Fun Week

This week we made it to the pool a few times, and it barely rained at all. Yesterday, I realized that I missed the sound of the thunderstorms rolling in every evening. July was full of thunderstorms, big loud clashing rumble the house thunderstorms.

Swimming wise the kids are doing great. Beth's been swimming all over the place for some time now (a couple of years), but Caleb and Jacob are a bit more reluctant. On Monday, Caleb swam three quarters of the length of the pool. He swims under water, and pops up for a breath every five feet or so. He's still not strong enough that I trust him to go into the deep without an adult.  On Friday,  Jacob started swimming without his life vest. He is up to about eight feet, and he can swim on top of and underneath the water, which is great. We are planning on hitting the pool at least three times this week, if the weather holds up.

Unfortunately, Jacob is sick. Rob has some kind of cold, that he pulled out all of his medicines for and managed to get over. I got a little bit of it, but not as bad as Rob. It's hit Jacob full force. He's got an awful cough, stuffy nose, and has run a fever off and on. He has to get better before we hit the pool, but I have faith that he will pull through it. I really think he can make it.

Rob got his promotion/reclassification or whatever it is. We just have to make it through August, and then we will be much better off. Much better off!  The frustrating thing is that August is our second most expensive month of the year. But we've already got our school supplies, just down to shoes and lunch boxes. I'm proud of all of the work that Rob's done. He's a hard worker and he does so much to provide for the family.

22 days until summer is over. I'm trying not to count it out loud. I'll miss the kids, but I've already got plans on how I'm going to spend my time with no one home during the day. It'll be so nice to work without feeling guilty and then being able to focus once everyone is home from school. That is the plan right now.


I'm planning on publishing my book sometime in the next few days. Here is the cover:

I think Rob did a great job on it, and I'll let you guys know when it is available. I hope that you are all enjoying your summer!

Crossroads

I have been pretty blog silent the last few months. Life has been happening around me and sometimes it feels like I'm moving so fast and then slowing down. Time has been rubber banding around me. This summer is a crossroads, a place and a time that I set for myself to make decisions. And they are not decisions I can make lightly.

When I first decided to stay home with the baby that would be Elisabeth, it was always until the youngest started kindergarten. And Jacob is starting kindergarten in less than a month. We got his card telling us the day and time to show up for his first day (which is testing) and then his official orientation. Wow! It's leaving me speechless to think about my baby going into kindergarten.

At the same time many possibilities are opening up in front of me. So many different choices. A few years back (probably five, maybe more) I decided that I'd like to make my living as a freelance writer. And the last few years that's what I've been doing. It's moved from part-time income to full-time income. And then the bottom fell out from under me about a year ago, and I've really struggled to stay on top of it. I've been blessed, and I'm managing to make about the same or more. But it isn't steady, and it is stressful, and it leaves me a lot to think about.

And then I throw into the mix that a few years ago I decided to give myself until this moment to get published so that I wouldn't have to go back to work. I need to contribute to supporting my family and taking care of them but it is tough to balance full-time work even when all of your kids are in school. Plus we'd still have to pay for before and after school care. If the kids are sick and I'm working from home no big deal. If I've got an outside of the house job, it gets complicated. Plus I want to be there with them in the evenings and meet them at the bus.

I also think that every decision I make right now is going to affect them later on. My priorities regarding family time, homework time, spiritual issues and money issues are all going to influence my kids. And so the choices I have in front of me aren't easy to make.

So that is why I haven't written lately.

The kids are having a pretty fun summer. We've been to Carowinds, survived a pretty scary lightening storm while we were there, been swimming, had play dates, slept in late, stayed up way too late and now we're watching the Olympics.

Some days are better than others and summer is almost over.

News

Okay this last week was one of big decisions for the Caldwells. Well really more for Rob. He received his formal job offer from the museum and decided to take it. he starts the first full week of June. I know that he is very sad to leave the school. He's got some awesome coworkers. They are great. And he is going to miss seeing them.

The museum schedule is a Tuesday through Saturday job, and so things are going to shift a bit schedule wise for us. Fortunately summer is nearly here, and that should give us some time to adjust and get back to normal. I think the kids will like having him at the museum, and we plan to pop in on him from time to time, once he is more settled in. The new wing of the museum is awesome, and if you live in the area you should definitely check it out.

I also decided to quit one of my jobs this week. I won't be tutoring anymomre. There were lots of things that went into this decision, but the biggest one  is that I haven't gotten any real writing on my novels done since I took the job. You get to the point where you need to decide where your priorities are, and what to do about it. Also with the kids schedule over the summer and Rob's schedule change, I don't think it was going to work out long-term. Plus rob kept telling me it didn't pay well enough for the inconvenience it caused. My other jobs are a lot more flexible about when I put in the hours.

The kids are doing well. This is Jacob's last week of preschool. Beth has her drumming concert, and Caleb is excited about field day at school. Beth doesn't like field day as much because it is so hot. Which is ironically my biggest memory of field day as a kid, how blasted hot it always was. Why can't they have field day in march or April?

Anyway that's it for this week. Hope you have a great day!

I was raised in a strong matriarchal family. My grandmother's father died when she was around five years old, and her mother was left to care for her and her two older sisters during the Great Depression and World War II. The sisters were quite a few years older than my grandmother and they made sure that she was taken care of. When I was born into the family, the three sisters were very close. My grandmother lived next door to her older sister, my Aunt Bonnie and my Aunt Mary lived just a few blocks away in the same city.

My grandmother was close to her sisters and I was babysat by my Aunt Bonnie over the years, and I especially remember that she would watch us when my mom was caring for terminally ill grandfather. She was a gifted pianist and organist, and she read me stories and took us for long walks during the day. My Aunt Mary threw pool parties every year, and told the most fascinating stories about her travels around the world. She has been nearly everywhere, and she was a gifted story teller bringing the things she saw to life with her attention to detail and her funny experiences.

These are the women I grew up learning from. Family was stressed as being the most important thing, and you could see the bond these three sisters had shared through the most difficult of times and through the joyous ones as well. Just as my aunts cared for my Nana when she was young, she has been there to care and visit them as they each passed on in the last few years. Nana is growing older and she still shines as an example to me, reaching out to help those around her, and understanding the importance of family.

I've been blessed to have a mother who truly loves her family and who wants to help everyone around her. She sees the good in people and with all her hearts wants others to be happy. My dad's mom was a great example of how a true lady is and taught me how to make pumpkin pie. She always made me feel loved and welcome no matter what. Now I'm blessed with a a mother-in-law a s well that loves her children and her grandchildern and who works tirelessly to help others.

Today as we celebrate the mother's I also want to celebrate all the women in my life who have taught me through example and love. I also want to thank my friends and sisters who have helped me through the difficult times and laughed with me through the great. It is a grand blessing to be a woman. I love you all.

This week has been good overall. I don't have any grand or exciting adventures to report. In some ways it is important to step back appreciate those kind of weeks. The ones where you focus on the day to day tasks and make it through without any extremely high highs or low lows.

Beth had her parent teacher conference and she is a very solid student. I still wish that she would have caught the reading spark by now. Any grand suggestions for middle grade books would be wonderful. She doesn't like historical, fantasy or science fiction. She does like realistic fiction that is funny. Her favorite books so far have been Diary of Wimpy Kid and The Dork Diaries. In the past she has enjoyed Tangerine, Franky Stein books, Ramona (a bit, You have to get her into the story.) She liked Red Slippers. Okay any suggestions?

Caleb is making it through and counting down to freedom from school. I'm hoping next year is better than this one. Otherwise we will be homeschooling him. He's such a bright curious person and I hate to see that pushed out of him. And it is being pushed out him. It definitely is.

Jacob is Jacob and is currently soo excited about the end of the school year pizza party. I think Jacob has two more weeks of school and he is done. Yikes!  Summer is almost here, and I'm not ready for it. I'm not. I know I need to be, but I'm not. Still I will love having the kids home with me, and the ability to not worry about getting up early most days.

Rob is hanging in there. And so am I.

Have a great week!

May Is Almost Here or Countdown to the End of the School Year

I don't know if we are just getting to the end of the year, or what, but I ended up driving the kids to school four times this week. Four times! Yikes. I don't like doing it. They are on the bus for about the same amount of time that it takes me to drive them there, and then jacob is stuck in the car afterwards on the way home.

Still overall we had a fairly good week. The kids made a deal with me, and they have clear expectations of bedtime rules, and of morning rules. They were meeting most of their morning rules. The contract went into place because of late mornings. And bedtime is getting bit better each day. (Knock on wood, because I said that we will be in for a massive bedtime battle today.)

Getting homework done each night has been a lot better, especially for Miss Beth who is a night owl like her dad. She likes to start her homework at 9:00 or 9:30.  Rob and I always talk about how there are two types of people: morning people or night people. And the two will never understand each other. Before I met and married Rob you could put me in the morning people category. I had early classes in college, and generally I was in bed by no later than ten most nights, except the weekends. I liked it that way. My sister Ruthann was more of a night owl growing up, and I never understood her.

When Rob got married, I convinced him to sign up for an early class, in the hopes that he'd get up with me in the mornings, before I had to leave at 6:45. It didn't happen, and he almost failed the class, because he seldom made it. I learned that you can't change someone else, only yourself. Now I'm a night person. I stay up fairly late anyway, and I enjoy the quiet that night time brings. Rob sometimes wants me to go to bed earlier, since he does have days that he has to leave at 6:45. The tables have changed!

Our kids are all doing well. Jacob had a little trip to urgent care this week to have an object removed from his knee. He tripped outside on the pavement, and it's the worst scraped knee I've ever seen. The skin was all crinkled up and it looked like some kind of twig was in it. Once we got the bleeding stopped (there was a lot of blood, running down his leg, and spurting out for a little bit), we were at a loos with what to do with his leg. rob decided to remove the dead skin. I thought he needed stitches and then he had this shiny black piece of rock stuck in his leg. We couldn't get it out. So Rob carted him off to urgent care where they x-rayed it. (I think to see how deep the foreign object was embedded in the knee.) And then they gave him four shots and Rob said it broke his heart (to which I thought, it's about time you get to feel like what is like to hold a screaming child down to get blood drawn or to get a shot--My boys have had so much blood drawn over their life time, that they have given more than I had to through my three pregnancies. It's no fun to be there holding them while they are scared and angry. But Rob handled it like a champ, and so did Jacob.) They removed it and sent him home.

The kids are loving their bike rides, and we've been going for walks almost every day this week in the evening . The weather is great right now, not too hot to go out yet. This has been a nice few weeks. It has already gotten up in the high eighties this year, so the low seventies feels like heaven. They are already asking to swim and counting down to the end of the year.

Also you can check out news about my publishing journey for Dreaming Isis on this blog. Have a great week!

Turn Your Brain Into Mush

This weekend we went to the new wing of Museum of Natural Sciences. All I can say is wow. It is very well designed, and the exhibits are great, a lot of hands on stuff that you can really explore in depth. It's a great resource for science projects, and home schooled people, and I'm sure classes that get to visit.

The one downside to going this weekend was that it officially opened on Friday. And it was crowded. And hot. I'm sure that the heat had to do with the fact that there were way too many people in the museum. I'm excited to take the kids back on a different day and spend some time exploring the exhibits and the hands on stuff.

The coolest thing by far was that Beth got to try out an operating robot machine thing. She used the controls to manipulate the tools, and completed that task at a 100 percent accuracy. There were also some more displays about the human body, which she is super excited to go back and explore. I wanted to hang out in the weather center but it was too crowded. They boys had fun in the space exhibit and collecting things to put in their bags to bring home. I think Rob had a good time too.

The rest of the week has been pretty good. Beth discovered she likes taking long, very long showers. I'm not looking forward to seeing the water bill in the next month. We may need to have her on a timer. I remember when my dad installed low flow shower heads, and how hard it was to rinse off using them. I'm not entirely convinced they helped save money because the showers seemed to get longer. Still with three teenager girls in the house, you do have to take drastic steps. I don't think we are there yet.

Jacob was sitting upstairs with Rob and I today. Rob said something about his job and Jacob pipes up. "My job is turn my brain into mush."

Rob and I both looked at each other, and Rob said, "Did you say turn your brain into mush?"

Jacob "Yeah, I need to turn into a zombie."

Over and out, I'll let you know about Jacob's mush/zombie progress next week!

Carowinds

Wow! What a week. it flew by. We got home from the beach onTuesday and the kids went to school for three days and then we headed to Carowinds. For once, I was grateful that I hadn't quite gotten the suitcases put away, though I did manage to get the laundry done by the time we left again. I was tired before we left and I'm tired now that I'm home again. But the kids had a good time overall and that was the point.

Sadly no pictures. I need to get me one of those fancy camera phone things and catch up with the rest of the world technology wise. Then maybe I could add some pictures to my posts.

The kids had report cards this week. And they were almost identical. 3s and 3 stars in the same subjects. Caleb and Beth had different comments regarding their behavior. One teacher wanted my child to speak up more and the other one didn't quite have anything positive to say behavior wise. Parent teacher conferences are coming up and I'm making Rob go with me. I think I'm done being patient and nice and he's there so I don't fly off of the handle. Why would a child getting 3s and 3 Stars (These are equivalent to As and Bs) be cited for poor work habits? Obviously the said child is doing the stinking work. If the child is misbehaving then mark the child down in behavior, which didn't happen.

Okay done with my rant and on to the fun.

Carowinds was a blast for the kids. Beth and Caleb rode some crazy roller coasters and had some fun. Caleb was tall enough to add two new coasters to his regimen and Beth was short enough that she didn't have to talk her dad out of making her ride the really scary roller coasters. The look of relief on her face was comic. Jacob was not very brace this trip, but he had fun riding all of the kiddie rides throughout the park, and eating Skittles at the end of the day. He also got a Ninja sword as a souvenir and instantly went into Ninja Assassin mode. He can slink hide, and wield his sword like a pro. His imagination is awesome and half of the time he is playing a game or practicing his moves in his own little world.

Caleb got a ball from Carowinds, and he proved that he has mad ball handling skills as he showed how he can dribble under his leg. He is also an excellent jump roper. He can criss cross, jump really high and do other tricks I could only ever dream of doing. Beth had a grand time with Chloe as always.

Rob and I are both hanging in there being busy and being parents. I wish there were a few more hours in the day so I could fit in everything that I want to. I need to learn to find a better balance in my life.

Take Care!

Spring Break and Easter!

The kids have had a week off from school for Spring Break. Growing up our Spring Break was a day off on Friday, and maybe a day off on Monday. Having the kids off a week in the middle of the year was novel to me, but I like it. Plus it's a good precursor to summer. It helps me get motivated to sign them up for stuff and actually plan so that summer isn't miserable.

Bikes

We got Beth a bike a few years ago, and we've tried several times to teach her to ride. It has never stuck. As soon as she realized you let go, she stop pedaling and fall over. So imagine my consternation when I pick her up from a friend's house on Monday and she's riding her bike. Yes. All it took was a friend saying if you can ride a scooter you can ride a bike, and she was off and going. So Beth learned to ride a bike on Monday.

Caleb told me that he could ride a bike, and I asked him to show me at the same friend's house, but the bike he got on was a bit too big for him, and I thought he was boasting a bit. However, when we got home and took the training wheels off the bike he rode when he was Jacob's age, he hopped on and started riding like he's been riding for years. No one has ever worked with him. He taught himself completely. Wow! We need to get him a bike that fits his size, but it is awesome!

Bruises

Jacob ended up on the losing end of a bike accident and ended up with the biggest black eye ever. The bruise was actually on the side of face just below his temple, but it spread out to his eye and down the side of his face. We've told him that he has a zombie eye, and he seems quite happy with that description. This is our first black eye, and we can add it to our list of stitches and broken arms (and possibly noses). I always tell myself that it is better for my kids to be active and running around with bruises and scrapes then sitting inside doing nothing all day.

Beach

We headed to the beach for the last part of the week. We went with the cousins and grandma. Of course the kids loved it. Lots of time out on the sand and trips into the cold water. It's been cooler than we expected, not quite seventy, which is nice, but it means that the outside heat isn't canceling out the coldness of the water. We did our Easter egg hunt at the beach house on Saturday, and the kids loved it.

Hope you all have a great Easter and take some time to think about the true meaning of it!

Conference Weekend

Spring break started on Friday, which means that I've officially slept in three days in a row. I switched my tutoring to a 10:00 pm to 12:00 am shift which works much better for me. This has been nice. Spring break will be a good chance for me to see if I can keep up my current work schedule with the kids at home. Currently I tutor two hours a night five days a week, I work as a search engine evaluator between ten and twenty hours a week, and I write for two different websites and three different private clients (the amount of writing really varies depending on the client's current needs). It does mean that I haven't been working on my writing the way that I've been wanting to.

So far for Spring break we went to a park, which ended in a nothing fight in the car on the way home. Our last trip to the park, the fight happened in the park. I was embarrassed because other ward members were at the park and they got to witness my children utterly melt down, which came as a shock to me. Normally they are happy when we go to the park.

Yesterday was General Conference, and the kids played conference bingo and did great for the morning session. The afternoon session was okay, but by the end they were going stir crazy, so we went for a walk, and it worked. The boys both fell asleep about an hour after we got home.

Around midnight last night we had a killer thunderstorm blow through. Hail, and wind and some thunder, not much though. We looked outside and tree limbs (more like little branches) were blowing by, so we brought the kids downstairs as a precaution. I'd say we got about an inch of hail. The hail was bigger and there was more of it than when we had the tornado scare last year. I didn't think anything more about the storm once it was over, until this morning when we went out for a walk between conference. The roads are covered in leaves and debris from the hail storm. I think it may have damage a lot of the trees, and any fruit trees may not produce a lot this year.

Conference has been really good so far. Each session has had at least one talk that really hit home with me. I've managed to fight off the sleepy feeling that hits somewhere in the middle, but I don't know if I'll make it through the last session. I'm so grateful that the Internet makes it so much easier to access all of this information and review it.

The kids have grand plans for Spring break, which involve a birthday party for Jacob, reading a book for Beth and playing with water and painting by Caleb. It's going to be a fun week.

Hope you all have a great one!

Mom's Weekend!

This weekend I had the chance to hang out with one of my best college friends, Julie. I twas great to spend the weekend virtually kid free and spend time just talking and reconnecting.

Rob took the kids to Hickory for the weekend where they spent the time going to the movies and launching rockets. Great fun from the few minutes reports that I've heard so far.

A conversation this week:

Jacob: Gudu, axa, rudol
Mom I can speak Spanish
Me: Really what did you just say? Tell me again?
Jacob: I can't I said bad words in Spanish

Spring break is coming up and I know the kids are super excited to get a break. It'll be nice to have them home for a short while. We shall have fun enjoying the weather and other fun stuff!

Take care!

Turning 34

This week was pretty nice. The weather was gorgeous every day, definitely shorts weather, and the kids loved it. The one downside was the time change. Beth told me she hated Benjamin Franklin because of the stupid time change. I ended up driving the kids to school a few times this week as they started adjusting to the different schedules. By the end of the week we had evened it out.

It was my birthday and I got some awesome presents. Beth made me a coupon book with blank coupons I can fill out give to her and she will do whatever I want to with no argument. That is priceless. Caleb gave me the book he spent the last week writing and illustrating, and that is truly priceless. Jacob was worried that he didn't have a present so he found me some stickers and wrapped them up to give them to me. Rob had to work late, but came home with cake and ice cream and did everything he could to make my day special.

My new strategy for sanity it to take the kids to the park after school every day. We might try to do it after dinner. I'm hoping that it will make bedtimes easier to have some exhausted kids at home.

This week was pretty mellow. We stuck around town so I could go hear one of my favorite authors speak. It was fun to hear her stories about writing. While I was gone Rob had the kids outside and Beth feel and scraped herself up really badly. Poor girl. In February she feel on the way to the bus stop and scraped up her face pretty badly. She had scrapes on her forehead, nose and lips. This time she avoided her face, but scraped both elbows and knees and she has a bad bruise and scrape on her belly.

We also walked to the park yesterday morning, but it was kind of muggy and we didn't stay too long. The kids enjoyed it, and when we got home we found the leprechaun had paid us a visit. lots of chocolate all over the house, and some pretty serious pranks. He tied one of the bathroom doors shut. Sneaky little thing.

Rob got some footage of the boys getting ready to go to bed the other night, and I think he might share it. It's cute. Jacob's playing Plant's vs Zombies and Caleb's reading in his bed. Later in the week, Jacob went to sleep holding a copy of Sly Cooper in his arms. We may have a problem with video games and Jacob in the future.

Have a great week!

The Zoo and Skating!

Yesterday was busy! Rob was ancy to get out and do something with the kids. The weather was cool, not too hot, but definitely not cold. Jacket weather, but sunny. So we decided to head for the zoo. We left fairly early in the morning, because we had to get back for the kids school skate party at 5:00.

Highlights of the day:

Jacob making ghosts sounds anytime we went into one of the dark rooms in the zoo.

The chimps getting into a fight over the baby chimp.

The chimps running up and smacking the glass right in front of different people.

Jacob coming up to me at the chimp exhibit and saying "Mom, I never want to leave here."

The chimp that ran around the exhibit screaming at the top of his lungs. Very random.

The lioness standing up, eyeing one particular person and then pouncing at him. She was more than half way up the wall of the enclosure before she went back down. She then paced, while maintaining eye contact with her intended victim. She definitely won the dominant species award in that contest. I wouldn't want to run into a lion alone in a dark alley.

The animals were all very active at the zoo yesterday. Probably our best trip ever. Also we walked the entire zoo. Something I swore I would never do again after the first time we went. It's a different experience when you don't have a baby in sling and you're pushing a stroller with two kids up the hill to the see the animals, and it's not 100 degrees out. It was pleasant and relaxing. The joys of having kids that can finally walk the five miles (Rob said we only walked three, but the zoo guide said the trails were five. Either way it wasn't bad and all three kids did it without being carried!)


Skating

Each year the kids' school hosts a skating party. I usually go by myself with Beth or Beth and Caleb and Rob manages to avoid it. not this year. We drove straight from the zoo to the skating rink. The kids were worried they were going to miss it, and we were only five minutes late.

Highlights:

Watching Caleb go from a non-skater to skating by the end of the night. He kept falling down at the beginning of the night. Like every ten feet. He did some amazing splits, but he would get up and keep going. I took him skating about a year ago, and he was out of his skates in about ten minutes. This year he didn't give up. He's got a really big bruise on his elbow to show how hard he worked.

Seeing Beth really take off and have fun with her friends. She came home with a bruised tailbone and is complaining that it is hard to walk since she did something to her ankle, but she had fun overall.

Jacob skated for about two minutes, took off his skates and played arcade games with me the rest of the night. He was super patient and we danced the hokie pokie and the duck dance together. it's nice to know that I still have somone that's willing to be silly with me in public.

Rob in roller skates. That was fun. He was really shaky at first, but he was fine by the time he took them off. His comment: I stopped skating when my feet hurt so bad I couldn't stand up anymore. He said he could feel the bolts in the skates poking him in his feet.

The rest of the week went by pretty quickly. I've been so busy lately that it's hard to keep up with the housework and everything else. But we are getting by. I'm planning on moving furniture around this week and I get a new book on Tuesday to read. I'm excited about that. I actually found a four leaf clover after looking for one for as long as I could remember. There is this totally awesome patch of clover next to the bus stop and I spend my time in the afternoons sitting on some stranger's lawn and digging though the clover looking for one. It's not quite as bad as it sounds, but I was super excited when I found it.

Caleb wrote a book this week. It's pretty awesome. I'd transcribe it, but I'm feeling lazy right now. It involved a cat, a fox, some dynamite, and eating of other animals. There were some fights and a monster. The best part is the phonetic spelling he did through the whole thing. Actually I think the book is at school right now. He did it on his own at home, not as homework or a school assignment, but he was so proud of it, he took it to school.

Random Quotes from Kids

Beth to Caleb:

I'm not actually jumping on you, just kicking you, so it shouldn't hurt.

Jacob:

I am your grandma. I am your grandma. (Randomly at the zoo in the bathroom, to the tune on this YouTube video I've never seen, but it does disturb me http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfY1lfFu8j8)


I hope you all have a great week! And somehow survive the time change.

Racing the Garbage Truck

This weekend we went down to Hickory for Rob's uncle's funeral. It was nice that Rob got to go and support his aunt and cousins during this difficult time. The kids had a nice trip down and got to play with their cousins for the day, while Rob went to the funeral.

It has been a pretty uneventful week overall. I do have one funny story that I have to share, which is really just humiliating to me. I generally take out the trash on Tuesdays, the night before pick up, but our Tuesday schedule was thrown off, and I didn't feel like doing it that night. I intended on doing it right after I got the kids on the bus.

So we are waiting at the bus stop and I notice that the garbage truck is down the road. But it takes a few minutes for it to sink in that I didn't take out the trash the night before. The bus shows up just as I realize that, I start running home, with Jacob. I've got him by one arm, and he is kind of bouncing a long next to me, and that blasted garbage truck somehow seems to be gaining on us.

So I'm gasping for air, and looking over my shoulder, and I realize I won't make it unless I pick him up and run. So I do that, and I ask him to tell me if it is getting closer, and closer. And it is.

It passes us just as we reach our house. Yes. We missed it, after all that running. Fortunately it was only the recycling truck, and I wouldn't have run for that since our recycling was only partially full and could wait for another pick up.

Here is to frantic running on Wednesday mornings.

ho, hum

This last week really flew by. The kids were out of school for the first two days of the week. Teacher work days scheduled in for snow make up days. This year has been sadly bereft of snow, but we did manage to get some last weekend. It snowed here and in Hickory. We were in Hickory and the kids had a blast running around while it snowed on them and slinging snowballs at each other. Caleb built a snowman all by himself, but the snow wouldn't pack well and there wasn't much of it, so it was about a foot high.

Then by Wednesday is was in the 70s. The boys wore shorts to school, and I didn't feel like a bad mom sending them out the door in the morning either. overall the kids had a fairly good week. Beth had a sleepover, and didn't come too cranky the next day, which was definitely a bonus. Caleb and jacob stayed up late playing video games with Rob, which was great. i got to read an entire novel and not feel the least bit guilty.

We had a great stake conference. I was so edified and inspired by both of the sessions. It was something I really needed to hear. I'm blessed by all the people I have in my life. I have great friends, that I'm not so great at keeping in touch with. This isn't much of an update, and I need to add pictures or something, but I do want to start posting every week. I hope you all have a great week!

A Quiet Weekend

We had a fairly quiet weekend. We went to a ward activity, which we don't normally do, and made valentines for people. Actually the kids ran around the building, and Beth made some valentines, Jacob made one for Caleb, and I cut hearts for a heart attack for people in our ward. It was a pretty mellow activity, but I did get a chance to talk to some people, whom I've not been able to lately.

On Saturday we went and cleaned the church building, and the boys went to a birthday party. I'd been dreading our turn to clean the building, but it wasn't that bad. And we were done in just over an hour. It was satisfying to know that we had helped, even if the kids did end up running crazy by the time we were done. The boys had fun at their birthday party, and Beth read some books. She found a series (Franny K Stein) that she actually likes. I worry that the reading level is a bit young for her, but she is tearing through them. Right now I just want to get her reading.

Caleb is having a tough school year this year. I've got another meeting set up with the teacher, this time about him being bullied. My poor sweet boy. He doesn't stand up for himself, and I'm so tempted to just pull him out of school for the rest of the year. I really wish I could do it. He is losing his spark, and he is so down all of the time. I want him to love learning and it just isn't happening this year.

Jacob is doing well. He's super excited for his Valentine's Day party this year. He has started to love school, and I'm not fighting to get him out the door in the mornings. he is obsessed with video games, and often calls Rob in the afternoon to ask him to come home so he can play Ratchet and Clank, so Jacob can watch. Unfortunately for him, I'm not a video game playin' momma. I'll do board games, but I don't have the skills necessary to jump from spot to spot on the screen.

Rob is hanging in there. There is a lot of change going on at his work, which I think is motivating him to look around at other jobs. But he wants to apply for a good job that he'll be happy at. I'm still keeping busy with writing, and working, and being a mom. Right now I've gota bit of a cold that won't go away. it's not bad yet, and I'm hoping it won't get there.

I hope you all have a good week!

A Little News and a Trip to the Beach

Well, I haven't updated in a long, long time. And a lost has happened in the months since I've posted anything. Everyone's gotten a little bit older, and aged up a year. The holidays are a crazy time with all the kids birthdays tacked onto either side of Christmas, but we managed to make it through the months with everything still in tact.

Beth is ten and growing up so fast. She's funny and happy most of the time, and loves to connect with people. Right now she's absolutely convinced that she wants to be a surgeon, and has begun taking her school work even more seriously as a result. She wants to take Gross Anatomy, the sooner the better, and I think she is really set on it. Right now she still has steady hands, so it's a viable option for her in the future.

Caleb is having a rough run of first grade. He's smart, and is doing well, but doesn't like to sit still or pay attention in class. He's got so much energy, and he likes to go, go go all of the time. I wish the classrooms were set up in a way that allowed boys time to move around more. But overall he is doing really well, and growing up fast.

Jacob is finally ready to start kindergarten. He kept telling me he wasn't going to go, because he didn't want his kindergarten shots. But once we got those over with he is much more open to the idea of going. he loves to play board games with Rob, and he's really good at figuring out puzzle games. He is also officially too big to snuggle up with in my lap while watching as how together. It happened today, and I almost cried. My baby can't be getting too big to snuggle. What will I do?

We haven't had a chance for any real family weekends lately, and we were positively convinced that we needed one yesterday. The plan was to to go to the zoo, since it wasn't going to be too hot, but it ended up being a rainy weekend there, so we drove away from the storm instead and went to the beach. We visited a Fort, looked for ghosts, and hit up an aquarium. Then we took a walk on the beach, since it was too cold to swim, but it was warm enough that we didn't need jackets most of the day. overall it was a great day. Sorry there were no pictures. But the kids did get to touch a moon jellyfish at the aquarium, which was pretty cool, and Jacob is now covered in shark tattoos. He looks like a biker with a shark obsession.

We haven't had much of a winter here. Maybe two or three days when we actually had a day that stayed in the 30s. And my tulips are up and ready to bloom already. The kids and I keep hoping for some crazy winter storm, but I'm almost convinced it isn't going to happen. This will be my first winter ever, with absolutely no winter storms. Talk about weird. The grass is green outside in February, because we've had rain, but no snow, and not enough cold days to warrant getting the winter coats out of the closet. jacket weather all year round is an adjustment for this Utah girl. It's strange not to have at least one day when you can go outside and throw snowballs at each other.

On a side note, I've recently decided to put my first novel up on Amazon, as an e-book. I am excited to share it with everyone, and I'll let you guys know when it is up and ready to go. It's funny because I'd never thought I do something like this, but as I've thought and prayed about my situation, I know absolutely that it's the right thing for this book for right now. Anyway, you can all read it when it comes out, sometime in the next month. I'm aiming for the end of February.