Promised pics

Kelsea's b-day and flowers from the boyfriend

Autumn's b-day and Kylee dressed for her part in the program


Hannah in a laundry basket and on the tramp today

Sheer the Sheep dog

Spot reminds of Looney tunes Sam the Sheep dog

Now she is so pretty and ready for warmer weather.

Spring break?

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

Just for info

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Birthday Autumn!!

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

obnoxious

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

Relieved

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

Happy Birthday!!!!!

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

Tennis and other stuff

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

Congrats to Molly!

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

Hey!

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

Long day

From Powells Sweet shoppe


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

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

Not much

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

OWWWW

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

I look forward to bed.

Monday

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

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

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

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

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

It's official

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

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

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

Add another one!!

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