Things a Mother Finds Under the Covers

You Got Opinions? Keep 'Em!!

2012-01-15T22:33:00.000-08:00

I don't profess to have all the answers to life's questions. Nor do I profess to have this parenting gig down. I have plenty to learn. But, you know what? So do you.

Everyone has an opinion about everything. Even if the opinion is "neutral", it's still an opinion.

But, have you noticed, in the parenting realm of things, opinions are handed out by anyone that you make eye contact with?
Perfect strangers will give you their two cents worth of advice. And usually, that's all it's worth.

And, normally, I just go with the flow. I smile. Say "have a nice day!" and move on.

They are my kids. We will do what we see as right. I don't really care what you think or what you do with your own kids.

But, when the portions of opinions being handed out is from "friends" and they are given in poor taste? Yeah. I get frustrated.

We have some of these "friends" that I am having a particular hard time with right now. My husband and the husband of this couple have been friends forever. Literally. Like, since 6th grade. And when you haven't been in 6th grade for 25 years, that's the same as forever.

And, I care for this guy as well. And his wife. And their children. My husband and I were supportive when he made a huge mistake and married a dingbat. We were supportive when he realized he had married a dingbat and got a divorce. We were supportive when he remarried the lovely lady he is married to now. We were over the moon when each of their two children were born. And, even more ecstatic when they asked me to babysit them on an irregular schedule.

Most of the time, our parenting styles match pretty similarly.
However, we differ on some things. But, we have never come right out and told them we disagree with things. Because, we care about them. And, honestly, because they are the kind of people that believe their opinions are the only opinions that matter and they will argue and put you down until you fold and just agree with them.

Folding is not something I do well. (just look at my dresser drawers. ba-dum-dum-dum)
But, in a strange way, I feel we are the older, more experienced couple and truly do remember being newer parents and thinking we knew it all. You know,when you have read "What to Expect When You're Expecting" and it makes you feel qualified to tell every pregnant woman you see that she shouldn't clean out the kitty litter. When you have read all the infant care books and feel qualified to take care of any baby, anywhere. But, yet... you aren't qualified to do any of those things and you look like an idiot. I feel that's where this couple is.

However. When you come into MY home or when you crush my children's spirits? It. Is. ON!!

This particular couple doesn't "do" Santa. Or the Tooth Fairy. Or the Easter Bunny.
And, you know, that's ok. It really is. We do all those things. We don't do it BIG but we do do them. It's fun. And, yes, I can certainly understand all the religious aspects as to why they choose not to do them. But, to spout off rude and insensitive comments because we DO choose to do those things infuriates me.

We homeschool our children. ( And, if you don't think that hasn't caused a crap load of opinions to be thrown in our faces, think again!) But, you don't see us walking into people's houses and telling them public school is evil and under no circumstances should they send their children there. We respect other people's decisions regarding their own children.

Recently, at a birthday party, Jarrett rushed over to this man, our friend, to happily show him the hole where his very first lost tooth used to be. This man exclaimed and professed it was indeed awesome he lost his first tooth. Then, Jarrett,again, so excited, told him that the tooth fairy had left him $4.

Then, the man turns to me, in front of my children and random people I did not know, and says:
"You know, you will go broke if you keep giving away your money for your kids' teeth."
I replied (pretending to be ignorant of his point): "The tooth fairy pays big bucks for the first tooth, after that, it's loose change and pocket lint."
He said: "We don't do that hocus pocus stuff. Why pretend to live a lie and give your kids stuff for not doing anything? Basically, you're lying to your children by playing along with a fairy tale" and a bunch of other mumbo jumbo that I didn't listen to because my blood was boiling.

I would love to tell you my smart remark. I would love to tell you how I knocked him down a peg or two.

But, I can't.

Because I'm too freakin' nice. I quietly turned to the person next to me and changed the subject.

But, I did tell my husband what had happened when I got home. I told him under no circumstances would something like that happen again where I didn't call out his friend and put him in his place.

I'm almost praying I get the chance.

A cute picture to end a sassy post.

On the Fence Covered in Dog Hair

2012-01-09T21:52:00.000-08:00

I see I lost a follower. I would like to say "it doesn't matter" but for some reason it does. Why? I have no idea. I spent a few minutes trying to figure out who it was and finally told myself to move on, already. Criminy sakes, I'm not in Junior High anymore! But, obviously, it's still bothering me as it's the first thing I mention in my first blog post of 2012.

2012. What will you bring us this year? I don't see any flying cars or jet packs nor are people being beamed up to various places. Interesting how 25 years ago, the year 2012 seemed a lot more exciting! Of course, if you are one of the whackos that believes the year will end in December, then that's probably enough excitement for you .

Christmas here was good! We got all our get togethers done between Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Which was awesome! We usually have a couple more after Christmas day, but not this year. We sat around and played with our new toys and ate junk, the day after Christmas. Which was just what we needed.

New Year's isn't very exciting here but we did let the kids stay up until just after midnight. They thought that was a big treat. And, mom and dad enjoyed them sleeping in the next day.

With New Years comes resolutions. Blah. Hate that word. But, of course, it's hard to not stop and think about some changes that I would like to see in my life. So, I do have a few things I'm working on. But, making resolutions just to make myself feel bad when I don't keep them, is not my thing.

Some time ago, we lost our only dog, Daisy. At the time, we were all very sad, but after awhile, all the things that bugged me about having a dog? I enjoyed not having to deal with them. But, it has been almost 2 years and my husband is ready for another dog. And...I'm on the fence. The kids would REALLY love a dog. And, kids need a dog, right? To play with. To protect them. It's part of growing up, in my opinion.
But, I hate dog hair. And dog slobber. And dog poop.

When my husband's friend needed a dog sitter for their TWO dogs, I volunteered. Yup. VOLUNTEERED. My house. And, not only are there two of them, one is a rottweiler and the other is a pit bull. I know. (Please, don't lecture me in the comments. I know how horrible it sounds. But, I swear to all things holy, if I get one more person's opinion about anything that is none of their business, I will lose it. Oh, and I have another blog post in the works about opinions but I'm just a tad heated up about it right now so it probably wouldn't make much sense so we will just go back to talking about dog hair, m'kay?)
But, the reality of it is, they are the sweetest dogs. And, so well behaved. However, they do have hair. Lots of it. And, one of them is all kinds of large:

168lb Bo with my niece, Brandi. I don't know how much she weighs. But, she's skinny. I ~~hate~~ love her anyway, tho.

We are looking at the next 10 days as a trial run of how a dog would fit back into our family. So far, the kids are an unified "Heck, yes!!" and Dad too. Mom, (me) is kinda coming off the fence. All the hair, people!! Literally, at one point Saturday, I was following around this dog, with a broom. But, there is just something about an animal loving you unconditionally and doesn't talk back or demand to wear shorts no matter that it is 30 degrees outside and throws a fit 3 min. before the school bus is due and wins the battle because I'm too exhausted to fight anymore. There's just something about a dog.

So, we will re-evaluate after this trial run and in the spring, when puppies are due. We do have a certain breed in mind and we would only get one dog. And...it won't weigh 168lbs. Hopefully. But, I bet it will have hair. Sigh....

My Pathetic Attempt at an Interesting Last Post of 2011

2011-12-31T17:47:00.000-08:00

It ain't gonna be pretty but I feel it necessary to put up one last post this year.

We are still on Holiday High here. Although all the Christmas decorations have been boxed up and the tree is now residing in the back yard (in the garbage pile. Not planted. We are not that earth friendly, unfortunately.), my house is still not back to working order. We still have a box full of toys that haven't even been opened yet.

But, we have been playing alot of board games and eating alot of junk. So, time not totally wasted.

As this year comes to a close, I am once again shocked at how fast time really does go. 2012. Shouldn't we all be flying around on jet packs by now?

This year has taught us many things. My children have learned some valuable lessons. Jarrett has learned* to not try and ride a sea lion.

Josie learned, just 2 days after Christmas, that sucking helium out of a balloon will make you pass out, fall and hit your head on your dresser, and require 6 stitches.

Jeven learned, the very next day, that putting your hand UNDER the grocery belt at Winco will inflict pain and cause you to bleed and make the management of Winco come running with proper first-aid equipment, (unlike Jarrett's sea lion experience) and an accident report.

I've learned to not trip over things:

I told you it wasn't gonna be pretty!

I wish I could be more specific and tell you what I tripped over, if only to prevent you from learning my lesson the hard way. But, alas, I do not know for sure. I am clumsy. I trip. Often.

I'm sure there were other lessons learned this past year but these are the ones that are freshest in my mind as they've all happened in the last 3 days.

Here's to hoping 2012 is happy and full of lessons learned with less pain. And blood.

*learned or learnt? I tried both. But spell check didn't like learnt and I'm too tired to look it up to see which is correct. And, yes, I homeschool my children. Don't judge.*

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T10:37:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas Eve. Just thought I'd throw that out there in-case you have been living in a cave somewhere. Perhaps your cave was neighboring mine?

You know when people say "Christmas sure snuck up on us, didn't it?" (Which is ironic since the stores display Christmas decorations starting in Oct) I know what they are talking about!

My hubby and I stayed out late last night finishing up the shopping. I hate the fact that we had saved so much for the last minute but we don't have lots of extra cash laying around so we had to spread all the shopping out a month or two. But, surprises of surprises, we had a good time shopping and now we are done!!

That leaves today for laying around in my pjs, maybe doing some baking and wrapping some gifts. I've always thought that is what Christmas Eve is for. Relaxing. And for sure this year as Christmas being on a Sunday makes it extra busy. And special, really. What better day to celebrate the birth of Jesus than a Sunday!

I hope all of you get exactly what you want for Christmas and that you have a happy and healthy 2012!

A Note

2011-12-06T13:29:00.000-08:00

Jarrett gave this to me last night:

"Dear Mom, think you for bing niss to me" (Dear Mom, thank you for being nice to me)

Many thoughts went through my head, in this particular order:

Omigosh! How awesome! I love, love, love to get notes from my kids that they do ALL.BY.THEMSELVES! With misspelled words and everything.
I love how he is learning to sound out words and his writing is improving so much!!
I wonder if my husband got an awesome note like this?
Probably not because I am so much nisser than he is.
Wait a minute. How bad of a crank have I been that when I'm actually decent to my child, he feels the need to write it down?
I love this little bugger so much!

At Least She Has Her Spelling Down.

2011-12-02T15:29:00.000-08:00

Getting Josie to do her school work is like...getting Josie to do anything she doesn't want to do. In the past, I've threatened, bribed, physically made her and any other means necessary.

Now, I just wait for the storm to pass and move on. It seems to be the most effective.

Today, she was doing her Language Arts at the kitchen table, while I was in other room helping Jayce with History.

Josie: MOM!!! I'm D-O-N-E!!

Me: Josie, did you do B-O-T-H pages?

Josie: Well, P-O-O-P!!!

( :

(if poop is the worst word she ever spells, then we're good)

Truth is Thursday

2011-11-17T08:34:00.000-08:00

Truth is....we haven't done school in two days. I just didn't have the gumption. And, the kids haven't minded. Today, we're back at it.

Truth is...I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving. But, Christmas is stressing me out already.

Truth is...I don't want to be stressed out about Christmas. I want to enjoy it and make happy memories for my kids.

Truth is...we can't afford much right now, let alone Christmas presents.

Truth is...I don't want presents to be the focus of Christmas. And, it always works out.

Truth is...I've been doing some "light" exercising every day and I can notice a difference in my energy level!

Truth is..I still have really bad eating habits.

Truth is..one step at a time, right?

Truth is... I've learned that another friend has been re-diagnosed with cancer.

Truth is..cancer can suck it.

Truth is...I've been feeling like my kids are being extra needy and crabby.

Truth is...it's probably ME that's extra needy and crabby.

Truth is...we have a date night planned for Friday and it couldn't come at a better time!

Go visit Surviving Boys for more Truth Is...

Reading at a Third Grade Level

2011-11-11T21:40:00.000-08:00

My daughter is reading a book for her very first book report!

Now, she is a very good reader, doesn't need much help sounding out words. However, her reading comprehension needs some work. She has a hard time telling you what has she read or taking a test about what has read.

With some gentle encouragement from me, she chose this book:

(Except, it wasn't this EXACT book. It was mine from when I was Josie's age. So, the book cover is a tad different but you get the point)

Like I said,it was my copy from when I was in 3rd grade. And,it was one book out of a set of 4. But, I thought this would be a great book for Josie to start with.

And, to be a better teacher/parent, I decided maybe I should read the book as well, in order to help Josie with her comprehension.

I ended up reading all 4 books last weekend.

I'm very proud of myself! And, my reading comprehension is awesome! I got 100% on all my daughters tests!

Wordless Wednesday--With Words

2011-11-09T17:26:00.000-08:00

Wanna see something gross?

This? Is gross. This is my 6 year old son's arm cast. After TWO weeks. He has had 3 casts total throughout this whole broken arm ordeal

My sister in law asked "Is that MOLD?" and it is not. The blue is mouth wash. Jarrett thought he needed some one evening and got under the bathroom sink and helped himself. And spilled it all over.

Truthfully, I think a nice minty cast is way more pleasant, don't you?

Quickie

2011-11-04T16:20:00.000-07:00

Since I haven't posted in over a month, I felt the need to log on quickly just to post "I'm still alive".

And, I am. Some days, more than others.

October quickly moved aside for November and my head is still spinning at how fast it went by. We are entering (some have jumped feet first into it!) the Holidays. And, some of it I'm looking forward to and of course, some of it is already stressing me out.

I have many, many post brewing in my mind. But, finding less and less time to put them on here. And yet, I feel a very strong need to put them here. So, soon, I will make it a priority and start posting again.

But, for now, I'm putting my energies in to other things. Some mundane. Some life changing.

All is good!

Warning: Do Not Read This Post If You Are a Vegetarian. Or, A Member of PETA

2011-10-01T17:50:00.000-07:00

My husband, father and son arrived in Wyoming around 10 p.m. last night.

At 9:30 this morning, I received these pictures via text messaging:

Papa, Jayce and Judd


Jayce with his first hunt!

Those of you that hunt and/or live in Oregon can appreciate how crazy it is to get an antelope within 12 hours of arriving in the hunt area. Here, in Oregon, you have to put your name in a drawing and maybe once in a lifetime, perhaps twice, your name will be drawn. That means, you can purchase a tag and go LOOK for antelope. They are few and far between here. So, even after you've spent money on putting your name in the drawing, THEN more money on the tag, you may come home with nothing.

But, apparently, in Wyoming, it's not so difficult.

I spoke with Jayce this afternoon and he told me all about it and he was SO excited.
Yesterday was a difficult day, for me, and ok, for Jarrett too but.... I was a rock. Seriously. I didn't cry or break down or panic. (Yes, I know. Jarrett was the bigger stud as he didn't cry hardly at all nor did he panic or break down but I'm making a point here, just stay with me)
But, hearing my 12 yr. old son talk about something that was so exciting to him, he was shaking and vibrating over the phone, and knowing that he was sharing that with his father, his grandfather and his uncle, I broke down. I sobbed like a kid that broke his arm should have.

Fell Off a Sea Lion

2011-09-30T23:40:00.000-07:00

It just isn't meant to be, I think. We are not meant to go to the aquarium. If you read this post, you will understand. If, like me, you are too lazy to read it, I will sum it up--we tried to go to the aquarium at the beach, a few months ago, two hours away, it sucked, we came home.

My husband and Jayce left at 5:30 this morning to go hunting with my brother in Wyoming. They will be gone a week or so. I decided that myself and my mother could handle taking the other 3 kids to the aquarium as our Groupon expires next week.

Away we go!

We get there, no problem. No school buses, no rain, no crowds. We walk around outside, we visit the shark tunnel thing. All along the way, Jarrett is climbing on every. single. thing! I tell him to stop and there is a designated place up the way that he can climb,climb, climb.

And, also, he can fall, fall, fall. Which he did. Hard. I see it, I can't stop it. But, down he goes. He falls off a sea lion statue. I think "Oh, he broke it, he broke his arm. " I rush over expecting to see a bone poking out but there wasn't! He wasn't even crying. Much.
I think maybe it's just a bad sprain? We put ice on it, we get out our lunch, which excites Jeven until he realizes he ate most of his own lunch on the ride there. I notice there is a largish "lump" up Jarrett's forearm. I start to question if it's a sprain or not. He won't move it, his fingers tingle. Not good. I decide we should take him to Urgent Care. In a town where I have no idea where anything is, besides the ocean and the candy shop. I decide that we will ask at the front counter, on our way out, where the nearest Urgent Care is.

Josie cries as she didn't get to see everything OR spend the $2 she brought, in the gift shop.

We stop at the front counter, ask about the clinic and are told that we need to fill out an accident report and "Wait right there!". We wait. And wait. And wait. Until finally, a man comes with a scrap piece of paper in his hand. He asks me for my name, address, phone number and what happened. I tell him. He writes "Fell off sea lion". That's it. My son's worst day EVER has been summed up in those 4 words.

We head out towards the parking lot to find our friends had arrived! Just a coincidence. But, I explain that we are leaving to take Jarrett to hospital and Josie then cries because she can't stay. I get frustrated with Josie because she is quickly demanding all the attention that should be centered on Jarrett.

Following the detailed directions of the aquarium staff, "You take , like, the 3rd or 4th right past the hotel with bricks. Yeah.", we find the Urgent Care clinic. Which is closed for lunch until 1:30. Seriously.
It is now 1:15. We decide to wait. When they do open, we find out there is ONE doctor on duty. One. We are told it will be a two hour wait.

I decide, in two hours, we could be home. Jarrett is not crying. He's babying his arm but otherwise, he's cool. Chillin'.

I call my brother in law, who happens to be a sports therapist (perks!) and he explains that a break will hurt less than a sprain and it would be totally fine to just drive home, as there's no protrusion or anything.

So, approx 1 hour after arriving at the aquarium that we drove 2 hours to get to, we are headed back home.
Three quarters of the way home, I call our pediatrician and give them a heads up, to which I am told we will have to wait until the after hours clinic is open as there is no way we will make it back in time to see our regular doctor. Which, actually is a good thing as the after hours clinic has all the x-ray equipment. I take first available slot, which is at 8:30. At night. But, our regular doctor is the doctor that will be seeing him.

We come home, veg, eat. Jarrett is still not crying or even complaining. I'm starting to wonder if he's even hurt. I poke him. He yells at me. I decide he's really hurt.

Finally, we get to doctor's office, where Jarrett tells the doctor "Nope" every time the doctor says "Does it hurt here? Here?". Seriously?

We go to x-ray. Doctor looks at it. Says "Yup. Broken"
Puts a temporary cast on it.
I guess we will see an orthopedist next week. I say "guess" because I think I was more confused leaving the clinic than when I arrived.
Seems the doctor and his staff were in a hurry to get rid of us, he didn't explain things very well to me ( in my opinion) and I was too tired/shocked to really think clearly.

I called my helpful brother in law, again, and now have a little better idea of what's going on and why. Swelling, proper setting, etc.

Anyways, day one of being a single parent while my husband hunts, not so good. Could have been worse. Could definitely have been better.

Those darn sea lions!!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-09-28T17:18:00.000-07:00

If You Give a Mom a Mop

2011-09-19T20:27:00.000-07:00

Every day, I am amazed at how little I get done. Seriously. It amazes me as it seems I am always trying to get stuff done.

There are times when I go to bed so stinkin' frustrated because not only did I not manage to cross everything off my "to-do" list, I can't even find the stinkin' list anymore.

I ask myself "Self? Where did your day go? What did you do? Sure, you have 4 kids, you homeschool, you try to have a life. But, seriously? The floors are still dirty?"

Today, I decided to seriously evaluate where my time goes. And, if I am to be honest, a bigger portion than I thought goes to the internet. Blogging (cough, cough.Ok. Reading blogs), facebook, couponing websites, and a big chunk of the big portion of internet time goes to my kids' school program.

But, in theory, I still have plenty of time to get my other chores done.
Did you catch that? In theory.

For example, I did try to get all my floors mopped/ vacuumed today. We only have a one bath, three bedroom home. Shouldn't be a problem, right.
First, I try to tackle the living room. This is what happened:

Picked up all toys, shoes, clothing, DVDs and other various random articles off of the floor.
Got out the broom.
Got called away to help Josie find page 1 in her text book. Yes. Page ONE.
On way back to living room, notice cobwebs in hallway.
Search closet for duster.
Spill Easter baskets full of plastic eggs.
Eggs scatter everywhere.
Spend 5 minutes picking up eggs and questioning why I keep them in the first place.
Get asked to help Jayce with his vocab test.
On way back to living room, again, notice the time. I have approx. 30 minutes until Jeven will be home.
Panic.
Sweep living room floor. Take cushions off couch to vac the couch.
Spend 5 minutes collecting hot wheels, markers, LPS and various other objects one might find in a toy box, not a couch.
Vacuum couch and corners of living room floor.
Get asked to help Josie with her math.
Spend 20 minutes discussing why she must do all 10 problems and not skip them.
Get Jeven off school bus.
Immediately try to distract Jeven from jumping on the cushionless couch.
Make lunch.
Clean up lunch.
Find something entertaining for Jeven to do. Involves paint.
Put cushions back on couch.
Decide sweeping is almost the same as mopping.
Clean up paint Jeven has dripped down the hallway.
Notice Jeven has paint in his ears.
Spend 7 minutes arguing with Jeven as to why he will be taking a shower and not a bath.
Help Josie with her science chart.
Help Jayce with his grammar assignment.
Decide Jeven must take a nap.
Finish up school with big kids.
Jeven awake. (JOY)
Jarrett home.
Grocery shopping.
Dinner
Clean up after dinner.
Receive phone call friend's dad died.
Call friend.
Cry.
Put kids to bed.
Veg in front of t.v.
Realize the living room floor is the only floor in the house that got any attention.
Realize that is not true. I wiped the hallway with a paper towel when Jeven dripped paint down it.
Realize life is short. My floors will always be dirty. I will always have cobwebs. I will forever be fixing some sort of meal for my family. However, I will not always have a 5 yr. old to spread paint. I am doing my kids a huge favor by schooling them at home. It's just some days, some days seem pointless and never ending at the same time. I guess it's all about perspective.

Don't Jinx It

2011-09-08T22:33:00.000-07:00

I must whisper. Not speak too loud. I don't want the forces that be to hear me and ruin my good fortune.

So far (as of day 2) this school year is way better than last year.

Shhhhh!!! Don't jinx it.

With one little boy gone until 11:30 and the other until 3:00, we are getting the home school done by 1:30 and it's been awesome.
Josie has a lot of writing this year, which she gets tired of very quickly, but she's powering through.

Yes. I know. Day 2. But, let me have this dream, allright? 3 weeks from now, when I writing in yelling type, instead of whispering type, you can all rub it in my faces about how naive I was. But, until then, hush.

How bout some pictures?


Josie, 3rd grade


Jayce, 7th grade


Jeven, Kindergarten

Jeven and Jarrett, 1st grade

The End of Something Great

2011-09-06T19:57:00.000-07:00

The end of summer is upon us. And, although this summer was almost non-existent, in the cooler weather and lack of fun pack days, I am sad to see it go.

I will miss the cool evenings where I got a little stress relief by blasting my ~~heathens~~ children with the garden hose.

I will miss the lazy mornings of sleeping in and feeding my kids a late breakfast/early lunch so as to minimize the amount of food preparation for the day. Which is actually ironic as I am finding my 4 children are actually bottomless pits of food consumers. They are ALWAYS hungry.

I am not ready for the non-stop rain that we always get here in the Northwest. Everyone enjoys ( I think) a rainy day of laying on the couch, watching some t.v. But, by day 34, I'm done. Hmmm...maybe I should get off the couch?

I do enjoy lighting candles and baking and scrapbooking and sewing, which are all things that seem better fit for the fall, don't ya think? I am looking forward to those things.

The end of having "little ones" at home is upon me as well. My youngest will be going to school tomorrow and riding the bus home 3 hours later. My second to youngest will be going to school and not coming home for 6 hours! It's hard to imagine my "babies" being away from me, having a life that doesn't include me. They are beginning down a path that is no doubt going to lead them to growing up and becoming teenagers and eventually adults. I wish people would have warned me about this!

What are you looking forward to at this changing of the seasons?

Insert Witty Title Here---------->

2011-08-21T02:00:00.000-07:00

You all know (their picture is at the top of this page!) that I have 4 kids, a husband, animals, etc. I won't go through the obligatory "I'm so busy!" excuses to say I've been busy.

It is now 1:30 a.m. Sunday morning. I should be asleep but it is far too hot but I'm not going to complain as this summer has been fairly mild. So mild in fact, that we haven't put in our window air conditioners. For the reasons they haven't been needed and to see if it made a difference in our utility bill. It did not make a difference as we've all been taking more showers to compensate for being over heated. And, the a/c would have felt nice today.

School will start shortly and I have mixed feelings. Because 2 of my children are home schooled, I don't have the luxury of looking forward to an empty house once school starts as some parents do. But, I'm ok with it. My other 2 children, my youngest, will be going to K and 1st grade. Which I'm very excited for them, because they're excited, but it does mean my baby, my last baby, will be riding a school bus and starting a life that won't include me. I look at him and see such a little boy, but, I know he's not.
The home school curriculum has been delivered and organized on the school shelf. Josie, 3rd grade, has a lot this year. And, being the challenging pupil ( attitude wise) that she is, I'm a tad stressed. But, I realize that's not fair to her, to automatically say she's going to struggle, when we haven't even started yet. So, I'm determined to keep my hopes high.

My preschool class at church is changing. I'm losing 3 students to the next level, and gaining 1 from the nursery.
Last week, I had an extremely stressful day as one of my students had a complete meltdown. As much as I hate to admit it, I physically had to sit on the poor kid to keep him from harming himself, and me. Kicking, hitting, spitting, clawing, screaming. For an hour. Luckily, I do have another teacher in the classroom with me now. She was able to take the other kids somewhere else, so it was just me and the boy. As the end of class approached and he was still not calm, I texted for backup as I didn't want other parents to arrive to pick up their children and encounter the teacher physically restraining a student. By the time help arrived, Bob (not real name) had calmed down and was laying on the floor while I rubbed his back and "shhhh"ed him. When M* walked in, I immediately started crying. At first I thought it was adrenaline, making me emotional, but after a whole day of crying about it, at home, I realized that a) I felt so horrible for Bob because during his whole melt down, I could see he hated that he was acting that way and he couldn't help it and b) I took it very personally as I have been the ONE person at the church he has connected to and created any sort of bond with. It was just a sucky day.

And....I wasn't planning on getting into all that but there ya' go.

To lighten the mood a bit:

Upon unpacking Jayce's (12) bag after he spent a week at camp, I took out his deodorant. To which Jayce declares "Oh! There it is!!" Not. A. Good. Sign.

My husband took all the kids plus one friend to Sonic for slushes. (Yes, that means I had approx. 15 of blissful quiet.)
Jeven, upon walking in and discovering the brownies cooling on the counter, declared: "Mom, my throat is frozen from my slush. I think I need some of those to make it better."

Of course, I gave him a brownie.

Only a couple more weeks of summer left. Hopefully I can post a few more times before school starts. Fingers crossed!

Laughter=Good Medicine

2011-08-05T14:06:00.000-07:00

I love my children. I am even loving towards my children. Most of the time.

But, I don't "baby" my children. There have been times when I've felt guilty because maybe I should have babied them just a little.

When my children get hurt, there must be blood to qualify for a bandage. I know. I'm harsh. Some parents own stock in B*nd-Aid, I'm sure. It would be so easy to just slap a bandage on the child every time they invent a new injury.

When my children get hurt, 3 things happen:

I congratulate the injured on their awesome wipe out. After all, if you're going to have a scar, it might as well be from something awesome. You don't want to be 36 and have a 3 inch scar on your shin from when you were 8 years old and a pop bottle fell out of the fridge and shattered on your leg. THAT'S not an awesome story.
Clean up any blood, apply band-aid ( if qualification has been met) and kiss and hug and send them back out to play.
Make a joke. Try to get them to laugh. It's hard to cry when you're laughing. (although it's fun to laugh so much you cry!)

**I must put a disclaimer in here. I have been VERY fortunate that we have not had a serious injury. We've had surgical glue once (Jarrett) and a broken collar bone (Jayce). We've even only had 2 ear infections EVER (not counting me). No strep throat (again, not counting me) and, Thank you, Lord, no close calls. I'm talking about the usual scrapes and goose eggs and little cuts that happen when you're an active kid**

Like I said, there have been times where I regret being so harsh. Like when we were at a birthday party, at a park. Jarrett came running over to me, crying. Hands on his head. I saw no blood, no broken bones. I dried his tears and told him to go back to playing. Later that night, as I was giving him a bath, I noticed the HUGE goose egg and abrasion on the back of his head. Guilt. Galore. But, he never told me what had happened, he never acted strange (saw no signs of serious head injury. I'm not so harsh/stupid that I would not notice that), never gave me any concern.

I like to think I'm calm and don't over react. I like to think it teaches my children that life can sometimes hurt. But, you gotta keep going. And, if you can, tell a joke and laugh.

Josie was cleaning her hamster's cage. Jingles was sitting in her carrying case, the one we use when she travels. (Don't judge. Josie bought it with her own money. Jingles has actually traveled 1 time.) Jarrett decided to stick his finger in to the case. He has small, old man hands and his fingers are kinda bony. Jingles got excited, I'm sure thinking his finger was a french fry, and bit him. Hard.

He cried. There was blood.

I said "Uh-oh. Go in to the bathroom and rinse it off."

Jarrett: "Cry, cry, cry." ( Bleeding, bleeding, bleeding)

Me: "You know, in the movie Spiderman, Peter Parker gets bit by a spider and turns into Spiderman. Maybe you'll turn into Hamster Boy?!!"

Jarrett: silence

Me: "Here, dry off your finger. I'll put some neosporin on it. This is the same medicine I used on the cat last night (whole other story). So, now, maybe you'll turn into Cat Boy? Which would you rather be? Hamster Boy or Cat Boy? "

Jarrett: " Cat Boy. Then I can eat the hamster."

We both had a good laugh. He felt better. Kisses were exchanged and life went on.

34

2011-08-04T15:37:00.000-07:00

That's how many days of "summer" we have left.

I say "summer" because here in Oregon, the weather hasn't been very summery. We will get a few days of really warm weather, then a few days of over cast, cool skies. And even some rain.

As much as I hate to be hot and sweaty, I do feel a little cheated.

Because, so far, our summer has pretty much sucked.

We haven't done anything super fun. I don't have a great tan. We didn't win the lottery.

My "to do" list I started before school was out in June doesn't have much crossed off.

So, here we are, with 34 days remaining. We are going to try and cram as much in to these 34 days as possible.

We are done being sickly. I am feeling somewhat better. Largely due to my inlaws, they kept the kids for 2 whole days and I was home. Alone. And, although I didn't get as much accomplished as I hoped, by the time the kids came home, I was feeling refreshed and renewed. Does wonders.
Still "exploring" some things and trying to learn why I was feeling the way I was, and trying to prevent it from happening again.

Jayce left for camp for 5 days. In another state. First time for both of us, him being so far away from home, for so long. With no way to contact him. Unless it's an emergency. I don't think the counselors would consider me wanting to yell at him because he left his dirty clothes on the floor (AGAIN!!) an emergency.
He will be home tomorrow and I can't wait to hear all about it.

In the past, I've written, somewhat vaguely about my husband's job and how it makes him feel. Lately, it's become more apparent that he needs to be doing something different. But what? These days, a job with comparable pay and benefits is hard to come by.
We did have an interesting offer last week. But, the cons certainly outweigh the pros of said offer. I'm thinking he will turn it down but he hasn't made the official call yet.

We are still hoping to make it to the aquarium. We are hoping to go camping again. My husband and Jayce will be going to Wyoming to go hunting with my brother.

All things we are looking forward to.

And, there are only 142 more days until Christmas. You're welcome.

Sound Check

2011-07-16T13:25:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a quick post.

First, a big thank you shout out to all my friends, bloggy and real life, for the wonderful comments and suggestions on my last post. They mean so much. I'm not going to address any of them right now but they did give me a lot to think about. Maybe I'll update on that whole situation later.

Second, I have been sick for the last 3 days. First it started as a horrible headache, then fever, then nausea, then an ear infection. Actually had to go to the doctor which is usually something I try to avoid. But, they have good antibiotics there. ( :

Third, I am attending a funeral today. For a wonderful 95 yr. old man that I considered my grandfather. My own grandfather died when I was very young, this man stepped into that role. Not only was he a granfather figure to myself and my brother, but he was a father figure to my own father. My dad went through some stuff when we were younger and Bill gave him some great advice, along with some tough love.
Over the years, as I've "grown up" I haven't seen Bill more than once or twice a year. Up until these last 6 months. He and his wife moved into the same assisted living home that I visit every week. When I saw their names on the list, I couldn't believe it! And, thought for sure he wouldn't remember me. But, at 95, his mind was very, very sharp. I was greeted by a gigantic hug, (in his prime, he was a very tall man) and an even larger smile.
I have visited Bill and his wife ( his first wife died after 50 yrs. of marriage and he remarried. And, Mary is a wonderful lady as well but I don't have the same "connection" with her as I did Bill) over these last few months and enjoyed bringing my kids to visit with him. I didn't enjoy seeing him get sicker and sicker.
Eventually, he passed after hanging on two weeks longer than the doctors expected him to.

So, I will be attending that memorial service this afternoon. And, although I am sad and will miss him, I know he lived a long life and considering all the pain and suffering he was in at the end, I KNOW he's in a better place.

Strangely, I must bring up the ear infection I am currently suffering from. For some unknown reason I can't hear very well out of my right ear, my left ear is my "strong" ear, on a normal day. I often have to turn my head when I'm talking to someone, to be able to hear better. But, guess what ear is infected? Yup. My left. So, I've been doing a lot of shouting and missing out on conversations these last few days.

I told Jayce, who is 12, that today, at the service, if I start yelling or ignoring someone, he must tell me. He got this very mischievous smile on his face. Now, I'm a tad worried. I may just not speak at all.

It's Been A Month...

2011-07-07T13:26:00.000-07:00

...since I've posted. Yes. I like to state the obvious.

My husband came home one day with plane tickets to Hawaii and we've been relaxing on the beach for a month.

Ok. That's a lie.

I've been away for a month, at a rehab center for women that have slowly lost their minds.

Ok. That's a lie, too. But, a tad closer to reality.

The truth is, I've hesitated to post. I was (still am) afraid whatever I posted would reflect what's in my heart. Which, normally, would be a good thing. But, lately? Not so much.

My heart is full. Of bitterness. Of anger. Of different emotions that have no definition. And certainly no reason.

I've been searching and praying and thinking for a reason as to why I'm so bitter and emotional. At one point, no joke, I thought I might be pregnant! And, with a husband that has had an vasectomy, and myself with an IUD, that's 99.9% impossible. Only after "consulting" with a friend, did I talk myself out of that possibility. I don't want to change my name to Mary anyways.

I have no good reason to be feeling these feelings. And, I certainly didn't want to reflect them here. Nor onto my family. But, I have failed in that area. My poor husband has bore the brunt of my anger and bitterness for a long time. But, he can only take so much.

I like to think I've dealt with the kids decently but only time ( and therapy) will tell.

The thing that frustrates me the most is that I have NO good reason to be so bitter. All the things that make me angry and frustrate me, are fixable!

I get frustrated that the house is always a mess. (Clean it! Be better about making the kids clean up after themselves!)

I get frustrated we never have any money. (Of course we have money. Maybe not enough for the Hawaii trip but we have food and a home.)

I get frustrated when I have too much to do on my to-do list. (The word "No" should be used more in my vocabulary.)

I get frustrated with my weight and health. (We all know the solution here.)

But, do I do any of these things? Nope. Which only frustrates me more.

There are some things I'm bitter about that are beyond my control. Death. How other people act and think. But, I certainly can work on acceptance.

So, for a month I've avoided my blog. I've even avoided commenting on other's blogs.
My heart is just not into it right now.

Friends

2011-06-06T23:28:00.000-07:00

I'll be there for you.....

I consider myself lucky to be surrounded by friends. Some I've been friends with since I was very young, the ages my littlest boys are now.

A few I know I could call and they would be there for me. And, I for them.

I think we all agree, friends are invaluable.

It's fun to see my children making friendships. Will these friendships last forever? I like to think so.

My children's friends have become special to me. I enjoy getting to know them, learning what it is about my kids that they like. Seeing them be silly and speak their own languages.

I hope I can create an atmosphere that my kids and their friends will want to be with us, hang at our house.

I took this picture, with my cell phone, of my two boys and their friend.

Makes my heart swell.

What fills my heart even more, when I forwarded the picture to the friend's mom, she asked for a copy because she loves my boys as much as I love son.

That's what friends do.

Money Well Spent

2011-06-03T21:49:00.000-07:00

A few posts ago, I mentioned how a certain little boy (clue:rhymes with Heaven) has a freakish amount of energy. And, while most of my kids can sit down and do their Legos or puzzles or color, this certain little boy ( clue: loves marshmallows) will not do any of these things. He basically follows me around all day and demands food. And attention. And, while I love this little boy (clue: somehow is constantly sticky) with all my heart, he makes it near impossible to get anything done. Especially the approximately 1000 lessons we have left in school to do in 8 days.

With all his moola he accumulated for his birthday, I encouraged him and his Daddy to have a day and go shopping (killed two birds with one stone, I did!)

I also encouraged Daddy to steer this little boy (clue: was disappointed that he could not buy a real motorcycle with the $60 birthday money he had) towards something productive. Something he could do for 5 min. so I could do something else.

I had this in mind.

This is what Daddy and the certain little boy (clue: still unproductive) came home with.

Certain little boy and his new friend.

Not to be confused with the real thing:


Certain Daddy with his friend.

You can see why not much gets done around here.

Post O' Pictures

2011-06-02T21:59:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, just the kids and I took a trip up to the zoo. And, not to repeat the last post, I'll make it short.

This time, there were school buses as well, but by the time we had our tour that was sponsored by our home school program, and ate our lunch, all the kids were leaving and we enjoyed a nice lazy day at the zoo. With no barfing.

Hey, who let those monkeys out of their cages?!

Awesome picture of an awesome bird.

Goat wrangler #1

Goat wrangler #2

Goat wrangler #3

I'm not sure you could call this goat wrangling at all!

It's Never Like It Is In The Movies

2011-06-01T15:00:00.000-07:00

Unless that movie is National Lampoon's Vacation.

This time last year, our family went on an impromptu beach day.
The kids still talk about it, it was SUCH a great day. We thought "What's better than one beach day? Two beach days, of course!"

We planned ahead a little and pre-purchased tickets to the aquarium and packed the van the night before. Here in Oregon, you never know what the weather is going to be like at the beach. It could be raining cats and dogs here in Springfield, but be gorgeous on the coast. Or vice versa. So taking extra clothes, blankets, coats, snow boots, etc. is a must.

The day was going to be fantastic ( cue "Holiday Road" music here).

We didn't tell the kids where were going, you know, to be extra cool and all. It took seeing the ocean for MOST of them to figure it out. (I love my kids and I'm not saying that they are dumb but...come on! You would think that the ocean would be a huge clue that we're going to the beach.)

And of course, it was raining. And not just the normal Oregon rain. But the huge drops that totally soak through any kind of clothing.

That's ok. We decided to go to the aquarium first. We're easy like that.

We pull up to the front doors of the aquarium and there were four school buses unloading elementary students. Four. Buses.

Now, I like kids. I even have some. But. Four bus loads? Not so much. The aquarium ain't that big. There certainly would not be enough room for us to look at things unobstructed.

You know, when you finally find a cool exhibit of something and you think it would be nice to sit and look at it for awhile. Then, about 1200 kids come running up, and get in front of you and your kids?

Didn't appeal to us.

We decided we could eat our picnic lunch and wait the four bus loads of kids out.

But, it was raining! So, picnic inside the van it was.

We parked at the jetty and watched the boats come into the bay. The kids liked that. For about 3 minutes. We had a really hard time convincing them that it was NOT a good time or place to go swimming.

Seeing as lunch killed approximately 20 minutes, surely not enough time for the gaggle of school children to be done with the aquarium, we decided to go to Old Town Newport and look at the sea lions.

There were 2 school buses unloading there.

But, they were taking a boat tour out into the harbor so really didn't bother us too much.

Saw the sea lions. Walked along the docks. Jeven discovered the ladder that the fishermen use to go down onto their boats. Made the statement that it would be a perfect ladder to use to get into the water, to go swimming.
Used death grip on my child as we walked back up to the street.

Decided that by this time, 1:30, surely the school kids would be done. They have to head back to school, right?

Go back to aquarium where not only are the 4 school buses STILL there, but now there are an additional 2 buses.

Decided we'd save the pre-purchased tickets for another day. Decided we'd go just behind the aquarium to the science center, where donations are appreciated for entrance. (read: cheap!!)

Get to science center. And guess what was there. Go on guess. I'll wait.

Did you guess school buses? You would be correct!!!

Again, I have nothing against children. But. It was suppose to be our perfect day.

Luckily, the kids WERE packing up and leaving. Which meant that we had most of the place to ourselves. It's not a huge center, but the kids got to touch tide pool creatures and roam around pretty much as they pleased.

We decided to take the more scenic route home, which adds about 2 hours to our already 2 hour trip home. But, hey, we had all day.

The weather was so bad, the traffic so slow, we only made it about 25 miles south before deciding to cut across the mountain, using a highway we'd taken only once before and "I wonder why we never go this way? It's so pretty!".

This highway had so many "S" shaped curves that someone had to get out of the van and barf. Which made all the kids laugh hysterically.

"Wow, Mom!! What did you eat?"
"Was that Oreo barf?"
"People stared at you when they drove by! "
"That. Was. Awesome!!"

The day did not go any way whatsoever like we had planned. I didn't take a single picture. Who wants to take a picture of rain? And school buses?

We didn't step foot on any beach.

There was vomiting.
There was fighting.

There was also laughter.

There were also lots of "Thank you,Mom and Dad".

When doing our prayers with the kids that night, they each thanked God for the great day they had.

I'm so glad things don't have to be perfect for our family to enjoy each other and have a good time. Lord knows, things are rarely, if ever, perfect.

My Baby Ain't No Baby--Jeven's Birthday Interview

2011-05-31T20:32:00.000-07:00

He's a whole hand old now. The big 5.

Jeven is an energetic, funny, energetic, sweet, energetic little boy. Did I mention he has a ton of energy? Yep. Well, he does.

One may have to meet Jeven in person to truly appreciate the Jeven-ness. But, here's a small glimpse of him.

Me: You are 5 now! Can you believe it?

Jeven: Yeah. Now I'm gooder.

Me: What was your favorite present this year?

Jeven: My "pop" gun!

Me: Anything else?

Jeven: My marshmallows. I LOVE marshmallows!!

Me: Are they your favorite food?

Jeven: YEAH!!! (said with tons of enthusiasm)

Me: What do you want to be when you grow up?

Jeven: A farmer. A horse one.

Me: But, I thought you were gonna live with mom and dad forever?

Jeven: You can live with me, at the farm!

Me: Are you glad you have a sister and 2 brothers?

Jeven: I'm not glad about the sister but I am glad about the brothers.

Me: Why?

Jeven: Because she always fights with me.

Then, he lost interest and left the room. Things to do. Food to eat. If you ask me, Jeven's favorite thing to do is eat. He eats constantly. After breakfast, he will tell me he's "hungry 10 times" which is hungrier than 5 times but not as much as 12 times.
He out weighs his older brother by a good 6 pounds. But, he hardly ever puts it to good use. Meaning, Jeven is the one that gets picked on. If I was a betting person, I would bet that in a few years, he won't be so easy to pick on.

I love my silly, cheesy, sweet and even energetic little boy.

There's All Kinds

2011-05-20T14:05:00.000-07:00

My husband is a man (go figure) and like all men, he enjoys beautiful things. Sometimes, that means beautiful women. But, even I would much rather watch a movie or t.v. show with pretty people on it vs. ugly people.

I've never had to worry about my husband being inappropriate, though. With movies or stuff online. Or even with his manner of speech. We have a young daughter after all. I think that tends to change how you view women. And, we've always believed that your eyes are attached to your brain which is attached to your heart. If you're looking at things that you shouldn't look at, your brain is going to think things it shouldn't think and so on....

So, like I said, I've never had much reason to worry.

Until the other night.

My husband was laying in bed, reading a magazine. I was reading my ~~latest Stephanie Plum novel~~ War and Peace. Everything was peaceful and "normal". ( I always use that term loosely)
Occasionally, I would hear my husband utter "Wow. That's awesome!" or "What a beauty!" and even " I wish I could get me some of that!"
Then I noticed he was turning his magazine vertical instead of horizontal.

You know, like one would if he was looking at a CENTERFOLD!!!

I glanced over and rolled my eyes.

Not because I'm a cool wife and have no problem with my husband looking at a naked woman that isn't his wife ( although, these days, I would rather he didn't see me naked either.) but because I know my husband. I know what gets him excited.

Would you like to see what gets my husband worked up?

Personally, I think she's had work done.....

Rules That Are Meant To Be Broken

2011-05-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

A friend posted about some of the rules in her house, the ones that no one writes down. The rules that you can't even believe you actually have to make and say out loud.

And for some strange reason, she thinks that maybe I have some of those types of rules. She ~~dared~~ encouraged me to blog about them.

In our house, there's the basic rules. Be nice to each other, don't lie, don't hit, etc... But, of course, with 4 kids, 1 husband (thank Gawd!!) and a miniature zoo, there are some things that always need to be reiterated. Such as:

We do not lick another person's corn dog.
We do not lick our feet (or your sibling's feet) at the kitchen table. If you MUST do it, do it elsewhere.
I don't care if you're 6 or 36, if you can't get it into the freakin' toilet, SIT DOWN!!
Postage stamps are NOT fancy stickers.
When drawing a picture of your mother, always, ALWAYS make her butt smaller than it is in real life. Always.
The cat is not for throwing at your sister.
I don't care if I can't spit your name out when I'm angry. If you know you're guilty, just fess up, even if I did call you by your sibling's name.
If mom is sound asleep on the couch during movie time, so sound in fact that she's snoring so loud you can't hear the movie, do not, I repeat, DO NOT wake her up. You've seen the movie approximately 458 times anyways.
Speaking of movie time, if mom is crying at a movie that she has seen 458 times, do not make fun of her.
If I have to pick it up, or tell you to pick it up, more than 3 times, it's going in the garbage. I don't care if it is the Red Power Ranger and he will kill me in my sleep.
When your younger brother wakes up, do not tell him it is his birthday. Every day.
We do not need to break dance at the grocery store.
Clothing is NOT optional.

I'm sure there are many rules left unspoken. Life with kids and a family is just full of unspoken rules that you make up on the fly. But, it wouldn't be nearly as interesting if it wasn't , now would it?

Clever Post Title Goes HERE

2011-05-18T15:36:00.000-07:00

Seems like I do these type of posts often. You know, the " I've been busy doing _____" posts. But. I have been busy. No foolin'.

We are on the downward slide of the school year. And, being the "totally with it" mom that I am, we are scrambling to get done on time. Which means lots of ~~yelling~~ teaching, ~~begging~~ time management, and ~~bribing~~ rewarding for a job well done.

I would honestly have to say, the worst thing about home schooling, for me at least, is how much time it takes. When I have other things to do. But, since I'm being honest, some of that stress could be avoided if I was better at the a fore mentioned time management.

We've being playing soccer. In the ever lovin', constant down pour that is Oregon. Here, most sports are played rain or shine. But, Josie likes it and it gets some energy out of her system. And, it's nice to put her pushing/shoving/kicking to good use.
We had her "end of the season" pizza party two nights ago. Where she wrote down a phone number of a friend on a napkin. Which, of course, I threw away. I managed to put off letting her call the friend for 2 days, saying "Not right now. I'm sure they aren't home." Or "No, we have to leave in a few minutes" Or "Our phone doesn't dial those numbers." But, she's on to me.
I confessed.
She cried.
I typed the girl's last name into facebook, thinking maybe her mom had a page. I found an older woman with the same last name, and we have a friend in common! So, message to common friend sent. We will see what happens. My luck, we will get the phone number, Josie will call, and a play date invitation will be issued. Then, the whole "we don't let you go to anyone's house we don't know REALLY well" card will have to be played. Then, there will be more crying.
But, one crisis at a time, I always say.

The little boys started T-ball this week as well. Jarrett loves, LOVES to run (ran almost 6 miles in an hour for the jog-a-thon) but doesn't have much hitting power. Jeven, hates, HATES (even asked "Is there any sport I can do that I don't have to run?") to run but has more power behind his hitting. Together, they will make one great player!

My husband and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary! Yay us! Looking through our wedding album, it's like we're looking at two different people. We were so young and didn't have a clue. Now that we're older, we still don't have a clue. But, we're having a blast figuring it out as we go. ( :

I've missed blogging, posts run through my mind all the time. But, getting them on here, that's another story. But, don't give up on me! Eventually, my life will slow down. Right? WHAT?!! It won't?

Well. Back to the time management thing. I will just have to manage to find the time to blog. I will do it. Pinkie swear.

Name Game

2011-04-26T20:30:00.000-07:00

We are very original here, at the Boring homestead.

All of our first names begin with "J". All of our middle names begin with "L". In fact, 5 out of the 6 of us have the SAME middle name. Yes, my husband and I have the same middle name. Josie is the odd ball ( in oh so many ways). Her middle name is Lynn, vs. the Lee that we all have. I liked Josie Lynn better than I liked Josie Lee and back then, I didn't know she would be my only girl. Some of the grandmothers have the middle name of Lynn as well so it's not a complete shut out.

And, of course, all of our last names begin with "J".

I know. Corny much?

None of the names are that complicated. But,there have been a few instances of mispronunciation and spelling.

Jayce: (rhymes with Ace) Sometimes misspelled Jace. Or mispronounced Jay-cee. But, understandable.

Josie: Not much confusion here.

Jarrett: Hardly ever mispronounced but often misspelled. Again, understandable.

Jeven: Now, this one gets interesting. Not a name you hear often. And, usually not within a Caucasian family. Just sayin'. We knew when we named him , that we would be repeating ourselves. "Kevin?" "No, Jeven." "Devin?" "Nope, Jeven".

When I was pregnant with Jeven, we argued on how we were going to spell it for a long time. I wanted J-e-v-i-n. At the time, my husband was working with a Kevin that he really didn't care for. So, he wanted J-e-v-e-n. As you can see, he won. But, that's ok. Looks right.

Again, his name does get misspelled. Understandable. I'm fine with it. Really.

But this? This is a little ridiculous, don't ya think?

Happiness

2011-04-19T16:44:00.000-07:00

Happiness is walking into my sons' room, feeling the warm sunlight shining through the curtains.
Looking down upon my sleeping 4 yr. old.

Happiness is deciding the laundry I am holding, can wait.

Happiness is laying down next to my sleeping boy. Snuggling close as the smell of little boy--mixture of sweat, grass, peanut butter and just a wisp of baby--fills my senses.

Happiness is when my boy snuggles right back and whispers "I love you, mommy".

Happiness is when we both drift off to sleep.

Happiness is believing this moment will last forever.

300?

2011-04-18T09:02:00.000-07:00

I got on here to post: "Does changing my blog layout count as a post?" when I noticed...drum roll please....this is my 300th post!

:crickets:

Too bad I have nothing new and exciting to post about.
I've said it here before and I'm not ashamed to say it again--how do I write about the mundane life I lead but yet try to convey the not so ordinary occurrences that happen on a daily basis, that is my life?

You say it with some pictures! That's how.


Josie and friend, with a Slurpie. Or Shrimp Sucker. Whichever way you like it.

Finally, the Science Center day was rescheduled for last week. We finally got to Newport, not a tsunami in sight, no rain either.
First, the kids spent some time in a lab room, making a "Little Ocean" of their own, complete with a little crab and some fish.

I ~~am sure I'm boring you with saying this again~~ don't know if I've told you, but I love anything that has to do with the ocean or sea life. So, when we (all the students that were there that day plus their mothers) walked into this classroom, I may have pushed my own child out of the way in order to get a good seat at the table. Only to realize maybe I should let her sit down and perhaps go stand at the back of the room with the other mothers. Easy mistake.

Next, Josie and G. got to use their slurpie thingys to dig for sand shrimp. And, cross my heart, a needle in my eye and all that, they NEEDED my help. Seriously. It was hard for their little arms to work the sucky thing. You have to push and pull at the same time. But:


Success!

One sand shrimp. After an hour of slurping or shrimp sucking, we found one. Good thing we weren't getting paid for it.

That's all the pictures I have of that day. I may have dropped the camera into a tide pool in my attempt of scooping up a fish for the kids to look at. I was successful! They each got to hold and touch the little sculpin before releasing him back into his home. But, my camera paid the price. Thankfully, the memory card wasn't harmed.

And, if you're keeping track, that's 2 cameras I've dropped into tide pools in the last year. This last one was the one I was borrowing from my parents to replace the previous one I dropped. So, now I need to replace TWO cameras.

So, I need to figure out how to get pictures from my phone onto the computer. I will put that right on my "to do " list. At the bottom.

Currently, my list has:

school
house cleaning (which includes laundry, dishes, assembling a new dresser, cleaning out closets, etc...)
babysitting
soccer
Sunday School lesson writing
nursing home visits
counseling family members
worrying about said family members
watching t.v.
figure out how to get pictures off of phone
trying to do Weight Watchers (again) and NOT feeling like a failure because I may go over my daily points allowance because my freakin' "to do" list is so freakin' huge.

So, my 300th post. Not so exciting. But, I think it may have motivated me to resume regular posting. Yes, I think I will!!

regular blog posting

Putting it on the list is the first step.

My Kids Are Not Weird

2011-04-06T13:35:00.000-07:00

The other night, after a seemingly extra stressful day (it probably wasn't extra stressful as much as my 4 or 5th stressful day in a row), I snuck out of the house on the pretense of needing to go to the store. Which I did. After I sat down in a restaurant and ate a meal. By myself. It was delicious!

Behind me was a table full of mothers. Gabbing and having a great time. It was hard not to over hear their conversation.

"You know, Barb home schools her kids. Can you believe that?'
"That's crazy! Why would someone do that to their children?"
"Her kids are going to be SO weird. They will miss out on all the social aspects of school!"

I held my tongue. After all, I came for ~~french fries with ranch~~ peace and quiet. Not to get into a discussion on home schooling with strangers.

But, it did get me thinking.
When we first started talking about home schooling, our kids being "weird" was a concern.

I think we can all think of at least one home schooled kid that had pants up to his waist, pocket protectors and would rather debate politics than play on the play ground. But, I think, today, home schooling is different. At least, in our house it is.

My kids are smart but they are not nerds. They would much (MUCH) rather play outside than discuss anything. They enjoy learning but I do not force a lesson out of every single thing we do.

As we sat in the dentist office yesterday, a mother came in with a young boy, probably 4-5, the age of my youngest. The dentist my children see is a pediatric dentist and in the waiting room, there is a small playhouse for the kids to play in.
This mother proceeded to explain, to her 4-5 yr. old, how the house was built and some differences between a real house and a pretend house and how maybe this house could have been built in a different country and blah blah blah.
Me? I sat and read my magazine. My kids? They had their faces plastered against the windows, yelling "MOM!! HEY MOM!!!LOOK UP HERE!!! QUIT READING YOUR MAGAZINE AND LOOK AT ME!!!"

When we told family that we were going to home school, we were NOT met with support. Some were blatant about not supporting us, some kept their opinions to themselves but we could tell what they were thinking:

Our kids would not get a proper education. ---The schooling program we use actually tests the children's progress twice a year, officially. Both Jayce and Josie (the ones being home schooled at this point) scored far above the state's standards. Of course, I personally believe the standards for the state are low. But, my point is, my kids are learning. Just as much, if not more, than public school children.

Our kids would not have a social life.---This one cracks me up. Seriously. At any given day, you could stop by my house and truthfully find at least one child that does not live here. Or, you would find one of my children missing as they are at some function that involves other people, which in fact would indicate a social life. We sign our kids up for sports, they meet other kids. It is very rare that we go out in public and the kids NOT see someone they know.

Our kids would be weird.---Okay. You got me on this one. My kids might be a tad...different. But not in a "nerdy" sort of way. They are weird because Jeven wears shorts and tank tops in the winter. They are weird because Jarrett does not like cheese. (that IS weird in our house). They are weird because Josie talks and sings to herself, all. the. time. They are weird because Jayce thinks he's not weird.

This post is not, by any means, a "I hate public school and anyone that puts their children into public school"post. Every parent does what's best for their children. In our case, it's half at home with me, half in public school.
And, we believe it's working, for us. For now.

My children are not that kind of weird.

George Spielberg

2011-04-01T12:29:00.000-07:00

My son is on his way to becoming a world famous film maker.

This video is 4 min. long, which may be too long for some people to sit and watch but..I think it's hilarious and any time my son will spend all day doing something other than tormenting his siblings, I support that.

It literally took Jayce and his friend all day to film this. They wrote the entire thing themselves and aside from the cameo appearance of the friend's little sister, they filmed it themselves too. You will have to look past the 12 yr. old editing skills and appreciate the time and effort it took to make it.

And, in case you're wondering , it was NOT filmed at my house, so disregard the address displayed on the house! You will not find us there!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

2011-03-22T23:13:00.000-07:00

Nothing better than a Kool-aid mustache!

Getting To Know You (Me)

2011-03-16T09:55:00.000-07:00

I love these things. I love reading them and I especially love filling them out.

Favorite time of day: Late at night, when the rest of the house is asleep but I'm still awake. Maybe not the most exciting but I seem to always see the late hours of night.
Favorite season: Spring!! The flowers, the rain, the hint of better things to come. Love it!
Favorite month: I guess I would have to say March. (see above)
Favorite holiday: Christmas! There's the obvious reasons--the joy of giving, being with family, gifts, food--but also, it's the celebration of my Saviour's birth. Without it, where would I be? (I know where I'd be going!)
Favorite subject in school: Biology! I enjoyed cutting open the animals and seeing their little "parts". In high school, there was also a good possibility an eraser would be thrown at Michael Glazier because he never. shut. up!
Favorite channel: We don't have cable or satellite. We have digital rabbit ears so the only channel we get good enough to watch an entire show is NBC. But, I wouldn't say it's my favorite. I guess Hulu would be my favorite.
Favorite color: Red
Favorite song: This is hard. I love the old time Bible hymns but lately, I haven't been able to sing or listen to them without crying my eyes out. (see the bullet point that mentions Michael Glazier). My favorite hymn would be "Victory in Jesus". Secularly,(spell check does not like this word but I'm using it anyways) I have many favorites. Most songs I enjoy are tied with a memory.
Favorite movie: Love Actually, or Pride and Prejudice. Or Princess Bride. Or Top Gun. (how's that for a range!)
Favorite celebrity: Charlie Sheen. JUST KIDDING!! I love Mike Rowe. And Jackie Chan. Tom Hanks has always been a favorite. I don't like many women celebrities.
Favorite type of music: I like many different types. Depends on my mood.
Favorite t.v. show: Castle. And, right now, we are loving Raising Hope. So good!
Favorite thing to do: Lie in bed and read a good book, cover to cover.
Favorite place to be: This was hard as some other bloggers made sweet comments about their husbands here (threw up a little, I did). I will say I love being at the beach with my family on a day when it is not raining. Which doesn't happen very often.
Favorite hobby: Is sleeping a hobby?
Favorite kind of animal: One that doesn't stink.
Favorite place to live: In a house. Or mansion. Whatever.
Favorite place to vacation: Anywhere where I don't have to cook.
Favorite restaurant: I love Jung's Mongolian Grill. Yummy! Or course, I'd be happy with McDonald's since it means I'm not cooking.
Favorite food: Mashed potatoes and gravy
Favorite thing to cook: Were you not paying attention? Go up 2 bullet points.
Favorite drink: I wish I could say something healthy like "lemon water" or "green herbal tea" but I will be honest: Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi
Favorite chore: :snort:
Favorite make-up: Any kind that covers my zits, wrinkles and makes me look flawlessly beautiful but also looks perfectly natural. I cannot tell you what it's called because it does not exist.
Favorite hair products: I buy whatever I can get for free with coupons. My hair sucks no matter what.
Favorite lotion: I like the old fashioned Jergens cherry almond scented lotion.
Favorite perfume: Victoria's Secret "Good Day Sunshine"
Favorite memory: I have 4--Jayce, Josie, Jarrett and Jeven's birth stories.
Favorite blogger: I can't pick just one: Karey, Kelle, Susan. Just to name three.
Favorite thing to blog about: Duh! My kids and the silly, random stuff they do.
Favorite book: James Herriott: All Creatures Great and Small
Favorite verse: John 3:16. My first verse I ever memorized as a child.
Favorite thing to wear: Jeans and a hoodie.
Favorite kind of day: Any day where I feel I did my best as a mom, wife and friend. Those days are few and far between, sadly.
Favorite job: Being a mom, wife and friend.

Your turn! Would love to hear all about you!

Where Did the Weekend Go?

2011-03-14T10:54:00.000-07:00

I have never been happier to see a Monday in my life. Did I just admit that?

This past weekend was insanely busy.

Friday: Josie and I had signed up to attend a Homeschool Day at the Hatfield Marine Science Center with another homeschooling mom and her son. We were both looking forward to it. I love the beach and studying anything associated with it.

But, the Tsunami closed down the entire town of Newport. Bummer.
Since we were already packed and ready to go, and in a science-type thinking mode, we headed to OMSI instead. Still a fun day.

Made it home just in time to pick up the babysitter, go through Little Caesar's drive through, jump into the shower and trade my rubber boots for heels. My husband's annual dinner for work was a nice evening out. And, we walked out with his bonus check! Side note--is it strange that I am the ONLY wife the boss hugs?

Saturday: Helped Jayce sell candy bars outside of Wal-mart to raise money for church camp. (still have candy bars left if anyone's interested!) Jayce stood in the rain and wind and sold approx. 700 candy bars.
We dash home ( by dash I mean sped while shoving food into our mouths and yelling at Josie to please leave her shoes on) so Jayce could change into his basketball uniform.
Off to the game we went. They lost. Boo!
Then, to a pizza birthday party for a friend. Side note--I love Nerf! Best thing ever for last minute birthday gifts for boys! Or grown men. Whatever.

Sunday: After losing an hour sleep, our already crazy Sunday morning routine (jump out of bed after realizing we over slept, yelling at kids to hurry up and put on their church clothes, and no, you can't wear your boots with your slacks, and trying to find the pair of pantyhose that has the smallest run and dash out the door (by dash I mean shoving food in our mouths and yelling at my husband to hurry up) ) was off the charts. We made it to church on time. I taught my class ( used slugs as a visual aide. Big hit) and we rushed off to home. Change clothes and go to Jayce's end of season basketball pizza party. Eat pizza, clap continuously while 12 yr. old boys receive trophies.
Watch wind blow sign over onto some poor person's car.
Dash (by dash I mean driving in the wind and rain without speaking as to not wake the sleeping children in the back seat) to Jayce's last basketball game. They lost. Boo. But, only by a few points this time (take my word for it, losing by only a few points is an improvement)

Drive back to church to make an appearance at a baby shower that was mostly over.
Take kids to Sonic to celebrate Jayce's "not totally sucky" basketball game.
Come home, put on sweats that I have missed so terribly. Let kids veg in front of t.v.
Josie has melt down. Major.
After 2 hours of screaming, she is finally asleep. Husband and I watch highly intellectual film and then collapse into bed.

Monday morning arrives too soon but is well received. This week, so far, we only have two birthday parties (one being my own!), one church meeting and one day of housekeeping ( I have "side" job cleaning every other week) all while trying to get caught up on school before taking Spring Break off (please, Lord).

Side note--any guesses as to what type of restaurant we will be attending the birthday party at? My kids are so sick of pizza. It's kind of sad, actually. You know you've eaten a lot of pizza if you're 6 and tired of it.

Here's to a somewhat uneventful week!

Alternate Definitions

2011-03-07T18:41:00.000-08:00

*Warning: potty talk soon to follow*

I recently posted Jarrett's birthday interview, in which I attempted to tell you how seriously funny he is.

Last night, after putting all the kids to bed, Jayce yelled for me to come back into the boys' room.

Jayce: "Jarrett wants to ask you something. Go ahead Jarrett."

Jarrett: (giggle, giggle) "NO!!"

Jayce: "Yes!"

Jarrett: "Okay. Are turds pieces of poop?"

Me: "Well, yes."

Jarrett: "No they aren't!! They are people that act stupid!"

( :

All the Essentials

2011-03-03T22:40:00.000-08:00

My 8 year old daughter has taken to carrying a purse whenever we go anywhere. What, you ask, is essential to an 8 year old girl?

Now, when I first wondered what Josie might be carrying in her purse and picked it up, it was quite heavy. I couldn't think of WHAT she had in there. So I started taking everything out, one item at a time. This is what I found:


First, her purse. It's cute, right?

Next, her wallet. It's a felt, monkey wallet. Again, cute.

An empty container of gum. The gum didn't even belong to her. It was her older brother's.

And...the gum wrappers. That lead me to believe maybe she "borrowed" some of Jayce's gum?

A My Little Pony McDonald's toy, one old, purple barrette and some random piece of a toy.


And...one boulder.

Now I know why it was so heavy. I don't even want to think about why she felt the need to bring this with her everywhere.

I guess us ladies all have something in our hand-bags that others would think is weird.

I dug through my purse and found a hole puncher. Yup.

Hey, a lady has to be prepared for anything, right?

Wordless (Almost) Wednesday

2011-03-02T15:59:00.000-08:00


Judd with his pet, Ruger. Also, Judd sporting some awesome facial hair. Hard to decide which is handsomer, isn't it?

Jarrett's 6th Birthday Interview

2011-03-01T19:39:00.000-08:00

Jarrett is, in a word, hysterical. All of my kids have great senses of humor. Seriously! They get jokes that most people don't. They can tell an honest to goodness joke on their own too. But, Jarrett is a ham. No cute smiles, or handsome pictures from him. They all have silly faces, most with bunny ears.


Giving bunny ears even to his balls.

I enjoy talking to Jarrett daily. Now that's he's the big 6, he's become much wiser.

Me: What did you enjoy most about turning 6?

Jarrett: The presents.

Me: Duh. Should have known. What do you want to be when you grow up?

Jarrett: A dog.

Me: Okay.... You go to school. What's your favorite part of school?

Jarrett: Centers. ( that's when the kids get to pick an activity and play with their friends. They are actually learning but they don't know that)

Me: What's your favorite food?

Jarrett: Candy

Me: No, that's a treat. I mean food.

Jarrett: Circus peanuts.

Me: No, that's still a treat. What's your favorite food?

Jarrett: Pancakes with clear syrup. (corn syrup)

Me: Who is your favorite person?

Jarrett: God

Me: Great! But, I mean in our house?

Jarrett: You and dad.

Me: But, if you could only pick ONE person...

Jarrett: Just looks at me because he knows there is no right way to answer this.

Me: Okay, who is your favorite sister? (thinking that since he only has ONE sister, this would be an easy question)

Jarrett: Just looks at me because he does not appreciate my sense of humor.

Me: What do you think about how the current government system is being run?

Jarrett: What?

Me: Never mind. Where's your favorite place to go?

Jarrett: McDonald's.

There you have it.

The night of Jarrett's birthday, Jayce, (who occupies the top bunk, over Jarrett,) said "Good night dumb birthday boy!"

Jarrett's response?

"Good night boy who didn't get any presents today. "

That's my boy!!

Time Marches On

2011-02-24T15:53:00.000-08:00

In the two weeks since my last post, time has, indeed, marched on.

There was a funeral. A moving, sweet service for a wonderful, wise man. A man that I have known since I was 5 yrs. old.
I grew up in a small town. Very small. There were 20 kids in my Senior class. And that was a large class. Many of those students had been together since Kindergarten. Michael was one of those people. When you go through 13 yrs. (13 very important, life shaping years) with the same people, they become part of you. I cannot honestly look back at those years and NOT see him. With his passing, part of me has died as well. It has been hard to understand why he had to die. But, it's not my decision to make and I know he is at peace. And, because of his life, many others have made decisions regarding their own.
There were hundreds of people at his service. Old friends. It was a school reunion of sorts. A bittersweet reunion.

There was an operation. My mom had her shoulder surgery and all went well. She ended up having to have some tendons and bones screwed back together. Now, she's taking it easy and will soon be doing physical therapy.
I was afraid this whole experience would change my mother, in my eyes. She would somehow become sickly and frail. But, she's been strong and courageous. She's been wise in asking for help (which for both her and I, is difficult to do) for things she can't do but yet not needy or feeling sorry for herself. She has been thankful that the surgery fixed the problem and her healing seems to be right on track.

There was illness. It ran through our household like a semi-truck. Everyone was infected and missed out on some fun social happenings. Such is life.

Time marches on.

There was a birthday. Jarrett turned 6! ( I will post his birthday interview soon!). Hard to believe my little preemie 5lb baby is now 6 and becoming more independent each day.


He's becoming SO independent, he'd rather NOT get his picture taken with mom.

There was a getaway. I am blessed with awesome in-laws. Even though the kids were sick, they had no qualms about taking them for 2 nights so my husband and I could enjoy some grown-up time. Much needed. And, appreciated.


Can't beat this view, from our hotel room. Sigh...


Judd's favorite part of the weekend. No joke.

Time marches on.

I have wanted to blog, I have not wanted to blog. I would go back and forth between wanting to tell you all these funny things to feeling very superficial and, for lack of a better word, stupid. How can I write about the funny things my kids did when someone has died?
How can I come here and complain about my husband, who hates to go to the coast and was complaining about going, even before we left, when I know of one wife that would love to hear her husband complain.

But, time does march on.

I will enjoy it.

No Words

2011-02-09T08:57:00.000-08:00

Nothing I write here today would be able to sum up the feelings that I have.

I have a lot of heavy things going on right now.

There has been a death of a very dear and wonderful friend. Even the fact that he was re-diagnosed with leukemia didn't make it less shocking. Maybe it's the fact that the re-diagnosis came only a month ago.
Someday, soon, I will talk more about this, but right now....I just can't.

Please pray for Michael's wife and his three little children.

Somewhat less heavy, but it still has it's own bulk to it, is the fact that my mom fell and injured her shoulder. Badly enough to require surgery. Within the week. Add to that is the fact that my dad is a truck driver and needs to work. That means the job of getting mom to and from the doctor and helping her recover is mine. Which I gladly do. Don't misread that. GLADLY.

Like I said, heavy stuff going on here.

I will be back. Soon.

In the mean time, hold your loved ones closer, tell them you love them, make the most out of every day. Spend quality time with God. Do the best with what He gave you.

That's what I'm going to be doing.

A Dream and a Loss

2011-02-02T09:51:00.000-08:00

All of my pregnancies were filled with drama. Each one more than the one before. Bedrest. High blood pressure. Numerous ultra sounds. Trips to the hospital for monitoring.

All of my newborns had issues. Each one more than the one before. Jeven was the worst. Walking out of the hospital without your newborn is the second worst feeling in the world. Being told "we had to revive him" is the first.

As much as I admire the Duggar family, we are in no position to compete with them.
After Jeven, we decided we were done growing our family. It was a hard decision for us to make. Well, for me. Judd made it in a snap. I had some real, genuine heartache for the babies I would never have.
But, it would not be fair to get pregnant again and run the risk of dying, leaving my remaining children without a mother. Or, get pregnant and not have a baby survive. Unthinkable.

It was decided Judd would get a vasectomy. Just the fact that my husband was willing to have THAT done, ( a man that has gone to the doctor twice in the entire time I've known him) tells you how serious he was about being DONE.

While he was back getting his procedure done, I sat in the restroom and cried. And cried. I knew it was the right decision. It just hurt my heart.
What got me through was knowing the IF God wanted us to have another baby, it could happen. People have babies after a vasectomy all the time, right? And, if He can get a virgin pregnant, He could certainly make it happen for me.

For the next year, I secretly, subconsciously, hoped every month that was the case.

Now, it's been 4 years and I can honestly say, if God saw fit to let me be pregnant, I would be mad as heck. I am SO done with babies. I love my kids. I love other people's babies. I gladly baby sit. But, I gladly give them back to their parents. I will always miss the tiny newborn sounds and smells. I miss breastfeeding. But, I'm glad my time is done with those things.

Monday night, I had a dream I was pregnant. Not only pregnant, but in labor. And it was a very realistic dream. You know when you have a somewhat realistic dream there's still random people in it, or random things happening that don't make any sense? This dream had none of that.

In my dream, it was a very fast labor, which is accurate for me. The whole family was there. Accurate. The only thing that was slightly off was I decided I wanted to actually assist in the delivery. Meaning, I wanted to reach down and "catch" the baby. Which I never had any interest in doing with my other labors. But, in my dream, I wanted to. Not in a weird way, just very casually said, "Can I do it?".

And, I pulled a healthy, beautiful, baby boy up onto my chest. And he cried. I cried. Judd cried. And, I loved him. Instantly. And, I was relieved that I loved him. Seeing as how it was an unwanted pregnancy and all. I was glad I loved him instantly.

As Judd and I decided what this new baby boy's name was to be, I woke up.

I told Judd about my dream. His response was "More of a nightmare!". I told Josie. "I do want a baby sister!" "Sorry, it was a boy". "Oh man!!".

Judd and I laughed it off. It was only a dream.

But, I had this weird feeling that stayed with me all day yesterday. I couldn't explain it. I didn't talk about it. It was just "there".

Judd and I had some alone time yesterday afternoon. As we were walking through Target, we passed the baby section. And,tears started rolling down my face. I turned my head so my husband wouldn't see, lest he think I'm bonkers.

My weird feeling? Loss. I felt like I had HAD a baby, and where was he?
I can close my eyes and see him. Smell him. Hear him.

I suffered a miscarriage in April 2000. I was 12 wks. exactly. I never found out if it was a boy or a girl.

I've heard people that have lost a child talk about their dreams that have their loved one in it. They dream of their dead children.
Was that my lost baby in my dream? I'm not sure.

I do know I went to sleep last night praying I'd dream about him again.

Bullett Points of Excuses

2011-01-31T17:23:00.000-08:00

Behind in home schooling. The month of December kicked our butts. Yes, I know we are almost into February.
I've discovered Netflix Instant watch. I found my favorite books in a t.v. series: James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small. First time I read this book, I was in 6th grade and my teacher, Mr. Larsen, encouraged me to not only finish the book (at that time, it was the longest book I'd ever attempted to read) but read the entire series. Which I have, many times. To find the book as a t.v. series really made my day. So, every free moment I have, I'm watching it.
I had an IUD put in in December, to supposedly help with my heavy bleeding every month. TMI? Too bad. Since then, I have pretty much bled non-stop. My doctor said this could continue for up to 3 months then, hopefully, things will taper off. I'm keeping my fingers crossed because the non-stop bleeding is making me T.I.R.E.D
My face looks like a meth user's face. I have broke out in more zits than I ever accumulated during all my teen years. The sad thing is, I have zits on top of wrinkles. So not fair.
I also have pink eye. At least, I think it's pink eye. Believe me, with 4 kids, I have experience with it. I have a pink eye, the gunk that makes it impossible to open my eye in the morning. But, I also have pain on the entire side of my face and my eye is more RED than pink.
The last 3 bullet points are not excuses for not blogging, but more of a ploy to get some sympathy. Did it work?

Movie Recommendation

2011-01-16T21:02:00.000-08:00

As if my opinion matters to you in the first place.

But, I watched a wonderful movie last night, it was however, three hours long and I'm feeling the pain today. But, it was worth it.

Lost in Austen was lent to me by a friend. When I heard the plot, I was a little skeptical. But, seeing as how my husband was watching River Monsters, I decided I'd give it a try.

I love the book "Pride and Prejudice" and the movie, with Colin Firth, even more.
This movie, actually a miniseries that aired in the UK, takes a modern day woman into the life of the characters of the novel. Through a magic door. Sounds stupid, right? Like I said, I was skeptical. It turns out to be funny and sweet and a great love story. The main character of course, screws everything up and the wrong people fall in love and you see different sides of characters you've "known" for years.

So, if you have 3 hours to spare and lots of popcorn (and some tissues),this is the movie for you.

If you'd prefer, on the other hand, to mindlessly watch ugly water creatures being captured by an idiot*, then my husband's show would be more your style.

*To be fair, I never watched River Monsters. I'm just speculating. Accurately I imagine.

Pay It Forward...Rock the ONEder Fund.

2011-01-09T14:09:00.000-08:00

Pay It Forward...Rock the ONEder

I've been reading, following this blog for quite some time. Ever since another bloggy friend posted the link. And, it's touched me in a way that I can't put into words. But, Kelle can. She is a wonderful writer and once you "meet" her girls, you will be instantly in love.

It's almost little Nella's birthday and her momma is doing something pretty awesome to celebrate.

Go look. Donate, if you can. A little goes a long ways.

Thanks!

"I Just Want You to be Happy"

2011-01-06T08:16:00.000-08:00

I believe I've said that statement approximately 1 million times these last 6 months or so.
My brother has gone through a tough time lately. And, even though I hate to see him hurting and the things that have resulted from that pain, our relationship, his and mine, has grown. It has grown more in the last year than the previous 32.

We've had some great conversations. Some dark and depressing and some silly.
But, through it all, through all the decisions that he needed to make, I would tell him "I just want you to be happy".

But, if I'm honest with myself, and ultimately, with him, what I should say is this:
"I want you to be happy WHEN you follow my advice." or "I want you to be happy IF you do things the way I would do them".

Because, truth be told, I would advice him and talk to him and listen to him. And tell him "be happy". Then, a couple days later ( or in some cases, hours) he'd call and let me know what he decided. And, it felt wrong. And, it would upset me.

But, he's happy. And, isn't that what I said I wanted all along? For him to be happy?

His happiness shouldn't be conditional. My support of him certainly shouldn't be conditional (ok, if he was a mass murderer, perhaps that's a condition I would not support) .

It has made me stop and think:

everyone's idea of how to be happy is different
when we give advice, we have to give it freely, no strings attached
we cannot be surprised, hurt, angry, etc. when our advice is not heeded*
truly, truly, I do want him to be happy
most importantly, he's my brother and I will always be here to listen, to laugh and to love.

And, to all of you: I want you to be happy as well.

*does anyone else have a certain t.v. show quote pop into their head whenever the word "heed" is used?

Josie Birthday Interview

2011-01-05T00:02:00.000-08:00

December 30th marked Josie Lynn's 8th birthday. She's growing up so fast, this momma can't keep up. Josie is a wonderfully sweet, funny and unpredictable little girl.

Mom: Josie, what is different about being 8?

Josie: I only feel different. I look the same.

Mom: What do you want to be when you're a grown-up?

Josie: I want to be an artist.

Mom: Why?

Josie: Because I'm good at painting.

Mom: Do you like having 4 brothers?

Josie: NO!

Mom: You answered that fast!

Josie: Did you put exclamation marks after my answer?

Mom: Yes. Why don't you like your brothers?

Josie: They're annoying. And, weird.

Mom: You don't think you're ever annoying. Or weird?

Josie: NO! Make sure you get exclamation marks on that answer too.

Mom: Ok, moving on. What is your favorite movie?

Josie: The Barbie movie Grammie got me.

Mom: Favorite food that mom makes for you?

Josie: Mac and cheese with hotdogs.

Mom: Yeah, that is gourmet. What is one thing you hope to do this year, while you're 8?

Josie: Go to Disneyland again.

Mom: You may need to think of something else...

Josie: Go camping? Yeah, I'd like to go camping again. And, pack all my clothes this time.

Mom: Josie, I love you!

Josie: (silly smile) I love you too!


Not that great of a picture of the birthday girl, but I think she's still beautiful!	(Jeven can't wait to eat some cake!)

Gettin' Kinda Hairy

2011-01-04T09:00:00.000-08:00

It's a HUGE fear of mine that one of my children, or even myself, will get head lice. It was more of a fear when Josie had hair down to her waist. Now, although, I still wouldn't love it if she got it, with her hair shorter, I think I'd manage it ~~with mild screaming and head shaving~~ ok. Like I said, I would NOT love it if she, or anyone else in my house, got it.

Yes, I know many, many kids get lice. And, it doesn't necessarily mean they are not clean. In fact, lice prefer clean hair over dirty hair. I know that. But. Still. It's bugs. In the hair!!!
It's like fleas. Animals can't help that they get them. And, if you have a dog or cat, you will have to deal with them sooner or later. But. Still. It's bugs!! In the house!!!

Before the craziness of Christmas hit us, I took Josie to get her hair cut. Just her and I. A date.
We went to a quick-cut place, no fancy salon or anything. And although there were other customers, it wasn't packed.

We tell the lady what Josie wants. I go to sit in the waiting area, still within sight of Josie. The lady parts Josie's hair and clips it all up. And says words that I have feared since Josie's first hair sprouted on her tiny head: " Um. Mom?"

"WHAT?" I ~~yell so loudly every person in the place is now looking at me~~ ask, quickly analyzing how Josie would look bald.

"Did someone draw on her head?"
"What?" This time said much, much more calmly.
"She has ink on her head. Come look!"

There was no need to tell me to come look as I had jumped out of my chair as soon as the lady said "Um..."

But, indeed there was ball point, blue ink on Josie's scalp!! I was SO relieved that it wasn't bugs, I just laughed.
Then, I said "Josie!! What did you do?!!"
Her immediate response was to throw her brother under the bus: "Jayce did it!!!"
"When?"
"A couple days ago"
"You mean to tell me, Jayce held you down, drew on your head, and THIS is the first I'm hearing about it?"
"Yes?"
"Yeah RIGHT!!! Jayce can't fart on you without the whole neighborhood hearing about it! There is NO way he drew on you without you saying a word!"
"I didn't do it, Mom! It was Jarrett?"
"Nice try."

Between the stylist and myself, we determined that Josie had been doing her schoolwork and had reached up to scratch her head with the pen in her hand. The squiggles on her scalp confirmed this theory. I tried to take a picture but Josie would not let me. She seemed embarrassed for some reason. I am sure it was NOT the yelling and panicking done by her mother, in a public place.

Never, ever would I thought I'd be so relieved to have my daughters head drawn on.

Hamster Shopping

2011-01-03T15:47:00.000-08:00

Last post I mentioned we got Josie a hamster for Christmas. Sounded like a great idea. In theory.

Months ago, we found a used hamster cage, complete with a wheel, water bottle, bedding, etc. on Craigslist. We thought, brilliantly, that we'd hide the cage, then at the last possible minute, purchase the hamster, and set it up in the garage until Santa would leave it under the tree.

Great plan, no?

Yeah, turns out that we weren't the only ones thinking so brilliantly. I was shopping Christmas Eve day, (up at 4 a.m.!!!) and left that for the very last stop. Told the ~~sitter~~ Grandparents I'd be home by noon.

At 11:50, I was starting to panic. I'd been to 3 different pet stores and no hamster. Finally, called my husband, in tears, asking what I should do. He brilliantly suggested I check the pet store 2 miles from our house, where we buy hamster-like creatures (mice) to feed our lizard.

I walk in and the owner recognizes me and greets me enthusiastically. I explain I need a hamster right away, for a PET, not for FOOD and he directs me to a cage that has approx. 10 hamster in it, all cheaper than the other 3 stores were selling theirs.

I was so relieved to not only purchase the hamster but some food for less than what we were planning on spending. I picked out what I thought was the best looking, spunkiest (who wants a boring, non-spunky rodent?) girl hamster. The owner scoops her up and proceeds to the check out counter.
Where she jumps out of his hands and lands with a thunk on the counter. "Ooops!" he says.

He puts her in a Chinese food take-out box (remember, he sells a lot of "food") and then starts to scoop up the food I was purchasing, sold in bulk. The hamster then escapes from the box and runs around on the counter.

I quickly point out the escapee and he puts her in another box, this one slightly more sturdy looking.
I pay for everything, and put it all on the passenger seat and ~~sped~~ drove home to put her in the cage and then go to pick up the kids. The entire time, the box was shaking and I KNEW she'd get out and I'd drive down the rode with a hamster on my head.

I did make it home, my head unscathed, set her up in her new home, out in the garage. The cage, pictured above, turned out to be a piece of ....well, something undesirable. We'll leave it at that. Opening the thing made it all fall apart.

There I was, trying to put together the useless hamster cage, in the garage, while the Chinese food box containing the hamster was being chewed to pieces. And, I knew I was already late to pick up the kids. On Christmas Eve. I still had tons to do and I did want to relax at some point.
I finally get the thing put back together, rush to get the kids (not too bad of a rush, Grammie and Papa live 2 blocks away) and we're all back home. Safe and sound.

The hamster is safely in her cage, on top of the fridge, in the garage, covered by a blanket. At one point, I did have to let Jayce in on Operation Hamster because he went out to the garage for some reason and was alarmed that something "alive" was out there.

At 5 p.m. it was time to go to my SIL house's for Christmas Eve dinner. We, brilliantly, decide the hamster would probably be better off inside the house, not in the freezing garage. With the kids buckled into the van, I help my husband bring in the hamster, still in her cage. He brings the whole thing to me and says "Uhhhhh....look?" The hamster is sleeping very, very soundly in her cage. Judd kind of rolls the cage to one side. The hamster rolls right along with it. Thunk. Judd rolls it to the other side. Thunk.
The only thing that is running through my brain is "The pet store was open until 7. The pet store was open until 7" . You see, this had to work as it was Josie's Santa gift. Our kids get 4 presents each, TOTAL, including a Santa gift. We didn't have a lot of wiggle room.

Miraculously, the hamster wakes up and seems a little peeved we woke her from her sound nap. I don't blame her.

We deposit her in the bedroom, on my husband's side of the bed, covered with a blanket.

We do the family thing, come home, get the kids into bed, wait for them to fall asleep. Get out all the presents (90% already wrapped, thankyouverymuch. THAT was something new this year) and finally we were ready to get the hamster.
That hamster had pulled not only the blanket that was covering her, but also my husband's work shirt he had left laying on the floor, into the cage. Well, that's what we think those things were, there wasn't much left to them. She had shredded them to, well, shreds!

(Is it just me, or can you see that this hamster ,maybe, perhaps, wasn't as brilliant of an idea as originally thought? )

We managed to get all the clothing out of the hamster cage (again, she seemed a little peeved) and set her under the tree.
Josie was excited and surprised to find her Christmas morning.

She did have some difficulty picking out a name.
That poor hamster was "Princess Fatty " (Judd's favorite), "Fiona", "Cupcake" and finally "Jingles" is the name that stuck.

Since Christmas, two other cages have been bought and returned. In our effort to "save" money and buy a used cage, we actually ended up spending more money between all the gas used in our travels back and forth between the 3 different pet stores in town (the one 2 miles from our house was not a good source for an actual cage), and the cost of the cages. The one in the picture above, because the wheel is it's own unit, all the hay and poop the hamster accumulates in the wheel ,ends up flying all over the room. Not fun if you are not of fan of poop. And/or hay.

Currently, Jingles is in a 10 gallon aquarium (no water) with my baking racks and encyclopedias on top ( I knew those would come in handy!) in the living room. We did order a fancy "topper" thingy and that should be here tomorrow. Then, with more hope, Jingles will be back in Josie's room and they will be BFFs.

Here is some brilliant advice, from one hamster mommy to all of you:

Do. Not. Buy. A. Hamster.

Ok. That's not entirely fair, I know.
If you MUST buy a hamster (really? MUST you?), do not buy a cage that is made out of any type of plastic or in any way resembles the cage in the picture at the beginning of this long , and I'm sure, boring post.

Merry Christmas?

2010-12-30T09:00:00.000-08:00

It has a question mark because I am not sure I can get away with that title a week after the holiday.

Life has been....life.

Getting ready for Christmas is hectic.

Christmas is hectic.

Having family from out of town after Christmas makes life hectic.

I'm sure if you and I were having a face to face conversation, we could go round and round about who's life is more hectic. Everyone's life is hectic during this time of year.
It's just....life.

So, no apologies from me or excuses why I haven't posted. We'll just pick up where we left off, mkay?

About 2 weeks before Christmas, I was in a great Christmas mood. We were broke, didn't have all our shopping done, the house was trashed and I was behind in just about everything. But, my heart was merry. And bright. I knew it would all work out, it always does.

But, when the 24th came, I suddenly got depressed. I don't know if it was hormones. Or the fact we were still broke, didn't have our shopping done, the house was still trashed and I was still behind in everything. It just all of the sudden bothered me.

But, Christmas morning, I had recovered. Despite the fact Santa was unable to find the Ninja/Yoda/Power Ranger suit Jeven asked Santa for at the last minute. And if you don't think I looked, think again.

We managed to surprise the kids with a couple of cool gifts. A hamster for Josie (this is an entire blog post in itself), a video game for Jayce, a light saber (asked for at the last minute) for Jarrett and a remote control helicopter for Jeven, who upon opening it declared "Well, this sucks. I didn't ask for this" which made me laugh and broke my heart at the same time. He's 4, an age where, really? Getting presents is the best thing ever and hiding his disappointment at not getting the Ninja/Yoda/Power Ranger suit was difficult. But, greed is the last thing we want our children to develop. So, a quick lecture of saying "Thank you" for the thought was needed then we proceeded with our festivities.

These last few weeks have held many actual blog-able things. Here's a ~~long and probably boring~~ quick run down with visual aids.


Jarrett and Josie Santa.

Yes, that's only half of my children.

Here's the other half:


That would be Jeven, hiding behind "too old to sit on Santa's lap", Jayce


His 2nd monstrous goose egg of the week. We've considered a helmet. Seriously.

We managed to surprise the kids with a Wii this year! Instead of wrapping it up and handing it to them, we made a little scavenger hunt and they ran through the house following the clues. The last one said something like "...look where dinner is made." Jayce, always looking for a ~~beating~~ laugh said "Great! Now we have to go to McDonalds".


The Wii. In the oven.


If I would have been on the ball, this would have been our Christmas card.

I hope you all had a Merry, Merry Christmas, with no question mark!

Birthday Interview

2010-12-29T21:25:00.000-08:00

My oldest "baby" recently ~~three weeks ago~~ turned 12.

Twelve. That's pre-adolescent, in case you weren't aware.

That also makes me old. In case I wasn't aware.

Although he is much too old and mature for baby-like interviews, I like to annoy him. So...without further ado here's Jayce's 12th birthday interview:

Mom: You've been 12 for a little while now, how do you like it?

Jayce: Good. I don't know, Mom. Why do I have to do this?

Mom: Because I said so. Now, what was your favorite part of your birthday?

Jayce: Probably when I had my friends over and we stayed up all night playing video games.

Mom: Being a grown up is not that far in the future. What are your plans?

Jayce: To not be homeless.

Mom: Okay...

Jayce: And, uh, to get out of the house as fast as possible.

Mom: You are the oldest of four children. What do you like the best?

Jayce: I can beat them up.

Mom: The least?

Jayce: That I get in trouble if I beat them up.

Mom: What was your favorite gift this birthday/Christmas?

Jayce: The cash. Or the video game. Or the Wii was cool too.

Mom: Anything else you'd like the blog world to know?

Jayce: No. Don't interview me again. Ever.

There it is. Not very exciting but.... at least he stayed in the same room with me while I asked the questions.

Jayce is a great young man. His father and I are very proud. We look forward to seeing the fine young man he is sure to become.

"Not Me" Monday

2010-12-13T10:04:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to post for so long, have posts in my head, just haven't made them appear on here. Yet.
So, one way to get a post posted is to steal ideas from another blogger. Thanks Karey!

I did not let Jarrett eat a candy cane for breakfast this morning.

I did not throw away one of Josie's socks because she stepped in gum at Chuck E Cheese last night and I really didn't want to try and wash it.

I did not give the boys a shower last night and dried them off with a hand towel because we have no clean bath towels in the house. Anywhere.

I did not mark an Art lesson complete for Jayce, even though he did not do the weaving project the lesson asked for.

I did not steal from the kids' treat bowl and put the treat in my husband's lunch this morning because I had nothing else to give him for lunch.

I did not open the movie cabinet and tell Jeven "watch any movie you want, as long as you leave me alone for about an hour ."

I did not purposefully leave the clean dishes in the dishwasher all weekend knowing that they would all get used eventually.

I do hope you all are having a great Monday! (If that's even possible)

Christmas Decorating Gone Wrong

2010-12-03T10:12:00.000-08:00

My oldest child's birthday is the 9th. I swore, way back when he was just a wee lad, that we would not decorate for the Holidays until AFTER his birthday. You know, to give him his special "time" and all.

However, over the years, I have found that if we wait until after the 9th, things just sort of "explode" schedule wise and I end up not decorating until the late teens of the month. That just isn't enough time to enjoy the Christmas knick-knacks I have!

So, I asked Jayce if it would be ok if we put out the decorations BEFORE his birthday but waited to get the tree until after. He thought that was acceptable.
Actually, his exact words were "I don't really care, Mom! What's to eat?"

Our boxes of decorations are stored in the "attic". Our "attic" is actually a storage area overhead in the garage.
Our garage is not insulated or air conditioned. It gets very cold in the winter and very warm in the summer.

A snowflake candle stand. All it's missing is the pretty, glittery, blue candle that fits perfectly on it.

Oh! There it is! It seems to have shape-shifted during the summer months!

That's ok! I will use a child's black church sock to prop it up! Good as new!

And, here is a picture of the sock donator. Giving the funny candle rabbit ears.

Updating

2010-12-02T10:30:00.000-08:00

Yeah, been gone for awhile. I've put off posting because I have a lot of "negative" thoughts going on right now. I'm afraid it will spill over to my blog. And, although this is MY space to say what I want, I hate to be negative. I have too much to be positive about. But, unfortunately, the negative seems to be stronger, in this war going on in my brain.

So, I thought I'd do a little "Thankful list". 'Tis the season and all.

I hate doing dishes. I am thankful for the food we have to eat, that dirties up those dishes. And the water that's constantly running to clean them.

I am forever cleaning house. I am thankful for the house we have. For the roof that's over our heads. For the little people ( and the larger people that live here too) that mess it up. Every. Single. Minute. Of. Every. Single.Day.

I have so much going on, it's hard to think straight. I am thankful for my friends and family that want and need me. For the obligations that someone has trusted me enough to assign to me.

We are so financially challenged right now. I am thankful that because we're poor, we can appreciate the little things. I don't think a meal from McDonalds would be a thing to celebrate, if it wasn't such a treat these days.

My husband REALLY hates his job. I am thankful he has a job to hate. Seriously.

I don't have enough time to blog. I am thankful that when I finally take a 30 min. break from school and housework, that my blog is still here. And, although I haven't posted in quite some time, I haven't lost any followers. Not that followers are the reason I blog, but it's still nice.

My kids are fighting ALL. THE. TIME. I am thankful I have 4 kids that are healthy enough to give each other a run for their money. The fights can get physical and they are sometimes really quite the show. Maybe future UFC Champions?

I hate being a woman. I am thankful I am a woman, or else I wouldn't have the kids that fight. ALL THE.TIME. I wouldn't be able to justify the rare treat of a bubble bath, with a good book. I suppose if I was a man, I could still do that. But, it'd be weird.

That's it for now.
I hope to be back soon with posts about how my "baby" boy is turning 12 and his voice is changing and I see a shadow above his upper lip.
About how happy I am to be a stay at home mom. And, I'm sure my kids will do something worth posting about. Chances are good. Even if it's about how they fight. ALL. THE. TIME.

How Do You Know Your Children Are Growing Up?

2010-11-17T14:00:00.000-08:00

When they stop taking naps. Excuse me a moment while I weep.

Bed time around here was getting to be no fun. Well, less fun than normal. It was taking ~~years~~ hours for the kids to get to sleep. Numerous trips to the bathroom. Hundreds of "Mommy! My (insert random body parts) hurts".

Nap time, it was the same story. Taking too long to get to sleep, by the time the littles were asleep, it was too late in the afternoon, so I'd have to wake them.

These days, we've been skipping the naps, and having "quiet time". Watching a movie or reading quietly so mommy can get some much needed ~~facebook~~ meditation time in.

About 4 o'clock, you can start to see we're all tired. Jeven falls asleep watching ~~"The Ellen Degeneres Show"~~educational programming. Jarrett freaks out because he can't have ice cream 45 min. before dinner. And Josie...we'll just leave it at she probably still needs a nap every day.

And then there's me. By 4 o'clock, my brain is so "full" of mothering-stuff, I can't think straight. Even though we're having "quiet time", I'm still ~~required by law~~ wanting to be a mother and be "involved" with the kids.

No nap time has changed my life. I compare it to when my kids were FINALLY out of diapers. It changed my life. No more poopy pants. No more spending oodles of money we don't have on diapers.
But, on the other hand, all that's being replaced with stopping at every restroom in every public place we've ever been. Sometimes more than once per visit. Teaching them to wipe their own tushies.

No nap time means no more rearranging my schedule around when the kids have to take naps. We can now do errands ALL. DAY. If I chose too. Which, I am not insane (yet) so I have yet to make that choice. But, it does "free" me up.
On the other hand, there's no time for myself. Unless I lock myself in my room and blog. Which I'm doing now. But, the pounding and whining "I'm hungry! I've only eaten everything in the house and I'm still hungry" is distracting.

So. I will end with this: I miss nap time. It's been part of my day to day life for 11 years. But, there is something to be said about curling up with a small child that is my own, on the couch and watching "How to Train Your Dragon" for the upteenth time this week.

I'll take it.

Real Estate

2010-11-11T18:20:00.000-08:00

Josie: Mom, why do rich people have so much stuff?

Me: Cause they can afford it. If we were rich, you'd want lots of stuff too.

Jeven: It wouldn't fit in our house!

Me: If we were rich, we'd get a bigger house!

Jeven: Why don't we have a bigger house?

Me: Because we're NOT rich.

Josie: Jeven, houses cost lots and lots of money. Like, ten thousand dollars.

Jeven: Well, me and Jarrett could give mom our pennies from our banks.

Josie: No, houses cost dollars, not pennies. Mom? When you buy a house, do you get the change back?

Awwww...the innocence of children.

Randomness

2010-11-04T08:39:00.000-07:00

I love the randomness that is my children. When things are tough, they can pull me right back to where I belong--where the little things don't matter and the big picture is a donkey.

Picture it. Sunday, Oct. 31, 2010. 9:37 a.m. Our house.
There is approx. 8 min. until we need to be leaving to make it to church on time.

Judd is just now getting into the shower.

Jayce, showered and dressed, is spraying enough AXE body spray to choke any healthy person.

Jarrett is running around with only his socks on (black, of course).

Jeven is doing his best to dress himself. Jeven, being Jeven, is not so successful.

Josie spills her entire bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Whoever said "don't cry over spilled milk" obviously never had to clean it up.

I'm doing my best to live up to my Sunday School teacher persona and not cuss at everyone.

Jeven walks up to me and announces: "I wish I could hug a donkey."

So do I ,Jeven. So do I.

Reasons Why I Haven't Been Blogging

2010-11-03T08:17:00.000-07:00

I have 4 children. 2 in public school, 2 home schooled. We use an online program, therefore the computer is occupied during the day.
I also have a husband. Who is going through a tough time right now. So, when I'm not taking care of the bullet point above, I'm taking care of him. Which means no computer time in the evenings.
I have been ill. Massive headache for several days, possibly sinus infection. On a positive note, having taken such awesome care of my husband for the last ~~hundred years~~ few days, he is now taking care of me!
I teach a preschool Sunday School class. Which means, every week, I write up a lesson, make an age appropriate craft and pray extra hard that Zane doesn't injure someone this week. Or tell me to F*#@ off.
I've been babysitting more lately. Good for the pocket book, bad for the stress.

I do have some posts written. In my mind. Hopefully, I'll be able to make them a reality soon.
Thanks for sticking with me! (31 followers, a new record for me!)

The One Where I Was Really Embarrassed.

2010-10-11T14:38:00.000-07:00

Before I tell this story, if I know you in real life (IRL), you must never, ever bring this up. So, like at Thanksgiving dinner, when we're all sitting around eating stuffing and pumpkin pie? Don't even think about it. You know who you are. (In fact, if you don't think you'll be able to resist teasing me about it, just don't read this.)

My husband returned on Friday, after being gone for over a week. After spending that many days with his 82 yr. old grandfather, hunting for deer, all he brought home was a tiny rock lizard and a desire to eat dinner at 4 in the afternoon.

And a desire for other activities as well. (wink wink)

Since I ~~was in desperate need to get out of the house by myself~~ had a shopping list for Walmart all ready to go, my husband pulls me aside and says "Why don't you get some of that flavored stuff?" (wink wink) I said I was game and headed out the door.

I went to Walmart, put the few things in my cart--soap, light bulbs, bread and flavored "stuff". You know, all the essentials. It was Friday afternoon, at Walmart. Do I need to go into detail about how long the lines to check out were? Didn't think so.

I chose the express lane, where a (guessing here) 60ish yr.old lady was the cashier. Where the man behind me didn't know the meaning of personal space and was in a bigger hurry than me.

Beep. There goes the light bulbs.
Beep. There goes the bread.
Beep. The soap.
Beep. There goes the....

"OH!!?? WHAT'S THIS STUFF? STRAWBERRY? LOOKS YUMMY. WHAT IS THIS? OH!! MY!!!"

And there's me. Staring bug-eyed at this cashier lady. Not only wasn't she aware they made such a thing as flavored lube, but she felt it was necessary to announce to everyone around that I was purchasing some. (and might I add, I am NOT the only one! It was the last one on the shelf!!)

To her credit, she quickly apologized and threw it into the bag. It was hard to say who was more embarrassed, her or me.

Probably me. Yes, at 35, even with 4 kids, I can be somewhat of a prude. Although, not Friday night!!

(please, please, don't bring this up over the grand kids' next birthday party!)

Hands

2010-10-07T23:46:00.000-07:00

On this hand: You want me to babysit your 3 1/2 yr. old over night? This week? The week my husband is out of town? Are you out of your freaking mind? Do you have any idea how tired I am??

On the other hand: Seriously, it's not a big deal. Of course I will. He will have fun, he will play with the boys and I will probably have more free time because of it. I'm honored you'd ask.

On this hand: OH!? The one night has turned into 2 nights and 3 whole days? Talk about taking advantage!

On the other hand: Really, all things said, one extra kid doesn't make that much of a difference. Like I said before, he plays well with the other boys, they keep each other occupied. And, he's used to being here, I will have no problems. You guys go, have a good time.

On this hand: You aren't leaving any food for him? I am keeping him for 3 days, I have a very limited budget for food for my own family and you are not even leaving a loaf of bread? Milk? NOTHING?? Not even an insincere offer?

On the other hand: How much does a 3 1/2 yr. old eat anyways? Not enough to really matter, in the big scheme of things. My husband is gone, there is no way your little boy will even come close to making up my husband's share of the food. Don't worry about it! It's not that big of a deal to make another PB&J.

Do you ever say "Yes" to something only because you don't have a good reason to say no? Then, you complain, to whoever will listen, that these people did "this" to you. But, you're the one that said yes. Because it's not a big deal? But, yet it IS a big deal?
But, then you feel stupid for complaining because you really DO love your friends and the little boy is REALLY not a problem. And, you WANT to be the one that everyone wants for a babysitter. You really DO want your house to be THE house that all the kids want to go to. Anything like this ever happen to you? Yeah. Happens all the time here.

I Am a Single Mom

2010-10-04T19:12:00.000-07:00

At least this week.

My hubby left last Thursday (that's 5 days ago, if you're counting) and will be gone quite possibly until Sunday (that's 5 more days, you math nerds).
I'm no genius, but that seems like an awful lot of days with no back up around here.

Honestly, I'm used to doing this parenting thing pretty much on my own. For the most part. The day to day stuff.
My husband works full time doing a very physical ( and anytime you work with the public, it's mental too )job. His days off vary, the hours he gets home varies.

Lately, he's been so over worked and over stressed, even when he's home, he's not "engaged" in the family. By the time he's unwound, the kids are in bed.

I am really hoping his time away will help him "unstress" and come home ready to be part of the gang again.

I miss him.

Friends With Powers

2010-09-30T10:30:00.000-07:00

Nothing beats having friends. Good friends. Friends that are so good, they will watch all 4 kids for you. And, friends that are so good, they trust you to watch THEIR kids.

We have started a "date night" here. One week, B&C watch our kids, the next, we watch theirs. It's been wonderful.
Sometimes, the hubby and I go grab a bite to eat. Sometimes, we sit at home, eat Ramen and watch re-runs of "King of Queens". But, either way, we have some alone time.

When you have other people watch your kids, you basically open your self up. Make your parenting skills vulnerable to critique. To questioning.
Luckily, we have good enough friends, they laugh.

For instance:

B&C have been building a shed. This particular night, they were working on painting the shed, while watching our kids + their two at the same time. Fortunately, they have a huge back yard with a huge swing set. So, it was "easy" to watch kids and paint at the same time. So to speak.

Jeven kept saying to B "Watch me do my tricks!!" to which B would say "In a minute. Hold on. I have to look at my painting."
Jeven would get impatient and again beg for her to watch him.
B was trying her hardest to paint and watch Jeven at the same time but it just wasn't happening.

Finally, Jeven was done waiting. He walked up to B and told her:
"Ya know? My mom can watch me without even looking at me. Sometimes, she doesn't even turn around! You should try it!"

Jeven did his trick.
B announced: "You're right!! It DOES work".

I think B should have THANKED me for the best parenting trick ever. Not laughed at me.

What are friends for?

Never Boring

2010-09-24T18:33:00.000-07:00

Some of you have been around the Boring Stay at Homer house for a bit and recognize the irony in my screen name.

Truly, it's never boring around here.

Homeschooling is going much better this year. Partly because Jayce and Josie know what to expect and partly (hugely) because 2 of the ~~heathens~~ boys are gone part of the time.

However, there's still the "I don't wanna do it!" attitude the comes up with a certain "student". I won't use a name but here's a clue:

To be fair, both Jayce and Josie sometimes give me attitude about doing school. It's just that Josie is louder about it. If you're new here, go read THIS to perhaps get a better understanding of what I'm talking about.

Yesterday was not a good day for Josie.
To say she woke up on the wrong side of the bed would be an understatement.

But, I had her doing some school and I was a good candidate for Mother of the Year with all my patience when, (JAWS music here) she got. an. answer. wrong. It all hit the proverbial fan from there.
There was no getting her back and my award was quickly being handed off to Angelina Jolie.

So,to her room she went.

Now, Jayce was free to do his Literature exam on the computer.
What Jayce is trying extra hard this year to do, is pat himself on the back. When he gets any answer correct, he likes to celebrate. Usually by yelling out "I'm a natural genius!!". First, your mother telling you where to find the answer and how to spell it, does not make you a natural genius. But, he's doing school and trying to make the best of it. Who am I to burst his bubble?

This particular exam was multiple choice and it gives you a nice "DING" when you are correct.

Jayce, feeling extra intelligent, decided the "DING" from the computer wasn't enough. He felt a loud "BA-DING" from him would just be better.

Remember, I still have Josie wailing in her room over the un-capitalized "F" in Uncle frank.

Here is the rundown:

Josie: Cry, cry, scream, wail, sob
Jayce: BA-DING!!
Josie: Jayce!! I hate you!! Stop!!
Jayce: BA-DING!!
Josie: JAYCE!! cry, cry, sob, wail
Jayce: BA-DA-DING!!!
At this point, I'm trying to tell Jayce two things:
"Good job!!" and "Quit tormenting your sister" but I was laughing too hard to be coherent.

Today is a new day. Josie has long stopped her fit (at least that particular one) but at lunch, Jayce decided to test the waters and gave a random "BA-DING".

Let me just say, it was not well received.

What To Say?

2010-09-18T11:42:00.000-07:00

Recently, it hasn't even been a week yet, a dear friend's brother died in a horrible motorcycle accident. While home from Iraq. He wasn't in the military but still. You'd think being home would be safe.

We are close enough to this person to want to help. In anyway possible.

The things is, what does that mean? What does one do to help in a situation like this?
I've taken food to them. I've offered to take their kids for them, to give them some time.

The family is large and they are all together, mourning their loss.

In my mind, there's a fine line between being caring and helpful and being annoying and intrusive.

I am not one of those people that wants lots of hugs and pity, when something horrible happens. On the other hand, I don't like it when a situation is ignored either.

In 2000, I suffered a miscarriage at 12 weeks. Many people were kind and loving and helpful. Others didn't even say "I'm sorry" or anything. To me, ignoring a bad situation is hurtful. Yet, saying something stupid (like "God just wanted your baby in Heaven (HELLO!! I wanted my baby too!!)) is just as hurtful.
I learned from my particular experience, it's better to say "I'm sorry. I don't know what to say" than to say nothing at all.

So, that's what we've been doing. A lot of praying, a lot of "Let me know if there's anything we can do" and a lot of "We love you guys."

It's just so awful that there's nothing else we can do.

Back To School

2010-09-15T00:04:00.000-07:00

Technically,we've been "back to school" for over a week now but today was the first day everyone was where they were suppose to be.

Jeven is going to preschool 2 mornings a week.

Jarrett is going to kindergarten 5 days a week (well, almost. The amount of days off for the public school system is unbelievable!)

That leaves Josie and Jayce home with me!

I am really hoping having the mornings to ourselves will help with the home schooling. My biggest challenge last year was finding things for the little boys to do. That didn't involve a t.v. and dvd player.

My visions of everyone sitting at the table doing school together quickly went out the window. It only takes approximately 3.4 seconds for a preschooler to color a purple triangle. Leaving me no time to help Jayce with his prepositions.

So, again, my fingers are crossed for a little "smoother" ride this year.

I was a little surprised at how emotional I was, those first days of school . Jarrett's first day at kindergarten. Jeven's first day today.

These are my babies! I've always had a kid "in reserve". But, I look behind me and there's no more babies waiting to grow up. No more babies waiting for their special "school" day.

And, having the school secretary tell me that "Jarrett was so cute today when he was crying because he couldn't find his class!" didn't help things. Why on earth would you think telling a mother that her child had a horribly traumatic experience without her to help him would be a good thing?

As we say goodbye to summer and start new schedules and routines, I try to slow things down and just savor the good times. I just wish Father Time would cooperate with me.


Jeven ready to play with the play-doh! (Get the heck outta here Mom!)


Jarrett ready "to go already!!" (why is it takes a picture to realize how dirty your walls/doors are??)


Josie--grade 2!

Jayce--grade 6. (and oh, so thrilled to get his picture taken!)

You Know You've Been Married Awhile When...

2010-09-09T20:30:00.000-07:00

...you resort to scheduling certain events.

Take a look at what we have going on the 14th.

So, don't call or stop by here on the 14th. We will be busy. Apparently.

(FYI: I babysit 2 little kiddos occasionaly with the first names Tanner and Anna. It took one of Judd's younger, single friends looking at our calendar to make me aware of what we have on our calendar for the whole world to see. Needless to say, this young man thinks Judd is either :
a) lucky he gets T&A at all
or
b) pathetic that he has to have it pre-planned weeks in advance. )

Daughter

2010-09-07T22:09:00.000-07:00

I love my daughter. I probably don't have to tell you that.

She's a beautiful, intelligent, funny, smart and sweet young lady.
She's 7 1/2. Going on 19.

It's just her and I against all these boys, in this house.

I have to be honest, that's the whole reason of this post. She is the one that pushes my buttons the most. Exasperates me the most. Makes me want to scream while I'm pulling all my hair out and stabbing myself with a sharp stick the most.
And, it's not just recently. It's always been this way.

She wasn't a difficult baby, really. Wasn't colicky or anything. I do remember putting her to bed and she would scream for what I thought was an unusually long period of time. She was perhaps a little more difficult to please. But, at that time, I only had one baby to compare her to--Jayce.
Jayce was an easy baby, an easy toddler, an easy child. Once was usually all it took as far as correction. Being told not to do something and why, that was all Jayce needed. I knew that was unusual, so when Josie came along, all the difficulties, I thought THOSE were normal.

Until she hit about 5. And things were STILL difficult.
At one point, her dad and I wondered if there was something else going on. Some sort of "condition" that made learning and understanding difficult for Josie. We never pursued our theory with a doctor or therapist. We didn't really have "evidence" other than she was sometimes frustrating.

These days, things are not much different. She has days where she's eager to please, and others when she just wakes up spitting.

We've come to accept it's Josie. It's just the way she is.

Let me give you an example:

A day last week was just one of those days when Josie was being contrary, disobedient and sassy.
I had handled it all to the best of my ability. Patiently telling her it was not acceptable to act that way, putting her in time out and even spanking her. (believe me, at 7, the last resort is spanking but we do do it)
Evening time rolled around, I let the little boys and Josie ride their bikes and scooters out in the cul-de-sac. We also borrowed the neighbor's puppy and had him on a leash. The little boys were taking turns holding Fritz. At one point, Josie stole Jarrett's scooter. Jarrett asked for it back several times. I finally intervened and told Josie to give her brother back his scooter.

She then jumps off the scooter, throws it to the ground with a snotty "fine".
I announced that is was time for her to go in the house and go to bed.

You would have thought I announced Santa Claus wasn't real.
There she stood, in the middle of the street (basically) sobbing and whining for all the neighbors to see.

I finally gave the puppy to one of the boys, and walked Josie into the house. Told her to get dressed for bed and get into bed.
This was at approx. 7:30

After sobbing and asking over and over and over again to get up, she finally went to sleep.

At approx. 1:15 a.m.

That's 6 hours, in case you don't want to do the math.
And, while it may be somewhat abnormal to not just give up and go to sleep, it's not abnormal for Josie.

I'm not quite sure why I am posting this here, for all the world to see.
I certainly don't want to open myself up to criticism about how I should handle my daughter. And, I also know there's parents out there facing far more challenging situations with their own children.

I guess I just needed to voice that sometimes, I don't understand my child. And that frustrates ME. I am her mother. I should know how to handle her. I should be able to predict what she will do. And, I can, to some degree.

But, there are times when I put her to bed so relieved to be done for the day. With her.

And the guilt eats me away and I try again the next day. To understand her and to love her. Of course, the loving her part isn't the challenge. Giving her the best of my parenting skills is the challenge.

I truly believe her stubbornness and her"challenges" today will be her blessings and best character qualities later. I believe God has a plan for my darling Josie. I just need Him to be patient with me and give me the wisdom to parent her the way she needs NOW. To cultivate her strengths.

It would also be nice if He would take pity on me when she hits puberty.

Camping 2010

2010-09-02T17:59:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, we went on our first family camping trip! Actually, it was our second but the first one only included 1/2 of our current children. Jayce was 4 and puked the whole time and Josie was 6 months old and cried the whole time. For some reason, we've waited another 7 yrs. before trying again.

I've written this post several times over the last few days, in my head. I want to try and tell you EVERYTHING that happened but realize that may be boring. Some of the fun and exciting things were certainly "You had to be there" moments.

I came up with the idea of writing this post from each family member's point of view. I should say, their point of view through my eyes. So, their point of view from my point of view. Makes perfect sense. To me.

I'll start (of course).

Growing up, I was very fortunate to have parents that took the time and effort to plan family trips. We went camping, we went to Disneyland numerous times, traveled to B.C to the aquariums and zoos. We went places and did things together. Sometimes huge, special things. Sometimes simple picnics at the creek.

Now, as I parent, I cannot believe I am the one in charge of planning the family outings. Where do we go? How do we get there? How much do we plan to spend? What do I pack? If an emergency happens while we are traveling, what will we do?

We (I) decided we'd go to the Wild Animal Park in Bandon then proceed to our camping destination. Spend 2 nights camping, then come home.

It all worked out splendidly! I packed. I planned. I shopped for groceries. I rock! Well, except for the fact that I didn't pack enough blankets (TO GO CAMPING. AT THE COAST! kinda a big deal) and I left my 11 yr. old to pack for himself. But, the way I'm looking at it, if those were the worst things that happened, it's all good.

We didn't tell the kids we were going to the Animal Park until we pulled into the parking lot. They had a great time!

Yes, that's a baby tiger! By the time it was finally our turn with the baby kitty, the silly thing was pretty wound up. A cute little kitten playing "tag" is one thing. But, a baby tiger, that's an entirely different story! But, he was a cutie and the kids loved him.

Camping was fun! But, I am realizing unless we go somewhere that provides room service, I will never get away from cooking and cleaning. Seemed by the time I got done cooking breakfast and cleaning up camp, it was time to start lunch. Pretty much the same as at home. Except I didn't have to worry about spills on the floor.

My favorite part was going up the road a bit to a wildlife lookout. We went up there several times a day, each day. We saw seals, sea lions, and more than one whale. I could stay there all day and just watch.

Judd's point of view (POV): I hate campgrounds. I hate people. But, since my wife is a wimp and insisted, at least for this first time with the whole family, that we be somewhere with running water close by, I gave in and we camped at an Oregon State Campground. It had an interpretative center. What the hell is an interpretative center?! And, there were people EVERYWHERE! I hate people. Especially loud, drunk, stupid people. We got lucky though. The people next to us, and across from us didn't speak English. They were Asians. From Canada. That didn't speak Canadian. And there were about 30 of them. They got together at night and sat around one campfire and played games. And sang songs. In their native language, whatever it was. Surprisingly, it wasn't irritating, it was nice. Especially when they were singing "How Great Thou Art". We couldn't understand the words but we knew what it was by the tune.

Sleeping in the tent with the whole family was interesting. Wish we would have had more blankets.

Next time, we camp MY way. THAT should be interesting.

That ram kept, well, ramming me for more food. I showed him who was boss and kept the ice cream cone.

Jayce's POV : Camping was awesome! Except, my mom made me a list of stuff to pack and she wrote "sweats to sleep in" and I packed my break-away basketball pants. They didn't keep me very warm. And, we didn't have very many blankets so I was pretty cold at night. But, that's ok. I still had fun. We saw so many animals over the 3 days we were gone. Between the Park, the campground and the drive we saw lions, tiger and bears (my mom always says "Oh my") elk, kangaroos, sea lions, whales, chipmunks. I tried to catch a chipmunk but didn't.

I had lots of fun, even though Josie is always so annoying.

My mom cooked awesome food. Although, she didn't seem to like cooking it so much.

This parrot was so cool! He talked more than my sister! He liked to play peek-a-boo. See how he's posing for this picture? Also, notice how it looks like I'm in a cage and the parrot is observing me?

I hope we get to go camping again. Although, when my mom and dad talk about it, there seems to be differing opinions about it.

Josie's POV: I liked camping. I also like changing my clothes 10 times a day and that doesn't go well with camping. By the end of the first day, I had no more clean clothes. My mom kept warning me about that but...I didn't listen. So, on the last day, on the way home, I had to wear my clothes that I slept in. I cried all the way home saying " I want to wear my brown pants!!" but my mom just ignored me. And kept saying "You are so tired!". But I wasn't. Well, maybe I was. Probably because I didn't sleep very well because we didn't have enough blankets. Who knows.

I loved going to the beach! I found a sea star but it was dead. My mom said we couldn't keep it. We asked the Ranger about it and he said it's against the law.

I also collected some shells at the beach. When I showed them to my mom, she just laughed. She said something about "Pistachio shells". I think those are a rare kind of sea creature.

I do hope we go camping again, next time I want to sleep right next to Jayce!

Jarrett's POV: I loved camping! I never had to take a bath or even change my clothes! I wore the same clothes for 2 days in a row!! We got to hold a baby tiger, he kinda bit me but it didn't hurt. He was just playing.

Here I am talking to a llama. Or alpaca. I don't know exactly what it is, it just came up behind me and nudged me! I think he thought I had food. But, I didn't. I had already thrown my cone on the ground and ran away when we fed the animals. I wasn't scared, there were just SO many animals, wanting the food.

Sleeping in the tent was fun! I was a little cold but my dad kept me covered up pretty good. I hope we go camping again, I would love to see if I can get dirtier next time!

Jeven's POV: My mom told me weeks ago that we were going camping. Which means we were going somewhere to put marshmallows on a stick and roast them. Imagine how surprised I was when we went to sleep in the tent! I whispered "Mommy! What are we doing?"

She said "We're going to sleep now"

I said "In the tent!!" I couldn't believe it!!!

She said "Yes, Jeven! This is camping!"

Now I know what camping is!

We had three sizes of marshmallows--extra huge (my favorite!) large and mini. They all are SO good!!

I liked feeding the animals at the park, although it took me a while to get brave enough.

I liked sleeping in the tent. I didn't get cold at all! My mom says it's because I'm always so hot, I'm always so sweaty. She said it finally came in handy.

I loved getting dirty and eating everything in sight! I hope we go camping again, really soon. Now that I know what it is!!

I think camping was a hit! And, something we can certainly do again. I am pretty darn sure I can handle it. And that I will be reminded to pack enough blankets!

Bitten

2010-08-26T11:44:00.000-07:00

I cross my heart, stick a needle in my eye, promise, this is my last post in where I whine about some physical ailment. At least for this week. (And if you know me and my hatred for needles, you'll know that that is one serious promise.)

Seems I got bit by some sort of bug. Mostly likely a mosquito or flea. Nothing exciting like a spider or wolverine.
But, I seem to swell up more than "normal". A simple bug bite for me, makes my skin react quite severely. A bee sting is horrible. When people ask "Are you allergic to bee stings?" I never know quite how to answer. Yes, I swell up horribly and itch like a dog with mange. No, I don't have problems breathing or with blurry vision. I'm just a wuss when it comes to bug bites.

I don't know if you can tell, in this picture (Do you know how hard it is to take a picture of your own arm? Your right arm? It's harder than you think.) but all that red is rock hard and warm. It itches like crazy. Right in the middle, there's where the nasty little bug bit me.
No, it's not blood poisoning, there's nothing extra funky going on. This is how I react with every. single. bug. bite.
So annoying. And, if I'm not careful and scratch it like I want to, it will leave a scar.

I guess, when you're as sweet as I am, all the bugs just want a taste. ( :

Womanhood

2010-08-23T21:31:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, I really, really hate being a woman.

Yes, I'm thankful I got to bear children. And breastfeed. And, I guess I'm glad we act with emotion before logic. And, I hate the thought of having to scratch myself in places that shouldn't be scratched in public, such as men do.

But, right now, I'm hating womanhood.

Ya'll know what I'm talking about here.

We just got back from a wonderful, family camping trip and I have lots of pictures to share and stories to tell. But, I can't gather up enough gumption to say anything witty.

Every month, it drags me deeper and deeper into such an emotional hell, I swear it's the worst it's ever been, every month.
I have no energy, I eat everything in sight, which is seriously detrimental to the weight loss I've accrued so far. I have no patience left for my family or others that I love.

I basically turn into someone I hate, that I don't recognize.

Then, the real fun begins. My emotions start to get back under control, then physically, (TMI alert!!) I bleed so much, I can't leave the house, or literally, move much at all.

I've talked to my doctor about a surgery, to get things under control but because we don't have an extra 8 grand laying around,(that's AFTER insurance!), we won't be doing that anytime soon.

So, excuse while I bestow my anger and moodiness onto you.
It will pass. I hope.

The Post With All The Pictures

2010-08-14T19:49:00.000-07:00

A little birdie emailed me today and reminded me, I haven't posted in awhile. Ok. It wasn't a birdie, it was a kitty. And it was a message on my facebook wall, not an email. But, the cat was right. I haven't posted in some time. No huge reason why. Just life. With 4 kids. And it's summer time ba-by!!

So, here's a few pictures because I'm too lazy to type all that much.

The shed is coming along nicely! My hubby has been working on this for quite some time--his time off and our budget have to match up but, I think he's doing awesome! It will be so nice to be able to put stuff in here--I am thinking of a nice comfy couch, a lamp and some magazines and a padlock on the inside of the door, but I don't think that's what my husband has in mind.

This picture is blurry, I know, but I just couldn't get over this pizza sauce face!! I thought about selling this paper towel on ebay, claiming it was the face of Jesus but... I don't believe Jesus talks through Little Caesar's 5 dollar specials.

It pays to sit and clip hundreds of coupons and look through ads. Guess how much. Go on. Guess. I'll wait.........

In case you can't decipher that, it's .63. As in 63 CENTS!!!
The picture doesn't show the candy bar I threw in at the last minute, only to make my total not be negative. MOST grocery stores won't give you money, go figure. The candy bar did not make it into the picture, we won't even discuss why.

This week, my hubby is on vacation. We are planning on going camping and visiting a nearby wild animal park. If you're interested, leave me a message and I can tell you how I cut our admission costs down from $62 to $30.

Hope you all are having a great summer!

Where ,Oh Where ,Has My Little Child Gone?

2010-07-23T15:51:00.000-07:00

It may be time to declutter?

You know it's time to organize better when your child blends in with the furniture!
I serioulsy walked by this 4 times before I realized Jeven was on the shelf.

This is our home school bookcase. To the right of it, would be Jayce's dresser. Why is Jayce's dresser in the dining room? Well, I moved it out there when I was painting the boys' room. The room that is half painted as we speak. The room I started approx. 2 months ago. Sigh....

I hope to have it finished soon.

In the mean time, we will have fun finding new places to hide!

Too Old For Vacations?

2010-07-22T21:20:00.000-07:00

As my fill-in author wrote, we went on a little mini-vacation last week.

I, my kids, my mother and grandmother stayed in a condo-unit at the beach. Next door, my aunt and uncle and their 5 kids and one grandchild. My uncle is from Alaska, we don't get to see him and his family enough. To say this was a treat, would be an understatement.

My husband stayed behind to do his husbandly duty (well. one of.) and work. I really needed him to be off work on Saturday and he only gets one day off a week, besides Sunday. So, staying behind was the only solution. He doesn't like the beach anyways so...no biggie. Although, I did miss him. And his duties. (*wink wink*)

The beach was quite windy but luckily, the pool was quite warm. And had just enough room that I could let the little boys put on their life jackets and let them swim pretty much on their own. Of course, I got in the water with them and who doesn't love putting on a swim suit 50 4 times a day and trekking back and forth to and from the pool?

We stayed for 2 nights, bringing us home Friday afternoon. Bringing us home to a clean house (turns out, my husband isn't the slob that messes everything up. Who knew!) and my brother, visiting from Wyoming!

I spent Friday evening ~~picking on~~ spending quality time with my brother, doing laundry and baking cupcakes.

Saturday, we had my grandmother's 80th birthday party--hence all the out of town family.
We set up, enjoyed ourselves and came home about 9ish Saturday night.

Sunday, more time with the brother, church and swimming in Grammie/Papa's pool.

Monday, said goodbye to brother. Very hard this time. He's going through some tough crap right now. TANGENT ALERT!! I find it somewhat ironic,growing up, I picked on him horribly. But, if someone else did the picking, I wanted to beat their butts. It's pretty much the same way now. He's not perfect, I know that. He knows that. But, yet, you mess with him? I want to beat your butt.
TANGENT OVER.

Also, on Monday, we took a "family" day and went to a fish hatchery about an hour out of town. For you city folk, a fish hatchery is just like it sounds. A place where they hatch fish to be released into the wild. This particular hatchery has a mini-golf course, several habitats with different birds and a museum with a large fish tank and exhibit of animals native to this area. All for free. So, we packed a lunch and headed down the road.

Tuesday, we did nothing*.

Wednesday, nothing.

Which brings us to Thursday. Where we have done nothing.

Is it crazy that I am still recovering from my "wild weekend"? Isn't it a tad pathetic?

I remember, not so many years ago, staying up until 2-3 in the morning, getting up 3 hours later, going to class, going to work and then out again at night. Rinse and repeat all week long.
Now, a relaxing couple days at the beach, an old lady's birthday party and hanging out with family wipes me out!

I hate to think that I'm too old to do vacations. I think, actually, that it is that I don't get enough of them and my body goes into shock. Therefore, the fatigue that I'm feeling is actually my body saying "What the heck was THAT? Fun? I don't know how to handle that! I'm shutting down now!".

So, I must train my body to take a vacation every once in awhile. Hawaii anyone? I could kill two birds with one stone on that trip. Some of you know what I'm talking about here (it goes with the beating butts that are picking on my brother).

*As a mom, the term "nothing" really doesn't mean NOTHING, does it? I did feed the children and attempt to keep up with the house. We did go to the playground. We did STUFF, just nothing significant.

That Snake Better Do His Own Laundry!

2010-07-20T22:42:00.000-07:00

Jayce likes to go across the street, to the ditch/creek and collect snakes. He likes to bring them home but he's not allowed to bring them in the house.
We have lizards and a cat right now. We've had fish, hamsters, dogs, and various other animals. But, I draw the line at snakes. And birds.

But, boys will be boys and part of being a boy is playing with snakes? So, he's allowed to bring them home, put them in some sort of container and then release them the next day or so. All this takes place OUTSIDE.

The other night, my husband went to a friend's house and found a ~~large~~ gigantic snake in Wade's back yard. He, being the ever thoughtful father, brought it home for Jayce.

Jayce was super excited and would have been perfectly content sticking to our regularly scheduled "snake habitation" plan. But, being the ever thoughtful father, Judd thought we should put it in the empty aquarium in the garage. Just for a day. Or two.

Can you see where this is going?

The next morning, I hear Jayce get up and go out to the garage. I also hear him say "Daaadddd. The snake is gone".

I, being the ever patient and understanding mother, say "What the heck!! What do you mean the snake is GONE!! JUDD!!!"

Judd goes out and sure enough, the snake is gone. This is the following conversation: (it was not nearly as calm as it will appear here)
Me: Find that snake!!
Judd: It probably went out under the garage door.
Me: PROBABLY?!?
Judd: It was only a little garter snake.
Me: I don't care what kind it was, any snake that hides in the garage is a bad snake.
Judd: Like I said, he probably went out of the garage.
Me: What makes you think he's not in the house?
Judd: There's nothing he wants in the house.
Me: How does he KNOW until he gets in the HOUSE!!!?

That night, I made my husband go out and look for the snake again. Made him look under the laundry piled up on the floor, in the washer. Basically, anywhere I'd have to be in the garage.

I was nervous all night. I couldn't sleep with my arm or leg hanging out over the bed, in fear of the vicious snake. Because we all know how snakes can leap up off the ground and bite your whole leg off.

We have not seen any sign of the snake. But, as I'm catching up on laundry, I am ever fearful that he will be hiding under a pair of dirty socks. Or in my jeans pocket.

But, a snake hiding in the garage is as good excuse as any to NOT do laundry, I say!
Not that I've ever need an excuse before but.... this time it's valid.

Filling In

2010-07-14T10:38:00.000-07:00

Hello this is Jayce, Jackie's son. She can't type now because she is packing for our 2 day vacation to the beach!!Its going to be a blast,we're going to stay in a hotel that is big and with a huge swimming pool but my sister is coming too so.........

Hair Be Gone

2010-07-13T11:05:00.000-07:00

Josie has had long hair since,well, since she's had hair. She hasn't had hair cuts other than trims.

With the hot weather, all the swimming and an unexplainable rash that seemed to be caused by wet hair hanging over her shoulders, I finally convinced her dad to let me get it cut.

Josie really wanted to donate to Locks of Love but you need to have a minimum of 10 inches.

So, she went from hair down to her bottom to this:

I think it looks really cute!

Older but cute. In a surprising twist of events, I cried as the lady cut it. I was remembering when she was a bald baby and those first locks of hair started coming in. When she had *just* enough to put a tiny bow on her head.

Now, she's growing up and making decisions on her own, about her hair and other things as well.

I'm so proud.

Center of Attention

2010-07-12T08:14:00.000-07:00

Coming up this weekend, we are throwing my wonderful Grandmother her 80th birthday party. We are doing it in the community she has lived for..well..a long time. It's where I graduated from high school (with a huge class of 20) and my parents live until about 7 years ago.
It's out in the country and not fancy but we're hoping it will still be nice.

I am in charge of the centerpieces. For 10 card tables covered in red-white gingham table cloths.

You know when you visualize something in your head but then when you actually put it into action, you second guess yourself? Especially after you make the mistake and ask your husband what he thinks and then he makes the mistake and tells you?

Yeah.

So,now I'm asking you, blog friends. Am I crazy? Do these work?

A) White with red ribbon

B) Red with white ribbon

C) On the left, we have red and white candies.
OR
D) Mix it up and do some of each
OR
E) "Are you crazy! None of them you idiot!!

The Morning After

2010-07-10T08:07:00.000-07:00

Ever have one of those nights that you do something maybe you shouldn't have? Then, suddenly remember the next morning? And can't believe you did what you think you did?

Well. That's me this morning. But, sorry, my "naughty" something isn't quite as "naughty" as you'd think.*

It took us ~~forever~~ weeks to break Jeven's habit of asking for and drinking milk in bed, during the night. Being the 4th child, and me being deprived of sleep after 4 children, I would give in to him. He'd get a glass of milk before bed, brush his teeth. Then, about 2 a.m. he'd ask for more milk. And, wanting my precious sleep, I'd give it to him.

At some point, I realized that he wasn't going to stop this habit on his own. He'd be a 40 yr. old married man, asking his wife for milk. And, he'd have no teeth because they'd all milk rot away.

So, we finally broke the habit. It seriously took probably 2 wks. The boy is STUBBORN.

We've been having some really high temps. here, these last few days. All we have for a/c is window a/c units. They do fine but our house never really cools down during the night.

It was no real surprise when Jeven woke me in the middle of the night, asking for a drink of water.

"Mom, I thirsty. Can I have some water?"

"Ummm. Ok"

I stumble to the kitchen with Jeven hot on my heels (literally, hot) both of us half asleep and walking a little funny.

Now, my children have gotten a tad spoiled. We have a Brita water pitcher. We don't hardly use the tap water for drinking. It's actually fine but...after you've had Brita, you'll never go back.

But, the pitcher was waaaayyy back in the fridge. Behind the Costco bottle of ketchup. Behind the economy sized box of yogurt. Behind the 2 liter of pineapple flavored soda. And, the generic Crystal Light pitcher was empty.

So. You'd THINK I'd just fill his cup with tap water. Right?

Nope.

I filled it with the pineapple flavored soda.

Usually, with the water, I put just enough to quench their thirst. The kids take a few sips then I dump the rest out.

Nope.

I FILLED that cup. With pineapple flavored soda. For my 4 yr. old. In the middle of the night.
Jeven chugged. About half way through, I recall having 2nd thoughts and trying to take it away from him but...he just kept chugging.

Back to bed he goes.

My first thought upon waking this morning was "What have I done!!!?? Soda??? In the middle of the night? To JEVEN?!!"

I fully expect him to wake tonight and come to my side of the bed, asking "Mom, I'm thirsty. Can I have some highly sugared flavored soda of some kind?"

Talk about regrets......

*Call me a prude or goody-goody but I've only had one hangover my entire life. And, it wasn't when I was 20 something. Or in my teens. But, it was actually 3-4 years ago. I'm not much of a drinker. Boring, but true. And, honestly it doesn't bother me. Addiction runs in both my family and my husband's. So, not a bad idea to stay away from the stuff. The benefits to my children will be worth it.

The Scale Never Lies

2010-07-09T13:31:00.000-07:00

It does like to mess with me, though.

I've recently lost some weight. Not a ton (well, of course not a ton. You haven't seen me on TLC yet have you? "One Ton Woman Only Has Time To Write Once A Week In Her Blog" Not quite.)
But, enough that it's made a difference in how I feel. About 20 lbs!

At least I think it's about 20 lbs. My stupid scale messes with my head.
I weigh in the same time everyday, wearing the same outfit--my birthday suit.
I step on : 122 (Not real weight, of course. Did you think I'd actually write my real weight?)
I step off. Then immediately back on: 120
Awesome! I lost 2 pounds in 2 seconds! This weight loss thing is a piece of cake! Wait, cake?
Step back off, then on again: 125. Oh man! I knew I shouldn't have thought of cake!!

I do this several times until I get a number at least 3 out of 5 times.

I have been making small goals along the way. I've had a certain number I've been trying to reach for about a week now. I've been .3 pounds away from it for 3 days. So frustrating!!

Today, I saw that number! For about 3.2 seconds.

Stupid scale is just teasing me. Forcing me to work harder so I can see that number for more than a split second or two.

I even got desperate enough to go out and buy a swim suit. I did own one but it was a maternity suit left over from approximately 3 kids ago. We won't even discuss how it still mostly fits.
But, I needed a new suit.
After an entire day of shopping (in may have taken longer than necessary because Papa had all of my kids. To say I hurried would be an untruth.) I found an old lady style that tries to look fashionable. You know, the kind with a skirt? Yeah. S-E-X-Y.
But, I'm not trying to impress anyone. My husband has seen me naked a few times. So, no reason to look good, even if I could.

This last week, I've made it a priority to get to the pool and swim laps. With the old people (good thing I had an appropriate old lady suit, eh?)

If anyone ever tells you you can't get hot and sweaty swimming, they are liars.

But, it's exercise that I enjoy (did I just say that sentence out loud?).

My scale is challenging me but for once, I will win!
Wish me luck!

Finally Fishing

2010-07-02T23:16:00.000-07:00

When we were potty training Jeven, his father told him that if he had no accidents, he'd take him fishing. And it worked! I think after that bribe, we had maybe 2 accidents.

That was over a year ago. Time has just slipped away.

And do you think Jeven forgot about goin' fishin'?

Not. On. Your. Life.

Every time he went poop, he'd announce "I go poop. I want to go fishing!"

Poor kid.

But, finally, it happened. The stars aligned. The schedule was cleared. The boat was launched. As Jeven was getting dressed to go, I caught him doing a little "happy dance". Naked. To say he was excited would be an understatement.

What makes this fishing trip extra special is that not only did he get to go with his dad, but with his Great Grandpa as well.

How many kids can say that?
All of my kids have been extremely fortunate to have gone fishing at least once with Grandpa.

And, they actually caught fish!

Judd is wonderful about getting fish on and letting the younger kids reel them in. On this trip, he managed to get Jeven's line caught. Now, 2 days later, Jeven still talks about how Dad "broke my fishing rod".

I was so happy to see my baby so happy. Although, I do worry about the little ones being in the boat. But, with Dad and Grandpa, I know they are in good hands.

And, everyone made it back safe and sound.

Stinky at Seven?

2010-06-27T22:43:00.000-07:00

As a went to kiss my darling, baby, girl tonight at bedtime, I caught just a whiff of something...unpleasant.

I did the sniff test on myself. And passed. Barely.

Then, I smelled my daughter. Who is seven.

And. She stunk. A lot.

This is twice that I've noticed her getting stinky by the end of the day. She does her own showers now and I've seen her, she does wash.

But, I'm thinking it may be time to get her some deodorant? Already?

I was in 4th grade when I started wearing a bra and 5th when my monthly hit. She will be going into 2nd grade in the fall. Isn't it a bit early?
Do I just need to follow-up wash?

Do you think she will kill me if she ever reads this post?

Summer Lovin'

2010-06-25T13:22:00.000-07:00

Summer is my least favorite season. In fact, the way I feel about summer is pretty similar to my feeling of onions. Serious dislike.

First, I'll start by listing the things I DO enjoy about summer:

no school
no set schedule
late mornings and late nights
freeze pops
dirty feet that require scrubbing with the "foot brush" that results in giggles galore

Now, the things I DON'T like about summer:

no set schedule--sometimes, randomness is a curse
I despise being hot. Seriously. Our house is always hot. We have window a/c but they can only do so much.
finding things to keep the kids occupied that don't involve me getting hot
seeing hootchey mamas walking down the street wearing not much of anything
the days just seem to drag

This year, it seems like it took forever for summer to get here. Everyone was whining about it but I was secretly relieved to be spared the suckness of summer for a tad longer.

That being said, we do have some events going on this summer that I'm looking forward to.
We are busy planning my grandmother's 80th bday party, next month. It's on a Saturday. The Wednesday, Thursday before, me and the kids, my mom, my grandmother,uncle and his family and possibly my brother, will be at the beach!
Now, I love the beach. Especially in Oregon. Because you can have a nice, sunny, beautiful day at the beach in Oregon without getting hot!

We are hoping to go camping at least once this summer. I do like camping. We haven't done it since Jayce was 3 (and he threw up all night) and Josie was a baby (that would not sleep).
Now that we're done with babies and I don't have to worry about my kids getting dirty, I think camping would be a lot of fun.

I have a to do list that's quite long. It would be nice to get something crossed off before we start school up again.

These last couple of days, I have been just , for lack of a better word, pissy. Mad at everyone and everything.
Kids have been driving me crazy, our a/c hasn't been put in yet and I'm just tired.
I feel ~~sorta~~ very guilty for being so cranky.
I loved summer as a kid, I would hate to make my kids' summer miserable.

So, I'm gonna try and enjoy the good parts of summer. For my kids' sake. And mine, too.

Redo

2010-06-23T17:20:00.000-07:00

I'm going to try and post if not every day, at least every other day.
Today, Jeven is down with a 103 fever so I'm feeling uninspired.
So, you get a redo.

A blast from the past.
Not sure why, but I found myself going through some of my old posts today. This one particularly made me laugh. It's a couple years old.

Maybe you will chuckle as well?

I Can Read A Book, Make A Sandwich and Sew A Bear

2010-06-22T18:07:00.000-07:00

All in the shower.

Can't you?

My kids take a shower or bath at least ~~once a week~~ every other day. In the summer time, it's more like daily.

They are familiar with the concept.

However, when it comes to MY shower/bath time, I am always amazed at what exactly they think I am doing in there.

It never fails, I get a knock on the door.
"Yes?"
"mumblemumblemumble"
"What?"
"googleygoogleygoogleguck"
"WHAT?"
"blahblahblahblah"
"I can't hear you! Come in here and tell me!" By this time, I'm irritated and certain this must be the emergency with which I told them was the only reason they could interrupt my ~~alone time~~ 10 minute shower.

Enter mumbler: "Can you read me my book?"

"Ummm.....Not right now? I have shampoo on my hair!"

OR: "I'm hungry, can I have a sandwich?"
"Yes, only if you want your bread extremely soggy."

OR: "Princess Bear has a hole in her!! Can you fix it?"
"I'm afraid of what I would poke if I had a needle in here."

My favorite actually occurred about 8 years ago, when Jayce was about 3 years old. He was a very imaginative child and LOVED Woody and Buzz.
For some reason, we had his car seat in the living room.
I went to take my shower, putting on Toy Story for about the 3rd time that day.

This was "Pre-JosieJarrettJeven days" so my shower time was a lot less interrupted. However, I'm about 5 min. into my shower when I hear all this banging around.
"Thump. Thump. Thumpthumpthump"

"What in the world??"

Pretty soon, I hear Jayce "Mom?"
"Yes, dear child?" Again, it was pre-JosieJarrettJeven days so I had waaayyy more patience back then.
"I'm stuck."

I peek around the curtain to find Jayce with his car seat strapped to his back.

"What happened?"
"I was in my rocket ship, getting ready for blast off. I buckled myself in but now I can't undo it!"

Did I rush right out of the shower and help the poor boy?

Of course not!! I still had 5 minutes left of my shower!! And, half of my sandwich left.

Shopping Fun

2010-06-09T14:36:00.000-07:00

My husband has been building a shed out in the backyard. He's been getting some help from friends. Who bring their children with them. While the friend helps my husband. Can you guess who takes care of the extra children? Yep.

Which, really, is fine. But with the end of school approaching, I have quite a "to do list" going.

Monday, I had 3 extra kids, did some school, made some meals, cleaned some house. By the end of the day, we had no food for dinner. We decided to go get some u-bake pizza. The girl behind the counter used to be our next door neighbor! 7 years ago! She is now 18 and graduating from high school. I felt really, really....old.

We ate the pizza. Realized that we still had no food left in the house. It was voted (if you can call my husband refusing to go "voting") that I should go grocery shopping. It was also ~~forced~~ decided I should take at least one child with me.

I had three children down on their knees BEGGING to go.
"Pickmepickmepickme!!!"
I told my husband "You are going to have to choose" while giving him the eye that said DO.NOT.PICK.THAT.ONE. (I won't say which one but I would love to hear your guesses!)

He chose Jeven, as Jarrett had already gone on an errand earlier (makes guessing which one I didn't want to take pretty easy, doesn't it?) .
Jarrett handled the choice well.
Josie cried. And cried. And cried.
Jayce's friend, "Tim" was over and asked "Where doesn't Josie get to go?" and Judd said "Winco. You'd think it was Disneyland or something wouldn't you?" to which Tim responded "Jayce, your sister is weird."

Off to the store we go, my 4 year old and I.

By the time we got to the store, it was 8:45. After loading our cart, putting the groceries on the belt, bagging the groceries, it was time to pay. But, the people behind me were physically in the way to the register. The wife was bagging, the husband was waiting to pay. So, I stood back and waited as patiently as I could. Trying to keep Jeven from eating the bag of chips that were in the cart.
The couple's total came to just over $100. The man swipes the debit card. Which was refused. He tells the wife to quit bagging. They both dig through her purse and his wallet and come up with some cash, bringing the new total to just over $40. He tries the debit card again, with no luck. Now, they are standing there embarrassed and flustered. I am standing back, trying to ignore what was going on. My heart really, really felt bad for them.
I've been there, trying to buy food and having a debit card refused and having to void out the whole thing and walk out of the store empty handed.
I briefly considered paying the $40 for them but frankly, that literally would have been taking food away from MY children. Had it been a family, trying to buy the essentials, (bread, milk, eggs, etc.) I would've done it. But, it was a middle aged couple buying Poptarts and beer. Not essential.
Finally, the cashier calls a manager over to void out the whole transaction and I can pay for my own groceries. As I walked away, the couple was picking through their groceries and determining what they could afford. It was sad.

Next stop, Walmart. An ~~horrible~~ affordable place to get the things I couldn't get at Winco. I had literally 3 things to grab. It took me over an hour.
Jeven voted to not ride in the cart and promised he would be good if only I'd let him walk with me. I voiced that that sounded good but I grabbed a cart anyway, "Only put the food in there, Mom. Not me. Right?OK?".

I pick out one item. Jeven says he has to go to the bathroom. Of course he does. It is now 10:15.
We walk to the back of the store, where the restrooms are located. Half way there, Jeven decides he needs to walk backwards. Of course he does.

We use the restroom. Upon leaving the restroom, Jeven automatically jumps into the cart. As I start pushing it down the aisle he yells "HEY!! Why am I in the cart!! I'm suppose to walk!!". I just look down at him and laugh. "You got in there all by yourself!". He declares that he will get back out and I tell him that he can do that when I stop the cart.

As I stop to get the waffles, he starts to get out. I push the cart back and forth with one hand and say "Ah,ha! The cart is stilllll mooooving!". He doesn't think I'm funny.

Off to the check out counter we go, with our 3 items.

Now. Do you think Walmart had an express lane open? Nope.
Or , do you think they had any lane open with less than 5 people waiting? Nope.
I choose what seems to be the shortest line. One huge family in front of me, trying to buy a DVD player. For some reason, the cashier couldn't get the security thingy to scan, or something. She kept rubbing it over the little scanner thing and it kept beeping. F.I.N.A.L.L.Y she gets it to work.
The family pays and walks off. But, the teenage daughter of the family decided she wanted an iTunes card. The cashier scans it, takes the girls money. But, for some reason decided to check to see if it indeed activated. It did not.
The girl walks 3 checkstands over grabs another card. Redoes the transaction. Same problem. Goes back over and grabs another card. This repeats F.O.U.R times. Finally, I say, quite patiently, which frankly is a small miracle, "Why don't you grab a whole stack this time?". And she does!!!
After about 15 cards, one F.I.N.A.L.L.Y works.

It takes approx. 1 min for my stuff to get rung up and bagged and we're on our way. Home. Home!!!
My quick trip to the store turned into quite the ordeal. Jeven didn't stop talking for one second. And not the kind of talking where I could zone and say "Uh-huh" or "Yep" but where he expected a response and in some cases, told me what exactly to say.

I was exhausted.

Out to the van we go. I put the groceries in. I put the kid in his car seat, buckle the car seat. Shut the sliding door. Open the driver door.

It won't open. There, on the driver's seat are my car keys. I locked myself out of the van. With my child buckled (safety first!!) in his car seat. At 11:00 at night. In the Walmart parking lot.

Of course I did.

**Edited to clarify:
We've never encouraged our children to unbuckle their own car seats. I know, there's pros and cons to this. But, our thinking was we were avoiding them unbuckling while we are driving down the road. Eventually, all of them learned how to do it. By the time they learned, they were old enough to understand when it was okay and when it wasn't.
All of them learned. Except one. Any guesses as to which one?
Yep. Jeven still cannot unbuckle his own car seat. Despite me desperately begging through the glass to "Please, try Jeven. Push really hard on the red button!!" to no avail .

I normally carry my cell phone in my purse, which was in the van. This one in a million time however, I carried it in my PANTS POCKET!!! So, I was able to call hubby and he came to the rescue!

It could have been so much worse. It could have been middle of the day while it was 100 degrees outside. Or, my phone could have been in my purse. Then, I would have had to flag down the Walmart cop.

Although, that may have made a better blog entry.

Thanks for the tips!

2010-06-09T14:08:00.000-07:00

First, thank you all so much for your suggestions and tips on handling "Zane".
I would like to take just a minute to address some of the suggestions and questions:

Sitting next to the teacher will be the first thing I try!
Although I LOVE the idea of a weighted vest, I don't really see how I could get Zane into one without causing a scene. "Hello Zane's mother. Before he comes into the classroom could he please put on this special vest? Oh, no, none of the other children are wearing one. Just your son" I don't think that would go over very well!
As much as I would love to have an assistant, we just don't have the staff. At our church, the children out number the adults. For example, at Jeven's bday party there were 16 children and 5 moms. Us Baptists like to procreate, what can we say! Anyways, by the time we have nursery workers, a teacher for elementary and another for the teens, that doesn't leave many people for assisting in my class. Although, the very first day Zane was in my class, I did have a helper. And she couldn't control him either without causing a ruckus.
As far as the mom goes, I've observed her and she seems to be very physical with him. Which may explain why he doesn't like to be touched. She seems at a loss on how to control him . I am not sure if she's contacted any outside help or not. It's one of those situations where I feel unless she asks for help, it's not my place to intrude. (I don't think there's abuse, just that grabbing him is the first thing she does) I am hoping that I will be able to find some things that work well with Zane and just happen to mention them to her when she picks him up.

At this point, they haven't been back to church so...all this may have been for nothing! Although, I imagine that eventually I will have more children in my class with special circumstances.
If he does come back, I will try having him sit in a special chair next to me and just be patient and kind and firm, all at the same time. I am hoping eventually, he will get use to being in the classroom setting and calm down.

Fingers crossed!

Birthday Boy

2010-05-29T10:43:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, my itty-bitty baby turned 4. Jeven is a very special boy. He is all boy, that's for sure. He's also very caring and funny.

Me: How old are you now?

Jeven: Four!!!

Me: What do you like best about being four?

Jeven: (burp) 'Cuse me. The presents

Me: What do you want to be when you grow up?

Jeven: A Power Ranger. The green one.

Me: What's your favorite thing to do?

Jeven: Help crack eggs.

Me: What's your favorite movie?

Jeven: Up

Me: Who's your favorite person in our house?

Jeven: Kitty.

Me: Smart answer. What's your favorite food?

Jeven: Fries and cheeseburgers

I am so glad God decided we needed a Jeven to complete our family! Happy Birthday Jeven!!

Eleven Minutes

2010-05-25T08:11:00.000-07:00

That's exactly how long it took for my family to find me.

After dinner last night, I was so sleepy and exhausted, I couldn't keep my eyes open.

The kids were ~~not bleeding~~ playing well together, my husband was busy taking care of our 30+ lizards we have now (please, don't ask. Or wait. Do ask. Especially if you're interested in taking one. Or ten) so I decided to sneak into the bedroom and take a "time out".
My husband often falls asleep on the couch after a long, hard day at work. So, I'm entitled every now and then, right?

On our bed was the 2 loads of clean laundry that was waiting to be folded. At first, I was discouraged and felt like I should take care of it before laying down on the bed. That feeling didn't last long.

I went to the far side of the bed, pulled the comforter over me and burrowed under the laundry, looked at the clock and closed my eyes.

I didn't sleep, I could hear everything that went on in the house. But, I zoned out for a while.
Eleven minutes. My husband came into the bedroom looking for me once but the laundry was my friend and kept me hidden. I could hear the kids looking for me in the bathroom. In the garage. In their rooms.

I must admit, I only felt slightly guilty for making them look for me. Mostly, I felt triumphant in my hiding skills.

Finally, my husband came back into the bedroom and saw my nose poking out of the pile of clean towels and socks.

I don't know if I should be flattered that my family can't live without me for such a minimal amount of time, or worried.

Perhaps I should take a "time out" more often in order to wean them off of me so I can perhaps, someday, have a full nap?

But, I think the days will come soon enough that my kids won't need me and won't even notice that I'm not in the room. I should count my blessings, I think .

It Was Beachy!

2010-05-18T16:04:00.000-07:00

We aren't big "celebrators" around here. We acknowledge but that's about it.
Judd and I hadn't really planned on doing anything for our anniversary (yesterday) because he wouldn't be getting off work until late and honestly, we are ok with not doing anything.

Normally.

We have some people close to us that are struggling with their own marriage. When it hits close to home, it makes you appreciate what you have. So, we decided that a evening out was in order.

Monday morning, I arranged a sitter for later that evening with the assurance that even if we didn't drop the kids off until 7, all would be fine.

11:30 that same morning, by husband comes home and announces: "You have 20 minutes to get ready to go. We're all going to the beach!"

This is so out of character for my husband because he hates the beach. He's not big on road trips and he certainly knows better than to give me a time limit of only 20 minutes to get dressed and packed for a day away.

It's out of character for me to say "Yay!" and actually get dressed and packed in approx. 20 minutes (it may have been more like 45 but....still). He told me later he was prepared for my usual "But, I have ____to do. And _______has to get done."
But, I didn't and we left.

And the day was P.E.R.F.E.C.T. Seriously. There was no fighting (between kids and/or adults). No tears, except the ones that came from pure exhaustion when it was time to go home. There was no whining (from kids or adults).

It sounds all sappy and "Disney Family Movie" ish but it was just what our family needed.

It made me love my husband even more for thinking of it and pulling it off.

Me and my hubby. Jayce took the picture, you can tell that we were talking to him while he snapped it!

Happy Beach Day!

Jarrett picked up this muscle shell and said "I can hear the ocean!!"

Four little crabs!

Jarrett showing his best side!

Awwww......Here's to many more years together!

May 17, 1997

2010-05-17T10:30:00.000-07:00

The groom

The bride

I loved my dress!

Judd and the best man, his grandfather.

Me and my daddy!

Notice the flower girl covering her eyes?

And they lived happily ever after.......

Things That Wake Up In The Middle Of The Night ...

2010-05-12T12:49:00.000-07:00

....even though they are way past the infant stage and should be sleeping all night, every night.

At 35 years old, I have given-up on the dream of sleeping more than 4-5 hours without waking up.
Every night one or more of the following occurs:

I have to pee more than once
My husband gets up to pee therefore waking me up
One of my 4 children gets up for various reasons:bad dreams, bathroom accidents, or (my favorite) sleepwalking.

Back in the day, I thought once my children got to be past 2 yrs. old or so, they would all sleep and therefore I could pick up right where I left off--sleeping 8 or more hours a night.
Ha!! I think this is one myth that should be discussed in every parenting book!!

Last night, I was out grocery shopping--alone. That left my husband home with the kids. He decided to let them watch Spiderman 3. Normally, I wouldn't even think twice. My kids love Spidey. No biggie,right?

Until I find Jarrett hiding in his room, crying because he doesn't want to watch it anymore.
Because of this:

The black Spidey. Evidentally, he was scary enough to not only freak out Jarrett but Jeven as well,
as they were both up during different parts of the night. Jarrett because he said he wanted the light on (when you share a room with 2 other brothers, leaving the light on isn't an option). Jeven because he wanted to sleep with us. (one thing I do know--if you let one child sleep with you, even one time,it just opens the door for the others to follow!)

The last "scary" movie my husband let the kids watch was Ghostbusters.
Again, that seemed to affect Jarrett more than the other kids.

I can remember being made fun of in school because my parents wouldn't let me watch Michael Jackson's Thriller video.

I too had problems sleeping after watching anything remotely scary (I think it's a sign of higher intelligence, actually).
So, part of me is not mad that my kids wake me up because they're scared. And, another part of me laughs when my very tired, 7 yr. old daughter sleep walks and attempts to pee in the bathroom sink (she'd die if she knew I told you that).
But, the other part, just really, really, really wants to sleep!

Some Pictures and Reruns of ALF

2010-05-07T00:05:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I haven't posted in over a week! No one's emailed to check on me, how did you all know I wasn't stuck in a well or something? Or, maybe you used deductive reasoning and figured out I have 4 kids and a life, perhaps I've been busy? Or, maybe you just haven't cared?
Either way...

I have been busy.
I went to a ladies retreat with my church friends. And, might I say, sleeping with other women is not something I normally do, (nor plan on making a new habit out of) and entirely out of my comfort zone (I've only ever slept with my husband, it's what I'm used to!), I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
My husband kept all the children for 2 days. Not only did he keep them alive, they all had fun. Win-win for all!!

We've been busy catching up on school, I've had 2 extra children all this week (they spent 2nights/3days here!) and honestly, I haven't had much chance to read blogs, let alone post on mine. I have an award I promised to act on, and I will. Maybe in the next day or ~~thirty~~ two.

Tonight was Jarrett's preschool's Spring concert. And, although I took some pictures of the concert itself, they are not worth posting. A picture of fifty, 4yr. olds, standing on stage, 20 feet away, doesn't make for a good blog post. Just use your imagination--Jarrett was adorable and awesome and amazing.

I did however get some good (I think) shots of the kids before:

Josie Lynn,age 7

Jarrett, star of Sp#$ngfiel# Christian Preschool's Spring Concert, age 5

Jeven-never-smile-a-real-smile-would-rather-make-a-scary/funny-face-for-a-picture-this-one-is-a-miracle, age (almost!)4.

*********Here I would insert a picture of my oldest son, Jayce. But, alas his is too cool to let mom take his picture. Just use your imaginations. He is very handsome and always smiles a real smile and looks perfectly at the camera.********************************************************

4 times the trouble, 4 times the fun!!

And lest I forget:

We recently disconnected our t.v. satellite service, for many reasons. We have started watching shows online and it's been working pretty great, actually. One show we've introduced Jayce to, is ALF. I loved this show when it was on!! It's fun to watch it with him and have it be all brand new again.

I do honestly hope to post again before Sunday but incase a meteor falls on me, and you all don't bother to check up on me, I will say "Happy Mother's Day" to all of you wonderful mothers, grandmothers, aunts, cousins, and best friends that play important roles in someone's lives.
Hope you have a truly wonderful, blessed day!

Saturday, I Think I Love You.

2010-04-24T16:48:00.000-07:00

I have never been so glad to see Saturday. This past week was a doozy.

Monday started off fairly normal. They are usually the hardest day for us. Trying to recoup from the weekend, the house is trashed and it's time to start school again.
And, all in all, it was a pretty typical Monday.

However, Tuesday and Wednesday were not.
Because my kids are using a charter school's curriculum, at home, they are still subject to the state testing regulations. Josie, being in 1st grade, didn't have to take the tests but Jayce did.
So, that meant, bright and early Tuesday morning, I had to pack up all 4 children and head downtown. He had to be there by 8 a.m. Have I ever mentioned I am not a morning person? I count myself lucky if I'm ready for the day by 9:30.

Anyways, my hubby and I pulled out of the driveway at the same time. He to go to work, me to take Jayce to his testing site. However; I got "sidetracked"and pulled over to look for the neighbor girl that suddenly disappeared from the bus stop. Once I called her mother and got that all straightened out, we were back on our way.

Until I got about 1/2 mile up the road to a major traffic jam. Complete with fire engines and police lights.

I immediately thought of my husband, who was technically only a few minutes ahead of us. I started quietly crying and praying that we would not see my husband's truck smashed into a million pieces.

After listening to the radio, we found that a power line had fallen across the freeway. And, the police were directing traffic to an off ramp. It literally took me one hour to move about 1 mile.
My nerves were shot already but when my fuel light came on in the middle of it, I started to hyperventilate, just a tad.

We finally reach a gas station,when my husband calls and turns out, he thought we were ahead of him and he'd had pretty much the same reaction I did to all the lights and fire trucks. The panicky " I hope it's not someone I know" feeling upon arriving at the scene of an accident.

We dropped Jayce off at his testing site, dropped Jarrett off at preschool. Waited 2 hours and picked everyone up again.

Rereading what I wrote above, it doesn't seem that big of a deal. But, when you're running behind, fearing you're going to run out of gas and plug up an already plugged up traffic jam, and your 7 yr. old is crying because "You're stopping too much!!", it makes for a pretty crappy beginning to your day.

And the best part was--we got to do it again the next day!! Minus the power line across the freeway.

Thursday, my husband was unexpectedly off work. To most, that might be a pleasant surprise. But, being the crank that I am, it was not. Having pretty much taken the 2 previous days off of school/housework, I was a little behind and stressed. Having another person, especially a grown man person, under my feet was not fun.

Fridays are always a tad busy. It's the day a friend and I visit a local assisted living residence and hand out birthday cards and make visits. She has 2 boys that she brings here to my house, we have another friend come over with her 2 boys and stay with all the kids while MJ and I go to Woodside. That's a grand total of 8 kids at my house. It's a little stressful getting the house picked up and ready for that kind of "action" but it's worth it. I have met some wonderful people and have seen how much a simple visit or greeting card can light up a face. I will have to post about some of those visits soon.

That brings me to today--Saturday. In where I spent most of the day out of the house, while my kids were at grandmas!
I went to a friends "resale" event and bought a dress for Josie and a jammin' Wiggles dance mat for Jeven's upcoming birthday.
My parents, for Christmas, had bought me a gift certificate to a local craft store. I got to use some of it today and made two adorable cards:

(the pictures are blurry but, hey, you get the idea)

I used to scrap book a lot but somehow, haven't had the free time for it ~~for the past 11 years~~ lately.
I enjoyed doing a little "artsy fartsy" stuff today and hopefully, I can squeeze some more classes in.

My Saturday is almost over with. Tomorrow is church day then we're back to Monday. I am hoping next week is a little less crazy but....I'm not counting on it.

Hope you all are having a restful, uneventful weekend.

Pictures Of What Spring Should Be

2010-04-15T16:52:00.000-07:00

On our way to the playground. We live less than
5 minutes from an elementary school. That is if you drive.
If you have 4 kids and a busy time of day, it's takes about
forever to get there!!

Jeven doing....Jeven-ness stuff.

Jarrett looking all handsome and stuff.

Concentrating on the "ringy things". His little chicken arms hold him up quite well!

Happy Spring!!

Heartfelt Thanks

2010-04-12T14:48:00.000-07:00

I've heard that term before but never have experienced it.

But, after my last post, my heart really felt thankful!

All the comments meant so much to me.
Mostly, I was glad that you understood what I was trying to say! I wasn't wanting to whine or be told to speak up.
Sometimes, the thoughts that are in my head and what comes out on the screen are different. But, by the comments left, I felt understood. And heard. And seen.

The weather has actually perked up a tad today, so we are off to the playground. I will be posting some pictures soon.

I just wanted to use a post to say "Thank you", my dear, sweet, bloggy friends!

Invisible

2010-04-09T14:49:00.000-07:00

I'm a good friend. I think.
I am a good listener. I don't like to shoot my mouth off and give advice. I will just listen. Sometimes, that's all someone needs.

However, when you are a good listener, you become invisible.

When a listener needs to talk, no one is used to listening to you, so, you get ignored.

I have many friends. That have helped me in many ways. But, lately... I feel invisible.

I know, how can a mother of 4 children ever feel invisible? In my house, I couldn't be invisible if I tried.

My husband is my best friend and he hears about everything that's bothering me. But, men don't make the best girlfriends. They're too....manly.

Over the past few weeks, I literally have spoken, out loud, to human beings, about something that's on my mind--family issues, health issues--and have been totally 100% ignored.

Maybe I'm not loud enough?
But, with all this frustration that's in my mind right now, I'm liable to burst and really make a spectacle of myself.

Jarrett is a quiet kid. He goes with the flow. He listens. But, sometimes, he'll have a bad day and blow up over something stupid.

I understand completely.

The quiet ones are the ones you have to watch out for.