Day off!

I am so glad I don't work full time but I have had plenty to drag me down in the mud besides working. I felt like I had the flu last night and this morning. I feel better now though like I can get something done but I am not. I have been super stessed but trying to tell myself things will be OK and things did get better today. I have worked so much this month I should have a nice paycheck when birthdays hit again in March.


This week Amber started Tennis. There went my afterschool driver but that didn't matter too much because I was already at the school 2 out of 3 days. But I don't have worry about getting Amber home from practice. Kelsea is debating whether or she is playing tennis or doing track. She is practicing Tennis to see if she is going to like it but she will start in a few weeks. I kind of liked the little girl I helped. I got to help her again Weds morning. She did really well except at recess she was hitting and didn't come in until I went out and got her. I wasn't out there during recess and the kid she was hitting was my own little kindergartner. How sad. Those people that work with the special needs kids really have a tough job. It is exhausting to work with kids that are not like all the others. I count my blessings after I work with those kids. But I like so many of the kids that are in the ERR at the school has but boy can they have some super bad moments.


Hannah went back to the eye doctor. She was seeing too well through the plastic cover they put over the lens on her glassses over her good eye so they gave her one that obscures her good eye more. That eye sees exceptionally well. She is getting new glasses. They are purple. She is very excited about them. I talked to a first grade teacher and her kindergarten teacher about having Hannah tested for GATE for next year. Her kindergarten teacher thinks she should be tested so I think that could happen later in March or early April.


Kylee had a rough week with friends. She was getting excluded and she was sad about it. She has talked to her teacher and we hope things are improving for her. Kylee performed a solo on violin on Saturday and played very well. I was impressed, I didn't think she was going to do as well as she did and she sounded better than many of the other kids in her group. She has a singing solo this Sat. Autumn has her typical drama that goes on with her friends again. A couple of girls like to stir the pot and cause lots of fights and divisions between their friend group. Aren't girls fun. Ugh. Kelsea ran home from YW last night because of something that happened between her and the Ymens president. He is kind of rough physically and something happened between them and it upset Kelsea a bunch. That is not the first time that has happened. So we will probably have to address that. Amber is fine and I can't drag stuff out of her so much since she isn't captive in a car anymore with me after school. I get tiny bits and pieces about her life. According to Amber it is very uneventful. I suppose no news is good news right? She probably just forgot about it. She did have her birthday party on Friday. It was a nice party and so easy! Teenagers do a good job of taking care of themselves unless they get too loud. Which happened during Catch Phrase. And the 3 youngest all went to someone else's house and Kelsea was so tired she kept to herself and went to bed early.


The weather is holding up. Lee Joe is working more. YAY! Gets him out of the house and earning money. Oh yeah, he is healthy again too.

Working

I worked at the school again. This time I was suppose to help the new little down syndrome girl adjust to her first days at the school in the first grade. It was an interesting day. Lots of ups and downs. Today they moved me to the ERR and the little girl had rough day (But I wouldn't say her first day was breezy either). I couldn't stay all day. Maybe if I could have stayed they would have left me there. I will be there half a day tomorrow.

WHAT!!!

Ok, I had hoped or thought we were done with it but it is @#@$#^@#%@%$@&^#$*&#$ Snowing AGAIN! Big pretty fat flakes and sticking in places. I am ready for spring darn it.

Socks before and after

One of the dozens of pictures Lee Joe took on our plane ride home

Hannah's party. Her little boyfriend is standing beside her.

City Championship game. Announcing the starting line up.

Snow hill!!

Kinda weird!

So the last 3 days are full of interesting events we have witnessed and maybe observed(?) On Tuesday morning Amber and Kelsea and the seminary kids witnessed the big flash of light. It was a meteor that the whole Northwest saw. Weds night the 3 youngest watched the lunar eclipse. They thought that was pretty cool. This morning our big chimes in the family room were swinging and chiming for no reason and then we noticed the plants were swinging too. We didn't feel it but we saw the effect. Kylee has fairy in her room that hangs and she saw it swinging too. There was an earthquake in Wells Nv this morning.

Autumn was still sick today. I went to the Doctor with her and they checked her for strep. She is negative. I wanted to rule that out. So she has a virus. But we were late getting to Hannah.

Yesterday was nice. I picked up Hannah and wound up bringing Kylee home. Then we hung out. I didn't have to be anywhere. I cancelled piano. And I organized Lee Joe's mess some. His paper business stuff. And I worked on my office again. It is a never ending pile of stuff. I think it multiplies so fast. We can see the floor again. And pieces of desk and table. I did a lot but there is still so much more. I am almost caught up on laundry. I am trying to get the house ready for Amber's birthday party. I guess I better give it some more thought. It is tomorrow.

It's back!

Lee Joe and Autumn are home today sick. Kylee will probably come home early. I made her go at least the morning for orchestra. They have sore throats and colds. I guess we have sick quota to fill that we haven't filled yet.

I had a day and a half of quiet over the weekend. Amber and Kelsea decided to come home early on Sat. Saturday night we went out to Nampa to see my cousin Siena play basketball against Northwest Nazarene University. She plays for Central Washington University. Siena's team lost but it was fun watching her play. She is 5ft 3. The shortest person on both teams and she was rebounding and taking charge.

Sunday got nuts. One of those days where everything seems to show up on one day. Kylee and Autumn sang with some other girls at a retirement center. We went to my moms for an Ashlee and Grandma Lane B-day party. Then we had a convert baptism to go to. Then we went back to my moms. At least there was no school on Mon. On Monday I went visiting teaching and the 3 youngest went to my visiting teaching companion's house. Then afterwards their girls came here. We cleaned house and the yard-which hasn't been touched since fall and with a horse of a dog that can be quite disgusting. Amber took all the girls to the park. Amber and Kelsea played tennis. Kelsea and Kylee fought and Kylee Autumn and Hannah at some point played together. Kelsea tried to play dodge the tennis balls while Amber and her friends were playing tennis. But I think Kylee was the one who tagged Kelsea in the forehead with one-hence the fight.

I worked at the school yesterday. Nothing crazy but the phone ringing nonstop so it was fine. I got the car washed! That was an accomplishment. I barely got home and the school called me about Autumn so I had to go back and bring her home. Kylee came home not feeling well so all their Tuesday stuff didn't happen. But Kylee broke a string on the violin so I had to go get it fixed. Kelsea had her intro to the high school last night at the open house. So it was a very busy day. Lee Joe had also invited some of the young scouts to our house to play bowling on our Wii. He wasn't here and neither was I for very long so Amber was in charge. She did a good job with the 8 little boys and their 2 leaders.

Sorry-no pictures yet.

Valentines and a quiet house

At this moment the kids are having a 4 day weekend and only the 2 youngest are home with me right now. Really quiet and super low key. Kylee is at a friends, she stayed the night and Amber and Kelsea were off this morning for an overnight snowmobiling trip with our YW and YM.

Earlier this week Kylee went to the Doctor. She was diagnosed with exercised induced asthma. The x-ray tech saw me come in with Kylee and she hasn't seen Kylee. But she has seen 3 of the girls. She said she didn't recognize who I walked in with. I opened my big mouth and even said that I shouldn't say anything but she has been less accident prone than the 3 she has seen. The next day I got a call from the school nurse about Kylee. She had fallen off the highest bar that the kids flip around on. Some boys decided to shake the bar to see of she could balance. She couldn't and fell really hard. The duty wouldn't let her get up. The nurse came out with the wheelchair once they could see that she could move fine they wheeled her into the nurses office. Anyways she hit her rear really hard and her head. She had a bad headache and couldn't move real well or sit on her rear comfortably. We kept a really close eye on her. She stayed home from choir and dance on Tuesday and stayed home Weds morning. I subbed in the afternoon and the PE teacher asked how she was and several other people and they said it was really scary. She was hurt bad but mostly from the impact, mainly sore muscles.. She didn't show dangerous signs of head trauma so I didn't take her to the doctor. She went on her field trip Weds and as soon as she got back her head hurt a little worse but by evening she was much better and the next morning some pain but she was doing tremendously better.

So Amber's boy saga continues. Amber played piano for a stake fireside on Sunday. And THE boy led the music. He got to sit by her then the whole fireside. He gave her a chocolate flower on her birthday-I know I said this already- and he gave her tulips in the evening. On Weds he hid some carnations in her backpack when she took him and another girl home. And for the school fundraiser valentine thing she got a carnation with a note from him. She won't let me see what she got from her seminary valentines bag. She played tennis with some friends and him on Thursday afternoon and those two played longer than anyone else. She gave him and her 3 best friends a Symphony bar with a handmade cover. They were all the same with individual stickers for each friend. I asked her why she wasn't giving him the one with a music stand sticker on it and she said it was because the wrapper job wasn't as nice. So she gave him the nicer candy bar. He e-mailed her the sweetest and most complimentary message and the poor boy is worse off than he was before. He was going to do something else after school but his mom wouldn't let him because of all the attention he had already given her. She is like so in the middle of the road about it all. I have no idea what is going on in her head over it. There is the slightest hint of a little like back. Perhaps for Amber that is actually a tremendous showing of emotion. I like the boy that likes Amber and they are still going nowhere. They held hands for 2 seconds during a game and she gave him a brief hug for the flowers. He is supposedly going to ask her out to prom. It is in May. Amber's friend has an inability to keep secrets. We decided to shop for a dress when we had time, whether or not she gets asked but that was before we knew how far away prom really was. We found one. Modest dresses are hard to find. And we are about to get super busy again. So the friend spilled the beans on the dress back to her admirer telling him he had to ask her now. And it got to his mom and she mentioned the dress to me. Super awkward! Amber's friend learned her lesson too I think.

And as it is Valentines week the realization of being a mother of 5 girls and as we are being thrust into the world of awakening boys. Oh my. Kelsea still has a 7th grade admirer. His last name is Day. So we teased her that if she liked her last name she could marry him and only change one letter in her last name. He has liked her for a long time now in jr high terms. He was teasing Amber's admirer for liking her. Kelsea was re-enacting her own admirer's glances at her during the fireside in the most exagerated manner which had Amber and I laughing. THEN during a scout meeting(same day) that Lee Joe had, he cracked a joke and had a bunch of the other ladies there laughing and one of the ladies-she has a son that is a sophmore and another one that is a freshman and she said "no wonder my boys like your daughters so much". It is a compliment to have admired daughters but it is overwhelming. Kelsea, I think I have said has had many such admirers and she is only bothered by too much staring or when it becomes negative attention. There is a boy that Kelsea considers a friend but he seems to like her a lot. I haven't really met him yet but he made me something for valentines day. It said "to Kelsea's mommy" It was hilarious to me anyways. But the younger girls are there already too. Kylee has a boy like her for several years and Hannah had a boy ask her to be his girlfriend. He is the MOST adorable little guy. She said she would but there was no kissing-good girl.

In spite of the onslaught of school valentines-all 5 this year. It was mellow day. Lee Joe and I are probably going out tonight but he did get me a sapphire bracelet. It is very pretty.

So this blog was probably more than you ever needed to know, but the kids are home or gone and I have a messy house and a 4 day weekend. So why not procrastinate a little longer. Maybe I will even post some pics this weekend.

Guitar Hero

The girls are Guitar Hero addicted. Lee Joe and I are annoyed by most of the music. I have played it though. Amber and Kelsea could play it on and on. Amber and Kelsea woke up seriously late this morning. Kelsea had to write off seminary so she played Guitar Hero before school. Hannah can play it. She cracks us up. She actually gets to the end of the songs. She is so little it is funny to watch her play it. Autumn says it is too hard so she is the only one with no interest.

I feel like crap again today. My shoulders are going out at least once a week. I didn't use the fancy neti pot yesterday and at bedtime I had a headache. I had it all night and have had one all morning. It is all sinus. So freaking annoying, I can't stand it. So I have had to use the thing today twice and it is slowly easing up. Medicine doesn't work at all. I didn't have to be at the school today. Thank goodness. It just feels like the day is a waste. I don't have anything else I want to complain about so have great day-Hey it hasn't snowed since last Thursday. It is weird. And it above 40. That is weird too.

Whew

I am so glad it is Friday. I think this week has kicked my butt. yes another one of those weeks. I subbed 3 days just the 3 hour block and I volonteered on one of the days I was off. The only day I wasn't at school was Thursday and it was get ready for the b-day day and Of course I would get sick in the midst of it. There have been things after school. Concerts and dance and YW. Lee Joe helped get Kelsea to something at the High school last night because I was too sick to go. But I got AMber's presents wrapped and a cake made for Amber before I really hit the floor-or really the bed- and Kelsea made the 2nd cake for me and the rest of the girls stepped up and cleaned. Poor Amber had a visit from Aunt Flo so she was bedridden too. We all recovered well enough for the party. I was able to eat dinner and frost the cakes. My mom and sister and her family came over. They helped me get Amber Guitar Hero for the Wii. She got a shirt, shoes, some ear rings, Pirates wii game and covers for the front seats of the Kia that she has been driving. The boy that likes her gave her a chocolate rose in the morning and then stopped by last night and gave her a bouquet of tulips. SHE GAVE HIM A HUG! Now we should all fall on the floor now in shock. Anyways in spite of sickness and cramps we had a nice party for Amber.
Yesterday I had some sort of illness related to my sinuses again. But I am trying something to help it. Today I was surprised I didn't have any residual pain. I bought something called a neti pot. You mix a saline solution in it and it irrigates your sinuses. I think it has helped a lot. But I need to try it more consistently and see if I can kick a bunch of these headaches and other pain. It has become a chronic issue. Because I have been outside a lot it makes my problems worse.

It feels like Spring in Alaska right now. All the snow is melting and there has been tons of it so everything on the playground is chunks of ice and giant puddles full of slush. We got another 4 inches Wednesday and 1 inch on Thursday. Kylee is wearing out the snow boots we have had for several years because she needs to wear them everyday. Time for water boots.
I need to catch up on laundry now.

Happy Birthday!

Amber is 17 today! I have been so busy I need to go shopping. Plus she is hard to buy for this year. She doesn't really need anything. I can't beilieve she is 17. OK, Now I might need a tissue.

Snow

Snow SNow SNOw SNOW! I wonder where we are living because I can not recall a winter like this here. Lee Joe is removing snow again at Costco this morning. We decided to call our own snow-sick day so we are all home from church. We have had that annoying flu still. It is making rounds through us all now and lingers a long time. Hannah has a cold. She was running a fever Thurs and I kept her home on Friday too. Amber and Kelsea were home sick on Friday. I was house bound for almost 3 days. Someone else transported kids so I had some cabin fever Friday afternoon. We didn't have another snow day but the roads were much worse Thurs and Fri. Thursday was blowing snow. Later in the evening it rained and so everything was ice covered Friday morning. But the roads were fine later in the day. Today it is just snowing and snowing. It would be nice if there was something else to talk about but there isn't. I have a range of emotions with the snow. It is cool that we are having a real winter. I like watching it snow. I don't like driving in it. It makes me want to just stay in and keep cozy but Lee Joe can only do snow removal and not much else when it is snowing all the time. Monday is suppose to be partly cloudy! Woo Hoo! I have to work at the school in the afternoon so that report for me is a good one.

Yep-Snow day!

We got it! A snow day. Once Amber go the word at 5 am we all slept ridiculously late. Lee Joe worked moving snow all night and got home after Amber told me about the snow day. Autumn woke up close to 9 and asked if it was a snow day. Otherwise she overslept. Kylee and Autumn played outside for hours. Hannah was in an out with them. She is catching a cold. We have been playing the Wii. I rented a game and got the girls a movie. There is a 100% chance of snow in the morning and all day tomorrow so the potential for another snow day is pretty high depending on when it starts. Lee Joe will be moving snow again I am sure.

First snow day

My kids have never had a snow day. It never really snows that bad and when it has it is Christmas vacation or something. But the potential for a snow day is huge for tomorrow. It has snowed all day today. We had a two hour break and now it is starting again. We haven't done any of our Tuesday activities. But it is a nice day to stay cozy and warm at home. All this snow has meant a couple of nights of snow removal at Costco for Lee Joe which is a good thing. There is not much other work lined up and he can possibly make somewhere from $40-$100 an hour for snow removal alone. I don't remember a winter here that had so much snow. Someone told Lee Joe that the last time Boise saw this much snow was in 1963.

I subbed on Friday and of course I had cross walk that day and of course it snowed during the night. And there is construction close to the school right now. NIGHTMARE!! And then we had a little girl completely freak out over a piece of popcorn stuck in her throat. She thought she was literally going to die. The nurse wasn't there and the principal started to try and do the heimlich on her-it wasn't necessary. I had to calm her down and get her to eat some crackers and bread and she drank some juice. And her mom was called. She went home early(thank goodness) One little boy that was also in the nurses office asked if that kind of thing happened often. I told him I didn't think so.

We have had the flu too. Hannah got it Thursday night and threw-up for about 3-4 hours. On Friday 7 kids were gone in her class. Lee Joe stayed home with her so I could work. I have been fighting some other flu. It is mild but annoying. And it lasts days. Kylee and Autumn have had it too. They missed church and school on Monday.

Other than that, we are still enjoying the Wii. Lee Joe and I are guilty too. He likes his Blazing Angels game. I have been playing Mater-national.

So Snow, sick and gaming is about all there has been since Weds. Kelsea got a trophy at her team party on Saturday. The coach says that they have a defense they do called monster. He said Kelsea is the #1 monster on the team that is suppose to super guard someone while the rest of team does a zone defense. Our Stake president has a daughter on Kelsea's team. He has 6 girls but is so into the basketball he coaches and assistant coaches their AAU teams. His girls are good. He told Kelsea she should try out for AAU because she is really good. We might consider it.

Oh yeah, My sisters birthday is today but we partied for her last night. I am framing some of my dads pictures for her. She had to pick some out and I framed one. I need to get frames for the others she picked out and then I am going to have to go to her house to hang them because she doesn't know where to hang them. That also means Amber's birthday is right around the corner along with about-4 other birthdays by mid-March. By the way everyone-Easter is very early this year!! Here we go!

They WONNNN!!

They won They won They Won!! Just thought you would like to know!
THEY WON!! They are the city champs. WOO HOO! The last game was low scoring 36 to 30. Somehow, and this is the first time this season, Kelsea had 3 fouls early in the first half so she didn't play as much. But another girl on her team that subbed in for her had an awesome game last night. The night before Kelsea scored 5 or 6.

Kelsea promised her friend Kelsey on the team, that if the won on Tuesday, she would wear her duct tape dress to school. I told her to get permission from the principal first. So at lunch she went in and asked. The principal asked to see it. She showed it to all the ladies in the office. They laughed their heads off and she got permission. Some of the teachers thought is funny and great. Her coach is her teacher in one of her classes. He told her "Way to step out of the box" I don't have a picture of the dress but I need to get one and post it. I told her it was probably a good thing she didn't wear it all day. She said that it wasn't bad except once she sat down the dress kind of stuck to her chair so she couldn't move. That kid is a kick in the pants!

Winter can leave now

I liked the snow on Sunday but I think the winter blahs have set in. I am trying to enjoy the lack of yard work. But I think winter can go away now. We have had about the amount snow from the past 3 winters already. Lee Joe needs some work.

I heard that a boy that is in band with Amber was in terrible car wreck yesterday. His brother that is in Kylee's class was also hurt but has stitches in his lip and a concussion. These boys are a part of a really large family that has kids in all of the girls classes except for Hannah's. They are so poor. It is actually very sad. I guess it sounds like the boy will be in the hospital awhile. I am sure all the girls will be telling me something about it today when they get home.

I blogging to early to give results of the impending game this afternoon.

I must gush some more

So you are probably sick of the gushing on the basketball. But I must go on. Kelsea team had there first game on the city tournament. Why they set this up-the #1 team plays the #8 team-last place. They won by plenty. The score was like almost 60 to 38 or 40. But the most fun was Kelsea was a firecracker. She started and she scored the first basket and then the 3rd and a free throw. She made around 10 points in that game. She shot a few more times but missed. She didn't play a lot either compared to some games. The non starters got a lot of playing time which is great. The team they played is like the most pushing and shoving team out there. Their coach got a technical and then an intentional foul was called on another girl but that was like after she did about 3 other shove jobs before that and they were all on a girl on Kelsea's team that has bruised her ribs in one of the past games. Anyways they have a game on Tuesday. We are not sure who they are playing and then again on Weds. Then a break from sports for the first time this year.

As far as everything else. It is finals week. The girls schedule is weird. Amber is driving more. I am driving less. That is kind of nice. It is kind of boring. But you know, boring is good. I have exercised about 3 times this week. This morning I walked at the mall and got almost 8000 steps in on my pedometer. I have been playing the Wii by myself and with the girls. I went pro in bowling--I wish it was for real. That would be cool.

Fantastic!

Kelsea's basketball season is winding down and they have only lost one game this season. They beat that team yesterday! So they are in first place with only 2 games left. They are the most exciting girls basketball team I have ever watched. They just have a whole lot of talent and can do anything the coaches ask of them. I don't know what will happen next year because the high school will change things up a bunch. Kelsea has been starter all year this year and when she gets busy she is so aggressive and great on defense. So much fun!

Winter blast

I thought when we moved to Idaho we would get snow all winter long. That has never been the case. It will usually snow and by mid morning or at least by noon the roads are wet. We will maybe get a couple of significant storms that do stick around for a few days. A few years ago our snow total for the entire winter was 3 inches. This year on the news earlier yesterday they said our snow total this year is already at 11 inches. And it snowed more since that report and it is going to snow for the rest of the week. As long as I don't have far to drive, I love it. I have missed having snow in the winter. I have lived in Denver,Co, Kansas,Iowa and Alaska where winter means snow. It feels like winter this year and that usually makes it so I am ready for summer when it comes around. I need snow boots this year-and so does the whole town. I lucked out and found one of the 4 pairs left at Target was my size!! Size 11 is not east to find and Target just started carrying that size this year.

Hannah lost her first tooth last night. The tooth fairy actually made it. She is reading low level reading books. I have talked to her teacher and the librarian and they have set her up to take AR tests after she reads a book. She is the only Kindergartener to do that and the only one of my girls that is motivated to read. Now that she can take computer tests on the books she reads she wants to read more.

Kelsea was suppose to have a basketball game yesterday. It was against the only team they have lost to this season. It was not cancelled because of the snow. It was cancelled because the floor was too oily from something for them to play. They are playing today instead but I can't go unless I leave Amber here with the little girls for piano but I don't like doing that. Oh well.

My teenagers are still acting like a couple of brats. I am about ready to either run away or stick them outside with for sale signs.

Ho hum

There has not been much to blog about. The cat got her stitiches out. Some of our fish got sick and died. My favorites have died. I have had to treat both tanks. The fish are recovering well. We have guppy babies again. There is a lot of Wii play around and it keeps snowing. Which is cool if I don't have to drive in it. We have about 2-4 inches expected overnight. We have had very little snow in the winter for several years now. Hannah is 6 and has her first loose tooth. Hopefully she won't be so inclined to write and ask lengthy letters to the tooth fairy. I am trying to plan a friend party for her this coming weekend. The kids are back in school and I got more done this afternoon than I got done in a whole day of vacation. So I had a vacation too and the house is suffering some but not too bad. I was talking to Hannah's teacher and she had the same long lasting odd ailment over Christmas vacation that I had and so did Autumn's teacher. Kylee gets braces on her top teeth on Friday. She has such a high tolerance for pain. The orthodontist was in shock. He had to trim some wires that were digging into her gums from the expander she has in her mouth right now. She didn't flinch, cry out or react much when he cut the wires and one jabbed into her gums and he had to pull it out. He couldn't believe how good she was. We do watch her closely because of that. I have a pretty high tolerance for pain myself. My teenagers are SOOO acting like teenagers right now. I am so glad they are back in school. Ugh. How is that for rambling?

Lee Joe and I went on a DATE!!!! on Friday. I can hardly believe that. We went to Applebee's for dinner. Spent Lee Joe's gift card that he got at Sears on a grinder and I got a few Christmas things on clearance and we went to a movie. We saw Dan in Real Life. It was a good movie. It has Steve Carrell in it.

I have plenty of places to go tomorrow but we will see how far the snow lets me go. Otherwise there is plenty to do around here. Oh well. Ho hum.

A good movie

I don't know why I am up this late. I was fixing music on my ipod because I haven't felt like doing anything else. But we went to a movie today with some Christmas money I have been holding on to. We have been wanting to see Enchanted and so today we went to the very nice expensive clean theatre to see it. My sister met us there with my neice and one of Kylee's friends came. Lee Joe suffered through it and felt it was good too. Go see it. It has some great twists and really over does the fairytale movie thing on purpose in parts. I bought the "Happy working song" and "That's how you know" from the movie. It was worth it and we had a nice family time. I am going to bed to continue to try and kick the obnoxious ailment I have that I am not helping right now by another late night. New Years night someone was firing off fireworks at almost 3 am and one landed outside our windows in the back yard. Such fun.