crisis averted

after a full day of frantically searching the house from top to bottom (a few time), after many sleepy tears shed, and one crazy momma, I am happy to report that we found P's snuggler. Where, you ask. Why in the shower, of course. Why didn't I think of that first thing?

So, guess what? Our house sold. Ahhh. Crazy. We feel beyond blessed to have this happen in such a short time. I went between feeling of elation and utter sadness today and I recongnized what moving out of this house will mean.

Let's not talk about that though. Today was event filled. I spent two VERY long hours thinking my husband was stuck somewhere on the Narrows (a VERY big river in Zion). He went out to Kayak it with some friends and sent me a message with his SPOT messenger telling me "I am okay, but please send help." After much time on the phone with the Park service I got a call from D. He couldn't understand why I was so upset until I told him about the message which he thought said, "I am okay, but we are running late." Be assurred he will be checking that next time before he leaves on one of his great adventures.

We had Douglas' sister and her husband in town this past weekend. It was such a great time. I love having company, especially family. We are blessed with awesome families that we both enjoy. I think that is unusual. We ate well, talked a lot and just had a fun time.

D turned the 3-2 yesterday. We celebrated with his free dinner at Red Robin and Calypso Pie. S has been doing Weight Watchers and has lost almost 25 pounds so this was really splurging for him. I am really proud of him. He is developing such great habits and looking pretty darn good!

I am going to make frosting for P's cupcakes for her princess tea party birthday tomorrow. Only three girls will be there, but it has been fun to plan. I never execute as many things as I plan though!!

Here are a few cute pictures of P from my photo blog. She is such a sweetie. We went out when D and J went to Father and Sons and went to Cafe Rio, frozen yogurt, and per her request, to take pictures. She is such a fun age and I just adore my momma's girl. Seriously, can you even get over how cute she is. We make dang cute kids.

Thursday

Sometimes I look at my kids and am overwhelmed with how cute they are and how much I love them. They are so little, yet so big. J's little lisp is so endearing and P's clear, grown up way of talking makes me laugh and want to squeeze the little thing.

Miss Dotty, my sitter, is here today. That means I am supposed to be working. I am dragging my feet. I have checked blogs, facebook, forums. I have so much to do and I don't want to. I really want to go to the quilt store and look at fabric. It is a sickness I got from my mom. I have been lying awake at night thinking about projects. Unfortunately I am in clean zone and the projects will remain undone most likely until we move.

I bought a box of strawberries on the side of the road in Cali on the way home. I think D thought I was crazy when I urgently ordered him to pull over. There are no strawberries quite the same as the fresh, side of the road variety. It makes me miss my parents living in Santa Barbara. I would go out there and we would stop on the way back from the airport and by flats of them. I would eat them until I was sick. Good times.

I just bought D's bday gift...the Lord of the Rings unabridged on CD. He wants to listen to it on the way to Michigan. 46 disks and something like 52 hours of audio. Yikes. He will be a happy camper. I'm not going to listen with him. I don't have that kind of attention span. He is hoping J will enjoy it since he spent the last few months telling him the story at bedtime.

Well, back to work. Wish me luck.

Thoughts

Well, I am happy to say I haven't been grouchy the entire time since my last post. We had a rough week or so, but life is back to normal, somewhat. I guess the new normal which equals crazy. Keeping the house "show worthy" all the time is hard, though it is making me better about putting things away after using them, scanning mail as it comes and shredding it and sometimes folding laundry.

We made the 12 hour drive each way to Greg's wedding in the San Fran area. It was a good, busy weekend. They were a beautiful couple and seem so happy. The kids were pleasantly well behaved, even with the late evenings, lack of naps and weird eating schedule. I think I was the worst in the car. It was such a LONG drive!!

Today I enjoyed a coconut shrimp taco at Cafe Rio. I will miss that place. I am getting a little nervous, scared, sad about the impending move. It will be here too soon and I will be leaving my life and so many people I love behind. Not to mention the tacos :). It is going to be tough. Don't worry though, I am stockpiling fabric so I will never be without a sewing project.

I looked at P today and was hit by the fact that she is no longer a toddler. She is a full fledged little girl. I can't believe she will be three soon. It seems like she has been with us forever, yet I remember her birth like it was yesterday. I am beginning to think about what it will be like if we decide to add a third to the crew. I remember with P thinking it would upset the rhythm and then she came and fit in so naturally. This is not an announcement, by any means. We have a few too many crazy things in our life right now to go and do something crazy like have another child. Someday though.

I am enjoying Dancing with the Stars this season. My favorites are Erin and Nicole. I think Derek is an amazing choreographer. I love watching his dances. I think I hope they win in the end.

I am going to try not to spend so much money this month. Last month was a doozey and it hurt. So many things going on and they are all expensive. Life is like that sometimes. I need to learn to be a poor college student again though so I better start practicing.

I have been busy taking pictures. Not too busy, but busy enough. I really enjoy having a client a week. It gives me a creative outlet. I feel a bit nervous about taking my biz to Michigan. I am going to be the breadwinner which is truly scary. I hope I can find clients quickly and be successful. I haven't had to support the family since we were first married and it was so stressful to me. I guess I am only made to work for play money :).

I am wearing a fleece today. WHAT?? It is almost the middle of May. Don't you fret though, it should be in the 90s by the end of the week. I didn't want a spring anyways. What fun are beautiful spring days?

Slowly...

I am turning into witchy mom. You see, I have never been good with sleep deprivation and Paige being sick = very little sleep. That sweet thing is mega hyprocondriac. I told her she needed some tylenol today and you would have thought I told her we were heading to Disneyland. It is strange. She asks to go to doctors, take medicine, use the humidifier. Anywho, she is also a sweet little thing that has a very, I mean VERY strong preference for....ME. and only ME. It should be endearing, but not at 2am when I send Douglas in to deal with her and I hear her flip out because she wants me.

I gave up and she has slept in my bed all week. Much better than getting up and going to her room 20 times a night. Douglas has slept in her room so that I don't freak in the middle of the night when I am cocooned in by him and my horizontally sleeping daughter. (and D has the gall to whine about being tired today...love him, but come on, have some sympathy.)

Now, J has croup as well. My sleepless nights are doubtless coming to an end any time soon. Is there any chance I will get off scott free from this whole coughing extravaganza? Not a chance. I have two little love bugs who have hacked in my face so many times today that I can't even count.

I just wish I could stay nice when I get tired. I can't. I have been trying for almost 32 years now. No sleep = Watch out.

Then, add having to keep my house clean. The word of choice is similar to witch, but a little more profane. I made J sit on the floor to watch a movie today because I had fixed the pillows on the couch and didn't want him to mess them up. Please pray that this house will sell soon so I can go back to my messy ways again. We are much happier that way.

Whine whine, right? I feel a little whiney this week. And I am not even going to try to think of five happy things to lift my spirits. I am tired and I think I will go to bed (for the hour or two I get before playing mom again) instead.

bedtime woes

I don't get it. Why can't they understand that once the kiss and hug have been administered, I am off duty until morning. No, Paige continues to yell to me from her locked door (yes, I am that mother...I lock my children in when they won't stay put...it is for their good) that she has to go potty. Nevermind that the last time she went was, well, 5 minutes ago. I am telling ya, that girl can pee on demand (though I am HAPPY to announce that she is finally potty trained through the night...unless I put her in my bed, and then she will pee). I digress. I just wish they could understand that I am OFF DUTY. Mean mom has arrived. I promise chitlens, you don't want to mess with me once I am off the clock.

Speaking of pee. Why is it that the life of a young mother involves so much bathroom related stuff? I am trying to get J to keep his pants dry at night or at least not pee so much that I am washing his sheets EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. I made a deal that every day he gets right up and goes potty (yes, he will lay in bed and relieve himself first thing in the morning--don't even get me talking about that...) and his bed is dry he can play the Wii. Did I mention that I love that machine. No, I didn't. I should have bought it YEARS ago. It is the first thing that provides any real motivation for that child. So, I told J I would get him up in the night before I retire and help him go potty. Last night I went in, helped him stumble to the bathroom, helped him get his pants down and WATCH OUT that thing was already a sprayin. I jumped and hollered. That stopped him up pretty quickly. There is nothing better than wiping down my bathroom at midnight.

I wish I would stay on top of this thing. My kids say some of the darndest things and by the time I sit down, I can't remember any of them.

And why is it that celebrity gossip affects my life. I have been feeling so sad for Sandra Bullock. I won't even say what I think of her husband. Now with that new baby...she must be a strong person. I just don't understand why people can't be faithful.

We are trying to get all the loose ends tied up and what not before we move. I decided to take the car in to get checked out. Ouch. That hurt. Sometimes it is better not to know (until of course you have a major problem because you didn't take care of the smaller ones).

Well, there you go, a bunch of rambling. Not even a picture to go along with it. You can't have it all, right?

Dieting Woes

So, I have a love hate relationship with dieting. Let's be honest friends, I love treats. I can say no to candy (though I also enjoy that) but when it comes to cookies, cakes, breads, muffins, brownies etc. I just don't have what it takes to say no.

I also love when I feel good about my body and am sans muffin top. My midsection likes a little extra padding so the second the weight comes on, it goes straight to the middle. There really is nothing better, though, than feeling like your bod looks hot. My grandma has a quote that says, "nothing tastes as good as thin feels." It is true.

None the less, in that moment of eating, I can continually forget this and that cookie wins out. It is the same with getting up early. I may know that it needs to be done, but when that alarm goes off, there is little that makes me actually commit to getting out of bed. I have the amazing ability to turn the alarm off and go right back to sleep even when I know it will throw my whole day off and I will regret it later.

Same with staying up late. I am seeing a trend...self discipline is just not my thing, I guess.

So, as you can imagine, trying to lose weight is no fun. I mean, of course it isn't. Having self discipline isn't a strength and eating is, well, just really enjoyable.

When Douglas decided that he needed to loose some poundage I decided to get on board too. I mean, I can do anything for 11 weeks and when it is really important I can muster up enough will power to do it. We are two weeks into Weight Watchers. I have done it before and let me tell you, it is much easier when someone is suffering with you. I eat a lot of Golden Spoon and spend my points foolishly, oft times, but I have already lost a few.

And I have been running. Never thought I would say that, but I am actually sort of enjoying it. Go figure.

But, all this being said, I have been at my brothers for the last week and dieting while on vacation is tough. I have a lot of repenting to do when I get home, but until then, I think I will enjoy another chocolate chip cookie (have I ever mentioned they are my fav??). Shhh...don't tell Douglas.

Childhood

My kids are outside in the pouring rain, soaking, jumping on the tramp and having the time of their lives. Isn't that what being a kid is all about??

BTW...I think spring stopped for a day on her way through, winter convinced her to leave and has no plans to return anytime soon. Dang global warming.

Wowzers...a new week already??

Am I ready for it. Sundays are LONG days with those two crazy children of mine, but it sure is nice not having to do anything really...no laundry, no packing, no yard work, no errand running and usually a BIG FAT NAP. Not to mention that my hubby lets me sleep in until I feel like pulling my lazy bones out of bed sometime around 10am. It was pretty spectacular.

Life is crazy and hectic here. You see, I am supposed to have my house ready to list to sell on Thursday. I did tell the realtor to give me until Monday and now that I have made plans to go out to my brothers that week I have added motivation. I am getting there, but it is a lot of work. I have packed up most of the kids toys. They don't really play with them anyway. I think they just enjoy getting them all out and letting me clean them up. The downstairs has been repainted, furniture moved out, counters cleaned off. We are getting there, but I still have my office (shudder), bedroom and the junk room. I call it the junk room though it is actually the guest room, because it has been my catch all the last two months. It is a disaster. Oh, and my studio. Sad, but my living room is going to be that again while we try to sell this blessed place. I truly saved the worst for last. If anyone wants to volunteer to help, I will gladly accept.

I purchased a Scansnap. My life is overtaken by papers and I have finally decided to pay the money and get a good, fast, reliable printer that will do more than cause headaches and swear words. I will head out to Costco for a shredder tomorrow and we are going totally paperless. I can already sense the relief this will bring.

So, Monday threw us for a loop when Douglas got a letter in the mail telling him that he had been chosen to recieve a fellowship that will cover all of his tuition and fees at the University of Michigan. Awesome, yes, but considering we had chosen to go to Virginia and have spent the last three months planning for that, it caught us totally off guard. It has sunk in and I can't tell you how awesome it will be to get out of graduate school with only a fraction of the student loans. To say we feel blessed is a complete understatement. I feel undeserving as well, but blessed.

So, Michigan. Yeah.

I have really been going crazy with the kiddos lately. I have a lot of stress right now with everything going on and it takes its toll. I definitely struggle to find patience when I am just anxious about everything going on. J is so difficult for me to parent. He fights me about EVERYTHING. It is exhausting. And he fibs a lot which drives me insane. I am teaching him that you get in a lot more trouble when you lie about something you did wrong, but it is a difficult concept. He can be such a sweet, affectionate boy, but I tell you, the times in between about do me in. I am trying to be consistent and refer back to the books I have read, but it drains my energy, that is for sure. I think school will be such a positive thing for him next year. I think it will give his brain something to do, allow him to socialize which he loves and hopefully our time together will be more positive.

And Miss P...holy tornado. I can't keep up with that girl. Seriously. She is into EVERYTHING all.the.time. I put her to bed only to come upstairs and find her in her bathroom with every hair product known to mankind in her hair, a sink full of wet toliet paper and soap and she has changed clothes because she decided to wet her pants first. Ahhhhhh. I can't turn my back on her.

And Jackson started a fire in my kitchen yesterday. I was gone and D was mowing the lawn and J was inside with a lighter lighting a Target bag and consequently all the rubbermaid containers I had purchased for packing, on fire. I am glad he was smart enough to run and find Douglas (after trying to use a cup to pour water on it). I think it freaked the living tar out of him and I am so grateful our house didn't go up in flames. I guess it would have made packing a little easier...just kidding.

D and I started Weight Watchers this week. He really wants to lose weight and be healthier and I have about five to drop as well. It is really unfair though because he gets about twice the points I do :). I miss baking, but I know it will be just for three months, so I can handle it (and even shorter if I lose the weight before then).

Well, that about sums up the week. Wish me luck this week...it is going to be a crazy one!

hello again!!

I was cleaning out the pantry this past week as part of the whole getting ready to sell the house thing and came across some salsa that had oviously been bottled by me last October. I have absolutely NO recollection of botteling salsa a mere 5 months ago. That tells you a bit of how things have been around here. I am happy to say that we have finally decided on a business school...UVA (University of Virginia) Darden School of Business in Charlottesville, VA. We are very excited and nervous about the adventure, but really feel like it is the right thing for our family and are feel really blessed that Douglas got into such a great business school. I won't get started on all the things that will make this move very hard...we will save that for another post someday.

We are hoping to list our house in the next couple of weeks. The market stinks, but we would still really like to be able to leave without the responsibility of a house on top of everything else. It is SO much work to get rid of things and organize. I feel like my house has turned into a complete wreck while I have tried to get it ready.

I am toying with the idea of making my blog private. I have for some time, but the thought of adding in all the emails is a little overwhelming presently. I know it is a pain, but I often wonder about the safety factor of having my life open for the whole wide world to read about.

J has said some funny things lately. He learned how to do a flip on the trampoline while my inlaws were here and when D asked him how he learned he replied, "it all began with a somersault."

Also, when D's parents were here we went to Red Robin where both of my kids frequented the bathroom. I have a dislike for public toliets and yet get the honor of visiting them at almost every establishment we go to. After our dinner I ran over to the craft store with J, P and my MIL. I went with P to look for something and J was with my MIL. She told me later that he had to go to the bathroom really bad (again) and when they left the b-room he could hear me coming and told Grandma to hurry because he and P had already used the b-room 4 times at Wred Wrobin and if I found out that he went again I would "FWEEK OUT" (Imagine dramatic hand gentures). That kid.

Then, today at church after some thinking J told me that if someone prayed to satan they would say "dear heavenly satan". Where does he come up with these things?

He constantly makes us laugh. We are trying to teach he and Paige how to be more respectful and one of the things Douglas wanted to do (especially since we are moving to the south) is to teach them to say no and yes maam and sir. J has picked it up well, but if you ever remind P to say yes maam she will say, "no maam". She is such a feisty little stinker.

I am making a goal to update this blog more. I feel like I have missed the last 9 months. It really has been crazy around here with GMAT and applications and classes. I always feel like I am missing out on documenting the kids lives though.

Here is one picture for now. I made bird feeders with the kids but P was really only concerned with eating the rest of the pb.

What Did You Have For Dinner?

Day five of the hubster gone and this is what I ate:

Steel Cut oats with blueberries (healthy...off to a good start)
Dove Chocolate
Asian Chicken Salad I made last week
About 20 Cinnamon Hearts
Ranch Wrap at McDonalds that was supposedly healthy, but smothered in dressing
The fries they accidentally gave us
Diet Coke
Handful of Milk Duds.

I guess I should go work out. and I wonder why I can't lose the Christmas pounds I put on.

A few more San Diego Pics

I brought out the big guns for a few pictures. I have to either be a mom or photographer so most of the time I just bring along the point and shoot. I had to take advantage of the beach and beautiful light for a few pictures though!!

Grandma Dee and Grandpa George with the cute grandkids that came to San Diego.


Dapper little fella.



The kids and their daddy by at the beach just down from our condo.

Digging for shells.

a golf lesson from Uncle Brad
Our cute little family!

Fall Fun

I am on a roll...

My dad came to town to visit and helped the kids rake up the leaves so they could jump in them. They had a blast. We hadn't the heart to tell them that usually there are MANY more leaves when people jump in them.

Some Random Shots

My little run in with the garage door. The handle onthe opener got stuck on my roof rack and pulled the door down as I backed out. The garage door was surprisingly cheap and easy to fix. The car, not so much.

Yum. Love that cute face.

Don't cross Paige during breakfast. This was the second hard cooked egg she chucked across the kitchen...lucky for Strider, I guess.

D's lunch assembly for the company hike he planned for his company. They always have a good time and eat well.
Sugar cookies for Halloween. I love to bake, but I hate cutting out cookies. My solution...store bought cookies and icing. Easy peasy.



Too much sun in her eyes so she needed my sunglasses. Too cute!

J's Preschool Party

J loves his preschool and especially Miss Debbie. She is a fantastic teacher!!

Carving Pumpkins

and here is Halloween...
had to threated J to stick his hand in the pumpkin. Cute finished product though!

San Diego

I am really on the ball...only four months behind on posting. I can't leave this one out though! Jackson still talks about this trip on almost a daily basis. It was such a great time and so amazing to be with Douglas' parents and siblings. We all met up in Oceanside, California and stayed in a time share that D's parents are a part of. It was a nice, new condo with two bedrooms, bathrooms, full kitchen, family room and balcony. There was a nice pool and hot tub and the ocean was a two minute walk. Really we couldn't have asked for more.

We were able to do most of the San Diego touristy things. We bought 5 days passes from Costco so we went to Sea World, The San Diego Zoo, and The Wildlife Park (is that the name). They were all really cool, though if I went again with young kids, I would choose one park and do more beach and pool time. By the time we went to the Zoo on the last day the kids were worn out and melted down shortly into our trip. Needless to say, it was probably the shortest Zoo visit of all time. The kids were content just hanging out in the pool.

Sea World was a HUGE hit with Jackson. He really got into all the shows, especially Shamu. Paige was, let's be honest, less than stellar behavior wise, but given her age and personality, I really didn't expect more. I think one of the highlights of Sea World was the cotton candy. There is nothing like artificially died, spun sugar to make a kid happy. They also have a cute little kids amusement park which the kids loved. The weather was perfect as well.

We didn't spend too much time at the Wildlife park. We were trying to let Paige get a nap and underestimated how long the drive was, so by the time we got there we had about an hour and a half to see the park. Jackson went with his grandparent's so got to enjoy more of it. The safari ride they do it really cool. You get to see a lot of neat animals. It was especially cool to see the lions up close. Of course, most of the time I was dealing with an onery daughter (common theme??) so I could have enjoyed it more :).

The beach was fantastic. The water wasn't quite as cold as I thought it would be. We also had some tasty meals (no trip is good without great food). One night we cooked steaks and shrimp on the beach grill (added "pubic flavor" as Douglas described it...gross). The food though...DELISH. My fantastic inlaws also took the kids one evening and we were ablt to go out with Douglas' sister and her hubby for a VERY tasty meal at a restaurant on that sat right on the beach. It was delicious seafood. I think my mouth is salavating just thinking about it.

Like I said, Jackson asks all the time when we can go to San Diego again. It was just such a relaxing and fun trip. Oceanside is a nice place to stay...it was nice to have the ocean so close. Can't wait to go again.

On the way home we were able to go up to Irvine to visit my brother and his family for the night. The kids had a great time together as usual.

So there you go...the details are sparce thanks to my poor memory. Hopefully the pictures will tell the story...there are a lot of them!! Thanks again George and DeEtte for an amazing time! Can't wait to do it again!






























The kids with their Irvine cousins. Craziness.
We do what we need to to stay entertained on the road trip home.