Catching Up

We celebrated Niko's birthday recently. It was one of our better birthday celebrations. We had some small colds but nothing like the nasty ones of years past.

We arrived early and went to a big family party. It's always fun to see DH's cousins and their growing broods. We spent a little bit of our time talking to DH's granny. She has always been so adorable. I think she really misses DH's grandpa who recently passed away. She remarked that he had passed away easily and just didn't wake up. She said she had tried that but she just kept waking up. She is so loved. Someday we'll all miss her so much. But it's sad to watch her as she misses her sweetheart and has failing vision and hearing. DH's aunt informed us of a talent show while we were driving down. I called an old friend and asked to borrow her daughter's viola. It's not quite the same but it worked. M and T played it. T went to practice and half way through his song he said, "Wait, where'd my E go?"

We went to church the next day. C was being a turkey and I had to take her out. After, a lady who knows DH's parents said to him, "You have 4 calm ones and one firecracker." If she only knew. Luckily, we have had enough time to train the 4 bigger ones.

On Niko's day we went out and did our shoe shopping first thing. T and D found theirs first. T wants a pair of basketball shoes and D got a pair of Nikes that are laced with elastics. M found a pair of Jessica Simpson flats. S found a pair of shoes that look like low top Converse. They are hot pink with white polka dots. C, the firecracker was more interested in looking for 11's for her size than shoes. (It turns out she needed 12s). We finally left the mall without any shoes for her and I took her into Payless and talked her into some fake Ugg like boots.

We went out to the cemetery and were surprised to find the geranium we planted in the cup holder last March still alive. In March we just took flowers from the grocery store because birthdays were on Sunday last year. I loved having something in Niko's little cup the was living. We added some flowers to his and the kids got antsy about visiting Joshua. DH jokingly told them they hadn't sung Niko happy birthday. So the kids busted out in song along with some cha cha chas and Scooby Doos. Then they zoomed down to Joshua and took him some flowers too. There was a little hide and seek action down in that part of the cemetery. Then C decided she just had to go to the bathroom. Now it's one thing to find a big bush or tree at a park if it's an emergency, but doing it at a cemetery is a different story. So the two of us headed to the office. We walked in to use the restroom and a couple was there obviously needing some property. I felt a little weird going in as happy as I was because they didn't look too happy. I wanted to say, "Hey, it's my dead kid's birthday and it's okay. I promise it'll be okay someday too." Instead, I just hurried C into the restroom. And it was okay. Did I get a little teary? Of course I did. But it was a good day. As we were leaving I noticed someone tending a grave right by Joshua's. She and her I'm guessing husband were doing it so tenderly. It was nothing like the quarrelling over which flower to leave. It wasn't hide and seek. It was just perfect. I'm guessing they were grandparents because they seemed too old to have a baby in the infant section. I thought how cool it would be to have someone else who wanted to stop by and care. I had to take a picture from a distance because it touched me so much.

We went out to lunch as a family and then headed back to my parents' house. My dad wanted to take DH and I shooting. I have never shot anything more powerful than a kids' water gun. We headed to the range and my dad gave me a quick lesson. There was some guy in the stall next door who had a gun with a very loud sound and quite a little fire when it was shot. I was actually pretty terrified to be there. I did shoot the .22 and it wasn't too bad. But when I went to shoot the 9mm or the .40 I was just too scared. The range master came in and gave me a little lesson. He really knew how to make someone aware of what needs to be done to have confidence. He instructed me and then had me shoot all three guns. Not only did I shoot them, but I managed quite a few bulls eyes. I think my dad really liked doing that with us too.

We visited a few friends that day. I would love to have seen more people. But time always runs out. I hope to visit them in March when we visit again.

It was a good trip. The kids were relatively good. The weather was nice there. We weren't too sick. There was so much good to appreciate. It was a nice way to start the Christmas week.

And the day gets better

We got a Christmas tree. It's green and full and not Charlie Brownish at all. I think DH put it in the basement. There wasn't time to decorate it at all so I didn't go down and check out piney friend out.

We survived all the activities. S and C didn't go to violin. I did get a bridge and did my best to be a luthier. I'm not great at it but it's not a fabulous violin either. I'm not touching the sound post. That's beyond what I can do.

We dropped D and M off early with books to read and took T to his practice. C brought her new build a bear and fur real friend panda. S brought her build a bear. Right before leaving S got mad at C and threw her panda to the ground and broke it. She didn't end up with a great track record today. Of course, those pandas aren't cheap and I wasn't thrilled. I didn't scream or anything. I'm too tired of it to do that. But S screamed at me. She screamed at the top of her lungs then. She screamed at me at home. I'm just a bit tired of doing calm parenting and getting screamed at.

So as you can imagine, getting the tree was less that festive. But we got it and that's what counts. I'm not sure what to do with S. Are her meds not right? Is this regular 5/6 year old behavior that is ramped up with other issues? Is this leftover from the trip to AZ for Thanksgiving? I'm at a loss. I just know she is wearing me thin as I try to just keep doing the right thing.

Good Times!

I don't want to turn into a grouchy scrooge. How about the highlights of the weekend....

I gave myself the good/better/best lecture and decided that M did NOT need to do her makeup lesson on Friday and T needed to miss swim so that we could have a little family time. It fell apart when the kids wouldn't pick up the mess in the basement. The family dinner fell apart and it was discouraging. It seemed like it would have been better off to have the swim practice and the makeup lesson done. I guess the good/better/best thing takes a while to master.

Saturday DH went snowboarding and I took the kids to a church party. They had a lot of fun there and I didn't have to make them breakfast :)

M and I worked that afternoon on the quilt we are making for her teacher. It was M's first chance with a sewing machine and she LOVED it. We were working on it when DH came home from boarding.

Somehow I miscommunicated the fact that we were celebrating C's birthday at Build A Bear that night and DH made the family room floor a temporary bed. When he finally awakened I told him that we were ready to go.

Build A Bear was a happening place. The kids had fun making their animals. We didn't let them get clothes or anything but they still had fun.

Sunday was the real birthday. C liked her birthday. I made a pig cake and piggy cupcakes. MIL showed up after church and C really liked that. Later that night we went to a friend's house for waffles and crepes. They looked great. I didn't have any because I didn't want to pay M another 5 dollars for having eating sugar.

This morning S had a rough time. It ended with a broken violin bridge and a sound post that is off. I was really frustrated, but I handled it really well. There was no screaming. I calmly said, "I guess you won't be able to have sugar with your breakfast because I said if you didn't get your practicing done then there could be no sugar with breakfast." (If you no longer have an instrument then you can't finish your practicing.) Anyway... I'm glad I didn't make it any worse. Then S had a rough day at school. I guess she kept hiding out in the coat closet because she was mad.

I hate to say it but I will be happy once we get through the holidays. I just feel like any umph I have has been sucked out of me. It's my Niko. It's the constant chaos. It's the giving giving giving and not feeling appreciated. And what's crazy is that all of those things are things I should be working on. You shouldn't give to be appreciated. I know that. You should be able to find happiness in the chaos. And my Niko should bring me joy as he brought me the title of mom.

So tonight we will hopefully check getting a tree off our list. It's one of those do it for the kids things. And fortunately it should be unseasonably warm. After last years frigid tree adventure it will be a nice change.

We are squeezing in concert rehearsals (not for S as she has no instrument) and swim practice as well. Rehearsals go for 2 hours. But there is only one and that is a great blessing :)

Good Times!

The news

T had his homework in M's room. I looked until 2 am for nothing. The good news is that he did know where it was.

I've giving up on advent calendars. Everyday the kids bug me and bug me about getting them down so they can eat their chocolate. I decided I don't care. I announced at breakfast that they could take them to their rooms and eat every piece of chocolate if they wished. I just didn't want to hear anything about them. Why didn't I do this before? It takes the pestering off me and sets up natural consequences. If you eat your candy too early, you'll be out of luck. I guess moms are slow learners some times.

My kids ate cereal for breakfast with no milk. I haven't done any real grocery shopping in almost 2 weeks and had no eggs and no milk. I've done so well with my you have to have homemade breakfast 4 schooldays a week but this week I have failed. I'll try better next week.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree

I lost T's homework. I swear I saw it last night or this morning. I thought briefly about having him take it to school but didn't because he can't report his reading minutes early.

And tonight I just can't find it. I have searched and searched. And all this searching is after searching for my sewing machine pedal. M has the quilt all cut and pinned that she is making for her teacher's baby. Now I can't find the pedal. What is worse is that I couldn't find it last time I was going to lend the machine out. Then, weeks later, I saw it. And I can't remember what, if anything, I did with it. M good friend told me to pray about it and I told her I just couldn't. I hate to say it but when you bring something on yourself, I don't think you should expect a miracle. If I had put the dang thing away, I would know where it is now. If I had hung T's homework back up under his magnetic clippy thing, I would know where it is.

And all this searching was done in between sessions of pouring over my driving schedule. I have a bit of a quandary a the moment. I have to drive the 350-525 miles a month to get T to his swim practices (depending on how many times a week he goes... has to go a min of 3 or he can get kicked off the team). Do I stop my carpools and just do all the driving myself. It doesn't really matter timewise because I have to drive near dance anyway. But M loves her carpool (I may have already blogged about all this but it's still heavy on my mind so it might just be getting a duplicate post) and well, I hate for the kids to spend almost 3 hours in the day in the car when they aren't in lessons. What kind of life is that ? So if they carpool and I have a sitter some days then there is lesson of that watching you grow older in the backseat of a car thing going on. But the sitter is going to suck up the me slush fund. I was wondering where it was going and now I have figured it out. Some of it has been going to pay sitters while I drive carpools which are too big for my kids plus the carpool kids.

Anyway... back to the homework thing. While searching for it I did find two assignments that weren't turned in this week. I can't say much since I lost his last assignment. I would be mad but well, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

In other news....

M got interested in blogging this week.

T had his fastest times at a swim meet. He also had his first disappointment in his results. The best part was when I asked him how he was going to swim his backstroke. I wanted to know how he planned on handling the turn. He said something to the effect of "You know, on your last stroke you turn over and do a flip turn." Um, T, have you ever done that? Maybe you should go and talk to your coach. Coaches suggest was to just slow down like a 25, touch the wall and turn around and start back. He really thought he could just try a backstroke flip turn for the first time during a race. You don't slow down when you do those and you'll whack your head if you aren't careful.

D found out he doesn't need a palate expander. He doesn't however need some other orthodontia and will be getting it soon. I had fun taking pictures of him at the dentists as they put these contraptions in his mouth. He was a good sport about it.

S hasn't quite made it back from our trip to AZ. She's still out of sorts. Today she did get her anger under control enough that I could let her play outside at violin. That was a big plus for both of us because she really loves it and well, it's hard to have the kids inside during lessons. There are just too many of them.

C has been on a draw all over things. It has been permanent marker lately on her bed, bedding, blinds.... (maybe she had a thing about the letter b). It has been really frustrating. She's the uberdestructo girl right now.

And at the dentist we managed ZERO cavities :) That's two times in a row. No cavities for a year. We went out to eat to celebrate.

And as for me, well, I haven't managed to do anything well. I haven't figured out what is best. Do I keep trying to do everything frazzled or a few things really well. It's too much stress to even decide. So I'll just keep plugging along :)

D's baptism went well. He was thrilled with all the people who came to see him. We had a fun party at our house with his cousins after. After everyone left gave me the first relaxing time I had felt in quite some time. It was great to that feeling even if it didn't last.

On tap for this weekend is C's 4th birthday. We have a party to go to and as I am feeling so festive, I am certain it'll be a blast.

My little Niko has come to my mind quite a few times in the past week. He finds more of a place in my mind during this, his season. Maybe it's another reason I am more scatterbrained. It's hard to balance the heavens and the earth all in on mortal's thoughts. Hopefully, I can be forgiven for all the things I mess up on while trying to manage it.

So my mom wants to know.....

T found out his teacher is heading home at a similar time that we will be travelling. T told me he was going to ask for a map to her house so he could visit her. DH and I joked around that he could just drive down with her, perhaps in her trunk and we'd give her a couple of dollars so she could toss him a hamburger now and then. We all laughed.

I emailed her today and told her pretty much, "Hey, sorry if he bugs you. He doesn't get that teachers don't want to see their students on their breaks."

Tonight before bed he tells me he told his teacher, "My mom wants to know if I can go to AZ with you."

What a turkey!

Then he asked me if he could. Apparently she's flying and he has never flown and thinks she'd be a good buddy to try flying with.

And onto the other kids.....

M is playing the violin with her little choir. I asked her if she had the music and she said she didn't and that it seemed a little weird sometimes but then it sounds fine. Hmmm... I guess they sing with a CD.

T is swimming really well. He was leading out today because he kept passing everyone. I love seeing him really focus on something.

D is so excited for his invention of a robot with a television in his belly. The box is painted a bright orange right now.

S is still trying to recover from our trip to AZ. She's a screamer these days. We had playgroup here today though and she did pretty well with her friends. Tonight she hated me and then adored me and couldn't stop hugging me.

C is one hard 3 year old. Once she is tired there is just nothing you can do with her. The freckles she gave herself earlier in the week are almost gone. She thinks she's five or older it seems.

I conquered a 25 lb bag of onions today. I don't want to admit how long they were on my counter. I finally got them all chopped up and frozen. I can't believe I haven't cleaned my house more when we have a family shin dig here in a couple of days.

And with that I am done. I'm feeling less stressed today. I had to turn down helping one lady with a carpool issue because I just couldn't do it. But then another person called about a different carpool and I was able to make it work. I felt much less like a loser that way.

Simplification... How does it work?

I have been stressed and well, more stressed the last few weeks. It's the waking up to a house of violin players. It's having a broken treadmill and being too lazy or cold to go outside. It's thinking I could go outside, but not knowing what to do with kid 5. It's needing to physically be in 3 towns at once for kids activities. It's knowing that there's no half doing things.

UGH!

How do you simplify?

Today it really hit me. I tried calling the dentist to make cleanings for 4 of the kids. I was getting stressed just talking to the receptionist. No we can't make that appointment (playgroup). No, not that day either (watching neighbor kid while another mom works in kindergarten). Nope, not that day (working in kindergarten). Nope, how about another day (picking up the 5 little girl kindergarteners in our neighborhood for their once a week shin dig). Nope... (invention day for D). Oh and anything after school, no way because there is no breathing room after school.

And now I want to tell my kids they had better keep those teeth cleaned because I really don't have time to take them back to the dentist for any follow up work.

It has to be too much. I've been up nights trying to figure out how to get kids everywhere they need to go. There comes a point where to succeed in an activity you have to put a lot of time into it. M loves dance. But at her level, she has to be there at least 3 days a week. I love that it keeps her sedentary personality on the move.

T loves swim and I love that it seems to keep him out of the hospital with asthma issues. But 5 days a week of practicing two towns away might send me to my grave. Once again it's hard because it helps his health but he's also pretty good at it. He's built like a swimmer and when he wants to be he can be pretty fast.

D loves ballet. It's only twice a week right now (except for rehearsals). He's very well suited for it. But it's just the beginning. It'll be three days a week within two years and then even more. But I like that he loves it. And I like that he doesn't have to compete at all with T.

S loves ballet for now. But I think she'd like anything. Her lesson isn't too hard on me as it's just once a week.

And C... well she just has violin like all the kids. But she's already begging for ballet. I'm saying no because I am already driving too much and at her age shows little benefit.

It doesn't sound like they do too much when you think one sport and one instrument. But it's killing me!

I'm thinking of ditching all my carpools as a way to make my life easier. To drive my carpools I have to get a sitter for the kids that won't fit in the car. And now I have to figure out how to get T to swim 30 minutes before dance when I can't pick the other kids up early due to other lessons.

I want talented kids. I love watching them do their things. I like seeing things done well. I'm sort of a why bother if you aren't going to do a good job type of person. And I've asked if they want to quit their activities and they don't. They say they love them. But how do people with bigger families manage. How do you get all the kids where they need to go?

Anyway, I can't fix the activities for now. We are committed and I haven't figured out a better thing to do. I'm thinking I need to try to simplify the time I have so that I don't feel like I just do wash, dishes, and drive kids all over.

Anyway... finding balance may have to be my goal for next year.

Wow Moment

So we had a bit of a breakthrough today. S has been struggling on and off for quite some time. I haven't known what to write. We visited with her psych who gave me some good advice and pumped me up by telling me that I really seemed to understand her well for someone who didn't have a lot of experience dealing with such things.

Then tonight she and C were being turkeys. They both ended up in timeout for going into M's room (a no no and they know it) and for getting into a barbie from my stash o' toys and opening the thing. S was having a hard time in her time out and when I tried to talk to her she kept giving me what we call 'mean face'.

Anyway, it was bedtime and so I asked her if she wanted to stop scowling and do scriptures and prayers with us and she just scowled away. So I told her she could do her prayer or not do it (her decision) and go to bed. I told her I hoped she could make good decisions so she could be happy.

I went back there to check on her and she was making great decisions. She was so angry and yet she was still trying to do the right thing. So I plopped down next to her as if I were looking at the stars. She was having a 'campout' in her Tinkerbell sleeping bag. I plopped myself down next to her as if I were looking at the stars.

We talked about things she liked. I told her she could remember Texas to me if she wanted. She couldn't come up with much. But she said she remembered her biomom pouring D a drink of juice in a cup and that she was wearing a pink shirt. She remembered riding in her biodad's truck. She said her carseat faced forward and D's faced sideways.

Then she told me how much she loved being in our family. And it wasn't a show. I could tell she really meant it. Her eyes give her away every time. She said she was so happy C was her little sister and how lucky she was to have a little sister. She thought it would be boring to live in a family without a little sister who could play all the time.

Then out of the blue she says that she wishes she could be like I was as a little kid. I was a bit perplexed as I didn't know which thing she was talking about. Was she talking about the fact that I lost my teeth earlier than she will? Was she talking about my roller skating days (a recent pic that she saw)? I asked her to clarify and she told me she wished she could just want to obey all the time.

This opened up a great pathway in our conversation. I told her I was so lucky that obedience is one of my 'gifts' in life. I really like to obey. It's something I have rarely struggled with. And then I told her that I really didn't get the gift of singing like she has or monkey bar swinging like D has. I told her that her Heavenly Father thinks she is so awesome that he had to give her special gifts that are for her. We talked about her other gifts. She makes friends very easily. People are drawn to her. We talked about her brain and how she understands things easily. And then I told her that Heavenly Father knows when she struggles and how I am certain he is rooting for her. Tonight she needed to really hear how Heavenly Father made her special. She struggles so with why she got the challenges she has. I know she needs to feel special every day. What kid doesn't? But today she needed a little more.

She asked me if I wished Jesus could walk in front of me and I could just run up and catch up to him. She thought it would be so cool. She told me over and over, " He just loves everyone, even the whole world!"

Then, without any warning, she says, "I'm so sorry I called you fat." This was maybe close to a year ago and I was really surprised remembered, let alone apologized. I explained to her that I knew what she really was saying was that she felt really angry at me. Then she tells me, "It's kind of like Satan." I encouraged her to expound. "He wants people to feel unhappy when he is sad too."

I teared up. How many five year old kids put this together? I'm sad that the fact that she called me fat weighed on her mind for so many months. That's a burden for such a small kid. I'm amazed that she made such a connection.

I stroked her little face and she kept reaching up to grab mine with both of her hands. Her eyes were so sparkly. She was my little girl and I was really feeling her pain. I could comfort her not because she was a kid who needed comforting, but because she was MY kid who needed comforting.

This time it felt right.

And she told me it was a 'wow moment'. I guess she learned about wow moments at school and our time chatting together qualified. I think she was right.

Not Chickenpox

It must have been hives because she woke up spot free :) Oh happy day!

So instead of sitting around home trying to keep germs at bay we went over to a friend's house and participated in watching the pressure gauges of pressure canners filled with canned chicken. It seemed glorious compared to chickenpox.

So now we can just have a normal busy week. But it's normal busy and that I don't mind.

3 Years

Today marks three years since we brought S and D to our house. Quite a bit has changed since then. They've both changed quite a bit and I would say the rest of us have changed just as much. Although I would guess they might always wonder how things would have been if they had been able to remain with their birthparents, I think they like our family. They both will occasionally say in their prayers that they are thankful to have a family and parents.

Some of the things I have learned are

-Love takes action. You learn to love those you serve.
-Kids need more of the things no one wants to put time into and less of what people want to buy them.
-As 5 kids get older their time to get buckled in the car decreases.
-3 car seats at once is much better than 5 car seats at once.
-Mom and dad have to figure out how to be united on decisions even if they don't agree.
-Negatives usually have some positive somewhere.
-When you think you know what you are doing you realize that you have no clue.
-The first therapist isn't always the best.
-Over scheduling causes crazy moms.
-Waking up to the kids practicing is great but can almost drive me crazy!
-Kids need parents who will follow through on what they say both for the good and the bad.
-Plastic mattress covers are a necessity.

So we didn't end up celebrating much today. S had a talk to give at church. I was working on it with her. Before church I went and got her dress out and had her get dressed. When she came for me to button up the back I noticed some spots on her back/neck. I looked a little more and noticed more. So we headed to my friend's house and she confirmed my suspicions. S has a breakthrough case of chicken pox. Before bed she was up to about 200 spots. I read up on them and I guess breakthrough cases usually only have 50 or less spots. I'm just telling myself that if she didn't have the vaccine she would be one of those kids covered from head to toe.

What's funny is that right before I buttoned up her dress I told DH how I was excited for last week to be over and to have an easier week. What was I thinking? Now I am just going to hope the other kids don't get it. They have all been vaccinated but obviously that doesn't mean a whole heck of a lot. T has 3 swim meets in the next 10 days and M and D have big time Nutcracker rehearsals. So it looks like S will be staying home most of the week.

So it's going to be a busy week after all. But I might just feel lost if it weren't.

Inventory

That's what the kids are doing right now.... There is candy all over the family room. (I'm not exaggerating here. I really mean it's all over.)'s We have D's 'tower of candy', T's little piles called 'candy galore', M's lined up and accounted for candy (she kept track of what she received by category before and after the storm.... no Crunch bars post storm), and S big pile of whatever (she's too busy eating to sort), and C's messy pile of candy and wrappers.

I think it's funny that they are inventorying everything as tomorrow we will let them pick their favorite candies and then the remaining million pieces will go into the community bucket that I'll dole out sparingly. We have enough candy to last a while. (At least according to M who has 127 pieces from Grannie's work, Papa's work, DH's work, the church party, and the neighborhood.) That's about 500 pieces in the community bucket. At a piece a day they have a 3 month supply.

This has been the longest Halloween week. The kids had their day at school. We had a day of visiting relatives and doing more celebrating. Then we did the real thing today (which wasn't really real because it wasn't even Halloween... alas Halloween is on a Sunday).

When asked what their favorite thing about Halloween is I got the following responses.

M-Pumpkin seeds
T-
D-Carving pumpkins
S-Eating candy
C-When everyone comes and you pass out the candy (with a number 2 of 'whenever you eat all your candy and your tummy is all fat).
DH-When it does not fall on a quarter end (which is NEVER)
Me-Bedtime :)

We had a really cool storm roll through today. It reminded me of an old movie called The Fog or something like that. The kids went around the block (as I am the weather.com following mama) and then BAM, it was quite a storm with tons of hail and wind. Later, I left some candy outside and took the kids out in the cold.

Other highlights (or lowlights of the week).

C threw up in M's bed yet again!
I figured out the games for M's class at school.
I worked in T's class for Halloween.
We had S's playgroup at our house.
M surprised her violin teacher with a new concerto.
S had a hard time with her difficult behaviors. We need a new psych appointment to adjust meds I believe.
T finished his first real book report and did the whole things in cursive.
D had a great Halloween program at school. He was really into it.
T was a super popular pig. He was sought out by the big bad wolf dressed as grandma and picked up. He was really confident in that costume.

And that will have to be it as I am out of time and my kids are an hour past their bedtime. :(

Still in Jammies

It's almost 2;30 and I am still not dressed. Today, however, I have a slightly good excuse. Stormy weather is coming our way so first thing this morning I went and cleared out a bushel of green tomatoes out of our garden. Then, I spent a good chunk of the morning (almost 3 hours) chopping peppers, onions, and tomatoes for some green tomato salsa. This stuff had better turn out good because it has taken FOREVER. I just hate to see all those green tomatoes go to waste. I have at least another bushel of green ones out there but am running out of jars. So I can let those go to waste guilt free.

Between this and the applesauce I am feeling like I have done my job this harvest season. You know it's time for it all to end when you are looking forward to a good frost just to kill everything.

Pack Night and a Prayer

Tonight we had T's first pack night. I got my first mama bobcat pin. T pinned it on me upside down. He was so proud of himself. When I sat down, C said to me, "Umph, no fair. Why did you get a babercat pin." I loved how she said it. They had a neighbor of ours there with his potters wheel. The kids were enamoured with the thing. Forget the video games folks. Get your kids some clay and a potters wheel. I'm just a little unsure of heating things to over 2000 degrees in our house though. Bummer.

When we got home T came to reclaim my pin. He thought he was supposed to use it to pin his patch on. It was disappointing to him that he just has to have me sew it.

During family prayers tonight D was doing one of his regular thoughtful prayers. He's our thinker when it comes to praying. Then out of the blue he asked for a special blessing on DH that he "wouldn't get run over by a car while he was running." Hmmm... that's pretty direct.

Speaking of running, I did manage to go today after school. It felt much hotter than it really was and I wasn't in the mood to do it but I did get out of here and get it done :) Tomorrow morning I am going to the track with friends and although the track is boring the driving down there is fun.

We also had flu shots today. M was scared. She hates the things. C stepped right up to be first and to show her siblings how brave she was. S wasn't going to act scared after that. Then it was D's turn. He asked to sit on my lap. This year he didn't have a meltdown or anything. M's turn came next and she wanted to sit her almost 11 year old body on my lap too. Then to make them laugh I had them hold my hands while the lady gave me my shot. It's over for another year :)

It's not such a bad day. I'm still not done with my applesauce. I really hate bottling it but love serving something decent to my family. So back to applesauce I go..............

Snaggletooth

Today was a dental cleaning for T. I was looking forward to finding out what we could do for his alarming teeth situation. Last week we went with some good friends (the ones from far across the sea according to C) to a little Halloween shindig. T and D both won themselves some super snazzy plastic vampire teeth. D was happy because they will go with his Halloween costume. T popped them in and I thought, "Wow! What an improvement." His smile looked a little more filled in with the *gasp* fake cheapo vampire teeth. I even contemplated having him wear them for pics.

We go to the dentist today for his cleaning. And lo and behold another tooth is starting to appear behind Mr. Twisted Tooth. The dentist thought at first that he was getting one of his teeth about two years early. A panoramic xray showed that instead he just has ANOTHER extra tooth in there. He had an extra baby tooth too and so it would make sense that its matching permanent tooth would be there. The tooth is keeping the twisted one all twisty and is preventing the snaggletooth from coming down. That's why snaggle popped out up on the top of his gums.

The plan of action is to wait for up to two months to see if the rest of this second tooth will come out. I guess we want to make sure that it's a big enough tooth before we pull it's twisted partner. Then, the twisted one will come out and hopefully everything will start shifting into a more normal place. T might just not need a ton of orthodontia after all :)

Speaking of teeth, M pulled out a tooth at the dinner table last night. EWWWW! She's getting brave.

S is so wishing she would lose a tooth but she doesn't even have a loose one yet. But if she is like D, she'll start losing them late, but then practically lose the entire front of her mouth at once.

On other topics..............

The big huge concert is OVER. DH and I are more than thrilled. It was a long day with the rehearsals for the 3 big kids. The little girls and I went over to DH's sister's house and hung out for a while. The kids adore their cousin and I had fun chatting. I owe her a bunch of Reese's Pieces though as I ate a ton of them. (I paid the price the next day!)

The concert started late considering the ages of the kids. I sat with C and S. They were doing great. They both were warming up (i.e. sawing away at their violins in a taca taca stop stop rhythm) before the concert started. The bad thing was that they were near the end of the concert. About 7 minutes from their part C decides she has had it and says, "I just can't do it. I'm too tired." And that was that. I told her to keep her little body in its cute little outfit down so she couldn't be seen on the video. S did a good job. When they first started to play she got an alarmed look on her face and then jumped right in and did her thing. DH was with D the whole time and they were far from me. T was in his group sans parents. He made some friend with a girl named Esther. It seems that she was in the know on a lot of things. And M, she was in a very visible spot and so I could watch her. I loved watching her group play their song because they were like a big giant machine playing their fast concerto. It amazes me that she can play so well already. We celebrated with some ice cream and then came home to get the kids in bed.

This week M is trying to memorize another concerto before her lesson. I told her I'd buy her a candy bar if she can memorize it this week. It doesn't have to be up to speed but it would be great for her to surprise her teacher. The other kids can kind of slack off a bit this week.

What else has happened? DH and I went running together on Friday. It was fun to go out even if it got a little toasty. I made it 4.25 miles and DH made it one more. My motivation has been close to ZERO lately so that was a good run for me.

Life is still pretty good. I have 110 pounds of apples left to sauce in the next couple of days and a garden full of green tomatoes that I should turn into green tomato salsa. We'll see what I can get done.

Flippers

The other day after swim I asked the coach if there was anything we could do to help T float on his back. The kid is such a sinker. She told us to fatten him up a bit or get him some flippers.

Since he has DH's build I didn't think fattening him up was going to happen too quickly. Today I bought him flippers. (I have been corrected.... training fins...)

But before I bought those I took him to his well child visit. Yep, the well child visit where I found out he just had a well child visit in June. Here I thought I was doing great because I was less than two months behind his birthday. I guess his visit in June so we could get the asthma meds refilled constituted a well child visit. Oh well, I tried. I swear I try. I just botch things a lot.

I did talk to the doc about his mole halos. (Looked good... see a dermatologist if we are worried). I asked about the blood food intolerance test that I want done on him now that I know our insurance covers it. (Go pay an allergist to give you advice.) Got a flu shot for the kid. (At least that was worth part of a copay).

Then we went to the super deal grocery place and I scored on super lean ground beef. The kid working in the produce gave me hope that apples would be similarly priced next week. If you only knew how much you made my WEEK produce boy. I so did NOT want to do applesauce this week.

Then it was over to flippers. (I mean fins.)

T went back to school. I picked S up from school as well as my friend's little girl. The kids stayed here until 2:30 when they went over to little friend's house for 25 minutes. Then crazy after school time started. M came home (but already dressed in dance clothes) and got a snack of celery. She left for dance within about 5 minutes. I worked on things around the house and then went to pick up T, D, and my friend's other little girl from an after school group. I had T change in the bathroom at school and we headed out for swim. On the way I dropped of my friend's little girl at dance so she could go home with her mom. This helpful thing comes and goes. You help a friend. She helps you. Everybody is happy and nobody keeps score. It's the best way to go. I love this little one that I had with me today. After we had Joshua, M asked if we could just adopt her. She's so dang cute. And T finally controlled his flatulence in the car while sitting next to her.

T did GREAT at swim. It was a strange day. The regular coaches weren't working with them today. Some other lady was there with a helper taking notes on everything they did. It seemed from where I was sitting they were keeping tabs on where the kids were at skill wise. And T did great. For being the scrawny little youngin, he really shined. He said his flippers gave me mental power even when he had to take them off. Goofy kid.

We were late getting home. M had a makeup after her pointe lesson so she finished late. And another little girl who takes a jazz class ends 15 min after the makeup. I had called her mom earlier to tell her I would just wait the extra 15 min and bring her home. There was absolutely no point in her mom driving in and back when I just needed to wait around a few extra minutes. We may have scared the little girl off though. She's used to driving with us when we have 5 fift and sixth graders in the car. It's a little different when it's a car full of siblings.

I had dinner done when we got home. I need to use that crock pot every MWF. It's the only way to survive in this house. I love having dinner ready for my family. If we can eat together then I feel like we are at least doing one thing right.

And the kiddo update-

M was the first kid out of all of her violin teacher's students to memorize the 5 page piece for the concert. Her hard work has paid off. (And of course it helps that DH let her practice in place of chores last week.)

T is certain he wants to be a pig for Halloween. Why of why does he have to be a pink pig?

D has been reading up a storm lately. He's finding his place at school and is doing really well. I think he's finally feeling confident that he is a forever member of the family.

S has had a hard week. Her teacher even commented on how she's a different kid compared to the beginning of the year. But she's trying. She is controlling her anger better than she used to when she would switch states. So I think she is improving.

C has been so funny. DH does this thing in the car where he takes his hand and pretends it's kind of like a ducks mouth and tries to get the kids to be quiet. C decided to do it on other people this week. She's pretty funny and she knows it. What wasn't funny was her deciding to sneak in my bed two nights in a row. She is so hard to sleep with. She fidgets too much. I'll take morning snuggling over night time sleeping anytime.

Anyway.... life is pretty good. I can't complain much this week. Our needs are met. Things continue to get better. Hopefully S will start to see things more brightly next week. I would love that for her.

Dresser Excitement

The two big kids have needed dressers for a while. They both had dressers at one time. T's is this mammoth thing that DH's granny gave us when we got married. She had refinished it in this very dark stain. That dresser served us well for more than a decade. We finally bought a bed (instead of the headboard/door) one that we had and got matching dressers. So I also decided to paint the dresser blue to match T's bed that we were given and painted a few days before Joshua was born. (I still have those clothes that got paint on them. They're a memory keeper for me. We were painting so T could be moved from the crib and Joshua could have the crib. T was moved into the big boy bed and the crib stayed empty... things don't always work out as planned. But anyway...............) When S and D came rooms were shared as well as dressers. Eventually as M and T moved into the basement the dressers stayed upstairs. We were just happy to have the kids in their own rooms. DH put a bunch of shelves in M's closet and they function to some extent. But T, he just doesn't have a closet big enough for that. He's been using a steralite container and it just isn't cutting it as a pseudo dresser.

So I have been watching the local used dressers. Remember, I'm fine with used stuff. I got over that a long time ago. I actually kind of like getting more use out of other people's things. Anyway, this has turned me into a dresser stalker. But I live far enough away that anytime a not so particle board dresser would show up that wasn't all girly I would miss it. Tonight I found a picture of one I liked. It wasn't super fancy. It wasn't super huge. But that's a plus. I didn't want something sucking up all of T's room. I didn't want something too tall or the kid would hang on the dresser a bit as he got clothes out of the top. This one seemed just right. It was a decent price. It supposedly has some dings which makes me less antsy about the ones T will put in it. But it wasn't close. I called on it and the lady said someone was already on the way. Lucky for me, she called back and said it was still available.

Now here's the trick. It still wasn't close to us. And the stinky thing is that I have to drive past that area twice tomorrow. So I asked DH to call our friend who lives in the same town as the dresser. I was under the impression that the dresser would be sold and I would be out of luck if we didn't take it. And really, after being an almost professional used dresser stalker I knew that the dresser wouldn't last at 60 bucks. Dressers last longer when they are more like 125 dollars. But I didn't want to spend 125 dollars on a dresser for T. It's something you put clothes in and lego creations on top of. But I didn't want it to look girly or 30 years old (50 years old would have been great but those are more spendy.... 30 years old=not so cute!)

DH's friend agreed to pick it up. I have yet to see the thing but I am really excited and I'm so grateful DH's friend could help us out. It would have been a bummer to see the thing sell before we could get there and well, I am getting desperate enough for T to have a dresser that I may have bought some not so cute dresser tomorrow when I was in the 'big city'.

I would guess that no one really wants to go out at 8:30 pm to pick up a used dresser. But what a blessing a good friend can be. We would have gone out to get it and risked it not being there if we had to. T was so excited when I showed him the picture on the computer. Maybe this will help him with his bedroom management skills.

I'm so lucky to have great friends, some grateful kids, a hard working DH, and so many things to make my life comfortable.

And soon I'll have a kid with a dresser. It doesn't get much better than that.

Catching Up

Life has been crazy and then crazier. It seems like there is NEVER enough time. So I have delayed writing a few things down and now as C has a friend over I'll try to quickly get some of it written.

We went to Arizona last month for DH's grandpa's funeral. He was a good man who lived a long life. His funeral wasn't a downer of any type. You could tell that grandpa was about family because the place was PACKED with family.

I played the violin at the funeral and had to check out a bit before. You see, I have to cry if other people are crying. And when I glanced at the program I notice that they had DH's dad and aunts and uncles listed with family names. I just couldn't look at it. For some reason I was so worried that they would forget Nikolas and Joshua. What if they forgot them? I would have lost it and then had a big ol' teary blotchy face when I got up to play the violin. As a result, I just ignored the program until we were in the car. And wouldn't you know, they were there. It made my day. The funny thing was that next to two of DH's cousins, it said 'deceased', but there was nothing next to Niko and Joshua. That made me giggle just a bit.

Grandpa was buried at the National Cemetery. In Arizona it's a pretty barren place. I remarked to DH that I really prefer the grass at 'our' cemetery. He wasn't so bothered by it. He thought it just looked very 'Arizona'. But the short ceremony there was very moving. I did get teary when the National Guard folded the flag that had been on Grandpa's casket and presented it to Granny. We all just adore Granny.

On the way to AZ the kids were watching the Kitt Kittrage movie (probably misspelled). It's about one of the American Girl characters who lives during the depression. We pulled up to have lunch at a Subway. We bought our sandwiches and then went to sit down at some tables outside. A Navajo man with few teeth sat down and told us he hadn't eaten in two days and asked if we would buy him something. I went in and started ordering a sandwich. The lady asked me what I wanted on it and I really had NO clue. I said, "I don't know. It's for some hungry man." She went right to work and said, "Most of the Navajos who come in here like wheat bread." And then she finished it right off. He seemed really happy about it. He tried talking to us for a while. He asked where we were from. He told us he had been there as a kid. He told us they call him Rambo because of his hair. He was difficult to understand with all of his missing teeth. And although I was a little uncomfortable, I was glad that we were able to help him and that the kids could go back and watch their movie in an air conditioned car and realize that people still need to give. It was a good lesson for me and them.

The kids went swimming in Grandma's pool while we were in AZ. D and T spent a bunch of time jumping off the diving board. D can swim across the pool. He still struggles at it but he can do it and has such determination that I am sure he'll be a great swimmer before you know it. My mom kept say that the pool was too cold. Na... it was fine. We aren't zonies anymore :)

We stayed at my in-laws' cabin on the way home. It was nice to break up a long day of driving. My MIL made rice krispy treaty for everyone and then treated me to a book for the way home. It was much better than sweets!

What else? Life has been so busy. It seems like the kids' activities are stacked so tightly that if I am off by 10 minutes the whole thing falls apart. I have yet to figure out how to simplify. But in conference, Pres Uchtdorf talked about how a frenzied life isn't actually the right way to go. And boy oh boy is he right. I have felt frazzled and then more frazzled lately. For now, I am going to try to get up an hour earlier to try to get things done that cause me stress. I always try to do it at night and there is just nothing that gets done well when my mind has checked out. Good things aren't always worth it if they are taking time from better endeavors. I need to remember that as I make choices.

We also did our last boating trip with friends. The water was surprisingly warm for October (not that I know, I didn't get it). M and D skied. M and T road the surfboard on their tummies. Little J almost managed to stand on the surfboard. DH jammed his toes on the boat when trying to get out there to surf. They are still bleeding 3 days later. And poor little I, she fell as we were leaving and did a number on her face. That night the kids were saying prayers on the way home in the car (it was late and we stopped off for fast food and then had the kids say their prayers in the car). Each one was so worried about I. Luckily, we hear she is going to make a recovery. And hopefully her face won't look too thrashed when she is a pirate for Halloween.

Surprise!

Today seemed as busy as ever. It was just a regular Friday. There was a trip to the grocery store, dinner put in the oven. M went off to dance (I had traded my driving day.) The boys came home from their after school program in time for T to change into his swim suit. I cranked the oven up for a few minutes and then turned it off so it could finish cooking until DH got home. Then I piled the four into the car and headed to swim which is a good 20 minutes away.

When we arrived at swim, T went to his group and started working. The little kids ran around in the bleachers. After a while C asked to go potty (as she has seemed potty trained lately). I take her and S down to the bathroom. C was wearing one of M's long shirts that sort of looked like a cute dress on her. It just wasn't worth the fight to get it off her and the shirt had a changing pattern and was looser at the bottom. She walked into the bathroom and

SURPRISE

the kid had no underwear one. Her little behind was as bare as can be. I was so shocked. She had been wandering around, climbing the bleachers and I was oblivious to this whole thing.

Apparently, she didn't wear underwear ALL day!

In other news....

M is handling her busy days rather well. We even managed to have a friend over.

T is the fastest kid in his swim camp. Since the team didn't have room for him, it's not a huge surprise. He messes around too much still though.

D has had great behavior at school. It might be the honeymoon period or a real change. We'll take it either way. He's loving school.

S is just charming everyone at school. I went to work at her class last week and they were doing vision screening. Shortly after I got there they pulled S. When the man brought her back in I heard him say, "Oh that one is such a cute one." Her teacher says everyone just adores her. She's still riding a high but life has been easier.

C has done one stinker thing after another. I think she wins too many battles, hence the reason I wasn't about to fight her on the shirt/dress. Every time I tell her she has had enough to eat she marches to the backyard and plucks a peach from the tree. Oh but she's cute too.

We took a little family trip last week. It was actually really enjoyable. The kids were well behaved and we all had fun. It's been a while since going anywhere felt like that. DH and I were talking on the ride home and said pretty much ,"Oh no, it's getting easy." Whenever it gets easy something happens and then it's NOT easy. A few things have recently appeared that could throw a kind or two in our paths. It's not the kink I fear, it's just the wait to find out what will happen. That kills me. But it all is for something it seems. But easy for a few weeks would feel kind of nice.

I'm going crazy with feeling overscheduled 4 out of 5 days a week after school. Carpools, babysitters, and being in two places at one time stresses me out a bit. But five kids means crazy schedules. And I love that they are developing talents. I have secretly been practicing the first violin part of the Bach Double Violin Concerto so I can keep up with Madeleine when she learns the second violin part this year. Soon she is going to zoom ahead of me.

So life isn't too bad. It's busy. Anything we do requires planning because there just isn't time to be spontaneous. We aren't spontaneous people.

Well, except Miss Sans Underpants......

The Cow Day 2

So far so good. I'm over on dairy a bit I would say but I've kept my eating pretty 'primal'. My chances of really getting this cow are next to none but it's still fun to try :)

In other news.... my little M has had a rough few weeks. First our family 'reunion' got cancelled. It's not your typical family reunion and so it's easier for people just to back out. But in our family that just doesn't fly. Then she got ditched by a friend. She's had a pretty good attitude though. She said to me tonight, "You know, when you are feeling a little sad and you get that lump in your throat. That happened to me today."

But she's a trooper. And even more importantly, she's thoughtful and kind. I love that kid. What did I do to deserve her?

T tried out for a new swim team. I'm now wondering if he didn't make it on. He meets more than the requirements but they won't put new kids on if there aren't spots. So there could be kids who are worse swimmers on a team and better ones on the wait list. It's not looking super fabulous right now. I did know going into this that the section of the team he would qualify for was full as of the summer. Still, I hoped......... Speaking of T, he got put in detention or whatever yesterday. He got his card pulled twice. Once for not lining up for recess and once for talking out of turn. Nothing was huge. I emailed his teacher to make sure he wasn't downplaying the whole thing. I was so pleased with his teacher that she followed through on her rules. Two card pulls gets you sent out of class. Go her! I also now have sparkling tile in my house. I saw her this morning and told her go give him a little kick in the behind if he was naughty and to let me know because I could use having my wood floors cleaned too :) She did send me a nice email saying how she really liked him and loved calling on him for reading comprehension questions because he gets a little smirk and then always answers correctly. "Funny kid." was her description.

D is loving school. So far no problems. We are hoping to keep it that way. He seems to really like his teacher. He loves having once a week homework. He's happy about dance. He and his friend A were playing school the other day and pretending to take turns in detention. As long as it's just play........... He has been happy as a clam.

S thinks kinder is dreamy. But then again, she's still riding a high and everything is dreamy. The other day it was her brain. I am the sunshine in her sky right now. I'm still working on bring the euphoria down to something that will be less dramatic when the fall comes. But I am glad she is loving school. She's even handled her consequences for bad decisions pretty well. She adores homework, reading her little stories, having her hair done. She's thrilled to have show and tell tomorrow. She is loving ballet lessons as well.

C is a little sneakaroo. The kid is going to roll away if she keeps at it. She just loves things and so I have been trying to get her out of the house to run around and play. But my goodness!

We are looking at doing a little family trip soon. It has given the kids a little hope after the last two things have fallen through. Hopefully it will work out :)

Oh and in other good news, the running doc said I am improving nicely and that this week was most likely my last acupuncture week. Hooray for no more needles!

The Cow

I'm having a bit of a challenge keeping myself to healthy foods. A lot of people would say, "Oh all things in moderation!" The problem is that moderation of white flour and sugar turns me into a munching maniac. Heck even a banana and pineapple will do that. Too much sugar, from healthy sources or not so healthy ones makes me want to just crunch and munch.

So I have been reading marksdailyapple.com and actually feel like much of what he has to offer goes along with what works in my body. I'm not completely sold on the fitness part as it sounds too easy. I also really like running and am not ready to ditch that yet. But his diet, the primal diet really would work for me if I would just stick to it.

He has these 30 day primal challenges where he tries to get people to change their eating habits for just 30 days. This time there is a cow as an incentive. He always gives away a bunch of prizes I guess but this time the big prize is an entire cow. DH laughed when I told him I was going to try to win us a cow. What's even more funny is that I have NO idea how one wins the thing. I don't know if it's random or if you have to have the best results or whatever. But I am going to try to win it with a bunch of other people. I figure anyone who sticks to the 30 day challenge is a winner cow or not! (But secretly I really would love to win the cow ;) ) If you are at all interested go to his website and click on about, then primal blueprint 101. The section on 'the basics' gives you what you need to know. Or do what I did and check out the book from the library. Anyway... I have no idea how this challenge thing will work but come Sept. 7th I am going to start it. Until then, the idea is just to work on clean eating anyway so I don't feel like crud. I know for me that it wasn't until I started eating really cleanly that I realized how horrible I felt when eating a regular diet. So cross your fingers that I win that cow because maybe I'll have a barbecue :)

Other things that have gone on in the past few days........


My good friend and I started painting my house on Thursday. Let's be honest. I started this project over a year ago but go a little overwhelmed by the height of my ceilings. And what's horrible is that the blue tape just didn't bother me like it should have. But the time had come to finish the project. So Thursday we painted together and then Friday I did most of it myself with my friend coming over to brave the heights for a second coat.

My two SILs, their friends, 3 of my friends, and I all did a midnight 5K this past weekend. It was really fun. It had a KILLER hill though. I had been warned but I wasn't ready for the thing. It was so fun to get decked out in glow sticks and run though the streets with 600 other people at midnight.

The next day, however, wasn't so grand. Boy was I a tired and cranky mama. DH and M went to a bowling activity for church. Then, that afternoon, we went to a festival at a park and the kids had a bunch of fun. I told DH I was thrilled with how the day turned out. I didn't get much done around the house. But the kids had a lot of fun and it was easy cheap fun. That's the best kind!

Sunday was exciting because I got a new church job. I no longer have to lead the choir. I get to work with the nursery aged kids. I had several people say to me, "I can't believe they did that to you." I thought it was kind of funny because I was thinking that it was totally okay. Someone has to do it and I think it'll be fine. Plus, it requires almost no prep work :)

Right before church I herded all the kids out to the car and C wasn't there. DH went to find her and she was zonked out in her bed. I stayed home for an hour and let her sleep while he took the other kids. I ended up waking her up because I had to be there as a judge of the pretend singing contest the kids were having. She was super irritable. Then she came home and slept more and was running a low grade fever. The poor kid had been sick. But today she is fine.

It's going to be quite a week trying to catch up from my lazy weekend. I did manage to bottle a few quarts of tomatoes and of course I did some wash but there is work to be done.

But heck, most of my upstairs is now painted and well, who knows, I may be soon on my way to being the winner of a COW!

School's In

Yeah for the kids. Yeah for me. It's a win no matter what!

They were happy campers going back to school. I am a happy camper letting them go back to school.

DH took yesterday off and did the traditional walk your kids to their classes for the first day thing. M and T both tried to pretend they were embarrassed.

One thing I thought was funny was that no one picked new clothes to wear. Madeleine didn't even pick new to her clothes. She wore a cute outfit she has had for over a year. I'm glad they don't feel like they have to impress people.

According to the kids, the first day was great except for grumbling about having to sit with their own classes during lunch.

I went to the running doc and ran errands since DH was home. Bad news on the running front. I not only have some tendon issues but I have a little friendly neighbor ligament that decided to get involved. This means that I most likely will have a to take a couple of months off of running, it's just a matter of when. Doesn't it figure that when the weather starts to change and my time finally gets more respectable that I have to stop. The doc even mentioned that a boot might be needed for a couple of months. YIKES! But he's letting me try to run this week with it taped :)

What else? C is almost potty trained. I thought she was and then had an accident last night. Both she and S learned to ride two wheelers yesterday. C did it and then S followed about ten minutes later.

T had a birthday party. He's 8 now. It was perhaps the most poorly planned party and the kids still really liked it. I'm thinking I have been trying too hard in the past. The kids don't need as much as moms think. He even made his very own cake. He put mint in the frosting and his friends said it tasted a bit like yummy toothpaste. He was thrilled!

DH and I went wakeboarding with friends. Actually, I should correct that. DH and friends went wakeboarding and I drug myself behind the boat. I guess if you don't have the flexibility to squat you can't really sit on the board enough to wakeboard. That explains my issues with snowboarding and skiing too. The doc had to laugh at me when I told him. When I walked into his office I said that my tendon was hurting and that "I would love to say it's because I went wakeboarding but I never got up." He said maybe they could fix me enough by next year so I could get up.

Today S had her K assessment. C and I went outside and did hopscotch. I think S did fine. She's a little smartie pants. I'm sure she is going to love K.

Random Thoughts

My good friend is having brain surgery tomorrow. We have joked about it. She's hoping for a little extra memory to inserted in before they close things up. She has a great well known surgeon.

But still I worry.

So we laugh. It's the same laugh we have when we talk about dead kids. (She has one little boy and I have my two.) What else can you do but kind of laugh things off?

But still I worry.

My mind will be heavy with prayers tomorrow as I do mundane and somewhat important things. I'll be watching another friend's children in the morning. I'll be trying to get my house picked up. I'll be hosting a birthday party for T in the afternoon for him and a bunch of friends. (He made his own cake and is so thrilled with it.)

But still I will worry until I hear from her mum that things are looking good.

And then hopefully, one day, we'll totally joke around about the week she can't really remember.

But for now, I am just left with worry.

Am I Barefoot Ken Bob?

Barefoot Ken Bob or Kenbob I can't remember is the guy who beat DH in his first marathon. We didn't know who he was the first time.

Today I understood him a little better. He went from that crazy guy I saw beat my DH (darling or dear today) to a super sensible guy.

Let me go back.

The running doc told me to buy a pair of neutral shoes to have zeroed. That I already went over. So last night after I dropped the kids off to dance I jetted over to the running store to find some cheap shoes. I figured I would go cheap because I have to pay to zero the puppies out so why pay for fancy insides that I am going to have scooped away.

I ended up loving the Saucony Kinvara. They weren't cheap but not overly spendy (90 buckaroos) but they are LIGHT! The guy who sold them to me had me try on a bunch of shoes and these were the best. I think they only came out a little over a month ago. The saleskid said he wears them and loves them. Then, the guy who rang me up said that he had a pair of them zeroed out and loved them. (Supposedly they only have to be zeroed by about 5 mm.)

Then the cheap side of me surfaced. Did I want to pay 20 bucks to have them zeroed if they were almost zeroed by the makers?

So this morning I took them for a run. They felt good when I left the house. I was striking a little hard. And now and then I would catch my feet. And then about a mile and a half out I got that stupid your missing cartilage knee pain.

Big flashing lights went off in my head. That means bad knee tracking. TAKE OFF THE SHOES!

I asked my friends to stop and sat down on the curb and took off the shoes. I carried them as I ran the next two miles in my socks.

Knee pain disappeared.

I'll be getting them zeroed. Obviously it does make a difference. And if I get them zeroed, put in the pricey orthotics and my knees hurt I am going to have to ditch both of them for the flat mangled marvels that God gave me because even my less than perfect feet are pretty much better than what any man can create.

See, when I said I took them 'for a run' I really meant it.

(Oh, and I won't be telling the boys that I decimated a pair of socks this morning. They don't have to know that.)

What to do?

I'm working on trying to figure out what to feed DH. He finally went to have a blood test to see what foods he is intolerant to. We sort of had things figured out before but had the test done to make sure we weren't missing things.

We were.

He came up abnormal for cow's milk, gluten, eggs, soy, almonds (which most likely means many other tree nuts too... the test was only on one type of tree nut), peanuts (highest thing), and oats. We were left with rice and corn pretty much that didn't bother him. The doctor did advise him, however, that as he has eaten almost no corn in the last year he could still have problems with it but it wouldn't show up. More importantly, corn turns to sugar in the body and adds to inflammation. So I need to figure out what to feed the guy. Not only do I need to figure out how to feed him, I need to figure out how to do it for a good deal. I'm also going to do a little research because I thought I remembered reading that part of the egg was more problematic than the other. I just need to know if it's the yolk or the white. It's kind of important to find out as eggs are key in using coconut flour for baking.

And I need to figure this out because T is DH but younger. We know he has some of the same problems and most likely has a chunk of them. So I need to figure out how to feed his little body too.

Oy vay!

In other news, school starts in LESS than two weeks. We are all ready :)

What else? I went to the running doctor guy. I felt kind of silly going in there. Someone came in before the doctor to work on my 'injury'. I told her I wasn't injured really but that I had peroneal tendon issues recently. So she worked on that a little. I felt dumb. What was I doing there?

Then the doctor guy came in. He had me stand up facing him so he could look at my remarkable feet. he made me turn them at an angle because they were too much for him to handle straight on. They really are so super flat and with my hips turned out it just exacerbates the whole thing. Then he started feeling around my ankles and found that yes, my peroneal tendon is still inflamed. He said it's probably often hurt with feet like mine. It killed as he worked on it. He asked me a few questions, told me I underestimate myself.

Then lucky me got to go to another room to walk and then job across this pad hooked to his computer. I did it and he asked me to do it again. I thought I had done something wrong so I asked about it. He said, "No, I just don't usually see numbers like this and so it's kind of cool." Luckily, he said my feet weren't the worst he had ever seen. I guess one woman's feet were so bad the computer couldn't tell which was her right and which was her left. It could read mine. One point for the crappy feet!

He said wearing Vibrams was the best thing I have done. He said he could tell I was really trying to use what I have. That being said, for long runs I need zeroed out shoes with a big spendy orthotic. You know, this doc doesn't like orthotics. He's a big fan of Vibrams instead according to my other friends, but my feet are so flat he thinks I need them for the support on those 8-12 milers. So now I need to buy a new pair of shoes, have the insides scooped out and put custom orthotics in them. (These orthotics had better work better than the ones I had as a teen.)

Then he did some acupuncture. That kind of freaked me out.

When I got home I tried to impress the kids with the fact that they stuck me with a bunch of needles. Instead of being impressed D asked me if the needles were to help me not be fat.

Can you feel the love?

Then S added in, "Because you are fat mom."

Nice.

My heart is going pitter patter.

There is nothing like a couple of kids to keep things honest.

Swimsuit Issues

With a blog title like that one would assume I was talking about chunky monkeyness. But for once I am not.

Yesterday we had a busy day. I went to breakfast with friends to celebrate a birthday. Then a friend and I took all our kids (so 8 total) to a very small dance store to torture ourselves while we got M and her friend new pointe shoes. They had to try on about 15 pairs of the things and it took a very long time. An hour and a 106 dollars later we left with some Grishkos that look stunning on M's feet.

I came home and got the kids ready to go to dance. S had her first day of ballet. I also gathered up all of our swimming stuff because I was going to take the kids swimming after M and S were finished with their classes. We were also taking a neighbor friend.

We grabbed dinner and went to the pool. The boys went their way and I took the girls. Everyone had to change into suits. Of course I supervised first and then changed.

And then I realized that instead of a swimsuit top and bottom (and shorts of course) I took a regular swimsuit bottom and a swimsuit skirt. Note to anyone who didn't figure it out yet. I had NO top. I had no top and SIX kids 10 and under all dressed to swim.

So I sat on the side of the pool in a swimsuit bottom, shorts, and my regular old shirt. It was a long night.

Then some old grouchy guy told T he couldn't swim laps. For the most part, Mr. Grouchy was swim walking in the lap lane. So I went down to what appeared to be two nice younger (20 somethingish) guys in the next lane who were chatting it up and asked if T could swim a 100 there and that we had permission for him to use the lap lanes. They were more than nice and I think Mr. Grouchy heard since he was listening next door and then finally decided to take off in a slow swim. One of the nice kids asked how old T was and thought he did really well for a seven year old.

The kids were all happy to swim I was happy to have tired little kids who went straight to bed when we got home :)

As for today, S has had a rough day. Maybe she can't handle going swimming at night with the late bedtime. T dropped his piggy bank and it broke. Tears ensued. He's so big I forget that he's still a little kid. He loves pigs though and would take this little plastic bank everywhere.

We also got invited for a fun trip to Lake Powell yesterday. I hate to say that I actually had conflict in saying no. It would have been so fun. The conflict was T's baptism. And I really wanted to say, "Ah, we'll just move the baptism." But what kind of example would that have been to a kid who is excited for HIS special day. So we said no. In the end I know it's the right decision but it would have been so dang fun to go to Powell with a bunch of friends for the weekend.

Oh and in other news, I finally paid my library fines and checked out some books. Let's hope I can get my good citizen act together.

That's where we are at. DH's workload should decrease starting this weekend. It'll be nice to have him around. Between his trip to Alaska and his job demands, he pretty much hasn't been around for 3 weeks. It'll be nice to get back to 'normal'. (Whatever normal is ;) )

Good Quality Time

DH and I don't watch a bunch of television. In fact, it has probably been about a month and a half since we sat down to watch anything on our tv. (I have, however, watched So You Think You Can Dance over at a friend's house most weeks using the DVR... so much faster.)

Last night we were both wiped out. I had taken 4 of the kids plus a friend to the pool. (S couldn't go because she spent a good chunk of her time before we were going to leave screaming at the top of her lungs at me.) DH worked all day except for the time he took S on her date to see Beezus and Ramona and to get an ice cream.

So after dinner I told the kids we would take the scriptures to dad because he was working anyway. I parked my behind on the couch and just didn't want to move it. After scriptures and prayers I started mindlessly going through the channels.

I, of course, checked out TVLand. I love that channel. But I kept going. I found something kind of like Spanish Language Station's Got Talented Kids. I paused there and watched for a while. DH laughed because he thinks I am crazy when I watch Spanish tv. But it's close enough to French that I can usually figure out what is happening. Then I found the show that captivated me. It was called "Tuna" on the history channel. Yep, I spent a chunk of my night watching a show about the tuna fish. When a commercial (or commercianal as D calls them) would come I would go back and watch the Spanish speaking talented kids but they just couldn't outdo the tuna. So that's how I spent my night.

As for other things yesterday..... I took 4 of the kids (C missing this time) to my friend's little girl's baptism. She was the cutest little (or not so little) thing. I french braided her into a nice crown before it started and she looked like a little princess. And being the sappy person that I am I shed a few little tears.

After, DH took S on her date and the kids and I stayed home. A while later, after the huge crowd had died down at my friend's house I took them down to get a treat. I knew if there were extras D and T would try to clean them up and make it easier for them to not have leftovers. The kids were thrilled to have a whole bunch of things I don't ever keep around. They had cake, cookies, Doritoes, grapes.... the works... oh and more dessert.

The kids had fun at the pool. T does laps to earn diving board time. Earlier this week he managed a 1 1/2 off the board. It was an accident. Usually he just does flips. S managed to float for 24 seconds on Thursday. We said D floated for 1 second but really he just didn't sink until then. I think swimming might be good for him because maybe he'll learn to relax. He'll think he's relaxing and he just can't. And with swimming if you can't relax you are going to sink like a heavy weight. He tries really hard but it just doesn't work out of you are tense. So I'm wondering if going a few times a week (membership until Dec. at a rec center) will help him learn to calm down in the water and maybe that will transfer to land.

August is here and school starts this month :) I found out who M's teacher is and it's KILLING her. But I'm not telling her. It's not fair to her friends.

Ballet starts this month. So we are back to 5 days a week there. It'll be something to break up each evening a little bit. S is especially excited to start.

Summer is going to end and life will get super busy. And I'll probably start wishing we were back in summer. Nah, I don't think so.

Deals

This past week my friend and I went to do some super shopping.

I finally had the motivation to go through my coupons. It took a whopping 9 hours to get them cleaned up and sorted. What a pain!

The next morning I woke up at 3:30 and was too excited to really just go to sleep. Then, a little after 4 I hear T get up use the restroom. Shortly after I noticed the light from the computer illuminating the front room. The kid was trying to get some video game time in. What a turkey! I sent him back to bed. By then I was too worried I wouldn't wake up if I went to sleep so I just stayed up.

We left the house at 5:40 on shopping day. Once we got there we saw that there were many people waiting for the same thing. They all had coupon binders. I knew we had some competition.

So we head in and I'll just say I am not pushy enough. I pretty much let everyone have a cart before me. We headed straight for the paper towels. You couldn't get a cart in there. So my friend went over and all of a sudden one comes flying overhead. She was tossing them to get them into my basket. She cracked me up. All of a sudden we hear a voice quizzically calling her name. Oops, caught in the insanity by another friend (who must be equally insane to be there that early.)

I ended up with a 215 dollar savings and spent I think 105. That's not too bad considering I now have more than a half year supply of Cascade gel packs for my dishwasher and even with a coupon they are spendy.

It was just so fun to get out of the house and get my little 'rush' from shopping. I was wiped out from not sleeping though and was a little cranky later on.

The next day was the day I believed to bed Target toy mark down day. I went bright and early and got there about 5 minutes before they opened. There were other toy shoppers there and we all kept looking at each other to see who would get out of the car first. Finally, I had had enough and just got out. Car doors started opening. But right as I got to the entrance they opened the door and I was the first one in. I grabbed a cart and started skipping down the aisle. You can skip down an aisle when no one else is there and only feel like somewhat of an idiot. I was certain I was going to get what I wanted.

Then I got to the toy section. Where were the toys? They had one side of one aisle. What the heck? Everyone else stood there in disbelief. It turns out that they marked their toys down early so everything disappeared the night before.

Oh well, I did get T his birthday gift still. It was the only decent thing there. Then I headed over to shoes knowing that they are usually marked to 75% off on that day. I found 5 good pairs for the future there.

So it wasn't what I wanted but it didn't turn out too horribly. I'm glad I still have some toys in my stash for many of the birthday presents though. I love being able to go to my stash instead of the store.

DH's Alaska Trip

DH left the night of the half for a trip to Alaska with is dad, brother, and two friends. I lucked out that a friend came to stay and visit for a few days while he was gone.

So we drove home for hours and then DH left for the airport.

It was supposed to be a great week for fishing up there but it wasn't. He caught two halibut (smaller), two Irish Lord fish (ugly and nothing he brought home), sharks (no meat there either... I guess this type of shark urinates through its skin YUCK), and crab. That was pretty much it. He seemed to still like it though and loved my parents' place.

In the meantime my friend and I chatted it up. We had great plans to go running together but didn't happen because I could barely walk. Not only were my muscles toast but my peroneal tendon (the one I always had tendinitis problems with when I danced) was super swollen on one foot. You can't really go running when you can barely get yourself seated on a potty. So we chatted and chatted while the kids played. I thought I would even clean while she was here. After all, it's more fun to clean when you have company to chat with. But I just hurt too dang much to do anything like that. So my house stayed a wreck and I just enjoyed my time.

We were all happy when DH got home. You forget how nice it is to have someone around even if it's just so you can say hi and bye.

And maybe next year, we'll catch more fish.

Race Report

The anticipated half marathon is over. After all that training, it's a done deal. It was so far away and then all of a sudden we were at the starting line with over a thousand other 'runners' (or posers like me). Very weird!

I learned a few things about distance running on this race as it's the first race I have ever done over a 5k.

First, when your DH tells you that running downhill is harder than you think, it's smart to believe him.

Second, you will have consequences if you have only worn your shoes a couple of times.

Third, you will get tired and contemplate walking a little.

Fourth, practice anything you are going to try BEFORE the race.

Fifth, people in front of you might walk and beat you.

Sixth, driving home right after might not be the best idea.

DH and I dropped the kiddos at his parents' cabin and left to go get dinner. I hadn't eaten that much and managed more than my share of a Subway ham with a bunch of junk including jalapenos and banana peppers sandwich. It might not have been the smarted prerace meal but it sure was delicious.

DH and I went back to our hotel. I put my stuff out and tried on my clothes. I had to figure out where the best place for my number was. I put my fuel (popcorn Jelly Belly jelly beans and some raisins) in my pouch. I felt like I was pretty ready. Then we went to bed around 9:15.

I couldn't sleep for almost an hour. I was just too dang nervous. I worried over and over that I would be last. I told DH that it would kind of serve me right if I were because I most likely needed a slice of humble pie.

4 am came and so did the alarm. We jumped up and started getting ready. We caught our shuttle and headed to the race start. It took us a while to find my SIL and BIL who were running it. My SIL was over the top excited. I think BIL was still half asleep.

When it got close to race time DH moved up a bunch. SIL moved up some. BIL and I moved back. I saw a lady with these really muscly calves. I pointed it out to BIL. I also noticed the lady in front of us that looked to be about 5-6 months pregnant. I noticed the ladies with the green grandma tee shirts. Then the gun went off and people started moving along. Eventually went made our way across the chip timed pads and started to move.

(Two weeks later after forgetting much of what I wanted to write.)

So we started the race. Pregnant cute lady with the belly supporter was ahead of me. I just started moving along feeling all fabulous because I was actually doing this race. We went up and rounded a corner and there was a slow incline. Bummer! But slow and steady was my goal so that's what I kept doing. I was shocked that I wasn't in last place. It's amazing how quickly the crowd thins out. (Now maybe this only happens in the back. Who knows?) So my BIL and I were cruising (okay... or not cruising... moving) along and he needs the first bathroom stop. I ran ahead and told him I was slow enough that I was sure he would catch up to me. Then within maybe 2 minutes I was thinking I should have stopped. But there was no way I was going backwards. I may be slow but I didn't want to look like I didn't even know which way to run. BIL caught back up to me. The line was too long for his liking.

We we kept going and the downhill started. The pace picked up from super slow to slightly less than super slow (upper 9 and lower 10 minute mile range) and I got horrible side stitches. But they were in my side but right in the center where my ribs meet. It was so bad that I was pushing on them trying to make it go away. We kept running until the bathroom because what else can you do. Then we had a long wait for a port o potty. As much as I hated to waste the time I was grateful to have the short break because it made the pain go away. We started right back up and the pain was back. BIL decided to run ahead and go faster so I decided to slow down and the pain went away. I guess my body isn't used to going that fast for long.

Somewhere in this time there was the first photographer. I didn't know what to do as I passed. Do you suck in your gut? Do you just keep running? Do you make a grand spectacle of yourself? The latter is surely not my style so I just looked forward and ran. As a result I look a little or a lot too serious in the pic. I ended up hitting one more bathroom along the route.

The nice thing about being a slower runner is that the fast people don't pass you much. There aren't so many fast people left. So from my second bathroom break until the last mile or so I had no one pass me. I would just pick someone in the distance and then work on taking him/her out. This usually worked. There were, however, a few people that worked me a little harder.

The first person was Drumstick. Remember the lady I said had awesome calves. I ended up running behind her for quite some time. I just couldn't catch her. In my mind I called her Drumstick due to the shape of her strong calves and tiny ankles. It was my goal to catch her for at least 20 minutes. Then when I finally caught her I felt kind of sad because the chase was over. Drumstick wasn't one of the slackers. She was a strong but slow penguin runner.

I also worked hard at passing Mr. and Mrs. Walker. They were speed walking like crazy. They had that hip action that sort of makes it look like their hips are out of joint or something. When I got closer to them early on in the race I heard her tell him, "11:54 right on pace." They were SERIOUS speed walkers. They got ahead of me when I had those dang bathroom breaks. So when I saw them I knew I had to get past them. They took a little work because I was getting tired by then.

Then I came up on the pregnant lady. She was a little tricky to pass too. How can you run that pregnant and still move that quickly. Heck, I would have a hard time getting up from my chair after eating bon bons.

Lastly, there was the yellow shirt lady. This lady proved to be much trickier. She would walk and then run much faster. I kept thinking, "Hello lady. I am a , um, runner... see I am NOT walking and you just keep beating me." It took me quite some time to beat her. By the time I beat her my calves were tired and I kept feeling like I had a rock in my shoe.

So I stopped one last time and stretched my calves for 30 seconds leaning on a speed limit pole. My calves were so tight. We were getting closer to the end.

So I kept on going. No one was still passing me. It was hot and there was no shade from the mountains. In the distance there was a hill. Oh how I didn't want to do that hill. I started up it and then realized that when you got to what seemed kind of like the top it curved and kept going up.

That hill killed me. I contemplated walking. I didn't really want to run anymore. But the race was just about over and I so didn't want to say I walked it.

I just shuffled along. I couldn't find the rock in my shoe. I just kept moving. And then it happened.

FOUR people passed me. Mr. Walker ditched Mrs. Walker and walked on past me. Yellow Shirt zoomed ahead as well as two other people. I spent so much of the race passing people and in the final mile four people got me!

I could see the finish in sight. Some family was parking its car along that road and I was trying to get around them as they hogged much of the road. You can't all walk shoulder to shoulder pushing strollers when people are supposed to be finishing a race.

I saw the finish and just shlepped forward. When I went across the finish I did a big no no. I looked at my watch. So my picture (which I most likely won't be buying) has me looking at the time. Then, I forgot to stop it. I didn't realize for maybe 15 minutes that I forgot to stop the watch.

I found the family and we took a couple of pictures and then I told them I needed to go back and watch Drumstick finish. She actually ended up quite a bit behind me. I was really happy for her when she crossed the finish line.

I took my shoes off. There were no rocks but two little bloody worn off parts. I guess that is what was irritating me.

I started getting sore quickly. Dh was so very right about that.

We went back to our hotel and got ready to leave. We picked up the kids from DH's parents' cabin and drove home.

I felt great having accomplished my goal. It's not often that I manage to follow through with something that takes a long period of tenacity.

Within hours I could barely walk. I hurt so much. Going downstairs was painful. I'm not talking a little tender. I'm talking groan with every step pain.

90% of the people beat me. I was so worried about being last and over 110 people finished behind me (or something like that). It made me feel like I could do it again.

I have my race picked out. It's another half in the fall. Hopefully it'll keep me motivated to run some more.