Safely Home

First of all, I made a promise to post a picture of my office in what I consider a clean state. Yes that is clean. Here is the reminder that it can be that way and I enjoy being here more when it is that way. Now that I have gotten that off my chest...onward to this past weekend


This week was a crazy nutty week. It was tough at work everyday and the evenings were not much better until I took Friday off and took it easy while I cleaned. Yes, I was able to do both. It was great. The big finale concert of the year took place Friday night. We almost had 4 kids in the concert but there were no Bass clarinet parts for Amber in any of the pieces that the High School orchestra played and sophomores were not required to play so Kelsea opted out. Kylee and Autumn were it. In the Elementary Honor Choir together.


We have been attending this concert every year since Amber was in 5th grade and in the Elementary Honor Choir as well. It was a big switch to have Amber and Kelsea sitting with me along with Hannah. They remided me of the days when they were 4 and 2. Seriously obnoxious!!!! Hannah was completely well behaved and I threaten those two over and over. The crazy part was Kelsea had played 10 tennis matches that day--Yes TEN . I like Yes today. Apparently either playing 10 tennis matches didn't phaze her or she was hysterically over tired.

This is the huge amount of kids that performed in the concert Friday. By the way--This is where Amber's graduation will be held.


We drove to Utah on Saturday morning. We left a little late but we have NEVER traveled anywhere here where it rained the entire trip. That is what it did. Rained and POURED and rained and rained. My car has more and more issues. The passenger side window has decided it doesn't work anymore. WHen it quit it was not quite up all the way. There was a sliver of window open. Just enough to make it quite noisy while traveling and every now and then get splashed with water. And the left blinker still doesn't like to work all the time. Blah. So because of the rain and I also had another really horrible headache. Talk about torture. We almost ran out of gas because Lee Joe thought Snowville was closer than it was so we made a couple more stops than we would have made. Then we took the wrong exit so went the long to the church. We missed the baptisms. But the girls and Lee Joe heard part of one confimation and all of the other and he was able to give the closing prayer even though nobody was in their Sunday clothes for it. It was take us as we are kind of thing. I was in the car trying to cope with my headache some more.

We made it to the temple on time. That was the first time I have been in the Salt Lake Temple. The beautiful part was when Molly and Allan came out of the temple it stopped raining. And it was beautiful and you would have never known that it had been raining only minutes before so I got some good pictures. Devanie took many more than I did and hopefully she will get a chance to post some.


Clearing skies finally for some great pictures!!! Molly and her family



All the girls in the Tabernacle. Amber and Kelsea super posing. The bench was super wet. I loved how all the trees were in bloom and there were tulips everywhere. I just love tulips.

Autumn and Hailey.....Sierra's back

I played with these two pictures on Picasa

I liked this picture except you can't quite get away from the construction of all the new high rises they are putting up.

So our ride home it was calm for awhile. Then we hit a pretty nasty storm. Then it would clear up and then every storm we would hit got worse and worse with pretty sunny spells inbetween. I put my sunglasses on and took them off over and over. The most intense storm seem to be the one hitting Boise as we got back to town. Or maybe I felt that way because I was the one driving. The wind was incredibly bad and the rain fell like it does in Texas. Like someone just unzipped a cloud. But we are home and the sky is pretty here once again. After waking with the headache again this morning I am now headache free and that is a beautiful thing!!!

ack ugh and blah

I went to the chiropractor yesterday. My neck is starting to feel like flesh and my back included was starting to feel less like an exoskeleton and more like some relaxed muscle but I think I undid all that in two days. Two crazy days at work and I have a neck spasm but I also have tendonitis in my shoulder that flares up in the morning when I wake up with fury. In the past two days we had a grandma threaten to sue the school because we had to send the granddaughter home for the 2nd time with head lice. Grandma says "she doesn't have headlice" and the evidence is more than 7 bugs taped to the paper. We had the most volatile child in the school ready to explode yesterday and he really did it today. The child should be suspended but they just put with him " you should expel everybody on the playground over there or I am going to kill them all" from the mouth of a 4th grader. Today he punched a girl several times because she pinched him for not listening to her telling him to stop harrassing another student. On and On and to finish the day some kid put a bead in his ear. He tells us there is something in there but he really doesn't know how it got there because he didn't do it. HE DIDN'T DO IT REALLY--he says. Some gal I work with won't leave my desk and computer alone. And yeah it goes on and on. With the PE teacher almost running me down in the crosswalk to end the day. I hope tomorrow is better, I am taking Friday off. Someone said there is only 5 weeks left so vacation sounds great!! At least I get one. That is the light that I will chase. To bed I go. I was headed there 30 minutes ago.

picture montage

I should be making dinner...

This kind of sums up how things were when I picked the girls up on Sunday. Amber caught in the middle and her boyfriend being highly ticked at her sister.

This one was just was too cute of the two of them. This is at the Santa Monica pier.

Kelsea had to hold these poses for a long time to get these pics. I laugh so hard every time I see them. Top one is California Screamin at California adventure. The bottom--well I am sure you can read :)

Internet down!!!

I was without internet since Thursday night. You would have thought that the outside world disappeared. But it is only Saturday morning and after the quest guy came I am hooked up again before 10 am. That put me in a long overdue cleaning frenzy-even after a long week and how tired I already was. I WILL post pics and I might need to take one to print and hang in the office to show how it should look. But I cheated. The paper trail is now in one box and I still need to go through it. anyways.......

My oldest 2 are having a blast in California. I wish every time I talk to them that I could have gone. But it is really good for them to have that time with friends. Before Kelsea left she was kissed on the cheek by a boy. And at Disneyland another one tried real hard to hold her hand and then she ditched him for that and then the Quiznos guy told her she had nice eyes and that was in a 24 hour period. Amber has been with her boyfriends nonstop. His parents are chaperones so no worries there. There was a Hugh Jackman sighting. But my girls were not the ones to spot him and I guess he just got his handprints in the whatever place that is and Amber at least saw the freshly imprinted cement. They went to the Santa Monica pier and walked on the beach. I think there was an attempt at Kelsea double dating with a boy on the trip with Amber and her boyfriend. They are back at Disneyland today all day until 10 and then they make their way home.

Now I need to get off this balsted computer and finish all the awesomeness I started last night.

TOMORROW

The sun is already out so we are OK there. But Amber and Kelsea are off to Disneyland tomorrow. Yes, I want to stow away and go too---for free---because it cost enough to get them on this trip and enough to make sure they are nourished and have a little fun too. Amber has her spending money. Kelsea has had a harder time. But she will have some. I have to go back to work.....But I'm wishing.....Wishing.... for a trip away....to somewhere.....somewhere....lots of fun!!!

The ups and downs

Here is a mixed feeling item: Amber got her graduation announcements today. If I make her responsible they might get sent out. BUT that means the end is near that my first born will be done with school and out in the real world but that real world will still be at home. We aren't sending her away the way her boyfriend's family is sending him almost the minute he finishes school. Anyways they are nice and I still have to pay for her senior pictures. I have the proofs I just need to order our copies but it will happen soon.

I am fighting that stupid thing I that afficts me way too often. I have missed the past 2 days of work from it. I am frustrated and have done nothing but sleep. I get rid of it only to have it come back at 4 in the morning. The sinus doctor isn't helping much. I am waiting to see the neurologist on the 5th and I was fed up still yet again and went to a chiropractor that is also an acupuncturist. She was amazed at how tense all my back muscles and neck muscles are and says that my sinuses are really bad but of course it can't all get resolved in one visit. Hence the headache revisiting today. My back and neck feel better. She said it is like a sinus migraine flu and that describes what I feel perfectly. Add a little anemia and you wind up feeling like a beat up puny little pile of sleepy mush. I am desperate for pain relief and am frustrated with the lack of help in that department. I should cry and make more noise about it I guess at the doctor's office. Hopefully I will be better tomorrow. I feel better now but that didn't make a difference last night leading into today. So I will stop complaining--

On to the other up---My grandfather's visit was great. He is so funny. Only he can come from a trip from Alaska and have a near miss with a buffalo herd in Canada and hit a snowbank with his car. His car was in the shop while he was here getting a paint job. But he offered us this other car he has in Washington. I guess it is a 96 Dodge Neon. We just need to go pick it up when the snow melts a little more. Kelsea can get her driver's license now so it is perfect timing. Can't beat a free car. He was so excited to give it to us. He is so good about remembering birthdays. It is crazy his memory. He has been calling all the kids and me on our birthdays. And there are so many besides us. Someone asks him why he doesn't write it down and he says it he would just loose the thing he would write it down on.

Easter was nice. Grandpa and my mom were over for dinner. We still miss my sister and her family. It is always so quiet. But it was a very laid back day otherwise and the weather was beautiful. Grandpa brought his dog Bitsy. She was very attached to grandpa and he was attached to that dog too. We know where get all our pet lovin from.

Other than that--Amber and Kelsea go to Ananhiem next week for their music department trip. I wish I could go.....

random pics

Blogger is having issues while I try upload a few more pictures. Anyways, I took pictures at the girls tennis matches on Tuesday. I was so impressed with my camera-finally. It seems to get better at picture taking the more I use it. I am pretty sure it is not just me. I took great pictures with Melissa's camera that is the same brand and now this one is starting to behave like hers. What I was trying to show was that the coolest part in this pic is seeing the tennis ball so clearly. So I will to post more pics a little later. Amber's movement is not blurry either. Hooray for great action shots!

The drawback of the girls being on Varsity tennis is the coaches(all guys) I guess, pick the uniforms for the year. This year the dress barely covered Amber and Kelsea's butts and they have "cleavage" whether or not they have any. Ridiculous. My girls are funny. Amber wore her guy shorts under her dress and Kelsea wore long spandex shorts. And they usually wear some sort of under tank top underneath. By the way-Amber won her singles match. It lasted so long and she was so tired. She wins with consistency even she practically hits it back to her opponent everytime. Eventually they will mess up and that is how she won. Kelsea won her doubles match this day.

This is near dowtown Boise. I love the skyline pictures too.
I totally love the town we live in!

Fun on the tramp

Icing on the grumpy cake

Here is the icing on that grumpy thing I have going on about and may sum up my frustration and why I resist going on and on about the source of my grumpiness. It takes A LOT to make me loose it. But I shall NOT restrain myself no more! This morning, my husband, The grown man of the house! was dumping his boots on the front door mat just outside the front door. Why he couldn't reach one foot over and dump it in the rocks just off the front porch is beyond reason. And WHY he sees NOTHING wrong in this practice and WHY he thinks I am UNREASONABLE to ask him not to do such a thing when the wood floor is already ruined and covered in sandy dirt all the time-yes he makes a living that way and yes I show restraint in expressing my frustration at this. But PUHLEEESEEEE-who is being unreasonable. He never cleans up any of the dirt unless it is an obvious trail of large dirt clods from one end of the house to the other. I don't even have a decent vacuum and somebody tell me who hid the stinking BROOM!!!! Ok don't anybody comment defending on his behalf. If I piled HIS random stuff I find everywhere, which amounts to more than the 3 oldest leave around here-but in competition with the youngest, it would amount to a mountain. I am glad he is making money even though I never know when I can pay anything. All I can say is the Lay family ability to clean does not exist. I am not sure if I can take it anymore. OK I can breathe again-for right now. until I find that last straw, or sock, or shoes. I shall carry on, with my basket of his abandoned items. Have you seen my muscles lately? I hope I didn't harm your hearing(or eye sight) with my rant.

Sunny yet grumpy

I am seriously grumpy. Could be the weird night sleep, Monday and a bunch of other stress getting to me. I could be much more positive and say "hey, I am so seriously thankful for 3 days of great weather after the blizzard misery that was Friday." I would have enjoyed being home looking out the window and saying "Man, look at that." But I was outside during the worst of it blowing me and all the poor little kids outside. I guess we could of said go in because no one was prepared for winter, it WAS suppose to rain. I was dressed for rain. The wind chill was 24 degrees ---not at the school(it had to be colder). The kids were huddling in corners with their ice creams-silly kids-and their popcorn-the school sells that on Fridays. We did let the last two grades go in but I was done being outside by then. But I am thankful for my paycheck because that has saved us the past few months and for the insurance. I am also thankful for the laptop I just got from cleaning a storage closet. I was told I could have it because it had been in there so long. I almost shook from containing the disbelief and excitement because I have been wanting a laptop for SOOO long. It works great even though it has all the school software on it and the battery is shot. Those things, I hope, can be fixed and I can still live with it in the meantime.

Somehow we scrounged up $900 for the 2 oldest to go on their Anahiem trip with the music department. It took rolling coins-about $48 worth and pulling out some unused lunch money from their lunch accounts-about $50. Amber has worked a bunch and Kelsea has babysat, grandma helped and the other grandma let Kelsea do a bunch of chores. I had to come up with $230.00 in the end and now we need to find money for them to eat and do whatever with when they go on the 22nd. Amber might have more paychecks and she has $75.00 coming for talking about fries for 2 hours. I would have done that! Kelsea will probably get to babysit a few times before she goes. Anyways, they will get to go now with their buddies. Going to Disneyland with my friends in high school is one of my favorite high school memories.

Yeah, I have spring fever. I want to be home doing something else all week. Oh well.

Spring Break is over.

So we are back into the swing of things like it or not. I like it not. I liked it at home. But the weather was pretty crappy all week. So not much happened. And of course it was sunny today but very chilly with the wind. We had a rather nasty storm blow in Saturday night and the wind howled all day Sunday. My mom's patio umbrella blew away to who knows where. I was afraid my gazebo would blow into into my family room window but it didn't.

We had company last night. Thomas and Randa came over. My kids were somewhat obnoxious-aftermath of being home all week together.

Since Janika asked-I read a book called "The Help" It takes place in Mississippi in the 60s it was a pretty Ok book. It was well written. But the books I love to read are by Maeve Binchy. She is from Ireland and I read and love anything by her. The latest book I read called Heart and Soul linked a bunch of characters together from her other books and I loved that. Now I want to go back and read her other books again So I can remember all the other stories. One of her books Tara Road was and Oprah book club pick but I was reading her books long before that. Some of her other books are Quentins, Scarlet Feather, Circle of Friends-that was a movie with Minnie Driver and Chris O'Donnell. There is so much by her I can't remember them all. I can't think of one I didn't like.

I haven't posted pictures here yet but I did put some on Facebook. I will try to get this updated soon. I have been a little out of it even though I was home for a week. I didn't get much accomplished. My back had issues for 3 days. I did visit a friend with all the kids and they all played. That was nice. I invited Amber's boyfriends family to the zoo with us and she(the mom) invited someone else and her kids along and I came home wishing we went on our own instead. Long story I don't care to revisit right here now. Little of my social phobia showing itself. I found out my brother has been in jail for a month and my mom isn't doing that great health wise. She is OK just not great. It was an interesting week and I still have a moutain of clean laundry in my downstairs bathroom and a broken handle on the toilet upstairs. I guess I should go to Home Depot tonight so we can flush the toilet like a normal family with indoor plumbing. Ahh the little things. It is time for me to write my own book :)

Happy and other...

The best news came today!! We knew a week or 2 ago that Amber got into to Boise State University. But we kind of figured that would happen. I was waiting for scholarship and grant news. We got that today. She got $500.00 scholarship for the school year-a $3000 scholarship for the school year and $2010 scholarship for the school year from the engineering school. And she got over $5300.00 in pell grant money. They look like they can be renewable for each year she is there. We will have to find out about that. There could be more still. Those were just from BSU. I need to talk to my sister and see how much that might cover for the year since she just graduated from BSU last year.

I went back to my sinus doctor today and he has referred me to a neurologist for my headaches. The bad news there is that I will have to wait until May before I can get in but that might help me not have to wait until Dec like the sinus doctor is trying to do so my insurance will cover it. So it could be helpful. I just want to do something now and not go through another month of this headache crap while trying to work.

I am miserable. I have been so stressed that my left shoulder blade is in a serious spasm. I can barely move and it hurts to breathe but I got to read a book yesterday but it is killing my get busy time during spring break. But that is a typical issue I have been having with time off. Oh well. I have actually read 2 books in a week. That is amazing for me. That is some good down time for myself. I guess I will take it. I am ready for that hot pad again.

Funny little secret

I have a funny little secret. The copier machine was jammed the other day. I was helping someone else because I have been able to fix it when I spend enough time working on it. I happen to forget about a convenient little door for pulling out the paper when it is stuck. Instead I reached behind the drawer where the paper is stored. I have really big hands my hand barely fit in to reach the paper. I got the paper but my hand would not come out. I was stuck and my hand would not pull through the largest gap. All of a sudden I started imagining how silly it would be to have to tell people in the faculty room that I was stuck there. And further imagined people trying to find ways to get the drawer released to let go of my hand. All of that was too much to imagine so I pulled my hand out and ignored the pain as best I could to spare myself a ton of embarrassment. So a scratch up my palm and bruised up the back side of my hand I have spared my pride and am able to go on about my business :) It took me until a week later to admit to anyone how I got myself stuck in that predicament.

Happy Birthday Autumn!

We are having a birthday weekend as we try to relax and catch-up on long neglected chores this weekend. That is kind of impossible to do together kind of thing isn't it? Laundry Laundry Laundry.

I will post loads of pics -I hope- this week and give a proper tribute to my two March girls.

Time change...Blech....

Who's having a hard time with the time change? Raise your hand if you are. Can you see my hand waving frantically? Week 2 and I am still a sleepy, tired, mess. I have not blogged. I did have a daughter turn sweet 16 this weekend.

Kelsea is a 16 year old now. She will be able to get her license next month. It is all so very scary! I would love to do a nice Kelsea tribute but I need to have thoughts in order to say something. And I need to stop being so dyslexic with my typing.

Both girls were gone until late Saturday evening at Lewiston. They both won the first day they scrimmaged. I told everyone about that. Day 2 Amber won, lost, lost Day 3 was win win. Kelsea was loss loss win and Day 3 was win win.

We had a family thing for Kelsea on Sunday. She got a new dress and jacket. She got a car--I love this one-It is the Matchbox brand. She got an itunes card, an orange purse, some scrapbook paper and a striped sweater and a triple barrel curling iron. She might be having a friend party this weekend. Autumn's birthday is Saturday. We get to party some more but no friend party for her this year.

The BEST part about this weekend is my car passed the emissions test and were able to get my car registered. It didn't cost us anything to fix the car.

In general though things have calmed down but we have not caught up on anything. Maybe we will during spring break next week but I may be enjoying down time too much to care but I hope not. Everyone and I mean EVERYONE at the school is ready for next week. I am sure it will go by too fast.

So I continue to be exhausted... without much more to say... Yep....Taking a little snooze soon sounds good to me......

Life so far...

So this week has been loooong. I don't like this time change and this early. It has been so cold. I have been cold all week long. But it is sunny the past 2 days and that is nice.

Amber and the boyfriend have worked things out I guess and things have been fine. Amber finished her Young Womens stuff On Tuesday. She was recognized for that on Weds at the stake standards night. But the bummer part on that was she was stuck in Caldwell playing in her first tennis match of the season. She won her match but didn't make it back until the end of the meeting so she was mentioned but not there for that part. She got there in time to play the piano for the closing song. She looked like she just got done playing tennis with a skirt on.

Kelsea lost her singles match on weds but won her doubles. Amber and Kelsea left for Lewiston this morning for tennis. They scrimmaged today. They both won. I guess Kelsea played this really good girl. And she was behind like 2-5 and came back and got all the way up to 8-8 and then she had to win by two so it was a crazy long match. I really don't know that much about tennis and how it scores. They will be back late on Saturday night. Kelsea will be the BIG !!16!!! on Sunday! We are in so much trouble, man. Ugh.

For me--my house is a complete nightmare but we made a dent in it tonight. I have been so tired from the time change. And here I am. But I took a nap today when I got home. We did Kindergarten registration today so I worked late. Yep, things are dull ---finally! Dull is good sometimes. I look forward to a reduction in teenagers this weekend. AND a Saturday without anything on it!! Can you see my happy dance?

Happy!

Guess where I have to be tonight? Nowhere!!! Happy day. I think I will take a nap since the time change is kicking my fanny.

Toughest call

Saturday was a long drawn out day. Dress rehearsal for honor choir first thing, Taxes were to done-we don't so them ourselves but the paperwork trail is enormous, a basketball game that required a clothing change in the car on the way there because it was close timing, then a basketball party that became a 2 hour thing but it was cute. The kids got to make their own pizzas. Then I had a couple hours before we got ready for the concert and went to it. Lee Joe was late like he always is but he was visiting with his Uncle Jared at a basketball game in Nampa. After the concert Amber and her friend wanted to do something nice for the boyfriend since his birthday was Monday. But he was in a mood and didn't want them to do anything. Everyone was encouraging him and then his family and ours left the concert. Then things went sour. I knew he was in a mood and called Amber to see what was up. And then I got mad because I knew he was hurting Amber's feelings which she does not express and told him he needed to treat her better. Little did I know she got hurt before that. It was dumb teenager stuff with a volkswagon bug-his bad mood and persistent friends. But Amber came home in tears and in pain. He saw her get hurt and didn't respond right away. I was angry. I was hormonal too so I always 2nd guess myself and I knew his parents would be angrier. I wanted to call them but didn't. Lee Joe was a little more casual than I was. In the morning though I was still very upset. Then Lee Joe agreed with me in how I viewed things. Amber couldn't get up. She was in pain. I am sure depressed. She did come to church eventually. She came home and went back to bed. I debated on calling, then going to his ward to talk to his dad/bishop. I didn't. I came home and talked to my sister and my mother-in-law before I was able to make the call. It was hard to tell parents I respect of an otherwise usually very good young man, what their son did to my daughter. She was in disbelief, but so upset at her son as I knew she would be. I was near tears by the end of the call. He did get in a heap of trouble but it opened more doors of communication for him with his parents and an awareness that he needs some help. I know he is not prepared for graduating and then being sent off to BYU immediately after he graduates for the summer. I remember my senior year with my mom moving away the minute I graduated looming over my shoulders and I was very unstable during that time and I understand that. But I want my daughter to come home in the same condition that she left my house, while under his care. So he came over and was very apologetic to me and to Amber. I told him it is time for him to get some counseling and some help and he says he will. Where did Amber get her tender heart I wonder?

I get into this uncharted territory of being a parent, you hope to never find yourself there. I am trying to teach my daughter how to put herself above those she cares for. I am not the best example. To see your daughter hurt physically and emotionally that way is heart breaking. For my strong steadfast oldest daughter, to see her weakness in her caring for someone at her expense yet knowing this boy can come around- but should she hang on...... OK it is late and I am hormonal I will admit yet again but some of these parts of parenthood you will never be totally prepared for. You are never quite sure if you are doing the right thing. And sometimes you have to let your child follow the path they choose and they will have to learn things their way in their time.

Ummm

There isn't much to report except for the same things you already have heard. Yes, my daughter did hijack my blog and my facebook page. Yes, she did dress like cat woman at the dance. What a nut. That is what I get for being busy and catching brief moments here and there on the computer. This week was another ugh fest. Tonight is the only night I have had to do whatever and I need to be finding tax stuff. Taxes are getting done tomorrow. Guess what I am doing instead. PROCRASTINATOR!!!

What's new---Basketball will be over tomorrow-Hooray!! I wasn't sure I would make it and am still not sure about tomorrow. There is an Honor Choir concert and a game and a party. Last Saturday was nuts with stuff too. Amber and Kelsea tried out for Tennis and they both made Varsity even though Amber is in the process of loosing her toenails and couldn't really play. I am glad they are on the same team though. It saves me. Amber just got the letter saying that she is accepted to attend BSU in the fall. That is almost an anxiety causer--money money money. But I will get really excited for the scholarship letters. Amber had to go to the doctor again because her toes were looking like they were getting infected. From personal experience I put loosing your toenails on the pain scale right up there with kidney stones and childbirth.

Lee Joe is out of town and on his way home now. Oh!! The funniest thing ever. I was mad because Lee Joe wanted to take an ipod and he took mine. But he was tortured by my ipod. He said if he was stuck on a desert island by himself and my ipod, he would chuck it in the ocean. I don't think he will take that again. hahaha.

I was so nicely recuited to help maintain kids at the choir concert on Tuesday and then did a table of flashcards to kids at the math and science night at the school on Thursday. Needless to say I am a little tired of managing little people. I went to the miniature golf and arcade place last Saturday to pick up Autumn from a party. I was shocked at my surprise at not having kids run up to me "Mrs. Lay!! Mrs. Lay!!!" I am so ready for Spring break but everyone at the school is. And we get the time change on Sunday that will make Monday more of a challenge. 2 more weeks before spring break for us.

My quote of the week. A little girl told me after her long drawn out story about going to the doctor visit, that the doctor thinks she has The Walking Asthma. For sure he thinks she has The Walking Asthma. I asked her if she meant Walking Pneumonia. Yeah, that's it. Oh and sick people are EVERYWHERE!!! Pneumonia is everywhere. My kids have made it to school though for 2 full weeks. But it seems like some sort of cold is about to make it's 2nd visit. Someday I will post pictures again but right now I need to unbury my desk. Do I HAVE to?

KELSEA :D

i have decided to hack!!
well not really, mom just left her blog up so i decided i would write a little something.
SOOO....... My birthday is comming up and i just thought id let you all know so you can get my birthday presents in advanced.
;D haha, just kidding.

GUESS WHAT!?!?
the SND (saturday night dance) this saturday has a theme of superheros and i have decided to be.............................................CAT WOMAN!!! HAHAHA amber and i went to savers today and i got a leotard and this pair of like running tights thing and a jacket and a tennis skirt. it was fun.
I LOVE lemon pie. :D you wouldnt know what im talking about unless you live in my house.
but anyways im tired and its late and i have to wake up early!!!! :P
-mostlikley the only blog you will ever see from me
sorry if anithing iz spellded wronge i couldnnt cute ande paste two word document to checked my words wite or note.

Saddest thing ever

If you you are in our ward and have not heard I am sorry to bring this bad news. It is the saddest news ever. We had a young couple in our ward a while ago. He grew up in our ward and his family is still in our ward. His wife Tasche has died. I don't know details except for the very sad fact that she just gave birth to twin boys the beginning of this month. I found their blog and all sorts of pictures of the beautiful babies on Facebook. www.Keola-tasche.blogspot.com and look up Tasche Stone on Facebook. My heart goes out to Keola and his newborn boys. I will be praying for him and his family. Nothing is posted on there right now so I wouldn't comment on any of these sites.

Is it over?

I wish this week was over but we get another grand finale weekend to the craziest past few weeks. I won't even go over the schedule. Ridiculous. Anyway. The week is over and I survived it. Not sure how though. I am ready for a serious nap but can't get one yet. The hubby should be home sometime this evening- I hope. He has no cell phone coverage where he is right now. Hannah is catching up on the enormous homework load she has neglected. We managed to find all but one of her missing work and it was all unfinished. We had our last basketball practice last night (YES!!!) 6th grade girls are an interesting group to coach. They are so social beyond anything and like a bunch of pre-schoolers in their attention span. ACK> Their last games are tomorrow and a team get together. Autumn had another week added on to hers so next week is her last game.

I am trying not to think too much about tomorrow. I will think about my mom's late birthday thing for tonight and an early nights sleep.

I have ants all over in my downstairs bathroom darn it. Like I needed another thing to add to my list.

Headache

I had a couple of bad days with my dumb headache. I am seriously overwhelmed because it bearly brought me to tears today. But something I did at my lunch got rid of it by 1pm. Tuesday it was gone at 8pm and was much worse. But once the headache left it left a very vacant space in my brain and I can't think and I can't do math and it is amazing that this blog is coherent and the words aren't all a jumble and misspelled.

It is hard right now. Have I said that before? I am really hoping to be in bed by 10. I had several kids fall asleep when they got home today. So I hope that happens for me-early bed. I went to bed at midnight Monday night because there was so much to do. I went to bed at 11 last night. I went to a concert for Kelsea last night that I found out about on Monday. I haven't even looked in Hannah's backpack in days. I found out she has a bunch of missing math assignments from when she was sick. I just looked in it. It is just FULL of stuff. Ugh. I haven't been able to visit my mom yet for her birthday because we have all been to sick and now busy.

I better find out how neglectful of a mom I have been with my little first grader. !!!13!!!! missing math assignments!!!!! I am hunting high and low for them now. So much for early bedtime.

Random

I am going to do my mini post that could become long. I really need to be doing something else but everyone is gone right now. That never happens. I don't have to fight for computer time.

I love Dr. Pepper. I don't like many sodas but Dr. Pepper is my favorite. I like it at McDonald's because they usually have a good mix. Today they goofed up my soda. I would drink Diet Dr. Pepper but I have a reaction to the sugar substitute and it makes my mouth swollen and sore. Darn that. It would be helpful to reduce calorie intake but it is not worth the sore mouth problem. Oh well. So now I have a soda I was looking forward to that I can't drink. It was too late to turn around and straighten it out.

The hubby is gone to Nevada again. I get to do the single mom thing again this week and it is another full one. But as of this weekend 6th grade basketball will done. 5th grade runs another week. I am still trying to shake this cold. I don't have the full blown nasty thing the girls have had but I still keep losing my voice and cough a lot.

The last thing. Amber's boyfriend had to get rid of his Facebook. His mom doesn't understand or want to. The mom has not been paying attention for months. He is having an interesting time right now. She was so sad it was almost like they broke-up. They didn't but she was very upset.

Anyways that is the run down for the moment. I need to clean something or pay something or find some dinner and do about a million other things other than this.

A week!!

A week has slipped by without a blog from me. Wow. I guess it spared everyone the run down of more sick people's status but I am never one to spare the memories. Yes-Autumn caught the crud. She started Weds night. She ran fevers everyday through Monday. I took her to the dr and recapped Kelsea's antibiotic and pneumonia run down and said Augmentin worked for her please give it to Autumn too. So they did. She also has a pretty good ear infection to go with it. She did make it back to school all day today. She is getting better a little faster than the first 3. Kelsea went to the Doctor this week and they said her pneumonia looks really good for as soon as it has been since she has had it. But she is still improving. I caught the cold, I have felt yuckier and yuckier. I have worked and when I get home I am worthless. I have had a really yucky voice or soft and raspy. Blah.

Devanie came Sunday afternoon. Then Randa came a few hours later. We had Amber's boyfriend over for dinner with the crew. Then that night was rough. We had Autumn up at like 3 from a coughing fit. Sierra was sleeping in Kylee's room which must have been 90 degrees from the 4 kids sleeping in that tiny room. So Sierra threw up at 6:30. We took care of her, poor thing. Then at 7 Zach paid us peek in visit and then went to play somewhere else. I took Autumn to the Doctor. The kids went to the park, we saw Marley and Me. A bunch of us cried in the end. But Devanie doesn't know much about the movie because she took the little ones to the car to settle down and watch a DVD. We went to dinner at Golden Corral. We came home finally and the kids played. Randa left back to Nevada. Lee Joe and Kelsea went to see Amber working at the frozen yogurt place she is working at now. While they were gone they missed a classic sick kid moment. Little Zach ran up the stairs to tell us he was going to Throw up. And he did a little. Then he did a bunch and some more and more. I think that little guy had a gallon in him. It was a 4 towel job. Devanie and I did our best not to repeat what he just did trying to clean the floor and him up. Then he felt better. We gave him a bowl. The next day before bed he wanted another bowl. He didn't throw up but he stood in it then crouched down and said it was his egg and he was a birdie and the bowl went everywhere with him. He slept with it too. I think that blue bowl gave him comfort like a blanket. I felt bad because she was able to stay 2 more days but we all had to go to school. Lee Joe had to go back to work. But Autumn stayed home those 2 days. Devanie helped me out so much by being there and the kids got some time with at least one cousin during the day. I would have let Hannah stay but she has missed several days already and she is the only one who hasn't gotten this particular crud yet. Hopefully she doesn't but is she does there are more missed days to come. I REALLY REALLY hope Devanie and her kids didn't bring it home with them. Thanks for coming Dev!! Sorry it wasn't something more exciting.

I suppose the most exciting about the week is that I got a hircut yesterday. It was really long again and now it is above my shoulders. All the kids at the school were so cute. "you got your haircut! I really like it!" I heard that a lot. ANd the sdults were complimenting me too. But my husband made a face when he saw me and said "It's too short." He has never learned tact. Oh well.

Guess what

So someone is following my blog. She lives in my house and has red hair. One of the links is carrot tops are green. That's funny. But the title of her blog is "Save the redheads! They are almost extinct."

Today I went to work at 8 and came home before noon. That was cool. I don't have to be back until Tuesday. That is cooler.

I got some serious laundry and house cleaning done. The kids have been cleaning their rooms. I have more to do though. And loads and loads of other laundry to catch up on. I did get woken up last night about 11:30 by the vacuum running. I told Kelsea to put that off until tomorrow and that did not mean in an hour. Then she had a horrible coughing fit at 2 am. She still is dealing with this crap.

Devanie will be here tomorrow. We are almost ready for a visit.

Autumn has the crud darn it. She has been running a fever for 2 days and a night. She is coughing. I thought we were done. More like hoping really really hard that it would finally go away.

Lee Joe brought me some roses and we went to dinner tonight. A little Valentines early. We had gift cards to Carraba's Italian Grill but I guess it is gone so after discovering that, the cards were good at Outback Steakhouse too so we went there. We had to steak dinners for $14.00-that was with the tip. How cool was that?

Misc...

Oh my gosh, I have never felt more tired so many days in a row. I have had so much on our schedule that I have had no time to rest really. Here I am blogging. But there is no point in going to bed if one of the kids is going to wake me up and then I wouldn't be able to fall asleep again after that. So here is the rundown:

Amber had a very nice birthday. Her boyfriend and other friends went to the Olive Garden. My mom got her a diamond heart necklace and diamond earrings-Hey I don't even have any diamonds. I do have some really nice Sapphires and I like them a lot. So moving on. She asked for black converse shoes and she got those along with a John By the Way CD collection and a cute 101 Dalmation figurine. That was her first and first favorite Disney movie. Her friends gave her some nice presents as well.

I have had five kids in school 3 consecutive days now. Even though Kelsea thought she might die on Monday but she made it and took a really long nap when she came home. For some reason she ran into a wall today in PE and could not recall how the wall got there. She got a beautiful bruise on her knee. She is not quite there yet. But tonight Autumn is running a fever. But she can't miss tomorrow. It is Valentines party day. We will see what happens.

I just took Kylee to the jr high orientation. I have enjoyed the 2 school thing a whole bunch this year. Back to 3 next year. I can't believe it. And I could not believe what I saw next to the trophy case. I was looking for some past basketball stuff that had Amber and Kelsea in the pictures but it was gone. But next to the case was a large plaque with names of students for an Athletic "F" award. I suppose the F stands for Fairmont not Fail. It said the students represented a whole bunch of cool things. There were maybe 10 names or 12-ish per year. I need to go back and take a picture. My brain is hammered. Both girls had their names on it for the years they were there!! But poor Kelsea's name was spelled wrong again. She should be use to it by now. I keep telling her to get over it anyway.

And Devanie is coming for a visit! We have a 4 day weekend-I have a 3. Next week is a tiny bit calmer than this one. It should be fun as long as Autumn does not get the long drawn out illness the girls have been passing around.

So we all are having a clothing crisis. There has been no time to get laundry put away even though everyone has pitched in on the washing of the most necessary to be washed stuff. I have to get on figuring out taxes and tackling the paper trail once more. Someday, maybe someday, My sister will get her Christmas and now birthday present as well.

Happy Love day to all-I might miss it here.

Surprise Party

I couldn't say a word and it was planned so quickly, but we threw a surprise party for Amber. Her boyfriend's mom offered to do it and to do it at their house-I didn't have to clean. The only glitch in this weekend was that the Special Olympics had their opening ceremony on Amber's birthday and a lot of her friends volunteered for that so they were either unavailable or exhausted by party time. We had our traditional family get together and then the boyfriend, and her great friend and her boyfriend came over for a bit. They were "going to a movie" then they put a blindfold in her and drove all over the place before they came to his house. We were there with the friends that were able to come. She was carried in and deposited on the floor. All the stuff over her head was removed and we yelled surprise of course and threw balloons at her. She sat their open mouthed for a long time. It was funny. Autumn videoed it so if I can figure out how to post a video I will. She said that she did not know where she was. She realized there were people in the room. Then she realized they were people she knew-AWESOME.

So my baby is officially 18. We are in mourning. But it turned out to be a great birthday.

We had 2 games this weekend and both were lost. One was by 4 points and the other by 2.

Kelsea still is recovering. She wears out really easily and still has coughing fits. It is going to be a long recovery for her. The thing about Kelsea's grades is she got sick at the beginning of 3rd quarter so nothing has been turned in which amounts to F's but the teachers are going to be working with her to help her get back on track and I have someone lined out to tutor her in Math.

I am up this late because I watched the Masterpiece Theatre version of Sense and Sensibility by Jane Auston with Kelsea. I just LOVED it. Oh my gosh. It is a very well done version as well.

Well, I still have to work tomorrow.

Vacation?

I wish I was going on one. A nice long one. All alone. It doesn't even have to be that warm. A comfy bed would be great. An ocean view would be cool. A place like the Oregon coast where the walks on the beach can be pretty solitary. Or even a vacation in my house with everyone gone and people thinking I am gone too. HMMMM...... Maybe I can go get some sleep and dream about one because I won't be getting one. Visualization will have to work.

Pneumonia

My poor kid. I came home today for lunch. I have been letting Kelsea sleep in the mornings because the minute she wakes up she coughs and coughs. So I get home at 11 and wake her up to see how she is. She is not right. She doesn't have a fever. She is coughing and when she stops she looks like she ran a mile. I ask her questions and she is just responding slow and not making much sense. I was trying to determine how tired she was still or if something was wrong. I went ahead and went back to work after I made sure she got her medicines and I was not feeling right about her. I am kind of slow trying to figure it out. But she should have been improving and that was a step backwards I thought. I talked to several people at the school and they said "take her in" Every time I do jump on that bandwagon I hear that it is viral. But I really felt like something was really wrong. I was able to get her an appointment this afternoon-that does not always happen at our dr's office, especially at 11:45. The PA we saw was really concerned. her lungs sounded clear but her ears were more infected. They did a chest x-ray. He said it was obvious she had pneumonia. So they gave her shot. She refused it. I coaxed and finally pulled my 140 pound solid muscle kid out of her chair and stood with her and held her as she cried. She has an inhaler now and since the shot, even though she is complaining more about the pain from it than she has about any other thing she has been through the past 2 weeks, she is acting more like herself already. Poor kid.

You know what? I am hammered. I am just hammered from all of this. It has been so stressful with just everything. Somehow I am not sick but I am exhausted. I need some sort of really long vacation. Lee Joe will be home in hours but that doesn't mean anything will ease up. I am listening to some ridiculous battle over who is going to wash the crock pot. At least it isn't 4 kids echoing each other's cough. I think we might be down two one really bad cougher and one mild one. I have been sighing and taking deep breaths for about a week now to calm myself but I don't think it is very effective. So I am hanging in there like always.

I think I will have some good reports on the little girls in the school art contest. I know right now Autumn won a first place for a watercolor painting and 2nd on a drawing and Kylee won a 2nd place on a drawing. There are a few more I need to find out about like Hannah's and a couple more pieces. I need to go e-mail teachers now. My two oldest have been trying to pull themselves out of a mountain of F's. Well Kelsea hasn't been well enough to do much on that.

promised pics

I thought there were more to post. I guess not.

Hannah's birthday.. She really wanted a sock monkey. She is a goofy kid

Hannah lost her 2nd front tooth without as much drama as the first.

Autumn's basketball action shot. I didn't get any of Kylee. The game was to intense for the coach to do that. :)

Note to self--take more candid photos. I did get some of the two oldest in Amber's room all sick but I am sure I would be chastised for those.

Maybe an upward turn soon

I took Kelsea in to the doctor today. The poor kid is not improving at all. She is worse. She has been on penicillin and he looked in her ears and went-"OH" she has double ear infections I guess that can cause the nasty cough he said and that bacteria also can cause bronchitis. He didn't want to do a chest x-ray because he was wanting to treat her with the same antibiotic no matter what the results. Her pulse was really high and her bottom number on her blood pressure was high. So she is on Zythromiacin. That really good stuff for 5 days. Hopefully she will start feeling better real soon. He gave her some cough medicine too. As soon as we got home she coughed so much she threw up. Kylee did that too last night, really bad. Amber couldn't sleep because her cough kept her up too. But the little girls should be able to go back to school Weds. Fortunately the little girls were not hit as hard. With Kelsea on better meds I should be able to go back tomorrow without worrying about her all day. I feel on the verge of something everyday but it is mild so far, thank goodness. Lee Joe is back on Thursday for the weekend and then he is gone again.

pictures?

No pictures yet but it is about time I posted some. Same old Same old around here. I am home with 3. I am wondering that maybe the youngest 2 are not going to get this as bad. There is some improvement from yesterday. I thought they would be worse, that is why I stayed home with them today. Kelsea is still struggling. I am trying to figure out-take them in to the dr-don't take them in. I don't know. I have it just a little, not bad though. And it is worse later in the day. I am trying to take advantage of some time at home. Posting is not one of those things. Oh well.

It might have us all...

I won't elaborate too much unless I decide it is late enough and I am without adult company to drone on. But I believe this thing has taken down child #4. And the #5th was curled up in a ball tonight on the couch in a similiar way that it took down kid #3 to get it. I feel it coming on. The past two nights have been pretty rough for me. It would help if wandering teenagers didn't come over to my house after 10 to visit my sick teenagers so that I could go to bed and stay asleep at a decent hour. Here I am at a crazy hour going on about this. We did take a trip to the mall tonight for just a little bit to use Hannah's b-day coupon at Build-A-Bear because it expired today. I had 4 kids and 3 of them kept coughing and I decided pretty quick it was time to go. I don't think I am taking 4 possibly 5 hacking kids to church. 2 of the sickish ones played basketball today and they were down the rest of the day. Kelsea is done now for the season. They lost today. She was in bad shape to play. Kylee's team played a team with way more skill than our poor little girls had and we had a rough game. Kylee has no stamina 3 weeks later. Autumn's team won and she scored 4 points. If it gets me and the two youngest this may be one awful week. Oh man. I am going to get some rest so I can try to still fight it off the best I can.

Something better..

So here is something good. I guess if it isn't about complaining then it is about happy basketball. Kelsea went to school as long as she could so she could play in the game today. That was like 3 or 4 classes. It was their last game of the season and they are heading into the tournament this weekend. Of course she wanted to play. She didn't start today because she wasn't well But she played. I thought she would collapse but she didn't. She played well and ran out gas pretty quick. In the end the other team tied with them. She had made 2 of her free throws earlier. She got fouled again. She went up to the line and sunk her 2 free throws. Up by 2!! Then she is still in and the time is running out but the other team wants a foul to try and get possession. They foul her. She is up to the line again and sinks one of her two. We are up by 3! There is not much time left but enough and she managed to intercept or rebound, I can't remember which and holds the ball for the buzzer. WE WON! Then she sickly walks off the court. Now she can be sick again.

My doctor was wondering if Amber was tested for mono so that is I guess a suggestion we should get her tested. I will probably see if Kylee has it too. We will have to see what happens with Kelsea. She hasn't been sick long enough.

This is my note to self: Do not let Hannah sleep with me when I have to be up early in the morning. She is one wild and crazy sleeper. She was kicking me and kicking covers off half the night. I went to bed early for me too. What is wrong with that child?

The sun was still shining. I am still pretty happy about that.

You all must suffer with me...

If I must suffer, I suppose I will make all who visit here suffer. I really want to whine and complain about it right now. So I somewhat apologize as I agonize. ACK EEK big stinky horrible stupid crappy illnesses can just go take one giant hike RIGHT NOW!!!!! I am sick of the sick in my house that is making my poor kids miserable and adding to the already busy stressful time this month already brings. Kelsea, poor kid, always gets things the worst. She ran a fever that hit a high of 103.7 last night. We got it down and she is on Tylenol every 4 hours because it climbs right back every time. It was 103 again this morning and it was about 102 but looks like it could be 103 a little bit ago. Good news--Kylee is getting through school, even with all the coughing and hacking and Amber made it back today. She has a big homework load and will be missing tomorrow for an all day band thing. She is at pep band tonight-I forgot about that. She already missed one and a concert and that will probably affect her grade. Her boyfriend's dad (our doctor) and mom do not want him in our house because of the whatever that is here. I don't blame them but I think it is too late really because he has already been here several times when Amber was super sick. I am wondering about Hannah. She is so strange sometimes. Her glands are swollen and her voice sounds like her tonsils are sore and she says her throat doesn't hurt. I have heard a cough from her that sounds pretty yucky, sometimes barky but she says she is faking it. And she is kind amped up like some of my kids get when they are getting sick. Hmmm, she is a mystery. No symptoms yet from Autumn. I got rid of my headache only to have it back again this morning and somehow by 10am it just disappeared so that is better.

So the man of the house is out of the house and down in Ely moving hay with cousin Dell. That almost sounds like some sort of goofy kids song. We might see him at the end of next week for Amber's birthday. Oh, here is a by the way. My oldest baby will be 18!!!! in 10 days. I can not believe it. So the scary part is, if he is gone and the 2 youngest get this or I do it is going to be really rough. I am afraid of how much work I might miss. But I think he is getting it. And he is away from all of us to help him. I feel a slight feeling in my throat that makes me nervous. THIS IS GETTING OLD!! Aren't you tired of hearing about it yet? I am tired of this going on and on and on--the illness-And I am tired of hearing coughing from everywhere-you are probably tired of my blog.

So the sun was shining today and that made me very VERY happy.

Rescue me!!

That is my theme song for today. Play that song in your head for my little blurb here. I am going to bed in a minute. I came home with another killer headache. I keep hoping I am warding off the really evil illness that is lurking in my house. Kelsea has really been nailed now. She has a fever. Amber went to her concert last night and didn't play. Everyone was so happy to see her though. She was still coughing and had a really bad bout as we left. Kylee made it on Monday but still coughs all the time. I am under serious stress even if the kids weren't sick. I won't go into it. That just adds to it all. And Lee Joe is going out of town tomorrow so I will be on my own as I hold my breathe and hope the 2 youngest can steer clear of it along with myself.

Can we make it?

Yes we can!! I think that will have to be the mantra for a little while. I can tell you the past two weeks have been more than nuts. It is not letting up for awhile. I think if we can done with all this sick crud that will help. Kylee has been sick for two weeks. I think she will FINALLY make it back to school on Monday. Amber has been running a fever for 5 days. We took them both in on Friday. They gave Kylee a cough medicine because I asked for it. Her body hurts from all the coughing. It keeps her up at night. Amber was put on penicillin but they have something else that came with the strep and my gosh is it a nightmare illness. I don't think she will make it to school on Monday either. Her fever was 102 this evening. She hurts all over and just feels crummy but is sick of doing nothing at home. I had Autumn's mild flu Thursday night and Friday. It hit me real hard after I came home and I slept half the day on Friday. I called a sub. We have had practice for basketball and had 3 games on Saturday. Autumn's team won. But she took a really hard fall towards the end of her game. I thought she hit her head the way she fell but she was trying to stop her head from hitting the floor. She bruised her hip pretty bad. Kylee's team lost-the team we are coaching. I was frustrated afterwards. I got there at the half because their games overlapped a little and were at 2 different schools. I knew we could have been better prepared but I had to tell myself I saw half the game and the other team was so much taller than ours. They just had a run of baskets in the end. It was a really low score. They are shooting at 10 foot baskets now instead of 8. It is an adjustment. Kelsea's team lost but they played really well. Kelsea fell pretty hard once too and has a nasty bruise on her knee and elbow. It is so pretty. AND I have been trying to remember for the past 2 weeks-the busiest ones in a long time-that I has a talk this Sunday. That turned out OK. I was the last speaker and I didn't know that. I knew my talk was a little longer than the 10 minutes they asked me to take. They always give the last speaker a lot of time but if the youth speaker and other 2 speakers take too long then you have no time. I didn't know what to cut out if I had little time. I cut out a little part and we went over by 5 minutes. I started my delivery slow at first because I tend to go through my talks fast but then it picked up momentum and got a little faster and a little faster so I could get what I felt I needed to say. It turned out fine. But man, I feel like I have running in high anxiety mode for too many days and felt like I was going to loose it Saturday. I took a nap today. I slept so hard I was completely disoriented waking up. You know how you look at the clock and you can't tell what time it really is on what day. Yeah. I just hope nobody else gets what Kylee and Amber have because otherwise this will go on a really long time. Remember the mantra--Can we do it? Yes we can. I think. I really hope so.

Quote of the day

I want to write a book called "They call me Duty, Tales from the Playground"

Today was a classic. This cute 2nd grader in Hannah's class was in the nurses office. She had stepped out to warm up her lunch. I asked him if he was sick because he was next to a trash can. He said no. Then he stood up and I could see he had an accident. I asked him if he had and he tells me this story. "I was playing with my friends. he pushed me and I fell in some slush and started sliding." There hasn't been any slush for a long time. "So I fell and was sliding in the slush and I kept going and it stinks. I slid into the grass and got some grass sweat on me. The grass sweat just stinks." Ok I say back as I stifle my smile and a laugh as I try to find the boy a pair of pants.

A few days ago we were trying to find a little boys coat that a little girl ran off with. I said "Does Bailey have it?" one of them says "Who is Bailey?" and the other boy says "You know that girl that was new a long time ago?"

Kids are so good for a laugh.

Sick update-Kylee has missed 7 days of school as of today. If you count the 3 day weekend then she has been really sick for 10. Amber does not sound like anyone I know. She was running a fever last night and is asking me if she can go to school tomorrow. Kelsea has that crud now. She is in the beginning of the sore throat. Autumn went back today-YAY-we will see if the two littlest can escape this nasty stuff. I am surrounded by sick people everywhere and becoming more and more afraid. So far I have escaped it-so far. It is a couple hours later. This last sentence just bit me. I feel a flu coming on. I do not feel well anymore.

Quarantine

I think we need to quarantine my house now and we need to have a sick day at school instead of a snow day. 3 of MY kids were home today and the 4th went home after lunch. I had one healthy kid. The school wasn't much better. Lee Joe was home with the kids and there was no nurse and our secretary was out today to be with her father during his surgery. So I was the nurse. I sent home about 5 or 6 today. We had a bunch of kids out. Autumn's teacher went home with the same stuff Autumn had. The phone never stopped ringing and if it did I was with a kid or kids in the nurses office. The phones and the computer went down as I was trying to look up two kids phones numbers so I could send them home. Such fun. I came home exhausted with a headache. I don't want to hear a phone ring.

Kylee is still sick

Kylee has been sick for about a week. She was out of school starting Tuesday and out all week. She started with a sore throat that has gotten worse and worse. We took her to the doctor on Thursday and of course they say it is a virus. Then on Friday she starts running a fever. On Saturday her chest hurts and she coughs when she breathes in. She might be a smidgen better today but she is still running a fever. I am wondering how much longer this thing will last. We got a call at 8:30 this morning telling us the 2 day strep culture came back positive. Of course the 2nd day would have been Saturday so the poor kid has had to suffer through the weekend. Amber might have it now too.

This past week totally kicked my butt. I did not see the inside of house but for a few minutes each day except to eat and sleep. I am so glad for this 3 day weekend. I can tell this week has been hard on Hannah. She was sick on Tuesday with Kylee. Lee Joe was here during parts of the day while I worked. But the rest of the week was so busy. She has been asking to sleep with me at night. I told her I would spend some time with her. On Friday I guess I said I would but the week has had a mind of it's own and I spent another 4 hour evening watching basketball again. The kids were there and Lee Joe was too but that didn't count so Saturday I spent some time with just playing and drawing on her back with an unsharpened pencil and comb. She drew on mine and brushed my hair. It is really long again. So I got some time with her. I sat with Amber talking to her too. She had a rough moment so we had some bonding time on the couch as well. She laid on me and I stroked her head and we talked. I asked questions and she said I don't know to most of them. It was nice to have some time with the girls that needed me and at least recover from a crazy week.

What the!!.....

So Kelsea had a glory moment already this year. The overtime causing shot was AMAZING!! She had another one and the coach made the mistake of her LIFE!! I watched it this time!! They had this amazingly close game. It was tied and went back and forth the whole 4th quarter. I was a mess. My neck was already trying to go into spasm and it really went for it. Kelsea played most of the game. The clock was ticking down and we were down by 2. They were bringing the ball down. Kelsea had the ball well behind the 3 point line and for some reason the coach wanted to call a time out. The ref blew the whistle as or just after Kelsea launched it. AND THAT STINKING BALL WENT IN THE HOOP!!!!! The clock was stopped at 2 SECONDS!! They would have won by one!! The crowd couldn't believe it, I couldn't believe it!!! The coach about died right there. Of course not in the literal sense. Close enough. They were able to set up a play in that 2 seconds and another girl made the game tieing basket and they went into overtime. Kelsea scored the first basket in overtime, they answered back. The other team won by one free throw. ACK!!!!! Now I am speechless.

Trying to be less pessimistic

I think I really a lot better at pessimism than optimism. I do recognize that. I try to work on it. But if you ask me if I like my job-sometimes. It's not my favorite. I have benefits. I get to have vacation with my kids. I get paid like a teacher, all year. Ok. But I don't like being outside so much. It has been so cold all week long. I don't like wondering if the cars are going to decide to stop so I can get kids across the street. The days are always unpredictable. Sometimes that's a good thing. Sometimes, not so much. Yesterday a couple of 4th grade boys had a calendar that was NOT appropriate. The teacher showed me what she found. Caught me off guard. It became quite humorous. We had to keep kids off the playgound equipment because it had ice all over it from the fog. You try to keep 500 kids off playground equipment for almost 2 hours. How mean. Today seemed to be kindness day. A girl that is known for her little mean streak was really kind to a special needs girl today and played tetherball with her all recess. Another girl fell on the playground and one of our down syndrome girls gave her a kiss on her hand and put it on her hurt and then they walked off with their arms around each other. It was nice to have a day like that instead of tattletale day. Anyways, doing this is tough. I knew it would be. I had 2 sick kids so far this week. They both missed Tuesday-we sent 7 kids home sick at the school on Tuesday. Hannah went back Weds but Kylee has been home all week with a sore throat. It was worse today. I was concerned about strep. That was negative. So of course it is viral. She has been home on her own but I have been there for my lunch and Amber and Kelsea have half days for finals this week.
I really don't have time to blog. We have to coach basketball practice in a few minutes. So off I am in the world of perpetual busy that I do not thrive in like some people.

Something Exciting

It is only exciting if you haven't had insurance coverage for a really really long time---I got my insurance card today!!! It is active on Feb 1. WOO HOO for me!!

GRUMPY

I am grumpy, the kids are grumpy, the husband is grumpy, the pets might be hiding, the house is sort of quiet with all grumpies mulling in their grumpiness. But that could change in an instant. It has been a full moon. We are all sleeping which is nice and something positive. To try and say something else positive........tic...toc...tic...toc.......crickets chrirping. I guess it will have to wait awhile until I think of something.

This week has so much on everyday that I think there are maybe two days I might be able to write something else in the little box on the calendar. I hope I don't have to. I may disappear this week from the computer. Or I will come back for a diversion and an escape from my busy mind. We will see. I guess I did have a choice in how out of hand things are but it always seems like an OK idea until you actually look at it. Lee Joe and I are coaching Kylee's Y basketball team. Lee Joe OK'd that one. He has been talking about leaving town all week for moving hay in Nevada and he is trying to get mine work out of town too. So guess who is really the coach. The problem is we are not getting along so well together in the same place doing the same thing. Like somebody trying to be in charge of something. HMM. I might have to wait until he does leave before I take part in it for the sanity of us all. I was suppose to assistant coach Autumn's team but that didn't work out like I hoped for with the guy I was going to help. He is the assistant coach and not the coach. So how did all turn out so backwards? Oh well. We will take it day by day.

I am tired

I am so tired. I should be crawling into bed. I got home for the first time today at 9pm. I spent about 4 1/2 hours at basketball games tonight. All 3 teams lost. I am so tired it was hard to do anything all day and it was a very long day. I have slept great all night the past 2 nights. It was not cold or sloppy today. Yesterday the blacktop on the playgound was one big enormous slushy puddle. My arms are sore from pushing slushy water in the drains. I was hoping to burn lots of calories. That is it. I am beyond sleepy and I think the prednisone is the only thing keeping me slightly buzzing. Yeah....

I remember when....

Today it snowed a ton until about 11. I waited at the crosswalk for awhile this morning before the kids came to cross. The flakes were so big and pretty. It was kind of cold but the snowfall was one of those that could almost put you in a trance. I love how quiet it is outside when it snows. I love it when all you can hear is the snow falling gently on the ground. At the crosswalk it is not that quiet. I have lived in many states with real snowy winters. Colorado had snowy winters. We were in Kansas for a blizzard that gave us a snow week and enormous snow drifts that were perfect for tunneling. I remember being outdoors all day for days digging and digging and sledding down the hill at our house. Then we would visit all the kids in the neighborhood to see what kind of caves they had built. You know how to keep your feet dry in snowboots? Put a large ziplock or plastic grocery bag over your socked foot and put it in your boot and you can play for hours. My step brother tried to convince me to test the ice on the pond. He was trying to show me it was solid only to have the ice give way and he was up to his knees in water. That was the funniest thing I had ever seen when I was 11. Then when we did get to go to school I tried to see how deep the snow was in the ditch and about paniced to get out because it looked level with the snow but it was super deep. We moved to Alaska. Our first winter there I was 12 and in the 6th grade. It was the best winter ever. We could ice skate and sled at recess. All the elementary schools and high schools had ice rinks. We would bring our sleds and skates on the bus. You needed snow pants and snow boots all winter long but it was the best. There was a hill at the elementary school and most of the school at recess was on that hill. There was one icy path that you could slide down without a sled. Snowpants were great on it. And then there was the lower part of the hill and the kids would build little jumps. That was where we would sled. I would take my saucer sled, jump on my knees and go upright down the hill. I would take that jump and My knees and shins were always black and blue. Then the ice skating where I would go so fast and run into the walls. My mom bought me knee pads because of how bruised my knees would get from crashing the walls. Then we moved across the street from an elementary school and I spent every night there ice skating. I was 13 and my mom and stepdad were hardly ever home so I would bundle my brother up-he was 2- in all his snowgear and then he would have to go potty. I had to undress him and redress him again. It took FOREVER to get him out the door. I would bring his ice skates, put them on him and skate. It was always dark by the time I got home at 3 or 4 but when there is that much snow in a city there is such a glow. Matt never lasted as long as I wanted to skate though. The snow would be on the ground all winter long and it seemed it was never hard to find a hill to sled on. So winter in Alaska as a kid can be a blast.

Here in Idaho, on this side of Idaho, we have hardly ever had that kind of snow. Usually if it snows in the morning you better get out and play because it will be gone by noon. But last winter was different and this one is too. As an adult my perspective is so different. I never had to drive in it much so it scares me to drive if it's bad. I can't stand the mountain of wet stuff the kids track in. It is worse than the towels and swimsuits in the summer because there is more of it. Where do you put it when the snow doesn't stick around? The front doorway is always dirty and usually wet, so watch where you step in socks. But today, at the school, I was reminded of those pleasures of youth, where you can play for hours and really don't feel cold even if you are. I am such a mom telling all the silly kids to put their coats on. I can really like the snow in winter. I showed about a dozen 2nd graders how to roll enormous snowballs today. I properly wore them out, and myself, in the process. It was the funniest thing to see all the enormous snowballs all the kids were building and trying to push and all the snowmen that were built today. It was sad to see it rain this afternoon and turn everything into a nasty slushy mess. It rained lightly during lunch recess and I was wet through my coat but the kids were having such a blast we didn't send them in. It was the best kind of snow. Snow is fun-I guess I am too picky and want it on my terms, but it was fun. I asked the other gal I work with if she wanted to go outside and build a snowman with me before all the kids went to lunch. It would have been funny if we did, but we didn't. We had already been outside plenty by then. When your old, compacted snow is hard on the back and the legs. Our backs sure have hurt the past two days. I have some great hair. My bangs were curled under this morning. Now they curl out all stringy looking. I remember the days I could care less about that too. But that is a topic for another day.

It's COLD outside

We actually got the snow the news said we would get. When they said we would get it too. But they said it would turn to rain later-It did not do that. In places it was about 4 inches. I spent much of the day out in the snow at the school. No inside recess. My feet are still cold. I am so tired too. I woke up at 4 from the headache I had all afternoon yesterday and the smoke alarm was beeping from the battery dying. How come it doesn't start doing that while everyone is awake? So I looked at the snow, pulled out the battery and took medicine at 4. Never fell back asleep. I was debating and debating calling in a sub. I was sort of hoping for a snow day but there wasn't enough snow. My headache finally left around 1 today. I came home and had chicken noodle soup. But I need to warm up my feet still. Not much happening tonight--I should stop rambling. I do that too much when I am tired. Better make dinner and do all the things I couldn't do yesterday.

Ummmm

I wish I had something to say. It has been a rather quiet Christmas vacation. Most of the snow is gone except for the mountains that were created from clearing sidewalks and driveways. It has rained a bunch.

We went to the movies on Hannah's birthday. We saw Bedtime Stories. It was cute. Amber and her boyfriend have spent a lot of time together. He went with us on Monday and she has been to his house. There have been several movie nights. A couple of movie watching nights here and at other people's houses. The last movie night here ended in a marshmallow fight with Marshmallow shooters. 6 kids and a dad shooting marshmallows at each other. I have been finding marshmallows for days since. But the boyfriend tried to stay up for 48 hours and got really cranky-imagine that. We had a night where I had to tell Amber to get off the phone several times. At 1:30 she lost her phone. She got in trouble and she rarely gets in trouble. So Amber has mellow Amber like dramas with that. Not really a drama. More of a dilemma I guess. The drama was between Kelsea and the boyfriend. Kelsea does not want to wait for their goodbye's anymore. So they, Kelsea and the boyfriend, had a real spat and drama over that. Kelsea has had practice all week. She has a game this afternoon. The little girls have been house bound since our outing on Monday. But they have been busy having fun. We spent New Year's with the 3 little girls while the 2 oldest went to the church dance with lots of friends.

My own Christmas vacation is winding down. I don't have much to show for it except a lot of rest, kid chasing and another visit to my sinus doctor. I am STILL going to be on antibiotics and prednisone until I have insurance and can have CT scan. Yuck. I have not had one pain free day. But Magnesium is helping a ton so it is mangeable-or should I say a tolerable amount of pain.

Yep, that was pretty boring. I am sorry. I should probably accomplish something before I become too busy again to get anything done.

My baby is 7!

Hannah in 2006----Hannah this summer

It is official right now. It is Hannah's birthday. She is seven. I have been very lucky to have the 5th baby be as good as she has been. I joked sometimes saying it took 5 times to get it right. But I wouldn't change any of the girls really. I can't believe she is this old already. I think the toddler/preschool years are my favorite and I am seeing myself at an end. The youngest is in school all day now. Which is OK and sad. I have enjoyed the happiness a Happy Meal can bring, visits to our favorite stores in the mall on weekdays. Going to the library. Shopping in the 4-6x sizes is done. Board books are long passed over due to go away. But in my mourning of this time that has past-and it seems I get to look forward to many years of teenagers yet ahead-hormonal girls, ugh. I still enjoy my little girl in her happiness at Christmas time. The magic she still holds. The happy wave when she sees me still. Not the "ugh mom, your still here." I love the little girl that she still is.

Here is a little Hannah history. She was my 2nd biggest baby at 9obs 11ozs. She was a big girl and it only took me 3 days to be induced with her on time. She was an easy baby which is why she nearly dropped 2 lbs after birth because she was tongue tied. She was nursing but getting next to nothing and didn't complain. She dropped down to my smallest baby at 8lbs 1 oz. We got her back on track but because of that she stayed a newborn size much longer than the first 4. She wore newborn booties for a long time. I remember how hard it was to have a little one while chasing 4 older kids. She was always in the car. Thank goodness she was great at car riding. I had 2 screamers. As she got older she loved to go all the time.

We were going to name her Lillian and call her Lilly. I was pretty sure that was decided almost to the end of my pregnancy. Then I started to doubt that this baby wanted that name. So we were undecided in the hospital as I was trying to go into labor. We started leaning more towards the name Hannah. As I was in the hospital I remember seeing this blonde little girl in my mind with a sweet calm nature and her name was Hannah. Not Lillian. I told Lee Joe what I had seen and felt more confident in that name. So we named her Hannah Lillian. When I had Hannah's pictures taken at 18 months I was floored when I brought the pictures home because what I saw in those pictures was the little girl I saw in my mind.

Hannah has some serious quirks--She hates spaghetti, We have to have "meat" on Sunday-she prefers roast, She will only eat a grilled cheese sandwich-no other sandwich. But she will eat ham just not on bread. She won't eat a thing with the slighest taste of peanut butter. No jelly. She loves pancakes and use to call them pantycakes. All she had to do was ask Lee Joe to make her some pantycakes and he would make them for her everytime. She likes giraffes a lot. She sings very well and has memory with music like her oldest sister. She wanted to learn to play the piano and in particular she wanted to learn how to play music from the Corpse Bride. Amber taught her how to play the top hand notes when she was 5. They would sit together at the piano and Amber would play the bottom hand while she did the top hand and she can still play it sometimes. She plays guitar hero pretty well. She really likes Star Wars. And all things girly too. She is pretty good on the computer but she has had to be on it since she was two because of what is in the next paragraph.

She was born with a piece of iris in her pupil. It is called a persistent pupillary membrane. She has been seeing an eye doctor since she was a newborn. We have had to eye patch her eye, eye drop her eye and now have a thing called a foil over her lens on her glasses to make her weak eye work better for years now. She has had to play on the computer and the game boy was helpful in working her weaker eye. We have found it does interfere with her vision somewhat but the other eye sees extremely well and it is not that much of an issue. Only when we are trying to point something out far away do I notice she has a hard time. But learning is not a problem for her. She amazes us all. Her interest now in building toys is being encouraged much more. A few things she has told us is that she wants to be an engineer and she wants to build roller coasters. The older girls claim she is so smart because I played Mozart for her. I was taking some pretty great vitamins at the time too. So who knows what it was. But she walked the latest of all my girls at around a year-they all started from almost 9 months to 10 months. She was the latest to potty-train. That was convenience for me I think.

Having the 5th child was an incredible challenge for me but I have had more joy with her than I could have imagined. I wouldn't want it any other way. I did remind myself often to slow down so I could enjoy her instead of getting frustrated in having to slow down. And now I keep telling the girls to slow down growing up just a little more. How ironic is that? I enjoy my kids so much and am so blessed and happy to have special days like birthdays to celebrate them.

Labor Day 2008----Christmas 2008