New Post

Ok, so I was on a role and now it's been a week and a half. Darcie reminded me to update when she told me she was going to leave some smack on my blog but her computer kicked her off......ha ha! That's what you get for trying to leave smack!

Not much been going on lately. I've been trying to honor my husband and his desire for me to not spend money so needless to say I've been spending a lot of time at home. Don't get me wrong, I love being at home. There is something gratifying about having a clean house, laundry done, cards sent out, Christmas presents wrapped kind of life, but sometimes it's a little boring! I'm even looking forward to the PTA meeting at the kid's elementary school tonight just so I can get out! I know, it's pathetic. Despite all the time I've had at home there are still so many little things around the house I know I can be doing. There's journaling I could be doing in my scrapbooks but I've also been busy embroidering 7 (large patterned) tea towels for our Mops steering team.

In light of our "financial conservation" Paul and I have decided not to exchange Christmas gifts. I have to say that ever since I quit work, it's always been a little weird for me to buy him gifts anyway. I mean, it is both of our money but he's the one out there pulling in the paycheck, so really I'm just purchasing something he could purchase himself. The kids usually make us something at school but maybe I will have them pick one thing out that they can give their dad from all 3 of them.

That's all for now.......bring on the smack!

A fun few days!

It's been a crazy last few days! My dad had surgery on Wednesday and the surgery went very well (thanks to all of you who prayed for him) however he continued to run a fever up until Saturday so that was a little nerve-racking. They did release him yesterday morning and he is home resting!

Then Thursday night, my dear friend Darcie gave us a little scare going into the hospital to have her appendix removed and a tumor (her alien baby!) I was able to help out by relieving Na and staying with Darcie's girls over night. Then Mops on Friday morning without Darcie and nothing set up.....Good Times! The highlight was our wonderful talk from the organization guru Na!

That brings us to Saturday......my son complains he doesn't feel well after church. He decides it's because he is hungry and proceeds to finish most of his dinner. That night at 12:38pm (yes, I remember the exact time!) he wakes us up to tell us he had thrown up. Of course Paul doesn't budge, so I proceed to pull myself out of bed, down the hall into Andrew's room where I find that my son had not made it to the bathroom. He has thrown up all over his bed! Plus, by the time he had made it to the bathroom, he threw up in the sink and not the toilet! Again, Good Times! So after nearly vomiting myself, I bucked up and went through the disgusting and tedious job of cleaning up the mess! I made him scoop the puke out of the sink(is that being a bad mom? I'm sorry but it was hard to have a lot of compassion here!) I finally get back to bed and Lauren comes into the room. I took my pillow and headed to her room! The joys of motherhood.

So today, I'm tired, I'm a little nauseous myself and I'm just trying to regroup. Only 2 1/2 days of school this week and then the start of the holidays. Hopefully this wasn't a preview of what is to come!

My Grandpa

Today is my Grandpa's birthday. This is my mom's dad. Of course I am just putting his card in the mail today even though I've had it almost a year, it seems the days just sneak up on you.

My grandparents live in Beebe, Arkansas(just right outside of Little Rock). They have lived there all my life but we were fortunate to be able to see them at least once a year sometimes every other year. They are the type of grandparents every child should be blessed to have. I only wish we lived closer. I did live close to my dad's parents but they weren't the best grandparents and I often found myself wishing I could make them trade places!

About a month ago my grandparents came to visit. It was such a blessing. My grandpa is 83 today and hates to fly but he wanted to come and see where we all lived here in Idaho. It was a such a nice time getting to be with them and having the kids spend time with them. I told my kids how fortunate they were to have great-grandparents that they knew and could spend time with. It was just another reminder of how special family is and how we should treasure every moment we have with them.

Happy Birthday Grandpa! I love you very much!

Lauren, Lauren, Lauren

So, because this has been bugging me the last couple of days I figured it must be blog worthy.

This past Saturday, we got together with some friends who have a daughter that is around Lauren's age. After about an hour of the kids playing both the little girl and Lauren came into the kitchen crying and upset. I immediately wonder what Lauren has done. Apparently the other little girl had hit Lauren and Lauren hadn't done anything......Really? Imagine my surprise when another mom that was there had witnessed the whole thing and did affirm the fact that Lauren had not done anything.

So this got me to thinking. For those of you who know Lauren you know what a "spirited" child she is. She wasn't the easiest baby and she is a very strong willed child. I saw a sticker recently that said "I am here to live my life outloud!" That is Lauren in a nutshell. While I deal with a lot of spirit with her, I have come to realize that no child is perfect. I am guilty of labeling Lauren or commenting about her liveliness just as much as others but recently I have become more sensitive to it. While I am certainly not one of those mothers who buries their head in the sand, I'm also realizing that everything is not Lauren's fault. It's unfair of me to label her or to always assume she is the one who is to blame.

Since Saturday, I have had the opportunity to "watch" Lauren interact with some neighborhood friends and while Lauren definitely is not the timid type, I have seen other little girls be just as bratty as she can be. I had a friend in California who watched Lauren for almost a year when she was 2 years old. She was always telling me what Lauren was doing wrong, "She pushes the other kids", "She's so loud in the car, my kids have to plug their ears." I got so tired of hearing it. I had the opportunity to babysit her children a couple of times and believe me they weren't angels! However, I had another friend e-mail me just recently asking me how Lauren was because she "missed that spunky little girl".

So here is where I am going with this....I am the first to admit that Lauren is spunky and I will be the first to get onto her if she has done something wrong but I'm also realizing that I need to start appreciating her zest and zeal for life. I hope Lauren continues to "live her life outloud", I hope she goes through life with the same spunk and determination she has now and that I will continue to find joy in her the way I do!

Our Anniversary

I can't believe it's been 2 months since I've posted! I know, I know you all are saying it's about time. I can't promise this will be a continual thing but we'll see.

Today is mine and Paul's 13th wedding anniversary. My dad jokes every year and says that's 12 years, 11 months longer than he thought it would last. Honestly, Paul and I sometimes agree. We have however come a long way in those 13 years. I can still remember how tough those first 5 years were. We were only married 4 months and along came Hannah. So we were newlyweds and new parents.....good times!

Although it hasn't always been easy, in many ways we have both grown so much independently and together. We have become stronger together and individually. I have a more mature and deeper love for Paul then I did 13 years ago.

I'm proud of how far we've come and I know that marriage is always a journey but I can honestly say that I wouldn't want to be on that journey with anyone else.

Long weekend

It was a nice long weekend! I mean what more could you ask for after the kids have only been in school 4 days the teacher's have an inservice day? Are you serious?

Friday was good. I had a much needed night out with my friends....dinner and scrapbooking and who knew it was my birthday! My dear friends had the employees in the restaurant sing to me and everything, they even took my picture which is now proudly displayed at Chapala's #9! Now for those of my friends sitting there going..."her birthday is in June not August" you would be correct. Apparently it was fun to embarrass pork yet again!

Saturday was pretty uneventful. We went to church and then out to dinner with the Beeler's. We went to Chuck A Rama(raised their dinner prices, not so happy!) and guess what? It was my birthday again! Yes, that's right the employees at Chuck A Rama brought me out a brownie and sang to me.......remind me again why I hang out with these people?

Sunday we had a bbq over at Paul's parents. Needless to say I brought along the Mike's......nothing more to say there.

Today we had some friends over and had a nice time until my son went on a bike ride with Hannah and one of his friends and proceeded to fall off of his bike onto his head(no helmet......yeah, yeah I know I'm not getting the Mother of the year award.) He has a HUGE goose egg on the right side of his head, I mean it is so big it sticks out under his very short hair. He also got some scrapes on his arm. Obviously the lesson we've learned here is that we will definitely be wearing our helmets.

So now we are coming to a close of this weekend and the kids are all in bed, resting up for school tomorrow! Yeah! Of course it is only 4 days and the weekend again.....Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lauren and her pierced ears

So as my first post since we've been "back"(it's only been 2 months!) I've decided to share about Lauren's ear piercing experience. This was one of the things I had intended to blog about shortly after we had it done but you know, time just got away from me.

We had Lauren's ears pierced in the beginning of June. After several attempted trips to the mall to have this done she finally agreed to do it. It could have been the fact that we had gone with the Beelers' and the girls were all telling her how great it would be. So, that being said she hops up on the chair. Darcie took my camera and was able to get some fabulous shots....Thanks Chuck.

As you can see from the pictures she pretty much freaked out! Plus one of the guns got stuck on her ear and they had a hard time getting it off but my true scrapbooking friend just kept clicking away with the camera!

After the whole ordeal was over and I was paying a fortune($32.00) for this wonderful experience, some lady came up to me and said, "My daughter was going to get her ears pierced but after hearing your daughter scream, she has decided she doesn't want to do it." What was I supposed to say to that? I told her I was sorry and she said, "Oh, that's ok, my husband didn't really want her to have them pierced anyway." Then why the hell did you tell me that!

Anyway, we are now 3 months into having her ears pierced and I have to say there are many times when I question why I did it. Like when she asks me literally 5 times a day if her earrings are still in, or when her hair gets caught around one, or she's playing with her siblings and one gets knocked out and she's screaming telling me it's closed up! It's kind-of been a tramatic thing for her(great mom I am!) They do look cute though........

Home Again!

We are home from California!!! Well actually we've been home for almost a week now but with family coming back with us and the holiday we've been pretty busy!

Overall I'd have to say our trip to California went very well! The drive there wasn't too bad since we split it up into two days. We were able to see and do so much in a week and reconnect with so many of our dear friends. We enjoyed some wonderful California weather in Pismo Beach! The kids had a great time.

The drive home was a little different..... there were 7 of us in the Yukon! We took our niece with us to California and then Paul's sister drove back with us. Imagine me in the very back seat with Lauren and Andrew......good times!!!

So, it's good to be home although I was enjoying the California weather having come back to this heat!

Grateful for friends

I am so grateful for friends.......old and new. That reminds me of a song I learned in girlscouts, "Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold." I know it sounds corny but it's true.

When we moved here I was so sad to be leaving so many great friends in California. There were friends that I had grown up with, friends from church, friends I had made through my children and all were dear to my heart. I knew that I would still have all their friendships and we would keep in touch even across the miles.

Since moving here I have made several more dear friendships as well as having been blessed with having 2 of my closest friends move to Idaho too. I am so grateful for the women who have become my friends here in Idaho.

Yesterday I was blessed by these women for my birthday. Bonnie and Nancy took me to lunch and gave me some great books by my favorite author, Karen Kingsbury and a G/C to Archivers. Then, Corinna, Natalie and Darcie took me for a birthday treat at Donnie Mac's and blessed me with a G/C to Bath and Body Works and of course some "pork inspired" goodies. My friend Karen had also come over in the morning with a gift, a hug and a Happy Birthday!

For me the gifts are just an added bonus. The fact that these women have become my close friends and have given me their gift of friendship means so much more.

Thank you to all my friends who have blessed my life so richly!

First day of summer break

Yes, here it is a post from pork. That's right, pick yourself up from off the floor and read on.......

Yesterday was the first day of summer break and it proved to be exactly like all the other times all three kids are off and at home. There was fighting, sibling rivalry and the infamous "I'm bored!" Are you kidding me? It's the first friggin day of summer break.....it's going to be a long summer!

Darcie and I decided we were going to take the kids to the library to get some books and join the summer reading program. That wasn't too bad except for the amount of time we had to spend there so Darcie could clear her account...who knew you had to return books and DVD's within a certain amount of time?!

Then we headed over to Burger King where we bought lunch for all our wonderful children. Of course Darcie's kids had to have single orders of chicken tenders for lunch and water to drink since she spent a small fortune in library fees!

As if we hadn't had enough fabulous fun we decided to take all 6 kids over to Sonic for free rootbeer floats! Good times!

One day down........80 to go! Lord, help me!

Mothers

A dear friend sent this to me and with Mother's Day coming up soon I thought it would be a great post. I could relate to so many of these things!

This is for the mothers who have sat up all night with sick toddlers in their arms, wiping up barf laced with Oscar Mayer wieners and cherry Kool-Aid saying, "It's alright honey, Mommy's here."

Who have sat in rocking chairs for hours on end soothing crying babies who can't be comforted.

This is for all the mothers who show up at work with spit-up in their hair and milk stains on their blouses and diapers in their purse.

For all the mothers who run carpools and make cookies and sew Halloween costumes. And all the mothers who DON'T.
This is for the mothers who gave birth to babies they'll never see. And the mothers who took those babies and gave them homes. And for the mothers who lost their baby in that precious 9 months that they will never get to watch grow on earth but one day will be reunited with in Heaven!
This is for the mothers whose priceless art collections are hanging on their refrigerator doors.

And for all the mothers who froze their buns on metal bleachers at football or soccer games instead of watching from the warmth of their cars, so that when their kids asked, "Did you see me, Mom?" they could say, "Of course, I wouldn't have missed it for the world," and mean it.

This is for all the mothers who go hungry, so their children can eat. For all the mothers who read "Goodnight, Moon" twice a night for a year. And then read it again. "Just one more time."

This is for all the mothers who taught their children to tie their shoelaces before they started school. And for all the mothers who opted for Velcro instead.

This is for all the mothers who teach their sons to cook and their daughters to sink a jump shot.

This is for every mother whose head turns automatically when a little voice calls "Mom?" in a crowd, even though they know their own offspring are at home -- or even away at college.

This is for all the mothers who sent their kids to school with stomach aches assuring them they'd be just FINE once they got there, only to get calls from the school nurse an hour later asking them to please pick them up. Right away.

This is for mothers whose children have gone astray, who can't find the words to reach them. This is for all the step-mothers who raised another woman's child or children, and gave their time, attention, and love... sometimes totally unappreciated!

For all the mothers who bite their lips until they bleed when their 14-year-olds dye their hair green.

For all the mothers of the victims of recent school shootings, and the mothers of those who did the shooting.

What makes a good Mother anyway? Is it patience? Compassion? Broad hips? The ability to nurse a baby, cook dinner, and sew a button on a shirt, all at the same time? Or is it in her heart?
Is it the ache you feel when you watch your son or daughter disappear down the street, walking to school alone for the very first time? The jolt that takes you from sleep to dread, from bed to crib at 2 A.M. to put your hand on the back of a sleeping baby?
The panic, years later, that comes again at 2 A.M. when you just want to hear their key in the door and know they are safe again in your home?
Or the need to flee from wherever you are and hug your child when you hear news of a fire, a car accident, a child dying?
The emotions of motherhood are universal and so our thoughts are for young mothers stumbling through diaper changes and sleep deprivation... And mature mothers learning to let go.
For working mothers and stay-at-home mothers. Single mothers and married mothers.
Mothers with money, mothers without.
This is for you all.
For all of us.
Hang in there.
In the end we can only do the best we can. Tell them every day that we love them.
And pray.
"Home is what catches you when you fall - and we all fall."

Undermining

Undermine- to injure, weaken or impair, esp. by subtle, stealthy or insidious means

My post today is about undermining! As parents we try to do the best we can for our kids. We give them ground rules and guidelines we would like them to follow. We make decisions based on what we think is right and fair for our kids under the circumstances. There is no manual on how to raise children, they don't come with instructions so we just push through. If we love our children and trust our instincts, morals and convictions then I believe we are truly doing the best we can.........

That being said, it is very frustrating to me, to set up rules and boundaries only to have someone come along and undermine my authority! Whether subtle or more evident, it is still undermining. My husband is guilty of the more subtle type of undermining. Ever since Andrew was 2 years old we had a problem with him coming into our room in the middle of the night. I would always take him back to his room. Paul on the other hand felt it wasn't a big deal and in front of Andrew would tell me that it was ok if Andrew slept in our bed. He would say he knew what it was like to be scared since he himself was scared when he was a kid. Now, I'm not such a mean mom that I wouldn't try and console my child if he was scared or had a bad dream but this became an every night event and I'm not exaggerating! It also lasted for almost 5 years! For a long time I would take him back to his bed and then he would come back to our room, drop on his knees and crawl on the floor to Paul's side. I finally gave up but it was a point of contention for me!

Once Lauren was able to move into a bed she began the same thing and so here we are again! I've expressed to Paul how important it is for the kids to sleep in their own bed for them and for us but he still insists it's not a big deal. He chooses to make his point in front of the kids so I look like the bad guy! I guess that's really not so subtle.

Anyway to make a long story short.....here's what I believe: I may not have all the answers but I believe that if a parent or spouse believes strongly about something that is not going to ultimately hurt the child or other person than the other parent/spouse should support them and not undermine them!

Enough said.........I'm climbing off my soapbox now!

Family

Finally found some time to sit at the computer, check some blogs and update my own! I've been wanting to do this post all week but you've gotta love spring break!

So, we had a very nice weekend. My aunt(mom's sister) celebrated her 60th birthday. In honor of the occasion, both of my uncles flew in to be here. My uncle Bill and his wife came from California and my uncle Michael came from Texas. It was our own little family reunion. It was great for my mom to be with all of her siblings again.

It got me thinking about family. How different each person in a family can be and yet in so many ways they are one. Over the years my mom and her brothers and sister have lived in different places and gone through different life changes and yet they are still bound together, sharing memories and love. It made me so grateful to have family, immediate and extended. It was great to sit around and reminisce, pull out old pictures, talk about who looks like who. It was a very wonderful weekend.

I feel blessed to have the family that I do, with all our flaws. The Lord puts our families together, knowing just the right blend for each!

Creative Adventure

I'm a little behind in posting about this particular subject since my friends here have already posted on this!

Last week one of my friends called me and told me she had a little business proposition for me. She is one of the friends that I scrapbook with and hang out with here! She is a great person and ultra creative. Anyway, she was asked to lead a creative design team at one of the scrapbook stores here in Boise. She called me and asked if I would like to be a part of that team.

I have to tell you that I was very flattered and humbled by the fact that she would ask me to be a part of her team. As most of my friends and family know, I've been scrapbooking since Hannah was a year old but I've done it as a hobby because I love it. In recent years the scrapbooking industry has just taken off and I've always felt a little behind in my creative abilities to keep up with all the great new stuff.....I like to call it "embellishment challenged!"

Since meeting and becoming friends with this group of gals, I've been able to learn so much from watching them scrapbook. They are all very creative and their layouts are equally unique! I've been able to get over my "fear" of embellishments and just go for it. I've enjoyed all of our nights getting together and scrapbooking and learning.

So when Corinna asked me to consider this I was so excited. There was also the added bonus of making a little money from each layout. Of course I wanted to call Paul and ask him what he thought...................What was I thinking?! He thought that I was talking about a "job" where I would be making tons of money (foolish man!) He supported whatever decision I made but was wondering if this is what I would be doing when I actually went back to work. Nice!

Now this design team is off and running. We got together at my house Friday night to create some layouts. It was a lot of fun. Of course there was fabulous dessert and lots of laughs. I appreciated all the tips I got and was very proud of the 10 layouts I created. I've posted a couple for you to see.

My little girl!

My little girl, Hannah. She would quickly correct me if she heard me say little, "I'm not little anymore Mom, I'm a preteen!" And in fact she is but to me she will always be my little girl.

Hannah turned 12 on Monday. She was 12 on the 12th! Her golden birthday. She's now 1 year away from officially being a teenager. I can't believe it. Where do all the years go? I can still remember the day she was born. After 13 hours of labor there she was, this sweet little thing. She didn't cry, she was so alert in the room, looking around taking everything in. I couldn't imagine loving anything or anyone any more than I loved this little person. I can remember the next morning the nurse told me that she was determined to get a little pink bow in her very small amount of hair. Actually she had no hair, she was bald. But she managed to get three little hairs tied together with pink yarn. I still have that yarn with the little hairs in it when it fell out.

Overall, Hannah has been such an easy child and in many ways a delight! She's growing up into a wonderful young lady and I couldn't be more proud of her. I was able to put together an album for her that she was very proud of(I was actually proud of myself too!) Hannah has showed it to many people and I'm so grateful I was able to make it for her. I've realized that time goes by so fast and I really need to take the time to let my children know how much I love them and how much they mean to me.

Happy Birthday Hannah!

I couldn't love you more or be any more prouder of you

if I tried!

Don't mess with Mom!

DON'T MESS WITH MOM

My son came home from school one day, With a smirk upon his face.

He decided he was smart enough, To put me in my place.

"Guess what I learned in Civics Two, that's taught by Mr. Wright?

It's all about the laws today, The 'Children's Bill of Rights.'

It says I need not clean my room, Don't have to cut my hair

No one can tell me what to think, Or speak, or what to wear.

I have freedom from religion,

And regardless what you say, I don't have to bow my head, And I sure don't have to pray.

I can wear earrings if I want, And pierce my tongue & nose.

I can read & watch just what I like, Get tattoos from head to toe.

And if you ever spank me, I'll charge you with a crime.

I'll back up all my charges, With the marks on my behind.

Don't you ever touch me, My body's only for my use,

Not for your hugs and kisses, that's just more child abuse.

Don't preach about your morals, Like your Mama did to you.

That's nothing more than mind control, And it's illegal too!

Mom, I have these children's rights, So you can't influence me,

Or I'll call Children's Services Division, Better known as C.S.D."

Of course my first instinct was To toss him out the door.

But the chance to teach him a lesson Made me think a little more.

I mulled it over carefully, I couldn't let this go.

A smile crept upon my face, he's messing with a pro.

Next day I took him shopping At the local Goodwill Store.

I told him, "Pick out all you want, there's shirts & pants galore.

I've called and checked with C.S.D. Who said they didn't care

If I bought you K-Mart shoes Instead of those Nike Airs.

I've canceled that appointment To take your driver's test.

The C.S.D. Is unconcerned So I'll decide what's best."

I said "No time to stop and eat, Or pick up stuff to munch.

And tomorrow you can start to learn To make your own sack lunch.

Just save the raging appetite, And wait till dinner time.

We're having liver and onions, A favorite dish of mine."

He asked "Can I please rent a movie, To watch on my VCR?"

"Sorry, but I sold your TV, For new tires on my car.

I also rented out your room, You'll take the couch instead.

The C.S.D. Requires Just a roof over your head.

Your clothing won't be trendy now, I'll choose what we eat.

That allowance that you used to get, Will buy me something neat.

I'm selling off your jet ski, Dirt-bike & roller blades.

Check out the 'Parents Bill of Rights', It's in effect today!

Hey hot shot, are you crying, Why are you on your knees?

Are you asking God to help you out, Instead of C.S.D..?"

How great is this?! Sometimes, I wish I could come back with something this good when my kids are whining about how unfair life is or when my son tells me it's not right for parents to spank their children with kitchen utensils!(i.e. wooden spoon) I suggest you print this out, frame it and hang it someplace your children can see it!

Patience Tester

My Lauren........she has been labeled everything from high maintenance, to strong-willed to "spirited" but I think this shirt I bought for her says it all!

In Lauren's 4 little years of life she certainly has given us a run for our money. I joke with my mom and tell her that if Lauren had been her first grandchild, she would have been her only granchild. This girl knows how to test my patience for sure. She has taken black sharpie down our newly painted hall, she has spilt chrome nail polish on our brand new leather chair. She has cut the cat's fur because, "He told me he wanted a haircut Mommy!" Most recently she swallowed a penny, in bed at 10:30 at night. I know the gray hair I have has only come in the last few years!

These past couple of days Lauren has been sick with the flu. And although no mother likes to see their kids sick, I have to admit it was a little nice with Lauren. She was very docile, just laying on the couch and sleeping. She's now 100% better and back to her normal self, hence the reason mom decided to put this shirt on her today and post about her.

Don't get me wrong, I love this child to death and for all the patience testing she does she has us all wrapped around her little finger. She can make me laugh like nothing else and life is always full of surprises when it comes to Lauren. I know the Lord has big plans for this little girl so the world better watch out!

Pork's Fat Cat

This is my fat cat Peyton! We have had Peyton for almost a
year now. We love this cat. We saved him from the gas
chamber......at least that's what they told us in order to get
us to take him home.

He's been such a great cat. He's more like a dog than a cat. He's not as moody and independent as cats tend to be. He's very social and needs to be wherever you are. He'll jump up and sit on your lap or near you all the time. He talks to us and is always contently purring. We have become very attached to him, so much so that Paul has said that if anything ever happens to him, he's not coming home!

So you can see by the way that Peyton is sitting that he is a very content cat! We took him for his yearly check-up and found out that we need to put our cat on a diet! He's 16 lbs! The vet said he's a large cat but he should only be weighing about 12 lbs. So I'm off to the store to buy Iams Lite. If I can get him down to 15 lbs. in one month I won't have to pay for 2 rounds of hearworm preventitive medicine since right now he would require two at his weight!

He's our fat, happy Garfield kitty!

Sick Piggies!

So I have 2 really sick kids! Hannah and Lauren both have the flu. Lauren started running a fever yesterday and was very lethargic(very unlike Lauren!) She had a fever all night and was in our bed coughing in my ear.....you gotta love that. Today she said her throat hurt a little, like she had a piece of hair in it(I'm guessing that was her way of telling me she had a scratchy throat) I called the doctor to make an appt., thinking for sure she had another bout of strep throat which would make the 4th time in 3 1/2 months. She didn't have strep but the doctor said she did have the flu and prescribed the RX Tamiflu. I had heard of tamiflu but had never been prescribed it. Apparently if you start taking it in the first 72 hours of the onset of flu-like symptoms it is supposed to lessen the severity of your symptoms. So she takes it twice a day for 5 days.

When we got home from the doctor, Hannah was laying on the couch, crying and complaining she didn't feel good. I took her temp and it was 103! Great, now I have 2 kids with the flu. I was able to call the doctor and get a second RX of tamiflu for Hannah. Both girls have been sleeping all evening.

There is nothing worse than when your kids are sick. I haven't seen Lauren this sick in a while. Even when she had strep she wasn't as out of it as she is now and Hannah is just weepy....I had Paul stop at the store on his way home to purchase Sprite, Airborne and Lysol!!!!! Andrew and I have already taken 2 doses of airborne already. Unfortunately that's our limit for today but I certainly don't want to get sick.

Say a prayer that we are all well soon(those of us that are sick) and that those of us that aren't won't be!

I know I will be in need of a bagel or coffee intervention soon!!!!

Pork at the Gym

Soooo, what do you all think of my ultra fabulous blog page? Perhaps it will inspire me to blog more! A dear friend (bucket) was nice enough to tweek my page for me. I'm convinced I wasn't posting as much because my original page was so boring!:0) Didn't she do a great job? Thanks so much bucket....... I love the land of pork!

So, I finally went to the Y again this Tuesday. After trying (unsuccessfully) to convince a friend of mine to go with me(you know who you are!!!!!), I met up with another friend. I dropped Lauren off at preschool and headed over. I got there at 9:20 and my other friend was already there and had been on the eliptical for 30 minutes already! I jumped right on and immediately started asking myself why I was there? Don't get me wrong I'm all for exercise and when I was exercising on a regular basis I felt great but honestly how much fun is it? It sucks! You're sore, sweaty, tired and thinking "I'm supposed to be doing this on a regular basis and if I want to see results I need to stick with it." My friend, Corinna (who designed my new page!) has been running for 6 months now and has worked herself up to 20 minutes of running. I'm so impressed with her dedication. I know from conversations that it hasn't been a bowl of cherries for her but she has stuck with it. So I ask myself....."Do I have what it takes to stay with it?" Honestly right now I don't know!

Here's the other thing...I've stayed relatively healthy this past few months. I go to the gym Tuesday and now I'm coming down with a cold! I'm convinced it's because of all the germs at the gym! Yet another reason to serious consider, "Is it worth it?!" Ha! I just say Ha!

Get out of that Pit!

So it's only been 2 weeks! This has got to be a record for me or something! I'm hoping when bucket helps me with my blog I will feel inspired!!!

On Saturday I went to a live simulcast of Beth Moore at Eagle Nazarene Church. It was great. I absolutely love her. She can talk about anything and make it interesting. She just wrote a book called "Get out of that pit, straight talk about God's deliverance". She talked about how a pit is Satan's attempt to bury you alive. A pit can be anything from addiction to your thoughts to people who keep you in a pit. She asked us to think about what our "pit" was wallpapered with? Very interesting question! I immediately had pictures of Paul's sister wallpapering my pit because of my bitterness and lack of forgiveness and although there have been times when I've been delivered of some of that, I still have my feet dangling over the "pit"

She talked about release to Christ not just temporary relief of the situation. It was an awesome simulcast and I know the friends I went with got a lot out of it as well.

I'll leave you with one quote she made that really stuck with me, "impression without expression, causes depression." Some times we need to speak a firm and true word in love.

That's what friends are for!

Ok, so I know you are all about ready to fall over because I am updating and I know you can't wait to read what it is I'm going to post about!

That being said, here goes........Obviously I have fallen short of my twice a week blog entering. As my dear friend Kris was so kind to point out, I only have 3 entries for January! I'm sorry, did I say twice a week? I meant twice a month so see I'm already ahead! HAHA!

It's been a pretty busy week so I will speak of the highlights which would actually be a little over a week ago. I flew out on the first of February to Sacramento, CA. My best friend from highschool picked me up and we drove to her house. She lives in Elk Grove and it's been almost a year since I've seen her(even though she was in Pocatello, ID at Christmastime! JK Susie, I just like giving you a bad time!) It was so great to see her and her family. She has two little girls that are beautiful and growing so fast. Her oldest Madison is the same age as Lauren. We were pregnant at the same time. My only regret is that we live so far and our girls won't be able to grow up together.

Susie and I stayed up late catching up and then on Friday, three of my other bestest buds drove to Elk Grove. Jen, Kris and Kim joined us at Susie's and we headed off to spend the weekend at Jen's cabin in Tahoe! It was like old times. Jen, Kris, Kim and I had spent the weekend at her cabin 17 years ago when we were teens!

The drive was great just catching up on so much. When we got to the cabin there was a lot of snow! The driveway hadn't been plowed so the snow plow came and of course I had to get pictures. It was pretty cold in the cabin and there wasn't any running water because the pipes were so cold. We lit a fire and tried to warm the house up. After a few hours we still had no water so we decided to go into town and have dinner and maybe we'd have water when we got back. Dinner was great and we went shopping to get a few essentials! We came home and there was still no water but we made the best of it! We decided to play a card game and Kris thought she was the "waner" but she wasn't !!!! We had a great time except for the fact that Kim started to not feel well.

The next morning there was still no water so we filled up buckets(thought of you bucket) with snow and set them next to the fireplace to try to melt it so we would have water to flush the toilet! Imagine 5 women, no water, no showers, filling buckets with snow to try and flush the toilet! Good Times!! But you know what? It wasn't that bad. Despite the fact that we were essentially "roughing it" we had such a fun time. We laughed so hard, we enjoyed each other's company and enjoyed catching up on all of our lives.

I have been through so much with these 4 women. Jen and Kim I have known since 2nd grade and Susie and Kris since middle school. We have been through adolescence, teenage years, ups and downs, marriages, births and deaths. We have been there for each other through thick and thin and I love each and every one of these women like a sister. I feel so blessed to have them as a part of my life and want them to know how thankful I am for their friendship.

I will have more about our fun weekend later! Stay tuned, I promise it won't be another month.

More on the House

I know I've talked about the whole house thing several times but since it is all consuming for us right now I decided to post about it again!

This house is the bane of my existence! We had buyers who loved our home(who wouldn't, it's a steal of a price!) so they made an offer but it was contingent on the sale of their home. They have a home on Ustick and 10 mile. We agreed to the offer with the stipulation that if another offer came they would have 48 hours to release their contingencies or we could sell to another buyer. They agreed to that and we started the ball rolling. We are supposed to close on or before January 31st.

So a couple of weeks ago they paid $500 for a home inspection. Their home inspector was very nit-picky and since then we have paid $1,200 in some additional work they deemed necessary. On top of 4 months of mortgage that we have had to pay for this house we have also put in about 9,000 in misc. in order to have it "sell ready!" UGH!!!!!!!!

Last Friday night Paul told me he had talked to our realtor and he said it looked like the deal might be falling through. Our buyers have not sold their house yet(surprise, surprise) and they are not sure if they want to try and get a bridge loan in order to purchase our home because they don't want to have 2 mortgages! Really? Why not? It's great paying out the nose!

So the long and short of it is this.....technically they have until the end of the month to make any decision. Their realtor has expressed the fact that they really want our home. He said they are in the process of deciding whether they want to give us $1,000 non refundable cash, each month for the next 2 months to cover part of our cost for the mortgage to give them more time to sell their home and hold ours for them. That wouldn't be so bad for us because at least we would have some money coming in. Our ultimate goal is to just be done with this house!

We are looking at other options as well. We've spoken to my parents about buying in if this deal doesn't work out and then renting the property. My dad is convinced that the market is just going to explode within the next couple of years. We'll see!

Reviewing my New Year's Resolutions

See, I made it with 2 posts in one week just in the nick of time!!! So far so good! Keeping up with at least one of my new year's resolutions. Ha Ha!

I have to say that we are one week into the new year and so far my resolutions are shot! I was reading an article recently that talked about setting new year's resolutions. It said that January 1st brings hope for a brand new start. A symbolic date where we evaluate how we're living today and how we want to live tomorrow. It goes on to say that we stand in front of our mirrors at the beginning of each year and have grandiose ideas of that "perfect" mother we will miraculously become. We vow to have peace amongst our children, family meetings, family dinners, date nights, clean kids, clean clothes and a clean house; always! Unfortunatley, the hope we place in this idea of "perfect" only sets us up for disappointment, usually no later than January 2nd.

Ok, I get that putting expectations on yourself for new year's resolutions does usually end in disappointment. But is it too much to ask to have a week, dare I say a month when I'm able to stick to 2(heck I'd settle for 1) of my resolutions?

So far my patience with my children has been non-exsistent. They have been constantly fighting, getting in trouble and suffering consequences. I'm so exhausted at the end of the night that I have no desire to do their devotions with them. I just need a break from them! Then I'm relishing in my own time(watching tv, being on the computer, talking on the phone with no interruptions, spending time with Paul) and I'm enjoying it so much that before I know it, it's very late! So I go to bed and sleep until I have only enough time to get us all ready for the day. Thus, giving up any time in the morning to have my quiet time with the Lord.

So, in conclusion, the article goes on to say that it's sometimes easy to lose hope in the midst of our own storms. The key is to place our hope in God, who never changes. A hope that doesn't live and die with the passing of a date on our calendars but rather is constant and steady and waiting for us whenever we take the time to find it. So when our New Year's well-laid plans don't go exactly as we imagine, remember this gift of hope. Tomorrow is a new day. And I can say "So far, so good!".... at least until tomorrow night!

New Year, New Post!

Okay, did you ever think I was going to post again!? Well, I figured it's a new year and with new years comes new years resolutions! So instead of posting once every week or two maybe I'll post twice a week! HA!!! We'll just have to see what the year holds!

The holidays were wonderful. We spent time with family and friends, had fun with the kids and ate way too much. We are so blessed to have most of our family near us, especially during the holidays. My kids don't realize how fortunate they are to have both sets of grandparents alive and active in their lives. There are so many things I feel we take for granted.

So, I've never been about having New Year's resolutions because really, "who keeps them?" But there are a few things I've decided I would like to try to do "better" this year:

1. Learn how to parent my children more effectively and with a lot more patience! ( I started a class this evening about how to parent your pre-teen)

2. Get to the gym more this year. ( I know a lot of people use this as a new year's resolution but since we have a membership and when I was going I felt a lot better and had more energy I figured this was a good thing to start again.)

3. Spend more quiet time with the Lord. (When I'm in a biblestudy I'm pretty accountable but when there are breaks in the study I don't have any quiet time. I need to find a time of the day that works for me and really focus on dedicating that time to reading the bible and praying.)

4. Hold my children more accountable to their own quiet time. (My parents gave Hannah and Andrew devotional books last year that would take them through the year and they might have done 2 weeks of it. Hannah probably did more than Andrew but still. I've always read to my kids since they were little at bedtime. As they've gotten older they just started reading to themselves. I'd like to take that opportunity to read their devotions with them.)

So that's it. That's my list. I haven't written it down or anything. Maybe I should so I can see it on a regular basis to remind me or maybe that would be too much pressure! Who knows? One baby step at a time, right?

Happy New Year!