So yeah where to start right. 2010 was quite the year. I suppose I could start this like a christmas letter then perhaps I wouldn't feel guilty for not sending Christmas cards. This has been a year of change and brought to light so much to be grateful for.
I am not sure I am really ready to write all the details so just a brief overview I suppose. We are still in Utah, still loving our friends who are more like family that make up our happy little bubble of a neighborhood. The kids have wonderful friends and supporting adults all around them.
Shaina finished up 9th grade at the jr high and started high school in August YIKES!!! She is 15 and continues to bug me about getting her permit to drive. I am soooooo not ready for all this. She still plays her violin and is in the school orchestra. She just finished up playing in the orchestra of Bountiful High Schools production of Cinderella. I was so proud of those kids it was alot of time and effort. They played for 2 different casts and put in many hours practicing and with actual performances. She helps me a ton around the house and does the best she can at most everything she sets out to do! Love you Sissy!
Isaiah is growing like crazy! He finished up his 4th grade year working really hard and enjoyed his summer vacation. He loves hanging out with some of the boys here in the neighborhood, they love exploring and mischief. I suppose they are typical little boys. He spends his time, drawing, playing on the computer, reading...reading... and reading.. playing a video game here and there and hanging out with friends. Sometimes I think he is too busy for all the rest of us.
Abbey wowzers... Abs finished up kindergarten and had a wonderful summer. She has changed and grown up so much this year. She has really started to read books and loves story time at night. She will read to me or I will read to her but either way she enjoys it.She lost her first 2 teeth and can not wait for more to be loose! She is a wonderful helper to me. And has really enjoyed all the new little ones around the house... (more info on that when I explain my year ;) )
Noah and I have a wonderful time at home. During the last school year him and I had our mornings to ourselves while Abs went off to kindergarten we loved it. Now he stays at home with me and helps me with all the little daycare kiddos. He is not quite sure about sharing momma with everyone else but is doing really well being my helper! I am very grateful for the time we have together. He is still a go getter and keeps me always on my toes. He is sooooo ready for school and can not wait for the chance to be one of the "big kids" in everything he does.
As for me, this year has been wild. I am still staying home with the kids but lots of changes around here. In August when school started I started watching some extra kiddos during the day. I am so happy to have the extra little ones in my home. It has been a huge blessing for me to be able to do this. I have had a big and busy year but am looking forward to each day and the possibility that it holds.
Whew I quick update. I am not feeling much in the writing mood, so perhaps when things are a little quieter around here I will update again. No promises though this may be a once a year type deal.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
pitiful poster!
Okay really there is no other word but pitiful for my blog entries. I am sure your jaws are hitting the floor that I actually wrote something. I went to lunch with some friends last week who so kindly let me know that they "used" to read my blog but can't because I never post. I tend to never post because I think the A.D.D part of my brain tends to take over when I try to write! Well I suppose I should be more on top of it. I was just looking through old posts with the kids and they were so excited to see pictures of themselves and their brothers and sisters so I suppose I should write if nothing more than them to know what crazy random rambling their mother was capable of. I will go through pictures and update soon. Sorry for the delay. And I apologize to my children in advance for missing pieces of their history... Okay now you can pick your jaws off the floor and go back to your regularly scheduled internet browsing.
Monday, March 30, 2009
A new look and a birthday week!
Well I have to say I am loving the new look of the blog just in time for spring! We all survived the weekend full of birthday parties and such. Last Wednesday was Isaiah's 9th birthday, so a Happy birthday day was in order complete with Mickey Mouse pancake and A visit to Chuck O' Rama! It seems to be the new birthday tradition around here. Saturday was the party and a new bike I think he will have to grow into it but he has already taken it for a test drive and thinks it pretty much rocks!
P.S. and a birthday haircut was in order as well... you probably could tell from the birthday morning picture it was long overdue!
P.S. and a birthday haircut was in order as well... you probably could tell from the birthday morning picture it was long overdue!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
An apology and an update..
Well the update first, seems I have been slacking a little with the blog.... Sorry. But that is not the apology I was talking about.
As I type this the calendar says spring but the weather is still holding out for winter, I am alright with that as long as I get a little ray of sunlight every once in awhile. Noah has taken a liking to Milk Bones I guess he comes by that pretty naturally. Yes my mom and brother will know exactly what I mean and I am not sure if I would like the rest of the world to know. I found him in the closet yesterday with a milkbone in each hand. Not going to sweat this too much as he has been into much worse and I think I would prefer the dog food to the garbage.. not 100% about this one yet. Abbey is growing up so much and just within the last week is really starting to love to read and try and spell words , it is her new favorite game. She sounds out signs and cereal boxes pretty much whatever is in front of her. Isaiah is dying with Spring fever and ready for the weather to turn nice and stay that way and Miss Shaina is as busy as ever, she was up until almost midnight last night putting the finishing touches on her posters for student body officer. Well they actually weren't totally done until this morning 10 minutes before school started... oops. But she is getting big and busier than ever. And speaking of Shaina that brings me to my apology.
It seems I owe my oldest child an apology. You see I am afraid I have passed a curse onto her. Any of you that have had the privilege of being within a few feet of my face, know that my glasses are as thick as pop bottle bottoms! I am half way to blind and without my glasses let's just say my brain doesn't work much less my eyes. Unfortunately it seems out of all the wonderful things I could pass along to my children this is the one thing for sure I have cursed Miss Shaina with. And so for a lifetime of glasses and thick lenses I am terribly sorry. And for the awful astigmatism I am sorry. and for all the middle of the night bathroom visits that you stub your toe because you can not see your hand in front of your face, I am sorry. For all the times when you are trying to run the mile in P.E. and your glasses slide off you nose from sweat, or fog up , I am truly sorry. For each and every idiot that calls you four eyes, I give you the permission to use,"four eyes are better than two", and I am sorry. For every time you misplace your glasses but are too blind to find them on your own and have to ask someone else to look for them, I am sorry. For each and every time you have that smudge on your glasses you just can not seem to get off and it drives you absolutely loony, I am sorry. But there is one thing that I will never apologize for and that is the way you look in your glasses Miss Shaina. Because there could never be the more perfect fit to a pair of glasses. This beautiful face was made for these glasses and she looks the part she was born to play. Out of all of Shaina's wonderful and beautiful qualities these glasses have only magnified them. I love you little Miss Shaina and your beautiful glasses face!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Time outs, doggie slippers, and check marks
As I sit here and type this today I am thinking I probably am pushing my luck. I think my window of opportunity for writing today passed several minutes ago. The youngest are fighting over a doggie slipper that has been in the give away box on countless occasions but for some reason always find their way back into the girls closet. They are at least 5 sizes too big for Abbey and Shaina would never wear them. This morning Lyla dog decided they would make nice chew toys and now Abbey and Noah are convinced they are a secret treasure that needs to be fought to the death over. Well as they are both sitting in time out it is debatable whether any of this is going to be a determent in the long term battle.
Noah is getting the hang of the time out thing. Even putting himself there once in awhile. The problem that I find with the whole situation is the cock-eyed grin that comes right before he knows that is where he is headed. He does sit there and he knows the whole apology routine after, it even seems to stop the behavior for a time..... but it is that grin that keeps me wondering.... just exactly what does this kid have up his sleeve. I am certain that I am in for the ride of my life with this one!
I have instituted a new chore routine. The kids get check marks for chores done. 2 checks if it is done without asking, 1 check if I have to remind them and no checks if I have to remind them more than once. At the end of the week whoever has received 80% or more of their check marks will get to have a special treat, like a trip to the mountains, or ice cream cone or a walk with just them and mom or dad or a trip to the park ect. It is going pretty well. but Abbey has decided this morning it is better for mom to dress her than get the check mark... I am thinking it will be a tough go the first time everyone gets the "treat" and she doesn't. It is done just so I don't have to tell people what to do all the time. I have used this example with the kids, if I have to tell every kid once it is time for bed I have to say it 4 times... pretty boring for me, if I have to tell every kid twice it is time for bed now I am up to 8 times the other night I had told Isaiah something 4 times on the 5th time he listened this worked perfectly for me to sell the chore system.... If I have to tell 4 kids 5 times each to do something how many times am I saying it... 20times. If I ask you to do 5 things everyday,(which we all know it is more like 20 things) how many times am I asking kids to do things... ummm 100 TIMES! Well if each time it takes me 1 minute that is a 100 minutes a day I am telling kids what to do (and we wonder why we feel so stressed all the time). Well personally I really want to spend those 100 minutes of my time on much more fun activities! So that is were the idea for the check marks came in. I am done wasting this wonderful time in my family's life "waiting" for all our things to be done, or the rooms to be clean, or the clothes to be washed, or whatever I am going to take all the time I wasted telling my kids to do things and actual do something!!!! Well and the 80% is just a warm up number I am gong to raise that gradually till we are shooting at 95% that way there is a little room for human error but not enough room to slack on anything. Know I just can not run out of ideas for the special treats.. I need lots of good free fun ideas to do. I also think that the kids that go a whole month with reaching their goals will get a something a little more.
So the peace has returned for a moment as the little ones are covering themselves in stickers, the are doing some serious "bonding" (hehehehe). And I am enjoying the little sunbeam on the side of my head. I am doing some serious slacking.(I can I just tell you how inside my head Abbey is) Right after I typed that part about the sunbeam she handed me a "sun" sticker to put on my face.... sometimes it is scary! Well this has turned into a crazy random spilling of thoughts so I am going to close and wish all of you a happy Thursday!
Noah is getting the hang of the time out thing. Even putting himself there once in awhile. The problem that I find with the whole situation is the cock-eyed grin that comes right before he knows that is where he is headed. He does sit there and he knows the whole apology routine after, it even seems to stop the behavior for a time..... but it is that grin that keeps me wondering.... just exactly what does this kid have up his sleeve. I am certain that I am in for the ride of my life with this one!
I have instituted a new chore routine. The kids get check marks for chores done. 2 checks if it is done without asking, 1 check if I have to remind them and no checks if I have to remind them more than once. At the end of the week whoever has received 80% or more of their check marks will get to have a special treat, like a trip to the mountains, or ice cream cone or a walk with just them and mom or dad or a trip to the park ect. It is going pretty well. but Abbey has decided this morning it is better for mom to dress her than get the check mark... I am thinking it will be a tough go the first time everyone gets the "treat" and she doesn't. It is done just so I don't have to tell people what to do all the time. I have used this example with the kids, if I have to tell every kid once it is time for bed I have to say it 4 times... pretty boring for me, if I have to tell every kid twice it is time for bed now I am up to 8 times the other night I had told Isaiah something 4 times on the 5th time he listened this worked perfectly for me to sell the chore system.... If I have to tell 4 kids 5 times each to do something how many times am I saying it... 20times. If I ask you to do 5 things everyday,(which we all know it is more like 20 things) how many times am I asking kids to do things... ummm 100 TIMES! Well if each time it takes me 1 minute that is a 100 minutes a day I am telling kids what to do (and we wonder why we feel so stressed all the time). Well personally I really want to spend those 100 minutes of my time on much more fun activities! So that is were the idea for the check marks came in. I am done wasting this wonderful time in my family's life "waiting" for all our things to be done, or the rooms to be clean, or the clothes to be washed, or whatever I am going to take all the time I wasted telling my kids to do things and actual do something!!!! Well and the 80% is just a warm up number I am gong to raise that gradually till we are shooting at 95% that way there is a little room for human error but not enough room to slack on anything. Know I just can not run out of ideas for the special treats.. I need lots of good free fun ideas to do. I also think that the kids that go a whole month with reaching their goals will get a something a little more.
So the peace has returned for a moment as the little ones are covering themselves in stickers, the are doing some serious "bonding" (hehehehe). And I am enjoying the little sunbeam on the side of my head. I am doing some serious slacking.(I can I just tell you how inside my head Abbey is) Right after I typed that part about the sunbeam she handed me a "sun" sticker to put on my face.... sometimes it is scary! Well this has turned into a crazy random spilling of thoughts so I am going to close and wish all of you a happy Thursday!
Monday, February 23, 2009
A fresh start.
As I sit here and type this, Noah is drawing pictures, and everyone else is off doing their jobs. Abs is at preschool, Big kids are at their respective learning establishments and Jon is putting in his time like a good husband and daddy. I think all the other "babies" are taking their morning nap. And the "Momma" is outside enjoying the day. It is a dark and cloudy day but the warmth of spring is in the air. There is a light mist but it is nothing like the days in the middle of November when it is dark and gloomy and misty and the chill of winter is in the air. It feels as if the earth is starting to wake up.
I am completely amazed that I have made it through another week .My life is very full right now and is seems there is not a moment of peace. I try to find a few moments hiding here and there but they are few and far between. I found one of those moments today as I sat out in the warm mist of spring and watched Lyla try and figure out how to get the squirrel out of the tree. She may still be trying to figure it out but she seemed to be pretty content to spend the day keeping a good eye on the little fellow. Hope he doesn't need to come out of the tree anytime soon. If you know me you know what a big fan of peace and quiet I am.... I know you are asking why did you marry Jon and why in the world do you have 4 kids, well I am a big fan of all those things as well.. :) . I am seriously considering a beach vacation. I think more than ever in my life I am feeling the pull of the warm sandy beach. Just a few moments to soak in the sun and warmth and not have be awaken every morning by the alarm clock that there is no snooze for!
The past week about kicked my hiney. I have had a sick hubby, two sick kiddos, lost a puppy, had a runaway momma dog for a day (guess she is needing her beach vacation as well) and have been constantly in charge of the house, pets, and kids. I am the first one out of bed and the last one to bed, there has to be a law somewhere that states if Momma doesn't get her sleep quota the entire family shall slowly and systematically fall to ruins around her. I am serious I think it is the "Momma can never get sick law!" I am sure that is in a Physics book somewhere!
In spite of the week last week, I think my body knew today was a fresh start. I rolled out of bed this morning to the sound of Noah emerging from his room and howling puppies downstairs. But this morning it didn't seem impossible it felt like there may be a few moments even in all the insanity that I could find my "quiet" moment. I did it came while I was scrubbing the puppy room floor with my bucket of Lysol and had 7 little heads poking over at me wondering when I would be done...(probably so they could come over and piddle there again, but hey it was my moment I could take it whatever way I wanted!). It was a moment. One of those times when your heart quiets and you can feel the love that surrounds you and realize no matter what your situation you are certainly never alone in it! Even if those are only brief moments in my life right now they are what keeps me going. It is such a huge journey sometimes it sure helps to know there is always a day where you can wake up and just start over! Well I could never cover the complete insanity of my life in mere words, so I won't even try. As for know I am thinking the madness it about to begin so I should close for the day and wish everyone a Happy Monday. And may you always be given the chance to a new beginning! Here is to a fresh start!
I am completely amazed that I have made it through another week .My life is very full right now and is seems there is not a moment of peace. I try to find a few moments hiding here and there but they are few and far between. I found one of those moments today as I sat out in the warm mist of spring and watched Lyla try and figure out how to get the squirrel out of the tree. She may still be trying to figure it out but she seemed to be pretty content to spend the day keeping a good eye on the little fellow. Hope he doesn't need to come out of the tree anytime soon. If you know me you know what a big fan of peace and quiet I am.... I know you are asking why did you marry Jon and why in the world do you have 4 kids, well I am a big fan of all those things as well.. :) . I am seriously considering a beach vacation. I think more than ever in my life I am feeling the pull of the warm sandy beach. Just a few moments to soak in the sun and warmth and not have be awaken every morning by the alarm clock that there is no snooze for!
The past week about kicked my hiney. I have had a sick hubby, two sick kiddos, lost a puppy, had a runaway momma dog for a day (guess she is needing her beach vacation as well) and have been constantly in charge of the house, pets, and kids. I am the first one out of bed and the last one to bed, there has to be a law somewhere that states if Momma doesn't get her sleep quota the entire family shall slowly and systematically fall to ruins around her. I am serious I think it is the "Momma can never get sick law!" I am sure that is in a Physics book somewhere!
In spite of the week last week, I think my body knew today was a fresh start. I rolled out of bed this morning to the sound of Noah emerging from his room and howling puppies downstairs. But this morning it didn't seem impossible it felt like there may be a few moments even in all the insanity that I could find my "quiet" moment. I did it came while I was scrubbing the puppy room floor with my bucket of Lysol and had 7 little heads poking over at me wondering when I would be done...(probably so they could come over and piddle there again, but hey it was my moment I could take it whatever way I wanted!). It was a moment. One of those times when your heart quiets and you can feel the love that surrounds you and realize no matter what your situation you are certainly never alone in it! Even if those are only brief moments in my life right now they are what keeps me going. It is such a huge journey sometimes it sure helps to know there is always a day where you can wake up and just start over! Well I could never cover the complete insanity of my life in mere words, so I won't even try. As for know I am thinking the madness it about to begin so I should close for the day and wish everyone a Happy Monday. And may you always be given the chance to a new beginning! Here is to a fresh start!
Thursday, February 19, 2009
A little ray of light
As I write this today there is a tiny beam of sunshine pouring over the side of my face and hand,aaaahhhhh! The house is almost quiet except for the sound of Dora indoctrinating my 2 youngest children. Abbey has dressed herself and the cough is sounding so much better. My kitchen is almost clean, Jon WASHED THE DISHES BEFORE HE LEFT FOR WORK!!!!! Yes that does need to be shouted! It is a miracle. And there are 8 sleeping puppies, feed, and in a cleaned "room". There is a load of laundry in the wash and another in the dryer. (I do have about 3 loads to fold but we are not focusing on that right now, I am living in the sunbeam!)
Today is the first day that I noticed the sun pouring in like it is. I love that my house has incredible windows. I always ponder the connection between the sun and the Son (Jesus Christ). Life always seems a little brighter with the sun around, life always seems a little clearer when you are sitting in a sunbeam, life is a little sweeter when the sun is shining. And you always seem to enjoy the sun the most when life is the darkest. I am glad I found my sunbeam today! Now I am thinking it is time to put the sunbeam away and get back to the kiddos, Noah has decided that he needed to go into the puppy room, but first he needed to spray the T.V. and coffee table down with Febreeze. Well time to leave the sunbeam for awhile, I hope it is still around when I get back!
Today is the first day that I noticed the sun pouring in like it is. I love that my house has incredible windows. I always ponder the connection between the sun and the Son (Jesus Christ). Life always seems a little brighter with the sun around, life always seems a little clearer when you are sitting in a sunbeam, life is a little sweeter when the sun is shining. And you always seem to enjoy the sun the most when life is the darkest. I am glad I found my sunbeam today! Now I am thinking it is time to put the sunbeam away and get back to the kiddos, Noah has decided that he needed to go into the puppy room, but first he needed to spray the T.V. and coffee table down with Febreeze. Well time to leave the sunbeam for awhile, I hope it is still around when I get back!
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