Lee Joe went to the doctor this morning. He had a CT scan and hearing test. He has had something in his ear for a while now and we have the insurance and a tax return so he will be getting the surgery shortly. He has almost no hearing in that ear. The worst case scenario is that the thing has done so much damge that he may still have no hearing in that ear after surgery and he will lose his balance for a good week before the other ear can compensate. It is not cancer but it is not something you don't want to leave alone much longer either. He still has to schedule the surgery but we need to do it Feb.

Lee Joe is so excited over the SuperBowl. He loves the Steelers and he can't wait. He wants to have our annual superbowl bash. Ugh, that means a super house purge and damage control for an unusually high number of children in our house. Wish me luck.

Other than Lee Joe's news, today should be peaceful. I get to stay home hurray! Tomorrow is Amber's visit to the Ear Nose & Throat doctors. We seem to like that place because that is where Lee Joe was today and the other 4 girls have been there in the past as well.

Our latest

I guess we need to go back to Thursday last week. Another Hamster death. SO sad. It let itself out of the cage. Kelsea found it dead in her bed in the morning before school. Spot loved it to death thinking it was a baby. Gave it a heartattack I suppose. It was Kylee's hamster this time. I waited until after school before I told her. I took Amber to the orthodontist and then we went to the pet store. We brought home a baby honey bear hamster. I feel guilty like I am sentencing the poor things to death by bringing them home but we have duct taped and twist tied all possible exits in the cages. I have a few more things to do to try and guarantee their safety. AMber came home from school in the morning. She was sick with a migraine.
Friday was pretty all right. Lee Joe and went out that night. We went to a furniture store and bought a mattress and boxsprings and then went to dinner. Kelsea babysat for friends and AMber stayed home with her sisters.
Sat was game day. I guess there are too many games going on because we were an hour early to Kylee and Autumn's game. I figured out what I must have done so we went to the elementary school where Kailyn was having her game. THere is nothing cuter than abunch of Kindergarten and first grade girls trying to play basketball. It was funny. THey had colored wrist bands on the girls so they knew who they were suppose to guard. Then we went to Kylee and Autumn's game. THe difference was surprising. THey are a bunch of 2 and 3 rd grade girls. In the end Kylee shot several times and made one basket. Autumn is one of the smallest on the team she held her own quite well. We came home home from their game. Lee Joe went and got a truck to bring home the new bed. It is so nice!! After that we went to Kelsea's game. She did well she scored 5 points. One was a free throw. They keep score for the 7th graders and her team won. I don't remember the score but it was way lopsided. Hannah was disappointed that she didn't get to play basketball. Amber went to a dance that night. Her nose was pretty shade of yellow green. SHe is banned from ball handling for a little while.

Sunday was Melissa's 30th birthday. We went to my mom's for a party. I got another really lousy typical sunday headache.

Monday,today,we started out the day taking AMber to the Dr. He gave us a referral to the ENT. She goes there Wed to see if they are going to straighen her nose. She has had a pretty good headache that hasn't gone away since THursday. That is a concern. I saw our Dr, the one who saw her Tues, at the school when I picked up Kailyn. He asked me how "Broken nose girl" was. Her new title that EVERYONE uses. I told him she was getting better but she is complaining about not being able to play basketball. He told me she couldn't play until all the pain was gone. She was trying to tell me it didn't hurt when she touched it but earlier that morning she accidentally hit herself with a book and she said it hurt something awful. I took Hannah and Kailyn to McDonald's for lunch. THey had Straberry Shortcake toys. Strawberry Shortcake is Hannah's favorite, along with Dora the Explorer. Kailyn and Hannah played and played.
Hannah went to dance. I left with Kylee and Autumn for basketball. Something happened between Hannah and the teacher. And the end result was Kelsea kind of went into protective sister mode and removed Hannah from the class and told the teacher off. Lee Joe got there after that and just took them home early. We will see what happens next week. Hannah says she never wants to go back to dance. THat is the first time she has ever said that since the first class she went to this summer.

Funny Hannah comments. She just turned four. She told me the other day that the show on TV was the "Christmas episode" On Sunday she stood at the microphone and told me she "needed her opportunity" to talk in the microphone. She uses "actually" a lot. She uses big words and Lee Joe and I look at her wide eyed and are surprised. Autumn still says "scriptures" her own way. I have said plenty and I just need to blog more often I guess.

Guess what happened to Amber

Amber had quite a day today. At lunch she plays basketball with a bunch of boys and girls. One of the boys head hit Amber in the nose. Her nose started to bleed really bad and she ran to the bathromm. Which requires a run down two long halls. By the time she got to the bathroom her hands were full of blood and she tracked it all down the halls. She went to the nurse. She gave Amber an ice pack and ibuprofren but NEVER called me. In the meantime the bell has rung and the whole school is out in the hall mortified at the trail of blood through the school. Kelsea gave us the play by play of comments in the hall. One of Amber's classmates said he slipped on it and ran into a teacher. She got to her math class and alot of the friends she was playing basketball with saw her for the first time and Asked her if she was allright.

So she comes home and Kelsea tells me first thing in the door. "Amber got a bloody nose and bled all over the halls at school" Amber's nose was definitely crooked. WE got her to the DR and after X-rays the ruling was Yes her nose is broken. On Monday she goes back to the DR to see if the swelling goes down and to see if it is still crooked. If it's not they will leave it alone. If it is they will do something. But in the meantime she can't play her clarinet or oboe. And NO basketball-Dr's orders. One of boys she was playing with is our Dr's son. He asked who's head it was to make sure it wasn't his son. It was another boy.

Quiet Weekend

After comment on the clean and purge. My big drawback to that cleaning is I have two paper bags and a box full of stuff to be shredded,or burned. I plan on burning it but when it is not raining we are in an inversion and there is aburn ban during inversion so the bags and box just sit.

It was a peaceful weekend,with the exception of silly Kelsea's escapade, I will get to that in a minute. Friday we all were home. No activities no babysitting for the girls but I did get some shopping done and it snowed the whole time I ran around and was done by the time I came home. One of our 2 windows that are left was put in.
I had to buy a digital camera for Amber to take photography class at school. It is the only school that is teaching digital photography. The big drawback is my computer can't handle any thing else put on it and I won't let Amber have access to the internet on her computer and I also have no know-how on all that stuff yet.

Saturday Lee Joe took the three oldest to the church to clean it then he took them out to breakfast. He cleaned out his car. That was seriously long overdue. Amber went bowling with friends. I told Kelsea I was going to take a shower and she decided she wanted one I told her if she went in there I would unlock the door and poor cold water on her. I got up to go and she giggles and runs upstairs and locks the door. I take my time getting up there and tell her to unlock the door. She tells me she can't because she is stuck under the sink. That is Kelsea for you. But what she didn't know is that the lock is actually tricky to get unlocked. I had to call Lee Joe in and about 15 or so minutes later we get in the bathroom and she is really stuck under the sink. We make her scrunch herself down and Lee Joe pulled her out. I took pictures, but on Sunday I realized I should have gotten the camcorder out. Darn it, we could be rich! I took her out to lunch laterand to Wal-mart. Then both Kelsea and Amber went to babysit. Lee Joe and I and the three youngest went to a movie.

Sunday was church. I guess Kelsea's foot fell asleep and she fell in front a bunch of people on her way out the door from her class. Amber said it was really funny. Kelsea was laughing at herself as well. What a nut. We came home and took it easy. Lee Joe is ecstatic that the Steelers are going to the SuperBowl.

It is Monday again and I will be running here in a few hours so I better get something done. It is awesome everyone is blogging. I love checking your sites!! Thanks for the comments.

Look what I found

Something remarkable happened since I have had a few days at home during the day. I found the surface of my desk. I found The bottom of two boxes and cleaned out the inside and surface of a file cabinet and low and behold there was a scanner on there. I cleaned up 3 years of looming mountains of paperwork. I filled two paper bags and two trash bags. I also consolidated three file drawers into two. Maybe that is the source of my anxiety. I feel much better now.

This is practice for adding pictures. I tried a scanned picture it wouldn't download right tonight. Well better luck next time. I think I have a caveman version of computer.

Quiet time

Devanie-3 was nice. 5 is seriously overwhelming. Actually the last two days have been pleasant. I watched a friends two little kids this morning and I picked up Kailyn from kindergarten. Melissa is back to school this week. That is keeping Hannah entertained. My living room is presentable with the exception of the relocated office stuff that can't go in the garage. But that stuff has been in here since Sept.

Kelsea-isms-- the world Kelsea lives in is an interesting place to say the least. We were talking about the story of the Princess and pea. She has never been a good speller so she thought that the story was about someone having pee-d in the bed and they had a lot of Mattresses on the bed so she couldn't feel it and if she was a true princess she would. She couldn't quite figure why the prince would put a bowling ball in the bed how that helped the bed that was peed on. Who knows.
We were driving down the road the other day and there were several older ladies driving really slow in what should be the fast lane. I told Kelsea that the lane must be the Grandma lane. She thought I was talking about her Grandma Lane (my mom) and she asked me why does Grandma Lane drive slow? She didn't think Grandma Lane drove slow.

Anyways Amber and Kelsea should be home early the rest of the week. They have their EOC's this week(finals) she they get a few tests and get out early. Kelsea's EOC in teen living is making pretzels in the shapes of letters. Hopefully Kelsea will be making lots of A's.Ha ha. Ok, I tell bad jokes.

weekend-holiday

Friday and Saturday were interesting. Amber had birthday party to go to and I had a hair appt at the same time. I went shopping afterwards and bought paint for my new room. There is light sand color for the ceiling and closet. Darker sand color for all walls but one and that one is olive. Lee Joe spent the evening building a pinewood derby car with Kylee to race at our neighbors pinewood derby at their baptist church. Sat Lee Joe took the little girls to the pinewood derby. The car raced well. Lee Joe thinks they came in 5th place. There were lots of cars. I stayed home and went to a personal interview at the church and then took Amber in the afternoon shopping for another friends b-day party. She went to that. Then I took Kelsea to a haircut appt and it so cute! I need to take her in for pictures now. and then we went to a retirement party for friends of ours at church. Picked Amber from the party. Brought her home for an hour then took her and her friend the Church dance. She danced to slow dances with two boys. brought her home at 11. Sunday we all went to lovely 9am church. We are still trying to get the hang of that. I came home after that and slept for 4 hours with Hannah. I got a little carried away I guess. Monday the kids were home but I had to take Amber to the DR at 8:50 am. That was easier than 9 am church. I painted the new room some more and cleaned up the future office. Autumn had a birthday party today. There is this place here full of inflatables. Jumping things and such. She had a lot of fun. There was no basketball and Honor Orchestra but I found out there was dance! So Kylee and Hannah went to dance. Autumn was still at her party so she missed it. We had dinner at about 8. Tomorrow there are no appts and only Kelsea has basketball. I call that a great day. Hopefully I can get my house clean! Poor little Hannah is fighting a cold now. Her mouth is chapped so bad all around her mouth. A good day for her to get some rest.

Hannah's ER visit

Right now it is 2am in the morning. I am all turned around since Hannah got sick Tues night-weds morning. She ran a really high fever all night. Then Autumn woke up too with a nightmare. I didn't sleep much. After the kids went to school Hannah and I slept until noon. So embarrassing. I think I am a little sick too or something. Later Weds evening Hannah started running the high temp again. Soon after she was complaining about her right side hurting. Crying really about it. She had cried about it hurting the night before. Lee Joe panicked and thought she needed to go to the ER right away. It was 8pm. So I did and I thought if it wasn't appendicitis then it could be a kidney or bladder infection. Her fever was over 104. She was so good in the hospital. She looked awful and they asked how she was and she said fine. But she really wasn't. THey gave her a handmade bear. And they checked her all out ruled out all the scary and bacterial stuff. She has a pretty good flu with body aches. I came home after 10pm and her temp came down some. I haven't been able to sleep well lately anyway and now I think I am getting turned around. I went to bed again today after the kids went to school. Actually I had a nasty headache really. Slept until 11am . Hannah watched Elf beside me. She is doing better. We left at 1 to pick out some new glasses for Hannah. SHe is getting some really cute Disney princess glasses. THen we went to lunch. My headache got worse. She ate lunch fine but got a tummy ache. We came home. I picked up kids then went and laid down again. THe medicine I took didn't work. I am so irritated that I can't get anything done. Kelsea went to B-ball practice. When I came home at 8:30 I finally knocked the headache and starting priming the new room. It's almost done!! I ran out of paint so I went to wal-mart and bought some more. Wandered around. Came home at 12:30 am and finished using another can of paint. So here I sit at 2:30 checking stuff online. Hannah's fever is gone and she is feeling better. She took her Cabbage Patch dolls for a walk this afternoon with her sisters.

Amber was told by her JV coach that she should totally try out for basketball next year at Capital. THe Varsity coach at the Jr High was talking highly about her so she has some great potential for next year. THree jr high schools feed into the high school here. and the Jr high schools are pretty big all by themselves. So there is a lot of competition for spots at the High school level. She got an invitation to attend the Congressional Youth Leadership Council in Washington DC this summer but it is super expensive so we have no idea if it is really an option for her. we will see. It is so scary. All the talk about College already. And she is old enough to take Driver's ED. She could get her driver's license here before she turns 16. SHe will be 15 the first part of Feb!!!!!!!!!

crazy monday

I finished my sewing at about 1 on Monday. Monday evening was crazy. Thank goodness Lee Joe and my sister were able to help me. Amber Had her last game last night. They won 30 to 7. Amber scored 7 points and caused over 20 jump balls she says. They are the champs. 13 wins 1 loss. Amber went from Hillside jr high and had to be at East jr high at 6:45 for Honor Orchestra. Kylee and Autumn were signed up for basketball. Lee Joe's idea but they really want to play too. Their practice of course would over lap the dance class they have been doing since school started. So after their first half and hour of dance I took them across town to their school for the last half hour of basketball practice. Kelsea was the only one without something to do so she stayed at dance with Hannah until Melissa got there for Kailyn's class and then Melissa brought them home. Monday's will be little hectic for awhile but with the removal of Amber's basketball. Kelsea is going to have basketball practice Tues and Thurs at Fairmont(our Jr high) It is very close and not much of problem. We will see when the games are on Saturday. They will get interesting. It is only for about 6 weeks of games so it is not too long.

The funny thing Hannah said after Christmas that I couldn't remember was that Matt got the girls gift cards to Toys R Us. Hannah said she wanted to go to Toys for Us. Now I am hard time saying it right.

Thank goodness for Friday

Today I am sooo tired. I sewed sort of. Amber didn't have practice so she came home early for once.

So yesterday when I went to the dentist I didn't want the novacine shot for them filling two teeth. THey said that the cavities were just in the enamel. So I can say I am real tough having to teeth filled without them numbing me up. It was much better for me because I am seriously phobic about shots. It just hurt a little.

Amber's team won their game in the last two SECONDS of the game. They won 20 to 19. I guess in the 7th period-JV plays 8 five minute periods-Amber got fouled several times and had the opportunity to shoot 6 free throws and she made 5!! She shot and made a couple of baskets too. They had been behind the whole game. Lee Joe watched the game and even the coach said they played awful. They were just lucky they won. So they will stay in first place even if they lose on their last game on Monday.

The new hamsters are settling in well. Everybody is enjoying them except for the noisy wheel at night. We are going to get silent wheels tomorrow. One hamster is very social and greets me when I come to the cage. The other is very scared of everything but we think that she is very very young still. She was very active tonight.

We have 4 of our 6 new windows in. I don't know where our window guy was today. Lee Joe was doing side work again this week. It has rained and rained like crazy here since Christmas. Weds to today(Fri) was the longest stretch of dry weather we have had. Not typical for Idaho at all.

By the way for those of you that have been blogging-I have been reading your blogs whenever I get online I have had a problem logging in for comments. I enjoy the pictures and I hope to get some of my own up soon. ANd I seriously wish I got my Christmas cards out to everyone. I am only ontime every other year I have found.

weeks events

Monday-kids in school,ballet andHonor Orchestra.
Tuesday-thought there was two appointments-wound up with none. Cleaned up Christmas. Amber's game-they won 30 to 20. THey are 11 and 1.
Weds-7am missing Hamster, 8:15 missing hamster found decesed, 10 am window man comes to install first window we paid for on Sept 30 10:30 school calls says Kylee is sick, 10:50 pick up Kylee, 11 pick up Kelsea give her bad news, 12 find new hamsters and lunch at subway, 1pm set up new cage and situate new hamsters, 1:30 pick up Autumn for Dr's appt. 2:30 Dr sees Autumn. 3 pm home. 4pm get new sewing order. 4:15 piano and violin. 6:50 eat dinner,7pm neighbor comes over to sand room in progress 7:10 Amber and Kels go to YW. 8pm I go shopping until 11pm and pick up sewing.
Thurs-I'm tired from yesterday.Kylee is still sick. more windows in today, picked up Kailyn from Kindergarten. I have yet to go to the dentist and Amber has another game today and I need to start sewing.
Fri-no appts,no games, no activities. sew and do laundry. Woo Hoo what a week!

obituary for Polka

It is so sad to announce that the Hamster known as Polka formerly known as Shamoe died an unfortunate and untimely death yesterday. Details are still stetchy as to how the cage was left opened. But the poor hamster was found deceased in the premises of Kelsea's room. Kelsea went to school not knowing the fate of the beloved hamster she owned just over a week. Mom picked her up from school at lunch to deliver her the devasting news. She took the news very hard. She went out to lunch and went to two petstores and came home with another new addition to our family. The new hamster-looking like the deceased Hamster is known as Dot. And Kylee now owns a Hamster too and her Hamster is known as Polka (#2). Kelsea continued to grieve over the special Hamster that would sleep in her pocket. The new Hamster seems younger than the first and not as friendly as the origional Polka. Funeral services are yet to be determined.

Happy New Year

It doesn't matter whether or not the kids are on vacation. My life is always busy it seems. Last week Kelsea babysat at our house. There were playdates for Kylee. I took two kids to the doctor and had Hannah's birthday on the same day. I had a sewing order for the first time since Halloween and had 3 days to get it done. We saw Chicken Little on Friday.I took Christmas down Saturday and shopped. We had 9am church on Sunday after we stayed up till 2. Amber went to a church dance. She danced two slow dances with 2 boys-oh my she is growing up. Kelsea Babysat until 2am. Melissa (sister)and Kailyn(Melissa's daughter) and Ashlee(Matt's daughter) came over New years eve night. Matt(brother), David(Melissa's significant other) and Dylan(Melissa's son) played Dylan's new XBOX at Melissa's house all night. The kids went back to school on Monday and Lee Joe had the day off. Lee Joe and I went to lunch at the Olive Garden. The little girls had dance last night and AMber started Jr High Honor Orchestra as well. Because of all the craziness I thought I had two appointments today. The dentist for me and the Dr for Autumn. I rescheduled the dentist appointment and found out Autumn's appointment is tomorrow. Now I have no appointments today. Amber has a game today and that's all I have to worry about besides getting my awful messy house in order and pay bills. 3/4 of my Christmas has been put away. I haven't gotten all my Christmas cards out yet!

For Hannah's birthday Hannah had to have a Strawberry Shortcake cake. We bought Strawberry Shortcake and Princess plates,Tinkerbell napkins,Dora party hats, Spongebob cups, and Barbie Pegasus rings. She got a leappad and books, a princess Strawberry Shortcake doll and lots of other stuff. She is a funny kid. She was telling every one that she was 14 and would be 4 on her birthday. She would show us that the scale would tell us how old she is. It really said 40 but she said it was 14. Her favorite food is pantycakes. she says things are sgusting if they smell or taste bad. There is something she says that is hilarious but I can't remember it right now. She will be getting new glasses here shortly. We still have to dilate her good eye twice a week and eye patch it everyday for two hours. I can barely get her to leave it on a half an hour. She sees between 20/30 and 20/40 out that eye. It hasn't improved much. But she can identify letters well and it hasn't hindered her much really.

After Christmas recovery effort

Another Christmas come and gone. The house is turned upside down still. Christmas Eve was spent at my mom's house. We all exchanged gifts and had a light dinner. We looked at Christmas lights on the way home. Then the girls exchanged presents from each other. THe little girls went to bed in the cute nightgowns their Grandma Lane got them from the Disney Store. At Midnight poor Autumn woke up throwing up. And did it again at 3 or 4. Christmas morning she sat opening presents with a puke bowl beside her but no more action in that department. So the Amber Kelsea Kylee and I got ready for church and Lee Joe stayed home with the Autumn and Hannah. The kids sang well, thank goodness. We came home from Church and I was exhausted to say the least. My family didn't come over until after 5 for dinner. We had a nice time. Autumn had a bit of a tummy ache in the morning and looked a little tired all day but other than she managed well the rest of the day.

Favorite gifts-Lee Joe gave the 4 oldest girls CD walkman things. Lots of solo action. Favorite CD-Madagascar soundtrack to Amber and Kelsea. Kylee and Autumn got some dolls they love. Hannah loved everything. Especially her Disney princess nightgown. Lee Joe got Star Wars 1,2 and 3. I got a couple of glass seahorses I really like. And some of those super soft fuzzy socks.

The best part of this Christmas was making sure our neighbors were taken care of. A family Lee Joe knows "adopted" them. They were given bags and bags of groceries and there were presents for the 6 little kids and for the mom and dad too. Lee Joe and the friends got caught dropping the stuff off. But boy was the family grateful. I was able to give the dad money he earned from working on our basement to give his wife a present. She was floored and had a much better Christmas for it. He gave her a digital camera. So that was great to be able to do that for someone.

Today Lee Joe took Amber and Kelsea out and Kelsea came home with Hamster she bought herself and cage and everything else. So she is a happy camper again today.

And we are about to get ready for Hannah's birthday on Thursday. The big 4.

I finally knocked my cold I think. Woo Hoo

Vacation!

The kiddos are home for two full weeks and we are preparing for the big day. I have been fighting a cold with airborne and dayquil. I feel crummy. It figures. I am suppose to sing in the choir on sunday. We will see if I have a voice. Every December is like this. The primary is singing and I have to lead. Isn't that going to be fun putting a bunch of super excited kids on the stand on Christmas day. What were we thinking. We have church at 11 so I am just glad it's not 9am.

So far the kids have been good. Very little squabbling. Amber and Kelsea baked cookies today. I have yet to make fudge. It looks like we will go to my mom's house Christmas eve and exchange my family's presents and then after we get home from church on Sunday everyone will come over here and hang out and have dinner. My brother came over today with a present for my mom. He was so funny, it was like he never wrapped a present in his life. He has really gotten into the Christmas mood this year. He is shopping for everyone. He is doing well right now which is happy news for him and of course all of us too.

So other than trying to knock a cold-could have been a few nights in the garage getting business taken care of if you know what I mean- and hanging out without a lot of chasing around with kids,that is SOO nice.

As we speak here at almost 11pm, Lee Joe is still out doing his shopping. I am so done! I bought film and batteries today. So I am set.

And for you Lay folk out there, You might get a kick out of the fact that Amber has begun recitations of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. She has written down entire scenes, memorized them and shares them with anyone that has ears. Lee Joe finds it funny, I find it irritating. But it is her favorite movie right now. Even before Napoleon Dynamite.

The game

Amber's team won their game yesterday. They won 22 to 5. No injuries for Fairmont and they played their best game ever. No points for Amber this game. She forced a lot of turnovers. She fouled three times. She had a lot of assists. She played point guard which she hardly plays but does it well enough. The best part was when the other team went down the court for fastbreak and Amber flew down the court and before they could shoot she just plucked the ball right out of their hands and headed back down the court and they stood there like"Where did the ball go?". One of the dads of a girl on Amber's team asked me "Are you a Fairmont parent?" I said yes of course. "You couldn't be Amber's mom could you? You only look just like her." And then he said "I just love how she plays ball" He was so funny and excited through the whole game. It was great fun.

Today the kids get out early and Christmas vacation begins. Autumn has been singing We Wish you a Merry Christmas And she says "Good tithings to you to you and your him" She has a funny way she interprets things.

Lee Joe is going to be released from his scout calling and he is seriously relieved. So am I. He will be able to spend more time with his girls and he is so happy about that. He has been working almost two fulltime jobs lately and doing scouts. THe side work will slow down since this winter is so cold already and the ground is frozen so we will see much more of him.

Christmas is coming!

Devanie gave me the gift of a blogsite! How about that! Lately it has been so busy I haven't been able to get to my computer much.

In the last two weeks there have been 5 basketball games,a dance recital in senior center for 3 girls, two Christmas concerts, two doctors appointments, 4 sick kids-one was my nephew, I have been picking up my neice 3 days a week, lots of babysitting for two older girls, Christmas shopping and wrapping, An Honor Orchestra audition-Amber made it on the Oboe. I could almost sing the 12 days of Christmas for the last 12 days!!

Amber is on JV basketball but is the most aggressive and reliable player. She steals the ball all the time. Parents will tell me she spent a lot of time on the floor if I missed something. One game she almost had her nose broke because a girl elbowed her in the face gave her an awful bloody nose. Her nose did bruise and swell a little. They play that team today again. I will be at that game to make some noise! She also got an award for most outstanding player on the JV Volleyball team. She is headed that way for basketball again usually making at least half of the teams points every game so she is having a good time. The coach told one of the girls that Amber was the best player and it started some sort of spat between the girls. Kelsea, Kylee and Autumn will be playing after Christmas.

The rest of the girls are so excited for Christmas. Hannah is excited for both her birthday and Christmas.
I will figure out how to post pictures and I will post some from our trip to Seattle.

This Past Year

Aunt Devanie saved some emails and this is what she got to help me along with our Christmas newsletter.

September 2, 2005

Amber loves to play piano. In fact she gets in trouble because when she is suppose to be doing chores, she plays piano. She LOVES to play primary songs. Lately she has been playing Pirates of the Caribbean and it is sooo cool! She also has music to The Incredibles. Music is Ambers favorite thing.

Kelsea fought the piano. She had a hard time watching Amber and her teacher was frustrated with her. She started violin and that was great for Kelsea. Then later she started to show interest in the piano again.

Grandma Lay called us when we were in Yellowstone she was coming and planning to stay at our house. We had about a week to prepare for her arrival.

Janika came to visit durring the Summer.

I have pictures taken of Hannah I will send e-mail and snail mail this weekend. School started Monday. I was so worried. I don't like the schedule this year at all. Amber has to be at seminary at 6:30 in the morning. We have to be sure she has a ride to the school at 7:30. Kelsea has to leave the house at 7:25 or 7:30. she overslept once this week. I have to drive the girls to school by 8:30. And pick them up at 3:15.

Durring the summer Amber had Volleyball and Kelsea babysat after school for the family she and Amber worked for all summer. Amber made JV this year for Volleyball. She has been on Varsity for two years. Her shaky thing is causing some issues.

Hannah keeps wanting to go to school. I had her evaluated for a preschool through the school that I wouldn't have to pay for. She wasn't accepted because she is too smart. She is in the 93rd percentile for what she knows at her age. She knows so much more than any of the other girls knew at her age.

I had a massive sewing order that I got on last Thursday. I sewed nonstop for 7 days it seemed. I Sew to make a little extra money on the side. My back gave out from all the hours upright over the sewing machine and my Butt feels like it spreads 10 inches over the course of that many days. I don't know after all that time, along with the kids starting school if the $400 is really worth that. But I just approached the 4th company on sewing for them this week. I think I am crazy!

In September my Washer was leaking lots of water every time I washed clothes. I pulled the washer away from the wall so the water runs straight to the drain in the floor so I can wait a little bit to get it fixed but I want to replace it. I got a new LARGE capacity front loading washer the sewing money helped that cause.

What helped me after Hannah was born was to remind myself that every phaze every day is temporary. Every day the baby will be able to do something new. Every day the house might get a little easier to keep up with and then the baby gets more mobile and into things but that is temporary too. The time that a baby will need a mother is actually very short even though some days feel like forever. The busier your older kids are with activities the faster that time flies by. Remind yourself to enjoy it. You really have to remind yourself.

I remember going to the store for the first time with 3 it freaked me out. But now -upon occasion- I go with 5 so somehow I survived. Even though I still think 5 is too many some days but of course I wouldn't trade any of them.

September 10th 2005
My 3rd pregnancy was hard because it was hot but 4 and 5 put me down for weeks in the end. It was frustrating. Always let your Relief Society president know and you can get meals in and help especially if your Husband is out of town.

Here is something interesting. Autumn has two Sierras in her class. I think being close to the Sierra Nevada mountains makes it a more common name over here along with Hailey because of Hailey Idaho. We drove through Hailey and Ketchum on labor day. We saw Bruce Willis' name on the marquee on a sign there and I think we saw the restaurant he owns too. We went to a really awesome lake over the weekend.

Grandma Lay was here again this week. I didn't see her much I guess. She will be back in two
weeks.

We got Hannah's pictures. Autumn went in this week and her pictures will be back on my birthday-the 30th. I will be getting the other 3 in after our next payday. Kylee is going to be 9 this month!! Holy Cow!

Hurricane Season
My Grandparents were in Houston and my grandmother was too sick to travel so they had to sit and ride out the storm. She is on oxygen so there was a concern if all that happens where they are is that the power goes out. The church tried to make sure that she was taken care of with plenty of oxygen tanks on hand. My grandfather went shopping for supplies and he said the people were terrible!!

The Next Day. . .
My Grandparents, after the whole family making hundreds of phone calls and I put their names in at the temple have some Ok news. They found that the stake center just over a mile from their house had a generator and they were able to take my Grandma so she could be on her oxygen and have her breathing treatments. My Grandpa and Uncle were able to take turns caring for her and the other one stayed at their house and cared for their 4 dogs. And the storm moved a little to the East and was downgraded so that was good news. They were going to leave but traffic was backed up still and people were running out of gas on the freeways. All the gas at the stations were gone. So at this time it looks as if they are in a better situation.

September 27th 2005
I have a Maytag dishwasher. I really like it alot. I found out Cascade Complete does the best job of cleaning the dishes and they are usually spot free without having to use jet dry.

My grandparents fared pretty well. They were in an area that did not suffer from any power outage. They had tree limbs in their yard along with lots of pine cones.

Kylee and Kelli have the same birthday sept 26 and mine is the last day of the month-30th. Yes there are only 30 days in Sept. You know how many people have tried to argue that fact with me? Kind of funny.

I had another large sewing order I had to work on.

November 2nd 2005
I bounced back pretty quick after my last few girls and the pregnancies were awful. It felt so good to be one person again.

Kelsea got braces today. Amber got braces in Aug. And Kelsea also had the skin under her tongue "clipped" That hurts more than the braces right now. Poor thing. We found out she is still tongue tied-we actually didn't know she was until a few months ago. She has never been able to touch her tongue to the roof of her mouth until today-crazy huh? The underside of her tongue looks just awful though. She has had some scares coming home from babysitting and while babysitting lately. She came home one day and she watched this guy in the field at the church get in his car and then the next thing she knew he had pulled up behind her. She thought he was after her and came home hysterical crying. We found out the guy lived in the house that she was in front of at that moment. Then yesterday another guy came to the house she was at and kept knocking on the door and wouldn't leave. She called me crying because he wouldn't go away. By the time I got to the house the guy was gone. He had wanted to look at a van that was for sale in their driveway. She had a rough couple weeks. But she bought a Nintendo DS with her babysitting money so she is happy camper there.

Amber got done with Volleyball and started basketball last week. She has been handling early morning seminary quite well along with 3 accelerated classes. From how it sounds she is one of the smartest math students in her class. My other girls aren't quite up there though. Accept for Hannah I think is above average. Autumn is at grade level. Kylee is a little below grade level in reading. Kelsea is actually right where she should be and doing very well in 7th grade. She has A's and B's so that is great considering how hard she has struggled for years. All in all the girls are doing well.

We are having a bedroom and office put in downstairs. Our neighbor is doing it for us. I am going to get a long storage closet and we are making the furnace room smaller and insulating it big time so we don't hear it every time it comes on. We are having someone else put in windows in mid November I guess. So I am excited.

Lee Joe is working his full time job and all the side work he can handle. I get my sewing orders. I had two really big orders in Sept and Oct. I am waiting for the next one right now though.

I guess Lee Joe is going to baptize Zeona sometime this month and we are planning to go to Washington for Thanksgiving.. I hope be able to do all that!!