Soccer, Football, Dance... Oh My!

I'm tired!! We had quite the day today - if you're reading I hope you comment - I love to see who's actually (if anyone) reads my blog! Besides my mom - who never comments - hint hint wink wink

I've been having my house (outside & doors) painted all week so it just compounded the chaos in my life. Here's how the day looked in our house today

6:15 Wake up alarm
6:45 Ian & Mike to Soccer Parade
6:55 Painters Arrive (so my front door & back stay open ALL DAY)
8:10 Mike & Ian come home
9:00 Holly to grocery Store
10:00 Mike picked up
11:15 Tyler to dance performance (Thanks Christy)
2:30 Chandler to Football (Thanks Janeen)
3:00 Tyler just makes it home. We go to Home "Despot" to look for lights for house (long story - hate going there sometimes! Oh, and came back empty handed)
3:50 Late to soccer warm-up (thanks Home Depot)
4:00 Football Jamboree 2 miles away - missed most of it!
5:20 Soccer late - finally go to Jamboree for Chandler
6:00 FREEZING our buns off - watch scrimmage
7:00 Leave, get movies at Blockbuster
7:30 Yikes - take kids to Jack in the Crack (but I did order them Milk)
8:00 Katie & Sophia come over to sleepover, showers, movie on
9:00 Holly finally eats
10:00 Ah, the blog

That's one big snake!

Sidewinders! Ian had his front tooth pulled yesterday - it was horrible, he must have hit his mouth on something so the trauma killed his tooth. Poor kid we had to give him Happy Gas. There is a reason why I am not a Dentist - it wasn't pleasant - but I was basically the 2nd nurse/hygenist. Luckily Lucas slept in his stroller, I couldn't have done both kids.

Ian playing Goalie - he was really good - especially for the fact that no balls ever came to him - LOL

Chandler is playing center - he also had the most "tackles" or belts

Lucas my future player - oh no!
He saw himself right now and said, "Ucas and my cocker ball" I can't understand much of what he says lately - good thing Speech Thera;y starts soon - he sure is animated - right now he's telling me about an "olcano tha ona s'plode" "aaahhh boom"

This Week's Obsession

I love Pride & Prejudice - Colin Firth is so yummy. So Mike was away and when he is gone I cannot sleep so I watch shows and movies - well when I got hurt my friend Christy gave me her Pride & Prejudice DVD's from A&E - I remember watching those on TV - I forgot how much I loved that show - then I moved on to the Kiera Knightly version, I love when Mr. Darcy says "I love, love, love, love you" Ahhhhhh.


So I've moved on - I watched something about Being Ernest last night when I should have gone to bed. I watched Sense & Sensibility but had Hugh Grant - who is also very cute - and next I'm going to watch Shakespeare In Love - so this week - I'm an Anglophile!!!!

The bummer is he is married to a really cute Italian woman that is my age - that sounds utterly smart, talented & beautiful. Why can't they just married regular old plain jane's????? Although he is a little older than I would chose in real life ha ha.....I guess it's just all about the accent and the character - good actor, I fell in love with Mr. Darcy!

Last weekend

With the Birthday I have a little catch up to do on my blog. Friday night of course was a huge highlight with the ball game, but the weekend was just terrific in general.

Saturday I took my friend Laura to a cooking class my sweet husband paid for 2 Christmases ago!!! We made French Onion Soup, Spinach Souffle, & Beef Wellington!!! Yikes, no lo-cal diets here! I love to take cooking classes - I love new techniques and fancy dancy foods.... We had such a good time - the only bummer was after we rolled out of class after eating our feast - we missed all the good movies times - so we came home....

Yummy!!!!

We gave Chandler a skateboard for his Birthday

We had a bunch of friends over for Labor Day/Chandler's bday - we were smart this time though and BBQ everything earlier in the day so Mike didn't have to slave over the fire. I think we had 10 families come and countless kids - I think there were 60+ if you counted everyone. We have such fun neighbors & friends. Linda where are you?? You'll have to get the kid action pictures from Linda's blog....

Okay - now this is just freaky - Ian & I went to our allergy shots today - he gets a "prize" each time we go - they got new ones this time - he picked out this crazy giant tatoo - I've never seen one so big!!!! He was just itchin' to get it on his arm....totally crazy! But since it was from the Dr's office I guess it's A-OK - ha ha

Happy Birthday Chandler!

I can't believe Chandler will be 9 - his real birthday is tomorrow - Labor day....here are a few things about my boy

1. Chandler love to play games
2. He is very kind and caring
3. He shares and is polite
4. He is very smart
5. He has lots of friends
6. He is very sporty - I can't wait until he plays professional baseball :)
7. He is very soft spoken
8. He follows rules
9. He likes to cook
10. He likes to hang out at home
11. He is very loyal
12. He is learning the piano
13. He surprises me often
14. He LOVES to tell jokes
15. He has a fabulous smile
16. He loves to write
17. He likes superheros - and watches them with me
18. He likes his back and neck scratched
19. He likes to make things up
20. He likes to figure out how things work - future engineer I'm sure

Chandler is very caring and is such a good boy. He helps me in the house and I cannot believe how old he is getting. He has always been my serious child - he thinks things through before making a move. Some people thing he is obstinate - including myself - but it is just his style - his more deliberate and thoughtful - he has much more patience than I do so that is probably why I get frustrated when he doesn't move as quick as I like - because he is figuring out the solution in his head - future wife beware - but I love him and I wouldn't trade him for the world.

Friday night Mike got the best A's tickets EVER from his work - we had 2 seats and another 4 seats seated separately. The 4 seats were 7 rows behind 1st base. We let Chandler choose for his birthday - he chose his mom to sit with him with the 2 tickets - we sat in Row 2 behind Homeplate - we walked in at the same hallway as the visiting team - they told us not to talk to the players - all our food & drink were free - and SERVED to us. Best yet, the game was great - they A's won after extra innings - and even better - there were fireworks! What a great birthday present!
Mike Piazza at bat - we were about 20 feet away. The on deck circle was right in front of our seats - you could reach through the net to touch them!
If you can read it - you'll see it's true - $225 per ticket!!! Yikes, good thing they were free! We were in the Diamond Level.....

ARrrrgggghhhh!!!!

I cannot find my camera cables (and I do mean plural) anywhere??!!! My cleaning for the cleaners must be super good because I have no idea where either one of them is hiding?!

The first day of school was great - the kids like their teachers, they got there in time, they like seeing their friends - then reality set in......they had HOMEWORK!!! And the crab session already started - Hellloooo?? It is going to be a long school year if that kept up. So I said, that's it - no more - it's only the first day!

The worst of the worst was as I predicted - the traffic - I could not believe how many cars were on the road - it took FOREVER to get home. The main road back to my house is a one lane each way type road - because it's right on the ridgeline/foothill so even if they wanted to widen it, the only way they could, would be to level the hill or take out a bunch of homes, neither of which I see happening in this century. It was crazy - every mom must have been on the road yesterday - today was much much more manageable.

Anyway - it has been HOT HOT HOT here - I wilt in the heat so I can't wait until it cools down. I better find that cable soon - I have to post some pictures!!!!

On a more somber note - my grandpa called and said my grandma hasn't been feeling well. I'm the eldest grandchild - I call her once every week & a half or so, I try for every week, but you know how it is.... she has poor circulation in her leg, and other elder issues - but they want to look at her for possible by-pass surgery - I think she may be too fragile....it's different when you are an older grandchild - because I remember my grandma younger, when she was working, when she got remarried (she was a widow), when she retired, taking me on vacation - cooking for me - I always thought my grandma was the coolest because she was the only woman I knew who liked to drink beer, although I never could stand the smell. I'm hoping and praying the Dr's will help her out - my grandparents are very active, they do lunches and breakfast groups, church group, she did the hula for a long time, she loves paper crafts, and even does taxes!

Anyway - I'm hopeful - it's been fun to start getting back into the swing - had PT today and Linda watched Lucas then I brought back Quesadilla Explosion Salads from Chili's - yum... well onto tomorrow - good night!

Back to School-Eve

I'm so excited - the kids must be too because they cannot go to sleep!!! What I am not excited for is the first week of school traffic!!! I wish we had buses! There is a city bus for the Middle School, but it can be pretty pricey. But we have to drive the little ones - and we have to pass the HS on the way to school - those teenage drivers - SCARY!

We tried to have a FHE on going back to school - well - let's just say I wanted to pull out my hair - the alarm clock isn't going to ring soon enough. I do have to get up early, I have one that wants waffles & sausage!! Yikes! We did the Father's Blessings and our growth chart on my pantry door-jam - so fun - the kids grow so much each year - no wonder why they get crabby, their bodies stretch 2-3 inches!

Looking forward to a nice lunch with friends though - we'll see who shows up!

Ouch!

Okay so they look like they are stuck in the 80's but it gets the idea across - Ian and I have just started getting Allergy Shots last week. His is luckier than I am as he only needs one and I have to get TWO!! I brought him in because he is constantly in a stuffed up nose state - I actually took him in 2 years ago - well actually before that when he was only 8 months old we did our first testing and he is my allergy, asthma & (lucky us) Peanut allergy kid. But of course - as HF designs it this way - he is the happiest most amiable child - I'm sure it is just because he has to put up with all the "special" treatment. Inhalers, treatments, nose sprays, medications & now injections! But I digress - I brought him and and went myself because soccer season kicks my butt - allergy wise - when we got our skin tests done they told me I was a better candidate for shots than Ian! Boy do they hurt!

We went for a fun Chuck E. Cheese day - Linda was terrific - she went 2 days in a row just to go with all her friends! It was crowded - apparently we weren't the only ones with the same idea. Linda's boys had accumulated over 4100 tickets for the summer - crazy! All the kids racked up more points today and they shared them - we made off with a CEC Bubble Gum machine - oh joy! Our friend Rachel came out from our old Ward - it's fun because we all have kids the same age - between us we have 15 kids - all the same ages - fun times.

This weekend is lowkey - nice before school starts on Tuesday. We're watching my friend CeCe's kids now so they could go out on a date - I practically made them go - they are the kind of friends that would give you the shirt off their backs - literally - so I had to do the sly, "What are you doing Friday night?" When she said nothing - I said "let me watch your kids!!! Go out with your man!!!" Dave was the little league coach - for the "other team" so he got a nice GC for a restaurant in town - so a nice night for them, free dinner & free babysitting - gotta love those! Of course they won't take advantage though and they'll come back early - I told them to go to the movies - the probably won't - ha ha

We also have Judson here too (Linda's #4) and we had Katie Rose here for Tyler - I love having all the friends over - at the end of the night if we forget to have the kids help clean up I tend to second guess myself - but I really don't mind it - I think we didn't have family friends like that growing up - but I did get my cousins - and when I got older in 8th grade + we started spending weekends with friend's families or vacations and it was fun. I want my kids to know I love their friends too and they are always welcome.....

Have a great weekend - I'm just looking forward to relaxing with the family....

A whole lot of nothing

I was in the middle of enjoying my new book (I've read all in the series - love it) - and my house cleaner (that sounds really bad - but the caveat is that I still am crutches and cannot do enough on my own) called - my regular day is Thursday but she had a medical change and needed to come today - in 30 mins....this is a new cleaner since getting hurt so I'm still testing her out - she's very good but it's always a process getting to know someone and having them in your house. So if any of you have a cleaner you know what it takes to "clean for the cleaners", but I'm happy to report - the kids and I must have been keeping up because I just had to put away some clean clothes and dishes, and go through my 2 new counter "piles" most of which was all the extra paper from school registration and so I got to toss most of it.

I have a horrible habit of putting things on my counter by the phone - I suppose that is what it is there for, but I have a couple friends - who never, and I mean NEVER have even 1 piece of paper on their counters - I also secretly think they do not cook - one of them always BBQ's so her husband will do it - and then her kitchen is never dirty. I'm pretty sure my house isn't a sty, but it isn't Model-home-esque every moment of the day either. I do try to have no more than 2 piles on the counter to go through if I can help it (I just move it to a different room LOL)

Well not much else going on - no shopping, no school, just playing at friends - nice - and working at ClubSport 1-2 hours a day - not so nice. It would be nice to have potty training finished - where is the potty training school Christina!!?? Sign me up! But it will be nice to have a regular schedule very soon.

What Time is It?

Well I've been trying to post a few new pictures, but either the battery is dead or charging, or I cannot find the cord - today I cannot find the cord, so instead of waiting for ANOTHER day to go by.....here I am!!!

It has been pretty busy around here. Mike came home on Friday thankfully from Singapore and then we proceeded have a High School Musical 2 party with Tyler's girlfriends. It was really cute - one of the girl's had brought her twin brother and asked if he could stay so it was cute - 11 girls, and Joey. Luckily my 2 boys went to the neighbors and they had a big sleepover and had a Star Wars Fest!
Last Thursday & Friday was also middle school registration - it's always so fun to see what teachers they have - the kids were all very excited. I worked the registration Friday AM and it made me tired the rest of the day!

Saturday we had a water day at the WaterSlides & lake for Scouts - it was a beautiful day - I think it had to be in the mid to low 80's so it was perfect! Later Mike & I went on a date to see the Bourne Ultimatum - watching that movie was like riding a rollercoaster! It made me so dizzy!

Sunday was a nice day - I made it through the whole block at church for the first time the whole summer. My leg is quite attractive in my brace (I have a picture!!) We've had a ton of new people move into our ward this summer I don't know all the faces right now - which is hard when you are the one conducting in RS - you hate to miss a visitor or call on someone that isn't!

I've felt like I've been lacking spiritually - which makes sense because I haven't been to church - but I have been having the kids read the BofM and have kept up on prayers, but taking the Sacrament and hearing the lessons and talks really does boost your spirituality. This week's RS lesson was Ch. 6 in SWK - about Scriptures - something I have to do more of on a personal level - being a convert I've read the bible a couple times through, but I cannot say the same of the BofM, I've probably read the whole thing but not straight through, just in pieces or differing times, when you've been GD teacher 2X you are bound to get a thorough reading of most of it, but not cover to cover unless you taught that 4th year. If you have ever been GD teacher you know what I'm talking about . Unfortunately the first time I was that teacher I was a new convert - nice calling for a newbie (NOT!) but good thing I had a decent enough grasp on the bible so I could fudge my way through. Okay, now I'm rambling - but the point to this is - I need to read my scriptures myself every day and really study them.

My headaches have gotten better - I'm trying to keep better track of them on a monthly calendar - to see if I have any patterns, I was keeping a log, but I'm visual so I'm hoping this will help. My hip and leg are still attached, but I cannot walk properly or without the aid of the crutch. I hobble around the house without it but that is about it. I'm going to PT 2x a week which helps - it's just a waiting game.

I'm working again at ClubSport - just 1-2 hours a day - actually I'm getting "laid off" to my delight - they want one full-time person for the job instead of me & my job share - which makes sense of course for continuity - but neither one of us wanted full time - so it is a blessing - I was really getting stressed thinking of how I was going to go back to work 2x week and do PT and preschool 2x, and speech therapy 2x for Lucas in a week - there weren't enough days! So I'm going to transition the new person who will start next week! Then it's back to shopping at the mall with Linda and lunches with the girls (yeah, the life of leisure - ha ha)

Today my little guys got their school schedule too and I worked at their registration too - it's so fun to see all your friends - I have another 9 years at that school - sigh - good times.

This week we have not much planned - just one more week and they'll be off to school - hip hip hooray! Guess I better get those rugrats in bed - 8:30 is going to hit them like a ton of bricks next week! Hope your summer days are ending happily as well!

I've Had ENOUGH!!!

I tend to glaze over my days when I post - but I'm done and at the end of my rope. Here's how I feel today:

1. Drained
2. Frustrated
3. Impatient
4. Sore
5. Overworked
6. Over scheduled
7. Abused
8. Taken advantage of
9. Ignored
10. But yet in the same breath blessed

My kids are driving me crazy - half of it is them physically/mentally and half of it is their schedule.

My #2 child is Dr. Jeckell/Mr. Hyde. He is my most "needy" he always needs my attention, he would actually thrive being an only child. He wants what he wants when he wants it and doesn't agree with anyone. Votes are always 3 to 1 for everything - food, tv shows, games to play, where to go, etc... if you say left, he says right - and he is SO moody and grumpy - it's so draining EVERY DAY when you come downstairs and say "good morning" and 3 are happy and THE ONE is constantly getting up off the wrong side of the bed. But he's polite and sweet when he goes to his friends' houses and the parents all love him - and he can be so so sweet and sharing - the first one to give up his seat, share his food/candy, watch the baby, is okay when we can't do something he wants, he says his prayers and helps us keep the sabbath, loves to read the BofM - so I just don't get it. He pushes my buttons - do I expect too much?

Mike has been gone for 2 weeks straight - which is tough enough when I'm not a cripple so this stint has just been too much for me - at least mentally - I'm so glad he is on his way home. The potty training for Lucas isn't going great - he goes on cue, but only on cue in the toilet - otherwise if you don't catch him - it's time for a new pull-up, and I just don't have the mobility to let him run around butt nake'd or in underwear because I can't bend well for clean up.

#3 is testing my limits - he is my child that is too smart for his own good and he doesn't listen to me - you can tell he is brilliant because HE CANNOT CLEAN UP after himself - so he better become a bazillionaire so he can hire someone to wipe his ...nose - ha ha He can make his bed beautifully but cannot pick up his socks, or his plates - that one burns me the most!

#1 has actually been very helpful - it's more of her crazy schedule that is just beginning that is driving me batty. I feel like I'm alienating my friends because I'm making them carpool with me :) - she has dance 3 X week and we go back and forth all the time.

To top it off - I'm getting my mystery headaches or rather "episodes" back - I had to see a neurologist because I have these weird head spasms, I have vertigo and my neck hurts - my MRI says my brain is "perfect" but obviously something is amiss - but when I was working out it was better - but now that my best friend is a crutch and a brace - I'm not getting much cardio - I need the pheromones! I'm even trying to reduce my 1/day can of my beloved Diet Coke to see if it will help.

But I do have to count my blessing - we have so very much and we have good health - I have a husband that loves me and kids I truly wouldn't trade in for the world so I have to learn to work through the rough spots but sometimes I have enough!

Sorry for the moan and groan session but thanks for reading - your blogs help me through the day - School starts in another 13 days? But what busy days we have coming up!