Time Out For Family

I am not a fan of the heat...Now don't get me wrong, by January I am looking for a little warmth, but overall I like cooler weather. Most people hit the amusement parks, zoo, and other outdoor activities in the summer months. I tend to avoid large crowds in the heat....I get cranky! So usually when October hits I come out of my summer hibernation and participate in outdoor activities. It is normally much cooler, the crowds are minimal...and as a result, I don't get cranky, so we tend to do a lot of our family outings in the fall. This last three months I have been swamped with work, school, and money has been tight, so we have not done our normal fall activities. No Oktoberfest...no Lagoon...no Park City.... no weekend getaways...Nothing! My sister-in-law had some free tickets for the zoo that expired at the end of the month and I made it a point to make sure we got to the zoo before the end of the month. Thanks Becky for giving us some much needed family time......

"When Wonder Woman Left Me, and Napoleon Dynamite Took Over."

As a kid I was invincible...nobody could tell me otherwise....In fact I had a pair of Wonder Woman Underoos set that told me I was invincible. I proudly wore these underwear and camisole everywhere around the house, and if I added accessories such as gold bracelets and a cape, I felt the outfit was suited for outside apparel...much to my older sisters embarrassment. Leana (the older sister) would stand in the front window yelling for mom to come get me because I was outside in my underwear.

Really..... she should have been happy because apparently on irrigation day ( you flooded your lawn with irrigation water instead of using sprinklers and it left a lake of water on your lawn) ...I would run naked with the neighbor boy through the water. So at least with Underoos on, I was wearing something.


I am going to get off track here for a moment and discuss the irrigation water. So our neighbors behind us had a pool, and you could hear them diving off their diving board, yelling Marco...Polo..., and splashing about. We did not have a pool...we had dirty canal water. Our solution...pull out heavy duty garbage bags and make a "Redneck" slip and slide out of it.....when I look back on this memory all that comes to mind is....

..."You Might be Redneck If...."......

 
Anyways  back to my train of thought......I continued going through childhood with this same invincibility attitude...

...and then junior high hit......

So let me paint a picture. I moved to Utah in junior high...

I went from a fairly small town where I knew everyone to a big city and didn't know anybody. I was going through that weird puberty/ awkward body time. It was the 80's so I was sporting a horrendous perm. I had this perm right before I left Idaho. I believe I had it done at the local mall, and for some reason back then they found the smallest rods, and did your whole head including bangs.

So I may be exaggerating but I am pretty sure I looked something look this...

I am sure I have actual pictures around here but it was a traumatic time in my life and I try to block this period of time out of my memories. So in Utah the style was more like.....

which also looked stupid but in junior high you just want to look like everyone else.....and once again I may exaggerating but I am pretty sure I looked something like this....

I made it through Junior High...I survived...I lost my invincibility mojo along the way...I was no longer Wonder Women in my head....it changed me..


My twin daughters start junior high this year. I had anxiety walking into the school. All those years of hell flashed through my head. I felt my anxiety growing as they couldn't figure out how to open their lockers, they couldn't find where their classrooms were going to be, and they had to take their yearbook photo that day and none of us knew that....they were not picture ready....

and then...

I saw other kids struggling to open their lockers, unaware pictures were going to be taken, and confused about where their classrooms were going to be...

aaahhh junior high...that place where all your super hero attitudes seep away...

...that place where you learn just how vulnerable you truly are...

The twins will survive...they may come out a little bruised and battered like we all did...

...maybe....

I should take them to the mall this weekend and see about getting them...

..a perm.....

Fork In The Road

There is that time in life when you finally approach that fork in the road and you have to decide which direction you have to go. You take a deep breath and you go ahead and make your turn....you are on a new road and headed hopefully on the right path.....

When the twins were born we made a decision for me to stay home. I always knew that me staying at home  was not a permanent choice... but at the time it seemed to be the best decision for us. The years went by pretty seamlessly and then the economy ran over us with a Mac truck. Job change,  job losses, and a constant battlefield of uncertainty. We decided it was time for me to get back in the work force. I was not going to be gone 40+ hours a week from my family only making 10 dollars or less an hour. I was going to make sure it made economic sense for me to work outside the home. So I went back to school with the intent of getting a degree in nursing.

I worked for a little while when I started school as a CNA, but with Adrian's night job at the time and my job went into the night hours trying to find babysitting on Sunday nights and other nights became a nightmare and put a huge amount of stress on us. We desperately needed the extra income I made so we had to figure out a solution. Adrian went and found another job that was not at night and made more money so I could stay at home for a little longer because we did not have many options at the time. The kids were to young to leave at home by themselves for extended periods and we could not afford day care for three kids.....so we put me working for the time being on the back burner....

So fast forward to Monday morning............

I started my job at a skilled nursing center....

...okay so working is not huge...millions of people do it everyday.....

but for me it was that turn on to a brand new road.......

I have been home with my kids for basically the last twelve years....

but as of Monday I will be working...from here on out....until I guess .....I retire......

It was kind of surreal when I pulled up to the job.....

I am officially now on a new path....

....Now...I just hope I made the right turn in the fork of the road......



( p.s......by 9 am on my first day of the job I was highly questioning this decision...The air conditioning was down, I was wrist deep in poop, and having to contend with aloof coworkers...
...nobody said the road be easy I suppose....)

"The Joy Of Enjoying"

When I am on the computer doing homework for school, I seem to find myself coming over to blogger to break up the monotony of learning about human cells and why our bodies do the things they do. On my blog I can write without grammatical judgement (please don't judge me) and lack of any cerebral depth ( I only have cerebal depth at school.. at home any fart joke makes me laugh). When I am finished I move back to the place where commas and rational thoughts matter.

A friend stopped me the other day and gave me an earnest and concerned look and asked, "Why have you not written in awhile?"......"Is everything okay?".......

I felt the urgency to come up with some grand reason as to why I have a lack of words...why I have been silent for a month......

but......the real reason...

LAZINESS!

For me to write would require some concentration beyond what it requires for me to come up with a creative word in Words With Friends or busting down a particularly hard structure in Angry Birds. I have to put a logical thought in a continuous manner when I write.....and I am to lazy to do that right now.

I am not laying around  in my t-shirt and underwear all day watching Real Housewives  ( I only do that when the kids go to bed ).  I have been organizing the house, exercising, playing with my kids,

......looking for work that will work around my school schedule......

The next two years are going to be crazy....school, work, family.....LIFE....

I am just enjoying the silence before the storm.....and enjoying time with my kiddos this summer....

....I am enjoying sleeping in...

....I am enjoying Kenzie climbing in bed with me in the morning and watching some T.V....

....I am enjoying my morning runs....

....I am enjoying the kids friends and all their giggles as they come and go all day....

....I am enjoying my evening walks with my girls and all stories they share with me....

....I am enjoying  our afternoon movie watching just because we can....

....I am enjoying trips to the libraries and the nightly reading of these books....


So my dear friend don't be concerned....life is okay...it is just a quiet summer spent at home.....


just enjoying ......

79 DAYS....79

Summer has officially begun. The kids are home for the next 79 days.....79 days.......79

Supplies, verbal exchanges, and  nourishment  needed for day one so far has been.....

*  3 bowls of Lucky Charms

*  2 AAA batteries for mini Wii remote

*  2 tsps children's ibuprofen

* 1 hug and TLC for child that upchucked her Lucky Charms and children's ibuprofen

* 1 blankie, teddy bear, and pillow pet to console sick child

* 2 cold cut sandwiches

* 2 glasses of milk

* 2 band-aids for child doing dishes and slicing finger on a knife

* 1 glass of ginger ale for sick child

* 1 hug and TLC for child that upchucked her ginger ale

* 2 bananas with nutella

* 3 verbal smackdowns involving  threatening grounding for summer if chores were not done today

* 2 reminders to brush teeth

* 1 hug and TLC for child that upchucked who knows what at this point

* 1 bedroom now being used as an imaginary " HIGH FASHION CORPORATE OFFICE"

* 1 round of Wii London Olympic Games gymnastic competition

* 1 threat to stop demonstrating  Olympic wrestling on the couch

* 2 BBQ burgers and a handful of sweet potato fries

* 2 glasses of crystal light

* 1 hug and TLC for child that upchucked nothing.......just dry heaves at this point...

* 2 bowls of orange sherbet
 
* 1 small glass of Gatorade for sick child

* 1 used notebook now filled with numerous drawings and scribbles

* 2 reminders to brush teeth and wash face

* 3 I love you's and goodnights

* 1 book read to sick child and hopes of healthy tomorrow

* 2 books read in bed

* 3 lights being turned out to rest up to prepare for the .....

next day.......

79 days....79

24 hours

Children...our hearts...our life...our everything..

Now that I have that out of the way...how 'bout I discuss an example of 24 hours with children! Remember that movie that came out last year 127 hours...really 24 hours as a mom is not much different. Somedays you feel like cutting off your arm with a dull knife so you can escape. You find yourself loosing it and hallucinating like the man stuck in the canyon walls. If we videotaped ourselves daily we really would not act much different than the desperate man in 127 hours wondering if he was going to make it out alive. So here is a glimpse into my 24 hours of being a mom in my house....


7:30 AM- I am tired, I was up late studying and up early studying, and the youngest has a chest cold so her coughing kept waking me up throughout the night. Pre-teens emerge from the basement with the normal morning grumblings. Youngest is staying home from school....I begin my day looking at my to-do list for the day and realize everything on my list is for my children and other people's children.

7:45- Me~ " Kaitlynn, you just want butter on your toast? You don't want any jelly on it?"
         Kaity~"I have cinnamon and sugar on it!"
         Me~ "I don't see anything on there?"
         Kaity~ " I didn't want the cinnamon."
         Me~"So you are eating sugar!"
         Kaity~"Ya......but it is on toast!"

8:00- Given a note that I need to send a treat for Halloween party...will add to my to do list

9:00- Told they have a book report due tomorrow..must make a poster of it...add to do list

9:01- Drive older kids to school because we are running late because they move like molasses in the morning and they will be late if they walk.

9:05- Try to get showered but youngest is home due to chest cold ..she has needs and wants that in her world need to be dealed with right now.....delay shower..

10:00- Youngest has unraveled a whole roll of toilet paper trying blow her nose. Clean up mess

12:00- Holy Crap! Where did my morning go? Still only have a fraction of my list done, still not showered, youngest still needing and wanting right now...put on a hat realizing I am never going to get showered

12:45 Twins home, I leave to run errands that are for my children and others people children.

2:30- Back home...none of the things that I asked them to do while I was gone have been done.....only thing accomplished was eating an entire bag of Dortios.

2:31- I yell!

2:35- I am still yelling....

2:45- Children are doing what I told them to do almost three hours ago...Begin helping with book report.

2:50- Realize I am decorating poster board for book report by myself.

2:55- I yell!

3:00- Child works on her own book report by herself.

3:30-  Halloween activity at church.

4:45- Children still have not done everything I asked them to do on my list....I give up on yelling, they have won the war today...

5:00- Start dinner...load dishes because they have not been done yet ( one of those things on my children's list)....Drain plugged, I reach my hand in to see what it is clogging it...a piece of glass shard..a glass my children broke and did not clean up...finger tip sliced open.

5:05- Bleeding profusely, can't find a bandage because my children use all the bandages within 24 hours of  me purchasing them...have to find emergency first aid kit in the car. ( I have to hide bandages when I buy them because I am not kidding when I say they use all bandages purchased in 24 hours). Children are now aware of the band-aids in the car...they will be gone within 24 hours

5:03- Soup and rolls for dinner...youngest not eating at all? Earlier in the day I picked up a package at the post office from grandma in Idaho...it had Halloween candy in it for all the kids...Makenzie had eaten all of hers....everyone apparently oblivious to the five year old ingesting copious amounts of sugar....

6:05 Shower and bath time for all children..I cannot begin to describe what shower time can be like in our house so I am going to leave it up to Bill Cosby to describe the events, it begins with him sending the kids upstairs and pleading that they just be good...aside from we did not have beatings...we have an "Informant" in our house and all her sentences begin with, "Guess What", and I think I say, " I have had enough" at least three times a night. Enjoy .......





8:00- Youngest in bed

9:00- Twins in bed

12AM- Mom in bed...with dirty dishes in the sink, textbooks sprawled out, laundry piled up by the washing machine, toys and electronic devices scattered throughout the house

7:30 AM- Me~"It is cold this morning, you are going to need your winter coats for the walk to school."
                Cheyenne~"I lost mine, I don't know where it is at."

.....sigh......and a new 24 hour begins

Take it a day at a time Michele....a day at a time.........and I think I will make it out alive even if I have to cut my arm off with a dull knife.

It's a Wonderful Life...Sometimes!

Do you remember the scene in, Its a Wonderful Life, when George comes home after learning 8,000 dollars in cash has been lost and he will have to replace it. The house is chaos; one kid is sick, one kid is playing christmas songs on the piano, and kids are running everywhere; then George looses it, and yells at everyone, and storms out the door. Well I am not jumping off a bridge like George, but sometimes as a parent you just want to yell, you want to unleash, and storm out the door like George Bailey.

This time of year brings out a demon inside of children;"The Holy Crap, It is Almost Christmas So I Must Be Obnoxious Demon". It manifests itself into uncontrollable hyperness, constant wrestling, and well I will just say it, it turns children into full on s@#theads! This Christmas demon turns us parents into a sneering christmas ogre's who plead for Christmas day to come as fast as it can so the demon can be finally exorcised from our childrens' body.

I have one child practicing Jingle Bells on the piano while the other one is blowing into a recorder that is whistling a high pitch tune. The youngest is running circles around them while singing a non-coherent Christmas melody at her normal loud volume. They stop this brain piercing activity long enough to yell at each other because they feel the other is playing some note wrong. Then they begin making up their own songs, such as my favorite, "I'm gonna put my butt on you", sung to a slight blues melody and of course the grand finale is someone putting their butt on someone which leads to minutes of uncontrollable laughing.

I use the "Santa" threat; you know the one, you are getting nothing from Santa if you keep this up. They just look at me with disinterest and figure it is mom just being her usual ogre self and that "Santa" guy should put me on the naughty list for my George Bailey tirades.

Here is what I think, I don't think that every time a bell rings an angel gets its wing...... I think every time a bell rings..... another parent has lost their mind...That is where the song, "I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day" comes from..all parents have lost their mind by Christmas day. Now if you please excuse me I think I hear a ringing in my ears.......

"I Have Flies In My Tummy"

Every year after Christmas I go to Barnes and Noble and sift through their discounted children's christmas books. I usually buy one or two of them and put them away for the next year. At this point I have a pretty good stack of them, and I only pull them out at Christmas. When I begin to pull out christmas decorations that is the first thing the kids go looking for, and all through the holidays they sit and read these books.

Our bedtime routine with Makenzie goes as follows; give everyone a hug goodnight and tell them you love them; go potty, brush your teeth, and of course get that drink of water; find her beloved blankie, then she is tucked in bed and I always read her bedtime story. She is particularly excited now for bedtime stories because there is christmas books to read and they all involve that wonderful "Santa Dude".

The other night as we finished up, Twas the Night Before Christmas, she whispered in my ear, "I am so excited for Christmas, my tummy has flies in it". Let me interpret four year old language, she means, she has butterflies in her stomach.

Right there at that moment I wanted to take all that childhood excitement that was oozing out of her and bottle it. I wanted to forever remember her words, her emotions, her pure childhood happiness. Though it was just a brief moment of my day it was a brief moment that I wish I could replay and watch anytime I wanted.

The kids all are growing up so quick. The twins are changing into teenagers before my eye's and I see Makenzie growing just as fast...some days I just want it to slow down a little bit so I can forever remember all those brief little moments...............