Not much to report, we're slowly getting a little more settled in each and every day. We're almost done with the bathroom (just need another coat of paint and trim work). I can't wait to be able to put a done stamp (even if it is just a virtual one) on one of the projects around here.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day. Mine was nice. I got to spend time with the family and the kids were in a really good mood for most of the day. (yeah!) We got our rebate check from the IRS on Friday, then Saturday we got our deposit back from the apartment, so we were able to get a desk for my laptop for the playroom (so that Joshua doesn't keep throwing it off the couch, damaging it even more), a new office chair for both of us, and a couple other little things, as well as do some general shopping, fill up my gas tank, and put some money aside for savings. Plus we still have quite a bit to fund all the stuff in June (birthdays, father's day, etc.) Overall it was a really nice weekend, and we got quite a bit done too.

Not much new to report other than that, Joshua has been diagnosed with the early stages of asthma (his doctor doesn't want to call it that yet because he's so young, we'll see if he grows out of this "reactive airway" issue that he's been having) until then, he's on a nebulizer with one medicine twice daily, and another every 4-6 hours as needed. Plus he gave him claritin to help clear him up and a nasal spray as well. Poor little guy. I feel so bad for him when he gets upset and gets into one of his coughing fits. I know how he feels and it's miserable.

Charlotte is getting smarter and more aware every day. I'm so proud of all that she's learning. She can almost get herself completely dressed (we're working on it) and is getting a little closer to potty training. I think we're going to start really working with her on it soon though. Fun! I'm looking for princess underwear for her, (I've found some, they just didn't have her size), since she likes Cinderella so much I figured that may push her to wear her Cinderella big girl underwear.

That's about all from here. Have a great week! I'll write again when I have more news to share, or I think it's been too long since I wrote last!

News from the Homefront:

What a weird week and a half we've had. It's just been busy and different things have happened. Friday afternoon while at Wal-Mart as I was backing out of my parking spot, some girl hit my car, so I've had to deal with that. There's not a lot of damage, mostly just a couple scratches on mine and she broke her taillight and has a dent and some scratches in her bumper. Poor girl was scared to death though, then it really didn't help that I had the kids with me in the car. Poor thing almost passed out when I opened up the back van doors to check on the kids. Everyone is fine, but now it's just the pain of dealing with it. Oops, I was supposed to go get it looked at today and forgot... maybe later if I get myself and the kids together in the next hour.

I've had a tooth bothering me for a couple weeks now, but being that I don't have insurance I thought it would go away, well, since it didn't I needed to get it taken care of, so 4 1/2 hours later, almost 300 dollars broke-r, I'm now one tooth less. That's a whole nother story that I'll go into later if you ask about it. Pretty frustrating to have an appointment at 12:45 and not be out of the office until 5:15. Ugh.

I did find out on Monday that I passed my CBEST test. So, as long as I continue to pass all of my classes, I should be able to start substitute teaching next spring. They scale the scores from a 20 - 80 and I scored 70 in both my reading and math and 75 in my writing. I'm pretty proud of myself for that. Not that it was a hard test, but just getting through it the first try and not having to re-do any of it is nice.

Joshua has taken to getting up before the sun recently. I have no idea why he wants up at 6 or 6:30, but he's decided that's his new wake up time. Any suggestions on how to get him to sleep longer? It's difficult to let the other kids sleep when he wants to trample over them and play. Not to mention I'd still like to sleep at that hour.

Monday morning our friends Karyn and Rich finalized the adoption of their sweet little boy Zack. We're so excited for them, and sad that we couldn't have been there to watch, but they know our prayers were with them as they have been all along. Congrats again guys!

We finally finished painting the bath part of the bathroom. I really like it. It's a milk-chocolate brown color (kind of) with white trim. I really like it and I'm excited to see progress in the house. Painting stinks, but it's nice when it's all done. We'll start on the other portion of the bathroom and hopefully get it done this weekend. I'd like to have one room done.

Saturday we help my parents move. I'm so excited for them! Yay for bigger spaces! That's about all for here, I'll write more later. I'm going to go take pictures of the bathroom and I'll post them in a bit.

We're HOME!!!

We moved on Saturday, and are adjusting to life in our new place. I'm so excited and wanted to share pictures with you all, ignore the mess, and keep in mind we still need to paint and such. It's just the inside for tonight, I'll try and make it out tomorrow to get pictures of the house itself and the yard. The Playroom The Playroom opposite cornerWashing Machine/Pantry/Hot Water HeaterKitchen from laundry room
Breakfast nook?/More storage since there's not much cabinet space in the kitchen
New appliances! I love having a gas stove!
Our Dining Room. The spot on the wall is the color of paint that we're painting the dining room/living area.
Living room from the hall looking South-East
Living Room from the dining room

I will get pictures of the kids' rooms tomorrow once they are awake. The kids are loving all the space, and since we haven't put anything on the walls yet (we have to paint first) and there is hardwood floors throughout they love the echo. Joshua loves to walk throughout the house yelling various types of ooh, and aah, and uh, just to hear himself echo. He does it anytime we go into a bathroom also. Charlotte and Brianna love to run throughout the house screaming because they have the room and can. I'm working on putting an end to that real quick though to save my own sanity. I love having them in separate bedrooms, though I think they miss having eachother in their room to entertain themselves before I get up and get them out of bed. We don't have much in their bedrooms right now as we have yet to decorate. It all will come in time.

We have been so blessed to have been provided this house to take care of. I spoke with the owner's daughter-in-law today and she just asks that we treat it like it's our own. I guaranteed her that we would and thanked her again for trusting us with it. I am amazed at how God worked through my frustration at not getting a different house to provide us with this place. It's another reminder that though we get frustrated when things don't go the way we think they should and we whine and complain, God really has our best interest in mind and has something better for us once we give ourselves over to his plan.

We're going to have a painting party after the first of the month, so get on your grubby clothes and come join us! We have a lot of house to paint, and the sooner we get it done, the sooner we can have a party! We'll probably do it the weekend of the 3/4th (if my parents don't move that weekend!), so mark your calendars!

Speaking of my parents moving, I'm so excited to tell everyone that they've bought a new place! It's in the same park as they were in before, but they are moving a few streets over and getting twice the space! Talk about spreading out! They've got central heat and air now and are going to take the extra fridge we had (we bought one before we knew we were moving to a place that already had one!) and a dishwasher! Talk about moving up in the world! I'm so proud of them, and hope that they enjoy it half as much as we are enjoying ours!

That's all for now! I'll post in the next couple of days more pictures as we get more settled and it's daylight for outside pictures!

Testing, Moving, Working, & Playing

My CBEST test on Saturday went well. I think I did fine on it, I'm not worried about it too much. I will be able to access my score online on the 28th, then will get my official score after that. There wasn't anything on the test that I didn't really know or couldn't work out. So now it's just a waiting game for the results.
We're moving this weekend, and my house is like 3/4 packed. We've gotten to the "miscellaneous" boxes that really don't go with anything, and some things we can't pack because we're not sure if we'll use them between now and then. As we use stuff and know we won't need it again I'll pack it at that point. We're recruiting help for Saturday, so if you are available for help we'd appreciate it. We're going to pick up the truck at 7 a.m. and then we'll start packing it after it gets here. The more help we can get the faster it will go! I also would like to get someone to watch the kiddos for me so that I don't have to worry about where they are and having to wrangle them as well.
Chris' work is going well. He seems to really enjoy it. I hear all kinds of stories all the time about the guys at work and the pranks they pull on eachother, the fits they throw about "their" things, and so on. The kids and I try to go at least once per week to have dinner with Chris, and I think Chris' co-workers really like seeing us. Charlotte has befriended Randy who seems to get a kick out of her. She drew him a picture the other night. They crack up at Joshua's eating habits, and the amount that he eats. The other day he ate 3 cupcakes at a birthday party we were at. He had his own, shared mine (read: ate most of mine), then went outside and snagged a cupcake from a friend's daughter, who complained loudly, but it was too late, he'd already eaten half of it. The boy is quick, and don't mess with him and his food.
We're so excited about the backyard at the new house. We're looking at getting a swingset/jungle gym thing for it for Charlotte's birthday. We'll see though, they're pretty expensive. Maybe we'll get a few people to chip in to help with that gift instead of getting lots of little toys. We'll see.
I hope that everyone had a good weekend. God Bless!

Sorry it's been so long...

I just realized I haven't blogged in like two weeks. With getting ready for the trip and then just getting home from the trip my mind has been elsewhere.

The trip went well, the kids did great on the drive considering they were stuck in their carseats for 12 hours. We were glad to see everyone (with the exception of Chris' sister Colleen, who unfortunately refused to see us but that's a whole nother story), and meet Jason and Alex. My computer died just as we pulled into Salt Lake City, so I didn't have my own computer for doing homework on, but there are 3 others that I could've used. It turns out we think my hard drive died, but we're still able to get things off of it, so we're not sure. Anyway, a new hard drive and a re-install of everything and I'm back as good as new. Chris took out his golf clubs and was able to go golfing with the guys in the family which he enjoyed, and now his dad and brother in laws all are starting up golfing.


We were able to get pictures of all the grandkids, the idea was to get all four of them together in one picture, but since Damion wasn't feeling well, and therefore wasn't cooperating we had to settle for individual pictures and then make a collage of all four of them on the same page. The night before we came home was the worst. After pictures and lunch I took the kids back to the house to get a nap in, and Charlotte got whatever bug Damion had and was throwing up all afternoon, evening, and most of the night. I think we finally got to sleep sometime after 1:00 only to be up 4 hours later to leave to come home. Chris also got some sort of a stomach bug (different than the kids) at the same time, so I was a little panicked as to how we were going to make a journey of 700 miles stopping at every bathroom without going insane. Fortunately though stomachs cleared up and we were able to make it back without any problems on that end.

Charlotte and Joshua - we make pretty cute kids!

Charlotte is so photogenic. Pretty girl.

Joshua "honking" the invisible horn.

This is my favorite. Charlotte was playing peek a boo and this got snapped at the right moment.

Damion in my cousin Sammy's lap. He wanted nothing to do with his mom, and the only way we could get him to sit for even a half a second (even mid-scream) was if Sammy sat down with him.

This is the new baby, Stormie Rain Mitchell. She is 4 weeks old now, and is a whopping 6 pounds 6 ounces. I can't remember Char ever being that tiny, though I know she was a pound less than that at one point.

We're looking forward to going out in September again. SuAnne (the 2nd oldest) is getting married and I'm the Matron of Honor in the wedding. So I'll take the kids out (by airplane) the week before the wedding, and then Chris can come out a few days later and not take off so much time from work. It will be fun to see how much Stormie has grown in almost 6 months and to have all the grandkids together again to play with eachother more. But for now it's good to be home and sleeping in our own beds without the kids in the same room.

Now we're packing and getting ready to move. We move in less than 3 weeks and we have a lot to do. The kids enjoyed having a big backyard to play in out in Utah so I know they're going to enjoy having the same at the new house. I'm excited to be able to have people over and have room for everyone.

We went Yard Sale-ing this weekend and got two really good deals. We bought a real wood dresser with attached mirror for 15 dollars, then later found a twin size bed frame, headboard and footboard for 10 dollars. We figured that we'd found our share of good bargains for the day and went to the home show, which was not as impressive as I'd hoped it would be. I think being renters is part of that disappointment, but there just wasn't a lot that interested me this year there. Bummer.



So that's about all of the news from this end. I'll throw a few pictures in from our trip to share.

Excitement!

Our house is abuzz this week. It has been a great week and it's only Tuesday! First, as you know we are getting ready to drive to Utah, on what we originally thought was going to be Friday night, but it turns out that we are able to leave on Thursday night instead. I am excited that we will be able to spend another day there with the family and getting to see everyone will be very nice. I'm really looking forward to the trip, though not necessarily the drive. If you have a chance to send up a prayer for us between now and then, we'd appreciate it. Specifically please be praying for the drive to go safely as we'll be leaving Thursday night after Chris gets off of work, and driving through the night. I plan on napping that afternoon when the kids are napping, and sending them to bed early so that I can get a few hours sleep before Chris gets home, then I will drive the first part of our journey while Chris sleeps and then he can take over after a few hours sleep. I'm sure once we get there we'll probably crash for a few hours, letting the kids play with the family there, then we'll be refreshed and ready to go after that.

We also found out this morning that we did get the house on Pershing. I am so grateful to a friend of mine from our MOPS group that encouraged me to call the lady on the house, even though it wasn't going to be ready until the 20th of April. We are moving into a 3 bedroom 2 bath house, with about a 1/4 acre back yard. The house is mostly hard wood floors, with the exception of the kitchen, bath and family room. There is some cosmetic work to be done, it needs painting and work done in the bathroom (it's fully livable) but we are being allowed to paint it whatever colors/decor we want (with the exception of black) and she is paying for the cost of materials. She has also said that we will work something out in regards to the cost of labor, which probably means taking the cost off of our rent. We're across the street from a peach orchard, and allowed to have as many peaches as we want when they come in bloom. I can't wait as peaches are my favorite fruit. I think once I start seeing them bloom and produce fruit I'll be waiting with baited breath. The house has a brand new fridge, stove, and sink in the kitchen, and a new toilet and sink in the bathroom. That kinda stinks because we just bought a fridge thinking we'd need one in a house that we were going to rent, so we're going to sell ours. We have a 6 month used stainless steel side by side fridge for sale now if anybody knows someone who needs one. We bought it off of Craigslist from someone who used it to decorate houses she was selling, and didn't have any room for it. She had only used it for about 6 months, and most of that was light use just for the contractors/people working on the houses to put their lunches in. I'm sooo excited and can't wait. The owners of the house are also planning on selling the house in the next few years, which is about the same time we're planning on buying, and they're willing to do a lease option with us as well if we are interested in that as the time goes on. It is a little bit of a jump in price, so we are having to buckle down our finances a bit more, but we're also going through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University, which is teaching us how to better manage our money, so I think we can do it!

On the Financial Peace University thing, I highly recommend it to anyone! I've learned so much in the past three weeks, and am looking forward to the next 10 to get on top of our money management issues and start saving for retirement/college for the kids. I'm excited that we're paying off bills that we haven't been able to in the past, and we're looking forward to getting completely debt free! I want to be able to call into his radio show and yell, "I'm COMPLETELY debt free!!!!" and retire comfortably knowing that my children will have a secure financial future and not have to worry about them getting caught in the same trap that we've been caught in so many times before and have struggled to get out of. It has also strengthened our communication over money. Dave's approach is simple, easy to understand, and if you use the tools he gives you, it works. I've heard nothing but good things about the program in general and am completely satisfied with what I've seen so far. I hope that you will consider it if this is an issue in your life, it's changing ours, and has changed hundreds of others!

"Getting It"

I've sat down four times over the last two days trying to come up with something that wasn't the same old stuff to write about. Nothing came to me until I was visiting a friend's blog tonight and came across this video. Grab a tissue people, this is inspiring to me.

How does a 13 year old know this?!? After Todd's message this past Sunday at church when he spoke about his own 6 year old hearing from God and now this video I'm amazed that these children "get it" and yet it is so hard sometimes for myself and the adults around me to do the same thing. Can it be as simple as just listening with a childlike faith? I want that kind of trust and belief, yet I struggle so much sometimes and think I'm hearing when in fact I'm making my own decisions and not truly listening to His will in my life. Perhaps that's why we haven't moved yet. I'm making up His will rather than "Letting go and Letting God!" That's so hard to do though when we're programmed and marketed to about leading your own life, making your own decisions, having it all and more, and the "Me First" attitude that is pervading our culture. Why is it that Satan uses the same old tired tricks over and over again and we don't learn? We still fall for them.

Thank you Lord for your message to me tonight. I pray that I will "get it" like this young man did when he went out to put that calf down. Please open my ears so that I may hear You and know what it is You want for me. Amen.

A Deep Breath

I can now breathe a big breath again. I've been swamped this week with school, MOPS, Financial Peace University, and two kids, a husband and house hunting. I'm so glad the week is over. I've finished with my finals in three classes, and only have 1 class for the next couple of weeks. I start 2 more classes on the 17th, so I'll have homework over vacation, but it shouldn't be too bad. I'm hoping to finish up the first week before we leave and then work on the second week after I get back. (At least that's my hope.)

Here's the status on the house hunt for those of you following it. We moved our 30 day notice back until the 31st of March, so we have another few weeks. Between the theater next week, then being gone the following week it was too much to try and do it all before we left, plus we had not found a place that fit our needs after being rejected by the one on University. I mentioned our search to a friend at the MOPS meeting on Tuesday and she called me after looking on Craigslist and encouraged me to call on one of the postings. There is a 3 bedroom house for rent that is about 1500 square feet bigger than what we're in now, that is coming up for rent the middle of April. The owner knows about our credit issues and is willing to work with us on that. She is moving to Virginia and wants someone who can take care of the house for her without needing a property management company or having to call someone to fix everything. She is willing to pay for all of the materials for anything that needs to be fixed and will take some off the rent for the labor. We go look at it on Sunday evening, so we'll know more then what needs to be fixed/worked on. I'm excited and a bit petrified because of our previous experience. So we may need to extend our lease here a bit longer if this goes through.

We're getting very excited about our trip coming up. I don't know how much Charlotte understands about the trip, but we're talking about it more and more often, so we'll see how it goes. Joshua is beginning to have issues in his carseat, he yells at me every time I put him in it, but then he's usually okay, so hopefully he'll be okay in the car that whole way. Poor kids... we'll have to let them out at a stop or two if they're awake. I don't know if I mentioned in the last blog or not, but Sandra had her baby at the very end of February, so we have a new niece waiting for us. I can't wait to get my hands on her and love the heck out of both her and her brother. I've been sewing up a storm for Stormie (hehehe...) and need to figure out something for Damien so he doesn't feel neglected. Maybe I'll embroider some fabric panels and make him some balls?!? Or... hmm... I'll figure something out.

Other than that, not much going on around here. I'm off to go jump in the shower so that the kids and I can go do something tonight. We'll go take dinner to daddy tonight thengo figure something out for us to do.
Be Blessed!

Starting and Stopping

It seems that God is putting us in transition for a few things right now. I am not dealing well with it at all. I am feeling a bit stressed out about it all, and though I know that He has us in mind, it's hard not to get what I want.

We heard back this morning from Trident Property management, it seems that despite jumping through all of the hoops that we did, the owner of the property we were looking at decided that they weren't comfortable renting it to us. I was pretty bummed out about it, and spent the morning driving to all of the other property management places in the area to get their listings, checking the Appeal and Craigslist for a new place. After much thought, and prayer over the last few days we've kind of decided that maybe right now isn't the time for us to move, and we're going to hold off until at least after we get back from Utah. We would have to find a place by this weekend and move this weekend because we have plans next Saturday and are supposed to be out of here by the 16th. So I'll call down to the office tomorrow (or just walk down there) and cancel our 30 day notice for now. I had hoped that it was the right time, but with all of the signs that seem to be pointing to us staying here I think we need to trust that God doesn't want us to go anywhere yet. That's been a hard pill to swallow, but after the fiasco last year with the move before we got to this apartment, I don't want to go somewhere that He doesn't want me to go again. We are going to keep looking, but not with such fervor. We are going to go see a property tomorrow, but I think if we don't like it we're going to back off for awhile. There is another property that I saw this morning from the outside, but it's not available to be shown until later this week. We'll see how it goes between now and then if I want to see another. I sometimes wish that we could just buy a house instead of this darn rental stuff. But alas, our credit is so shot that until we get it back in track and get some money saved up that's just not going to happen. Plus we're still waiting for prices to keep coming down before we're ready to commit to something. We're thinking that when I get my degree and into at least my credential program before that happens. Probably another year and a half or so. I'm hoping by late next year. We'll see though.
I'm also in transition with my classes. I am finishing up three classes this week, and have until the 17th before I start my two new ones. In the meantime I do have one class that overlaps, so I'll take this time to focus on it, and my family and other obligations I have. By now I have almost enough credits to get my A.S. degree in general education, but I would have to pay 100 dollars for it and I'm just not sure that it's worth that. It's not like it will help me in my job once I get my Bachelor's. Besides, it's more or less a piece of paper that says that I've completed 60 credits. I don't think I need a $100 piece of paper to tell me what I already know. And it's not like my employers need it! They'd use it to color on! Pretty color mommy?!? Yes darling... my degree is pretty to color on! The good news is that I currently have 2 A's and 2 B's in my classes. I've finished one of my finals and am getting ready to finish up another class either tonight or tomorrow. The third class I have to take a final in doesn't allow me to take it until at least Thursday, so I'm studying for that one now.
That's it for now. I'll write more later when I have more to update.

Heidi

Life as we know it.

Moving stinks! I will be so glad when we are in a house and unpacked. Now if only we knew where we were going to be. This is beginning to have undertones of last January, although I know at any time I can walk down to the manager's office and cancel my 30 day notice, so we won't be "homeless" like last year. We're still waiting to hear back on two houses we've applied for. I really don't think we got the one on Joseph since they were supposed to make a decision on Thursday and we haven't heard from them. The good news/and frustrating thing in some aspects is that they are still moving forward with our application at Trident for the house on University Avenue. Hopefully we hear back on it this week. I would venture to say we're about 60% packed, just waiting to hear when we get keys somewhere to finish and begin moving. I think we're going to start moving some of the stuff that's already packed first, then one weekend move the rest of it. We're supposed to be all out of here on the 16th of March. We'll see... please pray for us to hear back soon and that God would give us wisdom as to what to do/where to go next.

Charlotte has been better this weekend. Thank you all who are praying for us and specifically for her behavior. I pray that she continues to grow and mature through this "terrible" twos. I'm beginning to think that she's definitely one of those "strong-willed children". That red hair doesn't detract from that either. I'm learning tricks to help, and I find that if I stop what I'm doing which isn't always possible, and explain that it is not okay for her to throw a temper tantrum, and that I can't help her if I dont understand what she wants, it usually somewhat helps. That's not to say that she stops the fit, but rather there is a moment of quiet that my brain can function in. She's also learning that her bedroom is going to be her living room if she doesn't start communicating more effectively as we are sending her there a lot when she's inconsolable. We've taken all of the toys out of there and don't let her come out to the living room unless she stops crying. That's helping too.

Joshua got his first haircut today. He needed it! It was getting so long it was hanging in his eyes in the front, and over his ears on either side. He did really well and looks like such a big boy now that its done. The pictures didn't turn out great, but you get the idea.

Before...

Being such a big boy during his haircut:

And afterwards riding on the train with Charlotte (who needs her haircut too as you can tell by this picture, we were going to do it today, but it meant waiting another 20 minutes just to have hers done, and all I really want done on hers is her bangs.)

And a cute picture of Charlotte and Bri from last week:

Now Charlotte was leaning over a bit, but she really is that much shorter than Bri. She gets her lack of height from her mommy poor girl.

That's about all that's new from here, I hope everyone's weekend was great and you all stayed dry and warm. May our week be even better and may you all stay safe and healthy.

Since I have no idea for a creative title for this I'll just write it without one!

So, Chris had Friday morning off of work at A-1 so we spent time looking for a new place to live. While our apartment is great, I'm itching to have a house, with a yard, and seprate bedrooms for the kids, so that hopefully they won't wake eachother up at 5:30 anymore. (We haven't slept past 7:00 in like a week and a half now, even though they were sick and still needed the sleep.) So we've been watching the paper and got the listings for all of the property management places in the the area, for 3 bedroom houses, and we think we've narrowed it down to two. We will go see them on Tuesday to see if we can figure out which we'd prefer. Hopefully we'll get our tax return on Friday and can put a deposit down. We've already given our 30 day notice here, and we have to be out of here by the 16th, so we're anxious to get out of here. We're starting to pack boxes and figure that once we find a place we'll start moving a little here and a little there and then one weekend we'll load all of the big stuff and then work here on cleaning and stuff. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. I think I'm somewhat fearful because of the last time and all the stuff that happened. I know that it won't because we're not going to go somewhere that isn't ready, but I'm still a little nervous about it. It does help to know that I can walk down to the manager's office and cancel my notice at any time.
Saturday was awesome. My cousin came over and watched the kids for us so that Chris and I could go spend some time together with just the two of us. We haven't spent a whole day away since before Charlotte was born, nearly 3 years ago now. We went to breakfast, went shopping in Sacramento, went miniature golfing, followed by lunch and more shopping. Although, we really didn't spend much, we did look at options for dressers for the kids and such, but we really only bought some fabric, a pepper mill, a set of cutting boards, and a really cute "town" floor rug for the kids to drive their cars on and such. It was really nice to be able to just get out and do things without the kids throwing fits, crying and being a real pain because it was naptime. I think it was good for both of us, as we've been a little snippy with eachother and not really communicating well, and I think this helped. It was nice to sit down for a meal and focus on eachother rather than the kids and keeping the items on the table.
Today I woke up feeling kind of yucky. I think I'm getting the cold back that the kids passed to me a couple of weeks ago. I think they got it again and Chris got it and I'm hoping that I'm not coming down with it again. So we stayed home with the exception of running some errands this afternoon and grabbing 5 movies to watch in the next two days. We watched Elizabeth, Underdog is currently on, to be followed by The Game Plan, Becoming Jane and Mr. Woodcock (not necessarily in that order) sometime between now and Tuesday. Elizabeth was pretty good, we watched it with subtitles on, because it was a bit hard to understand/follow if they weren't on. Underdog was pretty cheesy, Chris enjoyed it though (it's almost over).
Tomorrow Chris and Papa Joe are going golfing in Arbuckle (I almost typed Aruba for some reason?). They have been looking forward to this trip for a few weeks now. Chris has been really funny, he got a set of left handed clubs (he's left handed) and found this course in Arbuckle and has been focused on that since then. Silly boy. So my mom and I decided that we are going to take the kids to Chico to visit with my Great Aunt Nadine and Uncle Bob. We haven't seen them since before Joshua was born, and it will be nice for them to see the kids. I pray that they will be in good moods, we're going to wake them up early so that they take a nap early and can last through the afternoon for a bit. (At least that's what my hope is.)
Hope all of your weekends went well. I will post more later.

Double Double...

toil and trouble? No, but after a few days of high fevers, coughs, icky noses, green snot, and general crabbiness, the kids went to the doctor (Charlotte calls him Dr. Misameem, it's really Dr. Naseem) this morning and came out with a diagnoses of a double ear infection for Charlotte, and Joshua is working on one. So, we've got antibiotics, and we're resting more comfortably now with some Ibprofen. Actually, both kids are napping right now, which means I can actually get something done. I will have to admit that it's been kind of nice that Charlotte has been losing her voice the last couple days. It's been a lot quieter around here, and her tantrums are much less irritating, although they are more frequent, simply because she doesn't feel good.
School is going well, I'm over halfway done with my current course load. I have 3 1/2 weeks left for the current classes, then I'll start 2 more. I have 2 "A's" and 2 "B's" currently, but that may change as there's quite a bit out that still needs to be graded. We'll see how it goes. I actually have a 99% in my math class. Woo! And I'm 2 weeks ahead of the rest of the class.
Joshua has figured out blowing kisses, so now he blows kisses to everyone. It's super cute because he uses both hands. He's also figured out if he puts his hand in front of his mouth and does the "indian noise" that it makes mommy and sister laugh, so he does that quite a bit now. And he's started dancing. It is HILARIOUS, because he just shakes his head in chicken form, only side to side rather than front to back. If you don't get what I mean, try and keep your chin and forehead parallel and move your head side to side. Haha!! I bet you tried that didn't you?!? I can just picture all of you out there trying that! Thanks for the chuckle!
Anyway, that's about it around here... I'll post more later. Maybe I'll take a picture or two of the sick kids so you can all see how sweet they are when they're sick. I hope this finds everyone well and happy. Valentine's Day is Thursday, but there's no reason you can't spoil those who you love every day of the year. God Bless!

Disappointed

I'm finding myself disappointed tonight. Disappointed in people. I hate the fact that I've been disappointed by people, and that I am in fact disappointed in people. Over the last few weeks there has been several occasions where I've been disappointed by someone. Not the same someone each time, but the fact remains that I've been let down by people. Why does God allow us to experience disappointment? Or is it rather that our hope in people and their nature don't coincide with eachother. I guess the lesson I'm learning is to be who I say I am, or at least strive to be in every sense of the word, and to watch what I say and/or think about.
Lord, Thank You for being there when we need you. Thank you for allowing relationships and the ability to learn from eachother's strengths and weaknesses. Please forgive me for the unkind thoughts and words I've had lately. Please help me to have patience and forgiveness with those that have hurt me. Help me to guard my heart against those who wether knowingly or not, damage it. Help me to trust in people again and know that You have our ultimate plan in mind, and that You know where each one of us is at any point in our lives. That you seek to reach out and comfort us where we are, I thank you for. Please bless those who read this and those who don't, but are affected by it in some way or another. Amen.
Thanks for reading, and I hope that you know that you are loved and cared for by a God who knows where you are and cares deeply for you. I understand that my blogs might put some people off because they are too "religious" or what not, but I just put out what my thoughts are, and am finding this a place to be totally honest and get things out there. Please know that it is not my intention to upset or offend, but rather to maybe inspire or ignite a flame in whoever reads this. Anyway, thanks for reading and God Bless!

Seeing Less of Me...

No, not in the form of my blog or online or anything like that, I mean physically... and no, I am not turning into a hermit, I mean size wise. I've made a decision to go back to Weight Watchers and to turn my health around. I'm tired of feeling tired and fat, and overall yucky. So, I signed up for a monthly pass for Weight Watchers, and since Chris is home on the weekends now and I don't have to haul the kids with me to a meeting, I can go on Saturday mornings for a weigh in and fun-filled meeting, and hopefully do something different with my lifestyle. Chris has decided he's cutting out sugar as part of his "diet", but I think we're going to have to discuss that, I'm not sure it's the best way to go, when we just went shopping and he bought cheese filled bratwurst. (Isn't this like drinking diet soda with your extra large french fries?)

Other than that, it's pretty much life as usual around here, school is in full swing again, I got my issues worked out with my math instructor (until I find the next problems), I don't think I'm going to be able to take the summer classes like I thought I was, which means that my timetable for getting my sub credential and my BA will all be pushed back. The reason? We can't afford it. I'm only allowed so much to come from my student loans each year, and I've maxed that out for these two semesters. I can get outside loans to pay for it, but our credit is such that I don't think we'd be approved. So, I've pretty much come to the conclusion that unless 6 grand that isn't accounted for elsewhere, falls into our laps, I'm taking the summer off. I did schedule my CBEST test for April 12th, and am getting ready to take that. It is one of the first hurdles in getting your teaching credential. I have to pass it to go anywhere from here. So, lots of extra studying will be happening over the next 2 1/2 months, on top of my regular schoolwork.

Charlotte and Joshua are as crazy as ever. Josh has taken to throwing tantrums already when he doesn't get his way, and boy are they dramatic. He's ready for the stage anytime now. He was sitting on the floor this morning and Chris didn't pick him up when Joshua wanted to be picked up so he folded himself in half, laid his head on the floor and wailed. He looked crushed. Chris and I just laughed. He is too funny.

Charlotte is in the middle of the whining/fit throwing part of childhood. They say it gets better, and I can't wait. (Do I sound like a broken record? I think I've said all of this before) The other night we were at the store and she was driving me nuts, just whining this uncomprehendable whine for general no-goodness, the ENTIRE time. So we get out to the car and I'm loading her into the car, she stops, looks at me, says I love you this much with her arms spread wide. I chuckled and said I love you too, but not that much right now, and her reply was, "I love you more." Yes, honey, at this point in time that may be true... Then she looks at me and says "Sorry mommy. Hug?" How could I not melt? I hadn't even prompted her to apologize or anything. She is so smart sometimes it amazes me. It was like she knew what she was doing was frustrating me and was doing it anyway... stop that kid!!!

Oh, before I forget, there is a place at the bottom of each of my blogs that says something like 0 comments. If you click on that, you can leave a comment for us right there. I know that has been some of the feedback that I have gotten is that there is no way to leave feedback. Just wanted to let you all know it was there, and we love hearing from you.

Thanks for "listening" to me again. I will update soon.

Back to the middle of the night blogs...

So I had to blog and get my frustration out... I just finished my test for my math class and found 2 errors in the stinking test. In one of my quizzes for the sections I found another error. I would think that a textbook and software package manufacturer would have correct answers to their own problems. I hate that I am a student who is finding these errors, and having to point them out to my instructor. Why am I paying 250 dollars for a class that I have to correct myself?!? Ugh! And this was only the first chapter. *sigh* maybe it will get better in other chapters?

Other than that not much going on around here, Joshua's appointment went well yesterday. He's 24.5 pounds (85th percentile for weight) and 30 1/4 inches long (66th percentile for height). The visiting doctor (his doc is out of town for the month) said he's "healthy, healthy, healthy!" He seems to be developmentally on track despite being a month early, and we go back again in 2 months for another checkup. Yay for big healthy babies!

Well, I'm going to go to bed now. I think I will be able to get some sleep, my eyelids are feeling droopy. Thanks for putting up with my rant, and caring enough to read this. Know that we love you and are praying for you.

Lord, thank You for the wisdom in my math class. Thank You for giving me the knowledge to receive a good score on my test despite the errors in the program. Please give the instructor wisdom and understanding, and help her to know where to turn to for answers on their end. Lord help my attitude towards this class improve, since I'm finding frustration with the problems I've experienced so far. Help me to continue to learn and grow from the experience. Thank You also for keeping us all safe despite the wet weather. Please continue to be with those that travel in it, and those who are away from here, I pray will be safe wherever they are. Thank You for Your love and patience when we continue to mess things up. I pray that everyone who reads this will blog will be blessed by it, even when I just come to vent. Thank You for friends and family that are willing to listen. In Jesus' holy name. Amen.

P.S. - Mom and Joe we're proud of you, and hope that you will join us either tonight or tomorrow for services. We love you! Thanks for making my day yesterday!

An Evening Blog

An evening blog?!? What? Not a middle of the night, Heidi can't sleep so she's up blogging blog? What is the world coming to?

Okay, so I have to admit, I started this blog yesterday and hit a wall. I don't want to keep repeating the same things that I said in the last blogs over and over again. So I decided to sleep on it and that I would blog more today. So this morning I was working on my newsletter for MOPS and got busy doing something else (I think it was when TJ and Brianna left) and my computer went to sleep. I came back to it about 10 minutes later and tried to wake it up. Nothing happpened. So I tried again. Still nothing. So I went to restart it, and nothing. It would start to power up and the lights would come on the keyboard for a second, then go right back off. I had Chris look it over and he couldn't figure it out so I called tech support. They walked me through a couple things and then advised me of an apparent recall (we got a notice on it a few months ago, but I wasn't having any problems so we ignored the recall) where they have to replace the motherboard of the computer!!!! So I have to ship my computer to HP (they pay for the shipping) and have them replace the motherboard and ship it back to me. They say it's a 7-9 day turnaround (I am thinking this doesn't include shipping... I hope it does), so I won't have my computer for a couple weeks. In the meantime, my dad has been gracious enough to let me borrow his laptop, so that I can do my homework. We're going to try and fix the old HP (the desktop we had that we passed on to my dad before he bought his laptop) and then we can give him his laptop back. Am I making any sense? Anyway, to make a long story short... bye bye all the work I did on my newsletter (or a late newsletter), bye bye computer temporarily, hello different laptop... temporarily, and frustration for me. Ugh, oh well, at least I have something that I can do my schoolwork, e-mail, blogging on.
Joshua has a doctor's appointment tomorrow. It's just his 12 month physical, so nothing really to worry about, at least I hope not. I think he will get some shots, which generally don't make him happy, but he's not too bad. He's getting huge. I will update tomorrow on how big he is. I'm sure we'll all be blown away by how big he is. I think he's right around 25-26 pounds, and I have no idea how tall he is. Crazy boy is going to be a linebacker for sure!
Other than that, there's not much going on here. We're finally all over the cold thing that we kept sharing, so we're all feeling better, now let's hope it stays that way. We are looking forward to our time off in March, I told Kim this morning that I won't be here for those days, and Chris has them scheduled off through both jobs. Woo!!! Vacation is coming!
That's about it on this end. I hope this message finds everyone well and blessed. May the God of the universe shine brightly into your day tomorrow and throughout your weekend.

Gray Lodge Trip

My parents invited us to go to Gray Lodge with them on Saturday so we piled into the car and headed out. While there weren't as many ducks as there were last year, we still had fun getting out in the fresh air and stretching our legs for awhile. Thought I'd share some more recent photos of the kids too.

Joshua sweeping my kitchen for me on Friday night... he pulled all of the stuff out of the drawer/side of the fridge and then was trying to sweep...

Hey dad! What's up?

Charlotte in the car on the way there.

My mom and Charlotte walking back from the lookout point.

A duck in the reeds. I figured you all wanted to see at least one duck from Greylodge.

Joshua poopled out on the way home. Sleep and food are two things that we don't mess with with this boy. He was so out of it. Poor little guy.

After our trip we came home and Great grandma and Great grandpa Ramey came over. The kids took a quick nap and then we headed for dinner. Dinner with the kids is always an experience. While they aren't bad, they're just messy and loud. It keeps us on our toes when we go out with them. We had fun though, and it was nice to see the grandparents. While the kids are slow to warm up sometimes, after awhile they love playing with grandma and grandpa, and we love getting to see them.

Blessed

Tonight I'm feeling reflective. I think back to a year ago, Joshua was only a few weeks old, we had just moved into this apartment after staying with the Richardson's for nearly two weeks when the whole house thing fell through, and Chris was working full time at A-1. He had put in job applications at the school district, but nothing had come through. Within about a week after moving in he received a phone call from the district with an interview. That would turn into a job offer, Joshua would be hospitalized with a kidney infection, and he would start the new job in a span of about 3 weeks. I am feeling so blessed to look back and reflect on where we've come in the last year. Yeah, there have been tough times, and there have been times where we struggled, but overall we came through it, and now we are so much better off for it. We've seen lots of babies born this past year, (we're still waiting for one in Utah that still needs to stay put for a few more weeks), made new friends, strengthened and pruned some old relationships, changed jobs, worked more, worked less, laughed more, cried less (most of us anyway). I am so thankful for being a part of the things we shared with family and friends this past year. It continually amazes me what wonderful, caring, thoughtful, creative, passionate friends and family we share. I only hope that someday I will grow up and be more like each and every one of them.
Lord, thank you for placing the people in our path that you've placed. I pray that each of them would be blessed abundantly this year and that they would continue to thrive and seek You. Please let me be what you would want me to be for them, and let them trust that whatever they need from us, that we would be able to provide it. Thank You again for blessing us so richly.

I have no idea what to title this...

So here I am with my middle of the night blogging again... I slept all day because of this silly cold, and now I can't sleep. Ugh... oh well. I got a lot of schoolwork done. I finished all of my tutorials, homework, and quizzes for my math class. So far.... 100% in that class! Woo! Now I just have to take the Chapter 1 test by the 3rd of February (yes... three weeks from now...) and I'll be set for the first module. However, I think I'm going to take it early if I can get the password from the instructor... that way I can focus on my other three classes for a few weeks. We'll see though...

I had to bow out of the church drama thing for the elementary kids that we were doing. We had been doing the skits for the kids church on a weekly basis, and between Chris working so much and I got a lot more schoolwork than I expected, plus the kids and everything else, something had to go. So we spoke with Pastor Tad (or Chris called him today while I was snoozing) and we apologized for not being able to do it. I knew I'd have a lot of work, but didn't know it would be this much... so for now we're taking a break. We'll see how it goes.

I think we've decided that we're going out to Utah in mid-late March to visit the family out there. I think we're going to leave the evening of the 21st and drive through the night so the kids will sleep. I think we'll stay until Wednesday and come back either Wednesday day, or Wednesday night. Haven't confirmed that yet though with Chris' work schedule. He did speak with his boss about taking the time off and he was told that he's the first person to ask, so all he has to do is fill out a time request form and if he has the time off available (his vacation time) then he can have the time. Soo.... it doesn't look like that will be too much of a problem. And since we'll have our tax return by then (hopefully) that shouldn't be a problem either! Wooo!!! A vacation? What is that? So... that would be....



Yay! That worked!

Well, I'm feeling a little sleepy now (it helps that I took some NyQuill)... My God bless you all as you go through the rest of your weekend and we will see you soon!

Life...or something like it....

Ahhh... life has settled into its normal routine. I start back to school on Monday (my coursework is supposed to be up later today, and I can get started on it early, which I plan to do), Chris is back to regular schedule at work, the Lee kids are back in the mornings, and I'm back to being mommy for the vast majority of the day. I'm not complaining though, I love it. While I do miss Chris not being home as much, I love that I can stay home with the kids and finish my degree.

So I found out that I will be able to get my substitute credential in the fall sometime. I'm thinking it should be around October if my calculations are correct and I pass all of my classes (I'm not paying 250 dollars for a course I won't pass...). So that's exciting. Then Chris can stay home with the kids in the morning instead of working at A-1, and maybe do some schooling for himself, and we'd just need to find someone to sit with the kids for a couple hours for the time between when he goes to work at the district, and I would be home.) Yay! Plus the extra money would be great too. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hitting the books hard this semester and over the summer in preparation for that. I will take the CBEST (a test you have to take to prove you know the basics at a college level), probably in April, or June. I have to pass it before I can get my credential. I am going to get the study books and register for it once I get my student loan money processed and refunded to me. It's not expensive I just think that would be a great "educational expense" that I could use some of that money for.

That's about all that's new around here. I've become the publicity coordinator for our local MOPS group, which is proving to be fun and challenging at the same time. I'm currently brainstorming ideas to get our group out there and into the community and am also working on the February newsletter which I'm really excited about. Fun stuff. If you're in the Yuba Sutter area and want to join us please feel free to do so. It's aimed at mothers of children from birth to kindergarten and we'd love to have you join us.

Joshua almost has his top tooth or two teeth. They're soooo close. Every time I pick him up I'm checking to see if it's through yet. Teeth are a big deal in our house right now. Charlotte LOVES to brush her teeth. I'm considering hiding the toothbrushes so that she doesn't wear the enamel off hers by brushing them so much. Joshua is so stinking cute too. He is so friendly and a flirt. He cracks me up all the time with the looks he'll give me. He'll be getting into something and I'll tell him no, and he'll just look at me and grin this adorable grin that makes me want to scoop him up and give him some love. Not a good discipline idea though. I love this age.

Charlotte tests my patience on a daily basis. Sometimes an hourly basis. She is learning so much and so quickly. Her vocabulary is really coming along and she's starting to use more words than whines... that's been a frustrating process. Her current favorite (and my current despise) is huh. She says it for everything. Drives me bonkers, but I think it was my fault. I find myself saying it to her sometimes and know that's where she's picked it up. So we're working on ridding huh from our vocabulary in favor of other words. She's fascinated with stickers. I think she had a sticker of some sort (it could be a label off a banana, a stamp, an actual sticker, a piece of tape, a wrapper that has static cling, the list goes on and on) of "sticker" on some piece of her about 75 percent of the time she was awake today. I think I'm going to start using stickers as a potty incentive.

Anyway, that's about it from the home front. Thank you Lord for allowing me to learn and grow through my children and the things you place in my day. Thank you for giving me the strength to confront culture and confirm Christ's love and sacrifice to my family on a daily basis. Help me to continue to become more and more like you every day, and less like the world which seems to call louder and louder with each step I take. May I be a light unto the world, and a willing vessel to share what You would lead me to. Amen.