Soccer team is undefeated

Finally some pictures of the soccer team. So far they are undefeated. They have played every team in the league once and have yet to lose. I didn't think they were very good till I saw the other teams. We have a few key players that really put us above the rest. Nick used to be one of them, but didn't bother to turn in a few math assignments and is no longer playing. Someday maybe he'll get it. These are pictures of their last game which happened to be a scrimmage, 6 on 6. Stephen scored his first goal ever. Usually he gets very little ball time because he's a little gun shy since this is the first time he has ever actually played soccer. Yesterday he got lots of ball time due to the few numbers of players. It was fun to watch him actually get in there and do something. Maybe he will be a little more aggressive in the future. Here are just a bunch of action shots from the game. I think I took like 80 pictures- gotta love digital! Stephen is #16 or the one with the ball.














This is on is way to kick his first goal.


This, of course, is right after.

Happy Birthday Brooklyn!

Happy Birthday to my very sweet and crazy Brooklyn!



Today she is nine. Brooklyn is really starting to come into her own a little. She has good friends at school and is so great with her little brother and sister. I think Brooklyn tells me she loves me more than any other person I know. She is very smart and is just now learning that she likes to read. Her favorite things to do are sing and dance, play anything Bratz, watch Disney Channel and play outside. Brooklyn has started the cello this year and is continuing her tumbling class. She was also cast as a "jazz elephant" in the Jungle Book for the children's theater. We haven't planned her party yet, I think she wants to wait a few weeks and take some friends to see "High School Musical 3". Her grandma Green took her to lunch on Saturday to Panda Express for her favorite Orange Chicken. Unfortunately today is our busiest evening of the week so we won't be able to celebrate too much. I think I will take her lunch to school today and we can sing to her, she would like that. We Love You Brooklyn!

Is it only Monday?

Here I sit all sniffly and sneezy, sweaty and wheezy. Dang, friggin allergies! I have both Claritan and Benadryl in me and still not much relief. I may just have to whack my head off. Is that being too dramatic?

Yesterday was a pretty good day. We had our usual big breakfast and everyone got around without a hitch. Today was our Primary Program for church. I only have 3 in primary right now which is kinda weird. I had to sit up on the stand with my class so Glade got to deal with the babies. It wasn't so bad till Katy spotted me up there. Chelsey had to take her out crying 3 times. Her Laurel advisor even commented to her that she had never seen us take Katy out before. She loves me. The kids all did really well. Dalin was not about to let anyone help or prompt him. He was pretty funny as aways. Our primary class was really good for the lesson which is always a bonus. I got to go to relief society today, my turn. I love to go be with the other women. The lesson was short by about half and hour so we got to bear testimonies. This is when I realized I was a horrible visiting teacher. One of my sisters told about all she had been going through lately and I didn't know any of it. I really need to do better. I also spent the whole hour holding some one's little baby girl. Man I struggle with no more babies. She was so precious and smelled so good.

After church, we came home, had a snack and I laid down with Bo for a short nap. Sunday dinner had fallen through so there was no big rush to get up and get things around. Our home teacher had wanted to come this week but we thought we would have a house full so we declined. Since we weren't, we invited him and his family for dinner. It turned out to be a really nice evening. Our kids play well together and they all sat nicely for the lesson. Whitley had made a divine peach cobbler which was the perfect way to end the night.

During the night, Katy woke up with a fever and what I'm guessing was a hand that had fallen asleep. So she got to come lay with me for awhile. Didn't matter too much, I had been awake sneezing most of the time anyway. She finally went back to sleep. By morning, I was exhausted and just didn't want to get out of bed. Glade was nice and let me sleep in. He locked the door so the babies wouldn't come in. The only real problem is that my kids who needed to get to school are completely irresponsible. I woke up at 8 to a perfectly quiet house. I wondered if Glade had come back and taken them. I went out to find all their backpacks still here. They were outside playing. My kitchen was a wreck with breakfast and lunch stuff all over. We are supposed to leave at 7:45. Once we got all their stuff together, they ended up being 25 min. late for school. I got to come home and clean up all the mess. Great start to the day! I'm over it now and am waiting for my visiting teachers to come. That should be nice, I haven't had any come since we moved here.

Homecoming report

Well, it was not nearly as exciting as I had hoped. The pick up arrangements were back and forth, unsure of what exactly was going on. As soon as she got home from school, she showered and we headed to Julia's house for the hair do. Chelsey, of course, loved it! She really thinks you are the goddess of hairstyles, Julia. Her friend Amy came over and they finished getting ready. Their dates were supposed to arrive around 5:30, Amy's did. We took pictures of the two of them and sent them on their way. Then we waited...and waited...and waited....until about 6:20 when he finally came. Now, in his defense, he wasn't the driver (who happened to be the oldest son of a certain Bishop) and he kept in touch with her to let her know what was going on. By this time, she was soooo antsy. A friend's sister was going to do pictures for them in a close by neighborhood and they were very late and it was almost dark so they were in a BIG hurry. I got two pictures and they sped off. No corsage presentation or anything. Kind of a bummer. She looked beautiful of course and she had a grand time. Tonight they are on the Saturday date, which is totally weird, but whatever. So here is what I have of her and Alec.

This is Chelsey unable to sit still while waiting



Today was taxi day. I started around 9:45 am and finished about 3:30. Birthday parties, play practice, work..etc. I did manage to get my nails done in the middle of all that. That's always refreshing. I came home from getting Chelsey at work, changed clothes and headed for Women's Conference. Those are always my favorite meetings. I go away with new goals and renewed faith in the course I'm on. When I got home, Glade was still mowing the lawn. This is what he and the boys had been doing when I was gone.


This says "We"

This one is "heart"



This one "Mommy"

I don't know if he stole this from the Harris', but I thought it was sweet nonetheless!

Side notes: Last night we went out with Joe and Kathy (like I wouldn't mention it!) and Donna and Brandon. Since we didn't have a babysitter, I took Bo and Katy with me. I told him he was going on a date with us. He was very cute and very excited about going on a date. He kept asking which way the date was and are we to the date yet. It was fun. They both behaved really well except for Katy tipping her chair backwards and going down with it. We ordered them a burrito to share. I don't think I have mentioned this, but I have been calling Bo my "hunka hunka burrito" (long story). The whole time he was eating, he would look down at his plate and quietly say "hunka hunka burrito" (rolled "r" and everything) I love that kid!

Dacia: Thanks for your comment about the "why". It wasn't exactly what you said, but what you said triggered another thought that made it all make sense. Thanks for being such a great friend...I love you!

Slowing down the day

What a day already. Had bunko last night and got to come home with my pumpkins, Yeah! Woke up with allergies already giving me a fit. Did something about it this time. Tonight is Chelsey's homecoming date and we haven't gotten a boutonniere yet. I know, but I've been a little busy. So after taking the kids to school I thought I would stop by the grocery store to look for one but no luck. I also went to pick up my pears. As we were pulling away, Bo comments that his window is down so I rolled it up. *SCREAM* He didn't mention his hand was out the window. Now he was crying and Katy was already crying because she wanted her binky and I didn't bring one. I guess we are just going home. Probably better anyway. I really didn't want to drive all over hoping someone would have a boutonniere. Bo is on the couch with an ice pack and Katy is sleeping. I found a flower shop in town and I'm just waiting for them to open. They had their football game last night and they played my old school and won. That sucks for me but the girls are having a riot with it. Julia is doing Chelsey's hair this afternoon and hopefully all will go smoothly after that. She is very excited.

FAMILY CIRCLE

Katy always has waffles for breakfast. She loves them. I only butter them, no syrup. I figure until she realizes they are bland why give her the extra sugar. Today we were out of butter so I put syrup on them. I looked over at her and she was throwing the waffle pieces off her plate. I thought it was weird since she hadn't eaten very much. Just a few seconds later I look over and she is licking the plate. I guess she likes the syrup.

Riding in the car, Bo was whining that we weren't going anywhere. He didn't want to stay at home. I explained that sometimes Mommy needs to stay home and get some work done, like laundry. Then he asked me if I was going to talk in there.

me: Where?
bo: In the laundry room.
me: talk to who?
bo: I don't know, you always talk while you are in there.
me: (light bulb) Probably.

In reflecting on my time in the laundry room, I say things like: What stinks in here....who left a wet towel in the basket....what a disaster.....why are there clean clothes in the dirty laundry...etc. Funny that he even notices cuz obviously they are all rhetorical questions and I'm just complaining out loud. He must think there is someone or something to talk to in that room. He really is a very observant little guy.

Plain Ol' boring ordinary WONDERFUL day

I have no good stories, no real complaints, just a totally smooth ordinary day. I like it!! I try to make one day of the week just a stay at home day. I feel like my kids are run around too much and don't get that just hanging out down time often enough. Bo kept asking where we were going. Instead, we stayed home, made bread, did some cleaning, boring stuff like that. The kids watched their morning shows, colored and ran around, boring stuff like that. We all loved it! The afternoons are a little more hectic, running kids here and there, but today wasn't bad at all. I also got to go pick up my peaches! Let's see, I think there are 114 lbs of them. I got a lotta cannin' ta do! They are absolutely delicious. I get my pears on Friday. I even got to actually make dinner tonight, which I haven't done in a couple of weeks thanks to soccer. Homemade Pizza, again, we all loved it! So now the day's over, I'm not stressed or frustrated or exhausted, just ready for a good night's sleep. I like it!!

Speaking of sleep. I haven't had a lot lately so I clicked on a link about "natural sleep aids". Some of them apply and some really don't. Last night I tried turning the A/C down to 74 which they said was optimum sleep temperature. I froze. I had to get up and get another blanket. I think that's not good for trying to stay asleep. I also am going to try a lavender sachet under my pillow or something. Anyone else have any good ideas, I'm out of Percocet.

Bo got beat up by a girl

Imagine the scene in A Christmas Story where Ralphie goes crazy beating up that kid. That was much like the scene in the play place today. Bo and another little girl about his size both went to get on the stairs at the same time. They bumped shoulders then both stood back up. Bo was smiling at this point. The little girl went bazerk. Her arms started flailing whacking Bo over and over. At first he tried swatting back at her, but he could no longer keep up. Now he was just blinking over and over trying to dodge her attack. She got him one time really good on the cheek. There were two mothers sitting right there who just sat there watching. I assumed neither one of them were the girl's mother (which shouldn't have mattered) so I ran in there. I had been watching this little girl go around like a bulldozer the whole time. She pushed, pulled and swatted anything that was next to her. Now she was just plain crazy. I walked up to her, grabbed both her hands and in my sternest mother voice said "you do not hit people!" She grunted at me and tried to pull her arms away so I tightened my grip and got right in her face and said "Don't Hit!" I let her go and she went screaming to her mother. The two women sitting there looked at me with, I don't know, shock on their faces and said "That's not your kid?" pointing to the screaming little girl. I checked Bo out and kissed his little red cheek. I went out to explain to the mom that she wasn't hurt, just mad at me for scolding her. The mom is just syrupy sweet saying to her things like you can't hit people...kids won't want to play with you if you hit...etc. Disgusting. Bo was fine and ready to leave so we did. I kind of wanted to stay so it didn't look like we were running or anything, but we were done. My question is this....Would you have been upset if that had been your kid I scolded? Honestly.

I'm such a baby

Why am I such a stinkin baby?? My "git r done" husband just sucks it up no matter what the problem and gets stuff done. I am quite the opposite. I haven't had a good nights sleep in about two weeks for starters. Today my allergies were out of control. I really didn't want to take Benadryl since I was already so tired. I got dressed to go to the gym this morning but talked myself out of it. I piddled around until it was time for Katy to go down for her morning nap then I went down as well. I just couldn't keep my eyes open. After about an hour, I decided I just needed to get up and do something. I figured I could just go to Costco today instead of tomorrow. We went and while I was there I just sneezed one after another. Both of my eyes were weepy and itchy. At one point, a tear actually rolled down my cheek and I wasn't even crying! On the way home from Costco, Bo dropped a half full cup of soda on the floor. That did it for me. Now I really was crying. I totally yelled at him as he said "I was just trying to give Katy a drink." I suck. I made it home got things put away and headed for the Benadryl. We all laid down and of course my mind was racing and I couldn't go to sleep. I got up and amazingly, I felt pretty good. Kids got home, we did homework, went to a soccer game (we won), ate dinner, had Family Home Evening, baked cookies and now I'm headed for bed. Once I took the Benadryl and just kept myself busy, I was fine. It's just hard to convince myself to do that. Laying around feeling sorry for myself is much easier!

WHY

On the way home from soccer, we saw a lady on the side of the road with her hood up. I rarely stop because I'm kind of a mechanical idiot, not much help. As I drove by and noticed she had two little ones, I thought "I really should see if there's anything I can do." I was already past her and it was NOT a good place to turn around. I drove a little bit and thought "just go back". I kept talking myself out of it saying it was too late, I'm sure she would be fine, I've gone too far. I said a quick prayer that she would get the help she needed. That made me feel sick. Fine. I turned around, fought the crowded traffic and pissed the people off behind me. I finally made it back to her. I asked if she needed anything and of course she said "no". Her husband was on the way, her car overheated and they were fine. I offered to let her sit in our cool car and wait but again, "no thanks". I was able to give her half a bottle of warm water, woohoo. As we were leaving, I remembered I had two boxes of toys in my trunk headed for DI. I took two out and offered them to her kids. They really weren't anything that exciting. So we drove off, slightly frustrated. WHY?? Why did I feel the need to go back so strongly. I know we should just follow the Spirit, but sometimes I really wonder, "what good was that?" At least my conscience is clear. Someday in the eternities maybe He will explain it to me and show me WHY.

The rest of the story

DANCING DATE NIGHT

Well, some might consider it a complete flop, but we had a great time! Only 4 couples showed up, plus my mom and her friend and Chelsey and Dillon. 6 in all. We first just messed around dancing waiting for anyone to show up, then my mom got there and we started doing salsa. Actually we did the Texas Two Step first. Salsa was a little tricky and we didn't do so well at it. It was a little frustrating not catching on right away, but still fun just to be all together. I'm sure Glade wasn't thinking that. He was trying really hard and in my frustration I just got a little too silly and I couldn't quit laughing. We sucked. The only way to make that fun was to make fun of us. I really was making fun of US. After awhile we gave up on that and did some line dancing. That is definitely more up my ally. We were only there a few hours but we were sweaty and tired. We closed up shop and went for Bahama Bucks. Nice ending for a fun evening. You all missed out! I will say that at first I was a little sad that no one came, but then I became more sad at our ...community?...generation??... I don't know what to call it. Anyway, why is everyone so uncomfortable stepping out of the old person routine of doing nothing? I'm sure we all danced as teenagers. My final conclusion....people are boring. I will never be one of them. I will continue to have fun and do "out of the box" date nights. I may not be as good as I once was, but I can still have just as much fun!

FAMILY CIRCLE

Driving to church Bo asked if on his birthday he would be 2. I said "no, 4." He got really excited and said "I get 4 birthdays?!?" I tried to explain that you get as many as you are alive. All the kids started telling how many birthdays they have all had. He asked me if I had 14 birthdays. I told him I have had 37 and he says "DANG!" Does that make me old?

After our fun date night, we came home and all the kids were asleep upstairs in the loft. Glade went up to get Katy so she could sleep in her crib. This is what he found.

Just me Journaling

GAMES NIGHT

Last night was our couples games night. We went to Moki's for a luau and all you can eat Hawaiian buffet. It was relatively good. The kids that danced were fun to watch. Then we went back to Jana's and played games and had brownies and ice cream. It was fun. My allergies were really bothering me so I was a little cranky, but I enjoyed it anyway. We got home too late for me, I had to get up early today to pick up my produce basket. I haven't ordered one in a really long time.

PRODUCE BASKET

When I got there to pick up my basket, she made us wait while she ripped everyone for not volunteering. I totally understand why she was upset, but it still irritated me a little since I've only gotten about 6 baskets ever and haven't had one in like 9 months. Whatever. The basket was really good this time. Not a lot of weird stuff, just one eggplant. I may do it again next cycle.

RUNNING

After picking up my produce, I decided to go running in that neighborhood. I was thinking that if I was going to try the Turkey Trot, I should get used to running outside versus a treadmill. It was sooooo much better than the last time I went running, but I still don't really like it. Even at 8 am, it's still too hot. I just need to get mentally tougher to make myself keep going. Without all the gadgets of the treadmill, I don't have anything to go by, ie: how far, how long, how fast, etc.
I think I went just at 3 miles, but it felt a lot worse than when I do that on the treadmill. I fixed the problem with my MP3 falling through my pants though. I put it in a baggie then pinned the baggie to the inside of my shorts. Having the baggie against my skin was a little uncomfortable, but not like having it fall out the bottom!

DANCING

I have organized a date night tonight and invited everyone I know to come dancing at the church. I have no idea how many people will show up, but I guess even if there are just a handful, it will still be fun. My mom is coming to teach a little salsa and Chelsey and some of her friends will teach a few different line dances. I hope it goes well. Will have to report later.

GOALS FOR THE DAY

Make the upstairs look like a home, not hurricane wreckage. Find just ONE pair of jeans that are cute and fit well. I looked last night with no luck. 10 more lbs and I will be able to wear my NY jeans. Get a nap!

Why is waiting so hard?

Waiting. It's such an irritable word. No one likes waiting. Today, I had been waiting in the school pick up line for about 12 minutes. The line was moving slowly and I was in no hurry to stay bumper to bumper with the car in front of me. There was a space not quite big enough for a car, but a space nonetheless. A car from about 8 cars back comes around and squeezes into this space. Seriously?? Now, this really doesn't affect me picking up my kids, but the 7 year old in me came out. There's no cuts! I was amazed that a mother would do that. Then it dawned on me. I bet it's not a mother. I was right. I'm totally not man bashing, but they are much less patient about waiting than are women. Think about it. We as moms spend a good amount of our day waiting. Waiting to do hair, waiting for the last kid to get in the car, waiting while one runs back in the house, waiting in pick up lines, waiting for kids to wake up, waiting for them to finish practice, waiting for hubby to come home, waiting for the last kid to get to bed, etc. It's kind of what we do and for the most part, we do it knowing it's just what we do. I'll try to give this dad the benefit of the doubt, maybe he was on lunch break or something, but what makes his time more valuable than all the other people patiently waiting their turn?? Now I must grow back up to a rational adult and let this go, shaking my head. I'm going to go wait for my baby to finish eating so I can take a nap!

Very, very sad

Yesterday Whitley was at the library after school. A group of her friends were there waiting for one of the moms to come pick them up. After waiting a while and calls with no luck, they called one of the other moms to come get them. When they dropped off one of the girls, she went inside to find her mother's body draped over a laundry basket. Her baby asleep upstairs. The mom had no known conditions and appeared to be in good health. There was no evidence of foul play, just a very mysterious death. Whitley's friend is the oldest of four and had to make calls for someone to come and help. What a horrific thing for a young girl to have to experience. That has always been one of the worst things I could imagine happening to my family. We all know our time could come at any moment, but I don't think we really think that's going to happen. I'm sure this mom didn't expect this to be her last day either. Thankfully that baby was secure upstairs. Two things that this makes me very grateful for. One - the knowledge and testimony of eternal families and the plan of salvation. Secondly - for the scriptures that tell us to not procrastinate the day of our repentance and that today is the day to prepare to meet God. This could have happened to any one of us. Are we ready? Have we prepared? It really starts to sink in when tragedy happens so close. My prayers are with this family, they will need them.

I Rock...

OK, so maybe this is a little self..whatever...but....Tonight I had to take my kids to play practice. We were already late because Whitley had an ortho appointment and the boys had a soccer game, which they won. It's just a little too far away to go and come back then go again so I decided to just stay. Sometimes they practice on the stage so I can sit and watch from the audience. When they aren't on the stage, there is really nowhere for me to go. Last week, I went prepared to go walk around the track, but there was a football game so I went shopping instead. My budget can't really afford for me to go shopping every week like that! Today I had nowhere to go and there was NO football game, but they were practicing. It felt kinda weird to go just walk around the track during their practice so I went to the ball field behind them. It was totally fun.

Imagine the bleachers right behind home plate. I would start at the end of one of the dugouts, walk to the bleachers, run up and down them, then do 20 crunches. Then I would walk to the other dugout and do push up against the wall. I would head back the other way running the bleachers again, then doing calf raises. I would walk back to the beginning and start over. I did this for about 25 minutes. I thought after this mornings workout, I wouldn't be moving for awhile. I just hated sitting around doing nothing. The funniest part is that I was not dressed appropriately for this kind of activity. You know, cute shirt, jeans and FLIP FLOPS! I just kept thinking "if I had good shoes on right now...." It really was fun to do something out of the ordinary. Hopefully I burned off the Taco Bell I had just eaten!

FAMILY CIRCLE

Apparently, deodorant doesn't taste good at all. I deducted this from Katy's face after she bit into it. It's also hard to get out of baby teeth.

Oww, what was I thinking??

I decided today that I would try and do a 10K on the treadmill. After watching the Biggest Loser, Jillian's words kept ringing in my head. "unless you pass out, puke or die...keep walking!" I almost passed out, not really, but definitely felt light headed and my right toes were asleep and my left hip is killing me. The real reason I did this is because Glade wants me to run the Turkey Trot with him on Thanksgiving morning. In case you don't know, 10k is 6.2 miles. Today I did it in one hour and 17 minutes. I'm certainly not bragging, just benchmarking. I'm pretty positive that tomorrow I won't even be able to do .1 miles. Besides, how am I supposed to run 6 miles and bake a turkey at the same time???

Yesterday I got my bread bags and bread slicer in the mail. We ran out of bread yesterday morning. At dinner last night, Dalin asked if he could have some bread with his dinner. I told him we were out and he said "awww man! You could start on some right now.." So glad they like it. Today, 6 more loaves. I guess it will be a day of 6's for me.

FAMILY CIRCLE

Too classic. Rhett's teacher emailed me to let me know of the problems she had had with him that day. He's definitely doing way better, but has his days. Yesterday, she acknowledged that boys will be boys, but Rhett couldn't be allowed to keep a frog in his desk. It was hard to keep a straight face while chastising him for that one. They were told to leave the frogs alone.

17% Waste

That's the results of our "go green" thingy that we did. They put in a solar water heater and then they seal your ducts. They have been here now for 7 hours!!! There were a few complications including the stupid design of our air handlers. Anyway, they determined that through leaks in our ducts, we were losing 17% of our air to the attic. They blow a glue-like sealant through your ducts until the reading is 0%. The goal is to have your home cool down quicker resulting in less work for your unit. In the end, they guarantee a 40% drop in your A/C bill. Only time will tell! I'm impressed with how quickly it all got done considering we just signed the papers last night at 10 pm. Less than 24 hours and it's all completed. The guy who installed our water heater was from our last ward, that was kind of fun.

The Biggest Loser - It feels weird to sit on the couch and watch other people exercise. I just kept feeling like I should get moving! Normally I would go to the gym in the afternoon today, but I couldn't because these guys were here all day. The goal this season - Always weigh less than the thinnest person on the show. I'm starting out with a head start, but dang they lose a lot of weight quickly!

Tonight's the Night!

I can hardly wait, tonight the Biggest Loser starts. I was just watching a little video clip preview and I'm already in tears. I used to think people who watched it were goofy. Now I'm addicted. I have only watched about half a season, so this will be my first time of seeing it from the beginning. Do NOT call me after 7!

More Tidbits

Just some random things I wanted to blog about. Saturday we had our activity day and we taught about games and songs in the car, this is the car that I made just for fun.










I mentioned I got my hair cut on Friday. Sunday I curled it and thought I was having a pretty cute hair day. By the time I was walking out the door to church, I looked in the mirror and thought "what the heck happened to my hair?" It was just kind of flat and frizzy. Not much I could do cuz I had to leave. I walked into my primary class a few minutes late and the first thing they said to me was "Why is your hair such a mess?" That's not paranoia anymore, that makes it fact. My hair did not look good!



Nick and Stephen had their first soccer game today. They won by one goal. I was a little disappointed they let Nick play. His grades are NOT good and they gave him a slip that said he wasn't eligible. I guess that was a warning. I'm not seeing much incentive for him to try harder if he gets to fail and still play. I meant to take pictures, but again, forgot my camera. They have another game on Wednesday so I will try again.



At this very minute Glade is out haggling with this guy trying to sell us solar equipment. Glade's trying to point out every inconsistency there has been from the very first phone call. That makes me very uncomfortable, so I'm in here blogging instead. I think he will end up doing it, but he like to make a fuss first. The very worst part, they will make us put a sign in our yard for 30 days that says, in essence "we have gone green". Anyone who knows me knows this would totally kill my pride and make my stomach turn every time I look at it. Maybe everyone will be distracted by the "Jesus for President" sign in my neighbors yard instead.


I have decided to store a little gas. I have never known how I could do this so I decided to just stay small and simple. I bought 5 five gallon containers and figured I would just store enough to fill my tank if ever the need to head out came. That's not too space demanding or financially hard. I'm sure people thought I was one of those freaky people afraid of the hurricane ramifications, but I'm not. The timing was just there. Now I have gas.



Well, it's my bedtime and I still have to put the sheets back on my bed, Bo peed in it during nap time. That makes Glade really mad!

Family Circle

Just some cute things I wanted to get down for my own purposes. Katy and Bo were eating lunch so quietly. They were both staring at the TV while they ate, bad habit, I know. When they weren't watching TV, they would just look at each other and smile. Bo would offer her one of his chicken nuggets then not give it to her. He thought that was pretty funny. She didn't really care one way or another. The kissing was prompted by me, but she is just getting to where she will give kisses willingly and often. We all love it!



Watching Clifford



This was Katelyn when I got back Friday after getting haircuts. I was only gone for about an hour. She was not wearing these clothes and she was perfectly clean. I pulled onto our street and there she was, filthy and barefooted out in the middle of the street. Understand that I live on a dirt road so I use the word street loosely. I have no idea what happened to her only that she had pudding all over her face and marker up and down her legs. She was not happy about me taking her picture.




This is her rolling around crying on the floor while I tried to get a good shot.



You can't see the marker on her arm, but it's on both.


Luckily the marker was washable so it came off pretty easily in the tub. You should have seen my tub when I let the water out...YUCK!

Glad to be Home

Today started bright and early. I had to get up and finish my car for our Stake Activity Days day. We had to be at the church at 8 am. I made Chelsey go with me to teach fun songs to sing in the car. That was kind of our topic, activities when you are on a long trip. We were there until almost 1 pm. It went really well, but it's hard teaching the exact same thing six times in a row. I went home to try and take a little nap with no luck. My mind was going with all the things I should be doing. We were supposed to go to a family birthday party at 3. At the last minute, Chelsey asked me if she could go dress shopping with her friend. I think it's interesting that at first, she really just wanted to go with her friends. As it came down to it, all her friends were going with their mothers. She asked if I wanted to go with them.n That left Glade taking the kids to the party by himself. I'm sure he didn't love that, but did it without complaint. We met her friends at Dillards, two of them had just finished shopping but came back in with us anyway. They all got dresses from the 75% off rack. I was very proud of them for being so practical and supportive of each other. Chelsey ended up with a cute brown dress with silver sparklys. I'm sure there will be pictures later. We found jewelry and shoes as well. We shopped all over for affordable silver shoes. Not a whole lot of luck. We ended up at a whole different mall right back at Dillards and found a pair. They were in the wrong box that said $12.50 instead of $24.50. We decided to take them to the register and see what they said. The lady immediately noticed they were in the wrong box and said they were more expensive than that. I was about to tell her we didn't want them when she said she didn't feel like dealing with it right now and slapped a sticker on them and sold them to us for the $12.50. Score! We ended up with a dress, shoes, necklace, earings and hair clips all for $65, not too shabby!

We finally left the mall at like 7:30, yeesh. We happened to be right by the custard place that Austin works at, you know, the boy I imprinted for Chelsey. I talked her into going in. I played all cool telling her he would never remember me, but he totally did. Once we were back outside and I told her he remembered me, she was mortified and said all sorts of mean and threatening things to me. (She so loves me!) She had to agree though, he was very cute. We went to my mom's house and showed her all the goods. Chelsey is super excited and can't wait to put it all together. Oh Yeah, she also cut her hair off. She LOVES it. She thinks you are the bomb, Julia. She credits you completely for always knowing exactly what she wants.

So it was a very long, but productive day. I hardly saw my family at all. When I got home, Bo and Katy came running out of my room and attacked my legs. Katelyn was giggling this silly laugh that just made my heart happy. I missed them. I honestly haven't really seen the rest of the kids at all. Glade did a great job of taking care of stuff today, thanks honey!

Guilt in Comfort

On a totally serious note, I'm feeling really guilty today for all the comforts in my life right this very minute. As I sat in McDonald's licking my ice cream cone and watching my little ones climb and play, I envisioned what people in Texas are doing right now. You know, packing up their most precious belongings and leaving their homes for possibly the very last time. It just seems strange to go on with life like every thing is just great when you know so many people are experiencing tragedy right now. I'm also aware that on any given day, so many people are experiencing horrible things, but this is right next door and affecting so many at one time. I know there isn't really anything I personally can do for those people, but it's hard to just sit and enjoy my life right now. Tomorrow I will be teaching little girls fun songs and games to play on their next vacation while those in the path of the hurricane will be praying for their lives. Ugh, it just makes me sick. I had the same guilt as I lay toasty in my bed holding my new little baby watching the destruction of Katrina on TV. How grateful I am that my family has never had to endure a challenge like this. Whereas I can't fix their situation, I can at least pray with them for their safety and peace. Doesn't really seem like much, but at least it's something. I sure wish we had a humanitarian program in this area. We would be throwing kits together like crazy.

Ready to scream!

This is me today. I'm sure if you followed my blog carefully you could track my "girlie time" easily. Cuz this would be me pretty on schedule. I haven't actually done this yet, almost, but I think I just might by the end of the day. Here is a short summary:

What's wrong with this scenario -

- 100 degree heat

- loose gravel and sand

- the smell of cow manure

- cars flying by

- slanted ground

- no nap

- wind blowing hair in your eyes

- MP3 player falling out of your shorts

- did I mention 100 degree heat?

CRAMPY, HORMONAL GIRL RUNNING!!

I must say I'm rather impressed by my confidence, however stupid and wrong I may be! I'm not sure why I thought I could do this today. But hey, I got in 2 miles. I'm sure that didn't even begin to touch the calories I have eaten in bread today! Yeah, I make some OK bread. So aside from the torture I brought on myself, we have lost glasses, forgotten homework, lying, crying baby who just wants a Binky, a 3 year old that has a "tanker"sore, and a mom looking for a Gypsy bus to kidnap her. Not bad for one day. The silver lining - Tomorrow's another day! (let's just hope not like today!)

I'm going to go put my cute shoes on and go watch a choir concert!

Cute Shoes

I know this is going to sound really weird, however....In my really depressing dream that made me want to cry, there was a small part of the dream where I was shopping for shoes and just couldn't find any. That was NOT what made me want to cry! But, yesterday, I found cute shoes! Now, they are not super cute, oh my gosh kind of shoes, but I really like 'em! The ones shown look black, but mine are brown. I also found some great clearance stuff for Brooklyn's birthday that is coming up. Gotta luv a deal.

Today was playgroup at my house again. We also had to have an Activity Day meeting at the same time so it was a little crazy. The kids seemed a little restless today. Maybe two days in a row isn't the very best thing. Call them for snacks and everything gets good again!

Amidst all the craziness of playgroup I decided to make more bread. We have hardly touched our store bought bread since I started making it. I even used it for sandwiches. I was having a hard time finding bags for them to fit in, so I went online and bada bing bada boom - 100 bread bags being shipped right to my house. Who can't love technology? I also got a bread slicer so hopefully we can really use the bread just like any other. Right now my slices aren't so even or steady.

the Proof is in the Pudding

After a sluggish day, I almost talked myself out of going to the gym. You know, "I'm too tired...I've had a long day....I'm cranky...". I decided to just get my butt up and get it done. I ran the furthest and longest to date. Just over two and a quarter miles without stopping, 25 minutes straight. I would never guessed I had it in me today. I ended up walking a lap and a half and running all the rest of the 5K. I actually thought I might puke. I know I have said it before, but this is the closest I have ever come. I was thinking about if I were ever on the Biggest Loser. You know when Jillian is yelling at them and telling them they better not stop. I think I might be a total wuss. I would be the whiny white shirt guy from last season who kept making everyone do extra cuz he wouldn't keep going. I think I would have to insist on Bob as a trainer, he's nicer. Anyway, since I worked out, I have been in such a good mood. Singing, energy, looking for stuff to do. I have a friend who was advised to exercise to fight post partum. I believe it would totally work.

Notes on the side: My friend I posted about is fine and she is having a boy! I haven't seen a mouse in a week. (knocking on wood)

Weirdest Thing

I woke up this morning just really bothered. I had several very depressing dreams last night and I couldn't shake them. I was fighting tears all morning about a stupid dream. My eyes are welling up as I'm typing, sheesh. I know I'm a little hormonal right now, but this has been really strange. I just kept telling myself it's a dream for heaven's sake! Still I just felt like crying. I had playgroup at my house today so I could not spend the morning moping around on the verge of tears. I decided to pray for help. That didn't seem to be going so well since just about the whole time I was praying, my babies were screaming and banging on my door. How is it when you are trying to do the right thing, stuff like that still happens. I took a deep breath and headed out to face my morning. I didn't give the dream another thought. Again with the tender mercies. He heard me right through the screaming madness of my babies. The morning went really smoothly and for the most part the kids played really well together. Katy was in heaven. She doesn't get to go to playgroup so when they were here, she just kept squealing and running around behind them. I was kind of surprised at how much the kids didn't play all together. I thought, what is the purpose of this really, if they don't' all play together? Duh, we Mom's get some quiet time twice a week!
After playgroup we ran to Costco, which I love doing with my little ones. I don't know why it's so fun, but it is. We all came home and napped, which was not long enough. After a crappy night's sleep, I could have used a little more . Today is crazy scout day so I'm off to taxi. I am gonna hit the gym and get some good adrenaline going. The next 4 days are pretty busy so I'm not sure how much I'm going to make it to the gym this week. Duty calls!

My newfound Powers

I won't elaborate too much on this, but......I have found this new method of persuasion that is a little addicting. You know what they say about power. Anyway, today I got another chance to state my case very politely, (basically, it's my way or no way) and I won! This whole protocol, procedure thing is optional. I am aware that I can't always have my way, but lots of times, for very logical reasons, you can get your way. Where it becomes dangerous is when it's really tempting to try it out again and maybe one more time, etc. I will try to resist the temptation, but it's actually kind of fun! Seinfeld watchers: I'm sure my chart now has the word DIFFICULT written it..he he! I'm OK with that.

Talent Show

These are pictures of the talent show, well sort of. This first one is when Tea and Chelsey were being silly in the corner, that's when Glade said she was so me. The rest are just cute shots of them standing by for their turn. The one of her on the stage was kinda blurry and not that flattering so I didn't post it. Thanks Julia for thinking of me! (She took all the pictures)




Chelsey, Tea, and Melissa (The boy in the back asked Chelsey out for Saturday)



Isn't she stinkin' cute??

Chelsey answers Alec

Last night, Chelsey, McKenzie, Maddie and I delivered this little "game" to Alec's house. Chelsey worked on it all morning. It's a little confusing because it kind of appears as a game, but there is really nothing to do. She used and old SceneIt board and covered it with the colors of the game Apples to Apples. She was sticking to the same "apples" theme that he used. The word strips are insided jokes between the two of them so they don't really make any sense to me. She took the cards and glued plain paper on the other side, then wrote random letters on them. The last line of the "game" tells him that there are 2 letters in the stack to the answer to his question, meaning 2 y's 2 e's and 2 s's. We drove over around 9 pm. When we were almost there, we realized we hadn't planned on how to give it to him. McKenzie and Maddie made up song that went something like this. (to the tune of Children of the Lord)

Play this game
Eventho it's not really a game,
Play this game
Eventho it's not really a game,

To find out if you have a
date to Homecoming
Alec this is for you!
Hey!

OK, so it was made up in a hurry. They went to the door and Chelsey hid behind a bush. As soon as he answered, they started singing (mixed with a lot of giggles) then his dog started jumping on them so they were very distracted. They made it through the song, sort of, and handed him the game. They all came giggling back to the car. It was very cute and fun. On the ride home, Chelsey realized she never put her name anywhere on it. I sure hope he didn't ask a few girls seeing who would accept first!

Nails, Bread and Lots of Talent

I'm finding that the weekends fly by when you keep yourself busy. We had a very early start this morning with the whole homecoming excitement. I left here around 7:30 to take my car to get a new tire, had a flat. I took the three boys with me. After dropping off the car, I made them run to the church with me. It was probably less than a mile, but hot and very uneven for running. It took us about 10 minutes to get there. Not a whole lot of exercise, but every little bit counts. We had cleaning assignment this week. Glade was already there so we just pitched in with what was left. Got my car back, went home and showered and headed for my nail place. It has been 5 weeks and they still look great, amazing! When I got there I told them who I wanted to do my nails, but I couldn't pronounce her name. I spelled it for them, trangy. They said "oh, (something I couldn't not repeat)". I tried again to say it with no luck. He turned the paper over and said "in English, its" then he wrote Jenny. That's much easier for me. Anyway, now I know. She is the absolute best, even better than my Vincente.

I had to pick Whitley up from Jungle Book practice then came home for a little snooze. That didn't last very long, I was itching to try making bread again. I made 5 loaves today. It turned out really good again. For dinner I made chicken and rice with warm, fresh bread. I told everyone there was seconds if they wanted it, meaning chicken and rice. They all rushed over and said "hey, where's more bread?" Yeah, they like it!

We rushed through dinner got everyone cleaned up and headed for the ward talent show. It was mostly fun, a little long, but entertaining. The primary presidency did a fun number to Dancing Queen. They looked fantastic! I say that because I donated all the costumes. We found these totally funky 70's costumes in those garbage bags from that house, how crazy is that? They looked really cute. Great job girls! Chelsey was the only one who performed from our family. She did a dance with some friends. They were being silly over in the corner dancing while one of their friends played the piano. It was actually a little embarrassing. What made it worse was when Glade leaned over and whispered "she is so you!" To all those I may have embarrassed during my teen years, I am SOOO sorry! Actually Nick did a little round off back handspring, sort of. He was funny. All in all a really enjoyable night, way too many treats.

Did I mention I am married again? I finally got my ring resized so I could wear it again. Went down a size and a half. I told Glade if I have to get it resized again, I think he should just buy me a new one! He just rolled his eyes...

Homecoming

About 7 am, Chelsey came in and woke us up to take her to the church. She had an early morning activity and need to be there at 7. She said "come look at the front yard". My first thought was "did you get TP'd?" When she said no, I knew immediately! Whitley had told me about a week ago that it was homecoming that week. I thought that sounded early, but she was pretty sure. I was feeling really sad because I knew Chelsey hadn't been asked. I asked Chelsey how she was feeling about all of it and she informed me that homecoming wasn't until the end of September. So we (I) have been waiting for something fun like this.

It starts out with a paper with "Chelsey" on it. Then there are a bunch of apple on sticks. Each apple has the name of a famous girl on it: Belle, Hannah Montana, etc. Then the signs say "of all the girls on the tree, I couldn't resist picking you". There was also a green apple with her name on it. Then there were arrows that took her around back where his name was spelled out. Very cute and she was very excited! Now we get to shop for a dress - wooohooo!


This is the beginning



Apples lead up to these signs



Going around back

New York Jeans

These are officially my "New York Jeans". I went to return the jeans that were too big, but they didn't have the size right under that so I tried the next size even smaller. I just wanted to see how close I was getting. I got 'em on! Not very comfy, but I could get in them. So I have dubbed them my "New York jeans", meaning by the time I go to NY, they will be my comfy jeans. Today I feel a little recommitted with something to focus on. I would totally love it if they were a little big by then, but I will stay with little steps. I'm officially at 40 lbs right now. I gotta get over this little hump and back on track. I am determined to like myself in the pictures I take this holiday season!

Didn't quite make it

Yesterday was pretty uneventful, which is a very pleasant surprise. Kids all got their progress reports. Some could do much better. Our school uses a different grading scale so I have to try to keep in mind that it's the number that counts, not the letter. For example, an 85% is a C. Keeping that in mind, they didn't do as bad as it first appeared, but definitely room for improvement. Got to take dinner to a lady in our ward, the other girl ended up doing all the food and I just delivered. I guess teamwork counts for something. Still even made it to the temple in time. The last couple of times we have gone, they have asked us to do sealings. It feels like you aren't doing much, but thinking back, you actually help more people. It is nice to participate in all the different ordinances. After the temple, we went for ice cream with the Rapiers. That's always the cherry on top, pun intended.

Today I was looking forward to a good trip to the gym, playgroup, then the mall. I bought some jeans online and they were too big so I need to go exchange them. Best laid plans....My phone rang quite early this morning. It was the gal hosting playgroup today. She is about 4 months pregnant and she started bleeding this morning. So instead of playgroup, her daughter is here with us. Still don't know what the outcome will be.

Today was my push it day at the gym. I went with the intent of running the whole 5K. Didn't happen. I didn't eat right before I went and for some reason, there are just days my body doesn't want to do it! Today was one. I ran all but 2 laps which isn't bad, just not my goal. Nicely, I actually got a hot shower today, however my other water heater was leaking all over last night so I have no hot water on the other side of the house. (dishes, laundry, etc.) Will it ever end?

No mice in two days.

Latest Artwork

These are pictures of Katy's latest artwork. This is on the back of my leather couches. I have only ever caught her doing it once and I smacked her hand. She really did not like that, but obviously she didn't make the connection.

Luckily with a little of this

and two of these

and a whole lotta this

It pretty much came out. I have a few spots on the front and the seat that I'm struggling with. My arm got tired so I gave it a rest for a while. Gotta love that girl.

A Day to Forget

Lots of times when one thing after another goes wrong, I can end up laughing it off. Not yesterday. The day started off quite nicely. A trip to the gym, Bo's playgroup, some quiet time to myself. Then the craziness began.

More Mice

I spoke too soon. I was fixing lunch for Bo and Katy and opened the drawer that contains her bibs. Out jumps a mouse. I screamed and danced in circles to the other side of the room. I have no idea where it went, I was screaming and dancing. When I calmed down, I was leaning against the counter with my hands over my mouth. I looked over at my babies who were silent and staring at me. Bo had his hands over his ears and Katy had hers over her mouth just like me. I realized I had totally freaked them out so I tried to laugh and smile and tell them mom was just being silly because I had seen the mouse. We have explained to Bo that it is friendly and doesn't hurt anyone, but my screaming did not convey that same message! I threw a poison pack in the drawer and Tyler found him struggling out on the patio that afternoon. Later that night, we heard another one in the pantry. Again with the poison packs and it looks like he ate some of it last night. How many more can there possibly be? It wasn't quite so bad when they were just in my fireplace or on the floor, but now I'm past my limits with grossness. I bribed one of my kids to clean out the drawer with disinfectant and all Katy's bibs are in the sanitize cycle right now.

Why Tyler was at my house

We have had water heater problems from the beginning. We weren't here a few months when one of them flooded my kitchen and ruined my pergo flooring. Both have had the elements replaced and one the thermostat. We have not had hot water for a few days so Tyler came back to look at them. They were BOTH leaking. He did what he could to stop the leak and to get hot water back to the one (which is my shower) and is going to get 2 new ones by the end of the week. Cold showers suck.

Dead Body

When I brought Bo home from playgroup, there was a firetruck and ambulance down my street. They were going out into an empty field. That was kind of weird. By the end of the day, the street was closed off and police and medical examiners were down there. The whole field was taped off with crime scene tape. That is a very disconcerting feeling. Luckily, one of the ladies who lives down there is a firefighter so she was able to get some information. From what we could gather, it was someone who was out walking and had a heart attack. That was a relief!

Trip to NY

I decided to actually make my reservations to fly to New York early in December. I had called all the schools to make sure I wasn't going to miss any programs or anything. I had taken a voluntary bump when I went to IL in May so I have two free flights. When I called to reserve them, I found out that they have blacked out the entire month of December. Are you kidding me? I couldn't fly into NJ either. Turns out we have to fly into Philadelphia and drive to NY. What a pain. The flight times were also less than desirable, but I guess what do you expect when it's free? By the time I finished with this project, I had an enormous headache! For real. But hey, I'm going to NY!!

Curriculum Night

My JR High boys begged me to go to their curriculum night so they could get extra credit. Because I'm a good mom, I agreed. So glad I did. I learned much about why they should be doing MUCH better than they are. I couldn't wait to get home and see what they had to say. One in particular had several missing assignments. When I got home, I decided to go through his backpack and see what kind of papers I could find. What I found in addition to some really bad grades was stolen gum and money. This has been a little bit of an ongoing problem and I was livid to still have to be dealing with it. We had a very lengthy conversation about his future (or lack of it) and amazingly I didn't beat the crap out of him. I just keep wondering when he will care about anything. It has to happen eventually, doesn't it?

Being Grateful for Little Things

I slept like a rock.

Labor Day

I got up and around really early to be at the nail place right when it opened, but it wasn't open! Since when did salons take labor day off? I was not very happy. I took Whitley into town to do a little activity with some of her friends. They went to Saver's and tried to see who could put together the cutest, cheapest outfit. Whitley got a shirt, pants, shoes and a necklace all for $5.50. They lucked out because everything was half off that day. After dropping the girls off, I went and had lunch with my mom. That was nice. We got to just sit and chat with no babies. Headed home just in time for a nap! The kids were really good all day. When Glade got home, we headed to Jana's house for a BBQ and swim party. It went really well. It was our game's night group and all their kids. For so many kids, they all played so good together. We got to sit around and talk and the kids swam and the big girls all hung out up in the bedroom. A very nice evening. I'm always grateful when someone is brave enough to have our whole family over and feed us and have it go well!

Mouse update

I don't think we will be seeing many more mice. Glade put some poison packs down and when we woke up yesterday, they had eaten some of that plus some of another poison he had put out. I actually heard it eating it in the middle of the night, yuck. The only bad part is that now it has gone off to die somewhere and there it will stay. That's not a very pleasant thought. Not seeing it in my bathroom, however, is a very pleasant thought!