Merry Christmas!

I love Christmas time. I love the spirit of giving that surrounds it. This Christmas I am so grateful that firstly, I have a loving family to be surrounded by. I'm grateful to have a warm home and jobs that will provide our family with a Christmas full of happy memories. And I am most grateful for the birth of our Savior. I love being able to have a special time of year to celebrate such a magnificent event. It truly is the real meaning of Christmas to me. Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope your worries may be lessened and your hearts may be full.

Here comes trouble.

Literally. It has passed the point of being funny or cute. This kid is a menace! I've only just blogged about our Christmas decorations and couch incidents, no thanks to Noah. Well today I have just about lost it with him. It started out at 8:30 this morning with the police banging on our door. Apparently Noah was playing with the phone and had called 911. I was so embarrassed and this was only the beginning of his havoc wreaking day. Right after lunch I caught him playing with the toilet. I was surprised because I had been pretty stern with him two days ago when he had clogged the toilet with toilet paper. Now he was back at it. I stopped him before he clogged it again and sent him off to play in his room. I went back out to clean up lunch and I had the dishwasher going when I realized some of the noise I heard was coming from another "water device". I told Aaron to go see what was going on with the boys. Well Aaron found Noah throwing bath toys in the toilet and flushing away. Our toilet is so clogged that Aaron is going to have to spend tomorrow taking the toilet apart. Luckily he knows his way around plumbing otherwise we'd have to call in professionals. Noah's destruction does not end here though. He is put down for a nap and it was the most peaceful 2 and half hours this whole Saturday had to offer. After he woke up we were all in Mia's room and I was reading to Mia on her bed. Being distracted with the book, we didn't notice as Noah covered himself head to toe with marker. He also realized his hand made a nice stamp if he colored on his hand and wiped it on her white dresser. It all came off, but it was just too much for this mom to handle and there's still more to come. After dinner I let them have cereal for dessert. I begin doing the dinner dishes, I come out into the family room and Noah has dumped his cereal out all over the carpet and also found a bag of pretzels to spread out along with his cereal. I erupted. I had to just go plunk him in his crib to keep from strangling him. After it was cleaned up I decided to wind up our night a little early and began getting everyone ready for bed. I noticed Kai's asthma acting up so I went to get his nebulizer from my room and when I came back, Mia and Kai were yelling how Noah had screwed up the TV. Sure enough he had. We have one of those complicated set ups where the TV is connected to the cable box and the DVD player so if one thing is out of whack they all are. Then it takes like 20 minutes to figure out if it's just one thing you need to fix or a combination of issues. I am happy to say this was the last Noah causing stressor for the day. They are all in bed and I feel like I'm going to dissolve into thin air. I know it is easy to say "DON'T YOU WATCH HIM?!" All these things happen in a minute or less. Go wash two pots or read a page of Harry Potter and that's all the time a nearly two year needs to cover himself in marker or make cereal and pretzel soup. I've never had a kid like this. Even if he's disciplined he doesn't care, he'll do whatever it was 5 minutes later. You can add one more ornament and one more decoration to his score of Christmas items destroyed. I don't understand him or his needs and that's what's so frustrating. I get Mia and I get Kai most of the time, but Noah has been much more difficult for me to figure out. Luckily his dad likes him so we won't be putting him up for adoption. Just kidding (sort of).

*So I woke up this Sunday morning and realized what a whiner I sound like. Every mom experiences bad days like this, so don't mind my little pity party.

Destrucos

So far...
Christmas ornaments broken: 4
Score: Noah 2
Kai 2

Christmas decorations broken: 3
Score: Noah 2
Mia 1

Look out mom, we'll be there in less than 2 weeks. BE PREPARED!

Glass is half full

This weekend I took Mia to a birthday party at a bowling alley. I dropped her off and went to run some errands then came back to pick her up. I was a little early when I pulled into the parking lot so I thought I'd clean out my car in the mean time and leave Mia a few more minutes at the party. I was picking up all the straw wrappers and receipts when I noticed a man going through the dumpster on the side of the bowling alley. At first I thought he must have lost something and was trying to find it in the garbage. He was dressed fine, and definitely didn't look homeless or even needy. I went back to straightening up my car and looked up again and noticed he was getting food out of the garbage. He was opening every pizza box and had put together about 3/4 of an entire pizza with what he was getting out of the dump. I felt awful. I thought about how just the night before I had stared into a pretty full cupboard and thinking I had nothing to make for dinner. Did this man have little children at home or elderly parents and this was the only way he could provide food? All the stress in my life seemed so minuscule at that moment. I know there are people starving all over the world including here in America, but just seeing it right before my eyes like that really made me realize how much I have and how much I need share. It reminded me of the Christmas song by John Lennon "So this is Christmas, and what have you done?" Mia and I went to the grocery store after the party and I had her pick out some non perishables to put in the collection bins at the front of the store. It wasn't a lot, but I just had to help in some way at that time. I urge anyone who can remember to grab a box of Mac n Cheese or a can of Chicken Noodle Soup while they're grocery shopping and leave it where they're collecting food for the hungry. I know this won't wipe out hunger, but every little bit helps...right?

Misunderstood

This has been weighing on me like a ton of bricks and I feel like a post to let it out, so to speak, may take some of the weight off.
I was very happy, both of my main political hopes were fulfilled. Obama is kicking W. to the curb and Prop. 8 passed. However Prop. 8 passing has brought this huge wave of backlash and attacks against Christians, especially Mormons that has really disturbed Aaron and I. We talk about it at least once a week and of course living in a city 20 miles south of SF, we are not in friendly territory when it comes to our views. The words hate, bigot, and intolerance keep being directed at those who supported this measure and I feel there is a huge misunderstanding at least about the way we feel on the issue. I am fully aware that there are terribly judgemental people that hide behind religion to say awful things about people/practices they don't approve of.
We love and respect every person we know who are gay. We don't think gays burn in hell. All the signs saying "End the hate" frustrate me, just because I voted yes on 8 doesn't mean I hate gay people. If our children are gay they will be just as loved and welcomed in our home. It also doesn't mean that just because I have a gay child I have to change my beliefs on what the definition of marriage is. If one of my kids turns atheist, it doesn't mean that I have to stop believing in God to make them happy. They will have their beliefs and I will love them no matter what. We both believe gay couples should be able to share benefits with their partner or make medical decisions for one another, and go into a hospital room like married couples can. These rights were NOT taken away from gay couples when Prop. 8 passed.
For Aaron, his thinking about gay marriage is about biology. Man-woman they "fit" together, it's just the way anatomy works. So why should he believe it's totally normal when science shows him the way the puzzle fits. It's like telling him 2+2 doesn't equal 4 anymore. For me it's the definition. I don't believe the definition of marriage needs to be changed. Whether you believe in Adam and Eve or apes, marriage has always been defined as man and woman. There are some traditions that should be left in tact. There is always room for new traditions, but they go by new definitions. Where we both worry is the education side. A lot of arguments regarding this issue in schools, revolve around kids being born gay, so implementing this type of education won't make kids "turn" gay because it's not a choice. I believe this, just like I believe some kids are born brilliant. Parents buy videos, and workbooks in hopes of boosting their kids chances to be extra smart or super strong. In the end though, I think if a kid is going to be an awesome soccer player, or mathematician it's inside them no matter how much or little encouragement they receive. So, yes I think you can be born gay. However, trying to make kids understand concepts of any kind before they are ready is confusing for them. It is understandable if in sex ed. (which isn't until 5th grade) teachers explained there are different types of relationships and sexual orientations, but the way history is being laid out in Massachusetts, and California (pre-prop. 8) they want to start talking about it as early as kindergarten. Romantic relationships are confusing no matter what sexual orientation you are. Why can't they just be little kids? Why do we have to start initiating them into topics that still perplex us as adults? Mia has no clue what a homosexual or a heterosexual couple is, she's just barely understanding that she's in the mammal species! What I don't understand is, traditional marriage isn't specifically discussed until sex ed., but then when gay marriage is legal we need to start talking about marriages and especially gay marriage as soon as they enter the public school system???? I want my children to grow up to be accepting and kind to everyone. It's one reason I love being in the bay area. It's such a diverse community with people from all walks of life and it's wonderful!
So, am I intolerant, a bigot and full of hate? I like to think not. There is no easy compromise when it comes to this issue. One side is always going to be disappointed. I must say it did feel good when Prop 8 came out on top despite all the Hollywood and political big wig pressure to vote no. We know the way the majority of Californians, and Americans for that matter, feel regardless of what the courts rule. It's been disheartening to see the nastiness and scapegoatism (that is a real word, check it out) that has gone on since then. I'm sorry people feel like Christianity is being "shoved down their throats". We live with a lot of anti-christian views that I may not agree with, but I don't deface property or call names.
These are obviously all just my thoughts, and I don't intend to offend anyone. Like I said I needed to just get this out. Every time I read an article online about prop 8, I do what I shouldn't and scroll down to read the random comments. They're mostly all mean, and spiteful toward yes on 8. I always want to leave a comment on how I feel, but I know it will fall on deaf ears and I'll end up a villain anyway. I figured this was a safe place to finally explain my feelings since it is our personal blog. I understand the disappointment, I would have felt disappointed if it was defeated. I value adverse opinions, but I'm using this more as therapy and not looking to argue. If you have anything negative to say, kindly say it on your own blog and not here.

Couch sweet couch

First I want to recap our wonderful Thanksgiving. We celebrated with Aaron's family and it was relaxed and cozy. We did absolutely NO black Friday shopping. Instead, the kids spent the night at nana Debbie and papa David's and Aaron and I slept in past 10 am. It was heaven. We made the most of it and had lunch just the two of us at a new burger joint in town, Jack's Prime, best burger I've ever had...ever. Then on Saturday, my sis Whitney and her husband Adam came up for a visit with his family. They were at Adam's family's house for Thanksgiving in Santa Cruz. We had a great day together, but it went by too fast. Then we spent Sunday and Monday getting our Christmas decorations up.
Now on to the topic of this post. When we moved into this house we had to buy a new sectional for the family room because our old one (that was only 2 years old) was the wrong configuration for this new house. The funny thing is we loved our old sectional so much we bought the same one, just in a different fabric. I actually like the fabric of this new one better than the old, but the color is lighter and as you can imagine lighter is NOT better when you have kids. Anyway, we waited so long for this couch to arrive it started getting ridiculous. We were using a twin futon laid out to sit on. The couch finally gets here and it's gorgeous. It fits in the room just right, I love the fabric, and it's so comfortable. Our poor couch is only two weeks old when it is horribly graffitied by Noah with a blue ball point pen. It was a nightmare. My parents were here when it happened and witnessed my dismay. We had the old couch for two years and it hadn't suffered abuse like that, then this new one is only two weeks old and there are multiple long blue streaks on 4 of the six cushions AND the throw pillows. This little guy had gone to town scribbling on our beautiful new couch. We got the marks pretty lightened up so now you can only see them if you look for them. The graffiti and abuse continues though on this poor couch. Noah hasn't let up, luckily it's been with washable markers and not ball point pens or sharpies. It's funny because I think a lot of people would freak out if they found crayola marker streaks on their new couch and I just breath a sigh of relief that it's something easy to get out. I also had the pleasure of washing out a ground in 'fruit by the foot' and yes we have a no eating on the new couch rule, but it got there regardless. Oh, then yesterday it was peed on by Kai-nobody's going to want to sit on this couch by the time I'm done with this post. He took an impromptu nap in the afternoon(on account of being up half the night with asthma) and he's potty trained when he's awake, but not asleep. Something his mom didn't think about until he was an hour into his nap. After a thorough cleaning, I pretty much drown the cushion, the thing is still drying. I can't wait to see what else is in store for our poor couch. I've thought about covering it with a sheet, but the kids will just rip the sheets off and it'll look sloppy and messy all the time. I'm resigned to this couch becoming our junker couch at warp speed. It's still comfy and I'll flip the cushions over to hide all the "secrets" when company comes over. I'm sure you have a horrible picture in your head about what this couch looks like, but really it still looks (and smells) great. It's holding up well, the secret is getting to the stains when they're fresh, it's one thing I can't tell myself "oh, I'll clean that tomorrow".

Back on track

Holy Cow! It has been almost a month since we've had internet and I feel like a new person. A few times I was able to borrow my mother in laws laptop, but it has just been a really difficult month without being able to get online whenever. I can't believe how dependent I've become! Just for checking whether, comparing prices, getting phone numbers, then there's the really important stuff like email and blogging :) Anyway, now that the holidays are here I'm sure I won't have a ton of time to just sit and catch up on all my lost online time, but at least I know I can get to it. I'll try and remember to actually take some pictures. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
Silly things I am thankful for (because everyone knows, family, home, jobs, ect.)

Pumpkin scones (starbucks has the best)
Reality TV (especially Top Chef & PR & Survivor)
Fences (So my kids can play in the yard worry free)
lunchables cause sometimes I really don't feel like making lunches)
I-5 (so getting to my parents only takes 6.5 hours)
Ebay (saved a lot of money there)
peppermint hot chocolate (YUM)
Q-tips (cause sometimes my ear itches)
Curbside take out (like a drive thru, but better food)
Target (nothing like one stop shopping)

A Night on the Town?

So as you're driving through the streets of San Francisco in a beautiful neighborhood on your way back to your accomodations that have a view of Golden Gate Park and also will bring all your meals to your room you would think we had a pretty nice weekend, right? I would love to tell you that we did except that our accomodations were at the childrens hospital. Kai had a dramatic asthma attack. He was okay one minute and then the next thing you know we're at the doctor's office with them telling us he's about to slip into a coma. I don't think this is something I'll ever get used to. I always kind of shrug off asthma as a controllable condition, therefore no big deal. Well not the case for Kai. All the doctor's keep saying it will get better as he gets older, We'll just be happy when hospital visits will go down from 2-3 times a year to once a year or if we're lucky every other year! Whenever Kai's asthma starts acting up, Aaron always says "geez, I was never this bad." Then his mom will arrive to babysit the other kids and she'll say "this is just like how Aaron was." Obviously Aaron's memory is a little blurry because as a mother I know this is not a feeling I'll likely forget 10, 20 or 50 years from now. On the bright side Aaron promised a real night in the City for the two of us now that we're home and Kai's recovering. For now I would be happy just to get out for two hours to go see the new 007.

Sorry, I haven't been a great blogger lately, our internet is down and Aaron's just admitted he can't figure it out, so we have to call in the professionals.
Also I have to give shout outs to two of my siblings blogs. If you haven't checked out Rhett or Whitney's blogs yet, you simply must click here and here.

Don't mess with the INCREDIBLES!

We had a very Happy Halloween! It was the last year Noah was "baby" enough to be Jack Jack, so we went for it and were the Incredibles family. In case you've been living under a rock it's a Disney movie about a family of superheros. If you haven't seen it, check it out, it's really good. Aaron and I went to a "grown up" party after trick or treating and we felt pretty cheesy in our costumes without the kids! They were what really made it fun. Mia was the only one to go all out and wear her mask, and gloves. Aaron wanted the full spandex suit, but I made him settle for an Incredibles t-shirt and sweats. Anyway, it was a fun day with good memories and a lot of candy.
It was great having Nana Carol and Papa Jeff in town. Not only did they participate in all our Halloween festivities, but they helped out with a lot of little odd jobs around the house. We got a lot done and a BIG thank you to them.



Then we also had an awesome time in Yosemite the weekend before Halloween. We hiked, and biked and fished and just enjoyed the beautiful surroundings. Yosemite is amazing in the fall. It's uncrowded with beautiful weather and we also see lots of wildlife. A bobcat crossed right in front of us on one of our hikes. The only thing missing this time of year is waterfalls. Yosemite Falls is completely dry and most of the other falls are just trickling. Not the majestic rushing water you can see in the spring. Usually we stay just outside the park in a nice hotel, this time we stayed in the park and I must say it was pretty nice waking up and already being in Yosemite even if the lodging is more rustic. Aaron really wants to camp there and I don't know why or when, but I have totally lost all desire to camp in a tent. I think it's great for kids, I have fond memories of family camping trips, but now that I'm the mom and I'll have to deal with kids, and tents, and dirt, and public showering it just doesn't hold the same appeal. Anywho, it was a wonderful mini-break and we hope to get back there in the spring.

Earth to Julie

Yes, we are still alive. No, we didn't move to another planet without internet access. I just honestly don't get on the computer much anymore. And when I do it's usually just to check email because someone says "didn't you get that email I sent?" There have been many funny little stories I'll think "oh, I should blog about that." and I just never get to it.
Our computer is acting funny now too. When I try to upload pictures our USB says it doesn't recognize the camera, so that's why the lack of pictures. Sorry. Here's what has happened and what we're looking forward to...
Recent history:
Another ER visit for Noah after he fell out of a cart at Lowe's and hit his head on the concrete floor and began throwing up. He is perfectly fine, just gave us a scare!
*Planted the front planter box. It's not a small planter box, it's almost 20ft. long and 6 ft. wide, so that felt pretty good. Adds a little more curb appeal.
*Campaigned FOR Prop. 8. YES ON 8!!!!!!!!!


Currently:
*Packing for our yearly trip to Yosemite. We leave tomorrow, Mia's school has a "teacher in-service day on Monday and we're staying for two nights. It's going to be beautiful weather and warm enough for the kids to get in the river.
*We're also having a new front door installed tomorrow. I can't wait since we can barely close our front door now.
*Trying to scrounge up bank statements and pay stubs so we can refinance. What a pain.
Looking forward to:
*My parents are coming for a visit in less than a week now. We're all very excited to see them.
*Halloween! We're going to be the Incredibles family, cheesy, but cute too. My dad can't wait to go trick or treating again. I won't be surprised if he tours the new neighborhood to scout out the most efficient route for maximum candy. Seriously.
*The election. I'm kinda dreading it too, I just want it to be over.

I can't believe that November is in one week! The holidays are almost here. My head just exploded.

Oh and check out my traveling siblings blogs. My brother Rhett is studying abroad for fall term in Romania and Whitney just went on a 10 day trip for her work www.freewheelchairmission.org
to South Africa. Whitney is on her trip now and probably won't be able to blog about it until she's back home. Anyway, that's all I have to report now.

Only one napper left!

So yesterday I realized that naps are just a form of torture for Kai now. His naps have dwindled from every day to about 2-3 times a week. Getting him down for a nap is fine, but like yesterday he had a nap in the afternoon, then I walked into the boys room at about 10:30 pm-2 hours after I put them to bed for the night and my sweet little boy was laying there wide awake even though his brother and sister had been passed out for over an hour. I could tell he wanted to be asleep, but he just wasn't tired enough after having a nap that same afternoon. Even though I enjoy quiet time and was hoping to make it through the new year with two nappers I know how much it sucks to lay in bed trying to fall asleep, but being unable to, and I don't want my selfish reasons to be the cause of Kai's restlessness. Another one bites the dust and it looks like I will now have just one sleeping which will probably make quiet time a little less quiet.

Putting it out there.

So, this decision came pretty easily to me after the VP candidates were selected and I'm voting for OBAMA! I have always liked him and thought he brought a positive outlook and a lot of charisma to politics. I didn't have much against McCain until he chose his VP. I absolutely, positively, cannot stand his horrible choice for VP. I mean give me a break!!!!!! His decision was purely to give his side some novelty, and had nothing to do with who would actually be the best VP for our country. The republican party has to have better candidates than that woman. I need to change the channel every time I hear Sarah Palin speak. BLECH! Obviously this is just my opinion, but I don't, don't, don't, don't like her. She's hokey, and dopey and never even met a foreign dignitary for crying out loud!
Whoever is sworn in, in January has a really rough road ahead and I'll be praying for them. I don't think either one will be able to keep all their promises because let's face it, no politicians at that level do. I do feel a little more optimistic about the direction Obama wants to take which is why the two votes in this house will be headed Obama's way. Not looking for debates, just happy to live in a country where we can have our say :)

Change stinks!

We are truly and completely blessed to have this opportunity to move into a nicer neighborhood (not that we were in the ghetto before), into a bigger house with a smaller monthly payment. It all seems like pluses, right? Well it's just been hard getting used to a new house. For instance, there is a wall my fridge door hits up against instead of being able to open all the way like it used to. The kitchen layout is totally dysfunctional here which is really tough because our kitchen was so handy before. I also thought I would love having all hard wood floors, but I really miss carpet (and we do have rugs). We also miss grass! Our yard needs landscaping badly, it is completely devoid of grass, so the kids have no soft place to play outside. It's all decking, dirt and rocks. Also the hot water runs out really fast here. It's a lukewarm shower, at best, if you're the third one to go. My laundry area has diminished from being able to hold 7-8 clean loads to two :( which means I actually have to start putting my laundry away instead of stockpiling it 'til it's time to start the next round. It's also really hard going from two fridges to one. We had an extra fridge in our garage before to hold all our drinks, so no more buying 24 packs of coke, or two gallons of milk at a time because it won't fit. In general, it's been hard figuring out where to put all our old things into our new house. I'm sure that's pretty normal for everyone, but still no fun. The one who's had the hardest time with this move is Kai. Yesterday, when we were pulling up to our new house, Kai said "no, I want to go HOME, I want to go HOME!" He also has run away once because he couldn't find me in the house. We found him crying up the street and there were a couple of worried neighbors around him. So great first impression we are making. He constantly is asking "are you gonna leave me?" Poor little guy, he doesn't understand yet.
Now for the positives. I LOVE being close to Mia's school. Her little friend who's up the street walks down with her mother every morning and they walk to school together. Then we get our little walk in the afternoon, when the boys and I go down to pick her up. I love having a real family room, before it was just a den area, here it is much bigger. I love the front deck, it faces the tree lined creek that runs along our house. YES, there is a real creek on the side of our house, no neighbor behind or on one side of us. At night we can leave our bedroom window open and hear the water flowing down the hill. Those are some more pretty good bonuses, and I'm sure we will all get used to the more difficult changes and continue to find more things we love in this house. I can't wait for everyone to see it...so come for a visit!

Still moving

So we are officially "in" our new house, but we are living out of boxes. Lots of furniture is missing, not lost missing, just not moved into the house yet. I feel like order will never be restored, I don't know how we're going to get everything done! Plus there's a glich in our usps mail, internet, and phone. To top it off our oven/stove broke just as we moved in so I can't cook. It should all be fixed this weekend though. Anyway, sorry if I'm a little out of touch it's been hard not having internet, but my inlaws were nice enough to let me borrow their laptop tonight, so I get all my important business like blogging done ;)

Bad Day???

So if a mom spanks all of her kids in one day, is it because the kids are out of control or the mom? Yep, it's me. I had a really bad day! I'm completely frazzled and stressed and I lost my patience three too many times. My poor kids, they're neglected enough throughout the day with all this moving business, but then they have this completely harried mother who spanks them because SHE is losing her mind. Really it's just been hard trying to accomplish anything on my own. For instance, today I was packing up the bathroom feeling productive when Kai comes in with necklaces draped all over his arms. I come out of the bathroom, and he has completely unpacked the box with all our bedroom accessories, including my jewelry box. My social security card is missing, he lost an earring, he broke a brand new necklace (I didn't even get to wear it out yet) and besides all that it was just completely setting me back. Mia has just been a complete pill the past week, so today, when I was already at the end of my rope, when little Miss Attitude came out she didn't get as much leniency as she's used to! And you may wonder how on earth I could even get mad at little Noah, but he can get feisty every now and then and he just picked the wrong time to do it.
Let me tell you, as a mother you never feel worse about losing your temper than when you go look in on your little ones after they are asleep that same night. They are SO sweet and SO precious, you wonder how you could ever let them see that ugly side of you. I'm definitely not proud of it, and it makes me feel sick inside, but I also know it won't be the last time that anger rears it's ugly head, so hopefully it'll help me bite my tongue a little longer the next time a bad day rolls around. I just can't wait to get settled and stop feeling like I have one foot in each house.

What a difference 3 weeks makes

So we still have more to do, but it's starting to come together. Now all the before and afters can seem a little "romantic" like it was so much fun doing it. The truth is it totally sucks. Too much stress, too much fighting, too much money. We still have all the decorating to do, curtains, rugs, lamps, ect. which also sounds fun, but I'm dreading it. We know we'll be happy once it's done and we are settled, but for now no one is having much fun! It does feel good to know that no matter what in two weeks we'll be in our new home and our mortgage will be LESS!

On overload

Sorry, it's been pretty crazy around here, so I haven't been on the computer much. I haven't picked up the camera ever since we were demo-ing, so no more pictures to update. It's coming along pretty smoothly except the tile for the master bath has been a pain in my rear end. We'll probably start physically moving in two weeks and be fully in by 3 weeks. I promise pictures of the progress...soon! We were able to catch a lot of the olympics, my favorites are swimming, gymnastics and track. Beach volleyball was pretty cool too. And there's NO way all those Chinese gymnasts are 16. Hmmm, I wonder why all their ID's checked out???????
Mia started 1st grade yesterday-I couldn't even remember my camera for that. She's in a 1st/2nd grade split class which I was a little nervous about, but she doesn't seem too concerned. I talked to the principal (who is totally awesome by the way) and she said that because Meadow Heights is a smaller school ALL the kids have a turn in a split class one year or another. I won't bore you with anymore details, but she did a good job reassuring me. Mia also had her first day of soccer with her new team yesterday. I was hoping for a more "girly" color since she is my only girl and she ended up with an electric green jersey. And instead of at least having a cutesy name like "the lucky charms" or "the peppermint patties" the girls voted on "The Stinging Serpents" I was amazed. All the girls on the team are just 6-8, I thought the world was still all about unicorns and rainbows, not serpents. Whatever. GO Serpents!!
Another thing that has been keeping me busy is I was offered a job with my previous employer who I taught preschool for. I am going to be teaching a 3-4 year old class Mon-Thur. mornings. Kai will be in the Mon/Wed. class with me. I'll be done early enough to pick Mia up from school even on her minimum day. It's only about 12 hours in the classroom and then around 2-3 hours of prep work a week. The prep work for the first day of school is killing me right now. The program has gotten a lot more polished and professional than the more Park and Rec"ish" program I left five and half years ago. Anyway, I still have so many calendars, sign ups and parent letters to do and school starts on Tuesday.
There is just too much going on right now!

$$CHA-CHING$$

I'm sure Aaron knows money doesn't grow on trees, but he keeps coming up with more projects (that cost money) for the new house. Every time I turn around we've spent another $1000 on this house, and I'm starting to hyperventilate!

Can you really be surprised?

It's moving time again for the Shong Clan. Hey, we've been in this house for 3 years, that's one more year than we usually hang out for in our past residences. We are so fortunate to have the opportunity to move into a home that has been in Aaron's family for 54 years. The home is in a great neighborhood and the best thing is that Mia's school is down the street! The home was designed by Aaron's grandmother and built in 1954. We have our work cut out for us too because we have to bring the home up to the 21st century. Most of the work will be in the bathrooms and in the front and back yards. We're also doing lots of updating with paint and new light fixtures throughout the house. While we've been having fun doing demo, it's stressful trying to get it all done so we can be all the way in the house by October 1. That may seem a long way off to some, but we know it's going to be here in a flash. All this work means we're canceling on our Bass Lake vacation :( Here's some before and after's so far...

Mia's room
BEFORE:


AFTER (or "during" still waiting for patching and painting):



Master bath-
BEFORE:



DURING DEMO:

Kidz Newz

Where did my babies go???????

MIA: Well two weeks ago this little 6 year old couldn't ice skate, nor ride a bike and had all her teeth. Now she's lost her first tooth with a second one about to fall our any day. She can also ice skate and ride a two wheeler! She got to go to an ice skating camp for a week and it turned out to be her favorite of the 5 different camps she went to over this summer. Not only do they teach the kids to skate, but they let them paint the ice and another day they scraped the ice into piles of "snow" so they got to build snowmen, and have snowball fights. One day her instructor mentioned to me that she had especially good balance that day so I thought "hmmm, maybe I'll go home and have her try out her bike." Mia was all for it so with Aaron holding the seat they began their lessons down the street. I went inside to get the video camera and when I came back out she was riding down the street all by herself. I was shocked. I figured it was going to take all day and maybe even the next day. I was wrong, I don't think she ever thought she couldn't do it so she just took off. And now to make her feel really grown up to Aaron and me she is going to be a first grader in less than 3 weeks. Say whaaaaaaaaaat, she's an actual "grader" now. Gone are the days of being an "er"-toddler, preschooler, kindergartener.


KAI: Well besides just turning 3 Kai has recently achieved a major milestone that makes his mom VERY happy. This one bit of news is as exciting to me as all Mia's bits put together. He is potty trained!!! We began a month ago and it took him two weeks to get into the groove. He's doing great, he even stays dry through naps, he does wear a pull up at night though. After a year and a half of two kids in diapers I'm back down to only changing diapers on one. WOO HOO. Good job little buddy. Now he can go to preschool in September. I have begun noticing how much Kai loves babies. He is so sweet and tender and interested in any little baby we meet. I feel bad that he won't get to experience any more little babies in our household because his mom is Done with a capital D, don't you know?!


NOAH: He is officially one and a half and can go to church nursery, so the first time in three years I can go to my meetings childless. He has been walking for two months and is still trying to keep up with his older brother and sister. He has just recently learned how to climb up his sister's bunk bed ladder much to my chagrin. I didn't believe Mia when she told me and then I saw him do it yesterday all on his own. On another note, he is my only child that has ever had a "lovie" or something he's attached to. He loves this Smokey the Bear pillowcase that was Aaron's when he was a little boy. He walks around with it around his shoulders. He's our most verbal baby yet. Many of his words aren't the actual word, for instance a pillow is a "lolo" but he's very good at communicating with us and knows more words than Mia or Kai did at this point. I still call him my baby, and probably always will, but he really is getting big.



Big changes are happening all the time between 3 kids and we love it. Our family dynamic is great and my favorite moments of the day are watching my kids playing together completely oblivious to my presence, making each other laugh, and building their sibling bonds that will last forever.

Books are bad??

So I've been doing some summer reading. Mostly trying to find a good sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. You can't even begin to imagine how many are out there! No sequel, of course, will come close to Ms Austen's work, but it's made for some good summer reads. Of the three different sequels I have read, the best is Letter's from Pemberley I & II.
The thing is, when I start reading I get so completely wrapped up in the book that I ignore everything else that needs my attention, INCLUDING my kids! No matter if the book is good or bad, I'm always anxious to get to the end. I've just finished another and my house is a disaster area, I'm still in my pj's and my kids are running around naked (I'm not joking). Anyway, I think I need to put the books down for the next week even though my next read just arrived from amazon.com. Instead of going for a sequel to P&P I've picked a series that looks at the original story from Mr.Darcy's point of view. I'm excited to start them, but know I need to get things in a little better shape before I become invisible mom again. I might just wait until our week long vacation that's only 18 days from now because clearly me and books aren't good for our household as of late.

Kai's 3rd Birthday

It's ON!

Well after going back and forth over summer vacation plans we finally have it all worked out. The problem was that we love boating at Trinity Lake. There is an awesome place we stay, it's so peaceful and family friendly and we had reservations there this summer. However, the lake is low, so low that right now the level is where it usually is in October. Now Trinity is a big lake, the problem is that when it's low it gets full of debris. We also called and talked to the resort owners and they said that the air quality is poor because of all the California fires. Thus we began a search for a new destination. We were getting discouraged thinking that boating was going to be scrapped altogether. We were having trouble finding open reservations this late and also a place with all the amenities we're used to. Then we came across Bass Lake. It's smaller, but still beautiful and most importantly it's level is 100% and no fires nearby. Another BIG bonus is that Yosemite Valley is only 40 minutes away. So here's where we'll be mid-August...

Home away from home

My excuse for this three week absence (besides not feeling like blogging) is vacation! We had a wonderful time in Southern California and filled up our 8 days quickly. Highlights...

*Beach bonfires






*Sea World








*4th of July






*My mom's 50th (The whole day was a surprise for her. We took her to Descanso Gardens, gave her a photo book filled with our favorite memories of her, and had dinner at the Melting Pot where we came and went in a limo)!







*Just hanging with our family and friends