A New Year

And hopefully some new circumstances. If anyone is wondering why I haven't been blogging, well, I think it's because I don't want to be discouraging. Life is not getting any easier these days, and I hate to be a complainer or a whiner. Just the facts:
Rick is still unemployed. Almost 2 months exactly. We've signed up for WIC, and recently applied for food stamps. It's getting ridiculous. He's looking for work every day, but not having any luck.
On the brighter side, we now have an oven. My bff Laura found me a new, working oven for FREE that someone donated. So nice. So now we can bake again. Plus my grandma (Meme) gave me $50 for Christmas to replace my toaster oven. So nice. I am pretty happy!
More bad luck - The dryer broke this week. We were hoping it would be a pretty quick fix (replace the ignitor) but that didn't work. Now we're troubleshooting. No money to call someone in. It's starting to become an issue since laundry for a family of 7 piles up quickly. Thinking of investing in a clothesline. Especially today. The weather is so beautiful.
Also, I crashed my van on Dec 9th, and the insurance company decided to total it. After much stress, we found out that we will be getting some money back for it, so we can at least purchase a new vehicle. Good news is, we also purchased a new vehicle.


It is a 2003 Ford 350 Econoline 15 passenger. It only seats 10 since it has all captain seats. Like an airplane. So so so cool! :-) Just a little nervous about actually driving around that huge thing. Still adjusting. I'm sure I'll figure it out. Just takes time. And we were able to keep our rental until the day after we bought the new van. Worked out perfectly.

Christmas was great, thanks to a very generous church family. The kids didn't even know the difference, and the magic of Santa is preserved for another year. Hattie actually said - "This had to be Santa, because there's no way we could have afforded all this stuff..." Hilarious. And sad too. :-)

Still researching Rick's employment options and what direction we think he should be taking next. We are currently considering re-eduction as a lineman (high voltage electrician) and joining the coast guard as viable options. Life is stressful (to say the least). Not sure if/how long we will be able to stay in this house. Now that I've been saying that for 18 months, I'm not sure how convincing it sounds, but we've stopped paying the "modified" amount we're supposed to be paying. No income... Of course the bank still hasn't even assigned anyone to our account for the modification, so we're hoping to drift under the radar for a bit. That's the plan. It seems to be working so far.

It's New Year's Eve. Here's hoping we have a prosperous new year! I say "Welcome" to 2010!

Unemployed

Oh my. It seems like forever now since I've posted anything. The days are busy/packed in the Thomson household.

Rick was laid off on the 2nd. Going on 2 weeks now and still no work is quite distressing, but we are trying to stay positive... at least he's made some progress on the wall to the classroom! Next up: A Door! Yaaay! It has been a challenge for both of us adjusting to him being home. Fortunately we still love each other. Whew! That was a close one!

Homeschooling is still going well. I still struggle with Hattie - motivating her, and making sure she's LEARNING. I also just learned that Jason is almost at 2nd grade level in Math. Impressive! And I am a proud Mommy. Oh yeah, he's in kindergarten, in case anyone was wondering... :-)

Tonight Hattie is at rehearsal for her play until 8:30 (with Daddy) so I have a moment to catch my breath a bit. Although I have a bit of a cough so maybe not really catching my breath. At least catching my blog up a bit.

This weekend our ward at church went through a bit of a restructuring. They split two wards to create a third ward. We are still in the same ward, but we've lost a lot of the families that we used to go to church with. Kind of a bummer. I am, however, looking forward to getting a new calling and starting to serve (again). It's been about 2 years now! Plus our good friend was called as the bishop of our ward, so I feel really positive and happy about that. :-)

Fussy baby prevents any more revelation tonight. Hopefully I'll get on again before Thanksgiving!

TMI

Warning! Look away if you're sensitive to things that are overly personal or mildly disgusting...
1. Hemorrhoids are really painful. Like really, really painful. I'm just saying.
2. Rick's "surgery" did not work (yet?). Seriously!??! So now we have to do it 30 times in the next 6 weeks. That's 5 times a week, people. Holy cow. And there's always the CHANCE I could get preggo again. NOOOOO! So I'm making this information public so everyone knows it's still my husband's. Haha... For the record.

Going into a super busy weekend. Babysitter is coming at 3 today so Rick and I can go to his cousin's wedding. I love weddings. And we're leaving 4 kids. Hooray!

Happy Friday!

Post when you can...

It's only been one day, but I am up waiting for Hattie to get home from rehearsal and Rick is at work. Or on his way to work. Whatever. I figured I should just get another post in, even if it is boring and/or lame.

I was so extremely exhausted today. Didn't help that Rick was (of course) exhausted too, but he was such a stud. He got home and to bed around 4am. Jane woke up at 630 to eat and then would not go back to sleep. Since she woke up Rick, he got up at 7 and let me sleep in. What a saint. He couldn't get back to sleep anyway... But still... He did end up taking a nap while I left the kids with him to go run errands. Then he got up and cleaned out the garage. Seriously. I tried to tell him not to, but he insisted. Weirdo. He's better not complain about being tired at work! Sheesh!

I had actually wanted to go to bed when Jane went down and Rick left (about 830) but then I remembered that I have to wait for Hattie. And she has to do a treatment (asthma) when she gets home. Hopefully I'll be in bed by 10. Oh well. Much better than the 1am I did last night. That sucked.

My mind is drawing a blank so this is going to be short. Up early tomorrow for Derek's preschool. Then Rick is home - sleeping during the day and running errands with us in the eve - until Friday morning work. And we head into our busy anniversary weekend. I'm looking forward to getting costume supplies (on a budget) for the kids, even though they aren't sure what they are going to be yet. Well, that's not true. Derek is going to be Spiderman (Jason's old costume) and Breanna is going to be a flower. The big kids are still deciding. Hopefully we'll remember to take pictures this year. :-) Such bad parents.

Has it been a week?

I am trying harder to post more regularly. I think sometimes I have more to say in my head than I really want to make public. I do think about the possibility that "someone" could actually read this and know what I am talking about. So as much as I'd like for my blog to be my journal, I just can't bring myself to do it.

Our anniversary is coming up on Saturday. 10 years. I can hardly believe it myself. When we got married it was so shocking and upsetting to so many people, that we always said that we'd be the ones laughing in 25 years. We would show everyone that it was going to work. Now, I know that 10 years isn't 25 (or 30 or 50) but it is something. For some reason it feels like a significant milestone in our marriage. Maybe because the last 2 years (especially the last one!) have been so difficult. Still we are here, 10 years and 5 kids later. Still in love, still faithful, still happy (most days). Quite an accomplishment in my book.

I'm up late because Rick is working tonight (yes, still in LA). He won't be home until tomorrow morning, then he goes back to work tomorrow night. Then he works Friday during the day. Friday night we are attending a cousin's wedding. Saturday we have to buy costumes and take the kids to our church Halloween party in the evening. This will be our anniversary celebration. Sure, we don't really have money to celebrate, and it IS all about family (as Rick says). But whatever, I still want my dinner. :-)

Tonight I went to the movies with Jane. I found a free movie ticket in my purse and it expired on the 29th of this month. I saw Whip It (surely Rick is not interested in this movie!) and Jane slept through the entire movie. What an accomplishment! It was nice to get away and be alone (sort of) in peace and quiet (sort of). I came home refreshed. Which is why I felt up for a little late-night blogging. I'll be regretting in the morning when I have to wake up. At least I don't really have to go anywhere on Wednesdays. I can be a little lazy. Just a little.

House is still clean (going on a full month now!), laundry is still all clean and folded, dishes are done... I am a true homemaker. Hahahaha. Wondering why it took the 5th kid (and homeschooling?) for me to figure it out, but somehow I've done it and things are going well. I do enjoy having the downstairs clean. The upstairs is a little less consistent, but the downstairs is cleaned every single day. It's a miracle.

What else? Not much. It's a pretty boring life. Oh wait, kids say the darndest things:

Hattie: "Mom, what is "Desperate Housewives"?"
Me: "It's a TV show."
Hattie: "You should go on it."
Me: "It's not a reality show, Honey."
Hattie: "Oh. That's too bad!"

Seriously? I don't think she knows what "desperate" means. So I thought it was hilarious. Goes to show how much I like my reality TV when she assumes that all shows are things you can "go on". So funny!

Breanna is a crack up. She doesn't talk much in front of others (if she isn't used to you) but once she warms up she will give you an earful. Sometimes she chatters incoherently, but usually she is telling me about her "favlit" Daddy's tie, or her "favlit" bunny socks. This is my favlit age! So very cute! And that Breanna has such a charm, it is almost disturbing!

I think this post is long enough now, but hopefully I'll be back soon. Oh! And if you are reading this, please let me know, because sometimes I wonder why I bother... Thanks!

Friday

We survived another week, and although the house is showing signs of wear, it is still MOSTLY clean. I'm not going to complain, and I don't think Rick will either.

I met with my "teacher" for homeschooling and turned in my first two months of paperwork. Whoo hoo! Things are still going great. Feeling good about the progress and about the atmosphere around the house. I think (although she may not admit it out loud) Hattie even enjoys homeschooling. It has simplified our lives quite a bit. The play, however, has only complicated things. She is learning new songs (with harmonies) and dances and working her little butt off. Plus she has to learn songs for her "musical theater" class she is taking through the charter school. AND she's got singing lessons (and a December recital to prepare for) every week. Busy busy life.

Derek LOVES preschool and is doing so so well. We have discovered he is a very quick learner and enjoys his time at school. I think it'll be great to have him home next year doing Kindergarten (early). Hopefully Rick will have the wall to our classroom built by then. Maybe.

Life is good (however busy!) even though we are barely scraping by financially. We're crossing our fingers for a raise soon from Rick's work. No news is good news on the house. They aren't foreclosing on us, so only time will tell. We've been making our modified payments, but haven't heard anything about getting anything permanent done. Wait and see, wait and see...

October

Hasn't quite been a full month yet, so I'm not doing too badly on blogging. I've thought about it several times, but life is busy so I haven't gotten around to it until now.

Hattie auditioned for a role in the musical "Scrooge" and got the part of Kathy Cratchit. Very exciting since she has several lines and even gets to sing a little bit. Rehearsals are about three nights a week (6 to 9!!) so that has added another level to the "busy" we've been experiencing. Exhausting for Mommy, for sure! But we get to bring Jane with us and all of the ladies at the play love to dote on the newborn baby. It's fun (in a way...)

Homeschooling is still going very well. I love the flexibility and freedom of it all. I feel like we are getting alot accomplished in fairly short amounts of time. Hattie is still a struggle (about 3 days out of 5) but we are definitely settling into a bit of a routine. There are times where she cooperates! I have a meeting with my EF (Educational Facilitator) this Thursday, so I'm sure I'll get a better sense of where we're at. Everyone says the first year is the hardest and most confusing so I'm trying to be very lenient with myself. However, I do think we are doing a good job so far!

Some friends came over two weeks ago and helped clean my entire house. Since then I have gotten a very good routine going and have been able to keep it super clean! Rick has been very helpful and supportive, and even the kids have gotten into the act. Jason, I have learned, is an expert vacuumer. The babies do their best to help out when asked, and Hattie, well, she does her chores, sometimes...

Rick is still in LA, patiently waiting for better jobs to appear. At least the checks are cashing every two weeks, so I cannot complain...

Back in Action!

Oh my goodness! Has it seriously been almost 2 months since my last blog? Well, needless to say it has been a busy and overwhelming couple of months. The final weeks of my pregnancy were almost more than any of us could handle. We spent the weekdays in Orange County at my mom's house for fear of me going in to labor at any moment. School (homeschooling, yay!) started on August 24th, but I wasn't able to do a whole lot with the kids while I was on Baby Watch.

FINALLY, Baby Jane was born on September 2 (Wednesday, hooray! Now each of my children were born on a different day of the week!) weighing in at 9 lbs 7 oz. Still just under 2 weeks early. She managed to break her left collarbone on her way out of the womb. However, she is the most agreeable, placid, calm baby on the planet. This is good, since she's still almost more than I can handle. She only cries if she is hungry or dirty. The rest of the time she is asleep, or calming staring off into space. Whew!

Now that she is 2 weeks old, and my body is well into recovery... we are starting to get into our new routine. Even though we are homeschooling, I still find that we are quite busy. Derek is attending preschool (love Mrs. Edwards!) so we are up and out by 740ish on Tuesdays and Thursdays to drop him off. Hattie's musical theater class (they are performing a play called BUG-Z) meets Tuesdays at 1050 - 1150 and Derek has to be picked up at 11. Lots of driving around on Tuesday mornings. Jason's Learning Center class is on Friday at 940 - Art with a Story... But I do enjoy the chance to sleep in (a bit) on Mondays and Wednesdays. And I like not having to be as concerned with Hattie's strict bedtime since our mornings are not so early.

Homeschooling is a struggle as I am forced to fight with Hattie every day. However, I must admit it is better (or the same) as the homework fights we used to have. We're learning and adjusting together. I like to think it will get better. Or at least that some days will be better than others. Surprisingly, I have found that I enjoy having the kids home with me all of the time. I even regret when I allow them to go to their friends houses to play for hours on end. But I am not quite ready to be hosting their friends yet. Haven't quite gotten ahold of having 5 kids and keeping house and all of that. Not that I was much for house-cleaning before Jane, but I'm still trying to get better. I think it's working.

Post-baby is going well, also. The first week or so was really difficult, but I feel that I'm recovering pretty quickly now. The weight is still falling off - but I look forward to the time when I can start working out. If I can figure out a time for it. I'd LOVE to get back in the gym... I'd love to lose 30 or 40 pounds (again)...

Rick is now working in LA. Driving approx. 80 miles each way every day. No fun, but he's sticking it out hoping for some prevailing wage work in Orange County starting up soon... Luckily he got our neighbor a job working with him, so they have been able to carpool the past week.

Not sure what's up with the house yet. Still waiting for word. But we haven't been kicked out yet, so that is a blessing.

Baby is crying - it is rare so I'd better pay attention - so it's time to sign off. Until next time...

If I was a good mom...

...my daughter would never have to clean her own room.

...my kids would do crafts and have fun and not watch so much TV.

...I wouldn't hear "I hate you" and "I hate being in this family".

...my house would be clean, and all the clothes would get put away.

...the babies would nap, instead of being little nap-dodgers.

...I wouldn't feel overwhelmed so often.


But we take the bad with the good. Last month of pregnancy is always a struggle. I welcome any suggestions for coping.

BFF

Having Shawna around and having my new BFF Laura has motivated me to get a ton of things done around here. Last week Shawna and I cleaned up the front room completely. This task included re-organizing and re-bagging up the "too small" clothes and taking them to the DI trailer (approx. 15 white "kitchen" bags became about 9 black "outdoor" bags). Then, the same day, we cleaned out Rick's side of the garage and piled up the recyclables. We haven't gotten the recyclables to the Recycler yet, but we'll get there! Talk about PRODUCTIVITY! Today, Laura came over and decided (for some reason?) that we needed to paint. She even brought paint. So we painted the staircase. Well, the walls along the staircase anyway. Makes a big difference, especially as the paint covers the dirt, fingerprints, and marker drawings that were all over these two walls. Amazing. And I found our old paint from when we originally painted the walls and she did some "touch up" painting of marker drawings downstairs. So nice. So so so nice.

Now I'm tired, but Laura has taken Jason and Hattie with her to play with her kids. So Shawna and I just have the babies for a little bit. Nice little break. Sorry we let Breanna nap earlier. That would have been even more perfect. :-)

Random Thoughts, Some Days...

I don't even know how to start this. I spent this morning "motivating" the children to clean up upstairs. Their rooms got cleaned (twice now in a week!) and vacuumed, the hallway upstairs and the playroom also. Then Shawna and I moved the playroom furniture back into the playroom - reorganized to block off the portion I intend to use as a classroom. Rick will be building a wall (soon) so that the classroom is a real room and can be protected by lock and key. Until then we will have to make do. I am feeling exhausted and sore but accomplished.

Still have to head to the store and get a few little supplies to get things set up on the most basic level. Still feeling optimistic.

My next dr appt is tomorrow morning. 30 weeks. Can hardly believe I am almost there! Feels good though. And 5 definitely feels like a LOT!! haha...

Oh well, better eat something before I make my trek to the store. Luckily babies are down for naps and I can leave them with Shawna. Only two more weeks left before Shawna heads home. What will I ever do without her? :-)

Homeschooling, etc.

I am following through with enrolling the children at Julian Charter School for their Home Study program. Just need to complete the enrollment paperwork and get moving. Now I struggle with where and how to set up the classroom and when I can/should get started. Summer is quite busy in general, but I guess I'll have to learn to work around life and "stuff" at some point... Plus I'm deciding whether or not to keep Derek enrolled at a separate preschool. There are definitely pros and cons. I welcome opinions...

Seriously??

I slept really well last night. I had a nice hot bath, and then my lovely husband was kind enough to painfully rub the "walnut sized" knot out of my shoulder before I zonked out. His willingness was fortunate for me since it was already almost 11 when we crawled into bed. I am so grateful because it allowed me to relax enough to get a thorough night's sleep - and THEN the children all slept in. Well, Breanna did wake up at 5, but I (which this never ever ever happens with her!) was able to get her to fall asleep in my bed. Then she slept until like 7:30. Seriously! And Derek didn't come in to wake me up until 7:15! So I felt like a queen this morning. Good thing. It was a long day.

First off, Wednesdays are always long because Rick goes sailboat racing every Wednesday now. Usually the day is broken up by Hattie and my singing lessons in the evening and "the babysitter" will feed, bathe, and put the children to bed before we get back. Makes it not so bad. However, our singing teacher is on vacation this week and, therefore, we were all on our own today. Jason did have a Dr. appt, for which we got a sitter, but that was at like 3pm - no help at all with bedtime.

Sooo, since I slept so well and woke up in a pleasant mood, I thought I might take the children down to the Edwards movie theater for the "free kids movie". Today was Hotel for Dogs, which we haven't seen, and I wanted to see... I also decided to invite some extra children on the theory that they would keep my children happy in the movie and I could take care of the babies. Well, after the ordeal of getting everyone up and dressed and out by 845ish, I got to the children's friends' house and had to wait for them to get ready. Once we got to the movie theater they were sold out. I think this depends partly on the popularity of the movie, since in years past I have shown up last minute and still gotten seats. Or maybe there are just more people catching on...

No movie, I decide to take the children to the park. This, however, turned out to be a brilliant idea since they ended up playing PEACEFULLY at the park for over 2 hours. They could likely have continued that way until this minute if we didn't have to go feed them lunch and take Jason to the doc. Jason, it turns out, which I already figured, has a cyst on his back. The doctor said we could leave it or cut it out. Hmmm, my 5 year old voted for leaving it, so we'll just let it be for now. If ever we decide to, we can always get it removed. No biggie. Good to know.

By the end of this it is hot and I am tired and the evening activity (dinner, bed) is looming. Now I have barely survived all of that and have not yet heard from my husband. Usually I get the "I'm on my way call" about now. But his dad and brother are supposed to be on the boat with him today, so that could be distracting him from his wife-call. I will refrain from further comment.

My children were particularly annoying AND particularly adorable today, so I will take the good with the bad. Now that they are sleeping, they are all my favorites and I can get ready for a new day. I hope Daddy calls soon, since the call usually means another hour and a half before he's home.

Bananas

I seriously love that we call Breanna "Bananas". I think it's adorable and hilarious. And she responds every time. I had every intention of her nickname being Bree. I did. But I guess this works just as well, if not better. This will now forever be her pet name. And that is a good thing to have.

The House

So I called Chase AGAIN yesterday to see what is UP with our loan modification. We were supposed to be moving forward in this program starting in April, but I haven't seen any paperwork YET. I've been calling every two weeks and they've been saying, just wait, the docs could take up to 45 days. Really???? So I've been waiting. Finally I get a hold of someone yesterday and find out that we've been put back into foreclosure and our mod was canceled - WHAAAAAATTT??? Who are you people?? The girl I talked to was very nice. She REqualified us for the program and (HOPEFULLY?) sent out the paperwork. We should get it within the week. If not, I may lose my mind.

So, the new Obama program puts our payment down where we can afford it. And as long as we make the payments, we get to keep the house. After three months of making the payments we roll over into a permanent modification (from the trial period). So it is all looking pretty good. Still have to work out taxes and insurance, but that shouldn't be too hard considering all we've already endured.

At the very least, it feels like a relief to know that we can keep our house. As soon as we get the paperwork, I mean. Then it will feel like a relief.

Wednesday

Okay, so some days you just wake up ready to take on the day. Today I was awake (not UP, but awake) at 5am, mind-reeling with all of the many things I could accomplish. The homework struggles have re-ignited my desire to homeschool the children, so I've taken on a new task of researching my options. The playroom is currently cleared out, so I'm trying to get rid of the hockey table so that I can set up a classroom in there. However, FEELING motivated and actually being able to accomplish anything are two separate things, so I am sitting here overwhelmed and discouraged. Not by the homeschooling prospect (which still feels like a great idea) but by parenting in general.

Getting up and getting ready for school has been a challenge all its own in our house, and I recently charged Hattie with the responsibility of getting herself up and ready. Today she decided to sleep in and I tried very hard to not get involved. At about 7:05 I reminded her that maybe she should get dressed and ready. (We usually leave for carpool at around 7:20 and school starts at 7:40) She dawdled and dawdled and ended up at about 7:17 with no shirt, no shoes, no breakfast, no lunch. With a great deal of yelling we managed to get her set up with clothes, shoes (way too small! sorry!), breakfast and lunch and out the door at about 7:33. It was ugly. She did, however, calm down by the time we picked up her friends and dropped them all off at school. She even told me she loved me (whew! quite the contrast to the many "I hate you"s I've heard lately). Oh my gosh, so much for my positive outlook on the day.

Just now we all got to listen to about 20 minutes straight of Derek screaming and crying. I'm not sure why he's decided this is the most effective way of communicating, but he's become quite proficient at it. Part of his problem this morning was that he wanted someone else to search for toys for him to play with. The playroom is all packed up in the "baby room" so the toys are piled in bins. I kept telling him he had to find his own toys, but that was not sufficient. Oh my goodness, the CRYING AND SCREAMING! I will myself to ignore it, but it still wears me down!

Jason's obsession/addiction to computer games has also been part of my inspiration to get moving on homeschooling. I can't keep letting him wasted hours playing on the computer. As easy as it is for me, we have to find a more constructive way of doing things around here. Plus, Hattie is capable of so much more than she is accomplishing at school these days. The Final Report they've been assigned seems to be way too easy for her. So she is having trouble getting motivated and I'm having trouble dealing with it all. She won't include things in the report because "everyone already knows that". Duh. That's the point of writing the report. But I sincerely believe she needs to be challenged more. She just found out she gets to move up to reading 5th grade books. For a second grader, I think that's pretty good - and she's the only one in her class!

So, my plan is to get this "classroom" set up over the next week or two. Then start school July 7 and see how things go. If I can start Hattie on a 3rd grade curriculum and Jason on Kindergarten and some sort of preschool for the babies, then we should all be busy and entertained enough. And we'll have a good month or so to see how it goes. To ease into it before public school starts and we can make a permanent decision about SCHOOL then. I'm a little concerned about making the investment, but I think it'll be worth it. And I've thought about homeschooling so many times that I don't know how long I'm going to be able to put it off anyway.

Catalina

We survived another Catalina race this weekend.

Friday we (Shawna and I) took the kids to Wild Rivers. We were invited via Facebook and a casting call to participate in filming their newest commercial. So keep an eye out over the next couple of weeks for my kids smiling wet faces on your TV. It was freezing cold and miserable, but hopefully they got some good footage of my adorable crew. :-) We made it, and even (eventually) had a little fun.

Saturday Daddy left for his Catalina race and we drove down to the Welk Resort for some Day Use of their facilities. Much better than Wild Rivers - no cameras, but at least the pools were heated and the sun came out for a bit near the end of our stay. All in all, it was a fun day - and Jason managed to do some real swimming without his floaties. Also, I learned that Breanna is a little fish and cannot wait to learn to swim herself...

We even made it to church on Sunday - ON TIME - so needless to say, I was physically, mentally, emotionally EXHAUSTED by the end of it all. Sunday night Rick and Shawna cleared the family room and the playroom so that the carpets could get cleaned this morning at 9am. What studs! And now we have clean and beautiful carpets. All is well with the world.

Today, I barely survived a supremo meltdown from Hattie around homework time. Seriously, it was way up there on the richter scale. But somehow, we survived. And we all had homemade pizzas for dinner. YUMMY! I love WinCo. It is my new favorite store. I could spend hours shopping there, and still only spend $100. The best!

Well, it's only 9:30, but it feels like 11. So I'm going to wrap this up until next time. Probably go take a bath and see if I can con my husband into finishing the foot massage he started this afternoon... Wish me luck.

June!

Finally I feel like I have something I can blog about. Rick's sister arrived yesterday evening and I can already feel the relief! Shawna is 16 and lives in Montana with her mom and stepdad. She's the youngest of Rick's sisters on his mom's side, and the last one left at home... (on his dad's side the youngest is Jason's age! haha.) So now she is going to stay with us "for the summer" and my life doesn't seem so, ummm, well, overwhelming.

Only a couple more weeks of school left. Jason's "graduation" from preschool is on the 19th and Hattie's last day is on the 24th (Daddy's birthday!) so we are starting to count down. It will definitely be more fun (and more manageable) with Shawna's help! It is so nice to have someone else around to help with the kids while I am trying to clean up. Although I realized this morning that I am a little limited to how much cleaning I can do in one swoop. I cleaned up the kitchen and then I passed out on the couch, totally exhausted. Gotta figure out how to balance that better.

Not June but July I will be singing again at the MERC theater in Temecula.
http://www.temeculalive.org/countryatthemercsite/countryatthemerc_home.htm
I sang on May 30th and had such a blast. I'm stoked I get to sing again before the baby is born - I am performing on July 25th @ 7pm.

Oooh! We're getting the carpet cleaned on Friday. I have finally decided it is time - regardless of whether or not we end up keeping this house!! Rick apparently spilled milk on the carpet in front of the couch and didn't clean it up properly. Now all I can smell is stinky carpet. Gross! Doesn't help that I have pregnancy nose and can smell EVERYTHING. Blech.

So, I've officially entered the 3rd trimester, and boy can I feel it. Too much activity is cumbersome. So glad I will not be alone for the next couple of months. Allows me a chance to really look forward to having this baby and enjoying a newborn again. Not that I ever really enjoy newborns much. Hahahahaha... But all of the sudden I am starting to feel positive about the next few months, and that is a good thing.

Catalina

You would think my husband has had enough of that place!!

There is a race to Catalina once a month for the next few months. Seriously? I thought last weekend was bad. I'm guessing Rick will at least skip the September one. We WILL have a newborn after all. Oh my goodness. Since when did the tables turn on me. Used to be I was the one who was going out all the time and leaving my hubby home with the kids. Why does he get a life all of the sudden? Something is wrong with this picture...

Friday

Aha! I've returned, and it's only been a week. Yaay me!

It's been a busy week. Rick's "first week home" did not go as smoothly as one might have hoped. Finding his way straight home has been a challenge for him. First there was a trip to the mechanic to figure out what's wrong with my brother's truck. (Finally we got it fixed and can get the dang thing smogged so he can register it already!) Wednesday was a race on the sailboat, and Thursday was extra work after work. Fun times. Today he went in at 4am, so although he'll be home within a couple of hours (Hooray!) he's gonna be sooo tired that it isn't even reasonable to expect him to be good company. And then he leaves tomorrow morning for a sailboat race to Catalina Island. Very exciting for him, but what a pain in the butt for me since he'll be gone all weekend. Don't think I'm going to forget this "sacrifice" any time soon!

Alright, I guess that's enough whining for now. Big news is we got our computer back! Just have to get Quicken re-downloaded so I can figure out how much money we really have in the bank. Back to the real world. It will be a relief to be able to budget again.

Monday... again.

I am constantly thinking about things I could be including in this blog. While I am driving the carpool, or folding the clothes... I am formulating clever and eloquent discourses about my trials and tribulations. However, once I sit down to actually write, I am at a loss. So frustrating.

#1 good news is that it looks like Rick is home now at least for a few weeks. He is having to drive out to UCLA, but at least they are starting at 6am and not at 4am. Probably not great for driving home, but at least he's not leaving at 230 in the morning. We'll see how the commute goes. Today is his first day. I'll be happy to have him home by 5, much better than Thursday... :-)

Hattie just finished her Ancestor Report this weekend. It included a report from an interview with an "ancestor" (my mom) and a family tree which we took back to her Great-Grandparents. It turned out pretty cute, and it definitely helped her to understand the whole family history concept. The amusing part to me is that she decided not to include "step-parents", only the actual parents of everyone. It was also overwhelming to see how much divorce and remarriage permeates our family. ALL of Hattie's Grandparents and Great-Grandparents have been divorced except ONE set!! Anyway, she decided it was just too complicated to report on everyone's re-marriages and stuff. For some reason I liked that. How refreshing.

My pregnancy is still going well. I'm getting huge, but that is to be expected. Now that Rick's home maybe I'll take some pictures of the belly to post of FB. Entertaining for all, I'm sure. We had our ultrasound on April 29 (can't remember if I've posted since then) and it is officially a girl. Even though I figured already. So that's our final count 3 girls, and 2 boys.

I can hardly believe Jason is starting kindergarten this year. He's doing great in preschool and understands all of the basic "school" concepts. He'll be reading in no time. I think if we pushed him a bit more, he'd be reading already. He also has figured out finger adding and subtracting (up to ten, duh) which impressed the heck out of me.

Derek is lucky he's so cute because he is a stubborn little bugger. He has this sweet sweet face, but boy when he isn't getting what he wants it is UGLY. The terrible three's have begun, and I'm grateful he's been such a saint up until now. He's taken Jason habit of sneakiness to a new level.

As my mother pointed out this weekend, Breanna is a little DIVA. She is the Miss Priss so far. She likes to be cute, wear dresses and church/princess shoes. She DOESN'T like being dirty or wet (although it doesn't really stop her from spilling on herself, just causes more of a ruckus once she realizes she's soiled...) Also she likes to get her way and screams like a banshee when she doesn't. Therefore, I hear a lot of screaming these days.

Well, it's 12:00 and if I keep writing I will miss any relaxing solo quiet time because the children will awaken from their naps. Before I know it the carpool, etc. will be upon me.

Happy Mother's Day (yesterday) to all you "mothers" and wanna-be mothers out there!

May, my favorite month!

Holy cow, has it really been almost 4 months since I have last posted anything to this blog? I suck. It has been a busy 4 months though! Rick was out of work for a few weeks (ick) before he found a job on Catalina Island. He would travel there each week, leaving Monday and returning on Thursday. Single, pregnant mother of four. Didn't really leave time or energy for trying to blog. This was officially his last week in Avalon, so he is back (*fingers crossed*) for good. It will be an adjustment of it's own, but it is definitely good news. Mom and Dad do not do so well when we are apart. We thought we had communication difficulties BEFORE we were limited to the phone! Ugh!

Today is Friday and I am finally taking Jason in to get his shots and physical for kindergarten. Thrilling. Derek is getting his 3 year checkup too. Only 3 months late... Whatever. They are relatively healthy children. I can't complain. Today. Plus Rick and I have a date tonight and I am totally looking forward to it.

The pregnancy has been going surprisingly well, considering the circumstances. I have only gained 10 pounds so far (20 weeks) and have given myself a limit of 15-20 more. Still improvement for me since I gained at least 40 with each of the first 4 pregnancies. We found out yesterday that it is another girl. I have had a gut feeling all along that this was a girl, so it came as no big surprise to me. A little overwhelming (3GIRLS??) but I know it will be wonderful. I am excited to be DONE having children. haha. :-) Just starting to feel some consistent movement (not quite kicks yet) and the ultrasound on Wednesday was all clear. I go back on the 28th for a fetal echocardiogram. Since Derek and Breanna both have bicuspid aortic valves, we figured we'd check early with this baby. Plus I take those 2 in for their Echos next Friday. Whoo hoo. But I don't really anticipate anything surprising. Just routine.

Well, I just looked at the clock and realized that I should probably finish up here and jump in the shower. I have lots of nothing to say, so I will try harder to get back on track with the blogging soon.

Welcome to May - Mother's Day, my birthday, and now Breanna's birthday too! She'll be 2. I can hardly believe it!

This is a test. To see if you're paying attention.

Yes, and we couldn't be happier!!!!!

Tuesday Again!

It's only been a week, so I'm not feeling too bad about being a blogging slacker this time. I made it to the gym all week last week (M - F) and have successfully gone both days this week as well. Whoo hoo! Success! I haven't successfully gotten myself to stop eating, but the sweets seem to be disagreeing with me these days. Should make it easier to at least eat BETTER, if not LESS.

I've started reading some parenting manuals to help me govern my household a little better. Actually just to help me manage (and raise) the children. The first one is called "Between Parent and Child" by Haim Ginott. The second one is "Children: The Challenge" by Rudolf Dreikurs. These books have given me lots of insight into better relating with my children, and suggestions on how to "lead" more effectively. A little strange (and VERY difficult) but I am starting to see some improvement. Although sometimes it seems like the extremity of certain situations maybe heightened, the problems seem to be resolving themselves much more quickly.

One chapter I read today suggested that a parent should NEVER interject themselves between fighting children (assuming there is no potential for fatal injury), and I thought this to be fairly shocking of a concept. For a parent it is so hard to NOT say "Share" or "Take turns" or "Be nice" or "Apologize" when we hear our children quarreling. So, I plan to take this suggestion to heart. Actually I have already started and although 20 minutes ago I was ignoring a deluge of screaming and crying, right now my house is silent. All four children are calmly playing and/or watching television peacefully. Jason was even the one who figured out that Breanna was actually crying because she caught her finger in something. Brilliant, I tell ya!

When I hear the THUMPING of my children beating on each other (yes, it happens!) my stomach turns in circles. I want so badly so stop it. But until there is first aid to be administered (without judgement, of course) it is not of my business. I honestly feel really good about it so far. I know I can remember doing (and receiving) my share of thumping when I was younger...

My newfound skills have given me newfound confidence, and now only increased my desire to grow our family. I HAVE always wanted 5, after all.

Tuesday

Two days in a row. Here I go! Not sure I have anything to say, though.

We made it to the gym (again) this morning. That, too, has been two days in a row. Whoo hoo. Getting back on the elliptical (as it were) isn't quite as fun as it was the first time around. But I am determined to take some weight off before my membership expires in February. Only about 5 weeks to go.

Tonight we are going to The Old Spaghetti Factory in Fullerton. Which may very well be my favorite restaurant of all time. Apparently they are celebrating their 40th anniversary by rolling back prices to those of 40 years ago. I am SOOOO there!! And Rick just happens to be working in Anaheim this week, so it all works out. We will meet him (and my Dad and Stepmom, who kindly called to let me know!) for an early dinner. I'm excited. Especially since my new exercise routine is including a drastic cut in calorie intake. So I'm looking forward to dinner because I have forbidden myself to eat anything until then. That's what I get for eating that greasy quesadilla for lunch! Shame, shame!

As soon as Hattie gets home (about 10 minutes) we'll be off to meet Daddy in the OC.

Hope your Tuesdays are treating you all with kindness!

Peace

I have a brief minute before Rick gets home from work and Hattie, Jason, and Derek all come home from the neighbor's house. Breanna is peacefully watching TV downstairs. Terrible babysitter, I know, but Hattie did explain the "water cycle" to us the other day after having learned it on "Blue's Clues". Seriously, that made me feel so good about allowing them so much TV time. Rationalizations, I know.

So I like to think I'm making up for the lack of blogging by posting 3 times in one day. Is it working? Anyone? Maybe I'm trying to make more of a habit of getting myself onto the blog more often. We shall see. I always say that and I rarely follow through.

Oh yeah, and yesterday my car battery went dead (the joys of young children who like to leave on lights in cars) so we had to jump it. But it was so dead that it would not go into neutral (for us to push it into the driveway next to Rick's car). Therefore, we literally had to clean out the side of the garage to fit Rick's car in and then jump the van. Hilarious. Think if we'd have known it would only take 10 minutes then we would have cleared a space for Rick's car weeks ago?? No, I didn't think so either. But at least there's a spot for another car in there. How cool is that?

I just heard a child bound through the front door, and I'm sure the other two are not far behind. Ah yes, here they are now. Hattie comes in screaming "Derek, you scared the crap out of me!" Uh oh, wonder where she learned that from??

Update

We did, however, get a new water heater and we've been enjoying the hot water. When we had foster kids (a couple of years ago) they - the State - made us keep the water temp at 120 degrees. Holy cow. That is not hot enough, people...

Rick has not gotten a new car yet, but we hope to acquire something within the next couple of months. The insurance company did repair his little Altima, though, so he is not without transportation. Also, he is still working, and that is good!

Christmas was good. The children got spoiled and obnoxious. Isn't that just the tradition?

Better get going for reals now. The gym is calling and I also need to swing by AAA before I take Jason to school.

Happy New Year!!

Back to School

No, we still have not gotten the oven fixed/looked at anything.

Trying to get out the door and get myself back to the gym. 20 lbs are mocking me each and every time I look in the mirror.

Just wanted to note that Derek is still cracking me up with his mispronunciations.

He usually says a "c" instead of an "s"... This morning he said... "I have a sock..."
Why, yes, Derek. Yes, you do...

Have a great Monday!