. I think he too is happy to have a little peace and quiet. The picture of the four was taken before we walked Logan and Bear to school Tuesday. We walked because everyone was so anxious and excited that we got a rather early start on the day. Hopefully, they will continue to love school but maybe sleep in just a bit later. Park and I had a great time this morning and then before we knew it it was time to pick up Cooper. Everyone LOVED their first days of school and I am enjoying the wonderful gift our goverment gave us entitled PUBLIC SCHOOL!!! (Almost as good as the free child care at the gym).

Quiet..

Well the house is quiet...for the time being. The two older ones are at school, Parker is napping, and Cooper is playing with her blocks. Wait a minute, I spoke too soon..." Mom, I stil Hungry!" Is the cry i hear from the steps..Having just Cooper in the afternoon is a new and different experience. She does not really nap anymore becasue she always plays with Wogan. I think we are going to have to reinstate quiet time for her to give me a little break to get something done. Until then, off to make a snack!

Full time to part time

My cute husband made a very good analogy yesterday I had to share. As he looked around my family, pretty much all of them in the teaching profession, he noticed that with the start of school, all of them are going to full time work yet I am transfering to a part time position...pics and news of the first day of school will be coming soon....stay on the lookout!

Good Morning Mommy

Typical Dialogue for any given morning in the gill home...
6:15:
Alarm: BEEP BEEP BEEP,Time for you Chad to get up and make your very quick and quiet escape from the so far so good quiet home
Chad: quick kiss, "Love you!" and out the door
7:12:
Parker: WAH WAH WAH
Mommy: Pillow over head
Parker:Wah Wah Wah wah wah
Cooper: Can I go talk to PArker?
Logan: Barrett Hit me!
Barrett: I did not, she came in my room and bothered me!
Parker: wah wah wah wah wah
Cooper: Can I please go talk to Park Park?
Barrett: Get out of my room Logan!
Logan: Mommy MOmmy Mommy! Barrett is pushing me!
Parker (much louder now): WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH
Cooper: MOMMY! I want to go talk to PArker!
Logan and Barrett in Unision: MOMMY!!!!!
PArker: Happy squealing then SCREAMING..
Cooper: I went in to talk to Parker but now I am going to play in the playroom.
Barrett: Cooper, I was playing in here..
Logan: Barrett won't let us in the playroom.
Mommy ( to self): Good morning Mommy!