Wednesday, September 29, 2010

When the Cat is Away...

Interesting things that happen while I'm distracted with homework or while Daddy is sleeping:

The cat has new spots added by a permenant marker. Apparently he didn't have enough spots before.

Water Parks spring up in our kitchen. There are slides made out of big round postal mailers, pools made out of Tupperware and diving boards made out of rulers. The Littlest Pet Shop crew in our house had the hook up!

At least 25 little toys migrate to my closet and are left in various stages of hidden-ness under my dresser.

My two beautiful girls abscond with at least half of my jewelry and I never can find all of it again...

Everything that we worked to clean up comes jumping out of "Where It Goes" and lands squarely in the middle "Where I Dropped It".

The girls' bedroom magically turns into a TV News Station complete with weather board and roving reporters.

A very hungry horde of homosapiens comes into my kitchen and devours, well, everything. And they don't clean up after themselves.

Also, things I would never have dreamed of saying before having three children:

Nathan, Stop eating the shopping cart!

The ferret is not a frisbee.

Why is the cat in the dishwasher?

If you can make dirt angels, you're not sick. Go to school.

Clean is different from dirty. If the room is still dirty, it can't be clean.

Jillian cannot be trusted with the toad.

What surprised me the most, was how closely I had to pay attention to what I was saying because without it, I didn't even notice how strange these phrases actually are. They've become so commonplace and so normal in my everyday vernacular that I don't think anything of them.. Thats even more reason for me to take the time to remember and appreciate them. :) And to understand why I receive so many knowing smiles from other moms and outright stares from those not blessed with children!

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Burger King and the Army

I'm sitting at Burger King tonight working on my homework because we don't have internet at home right now. This BK has a WiFi lounge next door to a children's play room. The playroom doesn't have slide or any of that crazy stuff but it has video games and fun chairs. In the dining room, I noticed there were 4 soldiers dressed in khaki camo. Chloe came over and said, "Mom, look, there's soldiers here!" I said, "You're right. Would you like to go tell them 'Thank you for serving our country'?" She said that she was too shy and so she decided to ask Jillian to go with her. I watched from behind the glass as my two baby girls went up to the four soldiers and I got to watch their faces light up. One of the soldiers, the one I would guess to be the oldest, talked to the girls, thanked them and gave them one of the patches off of her uniform. Then another one of the soldiers pulled off two of his patches and gave them to the girls. They are from 1st squadron, airborne from the Army. I don't know if that's the correct way to write it, but that's the information the girls could remember. I was very proud of my "shy" girls and also very thankful to the soldiers who took the time to make my babies' day! :)
GOD BLESS OUR SOLDIERS!

Monday, September 20, 2010

45

Thats the magic number... The kids' school is participating in a fundraiser that asks the students to sell cookie dough and other desserts. Of course, my kids brought home their packets and were all abuzz about the prizes they could earn by selling these goodies. Of course, the prizes they wanted required them to sell around 100 units. Each. As in, 100 apiece. And these things are not cheap - we're talking $15 for a batch of cookies!

I tried to discourage them from getting their hearts set on the big prizes but at the same time, I didn't want to stop them from dreaming big dreams... So, I decided we'd try it. We set a goal and we went after it.

The school set a separate prize for the students: if they sold 15 items, they would get to take a limo ride to Peter Piper Pizza. Thats a big deal for my 8, 7 and 5 year olds! So 45 batches of cookie dough was our goal. I took the catalog to work and sold 15. The kids were then responsible for the remaining 30. Saturday morning armed with an insulated water jug full of water, dressed in their school uniforms and tennies we took off throughout the neighborhood.

We went around on Saturday before night church (we went because I invited a girl from work); Sunday after morning church (we went again because I worked in the toddler room); and then Tuesday evening after work/school. The story is actually much longer than what I'm writing here, but the result was...

46 batches of cookie dough!!!! Fantastic and unbelievable! I was sooo proud of my babies - they worked sooooo hard! I have already told them that I'm going to take the day off of work when they go in the limo because I'm going to go to take pictures. I really hope they remember this, and learn the value of hard work.

And I also hope they don't want to do this again any time soon. :)

Saturday, September 11, 2010

200th Post

I've been looking forward to this post for awhile now; wanting to hit this ceremonious number... Today is September 11th. I don't know how it will ever be possible to say that date again without pausing and remember where I was when I heard the news... Lowell and I were in bed and he flipped on the news, saw the impact and woke me up. We watched, spellbound, as the news anchors tried to describe what was going on. I went to work that day, as usual but couldn't shake the fact that it seemed so wrong to be going about life as if things hadn't somehow shifted - as if this terrible thing wasn't even happening. I watched people come in and get their hair done, their nails painted... And I couldn't understand why they weren't at home glued to their TVs watching the horror. I didn't have a macabe interest in the devestation, only the undeniable feeling that life was somehow changed and that something special had been lost.


Today I watched the same phenomena. There were cars on the freeway with American flags on them; the flag at Walmart flew at half-staff; there were multiple memorial events around the valley; and people standing around in Walgreens were talking about where they were 9 years ago today. Not everyone seemed to remember. The flag at a nearby church was flying at full height and there were many people who appeared to be going on about their day as if there were nothing special about 9/11. I watched the History Channel - the only place I could find information about the terrorist attacks, other than the internet. I learned a lot about that day that I didn't know and came to respect the heroes even more. I also felt a rekindled anger at those who had taken the lives of more than 2700 Americans. And a continued awe for those who serve our country today in response to the threat that is on the horizon.


At the end of the day, I decided it was time to appreciate that I am an American - free and safe tonight because of those who fight so valiantly. Feeling sad and mouring the losses of that day are totally understandable, but I think the appropriate way to respect the memories of those we lost is to not take for granted what they died to protect. Tonight I took the kids outside, they rode their bikes in the street and then we walked down to the park where they played. They ran, laughed, chased and just had a wonderful time being children until the sun set.


A very fitting end to my 9/11. I'll never forget or stop being thankful. Rest in peace.

Moments


Jillian made me breakfast. I love this little act of service that Chloe and Jillian have begun preforming. :) So sweet.



Chloe spent most of the morning doing gymnastics in the living room accompanied by songs from YouTube.



Nathan spent the morning outside in the
beautiful "fall" air (It was around 78 degress this morning) doing whatever it is that boys with huge imaginations do when presented with unlimited free time and a large yard of sand. I watched him as he knelt down in the sand, moving things around and then he would get up and move to another place... Then he picked up a large rock and threw it at some of the weeds.. Then right back to the original place where he jumped up with a punch into the air "Yes!". I have no idea what the celebration was over, but it certainly looked like fun.




Creepy is a huge fan of the new organizational tool we've made in the girls room. We've put all their stuffed toys in a box by their bed. He believes this is his personal smorgish board of things to run away with. He is especially fond of the Barbie box. All of his stolen treasures can be found either under my bed or under my dresser.




Last night our cat feel asleep under the step stool. We watched "Letters to God" and had popcorn. Nathan decided to sit on the step stool and drop popcorn kernals onto the cat. Later, after the step stool was moved and the cat was still in the same place
, Jillian went to pick him up. "Mom, can I still hold him even though he laid eggs?"



On the subject of Boogie, she also has her first loose tooth. And Chloe has one too. They're excited about loosing teeth at the same time. :)



Nathan got results from a test yesterday. He scored in the 91st percentile in reading comprehension and the 75th in language and math. He was upset because he wasn't reading the report correctly -- he thought he didn't do well. I was very proud of him!!! :) Such a smart boy!!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Joy

Bring The Rain

I can count a million times
People asking me how I
Can praise You with all that I've gone through
The question just amazes me
Can circumstances possibly
Change who I forever am in You??

Maybe since my life was changed
Long before these rainy days
It's never really ever crossed my mind
To turn my back on you, oh Lord -
My only shelter from the storm
But instead I draw closer through these times
So I pray

Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there'll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain

I am Yours regardless of
The dark clouds that may loom above
Because You are much greater than my pain
You who made a way for me
By suffering -Your destiny
So tell me what's a little rain?
So I pray

Holy, holy, holy
Is the Lord God Almighty

Updates




I just wanted to show some new pictures of my beautiful kindergartener. She is sooo excited each morning to go to school but her teacher told me that she cried twice today. She said that once she missed me and once she missed Daddy. And when I told her that we were not going to stop at Walgreens to get snacks, she broke down and started crying again... Thursday is a tough day around here.
I still haven't gone back to work and I have to wait a couple more days until I can see how the new medicine will affect me. So its back to work on Monday and working on my anxiety level until then. I'm currently making a list of the things that are making me anxious in order to get a grip on what is going on in my head and to make a plan of how to address them. Because of this, I was not able to go to school tonight either. That will mean that I have more work to do this week... I going to attempt to be disciplined and work on my homework tonight after dinner so that I use the time that I would've spent in class still doing classwork. Lowell is sleeping because he's going to work tonight. Overtime. Its definitely a blessing but also makes for a long week for him. I'll be praying for him to get rested tonight and to be okay for the rest of the week.
Tomorrow we have something special planned... I'll post tomorrow after we get it. :)


Monday, September 6, 2010

Not Feeling Very Well

The first week of school is over for my babies. They were EXHAUSTED by Thursday night! But the enthusiasm hasn't burnt out yet! :) We had a Wednesday night Open House at Chloe and Nathan's campus because the construction on the school was finally finished. Both of their teachers said they were doing just fine (after three days! :)) and that neither of them were talking a lot with their neighbors. This was an area of concern with Nathan last year, so we wanted to check up on him and Chloe is sitting by her best friend - I wasn't sure that was going to be a good idea. I'm proud of both of them and their maturity. Open House also gave us a chance to talk to Mrs. Grundy - Nathan's teacher from last year. I was bummed that Chloe didn't get her for a teacher; she was fantastic! And after speaking to her Wednesday night, I learned that she was bummed to not get Chloe as well. We're not going to try to move Chloe into her class because of Chloe currently being with her best friend Abbi, but I might push to have Jillian in Mrs. Grundy's class - I think Jillie will thrive on the discipline the Mrs. Grundy requires.
Thursday also signified the end of my second week of my newest classes. I'm taking Psychopathology and Research Methods. Research methods is about as interesting as it sounds, but psychopathology is awesome! Its being taught by my favorite professor and its my "in person" class this quarter. Both of those factors really help with keep my level of interest up, but even without those things the subject matter is really cool!! Psychopathology is all about studying mental diseases - how they're diagnosed, what they look like, a little bit about how they're treated... All the "nuts and bolts" of what I've been wanting to do. This is what most people typically think of as "psychology". (I've used a lot of quotes in this post... hmmm, interesting...)
Anyway, this coming Thursday will be the beginning of week 4 - the halfway point, for my classes. As of right now, I have 13 weeks of school left. I've been really looking forward to the end of school and yet, now that I can see a faint light at the end of the tunnel, I'm beginning to freak out. I am scared of the practicum and internship that comes after school... I'm used to classes and homework and tests and projects. I don't feel prepared for what comes next. Usually when I acknowledge a fear or something that I'm stressed about, I don't experience the physical symptoms that can come with large amounts of stress.... Not so this time.

I've been miserable for about three days. I keep having what seem to be panic attacks or more like symptoms of attacks that last for long periods of time; I feel sick to my stomach, I get really hot, I feel like jumping out of my body, my neck is soooooo tense, I'm frustrated and upset and on the verge of tears... when it gets really bad, I can't breathe and have a hard time just being in my own skin. Sleeping or just laying still are the only things that seem to make me feel better. Conversely, I think not doing my homework or not cleaning the house are what makes me feel like this... So today, I worked with the kids and cleaned the house. And I've been working on my homework. I still feel crappy although not as bad as yesterday... It doesn't seem to be getting any worse but it is still very difficult to sit here and read my textbook... I have a hard time concentrating and I just feel horrible. I don't know what to do about it except for just keep pushing through. So that's what I'm doing... I'm going to clean up a little and then get back to reading and attempt to write my paper. Hopefully I'll make it through. And then I'll take a nap and pray that I feel better tomorrow.