Feeling Great in 2008

So this is my own cheesy slogan for the list of things I have planned for this new year. My resolutions this year will be stretched out over a the 52 weeks of 2008. Each is a baby step, but I am hoping (and praying) by the end of the year at least a few will have stuck, and I will have developed some knew good habits. I will try to post each new one as I start it each week. I don't think any of them are too scary to share, but i can't say for certain. Some are physical, some spiritual, emotional, and others are just good habits to have. Feel free to ask me how I am doing with them; I welcome the encouragement. Stay at home moms don't get a lot of that. I will list my first few for January. I have already started them, and so far, I am doing pretty well.

January
Week 1- Night Routine and in bed by 10:30
wash face & FLOSS
Week 2- Bible and Prayer each morning, clean up bathroom before leaving it
Week 3- Morning routine & up by 7am
wash face & get dressed to my shoes and makeup
Week 4- Exercise 20 mins on treadmill 3x/wk. & drink at least 1 cup of water each day.

I know these all seem easy, but so far I have been challenged. I am working on not being so rebellious against doing what I know I should be doing. So each of these steps, while simple, have caused me to remember I am not invincible and I need to take care of ME. I do a lot of caring for others- mostly short people. This year is all about me.

What I wouldn't give

What I wouldn't give for a neighborhood elementary school that didn't suck. This morning I awoke at 6:45 to snow covering our streets. So much so, I can't tell where the side walk ends and the street begins. These are not good driving conditions, clearly. Because there is still a feud over who we belong to (Cold Springs apparently tried to become its own town because apparently we have our own ideas @@. whatever.) we are the forgotten streets when it comes to snow plowing, even though we usually get the most snow. With my daughter's school being near the church, they see no need to have a delayed start. Why would they? So I am here now, needing to have left 25 minutes ago to get Isabelle to school on time. I tried checking to see if we were on a delayed start, but there was no news anywhere: not on the radio, not on the school or district website, and not at the school as we have to leave 15 minutes before they open to get there on time. All of this information makes me sigh repeatedly throughout my day. By the time I got in touch with anyone, we were too late to leave to be on time anyway, so I now have to wait until The Man comes home with his giant snow tires and five feet of clearance before I can leave to take her. Who am I kidding? I am totally going to offer him favors in hopes that he will take her.
My point really, is I hate that we have to be zoned for possibly the worst school in our school district. One of the only over crowded elementary schools, one of the only elementary schools to have reported confiscated weapons, and one of the only schools in the district that has less than 1% black students. Call me crazy, but I am not interested in my children attending an all white school. And before you remind me of the Hispanic and Latino population, they don't really exist up here either. If I were a stranger looking in, I would guess Cold Springs is code for "Mormon Commune." The only people I know that have two or less kids, have just started and have plans for more! We are the norm up here. Plus, we never get those missionaries at our door. They must think we are already converted. Or they still have my name in their black book of homeowners that made a missionary cry. Seriously, one guy was so exasperated with me he put his head in his hands and leaned heavily against my house. I asked if I could pray for him and he threw his hands up and said sure. Apparently I was not getting his purpose. Good times.

Funnies from the Archives

I love finding lost funniness. While unpacking the past few weeks, I have come across a lot of memories. The following is a journal entry from sometime around 2004.

"Mommy! I have to go potty!" Eli said, holding out the "o" in potty. I jump to my feet to reassure my two year old that I think potty training this instant is as important as he does. Even though in my mind my eyes are rolling, my arms and legs are suddenly 40lbs. each, and I just know this is going to be another false alarm. Sigh "RUN! RUN! RUN!"
I swoop him into my arms and onto the potty. My bathroom is the closest so that is where he lands. This means I have to use his bathroom because of course the second he sits down, the dam on my bladder releases so that my Dr. Pepper is knocking at my downstairs door.

"I have to go potty, too. DON'T get up." I try to say this last part slowly so he recognizes I think this part is important, but watching his reaction, I don't think he has heard me at all.

I run to the kids' bathroom. The whole time I am gone, scenarios of what I may meet when I return stream through my mind: a puddle of pee, little brown streaks smeared across the toilet seats, or a mound of toilet paper quickly turning to cement at the bottom of the toilet.

I return to Eli standing in front of my toilet in his oversized jammy tee shirt. He is using one hand to grab at the side of his shirt; the other hand is reaching under his shirt in desparation. Eli furrows his brow, really grimacing.

"OUCH Mommy! Take it off. I can't get it off."

"Son, what are you doing? Did you go potty?"

"OW!! GET IT OFF! I DON'T LIKE IT!"

Once I get a little closer, I realize Eli has adhered one of my pantyliners to his entire naked nether region, front to back. After a very brave minute and a whimper and a tear from him, i am able to peeeeel it off.

"Son, don't touch mommy's things."

"oh" he says in true suprise, "these are your things?"

As I lean in to hug him, he reveals his other arm is nicely lined with a super absorbant, extra strength, maxi pad with wings.

Awesome.

Quick Funnies from Pearl the Squirrel (aka Addison)

First, this picture is of me wiping her nose with the inside of her shirt. She is three; this works for now lol. Again, I love that my photographer Jessica the Speckled Bird included this in my photo shoot proofs. Crack me up.
Funny #1
me: whoa! What was that noise?
Addie: my butt.
me: ew! What is going on over there?
Addie: it was my butt freak show. (Please know she was not calling me a name but naming her experience.)

Funny #2
ring ring- my cell phone rings to the sound of Kiss Me by Sixpence None the Richer when The Man calls me.
Addison: MYYYY HOTLIPS!!!!! (at the top of her lungs as she dives for the phone)

Funny #3
Addie: EW! UGH!! ARGH!! GROSS!!! MOOOOMMMYY!!!
me: what.
Addie: I went PUKE in the toilet. Come wipe my butt!! Don't smell in here; it is a-sgusting.

Ah the joys of mothering.

Pennies in my Pocket

This is more for the ladies than the mens, but I just love this website. Okay, she is my friend, but she just seems to have a nose for great deals. She is running a blog series of "Redecorate in 2008" that showcases super great decorating deals and ideas. Plus, she does weekly giveaways. These freebies are nothing to snerk at. My favorite was the free National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation on dvd. I have completely worn out my copy on VHS (VHS what the heck is that?) No fear; my new BFF sent it to me just before Christmas. I love her.
Anyway, today's giveaway is a set of ten really great gift bags from PennyLane Papers. Don't worry if you don't win the giveaway though! They are normally priced at only a buck a piece! WHAT!?? That is unheard of. Seriously they are great. Check out the Pennies in my Pocket website by clicking on the link over there>. Look for the pennies.

AND ACTION!

Yesterday was a hit. I was a little anxious about living life's new schedule with so many new factors. I enjoy change, but mostly when it is my idea and because I say so. This past year was one of those "totally out of my hands" years. I am happy to report that having babies wasn't one of the big events for last year, but we now have a preschool aged squirrel and a fish-faced toddler running rampant while we attempt to homeschool (with Isabelle in public school) and The Man finding his place amid the chaos of our daytime home. He really hasn't ever had a good glimpse of what we do here. He peeked in periodically yesterday but mostly kept his distance. He has to feel a little on the outside. We have had this giant rolling ball of homeschooling in progress for four years without his involvement. Any time he was off work, there was a holiday to celebrate, a weekend to enjoy, or a baby being born so we had a school break.
So, now we are on day two and The Man has left early to drop Isabelle off at school. If this is the only good change that comes from it all, I will be satisfied. Off to school..

So close to sanity

To all you loverly people who made the past few weeks easier, thank you thank you thank you so very much. God will bless you richly. We are finally in our new home...that we own. YAY. Now we are working on getting unpacked and settled in to our new house, new careers, and new neighborhood. This morning the kids and I enjoyed the warmer weather by running amok in the cul-de-sac, roller blading (yes I did it too), riding bikes, and plugging our ears when the potty mouthed construction workers started speaking. Overall, we are loving the new house. All are welcome to visit, but we are planning a house warming party near February the beginning. See you all soon.

AND the lucky lady is..

LOLITA!!! Thanks to all of you who emailed, called, and posted your willingness to help with the babies. Lolita has agreed to keep them. I love her. I love many of you as well, but especially her right now. Still coveting your prayers for the rest of this week. My family should get here some time today, our last minute paperwork (because mortgage companies think I work on Santa's magical North Pole time) is due today and is in fax transition land and out of my hands, our walk through is scheduled for tomorrow, and graduation is Friday. Lastly, we are supposed to find magical Santa time to sign papers so our house will record before Friday at five. Did I miss anything? Oh yes, for the last week, I have been enduring a very special kidney infection. Ow. Specific prayers recommended.

NEEDED WANTED DESPERATE...well not THAT desperate

We are in need of a willing heart to keep our two littlest Brewers Friday from about 12-3 so I can attend my husband's graduation. I have made a zillion calls but no luck. I should add, we are money challenged so this can not be a paid position. Please Please Please, we are desperate. Thanks friends.

Seven Days and Counting...

Things I still have left to do in order to prepare for next week (aka Christmas, The Man's graduation, Moving Day):

Pack my entire house
find more tape to close boxes
finish two quilts
wrap friends' presents
make a "NEEDS" box full of toilet paper, bath towels, toothbrushes, blankets, and other immediate needs for our first night in the new house
clean house for Mom-in-law's visit
shop for The Man's graduation dinner
pick up last minute presents
pick up movie Isabelle's teacher borrowed
put together Elijah's tether ball pole (sweet)
put together Isabelle's basketball hoop
return library books
return red box movie..late as usual
set up utilities and other needs for new house
break the news to our landlords; we are not buying this house
give our 30 day notice to our landlords
find something to wear to graduation
write a 1250 word paper with my study team
write a 1500 individual paper on business ethics
another assignment too boring to describe
send out remainder of our Christmas cards
drop off presents to friends leaving town
sign papers at escrow office
find out if the papers we received in the mail are an attempt to steal my identity (seriously..they are very fishy and no one knows anything about them)
watch a hundred or so Christmas movies, some repeatedly
read about five more books of the bible to finish my reading plan before the start of the new year
wrap presents for five children (yikes)
find something for each of my children to wear to graduation
find a babysitter for the babies during graduation (any takers? Friday from 12-4)
and somehow manage to enjoy the peace that is the reason for this season.
I am going back to bed.

Welcome to our new maxi pad...

"..you know with the new dry weave, I hear it actually pulls moisture away from the skin." (Steve Zahn, Reality Bites)

This is a picture of the model of our house. Everything is the same except they agreed to paint my door red and our paint color is a little tanner. So pretty! We are having a housewarming sometime in February. As long as we really get the house! There is a little threat with verifying funds. God is bigger than that little boogie man. But feel free to continue praying for us.

You know what makes me tired?

Repeating myself. I expect it with my children, but lately there has been just too much of it. Like just now, I told my son to get out from behind my couch. Rather than just listening, he has to give me reasons why it is great back there. Because I don't actually care, I yell for him to get out. Also, those of you who thought the twos were terrible never had a three year old. Addison is just a couple weeks from this special age and is testing everything. I am tired of follow through. I need a nap.
Lately, I have had to say the same thing to my dog over and over and over. Apparently he feels we shouldn't leave each morning to take Isabelle to school. It seems to cause him stress, so he has taken to chewing on little things he finds in the house. Today he actually pulled an heirloom ornament off of my tree. I could have killed him. Instead I scolded him and made him go outside. His little tail between his knees was sad, but I was strong.
In addition to my usually tiresome repetition, I have had to pete and repeat everything to keep up communication between everyone involved with our house.
Lastly, trying to organize a celebration dinner is stressful when there are so many people involved and so much other stuff going on. Clearly there is a lot of repetition involved.
Sooo, if you ask me a question, just stick around long enough to hear the answer or things may get scary for you.

I hate finances

My sister said earlier that "this stuff" only happens to me, but that just can't be true. Many of you know I am a proud student at the University of Phoenix (please pronounce Pah-ho-nicks). Many of you also know that I rely completely on scholarships and financial aid. I applied for my financial aid at the start of my second year on the recommendation of my financial counselor-you know, the lady who knows everything about my school's finance protocol. Well, apparently not because I did just what she said and instead of sending me more money that I was assured I qualified for, they sent a smooth four grand less. Um..what was that?! Broke Lady say WHAT?! I contacted them as soon as I noticed, and they seriously were trying to act like it was too much work to fix a mistake they made! Because I am not above inflicting physical pain -or calling at all hours repeatedly- they finally are moving on this issue. Of course one problem led to another when this all started, and it cause everyone to be involved. Sigh. Let's just all pray they give me permission to use the Pell Grant this year. I cannot handle or afford to take out a loan to pay for the rest of this year. And, as much as I gripe about the stresses of my life, I am not ready to drop out of school. I am, however, ready to be the recipient of any of your generous scholarship donations. I have no pride in this area.

Hey guess what..

We bought a house :D And now, in all my free time, I am trying to envision my new decor. I have decided it should be all about the trees. Here are a few that I found that I really love.

Seriously LOVE this one

Cozy

Cute for the girls' room

I found a great sheet of scrapbook paper covered in trees. I haven't been able to find an image of it, but I bought it to use as a background for a family recipe page I planned to hang in my kitchen. The trees are so retro and I think I want to paint them down my hallway, floor to ceiling, in a row. It can be scary to know you are reading my thought process right now, but in my mind my hallway will be very cool!
Anyhoo, Moses, Jessica, Denae, Chris of Chris and Natalie that I don't know so well but I hear you are a great artist, you people can't hide from me. I need you.

Anyone who has any sweet drawing skills and a little bit of free time is encouraged to gimme a call. I would love to pick your brain. I think I could actually paint something as long as someone else drew the sketch first. I dunno. A little scary to just start painting on your wall, but I just love what these murals add to the rooms.

A Day of Thanks

Thanks-

-to my husband for just being my husband
-to my husband for caring about what he looks like,
-to my husband for caring about what *I look like,
-to my husband for being an athletic supporter for most anything I want,
-to my Mom for giving advice that is right for me, but may hurt for her,
-to my Dad for an endless supply of toe socks,
-to my brothers for keeping me entertained,
-to my children for giving me gray hairs (apparently my husband thinks they are sexy),
-to my sisters who came along and verified *I am not the crazy one in the family,
-to FASFA/FAW for funding my college education,
-to my friends for laughing at my jokes and telling a few of your own,
-to anyone who prays for me. I need more so keep them coming,
-to Pat Sajak and The Wheel for the goodtimes, money, and for laughing hysterically at my poodle joke, and
-to God for not giving me what I deserve but choosing to bless me anyway.

I am excited to see what next year brings.

Just a day in the life

I don't know why people assume that since I have many children, I must be good at what I do. I don't necessarily think God works this way in all situations. In our case, we just happened to be loony enough for the job so God kept the kids coming. This natural tendency toward insanity has come in handy considering I feel I have given birth to 5 of the oddest children ever!! During our chaotic, but fun, photo shoot, my friend snapped this shot. I love that she included it in our proofs. It shows A) that she finds humor in the same things I do, which is why I haven't lived near her for almost 4 years, but we seem to pick up where we left of whenever we get together, and B) I am a stellar multi-tasker. I mean, seriously- let's take inventory of everything happening here:
I am on the phone
I am carrying Samuel (you missed him wiggling out of my arms)
I am paying attention to Elijah as he does his new dance number
My clothes match AND are clean
My hair is freshly washed and actually put up a bit
I am walking out of my van, which has to mean I just came from somewhere really important,
and I am wearing tennis shoes, which means I planned to exercise, right? HAHA

In actuality I shouldn't be on the phone because I don't have daytime minutes,
I just pinched Sam's leg to keep him from falling to the cement,
I am totally ignoring Elijah as he is more interested in the camera anyway,
I did lay my clothes out the night before which was easy because they just came from the store (where I shouldn't have spent money on them in the first place),
My hair is deceiving because it was washed a day before as I always have better hair a few days after the wash,
I actually had the kids stashed in the van eating marshmallows while the others were having their pictures taken,
I was feeling chubby and didn't feel like sucking in my gut for pictures, so I wore exercise-ish pants to avoid a muffin top,
and I wore tennis shoes because they matched my pants better than my loafers.
See, all you moms who think I set a standard to live by..you too can be just like me. You just have to be a liiiitle bit lazier. :D

Big Finish

I don't want to be so excited, but football and cheer leading are finished! Praise the LORD!! This picture is another from my insanely talented friend Jessica Baldwin. Look for her website over there. Can't you see me pointing? Anyway...

I just need to get back to simple. Why is that so difficult? My children were hilarious to watch during this football season. Addison prayed every night for the kids to go to practice (apparently she was tired of their company). She also learned Layla's cheers quite well! She will just suddenly jump into a room and holler "READY OKAY!!" and go at it! Even Sam knows to clap when she is finished. Goodtimes. That is what I like to call an athletic supporter. And you know...if you can't be an athlete...

Hectic Weekends

In an attempt to keep the simple life I love so much, we have tried to stick with family commitments and really important appointments. The weeks are easier now that football and cheer leading are over. The weekends seem to fill up pretty quickly. Since taking charge of the agenda, we are still a bit full, but it has all been great.
Yesterday we babysat in the morning for friend,
cheered for Isabelle wile she received her honor roll certificate,
brought the kids to a friend's to bake an apple pie and a meatloaf pie,
went with my family and a TON of friends to a pie party (didn't win the contest, but had a ton of fun)
woke up late (after I woke up at 5 with Sam)
took the fam. to IHOP for breakfast
met a family that moved very recently and is looking for a church
picked Isabelle up from her sleepover
went home, put babes to bed, put hubby to bed on the couch,
watched the girls cut material for their sewing projects while I did my homework
went to my brother's to babysit,
currently blogging, chatting with a friend, and watching Transformers,
tomorrow is church
then we are having a celebration dinner for Isabelle's honor roll status
and because Monday is a holiday, The Man and I are going on a date mid-day
he has a chiropractor appt, but then we get to go to the movies..or maybe rent a room and have a nap!

Funny Questions I Heard This Week

Eli while I bathed the babies- Mom, why can't I hold water?

Addison- WHAT IS THAT IN MY BATH!?? (Sam's poop. ew)

Eli- Why isn't Daddy washing my window? (My response) Because he doesn't like you as much. (His response to my response) You are rude. (My final response) fits of giggles.

Addison- Mommy, remember when Santa pushed you?

Eli after I drew cool "tattoos" on me and Layla Grace- OOH Can you draw me a tattoo?
(My response once I drew them..one on the top side of each wrist) Go ask Daddy what it says. (Mike) Poop Nugget? (Eli's response) little boy anger (My response) extended fits of giggles.

My 9 yo nephew No-No Noah to his mother- Mom, if you and Dad BOTH have heart attacks, who will take me to school?

Right Now...

I am listening to little toddler voices (my favorite) play and giggle.

Right now, I can hear Layla Grace help Elijah read through his first chapter book.

Right now, I am missing my husband and eager for the days when he will be home four days in a row.

Right now, I am chewing a piece of Bubble Tape gum, sweet!

Right now, I am listening to Casting Crowns remind me of the people God has put around me to help, pray for, make laugh, and hold up when they need it.

Right now, I am reminiscing over what I heard God speak to me over this retreat weekend: I don't have to wait until I get to heaven, I can worship God all the time starting right now; the issues I am facing are not only very small, but a great learning opportunity for me and those around me; I am really a grown up, not just someone pretending to be a grown-up, so when God calls me to pray for someone or step out of my comfort zone, I no longer have that crutch to call upon.

Right now, I am trying to figure out what to make for dinner.

Right now, I am debating whether I should shower now and start homeschool late, or end early and shower before school.

Right now, I am wondering if my History teacher is going to see right through the bull crap that is my paper due this evening.

Right now, I am wondering if Moby is ever going to stop shedding.

Right now, I am wondering what that smell is...poo I am sure.

Right now, I am thinking I should get off this "devil box" (as my sister calls it) and actually stay on task.