Happy New Year!

Here is my good, bad and the ugly report.

Ugly first-poor kitty's tummy. It looks quite funny now though when she walks.

The good. We have had lots of travel this year. We have been to 3 zoos, Disneyland, Lagoon, Sea World, Up and down the West Coast. And the sudden trip to the East Coast. Great visit with my dad and his family. Someone has a drivers license

The bad, the loss of my grandfather, but I feel his presence. Falling Christmas trees, Expensive headaches. No time and the kids are growing up too fast. Oh yeah, someone has a drivers license.

But it is nice to reflect this year and admit it has been a good one.



So I have been sick with something since Christmas. It is getting worse and very annoying right now. I am pretty miserable. I would love to get SOMETHING accomplished on this long holiday.
Hannah is 6! My baby is 6 years old. I am having a trauma over my baby growing up. She had a nice birthday. She got a Disney princess game from my mom for the Wii. And she got the Barbie Island princess stuff from us and a cabbage patch doll from my sister that wets itself.
I am about to celebrate New Years with my husband and 3 youngest daughters. My sister and her man may show up in time to celebrate with us. Then I get I to fetch Amber and a friend on the other side of town from a church dance. Too far and too many drunks and policemen to let her drive.

Devanie thought this was a funny story so I am sharing. Amber was able to drive on her date the Friday before Christmas. But it snowed while they were in the movie. Too much to let her drive someone else's kid home and herself. Lee Joe was moving a road grader to Costco for Snow removal. About the time the movie let out he was at the theatre. I gave him ahard time about driving them home in the road grader. But He did it anyway. Amber and Matthew road home in the road grader. When they pulled up in front of Matthew's house he got his brothers and parents outside to show them. A very memorable way to come home. On Friday this week he came over with Amber's other friends to play the Wii. They ended the night playing a board game called Quelf. It is this hilarious board game of just random things. They had to write haikus about armpits and other silly things. Kelsea had to play leap frog. One of the cards said that when you land on an opponent's space you had to hold hands with that opponent. Matthew rolled next AND landed on Amber's space. They held hands for the first time for a whole 3 seconds before Amber could quickly roll the dice for her turn. She was so red and it was SOO very funny. That is my continuation of the silly teenage saga.

Happy New Year!!

Christmas aftermath

We had a very nice Christmas. The girls all got things they wanted. After they opened their stuff there was some stuff in the very back of the tree for all of them. There was a Polly pocket race to the mall for the 3 youngest. Some movies and a Disney Scene it game. And then there was a Wii with games and accessories for 4 players! And a Dance dance revolution game. The girls were so excited. They didn't expect it at all. And Lee Joe had a big surprise present. It was something that started with a note in a little box and he had to find the big box. He really wanted a Lionel train set. I found one. He didn't think he would get it at all. So that was a great surprise for him. So the train set is up on the floor in the living room and the wii all over the family room. We cleaned all day today before we played the wii today. Yes, I am having fun too, and my arm and shoulder are sore. Lee Joe and I boxed tonight.

The cat is getting better and got her tubes out of her stomach yesterday. Our neighbors feel awful.

I love Christmas vacation. My car is getting a break too.

and all that-

The two oldest have babysat for the past two days. Amber is driving herself to her friend things and now on a date tonight. Kelsea was a butt to her Orchestra teacher again on Weds. While talking to a friend of hers in her class she said Kelsea is hilarious and does and says the things they all wish they could say. She won't be there next semester. I can't believe that she is my child sometimes. If she wasn't so funny it might be easier to be much harder on her. Amber and Kelsea played together Thursday in their seminary classes. Autumn got a student of the month award yesterday. I am happy the kids are out of school. But they keep wrapping things they are making and found my tape stash. Our tree is full of stuff and I not sure if it is just big boxes and gift bags filled with pictures on paper and other crafts. But it is pretty cute. We keep getting banned from bedrooms and other rooms when they are working on something. I am so behind with everything. I was up till 3am last night in my freezing cold garage with the space heater on and I found out I need to go out in the shopping mess one more time for one or two things. I also forgot to get something for Matt's girlfriend.

And the cat is recovering well so far. She has 15 stitches across her stomach. She was listless the past two days. Today she is sitting up, purred when I pet her and complained when I cleaned her stomach and is eating. I couldn't imagine my life without pets and it just makes me sad at how bad she is hurt. I love cats even though I am allergic to them. I put up with my allergies for the love of my cat. I don't mind caring for her I am just not very good at it. I am glad it is over Christmas break because I will be more likely to remember to give her all her meds. We know that our neighbor's dog did get her. They called their dog in when they heard something going on outside. We could consider her lucky she is still alive. The girls have all been concerned for her. Lee Joe said my Christmas present was getting her fixed up but that is not true because he is out shopping for me right now with the girls.

I am so excited for Christmas. I got Lee Joe something great that he has no clue about but wants. I can't wait! I feel like the kids but it is not about what I am getting it is about them. So much fun!

I don't know that anyone will be posting much here on out. But have a
Merry Christmas.

poor kitty

Amber discovered our cat this morning was badly injured. We thought it was just her leg. She couldn't walk on it. She was a mess and smelled like she was in a fight. Lee Joe took her to the vet and then discovered she had a large slice across her stomach. She had to have surgery. The vet and Lee Joe think a dog got her. She has puncture wounds on her legs and stitches and drainage tubes out her stomach. It is huge- all the stitches she has. Poor kitty. She has a cone on her head and can't walk. It is so sad. She is on two antibiotics and has pain meds. It is awful. But at least she is OK. She is one of the kitties I hand fed as a kitten. I have some pictures I will post later because Amber thinks she needs the computer at 10:30 for homework.

Can it be?

Can it be that Christmas is less than a week away today? Can it be that I am behind with everything and that somehow this week is so plugged with stuff I will be lucky to catch up? I think I am done shopping but there is still so much left to do.

Hannah went to the eye doctor today. She is going every 3 months right now. She is 20/30 out of the not so good eye with glasses. We went to build a bear today to get her an early birthday present since all of Boise will be there after Christmas with all their gift cards. She picked out a bunny with a Disney princess shirt. I need to take pictures.

I have two concerts to attend tomorrow. One at 9:15 in the morning and one in the evening. Kelsea is still a butt to her orchestra teacher and it sounds like she actually intimidates him because he won't reprimand her, he just glares at her and yells at her friend instead.

It rained and rained today. I am subbing for recesses tomorrow. I don't like the forcast. Inside recess is a pain. In December, the last week of school , all the kids are out of control. Oh well it is just 3 hours. That is the only time I will have gone in to sub this month. I have little time to bake. We will do what we can.

I am excited for Christmas, I just more TIME to get what I want to done.

My trip

This will be lengthy-More of a story than a blog.

I decided to go at the last minute. Saturday morning we bought the tickets. Lee Joe wanted to come with me and I was such a mess over the anxiety of flying and getting there and seeing my dad again I was just a mess and didn't want to go a few times even after I bought the tickets. My mom didn't want me to go and I hurt her feelings over something I said but I told her she could help me by being here for the girls while I was away. So she was good with that. Amber was thrown into her license while we were gone. She drove the girls home from church, and took them to the Stake choir thing. She drove kids to seminary in the morning and the girls home from school, to Kelsea's game and everyone to their Weds stuff. The girls were awesome and so responsible in our abscence. That is the first time we have left them together for longer than overnight.

Before we left on Sunday, Amber and Kelsea were playing together in Sacrament. Our plane was suppose to leave at 12:45 and Sacrament is at 11. We asked the bishopric if they could move their musical number earlier and they did. They played this beautiful piece. O Come Emmanueal on piano and violin and it was amazing. Kelsea's music fell on the floor and they didn't miss a beat. She picked it up and put it on the bench during a pause for her in the music, Amber slowed it a bit and no one knew the difference. After that we said goodbye to all the girls and they all fell apart except for Amber. She takes a lot to let loose of emotions in public. Kelsea and the other girls couldn't keep it together so after sacrament they went home. We left. At the airport we found out there were delays. When we got to our gate it was a 3 hour delay. We had a connecting flight in Chicago to Providence RI and it was delayed too so we hoped for the best. Everyone kept sounding like we would have to wait until Monday to leave and that was too late. We got into Chicago. What a crazy airport! We found the part of the airport where our flight was suppose to be. We asked about our flight. We were told to go to a certain gate. We got to the gate and our flight had left an hour earlier. The flight they were getting ready to board was to Boston. We asked them if they knew how close it was to Providence. They said maybe 2 hours. We asked if we could get on that flight. So with only 10 minutes till boarding time we changed our rental car location. We got out our US Atlas I brought along. I am so prepared! Anyway, Boston is only 50 miles to Providence. We figured out our driving plan on the flight and got our car once we landed and made it to our motel in Providence at about 2am their time. But we lost our checked bag with the flight change. The other great thing I did was I packed 2 carry on bags with the stuff we needed the next day. I packed like we would lose our bag. I didn't have everything I needed with the new liquid restrictions but I had the clothes I needed to wear to the funeral and Lee Joe did too. I had make-up and toothbrushes but not shower stuff and no flat iron. So that was amazing we made it.


Some information from my past. I have seen my grandparents a few times over the years. They came to see me about 3 times. My dad saw me last when I was 4 and then I went to Connecticut 3-4 years ago and saw him for the first time in 32 years. I met my two half brothers for the first time. They were 18 and 15 then. And my step mother. I met 3 of my Aunts and their families. One of my cousins is my age and I spent a lot of time with him before I left when I was 4. I loved my grandfather. I still remember him playing the banjo and the juice harp and other instruments for us and he played with me a lot. I have always loved the hammer dulcimer because he had one and I played it and he played it. My grandma says she has only seen him cry once in all the years she has known him. And that was the day that I left with my mom and sister. When I went to Connecticut a few years ago they had put him in the home because he was so difficult with his Alzheimers. He could only remember me as a little girl at that time and I was glad he could remember me but was broken hearted at waiting too long to come because he was not himself. My grandparents and my aunts all made sure that Melissa and I were never forgotten after all those years. So I had to go to the funeral.


The next day we got it together and found our way to the viewing. We got there. I found my Aunt Kathy and my brother Duncan was close by. He gave me hug and said hi. I said hi to some more relatives. I saw my dad and Alane. They saw me and came over to me. He was all smiles. He looked surprised I made it. I thought my Aunt Kathy had told him I was coming but she didn't. He was surprised. My Aunt Amy offered to let me stay with her right away if I needed to. My dad, after I talked to him for a few minutes asked where I was staying and immediately offered his place. His own sisters were not sure he would offer. The viewing was interesting because it wasn't somber. There was laughter. Grandma said he was probably dancing around in heaven playing a harp and playing it well. They all said that even though he loved instruments, he struggled to play them. She was sad yet looked for the relief he has now at being himself since he hasn't been for so long. My aunts cried as they said goodbye to Grandpa before we left for the service at the church. I saw my first Catholic funeral. When my Aunt Amy shared her memories of my Grandfather one of her recollections included me and my cousin John sitting on his feet while he clomped around pretending we were a pair of boots he was going to kick into the closet. And then we went to the grave site and there was a little service there. Then there was dinner at a restaurant for the family. There were pictures of grandpa. One set had pictures of him when he was young and one had pictures of him with his children and grandchildren. I was in one of the pictures with him that was on display.

Back at my grandma's house we all crammed in her small place. I was in the kitchen and dining area with my cousins and they talked about memories of grandpa and him pulling out instruments from behind and under the recliner for them to play. I remembered the banjo. I said I remembered the juice harp and when Snoopy would play one I would say "my grandpa can play that!" My cousin Brian said he had one. One of the kids found the dancing wooden man grandpa would make dance for us. I had told Lee Joe about it earlier. So I was able to show him what I was talking about. Even though I was gone for so long I was not a stranger at all. The remarkable thing there is I always have felt comfortable and connected to all of them. I discovered things that I carry that are Kennedy traits. All of the Kennedys get warm easily. I do that. All the aunts babies and my dad's sons were large. Beyond 8 pounds. All my girls were. My dad is a picky eater and my sister and I are too. Melissa more than me. We went to the Olive Garden Tuesday night. My favorite place. And he always orders the same thing. I usually do. But when I told Melissa what my dad ordered she laughed because she always gets what he has-spaghetti and meatballs. She left there when she was a baby and doesn't know him. When my dad watches TV he pulls his shirt up over his nose sometimes. Weird habit but I do that! My dad teases his wife a lot. I tease my girls, nieces and nephews the same way. My dad talked a lot this time. He shared so much and let me pick any of his pictures I wanted. He has done photography for years and has had shows and won things. I told Lee Joe on the flight home that it felt so good to have had that time with my dad. And that I could say Dad to someone who really was my dad and see him happy to be around me and when we left I could still hear his voice in my head. I have wanted that my whole life. I have never cried happy tears but I have and can do that now. I feel my grandpa healing us in his passing doing what he couldn't do in life. The divorce of my parents devasted my dad's entire family. His parents, his sisters, his aunts. They all loved my mom so much. And things have never been right since. There is so much that I can't explain because this blog would go on like a book. But because I have worked so hard at being accepting of any relationship I could have with my dad this -well I am speechless with how overwhelmed I am. Something that so many people take for granted I now have and I hope to get for my sister too. I am grateful for how this trip turned out. I suppose if that was the only Christmas present I got this year it would be the best and the best ever.

I'm back!!

I went to Connecticut. It was a trip like no other. Miracles happened. remarkable incredible awesomness even with the funeral. I think my grandfather really had a hand in getting me there and since I had 3 hours of sleep last night and it took a ridicuous amount of time to get home today-but we missed all the bad weather- the full update will have to wait until I am rested.

Congrats for Amber

Amber is an official licensed driver today!! She passed the driving test yesterday and today she did the written and has a fancy card with her picture on it now!

Kelsea's team lost their first game last week to last year's city champs. She is starting and playing almost the entire game this year. She was suppose to guard this girl that was almost 6 ft tall and did a better job guarding her than anyone else on the team. She had about 20 jump balls that game too. The game before that one she made 11 points and one was a 3 point shot!! I didn't know she could make those and neither did she.

I am still undecided on whether I am leaving for Connecticut this weekend but if I do I will leave on Sunday. My own dad hasn't called me so I don't know what to think about that. It was my Aunt that called. My grandma is not taking it very well. My mom is trying to convince me I shouldn't go. Lee Joe says I need to, but I am trying to make my own decision.

Some sad news

I am sad but if I had time to have shared with my grandparents more I would be more of an impact but my Grandfather in Connecticut passed away. He has had Alzheimers for years and the last time I saw him when Hannah was 18 months he could only remember me as a little girl. But I treasure them because they took more time to see me growing up than my father ever did and from what my grandma tells me is that the only time she has ever seen him cry was the day we left Connecticut because she says he just adored me. I didn't have that great of a relationship with my other grandparents that I grew up with after that. It was a good relationship but I knew I couldn't compete with my sister. He was a special grandpa that loved music so much that he collected instruments from all over the world. He could play some of them but he claimed not very well and those are the things I remember about him. And amazingly I can remember being in Connecticut even though we left when I was that young. Maybe I am sadder than I thought. So I am trying to figure out if I am going to the funeral that is on Monday.

The tree fiasco

We always get a real tree but I have been looking at artificial trees for a few years now but haven't bought one. This year I wish I had. I sent Lee Joe on Monday with the three youngest in search of the annual tree. The past few years they have been really small so we were looking for a taller one. He got a nice tall and fat one. We didn't get it up in time to decorate it Monday so last night was the night we could do it but it was just me and the 3 little girls. It had been up all night and all day. We were putting lights on the tree and Kylee was handing them to me and all of a sudden the tree fell over on Kylee and the tree stand ran up the front of my shin. Kylee was fine but my shin was not. Huge raised bruised bump up the front of it. So we tightened the tree stand up and we were able to decorate the rest of the tree. At 4am the tree dumped over again with some disasterous results. I happened to hear it. We have a few glass ball ornaments that the girls have made and one was a gift to Kelsea that shattered. We have a tradition of the girls getting an ornament every year so when they get their first tree when they leave home they will have ornanments from their childhood. Five of those broke. 4 were repaired with super glue that Lee Joe got for me around 5am and one was not repairable. There was water all over the tree skirt and my doll nativity. I had considered putting my nice set under there this year. I am glad I didn't. The good news this morning was I found a replacement that almost matched the unrepairable ornament at Target. I may find the humor in this and do a picture for my Christmas cards with the girls in it reinacting a falling tree. So later today when Lee Joe and I are both home at the same time we need to adjust the tree, attach it to a wall and put bricks on the back side of the stand and then we will have to decorate the tree all over again. It was very pretty.

And TOMORROW!!! Amber will be doing her drivers test!!!!! And might-I say might-have a license at the end of tomorrow. I am afraid, but I don't have to take her. She is a little freaked out too. Her permit expires in January so it is good timing.

Everyone is gone-

I guess everyone but Dove is gone from the blogging world this week. Probably the almost Dec hurricane that is going on. I should be doing hundreds of things other than being here. Procrastination at its best I guess. I fought with my computer all day yesterday and thought I lost a bunch of California pictures then found them and had problems just trying to upload pictures from recently on the computer. I was a stressed out mess from it and am still further behind in my must dos- here are some pics to all the people that are not out there this month.

Autumns Thanksgiving program

Uncle Rex and his dog Roxy-sure that's a motorcycle riding front carrier.

Pep Band -------------------9th grade Basketball

Homecoming forever ago.

We are home and on the go already-

We had a nice trip to Seattle. The weather was nice. I left sick but got well enough to enjoy our time there. We had lots of family for dinner and some of my Aunt and Uncles friends. They asked Lee Joe to say the blessing on the food and when he mentioned my cousin in the prayer that is in Iraq they both had to take a minute after the prayer to compose themselves. I met a cousin I haven't seen since she was an infant. She is in college playing basketball on a scholarship right now. My grandpa cracked me up the whole time. He was telling Kelsea and Amber they needed to get this 15 year old boys phone number and he was telling the boy the same thing. He told Amber and Kelsea that they were such good friends that they needed to share their boyfriend. And then he told my uncle Rex that he needed help with an ingrown toenail. He wanted Rex to get this tool and cut a V in the top of the nail. Rex said he didn't want to do it because Grandpa would "squeal". They kept talking about it and Rex kept saying he would squeal like a little girl. It was funny. The next day he said Rex fixed it and it felt much better. And I had to ask him if he squealed and he said no. Melissa asked him why he didn't go to the doctor and he said you only go to the doctor when your sick and he wasn't sick. Coming from a man who pulls his own teeth when they hurt. My aunt and uncle have new dog. It is a little boston terrier and it is the cutest thing. My uncle had this doggie front carrier he said it was so he could take it for a motorcycle ride. We all said yeah right, that was the manly excuse for a doggie front carrier. My grandpa wanted to keep my cousin's little dog and was thanking her for the dog. She has THE cutest little 4 pound dog. It went home with my cousin.

So Friday Melissa her family and all of us went to Seattle Aquarium and I toured them down the Pike Place market. I bought a sweatshirt for me this time and shirts for the little girls. Then we went back to the house. We got a little lost but found our way back. Saturday we went to the Woodland park zoo and my Aunt and Uncle also came along. We laughed at Orangutans that were playing with a sheet. It looked like they were playing peek-a-boo. It was a really nice zoo just a little cold. We watched Evan Almighty that night. We left late Sunday morning and had a really nice visit. We got home at 8:30 which wasn't so bad.

I had to be up and out to the school this morning sice I have missed the last two Mondays with sick kids.

I can't believe it is time for Christmas almost. ACK!!!
I have some fun pictures to post later.

Happy Hallothanksgivchristmas

I think that is what we should call this time of year when the holidays feel like they start running into each other. I can't believe that Thansgiving is this coming week already. It already feels like the holiday season. It could be because they were running Christmas like commercials the day after Halloween. But Lee Joe, Amber, Kelsea and Amber's friend all say that it feels like Christmas. That usually doesn't happen until December for me but I feel it too. I think Boise feels as well because the traffic around us yesterday was seriously obnoxious. It took me 30 minutes to pick up Amber from the high school and then get to the little girls. That should take 7 to 15 minutes at the most. We are five minutes away from the only mall in town. It took me 30 minutes to get to and from the mall yesterday before 4pm!! on a friday-well fridays are busier than most week days but that was more like Saturday afternoon traffic in December.

We have had two invitations for Thanksgiving this year. One to Eastern Idaho and one to Seattle. My family is all going to Seattle to see my Aunt, Uncle and Grandfather. I have left it to Lee Joe to decide where. He is leaning towards Seattle and we may hit Eastern Idaho over Christmas break. I don't have to cook the Turkey-did you see my turkey dance?

Good news

We had some good news from the neurologist this morning. He ruled Lee Joe's episode an atypical migraine. He had a lot of symptoms they had to rule out the worst but after looking through all his tests that is what they believe he had. And then the doctor mentioned at the end of the visit that if it had been a transient ischemic attack he could loose his CDL. We are glad that it is not the case. So there is no evidence of any stroke or any sort of bleeding on the brain or artery that has done something nasty but we got to see the inside of his head. The doctor showed us his MRI pictures. But boy will this be one EXPENSIVE migraine. But thankfully the news is good.

Something crazy happened this week. I cleaned up the garage enough that we were able to pull the van in it so Lee Joe could work on it. That is remarkable since I think we have only pulled a car in the garage maybe 3 or 4 times in all the 8 and a half years we have been here.

Taking it easy

I always have high hopes for long weekends like this but when they happen sometimes it is just nice to not worry about much and that is what we have done. I cleaned so well on Wednesday that it has actually lasted most the weekend. We have done some pick-ups here and there. Amber had friends over and what I prepared for food left a minor mess. I haven't cooked and we have shopped some and Lee Joe came along with us all on Friday to the mall and we had ice cream at Baskin Robbins. Today we went to the parade that Amber marched in. I was feeling crappy so when we got home both her and I slept a long time. Autumn has started her barking cough. Hannah was sick last weekend and Kylee sounds like she could be starting so I may stay home with the sick ones again tomorrow.

By the way we had parent teacher conferences on weds and thurs. I met with 15 teachers in two days. All but one teacher had high praise. The one teacher says her attitude is improving. That is Kelsea in orchestra. It has been a battle since the begining of the year with the teacher. Many 9th graders quit at the start of the year. I wouldn't let Kelsea. When I got the call from the teacher telling me she has been disrespectful in class I was upset with Kelsea. But when I talked to her she had been bothered by the teacher causing a 9th grade boy to cry in class. And that is where her attitude came from. In the meantime I talked to the counselor about what happened and then the principal evaluated his class and I e-mailed him and suggested he talk to another teacher that is fantastic with the kids and Kelsea has that teacher for one of her classes and basketball. That teacher talked to Kelsea and gave the orchestra teacher some suggestions and positive change started taking place. We will see if it lasts though. I might have to give in to letting her out of that class at the end of the semester. He wants to win Kelsea over. He rocognizes she has talent. So there you go!

So far this week-

Lee Joe is back at work. There are no lasting effects from his episode on Sunday. Or none that are obvious. He has an apointment next week with a neurologist. I forgot to mention what a good job Amber did while we were at the hospital. I had a roast on for dinner but it took awhile before I called the house and when I did Amber was making the rest of dinner without being told to do it. I was so impressed because she lacks her own initiative sometimes. Good kid. But the day wasn't without some sisterly abuse in our absence.

My van had an oil change a few weeks ago and ever since the oil pressure light comes on and dings at me when I am idling at stoplights. We do that a lot here in Boise. So it happens a lot. And something is wrong with our tub. It is leaking into the downstairs bathroom still. We need to make time to figure out whats leaking before there is much more damage. The downstairs bathroom already needed work on the ceiling in there. It looks like the tub has a crack.

This week is interesting. It is parent teacher conference week. For some reason the school assigned me a time on Weds that makes this afternoon a huge nightmare. Piano from 3:30 to 4:30 I need to go to the jr high for Kelsea's conferences at 4:30 and I might need to go back Thursday and on Thursday I need to go to Amber's. Lee Joe has Scouts from 6-7, oh yeah-he has a new calling too. The little girls have their conferences from 6:20-to 7:20 which overlaps YW. I, of course, was in charge. Everyone is coming over here. And somehow Kelsea needs to get to basketball practice at some point. But what makes the day a bit more enjoyable is I get to stay home all day until then. Hannah doesn't have school today. That is SOOO nice. Kylee and Autumn are home after early morning choir tomorrow. And everyone is out on Friday. So I think I can get a handle on some stuff and I am still trying to tile that small strip in the kitchen and the girls that are downstairs still need shelves put up in their rooms. So I am going to think positive and we will see how much I can tackle! I need to get busy.

Since blogging-

So I blogged while everyone was at church and then Lee Joe came home with headache-he never gets those and some other alarming symptoms so it was necessary to spend the day at the ER. We got there at 2:45, left at 8:40. We got the works-EKG CT MRI and the results are he had a transient Ischemic attack. A little scary but it was mild and he felt better most of the time we were there. We are both worried about the impending bill with no insurance. He fought a lot of the tests because of the cost but when it was done and they told him what they did he could agree it was necessary. He has to take a baby aspirin everyday and see a neurologist. Fun huh? He is OK right now. We are just glad they didn't make him stay the night.

AHHHH-some time

The first 3 days this week kicked my fanny. What really kicked my fanny was an unruly kindergartener at the school at the end of the day that decided to take a run past the office and through the kindergarten class room, out the door and halfway across the playgound before I caught up to him. I hadn't had to run that fast in along time. Apparantly I need to do that more often. I worked half a day on Tues. And of course Halloween and I was EXHAUSTED!! before the day was even half over. So we survived, the kids felt really special in all their dressed up glory and we went to the trunk or treat and then went trick or treating in a nice neighborhood where most of the girls friends live. Amber dressed up like a pirate and walked the little girls through the neighborhood. She had her loud ear phones around her neck and played pirate music so she had theme music too. She didn't trick or treat. Kelsea went to a friends house and dressed up like a boy.

Thursday I got to recover. It is soo nice having things calm down a little. Kelsea made varsity in basketball. She has practices for a few weeks before games start. Friday I stayed home with Hannah. She has barking cold. It was early release. It saved me from going back to the school and hour and half later. I baked two cakes-100% homemade, not a box mix. One for a funeral and one for us. I cleaned house. So nice to see it clean even if it is only for a day. Sat the dog threw up in two places in the family room. I had to shampoo the carpet. I was going to shampoo anyway. Lee Joe and I went shopping for trim and other house stuff. We were gone all day and had lunch out. We haven't done that in ages. And then we came home proceeded to destroy things in the process of making things look nice. I started getting my tile together for the kitchen and mudded some of the walls and Lee Joe trimmed out the doorway that use to have the sliding glass door in it. We are shopping for a ceiling fan for our room. For some reason Lee Joe is fixated on having one that looks like an airplane propeller. I am giving him first choice on the fan and I think I found one online that he will really like but it costs a lot. So when we get there I will take pictures and post them-do you believe me?

We are having some successes with our fish. We have lost some too. Our big tank has been doing well. We lost one fish a few weeks ago. Everyone else is hanging in there. 24 fish, a big snail and two frogs in our big one. Our guppy tank has been up and down. We have lost more guppies. I have made few healthy again. But the fish guy I saw says he has trouble with guppies too. We have had several batches of babies. We think the frogs ate the first big round of babies so they got moved. Our first two babies that were getting really big died. We had 6 babies, 3 or 4 died but now we are back up to 5. We have 4 ghost shrimp in that tank. One is so big and now HER belly is covered in eggs so we will see how many shrimp we end with. I was going to name that one George but I guess she is a Georgette. Maybe the guppies will eat some of those of the shrimp babies otherwise we could be in a heap of trouble. And we have a big snail in there and a cory catfish. We are going to fish sit for the next few weeks while my neighbor is away.

We are progressing well right now. I always have too much to do but things are happening. I can't believe how close Christmas is now. Ack!! I am not ready for that-we just had Christmas last month it feels like.

I have written my book on this past week so there you go!

So busy

I don't really have time to blog but I am looking forward to tomorrow and Friday-I will be home more. I subbed Fri and Mon and half of Tues. I have the usual Halloween run around. But with Kindergarten I get to go to the school 2 times for parties and take Amber some food for one of her classes in between. I got to drive kids to school from seminary this morning. I did Autumn and Hannah's hair this morning for their costumes. Autumn hair needed to be curly all over. She slept in rollers and we curled her hair in ringlets-ish and Hannah has Belle hair. Kylee's hair was done last night. I plan on remembering to take pictures this year-I don't know what happened to me last year. Now I need a shower and to get myself going.

By the way, I got my first call last week from a teacher telling me one of my daughters has been naughty, more like disrespectful in one of her classes. Can you guess who? More on that later.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Crazy can stop now!

This coming week would be somewhat restful if it wasn't for Halloween in the middle of it. I really don't like Halloween much as an adult. I have never liked scary anyway and it is one of those I help my girls indulge in. This year I bought costumes for the little ones we rotate picking from the box of costumes past and fulfilling their imagination but I think I bought 2 of the 3 costumes the little girls did last year and made the other. Santa was memorable. Our current trip brought out the disney this year with one exception. Kylee is Cinderella in her wedding dress from Cinderella 3. I have to add some stuff to the store bought costume. Hannah is Belle-so easy. Autumn wanted to be Peter Pan and wear a Tinkerbell wig. I had a hard time indulging that one and partly because there are not any peter pan costumes or tinkerbell wigs around. And it was just weird. We have done a Pippi Longstocking cheerleader before but Autumn's idea was just weird. So I asked her if she still wanted to be that and she said that or Christine. I had to ask who Christine was-from the Phantom of the Opera. What 9 year old wants to be a character from a broadway musical. It wound up being easy because she wanted a white dress and Fred Meyer had a snow princess dress that works perfectly. I just have to get creative when it comes to curling her hair.

More on the weekend.

Aren't they Cute?

We woke up on saturday with our lawn being "spooned" as Amber called it but it was actually forked. D 3 was on our lawn. Streamers and silly string in the trees, sticky notes on the car and balloons on the car and the house. We replaced the sticky notes with spirit stuff for band now I need to get to the car wash.

Big Band Day

The biggest marching band day of the season. It is D III competition. Capital placed this year WOO HOO! In last weeks competition they did not get best music. This week they got best music out of 6 bands I think in their division. The Auxilary got 3rd place and Capital won 3rd in their division. Even Amber agrees by looking at the pictures that they performed well. Amber is the one to the left in each picture. First one-left of the 3 standing together. On the left podium. in the awards the one with the gold helmet on the left. It was freaking freezing by awards time and it almost started to snow. My sister has an awesome camera. My two cameras would never take pictures that good. You see the top most seats on the other side of the stadium? We were sitting a few rows from the top but we got the best view up there.

The last two pictures aren't great but pretty good considering we were in the nose bleed section of the stadium.

Stats-

4 bedrooms in some state of reorganization
4 cans of different colored paint for one bedroom
5 beds taken apart.
6 beds put together
3 closets rotated
1 new set of bunkbeds
1 old set of bunkbeds sold
3 bedrooms almost in perfectly clean condition
2 bedroom disaster zones (Amber has no excuse)
3 bags of leaves
2 trash cans of tree branches
1 baked cake
3 pans of Chocolate Chip cookies made
4 awards at the latest band Competition on Sat-Best percussion, best visualization, best general effect and 2nd place(?) At least they won something.
2 people finally got their dinner date
Unspecified loads of laundry done with bedding and rugs included
Messy, leaf filled front yard
AND a Disaster zone of a house

5 happy girls

1 tired achy mom

1 very helpful hubby

Boy we got a ton done this weekend

OWW

Maybe if I could take my eye out, my head would stop hurting so bad. I've lost my momentum on the room change because I have been sick and busy for 3 days. Today I can rest. Just a volleyball game afterschool and the usual pickup schedule. I was sick all day long yesterday and worked at the school for 45 minutes early in the morning and had an appointment for me and then an appointment for Kylee to get a tooth pulled. I was miserable and asked Lee Joe if he would take the girls to the school carnival. he said he would. But at 4 everything just kind of went away. I took medicine all day that helped little I took some hours before it decided to just ease up. I made dinner, Lee Joe didn't make it back and I took the kids and felt OK and then as soon as I got home it slowly came back and today I feel the same. HMM-
I am going back to bed. Even though my house looks like it blew up in every room. Right now I don't care.

When Kelsea knows you are taking a picture of her this is what you get


When Kelsea doesn't know you are taking a picture of her this is what you get
These two pictures are from their Faith Quest trip this summer on their hand cart trek day. This was on a video of pictures from the trip the stake watched and got as a sovenir. Above is Amber and her giggle buddy Andrea with Kelsea pretty exhausted and below is how exhausted she really was. She is asleep.

I wish--

I wish I knew a little more about computers so I could figure out why mine is acting so retarded right now. I have a bunch of issues so I can't get all the pictures on the computer right now. And there are so many I want to download.

Amber just got home from her competition in Washington. It is 2:30 in the morning here. They did come home with a trophy. They took 3rd in their division but they didn't make it into finals but they did a great job from the way it sounds.

I am in the middle of a big bedroom over haul and change over project. We filled 3 trash bags full of clothes from the 3 youngest and three trashbags full of trash from Kylee and Autumn's room. Kylee is about to get her own room, Hannah is about to share her room with Autumn, we will move upstairs and Kelsea down into our current room. Amber stays where she is. I was suppose to do this in August. I hope I can find enough time this week to keep it up. So far Kylee and Autumn's room is half empty. What isn't in there is in the family room.

Off to bed.

Well-

I was trying to figure out why I was so bummed about my birthday but last night Lee Joe brought me a dozen roses and two cards in apology because he realized my birthday was a disappointing one. First of all I can't remember the last time Lee Joe got me a dozen roses. I am not kidding when I say it was probably a dozen years ago. They were beautiful.

Having a sunday birthday stinks first of all. Especially when married to a last minute shopper like Lee Joe. All I really wanted on Saturday was to go to dinner but Lee Joe got home too late to take me and 3 schools had their homecoming that night so my favorite restaurant would have been full of teenage kids in formals. He took the kids shopping and it was odd because we wasn't even gone an hour. He suggested I order take out from the olive garden so that is what I did. So I ate my dinner at home with two of the girls trying to mooch off my dinner while I ate it.
Sunday the bishopric gave me a "gift". I got released from nursery and called to be the Mia Maid advisor. As if I wasn't already freaking out from my current state of everything at the moment.
Lee Joe invited my family to dinner and made it. There was a weird glich in the mashed potatoes. They were a little almost like potato soup. But everything else was really good. A friend of mine and her daughter brought by cupcakes that all had different letters on them to spell Happy Birthday Kim. I got money for a monitor and pretty crystal from my mom and Lee Joe and the girls got me an MP3 player. I don't want to sound ungrateful but I really wanted an ipod. I had asked for an Ipod. Lee Joe always does that, I ask for something and he gets me something else. I didn't have to get an ipod and a monitor. If I had wanted an MP3 player I would have had one by now. But the real surprise was in the end that they got me an ice cream cake from baskin robbins. They hid it in the big freezer and I didn't find out about it by accident. My mom or someone usually brings me flowers and I guess Lee Joe remembered that Tuesday and realized he really didn't try that hard for all I do-those are his words not mine. I did go buy my own present in the end. I wasn't picky about the monitor, the cheapest one would do and in the end I found one for $150. So I was sad and he kind of acknowledged that.

I have fixed 7 band uniforms in the last 3 days on top of our craziness. Yesterday was nuts but I made it. Hannah had dance, I needed to grocery shop and did that before and after. Kylee had her first basketball game. Our girls outscored the other team so bad it was time for our girls to stop shooting. Kylee scored one basket and rebounded like her sisters. We made it to Honor Choir very late. Kylee and Autumn are in it. (Autumn may be not so tone deaf after all) It isn't as easy for her though as the other girls. She has several friends and I may be able to get a car pool going-WOO HOO for car pools! Once I dropped the 3 little girls at home I picked up Amber and stopped by a firends house that was in charge of altering the the 30+ uniforms. Glad that wasn't me. She had Amber try on her uniform so she could figre out where to place the cape-by the way it is the home of Amber's admirer -ahhh. Amber came home and said that was so awkward. It wasn't that bad. I sewed until midnight last night.
What I am looking forward too- Marching band is over in 4 weeks, basketball for Kylee is over in 4 weeks, Volleyball is over in 4 1/2 weeks. But then 9th grade basketball starts.
Hannah was paid a very nice compliment after dance yesterday. The teacher said she had very nice dancers feet. She does a very good job. All of my girls have walked on their toes since they started walking. They all still do and so do I. And she is getting Student of the month award today.

The kids are out for 4 days starting tomorrow. And it is conference weekend. Amber will be gone to Washington this week-the source of my busy-ness the past 2 weekends. It feels like a vacation!!! Not really because we are overhauling bedrooms. I will get those pictures up, they are great but I need to shower and get uniforms back to where they belong when I pick of Hannah.

My birthday present

Yesterday was my birthday. I got money from my mom and sister to buy myself a new flat screen moniter for my computer. I found a pretty good one today and now it is like looking at everything with new glasses. It is about to give me a headache by all the crispness of everything but it is still pretty neat. I have loads of pictures to download but I am in the middle of hemming band uniform pants. I needed to give a few fingers a needle break. Maybe that is the actually culprit for the eye strain. More later!

Busy

It's so busy I shouldn't be blogging but Kylee is 11 today! This Sunday she was moody like a teenager. We are on our way to 3 teenagers-EEWwww. We will see if I get a chance to blog until after Sunday. I should have lots of pictures after this week too. Between a hair do for Kylee, Homecoming for Amber, First time marching in uniform this season on Friday, two birthdays, and yeah, we are almost too busy for birthdays. But Kylee is getting a bike. Gotta run and clean and laundry and whatever else shows it's ugly head besides the lawn that hasn't been mowed in 2 weeks.

Poor Hannah

Hannah missed school yesterday. Her throat was really sore. And she was so bummed when she realized she missed getting a 3rd grade buddy. She was so sad all day about it. She went today but her nose was pretty runny and by tonight she is even worse. She may not make it again tomorrow. She loves school. Her teacher really enjoys her. I have to work tomorrow but she may get time with dad. I am in the ERR and I hear there is new girl that is really REALLY difficult. Hopefully I won't have to work with her. I kind of dread days in the ERR. It always depends on the day. Those people don't get paid enough. Most of the kids that were there last year are gone. But they were all kids I liked though.

I may have an update on the teenage soap opera for later but it won't get posted until after the weekend. We have to shop for a homecoming dress this weekend.

I tried to take a power nap at 5 today. Mistake. I went out completely until 6:30 and jumped out of bed thinking the kids weren't up for seminary and school. OOps. They were just not getting dinner. I am surprised I didn't get woke up by someone before that. I guess I needed it but now I should be sleeping so I can get up for school in the morning.

We will see if there is a riot in the house in the morning over the absence of bagels in the house. I have already heard about it before bed. The girls think it is the end of the world because there are no bagels. Apparantly froot loops and waffles are insufficient. Well that is more like snack food not breakfast for me too though. There are no bagels so now they starve I guess.

Save me!

Someone save me from my life!! I read an article about finding joy yesterday I thought it all sounded good and then my day didn't stop at the end of the day I was frustrated. I did something for me again. I had a massage. I have been getting nasty headaches at the back of my neck that painrelievers don't relieve so I was hoping to help that. I visited the tanning salon and had a bad encounter with a different tanning bed I look more like a tomato in places and my behind was in much pain. Kind of funny really, but ouchy. Hannah had her during the day dance class since we are too busy for an evening one right now. Kylee and Autumn started choir so they left for school early and then I had call from Kylee afterschool that basketball was starting. Means trip back to the school in an hour and half. Then I had a call from new visiting teaching companion and we scheduled that. I had been on a note route So now I guess I am not and we sceduled visits-caused me some more anxiety. Then I got a call from my new visiting teachers to schedule appointments in the evenings- I don't like evening appointments because we are too busy! but I scheduled one anyways. We had a lousy dinner so I could leave to Amber's back to school night. I was there awhile with Amber because I couldn't get her home. And then after that I was trying to find lotion to relieve my butt of its flaming on fire feeling. I guess what fueled the frustration was probably the lack of sleep from Hannah waking up at 3:30 with a tummy ache and then throwing up about 5. But she was well enough to go to school when she got up and was fine the rest of the day. She had a bunch of congestion I guess. But she is home today with a sore throat. I have mountains of things to do and I don't like it!! I am blogging in avoidance and the worst thing to have happen right now is my STINKING dishwasher is broken!!! ANd it won't be until this weekend before we get the part! I really hate dishes. I would rather do laundry all day than one load of dishes. But I bought a bunch of paper plates and bowls and cups to buffer the need for dishes.

I forgot to recap the weekend- It was Wade's mission farewell. Darren and Carrie had an Open House on Saturday. We went to that. Just before we got there we found out Grandma Lay was in town. So we saw her and Grandma Leavitt and Kim and Gwen and Andy. Then on Sunday we went to our Sacrament and then their Sacrament to hear Wade speak. He is going to Phoenix Arizona. And then we went to Darren and Carrie's again for dinner and saw Sheila too, and Jared and Michelle and 3 of their 4. I don't know where my camera was so I am sorry-there are no pictures. Grandma Lay stayed with us for the weekend and we did dishes until midnight Saturday.

The rest of this week continues to be busy. I don't like lots of busy. I need to learn how to stop fighting the busy and learn to go with the flow but it hasn't happened yet.
I am still adjusting to the baby being in school and running back and forth all day-this is our week for seminary driving too. Lee Joe is doing that thank goodness. Lee Joe is doing his own business, that is stressful, But he has lots of work right now and we are dealing with our crisis still but that is improving but there are still good days and bad days with that and I plug along and act like all is well to the kids and the rest of the world and that can be tough. But the better days are now outnumbering the bad ones. I suppose that is why the weight of keeping up with the kids, their school and every other distraction is taking its toll. We are working on getting Amber her license and when that happens there will be a little bit of relief but new worries for mom. If it was just a 30 year crisis, I have been going through that since Hannah was 18 months. I have had 2 years of counseling and my big advice from the counselor is to find things that I want to do to take care of me. It is time and has been time for me to take care of me. Now more than ever. I am finally doing things other than going to the store by self. That is about as much me time as I have ever had and I am not a social person to count Relief Society stuff as me time. Doing the stuff I have has taken a lot of courage. I am standing up for my needs and doing some of my wants and finding value in myself and that is probably why the crisis I have been having didn't ruin me completely. Because it could have. So I am going to try find joy like the article said. I will figure it out. I am trying to remind myself how fast this year will fly by. Not that I want it to, but it will. Oh and Kylee's birthday is in a week and mine is in 11 days.

What do you do?

What do you do when you have lost touch with yourself? Try to find out what you have been waiting to do for a long time. I have wanted to try tanning for a long time. And since I didn't spend hardly anytime at the pool this year I don't want to be ghostly white come Christmas. You wouldn't be able to tell me from a snow drift. So I tried it. And my belly got pretty red but the rest of my looks a little the same. But the coolest feeling was when I got done with the 2nd time there I felt I had spolied myself, it was kind of nice to actually feel good about something I did for just me. Plus I am hoping that I get the vitamin D I need to fight off the winter blues this winter. I signed up for an exercise class at the community center. I would have started this week but that class was full so I start in October. I still have a few more ideas to do for me and I am working on fitting them in to my always busy schedule. I have some money from working at the school to invest in it. It is kind of a long slow process trying to figure it out and then having the courage to do something just for you. I guess it would be like that after always sharing your time with somebody as long as I have.

The week got strange with my neighbors father having a heart attack when just their 16 year old son and his grandmother were there. I was at Kelsea's volleyball game so I wasn't there when All the emergency vehicles showed up. Poor Sam gave him CPR but he passed away at the hospital. So we are still trying to help our neighbors.

Kelsea had 2 games and they won both. She played more the 2nd game. I met the "horrible" orchestra teacher. He is a little odd. She is complaining a little less but I am trying to be sure she doesn't wind up being disruptive. Autumn is working at getting her work done faster. With each day she would bring home less and less work. I talked to her teacher and it is Autumn's perfectionism getting in the way. She is working on it. She will spend hours on the homework and not complain and get up early when I tell her it is time for bed and work on it some more.
Kylee is playing violin this year and next year she will be in band. She is enjoying it. Basketball will be starting soon for her.
Amber wasn't asked by her admiring boy to homecoming but we know who he is going to ask and we are both excited for Amber's friend. She is a very sweet friend. Amber may go to the dance with a bunch of her friends and she is happier about that anyway.
Hannah is just lovin school.
The kids were out of school on Friday and that gave us a chance to recover the back yard from all the shed drama and trauma. I found some of my garage floor and the back yard is able to be watered and cared for again. I have a beautiful patio once more. Our Bar-b-q croaked over last weekend though. But anyways things look nice for the moment but the leaves are getting ready to drop so it won't last long.

We broke down and got cell phones for the 2 teenage girls. It has been more and more neccessary with the way things are around here. Kelsea has been begging for one for 2 years now. She is such a kick in the pants. She made her voicemail sound like she is talking to you and then she says leave a message. She got me and she got Amber with it and we had my sister call her and she got her too. The funniest part, and this is so Kelsea-when she called her phone to see if the message worked, she got herself!! I laughed so hard when she told me that! There is never a dull moment with her around.

Here we go!

The "routine" is in full swing. Friday was the first pep band football game. We saw Amber be Drum major for the first time. She likes being bossy! She did good. So cool! We heard a rumor yesterday she may get asked to the homecoming dance by her longtime admiring boy. Here we go! She kind of got a job this weekend. She worked for an ice cream place by us at the park for a thing that was going on there. I don't know if she is going to keep working or not.

All of us have wicked allergies tuning into sinus infections or colds. There is a fire not to far and the smoke is bad.

Lee Joe's shed is in place. The yard is still trying to recover. There are still tree branches everywhere. The girls made a fort out of them and slept in it over the weekend. I need to take more pictures.

Kelsea had her first volleyball game yesterday. They won. She was a little confused when she was first put out but she got to play the last half of the 2nd game and most of the 3rd and she did fine. She is still complaining about the orchestra teacher a little but not so bad. I will get to meet him tonight at the back to school night.

Autumn is bringing homes tons of homework everynight. Kylee had the same teacher last year and that is not typical. She is taking way to much time getting stuff done. She is just slow with her perfectionism.

Off to collect a kindergartner.

SO SAD!!!

There has been a big shed on our back patio where our gazebo has been. Lee Joe had a crane to put in the back yard and that was the only place it could drop it. So there it has sat all summer. It got moved last night. I was sad about the branch it broke on my lilac tree when it got put in the yard. Last night one of the neighbors almost cut the entire tree! It was my most favorite tree in the back yard. But I told Lee Joe he is trying to build a village in the back yard. It is called Recycleville. I will have to take a better picture of the tree later when the sun is shining on that side of the yard. I mourn the loss of most of my lilac tree. And I almost lost the grassy patch next to the sand box because the gazebo has shaded it all summer and it has been impossible to mow and water.

First day of kindergarten

Amber being the in charge drum major.

She gets a podium-wow

What's that noise?

It is almost 10pm and only one child is left still awake. 4 were in bed before 9:30. What a miracle. The youngest LOVES school. The 4th is starting to feel the pressure of 4th grade-she is just slow getting her work done. The 3rd came home sick today-2 calls in two weeks with 2 sick kids already. And she got her violin today. She is taking a year of orchestra and next year she will take band. The 2nd hates her orchestra teacher and wants to quit. She may have to endure a semester at least. No real complaints from seminary like I expected. Orchestra is overriding that one I guess. This is the part where I hate being a parent of teenagers. It is be the bad guy time. And the oldest is exhausted and hates school because of the homework load. But loves being drum major. They have their first football game this weekend.

Lee Joe had all the girls cleaning house on Monday. It soo needed it. It isn't quite there yet but a huge improvement. I was home sick on Sunday some sort of sinus infection/cold /allergy thing. Saturday was a slow day but fine. I finally got the freezer we have been needing. I am trying to stock it up. The lawn got mowed finally.

Has it been a week already?

The week sure ran away with me. Hannah absolutely loves kindergarten. She wishes it was all day long. I only got to feel what it was like at home without her on Friday. I had so much to do on Tues and Weds. Thursday I had an appointment and already got a request to come in and sub. So I did and Hannah got her wish to stay at school all day. But it was so hot outside it was miserable for us both. And during last recess after we sent about 3 or 4 kids in to the nurse, I stepped on a bee and had to go in as well. How silly is that. Thank goodness I am not allergic to that but it still hurt like crazy for awhile. Kelsea missed a half day of school that day. Half the volleyball team caught a cold or something. She wants to quit orchestra because of the new teacher. Ugh. Several 9th graders already have.

Friday I had a terrible time trying to figure out what I needed to do and did not get far at anything. My house is a disaster. And my crisis does continue but I should say it is a big couple issue and not just me.

Saturday Lee Joe finally got around to repairing all the bikes. Amber got 2 flats on Friday. I think we maybe had two bikes that had air in their tires and my bike broke. We must have something like 12 bikes around here in various sizes. Now there are enough bikes for everyone to ride and Hannah has moved up to a larger bike already.

We watched Akeelah and the Bee. It is a very good movie. It has a few 4 letter words in it but it was soo good.

One guppy died today, I think that is the only fish death to report since my last report. Our injured Gourami is doing well.

Sorry Devanie about the weekend. We will have to make it up to you. Thanks for all the love my way. I think I need it right now.

silly fish tales

Yes I have a tremendous preoccupation with the fish. I have been treating all my fish with a broad spectum parasite and bacteria killer. I got a new male guppy over the weekend and 3 cory cats and 3 shrimp that are in my 2nd tank with the one surviving shrimp. The medicine I put in the water has a net and sponge life preserver thing that helps it float above the water. I was looking for the new guppy this morning and finally found it caught in the net! How he did that I don't know but he was alive and it was tricky getting him out. SO then at 11 I was looking at the tank again and was looking for our two biggest new fish. They are dwarf gouramis but they about 3 inches wide and 4 inches long. I couldn't find the biggest guy. He is the biggest fish and I didn't see him anywhere until I saw something sticking out of the plastic hollow tree trunk. He was stuck. He was really really stuck but still alive. I couldn't figure out how to get him out at all. I thought popsicle sticks might help. Hannah and I ate a fudgesicle as fast as we could. I tried with one first and it didn't work and then I tried two to gently grab him and tug gently. He was terribly stuck. I pulled on the back half of his body and he made it out but boy is he bruised and traumatized. He looks awful. I think he was stuck awhile. I don't see how he got there in the first place. But he will be lucky if he survives his recovery.

This morning and late night was so obnoxious. We got a car pool figured out for Kelsea and Amber to get to seminary and school together. I got a call from my friend saying that she is hearing rumors that seminary is at our church rather than the seminary building. She told me that days ago and I talked to someone and then she told me it again. So after 9 last night we are trying to call the people in charge to find out. We never got a call from anyone regarding seminary. No luck so we set our plan to go to the seminary building and check there first. THen Amber gets a call and finds out her zero hour class starts later because of it being the first day of school. Our car pool has to be reconfigured a little. It worked out. Kelsea's ride was late. Lee Joe picked up another boy to be picked up at our house and was about to take them to seminary. Their only problem(Our car pool people) was they had a hard time finding our house in the dark. They took Kelsea and Chris in the end. I took Amber to school when I went to pick up the seminary kids. That worked out fine. Kelsea told me that the three of them from our ward were not on their roll at all. Then I got home to get Kylee and Autumn ready. Hannah's first day is tomorrow. That saved me one more trip to the schools today. So everyone survived their first day that went today. Amber has homework in every class. But she was glad to have opted out of AP history. Her friend has it with the other classes Amber does have and her backpack broke from the weight of her books. I haven't seen Kelsea yet. She has volleyball and is hanging out with friends until then.

I didn't sleep but maybe 2 hours last night so today has been kind of rough. I was in bed but couldn't sleep. I am under some tremendous stress but I still can't say much more, it is just not good at all. When I stay lost in fish and kids I am somewhat all right. But not really. I can't talk about it online or in person. So again I am sorry.

Geez Louise!

Pluto licked Kelsea. I guess he liked her.

Maybe it will calm down just a little bit when school starts. Maybe. Probably not. We have had so much the past week and the last 2 days were the craziest. We got our back to school shopping done Monday and Tuesday. I think I actually stayed home a little Weds. Weds night we all went and saw Evan Almighty after 9pm. It was a very good family movie. We all liked it. Hannah loved it.

We have had a bit more trouble with the fish tank so that has been another preoccupation for me. We have decided that fish aren't pets. They are a hobby. We have been getting our fish at Petsmart and Petco. I think we got some fish with a disease that has just spread through the other fish. Hannah named one of the Guppies and it died and that is the only fish she has cried over. We still have two babies though. I accidentally killed one of the shrimp I believe the other one is hanging in there. We will get a few more of them. The kids really like them. We have some new fish tonight. Bigger fish than we have tried and hopefully hardier.

Kelsea had Volleyball tryouts this week. She was so nervous about not making Varsity because she didn't last year. She made varsity and she is SOOO happy. Much better weekend for us that the one we had last year where she was in bed all weekend.

The 3 youngest got to find their desks and meet their teachers today. Hannah got to check out the kindergarten room toys. Hannah is excited and Kylee and Autumn are nervous a little. Hannah is still 2 wheeling but last night the tire popped on her bike while she was riding it. I guess it was loud and pretty scary. So Lee Joe has more bikes still to doctor up.

I don't think there is much in the way of allergies right now but I have had the worst allergies the past few days. Today I am having a hard time breathing even after allergy medicine. Ugh.

We had the intent to get Amber her license this week but there was just too much to do and it didn't happen yet.

I am not ready for school to start!! Monday is the day though.

Things are back in school mode

UGH. I don't want it to happen at all. The two oldest registered for school this week. Amber had band camp. She is liking it a bunch. Kelsea starts volleyball this week. We went swimming once. The pool closest to us is closed now.

Our Neon is still healthy. We had one fish die last week. It was a guppy. It probably wasn't healthy when we bought it. But we had two babies born. We must have bought pregnant females. They are big enough to see now without searching and are getting brave about swimming about the tank. We haven't brought home any new fish. We are waiting at least until our babies are big enough to not get eaten by something bigger. Then the next babies we will probably need to thin out.

Hannah learned how to ride her bike yesterday without training wheels. And she loves it!! But she had a big crash and the pedal broke on her bike. But a few hours later she was out on it again.

I would post more trip pictures but my Kodak picture software is corrupting pictures. They are still good on the memory card though.

a quote from my child

One of my children has a knack for finding unusual quotes and then sharing them-the more disgusting the better I suppose- with her friends--
"Love is like a booger, you keep picking at it until you get it, then wonder what to do with it."
I believe that leaves me with nothing left to say.

Yay!

We still have 6 fish. 5 guppies and a neon. Poor lonely neon. I told Lee Joe it would probably survive because they need to be in a school. He didn't believe me but its still swimming healthy like. The guppies are friendly to it. At least we don't have to bury the dead fish. It would become quite a grave yard out there.

Hannah meets her teacher today. Kelsea got some shots yesterday and her arms hurt all day. Amber did well with band camp yesterday. I guess she is loud and that is a good thing.

They're back!

It was a very peaceful week without the 2 oldest. They came home exhausted. Amber had to give a talk today and Kelsea came home sick. But it sounded like a good experience. I had one of the leaders that the girls babysit for in another ward tell me that our girls were great on the handcart trek they did on Friday. It sounds like they were awesome. There is a 7th grade boy that has a serious crush on Kelsea but I knew that from the school I worked at but he spent a lot of time with Kelsea on the trip, driving her nuts. Amber's admirer spent the day with her and Kelsea and Amber's friend Andrea at Lagoon. But Amber wouldn't dance with him at the dance. She got in a little trouble from us when we found out. He prank called their room very badly one night. Not very anonymous.

So the demands are back. I don't give in to them all. Amber starts band camp this week and I have a busy week as well. Yuck. And I have 3 kids and a husband with an intestinal flu. Must be from our terrible eating habits and exhaustion from our trip. We are all still dragging and unmotivated. We got a giant beanbag thing in the family room and the girls are taking turns sleeping on it and having a great time with it. We get to get rid of a very worn out sofa now.

We failed with the neon tetras. Too delicate I guess for a beginning tank. We have upped our neon count to 10 twice and only have one left today. But we got guppies. We lost one but the other 5 look healthy and are entertaining. The ghost shrimp are thriving and fun to watch when they come out of hiding.

School starts on the 27th but it might as well be this week. Kelsea will start volleyball next week. I am not READY!! We have hardly been swimming this year. I haven't even finished any projects, just tore my house apart. The lawn is dieing. There is a shed where it doesn't belong still. Too many things undone and it won't get better when school starts. Ok, I have PMS. I am a little snarly. And not all is really well in our world but I won't go into any details, sorry. So I will tell you the better stuff.

tank woes

I have done all that I have learned how to make a safe tank environment for fish. But we have started with neon tetras. We started with six 2 days ago. One died. I got 5 more and when we came home another one had died. So we had 9. This morning we are at 6 alive but will probably be at 5 before mid afternoon. One that died we can't find. We have two ghost shrimp and they are entertaining and still alive. I have read that some people don't have good luck with neon tetras But I guess I need to do more research or just try some more hardy fish.

I read Harry Potter on the trip. I passed Kelsea up on day one of our drive and she got frustrated with me. I finished it and Kelsea got determined to finish too. She finished it Monday night so she was pretty sleep deprived when she had to get up at 5am for the girls youth trip to Salt Lake. They were at the church at 5:30 on Weds. So it is just the three youngest and and I during the day. Makes things pretty quiet.

I am hoping to recover the house from our trip mess but we are still trying to get over our trip. The fish have been a pretty big distraction for us all. It will get there.

trip pics

The big reveal!!!

I think Devanie beat me to the punch but yes, we went to Disneyland for 3 days, Universal Studios, Sea World and the San diego Zoo. We got a fantastic at Costco for the southern California City Pass. $200 for and adult pass-Kylee was considered an adult at 10. A 3 day pass to Dineyland by itself was $170. The trip was exhausting. But great fun. I need to clean out the bad pictures on the camera but we took about 1000 pictures. But I know there are bad ones.

We didn't tell the kids until they were all in the car and we had dropped Lee Joe's car off to get fixed. And it was cooler there than here. But humid.

We started off going to San Francisco to make the trip interesting. We walked around pier 39. Drove through downtown and found our motel. The next day we drove down the coastline. It was beautiful. We saw elephant seals and some were "fighting" in the water. We got to LA late. Found our motel within walking distance of Disneyland. Bright and early we hit the park. Did you know there are not enough places to sit in Disneyland? We went on the worst ride to start out our Disneyland experience. We went on the Indiana Jones ride. Hannah was traumatized somewhat and we were all really jumpy after that. But it was a really fun ride. Hannah struggled a little bit after that. I made Lee Joe go to some little kid rides. We all went on the small world ride. Hannah loved it. All the rest of them went nuts.
We got two more days at Disneyland and California adventure. We had to rent a wheelchair for Kylee. There is something really wrong with her feet and they got really swollen and put her in tears. She has a high pain tolerance. It helped a lot.

Day 4 was Universal studios. We liked the tour ride and the Waterworld stunt show but really it is geared more towards older kids. There were rides and things we didn't see and we were fine with that. We saw the Hollywood sign and drove down Hollywood Blvd and Sunset Blvd. We saw the Kodak theatre and weren't impressed with the area around the most famous parts.

Day 5 was Sea World. We all loved it. Most of us got to touch a dolphin and starfish and rays. We loved the shows. That was the day we got toasted. Kylee's feet recovered and she walked fine that day.

Day 6 was the San diego Zoo. We liked that too but didn't even see it all. But we saw Pandas and Koalas. We liked that too.

We did all the parks and we wanted to check out the ocean before we went home. The kids and Lee Joe all plyed in the water until each of them got a mouth full of salt water and it made them sick and killed the fun but they enjoyed it still. The temperature was perfect and the water was warm.

We thought since we were so close to border that we would check it out. I really didn't want to cross the border but Lee Joe always wants to do more than I want to do. We crossed, walked a little in Tijuana, about got seriously overcharged for souvenirs. The girls weren't impressed, I had an anxiety attack. Then we got in line to get back across the border. It was an hour wait. I didn't have my regular wallet with me and had nothing on me for ID for the girls and border guard was a grumpy guy. He acted like we weren't going to be able to cross and got offended by something Lee Joe said. I had to talk our way through and told him I would go to the car and get our pictures and their medical cards then he finally let us through. Lee Joe thought it was a great experience. Weirdo. I could have done without it all. It was the only sour note on the trip besides Lee Joe's do it all grumpy impatience we dealt with at Disneyland. Part of why we walked too much the first day. He didn't want to wait 2 hours for the finding nemo submarine ride on our 3rd day. But we waited and all the girls liked it a lot. He had a hard time waiting for the rides that were the best for Hannah. I was able to do a few things for just her an I on the last day at Disneyland. The 4 oldest girls went on the Tower of Terror and Lee Joe felt he had to it even though he didn't want to. He said it was awful and the 4 older girls loved it.

But it was the first real long family vacation we have had and we sure packed a lot in the time we had. Now I have to do all the laundry and do a hundred other things today I have to send Amber abd Kelsea off early tomorrow morning. So the pictures will come a little later this week.

I really liked Disneyland.

Goodbye!

I would say all the good byes from the sound of music but I would rather not spell all those other language good byes. I am having a hard enough time spelling english words correctly. So we are leaving bright and early tomorrow morning. I need to get the oil changed. And a few more errands done. We still haven't told the kids where we are going. We will tell them in the morning. We won't be back until Aug 6. Then that leaves me one day to do the laundry and have the 2 oldest repack for their Utah trip the next day. We haven't been gone that long since my Connecticut trip when Hannah was 18 months old! This is the first time since our trip to Nevada back when we only had Amber and Kelsea that we will gone that long with Lee Joe too. He gets his first REAL vacation. He needs one. He has been leaving around 6 or 7am all week and getting home after 10pm most nights this week. Last night it was 11:00. He has been helping his very good buddy do dirt work around the house he is having built in Nampa. That is around 30-40 minutes from us. He is exhausted and keeps on going. I don't think we are going to come rested at all though.

SHHHH

I didn't post these-

I spent the afternoon and evening (till 10:30) getting skirts, aprons and bonnets made for the pioneer trek thing they are going on when we get back. Amber and Kelsea helped a bunch and sewed some too. They didn't want me putting these up on my blog so shhh! The bonnet pattern I used had a huge brim. They look more like flying nuns. These are their model-ish poses.

This week--

Well, we set up an aquarium this weekend. At first it looked awful how we set it up and today rearranged things ,I put a few more things in it and was trying to figure out why the water got cloudy. It will be two weeks before we get our first fish. It is already a costly hobby but once we get going on it should be spending next to nothing.

Kelsea and I went to get the new Harry Potter book on Saturday. She is reading it, I am trying to resist because there is too much on my to do list. The girls also got a Phantom of the Opera piano and lyrics book and they have been playing/singing it for 3 days now.

We are planning a special secret trip. All the girls know right now is we are leaving on Saturday and will be gone a week. So I won't be around to write and read everyones blog. And you will have to wait and see what our special tip is. Our hairdresser gave some huge hints to Amber and Kelsea by accident. So no spilling the beans. I told Kelsea that it is cooler than here. With the exception of Utah, Nevada and Arizona-that could be anywhere.

sort of bummed

We missed Ty and the crew out in Middleton. I am bummed and Kelsea is bummed too. Too many appointments Tues and Weds and it was still stinking hot. Today it cooled off. My big joke was it is cold with a high of 92! It was so pleasant today.
Kelsea had her first physical therapy visit on her ankle. No wonder I didn't want to schedule that appointment. Now we are in for it some more. 3 days of therapy a week for a month. Since I don't swear #&#%#%#&$(*&#&%)*$%#)($%?>":#$*#$&#$&%*(#&# Pretend those were a slew of a bunch of bleeps over horrible words people don't want to hear.

The latest

I am finally feeling better. Hooray! Almost 3 weeks of sick is no fun. I thought I might have lost a little weight and my neighbor says she thought so too. I stayed up till 3am Sunday/Monday shampooing carpets and getting other things done. Finally got the coolers out to the garage. I have also this week replaced and hung blinds in three rooms now and hung a new curtain rod and put our aquarium stand together. We have a ceiling fan in one of three rooms we need to hang one in. With this 100 degree heat we need them upstairs. So Kelsea is enjoying hers. I was able to finally disinfect both bathrooms. I think I am finally getting motivated enough or at least feeling well enough that the kitchen is about to get worked on again.

I got great deal on a camera today. I was shopping for a kodak camera so I could use my picture printer with it still. They had one on clearance at target for $139 it was origionally a 199 camera. Then they took another 30% off since it was the display model. So I got it for $99!!!
It is an 8.0mp I think my other camera is maybe around 4. Kelsea is taking photography this year and she will need a camera anyway so woohoo for me!! She still takes my camera all the time. She took my camera phone the other day and took pictures of arms and legs in positions that made them look like butts. You never know what she is up to next or what the backround might be on my phone.