something to talk about...........

HI everyone,
Well I have not had alot of time to blog, much less anything else. I have been doing my clinicals at the nursing home/ Alzheimer's unit. I have had the worse days of my life there. ( well almost....definitely the worse days of my professional career!) I am glad this will be last week of them and then I start college! wooooooohoooooooo! I am glad Christmas is over, I can't say it was the best Christmas I have ever had, I am making changes after this year for sure! I need to stay home with my kids and have family time...I am tired of driving all the way to town and not being able to enjoy our holiday. Enough of that! The kids loved all of their gifts and they thought this was the best Christmas they had ever had. I was happy that at least I did that much for them. This next year is going to be very rough on them with all of the changes that are happening.
ROb has an interview tomorrow at Columbia foods they need a refrigeration mechanic and they are willing to train the right person. I am so happy! I just pray that if he gets the job he will like it , so there are no regrets. I would like to stay here at least until I finish nursing school because they have such a good nursing program here and the college is still small enough that you get alot of one on one help and I need it!
Well I hope everyone is well and please keep praying for our family!

EXHAUSTION!

HI all,
I know it has been a awhile since I have blogged. I have classes from 7 am to 3 pm and by the time I get home I am worn out , I have to deal with the kids and the house and then do homework. That hasn't left me much time for anything other than on the weekends, and during this season that is pretty full. I am helping other people with their projects for Christmas , but I am actually not making any gifts this year, some I am touching up a bit , but everything has been bought--NO TIME! for crafting!
CNA classes are going well I will be done with all of the book work on Thursday and then we start clinicals on Friday and then I have to be to work at 6am--UGH! is is so early and the roads are so bad in the morning and the fog from here to Moses has been really bad lately so it takes me a good 45-50 minutes to make the 20 minute drive because I am to scared to go very fast. But I will be happy to be done with them in a few weeks and then start my classes at the college on Jan 7th.
The kids are all excited for Christmas to come, Clarissa keeps asking " How many days does it have to snow before Christmas gets here?" The rest of them are so excited to open their gifts and see what treasures they got.
They all got good grades in school, JEri is flunking a few subjects so she will have to start Saturday school after the winter break.
We have been healthy so far , I am happy about that. The kids are having their Christmas programs this week at school and I will have to miss them which is sad because I have gone to almost everyone --but I can't because of my classes and being in the next town over will be to hard to make them all. I just wish they had one parent there to watch, but life goes on........
Well next weekend we will be off and running with our whirlwind Christmas plans. It gets kind of hard traveling for all of the holiday and being in so many places in such a short amount of time, but then I think about... The fact that I am blessed because I have so many places to go and so many people that LOVE us and want to spend time with us...We can't ever fit everyone in....SO I should just be thankful and when I am old and can't travel I hope someone comes to visit me. I hope you all have a good CHRISTmas and travel safe! LOVE US!

A new Adventure!

HI ALL,
Its been awhile since I blogged, I have had alot going on........along with Thanksgiving which went great--I had a bit of a timing issue--I was ready before I was supposed to be --but it all worked out fine, anyway....we had a nice time.
I have been running from here to there and I have been to SPokane and I registered for my college classes--I will be an official college student on January 7th!! I am taking math,english and Psychology! Tomorrow is my last day of work at the hospital , on Friday I start my CNA classes. ( I have to be a CNA in order to get into nursing school) I will be done with my CNA classes on Jan 4th so I will have 2 days to spare for my college classes to start! I am nervous excited and happy to have my goals fall into place.
We have had alot of traffic on the house recently--who knows what will happen with that whole thing, ROb is still applying for jobs when he comes home . However I cant really move at this time while I am in school so I will have to stay at least thru my first quarter. I need to go--I will try and check in later

hello

Hi All,
Well today Rob left to go back to work again! We had 4 couples stop by at our open house and I was surprised at that # just because it was rainy and yucky out, so basically I was pleasantly surprised. I don't think anything will happen with it, but at least we tried and I can tell my realtor and Rob I did the best job I could. SO Rob applied for a few jobs while he was here in town and I hope he gets one of them b/c I need a life again. RObs days off are now Sundays and Mondays and I can't really do alot with my friends since those are horrible days off. There is no one to watch the kids. Anyhow I meet with my college counselor today to discuss my placement test results and figure out which classes I should start out with on my first semester. I am excited but I also know I bombed my math test, I apparently didn't get enough studying in b/c I didn't recognize anything they were asking me. Oh well life goes on and if I have to work my way up from the bottom, at least I have plenty of time to do it. I can't apply for nursing school until fall of 2009 so I will be able to get every last bit of classes I need, so by the time I get to nursing school all of my "extras" will be done and I will be able to focus solely on nursing school. SO there is the silver lining!
The kids are all doing well in school we got report cards last week all of them pulled up the grades that they needed --one of the kids got a C, which I wasn't going to complain about b/c frankly, for that child, a c is pretty good!
The boys started wrestling last week and it will go thru spring depending on how serious the boys are going to be , but they are at least paid up thru December. One thing after another but at least they like it and it is good for them!
Well there is the update so far for this week--I hope you all have a happy thanksgiving and eat yourself happy!

Tuesday, in NOVEMBER

HI All,
How are you? I am doing well, I am wondering how Thanksgiving is coming around the corner so fast? Does anyone know? Well last weekend I worked on a quilt that seemed to have been the most tedious quilt I have ever worked on and I think I can safely say I will never work on this certain pattern again--I don't think I have ever said that about any other quilt....so I just DID! I got the center of the quilt done and when I was in the thick of that quilt Justina decided to point out just how many "little" pieces were in this particular quilt---it is over 2700 ...so maybe that is why?--it is actually a very beautiful quilt, just very long and drawn out.
I am having a pampered chef party tomorrow and then on Thursday I am heading to Spokane , all of my kids have dentists appointments and then Friday I am taking my placements test as nervous as I am about it, I will be happy to just be done with it, I didn't get as far in my math as I would have liked , but I got a good start. I am hoping at this point that I can just get into math 95 so I can get into chemistry. I won't be able to get into nursing school until Fall of 2009 so I have plenty of time to get all of my pre reqs in and then some extra classes so I will be able to have a higher score to qualify for nursing school. SO pray for me!
Rob is actively looking for a job close to home now because our house has not sold and I just found out ANOTHER new housing development is coming in....so it does not look good for us. I am happy to just stay put at this point and just keep working towards my goal for school and hope and pray that Rob can find a job to support us here. Napa has been so good to him , they compliment him all of the time and I know he loves his Job , things just don't seem to be working out they way we had planned. SO I guess there is a bigger plan for us.
The kids are doing well, they are planning on how we are going to arrange the house for our possible stay, the only thing I can say about that is...I hate painting and it looks as if I am going to have to start that process all over again. UGH! However on the bright side, we have done some things to the house that Rob had been putting off for some time and we replaced alot of things and the yard finally started coming together this summer..so at least we will be able to reap the benefits of our work and not someone else---so there is some great positives! We are having an open house this next weekend, which I am going to have to do alot of cleaning --between Friday and Sunday--I am not thankful for that...but maybe if we give it one last push--we can say we tried really hard. Although I am thinking having an open house the SUNDAY before Thanksgiving may not have been the best weekend for showing a house--who knows??
Well I hope you are all having a great week! PRAY FOR US!

Quilters retreat...here I come!

HI All,
well I am on my way downtown to go to a quilting retreat that my friends and I have all planned together and I am in for 2 days of sewing bliss! woooohoooooo!
It is nice to be able to do these because I can usually get a quilt done in one of these weekends, well usually more than one quilt if you want to know the truth and this time will be no exception I am sure because my friend Donna has already given me a jump start on the one I am making today. It is "sew" nice to be able to do this also because there are no friends like quilting friends, I think that is why this tradition has never died, quilting will be around until the end because
there is something about the quilting community that just makes you feel like you are home. It is the same with our local fabric store here in town...I know that if I ever leave little Ephrata I will still come here to visit " The Fabric Patch" and buy my fabric , just because I am comfortable there and I think I can call them friends. I won't be able to get that in a big city environment. Anyway, other than that lately I have been working on my math, cleaning the house, I finished a book this week and I am trying to keep myself above water with all of my worries, responsibilities and trying to focus on God because above all I know he wants what is best for me and I need to just pray to him. So if all of you could just keep praying for us and that our house will sell , I just really want our family to be together and I am trying to be patient. I would really like for ROb and I to accomplish both of our dreams and provide for our family.

A few days after Halloween......

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HI All,

I just thought I would let you all know how Halloween was for our family.......

I am really struggling with Halloween, the older my kids get the more we fight about this holiday, they want to be creatures that I don't approve of and they are really wanting to get really expensive costumes , which I can't afford ! SO anyway-This year after much debating and upset faces, I got off relatively cheap..and the costumes are as follows:

JEralyn: Vampire ( I hated this costume--I hate all vampire movies and it was this or some cstume that had a slit clear up to her thigh --I was tired of fighting!)

Bryce: Gangster . I had to have the talk with BRyce about how we don't condone gang behavior in anyway and that this costume is just for fun. ( I don't want to glamorize this is any way !)

Carl: bought a scream costume-- however he did not get all of his homework turned in--so no celebrating for him. ( I did not buy this costume--so I was not part os the decision process.)

COle: Skeleton, however Carl let him wear his costume because he could not.

PReston: Ninja ( although , not what I would have chosen, it was better than some of the others and his costume only cost me 2$)

Clarissa: Ariel, The little Mermaid. This of course was my favorite costume.

I didn't really like any of the cotumes my kids chose.

Clarissa's costume was my favorite , however I had to give BRyce special recognition because he came up with his costume on his own and it really turned out well, and we got all of his costume from the dollar store and he borrowed clothing from Quinn and our neighbor. ( the picture does not showcase his * BLING* *BLING* well or his * GRILL* )

SO AFter school the kids came home and we went trick or treating from 4:30-6:30 downtown, I love that they do it at that time, because I was able to come home make dinner for the kids, they could do their homework and take their showers and still get to bed on time! wooooohooo!

I have to share a funny little story about my kids, I am the parent who does not buy them candy very often, and for their snack after school we always have a fruit bowl. My kids LOVE candy, so they are trying to get every last bit that they can. I didn't buy any candy for Trick or treaters for our house because, we hardly ever hear the door bell ring on Halloween, so as we are eating dinner it rings and of course, Trick OR Treaters--my oldest SOn ( who shall remain nameless!) says" Sorry we don't have any CANDY!" and slams the door! That was after they just got done saying how much CANDY we have from downtown! I was so mad! I said "Hey, that was so RUDE! YOu have a TON of candy right here!" and the oldest child who shall remain nameless says" BUt that is our CANDY!" SO I say " and you can't share a few pieces?"
SO COLE my good son! Runs after them with a huge handful and puts it in their bags! SHEESH! My kids are STINGY!

SO anyway--all in all it was a good Halloween and we made it thru .This year was especially good for Clarissa, she was not so shy because she knew what she was getting! I think she sprung out of bed that day and she kept telling everyone " HAPPY HALLOWEEN! SHe was especially upset that her Daddy wasn't going to be here , she called him to wish him happy Halloween also.

SO I hope everyone had a great day!