5 things about you - Colleen

1)  you love to take a selfie - we have dubbed you the Queen of the Selfie in our house

2) you love to dance and sing.  You are currently taking tap, ballet & jazz - I think that is the order of how much you like the style.

3) you enjoy playing with your American Girl dolls, barbie dolls, on the Wii U, and on Club Penguin!  that is your favorite

4) you are in the 4th grade.  You were nervous about attending a new school but it is going great so far

5) you always have a smile on your face and are a joy to be with

Small Successes - 10/24

This is a few days late but I was without reliable Internet...

My small success for the past week are (trying not to include this weekend);

1. hired an after school sitter for the kids.  This will be for Wednesday nights only while I teach and my husband is on 2nd shift.  She is a student on the campus I work at.  We found her via care.com
2. had my annual mammogram and they got the joy of going in for a second look.  Everything is fine just some dense tissue with non-cancerous cysts.  
3. signed up to volunteer at the schools Halloween party.  I will be working in the cafeteria - figured that would keep my inside in case of foul-weather
4. convinced my daughter that there are other costumes out there.  She wanted to be Lela from Teen Beach movie and the costume is sold out until February 2014.  Who wants a costume in February. 

Now go to Catholic Mom to post yours!

5 Things about You! - Daniel

1) You are officially a middle schooler - 6th grade.  You are at a new school and are very excited about that

2) You are enjoying Jurassic Park, Dragon vale, and Mine Craft on the Kindle and iPod Touch.

3) You are a very happy boy with a great smile

4) You do get very discouraged when things do not go your way.  Particularly with school and homework.  You don't enjoy homework time  when we review your work.  But you are slowly seeing why we do this work with you every night.

5) You are kind to your brother and sister.

5 things about you --- Patrick

1)  you do not like your picture taken

2)  you enjoy playing soccer.  This year your team finally won a game!  3-0 and you scored all three goals.  I am proud that you don't give up out there when it would be easy to
3)  you are a great helper in the household.  If we ask you to help out you do without arguing.  You may complain but you do not argue

4) you like to go to Target & Cost Co with me

5)  you really are into playing video games right now.  I don't really get most of them or why  you play but you try to explain them to me

Last two years.... where have I been

It has been nearly 2 years since I last posted....  we have been through a lot in that time...

• My husband lost his job, 
• found a new one, 
• we moved, 
• changed schools, and adjust to all of this.

As I write those bullets - it does not seem like a lot but it certainly took its toll on all of us.   All these are stressors and it is what you do with that stress that determines if you make it through or if you just stop in the middle of the tunnel and wait for life to run you over.

Starting a new routine

Long Long Long Time without a post (see header) - I wish I had a reason why I stopped blogging but I just became lazy!

So here goes another attempt at blogging......

Hubby and I started a new exercise regime.  Focus T25 

My brother, his wife, and many other friends have used the Beach-body products with great results and this one seems to fit into our stage of life the best of all.  It is 25 minutes a day for 4 days and 50 minutes on day 5.  With both of us driving 30 minutes to and from work, driving kids to dance, soccer, and other school or social activities there was not room to go to the gym even 2 days a week any longer.

I have missed going to the gym and realized that was something that grounded me - made me a better wife and mom.

We started last Friday and using Wednesday/Thursday as our weekend since those are the busiest two days for us.

I was very surprised that this workout was so tough.  I had been working out for 2 + years - 2 times a week and only had been away from the gym since mid-August (when we moved) so I could not e in that bad of shape - could I??????   I know I put on about 3-5 lbs in that month on top of the weight gain from the stress of the relocation.   So I was not in game day shape.... but this workout was tough!~

We are doing it together and we are keeping one another on track and I am going to use this as an accountability for my action and to keep my self from quitting (which can be very easy to do).

Happy Halloween!

Jasmine, and 2 Little League World Series players

Monday Morning Muse....

Well this past weekend seemed to last forever!  but in a pretty good sense.

On Friday, I was asked to babysit my friends grandson.  He is 3 months old.  I have not been with a baby since my daughter was a baby.  I was a bit nervous.  But it is amazing how easily you fall into the rhythm.   He was such a good baby.  He ate, tried to roll around on the floor, slept, diapered change, ate again, and then slept until he was picked up.  My daughter was not happy because she wanted to 'play' with the baby.  I know how a grandparent must feel - I just delt with the fun stuff and then handed him back to mom at the end of the day for the hard stuff.

We also had 4 yards of mulch delivered Friday afternoon.  My sweet hubby mulched the front beds!  The kids played with the hose since it was summer-like in Central Ohio.  I did laundry and cleaned the first floor of the house.

On Saturday - kids cleaned their rooms (with help from mom).  It was a dusting the furniture, floors, and cleaning under the bed type of cleaning.  This is done once a quarter.  Normally they just do a pick up and making bed stuff every week.   While we were cleaning - Hubby dug up the daylilies at the side of the house (we are not fans of  daylilies) to get the beds prepared for new plants and mulch.  Then hubby and I headed to Cleveland for dinner with the in-laws.  It was their 45th anniversary.  So we celebrated just adults at a favorite restaurant of ours (Salmon-Daves).

Sunday - was a day of rest (with a trip to CostCo thrown in).

I am so glad that we had such a great weekend!  I love visiting the family. 

Wednesday without words... sort of

I want to say that I am so thankful for my family!  without all of you I would be lost. 



Great Wolf Lodge Niagra Falls- July 2010



Preparing for Easter

This week we are preparing for Easter both within and outside the Church. 

Within the Church our plans are to go to Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday services.  The kids have Mass at school on Wednesday followed by confession.  So they are gripping that they will be at church 4 out of 5 days.  For some reason church is a big touch point within our family.  We are (I think) the only practicing Catholics.  There are C&E'rs but not each and every week.  They just do not GET it why they have to go to church and no one else does.  

Also, we travel all over Ohio on Easter Sunday so in the past we have not done Mass because if we did we would not be able to visit both sides of our family on that Sunday.  We have also tried to do one family on Saturday and one on Sunday but that does not always work.  This Easter Sunday we hope to visit the Sorrowful Mother's Shrine in Bellevue Ohio for Mass.


Outside of Church - we are planning on laying low (except for the trip North).  I think we are just going to try to enjoy the time and relax.  The kids only have Good Friday and Easter Monday off this year.  They did their spring break in March instead of after Easter.   On Monday, Hubby is taking the kids to his plant to see how it works (they do this every year for the public schools in the area). 

Stuff for baskets (egg hunt if nice) have been bought.  New outfits are purchased.  I am hoping for a fun time.

Wrap Up for the past week

I noticed today that it has been over a week since I posted anything anywhere.....

Last week was jam-packed with work, working out, school, birthday, and just hanging out with my hubby and kids.

I will share the highlights of the week - sort of like the small successes mixed with quick takes....

1. had my cholesterol tested and it went down!  it was not high to start with but with a family history of heart problems that is good news. http://advocare24days.blogspot.com/ 
2. had a sick child on Thursday :(  the birthday boy was running a fever with stomach ache.  It lasted all of 24 hours but he got the rest he needed by staying home.
3. made a cake from scratch and it burned.  so I had to make a cake from the box but the frosting was from scratch .  my daughter told me it was the best chocolate cake ever!!!!! "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING
   1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
   2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
   3 cups powdered sugar
   1/3 cup milk
   1 teaspoon vanilla extract
   Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency.
   Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.
4. went shopping on Friday for birthday parties. hit CostCo, Target, Kroger's, and the Honey Baked Ham store in about 4 hours including drive time which is 45 minutes each way.
5. threw friends birthday party at local bowling lanes.  It was so much fun - they had the cosmic bowling going and the boys loved it!!!
6. threw family birthday party and it rained :(  outside of the rain it was a great time!  Birthday boy (Patrick) had fun.  He got lots of great gifts!  He is truly blessed.
7. watched Megamind movie - hubby kept calling it Mastermind to annoy the kids and it worked!  The movie was cute but just OK in my opinion.  I liked the music - AC/DC, Guns & Roses, KISS and the like
8. watched a special on the history channel about computer artists creating a 3D model of Jesus based on the Shroud of Turin - it was cool.  http://www.history.com/shows/the-real-face-of-jesus
9. went to Mass at 8AM!!! yeah we were up and ready - perhaps we are used to daylight savings!
10. did laundry
11. went to California Pizza Kitchen for Patrick's birthday dinner

I am sure I have missed stuff because I felt like I was running all over the place but I know I accomplished a lot and nothing to major went on.

wishing for good weather

This Saturday is P's 10th birthday!  Which still baffles me that it has been 10 years.  I remember walking and walking for hours during this week to get him to come.  It was Holy Week.  His due date was Good Friday.  He was supposed to be a Friday the 13th baby but with that day being Good Friday I knew that was a good omen. 

The day he was born (April 16 - Easter Monday) was a cold snowy day.  The hubby had to remind me of this because all I remember are the nice birthdays since.  Each and every birthday has been great weather.  It has been warm and sometimes unseasonably warm.  Pictures from his first birthday show him in shorts!  His 4th birthday was outside!  Crazy stuff.  Well it looks like this year we will have a cold wet day :(  I really want it to be warm so the kids can go out and play! so my hubby can get someone to help him put up the basketball hoop.  So the dog can be outside and not bug people.

I know this wish is a little selfish for me but I am going to stil wish for WARM weather in Central Ohio!

Lazy Days and Sunshine

This weekend was to be a lazy weekend for the family.  We have a birthday packed weekend next week, then Easter, then my sister in from Scotland, then Mother's Day and finally my In-Laws wedding anniversary.  So we will be running - running - running for the next month.  So I decided that it would be a lazy nothing planned weekend. 
Friday - my brother's family stopped by on their way home from Athens county.  They just finished their spring break trip.  My kids were so excited to see COUSINS!!!!! as Miss C shouted.  We visited and went out for pizza

Saturday - I did not do much but laundry, hang out, make dinner, & watch TV (Ghost Whisperer marathon).  Hubby worked on the fridge - trying to fix the ice maker.  Kids played on the Wii, outside, and watched some TV.

Sunday - We hung around the house.  Went to Mass at 11 instead of our normal 8.  That in itself throws the entire day off.  Kids played on the Wii and outside.  I was not feeling well so I stayed indoors and hung out with Miss C.  Hubby went to help a co-worker of mine with her Finance class.  We had dinner and all went outside to check out the new rail-to-trail path in Marion county. 

It turned out to be a great weekend!  I hope this week goes smoothly.  P turns 10 on Saturday!!! we have a friends party planned for Friday and family on Saturday. 

Brain Dump

I am apologizing to myself for the massive brain dump I took yesterday.  I just had to get all of my frustrations of our weekend out. 

There were good times during the weekend sprinkled into that dump.  I need to work on focusing on the good and glossing over the bad.

Speaking of good --- check out this website.  J Kirk Richards these are such beautiful pictures of mother and child.  I love #1 and # 13

What a weekend!?!

Not to sure if it was a good or bad weekend.  All I know is that it was one of the longest weekends this year and we stayed near our home all weekend.  No driving to Cleveland, Lorain or Port Clinton.

I think the reason the weekend seemed to go by so slowly or last so long was that things did not go as expected the entire time.  Everything was just off a little.

This all started on Friday.  I was all excited - going to get my hair cut and highlighted.  Normally I drive to Cleveland for this (going to the same person for nearly 9 years on and off) activity.  I decided that i did not want to drive the 2 plus hours to accomplish this task.  So I decided to go to Charles Penzone in Columbus.  I have been there several times for cuts and once for color.  You never seem to get the same person even when I try (they leave). So I had someone new and every time I told her I wanted her to do X she would tell me that I was wrong.  So I just gave up!!!  The color is good but I wanted it lighter.  The cut on the other hand not so good. My bangs look as if I cut them myself (very choppy) and the style was not what I had in mind (it is a little bob).  I am living with it for a few days to see if it grows on me.  I am still going to email them and complain since I was told what I wanted was not what I really wanted.

By the time I hit Target for some household supplies (LOVE LOVE LOVE Target) it was time to head home to pick the kids up at school.  Pick up the kids and P breaks down because he got a Red Card.  I can't remember when the last time he turned his card was.  He told me what happened - he was in line and people were talking and it was guilt by association (that is how his teacher works) and this was the Yellow Card.  Then in computer class he was trying to get to a math website and was having trouble with the address.  He was very frustrated and when the teacher asked him why he wasn't on the site - he answered with a tone that was considered disrespectful.  I believe him when he says it was due to frustration but I told him people only hear what he says not the why he sounds that way.  Another students mom called to tell me about what happened because she was shocked that he got into trouble and related what her son told her.  It backed up P's story.  

On a tangential note - P is having some 'anger-management' issues at home with his siblings.  He gets very frustrated by them and lashes out with hitting - chocking - and kicking.  This is a new thing.  He never did this in the past.  I am trying to figure out what is going on with him but he does not want to talk about it.

The rest of Friday seemed to follow right along.  We did homemade pizza's and the dough stuck to the pan.   We tried to get everyone in bed early and it just did not work - too much fun needed to be had.

Saturday

Well that day had lots of promise.  We had a whole lot planned to do and had it spread out so we knew it could be done but did not take in account moods! and crowds!

Miss C had a skating date with a girlfriend - they ended up going to lunch at McDonalds afterward.  Once C got home we headed down to Polaris (2nd time in two days down there) to do some pampering, movie watching and shopping.  The men folks went to see Diary of  a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules.  The boys LOVED it and the hubby not so much (no surprise to anyone - he went in disliking it).  The USCCB rated it A-1 so we said OK.  C and I headed to "Sweet & Sassy" a salon geared for little girls to get her nails done.  She liked it - I was OK with it.  She wants to go back with her cousin this summer for nails, toes, and up-do.  We will see.

She and I walked the mall while we were waiting for boys to be done with their movie.  Once we picked up the men we headed to dinner.  Everyone but C ate their dinner without incident but she said her belly was full after one bite.  PLEASE!!!!  she is a big loss leader when we go out for dinner but immediately afterwards she is ready for dessert.   After dinner we went shoe shopping - everyone needed new tennis shoes.  Only the kids ended up getting shoes because it was so exhausting.  Miss C melted down at the shoe store over the style, fit, you name it she cried.  I finally handed her over to dad.  Once she exhausted dad - she and I just sat and I let her cry it out at the store.  After the tears she was ready to go again.  Hubby & I did not get our shoes.  I will have to send Hubby out he is in desperate need for running shoes. 

We then headed to Target to make returns and start P's birthday wish list.  He is turning 10 on April 16.  Let me tell you his list is tiny.  People are not going to be happy.  But what can I do - nothing.  Hopefully people will not mind giving gift cards. 

We finally returned home after 6 hours out and about!  Hubby and I watched "Morning Glory" after kids crashed.  We do not recommend it but all the reviews we have read say watch it.  What can you do??? which seems to be my theme this weekend.

So Excited

Before Christmas I purchased a gift certificate for a clock from a company called For All Time Clocks.  I have seen these clocks on Lisa Bearson's blog and was interested.  The coupon allowed me to purchase a $90 clock for $38. 

It took me nearly 2 months to get onto the PC to order the clock (my plan was an anniversary gift for the hubby).  Then when I sent the photo it was to small to make an 18" clock. So I had to order an 8x10 photo from our photographer.  That took some time because once again I put it on the back burner.  On Tuesday I finally picked up the photo, scanned it and sent it on to the company.  The results are below and I can't wait to hang this clock on our wall!

Monday Morning Muse....

This weekend was another crazy one here in Marion.  At least we stayed in town for most of it no driving North :)

Friday we had D's IEP meeting with the Speech Teacher.  We are keeping him in speech one more year to work on his stuttering strategies.  He has nearly all of his sounds worked out - just has trouble with /r/ in the middle of a word.  However, his stuttering is still causing problems in the classroom.  The new teacher has some strategies she and D are going to work on and then pass them on to us to help implement at home.   Then Miss C had her 7 year well visit - and everything is good there!  She is 47 inches tall and 48 lbs!  She needs one more inch for all the cool rides at the amusement park and water park.  Hopefully she can stand really tall and straight and be allowed to ride.  Then I had to make up time for missing on Tuesday at work.  It was nice because I was all alone! 

Saturday I worked out and was gone for nearly 2 hours!  not good.  C had basketball and scored her first basket of the season.  I missed it because I was making her birthday cake (hope to have pictures soon) since we were going to be running around all night long (or at least that is how it seemed).  After bball the men of the family watched the Buckeyes and then we headed out to Polaris to do shopping for the party on Sunday.  We hit CostCo, CPK, Hobby Lobby, Cracker Barrel, and Barnes & Nobles before heading back home.

Sunday was the family birthday party!  It is so much work to get the house clean & decorated, food cooked, and cake made BUT it was so worth it!  She had a great time - the family seemed to have a great time (minus the drive with detours due to flooding) - so to me that is a success!

It was such a action packed weekend now I need a few days to relax before the next weekend.

Preparing for the New Year

The next couple of days I am going to work on what was the good/bad/ugly from 2010, what I hope to accomplish in 2011, and what the family has accomplished.

In the past on the 31st at dinner we talk about the fun things we did as a family.  The kids really like this tradition. 

Christmas Recap

What a whirlwind of 3 days we just had....

December 23rd - we got ourselves ready for our family Christmas.  Santa visits our home the night of December 23 into the 24th.  Reason for this is that we do not wake up in our own home on Christmas morning.  When we moved to Marion the kids (aged 3 & 2 - the newborn did not care) were worried that Santa would not visit them since they were not at their own home.  So Tony & I decided that we would 'talk' to him and request a visit while he is out on the other side of the world (it was December 24 somewhere) and make a special visit to our kids.  Six years later he still visits us and it is one of the most wonderful thing about our Christmas.

December 24 - we drove up to Cleveland to visit my parents and my Dad's family.  We had a lovely surprise when we pulled in the drive and right behind us was my brother, his wife & kids.  My kids were so excited to see their cousins - another blessing of the season - having cousins.   There were a few hiccups on Christmas Eve.  First one was that my Aunt & Uncle did not come up to Cleveland.  Normally we have dinner with them and spend the evening hanging out sometimes just talking, sometimes playing game.  Second - we did our best to try to go to Mass.  Being the only regularly practicing Catholics in our family (most are C & Er's as my sweet hubby calls them) we usually do not get to Mass on Christmas.  Well since my Aunt & Uncle were not going to be in town we figured we would go to Mass and then to dinner.  We arrived at the church and it was packed to the rafters (full of C & Er's) so we made the decision to just have dinner and headed back to my parents house.  We ended up not having dinner (reason is that since my Aunt & Uncle were not going to be there my Mom decided not to make a dinner - just snack on leftovers from lunch).  So Tony & I decided to go and see the 'new' Harry Potter movie while the kids stayed with my parents.   The movie was good - followed the book fairly closely.  Only bad thing was we sat near smokers and they stunk.

December 25 - we woke up a bit late on Christmas morning.  Kids opened up gifts from my parents.  We then headed out to my Grandmother's house.  Grandma is 88 years old and this is the first year she did not do all the cooking.  My mom did the cooking and it went well.    Kids were able to play with their cousins here also - so they were happy.  After the visit with my Grandma we headed to Tony's family Christmas gathering at his brother's house. 

December 26 - headed home!!!  The kids were able to play with their new booty!  Glad the gatherings are done and looking forward to the new year ahead.

Saint Nick's Day

Well we forgot Saint Nicolas Day on Sunday going into Monday.  Luckily the kids school celebrated it and they asked if we could set out shoes on Monday night.  I said sure!  They put their boots out on the front porch at bedtime.  Hubby decided that they needed to be brought in - it was supposed to snow and Miss C wears her boots to school.  When they woke the boots were under the tree with candy in each boot. They were very happy!  I think they even ate some candy with breakfast!