Chocolate, snow and relatives... oh my!

Yesterday Jason's Clan went to Hershey's Chocolate World - yum. It was fun, lots of opportunities to spend money... ha ha!

We left there and headed for Aunt Erin and Uncle Alex's house in New Ashford, MA (don't try to find the weather on weatherchannel.com - it's too small). Suffice to say it is COLD and they have a sheet of icy snow on the ground, which of course we had to go "play" in this morning. Basically we spent the morning sliding down on our rear ends in frozen snow. Woo hoo! The kids had a lot of fun (as did Jason & I) - this was A's first time in the snow. She reminded us of the little boy in Christmas Story - she was so bundled up, she couldn't sit down without needing help standing up! Pictures to follow soon.

Today Jason is heading to the airport to pick up Bonnie, John & Andy at the airport. I can't wait for them to see all the grandkids playing so well with each other. They will love it!

Finally - tonight it looks like we will be having my favorite food - FUNdue (that's fondue for all of you out there that haven't been listening... ha ha!) - Erin's house is a blast!! Fun times!

TX to MA

This weekend we set out on what B likes to call the Great American Road Trip. We discovered that before we return to our home we will have traveled through 14 American states. Today we went through several: Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, West Virgina and Pennsylvania... the funny story there was that we were only in West Virginia for about 20 minutes and most of that was spent at Sheetz where Z had to take a .... restroom break! HA! They had some fun sensory potties that flushed on Z twice both times making him look up at me with confusion and not just a little anxiety that soon he would be disposed of if he didn't get off the pot! Very funny... (a little potty humor for my dear father-in-law).
Fun new game for road trips - take normal acronyms and make them more fun.
FBI - freaky button injuries
AMD - absolute melt down or angry mother dissertations
fun, fun, fun! Gave us at least an hour of humor on a day full of driving monotony!

Yesterday & today my children were troopers! They traveled 11+ hours yesterday & 13+ hours today! We stopped only a handful of times each day. I thought they did an exceptional job and best of all when we got to the hotels they went quietly to bed. As I am going to do ... right now!

"Princess-rrreeeAAA"

We aren't really sure what this quote means but it is just one of the many reasons that A keeps us all smiling. She says this all the time when talking about princesses... if you can figure it out let us know - we know what it SOUNDS like! Check out the pictures below to see more really great reasons:

"Smile!"

She likes to help dress herself.

Sometimes she just stops and pouts.
No one knows exactly why - I suspect she's not getting her way
(and that makes the boss angry)!
Other times she is so sweet and cute you could eat her up!

Yes - I actually paid somebody to do this to my poor, sweet, innocent child!

BK&Z make me smile and laugh a lot too but their not quite as expressive in front of the camera anymore (well - Z still is... he'll be my next victim, I mean focus)

Because you have been so patient!

We had a wonderful time in Arkansas for Thanksgiving. The big kids, Jason & I walked (B - did some running with Cousin Justin) the 1st Annual Pinnacle Turkey Trot & Strut - this was our second year going out and getting active as a family before we got down to the business of devouring turkey and the fixin's - YUM! It was great and I hope that it will be a family tradition.

Here are some pictures of the fun that was had - spending time with family, rock band, karaoke, eating, perusing the sales ads and don't forget playing!

Uncle Mark giving Z a little love, Uncle Mark style

The bookends - they are so enamored with each other!!

Kess with G'pa Jess, he thinks she's pretty special!

K with Aunt Cheryl

Mark & Deb

B - the Rock Star!

Big Cousins acting like goofs

Our Debbie trying to get Z more comfortable with G'pa Jess
(since we all know that Z is much more comfortable UPSIDE DOWN!)

Uncle Marky Sparky Superman & the lovely Aunt Cheryl

I have a really talented friend!

I can't even imagine how hard it is to get a good picture of all 6 of us smiling and looking in the right direction, but my brilliant friend did it a few times. Of course you will see the best one on your Christmas cards but here's some good ones and some fun ones to hold you over.

Not the usual

So for days I've been wanting to vent and tell the world that I'm going into hibernation for an extended period of time. Although I realize that this is completely different than most of my blog entries I've decided to post my ranting here.
I'm tired! I'm cranky and I feel completely lost most days. I have recently been praying a prayer that goes something like this - Dear Lord I know you have me in this place for a reason and your timing is perfect and unquestionable. Please help me to see why and how to get out of this "rut" that I feel like I'm being swallowed by.
Here's where I am: I don't have time to make dinner, much less clean up the dishes, my job although it is a good one is consuming and at times overwhelming in the sheer speed of the day (if I haven't shared with you here it is 8:40-12:45 teach, teach, teach, teach, 20 minutes lunch, teach!) yes it goes quickly but I can't find the time to grade, enter grades, create lessons, etc - except before or after school hours. Overwhelming - especially when you consider all the little blessings I have at home wanting my time and attention.
Okay now let me say that I love my kids, I love my husband, I'm happy with the job I have and I have a wonderful extended family and church family. Please join me in prayers of thanksgiving for these many blessings. If after that you have time to pray for some relief then that is greatly appreciated too!
Thank you & my loyal blog readers... love you!

Fall 2009 at OneTrueMedia.com

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The scoop

This weekend was Halloween. Not my favorite time of the year but I enjoy it for the kids. This year has been completely different than in years past though - here's the scoop. A has been going through some serious fear issues - she has been waking up between 1am and 3am nightly and cannot go back to sleep without horrible crying jags. I began to suspect night terrors but then after reading about them on the internet (the source for all things true and believable) I found out that they were more like "walking in your sleep" - not being cognizant of time, place, etc. Then I began to suspect a growth spurt but now with some counseling from a good friend, a nice reality check and some deep soul searching I have realized that A is manipulating me - YET again!! Therefore this weekend we instituted Tough Love 201 (remember 101 occurred when the little sea cucumber wouldn't go to sleep at night). So last night (yep Halloween night) we did not take her out - to prevent the fear factor - and I started the new night time ritual. It goes something like this:
Mommy (M) - I love you A - you will sleep in your own room tonight - all night.
A - otay Mommy
M - if you wake up I want you to think of something happy and then roll over and go back to sleep.
A - otay Mommy
M - what makes you happy?
A - bouncing
M - okay then you think about bouncing and go back to sleep. I love you, good night.
Then I proceed to leave the room singing, which makes her laugh (what's up with that?! I have a beautiful voice)! Last night I had to go in 3 times to remind her that, "I love you, you will sleep in your own bed, good night." Tonight Jason gave her a couple of those little speeches and she finally fell off into slumber at about 8:30pm (an hour after being put to bed - she was just talking). Oh yea and Z is now sleeping in K's room - for "two weeks" until we get A over this hump. I have not been forced to get up in the middle of the night yet - but when it happens (if it happens) my goal is to be calm, confident and allow her to get herself back to sleep. This will be an obvious change from my normal clumsy, whiny response to her crying out in the night. That goes something like this:
M - A please go to sleep, Mommy is tired. Daddy is tired. We can't sleep with you yelling. You are going to wake Z up. (waaa - yea still me)
A - Mommy, momma, momma, MOMMA!! Sleep in floor!
M - fine but no more yelling
A - otay Mommy
then repeat about 5 times (after she's been moved, the only difference is that she doesn't mention the floor in those she just screams my name repeatedly).

So that is the scoop and here is the rest of the story!

B has taken a break from swimming. His current plan is to return in December - I hope so but don't want him to feel pressured, it must be his choice.
K is doing a cheerleading class, playing the piano (can't wait to play Debbie's at Thanksgiving) and Girl Scouts (of course).
Z is growing and becoming such a little gentleman. I'm so proud of how much calmer and more mature he seems daily.
A loves school but (as mentioned above) I suspect that she's missing some Mommy & Me time and is trying to take that time in the middle of the night. I guess a whiny mom is still mommy time.

Jason is working lots and this weekend worked until 4am Saturday morning on a huge project at work and then was back up there at 9am. He was very tired this weekend! But still managed to take K&Z trick-or-treating (B went with some friends for a birthday party).

This weekend was crazy for me because I had to work at the fall festival for school - but obviously couldn't take A (remember we talked about this new fear thing) and of course Jason was gone or very tired so we had to do some very creative juggling and I was so thankful for my friends Terry & Belle for their help! I'm still trying to get a good hold of teaching and juggling family - it is work but I wouldn't trade my family and if I have to work then this is a great job.

Side note - one of A's new fears is some chicken (aka dhicken - her words) that she saw at a costume shop. It was one of those plastic ones! Anyway now we have daily conversations about how the dhicken won't hurt her - we eat dhickens! Tonight as I put her to bed she said, "Mommy there is no dhicken?!" I said, "you are right there is NO chicken!" Poor child.

Lastly - as I mentioned my friend Terry helped me out when I had to work this weekend. She stayed here when A was napping. When A woke up she came out, looked around and started calling for B! When Terry told her B wasn't there she put her hand on her hip, threw that bottom lip out and yelled, "B!" I can just picture it! So cute and funny.

Pictures? Jason refused to carry the camera (Bonnie - what are we going to do with that boy?!) so my friend Belle took some, but she hasn't sent them yet. Will post when I get them.

Putting a smile on YO Face!

A family that plays together...

You can just imagine what my house sounds like on a nightly basis! Usually K is on keyboard, but just started recorder at school so she is liking the freedom to move around that this instrument allows.

Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing ~Lao Tzu

We have definitely not been doing nothing! Ha ha!

Proof in the form of pictures (I'm having technical difficulty with the video - which means I can't figure out how to do it and I'm not willing to spend anymore time on it tonight):

K at Cheer Camp:


B at Band-O-Rama:

My how they have grown

January 2008

September 2009

Zoo Time

Today we went to the zoo - our eldest didn't want to go, guess he's getting too old for this kind of thing. He said he didn't want to see animals sleeping and pooping. The irony is that while we were watching the hippo (swimming - not sleeping) he began pooping. HA! Cracked me up. Of course Z - who is at the age of thinking that kind of thing is hilarious thought it was... well... hilarious!!
It ended up being a fun day for everyone - even B.

1st Football Game

Today was B's first football game. When we got to the crazy crowded parking lot we noticed a man with his face painted and I suggested to Jason that we were probably not ready for what was about to happen to us. (Please know that we've lived in Texas for 7 years and are proud to say that we've not been to any football games - no offense football fans out there) At that point I noticed that this same man (face paint man) was holding a fishing pole. At this time I realized that I was in way over my head - I had no idea why you needed your face painted and you needed a fishing pole! What in the world?! We decided to wing it and moved on hoping that no one would notice our lack of these two "essentials." HA! HA!
We were told to arrive an hour early but because of the crowded parking lot we only got there 30 minutes early. When we got there we found out that all the games were running behind so we didn't start at 1pm as the schedule showed, we started at 2pm. That gave us an hour and a half to walk around, play in the van and generally be bored.
When the game finally started, KZ&A entertained themselves with the dirt and Jason and I waited anxiously for our favorite player to hit the field. I learned about 1st downs (surprisingly not the first time my child is tackled or tackles someone - j/k) and about defense. Finally after about one injury per play (to our team) we got to half time, and we still had not seen B on the field! After half time B got on the field, another one of our players was injured and our coach called a forfeit. Apparently according to B the team was bigger, the referees were not calling fouls and as I mentioned earlier our team was getting injured every time they blew the whistle. So the pictures that you will see are the one and only time that B was actually on the field. Crazy!

Waiting and walking.

Do you see this big guy?! Most of them were that big
(not that I was expecting anything different)

A couple of days ago - A dressing up in K's ballet costume.

A's new sassy hair cut.

Daddy waiting for the game.

Z playing in the back of the van waiting for the game.

The lazy dog with this own personal pillow - he's got the life!

Camp Champions 2009

Last year was Camp Champions the Freeze! This year was (believe it or not!) Camp Champions the Flood! My friend, Heather W. coined those names and I think she did a fine job! It didn't truly flood but considering our drought conditions for the last year the amount of rain we got this weekend made it feel like a flood.
We swam in the pool (very refreshing), we practiced archery, kayaked and swam in the lake. Here are just a few pictures of our fun!