Sleep

Christmas morning:

Doug: Tyler, how did you sleep last night?

Tyler: Terrible.

Doug: Why?

Tyler: I slept with one eye open all night.

Tis the Season . . .

 For Herman the Elf and Jason the Nutcracker to spend a little quality time together.

 For these three to head off to the zoo on Christmas Eve in super frigid temperatures so that mom could get Christmas stuff ready at home. Tiger was extra thrilled about this outing.

 For the kids to wear their animal hat/gloves/scarves that Aunt Sandy sent.

 A bear and leopard?

 A panda?

For Tiger to spend Christmas day in his new Iron Patriot costume and then spend the evening at Grandma and Grandpa's house eating tasty food, opening presents, and playing Apples to Apples. Grandma even got out her teacups for an impromptu hot chocolate tea party. It's been a good season.

5 Things

I am feeling very whiny today. I'm not ready for Christmas, my house needs to be cleaned, I've been eating junk for days and so I don't feel the best, and I am having issues with my thumb. You don't realize how much you use your thumb until it hurts to use it. Plus, It's my right thumb. The one with which I do everything. So, since I am feeling so whiny I have challenged myself to think of 5 things for which I am thankful. Here it goes.

1. Granite counter top. Cooking, and especially making bread, on a granite counter top is heavenly. I can never go back to any other material.  Tis the season for baking you know.

2. The winter solstice has passed. That means the days are going to slowly get longer and that one day my sunshine will return.

3. Tiger has been in a good mood all day. He woke up so cheery and didn't fight at all when it was time to go to church. He was also so proud of himself after church and told me that he focused so good in Primary. Sweet boy.

4. The weather today was delightfully warm and I was able to throw all of the kids outside to play. They kept trying to come back in, but I wouldn't let them because this is the last warm day we are going to have for quite awhile and they needed to get their energy out.

5. A husband who is home from work all this week. I love it when he is home.

Checkin In

It came to my attention today that I have not been blogging. It's true. I have felt a distinct lack of things to say and of things I want to share. Sometimes when life is not going the way you want it to you have to step back a little bit and be thankful for what you have. That's where I'm at. I am trying to focus on the positives of my life, take care of my little family, and just do the things I am supposed to do. I haven't even been taking any pictures, so I don't even have that to fall back on. But, here's what I have been doing.

1. Painting, painting, and more painting. Every inch of my entire house (minus the siding) has now been painted. It has been a year and a half of non-stop painting. Thankfully we are almost done with just a few touch ups to worry about. Apparently I haven't let my children know how much work this has all taken because the other day I noticed distinct markings on my newly painted banister caused by a pair of size 12 jeans sliding down this said banister. When the boy was confronted he nonchalantly stated, "Well, can't you just re-paint it?" I think the fire shooting out of my eyes at him let him know very clearly what I thought of that comment.

2. Lots and lots of time fixing things throughout the house. This, along with the painting, has taken all of our free time and weekends for the last year. I am done. Done, I say!

3. Being overcome with the challenges of raising a couple of kids with ADD, one more so than the other. It is exhausting and it is something that I don't understand at all. My girl is pretty good about it all. She can be pretty easily redirected and she can cope fairly well, at least on most days. My little man on the other hand is not coping well and it is very challenging for all of us right now, but he has always had his challenges and so we are just adding this to the pile and trying our best to help the poor kid out.  After all, it could always be worse and we're very grateful it's not. However,  ADD + Anxiety = Exhausting.

Since we are pretty much done with the house, and we aren't moving right at this moment because it is winter, I am trying to get back to doing the things that I like to do. Hopefully blogging will get thrown in there more often.  We'll see. First I have to get through Christmas. This time of year is insanity.

To end, here are the 5 photos that I have taken in the last 2 months.

 Learning how to knead dough.

 Tiger has a severe dislike for church. Here he is at his baptism preview one Sunday night. I think his face clearly shows how he felt about that.

 "Hey mama, take a picture of me with my Lego guys."

 These brothers are the best and they just love each other so much. Here they are snuggling on the couch and watching a little "Elf".

Halloween 2013

For Halloween this year the kids dressed up as a Roman soldier, an Astronaut, and Flo from the Progressive Insurance commercials. Sadly, Halloween night was not the ideal night for Trick-or-Treating. Although it was fairly mild outside, it was pouring rain but luckily these kids are die hard and nothing was going to stand between them and their candy.

Doug was the man of the night and took them around the neighborhood. They had a great time and came home soaking wet, but loaded with candy. The next night we decided that we just didn't quite get enough on Halloween so we hooked up with some friends and went Trick-or-Treating again in their neighborhood because their neighborhood had postponed Trick-or-Treating on Halloween due to the weather. It was great because the weather was delightful and we had lots of fun with our friends. Plus, I was able to take pictures of the kids outside in their costumes.

Here's Flo. My sister made this apron a couple of years ago for her own costume and she was getting rid of it. As soon as I saw it I just knew that my Woo needed to be Flo. Doesn't she look fabulous?

Sparky has had a phenomenal history teacher this year and he had gotten the kids totally pumped about history. Every day Sparky comes home from school and excitedly tells us all about the ancient adventures that he had learned about that day. That is how he decided on this costume. He has really been enjoying learning about ancient Rome and so he just had to be a Roman soldier for Halloween. He totally pulled it off.

My little man has more costumes than he knows what to do with and so I couldn't really justify buying him a new one. At first I told him that he was just going to have to pick one out of the costume box, but then I remembered that I still had a couple of Sparky's old costumes so I let him pick one of those. He chose the Space costume for Trick-or-Treating. I say he's an astronaut, but he insists that he is the Space Police. Either way, he is cuteness in orange.

After three nights of begging for candy (counting the Trunk or Treat at the church) we found ourselves with quite the load of candy. Never fear, we always put it to good use. Every year I bag it all up and put it in the freezer and then throughout the year we use the candy for movies, lunches, etc. It is awesome and we are definitely stocked for the year.

Shaving

It's important for kids to learn these life skills at an early age. First, the shaving cream is applied. Second, dancing must ensue as well as some manly flexing, because there is a mirror to look into after all.

Next, it's time to pull out the razor and pose for mom because you realized that people were watching you and pictures were being taken. Never fear, he was properly supervised and the guard was on the entire time.

Looking good little man. I am so glad you are no where near needing to do this for real yet.

The ceiling

First of all, popcorn ceiling, ewww. But, see that missing patch of popcorn ceiling? That was a little Mother's Day "gift" to me 8 years ago thanks to a faulty plumping piece in our tub when we gutted our bathroom. We have successfully ignored it for the last 8 years because every option there is to fix it is a huge pain, not to mention expensive. But as we come to the close of our house projects (although still not as close as I would like) this patch of ceiling stares at me and mocks me daily. No one wants to come and patch it for various reasons I have been given, blah, blah, blah. Everyone really just wants to scrape all of the popcorn ceiling off, but that's not an option for multiple reasons. Right now I am thinking of covering it up with ceiling tiles. Still not a great option, but at least one that we could do ourselves. The other problem is that this room is tied into the entire downstairs. There is no stopping point. Whatever we do to this room will have to be done to the entire first floor of our house. All options are expensive and make me cranky, but this is something that can not be ignored anymore.

The other projects that must get finished:
Find roofer to come and fix leak in our garage ceiling
Patch up drywall in garage ceiling
Paint walls in basement
Paint trim in basement
Paint basement bathroom

Once we get these done we will finally be able to put our house on the market. Theoretically.

Fall Soccer 2013

He's in a different league this year, playing against older, bigger boys on a full size field. This season has been a whole different experience for all us and it's been much, much more exciting. Plus, the weather this Fall has been absolutely beautiful which has made the season all that more enjoyable. The only downside has been Sparky's struggle with his asthma. The asthma has been rough as we try to get it figured out and he has had to sit out during games way more than he would have liked, but hopefully we can get it under control so that he's at full force in the Spring.

Sigh

Although I am young and fit and spry in my head, my body has made it clear that it is not. I am no longer 20. Ouch.

Today

1. My annual fall headache is back. I thought it was just a fluke, but after 4 days I think it's here to stay for a while. Blech.

2. Still working on the house. Blech.

3. Last weekend my cute Woo ran a 1 mile warrior run with a few of her friends. They climbed, they crawled, and they got muddy. I was very proud of my girl.

Homework

One of Tiger's homework assignments this week was to read under a tree for 10 minutes. These two kids were more than happy to follow through with that assignment. It is probably the only time I haven't had to fight with Tiger to do his homework.

Today

1. My girl has decided to play the violin. We went to the orchestra meeting last night to learn all about the program and what we needed to do and I realized that I was greatly out of my realm. We are not a musical family, nor do I come from a musical family, but I have great hopes for my girl. She has been wanting to play an instrument for so long and I would love it if she ends up enjoying this path and filling our house with her music.

2. There is nothing sweeter for me than waking my little man up for school each day. I love watching him sleep so peacefully and then giving him kisses on his warm, soft cheeks to gently wake him up. He only sleeps in his underwear and so I tend to give his little shoulders kisses as well. I know I have done my job when he mumbles, "Mama, stop giving me kisses." Then I get to scratch his little back and eventually he sits up and gives me sleepy, floppy hugs. I will miss these moments when he gets older.

3. When I had little babies at home I would always hear women with older kids talk about how hard it was to have older kids. "Yeah, right," I would think as I struggled each day with the chaos and difficulties that come from babies and little ones. And these seasoned moms would say that having little ones was hard, yes, but having older kids was certainly no easier and that it was a different kind of hard. I now understand what these moms meant. It is hard. It is a different kind of hard, a more complicated and emotional kind of hard. I was not prepared this year when school started. I took it for granted that I knew what I was doing and that I didn't really need to do anything or really think about it, but I was wrong. The start of school this year, having a teenager in middle school, my baby in school all day, and my girl getting older, has thrown our family's world into a kind of chaos that I have never known. I feel like we are living each day just trying to figure out how to make it to the next. It is insane. I didn't really recognize any of this until yesterday and so hopefully now that I am aware and have identified what is going on, I can hopefully get a handle on things and bring a little calm to our storm. It is good, though. I like having older kids and I welcome these challenges. It is just going to take some readjusting.

4. My one goal for today is to fold laundry. It has been taunting me for over a week now, but I despise it so much. If I can get the laundry folded, then today will be a success and anything else that I do will just be icing on the cake.

5. Fall is in the air. I both love it and fear it at the same time. It was such a weird summer that I just don't feel like I am ready for Fall, but ready or not, it is coming.

A typical sight

Tiger often climbs into Sparky's bed, sometimes during the day, and sometimes during the night when he needs a little comfort. Sometimes they wrestle, sometimes they snuggle, and sometimes they read. As badly as Sparky wants a room of his own, I know that one day he will miss these special brother moments that come from sharing a room with a little brother.

Daily Life

Here my little man entertains me with a song he entitled "Crusher". "It's about a Gila monster who meets a human." Tiger had been home sick for a couple of days and I was happy to have him up and rejoining normal life.

Today

1. My little man is home sick from school for the second day in a row. Poor little guy, although I think he's on the upswing now which is very happy for all of us.

2. With little man home sick I have been forced to stay home and get some stuff done. Mind you, I'm still not getting the things done that I really need to get done (namely painting and whatnot on the house), but I have been able to do the everyday regular things that I haven't been able to do much of lately (namely cooking and laundry).

3. I am sick and tired of thinking about, talking about, worrying about, and working on my house. Because of this I am missing moments and opportunities all around me and I don't like it. I don't know what the next chapter of our lives has in store, but I am definitely ready for it to begin.

4. I just spent a good half hour or so looking at old pictures on the computer and this has gotten me thinking. First of all, my kids are growing way too fast and it just killed me a little bit inside. Secondly, I realized how much I love looking at pictures of our everyday life. You know, piles of laundry in the background, Tupperware all over the floor, stuff like that. I think I have gotten away from that in the last few years or so because my house is usually a mess or just plain ugly and I never want that side of things to be shown if I am going to post a picture. But, by avoiding those embarrassing things I am not capturing our true life and I think that if I don't change this then I am going to regret it one day. I have never really liked this house a whole lot, but for the past (almost) 11 years it has been our home and our reality and all my kids have known. It deserves to be documented.

5. I have made the goal to take a true to life picture each day. One moment in the day that captures our regular life, piles of laundry and all. Sometimes I will post them, sometimes I won't, but the important thing is for me to take the picture so that my kids and I will remember these days and this life we live.

Birthday Dinner Weekend

Sparky's favorite food is Brats so we invited the family to join us for dinner while Sparky gorged himself on German meats. You know, just trying to embrace our German heritage.

Good times and good food. Well, except for Chad who apparently ate something less than ideal for his "delicate" system and found himself feeling not so well later that night.

The next day was Sparky's actual birthday, which was really a little anti-climatic because he had already received most of his presents the day before and of course we had already had a birthday celebration with the family. However, Grandma had given Sparky his birthday box full of birthday party paraphernalia and so we had to make use of the goods. And we did. We partied to the best of our abilities for a lazy Sunday evening.

Anyone can just blow out their candles, but it takes a smarty pants 13 year old to blow them out with a party blower.

 A few fun facts about him: Besides loving Brats, he also loves fish. He has a 5 gallon fish tank that he has been working on for over a year now and for his birthday we bought him a 20 gallon tank. He is chomping at the bit to get that one set up. He also loves to play soccer and Minecraft. He is a great big brother, a great friend who is kind and accepting of everyone, and pretty delightful to have around. I think we'll keep him.

13

That was then

This is now

I love him.

Happy Birthday!

Love

17 Years

 

It's a super romantic one this year. First, Doug had to go into work early and then proceeded to have meetings all day long and will most likely work a bit late. Then, we'll either work on the house or do something with the kids. Can you feel the romance?

 

Today

1. The kids have been back at school for 3-4 days now and I have to admit that the peaceful day times are delightful. I miss them, but I don't really miss them.

2. It turns out that I don't have a lot of motivation to get moving when there isn't anyone else in the house. There is no one to hold me accountable for the time that I waste. I am hoping that I can change this. At some point something is going to need to get done.

3. I have been having a lot of crazy/disturbing dreams lately. I think my subconscious is trying to tell me that I am stressed and that I am just ignoring it. It's true. I feel like once again we have come to a standstill on working on the house. Life gets in the way and the kids are busy, plus there's the previously mentioned fact that so far I haven't been utilizing my day times very well yet. Must keep the goal in mind.

4. Tiger did great on his first day of school. He was able to pull it together by the time he got to school. He even left his backpack on the bus and I thought for sure that that would send him over the edge again, but it didn't. He was able to run back to the bus and get it and then the rest of the day went very smooth. He came home a very happy boy. He has still had little bouts of anxiety every morning since, but nothing like the first day. It has all been very manageable. Now my only concern is whether or not he is actually eating his lunch each day. I told him today that he had to bring home whatever he didn't eat so that I could see how he is doing. We'll see if he follows through.

5. In three days my Sparky becomes an official teenager. It just kills me.

Here's the video once again of Sparky's special "crawl". I could watch it for hours.

Things that make me go "Hmmmm"

There is a fruit fly that lives in my bathroom. Every day I kill it, but yet every day there is still a fruit fly flying around as if it owns the joint. It is annoying.

First Day of School 2013

 Smarty pants 7th grader on his way to Middle School.

 Delightful 5th grader so excited for a new year.

 Sweet boy of a 1st grader. We knew today would be rough and he tried his very best to keep everything under control. The anxiety was high, the panic was real, but he was determined to beat them both. We offered to drive him to school, but he wasn't having it. He wanted to ride the bus with his friends.

He made sure to have his water bottle to help wash the anxiety down.

 And he did it. So proud of my little man. I am definitely going to miss these guys during the day, but I know this is going to be a great year for all 3 of my little pickles.