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!

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!

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. :)

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!!

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. :)

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.

First Day of School 2010

The day was filled with lots of excitement; there were no tears but lots of traffic. The school parking lot and the road up too the school was a complete zoo!!!! There aare around 700 cars that have to make their way around the school to drop off their children... Its is quite a catastrophe but they are going to make some tweeks in order to smooth things out. I'll be doing the dropping off and Lowell will be picking up.

Reports from the day:

Chloe: In the morning, we colored a little bit and in PE we learned a new game called Blob Tag. I get to sit by my best friend. Her name is Abbi. My teacher's name is Mrs. McNett. She's nice.

Jillian: When we started, we had a morning meeting that was fun. And in the afternoon, we had a little recess and we played Octopus. My teacher's name is Mr. Pieper and he told us the rules on the first day of school.

Nathan: We made name tags and put them on. Then we went to Spanish where we played a fun game to help us remember everyone's name. We took a tour of the school and we went to lunch. My teacher's name is Mr. Yanke. He's very nice and he has a drum set in his classroom.

I am very proud of myself for how I handled the morning. No tears at all. Honestly, I didn't feel sad. Lowell was asking me how I was feeling and I didn't really know how to explain myself... He did a very good job of articulating the moment... Lowell said that because we've done a good job of appreciating our kids while they're young and because we've taken time to really be in the moments, we're not sad.. We aren't "mourning" the loss of their childhood; we're excited about the next stages. He was absolutely right. I am looking forward to all the new experiences and challenges that come with having three school-age kids... I have such a smart husband! :)

The Night Before

Well, its finally here. Tomorrow is the first day of school. I can hear Jillian and Chloe laying in bed right now saying "First day of school!!" from Nemo. They are very excited. Tonight we got their backpacks loaded and ready to go. They tried on their uniforms and started talking about all the fun that awaits them tomorrow! I'm really happy that they're excited.
I, on the other hand, am feeling something less than excited. I've come down with a cold and I'm not looking forward to getting up at 5:45 in the morning and attacking the morning rush... I'm sure I'll feel better about it in the morning, but right now, I just want to sleep.. And breathe. And swallow without hurting. I hate summer colds. I've been fighting this one off for about a month and its finally gotten the upper hand. I can't imagine why.. I'm just soooo busy!
Saturday the kids had a sleepover. Jillie and Chloe slept over at their friend's house and the brother of that same family came over here. Nate and Nathan both love Star Wars and were perfectly content to play with each other all evening. I hardly heard a peep out of them. The girls also had a good time. Jillie didn't cry and they both loved how the dad pulled mattresses off of the beds so that they could all 4 sleep on the floor together.
Before the sleepover, I went to church for a Toddler room volunteer meeting. Nathan went with me. I was asked to step up as a Volunteer Lead for the latest service. This means that myself and another lady will be running the service. I'm comfortable taking on this added responsibility because it doesn't require me to do any additional work during the week, only on Sunday when I'm there, serving already. I'm looking forward to the first week of three services - September 11th.
I'll be taking pictures tomorrow morning with the kids because I've taken the day off of work. Now that I've come down with something, I'm really glad that I did. Maybe after a midmorning nap, I'll be able to tackle some homework... Here's hoping!!!

Freedom of Speech

I'd like to be sure that I am clear -- This is not me. This is an editorial article that was published in the West Valley View, our local paper on August 27th... I bet they'll get a lot of responses from this one...
"Women Voters Created a Mess"
I, like many others, look with sadness to the so-called "celebration" of the right to vote for women. Since suffrage was passed in 1920, we have experienced six major wars and many minor ones; two major depressions, eight recessions and other downturns; multiple major riots and civil disturbances; a flood of millions of illegal immigrants that threatens to turn our country into a Third World slum; the "sexual revolution" and "feminism" that have spawned the emergence of "lesbian and gay rights"; the massive spread of atheism and denial of the existence of God; the Democratic Party assuming the role of the C0mmunist Party USA; and the first black, Muslim, Marxist president.
All of this combined with some of the crazy letters we read from women letter writers, lead me to think the date should be a cause for mourning. I will tip back a cold one and hope my campaign to repeal suffrage is successful; till then, with tongue in cheek, Probst!"
-- William Russell, Avondale AZ

Precious Relationships

I love to be on the computer because it is my link to my social world. My social circle here in Arizona is comprised of friends that I love but never get the chance to spend time with; new relationships that are still in that not really comfortable getting-to-know-each-other phase; and those who are situation specific - such as co-workers, the ladies I volunteer with at church and those who are in my masters program. Unfortunately, this collection of "kind-of" friends doesn't frequently allow for those moments of joy and comfort that are so present when I'm with "real" friends.
Because I don't have these precious "real" friends anywhere nearby, I take advantage of the fact that most of them have blogs! I will say however, that it isn't enough. I often find myself checking blogs two or three times a day to see if they've been updated because I'm just desperate for some sort of link with these ladies that I miss. They are all precious Daughters of the King and my Sisters in Christ...
Britty is my wonderful MRE who lives in Colorado. She's beautiful, special, sooooo thoughtful and such a easy person to share life with. She's so selfless and kind and funny. She is my very best college friend!
Diggie is my little blessing from Texas. It is impossible to think of Digila without smiling. She is exuberant, friendly, understanding and just a joy to be around.
Moron is my.. well, moron!! :) from California. Moron has been my BFF since forever. She's the one who knows everything about me, knows all my stories and the one who I share all my "inside jokes" with. She is honest, practical, totally organized, goofy, beautiful, thoughtful and so special!
These ladies bless me by taking the time to share their lives on the web so that I can stay connected with them even though miles separate us.

I have other friends who have touched my life in precious ways that have not gotten on the blogging bandwagon yet... My communication with them is even more limited than with those who's lives I can read about. Stacy, Katie, Michelle, Abby, Rachel...
One reason is that when I try to call someone I haven't spoken with in an extended period of time, I begin to question whether or not we'll still have anything in common or if we'll have anything to talk about. I start to think that my life is completely boring and all I have to talk about is my children, so am I sure these people really want to hear about my kids? I suppose I should take the approach of creating a list of questions that I want to ask that person, and then call them to get information about their lives! This strategy may work... Even with a strategy in place, maintaining a relationship with the women in my life has proven to be an anxiety riddled experience.
I have no explanation for this fact. Anyone who has known me for any period of time knows that I am a very social person -- I love people and I feel lost without them. Solitary confinement would be torture for me. Left alone, I talk to myself, to the TV, the computer, the cat, the ferrets, the wall, etc...
When I have spoken to the ladies that I've lost contact with, almost universally they have expressed that they aren't good at maintaining contact either. What is it about us that we let these relationships go? I doubt that fear plays a role in their difficulty with maintaining contact as it does for me, but instead that they lose contact with friends because of the general busyness of life...
Honestly, I'm a busy woman - I have three children, a full time job, I'm a full time student and a housekeeper too. I volunteer at church every Sunday, read my Bible every day, I have class on Thursday nights until 10... I cook, clean, take care of 4 pets, pay bills, study, write papers, blog, read stories, etc....... But there is still time everyday that I take for myself. Some of my "me" time is spent driving to and from work when I listen to my radio and worship God. Some time is spent with kids: reading, talking, snugging, playing etc. But a big portion of my time is spent with the TV. I know this and I acknowledge it... On average, I'll bet I spend 1.5 hours watching TV each night... hhhmmmm...
Well, whatever the reasons, I don't want these precious relationships with these fantastic woment to be lost. I want to maintain them and even begin creating new ones. I love the people that God has brought into my life and I miss them dearly! So to you women -- you know who you are -- I love you! And if you get a chance sometime soon, call me -- I'd love to catch up! :)

Recent Blessings

My friend from work got in a car accident yesterday. She is okay, but understandably shook up. I praise God that no one was hurt.

We got together with some friends last night for an "End of Summer" bar-b-que. There is no better way to spend an evening than with bar-b-qued food, friends, kids swimming and lots of laughter. We swam, ate, played pool and just enjoyed each others company.

Our church that just recently moved into a new building has already outgrown our new surroundings!! We need to add another service! Isn't that fantastic?? Now we'll be attending church at 8:15, and volunteering at 10:00. There will also be an 11:45 service.

On a related note, Nathan has decided to volunteer with me in the toddler room. He has been such a blessing, making friends with the children as well as doing an AWESOME job helping clean up. He likes volunteering so much that he wants us to volunteer for the third service too. :) We'll see. Honestly, I'd like to find something that we can do as a family, but its not likely with a 5 year old.. It all comes in time, I suppose.

This week we've been to the kids' new school two nights and we'll be going back again tomorrow for Open House. The kids all found out who their teachers are going to be but they have yet to see their classrooms. Tomorrow night we'll be going into the classrooms and meeting the teachers one on one. Chloe doesn't have the same teacher that Nathan had last year and neither of them have many of the same children in their class. This will be a year of lots of new friends and all new teachers.
Three new teachers.... because my baby is starting school. Wow.
This weekend we're going to buy uniforms. I'll be sure to post pictures!

My husband made me laugh the other day. (He does most days, but this little moment I wanted to share) We were talking in the living room and he said, "Sshhh, quiet. I think I hear music.... Like a Jeep." The funny thing is that he was completely serious and didn't find the humor in his statement. I just love my husband!!!

Cravings

Nope, not pregnant. That's what everyone thinks when they hear that word.

Nevertheless, it is the word the most accurately describes what I've been experiencing. I am craving roasted marshmallows. I want the campfire, burned on the end of a stick taste of those gooey summer delicacies.

Marshmallows, I can do. Campfire in the middle of the city however is not so easy. So, I improvised. I learned that if I turn a burner on high, stick the marshmallow to a meat thermometer and quickly touch it to the burner, it will catch on fire.

Doesn't it look delicious?????

Moments

My next door neighbors are going through the excitement of having teenagers who are entering the realm of dating... And I am looking at my future life through their days and, frankly, I'm nervous!! I have been praying for a long time that Christ decides to return soon, but now my prayers for rapture have taken on a new sense of urgency! I just want to be raptured before I deal with teenagers!!!!

I'm only partially kidding! :)

Right now my babies dream of what they're going to be when they grow up, how successful they'll be and yes, of having families. However those dreams are paired with laughing at Phineas and Ferb, watching Barbie movies and playing Roblox on the computer. They build blanket forts and practice gymnastics in their bathing suits. They chase crickets and love to jump on my bed... They're still kids. And I cherish that so much and yet I can see time slipping through my fingers.

My son still wants me to hug on him. He doesn't mind that I kiss him or tell him that I love him. However, things have begun to change... In public, he doesn't want me to call him "Bug". That's his nickname but now he's embarrassed when I call him that at church. Wow. Peer pressure already. Chloe and Jillian are still in where I can love on them unabashedly... And I am taking advantage of it!

I know that the day is coming soon when they will be embarrassed to be seen with me. I won't be able hang out with them and when I ask the question, "Who wants to come with Mom to the...", they won't jump up and down at the opportunity to have "Girl time"...

The adage says that the two most important gifts that parents can give their children is roots and wings.

I believe this.

And so I'm working each day to make my children independent and self-sufficient. I've also heard the saying that when a mother has children, it is as though her heart has grown legs and is walking around outside her body.

I also believe this.

It is a painful process to encourage these little people that I love so desperately to grow away from me.

Blessedly, I am sooo proud of the little people they are becoming. And I am so thankful that I am here to enjoy the journey with them. And that is exactly why I am not excited about how swiftly the time is passing by.

I regret every time that I don't take advantage of the time I have with them.. The times that I lose my temper, the times that I'm not engaged in their lives, the times when I feel like they're an interruption to whatever I'm doing... At night, when they're sleeping in their beds, I sit up and regret the moments that I've lost; the opportunities to pour into their lives that I missed; the chances to show them how much I love them that I won't get back... And I wish I could turn back the clock on the day. Obviously I can't, but I can work on making sure that tomorrow, I don't have as many moments to regret and more moments to remember and savor.

Moments like these... Jillian laying right outside the front door waiting to go swimming

Chloe playing "Paid Programming". Not even kidding. They are demonstrating the power of OxyClean (Shout carpet cleaner) on our stained floors!

Jillian making her penguin do the "funky, funky" dance

Nathan as Alfalfa