whoa, pay attention!

I had an interesting morning. Wish it had been less interesting. Much less.
I'm on my way home from taking elizabeth to school. Driving down highway 33. I'm going 55, which is the speed limit. I'm less than 500 ft away from an intersection, and a car pulls out in front of me onto the highway. I went from 55 to 0 in less than 300 ft. I didn't even have time to lay on the horn. Wish i had.
I don't think the driver even saw me until i was suddenly parked next to them on the side of the road. They paused for a minute and then drove off.
I was so shaken up that all i could do was sit there and cry. It scared the crap out of me.
As i think about it now, i should have gotten their license plate number. I considered that maybe i should have just hit them, but, the car would have been totaled, and it certainly would have put me into labor, & broken a few ribs. None of those was i interested in having happen. (labor, yes. But not under those circumstances)

more frustration!

So, we were told about 4 months ago, that shaun would be getting on board with a local company on salary pay. Not the most desirable compensation plan, but it's better than nothing and would mean benefits as well.
We knew it wasn't going to be immediately, that it would take a little time. However, now it looks like it's not going to happen.
Our lease runs out the end of june. And we're not sure if the landlords are going to extend it or not. If they don't, we have no ideas what to do. We were hoping to be able to tell them that we had an income, & would not have any problems making rent. That doesn't seem to be an option now.

growing up

The other day, i realized that within 6 months, we were going to need the crib for the baby, Shannon is still using it. So, whether i was ready or not, it was time to transition to a toddler bed. We took the bars off the crib, and put up the toddler bed rails. In about 3 to 5 months, we'll trade it for the toddler bed, or put the bunk bed together for the girls, and put the baby in the crib.

oh, the wait!

At my doctors appointment on thursday, i was dilated to a 5, 50% effaced and baby was sitting at -2. I was sure i would be going into labor anytime soon. Her it is sunday, 3 days later, and we're still waiting for something to happen.
 I've gone into false labor at least twice this last week, maybe more. I called everyone and let them know we were close. A friend came from boise for the sole purpose of being here when the baby was born. And yet, i sit here with occasional contractions, but no progress.
Friday night, i thought it was time. The contractions went from 12 minutes apart to 2 minutes apart almost instantly. Got up to the hospital, and everything stopped. I hadn't progressed any further.
The anticipation is killing me!

knock, knock!

When i put shannon down for her naps, i have to close the door tightly. If i only pull it shut and not latch it, it swings open. I put her down this morning, and got the laundry started. While i was working i heard this knocking. I thought it was elizabeth, until i found her quietly playing in the toy room. I then realized that the knocking was coming from the girls bedroom. Shannon decided she wasn't going to take a nap, & was knocking on the door cause she wanted out.

updates

The girls had their well-checks yesterday. Both are doing well.
Elizabeth weighs almost 50 pounds. Shes in the 90th percentile for weight and height. Shes not fat by any means, just solid.
Shannon weighs about 24 pounds. Shes in about the 25th percentile for height and weight.

baby, get ready

Had my dr appointment today. The test that tracks your average blood sugars over the last 3 months came back normal. He looked at my log of numbers for the last 2 weeks and had to give me a hug. When he checked me, i was at a 5!  He was a little surprised, but i'd already told them a couple of times that his baby wasn't waiting until 37 weeks like the others had. She was coming sooner than that.

Based on a 5, i'd say in the next 24 to 48 hours.

whoops!

Was sitting her playing solitaire after the kids went to grandmas for their play day, and realized that it's laundry day for the kids. It was 3:30!  I hope it gets done, cause i'm not sure i'll be able to do it tomorrow.

is it time yet?

So, i recently remembered that the day before i had shannon, i didn't feel well. As the other 2 were awhile ago, i can't remember that well. Now, every time i have a day when i don't feel well, i wonder if the next day i'm going to go into labor and have this baby.

little mommy

Shannon had a little doll she was playing with. She went into her bedroom and got a diaper. She then tried to put the diaper on the doll. When she "accomplished" that, she hugged it tight, and went on playing.

ouch!

Today, i got the lawn mowed. It took me 2 hours. It's a big yard, but i also took a couple of breaks. One for lunch, and one for hydration. Now i'm extremely sore, & tired.

dinner?

The other day when i asked shaun what he wanted for dinner, he answered steak. It was too cold outside to grill, & they just don't taste the same when braised. I also don't have a broiler pan. But, i figured out how to "fake" one.
I have a half size cookie sheet, and my cooling racks fit inside it. I lined the pan with tin foil, put a cooling rack in it, and had a makeshift broiling pan. It worked like a charm! And the steaks tasted GREAT!

biting

Shannon has become quite the little girl. Lately, she has started biting. Ok, this is phase 2. Now when she gets upset, she bites. Last night she bit both of the kids. So, to try and teach her, i bit her back. (she didn't like that much) today, instead of biting the kids, i watched her bite herself. Then, i think she realized how much that really hurts, she started biting toy food.
What a character!

more computer

I took an old external hard drive in and i'm having the shop transfer my files from my computer onto it. Then we're selling it for parts. I don't have $400 to fix it, and i'm not sure it's worth it. It's $40 to transfer the files. When shaun heard that, he wasn't happy. Since he works for the shop, as a contractor, that's something he could do. He told me it was like charging the owners wife for a job that she should get for free. I'm not as important as the owners wife, and not as visible. I'm willing to pay the money. Especially since he is so busy right now.

busy, busy, busy

Oh the month of may! Why are you always so busy!
This week alone, elizabeth goes to see the new counselor, we've got a male involvement night with head start, and all of shauns late or unfinished assignments are due this week
Next week, taylor has a dentist appointment, i have a doctors appointment, a head start home visit, elizabeth will have another visit with the counselor, and the ward is doing a day of service.
The following week, elizabeh has a dentist appointment, another visit with the counselor, and i'll have another dr appointment. And this is the week that i'm expecting this baby girl to show up.

Even when we aren't having a baby, may is busy!

solution . . . won't work

We told the kids earlier this year that we would try to get them into an activity. Elizabeth, of course, chose dance. Taylor chose karate. So far, we haven't been able to find the funds to do it.
Yesterday, i figured out a way! Unfortunately, it's not going to happen. (What?! You know how to make it happen and you're not going to?) don't get me wrong, i WANT to put them in these lessons. But my solution won't work.
IF i could donate plasma, i could pay for the kids lessons and more.  But, they won't let me donate. Even if i wanted to.

more computer woes

So, we've come to the conclusion that we cannot afford to replace my laptop (i can't even pay the bills i have right now). The one that shaun wants to get me is $750, and that's on sale. Even the bottom end one is $500. Even with the $120 that i will get for parts for the old one isn't going to help a whole lot.
I thought i was ok with it, but i'm having a hard time. Not having a laptop means losing some freedom. That's hard to deal with.
I have to type up blog entries on my itouch and mail them to myself. That's why some of spelling is off, and there are actual capital letters  The computer we set Up in the front room, the internet is finicky.
No more scrapbooking, which i really enjoyed. The computer in the front room is not powerful enuf to support photoshop. Let alone enuf room to store the photos.
No more games. The internet is finicky, and not enuf power to handle them.
I had everything i frequently visited bookmarked, and passwords saved for them. I do have a document that has a listing of all my usernames and passwords on it, but it's on the dead laptop.
I suppose i could lose something worse, like the itouch that has the calendar on it. I wouldn't know what was going on if i lost that. Or, the phone that has all my contacts on it. But still, the lose of freedom is hard to take.

confusing?

so, it occurred to me today, that some of you might be confused as to why i have all the baby stuff ready so early.
i can just hear it now, "but, nadia, you're only 34 weeks. isn't it a bit early to have a bag packed?"
normally, i would say, "yes, it is a bit early."
but, you have to understand that my babies come at 37 weeks.
and with this one, i have the feeling that it's going to be more like 36 weeks.
so, based on the fact, that they typically come at 37 weeks, i have 3 weeks left. if you go by the feelings that i've been having, i have about 2 weeks left. and when i say about here, i mean it could even be earlier than that.

productive days!

yesterday i washed all the baby clothes, the blankets, and the car seat stuff.

today i folded the clothes and blankets, and put the car seat back together. i got the cradle washed, and the matress sanitized. i also finished packing a bag of clothes for all 3 of us (that includes shaun). i also got the other kids' clothes washed.

tomorrow, i need to get my clothes washed, and the kids clothes put away. figure out where to store the babies clothes (we have another dresser, but nowhere to put it at this point).

i think we're physically ready for baby to come. as for mentally, and emotionally, that is yet to be seen!

laptop update

Well, heard back from the repair shop about my laptop. Apparently, the problem is the motherboard. Which is where the jack is located. To fix it would cost around $400. For parts, if we chose not to fix it, they could give me about $120.
We do need to go in and get my files off it, though.

some help (we hope!)

So, yesterday we went to see counselor for elizabeth. We were very concerned about taking her into anyone. She's been doing so well, and we hate to see her regress again. This counselor helped me understand that it's extremely important that this be done now. Children at this age have no ability to categorize and shelve adult sexual behavior. At this age they (the counselors) focus on putting it all in a box and labeling it. They label it wrong touch. They also work on getting the child to understand that it wasn't their fault, and that they have a voice. It's their body, they have a right to tell someone no.
She told me that for girls, the recovery process is multi-step. There's this first part. The second step comes when they hit puberty. This is the time that girls who were abused earlier in life become promiscuous. They now understand what happened to them, and they need the reassurance that it was not their fault. They need their "wrong touch" box reorganized and relabeled. The next step comes when they get married, or have their first significant sexual relationship. The last step comes when they have kids.
I feel really good about her. She did warn me that elizabeth will regress a little bit in the beginning. That's because she's ripping the scab off. But, as they work thru some of the issues, she'll get better, and she'll start to heal correctly.

checklist

spotlights done. . . .check
laundry folded. . . .check
laundry put away . . .  half check
babies clothes washed. . . .
cradle cleaned . . . .
house clean . . . .
eat . . . .check
bags packed . . ..

i think my list of things to do is . . . i don't know. CRAZY!
not only that, but the second two on the list have to be done again in 2 days! WHY ME?!?!

spotlight

taylor and elizabeth both have spotlights this week taylors was this morning, and elizabeths is tomorrow. in trying to get some info to do them, i starting asking some questions.

taylor, wants to be a fireman when he grows up. his favorite colors are blue and green, his favorite food is pizza, his favorite animal is dogs (we don't have one and never have. so i'm not quite sure where that came from).

elizabeth, wants to be a mermaid when she grows up (not sure how she's going to manage that), her favorite color is pink, her favorite food is macaroni and cheese (she tried to tell me tacos, but i know better), and her favorite animal is cats (not sure how that one works either, and we've never had one, and never will. i'm very allergic)

computer less

so, i went to use my laptop the other day, and discovered that the battery was nearly dead. i was a little confused, as it had been plugged in all night. then to my dismay, i discover that it won't charge. checked the battery, it's not the problem. checked the power supply, it's not the problem. then shaun looked at it for a minute, and discovered that when the power supply was plugged into the laptop, the light on the power supply turned off.
we talked to some friends and the guys at a local repair shop, and they all concur that it's the jack in the laptop. looks like to fix the jack is going to be around $200, and they can't promise that it will work. the other options are getting my files off the laptop and just going without, or getting a new one. the local repair shop also sells computers, and they informed me that they could buy the laptop off me for parts, and i could then use that to get a new one from them. they have new and refurbished ones.
i need to take it in and see what they could give me for it. if they can give me $300, and a refurbished unit is $300, we're not out anything. even if they can't give me enough to fully cover a replacement, a partial payment from the "trade-in" is worth it. we would just have to figure out how to get the rest of the money.

bananas

had a guy from church come up to me afterwards. he said they had just bought some bananas to make banana bread with. then they ended up leaving for 4 days for a funeral, and his wife was gone again. he wanted to know if he could bring some by. i said sure.

there were a couple of years when i was growing up that we made and sold cookies, breads, and rolls to earn money to go to girls camp. we would take a couple of days and all we did was bake. regular bread, banana bread, chocolate zucchini bread, poppyseed bread, chocolate cookies, peanut butter cookies, oatmeal chocolate chip, double chocolate chip. i think we may have even made cinnamon rolls as well.

i mashed up previously said bananas, and got 4 1/2 cups! holy cow! so, i made 4 loaves of banana bread. it reminded me of the baking days to earn money for camp.

cloud images

i'm sitting here in my front room, looking out the window at the clouds. trying to see what they make.

earlier i saw a snail, and the face of a muppet. now i see a sleeping baby with the face of a pig.

i love spring!

scrapbooking

i've been doing some scrapbooking lately. it's all digital.

as most of my family is not near, they cannot be here for the majority of these events. so i've decided to post them here so they can at least see part of what happened.

you have been warned, there are a lot of them.

sledding

moving clothes

christmas program 2009

summer owies

taylor #5

haircut 2009

elizabeth turns 4

distractions

so, i went into false labor last night. nothing to be too concerned about, but definitely not fun either. shaun and i had been working in the garage during the afternoon, and then i put shannon in the stroller and we walked down to the store to get s few things for dinner. on the way there i started having contractions. they went on for about 3 hours. they were very sporadic, and not really painful, just annoying.
after i got back from the store and had gotten dinner started, i let shaun know about them so he could be prepared if need be. then i came back inside to finish dinner. taylor came in and said, "mama! daddy told me to tell you to call grandma about . . . . . .um . . . . . the distractions!" i laughed! taylor said, "i can't remember what he said, the distractions." i laughed some more! so i called my mother-in-law, and let her know about my distractions. she told me that if i needed any help to just give her a call. (i REALLY love that she lives just down the block. it's been so nice!)

so, the "distractions" ended around 8 that night. i went to go get shannon ready for bed, and shaun jumped in the room trying to scare her. he didn't scare her, but he did me. not only that, i was sore from all the contractions, and that only made me hurt even more. laughing hurt too.

all in all, it was an interesting night!

clumsy

toddlers go thru a clumsy stage, right? i'm not sure, but mine sure is.

she's been walking for over 7 months. started out in a house that didn't have level floors, and moved to a house that did. we claim that she had sea legs in the first house, and had to get her land legs in the second.

in the last week, she's had a bloody mouth at least twice, fell off the trike and scraped her nose, and tumbled down the back stairs scraping her head and cheek.

it's been a fun week!!

new member?

i think i have an additional child.

my children keep referring to "it wasn't me" when we ask them who did something.

wish he would leave

oh, rexburg spring

got up this morning to take elizabeth to school, and had about 4 inches of snow on the ground. spring! gah!

on my way to take her to school, i lost one of my wipers twice. it wasn't staying on the arm very well to begin with, and was not going to stay any longer. i was able to put it back on, but decided that it was past time to replace it. so, i drove the 3 blocks to kmart, and lost it again on the way into the parking lot. this time, there was no putting it back, it got broke. when i pulled into the parking lot, the snow that was on top of the car fell down onto the front windshield, burying the wipers. when i got back out, they wouldn't work. so i took 5 minutes, and dug the snow out of the window well. my hands were freezing, and tingling when i got done.
kmart didn't have the size i needed, so i had to drive down the street to the parts service store. they had the size i needed and they replaced them for me.

look harder update

i know know why i didn't look any harder for someone that had a gun.

i was talking with a friend about it, and he reminded me that if i took care of it myself, i would be the one in jail, and then where would my kids be? i couldn't do that to my kids.

justice may not always be served here on earth, but it will be in heaven. i am content with that.

grounded

just as i was heading out the door this morning to go pick elizabeth up from school, taylor walked in. not normally a problem. i had decided to take shannon with me this morning, so i told taylor that dad was in bed, and i was taking shannon. he asked me if he could play outside, i said no. he asked if he could play the wii, i said no. he asked if he could put a puzzle together, i said yes. then shannon and i got in the car and left.


when i got home, taylors bike was no longer in the yard where it had been when i left. i was not happy. when shaun got up a little later, we found him at one of the neighbors. since he had gone after he was told he couldn't, he got grounded for 3 days.

this afternoon, i sent the kids to grandmas, like usual. (they go there twice a week for a few hours. grandma has projects for them to do, and they get to spend some time with some cousins. they always have a ball.) as i had heard them call to friends when they opened the door, i thought i would call and see if they made it there. they hadn't yet, and this was 10 to 15 minutes later. so, we started looking. they hadn't gone far, they were riding bikes out front with the neighbor kids. but, since they knew they were supposed to be going to grandmas and not playing with the neighbors, they both got grounded. taylor got another 3 days, and elizabeth got 3.

taylor is grounded for 6 days, and elizabeth is grounded for 3.

it's going to be a long week.

bathroom, please!

saturday, i went out to bring the kids in for something, probably dinner, and discovered a pile of poop on the lawn. i got upset cause i hadn't seen any dogs around. that doesn't mean they weren't there.

sunday on the way to church, elizabeth informed me that she and taylor had done the deed. (AHHHHH!) when shaun saw it he had the same impression i did, that a dog had left it. when i told him that the kids had, he was even more upset than i was.
when we got back from church, i handed the kids sandwich bags, and sent them out to clean up their crap. thankfully, they didn't fight me too much.

look harder

i was informed last night, by the father of a friend that i didn't look hard enough for someone who had a gun.

hole in the head

shannon fell off a chair in the kitchen this afternoon.
landed on her head somehow.
her barrette punched a hole in her head.
has a nice little bump with a dark brown scab.

poor baby!

no insanity

we met with the prosecuting attorney this morning. the newest development is that he's pleading dementia (cause in idaho, you can't plead insanity), and they may try to put the blame on a friend that we moved in with us for a few months earlier last year.

preliminary trial is set for next friday, and trial sometime mid may. as we have the right to get specialists to examine him and prove that he's faking dementia, those dates will be moved back.  (when i say we, i mean the state, they are the ones that are pursuing the case, not us.)
going to be an interesting summer.

hungry

i think this diet may kill me. it didn't use to bother me, but now it does.

as of right now, it's been less than two hours since i ate dinner, and i am STARVING! that and there's still all this easter candy lying around.

tasks started

i mentioned to shaun the other day that we needed to get some stuff out of storage for this baby. (since we only have about 7-8 weeks until she comes. if she holds true to the standard.) namely the cradle. i also wanted the bouncer and the swing.

yesterday, shaun wanted to go get said stuff from storage. we didn't make it. so we went today. we got the cradle, the swing, the bouncer, and the tote with the 18 month clothes in. (it has REALLY bothered me to have to buy clothes for shannon cause i have some. i just couldn't get to them without some help.)
next project is to go thru those 18 month clothes, and get them washed and in drawers. then i need to get the other stuff cleaned up and ready for baby to use.

birthday

my sister sent me flowers for my birthday. they were fresh lilies and tulips. so beautiful, and very welcome as the next day it started snowing again.

we didn't do much for my birthday, especially since i wasn't feeling well that day. we did have cupcakes and ice cream that evening, though.

putting my foot down

i have recently tried something that finally seems to have worked. my four year old has a serious problem making it to the bathroom in time. typically, just in time to pee on the rug in front of the toilet. there were some weeks that she would easliy go through all her pants by tuesday, and laundry day isn't until thursday. we've threatened with putting her back in diapers, she doesn't care. we've yelled, and spanked, and nothing seems to work. finally, i told her that if she runs out of pants between laundry days, she's out of luck. i'm not going to do an extra load just for her. she'll stay home from school and not go anywhere, cause she can't leave the house without pants on. since i told her that, she's only wet her pants once.

HALLELUJAH, a solution that's working!

easter bunny

when i was growing up, the easter bunny visited our house on saturday instead of sunday. my parents decided that easter sunday should be about the savior, and not the easter bunny.
the other day, we told our children that we were going to ask the easter bunny to visit our house on saturday instead of sunday for the same reason. taylor was immediately ok with that idea, but elizabeth took some convincing. basically, we just told her that we were going to ask him and that was it.

now, if the easter bunny can just remember about the change in days!

rain

so, we're sitting in the front room after taylor got home from school. right now, it's pouring rain outside. not quite a midwest storm, but still heavy. out of nowhere, taylor says, "mom, do you know why it rains?" i ask him why, and he ways, "because Jesus is crying." i wasn't sure whether to laugh, or cry. still very cute.

later, when it slowed down a bit and the sun tried to come out, he said, "Jesus is happy, now!"

to do

so, my to-do list is so long, that i have no idea where to start.

laundry
   folded and put away
sheets & towels
   folded and put away
sheets and blankets
   washed and folded and put away
socks to make
a dress to alter
a cross-stitch to finish
2 cross-stitches to design and make
train table to make
a bed to make
   it'd been peed in and i haven't put it back together yet
scrapbooking to do

i know, i'm just looking for excuses. but with little desire and even less energy, it's not hard to find one.

wherefore art thou, sleep!

so, i think in the last month, i've had 3 nights where i wasn't sharing my bed with a child. namely, my youngest, shannon. if she wasn't constantly kicking me in either the head or the belly, i think it might be okay.
now, granted, she had a very upset belly for 2 weeks and was on the brat diet because of it. now she's running a high fever and severely congested, and dripping rivers of snot. even so, i would much rather she sleep in her own bed, because then I can get some sleep. i do much better when i get some sleep!

oh, brat

shannon has been a pain lately. she wakes up at least 3 times a night, and one of those times ends up in bed with us. it's kind of hard to sleep when you have a child kicking you every 10 min.

but, she's also been a little sick. 3 days of diarrhea and she's now going on the brat diet. won't make her happy, but it's better than having to completely change her twice a day. that, and i can do without the needing to sanitize the laptop every day.

cheese!

elizabeth is playing in the front room with some stuffed bears, because shannon is asleep. in her playing, she's set up a couple of camp chairs, and they are all sitting in them. all of a sudden i hear her say, "cheese!" i look over, and she has the bears posed with her, they are getting pictures taken!

breakfast

so, my typical diabetic breakfast consists of this:
2 egg, ham and cheese omelet (because eggs, ham and cheese are carb free)
2 pieces of toast with cinnamon sugar (cinnamon is carb free, and the amount of sugar is miniscule)
6 oz of juice

very tasty breakfast, but not always that filling

broken keyboard

ok, taylor was playing some games on the laptop before he went to play at grandmas. problem was, he didn't put it away. shannon got a hold of it, and i'm now missing 3 letter buttons. she had already broken the "v" button. the "g" button is completely missing, and there's a part missing for the "t" button. sure makes typing an interesting time!

amazement

it never ceases to amaze me that teething can turn a normally happy child into a crab, or a crab into a bear.

diabetic diet, here i come. again.

today was the dreaded glucose test. that drink tastes like straight soda syrup! i took the drink, and didn't make it into the office to take the test in time. the results weren't terrible, but they want me to take it again. since i have to take elizabeth into school in the morning, i'm going to stop by on my way back and redo the prick test.
then she ran numbers and said that even if it comes back negative, she wants me to follow the diet cause she doesn't want me to gain any more weight. i gain A LOT when i get pregnant. as i've already gained close to my allotted 25 pounds, they want to see me either plateau or lose. SO, i go back on the diet starting today. joy.
the diet itself isn't all that bad, but she put me on a 1600 calorie limit. after my skimpy lunch, i was still very hungry. this could be interesting.

cleaning = exhaustion

so, i just spent the last 2 hours deep cleaning the kids bedrooms. i put everything in it's place, got rid of toys they no longer play with. i ended up with a big box of stuffed animals to send to the DI, and a very full 13 gallon garbage bag to put in the trash. their clothes are all put away, they all have clean sheets, and i feel like i've accomplished something huge. and i am now ready for bed. sadly, it's only 5:30 pm.

on a not quite so nice note, i did disaster management yesterday afternoon. taylor, once again, cut elizabeths hair. when i get the pics uploaded, i will post them. i took her in to get it fixed, it was bad. when i got back, shaun was trying to put the laptop back together. shannon got a hold of it and pulled off half the keys. still can't find the 'g' key. then when i went to start dinner, i discovered that the kitchen counter was covered in water. so i had to get that wiped up before i could even think about starting dinner. as i was putting the last load of laundry in the dryer, i kept repeating this mantra to myself: i love my kids, i love my kids. i think it worked!

fingers

lately, shannon has discovered that her fingers fit in her nose. and in my ears. and that baby goldfish crackers will fit in my ears as well.

i really like this stage, i do. the whole discovery thing is so much fun. but why do i have to get dry willies, and goldfish in my ears?

baby, baby, what will you be?

turns out, it's another girl!

sad and pathetic

 just found out that if i tried to sell my van, i couldn't even pay off the remainder of the loan with it. my van is only worth $6500, and i still owe $8500 on it.

just my luck!

"washing" dishes

the kids just spent the last hour "washing" dishes. they had both sinks filled to the brim. they ended up using 1/4 of the bottle of dish soap. they had the floor and counters covered in water. not to mention themselves.

but, i suppose the important thing is that they had fun, and they weren't trying to kill each other for that hour. so worth the mess!

stress killer!

so, we got a call from the landlord last night. they wanted to talk about our delinquent rent, and to do their quarterly inspection. (as if i wasn't stressed enough. i have no idea how to pay rent right now.) except that the house was in no shape to do a walkthrough. we cleaned until 11p, and then cleaned this morning starting at 8:30.
shaun knows me so well. i'm already stressed to the limits, so he puts yanni on the stereo. i don't know why it is, but that's an instant stress killer. i was able to stop thinking about everything that had to be done, and focus on doing it instead.
we apparently passed the inspection, and they are letting us check a few things out to see if we can find some help for rent. what a relief.

whoa, frosting!

the kids got into some cookies that i bought today, and decided that the baby needed one also. she came into the front room eating said cookie, so i picked her up and hauled her back into the kitchen. in the process, the cookie ended up all over her forehead!

o, the drama!

sometime in the last two weeks, elizabeth knocked a tooth loose. course, it could have happened while we were in missouri for christmas; who knows. i think if she had left it alone, it might have solidified back up. but, as she didn't, it keep getting more loose.
got home from picking her up from headstart and getting a few things at the store this afternoon. she decided, even though they feed her at school, that she was hungry again, so she made herself a sandwich. she took a bite, and screamed.
"my tooth came out! waaahhh!" and the tears came flooding. and the blood came dripping. it was still mostly attached to her gums, so when the tooth popped out, it tore her gums, which caused the blood.
i chuckled, still am, and got a washcloth wet so she could suck on it, to get rid of the blood.
oh, but how i laughed!

hand-me-downs!?

so, a member of the RS presidency came by this evening. she asked me if i liked hand-me-downs. are you kidding me?! i grew up with them, we love them! so she brought in 3 black garbage bags that were all partially full. they will fit shannon and no one else, but i think the best part is there was a partial bag of diapers. in the exact size that shannon uses! thank heavens for little miracles!

shannon's newest thing is going around the house saying, "na, na, na," and pinching her thumb and forefingers together. she's walking around the house saying, "no!"

storage

so, i just spent 35 min putting up 10 lbs of hamburger. if you buy in bulk at all, i highly suggest getting a food saver device. one that sucks the air out of the bag. they are so nice!

um, help?!

now that we're home, and life is getting back to normal, we are trying to figure out how to pay the bills. shauns loans don't come in until the middle of feb, and last semesters loans are completely gone.
have a business opportunity, but don't know where to find the money to take it. can't get anyone to listen about melaleuca. very frustrated and concerned.

oh dear

as our vacation to missouri for christmas ends, we sit here trying to figure out how we are going to make it home, dreading the 22 hour return drive, and wishing that the drive was already over.

christmas haul

so, Christmas is over, the kids are having a ball playing with their new toys, and the rest of us are trying to survive their craziness.
when we got here, my sister took the kids shopping and got mom and dads presents. my kids already had stuff for us, so we got doubled up on.
grandpa gave the kids a train table that actually has 4 other activities on the table. how that works, i haven't figured out yet. the boys got swords from my brother, and shields from my sister (that was not coordinated). my girls got dresses galore. we'd had a large swingset we were going to give the kids from santa, but as we could not get it in the van for the trip here, nor did we want to, we had to figure something else out. elizabeth had apparently wanted a barbie for christmas, but the first i heard about it was 2 weeks ago, so we got her one from santa. taylor got a transforming bumblebee car, complete with sam. shannon got a drop and slide toy that teaches cause and efffect. the kids made a haul. shaun asked me the other day how we expected to get all this stuff home. i reminded him that we had brought three boxes of christmas with us that could be used to put our christmas in to get it home. the only thing we're worried about is the train table.
this has been a fun trip. not the actual trip, but once we got here, it's been fun.

driving, and driving, and driving some more

so, we left friday evening, and drove down to ogden. we got there about 9:30. had a good talk with my grandparents, and then went to bed so that we could get up and leave early.
left at 9:30 in the morning, and started on our looooooong drive. tried to find somewhere to stay for the night, but were not willing to pay $95 for a room, so we kept driving. got here this morning around 6:00. woke everyone up so that we could get in the house, it was cold, and we had to go potty.

21 hours in the car, 3 kids . . . long drive, glad we only make it every now and then.

finals . . . check!

i finished my last project last night (well, i guess technically, it was this morning). 2 am, i got everything put together. it still needs to be hemmed, as well as the sleeves, but other than that, it's done.

now i need to focus on packing so we can leave tomorrow.

all i want for christmas is my front tooth

so, taylor is almost 6, in a month. as is the case around this age, teeth start coming loose and falling out. taylor lost his first tooth on wednesday. he was out shovelling snow, and decided to eat a piece of ice. well, the tooth that was REALLY loose, finally popped out. shaun says he walked in and it was sitting on his collar :) we forgot to put it under his pillow that night, so the tooth fairy came the next night. she left him a whole dollar!

happy day!

the preliminary hearing was today, and i was scheduled to testify. the prosecuting attorney decided to try and expedite the process and see if the judge would bond him just based on the testimony of the detective. he did! i didn't have to testify today, but probably will at trial. we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

no gingerbread :(

so, the lady who wanted the gingerbread house did some searching, and discovered how long it can take to make one. she came to us and told us not to worry about making the house.

we both decided that we were a little glad, but sad too. we were both looking forward to doing it, and yet we really didn't have the time.

gingerbread anyone?

so, i think i may have gotten myself in a little over my head. we were in church the other day, and a lady mentioned that she wanted a gingerbread house for her son's reception. i mentioned to a friend that it would be fun to make that for her.
you guessed it, we're making a gingerbread house for the reception. not only that, but the date got moved up a week. we thought we had a good 3 or 4 weeks to do it, turns out, it's next saturday!
right now, we are making a mock up in cardboard. we will them use those pieces as templates. it really is going to be fun, but i also have a dress pattern to make and then the dress itself to put together. not to mention, the half-scale pattern work to finish.

oh, as for the gingerbread, i looked through my cake-mix dr book and found one. problem is, it calls for a plain spice cake mix, and you can't find any plain mixes anymore. they are all added moisture. the dough turned out really soft, and all my attempts at making it stiffer were for naught. i had to google a gingerbread recipe. hope it works out better than the other one.

"nice guy"

one of the news channels went around the neighborhood to get their response on this issue. according to the neighbors, "the real issue is the kids." right, if you read between the lines, it's their fault that they were abused. I DON"T THINK SO!! you can't blame a child for what an adult does.

if we were to find out that he as a mass murderer, we would still say he's a nice guy. there's no way that a nice guy would do something like that.

this is the reason that these instances get under-reported. no one believes the victim cause there's no way that this perpetrator would ever do something like this.

thanksgiving

this year we are doing thanksgiving at our place. we have the most amount of room. i'm actually kind of excited about it.

so, today, i started the baking and cooking for dinner. pumpkin roll is cooling, and the filling will be put in tonight. jello is in the process of being made. with the leftover pumpkin, i made bread. haven't ever done that before, we'll see how it turns out. tomorrow, i need to make rolls. that way they are still warm for dinner.

finally, some snow

the weatherman has told us for a week that we're supposed to be getting snow. we had a storm come through friday night that was supposed to drop 2-4 inches. and then they said it would happen saturday night. it didnt' start until we were in church. we now have our 3 inches of snow. not our first storm of the year, but it did drop the most, and this time, it'll stick!

great news!

we just got some news this afternoon that is the best news we've heard in months. got a call from the detective, i missed it so he left a message, he wanted to let me know that they had just arrested the guy in question, and that he was in jail until he met with the judge.

oh, a huge weight has been lifted off our shoulders. the end is now in sight.

thank you Father!!!

church vs screaming baby

so, shannon started screaming in church during the last hour. nothing i did worked. i changed her bum, no go. i tried giving her some food, nothing. finally, i'd had it and just took her home.
if she does this next week, i might start skipping church for my sanity!

travel . . .

so, we went down to provo this week. rachel lost a baby, and the funeral was on wed. spent some time with gma brady and shawna. got to see gpa brady and harass him.

but, i have never wanted to strangle a child so much. on the way down, shannon cried from tremonton till provo. actually, screamed would be the better description. ok, to be honest, it wasn't the entire way down, it was periodically, but it sure felt like it was the whole way.
then on the way home, she did the same thing from blackfoot all the way home to sugar.
if this is the way it's going to be on the way out to missouri, i think i might go insane!!!

moved

so, we are finally all in, not put away, but all in. we're starting to get on top of things (sort of). my baby is finally comfortable with the new place.

elizabeth

so, we came to the conclusion that it doesn't really matter in the end if something did happen with this neighbor. (ok, it does, but for right now, there is a more important issue) what really matters is that elizabeth knows that her parents believe in her, and that she can come to us with problems and we will do what we can to help her fix them.
however, it is hard to talk to the neighbors about it. one neighbor has a hard time believing that anything happened. one knew that there was something wrong with him when he moved in years ago, and warned her daughter to stay away from him. one thinks we did the right thing, even though they aren't sure what to believe. the police have spoken with him, and he has admitted to stuff. he ADMITTED it. what more do you need?

ring instead of serger

so, we went down to IF the first of the month to get some of shauns school supplies. in the process, we upgraded my ring. the ring that i had was a little thing from walmart. at the time, it's all that we could afford, and it served it's purpose, but, it was yellow gold. for years we had talked about upgrading it, but could never justify it. we finally did it. this one is white gold (yeah), and it nests. you can see here that it has a bridal band. the two diamonds that sit on the side are actually part of the band that the bigger diamond "sits" in. there's no need to weld them together, cause unless it's taken off the finger, they won't come apart.
the best part is that we got it for half off. it's a $1600 ring, but looks like it should be much more.
it wasn't until later that it occurred to me that i could have gotten a serger (or 3) for the price of what the ring is. oh well, ces't la vie. it just goes to show where my priorities were at the time.

life . . .

life has been extremely crazy lately. we are searching double time to find a place to move to. the front half of the house we are currently in has a dirt foundation. the dirt is starting to erode away from the house. we can actually see daylight in the basement. not good.
elizabeth recently started at head start (YEAH!). she has the morning session, which isn't really an issue, except that my classes start before hers. that means that shaun has to pack up all the kids, drop me off at school, and then rush elizabeth over to head start. then he has to take them all in the building cause they won't let him leave the other two in the car.
so, there are now 4 of us in school. which means that mom has 4 times as much homework. i have my own, fortunately, some of it can double as taylors. i have taylors, i have elizabeths, and i have shauns that he frequently needs help with. however, with everything that has gone on this last week, not much of anyone's has gotten done. i need to get a handle on our lives again.

SCARY!!

ok, some have heard this and some have not. since i don't want any incorrect stories floating around, i should tell you all.

elizabeth the other day mentioned some very scary things that led us to believe that a neighbor might be a sexual predator. if he is, he either hasn't registered as one, or he hasn't been caught. i checked my neighborhood, and didn't see any near me. so, we reported it and are in the process of an investigation. it involves having the children questioned by specialists trained in child "interrogation," talking with neighbors, alerting teachers, and questioning of the gentleman in question by the police. right now we are waiting for the detectives to get back to us with their initial findings.

since i know my daughter so well, i know that the only way to keep her away from this gentleman so that nothing further can happen is to move away from him. so we are in the process of trying to get into another house nearby, but far enough away that she can't easliy visit this guy (currently, he is only 4 or 5 houses away, on the same block. the move would put us about a block away, across streets, but still in the same ward; we hate bishop hopping!) if this house doesn't happen, there are a few others that we are considering.

more crafts

these are my 2 newest buildings in my christmas village.
the barn house

the ice cream shop

tired girl

this is what happens when a certain little girl is up before 8 in the morning. typically her place of crashing is the couch or chair in the front room. NOT a camping chair on the front step.

school, here i come!

taylor started school today. grandma and nana got together and got some new clothes and shoes for him. peek-a-boo shannon!

i was able to find this way cool backpack at wallyworld for ten bucks. it's bumblebee from transformers, and has a motion sensor light in it.

the wrap on his arm is from the stitches from yesterday. we replaced it after school.

more boy trouble!

my front door is made of panels of glass. and the bottom corner sticks. so when the kids go to open it, they typically push hard on the panes of glass. the panes aren't in the door very well, and the whole thing rattles when slammed.

we were getting ready to go up and meet taylor's teacher and see his classroom yesterday when taylor comes in crying with blood dripping down his arm. he had gone to open the door, and pushed through the pane of glass.

i called my visiting teacher to come and watch the girls and he and i went up to the hospital to get his arm taken care of.

that cut is about 4 inches long. there's a ton of scratches and 2 puncture wounds. the long cut took 5, and the 2 punctures took 1 each. 7 stitches and 1 1/2 hours later, we're home. what a way to start school!

girls and their accessories

shannon has become quite the little girl. i put this scarf on her head, and she became rambo baby!

we put her in the walker to keep her off the floor and out our hair for a little bit, i think we were cleaning. she turned herself around completely, and managed to walk better that way.

i have this little case that i used for my sewing stuff at one point. right now, it's empty. shannon likes to carry it around though! oh, she really likes pens too!

boys!

the other day, taylor comes in the house crying. he's got blood on his hand, and his head. he had been playing on a pile of dirt at the neighbors house and fell and cut his head.


i didn't take him in, cause it would have been a waste of time. one stitch and a bill of $300. no thanks.

elderly

i love the elderly. their wisdom is priceless, they adore my obnoxious children, and their supply of advice is never ending. however, i do not like it when they try to tell me how to raise and discipline my children.

tonight i got a call from an older sister in the ward. informing me that the children were getting into things and that she told them she was going to call the cops on them. she called me first to let me know.

turns out, she's old, she's not well. she doesn't like kids. ookay. she REALLY doesn't like mischevious kids. what kid isn't mischevious? thankfully, shaun was with us, and i could let him take the conversation and i walked away.

the kids were trying to start a lawn mower. there's no way, even if they both pulled on the cord at the same time, that they could EVER start that lawn mower.

what am i going to do with my "unruly" children?

christmas, here i come!

okay, i know, it's the middle of august and my post is about christmas. but i've had so much fun! i've had a christmas village that needs to be painted for about 3 years. i'm finally getting around to it.
#1, the church
#2, the school
#3, the bakery

#4, the queen anne house

harvest

so, i've gotten peas, and onions out of my garden and used them. but this is something else.
this is my happy face after my meager harvest!

concerned neighbors

i just got a call from a concerned neighbor. one of those that thinks they could do a better job at parenting your children than you. to be honest, they have kids of their own, so it could be worse. apparently, my children were spraying water and throwing dirt at a neighbors house, not the one who called me. he kindly told me that he thought i should keep a better eye on my children. i CANNOT watch them every second of the day. i don't have a fenced yard. short of tying them to a post, i cannot keep them in our yard. and if i did tie them to that post, i would get a visit from CPS; not something i want to have happen.

why is it that my children are angels to everyone except me?

cops and peaches

so, the local grocery store has had peaches on sale for the last week. 93 cents a pound. needless to say, i have bought a lot in the last week. i've dried them and put them up. i can fit about 14 pounds of peaches on my eight dehydrator trays. granted, once dried it only takes up about 1/4 the space, but still good. i'm on my third batch.

i took the neighbor girls to the park for lunch with us today. nobody ate a whole lot, but i got to talk with one of the moms in the ward. just after the truck left, the kids decided they were going to bike around the park on the path. (they did this without informing or asking me) but as they were all 4 together, i didn't see a big problem. until all but elizabeth came back. i asked them all where she was, and got the same answer, "i don't know, i haven't seen her." since i couldn't see her, i started looking. when i found her, she was sitting on the grass next to the path. apparently, the others had left her there after she complained she couldn't go anymore. not sure how long she was there, but someone who saw her there called the police, and reported her "abandoned." i got to her about the same time the officer did. she's okay, i was a little rattled though.