Category Archives: Uncategorized

Apr4

Momma Bears and Sleeping on the Ground

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So we’re going camping this weekend.  Just me, Gary and the wilderness.  Roughin’ it, miles and miles away from civilization, using survival skills I learned from Bear Grylls, fending off bears and….Ok, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration.  We’re sleeping on a blow up mattress, near the ‘comfort station’ with water and electricity access.  We’ll be near a town with plenty of fast food choices and a zippy mart.  I will however be fending off bugs and rogue raccoons that are smart enough to open a can of mandarin oranges. 

   This isn’t my first time camping. I grew up camping for vacation.  Really roughing it.  Like taking-baths-in-a-cold-river-and-carrying-your-own-toilet-paper roughing it.  I’ve camped in the Smokey Mountains and we blazed our own trail in the Rocky Mountains.  My parents, and grandparents, were the best at camping.  I have a lot of fond memories of camping actually.  Like the time dad saw a momma bear and her cubs and swore that they were going to murder us in our sleep.  So he made us all run to the station wagon [you know the old kind with wood paneling on the side? Yeah, that one.] and nearly gave my Aunt Virginia a concussion because he was already lowing the window on the back before she was even in the car.  Then after maybe 5 minutes in the car he decided it was safe to return to the tent.  Then there was the time in Colorado when we about froze to death. In the middle of July.  It rained one night, the tent leaked and it was about 12 degrees.  However, I was nice, toasty and dry in dad’s army issue sleeping bag…on a cot.  And just for the record, do NOT wash your hair in a river that’s fed from the Rocky Mountains.  Not even in July. 

     As adventurous as those camping trips were this one will be too.  Not because of momma bears and freezing rivers but because this is the first time Gary and I have been camping together.  And the first time I’ve been camping in ages. 

     Gary is already teasing me about this trip.  You see, I grew up a tom boy.  Bugs, frogs and climbing trees were my thing.   As an adult I’m still kind of a tom boy.  I climbed a tree just a few months ago to get a geocache.  I’m the only one who’ll pick up the frogs in the garage and put them back where they belong.  And I don’t mind [most] bugs.  But thanks to all those fond childhood memories, my idea of roughing it was staying at a hotel without cable.  I do enjoy the outdoors though.  A lot.  And Gary and I have become quite the outdoorsy type.  Kayaking in the summer, hiking in the winter.  Geocaching all the time.  Although we have limited the bush-whacking-all-up-in–the-woods geocaching for the fall and winter months.  The chiggers can get out of control!  Anyway, I’m ready to give camping a try again. 

     However, I’m not that fond of the dark and I really do prefer not to sleep on the ground because spiders live there.  I’m not too girly but just girly enough to make this trip quite hilarious for Gary. 

    So I’m really looking forward to our first camping trip together.  As long as I don’t have to sleep on the ground, fend off momma bears or pee in the woods.  And we have plenty of flashlights.          

Oct8

Four Channels and Pong

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My son asked me the other day if we had TV when I was little.  All I could think was “how old do you think I am?”, but then I remembered how old I thought my parents were when they were my age.  So I knew the answer already and decided it best not to ask that question out loud.  My response to him instead was “Yes, we had TV.  But we didn’t have VCRs”.  His reply?  “What’s that?”  [insert eye roll here] I may as well have asked how old he thought I was.  Sheesh.

It kind of blows my mind to think that so many things have been invented since I was a kid.  When I was my son’s age we didn’t have cable TV, VCRs, or microwaves much less DVDs/BluRays, iPods, and tablets.  Of course, technology has come so far in the last 14 years that there’s already things my kids can say weren’t around when they were ‘kids’.

Here’s a comparison between technology when I was a kid and technology my kids have now:

Me- I was the remote control and only had 4 channels to choose from, sometimes 5 if I could get the rabbit ears just right and held my mouth just so.

My kids- can flip through NetFlix and watch whatever they want whenever they want.  The only problem they may have is if the internet goes out…or restriction

Me- decide to watch movie, get in car, go to video store,  rent  VCR, lug VCR home, hook it up, put in movie, rewind movie because the previous viewer wasn’t kind, return movie because tape was broken and wouldn’t play, see step one

My kids- decide to watch movie, turn on NetFlix.  OR Pop in DVD or BluRay.  Enjoy high definition presentation, bonus features and skip to favorite part of the movie.  No need to be kind or rewind; can even be enjoyed in the car

Me- record songs from radio onto a cassette,  have to wait another three hours to try again because the DJ didn’t stop talking in time and ruined the beginning of the song; use pencil to turn the cog in the cassette to un-jumble the tape so it would work again.

My kids- plug iPod into computer, two clicks later iPod is full of music.

And this is just the tip of the ice berg.  Don’t even get me started on video games!!  I started off with Pong.  Two little lines and a dot going back and forth.  Now we have two Kinects in our house that you control games full of extremely realistic graphics with your body instead of a hand held controller.   That is crazy. And so cool!  Then there are computers.   I didn’t get my first computer until right after my first child was born.  And that was only 14 years ago!  And it was a huge desk top.  Even the desk tops are super small and compact now and my kids have iPads instead of textbooks at school.

It’s nice to think back to how simple things used to be.  And you know what, we all survived it.  Sometimes I even wish we could go back to those simple times of 4 TV stations and Pong.  But I have to admit, I love technology [and I sure was happy when the Atari 2600 and 5200 came along].  I seriously would not know what to do if I didn’t have my cell phone!  Or the Internet.  Or my iPod.   I don’t think the world would know what to do without technology now that we’ve had it.  It certainly has made things much easier.  And faster.  Technology has made the world impatient though. Everything is at your fingertips.  You can Google anything, anywhere, any time and instantly.  I think I’m one of the most Google-ing-est people out there, too!   How do you cook tilapia? Google it.  Is this movie ok for the kids to watch? Google it.  Where’s the best place to go hiking? Google it.  What!? There’s such a thing as nude hiking?  Google it. [I’ll pause here while you actually go Google that one.  You know you want to.]

As much as I love technology, my cell phone and Google it is nice to take a break from it here and there.  Focus on the friends and family that are in the same room as you and not the ones on your Facebook friend list who you never even see.   Or maybe even go outside and see the beautiful landscapes that God created for us instead of looking at 2-D images of them that people forwarded you in an email.    Gary and I try to keep technology in perspective around our house with unplugged days, limiting xBox and Wii time and sending the kids outside for some fresh air and sunshine.   We also enjoy family night once a week where we all pile in the living room and watch a TV show or movie.  We can’t seem to find any good family tv shows these days though.  I guess that’s another thing that’s changed since I was a kid.

So, get off that laptop, put away your cell phone and spend some time with actual people.  You can even go for a hike.  Just don’t go naked.  Unless that’s your thing.

Jun19

Give Me Back My Summer

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Summer time around here is awesome! I love my job because it gives me the summers off with the kids.  Well, until now that is.  They “eliminated” my position at the high school I work at because half of the student body will be going to the brand new high school in the fall.  Fewer students eliminates the need for an athletic secretary apparently.  I don’t understand it but who am I to say anything?  Anyway…I’m no longer a Bengal.  I’ll be a Redhawk come the beginning of the new school year in the fall on August 20th.  Which is technically still summer, but whatever.  I’ll be the athletic secretary at the new high school. 

Wait…what?  Yes, that’s right.  They eliminated my position at one high school because of the small student body only to give me the same position at the new high school who will have the same size student body.  I try not to think about it too much.  It makes my head hurt.  I’m thankful that I’ll be doing the same thing though.  At least I won’t have to learn anything new. And I do enjoy my job. So that’s a plus.  The down side to helping open a new school is additional responsibilities.  They can’t fully stock faculty and staff until the student body increases.  Therefore I will have not only one responsibility but two at my new post.  I’ll be the athletic secretary and the public relations person.  I don’t even know the proper name for it.  But it makes me sound important.  I’m actually really looking forward to working at the new school.  I loved working at BHS! Great people, fun working environment!  Even though it was all those things, after five years a change of scenery will be nice and refreshing. 

The one down side is I’ll have less time off in the summer.  The up side is I’ll get paid a little more.  In the school district you work by days.  The students attend school for 180 days.  Teachers work 190 days.  The rest of the staff works anywhere from 180 days to year round.  At BHS I was 185 days.  That was absolutely perfect for us. I worked five days before school started and then I was on the exact schedule the kids are on.  It’s the best of both worlds really.  I was a working mom when the kids were in school and a stay at home mom when they were out of school.  Best. Job. Ever. 

Well, when I met at the new school about my job there (when the ‘let me go’ at  BHS I was guaranteed a position at the new school) I was asked to work 215.  That was a tough decision.  I absolutely adore my time with my kids when they aren’t in school.  I love being a housewife and taking care of our home and family while my husband works.  The schedule was perfect for our family.  The money was enough.  Now they are asking me to give up a lot of that time with my family.  I was torn because I knew the extra days meant extra money.  Of course the extra money would be nice. But was I willing to give up precious time with my kids in exchange for that? Money is a necessity to live I know.  We were living just fine on what I was contributing to the household income.  We’re not rich by any American standard, but we’re filthy rich by the majority of other countries around the world.  And we’re stinkin’ filthy rich by our standards.  Money isn’t everything you know and in our house you don’t need money to be rich.  After much thought we decided that working 215 days of the year won’t be that bad.  I’ll still have the major holidays the kids get such as Winter Break and Spring Break.  And I’ll still have about a month off during the summer.  Sometimes I feel kinda bad for complaining about only having “about a month off during the summer”.  But I can’t help it that you didn’t get a job in the school district, that’s your fault.  Everyone should have a month off in the summer!

So this is my last real summer with the kids.  I’m attempting to savor every minute of it.  The first week was crammed with physical therapy for me, cleaning the house, and not much fun stuff.  The second week wasn’t fun either because Emma decided that would be a great time to contract Strep Throat.  I mean really, she’s around 100 plus kids for 180 days of the year and stays perfectly healthy (not counting a broken arm and a cat trying to scratch her eyeball out but let’s not get technical about it).   She’s home for a week with her family and gets Strep Throat.  How does that even happen?  Once the fever finally went away we went swimming one day and headed to the zoo another.  Which by the way, if you want to go see the new Komodo Dragons at Riverbanks, keep your expectations low.  They’re cool and all but look like over-sized yard lizards.  Not hideous and terrifying like I was hoping for.  Maybe in a few years.

Gary and I are planning some awesome adventures for ourselves and the kids this summer.  More swimming for sure.  Definitely more trips to the zoo (maybe the dumb Komodo Dragons will grow fast).  A few trips to the museum are in order as well.  We’ll be hitting the nature scene a lot this summer too! I guess geocaching has given us a new appreciation of the outdoors.

   Do you get much time off work in the summer? Maybe you’re a stay at home mom.  What adventures are you planning for this summer?  We need some new ideas!

Now get out there and have an adventure!!

  

 

Apr19

Tongues Aren’t Suppose To Do That

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I know my kids are talented, but this is just insane. I mean really! I didn’t even know tongues could do this. I know there are people who can tie cherry stems in a knot with their tongues. There’s even more people who can roll their tongues. But how many people can do this? It really is kind of freaky looking if you ask me.  Maybe I’m just jealous I can’t do it.  I tried, but I just got a cramp in my tongue.
So tell me, what kind of weird talent do you have?

Apr18

If You Can’t Find Your Tupperware…Check The Woods

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Gary and I like to do a lot of fun things together. We have more things in common than not I think. We just love spending time together (and with the kids) so we are always searching for things we both enjoy and we do them. We’ve recently found a new hobby that we can’t get enough of! Finding Tupperware hidden in the woods! What? You don’t?

It’s a high tech treasure hunting game using GPS devices and multi-million dollar satellites floating out in space. Yep, that’s our new hobby. Tromping through the woods acting like pirates looking for hidden containers with kids’ dollar store prizes and a log book inside. At first I had no idea how this got started. My guess was some friends were sitting around drinking beer one night and one of them said “You know what, I’m gonna go hide a Tupperware container out in the woods, give out the coordinates and see how many people can find it”. And his friends looked at him and said “You’re crazy. Let’s do it”. And here we are with a gazillion Tupperware containers hidden all over the globe. Ok, so that’s not how it really happened. But I was close. Ok, I wasn’t close. It’s way more geeky than that. You can read the real history of geocaching here. I for one am super happy that this whole selective availability thing happened and GPS is now available to all of us Regular Joes. Because I just don’t know what I would do with my weekends if it wasn’t for searching for Tupperware in the woods.

I had heard about this geocaching thing years ago but just never did anything with it. Then Gary and I talked about it and thought it would be fun to do with the kids but never did anything with it. It took finding one by accident while my brother and his wife were visiting from Florida to ignite the fire and begin the obsession. When the kids headed off to their other parents’ for the weekend a few days later us adults had date night Friday and date day Saturday. Guess what we did? That’s right. Searched for caches! Gary and I were hooked. The day Yancey and Kristen left we had to distract ourselves from our sorrow so we spent the day geocaching. It was the best day! Wait….not the best day because Yancey and Kristen left. That made it the worst day. The geocaching made it the best day. Phew, glad we cleared that up!

Yancey and Kristen with one of our finds.

Our first find on our own!

I have to say that geocaching isn’t for everyone. In order to enjoy geocaching you have to enjoy the outdoors. And a good challenge. Not all caches are hidden in the woods, on walking trails or in parks. A lot are found in very urban areas such as restaurant parking lots or a stop sign in a shopping village. I enjoy all types of finds. My favorite kinds are the ones hidden in the woods though. I really enjoy a good hike through the woods. It’s so relaxing and beautiful. And it reminds me of my childhood when my best friend Brian and I would play in the woods and the only worry we had was getting home before it got dark.

Once Gary and I had some good finds under our belt we took the kids out to give it a try. It was a school night so we only had a chance to find one but they loved it! Couldn’t wait to get back out and do it again. We were thrilled because we love having cool, fun family things to do! So the weekend came and we planned a day full of geocaching. We were all excited! Gary and I learned a few things that day.
1. Paige is not an ‘outdoorsy’ type of person. She loves playing outside. In the yard. The woods, not so much. She jumped at everything and every five seconds it was “watch our for snakes”, “be careful!”, or “don’t stick your hand in there!” in a very high pitch concerned voice. It doesn’t help she is petrified of spiders.
2. Emma would rather be home playing soccer. Or doing anything else for that matter.
And
3. Kids get mad when other kids keep finding all the caches. But there’s a schedule for that.

Our first find as a family!


So Gary and I decided that the kids will go on abbreviated geocaching trips. And we’re definitely taking steps to insure that all kids have an equal opportunity to find the hidden caches. In the mean time Gary and I are going solo. Wait…it’s not solo if there’s two of us. Well, whatever. We’re on a mission to find as many caches as we can. Or at least more than my brother.

Are you a geocacher? If you are tell us your Geocache username so we can be friends! If not, leave a comment and let us know what you like to do for fun in your free time!

Mar13

A Single Smartie and Other Junk From My Couch

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I’m not so sure life is slowing down any time soon. I mean, I know our life is never going to slow down. What I mean to say is it seems to be busier than normal lately and I don’t see any signs of it slowing down any time soon. I’m not really sure why it’s so hectic these days. I can’t decide if it’s because of increased extra-curricular activities for a couple of the kids, the small “home improvements” we’re working on, or the four milestone birthdays we’ve helped our friends celebrate over the last two months. None of which is a bad thing. Nor would I want to give any of those things up! I love my life even when it’s super hectic. But I am missing American Idol people.

So our furniture came in last Wednesday and we were all super excited! Still are. We actually stayed downstairs all evening that night. We watched a tv show together as a family and no one had to sit on the floor! Except for when they were eating their popcorn of course. Gary and I even went back downstairs after the kids went to bed. We just sat there on the new couch and recliner. It was great. We still have to wait a couple more weeks for the media console. Which kills me. I’m so ready for the living room to be put together and finished! Of course, I still have to do the two art pieces for the wall. So I’ll need the next two weeks to do that anyway. Funny~That makes me sound like a lot more of an artist than I really am. Crafty is more like it. Anyway, I’ve been scouring the interwebs to find accessories [in my head I hear Gary saying that in his fake 'sweet little lispy voice' every time. Cracks. Me. Up]. I’m on the hunt for the perfect throw pillows. I actually already found them but apparently I’m the only person who likes ruffles. I got the ‘no go’ from my husband AND my best friend. She’s not a ruffle-y kind of girl apparently. I just know that I don’t want plain boring pillows. I also know that I don’t want patterned pillows. Or pillows with buttons. All I know is I get these visions in my head of how I want something to look and I don’t stop until I find it. Or something else that I end up liking just as much as what was in my head. Speaking of which is probably a very scary place. All dark and cob webby probably. Who knows. I’m sure my family and friends have their own guesses. Anyway….I have some great ideas that I hope are just as awesome in reality as they are in my alternate reality that is my head.

Now that we have our new furniture there are a few new rules for the living room. Well, really just one.

1. DON’T RUIN THE NEW FURNITURE

This includes all old rules [no eating or drinking in the living room, no climbing on the furniture, no sitting on the arms] and a few new rules [no popcorn on the couches on movie night, no Beyblades on the coffee table at any time]. After cleaning out the old furniture to move it upstairs I realized that our kids believe that our rules don’t apply when Gary and I aren’t home. I wish our friends had been there to witness us cleaning it out. Because no one will ever believe how much crap was on the inside of that couch. I am not kidding you. Here’s what we found~
*almost two dollars in quarters that went into our vacation fund jar
*a match box car that was pink and apparently belongs to Paige
*a pocket knife that we’ve never even seen before
*the iPod Touch that we may or may not have accused people of stealing
*lots of, and by ‘lots of’ I mean a bajillion, snack wrappers
*Tootsie Rolls and wrappers -some still in the wrappers, some not. some half eaten.
*and a single Smartie that looked more like a teeny, tiny Petri dish. Yeah, I didn’t know they could grow mold either. But they do.

And don’t even ask how we got all that stuff out. It was a job. I felt like I was playing that claw game where you get stuffed toys as a prize. Only I was using a pair of tongs and a magnetic pointer with a much less desirable outcome. Needless to say I have threatened the kids within an inch of their life to keep the new couch…well, new.

So, now that the living room is semi-done we have to start working on the guest room down stairs. My brother and his wife are coming to visit for a week over Spring Break which is just under a month away. Right now the guest bedroom looks more like a junk drawer rather than an acceptable place for two people to sleep. The walls are covered in spackle, we still don’t have a frame for the mattress and….. yeah, you get the idea. Did I mention they’ll be here in 18 days?

Things will slow down. When I’m 80.

Mar5

A Baby, a Cold, and New Furniture

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I would like to apologize to my millions of fans and followers….wait, I don’t have millions of fans and followers. Ok, so I’d like to apologize to my two friends, my husband, and my parents for my absence and lack of ability to get anything posted for the last two weeks. In my defense, it’s been a crazy two weeks. And someone needs to invent a handy little gadget that can convert my thoughts to text while I’m driving, laying in bed sick or cooking. On second thought that may not be a great idea.

Last week was mid-winter break for me and the kids. I’m not sure why we got it but I’m glad we did because, quite honestly, I don’t like to work. Ok, I dont’ mind work. I really love my job actually. But who wouldn’t rather be home? Anyway, since I was off I was able to help out our best friends by watching their little one for a few days. He’s one year and one month old and the cutest thing in the world. He was so entertaining! And best of all I had an excuse to watch Blues Clues and The Backyardigans again!! One of those nights their daughter Bug (yes, we really call her that) spent the night with us and we all went to the zoo the next day! I took 7 kids to the zoo by myself. Call me crazy! My niece (she’s actually my ex’s niece but I love her and I’m still claiming her) went with us but she had two of her own ages 3 and 1 so I was still on my own with my 7. It worked out great though. Tank (yes, we really call him that and there’s a reason for it) was contained in the stroller the majority of the time and Bug was attached to Emma the entire time. The other’s are old enough and fairly easy to keep track of. If I ever do ‘lose’ anyone it’s almost always Matt and it’s usually for only a few minutes. So I was good. This trip was very successful though! No one was lost, a great time was had by all, everybody was happy, one took a long nap and everyone else was too tired to fight when we got home! SCORE!

Last week wasn’t so fun. I was sick all week with a sinus and ear infection. I know it’s bad when Gary looks at me and says “You don’t look so good. Kinda like death. But warmed over.” Yeah, it was that bad. My house didn’t get cleaned and I didn’t care. Which is huge. I went to work all week. At least I think I did. I’m hoping I didn’t screw anything up too bad. I do remember getting aggravated and a little offended because people kept coming in my office asking me how I felt and then saying “…because you look horrible.” Well, thank you. Then why did you ask? I mean really people?

I finally started feeling better on Friday. Just in time for the weekend baby!!! Yeah, a weekend full of work. We’re getting new furniture on Wednesday. So crazy excited I can’t stand it! Our first furniture purchase together. My first ever! I’ve always had hand-me-downs. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I’m all about free [or cheap] stuff. But this is furniture that I actually chose myself! Specifically for me and my house. Anyway, the living room needed a few small improvements. So after a weekend of spackling, sanding, painting, grocery shopping at ten o’clock at night, moving furniture and shampooing carpets, the living room is now ready for the new furniture. That won’t be here for three days.

So hopefully I now have everyone’s sympathy and I’m forgiven for being slack unable to post for the last two weeks. If I don’t post anything for another two weeks it will be the furniture’s fault for being so pretty to look at and too comfortable to get off of. Just sayin’.

Feb11

Kids Will Do Anything For A Puffball

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Even though we have so many schedules and routines it takes a lot of work for things to run smoothly around here. Just so you know….I do not do it all myself. There’s no way I could. I would be a) completely and totally exhausted 24/7 and 2) a mean person. To save us all from the heartache everybody pulls their own weight around our house. There are too many people in this house for one person to take care of everything. And everyone in this house is capable of helping out. This is our home and everyone is responsible for helping to take care of it.

So instead of a chore chart we have a RESPONSIBILITY BOARD. I’m not fond of the word chore because it implies that you are going to get paid for doing it and we don’t do allowance. I’m not going to pay you to pick your underwear up and put it in the dirty clothes because it’s something you should do anyway. It’s your responsibility. Now if you want to pick up dog poop or wash the car then yeah, I may give you a little something. But don’t tell the kids that…I won’t be able to afford it. Our responsibility board has the bath schedule on it as well. Their names are magnetic so we can switch them around at the beginning of each week. There is a list of daily responsibilities for morning, afternoon and evening and each child has a weekly responsibility as well. One lucky kid gets a ‘bye’ week. Only because we couldn’t think of a fifth thing for them to do. Leave your suggestions in the comments below. And don’t say vacuuming. I thought about that but I like my vacuum lines to be a certain way and I know the kids won’t do it right. Wait…when I actually say these things out loud it does seem very obsessive compulsive. Anyway, the weekly ‘responsibility’ is also magnetic and we’re thinking about adding more but I can’t let any of the kids do anything else around the house without going behind them and doing it over again. There it is again, did you hear it? Anyway, the board comes in really handy. And it’s super cute too, which as we all know, is what matters the most. Am I right? We also have a reward system to help motivate them to take care of their daily responsibilities. They each have their own jar and they receive puff balls for completed tasks, when they do something super nice for someone or help with something that’s not their responsibility. They’ve all set goals and when they reach said goal they receive their chosen reward. Gary and I had to give them guidelines on what a reasonable reward is. Chalon’s first goal was 20 puff balls for a PlayStation 3. Try again buddy! In the end, they did pretty well.

Honestly, it doesn’t matter how many schedules or responsibility boards we have. If we don’t work together it just doesn’t work. I am only one person and there are 7 living here. It’s just not possible for me to do it all by myself. As much as I hate to admit it, I’m not Super Woman. Thankfully I have a husband who knows that. Gary sees what I do for our family and he values that and appreciates it.

My job in this house is to submit to my husband. I am to put his needs above mine and serve him. Ephesians 5:22-24 says 22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. It continues on saying 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.t28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

As I submit to Gary and act as a servant to him he in turn desires for my happiness and loves me with the same sacrificial love that Christ has for the church. He also puts my needs ahead of his own and longs to serve me. It’s this kind of love and obedience that keeps things running smoothly around here. As I said before, the reason why it works for us is we put God first.

Feb6

Tissues, Soap, and S’mores…or How To Make Memories

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I grew up as an only child even though I have two brothers. Actually all three of us grew up as only children. We each have different moms and share our biological father. So technically we are only half siblings but let’s not split hairs. I actually didn’t meet my brothers until I was an adult. I knew they existed but had never met them. How we met and grew to know one another is another blog for another day. And this ain’t the day.

I was kinda spoiled growing up. And by ‘kinda’ I mean extremely. I was the first [and only] child for my mom and the first grandchild for my grandparents. Plus, my mom and I moved in with her parents when I was about six months old after my biological father left us. We lived there for 5 years. Needless to say I ended up becoming very close to my Nana and my aunt and uncle, who were both still kids themselves when I came along. At five years old my mom married my new dad. A wonderful man who loved me like his own and proved it by legally adopting me. He’s my daddy and I’m his little girl. I am so blessed to have him as my dad. And as a Papa to my kids. Between my parents and my Nana, who am I kidding…my aunts and uncles too, I was spoiled rotten. The thing is that even though I totally enjoyed all those things that I got I cherish all the memories that I have even more.

I grew up out in the country on a dirt road that only my family [and some family friends that are family too] lived on. We didn’t have cable tv or the internet. We had four-wheelers, a dirt road and the woods. My best friend Brian and I actually used our imagination and played outside. We were ninja’s some days, veterinarians on other days and then we were scientists one day. But only one day. We blew up mom’s bathroom and that was the end of that. So we went back to being ninja’s. We had chickens, horses and pigs. It was my job, at least occasionally to collect the eggs and I learned that roosters aren’t exactly the nicest creatures. The pigs were pretty cool. I would feed them scraps over the fence and I think I even named them. Then one day a big truck came and they loaded the pigs up on the truck. That’s the day I learned what the word slaughter meant. Sad day. I look back on the days of me and Brian exploring the woods, almost killing ourselves on riding the four-wheelers, climbing trees and building forts and wish that my kids could have those same experiences.

Thanks to my parents I was quite the traveler. My dad was in the military until I was in high school and even though we didn’t travel the world we did live in Colorado several times. And I’ve seen most of the United States. I’ve road tripped across the country several times and it was amazing!! From what I understand my grandmother was less than pleased that my parents did such a thing to me. I believe that’s because she was just mad that they were taking me away from where she was. Which is understandable. I’m extremely thankful to have had the opportunities that I had though. I had driven across the country [at least twice], skied the Rocky Mountains, spent the night in Vegas, went deep-sea fishing in the Pacific, saw the Hollywood sign, been to Disneyland [and Disneyworld], went to many Braves games, went to a home Dodger game and went camping in the Rocky Mountains [and lots more]. All before my 16th birthday. How many sixteen year olds can say that? Ok, I know I’m not the only person who’s done that much by that age and I know that some have done more than that. I’m just thankful to have been blessed with the opportunities my parents [and the military] gave me. Those memories will be with me forever and my kids are going to hear amazing stories of things I’ve been able to do and things I’ve seen. I’ll never be able to give my kids those kinds of opportunities. My plan is to give them everything I can. Not material things that will rust and break. But memories that they will cherish forever. I want to give my kids stories to amaze their kids with some day.

Soap Carving


We haven’t road tripped across the country. We have been to Disney World though! Just for a day. But it was the best day EVER!! We don’t need lavish vacations to make memories though. We build fires and make s’mores in the backyard. We fry candy

Best day EVER

bars and Oreos and pickles. We buy bars of soap and carve them into soap sculptures. We tour our State Capital and feed the birds and squirrels [we were mistaken for a school group when we went in for the tour, I took that as a complement about my organizational skills]. We do fun science experiments too. One time we made ice cream in a zip lock bag. Another time we made Mentos fountains and a cool video! We have the coolest kids and we love making memories with them.

Here’s a video Gary made of one of the memories we made with the kids. We bought 8 boxes of tissues, moved the furniture and told the kids to have at it. You can see the confusion on their faces turn into sheer bliss. And one day over Thanksgiving dinner they’re going to say “Remember that time our parents got us all those tissue boxes…….”

Fun With Tissues from Blending Chaos on Vimeo.

Jan27

Go To Bed. Please.

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Bed time around our house is a bit like the Waltons. The only difference is there’s a lot more giggling, squeals and running around here than there was on the show. It didn’t take us long to realize we needed to come up with a plan to settle things down.

Before we put our routine into place bedtime was a little on the “Oh my goodness what the heck is happening?” side. Looking back now, I bet it was hilarious watching us put the kids to bed. It looked kind of like this~We’d tuck the girls in and then head to Chalon’s room and when we came out of his room one of the girls would be up. We’d put her back to bed then go tell the two little guys good night. When we came out of there the other girl and Chalon would be up chatting. We would shoosh them back to bed and then Matt or Cullen would be up. It was kind of like, oh I don’t know, trying to herd kittens. It was taking forever to get everyone to bed and we were seriously wearing down the carpet up and down the hallway. Our routine now is much more stream lined and, although we may have a rough night here and there, doesn’t take any time at all.

We have two different bed time routines. One for school nights and another one for non-school nights. Yes the kids have bedtimes on the weekends and when there’s no school. And you know what? They don’t have a problem with that. You see, the kids like having a routine. They aren’t going to tell you that, but they do. It shows. If you have a routine all through the week but not one on the weekends it makes it very difficult to get everyone back into the swing of things come Sunday night. It also makes for a much easier transition when school starts back in the [what is supposed to be] fall [but is actually still summer]. What I’m trying to say is the key to routine is consistency. That’s what makes it work. You can’t do it here and here but not there. Once the kids figure it out…you’re up the creek. Now that doesn’t mean that you can’t ever stray from your routine under special circumstances. But you DO have to explain the special circumstances, how the routine is going to be different and when the routine will be resumed again. Kids like to know what’s going on. Kids need structure and routine. And you have to give it to them. Otherwise the kids will be in control all the time which means bad things will happen. Just trust me.

So on a school night the kids’ bed time is 9:30. By 8:30, no later than 9:00, we start asking the kids if they have their clothes picked out for school the next day and remind them to brush their teeth. At 9:25 they actually do it. Just kidding. Well sort of. We have to start asking these questions early because most of the time by 9:15 only a few of them have actually done it. Most nights they all have it done by then, but not always.

Now here’s a run down of how we actually put the kids to bed:
~Go into Matt and Cullen’s room and prepare the beds. [They each have a favorite blanket (Matt has two) and they each want their covers and pillows a certain way. They can do much of this on their own but still need a little help. Plus, it moves along a lot faster if we help. When they stop moving at the speed of a sleepy snail we'll stop doing it for them. For now, I'm all about getting it done.]
~Say prayers with Matt and Cullen.
~Go to Chalon’s room shutting the hallway bathroom door on the way. Hug, kiss and tell Chalon good night.
~Go back to Matt and Cullen’s room and hug, kiss, scratch backs, answer 8-10 random questions about random topics, straighten out covers, say good night, turn light off and walk out door.
~Have my name called and walk back into Matt and Cullen’s room to answer 3 more random questions.
~Go to Emma and Paige’s bedroom. Hug, kiss, answer Paige’s 3-4 random questions, say good night, turn off light.
~Leave room praying that Matt doesn’t call my name again before I can make it into my bedroom.

Now there is a reason why we go to Matt and Cullen’s room first, then to Chalon’s and then back to Matt and Cullen’s to say good night. You see, Chalon’s room is on the end of the hall, then Matt and Cullen’s, and then the girls on our end of the hallway. If we say good night to Matt and Cullen and then Chalon we have to walk back past the boys’ bedroom. And we can notwalk by without one of them calling our name. Not even when we go all ninja and sneak by. So, we adjusted it so we tell Chalon good night first and then work our way back down the hall towards our bedroom. Which brings me to another good point. If something isn’t working…change it. You’re not going to come up with the perfect plan the first time. Wait, you probably will never come up with the perfect plan ever. But you will find what works and what doesn’t work for you and you can adjust accordingly. Monitor and adjust. A good teacher’s motto that seems to have stuck with me.

Just because the kids still have a bed time on no-school nights doesn’t mean it’s no fun around here on the weekends or school breaks. They have “sleep over movie nights”! They get to make pallets on the floor and sleep in each others rooms and watch movies. If they want to watch a movie then bed time is still 9:30. Of course the movie isn’t over until about 11:30 or so depending on the movie so it’s not like they have to go to sleep that early. If they don’t watch a movie then bedtime is 10:00. The reason for this is, well consistency. Plus, Gary and I need our quiet time together. And this is the only time we get it. I stand very firm on the notion that married couples with children need to must make time for themselves. It’s not an option.

After almost two years we finally have our bedtime routine down to a science. Or is it an art? Seriously, which is it? Anyway….we didn’t always have such a smooth transition to slumberland. It used to be the equivalent of pouring alcohol on a paper cut. You’ll hear more about that lovliness in my next post. Until then…sleep tight!