We Want To Go To Disneyland Too, Nana and Papa!

Riddles

I told Mike a long time ago he should do a weekly riddle. I thought it would be fun. But he didn't keep up on it so I thought I would try. So, here's the first one. I hadn't heard it so if it's one everyone knows I'm sorry! =)

What common English word will describe a person or thing as not being found in any place and yet with no changes other than a space between syllables, will correctly describe that person or thing as being actually present at this very moment?

Our One Picture

I downloaded our camera from Vegas and I had to laugh, the one picture Mike and I took together is at the M&M factory. And to be honest it was for the girls. But how sad is it that we're in Vegas where we could have taken tons of pictures of us and we get one in the M$M factory!? The only other pictures were of the castle hotel for Emily and the lions for the girls.

I'ave been meaning to do this post since my mom did hers but kept forgetting. So here I go...

1. Vacuuming – Run it through the house hitting the heavy-track areas; or, move most of your furniture to get as much carpet as possible? (I honestly think I'm half and half on this. I don't move the heavy furniture but I do make sure all the big floor toys are up like rocking horses and play chairs.)

2. Milk – Use well past the date on the carton, until it smells funny; or throw it out the day after the date on the carton? (I follow the 7 days rule, and also the smell rule...if it remotely stinks it's out!)

3. Childhood – What do you do as an adult that you weren't allowed as a child? (My parents were pretty easy going so nothing really comes off the top of my head.)

4. Toilet Paper – Roll the paper over the top, or roll it under? (Oh my gosh, this is such a thing for me, I HAVE to have it over the top. It drives me nuts the other way.)

5. Bed-Making – It's made every morning, occasionally, or not at all? (every single morning. And if for some reason I can't get to it all day, (rarely happens) then I'll even make it before bed. I love getting into a made up bed.)

6. Most Hated Household Chore – Cleaning bathrooms; doing laundry; or dusting/vacuuming? (Bathrooms don't bother me one bit. I hate hate hate dusting. My parents used to work in a furniture store and they had Josh and I dust on the weekends. Yuck!).

7. Favorite Type of Vacation – Each day planned out with reservations; or, hit the road and go wherever you end up? (So opposite my mom here. I am horrible at planning vacations I actually don't like to do it. Mike is our planner. He makes all the reservations and looks up local attractions. But we both love to just go places spur of the moment.)

8. Butter – Stored in the fridge, or in the pantry? (On the counter. I like soft butter We did that growing up so that's what I'm used to.)

9. Bathing – Shower or bath; and once or twice daily? (Ditto on my mom's. Shower in the a.m. and bath in the p.m..)

10. Handling Life's Curveballs – When life hands you a big lemon, which way do you tend to handle it: get upset then make lemonade out of the lemons; or smile and make lemon creme pie and figure you may as well enjoy the lemons you were handed? (I think you should ask those around me but with most things I don't typically get over upset about things. I try not to let it get to me, it is what it is, you can't change it so you might as well move on!)

It would be fun to hear from other people what they say. I think it's a great way to learn something new about other people.

Crazy Vegas People

When in Vegas, I found you saw and heard many weird things from people. The first one happened for me in the elevator when I was getting Mike and myself breakfast. It was just an older lady and myself heading to the lobby and she turns to me and asks...

"Did you see the snow on the mountains this morning?"

Me: "Yes, it's beautiful. It's definitly a very nice day outside?"

The lady, with a look of total confusion: "Is it, I didn't look outside."

She then turned away from me looking like I totally missed the point of her comment. I was so confused. How do you look at the mountains without looking outside?

The second time was way funnier. We were walking the strip towards Bally to watch the Price is Right and if you've never been to Vegas, they hand out cards for, how shall I say it, naked girls looking to "hook up" every 5 feet. Well, we've never actually seen someone take one, until Saturday. The lady directly in front of us took one from every guy passing them out. We hear her mumble to herself as shes sorting them like trading cards, "oh, I have that one already, oh that's a new one..." Mike and I look at each other like, "are you seeing this?" and Mike asks her if she likes those. LOL! This was her hilarious answer, (and by the way she's probably in her early 40's), "No, I'm collecting them for my brother in law as a gift for when I get back home." Mike and I bust up laughing, there was no restraint to get past her before we laugh. Honestly, that was the best thing all weekend. What must her sister in law think of her collecting nude pictures for her husband? Do you think she'll gift wrap them? I wish I had my camera playing during that conversation! Mike said maybe he should collect some for Josh!

Bucket Of Water

Today was another whirlwind day. I was super busy all day. After school, I picked up Tessa from Jed's and they came home and had a blast doing valentines for their classmates and homework. Tessa stayed for dinner and then womens group. Well, tonight I under estimated how wound up having a friend over all evening and left on your own can cause Emily to be.

After we got the bedroom all cleaned up, I turned out the light, and Ally asked for water. So I took her sippy cup to fill it up when Em then wanted some. I knew they would fight over it, both being tired, so I made Em use a dixie cup in the bathroom and firmly told her to hurry up and get into bed. This was one of the many excuses to get up. Well, next thing I know, Ally comes out and calmly informs me that she's wet, Emily had thrown water on her. I'm thinking little dixie cup here. I turn on the light, and realize that there had been a bucket we had bought for easter last year in the bathroom and Emily had put quite a bit of water in it and threw it on Ally and her bed. WHAT WAS SHE THINKING????

I was so mad, so frustrated at her that I was completly speechless. I literally had no words. It sounded so stupid to say, "don't throw water on your sister." DUH! No brainer here! Honestly, I could have wrung her neck. I asked her why she did this, (not that it mattered). I got answers like, "I don't know" and "It was a joke" and "It was an accident". Yeah, an accident. You accidently put water in a bucket, carried it in the room and whooops, sorry sis! I would love to have thrown water on her and make her stay in bed all night like that but it was so cold it was snowing outside, so not exactly the best time. There really wasn't a good punishment for this crime. So tomorrow night we'll be trying to learn the correct way to go to bed, only quite a bit earlier.

Sanity returns in two days, or should I say, insanity goes to someone else in two days! Thanks mom and dad!

Ahhhh, Monday!

Today was one of those days that wasn't over busy, wasn't bad, wasn't good, wasn't great....just kind of weird. One of those Mondays where I'm tired. Mike is gone and I woke up at quarter to six and couldn't go back to sleep. Something I don't think would have been a problem if he had been there.

The pre-school morning went well, especially since I was up so early I was completely ready before the girls even got up. It's so nice as a mom to get ready without saying NO 100 times because they're getting into your makeup, hair stuff, cleaners under the counter, ect. Anyway I got Emily to school and came home long enough to have a quick conversation with Mike. Then it was back to Emily's school to put in my hour and a half at center time...and of course there was a sub today. I'm sure she loved seeing me walk in with 2 kids in tow!

The project with the kids was fun but it involved pretzels. And I had to tell the kids not to eat them, but how do you convince your one year old she can't have them? It wasn't pretty! She finally did manage to sneak some in between group changes. Afterwards, I'm always tense and a little stressed with the busyness of the school kids and keeping my kids out of, well, everything! So I wisked them home to feed them and put them down because, since Mike is gone, I have to pick Emily up and go to the doctor for Rylees 2:30 18 mo. checkup. What the heck was I thinking setting a 2:30? I must have lost my mind!

So we leave just in time to pick emily up and as I walk in I notice she is looking like she's trying not to get upset on the rug with the other kids. Sure enough, as soon as she see's me she bursts into tears, not like Emily. So she rushes over to me and I ask what's wrong. She tells me she doesn't know. Her face is bright red and I can tell she's embarrassed about crying. Turns out that the substitute had used these weeble type animals to keep the kids in line. She put them around to room to "look" for good behavior and then drew names at the end of the day for who got to take them home. Well, Em's name didn't get drawn and she was heartbroken! So we rush out, me trying to comfort her but get home in time to get a new shirt because Em managed to somehow cut a hole in the middle of her shirt, oh and get half her lunch on it too.

We make it to the doctor and the nurse opens the door and calls for Rylee. Rylee immediately starts hysterically crying. She remembered that this nurse gave her shots last time and is trying her darndest to not go back there. I scoop her up and try to put her down on the scale to be weighed....yeah right! She clings to me, I can't get her off of me and make her stand still...so she and I got weighed together. Which means I have to put her down to weigh myself so we can subtract the two numbers. As soon as I put her down she runs off to leave, and almost made it out the door. And measuring her height almost didn't happen either. She was really not wanting to be there. She calmed for the doctor as usual and then freaked out again when the nurse came back in the end to give her the shots. Luckily, as soon as she was done and I said, "All done" she was totally fine. Checking out with 3 kiddos is hard enough without adding loud crying on top of it.

After all that, we find out that Rylee is healthy, no kidding! She weighs 21 lbs even and was 32 inches long. ( I know I always give those numbers but they're for me for later too!).

All in all, it was a tiring day. It's 4:30, the time of day when I start the countdown to Mike getting home. But there's no countdown today. Mike won't be here tonight. It's sad. I already miss him. I hope he's having fun, but I wish he were here to! Thankfully I can have a countdown tonight as Jenn promised ice cream and Chuck together tonight! What a friend!

Hats

Wednesday is my day to watch Jack and Bella. The first thing Jack and Rylee did was start putting on hats. They both would wear a hat, then switch, then go get new hats and repeat that process. Funny enough, the only one to wear the crown though was Jack. Rylee wasn't interested in that one at all. And at least Jack wore the pink hat backwords, looking a little more cool! My personal favorites were Jack with the pink hat backwards and Rylee in the cowgirl hat. And if you ask my parents, I would usually NEVER think a cowboy hat looks good on anyone. Soooo not a country girl.

This and That

Mike an I instant message throughout the day instead of calling one another. That way we can respond when we have the time. Yesterday we were both busy so it was slow going in our conversation. So yesterday, I told Mike we should really decide how we want to use some rewards money that we've earned on a card. We had it narrowed down to Sears cards for a new television for the loft or food type gift cards, applebees and such. As we're instant messaging the last thing I wrote was, "we really need to order those gift cards." When I came back, here was Mike's response and lo and behold, my response...

Mike: Do you want Sears or Food?
Jamie: Food
Mike: Are you sure? sidenote (Last he talked to me I wanted Sears)
Jamie: Yes

As I'm reading this, I'm so confused. I didn't write that??!! Emily was sitting on the chair behind me with Ally reading her a book. She, as calm as day, says, "I wrote that." I bust up laughing because Mike totally thinks it's me and is going to order a ton of cards I don't want. I rush to the phone and call him, thankfully he didn't order the cards! This wasn't the first time she had conversations with people. The other day Mike walked away after typing with his brother and Emily got on and asked him, "woodyoulikeacoffy" aka if you can't read Em's spelling...would you like a coffee? I ask Mike that all of the time.

On to Ally...she has somehow gotten her name and Rylee's name confused. Rylee is now Ryleeson. Mike gets a kick out of that and of me trying to correct her all the time. So now, we're all jamieson, emilyson, and ryleeson to him. Lovely!

And for myself...I got my invisalign braces on today. You really can't see them that much so that's good. BUT, they are incredibly hard to get off so it's a need to eat basis from now on! The assistant told me it would get easier, I hope she's correct. I'm also bummed because I love sodas and I can't just drink them whenever anymore. She said water is the only thing with my retainers on. She said the acid from anything else gets caught in there and isn't good for the enamel. So I'm down to water and the neccessary 3 meals a day! I also have to brush everytime before I put them back in. So I'll be looking skinny and have great white teeth when I'm done...good deal I guess! But they aren't super comfy right now. In the back of my mind I keep thinking that I can't wait until bedtime when I can take them off. I wish, they'll be on 24/7 till I'm done!

Datenight

Last week was a pretty busy week again. Mike had 2 important lunches...Wednesday with his boss and his bosses boss, recognizing his achievments and then Thursday in Sacramento was a rewards lunch with about 30-40 other agents. So when he's gone a lot from work for things like that we don't really see him the other hours of the day because he's at work. Add working out every evening when he gets home, and it's been a lot of me and the girls! So, Mike surprised me and took me out to the , not so new anymore, Rivers restaurant. It was amazing! He wore a suit, and it wasn't even Valentines Day! And I wore a red dress I bought for Valentines day last year but didn't wear. We were pretty dressed up! We got a bottle of wine, something we've never done and it was so good. We then got a seafood appetizer with shrimp, crab and prawns. Then I got an angel hair shrimp carbonara. It was amazing! So so good. I'm not sure I would want to order anything else if we went again, it was that good. I would love to have the recipe. Mike ordered the lamb and gave me a taste. I don't like lamb but he really enjoyed it! We then topped it off, although I'm not sure how, with dessert. I got the very yummy choc. trio!

Mike even had flowers delivered earlier that day. Red, white and pink Tulips. They're cut down pretty small in this photo as they were starting to fall, but they're still really pretty.

We had an amazing time. Thanks, honey for spoiling me that night! I love that you care enough to take time to plan fun nights for us, even when you're swamped at work!

And afterwards, well...it was super romantic...we put on pajamas aaaannnndddd...picked up Emily and Tessa from AWANA!

What Joel and Leslie REALLY did on vacation...

On Sunday, before leaving, Joel and Leslie made one last check that they had everything they needed. As they get in the car they realize that they forgot their traditional hymns CD. How can they go on a trip without old favorites like "Nothing But The Blood" and "Oh Come Thy Fount"? Laughing at their near disaster, Leslie runs back in the house to grab it out of their CD player. Joel and Leslie take off on their long trip singing "To God Be The Glory" and anxiously await their arrival to their retreat.

Upon arriving and checking in, they receive their welcome packet that includes their scheduled events for the week. They are excited to see fun things like fishing and games, and horseback riding. Leslie has always wanted to go horseback riding, her only concern is the ankle length skirt that she feels is appropriate for a strong baptist wife to wear, but she figures she can side saddle it. Unfortunately, they are distraught to find out that tonights event is karaoke and dancing. Knowing that dancing is not a reverent activity, they choose instead to stay in their rooms and pray for the pastors and their wives who are participating, hoping they will turn from their evil ways. After a half hour bowing on their knees in front of their bed, they realize the late hour...8:30 and decide to turn in...to their twin beds. It's much more appropriate.

The next day sees Joel and Leslie beginning their day getting ready to their beloved hymns again, this time their favorite...Blessed Assurance!
They are excited to see that today is horseback riding. They excitedly make their way down to breakfast. After eating they take off to the stables. Unfortunately, they don't have side saddles...no one told them it wasn't 1845 anymore. So Leslie, not wanting to disappoint Joel, mounts her horse. The ride loses its charm because Leslie feels she is showing way too much skin, her skirt doesn't cover her calves and ankles! But she's reminded of her favorite verse since becoming married...Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord...It calmes her and she's able to enjoy the rest of their ride.

After riding, they were hungry so they made their way to lunch. After serving Joel his food, Leslie then sits down to her own food. She gets a little teary because she misses Zach, but quickly puts herself together and moves on.

The next few days follow a similar pattern. They love their outdoor time and the fellowship of collegues who understand what it's like to lead a church. They find that they are a little more wordly than Joel and Leslie. They like to do things like take naps, laugh, sing, dance...and someone mentioned missing a TV show, can you imagine? They actually watch TV back home. Joel and Leslie decide to kneel in front of their twin beds and pray for their fellow pastors and their wives again and to remember the verse..."judge not lest ye be judged". And are able to move on happily.
The last morning is the morning they've been looking forward to the most. It's a morning filled with devotion and prayer. Unfortunately they are confused when the head pastor begins reading the Bible. They are having trouble following his reading. And then it dawns on them, he's reading from the NIV! They are used to the Hebrew Bible or at the very least the King James version. There are no thee's or thou's in there at all. Joel and Leslie come away feeling sad and empty. But, Joel was able to understand the references the pastor read so they hurried to their rooms and looked up all the verses. As understanding dawned on them, they happily packed their bags, refreshed from their devotion, all the while singing "Sweet Hour Of Prayer". As they get in their car, so ready to go see Zach, their beloved CD finally burns out after hours of use. Leslie, starts to softly cry, but Joel comes to the rescue and pulls out Bill Gaithers latest CD! They travel happily all the way to Redding.

A Day At The Park

Jenn and I figured today was a little chilly but would still be nice enough to go to the park. We didn't factor in the wind chill though. The kids had fun but Rylee and Ally didn't enjoy being cold so we didn't stay overly long. But I was able to get a few cute pictures of Bella and Ally, who played together the entire time, and Tessa and Emily. Rylee wouldn't get down to play for very long so there's no cute pictures of Jack and her.

The car picture is after the park. Jenn invited us to come over to play so the kids could go outside if they wanted to and those who didn't like the cold wouldn't freeze. Of course all the kids wanted to ride together so I had, (from back to front), Ally, Bella, Rylee, Tessa, and Emily all in my car. I had to get a picture of all of those kids sitting back there. It was a lot of fun!

So Jenn, seeing as you'll have every other Friday off, don't plan anything...those Fridays are play days with your friend!

Why I'm Glad Jenn Had a Boy!

It's officially happened, we now have four girls BEGGING got come over to each others houses. And I mean begging! It used to be just Tessa and Emily but lately Bella and Ally have been conspiring to come to each others houses. Today, Jenn watched Ally and Rylee while I helped at Em's school. And when I went to leave after picking them up, Bella went flying down the hall to get her shoes because she was coming with us. Ally, who was all for that, was already telling me that they would sit together in the back of the car. So Bella got to come over and play with Ally this afternoon. They really do play well together!


And that wasn't a first. Last Thursday I picked up Tessa to come over to dinner before AWANA and poor Bella was heartbroken when she couldn't come, so much so that her mom and dad took pity on her and took her to ice cream. So in closing...THANK YOU, Jenn and Jed, for having a little boy. I can't imagine 6 children begging to come over each and every time! It's too heartbreaking not being able to say yes all that often!

Haircuts

I have been growing out Ally's hair because she has a lot of natural wave that's annoying and I thought that the longer it got the heavier it would get and it would naturally straiten out. Not the case. It's been so annoying to keep looking nice and it never does. So, we decided to cut it and give back the bangs...she looks sooo much better. And for a change we cut Em's too but decided to not cut bangs. Her's are all grown out and I probably won't ever cut them until she's old enough to decide for herself.

The Substitute Mommy

When Emily was little I read to her a lot. It was one of the things I was most excited to do when I was pregnant with her. I love books and couldn't wait to read to her. But, having Rylee and Ally so close, they haven't gotten my attention as much where reading is concerned. And I've always regretted it, (see post below where I'm corrupting their minds by not reading to them! =). But that is all solved now. Emily, who also loves to read, is always tucked away somewhere, reading to Ally. And they both really enjoy it. This morning it was on the couch with a Dora The Explorer book. At bedtime, when I'm feeling frazzled but it's not quite time to put them down, I tell them they can read on their beds and everytime Ally climbs up with Emily so she can be read to. It's really sweet.

So there is hope for Ally being a reader too...thanks to her big sister!

A Second Chance Please!

Mike and I have stuck through this last season of ER on tv, I don't really know of anyone else who watches it. Well, last nights episode had 3 alternate endings, basically the same day 3 time 15 minutes each during the show. It was showing how little things she said or did changed the course of her day and 2 patients days.

It got me thinking about all the choices I make for my kids, big and small. I'm a natural born worry wart! Add the typical mommy guilt and it makes for a bad package most of the time. Sometimes it seems that I'm always stressing about what choices I'm making for my kids now...am I reading to them enough, are they getting their spiritual nourishment, am I making sure their teeth are cleaned well enough and often enough, is my disipline helping them to become strong independent God fearing kids or am I not even reaching them? Do I push Emily too much, Ally not enough? Are we too strict, not strict enough? Are we setting bad food habits? When should we get them involved in extra activies like sports, it's important, isn't it? Am I playing with them enough, or am I creating dependent kids?

I could go on and on and on. Does anyone ever feel this way? Like every choice we make is going to drastically change their future, good or bad. Sometimes I definitly wish I had made a different decision and wish I could go back.

But in thinking about it, I forget that God has a hand in everything. That I need to give my kids back to God and let Him lead them and Mike and I in parenting and directing them through life. And truly, worry is a sin. In worrying about making the right choices all the time, it is actually causing me to stumble. It's so hard though, not to be in control. It was hard for me to send Emily off to preschool last year. Not so much because she was growing up and I was sad, but because I couldn't control her actions anymore. I had spent 4.5 years of her life stopping bad behavior, feeding her, telling her what activities we were doing, ect. She had to stand on her own and hopefully the work we had put into her would pay off.

I don't really know why I'm blogging this, I may delete it later, but it was on my mind and I wondered to what extent other parents, or maybe more specifically, those worrying moms out there, thought about this? Do you agree to some extent? Not at all? Wholeheartedly?

Sickness

2009 was supposed to be the year of health since 2008 seemed to be our year to catch everything. But it so far hasn't played out that way. Rylee is down with another cold, running fevers all day, falling asleep off and on, only wanting to cuddle. She's congested and miserable. Em stayed home yesterday with it and Ally's been fighting it but I think it's starting to claim her too.

Even though I have been busy sitting holding Rylee, (who doesn't want down for a minute), I did manage to snap a few pictures of Rylee doing what she does best when she's sick...sleep, even in unusual places like the floor.

So Much For That

In an earlier post, I showed you a picture of Rylee's Santa gift. The riding train that she loved to ride on. Well, I figure that was just a scam to make us believe she would use it correctly. As soon as we turn around, she's using it for her own gain.

I put up the hungry hungry hippos game today so she couldn't get into it while I finished on the computer. Next then I know I see her pushing her train down the hall, parking it in front of the desk, climbing on the seat then the steering wheel so she can reach the game. She does this all the time with things she wants.

It's really become a big problem. She's forever dragging that thing around to reach whatever she wants. I finally put it up in her closet. I figure if she isn't going to ride it, then she doesn't need it. We'll make it an outside toy. I know she'll just push over something esle now, but maybe I'll have a day or two before she figures out what that may be. One can only hope!

It is winter, isn't it?

I know most people think I'm probably crazy...but this weather is depressing! I want it to rain or be really cloudy or something that feels like winter! I know I'll probably enjoy the weather but I definitly wouldn't mind the real winter weather to come back! Does anyone else feel that way?

This morning Emily was the last of the three girls to get into the bathtub. Rylee and Ally were already in and playing with their toys when I told her to get it. For Christmas, they got all new bath toys so there are a lot of fun things they want to play with and one or two that they really want.

So as Em is getting in, I hear her ask Ally for the toy she has. It's this turtle that is a sprinkler. Ally, of course, says no. So in Em's sweetest mommy voice, she proceeds to tell her this...

"Ally, you need to share because that is the kind thing to do and God wants us to be kind Ally. God tells us we have to be kind and share, that's what he says. So you should be kind, Ally, and share that toy with sissy."

I thought it was so funny. Pulling all the stops out to get what she wants. I've never heard her give herself that lecture before!