Monday, December 26, 2011

Christmas is over already?

Every year seems to go by faster and faster than the one before.  This one was a blur.  Big events and interesting challenges have come our way this year. 

Lee Joe did come home.  He made it home a good week and a half before Christmas.  He had thought there would be more work for him here at home but was told he needed to go file unemployment.  Nothing ever goes smoothly around here.  At least that has been the case for all of 2011.  So he did.  He got some days at home, had time to fix his car and work a smidge on mine, then looked into Amber's car and there was some bad news there.  When Kelsea overheated Amber's car in October, she drove it too long in that condition and it needs a major repair now or a new engine.  Lee Joe was not sure what he was going to do for work.  But he made some calls and one of the calls he made had him going to work within hours of the call.  From 6pm to 6am.  That was two days of work before Christmas.  But since he has been working 80 or more hours for months now, he was not ready but went.  Then on Thrursday evening they told him they wanted him to head out of town for 3 weeks, Monday after Christmas.  Then he was really beside himself.  He didn't want to go but after talking to them at length he said he would.  So this is the Monday after Christmas and he has left to drive truck to Montana and then to Utah back and forth until they decide to send him home again.  That will mean he will miss the 4th birthday for this year-Hannah says he wasn't there for her birthday last year either.  And another holiday-unless he manages to be in Utah for New Years and I decide the drive to Utah.  We have to see if it will be something I can manage and see if the weather cooperates.

The girls wanted footy pjs.  So funny.

As far as Christmas goes, Lee Joe was home.  Amber is not, we are trying to figure out how these things work.  But it worked well enough.  We had Amber and Ryan over in the evening of Christmas Eve.  They came back on Christmas Day until they went to his parents house.  The girls were so fun Christmas Eve night.  All the girls wanted footy pajamas which cracks me up since they all wanted them and they are 18, 15,13 and 9.  I don't usually do the Christmas PJ thing, but we did this year.  They were so funny.
Kelsea got her Harry Potter movie. Triumph!

Kelsea wanted a few specific things for Christmas, but what made me laugh was that her favorite present was not one she asked for.  She got a Harry Potter wand that lights up on the end when you just wave it. She waved it on, off, on, off, on off.  Then when she put in it back in the box she opened, closed it, open, close, open, close.  Yes the child is ADHD and very easlily entertained.  She reminded me of when she was 5.  I loved it! 
Kylee and Autumn didn't ask for anything this Christmas.  I enjoyed all the smiling they did with what they did get.  Kylee is easy and happy with everything.  She was happiest with a pair of boots she got and an angry birds t-shirt.  Autumn is always quite reserved and is always thinking. I remember the Christmas when she was 4 and all she wanted was a carebear.  She looked at all the presents and asked which one was the Care Bear and almost everything else didn't matter.  This year she was all smiles.  Lee Joe even caught her sighing with contentment.   She has asked for a camera several times.  She didn't ask this year but she did get one. Hannah wanted this magic set something awful.  We saw it at Costco and she talked about it for several weeks.  She did the same with a Darth Vader alarm clock.  This Christmas was a strange one.  She got a Lego Star Wars Darth Vader ornament for the tree.  She wanted Star Wars stuff, lego stuff and is into angry birds.  But she wanted really pretty clothes and nice pea coats like all her sisters have.  She also got Star Wars wall stickers.  I think we will be painting her room soon.  And she loves giraffes.  It was a really funny year for her.  Her birthday is in a few days so there will be more.  But she still enjoys Build a Bear.  We did get her a bear before Christmas for her birthday, because the store is way too slammed after Christmas.  She did NOT dress the bear in Star Wars stuff.  She chose a very sparkly outfit.  So she is so quirky and she is turning 10 so things will be changing.  I can see the little girl leaving and see a little of the pre-teen setting in.  It makes me sad. 
Quite the beast! Love it!
Kelsea was in charge of shopping for me.  She did a great job.  My mom, Lee Joe and Kelsea all got together and got me this fantastic Kitchenaid mixer.  But I still need to try it out.  I was done with my baking when I got it.  I will have to try something soon.  I LOVE the show Merlin right now.  She got me the 2 seasons that are out on DVD right now.  I got a few other things I really wanted.  The sweetest thing she did was she made me a bracelet with some charms from my Grandma June.  I will take a picture and dedicate a post explaining the significance of the charms.  What she did with it is beautiful. 
I will post about the importance of these charms.

Lee Joe was so funny this year.  He complained when the girls and I got ipods in the past.  Now he started to complain that he didn't have one.  But the isolation in North Dakota got to him I think.  So he really wanted an ipod.  He did get one for Christmas this year.  We did pretty good when he was opening his other gifts, keeping it from him.  But one gift was a charger that plugged in the wall and in the car with a few different adapters you could use for other things.  That was the only hint he needed.  He started to go after the other present he suspected of going with that charger.  That was funny.  He did get an ipod touch.  We were all trying to get him trained up on it before he left.  Some of the aps will be really helpful for him while he is away.

While Lee Joe was home, he got to know the puppies.  He can be pretty impatient sometimes.  But they are so cute that he was really taken by both of our boys.  Speaking of the boys, they will be having a necessary surgery tomorrow.  So hopefully they won't be traumatized by the experience.  I think Yoda is finally past the trauma from the Parvo and shots experiences.  I just hope we don't have start all over again with him.  Dobby is just a super cute whiney baby when it comes to pain.

Thursday, December 01, 2011

Still here...

In case you were still wondering if I am still here, yes I am. 

Puppies are growing and I enjoy them very much.  Except when they decide to run out the front door and take themselves for a jog without a people escort.  That happened for the first time today.  They are like having toddlers right now.  I am always cleaning up after their messes.  But they are 100% housetrained now.  They are very attached to me.

Lee Joe is in North Dakota-still.  He came home the first week in October.  He did not make it home for Thanksgiving.  For awhile I thought it would just be me and the three youngest and my mom for Thanksgiving.  But Kelsea didn't have to work at Tucanos and Amber and Ryan told his family they were having dinner with us because they knew there wasn't going to be many of us here.  So we had a nice low key dinner all together with all the favorites.  We watched Ryan's family launch rockets which has become their Thanksgiving morning tradition and it was something new and fun for us to watch.

Lee Joe WILL be home just before Christmas.  What he does next is still unknown. 

Kelsea has moved back home but with school and her 4 jobs and social life she is not home much. 

So I continue on as a single parent.  I haven't figured out what to cook for the 4 of us.  Especially when 2 hardly eat anything so it's like cooking for 2 and half.  We can always agree on pizza.  But I think that is getting old, cheap totinos pizza, pizza bagels, pizza rolls, papa murphys or pizza hut.  And half price happy meals on Tuesdays are great.  I think I fed the 4 of us for $6.00 the other night.

I don't like driving to seminary.  I am NOT a morning person.  I never have been.  I don't even like breakfast.  I will stop griping now because you don't need to hear me go on and on about it. Because I really could.  I don't like the cold right now either.  But I was reminded after I subbed on a really cold windy day this week that I really like being home again.  At least not working in the cold all the time this winter.  But the kids at the school are so sweet.  When I come back, they ask me where I have been and why I am not there everyday.  They tell me they miss me.  I get tons of hugs and they all love to say hi to me.  That makes my day everytime.

I have a new obsession right now.  I absolutely LOVE the show Merlin.  It is filmed in the UK.  It was on NBC here a few years ago and we loved it then.  Netflix has had it.  I finally got around to watching it.  There are 3 seasons of it on Netflix right now and the 4th is airing in the UK right now.  It is recreated/retelling of a young Merlin and young King Arthur.  It is a very well done TV show that plays more like a movie.  I can't get enough of it.  I usually don't watch things over and over but I have started rewatching the episodes again.

At the moment besides  getting ready for Christmas things are quiet-I say that but there is no dad, no extra drivers, driving to seminary and school, there is choir and honor choir for Hannah, jazz band for Kylee and basketball, and regular band for Autumn-things are boring.  My motto is boring is a good thing.  I am all for boring.  We had a our share of car breakdowns in Nampa-two weeks in a row.  yeah,  and a bunch of other super stressful stuff I can't share here.  But things are what they are and after all the tough things I think I have learned how to shrug it all off.  I worry less.  Or maybe I found some great supplements to help me out.  I don't know.  But I think I still think the driving to seminary is the thorn in my side right now.

I really love to write.  (Can you tell when I blog?)  You would think I would have more time now to do that.  Well, I am getting in the way of that and I am very frustrated about it.  I am getting wound up enough that I am about to get really motivated.  Once Christmas is finally taken care of, and the dogs stop messing up the house, I have clean clothes to wear, the kitchen counter is cleaned up, and.... and........ This is where the Nike logo means so much--    Just do it!!!!