We have been to the top of the mountain and down again... er... went on vacation and came back home, that is. Although "vacation" is a bit of a misnomer in this instance... as it was a lot more "work" than "vacay"
The kids had worked SO hard putting on their kids camp we had them contribute $$ if they wanted to do "one more day" at an amusement park this trip. They all wanted to do THREE days instead of our normal TWO. So, we did SeaWorld on Monday, beach on Tuesday, drove up to Anaheim and did California Adventure on Wednesday, Newport beach on Thursday, and then did Disneyland on Friday. WHEW three days. It was just as exhausting as it sounds, especially considering we pretty much stayed and closed each park each of those three days. And hot, hot, hot. I don't think I've ever been that uncomfortable at a theme park before... apparently we've never gone in July before. Never again in summer!
On the other hand, how great was it to go with three BIG KIDS?? Josh was tall enough for every ride. We didn't have to mess around with meeting characters or riding any of the "little kid" rides. Josh really liked the big rides... California Screamin, Tower of Terror, Indiana Jones, Space Mountain... he loved all of it. We didn't even have to venture into Fantasyland or ToonTown... awesome. We did stop about 20 times each day for the kids to trade PINS with every shop owner in CA and DLand though, sheesh! My husband was brilliant when he bought a big lot of cheap Disney pins on Ebay before we went... so each of the kids had pins to trade with, and didn't hardly look at any of the "new" pins at retail prices... so our credit card escaped from the parks relatively unscathed. I say RELATIVELY because it's still Disneyland. Seems to be even tougher to save $ at SeaWorld when you have to pay $16 for parking... it cost us about $50 for lunch and probably another $30 in snacks @ SW, not to mention the souvenirs...
Worst line: Jungle Cruise, in the sun in the middle of the day @ Disney
Worst show: Dolphin show in the middle of the day @ SeaWorld
Worst ride: Space Mountain. MAN, that one is too rough and hurts!
Favorites: Sea Lion Tonite show, the "Filharmonics" acapella group (from Pitch Perfect 2 fame) concert @ SeaWorld, Aladdin show & Mad "T" Party @ California Adventure
Best rides: Radiator Springs Racers, Tower of Terror, Manta
We've been recuperating and playing catch up for the last few days. Slept many hours on Sunday. I finally got all the stuff from my old computer transferred to my new one, installed all the new software from Adobe Creative Cloud, and am currently blogging on my new machine! Still using the old mouse and keyboard though, as the new ones are a little small and too streamlined for me. Now I'm just hoping I get sent some design work and start earning my keep.
School starts in a mere SEVEN DAYS! Woohoo! Kids and I are SO ready. They are so bored, spending WAY too much time on screens and way too much time at home. Every day I promise I'll take them somewhere if/when they clean up and do chores... but those "to do" lists never seem to get accomplished so we never end up going anywhere. Fine by me, because my computer and my office have gotten MUCh more organized than ever before this summer!
Speaking of office activities, I've actually SCrAPBOOKED several spreads this month too! Amazing! Here's to catching up on all those old pics I never printed & layouts I never finished! Manda is a great helper and loves to do it.
Allison is going to be a big 8th grader this year. She's so grown up, loves to hang out with her friends, doesn't mind practicing piano so much anymore (as long as it's songs she wants to play). Her favorite thing to wear is jeans, even in the dead of summer. It kills me when I see her wearing tight long jeans when she could be wearing shorts! We went through her dresser and most of her closet yesterday... she'd outgrown more than half! I had to convince her to go with me to the thrift store last night, and we found lots of cute new replacement things for her to wear to school.
Manda went through her drawers this morning too and passed down a dozen shirts to Allison, so her drawers are a little bare as well! I will be taking her shopping tomorrow and hopefully find some cute stuff. She is super hard to fit. By the way I love thrift shopping, where I can afford to buy all the brands I wouldn't even think to look at @ malls.
Time to get something done today! Peace out!
8.05.2015
7.17.2015
Summer 2015 - probably the most epic-long post ever.
It's 2:12am. Awesome. Why is it that I can so easily fall asleep trying to watch a TV show, but once I go up to bed I'm wide awake... for hours... *sigh* I figured maybe if I got up and blogged and wrote down everything swirling around in my head I might be able to sleep... so here goes...
Summer is almost over - hooray! We started out strong it seemed, with SO much happening I could barely keep up. We got through all of the end-of-year recitals, school events, camp prep, etc. and then Nick and I were able to go to the U2 concert a couple of days after school got out in May. We got to do dinner and catch up beforehand with the Meadows... man I miss/love them.
When I bought our tickets for U2 back in December, I tried to arrange it so we were directly across from the end of the catwalk, essentially in the end zone of the arena (U.S. Airways). Anything along the "sidelines" was more than double the price, so I figured I was doing great getting such lower level-seats. When we showed up to the concert, however, we were directed to the box office and given new tickets... apparently they had changed the orientation of the stage and our seats didn't exist... long story short, we ended up being kind of on the front row to the side of the stage... and it was awesome. What an amazing show. Bono, Edge = still completely amazing after like 30 years. {SIDENOTE: Bono kind of ruined the song "Pride" for me forever by aligning it with GAY pride and celebrating the fact that Ireland had just legalized same-sex marriage that week. Psssh... why'd you have to go and do that??} I digress. I couldn't believe the graphic effects on the GINORMOUS screen that spanned the length of the arena. Had we been seated where we were originally supposed to be... we wouldn't have gotten the effect of it at ALL. We lucked out! Wish we would have gone both nights. For real.
A couple of days after U2, Allison and Nick headed off to the pioneer trek. This was actually Allison's 2nd trek, as she went with Poppy Carter on their stake trek last year... their stake lets 12 & up go. What a difference in how a Scottsdale stake, and how our Mesa stake, executes things! Last year their Scottsdale stake outsourced the whole thing... they bussed the kids over to California, and did the trek up in the mountains sort of by Palm Springs. Allison didn't really know anyone but her grandpa, and one other girl in her trek family, but she was a trooper and did pretty well, aside from the fact that the food was very scarce and awful. To this day, though, all she can talk about that trip is the horribly long and boring bus ride on the way there!
Fast forward one year: Our stake went up north of Payson and had absolutely perfect weather for three days. Our stake does SUCH a good job putting on events like this. It was an awesome experience for both Nick and Allison. I'm so glad they let her go even though she's still only 13! Nick went as the "photographer" for our ward. I'll have to get him to write about all the activities they did, the jamboree show they put on, the dessert auction complete with professional auctioneer, the limerick songs everybody made up, the soldier who showed up to enlist the men in the Mormon battalion, the hatchet throwing, leather bracelet making, using tin cups to drink out of... you name it, it was done in a pretty awesome fashion!
That weekend, I put on a SHARK birthday party for Josh. I swear that kid wanted to decorate for the party a good TWO MONTHS before the actual event! He gets SO excited about that kind of stuff. Funny. It was simple, as I was so busy with camp prep I didn't put a lot of time into planning anything other than "swimming" and "eating", but we had amazingly cool invitations and cool inflatable sharks to play with and a super awesome Pinterest-worthy watermelon shark! A lot of the boys ended up being out of town, so it was small.
On June 1st my baby turned EIGHT! What a great kid. He's mostly up for anything asked of him, whether it's taking out the trash, helping set up for kids camp, judging American girl doll fashion shows, whatever. He's completely addicted to playing games on devices and watching cartoons on Netflix. He loves the Flash, and Once Upon a Time, Octonauts and Studio C. He still fits on my lap and is always willing to cuddle with me, which I just adore. He is getting particular about what clothes he likes to wear. I can't hardly get him to wear a collared shirt anymore at all. He mostly ends up in some sort of royal blue t-shirt everyday, and black soccer shorts. Whatever!
With turning eight, this kid has also entered CUB SCOUTS! Wow, he loves it so much. Grandma hooked him up with a knife, scout shirt, cub t-shirt and more for his birthday and he carries his pocketknife EVERYWHERE now, and wears that cub t-shirt (it's blue) every chance he gets. We have the most amazing couple as cub leaders in our ward. I appreciate so much the time and effort and love they put into their calling and into these boys. It's such a great group! We've got about a month off of scouts right now that everybody's going on vacation, and they'll pick it up again after school starts.
June 1st also brought the beginning of swim team for both Amanda and Josh. Josh SO wanted to do it last year but the teams were full at Stapley, so I made sure and sign him up first thing this year... turns out, it's not so much "his thing". "WHY do I have to go EVERY DAY" Thankfully his cousin Landon was also on the team so at least it got him to go to the pool most days... though their bad attitudes rubbed off on each other, I think. Amazingly, Josh got a blue ribbon in the backstroke meet! After getting disqualified at the butterfly meet, though, he got his heart broken a little and was embarrassed... he wanted to leave the meet immediately, and it was very, very tough to get him to go at all the next week. So, the IM meet and any kind of divisionals were out of the question. What a waste of $70 this year. I'll probably just put him in a stroke class next year, or try diving, but I think we're officially retired from swim team. Manda did okay the first few weeks of swim team, but tends to beat herself up/gets self conscious/gets angry when she's not finishing at the top of the heap in meets, so it's not fun for anyone. I think I'm just not a good swim team mom anymore, if I ever was.
Allison, Amanda and I headed to Camp LoMia for girls camp on June 3rd-6th. What fun. Again, our stake hit it out of the park with the theme and activities and programs, just as great as last year. We had FIVE leaders go with our ward, and 15 1st - 3rd year girls in our 2 cabins. Theme was "look up" and everything related to the movie UP, not looking to the sides to compare yourself to others but rather looking up to Christ, and the temple... great crafts, classes, speakers, service projects... it was completely awesome. We had very little drama even with our huge group of girls that were all very different. Everyone loved everything I'd created for our ward... t-shirts, bandanas, banners, posters, handouts, etc. I've got this girls camp stuff DOWN now, I tell you! The weather was absolutely divine as well. We didn't even have to turn on our fans in the cabins! We had rain the last day and a half, but it was like a raining miracle... every time we were scheduled to be outside, it would clear up, and every time we came into the lodge or cabins it would pour. For the program on the last night, a singer named Freddy Ashby (sp?) came and spoke and sang for over an hour. It was an excellent, spirit-filled program. Even more amazing to me was the "rain testimony"... if it was pouring rain on that corrugated metal roof, it was difficult to hear what was going on on the stage, but it's like it was perfectly timed to Freddy's talk & songs... while he was talking, no rain... while he was singing... no rain... as he finished a song... pouring, deafening rain on the roof... as if it were applause. Time and time again. Kind of a miracle. Also, I got to wear my awesome Sun Devil rain boots for two days, which was pretty sweet!
We spent the rest of June in ortho and dentist appointments, swim team, some playing with cousins, but mostly my kids have hung around home all summer and haven't wanted to go anywhere. I feel like everybody's just holding their breath waiting for vacation and for summer to be over... me too! I also had a mammogram last month, which was horrific and traumatizing and I never want to do that ever ever ever ever ever ever again.
We spent the fourth of July weekend at a resort in Scottsdale with some of the other Carters. It was a very nice place but HUGE. Everything we did was a trek to get from one place to the other, and my feet were killing me after two days there. And it was still very, very hot outside and very, very miserable. Maybe I'm getting old and getting to be a total prude but I am SO uncomfortable at a public pool at a place like that, where there's just miles of way-too-exposed or way-too-tattooed skin everywhere you turn. Just not our kind of hotel. Got to watch lots of shark shows on Discovery getting ready for shark week though!
For the last three weeks the girls have been putting on a kids camp to raise some money for our trip to California. They have done little crafts, relays, games, parades, dance parties... you name it! They bought their own supplies and snacks, and have done really well, and they are both fantastic with the kids, but man, it is a struggle. They fight with each other for a full day beforehand about how things should be run or "She's not helping!" "She's not cleaning up" "She's not listening to my ideas!" Trying to get them to clean up after themselves after each camp has been super fun too, because once the kids leave, they're just kind of done... I just try to breathe deeply and remind myself that it's good for them to learn to work together, and learn the value of money, and learn how to be good babysitters. I have tried to help them prep most days, but have also tried to stay out of their way once camp starts. Today was the last day. They have earned their money for Disneyland tickets, plus spending money, and everybody's happy. HOORAY!!!
Now onto the things that have been keeping me up at night... I was approached with a job opportunity this week that could potentially be so, so great for my situation. However, it requires a computer upgrade for me, (macs are NOT CHEAP) plus a monthly membership fee (that you pay FOREVER AND EVER) for a software package... one of whose programs I do NOT know and would have to MASTER in order to be assigned jobs in order to make money in order to pay for the upgraded computer and monthly software fee. You get me? I realize that it is an investment, but can an old dog like me really learn new tricks? A new program? And be fast enough at it to compete with designers that, you know, haven't been 10 years out of the business??
Hopefully I am going to be pulling the trigger on all that tomorrow (well, I guess today, since it's after 3am) and will start the process of transferring all my old computer stuff onto a new one. I have spent HOURS this week going through cleaning up my files, trying to eliminate all the ancient and/or dated design stuff, and organizing everything. I've barely scratched the surface of what is on this computer, though. I probably threw away 1000 files in the last couple of days. After all that, THEN I have to somehow teach myself how to work off "the cloud" and learn this new software program inside and out.
This may just be what the doctor ordered for me, though, to get me out of my Netflix addiction-slump, and relieve some of my financial stress. Seems like July is every bit as hard as December when it comes to me running out of money to pay for everything... maybe it has to do with this month's $497 electric bill that I have yet to pay. Air conditioning is fun! #firstworldproblems Get me on a beach STAT!
In other news, we tried to start our kitchen months ago... we did the remodeling part of it anyway, and had the old pantry ripped out, and reconfigured that wall, and patched in the tile. Now we're just waiting... waiting... waiting... All of our appliances are purchased, (plus a kitchen sink!) and nearly all of the design decisions have been made... contract has been written with the cabinet guy... just waiting for more money to be able to continue with cabinets and countertops. So my spending nearly $1K on a computer this week is not so conducive with that happening anytime soon. Nick's car repairs have totaled $2700 this summer as well. And we're trying to pay for a vacation next week too! We are 4.5 years into paying off a 5-year loan we borrowed from Nick's 401K when we were buying this house... almost there!! January can't get here fast enough! I can't WAIT until that is paid off and we can actually start saving money again each month, instead of spending every penny.
We are so blessed. I have good kids. We have amazing, fun, faithful extended families on both sides of the tree. We have a beautiful house, and I have a cool car. My husband has an excellent job and is good at it. I have talents, and it's about time I started getting paid to use them! I need to remind myself to be grateful more often. Daily. Hourly. I really, really try to live within our means and be humble.
The End, for now.
Summer is almost over - hooray! We started out strong it seemed, with SO much happening I could barely keep up. We got through all of the end-of-year recitals, school events, camp prep, etc. and then Nick and I were able to go to the U2 concert a couple of days after school got out in May. We got to do dinner and catch up beforehand with the Meadows... man I miss/love them.
When I bought our tickets for U2 back in December, I tried to arrange it so we were directly across from the end of the catwalk, essentially in the end zone of the arena (U.S. Airways). Anything along the "sidelines" was more than double the price, so I figured I was doing great getting such lower level-seats. When we showed up to the concert, however, we were directed to the box office and given new tickets... apparently they had changed the orientation of the stage and our seats didn't exist... long story short, we ended up being kind of on the front row to the side of the stage... and it was awesome. What an amazing show. Bono, Edge = still completely amazing after like 30 years. {SIDENOTE: Bono kind of ruined the song "Pride" for me forever by aligning it with GAY pride and celebrating the fact that Ireland had just legalized same-sex marriage that week. Psssh... why'd you have to go and do that??} I digress. I couldn't believe the graphic effects on the GINORMOUS screen that spanned the length of the arena. Had we been seated where we were originally supposed to be... we wouldn't have gotten the effect of it at ALL. We lucked out! Wish we would have gone both nights. For real.
A couple of days after U2, Allison and Nick headed off to the pioneer trek. This was actually Allison's 2nd trek, as she went with Poppy Carter on their stake trek last year... their stake lets 12 & up go. What a difference in how a Scottsdale stake, and how our Mesa stake, executes things! Last year their Scottsdale stake outsourced the whole thing... they bussed the kids over to California, and did the trek up in the mountains sort of by Palm Springs. Allison didn't really know anyone but her grandpa, and one other girl in her trek family, but she was a trooper and did pretty well, aside from the fact that the food was very scarce and awful. To this day, though, all she can talk about that trip is the horribly long and boring bus ride on the way there!
Fast forward one year: Our stake went up north of Payson and had absolutely perfect weather for three days. Our stake does SUCH a good job putting on events like this. It was an awesome experience for both Nick and Allison. I'm so glad they let her go even though she's still only 13! Nick went as the "photographer" for our ward. I'll have to get him to write about all the activities they did, the jamboree show they put on, the dessert auction complete with professional auctioneer, the limerick songs everybody made up, the soldier who showed up to enlist the men in the Mormon battalion, the hatchet throwing, leather bracelet making, using tin cups to drink out of... you name it, it was done in a pretty awesome fashion!
That weekend, I put on a SHARK birthday party for Josh. I swear that kid wanted to decorate for the party a good TWO MONTHS before the actual event! He gets SO excited about that kind of stuff. Funny. It was simple, as I was so busy with camp prep I didn't put a lot of time into planning anything other than "swimming" and "eating", but we had amazingly cool invitations and cool inflatable sharks to play with and a super awesome Pinterest-worthy watermelon shark! A lot of the boys ended up being out of town, so it was small.
On June 1st my baby turned EIGHT! What a great kid. He's mostly up for anything asked of him, whether it's taking out the trash, helping set up for kids camp, judging American girl doll fashion shows, whatever. He's completely addicted to playing games on devices and watching cartoons on Netflix. He loves the Flash, and Once Upon a Time, Octonauts and Studio C. He still fits on my lap and is always willing to cuddle with me, which I just adore. He is getting particular about what clothes he likes to wear. I can't hardly get him to wear a collared shirt anymore at all. He mostly ends up in some sort of royal blue t-shirt everyday, and black soccer shorts. Whatever!
With turning eight, this kid has also entered CUB SCOUTS! Wow, he loves it so much. Grandma hooked him up with a knife, scout shirt, cub t-shirt and more for his birthday and he carries his pocketknife EVERYWHERE now, and wears that cub t-shirt (it's blue) every chance he gets. We have the most amazing couple as cub leaders in our ward. I appreciate so much the time and effort and love they put into their calling and into these boys. It's such a great group! We've got about a month off of scouts right now that everybody's going on vacation, and they'll pick it up again after school starts.
June 1st also brought the beginning of swim team for both Amanda and Josh. Josh SO wanted to do it last year but the teams were full at Stapley, so I made sure and sign him up first thing this year... turns out, it's not so much "his thing". "WHY do I have to go EVERY DAY" Thankfully his cousin Landon was also on the team so at least it got him to go to the pool most days... though their bad attitudes rubbed off on each other, I think. Amazingly, Josh got a blue ribbon in the backstroke meet! After getting disqualified at the butterfly meet, though, he got his heart broken a little and was embarrassed... he wanted to leave the meet immediately, and it was very, very tough to get him to go at all the next week. So, the IM meet and any kind of divisionals were out of the question. What a waste of $70 this year. I'll probably just put him in a stroke class next year, or try diving, but I think we're officially retired from swim team. Manda did okay the first few weeks of swim team, but tends to beat herself up/gets self conscious/gets angry when she's not finishing at the top of the heap in meets, so it's not fun for anyone. I think I'm just not a good swim team mom anymore, if I ever was.
Allison, Amanda and I headed to Camp LoMia for girls camp on June 3rd-6th. What fun. Again, our stake hit it out of the park with the theme and activities and programs, just as great as last year. We had FIVE leaders go with our ward, and 15 1st - 3rd year girls in our 2 cabins. Theme was "look up" and everything related to the movie UP, not looking to the sides to compare yourself to others but rather looking up to Christ, and the temple... great crafts, classes, speakers, service projects... it was completely awesome. We had very little drama even with our huge group of girls that were all very different. Everyone loved everything I'd created for our ward... t-shirts, bandanas, banners, posters, handouts, etc. I've got this girls camp stuff DOWN now, I tell you! The weather was absolutely divine as well. We didn't even have to turn on our fans in the cabins! We had rain the last day and a half, but it was like a raining miracle... every time we were scheduled to be outside, it would clear up, and every time we came into the lodge or cabins it would pour. For the program on the last night, a singer named Freddy Ashby (sp?) came and spoke and sang for over an hour. It was an excellent, spirit-filled program. Even more amazing to me was the "rain testimony"... if it was pouring rain on that corrugated metal roof, it was difficult to hear what was going on on the stage, but it's like it was perfectly timed to Freddy's talk & songs... while he was talking, no rain... while he was singing... no rain... as he finished a song... pouring, deafening rain on the roof... as if it were applause. Time and time again. Kind of a miracle. Also, I got to wear my awesome Sun Devil rain boots for two days, which was pretty sweet!
We spent the rest of June in ortho and dentist appointments, swim team, some playing with cousins, but mostly my kids have hung around home all summer and haven't wanted to go anywhere. I feel like everybody's just holding their breath waiting for vacation and for summer to be over... me too! I also had a mammogram last month, which was horrific and traumatizing and I never want to do that ever ever ever ever ever ever again.
We spent the fourth of July weekend at a resort in Scottsdale with some of the other Carters. It was a very nice place but HUGE. Everything we did was a trek to get from one place to the other, and my feet were killing me after two days there. And it was still very, very hot outside and very, very miserable. Maybe I'm getting old and getting to be a total prude but I am SO uncomfortable at a public pool at a place like that, where there's just miles of way-too-exposed or way-too-tattooed skin everywhere you turn. Just not our kind of hotel. Got to watch lots of shark shows on Discovery getting ready for shark week though!
For the last three weeks the girls have been putting on a kids camp to raise some money for our trip to California. They have done little crafts, relays, games, parades, dance parties... you name it! They bought their own supplies and snacks, and have done really well, and they are both fantastic with the kids, but man, it is a struggle. They fight with each other for a full day beforehand about how things should be run or "She's not helping!" "She's not cleaning up" "She's not listening to my ideas!" Trying to get them to clean up after themselves after each camp has been super fun too, because once the kids leave, they're just kind of done... I just try to breathe deeply and remind myself that it's good for them to learn to work together, and learn the value of money, and learn how to be good babysitters. I have tried to help them prep most days, but have also tried to stay out of their way once camp starts. Today was the last day. They have earned their money for Disneyland tickets, plus spending money, and everybody's happy. HOORAY!!!
Now onto the things that have been keeping me up at night... I was approached with a job opportunity this week that could potentially be so, so great for my situation. However, it requires a computer upgrade for me, (macs are NOT CHEAP) plus a monthly membership fee (that you pay FOREVER AND EVER) for a software package... one of whose programs I do NOT know and would have to MASTER in order to be assigned jobs in order to make money in order to pay for the upgraded computer and monthly software fee. You get me? I realize that it is an investment, but can an old dog like me really learn new tricks? A new program? And be fast enough at it to compete with designers that, you know, haven't been 10 years out of the business??
Hopefully I am going to be pulling the trigger on all that tomorrow (well, I guess today, since it's after 3am) and will start the process of transferring all my old computer stuff onto a new one. I have spent HOURS this week going through cleaning up my files, trying to eliminate all the ancient and/or dated design stuff, and organizing everything. I've barely scratched the surface of what is on this computer, though. I probably threw away 1000 files in the last couple of days. After all that, THEN I have to somehow teach myself how to work off "the cloud" and learn this new software program inside and out.
This may just be what the doctor ordered for me, though, to get me out of my Netflix addiction-slump, and relieve some of my financial stress. Seems like July is every bit as hard as December when it comes to me running out of money to pay for everything... maybe it has to do with this month's $497 electric bill that I have yet to pay. Air conditioning is fun! #firstworldproblems Get me on a beach STAT!
In other news, we tried to start our kitchen months ago... we did the remodeling part of it anyway, and had the old pantry ripped out, and reconfigured that wall, and patched in the tile. Now we're just waiting... waiting... waiting... All of our appliances are purchased, (plus a kitchen sink!) and nearly all of the design decisions have been made... contract has been written with the cabinet guy... just waiting for more money to be able to continue with cabinets and countertops. So my spending nearly $1K on a computer this week is not so conducive with that happening anytime soon. Nick's car repairs have totaled $2700 this summer as well. And we're trying to pay for a vacation next week too! We are 4.5 years into paying off a 5-year loan we borrowed from Nick's 401K when we were buying this house... almost there!! January can't get here fast enough! I can't WAIT until that is paid off and we can actually start saving money again each month, instead of spending every penny.
We are so blessed. I have good kids. We have amazing, fun, faithful extended families on both sides of the tree. We have a beautiful house, and I have a cool car. My husband has an excellent job and is good at it. I have talents, and it's about time I started getting paid to use them! I need to remind myself to be grateful more often. Daily. Hourly. I really, really try to live within our means and be humble.
The End, for now.
10.01.2014
Keeping my head above water
I have a teenager as of tomorrow.
This brand-new 13yo is supposed to hike Havasupai next week for youth conference. I'm already stressing about what the heck to pack for her to eat for 2 days of hiking. Since she eats, well, junk all the time and no one's going to get up and make her pancakes every morning. Beef jerky? Fruit cups? Trail mix? Top ramen? Ummm... she won't eat any of that. What else is light, protein, non-perishable??
A is plugging her way through 7th grade. She's in an advanced math class that is VERY challenging and fast paced. End of quarter is this week I think. We'll see if she gets at least the B she needs to remain in the class. N has been helping her with her math homework most nights. She just screams at me and I barely remember any algebra to help her anyway. She has made a lot of progress lately and seems to be understanding more though. She is enjoying band a lot. Her first concert is tomorrow night.
I really wish she talked to me. It is such a chore most days for her to even be in the same room with me. Piano/cleaning her room/brushing her teeth? SUCH DRAMA. She says all I ever do is tell her what to do. Which is true, I guess. Because it takes 8 times of me telling/asking/reminding to do something for it actually to happen. SO of course most things turn into a fight/threat.
My middle daughter turned 11 last week. She's so great. Doing amazing in school. Helpful at home. Actually listens and absorbs stuff at church and activity days. The fighting/screaming with her sister is regular. They pretty much wear the same size clothes now so there is A LOT OF DRAMA when someone wants to wear something in the other girl's closet.
M has got her team together for Battle of the Books. Problem is I don't think any of them are the dedicated readers that Allison's team was when she did it. Hopefully they can all get through MOST of the 4 books. First battle is in ONE MONTH. I've already slugged through more of the reading than M has.
My son is struggling in school. I do not know how to deal with this. This is new for me, since anything related to school has always been cake for both my girls. His handwriting is atrocious. He is SO SLOW at everything he does. He is below the class average in phonograms, spelling, everything. His teacher wants him to do phonogram tutoring after school but I CANNOT make him stay an extra half hour after he's been there all day. The kid needs a break. He needs to be outside. I know he should be in a sport right now but I can't fathom having time for practices when it takes SO LONG to do homework every day. Behavior is ok at the moment. But he does bring home a lot of "WHY ME" sheets when he gets in trouble... it's always for dumb stuff, talking in line, throwing things, turning around in his desk, not listening to instructions.
I just bought phonogram flash cards this morning. We're going to have M drill with him instead of him going to tutoring. We'll see if he's game for that. He better be, after $22 worth of flashcards!
On a bright note, he is getting an A in math. And he's doing very well in music. A few times just this last week he's actually sat down and played through all his songs and done his flashcards ON HIS OWN without me sitting right next to him. This is a first in 2.5 years of Let's Play Music.
Every evening it seems is jam packed with stuff to do, mutual, music, activity days, homework, me trying to put something edible together, trying to get everybody to clean up and get to bed at a reasonable hour. Everyone is too distracted by devices to get anything done. Screen time is KILLING US and causing strain on our family. I'd say let's just pitch all of the devices except I'm too attached to my phone too.
Next week is fall break. I want to go somewhere (free) while A is going to be gone. I'll at least take M & J hiking if nothing else and get that boy outside to get dirty!
We are trying to get a family picture scheduled but can't get all the Carters in one place at one time. I think I'll just jave to bite the bullet and hire someone to take our photos, at least. It's been 3 years since we've had pics taken. (together, I mean. last year's "MERRY" project doesn't count)
I'm going to be FORTY in two months. Ummm. Yeah. I need a spectacular girls trip for my birthday I think. Cha ching, if only I could afford my life...
Does anyone else ever feel that? I don't think we "live large" by any stretch. We barely travel, or go to the movies, or eat out... my kids aren't in expensive activities, I don't buy name brand anything, all our technology and devices are ancient, we only pay for one phone line... yet I'm scraping the bottom of the account every week. Our house and pool and my car are all too expensive.
My kids keep asking what Halloween costumes we're going to get this year. I keep telling them whatever's cheap and simple, and preferably already in the house.
And Christmas is a mere 12 weeks away!
I want 4 trees planted in my side yard for Christmas. Lemon, orange, grapefruit and lime. I have wanted them for three years. I figure this is more attainable than the new kitchen I want. I would also love a year's supply of chocolate shakeology, new running shoes, a new bumper for my car I screwed up and jet skis. No biggie. Oh, and a new kitchen. And still have money in my savings account. #dreamalittledreamwithme
This brand-new 13yo is supposed to hike Havasupai next week for youth conference. I'm already stressing about what the heck to pack for her to eat for 2 days of hiking. Since she eats, well, junk all the time and no one's going to get up and make her pancakes every morning. Beef jerky? Fruit cups? Trail mix? Top ramen? Ummm... she won't eat any of that. What else is light, protein, non-perishable??
A is plugging her way through 7th grade. She's in an advanced math class that is VERY challenging and fast paced. End of quarter is this week I think. We'll see if she gets at least the B she needs to remain in the class. N has been helping her with her math homework most nights. She just screams at me and I barely remember any algebra to help her anyway. She has made a lot of progress lately and seems to be understanding more though. She is enjoying band a lot. Her first concert is tomorrow night.
I really wish she talked to me. It is such a chore most days for her to even be in the same room with me. Piano/cleaning her room/brushing her teeth? SUCH DRAMA. She says all I ever do is tell her what to do. Which is true, I guess. Because it takes 8 times of me telling/asking/reminding to do something for it actually to happen. SO of course most things turn into a fight/threat.
My middle daughter turned 11 last week. She's so great. Doing amazing in school. Helpful at home. Actually listens and absorbs stuff at church and activity days. The fighting/screaming with her sister is regular. They pretty much wear the same size clothes now so there is A LOT OF DRAMA when someone wants to wear something in the other girl's closet.
M has got her team together for Battle of the Books. Problem is I don't think any of them are the dedicated readers that Allison's team was when she did it. Hopefully they can all get through MOST of the 4 books. First battle is in ONE MONTH. I've already slugged through more of the reading than M has.
My son is struggling in school. I do not know how to deal with this. This is new for me, since anything related to school has always been cake for both my girls. His handwriting is atrocious. He is SO SLOW at everything he does. He is below the class average in phonograms, spelling, everything. His teacher wants him to do phonogram tutoring after school but I CANNOT make him stay an extra half hour after he's been there all day. The kid needs a break. He needs to be outside. I know he should be in a sport right now but I can't fathom having time for practices when it takes SO LONG to do homework every day. Behavior is ok at the moment. But he does bring home a lot of "WHY ME" sheets when he gets in trouble... it's always for dumb stuff, talking in line, throwing things, turning around in his desk, not listening to instructions.
I just bought phonogram flash cards this morning. We're going to have M drill with him instead of him going to tutoring. We'll see if he's game for that. He better be, after $22 worth of flashcards!
On a bright note, he is getting an A in math. And he's doing very well in music. A few times just this last week he's actually sat down and played through all his songs and done his flashcards ON HIS OWN without me sitting right next to him. This is a first in 2.5 years of Let's Play Music.
Every evening it seems is jam packed with stuff to do, mutual, music, activity days, homework, me trying to put something edible together, trying to get everybody to clean up and get to bed at a reasonable hour. Everyone is too distracted by devices to get anything done. Screen time is KILLING US and causing strain on our family. I'd say let's just pitch all of the devices except I'm too attached to my phone too.
Next week is fall break. I want to go somewhere (free) while A is going to be gone. I'll at least take M & J hiking if nothing else and get that boy outside to get dirty!
We are trying to get a family picture scheduled but can't get all the Carters in one place at one time. I think I'll just jave to bite the bullet and hire someone to take our photos, at least. It's been 3 years since we've had pics taken. (together, I mean. last year's "MERRY" project doesn't count)
I'm going to be FORTY in two months. Ummm. Yeah. I need a spectacular girls trip for my birthday I think. Cha ching, if only I could afford my life...
Does anyone else ever feel that? I don't think we "live large" by any stretch. We barely travel, or go to the movies, or eat out... my kids aren't in expensive activities, I don't buy name brand anything, all our technology and devices are ancient, we only pay for one phone line... yet I'm scraping the bottom of the account every week. Our house and pool and my car are all too expensive.
My kids keep asking what Halloween costumes we're going to get this year. I keep telling them whatever's cheap and simple, and preferably already in the house.
And Christmas is a mere 12 weeks away!
I want 4 trees planted in my side yard for Christmas. Lemon, orange, grapefruit and lime. I have wanted them for three years. I figure this is more attainable than the new kitchen I want. I would also love a year's supply of chocolate shakeology, new running shoes, a new bumper for my car I screwed up and jet skis. No biggie. Oh, and a new kitchen. And still have money in my savings account. #dreamalittledreamwithme
4.07.2014
It's already April? No foolin?
Update:
It's now been almost 7 months since my car accident. I've been through treatments by the chiropractor, myopractor, massage therapist, and most recently several weeks of physical therapy. Julie, the PT from Verve Wellness, was great. She understood that I am an ACTIVE person and encouraged me to do/try everything still. She was familiar with all the exercises I do at Crossfit, and didn't chastise me when I came in sore from this or that, etc. Her diagnosis was that I had TOO MUCH mobility in my lower back, from the accident and throughout all the many manipulations and adjustments I've had since. So, her plan was to stabilize my core and glute muscles through a series of exercises to keep those discs and everything where they should be. It's weird to think that such small movements make such a difference! I not 100% back to where I was before the accident, but I have made vast improvement since January. For a while she was putting Kenisio (sp?) tape on my back which held everything in place. Amazing stuff! Who knew? It enabled me to lift, jump, and run (a little) without hurting. I haven't really gotten back to running yet, partly because I've been lazy, partly because I'm already doing 3+ crossfit workouts a week, partly because I keep hurting myself in other dumb ways...
Last month I went snow skiing - twice! That was a real test on my back - and yes, though I came home with many many bruises on my legs and hips, my lower back didn't hurt any more than usual. Sitting on the drive to and from Flagstaff was way worse than actually skiing! Also went trampolining at Jumpstreet. I wish that place was across the street and I could go every day. Such a great ab workout. Also, huge test for my back - which I passed.
Now - my dilemma is this: I still have my medical claim open. I wanted to "be 100% better" before I even thought about closing it but realistically my injury isn't keeping me from doing anything anymore. My issue is sitting! Darnit! Hurts to drive more than a few minutes. Sitting through three hours of church is totally uncomfortable. Still. UGH. But what do I do? I don't know what other providers to see or if I should just keep doing the PT exercises and "hope" that everything will work itself out eventually... my husband asks me "how realistic" it is for me to be 100% again, but I think it's totally unfair if I'm not - right??
In other news:
I have gotten the remodeling bug lately big time! We finally hired a crew in March to come in and build a built-in bookshelf at the end of the hall, and do our baseboards (let's face it, I never would have finished them) and we're getting shutters on two windows this week. Hooray for progress! I also sold our playset, making our backyard look super empty, and sold our beast of our entertainment center last month (that we weren't using anymore). YES, I love Craigslist. I also bought a rug for our family room downstairs, which I wasn't sure about but since it was super cheap it's really growing on me! Next on the horizon: designing my new kitchen (If I could only remember where I planted that money tree!)
My identity was stolen a couple of weeks ago - awesome! They opened a charge account at Nordstrom and went $3800 worth of crazy in one day. They also got a hold of my Home Depot account, my Kohls account and my Sears accounts and also charged a ton on those. I'm walking though all the fraud stuff this week. Everything has a hold on it and I have cancelled and/or put holds on all my store cards. I think it will be my policy from now on not to open those anymore... (but I HAVE to have Home Depot and Kohls for all the discounts... am I right??) What a pain. Need to file a police report and send back all these affidavits to the companies.
I pulled a muscle in my rotator cuff a week ago doing something - probably pullups or pushups - and have been hurting since. Spent the weekend on the couch icing it on and off. Good times, when you can't hardly put a shirt on or do your hair... good thing I rarely do my hair...
I got called to be WARD CAMP DIRECTOR! Took me a while to get used to the idea, but I'm excited now. Theme is BOOT camp . "Building Our Own Testimonies" so I'm trying to brainstorm pink camo and military drill ideas/ cadences/etc. So A and I will be going together in June!
Kids:
Kids are doing well. I've had them all in a parkour class for the last few weeks which they think is super cool. We spent Spring Break traipsing all over the place - we pulled them out of school the Fri before break and took them up to SnoBowl for a ski lesson. J did pretty well, the girls were pretty frustrated. It was the middle of March so the snow kind of sucked, but I figure they at least got an intro to skiing. After recovering all day, N and I went to the Rattlers game on Saturday. The fun began on Monday when we played with SoPho friends, did lunch with Daddy, and went to Jumpstreet that night, on Tuesday we did doctor appointments, Wednesday we went to the Aquarium, Thursday we did a quick hike and went to the Phx Zoo, Friday we went to Enchanted Island with the Malones and then had dentist appointments, and then on Saturday we went on a big hike in the McDowell mountains with M and J. A didn't want to go because she said she was too tired. Yeah, you think? Me too after that week! I couldn't wait to get them all back to school on Monday so I could take a nap!
A is a fully fledged young woman now, and loves going to mutual every week and being with the older kids at church. Now if we could just remember all those firesides - we keep forgetting them because we're just not in youth-schedule-mode! She is such a tweenager with all the attitude and defiance that comes with it. She is fully addicted to her phone, and most of the time disappears- she goes and hides away in her room so she can play on it. She has a hard time keeping her room clean. She has an even harder time practicing piano. It is a struggle every day, and most weeks she only ends up with a couple practices before it's time for her weekly lesson - she's SUPPOSED to be doing 30 minutes a day! She is a spectacular student and gets all As. Her last battle for Battle of the Books went great - her team answered every question they got correctly, but couldn't make up for the first battle where they biffed it, so it was a good run, but we won't be going to district. As of last week she has BRACES! Her mouth has been in a lot of pain this week. Good thing she's good at taking pills, makes it easy to pop Ibuprofen. A will be going on a TREK with Grandma and Grandpa Carter's stake at the end of May, which I think I'm more excited about than she is. I've been trying to get her out hiking to prepare her, but she's way resistant to it! A week after trek, she'll be going to her first Girl's Camp at LoMia! So excited.
M is such a good egg. She keeps her room perfectly clean. She loves to eat healthy food and be organized and is also a straight-A student. She puts a lot of pressure on herself at times, though, and has episodes of tantrums and crying and feeling sorry for herself when she gets overwhelmed. This almost always happens late at night. I try to be very careful of her bedtime, because she so needs her sleep. We rarely plan for her to be far from home after 7. She's had a loose tooth bugging her for more than three weeks now, poor girl. She also struggles with practicing piano but does a little better than A. She loves to create cute outfits and hairstyles and coordinate accessories with everything she wears. She's addicted to Disney shows on the Ipad, and can often be found laying on her bed with screen on lap.
J is my superhero! He had such a hard time last semester with school (and behavior at school) that we had actually considered transferring him. He's like a different kid now. Something clicked when he went back in January and he has had a record of good behavior since then. I think part of it was him getting a new soccer ball for Christmas (dumb little thing, but it enables him to run so much at recess that I think he gets his wiggles out!) Partly I think he's just a little older and more mature now too. : ) He's also been way more motivated to practice his Let's Play Music each week - hooray! We try and sit down before and after school M, T, W and get them all done. Some weeks we get all five in. He's doing well at the piano playing, even if he still doesn't want to sing the songs. This kid is also keeping his room perfectly clean the last couple of months. YAY. He went through the winter season of soccer and now he's in T-ball. Which his mom thinks is super cool, but will probably never happen again/ he prefers soccer. It was awesome in his first game last week - his first ball at bat and he hits a HOME RUN. Totally cool. Wish I'd had it on video.
He takes his soccer ball to school EVERY DAY. He's actually been through THREE balls in the last 12 months/ the most recent one popped and gave up the ghost over the weekend... wish it had held out a little bit longer so we could wait til his birthday to replace it! His favorite new thing is Power Rangers. UGH, so painful to watch, and even listen to. I was going to buy him a power ranger dress up costume over the weekend but it was the "old" style costume, and apparently there's new Rangers now... gag me
It's now been almost 7 months since my car accident. I've been through treatments by the chiropractor, myopractor, massage therapist, and most recently several weeks of physical therapy. Julie, the PT from Verve Wellness, was great. She understood that I am an ACTIVE person and encouraged me to do/try everything still. She was familiar with all the exercises I do at Crossfit, and didn't chastise me when I came in sore from this or that, etc. Her diagnosis was that I had TOO MUCH mobility in my lower back, from the accident and throughout all the many manipulations and adjustments I've had since. So, her plan was to stabilize my core and glute muscles through a series of exercises to keep those discs and everything where they should be. It's weird to think that such small movements make such a difference! I not 100% back to where I was before the accident, but I have made vast improvement since January. For a while she was putting Kenisio (sp?) tape on my back which held everything in place. Amazing stuff! Who knew? It enabled me to lift, jump, and run (a little) without hurting. I haven't really gotten back to running yet, partly because I've been lazy, partly because I'm already doing 3+ crossfit workouts a week, partly because I keep hurting myself in other dumb ways...
Last month I went snow skiing - twice! That was a real test on my back - and yes, though I came home with many many bruises on my legs and hips, my lower back didn't hurt any more than usual. Sitting on the drive to and from Flagstaff was way worse than actually skiing! Also went trampolining at Jumpstreet. I wish that place was across the street and I could go every day. Such a great ab workout. Also, huge test for my back - which I passed.
Now - my dilemma is this: I still have my medical claim open. I wanted to "be 100% better" before I even thought about closing it but realistically my injury isn't keeping me from doing anything anymore. My issue is sitting! Darnit! Hurts to drive more than a few minutes. Sitting through three hours of church is totally uncomfortable. Still. UGH. But what do I do? I don't know what other providers to see or if I should just keep doing the PT exercises and "hope" that everything will work itself out eventually... my husband asks me "how realistic" it is for me to be 100% again, but I think it's totally unfair if I'm not - right??
In other news:
I have gotten the remodeling bug lately big time! We finally hired a crew in March to come in and build a built-in bookshelf at the end of the hall, and do our baseboards (let's face it, I never would have finished them) and we're getting shutters on two windows this week. Hooray for progress! I also sold our playset, making our backyard look super empty, and sold our beast of our entertainment center last month (that we weren't using anymore). YES, I love Craigslist. I also bought a rug for our family room downstairs, which I wasn't sure about but since it was super cheap it's really growing on me! Next on the horizon: designing my new kitchen (If I could only remember where I planted that money tree!)
My identity was stolen a couple of weeks ago - awesome! They opened a charge account at Nordstrom and went $3800 worth of crazy in one day. They also got a hold of my Home Depot account, my Kohls account and my Sears accounts and also charged a ton on those. I'm walking though all the fraud stuff this week. Everything has a hold on it and I have cancelled and/or put holds on all my store cards. I think it will be my policy from now on not to open those anymore... (but I HAVE to have Home Depot and Kohls for all the discounts... am I right??) What a pain. Need to file a police report and send back all these affidavits to the companies.
I pulled a muscle in my rotator cuff a week ago doing something - probably pullups or pushups - and have been hurting since. Spent the weekend on the couch icing it on and off. Good times, when you can't hardly put a shirt on or do your hair... good thing I rarely do my hair...
I got called to be WARD CAMP DIRECTOR! Took me a while to get used to the idea, but I'm excited now. Theme is BOOT camp . "Building Our Own Testimonies" so I'm trying to brainstorm pink camo and military drill ideas/ cadences/etc. So A and I will be going together in June!
Kids:
Kids are doing well. I've had them all in a parkour class for the last few weeks which they think is super cool. We spent Spring Break traipsing all over the place - we pulled them out of school the Fri before break and took them up to SnoBowl for a ski lesson. J did pretty well, the girls were pretty frustrated. It was the middle of March so the snow kind of sucked, but I figure they at least got an intro to skiing. After recovering all day, N and I went to the Rattlers game on Saturday. The fun began on Monday when we played with SoPho friends, did lunch with Daddy, and went to Jumpstreet that night, on Tuesday we did doctor appointments, Wednesday we went to the Aquarium, Thursday we did a quick hike and went to the Phx Zoo, Friday we went to Enchanted Island with the Malones and then had dentist appointments, and then on Saturday we went on a big hike in the McDowell mountains with M and J. A didn't want to go because she said she was too tired. Yeah, you think? Me too after that week! I couldn't wait to get them all back to school on Monday so I could take a nap!
A is a fully fledged young woman now, and loves going to mutual every week and being with the older kids at church. Now if we could just remember all those firesides - we keep forgetting them because we're just not in youth-schedule-mode! She is such a tweenager with all the attitude and defiance that comes with it. She is fully addicted to her phone, and most of the time disappears- she goes and hides away in her room so she can play on it. She has a hard time keeping her room clean. She has an even harder time practicing piano. It is a struggle every day, and most weeks she only ends up with a couple practices before it's time for her weekly lesson - she's SUPPOSED to be doing 30 minutes a day! She is a spectacular student and gets all As. Her last battle for Battle of the Books went great - her team answered every question they got correctly, but couldn't make up for the first battle where they biffed it, so it was a good run, but we won't be going to district. As of last week she has BRACES! Her mouth has been in a lot of pain this week. Good thing she's good at taking pills, makes it easy to pop Ibuprofen. A will be going on a TREK with Grandma and Grandpa Carter's stake at the end of May, which I think I'm more excited about than she is. I've been trying to get her out hiking to prepare her, but she's way resistant to it! A week after trek, she'll be going to her first Girl's Camp at LoMia! So excited.
M is such a good egg. She keeps her room perfectly clean. She loves to eat healthy food and be organized and is also a straight-A student. She puts a lot of pressure on herself at times, though, and has episodes of tantrums and crying and feeling sorry for herself when she gets overwhelmed. This almost always happens late at night. I try to be very careful of her bedtime, because she so needs her sleep. We rarely plan for her to be far from home after 7. She's had a loose tooth bugging her for more than three weeks now, poor girl. She also struggles with practicing piano but does a little better than A. She loves to create cute outfits and hairstyles and coordinate accessories with everything she wears. She's addicted to Disney shows on the Ipad, and can often be found laying on her bed with screen on lap.
J is my superhero! He had such a hard time last semester with school (and behavior at school) that we had actually considered transferring him. He's like a different kid now. Something clicked when he went back in January and he has had a record of good behavior since then. I think part of it was him getting a new soccer ball for Christmas (dumb little thing, but it enables him to run so much at recess that I think he gets his wiggles out!) Partly I think he's just a little older and more mature now too. : ) He's also been way more motivated to practice his Let's Play Music each week - hooray! We try and sit down before and after school M, T, W and get them all done. Some weeks we get all five in. He's doing well at the piano playing, even if he still doesn't want to sing the songs. This kid is also keeping his room perfectly clean the last couple of months. YAY. He went through the winter season of soccer and now he's in T-ball. Which his mom thinks is super cool, but will probably never happen again/ he prefers soccer. It was awesome in his first game last week - his first ball at bat and he hits a HOME RUN. Totally cool. Wish I'd had it on video.
He takes his soccer ball to school EVERY DAY. He's actually been through THREE balls in the last 12 months/ the most recent one popped and gave up the ghost over the weekend... wish it had held out a little bit longer so we could wait til his birthday to replace it! His favorite new thing is Power Rangers. UGH, so painful to watch, and even listen to. I was going to buy him a power ranger dress up costume over the weekend but it was the "old" style costume, and apparently there's new Rangers now... gag me
1.24.2014
Stevie and his TV
We entered a Dr. Seuss poem contest this week. Unfortunately I got carried away with the story and the length, so I'm sure we won't win, as they only wanted a 3-stanza poem. I had to abridge it for the entry form so it wasn't nearly as cute. Oh well. The contest was sponsored by a bookstore, hence the subject matter.... Here's our poem in its entirety.
STEVIE AND HIS TV
On a polka-dotted couch
Sat a little boy named Stevie,
Who never left his house
He was always watching TV.
His mom said Go! Go! Run outside!
It's such a beautiful day!
His friends said, We have many toys!
With us you should come play!
But Stevie sat, and sat some more.
His eyes glued to a screen.
Pictures and shows would come and go
So many adventures to be seen.
One day, however, there was a glitch.
The electricity went out!
Stevie's TV would not work!
So he began to pout.
He would not go or run outside.
He would not go and play.
He would not play with friends or toys
He would NOT enjoy this day!
His eyes were off the screen for once.
Instead they were on the clock!
He watched the hours slowly pass
Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick tock.
Finally his eyes began to wander
From the clock to the shelf of books.
He thought, well, what have I got to lose?
I guess I'll take a look.
He picked up a book, and blew off the dust.
And opened the cover just a crack.
Suddenly his mind came alive with a thought ...
His stories and pictures were back!
Imagination started stirring in Stevie's head
Adventures he'd never dreamed!
Suddenly his stories were coming alive.
So much better than on a screen!
Now instead of dusty books,
The dust is on the TV.
Stevie is playing and pretending each day
Reading books has made it easy!
STEVIE AND HIS TV
On a polka-dotted couch
Sat a little boy named Stevie,
Who never left his house
He was always watching TV.
His mom said Go! Go! Run outside!
It's such a beautiful day!
His friends said, We have many toys!
With us you should come play!
But Stevie sat, and sat some more.
His eyes glued to a screen.
Pictures and shows would come and go
So many adventures to be seen.
One day, however, there was a glitch.
The electricity went out!
Stevie's TV would not work!
So he began to pout.
He would not go or run outside.
He would not go and play.
He would not play with friends or toys
He would NOT enjoy this day!
His eyes were off the screen for once.
Instead they were on the clock!
He watched the hours slowly pass
Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick tock.
Finally his eyes began to wander
From the clock to the shelf of books.
He thought, well, what have I got to lose?
I guess I'll take a look.
He picked up a book, and blew off the dust.
And opened the cover just a crack.
Suddenly his mind came alive with a thought ...
His stories and pictures were back!
Imagination started stirring in Stevie's head
Adventures he'd never dreamed!
Suddenly his stories were coming alive.
So much better than on a screen!
Now instead of dusty books,
The dust is on the TV.
Stevie is playing and pretending each day
Reading books has made it easy!
11.13.2013
I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...
and just because I don't want to have to go back and search for this on Pinterest:
http://reallyquitelucky.blogspot.com/2010/12/all-is-calm-all-wasnt-bright-but-now-it.html
http://reallyquitelucky.blogspot.com/2010/12/all-is-calm-all-wasnt-bright-but-now-it.html
10.16.2013
I crashed my car into a bridge- I don't care
Okay I didn't actually crash my car into a bridge, but I do love that song.
It's October 16th- today makes one month since my big car accident. If we're not Facebook friends and we haven't talked and you didn't know, a lady turned left in front of me in an intersection. I braked and swerved but couldn't avoid her... slammed into her Suburban and then ricocheted off into another big truck, and Gandalf was totaled. Kids weren't with me, thankfully. Completely not my fault. Already got a pretty new car ( name still TBD) and insurance has paid us for all the property damage. The question now is MY damage. Though it didn't seem to be anything at the time of the accident , my back got tweaked somehow- somehow the combination of the impact and the seatbelt tightening down= hurt tailbone?? Weird. After a couple of swings and misses with a couple of docs that forst week, I'm seeing a chiropractor now. He says its most likely a bulging disc. I keep having adjustments and ultrasounds and a couple of days ago I had a massage... But no real improvement yet. It hurts to sit on hard chairs or benches. Actually it hurts to sit very long at all. It kills to get in and out of cars- somehow that leaning/ twisting required???If it doesn't get better in a couple more treatments then they will do an MRI.
So... I've got all this medical paperwork looming. Asking me what providers, treatments, diagnoses, duration of problems, etc. I'm at a loss as to how to fill all this stuff out. Of course they want to put a number on everything/ time off work, missed salary, etc. I swear nothing has ever made me feel so worthless. How do you quantify your worth as a Stay At Home Mom? How do you put a value on feeling good? Or sitting mext to your kids practice their music? Or throw amazing birthday parties for your kids instead of "just okay"? Or volunteer at the school book fair? Or being able to run around and play with your kids on fall break? Or being able to sit on benches through ASU football games that i already paid for season tivkets to? As much as my hubby/friends/etc have jumped in to help, I can't just hire a "replacement". I was going strong and working out hard almost daily before this happened, both at gym classes and doing Crossfit-type strength training. Now I'm a wuss and can only do light weights, very modified moves. Sit-ups, box jumps, tire flips, and anything high impact really are out of the question.
You know what time it is right now? 8pm. I've been laying in bed for almost an hour already. Which is fairly typical of how it's been for the last month. Maybe it's the lack of real exercise, all the comfort food, or plain being bummed out and not feeling good, but I am TRASHED by the end of each day nowadays, and way less productive. Cleaning ? Grocery shopping? Cooking anything for dinner? It all just seems exhausting. Instead of being Supermom and doing all I normally do, I feel like I've just been doing the minimum to get by. And I'm trying my best not to be Totally. Cranky. Mom. Every. Damn. Day.
The adjuster for the other lady's insurance has been nothing but understanding and helpful. He essentially told me "Go see whoever you want to see to feel better, then send us the bill." As time progresses, however, and the more I talk to people, I'm totally freaked out about this becoming a long- term thing! Almost daily I hear of someone else who was "in an accident YEARS ago"
and still has lingering problems and pain. WHAT!
We didn't think we needed a lawyer at first
A) because I hate the legal system and especially people that are sue-happy and take advantage
B) we haven't had any issues dealing with the other insurance as far as fault or treatment, etc.
but now, I'm wondering if I need to retain someone just in case this isn't a short-lived thing... Eek. And dammit, my quality of life definitely HAS been greatly affected and I certainly want SOME pain and suffering $$. Do I really "deserve " anything? How can you want pain and suffering money without being an entitled brat? But how much do you ask for without bring ridiculous? What's fair? Again, how do you quantify something like that? $1K? $5K? $20K?
I'm going to bed now. My brain hurts.
It's October 16th- today makes one month since my big car accident. If we're not Facebook friends and we haven't talked and you didn't know, a lady turned left in front of me in an intersection. I braked and swerved but couldn't avoid her... slammed into her Suburban and then ricocheted off into another big truck, and Gandalf was totaled. Kids weren't with me, thankfully. Completely not my fault. Already got a pretty new car ( name still TBD) and insurance has paid us for all the property damage. The question now is MY damage. Though it didn't seem to be anything at the time of the accident , my back got tweaked somehow- somehow the combination of the impact and the seatbelt tightening down= hurt tailbone?? Weird. After a couple of swings and misses with a couple of docs that forst week, I'm seeing a chiropractor now. He says its most likely a bulging disc. I keep having adjustments and ultrasounds and a couple of days ago I had a massage... But no real improvement yet. It hurts to sit on hard chairs or benches. Actually it hurts to sit very long at all. It kills to get in and out of cars- somehow that leaning/ twisting required???If it doesn't get better in a couple more treatments then they will do an MRI.
So... I've got all this medical paperwork looming. Asking me what providers, treatments, diagnoses, duration of problems, etc. I'm at a loss as to how to fill all this stuff out. Of course they want to put a number on everything/ time off work, missed salary, etc. I swear nothing has ever made me feel so worthless. How do you quantify your worth as a Stay At Home Mom? How do you put a value on feeling good? Or sitting mext to your kids practice their music? Or throw amazing birthday parties for your kids instead of "just okay"? Or volunteer at the school book fair? Or being able to run around and play with your kids on fall break? Or being able to sit on benches through ASU football games that i already paid for season tivkets to? As much as my hubby/friends/etc have jumped in to help, I can't just hire a "replacement". I was going strong and working out hard almost daily before this happened, both at gym classes and doing Crossfit-type strength training. Now I'm a wuss and can only do light weights, very modified moves. Sit-ups, box jumps, tire flips, and anything high impact really are out of the question.
You know what time it is right now? 8pm. I've been laying in bed for almost an hour already. Which is fairly typical of how it's been for the last month. Maybe it's the lack of real exercise, all the comfort food, or plain being bummed out and not feeling good, but I am TRASHED by the end of each day nowadays, and way less productive. Cleaning ? Grocery shopping? Cooking anything for dinner? It all just seems exhausting. Instead of being Supermom and doing all I normally do, I feel like I've just been doing the minimum to get by. And I'm trying my best not to be Totally. Cranky. Mom. Every. Damn. Day.
The adjuster for the other lady's insurance has been nothing but understanding and helpful. He essentially told me "Go see whoever you want to see to feel better, then send us the bill." As time progresses, however, and the more I talk to people, I'm totally freaked out about this becoming a long- term thing! Almost daily I hear of someone else who was "in an accident YEARS ago"
and still has lingering problems and pain. WHAT!
We didn't think we needed a lawyer at first
A) because I hate the legal system and especially people that are sue-happy and take advantage
B) we haven't had any issues dealing with the other insurance as far as fault or treatment, etc.
but now, I'm wondering if I need to retain someone just in case this isn't a short-lived thing... Eek. And dammit, my quality of life definitely HAS been greatly affected and I certainly want SOME pain and suffering $$. Do I really "deserve " anything? How can you want pain and suffering money without being an entitled brat? But how much do you ask for without bring ridiculous? What's fair? Again, how do you quantify something like that? $1K? $5K? $20K?
I'm going to bed now. My brain hurts.
8.12.2013
Never enough.
Feeling inadequate today. For the most part, my life is super easy. Seriously. But it seems like lately I've been under par in every way.
— We can't seem to get rid of our little lice friends. I treat, comb, launder, and clean more than you can imagine, yet we're still finding the stupid things on a certain 9-year-old's head. It's emotionally traumatizing and full-on child abuse at this point to try and apply treatments and comb through very difficult, ultra- thick, curly hair. The whole family is suffering, everybody is mad and yelling at each other. It's horrific. My house is cleaner than it's ever been! Before you judge - clean is not the problem here! These are a nightmare! I wish my daughter wasn't the one who has to endure this. She's absolutely had it.
— Yesterday at stake conference the overlying theme was missionary work. I'm really at a loss as to really how to do this. I feel like I'm the one who needs spiritual nourishment all the time, forget trying to extend that to others around me. I'm paranoid that we're not teaching our children the gospel. My 12-yo can't sit through an hour of church without reading or drawing the whole time. (!)
—I'm feeling sorry for myself! Which is ridiculous! I need to be out serving people! I know that! I've been telling my daughter that you need to "work hard" and "help people" in order to be happy. I know! I know! I've got the "working hard" part pretty much down!
— I feel like I've got FABULOUS ideas for my calling and the sisters in our ward, but feeling stifled. Had a whole Super Saturday planned out with teachers and everything for next month — and then it got nixed. BOO. I honestly don't get it. When the MANUALS say these additional RS meetings are OPTIONAL and "not to make the sisters feel like attendance is mandatory" and I'm offering all types of free classes too, then WHY can't we charge to put together some nice projects? FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT THEM! Not "making" anybody pay for anything! People LOVE to create cheap DIY Christmas gifts for people and decorations... we are teaching skills here! Sewing! Jewelry making! Bread/roll making! UGH, frustrated. THIS IS WHAT I'M GOOD AT.
— My "Super Saturday" has morphed into "craft day at Shellie's house" - which I'm fine with, because I really want to give people what they want - this just makes it ten times more difficult to plan/advertise/put together. Since I can't call it a "Relief Society" activity and will not be advertising it at church. Oh, and that means I have to coordinate ANOTHER activity for RS in September. In addition to a "craft day at Shellie's house" and a double "Spa" birthday party for my girls. I'm supposed to start Crossfit again in September too, which means I'm going to be sore and tired all the time, even more than I am now. Sheesh.
— It's been a good six-eight weeks since my feet have been hurting. Bought new, expensive running shoes. Right foot doesn't hurt anymore - left foot is excruciating. Returned the fancy new expensive shoes and bought some others. Slightly better arch support, thought they would help. No dice. I'm starting to think I have a broken bone in my left heel or something. Time to see a foot doctor. Oh but wait, I don't even have a regular doctor to refer me to one! I tried running the other day and it just about killed me.
— This foot pain is making me severely cranky. As well as the lice. And the face that money seems to be sliding out of my fingers out of my control. I thought we'd have enough cash to get the rest of our tile installed this month, but it's not looking likely at this point.
COMPLAIN COMPLAIN! I KNOW! DON'T YOU HATE PEOPLE WHO COMPLAIN??!!!
— We can't seem to get rid of our little lice friends. I treat, comb, launder, and clean more than you can imagine, yet we're still finding the stupid things on a certain 9-year-old's head. It's emotionally traumatizing and full-on child abuse at this point to try and apply treatments and comb through very difficult, ultra- thick, curly hair. The whole family is suffering, everybody is mad and yelling at each other. It's horrific. My house is cleaner than it's ever been! Before you judge - clean is not the problem here! These are a nightmare! I wish my daughter wasn't the one who has to endure this. She's absolutely had it.
— Yesterday at stake conference the overlying theme was missionary work. I'm really at a loss as to really how to do this. I feel like I'm the one who needs spiritual nourishment all the time, forget trying to extend that to others around me. I'm paranoid that we're not teaching our children the gospel. My 12-yo can't sit through an hour of church without reading or drawing the whole time. (!)
—I'm feeling sorry for myself! Which is ridiculous! I need to be out serving people! I know that! I've been telling my daughter that you need to "work hard" and "help people" in order to be happy. I know! I know! I've got the "working hard" part pretty much down!
— I feel like I've got FABULOUS ideas for my calling and the sisters in our ward, but feeling stifled. Had a whole Super Saturday planned out with teachers and everything for next month — and then it got nixed. BOO. I honestly don't get it. When the MANUALS say these additional RS meetings are OPTIONAL and "not to make the sisters feel like attendance is mandatory" and I'm offering all types of free classes too, then WHY can't we charge to put together some nice projects? FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT THEM! Not "making" anybody pay for anything! People LOVE to create cheap DIY Christmas gifts for people and decorations... we are teaching skills here! Sewing! Jewelry making! Bread/roll making! UGH, frustrated. THIS IS WHAT I'M GOOD AT.
— My "Super Saturday" has morphed into "craft day at Shellie's house" - which I'm fine with, because I really want to give people what they want - this just makes it ten times more difficult to plan/advertise/put together. Since I can't call it a "Relief Society" activity and will not be advertising it at church. Oh, and that means I have to coordinate ANOTHER activity for RS in September. In addition to a "craft day at Shellie's house" and a double "Spa" birthday party for my girls. I'm supposed to start Crossfit again in September too, which means I'm going to be sore and tired all the time, even more than I am now. Sheesh.
— It's been a good six-eight weeks since my feet have been hurting. Bought new, expensive running shoes. Right foot doesn't hurt anymore - left foot is excruciating. Returned the fancy new expensive shoes and bought some others. Slightly better arch support, thought they would help. No dice. I'm starting to think I have a broken bone in my left heel or something. Time to see a foot doctor. Oh but wait, I don't even have a regular doctor to refer me to one! I tried running the other day and it just about killed me.
— This foot pain is making me severely cranky. As well as the lice. And the face that money seems to be sliding out of my fingers out of my control. I thought we'd have enough cash to get the rest of our tile installed this month, but it's not looking likely at this point.
COMPLAIN COMPLAIN! I KNOW! DON'T YOU HATE PEOPLE WHO COMPLAIN??!!!
7.10.2013
Summer, summer, summertime...
WHEW - much has happened since my last update.
ROADTRIP:
We skipped the last day and a half of school to head to Colorado. The kids were bummed they were missing their final school parties, but I decided it was more important to go be with our family. Besides, J wasn't really even having a kinder graduation... just a small deal during classtime - not a big deal - so we didn't miss much. Okay, like 15-16 hours each way... wow, that was a long trip. We broke it up and stayed with Aunt Shauna in Albuquerque on the way there and back, what a great hostess! She pulled out all the stops to make us breakfast. I think it was the first time I'd had fried spam... actually not bad.
We rolled into Highlands Ranch around 6pm or so on Thursday the 23rd for my nephews' (Weston & Mason) graduation party. It was at their friend's house that was AMAZING... apparently was built by Champ Bailey, football player... you should have seen the view... and the theater room...etc etc... I should have taken pictures (no, would have been rude!) The boys had hundreds of people coming and going... then A got in the pool... then all the big soccer and rugby boys got in the pool too...oh my.
The next morning we headed over to W&M's graduation ceremony, [huge school] which gave me an inkling of what Mountain View's graduation probably will be like in just seven more years...! We got to hook up with Jordan, N's cousin, and her kids while we were there too, which was fun. I learned that when addicted to Coke Zero I MUST have one every day to be tolerable... ugh, there is NOT a QT on every corner in Colorado, I'm afraid...
Stayed in a great hotel while we were there... best part, the kids went down and swam in the pool and WE didn't have to go too... Aaaah. Call us bad parents, whatever. Teach them correct principles and they can lifeguard themselves, I say.
The twins had turned in their papers and were waiting for their mission calls... which just happened to come in while we were there! They had a big "opening party" which my big bro streamed live online (of course!) It was SO fun to be there and watch them open their calls. When guessing where they were going to go earlier that morning, I had asked Mase what food he DIDN'T like... he said "lobster" - so we figured he'd probably go somewhere in New England... he's going to be in Boston! : ) Weston is going to Anaheim. Both are going spanish speaking and report to the Mexico City MTC on October 9th. Pretty cool! Are you tired of all the details yet? This is my new scrapbook! Deal with it!
We also hit a touristy-place called Heritage Square while in Colorado. Went on an Alpine slide for the first time, did a high ropes course, jumped on trampolines, went through mazes, rolled around in hamster balls, rode a train. Totally fun. Learned that Tyler is a freakin' monkey rock climber. Impressive. I, however, kicked everyone's trash on the spinning wooden barrel-thing. Apparently I have way faster feet than everyone else, ha! Should have videoed that...
Tyler reported in church on Sunday, and then W&M got ordained as elders as well. Can I say what a neat experience it was to share that weekend with them? Love the Scotts!
SWIMMING:
Started right up with swim lessons, dive lessons and swim team once we got back. I forget every year how miserable Thursday evenings are, sitting out in the heat for two hours to watch one or two 1-minute races. Oopsie, we forgot to sign up for invitationals or divisionals in time, so thankfully I think our swim meet-watching days of this summer are over! lol. I did get a lot of reading done at those meets though... A & J have exactly 5 days of lessons left and then we're done. Time to think of school shopping! (Mwahahaha...)
BIRTHDAY:
We had a "soccer" birthday party for J's 6th. Had a dozen little boys running around here. Mostly they just swam, we had a pinata, and cake. Spent all my time on prep work this year, with the pinata, customized water bottles, decorating the mantle, dipping and piping soccer ball oreos, and cake... even found all the kids green soccer shirts to wear... so didn't have any time for game planning. (Not that 6-year-olds notice). Somehow I need to find a balance of activities/fluff/time/etc.
After that soiree I told the girls they had to AGREE on a theme for their birthday parties. Took a while, but we've settled on a "SPA" theme for both of them. We're going to have both parties back-to-back so they technically aren't "sharing" the party but we get to use the same decorations, activities, etc. Genius, I say. Saw a big pink rose-covered "A" on pinterest as a party decoration - done and done! Will work for both girls! Planning on doing facials, cucumber slices and all, making turban-style towels for their hair, decorating flip flops, soaking feet, painting nails... I'd love to hire a couple of ladies to come in to help paint nails too...
any suggestions welcome!
EVCT THEATER:
They were watching entirely too much TV, and I wasn't getting any work done, so I signed the girls up for a 2-week theater camp in June. They performed "Through the Looking Glass". A played the part of "Belle" and M was a Robin Rabbit in the Snow White portion of the play. Super cute. I was pleasantly surprised A sounded so good in her singing solos, and M was just a natural performer - she was great on stage and hit all the dance moves and everything. They both are still singing the songs from the show! Nonnie and Papa came up and were able to see their performance too, which was fun. Shame on me for not getting ONE PHOTO. I think I'll have to buy the DVD.
CALIFORNIA:
Roadtrip, part II. I feel like I spent three weeks getting ready for our 6-day vacation. Sheesh! I was running around buying beach chairs, boogie boards, new swim suits, etc. Got a DVD player installed in Gandalf, renewed Sirius radio (the BEST), sewed a bag so we could turn our pool umbrella into a portable beach umbrella, getting orders ready and shipped out before we left... WHEW. It's always a relief to lock the doors and leave the house for the last time for a trip with everything DONE and packed. We ended up spending 6 nights at our Anaheim resort. Smoking deal. We love our timeshare! Bonus: we signed up to do an owner's update while we were there (agonizing hour of sales pitch to get free stuff) but they ended up overbooked so we got $100 in Disney dollars anyway and didn't have to listen to the presentation! Score. Thanks to them we saw a movie and ate lunch the next day for FREE at Downtown Disney. Man, I need to figure out how to do food cheaper next time we go to Cali though - we spent a fortune at a dozen different restaurants over the course of the week. That is the one part of vacay that blows the budget every time.
KNOTTS:
Chose not to do Disneyland this time to save some $$... so we did Knotts Berry Farm and Knotts Soak City instead. Well, you get what you pay for I guess. First of all, it's NOT HOT ENOUGH in Anaheim to have a water park. I was cold all day at Soak City. J and I only ended up going on 1 slide, twice. The rest of the time I laid on a chair and watched him on this huge spray-tower-climber-thing. Waste of time. Knotts Berry Farm has some okay rides, I guess, but customer service is SEVERELY lacking at that place. Employees totally disengaged. And wooden rollercoasters just HURT. Overall, the place is just lame and feels like a ripoff. Nothing themey or cute or surprising, ever. I think we're just too big of Disney fans to ever like another amusement park. LEARNED OUR LESSON. We didn't even bother with staying for fireworks on the fourth.
ORANGE:
Went over a couple of times to a little city 5 minutes from Anaheim called Orange City and walked around. Darling little college town with dozens of antique shops, ton of old restored Craftsman style houses, and community events all the time. We ended up watching fireworks there on the night of the 3rd. If/when we go again, I will definitely buy the $7 tix to get into the stadium to listen to the musical performances leading up to the fireworks too! Definitely a place we would look to retire to!
NEWPORT:
Truth: There's no place like Newport Beach. Best sand, period. Can't beat free parking. We rented bikes the first day and rode for an hour - that's all our butts could handle. Unfortunately we didn't put on sunscreen til we were done riding and heading out to the sand, so N & me were burnt before we even got started! My face is still peeling. #won'tforgetmyhatnexttime Waves were perfect, weather was perfect, I had a couple of great books to read and a Coke Zero in hand. Excellent. J dug and dug and dug for sand crabs and made friends on the beach, as always. The girls boogie boarded for hours. I went out and caught more than my share of waves too, which is remarkable because I usually get frustrated trying to boogie board. Should have saved our Knotts money and just gone to the beach every day, methinks! #weneedabeachhouse
Now we're back home, (BOO) laundry is almost all done and we're back to reality!
EXERCISE:
Was going pretty regularly to the gym before vacation, doing BodyCombat and BodyAttack, and every once in a while Step. Love toning everything up, but I miss the strength stuff of Crossfit. Hmmm, need to find a middle ground. Like maybe running every day in addition to Crossfit? Or maybe if I just counted calories I'd start making progress? Or sign up for some kind of race to be in? Hard to find motivation to get on the treadmill though...I tend to put it off all morning, and then it's too hot... and then I get busy cleaning or working... maybe I need to get a rowing machine, lol. And by the way I am FEELING all those doughnuts I ate for breakfast last week at the resort. This week has been HARD at the gym.
PROJECTS:
Finishing up a ton of little annoying projects around here. Cleaned out my closet. Ordered hinges for my never-installed-cabinet-door in my office. Ordered new glass globe for my ceiling fan. Ordered last light fixture for bathrooms - four installed - one to go! Installed a shelf in the garage to hold a bunch of wood and clear some floor space. Had countertop company come out TODAY and measure to finish counters in my office (FINALLY! IT'S BEEN TWO YEARS IN THE MAKING!) Paid off all my new tile that's sitting in the garage (Hooray! Now to find some more $$ to get it all installed!!) Made some scrapbook pages with M this week - made me realize how sad my picture taking has been the last three years. And now I've done a blog post this week too! Hooray!
And congratulations if you made it all the way through.
ROADTRIP:
We skipped the last day and a half of school to head to Colorado. The kids were bummed they were missing their final school parties, but I decided it was more important to go be with our family. Besides, J wasn't really even having a kinder graduation... just a small deal during classtime - not a big deal - so we didn't miss much. Okay, like 15-16 hours each way... wow, that was a long trip. We broke it up and stayed with Aunt Shauna in Albuquerque on the way there and back, what a great hostess! She pulled out all the stops to make us breakfast. I think it was the first time I'd had fried spam... actually not bad.
We rolled into Highlands Ranch around 6pm or so on Thursday the 23rd for my nephews' (Weston & Mason) graduation party. It was at their friend's house that was AMAZING... apparently was built by Champ Bailey, football player... you should have seen the view... and the theater room...etc etc... I should have taken pictures (no, would have been rude!) The boys had hundreds of people coming and going... then A got in the pool... then all the big soccer and rugby boys got in the pool too...oh my.
The next morning we headed over to W&M's graduation ceremony, [huge school] which gave me an inkling of what Mountain View's graduation probably will be like in just seven more years...! We got to hook up with Jordan, N's cousin, and her kids while we were there too, which was fun. I learned that when addicted to Coke Zero I MUST have one every day to be tolerable... ugh, there is NOT a QT on every corner in Colorado, I'm afraid...
Stayed in a great hotel while we were there... best part, the kids went down and swam in the pool and WE didn't have to go too... Aaaah. Call us bad parents, whatever. Teach them correct principles and they can lifeguard themselves, I say.
The twins had turned in their papers and were waiting for their mission calls... which just happened to come in while we were there! They had a big "opening party" which my big bro streamed live online (of course!) It was SO fun to be there and watch them open their calls. When guessing where they were going to go earlier that morning, I had asked Mase what food he DIDN'T like... he said "lobster" - so we figured he'd probably go somewhere in New England... he's going to be in Boston! : ) Weston is going to Anaheim. Both are going spanish speaking and report to the Mexico City MTC on October 9th. Pretty cool! Are you tired of all the details yet? This is my new scrapbook! Deal with it!
We also hit a touristy-place called Heritage Square while in Colorado. Went on an Alpine slide for the first time, did a high ropes course, jumped on trampolines, went through mazes, rolled around in hamster balls, rode a train. Totally fun. Learned that Tyler is a freakin' monkey rock climber. Impressive. I, however, kicked everyone's trash on the spinning wooden barrel-thing. Apparently I have way faster feet than everyone else, ha! Should have videoed that...
Tyler reported in church on Sunday, and then W&M got ordained as elders as well. Can I say what a neat experience it was to share that weekend with them? Love the Scotts!
SWIMMING:
Started right up with swim lessons, dive lessons and swim team once we got back. I forget every year how miserable Thursday evenings are, sitting out in the heat for two hours to watch one or two 1-minute races. Oopsie, we forgot to sign up for invitationals or divisionals in time, so thankfully I think our swim meet-watching days of this summer are over! lol. I did get a lot of reading done at those meets though... A & J have exactly 5 days of lessons left and then we're done. Time to think of school shopping! (Mwahahaha...)
BIRTHDAY:
We had a "soccer" birthday party for J's 6th. Had a dozen little boys running around here. Mostly they just swam, we had a pinata, and cake. Spent all my time on prep work this year, with the pinata, customized water bottles, decorating the mantle, dipping and piping soccer ball oreos, and cake... even found all the kids green soccer shirts to wear... so didn't have any time for game planning. (Not that 6-year-olds notice). Somehow I need to find a balance of activities/fluff/time/etc.
After that soiree I told the girls they had to AGREE on a theme for their birthday parties. Took a while, but we've settled on a "SPA" theme for both of them. We're going to have both parties back-to-back so they technically aren't "sharing" the party but we get to use the same decorations, activities, etc. Genius, I say. Saw a big pink rose-covered "A" on pinterest as a party decoration - done and done! Will work for both girls! Planning on doing facials, cucumber slices and all, making turban-style towels for their hair, decorating flip flops, soaking feet, painting nails... I'd love to hire a couple of ladies to come in to help paint nails too...
any suggestions welcome!
EVCT THEATER:
They were watching entirely too much TV, and I wasn't getting any work done, so I signed the girls up for a 2-week theater camp in June. They performed "Through the Looking Glass". A played the part of "Belle" and M was a Robin Rabbit in the Snow White portion of the play. Super cute. I was pleasantly surprised A sounded so good in her singing solos, and M was just a natural performer - she was great on stage and hit all the dance moves and everything. They both are still singing the songs from the show! Nonnie and Papa came up and were able to see their performance too, which was fun. Shame on me for not getting ONE PHOTO. I think I'll have to buy the DVD.
CALIFORNIA:
Roadtrip, part II. I feel like I spent three weeks getting ready for our 6-day vacation. Sheesh! I was running around buying beach chairs, boogie boards, new swim suits, etc. Got a DVD player installed in Gandalf, renewed Sirius radio (the BEST), sewed a bag so we could turn our pool umbrella into a portable beach umbrella, getting orders ready and shipped out before we left... WHEW. It's always a relief to lock the doors and leave the house for the last time for a trip with everything DONE and packed. We ended up spending 6 nights at our Anaheim resort. Smoking deal. We love our timeshare! Bonus: we signed up to do an owner's update while we were there (agonizing hour of sales pitch to get free stuff) but they ended up overbooked so we got $100 in Disney dollars anyway and didn't have to listen to the presentation! Score. Thanks to them we saw a movie and ate lunch the next day for FREE at Downtown Disney. Man, I need to figure out how to do food cheaper next time we go to Cali though - we spent a fortune at a dozen different restaurants over the course of the week. That is the one part of vacay that blows the budget every time.
KNOTTS:
Chose not to do Disneyland this time to save some $$... so we did Knotts Berry Farm and Knotts Soak City instead. Well, you get what you pay for I guess. First of all, it's NOT HOT ENOUGH in Anaheim to have a water park. I was cold all day at Soak City. J and I only ended up going on 1 slide, twice. The rest of the time I laid on a chair and watched him on this huge spray-tower-climber-thing. Waste of time. Knotts Berry Farm has some okay rides, I guess, but customer service is SEVERELY lacking at that place. Employees totally disengaged. And wooden rollercoasters just HURT. Overall, the place is just lame and feels like a ripoff. Nothing themey or cute or surprising, ever. I think we're just too big of Disney fans to ever like another amusement park. LEARNED OUR LESSON. We didn't even bother with staying for fireworks on the fourth.
ORANGE:
Went over a couple of times to a little city 5 minutes from Anaheim called Orange City and walked around. Darling little college town with dozens of antique shops, ton of old restored Craftsman style houses, and community events all the time. We ended up watching fireworks there on the night of the 3rd. If/when we go again, I will definitely buy the $7 tix to get into the stadium to listen to the musical performances leading up to the fireworks too! Definitely a place we would look to retire to!
NEWPORT:
Truth: There's no place like Newport Beach. Best sand, period. Can't beat free parking. We rented bikes the first day and rode for an hour - that's all our butts could handle. Unfortunately we didn't put on sunscreen til we were done riding and heading out to the sand, so N & me were burnt before we even got started! My face is still peeling. #won'tforgetmyhatnexttime Waves were perfect, weather was perfect, I had a couple of great books to read and a Coke Zero in hand. Excellent. J dug and dug and dug for sand crabs and made friends on the beach, as always. The girls boogie boarded for hours. I went out and caught more than my share of waves too, which is remarkable because I usually get frustrated trying to boogie board. Should have saved our Knotts money and just gone to the beach every day, methinks! #weneedabeachhouse
Now we're back home, (BOO) laundry is almost all done and we're back to reality!
EXERCISE:
Was going pretty regularly to the gym before vacation, doing BodyCombat and BodyAttack, and every once in a while Step. Love toning everything up, but I miss the strength stuff of Crossfit. Hmmm, need to find a middle ground. Like maybe running every day in addition to Crossfit? Or maybe if I just counted calories I'd start making progress? Or sign up for some kind of race to be in? Hard to find motivation to get on the treadmill though...I tend to put it off all morning, and then it's too hot... and then I get busy cleaning or working... maybe I need to get a rowing machine, lol. And by the way I am FEELING all those doughnuts I ate for breakfast last week at the resort. This week has been HARD at the gym.
PROJECTS:
Finishing up a ton of little annoying projects around here. Cleaned out my closet. Ordered hinges for my never-installed-cabinet-door in my office. Ordered new glass globe for my ceiling fan. Ordered last light fixture for bathrooms - four installed - one to go! Installed a shelf in the garage to hold a bunch of wood and clear some floor space. Had countertop company come out TODAY and measure to finish counters in my office (FINALLY! IT'S BEEN TWO YEARS IN THE MAKING!) Paid off all my new tile that's sitting in the garage (Hooray! Now to find some more $$ to get it all installed!!) Made some scrapbook pages with M this week - made me realize how sad my picture taking has been the last three years. And now I've done a blog post this week too! Hooray!
And congratulations if you made it all the way through.
5.15.2013
Thoughts.
N is finally finished with his ginormous project at work -- hooray! No more Saturdays or Sundays at his office, and less late nighters. He has a new position at SRP now; I've been too occupied to figure out what all it entails yet. Not sure if he gets to keep the temporary pat raise or not yet. He's hinted at getting the AWW back though (alternate work week where he has every other Friday off) but we'll see if that actually happens.
I am owning the fact that our house is simply too big. Too much to clean, too much to maintain, and entirely too much to pay to update and furnish! Ugh. We've reached the two-year mark since we moved in, and though we've made vast improvements there's still a LONG way to go. Sheesh. Speaking of improvements, we recently replaced 540 square feet of flooring downstairs... Office, guest room, bathroom, laundry room, and hallway... From ugly tile and scorpion-colored laminate to a gorgeous hand-scraped dark wood-look ceramic tile. Super cool. Our installation job wasn't the most level, though, so I'll be looking for an alternative installer to finish the rest of it when the time comes. In the meantime we've got a little more than three pallets of tile sitting in our garage, waiting for install (and for me to pay it off first!)
S has finally gotten back to work after a monthlong floor-related hiatus. Finally got most of the dust cleaned up from tile removal (still have to wipe down a few walls) and the furniture back in place. Baseboards are finished in one room at least! Bring on the orders! Mama needs a new countertop and shutters!!
I got into a car accident on Friday May 3rd. Was heartbroken about my car. So totally not my fault, but my incompetent insurance has yet to determine liability. Which means I had to pay for my rental car out of pocket, as well as my $500 deductible to get my car back out if the repair shop yesterday. Good times. I will be leaving Progressive Insurance next week because I don't appreciate how they've handled this. Any recommendations?
Gandalf is back alive and well and unscathed. Kids are SO happy to have him back! They were tired of squishing in the rental car.
The kids are SO ready to be done with school! M comes home cranky almost daily and has had an increasing number of meltdown tantrums lately. A and M are fighting like crazy, and both totally want to quit piano. UGH, how do I handle this? It's pulling teeth to get them to practice every day, all they do us complain and argue with me! "Why do you force me to do piano mom???!!!" Etc.
J is the only pleasant one to be around lately it seems. He's in a good behavior streak at school with SEVEN "Os" (outstanding) -- it's taken all year! He's doing pretty well with reading and he is fabulous at math. And SO super excited for his upcoming Soccer birthday party!!
I went through 12 weeks of Crossfit since January - it was great. I'm still kind of a wimp but I'm not nearly afraid of burpees and pushups and pullups and weights anymore... : ) And I felt like I always got a way better all-body workout with Crossfit, versus some of the classes at the gym. I will probably get back to Sarah's workouts in the fall again when it cools down. For now I'm keeping up with Body Attack and Combat, etc. Trying to make myself get back on the treadmill to run, too. Desperately need new shoes though, mine literally have holes in them and absolutely no support anymore.
Kids are signed up (only one against her will) for swimming all summer. M is doing swim team, J is doing lessons and A is taking diving classes. Hopefully A will love it - she's been a pill about everything else lately.
We are TRYING to go to San Diego for a week this summer, and would love to do Seaworld and Legoland and the beach, but unfortunately I've got 5 nights already booked in Anaheim that I cannot sell for the life of me! UGH, may have to cancel it and book a couple of 1-Bedrooms for a different week so I can sell them easier. I don't know.
J had his "Let's Play Music" recital a couple of weeks ago. All the kids are so darling, I love that program and our teacher! He will be playing his last soccer game of the season this weekend, as we'll be out of town for the final game = bummer. Kids had their school's "Spring Sing" last night, which is always fun. And simple. Have I mentioned how simple it is to participate at our school? Because it is. And it works very well with my laziness.
Off to the treadmill and to hopefully find something interesting on Netflix. Pics to be added later of all this stuff.
I am owning the fact that our house is simply too big. Too much to clean, too much to maintain, and entirely too much to pay to update and furnish! Ugh. We've reached the two-year mark since we moved in, and though we've made vast improvements there's still a LONG way to go. Sheesh. Speaking of improvements, we recently replaced 540 square feet of flooring downstairs... Office, guest room, bathroom, laundry room, and hallway... From ugly tile and scorpion-colored laminate to a gorgeous hand-scraped dark wood-look ceramic tile. Super cool. Our installation job wasn't the most level, though, so I'll be looking for an alternative installer to finish the rest of it when the time comes. In the meantime we've got a little more than three pallets of tile sitting in our garage, waiting for install (and for me to pay it off first!)
S has finally gotten back to work after a monthlong floor-related hiatus. Finally got most of the dust cleaned up from tile removal (still have to wipe down a few walls) and the furniture back in place. Baseboards are finished in one room at least! Bring on the orders! Mama needs a new countertop and shutters!!
I got into a car accident on Friday May 3rd. Was heartbroken about my car. So totally not my fault, but my incompetent insurance has yet to determine liability. Which means I had to pay for my rental car out of pocket, as well as my $500 deductible to get my car back out if the repair shop yesterday. Good times. I will be leaving Progressive Insurance next week because I don't appreciate how they've handled this. Any recommendations?
Gandalf is back alive and well and unscathed. Kids are SO happy to have him back! They were tired of squishing in the rental car.
The kids are SO ready to be done with school! M comes home cranky almost daily and has had an increasing number of meltdown tantrums lately. A and M are fighting like crazy, and both totally want to quit piano. UGH, how do I handle this? It's pulling teeth to get them to practice every day, all they do us complain and argue with me! "Why do you force me to do piano mom???!!!" Etc.
J is the only pleasant one to be around lately it seems. He's in a good behavior streak at school with SEVEN "Os" (outstanding) -- it's taken all year! He's doing pretty well with reading and he is fabulous at math. And SO super excited for his upcoming Soccer birthday party!!
I went through 12 weeks of Crossfit since January - it was great. I'm still kind of a wimp but I'm not nearly afraid of burpees and pushups and pullups and weights anymore... : ) And I felt like I always got a way better all-body workout with Crossfit, versus some of the classes at the gym. I will probably get back to Sarah's workouts in the fall again when it cools down. For now I'm keeping up with Body Attack and Combat, etc. Trying to make myself get back on the treadmill to run, too. Desperately need new shoes though, mine literally have holes in them and absolutely no support anymore.
Kids are signed up (only one against her will) for swimming all summer. M is doing swim team, J is doing lessons and A is taking diving classes. Hopefully A will love it - she's been a pill about everything else lately.
We are TRYING to go to San Diego for a week this summer, and would love to do Seaworld and Legoland and the beach, but unfortunately I've got 5 nights already booked in Anaheim that I cannot sell for the life of me! UGH, may have to cancel it and book a couple of 1-Bedrooms for a different week so I can sell them easier. I don't know.
J had his "Let's Play Music" recital a couple of weeks ago. All the kids are so darling, I love that program and our teacher! He will be playing his last soccer game of the season this weekend, as we'll be out of town for the final game = bummer. Kids had their school's "Spring Sing" last night, which is always fun. And simple. Have I mentioned how simple it is to participate at our school? Because it is. And it works very well with my laziness.
Off to the treadmill and to hopefully find something interesting on Netflix. Pics to be added later of all this stuff.
3.05.2013
March Madness
Updates:
J finished out his very first season of soccer last weekend. It was all kinds of awesome. He had a blast on his "Red Rockets" team being able to play with all his friends! He's a great runner (sometimes he has to squeeze his eyes shut tight to go faster!) and probably an even better goalie. I loved it when we'd be getting him ready for a game and he'd reassure me, without prompting, "I'm going to do my best Mom!". He's Oh-So-Proud of his trophy too! The day after he got it he probably told me 15 times, "mom my trophy is so cool!" Love that boy! He's a sweetheart, has lots of fun with neighborhood friends and at school. He comes home with like a half cup of sand every day in his shoes from the playground. I went with him on his Phoenix Zoo field trip last month. Absolute perfect weather. Gotta love Arizona in February! Spent the whole time following four wild animals around the zoo, looking at boys. I mean, following four wild boys looking at animals. We had parent-teacher conferences last week and he's doing great in everything except some of those pesky two-letter phonograms. And.oh yes, his behavior. I have a hard time being concerned about that, though. : )
M is such a treasure, sometimes I don't know how I deserve her. She gets straight As in school, her teacher loves her, for the most part she cleans up at home, loves to try new things and cook and eat healthy and be crafty. The other day I bought a shoe cabinet at Ikea and M instantly jumped in and helped me with all 38 assembly instructions... which took hours. She knows how to wield a hammer and a drill, and can tell you what a philips screwdriver or a cam bolt is! She's also a project "finisher" which I totally appreciate! She helped me paint her bathroom a week ago too... Something that's been needing to get finished for a LONG time. Anything to get out of practicing piano I guess... She tends to get frustrated easily with piano because she doesn't get songs perfect right away... Difficult to stay positive and not have major drama with each song. She's been on a "smiling" campaign since her stake activity day thing a couple of weeks ago. Sweet girl. She's still enjoying synchronized swimming.
I'm starting to realize what a spectacular writer A is. I mean, really. Her stories are elaborately detailed and she's great at adjectives. Right now she's writing a story about a German U-boat. The logistics are sketchy a lot of times, but I love her enthusiasm and great plot lines! I wonder if there's a creative writing class I can get her into somewhere?
Coming up is her third battle for "battle of the books" at school. Her team is currently in third place, so it's a long shot for them to make it to district, but I'm hoping!
She's doing great in piano, though she tends to play the songs she likes 100 times to every 1 time she'll play the others. I have "Minuet in G" permanently etched in my brain I think. It makes me sad that she didn't want to get back into gymnastics. But I think she's getting plenty of exercise daily on the playground, playing basketball with all the boys.
N still lives here, I think. His project at work, plus plenty of basketball each week, take all of his time and energy. He does love his church basketball though. Thankfully he hasn't been working Saturdays lately, and this weekend he's actually taking off TWO DAYS so we can head up to winter in Idaho for my niece's wedding. Which is nutso, considering how beautiful it is in AZ right now. Super excited to see all of my family though. Have to take some games to play in the hotel!
Sparky is no more! Have to include him on my update because he's been part of the family for so long. Posted it in CraigsList at 4pm on Saturday and then sold him right away that night to a couple of guys. So-and-so was buying it for his bro-in-law, who lives in Mexico, etc etc. who knows. at least the guy we did business with was legal. We met him at the MVD yesterday and after dealing with incompetent people for TWO hours, transaction finally got done and title transferred. I was glad to see Sparky one last time to be able to remove my sun devil stickers from the back window! Lol, I didn't want anyone else to have them! So! That means I'm getting a new (used) car! It's getting transferred here from Texas and it is lovely! Can't wait! 20 days and counting...
Okay! What have I been doing this month? Organizing a whole bunch of Relief Society activities, that's what!! We played Jeopardy at my house at the end of January. It was a riot. And my house hasn't been so clean since we moved in. It was all decked out decorated for Valentines Day too! Then just three weeks later we had our big annual service auction at the church. Turned out nice. Now tonight we've got the stake RS activity which I have to prepare a few things for too! Whew.
Finished my first six-week session of Crossfit and started my second round today. Oh my, it was a killer.
400 meter run
2minutes on Airdyne
10 burpees
10 squats
10 dips
40 box jumps
40 more burpees
20 tire flips
20 pull-ups
20 Sledgehammer Swings
40 parkour vaults
100 navy seals
100 Supermans
400 m rowing
400 m run
Took me forever to get it all done. So I'm laying on the couch now, wasted.
Also in February I was in charge of M's class party at school. I love having loud a rowdy games for the kids to enjoy since they have to be so straight-laced all the time!
We took off after school that night and spent a couple of days in Prescott with all of the Carters at the coolest.cabin.ever. Carl had rented the place for all of us to celebrate Brooke's birthday that weekend. Super cool.
J finished out his very first season of soccer last weekend. It was all kinds of awesome. He had a blast on his "Red Rockets" team being able to play with all his friends! He's a great runner (sometimes he has to squeeze his eyes shut tight to go faster!) and probably an even better goalie. I loved it when we'd be getting him ready for a game and he'd reassure me, without prompting, "I'm going to do my best Mom!". He's Oh-So-Proud of his trophy too! The day after he got it he probably told me 15 times, "mom my trophy is so cool!" Love that boy! He's a sweetheart, has lots of fun with neighborhood friends and at school. He comes home with like a half cup of sand every day in his shoes from the playground. I went with him on his Phoenix Zoo field trip last month. Absolute perfect weather. Gotta love Arizona in February! Spent the whole time following four wild animals around the zoo, looking at boys. I mean, following four wild boys looking at animals. We had parent-teacher conferences last week and he's doing great in everything except some of those pesky two-letter phonograms. And.oh yes, his behavior. I have a hard time being concerned about that, though. : )
M is such a treasure, sometimes I don't know how I deserve her. She gets straight As in school, her teacher loves her, for the most part she cleans up at home, loves to try new things and cook and eat healthy and be crafty. The other day I bought a shoe cabinet at Ikea and M instantly jumped in and helped me with all 38 assembly instructions... which took hours. She knows how to wield a hammer and a drill, and can tell you what a philips screwdriver or a cam bolt is! She's also a project "finisher" which I totally appreciate! She helped me paint her bathroom a week ago too... Something that's been needing to get finished for a LONG time. Anything to get out of practicing piano I guess... She tends to get frustrated easily with piano because she doesn't get songs perfect right away... Difficult to stay positive and not have major drama with each song. She's been on a "smiling" campaign since her stake activity day thing a couple of weeks ago. Sweet girl. She's still enjoying synchronized swimming.
I'm starting to realize what a spectacular writer A is. I mean, really. Her stories are elaborately detailed and she's great at adjectives. Right now she's writing a story about a German U-boat. The logistics are sketchy a lot of times, but I love her enthusiasm and great plot lines! I wonder if there's a creative writing class I can get her into somewhere?
Coming up is her third battle for "battle of the books" at school. Her team is currently in third place, so it's a long shot for them to make it to district, but I'm hoping!
She's doing great in piano, though she tends to play the songs she likes 100 times to every 1 time she'll play the others. I have "Minuet in G" permanently etched in my brain I think. It makes me sad that she didn't want to get back into gymnastics. But I think she's getting plenty of exercise daily on the playground, playing basketball with all the boys.
N still lives here, I think. His project at work, plus plenty of basketball each week, take all of his time and energy. He does love his church basketball though. Thankfully he hasn't been working Saturdays lately, and this weekend he's actually taking off TWO DAYS so we can head up to winter in Idaho for my niece's wedding. Which is nutso, considering how beautiful it is in AZ right now. Super excited to see all of my family though. Have to take some games to play in the hotel!
Sparky is no more! Have to include him on my update because he's been part of the family for so long. Posted it in CraigsList at 4pm on Saturday and then sold him right away that night to a couple of guys. So-and-so was buying it for his bro-in-law, who lives in Mexico, etc etc. who knows. at least the guy we did business with was legal. We met him at the MVD yesterday and after dealing with incompetent people for TWO hours, transaction finally got done and title transferred. I was glad to see Sparky one last time to be able to remove my sun devil stickers from the back window! Lol, I didn't want anyone else to have them! So! That means I'm getting a new (used) car! It's getting transferred here from Texas and it is lovely! Can't wait! 20 days and counting...
Okay! What have I been doing this month? Organizing a whole bunch of Relief Society activities, that's what!! We played Jeopardy at my house at the end of January. It was a riot. And my house hasn't been so clean since we moved in. It was all decked out decorated for Valentines Day too! Then just three weeks later we had our big annual service auction at the church. Turned out nice. Now tonight we've got the stake RS activity which I have to prepare a few things for too! Whew.
Finished my first six-week session of Crossfit and started my second round today. Oh my, it was a killer.
400 meter run
2minutes on Airdyne
10 burpees
10 squats
10 dips
40 box jumps
40 more burpees
20 tire flips
20 pull-ups
20 Sledgehammer Swings
40 parkour vaults
100 navy seals
100 Supermans
400 m rowing
400 m run
Took me forever to get it all done. So I'm laying on the couch now, wasted.
Also in February I was in charge of M's class party at school. I love having loud a rowdy games for the kids to enjoy since they have to be so straight-laced all the time!
We took off after school that night and spent a couple of days in Prescott with all of the Carters at the coolest.cabin.ever. Carl had rented the place for all of us to celebrate Brooke's birthday that weekend. Super cool.
1.25.2013
Holy update Batman!
Has it really been 2 1/2 months since I last posted? Oh my.
Let's see:
• We had our 14th anniversary. We went out for Costa Vida and I got increasingly disgusted with election results. Hooray. You know, one of these years we're going to actually have to GO somewhere together, hint hint, Hawaii, or a cruise, or NYC....
• I got super depressed because the idiot got re-elected. No, I take that back, he's not the idiot, everyone who voted for him is an idiot, or else way too entitled/comfortable with all the government handouts. It's not really a surprise at all - who's going to beat Santa Claus in an election? Nobody.
• I got super stressed out because our renters decided that they couldn't afford the house anymore. Of course, they didn't bother to tell us until halfway through November, after rent was late and countless phone calls to try and reach them, so I footed the bill for November and December. Awesome! Just in time for Christmas!
• We spent Thanksgiving in Scottsdale with all the Carters. Then bits and pieces of my family were in the valley for various reasons that weekend too, so we got to hang out with Safford peeps, as well as Colorado peeps. Fun.
• Renters finally moved out on December 2nd. I spent a week going over to Phoenix every day cleaning, cleaning, and cleaning some more. On the surface it looked like they had left the place in good shape - but once I got in there I realized how absolutely disgusting it was. I literally burned up my vacuum with all of the hair left behind. All in all we 1) Bought a fridge - that was quite the feat moving it over there 2) Hooked up water to the fridge (because of course the renters took all the lines, awesome) (Did I mention my husband is NOT a plumber??) 3) Ordered and replaced an $80 part on the microwave 4) Bought new hinges for the dishwasher 5) Fixed the garbage disposal that wasn't working 6) Hired a landscaper to do the yard and take out a dead tree 7) Had the carpets and tile cleaned 8) Spent hours dusting, scrubbing, mopping 9) Repainted walls in two rooms 10) Touched up paint everywhere else 11) Replaced almost all the lightbulbs in the house because they were all burned out (?) 12) Kicked myself that we didn't collect a cleaning deposit from them when they moved in!!! 13) etc, etc, etc.
• I just wasn't feeling Christmas-cardy this year. Not only was I stressed with the no-renters-thing, but my horribly awkward growing-out-my-hair inbetween-ness is still nowhere near ready for a family picture. So I apologize if you were expecting one from us. I think this is the first year out of our 14 years of marriage I haven't sent anything out!
• We spent a weekend at the cabin in November. It became a work trip because Grandma and Poppy went too. Excited to see that new room get finished, hopefully, the next time we're there.
• I had to speak in church. Worst. Day. Ever.
• I only ended up doing one vendor show for my vinyl business in December, that being the SRP Christmas party. With M in synchronized swimming practice on Saturdays and N working almost every Saturday, there wasn't really an option to do any more! Luckily I was too busy with orders for the rest of the month to worry about it too much.
• We refinanced our house (again) and were able to skip December and January payments. This is the only thing that got us through not having renters. Total blessing.
• My 38th birthday came and went. Celebrated by jumping and flipping around on trampolines and riding a mechanical bull at Jumpstreet with a couple of friends. Total blast. I love that place. Shhh, don't tell our kids we went without them.
• Went to tithing settlement to discover that I was $1400 behind where I thought we were for the year. UGH, that was a hard check to write. IN OTHER NEWS, we got a surprise $1439 check in January from our old escrow account that we didn't have any idea was coming. Ummm, coincidence? Heavenly Father truly looks after us.
• Tried to keep Christmas pretty simple. Didn't get our fam picture done. Didn't get cards sent out. Gave goodies to a few neighbors and called it done. Didn't get any presents for any friends, because I'm lame like that. N had all of two presents to open, and one of those had socks in it. The other was an ASU shirt that was supposed to be returned to the stadium shop months earlier, but never made it there, so Merry Christmas! lol. A got a kindle (that we'd had for months), M got roller skates, and J got a new bike (that had been in a box in our garage for 1 1/2 years). Santa also brought us a family membership to the Science Center, which has been great already. We got spoiled by Grandma and Poppy of course, with lots of things including a great TETHERBALL set. Fun.
• Went to Safford the day after Christmas to hang out with Sam & Brie and everyone. Went to play in the snow while we were there, but it was bitter cold and the snow was ice hard, so not as fun as last year. We have yet to find a great sledding place on Mt. Graham. I stayed up really late for a couple of nights playing games with the Scotts.
• Went to a car dealership while in Safford and fell in L.O.V.E. with the brand new 2013 Nissan Pathfinder. Now, if we could remember where we planted that money tree we'd go buy one.
• We had a friend party a few days after Christmas with appetizers, desserts, minute-to-win-it games and some pretty amazing white elephant gifts. Man, I so need that party every year just to be able to laugh that hard.
• New years? Did that happen? I was out at the Phoenix house painting all day on NYE, so I didn't really notice. To add insult to injury, J's scooter got stolen from the neighborhood playground while we were there. Awesome. At least the new renters showed up with $$, and signed papers that night. Whew.
• School resumed! HOORAY! I just get so tired of the fighting around here, I need my solitude!
• Small redos in one bathroom have led to me making bigger changes in all three bathrooms. All at the same time. I know, I'm awesome. Hired our handyman to move electrical boxes for new lights to go in in the kids' bathroom. Bought new mirrors for the master bathroom, but decided they look better in the kids' bathroom, so I'm on the hunt again for the perfect 30"x42" dark cherry, or mahogany, or walnut, framed mirrors for my master bath. Once I find just the right ones we can patch the current holes in the drywall, move the electrical boxes up a few inches, and install two new light fixtures in there. Sheesh! In the meantime, I found the perfect glass mosaic tiles that I want for the master bathroom - - but because I want that to flow with the not-yet-tiled-shower and tub surround (neither of which will happen for years to come) I went ahead and bought about 20 extra tiles, lol. I seriously need to find a contractor ASAP to at least help me design it, so I know if I need more of these accent tiles or not, because I won't be able to buy them ever again.....!!! I'm good at making my life and house projects complicated/expensive... As of last weekend our downstairs bathroom has new wall paint, new ceiling paint, new light fixture and hardware. Looks a million times better. Someday that bathtub and molded plastic (gag) surround will come out and the whole thing will get tiled too.
• My dear Amberly got me to a Crossfit workout a couple of weeks ago, so I decided to give it a try for at least one 6-week session. It's motivating because 1) I don't know what I'm going to be doing once I get there each time - kind of like I'd rather listen to the radio so I don't know what's coming next..... lol and 2) I'm for sure going to go every single time because I already paid for it! I couldn't walk for three days after my first time there. Now I've been there for two weeks. And looking forward to the next workout.
• I've been reading a LOT lately. Just made my way through the "I am number four" series by Pittacus Lore (ps.) just to realize it's NOT OVER! Ugh, next book doesn't come out til fall 2013, and then after that fall of 2014! I know, my big ol' nerd problems.
• J is so grown up lately. Love that boy. He is doing pretty well in school (except for behavior!) and in music class (though he's the most hyper one in there) and he just started soccer a couple of weeks ago with 6 other kids from his primary class. He's the cutest little Red Rocket on the team! Last week after the game, all the parents made a tunnel for the kids to run through... J couldn't go through without stopping to hug my legs (love him) which then in turn made him trip the kids behind him... too funny. He has lots of friends in the neighborhood and ends up having them over a couple times a week. He has to recite "Little Bo Peep" next week in his school class, and has it down! He has come a long way, since the first poem he was assigned at the beginning of the year he was too shy to say it, at ALL. : )
• M is still in synchro. Her first big meet is tomorrow morning. I have spent a small fortune getting all the makeup and gear ready for this thing. I think she now owns more makeup than I do. Also have to RENT a ROUTINE SUIT for $35. SHEESH! And I thought synchro was cheaper than gymnastics! Ha! She practices on Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings. I've almost pulled her out MULTIPLE times simply because she's so exhausted on Thursdays that she can't handle it, but she loves it so much! Glad it's only 1 school night a week. She's doing awesome in school. Still a great helper around home, but strangely she's in a phase of a very messy bedroom ALL THE TIME. She used to be the neatest in the house, not so much anymore. Let's just hope it's a phase anyway. She's not a fan of the piano lately at all, it's a struggle to get her to practice.
• A is a preteen and makes me crazy daily, whether it be her defiance about mealtime, brushing her hair, going to bed, washing her face, practicing piano, getting off a device... however her room is staying mighty clean lately at least!
• N is still working like crazy. Including lots of late nights, lots of Saturdays, and lots of time on his Blackberry while at home. He still insists on playing basketball 4-5 times a week in the early mornings, so he's thoroughly exhausted all the time.
Time to get some dinner going! Ta ta for now...
Let's see:
• We had our 14th anniversary. We went out for Costa Vida and I got increasingly disgusted with election results. Hooray. You know, one of these years we're going to actually have to GO somewhere together, hint hint, Hawaii, or a cruise, or NYC....
• I got super depressed because the idiot got re-elected. No, I take that back, he's not the idiot, everyone who voted for him is an idiot, or else way too entitled/comfortable with all the government handouts. It's not really a surprise at all - who's going to beat Santa Claus in an election? Nobody.
• I got super stressed out because our renters decided that they couldn't afford the house anymore. Of course, they didn't bother to tell us until halfway through November, after rent was late and countless phone calls to try and reach them, so I footed the bill for November and December. Awesome! Just in time for Christmas!
• We spent Thanksgiving in Scottsdale with all the Carters. Then bits and pieces of my family were in the valley for various reasons that weekend too, so we got to hang out with Safford peeps, as well as Colorado peeps. Fun.
• Renters finally moved out on December 2nd. I spent a week going over to Phoenix every day cleaning, cleaning, and cleaning some more. On the surface it looked like they had left the place in good shape - but once I got in there I realized how absolutely disgusting it was. I literally burned up my vacuum with all of the hair left behind. All in all we 1) Bought a fridge - that was quite the feat moving it over there 2) Hooked up water to the fridge (because of course the renters took all the lines, awesome) (Did I mention my husband is NOT a plumber??) 3) Ordered and replaced an $80 part on the microwave 4) Bought new hinges for the dishwasher 5) Fixed the garbage disposal that wasn't working 6) Hired a landscaper to do the yard and take out a dead tree 7) Had the carpets and tile cleaned 8) Spent hours dusting, scrubbing, mopping 9) Repainted walls in two rooms 10) Touched up paint everywhere else 11) Replaced almost all the lightbulbs in the house because they were all burned out (?) 12) Kicked myself that we didn't collect a cleaning deposit from them when they moved in!!! 13) etc, etc, etc.
• I just wasn't feeling Christmas-cardy this year. Not only was I stressed with the no-renters-thing, but my horribly awkward growing-out-my-hair inbetween-ness is still nowhere near ready for a family picture. So I apologize if you were expecting one from us. I think this is the first year out of our 14 years of marriage I haven't sent anything out!
• We spent a weekend at the cabin in November. It became a work trip because Grandma and Poppy went too. Excited to see that new room get finished, hopefully, the next time we're there.
• I had to speak in church. Worst. Day. Ever.
• I only ended up doing one vendor show for my vinyl business in December, that being the SRP Christmas party. With M in synchronized swimming practice on Saturdays and N working almost every Saturday, there wasn't really an option to do any more! Luckily I was too busy with orders for the rest of the month to worry about it too much.
• We refinanced our house (again) and were able to skip December and January payments. This is the only thing that got us through not having renters. Total blessing.
• My 38th birthday came and went. Celebrated by jumping and flipping around on trampolines and riding a mechanical bull at Jumpstreet with a couple of friends. Total blast. I love that place. Shhh, don't tell our kids we went without them.
• Went to tithing settlement to discover that I was $1400 behind where I thought we were for the year. UGH, that was a hard check to write. IN OTHER NEWS, we got a surprise $1439 check in January from our old escrow account that we didn't have any idea was coming. Ummm, coincidence? Heavenly Father truly looks after us.
• Tried to keep Christmas pretty simple. Didn't get our fam picture done. Didn't get cards sent out. Gave goodies to a few neighbors and called it done. Didn't get any presents for any friends, because I'm lame like that. N had all of two presents to open, and one of those had socks in it. The other was an ASU shirt that was supposed to be returned to the stadium shop months earlier, but never made it there, so Merry Christmas! lol. A got a kindle (that we'd had for months), M got roller skates, and J got a new bike (that had been in a box in our garage for 1 1/2 years). Santa also brought us a family membership to the Science Center, which has been great already. We got spoiled by Grandma and Poppy of course, with lots of things including a great TETHERBALL set. Fun.
• Went to Safford the day after Christmas to hang out with Sam & Brie and everyone. Went to play in the snow while we were there, but it was bitter cold and the snow was ice hard, so not as fun as last year. We have yet to find a great sledding place on Mt. Graham. I stayed up really late for a couple of nights playing games with the Scotts.
• Went to a car dealership while in Safford and fell in L.O.V.E. with the brand new 2013 Nissan Pathfinder. Now, if we could remember where we planted that money tree we'd go buy one.
• We had a friend party a few days after Christmas with appetizers, desserts, minute-to-win-it games and some pretty amazing white elephant gifts. Man, I so need that party every year just to be able to laugh that hard.
• New years? Did that happen? I was out at the Phoenix house painting all day on NYE, so I didn't really notice. To add insult to injury, J's scooter got stolen from the neighborhood playground while we were there. Awesome. At least the new renters showed up with $$, and signed papers that night. Whew.
• School resumed! HOORAY! I just get so tired of the fighting around here, I need my solitude!
• Small redos in one bathroom have led to me making bigger changes in all three bathrooms. All at the same time. I know, I'm awesome. Hired our handyman to move electrical boxes for new lights to go in in the kids' bathroom. Bought new mirrors for the master bathroom, but decided they look better in the kids' bathroom, so I'm on the hunt again for the perfect 30"x42" dark cherry, or mahogany, or walnut, framed mirrors for my master bath. Once I find just the right ones we can patch the current holes in the drywall, move the electrical boxes up a few inches, and install two new light fixtures in there. Sheesh! In the meantime, I found the perfect glass mosaic tiles that I want for the master bathroom - - but because I want that to flow with the not-yet-tiled-shower and tub surround (neither of which will happen for years to come) I went ahead and bought about 20 extra tiles, lol. I seriously need to find a contractor ASAP to at least help me design it, so I know if I need more of these accent tiles or not, because I won't be able to buy them ever again.....!!! I'm good at making my life and house projects complicated/expensive... As of last weekend our downstairs bathroom has new wall paint, new ceiling paint, new light fixture and hardware. Looks a million times better. Someday that bathtub and molded plastic (gag) surround will come out and the whole thing will get tiled too.
• My dear Amberly got me to a Crossfit workout a couple of weeks ago, so I decided to give it a try for at least one 6-week session. It's motivating because 1) I don't know what I'm going to be doing once I get there each time - kind of like I'd rather listen to the radio so I don't know what's coming next..... lol and 2) I'm for sure going to go every single time because I already paid for it! I couldn't walk for three days after my first time there. Now I've been there for two weeks. And looking forward to the next workout.
• I've been reading a LOT lately. Just made my way through the "I am number four" series by Pittacus Lore (ps.) just to realize it's NOT OVER! Ugh, next book doesn't come out til fall 2013, and then after that fall of 2014! I know, my big ol' nerd problems.
• J is so grown up lately. Love that boy. He is doing pretty well in school (except for behavior!) and in music class (though he's the most hyper one in there) and he just started soccer a couple of weeks ago with 6 other kids from his primary class. He's the cutest little Red Rocket on the team! Last week after the game, all the parents made a tunnel for the kids to run through... J couldn't go through without stopping to hug my legs (love him) which then in turn made him trip the kids behind him... too funny. He has lots of friends in the neighborhood and ends up having them over a couple times a week. He has to recite "Little Bo Peep" next week in his school class, and has it down! He has come a long way, since the first poem he was assigned at the beginning of the year he was too shy to say it, at ALL. : )
• M is still in synchro. Her first big meet is tomorrow morning. I have spent a small fortune getting all the makeup and gear ready for this thing. I think she now owns more makeup than I do. Also have to RENT a ROUTINE SUIT for $35. SHEESH! And I thought synchro was cheaper than gymnastics! Ha! She practices on Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings. I've almost pulled her out MULTIPLE times simply because she's so exhausted on Thursdays that she can't handle it, but she loves it so much! Glad it's only 1 school night a week. She's doing awesome in school. Still a great helper around home, but strangely she's in a phase of a very messy bedroom ALL THE TIME. She used to be the neatest in the house, not so much anymore. Let's just hope it's a phase anyway. She's not a fan of the piano lately at all, it's a struggle to get her to practice.
• A is a preteen and makes me crazy daily, whether it be her defiance about mealtime, brushing her hair, going to bed, washing her face, practicing piano, getting off a device... however her room is staying mighty clean lately at least!
• N is still working like crazy. Including lots of late nights, lots of Saturdays, and lots of time on his Blackberry while at home. He still insists on playing basketball 4-5 times a week in the early mornings, so he's thoroughly exhausted all the time.
Time to get some dinner going! Ta ta for now...
11.05.2012
My dream car
I need a new car. Or maybe not, it's not really clear at the moment. My car has been through quite a few pricey repairs lately, and after each time I throw down my credit card, I throw up my hands and say "Enough! Fine! Let's get a new one!" And then reality hits, and I look at dozens of different models, ads, dealerships, options, Craig's List postings, and I get overwhelmed, and I gulp at the prices and think, no, maybe we can stick with Sparky for a little bit longer. Except that the transmission might be failing. Or maybe it will run for another 30,000 miles. Who knows.
A few years ago I played a game with some family members where everyone wrote down their "dream car" and put them in a bowl, and then you had to pick out the papers and try to figure out whose paper it was from the car listed. I didn't participate because I honestly couldn't come up with a car to list. I guess because my dream car doesn't really exist... one that is paid for, that fills itself up with gas, self-cleaning (or at least one with all rubber flooring and a drain so I can just hose it out).
I've since added new features that I want in my dream car...
(1)THREE bucket seats for the middle row that can individually move forward and back, and LAY BACK individually... am I right? If the driver and passenger can have fancy moving seats why can't the rest of the passengers??? My kids fall asleep in the car and fight like cats when somebody wants to lean on somebody else... holy cow.
(2)Remember mini-vans that had the built-in boosters in the seats? Do they still sell those? Why in the world wouldn't they put those in SUVs too??? In fact, why aren't those in every back seat in every car ever made? I'd love to see the car seat industry disappear entirely.
(3) I still would like to have a third row of seats too, because we do use them every once in a while.
(4) Four-wheel drive, but only when I want to engage it. Safe and sturdy in the event of an accident, good ground clearance, and running boards so my kids can climb in easily. And so I can get in too, when I'm wearing a straight skirt.
(5) My dream car would also have to have leather seats, "Oh crap" handle in just the right place on the passenger side frame, and of course a DVD player.
(6) It also has to fit nicely in my garage and not resemble a minivan whatsoever. Or a Hummer (no Suburbans for me). Or a hearse (no Ford Flex for me either).
(7) I'm not into a lot of electronic-everything gadgets on a car. Because that stuff breaks. Our old Ford truck had windows you had to manually roll up. My Explorer of course has power windows... and we've replaced three out of the four motors for them in the last two years. The newer Explorer I looked at today had "power third-row seats". WHY?????? Because it's too hard to flip up a handle and push it down with your hand? Silliest option ever.
(8) I'm also very brand-loyal. I would drive a Honda, and possibly a Nissan, but probably not a Toyota. And certainly not a Kia or a Hyundai. I would drive a Ford, or a GMC, but probably not a Chevy, or Dodge. Kind of like I'll only buy a Sony TV. Are you rolling your eyes at me yet?
Remember the Weasley's car in Harry Potter? How it was just normal sized on the outside but magically enlarged on the inside? Perfect.
SIGH. Let's all cross our fingers and toes that Sparky will last a bit longer and NOT cost us any more money in the short term. A few years ago we started a savings account specifically for "our new car". The theory was we'd pay ourselves a car payment every month and then pay cash for a car, if and when. Well, it's been 2 1/2 years since our last car purchase and I don't have even 1/4 of what I need in that account. Hey Dave Ramsey, how is that account supposed to work if you keep having to drain it to fix your CURRENT car??
Wish me luck.
A few years ago I played a game with some family members where everyone wrote down their "dream car" and put them in a bowl, and then you had to pick out the papers and try to figure out whose paper it was from the car listed. I didn't participate because I honestly couldn't come up with a car to list. I guess because my dream car doesn't really exist... one that is paid for, that fills itself up with gas, self-cleaning (or at least one with all rubber flooring and a drain so I can just hose it out).
I've since added new features that I want in my dream car...
(1)THREE bucket seats for the middle row that can individually move forward and back, and LAY BACK individually... am I right? If the driver and passenger can have fancy moving seats why can't the rest of the passengers??? My kids fall asleep in the car and fight like cats when somebody wants to lean on somebody else... holy cow.
(2)Remember mini-vans that had the built-in boosters in the seats? Do they still sell those? Why in the world wouldn't they put those in SUVs too??? In fact, why aren't those in every back seat in every car ever made? I'd love to see the car seat industry disappear entirely.
(3) I still would like to have a third row of seats too, because we do use them every once in a while.
(4) Four-wheel drive, but only when I want to engage it. Safe and sturdy in the event of an accident, good ground clearance, and running boards so my kids can climb in easily. And so I can get in too, when I'm wearing a straight skirt.
(5) My dream car would also have to have leather seats, "Oh crap" handle in just the right place on the passenger side frame, and of course a DVD player.
(6) It also has to fit nicely in my garage and not resemble a minivan whatsoever. Or a Hummer (no Suburbans for me). Or a hearse (no Ford Flex for me either).
(7) I'm not into a lot of electronic-everything gadgets on a car. Because that stuff breaks. Our old Ford truck had windows you had to manually roll up. My Explorer of course has power windows... and we've replaced three out of the four motors for them in the last two years. The newer Explorer I looked at today had "power third-row seats". WHY?????? Because it's too hard to flip up a handle and push it down with your hand? Silliest option ever.
(8) I'm also very brand-loyal. I would drive a Honda, and possibly a Nissan, but probably not a Toyota. And certainly not a Kia or a Hyundai. I would drive a Ford, or a GMC, but probably not a Chevy, or Dodge. Kind of like I'll only buy a Sony TV. Are you rolling your eyes at me yet?
Remember the Weasley's car in Harry Potter? How it was just normal sized on the outside but magically enlarged on the inside? Perfect.
SIGH. Let's all cross our fingers and toes that Sparky will last a bit longer and NOT cost us any more money in the short term. A few years ago we started a savings account specifically for "our new car". The theory was we'd pay ourselves a car payment every month and then pay cash for a car, if and when. Well, it's been 2 1/2 years since our last car purchase and I don't have even 1/4 of what I need in that account. Hey Dave Ramsey, how is that account supposed to work if you keep having to drain it to fix your CURRENT car??
Wish me luck.
10.23.2012
Finishing
websites I want to remember, after my painting, shutters, pool, flooring, built-ins, fixtures, and kitchen are all done, LOL
www.wainscotingamerica.com
www.azfauxbeams.com
www.wainscotingamerica.com
www.azfauxbeams.com
10.03.2012
Happy Birthday A
I have an ELEVEN YEAR OLD. In FIFTH GRADE. How crazy is that? It seems like a lifetime ago that I was in New Market, Maryland, pregnant with my little girl. I had gotten laid off from my job a few months earlier, so to kill time until the baby was born I was working at Joann's in their framing department. I remember I was very good with the customers, picking out just the right combinations of mats, frames, fillets, etc. but mostly I loved building frames. And my discount. What I didn't love was wearing stupid khakis (I am a jeans-only kind of person) or standing on that cement floor for hours at a time. I worked there as long as my back could stand it, and then I quit and stayed home waiting... and waiting some more... and waiting some more.
On the morning of September 11th I was at home watching the news (probably Katie Couric (sp?) ) when the attacks happened. I'm not sure if I had already quit Joann's by then or not. I do remember wondering how we could possibly bring a child into this awful, dangerous world.
I was due on September 22nd. My SIL Tracie flew out a couple of days after that, and we spent the weekend walking our feet off around New Market, in all the antique shops, the general store... I think we drove down to Virginia for something?? We were desperately trying to get my baby here!
Finally, after more than a week my doctor finally agreed to induce me (sheesh!) and the next day we waited, drugged, walked around the hospital, tried to read, ALL DAY until something finally started happening at 3pm. A was finally born at 8:43pm on the evening of October 2nd. 10 days late. I remember being grossed out when they held her up (SO not like it is on TV or in movies) because she was all bloody... I made them clean her up before they handed her to me (I'm a nice mom, eh?)
Trace extended her stay a couple of days so she could spend time with the 10-day-overdue baby and me, thank goodness. I believe I finally learned to cook that week she stayed with me. My mom ditched her mission in Independence for a few days to come to Maryland too, and then when she left my MIL Brooke came out and stayed a good 2-3 weeks. It was great, but I remember being totally inept and overwhelmed once everybody left because they'd done everything for me for a month!
A week after A was born we received a phone call from the state health department - in the initial tests they do on every infant they found that her thyroid levels were way off... turns out my perfect baby was born with "congenital hypothyroidism" - without a thyroid gland - and would need medicine for the rest of her life. We were so blessed to live in Maryland when A was a baby because we lived 45 minutes from Baltimore... and our specialist at Johns Hopkins was probably the premiere pediatric endocrinologist in the country. Every couple of months we had an appointment and our doctor very precisely measured our baby, checked and triple-checked her levels to make sure all was good. That was a hard couple of years to have blood drawn all the time, because A was an especially hard stick, and many times we had to have multiple needle sticks to try and get her blood draw. I remember going to the lab and waiting for a specific phlebotomist because she (?) was the only one who could get it right.
Time flies. We had another baby, moved to Show Low Arizona, moved again to Eagar, moved again to South Phoenix, had another baby, and moved again ... and now we find ourselves settled in Mesa with three kids.
• A is a tween for sure. She loves singing at the top of her lungs to her Ipod in her ears as she wanders around the house. (mostly in tune) I believe she knows every word to every Adele song. She loves to make up little dance-slash-gymnastics routines.
• Her favorite color is purple. She prefers to wear jeans and tennis shoes over shorts and flip flops, crazy girl, even when it's 100 plus crazy degrees outside. She is NOT a skirt wearer.
• She is a creator of all things colorful. She LOVES to sort things into rainbow colors. Right now in my front room is a setup of a "teacher's desk" and student desks with notebooks and pencils and colored pencils all lined up perfectly. Don't know if she will actually ever PLAY school, I think she likes the setup part the best. Both my girls love making little "clubs" but I think A is the instigator most of the time. Careful of any open space... my girls will take it over and make a club or store or something in it in no time.
• She is still as picky as ever with her eating. I stopped stressing out about it years ago. If she doesn't like what I cook then she makes herself something else. I don't care anymore. I do try to insist that she eat bananas every couple of days. Veggies I don't even bother with, except the occasional chicken divan casserole that includes broccoli - which she's loved since she was a baby. I do sneak healthy things into waffles or french toast or pancakes when I make them. We're doing good at not missing her synthroid pill daily. What she does have going for her and her teeth is that she doesn't drink soda... and hasn't... ever. Her favorite food is pizza. Favorite candy = Nerds. She loves to get the frozen drinks at QT. And go out for yogurt. She's addicted to chocolate, but rather it come out of a package (like one that says O-R-E-O) than something fancy that mommy bakes at home.
• A is doing very well at piano. She and M both struggle with timing, but A is progressing pretty well. We try our best to get 20 minutes of practice in every day. Last week one of her songs was "Once upon a snowman" from the Primary Songbook which she did great with, chords and accidentals and left hand and all. : )
• Chores are not A's favorite thing. She tends to make messes and have clothes strewn everywhere in her room. Many times when I ask her to do or clean something she wanders over to the piano and starts playing, because she knows I won't stop her. Sneaky girl.
• This is A's second year in orchestra, where she plays the violin. I wish we had the time/money to do private lessons as well, but for now I think she's doing well, and likes it a lot. She doesn't even mind having to be at school an hour early 2x a week.
• She is also in gymnastics, in level 3, which she loves, all except the last 10 minutes each week when they have to do crunches and planks and pushups - ha! She is a monkey on the big rope, I love to watch her shimmy all the way up to the roof on that thing.
• This girl is a READER. And she got just the right teacher this year to encourage and promote that. She flies through books and is testing at an 11.8 grade reading level - by far the highest in her class. She often reads books that are way below her level just because she likes to read FAST and wants to be able to finish a book in an afternoon. For her birthday yesterday I got her the new Rick Riordan book "Mark of Athena" and she's already knee-deep into that. She needs to hurry and finish it so I can read it...
• She is doing the "Battle of the Books" at school this year and I'm super excited. 3 or 4 times this year they have a contest and go head-to-head with other teams answering trivia questions on a set of books. They have to know them backward and forward, which will be great for A to prepare for, since usually she skims books so fast I question how much she actually absorbs.
• A has lots of friends, including some I wouldn't necessarily expect. I want her to be besties with the girl down the street who's just a month younger than her, and instead she hangs out with the brother who's 8. Go figure.
• She would love to do science projects and read and watch Disney shows on the Ipad all day long, but unfortunately there's places to be and a million chores to be done at home all the time. Bummer.
On the morning of September 11th I was at home watching the news (probably Katie Couric (sp?) ) when the attacks happened. I'm not sure if I had already quit Joann's by then or not. I do remember wondering how we could possibly bring a child into this awful, dangerous world.
I was due on September 22nd. My SIL Tracie flew out a couple of days after that, and we spent the weekend walking our feet off around New Market, in all the antique shops, the general store... I think we drove down to Virginia for something?? We were desperately trying to get my baby here!
Finally, after more than a week my doctor finally agreed to induce me (sheesh!) and the next day we waited, drugged, walked around the hospital, tried to read, ALL DAY until something finally started happening at 3pm. A was finally born at 8:43pm on the evening of October 2nd. 10 days late. I remember being grossed out when they held her up (SO not like it is on TV or in movies) because she was all bloody... I made them clean her up before they handed her to me (I'm a nice mom, eh?)
Trace extended her stay a couple of days so she could spend time with the 10-day-overdue baby and me, thank goodness. I believe I finally learned to cook that week she stayed with me. My mom ditched her mission in Independence for a few days to come to Maryland too, and then when she left my MIL Brooke came out and stayed a good 2-3 weeks. It was great, but I remember being totally inept and overwhelmed once everybody left because they'd done everything for me for a month!
A week after A was born we received a phone call from the state health department - in the initial tests they do on every infant they found that her thyroid levels were way off... turns out my perfect baby was born with "congenital hypothyroidism" - without a thyroid gland - and would need medicine for the rest of her life. We were so blessed to live in Maryland when A was a baby because we lived 45 minutes from Baltimore... and our specialist at Johns Hopkins was probably the premiere pediatric endocrinologist in the country. Every couple of months we had an appointment and our doctor very precisely measured our baby, checked and triple-checked her levels to make sure all was good. That was a hard couple of years to have blood drawn all the time, because A was an especially hard stick, and many times we had to have multiple needle sticks to try and get her blood draw. I remember going to the lab and waiting for a specific phlebotomist because she (?) was the only one who could get it right.
Time flies. We had another baby, moved to Show Low Arizona, moved again to Eagar, moved again to South Phoenix, had another baby, and moved again ... and now we find ourselves settled in Mesa with three kids.
• A is a tween for sure. She loves singing at the top of her lungs to her Ipod in her ears as she wanders around the house. (mostly in tune) I believe she knows every word to every Adele song. She loves to make up little dance-slash-gymnastics routines.
• Her favorite color is purple. She prefers to wear jeans and tennis shoes over shorts and flip flops, crazy girl, even when it's 100 plus crazy degrees outside. She is NOT a skirt wearer.
• She is a creator of all things colorful. She LOVES to sort things into rainbow colors. Right now in my front room is a setup of a "teacher's desk" and student desks with notebooks and pencils and colored pencils all lined up perfectly. Don't know if she will actually ever PLAY school, I think she likes the setup part the best. Both my girls love making little "clubs" but I think A is the instigator most of the time. Careful of any open space... my girls will take it over and make a club or store or something in it in no time.
• She is still as picky as ever with her eating. I stopped stressing out about it years ago. If she doesn't like what I cook then she makes herself something else. I don't care anymore. I do try to insist that she eat bananas every couple of days. Veggies I don't even bother with, except the occasional chicken divan casserole that includes broccoli - which she's loved since she was a baby. I do sneak healthy things into waffles or french toast or pancakes when I make them. We're doing good at not missing her synthroid pill daily. What she does have going for her and her teeth is that she doesn't drink soda... and hasn't... ever. Her favorite food is pizza. Favorite candy = Nerds. She loves to get the frozen drinks at QT. And go out for yogurt. She's addicted to chocolate, but rather it come out of a package (like one that says O-R-E-O) than something fancy that mommy bakes at home.
• A is doing very well at piano. She and M both struggle with timing, but A is progressing pretty well. We try our best to get 20 minutes of practice in every day. Last week one of her songs was "Once upon a snowman" from the Primary Songbook which she did great with, chords and accidentals and left hand and all. : )
• Chores are not A's favorite thing. She tends to make messes and have clothes strewn everywhere in her room. Many times when I ask her to do or clean something she wanders over to the piano and starts playing, because she knows I won't stop her. Sneaky girl.
• This is A's second year in orchestra, where she plays the violin. I wish we had the time/money to do private lessons as well, but for now I think she's doing well, and likes it a lot. She doesn't even mind having to be at school an hour early 2x a week.
• She is also in gymnastics, in level 3, which she loves, all except the last 10 minutes each week when they have to do crunches and planks and pushups - ha! She is a monkey on the big rope, I love to watch her shimmy all the way up to the roof on that thing.
• This girl is a READER. And she got just the right teacher this year to encourage and promote that. She flies through books and is testing at an 11.8 grade reading level - by far the highest in her class. She often reads books that are way below her level just because she likes to read FAST and wants to be able to finish a book in an afternoon. For her birthday yesterday I got her the new Rick Riordan book "Mark of Athena" and she's already knee-deep into that. She needs to hurry and finish it so I can read it...
• She is doing the "Battle of the Books" at school this year and I'm super excited. 3 or 4 times this year they have a contest and go head-to-head with other teams answering trivia questions on a set of books. They have to know them backward and forward, which will be great for A to prepare for, since usually she skims books so fast I question how much she actually absorbs.
• A has lots of friends, including some I wouldn't necessarily expect. I want her to be besties with the girl down the street who's just a month younger than her, and instead she hangs out with the brother who's 8. Go figure.
• She would love to do science projects and read and watch Disney shows on the Ipad all day long, but unfortunately there's places to be and a million chores to be done at home all the time. Bummer.
9.26.2012
Happy Birthday M
Nine years ago this morning I was in Maryland, in our little house in New Market. After getting to bed late at 11:45pm, my contractions started immediately so I never went to sleep... We paged our midwife and as we waited for her call, got packed for the hospital just in case. In the meantime we called and woke up a neighbor, Lynette Johnson. Got the call back from the midwife, dropped A off at the Johnson's at 2:20am, then headed to the hospital (which was a good 20-30 min away in Frederick). Got checked in by 3am. All my pain was in my back and I couldn't hardly sit down... so I refused to let them put me in a wheelchair to get me up to a delivery room. They had to get an entire bag of fluids in me before they'd give me the epidural, which painfully took forever. I was at 9.5cm before they'd give me the shot, but thankfully it still happened. My little girl came quickly after that - she was born at 4:57 am and has been a morning person ever since!
That seems like an entirely different life now - I'm old. I love my girl. She is helpful, pleasant, clever, a hard worker, goal-oriented and a great big sister.
• She is highly responsible, honest and for the most part is happy to do her chores every day. She gets up and makes her bed every. single.
morning. without ever being reminded.
• She loves lists, drawing, playing at the neighbor's house, swimming, cooking and organizing. She loves to clean and help decorate or do crafty projects with me and teach family home evening. She is always interested in my vinyl business and is concerned that I get my work done, too. She always wants to help me.
• I had parent teacher conferences yesterday and her teacher couldn't be happier with her. M is way ahead of the curve in the class and has straight A's. Mrs. Murphy was telling me how sometimes she tries to be funny and sarcastic with the class, and a lot of the kids just stare at her, confused. M however gets her jokes every time and throws the sarcasm right back at her. (Have I mentioned I love my kids' teachers this year? Because I do.) She has lots of friends right now, even though there's a bit of the "she doesn't want to be my friend" or "so and so was mean to me" etc. that happens in third grade. M was excited to go to school this morning in her new clothes and accessories (Thanks Grandma!) and even had me curl her hair.
• She is in LOVE with anything and everything zebra right now. Her birthday present was a big canvas print of a zebra for her room - she loves it. She is totally drawn toobsessed with? anything black and white and pink and loves bling on everything.
• She is in synchronized swimming 2x a week and tries to practice stretching (goal = splits) at home. She's been in piano for a little over a year now, and though she hasn't progressed as quickly as I would have hoped she really tries to get her 20 minutes of practice in daily. "MOM set the timer!" "How many minutes left?" She likes to play primary songs and do her favorites over and over. She's playing Teach Me to Walk in the Light right now.
• Every once in a while she comes up with some zingers that crack us up. The girls and Daddy were playing Monopoly the other night and A was winning - and gloating. M got mad at her and snarked something about rubbing their faces in it like a dog (what was it honey?) . A couple of weeks ago I had spent the day rearranging A's room, which M was totally jealous about when she got home. She yelled at me that it wasn't fair because her own room looked like "a hideous troll". Hilarious. 10 minutes later she had cleaned her room up and reorganized some things herself and was happy as can be about it.
• She is great with J, playing with him, making sure he's got breakfast, packs his lunch often, carries his backpack for him and is basically his second Mommy. She's the one who picks him up from his classroom every day and make sure he gets to the bus.
• M is a great eater and likes a great variety of foods. She is not a fan of mushrooms or sweet potatoes, and rarely chocolate, but she loves salad, carrots, grape tomatoes, spinach, chips and salsa, and all kinds of soups. She will get up and make herself an egg in the morning - which she would rather have than the pancakes and syrup that her siblings are addicted to. She chooses gatorade over soda when we go to QT. It frustrates me that she's the one who tries to eat so well and that she's going to be the one who will probably struggle with weight, versus her sister.
• This girl needs her SLEEP. She is a bear when she stays up too late, but is the most pleasant ever as long as she gets to bed on time. • She is very much a reward-oriented person and loves to earn behavior bucks at school. She totally understands the idea of earning her way and is quite vocal when she sees her siblings getting away with things . I guess you could say she's a natural conservative who doesn't tolerate entitlement...lol
That seems like an entirely different life now - I'm old. I love my girl. She is helpful, pleasant, clever, a hard worker, goal-oriented and a great big sister.
• She loves lists, drawing, playing at the neighbor's house, swimming, cooking and organizing. She loves to clean and help decorate or do crafty projects with me and teach family home evening. She is always interested in my vinyl business and is concerned that I get my work done, too. She always wants to help me.
• I had parent teacher conferences yesterday and her teacher couldn't be happier with her. M is way ahead of the curve in the class and has straight A's. Mrs. Murphy was telling me how sometimes she tries to be funny and sarcastic with the class, and a lot of the kids just stare at her, confused. M however gets her jokes every time and throws the sarcasm right back at her. (Have I mentioned I love my kids' teachers this year? Because I do.) She has lots of friends right now, even though there's a bit of the "she doesn't want to be my friend" or "so and so was mean to me" etc. that happens in third grade. M was excited to go to school this morning in her new clothes and accessories (Thanks Grandma!) and even had me curl her hair.
• She is in LOVE with anything and everything zebra right now. Her birthday present was a big canvas print of a zebra for her room - she loves it. She is totally drawn to
• She is in synchronized swimming 2x a week and tries to practice stretching (goal = splits) at home. She's been in piano for a little over a year now, and though she hasn't progressed as quickly as I would have hoped she really tries to get her 20 minutes of practice in daily. "MOM set the timer!" "How many minutes left?" She likes to play primary songs and do her favorites over and over. She's playing Teach Me to Walk in the Light right now.
• Every once in a while she comes up with some zingers that crack us up. The girls and Daddy were playing Monopoly the other night and A was winning - and gloating. M got mad at her and snarked something about rubbing their faces in it like a dog (what was it honey?) . A couple of weeks ago I had spent the day rearranging A's room, which M was totally jealous about when she got home. She yelled at me that it wasn't fair because her own room looked like "a hideous troll". Hilarious. 10 minutes later she had cleaned her room up and reorganized some things herself and was happy as can be about it.
• She is great with J, playing with him, making sure he's got breakfast, packs his lunch often, carries his backpack for him and is basically his second Mommy. She's the one who picks him up from his classroom every day and make sure he gets to the bus.
• M is a great eater and likes a great variety of foods. She is not a fan of mushrooms or sweet potatoes, and rarely chocolate, but she loves salad, carrots, grape tomatoes, spinach, chips and salsa, and all kinds of soups. She will get up and make herself an egg in the morning - which she would rather have than the pancakes and syrup that her siblings are addicted to. She chooses gatorade over soda when we go to QT. It frustrates me that she's the one who tries to eat so well and that she's going to be the one who will probably struggle with weight, versus her sister.
• This girl needs her SLEEP. She is a bear when she stays up too late, but is the most pleasant ever as long as she gets to bed on time. • She is very much a reward-oriented person and loves to earn behavior bucks at school. She totally understands the idea of earning her way and is quite vocal when she sees her siblings getting away with things . I guess you could say she's a natural conservative who doesn't tolerate entitlement...lol
9.15.2012
Dear Santa
I have a lot on my wish list lately. I figure Santa's got an unlimited budget, or at least my kids think he does, so why not shoot for it all?
1. Citrus trees planted along the side of my house - 1 blood orange, 1 lemon, 1 grapefruit, and 1 navel- and then taken care of by a landscaper from now on, along with the rest of our bushes and trees
2. Sonicare toothbrush - Healthy White, I think it's called?
3. My piano tuned
4. Sparky I-phone case - this one http://www.fanatics.com/catalog/product/Arizona_State_Sun_Devils_iPhone_4_Silicone_Case_-_Maroon
5. New white king-size Egyptian cotton sheets for my bed
5b. While we're at it, four sets of soft high-thread count white twin sheets for the rest of the beds in the house
6. Les Mis and/or Anything Goes tickets at Gammage
7. Gift cards for Tia Rosa's, Sassy's Cafe, Charming Charlie's, Home Depot
8. Table saw
9. Compound miter saw
10. Leaf blower - that backpack kind that you control with your arm like landscapers have
11. Kids' bathroom, and downstairs bathroom, painted
12. Lighting for Master Bathroom 13. A NEW CAR 14. Yellow placemats for my kitchen table
15. Coordinating seat cushions for my kitchen chairs
16. New light fixtures and faucets for my bathrooms
Five of these Giagni Pearl faucets would be fine, and even better if I didn't have to install them myself:
17. a new ironing board
18. a Dyson vacuum cleaner, or actually, just any vacuum cleaner.
19. Shutters in the loft
20. Countertops & new flooring for my office...tee hee hee
1. Citrus trees planted along the side of my house - 1 blood orange, 1 lemon, 1 grapefruit, and 1 navel- and then taken care of by a landscaper from now on, along with the rest of our bushes and trees
2. Sonicare toothbrush - Healthy White, I think it's called?
3. My piano tuned
4. Sparky I-phone case - this one http://www.fanatics.com/catalog/product/Arizona_State_Sun_Devils_iPhone_4_Silicone_Case_-_Maroon
5b. While we're at it, four sets of soft high-thread count white twin sheets for the rest of the beds in the house
6. Les Mis and/or Anything Goes tickets at Gammage
7. Gift cards for Tia Rosa's, Sassy's Cafe, Charming Charlie's, Home Depot
8. Table saw
9. Compound miter saw
10. Leaf blower - that backpack kind that you control with your arm like landscapers have
11. Kids' bathroom, and downstairs bathroom, painted
12. Lighting for Master Bathroom 13. A NEW CAR 14. Yellow placemats for my kitchen table
15. Coordinating seat cushions for my kitchen chairs
16. New light fixtures and faucets for my bathrooms
Five of these Giagni Pearl faucets would be fine, and even better if I didn't have to install them myself:
18. a Dyson vacuum cleaner, or actually, just any vacuum cleaner.
19. Shutters in the loft
20. Countertops & new flooring for my office...tee hee hee
9.10.2012
My goals.
okay, for the record, I am able to do many things. However, I am unable to do all of the following simultaneously.
1. Keep 4000 square feet cleaned, picked up, dusted, vacuumed, with bathrooms sanitized and laundry and dishes done all at the same time.
2. Work and make a significant contribution to our household income.
3. Make sure three kids accomplish their chores, practice music, do their homework, bathe, brush their teeth twice a day and not kill each other on a daily basis.
4. Do my calling, go visiting teaching, attend the temple and read my scriptures. Gardening? Indexing? Are you kidding me?
5. Work out daily and cook healthy meals, and keep my children from eating junk.
6. Prepare for, pay for and then taxi my children to their various activities... piano lessons, gymnastics, orchestra, Let's Play Music class, synchronized swimming, activity days, library, school events...
7. (Smart) shop for the things we need and take advantage of sales and coupons.
8. Spend quality time once in a while with my children, my husband, my library books, and ASU's football team.
9. Home improvement projects.
10. Keep in touch with old and new friends and offer service.
11. Journaling, Scrapbooking, etc.
Ummmm..... how about you?
1. Keep 4000 square feet cleaned, picked up, dusted, vacuumed, with bathrooms sanitized and laundry and dishes done all at the same time.
2. Work and make a significant contribution to our household income.
3. Make sure three kids accomplish their chores, practice music, do their homework, bathe, brush their teeth twice a day and not kill each other on a daily basis.
4. Do my calling, go visiting teaching, attend the temple and read my scriptures. Gardening? Indexing? Are you kidding me?
5. Work out daily and cook healthy meals, and keep my children from eating junk.
6. Prepare for, pay for and then taxi my children to their various activities... piano lessons, gymnastics, orchestra, Let's Play Music class, synchronized swimming, activity days, library, school events...
7. (Smart) shop for the things we need and take advantage of sales and coupons.
8. Spend quality time once in a while with my children, my husband, my library books, and ASU's football team.
9. Home improvement projects.
10. Keep in touch with old and new friends and offer service.
11. Journaling, Scrapbooking, etc.
Ummmm..... how about you?
8.23.2012
Update.
JULY:
We spent a low-key lovely & cool fourth of July at home painting our master bathroom (ran out of paint and it's STILL not done, sigh) and then going over to swim/bbq with family. We didn't even watch fireworks, lame.
I came down with yet another sore throat, and then had a bad reaction to a facial that week as well, so spent several days uncomfortably sick ON TOP of burns and fever blisters all over my chin too... it was not awesome.
We spent the rest of the month running around between piano lessons and swim lessons and swim meets and synchronized swimming practices and qualifying meets and and..... man, I'm going to start ranking the end of swimming events in July right up there with the end of school events in May in terms of keeping us busy! Here's A in her synchro outfits & makeup... we had to "Knox" her hair into a bun for the performances, which entailed mixing that unflavored gelatin stuff you use to make jam out of into a SUPER thick gel and then painting it on her hair... once it dries it's completely stiff and won't come out in cold water... Crazy. A HATED it. Middle photo is her with her Duo partner Rebecca.
M tried out a little synchro workshop one Saturday and now has the bug... she may be doing a year-round thing with the Arizona Aqua Stars. Stay tuned to see if she stays interested and I can get it all worked out...
N and I were able to go see Singin' in the Rain (my favorite movie ever ever) in a theater... so totally amazing awesome. I was in a good mood for days afterward. Thanks to Grandma and Poppy who melted out at a swim meet in our place so we could go.
SIDENOTE: We bought these super fun deals called "pogo passes" and have been able to do a ton of stuff so far... I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT - CHECK IT OUT AT POGOPASS.COM. We took the kids to Big Surf and to a Rattlers game.
The game was too loud and too late for them so they didn't want to go again, but I can say that N and I are officially HOOKED on arena football games! We used our pogo passes and went the next two weeks! For free! SO MUCH FUN. Total opposite of a baseball game, lol. High energy, fast paced, high scoring, lots of gimmicks, super exciting. No one EVER leaves a game early because the whole thing can change in a second! It's awesome. The Rattlers ended up as National Champions, by the way... we got to see all three of their playoff games here in Phoenix. Call it white trash football if you will... but don't knock it til you try it!!! Also was fun because I got to hang out with the lovely Janna at the games too! Don't mind my hair... I'm growing it out and it always looks like death.
A whirlwind trip to California brought us to the end of July. We alternated two days at Disney and two days at Newport beach, (necessary to recover from Disney days). So much fun. We had a 2-bedroom suite at our resort and were able to spread out and enjoy the space.
D-land: Both the girls got chosen (thank goodness) to be Jedis in the Jedi training show
. Next time I'm hoping J will want to do it! My favorite quote from one of the Jedi cast members to M, as she's standing in front of Darth Vader, was "Keep smiling. He HATES THAT!" Super funny. By the way they've redone Star Tours and it's great! We utilized our fast passes well and did everything and went ALL day long, even stuck it out for the Fantasmic light show too. J was a little concerned in some of the rides, don't want to say "scared" but he held on to me tight during Pirates, the Haunted Mansion, and Space Mountain. His quote of the day was "I want to grow up first before I go on that ride again". Cutie. Love him.
California Adventure was great, except for the whole losing-A-for-30-minutes-thing. California Screamin' and Tower of Terror were once again hits! Our favorite ride on the trip was Radiator Springs Racers... the big new ride in Cars Land. So much fun, and worth all the hype, surprisingly. All three of the kiddos were into their lanyards and getting PINS. Sheesh. I think M could look at pins in pin shops all day long. Oh wait, she did. We also got J his first set of ears. I love that he chose to go with the classic blue. :) The girls and I hit the "Mad T" concert (crazy Disney-esque costumed music group doing covers of a bunch of pop songs... they were actually really good and the girls LOVED it. Here is J in his 3-D glasses for Star Tours, and his newly acquired ears and lanyard!
Newport: Man, how I love this beach, We don't even try to go any other beach because I know it would just be disappointing. The weather was a little cold for me to get in the water, but I totally prefer to lounge on the sand and sleep/read anyway. Kids had fun boogie boarding and digging for sand crabs. Nick was in charge of getting dinner one evening on the beach...and he came back with pizza and salad.... ummm, can you say NOT beach friendly, especially with the wind blowing? Kids liked it anyway.
August:
Home again, home again... I threw myself into a huge vinyl order once we got back in town, and cranked out nearly 75 signs for a school in Texas in less than a week. Shipped them out and was kicking myself that I hadn't charged a little more... and then I got a dreaded email from the principal saying that most of the signs had arrived damaged... seems that even though I thought I had them wrapped up and cushioned REALLY well, the screws on the back of each one scratched the vinyl on the next one. UGH. I re-did almost 50 signs and sent the last of them replacements a few days ago. I'm trying to repeat the phrase "learning experience" over and over and over again so I don't get sick about it again.
We used our Pogo passes once again and all went to Jump Street for an FHE a couple of weeks ago... TOTALLY AWESOME. I swear I want a membership there instead of at my gym, my abs got a WORKOUT that night! N and Dave Meadows played dodgeball with the kids for a good 45 minutes. He was as sweaty and gross as he is when playing basketball... I think we all had a great time.
Also before school started we traded up to this beauty. I was kind of sad to see my old piano go, I've had it my whole life! Lighting is bad because it's in front of the window, but you'll just have to trust me that it's super pretty! Girls are getting better and better at the piano, and I love the richness of the sound of our new one.
SCHOOL STARTED! Yippee!!
This little guy has taken it all in stride, having to wear pants and real shoes everyday, sitting in a desk, taking his lunch... I love it. He hasn't complained once and seems to like it a lot. Even when the bus takes FOREVER to get home sometimes. No discipline issues I've heard of either... I'm not even sure if his teacher does the whole color-system thing anyway. She's just so "teachery" I can't stand it. It's awesome.
Speaking of music and new stuff, J started a "Let's Play Music" class a couple of weeks ago and is LOVING it. We have a super cute teacher in my ward. "Miss Jenni" is amazing.
I am quite enjoying having some peace and quiet to myself. Doing lots of projects... vinyl orders, hosting bridal showers, reading books, going to lunch... lol. I am doing things like cleaning and laundry too, I promise. Planning on going to a D-backs game tomorrow night (again, thanks pogo pass!) and looking forward to ASU FOOTBALL STARTING NEXT WEEK! YESSSSS!!!! GO DEVILS!
We spent a low-key lovely & cool fourth of July at home painting our master bathroom (ran out of paint and it's STILL not done, sigh) and then going over to swim/bbq with family. We didn't even watch fireworks, lame.
I came down with yet another sore throat, and then had a bad reaction to a facial that week as well, so spent several days uncomfortably sick ON TOP of burns and fever blisters all over my chin too... it was not awesome.
We spent the rest of the month running around between piano lessons and swim lessons and swim meets and synchronized swimming practices and qualifying meets and and..... man, I'm going to start ranking the end of swimming events in July right up there with the end of school events in May in terms of keeping us busy! Here's A in her synchro outfits & makeup... we had to "Knox" her hair into a bun for the performances, which entailed mixing that unflavored gelatin stuff you use to make jam out of into a SUPER thick gel and then painting it on her hair... once it dries it's completely stiff and won't come out in cold water... Crazy. A HATED it. Middle photo is her with her Duo partner Rebecca.
M tried out a little synchro workshop one Saturday and now has the bug... she may be doing a year-round thing with the Arizona Aqua Stars. Stay tuned to see if she stays interested and I can get it all worked out...
N and I were able to go see Singin' in the Rain (my favorite movie ever ever) in a theater... so totally amazing awesome. I was in a good mood for days afterward. Thanks to Grandma and Poppy who melted out at a swim meet in our place so we could go.
SIDENOTE: We bought these super fun deals called "pogo passes" and have been able to do a ton of stuff so far... I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT - CHECK IT OUT AT POGOPASS.COM. We took the kids to Big Surf and to a Rattlers game.
The game was too loud and too late for them so they didn't want to go again, but I can say that N and I are officially HOOKED on arena football games! We used our pogo passes and went the next two weeks! For free! SO MUCH FUN. Total opposite of a baseball game, lol. High energy, fast paced, high scoring, lots of gimmicks, super exciting. No one EVER leaves a game early because the whole thing can change in a second! It's awesome. The Rattlers ended up as National Champions, by the way... we got to see all three of their playoff games here in Phoenix. Call it white trash football if you will... but don't knock it til you try it!!! Also was fun because I got to hang out with the lovely Janna at the games too! Don't mind my hair... I'm growing it out and it always looks like death.
D-land: Both the girls got chosen (thank goodness) to be Jedis in the Jedi training show
. Next time I'm hoping J will want to do it! My favorite quote from one of the Jedi cast members to M, as she's standing in front of Darth Vader, was "Keep smiling. He HATES THAT!" Super funny. By the way they've redone Star Tours and it's great! We utilized our fast passes well and did everything and went ALL day long, even stuck it out for the Fantasmic light show too. J was a little concerned in some of the rides, don't want to say "scared" but he held on to me tight during Pirates, the Haunted Mansion, and Space Mountain. His quote of the day was "I want to grow up first before I go on that ride again". Cutie. Love him.
California Adventure was great, except for the whole losing-A-for-30-minutes-thing. California Screamin' and Tower of Terror were once again hits! Our favorite ride on the trip was Radiator Springs Racers... the big new ride in Cars Land. So much fun, and worth all the hype, surprisingly. All three of the kiddos were into their lanyards and getting PINS. Sheesh. I think M could look at pins in pin shops all day long. Oh wait, she did. We also got J his first set of ears. I love that he chose to go with the classic blue. :) The girls and I hit the "Mad T" concert (crazy Disney-esque costumed music group doing covers of a bunch of pop songs... they were actually really good and the girls LOVED it. Here is J in his 3-D glasses for Star Tours, and his newly acquired ears and lanyard!
Newport: Man, how I love this beach, We don't even try to go any other beach because I know it would just be disappointing. The weather was a little cold for me to get in the water, but I totally prefer to lounge on the sand and sleep/read anyway. Kids had fun boogie boarding and digging for sand crabs. Nick was in charge of getting dinner one evening on the beach...and he came back with pizza and salad.... ummm, can you say NOT beach friendly, especially with the wind blowing? Kids liked it anyway.
August:
Home again, home again... I threw myself into a huge vinyl order once we got back in town, and cranked out nearly 75 signs for a school in Texas in less than a week. Shipped them out and was kicking myself that I hadn't charged a little more... and then I got a dreaded email from the principal saying that most of the signs had arrived damaged... seems that even though I thought I had them wrapped up and cushioned REALLY well, the screws on the back of each one scratched the vinyl on the next one. UGH. I re-did almost 50 signs and sent the last of them replacements a few days ago. I'm trying to repeat the phrase "learning experience" over and over and over again so I don't get sick about it again.
We used our Pogo passes once again and all went to Jump Street for an FHE a couple of weeks ago... TOTALLY AWESOME. I swear I want a membership there instead of at my gym, my abs got a WORKOUT that night! N and Dave Meadows played dodgeball with the kids for a good 45 minutes. He was as sweaty and gross as he is when playing basketball... I think we all had a great time.
Also before school started we traded up to this beauty. I was kind of sad to see my old piano go, I've had it my whole life! Lighting is bad because it's in front of the window, but you'll just have to trust me that it's super pretty! Girls are getting better and better at the piano, and I love the richness of the sound of our new one.
Speaking of music and new stuff, J started a "Let's Play Music" class a couple of weeks ago and is LOVING it. We have a super cute teacher in my ward. "Miss Jenni" is amazing.
I am quite enjoying having some peace and quiet to myself. Doing lots of projects... vinyl orders, hosting bridal showers, reading books, going to lunch... lol. I am doing things like cleaning and laundry too, I promise. Planning on going to a D-backs game tomorrow night (again, thanks pogo pass!) and looking forward to ASU FOOTBALL STARTING NEXT WEEK! YESSSSS!!!! GO DEVILS!
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