where has it all gone?

Where has the time gone? It is now 16 days into July, and I haven't posted since MAY??? What has kept me away? BEWARE, this post is REALLY long!

June was busy...

One weekend, Joe and I took Aaron to the indy car races at Texas Motor Speedway. That was pretty cool. Jeff and Michelle (and their kids) Owen (and a chick) my dad, Cher, Scott and Luke came too. It was pretty neat. We were right in the front. It was so loud and amazing... One of those wow nights for me. Seriously, everyone needs to go to a race at least once in their lifetime. Yes, we are Texas WT... but who cares!

I finished the website: http://www.delphitrade.com/ ALSO, i did delphianalytics.com but that one looks VERY similar to delphitrade. ;)
they aren't super awesome yet (i havent added logins and the super secret stuff yet) EVERYTHING from "hey, build me a website" (like the graphics and all the programming and setting up the hosting) was done by yours truly ;) I am just going to say, it doesnt look like much, but my dad (the person who commissioned this) is not the type to sit down and give lots of instruction. He said "build me a website" so i went to work, although I have no clue what he does, or what his business does, or the purpose of the webiste, or anything... PS - i also haven't made a website since college 8 yrs ago. I had to learn/relearn SO many things! To complicate things, i had a client who said (essentially) build me a house - and didnt give me very much input as to where, what size, what style, how many rooms... (you get the point)... anyways, at least now, we are at a point where it is close to something?

Anyways, here's a big exciting piece of news: Joe was ready for a change... so, he took a job at Dr. Pepper (finance dept). We think it is pretty cool cause now he works for a company we are ADDICTED to! ;) The only problem is that it is super far away - in the plano/frisco area... SOOOOO... we decided to put our house on the market.

Putting your house on the market is kindof stressful... This market out here is not so great. So, I had a stager out here (provided by my AWESOME realtors) on June 16th. That gave me a week before the wedding to clean out and make my house look great. So, that week of the 15th - the 22nd, I didnt sleep. I painted my bedroom and bathroom. I cleaned out and staged (w/my mom's help) all my closets. I reorganized. I CLEANED. I got myself a storage unit and moved all the junk and extra furniture into it. Ok, here's something funny - i had a futon. however, due to time constraints, the only help available to move it to the storage unit was 7yr old aaron. So we got it in my yukon and i also had to pile all my kids in there too as i unloaded it there. Seriously, that is how my whole week looked. I was trying to balance finishing the website, staging my house, and finishing my sister's wedding video (oh ya, being a mom w/kids in gymnastics, and baseball and basketball...). SERIOUSLY, delphi and steph really need to appreciate my efforts. ;)

We signed off and officially put our house on the market Sunday the 22nd.

After a week of no sleep, I couldn't think of a better way to relax then by renting a tiny PRIUS, squishing me the 3 kids, and driving to MESA! My mom was with me on the way there. She was helpful. UNFORTUNATELY, due to some miscommunication between me and the fuel gauge, we ran out of gas about 60 miles before el paso - in the middle of the day in the middle of NOWHERE! What a fun experience! ;) We called AAA, but they would take forever... my mom sent me to talk to the first cop who stopped - he said, "ya, your best bet is to wait for AAA" then drove off. I obviously have absolutely NO CHARMING ABILITIES!!! so, i sent my mom to talk to the second cop who stopped to ask us what the prob was. She was obviously more charming cause he told my mom to wait there for AAA but he would take me and the 3 kids up to the next town for some gas. Did i mention that it was HOT? i was SO glad to get out of the sun! anyways, he moved a bunch of confiscated rifles to his trunk and we piled in and got gas, and got going again. I guess a road trip is just not real until there is a fun incident like that!

yes, this is a pic of my mom and my 3 kids standing on the side of the road in 100 degree heat in the middle of nowhere...

Ok, so we made it to AZ. I stayed at Dawn's house and the kids were in heaven playing w/their cousins. It was a crazy wedding week, so that didnt really leave me much time (and i really didnt have much energy) to see many people. The wedding was fabulous. it of course made me jealous. nobody roasted steph, the reception was SOOO beautiful, they had a wonderful photographer, i would say things went pretty well. we stayed in a hotel while joe was in town (he conveniently got to fly 1st class both ways - he had to fly out after his last day w/deloitte, and fly back before his first day w/DP - meanwhile i got the privlage of driving a tiny yet fuel efficient car 17 hrs with kids both ways...) anyways, congrats to steph and nate. i had fun in mesa. it was a good trip.

So, I came home from my trip July 1st, (owen drove back w/me) and my realtor called telling me maybe we priced it too high, but we should wait till after the weekend of the 4th to re-evaluate... Joe and I weren't too worried. We weren't in a hurry to sell - so who cares if it takes a long time...

We wanted to stay out of the house and keep it clean... so we headed down to houston for the 4th of July weekend. We stayed at Jeff's house. The kids swam all day, the brothers rode jeff's motorcycles and played basketball... I vegged out. ;) I love those kinds of vacations. Jeff has enough motorcycles for all the brothers... all of the wifes would just ride on the back... still fun. ANYWAYS, We went on a motorcycle ride on the evening of the 4th. Joe and I rode one of jeff's crotch rockets to reminisce about the old days when he had his honda CBR (ya, charity is named after his motorcycle)... Anyways, the next morning, I woke up SOOO sick - i was puking and dizy and wanted to die - i think i even cried and thought i would. by the evening i was recovering. then sunday i felt better, so we went on a ride to some national park before we got in the car and drove back up to dallas. monday, i woke up wanting to die again. Apparantly, I can't ride motorcycles anymore. I got crazy veritgo!!! went to the dr and got a shot of something and felt a little better. Seriously, i must be getting old - i cant seem to do anything fun anymore!!! :(

ANYWAYS, that next day, we had 2 offers on our house!!! We of course accepted the best one, and will be hopefully closing here on aug 7th!!! (30 days from the offer)

ok, so if you are still with me, you will look and see that i have not said we found a place to move yet. We haven't. I have gone out house shopping and been online ever since trying to find a house - ya we didnt expect to sell it as quick as we did. Now, we have decided to just move into an apt until we find the perfect place to live - cause we dont even know WHERE!!! we are thinking CARROLLTON, FRISCO, or THE COLONY. anyone want to weigh in on that?

So, now, I am frantically looking for a house, trying to prepare for a move... etc...

Things my kids have been up to:

1. Soccer camp for charity - she is SOOO cute!

2. Baseball camp (at TCU) - thanks Joe... maybe that will be tomorrow's post.

3. Gymnastics camp - just the little half day things when Aaron & Charity are wanting somewhere to go

4. Aaron is still in baseball and basketball... w/various game times and practices...

ANYWAYS....i feel really busy and feel like i am barely keeping my head above water... maybe i'll check in later

Hey look, an update!

So, it has been a while... been kindof busy. Here are the things we have been up to...

1. I had to decorate the stage again... for the last time!!! (i think)

2. My brother Owen moved out here for the summer!!! It is so fun to have him around. He's good w/kids - PLUS he's single and cute. SO -if you know any available young ladies in dallas who are looking for a good time ;) this was when he and charity were playing w/a mega bubble maker thinggy...

2. I had a birthday... Officially, this is the last of my 20s... Joe complained cause the party seemed to last a couple days - we went to a nice dinner (cause it was cherry's bday too) sat night at Trulucks... YUM! then we had friends over sunday (the 18th) and had cake and icecream (carieanne made a lemon cake, joe provided the chocolate) and we played rock band... then tues my girlfriends treated me to sushi! it was so nice. Anyways, cute story: Joe took Charity out on saturday(the 17th), I supposed it was to shop for my bday.

Emily: "Charity, where did you and daddy go?"

Charity: "I am not supposed to tell you, but we got you a bike".

I didn't even have to ask her twice or even press her - i was just testing her cause joe was standing there (and to be fair, all of my surprises for him get ruined, so this was just payback). Anyways, I love my new bike, and it is so fun. Joe was even sweet enough to get a big cushy seat and make it a full on cruiser. what a sweety...

3. Charity graduated from preschool Tues night. (I almost forgot about it, but luckily a girlfriend called and we went!) To be honest, I kindof got emotional thinking about it - I have no clue why - maybe because she is so stinkin cute and I can't believe how fast she is growing up. For graduating, they all got a bible. ;)

ok, so the first few songs they sang were pretty good... i think by the 10th song, they were tired of putting on a show - what do you think?

at first they sang all together...

but i think they lost it by then... ;)

4. I am working on Steph's wedding video... we'll see how that turns out - got a cool new tool to do it with, but that means I have to learn all over again... I am excited for her, and that is coming up so QUICK!!!

5. I am also building a website - from scratch, and setting it up and everything... one would think with a degree in computer science, I would be able to do it no sweat - not so much. I am ok with the easy stuff (like graphics and all that)- but there are a few things I am just CLUELESS with, and I have been reading books and doing so many online tutorials. Seriously, I am so deep in tutorials about MODX, CSS, mySQL and PHP (and how to set the whole thing up and get it hosted) that I am completely OVERWHELMED! I am at least 6 layers deep in my imaginary tutorial tree... On top of the things I am learning, I am also having to relearn how to not be so retarded.... frustration. I know I can do this, and to be honest, it is kindof fun to be stretching again... BUT I will surely be glad when that project is over, and then maybe i will share the url w/all my blogging friends.

6. We went down to Joe's dad's ranch for memorial day. I didn't take any pictures... It was fun. Friday night we drove down to the ranch... then Sat we went to the lake - I thought I was so tough - I was fighting for a chance to ski first - wanted to hit the slalom ski before I wakeboarded... I got up once, and seriously, threw my back into some SERIOUS spasms. It hurt so bad. I got up once more, but had to give up. WHAT A FRICKEN WUS I AM! I AM GETTING SOOOO OLD AND FEELING IT TOO!!! :( The rest of the weekend we just hung out at the ranch, riding 4wheelers and canoing in their lake, and fishing, and swimming, and just sitting around enjoying how unbelievably beautiful the place is. I didnt get any pictures. It was hot and we came home SOOOO exhausted. 7 of the 9 Robinson kids (plus spouses and children) were there w/his dad and Trish... FUN TIMES.

My mom

So, it's Mother's Day, and I have the world's best mother!

She is the greatest. She taught me music, and to love music. She taught me to be flexible. She taught me that home is where your family is. She taught me to bloom where you are planted. She taught me to be strong and independant. She taught me to be ok with who I am.

She encouraged me to be everything I could. She encouraged and supported me with all my random endeavors. She drove me everywhere I needed to go. She loved me even when I made bad choices. She is seriously the best friend anyone could ever have. She is amazing. She comes through in any pickle. She is always ready and willing to help and serve. She is super supportive and fun! All of her spare minutes are spent helping others. She is the world's best grandma too. (my own daughter would rather live with her than me!)

This picture is classic: I was not the best daughter at this point, but she insists I was still "FUN!" she put up with all my drama...

She helps me so much, with EVERYTHING!

All the things she taught, she did by example. She never pretended to do or be anything other than what she was. She is real, and in my eyes, she is the most perfect mother anyone in the world could ever have. She is beautiful. She is my mom, and I hope to be just like her!!!

Charity

So, yesterday was Charity's real birthday.
We celebrated all day long. She had a cupcake and a candle in the morning. I had to drag her along visiting teaching. We went out to lunch w/Phanelb and Grandma, (and ran into Courtney at McDonalds!). Got some ice cream and came home... then we watched a Hannah Montannah show, then went to ChuckyCheese for her dinner. I think she had a lot of fun, but kindof got sad and didnt understand how it could be her birthday dinner without a cake (aaron got another one when we went to chilis) but she got over it.... just one place i failed but she got over it easily - we just had to get up and sing happy birthday to her.

ANYWAYS... She is the most beautiful and sweetest thing I have EVER encountered.
Today, she is sick. I didn't even know it. I just so happened to take her to the doctor for a skin thing, and they had to tell me she was sick - with a high fever. You wouldn't have known. You would never know with this girl - she HARDLY EVER complains. She is always so sweet and really epitomizes her name. CHARITY. That is what she is. She shares so well. She is so kind. She is so accepting (most of the time) when things don't go her way. She is so patient too! She so sweetly serves around the house. She is so full of love too - always making friends. She often says, "I love you, and I love everyone" - honestly, I believe her. Sometimes she gets lost in the shuffle sandwiched inbetween 2 crazy boys, and with a mother that isnt very girly wonderful. I just want her to know that I think she is amazing, and I am so lucky to have a daughter like her.

The annual birthday bash

So, Friday night, we had our combined party for Aaron and Charity. I must admit, it is really nice to have them be able to share a birthday party. I hope we can continue the tradition because I would so much rather have 1 crazy party than 2...

To be honest, I don't even know how many people came - seriously, I stopped counting at 60. All I know is that the cake was ALL CONSUMED! Some people left with cupcakes! (i was glad i had those for backup). PS - I got VALERIE to do my cake. She is amazing, and totally worth it... not having to make my typical ghetto cake was SOOO NICE! If any of you live by me, you totally have to check her out...

We had 3 bounce houses... the weather was perfect. My house still hasn't recovered, but that is just because I don't even know where to start cleaning... and, yes, this birthday party got them more gifts than Christmas... next time, I need to write "IF YOU FEEL COMPELLED TO BRING A GIFT, PLEASE JUST BRING A BOOK... WE DON'T NEED ANY TOYS OR PRESENTS... WE JUST WANT YOUR COMPANY!" maybe my kids would be sad, cause they really do love everything they got. To solve the TOO MANY TOYS problem, I just put it all in a bucket, and we cant take it upstairs till we go through and pick more toys to give away. Really, I am proud of them because whenever we get new stuff, like birthdays or Christmas, they are pretty good about going through their old stuff and picking out toys to give to children who don't have very many.

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Anyways, today was Aaron's real birthday. I love that kid. I am really hard on him, and KNOW I am screwing up on him, but he is resilliant, and I think he will come through ok. He is so sweet and honestly, he is the BEST oldest kid in the world. He is so concientious of his other siblings. He is so smart and kind. He is sweet and caring. He is laid back. He is FUNNY!!! He is a stud. Happy birthday Aaron, I LOVE YOU!!! (ps, notice I STILL hadn't cleaned up my kitchen by SAT morning... but, it is clean now...)

So, for Aaron's REAL birthday: He chose Eggos for breakfast, so he got to eat on the special plate and got a cupcake and a candle. T-ball practice, driving around, signing him up for next season... Then, he played with his toys until this afternoon, we drove up to Allen to play with his cousins. While there, we watched Paul play football, then we went to CHILI'S (his choice) and we sang happy birthday, then we went to their house and he got to ride their four-wheelers.

I went to Wal-mart last night. I left Aaron and Charity home with Joe and just took Nate.
When I walked in to the kitchen (arms full of groceries), I saw this little present on the floor:
Who would have done this sort of thing? Aaron came down the stairs. I asked him if he used the scissors, and whose hair it was. Proudly, he said "I cut my hair because I want to look good for my party on Friday"
He looks good alright!! ;)

Then there's Charity. She is so sweet. I feel like I am not giving her enough attention, but no matter how hard I try, she seems to still get lost in the shuffle. I guess it is a middle child thing. The other day, she said she didn't want to live with me anymore - she wanted to live with Grandma, Cherry and Sarah. After she saw how it made me sad, she told me she would stay with me. But, secretly, I think she is happier over there. :(

Last, we have Nate. I have really slacked with this child. He falls asleep watching cartoons. He is my most finicky eater...
Whenever he wants attention, he just walks right up and weasles his way into the middle of things. (reminds me a bit of myself that way). He sure is a cutie. when someone else is getting their picture taken, he walks right up to the camera, gets in front and says cheese!!!

Engaged

My baby sister Steph is engaged. She came into town last week and we did all the fun engagement shopping (finding her wedding dress, finding bridesmaid dresses...) and we also got to meet her fiance!

They both look like they are 12 yrs old. I am very excited for them. All this makes me think about my life and what it was like when I was engaged. Although I still feel like I am only 20 yrs old, I think I realize maybe I have grown up since then. Steph and Nate are so young and full of hope and naievte (but i dont think that is bad at all)... I remember when I was engaged I would say things like: "yeah, I know marriage is hard, but you just have to work at it..." or "we love eachother, so it will work out..."

I had no clue.

I think my idea of love has really evolved over the years. I am sure it will continue to evolve. We hardly knew eachother when we got engaged (although we thought we did). I can't really put into words all the excitement, fear, hope, infatuation, affection, worry etc. that I felt at that time! Marriage is such a big commitment!

This has really given Joe and I opportunities to talk about how it was when we were engaged. We have both really enjoyed talking about all the things that were going through our minds. It was fast. It was crazy. But, that is how we are, and we wouldn't have it any other way!

This is us on his motorcycle... going 100mph on our way down to Vegas. We did lots of fun crazy things together... we still do, but in a different way.
This was the day he proposed. I was so surprised that he proposed. I didn't see it coming - but I KNEW I had to say yes! After the initial shock of being engaged wore off... We went on a double date w/our friends (who ended up getting engaged and married a month after us!)

What were you thinking when you were engaged?

Nate, hope you are ready to enter a CRAZY family... good luck! ;) and CONGRATS!

Always a drama...

So, yesterday was pretty traumatic for my son Aaron.

Joe is in town, so I sent him to go pick Aaron up after school so he wouldn't have to walk home. Joe called saying he couldn't find him. All of a sudden my doorbell rang. Aaron was standing on my porch and my neighbor told me she found Aaron crying on the corner saying he was just chased by someone with a knife!

What?

So I called Joe and said Aaron was already home and we needed to talk. Apparently, while Aaron was walking home, some older kid said "I want to kill you with my knife" and chased Aaron down the street trying to stab him. Needless to say, it was pretty hard to hear my six year old tell me that other kids wanted to hurt him like that. I felt so bad for him. tears...

We called the principal and told her the situation, then Joe and I knocked on a couple of our neighborhood kids' doors to get to the bottom of the story.

ANYWAYS, this morning, we went in and talked with the principal. Joe was pretty stern saying this was pretty serious and he wanted to make sure the kid's parents were aware of this behavior, and appropriate actions were in place. Also, we wanted to make sure this would not happen again. The principal had investigated this too, and found out (from the other witnesses) that there was no knife involved, the perp. just pretended to have one. I totally would have backed down at that moment - in fact, I dont think I said a word the whole time we were there. HOWEVER, Joe communicated that it didn't matter - if he were to walk into a store pretending to have a knife and threatening something, he would wind up in jail for a few years...

SOOOOO... Aaron is now at school. I feel bad for him. But I also wonder, what would happen if it were the other way around? I would HOPE he wouldn't chase some younger kid around threatening him like that. Were we overreacting going to the principal like that? Should we now expect the kid (who is prob in a lot of trouble now) to be even more angry at Aaron? what to do... what to do...

Joe was IN town this week. It was a nice change. He actually got to go to 2 of Aaron's t-ball games! He has helped around the house and with the kids.HOWEVER, it is weird how actually having a husband home disrupts the routine. Dont get me wrong, I LOVE him and was SO glad to have him, and I hope he is home next week too... I actually cooked this week, so that's gotta mean something?!

ANYWAYS, tues-thurs I watched my girlfriends' 3 kids while they were out of town. I totally stressed about Joe being there while I was watching them (cause I thought he would be annoyed) but he was so cool about it... so WHAT A RELIEF! The time flew by as well...

We had a birthday for Nate on Tues. after school. Cherry, Scott and their kids came. Phanelb and Dave and their kids came. CarieAnn & her kids came too. Joe DIDNT come. :( but then we had the extra kids I was watching and even another one of Aaron's friends, so the house was hoppin... too bad in reality, out of the 17 kids there, only 3 (Blake, Max & Owen)were Nate's buddies... but he just knew there was a party goin on and he didnt care that it was for him!

Nate didnt know what to do with the candles on the GHETTO style cake I made him. People still ate it though!


He was traumatized by the Frenchy the Frog puppet that the Farnsworths brought him... although steph, I have since read it to them a million times and Nate LOVES the frenchy... so THANKS HE LOVES IT! (does that count as a thankyou card?) While I am at it, Cherry, thanks for the remote control bubble car... you already know it was a hit with EVERYONE (since I have been having to monitor everyone taking turns playing with it) and Mom, thanks for the bike - he loves thinking he is a big boy riding around w/Aaron & Charity! He obviously didnt care about anything I bought him, because I didn't buy him anything cool - I didnt think he needed anything.

After the little short and sweet party we rushed out the door to Aaron's program (the 1st graders sang songs and stuff for the school and PTA)... then straight to his t-ball game (he was dressed for his game w/cleats and everything for the performance!)... it was a busy day!! Just makes me think that I dont know how i am going to be able to manage more than 1 kid in a sport at a time...
ok, i love this picture because this just so happens to be the pose Joe does whenever he is trying to make fun of sweet or cute things. i can hear it now... "Oh!"

The Ranch, and Nate is 2!

We took our kids and our friends to the ranch last weekend.

Thursday afternoon, I checked Aaron out of school a little early and headed down to Houston. We were going to go spend the night with their cousins in Pearland. Joe was flying to the Houston airport so the plan would work out perfectly.

The children had all fallen asleep about an hour into the drive. All was quiet. I pulled over to drive through a BK for a large DP so that I would not fall asleep too. When they hand me my drink, Nate (still asleep) decides to throw up all over the place. EWWWW. I asked them for their largest trash bag and pulled into the parking lot. I stripped him down, pulled the carseat out and wiped him off as best as I could. Wrapped up the carseat and clothes in the big bag, tied it off, and put Nate in Charity's booster seat and hoped for the best. About an hour later, he puked again - so I pulled over, wiped him down and threw a blanket on him. AGGHHHH. nothing like the smell of vomit on a long drive. So, I called my sister in law who we were going to go down and play with and told her the situation. They were leaving the next day to go on a trip along with my neice who has lukemia, so I was not going to bring the stomach flu to them so they could bring it to her. We decided to go stay the night with Joe's dad. To be honest, it saved me a few hours of driving, so I was kindof relieved. I was mean and didnt feed my kids dinner (didnt want to clean up more puke) put them to bed and picked Joe up from the airport.

Friday morning, we checked out the new house Joe's dad is building and then headed up to the ranch. The Walls and the Eastmans got there that afternoon for our weekend of fun! We had so much fun together enjoying how beautiful it is, playing rock band, fishing, four wheeling, riding bikes, riding horses, shooting guns and just hanging out! It really was a fun time!

Becky is a photographer, so we came back with a MILLION pictures.

Fishing:

I thought it was so funny that Greg got her to kiss the fish!!!

Here are some pics of other various activities:

Here are some pics of riding horses - one of the horses was having a bad day, and actually bucked Joe off!!

We managed to get pics in the bluebonnets- except Charity freaked out because she got bit by ants... and then wouldnt step foot on the ground again.

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Anyways, today is Nate's birthday!!! I can't believe he is two! He is getting so big! I love him so much and I am so glad he is my son. He brings so much joy to our home!!! He is always dancing or singing or laughing. I love to hear him as he is learning new words. I love when he comes into my bed in the morning for cuddles. I love his beautiful blue eyes. I love how sweet he is to other little babies - he is always so concerned about them! I love how sweet and tender he is. I love how easy going he is too! He is tough and such a BOY! I am amazed at how he is able to hang with all the older kids we have around here. so, HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATE!

CHOP!!

So, I chopped off my hair. I am donating it. - about 14 inches?!! It's a big change!


i think i look like i did my sr year in HS? is this the same haircut?

Easter and Back pain and MOther of the year

Here is our fancy pic from Easter. it was pretty nice and laid back around here. we woke up, did a little egg hunt, then got ready for church. i had to be there early to play violin. someday i will NOT hurt everyone's ears when i play, but i guess the only way to get better is to practice... thanks to mom for playing piano.
then, we ditched out of church early and went to my mom's for another egg hunt and linner. it was lots of fun, and the farnsworths even came! we were super stuffed, so we all came home and took naps and then our DINNER was yogurt and toast. (GORMET, i KNOW!)
it was a nice relaxing Easter!

But, my back has been KILLING! i have always thought of myself as a really strong person. but lately, i think i am such a WUSS! my back has progressively gotten worse over the last few months and last week i had a couple spasms that hurt pretty bad, and then starting monday, my back started to hurt so bad it put me in tears (and the e.r. so i could get something for the pain!) honestly, i thought it was a kidney stone. they did a ct scan and found SOMETHING in there - but they think it is just an "isolated calcification, surgical clip or retained barium from a previous study/surgery"... SERIOUS???? but they dont think that is what is causing my pain???!!

so, now it is wednesday. i have done nothing but lay around taking drugs for the last few days. i feel so worthless... let me just illustrate what a great mother i have been.

today was nate and charity's well checkup (it is almost their birthdays and they need their shots). SO, i take them in. charity gets her temp taken 103.3 nate gets up there, 102. SERIOUS? i just wasted my time!!! so apparently, the kids both have ear infections and temps. i will have to reschedule their shots. how did i miss that charity was sick? i kindof had an inkling that nate was... but charity? all i heard from her on the way to the dr was "mom, my stomach is nervous." and that was because she knew she was going to get shots. she was so scared! oh well. i was kindof secretly glad they were not feeling well, because they came home with me and cuddled on the couch the rest of the day. (which is nice when you, yourself aren't feeling well).

but we will soon be back in the groove!

SeaWorld!

It is spring break! Joe was (of course) out of town, but that wouldn't stop me from having a fun time! I hauled the kids down to San Antonio and met my bro-in-law (and family) and MIL for some fun!

We stayed in a BEAUTIFUL Super 8... just kidding. Dan is fired, and I will have Joe make all remaining hotel reservations for me.... ;) actually, I guess all I needed was a place to sleep. Who cares if the floor was disgusting and they didnt clean it ever.

So, here are the pics from Sea World! The kids had fun. It was a bit frustrating when they wouldn't try some of the rides, but next time we will bring Daddy, and he will make them....
why are my children such WUSSES???

Favorite show: the Shamu show BELIEVE
Favorite ride: Texas Splashdown

The kids (especially Nate) LOVED the dolphins! it was a great trip!

On our way home, we stopped by the Alamo (but i forgot my camera in the car)... I think next time I go, I want to spend some REAL time in those outlet stores in San Marcos. ;)

So, here is the decorated stage:
It was a lot easier this time, because i had help and i figured out how to delegate. it took me several months, but FINALLY i figured it out (the whole deletation thing)!

Joe has been working in Dallas this week, so he got a hotel room and we stayed there Wed night. It was fun. I dogged the kids and Joe and I just walked around downtown (by where JFK got shot), and went out to dinner and then back to the hotel... I want to go back and do the whole tourist thing of dealey plaza sometime (when the museum is actually open). I cant believe that i have lived here for so long and never been to the 6th floor museum!!!

I must give a shout out to my son, Aaron. He is a total stud. I have debated about posting this because it might be embarassing... but OH WELL!!!

If anyone has had a bedwetter, they will understand... The only pullups that work are the expensive ones. each pack we buy we SWEAR will be our last. It is so hard not to get mad when he pees through his pullup or forgets to wear one and (of course) saturates the bed. I'm sure he doesnt like knowing his little sister doesnt have to wear pullups, and his friends dont either. I'm sure he feels embarrassed and uncomfortable too. We have tried SO many things. We did this alarm thing- it worked for a while, but then he kept unknowingly pulling it off in the middle of the night... we tried waking him up in the middle of the night to go. we tried no fluids past 6pm... we tried it all. ANYWAYS... today, i am proud to say we are almost through it. he has been dry all but 1 night in the last 20 days or so! that is such a milestone (coming from soaking wet EVERY day for the last 4 years). he has even worn underware to bed for the last week! YAHOO!!!

now we just need to get nate out of diapers ;)

Its Sunday

So, it's Sunday.

We were an hour late to church today - DAYLIGHT SAVINGS???? was i the only loser who forgot? (perhaps it was a conveniet oversight)

My little bro and sister were supposed to come visit this weekend, but the FREAK snow storm was too much for DFW to deal with, so their flight(S) were cancelled :(

Joe is working in DALLAS today... yes. today. SUNDAY - the day he is supposed to be hangin out being lazy with me!!! :( my sister says i need to be more supportive and not complain. i'm sure he doesnt want to be there either...

This is what my kids have been doing lately. Aaron has gotten better at the guitar. He is so funny about it - and SO competive and serious (where does he get that from?) Charity loves singing... I have so much fun listening to the whole thing. I think it is great - she has to read all the words as they come across the screen - OBVIOUSLY, she likes singing the same song over and over again ("Say it Ain't So" by Weezer)... but it is great reading practice! Sometimes she fails when she tries new songs and Aaron has to "save" her. it is so cute to see them work together to pass the songs!!!

So, if anyone wants to come play rock band with me, we are always ready to play!!!

Things i am grateful for:
1. my husband has a job - and although it sucks that he is gone a lot lately, he takes great care of us... so i can stay home and play with my kids and not worry about much.
2. the time we have together just Joe and i and also with our kids. Fri joe and i went out (even though he just got off a plane and didnt really want to). then yesterday we went swimming with the kiddos at the gym (and joe and i worked out and even went rock climbing!!!) Joe is really good about making the little moments we have together QUALITY!!!
3. my family moving so close by. i dropped in for lunch with my parents today (since joe was gone)- how neat is that!!!
4. being able to play the piano. i was happy to be called in to play for primary today. i love music, and i am glad i am someone people can just tap on the shoulder and ask to fill in last minute. every ward needs a few go-to people.
5. while i am glad i am one of those go-to music people, i am also glad that Licy moved in, so i am not the ONLY one!!! ;)

Where Have I Been?

I fell off the blogosphere - where did I go?
I've been tired and busy and the rest I dont know...
Drowning in "to-do" lists that never get done.
My daily activities are seldom called fun!
My husband's been gone even more than before
Weekends pass in one minute, then he's back out the door.
I'm down 2 more students (I'm left with just 3)
Still I'm starving for time with my kids or just me.

ok enough rhyming...

i cant believe it has been so long since my last post.
here are the highlights from the last couple weeks.

We did our anual Valentines date... that was fun.
It all started about 4 years ago. A group of guys got together and rented a limo and surprised us all - like prom style... we went to a nice restaraunt then to reunion tower and more but i get all the different years confused... then the next year us girls did a fun bus and we went to a nice meal and a dance club... Then it was the boy's turn again... So this year (it was the girl's turn) we did it at the Wall's house because CarieAnne's baby was stuck at home with a feeding tube. Here is the only picture from the evening. We just had a nice meal at her house (i mean WAY NICE) and played games. Pretty low-key compared to years past, but it was still fun.
From right to left: Becky, Me, Carieanne and her sis-in-law Jen

I have also been hanging out a ton with my mom and sister (who are now moved in a couple miles away).

My sister Lydia came to visit, and her daughter shut the door on my nephew's finger and it fell off... drama. Besides that, we went to the zoo and had a great time.

I'm decorating the stage for the pta... (i think this is the last one i am going to do...)

My washing machine flooded all over requiring an expensive repair, so I am getting rid of it and just bought this one from LG. Unfortunately, it wont get here till the 21st, so I have been taking my laundry to the magic fairy (my mom)... ;) THANKS MOM!

I'm still sick... I have seriously been congested since before Thanksgiving. I think it is time for another steriod shot.

I REALLY need to go to the gym... I have been really unmotivated lately, but I think with the warmer weather approacing, I will get back in shape ;)

I've been playing Rock band and Guitar hero... but i need to take a break because now my hand is feeling arthritic!!!

So that's it. You haven't missed much.

This Weekend

It is hard to get back into the groove of blogging!!!

Ok, here are a few reasons why I don't really mind my husband traveling.
1. He comes home so much more willing to help.
2. He tries really hard to make the weekends really count as quality time with our family.
3. Absence really makes the heart grow fonder ;)
4. He comes home with THESE!!! ;) (yes, he is a sweety!)

He has been putting in long weeks at work and not coming home until friday night. Next week, (VALENTINES) he wont get home till friday night either!! So, kindof a bummer, but he has been really sweet trying to make up for lost time!

As a side note: we bought rock band this weeknd (and an xbox 360 to play it on) I would like to think we bought it for the kids, but in all reality, we know who we bought it for!!! ;)

Where I've Been

I have been watching my sister's kids - she just moved out here from out east - YAY!!!
adding her three to mine, that made 6 kids under 6 - WOW!!! i dont know how you moms out there with more than 3 do it!

I have also been in Utah. I escaped the craziness of the 6 kids to go snowboarding and also to go to my sis' baby blessing. It was so much fun! I got to see Lyd's new house (and her new baby!!), owen, little steph, dawn (and fam), aunt steph, sherri, and my cousin jen, more aunts and even my bro in law sam too!! Most importantly, i got to go snowboarding FINALLY!!! For those of you who know me well, you will know that i absolutely LOVE snowboarding - it seriously makes me SO HAPPY
The pic is of me. It snowed a LOT!!! So, we had the most wonderful snow and so much fun hitting the powder! I took little steph with me the first day, but she broke her tailbone. :( The second day I took owen. This run was so much fun! seriously, look at how fluffy that is!!!

ps, utah is absolutely beautiful. i miss the mountains.

Now, I am home.

did i tell you that I had so much fun???!!!!!

This first video is my bro owen doing a five. He was landing this all day, until i got my little phone's camera out... still, i think he is a stud. i keep thinking he is just this little 8 yr old punk... i guess he has grown up!!!

The second video is actually me doing a 3!!! I rented a helmet, so I actually wasnt scared. actually, i used to do these all the time (before marriage) but that was when i was willing to sacrifice my body for fun... one season in particular i had 3 concussions and pulled out my shoulder! now that i am a mom, i am not so willing to do that to myself. somehow, with a helmet, i forgot all of that... i didnt land this one perfectly, but, i must say i was pretty proud of myself!

I think i've done this already...

BUT, lydia tagged me so...

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment, letting them know they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

10 Years Ago: I was a freshman at BYU and LIVIN it up - rooming w/my cousin, snowboarding every other day, having more fun and getting in more trouble than I should ;)

5 Things on my "to-do" list for today:
1- Hang out w/hubby (we just got back from an electronics store)
2- Hang out w/kids
3- Relax
4- Make dinner (or just buy dinner!!!)
5- Take Aaron to a Bday party
OK, in my defense it is Saturday - this is my day to do WHATEVER i want!!!

I Enjoy:
1- Going out w/my hubby
2- Being active and doing FUN things (snowboarding, working out, playing sports, being outside) 3- Eating out - i mean, i LOVE it when someone else does the cooking AND cleaning for me!!!
4- Being a stay at home mom
5- Reading good books and doing logic puzzles

What would I do if I was suddenly made a BILLIONAIRE:
1- Put as much away as I could
2- Get a vacation home in the mountains, another one on a lake with all the associated toys etc.
3- Upgrade my home
4- Hire a personal chef and maid
5- Try my hardest to stay sensible and not get crazy - not give too much to my children so they can still know the value of work - try to be charitable etc...

5 Jobs that I have had:
1- Cleaned my dad's office (LYDIA - despite what you might think, i actually DID clean the office... I vacuumed and took out the trash and did more than just SPRAY WINDEX)
2- Piano teacher
3- Receptionist
4- Computer Science TA
5- Computer Programmer

5 Things People Don't Know About Me:
1- My nose is lopsided
2- I played the clarinet and tuba
3- I traveled a lot when I was younger - even hit Denmark, Switzerland and Germany BY MYSELF when I was just 13 (well, technically...)
4- I love chocolate and eating anything SWEET
5- I once was known to do such things that I could NOT post on the internet.

I am tagging: YOU