Sheer the Sheep dog

Spot reminds of Looney tunes Sam the Sheep dog

Now she is so pretty and ready for warmer weather.

Spring break?

We have painted, done yard work, and spent yesterday at the mall and the library. It is only Weds. More house cleaning to do and play dates are arranged. No complaints from me though. I am getting tons done without the afternoon run arounds!!

Just for info

I was looking at the top 12 safest states, Idaho is in the top 12 as 12. Connecticut was 11. Nevada was number 1 for most unsafe. Texas was in the top 12 for unsafe.

Last night Kelsea's team lost by 3 points. It was such a bummer. They beat that team twice and would have played for the championship today. I saw the first half and Lee Joe saw the 2nd half so we could have Autumn's family party. Kelsea played a lot and was awesome on defence and scored the 2nd basket in the game and made a free throw. They were 13 and 3-one of the best records and they could have been the first team from their school to take city. But now basketball is over. I would be relieved but she wants to do track and I think more for the socializing.

Autumn was pretty happy. It was a rough day for her. They didn't do announcements yesterday so they didn't call her name on the announcements and she didn't get her balloon and pencil from the principal and we didn't get to bring her treats because they had the spring program and many of the kids left after the program. So I made sure we had her family party. She got a tamagotchi, two tinkerbell books and a fairy doll with DVD. She got 2 nintendo gameboy games and a littlest pet shop toy. An outfits and a cute sweater and dress from my mom, a computer game and two jewelry making kits. She never complained about the long wait. We had her party at 8:45.

About the Spring program-Kylee had a big speaking part and a solo and she did pretty well. She had a hard time with a couple of lines but her solo was very well done.
Yesterday was another crazy long busy day and my mouth lets me know now when I am too stressed. It was very sore come bedtime.

Melissa haunted house stories gave me dreams last night of being harrassed by ghosts all night.

Tonight is easy, Amber has match downtown and Kylee has dance in the evening and I might-just might -be able to make dinner. I am looking forward to Spring break!!!! I will post some pictures soon.

Happy Birthday Autumn!!

I will have to be wordy later. We are trying to squeeze in her special day somehow along with Kelsea's basketball in the tournament interfering with our evening routine. So Happy Birthday to my other spunky kid that is full of determination and has a stubborn streak more stubborn than any other. She is tender hearted to boot.

obnoxious

I have found getting our teens to the temple is always an incredible undertaking and becomes the biggest challenge. I suppose a certain someone could be working overtime.
Today was the day and we were OK'd to do family names but both girls had conflicts with tennis and basketball. Amber was suppose to be in Eagle for an away match and Kelsea lucked out to have the first game of tournament at her school. So the good things in favor of the trip were-Tennis was cancelled on account of rain and Kelsea's game was suppose to start at 3:30. As it was I was running errands since 12:30 taking Hannah's eye glasses to get fixed and ordering another pair at another clinic because that was where our insurance coverage was. At 3:20 I picked up kids from school and we go to the Chiropractor dodging construction. He takes a long time and we are late dropping off 3 kids at home and taking Kylee to Borah High for Choir. I find out for some insane reason Lee Joe got dropped off at Kelsea's game thinking I was there after I told him hours before I wouldn't be which means he has no car at all. SO when I get done dropping Kylee off at 4:36 for Choir that started at 4:30 I need to get to Fairmont to pick him up and take him to his car now. There is wreck and for some reason there has been crazy traffic everywhere. At 4:55 I pick him up. Everyone is suppose to be at the church at 5 and Kelsea's game is only at the begininng of the 4th quarter-they were winning by the way-I pitstop at the house again and pick up 3 kids and drive the 13 houses down to the church to drop Amber off on time-that was a miracle! Lee Joe talks to everyone there and gets back in the car and I drive him down the hill during rush hour to get his car. It is 5:05 now. I get up the hill, drive by our house again back to Fairmont. Kelsea is walking out the school as I am about to run in. She scored 6 points-they won. I pit stop back at the house at 5:15ish and have to use the bathroom before I go get Kylee. I drive by the church for the 3rd time and see them all leaving for the Temple at 5:22. I manage to get to Borah at 5:31 and it was a good thing I wasn't any later because they got done early. I finally take the 3 little girls, now that the pressing rush is over, to Mc Donald's for half price Happy Meal night. We finally get home after 6 and somehow Lee Joe and the 2 older girls made it to the temple. I think my neighbors think I am nuts. Now I think I will do some laundry and let my car have a rest. At least we live close enough to everything but if traffic wasn't so horrible today and the lights weren't so obnoxious it would be so much easier and faster. I want one of those things that police cars have to change the lights when I am approaching and I could get super efficient.
Melissa just moved into a house and she and David think it is haunted. They haven't said anything to Dylan or Kailyn that they think that but the kids have had some weird experiences too. And the house isn't that old. CREEPY!!

Relieved

I am so relieved last week is over. Between getting Kelsea's birthday ready and the party and all the calls I got from the school and couldn't work and stay sane-I am glad it's over.
She had a very nice birthday . Her "boyfriend" gave her roses! They are very pretty. She got clothes and shoes and duck tape in 4 colors. She was pretty excited over that. Now she can leave our tape alone. She had a nice family birthday. I was worried about the friend party. At first she invited over 15 kids. And then not very many kids came on time. 2 or 3 kids that said they would be there didn't come. 2 came pretty late. In the end there was 9 kids. She made out pretty well. It wasn't about the presents but she came away with 3 shirts and a $30 gift card to Aeropostale (the girls favorite store) a $25 gift card to the mall, $20 cash and other neat stuff. One of the kids that called and said he would be there came on Sat afternoon and said he thought it was Sat and gave her a $20 gift card to Hastings. So I guess we will have to shop over spring break.
The weather was beautiful and we spent Sat outside cleaning up the yard, fixing the damage from the winter yard drive through, and painting parts of the house that didn't get painted 2 years ago when I painted and the touching up the damage that has occurred since then. We will need another Sat for sure to do more. My allergies hit in full force over the weekend. Ugh!
Tournament play for Kelsea is this week and then basketball is over. They won the game on Friday. Amber has spent a lot of time over the weekend on a poetry anthology book for English. We were talking about giving the teacher a bill for all the materials used- she has used most of my ink in the printer color and black. I bought a giant book of Scrapbook paper for her and she has used a bunch sheet protectors. It is somehow suppose to be a bound book by the time she is done so we will have to figure that out tonight since it due tomorrow. My best estimate is that we could almost consider it a $50 book when she is done. It looks really good though
I have a lot to do. Another birthday Weds for Autumn and we will done with parties until June.

Happy Birthday!!!!!

Happy Birthday to my spicy sassy red head!!!
At 14 we could be in for super long road ahead. She is cute and hyper and silly and sometimes a little too much fun to be around- If that is possible. It is with her. There is a temper and an attitude to boot. If we can get the boys to stop looking in her direction and telling her what they think, Lee Joe might not have to worry about oiling that shot gun quite so much.

Tennis and other stuff

Amber was offered a spot with the varsity to go to Lewiston and then they changed their minds and offered it to 2 seniors and then they offered a spot to her again yesterday, 2 days before the departure date. She was going to do it until she realized how much she needed to do this week for school. So she has to turn it down. They had their first match yesterday. She won both matches she played.
Kelsea's coach has a wife that is pregnant and due in April but I guess she is on strict bed rest which probably explains his gumpiness. Poor guy. They have 2 more games before the tournament starts.
Kylee stayed home sick. I got a call from the school to work and had to turn it down. I think I am going to need to let Kylee babysit her sisters a little sooner than I let the others. Only for short departures. The little girls get along really well and I can always follow up with my cell phone. They actually do better together than when Kelsea is watching them. Amber and Kelsea are almost never home until 5 or 6 if we are lucky. Kelsea says she wants to do track now once basketball is over.
I visited the little girl yesterday that is in the hospital. Kylee cried when I told her she was too sick to visit. Her friend has inflammatory bowel disease and has to take medicine for the rest of her life. Poor little girl. It looks like she will be home by Thursday though.
Tonight is busy. See if you can keep up-READY? The little girls have jump rope for heart until 5. I had to cancel piano. Kelsea has an away game. Amber has tennis until 5. Kylee and Autumn have activity days from 6-7 and I have to go to the Stake building in a dress with Amber and Kelsea for young womens from 7-8:30. I asked Lee Joe to be here tonight so I didn't have to take all 5 girls.
Kelsea has me very afraid now for her friend party. Her invite list keeps getting bigger and bigger. She may be inviting close to 20 kids now. I am hoping and counting on not all of them making it. Amber invited 14 and 11 came. That was quite a few.
Amber date alert. The boy that likes her is scoping out potential double dates with transportation so he can ask her out. She is so funny because she is so reluctant and acts like it is torture.
I always have way too much to say. I really need to be cleaning for this grand upcoming party. And the weather is beautiful. Not as warm as Reno but perfectly pleasant. I think I need to come up with some interior decorating for my car since I spend so much time in it anymore.

Congrats to Molly!

I heard that Molly's hubby Alan is getting baptized this weekend. That is fantastic news!!

Hey!

It was a busy Saturday. Amber and I both saw the Chiropracter. Amber and Kelsea went to EFY. Then Amber went to her party. This was sooo Funny. It was a surprise party and Amber and her friend helped with the invite list. It was for a boy, my doctors oldest son. 12 kids showed up and the dad took the boy to the store to get ice cream. When he got back his mom told him he had to go upstairs and clean something in the game room because he had been gone all weekend or else he couldn't go to the dance. He ran upstairs and turned on the light. One of the girls that was closest to the door gave him the biggest fright as the rest yelled SURPRISE and he fell on the floor in shock, they said he wriggled on the floor. He had to go to his room for a minute to compose himself. He didn't remember turing on the light so we kind of wondered if he fainted or something. So he didn't go to the dance but they all had a great time at his birthday party instead. It was an awesome 16th birthday. I took 3 kids home after the party. One of the girls was getting in the van and she jumped. Her two feet made it but she whacked her forehead on the top of van and then fell on her back. What I heard was a thump and then saw her feet sticking up in the air in the yard outside the van. She was OK and I have laughed about it all weekend. She told us how accident prone she was all the way to her house. She is on the super hyper talkative side.
Sunday almost the whole family sang in the choir for ward conference. Amber had some sort of stress thing at the end and I had to take her home.
Kelsea went to the doctor today and they froze something on her back. He gave her something for her test and performance anxiety. She's off the concerta but we are still doing the vitamin and no doz thing. It seems to help some when she remembers to take it and she doesn't want to take anything at all. She is being a brat about it. I hate seeing her struggle. Her forgetfullness is horrible. But it is her choice to struggle I have to remember. But it is not my choice to have to put up with her excessive moodiness at home when things were so much better before. She has grown since she has been off it. She was growing fine on it too. I think she is 5ft 5 or 5ft 6 now and her hands are as big as mine. Her pinky is longer. She will 14 on Thursday!!!!
I guess it's my turn for sick kids. I have to go pick up Kylee from school. She is running a fever. One of her good friends is in the hospital right now with a nasty flu like thing that won't go away.
Rest of the day-Kelsea's team lost. The jr high they played has their gym in what looks like a pit. It gives them a home court advantage. Kelsea wasn't played much. Last time they played this team Kelsea scored 8 points so go figure. Now they are in 2nd place to the team that beat them today.

Long day

From Powells Sweet shoppe


Today was long starting with me loosing sleep on whether or not Lee Joe would get home in time to take Amber to school early. They didn't tell me that the plans changed and she wasn't going early. So I lost an hour of much needed sleep. The girls and I made it to the school a little late for when I should have been there even with my early wake-up. The day was easier than Weds until the last 20 minutes one of the kids I had decided to have an unresponsive melt down and the other one was trying to be in charge on our way out of the school. This week I had one 6th grader and 4 2nd graders visit the principal for bullying. It has been a long week. I went to Kelsea's game after I picked up Hannah from the neighbor. The three little girls and I watched her team loose their first game this season. If they win on Monday though they will stay in first place. We came home and had a quick bowl of cereal and I took the 2 oldest to Powells Sweet shoppe. The Coolest Candy store EVER. Amber and Kelsea bought stuff for the b-day parties they are going to this weekend. Amber and Kelsea each bought a moustache-a-day thing(not candy) for their party person and Amber had to have one for herself. She is so goofy. I bought some toffee for myself and found out I am allergic to walnuts. Kelsea got dropped off at her party and Amber and I went to the mall. She got a pair of pants with a gift card and some stuff from Bath and Body Works. They are having a great sale by the way. We had some good one on one time. It is 9 and I AM FINALLY HOME!!!! Hooray!

About the house-the family is clueless when it comes to the mess and their dad is much worse. Nobody cares are says or does anything about it but me. I have to tell them to do it. I take that back. Kylee loaded the dishwasher today after Kelsea told her to because we were out of bowls and spoons.. But that was all that was done. The counter is still not clean.
About the shoulder-it's not 100% yet but much improved. I have been seeing a Chiropractor regularly for it so it hurts some now and then but not all the time and it is mild. I have to be careful still with heavy lifting or how I use it. He is working on my ankle now because it has become a much bigger problem. I thought it was the beginning of arthritis but it is a bigger problem than that now. I didn't injure it so it is weird. I have been wearing an ankle brace and it helps.

Not much

On Weds Kelsea's team won again and Kelsea came home with a black eye. I worked all day. It went a little better than everyone expected with the ERR. I get to back on Friday. Amber embarrassed ne to death by bringing friends in the house to use the restroom when the house hadn't been cleaned all week-really bad. I cleaned house all afternoon after the potty break. Today I watched my friends kids this morning and then Hannah and I went to the car wash and finally got the car cleaned. I decided to go to the mall while I could. Bought stuff, nothing for me. Hannah got enrolled in Kindergarten. She was very excited. She got a T-shirt and magnetic letters and numbers and impressed everyone with what she knows. Another game after school and I can go to that one.

OWWWW

I am sooo tired. It was beautiful today but that many hours on my feet and in the sun is more than I can take. My ankle is killing me along with the rest of me. Lee Joe is side working until late all week so I am single momming it. I had to go to Costco and Wal-mart before the troops revolted on lack of cheese. Tomorrow is a long day in the ERR. I still have calls to make and Kelsea to take to math tutoring and it is 8.
Kelsea's team won again yesterday. She made 4 points. Amber made JV on tennis but played so well today she may be able to join varsity in a tournament with another JV girl.

I look forward to bed.

Monday

I worked at the school today-11:30-2:30. The weather was beautiful. It is in the 50's. My foot that has been aching all the time hurts like a son of a gun. Hannah came with and I think she wore herself out. I go back tomorrow. And now Weds and Fri all day in the ERR-that one wish me luck.

This is nuts and I know I am in for a long road ahead with my little red head. I was talking with a 6th grade boy I saw at the movie theatre on Sat. He saw Kelsea and told one of his friends that he liked her and the friend blabbed it to me and embarrassed the boy I was talking to.
There are so many boys that like her this year it is overwhelming for her and me. I told her we needed to ugly her up. We would give her orphan Annie curls and give her some glasses and put her in a fat suit so she won't get so much attention.

I was going to go to Kelsea's Basketball game but I am not up to it. Kylee has a choir concert for the school choir tonight and I need to pick Amber up shortly. This week will be busier than most.

I got a call from the mom who's son will be 16 this week and Amber has been recruited to help with the inviting to his surprise birthday party. We will see how cooperative she decides to be about it and if it is a problem we can recruit a friend of hers down the road to help too that is more outgoing than Amber.

Hannah just got a nasty bump on the head and I need to find babysitting for her Weds and Fri.

It's official

We are entering the world of teenage love. Kelsea has her first jr high boyfriend. There has been much talking on the phone and much anguish from a mom who still believes she is not ready for the world of teenagers in like with each other. Much moaning and groaning went on here and "NO it can't be." Little sis Kelsea didn't realize she robbed the first born of initiating the parents so she gets the brunt of our parental adjustment. Amber has yet to get to that herself. But a boy with a really big crush on her is about to turn 16 this week so we will see what happens there. For Amber it is torment reminding her of that. So we torment her as much as we can.

We spent Friday enjoying our time at home. On Sat the girls and I went to Dylan and Kailyns Basketball games and Amber and I played and led music for the stake baptism. One little boy from our ward was baptized. The High Councilman over the stake baptisms is in our ward and he was, I hope, joking when he said they should extend a stake calling to us to do that for every stake baptism. You should seen the look of horror on Amber's face. We hurried back home and changed really fast and went to dinner at Carls Jr and went and saw Happy Feet at the dollar theatre. Lee Joe met us at the theatre. The pile of shed finally left on Sat and Lee Joe was helping the friend he gave it to put it together. Today we made it to church EARLY!!! Two sisters were not there in nursery today and most of our really little ones were there. One of the gals in there is not very attentive or very helpful and our other lady who is wonderful, had one of the little ones fall asleep on her lap so I was frustrated with Lee Joe's ADTPD and the unhelpful one and 10 very very young little squirmy cute kids was like sheep herding babies into their chairs. It seemed like 20.

By the way as far as reunion goes. We will be in the throes of two high schoolers at the beginning of summer and it will be necessary for them to take summer school classes so they can take seminary during the school day-as our stake advocates for. And for Kelsea to take some interesting classes next year and be able to have her AVID study hall class she might be taking 2 classes. So they will be attending summer school until Fri July 6. It is not like I really want us to give up that chunk of our summer to more school or even the expense of the classes but it looks like that is the way it must be. After that date we would have been more open to activity. But seeing that things have been decided, there you have it. We will be there when we can. I suppose that is the way it will be from now on with kids in high school.

Add another one!!

For a varsity team to make it through the season would be a hard thing to accomplish BUT add another one to the wins. They are starting round two with all the teams. They played South their first game. And they played them yesterday. Their first game was closer than this one. I think there were 2 or 3 games that were close so we will see how it goes. No more games this week- they get out early on Friday, I have no idea why. It keeps snowing light snow flurries everyday this week. Nothing on the roads and it doesn't stay but Amber has only had tennis once so far. I am looking forward to Friday though-no running around!!! Woo Hoo!! Amber drove to the church last night. I thought she was going to take out a car when she parked. We had at least three spaces. She will have to spend more time driving with dad than me. I can't handle it so well yet.
It was so sad, in the news this week 5 kids died in a pond when their car hit some ice and slid off the road into the pond. 2 kids from one family and 3 from another. The girl that was driving was 15 they were LDS and had open scriptures in the car-how they could tell that I don't know. You can get a license at 15 here. But it is heartbreaking. Very very sad.
It's all right with me to be the chauffer and wait a little longer for the license.

cross my fingers

Everyone is at school. Kylee came home a little early on Monday with a tummy ache. But is fine now.

Buddy and Spot

We had a double hamster funeral last night. Yes-- it took a little bit. SHHH-we have 4 hamsters, a cat and a bird buried back there now. Buddy won't be buried back there.

One more win!

So Kelsea's team continues to be undefeated. She played better. She had about 5 rebounds and scored 4 points, fouled and got fouled, and she played a little while, not a whole bunch. Lee Joe got to watch her play. I was carpooling kids around. Amber started tennis sort of. They cancelled tryouts because of the wind and cold. It wasn't THAT bad. Today is also chilly and breezy, we will see what happens. There was snow on the ground this morning but most of it is gone.

ADD and like minded creatures

So here is the story on our ADD family. Lee Joe admits to having ADD now. Kelsea has it and decided to stop taking her medication for it in Jan because of the effects it can have on her growth. Things aren't going so well. She has a D in math mainly because of missing assignments. She isn't paying attention in class when he tells them to turn assignments in and he is not that consistent about when they turn their work in. Since she has been on meds since the 6th grade and has not had this problem it is the ADD effecting her. She is also inconsistent with how she plays basketball. Not that it is problem like the math grade-just a continuation of her struggle. And the thing that gets to me the most is her attitude at home with her sisters and me and how she gets along with Lee Joe. I can't stand that part and constant arguing and bantering over everything just because. So as an attempt at a remedy, we are trying a supplement system until we go back to the doctor. A friend of mine told me that caffeine works the opposite on ADD people. Instead of stimulating it helps them focus and NO doz is considered the lowest form of Ritalin type over the counter help you can get. And I have read how Omega 3 and magnesium is beneficial so on goes our experiment. Could be helping a little but it's a little early to tell. Kelsea was really good and calm at church. One of our still volatile places. So we go on and see how it goes. I feel like all the hard work from the last three years is gone and we have to start all over again. You may question how I know all this-Matt has ADHD-diagnosed by a doctor. My mom more than likely has it-all the job changes and moves. I have another brother with it in Connecticut. My nephew Dylan has it-diagnosed by a doctor. In the hyperactive category the phsychologist had never seen a child score as high as Dylan. He was in the 97%. I have studied it extensively and have worked with large groups of kids since high school and identify ADHD children long before their parents take them in and put them on meds themselves. Ususally those kids really need that help. So Lee Joe is convinced-use to be me biggest combatant on ADD-that Hannah has it. He could be right but it doesn't effect her learning like Kelsea. It is mostly her inability to follow instructions, distractibility and she rarely sits at the table long enough to eat her food until she is done. We need to get much more consistent with her. We thought maybe Autumn had it a long time ago but she gets super focused when she decides to focus and she is super stubborn and has some strange sensory issues. So we have given her weirdness it's own name. We call what she has Autumnism. I was thinking about Lee Joe and he does not have the hyperactive part of ADHD he is the opposite so last night I told him that he has ADTPD. Attention Deficit Turtle Pace Disorder. That is usually only around me.

Off that soap box and on to rest of the weekend. Lee Joe got a an emergency call from a guy that he has worked with in the past. They needed to tear some concrete out of plant over the weekend that had another company back out at the last minute. They had to shut down the plant in order for that to happen. So he left at about 7am Saturday. He met us at the school for the parent drive for Amber at 9. It is official, she has her permit. Then we didn't see him again until 10:30am Sunday. He worked all day and all night and came home with two calves on one of his legs. A piece of concrete fell onto his shin and was so swollen it looked like a calf muscle in the wrong place. But he is OK. And then he slept for about 4 or 5 hours and finished another job. Usually he doesn't work on Sunday but everything had to get done that fast. I have been waiting ever so patiently so the pile of shed-I call it shi-poo-key-to go away. I hope it leaves this week. It has been there too long. Lee Joe says that is his goal.

Kelsea had practice early Sat. Amber had driver's ed and Kylee had a dress rehearsal for Honor Choir. So at 8, 9, 10 and 11 I was coming and going again. Kelsea really should be walking though. The rest of the day was very relaxing until Amber went to a friends house and wanted to drive. EEEKK!! Kylee had her concert that night. I took Amber and Hannah to the concert and Kelsea and Autumn stayed home. When I got home my internet was messed up. It took until Sunday night to get it fixed. I was frustrated.

I don't know what on earth is going on in our ward but there are now 7 people called to nursery and there are only maybe 10 kids on days when they are all there. Crazy!

Since I wrote a book I want to tell you about a book. I read a really good book this weekend. It is sad and then rewarding. I can read it and say that my childhood wasn't as awful as this person's was. But I could relate to a lot of what happened. It is called The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls. It is a true story. You should read it.

Par-taay

The first picture is from Amber's actual birthday-her car and light up glasses. She is really quirky. The next 2 pictures are from last night. 13 teenage girls showed up to Amber's friend party. 6 pizzas, two trays of Papa Murphy's cheese sticks, a bag of skittles and 2 bags of m&m's and many cupcakes disappeared last night. Many of the chips are still in tact and most of the carrots disappeared too. They played Mad Gab, watched fun with Dick and Jane (very funny movie!) opened presents-Amber got 4 Moosen (Brian Regan joke) then they watched Brian Regan and then played the snorting game. That is the circle of girls above. I guess one person is in the middle,spins eyes closed and counts to 10. Everyone rearranges and when they stop at 10 the person that the middle person is standing in front of has to snort. When they do the middle person needs to guess who the snorter is.

Game

I only got to see the 3rd quarter and all but the last 3 crucial minutes in the 4 th BUT--Kelsea's team is still undefeated!!! It was close the whole time I was there. They won 37 to 33. Kelsea was a starter this time and played most of the game and scored 8 points!! She was fouled 3 times while I was there. She would have had nine points if she didn't cross the free throw line too soon. The other two times she made at least one of the 2 she shot. She finally played the way I knew she could! They played a tough team. It was SOOO EXCITING!! and then I had to leave and pick up Amber from the High School and missed the last nail biting part of the game. I forgot my camera too.

I think I could have another ADD child in the works. My youngest is proving to have very high distractability and very low follow through. She is just driving me nuts with her messes and never doing what she is told when she is told. It is probably just youngest child syndrome.

I am having some left over effects of my Monday headache. My head is tender in places. I have a little swelling on the back of my head. I keep getting mild headaches randomly around my head. Kind of weird. But I can function.
Last night I had it. The petty fighting between Amber and Kelsea over my computer. Who does what chore. Autumn harrassing Kylee while she played piano again and again. All the "mom, mom" from 5 kids frustrated me. All that happened while I was trying to cook dinner at almost 7. I went to the store after dinner and let Lee Joe deal with it since I probably won't see him much for awhile. Autumn had to cut her fingernails off this weekend after she scratched both Kelsea and Kylee with temper tantrum rages.
Lee Joe's side work is picking up all of a sudden. He went from no work to like 3 or 4 good size jobs that need done now. He is getting closer to wanting to run a business full time or himself.
Hannah and I went to the mall yesterday. She decided that was where we needed to go. She had to throw away her Strawberry Shortcake toothbrush last night because it was old and it was very traumatic. She threw it away herself and cried when she did it. So we need to go on quest for a new Strawberry Shortcake toothbrush. They didn't have any at Winco or Walgreens when I looked last night. I didn't think I needed to go anywhere today but I do now.
I need to get busy and clean my house. Amber is having a friend party on Friday and Monday's illness has caused me to fall behind more than I already was. She is in charge of the party and I am providing the food. We will have had 6 parties since the end of Jan and Valentines day to boot.
Tonight is Amber's last class for drivers ed and she drives with Lee Joe on Sat. Then she officially gets her permit. I guess I am suppose to let her drive. But she might start Tennis next week. She is trying to decide if she is going to do Tennis or make money helping our neighbor with her 3 boys. Kelsea has a game today and the little girls have piano. I might be able to make the end of her game.

Headache

Somebody has to tell me if they have a headache that hurts all over your head, sinuses, all over my skull, ears hurt , temples, Everything hurts and it hurts so bad you feel like you might throw up. I had one like that and I woke up with it. It got worse and worse even after I took medicine and then I did something I hardly ever, ever do. I threw up. My family knows it is really bad if I do that. I couldn't sleep well and didn't eat anything till 12:30. I think it makes a migraine look weak. I have had plenty of those. I took Aleve cold and sinus which sometimes works, 4 ibuprofren (presrip strength) it didn't ease it up-I got sick instead. I was trying pain management things that I know how to do. That wasn't working much. I took excedrin migraine at about 1 and at 2:30 I felt like I might be a person and could get up. Man, am I weak and shaky still at 4. I hate head pain more than any other kind of pain and that headache is horrible. I think I can handle labor with no meds better than that. Well the kidney stone I had is right there with the headache. But it was 1cm around and 2 cm long and I suffered a week before I got rid of it with only over the counter pain relievers. I think I need a prescription for that headache.

4 day weekend

The kids are out for 4 days. Friday was very calm and quiet. I wish we could have done something fun as a family but instead everyone has been doing stuff with their friends which means I got to play chaffeur all day Sat. Lee Joe went shot gun shooting with friends. Kylee and Autumn had parties. Amber had drivers ed and played tennis at the park with friends(she took Hannah and she made friends at the park) and then Amber went to another friend's house to play pool. Kelsea watched a movie and stayed the night at friend's house. I spent the other part of the day getting Microsoft Office for Amber's homework-then installing it, trying to find a present for my mom's birthday that I thought would be easier than it was. And I got her pies from Marie Callendars. Hey, by the way where's my friends? I don't recall having any fun.
Lee Joe let the hometeachers come over today-Sunday. Was I home on Saturday? Needless to say the place was a DISASTER!! and we had a half an hour to frantically eat and clean. Somehow we pulled it off. We went to my mom's Sunday for an Ashlee and Mom birthday party. I forgot my camera!!!I got my mom a tree stump with a face and it's eyes glow in the dark at night. I called him Grandpa Tree Stump. Matt thought I was nuts. Mom loved it.
Monday might be another friend filled day for Kylee and Autumn.
Kelsea and Kylee got Tamagotchies as a sort of replacement for hamsters. Not really, but they are much cleaner, cheaper and don't smell and they don't run on a wheel all night. Sort of a dead hamster, good report card(Not really for Kelsea on that one) and clean room reward.
Somehow Kelsea's keeps getting mail with poop in it. Then it gets depressed and she has to take it to the doctor.
Lee Joe is home on Monday. That's our fun. I am thinking more and more about that Yellow van!

Bad sick season

They closed a school in Jerome (by Twin Falls) because of a scarlet feaver outbreak. They closed a school in town here that has 91 students because 17 of the students were sick with the flu, scarlet fever and other stuff. I am almost wondering why they haven't had anything like a letter or something come out at the kids school. My neighbors boys have had the flu-Sat and last night. I found out Dylan had the flu on Sat after Kailyn. Hmm-I only got one with the flu so far. Hannah spent the day with Kelsea and didn't get it. But I can't rule it out yet I am sure with how it is circulating still. But I still wonder what killed the hamsters. A mystery! Kylee is at school today!! But she was distraught trying to go to sleep last night remembering the hamsters death.

By the way--Happy Valentines Day!!!!!!!!

Lee Joe brought me roses this morning and brought home doughnuts. I had chocolate hearts and sweettart hearts for the girls and a package of chocolate hearts and sweettart hearts for Lee Joe. Since we went to Olive Garden this week already I told Lee Joe I just want Port of Subs for dinner. Aren't I easy to please?
Kelsea has a game today but it is away and I can't go. We are busy from 4-6 and then then YW was canceled and activity days is early so we can do dinner. I need to bake my cookies.

Valentines Day-the rest of the story.
I spent the day making heart shaped sugar cookies with Hannah. My mom brought me a flower arrangement. Very pretty. Party was fine at the school. Kelsea's team won their game. She played the whole 4th quarter and several other times and the coach was impressed. We got a heart shaped pizza for the girls and Lee Joe and I went to Port of subs and Wal-mart and the mall so we could spend a little time together. He played chess with the 3 youngest girls at home and I grilled the 2 oldest over boys.

Cheezball 2006-Feb 13 2007

Moments after my last post I went to take my shower and checked on Kylee's hamster. I looked dead but wasn't yet-like Kelsea's was. We held it, nursed it, warmed it up to no success. Kylee was able to hold it and try to help it as best she could until it finally passed away. It is very sad how it died and Kylee kept hoping it was coming back but I told her it would not recover. She is very sad but at least she was home to hold it and has time to be sad. So we will have a double funeral for 2 hamsters. I suspect the illness in our house was too much for the hamsters for them to both die 3 days apart and they are in separate cages in separate rooms.

So far...

Kylee is home for the 2nd day. She has almost no voice. I felt bad for her last night because I had to drag her all over after school. She was such a trooper. She complains a little. But only a little. Amber was at Drivers Ed and Kelsea had her basketball game. They are 3-0 now. Hannah and Autumn had dance so we were all over and Lee Joe and I tag teaming child dropping and fetching kids while attending Kelsea's game. Then we finally caught up with Grandpa and Grandma at almost 8 and went to the Olive Garden for dinner. That is my other favorite place to eat. We all came home with left overs. Kylee sat at her chair wavering, eating the best she could without complaint but looked awful.
I have the class party tomorrow. I have to make sugar cookies. Tonight isn't as busy as it was going to be since Kylee is sick. I am hoping Kylee recovers enough to make it to school because missing the Valentines day party would be no fun. Autumn had me worried last night that she was getting sick but is fine now and at school. I need a shower so I can go to the store.

Dot 2006-Feb 10 2007

Autumn came into our room sat morning at around 8:30 or 9 and thought Kelsea's hamster had died. Lee Joe went up to check on it and it was still alive, just barely. Kelsea held it and then Lee Joe tried to help it with sugar water but he only was able to watch it breathe it's last breathe as Kelsea looked on. She is sad and somewhat relieved at the same time because she was about ready to find it a new home but she has a tender heart. So we are one less in our zoo without a plan to replace our recently deceased pet. Only Amber now thinks she is entitled to a lizard or reptile of some sort. No thank you.

The week WAS busy. 2 concerts, 3 children in dance, Drivers Ed, Basketball-Kelsea's team won both their games. She played more the 2nd game and got much more aggressive than the first, enough to get 2 fouls called on her and a rebound or two and missed shot-the whole team was missing shots the whole game though. The birthday party, Amber is so far a happy 16 year old. She got a car-haha-a sirt and pants, slippers and flip flops, a watch, a boise state shirt from Melissa, a fountain from my mom, a pop tart pillow and a stuffed bear with ear phones that plays her ipod, ear ring holder, a computer game. Hannah got shots on Thursday. How sad. And I worked a half day at the school on Friday. So my house is out of control. Amber had 2 games to play pep band for this weekend but it is officially over now! WOO HOO.

Saturday was sad all the way around. Amber woke up very late for drivers ed. They came by and picked her up. The hamster died, Kylee's birthday party was postponed because the birthday girl got the flu. Which was just as well because a few hours later Kylee was down for the count. Lee Joe threw a fit and upset all the girls. Kelsea went to a BSU women's basketball game and was pestered most of the game by a friend and then I didn't see her when I went to pick her up and she ran after the van. I stopped at the stop sign and she was in tears when she finally got me. It rained and rained Sat night and again today. Kelsea won't have much to do with her dad right now because of Saturday afternoon.

That flu that is going around, it is nasty and circulating worse than chicken pox. I got 2 calls from the playground duties because their kids were sick. I was able to work for one of them. Kailyn had it on Thursday night-Friday. Kylee's friend got it Sat. And another 2 girls we know from school also got it Friday. They thought it was food poisoning-it is the same nasty flu. I don't know what is ailing Kylee but her lower abdomen hurts and she is dizzy. I am waiting for my next kid to come down with the flu Kelsea had. It will probably happen on Weds when I am suppose to be doing the Valentines party at the school. Leland and Randa are in town but they are getting sick too so we haven't seen them much at all.

Happy Birthday Amber!!

So it's official. I have a 16 year old in the house. I think we will be having a family get together tonight. Amber and Kelsea will probably miss YW. We are so busy every night this week there isn't another time to do it. We got her a car. It is a metallic blue Mercedes. Made by Match Box, a whole 98 cents. I hope she loves it!! Ha ha..

I was shopping for Amber's birthday and the trend for JRs this season is maternity looking tops. What is up with that!

Anyways, Amber is starting a big Brian Regan fan club at Capital. If you don't know who he is, he is a clean stand-up comedian. She has him on her IPOD and shares his act with any of her friends that have ears. I suppose that would be all of them! They listen to him, borrow Amber's DVD or CD. One friend became the hit at one of her parent's parties having her reenact many of the jokes. The friends are sharing it with their parents and it is catching on like wild fire.

So today I can count my blessings. I have an abnormal 16 year who is abnormal in a fun way. She is extremely smart and puts her parents to shame in how easy it is for her to learn.
I have a stunning 13 year old, who struggles with school and ADHD but is overcoming it and loves athletics. There are boys at school that keep taking her ID card and do it because she is cute and we are in trouble with that one.
I have a 10 year old middle child that is starting to figure out her identity that is always well liked by adults but still has to find her niche with her own friends. She loves to sing and is gaining confidence.
I have a very determined 8 year old that is developing her stubborness into a positive trait and has the funniest and cutest relationship with her friends and gets along well with her 10 year old sister.
Then there is the baby in the family that isn't a baby anymore that will be going to kindergarten next year and brings me a lot of joy and fun everyday at home while I still have her with me.

My world ended

I thought my world was about to end yesterday afternoon. My internet crashed yesterday afternoon and I couldn't get it to work. Lee Joe brought home very disappointing news from the tax appointment-we owe a lot. No relief from our usual tax return. I was so angry and frustrated and to top it all off my monthly visitor decided to show up last night and one of my daughters falied to tell me we were low on supplies. I have such bad hormonal anger I wanted to break something-but didn't, I cried instead.

mini update

Hamster is well again. Kelsea missed church on Sunday and could barely practice on Sat at Basketball. She is the 3rd person on the team who has had the flu. Their first game is Tues.
I missed church on Sunday. No Super Bowl party for us this year. The garage is even further along. Lee Joe has condensed about I think it was maybe 5 or 6 toolboxes into 3 or 4. One for me and a socket set for the house and two big drawer toolboxes for him. He is going to part with the extras. I had an anxiety issue dropping off all that stuff at DI. I think it was because it was so much at once.
Sat morning I had to drop off or pick up someone every hour from 9-11. I was suppose to get Kelsea and confused her pick-up time. I had 12 stuck in my head but it was 11. We live close enough to the Jr high it wasn't a big deal. She is just still feeling yucky.
Today, after school, Kelsea has BBall practice, Amber has drivers ed, LeeJoe is going to our tax appointment-we spent over $6000 on Doctor bills this year! Hannah and Autumn have dance and Amber has another band concert. Maybe we will find dinner somehow. But first I have to go to the store, oh and register the van (its expired).
Amber is registering for school for next year already. She could start earning credit for college next year in 4 classes! But that means more money from us to pay for the tests and possibly the classes themselves and she is looking at 2 summer school classes this year. Kelsea registers I think next week. Hannah has kindergarten registration in March! So I will have 2 high school aged children next year and all 5 in school. Hey, But I will have another driver in the house by summer!

Hannah's quote of the day

Today Hannah said "I don't like fast Sundays, I like medium Sundays."

This week is a super busy one. There are like 4 things on the calendar after school everyday all week long. Even with Lee Joe's help it will be challenge and I have been sick all weekend. we always get through it somehow.

Amber will be 16 Weds!

Friday and Saturday Lee Joe and I worked on our garage. I should have taken a before picture but it would be too embarrassing anyway. I think we are more than half way there. I took a van FULL of stuff to DI and there is more that I haven't gone through yet. Not a whole lot more but some. There is a bag of Clothes for Molly's girls too. The little girls got some toys back, that was almost better than Christmas for them.

Wow, I think I will stop while this is short.

What's up with all the sick people?

I was reading everyone else's blog on how they have all been sick. My goal was to make it through Jan healthy. We did it almost just barely. Kelsea has the flu and it started during the night and she missed school today. And I thought Kelsea's Hamster died but it is really sick too. I should have taken a picture with Kelsea in bed with her hamster. But we got it to take some water and it ate a little. We will see if it survives. It is wait and see how the flu runs throught the house.

Progress! Lee Joe has been home more after work lately and he is trying to conquer some of clutter. He gets so distracted it is almost funny but he put down a piece of trim last night, moved some paint into the crawl space. Fixed and found a home for the old washer, it will be going to my mom's house tonight. He moved the wood trim. I am not the perfect person either when it comes to clutter. But I am progressively getting organized myself and am willing to part with stuff. The girls all have the clutter disorder and the worst part is they don't see it. I have a hard time getting rid of their stuff because I remember the trauma it caused me when I was little but I have learned where it comes from. We left EVERYTHING behind at least 3 times growing up and that makes it hard for me to part with stuff and hard for me to get the kids to do it too but it is getting better. The funniest thing is I can have some very organized closets and cabinets but there can be a lot of clutter on counters and on my desk and around other places. When I was growing up I never had to be told to clean my room so disorder makes me crazy. I feel like I am going crazy or at least frustrated most of the time. We will see if this kick for Lee Joe lasts long enough to get a shed built.

Almost Feb Already!!

I have one more day to go before I can say we made it through January with out any missed school for anyone. Amber does have a sore throat but it is not strep yet.

I worked at the school today in the ERR. It was only half a day. I like some if the kids in there. They are all special needs kids. One of the boys is very big and a big handful. Some days he throws things all around the room. He has something called Fragile X. He threw a fit when he couldn't use the computer this morning so that is how I started my day there. Out of all the classrooms those teachers are probably the most seriously underpaid. I like the playground, the office and the library better. At the moment it is better than the crosswalk.

Sunday we surprised Melissa with a birthday party at my mom's house. So what I did was I got her a bowl from Cost Plus import store from Japan with Japanese writing on it and chopsticks. And she loves Kyoto Japanese Steak house so I got her a gift certificate to go there that was on top of the bowl. She has taken Japanese for 2 years and enjoys Japan and the Japanese culture. So she really liked it. David and Melissa are not married yet. David had proposed to her once before several years ago but I guess something happened and she has not worn the ring for a long time. He found the ring over Christmas and I guess he decided to propose to her again in front of all of us and it was very sweet. She said yes after some confused hesitation. She really was not expecting it. So it was a surprise in the end for us all. But there is no date at the moment. But we teased them and said they had better beat Kailyn to the alter then.

My husband is a junk collector. I am trying to prevent him from following in the line of his father. He is always determined to recycle other people's cast off stuff. Yesterday he brought home a shed in pieces in the back of the dump truck. It is sitting in the front yard. We have a garage full of stuff that needs to go away. Some yard sale stuff, someone's old 60's freezer I refuse to use(we lost a bunch of food in a previous freezer that was newer), DI stuff, stuff for the dump. A bunch of crown molding that is too much for us to use, a bathroom sink for a motel room. In the shed is a bunch of other people' s used sprinkler heads and other sprinkler parts at least 2 bikes for everyperson in this house. He has brought stuff home from his bosses rentals of stuff people have left behind. I was teasing him last night and said he just needs to store some of that stuff on the piece of junk utility truck he owns and become the town junk seller. But that would mean parting with it. I have a horrible time when we remodel things in the house because he drags junk home wanting to use it. I would rather wait and get what I really want and if we don't have the money, I will wait longer. Sometimes he admits to being a hoarder and then sometimes I just hit a nerve and he continues in denial. If he didn't have a dump truck he had access to, he wouldn't be bringing home all this big stuff. First time he dumped pavers he found in the side yard the dump truck bed hit the roof of the house and almost took out the neighbors fence and this time the shed parts gouged the front porch. Good thing we don't have gutters, they would have been damaged. Ugh. I have made some head way his year. We have a new sofa and bed. AND computer. I am holding out for a new dresser now. He knows what I want and he is OK with it we just have to wait until we can get it. He went through some of his stuff and parted with some of it. That is progress. However small it is a step in the right direction.

Last Monday something sad happened. Lee Joe forgot to pick up Amber when he was suppose to and picked her up an hour later. She didn't have access to a phone. We don't have cell phone's for the girls yet. So she stood outside the High school in the cold and the dark until he got there. She was in tears. He felt so bad. It was only a matter of time before one of us did that though. So he has been extra diligent on the schedule since. He has had no side work and it has helped me a lot in the transporting kids efforts.

Amber needs helping earning or collecting money so she can go to San Francisco with the Band in April. They will be performing and at workshops so it isn't just for fun. We have $100 down and $350 to go. She is going to try and earn some of it but her classes keep her very busy and we want her to keep her grades up and driver's ed and band keep her busy after school as well. So if anyone wants to help her out, any little bit helps.

Do I say a lot or what?

New blogger

New blogger is a headache trying to log in and I have to log in always and usually more than once.

But I can still make a new paragraph, was it worth it? I don't know yet.

5 bits of great news:

Amber has A's all over her report card. Finals and grades! But we knew that already.

Kelsea has all grades on her report card, from A's to F's from her math final. But in general the grades themselves were A's B's and a C. And she put in lots of effort. We have someone lined up that will tutor her in math so we will do that. But her great news is SHE MADE VARSITY BASKETBALL!!! She is very happy. And sore. 50 girls were going to try out but I think that number went down to 36 the first day of practice and they only took 12 for Varsity. Small world moment-her varsity coach's wife was in charge of Kelsea's first basketball experience through the YMCA in the 1st grade.

Kylee had great report card and got an Honor roll award. She had one B and all A's.

Autumn doesn't have honor roll yet but had the same report card as Kylee. She brought a lot of grades up.

Hannah really amazes me still. Her big word of the week is constellation. I had to spell check that one. She said "mom, what's a dipper?" And I asked "what do you mean, what kind of dipper?" She says "you know the kind that is a constellation in the sky." I was speechless for a moment. She had her first friend party today. We had 10 kids over of all ages and she sure felt special and has had the most fun with a barbie rock star microphone she wears on her waist. Not my favorite gift though. We did the decorate the cupcake thing and the kids loved that. It went by fast but I think I have this birthday party routine down. I bought a fountain for the punch. It was on clearance and I had been watching it go down in price. The kids loved it. We have 3 more kids with birthdays in the next 2 months. I figured it was a good investment.

Speaking of birthdays, My sister's birthday is Monday. I was so excited with what I decided to do because for the longest time I had no clue. But considering she could read this I will delay the revealing of what I got for her. So she kicks of the next 3 months of fiesta nauseum-too much cake. Her birthday-Jan 29. Amber is 16!!!! on Feb 7. Ashlee, Matt's daughter, is 7 on Valentines day. My mom is on Feb 19. I get her pie for her birthday, she likes key lime and now craves it just before her birthday. A little rest until March 15 and Kelsea is 14. And Autumn will be 9 on March 21. We break until June here and that is when all the guys have their turn. So here we go!!.

The bad:

We had a teenage nightmare moment this week. I am ready to run away or hibernate until it's over. There was a choice unpreferred 3 letter word uttered at a sister by a sister during a parental confrontation regarding unacceptable behavior during a church activity. I suppose we shall leave it at that and I have a very very very long road to go before I am through it. I prefer babies, toddlers and preschoolers any day over teenagers.

I worked at the school for 3 days. Pretty much uneventful this time. I only had to do the crosswalk for 1 day. I still hate that. The bonus, I didn't know Kylee was getting an award and I was able to be there for it. I was able to take Hannah with me on Weds and Thurs and she played on the playgound and looked at books in the library and she enjoyed that. I will post pictures later.

The past week

It seems like 2007 has brought a decrease in blogging to our little circle of friends and family.

I can make paragraphs now that I switched to the new blogger.

The two oldest girls had finals this last week. It brought much studying and weird release times from school. Amber may have actually pulled off straight A's even with her 3 accelerated classes. English has been my big worry for her. Before finals she had an 88.9. I told her to try to talk to her teacher to do extra credit to bump it up the 1.1 point it needed. But she decided to actually STUDY for her final and pulled off the highest grade in her class on the final-99% !! Chemistry was her next worry. She studied again got the highest grade on the final in that class. Only one of 3 A's on the final in the two Chemistry classes. Her grade was an 89% and it is now an A too.

Poor Kelsea was a different story. She has been all over the place on her grades. She has had a C in Algebra. The final took a long time for her to finish and she missed lunch. It was a very short day so she didn't suffer that bad. She got a 47%. Her grade stayed a C. I talked to the teacher and he said the whole class suffered on that test. It is a district test and they didn't get all the chapter's studied. They have missed pre-Algebra and so it takes more time for them to learn what they are doing. Most of her Finals were D's and a C. She seems to have a problem with quizzes and tests. Those are always her lowest grades. I think she will wind up with mostly A's and B's and a C. The finals seem to only make a difference if you are on the border of a grade.

Lee Joe made it to Nevada and back with 3 girls all intact. He said the wedding was nice. The girls had fun with their cousins. Amber and Kelsea and I spent the weekend lining out shoe issues with shopping. We ate out. Amber drove for the first time on Sat and was eager to do it again. They drove around in a PT cruiser with a student driver sign on the roof. HaHa! She's not driving with me yet! And Kelsea and I hung out at the girl's basketball game that Amber played pep band for. It was fun. Capital beat Eagle-Wade's school.

You think Boise is big place and yet everyone is linked together. Amber has a friend who's dad coached her school basketball team in the 6th grade and worked at the school they went to. This girl is also related to Kelsea's Science teacher-her step-dad-and is related to their driving instructor-her step-brother. At the open house her dad told me that the classroom we were in was his dad's classroom when he taught. How weird is that.

My doctor's son has all his classes with Amber this year. I was his preschool teacher before his dad was my doctor and delivered my 3 girls. Our doctor is in our stake and when he was in the High council he would speak in our ward. It took me a long time to get use to that. I run into him all the time outside the dr's office and I can handle it better now.

It looks like I might be subbing at the school at the end of this week and we are throwing a friend party for Hannah on Sat. A busy week in store.

LeeJoes HandyWork! Thanks Dad!

The Highly Esteemed Mater!


Lee Joe and the little girls were invited to participate in the Awana pine wood derby held at a baptist church. Kylee painted her car from last year to look like Lightning McQueen so Amber suggested to Autumn she do a Mater car. They jumped on the idea and Friday night Lee Joe dremelled, chainsawed and sanded out a tow truck out of wood. Autumn was up until midnight painting the car. At 10 am Saturday they showed up and Mater was the hit of the pinewood derby. Everyone cheered mater on. Autumn was a little overwhelmed by the attention her car got. Kylee's car raced better than Autumn's car. In the end I think Kylee was almost in 8th place but in the end Autumn's car won first in the design award and she came home with a trophy! How cool is that for Autumn! Kylee was a little disappointed though but we told the girls that they were more of a team anyway so really they were talked into sharing the award. But that is Kylee's luck. I wanted to post pictures but I guess I will have to try again later. Kylee and Autumn started piano lessons this week. We have a special deal with the teacher still so we don't pay for lessons but we do service for his family instead by pet sitting when they go out of town and Lee Joe will do things around their yard. We replaced our tires this week after we got 2 inches of snow. It is amazing how much I don't slide on the ice right now. I got and alignment the day before and they told me the tires were a serious safety issue. And it snowed again today. Amber has had driver's ed all week. We stayed up until 12:30 working on a semester project for her English class on Weds. I am hoping she gets a good grade in the end to help get her grade up. We went to a meeting for Kelsea for early morning seminary next year, I don't even want to think about it yet really.

My little dilemma

I forgot to mention what happened the day Kylee sang at the capital. I couldn't find my camera. I looked for over an hour and half for it. Kelsea had it last and her room was a complete mess. I thought she had taken it to school or something. I managed to get a hold of my sister and borrowed her camera. I had to leave for the school before Kelsea came home and I was furious. It was in her room after all. Very buried. And this is what I found on it this time. And below is some of what I found from the time before.

Some pics

At the Governors inauguration in the capital building. Kylee is next to the directors elbow. If Kylee looks up where she is she see all the up to the dome of the capital. They are on the first floor and there are 4 stories up to the dome. Below are some pics of Christmas and Hannah's birthday at Chuck E Cheese and the party at home.

Some Awesome cookies

I have found almost the best cookie recipe ever. Thomas, my neighbors, my brother-in -law thought they were awesome too. There is a package of Heath toffee bits that you can buy in the chocolate chip section. There is one kind with chocolate and one kind without. On the back of the packages there are recipes. The kind with chocolate has a peanut butter cookie recipe and on the ones without has one called butter brickle. The butter brickle is the #1 favorite though. I went to bed at 8 last night. I can't remember the last time I did that. It has been years.

Vacation is over.

I am sad. It is back to the taxi service here. I really enjoyed having the kids around and not chasing off all over town. They didn't fight after Christmas hardly at all because they were enjoying their Christmas gifts so much and they were sick. Yesterday Hannah had an eye doctor appointment. Her vision hasn't changed. Kylee got a filling today. Kylee may get to sing at the Governors inauguration on Friday but that means two practices today and tomorrow I just found out about. And Amber still needs her DRIVING PERMIT!!! for drivers ed that starts next week. Basketball for Kelsea is going to start anytime. So here we are in the throes of many more miles. My office is coming along. I hung pictures and there are shelves above my desk. Organization is under way and the back of the garage is starting to empty out. But the rest of the house is a mess. I think Hannah is missing her sisters today because she is needing a lot of attention today.

YEA BRONCOS!!

I am not a real avid football fan but it can't be denied the Boise State Broncos in the Fiesta Bowl had the most AWESOME game. It was a can't miss even if you don't like football that much. The score tied in the last 7 seconds in the game to go into overtime and they won by one point! Nobody thought they could do it. Ian Johnson proposed to his girlfriend after he helped win the game-now how girly sweet was that? Then people downtown were in the street cheering and carrying on. It was so cool. We had an interesting weekend. Lee Joe's car broke down not far from the house this weekend after he had driven all the way to Emmett and back-30 minute drive one way-He needed new spark plug wires. He put 150,000 miles on those wires. He says the car drives like a different car now. Somebody messed up the inside of my car on Sunday. They dumped a soda on the seat and stole a makeup compact and maybe a couple of tapes, I am not sure and stirred things around and left the door open when they were done. They wrote with lipstick on my neighbors car. It could have been worse and that is the first time since we lived here that someone has done something to my car. We have had 2 bikes stolen and a toolbox that were left in the front yard in the past. All the girls stayed home from church on Sunday. Amber got to church sat on the stand and thought she was going to throw up and didn't have to give her talk because Lee Joe took her home. So we just spent New Years here together doing whatever. I am not ready for the kids to go back to school because it has been so nice not running around all over. I got my office put together some more. Hannah had another eye doctor appointment. Her vision hasn't changed. It could be she is seeing as well as she is going to. But we go back in 3 months and see if things change again. The game boy is the best thing she could have though for helping her vision problem.

Happy New Year!!

Hannah just had her birthday. On Friday she turned 5! I can't believe it! She wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese. In the morning I thought I was only going to be able to take Hannah and Autumn. Kylee started to feel well enough to go when it was time to go and went back downhill afterwards. 4 of the 5 girls had a blast. Kelsea was babysitting. We had a family party that night. My mom and sister and her kids came over. She got the 12 Dancing princesses movie and barbie and 3 games for her game boy and a large strawberry shortcake doll. She had a Dora the Explorer cake and posed really funny cute for all her pictures. I will have to do a picture post when I have more time. 3 of the 5 girls are sick now and one more is getting it too. I think we are in a grand finale to finish the year. I am going to disinfect my house on new years and maybe open all the windows to flush all the sick people air out of my house. I couldn't be more tired of ill people. I worked on painting my bookshelf in the office and was able to bring a ton of books down and fill it up finally. Our goal for the weekend is getting the office organized so more stuff can come in out of the garage. 7 or 8 boxes came in today. There is still a long way to go. We reconfigured furniture in our bedroom and it seems bigger. Spot, our dog, will be 8 on New Years Eve. We will see how many of us make it to church tomorrow. The Nursery leader is out of town so we need to be there. Amber is giving a talk. Anyways, Happy New Year!!!!!

Merry Christmas After Thought

I started an update yesterday and forgot to save it as a draft. Oh well. We got about 4 inches of snow on Thursday night. Lee Joe didn't want me to drive the van on Friday so he took Kelsea and I to the mall Fri morning in the KIA. He went to the Red Wing store to drop off his boots. I called him when we were done, it didn't take long at all. And he told me his battery was dead. We walked around the outside of the mall to get to him, I twisted my ankle on the way. We had to walk across the parking lot to get to him. It was crazy busy. We waited there awhile before someone offered to help us get the car jumped. About at that time the main roads were just wet and not icy anymore. Saturday I was getting really sick with nasty cold. Kylee was getting it too. But I finally got my cards done and we baked all afternoon. Sunday I was still feeling really bad. I wasn't going to go to church but I knew I should because of choir even though I couldn't sing. Amber and Kelsea get really naughty when I am not there to sit between them. The Choir director must have said many prayers. I was able to sing much better than I thought. I went to nursery and told the nursery leader I wasn't feeling well and she told me goodbye. So I went home and slept until I had to go back to the church and pick up everyone. We took cookies to all our neighbors. We went to my moms and exchanged presents. We came home and the girls exchanged with each other and we watched the Norad radar all evening to see where Santa was and that was very very exciting. My girls are usually pretty good about sleeping in until at least 8 but Autumn was up before 6. We heard all the girls up for a little bit, I went upstairs and they were putting themselves back to bed. And they all got back up around 8. They were very happy girls. Amber and Kelsea were thrilled with their ipods and Kylee loved her nintendo DS and Hannah and Autumn enjoyed their Nintendo game boys. Amber also got Monty Python and the holy grail shirt, screenplay and black knight sign. and she got a Spamalot cd and Spamalot piano music book. Brian Regan CD and DVD. Kelsea got Nintendo DS stuff and CDs and movies. Kylee, Autumn, and Hannah got some toys. Lee Joe was thrilled with the shotgun he got himself. He got other things too. I got a standing jewelry box. And some quirky presents I will have to take pictures of to show instead of describing. I will have to post pictures later. My family came over for dinner. So we had a pleasant Christmas. If it wasn't for the cold it might have been perfect. I took Airborne but I think this cold was just a whopper with a sore throat to go with it. We have some appointments today. Hannah's birthday is Friday. My baby will be 5!!

Uh Oh

I am getting a cold. I need to take my Airborne. I feel anemic. UGH. Today it decided to snow. Just enough to make the roads slick so far. I have 3 tires that need to be replaced so I am not driving. Our road has had traffic backed up on it for about an hour now. That hasn't happened since 7 years ago when there was construction on a main road down from us. I have to go to the grocery store just for baking stuff. Now we need dogfood. And Kelsea needs to shop for Autumn still. It should be better by tomorrow but the traffic won't. We got a couple early gifts from my grandfather's gift card. We got a nice 4 slice toaster. And Uno Attack for the girls. They shoveled and played in the little bit of snow and had hot chocolate and are playing Uno Attack. A perfect Christmas vacation so far for the kids. They said it really feels like Christmas now.

bird or bat and a mouse

I think it has been the last 6 months have been the most eventful when it comes to mice and birds in places where they don' t belong. Our cat has been the one who gets the blame. But last night when Amber opened the door to let the dog out she let something in and she wasn't sure if it was a bat or a bird. It was in between our screen door and the big door. Everybody screamed as they saw it fly into the living room. But they didn't see where it ended up ias the entourage was running down the stairs to tell us. We found it in our curtains close to the ceiling, it was thankfully a bird. We turned off all the lights except the one by the front door and opened the front door. Everyone had a large blanket they held up in front of them except Kelsea who stood in front of her blanket. And the bird flew to the front door and sat on it and looked around. It took another fly around the room and Kelsea about had a heart attack and then it flew outside a still healthy bird. Then this afternoon the cat brought in a mouse and it found sactuary under the Christmas tree. I was out running errands and made it home to find it after the girls cleared out all the presents. But I had to go to the bathroom after I chased it from under the tree, around the fireplace and then back under the tree skirt. I just HAD to use the bathroom. While I was there I hear all the girls scream and then scream some more. Then one of the girls come and tell me that Amber stepped on it. They tried to capture it under a bowl. They almost had it all under but not quite so Kelsea was trying to get it under her bowl. Amber thought it was under Kelsea's bowl but when she lifted hers up the mouse was still there and started to run, everyone screams and that was when Kelsea screamed at Amber that it was running up her leg. So Amber jumped up and started stomping to get it off her leg and stomped on the mouse by accident. More screaming in sympathy. So needless to say-crisis over. I think the cat and I need to have talk.

Pictures today

They are holding pretend coal

what happened this weekend?

I am trying to think about what happened Sat. I guess it was not that eventful. I did take Autumn and Kylee shopping. We went on the other side of town away from our part of town because the traffic is so horrible at Christmas time. We live next to the only mall in Boise. We have Toys r us and Circuit City, Cabela's and Best Buy only right here so the whole world (I guess most of Idaho) comes here in December. It can take an hour to go what would normally take 5-10 minutes. It becomes strategy trying to decide when the best time to go shopping is. I HAVE to buy cat food tonight so I am waiting. Hannah had what seems to be a mild case of chicken pox. I expected something awful. She tolerated them well so that was very nice. Sunday Lee Joe stayed home with her and I went to church and there was only 2 of us in Nursery. But we did fine. We went to a company party Monday night. Lee Joe does work sometimes and is friends with this one guy who owns a construction business and he invited us to his party. We had a prime rib dinner. It was very good. And they had door prizes and we won 2. They had a white elephant exchange. With 34 gifts it was funny. We brought the best silly gift. But I liked it and we almost came home with it but Lee Joe gave it to his friend before we left. It was a silly metal bird that was pink like a flamingo. The people that got it at first were so funny. They were not thrilled. We had a large toy dump truck for awhile. The most funny gift was a really large bolt and they were saying that it cost more than our $10-15 limit. A teenage boy got that. I made sugar cookies for Autumn's class party. I have a good sugar cookie recipe that I found that I will post later. The cookies come out soft. I didn't make it to Autumn's party on account of Hannah's chicken pox. I think she is done being contagious. I was also really sick with a headache today. As we speak, Christmas lights are getting put up on the house!! Hooray!!I have found out I am not quite done with my shopping yet. Almost though. Lee Joe has not even started shopping for me yet. That is typical.

I think it is here!

It isn't good news. Hannah started to run a fever tonight. I have been checking her daily for spots. I was concerned last night Kylee was getting them. She had them as a baby and people said she could get them again. But by morning and later today her itchy bumps look the same and haven't duplicated so it was just a scare. But Hannah went down hill so fast. She has been fine all day and then she complained about her head hurting and felt sick all of a sudden. She has some really small spots right now. On Weds I heard there are 3 more kids at the school with it. So it is circulating now. At least Vacation starts on Tuesday and it will stop being shared for 2 weeks.

I can make a paragraph!!

The girls had their mini-recital at the retirement center last night. It was kind of ridiculous. There was a little corner for all the girls to dance in. None of the parents could really get anywhere to see or take pictures in the cafeteria style room they were in. What was funny was there was a poor old lady that was having a hard time sitting next to the speakers and her back was to the girls so she didn't know what was going on. She flagged a lady over and she said very very loudly "I can't take this noise anymore, can I go to my room? I can't take this noise anymore!" And another old lady yells "Be Quiet" back at her. It was quite humorous.

Little breather-maybe

Autumn made it out of the house for the first time in over a week on Sunday. We had so much going on. Kelsea was suppose to play violin in Sacrament on Sunday with another girl in our ward. The girl ticked me off like you wouldn't believe. We found out 5 minutes before sacrament she left her violin at school on Friday. She never called and we could have her one or someone else to play with Kelsea. The two teenage girls in this family is notorious for copping out on everything at church. They copped out on Young Women in excellence. They try to ditch classes on Sunday. Their parents just shrug their shoulders. For us it is what we do, not really optional. I have been on Kelsea big time when this girl tries to get her to ditch Sunday school. Kelsea is usually a good influence on her getting her to come to the Wednesday activities. I was so mad and Kelsea was so hurt. She didn't play. She fell apart when she found out Bryn wasn't going to do it. And the choir people eased her mind and told her it was fine, not to worry about it so she sang instead. Something neat happened though. Lee Joe hasn't always been the most consistent on his Home Teaching but a couple of years ago he visited with a guy. He is paralyzed from the waist down. He was a week away from Navy Seal graduation when he got in a motorcycle accident years ago. He grew up active in the church but as teenager or young adult he went inactive. Lee Joe asked him what it would take to get him active and get the priesthood back again. Craig has been on a long journey of reactivation. He has worked his way back and was able to baptize his then 10 or 11 year old daughter. That was extraordinary to see him do that. And with his new wife they were trying to have a baby and had a little boy a few months ago and he has worked so hard so he could bless his baby. He blessed his baby this Sunday. His whole family was there. His mother was in tears and I was about to cry too-it takes a lot to get me there. He had earrings, he doesn't have them anymore, and gave up beer. He has changed so much since his baby arrived it is amazing. He has a more gentle was about him now. He is people magnet at church. Everyone enjoys getting to know him. So as arrogant at times and sometimes insensitive Lee Joe can seem, he really has done some amazing good. He was a really good ward missionary. We helped our neighbors out last Christmas and Lee Joe introduced our neighbor(not Lds) to a friend of his that started his own business. They have been working together all year and match each other pretty well with their personalities. He has done a lot of good. Even I don't give him enough credit sometimes. And then this weekend, I laugh at myself, I wonder how I am going to handle being married to him in another 20 years. He already has no hearing in his one ear. I think he may be loosing some in his other ear a little-I have to yell a lot of what I am saying lately, of course everyone else would say I was talking a little louder- and he processes things kind of slow at times(Slow Joe still really applies), very easily distracted and I have my way of doing things and he has his. I about lost my patience with him at the store the other night after we saw a movie Saturday. Oh well. It looks like I wrote another book. I hope you had time to read it all.

Brief

here is my attempt at a short blog. Easy entertainment- Give your kids a roll of wrapping paper and a thing of tape and let them have at it. Almost as much fun as the unwrapping bit at Christmas.

Recovery

Autumn is past the super itchy stage. I just talked to Leland and he said that Zeona is getting over the chicken pox as well in Nevada. How weird is that. Autumn's eye is still pretty swollen and hurting her. But it is 11 and she is still asleep. I have had to inform anyone coming to my house that we have chicken pox and they all opt out of coming over. We had a guy that was going to give us an estimate on a new countertop. That will have to wait. I had to reschedule dentist appts for the 3 little girls until after Christmas. I had to have my mom come over and watch Hannah and Autumn last night so I could go to Kylee's concert. So my days feel like we are in Quarantine. and then I run all over as soon as Kelsea gets home getting everything I couldn't do during the day done and doing our after school activities. But I think I am really close to done with my Christmas shopping. Our van is paid off now. We couldn't just write a check and mail it. We had to get a Cashiers check and overnight it. HASSLE! but done. Now we hold our breath and watch for Hannah. We have a ward Christmas party on Friday. Amber is going to do a piano solo. On Sunday the choir is singing for Sacrament and we have a big stake Christmas choir thing. Lee Joe Amber Kelsea Kylee and I are in the choir so I am not sure what to do with the little girls now. And I think I headed a cold off. I have had a problem when I sing in the choir I will always get really sick when I am suppose to sing for the Christmas performance and can't sing. So I am keeping the airborne handy and I have bumped the cold away once now. Monday Kylee and Kelsea both have concerts but they are at different times so I can be at both. Hooray! And Weds Kylee and Autumn have their mini recital. I am still bummed about Hannah. Friday morning Kylee will be singing in the school choir performance and I am sure Hannah will be contagious or spotty then so I am not sure what to do then either. On the My space thing I don't think I am letting Kelsea have one. Maybe we will make her a blog page. I just feel really bad about it. And it is a big source of conflict right now. Ugh. Teenagers. It has been a rough week.

Christmas

chicken pox

Chicken pox update

I have been frustrated over the Chicken pox. Not because of Autumn but because all the baggage chicken pox brings with it. She was in bad shape on Sunday. She has them really bad on her front and back. She has one on her eye lid and it is very swollen and she has them on her ear, where she goes potty and in her bum. She has really sensitive system so when she itches she goes nuts. Lee Joe was fantastic. He stayed up with her Sunday night and helped her fall asleep and stayed home from work with her on Monday. I couldn't find a sub for me until I got to the school. So they had to find a sub for the sub for Tuesday. Seeing how today is I believe Monday was the worst day. But he dealt with her very well. Probably better than I would have. She is very calm now and slept really well last night-only getting up at 2am and then sleeping until 9 or 10. I am trying to get her antibiotics because her throat was sore before she came down with all her spots and it is more than likely strep since we had that and I think Autumn's immune system is hammered right now. She had already missed 9 days of school before this. We got our tree on Sat. Lee Joe put it up on Sunday and the little girls were not in good shape for decorating. So last night we went for it and something was messed up with the lights so at 9pm I went to get lights and more medicine for Autumn and we decorated the tree at 10 last night. Amber and Kelsea were the grumpiest and Lee Joe sat with Autumn on his lap after she hung her ornaments and she fell asleep. For me Monday was I guess a typical Monday. The heater wasn't working in the office. I had been outside doing the crosswalk it was below 20 degrees. And then I had do all the recesses before I left early to take Amber and Kelsea to the dentist. During lunch we had to herd all the kids in because the school went on lockdown. So I was in the office as the debate and confusion for the teachers went on as to whether it was safe to go out or not. It didn't last long, maybe an hour. I left at 2:30 to get Amber. She forgot she was suppose to meet in front of the school. She is usually really good. But it messed everything up and I was more stressed trying to get them picked up and get Lee Joe to pick up Kylee and our check. We were 10 minutes late for the dentist. We ran home and got Hannah to dance and had to tell them she wouldn't be at the mini- recital next week at a retirement center because the likely chance of her being contagious or having the chicken pox then is really high so I camcorded her and that will be her last dance until January. We went to Wal-mart for OJ and medicine for Autumn. By the time I was home it was 7:30. And then I made that 9pm run to Target. I am so happy being home today! Even being stuck in the house with the poor little spotted child. I hope your Monday was better than mine!

My space?

I need some serious input on whether a My space page is safe for a almost 14 year old to have. Kelsea really wants her own page and a friend of hers has already made her a page. I want to make sure it is safe. She says she can control who sees it but I am nervous only because I know nothing about My Space.

weary

I am about sick and tired of the sick and injured around here. We have had more than enough of broken bones, almost broken bones and sick people with Autumn bearing the brunt of it all at the moment-poor kid. She has the stinking rotten chicken pox! Like I said-poor kid. And I am sure in 2 weeks Hannah will have her turn at it as well. Just in time to make the concert and recital season even more complicated. And for me to get stuck in the house until my helpers come home. But early enough to where they should be recovered and scabby for Christmas. My new years resolution is to stick my kids in a bunch of plastic bubbles so I can have them all in one piece and healthy for at least one year!