New Job

So, this is where I spend my days. My boss is awesome, the 9 girls on my team are awesome and the work I'll be doing is awesome! So excited to have this opportunity.

The kids have done wonderful this week starting a new daycare and having to go full time. They're making lots of new friends too and say they have had a good day when I pick them up. Just have to work on getting food in the house so I can have dinner ready within a few minutes from walking in the door at 5. I'm also going to pack my lunch for work everyday... just as soon as I get a paycheck LOL.

I can't believe how good I feel about this opportunity. Independence! Thank you God.

Accomplished

I took the family to get portraits taken today. I think they look awesome. I'm not sure exactly what Catherine is doing with her pretty face... but at least she isn't crying like 3 years ago! I already have a 5x7 in a frame and ready for my desk at work.

Catherine is in a stage (at least I hope it's a stage) where she sees the camera come out and she poses. In most of her shots she has her shoulder up and her face turned... I swear I don't do this in photos... but maybe I should start???

I don't know what else to say about this adorable little fella except... he is oh so adorable! In a couple of his shots he had his Spidey-web out shooting the cameraman. The rest he was either pouting his cute little "chin-tilt" pout or jumping up and down uncontrollably. Seriously, I could just squeeze this one til he pops.

I start my new job tomorrow morning. I've been off work for 8 weeks now (boy has the time flown by) following scheduled surgery. I've learned a few things these past few weeks... certain people don't necessarily do what they promise ahead of time that they'll do; it's not fun to have 8 weeks off if you're broke; the people whom you least expect it from will be the ones who rescue you; preschoolers will eat every 23 minutes if you let them; having little children (and big ones named Zac) will make more messes than you can possibly clean up in 2 months time; and lastly,... if you have children in your home still, it is IMPOSSIBLE to rest and not overdo... even for 1 solid hour.
Lessons learned, at my bodies expense I suppose. I don't regret having the surgery, I just regret that I couldn't leave town for 2 months and not tell anyone where I was going. LOL

I am bringing a couple of nic nacs for my desk too, little pencil cup and paper organizer that both match the frame. I know it might sound silly, but I've been waiting for a time in my career when I could have a desk of my own and cute little personal items just for me. Catherine colored me a beautiful picture with flowers and butterflies so I won't miss her too much while I'm at work all day. I colored her one too. We haven't been able to do all of the things we talked about doing while we were home, but I didn't realize I'd be ordered to not do anything and take it easy. That part has been so hard. Impossible really.

So I have lots of new clothes, a new haircut complete with color and highlights, an organized handbag, kids backpacks ready and at the door and a full tank of gas. What else could I possibly need? Sleep might be nice... but I don't think it'll come any time soon...

Have a great week everybody! I sure hope to.

Exhausted

Caroline went outside to take photos of the full moon a couple of evenings ago. Among the pics on my memory card, I found this one she had her little sister Catherine take. She's growing up so fast. 16 already. It's hard to believe she'll be in college in 2 years. She still seems like my little girl in so many ways...

We finished about 100 errands today. It was about 90 degrees, air conditioning in the minivan doesn't work and we had so much to get done. It seems the paperwork following surgery is why they give you 8 weeks off... it takes that long to get it all filled out and turned in. I have been a little slow getting some of it done, which would explain my last paycheck LOL. Evidently I haven't been getting my short term disability so hopefully that will all be cleared up. Also had to give my notice at the hospital, which was very hard. I hope to be able to stay "PRN" which means "as needed" and work 1 day a month. I will dearly miss taking care of patients. I'm moving on to the new job at the insurance company. (YAY!) Brand new regular schedule... just like normal people. 8am to 4:30pm... no holidays, no evenings and no weekends! Plus the physical part of the job should fit in better following surgery. I cannot tell you how excited I am about the new job. I've been praying for God to show me the path I need to take to simplify my life for myself and for the children... I hope this is it.

So, yesterday the kids and I started on our project of distressing, painting, sanding and staining our entertainment center, all 3 pieces. Unfortunately, we only had 1/2 quart of paint, so could only get a start. I had 2 wonderful little helpers... but I think they mostly painted my patio. Guess I'll have to use the pressure washer again after this is finished...

Notice the cute polka dots Catherine is painting inside my bookshelf! Had to break her heart by painting over them. I did think about leaving them to remember her at this stage, but realized there will be a lot of "her at this stage" stuff.

Zac is doing well in college. He lives with us and attends classes M-F. He is still a very big kid (really) and the kids just adore that about him. Here's his latest...
I am glad Zac didn't get hurt, that would have been hard to explain to the ER Doc how my 21 year old son was riding a big wheel down the driveway and crashed... but I've had to explain stranger things than this to a doc when it comes to Zac. He's the reason I became a nurse... figured it'd be cheaper to treat most of his mishaps at home.

Tomorrow the children start their new daycare... so early to bed tonight... they've had a very full day and hopefully will fall asleep in their own beds easily. Catherine has informed me that I am to stay until they get settled... which was my plan to begin with of course. She's very excited... and that makes it easier on me.

Have a great day everyone!

We all need to do something...

Each and every day, I check in to read the updates on Stephanie and Christian Nielson. And each and every day, I wish I could do SOMETHING to help them both, their 4 young children and their families whom are taking care of their children. I don't have money to give but I do have prayer and can use word of mouth to get their story out there to others. I ask that if you're reading this, that you pray for God's will and peace for their family. Pray for anything else that you think of also. There are several auctions going on and I'm sure there are other ways to help, but Christian said last week during one of his brief conversations that he could physically feel the prayers of everyone. That is awesome. Awesome that we pray, awesome that he can feel them and awesome that he would take his energy to tell us. Prayer is an awesome tool God has given us... we need to use it.

There are a lot of links to their story and every one of them is awesome. I especially enjoy Stephanie's (Nie Nie) blog...

Beautiful weather

Just some shots of the kids playing outside in this wonderful weather.
Ok, so we really get bored sometimes and I try to think of creative ways to entertain them all day. Anything from drawing an obstacle course on the driveway- complete with bunnies to avoid hitting and a bridge to go over, stop sign and a finish line.

Latest "Mom is bored" tactic was setting up Diet Mountain Dew Cans to make a bowling alley. Believe it or not, they actually enjoyed this one. LOL They create a new way to play, making up their own rules. This was my attempt to get them to count more. It worked for Sam but not for Catherine. She's just not interested... going to have to work on that girl before Kindergarten next year!

Poor little fella, always plays so hard! Pain usually doesn't stop him but after falling off his tricycle, it "running over him", and this horrible stubbed toe... he was out before dinner. Guess I'll have to postpone taking them to daycare tomorrow so I can get my 100 errands done... because I just can't imagine putting shoes on this little foot!
I'm trying to just relax and enjoy being home with my 2 little babies because I know it's coming to an end very soon. I hate that I start feeling like I really need to be getting things done and can't enjoy them talking to me nonstop all day (you know who you are Catherine). I think it comes from having a career and now not being able to work... even if it's just for a little while. I also know I'll really miss these relaxing days when I'm away from them for 8 hours a day. So, attitude adjustment underway... I'm going outside to play with my babies.

Maggie Bella

Maggie was our Golden Retriever we got for Sam and Catherine last summer for their birthday's. She was delightful and beautiful. We have a fenced in backyard so thought this was the perfect fit for our family. Little did we know at the time that we would "inherit" a large boxer named "George" in January from Tyler and Alisha shortly after they were married. George and Maggie were like husband and wife. I have never seen 2 dogs fall in love with each other and play and share bones like these two did. Unfortunately, having 2 large dogs in a small house with 4 children became too much for me, not to mention the food bill being almost $80 a month. I worried that one of them would get hurt and I wouldn't be able to afford the vet bill. That didn't seem fair to our dogs, and with the way our budget is, something had to give. Not to mention, George was a "chewer" and chewed anything and everything he could get a hold of,... toys in the backyard, basketball hoop for the 3 year old, outside toybox, side of the house, bottom of the shed, several small trees in the backyard. So, the decision had to be made to maintain my sanity... the dogs needed a new home. One of my best friends from the hospital has 2 brothers that are 8 & 10 and they had just lost their golden puppy to Parvo. She mentioned to me that she would like to have Maggie if that was possible. They lived in the country with no leash laws, have a lot of land and an older Golden Retriever who needed company. Maggie loved other dogs so I thought this would be the perfect fit. And it was. They immediately welcomed Maggie into their home and built her a dog lot and dog run. She was very happy there. Anyway, she just told me that Maggie was hit by a car about 3 weeks ago and they buried her in their front yard. I felt like she had died when we gave her up, but now she really has. I feel so bad, I should have done better by her but I didn't. It's hard to lose a pet, no matter why you have to lose it. She was a very important part of our family for the brief time she was here and we'll miss her very much.
Samuel sleeping on Maggie when we first brought her home.

Catherine loved to snuggle with Maggie, and would sit on the sofa and hold her as long as she could.

We love you Maggie and will miss you dearly.

The power of prayer

Somehow I ended up at this blog. If you've never heard of the Neilson family... you MUST go read about them. Something that really touched me was when one of her sisters wrote in her blog:

We have been told that Steph will likely look much different after her healing. That prospect is difficult for me to fully accept. It brings up so many questions I can only solve in due time. But something in my depths knows that it will be beautiful. She will be beautiful because she is ...

I am left to wonder, what sacrifice would you go through personally to personally affect thousands of lives? Your beauty?

This kind of topic always makes me stop and think. So much of what is focused on and done seems to be about outward appearances. For me anyway. I hope I am not the type of person that this young beautiful mother would worry about how I view her. She has enough on her plate at the moment. 3rd degree burns on 80% of her body. 4 children under the age of 6. A husband in critical condition too. In her chemically-induced coma is she aware enough to worry about her babies? Her life? Her beauty? Her younger children may never remember what she looked like before... Her strength and determination inspire me, to go on when it seems difficult and to push forward when I'm discouraged.

Please pray for this family and the ones taking care of her precious, young children.

New clothes...

Yesterday, Alisha, Madison and I went shopping. I have to get a whole new wardrobe and hate shopping for clothes! Shoes too. I know they are supposed to be my friends and bring me joy but they really don't. I'm just not cut out for the shopping thing. So, I was able to find 1 pair of black pants, brown pants, 1 Chartruese sleeveless turtleneck, 1 brown sleeveless turtleneck, 1 periwinkle cardigan with white polka dots, 1 off white short sleeve shirt and 1 white pleated fitted shirt. Also broke down and bought 2 pairs of heeled sandals, 1 brown (the link only shows gold or white, but mine are dark brown) and 1 black (the link shows gold, but again, mine are black). Still need a ton of other things, but that's a start. Did I mention that I have NOTHING in my closet to wear? I don't really go anywhere except to the pool or the park but I have to admit that it feels nice to know I might have a shot at looking good with these new clothes. Other things I might like to get:
jacket
Not sure what else. Need to find some cute grown-up jeans without holes. All of mine have holes but I can't wear them anywhere but to the park.
So, any suggestions on some cute clothes? I want to stick to basic pants with wider legs (not too wide) and bright tops. I really have no fashion sense. None. Notta. Need all the help I can get. I really need a personal shopper.

Revelation

So 2 days ago it hit me. I am NEVER going to get all of these photographs into albums for my children... not in my lifetime anyway. Secondly, I am not even liking most of the layouts I'm creating so what is even the point? My bottom line is this: photographs and portraits into books and the story behind some of the shots to tell my precious children what they were like when they were young. So this just all sort of clicked... how exactly will I accomplish my goal? There has to be an easier way. Enter mypublisher photo books... So I downloaded the software and away I went. There is also another (probably several) site for this kind of photo book called Blurb but it is more complicated and there are more choices for pages. I found myself browsing other people's books for ideas when what I really need is just to get mine done! So... I'm going with the mypublisher site. In the last 2 days I have started all 5 of the children's baby books and am officially caught up for Catherine's 5th year. Yes, I know, she's only been 5 for 1 week but it has included 4 parties and a trip to the pool, along with 2 photo ops.

So, the hard part... like most people, I've only gone digital in the last 5 years or so meaning I will have to either scan my pictures and save them onto my computer or disk. The BEST thing to do is to get the images "digitalized" at a lab and put onto disks. So my goal for this week is to take Tyler's baby pictures to the lab and get them converted into digital images and put onto a disk. Then I can just insert disk and drag and drop into the mypublisher software. Easy.

You might wonder about the price of getting these photo books printed... the prices are listed on their website but you also need to figure in additional pages. The book can hold up to 100 pages (50 sheets front and back). I usually spend about $40 on a scrapbook album, cost of paper and embellishments (you don't even want to know) and additionally the cost of printing pictures. I have 2 printers at home for this purpose but counting in ink and photo paper it comes out to be about the same amount as if I ordered them from Snapfish or somewhere and picked them up at the store. I figure about 20 cents/picture... or $8/ 36 shots of 35 mm film. This all adds up. I'm hoping to be able to get 1 year into each book for them and keep it under $120 each book. I don't mind if their baby book cost a little more... but you can't add more than 100 pages into them.

I also want to get all of Caroline's poetry into a book for her (hi Caroline if you're reading this) starting with her stories she wrote when she was 5. Some of her poems have been published nationally and I would love to present her with her own professional book of poetry. She is also a photo NUT, maybe more than me... and has a professional flickr account. It'd also be nice to help her get her photos into a book. See, the possibilities are endless... but for now, I'm off to get working on Sam's 3rd book starting with his third birthday this past July. So doable... so easy... so excited!

Let me know what you think!

Say it isn't so...

The pool is now closed? How can that be? What in the world will we do every day? Well, I guess it's now officially closed but we enjoyed 4 glorious hours in the sunshine and cool water today. The children showed off what they had learned this summer: both of them being able to jump off the side without someone waiting to catch them
and also swimming underwater!
We also enjoyed the annual end-of-year Labor Day cookout. Elks Lodge... we'll miss you but look forward to all the wonderful events the changing of seasons bring. Here's to next summer but enjoying the moments in between.
And to siblings trusting each other enough to jump off the edge of the pool together! We'll miss you pool...

Where is the cake?

Ah hah! Sneaky little fella AKA Samuel is a little too determined for his own good. He asked Mom 2 times if he could have some birthday cake... only to be told 2 times No. The third time he asked me, he said please but received the same answer. His ingenuity told him I'd be busy if he gave me just one second... and that's when he made his big move. Me being, well, Me felt the hairs on the back of my neck go up and knew something was amiss. The house was too quiet so I went in search of... ...the missing cake box. Well, found the cake box and found Sam, behind his bedroom door. The look on his face was too adorable for me to take away his prized cake box. He only wanted the frosting anyway... a boy after his mother's heart.