Confessions of a Semi-Normal Mom

Foster Care -- Euphoria

2012-01-28T20:05:00.000-08:00

Euphoria: a mental and emotional condition in which a person experiences intense feelings of well being, elation, happiness, ecstasy, excitement and joy.

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. Roy and I have spent the past month and a half prepping out home and family for the various home studies that we have been having in preparation for our upcoming arrival of our foster child(ren). It took a full month and a half to get ready for this last one.

What did we have to do? Name something that could possibly hurt/injure/make a child sick in -any- way shape or form and we had to childproof for it. We had a seven page long typed check list we had to comply to. However, I am not really complaining. We knew going in that this would come, and I kinda welcomed it as a step along the way to our goal.

Just to name a few:

Gates at the top and the bottom of the stairs = holes in my walls.

Outlet covers on -every- outlet. Even the ones a kid can't get to.

Cord windups on -every- window that has blinds.

Locks on our freezer.

All sorts of things locked up. Ridiculously expensive ($5 per lock!) Tot-Loc magnetic adult-proof locks on many cupboards and drawers (more holes in my cupboards) to house the long list of things that have to be locked away (it was either the expensive locks or purchase locking boxes for everything), such as:

Sharp stuff. Things like:
scissors
knives
pocket knives
peelers
apple cutters
pocket knives
Fingernail clippers
Anything that says keep out of reach of children. Things like:
toothpaste
lotions
Nivea Chapstick (really?)
nail polish remover
all medicines
all cleaning products
candles
baby stuff (lotions, shampoos, etc.)
sunscreen
bug spray
face cleanser
hand sanitzer
hair care products
various first aid treatment stuff
We had to purchase a big ol' metal locking cabinet for the garage to house the:
fertilizers
rodent/weed/bug poison
paint
more sharp stuff
extra cleaning supplies
and
all sorts of stuff in the garage that could be hazardous

Water heater between 105-120 degrees. No more scalding showers for Roy.

Earthquake straps (more holes in my walls) on tall furniture (something we should have on anyway seeing as we live in earthquake land).

Bedroom prepped with a bed and an empty dresser. That was feat in and of itself. The extra bedroom was a craft/storage room and was just full of stuff. It took weeks to clear it out and figure out where all the stuff needed to go. Everything is now all pretty and organized and all that stuff has a new home. Yay!

Window clings on the glass sliding door -- so that no one walks into it (yeah, like that is going to happen -- the glass only stays clean for a few minutes after I clean it -- you can definitely tell that it is there).

An extensive first aid kit.

I could go on and on, but I won't. You get the idea. The social worker put it this way. Imagine Thing One and Thing Two from the story "The Cat in the Hat". Pretend they are in your house. Yeah. That is what we have to prepare for.

So, yesterday was the big day. Our social worker came over for our third home study. The big one. The one where she goes over THE checklist. Roy and I really had worked hard so that we would pass it the first time. We did. She was surprised how well we complied, and how we had met (and exceeded) every requirement. She stated that she almost always has to schedule and additional visit, but that we passed without a hitch. We now officially meet the standards set by LA county. All we have left now it to finish our last two all day long classes and then we will be certified. Woo hoo!

Then we just have to wait for the phone call. Who knows when that will come.

Now I am super anxious. I wasn't before. I have had something to keep me busy for the past month and a half. I have continually had a checklist. I have been organizing and cleaning. There has always been something to do to get ready. Now we are. So therein lies the problem. I am done with the checklist. Now I am anxious. I worry. I ponder the state of the child(ren) at the moment. Are they safe? Cold? Hungry? Hurt?

I get sick just thinking about it.

The last class we had was pretty hard. We covered a lot of physical and sexual abuse stuff. That is normally a difficult topic. It was way worse watching videos and discussing it in detail. I cried a good portion of the way home. Hard stuff. It is hard to put ourselves in their shoes. In a way, I don't want to know the horrible things they are suffering through. I know that I need to so that I can help them grieve/cope/adapt. I just have such a hard time with the fact that someone can neglect/abuse a child in that way.

I pray for he/she/them daily. I pray they had a hot meal tonight. That they had somewhere to sleep. That their mom wasn't high. That their dad wasn't drunk and decided to not do things he may be tempted to do.

I just keep reminding myself that in order to make my family more complete, omeone elses has to be ripped apart. Not a pretty thing. I wish it didn't have to be that way.

Two weeks until certification.

Excited.

Nervous,

Worried.

Anxious.

Giddy with the prospect.

Scared of what behaviors/problems may be attached.

Hoping that the time passes quickly.

Hoping even more that we get a placement sooner rather than a few months later.

Organizing

2012-01-14T07:04:00.000-08:00

I have spent the last week sleeping, breathing, eating, and organizing. Yup. Lots of it. Our house is getting a complete overhaul so that we can make room for our foster kiddos.

It started out with taking the extra bedroom upstairs and emptying it out to get it ready for a foster child or two. All the stuff (mostly craft stuff and things that were in storage because we didn't have anywhere else to put them) ended up in our room. We had a nice clean room, but then our bedroom was a disaster.
Then entered the next phase -- redo our room. Well, mainly my walk in closet -- to be a craft storage facility. It took a week working on it every day. Not fun. It is better now, but it still needs work.
The boy's room. Tyler & Nathan share a room, but not the storage. We have kept Ty's clothes in the extra room all this time. Yeah, we were just lazy and didn't want to deal with combining their stuff. Yesterday they got nice shelves for their closet and today Ty's stuff should be all moved in.
The computer/office area was a disaster. There was stuff everywhere. Paperwork, things to ebay, just junk. It is all better now.
Roy spend a good chunk of his day yesterday assembling a large metal locking storage cabinet for the garage so we can put all of our hazardous/poisonous/keep our of reach of children garage stuff in it. Today it will get loaded up and then we will have our second car in the garage. Yeah!

We still have so many more things to clean/organize/install before our next homestudy on Monday. While I work on organizing, Roy has been running around with a drill acting as an installation man.

Assembling the large metal locking cabinet
Installing two child safety gates (lots of holes in my walls -- no fun)
Tot-lok child safety locks on cupboards = holes in my cupboards = not a happy mom. We intentionally did not install locks on our cupboards with Ty because I didn't want to drill them. Oh, the irony.
Much more to come. . .

Christmas Newsletter 2011

2011-12-23T10:06:00.001-08:00

It is the Christmas season. Life is crazy. Busy. Hectic. Nutso. The big guy comes in two days (so soon?). Seeing as Roy and I have oodles of free time on our hands, we had the kids write our annual Christmas letter this year. We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year (wait, isn't there a song that states that?).

Love,

The Gladden Family

Roy, Angel, Nathan, Megan & Tyler

(click the thumbnail for a larger image)

On Fostering

2011-12-08T06:16:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was a big day for us. After trying to conceive for many years, we realized that it just wasn't going to happen for us in the natural way. We considered infertility. That just didn't feel right for us. We looked into adoption time, and time again. We actually had decided to do it about 4-5 months ago, got into the process, and then had to back out because we did not meet the qualifications from LDS family services. We looked into fostering to adopt, and that just looked downright scary. We then threw ourselves into finding our own birth mother (reduces the cost dramatically), but after a while that didn't feel right either.

Then, a few months ago, Roy and I felt very strongly that fostering was the correct path for us to travel to find another child. There was no more doubt; no more fear. We have jumped into this full force, and have been working on paperwork and preparing ourselves. The kids are beyond excited. They just can't wait. We spend a good portion of Tuesday cleaning house for our first visit with our social worker who would be doing our home studies. The kids happily helped out with the chores (now why can't they normally do that?). A few minutes after I put Ty down to bed, I heard him frantically calling my name. I rushed into his room to find out what was wrong. He was completely panicked because there were four books on his floor that did not end up in his book bin. He was terrified that "the lady" would see his messy room and not "let us adopt". I calmed his fears and took care of his books. It was such a tender sweet moment.

Yesterday I was a complete mess all day. I wasn't worried about meeting this social worker, or about not meeting qualifications, I was just anxious. I paced the entire day and puttered around decluttering. The meeting went swimmingly well, and the few worries that I had about this whole thing were completely put at ease. The hoops that we have to jump through are not too bad, and things are moving forward quite quickly. If all goes well, we should be ready for a placement mid-February.

I seriously can't wait.

On teeth

2011-12-08T06:02:00.000-08:00

Ty is such a funny little guy. The other day he lost a tooth, and for the second time in a row, he lost it. Yup, lost his lost tooth. Again. In the same place he lost it last time. Apparently the carpet by our computer likes to eat teeth. So, he wrote a cute letter to the tooth fairy and posted it outside his room. Roy and I went to bed that night, and forgot to play tooth fairy. Oops. I woke early the next morning (big surprise there) and remembered our parental duty. I grabbed a flashlight and went back into our bedroom and dug through Roy's drawer until I found the last of our stash of golden dollars (do you have any idea how hard those are to find?). I tiptoed into his room to sneak it under his pillow, but he was already awake. Crap. I noticed that he was in his regular place in his bed, all hunkered down and bundled up at the foot of his bed. I climbed up his ladder to his bunk, and inconspicuously set down the coin where his head was when he had gone to sleep the previous evening. I asked him what was wrong, and of course, he was heart broken that the tooth fairy had not come. I simply smiled and pointed to the head of his bed, and said, "You mean this one? You must have moved after the tooth fairy visited you last night." There was much squealing and rejoicing, and I felt super relieved to have pulled that one off. At least I didn't have to pull the let's-look-behind-your-bed-cuz-it-might-have-fallen-off fakeout that we did with Nathan a few times. *sigh*

Thanksgiving circa 2011

2011-12-08T05:34:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is an interesting holiday for us. We don't travel to visit family (we do that over Christmas), so we usually celebrate Thanksgiving:

A) by ourselves
B) with another family or two who are lacking family
C) with one of my siblings or parents who has decided to come visit over the holiday

This year was amazing. We decided to invite my entire family over for the weekend. We really wanted everyone there, but thing didn't work out that way. The folks who decided to come visit were: my parents, my sister and her family, and my brother and his family. That made 5+2+5+6 folks which = 18. All in my house. Camped out everywhere. It was like a gigantic family sleepover. It was awesome. I know that my family thought that they were putting us out, and that we couldn't wait for them to leave. SO not the case. We loved every minute of it.

Stuff we did:
Played lots of games
Hit the beach (it wasreally vacant -- it was like the locals thought it was too cold or something. . . )
Baked all day -- love to cook!
A few guys went to our annual Turkey Bowl
Ate super yummy food (my turkey was awesome -- amazingly delicious)
Made way too much stuffing (The teenage boys kept telling me I wasn't making enough, and I foolishly listened. I made two 12x18 cookie sheets full stuffed 4" high. It was enough. We only went through 1/4 of it on Turkey day, and then ate the leftovers for many, many, many more meals).
Spent so much fun time together

Roy and I want to do this every year now -- with a different holiday each time. Next year we are inviting everyone over for the week over New Year's. So -- siblings of mine -- ya hear that? Mark those calendars!

Not sleeping

2011-11-19T00:33:00.000-08:00

Yeah, it is 12:33 AM. Why am I awake? 'Cuz it is the only time I can work on a particular project without letting anyone else in the house know what I am doing. The up side? I just finished -- yay for me! The down side? My internal clock has been waking me at 4:30 AM lately. I am seriously considering not going to bed, but I think that would not bode well with the fact I have a super full day tomorrow full of soccer games and a wedding cake.

*sigh*

Off to bed I go.

Maybe.

Chasing Merit Badges

2011-11-15T04:55:00.000-08:00

Nathan has reached the ripe old age of 12. With that comes being a full fledged scout. He is now a first class and is moving forward with the whole merit badge thing. Roy and I both want him to get to his Eagle sooner than later -- because if he puts it off until after he is 16 he will be in college (yeah, like he will have time for it then). So, we are chasing merit badges.

He has been 12 for a month and a half, and he has earned four so far, with a few more in the works. He has been going to Merit Badge Midways and classes that have been offered by our Stake. We are continually reminding him to finish his requirements, and if he is ever bored, I am throwing his Merit Badge binder at him. Is he resentful, not at all, and he is having a good time. He is learning a lot of responsibility, and about the value of following something through. I am excited for him, and more so, for the fact that Roy is in the scouting program and that they can do this together (*man grunt inserted here*). Here's to me hanging in there!

Catchin' Up . . .

2011-11-12T20:07:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I have a problem finding time to blog. Actually, I have a problem finding time. Where does it all go anyway? Life is a whirlwind. Time flies. Kids grow up. It seems like time passes as quickly as sand passing through my fingers -- I try and I try to get a grasp on things and it still slides through. *sigh*

Anyway, what has been going on? Here is the past few months in a nutshell . . .

School Year 2011-12
Nathan -- 8th Grade at the Albert Einstein Academy. Love it there. So much. Can't say enough good things about this charter school. Megan pines every day that she wants to go there too. She has to wait two more years. Nathan is flourishing there. They push hard and don't let him get by with any slack. He is maturing socially (FINALLY!) because of the age difference between his peers (meaning -- he has to act more mature because he is around older kids).

Megan -- 5th Grade at home. She has two more years at home with me until she will begin at Albert Einstein with Nathan. She is doing so well and loves school. Her favorite subject is history -- I use it as bribery and I have to make her put those lessons away to do other subjects.

Tyler -- 1st grade at James Foster Elementary. He is with the same teacher as last year, which is wonderful. It is a K/1 split, and the teacher loops all the kids so she has them two years. She knew Ty and all his strengths and weaknesses from day one. Love it. He is super happy there and is doing well.

Camping
Camping at the beach = happiness. We love it. Tyler finally is getting the hang of body boarding. He is doing really well. It was super fun watching all four of my kids boarding in the water at the same time together.

Nathan's 12th B-day
He is 12 now. Yikes. He is now a sacrament passing, fast offering collecting, priesthood holder. So crazy. He is growing up so fast. I do mean up. Note the height difference in the photo below . . . yikes. Where has the time gone? His b-day was pretty low effort -- he had a friend over and they went to the Griffith Observatory and then he spent the night. Not a huge hoopla like in previous years. He was delighted.

For his birthday he got a super pricey present -- braces. They were put on two days before his big 1-2. He was super excited . . . kinda. I think they look good on him -- he looks a lot more grown up. I am happy that he has gotten started early . . . that way he will be done early. The most expensive present. Ever. I really hope they are worth it. In my opinion, they already are. He has struggled with biting his nails since he was two years old. I really haven't cut his nails since he was a toddler. He knew that he couldn't bite his nails with braces (nothing hard, chewy, or sticky). Today was a monumental occasion. I cut -all- of his nails. It was a wonderful day.

Megan's 10th B-day
Mrs. I-am-obsessed-with-Harry-Potter had a Harry Potter party (big surprise there). It was loads of fun, complete with potions class (dry ice experiments), astronomy class (Roy's telescope came in quite handy), and other fun classes. The girls were sorted and ate all sorts of treats while watching Harry Potter 3: licorice wands (chocolate dipped licorice), cockroach clusters (chocolate clusters of chow mein noodles) , sugar mice (sculpted from fondant), and gillyweed (cooked spinach -- most of the girls chickened out on that one). They all went home with a chocolate frog (I ordered the mold online and made boxes just like the movie). The highlight of the evening was the cake. It was one of my all time favorites that I have ever made. Really. I reproduced the Monster Book of Monsters. It was awesome. It has been a month since I made it and I still feel so proud. :)

Soccer
Two kids in soccer = three nights of practices an week and two games on Saturday. I need to make a happy paper chain countdown calendar to celebrate each week as we make it through. I am already burned out and we have another month. It's all about the kids. . . right?

Happy Birthday to me
I'm 34? Wow. Enough on that.

Halloween circa 2011
Let's see. . .
Nathan was mad scientist (borrowed a lab coat and a wig from a friend who is a forensic scientist). He loved it and had a great time dressing up. For the first time he went out on Halloween without us -- with a friend. I was kinda bummed, but he is 12 after all. Time to grow up.

Megan (aka Mrs. I-am-obsessed-with-Harry-Potter) was Hermione Granger, for a while. The day before Halloween she changed her mind and decided that she was the daughter of Hermione and Ron Weasley. So funny. She was waving her wand around casting spells all night long. She even accidentally hit a few kids. Oops.

Tyler had the most awesome costume ever. It took a long time to construct, but all the layers of hot glue, primer and paint were worth it. He got to be his favorite toy -- a lego. He loved getting comments from *everyone*. He was even keeping track on Halloween night -- he lost count after 25 folks said something. This year was a big milestone for him -- he actually went trick-or-treating. In previous years we took him out while it was still light outside because he had such a fear of the dark and all the spooky decorations. This year he stayed out until about 8:30. He was so torn -- he was completely exhausted and wanted to go home, but he wanted more candy -so- bad. He tried walking from house to house, but he just couldn't do it anymore. It was so cute to see him dragging himself along out of pure desire for sugar.

Well, that is the past few months in a nutshell. More to come later as I somehow find time to get on the computer. . . (yeah, right).

Peanut butter vs. Tyler

2011-10-19T10:43:00.000-07:00

Tyler is a funny little six year old. He has major food aversions. Basically, anything mixed with anything else is a big no-no in his book. He likes the food plain with -nothing- else, no sauces and definitely nothing mixed up (such as a casserole). He is also picky about textures, and trying something new is completely fear inducing. He has complete fits about it. We enforce the "one-bite-rule" at dinner -- that he has to have one bite of everything, and then he can have a piece of fruit or a hard boiled egg. It usually takes an eternity for him to get through it, and there is usually crying along the way.

He is also a creature of habit. He really does not like change. There was a long time that he could wear the same outfit to church each Sunday. Same suit. Same tie. No change. I realized not long ago that he needed to start mixing it up, because he was getting bigger, and the suit wasn't. There was crying. Tantrums. Screaming. Bribery. Complete and utter misery. The M&M's finally won the battle and he -tried on- a different pair of church pants. He will wear them now occasionally, but he still wears his go-to outfit of his black pinstriped suit with a gray zip-tie 90% of the time. M&M's have to come fight the battle for me if I want the tan pants.

So, since he was in preschool two years ago, he has only eaten one kind of sandwich. One. No, not a PB&J. A colby-jack and jam sandwich. He used to prefer cheddar, but now it has morphed into a colby-jack preference and nothing else will do. He finally will tolerate other types of jam besides strawberry, which is a blessing. How did this come to pass? Two years ago, he was at a friend's house playing. The mom was making lunch, and she asked what he wanted. He thought about it, and proclaimed that he wanted cheese and jam. She was perplexed, but made it for him anyway. I chatted with her later and we had a good laugh about it. I thought that was the end of that. Except he wanted it again, and again. That has been the only sandwich he will eat since then.

Nope. No peanut butter. He hates the stuff with a vengeance. I dunno if it is the texture, or the taste, but he has never liked it. It has made me crazy. Roy and I both have a PB addiction problem. Nathan has his own personal jar that he purchased. All four of us would be happy with a PBJ (ok, and PB and banana for me) for lunch every day for the rest of our lives. Not him. He is perfectly content with his jam and cheese (which is really not so tasty by the way -- I found that out from personal experience).

A few weeks ago I decided that I was done with the whole thing. I started making putting the sticky stuff in baked goods. Smoothies. Cookies. I have been letting him know -- especially when he likes it. This morning I was making him a smoothie for breakfast. I grabbed the jar and put a spoonful in. I looked at him and told him to lick the spoon. You would have thought I was asking him to eat bugs. I gave him a pleading look, and miraculously, he reached out his little finger to the spoon, and touched it to his tongue. He eyes grew wide. I told him to lick the spoon. He was beyond freaked out, but I coached him through it (it took a long while). He smiled and said he needed some milk. I gave him his smoothie and he happily went to go drink it. I proceeded to make him the pinnacle of all sandwiches -- the peanut butter and honey. I cut off a small piece and walked over to him. He saw what I had and about started gagging and crying. I begged and pleaded. I told him if he didn't like it I would make him his old standby for lunch. He must have been in a good mood, because he took the bite. Miracles do happen.

He now has a PB&H sandwich in his lunch today. I couldn't be prouder. One of life's little milestones.

Adoption Help for my Family -- Please Read!

2011-09-23T21:45:00.001-07:00

I am posting this to you under unusual circumstances. My husband and I felt that we should cast a wide net to get the kind of help we need.

You see, we've been trying for years to have another child, with no success, and
now we're looking into adopting a child. We can't afford a private or an
international adoption, and LDS Family Services won't help us because we already
have three biological children. Because of this, we are attempting to locate our own birth mother.

So, please, if you know of anybody who is pregnant who would be willing to place
their baby with our family for adoption, please let us know immediately. We've
felt for a long time that our family just isn't "complete", which is why we're
doing this. We recognize what an unusual request this is, and we hope you
recognize what a humbling experience this is for us to have to ask for this kind
of help.

We've put together a blog that you can view at http://royandangel.blogspot.com,
where a birth-mother can learn more about our family.

If you know of anybody, please let us know right away. We can be emailed
specifically on this topic at royandangel@yahoo.com. If you do not know of
anybody, then if you could re-post this or facebook it to others who might, we would
greatly appreciate it!

We thank you for any help you can provide!

I hate earthquakes

2011-09-01T14:03:00.001-07:00

4.2 earthquake -- epicenter here in my hometown. There's a whole lotta shakin' goin' on. Tyler didn't care. Megan freaked and leaped under her desk.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/Quakes/ci11001205.php

Catchy Tune

2011-08-10T06:44:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I was at Scooter's Jungle with the kids (a playplace with big 'ol inflatable slides, bouncy houses, zip lines and such). A Daughtry song came on, and Tyler perked up and ran over to me as fast as his little legs could carry him. He announced to me, "Daddy has this song in his car!". I giggled and told him he was correct. He was so proud of himself for that short moment, and then he zipped away.

Latest Cake

2011-08-01T10:15:00.001-07:00

Guess what I did this weekend? I haven't done a wedding cake in a little while, and it was WONDERFUL to break out all my tools and get creative again. Everything went off without a hitch, unless you count one of the tiers sliding across the van while Roy and I were driving to deliver it. There was minimal damage and I was able to repair it without problem. Anyone else getting hitched and need a cake?

BTW, I walked away from my messy area where I had been leveling and assembling the cakes (it gets crumbs -everywhere-) and turned around to see this:

Still here. . .

2011-07-23T17:02:00.000-07:00

Oh blogging, how I miss thee. I spend my days chasing children during these summer months. I have about a gazillion things in my head I want to post about. They will just have to stay in my head a bit longer. In the meantime, I am playing with my kids and enjoying every minute of summer that I have with them before I have to send them away again (*sniff*) once school starts.

End of the school year 2010-2011

2011-06-12T16:43:00.000-07:00

School is out. I am still having a hard time wrapping my brain around that one. It doesn't feel like summer break. It hasn't really hit me that I get the kids home for the next 9 weeks. I am super excited to have this time with them to go play and be together. It is just weird because another school year flew by, and I didn't haven't had any closure yet.

Anyway, here is my wrap up for the 2010-2011 school year. We had a super tumultuous year. Big time. The kids were jerked around and had to deal with lots of changes, but they all ended up in the best place for them academically and all are flourishing. It just took a bit of a mess to get them there. Here is the nutshell version of what they've been dragged through:

We started off the year off at SCVi -- a nearby charter school. We had been delighted to finally get in. We were also delighted to get out. Scary, scary, scary. Megan and Ty were transferred back to their old public school, but I had Nathan stay there because he was on a wait list for the Albert Einstein Academy (AEA), another charter school that I had heard glowing and wonderful things about (he would go off the top of the wait list if he was trying to get in from the Saugus School District). In January we finally got a call that there was an opening. Megan was pulled from public school in February so I could home school her (more below). Now each child is learning at a different location -- sometimes I feel crazy running around everywhere for drop-offs/pick-ups, but they are all flourishing and are happy where they are, so it is worth it.

Nathan (6th/7th Grade)
The poor guy has had to deal with so much this year. He was bullied relentlessly at SCVi. Horribly. He started off in sixth grade, and was accelerated to 7th. He has been forced to mature. How has he coped with all of this? Marvelously. When he was being bullied he stayed strong. It made him stronger. He drew closer to me and the Lord. I see it as a refining fire. It was hard for him to skip 6th grade -- socially (he was the youngest in the grade anyway, now he is 1-2 years younger than his peers). Academically, he is doing fine. He finally is being challenged and he isn't bored anymore. Socially, he was immature for his age, which could have been a recipe for disaster moving him up to 7th grade. However, it has been a blessing for him. He is growing up. He is watching his peers and maturing. Finally. Thank heavens. The workload at the school has been an adjustment for him. He was used to homeschooling (no homework), and then he was at SCVi (no homework again), and then to AEA (several hours a night). It hit him like a ton of bricks, and he has had to adjust and throw it into high gear. It was super hard at first, but he is developing good study skills and is becoming a good student. I am proud of him and I am so happy to see all the areas that he has grown in this year.

Megan (4th grade)
Megan has been jerked around also. Pulling her and and bringing her home has been such a blessing for her. She had so many gaps in her knowledge from her time at SCVi, that she was just lost when I put her back in public school. Her teacher made no effort to catch her up, and she was just unhappy. When I pulled her in February, I decided to start at the beginning of her 4th grade curriculum, to make sure that all the holes were filled. We skipped lessons and units when she knew the info, and she is almost done with the entire school year's worth of lessons (all in four months!). We are going to continue science and history over the summer (which is fine -- I make the kids do 30-60 minutes of school everyday anyway so their brains don't leak out their ears). She is flourishing academically and loves to learn. I have seen a huge attitude change in many subject areas. She is becoming an excellent student and is going to cruise through next year's 5th grade curriculum. She doesn't miss a brick and mortar school even one little bit.

Tyler (Kindergarten)
Ty had a hard time going back to regular school. It was an adjustment for him. The K class at SCVi was so freeform, and he didn't really learn much (that's an understatement). He had begun the year reading a bit already -- he just needed that extra push. He regressed at SCVi and developed a negative attitude about reading and learning. When he was moved, he came into a K/1 split with a lot of high functioning kindergartners. He was definitely at the bottom of the class academically -- I could tell his teacher was concerned about him catching up. I worked super hard with him on a daily basis teaching him, as did she, and now he is at the top of his class. He loves school and loves reading. His teacher loops her K students, so he should be in her class again next year, which would be wonderful. She is an amazing teacher -- one of the best that we have had -- and I am delighted to know that Ty will be in good hands for first grade. Yikes -- first grade? When did my little boy grow up?

As always -- he loves to make faces. These are shots from both last fall and this summer. Can you tell which photos are from which? :)
Myself
Yeah, no beginning and end year picture of me. That's ok. I have grown a lot this year too. I have had to evaluate myself as a mother. I have had to make a lot of tough choices. I have had to rely upon the Lord and the spirit a lot to guide me in doing the right thing for my kids. Every once in a while I panic about moving Nathan up. Each time I do, the spirit reassures me that I did the right thing; that he is in the right place. I am so grateful for my kids. I am so grateful to be homeschooling again. For a while, there was a time when I was kid free during the day (it was only for a few hours -- Kindergarten was 1/2 day at SCVi). In the beginning it was fun to have that time. But, as crazy as it sounds, I am happier with Megan home. I love the time I have with her. Our relationships has changed a lot. We are so much closer and I am grateful for that (the same thing happened when I had Nathan at home -- it was wonderful). I feel like a better mom. I am more patient and understanding when I am in teacher mode. I know it doesn't make sense, but I would rather be home schooling than be kid free. I am planning on keeping her home until she is old enough to attend AEA with Nathan, which will be in two more years. I don't know if I will be able to let her go. Maybe I will have to pull Tyler. . . I joke about it, but you never know. He actually prayed the other day that I would home school him once he was a fourth grader. Too cute. I am happy to have this school year over -- mainly because that means no more homework for two months. I look forward to playing every day. It should be a good summer.

Camping Dirt and Ash

2011-05-30T17:02:00.000-07:00

We love camping. We went to El Capitan State Beach for a few days and had a blast.
What did we do? We:

Rode bikes until it was too dark to see.

Played in tide pools and found all sorts of shells
and creatures: crabs, sea stars, sea anemones, & mussels.

Drove sand trucks all over the beach
through the roads and tunnels that were meticulously created.

Played with fire. A lot. Obsessively.

Read books next to the firepit. Ah, peace.

Watched Nathan and Megan draw closer and take care of each other (wow!).

Dealt with super crazy strong wind and listened to it howl all night long.

Unsuccessfully flew kites -- the wind was too strong and
we couldn't keep them up very well.

Spent hours scouring the area for firewood and kindling to burn
(aka. more playing with fire).

Played at a massive playgound in Santa Barbara.

Spun the kids around so fast in a tire swing that Nathan felt
yucky for an hour or two afterwards.

Smeared ash on our faces from playing with the fire.

Got totally filthy.

Ate s'mores. Flamed marshmallows. Lots.

Gave camera to a six year old -- we were impressed with the results.

Had so much fun -- we were sad to come home.

Last Minute Gardening

2011-05-22T10:54:00.000-07:00

We spent the day yesterday putting down new soil and fertilizer, and then filling it up with transplants and seeds. We are at the very end of the planing window for our summer harvest, so we hope that all goes well. What went into the ground so frantically?

Tomatoes
Zuchinni
Yellow Squash
Patty-Pan Squash
White pumpkins
Corn
Green Bell Pepper
Anaheim Pepper
Artichoke
Bush Green Beans
Scallions
Lots of sunflower seeds that Ty planted everywhere
(most likely won't grow)
and misc flower seed packets that Nathan found
and put everywhere that Ty didn't.

Where did we put all the veggies? In every available patch of dirt that was unoccupied. Veggies are mixed with flowers in both the back and front yard. We didn't plant a lot of all of the seeds, just a super good assortment -- here's hoping everything takes!

All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth. . .

2011-05-19T06:26:00.000-07:00

Ty recently lost his second front tooth. It has been loose for a while, and Megan so kindly knocked it out with a pillow when they were playing. He came running over with blood in his mouth and I doctored him for what I thought was a bloody lip. Megan got a mini-lecture on playing nice, and I sent him on his way. It wasn't until a while later that he realized that his tooth was gone. So funny.

Shorty after his realization, he discovered that he couldn't say his "s" sound very well. Bus became "buth". Cheese became "cheethe". His "thocks were thlippery" on the floor. He was mortified. He stopped talking as much, and became very self conscious. It was simply adorable. It had to seriously restrain my self from giggling and singing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth". He really was upset. I tried and tried to take pictures of his grin, but he was having none of that. No way. The best I got was a week later during his birthday party when he was grinning before blowing out his candles. Not the best shot, and his first tooth had grown in a bit more, so the effect was lost. Oh well, at least I have the memory. . .

Mega Catch Up

2011-05-15T19:47:00.000-07:00

I have good intentions to blog. I really do. Promise. It is just that whole time factor that gets me. I usually only spend about 5 minutes checking email/facebook/blogs each day. Five minutes isn't usually long enough to do anything but just look at my inbox and scan for important emails. This morning I sat down to upload photos from my camera, and I figured now would be a good time to catch up. I know I won't have much time to get this written at the moment, so we will see how long it takes me to actually finish writing it and then post it. **

Stuff that has happened lately that is worth noting:

Tyler's 6th Birthday
The lucky kid has had his birthday celebrations spread out over a month. First, he had his actual birthday. He was super lucky to be able to celebrate it with my parents, who happened to be in town. His birthday fell on Conference Sunday this year (he was born on Conference Sunday 6 years ago), so he enjoyed planning his meals for the day, along with being the center of attention the whole time. I cheated and made him a ridiculously easy cake (messy frosted with a ramp and a monster truck on top). It was what he wanted, and I wasn't going to argue because I didn't want to spend hours working on it. Besides, I figured I would be doing the big complicated cake for his party. All of his gifts were truck/car/vehicle related. He was in heaven.

A few weeks later, he received his present from us -- a monster truck show. Roy was the only one who had been to one before. The temperature was ridiculously cold, with a very brisk wind blowing the whole time. We all danced in place for the 2 1/2 hours of the show trying to keep warm. The kids didn't mind the cold as much -- they were distracted by the huge trucks that were smashing cars and going over jumps. Tyler's favorite part was when they flamed a car to nothingness. Ty was actually quiet the whole time -- just taking it in. It was super noisy, and folks were yelling and cheering (particularly Megan), but he just watched. He was really alarmed (ok, freaked out) when one of the trucks rolled over. Everyone in the stands jumped on their feet and cheered, but he just got this big scared look in his eyes and panicked for the driver. I quickly explained that the trucks were designed to roll and that everything was fine. The truck was upright again within a few minutes, but he was still shaken up by the whole thing. All the kids had a fantastic time.

This past weekend (one month after his birthday), he finally got his birthday party. We had just a handful of kids over to celebrate. The original plan was to have a monster truck party (I had a cool cake in my head -- a sculpted 3D cake -- it was going to be cool), but as I was designing invites, he decided he wanted a Star Wars party. Huh? He has never shown much interest in Star Wars, but I went with it anyway. (I found out later it was because he likes the x-wing fighter. Figures. He is vehicle/car/train obsessed.) We set up the party as a Jedi Training Academy, complete with light saber training, a Jedi obstacle course, and destroying the Death Star. Megan had a HUGE hand in planning and executing his party. She worked on making stuff for the party days in advance (hours were put into the pinata that she made). The boys were gone camping at our ward fathers & sons campout the evening before the party, and all she wanted to do was party planning and prep. She made the pinata, the cupcakes (yeah -- no cake for me to do -- he wanted to decorate them at the party), cookies, light sabers out of pretzel rods, all the games and activities. She had a fantastic time. It was adorable to see her care so much.

The cutest part of the day? Tyler was heading upstairs to head to bed. He stopped for a moment to take a break . . . and fell asleep. The exhaustion from the father's & sons campout combined with a birthday party just pooped him out.

**Ok, I started this post a week ago, and I never finished all the stuff in my head. So, I am posting it as is, and I will just add other posts later. *sigh*

Camping & Food Fest

2011-05-15T06:19:00.000-07:00

We went camping Friday night at Carpenteria -- a nice beach campsite that is less than an hour away. It was a whirlwind campout -- just one night. We packed light and made it easy. It was kinda weird though, because Nathan wasn't with us.

We booked this campout many moons ago, before we knew he would have a Scout Campout that same night. We ended up having him go without Roy, and we went camping minus one child.

It was weird.

More quiet, yes. He wasn't there to provoke and antagonize Tyler (that's what big brothers are for, right?). The fire had to actually be tended to, since that is usually what he does the entire trip. He loves building it and nurturing it. He also wasn't there to help with setup and take down either (which would have been nice).

He didn't miss us too much, however. He had a food fest, and paid the price. He ate so many Oreos that he threw up during the night (he figures somewhere between 1-2 dozen). He then proceeded to gorge himself at breakfast the next morning on pancakes, bacon and eggs, and ate a massive lunch of a double double from In-n-Out, along with a large fry and a big ol' chocolate shake. He wasn't hungry at dinner last night. Wonder why. . .

Roy and I were less than amused. Yeah, we eat pretty healthy at home, so I can see the desire to gorge. But it isn't as if we don't ever have sweets. We have them on a regular basis. I just don't get why he went so nutso. I railed on him pretty hard, which I feel bad about now. I am just so concerned about him making good choices when he is away -- in all areas: food, physically, and most of all, spiritually. He is such a good kid -- when he wants to be. Ahhhh. Parenting is not for the weak of heart.

Peanut Butter Bliss

2011-04-25T13:11:00.001-07:00

I have a bit of a peanut butter problem. I always have. I have early memories of sneaking into the kitchen when no one was around, and eating right out of the jar. Spoonfuls. Huge ones. Frequently. Often times I would drop a handful of chocolate chips into the jar, and then I would scoop them out with a spoon so that I would have mouthfuls of chocolate and gobs of peanut butter mixed together in one heavenly bite. I love peanut butter on bananas, apples, and celery. I adore a good pb&j -- I used to eat one every day in my college years. I remember sitting in the breakroom when I worked at Kinko's, and co-workers would notice my daily ritual and comment that I was crazy. I really didn't care. I still love peanut butter with a vengeance. I have just given up the whole eating one jar a week habit -- it ain't so good on the hips. Actually, I don't have it very often at all anymore (comparatively anyway). Yeah, it is a good source of protein, but also a good source of fat. I now save up my calories and make it a special occasion when I have my favorite pb & banana sandwich (with a sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar).

In addition to -my- peanut butter obsession, I am married to a pb-aholic (who would also eat a pb&j every single day of his life). Between the two of us, we have reared two pb lovers (Ty doesn't like the stuff on sandwiches -- but cookies, pies, and cakes do him just fine). Megan and Nathan would rather have the gooey stuff on pancakes rather than syrup. They both would happily eat a pb and honey sandwich daily for the remainder of their life (and make every attempt to do so). Luckily, -I- do the packing of lunches in the morning so they get a variety in their diet. I even gave Nathan a jar of it for Christmas. He was in heaven. Don't even get me started on how much they love Nutella.

Unfortunately, going through the stuff can get pricey. So, you can imagine my dance of joy that I did when I stumbled upon this recipe. Not only does it stretch it like crazy (the 3/4 c. of peanut butter whipped into 1 1/2 cups using my food processor), it is also way less calories. It tastes yummy -- whipped and soft and full of peanut buttery yumminess. You must try this!

Whipped Peanut Butter (from food.com)

3/4 c. peanut butter
1 T. nonfat dry milk powder
1 T. brown sugar
1/2 c. water

Mix with a blender, food processor, or mixer and refrigerate overnight. Enjoy!

Easter Eggs and Sharing

2011-04-17T06:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I took the kids to an Easter Egg hunt at a local Albertsons. I had timed it pretty close, because I had to pick up Nathan early from his tennis lesson so we could go, and so I pushed it as close as I could, so that he could attend as much of his lesson as possible.

I timed it too close.

We got to the parking lot at 12:02 (started at 12:00). We parked and ran in . . . and it was done. Everyone was still there, but they were milling around looking for the last eggs. I rushed them in, telling Nathan to help Tyler, and prayed that there were a few laying around.

Megan found one laying on the ground under a produce rack that had broken open. She got one Reeses cup. Nathan found one tucked in the oranges. He pointed it out to Tyler and he happily grabbed it.

That was all we found.

A few folks saw how sad the kids were a tossed a few their way. One of the store managers saw Megan's heartbroken face and told her to go over to customer service and he would make sure we didn't go home empty handed. I felt like a heel.

As we were walking over to customer service, Ty opened up his one egg he found. There was a paper inside stating he had found a prize egg. He happily walked over, turned it in . . . and received the big prize -- a basket stuffed with chalk toys and candy. Really? What are the odds that the one egg we find is the big prize? The manager who noticed sad Megan before then stepped up and gave her one of the smaller prizes -- a small basket filled with candy (good stuff too -- Cadbury Cream eggs, Reeses Eggs, and a small box of chocolates). They were both in heaven.

We then went to the register to pay for our grapes. While we were checking out, Megan saw a little boy who didn't have any eggs (he wasn't there for the hunt, he just was shopping with his mom). She gave him her four eggs. Tyler noticed Nathan was looking a little bummed. He gave him his five eggs. When we got home and Ty opened his basket, he gave Nathan some more candy.

I was struck by the generosity of my kids. They usually hold tight to candy. Really tight. No sharing at all. However, they had the opportunity to see what it felt like to not have any Easter Eggs, so they showed more compassion. I was really touched to see them all sharing and loving each other. Yeah, Nathan was kinda bummed all afternoon because he had given Ty the prize egg. He felt good about it (but still he was still mopey). I hope that he kids remember the lesson that they learned, and the way they felt.

Wet Cat. . .

2011-04-06T07:16:00.000-07:00

I was doing school with Megan when I heard Tyler upstairs with the cat. We heard a thump in the bathtub, and then he cried out, "Mom, I am going to take a bath now." Uh, no. That was nixed pretty quick, although it would have been entertaining. . .

A Day in my Life

2011-03-27T06:05:00.001-07:00

At the beginning of this school year, Roy gave the kids father's priesthood blessings. We do this every year to help them with the upcoming year of school. This year, I was also a recipient. The blessing was an amazing one, but the thing that struck me the most was the fact that in the blessing he stated that this period of my life was to be a "season of rest". Huh? Me -- resting? My life was supposed to be uneventful? As I look back, the past six months have been. The lord blessed with with a short period of time to have many of my obligations decrease -- to relax and get things done. I have had my season of rest . . . and now it is over.

I am definitely not resting now. Homeschooling has sucked my time away. My day looks something like this:

4:00-6:00 AM: (depending when my internal alarm goes off) Get up. Putter around the house. Clean. Declutter. Pack lunches. Check email. Do lesson prep for Megan. Trip over cat repeatedly as she follows me around like a shadow because she missed companionship all night.
6:45 AM: Poke kids until they wake up. Sing "In the Leafy Treetops" off key in a super loud voice (changing to a higher key with each verse) until children open eyes and pull pillows off their heads. Come back five minutes later to pull the covers off. Get Nathan in the shower. Force Tyler to get dressed by threatening to pick out clothes for him. Put cat on Megan's head to get her motivated to get up.
7:00 AM: Yell at the kids from downstairs to come down and eat breakfast. Knock on the bathroom door for the umpteenth time telling Nathan to turn off the water and get dressed.
7:15 AM: Cook breakfast for myself (yup, I do this everyday). Shove egg white veggie omelette (gotta start the day with protien -- no cold cereal or oatmeal for me) while rushing the kids around getting them to finish getting ready. Holler at Tyler to turn off the water in the bathroom, stop playing, and get his toothbrush in his mouth. Holler again.
7:35 AM: Finally get everyone out the door. Drop off Tyler at elementary school. Fight nutso school traffic. Take Nathan to his school. Breathe a sigh of relief.
8:05 AM: Workout at the gym. Remind myself this is -my- time, and the only time I have that is not related to teaching, cooking, or cleaning. Sweat buckets. Feel awesome. Run a quick errand to Walmart or Ralph's to grab groceries or other stuff we need before heading home.
9:15 AM: Get out of the shower and begin Megan's day. Spanish. Math. History. Language arts. Literature. Attempt to sneak in 5 minutes here or there to unload the dishes or perform miscellaneous tasks. Fail miserably in this attempt to clean the house. Try again repeatedly.
12:00 PM: Lunch break. Cook lunch for the two of us (which is much more fun than just cooking lunch for one). Eat yummy food. Finish unloading the dishes. Putter.
12:30 PM: Back to school. Science. Art. Anything else we didn't finish or need to cover. Remind Megan that she needs to stay focused in those after lunch hours. Sneak in a minute here or there to do tasks to prep for dinner.
1:45 PM: Leave to pick up Tyler. Chat with moms while waiting. Drag him away from his friends and convince him to come home.
2:15 PM: Arrive home. Nag him about putting his backpack away. Remind him again. And again. Begin doing homework with him.
3:00 PM: Leave to get Nathan. Chat with him on the way home about his classes, and get his rundown of homework for the day.
3:30 PM: Get back from Nathan's pickup. Get snacks for all the kids. Get boys doing homework.
4:00 - 5:00 PM: Take kids to extracurriuclars. Piano, violin, soccer -- times vary depending on the day.
5:00 PM: Make dinner. Remind self how wonderful a crockpot is (I have an obsession with mine lately). Roy comes home.
6:00 PM: Eat. Clean up dinner. Get Nathan back to his schoolwork. Help him out as needed.
7:00 PM: Scripture study alarm clock buzzes, reminding us that we all need to stop what we are doing so we can read together (best $5 ever spent).
7:15 PM: Begin getting kids ready for bed. Remind them they -don't- get a dessert every night. Shoo them upstairs to get in PJ's and brush teeth. Read with Ty. Get him down.
8:15 PM: Tell Megan goodnight and make her close her book.
8:30 PM: Check to see if Megan actually stopped reading. Remind Nathan of the time, and pray that he actually goes to sleep.
8:45 PM: Crash on the couch. Snuggle with hubby and watch TV together because we are too exhausted to do anything else but lie there and stare.
9:20 PM: Head upstairs because I am falling asleep on the couch. Find Nathan reading. Get grumpy and tell him to actually go to sleep. Get ready for bed.
9:45 PM: Lie in bed and read 2 pages before falling asleep on book. One of those pages is a review from the night before, because I had fallen asleep while reading it.

Repeat.

My life seems so busy right now, but I am loving it. I feel fulfilled -- like my days have a real purpose and meaning. It is wonderful. I thrive on being busy. I am not a person who can just sit around. I am always up. I also LOVE teaching. I didn't realize how much I missed it. Teaching makes me a better person, and a better mom. When I get into that teaching mindset, I am more patient, more kind, and more understanding. I slow down and look at things through their eyes. I just feel like I am so much of a better parent now than I was a month ago. I am so grateful for it.

I look forward to working with Megan each day. I get giddy thinking about the math concepts we will be doing. I love seeing that glimmer of understanding in her eyes when she gets a concept. I love seeing her creativity. There are days where I feel like I am going to pull out my hair, but for the most part, I am really enjoying homeschooling again (which is a good thing, because I will be doing it for many years to come . . .). Yeah, the house is totally falling apart. Things just ain't getting cleaned. Saturdays have turned into chore days -- we all work together to do the laundry, vacuum, clean the bathrooms, and so on because I just ain't finding time. I need to be by her side. When I leave her, things just go badly.

As she gets older, and as the curriculum adapts to a more independent learner, it will get easier. However, her lessons now are designed to be adult led, not student led, and that's ok. We will get there. In the meantime, we are forming a closer relationship because of all the time we spend together. I remember back to last year when I had Nathan home with me. I am so grateful for the time I had to teach him. I learned so much more about him, and I cherish the time I had with him every day one on one. Yeah, there are days I just wanted to strangle him, but it was a positive experience for both of us.

Many moons ago, when I was a college student, I realized how much I loved teaching the middle years. I have a degree in elementary education and a second bachelors in special education. I also have an emphasis in middle school education (grades 5-8). My favorite age to work with was the 5th and 6th graders. I was always drawn to them. I loved that they were developing into a more adult role in their thinking, but at the same time, they were still kids and had all those wonderful childish qualities. I always did my best to arrange my practicums and student teaching experiences with 5th graders. Now it makes sense -- I think the Lord was preparing me. I home schooled Nathan for 5th grade. I will be doing the same for Megan for 4-6th grade. Who knows, maybe Tyler will need me at the same age again. If he does, I will be ready for it.

Spring Soccer

2011-03-09T06:11:00.000-08:00

Well it is Spring, and that means that Spring Sports are upon us. Both Megan and Tyler are in soccer, which means that Saturdays are nuts. Every Saturday we have two games for them, along with Nathan's tennis lessons. There are a few Saturdays when the planets align and they are all at the same time. That will be fun to deal with. :)

Ty hasn't played before, and it has been a couple of years for Megan, so it is as if we were starting brand new for both of them. Unfortunately, on both of their teams, they are the only one who has not played before. Nice. We have had lots of extra practice sessions at he park, and we hope they will be fine. It was comical to watch Ty play last Saturday. He has good ball handling skills, but doesn't get the rules very well. He was throwing in the ball one time, threw it in the wrong direction, and helped the other team score. Too funny. At least he didn't steal the ball from his own teammate. Megan is old enough that they now play on the full size field and they keep score (regular competitive team). The poor girl was pooped from running that huge field. She'll get used to it.

Homeschool deja vu

2011-03-08T06:10:00.000-08:00

Things are weird today. Why? I am no longer alone. Megan is here with me, and she will be for quite some time. We pulled her last Thursday from public school. This just feels all too familiar. . .

A year ago I pulled Nathan and home schooled him for the remainder of fifth grade. We did it for many reasons, but mainly because he was miserable from being bullied, and he was miserable from complete and total boredom. Homeschooling was wonderful for him. It enabled him to move at his rate of learning (which was ridiculously high). He loved it. He cried when I told him he was going back to a charter school for 6th grade (we put him back in school because he really needed the socialization). Homeschooling enabled him to skip 6th grade at the charter (hated that charter!), and made it possible for him to get into where he is now. Homeschooling was a ton of work for me, and I had to let so many other things in my life go (plus it taught me a ridiculous amount of patience). but at the same time -- I LOVED it. I love to teach and it was fun. I was happy and sad to see it end.

Fast forward to today. Megan is now home. I will be homeschooling her for totally different reasons than why Nathan was homeschooled. She attended the same charter school that the boys attended at the beginning of the year. It was just horrible and she didn't learn very much because of their laid back mentality. We moved her back to her old public school, and things got better. However, there are MAJOR gaps in her knowledge because of the two schools and the transition. Her teacher was a mediocre teacher -- and just did not have it in her to give Megan the attention she needed to catch up. I do, and I am confident that after a short time with me that she will be caught up, and will flourish.

Homeschooling this time around should be so much easier than with Nathan. Why?

Well, first off, I am using the same virtual academy as before. It is familiar, I know how it works, I can jump right in. The curriculum is wonderful, and I feel that it offers more.
Tyler is off at school. Last year, he was in preschool. He wanted my attention ALL the time. I have to divide myself, and it was super hard. I felt horrible ignoring Ty. No longer.
Next year Megan will be in 5th grade, which is the grade that I did with Nathan. Same curriculum. Already know it. Nice.
Megan does not have the same personality quirks that drove me loco when I worked with Nathan. I am happy about that. I am sure that things will arise that will drive me crazy with her. I will learn to deal with it.

The poor kids have been jerked around so much. In the past 12 months, Nathan attended, public school, then he was home schooled. He started this school year at SCVi, and now he is the Albert Einstein Academy. He is done moving. Our plan is to have him there through 12th grade. Tyler started the year at SCVi also, and then was pulled to public school. He is doing fine. He will be there through first grade, and then we will pull him to go to the new Albert Einstein Elementary school. Megan was jerked around the same as Tyler. She will be home with me for a while. We aren't putting her back in school until she is a 7th grader (and she will attend Einstein also -- notice a pattern here?).

I am sad to see my free time go. I had a feeling that something was coming that would take it away. At the beginning of the school year, Roy gave all the kids father's blessings. He also gave one to me. In that blessing, he stated that this time was to be a season of rest for me. That was a surprise to hear. Me? A season of rest? Right. But it has been. I decided to cut as much out of my life as I could. I have been home. I have had time to focus on the kids. I have been able to do the things I want to do. Now that "season of rest" is over. It is time for me to focus on Megan. Wish me luck!

Randomness

2011-03-03T05:14:00.000-08:00

Just a few random photos, and some random thoughts. . .

Missing teeth. Apparently we can't seem to keep them in our mouth (which is where they really should be). Tyler has lost three teeth since Christmas. The first one was dramatic -- he finally let his aunt pull it when we were in Utah (not us mind you -- she was a nurse so he trusted her -- sheesh), the second one had to be pulled because the new tooth was in and not applying pressure, but luckily his front tooth came out without a fuss. It makes me ridiculously sad that he has a jack-o-lantern smile. It means he is growing up. it means he isn't my little guy anymore. It means he will have big ol' buck teeth soon that will look goofy for years until he grows into them. Nathan is also on the missing teeth bandwagon. I didn't remember that you lose teeth in the preteen years. He lost three teeth in just a few weeks -- all on the upper left side -- all three in a row. It looks kinda funny since he has a full inch of no teeth. I worry he may slice his gums because there is nothing protecting them there. . .

Valentines Day. I love holidays. I love to cook. I love to make food fun for the holidays. I get giddy just thinking about St. Patty's Day that is coming up (break out that green food coloring!). To make it fun, I made heart pancakes (and also heart waffles that weekend), lots of pink food, and a plate full of chocolates for the kids. Lesson learned on the chocolates -- low fat ingredients DO NOT work well. All I had were reduced fat cream cheese and oreos -- which DO NOT make yummy truffles (kinda chewy).

The Los Angeles Zoo. A few weeks ago Megan and Ty had a day off school. Nathan was beyond jealous. He still had to go anyway (he is feeling that way again since Megan and Ty are off school today because of conferences and he is not). He is just going to have to get used to the idea. Anyway, we took off and had a super fun day at the zoo. Kinda chilly, but we still had a good time. :)

Tyler with my camera. We got him a kids camera so he would stop stealing mine. Didn't really work. He still likes mine better. I regularly find LOTS of pictures on my memory card as I transfer photos to the computer. I love the collection that I have of fuzzy, crooked shots of his cars, toys, fingers, eyeballs, and his treasures.

Stage Fright. Megan had a small part in the Fourth Grade Play. She was super excited to participate -- she had a few lines, and then a duet that she sang with another boy. She practiced and practiced, but as the time drew near, she became more and more nervous (which is funny because she sings in small groups at church, and was in a Stake musical not long ago). She had a hard time at rehearsals -- especially because her class practiced on their own and she had to sing alone. The big day came, and she did wonderfully, except she forgot her lines. It was horrible seeing her up there struggling and feeling so uncomfortable. For the remainder of the performance, she had her head down and did everything halfway. Luckily we had a chocolate rose to give her at the end, and that brought up her spirits. She confessed that she was nervous because we were there (she had done fine at all the other performances apparently). I am proud of her.

Megan's cat. I do really mean that. Our cat Lily has adopted her as her favorite person. She has been known to paw at her door when Megan is in there trying to sleep. She follows her around. She snuggles up with her on the couch. Megan showers her with love and attention. The cat tolerates so much (Megan wraps her up in blankets like a baby and carried around on her back as you would an infant), but she sure loves Megan. We love having that cute kitten around, and she has brought a lot of giggles and laughs to our family.

Workin' Out

2011-03-02T11:25:00.000-08:00

Ok, I hate to exercise. Really. Lots. A whole bunch. For a long time I was a very good girl -- working out 5 days a week. Not so much lately -- only about once a week now. I have been feeling it too: my energy is down, I have put on a few pounds, and my blood sugar sure hasn't been stable. The blood sugar thing is the main reason that I was so regular at the whole exercising thing -- it just made all the difference in the world in staying stable.

Nathan started attending a new school a month ago. A 1/2 a block away is a LA Fitness gym. I would drive by each day, watching all those motivated souls go work out. I laughed at them at first. Then after a few weeks, my wheels began to turn. I drive by there every day at 8:05. Roy drives by every morning and night on his way to work. I really need to work out on a regular basis again. Roy wants to train for a triathalon. So, we bit the bullet and got a gym membership. Yikes.

For many of you, that is no big deal. For me, it was a monumental deal. First, I am ridiculously cheap. The idea of paying a monthly fee when I can work out at home is ludicrous (except for the problem -- I ain't workin' out at home -- crap). Second, the idea of working out at a gym freaks me out. Completely. I have NO idea how to use all those cardio machines, let alone the weight stuff. So, Roy held my hand and let me through the first workout. It actually wasn't that bad. Ok, it was *gasp* fun.

I have been there Monday through Friday for two weeks now. I wake in the morning, throw on my workout clothes, get the kids to school, and exercise. I used to do short 20 minute videos, and now I find that I am working out 45-60 minutes and the time flies. I actually look forward to it -- it is very stress relieving. I really never thought I would *ever* say I liked to exercise (do you see any pigs flying?).

Yesterday was frightening, however. I had an appointment with a trainer (each new member gets a free workout with one). I was scared. Freaked out. Beyond nervous. Major butterflies. Talk about being WAY out of my comfort zone. After all was said and done, it actually was enjoyable, and I learned a lot about using all the different equipment. I was actually grateful I did it (shocker again).

Stranger things have happened.

Weather

2011-03-02T05:51:00.000-08:00

Here in sunny so cal, we don't get much change in the weather. It is sunny 99% of the time. That one percent where we get anything different is pretty exciting. Yeah, it is always rain, but occasionally the weather gods smile upon us to give us something different to enjoy. For example, back in January, we got a few hours of snow. That was pretty cool. It would have been even cooler if we had been here to enjoy it (we were in Utah -- drat!). So, when mister weatherman predicted snow again for last Saturday, we were ecstatic.

I woke up at 6 AM that Saturday morning (yeah, no sleeping in for me), and peeked out my window. Nada. That was a bummer. The kids were sad, but we accepted it and moved on.

A few hours later, I was upstairs with Nathan, and I heard Megan whooping and hollering. Yup. It was snowing. We ran outside and everyone danced in the snow (barefoot and no jackets -- we are in California after all!). After about two minutes, the kids started holding their heads and complaining -- our wonderful snow had migrated to a hailstorm. Too funny. The whole thing lasted about ten minutes, and it was done.

It melted pretty quick as it hit the ground, but the hailstones that landed on the trampoline did not melt and they piled up quite nicely. The kids had a fantastic time jumping as the hailstones pummeled their heads while they tried to launch the white stuff as high as they could. The kids didn't last too long outside, however. For some reason their feet got cold (could have to do with being outside jumping on hailstones and running around on the wet soggy grass). They plopped in front of the fire and warmed up their red toes and snuggled under blankets. So much fun.

Heh. . .

2011-02-22T20:12:00.000-08:00

Nathan accused me of not blogging. I laughed and asked him to check the date of his last post (yes, he has a blog, yes, it is private to only a few folks). May 2010. He won't be giving me a hard time again.

Two Weeks in

2011-02-11T06:04:00.000-08:00

Well, Nathan has been at his school for two weeks now. What are our feelings? We are as happy as a clam. Nathan is delighted with his new school. Yeah, he is getting piled on with homework. Big time. He has about 2-3 hours each night. I am ecstatic about this -- he didn't have any before and he needs to rebuild his study skills which have dwindled over the past few months from lack of use. Him? Not so much. However, he is not complaining about it at all. He knows that homework comes with the territory. He is loving his new schedule of classes (art and spanish for electives). His teachers are wonderful -- he has a slight obsession with his science teacher who is very cool. He is enjoying all of his classes, and he looks forward to going every day. My favorite comment so far? When he stated that everyone was so nice and that no one was mean (a MAJOR problem at where he was before -- bullies were everywhere and the teachers did NOTHING). We are delighted to have him there and we feel very blessed.

A 5 Minute Cake

2011-01-27T20:07:00.000-08:00

The kids have been watching Cake Boss with me lately. They love it. They giggle when the boss gets mad and loses his temper, and they really enjoy all the complex cakes. I did a cake this morning for a baby shower. I had previously hacked off the tops of two six inch cakes (so that they were level), and I had set them aside for the kids. I was planning on just throwing on some icing for them . . . but then as we watched Cake Boss this afternoon, I decided to give into the kid's pleading and do something more fun.

The problem was, I didn't really want to take the time. I also really didn't want to have to clean up anything. So, I decided I would work for 5 minutes and use only what I already had available (I would not color anything -- only use what I had previously tinted). I looked at those two round hemispheres, for about 30 seconds, slapped them together, rolled out some leftover fondant and some quick cut outs, and you have. . .

Roll some fondant into a snake and you have a Gumby-style alien. Yeah, not the best cake, but not bad for 5 minutes. . .

Stuff

2011-01-27T16:07:00.000-08:00

Ok, forgive the gross picture of my feet. My feet ain't purdy, but I did have to show off what happens when you let your 9 year old have fun on your toenails. I now have an ocean scene on my big toes of crabs attacking angelfish. So funny.

On another note, I did a cake today for a baby shower for one of the teacher's at my kid's school. It wasn't an amazing cake, actually, it was super simple. I thought it turned out nice though. Have a look here. (I did it all this morning before it was due at 11:30. Really -- this morning -- as in, I woke up at 3:45 AM to help Megan with her bloody nose, and I couldn't sleep after settling her down and doing laundry, so I got up and got a head start on the cake.)

On a third note, I ordered pizza for the kids for lunch today (minimum day + free pizza hut coupons = happy kids). We went to pick up the three personal pan pizzas I had ordered, and they were all gone. Really. They hadn't cooked our order because they had run out of personal pan pizza dough. I thought it was kinda funny. They got slammed on minimum day from all the kids that were home from school. In exchange, they gave us a large pizza for the three free personal pan pizza coupons. That was a bargain -- way more pizza than the three personal pans would have been. The kids ate half for lunch, and they will have the rest for dinner. No cooking for me!

Funny

2011-01-25T08:25:00.000-08:00

Ok, so funny. I got home from dropping off the kids at school to find our kitten on the laundry room counter. That was a first. She has been getting more gutsy, jumping from chairs to the table top (which she gets in trouble for), but she has leaped onto a countertop (that I am aware of). I giggled, got her down, and then picked up my ipod to send a funny email to Roy telling him about it. I was leaning against the kitchen island, and I guess she wanted to be closer to me, because she leaped up onto the island, only to land on top of a basket which had the entire contents of the junk drawer inside (thanks to a six year old who wanted to "organize" the drawer for me). She knocked it off, and went sprawling onto the floor and crashed next to her. The stuff went everywhere. Just imagine -- pennies, pens, paperclips, misc. screws, batteries, you name it -- it flew all over the floor. The poor cat let our a frantic yelp and ran away and hid. Hopefully she doesn't do that again soon.

Goodbye SCVi!

2011-01-21T04:50:00.000-08:00

This school year began with all three kids attending a Charter School in our area called Santa Clarita Valley International (SCVi for short). We were super excited and we loved it . . . for a while.

We ended up pulling Megan and Tyler out shortly before Christmas break. Things were just not as we hoped they would be. The school had a lot of great ideas . . . it was just the implementation that fell way flat. The main focus of the school is project based learning. I love the idea of integrated learning. However, it was just WAY too free form. Much, much, much more structure was needed. The free form teaching style also bled into the rest of the school, including discipline and safety (super scary -- Tyler actually got lost once!). Megan was bored and she wasn't really learning at all. Tyler was actually regressing in his reading abilities.

After one week back in our old public school, Ty's attitude about learning changed, and he began making leaps and bounds. Megan's whole personality perked up -- as if she had a load taken off of her. We were SO glad to be able to recognize that a change needed to be made. Yup, it was hard on the kids, and it was not fun eating crow while explaining to the principal why we were coming back (I am sure she was giggling silently the whole discussion).

We left Nathan there when we pulled out Meg and Ty. Why? We didn't want to put him into a regular Jr. High when he had just barely skipped sixth grade. I was afraid that he might really get lost going into a regular Jr. High mid-year. I didn't want to homeschool him again -- he really needs the socialization. We have had him on a wait list to get into another local Charter School called the Albert Einstein Academy since October. He has been in the #1 spot this whole time (lucky for us -- the charter states that they can only accept a certain # of students from the local school district, and SCVi is out of that -- so he went to the #1 spot). We have been hoping a praying for him to get into it. It is a college prep school, that pushed super hard academically (yay!) and it looks like it will be a great fit for him.

Yesterday we finally got the call. We are giddy with excitement for him (hence me blogging at 4 AM -- I actually woke up at 1:00, and laid there in bed until 3:00 -- it's gonna be a long day). He isn't super excited about the uniforms, or the homework load that he will have (he has gotten completely out of the groove of homework, SCVi didn't give any -- a serious problem in my opinion).

As horrible as it was for him,I am so grateful for the fact that he had his brief time at SCVi. It really stunk -- there was a TON of bullying, the academics were super wishy washy, and Nathan was generally unhappy. He just hated it. So why am I grateful?

They actually listened when I told him he was gifted and he needed more of a push. They ran him through many assessments and he was bumped a grade. Public school would have none of that. When I told him he needed more of a push, they balked and stated that if they taught him too much, that he would be bored the next school year. Their solution was to give him extra work, have him tutor someone else, or correct papers. Nice.
He was given the opportunity to jump even further in math. He loves math. It is his favorite. He loves being in the algebra 1 class with the eighth grades -- it is the only class he has been really enjoying amid all the crap going on there.
He made a friend. Yeah, that may not sound like a big deal, but it is huge. Nathan has never really had a close friend -- the kind you call on the phone and hang with. It took him until seventh grade to find him. Lucky for Nathan, his friend already switched to Einstein, and they can be little nerds there together. :)
He learned how to deal with adversity and negative situations. Yeah, no one should have to deal with bullying and negative environments on a daily basis, but it pushed him in ways I didn't think he could grow, and he has become stronger because of it.

He starts there in a little over a week -- when the new semester begins. I am going to take him school shopping today for uniform clothes (not fun -- buying pants for him is nearly impossible). Wish me luck!

Favorite Kitchen Toys

2011-01-13T10:34:00.000-08:00

Ok, I love to cook. I love spending time each day creating something new (plus I get to eat it -- yum!). I get just giddy with delight as I pour through my various cooking magazines, or as I mealplan for the next week or two (I have a hard time narrowing my recipes down to what I want to prepare -- there are just so many new things I want to try!). I really love to do complex stuff, but I usually just don't have the time.

I love my kitchen toys. That's pretty much what I got for Christmas -- kitchen toys. Yeah, some women would not like that, or they may take offense . . . not I. I am just so excited to try out my new meat pounder and mortar and pestle I got for Christmas.

As I pull my fresh yogurt out of my yogurt maker this morning, I to myself, what are my favorite kitchen toys? Well, here are a few of my favs:

Yolife Yogurt Maker I make big batch of vanilla yogurt in this each week or so. I eat a ton of yogurt, and I got tired of the cost. This is So much cheaper than buying yogurt (and I can make it sugar free!). I love that it comes with a tall lid cover -- that way I can make large quantities of yogurt in 1 qt. jars -- I don't have to use the annoying little jars that come with it. I have also toyed around with making yogurt cheese and even yogurt cheese cheesecake. Yum-o.

Kitchenaid Blender I really wanted a Blendtec Blender. So bad. Sooooooo bad. I kept waiting for the day for when my powerless blender/food processor combo died. So, when my blender motor started smelling horrible with smoke coming out of it in December, I was doing cartwheels. I was finally going to get my Blendtec! I started shopping . . . and remembered why I didn't already have one. $400 is a too steep. Yeah, it can blend entire turkey dinners, but Christmas was upon us and I just didn't have the money. However, I really needed a blender -- I use it practically every day. I did some searching and found this one. I happily paid for it with the refund that I had received from Cuisinart from my old blender/food processor combo (never ever buy again!). Can I tell you how much I love it? The two main reasons I wanted a Blendtec were the fact that the jar was one piece (no gaskets or parts to take apart -- throw in some soap and water, give it a whirl, and it is clean!), and power. This meets both with a flourish. I love my blender. It makes the creamiest smoothies ever. Love, love, love it.

Cuisinart Immersion Blender No more dumping my homemake tomato soup into the blender to puree it (yay!). The kids also LOVE to make individual smoothies in their cups with this.

Kitchenaid Mixer I have had my 4 1/2 qt. mixer since Nathan was a few months old. Roy kept nagging me to get one, but I just didn't see the need, plus we were beyond broke. I took on a nannying job which earned me enough for this toy. I have had it for eleven years. I use it practically every day. I make cookies. Bread (at least once a week -- we never buy it anymore). Cakes (and icing). Pudding. Potatoes. You name it. I don't have any attachments, but I don't really think I would use them. I really would like to upgrade to this baby, but I just can't justify doing so until my old one dies. Which will be . . . never. The whole point of buying a Kitchenaid is for the fact that they are built to last forever. Roy's mother has one that looks to be older than he is. I just really want a larger capacity bowl . . . If anyone is looking for a used 4 1/2 qt. for a good deal, you know who to call . . .

Zylss Can Opener I got super tired of buying cheap can openers that kept dying, so I decided to do some research and try something a bit nicer. I am SO happy I did. Love this one. Opens cans SO easy, and the little magnet on top keeps the lid from falling in the food (until you push the release button over the trash can). So wonderful.

Digital Food Scale I weigh everything. No guessing anymore. Want 8 oz. of pasta? Check? Want to make sure you ONLY eat 4 oz. of meat at dinner (to prevent overeating or to count WW points?) Check! Need to weigh your son's pinewood derby car? No problem! Your eleven year old chemist needs to weigh ingredients for experiments? It works fine -- but make sure that you monitor that eleven year old so he doesn't blow up the house. . .

Wondermill Electric Grain Mill Seeing as I bake bread all the time, I definitely use this regularly. Yeah, it is noisy, but it is super powerful and works like a charm. You can grind all sorts of stuff -- I mainly grind wheat, rye, and corn. Worth all the pennies I saved up to buy it from selling stuff on eBay.

Ok, I have a lot more, but that is enough for now. What are your favorite kitchen gadgets???

Cat-tastrophe

2011-01-09T13:44:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a whirlwind day of pets. All of my time and energy was devoted to taking care of them.

Yesterday morning, I came downstairs and noticed that the countertops had water on them. I traced the water to our fish tank, and realized that we may have a problem. Usually, if I find water around the tank, it is because the filter is too full and the water had spilled out of the back. I lifted the lid to check. Nope. The filter was ok. I decided to pull the tank out so I could check the joints. As I did so, the crack that was across the bottom of the tank decided to give way. Let your imagination just roam free with that one. Needless to say, it was a mess. Tyler ran upstairs screaming at the top of his lungs and woke up the rest of the family. Roy rushed down and helped me get it outside. I used a cup to fish out what water I could -- and the fish. Unfortunately, I could only find six of the seven. I searched through the gravel and looked all over. It was gone -- a casualty of war.

We then had the lovely task of cleaning up all the water, which had gotten everywhere. It had ran off the countertops waterfall style and filled the drawers and cupboards that were underneath. We had Legos in plastic drawer organizers -- they were floating in about 1/2 inch of water. All the kids school paperwork and activity books were soggy. Craft supplies -- those went too. After the water was soaked up, we then had to disinfect everything. I was laughing throughout the whole thing. The kids didn't get it. I just kept telling them that if I wasn't laughing, that I might actually get upset. Besides, I felt pretty lucky that I was there when it blew -- instead of in the middle of the night. We would have had a lot more damage to our cupboards.

We spent all morning working on the mess, and then took a quick break to drive around shopping for a kitten (see more here). We went to many animal rescue places and called around shelters, but we didn't have much success. We found lots of adult cats, but no little ones. We came home, and continued to clean up fish mess. I did a quick glance through craigslist again (for what seemed like the 100th time that week), and found someone who had just listed a cute little one that was a young four months old -- and the post had only been up an hour. I emailed, hoping that we would get lucky. We did. The guy called, and we dropped everything and left a 1/2 hour later to drive to meet him to pick up our kitten (the kids vibrated the whole way there).

She is a sweetheart. Well behaved and very well trained. The guy had gotten it as a gift for his grandmother, who then after having it for a short time, discovered she was allergic. Bad for her, lucky for us. It is exactly what we wanted -- a young, orange, female tabby -- with white socks (yeah, we were super lucky). We finally have our little redheaded baby -- we always hoped to have one. Now we do. :) The only thing I am not so thrilled about is the fact that her hair is kinda long. It will be a daily battle brushing and vacuuming orange hairs from everything.

I am still tripped out. I am not a cat person (Roy is -- he is giddy with delight). I am trying really hard to adjust to this one. She is adorable, but I am kinda freaked out about the scratching the furniture and the hair-is-everywhere-ew-gross-thing. The kids are delighted, and are being very good with her. Megan is making all sorts of cat toys, and they just love playing with her. The kids are all willing (or so they claim) to vacuum and clean and help out. The litter box won't be an issue -- Roy struck gold yesterday morning and found one of those super cool automatic scooping litter boxes at a yard sale for $3 (normally $150) -- we are still giddy about that one.

Utah = Snow = Cold = Wimpy Californians

2011-01-07T14:52:00.000-08:00

We recently got back from our annual Christmas Utah pilgrimage. We had an enjoyable time. Lots happened, and I am not really in the mood to write at the moment, so here are the fav memories:

Meeting the lastest cousin. My oldest brother had his firstborn since the last time we visited. When we were there in July, we barely missed being in town for the birth by a day (which was super hard!). She is a sweet little cutie and it was wonderful to hold her (along with the next oldest baby, from my youngest brother).

Freezing in the snow. There was a huge snowstorm that chased us to Tooele. It hit about 45 minutes after we arrived, and proceeded to dump over 18 inches. We had a big family party planned, but only one of Roy's siblings came because of the nasty weather (his sister had 3 feet of the white stuff in Mt. Pleasant, Utah!). The kids however, LOVED it. They would go out for hours at a time, just coming in long enough to get cocoa or take a bath to warm up, and then go out again. They begged to shovel the driveway (grandpa loved that). They would wake up each day, shovel down breakfast and head out. We had to make them come in so they wouldn't turn into icicles.

Christmas socks. Roy's brother gave all the kids Christmas socks. Initially, they were all bummed. Socks are not the ultimate gift. They really just wanted toys (yeah, they were being kids). Tyler actually climbed on my lap and just cried. I felt super bad. I was embarrassed that they were acting so ungrateful (ok, Megan loved them -- she adores socks). However, after a few minutes, Ty had a change of heart. He asked to put them on (Meg already had hers on), and a large smile spread across his face. He began dancing around and shakin' his little bootie. That was enough for Nathan. He did the same (put them on, but without the bootie shakin' -- he is in seventh grade after all). A few minutes later, Ty disappeared around a corner. I snuck over to see what he was doing. He was wearing pants with the zip off legs (that convert to shorts), and he was wrestling with the zipper trying to get off the bottoms. I helped him out, and then he snuck around the corner, and jumped out at everyone with a flourish. More bootie shaking and dancing occurred, which was just adorable. He wore those socks for a couple of days straight (yes, they were washed in between).

Being nostalgic. My dad brought out his old photo albums and some postcards that had been collected by family from the early 1900's. We had a great time looking over everything. My favorite part? Finding a picture of my older brother in his prime -- ooh, baby!

Opening gifts. The kids had Christmas with us on Christmas Day, but then they got to open presents three more times -- with each set of grandparents, and with my siblings for the gift exchange. Too much fun. Lots of new toys = happy kids who aren't fighting.

Being with family. That's the whole reason we went, right? We missed visiting many of Roy's siblings because of blizzard conditions, but the weather chilled out (get it, chilled out? Sorry.) enough for us to visit with my brothers and sister. We were grateful for all the time we were able to carve out to see everyone, and wish that we had more time to spend with each family member.

Driving home. The drive home was super cool. We woke up on the day we were to leave . . . to snow -- in St. George, Utah. We figured that the snow wouldn't last, but it stayed with us, snowing off and on, through Arizona, Las Vegas, through the California border, and almost to our house. About ten miles away from home the snow stopped. Apparently, it had snowed at our house the afternoon before -- an inch or so -- and we missed it! It FINALLY snows in Southern California, and we miss it by a day. *Sigh*

Being home. We were SO ready to go home after a week of traveling. Going to Utah really should be like a vacation, but it is so exhausting that we need days of recuperating time (staying four places during the eight days we were gone was just not fun). My blood sugar always gets totally messed up, and I just don't sleep when I am not in my own bed (ok, I don't sleep normally . . . but it is worse when I am away from home). We loved visiting family, but it was SO good to go home. Megan also got sick the last day with a yucky flu (she only now is finally starting to act better after a week of extreme lethargic behavior and zero appetite).

Bring on 2011!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2010-12-25T17:03:00.000-08:00

Ah, Christmas Day is a wonderful thing. All the kids are happy and content playing with new toys (no fighting!). That in itself is enough reason to have Christmas each year.

Last night was fun -- Christmas Eve is filled with traditions. We sing Christmas songs around the piano, decorate sugar cookies, and get dressed up and act out the Nativity. Christmas would not be the same with out these activities the night before. Things did not go so well, however. We just ran out of time. I spend the morning in Urgent Care with Megan, and the afternoon giving haircuts to everyone (scruffy looking kids!). We then had VERY little time to get everything done. We cut the cookies fast, flew through the Nativity, and quickly threw some icing on the cookies (as well as having a small icing fight). The kids went to bed (early!) with out a fuss -- they were so excited.

Our house is trashed. Paper is everywhere, along with packaging and toys scattered to the four corners of the house. Kids are happy and busy. I am loving the downtime just hanging out looking at all the new stuff.

Some of the new things in our house:

Trampoline (currently being assembled by Nathan and Roy -- they already had to take the mat off once and put it on again when they realized the enclosure netting was installed incorrectly).
Wii games (Boom Blox and Band Hero) and additional remote
Star Trek Movies 1-6 on Blu Ray (woo hoo!)
New Drill for Roy (one that actually works)
Lots of cooking supplies for me (mortar and pestle, bamboo cutting board, cookbook, meat tenderizer). There will be lots of yummy food to come. :)
Computer stuff (wireless mice for the boys, headphones for Nathan)
Girly Stuff (nail supplies, hat, Beanie Babies) and crafty Stuff (Bendaroos) for Megan
Zoobles (Bakugans for girls)
Calendars all around.
Chocolate. Mmmm.
Trio Blocks and cars for Tyler
Tape. Yup -- tape. One for Meg and one for Ty. That way they stop using up all of mine.
Cat Supplies for the new kitten who will join our house after our Utah trip.
And last but not least, there are smiles all around.

It has been a wonderful day so far. Dinner is in a crockpot so I don't have to cook today (yay!). Tomorrow will be a busy Sunday (they never are a day of rest), and then we get to spend next week with family.

Never Say "Never"

2010-12-24T07:45:00.000-08:00

You should never say "never". Why? Because that word will always come back to bite you when things change. I have been thinking a lot about this lately, as I have been looking back at how things in my life have changed as time has gone by. Things I have said I would never do:

I will never homeschool my kids. That is just nuts. Why on earth would anyone do that? The public school system is just fine. Kids need socialization. It is WAY too much work. Then I pulled Nathan out last year and homeschooled him for the half of his 5th grade year. It was without a doubt the best thing for him. I really enjoyed homeschooling him, and I loved the program we did. I would have done it for him again this year if he had not gotten into the charter school where he is currently enrolled.

A nursery calling would really be horrible. I would never enjoy that -- chasing toddlers around for two hours each Sunday would be torture. All my kids got through nursery, and I was never called to serve in that capacity. I thought I had dodged that bullet. Then I was called as a nursery leader in October. I was shocked. I have 20 kids in my class. They are super active. I am running the whole time. I absolutely love it. I go home each Sunday totally pooped, but I am really enjoying myself. I love all my kids, and I am devastated that 12 of them will be graduating up to Sunbeams in a week.

We will never have any pets other than those that are small animals that can be contained in a cage. Our tropical fish and Dwarf African Frogs are just fine -- they are very little work. A cat or a dog is totally out of the question. I grew up with dogs -- I don't really like cats. Roy grew up with cats -- and he -really- hates dogs. When we got married we made a mutual agreement that we would have neither. That has suited us just fine. Megan is 9, and is a animal lover. We have had a fish tank for about 8 years now. She has wanted a cat for years. We tried out the hamster thing -- it was a lot of fun. But it did not satisfy her desire. For her last birthday, we got her a small tank to call her own, and she now has two little frogs she cares for. She is very responsible and loves it. But the cat is still calling. A short while ago, Roy started to get softer on the idea. I was totally freaking out. No way. Not happening. Ever. However, the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I am still panicking when I think about the concept, but it feels right. The kids don't know yet (so don't say anything!), and they will be surprised tomorrow when they unwrap cat supplies from under the tree. We will go pick out a little furry friend when we get back from our Utah pilgrimage.

We will definitely have a large family. We both grew up in larger families -- there were five kids in my family and seven in Roy's. We both wanted to have lots of kids -- at least 4 or 5. We have three wonderful kids that I feel so blessed to have. We have tried and tried to have just one more. That is just not in our cards apparently. I am so grateful for what I have. If something miraculous happens in the future, we would gladly accept it, but for now, I am content with my three little blessings.

Ug. Cooking is a pain. I just don't get people who love it so much. You know the kind -- those insane fools who read magazines and spend hours making a dish. It is just food. You just eat it. Yeah, let me "eat" those words. When Roy and I started Weight Watchers a few years ago, I realized that everything that I put in my mouth had better taste awesome. I started dabbling in recipes and trying new skills to make things healthier and taste better. I now am ridiculously obsessive. I detest eating out because I know I can do better (and it will be way healthier, too). I bake bread several times a week. I love doing Wedding Cakes (see here). Cooking is my favorite way to be creative. I don't really have time to sit down and be crafty anymore. I love to sew and scrapbook, but it is just so time consuming. But cooking is different -- we have to eat every day, so I get to cook it! I derive great joy in meal planning, and I subscribe to several cooking magazines that I eagerly pour through and mark up. I often times wake up during the night and plan all the things I will eat the next day -- and which new recipes I will try out. I have accumulated so many recipes that I have had to get super organized. I have three binders of tried and true recipes, and an accordion file of recipes I have clipped but not yet tried. Yeah, kinda obsessive, but I love it.

I am sure there are more "I'll never" things in my life, but hopefully I won't have to eat crow too often . . .

Early to Bed, Early to Rise. . .

2010-12-24T07:28:00.000-08:00

As a child, I always thought my father's sleeping habits were weird. He went to bed -so- early (as a teenager, 9:30 PM -is- ridiculously early). In addition to that, he was always up before the sun -- even on days he did not work. I never got this. Why on earth would anyone choose to be up so early? It drove me nuts when we were staying in a hotel, because he would wake up early, and turn on the tv and watch the news. Yeah, he had the volume on low, and I am a light sleeper, so I would always be awake after that. I just never understood.

Until now.

I guess I can blame him for my sleeping habits -- it's genetics, right? I crash early at night because I wake so early. I regularly wake before 5 AM. I usually kid myself and lie there for a while hoping that I will somehow miraculously fall back to sleep again, but that rarely happens (I've been awake today since 2:30 -- yuck). yesterday, I dozed while sitting up on the couch in the middle of the day (I was watching Curious George's Christmas with the kids). I woke and thought of my father, who does this on a professional basis. He has the amazing ability to take naps while sitting up on the couch or a soft chair. He is usually has a book in hand, or has been watching a tv show. He can sleep even though my kids are running around like lunatics. It is amazing.

I keep hoping that somehow my sleep cycle will change, and I will be able to sleep in past 6:00 AM. In the meantime, I am enjoying the quiet hours before the kids get up to clean, organize, and check my email. It is super peaceful and I love that short time alone.

Maybe that's why my father always got up so early . . . to get some quiet time away from the chaos of children. . .

Stinkin' Hypoglycemia

2010-12-09T22:40:00.000-08:00

Tonight was my annual cookie party. I had amazing self restraint and held off eating until the end (I didn't want to be sick during the party). I was a good girl and I ate only one cookie tonight (ok, two halves, but that equals one, right?). One. That's it. I now have a killer headache and feel all yucky. But it was worth it. (Thanks Annie -- one of those yummy halves was yours -- I will be dreaming of the other half all night!). I am proud of myself for being surrounded by temptation, and for being strong in the middle of it all.

I guess it isn't as bad as Halloween. I ate two pieces of candy and was sick and nauseous for 24 hours. Stinkin' hypoglycemia.

I won!

2010-12-07T05:44:00.000-08:00

I occasionally enter blog giveaways. I don't go out of my way looking for them, but if one of the blogs that I regularly follow is giving something away, I am going to give it a shot. Anyway, one of my fav cooking blogs, recipegirl.com, was giving away amazon.com certificates. I thought, how cool would that be? I do almost all of my online shopping there. I entered, and did a few extra required things to get a few more entries . . . and my name was randomly selected! How cool is that? I now have $50 to spend -- too bad my Christmas shopping is practically finished. . .

Weird Sleeping Habits

2010-12-07T05:32:00.000-08:00

My kids have weird sleeping habits. I shouldn't complain too much because they are actually sleeping (which is what I wish I was doing right now). They just have these weird quirks that I just don't get. Maybe I need to be a kid to understand.

If Megan wakes up during the night, she turn on the lights. Not just her light, mind you . . . her lamp, her ceiling light, the hall light, both bathroom lights, and the other day she also flipped on the lights in the extra bedroom. She never recalls doing it. Ever.
All the kids insist on sleeping with their ceiling fans on. Still. It is December. The heater is running, and they are complaining about how cold it is, but still the fans go on each night. I just don't get it.
Both my boys take off their shirts at night to sleep because they complain about sweating during the night. However, they are also cold . . . so they sleep with warm pajama pants on and snuggle down into the blankets. But they sleep with the ceiling fan on (see above). Once again, I just don't get it.
Each night, Nathan crawls into bed, takes off his shirt, and goes to sleep. In the morning, he puts on his shirt before he gets out of bed -- even though he is walking directly to the shower. Huh? I have asked him why he does this -- he says he just likes to do it that way. Did I mention that I just don't get it?

Not Sleeping

2010-12-07T05:28:00.000-08:00

I am getting really good at this whole insomnia thing. Today I woke up at 3 AM. I gave up and got up at 4:30. It is now 5:30 and I feel like I have been hit by a bus. Still, I know that if I went back to bed, I would just lie there, which is just maddening. It is going to be a long day. . .

Turkey Day

2010-12-04T07:26:00.001-08:00

Ok, I know Thanksgiving was a week ago, but I can still post about it right? The Thanksgiving holiday was WONDERFUL! No school for a week! No running around. No obligations. Nada. Our hightlights:

My parents were in town for the week, so we had the opportunity to bum around with them. The kids loved hanging out with grandma and grandpa. I feel so blessed to have had the chance to have Thanksgiving with them -- it has been at least 7 or 8 years since we have done so.
Thanksgiving dinner was wonderful -- I love to cook, and I love the opportunity to plan all the dishes and do it all. Yeah, that would stress out a lot of folks, but I was just giddy with happiness. Everything was just yummy.
Black Friday Sales -- woo hoo! I did my online shopping late on Thanksgiving. I swore that there was no way I would shop in stores. However, I blinked awake at 5 AM, and figured that if I was going to be awake, I might as well get some shopping done. The stores weren't actually that bad, and I got everything I wanted. :)

Lost in translation

2010-12-04T07:14:00.000-08:00

So funny -- I asked a question about a item on ebay -- whether a item was a generic brand or the official brand. This was the response I got:

Dear friend,
Thanks for your email.I'd like to tell you it is very perfectly.

Any questions,please let me know.

best wishes,
Tina

Um, ok. I looked at the seller's info -- they were from China. Too funny.

Talking to Santa

2010-12-03T19:53:00.000-08:00

You gotta love the internet. Forget waiting hours to sit on Santa's lap. You can email him at santa@santaclaus.com -- he emails back, or go to http://magicsanta.ca/ and personalize a video from Santa to your child. The video is adorable and Tyler just LOVES it -- you can watch his here.

Shopping

2010-11-26T19:35:00.000-08:00

Insomnia has it's benefits. I have been getting by on about 4 hours of sleep each night. I have been feeling like a drunk person. However, this morning it came in quite handy. I woke up at 4:30. At 5:30 my wheels started turning. If I was going to be awake, I might as well get some good out of it. I did a mental run through of items for sale in the Black Friday ads that I had sworn off (because I was NOT going to go out and deal with all the chaos). I realized that most of the store I had sworn off would not be too crazy because they had already opened late last night, or at 4 AM. I got up, grabbed the ads, and hit 3 stores in one hour. I was home by 7:00. No one even missed me. I snagged some good deals, including a great bargain on Roy's gift, and a steal on a trampoline for the kids (hopefully Nathan won't read this . . .). I was up until 12:00 the night before doing online Black Friday Shopping (got lots of stuff there), so I am practically done with shopping. Now I can avoid the stores for the month of December and ignore the chaos that will ensue as folks scramble for gifts. Happiness.

Boo to you! Part 2

2010-11-04T11:48:00.000-07:00

Ok, so Halloween is now over. Our super cool spiderweb is down from the front of the house. The costumes are put away, er, in a pile in our living room. The pumpkins made it into the trash before becoming a large pile of moldy goo. Let me just recap a few delightful moments of the holiday:

Carving pumpkins was super funny. I had purchased four pumpkins a few weeks ago from Sprouts when they were on sale for 15 cents a pound. It was just awesome getting four huge pumpkins for less than $10 total. Nice. I should have known something was up when one of them went rotten after three days. We broke out our carving stuff on Sunday afternoon to give those pumpkins their lobotomies. One was kinda ripe inside, but we decided to carve it anyway -- it was only going to need to last for a few hours, and then it would go into the trash. Megan had no problems. She isn't squeamish at all. She actually preferred it that way because it was easier to carve. That's my girl. Nathan got the normal pumpkin of the bunch, but I seriously thought he was going to puke while carving. No joke. Megan had the semi-rotten pumpkin and she was fine. My boy gets nauseated by touching pumpkin seeds and gunk. Nice. Megan and Nathan got going on their pumpkins, so I turned my attention to Tyler's. We cut it open, and it wouldn't open. Roy had to work on that thing for a while to get the top off. Why? It turned out that the meat was 3 inches thick. I am not kidding. We even measured. See? That one was a doozy to carve. I had to be super careful because I was applying so much pressure that I was afraid that I might slip and carve myself. Luckily, I still have all my fingers intact.

Our neighbor put up his annual Halloween House. Love it. He does this every year -- each year is a different theme. This year, it was Jurassic Park. The kids love it -- we have to drive by every time we come/go from the house (which gets to be a tad annoying), but Halloween IS only once a year after all. . .

Trick-or-treating on Sunday was not really in the cards for us. The kids got their stash from the Ward Halloween Party on Saturday, the night before. They all got a huge haul, and had a fantastic time. I didn't see much of the party, I was just released as the Activities Chair, but I am still on the committee. I also had pretty much planned the entire activity before I was released, so my fingers were still all intertwined in the whole thing. I hear that everything went well for the 250 plus folks that were there, but I was in the kitchen the whole time, so I will just have to take everyone's word for it that the dinner was yummy, the parade went well, and that the kids all had fun in the game rooms and trunk-or-treating. Once again, feel like I missed Halloween. *see the previous post for more on this.

On Sunday the kids passed out candy to all the little folks who showed up at our door. We had a greatly diminished showing from previous years (probably because it was Sunday), which was nice (last year we went through 10 bags of candy, plus extra from the kid's bags that they didn't want from the Halloween Parties they had been to). Between sprints to the door, they watched the old version of War of the Worlds. It seemed appropriate. :)

The kids woke up the next morning sick. They laid there moaning and groaning. It so was hilarious. I had told them two things the night before: 1) they could eat as much candy as they liked -- I called it a "candy fest", and, 2) if they ate two much, they would get sick. They all ate at least 20-30 pieces of candy. I made a yummy Halloween Split Pea Soup that they usually inhale, but they weren't interested. There were wrappers everywhere in huge piles. They weren't hungry for breakfast from the nausea, and they moved really slow. They actually were tardy for school that morning because they felt so sick and laid around instead of getting ready. Needless to say, they haven't really touched their candy the rest of this week. So funny.

Last but not least, here is a cute little video for ya. Tyler wanted to make a movie on the camera, so he interviewed me with the pumpkins that we carved. So cute.

Boo to you! Part 1

2010-10-31T07:55:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween one and all! It feels like October just rushed by. I feel kinda cheated. I love this time of year and I am super bummed that today is Halloween and I feel like I missed it.* It doesn't really help since Halloween falls on a Sunday. We won't be taking the kids out trick-or-treating, so our Halloween celebration is our Ward Trunk-or-treat. I feel super sad because I LOVE trick-or-treating. Yeah, giving out candy is ok, but I just love taking the kids out.*

Yeah, it is that time to post the annual Halloween picts. There are of course pictures of the kids. May I present, a cereal killer, Ron Weasley from Harry Potter, and a very spooky vampire. Now the stories behind the costumes.

Nathan did not want to dress up this year. He is trying to find his niche in 7th grade. I can see him trying to act more mature and older (usually doesn't work, but I appreciate the effort). I could tell that he wanted to be more grown up. I told him that adults and teenagers still dress up. I also told him that if he wanted to go trunk or treating at the ward party that he had to have a costume. I also reminded him that this was probably the last year he could go trunk or treating -- since he'll be 12 next Halloween. That cinched it. Now, onto the costume. I had to think really hard to find something that he could dress up as, without dressing up. He was originally going to be a Lego brick, but that turned out to be too cumbersome. So, enter the costume without having to dress up -- a box of cereal around your neck with a knife stuck in it -- a cereal killer.

Megan has had an obsession with vampires lately. This has made me laugh. There are bunch of girls at school that talk about and pretend to be vampires all the time. I am sure that this stems from them having older siblings who are Twilight obsessed. So, her desire to be a vampire is linked to Edward and Bella -- she just doesn't know who they are yet, and no, she won't be reading those books anytime soon. I made her costume for her this year, and frankly, I am proud of it. I did learn a valuable lesson, however. Sewing patterns exist for a reason! It took me three times as long as it should have. I couldn't find a pattern of what I wanted, so I decided to wing it. I just laid one of her t-shirts on the fabric and cut away. It worked, kinda. I had lots of places I had to bring in and let out. I had to cut off the sleeves and do them over because I make the opening too small. The neckline was a beast. However, it eventually all came together -- complete with a matching cape for her favorite tiger stuffed animal. She was delighted.

Tyler wanted to be Ron from Harry Potter. That is not a costume you see much of. Why Ron? Because he loves to play Lego Harry Potter -- particularly the character of Ron. Why? Because in the game, Ron has a rat. The rat is fun. It does cool stuff. It makes him giggle. So, Ty wanted to be Ron so he could carry around a rat. I found a cool Beanie Baby Rat on ebay. He was delighted. I find it SUPER ironic that I sprayed his hair red. I always figured that one of my kids would have red hair. With four siblings with red hair + Roy has a sibling with strawberry blonde hair. . . I figured one might come in the mix. Nope. They are all blondies. The only way I could get a red head was to make it red myself.

Roy? Yeah, he doesn't really do the whole dressing up thing. He was wearing a Star Wars T-shirt yesterday. . . so he proclaimed that he was dressing up as a Star Wars fan. Nice. :)

Me? I pulled out my old hippie costume. I wore it to our Ward Party last night. I am not really sure why I bothered. I was in the kitchen for the entire party making sure that all those hungry trunk or treaters had lots of yummy food. I was uncomfortable with it cutting under my arm, and my feet hurt from the lovely flip flops I was wearing. I even ended up rubbing the skin off between one of my toes because I was running laps in flip flop for several hours. Yeah, learned that lesson. The party went off without a hitch. However, I am just kinda bummed that I missed seeing the kids doing their thing. Once again, feel like I missed Halloween.*

*Sorry about the sad complainy statements about missing Halloween. . .

Birthdays Circa 2010

2010-10-31T06:56:00.000-07:00

Fall is birthday season. Roy turned 36 in August. Nathan hit 11 in September. Megan and I both bumped up to 9 and 33 in October. The kids both had a small bash in their honor -- both parties were just with a handful of friends with pizza and a movie. They were delighted.

Nathan's shindig was all about Mars. Surprised? Naw. He and his friends watched Mission to Mars and ate a nifty Mars cake (I think it turned out fairly well). This party was different for him. He has a small party every year. We let the kids do this because we don't have family around, and so this makes up for not having a family party. Each year the kids he invites are the same -- his boys from his church class, his next door neighbor, plus one or two new school friends. This year was the same group, except there was one difference: the two school friends that came were real friends. Ok, I know that sounds weird. Nathan has always had boys that he calls his friends. However, he never really hung out with them, or if he did, it was always one sided. These two boys from school that came are real friends. They call him regularly. They hang out with him at recess and lunch every day. He has an actual bond -- this has never happened before. I am getting all emotional just thinking about it. Sorry. Big breath. All better now.

Megan had a "How to Train Your Dragon" party. She delayed having her party until the movie was released on Blu-Ray so that she could watch it at her party. It was so much fun. the girls ate pizza, and then spent a huge chunk of time decorating viking shields. I finally had to start the show even though they were not done or else we wouldn't finish the movie. They are viking hat cake, which turned out awesome, if I do say so myself. She was in heaven. She got lots of girly stuff from her friends, and a fish tank from mom and dad. Yeah, we already have a 10 gallon tank. She has been begging for a dog or a cat (which is SO not happening), so she decided that she wanted her own tank. We now have a little mini 2 gallon vessel on the bathroom counter with two cute little dwarf african frogs floating and zipping around. Love it.

My birthday was this past week. It came and went. It was kindof a blur. My life feels that way a lot now. The kids made me dinner (with LOTS of help from Roy -- mmmm. . . steak, alfredo pasta, brussels sprouts) and a yummy angel food cake trifle. I lamented all day long that it was my birthday and that I shouldn't have to ______ (fill in the blank with dishes, sweep, pick up toys, etc.). I milked it from the kids all day long. It was great. The craziest part of the day was gifts. I usually have a pretty good idea of what I will be getting because I have to nudge Roy a lot. All I really wanted was a cheap mp3 player so I could expand my musical selections in the van (seeing as I feel like I live in there). He super surprised me with an immersion blender (YAY -- now making soups and sauces will be SO much easier!), and and iPod. An iPod? I SO did not see that one coming. An iPod is not a cheap mp3 player. He thought he was very clever. He cashed in his frequent flyer miles and got it for free. I was distraught at first -- I really did not need something so complex. I let the kids play on it a lot the first few days. I messed around and found lots of fun apps. After having it a few days . . . I am loving it. I love that I can check my email anytime I want. I can check on what I am watching/selling on ebay at a touch. I am slowly getting my schedule on it. Shopping lists? Check! I feel impowered, and I am having way too much fun playing pointless games, like angry birds. So, thanks hon for the super fun gift!

(Yeah, that facial expression pretty much summed up what I felt when I opened my gift.)

Tooth Fairy Guilt

2010-10-31T06:24:00.000-07:00

Ug. Sleep deprived. Went to bed last night at midnight. Woke up at 5:30 -- on a Sunday -- when I don't have to get up early. Oh well, it gives me time to do some blogging. . .

(Before the wiggly thing came out -- I know it looks like he already has a hole in his smile, but that is because the other tooth is already in and his teeth shifted.)

Ty is growing up way too fast. I am so torn. I love that he is maturing and having new experiences -- kindergarten, learning how to read, wanting to be all grown up -- but at the same time I am screaming to myself, "Wait, STOP, slow down! Don't grow up too fast!".

Last Tuesday was one of those days.

Tyler lost his first tooth. That tooth has been wiggly for a month now. The new tooth was in, but it had not been applying much pressure at all. We had been asking him to wiggle it while watching tv and reading books, but I was fearful that the sucker would not come out and that we would have to pull it. Finally, it fell out, with a little help from Roy. Ok, a lot of help from Roy. It was super loose, and we told Ty we would give him a quarter if he let Roy yank it out. Yeah, I know we would be paying for the tooth anyway. . .

Funny thing though, the tooth fairy went to go get her golden dollar out of her wallet, but it wasn't there. Apparently the kids needed some $ (they make change in my $ when they need to pay tithing, etc.). Nice. I snuck in and found Nathan's bank. I searched, but he didn't have any. I did the same for Megan's. Nada. I knew that she had them all from her previous teeth, but there were no golden dollars anywhere -- she had stashed them elsewhere. Crap. I did not want to go run to the store at 10:30 at night. So, what did I do? I snuck in and borrowed a golden dollar from Tyler's bank. Oh, that was just horrible. I used his own money? *ack* *guilt* How bad of a mom am I??? In the morning, he was beyond excited -- dancing around with his golden dollar. I had to make sure that he quickly dropped in his bank, and that he didn't look for his other coin. I lucked out. Big time. I just had to repay him with another dollar when I got one. I thought it was bad when the tooth fairy forgot to come . . . two nights in a row (now that was guilt), but this one takes the cake.

The Dave Club

2010-10-15T11:19:00.001-07:00

Have any of you read the story by Dr. Seuss called "Too Many Daves"? It starts out like this:

Did I ever tell you that Mrs. McCave
Had twenty-three sons, and she named them all Dave?

Well, she did. And that wasn't a smart thing to do.
You see, when she wants one, and calls out "Yoo-Hoo!
Come into the house, Dave!" she doesn't get one.
All twenty-three Daves of hers come on the run!

Well, there are too many Daves in Tyler's kindergarten classroom at school. Many, many, many. Why, do you ask? Because of the Dave club. Apparently one of the girls in his class started it. To get in the club, you have to do something nice for the teacher. After that, you she (and the other members of the club) call you Dave. I about busted a gut trying not to giggle as Tyler excitedly explained it all to me -- and that he was now a member.

He was just bursting with pride.

Season Passes

2010-10-09T21:35:00.000-07:00

I have been watching the Six Flags Magic Mountain website for weeks now. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. I knew that any day now they would put Season Passes on sale that would be good for the remainder of this year plus all of next year. A few days ago, they went on sale. I was delighted -- we have not had passes since Megan was 5. They had a great deal running -- if you bought 4 or more season passes, then they threw in Hurricane Harbor (the Six Flags waterpark) also. We have only been to the waterpark twice -- but the kids LOVE it there. It was a great deal and we are ecstatic.

Why was I so anxious? The kids have minimum days every Friday. We practically drive by the park every day to and from school. Plus, Roy has every other Friday off. Yeah. I know what we will be doing on Fridays.

We would have gone yesterday, but Megan decided to get all pukey. Not fun. I thought for sure that we would have to wait until next weekend to visit. Not so. She woke up this morning bouncing and giddy wanting to go so bad. We went over this afternoon, got our pictures taken for our id's, and had fun running around. Ty and I chilled in the kids area, while Roy took the big kids on some coasters. It was fun being with him -- seeing him so happy. It was even more fun when 5:00 hit and all the kid rides shut down for trick or treating. They passed out trick or treat bags to the kids, explained that the ride operators would be giving out candy, and let the kids go at it. It was so much fun. Ty got a bag full, and he was all smiles.

We came home, ate our pumpkin, chickpea and red lentil stew out of the crockpot (SO good -- you must try it here), and Megan was already begging to go back. She has a side of her that is morbidly curious. She wanted to go to fright fest. We described it to her. Dark, scary, monsters jumping out at you, rollercoasters with no lights on the track, rollercoaster trains going backwards, spookiness everywhere . . . not really a place for a nine year old. She was dying to go back. Nathan wanted to go too, but he was drained: the 5 mile scout hike he went on today + Six Flags = pooped out boy. So, Roy and Megan are currently at the park. It is almost 10 PM. She usually goes to bed at 8 PM. I am so curious to see how their date went. I hope she had fun, and that she doesn't have too many nightmares tonight. . .

Time

2010-10-09T21:13:00.000-07:00

September 12th. That was the last time I blogged. Today is October 8th. Yikes. Time flies. I just feel so nutso lately. In theory, I am supposed to have lots of free time now that Ty is in kindergarten. I thought that would be so. It should be that way. However, in reality, that just ain't happening. By the time I drop him off, help out in the classroom, run to the store, and just blink a few times, I have to turn around and pick him up. Then I spend the rest of the afternoon with him. We cook, we clean together, play games, watch a tv show, go shopping. I love that I have that time with him every day. I dread sending him to school all day for first grade. That will really bite.

I have really spread my time thin. Roy didn't want me to volunteer for anything for a while. Yeah. That would have been a good idea, but I just can't do that. I am teaching a music elective twice a week for the sixth graders (Yeah, I know, Nathan isn't in sixth grade anymore. I volunteered before he moved up.), and I am coordinating the super huge Holiday Show that involves everyone in the school, including all the extracurriculars. That takes lots of time. Then I have church service. I was recently released as the activities coordinator, because they needed someone in nursery who would come in and revamp everything, who was good with kids, and could manage the 17+ kids that are in there. Yup. That's me. I never thought I would be in nursery. I underestimated how much work it would be. I also majorly underestimated how much fun I would have. I always thought that a nursery calling would be the worst -- just day care. How wrong I was. But it takes time too.

I have actually been avoiding the computer because it is a time sink. I get on to check my email, and I get off an hour later having accomplished very little. It is just so easy to click here, research this, shop for this. To solve the problem, I just stopped getting on altogether. I think I am going to get a timer to put next to the computer to keep me focused, along with a notepad that I am going to write down what I need to do -- so that I do that, and nothing else.

My goal is to become more efficient overall so that I don't feel so busy, and so I can chill more. Here's hoping.

Dishes and Equality

2010-09-12T16:40:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I watch what the kids are doing, and I just have to ask myself -- what are you thinking?

Consider today's example:

We have a daily chore chart, but on Sundays we just all chip in to get things done (meaning, whatever mom asks you to do). Included in that is unloading the dishwasher. The kids like things to be equal, so on Sundays the dishwasher is divided into three equal parts: the bottom rack, the top rack, and the silverware. The bottom rack is always Tyler's. It is the fastest and easiest for the little guy. This morning, I asked Nathan to unload part of the the dishwasher. He comes over and unloads the bottom rack. I notice and comment on the fact that the bottom rack is for Tyler on Sundays. I come back a few minutes later. The bottom rack was full, and the top rack was empty. Huh? Am I going mad? No, Nathan unloaded the top rack and then, you guessed it, loaded all the dishes back into the bottom rack so Tyler could unload it. I was laughing so hard. Roy and I teased him big time and gave him a hard time -- telling him that it really is OK to give service or do something nice for someone else. The kid just has such a strong sense of justice. . .

7th grade

2010-09-09T06:33:00.000-07:00

I woke up at 5:00 AM this morning with my brain just going like wild. I gave up trying to sleep at 6:00 and got up (this is a regular occurrence for me unfortunately). Why was my brain cranking? Because today Nathan is going to 7th grade.

On Tuesday, Nathan's 6th grade teacher pulled Roy and I aside and told us that he wanted Nathan to move up a grade. He was supposed to make the transition this week up to seventh grade math and science, but his teacher ran a bunch of end of year assessments on him in different areas, and he realized that he needed to go up to 7th for everything. Roy and I were uneasy with this idea, because it is important for him to be with his peers that are the same age (which is why we never moved him before). We also know that he still needs struggles with writing (the kid just hates to write -- he just needs to find the desire and motivation). However, it just felt right (one of those spirit testifying moments). We discussed it for a while, and decided to go for it.

I am nervous for him. I know that he will do wonderfully academically, but I worry about him socially. He doesn't really relate well to peers his own age (he prefers adults), so I am hoping that he will do better with older kids. He already knows a bunch of the 7th graders because they have lunch a breaks at the same time, so that should help. I hope. I just pray that he finds a place to fit in, and that he won't be the odd one out.

After looking back, I realized that pulling him out to homeschool him last Spring really set him up for this change now. He really learned how to push himself, and how to be more motivated. He cruised through 5th and 6th grade math and his writing skills really flourished. I am so glad that he is in SCVi, where a transition like this could occur, because this definitely would not be happening in public school.

I sat down and did the math on a few things.

Nathan will start 7th grade as a ten year old (his birthday is in a few weeks). He is young for his grade anyway, so there may be kids who are two years older than him in his grade.
He will turn 16 in September of his senior year. So much for dating in High School.
He will graduate when he is 16. That one throws me for a loop.
He will be able to get two years of college in before his mission. Dang. Those two years will be at our local community college, because I am NOT sending him away to school at that age. BYU will just have to wait.

I was young for my grade. The cut off for Kindergarten was four days after my birthday, so I was always the youngest, and there were kids that were almost a year older than me. It was hard when I was in high school -- when I turned 15, everyone else was turning 16. They all got to drive and start dating, and I had to wait another year. That was tough. However, it was great starting college at 17. Loved that. It was awesome having that advantage. Nathan will have those same situations, only magnified.

He is excited. He is nervous. However, he is ready for this. As anxious as I am for him, I know that this is the right thing for him. The spirit keeps testifying this to me each time I doubt or worry. I pray that this transition goes well.

**Update: Nathan came home today with all smiles. He loves it. He proclaimed that he liked seventh grade better than sixth. He made a handful of new friends, and he says he feels like he fits in more that he did before. Lets hope it sticks!

The Dangers of Eating Chocolate

2010-09-06T14:40:00.000-07:00

Tyler informed me yesterday women become pregnant because they "eat so much food and get fat". I giggled and asked him if I should start eating more so I can get pregnant. He told me no. Apparently he is content to be the youngest. Darn. I would have loved the excuse to eat chocolate every meal. . .

One Week In

2010-09-06T14:31:00.000-07:00

Well, school has been in for one week now. It is super hard to see how this new charter school will pan out, but so far things are good. The kids are happy. They are giddy to go to school each day. The teachers are enthusiastic and are motivating the kids well. Here are some of my thoughts on this school year so far:

I am using $$$ in gas. 51.6 miles each day. 90 minutes. Three pickups/dropoffs each day. I get home, chill for a little while, and then head back. I am feeling a little loco, but I have car pools that -should- take effect this week. I hope. Desperately.
I love that the school is technology driven. I was thrown for a loop when Nathan's sixth grade teachers told him what school supplies he needed: just the basic stuff (pencils, paper, etc.), and a laptop. Roy and I knew that this would probably happen. Nathan is in heaven and thinks that he is just cool. Having it has spurned his computer portion of his brain, and he wants to learn programming. He has spent the better part of his day off school today going through tutorials learning how to do it. So cool. It is a good thing his birthday is coming up. This will count for his birthday. And Christmas. Easter. Valentines Day. Earth Day . . .
Nathan's teachers are really accommodating. Love it. They have no issues about moving him up to 7th grade math and science. We talked about moving him up to 8th grade math (which would probably be the best fit), but I am pretty sure that he would get squashed by the eighth graders. Not the best idea, nor motivating to want to go to school.
I heart the fact that kindergarten is 1/2 day. Yeah, I have to do more driving. That is ok with me. Tyler is happy and having a good experience, and not totally exhausted from being at school for SIX hours. I LOVE that they will be grouping in ability levels across the K and 1st grade -- because the two grades are combined (yay!). I also look forward to when Ty goes to 1st next year, because after the K's leave each day, the remaining first graders get 3 hours with just 10 kids and their teacher. Nice.
Every Friday is a minimum day. Love it. So much. I am going to turn it into "Friday Fun Day". We will hit the park, Chuck E. Cheese, Magic Mountain (we are planning on getting passes for next year), out to lunch, etc. So excited to have playtime with the kids.
No homework yet. We shouldn't see much at all. The only homework they give is what is not finished in class. Woo hoo!
Lego Robotics after school program. Enough said.
Megan has found 5 members of the church in her class so far! She has been wearing her CTR ring and necklace and they are just coming out of the woodwork. :)
School starts at 8:45 AM. We can get up at the same time that we would leave the house last year. We all feel rested. We can sleep in, but we decided as a family it would be better to use the time to: shower, practice the piano, have personal scripture study (we do family study at night), read and play. The kids are happy. So nice. I don't have to get up at 6:00 AM to workout anymore -- I have been waiting until 6:30, working out, waking up the kids at 7:00, and we begin our morning.
The 6th grade teachers needed parents to come in a few mornings a week to teach elective classes. I volunteered to come in and teach music. I am super excited. I will be going in twice a week for an hour each time to teach singing and possibly a recorder class. I have toyed with the idea for a long while about trying to get a job teaching music once the kids were all in school -- this will give me a chance to try it out.
I feel like I am opening my wallet a lot. Roy and I knew that this would happen. SCVi is a charter school, so they get their funding from the state, but 30% less than public schools (plus they have to pay rent, utilities, etc.) so things just add up. Each family is asked to pay a donation at the beginning of the year (which was less than I thought it was going to be), but we also have to provide all the school supplies, pay for field trips, donate of our time (80 hours a year -- tracked by the school, which is about 2 hours a week), and more. I am fine with this. I volunteered in their last school a lot -- I like being in the classroom. I know they need supplies -- I have been stocking up like a mad woman on all the cheap 5 cent rulers and colored pencils that are on sale right now. It is just how things will be. We will make it work.

Decorating Exhaustion

2010-08-29T07:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I did a wedding cake. Ok, let me take that back, I spent all day Friday and all day Saturday doing a large five tier monster. It took forever. How I so desperately WISH I had a double oven. Baking ten cakes (two per tier) took all day long, and majorly heated up the house (which was not fun seeing as it was swelteringly hot outside). It was exhausting, seeing as I am still not caught up from the lack of sleep from Roy's ER visit (seeing as I don't sleep well anyway, I don't know if I will ever catch up). As difficult as it was to orchestrate (keeping the kids happy, taking care of Roy, having my kitchen look as if a tornado ran through it), I really enjoyed it. I love doing tiered cakes -- they are just so much fun. I just need more people to call me for cake jobs, since I can't make them for my family -- we'd all gain way too much!

See more of my previous cakes here.

A Very Long Day (and Night) aka Emergency Rooms are FUN!

2010-08-25T12:53:00.000-07:00

Ug. I really don't like hospitals. Let alone emergency rooms. I feel much too familiar with both after last night.

Roy woke up yesterday feelin yucky. He figured he was just getting the flu (that I was just getting over). He kept getting worse as the day wore on. Nausea set in hard. So did cramps. The cramps were on his lower right abdomen. They got kinda bad. Ok, horribly bad. I have never seen Roy in so much pain. Ever. It was just awful. And, it hurt to touch in that area also. Bad. Roy googled the symptoms for appendicitis. He looked at the screen and decided he needed to go in. Immediately.

Now, that is huge. The man doesn't even like to take Tylenol. For him to WANT to go to the E.R. means that something is really wrong. We left the kids at home with our adopted grandma from down the street, and began our journey.

8:30 PM: Left house. Roy urged me (strongly) the entire way to run every red light and speed as much as possible. I was kinda freaked at his behavior.
8:45 PM: Arrived at E.R. Checked in. Filled out paperwork. Lady had to enter the info twice because she typed it wrong. I thought Roy was going to die right there while she was on her computer typing really slow.
10:45 PM: Triage nurse finally calls Roy's name. She doesn't do much, just vitals. We were SO hoping that she could get him in quicker -- after all, a burst appendix is a bad thing, right? I am starting to panic. We have been here an hour, and it does not look like we will be seen soon. Roy is doubled over in pain. His color is a scary greenish-yellow. He is just moaning and groaning. I have never seen him like this. There have only been two people called back in the first hour to receive care. Crap. The room is full.
11:30 PM: After much coaxing we get one of the nurses to update us. She comes out and announces that the beds in the E.R. are all full (there were a bunch of bad car accidents), and that they will not be bringing in any patients for several hours. We discuss leaving and going to another hospital, but we had already put in hours there, and we didn't want to start over. I spend the next 2 1/2 hours panicking and feeling horribly helpless as I watch him suffer. They can't give him any pain meds because he hasn't seen a doctor. They can't do anything. He lays curled up on two chairs put face-to-face and attempts to sleep. It doesn't really work: screaming babies + loud TV + intense pain = no sleep. Nothing I do helps to ease his suffering.
2:15 AM: The E.R. beds have finally cleared, and they call back a handful of names. I could have kissed the nurse that called us back, but that really would have been weird. We waited 5 1/2 hours in the waiting room. Horrible.
2:20 AM: Roy finally gets to lay down on a bed instead of gross and dirty E.R. chairs. He even gets a pillow and warm blankets. Yay!
2:45 AM: Morphine kicks in. I could have kissed the nurse again. Roy starts to come back to a state of normalcy.
3:30 AM: Roy gets a fun trip to the C.T. scan machine.
4:40 AM: Doctor comes to tell us that he indeed has appendicitis. Wonderful. It would have been great to be wrong. At this point, we are just anxious to get it out so that he can start recovering.
5:15 AM: Told that he will be going into surgery in less than an hour.
6:00 AM: Surgeons take him away.
6:50 AM: Surgeon comes to chat -- says that all went well. I leave to go home and shower and be with the kids. Tyler didn't even realize that I was ever gone. I got home just as he woke up, and he was downright confused that Roy was gone and that our neighbor was on the couch downstairs.

I have now been awake for 33 hours. I have slept 5 hours in the past two days. I flat our refused to sleep during the ordeal. I needed to be his advocate -- he definitely couldn't speak for himself. I stayed awake all night by standing a good chunk of the time, while jogging in place or walking around. At one point I snuck into a bathroom stall and did aerobic exercises for about 10 minutes to get my blood pumping and my adrenaline going. That adrenaline is gone now. I am feeling kinda slap happy at this point. The kids are watching a movie. It is time to sleep. G'night.

Feelin' Buggy

2010-08-19T13:53:00.001-07:00

I was cooking the kids breakfast this morning when I heard a buzzing outside my window. I looked out and saw a huge bug attacking the screen trying to get in. I dropped what I was holding in surprise, and watched in awe as a gorgeous beetle buzzed around. It landed shortly afterwards on the wall outside. I hollered at the kids to come take a peek, and then caught it. It is now residing on our kitchen counter. I did a quick google search, and discovered it is a June Beetle (don'tcha just love the internet?). It is a skittish little guy, who keeps playing dead (I almost released it because I thought it was). We are enjoying watching him, and he will go home mostly likely around dinnertime today. He is 1" long, and simply gorgeous -- the light glinting off it's shell is just amazing.

Summer Extended

2010-08-14T15:31:00.000-07:00

One of the nice perks about the kids being in this new charter school, is that we suddenly have 2 1/2 more weeks of summer. I am beyond excited about this. I have been dreading sending them back to school -- I really don't want to be home all alone. Every. Day. Call me crazy, but I just don't want to send them back to school. I look at the next two weeks as a gift -- more time with them. We have been:

Staying up late night after night. I had shifted the kids back to an earlier bedtime, but forget that now! Tee hee! I will do it again in a few weeks.
Swimming all day. The city Aquatic Center is known for being ridiculously busy. We usually arrive 20 minutes before they open just to get in -- they hit their capacity shortly after opening (capacity of 275!), and if you get there late you have to wait for folks to leave. I realized that the Aquatic Center would probably be really empty on the first day of public school. It was pretty vacant. It rocked big time. The kids usually have to stand in long lines to go down the slide, and there were less than 10 kids in line the whole time (all the other kids at the pool were preschool age and under -- they were too short to slide). I loved that I could sit on the side of the pool and watch all three kids run and play -- usually I have Ty at my side the whole time because I can't keep an eye on him because the water is frothing with children. Loved it. The best part was that as we drove home, we stopped at the light right by the kids school. We watched a bunch of kids cross the street on the way home from school -- Nathan knew most of them. We all giggled when we realized they were just coming home from school and we were in swimsuits.
Playing at the beach and kayaking with Roy. Roy had Friday off work, so we went to the beach. It was vacant. The ocean was calm -- perfect for kayaking (we found a great place to go!). Everything was perfect, except that it was freezing. It was 60 degrees and very windy. Not so much fun if you are only wearing a bathing suit. I cowered in the beach chair wrapped up in three large beach towels until we left. The most horrible part was that the clouds burned off while we were leaving, and by the time we had the van all packed up and the kayak on top . . . it was nice and warm -- just right. Oh, the irony of it all. Roy and the kids still had a good time kayaking though -- the novelty has definitely not worn off, and will not for a while.
Celebrating Roy's birthday all weekend. We went out for dinner on Wednesday night (for his birthday and to also celebrate the SCVi charter school news), had a fun birthday dinner (homemade meat pizza . . . mmmm), ran out of time to have cake on his birthday, so we had it yesterday (chocolate cake with peanut butter swirls . . . mmmm), and a special breakfast this morning. Talk about dragging it out. I haven't seen much of Roy in the evenings however, he is LOVING his new Starcraft 2 game. I may need to hide it so that he can get some sleep. . .
Today we spent the day cleaning the house. I kinda haven't done much cleaning lately -- I have been playing with the kids. So, we buckled down and cleaned today. SO nice to have things back to normal again!

We're In!

2010-08-11T14:03:00.000-07:00

I just got a phone call from the Charter School where Nathan is enrolled this school year -- there are spots available for Megan and Tyler. We're all in! Woo hoo! I am so excited to have all the kids there for so many reasons:

They will all be at the same school -- I won't be driving all over doing pick-ups and drop-offs. They will also have the same school calendar. Yay!
Small class sizes and grades -- 40 kids in each grade, 20 per class.
They don't have to keep the same silly rules that public school has to.
Minimum days. Every. Friday. Cool.
Kindergarten is 1/2 day there. Super cool. I was NOT looking forward to all day K with Ty.
Grade level lines are fuzzy. If the kids are doing well in a subject -- they will move them around to where they need to be. It is not grade level centric.
Lego Engineering Club. Enough said.
Field trips. Every. Month.
The school will eventually be kindergarten through 12th grade. I we most likely will not keep the kids there through high school, but we probably will through Jr. high (anything we can do to make those years less painful for the kids would be great).
School starts at 8:45 AM. Nice -- no more dragging the kids out of bed super early to get ready.
We get 2 1/2 more weeks of summer. Instead of starting tomorrow, we get to start August 30.

So much more that I won't go into right now. But we are all doing the happy dance. :)

Bookworms

2010-08-08T19:23:00.000-07:00

My kids are obsessed with books. There is no doubt about that. I have to threaten them lately to put down the books and interact with the family. I actually told the kids that yesterday they had put the books down for the entire day. You would have thought I was implementing some sort of bizarre and painful Chinese water torture. Not so. Usually on the weekends I have to LIMIT the minutes they read -- and I actually occasionally use a timer. Scary, I know. Some parents have to bribe their kids, or threaten them to get them to pick up a book. Nope. Not in my house. I have to threaten them to get them to play. In my house we go to the library, and max out one library card (it maxes at 50), and then have to use another for the remaining 20 (see picture above -- and there are a bunch scattered around the house). Seriously nutso. Somehow we keep our library fines in check (thanks for being so diligent Roy!). As much as I complain about it though, I love it. My little bookworms.

Fire Season

2010-08-08T19:07:00.001-07:00

It is August. It is hot. It is dry. What does that mean? Fires. A few years ago we got way too close for comfort. We were evacuated. We were pretty sure that we were ok, but it was still unnerving.

Today kinda felt like that. As the kids and I left church, we noticed HUGE smoke plumes not too far away. The kids kinda freaked, and I reassured them that it wasn't close. Uh, I was wrong. As we drove along, traffic kinda stopped. I noticed that there were a LOT of sirens and firetrucks. There were also policemen directing traffic up ahead. I looked out my passenger side window and gasped. Megan looked over and let out a bloodcurdling scream unlike anything I have heard from her before. The fire was right there. The kids starting panicking big time. After all, we were only a few blocks from home. I reassured them that it wouldn't get to our house, and then we headed home, grabbed the camera, and snapped a few picts for posterity's sake. It was actually really neat to watch it burn -- and my kids are obsessed with fire, so they enjoyed it also.

It isn't too big so far (25 acres, 60% contained), but things can always change. My kids want to go out for a drive to check it out again, but we are planted for the evening. I will take them out in the morning to check out the damage. In the meantime, a couple of teenagers were arrested after they admitted they started after dropping a lighter in the brush while lighting up marijuana. Nice.

See more here.

Fun with Flashlights

2010-07-29T07:18:00.001-07:00

I have been having a really good time with the kids this summer. I have made it a goal to go do something with the kids out of the house everyday, and to also do at least one craft with them (that takes a bit more creativity). They look forward to these outings and crafts, and wake up excited to find out what is in store each day.

The other day was super fun. I pulled out my camera, screwed it onto the tripod, grabbed a small flashlight, and then hollered at the kids to join my in the laundry room (the only room in the house without windows). I adjusted the shutter speed on my camera to be super slow, turned out the lights, flipped on the flashlight, and we had a blast. Here are some of my favorites:

Sandwiches

2010-07-29T07:09:00.000-07:00

Tyler is a funny guy. He is a semi-picky eater. He actually does pretty well, but not so much when it comes to casseroles, sauces, or any food that is mixed with something else. He just doesn't do it. Forget the pasta meat sauce, lasagna, or anything that is not just one food. Jell-o? Only if it is translucent -- nothing else mixed in. I am sure that he will grow out of this one, but in the meantime, I always have stand by hard boiled eggs that he eats if he isn't game to eat my yummy casseroles (that way he still gets his protein).

Last night we had sloppy joes. Yeah, that was a no-go. He still wanted the bun however. I asked him what he was going to put on it. He scrunched up his face and thought about it for a moment, and then proceeded to point at the food on his plate. I giggled and then began to pile on steamed broccoli and honeydew, and then I topped it with a slice of cheese. He was delighted. He ate the whole thing, no problem. He even wanted another but the buns were all gone. Now, he normally eats weird sandwich combos -- his favorite is strawberry jam and cheese -- but honeydew, broccoli and cheese? He did get four food groups in one sandwich. I guess as long as he is eating. . .

Happiness

2010-07-16T07:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was hot. I am not really sure how hot it got, but it was the hottest day we have had this summer yet. I have LOVED how cool it has been this year. It has been wonderful, and I have enjoyed it immensely. Yesterday, my thermometer in the shade read 103 degrees. Nice. Shortly after checking that lovely temperature, our A/C stopped working. Not so nice. Luckily, it was only the downstairs unit that stopped (and not both), so the house stayed at a nice sweaty 85 degrees.

I knew that it would be next to impossible to get a service tech out here in a normal time frame -- everyone would be having problems since their A/C's were on overdrive. I called around and got an appointment for Saturday -- two days later. I kept searching until I found a guy that would come out late last night after he finished another job. He eventually showed up at 9:30 PM. He had an extra part in his truck. It was up and running in 15 minutes. I was giddy with joy.

That, my friends is happiness.

St. George

2010-07-13T07:11:00.000-07:00

(Click for a large image -- Roy and the kids are on the left.)

My parents recently purchased a home in St. George. There was much rejoicing in our part of Southern California (not so much in the Salt Lake Area). We are so happy to be able to go visit them -- and only have to drive 6 (ok, with kids, 7) hours.

We went to visit over Memorial Day weekend (yeah, I am behind with posting), and got to spend time with them, along with my sister and her kids, and my brother and his super pregnant wife. With everyone there, we were bursting at the seams. Their little retirement home was filled with 16 people at the max. Where did we all sleep? Well, anywhere. At one point in time we found one of the older cousins asleep in the downstairs closet next to the broom. Nathan slept in my parents closet upstairs. We were crammed in. We slept anywhere we could find space. It was so much fun. Maybe not so much for my parents. . .

We had the chance to go exploring around Zion National Park. So gorgeous. So hot. So underappreciated by my kids.

Megan loved being rained on at Weeping Rock.

Kayak Love

2010-07-13T07:03:00.000-07:00

We have wanted a kayak forever. Roy and I have been out on the ocean on tandem kayaks off of Catalina, and also in Hawaii. Loved it. We swore that when we got a new van, that we would get one (our old van did not have a rack, and we didn't want to make the investment). So, we have a new van. It has a rack. It was begging me to use it. I was goofing off on craigslist, and I found a guy in Long Beach who was selling his tandem kayak and all the gear because he bought it for his girlfriend and they broke up. He even had the color custom done by the manufacturer (cherry red) for Valentine's Day. We got it for quite a bargain.

So, Roy has a new toy. It is his Father's Day/Birthday/Christmas/Valentine's Day/Easter/Next Father's Day/Next Birthday gift. Ok, not really, I'll give him a bag of M&M's for his upcoming birthday, at least. . .

Love the kayak. So much fun. We have learned that high tide is a bad thing. High tide = big waves = frequent capsizing. Low tide = happiness. We are heading out camping again this weekend, and are giddy to take it out again.

End of School Year 2009-2010

2010-07-13T06:24:00.000-07:00

Summer is here. School is out. I am not really sure how I feel about the whole thing. This school year FLEW by. That is most likely due to the fact that I have had Nathan home since February. I really can't believe that summer is here (and also the fact that we are done with half of it).

Ending the year was weird this year. Nathan had no big end of year party (we went out to lunch just him and I to celebrate), Megan had the regular hoopla, and Tyler's end of preschool was just hard. So hard. Painful. All of my kids went to the same preschool. We love it there. The teachers are awesome. It was hard to say good-bye to them. It was especially difficult since Ty is our last. I ache inside knowing that he is growing up, and that he will be in kindergarden this fall. All day. Without me. Wish he wasn't. My little guy is growing up so fast. He is going to really give his teachers a run for their money. He is already reading, and he insists on doing regular addition flashcards (so he can be like Megan) -- and he is memorizing his addition facts as a result (so funny).

All this kids grew so much this year -- in so many ways. I can' wait to see what next year will bring.

Summer = Free Time???

2010-07-12T16:59:00.000-07:00

Summer. 'Tis the season to be off school, which in turn should mean that I am less busy.

*snicker*

I wish. Gone are the days of homework and projects. Gone is the stress of getting to school on time. Gone are all the multiple drop-off and pick-up times. Instead we are running around going to swimming lessons, day camps, and activities. So many times I have longed to sit at the computer and blog. Check email. Goof off. Waste time.

My goal is to tackle one project a day. *snicker* We'll see if that happens. Today I organized my scrapbook table and sorted out Tyler's old clothes that he has grown out of (now what do I do with them???). Tommorrow? The computer desk. In the meantime, I am actually posting! Yay!

Glasses

2010-06-26T07:24:00.000-07:00

Nathan has needed glasses for a while -- we have just been in denial about it. He failed his vision screening at school last Fall, and he visited the eye doctor then. She said he could get glasses, but that it really wasn't that bad, and he could wait for a while. Since he has been homeschooled since February, he hasn't really said much, since it is was only his distance vision that was effected. Then, about a month ago, he started complaining on a regular basis. What really pushed me over the edge was when we went to a special Stake Conference where Elder Cook was speaking. We weren't too far back -- just in the overflow. However, I noticed that he had his head down the whole time doodling in a notebook. He finally confessed that he wasn't watching because the speakers were all fuzzy. I felt horrible. Pangs of guilt stabbed at my heart that he couldn't see Elder Cook clearly.

It was time.

I wasn't sure how easy of a transition it would be, but it has been smooth. He has taken full responsibility, and has taken the whole matter seriously. He treats them with extreme care, cleaning them often and I have never once seen him lie them somewhere he shouldn't or treat them badly. I am very proud of him.

I love the way he looks in glasses -- I actually like him better with them on. I think they are very flattering. I was worried that he might get a little teased from his friends, but they were all cool. . . except for one. One boy from church commented on the fact that his glasses finish his nerdiness -- that he now looks like one in addition to being one. I had to giggle at that one. It is kinda true. We had a chat with him about how nerds rule the world, and Roy proudly told him that he was a nerd. After that, he figured it was ok if someone told him that he was smart, and that he looked like it. Super funny.

SCVi vs. Homeschooling

2010-06-11T06:02:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I got a call from the Santa Clarita Valley International Charter School (SCVi). They called to let me know that Nathan's name had come to the top of the waiting list for next fall, and that there was a spot for him. I was floored. I didn't really think his name would come up. There are over 500 kids waiting to get in. He was #25 on the list for his grade, but apparently, many souls are on there out of curiosity's sake and are not really serious. We are.

I have wanted to get Nathan into SCVi for a while. They do things differently there. They push the students in an individual way, and they teach the kids to be independent learners and to really build their leadership skills. I should have been ecstatic when they called. I really wasn't.

I have grown to love homeschooling. Yeah, I have no life. Really -- you should see my house. I haven't cleaned (other than decluttering) for weeks. My toilets are nasty. I really need to vacuum. There are piles of paperwork all over the kitchen that I just don't have time to deal with. It just isn't a priority anymore. Any free time that I have from teaching I give to Tyler (which explains the lack of blogging). I barely get time to grocery shop and cook. However, as stress-inducing as it is, I really love it. I love to teach. I finally have been able to dust off that degree in Elementary Education and use it. It has been wonderful. Yeah, he drives me absolutely crazy most days (to the brink of insanity oftentimes). Out of all my kids, he is the one that gets on my nerves the most, and I now have him around me 24/7. I have really grown into my teaching role, and I don't want to give it up. I know it sounds crazy, but it is true.

Nathan feels the same way. When I told him that he would be going to SCVi in the fall, his first reaction was to fall apart and cry. He really loves learning at home and he is flourishing in areas that he was stagnant before. He loves being able to go at his own pace -- to be in control. However, both Roy and I feel this will be good for him. He has become too much of a homebody, and he is socially isolating himself. He need to learn leadership skills, and how to work with his peers in a group. I just hope that they can push him enough.

I am really struggling with sending him. I have been used to the idea of having him home, and now I will go from having both him and Ty at home, to having no one at home (since Ty starts Kindergarten in the fall). I actually feel kinda panicky about the whole idea of having no one home. I really don't know what I will do. Roy is doing cartwheels for me -- he is so excited for me to have some free time -- heck, just any time for myself. I really don't want it. I have toyed around with pulling Ty and homeschooling him since our school is going to all day K, and homeschooling a in K only takes about 1 1/2 hours a day. But, I won't. I am just going to be home.

Alone.

Every day.

Maybe I will clean my house.

Maybe.

Irony

2010-06-11T05:39:00.001-07:00

Irony. Gotta love it. Last night we had the Elders over for dinner. I didn't want to make anything Mexican because the new Elder in our ward is from Mexico, and I did not want to offend his taste buds with my not-so-authentic version. So, I remembered I had a big bag of stir fry veggies in the freezer and I make a quick sweet and sour stir fry. I must have left something out, because it was kinda bland (which was weird, because it was my usual recipe that I must have made about 100 times). Then I find out that his dad owns a Chinese restaurant back home, which I am sure serves a much better sweet and sour stir fry.

Yup, that's irony for you.

Screamin' Deals

2010-06-10T20:49:00.000-07:00

He, found a cool site -- Screamin' Deals. They offer discounts on businesses in your area. I just got an email for super cheap Hurricane Harbor tickets. They have also had 50% off restaurants certificates and stuff. Use this link here to check them out.

New Party Business

2010-05-26T22:50:00.000-07:00

Well, I did it. I have been thinking about it for a while, and I finally just jumped in and went for it. I am starting up a little side business for birthday parties for kids -- specializing in cake decorating. I taught a Girl Scout Troop a few months ago, and the moms there loved what I did and they suggested that I do birthday parties. The idea stuck. I am nervous about starting this, but super excited at the same time. So, please pass my name around, and check out my new blog for pricing and info -- and if you have any ideas or feedback, I would LOVE it.

Chaos

2010-05-20T21:06:00.000-07:00

The house is trashed. Beyond trashed. There are toys everywhere. I can barely walk around. Tyler had a friend over today and they had way too much fun. It seriously looks like a minefield. I got back from Costco this evening right before the kid's bedtime, so the groceries are all over the floor wherever the kids happened to put them (I did get the frozen food and refrigerated stuff away -- I think). There is laundry in the dryer that has been there two days. I can barely navigate a course through the playroom. i really don't know how I am going to teach Nathan in there tomorrow -- it really isn't a great learning environment right now. Bathrooms? Don't even go there (really -- don't -- it's gross).

I went to plop down on the couch after getting the kids down, and I couldn't. All the cushions were gone. They had been re purposed as a fortress of solitude in the corner of the family room. I always make them take down their forts before bedtime. however, we were too crazy tonight. I stood there with my bowl of sugar free ice cream looking at the couch . . . just wanting to cry. I was so pooped from my long week (which feels like a month has gone by). All I wanted to do was rest. I dismantled Ty's fort and placed everything back where they should be. I laid down and ate my ice cream while reading my Taste of Home magazine. I looked around me at the chaos that has taken over my castle. Right now, I just don't even care. Ok, I care. A lot. The mess makes me stressed out big time. However, I am too tired to care. Normally I would stay up super late taking care of everything. There is nothing I HATE more than waking up to a mess. I can't even eat breakfast if the floor is not swept and the table wiped down. I usually unload the dishes from the dishwasher first, too (this drives Roy nuts). So this is huge for me -- I am going to bed without cleaning up. Please, hold your applause until tomorrow afternoon -- you can tell me how amazing I am then -- when the house is back to normal.

Totally Random Stuff

2010-05-17T12:50:00.000-07:00

I have tried writing a post many times in the past week. I open the new post window, and then . . . nothing. Even now . . . nothing. I have been super busy and sleep deprived. Even now, I can't think of anything really big to say. Oh well.

Here is what we've been up to lately:

Garage Sale Round 3: We had a garage sale last spring. It went pretty good and we make about $150 bucks. After we were done, we still had a lot leftover. We began boxing it up to get rid of it all, when we realized we could just have another yard sale. We stuck it all in a corner of our house, and for the next six months we added to the pile. We had that yard sale last fall and made over $100. We boxed it all up again, added very little to the pile, and sold our junk again two weeks ago. Another $100. For junk. We were going to throw out. I have no idea why people even bought most of the stuff. It just goes to show that one man's junk is . . . still junk.
Last weekend was the Fathers and Sons Campout for our ward. Megan and I look forward to this each year. It is our girl time and we love it. On Friday evening we went and got pedicures (she had a gift certificate), we stuffed ourselves at Souplantation ( I was a good girl and stuffed myself with salad and protien -- bean salad and chicken out of the chicken noodle soup -- no carbs), we painted at Color Me Mine, and then we stayed up late and crashed in my room (she slept on the floor -- a fun tradition). The next morning I made her chocolate chip the size of her head, and then we headed out searching for treasures and garage sales. We didn't find any treasure, but Megan got a few books that she is enjoying. Overall, it was a great weekend, and I loved the time we had together.
The kids did the meal planning this week. They are so excited. They each chose one night to plan out everything. They had a ball going through my cookbooks. I told them they couldn't choose the regular kid food (hot dogs, mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, etc.), and that they had to choose one veggie and an additional side dish each night. They did pretty good. They are my kitchen assistant that evening, and one additional night this week. They are loving it. This looks like it will be something that will probably stick around in the house. Megan hates cooked carrots, but she ate them happily last night because she peeled them. Love it.
School is ending in less than a month. Eek! Not much will change around our house, except for the fact that Megan will now be home also. Nathan will still be doing lessons over the summer to catch up on a few subjects (we started a few curriculum areas from the beginning to make sure he didn't miss anything -- he had -- I am glad we did). He doesn't mind the idea of going over the summer. He just loves learning.
I am tired. I stayed up way late last night, woke up at 2 AM, couldn't go back to sleep for an hour, and then blinked awake at 5:30 (like I always do -- even on weekends). I am ready for bed, and it is 1:00. Crud.
I love coupons. The other day I spent $40 on $120 worth of groceries. Did I mention that I love coupons?
The other day I made curtains for the bunk bed. Tyler had been getting jealous of Nathan, since he has the top bunk. So, I purchased some cool space fabric, and make curtains that can enclose the lower bunk. He now has his own fortress. It is cool. He loves it. I find Megan in there a lot.
I am burned out. I need a break. It is Monday. Crud. Not a good sign.

Giveaway

2010-05-04T15:52:00.000-07:00

Check out this giveaway here. Good stuff.

Workin' Out

2010-05-03T06:56:00.000-07:00

I hate exercise. Really. I do. So much. You have no idea. I guess that it stems from my early childhood. I was not very good at sports (ok, I stunk), and so I fell victim to the "picked last" on the team synbrome. Even after I got better at sports, there was still that mindset that was stuck there. I never really enjoyed sports that much, and I never really found anything that I loved.

When I was working on losing weight, I worked out every day. Sometimes I fell to 3 days a week, but I was religious about doing my workout at 6 AM before getting the kids off to school. Then, last summer I came down with walking pneumonia , and I just stopped exercising because I was sick for so long. I have started up a few times since then, but it never took. It really isn't my favorite thing to do (major understatement), so it is hard to be motivated.

A few weeks ago, we went hiking around Vazquez Rocks with the kids. I was winded. Bad. I realized that I was out of shape. Crud. I really wanted my endurance to be back where it was because summer is coming = camping and hiking. So, I pulled out my trusty DVD and jumped back on the bandwagon. Man, the bandwagon stinks.

I have been really good. I have been working out 3-5 days a week for three weeks now. I am feeling much better, and my endurance is getting stronger. Working out however, has another side effect I didn't bank on. My blood sugar.

I have read lots about hypoglycemia. I have checked out many books from the library, and I have spent much time pouring over them. There was a recurring theme. Diet controls it, but exercise helps your blood sugar to stay more stable. I read this fact over and over again, but I just dismissed it. Guess what. It is true. I have been having better days now, and I am definitely more stable (not completely stable, mind you -- I still have problems on a regular basis, and it takes me 24-48 hours to come back to a normal state after I had a bad reaction).

I should be happy about this, but I am not. I am kinda ticked that working out works. I don't like to work out. I would just rather be lazy. I always feel better after I sweat, but it is the PROCESS that gets me (once again -- lazy). Now that I know the side effects, and how much it helps me, I know that I have to continue working out -- forever. Kinda sucks. Not so thrilled. I am getting more resigned to the fact, but I wish there was an easier way. . . like eating chocolate, or cheesecake (oh wait -- that makes my blood sugar worse. . . ).

On a funny side note, Nathan has the same point of view for exercise that I do. I have never been negative about it around him. In fact, we encourage him to go after sports and be active. He just hates it. He is just so darn uncoordinated. It is embarrassing to watch him play sports. Watching him play basket ball was just horrible -- dribbling while walking (let alone running) was -not- his forte. He likes tennis -- but that is even starting to go away because he realizes that there is more than just working on forehands and backhands -- that he has to *gasp* run. Suddenly, however, there has been a change. What did I do? I introduced him to the treadmill. He loves it. Why? Because he can watch tv. It is so funny. He begs me each day to run. I have to make him get off. He sees it as a way to get in screen time (which is monitored pretty close in our house). That is fine with me. Today I had to kick him off after 50 minutes -- while running the whole time (not casual walking). I am just loving it. I don't know how much longer the novelty will last, but I will take it.

Passing the Baton

2010-05-02T15:33:00.000-07:00

Today was an interesting day for me. I had the opportunity to sing in our choir for a special Stake Conference that was held where Elder Cook was speaking. It was a big deal for our Stake -- he was in town, and chose our Stake to speak in. It was a neat experience, which was highly anticipated. People showed up hours early just to get a seat. The kids loved being able to listen to him in person, and shake his hand afterwards (Nathan couldn't see him very well -- he needs glasses -- that's another story -- I am in denial right now). I just had a hard time.

Why?

If you notice, I was singing in the choir. Nope, not directing. I was released two weeks ago as the Stake Music Director. I knew that this release was coming. It was delayed because of the Easter Pageant that our Stake put together (because I was on the committee for that big event). However, when I found out that Elder Cook was coming, I was super excited about the prospect of directing the choir for that event . . . until I was told that it had been decided to make the change now so that the new director could have this experience to get going. Jealous, not really. Bummed? Yeah. I totally understand why the Stake Presidency made the choice -- and it was the right one. The new director had a chance to meet everyone -- and he was able to direct a huge choir right off the bat (the stand was FULL of choir members -- there weren't enough seats). I am just having a hard time leaving this calling.

I found myself there. I loved directing. I loved meeting so many people in our Stake. I loved working on the larger Stake projects that I had my hands in (and sometimes more -- up to my eyebrows). I feel like it was just a part of me. Letting go is . . . hard. I just feel like I have a hole right now -- kinda empty. So many people have come up to me asking if I was relieved to be released. Well, not really. I still wish I was up there. I know that things will be easier for me now that I am not wearing so many hats (Ward Activities Chair is keeping me plenty busy), but I will always miss directing and the interactions that I had with so many amazing people.

I am so grateful for the opportunity that I had to serve in this capacity -- for the learning and growth that I experienced. I am so thankful that the Lord pushed me forward (however reluctantly at first) so that I could have the experiences that I had, and serve in so many ways. I will always be grateful for the blessing that it has been in my life.

Mango Heaven

2010-05-02T07:11:00.001-07:00

Mangoes are on sale this week at Albertson's and Von's this week for 33 cents each. I yesterday I bought 14. Yup. That's a lot. Why did I buy so much? Because when mangoes go on sale for super cheap I make my favorite jam: mango and pineapple jam. It is the yummiest jam ever, and reminds me so much of when hubby and I went to Hawaii a few years ago. I use it in so many ways, but my favorite way is as an ice cream topping (yum).

Here is the original recipe, which can be made on the stovetop and then kept in the fridge (so easy -- no boiling water canning or pectin required). However, I make it in mass quantities, and process it in a boiling water canner.

Mango and Pineapple Jam
2 1/2 to 3 cups diced mango, mashed slightly
1 to 1 1/2 cups crushed pineapple (enough to make a total of four cups of fruit)
1 box of no-sugar needed pectin (regular is fine too, but I can't have the sugar)
1/4 c. lime juice (add more pineapple juice for a sweeter taste, and for a thinner jam)
1/2 c. Splenda (sugar is fine, but once again -- hypoglycemic)

Sterilze jars and bands. Follow instructions on box of pectin. Enjoy!

Cookin' Up a Storm

2010-04-30T17:20:00.000-07:00

I have had a new goal lately -- to cook a new recipe (or two) every day. Why? I have stacks of recipes that I have printed out and clipped out of magazines. They are just sitting there. Staring at me. I don't want to file them away, because I will promptly forget about them. So, I have decided to cook them all up. I am loving it. The kids are a little unsure about the whole thing, but they are being troopers. Here are my favorites from the last few weeks. These are awesome, and they are being filed in my binder as keepers. If you are looking for something new, these are worth a try.

Here are links for ones that I got online:

Panera's Black Bean Soup
Orange Cranberry Coucous Salad
Olive Oil and Rosemary Rolls
Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Pineapple Pork Loin
Spinach Cream Sauce (use with meatball recipe below -- yum!)
Fiesta BBQ Chicken
Cottage Cheese Enchiladas
Frozen Peanut Butter Chocolate Pie
Reese's Bars

Spinach Meatballs
(a recipe I found here that I tweaked to work better)

1 1/4 lb. ground turkey
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/3 cup dried bread crumbs
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 t. dried minced onion
2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/4 cup skim milk

Combine all ingredients (using your hands works well). Shape into balls (it made about 50 balls from my 1 T. cookie scoop, but you can make them any size). Bake on a cookie sheet at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, or until no longer pink. Use now or freeze for later.

Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Meatloaf Roll
(from Lion House Lite Recipes Cookbook)

1 1/4 lb. ground turkey
3/4 c. bread crumbs (I used 1/3 c. dried bread crumbs)
1 egg (or 1/4 c. egg substitute)
1 t. salt
1/2 t. onion powder
1/8 t. black pepper
10 oz. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
3/4 c. shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
3 T. grated Parmesan cheese
1 t. Italian seasoning
1/4 t. garlic powder
3 T. ketchup

Combine ground beef, bread crumbs, eggs, salt, onion powder, and pepper, mixing well. On a length of waxed paper or aluminum foil, pat meat mixture into a 10x14 rectangle. Mix together the spinach, 1/2 c. mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder. Spread this mixture over the meat rectangle to within 3/4 inch of the edges all around. Starting at the short end, roll the meat up as you would a jelly roll. Seal meat over filling on the ends. Place roll, seam side down, on a rack in a shallow pan. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 1 hour (it took less for me). Spread ketchup over top of meat loaf and bake an additional 15 minutes. Sprinkle with 1/4 c. mozzarella cheese. Let stand 10 minutes to melt cheese and make loaf easier to slice. Serves 6.

That's all for now, but I will continue to post the ones that are keepers!!!

The Best Laid Plans

2010-04-29T09:37:00.000-07:00

Don't you just love it when you have to scrap your plans for the entire day at a moments notice? Megan woke up sick today with the runs. I had to find a parent to work for me in Tyler's classroom (it was my volunteer day), and cancel visiting teaching. I am happy that I can be home to keep Nathan focused (or at least semi-focused) on school, but not so thrilled about taking care of diarrhea girl.

Up too late

2010-04-20T16:51:00.000-07:00

How do you know that you stayed up way too late the previous night? When you open the microwave the next morning and you find a carton of ice cream in the microwave, not the freezer.

Latest Cake

2010-04-11T08:48:00.001-07:00

What did I do this weekend? What sucked all of my time away? This did:

It was one of the largest cakes I have done in a while, but it was worth all the work. As I was setting up, I had several people ask if I was from Jill's (a super pricey cake place around here). The wedding coordinator came up to me to give me her compliments, and then proceeded to ask for my contact info for the future. I could hear people talking about the cake in hushed voices as I was working. Needless to say, I feel kinda proud. :)

Just a few posts :)

2010-04-07T16:37:00.001-07:00

Ok, I haven't posted in forever, and I had some time today. . .

Spring Break?

2010-04-07T16:18:00.000-07:00

Today is Wednesday. We are halfway through Spring Break. I am pooped. I usually do this each year -- I jam pack the break with activities. We go all over LA. We have a fantastic time. I wear myself out. Totally. Completely. Today I threw in the towel and canceled our outings. I just wanted to be home. I have had blood sugar issues the past few days, and I am super drained. I have zero energy.

Yesterday we went to the Natural History Museum (yay for free admission days!). The kids were so excited, so I knew I couldn't cancel. I was so exhausted from the moment I opened my eyes. I felt nauseous, and I had a splitting headache. I was beyond weary. It took every ounce of me to focus on driving so that I wouldn't hit anyone. It was not fun. After an hour at the Museum, I was done. I just wanted to be back home. Yeah, that wasn't going to happen. I explained to Nathan and Megan how I was feeling, and they stepped up. Big time. I was so proud. They helped me along, carried stuff for me, took care of Tyler (made sure he didn't get lost in the millions of folks who showed up for the free day), and tried to help me as much as possible. It was so sweet, and I was so touched. It was a SUPER long day, and I was so happy to come home and crawl into bed.

I am grateful for those moments when the kids are taking care of each other and acting like a family -- the happy kind -- not the "I am going to try to do serious injury to you because I hate you" kind. I wish we had more of those -- the happy ones, not the painful ones. In the meantime, I will take what I can get.

Easter Circa 2010

2010-04-07T16:08:00.000-07:00

(Ok, so those aren't Easter pictures,
but they were taken while we were coloring eggs -- so they count!)

Yeah, it's time for the obligatory Easter post.
How did Easter go for us this year?
About the same as any other year.

We went on Easter Egg hunts.

Got massive quantities of sugar and chocolate in our Easter baskets
(I might as well just give the kids an IV and give
them the sugar directly -- it would be cheaper).

Found the eggs the Easter bunny hid.

Colored Eggs.

Played with fire.

Only my kids would find a way to mix fire in there somewhere. Let me back up on that one and explain a little. We love coloring eggs. We tend to get a little creative. I think that it stems from dying eggs with my siblings. I have memories of coloring eggs in non-traditional ways: rubber bands, wrapping it in a paper towel to tye-dye it, dripping it on and letting it run, using wax to make polka-dots, you get the idea. Just using a white crayon gets kinda boring. I have passed some of these techniques onto the kids. They love using birthday candles to drip wax on the eggs to make polka-dots and other drippy type patterns. I had finished my eggs and was cooking dinner at the stove. I turned around and saw this:

They upped it a level. They got out candles they had made at our Ward Pioneer Party from last year, and went nutso. Wax was everywhere. They stopped dying the eggs between each layer of wax (which was the whole original idea -- dye it one color, add a few wax dots, dye it another color, a few more dots, etc.), and were just covering the eggs with it. I was laughing so hard. These two firebugs sat at the kitchen table creating weird wax creations on the surface of their eggs. Megan's turned out kinda odd, just wax piled all over, but Nathan's was pretty cool looking:

Egg dying will never be the same again.
I am unsure what kind of eggs will be created next year.

April Fools

2010-04-07T13:52:00.000-07:00

I love April Fools Day. There is nothing better than an excuse to pull pranks on people. I switched the cereal bags in the boxes. I dyed the milk blue. I had seriously fun plans for dinner.

Since it was minimum day and Megan would be home for lunch, I decided to let Nathan pull one on Megan and Ty for lunch. He made hot dogs and french fries. Tyler was ecstatic -- those are his favorite foods. He was giddy with delight . . . until he took a bite. He broke down in tears. He didn't want a peanut butter covered banana in a hot dog bun. He didn't want apple slices that looked like fries. He was absolutely heartbroken. He just didn't get it. I felt so bad. I pulled out a real hot dog and nuked it for him, but I couldn't do anything about the fries. He was just so sad. I Nathan and Megan really enjoyed lunch, but Ty was bummed the rest of the day that he didn't get french fries. I told him I wouldn't switch any foods for dinner. I never promised anything about drinks, though. . .

I make strawberry jell-o, and poured it into glass cups, along with a bendy straw. I got all three kids at dinner. It was great. Next year will be better when my five year old does not take the pranks so seriously. . .

Ty Stuff

2010-04-07T13:02:00.000-07:00

Random Tyler Stuff I just want to record:

Ty sleeps weird. Really. He wrestles his bed covers each night (he usually wins). When we go to check on him before we go to bed at night, we find him in all sorts of funny positions. Upside down. Sideways. Bedding twisted all around him. The other night we found him like this:He was hanging halfway off the bed, head first. You can't really tell very well in the photo. We were laughing so hard. How he didn't wake up from having blood rush to his head, I will never know.
A few weeks ago Roy went on a quick 24 hour business trip. He had to leave in the middle of sacrament meeting to go catch a flight. About two minutes after he left, Megan and Tyler started pining and whining about how much they missed him. Yeah, it was cute, but it was also kinda annoying. I held my tongue and smiled and told them he would be back before they knew it. Tyler then plopped down on the bench, pulled out his notebook, and began to draw. After a few minutes of serious concentration, he showed me this: I melted. It was so cute. I love the portrait that he drew. My favorite part? The blackish grey beard is not a beard, it is Roy's scruff that he gets when he neglects shaving. :)
Tyler loves legos. Loves them. So much. Roy loves legos. Loves them. So much. They are a good pair. They will sit down for hours building stuff. The other day Roy asked Ty what they should build. He thought about it for a moment, and then answered, "Wall-E". I giggled. This I gotta see. They dug around and found a little 1 1/2" tall Wall-E toy of Tyler's and began building. About a 1/2 hour later Tyler proudly walked over with their creation. I was floored. It was Wall-E. The eyes moved. The arms moved. Roy even created a door on the front like his that opens to put trash into. It was so cool. It is still residing on our kitchen counter to protect it from being disassembled. Love it.
Little monkey. Monkey see. Monkey do. Monkey climb. Monkey pinch brother (learned from brother). Monkey say mean word to sister (that he learned from her). Monkey learn all sorts of behaviors that drive his siblings nutso (which he picked up from them). Monkey gets in time out a lot lately.

Turning 5

2010-04-07T09:48:00.000-07:00

My little guy turned five last week. I am still reeling. I really have no idea how this could possibly be. I guess that is how I feel about all of their birthdays. Time just flies by way too fast.

He has been talking about his birthday party every since Nathan and Megan had their parties last fall. I knew that there was no way out of it. I had to throw him a party. I just didn't want to. I was tired, burned out, and just did not have it in me. I usually enjoy throwing parties for the kids -- I love planning them around themes, coordinating everything (which the kids love). So, what did I do? I turned the party over to Nathan.

I figured that we could hold the party during the day, since he (and all his friends he wanted to invite) were still in preschool. Nathan is home during the day, why not let him be in charge? I asked him if he was interested, and he was super excited with the idea. I let him run with it. He planned games and activities. He made a schedule for the party (which he stuck to by the minute). I did very little, in comparison. Megan was jealous that she wasn't going to be in on all the fun, so I let her be in charge of decorating. She was ecstatic. She even drew up plans. It was adorable.

So, how did it go?

It turned out to be the cheapest party ever. Nathan planned kid games and made everything from stuff around the house. I spent $8 at the dollar store (paper goods, decorations, and goody bag stuff). Everything else we needed we already had. The kids colored race cars, played musical tires, pin the wheel on the car, red light/green light, and watched "Mater and the Ghost Light" (anyone notice the race car theme?). My favorite was the cardboard box race cars that he made. The kids had relays in the backyard, and it was just awesome. They got so into it. The intent look on their faces was hilarious as they focused so hard. I even got out of decorating a cake because he wanted the kids to decorate cupcakes. The kids all had a great time, and Tyler was delighted, which was the most important thing of all. I was really proud of him and all his effort that he put into the party.

Ty Writing

2010-04-07T08:02:00.000-07:00

Ty is a little sponge. He is learning faster than I can keep up with him. He has figured out how to sound out words, and is beginning to read on his own. I often times find him at the whiteboard in our playroom writing sentences. It is so stinkin' cute. Yeah, he spells things wrong, but I am so proud of him and his desire to learn.

Sugar High

2010-03-28T19:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon I walked by the kid's Easter baskets that the kids took to the Ward Easter Egg hunt . . . and stopped. There were three baskets. Two were brimming with candy. One was . . . empty. Nada. Nothing. It was Tyler's basket. He had consumed the whole thing in the space of an hour. This is not the first time this has happened. His Christmas stocking was vacant by breakfast (he downed his whole M&M candy cane tube like it was water). His Halloween candy lasted a little longer than a week. It will be interesting to see how fast he consumes the chocolate bunny and peeps that will be deposited next Sunday.

He is becoming well known in our family for having the ability to down massive quantities of sugar in short amounts of time. He has zero self control. I know he is only four (almost five), and saving candy for later is a difficult concept. He eats all his candy as soon as he gets any, and then complains when Nathan and Megan savor it for days, weeks, or even months. Lucky for him his siblings have mercy on him and they share.

The funny part? He ate all that candy by 11:00 AM. He skipped lunch. He wasn't hungry for a snack later on. At around 5:30 he asked for a snack (I told him to wait for dinner). When dinner finally arrived on the table, he nibbled a little on his mac and cheese, and then was done. Too funny.

Bliss

2010-03-27T14:15:00.000-07:00

For the first time in months, I have downtime. I have no responsibilities. The Stake Easter Pageant was last weekend (that was in the works for six months). The Ward Easter Party was this morning (it went wonderfully -- we had about 130 people show up). I came home, started a load of laundry, and blew out a big sigh. My stress level is really low . . . for a few hours. I now have a few hours this afternoon of absolute bliss -- I don't have to homeschool today. I don't have anything I have to do for my callings. I have nothing I have to do. Nada. Nathan and Roy are gone on a scouting activity. Megan has a friend over for the day, and she has included Tyler in her playtime, so the kids are busy. I went upstairs, curled up in bed with mug of hot cocoa, and I have spend the last hour reading in a dim room. I feel so . . . guilty. I don't get free time, let alone "me" time. I am loving it. Yeah, I need to plan dinner, and I am dreading what the house is going to look like after Megan is done making her forts, but for right now, I just don't care. :)

Eagle Scout Cake Mess

2010-03-23T13:59:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I had an order for an Eagle Scout Court of Honor cake. I have done quite a few of these, and I wasn't too worried about it.

Big mistake.

It was due at 7:00 PM, but I didn't start decorating until around 5:30. I was having a nice relaxing Saturday and I didn't want to disturb it. When I do an intricate design such as the Eagle badge, I usually transfer the pattern onto the cake using parchment paper and piping gel. I discovered I was out. I tried subbing something else, but it didn't work. I was completely out of time. I had to freehand the whole darn thing. It was a nightmare -- not only was it super complicated, but it took longer than it normally would have because I had no pattern, and I had ZERO time to spare. I was beyond stressed, and I was thirty minutes late delivering it (which ended up being fine, but I HATE being late). I learned a lot about my cake decorating skills -- that I can do a lot under pressure!