After Christmas Crash

It really is a bit of a crash after Christmas isn't it? My kids are in sugar induced hyperactivity on Christmas day and there is usually still a bunch of candy for them to stay on the sugar induced high the day after Christmas. Today though it's a whole different world. The candy is gone, dad is back at work and all of a sudden four kids all need mom at the same time. Of course I am looking around trying to figure out what project I want to tackle first- the laundry that's piled up from the weekend, the tree that is dieing in the corner and needs to be undecorated, the rooms that are a mess and need to be cleaned up and toys sorted so there is room for the new toys...

Nothing on my list will get accomplished today and I was getting upset about it. I was starting to stress over why oh why I can't ever get anything done around here. But this Blog is theraputic. Now all of a sudden it doesn't really matter. I'll take another day and sit and play with the kids, watch some movies and tv, play some games and the other stuff will keep. I think we've got another 2-3 days worth of clothes to wear. If they don't match the greatest that's okay because we aren't planning on going anywhere... lol! The toys can be sorted next week just as easily as this week and we'll just have to make sure we clear a path in the rooms till then. The tree is a bit of a fire hazard in the making so we'll have to get to that sooner than later, but I think we'll be fine for another day or two.

Christmas

Well we had a fun Christmas at our house this year. The kids were up bright and early Christmas morning. Santa left some Christmas Captain Crunch cereal for the kids to have for a special Christmas breakfast treat (Captain crunch is loved in this house, but mommy never buys it so it is really a treat in two ways... sugarry and sweet, and they only get it on very rare occasions). Rich and I laid in bed listening to them talking and being so excited about all the presents... Rich got up a few times when we could hear them moving boxes around. By 6:50 am we decided to go ahead and get up and start the fun.

We make the kids sit down and we open presents one at a time starting with the youngest person. Then we go around the family opening one present at a time until people don't have anymore presents and then we start giving the kids family presents to open. This was the first year that Angela was really able to get into unwrapping the presents, and the first year that Alyssa really got into the Santa fun. We got a lot of games this year so we are excited to have so many new games to put in our game closet for us to play with. The kids were happy with the presents that they got and we had an enjoyable day without any real arguments at all.

In the past I've had some years that I've felt I've gone overboard on buying stuff for the kids, and some years that I really felt like I should have gotten something better or more- I don't know I just didn't feel like the kids got the right gifts... this year seemed to be a happy level. We got the kids about 3-4 gifts and then they each got a gift from each set of grandparents. It seemed to be just about right so I'm very content about what we did for Christmas this year. Here are a few more pictures... Alyssa was very into helping us clean up the mess.

I hope all of you had a fun and enjoyable Christmas.

Christmas Eve

I LOVED having Christmas Eve on a Sunday this year. I'm sure it has fallen on a Sunday in the past, but it didn't really register with me like it did this year that it was so wonderful. In the past Christmas Eve would be filled with stressfull stuff of making sure I had everything we needed and running out to the store to get the last minute stuff, then stressing about getting the meal done on time, having time to get in the Christmas Story and putting out the cookies and milk for Santa before bedtime. At least the kids always would go to sleep very willingly on Christmas Eve, but it always felt stressfull and not calm and quiet.

This year it was so much more peaceful and calm. A huge part of it was because Rich did so much for Christmas. I just have an aversion to going out and shopping and spending money and stuff. I don't enjoy it at all and get stressed out and overwhelmed when I go to the stores. Last year and this year Rich has done almost all of the christmas shopping for the kids. We would sit and look at toys online and talk about the different ideas that we had for the kids and then he would go to the toy store and buy it all and make the decisions from what was there. He has taken over the stressful part of Christmas for me and left me to deal with the part I like. I like the baking and cooking and decorating. That part really didn't have anything to do with Christmas Eve being on a Sunday, but I do have to acknowledge that it was a major part of it being less stressfull for me this year.

The part I loved about it being on a Sunday, was that we spent Christmas Eve at church in the morning, and just relaxing as a family in the afternoon. I did some cooking in the kitchen, but the kids and Rich played games and just spent the afternoon doing quiet and peaceful activities that seemed to complement the spirit that we want for Christmas instead of us being so busy and stressed over things that we are fighting to have a peaceful evening before the kids go to bed. We still had to wrap presents after the kids went to sleep, but that is always fun to sit and wrap presents with Rich and fill the stockings. Angela was still awake, but she's young enough not to be able to tell the other kids what she saw. :)

I should be making dinner right now... but I decided to do breakfast for dinner tonight so it should be fast and easy to make. The kids are all home from school now for the holiday and the next two weeks should hopefully be full of fun. I'll admit it is a bit apprehensive for me to think of all four of them home all day long to keep them busy without just letting them sit and vegitate in front of the tv or computer all day long. Next week should be a little easier because there will be new toys from Christmas presents to keep them playing happily without fighting as much.

We made gingerbread houses last night... below are a couple of pictures. Not the most fancy houses, but it was fun decorating them. :)

We've been having problems with our washing machine. It keeps stopping in the drain cycle. So
after two months of dealing with this I finally called the appliance repair guy and had them come out and look at it. Turns out there were about 6 fabric softener sheets that were down in the pump. They had somehow squeezed through the little drain holes and were clogging the pump so the water wasn't draining as fast as it should and the washer was "timing out" basically because the water was taking too long to drain. The repair guy was really nice about it and didn't even charge us anything for the service call! I was so grateful about that.

I've been working on christmas cards all day long and I think I'll be able to get them out tomorrow. I read somewhere that if you get it in the mail by the 20th it can still get there by saturday, so we'll put that to the test... :)

ok... off to make some hashbrowns and eggs- uh oh... I forgot I'm out of ketchup... hmm... change of plans- I need to figure out something else...

As much as I hate Rich being out of town, it does give me a greater appreciation for all that he does around the house. I am so fortunate that he does so much that I feel I can't complain about the little things he does that occasionally bug me. :) Rich got home on Saturday and it was wonderful to not feel like a single parent again. Yesterday we had the Christmas programs at church and the fireside last night too. It was nice and I was able to sit and listen to a portion of each of the programs before I felt I needed to take Alyssa out because she was being too loud. She is such a tiny little girl, but her voice just carries and is very loud. I think I need to start doing some whisper games more at home to help her learn the difference between whispering and talking loudly.

Speaking of Alyssa... she is finally really wearing underwear and keeping it dryall day long! She's gone three days without any accidents at all and before that was averaging only one accident a day for about a week. I'm so looking forward to one less diaper size to buy on a regular basis. I'm sure we'll still use pullups at night for a while, but it's nice to see the light at the end of the tunnel that I'll have more kids in underwear than diapers. :)

Tonight we are going to make gingerbread houses for FHE. In the past I've made the gingerbread and baked it and everything, but this year we are taking the short cut method and just "glueing" graham crackers to milk cartons. We'll then let all of the kids decorate a carton and have a little "village" to put out for the next week... I'm sure by christmas half the candy will be picked off of it, but it's fun to make.

A chance to talk is rather nice...

We had a Relief Society progressive dinner tonight. It was really neat and fun. We started with appetizers at one house and I fell in love with some little won ton like things- turns out it even had shrimp in it! What a coincidence I had just been talking with another person about my aversion to seafood and at the same time was eating these yummy cripy things with a cream cheese filling and they had shrimp in them... lol! Then we headed over to another house and we had yummy yummy ham with an incredible glaze on it, and funeral potato's and some green bean stuff- I'll admit, I didn't even try the green bean casserole- I was enjoying myself and I just didn't want to waste stomach space on green beans- not my favorite vegetable... After that we headed to another house for the dessert course and by then I was just about completely full, but I was able to make room for a chocolate cake with gnosh in between the layers and poured over the top- yum yum yum!!

Of course the whole thing was fun, but I really really appreciated the opportunity to get out and talk to the other women from church and the fact that it was an activity that was designed for us to socialize and just talk. We see each other on Sunday's and at other activities, but when we are trying to take care of kids and busy fulfilling our callings on Sundays there is just not much time to sit and talk and really socialize and get to know each other better. It was good for my psychi just to get the opportunity to talk with the others. Also with Rich being gone this week it was wonderful for me to get out of the house without the kids and just talk to other adults and enjoy myself for a few hours.

I got home and Alyssa had fallen asleep on the couch so instead of trying to put her in the car and load up all the kids to take the babysitter home, I felt it would be okay to just put her in her bed and allow Alex to stay home for the 10 minutes it would take to take the babysitter home. I thought he was responsible enough to sit on the couch and be there just in case she woke up- and I think that it helps him feel more responsible by knowing that I trusted him to do that (even if it was only 10 minutes).

My sleep last night, or lack thereof...

So I was up till 2:30 am working on this thing that I wanted to make for both Rich and my inlaws... It's a wooden photo puzzle thing… it isn’t going to work. It involves decoupaging pieces of a picture on pieces of wood and the photo paper is curling up and not staying flat on the wood and the ink of the photo is smearing from the moisture in the glue… :( So discouraged at not being able to fix it and get it to work I got ready for bed and was just turning off all the lights at 2:30 when Angela woke up.

I thought I would just go in there and get her and lay down with her in our bed and we’d both go to sleep fast. Not so… she was WIDE AWAKE and insisting on holding two blankets, a baby doll and her stuffed kitten before I could even get her out of the crib. Then she wanted to play and would have no part of laying down to go to sleep… screaming and tugging and pulling at me until I got up out of bed and came out to the living room. So after about 45 minutes of her being wide awake she finally was ready to lay down with me and we went to bed at 3:15 where she went to sleep after about another 10 minutes of squirming around.

I fell asleep and was woken up at 5:30 to Alyssa standing there and methodically hitting me on the shoulder to wake me up. She wanted me to lay down with her in her bed. So I go and lay down with her and half an hour later get back up. I go to the bathroom and discover that my (TMI) pad has leaked all over and through to my pj’s and I have to change my clothes. By the time I lay back down it’s 6:30 and I’m hoping that I can get another hour of sleep before I have to get up to get the kids off to school. Of course at 7am I wake up again to Angela scratching my face and pulling my hair. She’s awake and hungry and doesn’t want to snuggle and stay in bed any longer…

Hopefully I can catch a little nap today, but I've filled it up with things to do because the week goes by so much quicker when Rich is out of town when I'm very busy- than when I don't have as much to do.

So we are almost done with shopping for the kids for christmas and I've started to look around the house and am asking myself- "where am I going to put this stuff???" what were we thinking when we bought x,y and z? So now I'm on a mission to get my house in order with some "holes" in places that the christmas presents will fit in. The thing is we just donated a ton of stuff that we had sitting in the garage for about 3-6 months and now here I am getting ready to go through things and donate more- we just have tooo much stuff! I'm trying to also organize what we can't/don't want to get rid of so it just works better because it is just not working right now...

Rich is out of town this week so while I don't sleep as well, it does give me the opportunity to work on some projects like this because I'll just stay up late and get things done.

Rich has done all of our christmas shopping for the kids though so that's done with. I just need to get one more item for Ashley that he wasn't sure what size she needed and the stocking stuff and send out the gifts to family members that we are mailing and I'm done...

I'm having another one of those moments where I don't know what to write, but need to just get on here and type something because I always feel better after I do.

Yesterday we went to the cub scout Regatta. It was fun watching all the boys blowing their boats in the raingutter and great to hear them all cheering each other on. Alex won his first race and then lost the next two races.

I've been working on our family christmas letter yesterday and today. I think I've got the letter ready and now I need to get all the addresses compiled and on the envelopes. Then I think we'll take a picture of the kids with Santa on Saturday and we'll put that in with the cards and get them sent off early next week.

I'm also trying to plan what things I'm purchasing for Christmas and get those sent off to the right people. As much as I feel overwhelmed at times with what I have to get, I'm grateful that Rich and my extended families just switch names and give family gifts to one other family unit in our extended family. It would just be too difficult and stressfull and expensive to try and buy presents for every single member of our extended family.

Rich is going out of town on Sunday for a week so I'm also trying to get myself prepared for him to be gone. I'll have a few nights that week that if I can find a babysitter I can get out and go to a little party and Relief Society so those should be welcome breaks for me. Saturday I'm going to take the day and let him stay home and play with the kids while I go and do something for myself. I'm not sure what I'll do yet, but just something relaxing and fun for me.

School today!

After having the kids home for a four day weekend for thanksgiving, and then having two snow days making last weekend a four day weekend, I'll admit I was very excited for the kids to go to school today. We are going through a rough time where Alex and Ashley are fighting a lot and are just very loud and while I love them dearly, I was ready for a little quieter time today with just the little girls.

Yesterday I woke up feeling sick, but thought I could take some meds and go to church and still be fine. After the first half hour at church I knew there was no way I physically could go and take care of the nursery kids so I had to let people know I was going to leave and make sure someone was there to take care of the kids in the nursery.

A sweet friend stopped me on my way out and told me she had something for me and came back with some beautiful cards. My head was pounding and I can't even remember if I thanked her for them- so if you read this... you know who you are- Thank you! They are beautiful and I'm so happy that I feel a connection with you. I hope we can find more ways to get to know each other better.

I brought the little girls home with me and Rich stayed for the remainder of church with Alex and Ashley. We got home and Angela fell asleep and stayed asleep for two hours!! :) Alyssa was content to play quietly and I was able to rest for a while- not sleeping since she was still awake, but closing my eyes and just resting.

After Rich and the older kids got home we decorated the christmas tree- my headache had diminished so I didn't feel paralyzed by the pain and we were able to have a fun time remembering when we got the different ornaments and decorating. Angela is going to be a handful keeping her from undecorating the tree, but I've already noticed her walking over there a little less today than she did yesterday.

Now that we have the decorations up I feel like I need to get busy getting christmas presents bought for the kids. We don't get them a lot, but I haven't bought anything at all this year. In the past I've felt stressed at this time, but for some reason don't feel stressed- just know I need to go and do it.

Snow

We got snow!! :)

Being from Utah I always miss the snow that we got out there and rarely get here in Oklahoma. It was so neat to have a real honest to goodness snow storm with enough snow to really get out and play in it. Too bad I'm not really prepared with good snow clothes for the kids, but we managed to bundle them up and have fun regardless. The past six years I've always had newborns or been pregnant through the winters that we have had snow so this was the first time that I was able to get out and enjoy the snow with the kids instead of sending them out with Daddy and watching from inside.

Ashley's snowman





Snow Angel Alyssa:




Angela:




Alex:

So there is something funky going on with my blog. I pull up my blog and can see the whole page- and then press the link to write a new blog and I get a little tiny window on the top of the page, and then see the rest of the blog below it... wierd...

But anyway...

We had a nice relaxing Thanksgiving weekend. Everyone asked if we got together with anyone else for the holiday, and there are multiple families I think we would have had fun with getting together with, but it was nice to just keep it laid back and low key and just play games with the kids and sit and watch some football together (GO BYU!!! WOOO HOOO!!). Ashley was "helping" me roll out the pie crusts and knocked the marble rolling pin off the counter and it fell straight onto her big toe. We iced it and hoped that it would only be a bruise- and although she limped around for the rest of the weekend, I think we got lucky and nothing was broken- except for some chips that broke off the sides of the rolling pin.

Today it's back to the races... getting the kids up and on the school bus this morning and I need to head over to the Y and exercise off some of the calories I packed on this past week. I don't really go there to loose weight, but to keep my sanity I've found for me exercising is a great way to keep me from feeling stressed out about the kids antics and I can take a shower while I'm there and put on makeup and do my hair without worrying about what the kids are getting into around the house. :)

I feel like I'm a dog running in circles and chasing my tail... but never catching it...

I’m yet again reminded why it looks like I never clean the house…

I tried to fold laundry and found Alyssa and Angela filling up the bathtub with water and towels again.

I tried to clean our bathroom and came out to find Alex eating frozen rolls from the fridge that I had set in there to start thawing.

I tried to clean in the kitchen and went to find the kids and found Angela and Alyssa pulling apart our bed.

I told Alex and Ashley that I thought they could handle cleaning their rooms today and helping to clean one bathroom, and then tomorrow we would have all day to play and they can help me cook etc… they’ll have more time to work on Alex’s boat with Dad and we will have the house cleaned and we can get some Christmas decorations out this weekend… I’m trying to help by keeping the little girls out of their rooms, but I’m spending most of my time going back and forth telling them to work on cleaning, not making their rooms messier by playing with every single thing. So far we have the sheets off of the beds and washing, and the dirty clothes picked up and in hampers and that’s about it…

So I’ve started cleaning and doing stuff in at least five rooms… and all of those rooms now look messier because I can’t finish anything before someone else makes a mess that I try to go clean up…

I did get the cranberry sauce made though… I just need to let it finish cooling and put it in the fridge.

Just in case you noticed...

Soo I had another blog. I've decided I like this format better so I've gone and transferred the blogs from my other site to this one so I wouldn't loose them. So if you wonder why there are so many entries on Oct 19th and Oct 20th of this year... that's why. :) I tried to get them all posted in order so hopefully they make sense.

It doesn't matter that I don't know what to say...

So it's been a while since I put something on here. I've actually opened up the blog numerous times... sat and looked at it and thought- gee I don't really have anything to say, and then closed it up again.

I was doing the same thing this morning when I came here and then I thought "It doesn't matter" It doesn't matter that I feel like I have nothing of importance to put on here. The important thing is to just get into the habit of coming here and writing and sharing. Inevitably once I start typing- something comes out of my head and through my fingers and onto the screen... and it doesn't matter what- it's a true reflection of how my mind thinks.

Yesterday was the Primary program and it was very well done. I thought it was such a great idea to show the younger kids through the technology of video to really get their thoughts to convey instead of them being scared to talk at the podium. I was a little sad that we had a mix-up and Alex wasn't prepared with something to be able to say himself, but we'll just make sure we are on top of things next year. He has a difficult time with situations that we don't prepare him for so I was just pleased to see him actually standing and singing and participating in the songs during the program.

Rich had to miss the primary program yesterday because the little girls are sick- we thought it would be easier for the Elders quorum to find someone to teach at the last minute than for the nursery to find someone to take charge in there at the last minute. I think this is the hardest part of having multiple kids. When one is sick and there is just no way for you to be in two places at once. Ashley has a little classroom play going on today and I had hoped that they would be feeling better and we could go watch, but Angela still is running a fever so I won't be able to go see it. Rich has already had to take work off for other things recently so he really can't take off for it either. I know it's just a first grade small play and there will be many other things to see her in, but I'm sad that she will probably feel a little sad that we didn't get to go.

Well the girls have finished lunch so I'm off of here for now...

Saturday is a special day... random thoughts

So it's time to get ready for Sunday here today. I feel like I haven't been to church in a while- which it has been since we were out of town one week and then sick last week. I'm out of the habit of getting everything organized on Saturdays... it's amazing how just a few weeks of not doing it throws you off. I'm hoping tomorrow will be a wonderful pleasant experience. Hopefully I'll get a chance to listen to the messages during the first hour and for the next two hours I'm just hoping to have enough helpers in the nursery to prevent the domino effect that crying can cause. I forgot to ask another parent to bring snack again, so I need to make sure I pack stuff for that as well today so it's all ready tomorrow.

I'm trying to make out my grocery list this morning and it's giving me a headache... the software program I use is just not cooperating and a new program I want to try isn't either. I should go back to the old pen and paper method of planning, but I'm stubborn and want to make this technology work for me and I wind up spending far more time working on these things than I should.

As the weather is getting colder and colder I'm resigned to the fact that I'm not going to loose enough weight to get into a smaller pair of jeans that I have four pairs of sitting in my closet so I think today will be jeans shopping- alone without my four tagalongs and hopefully I can find a pair or two that will fit and work for this winter without costing an arm and a leg to buy. I like the good quality jeans much better, but I'm vain enough to think that next winter I'll have gotten back down into my smaller size so I won't need the jeans I buy now for more than one season... so I don't want to spend too much money on them. The reality though is I'll probably still need them next year because I have absolutely no will power when it comes to eating sweets. (I need a little eyeroll smilie face here... lol!)

I think I'm finally getting over this cold. It has been the longest I've had a cold in many many years. I decided I'm tackling my desk today. It is piled with about four inches deep of the kids school papers and the mail that came while we were out of town and since then. I've glanced at it all, but it needs to actually be sorted and filed and tossed and all of that fun stuff. I've become so dependent on paying bills online and my bank's website is giving me a headache right now so just getting everything back to my smooth process will be nice and I'll feel like I've accomplished something if I can get all of that taken care of today.

Yesterday I tried something new and cooked one of our favorite chicken meals in the crockpot. It was so much easier because I just dumped the frozen chicken in and let it cook all day long. I don't know why I don't pull it out and use it more often.

I think I might try to fix something picnic style for dinner tonight. It's such a nice day outside and I know those are going to be gone soon. We rarely have picnics, but it sounds like a fun thing to just mix things up a little bit... I'll have to see what I can figure out and if I have stuff that would work.

But off to tackle the desk for me now...

Back to reality

So this past week it has been back to reality time for me. Of course it came rather quickly since I had my cold still when we came home from the trip, and Rich did as well. A week later we still have them and they are probably turning into sinus infections... oh well such is life right? :)

Last night I decided for FHE we were going to tackle some cleaning that the kids really needed to do so I told them we were going to choose teams and Alex and Ashley were the team captains. Then they got to choose who was on their team and then I told them that the teams would be cleaning specific stuff... they took it pretty well and actually pitched in and cleaned without the normal complaints that we usually have.

A wonderful trip

Okay I'm sure this will be long...

Tuesday morning was almost surreal. I woke up and took and shower and did my hair and got dressed. Everyone was still sleeping so I then woke up Ashley and Alex and they got ready for school and we got their breakfast made. They made some cards for Rich while eating breakfast and I gave them hugs and kisses goodbye and they got on the bus. Then I loaded up my suitcase and carryon and went in and kissed Alyssa while she was sleeping, gave Angela a great big hug and kiss and handed her over to Sarah and I was off.

The ride to the airport was short. I was feeling a little bit of a runny nose and sinus pressure that morning and had thought to grab my sinus medicine, but thought it was probably the lack of sleep the night before and I'd be better after a good night sleep. I parked and the shuttle picked me up and we were headed to the terminal before I realized that I didn't even make note of where I had parked. The shuttle driver had given me a little paper though so I figured I was safe and would be able to find the car. I checked in and realized I hadn't eaten breakfast so I got a sonic breakfast burrito. After eating about half and drinking some OJ, I felt like I shouldn't eat more so I tossed the rest and it was time to board the plane anyway... I didn't want eggs and bacon smell going through the plane so I thought that would be for the best. During the first flight the sinus pressure increased and by the time we landed I had a full blown sinus headache. So... I hunted through the airport during my layover and found some sinus headache medicine and took that. I was nausious from the headache so I just ate a chex pretzle mix because I knew I needed something that would settle the tummy. The second flight was much better and I was able to relax and enjoy the flight. I read an entire book and had fun watching the boy and father that sat next to me on the plane. The boy was about 9-10 years old and they were going to WDW too.

So I got to Orlando, went down to the baggage claim and meet Rich and picked up my suitcase. We drove to our hotel and it was so pretty! It was the Wilderness Lodge and it's modeled after the lodge at Yellowstone National Park. Beautiful inside with all the woodwork and large grand lobby that was open to all the levels. After we dropped off our suitcases in our rooms and checked out the brochures and pamphlets that were in the room we headed out to dinner at the Disney boardwalk- like an outdoor mall full of disney stores. lol! We had sandwiches at the "Earl of Sandwich"- they were really good... I must have been really hungry because I polished off my sandwich before Rich did. Then we went and looked for some souveniers to take back for the kids. We got some christmas ornaments for each of them- Patriotic Mickey ears one for Alex (he's big into flag stuff right now); Cinderella and the Prince for Ashley; Tinkerbell for Alyssa (because she just reminds us of tinkerbell the way she is so petite); and Dumbo for Angela because she had so much fun riding the Dumbo ride this summer at Disneyland. Then we also got tinkerbell flip flops for Alyssa and princess flip flops for Ashley. At the hotel before we headed up to the room we stopped and got some cold medicine in the hotel store (Rich had come down with a cold too and had it before I got there). There wasn't much to choose from so we got benadryl for night time and sudafed for daytime.

Wednesday morning we got up and picked up fruit parfait's from the hotel cafe type thing and headed to MGM. It was fun and we had a great time- I loved the tower of terror ride, and the rockin rollercoaster was great. The stunt shows were lots of fun but as the day went on our colds got progressively worse. We had seen everything at MGM by about 3pm so we went back to the hotel and took a nap before going to dinner that night at the Polynesian Resort. It was so cool... we had a table right at the window and could see out to the lake and watch the halloween fireworks parade that they had going on. Our seats were so great that when we were being seated the server had to ask some people to move that had moved over from a table in the middle of the restaurant to watch. The food was good too and it was a fun restaurant- all the servers call you "cousin" and they bring you so much food- course after course after course. After dinner I asked a concierge where a drugstore was that we could go purchase some cold medicine at (because the sudafed and benadryl was not helping at all) and they gave me directions. Well we went and couldn't find it so it's 10:30 pm and we are driving around on the roads bordering WDW and trying to find a drugstore. Finally after driving for about 45 minutes we found one and got some medicine that we hoped would work better and some pocket pack tissues to carry around with us. We then went back to the hotel and fell fast asleep.

Thursday we got up and felt like we had slept a little better. We headed out to Epcot. We went on test track and that was lots of fun. There was no line so when we got back to the load/unload dock they let us go around a second time. Then we went on Mission space and both of us just about lost our breakfast. It is very very very very intense. We tried to walk it off and made our way through a couple of less intense rides and were finally ready to go on Soaring... but I still felt like I would upchuck if we went on it so we got some pretzels and went on the Finding Nemo ride. The ride got stuck because some kid decided to jump out of the ride car and that shut the entire operation down until they could verify the kid got back in the ride car and wasn't wondering through the ride. So.. I got to sit in the ride car for a good 30 minutes and that along with the pretzels allowed my stomach to calm down. Then we went on soaring... that was fun, but a little full of flip flops for my stomach. See I'm afraid of heights and the ride is as if you are in a hang glider gliding over California. So it's entirely the high heights feeling the entire time... it's a good thing we waited for my tummy to calm down before we went on it. lol! Then we got some lunch and spent the afternoon seeing some of the other shows and walking around through the "countries" in the world showcase. It was really interesting and they had some neat shows telling about all the different countries. By the end of the day though we were exhausted. We had a nice dinner at a mexican restaurant in the Mexico portion of the world showcase and then headed back to the hotel. We had originally planned to go to the Animal Kingdom park the next day, and then possibly go over to Universal studios on Saturday, but realized there was absolutely no way we could keep up with that fast pace. So we decided to take Friday off and just sleep in at the hotel and take it easy.

Friday we slept in till almost noon!!! Then we got up and went and got some lunch and went shopping. I've been needing to buy new shoes to exercise in for months and keep putting it off and the previous two days realized how badly my other shoes were for walking around in- so I wore my sandles the second day and realized they were better, but still gave me very sore feet by the end of the day. Rich made me go and get some good running shoes since I want to start running at the Y. I've never in my life bought shoes for that much, but they are really good and I think will be a good investment for me. They wound up being on sale so we got them for 30% less than they price said, but it was still a bit of sticker shock for me. Then we shopped a little bit. I found a t-shirt on clearance at Old Navy and coat for Alex since he needed one. We stopped at WalMart and picked up more medicine since we had gone through almost the entire box of meds we had bought wed night. Then we went back to the hotel and relaxed for an hour. I sat out on our balcony and read my book and Rich watched some baseball or football or something... lol! Dinner that night was at Bono- it was at the Animal Kingdom lodge. When we went in they just ask if your celebrating anything and Rich mentioned that we were celebrating our Anniversary. By the time they seated us (about five minutes later) THey had a card that was signed by five servers in different languages wishing us Happy Anniversary and we got the wDW anniversary pins. We had a wonderful dinner- it's buffet style all you can eat and who knew I liked African food so much? It was delicious. At the end when we were already bursting and felt like we couldn't eat anymore our server brought out a board that he had decorated with cookies and written Happy Anniversary on it in chocolate sauce. It was beautiful and such a special little touch- I wish I had brought by camera with me to dinner that night. After dinner we went to a miniature golf place and had a great time. We played one course and then decided to play the second course we were feeling so much better and having so much fun. Then we went back to the hotel and swam in the pool and sat in the hot tub for a while before we headed to our room for the night.

The next day we went to the Animal Kingdom and had a good time. The rides were fun and the shows were fantastic. I wore my new shoes and my feet didn't hurt at all... and we both had much more energy than the previous days. It was like going to the zoo, and going to an amusement park all at one time and was really neat. The park closed at 5pm and our dinner reservations weren't till 7pm so we had time to relax at the hotel again and I got to just sit on the balcony and read some more... that was really nice. Then we went to the fancy restaurant at our hotel... it was good, but lets just say that I am just not a fancy girl... I was much more comfortable in the atmosphere of the Ohana and Bono restaurants that are much more family style places. lol! It was really good though and a neat experience. We probably seemed a little funny to others though because we didn't talk much. Our colds had both gone into our ears and our ears were clogged so talking at the restaurant was difficult because we couldn't hear each other. lol! After dinner we packed up our stuff and got ready to head out the next morning to go home.

We got back to OKC and went to go to the car and I couldn't figure out what the shuttle driver had written on the card he gave me when he picked me up, so Rich and I spent about 15 minutes wandering around the long term parking lot pushing the button on the car automatic key thing to try and hear the car honking... finally we found it.

All in all we had a wonderful time and I'm so glad we went. It was so nice to just spend time with Rich and be able to do simple things like sit next to each other during a show, hold hands when we were walking around the parks, eat dinner and only cut the food on our own plates- and not have to remind people to use their napkin/fork/spoon etc. I actually got up and did my hair and put on makeup every single day... something I rarely do at home and even when I go to the Y I don't have enough time to do my hair and makeup, so it's one or the other. We also can't wait till the kids are big enough for us to take them to Walt Disney World. It was such a fun place and everyone everywhere was so nice and helpful and it truly was so much fun. We would go on rides and figure out which of our kids would love it and which would be a little hesitant... we'll have to see how Angela is when she gets a little bigger, but we hope she is like Ashley and eager to go on rides so we can go sooner rather than later. :)

late night musings...

Well it's way too late for me to be on here, but I do find that when Rich is out of town I have a hard time sleeping and if I stay up late and go to bed when I'm completely and utterly exhausted- I sleep better. Plus it's so nice to have the nice quiet house with the kids sleeping I thought I'd get this set up finally.

I'm so excited for this next week. Rich and I never really went on a honeymoon so this trip we are taking we are calling our second honeymoon. It is so unlike me to do this- I'm such a scrooge with money and spending money on myself that I still can't believe we are going on this trip without the kids and will be staying at a nice hotel and just having fun. I'm so glad that we prepaid all of this through the travel agency because now I know I'll be able to just sit back and relax and have fun and not worry about how much it is costing us.

I've actually gone and stocked up on books from the library for the trip. I figure just with airport time and plane time I'll have about six hours each way to just sit and read... how wonderful... I can read without feeling guilty about the laundry that I have sitting in the laundry room waiting for me to fold and put it away. No dishes (which I have piled up right now) calling from the kitchen sink (actually screaming) that they need to be loaded into the dishwasher. So I've got four books that I'm taking. I'll take two with me and pack two in my suitcase for the return flight.

And now the practical side of me is telling me to turn this off and go to sleep- church at 9am will come very soon if I don't go to sleep. :)

Entry for October 09, 2006
Well I really didn't want to go to the Y today, but I did so well last week going every day except Monday and I didn't want to throw that momentum away.
After we got home my friend came over with her two little kids. She and her hubbie are going to be staying with the kids while I go meet Rich in Orlando. It's only two weeks away and I need to ge organized as to what things I need to do before I leave. We played for a while until the kids got too tired and she left to put them down for naps.
Now Angela is sleeping and Alyssa's playing on the computer. I feel like taking a nap since I didn't sleep well last night, but know I'll wake up more tired if I lay down. Yesterday was a busy day. We had 12 kids in Nursery. We have two more moving into the ward and two that weren't there so we'll have 16 kids on the roll. They would split it, but they can't find enough people to staff another nursery. They are going to try and get another person called to be a nursery assistant though because there are just too many kids for only two adults. Yesterday we did have a few dad's stick around with kids to help them adjust to the nursery so that was helpful. Then I stayed for choir practice. Next week is our ward conference so we needed to get the song practiced for it and we'll meet a little before church next week that means getting to church at 8:30 instead of 9am... yikes.
The kids though were just very needy yesterday afternoon and it was a constant hold one child, switch to another child, make dinner, hold another child, get everyone ready for bed, struggle with keeping children apart so they can fall asleep... Rich finally wound up laying down upstairs with Alyssa and I laid down on our bed with Angela to finally get the two of them asleep at 10pm. :(
Well I'm off to figure out something for FHE tonight...

Entry for October 04, 2006
Today I got a great work out at the Y. I've always used the elliptical and I did 35 minutes on that like I normally do. I've occasionally tried to get on the treadmill and be able to run on it, but have never felt comfortable running on it. Today I thought I'd try it again so I got on and ran for five minutes, then walked at a fast pace for five minutes and then ran again for five minutes and walked fast for five minutes and then walked slowly for an additional five minutes. It was such a feeling of accomplishment to be able to run on the treadmill without feeling like I couldn't keep my balance or place on the belt. I do enjoy running so this is exciting to me that I'll be able to run a bit now. It's not the same as out where there's scenery to pass by, but it's an accomplishment.

Entry for October 03, 2006
So yesterday as I posted I realized that I really enjoy writing. I used to be so good at writing in my journal and getting thoughts out- however silly and sappy they are.
So I'm going to start blogging more. I'm going to try and blog daily just for me... if anyone enjoys reading it that's fine, but this is more for me and my thoughts and memories.
Last night we had the couple that is going to stay with the kids come over for dinner. I'm good friends with Sarah and we have playgroup together and everything, but our husbands had never meet each other since they are in a different ward than we are. We had a great time and really enjoyed having them over. Alex really took to Josh and I'm glad since he was a little apprehensive about us going on the trip. Josh is going to try and make sure he can get off of work early the wed we are gone so he can take Alex to cubscouts himself. There is the raingutter regatta (we didn't know about it until it was too late to change plans) that Alex and Rich are building the boat for and he wants to go with Alex to do that. If he can't we have Alex's friends dad that will come and pick him up- but then he'll have three boys to help out with the races.
Rich has been moved to a new position at work. It's a completely new position that has been created and he is solo and the only person in the company doing this. He is excited for this new job because it goes more in the direction of designing the computer systems and processes which is what he enjoys doing.
Ashley is getting to go home with a friend today after school. She is so excited. They live on the other side of our subdivision so she gets to get off of the bus with her and play for about an hour before the little girls mom will bring her home because the girls brother has a football game. Alex is a little upset that he isn't doing the same thing, but he hasn't gotten a phone number for me to talk to a parent of his friend that he has made on the bus.
I finally made it back to the Y to exercise. I had lots of little excuses keeping me away the past two weeks and really had noticed the mental and emotional difference I was feeling from not having that time to exercise and just have a break from taking care of the little kids.

Entry for October 02, 2006
Nine years ago today at this time I was a bundle of nervous excitement. I was in my parents house in the bathroom trying to do my hair... wishing that I had spent the extra money to plan on going to the salon to get my hair done. We had a tight budget though so I did my own hair. I was so used to driving everywhere myself and it was so odd to climb into the back seat of my parents car. The drive to the Temple was about 25 minutes. Not too long, and not too short. We walked into the Temple and there was a calmness that settled on me. There was my best friend. The love of my life. He looked amazingly handsome, but it was more than how he looked- I knew that our choice to get married was right-at that moment there were no doubts at all. We filled out the paperwork before the ceremony so we wouldn't have to deal with it afterwards.
As we then seperated again to change and prepare for the wedding it was if I couldn't wait to get back to him. All of a sudden it didn't matter how my hair looked, what my makeup looked like. I just wanted to be next to him again with the calm and peacefulness of the temple blanketed around us and have that peacefull feeling of being at home.
The ceremony was beautiful, the pictures were lots of fun afterwards. Lunch was yummy and fun and the reception that evening was fun, but my memories of that day focus primarily on that morning.
Nine years... it seems like just yesterday, but in other ways it seems so long ago. Four kids have come to share that love with us now. Some days it feels as if every drop of energy and love is squeezed out taking care of them, yet somehow our love still manages to grow. We've gone through trials and heartache, acomplishments and endless joy. The love that we had nine years ago is just a drop in the bucket that has grown and holds our love now.
Happy Anniversary Honey- I love you

Entry for September 27, 2006
Today my new visiting teachers came over. They are both new in the ward. One is a 75 year old newlywed- she's so cute . The other is a mom of six that just moved here from Pensylvania... I'm looking forward to getting a chance to know them better and better in the coming months as we see each other frequently.
Then we went to playgroup at the park. Unfortunately no one else showed up, but the little girls and I had fun playing dispite that. We ate some lunch there too and then meet Rich at a furniture store. Our living room couch is on it's last leg and staples and we had intended to replace it next year with new living room furniture. Sunday Rich was just playing with Angela and was laying on the couch and swung her across the back of the couch to place her on the floor. (something he's done hundreds of times with all the kids) A staple was loose on the back of the couch and unknown to him it caught Angela and scraped her all the way down her chest (she was just wearing a diaper). We've been doing bandaid fixes on the couch trying to get it to last till next year, but we decided it's just not safe anymore... so we tried to find something to replace it with, but I didn't find anything I liked.
I've got both of my kids home from school early today. I got back from furniture shopping and dropping into the healthfood store to get almond butter since I was driving by it and it's so far away (bought 2 jars this time... yum!). I drove up and unloaded the girls. Went to the bathroom and the phone rang and it was the school. Apparently Alex was in gym class and threw up. His allergies are acting up and I knew it was an asthma attack that caused the coughing spell which resulted in him throwing up. School policy is if you throw up- you go home.
So... I change the girls diapers and load them back into the car and drive over to the school. I'm in the office signing Alex out and I hear the secretary talking to a teacher and saying that she would watch for the little girl and take care of her... I'm not really paying attention until I look up from signing Alex out and see Ashley standing on the other side of the reception area and the receptionist is helping her put a tooth into a little cute tooth shaped pendant thing. So... Ashley's tooth that has been loose for weeks just popped and started bleeding in class- so a teacher helped her pull the tooth out and she had blood on her shirt and needed to change it before she could go back to class. So... I decided since there was only 1/2 hour left of the school day I'd check her out and bring her home too.
Now it's dinner time and I need to figure out something to make and feed the family before it's time to take Alex to the cub scout pack meeting tonight. So why am I here??? :)

Entry for August 07, 2006
So I didn't make it to the Y at all in July to exercise. We got home from our trip and Angela was working on all four of her molars so I just didn't think she could handle me leaving her there when she couldn't handle me just leaving the room she was in at home. So today I got up and was determined that we would make it to the Y. We went and I exercised and now I'm back home and Angela hasn't left my lap all afternoon... but at least I got the exercise in...
We had a ward campout/pool party friday night that we went to and had fun. Rich spent the night with Alex and Ashley and I came home and put the little girls in their own beds to sleep. There was an auction of donated items that the young men did to earn some money for them to go to something- EFY or something... we have five dentists in the ward, and two of them donated a free whitening system. So Rich saw that and bid on one for me. I'll now get to get my teeth whitened with the gel and blue light (supposed to be gentler than laser or bleach) which would cost $500 for only $100... I'm excited about that. I probably never would have spent the money on it alone, but since the money will help some of the boys go on the trip that wouldn't have- I feel like it was a good deal. They did pretty good and earned $1000 from all the donated baskets.
We are still in the midst of a heat wave here... someday we'll stay below 100 degree's for more than just a few hours of the day.

Entry for July 24, 2006
Well I thought I'd post about our vacation... ya'll were there for the reunion, but I'll put up stuff from the rest of our trip to share. :)
Day 5- Up and out the door by 8:30am. We said goodbyes to all the family and got on the road to Grandma and Grandpa Newton’s house. It was a relatively easy drive and we got there at about 8:30 pm so it was just 12 hours.
Day 6- We slept in and then played at the house for a little while. Alyssa knocked her head on something that morning so she had a goose egg for that day. We packed some lunch up and took it to a park near their house and went and played there. They had playground equipment, a sandy area with sand toys and a water spout fountain area where the kids got all wet! Then we went and watched the ducks and walked over to another area and played and swung on the swings. Our Allergies there came out in full force and Rich and I went and stocked up on some allergy meds, but Alex’s asthma was really bad that evening with his short coughs.
Day 7- We went to Marine World! It’s a mix of Sea World and Six Flags rides. We had a lot of fun riding the rides and watching the shows. Angela did amazing and was happy and content most of the day in the stroller and she loved riding the rides we took her on. Alyssa got another goose egg on the other side of her head while on the white water rafting ride. She was riding with Rich and he said when the waterfall hit them he lost his grip on her for a moment and her head knocked the center wheel handlebar in the raft.
Day 8- We went to the beach. This is the first time we have really ever gone to the beach. I guess I took the kids once to Galveston with my family when Alex was three and Ashley was one. The kids had so much fun playing in the sand and wading in the water. Angela could not get enough of the water. She would take off running towards it and then giggle when the cold water came washing up the sand and onto her feet! We kept trying to distract her with the sand toys and then she would turn around and start running to the water again.
Day 9- Sunday again so we went to church. The kids were pretty well behaved and they went right into their classes for Primary and Nursery. It was fun to see a bunch of older ladies that would come up to me and comment about remembering when Rich was the age of Alex and other stories they remembered about him growing up.
Day 10- we went to Mrs Grossman’s sticker factory where they make stickers. We went on the tour and they give out goody bags with like 50 stickers or more in them and let you decorate a postcard and take them home at the end. The kids had fun seeing how they were made and we had a fun time. Then we went and saw the Adobe of the general that was over the Sonoma Valley Area and the Mission and fort/garrison. We also stopped in at a cheese factory and sampled their cheese varieties.
Day 11- It was time to head home. We loaded up the car and said our goodbyes and started driving down the road to home… or maybe not?? About two hours into our drive Rich turned to me and asked me what I thought of extending our trip for a couple more days and taking the kids to Disneyworld. He could easily take off Thursday and Friday (which he had initially planned on going to work for). So we were on the road and decided to just go for it. Lol! We didn’t let the kids know or anything. I called Rich’s mom from the car and asked her if she would be willing to find us a hotel online and book it for us for the next two nights and we got that taken care of. Then we just kept driving as if we were going home as far as the kids knew. We were in Anaheim and we drove right past Disneyland and the kids are commenting on the tree’s and the signs around them and we are in the car saying wow… look at that poster, who’s that and stuff. It took them about 10 minutes to realize we were at Disneyland and we were going to go there the next day. Lol!! After dinner and a quick trip to the store to pick up some diapers since we would be gone longer than originally planned and with the promise of Disneyland the next day the kids went to sleep pretty easily.
Day 12-DISNEYLAND- By the time we got everyone up and dressed and fed and over to Disneyland and through the parking and through the security and ticket and stroller lines it was 10:30. The kids had a lot of fun. We weren’t thinking though when we went on the sleeping beauty ride first. Alyssa did not like the dark scary ride and was hesitant to go on most of the rides for the rest of the day. Overall though they all had a great time. Alex even went on the haunted house ride. Ashley was our little ride companion and she absolutely LOVED the Indiana Jones ride. She was just barely tall enough to ride it and they kept measuring her at every point in the line to make sure she hadn’t slipped past without being tall enough. She went with Rich and Alex, and then went with me while Rich stayed with Alex and the little girls. Each time we had a ride the little girls couldn’t ride on she went twice- once with me and once with Rich while Alex usually had enough one time on the ride. We stayed till the park closed at 11pm, and got back to the hotel by midnight.
Day 13- we slept in… Rich didn’t sleep well so once the kids got up I went and got some donuts (not much breakfast at that hotel) and brought them back to the room and the kids and I went and swam in the pool for two hours while Rich got a little more sleep and packed up our stuff. Then the kids and I changed and we got on the road by noon. We had a 16 hour drive ahead of us and also lost two hours from pacific time to central time so we knew we would stop somewhere to sleep for the night. We decided after a few hours to call Rich’s brother in Phoenix and stop by and have dinner with him. Of course that changed our route and added two hours to the total time, but when you are looking at 16 hours- really, what’s two more? So we met up with Dave and his girlfriend and headed out to go to a buffet for dinner. We pull up at 8:20 and it closes at 8:30 so we had to figure out somewhere else to go. I had Angela’s sandals in my hand while we were standing around deciding where to go next and I must have set them down on the car or something and forgotten about them because that’s the last time I saw them. We found a Golden Corral that was open until 10pm so we went there and had dinner and had a fun time visiting with Dave and Amanda (his girlfriend). They are pretty serious and we are just waiting for wedding announcements to come from them anytime now. They were closing the restaurant at we finally left at 10:15. Then on to the hotel and it was a very nice hotel. In the summer you get off season rates in Phoenix so we booked a Hampton Inn and it had granite countertops and pillowtop mattresses and soft comforters… only $75- a big difference from the $110 that we paid for the comfort inn hard beds and “continental breakfast” of donuts at Disneyland lol! I was looking forward to getting a good night sleep on that bed, but Angela did not sleep well so neither did I.
Day 14- We got up and got out on the road by 9am. From Phoenix we had a 14 hour drive and on top of that we lost two hours with the time change. We got home at 3am central time- so it felt like 1am to our body clocks. Angela of course slept really well in the car and was up to play when we got home so I think I went to bed around 5:30 am or something… we all slept in the next day and then just spent the day cleaning the car out and doing laundry and stuff.
It was a fun trip and I’m glad we went and even added on the extra few days at the end.

Entry for June 02, 2006
Well.... it's been a little while since I wrote in here... lets see what's happened...
Ashley lost her first tooth last Sunday night...
Angela has eight teeth and seems to be taking a break from teething to work on walking. She can walk about halfway across the room a few times a day, but does prefer crawling still.
School's out... Alex and Ashley both did well. Alex is on a 2.7 grade reading level and did great at school this year. His teacher say's that he just needs to work on knowing when it's time to not talk and when it's free time to talk- I guess he takes after me in that regard...
Alyssa is showing the beginings of potty training, but I'll wait till after our vacation to try and get her potty trained.
Alex got his first stitches this past Saturday. He was riding the bike down the driveway and missed the doorway to the garage and crashed into the side of the house. Five stitches and he was all better. He got the stitches taken out yesterday.
Angela had her first trip to the pool. She loved being in the water and enjoyed her floatie... a must when I still have to hold Alyssa as well.
Alyssa finally has enough hair I can get it all up into a ponytail- and it looks good, not just like a baby "poof" ponytail, but a real one.
Our stake just had a major realignment of all the ward boundaries and some stake boundaries. our ward was split into three sections... Two join into other wards, and the one we are in stay as our ward, but gain about 50 other people, and we got moved to a different Stake. We'll go from about a 150 attendance ward each sunday to about 75 people now... the first week the new changes go into effect will be June 11th. Rich just happens to be out of town that Sunday so I'll be flying solo with the kids to handle the changes. Hopefully it will all work out fine, I've got our regular babysitter and her family already planning to sit with us during Sacrament Meeting.
We are getting excited for the family reunion. I need to sit down and get my lists going on what all I need to pack and mom's grocery list for the food.
Well the kids are in the water in the back yard again... wouldn't be a problem except it's to make a huge mud puddle and we are trying to get grass to grow there... and then I have red mud stained clothes from the kids plastering themselves with it... gotta run...

Entry for March 09, 2006
Well I thought that Rich's travel would be over after this week, but yesterday he found out he will have to go to South Carolina next Monday... getting home on Wed night. Oh well. I'll survive.
The weather here is such a changing condition. Monday and tuesday it was warm and hot. Yesterday was warm in the morning and then cooled off in the evening. Today it's downright chilly compared to earlier this week when it was in the high 70's. I think it was in the low 60's today.

Entry for March 02, 2006
Well I made it through half of the travel that Rich will do this month. I just have next week to get through and then he won't have another trip for a while.
The kids are always getting into stuff in the office and I can never find anything when I go to pay bills and stuff. Paperwork is always all over the floor from where they pushed it off of the desk. Their computer was in the office and I decided I would see if I put it out in the main area if I could keep them out of that room a little bit more. So tuesday was my rearranging day. I moved the piano over about two feet on the wall and put the kids computer table in the corner of the piano room/formal dinning room that previously was just filled with the piano and piles of toys. I moved the toys over to the wall between the kitchen and the living room and we'll see how well this works.
Oh... anyone have a really diplomatic way to tell a mother-in-law to stop buying presents for Ashley that involve markers and paint etc?? I want to encourage her creativity, she loves to paint and draw and stuff, but she will not recognize boundaries and no matter how many times I ask her to come to me and let me get her set up with them so we don't get it all over the floor, she doesn't. Markers wind up on the wall and furniture, and water colors when used on the floor don't work very well when the floor is carpet and the water leaks right through.... I think I'm just going to ban paint and markers from the house until Angela is five... by then maybe my kids will stop ruining things. They can color and draw with colored pencils and crayons- those at least are easier to paint over on the wall, and don't really mark up furniture or stain carpet.
Oh... and Rich and I have decided that Alyssa is our child who will just wind up with all the accidental injuries. She's only 2 1/2 years old and we have already had more injuries with her than Alex and Ashley combined. She was opening the door at the YMCA this morning and wearing flip flops and let go and the door caught the toenail on her big toe and flipped it backwards. It's not the whole toenail , about the first 1/3 of it and then a big bruise for the next 1/3 of the toe from the trauma.
It's quiet in the house... a small miracle considering it's the middle of the day. Both little girls are sleeping and the older kids are at school. I should be doing laundry, but thought I'd just spend a little time doing fun stuff for me... the laundry will wait... :)

Entry for February 27, 2006
Wow... what a difference a week makes! Last Monday we were iced in and couldn't get out of our driveway. Today it is going to almost hit 80 degrees here. This has been a unique winter with the back and forth warm and cold weather.
Angela is still acting cranky and crabby. She has three teeth that have gone through the gums and are making their way completely out. She is still battling the runny nose that we've had for ages now. She is getting really good at reaching over and tearing hair out of my head. I'm tempted to cut the hair really really short, but know I would regret it. She also is biting me on the shoulder and turning my face towards her when I try to give my attention to someone else.
We reached a new milestone as parents this week. Alex and Ashley have asked us to read the scriptures to them from the actual scriptures and not the illustrated childrens versions. We don't get as much read at a time, but they want us to read from them and as Rich said- How can we say no to that? Alex is also proficient enough that he can take a turn reading them as well.
Rich had a business trip sprung on him last Friday. He left today to go to Austin and he'll get back just after the kids bedtime on Wed. Then the next week he goes back to Austin on Monday and he will get back on Thursday. He has five days that he is supposed to take off work before April 9th so hopefully he will be able to use them and we'll get a welcome little vacation having him at home for a few days.

Entry for February 20, 2006

The kids got to play in snow for the first time in a few years. :) We got snow on Friday night. Rich cleared off the driveway and the kids played outside for about 2 hours on Saturday. I was able to run out to the store and get a few things that we needed. We didn't think things through though because Saturday night we got more ice, and then again Sunday night. Church was cancelled, and School was cancelled, but Rich was going to try and go to work. He wasn't able to get the driveway cleared until this afternoon when we thought of hooking up the garden hose to the hot water heater and spraying down the driveway with that to melt the ice. He's out right now picking up some rock salt and deicer to have on hand for tomorrow since we are supposed to get more rain/ice tonight.

Entry for February 16, 2006
Well Valentines day has come and past. Normally we keep it pretty low key here for valentines day. I think in the past Rich and I have given each other cards, or other years just the hug and kiss and a verbal Happy Valentines Day. He surprised me this year with roses delivered. The only other time he has done that is when we were dating and he sent me roses at Granny's house. He has gotten roses for me when I had Ashley, and possibly Alex, but I can't remember if he did for sure then or not. I think he forgot when Alyssa was born and when Angela was born his work sent a beautiful arrangement so he figured he didn't need to buy some too.
Apparently the days of sending just valentines cards in for the school valentines day party are long gone. I of course was the odd one out and just had the kids take cards. We didn't attach candy or goodie bags, just the valentines. They both came home with backpacks full of candy and the rest of their cookies and cupcakes from their class parties. We definitly had sugar melt-downs that night, but I let them eat it all up and it dissapeared that night so it was gone from the house. :)
Angela is keeping me busy these days. She is constantly on the move and isn't napping very much. She is currently working on about five teeth. One is almost all the way in, another just broke through the surface and there are another three or four that have the "puffy gum" stage where they are under there and causing pressure and irritability, but they haven't poked through the gums yet. Needless to say- we haven't been sleeping very soundly the past week and I'm looking forward to them coming in so we can hopefully sleep a little better.
Angela has also graduated to the cheerios eater stage. She has taken to food a lot slower than my other kids, but I'm happy to say that she is enjoying cheerios and the gerber flavored corn puffs now. She will also eat some babyfood- but not much. I'm just looking forward to her being able to eat that for snacks when I need to leave her with others instead of her just screaming to nurse when I'm gone.
Alex is having some difficult times at school with following the rules and staying out of trouble. Last week was a particularly hard week for him and they had a substitute teacher one day. He wound up getting moved over to one of the other teachers classes for part of the day because he was being so disruptive. He knows the school work and can complete it when we sit down and make him focus on it and do it, but he tends to get distracted so easily and we are working on getting him to be less of a distraction for others as well.
We had to call dad this week to get his advice on a toilet to buy. Why would we need to buy a toilet you ask? Alex wanted to find out how the toilet worked and pulled the lid off of the tank. Then he dropped it and it hit the side of the toilet where it connects to the tank and the whole thing shattered. $200 + later we have a toilet that should get here next week and the kids don't have a toilet in their bathroom right now. Just the week before we were watching a do it yourself show and it was showing a toilet installation. Little did we know we would need that information sooner than later! We told Alex the next time he wants to see how something works, to come and ask us first and we would help him safely look at it.
Well Mommyhood calls. I hope your having a good day. :)

Entry for February 01, 2006
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK
I had a long post typed out and lost it.... darn!!
Well the short of it is:
Angela is cruising a little bit on furniture, and a little bit with a walk behind toy walker. She has two top teeth breaking through the gums which puts her at four teeth. She isn't sleeping and napping well and we are hoping the teething will die down for a bit and her cold will go away and she will start sleeping and playing better.
Alyssa is showing signs that she is ready for potty training, but I'm not ready to do it yet so I need to change my mind and just work with her- without any pressure. She is showing jealousy of Angela, but at the same time cracking us up with trying to keep up with Ashley and Alex and being a big girl. She has pink eye right now so we are stuck at home with her- no play group or play dates for us this week.
Ashley is having a hard time lately with stuff. She is continually the aggressor and won't leave the others alone and is the one that bugs others till they start fighting back. We are working with her to figure out something that really interests her to hopefully get her involved in so we have less of her bugging everyone else and more of them playing nicely together. :)
Alex is just taking off with reading. He is in the highest reading group in his class. Two kids are above that reading group, but he is in the highest group. His report card came home and he did really good. His biggest faults are that he sometimes doesn't read all the directions and doesn't complete the work because he is talking too much or rushing through it. He generally knows all the stuff and I don't really have to work with him on it at all. He also has bad handwriting, but Rich and I don't care about that and have told him that we put absolutely no emphasis on his handwriting skills and to do his best, but not worry about it.
Last weekend Rich put a closet system into the girls room so we are finally folding clothes and putting them in drawers for the girls... it's amazing how much faster I can get through their laundry folding them vs hanging up everything.
I'll try and get back here before another month has passed by. :)

Entry for January 05, 2006
We had a nice Christmas. The kids woke up at 5:30 am and by 6am we decided they would not go back to sleep so Rich and I got up and we started the festivities. Alex was thrilled with his gameboy, Ashley was so excited about her dollhouse and poor little Alyssa only got a toy vacuum. We didn't know what to get her and thought that in past years Rich's mom always got lots of toys for the kids so we just left it with one item for her. Turns out Rich's mom didn't know what to get her either and got her clothes. Cute, but to a two year old she wants toys to play with. The kids were excited to get a DVD/VCR player so we can watch movies downstairs on the smaller tv now and speakers to set up surround sound in that room now. I got a bunch of baking pans that I had asked for and a gift cert. to Kohls.
Then it was time to get ready to go to church. The kids did eat some cereal, but had plenty of candy for breakfast as well. They made it through the first 30 minutes of the meeting and then slowly began to loose it. I went to feed Angela in the Mothers room and came back to Rich sitting out in the Foyer with the rest of the kids. I had to stay to sing in the choir for the closing song so we decided that he would go and take the older three out to the car and they would just wait for the 45 minutes left in the meeting because they were way too wired to sit still and listen. Angela and I stayed for the rest of the meeting and she got to go and sing in the choir with me for the closing song. I got out to the car and aparrently Ashley in her sugar induced psycosis went jumping out of the car and just took off running through the parking lot while Rich was sitting in the van with the kids. Rich opened up his door and jumped out and hyperextended his knee when he chased her to get her back in the car.
Then we went back home and played with presents and ate a nice ham and mashed potato's and candied sweet potato casserole and rolls... Rich spent the afternoon with alternating cold packs and a hot pad on his knee and it propped up and by evening it was feeling a little better, but still very sore. After getting the kids to bed he and I both headed to bed around 9:30- very early for both him and I, but we were exhausted.
Monday morning I got up at 7am and headed out to get some Christmas lights for us to put on the outside of the house next year. I went to about four stores and found lights, and some other stuff. My great deal was a set of reindeer and sleigh that are normally $100 that was marked down to $25. Then I came home since Rich had Angela at home. Later that day I took Angela with me and we hit some more stores looking for Christmas ornaments on clearance. I usually buy the kids new ornaments each year on clearance for the next year- the last two years I hadn't though and last year I didn't even get anything at christmas time for the year... so this year I needed to make up for last year and this year and get a start on next years ornaments. We still felt bad about Alyssa only getting one toy for christmas so I picked up a few more items at the store and they magically appeared on the front porch with a note from Santa that he had found them hiding under the sleigh seat when he got home on Christmas Day and that he was sorry they were late... lol
I hate to shop and I was shopping for about six hours that day... lol...
The next day I went out and did a whole lot of returns and bought all the paint and supplies for us to paint the kids rooms. we needed to switch their rooms and since Alex didn't want a purple room and Ashley didn't want a blue room we had to do some painting. Rich decided to do something more than just one color so he had fun planning the rooms. I'll take pictures when I get their stuff put back in their rooms.
Tuesday I wound up shopping for about 5 hours.... Have I mentioned how much I dislike shopping??? I was exhausted by the end of the day.
Wed morning everyone was up and excited for the day. The kids helped empty out their rooms and we put up a gate to keep them out of Rich's way. We had some friends come over and I was watching them while their mom got her hair done so that was a good distraction to keep them from trying to watch daddy paint all day long.
Thursday was more painting for Rich. I hadn't slept well the night before because Angela woke up a few times and Alex was sleeping in our room and snoring, so when I woke up that morning with sore muscles I just attributed it to that. Throughout the day the muscles were still sore and I was getting a sore throat. Rich was painting all day long and into the night so I was basically hearding the kids and keeping them out of his way and we were supposed to leave the next morning to drive down to Houston so visit his sister and her family. We get the kids in bed by 9pm and by then I'm feverish and feeling really sick and I still have boatloads of laundry piled in the laundry room and I haven't packed anything for the trip. I took a shower to rejuvinate myself and then went back to packing and finding the clothes we needed and activities in the car and snacks. I went to sleep around 1:30 am. Around 4am I realized that the sore throat was exactly like when I had strep last time and waited two weeks before going to the dr about it. So... I got up at 7:30 and pulled some clothes on and called to see if I could get a culture done that morning. I did and I had strep. I went and picked up the meds and then went home and napped for about an hour while Rich was getting the kids ready for the drive. Then we loaded up and headed south.
On the drive down we passed lots of areas that had had the wild fires. A few of the areas still had the smoke coming off of them and firefighters were monitoring them. Angela screamed the entire drive except for the few naps when she screamed herself to sleep. She did not want to eat and was just miserable and hitting at her ear. I was feeling much better by alternating the tylenol and motrin. I figured I would just keep my distance from everyone and since last time I was able to keep from passing it on to anyone I thought I would be successfull this time too.
We got down there and made it to their house for a late dinner. THe kids ran around and played and got a bunch of energy out goofing off with their uncle and cousin and then we put them to bed. Now we put the kids to bed and we are all spread out throughout the house seperating the kids and getting them asleep and then all us adults just crashed. I got Angela asleep after the older kids were asleep and then crawled into bed. Just as I'm falling asleep she wakes up again and I get her to sleep again. THen just as I'm drifting into the deep sleep Rich wakes me up at midnight to tell me that his throat is swollen. We decide to go ahead and just start him on my antibiotic too and get it and some motrin for him and then head back to bed and sleep.
Just as I'm falling asleep from that Ashley starts coughing and hacking up a lung... she keeps coughing and coughing and coughing. I try to wake her up for some cough medicine, but she won't take it so I just put some vicks rub on her. An hour later I'm still listening to her cough and finally get her to wake up and take the medicine. She settles back to sleep and just as I'm settling in to sleep she wakes up again and says she has a nightmare and I tell her to bring her sleeping bag out of the tent in the family room (where the kids are all "camping out") and put it at the foot of our mattress so she can wake up and see us and not have her nightmares. I get her settled in and am just drifting off to sleep again when Angela wakes up again. Then as I'm trying to get her back to sleep Alyssa starts screaming... I go out there with Angela and we climb in the tent and find Alyssa's paci and she is pointing to her throat and saying it hurts... so I bring her back into Rich and I's room and hand her to Rich who is half asleep in bed. Luckily she snuggled back in and went right to sleep. Then another hour and I got Angela to sleep and I slept from 5:30 till 7:30am when Angela and Alyssa were up for the day.
We told my sister in law and her husband that I was the villan and had brought strep to their house. THen I tried to call my dr up here.... couldn't get ahold of him so I called our old dr there in Texas and talked to him about it. I didn't know it, but it is very uncommon for kids under 5 to get strep throat. He called in a RX for Rich and my sister in law and her hubby took some extra garlic to ward it off and we decided to stay and enjoy the weekend since if I passed it to them it was already passed...
We had fun just playing and hanging out for the weekend. We went to church on Sunday and came home and played some more. On Monday we all got up and got dressed for the day. We ate breakfast and gave goodby hugs and headed out. We drove around for a little while to see some places in the area and stopped to buy some snacks and then hit the road to drive home. We got into town at 5:30 so we decided to stop at Golden Corral and eat dinner there. We ate and then thought we would just stop and pick up the gallon of paint that Rich needed to finish Alex's room on Tuesday that night instead of having to run out the next morning to get it. Then we got home and got the kids in their pj's and went to sleep.
Tuesday Rich woke up and put the final coat of paint on Alex's walls, then put up the little border in Ashley's room and we reassembled their room. I had a whole mountain of clothes to wash and sort and put away, but no closets to put them into until Rich got the paint stuff cleared out of their rooms.
Yesterday was back to school and back to work day and I was able to get more stuff put back into the kids rooms and out of our living room. I pulled all the christmas decorations down and got them boxed up and Alex slept in his bed last night instead of our room since his room was finally dry.
Today I'm going to try and get the suitcases emptied and put away. I've got the tree still sitting in the house so I might see if I can drag it out to the porch at least so I can vaccum up all the pine needles for the last time.
Oh..... and the biggest news I forgot to mention before.... ANGELA IS CRAWLING.... I am sooo not ready to have her crawling all over the floors and picking up every single little thing and putting it in her mouth. She has been scoching around backwords for a month, but she would basically stay in the same little area. Now she is crawling all over the entire downstairs!!

So... there is the last week and a half in the life of the Newton's. I'm looking forward to us getting back into the school/work groove and hopefully I can get to the YMCA starting next week. The house is just too caotic this week to get my things organized to get there yesterday or today and I don't want to go just one day so I'm takeing this week off as well and will start anew on monday.

Entry for December 15, 2005
A group of friends and I thought it would be fun to share a "dressed up" version of a day in our lives. Here's what I came up with and thought it was pretty funny so I thought I would share.
This wintery morning I awoke to the musical symphony of my children. One laying next to me starting with a pianisimo whisper and gradually growing to a metzo forte- pleading for substinance from me. The other quietly sleuthing and moving about with the sound of a boar attempting to circumvent our ingenious parental controls on the live entertainment device that he so desperatly loves. A glance over at the other side of the bed confirmed my suspicions that the other half of our executive branch had indeed overslept and was still seemingly enjoying the sweet silence of slumber. After silencing the cries of the least abled child, and concurrently encouraging my co-president to awake I grudgingly tested the air and steeled myself for the onslaught of arctic air that was awaiting me as it does everymorning. I was pleasantly surprised by the warm blast of oxygen that neither froze my toes or caused the goosebumps to pop out. I had forgotten to turn the heat off the night before- good news now, but bad news later. The plan for the day was to feed my body and soul and to rejuvenate the sprit this morning by feeding the bustling flock and turning the oldest over to the education authorities and the younger three over to child tenders while I improved myself physically with physical exercise. The lacadasical and whimsy side of me prevailed though and after turning over the oldest to the educational authorities, my feet did the walking and walked right back home and into pj's. We were scheduled to host a prestigious lot of young inventors, artists, and athletes for a late morning gala. The morning was spent creating scenic displays and redecorating to accomidate their most sophisticated tastes and needs. As they walked in on the red carpet and became acclimated to their surroundings their enterages were able to converse with one another- yet still be available for their every beck and call. As with all good things it too had to come to an end and with digestive tracts full of wholesome enrichment they quickly returned to their chaufereed transportation and went on their way. I efficiently gathered my flock and we proceded on our way to the daily parade of SUV's, minivan's and mini school busses. After taking part in the parade and depositing yet another child into the hands of the education authorities I made the erronious and mindless choice to further indoctrinate my youngest two female children in the popular yet maddening occupation of mindlessly wandering through aisles and alleys of various colorful and enticing goods and attempting to win and not succum to the temptations around and leave the retail building with only the item you intended. An hour later and a few dollars poorer we again loaded into our transportation and with my mind now firmly floating in outerspace we went to yet another large box filled with colorful and enticing goods. Having successfully navigated through the second maze, my two youngest children had reached a creshendo and were exercising their vocal cords throughout our drive to our habitat. Upon reaching our destination I was relieved to find that one of the two children had pleasantly completed her lung exercise and was comfortably rejuvenating her mind with pleasant dreams. A quick transfer of her to a more suitable and soft place to dream in (her bed) and I was able to focus my entire attention on the youngest, yet loudest of my children. THe quiet peacefullness of a warm abode and a tummy full of liquid love allowed her to join her sister in the blissfull dreaminess of sleep. I was overjoyed at the thought of a few rejuvenating and comforting moments of quiet. I then looked at the clock, looked out the expanse of glass and beheld a sight that almost moved me to tears. The School Bus. Quickly regaining my composure I turned to greet my older children and admonish and plead with them to have mercy on me and find things conducive to the quiet stillness I was enjoying. A few sugary filled substances and the agreement to a box filled with images to be turned on, produced a much appreciated half hour of pleasantness. Upon the awakening of the youngest again I proceeded to tend to the maids chores. The chores are never ending and I try to help her out as much as I can, sometimes though I feel as if I were a maid. Since the co-president was attending an important function in another city tonight we decided to treat ourselves to a festive and rare dinner. With the elegant and gourmet dinner of pancakes and scrambled eggs presented on the beautifully decorated table we sat down to eat dinner and work on our proper table manners. As we were all finishing the promise of yet more time with the popular box full of images was met with shouts of joy until the realization that it came with strings attached was discovered. The strings were quickly untied and chores and homework was completed and we enjoyed a childhood memory for me and watched Dr Seuss's Masterpiece of "The Grinch stole Christmas". As the sun had already been put to bed my children generously agreed with me that it was time to sleep and the two oldest complied and went to sleep graciously. The two youngest then proceeded to cuddle up and engage my attention for another two hours till they too succumbed to Mr Sandman. I lovingly tucked all of my flock into bed and then proceeded to work on our textiles. We had them piled up to the ceiling almost in our textile cleaning room and I slowly lowered the piles, hung up the items, folded and put things away. Five loads done, two more washed and one still in the process and I came here to see how cheesy of a write up of my day I could write.

Entry for December 06, 2005
Gosh it's been a while since I posted.
I think the colder weather is really affecting the kids. They have become little hellions around the house lately so my online time is really limited. I've been continuing to go and exercise at the YMCA and am starting to feel the benifits of it. I got knocked over with the flu last night, but today am feeling almost back to normal- normally it takes me a good 24 hours to get past it. Hopefully the rest of the family won't get it. It hit me while the kids were at school and then Rich came home and I retreated to our room and only came out after the kids were in bed and Rich brought Angela in to nurse a few times. I'm hoping since I stayed away from them that they won't catch it.
Not much else is going on around here. We got to go to a work party for Rich and I actually enjoyed it- unlike the party at his last work where we felt really out of place. Then we had an elders quarum social last weekend- so we wound up having two party's in a month! Wow! The kids even went to sleep for the babysitter last friday which was a first.
Christmas is coming up way too fast. I'm hoping I'll be able to get christmas cards and presents out in the mail soon so they can actually make it to their destinations before christmas! At church we aren't allowed to do a choral christmas program on christmas, so we are trying to get it all ready to do the week before on the 18th. This is an odd stake and they don't allow choral programs to be done during Sacrament meeting- so we have to do it during the sunday school hour. The ward also doesn't have a ward Christmas Party- only a Christmas fireside- nice, but just not the same. Oh well.... I'll just have to see what I can do about changing that next year. :)
Well... Angela's awake. I kept Alex and Ashley home from school because I slept in this mornign and Alex didn't make the bus- then I didn't feel up to driving them to school when Ashley normally goes. I want to make sure they aren't going to start throwing up so it won't hurt for them to miss today. Anyway... the house isn't as quiet as normal because they are home and thus Alyssa isn't taking a nap and Angela is taking a shorter nap.....

Entry for November 15, 2005
Gosh... last week just passed by... I guess we are all busy. :)
I wound up having strep and had to take my week of Amoxicillan to get it cleared up. We have gotten lucky and no one else caught it from me.
Alex earned his "first 100 books" t-shirt from school last week. The first grade has a program where when the kids have read 100 books they get a t-shirt. It is to help encourage them to read and enjoy reading on their own instead of just being read to. About half of the kids in the first grade got the t-shirts at an assembly friday morning.
I've been released from my primary board and Enrichment committee callings and have been called as the compassionate service leader for our Relief Society. I'm excited that I'll actually get a chance to meet others in the ward that are not in Primary. I feel like I only know those in Primary and the few who I worked with on the Enrichment Committee. This also will allow me to be out in the hallways when I need to be with Angela without feeling guilty about leaving my class in sharing time by themselves.
Here at home we have been passing around a cold. Rich stayed home from church with Alyssa and Angela on Sunday because Alyssa had been running a fever on Sat and had a faucet for a nose. Angela stayed home just because Rich thought I could use a break. She did good. She still won't really take a bottle, but she drank about an ounce of milk to get her through till I got home. She is starting to play with little toys and rattles so that helps to keep her occupied and not looking around for me so much.
Thursday I'll leave her with a babysitter for the first time (except for when Mom and Susan watched her when they were here). Rich has a work party that we need to go to, so I have one babysitter for the older three kids and I'm going to take Angela over to another girls house for her to watch by herself. I told her upfront that she might cry and fuss the entire time and that's why I needed someone to watch just her. She's been going to the daycare at the YMCA while I exercise, but usually after 45 minutes to an hour she's had enough and they come and get me... hopefully she will do fine.
Angela is now rolling back and forth front to back/back to front and turning in circles on the floor while playing with toys. I'm not looking forward to her crawling- and I'm afraid it is going to happen right around the time we have the christmas tree up- making it harder and harder to figure out where to put it!! :)
Well it's lunch time so I'd better skit skiddadle and get that made...