Halloween!

Okay finally posting some pictures from Halloween night. The kids had a blast! N got tired of his helmet (not a mask) fairly fast. Plus E only got to the 3rd house and decided she had enough with her shoes. This is the first year that I remember not having to worry about coats! It was so nice outside! And mom the cape was perfect! It billowed out when N walked so looked exactly like Darth Vader! Just so everyone knows N was Darth Vader and E was Princess Belle.

Sleep!

Well since last night was change the clock time once again I thought for sure N would be up at the break of dawn but lo and behold he slept until 6:20!!! Is this a new phase he is going through???? We are hoping so! It's so nice when he sleeps in for us! :-) Now M on the other hand got stuck on the computer/phone for 5 hours last night for work. :-( He is sleeping now as we speak and hopefully going to get about 2 hours of sleep in before we have to leave for church/work. I knew he had woken at a little after 1am but thought he would be back, but I woke up at 6am and he hadn't been back to bed. Luckily I think he is done being the on call guy starting tomorrow.

Hope everyone got plenty of sleep last night!

I will post Halloween pictures tomorrow!

Pictures

Couldn't get the pictures to add very well on the last post so will do this instead...

living room (downstairs)






okay...most of the pictures you can tell what is what. The bedroom with the red/white/blue quilt is the guest room. The one with the checkered rug (which I need to figure out how to keep it from moving so much!) is my craft room plus the kids crafts are in there too. The one with all the boxes and entertainment center (which we are so grateful to neighbors that helped moved this upstairs the day we moved in!) is the bonus room. We have actually gotten the entertainment center in place far left wall closer to the window...the tv stuff will be at that end and then play area will be near the door. The only picture that is not in here is the master bedroom/bath area. On the first floor you have the living room, master, kitchen, dining, office, laundry, and half bath. Then the 2nd floor you have the kids bedroom plus bathroom on one side. On the other side you have the bonus, craft room and guest room.


UGH!!! Looks like some of the pictures are cut off. If they are when you look then click on them and you can see the full picture.
I know I need a picture of the outside too but will try to get that tomorrow....or maybe next week.

Finally!!!!

Okay I know I have not blogged in a LONG time! Let's just say moving takes alot out of you! Yes we moved!!! Our official move date was Sept 26 (2 days before E's bday). We had sold our "old" house and was having a hard time finding one that we liked or the offer would be accepted. We did put an offer on one house that was not accepted. Then finally after a couple of weeks of me looking like crazy with our realtor to narrow down options for M to look at we finally came back to an area that I had already looked at but M had decided was too far away. Well come to find our house right there and we actually love this area! It is actually easier to get on the highway for M to go to work and it seems like we are getting better gas mileage out here too b/c we aren't always sitting at lights or doing "short" little trips. We are off a road too that is so easy to get on and get to our church area so that is so nice too!

N had to switch schools. He went from a traditional school (Sept - June) to a year round (July - June). So when he switched he ended up being 5 weeks behind. His teacher has been great with this! We need to get better around here with catching him up...sometimes feels like all we do is work on that weeks stuff. But know that this will easy out some for us now that we are more settled (don't get me wrong we still have tons of stuff to do around here) and we don't have any trips for the next 6 weeks!

We switched E to a different preschool too b/c I was not happy with the one she was in. It seemed like they had to be quiet alot and they didn't even let her write her name on her paper. Plus the art projects were not really art projects. (I know the school teacher coming out of me.) So she is now what I would call an arts & crafts preschool that she loves and I love.

M and I have just been busy trying to keep up with the house stuff, jobs, kids lives and then Emmaus for us. M worked the mens and I attended the womens. To me it brought back alot of memories as a teenager attending Chryslis. We loved the weekends and doing this but it does put us behind...especially with everything else.

M is busy with work. It is alot of stress lately with some reogranizing and such. His job is safe as we speak but it is still very stressful. S is still working the same job and loves it. The holidays are starting right up next weekend so it will be even busier at her work.

Okay I will leave now for some pictures that some of you have been wanting to see.

Update - Wedding, Strep

Well we had a great time up at the wedding. (Aug 16) It was hot for Portland but it was a great wedding! Wish we could have stayed another day. My sister and her husband are now in LA looking forward to him starting school next week and my sister looking for a job. Plus they are looking for a place to live. I still have not downloaded any of the pictures I took...ugh! But I will sometime soon I hope!

Then the week after we got home everyone around the house has been tired and just not all there. LOL Well come to find out that we had a kid over the week before the wedding that came down with strep. And I couldn't figure out why I was getting sick in the mornings and did not want to hardly eat, my glands were swollen and just plain old worn out. So went to the dr and they did the fast test and nothing...so sent it off to the lab (Friday). So over the weekend I got worse so I called Monday morning and went in again thinking something had to be very wrong...well come to find out I have Strep. Well then time for everyone else to get tested plus I called my mom and texted my sister and cousin to let them know. Mom and Dad went in and sure enough they have it (little bit of a sore throat & drainage down the back of the throat). Well now both kids tested positive yesterday and M's test will be back today but he already started the meds too. It's crazy! I have never had strep in my life and M has had it only once when he was a kid. I can't believe how it spread!

N started school this week and loves it! I am glad...wasn't sure how he would be for a full day. But he loves it and now we are hoping we didn't pass on the strep to any other kids/adults!



Okay off to get some things done around here. We'll keep you updated hopefully a little better! :-)

Didn't Make It

Well we tried the biking to the school. This is why I don't understand why he can't ride the bus! Anyways, it took us almost 25 min just to get to the back of the neighborhood and that is not including going down the main street (which has no sidewalks at points). That would have probably taken another 15-20 minutes. Oh well we tried. I think I might just park a little ways from the school and walk over to get him. We shall see.

Half packed for the weekend. :-) The kids are excited and helping pick out their clothes for rehearsal dinner and what they wear in the car. :-) E has decided on her easter dress...which I think might be a little too fancy but oh well...at least it will be worn one more time before she out grows it.

Have a great weekend!

Oh and Jann...can you believe Verizon and Qwest are going to team together in some package deal that you can get. The lady tried to tell me I would save $5 a month to bundle internet and cell together but it wouldn't be set until October or November. Wierd!

Weekend Coming Up

Okay I can not believe that my little sister is getting married this weekend! The kids are excited to see her and everyone else. They actually picked out a present for Aunt L...N is so excited about giving it to her. At the store he had to carry it and make sure it was okay out in the car.

Today we are going to ride bikes to N's school to see how long it takes. I would rather walk to pick him up b/c parking there is awful in the afternoons. The kids are excited to do it.

Then the rest of the day is laundry and packing. Then tomorrow morning will be cleaning the house to make sure it is tip top shape so hopefully we will get an offer! Fingers crossed and praying!

Okay off to get us all ready to start walking/riding before it gets too hot.

Have a great weekend! I am sure I will have some fun pictures to share.

Frustration!!!

Okay we canceled our land line last week. They tell me we pay a month in advance so the next bill will be prorated. I go online today when I get the notice I have a bill and it is not prorated! It says I owe a full bill for the next mont...uh don't think so! So I try calling...sorry customer service is not available until 8am. So then I go to online chat. I have been on there with this lady for 20 minutes (maybe longer) and we are just now getting to let's look at your acct. How many times does she need to ask me this...

I also want to share with you that the information on the services that we provide you is confidential and, by law, Qwest is obligated to protect it. May I have your approval to use this information during this chat to ensure that I offer you the best service we have to meet your needs?

She asked me a total of 4 times. Each times I said sure but I don't want anything the line is canceled and would just like to know about my bill.

ugh! She just asks me "So you said you got a full bill?" Hello! I have told you that I don't know how many times since I logged on! This is another question she asked me about 4 minutes ago...Sorry, did you want me to check for bundling discounts? Uh NO!!! I just want to know about my bill!

I am so hoping I get the question would you like to fill out a survey??? UH YES!!!! B/c I am tired of this!

Then just now she says it looks like you owe this amount...right away I can tell she is looking at the wrong acct. I told her we had another acct that is just internet and I am not wondering about that one but need to know about the one canceled last week. Oh my word! Makes me wonder what she is doing at her desk!

Oh my word...I am half laughing now...she writes back. "I'm sorry for the delay. I'll be right with you."

I just now asking to talk to a supervisor b/c she is now telling me that I should pay for the full bill and have it credited back to me. And that she would now need to ask that bill is that okay?

All I have to say is I hope I never have to have phone service through them again! I have always had problems with customer service there!

okay off my rant now. LOL

Camping & Update

Okay I had not realized how long it had been since I have posted on here! ugh! I think the kids and I are both ready for school to start but I would love to find a job during the time that E is at preschool but we shall see if that all works out. Anyways...

This last weekend we went to Wallowa Lake with a family church camp (our church only). It was fun and interesting. The kids had a blast. M & S were tired when all was said and done. Of course the kids didn't sleep in until the last day when we needed to pack up before breakfast. :-) Then we actually had to wake them up. The loved sleeping in the tent and "camping". It was a pretty area. There were always deer around too. The lake was cold but the kids had fun. They went out on one of the boats (friends from the church had with them) for the first time and loved it. M almost got N talked into going on the tube but not quite. Of course the kids didn't eat much (food was prepared for us) except for breakfast usually there was something they would eat. Oh and then E got spoiled by all the attention of "older" girls at the camp. She constantly had someone that would push her on the swings (of course I didn't get a picture of this).

House update - we have had about 9 different groups look at the house but so far no bites. We went and looked at houses again last night (hadn't been in like 3 weeks) and found one style that we liked (new) but nothing else that we liked and had what we wanted.

The kids and I have been trying to stay around the house (too save on gas) but I'll tell you sometimes it goes a little stir crazy around here. I wish our kids slept in so atleast part of the morning is gone by the time they wake up! I miss having my desk out too so I could make a mess on it and create but not have to worry about putting it away later. :-)

Nimi has grown. And boy can she jump!!! She is still little but she can jump up on our bed. Now if you have seen how high our bed is you wouldn't even think she could but she can do it from standing still or if she takes a running start you shoudl see her. Now she isn't too happy that we make her get down from there. But she loves it when we ask her into our laps on the couch/chairs. Sometimes she "sneeks" up there. The last two mornigs we have gone for walks to an Elementary school near here to play at the playground and she has loved those walks and always wants to keep up with the kids. And boy can she run! We have got to train her on frisbee! She would be excellent at it!

Okay time to make sure the kids aren't making too much of a wreck in their room. :-)

Cleaning

I have to tell you that I am like most "normal" people...I hate to clean! Especially dust or polish. :-) But I now have all the wood in this house (trim, doorways, and cabinets) polished with wood polish. They look really good! I also cleaned the carpet this morning before we headed to the free movie at the theater. So now that is done. Just regular cleaning to do tomorrow before 7pm so not that big of a deal.

Hopefully I will get to scrap atleast one page tonight. I just got my order of 100 photos from Shutterfly. The company I work for gave each of it's employees 100 free photos from there. I love working there! I wish I could work more hours but alas right now that just doesn't work out.

Off to relax a little bit and then head to the gym to meet Matt. Oh yea I should feed the kids at some point too. :-)

Well Moving Along...

Well we went looking at some houses yesterday with a realtor and only liked really one of them but not the lot it sat on. But atleast we know after talking to her that there are options out there for us. Now to see what our house is worth or they think it is worth. They will be coming over Thursday night for us to talk and discuss things. So I am slowly cleaning stuff that is not on the "normal" list for cleaning. Such as windows sills, pledge some stuff (I rarely do this...I know not always good.) and making sure the tile in our bathroom is all polished back up. Just not stuff we would normally worry about but we want the most we can out of this house. It's so wierd to think we might be selling this house and getting a new one. It will be interesting to figure it all out. I am pretty sure there will be ups and downs the whole time but hey atleast we know we are not in a rush and want to find what we really want...unlike the last time we went house hunting and had to find a house in 3 days. I say we did really well with this house.

Okay off to clean some more before meeting M at the Y to work out tonight.

Attitudes!

Okay our little E is getting somewhat of an attitude. She likes to voice her opinion very well and it's driving me a little batty sometimes! She even got in trouble with M today (he is working from home) when she told me not to yell at her. ugh!

Today we (the kids and I) are busy in the garage cleaning up out there. There was winter stuff to go up in the attic and then fan and wagon to get out of the attic. Now to get some hooks up to hang up the ladder that my dad bought us around christmas time...which I am loving dad! Very easy for me to use and now I can get in the attic w/o waiting for M. Which he likes very much b/c I am shorter and can fit up there better. :-)

M is working from home today. He right now works about one day a week from home. Hopefully in about a month he can start working up to 4 days a week from home. He is very excited about this. Will help with gas and mileage on the subaru. (Will also be nice for taxes.)

We have also decided to look and see if there are any houses out there that we could afford with what we want in it. We are going to be picky this time since the last time we had to find a house and sign papers w/in 3 days! Sunday we are going to go look at our first ones but don't think they are quite what we want but will look and give the realtor a better idea of what we are thinking. If we do find there are ones out there that we can/do want then we will be putting this house up for sale. But we shall see since we just want to take it easy and find what we want for the price we want. We know we could get another couple of years out this house if need be so not in a huge rush...which is nice.

Well time to feed the kids some lunch. Have a wonderful weekend!

Pool Time

Well come to find out the kids won't be the only one in the pool this summer. It's a good thing we have this type of pool otherwise we would have lots of holes. Nimi is loving running around the yard and then through the pool. I think I need to find some place to hang some towels near the back door this summer!

Okay I have a ton of pictures to load so going to just load pictures with captions. You will see N's kindergarten graduation, E's dance recital, and N's birthday party pics. Which we are all very tired by tonight! Especially mommy and daddy. :-) It will be an early night for all of us!

Not the best picture...all pictures in that gym always turn a little blurry or dark. This is the whole class. Then the next picture is of N and his teacher.







This picture is the greatest. I think E learned alot from dance but next time (if there is a next time) I would put her in a "real" dance class. Aren't the tutu's great!











So as you can see N had a water birthday party. It was great fun. Before all the kids showed up M had to show N how to use the slip n slide. I was inside and laughing the whole time. I loved watching them do it together. I think M had as much fun as N did. The waterballoon fight was fun to watch. It took forever to fill them up and they were gone in not time. Seemed like everyone ganged up on N. S and one other mom helped get some of the other kids. :-) One neat present was some tadpoles from one of the girls. There are 3 in the picture. N thinks they are neat but I think S thinks it's neater. :-) Look at how big they are!!! I had never seen tadpoles this big before! Then this morning I was out talking on the phone with my sister and this is what I saw.Not ready to really go anywhere but cool to see. Okay off to feed the hungry and get everyone into bed on time tonight! Plus hope everyone sleeps through the night!!!!!! Atleast for mommy's sake. :-)

Scare & Weather!!!

Okay today has been an interesting day to say the least. I was to go in and help out in N's class today and he also got to celebrate his summer bday and decided to bring donuts. Well wake up to E crying and M bringing her to me in bed. She is burning up. Sure enough over 102. So decide she and I will stay home today. Go get the donuts for N and his class and then drop them off letting the teacher know that won't make it in today. During this time E has complained about her side hurting but nothing bad. Come home and she watches cartoons and naps on the couch. Go get N after school and she starts getting upset about her side. By this time the lowest I have gotten the fever is 101. So think okay need to watch her. Well by the time we make it home she is screaming about her side and the tylenol doesn't seem to have kicked in. So call dr office. They suggest I go to the ER to have work done and make sure it's not something more serious. So head down there. An hour later find out that her stomach seems fine, she is not complaining anymore of the side hurting (they have dosed her up on the advil) and she doesn't have anything come back in the work done on the urine. So guessing she has a viral infection and just to watch her. Have kept her on the tylenol and advil since we got home every 3 hours switching. She seems to be better and has eaten. So I think we are in the clear. M and I are so grateful it wasn't something worse!!!

Now the weather! I wish would make up it's mind!!! I just finished taking the electric blanket off our bed and had about half the clothes switched out for spring/summer. Now it is cold outside (and windy). We were hoping for sunny warm weather in Bend this weekend but we will be lucky if we get that! Plus it means I have to pack both ways just in case. ugh! I want it to be 70's and no wind again!!!

Two Cards

Here are two cards that I made for a swap I am in. It is a shaped card swap. Both cards open upwards. They were both fun to make. I sent them off today and totally forgot to make a pattern of the star one to keep. :-( Oh well I will get one back and will need to remember then to do it for my file. :-)

Full of Life!

Okay things around here seem to be going at a fast pace. Nimi and kids keep us busy plus all the other "stuff" in life. Nimi has certainly grown some. I will need to take a picture here when she is sitting still and show a comparison of when we brought her home to now. She is all puppy! We are working on no bite....just b/c of the puppy teeth but trying to get it so she knows not to bite peoples hands and only bite toys. She also figured out how to unroll the toilet paper and she does it perfectly...uses one paw to hold onto the toilet and the other to unroll it ...then she has fun. She hasn't done it since this picture b/c I surprised her and she doesn't like that one bit!

N only has a little longer of school. They get out June 5 but "graduation" is June 4. This week he is going on a field trip to the zoo (tomorrow) and then on Thursday he gets to celebrate his summer bday. He is bringing chocolate donuts. :-) Plus soccer just ended this weekend.

E has her dance recital on June 5 and gets to wear the cutest tutu! She is loving (as they both are) being able to play outside alot. She and Nimi love to run up and down the hallway too. :-)

I am not signing them up for much during the summer b/c I want to be able to relax this summer.

M is busy with work, guitar lessons (practicing right now which I like listening to but he says he isn't good as of yet...which he shouldn't be perfect b/c he's only done this for 2 months now). Plus youth group/church keep him busy.

I am busy with work, house, kids, puppy, making cards for swaps, and trying to scrapbook some. My goal is to get some pages done this summer. I also want to start a separate blog (most likely with my sister) to show off projects and such, and somehow try to sell some things but I just don't know how I want to do that. I have seen etsy but seems like there are so many people selling stuff that people would have a hard time finding my stuff.

We had alot of fun in Portland about 5 weeks ago (if I am counting correctly in my head). The kids and I stayed at my sister's house and got to hang out with her and her finance. M spent the weekend at Acquire the Fire with the youth group and had a great time.

Then not this weekend but the one before we went to Tri-Cities and got to see my cousin graduate from college and throw a bridal shower for my sister. The kids had fun seeing all the relatives. We even got to see my parents!

This weekend we will be headed to Bend to spend time with M's mom and stepdad. We are looking forward to that. The kids are excited about all the things there. We have told them about a few things that they never really could/want to do before. It's nice that they are getting to the age that they want to do this stuff and have fun with it.

Nimi has done great with all the traveling. I do have to say it is quite different from Molly dog in the barking area. Molly loved to bark. Nimi only barks at other dogs when she wants to play with them, the kids toys if they make noise or she doesn't know what it is and the vacuum. :-) I have to say that is very nice!

Okay I will leave you with a picture of the sun babies as I have called them the last couple of days. :-) I promise to try to blog more!

Officially A Big Girl!

We did it!!! Or we should say she did it!!! E is now officially in panties! Today was the first full day of it. She has been accident free in pull ups for 2 days so thought we would go ahead and do it! She is all proud of herself! Now working on night time will be a different matter but we'll get that too. :-)

Other news...

Nimi is doing great! Potty training with her has gone great too! N loves her and they are pals. He loves to take care of her and hates the fact that she can't always go where we go. She sleeps through the night too! (Feel like I am talking about a new baby.)

My sister is engaged!!! Yea for her and A! Looks like they will get married in August (tiny wedding) and then move to CA for A to go to grad school.

Weather here has been finally nice enough to spend time outside which everyone loves! So running energy out is great.

N has learned not to climb our jungle gym thing w/o socks! Last night (early evening) he was out with Nimi and decided to climb up and slipped and fell onto his chest hard onto the bar. Got him calmed down and he seemed fine until he ate and then said that hurt...so off to the new ER near us. 5 xrays later he has a serious bruise but nothing cracked, separated or broken! We even had a follow up from that ER this morning asking how he was doing! I couldn't believe it!

That is all our exciting news so far this week. Hopefully the rest of the week is uneventful! :-)

Newest Family Member - Nimi!!!

Okay well some of you know we have talked about this and others don't. But we now have a new family member. Through M's work we found some Miniature American Eskimo puppies. M and S talked about it for a month and decided we would surprise the kids with a new dog. Tonight they were ready to leave if interested. So after soccer practise we told the kids we had to visit a friend. We went inside and right away N was hooked. :-) Can't say we weren't either! Anyways, we decided on this puppy and on the way home we voted and named her Nimi. (M and S had come up with 3 top names and then asked the kids.) She is so far different then Molly dog was at this point. She was not nervous in the car...just curled up in my arms and watched and then tried to sleep a little too. (There was a lot of activity with teenagers at that house and other dogs.) We got home and she didn't like outside too much b/c it was cold, but was fine. Then we came inside and she didn't leave our sides much out in the living room. We did figure out that if N is sitting down she would come over and try to climb right up in his lap. She really likes him. But then again so does he! E held her and it was perfectly fine too. We then took her into the bedroom and introduced her bed (crate) and after a little bit we got the kids ready for bed and she started to fall asleep so put her in and she curled up and was out. So that is where she is right now. We have not heard her bark, growl, whimper or cry as of yet. Now asking me after tonight is over and we shall see. :-) We did warn the kids they might hear her cry tonight and not to worry. N had to ask me a few times to make sure I would take care of her. :-)

Happy Easter!

I will make sure I update the blog this weekend after all the festivities. Today we decorated easter eggs for the hunt tomorrow at the church. Tomorrow we go to the hunt and then Sunday we are up early to head to the church for early service and brunch afterwards. Then helping out at the other services. E is looking forward to wearing her new dress and so am I! :-)

Have a wonderful Easter!

Stubborn and Last Resort!

Okay starting a couple of days ago E was complaining about her butt...which means her front side if you know what I mean. Anyways, I thought it was due to rubbing to hard when wiping since we have been working on the potty training. Then yesterday morning it was screaming non stop when she needed to pee. Then when she finally went it was screaming the whole time. So call the dr and can't get in until 2pm.

Okay well that day was not fun let me tell you! I decided to go early so we could get pee in a cup like they wanted and I knew it would take awhile to do since she was holding it and not wanting to go. So we show up at 1:15. Sure enough I can not get her to go in the cup or anything for that matter! All she can do is scream at me that no she does not want to go and her butt hurts. So finally we see the dr at a little after 2 and she still refuses to go. So we talk about our options. They need a sample so they can make sure that the antibiotics (which is different then the stuff they give for other things) is the correct one to get rid of the infection. I guess they test it in the lab. Our options are wait around the office until we get her to go in the cup, take the cup home and hope she goes before 5pm or do a cathieder. (sp?) I decided lets do the last option b/c she is stubborn and I will be lucky if we get her to go in the cup and I don't want to hang around the office forever!

So fast forward about 15 minutes. Let's just say we barely had to stick the tube in and got some and it was a mess! I'm so glad the nurse and other helper were so nice!!! And I am glad it was over with! Sure enough within minutes the dr could tell it was an infection and just gave us the prescription that usually works the best.

Well last night while I was at work she tells daddy that it hurts but refuses to go. So when I get home at 10 she is in bed with him still awake and needs to go but won't. So I take her away and into the bathroom. Hang out for awhile and then finally tell her she is going or she is going to bed...she chose to go to bed. Well she didn't sleep the best last night either. Got up and came in sometime in the middle of the night and slept on our floor and then at some point put herself back in her bed. Then she still hadn't gone by 8 this morning. Then finally went a little after that.

Fast forward to 1pm we get home from errands (soccer and other things) and she is starting to complain big time. So have to listen to her for 1.5 hours and she won't listen to me about if she just would go it would be over and no more pain. Doesn't get it no matter which way I put it!!! Finally last resort for me. I take her pants and socks off. Stick her in the tub, take the pull up off and turn on the water. I know may sound cruel but only thing I could think of and I was tired of listening to screaming/crying for the last 1.5 hours. It worked! But now she is proud of herself b/c she went in the tub...have had to talk to her about that! LOL

Oh and this morning with the meds was not fun either. The meds must not taste very good b/c she usually will take meds no problem. But not this one. I told her she would need to take it the easy way with apple juice right there or take it the hard way (pin her down) b/c she needed this medicine to make the owies go away! Well she chose the pin down...after chasing her down. Well then I should have realized not to do it on the carpet b/c she spit half of it out. UGH!! Then had to give her a shower/bath...used the shower nozzle. Boy did she hate that and agreed this morning that she would then take the medicine the easy way b/c she didn't like the shower. LOL

M said it's a good thing I am as stubborn as she is. LOL

I am hoping that the meds kick in tonight...if not then we might be on the wrong stuff. But won't know unless the lab remembers to call us tomorrow or we have to wait until Monday morning when the dr checks the lab results.

Growth!

Okay my kids need to stop growing! I will especially E right now! I have noticed all her pants are getting short so thought it's been awhile since I measured them on their growth chart. So two days ago I measured them. Now the last time I measured them was a little less then 6 months ago. N grew 1/2". Now E on the other hand grew 1 1/4"!!! If you look at N's side at the height E is right now N was 4 years old. So she is about 1 year ahead of where he was. ugh! I have noticed mostly in dresses I have to buy E a size 5 b/c her long legs. Now N hasn't grown much and his long pants are finally starting to fit w/o turning over the waist band. :-) I need to stop by the 2nd hand store (where i have some credit) and see if I can find a couple pairs of pants for E b/c warm weather is just around the corner and then there is no way I will get her out of sundresses and shorts. :-)

New Toys and Life

Well I thought I would post this picture of M and E trying to get N with M's new toy. :-)

Life around here keeps going. :-) Right now E is just getting over a cough that she caught twice. The 2nd time with some asthma stuff going on so she was on the machine. Think she is allergic to albuetrol so took her off that and she is only on pulmacort. She is sounding much better! Then N is on 2 different nose sprays and nose flushing once a day. The first couple days of that was real fun! not! But now he is just fine with it. We don't feel like much is coming out but who knows. He has to do this b/c his sinuses are plugged and not draining. We go in the first week of April to check and see if this has all worked. If not then we might be doing some scans and in the long run it could be surgery...we just don't know at this point.

Oh and E got her tubes take out last week. Those tubes have been in there since she was 6 months old! 3 years was enough. Plus she has not had an ear infection for quite some time! So it was time to take them out! She is doing fine with it other then we had to cancel swimming lessons for the month since she can't get her ears totally wet for 2 weeks. Just when she was getting close to sticking her head back in the water. :-( Oh well we'll start again next month.

Soccer should be starting soon but so far have not heard anything which reminds me I need to call about it.

Matt and I have been busy with things going on all the time it seems. I work 3x a week and then we go workout atleast 3x a week, plus all the other things that happen in a family. :-) I am glad to see it staying lighter outside! Now if the wind would just quite blowing around here so we could go outside just a little more. :-)

I am pretty sure that there is more going on but I can't think of it right now. :-)

Happy Spring!

Update in our World

Well I realized it's been awhile since updating. I now have a little bit of time. E and N have a couple friends over right now and they are going to play until 4:30 and then meet their mom and we'll do a couple of errands and then head to the airport to pick up Aunt L! They are excited about that and so am I!

M left yesterday early evening for the Walk to Emmaus weekend. He has never experienced anything like it so he was excited and nervous all at the same time. Which I can totally understand. I remember when I went to Chyrsalis when I was a teenager. I now can't wait for Sunday afternoon. I will be there at the "reception" for all of the men. I was talking to my sister about it. It's not hard when M is gone but what is hard this weekend is that I don't even get to talk to him. Usually we atleast talk at night before I go to bed but don't even get that. So I am always sending him little thoughts during the day/night this weekend.

Last night was fun being a "single" mom for the weekend. E has been coughing and it's gotten worse the last 48 hours. So called yesterday to the dr office and got an appt for Friday at 9am. Well last night I moved E to my bed when she started coughing again. Then she was coughing so bad she was like choking (sounded like it) when she was coughing. So I thought okay this is not good and off we go...after trying to wake up N. Let me tell you once that boy is asleep it is SOOOO hard to wake him back up unless it's early morning! We get down there and I kid you not we were there maybe a total of 40 minutes. The dr pretty much tells me that he doesn't hear any wheezing and since she is not running a fever (which she rarely does anyways...the dr thought I was nuts about that) that she just has a viral thing. I kept asking him okay are you sure b/c she sure acts like she can't breath very well or choking when she is coughing. Oh yea that's normal. So we get home and I get the kids back into bed (E in mine and N on the floor) at about midnight. E slept okay atleast but she did wake a few times coughing so hard that she was crying b/c something hurt but she couldn't tell me what. So we went to the dr appt this morning. I tell the pedia all of what has happened and she starts listening very carefully plus asking me questions. She knows my kids really well. She decided that E doesn't have croup (which I knew b/c not much of a barky cough) and that she does have a upper respitory thing. So one dosage of steriod and albuetrol machine (which we have at home) every 4 hours. E has been much better this afternoon! I did all of that and gave her some runny nose meds and it has helped! Now to hope it helps tonight too! I just have to say that I am so glad we have such good doctors here! My kids love the pedia and you can tell that she really cares about them (and us as parents)!

So this weekend will be busy with Aunt L here and I have to work tomorrow night. Then before we know it it will be 2:30 on Sunday I will get to see M soon and participate in the reception. Then home for the kids to see him. They are both having a hard time too with not being able to talk to him. N is now counting down the days/nights. :-)

Oh and we got a Wii!!! Thanks to "ins" with someone we found out when a certain place got them in and were there w/in 15 minutes. Now to find a couple more things around town hopefully. Plus hoping that I can figure out how to set it up w/o M so we can play some this weekend. :-)

Have a wonderful weekend! The sun is shining here!

Things the Kids say

Okay I have been to write these things down somewhere so thought I would do it here so when I finally get around to scrapbooking it I will have a "record" of it.

Boom up = Blow up
I have the "bless yous" = I have the sneezes.
e gulls - sea gulls (mostly E)
where are the Jesus toys? - nativity scene (guess I need to have one of these down all the time for E)

"What's inside a carrot" (asked by E) - nothing...just a carrot...no mommy what is inside a carrot!!!


I am sure there are many more but those are the ones I can think of right now. :-)

We got about 2" of snow last night (sometime between 11pm-7am). Thought we would only get a light dusting but oh no...so M stayed home to work from home (roads bad) and then left at lunch to go in.

The kids started swimming lessons this week and N is loving it. E is doing her typical I am not going to do what you ask. Had to have a talk to and will again I am sure. Her friend is in there too so I thought for sure she would do everything she did but again E proves me wrong. E can not be bribed, caroled, or anything else into doing something she just doesn't want to do. I know this will be good in the long run but let me tell you it can be frustrating right now!

Oh and I got E signed up for preschool next year...maybe I wrote about this already...anyways she is ready and excited about it. She will be going 3x a week in the morning for 3 hours. We are excited she finally gets to go b/c she is so ready. Now what to do with my time?!!??? :-) I am actually looking into helping at another preschool during that time but not sure if the times will work out and such. Since E's starts at 9:15 and the other one starts at 9am. So we shall see.

Have a good rest of the week!!!

Snow! and more news

Well this is what our backyard looks like right now. Now this is with the snow we got a few days ago and then what we got starting yesterday at about 5pm - sometime in the middle of last night. Let's just say the roads were bad for commuters yesterday. Took M over an hour to get to my work (I was waiting there but couldn't clock in.) He was not a happy camper by the time he got there and then had to still drive home with the kids. They didn't expect that snow to hit the area until later I think plus I don't think they thought it would dump that much. The kids are excited they get to wear their snow boots today. I really need to get a new pair...the only pair I have are big clunky ones for really "playing" in the snow. I just can't believe how much snow we have gotten this year! M and I since we moved here have never remembered this much snow here in the valley.

Now for my news...I am officially now a store supervisor at my work. I had my first part of training last night. It's exciting and should be interesting and fun.

Okay so far doesn't look like school is delayed so guess we should get going this morning. :-)

BRRRRRRR!!!!!!

Okay it is cold here!!! The sun is out but I don't want to open the shades b/c of the cold and letting more cold air in through the windows! At 8:40 I looked at the thermostat and it said 3.7 degrees. Plus the lady that checked us out at the grocery store this morning said when she left for work at 5am it was around -5 degrees!!! Now we don't mind the cold too much but when it is this cold it is just way too cold for here!!! It's says that it's suppose to snow today but so far don't think so...we have clear sunny skies.

Hope you are warmer where ever you are! :-)

Waiting & Wierd things

Okay the first thing today is that I saw the weirdest thing while driving this morning. Now maybe other people have seen this before but I certainly hadn't. Now you have to understand that there is snow on the ground right now...not much but enough to cover places probably still an inch in some places. So there is some construction down the street and guess what they were laying down.....SOD!!! They were just laying it down right over the top of the snow. Now I guess the snow will melt and give the sod some water but still it just did not look right!

I hate waiting! I have a couple of things I am waiting to hear about. One is something that I can/will say something when/if it happens but it will be a good/nice thing. Then there is waiting to hear from the doctors office. I had blood work done a couple of weeks ago during a routine physical and I'm sure it has come back and is most likely fine but when you get a message saying for you to call the nurse back and you do. You are hoping that during their break...Like during lunch but oh no that can't happen. She called this morning right after we left to take N to school and left a message for me to call her so I did. Well still have not heard from her at all. ugh!

Another pondering thought....why is E so afraid to poop in the potty. I am coming up with the conclusion that for some reason is fine peeing in the potty but afraid to poop. We have tried every bribery we can know of!!! I even have jewelry that I bought her and she has seen her friends poop in the potty but of course doesn't work. Anyone got any suggestions??? I know she is only 3 but still she is smart and understands it all but just does not want to do that part!

Have a great afternoon! I actually have tonight off (usually I work) and so M and I actually get to workout tonight since it didn't work out last night.

The Cruise!

Okay to finally update everyone on the cruise. We had a wonderful time. It was the week before christmas. We got home on the 23rd. The kids were watching by S's parents and they all had a fun time. I think though that Nana and Papa were a little worn out. :-) Plus E had gotten a cough (which ended up being croup but was over it fast after seeing the dr).

Anyways, we went from San Deigo to Cabo San Lucas to Mazatlan and then to Puerto Vallarata. We had one day at sea on the way to Cabo and then on the way back from Puerto we had two days at sea. The one day down was just fine. We got to relax and check out the boat. I even got to see a whale off the side of the boat while I was walking the deck (M was running). Then in Cabo we went with J & C to their condo place. It was a great place and hope to be able to go back sometime with the kids in tow. We just sat around drinking, eating and talking at the pool. Then back at the ship M and I went shopping some. Found a silver bracelet I liked but the guy wouldn't bargain with me at all and I didn't think it was worth the cost (didn't find another one I liked the rest of the trip).

The following day we did a tour in Mazatlan of the Pacifico Brewery. It was alot of fun. Now I don't like beer but this was a fun tour. You got to see the brewery, the streets around it and the open air bus we were on did a side tour on the way back to the boat so we got to see some town and learn some things about the town. M loved the tour b/c at the end you got to drink Pacifico and/or Corona. And there was no limit. Whenever you were done you could ask for another. I had a pepsi and let me tell you it does taste different then the USA pepsi! It was little more "spicy". Plus on the ride back to the boat they were handing out beer too. We didn't get any time to shop in that town really. (that was one thing we would have liked ...two days at port - one for tours and one for shopping) We did stop at a "stop" on the way back and there was a stand there that we found a pirate ship for N.

The next day we were in Puerto Vallarata and we went on a boat tour to a fishing town called Yelapa. It was awesome. We saw dolphins and a mommy whale w/baby on the way there. Then when we were there we walked up through the town to the waterfall. Then got to walk back to the beach (sand is bigger there) and sit on the beach for about an hour. Then back to the boat and back to the city. Again we wish we would have had another day just to go shopping. The shopping was too far away (taxi ride) for us to go for an hour or so that we had. Then it was time to head back to San Diego.

Now after the first half day the water got rougher and the boat swayed alot. It was so rough that they had to close the pools b/c of the sloshing and such. It was fun to sit on deck and watch it do this. Plus it was too cold outside to sit and sunbath. I tried for about 10 minutes when everyone else was at a wine tasting thing. I went back inside and found a corner and read. Now unfortunately M found out he gets a little sea sick with this motion. Plus we aren't the time to party alot so it got kind of boring during the day on the ship. Now don't get me wrong...we loved relaxing but two days was a bit much for us.

We had a great time getting to see what a cruise was and having fun in the ports. Plus we got to hang out with M's half sister, brother-in-law, half brother and parents. Plus it was relaxing time for us to get to hang out together and no kids. We really do need this about once a year. (Get away as just adults.) :-)

2008!

Okay I know...everyone keeps bugging me! I have not updated in quite awhile!!! First thing I need to update on is the cruise, then christmas, then school starting and kids. Then I think I will be caught up. So by the end of today I atleast promise to have the update on the cruise done.