SOMEWHAT CONTROLLED CHAOS

And he's off.....................again.

2012-01-22T13:12:00.000-08:00

And he's off................again. Very thankful that the weather has cleared somewhat as Bob headed over to Seattle to catch a plane! He & two other guys from work are on thier way to Ames Iowa....not quite as warm as his December trip to Australia but I have to say it's kind of good for him to have to go somewhere just as cold as we are! They left extra early as they were somewhat concerned about the pass -"they" as in the guys he was going with...NOT Bob...he refuses to ever be concerned with little details like road conditions. Which kind of drives me batty but you do get used to it. So anyway, they allowed for lots of extra time which they did not need for the roads but apparently did need at the airport. They got there and were told thier flight did not exist!! So I looked up the credit card statement which verified that the price of 3 tickets did get charged to my account but somehow these tickets do not exist.....hmmmm. A lot of research and phone calls later and it all got straightened out but the moral of the story...there's a reason they tell you to get to the airport 2 hours early!! The reason for the trip? I think its some sort of GPS training seminar....but I could be wrong. Don't get the wrong impression, I do listen when he tells me stuff. I'm just easily confused:) The older kids deal with him being gone pretty well. They are of course busy with their own stuff and completely self absorbed in their own little world which apparently is common with kids that age:) Tyler complains and whines some, but Kenny...oh man. Kendra takes the opportunity to be Kendra! She stands by the window with tears rolling down her face watching him leave, which would be absolutely heartbreaking if it weren't so common. If there is ever a situation that may or may not have the possibility of driving someone to tears you can be assured Kendra will have hers running! She is more sensitive than all the other kids combined and twice as dramatic. The water works can be turned off and on at will and at completely random times. That being said though, the truth is she really is just extremely sensitive! The first couple weeks of school are always accompanied by lots of tears....she never wants to leave her mommy. Conflict makes her tummy hurt & I've seen her get teary eyed over tv commercials! - Almost reminds me of my little sister:) The good news - this is a short trip. Bob should be home by Friday sometime. They land in Seattle 11ish thursday night so I'm thinking rather than stay the night there, he'll probably show up about 3am on Friday. Hate it when he leaves but pouting and feeling sorry for myself hasn't seemed to help so instead we try to make the best of it. 5 nights of cereal, casseroles(which Bob hates) or other simple stuff for dinner that we just can't get away with when he's home! And just because no one will complain, I'm not even going to make my bed for the next 5 days either. And Kendras new kitty will probably get allowed into the house. And those are the silver linings we hang on to to make it seem not so bad everytime he leaves:)

SNOW SNOW GLORIOUS SNOW

2012-01-18T13:50:00.000-08:00

It seems as though the weatherman has been teasing us for weeks with the threat of "the big one" this illusive impending snowstorm that it seems has been dumping on everybody else but us! We've been pacing back and forth from one window to the next anxiously looking for those dark snow clouds only to be disapointed by the big patches of blue sky. Ok, I should clarify that....the kids and I have been disapointed by the blue patches, Bob has been glaring at us everytime he caught us looking and telling us over and over (& over again) to "stop wishing for snow!" Apparently it makes his life miserable...well ya know, sometimes buddy you take one for the team.

Finally this morning it happened! We woke up at 6 to a very light dusting but it continued to fall and fall and fall......and guess what? Mr. Snow Scrooge himself seems to be enjoying the snow just fine!

He went on a local call this morning then suddenly ended up back at home....decided to do a bunch of phone calls & computer work from home then hooked up the sleds and went to go play!

Our friend Aiden was over today, he seemed to have a great time riding the sled with Kendra!

Aiden used to be scared of the dogs....now they're his best friends! He loves the fact that "Sami has the same color hair as me!"

Yes, that is pink on Tylers hat, sometime when you have three big sisters you just end up with a pink hat or purple mittens!

Our friend Luke, the michelin man! He LOVED the snow but did not want to keep his confining mittens on....didn't take too long before we had to go inside & warm his pink fingers back up!

Aiden loves to eat snow, He should be well hydrated today as that is what occupied most of his time outside, the hunt for perfect snow to pop into his mouth. He gave me a mini lecture this morning on exactly what kind of snow you should NOT eat....so he know's his stuff when it come to the snow eating business!

Preschool has been cancelled for tomorrow and all the other schools are on a two hour delay, so all fingers are crossed for a school closure by morning!!!

Forgetfulness!

2012-01-15T11:25:00.001-08:00

When I look back over 2011 I'm convinced I've already forgotten more than I remember! How sad is that? My family will be the first to verify my claims that my memory is horrendous, and I think I've found a new excuse I'm going to try out. I think that the busier a person becomes.....the more they forget about what they've done? ya think? Maybe? As the kids get older and get involved in more and more activities, it means moms schedule fills up & up & up. And I hate the idea of just flying through one day after the other in a blur. So we've made a few ambitious resolutions for 2012.

One of course is the mandatory physical fitness/weightloss yadda yadda yadda....you know, the one you feel like you should make each year but in all honesty you're giggling inside going 'ya right!' So that is one....the other is to spend more time together doing simple things. It seems like any time the kids have a day off from school it's filled to the brim with catching up on house work and haircuts and dentist appointments and suddenly the time off is gone even faster than the regular school days! So here's to simple things....let the science experiments continue to rot in the bottom of the fridge and haul out monopoly. Let the laundry pile up a little higher and go to the park! Leave the dust to build up a little higher and paint some pictures...maybe even in the dust itself!

So if in about 6 weeks you drive by and our yard is looking abandoned, you can't see through my dirty windows, and my car looks like it's been out mud bogging, just know this. I'm probably watching a movie & eating popcorn with my kids. Either that or I've completely lost my mind from trying to be ok with the mess & I've locked myself in a small closet somewhere and am repeatedly banging my head against the wall.

Monday

2008-11-19T22:13:00.000-08:00

Hmmmmm....another beautiful day. The weather has been absolutely unbelievable.

Once again we just lazed around and had a late breakfast...played some video games and then went and spent a couple of hours playing on the beach. I gave everybody a big lecture about the serious dangers of 'sneaker waves' on this particular beach. But it seems that SOME people didn't think I was worth listening to!

See guys? I really do know what I'm talking about! I don't just make this stuff up as I go along. Maybe next time they'll listen to me. Then again....... I won't hold my breath!

Later that afternoon we headed down to Depoe Bay to do some whale watching...of course they all left long before we showed up!

Then as we were headed back to our resort Bob casually suggested that I take Ashley and Brandi and head to the outlet malls while he stayed back with Kendra and Tyler....You can just imagine how many screams and squeals went along with that idea! What an awesome outlet mall!!! We got some Great buys and could have got soooo many more but my consciense really started to protest.

About 7:15 Bob called and informed us that he had both the little kids in bed and was just going to watch a movie so don't rush. Now how often do you hear that from a guy???

Cheaters never prosper

2008-11-19T21:47:00.000-08:00

Yep we're still here....just hanging out by the beach. I figured I better start writing down what we've been doing cause I'm quickly forgetting! The days are kinda blending together yesterday we had to discuss it for a minute before we came to the conclusion that yes..it was Tuesday.

Sunday we just hung out here....had a big ole breakfast and then we split into teams to go on a scavenger hunt. Well first thing we noticed is that one of the items on the list was a canned food label. So 'Team Mustang' made a mad dash back to our condo and snagged our canned food label and then proceded to hide all of the other canned goods!

We were pretty proud of our quick thinking. We had this in the bag!

"Team Mustangs"

"Team Canucks"

We were so confident in our win that when we met up with them down on the beach we even helped them by telling them what a rhododendron leaf looked like. Unfortunately for us as soon as they slowly meandered around the corner away from us they made a mad dash for the lobby and ended up beating us! Yep....we forgot about the label on that half empty can of soup in the fridge. It was a very humiliating loss.

Getting in a little pool time.

Looking out into the ocean from the hottub

One of the great things about being here is Bob's been doing a lot of cooking!! Hard to imagine isn't it? And as with any vacation we are of course eating waaaay too much food!

Gleneden Beach!!

2008-11-15T19:10:00.000-08:00

HOORAYYYYYY!!!

After looking forward to this day for 10 months it's finally here.

We left Friday morning and headed down to the beach in Gleneden! It's on the Oregon coast just past Lincoln City. We are staying in a condo right on the beach....for an entire week! The weather today was absolutely beautiful...I actually was able to enjoy laying on a lawn chair beside the pool and was comfortably warm!! We're supposed to have a couple days of this weather before it turns to typical November coastal weather....so for now we're enjoying the beach and when it turns ugly I guess we'll just have to hit those Lincoln City outlet malls! Actually the agenda holds a trip to the Newport Aquarium....the Sea Lion caves....the aviator museum....maybe an afternoon matinee....and lots of time just hanging out in the rec center, the condo or the beach!

Today we started off with an all you can eat breakfast at the rec center of waffles, pancakes, sausage and bacon, then we played on the playground for awhile before heading down to the beach. It was absolutely beautiful and the kids had a great time trying to outrun the waves. They weren't always succesful!! After that we went for a dip in the pool, and the hottub and then off to town to get some groceries. Bob cooked up some great burgers for dinner and now they're all giving me a hard time about missing the 'FAMILY MOVIE' to sit and stare at my computer instead! So I guess I better wrap it up here and go join them.

By the time we went back inside they were soaking wet and had sand in every nook and cranny!

Made them strip on the patio....take a quick shower and moved on to the pool.

Typical scene as Bob torments Ashley and she loves every minute of it!

Tyler is making sure that wave does NOT sneek up on him! He was fascinated by the noise and crashing of the waves but the couple of times that we had to run and rescue him from a 'sneaker wave' he wasn't real impressed!

Just a little bonding time!

Halloween

2008-11-15T18:57:00.000-08:00

Ashley and Brandi ordered their own costumes this year from the costume supercenter. They def. were orginal. I don't know if I've ever seen a gothic lady bug before! I refused to buy a costume for Tyler because I figured just my luck he would decide he wasn't going to wear it. And if Tyler decided he's not going to do something, nobody nowhere nohow is going to change his mind! So we hauled out the eyeliner and gave him a mustache and voila! A very economical costume. We did the usual, went to a few friends houses and then on to Shy's Pizza and after that went through Sun Terrace. By 8:00 we were back home for the night. YEAH!!!! I guess you could call me the scrooge of Halloween. I just don't enjoy it one bit and am always so happy when it's over. Yeah I know....bad bad attitude! lol

Catching up!

2008-11-10T08:07:00.000-08:00

Wow...I am so behind here. I realize I have some serious catching up to do and hopefully will get to that in the next couple of days here. Those kidney stones sure put a hitch into all my well laid plans, wasn't exactly counting on a week of hospitals and doctors and operating rooms. On the bright side it sure was nice to have Bob home and to have my mom here for several days! The things we do to get attention!! Bob nicely offered to take some pictures for me this past week so that I could write up a nice blog with beautiful pictures of me in sexy hospital gowns. I think he called it 'the death look' that I shot his way at that very generous offer of his. But anyway,,,I really do hope to complete the 'tag' and '7 random things' within the next couple of days here. (since all I'm doing nowdays is sitting on my tush anyway! lol) And Michelle...I really haven't ditched you....give me a couple of weeks and I'll be back fumbling my way through 'step'! Hope you are all having a great November.

photo shoot

2008-10-21T11:21:00.001-07:00

Just had to share some great photos that a friend took!

Mr. Tinky Butt

2008-10-18T12:04:00.000-07:00

Everybody has always told me that when it comes to potty training boys are just slower than girls. So at 22 months I had no intentions of worrying about the potty training thing with Tyler. We have wondered though what we were going to do when he outgrows his current size 6 diapers! We figured if he kept growing the way he is he would probably be moved onto depends by the time he was potty trained.

He HATES dirty diapers.... he always comes up and hands me a clean diaper and says.."tinky butt mommy"

So...yesterday he was working out side with daddy when suddenly he comes running into the house, "mommy mommy...tinky butt toilet, tinky butt toilet" So I figured ok...whatever. And I plopped him up on that toilet. And the little turd did just that! He 'stinky butted' on the toilet! Of course we made a great big deal of it and all his sisters were standing there cheering for him. We kinda figured it was a one time thing and life would continue as normal.

This morning he refused to let me put a diaper on him....he insisted on wearing a pull up. (not just any old pull up mind you, it was a 'princess' pullup) And once again he wanted to do 'tinky butt toilet' So back on the toilet he went but to no avail. We put the pretty pink princess pull up back on our little linebacker and went back to our house cleaning...but just as I was leaving the bathroom I decided to pull the old toddler toilet out of the cupboard and just set that out too. About 10 minutes later as the rest of us were just all off doing our thing all of a sudden we hear this big cheer.."YEAHHHHHH" coming from the bathroom.

Yep...Mr Tinky Butt took care of business all on his own and was giving himself a standing ovation. Unfortunately he also used at least half a roll of toilet paper but one really can never be too careful.

So once again of course lots of cheers, a phone call to daddy and Tyler is sooooo proud of himself he keeps walking around and just bursting into laughter...."mooom...me tinky butt toilet"

Must be a slow news day when we blog about our kids bowel movements!

Singing in the Rain!!

2008-10-03T12:40:00.000-07:00

Remember last week when it started raining late one evening? Well my kids just LOVE that.

Everytime it starts raining Brandi sighs and says..'ohhhh it smells like canada"

So it was about 8:30, the little kids were in bed and Ashley was helping me finish up the dishes (yes we were still doing dinner dishes at 8:30) Anyway, she was supposed to bring the leftovers out to Sami and it was taking her FOREVER.

So I went to go see what was taking her so long....... and apparently she just got caught up in the moment,,

How can you get mad at a face like that?? Even if it did take her 20 minutes to 'feed the dog'!

2008-10-03T10:29:00.000-07:00

ok...wow. Apparently I really suck at this blogging thing. What happened to the past month? It's such a cliche but so scary how time just kind of disappears and suddenly you realize that everything is just a blur.

So I'm going to try to kind of go backwards and figure out exactly what it was we've done the past few weeks.

Bob was working over in Seattle for a week so Friday afternoon I picked the kids up from school and we headed up that way to join him. We managed to catch absolutely gorgeous weather up there and went to the Woodland zoo on Saturday. Wouldn't you know it though we get into the zoo and I realize that I may have been really on top of things making sure I had my camera and fresh batteries but I forgot the dumb memory stick!! So I only got a couple of pics of that day which is really a bummer cause it was so much fun! And of course who knows where my cable is to connect my camera to my computer so uploading those pictures may have to wait for another day.

Kendra had a couple of preschool field trips. First one was to the fire station!!

She got to demonstrate the 'stop drop & roll"

And of course no field trip is complete without taking your pesky little brother along!!

It was definitely a mistake letting him sit in the fire truck. Getting him out was NOT pretty!

The next week they got to the police station, Of course the favorite part of that was sitting in the police car and turning the lights on!

Everybody was looking kind of shaggy around here so one night we loaded up and headed over to our favorite hairdressers house. EVERYBODY had to take their turn and came out with brand new do's. Of course Ashley took great pride in telling me (and everybody else) that my new hair color made me look 'Gothic'

I was SO proud.

The best part of getting a haircut is always the wash!

Handsome boys!

2008-09-11T13:32:00.001-07:00

My little sister Cheryl came down to visit this week, with her ten week old adorable little boy. She came on Monday and just headed back home today....I miss her already. Bob is in Seattle this week so it was the perfect time to have some company. We did a lot of gabbing(imagine that) went and picked some peaches and apples....And the funniest part of all..Clipped some coupons. Yep. That brought some good laughs. Never thought the two of us would be sitting there together burping babies and clipping 'good deals' out of the local fliers. Of course on the way down here from Lynden the perfect place to stop and feed the baby is North Bend. And the fact that the outlet malls happen to be there is just an added bonus of course. She couldn't pass up these adorable matching outfits....

Spending some time with my extremely vocal children I'm sure has given her a new appreciation for that complete innocence and sweetness of new babies! Brandi told Cheryl.."auntie Cheryl I really like this green binder!" Cheryl replied.."do you?" At which point Kendra whips around and very sternly blurts out.."SAY THANK YOU AUNTIE CHERYL"

Yep that's right auntie Cheryl,.,..when someone pays you a compliment you better say THANK YOU!

How do you teach a child it's not appropriate to reprimand an adult? I'm really quite nervous about our preschool parent/teacher conferences this year!

desperately seeking some parenting advice!!

2008-09-05T21:29:00.000-07:00

As I was sitting there folding my laundry today I was working up an unhealthy dose of depression as I mulled over my lack of parenting skills when suddenly I realized.... Hey, I have this new little online community of parenting experts I could get advice from! There was a time just a few short years ago when we were well on our way to getting that 'Parents of the year" award. Actually we were a shoo in for the grand prize! Then about 4 years ago we were given a 7 1/2 lb dose of humility and suddenly we were struggling to maintain a spot in the top ten contestants for that coveted award. Then about 20 months ago we were smacked upside the head with a 9lb big ole piece of humble pie. And suddenly we can't even spit out the whole phrase 'Parents of the Year" without bursting into hysterical laughter. See....my issue is this. My house is being taken over by an iron fisted hair puller. Not the sweet little 'wrap my chubby fingers in mommys hair and tug as I'm smooching and snugglin' kind..... but the 'tackle my sister to the ground and sit on her head while I fill both my grubby little meathooks with as much hair as possible' variety. Kendras siren like shrieks have every neighbor in a five mile radius running for their storm shelter but it doesn't faze Tyler at all. Not one muscle in his face even twitches. Now the really scary part is that there is no apparent motivation for these attacks and definitely NO remorse!! When I wrench him away he just looks at me with a puzzled expression and two fists with enough hair to donate to 'locks of love' I have tried sending him to his room (I'm convinced he's really starting to enjoy that time alone) I've put him in that naughty chair while telling him in my best English accent that this behavior is 'simply not acceptable" I've tried yanking HIS hair but it's really hard to get a good grip on his 1/4 inch buzz cut. I've yelled and screamed, begged and pleaded, and paddled his little tush all to no avail. On the bright side there is a lesson to be learned from this. I know we are never supposed to question God but while I'm baring my soul I will confess to some brief moments of weakness when I have wondered why. Why with all of the various stellar attributes He could have pulled from my genetic pool He instead chose to pass on to all my children that huge overabundance of coarse thick hair that I have had to live with? Well obviously He knew that one day my house would be under the control of an iron fisted hair puller and if not for all those little heads being over populated with hair follicles we would have a house full of chrome domes by now! So.... What to do???

2008-09-05T08:38:00.000-07:00

Gotta have my headphones to drown out all the women in this house!! Besides my favorite song is on!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!

2008-09-04T21:12:00.000-07:00

This is exactly how that first morning went. Brandi just kinda floated along all calm cool and collected....Ashley was in panic mode!! And it didn't help that the bus came 5 minutes early! 5 minutes after getting on the bus she called home.."mom I forgot my lunch money!!" That got the year off to a great start! lol Thankfully the day went really well after that and they both thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

PRESCHOOL!!!

2008-09-04T20:30:00.001-07:00

Can hardly believe it but Kendra is off to preschool.

Her and her good buddy 'boom boom' marched off to conquer the world.

Other moms there are teary eyed with crying children clinging to thier leg...not me! Kendra informed me as we pulled up outside"mom you don't need to come in with me. Just stay in the car"

Great! I thought parents didn't become embarassing until middle school. I guess she's really very mature.

Can't you just picture it..All these mom's huddled teary eyed with their precious babies, having a hard time leaving them and then there's Julaine. Slow down to 5 mph and shove the kid out the door and honk.

Unfortunately for her I insisted that 'yes I do need to come in with you'

Apparently her and Peter sat there with their arms around each other in story hour. Good! Put on a sweet face in public and save the hair pulling and slapping for at home! Atta girl!!

Truth be told it was a very weird feeling going home without her. I know she needs to go but.......she's just a baby.

2008-09-03T22:16:00.000-07:00

OK. Here goes. Been getting a little pressure to create a blog! Don't really want to admit that up until about a month ago I didn't even know what they were....but here at last I am working on it. Just going to need a few days to get things set up I guess~