Happy Snow Day!

It's snowing!!!!!

Being from California, this is quite a novelty for us here. In fact the only time we saw snow in San Jose was when I was 4. That was the one and only time in over 30 years. Of course when we decided to move here everyone told us how cold it was and how much snow there was in Idaho(no one had actually been here, they just heard, right!) In fact, at our going away party everyone wore white to signify the snow. As if we were moving to the tundra!

So I have to say that last year I wasn't very impressed with the snow fall. I mean if we were moving to a place that snowed, I wanted to see some snow. We got around 5 snowfalls last year I think and only 2 stayed longer than a day. My kids love the snow so needless to say they were disappointed.

So here we are at the start of the winter season and we are having some snow. The kids are loving it. Our trampoline has a light coat of snow and they are outside jumping on it watching the snow bounce up. They are also scooping it up and putting it in their mouth(I know you are so grossed out right now Na!) Of course, Lauren is complaining how freezing cold her hands are!(Before you say anything she does have gloves on!)

We've found out that our cat is completely freaked out by the snow. Hannah brought him outside and he cowered beneath the trampoline. I let him back inside and he went and hid inside Lauren's Dora tent in the patio room. Not a fan of the snow I guess.

I for one think it is so pretty. I went to pick up Andrew from school and there was Christmas music on the radio and the snow was falling. I know it's corny but it gave me this kind-of warm feeling, which considering my mood lately, I really needed that!

Happy Snow Day!

Stars in the making!

I just wanted to say that I have 2 little stars in the making!

This past May, Hannah went on a field trip to Eagle Island State Park to watch a reenactment of the Civil War. Besides the fact that she enjoyed the field trip tremendously, she also got to be on the news! They showed 2 clips of her being interviewed by the reporter as well as shots of her watching the actors. It was so cool. We recorded it and watched it over and over. We were so proud of how well she did on television. Very mature! Definitely Disney channel material! Ha!

Then today I was on my way to take Lauren to school and we were listening to 89.5fm KTSY. It's a great christian music channel and the kids enjoy listening to it as well. Every weekday morning they have a child do the Pledge of Allegiance on the air. Well, Lauren has been telling us the Pledge of Allegiance for the past month because she has been learning it in preschool. So I ask her quickly if she wants to say the Pledge of Allegiance on the radio and she says yes. I hurry and call the station and they put me right through to the DJ. He asks me her name, what city we live in and how old she is. Then he asks me to put her on the phone and she said the whole Pledge of Allegiance on the phone. It was so stinkin' cute! She wasn't shy or anything. I think because she couldn't see him on the other end of the phone. He told me that she would be on the air at 9 am.

So of course I hung up and started calling everyone to tell them to listen to her. We got to her preschool and waited a few minutes to take her in so she could hear herself on the radio. She thought that was so neat! As soon as we got inside the school though, she became shy again. I asked her to tell her teacher what she did and she clammed up! She's just so modest!

I called the radio station and asked if I could get a copy of it and they said they were going to mail one out to me as soon as they could. Isn't that cool. I love this radio station. Two weeks ago I won four tickets to Idaho Ice World and a cd from the same radio station because I called in when they were having their family name game. The name was Lauren so I called right away and I was the winner! I love cell phones!

So I'm very proud of my two girls and their "air time"

Shopping

Went shopping with my friend Darcie yesterday. Now I have always been a day after Thanksgiving shopper but who knew that there were others out there who were more ambitious than me!(I used the word crazy but Darcie said ambitious!)

Last year I couldn't get anyone to go with me so I went by myself. Darcie and I were talking one day and she told me that she too was a "day after Thanksgiving shopper". We decided to go together and try and recruit some of our other friends. As the day got closer some of our other friends appeared to be chickening out! I had most of my shopping done but since I promised my friend I would go, I went.

Let me just set the scene for you! Darcie picked me up at my house at 4 am! Yes people that's not a typo-it does say am, as in the morning. With coffee in hand we drove to the first store and sat in her car since there wasn't a whole lot of people in line. When the doors opened at 5 am Darcie was off like a flash! We were getting two things here for me so she had one of the things in hand before I was even over to her! You ROCK Chuck! After that we headed to Target and stood in line for 40 minutes. There was even a security guard that was telling us the rules once the doors opened. "There will be no running, tripping, pushing, hitting or biting when the doors open. If you are caught doing any of these things, you will be escorted from the premises and not allowed to buy anything that day." Upon hearing these rules Darcie and I quickly decided that he said nothing about skipping, galloping, hair pulling or elbowing so we were good.

After Target we decided it was time to refuel so we stopped for coffee and bagels and we were back on the road. After ShopKo we hit the mall and then back to Fred Meyer. We met our friends at Applebees for some lunch and my dear friend Chuck was upset when I told her that I would like for her to take me home. She wanted to go to WalMart and a couple of more places. I had had enough! We had shopped for 8 hours and I was done!

All in all I had a fun time. Darcie is always a blast to be with and we did get a lot of good deals! I honor of my friend, I have decided to post some lyrics:

Bare Naked Ladies
"Shopping"


Well you know that it's going to be alright
I think it's gonna be alright
Everything will always be alright When we go shopping
Well you know that it's going to be alright When we go shopping
It's always lalalalala...
Shopping spree begin
It's always lalalalala...
Everybody wins
So shutup And never stop
Let's shop until we drop


Chorus:

It's always lalalalala...
Shopping never ends
It's always lalalalala...
Shopping with our friends
Shopping once again
It's always lalalalala... (x4)
It's never enough Until you've got all the stuff
When the going gets rough
Just shop with somebody tough
CHORUS (x2) It's always... When we go shopping (x3) It's always lalalalala... (repeat to fade)

A Thanksgiving Prayer

A friend just shared this with me and I thought I would share it with all of you! Happy Thanksgiving to you all. I'm so thankful for your friendship!

A Thanksgiving Prayer

Oh, God, when i have food,

help me to remember the hungry;

When I have work, help me

to remember the jobless;

When I have a warm home

help me to remember the homeless;

When I am without pain,

help me to remember those who suffer;

And remembering, help me

to destroy my complacency

and bestir my compassion.

Make me concerned enough

to help, by word and deed,

those who cry out

for what we take for granted.

Fun Weekend

Had a great time this past weekend. I mean who knew I could top the ultra exciting night with the vacuum but we did have a very packed weekend.

On Saturday we went to Red Robin with some friends and then back over to their house for games and snacks. They taught us how to play Caddie. It's a very fun card game. Similar to 21 only you have to get 31. They typically play with quarters but since we had kids playing we played with chocolate chips. Then we played Apples to Apples, another fun game. I had never played this game before but apparently it is all the rage! A great family game for those of you looking for a Christmas gift. Make sure you get the Jr. version, kids 7 and older can play. I had to go out and buy it, we enjoyed it so much. We had a great time with our friends.

Sunday night Paul and I and Dan and Darcie went to dinner at PF Chang's(just an FYI- they take reservations). Then we went to see Brian Regan live. I had never heard of him prior to Darcie telling us about him. Let me just say, he was hysterical. I laughed so hard I was crying a couple of times! Plus the nice thing was he did not use one swear word and he didn't talk about anything sleazy. You could definitely watch his DVD at home with the kids. In fact I went to his website and Andrew thought he was so funny. We had a great night.

So now we are coming upon Thanksgiving. I feel we truly have so much to be thankful for. Looking forward to Turkey Day with family. Hope you all have a very happy Thanksgiving.

A woman thing

Can you believe it? Two posts in two days. This must be a record or something!

Last night Paul and I got to have a little date night! We went to a dinner/auction benefiting the Family Advocate program here in Boise. It was very fun. It was a gingerbread themed event. They had several gingerbread houses all over the room that you could bid on as well as many other great things. You should have seen how elaborate the gingerbread houses were. One was a gingerbread treehouse, one was Santa's diner with snowmen inside. Very cool. People were bidding hundreds of dollars for them- all for a good cause.

So Paul and I got there right when it started so we had 2 hours to circle the auction items several times! Next time we decided we would get there with about 45 minutes to spare for auction before dinner. We put our bid on a couple of things including 4 floor tickets for the Idaho Stampede. Then there was this vacuum. It was awesome. Valued at $530 it supposedly is even better than a Dyson. I told Paul I would like to bid on it. Paul thought I was crazy however several women at our table thought it was a great thing to bid on. There were 3 of us who were going back and forth raising the bid $10. So I hovered! We were down to the last 5 minutes and one of the ladies raised it another $10 bringing it to $200, since I was standing right there she said that she was trying for 2 things and she wouldn't be back to bid again on the vacuum! Ok, so you see me there and you still raise the bid knowing you weren't going to get the vacuum- whatever! So, needless to say I won the bid for the vacuum at $210.

At the end of the night we got to go and pay for our prize. Paul was still giving me a hard time about the fact that we bid on a vacuum. However every woman we came in contact with, from the lady who gave us the receipt, to the lady who got the vacuum for us was so excited that we got the vacuum. They were saying what a great vacuum it was and what a fabulous deal we got. Paul was shocked at the response. I told him it was a woman thing!

When we got home I tried that vacuum out right away and I love it! I was very pleased. All in all it was a very fun night.

Time

Sooooooo, because it's been over a week and Darcie has compiled a whole cd of songs for me, I've decided perhaps it might be time to update!!!!

I've titled my post time because I'm finding I don't have enough of it! I consider myself a fairly organized person(I pale in comparison to Na!) and yet I'm finding that there are so many things I just can't get done. Case in point, my e-mails and this blog. I know several of my friends who can chat daily on the computer and post and check e-mails and I need to know, "How do you do it?"

When I quit my job 2 years ago and became a stay at home mom I thought I was going to have all the time in the world. I thought for sure I'd be caught up on all my scrapbooks, my house would be immaculate, I would cook dinner for my family every night and so on and so on. Well I can honestly say....it's not happening! And I have to ask myself why? Why can't I keep my house clean, why can't I meet with my friends, at least if not more than, once a week? Why is it that I feel I'm being pulled in so many directions? I guess what I'm saying is maybe I need a little help(in the form of suggestions or advice, not $800 help! JK, Na!) I want to know how those of you who juggle so many things do it?

So enough of my ranting! Life here has been busy as you can tell. Lauren is on her second bout of strep throat in 3 weeks. Good Times! I'm just hoping she's not going to have issues with this like I did and end up having to have her tonsils removed. That is not fun at all. However it's a lot worse as an adult! Hannah is going to her first dance today after school. It's a sock hop. She took a poodle skirt to change into after school. Very cute! She is enjoying middle school very much and is doing so great in all her classes. She got straight A's and I am extremely proud of her!

Paul and I are going to a dinner/auction tonight. It should be fun. We need a little date night considering the stress we've been under with the house/inlaws lately.

Well, that's all I've got for now. I promise I won't wait over a week to post next time. I welcome any of your advice for my time issues!

My husband

I love my husband, okay not in a corny, gaze into his eyes longingly way but in a very real way. We just celebrated our 12 year anniversary on Sunday! Twelve years! My dad always likes to say that it's 11 years and 11 months longer than he thought it would last. He changes it every year. Don't get me wrong my dad loves Paul but our marriage wasn't ideal. We were both very young and I was 5 months pregnant when we got married. At our wedding, Paul bawled like a baby during his vows(not necessarily a good sign). We still laugh about that.

The first 5-7 years of our marriage were hard!!! Paul was working full time and finishing college at night. I was working and raising our kids. We had no time for ourselves and we were both jealous of one another. I was jealous because he was out there in the adult world and I was home alone with 2 kids. He was jealous because he was working his butt off plus going to school while I got to spend time with the kids. We were immature and made a lot of mistakes. There were times when it would have been so easy to just call it quits but we stuck it out (counseling helped as well as a lot of prayers!)

I can honestly say that the past 5 years have been great. I didn't say perfect but very rewarding. I have grown to love and respect my husband more than I ever thought possible. He is hardworking, smart and very dedicated to our family. What he lacks in the romance department he makes up for in the way he has provided for our family. He makes me laugh all the time and he is definitely the steady in my sometimes chaotic world. He is a wonderful father and I feel very blessed to have reached this place in our marriage. I'm looking forward to many more years with this man.

I have always admired the love and the relationship that my parents have for each other. They have been married almost 36 years. I would like to pattern my relationship with Paul after their marriage and I believe that is very possible.

Love Family Pictures!!!

Okay, okay, so it's been a few days since I've posted! It's been a busy week. Halloween pretty much wiped me out for the whole week. Can I just say how much I hate this holiday. I mean honestly there is really not anything I like about it. Deciding what the kids are going to be, picking out the costumes, paying outrageous prices for the costumes, having complete meltdowns the night of trick-or-treating and too much candy, what part of any of that is FUN?!?! Besides the fact that it was soooooo stinkin cold! Lauren lasted about 6 houses and then had a complete meltdown. Andrew was upset because, "We didn't go to as many houses as we did last year." And, Hannah, who was with a friend, decided she was too cool to walk with us! Yeah, right, as if I'm going to let her walk alone. Needless to say, we survived but it was not FUN!!!!!

Also, my dad ended up going to the hospital that night from a severe intestinal infection. We had to call 911 and he ended up in the hospital for 4 hours. They released him at 1 in the morning and he's been taking it easy the past few days. He's doing much better now, thankfully, but it was pretty scary.

Today we went and had our traditional family picture taken. Good Times! We've been doing this every year for Christmas since Hannah was a baby. It's sort-of become our tradition. However I have to say that it is not a tradition my family embraces. It can be pretty stressful and most of the time they complain. Which is why when I announced that I had decided we weren't going to do the pictures this year, I thought it would be received with uninhibited delight. Quite the contrary! They couldn't believe we weren't going to do the picture because we've done it every year and how could I possibly imagine not taking the picture. So with their own words as ammunition, I made an appointment. At home, before the pictures was pretty unstressful. Everybody got ready on time, everyone looked nice and we got to the picture place on time! Good, good, good. However when we got there they were 1/2 hour behind. I swear this happens every year! You would think that they would plan their photo sessions better, I mean we are coming upon the holidays! So as most of you know with children, waiting 1/2 an hour is like waiting 2 hours. Plus my husband can be just as anxious as my three children. Paul and Andrew are wrestling in the chair, Lauren is peeking into all the other studios and Hannah is complaining that it is taking too long and she is hungry! Is now the time that I remind them that they wanted to take this picture? Yes, it is!

To make a long story short, we ended up taking 20 pictures most of which consisted of us smiling until our faces hurt while the photographer tried to get Lauren to smile! Every year I keep telling myself that Lauren is one year older and this will be the year that everything will go smoothly. Although it wasn't as bad as previous years, next year will be the year! I just know it. We did get a very cute shot of the kids that I was very pleased with and isn't that really what counts? My whole family knows that if mom isn't happy with the pictures, ain't nobody happy!!

So that's a quick recap of the week since it's been so long! Looking forward to bagels tomorrow morning! Oh, one more thing, I'd just like to say Thank You so much to bucket for the very cool, very shabby chic purse she made me! I love it!