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

Pictures...Finally!

The fight for the computer

Kelsea shooting a free throw

Tree Decorating and the end result.

Rabbit and Kitty are friends

Hannah's program Autumn in orchestra

Kylee playing trombone Kylee and Autumn singing in choir

Our icicles 5 girls excited to finally open their sister presents on Christmas Eve

Where Santa crashed

Lee Joe's gift to me----My gift to Lee Joe

Kylee's house project

Post Christmas Post

The snow was so pretty Christmas night and sometime during the night it turned into rain and all the pretty new snow was gone. But snowed some more during the day.

We had a nice Christmas. But like at Thanksgiving we are really feeling the absence of my sister and her family. It is just nowhere near the same. My mom came over later Christmas day. We didn't go to her house Christmas eve like we have every year lately to get together. She left soon after coming over because the roads were becoming horrible. So I am kind of sad. But we relaxed all day. I am still fighting something and Kelsea and Lee Joe might have had a little of it too so it took me most of the day to get around to pie making and putting a ham in the oven. We had a small dinner with just us.

But the kids have had their annual day of fun. Everyone was up at 7:30. Kylee woke people up with silly string. We got a couple Wii games. Of course the latest Guitar Hero was one and Kelsea was on that first thing. And we got Wii Music. That one is funny to watch Hannah play. Between gifts from my mom and some Santa's "helpers" we have an enormous pile of new movies to watch. The three little girls got cheap cameras and unfortunately they are a terrible disappointment. My 2 cast off cameras that I let the older girls use are still a much better option. So Kylee and Autumn will inherit those now I guess.

I got 3 necklaces from the little girls and a nice sapphire necklace from Lee Joe. I got some scrapbooking paper and a roll of rolos in one package. That was kind of funny. Kelsea got me a really nice long black soft scarf. Lee Joe's several day and late night project for me was a wooden scrapbook. It is beautiful. I gave him an P-38 handmade wooden plane. We thought the exchange of wooden gifts was funny and he got his yearly airplane book and a DVD of the Olympic opening ceremony that he missed while he was in California this summer. He loved that.

Thanks to Thomas we will be going to a movie sometime during vacation. Thank you!

That was our Christmas.

It's almost time!!

Christmas is here whether I am ready or not. I am not. Kind of, but all the loose ends are still loose. So I hope to get motivated and take care of business. I got hit with a cold/flu thing yesterday. It was bad enough in the evening I couldn't finish baking cookies. Kelsea helped me finish the last rounds of cookies last night. The little girls decorated their sugar cookies they cut out. And MAN there is a mountain of cookies to give away. Lee Joe is going to get lost with the kids today so I can take care of what is left.

We have had some snow finally but that has made some miserable driving. Someone almost ran over the stop sign by my neighbors yard night. They said that the snow was suppose to go around us. So mother nature said HAHA and hit us finally with about 4 inches. Now they say it is suppose to snow today and tomorrow. We will see what Mother nature says about that.

Lee Joe has been making something for me for the past two days. He moved snow a couple of night ago and was gone all night and then he went to a friends house and was gone until really late that night and he was gone until 3 last night but he says he is almost done. Hopefully I will get my software figured out soon to get pictures up again. Oh and I need to get all my stuff that needs to mailed out. I am behind there too.

I had a funny dream this morning that I was working at the school and I asked the gal that I work with if we were really gone two weeks because I couldn't remember any of it of even Christmas and it went by so fast. I was really relieved when I woke up and realized we haven't been through the first week yet. Then I had to laugh once I was relieved.

Hannah was in my room bright and early this morning. She asked at 9 am if she could put cookies on a plate for Santa and then all day she asked to open a present. Once we did she was able to open a 2nd a present and it was opened so fast I missed it. It is so fun to see her so excited but she was about bouncing off the walls. She was making Kool-aid and spilled sugar and the Kool-aid on the floor and didn't stir it in her excitement to wrap presents with her sisters. So funny. We have enjoyed her enthusiasm all day and she was over tired by bedtime.

We finally went to look at Christmas lights. We dropped off some things to a couple of people we know anonymously. It has snowed and snowed. We have been watching it snow this evening. It is so pretty. I brought Kelsea upstairs and had her look out the window and told her about what I did to my mom one Christmas when I was 6 or 7 in Denver. Hannah's age. I looked out the window to see if it was morning. The Sky was glowing like it was daylight. But it snowed a bunch and it was the snow glow. But I didn't know so I tried to wake my mom up and she said she was getting up but couldn't get up. I woke my sister up and we opened everything and I showed my mom everything and she kind of acknowleged it but couldn't wake up. It was really 3 or4 in the morning. My mom missed it and I finally realized somehow that it was still night. We played with our stuff for a bit and then went back to bed. It was a really nice Christmas though, I remember that.

Baking-baking

Apparantly, according to my children as of lately, I only bake during Thanksgiving and Christmas. That could be true. I do bake the occasional batch of cookies, cake or batch of brownies. But I do a much bigger variety this time of year. So I am trying to get in the swing of it today. I have started with my favorite toffee cookies and will be making sugar cookies shortly. I found a recipe on Kraft.com that makes them with cream cheese. They stay soft and are really good sugar cookies. So they are chillin' right now. I made fudge for the kids to give to teachers. Muddy buddies are another favorite. We will see how full of gusto I get on the rest of this.

We were wondering if we would REALLY get up to a foot of snow. I think we got about 3 inches at the most but it rained last night before it snowed so it ruined the beautiful snow it could have been and made it dangerous to drive this morning. Lee Joe was called at midnight for snow removal this morning and got home around 8am. I cancelled a drs appt I had this morning because I didn't want to try the roads. It is sunny and super sloppy out there. I don't know where all this snow is going that they keep saying is going to fall.

Lee Joe took the 3 little girls sledding yesterday for hours and the two oldest are sledding today with their buddies.

What happened?

No snow day. The ground was just barely covered in snow again. It was an early release day but man I was ready for the end of the day. The charmers were working their charm yesterday(translation-the stinkers were being their stinker selves big time)I brought home more yummy stuff and some gift cards to a restaurant and Moxie java. Hmm-I should get some hot chocolate some morning.

It is suppose to snow like crazy tomorrow and the rest of the week. We will have to see what really happens.

I am done Christmas shopping!! It is a lean year. But that's OK. Now I need to start wrapping. I have lost my alone time to get that done though.

I have heard of two familes this week that had their houses broken into and robbed of their Christmas. How sad is that?

I am just super happy I get vacation with the kids too. I get a couple of weeks to stay warm and out of snow gear.

Snow day?

It is really funny when the employees at the school want a snow day. They were worse than the kids in wishing. Some teachers and the secretary were wishing hard and want one for tomorrow. It was suppose to snow like crazy tonight. It was suppose to start at 6 and it hasn't yet. But some teachers said that when we got the snow day we had last year some teachers at another school all slept with spoons under their pillows. And we got a snow day. So a bunch of teacher and staff want one. But some would hate to see the kids miss their Christmas parties. So for those people who wanted one they were encouraged to sleep with a spoon under their pillow and to wear their pajamas inside out.

I am reaping the benefits of working at the school. I brought home banana bread yesterday and some candy. Today I got a loaf of pumpkin bread and a box of chocolate mints and a scratch card and several Christmas cards. The high school sponsored a bunch of families at the school and it was the coolest thing to watch a bunch of high school kids bring in bags and bags of gifts and see an office full of Christmas gifts for families at the school.

I think I might be done shopping. I have a smidgen left. Yay!

I heard the cutest thing ever yesterday. It was at the store and not at the school. A little girl realized the disney princesses on a game were the same as the ones on her boots and then she started singing a song that sounded like "Jingle Bells" but it was "Tinker Bells" I couldn't stop laughing.

Something nice

It was REALLY cold this morning. I know everyone is hearing me hollar. The maybe 2 people out there. Not really- I think there are more that do not have comment capabilities yet or just don't . Anyways. I have no ear muffs anymore and I wanted a pair that is less bulky and go around the back of your head and not the top. I looked at 2 stores and didn't find what I was looking for but I found a great scarf that is like sits on your head kind of like a hat. Then last night Amber's boyfriend brought something over--it was for me. It was the ear muffs I was looking for. My ear got a little nipped yesterday in the cold. I told his mom what I was looking for. I see her almost everyday. She happened to find them. How nice was that? So I used them today. They were fantastic and warm.

The principal was out with us today helping with the kids so all of us that had to be outside could spell each other off. The kids were in first recess but in the early morning I still have to be at the crosswalk and someone has to tell the kids to go in. It is suppose to snow again tomorrow. Yee Haw. I am handling the cold fine really though. Lee Joe is not working much right now so he is not out in it much either. It is too cold for him to work doing what he does anyways. He was suppose to start a job in Pocatello this week but it is too cold and frozen.

I am always tired and have nothing else to say I guess. Oh wait-I have a new e-mail address through the school. But I am not going to post it on my blog, sorry.

Freaking cold

I want you to know that we have NOT seen 0 degree temps in years. And lows below 20 don't happen that often either. Well here it is and I get to spend almost 3 hours out in it everyday just wandering and yelling at kids to stop sliding on the ice, sending them to the nurse when they fall and to stop throwing snow balls at least 100 times every 15 minutes. What a kill joy I am, but there are rules I didn't make that we must follow. And yet you would think that is enough to keep warm? No not really. It snowed and snowed this afternoon. But it was a very pretty snow fall. The 0 degree low is not expected until Saturday but it is still going to be stinking cold all week. I can't believe it is only Monday.

I am not ready for Christmas. I think there may be 5 presents under the tree. I have yet to wrap one myself. It is too close and I don't have enough time!! ugh. I wanted to make some fudge tonight but besides being too tired, I had piles of laundry calling my name. I would like to find clothes a little easier in the morning.

I wish I had time to mess with the computer to show you pictures.

Delayed Snow

It was suppose to snow 3 inches overnight on Friday-Sat. We woke to no snow. It rained really hard. But it came Sat afternoon and overnight. It is still snowing now. Ugh. I know it will still be here tomorrow. Oh man. Oh well.

The girls went to a duct tape themed SND last night. Kelsea brought the dress and her bag. She wore it and won a Symphony bar. She chased Amber and the boyfriend when they were saying goodbye last night and renacted the kissing and then was grossed out about letting Amber use her chapstick. She said it was contaminated now and it was like she was kissing him too now.

I have some sick crap this weekend. Some sort of flu. What's new? Ridiculous. Thanks prednisone.

I survived!!

It is Friday and I am still in one piece. On top of 5 days of work and the Weds I described-I have attended 3 Christmas concerts(Ky &Aut honor choir-Kel orchestra-Han 1st-3 program) and a basketball game. Lee Joe watched the one on Weds. There is another one tomorrow. Next week has one basketball game on Friday and the rest of the week looks much better. There is one more christmas concert during the morning next week

3 inches of snow is expected overnight. They said it would start at midnight. It is 6 almost 7 and it is already trying. They were putting de-icer on the road at 4. So I suspect it is suppose to be a good storm then. I am just glad it is happening tonight and not on some other weekday-when I am outside so much and it is nasty out.

I hope to be able to finish Christmas shopping soon. I can't believe it is that close. With things like this I don't think I will be ready. Having money to shop helps too.

Prednisone is weird stuff. I feel less tired at times because it keeps me up and I wake up a lot on it. But my body is still tired. I was feeling dizzy from how tired I was on Weds and I have a terrible memory and my mind goes blank from being so tired and I keep going by some unknown power. It is weird. I don't like it and it is not really helping my problem much. I guess I am whining again but I just feel strange. I just feel like having more to say with my blank mind.

My house at this very moment is empty of all people but me. I might have this evening to myself for awhile. That is nice since I don't get that time during the day. I need to go talk to Santa about what he is doing for Christmas.....

Blip 2

When I go to my doctor's office and my doctor's nurse sees me-I am referred to as the mother-in-law. That was interesting news I heard yesterday.

YUCK

How do people with several kids and a job do it? Kelsea has basketball until sometime after 6, Autumn needs to be at the church at 5:30 or 6 until 8. Kylee and Amber and Kelsea are suppose to be at a senior center instead of the church at 6:30. I think only Kylee will make it tonight though. Lee Joe has scouts at 6to 7. Hannah could be babysat at the church at 6. Amber has pep band at 7. I should be with Kylee but you know what? I don't want to have to be anywhere. I could send everybody away and have some time to myself. But probably not.

This is one of those weeks where there is stuff every night this week. Of course I am trying to survive my first full week of full-time work. I am half way there!! I like that I have next week and I am off for two though. Today they had a lunch for all the classified staff-me-and it was yummy and I didn't have to go do lunchroom or outside during the lunch time. I love the gal that I work with in the office. I have talked to several people who have been on prednisone and they have the same sleep problems I do so that doesn't help much.

Blip

In case you didn't facebook and find out-the boyfriend is a boyfriend now.

The real thing

I am so tired but I have access to my computer for a few minutes without a fight. I had my first day for the rest of whenever, at my job. The secretary was gone and we had a sub but since I know plenty in the office I got to stay in all day. The reward-endless kids in the nurses office and phone calls all morning. It got a little silly for a bit. Even one of the kids remarked how nonstop the traffic was. I kept trying to rename the kids in the nurses office. I took my headache medicine today. It helped but I was a real air head at times. At 1:30 we had a nurse and everything calmed down. We ended the day with an abandoned kindergartener. I could not reach anyone at the 2 numbers we had for him and I tried to find any other connections I could. At almost 4:30 I got someone. School gets out at 3:15. I am suppose to be off at 4. The principal stayed with him and I left at 4:30. I told myself at one point that I get to be there everyday from now on. OK.

The girls had an honor choir concert. We had a missing shirt. I found it and she got it in time. Now I should go away from this computer because i am terribly boring right now. It is not even 8 yet.

hmm

I was going to post pictures but I have a new glitch in my software and I couldn't get my very useful program to work. Darn it.

Today was not as much fun as I had planned but I was edgy. The screamers on my front brake pads did a great job of screaming at me when I went anywhere and it made me want to scream. Yes I am very testy and grumpy-grr. So I tried to prevent more agitation by staying home later in the day. besides, everyone is shopping today and I don't enjoy crowds. Lee Joe is going to check and maybe fix the screaming brakes in a few hours. yay! I should go to bed.

One more day for me

Friday is my last hurrah day. I just got done working for 3 days. That stupid headache thing afflicted me from Tuesday night on. So when you take 3 ibuprofren, Aleve cold and sinus, Tylenol with codeine, then 4 ibuprofren at once during the course of a day and you still have a headache. Then you take 4 ibuprofren, excedrin migraine and Aleve cold and sinus within an hour the next morning and you still have the stupid thing all day. It is just a bunch of crap. Now somehow it has totally eased up and I don't know why. I have a high tolerance for pain and it was all I could do to stay at the school all day. My eyes were swollen and I look terrible. I did it-stuck it out and survived and I did what I never want to do but I didn't want to wait a weekend either for relief or feel sick on Friday, I hit my doctor up at the school when I saw him for some other prescription pain reliever because I couldn't stand it anymore. Now I have it but I don't need it.

So tomorrow is my last day of freedom without my kids at home and I can go do whatever I want. The sad thing is I have no money. I suppose that is the story for a lot of people these days. At least I have a job I guess. I will still get the kids days off too. So there you go.

Lee Joe got home last night. He tells me today I guess he is going to Pocatello next week for work. But we know how back and forth him leaving can get.

Here is a funny comment for the day and I can't take claim. A teacher was talking to the secretary and I in the office. She was talking about tattoos and how she has seem some ladies, who have not age gracefully, have saggy tattoos. Then she said if she had gotten a rosebud tattoo when she was 120 pounds it would have bloomed by now. That was a good one.

First day??

It was kind of like my first day in my position even though I was "subbing" The gal I am replacing had her last day last week and she is just getting in her last personal and sick days. So many people were so happy I got the job, it was so nice. I was able to go through some papers and get familiar with my new territory at least make it mine. But I was seriously rained on this morning and lunch was obnoxious. All the kids were so noisey--REALLY noisey! On the playground I reminded myself I would be here every day from now on. But it was a quiet day really. The phone barely rang, I kept myself kind of busy. I know the Secretary is so happy because I already know so much and she barely has to tell me anything. I found out I get more money for doing the safety patrol.. WOOHOO! I went to Kelsea's game-they won!! By a lot and Kelsea scored 3 by making free throws. She caused the other team to turn over the ball a lot. The refs were better. But there were a few times things looked dangerous. I am surprised nobody got really badly hurt. Amber is at pep band but I have to make corn bread muffins for Autumn's class for tomorrow. Amber is not too happy with me talking to the boyfriend that is not a boyfriends mom. I can see her everyday almost now. She is PTO president and has a kindergartener this year so she is there a lot. I am always apparantly giving her info she doesn't know and she has filled me in on somethings I didn't know too. I want to post pictures-maybe later.

Playing the single parent game

So I am not a single parent but I will be playing one this week. Lee Joe left this morning. Another one of those weekends where he tries to tell me he is leaving everyday for like 3 days. He is leaving Friday-no-he is leaving after sacrament on Sunday-maybe he will leave later Monday-no Monday morning. He DID go this morning and may be back Wednesday night(?) We will see. I work for the next 3 days. I spent today trying to enjoy the freedom of no kids with transportation. Amber and I are tag teaming the kid wrangling. It will be busy tomorrow. And Wednesday is what it is. Oh well. I have Friday to live it up one more day if I am not hammered. Guess what? It is suppose to rain tomorrow morning. Hooray for me. See me waving a teenie tiny flag with faux enthusiasm. It's all a part of the job. At least we are not in Texas-I am trying to look at the bright side.

Of course, It is winter, the yellow jackets should be in hibernation.. I hate yellow jackets since I was stung by one at Devanie's wedding under the eye and my face was so swollen the next day I had to go to the ER. EWWW-I hate them! There was the biggest queen yellow jacket I have ever seen in my house this morning. It was so loud as it buzzed around the hall light. I think I handled the mouse a little better than the yellow jacket. I went to get some spray-I closed all the doors in the upstairs hallway and hid in Amber's room while I waited and peeked every few minutes to see if the spray was doing it's job. Once it was writhing on the ground I had to squish it several times before it stopped moving. It's body had to be over an inch long. I was not stung and I hope to wake up in the morning tomorrow in a pest free house. I guess I am not the only one having unwelcome visitors. My mom was telling me how my brother Matt found something-some kind of big rodent in their garage that was not a rat. He chased it around and tried to kill it by stomping on it's head. But it didn't die. He started to feel bad for the thing they did not know what it was and put it in a pet carrier and had it out on the back porch. When my mom got up Matt had brought the carrier in the house and turned a space heater on low for it. OK so being a tender hearted animal lover is genetic it doesn't matter how ugly or how much of a nuisance it proves to be. My mom was researching what they thought it might be and they think it could be a blind mole rat. I have never seen one before. I am glad it wasn't at my house this time. I will stop complaining about killing the yellow jacket now. The yellow jacket is a bug and not an animal so I can kill that without remorse.

Moment of Glory

Some people could only dream of this and you will have to imagine this as I have since I was not there either. But Kelsea had one of those dream like moments in her game last night. She couldn't even tell me about it-It was that unbelieveable to her. One of her friends told me what happened on the phone.

It was the end of the game. 3 girls had fouled out of the game. Kelsea was in as they were doing an inbound play in the last SECONDS of the game and they were down by three. One girl was suppose to be somewhere and she wasn't there so Kelsea had the ball and looked for the girl, she wasn't anywhere where she was suppose to be. Kelsea happened to see the clock winding down to the end. She decides to chuck the ball from 3 point land---As the ball is flying through the air the buzzer goes off and the ball GOES THROUGH THE BASKET!!!!! causing the game to go into overtime. The whole team tackles Kelsea on the floor. She starts crying because she can not believe what she just did. The coach asks her after that if she can still play because I guess she was still emotional and shaking. She did and one more girl that is their big point getter fouls out too. So they lost in overtime. Could you imagine????? I probably would have been crying if I had been there too if I could have seen that. What a moment of glory! Everyone complimented her all night and she got to where she couldn't handle all the attention, funny girl. She is only the center of attention when she wants to be.

So what I am thankful for in our house this Thanksgiving is that I live in this country where my girls can have moments like these. My girls have freedom and equality and the ability to be as great as they decide to be. I watched a PBS show about girls in India that are sold into sexual slavery by people they meet that they hardly know and it was absolutely heartbreaking. That the city and the country does almost nothing about it. It is pretty much a death sentence as they die young when freed from AIDS. It was never their choice. Their families don't want them back. I am so glad I live here. In this country where having all girls is as much of a blessing as boys. With all the opportunities they can imagine. I am blessed and ever grateful.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I wanted to add an update to our weekend.
I don't know how many years now we will have a holiday mouse story to share. But we have another. Lee Joe was on his way home Friday night and Kelsea was at her game of glory. I happen to notice the cat was stalking the bookshelf and choose to ignore that fact as I was talking to Lee Joe. Then a few minutes later I heard Autumn squeal and say she saw a tail. I was still on the phone and knew that didn't sound good. There was a mouse just under the blanket on the quilt rack. I told Lee Joe I wished he was here because I had to do the mouse chasing and got off the phone. Amber and I grabbed some plastic tubs from ice cream and began our chase. There is not much to hide in or behind in the dining area if we could keep it there. I caught it by the tail once and it squealed so it alarmed me and I let it go. around we went some more it scampering here and there. I caught it a second time by the tail but I didn't let it go this time and so Amber came over with her bowl and we caught it. No stomping death this time either. So I covered the opening and took it out to the wood pile. I am a huge weinie when it comes to killing something-even an invading mouse so I set the bucket down and then kicked it over so the mouse would leave. I went to the store. When I came back Amber told me the dog and cat were acting funny still. I walked into family room and the dog guiltily jumped off the sofa. I jumped more at the sight of a MOUSE again!!! but this time deceased by maybe Spot trying to lick it like a baby puppy or kitten. It looked like the same one. So the mouse is dead and in the garbage now.

We had our turkey dinner and my mom enjoyed contributing this year. She says that cooking is one of her hobbies now but she doesn't get to it often anymore. My brother came over a little after we started and then he left not long later. We went out to Lee Joe's buddy's house. It is a very nice house. Scattergories seems to be the game of choice on Thanksgiving 2 years in a row. Everyone played it last year when we were in Washington and it was brought out again this year. Amber is driving me nuts with her boyfriend that is not a boyfriend. They are out of town so she is constantly checking the computer for e-mails from him and she has talked to him a couple times on the phone. Otherwise she wanders aimlessly and disinterested in everyone and everything else. Yep-that is missing a boyfriend. She still won't admit the obvious though.

Kelsea is the only one who did black Friday shopping with her friend. She was so afraid she wouldn't wake up at 4am that they just stayed up all night and she was home by 7am and slept all day.

We have been decorating for Christmas the past 2 days. We got our tree and annual ornaments last night. Today the 2 trees were decorated. We have a fake one in our family room with all the kids handmade stuff and my handmade stuff. The real tree in the living room has all the annual kids ornaments and ceramics ones I have painted from the early years of our marriage. We tried to make sure we don't have a tree fiasco like last year-the tree was so heavy it fell twice. Kelsea has been so funny and excited. She wrapped the presents she bought on friday so their are already presents under the tree. Then she drug Lee Joe outside who has been trying to toy with us with his scrooginess. She told him no more faces and to get outside and start hanging lights and she went out with him and they have been hanging lights for 2 hours or so now.

Lee Joe is leaving for Utah tomorrow again. We aren't sure how long he will be down there again. Most of the week I am sure.

Hooray for cheap gas!

I bought an almost completely full tank of gas for $30!!!!!!! It has been a long time since I have seen that happen.

Tomorrow we will be at home most of the morning and have an early dinner with my mom and maybe my brother will show up and then we will go visit Lee Joe's friend that Lee Joe is working for right now. He just built this fantastic house that we haven't seen yet. The poor guys business is suffering as bad as Lee Joe's is. And worse since he has to maintain so much equipment. Lee Joe will be home sometime tonight and looks like he may be heading back next week.

After today I will only have 2 days left of freedom at home without kids. That is kind of sad for me. I was looking forward to this school year so I could do this. The last two days I was really happy I wasn't the one at the school doing the early morning crosswalk. It was so cold, the rabbit's water was frozen. I had a hard time not freezing or overheating yesterday.

Last night we spent about 5 hours watching basketball games. Kelsea's was at 4:30-then the JV played so we watched Kelsea's best friend and other teammates from AAU play. Then we watched the varsity team and saw Amber do her pep band thing. We left after half time and man bleacher seating is hard on the back. Kelsea's team lost by 7. She played alot and did pretty well. There was a ref that was horribly biased and he did the same ridiculous calls in the JV game so he pretty much lost the game for those 2 teams. He ousted the JV coach and it was ridiculous. I was so glad when that ref didn't ref the varsity game and they won. A mom was saying that the ref has always been like that towards our school. Go figure. You win some you lose some-and not due to lack of effort.

I need to quit procrastinating like I do so well when I blog and get on the ball. I have much to do.

Lee Joe really left

He left for reals this morning. I love it when kids say that. But he left early and worked all afternoon. I got busy and cleaned my house-again. I went to my benefits meeting today. Oh my gosh!!! So great are my benefits gonna be!! So what if I am working at a school, I am not a teacher, I don't have to teach english.

We were invited to FHE at our doctor's and Amber's boyfriend that is not a boyfriend's house. Their 5 boys and us-minus Kelsea and Lee Joe, was such a fun combination. I told my girls before they left to be on their best behavior and with Kelsea gone they were impressive how they all sat in a row beside me on their sofa tallest to smallest-but Hannah was on my lap and their boys acted the way my girls would act if we were at home having FHE. So our doctor-who is bishop in his ward-gave us a lesson on faith. Then we turned the kids loose. Hannah played ping pong with their 9 year old boy and our doctor. Their 5 year old fell asleep. Their twin 13 year olds played Wii with Kylee and Autumn. Then their mom, Amber, the boyfriend-not a boyfriend and I all talked in the kitchen and ate great cookies. I guess they are famous for their cookies and they were yummy. So now I guess we will have to return the favor. We came home and I COULD NOT get my little girls to bed at a decent hour. So they were making up for their good behavior elsewhere I guess. They all have to get up a little earlier tomorrow for choir. That stinks for them doesn't it?

I guess I should be in bed.

Dreary

It is so dreary. But it has been snowing. Poor Devanie. Lee Joe has been telling her she is coming. Lee Joe is going down there to work and his departure day keeps getting moved. He was leaving Sunday, then later Monday, then Thursday, he was leaving later today and now he is leaving Monday afternoon and will be back for Thanksgiving. After Thanksgiving weekend he may go back but we should not hold our breathe on any of this. It is good thing he is not leaving today because I am sure Snowville(or whatever that snowy place is called between here and Salt Lake) is a mess on the way there. He hasn't worked much the past two weeks.

Lee Joe found a 1930's a Lionel and American flyer train parts with tons of track and other stuff at an estate sale a couple houses down this weekend. He was so excited about it. Mainly because he can make some money off it- he thinks. I have old trains and new trains all over my living room. Who knows what he thinks he is doing. We have lots of neighbors in our neighborhood that bought their houses when they were new in the 50s. One of them is a former military pilot for the Korean war I think. But now they are all passing away or going to homes so this estate sale sounds like an antique treasure trove. But I am not really into antiques so I have no problems. Lee Joe on the other hand. Well---he is into stuff. Very random and sometimes impulsive.

Kelsea had a follow up on her ankle. It is not broken-YAY but they are treating it like a sprain and she has more physical therapy to do in it. I am not too sure about her diagnoses on her rib. We may be going back on that. She can't lay on her stomach without pain. That is not good.

This has been a really long and drawn out day. It is 4 and feels like it should be much later. I have been doing laundry and some cleaning. Hannah called 4 friends to come over and none of them could. Kylee has a friend over and all the little girls are playing together and Amber is spending a little time right now with the boyfriend that is not her boyfriend and some other friends. Kelsea is back at the estate sale with Lee Joe. Hopefully she won't let him spend any more money.

News

I got the job at the school. My hours will be 7:30-4 and the little girls will be in tow. That is an hour earlier than they are use to going to school. Needless to say I am far from use to that myself. I am a night owl and not a morning person. So my days are numbered to time without children. I start officially on the 8th of Dec but I sub 3 days the week before. I work for 2 weeks and get 2 weeks of vacation with the girls. I could have subbed tomorrow too but Kelsea has her appt-see below. I will have some great benefits though. I can get fixed all over!! But my consistent blogging days are numbered possibly. It will be a fight for the computer in the evenings.

I took Kelsea and Amber brought herself to the doctor today. Kelsea's appt was at 9:45 and Amber's was at 11:30. Kelsea's took so long that we went back into the waiting room at 11:26 to wait with Amber for her's. Kelsea is going to see an orthopedist on Friday. Her x-rays looked OK but they aren't the bone doctors. She is in a lot of pain. And the swelling on her rib could be a hematoma but it doesn't hurt anymore and it is not something they are concerned about so she got an all clear for ab work in PE now. Then Amber went in for some weird ear pain. She has TMJ and we have to get with the orthodontist on getting a mouthguard for her and he showed her how to relieve pain in her neck before she gets a migraine. She had one yesterday. He said to get some new raquetballs and put them in a sock. Tennis balls are too big. And then told her to lay down on it and put the sock with balls in it behind her neck where the neck muscles and skull meet. Should help the tension she gets in her neck and help the tension induced migraines without meds. I want to try it too.

Things that get to Lee Joe about being in a house with all girls---He can't stand Josh Groban. We all love him. He doesn't enjoy the Jane Austen movies. But I am finding most guys with all daughters are tortured that way. Hormones are getting more out of hand and Autumn is another Kelsea when it comes to stubborn, hormonal, and tempermental. You put those two together anymore and fireworks and flames start shooting. Ok just screams and tears and on and on and on. Can somebody stifle my scream? The past two days have had some unbearable moments.

ACK-

I interviewed for the job today. I know I am on the top of the list and they will tell me Wednesday or Thursday. They asked me if I was interested in the 3 hour job if I didn't get this one and I said no. I can make the same money subbing 2 days in a week than I would make in one week in that postion. If I don't get it I will keep subbing and look into a medical transcribing school. But I am going to look into that anyway even if I get this job. There is enough time off to do that too. I am subbing 3 days the first week of December and if I get the job I will start the 8th. I am on a rollercoaster ride of emotion over it all.

I went back to the sinus man. He put me on prednisoneagain(one a day) and a low dose (high cost) antibiotic for the next month and gave me hydrocodeine for my headaches. I have had one for 3 days now. Then if I get the job and get benefits he wants to do a CT scan if this course of medicine doesn't work. We could be looking at surgery. I am so tired of these headaches.

Kelsea has had two games. They won the first and lost the 2nd. Lee Joe was able to watch her. He said she made 4 points today and one was an awesome reverse lay-up. I wish I saw that. We were having piano lessons and I was making dinner. OHHHH dinner. Kelsea goes to the doctor tomorrow over her ankle that she broke over a year ago. It is hurting all the time that it isn't in a brace. I hope it isn't rebroken or anything. I hope she doesn't have to stop playing. She drives us nuts when she isn't properly worn out. She REALLY went nuts when she was in her boot.

Lee Joe may be going to visit Devanie to work on a job down there. He was suppose to leave Sunday night and then it was Monday night and now it could be Thursday. We will see if it happens. Who knows. These past few days have been nuts and full of stuff. AND I was without my car all that time and my blinker still doesn't work right. Stupid thing. I think everything is getting to me right now and I get to take the prednisone for a month to be more aggravated. Yee Haw.

But we are both legal licensed drivers again. Woo Hoo.

No boys for me

So I had a funny experience today on the playground. A little girl comes up to me and tells me a sometimes troublesome boy(he has a behavioral specialist with him now) has a worm he is playing with on the playground. It sounded like he might have been chasing her with it. He was playing in a sand pit with another sometimes troublesome boy(last year I told this boy to stop licking the bars when they were covered in water from rain or something and then the next recess he was doing it again, all over the bars he licked them back and forth-so gross). I go over there and they tell me they are finding worms, slugs and rollie pollies. The boy has one worm. He says it is his friend. Then he says he is trying to feed it and take care of it and I tell him it needs to be in the ground over by the grass because that is what he eats. So he goes to the grass gabs a handful and puts a pile of it in the sand. I am really just trying to get him to part with the worm. So I tell him the worm really needs to be out of the sand. He can't live there, there are too many kids that play in the sand and they might hurt it. So he says OK. "Can I throw it?" What! No, I tell him go put it in the grass nicely. So he does. The other little boy I now notice has a HANDFUL of slugs. " Go put the slugs away in the grass, and then go wash your hands with soap and water." Oh my goodness. I watch him to make sure he follows my instructions to go to the bathroom. Thank goodness gracious for my little girls. Oh wait. I recall Amber collecting hand fulls of worms from under the tetherball and then showing me a wriggling mountain of worms. Ok, girls can be gross too.

I am so indecisive!!

I wish I was not so indecisive. It takes me so long to make decisions. I am probably going to apply for a full-time position at the school tonight. I have to do it online. There is tons of interest in it but I do that job all the time and had the job once before for a month then school got out. The principal and the gal I work with in the office like me. I have a pretty high chance of getting it. But nothing for sure yet. I subbed for it yesterday and today. SOOOOO----What sucks- I will be outside early in the morning at the crosswalk. I got rained on yesterday. Some nice lady stopped and offered me an umbrella. How nice was that? This morning my butt and nose were frozen. I am outside for 45 minutes at around 10 and then again at lunch--it is about an hour and a half. Then I am in the office for the rest of the day until 3:15 and then I get to fight high school kids and old people so I can get the kids across the street safely at the stoplight. People run the thing all the time. I hate the crosswalk the most. The rest is fine. I would start the beginning of December. Just in time for the yucky weather. Right now my sinus issues are OK but I am still on antibiotics and feel like the pillsbury dough boy with all the swelling I am dealing with the last 2 days. But my head doesn't hurt and I have not sneezed in days. I would get benefits--that is cool--and some cool benefits teachers are offered at the school. I would only get paid once a month though and on full days of school I would only make 5 dollars more than a day of subbing. But I would be home when my kids are home and my hours are just a little longer than their school day. I really like all the people there. The pros and cons almost weigh evenly. Another bad thing would be I have no resource on days when the kids are sick. Lee Joe is pursuing a job that is crazy good money but we have no answers yet if that is possible. Lee Joe is still looking at leaving town for the winter. That depends on a bunch of things. So I would be working full-time as an almost single parent scenario with 5 kids. Last time I did that job I was sick every weekend from the stress. My mouth was horribly sore and I couldn't eat and needed a ridiculous amount of sleep the worse my mouth was in order to recover. Is it just me or is there a lot to consider for this job? Health over money-but for good health you need the job to have the insurance and the money to pay the doctor so you can get better. But will the job make me sicker to require more doctor visits than I would have needed if I just stayed home? So here I sit. Do I or don't I?.................I applied Sat morning.

Real quick-

Today is my last day on Prednisone. Hooray! I am so shaky still and only had to take one pill total today. But the benefits of no transportation and some nervous energy finally got invested in my house as the water guy put in our new water softener and reverse osmosis water system. I cleaned like crazy. So awesome. Today I feel not so great for other reasons. But it is nice to walk around and see the house is still clean today. I have some running around to do but it is more like a turtles pace. I need to go see several doctors right now. I haven't had my annual in almost 7 years now. I know I need to go in.

Amber had an awful nightmare last night. I don't recall her ever having one in forever. It bothered her so badly she wound up in bed with us. That has not happened in FOREVER. She never ever comes to us like that anymore. Poor girl.

We have YW in Excellence tonight and I need to get pick up pictures from Wal-mart for their displays. 3 of them! Someday I will get over that.

We almost have a really big rabbit hutch for our poor bunny. Lee Joe has been home a lot this week.

yes I am whining

I am going to whine a little about Prednisone. I am shaking and very edgy-I think PMS and some major stress is contributing. I am very swollen. I felt bad all over my head last night and Lee Joe said my eye lids were even swollen. I barely feel like I sleep after much longer than usual trying to get to sleep. I worked today. I could barely type anything right and multitasking was like EEKK. I am home now. Lee Joe has had to play taxi all day. he took the car to the shop. I about freaked out when the car place wanted to keep my car over night over a STUPID LEFT BLINKER PROBLEM!! Yes, it's back. They want it over night because it started working again and they don't know why it stopped, so they want to keep it to see if it stops again. It has worked for awhile before going out again. So what's that gonna do. Let the car sleep on it and see if it feels better in the morning? Whatever. But I am getting a free 30 day trial on a water softener tomorrow, a $200 gas giftcard and 2 years of laundry detergent for the 30 day trial, so I had to hang out around the house anyway in the morning. Hopefully they figure out the stupid blinker and it doesn't cost me hundreds of dollars for a glitch when what I needed to spend it on was making the van pass it's emissions test. I could whine a little longer but I won't. There is not much else worth writing about. Wait, Lee Joe is building a rabbit hutch. Yay, for Pepper! We put an extra shelf in a closet this weekend-it was a much bigger project than it sounds and I cleaned up my office a bunch and my desk is quite clean. And Amber has a boyfriend that she says isn't her boyfriend but there has been some hand holding and kissing goodnight going on. I told Amber she is in denial if she keeps saying he is not her boyfriend. I won't divulge much else for the sake of my daughter. That is about all that I can think of. I leave on a happier note.

Nov pics

Amber Facebooking

Fun with Kelsea

Hannah's front tooth was sticking straight out for the longest time. It was driving us all nuts. I tried to get her to pull it out, I bumped her elbow "on accident" (I am so mean)while she was wiggling it. It was looser but still there. So I finally had her, grabbed a hold of the barely hanging in there tooth and pulled it out. She almost swallowed it in her fight but didn't. Now she looks like a jack o lantern herself with all the missing teeth. Poor thing. At least she is smiling in these pictures. She cried for about 15 minutes after it came out.

Last marching event. The Veterans parade we went to today. What Kelsea wears to the parade. It was chilly. Lee Joe and the girls across the street. We were at the end of the parade so there were less people than at the beginning.

Our Girl and her friends! I just love downtown Boise.

Amber in comparision to the large pile of leaves.. OK these only filled 5 bags but the main tree in our backyard is not even close to done.

I think....

I think... I think....I THINK!!! I think I may have FINALLY conquered the nasty mess on my computer. 3 days later--it is behaving itself right now. It has been so frustrating and such a waste of my time.

I am on Prednisone for 8 days. I am glad it is not for long. I am having a little bit of the body aches but not like yesterday. I am on day 2 and the hyper is kicking in a little but I cleaned some things and am motiviated. That is actually a bonus considering how long I have been exhausted and unable to catch up around here. The top of my washer and dryer are cleaned off. I am glad none of you were able to see it before. Amber is having friends over tonight I think so I need to get busy and make her get busy too. I will be so excited if I can accomplish some things in the next couple of days that I have been needing to do. I have worked on my office this week and cleaned the back of the garage again so the momentum is starting to get going. I always feel better when things are clean anyway. It is not often enough so I have not been so happy.

We bagged 10 large leaf bags full of leaves last weekend. With the storms I think we are going to fill 10 more. My back yard is covered again.

I hurt

One benefit of the antibiotics I am taking is my adult acne is clearing up. It has been horrible and it much better right now. I am not sure if it's a side effect of the medicine I am taking or if Amber and Kelsea and I have something but my lower back all the way down my legs hurt with muscle pain and pain relievers don't help. And that is listed as a side effect of the prednisone. But I am not excessively hungry-yet or hyper. But I am still up but that is because my computer is so slammed with a nasty virus that I am still trying to fix it. I was up until 2:30 last night and started working on it at 7 or 8 this morning, went shopping for some new software this afternoon and have been running new virus scans all afternoon and internet explorer keeps throwing crap up over and over and have to exit all the dumb screens when the computer isn't supervised right now. I wish I knew more about computers to know more what to do. It's awful. But the little girls are home tomorrow so I don't have to get up real early Thursday or Friday. I love days off for that reason.

I visited with 14 teachers from 4:45 till after 8 tonight. I had some good reports. Hannah is grasping everything put in front of her. Kylee and Autumn have great grades-all A's and one B but both need to work on their math facts, their reading fluency-they are both just below grade level on that. And they need to get things in on time better. But Kylee is quiet and Autumn perfectionistic to ridiculous and they are starting to see her sparky sassy side. We are seeing a lot of the sassy that is not so much fun at home. When teachers have Kylee and then Autumn they find it interesting how opposite they are in personality but their problems are the same. Amber had 2 Bs and they were in AP classes and they are weighted. Amber's teachers had nice things to say. She is so funny. Everytime I come home from teacher visits she wants to know everything her teachers said about her. Kelsea doesn't care as much. Her grades are all over the place but the lowest grades were C's not D's which were on her progress report so she is getting them up slowly. She has great teachers with genuine concern for her so that is great for her. Her C's are in hard classes so I know she is trying hard and she will get there. We have never been hard on the kids for low grades. We work hard at finding out how they can do better.

It's late, I am bored, frustrated and full of blabbiness.

Stupid computer

My computer is really screwed up. I hope I can fix it this time.

I worked yesterday. It got colder as the day went on. I could try for a full-time position at the school that starts in December. I was doing that job yesterday and it is the same one I had there for a month a few years ago. I would be outside a lot in the middle of winter. I don't like that so much especially with my sinus problems that gets so much worse the more I am outside. But the hours and days would be perfect for managing the kids. I don't know. Today was down right nasty cold and windy. I am glad I didn't work today. Yuck.

I went back to the Sinus man today. He is keeping me on antibiotics and also put me on prednisone-a steroid. I have never been on that before. I might get a little weird and have problems sleeping for a few days. Get this. I am on the same antibiotic as I was 2 weeks ago. I bought the generic at Wal-greens the first time for $98 for 28 pills. Today I bought the generic at Wal-mart-for 28 pills FOR $38. So I guess it really would have paid to shop around the first time. And the prednisone was only $6. That is nuts.

More basketball is in the works. Kelsea just made the Sophomore team! Hooray for her! No sad depressed days to come. Just more practices and almost 4 months of it, maybe 5 because of the holidays. Did I say Holidays? I can't believe we are headed in that direction already. Make it stop!! It went too fast.

Whoops

I went to the bread store today and wrote a check. She asked for my drivers license and I happily handed it to her. I watched her write the expiration date down and thought it was strange-2008? It is 2008. I have not looked at the date on my license and took any mental notes that it would expire this year. I have been driving for a month without-- umm, you know. I called Lee Joe and told him what I just noticed. He looked at his since I brought it up. Umm-him too but several months longer than me. What is worse is while Lee Joe was gone in California the nasty emission noticed arrived and before he got back they revoked the registration. We passed the emission test, Lee Joe tried to tell me that it automatically gets reinstated, I reread the notice-no it doesn't. And our van wouldn't pass emissions because a sensor is telling it to not pass and it is just a faulty sensor not a real car problem. We can't pay to fix it right now. I won't even go into the work truck's issues. So by the time we get done here nobody and no car is legal except for Amber. Pretty sorry. I think I will be spending a very long morning at the DMV this week.

Happy Halloween!!

There was an orchestra concert last night. Kelsea was first chair for the first piece they played and so that meant she tuned the orchestra. Amber was asked to play piano for the 2nd piece and it was the prettiest piece of music. I loved hearing them practice together at home.

Not all the schools in Boise let the kids dress up for Halloween. But our school does. Today they got out early so it was one huge party day. Here are my girls in the parade.

Kylee is Meg from Hercules. Autumn is Rosella or Rosetta-I don't know her name-from the Tinkerbell stories. As if you don't know what Hannah is...

There is a really good cook of a mom that has a daughter in Kylee's class. She made the 3 trays of crazy cupcakes. Oh my gosh they were so cute and so I had to take a picture.

The pictures to go with blogging

Pepper playing Disney Scene it with Autumn. She is so smart-the rabbit. Of course Autumn is too.

I failed to mention that Autumn and Hannah both received awards last week. Autumn got a Personal best award and Hannah got Student of the month.

Little trumpet boys came and messed up our house.

At the banquet where the kids did hilarious skits, Amber's band teacher gave her and the other two DMs flowers and a card and said nice things.

On the field for competition.

Views form the show in the nose bleed section.

The finish and the award.

What a pretty pie. Good job Kelsea.

Last Basketball. Winning ribbons

Our remotes. Our Red Green show special remote. Try to eat that remote sofa! 3 worked better than 4 though. And our bedroom remote.

Hannah's banana. Har har