Our Family

I thought I could post pictures of the latest Quilts churned out by Charisma's Corner

2011-09-05T22:19:00.000-07:00

These were all made by Dotty in NEw York City...Dotty and I have been working together for quite some time! She is always a pleasure to work with!

HI Everybody

2011-09-05T22:15:00.000-07:00

Well I have had so many changes since my last post!

I have started another blog on a website...I post to it pretty much everyday....Pictures of a majority of my work..kids stuff and all of my daily thoughts.

But I am thinking it is so specific that maybe I should start posting here again as well...It can't hurt.

so I may also try and post some of my pictures....

Here is the link to the other blog... so you all can catch up...LOL

http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-28188-1.htm

The first page is the oldest..the last page is the newest entries....

I am going to try and keep up on this daily as well..and hope I can get you all up to speed.

Basically......

I am in school full-time..I am in my senior year at WSU!! GO COUGS!!, I own my own quilting business...which has flourished.

All of my kids are in school..various activities...and my DH (Dear Husband ) "The ROb" is working hard at National Frozen Foods.

We attend Bread of Life Christian church..I am a youth group leader there...and I attend a Women's bible study.

We are gearing up towards getting a play ready for our youth group...a Christmas play....Other than that you will have to catch up on Charisma's crumbs...and I will keep a daily entry here...Have a great night!
Blessings!

Oh...How times escapes me......

2011-01-17T23:21:00.000-08:00

Well here we are already in the middle of January. School has started and I am excited about some of my classes...but have not gotten all of my books..so STRESS! because we are in week two of classes.

I posted some pictures of recent quilts on some forums that I am part of and got a HUGE response..my quilting machine should be paid off in no time!

We are going to re-arrange the house in the next couple of months so I can have a bigger studio and the kids can have more room. We re converting my garage into my studio. It should be nice to have so much space.

Rob is having surgery next week...I am also have oral surgery next week. They are going to knock me out..thank GOd!

The kids are out of school today and tomorrow..it was 45 degrees outside today and all the snow is now melted. It will probably snow by the weekend? Weather has been so strange this year.

Well I hope you all feel the blessings for the new year. I will post some pictures of my most recent quilts.

2011

2011-01-02T11:27:00.000-08:00

HI All,
I am in reflection of everything that has happened this last year. Many trials and tribulations...celbrations and accomplishments!..I am looking forward to this new year with so much angst and wonder.
Rob and I celebrated 8 years of wedded bliss (LOL) Yesterday....by going out to dinner after I worked at the shop...That is more than we usually do.
My new business is going off with a bang for the new year which is a great thing..I feel so many blessings and compliments coming from complete strangers in regards to my quilting. It gives me much confidence..I know GOd is paving teh way for me.
We have 8 days until our pre-op appointment with Rob's surgeon. The surgery is on Jan 25th. Who knows what this year will bring by this tiem next year our house may have a new member.
School also starts a week from tomorrow...I will be in my second semester at WSU...life is so amazing! All my dreams are coming true and thinsg are coming aroudn full circle...it is amazing to see and feel.

We have been talking with all the kids about their life plans and what they want to do in teh future..it always makes me happy to hear them talk and know that we ( their parents) will all work together to help provide them with the means and skills to accomplish their goals. Some of my boys want to join teh military at this point (you know we have a few yers ..they could change their minds)at first this always scares me...but in truth...I would be so honored and proud to have them join...if that is their dream I can't crush it by worrying about them. If they run off to college it is just as scary..partying, drinking..drugs....Things are so scray everywhere.

So far they are all thinking college or military....none of them are saying taking a yar off and backpacking through Euprope....so We are good.

Clarissa is definatly coming out of her shell..she goes from not talking to anyone..to just spitting out exactly what she is thinking to everyone around here...although funny at times..she is amazingly RUDE sometimes..and I need to work on that.

Bryce is a very insightful young man...but also so rough around the edges...adn roughly hormonal these days.

Carl is exceptional...very kind, thoughtful...wants to please everyone. Very good young man...still insecure..hoping he can find himself..as he is such a good guy!

Cole is emotional a bit still..likes perfection...struggles in our imperfect world....matches all of his clothes ..organizes his things and hates to be slighted in the least bit...he is going through a very vulnerable stage. Very soft child.

Preston is "highly capable". very thoughtful..antagonizes most situations and loves to be the center of attention! He is excelling on every subject in school..his sense of accomplishment rules his life.

Jeri is sweet! she is still struggling in school a bit...has one close friend...compromises herself to much and is still thinking of owning her own beauty salon someday. We push her and tell her how smar adn beautiful she is..so she can believe it. She loves tv and talking on the phone..and TTWILIGHT! I have never seen the movies or read the book..I don't care for Vampires..scary.

I hope many blessinsg upon you all for the new yer!

End of the year

2010-12-21T14:03:00.001-08:00

Well it has been quite some time since i have posted..weird. Time just escapes and before you know it a new year is approaching. This happens the older I get the faster time goes...and that is why alot of changes has happened since the last posting.

First ..since is has come and gone I should post pictures from Halloween..cause I so wanted to post the pictures of the kids in their Costumes...I actually got that weekend off from work..and we went to Spokane to spend Halloween with the MCgees...one of our favorite families. It was such a highlight of our fall ..we carved pumpkins...spent an afternoon at Wonderland...watched Despiciple me at the Garland Theatre and trick or treated. The Mcgees always welcome us with open arms and let us invade their house..it is always a pleasure and comfortable....we don't have to worry about being messy..or breaking things....or that my kids will eat to much....they are the best Hostess'.

I started my long arm quilting business and put in notice at my job. My last day will be January 1st at the local quilt shop (LQS)...but I will be doing long arm quilting for them at least until spring. I am going to get a website up and running to get a wider audience...but so far I have been up almost everynight burning the midnight oil this Christmas season with all of the orders that have come in ...and I am so thankful to God that he is blessing me in this new adventure....it is so surreal that people are paying me for my art.....I took in almost every quilt that was offered or inquired about...had to turn a few away because I just knew I wouldn't have time..But Rob thought I still took in to many..I got sick from the lack of sleep and late nights...but I did it!
At this point I am not really making any money because I have payments to make on my industrial machine and frame....so I took a part time job at the school to compensate for the payments in case I don't get quilts in regularly.

SO my new job is a site coordinator for school tutoring..I am in charge at the middle school site and I fill in at the otehr school where needed..when I get more students I will work at the middle school full-time..but I just started the site two weeks before winter break....It is a great program funded by the federal Government..great incentives for the kids to stay in the program and keep up ontheir studies. I like that I work less than 2 hours a day M-Th and I get paid a good salary .....and I get all the same holidays off that the kids do ...and it covers my Innova Payment....so everything works out beautifully.

I finished my first semester at WSU last week....with everything that was going on..I am surprised to say..I am a B student.....but I am happy with that considering everything....I had going on..I thought I was going to collapse at one point. School starts again JAn 10th.

I am anxious to be home with the family and spend more time with them rather than running around on Autopilot getting everything accomplished.

ALl the kids are doing well......all have good grades except one..of course. ALl the birthdays went well..Carl had his 13th LIMO party. ROb got to go with them this time...and of course dinner was at the China Buffet (Carl's Favorite) and he had a good turn out. Hard for me to believe he is 13 and I was weepy all day. OF all the kids he really appreciates everything we do for him and I am so blessed to have him in my life....
Bryce turned 14 in November..and Bryce is Bryce. Need I say more? He invited two friends over for dinner and a movie...they met up with some girls at the theatre and I had to leave them there by themselves without a chaperon.....I am in counseling trying to let go of my children... and this is what I have been advised to do..I did tell my Counselor is something bad happens I fully hold him responsible..He laughed at me?? I wonder why I pay him? LOL I guess I have to let go at some point ..but it doesn't seem like they are old enough yet. All those boys did was talk about girls..hormones.

I keep telling my boys that I would like them to let me at least live in some sort of denial about some things because they insist on talking about some personal issues that I can't or should not hear...and they don't listen...so I have learned to kind of make it a serious "talk" if I possibly can with out the rolling laughter and it usually seems to work.
However, dinner time in our house is a honest real talk time and although I wouldn't trade those times..sometimes I think other people sitting at out table would think we are weird.

Anyway...as CHristmas time draws near and all of the thinsg that we are thankful start to appear more vividly.....I woudl liek to list some:

GOd, when dreams come true, therapy (for when dreams are delayed), pink, minkee...it always feels so good!, my children, My husband,my friends!, my home (even though I see all of it's flaws), the snow, laughter, apple cider, quilting, and a good book ( not a text book!). Those are just a few of course. I try to see the good thinsg in my everyday...because without those life just wouldn't be worth it! I hope you all have a fabulous new year and a Blessed Christmas!

Sept. 21st 2010

2010-09-21T08:01:00.000-07:00

Today is a sick day. I came home from my trip with a bit of a cold and it has progressively gotten worse. Carla called last night I told her I just haven't the energy to even quilt...She said "Now we know you are really sick!"
Yeah..I actually did other things because when you leave home for five days and Rob gets to rule the house..well I came back to filth! SO I can only stand it for so long even being sick..have to do something about it.
I need to get some homework done today and I called into work..nobody wants to catch my virus anyway...so very good.
We had a family meeting last night to once again discuss chores..I have tried teh finance plan...awards...punishments and everything in between...nothing! These kids are killing me!
SO now we are using different tactics.....I will let you know how it works.

All of my classes in Tacoma went well last week..I didn't learn as much as I had hoped....but it was a good experience none the less.
I have lots of samples I need to put together for the shop...for my classes no time!
The kids all have dentist appts coming up..we are waiting to hear the results of Rob's MRI on his back..maybe another surgery in his future and things just keep truckin along.
I feel fall in the air.....LOVE fall...but hoping that I can stp and smell the cider in these times..because time just keeps getting away from me.
Well I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Sundays......

2010-09-12T16:52:00.000-07:00

Today was a relaxing day....I think. Last night I was so exhausted from the anticipation of "Charisma's Corner" a class I am teaching monthy at The Fabric Patch...yesterday was my first class..it went well..and I am so happy that it did and that everyone loved it. But I was exhausted.....I have no idea why?? But I fell asleep at 8:00 pm..weird for me..adn I slept until 6:30 ish?? then got up and made breakfast for my family and started doing homework....fell asleep again..tntil just after noon..really weird!
So now I am trying to get homework done before I leave for Tacoma and get training from all the best quilters in the USA!! WOOOOHOOO!
Things for this week:
1. Jeri had her first kiss ( found out after Labor day...she kissed a boy at Rim Rock Labor day weekend)

2. Getting in the swing of homework again is hard..but I can't let go

3. My husband is teh most supportive man on earth and I am glad to have him in my life...even if I have to hear about grid kids football every day ...every hour and over and over again 6 months out of the year.

4. Sometimes we just have to deal with things....even if it is about the principle..just give in..it makes everyone's life easier..Dang Laundry!

5. Carl has decided for his thirteenth birthday he wants a LIMO party....he hasn't decided if he wants dinner at the CHina Buffet or the Golden Corral buffet..tough choices..LOL.

6. Clarissa finally decided she didn't want to lose her art supplies so she miraculously cleaned her room in one evening ...although it took her parents two weeks to realize what privledge to take away from her that would make her do it..who is the smart one here?

7. Cole and Preston won their first football game yesterday by the skin of their teeth apparently and I got the play by play from Rob..I will hear it ten more times as he tells everyone around us within the next week.

I hope you all have a great week!

Memorial day weekend.

2010-09-09T08:08:00.000-07:00

We had a great weekend. We took the kids to Rim Rock Meadows again...The Steppe's , Carla and Stacey met us up there as well...along with the White's and Ponozzos. We had such a nice time..relaxing and fun. We played "Catch Phrase" which is always fun and brings out lots of laughter.
The kids played boffer swording and went swimming. Jeri also had her first kiss...disturbing as that is (for her parents).....she is talking on the phone all week with her friends about it.
Clarissa got to stay an extra day with the Whites up there..so she could have a sleep over with Katie..they played so well and it is rare that Clarissa gets to have play dates or stay anywhere so I let her.
I started commission quilting last week and the blessings just keep rolling in...I think I have done 7 quilts so far..... YIPEE! I bout an INNOVA quilting machine which costs more than my car...(I know) but I get to quilt for my payements..so far this month I have had enough jobs to pay my payment ..now anything I do is extra! But Next week I will be gone to Seattle for some quilting classes all week..WOOOOHOOOO! Investments in the business.
School is going well...I was a bit stressed over the weekend....but I think I now have everything under control and I am just buzzing along..Next week will be my first test of course!
Preston and COle have their first football game this weekend in Othello. They aren't really looking forward to playing Othello becuase they say they don't take care of their feild so there is dog poop everywhere..GROSS!
Rob has an MRI on Friday for his back it is acting up again...plese pray! I am hoping there is no more surgeries..but if there has to be...I told him he had to get it done before the end of December because we have already met our deductible for this year with Cole's surgery..so I don't want to pay again.( Hey it's a logical thing..right?)
Bryce is being teased every night at the dinner table about his Beiber hair..which I happen to think is cute...and he actually traded shower times..so he could shower in the morning because he has to fix his hair??? How long has he teased Jeri about having to fix her hair?
Preston showed proof yesterday in a picture that he at least brushed his hair one day in his life...lol.
Carl.....makes fun of the beiber hair....but can't stand anything in his eyes...if his hair even starts to hang aropund his ears it bothers him and he begs for a cut..so I doubt he will ever have the long shaggy hair....he is such a sweet boy.
Clarissa has been grounded for two weeks from treats for not cleaning her room....she is so stubborn..so now I am taking away her markers and crayons and paper..I think these are the only objects that will motivate her..she doesn't have attachment to "things" but she loves her "art" supplies. SO I have to take her down with these...silly girl.
Well that is our update as of lately.....I have to get ready for work..I hope you all have a great week!

Back 2 Skool!

2010-08-31T08:03:00.000-07:00

Well the 26th ( last thursday ) was the first day of school for the kiddos.....I never know how I will handle the first day of school until it comes. I hate sending the kids back to school every year.....just becuase I know it is one step closer to them getting older....I like having them at home and I know now on all of my days off I won't be taking them to the lake...or bowling or to the free movie. So once again back to routines and schedules. I thrive in that environment as well but there is something nice about having the kids home to distract me from everything else and spending lots of time with them.
So I got pictures.....the boys are hard to get pictures of..I get one chance and I have to be fast. The girls area bit better but not by much. Clarissa is the baby and she is in second grade now...she would not let me walk her to her class...Why can't she let me baby her on "special" days? She is so independant and she refuses to carry a back pack ..she wants a handled bag like Sissy. I have noticed this year she is matching her earings to her outfit everyday and she is fixing her own hair..she only wants me to fix her hair when she wants something specific she can't do herself. She is getting really good at making her own pony tails and that sort of a thing. I can't beleive how much she has changed recently.
JEri is a sophmore and before school started Clarissa and I made about 20 HUGE flower hair clips for all of us girls to share/wear. Jeri has worn one to school everyday and now the kids are calling her "Flower Girl" ...I think she is darling and she had me make her school bag this year..which I was only happy to do and of course I used Amy Butler fabric..only the BEST designer EVER!
The boys are ......The boys. They are happy with new tennis shoes...jeans and funny 8$ shirts. Everyday is a new day...they are at a funny age where they want to be grown up and treated so..but then they throw fits about chores....want to play video games and bionicles. BRyce is in 8th, Carl is in 7th, Cole is 6th and Preston is in 5th grade. It is hard to believe this is where we are and I am in the thick if parenting but I think we are all managing and life is GOOD!
Football starts today .....for COle and Preston. My QFL ends today and I am ready to start fall cleaning and getting better organized for our routine. I hope you all have a great week.

One day until school..........

2010-08-22T10:11:00.001-07:00

for me anyway.....the kids start Thursday. SO now it is back to routine time and making them go to bed early and getting organized?? HMMMM
I am nervous about school as I always get the first week or so..but I know I will get back into the groove of things and I will love it as always. I love school becuase it is challenging (most of the time) and it also gives me a sense of accomplishment which is a feeling I really love...I think I will probably be one of those life time students..not fulltime of course but one of those that will always want to take a class here and there for a refresher. For so many years I told myself I was to stupid or that I could not do it and now after a couple of years and a degree later...here we are? Funny how things turn out.
IT is also a funny twist of fate that happens.....as soon as i decide that I need to be practical and that I need to focus on a grown up job....my passion has been handed to me on a plate..ART. I am expecting a Long arm quilting machine to arrive at my house this week and I will be doing some commission work which is exciting and teh beauty of it is that I don't have to advertise for customers....so trying to balance those thinsg I think is going to be difficult...but isn't that a good difficult?
We went school supply shopping on Thursday night...225$ later and we didn't even buy back packs! School clothes shopping came Friday...a trip to Wenatchee was in order...it was CRAZINESS! There is no way to keep track of all these kids and as soon as the boys find their stuff (which doesn't take long) they are ready to go and Jeri has barely looked...so What does Rob do? Wrestle with them..egg them on and it gets worse....OH MY!
We went to dinner at Wendy's...what a great place..SHout out to Wendy's in Wenatchee WA..they played CHISTian music in the lobby/restauraunt! WOOWOOO! NOt only do they have the best CHILI ever...but they had great service..it is hard when my family walks into a place to get all the orders correct ...which they did...but they also came out to our table refilled our drinks ..they treated us very well....nice place to go!( I am going to send them a thank you note!)
We have school open houses the next couple of days...and we will be gearing towards fall...fun..fun...fun! I hope you all have a great week!

My Family

2010-08-09T20:34:00.000-07:00

At the space needle...as you can see? We are a funny bunch! Carl was wearing a green shirt...so he is lost in digital imagery.

Things to remember:

1.DOn't make specific plans..or better yet..pack for unexpected plans...I had only packed flip flops.....my feet were killing me...Thank Goodness Cole had packed extra shoes..I wore his sandals the second half of sunday..or I would be crippled today for sure!

2. Kids like to eat in food courts...get cash...sometimes it is better so you can wait in one line..instead of 3?

3. Experiences are worth more than gold...and making a dream come true for someone is worth fortune!

4. Sometimes being flexable is key to success.

4. Don't ever eat octopus..they have a brain.....only live for three years..long enough to mate...they like to play... They change colors with their moods...they are pretty and I fell in love with Fi-Fi from the aquarium......Poor Fi-fi is being released back into the wild to mate and die..I feel so bad for her.

-she has 200 suction cups on each of her 8 arms
-she likes to sleep during the day
- she will lay 100's of eggs and only 3 babies will live

She won't even be able to see her babies grow....amd she dies for them.....I am forunate not to be an octopus.

5. I found out some sort of weird Eel fish ) can't remember the name of him)....he mates for a season or a lifetime? ISn't that much like human males?? Just making sure? *wink*

6. JImmy Hendrix -----so many facts I read about him....but the jist of the smashing guitar ....he painted symbols and poetry on the guitars he smashed as a sacrifice to his music...kind of interesting.....He also served in the military..also from Seattle.

7. There was a recording studio in the music experience..well several of them..anyway one of them tourists could go in and record a profound moment of their own personal music history they wanted to share..I didn't go in and share but I thought I would share all of this with you...When I was a freshman in high school ..Nirvana had made their "movement". I was not into grunge. I didn't know who Curt Cobain was? ...I was on the school bus and a fellow student was listing to a CD in his discman..yeah remember those? Expensive back then. I asked what he was listeing to..he told me NIrvana? I said "who"..he said "Have you ever heard Teen Spirit?"...I said "Well I have the deoderant..if that is what you mean?"..he looked at me like I was from outer space..LOL. I still don't listen to that music ..but I know who he is...although not a profound moment in music..a funny one!

8.Clarissa and I could be traveling partners...she liked all the same things I did and lingered in all the same places even if I wasn't paired with her...her favroite part of teh music experience..was the fancy costumes they displayed of the Supremes..they were gorgeous...Clarissa's favourite was called "Cotton Candy"..she didn't know the name before she decided it was her favorite..but very fitting all the same. He otehr favorite thing was the space needle...her teacher was talking about it one day in class..and Clarissa has been talking about it ever since...and she couldn't fathom leaving seattle and not going to the top of it before we left..Saturday night I tried explaining to her that we probably would not go up because we had other plans....when we changed plans her dream had come true and she was elated.

9. On the cruise we learned that Seattle is not the rainiest city in the USA??
- The Space needle is the only structure they have left from the worlds fair...and it is the most secure structure in the city.
- The only episode of Frazier that was actually filmed in Seattle was the very last episode when Frazire Crane was mugged.

10. Did you know that I had the same reaction in the sci-fi museum as Carl and ROb?..My eyes kind of glazed over and I started drooling? ALthough for two very different reasons. I didn't know anyone in there excepy "yoga" from Star wars...and E.T.. I think I saw a bit on the JEtsons...who knows?

Seattle.

2010-08-09T20:02:00.001-07:00

Every year my Brother buys us tickets to go to Wild Waves. I know that is not cheap! There is 8 in my family! So we make the trip...that is kind of our Christmas together...lots and lots of special time together..having fun. Seattle weather is unpredictable...or maybe predictable if you count on rain? YEP! it rained Saturday...but Seattle is prepared for that...so all the water rides had heated water and there were three hot tubs...yes I said 3! SO a little rain didn't stop us from FUN! We had a great time.....then had dinner at FAT BURGER! Sounds funny ..but I think they have fabulous burgers there and you special order all of them...and you can get FAT fries..yeah! We decided to stay at Robert's hotel..he got us a great discount..it was in downtown Seattle....blocks away from the Space Needle.
We were originally planning on going to Alki beach for Sunday...but walking around Saturday night we saw the Science Fiction museum...you all know my husband right? Carl and he sort of started drooling and got glazed over eyes.....we decided we should do that fist thing in the morning.....which turned into skipping the beach...buying City Passes and making a day of tourist activities...we went up the space needle twice....did a harbour cruise...pacific science center....Music experience at Sci-fi museum..and the sci-fi experience (of course)...hit the aquarium..fit in two meals...Ye Old Curiosity shoppe ...We didn't get home until Midnight......but can you imagine doing his in a group of 10...6 of them kids? My kids are troopers and the best travelers...not one problem! They are experienced....
I have to say I am a bit disappointed though because we have done all of these activities before and half of them didn't remember them....I have pictures of them..because I have scrapbooked them several times doing this same trip...but it makes me think ...Why do anything with them if they never remember? It's oK ..they will see the photos.
I love spending time with my brother ..he makes me laugh..he is good with my kids...and he understands where I come from..afterall we come from the same place...We also ate dinner at the Spaghetti factory...MY BIL paid for that...I felt kind of bad..alot of money and we didn't have a great experience there.....kind of disappointing. So If you are in D-town Seattle avoid that restaurant.
I felt bad for splurging in the moment for all of this extravagance....but in the end it is all about the experiences we have with our families.....and pretty soon it is all going to be over..school starts for all of us in just a few short weeks and we won't be able to take this sort of time...Tomorrow is my birthday..I will be 33..unbelievable. My friend Carla came with us over the weekend..she is a JEM....I just LOVE her. She spoiled me today before she left..she bought me two seasons of the "Golden Girls" DVDs...my favorite show of all time...she bought me two shirts..a memory card for my camera...took me to lunch and a movie..How fabulous is that? THANK YOU GIRLY FRIEND!
More experiences....
I just want to cry because I didn't want this time with anyone to end..but how GREAT Was this birthday? I had all of my family together...a special friend and my lovely brother?
I think this will be a great year...LOTS of BLESSINGS to come and I am ready for the ride....I hope you all fine fulfillment and blessings.

Together.

2010-07-26T11:14:00.000-07:00

Well the boys came home on Friday..it is nice to have everyone back together again. They will all leave again next week for another spell at their Dad's house...so I am trying to make the most of our time together. I am taking another short week at work. We played Apples to Apples Saturday night and all I can say is that there are certain key words that send my kids into a fit of laughter.....Anything with Balls....nuts....wood...you get the picture. There are also a few others that seem to be innocent enough that they can turn bad....yeah ..so there was a lot of laughter playing a seemingly innocent enough game. I would like to be able to go into denial at some point in my life especially when it comes to my boys "maturing" but they don't even give me the option....I just get to know....and face it.
So yesterday we decided after a big breakfast ..that we would go to Steamboat for teh day. We had a great time..we had a picnic....swam and played. When we got to our favorite swimming nook...we saw that someone had submerged a table into the deep part of the little area and it became a novelty item for a our family. Well the boys and Rob decided to play "King of the Table" and the park rangers came over and asked where the other table was...I said " My husband and 4 boys are playing King of the table with it"...NICE. How embarassing. Good times...Good times!
Then we came home made dinner..cookies and popcorn and played more Apples to Apples.
I am trying to make the most of the time we have together and school starts for all of us at the same time and it creeps up on us fast.

Funny Clarissa line this lats week:

Clarissa: Daddy can I make eggs today?
Rob : No Not tday Clarissa ...just eat cereal.
Clarissa" Why can't I?
Rob: Because you can't do that by yourself...maybe one day when you get older you can go to school and be a chef.
Clarissa: I could be a chef today if you would let me in the kitchen!

random things...of course.

2010-07-23T07:53:00.000-07:00

not much has been happening here since the boys left a week ago.....but they come back today for anotehr week ----HURRAY! That always lifts my spirits as I hate it when they leave and really their is no life in my house of they are gone.Carl will be so thankful when they come back..he has been bored out of his gord. He went to a friend's house the night before last and they played video games all night. I worry about all of the video games.....it is so hard to balance teh things in everyday life that could have harmful affects on your kids. Jeri has been addicted to TV since I met her and no matter how hard I try to break it...doesn't change. Clarissa is starting to get that bug after this summer too...and I refuse to battle another addicted kid...so we need to nip it in the bud.

I am part of a quilting competition and in the month of July we get double points for christmas projects....I am sewing my christmas stockings....I bought material and everything last fall and never got around to them...well we will all have fancy new stockings this year that coordinate...very nice. I am thinking in the future I may make stockings as gifts for other people ..we will see how I feel at the end of this project.

Jeri is doing well from what I can see on her lifestyle change?? But I don't watch her every moment ..but yesterday I did fairly well as well....so many veggies and fish..brown rice....it was a good day all the way around.

Clarissa has been teasing Rob and picking at him...I think he is getting a taste of his own medicine with her..she will do random things to him and say smart funny things to him and he just laughs at her because he doesn't expect it and it catches him off guard..quite cute to watch actually. She has outwitted him a few times.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

zuchini bread

2010-07-20T12:44:00.001-07:00

Well yesterday when I stopped into work to give my schedule ...also had breakfast club ..Thelma had picked some zuchini from her garden to share ..so I took a bunch and Carl and Clarissa are making bread today. Clarissa and I are trying to be patient with him and he is learning but we both lose our patience and want to work around him to speed him up....but neither of us can..so she keeps walking away...and I keep trying to find other things to work on. Whenever he needs to find something I tell him which cupboard it is in and he looks for 30 seconds and then tells me it is not in there...this drives me nuts because he can't ever find anything....he looks for his shoes on the ceiling. All of this is part of his Aspbergers. So I have to be patient and walk away and let him do it his way so he can be functionable. STRESS!

Clarissa has less patience..LOL...she is young has not had to learn to tone it down some.....so she is going to make her own bread when he is done because she can't work at his pace. That was my way of letting her out easy and him as well...he will get stressed when we hover and he will just give up and be mad.

I was going to take the kids to the free movie in MOses Lake today but ROb took all the car keys with him to work..so we are stuck...UGH! SO I guess I could work on my laundry that I have been neglecting?
I have been working in the kitchen all morning ..cutting vegetables.....cooking brown rice...brown pasta and planning. Jeri had a talk with the counselor yesterday about diet and exercise and I commited to working with her to accomplish her goals. It is actually going to be harder for her becuase she does not like fruits and veggies. She also needs to cut out the sugar.....she says that will be the hardest part for her.... I say Welcome to the club!

I Actually like veggies and fruit...so doesn't bother me. Although she is upset that she can't have any of the zucchini bread that is baking......no good things come without sacrifice.

Well I am going to go do some work before Rob gets home and sees...hmmm nothing I have done? Except dinner? LOL

bits and things

2010-07-19T11:45:00.000-07:00

I am scattered lately...school is approaching and this means life as I currently know it will be over. I keep thinking about everything I want to accomplish....this consumes my thoughts everday.....every moment of my life....everything from the big things to the little things...did I tell all of my kids that I love them?...Did I learn something?...did I get that done?..I hope one day I will just have some epiphany that wipes out that mentality because a person only has so much time here on earth and living with these unrealistic expectations is not healthy (all of the time)but old habits die hard.

I have a few friends that are having trying times in mariage and another who is going through a lengthy divorce and Rob and I are truckin along thank goodness....but I wonder if any of us feel completly whole...full and fruitful in our marriages.....and when I brought this up to my counselor (who is a Godly man) he explained to me "no"...People don't feel this way in their marriage.....why is that? Because just like any relationship on earth.....we have to struggle to have growth..be it a child/parent....husband/wife and that is why we need God to be the center of these relationships because without that grace...faith and gratefulness we can"t demonstrate those things properly. This all makes sense to me.....without pain or struggle no growth...does this mean we need to create it? Ummm No! Does this mean it is easy "no"...but as we all know nothing worth while is easy so here I keep truckin on and be grateful for all of the goodtimes because the bad things makes those good things so much richer and I am thankful for the good things...but I also have to say I am almost more grateful for the bad things because I appreciate growth. Just because there is strife in a marriage doesn't mean you can't be HAPPY in a marriage and have mutual love and respect...for those of us who are black and white people..this may be a hard concept to understand...but YAY! I got it! LOL

I also heard today that if a son has a good mother (particularly) he will show three charachteristics as he changes into manhood
1.provider
2. protector
3. reside

I just wrote that blog about Bryce and all of those things ring a bell......That warms my heart..that I am doing such a good job with him despite some of my bad judgement calls along the way and how things just seem to work themelves out if you are faithful (see growth!....everyone can learn..even if you were not taught well)...Bryce has a tendency to hang around me and he wants to be near me or know where I am at all times....who I am talking to ...and what my plans are..and just as I do with all kids I don't think about these things until they are presented to me I just adjust and give them what they need to feel stable (naturally) and that is his thing...doesn't bother me....hmmmfunny how these things come about.

The last thing bothering me lately is the fact that Jeri is struggling with her weight......I think she is beautiful no matter how much she weighs.....but it is bothering her....I don't say anything about her size becuase people who live in glass houses should not throw stones if you know what I mean? I would never judge her. But what is really bothering me is that I am not happy with myself and I am not doing anything to motivate myself..so how do I offer her advise or help her when I can not help myself? She is old enough now that I don't have to to manage her diet she needs to do that on her own.....if I do it I could damage our relationship ..so I don't unless I feel she is just harming herself on 20 hot dogs or something..you know? So how do I cross that line to say ..OK this is what WE have to do and work it out myself so I can set a good example for her? I mean she has plenty of good examples around her..The boys.....but deep down I know she is looking to me to help her and I feel inept.....guilty and worthless in this area...I need to be a good and healthy Mom....so maybe I need to pray about it and see how I can at least work on it.

He.

2010-07-16T07:33:00.001-07:00

I keep thinking about BRyce. HE is going through changes....it is not easy on him or any one around him. HE and I have to navigate through our relationship frequently...just when I think I have it down it changes..I suppose that is natural.
I always thought 13 was the magical number that they {kids}(especially the boys) would not need me anymore...but it isn't true they need me more...I always have this unnatural fear that they are preparing to dump me...(self protection).....but it doesn't happen... I realize.

Bryce hugged me two times yesterday and came about to say he loved me several times. Not the teasing....I need attention way..but the genuine...."I am happy you are here" way. I appreciate that....it warms my heart and keeps me up until he changes with the hormone flow....I know it is normal but I do realize that it it something to cherish as it comes.

Bryce has a strong personality and sometimes it is hard to tell which traits he gets from which side because unfortunatly he has two parent with strong personalities...but he is figuring things out on his own turf and that is a good thing. He is a STRONG leader..when he wants to be.( he needs to rule with a Godly spirit and not and iron fist...)..but he really does have a soft sensitive side that appeals to people around him and he notices people...reads people and loves to be needed...and genuinely loves people in general (when he wants to)...but if you hurt him or someone he loves (especially his MOmma!) He will make you pay...hopefully the latter part will get better with age and experience.

Bryce wants to be a lawyer or a special needs teacher.....I think that fits the spectrum that is BRYCE...he is a puzzle that is complex but simple in some ways and he is a good boy who loves his MOmma and I am extremely proud of him.

This is the summer before his 8th grade year and it is sad that I can count on one hand how many summers I have left before he leaves for college on whatever path he will lead and I need to push those thoughts out and think about everything I need o teach him before my summers end and hope that I got it all in.
This summer he was a camp counselor at OMNY.....he started sewing a quilt(picture above)...his Best friend moved back home. He played in Hoopfest. cared for his sister. bought a turtle. hugged his mom.

Not feeling well

2010-07-14T08:31:00.001-07:00

I have not been feeling well the last couple of days...I am so very tired..I think my body is trying to fight off something but I don't know. I thought maybe it was because I didn't get alot of sleep last week..maybe my body needed to catch up but after Monday....I should have been well. On MOnday I went to staff meeting and then came home and slept most of the day..until we did family activities.....and then yesterday I took the kids to a free movie in Moses Lake..had a lunch date with my dear friend Donna and then came home and stayed in bed (reading) until dinner. I read a whole book yesterday..and then went back to sleep...today I don't really fel moivated to do alo but I have to work. It has taken me an hour of talking myself out of bed...this is unlike me....not to mention I have not turned on he sewing machine in 5 days...very unusual. Especially considering I have a class tomorrow night and I am supposed to have some things done.
Anyway....Last night the book I read ended in such a great way...that I think I should use it as a scrapbooing /blogging tool myself.
This Gal ends the book with all of these key words or phrases of the lesons she learned during the process of the book..isn't that great? I am trying to think of how far back I should go...or if I should just keep a steady stream of them going each week?
Well I should get ready for work....It may take me awhiel in my current mind set..LOL.Sory body from laying around to much and tired body from sleeping to much...poor me! LOL

School clothes shopping

2010-07-13T08:44:00.000-07:00

Well this year is a bit strained to say the least...you try not to rely on certain things but as time passes you realize you have.
Usually I buy all year round hitting the all the sales and stocking up for when my kids go to school...that way football fees....school supplies and odd and end things don't ruin your complete budget....and I still never have enough for school pictures..we have not bought school pictures since all the kids have been in school ..even before that I think..it is so expensive..and I always tell myself I will just take pictures of them....and I never do...we also have not had family pictures since Clarissa was 18 months old?? She is 7 now....that needs to be a priority..well this year I think I have been neglecting alot of things because I am working. I have not been shopping.....I would go to Wenatchee several times a week for school..but I wanted to get there and back..not look for kids clothes...so I have no stock pile.
Last year Bryce was entering 7th grade and clothes seemed to be a big deal to him..everyhing had to be name brand and I did buy him all the best brands..it still was not good enough so this year I talked to all of them and explained that I have to buy clothes for 6 kids ( usually only 4....but Trina does not have a job so I am thinking she can't afford it this year..time will tell) and that they each will get 100$ I know 100$ does not go far.....but between 6 kids and then school supplies..well we are looking at around 800$ and I have no idea where I am getting football money?
I don't really stress about these things...it is only money....and I think it is good for my kids to have to make sacrifices...they need to learn and it all actuality they have risen to the challenge.
We went to Tri-state outfitters last night..The Horton boys all got NIKE shoes and all together they spent 75$ with tax for three pairs of shoes! YAY!
They bought their jeans at Wal-mart....they never would have done that last year....but they are counting pennies....since they are on a budget.....now we just need shirts...socks and underwear.

Things always have a habit of working themselves out and God provides..so not worried but want my kids to learn valuable lessons.....so in these times...they get it and I am preparing them for life...which always makes me feel good.

We went to Silverwood last weekend..had a great time..weather was perfect and we got to do everything per usualy because I am the fun Nazi! At one point I stopped to smell the flowers ..Clarissa loks at me and with serious hand gestures says "MOM..FOCUS!" "We are here to FOCUS on the FUN...NOT the flowers!" Well OK then..I am focusing! Sheesh..I have no idea where she gets these things.

They have a new dunk tank now and it takes volunteers and then people pay to dunk them...everyone was discussing who would go in the tank....Bryce said he would so I paid 5$ for that....he was complaining all day....harassing people all day in his usual fashion so I thought I would give the other kids a chance to dunk him..LOL.They did! Funny thing is they had another kid in the tank heckling the crowd and no one would pay but as soon as little Bryce got in teh tank people were coming from out of the woodwork to dunk him....they must have recognized his voice in the park complaining about everything..LOL....Preston also got dunked..and Jeri.

On Sunday we stayed in town with our friends the Steppe's.. Mary made us all a big breakfast and then we played cards for a bit until lunch.We had lunch with Rob's Parents and then we all went back for fun. All of us girls went for pedicures while the boys went to play mini golf...what a great weekend..but always makes me homesick for my friends.

LAst night was a good night as we took the dogs for a walk...did a bit of school shopping and spent time together as a family. I hope you all have a great week and get plugged in with your families.

A few things to blog about

2010-07-08T21:55:00.000-07:00

I need to blog some things because life gets in the way and you forget things along the way that you want to remember. I have been writing alot about Clarissa because she is young and she still does cute things ...the older kids may do funny things but not so much cute things...and teh funny things they do would not probably be things I want to remember or blog about at this age...the boys are becoming hormonal and perverted and I choose to block those out 10 seconds after they do the...it is like a parental block...self defense mechanism.

Yesterday I got home and Clearly Clarissa had a blotchy face...swollen eyes and nose...she had been crying....this is the conversation:

Me: Clarissa is something wrong?
C: No any more
me: What was wrong?>
C: I can't explain it
The whole time she won't look at me.

Me: Did someone hurt you?
C: NO
Me: Did someone say something mean to you?
C: no
Me: Hmmmmmmm Did you get frustrated
C:Yes....
Me: About what
C: A math problem I could not figure it out!

Sidenote: Clarissa has not once told us that she has reading or a summer homework packet...I knew she had it..I just didn't ask her because I see her work on her reading and homework at various times.....she likes to be in control of things and work at her own pace.....so I let her. Problem is she hates asking for help she wants to figure everything out on her own and sometimes she gets very frustrated...I don't know where she gets it from? Anyway..she is almost done with everything and she is a real self starter...I never have to make her do her responsibilities.....she does them on her own..I just LOVE that about her!

Me: Clarissa why didn't you ask for help
C: Shoulder shrug
Me: Instead of getting worked up about something you could ask anyone for help....Did you figure it out?
C: Yes I got it all done and I figured it out.
Me: Are you sure...Do you want me to look at it?
c: NO I got it done.
Me: OK Well I guess you got it!
Tehn I just had a nice talk with her about how I think she is a great child and that she is way ahead of the game by being so self sufficient but that it is ok to ask for help and that I am really proud of her for sticking to it until she was done.

Two days ago we went to wal-mart..Clarissa needed a bike tube for her tire. I bought it got home and she came in to tell me ..while holding back the choke of tears ...I could barely understand what she was saying...She kept telling me that I had got the wrong tube because her tires would not match if we used that one? I said "why" she said "because it is black!" Tears coming out "I won't have matching tires..I will have one black and one white tire." LOL...Well I explained she would still have matching tires and that the tube goes inside the white tire...Then suddenly the world was right for her..LOL. These are important things you know?

My new sewing machine is coming next week and I am super excited to start long arming ...hopefully I can get the hang of mymchine really soon.
Well I hope you all have a great weekend!

Wolf Teen....Teen Wolf..Oh whatever

2010-07-02T07:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was hilarious and this just warms my heart when my daughter is so......The way she is!

Rob got home from work....ate dinner and then goes to relax ( where?...shocking I know the tele) Turns it on to to the movie called "Teen Wolf" with Michael J. Fox.
Clarissa strolls into the room with her pink sunglasses...sparkly Eyeshadow...glossy lipstick and high heels..oh of course a dress....looks at the screen and says "Daddy is this from the olden days?" Rob says "Clariss it is from 1985" to which we hear a grown from the mini super model in front of the screen who slumps herself onto the couch next to me.
Then she starts commentary on every scene from the movie and it is just darn cute you can't help but laugh. Rob does commentary on movies he hates to watch as well.
So she starts with the guy named Chub on the basketball team...She takes one look at him and says "umm they need to give that fat guy bigger shorts..it looks likes he is wearing tidy whities" LOL. Bryce looks at her and says "Clarissa they are all wearing small shorts that is what they did WAY back then."LOL.....She says "even the fat guy?" ( she has learned from her brothers that tidy whities are for nerds and that boxers or boxer breifs are the only way to go)
Then she can't get over the hair on teen wolf...she keeps saying "Daddy this isn't even REAL...Why do you have to watch this stuff?" Then he starts doing the car surfing and she is totally disgusted by this obviously nerdy behavior and she comments about how in real life he would probably fall off and get into an accident....LOL. Then the scene between he and his Dad come on..she says "YEah the Dad is probably are wolf too!" (Does that mean it is a predictable movie if a 7 year old can get that?)
So then it is time for the spring dance and as he is getting ready putting on his Miami vice inspired suit she is just beyond herself until she sees him enter the gym with all the 1985 dresses that the girls are wearing...LOL...all she can say is "WOW....nice clothes" with a look of horror.
She was not happy until the credits started rolling and the movie was over.
I have to say she cracks me up and scares me all at the same time...because she is only SEVEN! Just start me on the meds now..I may have a heart attack when she reaches the teens.

Blueberry Fancy

2010-06-27T09:50:00.000-07:00

I forgot to take apicture...this is how everyone will know that I have been thinmking quilting for way to long and have not been taking pictures of my children and their actions...reactions.....and everything in between..I can't even see my scrapbooking table..but it has been calling to me lately....maybe soon.
Anyway, Clarissa is on a cooking streak right now....we have a few different kids' cookbooks and other "little" cookbooks..they have to be cute looking and little for her to go through them ( anything cute and little leaves my areas and end up in hers...ie: my embroidery scissors with a pink handle..yeah gone within hours of getting them?)
She has been trying a new recipe every couple of days...she wanted to try BLueberry Fancy from a slow cooker recipe box....it is listed under desserts ( i think it is really a breakfast recipe....but usually you don't slow cook breakfast) and so she made a list of all the ingrediants she needed at the store...we went shopping and then yesterday Rob and her started it while I was at work.

It was ready after dinner..we all were telling her what a great job she did ..it smelled really good and then we started eating it...it just tasted like french toast stuffed with blueberries and cream cheese...Rob decided he did not want to coninue eating it....he said he didn't really like it....I was so upset with him...he could have shoved it down as to not hurt Clarissa's feelings....so I gave him the look ( which by the way he didn't understand...that drives me even more crazy!)..then within two minutes Clarissa decides she doesn't like it either! Thank GOD! Then she wouldn't be crushed that her dad didn't like it. LOL. Thank God these things work themsleves out sometimes. The rest of us liked it...so I don't know?

She has also made a cake this week and also made "egg in a frame" for breakfast.

She is getting good at following directions and writing lists and remembering things...That warms my heart...

She was also at my work for several hours this week because the other kids are at OMNY....sewing and while she sews she humms...(which is adorable)...but she forgets she is with other people...so whiel she is talking to herself to work things out she sings everything..at one point she burped in between humming and singing..she sang excuse me to herself....So CUTE!

Jeri didn't make counselor this year at OMNY which was disapointing to her....it is a paid position but they coordinator thought she needed an extra year to mature and get more leadership skills. I agreed. Bryce was promoted to bike man ths year ( he fixes all the bikes) and Kathy (the coordinator) called and said she is very impressed with Both Jeri and Bryce this year...She thinks if there is an opening next year for counselors she will interview both of them...If Bryce will be going into his freshman year and that will be exciting because he will be pretty young...and Jeri will feel great that she stuck to it and made it through! Omny has been such a good experience for all of my kids. This last week Bryce played "the cat in the hood" a version of the Cat in the hat...improvised to teach the kids lessons..Bryce loves center stage and he does well with these sorts of things.

Coel and Preston are at landons this last week and next..Bryce is missing time with Landon for OMNY. Carl is a very caring older brother he comes in and picks up Clarissa everyday after OMNY to walk her home..She would rather have me drive them..Carl always wants to walk..so I try to break it up for them..so it seems fair...But I can't imagine him loving to listen to her complain the whole way home..but I think he is probably used to her whining. LOL

Well I should get something done....I hope you all have a great Sunday!

Quilt show

2010-06-22T12:43:00.000-07:00

Well our local quilt shop ( also where I happen to work part-time) puts ona quilt show every year. I have never entered and I was not planning on entering this year for several reasons:
1. I didn't have any really good quilts ready for the show
2. My quilting ability isn't as good as my peicing ability (yet)
3. There is to much vulnerablility with "showing" your work.

I am to fragile to show my created quilts to a bunch of people who may reject them and I am not sure I could take the critisim well... so why show them until I get confident enough in my abilities?? I know we are all harder on ourselves.....but showing your quilts to a bunch of quilters? It is way better giving a quilt with many mistakes to some one who isn't a quilter because they think it is fabulos no matter what!

SO my boss was harassing me to enter.....I kept saying "no"...I think at one point I wanted to start crying because Rob was also bugging me. So The boys were helping set up for the show and I was at work.....not any where near the quilt show and Rob and the kids each entered a quilt into the show without my knowledge.

On Thursday night before the judges arrived I went to go look at the quilts since I knew I would not have time during show and I saw my display of quilts.....I didn't have nice things to say....first of all the quilts they chose are comfortable quilts that were never meant to be peices of art..We use these quilts..and Preston didn't even wash the one he entered...it was full of dog hair (embarassing?>...Preston has a habit of always embarassing me).....They each had a typed label explaining why they had chosen each quilt...Cole chose the one hanging in our entry way because he figured if I thought it was good enough to hang on the wall it was probably good enough to hang in a show?? Good logic..he is always my logical thinker ( However it hangs there because I love the colors and it is actually a very simple quilt..not worthy of a quilt show...I couldn't crush him though).....My boss typed up a message propped up by an easel stating that my family had chosen these quilts because I was to shy and modest to enter my own quilts and if I had cooperated I would have chosen differently.....(that is the short version) and that is absolutely correct.

Lessons learned:

1. Next year enter at least one quilt so boss and husband don't harass me...never know how they will get quilts

2. The only people I need to feel vunerable to already love me no matter what!

Although that was all my first reaction.....I have to say the kids were so excited not just for the prank but because they BELIEVE in me. They were so proud of themselves because they thought I was going to win every award in the place and they kept asking when the awards were going to be handed out.....When Rob was going through all of the quilts with me ...we would be looking at a stunning peice of ART that I am not sure I would even consider using and he would be talking trash about it ...and throw in slight comments about how my quilts were better..LOL. I know he is being nice and I know he loves me and has complete faith in me...But I would never want to discount the work in another's quilt because I am in awe of some of the things other people make and I have respect for the art.
SO I am unbeleivably proud of my kids...and I know they are just returning the feelings and beliefs that I give to them..I have never gone to a football game or choir recital and told them not to have high expectations of themselves or that they are failures..yet I do that to myself and I just need to retrain myself and have the faith that they have in me...It feels good to have them all on my side and I could not wish for a better family...and it feels nice to be a part of a family that loves!....and my boss issued an award for "Most loved qult" with a ribbon and gift certificate.....(that is a made up category...but I think she realized the kids would be crushed if they thought I didn't win)..to who's quilt? Preston's of course the one filled with dog hair....and in all actuality it is the most loved quilt in our house....it has a flannel top....dream puff wool batting and teddy bear minkee on the back ( it is like fur) and it is bright pink.....I made that quilt for myself and I don't know what I was thinking..it is way to HOT for me..I just loved the feeling of all of it....So my boss obviously has a hand in this whole transaction ....she loves to pull pranks as much as Rob does and I will need to keep my eye on her......

Some of my favorite pictures from last week

2010-06-15T14:17:00.001-07:00

Clarissa's 7th birthday.

2010-06-14T07:37:00.000-07:00

Clarissa had her 7th birthdya party on Friday. She kept telling me she wanted a water party just like last year) and the weather man kept saying rain on Friday..I kept asking her what plan "b" would be..she kept telling me not to worry it would be fine......she was right! Very hot day!
The party went well she had lots of friends from school and several of our friends.
The graduation ceremony for Big Bend was friday night as well..I opted out of graduation as I think that I will still be in school come fall anyway.....so it doesn't actually feel like a graduation.
Saturday was an interesting day...The Heim's called because their motor home broke down and they needed help finding a mechanic..so theypulled in for a couple of minutes for Rob to help them...it was nice to chat for a time.
Yesterday (Sunday)..we took the kids to rimrock again.....Beautiful hot day...I was in the sun for about 5 minutes and got burned...How is that possible? I just relaxed and read by the pool while the kids swam....Rob even went swimming for a time.
Last thursday was the last day of school and that is always a bittersweet time..the kids are happy to have the break but they miss their friends and of course our house gets switched around alot because of visitation which is always an adjustment.
Well I hope you all have a great week and that you may feel blessed in your everyday lives.

Memorial Day

2010-05-31T12:25:00.000-07:00

First of all I would like to thank all of the veterans and soldiers that are currently serving our country without all of you I would not have the life that I have and I am greatful!

Well Mary and Carla came to spend the weekend with us at Rimrock Meadows. The Ponozzos and Whites invited us....and it has become a tradition the last few years and it is relaxing and fun there because the kids are entertained and they have all of the facilities plus an dindustrial kitchen so we can have real meals and not cook over a camp fire which is always nice.

The kids swam, ate,and did sword fighting... they were exhausted! It is nice to be with a bunch of families that are like mine and hear about how they handle different things with their kids and learn.
We are actually in week two of our finance plan with the kids. I printed out check registers for all kids. I have never paid my kids allowances because I feel like we do alot of fun thinsg with our kids and if they realized how much money everything was they would get it..well since they don't manage money I am teaching them. They each get ten dollars a week...We take them shopping every thursday night and with that ten dollars they have to pay for all toiletries, laundry soap and after school snacks. They can budget however they want and buy whatever they want but this money will also include their entertainment fund......meaning I don't have to take them to the movies every month or whatever...and I get to pick and choose which things I want to pay for. They also get penalized if they don't complete chores and if they stay in the shower to long ect. SOme of them are managing their money well and others aren't but it is a learning experience and hopefully they will get it...eventually. Right now ..they think they are rich and all is fine and good until they want to go to a movie and they realize how much movie..soda and popcorn will cost them...hahahah!

We just found out this morning that Bryce's BFF is coming back home to stay and Bryce is over the moon happy about it but he is cranky becuase he is tired and I wish school were in today.LOL

Work is going well and I am trying to get through some spanish homework it is my last lesson before my final test and I will be happy just to have it done.....I HATE spanish and I am ready to have summer here so I can focus on other things. FAll will be here before I know it and much as I am excited to start at WSU I want the break.

Well I hoep you are having a blessed long weekend..have a great week!

Monday Things...

2010-05-10T11:00:00.000-07:00

Well I got up today ..went to our staff meeting and now I am working on Spanish homework...I HATE spanish homework. This is my third quarter of spanish and I can't tell you anything about the language I may be able to pick up word here or there is I hear someone talking but ...that is not any where near where they want you to be....LOL. I have to finish this quarter to get into WSU. I am contemplating only doing half of my homework ..just so I can get a passing grade ...cause frankly at this point who cares about getting a 4.0? LOL. I can't let myself fail so I will keep trudging on!

I am working more days now because someone quit at work....which is good and bad....I like being at work....I hate being away from kids...and I like earning mroe fabric. LOL.

I went through my fabric closet on Saturday night....it is not as bad as I thought it was....I have less than I thought of randon cuts of fabric...now i have many "lines" of fabric.... good or bad? Who knows?

But I better get back to work ..so I may be able to turn this in on time!

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-09T22:08:00.000-07:00

Well today I woke up and had leftover breakfast cassrole I made on friday for my kids since there was no school...and then I sewed for a bit until everyone woke up and then.... I mowed the lawn and then.... I made lunch and prepared dinner... and then Rob went to go get boys from Landon and then.... I sewed for a bit while cooking dinner and then.... we had a family dinner.....then we played tennis. I thought for sure this would be the day all the kids would beat me at tennis..it wasn't...and I am so OUT of shape!

Although, it wasn't a nice relaxing day...I didn't have any expectations that it would be so .....it was a good day. Preston had bought me a bouquet a flowers with his own money..which is super special and Rob had bought me beautiful roses yesterday and a card that sums up our house hold..humorus..of course. Clarissa made me artwork and taped a few things to her artwork to give me for a gift ...Bryce said he was making a flower box in woodshop...( I already paid for it) and Cole said he knew I didn't want anything except our family to be together...Carl and Clarissa clipped iris' from my garden to put with my roses???

In all actuality it was a perfect mother's day because I have all of my kids..they are all healthy ..we have food to eat..a roof over our heads and I am thankful to be a MOM..in so many ways..I am thankful that I get to teach them life lesons like:

Family is first!
Spending time together is important!
Gifts are nice.....especially ones from the heart.
We should be thankful every day not just the ones that are marked as a holiday!

My kids know me pretty well and I am hoping that that will always be the case! They know the perfect way in which to Celebrate! I am thankful for the chance to be a MOM and I want to celebrate most days of their lives not just one.....I hope you all have a GREAT day!

In actuality I am greatful to

Cole's Update

2010-05-06T20:55:00.000-07:00

Cole had surgery today...he did very well I was so proud of him..he is so serious and "Manly" about certain things and this one was one of them. The doc sent him home with pain killers and he is handling everything quite well..no complaining.
My Boss brought him a get well package containing blizzard oreos and a 5 pound bag of chocolates ( i think) and that just brightened him up even more...she is so great!

My grandma had a fall last night /this morning..she is in the ER with broken bones and getting an MRI...Please keep her in your prayers.....I am hoping an praying for a full and speedy recovery.

The kids don't have school tomorrow...Jeri had her last softball game tonight and they lost..she is happy that it is all over.

Bryce is upset with me because he wanted to go see Iron Man tonight at midnight and I won't let him go..he has been slacking on his chores and I don't want him going to a movie by himself with his friends...It is hard for me to let my kids do things by themselves and although I can see the theatre from my livingroom it makes me nervous. There is no school tomorrow ...so Rob gets to spend the day off with all of the kids...although the boys are going to Spokane tomorrow....I hope Cole does ok..I hate sending him so soon after surgery. But I think he will be fine.

I am exhausted..I have to work tomorrow and I was up so early this morning driving to Wenatchee for the surgery....stayed up to late last night..Couldn't sleep after watching "Happy Town"....not good for me to watch that stuff....Will avoid from now on....Well I hope you are all doing well....

Happenings and things...

2010-05-03T10:40:00.000-07:00

Well this was a good week and on Friday we celebrated Preston's 10th birthday I can't believe he is 10. YIKES! Rob picked up party kids at school and they came home for a snack. HE had pre-arranged a treasure hunt. They went all around the neighborhood (I was at work) and found clues to lead them to the next clue....one of the stops was the corner store..The clue read something like: This is where one goes for a refreshing drink after a long walk. Preston and Clarissa immediatly think.."oh the corner store" Because Rob often takes them there...Preston's friends thought it was the bar down the hill....I wonder what their parents do when they need a refresher..LOL. Rob got a tatse fo what it is like to deal with kids that are not our own....HE had to tell them not to take water bottles left on the side of the road and absolutley not drink them...not to eat discarded candy left on the street and ..then he had to coach them on how to behave in the store. What is really hilarious though is that Clarissa is younger than all of thoe boys...and she was disgusted at their lack of knowledge.....she was upset because they didn't understand some of the clues..and thought they were barbaric....Her and Preston knew all of them but Preston could be swayed by his friends and Clarissa was disgusted just telling me the story. HAHA!

Preston finished with a sleepover...I don't know why we call them sleepovers..no one gets any sleep. I had to go to work on Saturday as well..so Rob got to deal with all of that..hehe.

Sunday the boys went out to Cindi's house. I am so grateful that this family has taken an interest in my family and the boys. The boys go out there to "work" and they eat like crazy and have a ton of fun...they already feel so comfortable and safe with them ..it warms my heart. Cindi has a 16 year old son..who is the baby of their family and my boys look up to him and want to be near him...and he loves having someone look up to him.... Even when Jared came to get them he said "HEy, Where's my kids?" So sweet! SO we went there for a BBQ last night and felt right at home....what a great day!

Cole is having surgery this week...if you could all keep him in your prayers! It is a 5 hour procedure on his hand..nothing major but he is going to be under...and I hate having to do that with my kids....he wants to get it done before the pool opens and before football starts...he wants everything healed before the fun begins..and I don't blame him.

Things to remember:

My babies are not babies anymore.

Clarissa is just way to smart for her own good!

There is only 6 more weeks of school. (Jeri will be a sophmore...she has told me this three times this week alone)

Life is good!

Love is even better!

I need to update this more!

It's been awhile....

2010-04-24T07:45:00.000-07:00

Well the Horton boys are with Landon this weekend and Bryce was all prepared money in hand from his friends to turn in his Hoopfest paperwork. This year Bryce took it upon himself to get his local friends to team up and compete..which is better so they can practice more frequently..Landon is having to go through a background check by one of the parents since the three extra boys will be staying the weekend with him....Which I think is totally good....and I am glad there are other parents like me....SO in June Landon will have 6 kids for the weekend..wooowooo!

I am part of QFL (quilting football league) It has nothing to do with football really but has everything to do with quilting...it is a quilting cometition nationwide and we are also competing against teams in our own store..today is the meeting..totally excited..you have to show completed projects and aquire points and you get prizes..good ones too!

Rob had a wisom tooth pulled yesterday...so he is playing the "misery" card..when I had my upper two pulled...I still came home and made dinner? Sheesh!

Clarissa got a new bike on Thursday (it is an eary birthday gift) because the bike rodeo at school was on friday and due to the fact that her older brother.....Bryce..kept stealing her bike from her and skidding and doing wheelies last year..her tires and frame is no good..poor gal! When we went shopping for her bike Bryce promised he would not do that anymore.

Work is going well...Rob's work is going well..he is heading into his busy season and this year will be no overtime..which is a curse and a blessing....but he will have three days off..so the camping trips and fun activities this year will include ROb..HURRAY!

Preston's Birthdya is Sunday and we had to cancel his party for the math competition...and this is his weekend with Landon..so we are currently trying to decide which weekend would be good..we have so many things happening that it is had to squeez everything in....

Jeri is playing softball and her team isn't all that good..but she likes the team. She is struggling with everything else because it is so time consuming..but she needs to learn...she is having fun in school and she is going through the daily drama of high school girl friends..everyday it is something new...I just kind of chuckle because I remember it all so clearly for myself....but Jeri takes things to heart to much and she isn't wise to the ways of the world..so she never sees anything ahead of time.....it just kind of hits and knocks her wind out....but again she will eventually get it. Girls are mean.

Cole and Carl stop by my work everyday on the way home from school because my work is only a block or two away.....I enjoy this time...I get to hear about their day..which girls are sending them notes ( they won't talk about it otherwise others in family make fun)..and what their plans are...it is good time for the middle kids who get overlooked. I worry a bit about Cole he is such a perfectionist that I think the world is going to let him down in such a harsh way ..that he will be crushed.....but I can't borrow tomorrows worries!

Well off to work I go...I hope you all have a great week.

Math Competition.

2010-04-17T08:17:00.000-07:00

I am so proud! Yesterday...My Son Preston was involved in a math team competition state wide and he had to start in the morning...for the singles tests and everything..we made it for the team rounds.

They first start the awards ceremony with a t-shirt for the highest ranking kid in each individual school....Preston won at his school...then they hand out awards for the top 10 ranked single kids in the competition..Preston placed third out of everyone! HURRAY! However, then they started handing out team awards...Preston's team didn't place...DARN!

I am thankful for so many reasons.....

1. That I can provide an environment for my children where not only they can recognize their talents but also that they can relish and shine in them..I didn't come from a place like that and I am so thankful GOD has provided me that....so I can be a great Mom.

2. I am thankful that I traded Landon weekends so that he would make it to the competition..although I like to take credit for all the good things and be there for my children...I know it was important to Preston..I just hope that they are making this whole weekend a big celebration for him..because as a MOM that is what I would do...and frankly he deserves it!

3. I am thankful to Landon and Rob that I am able to have this opportunity with my children..and they make it possible for me to be a mom...I also give Landon a bit of credit for Preston's math gene..cuz he didn't get it from me.....Maybe if I have to take any other math in college..PReston could be my tutor? LOL

4.I am thankful that all of my kids could be at the competition and they all cheered their brother on..despite the fact that they fight sometimes..and they point out eachother's weakness' on a daily basis..they really all do love eachother and they could not have been more proud of him! I have really GREAT kids!

God has blessed me in my life....regardless of whether Preston won a math contest or not..it is all of the little things I may take for granted that I am most thankful for....and without the little things there could never be the big things..LIfe is good!

boys...boyz...and boooyyys!

2010-02-11T20:45:00.000-08:00

OK last night after my post on here..I started sewing a few things...I went to my fabric closet and heard some commotion from Bryce's room.....I let the kids read at night before bed..they each have a light next to their beds. I opened the door and there is Carl, Cole and Bryce oogling over the sports illustrated??? I said .." Hey, that is not productive reading guys!" Bryce's response "Mom I am reading the captions." I said "Guys, I did not just fall off the turnip truck...I know what is going on..SHEESH!" Cole and Carl started cracking up..Bryce got red faced and embarrassed....sure he is reading the articles...WHATEVER!
I closed the door to hear a fit of laughter on the other side...I think I may need therapy soon...anyone want to donate to the fund?
So our house is centrally located for all of BRyces's friends..they all come here in the morning to walk him to school....what was the subject of conversation as soon as all the teenagers were here?: Sports illustrated. Suddenly I feel like the perverted house on the block and that I should call all their Mom's to warn them...but I am to embarassed. Carl informed me that the cover is the worst picture (the girl's swim suit barely covers anything) and that that is his favorite one.....He is his father's child is all I can say about that. *shock*

This to shall pass is all I chant on the inside of my head!

Well moving on to bigger and better things..work went well today ..left with a handful of beautiful fabrics....I will have a new apron soon! Studying my bible everyday .....I feel good about all of that!

Today was the valentine's dance at middle school so 5 of Bryce's friends came here for cologne and rides to the dance...The cologne cloud has lingered still....I think I shoudl warn anyone with asthma to avoid my block.....Bryce was worried he was going to run out of cologne ..he wanted me to buy him a new bottle at wal-mart tonight...I bought him one for Christmas...the boys were dousing themselves before they left...and some of them had already put some on before they got here? Then when I was running a few minutes behind...Bryce told me I needed to hurry or all the good girls would be taken? I asked " what does that mean?" They would all be taken by other guys....Well last time I checked girls were only taken when they wanted to be taken.....isn't it weird to say that? Usually it is hurray or all the good tables will be taken? or seats...apparently at a junior high dance all the good girls would be taken! I learn something new everyday!

changes.....why is this so hard for a mom?

2010-02-10T18:18:00.000-08:00

OK today has opened my eyes?? Are you ready for this?
Prepubecent boys...is anyone ready for this? Especially a MOM?

Today I noticed in the mail Bryce got his latest edition of Sports Illustrated...he was selling magazines for school and his Grandma ordered it for him .....apparently there was a box you could check if you didn't want the swim suit edition..but it was very small and Bryce didn't know if he had gotten that version or not?
It came today...he got the swim suit edition.
He immediatly saw it and took it to his room and started flipping through the pages...this is all you could hear from the next room ..where I happened to be... "HELLLOOOOO"...." oh and helllooooooo". All of the boys eventually migrated to that room. I am in big trouble.

Preston had his presentation today. He neglected to tell us that apparently the girl he has had a crush on for two years is also part of his "highly capable" group at school...she was presenting Pluto...Preston was presenting mercury. I took a picture of her she is really cute. Preston was red faced emabarrassed ..I think he was hoping none of us would notice her name "Melanie"...he has only been talking about her for 2 years. She is a very tall hispanic girl...soooo CUTE!

Can you imagine having four boys sitting next to you when the presenter for "uranus" came up?? YES! I say 4 because ROb about died after he heard the boys laughing their heads off.....then when the presenters were talking about the explorer's of uranus...it only got worse from there.....I wanted to die.

I thought girl puberty was bad.....I think these boys are going to be the death of me.

The evening was topped off with a dare for Carl to go into the girls bathroom...and he did it..Why is this so funny.....there wasn't anyone in there?....I don't know that PReston will ever want us to go and support him again?? I can't say that I want to sit with my own family again...except I heard Preston's Best friends little brother announce to everyone that his mom farts in the bathtub! I felt sorry for her.....out of the mouth of babes!

Clarissa on the long arm.

2010-02-04T20:43:00.000-08:00

I was in training for most of the day today learning how to use our new computer system that is hooked to the long arm machine at work. So a rep from the company had come to teach us and while on break I realized there was no one to get Clarissa from school so I went up to the school....Preston is on the Math team and just to brag about him he is also in the "highly capable student" group at school which means that he is really advanced for his age...he is basically working at a seventh grade level in alot of subjects..in math right now he and Bryce are studying the same things...(the oldest and youngest boy)Anyway..because Preston stays later at school Clarissa is not supposed to walk home from school alone and Cole forgot to go get her....anyway...she ended up walking home by herself...scared me to death...cause I couldn't find her and while taking the route she walks home I called the house and she answered the phone...." HI Mom"
I was relieved that she was home safe...but also wondering what happened on the way home..she said that the neighbor that walks by our house alot stopped to say hi to her...so we had the stranger danger talk and I happen to know that guy....so I was not worried about him but we have another neighbor I wouldn't want any where near close to her...and I mentioned that to her she said " yeah, I know Mom, I remember you told the boys not to go there to sell candy last time" THank YOu JEsus! I have a child that actually listens and remembers things! That was over a year ago and CLarissa trusts me enough to know to listen to me.....there is one other girl in this house that never listens to me.
Anyway, I took CLarissa to work with me and started working on the quilt machine...then I heard one going in the next room....Brianna was teaching Clarissa how to use the long arm...I am so impressed with her little designs she was doing hearts and stars and getting the feel for the machine.

The Human Flaw

2010-02-04T08:31:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had a counseling session..hadn't had one in quite some time because the kids come first...and my hectic school schedule doesn't allow me to take alot of time for myself...so going into counseling yesterday was such a breath of fresh air..I was GIDDY! Yes, Giddy! Not all people feel that way about counseling or the dentist...but I always do...weird.

Yesterday the topic of discussion was what I thought is a "CHARISMA FLAW"...why do I need to OWN everything I have no idea..moving along...DO you know what that flaw is?? I will tell you.

You know that feeling that you are inadequate?...that you are never good enough ..that you will never measure up? I feel I can share this freely because something clicked yesterday...no matter how old I get..no matter what I do in my life..I will always feel this way about SOMETHING in my life...why? Because I will never be perfect and I will never measure up or be good enough that is a HUMAN flaw..not a Charisma Flaw. Does anyone ever think they are good enough for things? NO! We all have doubts and fears and even though I have been through new things 100's of times I get that nausea...and that tape reeling in my head that says: "you are not good enough" ....it is what you do with that that makes all the difference. I could be a victim that says: "you are right...you might as well give up, you aren't good enough"...or I could say: "OK well I am going to try anyway and if I fail that is better than never having tried at all"....I would hate myself much more for not trying...and probably the odds are going to be in my favor that I will succeed because usually when I set my mind to something within reason, I can accomplish it. It is all about perspective...I keep learning that and there is so much truth about that....teh older I get the more I believe this.
I love it when I can relate to everyone and not feel alone in something. Don't you?

We are all brothers and sisters and we all share so many things and I love that God created us that way.....there is no BIG secret here.....it is so simple...we just make it harder than it truly is...how sad is that?

I also discovered some more AWESOME things about myself...things are just clicking for me and I love that! I called my Feminism instructor and told her about my new plan of action and she was so excited and told me about how this isn't just schooling it is a journey..I believe her whole heartedly and I would rather be on a journey anytime...rather than hitting my head against a brick wall..to end up in a place I don't actually care about....Life is beautiful!

Things that are happening

2010-01-27T09:41:00.000-08:00

Well this last week has been an experience.....I have been hitting that fork in the road feeling wondering if nursing is what I really want to do with my life....I know..I know after all of the hard work I have been through to get here ..applications being mailed out and I am in the home stretch to apply....I started to think about why I chose nursing...Well I think I chose it because I wanted to go to school..I needed the education no matter what..and I have to have a reason or a goal when I do things (that is just how I am built)....Nursing fit well in that little box becuase I worked in the medical feild, the college near me only had two programs..pilots or nursing...and working the PT the patients that I had gotten close to had told me I would make a fabulous nurse...Well to become a nurse I would not be a "nurturer" I would be a paper pusher and chart all day administer meds...I would have bad hours to begin with and I don't know that this is what I really want to do.....I think I needed to have a goal and this fit into the "box" I didn't think I could do anything outside of the technical school that was near me...Now I know I can go to the university and my options are limitless.
So after much debate, talk, and struggle within myself I have been checking out my options and talking with my school advisor, career counselor, my boss ( who is a nurse practitioner as well) and Rob. I also remembered my first orientation at school and they said that students change their major three times on average before leaving college..I thought to myself oh yeah..well that is not me.....Well I guess I get to eat crow again!
I am changing my major!
i am going to major in human development ( psychology) and minor in Women's studies (feminism) this is going to be something mroe along the lines of what I want to do! I can be a lactation specialist, be a lamaze coach, work in women's prisons and counsel, I could work with handicapped people..I could be a school counselor, I could be alot of different things that can actually nurture people and make a difference!
The other thing they tell you when you get into the nursing program is that you can't have another job....because to get through the nursing program is really hard..and although I am up for that challenge..the thing is..my family is a full-time job..I am missing out on so many things all of the time because of school now..so getting into the nursing program I might as well just see my family 5 hours a week....and my main job is to be a MOM...I hate missing out on their lives..so I need to re-direct this path so I can be home more...WSU offers my courses on-line so I can work while they are in school and be home for everything in between. So I am going to register for fall semester at WSU and I will offically be a COUGAR (not in the bad sense)!
I pretty much have to have my master's degree to get into the things I want to do..and that is fine with me because I have plenty of time to be a student..Clarissa is 6 years old and in all actuality it is less time that it was going to take me to get my masters in nursing...I will be cutting my student time off by a year! Hurray for me!
I am getting the best of both worlds..I can be a student get my education and be the wife and mother that I need to be. Hurray for me..this is so exciting...God has been giving me peace throughout this process and he is leading me to where he thinks I should be and I love that feeling!

Clarissa and sewing

2010-01-16T22:15:00.000-08:00

Well Clarissa was just itching to go to the shop with me today...she got her chores done and hounded her Daddy until he finally called to say : Clarissa is bugging me to come down there today...Can she come? I said " Yes....then talked to Jeri..I asked ..Does she have her apron...she said: SHe has had it on since 9 o'clock this morning. me " oh ok...sure tell Dad to bring her down."

While she was there she put bolts of fabric away ..ate snacks and then started a crayon quilt..i let her pick out 4 FQ to use and then told her she could get the rest of the fabrics out of our scrap bin....or she could buy a honey bun ( just for my sheer laziness so I wouldn't have to cut all of them up..but she picked FQ instead)...they are all pink...so she is making a PINK crayon quilt..which is fine, it is her quilt...but she is a girl who knows what she wants..so why bother trying to get her to expand? She put in one green strip from the scrap bin..that one strip must be pretty worthy to make it into the pink quilt..lol.
She is getting tired I can tell....and there are alot of little pictures she has to frame in fabric...but I think it is darling the way she tries so hard.
The boys have a friend staying the night and he is just watching her amazed that she can iron, and work the sewing machine..he keeps going in to the boys and saying...How does your sister do that?..My boys don't even look up.. they say : My Mom teaches her everything...Clarissa knows how to work everything. And that pretty much sums it up..Clarissa will weasel her way into everything so she can know the ins and outs of this house..which is good...I am proud of her!

Choir concert, school dances and more...

2009-12-18T07:13:00.000-08:00

Last night Clarissa wanted to come to work with me so she raced home to do her chores and got on her apron and Rob drove her down for the last hour to work...it was dead...DEAD! Nobody hardly came into the shop yesterday!
Clarissa is just happy being there and that is fine by me..I like having her be by my side and learning as she goes.
But from the minute we got off of work..we had to go to dinner..SUBWAY last night..then I took Preston to the store to pick out his white elephant gift for his Christmas party today ..and also get his treat. Then off to Jeri's Choir concert..
....Also Dropped Bryce and his friends off at the school dance. Rob left the concert early to go and pick them up and drop all of his friends off at their homes..When I got to the concert Jeri had decided to wear different shoes...and I found my pair of red shoes shoved into her boots..my RED shoes that she neglected to ask me to wear???HMMM interesting. I asked her about it..she said she "was gonna ask" LOL..whatever...Teenagers.
But she did a great job singing and while we were waiting for Rob to pick us up...Seth ( the boy she went to homecoming with..whom she also has a crush on)Stopped by to say HI...I spoke with his Mom at the grocery store yesterday in fact..he doesn't really talk to Jeri because he gets to nervous..and his stomach starts to hurt. LOL
Anyway, I asked Seth if his Mom was around and he said yes..you could tell he was extremely nervous...then he says "I sure hope my Mom videotaped the Women's choir" ...All I could do is chuckle..what is he going to do...re-watch Jeri? LOL

When Rob picked us up I could tell the boys had been in the car..the cologne cloud that was left from all four of those boys was amazing. LOL I love cologne..but sheesh! They could have left some in the bottle!
When we got home it was homework catastrophes...having to re-wrap Cole's finger..he smashed it in the car door between dinner and concert..the fingernail is going to fall off it is so bad...he handled it well...but I feel bad for him and he had a typing test today...he is probably going to fail that. Hopefully by the time Christmas break is over it will be well enough for him to write and type.
And they were all late getting to bed..all the excitement of Christmas break and missing their friends....and doing all the fun stuff without homework and daily routines..is making them giddy! I can't say I blame them.
Well I hope you all are enjoying the chaos of the season as I am...despite the bad things I can't say that I couldn't be more proud of my children or that I would change a thing in my life....this is the way it is supposed to be...and I am thankful!

Tis the Season

2009-12-17T08:35:00.000-08:00

When we say "tis the season"...What do we really mean?
Lets make a list:
Is this the season for family fighting?
The season for bringing out the worst in people?
STRESS! Need I say more?
Scrooges??
Tis the season for heavy traffic..heavy shopping and heavy eating? Glutenty?
Selfishness?

I have engaged in all of these things they don't miss me despite the fact that I think the real reason for the season is JESUS! His birth ..what his birth meant and what it meant for all of man kind. But I question myself at least..DO I do enough ? am I passing the true message to my children?
IS engagaing in all of this worldly stuff wiping out anything good that I do because the wordly temptations are just that... temptations?
I read the story of JEsus' birth to my children....we have even thrown a birthday party for Jesus on Christmas....Last night we went to the tree of sharing to donate gifts to two children...is that really enough? Couldn't I do more...will they understand everything I want them to know?

What do I really want them to learn.....
The LOVE of jesus..his destiny to give his life for us....GIVING! When we give there are no expectations...The giving is supposed to be from the heart without strings..not because you feel like you have to give to someone...my family struggles with that. GOd Gave us his only son...as a parent we know that was the biggest sacrifice that we could ever know..we will give our own lives for our children..just to spare our kids...WHy because the death of a child is the worst thing that could happen to us parents...God did that! GIVING! That should be the theme. Celebrating the REAL reason for the Season...JESUS!
This needs to be a joyous occasion filled with love, happiness, healed hearts, and Hope for what is to come later when you beleive. We need to believe in the right things...or that is out the window. Which is what has happened to many of us.

We need to feel love in our hearts despite the fact that our flesh wants to fight love. LOVE...what does it mean? many things to many people...but today I want it to mean thinking of others before ourselves..unselfish love. Love means to feel....not just feel hurt..that gets in the way but to feel compassion,empathy, and sympathy. If we can walk a mile in someone elses' shoes I belive we can feel all of those elements of love and we would get a whole new perspective of what we should be doing with love. Jesus was a fine expample of that.....healing, laughing, and teaching. We all have gifts..strengths..and we need to use them for which he intended..let's start fighting to use them.

Happy Holidays all!

2009-12-15T14:54:00.000-08:00

Well I am finally to the point of enjoying some peace....I passed all of my classes which seems possible...except..I really struggled in one class. I got a C in A&P which isn't all that great but at least I didn't fail.
I spent the weekend with my grandma ...we were supposed to go Christmas shopping but she wasn't feeling up to it so I went with my Aunt..we had a great time..we used to shop when I lived there...our "power" shopping...we are perfect shoppers together!
I finsihed all of the shopping for my kids and now it is nothing but wrapping...I used to enjoy wrapping...now I don't care as long as it gets done...lol.
I have started reading our traditional Christmas books for the season...."The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" and we also read the story of Jesus Birth from the bible...the kids love it.
I loved that book when I was little so I love to read it to the kids.
I am tring to make new stockings for my family this year..not sure I will have them done in time for Christmas because the most perfect fabric just came in last week for them and I have not technically started them yet...if not I am sure I will get them done before next year. hehe.
Rob and the boys finally got the tree up this year..I have given up on decorating...I would not have even put it up this year ..so they did it. I am not sure why..other than I am tired and by the time break came...it seemed that the holiday was half over...and I felt like I have not been able to breathe until now...so there it is.
It has been snowing all night and day here..school was delayed for 2 hours this morning..the kids were oh so happy about that..Bryce is home sick and I am thankful I don't have to drive an hour to and from school in this stuff....
Well I hope you all haev a great day..and since I am home form school..I willtry to update this more often...we shall see.

Like Mother, Like Daughter...in this case!

2009-11-08T11:33:00.000-08:00

IT was so cute last week...I want to document this becuase in my hectic life I may not remember and I want to scrap this one day....

Last week Clarissa was reading her book to Rob for her nightly reading and I was cooking dinner in the kitchen...I heard her say..."and I want to buy Mom a bunch of flowers"....I knew she was reading from her book but I said "Oh, CLarissa ...you do..You want to buy me a bunch of flowers?" She replies " Mom, I am reading my book." I said " oh, ok." hehe.
Well about 30 minutes later while I was still working in kitchen Clarissa comes up to me and said " here mom" and she had a little note that said " I love my mom so much I want to get her a bunch of flowers" and then there were little flowers and hearts drawn all over ..is that not the cutest thing you have ever heard? That will be the best bunch of flowers I have ever recieved. I hugged her and told her how much I loved her. She smiled.

The following day I called my grandma and we were chatting and she said she had been going through a video book and this peice of paper fell out that made her teary eyed and I asked what it was...she said it was a picture I had drawn for her and the note I had written on it was "TO: Grandma , this is a picture I drew of us we don't have faces but I thought the gesture was enough...please don't hang this up. Love Charisma"

it was a pencil drawing of us hugging with my grandma's hand on my cheek. ISn't that the sweetest?? She said she was going to frame it and hang it up..I told her that was fine....all I can think is....at the time that I drew it I must of thought it was not good enough..because I have always been that way..but I did want to share with my grandma how I felt about her without exposing myself to much...but now that I am an adult I realize how important that kind of a drawing is to a grandma\parent and I am glad she kept it as I will always keep the drawing and note from Clarissa. Isn't timing a funny thing? I don't believe in coincidences..but I do believe that in the times and struggles we experience in our everyday lives sometimes there is that little glimspe of the things we are truly greatful for and God places those things in our path so we don't take things for granted...but we realize it because it is not in our ordinary day....Blessings!

Isn't it funny how we see so many things in our children that are in ourselves..I never realized until recently how much Clarissa is so much like me...the last few months have been so eye opening ..the older she gets the more teary eyed I get for so many reasons but most of all I just want her to be a strong confident woman and I just may get her there with all of these older brothers...But I see so many strong,good and idealistic qualities in her ..yet I know she could be crushed so easily because she sees and feels everything... life will lead her to where she needs to be regardless of how I see her...and I can't worry about all the things I am not and what I want her to be..I have to raise her to be who God wants her to be....just as I am trying to raise myself to be who He wants me to be...

I hope you all recognize those blessings in your everyday life and that you will document them because I now realize that this blog will be a blessing to my kids regardless if I get every memory scrapbooked because they will have them anyway..in this form and hopefully they will see how much I dearly love them in my everyday life..because they have been my biggest and best blessings.

homecoming

2009-10-26T14:54:00.000-07:00

JEri had homecoming on Saturday night. It was her first date/first dance. She was so beautiful. I found a dark chocolate brown dress a few weeks back and bought that it fit her perfectly. We found a very cute headband on Etsy that complimented the dress perfectly and it took me 5 shops to find some footless nylons to go with her dress so she could wear some bronze beaded sandals with her dress....and while getting her ready all I could think of was meeting her the first time, she was 7 and how much she has grown and how fast the time has gone and how hard it is to let her go on her first date. I cried off and on until she left ...my heart wanted to leap after her but I let her date's mom take her away from me. She went to Michael's in Moses Lake for dinner and then on to the dance. When she came home at midnight she was floating and told me all about her dancing, what she ordered for dinner, and how everyone complimented her on how pretty she was...and tears swelled up again because it was true..she was absolutely beautiful.
Jeri's date was a nice boy that she met last summer during the church program and you know how freshman boys are right? The boy came to the door to pick up Jeri and she looked about 25 with her "sisters" and the make-up I had adorned her with and here comes this poor boy he looked about 12. But the sweetest guy around and very polite and thoughtful. He had brought chocolates for me and 2 different corsages for Jeri to choose from. Rob embarassed all of us...telling the boy not to piss him off?? what the heck? This boy is a dream come true for parents he was literally shaking from nerves and scared to death of Gracie the dog? Gracie is scared of everyone and runs with her tail between her legs if a strangers bends down to pet her? seriously. So anyway it was a success and I hope all future parents of her dates are this easy to work with and up to this type of standard.

SO another step towards my children growing up to fast and me trying to accept it.
but what a great night for Jeri ( and me).

Some things to remember.....

2009-10-21T08:34:00.001-07:00

ON Saturday night Rob and I went on a date...wooowooo that in itself is a miracle and we had a great time had dinner and saw "Couples Retreat" it was funny. Anyway we had 2 extra boys here and also Jeri's best friend Sammy was here for the night as well. When I got home the kids were all watching a movie and poor Clarissa is wondering because she is not interested in what they are watching and she seems to be left out of those things because she is younger.
I went downstairs and she brought her new card making kit (thanks to Donna who gave it to us!..complete with glitter glue and everything..just what she loves!) I put on the tunes and I started sewing Clarissa was making cards and it felt very comfortable, like we just were in sync. I asked her if she liked the music ..she looked at me nodded yes and we went about our business. Last week we were working on her own sewing machine but she wanted to make cards this night.
Clarissa was making cards to give to people because she can't seem to make something that has no purpose...she is so much like me:) So she made a few for me and Rob and then she made a book for us. One of the pages says I love mommys cooking and then she wrote I love daddy , daddy is funny. Bryce came down at that time and said " The jury is still out on that one" poor Rob..lol.
As soon as Bryce came down and saw what Clarissa was doing he sat down right beside her and started making a card. Here the 7th grader and the 1st grader working side by side, it warmed my heart. Clarissa was showing him what she was doing and he was interested. Then as if a memo went out... one by one every boy came down and started working on cards....taking over Clarissa's station. She was willing to share because above everyone else in our house Clarissa....worships " The brothers" as she calls them.

A few weeks ago when school started for me things got crazy because I had started working 2 weeks before, and Rob got a promotion at work so he has been having to work crazy hours and he also had to leave for training in Portland for a week, so I had my girlfriends helping me take kids to soccer and football and other kid activities.. During this time Clarissa was insufferable, would not listen to the kids and when Rob was home late at night she was throwing fits and talking back to him so much so that one night he spanked her..which is the first time he has ever done that to her...not to mention we agreed not to practice corporal punishment on our kids..anyway, I decided that night I would talk to her....I know exactly what she needs because she is so much like me it is scary...I pulled her into my lap and told her that this is just a crazy time right now and that she needs to listen to her brothers and sister and that all the craziness would end soon...it wont stay like this and I explained why things were happening..as soon as she knew the chaos was not going to stick around and that there would be an end..she was back to her old self. Until recently I knew Clarissa and I were somewhat alike but until lately I didn't realize how much she and I really are alike and it is good on one hand because I can help her when need be but also scary because you never want your children to suffer from your same insecurities or weakness'...I keep trying to tell myself that maybe I can just make everything better for her....but as I already know alot of times the things we suffer from our kids pick up on that...I have already recognized some of that in my other children.

Some other things to remember:

School is temporary...family is not....

taking time to bake a cake helps keep my kids happy....

Date night is important for me and Rob..it has set up our whole week...and we are both smiling more.

Don't forget the simple things in life..

We have a little boy that has been hanging at our house and I kept wondering why he was staying so late and he is here all the time. Finally the kids told me he is here because he likes being here his mom leaves out of town most days of the week and leaves him and his brother with a drunk babysitter..that doesn't seem to care where he is and so he stays with us until my kids bedtime. I told this little guy that he could stay with us any night because we have 2 extra beds.( I really want to call his mom but I don't know the "Real" story and I am not judging I just want the kids to be safe...so I am going to pray about it before I call and just offer to let them stay here if she needs them to..rather than with someone who is not caring what they do ) ON Sunday night we were getting ready to have Sunday dinner ...he was here and I called the kids up to dinner. Suddenly Rob says we need another place setting and chair..this boy was eating with us. After he left home Rob told me that the boy was standing in the doorway and Rob had asked him if he wanted to eat with us..the boy looked up at Rob and said "really?...nobody else has ever asked me to stay for dinner they always tell me to go home." That makes me cry for so many reasons..that guy ate like he had never had such a great meal before ...I am thankful for so many reasons....
1. that my husband didn't think twice about inviting him
2. that we can always provide a meal for our family and we always have room for one more..thank you to God!
3. That my home is a safe place for him and anyone else
4. That I have such great kids to allow this to happen in my home
5. So many things to be thankful for....I am so blessed. I love being used as a vessel for God!

Everyday life happenings

2009-09-16T18:11:00.000-07:00

Well life just keeps passing by with each breath. The kids are involved in all their activities.....I got a new car....My friend Carla got a new car and just gave me her old car free and clear isn't that a God send? Rob wrecked the mustang a few months back and we got ripped off by the insurance company because apparently the car had been wrecked previosly and it didn't tell us that on the title...so anyway we still got what we paid into it, but I took the money to pay off most of his medical bills from his back surgery. Rob is tired of driving " Old Faithful" That is what I have named the honda..lol. No matter what happens with our car situation...The honda always seems to be the back-up car ..it is white with a brown door...no radio because it has been robbed so many times...and it still keeps running along. I refuse to have a car payment because you never know what will happen in this economy. Plus, we basically only have one income, 6 kids, and people with health issues....so you never know...so we basically have to save for a car and lately things keep coming up...so ROb has been upset about the car issue..and now it is all cleared up. As far as I am concerned.
I love my new job.....it is a happy place to be...It is like being in a world of color and texture...and people walk in there want to be there and love all the same things I love.
So many things seem to be falling into place..and school starts for me next week.
Rob got a promotion at work....not sure how much or what is actually happening until Friday....When he has a meeting with the upper management. So things seem to be happening for the better. All that nagging I did to make him get his certification paid off..lol.
Well, I hope everyone has a good day!

Fall Beginings

2009-09-09T08:22:00.000-07:00

Well football for our family has officially started and Clarissa had her first soccer practice. She was excited and nervous all at the same time. All I could think the whole time is ...She is so much like her mother..she does not have natural grace or athletic abilities. She kept placing the ball perfectly with her hands before she would kick it....lol. SO obviously we need to work with her...and she runs like a girl...oh well good thing she is one.
We went camping at RimRock last weekend we were rained on but it was fun. They had a live band and also two days of sword fighting, medieval style with foam swords and Shields..That is just what the doctor ordered for the kids! So the boys spent most of their time fighting or in the pool.
Clarissa was in tears because a little boy ( JOsh our friends little guy) had a crush on her and told her she was " one gorgeous wady and he just wanted to kiss her" well obviously like most women she cried and got totally disgusted by it..so much so that you can't even mention it now without the tears spilling freely. How tragic..I know.
I am starting a new job today. I got a job at the local fabric store...very part-time ..I think anyway and she is willing to work around my school schedule..so it seems to be a perfect fit for me.
Fall is representing so many new beginnings for me that it almost seems like it should be spring...but things are settling down in some areas and the weather is getting colder..Fall is my favorite time of year...I love apples and pie, cider and the warm colors of fall. All those warm colors make me happy and I love to bundle up in nice comfy sweaters...
I hope fall brings everyone the same happiness and comfort it brings me.

vacancy......no more!

2009-08-24T15:09:00.000-07:00

Well it has been awhile since I have updated this blog and as school starts in a few days and we are prepared as we can possible be....I somehow have time to blog. We have had such a busy summer it has had it's up and downs and drives here and there and plenty of laughs and cries.
Jeri starts high school this year, Bryce starts junior high and with all of my kids growing and changing ( hormones raging!) it seems that they are getting further an further from me....or not so much further from me but growing faster and developing opinions and likes and dislikes away from me and it hurts to see your babies move further from the next...I can't imagine what kind of drug therapy (or otherwise) I will need when they actually fly from the nest because I can't imagine life without them ..hopefully I will grow with them and it won't hurt so much but I suspect it will still hurt very deeply.
The list of things we did the summer:
1. Silverwood ( Idaho)
2. Wild Waves ( Seattle)
3. Ephrata pool ( to many times to count this was a daily routine)
4. Moses Lake Surf and slide
5. Camping ( Boyer park, Twin lakes Idaho and on labor day we will be hitting Rim Rock)
6. many weekends at the McGee's ( God parents ...The Best ever!!!)
7. Hoopfest ( Horton boys only)
8. Vacation at Grand parents ( Jeri and Carl only)
9. Celebrated 3 birthdays
10. School clothes shopping and supplies!

There is a minor list of our big accomplishments over the summer ( or memorable ones anyway) and I would like to say I got a whole lot of pictures of these experiences but I didn't I pack my camera and then never bring it out...seems weird. But I can't beat myself up about these things because I am experiencing life and not just taking pictures of it all. Plus when your kids get to a certain age they don't pose for pictures very well...it gets to exhausting asking them to let you take a picture or at least ignore it when I am trying to take one...ugh!

As I grow and learn about myself, life and family, Some things you don't need pictures of because the memories are so much better and it is nice to hear my children talk about their vision or version of our trips and memories and sometimes the pictures will take away from that. Of course there is also the fact that you can't take pictures of some memories...early on this summer we were taking a trip to Grand Coulee dam ..stopped at Steam boat for picnic dinner and had a few friends with us...the whole way there my children were singing Christian songs and teaching their friends these songs I will never be able to capture the pride in my soul because my kids were singing these beautiful songs and the sound of them singing is glorious....I thank God for all of my blessings and now I know a bit of what he feels when he hears from me on a daily basis because he is my father.

Clarissa Turns Six!

2009-06-08T14:21:00.000-07:00

Well I am a little behind on things have so much going on and in the last week of classes only one final and one assignment left and my vacation is here ...YIPEE!
We had Clarissa's 6th birthday part a week late because she was invited to her first friend birthday party on the actual day of her birthday.
We had mini pizzas, snacks and we made bunny cakes because that is what she wanted. I was going to make 3 of them, a pink, purple and white one...well she had a different plan she wanted one of the cakes to look like her "real" bunny which is named Ballerina. Ballerina is a black and white rex. SO off to the store to buy chocolate icing....here are the cakes.

We also had a sprinkler, and 2 slip and slides going for guests and the trampoline in the back yard. We invited all of her classmates and our family friends. We had between 40-50 people here to celebrate her life. It was kind of funny because only two boys from her class showed up and they were really cute boys but She was only going to hand out the invitations to the girls and stuff the boy invites in the bottom of her back pack like I wouldn't notice..nice huh? Girls! Sheesh!

Fun was had by all but I think my neighbors are going to give up on me! I can't believe my baby is six years old...it doesn't seem possible but we are blessed to have her in our family.

KFC tonight!

2009-05-14T16:11:00.000-07:00

It is the small things that matter...right? Well last week when Oprah announced that she was giving away free meals from KFC we hopped right on the computer and printed out our tickets! Hurray...so we are going to dinner tonight. Just a simple thing to make my kids happy...CHICKEN!
Other than that we have been getting through our dentist appointments, Rob is struggling through his long days at work and on top of it...at the dentist they hit a nerve in his face when working on his mouth and he has a black eye and his face was swollen for a few days..poor guy!
I am getting very frustrated with Gracie...she is really teething right now and getting into everything and I am just at my limit with her chewing on our patio furniture and anything else she finds.
I am loving school this quarter and glad to be home still.....long days at home making fresh bread and slowly getting things organized. Although I can't really wait for summer..I keep thinking of all the time I will have but who are we kidding? IT is already filling up with all of our activities and I won't have time to clean and organize because I will be living life!
The kids are doing well..they want to be outside all of the time and they hate that it is still light out when bedtime rolls around because they want to stay out and play or ride their bikes or whatever else.
I have signed up for a 5K race on fourth of July in Ellensburg. I am not so much concerned about what my time will be as much as I am concerned about just accomplishing the goal of finishing something. I know I can complete 3 miles I do it several times a week. Jeri and Bryce are training with me and I think I will sign Jeri up for the 5K if she continues on with training..it will be good for her to succeed in a race as well.
We have our big tennis tournament this weekend and there is a lot of smack talking going on in the house...but it is all good fun and we will see who will be the reigning champ on Sunday! I think it will be Cole or Rob.
Well I hope you all have a great week!

Rob is back to work today

2009-05-04T08:39:00.000-07:00

yay! Rob is back at work today--I know it will take some getting used to because he has been home for three weeks so he is going to be very tired for the next couple of weeks when he is home but hopefully the recovery will happen quickly.

We have taken up tennis as a family recently. It is so much fun and I played a tiny amount in high school but not really..lol. Anyway, Bryce thought he would just go on the court and beat me and I BEAT HIM ...it is killing him that his fat , out-of-shape mother beat him on the courts so the competition is ON! and I get bragging rights this whole week. Mind you if I played anyone with skills I would lose...but the fact that I beat BRYCE is a big deal around here because ...oh how he hates to lose.

So we decided we would make a tournament ...2 weeks from last weekend. We are inviting our friends and making a poster board with all the brackets..BRyce is in charge of that part and we will just start out rolling a dice to match up the first set of matches (who plays who to start...I don't want any cheating!) and then the competition is ON! We have prizes for first, second and third place. There will be 16 competitors. The Horton-Dickinson Tournament is in the works! Nothing like a little healthy competition and it gives our family something to work towards and it is fun to have these family activities. Plus the kids love it when we organize these things.

Things are going well with school....the load is light, haven't been stressed at all. That part is nice. I have been working in my yard..trying to get things planted and making a few new flower beds because those are my favorite thing about yards. I have been focusing on the front yard...and that will be done soon--so on to the back...that is a far bigger project and I am a bit overwhelmed as to where I should start...oh well another day.
Well---I think I will be able to post more often now that I will be back into Charisma's routine...and not post-op Rob's routine.
Have a good day!

Oh, How time flies by......

2009-04-22T11:13:00.000-07:00

Well let's see....It's been awhile. Rob had back surgery. It was successful. I think I have my husband back. He is a much better mood not being in so much pain and he is stretching more than he has in years and he is moving better than he has in a very long time! What a blessing!
We had Preston's 9th birthday....and he had friends over for a trampoline/pinata party...what chaos but kids love that! I can't believe my little guy is 9! Doesn't seem possible.
We also had our annual Flashlight egg hunt the night before Easter ...it was smaller than usual but that was also a blessing because of everything happening around here lately. Small is a relative term...because the people that were here thought there was alot ..lol...
We are having some issues with one of the schools here and I am hoping to resolve that soon.
Rob and I are going to school full-time but on-line so things around the house have been getting the help it needs....I have gone through and unpacked everything that was in storage, gone through all the rooms in the house except mine---which still needs to be done. We have a TON of stuff to donate to the mission yard sale. I just need to do some deep cleaning...I haven't gotten that far yet. I organized and put up new shelves for my crafting scrapbooking stuff and cleaned out "stuff" got rid of a ton of crafting books on amazon and such...I love that site! But I replaced them with new books--can't help myself. They should do a swap...that would be awesome!

I have been working in the flower beds alot ..all of this sunshine makes me want to work in the yard....my tulips and daffodils are bloomed and so pretty..just waiting for my iris' next.... trying to get my lawn fertilized and full....especially after the hit it took in fall with the construction from the city ..ugh!

So many things to do ..so little time!
Well I hope you are all finding sunshine in your day!

I forgot....preaching in Vegas!

2009-04-09T21:03:00.000-07:00

I forgot to post a picture of the only spiritual thing I saw in Vegas....I felt many spiritual things but they don't exactly have any churches on the Vegas Strip....but I saw these guys with microphones and everything! Despite the fact that I know their hearts are in the right place..I feel ( no judgement) that they were probably not winning much for God that day. I think preaching fire and brimstone to people who think they are have a great time in Sin city isn't exactly the way to lead people to GOd..but maybe I am wrong.

They handed me a flyer but I told the " I AM A BELIEVER!" and kept walking..they were actually the only people handing out things that I would touch..I am sure any of you who have been to Vegas know what I am talking about!

VEgas Part 4

2009-04-09T20:39:00.000-07:00

Thursday, we decided to go to a show, go to the bodies exhibit and pick up the rest of our souvenirs and hit the Fremont experience.
The show was a called the V-show which was a variety show and it was really good..we laughed out heads off and it was all clean good fun. They had comedians, a guy who did impersonations, and a few different acrobat type shows and then the host was a juggler and comedian. If you have a chance go see it!

But the BODIES EXHIBIT was my favorite thing. I am studying to be a nurse so this was really appropriate. It has actual human bodies dissected and labeled...in all different forms, slides, full form , and organs that are in cases ...or bones etc. It sounds kind of morbid but it isn't. What is phenomenal is how they were able to preserve the blood vessels so that is all you see it is so beautiful it is amazing to see how all of these systems work together. It also had an exhibit full of fetus...which was beautiful..it is sad because they all died for some reason or another but they had everything from a tiny cell to a full grown fetus and they even had conjoined twins that didn't make it and they also showed those is different forms as in whole bodies, blood vessel systems ect. This is a must see if you are in VEGAS!

The free mont experience was great--we had so many laughs on the ride there and back..and it was such beautiful weather ...we took a bunch of silly photos--I think people thought we were drunk--in fact I know they did...but I assure you we were not--I can't imagine if we were drunk how people would have perceived us! The old part of Vegas (I think) if far more glamorous and beautiful than the new part. I love the old lights and the movie feel it has...but there is always something for everyone anywhere you go in Vegas.

Friday was our last day--we flew home that night. We decided to do the Paris experience and I rode the roller coaster on top of New York New York...it wasn't worth the 12$ it cost me--it was lame ...I think the one at Silver wood is far better..just in case anyone wanted to know! hehe. I kept losing batteries in my camer so my friends have the pictures on these last 2 days as I got into an argument with the lady at the souvenir counter about the batteries so I didn't buy anymore and I wasn't going to pay 8$ for 2 batteries..so I went a few days without a camera..but that's OK cause I just used Melissa's. Well..we had a great time I was ready to come home to my family I missed them terribly and I have decided it is way to hard to be away from them for that long.

Vegas Part 3

2009-04-08T11:59:00.000-07:00

Hoover Dam

Wednesday we took a tour to the grand Canyon. We lucked out with our tour bus guide he was fabulous! We also got to have 3 hours at the Grand Canyon which was nice because some of the competing buses didn't stay that long--they would stay for a half an hour and then leave. I can't imagine not getting at least 3 hours time, I could have stayed there all night.
It was so Amazing, it looked almost fake like a back drop or something because it was so beautiful. When I see a wonder of the world like that it makes me wonder how some people don't believe in God...because it was so magnificent.
I was living on about 3 hours of sleep. But All of us girls sat next to someone different on the bus..it was kind of funny because i think we all sat next to people that complimented us.
I sat next to a man who was a geologist and he was here on business, but on the other side of me was a southern couple that were just sweet as can be Christians and they were using there timeshare to vacation never had been to Vegas and don't plan on ever coming back. HAHA! just an enjoyable couple to be with during such a great trip.
Melissa sat next to a spunky old single gal who was vacationing alone and kind of had a man hating streak about her but she was also very in dependant and wanted to live life to the fullest. Carla sat next to a gal traveling by herself I think she had raised a son as well and they seemed to be teamed up appropriately..isn't it funny how God works?
We stopped at the hoover dam on the way there and on the way back so I have pictures during the day and at night.

Today my oldest child is 14!

2009-04-05T10:44:00.000-07:00

We had her party on Friday night..it was a little bit of a bummer because it was Spring break and only a few friends showed up ..but I almost think it was better for our house and the kind ladies that hosted our Mary Kay party.
We had a TON of food. we made sub sandwiches, chips, pasta salad and green salad. Jeri requested a chocolate cherry cake and of course soda.
The ladies came and taught the girls how to scrub their faces and put on moisturizer and then apply make-up. It was a good experience and I think that some of us old rookies will even be making some switches on some of our products because we liked alot of Mary Kay products.
Jeri has been practicing for some time on how to apply her make-up, so she did really well.
AS much as teenagers are such a pain in the neck...I am thankful to be experiencing all of this and I see what a blessing Jeri is in my life...
SO happy birthday to my Sweet Girl! I hope this next year is FABULOUS!

Vegas Part 2

2009-04-04T09:54:00.001-07:00

We arrive in Vegas and we decide not to waste a day (or night since we got there so late) we get our outfits on and walk through all of the hotels surrounding us and decide to make our plans for the following day. We kind of get out our compasses out and look around to see what is around us. We decide to get our passes...
We bought these passes called the Explorer pass. Seemed like a great idea..because it included The grand canyon tour, 2 extra shows or attractions and discounts on other things. We decide for our extra features we would go to the Bodies exhibit and the dolphin habitat.
ON Tuesday we went to the dolphin habitat after picking up our passes at one location ...which seemed weird because the girl at the counter seemed to not know what the explorer pass was??? hmm..that was weird.

Then when we got our card..they had little microchips on them..we walked to the Dolphin habitat..went up to the booth...the lady behind the booth said that these passes have been nothing but problems and we would have to walk back to the location of the pass (where we picked them up and get tickets)..later we found out it did say that in fine print--but it would have been nice if the original lady had told us that..but all in all it worked out because they let us in the dolphin habitat anyway because we were not the first ones to have problems.
The Dolphin family had just had a baby four months ago it was so cute..and the tigers had a little 2 month old cub..that was so darling. I didn't bring my camera--but the girls are supposed to email me the pics at some point.

More on the pass....We decide to get our tickets for the Bodies exhibit--we go to the original counter.....the same gal is there. she can't find any tickets...so she says she will try to find another location that has them.....
Then she comes back to tell us that they no longer offer that feature?? that was weird. So we decide to get tickets for the variety show.
I call the 800 # for the pass to complain about the Bodies exhibit because it seems strange all of a sudden that they don't offer it...the lady on the phone says that they do....OK, I am getting really tired of these people at this point. The lady her name is Lyndsey says she will investigate.
She calls the manager of the Ticket booth in Vegas..apparently they had tickets because they buy them from the attractions at a discount so they can offer them to pass buyers..right...well theirs had expired and they would not be getting any until the day we were leaving..so they basically lied to us and didn't tell us the full story?? I think, I am an understanding person until you lie to me!
SO basically we got the passes to the variety show and we just have to mail in the tickets stubs from the bodies exhibit that we had to pay for out of our pockets and they will issue us a refund for our inconvenience. So we got an extra attraction.

What a hassle this pass was but I have to say all in all it was worth it all because of our grand canyon experience. We did not have one problem on the tour they swiped our card and we got the best bus driver in town I think..not to mention we got more time at the canyon than any of the other tour buses...and I am so thankful for that.
More on that later.

We did most of our shopping on this day as well..bought all of the stuff to bring home to our family. We did the M&M tour and Show. We went to the coca-cola factory and then we even caught a movie. I can't believe we went to a movie in Vegas but Melissa's feet were to sore to keep walking about....and we were wanting to see Duplicity. I wouldn't waste my money if I were you.....It was slow going and I didn't think it was any good.

I did gamble a bit on this day..lost it all but it is Vegas..the odds are not in my favor and I kept thinking of a sentence I read in my statistics book..."There is no law of averages!"...so no matter how much money I stuck into those machines....it was never going to even out. I guess I learned something from that class!
There was no drinking on my trip....I had a bad experience a couple years back..and decided I didn't need to drink to have a good time and while in Vegas..I think it is to risky to drink anyway because you never know what kind of creep may be lurking around a corner to take advantage of a situation. SO that is my bit of paranoia coming through.

another post for today..interrupting the Vegas Series....

2009-04-01T17:14:00.000-07:00

I took Rob to his pre-op for the surgeon today. We originally started out thinking we could stretch this out and maybe not have surgery. ROb was really trying to avoid it...and the physical therapist told us not to rush into anything...well after a couple weeks of therapy Rob felt worse. I kept telling him that it is because he is going to be sore from working things he hasn't worked in a long time..the therapist was telling him the same thing..then he started feeling more numbness is his feet..not a good sign. So we went back for an MRI. That revealed not a bulged disc but a RUPTURED One...my poor husband.
So needless to say he has to have surgery. Fortunately there will be no long term damage ..the neurologist says....and once he gets the surgery..all of the damage that has happened will eventually heal..it isn't bothering his spine to much..or I should say the fluid around his spine. The surgeon says he can choose to wait it out and start taking some pain pills or anti-inflammatory meds ..but eventually he will have to get it done..since this injury is already 9 years old..it will not get better. SO it is scheduled for April 20th. Which had to be negotiated by Rob's work schedule cause he felt he couldn't do it now because they have to much stuff going on right now..God Bless that man always thinking of everyone but himself.
Anyway, HE is supposed to be out of work a minimum of a month..he is thinking that won't be the case..but we will see how he feels after the procedure.
Pray for us and our family.

VEGAS!

2009-04-01T10:23:00.000-07:00

I went to Vegas last week. Monday through Friday. I was actually gone a week because I spent the weekend in Tri-cities with my girlfriends shopping, sewing, scrapping and talking.
We went to Carla's house on Sunday to stay the night before we caught a plane to Vegas on Monday... so we decided to get pedicures before we left since we knew we would be wearing capris and shorts. We went to this fabulous place that also gave us sugar rubs and hot waxed our feet and massaged them forever...HEAVEN!

So after we got to the airport we found out due to weather back east our flight was delayed and we would most likely be missing out connecting flight out of Utah. There was a later flight but it was over booked..so the chances of us getting on it were pretty slim. I wasn't really worried about it..I knew God would do what was best for us. There is always a reason for everything. Well we did miss our connection and then we had to be put on stand by for the following flight...the attendant calls us up and asked if 2 of us were willing to go and leave the third behind..because 2 seats had opened up. I didn't say anything..but the other girls said "no." SO we waited for a third seat to open...it came down to the last minute and the guy told us a third was available...but the third person would have to sit alone. I volunteered for that seat because Melissa needed someone to comfort her on the flight because she was scared of flying.....I am not good at that because I just read my book and what not...so anyway...that seat was *first* class I got bumped to FIRST CLASS! hahahaha! YIppeee for me! It actually wasn't a big deal....but it was fun to say that!
But I had to say ..there was this crazy ( white trash kind ) set of gals that was upset because they missed the flight as well and they wanted on our flight also but they got there after we did....and they actually asked the attendant ( who was in his 60's and looked like the nicest grandpa ever) that if they missed this flight could they sleep with him at his place??..I thought OH NO....Did I just hear that right? That is just horrible. Who actually says stuff like that?

Well those 2 women actually made the flight as well and I guess they ticked off everyone around them because when we got off of the flight I heard them and their neighboring passengers arguing..I thought to myself..WHEW! we really dodged a bullet with those ones.

Well when we got off the flight I asked the attendant if our luggage was on the flight..because the chances of that actually happening since we boarded so late was null. HE said they could be.
Carla and Melissa kept saying we shouldn't even bother going to baggage claim because it is not likely that they would be there...I told them not to doubt...I knew it would be ...God had carried us that far..what a long day of traveling..but I just knew our bags were fine...I WAS RIGHT!
You know when you go to Vegas you fantasize about winning big right?? I mean I think, I am normal that is what Vegas is about...all the glitz glamour and winning...I felt I had already hit the jackpot at that point.....ding..ding...ding.

MUSTANG SALLY...er I mean MUSTANG Charisma!

2009-03-31T10:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday ROb and I made an appointment to see a Dodge caravan minivan...we looked at this particular car and a mustang on Sunday..decided to take the minivan for a test drive on Monday. Well I decided too...Rob thought the mustang was a better deal...car whatever..although he says he wouldn't drive the mustang since it has a V-6..what does that mean? That it doesn't have as much power...excuse me ...it is supposed to be a commuter car...I thought the minivan was a better type deal because we could always use it as a back up if the suburban breaks down..Rob has a thing about driving a minivan..who cares??? it suits our needs and has good gas mileage.
But I digress.
The people that own the minivan never showed up...but the guy selling the mustang did..after we called (within 10 minutes). So we bought it--it needs some work..we got a good deal ROb says??? It has really low mileage for a 1998...that is what Rob thinks anyway. SO I can't drive it as of now because it needs some new lights and such..Rob will be working on it within the next few days. It also needs new tires and wheels...the ones on it are a little yucky..so it will be ok during summer--but we will get new ones later on.
So Jeri is happy because in some weird dillusional way she thinks she will get to drive it in a couple years when she turns 16..I am thinking INSURANCE...um I think not.
I am still going to try to get a hold of the people with the minivan..because I am still interested in looking at that car. So we will see what happens.

**** UPDATE******

SO I went to transfer the title today.....
I think my husband was right! We paid so little for this car that now I have to prove why we paid less than half of it's market value price. I just thought we were getting a good deal because my husband is a car guy and he can fix anything for way cheaper than the average bear....Now I am wondering if we can document enough wrong with the car....we have to take it to a shop for a written estimate...Rob was right..he scored us a deal .....I will never doubt again. I wonder if they consider wheels and tires part of that?? It really has UGLY wheels on the thing!

Kid's Bathroom

2009-03-13T13:44:00.000-07:00

Most mornings I come downstairs to the smell of "MAN"....it is funny to think that my boys are old enough to care about such things. Axe is their best Friend but I quit buying it so much because it is 5$ a can and they sometimes waste it and I don't have that kind of money laying around.
SO they get cheap deodorant and they get spry on cologne. I usually find it in gift packs and I get them on-sale after holidays so it is quite a bit cheaper. But this is how it is--they can't share..they each have to have their own..usually they need to have their own scent so nobody fights..hopefully they are different colors..because there is bound to be a fight over who has been using whom's body spray.

But I think it is never to late to make them smell good..their future wives will thank me! So here is a picture of what these look like! To bad I can't get a picture of the cloud floating in our basement every morning of Body spray!

JEri is getting a collection of flat irons, curling irons and make-up --we are getting to this stage of chaos in the morning with so many people sharinga bathroom and all of the hair products. We need hair gel by the gallon.

At our house

2009-03-09T12:57:00.000-07:00

At our house recently...things have been crazy with all the sickness and activities and my school work...but I thought how nice it is to remember amoungst all the chaos there is things I never want to forget and that is these things....

Clarissa's artwork...
Lately she is drawing lots of pictures and writing to mom and Dad..I love you. because she is just learning how to spell things out and read sentences..I felt so guilty about this because I worked with all of the kids before kindergarten and they could all read and write before school...and Clarissa couldn't she could recognize all of the letters and numbers but not write them or read. Sometimes it doesn't pay to be the youngest..but in all Clarissa fashion--she has pretty much caught up.

I framed a peice of her artwork to hang by my desk...I also have one for Carl..those two and Cole are my artsy kind of kids...This picture is "Clarissa and Mommy at our house". Named by herself ...Clarissa Hope.

These are pictures of the boys...any free time they have ..and earned the right to play..they spend playing video games..I really try to limit this..I know how addictive they can be.....and Cole and Preston doing homework...My kids are usually really good at helping eachother when they can...not always but ever since I started school they really try not to bother me when I am working...There is a bit of guilt in this..but I think on some levels it is good because they need to be able to rely on eachother sometimes.

Dog Walks.....

2009-03-08T18:33:00.001-07:00

We all get itchy for this time of year--when spring is coming and the sunshine is out...the dogs included.
Usually in the spring, summer ,and fall we take the dogs out to the lakes near our house. I like to go to Soap Lake ..Rob hates Soap lake ..so much so he doesn't even want his dog swimming in that water..but it is such a big area and only a 5 minute drive.
So we thought we would go out today and hopefully the lake would be thawed enough for BRodie to get in...he is such a water dog..you can't barely keep him out of it..even if we pass by there he will whine because he wants to go in.
SO today was Gracie's first time going into the water..she is BRodie's little shadow much to his dismay. SHe wants to do everything that he does...but she could not keep up with him and a few times she fell in after losing her footing. The last time her whole body fell in and her head went under water--she decided she was done for the day.
SO we were also incorporating a little lesson with out fun haveing Jeri teach her to walk and obey simple commands.
I am itching to get out and experience some nice weather and sunshine and spend quality time with the family in the evening walking and talking.

Sickies around here lately.....

2009-03-06T13:02:00.000-08:00

Poor Clarissa has the flu today...I woke up this morning to..
" Mommy, my tummy hurts."
I said " OK just go lay down...no school today"
Then explosives started happening in the bathroom..Toilet was down she didn't get there fast enough...then I hear Cole.....
" MOM.....CLARISSA MISSED THE TOILET!"
UGH! Great so I got up to get her clean and the bathroom....and started gagging myself...I think it has been years since I have had to clean up puke....my kids have been good about getting to the open toilet...
Bryce had the sickness earlier this week..so I am sure it is going to be ravaging through everyone else pretty soon...and Rob called on his lunch stating he didn't feel very well...and it is Finals....Isn't that perfect?
Everytime I have finals something has to happen..so it is just par for the course...A mom's job is never done.
I worked out today....it has been awhile since I have been in a routine..I am usually pretty good about doing stuff in spring and summer--but then once fall and winter come around I just hang out in the house and don't want to be exercising.
I need to change that.
SO I hope everyone is healthy and this weekend brings much happiness!

Diets..Doctors ..and Back Troubles!

2009-03-05T19:23:00.000-08:00

Well Rob went to the doctor today because his back has been bothering him.HE found out he needs to lose weight, he has 2 bulged discs that are pinching 2 nerves and so on to physical therapy for a month to satisfy the insurance company and then he needs and MRI and probably surgery.
He is stressed because harvest season will be here soon and he can't be laid up during the season and he has only had this job a year so he doesn't have alot of sick time saved up so he is going to prolong the surgery as long as possible...I don't think he should do that..so we will see what happens in therapy and what his post-op consult with bring.

But in the meantime about his weight......I get a little badgigety about some things in this house..we live in the boonies and some things are hard to come by and that is these little beauties!

I have been able to maintain good eating habits for a few months now all thanks to these! I don't think people in my house realize the love I have for them and someone ( Rob ) has been steeling some....I have to go to two different stores every month to get these and sometimes I have to drive 30 minutes one way to come across them and I get a little self-ish....we have this love-love affair!

While he has been eating Chunky Monkey I have been eating this version of Chunky Monkey and it is not fair that he should even try taking my skinny Cows!

While he has been eating real pizza--I get this lighter low fat version--which I might add tastes pretty good--but still none the less...I don't get very many options!

So this is my current dilemma---now he will be having to eat the same way I am and I will have to share in my yummy delights!

ME and My Girls

2009-03-04T07:25:00.000-08:00

Well on Friday night we made am impromptu trip to Spokane just for the evening with my friends. Melissa was supposed to meet up with some guy she is dating and I made a deal with Landon that if I took the boys all the way to Spokane..he would bring them all the way back on Sunday.
Since I was going to be there I thought we may go out with the girls for a little much needed fun!
We started at The Olive Garden for dinner and then headed out to GOODTYMES! I love that place it is so much fun and there were 10 of us girls just celebrating our friendship and time together....we danced until the club closed and then went out for breakfast at an old hang out. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful group of Friends.
I have known most of these girls since high school...or they came in years ago and we can all trust eachother, we all genuinely love each other and I know anytime I needed someone I could call anyone of them and they would be there for me in a heart beat! Even when we don't see eachother for long periods of time ..we get together and it is as if we have never been apart. There of course are some of them that I talk to on a daily basis, some I talk to every couple of days....that is just how things work. But, I can honestly say if it weren't for my friends I would not be where I am in my life..they help keep me sane, they support me in my life and they listen when I need them. I love you all!

Murder Mystery Night

2009-03-03T23:08:00.000-08:00

This is the crime scene that we had to compare all evidence against.

It is so annoying--I went to post this on Sunday and for some reason I lost it when I went to post it--you would think I would learn to save things sometimes--you have no idea how many times I type something for homework and then lose it....I guess it takes awhile to learn ...when I am special:)!
SO here we go again!

On Thursday night we went to Bryce and Carl's school ( for all my friends and family ..here in Ephrata grade school is k-4th ( and there are 2 grade schools in town) , then Parkway is for 5th-6th grade..then middle school is 7th-8th and then of course high school...so once the kids are in 5th grade they go to school with all of the kids in town that are in their grade.)

So anyway, We went to school for murder mystery night...they had a crime scene and set the stage for a story of events that took place and listed the names of the victim and all his friends that are listed as suspects.

After they introduced the plot they gave each child a packet of paper (in the case of my family I must say sorry to the family of the tree we had to use!)then sent us on our way to 10 different rooms throughout the school to analyze the evidence. Most of the older kids went their own separate ways ..so Rob and I stayed with Preston and Clarissa.

Each room had different things it was AWESOME! Ph balance of soda, clothing that you had to inspect for different materials, DNA analysis, alot of chemistry type things...it is funny because some of these things I am doing in my college level classes..so I think it is great that my kids are getting this stuff early...that way they won't have to learn everything at my old age!

Science changes so much and they will be learning it all as they go. I took a sabbatical. hehe.

We had many theories in this house of who actually commited the crime....I think Carl is the one who got it right.

After the mystery we decided to go out for ice cream..as we were sitting there we were talking about Bryce and his distate for this one girl in his class..who at one point had a crush on him..SO Rob asked him why he disliked her so much
he said : "Because she farts and burps like a guy"
I said "But you do that?"
Bryce: " YEah, but I am guy, Girls don't do that!"
Cole pipes up to say "yeah, Girls don't do that!"
What a double standard..these boys are so mean!

Bryce is disinterested in girsl if they can't keep up in sports..but he doesn't want them to act like him either..I think everyday he becomes more and more like someone I used to know......

Little Things........

2009-02-26T13:15:00.000-08:00

I am tired of school...I didn't think I ever would be..but I am! I tried to enroll for Microbiology..did not get in..so I will have an amazingly easy quarter for spring which is OK. I kind of need the time. I Will be taking all of my classes on-line. So I won't even have to get out of my pajamas if I don't want to! HA! BUt I am kind of excited for my Gender and power sociology class it is about WOMEN and Power!! I think I will LOVE that class. Anything with those two words in the name...yeah!

I came home today to my front yard bubbling up and making a gurgling sounds! UGH! Waiting for the city to come and fix it.

Gracie is getting huge..she weighs over 50 pounds now and she is as tall as Sadie (just not as round!)....GRacie definatly has a voice..if she doesn't get something she wants she lets everyone know..and if she is mad at us for telling her "no" she will whine and pout. It is so cute!

A few weeks ago I went to brush Clarissa's hair and she had "THE BUGS"...oh man ...lice..I couldn't believe it. I guess it was bound to happen at some point because we have so many kids at school. But she was the only one who had it thank GOD and we sprayed everything, shampooed the carperts, got rid of her mattress and washed everything is sight..plus put all of her toys in bags on the deck for a week.

Clarissa is very self conscious about "The Bugs" now and insists on someone checking her everyday. She was so mortified by the prospect....and of course the boys are teasing her. I told Rob to quit teasing her because I am asked to check her head about 5 times a day now and it is hard on her. Well yesterday he told her that he thinks he has the bugs..so she said:
" come here , Daddy"
he said " you want me to follow you?"
She said "yes"
So she takes him to the bathroom tells him to sit down on the toilet( lid down of course) and so he sits down. SHe tells him to bend his head down and she starts inspecting. HAHAHAHa! Apparently she is an expert now..she knows right where to look and obviosly I have done this to her so many times..she has the routine down pat! I took a picture but Rob insists I can't scrap it or blog it...although it is very cute, and somewhat of a weird nature ("the Bugs"), I will probably scrap it years down the road when "The bugs" are nearly a memory and no one feels the pain of them anymore..we are all just a little freaked out by them still..just the mere mention of "lice" or " The bugs" and we all start twitching a little and scratching all over! (like I am now)

Well I hope you all have a great day!

Sunday happenings.....

2009-02-25T08:58:00.000-08:00

Every other Sunday Trina comes over for her visit with Jeri and Carl. This last Sunday they made cookies together and as much as we try the other kids like to help as well. So at the end of the batter they didn't have enough to make a full dozen cookies and oatmeal rasin cookies are Rob's favorite the kids wanted to make him a GIANT cookie.

After the cookies were done..the kids presented him with the cookie and as much as Rob didn't want to be interrupted from his school work...he took a break to eat the cookie and then we left him a couple hours to finish his paper. Trina and I took the kids to a movie....Pink Panther 2. The kids really enjoyed it.

We came home and Rob had finished dinner for us ...and we enjoyed a nice family supper.

Sea World

2009-02-24T09:17:00.000-08:00

We spent one day at Sea World. Sea world also does special Christmas programs....
Although we all love the " SHamu" show (shamu is dead) and we watched 2 of them... the regular show and the Christmas version which was really nice..they brought in carolers, and a saxaphone player to create the "mood".

Our favorite show was the show ( I can't remember the name now...I am sure it is on one of the many maps we have) With the sea otters, sea lions and walrus'. It was hilarius, cute and just worth watching! We almost missed it and I am glad we didn't they have those anaimals so well trained it is like they are humans.

The dolphin show was the same show we had seen 4 years ago...even with the fake fall-in.

They had some new exhibits though ..so those were really nice. We fed the sting rays and rode the rides.
Sea World is just fun no matter what your interests.

Universal Studios

2009-02-23T13:27:00.000-08:00

I took this at night when we were leaving.

This picture is funny because teh kids asked to pose with a picture ....and then they asked who it was..They didn't know who Beetle juice was...I remember being young when that movie came out..haha. Jeri kept obsessing about his teeth..yuck!

we picked a day to go to Universal and it was raining off and on......that happened to us the last time we went to universal studios. But it turned out to be a fabulous day none the less...not many people to fight with in lines..so we got to ride everything and see all the shows....and since it was raining they gave you discounts on lots of things. We bought these food passes you could eat at 8 different restaurants throughout the park all you wanted..it was already a good deal but then they gave us a discount on those as well...and also didn't make us pay for Clarissa.

So I think it cost us 100$ to eat whatever we wanted all day long...for our family--that is a good deal!
They also gave us free Hot Chocolate and you didn't have to wait in long lines to see the characters ..they had a wealth of characters walking throughout the park all day long...the kids loved this!
They got rid of the ride called " Back to the future" and changed it to a Simpsons circus theme with Krusty the clown...it was OK. The kids liked it. They changed everything to a Grinch Christmas theme and even on the tour bus--we took a ride through Whoville. It was fabulous. Members of whoville came thru to sing and put on a show for the shuttle bus and of course we went through jaws and all of the other normal attractions. Also for Christmas they set up tons of activities for the kids like a huge pool type area with "real" snow. Which we all thought quite funny considering we left a blizzard to go to California and they are making it so kids can build a snowman. They also have a huge room with a bunch of soft balls ( snowballs) with air guns and vacuum so you could suck up the foam balls and have snowball fights--it was quite fun and hard to drag our kids away for that. It was like being in whoville.

They had a special area that you could have your pictures taken with the Grinch..even a real trained dog named max..they didn't charge you for this..however the guy that was dressed like the Grinch was really good and teased the kids un-mercifully so it was hard getting a good picture of all the kids b/c they kept looking at him..but we all had fun with him.

They also had a lighting ceremony at night with a huge Christams tree in teh center of the kid type area and The Grinch and othr members of whoville came out to renact the part where teh grinch gets a heart and also sing Christmas Carols. I loved the whole scene and feeling at Universal studios.

During one of the shows they asked for Volunteers and Jeri was called up on stage. She had to turn a drum for a drum roll they were showing us how they put sound over teh top of movies...and Tinkerbell was causing some commotion and the drum sound helped relay that message. So Jeri was excited about being on stage.

On the way there.......

2009-02-22T14:47:00.000-08:00

On the way to Disneyland we thought it would be nice to drive through the Redwood Forrest. In hindsight I think it would have been better to take the faster route just because the kids are older and they complain more.
I thought the red woods were fascinating kids could care less about some trees.
We drove through a few trees looked through some of the shops and red alot of the signs of how long the trees have been alive.
Funny thing is as we were driving through all of the tourist type spots we would also come across communities and we came across a commune. It looked as if it had all been there since the 60's with mobile trailers, shacks and big signs that said "No War." Pretty funny.
We also stopped by a shop on the side of the road called " Big Foot"
The kids loved it there, they had a bunch of wood carvings and things you could buy. I bought a live burl to bring home and some starters for growing my own red wood here in Ephrata. They claim to have seen big foot and they had a map containing his spotted sightings in the redwood Forrest..so I bought one for a friend who believes he exists????

Vacation Part 2

2009-02-22T09:32:00.000-08:00

One of our days we spent at the San Diego Zoo. It was a nice relaxing day and along with our passes we were able to take a gondola ride above the zoo. That was cool although kind of scary..I knew I coudl not ride with rob because he likes to torture innocent souls like myself who don't want the boat to rock.
It gets hard carrying stuff around I actually had the camera I went to the bathroom....I always hung it up on the hook in the stall..I left without it. We had to stop at the bathroom so many times because we had bought these sippers from the zoo and they were free refills..so anytime there was a vendor we would suck them down to get a refill..many...many stops to the restroom. I didn't realize I had lost the camera until we were about a mile away from the last bathroom.....so needless to say I didn't get alot of pictures at the zoo. But I got a few and actually someone had turned it into the lost and found by the time I had realized it was gone...Doesn't that give you hope that there are honest people in the world?
Funny thing happened when I got off of "it's a small world"(on another day in D.Land) someone else had lost their camera and I picked it up...she actually came back to look for it...and spotted me...but I would have turned hers in as well.
The zoo was alot of walking, the animals were out and about walking around..because the weather was perfect.
Clarissa was so funny....everywhere we went she had to get a map...( she can't read yet) and she would always ask where are we? SO we would all take turns pointing it out to her. BUt it was always a big production she would spread it all out on the walk-way and need to know exactly where we were going from the spot we were at and a few times she had lost her map in the bathroom. Well that was not going to go un-noticed so we always had to find her another map.
She did this all through Disneyland as well..one time she went to guest services to get another copy and she had come back with the japanese version...she can't read so it all looks the same to her.

Disneyland

2009-02-21T11:11:00.000-08:00

Of course Cinderella is all of our favorite!

This is in toon town.

OK SO over Christmas vacation we spent almost 2 weeks in Disneyland between traveling and vacationing there.
I have been horrible at taking pictures lately--( does the last 2 years or so mean lately?)
SO I have children armed with cameras during our trip and although I do not have everyone's downloaded I have quite a few.
Bryce was very good about keeping his Camera ..SO was Jeri in fact but hers kept running out of batteries...not sure the problem but none the less an issue.
SO to tell you what we did.....Hmmmm is was so long ago haha.
We spent 3 days in Disneyland. 1 day universal studios. 1 day at the Sandiego zoo, 1 day at Sea world and we spent a couple days shoppinga dn we went to a movie.
SO to start with I would like to say that spending the extra money to go at Christams time is worth every penny! The last time we took our family was spring time and Disneyland at Christmas time is very magical. First off the fireworks are everynight along with Christmas carols, followed by created snow..if that isn't magical enough, they change all of their rides..to christmas themes (well not all of them but alot of them) I love " It's a small world" it was so beautiful inside and all the dolls were decorated for Christmas and they were all singing christmas carols in their native languages and they would have christmas type smells wafting through the air.
There is so much to see and so --and I am so thankful we spent our first 2 days in disneyland earlier in the week because the closer it got to Christmas the busier it was..so we actually got to complete everything in 2 days without long lines.
There is so much to talk about that we loved..First off if anyone goes to California adventures--it is a must to go to "Turtle Talk" with Crush ..it is hilarious! HE actually asked me a question.
We stopped at a show on that side I can't remember what it was called but something about animations and Preston was selected to go up on stage and because of that he got to meet Woody and get a sketched drawing of him and have him sign it.....Also we stopped by The BRother Bear show and once again Preston was called up on stage to help them with the show...so that was a big hit!

We also ate Dinner at Ariel's Grotto when we visited California adventures. It was a themed dinner ..Princess' of course. That was yummy and very expensive however, if you bought the vouchers on-line it saved us over 150$. During our whole dinner many of the princess came by to visit us...so you are really paying for the visits. We didn't do much eating at Disneyland because it is so very expensive there to get anything...so we packed lunches and made that our big meal.

Everything at Disney is really a racket. YOu have to stand in -line to meet princess now in a special location they don't have princess just raoming out and about like the other charachters. When you have a 5 year old girl who has a big part of her life centered around The Princess' ( the other part is Veggie Tales) and she has to stand in a line for 90 minutes to meet them it is a travesty!
Also Clarissa saw all of these little girls with princess hair do's and beautiful face painting...she was harrassing me the whole time to get it done herself. (mind you they have this everywhere , Zoo, universal ect.) I finally waited until the last day when we would meet the princess'.
IF I were to give her the whole treatment it would have been over 300$...I am in shock that parents would pay that for a little girl for one day????
Instead I told her she could get the face painting...and she had to spend under 20$. Good greif!

But all in all --if you go to enjoy all of the attractions and none of the extras..it is very worth it and we know how to get through things pretty easily.
The Christmas parades ..once again Magical..all of my kids were in awe..didn't want to leave afterwards ...if Disneyland was open all night ..I think we would have stayed and forfeited sleep. Rob, Jeri, and Clarissa were the only ones complaining about walking and being tired..the boys and I could go forever.
So this will be installment ONE of our vacation.

I love this ones because until recently (with the help of Speech therapy) SHe always referred to Sleeping Beauty as "Sweeping Doody." awe..How cute.

A picture

2009-02-20T14:54:00.000-08:00

DO you ever come across a photo and just think......ohhhhh?
I just loaded a bunch of pics on the computer and saw this one..it looks so cool and I couldn't even tell you where we took it? Somewhere between here and California is all I can tell you...but It looks like a keeper to me.

Formal Dances

2009-02-20T13:06:00.000-08:00

Mr. cheapskate himself! Self portrait as well!

MISS FlIP FLOP!

We get into a discussion at dinner a few weeks ago ......
Jeri is learning dancing in PE and I remember dancing in PE b/c it seemed as if you were always stuck with the one guy who
A) was either the biggest NERD
B) The guy that refused to take a shower and was covered in acne or
C) the one guy who had a mad crush on you and you were always trying to get away from.....( AKA: Pepe LePew)
I hardly ever lucked out to get the one guy I might have wanted to dance with in my class. Except that one time..and he ended up being my homecoming date!

I digress....Back to Jeri
Her Pe teacher was explaining how guys have to pay more money at dances because ( well I think because the PE Teacher has a son ...and didn't have to dish out 300$ for a dress....shoes...jewelry...hair do's....but whatever) She says this because the guys have to pay for pictures, corsage, suit and Dinner not to mention transportation to and from said dance. ( another side note: Jeri says I don't have to buy her nice shoes ...she will just wear flip flops with her formal gown...OVER MY DEAD BODY...I refuse to pay top dollar for a dress to have her wear 99cent flip flops...she says that we can buy the 12.99$ ones from pay less..oh thank GOD! what the heck is that?)
WEll..while Bryce is hearing all of this he says- " Well if I have to pay for everything , I hope my date likes Mcdonalds"
I said " Umm..You better not take a date to Mcdonalds!"
HE says " Mom, if she already said YEs to be my date....she doesn't have a choice"
I said " Umm.. Bryce..you might get away with that once..but at school she is going to tell all of her friends what a lousy date you are...and you will never get another date!"
To which he says " Mom...look at me..You are talking to "THE BRYCE" I will get another date"
I say "Bryce you have to take your date to a decent dinner."
HE says
" Where do you take a date around here for dinner, It's not like there is an Olive GArden around here?

I am thinking to myself: is this the extent of his fine dining experience? Probably.

SO I started listing restaurants in Moses Lake;
Bryce says " Whoa, MOm ..wait a second..I have to take my date to Moses? That is alot of gas money..just forget it!"
WHen did I raise such a cheapskate child?
I said " Bryce, where else do you think your going to go?"
HE said " I will just take my date to Tequila's"
The local Mexican restaurant..no where near formal dining..I might add.
SO I said " Bryce, just to make it easier on you ..I will pay for the corsage and pictures when you start going to dances..that way I know you can afford dinner and I will get pictures, and so will your date."

HE said " OK Mom"
I said " you had better not be one of those crappy guys that treat women badly"
HE said " I know mom, you didn't raise me like that"

All I could think with this conversation is LANDON...BRyce is just like his father! This apple did not fall far from the tree either!

MIssion Trip

2009-02-20T08:48:00.000-08:00

Well I went on my mission trip ...you can read about it from older posts. But now this year part of my original team is going to go back ....although I can't go I asked them if it would be OK to send 2 of my children. SO Bryce and Cole are going to Jamaica next Thanksgiving. They are also going to take 3 of their friends with them and Rob is going to join them. Rob and Landon both feel un-comfortable sending the kids on a mission alone... I might have felt that before I went but I trust Tish and Lance 100% to take my kids and I trust Bryce and Cole to do what they are supposed to do ..SO since Landon can't make the trip...Rob will join them be-grudgingly. Rob doesn't like to do work unless he absolutely has to...and he has already been to foreign countries (he was in the military) so he feels he has done his "duty." But I guess, since he feels more un-comfortable sending the kids alone...he will go. I will be in some important classes so I won't be able to make it...otherwise I would go. It is to hard to keep up if you miss any time in science classes.(for me anyway)
SO I am excited for my boys to get this chance..I think it is coming at a perfect time when they are in junior high and the minor things seems so important...they get to go to a place where the right things are important. They get to expand their horizons and help other people. These boys are going to have to work their tails off to earn the money..and they are ready for it!
SO Please pray for them as they start this process and journey and please support them and give them a thumbs up when they need it! thanks so much for your support!

Clarissa

2009-02-19T19:30:00.000-08:00

Well I have some things i want to remember so I am posting them on here:
Clarissa
She is 30 years old in a 5.5 year old body.
She is getting smarter and smarter each day.

Last weekend Rob was teasing her and all of a sudden she says:
" Dad you better stop it!"
Rob: " why"
Clarissa: " Because if you don't I am going to jello your belly!"

Well after the fit of laughter..I thought to ask Where did you learn that?
Apparently from her brothers ..when you punch someones stomach it jiggles....so she put her own spin on things and called it jello belly. Nice!

Once again Sunday Night Rob is teasing Clarissa ...he gets an ice cream bar out of the freezer ..she was eating cookies.
She says: " Daddy , I want one of those"
Rob replies: " oh, you can't these are for adults!"
C: " why"
R: " Oh because they have bad stuff in them"
C: " Let me see the box"
R: " Why, you can't read"
C: " I will sound it out!"
Rob had just been outwitted by a five year old..there is no turning back.

I can't believe how grown up she looks or even the amount of wit she has at such a young age.

I got sucked into a stupid reality show the other night. " Little Miss Perfect" it is about little girls and their pageant moms.
Clarissa was watching with me. I know my daughter well...but during a commercial break I decided to ask her " Clarissa, would you like to do that?"
She looked at me with her big blue eyes " ummm no" while shaking her head. (SHe kept commenting on the pretty dresses before I had asked her this so I was semi interested) I said " why" She said "Those people are weird." This is even before we got to the really crazy moms on the next program..hahaha. Then I said " well, you would get to wear those pretty dresses" Her reply " I Don't want to miss school." Due to the fact that I know her well and I am sure in her 30 year old brain she was thinking to herself...maybe these people should not be missing school either....I let her off the hook. All I can say is no matter what those moms say to justify why they are doing that is ( in my opinion) because they want to live through their child. I have run across moms liek that before and let me tell you ....I don't have the patience.
So she loves the clothes but I know she would not have the patience of sitting there trying to please someone judging her or putting up with the fakness of everything that that is about. Not to mention --she would have eaten my head several times for making her do a bunch of stuff she is not interested in...so thank God..b/c I couldn't imagine sitting on the sidelines asking my child to smile 24/7 ....I think that is un-natural and I would not do it myself...I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

There is no way out--we are just going to have to try and outwit her if at all possible and try to stay a couple steps ahead of her..but I know we will need to stay on our toes all of the time.

Gracie Lou Freebone

2009-02-19T09:38:00.000-08:00

HI,
It's been awhile I know......things have been crazy and I would like to say that it will all settle down...but i think we all know that I probably won't ever do that! So many things have happened since my last blog..My family took a trip to Disneyland, Christmas has come and gone..The Superbowl party that we hosted for the kids..and Valentines has just passed...it has been months. Shortly after our family vacation we added a new member to the family. Gracie. She is a Mastiff. We thought since we haven't had much luck with little dogs we would go for the biggest dog around. I wanted a English Mastiff for a long time I was just hoping it would be after (years down the road) Sadie or Brodie Passed on because having 3 dogs in the house is alot...but We came upon Grace and we couldn't let her go. We fell in love at first sight. She is brindle...I think brindle is ugly...I wanted a fawn mastiff..but once I saw Gracie I couldn't get her out of my mind. She is very Dark brindle and she looks very cute! She has a big blocky head and she is full of wrinkles..which just makes her look like the sweetest thing you have ever seen! I tried to convince Rob that we didn't need her and he wouldn't have it...he was convinced that she should be our dog. So do to the fact that we are both suckers we got GRACIE. I wanted a name that meant something because of her birth story...
And Rob wanted something silly ( like he always does) and so we decided on Grace Because Mastiffs are known for not being graceful so it is kind of an oxymoron and it also means something. When we were deciding on a name JEralyn put in the movie called MISS CONGENIALITY....and her ( the main character's) fake name was Gracie Lou Freebush. So we changed that up and bit and named our puppy Gracie Lou Freebone.
She is going to be around 175 pounds at full growth and she is only 40 now. We got her at 20 pounds and within 6 weeks she has grown to 40.
Gracie is very sweet, lazy most of the time, has to snuggle and love attention. SHe snores even when she is awake and she won't even let the big dogs push her around. Her and Clarissa battle it out because Clarissa is just the right size for Gracie to win and Clarissa is always trying to reason with Gracie , which doesn't always work. Gracie loves my slippers and Clarissa stuffed animals.
So here are a few pictures of Grace.

Pictures of my mission

2008-12-12T10:22:00.000-08:00

HEre are a few pics from my trip...I didn't get nearl enough on there so I will try to do some more later!

A few team member built this wall on our first day--we had it completely finished and painted by the time friday came around!

This was my "bubble"...I bought a mosquito net tent..what a great investment!

This is a good picture of our work site.....but not only that of neil and Patty they were so cute in thsi picture..but such a joy to be with all week..Neil and I struggled together at every meal!

Cement mixing

The local stream to take showers and wash laundry

The showers

As groups we were assigned "home visits" ..the pastor in the village sent us to various homes so we could get a close up of their life and learn about indivisual people and discuss God with them ..if it came up....this was the home of the Grandma Mabel and Dodd...they were in their 80's loved the lord and very happy to see us! She took on a tour around her house and there were loose boards ..none of the appliances worked and she had various buckets and old bottles to catch rain water...she lived up the mountain side--and she said on sunday mornings..she has to start walking down the hill at 5 in the morning so the pastor can pick up her up where the road starts so she can go to church..that is amazing to me! Such dedication..we are tryingto find a church in our town --so we don't have to drive 20 minutes away--how horrible are we?

Where they performed for the health fair

The health fair was less than sterile conditions..I can't even imagine recieving healthcare in that place..it was dirty, no running water for sterility..they don't give pain meds.....it is really a site to see..compared to our healthcare industry!

Health fair

They bury their dead in their yards

After my hair was done...I was holding this sweet baby for his mom.

Worship Service on Tuesday night!

Our whole group at the welcome sign for our village.

The little kids--singing about Jesus!

Lizards are all over everything there--it is an infestation!

The guys after they fixed my hair.

ME and Tish after a hard day at the worksite!

Jamaica Mission

2008-12-12T08:17:00.000-08:00

I finally went on my mission trip after months of fundraising and anticipation. I think I am still processing alot of things in my mind about it because as soon as I got back I went stright into finals and I haven't had time to breathe.

I was having anxiety each time we stopped at an airport for a lay-over because I have always been afraid to leave the country so going to this place was really out of my comfort zone ....so I had to talk myself into continueing to go on each leg of this trip....I knew if I balied I would not forgive myself...so I finally got to Jamiaca and wanted to puke.....but I got over that.

When we arrived in the airport--it was lined up with all these Jamaican men..holding Dolly's just waiting to help anyone who is willing...one of the first things I noticed was that Jamaican's are really hard to read they aren't as expressive as say someone like me..hehe...

We were picked up by world servants in a shuttle bus....apparently I wasn't even prepared for the 90 minute bus drive to our villiage..yikes--they go FAST and we were on what we (as americans) would consider a one lane road...but smaller and there is all kinds of traffic..they also drive on the opposite side of the road..which kind of throws me off..the cars come close together I was taking pictures out of the window and everyone kept yelling at me to put my hands in otherwise they would be taken off.

On our way to the villiage we stopped at a grocery store in Montego Bay for water..if I had known what I was getting for meals in the villiage I think I would have invested in some groceries at the time.

As soon as we got to the church that we were staying at we set up our beds and sleeping situation. We all stayed in one big classroom above the sanctuary..with a blue tarp inbetween the boys and the girls...SO you can imagine the snoring choir all of us heard all week! hehe

We were informed on our way to the villiage that there were showers that we could use but they would only be cold...(it is collected rain water)...and that we could only take 2 minute showers or we could go to the local stream and take long cold showers there and the locals do their bathing and laundry in that stream as well...the first day of walking to our worksite..we saw they don't even bath in the suits...well they do in their birthday suits.

We were also informed on the way to the villiage that we would be finishing the community center that a few groups ahead of us had started so we were the lucky ones to see the progress and reep the benfits of what we have all done...That was amazing! So we decided to host a health fair..which was very exciting to me since I want to be a NURSE....so I thought that God had really had a hand in everything that was happening ..and that re-assured me that I was in the place that I was supposed to be.

Before we left on our trip a friend of my family sent 50 soccer balls with us to take the to villiage for the kids--with everything it took to get those soccer balls there I was a little concerned with how it was all going to play out with the kids..and they loved them..it was worth everything that we all went through in customs and hauling them about! As soon as the kids saw us with them they would practically maul us to get one to play with...it was a sign the first day we were in the villiage because the soccer ball that all the kids were playing with was worn out--platic falling off--all basically fibers.....I don't even know how it was inflated enough to kick around!

The first morning there as we were eating breakfast the children were walking through heading to school..education is not free there...so it is kind of hit and miss if kids are able to attend school..sometimes parents have to choose certain kids to go to school...or they pay as they go so if they can't afford it oen day or something maybe only a few children go or nobody goes..the kids want to go to school because they get a free meal if they do...which is a benefit. Sometimes they don';t eat another meal because of the poverty. WHen the kids got to class...it was so beautiful to hear them singing songs about JESUS! They also sang ( what we would consider) christmas songs..but they are their everyday songs..they also sang about snow and sleighs and what not--they don't even know what that is--which was really cute. I can honestly tell you it was one of the sweetest things I had ever heard!

The teachers let us into their classes to do short bible study lessons and crafts with them and then we would go to the work site....( well their were different groups assigned each day b/c they didn't need so many people there), then after the older kids got out of school..we would work with them..THIS WAS MY FAVORITE GROUP! I bonded with so many of these kids one boy in particular that I call Jamacian BRyce--he was so much like BRyce I fell in love with him...and he gave me the low down on everything..if you want the truth about things just ask the kids--they will tell you!
HE would explain to me how the Black women hate white women..because basically white women have alot of power in Jamiaca....it is so poor there that men just want to marry a white women and come to America..so they will do anything to get a white women..and you know that the minute you get off the plane --it is crazy--( more like scary..they don't even look at you in the right way!)..so J. Bryce would tell me how he is going to marry a white women when he got older..but he was worried because he had heard that white girls don't brush their teeth, they eat slugs and lizards???? He would say that and then look at me ---and say you don't do you? He needed me to re-assure him that we don't...haha!

The other funny thing was that the kids are so honest and pure....alot of them had never seen a white person (in real-life) so alot of them would just come and touch your skin to see what it felt like..and I was so hot in that climate that my skin was red....they kept trying to wipe it off....hehe--they kept saying your so RED..what is wrong..they had never seen that. They also loved playing with my hair..they kept saying it wasn't soft--haha..because their's is really soft and a different texture than mine. My blonde streaks were quite the discussion some days.

When the health fair day came--People came from the whole parish (state)..police officers..with machine guns and huge weapons...then we heard that most police officers were corrupt--that made me feel safe.....We also learned that 98% of the people we tested were HIV positive..that is an epidemic..... It was like a big festival....they had drama and skits to talk about drugs and HIV, they played Music and had a school band from a nearby village....it was quite an ordeal ...but what came with that was a crowd-----and some of them didn't want us there-- I knew right away I was asked for my phone number from a guy..after that I decided not to talk to any men, I was offered drugs by another...and a girl threw her shoulder at me and told me " you be the enemy" ..I really wanted to just sit her down and say--NO I am not..I am married with six children..I don't want your men..thank you. Instead I got scared didn't spend anytime in the health fair ..I went outside and waited at the edge of the crowd and prayed until we could leave ..if something broke out I could be at the edge so I could get to our church if need be...in that crowd I didn't know who was friend or foe which made me a little scared. Teh other thing I noticed was that they don't talk about abstinence at all...they just throw out condoms and talk about safe needles and what not ---so I don't see how that is going to help alot with the siuation.

I also noticed all of the violence in that place...Teachers obviously practice corporal punishment...they just slap a kid in the face when they don't listen....a representative from the Parish that talked to me for quite some time had explained that gangs were getting stronger and stronger where we staying...and even in the village you could see where any adult in the villiage would just haul off and hit a kid... and the kids beat eachother--I have 4 boys that get rough sometimes but it is nothing like this...Even Jamaican Bryce had talked to me during the week and asked me if I beat my kids..I told him "No--NOt really" ..he said "why, it is ok--we do it here"..I told him "well we take away privledges instead"....and right after I said it--I realized---they don't have privledges..that is why they get beat--there is no other alternative...I immediatly was sad because of that realization and because I had said that to him..I wish I had told him that I beat my kids. It is hard to think about all of these things all the time.

Just being in the village you smell marijuana all of the time..the rustafarians smoke non-stop..we were told which ones we could talk to and which ones we couldn't--you learn very quickly the jamaican ways of communicating..you can't ever pass someone and not say hi or they think you have a beef with them..so you have to talk to everyone..and there are certain hand signals that show respect--so we shared those many times a day....there was also prostitution in our village--not like here in the streets--it is just a normal thing..which is disturbing on many levels- At the beginning of the week I though all of this was legal and found out from the representative that it is not--but he said to me " DO you see any police officers near by?" I said "No" ..he said "exactly--there is no way to enforce the law up in the hills"... basically they have their own laws. SO it seemed liek a pretty dismal place from my description.....
I will write a blog about my day off on another blog because this is so lengthy.....but what I have to say is that this was an awesome experience for me ..there are things that I could have never learned anywhere else..I bonded with someone very special to me ..so I am glad she and I had that time together...I am glad to have met the children that I met and learned so much from them during the process ..they were so thankful for a little treat or the meals I would sneak to them...Jamaicans are also very thrifty and they use every part of everything..and they are able to make something out of nothing which is something I am not very good at ..they use everything whether it be an old paint can or a little frayed rag--they don't throw anything away. I learned how to open your heart fully , knowing that it was just going to be hurt again by people coming in and out of your life...which was the hardest part about leaving..they gave themselves to us knowing we were only there a short time...and I am thankful for that. I will never feel a love like that again....I got to see a different culture, way of life, and yet I know we are just one kind of people....God's people.
It is such a hard thing to explain.....I was a balling mess when we arrived and when we left.....I adapted to teh way of life (not the food)...I know there will be a day when these people will be able to teach us how to survive... because they do it everyday. I will post a bunch of pictures on my next post....So I dont have to keep copying and pasting.....and I will finish this up another day

Getting ready to go......

2008-11-17T17:48:00.000-08:00

I am getting ready for my mission trip.....as excited as I am to go and do work for GOD...I know everything happens the way it is supposed to happen and that God will protect me and if something does happen to me it is because it is supposed to happen to me..that being said I am a bit nervous... because I have not been away from the kids for this amount of time..and even if I have been away for a weekend or something I am able to call and check on them--I will be in a rain forrest with no phones, running water or electricity.....this is going to be such a challenge for me...until 2 summers ago I didn't even go camping--and now I am going on the "ultimate" camping trip.
I have been keeping track of my progress during this journey and we got our journals for the trip--is tells us to write down what we want or expect to get out of our mission trip.....Already just with all of our conferences, cross -cultiral training and fund-raising events I have gained so much..new friends, even new family members (I have been adopted)and a much more enriched faith in God. It is amazing to me that things will change for me even more...When I think about all that I want out of this experience...I really just want to be thankful....thankful for everything I have, everything I am able to accomplish, everything I get to see and experience on a daily basis....it is aprapoe that I am going to miss thanks giving with my family --to go on a trip to learn how to be more thankful for everything in my life.
I know that amazing things are going to happen to me and I am really looking forward to this experience..I will have to totally rely on God to help me every step of the way..just as in life..but you are more aware of that when you are going on a new adventure.
I have planned out menus for my husband for all of the days I am gone, I wrote letters to all my children to have while I am gone--reassuring them that I will be thinking of them quite often and that they will need to pray for me because I will be praying for them....My husband is so great to handle all 6 children ALONE while I am gone...hehe...people ask me all of the time ..What are you going to do with all of your children? it makes me chuckle...Why would their Dad not take care of them? I guess alot of men just wouldn't be alone with 6 children..but my husband loves it..otherwise we wouldn't have 6 children! So thank you so much honey--for supporting me on this venture!
As far as my loved ones rading this blog-----I will miss you all and will share the pictures of my trip when I get back! I will be re-building school that was destroyed in a hurricane..and working with children in the village! I wish I could bring one home with me....that would be AWESOME!

Is this the day of the dead? Where is the celebration?

2008-11-01T13:50:00.000-07:00

I had to summarize 2 articles that I found about the history behind the day of the dead...I actually found one that I thought was beautiful in a way and made me want to celebrate this wonderful holiday as well.. I would remember my grandparents that have left me and some other dear friends.
We found a new counselor to help with our kid situation..to also help with our kids that have special needs and to help Rob and I brush up on some much needed parenting skills since we have also never parented teenagers. I feel like we are on the right path and that we will see some improvements soon.
We have had a minor set back with a member of our family because of some of the temporary changes that we have had to make, so please remember us in your prayers.
I am glad Halloween is over ..each year get harder and harder for me to enjoy, as my kids get older they want to dress-up as things I won't approve of and it becomes a fight every year. I think next year I will pay them to buy candy and just forget about the holiday so we won't have to fight about it. The Horton boys celbrated with Landon so of course they could be whatever they chose and I took Jeri, Carl and Clarissa to a church party and then they Trick-or Treated at some neighbor hood houses. JEri was Dorothy from The Widard of Oz, Carl was a skeleton, which was hilarious because that suited him perfectly since he is so tall and skinny anyway, and Clarissa was a Barbie cheer leader. I made all of the kids these fancy halloween bags and they recieved lots of compliments..I should go into business!
Well, that is the most recent update..I hope you all have a great holiday.

October 18th, 2008

2008-10-18T10:21:00.000-07:00

This last week we gained a dog..only temporarily..some Friends sold their house and bought a new one but have a week of transition and they are homeless so we are "dog sitting". In return they brought us a big bag of fresh apples and onions. I had just gotten back from the store where I had purchased 3 bags of apples....so what do you do when you have apple overload?
I am not sure if any of remember about 3.5 years ago when we processed apples at my house for 2 months straight and we had 100's of jars of applesauce? I think I made every recipe out of apples that I could google. Anyway. as Carl was having nightmares of more applesauce last night..I had to re-assure him..I was not making any..haha...we decided to have a baking party.
Trina came over, so she and I worked with the kids and we made a pie, and 2 apple crisps. If you could imagine 8 of us working in my somewhat small kitchen it was a sight to see..( more like a 3 ring circus!) as I think about it I wish I would have taken pictures ( but I was living in the moment not taking pictures of it..so I won't beat myself up about it). By the time it all ended Trina and I had to take 40 minutes to clean everything..
there was sugar spilled on the floor in an accident ( poor Carl) and then the rest of the kids proceeded to walk through it. Then Carl had an accident with the allspice so a teaspoon of that ended up on the floor by the table..of course that is where majority of us were working and walking around...so that is being sifted around. Cole, Bryce, and Preston are peeling apples and the peelings are being dropped into a bowl on the floor so apple "sprayings" are being tossed all over another section of the floor...and keep in mind the volume is getting louder and louder....Clarissa isn't really assigned a job so she is just going to all the stations and sampling every ones part of the food ..hand full here and a pinch here...so she has flour and her clothes and she has a really large smile on her face. Trina and Jeri are working on the same projects...and I am making a pie....and during this time I am thinking of all the memories..those few years ago Cole was helping me make pies one day and he said to me..
"Mom, Do you know what?"
I said " no, what Cole?"
Cole: " I am always going to remember this day when I baked pies with you..."
Wasn't that sweet? I don't know if he really remembered it but I thought it was so sweet at the time and every time I make an apple pie, I think of him on that day when he was so little and it was a special time for he and I.

SO on top of the fact that I LOVE fall and the apple season that it always brings I love all of the chaos that happens when my family gets together inside my little house and start to do inside activities together ..we used to do these types of things all of the time and it seems life it gets in the way of the things that are so important to me....so this will be another night that I will always remember because all of that chaos brings me such happiness.

We finished the night with Clue and I just have to say I am disappointed with the new clue game because they changed the name of the characters and some of the rooms ..out with the old in with the new I guess...but do they have to change everything? My grandkids will never know professor plum, colonel mustard ect....I guess it isn't the end of the world.

I Hope you all are enjoying your days and I pray for many blessings to you all!

Thursday, October 9th, 2008

2008-10-09T10:21:00.000-07:00

I skipped school today--( I only physically skipped one class actually) and I have to go to a 4 hour orientation at WVC for a nursing program requirement. Basically I go to this meeting and they tell me everything I have to do to complete my application and gather all materials between now and spring when I actually apply. Since it is a requirement I am going...however I am hoping I actually learn something because I have already done so much research and asked so many questions that I feel prepared. I have noticed in alot of these things that other classmates don't research things before they get involved in all of these classes they are kind of going through blindly...if you are going to put so much time and effort and make this a life strategy..why would you not look into everything?

Anyhow, I have already started sending for all of my paperwork and transcripts and things that I need to apply.
it seems so close and yet I know it is 6 months away before I can even apply , let alone an acceptance letter. I have to take pretty heavy loads after this quarter so I can make sure I meet all the requirements for both colleges. PLease pray for me.

The kids are doing well...they boys are doing well at football...I am amazed at some of their capabilities and how much respect they get on and off of the field because of their strength on the Field. Especially Cole last night he was an all-star ...yet after the game he made sure to go to each one of his guys and personally thank them for helping him with all of his touch downs ( he made 2 or three last night)..I am happier about the fact that he would go out of his way to thank the other guys on his team rather than the fact that he scored. He was in especially a good mood last night because the team he played was his team from last year and so far this season they were un-defeated until last night when Cole's team whomped them! Bryce has been playing quarterback all year--and it is funny because he has such a distinctive voice anyway--but when you are in the stands I can hear my little boy calling all the shots and I always knew he would be a leader...he also won his place in student counsel this year..( he decided to run for student counsel rather than president because a friend of his was running..he didn't want to interfere..which I think is very kind of him...although Bryce was voted as president last year ..His friend didn't win..but at least I know Bryce was kind enough to let him try)
Preston is in choir and football he loves both. This is his first year in football but he is doing great! I am sure next year he will be dominating..just as his brothers are this year. Carl is hanging in as best he can..he sometimes will pull out hits or plays that are not expected because the kid is not in love with the game..but he plays anyway.
Clarissa, is adjusting to the social life school has brought her..she is still more shy than most..but she is starting to recognize other children in the community and will play if they ask her too..which is a step above last year.
Jeri is struggling in school and at home a bit. We are going to do an intake and hopefully get some different kind of therapies going so that we can try to help with some behavior modifications. She would like some more freedom and we would like to trust her.
Rob is working 12 hour shift at night still--hopefully it will stop in November..because harvest will be ending..I think we are all tired of it as well as he..we would just like to have our family back to normal.

I am preparing for my mission trip by trying to work ahead so when I leave I can submit all of my assignments and not worry about school while I am gone...When I come back I will be in finals week which kind of stinks because of all the study time I will be missing..but I am doing God's work so I am sure I will be taken care of ....I have to believe that! I am very excited about this trip--when I went to our cross cultural conference I learned so many great things and bonded with my fellow team and I am really looking forward to this experience. They explained that ...you will never know how much it impacts your life until you come home...but just the conference alone affected me ...so I know I am expecting great strides in my future.

After I come home we will be leaving for Disney land just a couple weeks later...I will be so happy to have that down time with my family...just us..no worries concerns..homework or anything!

Things I want to remember:

2008-09-26T14:13:00.000-07:00

1. I need to realize the things I worry about today...aren't as important as I think they are......SO I should quit worrying about things.

2. Clarissa colored her new shoes with permenent marker.......I hope this stage ends soon.

3. Fall is my most favorite time of the year...the smell of apples and cinnamon..yummy!

4. I have been eating healthy for 3 weeks...( minus a few days) and it takes 6 weeks to implement a plan..so I am half-way there..I need to learn how to not sabatoge myself.

5. I have a really supportive family and I am lucky to be married to Rob ...who tells me he doesn't care how long it takes me to graduate a nurse..he will support me financially and mentally!

SO these are the things I am pondering today.....any bits of wisdom?

Back to School Again......

2008-09-24T07:37:00.000-07:00

HI ALl,

Well, School started for me on Monday. I originally signed up for 23 credits 18 credits at BBCC which is 30 minutes away from my home in Moses lake and 5 credits at WVC which is an hour from my home..I take my Biology class at night in Wenatchee 2 nights a week. I dropped my college allgebra class from BBCC , I am worried about missing a week when I go on my mission and I can always make up a math class somewhere...but I can't make up science b/c I need to take 2 science classes one quarter as it is..to be able to apply for the nursing program spring quarter. I have been talking to other students and it looks as if I won't be accepted in the spring anyway..but I am going to give it my best shot.
I am excited about my biology class in WVC...I have a young teacher, he is easy on the eyes and I think he is going to be able to actually teach me science unlike my last chemistry teacher who was a bit weird. I am taking one class every semester at WVC to keep my options open for the nursing program..plus WVC college offers several classes of the same subjects so it is easier to get into a class you need at that college...rather than BBCC ..it is so small and it is hard to get into some classes...so this helps me get what I need.
Other than science..all of my classes are really easy classes and I am excited to actually have an easier quarter...I am still taking 18 credits but I am taking spanish, Lifetime wellness and Art appreciation....and of course Cell Biology.

YEsterday was my first science class and things didn't go very well with me leaving at 3:00 at night and coming home at 10...things didn't go as I had planned..I had everything set out and organized for my family..but they didn't comply--so we will try again tomorrow.

The kids are all doing well..the 4 boys are playing football and they love it....trying to make sure everything gets done before practices..is no easy feat...but somehow we manage everything!

JEri has been keeping up on her grades and Clarissa is testing her limits with her new found freedom of school ....I think this never ends.

Well I hope you all have a good week!

The Most Romantic Weekend of My Life.......

2008-09-15T13:40:00.000-07:00

Only it was with "THE GIRLS!"

Oh the four of us had such a good time I didn't want it to end...We went to Leavenworth for the weekend ..we started it off with an OK dinner at ( I can't remember the name) ..didn't have a great selection of food but we were together...then we went for a carriage ride about the town..we had always wanted to do this and we never got around to it the other time..so we went right at the end and during the time the sun went down...perfect weather ... we laughed and enjoyed our ride.

The next morning we got up...went for breakfast did some light shopping...then got ready for our big adventure..we had booked a wine tour..we thought we would be getting a stretch Hummer..it turned out to be a stretch excursion..either way ..I thought it was nice and we toured 3 different winery's however--by the time we finished with the first wine tasting..they had given us 5 or 6 different tastes...so I was really warm by the time we left there. The other 2 winery's were really beautiful and we learned alot about wine. This was a blast..and we can't wait to do another one.

After we left the tour......We decided to go to a place called Katzenjammers for Dinner and it was so YUMMY! We had steak and Lobster ..it was so Yummy! It was the best dinner I have had in such a long time. After dinner we went back to our hotel room, enjoyed the hot tub and laughed, talked, shared secrets and dreams...and really enjoyed each others company....by the time Sunday came.....we had decided to get lunch in Wenatchee and then go see the movie called "The Women" on our way home...All I can say about this movie is that it was so beautiful in the way it depicts women relationships and I loved it..I will definatly buy this movie when it comes out...I cried during many scenes in this movie because it was all so true.

All I can say for the girls that went on this trip with me is that I love you all..I am glad we got to share all of those experiences together and I couldn't ask for better friends in my life. We were missing a few ....Hopefully we can catch up with them next time...and I hope everyone has a great week this week.

Clarissa the Cutie

2008-09-12T10:49:00.000-07:00

Well, in our house we have 3 children that have mild personalities and are somewhat easy to get along with...and then we have the 3 that have strong personalities...Clarissa is one of the head strong children..I have no idea where she got this from??? The German side or MY side?? I thinks he didn't really have a chance to be easy going.

This summer was really a turning point for her..as soon as she cut all her hair off everyone got to see her personality ..not just the ones close to her. Until she cut her hair..the only ones that knew the "real" Clarissa was Linda ( her daycare provider), The Dawsons and all of us, of course!
Now she will talk to some strangers..usually not men ( I wonder if I have a man hater in the making?)and she is singing louder, laughing louder and cracking jokes. She has an odd sense of humor like her brother Carl..Not sure where they get that from?? She does have reservations about certain situations...problem is she doesn't give into peer pressure and there is no convincing her of anything once she makes up her mind. It is hard for me not to break this spirit she has..because i want her to do what I want sometimes and she refuses..but we are learning to deal with each other.

AS young as Clarissa is she has an unshakable Faith and she will tell people she is around very often that Jesus lives in your heart.I love that about her! If you talk about Jesus she listens intently..and she has the memory of an elephant! She is just like Bryce with that kind of stuff. She also has a great imagination. She loves communicating and doing domestic duties..as of now..because she is young.

Clarissa is stubborn, shy at times, loving and she will let you know when she is unhappy with something. She is a true girly-girl.. she loves it when Jeri dresses her up and makes a big deal about her. Clarissa is also an animal lover and over the summer we have given her the chore of taking care of all the animals.

I know she is so young and I have no idea how God will use her in this life..but I know she will always be a leader and a strong one at that!

Pretty Preston

2008-09-10T12:27:00.001-07:00

I know most boys, including Preston hate being called "Pretty" , but I can't help it ..HE is so Pretty. When I was pregnant ( with Preston) I prayed that one of my children would get my eyes. Preston did...When I ask him where he got those Blue eyes..he responds with .."God gave them to me.." I love that.

Preston is the youngest of the four boys and tries very hard to keep up with all of them..so much so that people around us or that don't know us very well...forget how old he really is...which is hard on him sometimes because we are all used to him being able to keep up with everyone.

Preston is still my baby boy...It is hard for me to think of him any other way. Preston is funny, likes to be a show boat and always needs that pat on the back to say that he is doing well or fine. He has a strong personality ( just as Bryce ..although Different)that makes it easier for him to defend himself..but also a weakness of using it in the improper ways..I hope this comes with maturity.

Preston is very loving and kind to everyone around him..he loves animals and attention. He does well at all sports because he has trained with the best ( his brothers) and he is very social..he can never have to many friends. HE is always trying to bring home someone ..even if he doesn't necessarily like them just because they want to come over..he will put up with just about anything or anyway someone will treat him.....I like this about him because I know he will help anyone in need..but I also don't want him to lose himself in the process of helping others. I think Preston has the ability to charm anyone with his big blue eyes and charming smile.

Confident Cole

2008-09-09T17:19:00.000-07:00

I have this wonderfully confident child, Cole. Cole is confident but he doesn't rub it in your face. HE is a very hard worker and he is sensitive and good at most things he does or tries for the first time. Cole is that one child that can get along in any situation you put him..that doesn't mean he always wants to be in certain situations..but he will always make do ..so to say.

I have been having issues with Cole lately. I think he is just trying to find his way in the world and within our family structure..he is pressing buttons a little more and getting frustrated because we give him alot of responsibility because we know he can handle it and will do what we ask...for the most part.

Cole is also artistic and organized, I never have to worry about what he looks like because he knows how to match his clothes and he organizes everything in his room so he can find it..I love that about him.

I imagine Cole when he grows up as being the one that will stay close to home to be near his family..he will take care of me in my old age and he will be the stable one that everyone turns to when they have a problem. HE is on a very even keel. I think he will be an example to all of us..once he gets out of this "stage." GOd has blessed him with these qualities and I am thankful his family will have this to rely on.

Creative Carl

2008-09-08T11:12:00.001-07:00

I have this most amazingly creative child..that is so unsure of himself..he is always so afraid of everything. Carl is the easiest child to get along with he is so afraid of any tension that he stays constantly under the radar. You know when something is bothering him..he starts to studder, his eyes start to squint shut for the tears and you can almost see the uncertainty in his body.

Carl refuses to do homework yet he scores so high on all of his tests that it is hard to get mad at him ..other than the fact that he can't be so lazy..( he is so much like his father ..it is spooky!) I had a hard time punishing Carl for such a long time ( we are talking years..I know..I know ..it was bad, I still punished him.... it took me awhile) because he has such a wounded look on his face all of the time..but I had to get over it because he started getting a bit sassy and he would walk away from me and do the opposite of what I told him...I know again..this was my fault..but I have made the change. I get so frustrated with him at times because he is this way..but then..I see him in his LIGHT.....

Carl is artful and soulful if you look and listen...on top of that he is getting some of the "systems" as I say it.....he will organize things sometimes and come up with patterns and faster ways to accomplish things..which is what I do ..so I love that he is getting some of my OCD issues..( I am not sure I should be proud of this in any other case ..other than he is so much like Rob and his future wife will appreciate this). I also love art..it was my dream as a youth ..so to see that Carl has these talents ..warms my heart.

Carl will read poetry for longer periods of time than he is assigned and he will spend a little extra time drawing pictures and he sees things that others don't see and I love that about him. HE will often catch me off guard with some of his strategies..and I will have to honor them just for the sheer cleverness of his mind....His imagination is endless.....Just as his insecurities..I wonder if he will ever become secure in any situation....that is my biggest fear for him.

HE and I had a talk about his fears..and I told him since he has God in his heart he has nothing to fear...at the time i didn't know how dear he would take this to heart...you never know how children react to the things you say...and we talked about a night mare a few months back..he told me ---

" Mom, I just did what you told me, I prayed."
I said " Did it work?"
Carl said " I fell right back to sleep."

I am glad he listened and that his faith is strengthening and all I can do is hope that I can use as much faith as he in my everyday struggles to keep him safe and make him feel secure.
God will protect him and use these fears for something good along with with special talents.

The "Famous" Bryce

2008-09-05T07:13:00.000-07:00

We all have that strong willed child that is sometimes hard to get along with, right? ( I hope that I am not just assuming this for everyone to make myself feel better here)...In my family this is Bryce....Bryce has a tall list of things that are sometimes hard to deal with ( like his short man syndrome) but then...he wipes it all away with his random acts of kindness that he shares every once in awhile to throw me a bone so to say ..or he exposes a peice of his heart that reminds you that he actually does have one.( I know he does..but sometimes he frustrates me so...)

Bryce has this knack for reading into people, seeing bad situations he loves little kids ( and special needs kids) ..and all of these kids love him. Bryce would never be seen in public holding hands with a boy..he is far to cool for that ..but if Quinn needs help at Silverwood or any public place for that matter ..Bryce will hold his hand and guide him where he needs to be and that warms my heart. Quinn is special needs and towers over Bryce ..asks him alot of questions and Bryce is very patient with him.....amidst all of the frustrating things Bryce does..this takes away all of the bad....because this shows me that he really loves people and he will go out of his way to help people in need.

As soon as Bryce sees a person holding a sign he will ask if we can give them money...not only that he will ask them..What is that you really need? I love that about him...

So I will let him think that he is so "Cool" and that everyone loves him ..hopefully he will learn in time to reveal the thinsg that really matter to anyone and everyone ..adn be used for his inteded purposes.

My Sweet Daughter, Jeralyn

2008-09-04T10:22:00.000-07:00

I know Jeri and I have had our struggles..trying to find a common ground with eachother and we finally got there awhile ago and with all of the suffereing she has been through it is amazing how brave and strong a person of her age can be. Thru this summer there has been a slight change...( I am sure it has been coming for quite some time..just hard for me to face) ..she has now officially grown taller than me...I keep saying I am of average height but no one in my family believes me....

Jerlayn has become obsessed with clothing ( she has been for quite some time..but it is getting worse)...she loves to make -up her little sister and all of her friends..are always painting their nails and playing dress-up. There is something more grown-up about her lately--I mean all of teh hard work and struggles it seems are paying off..she seems to be taking more responsibility for her self and telling me everything I want to hear..I so hope she follows through..so we can trust eachother. Why do we always have to struggle with our parents when we become teenagers?

My favorite thing about Jeri ia that she loves everyone..even though she has been hurt by many..she loves many more ..that is her worse and best trait...I wish I could be as loving as she.

It is so hard to let her go..I know I have to balance things and let her live..
When I see Jeri react with her friends it takes me back to a time in my life when we ran in packs and we cared so much about what other people thought about us.. Jeri is going through all of that same trauma..you don't know who you can trust...you don't value your parents thoughts and you want more freedom that you can think about.....I would never want to return to this awkward time of my life...for those reasons...but also.... I remember the carefree days of adolescence and wonder why when we are young we never truly enjoy those days. As jeri is fighting pimples (that she will only let me pop...thanks HOney...I guess that is a mom's job!), trying to battle her weight and figuring out who she is ...I wonder--when does it all stop? I am fighting all of these things along with wrinkles and gray hairs!! How come us ladies never get a break?
These are pictures in the last couple of weeks and Jeri's first day of 8th grade..before you know it she will be in high school...and I know my days are numbered...I get misty eyed thinking about letting her go and experiencing more hurt the world has to offer..I just have to hope that with God's protection and my love ..she will float through life and live life for all it's worth and not be afraid of what is coming...because I know God will use her for something powerful and I would love to see what he unfolds for her.....I love you, Jeri!

catchin up

2008-09-03T09:12:00.001-07:00

HI everyone,
It has been such a long time since I have blogged.....and I haven't even loaded any new pictures on the computer to post on here...I have been a little busy....Yesterday was Clarissa's first day of kindergarten..I thought I was OK until I got there and delivered her...then all I could do was cry because my last little baby is gone...she was so ready to go ...she didn't even beg me to stay , she wasn't nervous or anything...it doesn't seem so long ago that she told me she didn't ever want to leave me to go to school ..and now she is....although she only wanted me to take her ..she made Rob stay home..I am not sure why that is..I tried to talk her into it but she refused to let him go to school with her.
The other kids' first day of school was August 27th and the night before was the open house...we went to the open house then out to dinner..we came home and Chi chi was limping...we took her to our neighbor ...who also happens to be our Vet and he told us to go to the office. HE followed us down there..she has a spiral fracture and he leg was broken in three places...there were no puncture wounds or bruises...so we don't know what happened. The break was in a difficult spot to fix so even with 1000's of dollars worth of surgeries it would most likely not be fixable. So we would have to amputate....I didn't know what to do...I was home with the kids..so I told Rob to decide..he opted for "The Sleep Shot" ( that is how we explained it to our kids) The kids were devastated and didn't even want to go to school..I feel guilty killing a dog over a leg.....but what do you do?
SO the next weekend we got a kitten to ease the pain..I refuse to get any more dogs....and a cat is WAY less work...so it was a compromise ...and it worked to make the kids feel better.
My house feels empty without Clarissa during the day...in 11 years I have never had an empty house like this...maybe if the kids were gone for short periods of time or something...but there is a finality to it all..I know she is only 5 and I have many more years...but there is still this little piece of me that knows that things will never be the same and it makes me think about my future and what things will be like without all of the chaos...I will surely miss these days in my life no matter how hectic it sometimes is...I love the noise and the familiar sounds of my home.

Almost summer vacation......hurray!

2008-07-28T18:01:00.000-07:00

Hi to all........
I know it has been a long stretch..Sorry for all who inquire on our family. I am in my last week of summer quarter..and I am struggling worse than ever before..they shorten summer quarter to 6 weeks so you have 11 weeks worth of material in about half of the time and I took some hard courses along with 20 credits which was just INSANE! So needless to say..I don't have much of a social life. I knew I needed a chemistry tutor right away and they could not find one for me until last week..and well it is a bit late--and she doesn't know her chemistry very well because it has been such a long time since she has taken the class herself ..so I have to explain alot to her myself and we aren't getting very far when my final is on thursday..so I could possible fail this class which will set me back so far because I won't be able to apply for nursing school until 2010..I will have to wait a full year. I am thinking if I have to wait that long I may change my major--we will see what happens. PRAY for me!
ALthough I am struggling in school I am glad it is almost over so I can start spending time with all of my friends and family , clean my house, weed my flower beds and work on our missionary trip needs.
The boys have been going back and fourth from here to Landon's and I hate summer for that reason...it seems that all of the good things that we used to celebrate are ruined by the fact that I have to share the kids with landon..oh well such as life.
I know I haven't caught everyone up on all of the updates on everything--I haven't even downloaded any pictures that I have taken in the last 7 weeks.....Clarissa decided to cut her own hair..so now the long beautiful hair she had is gone and she got a tinkerbell pixie cut..which looks terrible on her and she will have to start kindergarten this year with ugly hair.....Preston was published in a children's poetry book--the books will arrive here in Januray and he is going to autograph them for anyone who orders one. Bryce, Carl, Preston and Cole are gonna start football in a few weeks..I spoke with the coach last week. Jeralyn is pretty much up to the same things..buy crazy and getting more more and more self conscious , I think. Typical eigth grader...I know I never want to go back to the age!
I went to a movie last weekend with Melissa---it was so great! I loved it...it was Mamma Mia and I am definatly buying the DVD when it comes out!
Well, that is all I can think of at this point--next week when I have time--adn no studying I will catch up again!

I am LOST......

2008-06-06T13:31:00.000-07:00

I don't know what to do with myself now that I don't need to study every waking moment..taday went out to breakfast with Melissa....went to Wally's to pick up Cole's birthday supplies and now I am cleaning a bit here and there..wondering what I will do with myself all weekend. SO much free time. I could start working on the boys' rooms, finish Jeri's room, scrapbook, garden, or finish all of the house paperwork I haven't had time to do ?? SO many options...I think I shall pick a fun one...SO I am going to dust off my scrapbooking stuff and possibly get out the quilting supplies maybe sew up a table runner or two for the fundraising auction we are having in August. Our last auction was a success...but we still need about 7000.00 dollars for our trip. I am hoping we get it soon because all of this fundraising can wear a person out!
Rob is working 7pm until 7am and it is hard on all of us..but even harder on him to adjust ..this is his first week so I am sure by the end of the month it will get easier. I no longer need daycare though...I am just hoping when school gets out this week that they will let him sleep until I get home from school.
Well I should go clean some more...in all of my free time --I haven't gotten to clean and I miss it..only because I hate having such a filthy house!

Finals Week!

2008-06-05T07:21:00.000-07:00

Well I am in finals weeks---I had my philosophy final on Tuesday so I am officially done with that class. On the same day I finished my last nutrition assignment! Wooo hooo! Which leaves me with Math ...final on the 11th...and English last essay due on Tuesday..got my rough draft done last night..taking it to the English lab today to get it fine tuned. Gave my final speech yesterday and my written final is on Monday! Then I will be able to rest for a week! ( Actually 4 days until my on-line class starts). I am taking 20 credits over the summer and they aren't going to be easy...but it is only going to be 6 weeks...which will make it even harder but I am ready...almost! I am taking Intermediate algebra, Chemistry, Sociology and Psychology 210. Psychology 210 will actually be a 10 week online class...but the rest are 6 weeks classes through BBCC.
I bought a pool pass for my kids, and I am going to buy a laptop ..so I can take it to the pool with me and work while the kids play at the pool. That way they are not cooped up in the house all day and I will feel better about giving myself time to work.
We are having Cole's birthday party tomorrow after school...his birthday is in July..but he wants his school friends to be there and I will be in finals week during the last week in July , so this works out better for him. He just wants a trampoline/pizza party...that is fine with me. I need to head out to school..chat at ya later!

It's getting closer.......

2008-05-22T12:00:00.000-07:00

To the end of the quarter...Thank God! I had a bit of a mishap last week and didn't turn in my assignment or take my test for my on-line class by the appropriate time....so I had a bit of a scare because due to a family emergency my instructor hasn't been as active in the classroom...so I thought I was going to have to drop nutrition which would be bad because there is only 3 weeks left of the quarter...I would probably get a better grade next quarter just because the cirriculum stays the same and I have the answers to most of the tests....so it was tempting... but my teacher let me take the test when she finally got back to me and she accepted my late assignment. HURRAY! So although I will have to accept my grade as it is...I am glad I don't have to pay for the same class twice.
I have been studying so much lately...the only time I really get out is lunch on Tuesdays with a special friend, and when my family takes a trip to Wal-mart or to the lake to run the dogs. I swear I need to scrpbook my relationship with Wally's. I have also been doing some fundraising activities for my mission trip.
Clarissa is 5 today! SHe thinks she is a grown up now...and I can almost see it...she has definatley grown out of the baby and toddler looking stage and has grown into a beautiful young girl. I have her kindergarten registration papers....it doesn't seem possible. They are doing all day kindergarten next fall, due to gas prices, the bus barn doens't want to take double trips anymore. Although, it is good for our family because I will no longer need daycare....it is also an ending to a chapter in our life, which is sad in a way. But I am happy to be in this stage of our life and family.
School is coming to an end, the kids are getting restless and I am looking forward to being able to spend some more time with them.
This kid has been bothering Bryce at school apparently, the kid is new and he has been bullying Bryce...I don't know why Bryce is the one that keeps getting picked on...I know he is a smartmouth and bully at home...but not usually in public..hehe...Anyway he wouldn't discuss the issue with me because apparently he think I wouldn't handle it the way he wants to handle it, he refuses to let me call the school, he thinks it will make it worse and he will look like a baby or something. so yesterday , he and Rob devised a plan. I Am always scared of Rob's plans!
But apparently the kid told Bryce he has an older sister that is coming to school to help him beat up Bryce( I think, I should let you know how the bus system works, they drop off the kids from the further schools at whichever grade school is closest to their house, so the older kids walk home with the younger kids). Well, the girl is in one of Jeri's classes. So Jeri Offered to ride the bus home also, so she would be riding the same bus as this guys older sister. Usually the younger boys just walk home without Bryce so they offered to stick around for the extra 15 minutes and wait for Bryce. This kid who has been picking on Bryce has already gotten " talked to" on the bus for kicking and hitting Bryce, so Bryce is convinced that he will try and beat him up.
Well, now this kid is and his sister are going to have to fight off 5 kids rather than just one. Rob instructed Jeri to just stay close by and if the sister gets involved...then Jeri can get involved...HE also instructed the boys to just be watchful and get involved if need be ..because Bryce isn't afraid of getting hurt, and he isn't afraid of anyone...but he doesn't need to be ganged up on either..he is just a "little guy" after all. Of course I am hearing all of this on Rob's lunch hour because these "manly" boys don't want their Mommy rescuing them???? What is this a conspiracy?? I think it is great that all of my children are going to back one another up...like they are supposed to ...but I don't want fighting..and Rob didn't even tell them to take a cell phone in case they need me?? What is that?
SO I may just drive up to the school and see how it all plays out...and try not to interfere...if I can help it!
Well I need to get back to work...I posted these pics from some of the nights that we take the dogs out to the lake for fetch...I don't have much time to walk them in the mornings now...so we take them out to the lake a few times a week for running.

May 14th

2008-05-14T17:01:00.000-07:00

Hi All,
Well, the puppies are ready to go to their homes...I believe now that they are minipin and weiner dog.....Cute as can be and very little. I have homes for 2 of them..but I need a home for the little girl now..her owners backed out.
School is going...I have 2 research papers I have to write this weekend....for the most part--I will be able to fine tune them next week...so I will be spending alot of time at the library this weekend. One is for philosophy, I am writing about Martin Luther King jr. and his non-violent resistence. For my English paper I have to write a paper, apply a topic that pertains to the book " All the pretty horses" by Cormac McCarthy. All I can tell you about that book is that.....it is no pick me upper. It is a western that has no mercy or sunshiny feelings in it...so I am struggling to find something interesting enough for me to research.
Rob is doing well at his job. However...he went to the doctor today, he hasn't been feeling well. So pray for him. I am hoping it isn't diabetes...it runs in his family and I think he has some symptoms.
The kids are doing well....I feel like I am neglecting them some..because school is all consuming for me at this point. Next quarter I am only taking 20 credits so it will be a little bit better.
The trampoline was a really good thing for my kids...they love it and I keep forgetting to get the camera and take pics of them jumping about. It is good exercise for them! They are handling my homework desk pretty well..they always come behind me and ask...MOm...Are you doing homework? That way they know if I say yes--they will go ask Dad...for whatever they need. That is really nice of them, I am so glad they are helping in their little way to support me.
Clarissa is turning 5 next week and she thinks she is a "grown-up" now. 5 is apparently the BIG number! We are having a wedding birthday.
Bryce is acting so much better , I think the counseling is helping...just so he has someone neutral to talk to about his troubles. Apparently Landon and my divorce still bothers him some...I feel bad about that...but such as life. JEri is going to counseling....her issues are a bit stronger...so it is just an ongoing process..but so far so good..I like this counselor.
Cole is acting out a bit, I think he is trying to compete with the older kids...Carl lost a tooth today...I think he was embarrassed or something to give it to me because it had a cavity..haha! HE told me he really does brush his teeth...hahaha! Preston is keeping up with everything...growing up into a "little man" and everytime I look at him and see how big he gets ..a little peice of me weeps. My little baby..hasn't been a baby for such a long time--he is 8. They will all be gone before I know it.
Well I need to get dinner started...I hope you all have a great week!

It's May...Hurray!

2008-05-01T07:20:00.000-07:00

HI All ,
Today is the first day of May...I am sure that is exciting for some people...it is exciting for me because I know I only have 5 weeks left of this quarter...UGH! I took way to many credits and it is to late to back out now...I will never take 25 credits again..so to all the people that told me I shouldn't do it....You were right! I pretty much have no life! I get up at 5:00 am to study...go to school...come home, eat lunch and study until bedtime. Rob has been having to take care of the kids and clean ( he doesn't do very much cleaning...our house is embarrassing..but he is keeping enough dishes clean so we can eat). I make dinner and eat dinner with my family...and that is about it.
I am getting a 4.0 in only one class..thank God it is a class I need for nursing! Philosophy I am getting a C...I think I can raise this grade..depending on how well I do on my research project..UGH! I have been scoring 100% on all of my assignments..and I scored a 90% on my mid terms..it is the first week of assignments and the first test that have brought my grade down so much...I didn't understand it all at first. I am struggling with algebra a little also--I am getting C in that class...it was my last test that brought my grade down..I think I could have gotten at least a B, but there was construction on the way to school and I was late to class 15 minutes, to take my test and I didn't get to finish the test. Yeah, and college isn't like high school...they don't care! HAHAHA! So that had been my week of mid terms! Oh well..as long as I pass...The only classes i absolutely have to get an A in..are the pre-req's for nursing.
The puppies are doing well...they are so cute! They are walking around and playing. ChiChi is feeling at home because she has turned into a YAPPER! great just what I didn't want! Anyway..she is cute and I love her! So I will deal with her imperfections!
Jeri is excited because next weekend in the Avril concert---so we will be heading to Spokane. Rob took the boys paint balling last weekend..I have a feeling this is going to be an every weekend pastime..although I am a little worried about the bruises...it is so bad...I feel like it is a bit of child abuse , but the boys assure me it isn't. Poor Preston, came home with huge welts...I didn't want him to go in the first place because he is so young, I don't know if he understands what he is getting himself into?? But he assured me he has fun ....oh well.
Well there is our update...I hope you are all enjoying the spring and sunshine!