Halfdime Happenings

Einstein is in Da House!

2011-10-13T12:22:00.000-07:00

I think I know who Toph admires..... Albert Einstein!

As I've made no secrets about it, Toph does not prefer to read chapter books. He'd rather read "The Science Encyclopedia" or "How Things Work." Yes, Toph is a bit nerdy, but we LOVE nerds in this house!

Last year, he had to read and do a book report each month on an assigned genre. When he had to do a biography, Toph decided to read about Einstein. So, in helping Toph type up this book report, I learned a lot about Einstein too. This month, Toph had to do a timeline project (at least 12 dates, descriptions, pictures, etc.). So instead of choosing to study a thing, Toph chose to do his timeline on Albert Einstein. So I learned even more about him.

As far as I'm concerned, Toph has chosen well. Albert Einstein was an amazingly intelligent and caring person. Toph could do worse than wanting to emulate Einstein.

....... Any guesses what Toph is going to be for Halloween??

Our New Addition.....May the Force be with US!

2011-09-22T15:34:00.001-07:00

I was "smoking the good crack" in July, apparently. I belong to an email list, and a family advertised that they had 2 puppies to give to good homes, and I suggested that we go look at them when Robert got back from scout camp. We came home with a puppy. And I said we'd NEVER have a puppy again--never say never!

This is Chewbaca the first day, we think he was about 3 lbs.

Meet Chewbaca, the newest member of our family. He's a chorkie pug--chihuahua, yorkie, and pug. I decided that he should be called "Chewbaca" because of the noise he made when we were fetching him from under the sofa where he was hiding. He made a noise that sounded like Chewbaca from Star Wars.

Chewbaca is getting bigger!! Just a month later, and he's about doubled in size.

This is Chewbaca's FAVORITE toy, Blue Dog.

Yes, I bought him a shirt.

No, he doesn't like the shirt--he's trying to take it off!

Life with a puppy is HARD WORK--I'd forgotten just how hard. The timing was good though, because the kids were out of school and could help. They are totally in charge of all of the yucky jobs associated with having a pet. We had the summer to adjust to the change and learn how to care for a puppy again. Toph took to it like a duck to water, but Hannah is a little bit afraid of the puppy. After all, he has teeth. And they're SHARP. And there's a reason we call him "Chewy."

Not such a big fan of the bath.

Still NOT a big fan of the bath.

We've had our first accident too. Last week, we learned that puppy vs. elliptical doesn't end well. Hannah was playing on the elliptical, and Chewbaca ran in front of it and got tangled up in the arm bars. I've never heard such a horrible sound! Of course, this happened after hours at the vet's. I called the vet ER, and was instructed to watch him for half an hour, see if I feel any broken bones, and see if he'll eat or drink. Well, he wouldn't eat or drink, he kind of limped, even though I didn't feel any broken bones, and when I picked him up, he screamed again. NOT GOOD! We made a visit to the doggy ER, and after x-rays we discovered that our little dog had 3 broken ribs!

The broken ribs are the last 3 on the right side.

Luckily puppies heal quickly--half the time of an adult dog. We have LOTS of medicine for Chewbaca too. He's got an anti-inflammatory, a stomach pill, and a narcotic pain reliever. The blue medicine (narcotic) helps keep him calm and sedate, and it helped with the initial pain. We can always tell when it's wearing off, because he starts running and jumping like a normal puppy. Although he seemed to hurt for a few days, he's not acting any different now!

It's still a lot of work to have a puppy. Because we haven't been here long enough to know what happened on the property the past 7 years, we haven't let the dog outside yet. We lost a dog to Parvo a long time ago and have no desire to do that again, so until he's fully vaccinated, he'll be a completely inside dog. Due to that, he's been paper trained. He manages to do his potty business on the potty pads, but the poo gets deposited NEXT TO the potty pads almost always (or behind my chair in the living room). Luckily, I'm not in charge of that clean up (unless the kids are in school). I will say that my Hoover FloorMate and I have developed quite a relationship. I'm SOOOOOOO glad we bought it! My floors have never been so clean and dirty all in the same day. I probably use it every other day--which is a change from 3-5 times/day in the beginning.

We love Chewbaca though--even though he's a lot of work. He's a very smart and good boy. He LOVES everybody--and is anxious to "prove" his love to all who visit our home. I will be very happy when we get him fixed, and I'm REALLY hoping that solves his desire to "special hug" everyone who comes over.

Chewbaca is also known as Houdini. His "room" is the laundry room, and that's where he stays at night and when we're gone. We have a baby gate to keep him in there, but Houdini can now jump on the gate. I fixed it by wiring flexible cutting mats to the top, but that has not deterred him. Currently we have a metal sheet clamped to the gate to keep him within the laundry room. We do have a crate for Chewbaca, and we've used it often, but if we're going to be gone for several hours, I like him to have access to his food, water, and potty pads. I'm looking forward to the time when Houdini will know the "rules" well enough to be left run of the house. It's around the corner, but we're not there just yet.

So, although I was "smoking the good crack" when we got Chewbaca, I don't really regret it. He's a great addition to our family, and the kids want to know when we're getting him a brother or sister. I DO firmly agree that if you're going to have one dog, two is better (built-in friend). I'm not quite ready for that yet. We'll wait until Chewbaca's ribs are healed and he's been fixed, and then we'll start looking for a companion. Maybe after Christmas. But I'd REALLY like an older, house trained dog this time! :-)

Chewbaca likes to play fetch.

Here is "Pig," the first toy we bought for Chewbaca. He sleeps with Pig.

Yes, the frisbee is almost bigger than Chewbaca, but he doesn't let that stop him!

ONE HAPPY PUPPY!!!

April Update

2011-04-26T20:42:00.000-07:00

I haven't been so good at my New Year's Resolutions, have I? Blogging twice a month--such a DO-ABLE thing, but I haven't done it! I'm not even going to try to get back all the way to January. Tonight I'm just going to update what we've been doing in April.

April has passed in a blur for me. I got a nasty virus in late March, and I missed about 17 days of April. Fever, headache, and COUGHING like you wouldn't believe. Topher had it bad too, but only for 9 days. His fever was much higher though, so he was very miserable. I'm glad we're done with that! Robert and Hannah both got sick too, but they were only sick for a day--lucky ducks!

April 7th we celebrated our unlucky 13th anniversary! Unlucky because I was too sick to celebrate at all. We finally went out to Outback on Friday and we'll consider that our celebration--even though the whole family went on the date. I can't believe it's been 13 years--seems like forever and just yesterday at the same time. I wouldn't change a thing, and I'm so glad Robert asked!

Robert and Toph went on a Scout campout at Qualcom stadium for the Scout Fair. Topher gets to go with Robert on most campouts that he does with the Boy Scouts, and I'm glad that Toph got to go this time. They saw lots of stuff and had lots of fun. Toph got 3 belt loops, and both boys came home VERY tired. While the boys were away, Hannah and I got our hair cut and took our hair lady out with us for a Girls' night. We had dinner at Chevy's and then Hannah and I got some fabric to make her a couple of skirts. While the guys were busy at the Scout Fair, Hannah and I sewed her a purple skirt. Hannah is in a play in June and she's got to be dressed like a pioneer girl, so the purple skirt was our "practice" for her pioneer skirt. It turned out great, but I have had to take in the waist 3 times. I couldn't remember how to do an elastic waist, and I didn't make it small enough. Now it fits though, and Hannah is excited to wear it when it won't fall off!

We survived Spring Break--barely. Robert took the Monday off, and we all went together as a family to Julian. We've lived in San Diego for 4 1/2 years and had not been there yet, so it was high time. We'd been having HOT weather (high 80's to mid 90's) but the weather changed the day we went to Julian. While we were in a restaurant eating lunch, the clouds rolled in and we were literally walking through the clouds. We just ate lunch and walked around and did a little bit of shopping. We had a great time together. On the way home we stopped at Mom's Bakery and got an apple boysenberry pie--I just have to say, "YUM!!!!" I'm not a huge cooked fruit lover, but this pie was SOOoooooooo good! I ate most of it during the course of the week--not so good for my weight, but it was yummy.

The rest of the week we took it pretty easy. Both kids had pretty miserable colds/allergies, so we just hung out, watched movies, and played video games. It wasn't too warm outside--more like February weather than April. The kids also pretended to clean their rooms. By Friday we needed to get out of the house, so we went through our old games and took a pile to Gamestop. With our trade in's, we got to buy 4 new games, and the kids used their allowance to buy more new games for themselves. Saturday was a game fest at our house. Hannah was happily busy on her DS, and Toph was crazy on the PS3. That left me free to clean the house and make dinner. Robert was out with the Boy Scouts delivering firewood for a fund raiser. Yeah, that wasn't such a good idea, because he was already not feeling great, and all of the work pushed Robert over the edge. He spend Easter basically asleep.

We have a tradition of keeping the Easter Bunny and Easter separate, but with Robert gone doing firewood, we didn't have the EB hide the eggs on Saturday. The kids got their Easter baskets though, and loved playing with their new stuff. Since I'd been sick most of April, I hadn't even gotten the decorations out, so Easter baskets this year were just gift bags, but they work! I had the kids stuff the plastic eggs with candy themselves--why not? Our Easter Bunny only hides the eggs, and the kids know that Mom buys the candy. It was a stoke of genius to have the kids stuff the eggs themselves! They had fun, and I didn't have to do it! A true win-win.

Sunday morning we did the traditional egg hunt. The kids were so funny searching for the eggs!
Robert was feeling so gross that we skipped Easter dinner. We'd had a nice dinner the day before, so we just ate leftovers. We had our Easter dinner tonight instead--when we could all enjoy it. We spent a lot of time talking about why we celebrate Easter and what a great gift the Atonement is.

Now we're on the tail end of the month. Later this week, the kids get to go to Kids' Day at Robert's work again. It's the first time they've done it in 4 years, and we've been very excited about this. Toph has a pack meeting on Thursday and he'll be getting lots of awards. He's been working hard these past couple of months to get things finished. I'll have to take and post pictures later.

That's April in brief. Not much to tell for this month. I'll TRY to be better about blogging in the future.

Pinewood Derby 2011

2011-03-26T21:22:00.000-07:00

March means Pinewood Derby for us. This year was Topher's last Pinewood Derby, so we wanted to make it memorable. He designed it, and Dad helped cut it out with the scroll saw. Topher did most of the sanding work, and the boys had a real headache painting it this year. It was really cold this year, and the spray paint didn't want to dry.... and of course, we'd waited until the 11th hour to do the painting. So Toph's pretty car has a few fingerprints on it. Oh well! He LOVED his car!

Our new ward does Cub Scouts a little bit different. We don't have a lot of boys, so we do pack meetings combined with another ward. But for Pinewood Derby, we combined with all 3 wards and the Spanish branch--so there were like 30 boys! Each den got to race, and then the winner of all of the dens competed against each other.

Topher won for his den! Every year we go with the attitude that we're going to have fun. The creating and racing the car are the fun parts, and winning is just icing on the cake. Last year Toph had fun, but you couldn't have slapped the smile off of his face this year! In his den he came in first place every time, except for once when he came in second place.

When it came time for the winners to race each other, Toph still did well. He came in first a couple of times then too. I think he came in like 5th overall. All of the boys got funny awards too. Toph's certificate was "Best Use of Visible Weights." He had fun, and we had fun watching him.

I might even be a LITTLE bit sad that this was the last one!

Career Day for Hannah

2011-01-19T09:53:00.000-08:00

Today is career day for Hannah's class. They were invited to dress up like they would for the career they want when they're grown up. Well, Hannah is going to be a rock star! Here's a preview of what she'll look like when she's rich and famous.

Every Rock Star needs a guitar. Hannah got one for Christmas.

She makes quite a cute rock star with the make up and funky hair!
You can't really see the lightening bolts on her cheeks.

Striking a pose! Mom thinks she looks like a ninja.

Hannah is 8!!!

2011-01-19T08:42:00.000-08:00

We just got to celebrate our Hannah's eighth birthday--WOW, was she excited! For members of the LDS church, turning 8 means you get to be baptized, and Hannah is VERY excited for that milestone to be looming on the horizon.

Since her birthday was on a Sunday this year, we went out on Saturday to celebrate her birthday at the Olive Garden. We all ate WAY too much and enjoyed our breadsticks. We never did make it there in December for Toph's birthday, so it was a dual celebration for our family.

Sunday Hannah requested breakfast for dinner--"You know, all of that stuff I have for McDonald's breakfast." So we had pancakes, eggs, bacon, and biscuits. Were we ever stuffed!! We were too full to really enjoy Hannah's requested birthday cake--strawberry cake with chocolate whipped cream. Yum!

Hannah enjoyed her presents too. We were fooling with her earlier in the day when she asked when she was going to get to open her gifts (we do this after dinner). We told her that she didn't get to open her presents until she was 10--she'd have to look at them under the Christmas tree until then. (Yes, the tree is still up! It's fake, so our house isn't going to burn down. And it's the last remaining part of Christmas left in the house--coming down this weekend.) Hannah was very happy when she did get to open her presents, as she got things she really liked.

Loving the Rapunzel Polly Pocket!

Nope, I don't think she's too big for Play Doh!

Hannah's inner artist was pleased!

No birthday post would be complete without a photo montage, so enjoy!!

This is the first time Toph met his baby sister. It was love at first sight.

Hannah's fist Christmas.

Safety first! You never know what the folks are going to feed you.

Hannah decided that she wanted to eat sand. The more we discouraged her, the more she ate!

Hannah putting on the dance moves with the cousins.

Puddle stomping with brother!

Tickles with brother and Daddy.

Hugs from Pluto on our first Disneyland trip.

Being "cheesy" with brother while playing with leaves.

Hmmmm....... Playing "doctor" at the doctor's office.

Our sleeping angel.....she still looks like this....bear bear, silky, and thumb.

Primping with Grandma Bear--our girl LOVES make-up!

Our "love bug" couldn't look cuter!

A girl needs some "bling" to make the outfit complete.

She's growing up! This was the first day of first grade.

Hannah's planing on "Stayin' Alive" and keeping it lively for us.

Hannah as kept us on our toes--these are pictures of our girl's first and second self hair cuts.

Finally, our lives would NOT be complete without our little princess!

Happy Birthday, Hannah!!!

TWO Tooth Fairy Visits!

2010-12-29T20:27:00.000-08:00

Nothing about teething has ever been easy for Hannah. Recently we went to the dentist about a problem with her final 6-yr-molar that has finally come in, and we needed to make an appointment to have her top 2 teeth pulled. Her teeth get loose, but they won't come out. When her bottom teeth got loose, the big teeth grew in behind the baby teeth before we finally convinced Hannah to let us pull the baby teeth.

We weren't waiting so long this time. Hannah was excited to get them out, so the Tooth Fairy could come visit. We were only successful getting 1 tooth out the first time we tried--it jumped right out of her mouth. The floss got stuck when we tried to get the second tooth out though, and Hannah endured a bit of pulling before we got the floss off (and no tooth came with it). She did benefit from a much looser tooth though!

The tooth fairy visited as scheduled, and the next night we were able to get the second tooth out--so the poor tooth fairy had to come back again. Now she looks like a vampire (which would've come in handy at Halloween), and she enjoys forcing out a lisp when she thinks about it. We're glad to have this hurdle behind us. Now Hannah has lost 4 teeth and has all of her 6-yr-molars. Whew!

Time to Catch UP!

2010-12-29T20:25:00.001-08:00

Ok, I've been away from the blog for a long time. I blame FaceBook. I catch up on lots of folks there, and then I forget that I have a blog. Bad Maree!

I use my blog as a journal of sorts for our family. Since I haven't blogged since April, I'm WAY behind. Instead of jumping in at April, I'm going to start where we are now and work my way backward.

Eventually, I hope to print off my blog each year as a written record of what we've been up to.

So there you go. I'm back, and it's time to catch up! Looking forward to reading comments from you!

Sorry I missed you......

2010-10-01T08:25:00.000-07:00

Really?! I haven't blogged since APRIL?!! I guess I have some catching up to do! Stay tuned. LOTS of info. coming soon!

Thanks Grandpa Birdie!!!

2010-04-11T18:59:00.000-07:00

Every year for Christmas, my Grandpa Birdie (Mom's dad) gives the kids money for Christmas. When we were little, it was a special present, and as we've gotten older (and harder to buy for), it evolved into money. Grandpa doesn't care that we've told him to stop--he still gives us each an envelope for Christmas. My Grandma Jan was an Olympic Shopper. She LOVED to shop. And as our Christmas gift from them turned into money (and she was out of a "job" as Christmas shopper), she always asked us to tell her what we chose to spend the money on.

This year, we chose to spend the money on bigger bikes for the kids. It's sad, but my kids still don't ride bikes. Their training wheel bikes are too small for them, and I thought that having a nice, new bike would make the prospect of learning to ride less scary and more exciting.

We bought the bikes the day after Valentine's day and took the kids to the school to have their first lesson. Wow, I got to run around a lot (Robert did too). Neither kid learned how during our 90-minutes of running. They lack confidence. I went home and googled "teaching kids to ride a bike" and learned that we were doing it all wrong (of course). I had Robert take the training wheels and pedals off of Hannah's old bike and lower the seat all the way down. We've spent the last month just coasting down the street on the "scoot bike" and learning how to balance. Toph does this on his "real" bike now. Hannah can too. They have pretty much mastered the art of balancing. Now they need the confidence to put their feet on the pedals and actually RIDE.

An unexpected and good outcome in all of this is that Hannah has learned how to ride her scooter! She got hurt a long time ago and decided that she didn't like scootering. When trying to learn how to balance, we told Hannah that riding her scooter would actually help her ride her bike too, so she decided to give it a try. Some time in the near future we're going to hit a local park that has a grassy slope and insist that the kids use the pedals. They're ready for it.

Then we're going to go to the school and ride around the track--first one to ride around the track gets $5.00!

My Grandpa Birdie got me my first bike, and I still remember learning how to ride it. I'm glad the tradition has carried down to my kids. Thanks Grandpa Birdie!!!!!!

Out of the Mouths of Babes!

2010-04-11T16:43:00.000-07:00

Warning: Today's post is all about Church-related stuff. For those unfamiliar with our beliefs, a bit of a lesson: Normally, the first Sunday of the month is called fast Sunday. Those who can, fast (no food or water) for 2 meals, and then we donate the monetary value of those meals to the Church as a fast offering. Our normal weekly meetings are 3 hours long, and include 3 different meetings in 1 "block" of time. The first hour we all meet together and it's called Sacrament Meeting. On fast Sundays, the bulk of that meeting is turned over to anyone who wishes to share his testimony. Twice each year (the first weekend in April and October) we have General Conference. It's a time for our members all over the world to be instructed by the leadership of the Church. It is broadcast over satellite, radio, and the internet. We are able to watch it from home. Because of General Conference, our fast Sunday was today.....

Before we headed out to Church today, I reminded the kids about what a fast is and explained that I would no longer be packing a snack for them on fast Sundays. I don't ask or tell the kids to fast, as I believe that this is something they will do when they are ready to, but they're old enough now that they can understand the principle of fasting and they can make it through Church without snacks. In my discussion about what fasting is and why we'd do it, I reminded the kids that Sacrament meeting today would be testimony meeting. Hannah asked if she could "bury her testimony" and I told her that she could, if she wanted to.

Fast forward about an hour, and we're in the middle of Sacrament meeting. Hannah leaned over and asked me if she could go bear her testimony. I was surprised that she remembered and that she wanted to, and I asked if she wanted me to go with her. She wanted to go alone.

Just a reminder--Hannah is 7. She's very stubborn and independent. Sometimes those are good character traits. We also never know what is going to come out of her mouth when she opens it.

Hannah went up to the stand to wait her turn ALL BY HERSELF. She looked a bit nervous sometimes, and I smiled at her several times while she waited for her turn to share. In our chapels we are very reverent, and we don't take pictures or record things, so I don't have a recording of this (but I wish I did!). When it was Hannah's turn, she took a big breath and started talking....and kept talking and talking and talking!

Hannah told us that she knew the Church was true and that Heavenly Father loves us. Then she went on to say that she was thankful for her family and for freedom, and then she kept talking..... and talking...... and talking. Several times she mentioned that she was thankful for her brother and that he liked to help her. In her time at the pulpit she said basically the same things about 3 times. I was a little bit panicky, because I was afraid she'd talk forever and I wasn't sure how to get her to be finished. I really didn't anticipate that she'd actually bear her testimony, so we didn't review what's appropriate to share and how to quit. But she got around to it and came to sit back down.

I was really proud of Hannah today. She did something very brave. It has been a very long time since I've shared my testimony from the pulpit. I (and I'm not kidding) have a ginormous fear of speaking into a microphone. That just freaks me out, so I have shared my testimony a few times during the third hour, in Relief Society (just the women attend this, while the men attend Elder's Quorum). On the way home from Church, Hannah asked why I never went up to share my testimony. I explained about my microphone phobia and then shared my testimony with her in the car.

My kids are WONDERFUL examples to me. Topher has such a strong moral compass and tries so hard to do what is right. Hannah is so strong and is not easily led by others. They are both so innocent and pure. I love them so much! It was really wonderful for me to watch Hannah gulp back her nerves and share her testimony with our entire congregation today. Sometimes we wonder if we really are teaching our kids anything and doing what we're supposed to as parents--today helped me realize that we are. Some of what we teach HAS sunk in. I imagine that's how our Heavenly Father must feel about us sometimes. It was a really good Sunday.

Convicted of Involuntary Techslaughter......

2010-03-01T23:22:00.000-08:00

I'm not a geek. I don't speak tech. I don't understand how a lot of electronic things work--it's like magic to me. Last Thursday, our SDG&E guy warned me. The power would be off for like 5 seconds (really, it was maybe 3) and I should turn off or unplug any sensitive devices like computers, etc. Well, I know that our computers have a UPS or USP or FBI (3 letters) box that gives them some power when we lose power. The upstairs TV was off. The stuff that mattered was covered--or so I thought......

Suddenly, I had 2 kids home from school and NO internet! Yikes! I made a panic call to Robert, and found out that I'd probably killed the upstairs router. Oh. I forgot about that one. You know, the one responsible for all internet in the house? That's not a good one to kill. Robert was patient and ordered a new router on overnight shipping.... And then he spent his full Thursday night working out the bugs of moving one router to a new place--so we'd have internet the next day.

Well, work has been so much FUN for Robert lately, and he forgot to bring the router home on Friday. No big deal. We could still do most of what we needed. My mail kept being funky and needing special attention, and Robert had to devote some of his weekend to fixing things again.

Tonight he brought home the new router, the one that completes the circle of wireless internet goodness that we depend on. And he's still trying to work out the bugs. He's a Tech Genius, but he doesn't have to do this stuff very often--so he's rusty. And probably cursing me silently for killing the router upstairs. I swear, I didn't know!

Most of all, he's not spending his home hours doing the things that need doing most--like his homework or his 27 million time-sensitive projects from work. It has been intense and insane, and he's working on the internet for our home.... He MUST love us! I know I sure appreciate all of his Geek-ness. I could never figure this stuff out.

And I'm sorry about that router upstairs, R.I.P.

Need.To.Read.

2010-02-11T13:43:00.000-08:00

I have 825 unread blog posts in my Google Reader.

I need to get back into the "blog" thing and actually read some of those.

And write on my own blog.

Darn you FaceBook! It's so much easier to post a few sentences on there--without the pressure to provide pictures of my progeny. And now I'm going to get over it.

Stay tuned....I still haven't talked about February!

January Update

2010-01-31T19:14:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's hard to believe I've been so negligent of the blog! Far away friends and family, please forgive me!

First of all, I forgot an important December event--Hannah lost her first tooth! She'd been waiting for a very long time for that to happen. Mom got the honor of pulling it. And, of course, the Tooth Fairy got to visit.

January was busy--when aren't we busy?! In addition to all of the "normal" things that suck up our time, I got to take the kids to the dentist (Toph got his first cavity), go for a physical (oh, joy!), take Toph for his first filling, go watch Toph do a choral reading, celebrate Hannah's birthday, and watch Toph's class sing at Friday flag.

Topher's class singing at Friday Flag

The highlight of our month was Hannah's birthday though. Since this was a non-party year, Hannah got to choose where she wanted to have her special meal, and then we spent the day doing the things that she wanted to do.

Hannah chose to have breakfast at the Original Pancake House, so we all enjoyed that a LOT. As her special activity, Hannah decided that she wanted to go to Happy Nails and Spa for a manicure and pedicure--for both Mom and Hannah. I liked this plan! Hannah got the full treatment and chose to alternate red and blue polish for both hands and feet. She was really into patterns back then. Mom chose to only get a pedicure and chose a more "Mom" color. It was SO nice! At one point while we were in the chairs, Hannah exclaimed, "This is the BEST day of my life!"

Hannah on the pedicure throne

After we were beautified, Hannah and I went to Claire's to get Hannah's ears pierced. I thought that we'd wait until next year, but when I asked if she was interested in getting her ears pierced, Hannah said that she was--and I decided to strike while the iron was hot. She got to pick out her studs--multi-colored flowers, and we elected to have both ears done at the same time. (I highly recommend that course of action.) Hannah was VERY brave. She didn't cry, but rather got a bit teary for a moment. Then she was all about telling everyone we met that she just got her ears pierced and showing them. Kind of reminded me of when Hannah was just potty trained and had to tell everyone about that (see the "Two Years Ago" post on 6/10/08 for details).

Kind of nervous BEFORE her ears were pierced

Looking beautiful AFTER her ears were pierced

Hannah felt very glamorous and was in Princess Paradise. We had such a great day of mother/daughter bonding. Then we came home and opened presents and ate cake. Hannah got a lot of earrings and a pretty purple jewelry box that she can decorate, among other things.

I *think* we had our first slumber party that weekend too. We'd promised Toph and Hannah that they could have a friend to spend the night for their birthdays, and Toph's friend was out of town (because of Christmas break)--so we decided to do it all at the same time. We had their friends come over after dinner on Sunday, the kids watched a movie and decorated cupcakes, and then played and didn't fall asleep. Well, the BOYS fell asleep, but the GIRLS laughed and giggled and chatted until well after midnight. I was thinking that they were never going to go to sleep! We had a special breakfast in the morning and the kids played some more until their parents came to collect them. It was more kids to do it this way, but having both kids have their slumber parties at the same time kept them out of each others' hair. I was again thankful for Martin Luther King and "dream day."

January was a whirlwind of activity, and we had a very enjoyable month.

December Update

2009-12-31T11:03:00.001-08:00

December wizzed by just as fast as the previous months--maybe faster! Here's what we did:

First, we found our Christmas decorations, got our tree back from our former neighbors, and decorated the house. Last year, since we were moving, we had NO decorations up, and we loaned our tree to our neighbors, because they were just moving in and didn't have their things that were being shipped from Argentina. They were able to enjoy a Christmas tree, and we were able to visit and enjoy a Christmas tree--a real win for everyone. My only stipulation in loaning the tree is that they couldn't give it back before we moved (mid-January), and they were nice enough to keep it all year! One storage nightmare solved!

We had a sadness occur too. Robert's step-Mom passed away after a long battle with cancer. She'd had T-cell lymphoma and had been fighting that. And then she developed pneumonia. While in the hospital for that, they discovered new cancer in her liver and pancreas. The decision was made to keep Jan comfortable and let nature take it's course, and it did. We will certainly miss Jan and her spunky spirit, but we know that she is in a better place, free from pain and reunited with loved ones she's been missing. We know that we can see her again, and that gives us peace.

At the same time that we were experiencing that loss, we had end of the year stuff going on at school. Both kids had field trips and parties, and then we had some Christmas company! Topher's class went to Old Town San Diego for a field trip on "the old ways." He thoroughly enjoyed himself and walked his little heart out. Hannah's class went to see the Nutcracker, and she looked great! They are asked to dress up when attending "the theater" and Hannah loves to dress up! Hannah LOVED the production--pretty music and lots of dancing (what's not to love?)--even though there wasn't any talking (Hannah's favorite activity).

Mid-week, we had a visit from Robert's Mom and Dan. Doreene calendars her vacation time almost a year in advance, and since we'd announced that we were NOT coming up for Christmas this year, she came to us. We had fun just spending time together and relaxing. We celebrated Christmas with them on Friday (the 18th), complete with Christmas dinner and presents to each other. It was a wonderful evening. The kids LOVE having more than one Christmas, and their enthusiasm could barely be contained.

Saturday morning was Topher's 9th birthday! We celebrated by going out to breakfast at Toph's choice, the Original Pancake House. That's sure the way to start off a great day! He enjoyed his birthday pancakes! Toph enjoyed opening his birthday presents. Then we had to say good-bye to Grandma and Dan, as they started their long drive home. Toph spent the morning playing with his new presents, and then we celebrated the afternoon doing exactly what he's wanted to do FOREVER--miniature golfing. Everyone had a GREAT time, the weather was gorgeous, and we even got decent scores. We asked Toph what he wanted for dinner, and he requested Olive Garden. Normally, we don't go out to eat TWICE in a single day, but we got OG gift cards for Christmas, so we enjoyed dinner out. Toph, my non-bread kid, LOVES OG bread sticks and Alfredo sauce. Thoroughly stuffed, we then got to find room for birthday cake. We had a thoroughly wonderful day. And I can't believe that Toph is NINE!

The rest of the time until Christmas flew by faster than ever! We had a trip up to Murrieta to help Carmen's girls finish their Christmas shopping for their Mom. We made another trip up 2 days later to celebrate Carmen's birthday with her (Pancake house for the Moms and then a movie!), and then the Gibb clan came down to us for Christmas Eve. We had a great dinner, and then we all walked the blocks of Candy Cane Lane. We LOVED spending the time together, and we loved walking off some of our dinner to look at the pretty lights. Good times!

Christmas morning couldn't come fast enough for our kids, and we had a great time being HOME. We opened presents and played with our new toys. We had a fantastic time with NO place to go. We stayed in our jammies ALL day, ate junk and drank soda, and had the most fantastic time just being together as a family. We love our extended family too, but this was the first time we've ever celebrated the holiday with just the 4 of us. We called our other family members, but I will admit that I really enjoyed not having to worry about going somewhere. A simple day at home in jammies was PERFECT!

The rest of Christmas vacation has wizzed by as fast as the other parts of December. Now it's New Year's Eve (day) and I am looking forward to putting 2009 to bed and waking up to a new year, a new decade, and a new start. 2009 wasn't the BEST year we've ever had (probably not the worst either though), but I like new beginnings. Each new year feels like a new start. My health is under control. Toph's medicine is under control, and we've adapted to living with ADD. And our family is looking forward to a very good new year. We've got some good goals and resolutions, and it's looking great from this view!

Happy New Year!

November Nuggets

2009-12-02T16:14:00.001-08:00

I don't see HOW it's possible for it to be December already, but it is. November LITERALLY blew past us.

Veteran's Day found us saved from the "normal" routine and relaxing together. Robert took off Veteran's day and the 2 days afterward--and he almost never takes any personal time off of work, so it was nice. The goal was to do some work around the house, but we pretty much just vegged. I was crazy trying to get my cards finished for card swap, so I was no good to anyone. Card swap came, and I had a great time and enjoyed the cards I got. I even ended up liking the card I made (a miracle, really, since I hated it just 12 hours before card swap).

(I borrowed these photos from my friend, Tina's, blog.)

November is one of my favorite months, because it has 2 of my favorite holidays: MY birthday and Thanksgiving. This was a "big" birthday year for me too, and I couldn't have asked for a better day. The weather was GORGEOUS. I got to go out to my favorite breakfast place. I had LOTS of FaceBook well wishes. And I had several friends stop by with nice treats. I felt SO loved! We went out to dinner as a family, and had a great time there too.

The most significant gift I got was from Robert. He's AMAZING! He was like a kid on Christmas morning though, because my gift got here a couple of days before my big day. Robert kept asking me if I wanted to open it early. No, I did not. I like opening presents on my birthday. Well, he pestered me so much that I caved and opened my gift a day early. He surprised the socks right off of me because he got me a Kindle! You might remember that he purchased a Sony book reader for me 2 Christmases ago, so a Kindle was NOT something I'd even think of asking for. I'd never used the Sony reader though, because I didn't know how to work it--and Robert and I had not had a "school" session about it. Well, I have to say, I like the Kindle better. It's FABULOUS!! It has built-in internet, so you can purchase and download your books immediately. You don't have to download them onto your computer and then transfer them over. The Amazon Kindle store even has books that are free! The screen is a good size, and you can change the font size to accommodate your eyes. It has a built-in dictionary too, so I can put the cursor next to any word, and the definition will pop up at the bottom of the page. AND I can take notes when I'm reading. What's NOT to love about the Kindle?! It is absolutely the BEST gift for an avid reader like me. Now I can carry around 1500 books on something the size of a Reader's Digest magazine. LOVE IT!!! Big win for Robert!

Ok, so my personal holiday was a fantastic success. Then we anxiously awaited our first company of the season. The Sunday before Thanksgiving, my sister's family and my parents came for a short visit. The cousins got to play together--which is the equivalent to being a kid in a candy store--and the adults got to visit. My parents only stayed for Sunday and then spent some time with one of my Mom's friends up north. On Monday, the Ward and Nickel clans went to the science museum and spent a lovely afternoon. My kids are total science nerds, and they LOVE to go to the museum. Aimee's kids had never been to our museum, so they had a good time too. Then the adults went out to dinner at our favorite (Yanni's) and the kids enjoyed time with babysitters. Tuesday morning was very sad for us, because the Wards had to go home. Our visits with them are NEVER long enough.

Tuesday afternoon, Carmen's family came over, and I got to experience the Exchange/Commissary on base for the first time. Wow, it was cool. I had fun looking at all of the stuff, and Carmen and I did our pre-Thanksgiving shopping. Then we got to go to Panera for lunch--mmmmmmm!

Wednesday Toph and I started sneezing and sniffling, and I was pretty sure we either had bad allergies (because we were having a Santa Ana wind event) or we were getting colds. That kind of marred our Thanksgiving, because we just didn't feel as good as usual. We agreed to spend Thanksgiving up with the Gibb family, and Carmen "let" me bring mashed potatoes, stuffing, and rolls. She has a little bit of OCD and likes the rest of the meal prepared the way she likes it. We found a 30 pound turkey when we went shopping for the food, so there was PLENTY of food to go around. We pigged out until we hurt, and then we ate more later. Carmen is a fantastic cook, so all of the food was wonderful. I wish we'd do it more often! Carmen introduced me to a new treat this year--pumpkin cake. It has a crust and then a layer that's like pumpkin pie, and then it's topped with a streusel topping. There are not words to express how delicious this is--pumpkin pie will forever pale in comparison! We had a fantastic day with our good friends, and we returned home stuffed and with plenty of leftovers.

(Because the people pictures I took didn't turn out all that great, this will have to do.)

And by the time we got home from Thanksgiving, I was pretty sure that my problem was a cold, and it felt like it was going into bronchitis. Yay. On Saturday morning, after coughing ALL night long, I took myself to the urgent care and got diagnosed with bronchitis. The doctor was wonderful. He actually listened to me and trusted that, with 36+ years of experience with my asthma, I might know what I was talking about! That was a refreshing change. I came away with some antibiotics, cough medicine, and prednisone, AND a sample of my maintenance inhaler with double the steroid strength. I caught it fast enough that I didn't have to go to the prednisone to make a difference. I have coughed and coughed and coughed, and at times I was sure I'd burst my spleen with so much coughing. Those muscles are tired and sore, but I'm finally starting to feel like a human being again--hooray!

That's how we ended our November. It went so fast it all seems like a blur now. We had an excellent month, and we made some fantastic memories. Before I know it, it will be time for Christmas. I swear the time goes SO MUCH FASTER now that I'm older.

Our goals for December include trying to stay healthy, get our home decorated for the holidays (since we didn't last year--moving), and enjoy the season and our friends and family. We're staying here for the first time since we've moved down, and that will be a little bit different. I'm majorly homesick for the people, but I have to admit that I'm looking forward to the nice weather on Christmas.

Halloween Catch Up

2009-12-02T16:02:00.000-08:00

It has been long time coming, but I'm finally going to update the blog!

Halloween came when we were crazy busy--but I think that's a constant state of being for us now. The kids decided on their costumes: Toph was Jango Fett (from Star Wars) and Hannah was a Purple Witch (costume was black with purple)--that's a good witch, by the way.

Toph and Hannah were invited to a Halloween party, and because our weather here is kind of schizo, Toph wore his Harry Potter costume from last year (it was way too hot to be Jango Fett). They had a marvelous time at the party. They had snacks and did a couple of crafts, and since the party was on a Saturday evening, Robert and I got to go out to dinner (alone!) to celebrate his birthday (which was the 25th).

The school did their annual Halloween parade on the 30th, and Hannah was extra excited, because her teacher got to lead the parade. I stood around with the other parents and watched the kids do their march, and then discovered that my camera batteries were basically dead. Good job, Mom!

On Halloween eve, the kids and I drove up north to go visit our friends, and Carmen and I went shopping (and scored GREAT bargains) while Carmen's oldest helped the kids carve pumpkins. It was the best of both worlds for me, because I HATE carving pumpkins, and I found great stuff. The pumpkins turned out great--and I have the pictures to prove it.

Halloween night found our kids excited to go trick-or-treating. Robert took them out, and I handed out candy. We were the "lame" house this year, because I've been trying to support Robert in his quest for good health, and I bought mostly pretzles and fruit snacks to give out. Right at the last minute, I bought some candy, but it was mostly handed out and didn't sit around and get eaten before Halloween. What was left over was good for the kids' lunches.

All in all, the kids had fun and Halloween was a success. Next year I might even decorate the house! (Don't ask me what happened, I don't remember.)

Our Swine-Proofing Adventure

2009-11-06T22:46:00.000-08:00

Today was our happy day. The kids were able to get their swine flu vaccines. Do not think that this brought joy to them. I purposely waited to announce our adventure until I'd picked them up from school--and we were on our way to the Doctor's office. Hannah cried for 25 minutes in preparation for the shot. Toph cried some, but was trying to be quiet about it. Not Hannah.

In the waiting room the kids were fine. Toph was subdued, but Hannah was obnoxiously friendly. Then they called our name and the drama began again..... Hannah started immediately crying. Toph wanted to know what the nurse was doing with "the stuff on that tray." He kept telling us that he didn't really want to do this. Dr. Rachel asked which kid wanted to go first--they pointed to each other. I let Hannah go first (she was closer to me). She was crying louder now and flinched and ramped it up a notch when the nurse wiped her arm with alcohol. Then came the poke, and she stopped crying and announced, "That didn't hurt at all!" One down, one to go!

Toph had moved to the door by this point, and had to be bodily dragged over to the chair. He was crying a bit too, but not loud. Sister kept repeating that it didn't hurt at all. He got his poke and kind of made a whimper sound, but that was it. Bandaids all around, and we got to go pick out stickers. Then Dr. Rachel announced that we'd need a booster in a month, if they had any. That kind of made me a liar about the whole "we're just getting ONE shot."

When we have to get shots, it's our "reward" to do something afterward. I'd already told the kids that we could go out to eat, so they got to fight about where. It was a pretty easy choice. We decided to go to Cheeburger Cheeburger (gotta love those milkshakes!). For those of you who have not had the experience, Cheeburger is a 50's style diner with AWESOME food. We love it all. You can have a burger made YOUR way--how "done," what cheese, and what toppings (choose as many as you like from a list of like 50). Onion rings are delicious. Pepsi is served (NOT Coke!). And the milkshakes are to die for--and just about any flavor/combo you can think of. There's lots of chrome and neon. There's 50's music piped in. There's paper towels on the table (instead of napkins). And there's Trivial Pursuit cards on the table too.

Hannah reads EVERYTHING now that she can read. We like looking at the Trivial Pursuit cards, and tonight was no exception. We got the "fun" cards though:
(Remember that Hannah is reading these.)
Q: What is a capon?
A: A castrated rooster.

Q: What illustrated sex guide did Alex Comfort write?
A: The Joy of Sex.

Needless to say, we stopped reading the cards after this one--Hannah didn't know why. We were laughing pretty hard, and our server was mortified--until he realized that we were just amused and not mad. But he asked for the card anyway--I don't think it's going to make its way back to the table again.

After stuffing ourselves, we decided to see if our favorite hair lady was working, and she was! Hair cuts all around completed our swine-proofing adventure. Not bad for a Friday night. Fun was had by all--and some good chuckles too.

Fall?

2009-11-05T10:04:00.000-08:00

The calendar says it's fall. Two days ago it was more than 90* so I'm not sure that Mother Nature has gotten the memo.

I think this tree is sunburned.

Social Experiment

2009-10-27T09:30:00.000-07:00

This morning I conducted a social experiment. I needed to mail 4 boxes at the Post Office. The boxes reached to my chin and were awkward, but not heavy, so I elected to carry them in rather than use a cart. I had to walk about 20 yards from the car to the door of the Post Office, so I decided to see if anyone would offer to help. Only about 5 yards from my car a woman (who was going the opposite way) asked if I needed some help. I assured her that the boxes weren't heavy and thanked her. About 5 yards from the door, a man walked out, looked at me, and kept going. It would have been easy for him to hold the door, but he offered no help. As I was close to the door, a woman inside saw me coming and rushed to open the door.

Final score: women--2; man--sucked. Apparently this man had parents who did not teach him to help others. Sad.

It was interesting to see what happened. I had no preconceived notions on who would or would not offer to help. My son's teacher has 3 pages of "GC" (good citizen) rules for his classroom. I thought it was overkill at first, but they're really common sense things that parents used to teach their children when teaching them how to be polite (many parents no longer do this). One of their rules is to open the door for others. Between Mr. Miller's "GC" rules and the Nickel home rules, we'll have that situation covered!

***I realize that I'm behind, and I swear I'll catch you up on what we're doing this week--complete with pictures and everything!

Let's Catch Up....

2009-10-02T21:39:00.001-07:00

I can't believe that it's already October!!!

Let's see, what's been going on around here? We had an *incident* 10 days ago which resulted in a little of this:

Hannah has been physical from conception. While she baked in my oven, she'd kick so often and hard that she bruised my belly--no lie! She's been in perpetual motion ever since. She was WAY too busy to sit and be cuddled--she'd rather bounce in her crib. And she's the more physically violent kid too. More often than not, she'll explode with a kick or hit instead of words, no matter how she gets punished for her actions. We had a repeat episode 10 days ago. Toph was going upstairs at the same time as Hannah, and he told her to hurry up. So her response was to punch him in the heart! Now, punching someone in the heart can kill them--remember that baseball player who died last year? I don't think Hannah has skills that good at this time, but it's still not something I want her to do! I'd much rather she yell instead. Or in this case, just hurry up!

Robert and I were in disagreement as to how to proceed. She needed to be grounded for a week--this was a serious offense. But I wanted to make it relevant. So instead of taking away ALL privileges, I started a "bad behavior book" and made her write about her behavior each day. It's just a composition book where we write what the behavior is and what the punishment is, and then Hannah had to sign it. And every day for her week of grounding, she had to write about her offense. First, she wrote an apology letter to Topher. The next day she answered questions like, "What did you do to get in trouble? Why shouldn't you get physical with someone when you're angry? What could you do instead?" Each day she had 3-5 similarly themed questions she had to answer for me. This way she was reminded again and again of what she'd done in the first place. We weren't just being mean by not letting her play on the computer.

Our little jailbird served her time and wrote that she would NOT do it again. Her answer was something like, "No NO NO NO NO NO NO NO I will NOT do it again." Maybe she's learned her lesson? I'd like to hope so!

Aside from that excitement, we've done a lot of the same stuff. Kids go to school. Mom tries to get a handle on the laundry and the house and cook stuff that's good for us. Robert tries to go surfing as often as possible and bring home the bacon and get his homework done in time. We go to scouts. We try to go to Church--and have managed to do so! We've spent some time with our friends, the Gibbs, and said good-bye to their dad, as he began his deployment.

Last Saturday, Robert and I even managed a DATE! The kids had a practice for their Primary program at Church, and while they were practicing, Robert and I snuck off to the Original Pancake House for some breakfast. All I can say is that their pancakes are like no other, and now I'm craving them again! It was wonderful to have some time alone with my Honey. The program the next day was very nice! The kids did a great job and managed to sneak in waves and I love you signs often.

We had about 7 days of HEAT--I'm talking over 100* heat. It got up to 107* in our back yard one of the days. It doesn't happen often, and it usually doesn't last long, but those HOT days are hard to handle. And, to make matters worse, Fresno was cooler than we were during that time. Now we've entered into the time of bi-polar weather. That's when our temperatures will vacillate 20* over 2-3 days. It's hard on the body. We'll be in the 90's and then drop down to the low 70's for a couple of days and then rinse and repeat. I've also discovered that my fibro body is very unhappy when there's a big difference in the daily temperature. Yesterday, for example, it was 50* when we woke up and 100* in the afternoon--fibro doesn't like changes like that (or maybe it's just a barometer thing).

I've gotten chummy with the chiropractor lately. The muscles along my shoulders have felt like a rubber band stretched to the limit. NOTHING I do seems to relax them. I finally decided that it's probably a fibro cycle and that I'll just have to stick it out, but it HURTS! So I go get my neck and back popped and my chiropractor suggested that I might benefit from muscle stimulation therapy. OMGosh!!! It helped SO much! She puts these stickers on me and they're attached to a machine that puts out an electrical stimulus that makes my muscles contract and relax. It does this every second for 14 minutes, and I end up feeling like I've had a massage without someone having to touch me (because that hurts). It basically exhausts those muscles. LOVE IT!!! Love it so much, we'll probably be buying a machine. Especially if the insurance will pay for part of it.

Hannah's class has been working on a bear unit. They have learned all about all different bears and they've made a bear--so cute--out of grocery bags. Today they wore their PJ's to school and had their teddy bear picnic. Yesterday they made bear buns (bear shaped rolls) and they got to eat them today with oatmeal. She had a great time. She's been a reading nut lately too. She brings home a chapter book to read every day, and at first there were "stop here" post-it's after 3 chapters. This week she read an entire book every day. The kids take quizzes on the books afterward too, to check their comprehension. Hannah does much better if we make her read aloud to us--but again, she's in perpetual motion. She's not hyperactive though, lest you get the wrong impression.

Toph's class has been working hard to earn their first reward party of the year. You must read 1 chapter book and either write a book report or pass a test on your book AND you must not be in the "oops" book more than 3 times in order to qualify. Toph's goal is to not be in the "oops" book at all, and he did that. He finished his book and passed his test, and this afternoon he was rewarded with a game afternoon (board and card games only). Toph is enjoying school this year and really likes his teacher. He's getting his meds adjusted, so we'll see if it helps him even more. We still go see Dr. Mantell--world's awesomest psychologist--every 2 weeks or so, and he's helping us learn how to live with it. Toph is enjoying the Roald Dahl books, like, The Twits and Matilda. We watched the movie Matilda a couple of weeks ago, and that's the book he'll start next.

Robert is surfing as often as humanly possible. He's lost enough weight that he had to have his wet suit taken in! And that's a really good measure of how his body has changed, since it was custom-made for him in the first place. He's chugging along at work and learning how to work in the new environment (not a new job, just a reorganization of the roles they all play). He had a really good day yesterday, and we hope that happens more often. School has started for Robert, so his evenings and weekends include homework again. I can't complain much, since it's all online and we get to spend time together.

Last weekend we went to the iPhone store and got Robert his NEW iPhone--and I got the old one ("old" being the one he purchased in May)! I didn't *have* to have an iPhone, but it's nice to be on the same plan again and be able to talk to each other for free. Also, AT&T has rollover minutes, which Verizon did not. I wasn't unhappy with Verizon, because here the coverage is great, but they don't have an iPhone. I LOVE having my calendar and pictures and music (and now games) all in that tiny box. The kids love it too. I especially love that Robert finally taught me the trick--you have to use your FINGER, not the nail. I had been trying to use his phone with my nails (because that's how I used my phone) and I was reconsidering my desire for the iPhone--but it's easy. Now I just need to learn how to do my own ringtones.

We had an interesting thing happen earlier this week. There was a tsunami advisory for California, Oregon, and Washington--due to the earthquake in Samoa. I'd never given much thought to the risk of a tsunami. It ended up being not much more than 8-12 inches higher than normal waves, but it did make me pause for a moment. My heart goes out to all of those people in Samoa who lost homes and/or loved ones. I can't even really comprehend it. And then again in Sumatra and Bolivia. It does warm my heart though, to see the rescue workers drop everything and rush to help.

Not much else going on around here. It's starting to feel like Fall in the evenings and early mornings. I love that it gets a little bit chilly and we need to use the blanket on the bed. I miss the colors of fall--not much of that here, since palm trees don't turn colors. I went to Panera with my friend, Carmen, for lunch this week. THAT was a nice treat. And before we left, I got all kinds of crazy and ordered a pumpkin muffie (for you non-Panera people, that's a muffin TOP). I don't really even like much pumpkin stuff. OMGosh! It was DELICIOUS!! And now I want the recipe. But that won't do me much good when it's virtually impossible to find canned pumpkin on the store shelves. Maybe I'll find a good recipe right when pumpkin is available again--wonder what the chances of that are.

I've been having more good days. I was telling Robert that I hadn't had an entire BAD day in a long time. And then I did, but not lots in a row. So I feel like I'm making progress. My energy level is still below what I'd like, but I haven't been in total pain much of the time. Again, the cooler weather is not so nice on the fibro, but I LOVE it--so I'll have to figure that out. Now that I've been introduced to muscle stimulation, I foresee good things in the future.

We're into the birthday countdown time of year now. Robert's birthday will be in 23 more days, and then I will enjoy calling him an "old man" for 3 weeks. Then I will have a big birthday this year. NO idea what we'll do to celebrate that, but I'm even feeling good about the number. Then we'll celebrate Thanksgiving and then Toph's birthday. We'll spend Christmas at home this year, celebrate New Year's, and then celebrate Hannah's birthday. It's a BUSY time of year.

Now I need to get jazzed about getting out decorations. Since we're not moving this year, I can decorate for all of the holidays. I need to do that this year. Yes, I'm a crazy holiday fool, but I like to do it. I also need to get myself in gear and get my next cards for card swap figured out and made. I'm going to try not to procrastinate EVERYTHING and get some things done before the night before--kind of like turning over a new leaf.

This weekend is one of my favorites. It's General Conference weekend. That's when LDS families all over the world will get to listen to the Prophet and Apostles speak. Since it's broadcast over the internet and cable, we get to stay home--or go to a friend's house. We'll be going to the Gibb's to spend some time with them. Robert will probably do homework while Carmen, the kids, and I play. It will be a great time. We'll get to listen to sessions of Conference on Saturday and Sunday, and one of the things I like about Conference weekend (besides getting to stay in my jammies) is enjoying some delicious treats.

September 11, 8 years later

2009-09-16T10:27:00.000-07:00

My September 11th this year was a bit focused on me and my family.... lots going on, as usual.

I started thinking about September 11th at the very beginning of the month though, knowing that it was coming. When it happened, I had a young baby, and I had the TV on in the morning as I was feeding Toph. I was so shocked when I saw what was happening. We were glued to the TV and those same images day after day after day. Our hearts went out to all of the families who lost loved ones, and we felt a special compassion for those who were still waiting to learn if they'd lost loved ones. Our hearts swelled with pride as we heard stories of ordinary people risking their lives to help save others. As a nation, we felt pretty united.

A lot has happened since that tragic day. Families have tried to mend. Rescue workers have trained in new areas. We've grown apart as a nation. But every year, as we "celebrate" this day, we can all remember what happened. It's totally a "where were you when JFK was shot" kind of experience--you'll never forget where you were and what you were doing when you heard.

I've got a different perspective on 9/11 now. Over the past 8 years, I've met rescue workers and people in the military. I've spent time with their families. I've grown up some. The selflessness of the rescue workers and ordinary people who risked their lives to help the people in the World Trade Towers amazes me to this day. Without a thought for themselves, they risked (and sometimes lost) their lives to help someone else. We can never repay that debt. When our country went to war, thousands of soldiers left their families and friends to serve our country. We owe them a debt of gratitude that we can never repay. But both of those groups have some unsung heroes in them too--their family left behind. Each fire fighter, police officer, and soldier have family members who serve this country by supporting their hero. By giving selflessly of their fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, etc. We owe them a debt of gratitude too.

I've met some of these unsung heroes in the past few years. I've seen the sacrifices they and their families have made in our behalf. It's not easy for the families who have been left behind when a parent deploys to go to parts unknown. They are lonely and scared--and have to learn how to live without their missing member. Their sacrifice is personal, but it belongs to us too.

Whether we agree with the war or not is pretty unimportant. The fact is that we have soldiers who are willing to risk their very lives to protect our freedom and help others. Rescue workers have important jobs as they willingly risk their lives to make ours safer. The flag is a symbol of our nation, and its composition has some real significance. Today the flag consists of thirteen horizontal stripes, seven red alternating with 6 white. The stripes represent the original 13 colonies, the stars represent the 50 states of the Union. The colors of the flag are symbolic as well: Red symbolizes Hardiness and Valor, White symbolizes Purity and Innocence and Blue represents Vigilance, Perseverance and Justice.

We need to be proud of those who work to defend that symbol. We need to recognize their selflessness in serving us. WE benefit from their work. We benefit from their sacrifices and we benefit from the sacrifices that their families make. So as we move forward, it's my hope that WE NEVER FORGET. I hope we never forget to be thankful for services rendered in our behalf. I hope we never forget what it was like to be unified--and I pray that we can work toward that unity again. BIG things can happen when we all work together.

So, as we see September 11th on the calendar each year, my heart swells with pride. I love living here in this great nation. I love what has been done to give so many of us freedoms that we take for granted. I am so grateful for the many men and women who have sacrificed so much for me, a stranger. Let us NEVER forget!

Deep Thoughts

2009-09-16T10:05:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking on the subject of "family" for a while now, and I think that's the subject I'll address today.

When I was teaching, I taught a short unit on the family. We defined "family" as "a group of people who live together and love each other." Many of my students were not from a traditional family, and so we decided the expanded definition was better. But our definition covered the people in a home--the definition of "family" is much broader than that.

We have, to my way of thinking, several "families" that we belong to. Of course, there's our blood family. They're related to us and we have special ties to all of them. We have "families" of people we work with, associate with, and go to Church with. And then there's our "chosen" family members. These are the people who we've chosen to become part of our family. They're as good as a blood relative. You love them as if you were related.

Does this make your blood family less important? Of course not! But we don't always live in a situation where we have access to our blood family. Sometimes they can't (or won't) step in to help us. Sometimes they've died, and we don't have access to them at this time. And our "chosen" family can fill in the cracks.

In our Church, we believe that we lived with God in Heaven, BEFORE we were born. This belief makes us somewhat unique, I know. But I like to think that sometimes when we "connect" with someone and feel like we've known them forever, it's because we have. Our spirits recognize each other from "before." I've met many such people.

I never fully understood the importance of my "chosen" family until I moved away from my blood family. For 30+ years, almost all of my family lived within a 30-minute drive. I have been very fortunate to have known all of my grandparents, and some of my great-grandparents. I saw my family on a frequent basis, and moving away from my hometown was VERY difficult because I couldn't just go see them whenever I wanted. When we first got here, I was so relieved to go to Church the first time, because I knew that I had a new Church family who could help me if I needed help. In the 3 years that we've been here, I've made some new "chosen" family members. Because I spend a lot of time with other Moms, most of my chosen family are "sisters from another mother." We don't have the history (or baggage) that I share with my own sisters from birth, but my relationship with them are equally important. I can pick up the phone and call my sisters (and brother), and I can see them a few times a year when I go back and visit (0r they come here), but I don't get to share in their lives like I used to. If I got into an accident and broke my leg, my birth family couldn't drop everything and drive 6 hours to come help me. But my chosen family members could band together and help me. Because we do stuff like that for each other.

They are the "other" mothers of my children. And through them, I have "other" children too. It's great! We uplift and serve each other as if we really were related. When they have great things happen, we cheer with them. And when life throws them a curve ball, we cry with them. And when our circumstances change and we must move away from each other, we grieve that loss as if we were related by blood.

I'm so grateful for my "chosen" family! They go beyond the bounds of friendship to really earn a place in my heart. They teach me things and enrich my life. And I don't think I say thank you enough for all that I have gained by having them in my life. So thank you "chosen" family, thank you to ALL of my family!

S.S.D.D

2009-09-13T23:14:00.000-07:00

Someone recently commented that I haven't posted in awhile, and I was missed. Thanks for missing the posts. But there really hasn't been much to tell. It's the Same Stuff, Different Day around here.

School is going well. The kids love their teachers. Homework just started--so we'll see how long they still love their teachers. I imagine the homework won't really change their opinions. I am enjoying my new-found freedom of not having to personally fetch Hannah after school. She's a big 1st grader, after all! But we were having issues with "what am I supposed to do today" and I had to get creative. I made a set of tags to hang on the kids' backpacks with their after school instructions: car pick up, WAIT for Mom, park, and playdate. So far, the tags are really working. It's win-win for all of us. Now we just need to get the kids to cooperate on the whole "car pickup" thing. Hannah and Toph are supposed to walk together. Hannah gets impatient, and instead of walking across the walk to Toph's room, she just heads to the pick up place. Toph takes his responsibility as big brother very seriously and will go to the office and ask for an all-call for Hannah. I *think* Hannah's got it down now. (I hope!)

Aside from school, we're really enjoying the return of park days. We've had a few HOT ones (yes, it does get hot here in paradise), but we enjoy them anyway. Since our cub scout night changed to Tuesdays, we don't have to rush home either, and I'm liking that! Yes, we still have cub scouts. I've got an interesting mix of boys right now, so Hannah gets to go to boy scouts with Robert instead of coming with me. It's working out well for both of us. Toph is still LOVING his den and being in scouts. He recently got his Wolf award.

The other thing we're enjoying is our sessions with Toph's psychologist. Dr. Mantell is a gift to us all. He's helping me to learn how to parent an ADD kid, and he's helping Toph learn how to be a more effective ADD kid. He's SO smart! We just love our session times, because we leave feeling so positive about life. I'm glad we have the option of having this time with Dr. Mantell. It's so helpful to know if the frustrations I'm having are from Toph's condition (and something he really can't help) and it's helpful to look at things from a different perspective and learn how to "tweak" how I'm doing some things to make them better for Toph. There's a fine line between knowing what he can't control/help and using the ADD as a crutch. Toph knows that ADD just means that he has to work harder in some areas of life. It's not an excuse for bad behavior.

Toph, Hannah, and I also got to go visit Dr. Rachel on Friday. The kids had been complaining of sore throats for most of the week--and we HAD been exposed to strep. After Hannah woke me up 3 times during the night, I figured we'd skip school and determine if the sore throats were from strep or not. NOT! Just cold/allergies. We doubled up on the Benedryl at bedtime, started Sudafed for the stuffies, and we all enjoyed milkshakes for dinner on Friday. Please, no lectures on how the milkshakes will increase the mucous--they felt good on the sore throats! Hannah had a rough night with the stuffies, but she's doing much better today. Toph was better Saturday. There's something healing about visiting the doctor's office sometimes. Now let's cross our fingers and hope that we didn't pick up new germs while we were there!

I'm doing well with the fibro. I'm still WAY tired all too often, but I'm looking forward to the day when that's not the case. I've had many "good" days in the last month, and I'm looking forward to more. I'm a bit nervous about my November appointment--hoping that my doc doesn't up my doseage. That would put me back in misery again, I'm afraid. But I'm enjoying all of the things that I've been able to get done and all of the good minutes. I'm learning to listen to my body and be realistic with my expectations. I'm learning how to ration out my energy for the things that are really important. And I'm currently enjoying NOT being a vampire!

Last week I got to participate in card swap again. It was really fun for me this time. I found a stamp that I adore! It's a moose stamp, so it's close to my heart. I thought I was SO ahead of schedule--because I stamped and colored when school started back in August. But then life got in the way, and I was quickly finishing things up the day before the card swap. The cards I got were really nice too. It was nice to get out of the house and spend time with some friends. Next swap: I'm doing a Christmas card! I've got one of the papers already, but that's it. I've got until November, so it's not urgent yet.

Oh, and I was able to get a "tune up" in the last couple of weeks. I got to visit the dentist and get my teeth cleaned and my filling (the one that fell out) replaced. I got to go to the chiropractor and get adjusted (need to do that again). And Wednesday I got to go to the eye doctor. I'm having a decade birthday soon, and my eyes have noticed. I have been wearing the same glasses since before Toph was born, and they're in pretty bad shape. But they have been the best glasses I've ever had. So I was nervous to replace them. But lately, I really need the reading portion of the bifocals, so I made the appointment. The good news is that my prescription hasn't really changed much. I got to see pictures of the inside of my eye (new technology is cool), and I have 2 freckles inside my right eye--nothing to worry about. And I'm going to have some really nice, NEW glasses in just about 9 days! Then I'll be able to SEE! The old ones are so scratched up that I can hardly see out of them.

That's all that we've been doing. SSDD. Sorry, no photos this post either. I'll try harder to find more stuff to write about that goes with pictures. And I'll try to remember to have the camera with me when it happens. Oh, I could awe all of my readers with a photo of my NEW DISHWASHER! It *only* took a month. Have I mentioned that I really don't care for the property management people we have? They have no incentive to please us, so they don't try very hard. It was a long month with lots of phone calls. I was kind of under the impression that when you've got a property management company and something breaks that THEY make the arrangements for the broken stuff to get fixed. Not these guys--they like to delegate. So I call them to report my dishwasher broken and then I call back later to find out if it's going to get fixed and get the number for the fix-it guy. I call that number and the guy comes and pronounces the old dishwasher dead. He gets a price quote on the broken part and phones the PMD's (Property Management DORKS) and leaves a message that never gets delivered. So when I call back 10 days later to tell them that I felt I'd given a reasonable amount of time to contact the property owner, they don't know what I'm talking about. Then I get a call from the fix it people to schedule a repair--Huh? I need a NEW dishwasher! And I get to make 3 more phone calls before THAT gets worked out. The PMD's get contacted and don't call me back. After hearing from the owner that she approved the new dishwasher, I waited 4 days (long weekend) and called the PMD's again, and got the number for the repair people. The repair people gave me the number for the intaller they subcontract to. And I did a LOT of the work to get that dishwasher installed. Somehow, I think someone else wasn't doing their job! But they also weren't doing my dishes, so they didn't really have any incentive to do their job, did they? But we have a dishwasher now, and it reminded me of the time when we were building our house in Fresno.

.....A long, long time ago, we bought a house. We got to pick the plan and the lot and the outside color and the flooring. We LOVED that house. We visited "our dirt" as often as possible and watched it being built. And we called the builders when we saw things we didn't like. Then one day they installed the appliances. From that day forward, I'd go to the house (alone if I needed to) even more often just to stroke my appliances. I LOVED my brand new gas stove/oven. It was so pretty! But I loved the BRAND NEW dishwasher even more. Most of my life I'd never lived where there was a dishwasher (or one that worked). I was like a kid on Christmas morning. Since then, I've been spoiled. I know that a dishwasher is a luxury, and I'm very capable of washing the dishes by hand. I just like the dishwasher.

Things I NEVER Imagined I'd Hear.....

2009-08-26T21:43:00.000-07:00

We were having a discussion about Hannah's clothing choices this morning, as we do EVERY morning of school, and she really didn't want to wear a skort (skirt/shorts combo) because some of the kids think that it's just a skirt and think she's showing her underwear.

Then I heard the words I never expected to hear my kids say: "Yeah Mom, we have a RULE at school that says you can't share your underwear."

Huh? I'm not sure I hear that right..... You can't SHARE your UNDERWEAR? Yeah, I heard it right. You need a RULE for this??

Yes, it means you can't show your panties to other people. So you can't just lift your dress up like this (Hannah demonstrates with her nightgown).

I see, because what, without the rule all the girls would just lift up their dresses and show off their panties?

Well, the boys can't share their underwear either.

At least the rule is fair. But seriously, what does this say about us as a society? We really NEED a rule to tell us not to show our panties to other people? I remember back in the old days before electricity was discovered when I went to school--after walking uphill in the snow for 5 miles without any shoes--that I lived in mortal fear of someone else seeing my panties, so I'd wear shorts under my dresses just in case. Now we need a rule.

Sometimes I wish the adults who wear the mini skirts or droopy drawers had the same rule.....

Paralyzed with indecision

2009-08-24T22:06:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite blogs to read is "The Meanest Mom." She's freakin' hilarious! I love the way that she takes everyday happenings and looks at them through the eyes of humor, reminding me that we don't have to be so serious.

So Meanest Mom is having a contest. When she was questioned about her claim that Chrohn's Disease is the sexiest autoimmune diseases, she opened up a contest of a different kind--the Ms. Chronic Disease of America e-Pageant. How creative!

Only I couldn't enter the contest--because which disease would I choose?! Instead, I did the noble thing by not entering, thus making the contest more fair for others who are less fortunate than I am. Because really, Ms. Asthmatic PCOS Fibromyalgia has quite a ring! Can't you just see that on a sash!

School has STARTED!

2009-08-20T13:19:00.001-07:00

Today is the day that many mothers look forward to more than Christmas--because it is like Christmas for us. It's the day that school starts again.

I know, I was SOOOO excited for school to be OVER in June. I couldn't wait for summer vacation. Then I realized something. I'm used to my kids being gone all day. They create a LOT of noise--I mean a LOT. And they're not used to being together all day, every day. So it was kind of a relief for school to start again today. I'm not excited about early mornings and I'm not excited about homework, but it will be good to have the structure back and get into some kind of routine.

The kids were kind of taken aback this morning when I was rushing them to take a picture before school--this is a tradition! I *need* a picture of each child at the beginning of the school year. So they appeased me and posed. Another tradition we have at the beginning of the school year is new shoes. Each kid gets a new pair of sneakers--look at their new shoes!

I think Hannah has kind of a Punky Brewster look--remember Punky Brewster? Well, Hannah loves to wear fun socks (that don't necessarily "go with" the outfit) and now she's got high top sneakers. She'd love to have pig tails again, and has asked me to put her hair in low pig tails just last week. And she's got a style that's completely unique. It was freaking hilarious to watch her walk onto campus this morning too. She was SOOOOO excited to go back to school. Social creature that she is, hanging out with just the 4 of us was not stimulating enough. But she walked around, flicking her hair with her hand, and showing people her new backpack--it's pink and it has a monkey on it. You'd have thought that she had a gold brick! I just love this girl!

Toph is trying to be more independent. He's in THIRD grade, after all. He found his line and walked to class on his own, but he also looked glad to see me when I found his classroom. Toph is getting bigger--as is evidenced by the size of his shoe! He's growing up, but I hope he always loves his cuddle time with Mom. He had a hard time sleeping last night, so I had to wake him up this morning. We didn't have that 15 minutes of cuddle time, so I hope his day wasn't completely "off."

Both kids are going to like their teachers, I think. Both teachers seem very nice and structured. Hannah was just anxious to go back. I think she likes the work of school, the challenge, and the social aspects. She definitely likes the playground and will be happy to get to play on the playground every day. I think Toph is going to like his teacher too. He's very structured and strict--but kind too. I know that Toph isn't necessarily looking forward to the work aspect of school, but he's missed his friends and is looking forward to renewing his friendships. I think this will be a good year for the Nickel Family.

Last Fling of Summer 2009

2009-08-18T21:04:00.000-07:00

We had a WONDERFUL day today! Robert stayed home from work. We slept in. We had a lazy morning. And then we took the kids on a surprise. They knew we were going for a 1-day trip, but we wouldn't tell them where. As we drove up to the Discovery Science Center, they knew. We've been there before--this time there weren't any cousins waiting though.

Topher took a quick nap on a bed of nails.

Hannah hung out in a tent and climbed through a log.

Toph climbed a climbing wall and Hannah shot some hockey goals.

Toph hung out with a Robot.

Their feature exhibit right now is on ROBOTS--so much fun! We got to touch and build and play--had a great time! The kids got to make "jitterbugs" out of foam, a battery, and a motor. When constructed and connected, it "walked" or "jumped" around. LOVED it! We learned about solar energy. The kids stood in a hurricane simulation tube--Hannah did NOT love it--or even like it. We looked at an ant colony. We did all kinds of stuff.

When we were finished, we went to the Olive Garden for dinner. I'm telling you, that was the BEST OG experience I've ever had. The breadsticks were extra garlicky. Our waiter kept our drinks full to the top. The food was supreme, and the service could NOT have been better. I get to do a satisfaction survey, and I'll have nothing but good to say. We stuffed ourselves, and then shared a dessert. DELICIOUS--can't remember the name, but it was a chocolate cheese cake with a vanilla custard layer and then covered in dark chocolate--YUM!!! And I'm glad the 4 of us shared it. Big thanks to Mom Nickel for giving Robert the gift card for Father's Day--he was kind enough to share!

We finished off the day at the school, looking at the lists to see who was going to teach our kids. We don't know the teachers, but it's going to be a great year.

Last Saturday of Summer.....

2009-08-16T15:51:00.000-07:00

We have had an awesome summer vacation. We went on vacation to Fresno for our visit week and played with cousins and a couple of friends. PERFECT!

Toph and Hannah both enjoyed jumping into the pool at the Ward's.
They were doing "canyonballs" but it looked more like a frog jumping into the water.

We helped some friends move....sad, but at least they're still in driving distance for another year. Better than the alternative! I don't like being so far away, because our families love to get together, but we CAN still see them often.

We went to the library a few times and checked out books--YAY! I need to find the #1 book for a series I'm planning on starting tomorrow. It's at a different branch. We had some playdates with friends--YIPPEE!!!

We got to go swimming at friends' houses a few times--YIPPEE!! My kids LOVE to swim--especially my little fish, Hannah. Last week Toph got brave and went down the slide at one house--for almost the entire time. And, of course, I didn't have my camera!

Best for last: We got to go to the beach several times. Toph isn't as "into" boogie boarding as he was last year, due to a wreck early in the summer. That's a bummer, but we'll keep working on it, because he DOES love to do it. We (the kids and Dad, mostly) played in the waves, did a little boogie boarding, built sand castles and sculptures, and had a great time. Mom observed all of these activities and was "in heaven on earth" just watching the family and the waves. I think that's perfection. I did take a few pictures yesterday. We were playing with our good friends, the Gibb family. Carmen took some of the pictures too. It was an absolutely PERFECT way to spend the last Saturday of summer vacation. Her kids start back to school tomorrow; ours start on Thursday (weird, I know).

Hannah's favorite beach activity: posing and sand sculptures.

Dustin and his oldest sister, Jessica breaking in their boogie boards.

This is just the boys playing. The one on the left is Dustin; my two are on the right.

These kids were mining for sea shells for a LONG time! Good buddies!

We have ONE more fling for our family on Tuesday--but I won't post about it now or it will not be a surprise to our kids. Stay tuned for more summer adventure tales later.

I totally couldn't resist posting this photo of my Honey with "after beach hair."

Fibro Update

2009-08-07T19:14:00.001-07:00

So, I went to see my fibro doctor yesterday, and it was GREAT! I was anxious because I wanted to see some progress, and I was nervous because I was afraid that he'd want to increase my meds--and I was unsure that I could survive that right now.

Well, the first thing is that I've lost a FEW pounds--nothing noteworthy. Then when he came in I asked if I'd ever feel energy again--and he hugged me and said that I'd have so much energy that people wouldn't recognize me. That was music to my ears. Then he did the body map and compared it to the one from the previous month. OHMYGOSH!!! I felt a tremendous relief! All of the lumps in my thighs were gone. All of the bumps along my clavicles were gone. I'd cleared many of my lumps and bumps. I was SO encouraged! He asked me if I'd had a good day yet--and I had had ONE. He asked what I did on my good day, and I said, "probably cleaned my house."

Dr. St. Amand cautioned me to pace myself. He said that I probably ended up doing too much on my good day and then spent most of the next 2 in bed--and he was right. I told him that our psychologist wanted me to start an exercise routine--but Dr. St. A said I wasn't quite ready for rigorous exercise just yet. And he didn't adjust my meds. He wants me to have some good days before we go to the next level of hell. I don't have to go back until November, and I'm excited. I'm excited because I know the guai is working. I'm excited because I know it's not going to get worse right now. And I'm excited because I know I'm going to get better. It's funny, the psychologist asked why I'd drive to Marina del Rey to see an endocrinologist when we have many excellent ones here. Why? Because he's lived with the disease for more than 50 years and can offer me HOPE. If we had local doctors who could do the same, I'd certainly see someone closer. But a 2-hour drive isn't that far, considering the patients before me that day were from Virginia, South Carolina, and AUSTRAILIA! I mean really! A 2-hour drive isn't THAT long--even in rush hour traffic!

There are so many things I want to be able to do! I want to go on bike rides with my family. I want to be able to work on the roses in my yard. I want to go on long walks. I want to be able to do all of my house cleaning chores in ONE day. And I'll be able to! Just like the FlyLady says, it's baby steps.

So, for now, I'm going to be happy to baby step my way to a more normal life. I'm going to look forward to more good days. I'm going to learn how to pace myself. I'm going to take my meds at a time that will allow me to wake up easier in the morning. I'm going to walk the kids to and from school as often as possible and take short walks with the family after dinner--baby steps. And I'm going to enjoy every second of every good day.

Locked and loaded...well, locked anyway!

2009-08-07T18:58:00.001-07:00

Well, I had something really creepy and scary happen this evening. I had JUST finished chatting with Robert on the computer when my outer front door opened and someone tried to WALK INTO MY HOME! Then they knocked on the door. Now, if I hadn't just gotten off of the computer with my Honey, I'd have thought it was him. Since I knew it WASN'T, I was a little scared--who was trying to walk in and why? I looked out the peep hole and it was some guys I don't know. Between the two of them, they had 3 big boxes of beer and a large bottle of clear liquor. I cautiously opened the door and they said, "Oh, sorry. I got the wrong house." YOU THINK? I am SO glad I lock the door by habit. People may think I'm over-protective, but that's not a scare I'd like to encounter.

They had enough booze for a small army, but I'd have had to ID them to make sure they were old enough. Does the fact that 20-year-old guys look 14 make me old?

I'm starting to re-think my position on guns. Make no mistake, I'm all for the right to bear arms, but I've never been a fan of having arms in my own home. And I wouldn't have shot these buys, but I felt VERY vulnerable. Hurry home, Robert! And make sure you lock your doors!

Precocious Ponderings......

2009-07-29T12:10:00.000-07:00

Toph has a new favorite activity. It's called "pull an obscure question from out of the air and see if Mom knows the answer." It's MUCH more difficult than "where does the rain come from." Because I know THAT answer!

Yeah, so totally NOT a recent photo!

Not my boy, no way! He's a thinker. He likes to ask questions like:

How do we hear?
What happens when we die?
What's the history of Halloween?
How does gas make a car go?

He really likes to be totally random and come up with these quizzes at odd times--like when we're going places in the car. And, lucky for me, he's satisfied with answers like:

I don't know, but (insert name here) knows. Let's ask him/her.
I don't know, but we can look it up on the internet on Wickipedia.
I don't know but we can ask Dad. He knows EVERYTHING (ha!)

And Toph REALLY likes to look things up on "Wick-Low-Pedia."

Sing Along

2009-07-29T11:53:00.000-07:00

My children are seriously into the PS3 game, Little Big Planet (LBP).

I'm too old to get the point of this game. I think it's weird. But they LOVE it! They play different levels, decorate their sackboy characters, and create their own levels. This can go on for indefinite hours of time, if allowed. They lose all sense of time and don't even realize if they've missed a meal. Like kiddie crack, if you ask me.

This is a sackboy character.

Toph and Hannah are creating their own level--"Total Glitch Museum." They cooperate with each other and add fun things to their level. And they have spent hours doing it. They get to add music too, and Hannah LOVES a song that's in Spanish. It's featured in the YouTube Video link--about 6 min, but you don't have to watch the whole thing. The video shows the actual playing of a level and features Hannah's new favorite song.

Picture of a game level--not their game though.

Both kids sing along when it's on the TV. No, we don't know Spanish. I have no idea what the lyrics are or even what the kids actually are saying. It's just fun to watch and listen to. Come on over and join the sing-along!

My New Life

2009-07-28T00:36:00.000-07:00

No, I didn't trade in the old life. But I definitely have a new life. This is going to take some time, since I am a thorough person.....

It started in October or November last year when my sister, Aimee, called to tell me something. She'd been to LA to see a specialist (Please, NOT cancer--we have a bad track record with that!). Aimee has fibromyalgia. My Mom does too. It's genetic. She thought I should read this book she has. I'd always thought of fibromyalgia as the women's equivalent of ADHD--something the doctors would tell you when you needed a diagnosis and they didn't know what was wrong with you. After all, my Mom had never had any testing for fibromyalgia. ....Because there ISN'T a test FOR fibromyalgia. You take a lot of tests to rule OUT other things. I had another friend who'd been diagnosed a few months before Aimee, and I'd considered that I might have it too, but I was comfortable occupying my little corner of the planet Denial.

Once Aimee told me that it was genetic, I couldn't occupy Denial any longer. I had to get out my Mom MD and do some research, and I diagnosed myself. When I went to my doctor for my physical about 2 weeks later, I told her what I suspected. She wasn't so sure. She did LOTS of tests for other things--hormones, lupus, and other stuff. All of that was as expected. When she did the "poke test" I hurt in 11 of the 18 places, but I wasn't jumping off the table in pain, so she was reluctant to make a diagnosis. She did prescribe a "happy pill" though to help me with depression, anxiety, apathy, and pain. Hey, it does help me sleep a little better at night and I didn't freak out during our move, so it's helping something.

What is this hideous disease? I am still learning how to describe it. There's something wrong with my kidneys that doesn't allow the phosphates in my body to be excreted normally. So these phosphates build up all over my body in these painful lumps and bumps. Calcium, which we need for the production of ATP--for energy--must bind with phosphates first, so that leaves me tired all the time. Fibromyalgia is a disease with a LONG list of complaints that are seemingly unrelated, and not all doctors believe it's a real condition. It's cyclical in nature, and you don't experience all of the symptoms at the same time--when 1 problem goes away, it gets replaced by a new complaint. And eventually you feel like a freak, because there's always something wrong. Here are some of the possible complaints: FATIGUE, pain all over the body--different places at different times, numbness/tingling in extremities, depression/apathy/anxiety, skin problems, bladder problems, IBS symptoms, memory and concentration problems, headaches, weird tastes in the mouth, and the list DOES go on.......

But the GOOD news is that there is HOPE! Aimee found an endocrinologist in Marina Del Rey who specializes in fibromyalgia, and he has discovered a very SIMPLE treatment--guaifenesin. Yes, that's the main ingredient in Mucinex and many cough medicines. It's fairly inexpensive, and basically has no side effects. However, in order for the guai to work (and not be "blocked"), you have to change your lifestyle a bit. No more salicates. No more plant oils, extracts, or barks. No more aloe. No more mint. Most of the things that you have to eliminate are the things that come into contact with your skin--so you re-vamp your supply of hair products, deoderant, lotion, lip stuff, make-up and skin care, razors and shaving stuff, toothpaste, and topical medications. You learn to read labels and look for the salicates. It's really not that hard. And then you start taking the medication until you feel worse. Yes, you get worse before you get better.

I figure I've had fibro since I was a kid. I had skin problems, growing pains, and headaches all the time. Then it took a break until I was a senior in high school. Then I got mono, and life has never been the same. The good times were shorter and the bad times were more numerous, and that cycle has repeated itself for more than 20 years. And the guai reverses stuff about 6 times faster than you experienced it. So you hurt more and are MORE tired than before. And eventually my good days will increase until there are more of them than the bad ones. In time I will be in a "remission" of sorts. So there IS light at the end of the tunnel! There's a GREAT website that explains all of this much better than I have--it's totally worth the research time. There's also a GREAT book that my sister loaned me:

I'm in the "fun" part of the cycle. I'm still learning how to live my new life and what I need to avoid. I'm LOVING the fatigue and pain and insomnia and....... Ok, not really, but I keep reminding myself that it will be better. And I LOVE my new doctor. Dr. St. Amand knows what he's doing--because he's living with the disease too. Not only is his specialty endocrinology, but he's living proof that life can return to "normal" again. At the first visit, he takes a medical history and then "maps" all of your lumps and bumps. At follow-up appointments, he does another body map and then compares them. If the meds are working, your lumps and bumps will get smaller, break up, get softer, and disappear. I'm looking forward to this next appointment, because I want to see some improvement.

I have given myself permission to not do as much right now. I try to rest when my body demands it (all too often). I am not going to volunteer to be a room mom this year at school. I'll work in Toph's room, because I need to see him in action, but I'm not going to volunteer as much as I did last year. I'm going to focus on getting healthy. And by next year, I'm going to feel lots better. Until that happens, I'm going to repeat my motto often: My resurrected body is going to totally ROCK! It's NEVER dull around here!

Cub Scout Campers

2009-07-28T00:12:00.000-07:00

Last week, Topher, Hannah, and I were cub scout day campers. Toph was there because, duh, he's a cub scout. I was there as a leader volunteer. For the last 2 years I haven't gone, but with a boy in cubs now, I felt like it was my turn to volunteer. For the whole week--what was I smoking? Hannah was there because where would I leave her for 7+ hours 5 days in a row? She attended Sibling Camp at the same time.

I was a Jack-Of-All-Trades last week. I did the skit and song rotation on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. During that time I got to teach the history of the flag and other flag-related topics, the history of the national anthem, and the music belt loop. Everything I needed came in a binder, so it wasn't too bad, and I acutally learned things too. On Tuesday, I filled in at Agent's Life. The theme of camp was "Mission Possible" and throughout the week, the kids were doing some activities that would make them like FBI agents. Tuesday's activity was on prints--animal prints specifically, but we talked about all kinds of prints. We learned about the 3 different types of footprints, and then the boys used plaster of paris to make a footprint. Ideally, I was supposed to wet some dirt around my area and put the prints into the dirt. Then the boys would mix their plaster and pour it into the dirt. That wasn't drying fast enough though, and I didn't have a lot of dirt at my disposal, so I mixed it up a bit. Instead of pouring the plaster into the dirt, we put the print into the plaster. Not exactly the same, but they got to go home with a footprint. Thursday I helped at Crafts. The boys didn't have time to finish all of the projects on Wednesday, so there was a lot to do on Thursday. I helped the boys make a leather bracelet--by stamping on the designs. I'd done that a LONG time ago as a kid, so I kind of knew what I was doing. It was LOUD, but a lot of fun.

Topher did all kinds of things. He did archery and fishing (probably his favorite things), crafts, outdoor cooking, skit and song, hiking and nature, fingerprinting, and water games. On Friday, the FBI was supposed to run one of the centers, but they got called away to investigate a boarder patrol agent's murder, and the leaders "kind of" set up the area like the FBI would have. The boys got to make predictions about a "crime" based on evidence--bones, blood, etc. He had a blast!

Hannah enjoyed Sibling Camp. The kids did tons of crafts. She made lots of bracelets and necklaces and pictures. She painted a treasure chest. She got to go to the playground. She got to feed the ducks. She got to play games and sing and dance. She loved it!

Cub scout day camp is at Lake Poway, about 20 minutes from home. Not a bad drive, and it's really pretty. But it was HOT! We don't get much HOT weather, but we were in the middle of a heat wave, and it was 98 one of the days before we started. Remember, I live in San Diego--it's not normally HOT. But I was glad to be outside, at least at the beginning of the week, because our a/c was BROKEN!!! It broke on Wednesday or Thursday of the previous week, and didn't get fixed until Tuesday of scout camp week. Talk about HOT! Inside our house it was 91 one day. CRAZY!

I do have to say that the timing of a heat wave, all-day scout camp volunteering, and being in the 2nd week of fibromyalgia treatment was really less than ideal. The heat sucks the life out of me, the meds sucked the rest of the life right out of me, and I was hurting all over my body--like the worst case of flu you can imagine. There were a few times I wondered how I'd get through it, but I was blessed. Thursday was an especially blessed day. I was SO tired and hurt SO much, and I was having asthma issues on top of it, and if they had enough volunteers, I was going to go home and rest. Hannah was missing her down time and playing with her toys, and I just wanted to crawl into bed. But that was not to happen. And Thursday ended up being a great day. I exercised a little faith that my Heavenly Father would have to help me get through the day, and He did not disappoint! And I must give kudos to our camp directors. From the beginning, they knew they were getting additional concerns with me. They knew about my physical limitations, and they kindly put me places where I could be in the shade and periodically rest. They were concerned for my well-being every day. And paid me a very high compliment at the end. The program director, Troy, told me how grateful he was for my daily attendance and willingness to do whatever they asked of me. That was so nice to hear.

It was an exhausting week. I gave camp my entire focus of energy--which means that I was pretty much a lump at home. We'd get home sweaty and stinky each evening, throw the kids in the shower, eat a 2nd dinner, wash the uniforms, and go to bed. Wake up, rinse, and repeat. Camp was from 1-7 (from 12-7 for the leaders), so we ate brunch at about 11, "linner" at 5, and a 2nd dinner at about 8 all week. The kids had a blast though, and I enjoyed myself too. I am allergic to something at Lake Poway though. Every night I'd come home and itch my eyes and ears and sneeze, and by the end of the week, I was having asthma issues too. Toph experienced this too, to some extent. And the BUGS! Don't get me started! There were these black and yellow bugs that kept crawling all over my stuff and ME! Really, this is the extent of the camping experience for me--nothing more than day camp for this city girl!

Next year we'll definitely do it again--but I will probably only do 2-3 days! And maybe I'll remember to take the camera!

Some Like it HOT--NOT Us!

2009-07-19T18:56:00.001-07:00

So, our a/c broke on Wednesday or Thursday. I called the property management dorks, and a work order got submitted on Friday--but you know how that goes. "We're booked solid. We can't get to you until Wednesday at the earliest." No amount of pleading or using asthmatics as an excuse seemed to do anything.

NORMALLY, this would not be much of a problem, but we're in the middle of a heat wave--with humidity! Not Florida-type humidity, but it's much hotter than normal for us.

Friday (Robert) was at scout camp still, we waited until the house was 89 and then we went and got haircuts and went out to dinner. By the time we returned, it was bearable in the house. Yesterday we went to friends' house in the afternoon and didn't get back until almost midnight, so again, it was bearable. Today is Sunday. So we don't go to the store or the beach or anything, and I really wasn't feeling great anyway. We all have had fans trained on us, so we've been comfortable enough--as long as we don't move. Our bedroom got up to 92 and the thermostat in the downstairs read 89. HOT!

I'm calling the a/c people at 8 tomorrow morning, hoping that some other person got desperate and paid major bucks to get their a/c fixed during the weekend and cancels--then we can get their spot for tomorrow. Aside from that, Toph, Hannah, and I have cub scout camp from 12-7 all week, so we won't be home during the hottest part of the day.

In an effort to maintain some gratitude over our situation, I keep reminding myself to be glad we live at a time when it's ok for women to wear shorts. I'm glad I live in a place that doesn't get as hot as Fresno. I'm glad I live where there's electricity, so we can at least run the fans. I'm glad we have friends who loaned us their hurricane fans. I found out that I have a friend on vacation who has offered to let us use her a/c while they're gone--and we'll take her up on that tomorrow if it's still this hot.

Right now, a cold shower sounds GREAT!

Watch it! He IS listening!

2009-07-10T23:30:00.000-07:00

So, I know I promised a post with photos, but this isn't it. Sorry. Still coming. I promise. It's just that this was on my mind tonight, and I wanted to get it out of my mind.....

So, Heavenly Father IS listening to what we think and say--I have proof. The following examples are things I have either thought or said:

Me: Yeah, having asthma IS a bummer, but at least I don't have diabetes. I may not be able to breathe, but I can eat all the chocolate I want.
His answer: gestational diabetes SO bad that I got to take insulin.

Me: "I don't care if we have a baby on Christmas day! I can't take this (infertility treatment) much longer."
His answer: that's the month I got pregnant and I was due on Christmas day! If I'd know it would be THAT easy, I'd have said it LOTS earlier and inserted a different due date. :-)

Me: ADD is the diagnosis parents get when they have a really obnoxious child and there's no medical reason--Hello, try discipline! OR, ADD kids wear me out! Just dealing with (ADD kid) for 50 minutes in class is enough to make me want to slit my wrist (ok, not really!). I couldn't live with one.
His answer: Toph has ADD. He's not the hyper kind, but he can't focus long enough to get dressed without help. Or brush his teeth. Or wear shoes. Or do homework. Or....... BUT he CAN focus for hours at a time on video games or Legos or K'nex (I didn't know that ADD kids could focus on anything). This summer we're learning how to parent an ADD kid and help him feel like he's not weird.

Me: Fibromyalgia is the diagnosis women are given when the doctor doesn't know what's wrong with you. Then they pump you full of anti-depressants and sleeping pills and maybe pain pills--whatever it takes to get you to leave them alone.
His answer: It's a real disease. It sucks. Anti-depressants, sleeping pills, and pain pills don't really fix it. I have thought about speed though--anything to provide energy when I'm completely drained....JUST thought about it. Not going to do it.

This proof just goes to show you that He IS listening. Watch what you think and say! Those thoughts and words might just come back to bite you in the butt!

Do YOU have any proof? I'd love to hear your stories! Leave me a comment!

New Clothing SAGA

2009-07-10T09:35:00.000-07:00

While this post will not contain photos, I hope it will be somewhat amusing.

The children have been growing again--darn it! They are so disobedient. I keep telling them to stop growing, and they just laugh. Hannah's pj top has elastic on the sleeves and it was hurting her arm. Toph was getting a melvin because his pj bottoms were so small. Hannah was showing the world her bum with the Daisy Dukes she was wearing. I looked at the sizes of all of these clothes--sizes we were barely fitting into last year.

So it was time to go shopping. It was fairly easy to find shorts that weren't Daisy Dukes for Hannah, but finding pajamas for the kids was almost impossible! We like PJ pants with T-shirts. For several reasons--they can be worn year-round. No PJ pants for Hannah in any of the stores I tried. PJ's in the stores were skimpy. Why bother? Found ONE pair of pants for Toph, and we found silky shirts and shorts (not intended as PJ's but it works). Still nothing for Hannah. I ended up going into the women's section and finding nightgowns in size XS. We also found PJ capri's (pants for my 6-year-old) with strings to make them tighter. Hannah got several new things she loves and Toph LOVES the silky shirts/shorts he's wearing as PJ's.

Shoes will be the next thing on the agenda, but I've learned my lesson. We'll wait until just before school starts. At the rate these kids grow, they'd need a bigger size if we bought the shoes now!

On VACATION.......Summer Vacation!

2009-07-06T12:48:00.000-07:00

I looked at the date to my last post and realized that it has been WAY too long!

The end of the school year and vacation the next week were just SO busy that I didn't make time to post. Having discovered Facebook, I DID make time to go there. I need to remember that my blog is my priority though.

Why do I blog? First, because it helps all of the family (and friends) know what we're up to. Since we don't live near any of our family anymore, it helps all of them know what's up with us, and allows them to see pictures of us. Secondly, I've NEVER been good at journaling before, but I discovered that I really like to blog. I can use the blog as a family journal, and I can even make my blog into a book.

So, I've been on vacation. Summer vacation has been full and busy, just like the rest of our lives, but I will make time in the near future to rectify my lack of posting. I'll even post pictures. Robert got me a card reader for my computer, and he's taught me some "magic" to get the pictures from the camera onto my computer. Life is good.

Now I need to go ponder the ramifications of doing something permanent to fighting children who MUST win all arguments. I'm thinking of installing a velcro wall at each end of my upstairs hall. Or muzzles.

See you soon!

It's ALIVE!

2009-06-01T14:10:00.000-07:00

So I was on the computer, alone in the house, when I hear strange noise coming from the bathroom. Water was bubbling up through the toilet! It was making a blurp sound as it splashed all over the toilet seats. I'd noticed the "sewer sucker" trucks about earlier, and I went outside to see if they were still on my street. Yep, that's the problem! Apparently our house is so close to the sewer main that when they flush the line sometimes this happens. Joy! Imagine my neighbor's surprise when this happened to his son--on the pot! 2 of my 3 toilets experienced this wackiness, and let me tell you, although the water is clean looking, the smell is NOT!

If you live in the neighborhood and have a wet bathroom, look to the sewer flushers!

Feedom Isn't FREE

2009-05-21T13:54:00.000-07:00

I got an unexpected email from our former landlord yesterday and the subject just read, "B... is okay." I hadn't seen the news, so I had no idea that there had been a crash involving his squadron.

For more details, you can read the news story about this sad event.

It just reinforces a couple of things to me: first of all, freedom isn't FREE. We owe our freedom to the many men and women who make it their life's work to ensure our freedom and safety. There are 5 families now who are grieving for their lost loved one, and as a nation, we should grieve with them--those people worked for us too. We owe them a debt of gratitude that we can never repay. Second, we never know when we walk out the door if we'll get to return again. It makes me want to make sure to hug and kiss my family members good-bye and cherish the time I have with them a little bit more. Because life is uncertain. We need to make the most of the time we DO have, so that we have no regrets.

Besides, what are we waiting for? Let's live life to the fullest every day!

Another quick week......

2009-05-17T23:09:00.001-07:00

I just don't know where all of the time goes! Last week zipped by possibly even quicker than the week before.

Hannah and Toph are finishing up the school year. The final count down is on, and I am actually excited to welcome summer vacation. I think we're all ready to be done with rigid routines and have some free time. We want to go to the Science Museum!!! We want to go swimming. We want to go to the beach. We want to just be lazy at home. We want to visit with our friends. We have a serious case of spring fever.

This week was the much-awaited Daddy/Daughter Dance on Wednesday and the Mother/Son dance on Thursday. Our school does this each year, and the kids love it! This was Hannah's first time, and she was so funny. On Wednesdays, school has early dismissal, and we almost always go to the park to play. We played at the park for about 90 minutes, and then we went to a friend's house to swim for another 90 minutes. Then the kids came home, showered, and Hannah went to the dance. Anyone who knows Hannah knows how much she LOVES music and dancing, and she was very excited to go dance with Daddy. Imagine my surprise when she returned home after just 45 minutes! The girl was POOPED. She apparently didn't stop moving the whole time they were there, and her style of dance could be described as "aerobic." Dancing following swimming and playing--she slept good!

Toph and I went for our tun on Thursday. He could not wait! He'd made plans to meet certain friends at certain places, and he wanted to be early, so he wouldn't miss a thing. We beat most of his friends there. Toph is a very considerate date. He danced with me right away for 3-4 songs, and then he wanted to look for his friends. So he brought me some punch and then let me talk to some other Moms while he ran wild for a few minutes. Then he checked back to make sure I was having a fun time. He thought we should dance again, so we did, and then I went back outside and talked with our former landlord. It was nice to have a conversation in person instead of email--and it was much cooler outside. Then Toph came back and wanted to make sure I was having a good time. We danced some more, and I thought we might be able to go home. No such luck. More dancing--the chicken dance, the hokey pokey, and the macarena. I did not attempt the cha cha slide--or whatever it's called. More talking to friends, and Toph got to lead "the train." After that we danced another slow song, and the dance was over! We'd been there the whole time, and we'd had a lot of fun. Toph was so considerate of me the whole time--it makes me just burst with pride.

A bit of an uneventful happening--we developed a leak in the kitchen. I came home on Wednesday and found water on the floor. I mopped it up (thinking it was a melted ice cube), and later that night, I found the floor wet again. Under our kitchen sink was leaking from somewhere. I got to wait for the plumber on Thursday. Fun times! I was very glad that the school was having a fund raiser at Islands and that I could talk Robert into going. After 2 days of not doing the dishes, I wasn't looking forward to the washing and then the cooking......

Saturday I had a great day! I'm sleeping better right now, and I'm breathing better this week. I got to go clothes shopping and out to lunch with a good friend and then we went on a movie date in the evening. Our husbands saw Star Trek and we saw Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. It was a really nice day. Then the Gibbs came over this afternoon and we watched Benjamin Button (liked the movie, but not the ending) and we had dinner together. All in all it was a very nice weekend! To make it even better, Mother Nature cooperated too. We were supposed to have a heat wave and be in the mid 90's all weekend. Didn't quite make it, and the evenings have been great! When I watched the news tonight it said that Fresno was 106 today--ouch! And I'm having to close windows because it's getting too chilly!

Have I mentioned how much I love living here? :-)

Next week is a busy one. Lots of things going on, and I'm putting the kids on another routine. Doing homework after free time just isn't working. I'm changing it up again, and I'm NOT going to be popular around here. Oh well. It's not my job to be popular. I hope the kids appreciate that when they're older and have kids of their own!

Hannah--antics of the past (I hope!)

2009-05-07T23:11:00.000-07:00

A blog buddy FB'd about her daughter cutting her hair. I saw the pictures, and it's sad, but not HORRIBLE. I can beat it.

Our beautiful Hannah has cut her hair, not once, but TWICE! The first time she had help--in the form of an older brother. They did an amazing job, but it was drastic. Look at the photos:

Before:

After:

Then, last year, Hannah did it AGAIN! They say lightening doesn't strike twice in the same spot, but "they" don't know our Hannah. It was the day before her tonsils were coming out, and she was watching a movie on the computer. Toph was home from school, really sick, and I was SO tired from being up all night with him that I was napping on the couch. Toph got up and announced that Hannah had cut her hair. I was TOTALLY unprepared for the sight that greeted me:

There's not much you can do to "fix" that. Here's how we "fixed" it:

Here's what she looked like just 2 months before, as she was pigging out on her birthday cupcakes:

Now, Hair grows back. It's one of the things we can count on. This is Hannah about a year after the devastation:

But this was traumatic for my baby, because a LOT of people asked her if she was a boy--or just referred to her as a boy. She started school and kids in her class asked her if she was a boy. She DID have a boy hair cut, in their defense. I'm REALLY hoping that the trauma of that will help Hannah to decide to leave the hair cutting to the professionals! I don't know if I can live through lightening striking the same place THREE times!

Runaway Train......

2009-05-07T15:58:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I feel like I'm on a runaway train. Time goes so quickly and there's so much going on. That's what this week has been like.

Toph had a performance Monday night with his class. Monday I spent the day working on a banner for Teacher Appreciation week (hopefully I'll have the photo to share soon). By the time we got home at 8, sent the kids to bed, and Robert and I finally had dinner, I was DONE! And let's not even go into the fact that I'd had 2 1/2 hours of sleep (maybe).

Tuesday I devoted to finishing my cards for card swap. In the past we've met on Thursday, so I thought I was doing good on time. Not so much since we were meeting on Tuesday. I finished with 30 minutes to spare, and I had a good time swapping cards. Although I had fun, my asthma started to trigger at card swap. I thought it was because the host has pets that I might be allergic to, but after getting home and a rocky night, I decided it might be more.

Wednesday I started running a fever--GREAT! Because I don't have enough going on. Our van had brakes that REALLY needed servicing, so I spent a great deal of time in the car. Robert and I took it in to the shop, I dropped Robert off at work, the kids and I went to the shop to pay the bill and get the key, and then we picked Robert up at work and collected the van. WHEW! I skipped cub scouts, and I'm glad I did. As the day wore on, I kept feeling worse and worse. As long as I was doing NOTHING, life was manageable. But I was short of breath if I was exerting any energy. NOT good! With piggy flu going around, and with this asthma episode accompanied with a fever, I decided that seeing the doctor might be a good idea. The good news: last night I actually SLEPT! Didn't have consecutive hours, but I slept for about 7!!!

Today I called the doctor early, and got probably the last available appointment, "could you be here in 15 minutes?" Luckily, Robert was still home. I left him to pack the kids up for school and prayed for green lights. The doctor I saw wasn't concerned about piggy flu, and diagnosed a simple upper respiratory infection with asthma. I learned that I'd lost 8 lbs! And then he prescribed Prednisone. Oh well, you can't have it all! I'm disappointed because I HATE Prednisone, but breathing IS important. I don't know what set me off, but this round of asthma feels "different" than before, and that got me to the doctor's office faster than I might have gone otherwise. I've also got an antibiotic, so I should be feeling better very soon.

Tomorrow is a BUSY day! It's teacher appreciation week this week, and my contribution to Toph's class is to bring in lunch to the teacher. I previously purchased my tableware and decorations, and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to fulfill my promise, but I will! I'm excited to be doing that. I also get to attend the Q and U Wedding in Kindergarten. It's for Mother's day. The girls are the Q's and the boys are the U's and the program is super secret, but supposed to be just adorable. I can't wait!

Then we'll be very ready for the weekend and a little down time. Hopefully my honey and I will go on a DATE on Saturday, to celebrate Mother's Day.

But really, the runaway train needs to SLOW DOWN!!!

Time FLIES!

2009-04-26T22:25:00.000-07:00

Last week was literally a blur. There was SO much packed in.

Monday was hotter than.... well, you know what I'm thinking. We left after school and had FHE at the beach! It was SO nice! It was hot there too, but the FRIGID water helped cool things off. Heaven on Earth, if you ask me!

Tuesday was spent frantically trying to tie up loose ends before the kids' birthday party on Wednesday. Yes, I know my kids are born in December and January. We were moving then, and then we were sick. I'd promised them that for their birthdays they could have a special friend over for a playdate, and that friend could go with us to dinner. I further promised that we'd have a (together) party at Pump It Up! after we'd moved. I think I will always have them celebrate their birthdays in April! It was great! All I had to provide was the cupcakes, drinks, and goodie bags. We had 25 kids jumping and playing in a warehouse full of inflatable play stuff (obstacle course, slide, bounce house, etc.) and then 30 minutes in a party room. And about a million presents! It was so crazy that I didn't get to write down a lot of who got what from whom, so that's making thank you cards a bit dicey. I guess generic will have to do.

Thursday was Hannah's teacher's birthday, so we had our room celebration. The other mothers wanted to do a Tea, and I was in charge of cookies for the munchkins. It was amazing. The Moms really pulled together to create a very nice time for Ms. C. We had PB&J finger sandwiches, fruit, apple juice, and cookies for the kids. The grown-up's had chicken salad and another kind of finger sandwiches, Caesar salad tarts, fruit, and cheesecake. And, of course, there was tea--hot and cold--and served in a pretty tea service. I had apple juice though. Ms. C. got to wear a feather boa and a crown to help her remember that she was the Queen for the day. The class gave her the sparkly crown--AND an engraved box to keep it in! We also gave her a pretty bracelet. I *think* she was feeling the love! In 2 weeks it's teacher appreciation time and she'll be feeling the love ALL week. Gotta LOVE the parent participation here! I've never seen anything like it!

Friday I ran around. I needed to get decorations for the Blue and Gold dinner the cub scouts were having on Saturday. Blue and Gold dinner is like the birthday party for the cub scouts. For us it's a potluck dinner, pack meeting, and cake decorating contest all in one. Robert had a campout with the boy scouts, so I was hangin' with the kids too. Hannah had a playdate after school, and then we all hung out and watched movies. I rented Bedtime Stories and The Tale of Desperaux. Both were very cute, although I enjoyed Bedtime Stories more. Topher said it perfectly, "I can't believe you RENTED this; it's a KEEPER!"

Saturday I was just plain out of energy. I'd started some new meds on Friday, and they weren't happy in me. Most of the day I just dragged about, and then we had the Blue and Gold dinner. I got through that and went to bed early. I didn't even make the cupcakes I said I'd bring--I bought them at the grocery store.

Today I haven't even gotten dressed--and now it's time for bed again. Toph was up 5 times last night (he's having trouble staying asleep) and Hannah was begging for more sleep when I woke her up to go to Church. I'd been up since 3:00 am, and so I was already planning on staying home (and sleeping). Shortly after Robert left for Church, both kids were UP. I made them breakfast and then sent Toph back to try to sleep and sent Hannah to play quietly in her room--yeah, like that was going to happen! I rested in my bed for awhile, but I don't think I ever made it back to sleep. Neither did Toph. We had a lazy, hang out day, and nobody but Robert managed to get dressed. I'm hoping that the kids and I sleep better tonight! I'm not feeling quite as gross today, so that's a good thing. Maybe it won't take too long to adjust to the new meds.

Tomorrow I start preparations for card swap and teacher appreciation, both next week. It's going to be a busy week, that's for sure! At least the weather is cooperating! After 3 blistery hot days (HOT for us), temps went back to "normal" and are currently slightly below normal. I can hang with that! I was afraid that a year-round temperature that was almost the same would get really boring for me. I'll let you know when that ever happens--if it ever happens. I will confess, there are a few times a year when I'm glad I GET to wear long sleeves, but I've adapted to this temperate climate very nicely!

San Diego Swelter

2009-04-19T17:55:00.000-07:00

Last week we had some cold days--low 60's. Yes, that's "cold" for us. It was windy and we got to wear long sleeves.

Today is almost our polar opposite. It's 85 IN MY HOUSE! It's not windy/breezy really, and I'm too stubborn to turn on the a/c. I'm also cheap. It's ONLY APRIL! I don't want to start the a/c cycle yet! I'm waiting until after the sun goes down, but if the house doesn't cool off, the a/c will HAVE to come on!

Fortunately, I know this will be short-lived. It will be "cold" again soon, because this is the season of flip flop weather. And then May and June will be more "cold" than hot.

THEN, in July, when it's hot, it will be okay, because it's supposed to be hot in summer--and Fresno is always hotter!

But today I'm dying! I closed my bedroom door to take a nap this afternoon and turned my bedroom into an oven. You don't feel so rested after THAT kind of nap.

I'm thinking cooler thoughts. Please join me, or we might melt! I'm thinking that dinner tonight needs to be ice cream. And ICE water. Heavy on the ICE.

New Treat

2009-04-16T16:12:00.000-07:00

I'm not a HUGE fan of Peeps. I can eat one or sometimes two if they're stale. But yesterday I was introduced to a new way of eating them, and it's worth a try....

Microwave that sucker! Put it on a paper plate and nuke for close to 30 seconds (3 Peeps). They will puff up--and explode if you don't take them out in time. They aren't exactly hot when you eat them, but they're melty. And the texture is like taffy. Worth a try! Next time: I'm going to make them into a s'more.

Oh, and thanks Carmen for introducing me to this!

"I don't want to be a Mom when I grow up" (Hannah)

2009-04-14T22:44:00.001-07:00

For about a year now, Hannah has been returning to the theme that she does not want to be a Mom when she grows up. Why? We discussed that again today. We were on the way to the Post Office when she made her announcement again, so I asked (again) why not? She told me that she didn't want to get her tummy cut open and didn't want a shot. That led us to the discussion (again) about how Mommy didn't get her tummy cut open and the shot didn't hurt that much.

So how DID the babies get out of Mommy then? Ugh, I knew we'd eventually get to THIS discussion! There's been a long-standing joke between Robert and me when I ask him to do something that goes like this:
R: What have you done for ME lately?
M: Pooped out 2 kids.
R: No, I mean LATELY?
M: Covers me for life....

I had to change my answer when the kids were old enough to pay attention and wonder what I meant by "pooped out 2 kids." But that's kind of the truth, right?

So I had to have the discussion about how babies come out of tummies if you don't get your tummy cut up. We talked about how it happens, complete with real anatomical words. And they wanted to know HOW it comes out..... Well, it's kind of like pushing out a poop, but not the same. You use different muscles. Toph, ever the expert, added that it was like going potty (because he has lots of experience....).

Ahh, you've gotta love them! I'm not sure if Hannah is more terrorized now or not. She asked if it hurt..... She's already FREAKED about getting a shot--should I tell her about the 9-foot long needle I had in my spine (thank goodness!) and how I felt like my body was being ripped in half? Nah, she's not ready for that yet! So I told her that it does hurt when you're pushing the baby out, but it doesn't last THAT long. After all, Hannah was out in THREE pushes!

I can 'fess up to today's sin of omission later, when she's ready for the truth. Have you had this experience with your youngsters yet? How did you handle it?

Easter, continued

2009-04-14T22:34:00.001-07:00

I'm a little bit "off" lately. Can't exactly put my finger on it, but I think it might have something to do with the lack of "happy pills" in my medicine cupboard. Don't worry, I sent the Rx off in the mail today.....

Being a bit "off" and moving have totally destroyed my sense of holiday--no matter the holiday. Truth be told, I wasn't that "into" Halloween either (and that was before I knew we were moving). Consequently, because we were moving, there were no Christmas decorations this year. (Come on people! We were out of town for the week of Christmas and moving 2 weeks after that!) Somehow, illness perhaps, I missed Valentine's day. I got a nice table cloth and some window clings, but they never made it in time. I looked in the Easter boxes at 10 pm the night before, and so we did not have Easter decorations either. Might as well be fair to all of the holidays, right?

Sunday, after Church, I was just pooped. I didn't really have the energy to make the traditional Easter dinner, and the rest of the family had gorged on so much sugar they wouldn't have appreciated it anyway. So we postponed our Easter feast until tonight.

And you know you're going to do something good or maybe even *significant* if you have a LOT of trouble "getting there." Seems the kids had no interest in doing anything today except: tattling, whining, complaining, being disobedient, being distracted, and NOT doing what they were told. Need I say more? I had this really nice dinner planned, even with a meaningful discussion, and by the time Robert got home, I was ready to implode. Luckily, he was able to help me calm down enough that I think we had a good discussion around the table.

I borrowed an idea from a friend of mine, and we ate our nice Easter dinner in a completely dark home, save the light from 1 candle. Ok, it wasn't dark outside yet, but it was getting there. And we never eat by candle light, so the kids were wondering what was going on. This led us to a discussion about what happened after the crucifixion--the 3 days of darkness. We talked about how scary that must have been--and how long it must have seemed. We followed it up with our scripture reading tonight when we read a scriptural account of the 3 days of darkness. I think it went well. Now I just need to get my hind end in gear and do it ON TIME next year. I can't say that I feel TOO bad about dragging Easter out a little longer--it IS a great holiday!

Good Friday and Happy Easter

2009-04-11T22:56:00.000-07:00

I read a post from someone I "blurk" and she wrote a REALLY nice piece on Good Friday. She gave an excerpt from a talk from one of our Apostles, Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin. It was an AMAZING talk, and if you have the time, I'd encourage you to read it. It's a very eloquent talk about the resurrection--and Good Friday.

I have to admit that I don't give Good Friday much thought. It just has no real place in my worship. That's not to discount what happened--THAT'S significant. As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I celebrate Easter with the rest of the Christian world--but we don't celebrate Good Friday. Our focus is more on the glory of the Resurrection of our Savior. I'm so glad that, unlike Christmas, Easter ALWAYS takes place on a Sunday. It just seems appropriate to go worship our Savior on such an important day. We concentrate on our resurrected Savior, which is one of the reasons most of us do not wear the symbol of the cross.

My daughter gets to give a talk in Primary tomorrow. The theme this month is: "Jesus Christ made it possible for me to live with my Heavenly Father again." It is so nice to be able to teach our children about the miracle of the Atonement. It's very disturbing for our kiddos to think about Jesus suffering, bleeding, and being killed. But that is tempered with WHY He allowed that to happen. Sure, as the Son of God, he could have stopped that at any point. But He loves us enough that he didn't. THAT is the first Easter gift, and the reason why our family gives a small Easter gift. We remember the gift that our Savior has given us in the ability to repent when we sin. What a marvelous gift!

"In all the history of the world there have been many great and wise souls, many of whom claimed special knowledge of God. But when the Savior rose from the tomb, He did something no one had ever done. He did something no one else could do. He broke the bonds of death, not only for Himself but for all who have ever lived—the just and the unjust. When Christ rose from the grave, becoming the firstfruits of the Resurrection, He made that gift available to all. And with that sublime act, He softened the devastating, consuming sorrow that gnaws at the souls of those who have lost precious loved ones.” (Joseph B. Wirthlin, “Sunday Will Come,” Ensign, Nov 2006, 28-30)

This time of year helps me reflect upon the people I love who have passed beyond this life. While I miss them, I like to think about the fact that they are enjoying being reunited. I imagine that they are probably waiting to be reunited with us, and that they're building "Heavenly Mansions" for us to enjoy when we're all together again.

So, no Good Friday here. The Crucifixion was a necessary part of God's plan, but the glory of the Resurrection is where I'm going to focus my thoughts. It fills me with hope and helps reassure me of my Savior's love for us all. It helps me look forward to enjoying the gift of resurrection one day and being able to live with my Heavenly Father and the rest of my family again.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-07T17:33:00.000-07:00

ELEVEN years ago today we became a family forever.

They have been the greatest 11 years. Knowing we have ETERNITY makes them even better.

I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat!

Here's a picture of the Celestial Room. It's one of the highest places within the Temple and where you wait before you are sealed together forever. This picture really doesn't do justice to the beauty and peace found within this room.

Spring BREAK!

2009-04-07T17:21:00.000-07:00

[Glitterfy.com - *Glitter Photos*]

First we had the cousins come to town. Got to go to the beach and play and go see the Padre's game on opening day. Today the kids went to the Zoo and we all met up for lunch at Woodstock's Pizza. The weather has been GORGEOUS! It was so much fun to see our cousins and play--although, I could do without the whole "waking up before the butt crack of dawn just because we're all together." We have also enjoyed having "Stay-cation" with Daddy the last few days. We're going to miss him extra much when he has to go back to work tomorrow.

Tomorrow we'll probably go to Legoland (passes expire next week).

Thursday is a play at the park/play with friends kind of Day and Grandma Babs and Papa Bob come for a fast visit.

Friday is going to be rainy--maybe, so I don't know what we're doing yet.

Saturday our Ward is having an Easter party at the lake. That's going to be nice, and the kids have been bugging me to go on a picnic.

We have put in our order for a Happy Easter, and I think it will happen. It has been nice to have some time together and have a break from the routine.

ALL is right in our world right now. Life is GOOD.

Another Round of NOT AGAIN!

2009-04-02T21:57:00.000-07:00

Really? Because I didn't have ENOUGH stress? Let's add some more, shall we! This morning, Toph announced that he had a REALLY sore throat. When I tried to feel his lymph nodes, he cried. Seriously? And today, of all days!

I am SO BLESSED to have a Hubs who can work from home, when necessary. He had an important meeting scheduled at 10, and they did it on a conference call for him. His work family SO ROCKS!

I got to work with Hannah's class making "freshwater fish" today (celery with cream cheese and goldfish crackers). I'm the "cooking Mom" each week, and I really enjoy our adventures in cooking. This week is "F" week. I don't come up with the ideas or anything; just show up and do the cooking. It's really fun. I didn't get to make Kite sandwiches with them last week, because I was sick. Another reason I was glad that Robert could be home this morning.

After school, I got to go to the Chiropractor and get put back together again. After being sick for so long, I was a real mess! Now I feel so much better! From there, I got to take my car to the car doctor. The wheels were making a bad noise--turns out I needed all new brakes.....yikes! But it rides like a dream now! And one of my nice visiting teachers was kind enough to pick me up and bring me back home.

Robert took Toph to the doctor's office, because I had an appointment scheduled at the school this afternoon. He texted me at least 10 times with questions from the new patient forms. I joked around that I couldn't exactly send him a blood sample through text--as a joke in response to ALL of the questions. At least Daddy got to see what it's like to start at a new doctor's office. We love the doc (personal friend), but the start-up paperwork is hideous. The rapid strep test was a big negative, but I'm not buying it. We go back tomorrow for our previously scheduled physicals, and we'll check it out then.

When I got back from my school meeting, we went to pick up the new, improved car, and then we just hung out. Toph's fever shot up to 101+ and he was complaining of a REAL BAD headache. Watched a movie all together, and had "eat out of the fridge" for dinner. I'll cook something "real" for dinner tomorrow. I just couldn't deal with it today.

Oh, and my cousin and her husband came into town last night and stayed here--so if Toph has strep, he's been "spreading the love" to all kinds of people! He was at cub scouts last night--totally fine then! Those parents are thanking me right about now.

So, I could REALLY use a health break.
Anyone with influence listening?!

Vicious Circle

2009-03-29T00:43:00.000-07:00

Get bad headache (Aimee: I KNOW it doesn't compare!). Take a bunch of Advil--it's late and you don't want to take caffeine at this point. Advil doesn't work, so take caffeine too. Headache becomes "manageable" and you are AWAKE! Try to sleep (yeah, that's like a freakin' DARE). Because not sleeping enough is going to start the headache circle again.....lather, rinse, repeat.

Diagnosis

2009-03-26T11:22:00.001-07:00

STREP!!! Let's have a party!

My Evil Genius

2009-03-26T09:50:00.000-07:00

So as I was contemplating my health fate yesterday, I remembered a funny story I thought I'd share....

I got mono my senior year of High School. And I believe in doing things right, so I had it pretty bad. So bad that I slept about 19-20 hours/day for 3 months. As if that wasn't bad enough, this happened right at Girl Scout Cookie time. Think Thin Mint cookies. Think 2 boxes that I ordered and paid for (with my own money). Then think of a sick girl who was asleep all the time.....

I happen to LOVE my Thin Mint cookies frozen. I could envision that the temptation of 2 boxes of everyone's favorite cookie sitting unattended in the freezer might be too much. So I devised a way to make the cookies less tempting.

I opened up the tubes of cookies, ran my tongue down all of them, put them back in the box, and I wrote my message on the box, "I have LICKED all of these cookies. Eat at your own risk." And oddly enough? I got to eat them all myself. Mmmmmmm.........

The truth: I really only licked the cookies on 1 tube. I opened the other tubes as if I'd licked them, but didn't really see the point.

What would you pick?

2009-03-25T14:47:00.000-07:00

Strep or mono? I'm hoping for strep. Yes, HOPING for strep. I don't like the alternative. Lumps the size of a golf ball (slightly smaller) in one's neck are cause for concern. They also really hurt. Lab results in tomorrow! Let's all pray for a strep diagnosis.....

NOT again!

2009-03-20T22:41:00.000-07:00

Seriously? Poke a fork in me; I'm so DONE!

Potato Feast

2009-03-17T12:55:00.000-07:00

Hannah's class has been very busy preparing for St. Patrick's Day. For homework last week, they all built leprechaun traps. They made special hats to wear, and they had a potato feast this morning. I went along to help, and the kids had a GREAT time. Hannah's teacher planned a baked potato bar, so the kids all got to have a baked potato, and then they did a Venn diagram of who liked it. This afternoon, the kids are going to make a graph showing how many kids like the various kinds of potatoes--what a fun way to do math.

Hannah is decked out, head to toe in green today--and does she have the bling on, or WHAT?! Hannah also was the kid (first-ever in all the years Ms. C. has been doing it) that discovered the leprechaun in someone's trap. We think that the leprechaun is a shape shifter though, because Hannah thought it looked like a hamster. Someone else thought it looked like a guinea pig. I thought it looked like a mouse. Silly, sneaky leaprechaun!

Pinewood Derby Saturday

2009-03-17T12:48:00.000-07:00

Toph just got to participate in his first-ever Pinewood Derby. This is when a cub scout gets to create a car that he races against the other cubs' cars. It's a gravity-powered race. And we're very proud that our boy did most of the work on his car BY HIMSELF. He wasn't doing the PWD to win awards and advance to compete against other boys--he was in it to have fun. And, even though he came in 3rd or 4th (out of 4) on most of the 44 heats, he still had fun. And he had a sense of accomplishment that HE did the work. He was so excited at the end when he got his first-ever trophy! We're really proud of our Toph. It was with great delight that I bought a shelf for his wall yesterday. He wanted a display shelf. You Rock, Topher!

Write a Letter!

2009-03-13T11:52:00.000-07:00

Warning: This post contains a rant. If you do not want to read a rant, read another blog.

One of "my phrases" that my family knows me by is: "I'm going to write a letter." When I encounter situations that are not to my satisfaction (AND when I encounter things that are beyond my satisfaction), I have oft uttered the phrase, "I'm going to write a letter...." I did it when I was little and it was raining and we couldn't see the lane lines in the road. The Mayor wrote back and explained why fluorescent paint was NOT a good alternative and what WAS going to be done to help the problem. I did it when Chipotle gave FREE entrees to people with library cards one day last year--SUPERIOR service when the line was 45 minutes long! I've done it many times and for many reasons. And email makes it even easier to send a letter.

This morning I was grousing about the fact that ELEVEN TENURED teachers at our Elementary School got pink slips (layoff possibility notices required by law). California is a great place to live. There are lots of perks--like the weather. We have budget woes just like the rest of the country--SERIOUS budget woes. You can't live in deficit forever, and sooner or later, it's going to catch up to you. I *think* our country's leaders are finally learning this lesson. But it's going to be painful for all of us.

Budget problems in California are no stranger to teachers. EVERY year many teachers receive pink slips. The schools are required by law to give you a pink slip if there's a possibility that you won't have a job the following year. I got one almost every year I taught. The State government starts making noise about "have to cut the budget" and then the Districts send out WAY more pink slips than they need to, so that they aren't forced to keep staff they can't afford, and then it all gets ironed out later. If you're lucky, you find out that you get to keep your job at your same school site--before you leave for summer break. MANY times you find out that you have a job (school site and grade level are often different) THE WEEK that school starts--because that's how we roll here in CA. I won't even go into my rant on how backwards THAT is, but the State government gods need their chance to make their budgets and all of that gets decided (or not) in about June.

Let me refocus: My rant today is on the upcoming budget cuts to education. For there to be ELEVEN (TENURED) teachers at my kids' school site getting pink slips, the proposed cuts are heinous. Times are tough; I get that. But the future of our Nation/State/Family/etc. rests in the hands of our children. They will be the leaders of the future. We can't AFFORD to skimp on their education today. And I'm not just saying that because I was a teacher. Keeping class sizes low is especially important at the Elementary School level. This is where our children learn (or don't) the most basic building blocks of the rest of their lives. Trust me, I saw the fallout for when that didn't happen. When Johnny doesn't learn how to add 1/2 + 1/4 in elementary school, it has consequences. When Susie can't read the directions on her worksheet, where was the ball dropped? Elementary school. If you don't "get it" there, you aren't going to "get it" later--not without a LOT of help. And we can't afford that help, because we can't afford regular teachers. The ones who could have made a difference in the first place.

Do you even realize how much of a teacher's personal money goes into his/her classroom? Where my kids attend school, we get a list of things that the parents are expected/requested to donate to the classroom--ok, so I give pencils, crayons, markers, paper, binders, kleenex, band-aids, and all kinds of stuff. I also donate to PTA and the "no fundraisers" fund. And then I see my kid's teacher SPENDING HER OWN MONEY at Staples to copy worksheets to give to my kid's class--because her "allotment" of copies was used up for the month (this happens EVERY month early on). The basic supplies they are funded for are insufficient. That's the bottom line. A teacher who cares will always spend personal money to purchase things that will enhance the class. That's just part of being a teacher. But the fact that it's NECESSARY just to do the job is not right.

Part of the problem is that the Government tells the school Districts to cut $$$$ from their budgets, but doesn't dictate WHERE the money has to come from. This is unfortunate, and I'm not exactly sure they CAN dictate where the money comes from. I taught an elective class. Electives, Librarians, and Nurses are among the first to go. Why should a kid have art, auto shop, wood shop, home economics, library access, or someone on site who can help our kids in health matters? That's not really necessary--right? I beg to differ. It really makes me MAD that every year teachers get cut, supply budgets get cut, and administrators get raises (or more administrators get added to the ranks). Do we REALLY need ALL of that fluff? And I don't necessarily mean the administrators at the school site, I'm talking about the Assistant Deputy Superintendent. Seriously? I didn't have an assistant deputy teacher..... (I didn't have an administrative assistant either.)

So, if you're unsatisfied, if you're concerned, OPEN YOUR MOUTH! First of all, exercise your voice with your vote--and then OPEN YOUR MOUTH! The people we elect WORK FOR US! Let them know what you think! It's not hard! You can Google your elected officials' contact information, and they all accept email. It doesn't take long. Many voices are more easily heard. But if you don't make your voice known, you don't really have the "right" to complain. So thanks, Honey, for reminding me.

Aren't our kids worth it?
WRITE A LETTER!

Scooting Along

2009-03-07T18:47:00.000-08:00

Robert and I just celebrated our Merry Christmanniversary. We got some money for Christmas and used it to purchase our Anniversary presents--a little bit early. We bought foot-powered scooters, so we can go scooting with the kids. Thanks Grandpa Birdie and Doreene!

Today was BEAUTIFUL! GORGEOUS! And we took advantage of it. Hannah was less than thrilled. She's in a phase (I HOPE it's a phase) where she's scared of everything. She does NOT like to scooter. So Hannah and I rode to the park. Robert and Toph met us there. We tortured Hannah by making her scoot around the park. The REAL fun is behind the school. There's a fairly steep hill. It's FUN to go down. The photos are from the top of the hill. Hannah is there, but she walked UP and DOWN the hill.

**You'll note that there are no pictures of me. That's because I didn't like the ones that Robert took. I'll post pictures of me in a day or 2 when I have a picture I like. Sorry, as author of the blog, I get to decide! Just keep checking back in.

New House

2009-03-07T18:19:00.000-08:00

So, we've been here more than a month, and I haven't given any photos of the new place. We LOVE the location. We LOVE the neighborhood. We LOVE the HUGE back yard. Now you can get an idea of where we live.....

This is the front of the house.

Here's a view of the back of the house.
You don't get the whole scope of the HUGE yard.

Still in the back yard. This patio I foresee as Hannah's "stage".

The view from my bedroom window.
Just over the shed is the kid's school playground.

Roses! I think there are 4 rosebushes.
Not the 22 I had in Fresno, but I'm happy.
This is what they looked like ON JANUARY 15th!!!
JANUARY!

Views from the kitchen. It looks so BIG without any stuff in it!
I think I would like a pot rack over the island.

Card Swap (March)

2009-03-07T17:34:00.000-08:00

My sister, Aimee, gave me an incredible gift one year--a bunch of hand-made cards. She and her sister-in-law got together and made a bunch of cards several times a year and then assembled them all as gifts. LOVED it! So much so that I was loathe to actually give the cards away. Recently, she told me about the card swap group her Ward has for the Relief Society sisters who choose to participate. It sounded like great fun, and I asked around and found out that there are some in my area who also do a card swap. It's not a group from Church, but there are several Church members in the group. I was invited to join them, and I have had SO much fun!

My friend, Carmen, is a crafting goddess to me. She just "sees" things and can create them. Beautiful stuff. And she's generous and will share her talents and supplies with me. She is a Stampin' Up demonstrator and her supply of stamps is impressive. She pretty much lets me talk out my idea and then helps me bring it to fruition.

My friend, Tina, already blogged about Card Swap. She took lovely pictures, so I don't have to! I can just point you to Tina's blog post for Card Swap and you can see the assortment of cards. There were REALLY some very nice ones. The "you make me smile" cards are mine. I stole the idea from a card that Carmen made and then made it mine by tweaking a few things. I made 4 different colors, and all of the plum ones are gone--no pictures. My photo is not the best quality--I'll work on that next time. I'm pleased with how the cards turned out. I've got my ideas for the next 2 swaps, so now I just need to make them! This is very fun for me, and pretty relaxing--once we get past the stamping part. I still have heart failure each time I'm going to stamp something, afraid I'm going to mess it up. I'm sure this will fade with experience. I'm putting my Cricut to good use too--LOVE it!

Anyway, I had a good time, and I'm very happy with the selection I brought home. Next swap: May. My ideas for future cards? Secret!

Pay it FORWARD.....

2009-03-04T00:15:00.000-08:00

Pay it FORWARD--How it works:

The FIRST THREE people to leave a comment on this post will receive at some point during this year a handmade gift from me. What it will be and when it will arrive will be a total surprise--to both of us.

The CATCH is that YOU MUST PLAY TOO! Before you leave your comment here, write a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going (you can cut and paste these instructions). Then come back and let me know that you are going to play, and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift. It's THAT easy!

Remember, only the FIRST THREE comments will qualify. Good luck!

Have any of you seen the movie, "Pay it Forward?" Very inspiring. I loved it!

Musings (Rantings) of an (not) interior designer....

2009-02-22T15:34:00.000-08:00

Ok, I had ONE class in college, and I don't remember most of it, but there surely must be "rules" for creating a space that "flows," and I'm PRETTY sure it does NOT include 6 different types of flooring!

I DO love our new house. There are also things I DO NOT love. I (mostly) love the carpet. There's basically no pad left to speak of, so it's a bit like walking on concrete. And I'm not sure I'd choose black and white for myself (blue and white, yes), but I LOVE that it's mulit-colored AND it has a pattern: the dirt doesn't show very easily!

I DO love that our bathroom floor has blue tiles (with the white) and that it has BLACK grout. On purpose. That's different than the black grout by the fireplace--I'm pretty sure that grout is supposed to be white.

And white grout on a floor? WHO was smoking crack when that decision was made? I'd like to give them a piece of my mind--or a mop.

And I think my old floor must have been dirtier that I previously thought. Because now that we've got WHITE tile in the KITCHEN, I find myself sweeping multiple times each day and mopping more frequently--and it's a PAIN! White tile in a KITCHEN?! Oh please!

I do like that the paint type (while I'm uncertain SPECIFICALLY what type it is) is NOT flat paint. Whoever invented FLAT paint should be shot. What kind of crackhead decided THAT was a good idea? Someone without kids, that's for sure.....

I would also like to submit that builders should not only need to get their plans approved by the city, but they should also have a group of women who should have to look over the plans--because a woman (or a man who spends ANY time in a kitchen) would have things to say about the lack of storage. I know that's a rampant problem here in SD, but for pitty's sake! Are we to have NO belongings?

Making our new home "work" has been WORK. It's still a work in progress, and we're tackling it at a slow pace. Despite my complaints, I DO like the new home. I LOVE the location. I LOVE the HUGE back yard. I LOVE how quiet it is. I LOVE that we get to stay at the same school. There's a lot to LOVE, if I don't get myself sidetracked with the stuff that's NOT to love.....

Just a matter of perspective........

Little Tarts

2009-02-20T18:07:00.000-08:00

Oh. My. Gosh. DELICIOUS!!!

So we did our belated Valentine's day dessert this afternoon. It's something I cooked with Hannah's class at school, so I knew we could do it. Little tarts--mine with boysenberry pie filling. YUMMY!!!

First, we made instant pudding with the stick blender. I just have to say that cheesecake flavor is going to be the favored flavor. Gotta LOVE instant pudding. Put it in the fridge until you're ready for it.

Next, we put graham crackers in big ziplock baggies. Mashed the heck out of them until they were dust. Then we added enough butter to get the mess to stick together. Knead it until the butter is distributed and well-mixed.

After the "crust" is properly kneaded, spoon about 2 Tbsp. into paper lined muffin tins and smash it down. We found that using the bottom of a small cup worked well for the little ones. Once the crust is smashed, spoon on about 2 Tbsp. of pudding--NOT up to the very top of the cup, or you'll never get it out of the muffin tin. For those willing, a small spoonful of pie filling tops it off nicely.

ENJOY! Kids had theirs "naked" and I really enjoyed boysenberry. I think my favorite pudding flavor was the cheesecake, and if I'd eaten it "naked," cheesecake would have been definitely my favored flavor. But when eating with a berry flavor too, the pudding flavor is not as important.

All in all, this was a cooking activity we REALLY enjoyed. And dessert BEFORE dinner? Priceless!

Honey Love.....

2009-02-20T17:13:00.000-08:00

Warning: If you do not want to be subjected to spousal goo, don't read this--you've been warned. No whining.

My Honey did something unexpected today--2 things, actually. He came home after early-morning surfing to shower and exchange cars, as today was car wash day at work, and the Honda NEEDS it. But I guess I was grumpier than usual. He showered and then asked if I wanted the good or bad news first. Always give me the bad first--then I have something to look forward to.

Bad news: The car was not going to be washed today (thus ensuring that we will NOT get rain this weekend, in case you had plans).

Good news: I could go back to bed, because my Honey arranged to work from home until it was time to leave for the scout campout. I didn't lose any time; I went to bed immediately. After finding it almost impossible to sleep last night, and being worried about Hannah's bark, I mean cough, I was TIRED.

I guess I fell back to sleep, because at some point I realized that I was dreaming. Then I was pretty sure I was dreaming, as I heard sounds from downstairs that sounded like my family setting up a Wii Fit! But it hurt when I pinched myself, and so I went downstairs. And what, to my wondering eyes, did I see? My little ones on a Wii Fit balance board!

Now, I was initially AGAINST the acquisition of a Wii. They are, after all, the COMPETITION (although Robert assures me that they will NEVER be able to compete). And we do have quite enough video game systems, thank you very much. But then I saw my Fresno Family playing--and off of the couch. So we got a Wii (such lemmings we are!). Then, after seeing Wii Fit last July, I've been trying to buy it. I'm always a day late and a dollar short. You'd think I was trying to buy the stinking Holy Grail (not the movie). CAN'T find one anywhere! But I've heard a lot of, "oh, we had them an HOUR/DAY ago!" I've bid on Ebay too, but I'm too cheap to pay more than I'd pay if I could find it at Target or Costco or Game Stop. So we are like the ONLY humans on the whole planet who don't have Wii Fit--until today! I don't even want to know how much........

Yes, I'm aware that it shows your BMI and adjusts your Wii character to "look" like your BMI says you should look. I'm not real excited about that--especially as it relates to my kids. I am NOT excited to see my kids making 11-pound weight loss goals either. We will be discussing the whole BMI thing and making sure that the kids understand that a VIDEO GAME is NOT qualified to determine if/how much weight needs to be lost. And if I think that the kids are getting obsessed about it, they won't get to play on it that way. But for now, they're EXCITED to exercise, so bring it on!

And, NO, I haven't been on it yet. That will have to wait until there are NO witnesses, as I do not want my personal information broadcast for anyone else to see. And I don't need anyone else to see a VIDEO GAME tell me I weigh to much. I'll save that humiliation for when I'm alone. But the kids go back to school Monday (let's pray them back into good health, ok?)...... I can't wait!

Again, Honey, YOU ROCK!!!

My Little Bookworm

2009-02-17T09:22:00.001-08:00

For Valentine's Day, Hannah got a Junie B. Jones book. She is SO FUN to watch when she opens presents. "Woo Hoo! It's what I've always wanted!" She's animated and just FUN to watch.

She did not disappoint when she opened her Valentine's presents. She LOVED getting "her very own chapter book" and she's been reading every night before bed. The deal with the kids is that if they're in bed by 8:15, they can read until 8:30. Last night she was supposed to go right to sleep, but (according to the informant) Hannah read "for only like 5 minutes." This morning, Hannah did not come in our room to announce that she'd awakened (THAT'S a first!), but we found her in bed, reading.

My little bookworm (said with reverence and awe) has read 19 pages!!! Then we sat in my chair and read some more together. She's doing pretty good on her own--not getting ALL of the content, but she's trying. I'm so proud of my little bookworm!

Valentine's Weekend

2009-02-17T09:10:00.000-08:00

We had a nice, relaxing Valentine's weekend. I spent the better part of Saturday morning at Urgent Care to get medicine for my ear infection. That's right, last weekend I was down with "it" (germ of the week), and this weekend, I got to be in serious pain with an ear ache. Only the second in my life (that I can remember), and OUCH!!! I know why little kids cry! I didn't notice until I went to bed on Friday.

And, speaking of Friday, I got an early Valentine's present from my Honey. It came in the mail--a PajamaGram. He sent me the most cozy pair of flannel PJ's! They came in a beautiful, organza gift box with a lavender sachet and an "unwinding" door sign. NICE! Thanks Honey!!!!

The rest of Saturday, we just hung out. We watched movies and read books and played video games and we just stayed home. Until the last-minute Wal-Mart run I made with Hannah. Grandma D sent the kids Valentine's cards with stickers and Wal-Mart gift cards. The money was burning a hole in Hannah's hand and she COULDN'T STAND IT, so I took her--more to get her out of the house than anything else. I wouldn't buy her a stuffed animal earlier in the week--like she NEEDS another one?! So Hannah used her Wal-Mart money to buy a stuffed animal. It's a little teddy bear that's holding a small balloon that says "I love you." If I thought they'd have any left on Monday, I'd have tried to persuade her to wait. She was in 7th heaven! We also found a metal Princess "purse" that she bought with allowance money. She's poor now, but has a nice little purse and a new stuffed animal.

Saturday night was a painful experiment in sleeping on a different side--it didn't go well. Sunday I spent sleeping much of the day in my recliner. Another quiet day--and I stayed in my PJ's all day!

Monday it was raining here (SO rare, and on a holiday!). We unpacked some boxes and cleaned up some and welcomed the repair guy. Toph was in 7th heaven, as he played video games pretty much ALL day. Sometimes with Dad and other times alone. It was a gift to him to let him just video veg all day--not something I'll let him do the rest of vacation, but every one in awhile, I don't have a problem with it. We had a fun "veg" day.

Now Daddy has gone back to work, and we're trying to figure out what we're doing here. The kids and I will spend today (a sometimes rainy day) unpacking some more boxes and just hanging at home. The rest of the week is supposed to be pretty nice, so we'll hit the Science museum and Legoland this week.

I LOVE living here, and I LOVE my family!

Better than Bankers' Hours

2009-02-13T16:32:00.000-08:00

Our new Property Management Company is quite a bit different than the old. An alternate title to this post would be: SO NOT LOVING the PMC.

They're open Monday-Friday, 10-5, but don't count on anyone being there during business hours. Last week I drove down to deliver something, and found the office CLOSED. At 11:40 on a Monday. No note, no explanation, nobody there. I put my papers through the door slot and called to request a call back to verify that they actually got the papers. TWO HOURS LATER I got a call back--"Sorry, we were at lunch."

Seriously? Lunch after being at work for less than 2 hours, and a 2-hour lunch?! Must be nice. I've never had a job like that.

I had a repair order--several repairs, actually. I was told that they'd email the maintenance guy and he'd call me to set up an appointment. If I didn't hear from him by the end of the week, call them back. Now it's 11 days AFTER that day. So I called yesterday afternoon at 4:20 to let them know--guess what? Nobody answered the phone. I wonder if they were having an early dinner? Not only did the guy never call me, but when the PMC called me today at 3:40, they gave me Rigo's number so I could call him myself. Now, why not do that in the first place? Rigo is coming Monday between 12-1. I'm not holding my breath. Promptness does NOT seem to be a characteristic of this PMC.

Somehow the "dumb and dumber plumbers" we had at the old house aren't seeming so bad.

Homage to my HONEY!

2009-02-12T21:00:00.000-08:00

UGH! I've neglected to publicly chronicle something major.

Last week, I tried to kill myself (NOT literally!). I decided that I could not live with the condition of the garage. It was my brilliant idea to take all of the boxes OUT of the garage and then re-load the boxes in some kind of order. That way, when I'm looking for something that WAS in the living room, I can go to the living room pile and find it faster. I also was looking for the box that had our scriptures and our shoes (beyond what we were wearing at the time of the move).

Well, I got 2/3 of the garage unpacked onto the driveway. One of my neighbors saw the boxes and asked, "You're not moving again already, are you?" NO, it just felt like it! Boy, book boxes are HEAVY! I'd neglected to eat anything for breakfast that morning too (no lectures, I know!), and when Robert called me at 2 pm to ask me to do something for him, I lost it. I was just overwhelmed. I was hungry. I was TIRED. I was wondering HOW I was going to leave to get the kids from school with all of the stuff left in the driveway. I cried. I didn't mean to, and it wasn't a ploy for sympathy, but I cried.

About 10 minutes after that conversation with my Hubs, he called me to say that he was ALMOST HOME!!! He felt bad that he hadn't helped more, and he took the rest of the day off to rescue me. I cried more! How sweet! He came home and did the rest of the heavy lifting, and we managed to get the garage into order. I don't think I'd have finished without Robert's help. I was beyond pooped.

So, Honey, YOU ROCK!!!! Thanks for rescuing me!!! I love you!!!!!

Rainbow of Friends

2009-02-12T20:48:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder what a Rainbow of Friends looks like? 140 Kindergarten students all decked out in their rainbow "Kindergarten Rocks" T-shirts--ADORABLE! Each class has a different color. Hannah's is orange. Then all of the classes stand on the risers and sing their program (and they literally make a rainbow).

This year I did NOT cry!!!

Hannah LOVES to sing. In fact, this afternoon when we were rushing to complete the homework for this week, she could not stop singing. Toph needs it quiet for homework, so this was a most distressing time. Hannah has been practicing parts of her program for several weeks now, and it never ceases to amuse me how her "singing voice" is so different from her speaking voice. Of course, since it's Kindergarten, there were hand gestures for most of the songs, and Hannah really got into it!

What does the Multi-Purpose Room look like when 140 Kindergartners are doing a program? Standing room only, and 30 minutes before the program! We were literally in the very back of the room, so no photographs would come out (can't stand perfectly still long enough). Robert took video, but I don't know how to add it to the blog. Be patient--I will figure out how to do it, and the video/pictures need to magically get from the camera onto the computer.

Hannah, darling, we were very proud of you. You guys did a GREAT job! Your class ROCKS!

And the Lost is FOUND!

2009-02-12T10:02:00.000-08:00

Robert ROCKS! Our camera charger has been missing since the move. BAD, because we have a camera full of move-in pictures to document our move. BAD because the camera is D-E-A-D! BAD because Hannah's Kindergarten program is TONIGHT!!!

I've been looking, really I have. And I have not found it. And I did not do the last-minute packing of the room where it was previously kept. I was thinking we'd have to have a seance to find the thing. Then, this morning, Robert said, "have you checked the Radio box?" NO, because who keeps a camera charger in the RADIO box? We do!

Great Job, Robert!!! Thank you!!!

Now, who's going to find my keys? Toph used them on Sunday. They haven't been seen since. I'll give you a dollar...

Love at Home!

2009-02-09T18:46:00.000-08:00

NOT! Fighting like cats and dogs is more like it. The KIDS, that is. If they're awake, they've been fighting--today. Maybe it's the wind. Maybe it's the rain. Maybe it was being cooped up all weekend while Mom gave in to sick. Maybe the planets are mis-aligned. Maybe they just like to get on each other's nerves. But it was KILLING me!

So I asked them to stop fighting. I demanded. I threatened grounding. And then I grounded them to their own rooms.

The fighting just moved locations. Now they were upstairs, fighting through the wall.

Seriously? STOP!!!

An hour later, they decided to be friends. Now they're playing very nicely. Can both kids turn bi-polar at the same minute?

Get Ready to LAUGH!

2009-02-09T09:40:00.000-08:00

My friend, Christi, sent me this YouTube video. It's HILARIOUS!!! If you need to laugh, watch it!

Sorry, I don't know how you put a You Tube video actually IN the post. I'm not that advanced.

I'm in LOVE!

2009-02-07T10:48:00.000-08:00

Yes, I'm in LOVE with my new spice rack. Our new cupboards are SMALL and SHALLOW, and I have a lot of spices. If you like to cook at all, you'll have spices you use 2-4 times a year, but you still need to have them.... So in trying to move into our new house and trying to find a space for everything, I discovered this online. I looked all over, and Amazon has it for the cheapest price. It's WORTH it!!!

I put it in the cupboard yesterday, and it exactly fits my shelf. Then I unloaded all of the spices I wanted to put in it, and I LOVE it!! The drawers pull out and rotate down (like in the picture), so you can see what you've got in it! JOY! If you're vertically challenged, like me, this is fabulous! No more climbing on a chair to see to the back of the cupboard for the curry.

My only complaint? It doesn't fit the cupboard where I wanted the spices to live. There's a stupid support bar in the middle, and it's not wide enough for the spice rack. TOTALLY not the rack's fault. I just have to be flexible.

If you've gotta have it, you can purchase it from Amazon. I'm not getting any kind of kickback, but if you like to be organized, you will LOVE this!!!

Madness!!!

2009-02-07T10:43:00.000-08:00

If you haven't had the pleasure of dining at Sweet Tomatoes (or Souplantation), you're missing out on some yummy goodness.

One of my FAVORITES is a salad called Joan's Broccoli Madness--broccoli, red onion, raisins, and cashews. Oh my YUMMY!!!!

I made it myself, with help from recipeczar. You can get the recipe and try it out for yourself by going HERE. I made it Thursday and then ate at Souplantation Friday, and the recipe you make yourself is a dead-ringer. I LOVE IT when that happens!

Now if we could just eat the salad without the fuel it generates.....

GREAT Advice!

2009-02-06T11:23:00.000-08:00

Parents Should Lovingly Correct a Child’s Actions
from Family Gems

“When a child needs correction, you might ask yourself, ‘What can I say or do that would persuade him or her to choose a better way?’ When giving necessary correction, do it quietly, privately, lovingly, and not publicly. If a rebuke is required, show an increase of love promptly so that seeds of resentment may not remain. To be persuasive, your love must be sincere and your teachings based on divine doctrine and correct principles.” Russell M. Nelson, “Salvation and Exaltation,” Ensign, May 2008, 9-10

Elder Nelson is one of the 12 Apostles in my Church. He gives AWESOME talks--this is taken from a talk he gave in a General Conference last year. I think it's sage advice, and I really *try* to employ his suggestions as often as possible. Hugs and kisses after the rebuke are great too--especially with little ones. It helps remind them that you can dislike the BEHAVIOR and still love the PERSON. It's getting harder to parent now though, as my children get older, because they are exercising their free agency--and I don't always like what they choose. I guess that's how Heavenly Father feels about us. And to me, He'd probably say, "suck it up!" Well, maybe he'd be nicer about it.....

We MIGHT Need an Intervention

2009-02-04T17:04:00.000-08:00

I love my phone.

Really. Love. It.

I've never been "into" video games before, but I like playing games on my phone. I've even played one completely through. I like the game "bubble trouble" too, and I've played almost 1,900 games of it. My highest score is 5006--that's considered extreme. Anything over 4000 is considered fantastic. It's a nice way to take a brain break.

Have I mentioned that I LOVE the phone?

Nobody told the car....

2009-02-02T11:15:00.000-08:00

I've driven about a few times lately, and the car just goes to the old house. NOT all the way, because I catch it and correct the problem. But if I had not been paying attention, I would have ended up in the wrong place.

I guess the car wasn't informed of our move--either that, or she's got a secret boyfriend in the old neighborhood.

My Newest Hero

2009-01-30T00:33:00.000-08:00

So, I have blurked and found a new blog that I LOVE! If you have a sense of humor, she's great! If you've got kids, she's great! She says things we only think--and only on "clever" days at that. Jana is one of my heroes, and I read her blog religiously now--because I can. She makes me laugh and helps me keep my perspective.

If you've got a few minutes, READ "The Meanest Mom"! She's great!

Pack Your Bags, We're Going On A Guilt Trip!

2009-01-29T23:49:00.000-08:00

Today in Costco, Toph announced, "Practically everyone in my class, except me, has seen the movie Bolt."

Me: Your mom sucks then, doesn't she?

Toph backpedaled pretty fast and said that his mom doesn't suck. But I insisted that she must not love him enough if she hasn't taken him to see this movie yet. He must be the disgrace of the whole 2nd grade if he's like the ONLY kid who hasn't seen it. Where are the kid's parents' priorities?

MMMMMMMmmmmmmm, I like.....

2009-01-29T18:10:00.000-08:00

You want? I'll go with you. Call me.

Bye Bye Brain!

2009-01-28T22:38:00.000-08:00

Well, as I *think* I blogged about previously, my brain went on vacation in November. It was gone for several weeks. It felt like I was living the movie "50 First Dates" some days. Then my brain made a brief reappearance. It was so nice to have a visit, even though it was short. It now appears that the brain is leaving me again. Hopefully it will be a brief vacation.

At least it has happened before and I know what it is, so it won't freak me out as much. Anyone have any good memory tricks? I put EVERYTHING important in my phone (thank goodness for a "smart" phone!) and in my email. I re-read the email every day, to remind me of what's going on. I park my car in about the same place in the parking lots I frequent--so I don't go walking around looking like and idiot who can't find her car. I have a new computer program, Omnifocus, which helps me manage my "to do" lists and will eventually be able to "talk" to my phone. And I just accept the fact that sometimes my brain needs a vacation.....

So if I totally forget a conversation we've had or ask you the same questions over and over again, just pat me on the head and be patient. The brain will probably come back again!

Calling the camera charger.....

2009-01-27T21:40:00.000-08:00

In case it has sprouted a brain AND eyes and is reading this post--I need you back!!! I can't take any more pictures of this house with a dead camera.

If any blurkers are reading and they've SEEN the camera charger--black, funky cord--do you remember which box it landed in? I don't even know where it was before we started packing--that makes it more of a challenge.

I'd take a picture of the chaos--but the camera is dead. You'd like the picture though. I'd also take a picture of the back yard. It's HUGE. You'd like that picture too. I'd take a picture of the kids' school playground as seen from the master bedroom window--but again, the camera is dead. And the sunset from the back yard? AMAZING the last few days. Really photo worthy.

So, camera charger, if you're out there, how 'bout we play hot/cold? A hint? Please?

Haiku for you

2009-01-22T22:31:00.000-08:00

I'm a blurker--I freely admit to it. I stumbled upon "The Meanest Mom" somehow, and I LOVE her! She's an inspiration to us all, and she has such style. I just read her Haiku post, and it inspired me to write one of my own:

Dedicated to my kids:

We have been moving.
Every muscle I have hurts.
Don't complain to me.

Lots of green boogers?
Go get yourself a kleenex.
Throw it away too.

Once I get some sleep
I promise to be less mean.
I might even cook.

Moving always sucks.
There is so much work to do.
Friends helped us so much.

Missing kids sucks too.
I'm glad we're reunited
And in our new house.

Let's please be healthy.
No more coughing and sneezing.
Please go wash your hands.

We've been working hard.
Being sick would kill me off.
Still so much to do.

The park is close by.
Boxes will wait 'til later.
Let's go play outside.

200th Post!

2009-01-22T21:14:00.000-08:00

Wow, who knew that in less than a year I could write 200 posts?! I'd do something cool or funny or unique for my 200th, but we're just finishing moving, and I don't have the energy.

So, the past week has been a time for me to accept a LOT of service from others. I have been the recipient of such generous people. I've had people take my kids, so I could focus on what needed to be done. I've had people at the old house help with packing and moving stuff from 1 house to the other. Saturday morning a bunch of men from Church showed up to move the boxes we'd packed from 1 house to the other. We'd hired movers for the furniture, but had a garage full of boxes that transferred in under an hour. We were invited to eat dinner with friends. I had ladies from Church today come and spend hours and elbow grease to do the final cleaning. AMAZING! Even the missionaries from Church pitched in. They happened to be in our neighborhood right when we were throwing the last of the "stuff" into our cars in preparation to turn in our keys, and they were pressed into service. Personally, I think they must have been inspired to be there at that particular moment in time.

I think that the "most awesomest service" award must go, hands down, to my friends Carmen and James. They kept our kids Sunday-Tuesday. They fed our family each night during that time. They made sure that Hannah's homework assignment got done. They packed. They built a bed. They cleaned. They AMAZED me! And I'm the one who's supposed to be serving Carmen!

Me going on and on about how wonderful Carmen and James have been does in NO way negate the service that others have given. Because there are many others who deserve a big thanks.

Another thing that Carmen introduced me to: Magic Erasers. Yes, I've known about them, but I did NOT know how many ways they could help. Soap scum in the shower--who knew? Greasy build-up on the stove--oh yeah! Cleaning grout and caulking--yep, that too! SO Many uses! In fact, as I was looking for a photo (which I could not figure out how to capture using Robert's computer), I ran across THIS website's blog post all about the Magic Eraser. You've got to check it out! This could revolutionize your life!

As for the new house, I'm going to like it. Unfortunately for us, the new house was not clean upon move-in. I'm not saying that the carpet needed to be vacuumed (because I think that actually WAS clean), but everything else left lots to be desired. Kitchen floor grout--supposed to be white. Not even close. Windowsills--dirty. Cupboard shelves and drawers--dirty. Refrigerator--shelves and bins needed cleaning. Toilets--had rings from sitting with the blue stuff in the bowls (the house HAS been vacant since Thanksgiving). Many doorknobs are loose. Bread board--came complete with crumbs from last time. Grout is missing from my shower. The shower doors are not secured in the kids' bathroom. Mold is growing around the tops of the bathroom sinks. The metal blinds in my bathroom (window in the shower) have something growing on them--or they're stained with something. Getting the picture? Oh, but the icing on the cake: there was WATER in the kitchen sink--leftover from the last time it was mopped (lovely ring around the sink when we drained it). The final straw is that we got 4 keys (2 each of 2 keys) and 1 set of keys doesn't go to anything we've found. We don't have a key that works the glass door at the front door. So, what is the property management company doing to earn their monthly fee? Did they TRY the keys out ahead of time? The property manager was here the day before we got our keys--did he look around the inside?

The house itself I'm going to like. I like the way we've arranged the furniture. In spite of the lack of storage (seriously, regular WOMEN should be consulted about such matters when blueprints are drawn), I think the house will work nicely. There's a loft upstairs which will serve nicely as a playroom/gameroom for the kids. The view from our master bedroom window includes the playground at the kids' school. The neighborhood is very quiet, and the neighbors are very nice. And the back yard? HUGE! Living on a cul-de-sac will also be a nice change. I'm looking forward to it being a little easier to ride bikes and scooters outside.

Just don't expect things to be "normal" for about a month. I figure it will take that long to find everything important. We need to do a serious purging too. But WOW am I thankful that Robert has the type of job where we don't have to move all the time. And I have new empathy for the military wives. Moving bites. Our previous home owners apologized several times for "making" us move--it was bad for both of us. Moving is never easy and probably never comes at a convenient time. It's a TON of work. But it's not all bad. I got to know some really nice people better. My house will be better organized, and we have a chance to "start over" in a new place.

So, I wonder how long it will take to get the next 200 posts written?

Happy Birthday, Hannah!

2009-01-16T00:27:00.000-08:00

Photos to post in the near future. Have compassion...we ARE mid-move!

My baby baby turned SIX today!!! She entered our lives as a completely happy surprise, and she's never stopped being surprising. We just love her to pieces! Her first surprise (besides conception WITHOUT fertility drugs)--coming home FROM her birth with canker sores in her throat. Not little ones, but some of the biggest our pediatrician had ever seen. Nice start, Hannah!

Other surprises: At the doctor's office, and we were frequent visitors, when the nurse would ask, "why are we seeing you today?" I would say something witty like, "she's not sleeping" or "she's not eating" SO SOMETHING MUST BE WRONG. They'd look at me like I'd recently escaped from the mental hospital. Then the doctor would come in, and sure enough, she'd have something wrong. AND he validated MY own internet medical degree (ok, not really the medical degree thing) because he'd usually say something like, "we always trust the Mommy's intuition." JUST LOVE DR. JONES!!! We miss him so much (nothing's wrong with him; we moved).

More surprising: Hannah learned to write her name (and many other letters of the alphabet) without any help! Just copied what she saw her brother doing. When Toph was little, we'd give him to the count of 3 to do/not do something, and soon we had to change that because I'd say "one" and Hannah would finish the series, "two, three!" So we started counting to 10 or counting backward. I was SHOCKED when she wrote her name for me one day--we'd NEVER done anything like it together and there she was writing her name! Same thing with counting and colors and shapes and and and and I could go on and on, but what would be the point?

Sort of independent? Nah, not Hannah! I think she may have been born saying "I do it myself." Most often now we have this battle over her choice of clothes (either things that don't go together or clothes not appropriate for our weather) and her decision to do her own hair in whatever style she chooses. Let me just remind you that she HAS cut her own hair TWICE. She's independent in most aspects of her life.

Hannah has a surprising wit and vocabulary. I'm always getting told that she's said something funny or used words that are advanced for her age. She's a BIG kid (the size of many 2nd graders), but when people realize that she is just (today) 6, it takes on a new perspective. At the park this week, she was telling the adults that her brother was "being distracted" about something. Always cracking us up.

Hannah is a nudist at heart, I swear. As a baby, she'd strip as often as she could figure out how. She HATED to wear shoes and socks and would take those off as fast as possible. She'd unzip her blanket sleepers and be naked so often that we had to put a diaper pin across the zipper, so she couldn't get it unzipped. I lived in fear that she'd strip in Church one week when I had my attention focused on something else for a fraction of a second. When we'd pick her up from her Primary class and her teacher would start the sentence with, "Hannah was so funny/entertaining this week...." I'd silently be thinking, "Oh please don't have the teacher tell me she took off her clothes!" Her tendency toward nudity has lessened somewhat, but I think she's really a nudist at heart.

Hannah is also a GIRLIE GIRL! She LOVES the frilly and girlie things of this world. As a young child even, she loved to shop! Not genetic from me, that's for sure. She spent at least a year when she wouldn't go anywhere without a purse and some bling--sunglasses, bracelets, necklaces, etc. Often she'd have to have a hat too. She was very definite about which shoes she wanted to wear (when she would wear them). So funny!

Our lives are NEVER dull with the resident DRAMA QUEEN. She can summon a tear at the drop of a hat. She fully experiences all feelings--sometimes all within 20 seconds. I think she's going to be the type of person who lives life to the fullest. She's exuberant and excited and fun to be around. She is a constant source of entertainment for us all. And we wouldn't have it any other way. I can't imagine how our lives would be without this bundle of energy.

Hannah finally got to start school this year. She's been wanting to go since before we started taking Toph. She even cried every time we'd have to leave Toph AT school the year he started (and sometimes even last year). She excels at school as she does in any other area she's determined to excel in. Hannah loves school and loves most everything about school. She's even gotten in trouble for being TOO helpful. Yes, the teacher is not happy when the student is "teaching" her whole table how to do the assignment--the wrong way. She likes to mother others--and sometimes smother them. She's a good friend and a fierce friend. And doesn't like to share her friends with any other person--so watch out if she's decided that you are her friend! Hannah loves to love others too. She loves boys already (giving me more gray hair) and makes me nervous about what our future holds.

Hannah has never met a stranger either. She has gone up to other kids at the park, doctor's office, or store and declared them to be her new friend and asked them to cone have a play date with her at our home--or she's invited herself to their homes. When she was newly potty trained, she'd tell anyone she met about how she could "go potty in the potty chair and she didn't fall in because she'd just spread her legs wide." She LOVED to tell that to strangers on elevators all over Utah. The day that Toph started 1st grade, as we were leaving the school, we saw a group of parents that we knew, and Hannah proudly announced to the group, "I have High School Musical panties. Wanna see?" AS she was pulling up her skirt to show them! She is fun loving and makes our lives fun too.

Some favorites:

Color: used to be pink or purple, but now it's BLUE and "all of the other colors--especially if they're sparkly"
Thing: depends on the day--stuffed animals
TV: Wordworld, Sponge Bob, sometimes Dora, and Curious George (which she never watches)
Dinner: Cheese Noodles (aka: Mac and cheese) or pancakes
Dessert: dirt cups (pudding with crushed oreos and gummy worms) or cookies
On her wish list: everything, especially if it's in a commercial
Thing to do: play with friends, Barbies, Littlest Pet Shoppe, Art/Drawing
Place to go: going to the beach
Thing to be called: Elizabeth (her middle name) Hannah doesn't like her first name, and has often asked us to call her by other names: Princess, Ariel, Rapunzel, and lately, Elizabeth.

Hannah, you've spiced up our lives. I can't imagine our life without your energy. I am so blessed to be able to call you my daughter. Happy Birthday, Girlie! I love you!

House Update....

2009-01-09T11:48:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's official! We FINALLY got word on the house on Tuesday! We've been approved for the house that we wanted. I'm going with Robert this afternoon to sign papers and leave a deposit/1st month's rent. We get keys to the new place the 15th. We will be moving boxes and closets ourselves, and the movers come for the furniture on the 20th. We must be totally finished and cleaned at our current home by the 22nd. That's cutting it a little bit close, but what can you do? I'm going to be working like a crazy dog this weekend--hopefully--since I lost several days this week due to being sick. We're going to start 2009 out right. We're moving, our health IS going to improve (positive mental attitude), and we're going to keep a routine that works for us as a family. Thanks to all of you who have helped me with looking for a house, tips for boxing, and kind words. I'm SO glad we have an official place to go!

Please pass the kleenex.....

2009-01-09T00:37:00.001-08:00

Oh no, it's happened again! The same coughing out your guts/more than enough snot for a small country kind of thing--AGAIN! What, is this like the 4th or 5th time I've had it since like November? We just seem to be cycling through it here at Casa de Nearly Dead. I even asked my sweet husband to PLEASE KILL ME today--more than twice. And he denied my request! The nerve! I live in terror that I'm going to have to go to the doctor's office and find another new germ that we haven't shared yet. What I wouldn't do for the day of the house call again!

Robert worked from home today, so that he could lend assistance to me. It was a good thing too, since I'd coughed all through the previous night. I didn't have to worry about taking the kids to school. He made me lunch when I woke up from my morning nap. He kept the kids busy while I tried to take an afternoon nap. He fed the kids dinner. So what's wrong with this picture?

We're moving in SIX DAYS!!!! I don't have time for this!!!!

The AWESOMENESS of Friends

2009-01-07T23:35:00.000-08:00

I just have to say that I have experienced the awesomeness of friends--many times in my life and for a variety of reasons. This past Christmas was just one example: So we found out 6 days before Thanksgiving that we were going to have to move by January 22nd. No harsh feelings toward our home owners--we love them, and we knew that this could happen. And I doubt that moving is ever comes at a convenient time. THEY also are moving at this time of year (again), so they feel my pain too. But when I found out that we were going to move, I had several friends who put out their feelers and found me our new home--and several other potential homes. I have new neighbors who have given me all of their boxes and packing paper as they open their boxes (good timing for us both, no?). I have had at least a dozen people who have offered to either care for my kids or come help me box. It's really AWESOME!

But I think my all-time favorite service has been the awesomeness of having all of my Christmas gifts wrapped for me this past Christmas. How COOL is that? In our Church, we have something called the visiting teaching program. Each of the women who agree to participate are assigned other women to visit. You do this each month with a phone call, letter, or personal visit. We're supposed to include a spiritual message too. This helps us get to know each other better and it helps the Church leaders know what's going on--if you visit someone who's experiencing a difficulty, you report it to the appropriate leader, so that their burden can be lifted. The men have a similar program called home teaching, where they visit whole families each month. It's a little more formal, but it's basically the same idea. My visiting teacher happens to also be a friend--that's handy. She's asked me several times what she could do to help. She's offered to take the kids, box, clean, whatever. At this point in our move, I really didn't have any idea how she could help. I was overwhelmed with what I needed to do for my more immediate needs--Christmas and Toph's baptism (and our trip to Fresno for those activities). So as Sunshine continued to ask (NOT in a nagging way at all), I tried to think of something she could do. Then I got my Christmas shopping finished and realized that I didn't have a flat surface in my home.

Literally it looks like the Tasmanian Devil got loose in my house. Tables were piled up with homework, mail, projects I needed to finish for Christmas, goodies people have brought us, groceries (non-perishable) that need to be put away, etc. You have to have a flat surface to wrap presents. And it takes time--like HOURS. And I don't LIKE to do it in the first place. So I came to Sunshine with my suggestion for how she could help me out. NO PROBLEM she assured me! She and a friend invited all of the ladies they visit teach for a lunch one afternoon--that was the day I brought my presents over. After lunch, Sunshine, Melissa, and Heidi wrapped all of my presents--in 1 afternoon! When I was overflowing with gratitude (which I hope Sunshine knew), Sunshine told me that it was fun--it was like a party. I cannot say enough how grateful I was for that service. And the presents were prettier than they have EVER looked--I think at least one of the girls must have worked as a professional gift wrapper. I need to turn that chore into a party in the future! What a great idea!

Moving here was a real trial of my faith. I have NEVER lived away from my family, and I had awesome friends in Fresno. But I knew that this move would be beneficial for my family. I had a husband who needed to have a different job atmosphere. Since he's the wage earner for our home, he NEEDS to enjoy the place he spends most of his time. The opportunity to work here, with many people of similar geek callibur has been beyond wonderful. We have really been blessed with just that aspect of our move. But we have been so much more blessed. Our asthma problems have really backed off. Toph and I suffered in Fresno, and it got worse every year. We had 18 months of basically NO problems and have started to develop allergies to local things, but it's nowhere near as severe or often as before. We have found good doctors here to care for us--those doctors are very important when you have critical health issues. We were fortunate enough to move into a great neighborhood, school, and ward. That's pretty important too. The kids have adapted easily and have made good friends and have had amazing teachers. And I have made some FANTASTIC, AWESOME friends. I don't make friends that easily--LOTS of acquaintances, but true FRIENDS are harder to come by. It's especially hard with women, I think, because women tend to be clique-y. It's very difficult to insert yourself into a clique. It takes time. And while Robert was able to make friends quickly with people he works with--they are together a LOT--it's not so easy for the stay-at-home-Mom type who is naturally a bit reserved. But it has been good. Our family has grown closer, Robert and I have grown closer, and I think I appreciate my friends now more than I ever have before--the near AND far ones.

I feel very blessed to have a group of AWESOME people to call my friends. I am ever grateful for the service they freely give me--when I ask and when I don't ask. I know there are people I can count on to support me when I need it. And occasionally I get to help them too. I cannot say enough to properly express my gratitude to these people.

End of Year Wrap-UP

2009-01-01T10:48:00.000-08:00

For reasons of safety, I try not to post about a trip BEFORE we take it. Consequently, I didn't post much about Christmas.... Time to fill you in on the end of our year. Pictures will be inserted later.

BEFORE we left for Fresno, we were waiting for news from our new landlords that all was in order and sign final papers and give a deposit, etc. No word came and we got NERVOUS! They're hiring a property manager and will get back to us when that happens... insert nerves here. So we gave all of our contact information and left on our trip.

We made an APPOINTMENT for Santa to come early to the Nickel Home. He'll do that, you know. We asked him to come on December 23, as we were going out of town and we really like to have Christmas at our home. It was AWESOME! The kids were NOT up before the crack of dawn. They loved their haul. And Hannah was most entertaining as she'd whoop/screech/yell "That's just what I've always wanted!" EVERY time she opened something up. MANY thanks to my friends who wrapped my presents for me!

December 24 found us packing and madly cleaning some of the house. We wanted to be on the road by 10 am, but we were off around 1:30 instead. But our floors (the parts that were visible) were vacuumed or mopped, and all of the dirty dishes had been washed! The ride to Kingsburg was really uneventful. No real bad traffic snarls, AND we beat the snow over the Grapevine. It started to snow as we were coming back down, so no traffic worries there. We were very excited to see Grandma D and Dan and enjoyed our 2 days there. The kids got to unwrap 1 present that night, and they each received a blow up bed/sleeping bag combo, which they enjoyed using.

December 25 was a great day too! We got to have our second Christmas in the morning with Grandma D and Dan. And Mom and Dad got surprised with Robert's newest toy--a GPS. From that minute forth, we have gone EVERYWHERE with it on. He is so funny! We had a nice, relaxed, lazy morning. Grandma made Abelskeivers for breakfast and we gorged ourselves on a turkey dinner in the afternoon. I was busily (and with help) finishing some hand-made cards that I was giving as gifts--and got done in time! Thanks Grandma D and Robert for your help! We loaded the kids up in the car and drove to Fresno to spend some time with my side of the family. I got to meet my newest niece for the first time (thanks Matt for handing her over!). We got to see Grandpa Birdie for a short time, and a good time was had by all. We did the right/left present exchange--a tradition we've had for many years. My parents really pulled one over on me. Sometime before our fires last year, my Dad STOLE my childhood photo album from me. When we had the fires and I evacuated with the kids, I spent valuable time looking for said photo album, but couldn't find it. That has been bothering me for more than a year, and I have diligently looked for it. Well, Dad stole it and digitized all of the pictures in it, and then he gave it back to me with a copy of the CD (and all of my sister, Laura's, pictures too). He'll be digitizing all of the family photos and giving us all copies--Thanks Dad! That was a real surprise! Also in the category of real surprises was a gift that Rob and Cody gave to my parents. You can read the contents of the card in Cody's blog. They gave my parents a nice card/book that was a few jokes and ended with the punch line: my brother is GRADUATING from College in February. My parents did not know that he has been going to school. The looks on their faces were PRICELESS--and NONE of us thought to video tape it!!! That wrapped up our third (and last) Christmas celebration very nicely.

The 26th we packed up our stuff at Grandma D's and drove around Fresno a bit, visiting some of our friends. We got to go to the old 'hood and visit with Doris and Grant, our former neighbors. The kids (and Robert) LOVED playing with their 3 dogs. After that, we got to go to one of MY favorites, Chevy's, and visit with Junell. She had a goodie bag for each kid, complete with foamie stickers, post it pads, and fun pens. We had a great time chatting with each other. Then we descended upon my sister, Aimee, and the cousins had a glorious reunion.

December 27th marked a milestone for our family: Topher got baptized. A friend of Aimee's had 2 of her kids baptized too, and it was a great experience. Except that the water was FREEZING cold. Yvette (the other Mom) and I were trying to figure out how many people would be there, and I was surprised to see so many people there to celebrate this awesome event with our kids. We had to set up more chairs. The room was almost full. It was so incredible! If you know me at all, you know that my "eyes leak" when I'm happy. I was really trying hard not to be a blubbering boob on this special day, and I did really well--until Robert confirmed Toph. His voice broke, and that was the end of it for me--but I wasn't alone! Everything (except the water temperature) was perfect! After the baptismal service, we went to another of our favorite Fresno food places, and we continued our party at Me & Ed's Pizza. Between the baptism and pizza we stopped at Aimee's for a "whole big family picture." Our last photo was 2 years ago, so we've added to our brood since then. It's always interesting to try to get that many people in the same place and looking nice AND happy at the same time. We also had the chance to take our small family picture. The pizza was FANTASTIC! Yes, we have pizza here too, but none like Me&Ed's. We made horrible pigs of ourselves and got to visit with friends and family. Thank you to all who helped us celebrate either at the baptism at pizza or at both. It was a day for the memory books.

December 28th continued our family milestones: my newest niece, Maycee Renae Givens was blessed (for those not of the LDS faith, a blessing is KIND OF like a Christening). She looked BEAUTIFUL in her dress. After Church, we got to go to Cody's Grandparents' for a delicious soup lunch. Laura's family came over to Aimee's in the afternoon and all of the cousins spent a few hours playing together.

December 29th we visited our friends, the Kraus'. Then we did a little bit of shopping and returned to play with the cousins. My kids had already started moping about having to leave for San Diego. Aimee and I went to my parents' to see their new entertainment unit (and I borrowed about 10 books) and then we got to visit with my Grandpa Birdie for a little while. He was in good spirits and gave each of us a night light as a "parting gift." In the evening, the kids stayed home with a babysitter and the parents left for a date! We saw the movie, Valkyrie, and had some yummy Panera for dinner. It was nice to be with just adults and to visit for awhile.

December 30 we had to return home. It was a sad day for all of us, because we'd had such a fun trip. The weather stayed pretty nice and we got to have such a positive trip. Besides, being "on vacation" gave me a chance to relax, guilt-free, since I couldn't possibly pack while in Fresno. The ride home was long--it always seems longer on the ride home. We hit some traffic on the 210, but other than that, it was pretty uneventful. Although we had an incredible time, it was nice to be back in our own beds.

December 31 Robert packed some boxes of books and I packed a box of kitchen stuff. We were supposed to be going to a friend's house to do some New Year's Eve celebrating, but by the late afternoon, Robert was running a fever. He got a nasty cold on December 24th, and he's still not better. I think he'll be visiting a doctor tomorrow! The rest of us have had the cold too, but I think we're mainly better by now. We were slugs and watched 2 movies with the kids last night--Horton Hears a Who and then Kung Fu Panda. Both movies were AWESOME to see on Blu-Ray! The kids were sent off to bed after 9, and we stayed up late enough to ring in the new year. It was pretty quiet around here.

Now we start a new year. 2009 is going to bring many changes for the Nickel family. The first change is our impending move. We spoke to the new landlords yesterday, and all is well. We still haven't signed any final papers, but I'm hopeful that will happen in the NEAR future. After we move, I'm going to go see a specialist in Marina Del Ray. He's an expert in Fibromyalgia. After listening to my sister, Aimee, and my friend, Christi, and after reading a couple of chapters in Aimee's book, I'm pretty sure I'm going to join the league of sufferers of this disease/syndrome. It's not pretty, BUT it can get better. When I do get diagnosed, I'm going to start a drug protocol that will help my body get rid of the phosphates that are making me sick. It will initially make me worse, but in a year's time, I should be SO much better. It will be worth any suffering--remind me of that later, please. I'll have to change a few things so that things I eat or put on my skin so I don't block the medicine, but that's all minor. I'm sure I'll become an expert in this as time goes on and I learn more. I think that's something I'll tackle in late-February or early-March. I'm still going to be doing what my regular doctor has recommended. It can't hurt. I'm still looking forward to the return of my brain. 2009 is going to be the year it returns! Lots of challenges, but the benefits will be SO worth all of it!

I'm thankful for this time of year, when we can look back on the previous year and remember our blessings and challenges and look to the future with hope. Happy New Year to all of you!

Birthday Booty!

2008-12-20T21:18:00.000-08:00

Our birthday tradition is that the birthday person gets to choose what/where we eat for dinner. Due to our impending move and the chaos of our lives, the party will probably be in February, and both kids will have their party together this year. For this reason, we're adding to our traditional festivities by allowing the kids to pick a friend to have a playdate with and join us for dinner. Toph invited his friend, Adam, to join him. They played video games (what else?) all afternoon. We all went to Red Robin for dinner--on a Friday night! Dinner was good, and we finally got home a little bit after 9:00. Time for presents! Adam brought a present with him in the afternoon, and Toph was excited about a frog-shaped punching balloon and big book on insects. The balloon was a very popular object in the car going home and at the house later on. Our gifts to Toph were received in a similar fashion. He's been asking for "how to draw" books for some time. Toph's teacher has many Ed Emberly books that he LOVES to use. So I ordered some from Amazon a long time ago. I also found a "How to Draw Pokemon" book somewhere. In addition to his drawing booty, we also found something to appeal to the environmentalist in my boy--a paper making kit from Bill Nye the Science Guy. If the word science is in the title, we know it will be a winner! We had a lot of fun shredding the paper we were recycling to make new paper. I don't think it's going to be dry in the time period on the directions, however. Maybe when it's cold it takes longer. At any rate, we had a fun time making a little bit of paper, and we're probably going to find materials to allow us to make more at a time.

Happy Birthday, Topher!

2008-12-19T17:15:00.000-08:00

My oldest baby is eight! I can't believe it! Seems like just yesterday I got to meet him for the first time. I marveled at the tiny, perfect bundle of joy. I looked for hours on end at him and contemplated the miracle of life. I coveted his eyelashes--still do sometimes. We'd waited so long for our miracle, and one look at Toph and it was worth all of the waiting.

Toph was a great baby right from the start. He started sleeping through the night at 2 weeks--no lie! He was a happy guy and very mellow. That really hasn't changed. Toph loved to be cuddled and held, and we rocked him to sleep every night for at least 2 years. Robert would race Toph to sleep whenever he'd hold Toph--that warm cuddle lump just makes you relax.

Toph has an amazing smile that just lights up the world. He loves other people and is very concerned for everyone. He's got great tenacity and works hard to be good at things. Toph is inquisitive. This has been the case from a young age. As a 2-year-old, he'd take apart the recliner handle at his Givens Grandparents' home. He loves to see how things work.

In school, Toph loves science and math. He also loves recess. He's a hard worker, and a joy to his teachers. He loves to help others too.

Toph has just started cub scouts and LOVES going! He's been observing the scouts for years, and he was elated that his cub leaders asked him to start a month before his birthday. He's anxious to do all of his requirements in his Wolf book--I hope this enthusiasm sticks around through the Eagle project.

Toph is an amazing son. His love for people is a great example to us. He still loves to cuddle, and I hope that never changes. His empathy and compassion for others is moving. He is so sensitive to others' feelings and needs. His heart must be 10 times larger than other kids of his size. He's a great example to us of doing what's right too. Toph is a great big brother. He (usually) loves his sister and encourages her in all that she does. He's thoughtful and caring in his dealings with everyone. He's got a spiritual side and strives to do what's right. Toph is very excited to be getting baptized soon.

Some of his favorite things:
Color: blue or red
Thing: technology
TV: My Life as a Teen-Age Robot
Video Games: Lego Batman, Little Big Planet, Warhawk
Dinner: Mom's parmesan chicken
Dessert: butterscotch anything
On his Christmas list: Nintendo DS
Thing to do (besides video games): Hunt for "magnetite" with a magnet in the sand and building things.

Quotable: Earlier this week, Toph was talking to me after school, "Mom, you know I LOVE Technology. I love to see how things work and how they're made and I love to build things. I like science, and science is pretty much all technology."

Toph, you've enriched our lives in countless ways. I can't fathom life without you. I'm so blessed to be able to call you my son. I love you, Buddy! Happy Birthday!

Been Thinking About A New Vehicle

2008-12-19T00:16:00.000-08:00

Does this count as a vehicle?

Well, I'm certainly grateful for the storm drains here. Where I live and travel there has been very little flooding. It rained and poured for just about 24 solid hours yesterday. Although we really need the rain, picking up the kids from school in a downpour wasn't really my favorite thing to do. I wish we could program the downpours to be NOT at traveling times--like in the middle of the night.

My kids have enjoyed watching the "steam" on the BBQ as the morning sun warms the rain-soaked cover and the water evaporates. Toph was mesmerized the first time for several minutes and could barely tear himself away. Hannah has loved being able to puddle stomp. Unfortunately Toph is wearing a shoe size that is apparently either popular or doesn't really exist. I have been unable to find any size 4 rain boots or cowboy boots. He has not enjoyed NOT puddle stomping!

Things are progressing nicely, and we got to see the nice blue sky today--that's a spirit lifter, even when it's cold outside. Paradise has indeed turned cold. It's forecast that our low will be 37-ish. That's COLD for us! Daytime high of only 60 too. I'm loving it! I also love that I know this is temporary and that soon I'll be wearing my short sleeves again.

I wonder if my purse will go with my new vehicle?

I Can't Believe it's . . . . . . WINTER?!

2008-12-13T10:52:00.000-08:00

NO, it's not a mirage. The weather man/woman has confirmed it more than twice. We are going to have winter weather for like a week! It turned chilly and windy yesterday afternoon, and the weather forecast calls for a week in the 60's with rain possible every day!

I refer to San Diego as paradise, because there are many aspects of life here that are paradise for me--weather being one of them. I do; however, like to FEEL wintery weather once in awhile.

I'm going to love the chillier days and nights and the sound of rain. It's soothing. It makes it seem more like Christmas time. With the absence of any decorations, it's hard to get "in the mood" for the holidays. I don't have my visual reminders. Colder weather seems appropriate. I still haven't gotten used to the idea of Christmas in capris yet.

LOVING THIS!!!

So far, nobody has died!

2008-12-13T10:48:00.000-08:00

We began our trek into being grounded to each other yesterday. We got off to a rocky start, but things rapidly improved. WHAT to play is the topic that kills them. Once they decide, they're golden. Kids played Littlest Pet Shoppe in the upstairs hall for more than an hour. AND they cleaned it up in LESS THAN 10 MINUTES later in the evening. As a reward for being so good, we had our Family Christmas movie time and watched "Home Alone 2." I took some AWESOME pictures of Toph, which I'll post after Robert does his camera magic.

Christmas Movie Night occurs many nights during the Christmas season. We have a movie collection, and we have many Christmas movies. We love to snuggle up together and watch them, and the Home Alone movies are among my most favorite to watch WITH the kids. Not because the movies are so great, but to hear the belly laughs! That is a Christmas present in itself.

I've HAD it!

2008-12-12T16:27:00.000-08:00

The fighting, the bickering, the tattling, the hitting, the kicking, the crying, the whining, you name it, I've HAD it!!! I'm SO DONE!!!

Yesterday we reached a new low. The kids are still fighting over Hannah's love interest and our neighbor, John. It's as if he's a piece of property without his own free will. Beyond fighting over John, they're fighting with each other about EVERYTHING. And when they're not fighting, they're trying to make each other mad. It' a real party around our house.

So I snapped yesterday. Hannah was in time out for kicking her brother, and WHILE SHE WAS IN TIME OUT, she kicked him in the stomach. That landed her grounded to her room until Robert came home (so that there would be no blood shed). We talked about how inappropriate her behavior was and how that's not the way we treat the people we love, etc. When Robert got home, she got lecture part 2. But whilst Hannah was grounded to her room, the kids continued to fight and bug each other. That's when I snapped.

Now my kids are grounded to each other. With the exception of school hours, bathroom trips, and bathing, they are to be together at all times until at least Tuesday morning. That means when one does a chore, the other does it too. They must play together, clean together, eat together, and help each other. They will only get un-grounded when they can figure it out and learn how to live together. Apparently the threat of coal for Christmas isn't enough for them.

Furthermore, they've been given an assignment that they must complete together before they're ungrounded: They must write and illustrate a book together that's at least 8 pages long. This way they have to cooperate in some way.

This could either be a VERY long, tedious weekend, or it could be REALLY great. They used to play very nicely together. We've always told Toph/Hannah that Hannah/Toph is the best friend he/she'll ever have. Some would say that it's brainwashing, but I prefer to look at it as a self-fulfilling prophecy. I'm looking forward to the restoration of friendship. Even as I write this they are talking mean toward each other as they fight about what to play.

Wish me luck, send me Xanax, I don't know what to expect. I DO have to give credit where credit is due though. My sister, Aimee, has employed the grounded to each other tactic before, and I got the book idea from watching Supernanny. Calgon, take me away!

SICK at Heart......

2008-12-10T10:00:00.000-08:00

When I kiss my husband good-bye in the mornings, I fully expect to see him again after work. I'm sure the same could be said for the man who lost his entire family just 2 days ago when a fighter jet crashed into his home, killing his wife, 2 young daughters, and his mother-in-law.

The plane experienced catastrophic engine failures, and witnesses said it was in a spin. The pilot ejected safely, and the plane missed a high school just a couple of blocks away. THAT is truly remarkable.

We who live in San Diego hear the jets all the time. They fly overhead several times each day as they practice. This is the price that we, the civilians who benefit from the hard work of our military forces, must pay occasionally. Thankfully, it doesn't happen very often. I'm sure that those words won't bring Mr. Yoon much comfort though. He is a remarkable man--and I've never met him. This is what he had to say at a news conference: "Please pray for him [the pilot] not to suffer from this accident," Yoon said. "I know he's one of our treasures, for the country, and I ... don't blame him. I don't have any hard feelings. I know he did everything he could."

My heart breaks for this man I've never met. It makes me sick to think that, especially at this time of year, he has to suffer such a tragedy. My heart and prayers go out to him. This makes my own problems seem so small.