Johnsons' Journey

Christmas baking

Since some of our neighbors sent over Christmas blessings, we decided that we needed to send over some goodies in return. I decided on making some cinnamon bread, which is basically cinnamon rolls, but made into a loaf instead of individual rolls. I only ever make cinnamon bread at Christmas. I always take one over to Joe’s parents’ house for Christmas Eve, and I make one for us as well. This year I also made 3 extra for our neighbors (and we have another neighbor a plate of homemade cookies). Hope they liked it!

 I also made chocolate chip cookies, glazed oatmeal cookies, dinner rolls, and pumpkin pie… Lots of yummy goodness floating around the kitchen!

Christmas Eve

We had a mostly pleasant time on Christmas Eve… It’s hard to have a 100% good time when a few of the people there have a bit more to drink than they should. (I really don’t like my kids being around drunk people *sigh*) Of course everyone else says that those two were “slightly tipsy”, but I would say it was more than that… And even “tipsy” is not a good infuence on kids.

When we were first pulling into Jim and Elvina’s driveway, Amanda blurted out from the back seat, “Look! Grandma and Grandpa have ding-dongs on their door!” *lol* … I looked over there, and they had two large Christmas bells haing on the door… Ding-dongs… Too cute!

Amanda got to be one of “Santa’s Helpers”, as she and Jacob helped Grandpa pass out the Christmas presnts… This is the only decent picture I got of that, because Joe told her to hurry, and so she was running around at lightning speed. Most of the pictures I tried taking of her passing out the gifts turned out blurry. *pout*

We were sitting, with the kids, in the corner of the sectional couch… This year the kids’ gifts came in bigger boxes than normal, and soon we couldn’t see the kids behind the gifts. *lol* … Of course, they loved that! … It was really hard keeping track of who got the kids what. There was boxes and paper flying, and Joe and I had our hands full, holding onto everything. *lol* … It took a while the next day, but we finally were able to figure all that out.

We got Jamie and Jacob each a used/real bowling pin as well as a bowling t-shirt. (They’re the ones who got the boys into bowling.) … While I don’t know what Jacob and Jamie thought of the bowling pins (the boys LOVE the ones we got them), the adults seemed to think it was cool. They passed around the pin so that everyone could see how heavy it was, etc… And I must have heard “Where did Julie steal it from” many times. *lol* … I kept saying, “I didn’t steal them! I got them on eBay!”

After the kids were done opening their presents, it was time for the adult gift exchange… We had all bought a gift to put in the pile, and we had drawn numbers before we ate dinner… Joe drew the #1, and I was #9… You never know what you’re going to end up with, because half the people like to steal presents… Which is something I can never do! … In the end I ended up with both my gift (a set of shower gels), and Joe’s gift… A lady’s electric razor… You see, Joe had managed to get the digital frame, and everyone there knew how much I wanted it… But then one of the young “adults” stole it from Joe (with a smirky look on her face), JUST to get the memory card we put with it… She didn’t even want the frame, and gave it to her parents… THEN, the card wasn’t even the right kind for her camera, so that went to her parents as well…. This person happened to have the last number, and the only gift left was a lady’s gift, which Joe had to get…. So… Joe ended up with nothing for Christmas, at all. (Since Joe and I don’t exchange gifts.)

To say that Joe was angry at this person is putting it mildly.

You know what really kills me? … The gifts are supposed to be $25 dollars. But all the younger adults always spend around $10 (or less) on a gift, and then they are the ones that go home with the expensive stuff that the older adults buy… We were generous. That frame cost $30 and the memory card was an additional $11… Yet, half the time Joe and I end up with junk… Remember the USED pubic hair covered body massager I ended up with last year (that got thrown away)… And Joe doesn’t get a gift this year… It just doesn’t seem like it’s even fair, or a good idea… We should go back to drawing names and giving the person something they would actually want… For some of us, it’s the only Christmas gift we get.

Then there is one of Joe’s sisters and her husband… He works at a sporting goods store, and gets free stuff from them all the time, if the packaging is damaged or something… So they never even buy a gift for the exchange. They just grab something out of their attic and wrap it up… And he is the worst one when it comes to stealing gifts.

I know one thing for sure… Next year I am going to sneak and buy something nice for Joe, so he will get a decent gift!

Anyway, enough complaining…

After the gift exchange was over, and desert was eaten, we mainly just sat around and chatted… I don’t remember how the subject came up, but Joe’s bad memory came into discussion…

Now, before I tell this story, let me say that Joe, the kids, and I like to tease each other… We are always teasing, and it’s a lot of fun… So when the kids say these kinds of things to Joe, they are not being disrespectful… We are just having fun, and Joe always laughs harder than all of us…

So anyway, we were discussing Joe’s bad memory when Jared said:

“Daddy’s like a goldfish in a tank, forgetting that he’s already swan around the tank. He’ll swim around it and say, ‘Hey, that was new!’… Then he’ll swim around it again, and say ‘hey, that was new!’ “… etc. Joe and I were laughing so hard, we could barely breath! *lol* It was sooo funny! … Maybe you had to be there.

Anyway, here is what the kids got from Joe’s family:

Jared:

• $5.00 from Great Grandma Johnson
• Basketball and pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa Johnson
• T-shirt, a mini Jimmie Johnson calendar, and a mini Jared-Doll from the Pence Family
• A blue Snuggie from the Quamen Family
• A plaid flannel jacket and a Jimmie Johnson figurine from the Mewing Family

Josh:

• $5.00 from Great Grandma Johnson
• Wolf calendar, a glow in the dark wolf puzzle, and pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa Johnson
• A Wolf book, a t-shirt, and a mini Josh-Doll from the Pence Family
• A green Snuggie from the Quamen Family from the Quamen Family
• A shirt and a Wolf plaque from the Mewing Family

Alicia:

• $5.00 from Great Grandma Johnson
• A stuffed horse and pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa Johnson
• A “How to Draw Horses” kit, a shirt, and a mini Alicia-Doll from the Pence Family
• A leopard print Snuggie from the Quamen Family
• A fleece horse blanket and a Build-a-Bear kit from the Mewing Family

Amanda:

• $5.00 from Great Grandma Johnson
• A generic Barbie, a Hannah Montana CD, and pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa Johnson
• A stuffed Noah’s Ark (with 4 adorable animals), a shirt, and a mini Amanda-Doll from the Pence Family
• A pink Snuggie from the Quamen Family
• A Hannah Montana pillow and a Build-a-Bear kit from the Mewing Family

Christmas Day

We didn’t get home from Joe’s parents’ house until around 12:15 in the morning, so the kids slept in longer than they had planned on Christmas morning… But they were still very sleepy when they got up… But that didn’t stop them from wanting to get into their stockings ASAP. *lol* … We set them up in a row, and it didn’t take them long to discover all the goodies inside:

Here is what the kids got in their stockings:

Jared

• Some Jolly Ranchers candy
• A candycane full of hard candies
• A Jimmie Johnson keychain
• A Jimmie Johnson house key
• A Jimmie Johnson hotwheel car
• A wallet
• An ID tag (for his bowling bag)
• A mini bowling ball and pins
• A bowling ball towel

Josh

• Some Jolly Ranchers candy
• A candycane full of hard candies
• A green keychain
• A house key
• A wolf figurine
• An Allan Jackson CD
• An ID tag for his bowling bag
• A mini bowling ball and pins
• A bowling ball towel

Alicia

• Some Starburst candy
• A candycane full of hard candy
• 2 things of play-doh
• Cinderella slipper socks
• A pink mini flashlight
• Some mini horses
• Girls make-up
• An ID tag

Amanda

• Some Starburst candy
• A candycane full of hard candy
• 2 things of play-doh
• Hannah Montana slipper socks
• Hannah Montana flashlight
• Some mini horses
• Girls make-up
• An ID tag

After we ate breakfast, it was time to open presents… We always have them take turns opening presents, so that we don’t miss any of the expressions when they see what they got. We let Amanda open one, then Alicia, then Josh, and so on.

This year we started buying presents last January, and then throwing them up in the closet and basically forgetting about them… As a result, we accidently bought more than we normally do. … Not that the kids were complaining! No, they were quite happy with the extra haul. *lol*

One of the things we gave Alicia was a craft bag… We had originally given one to my niece, Melody, for her birthday in November. Melody loved it so much that we decided to get one for Alicia too. When Amanda saw Alicia’s craft bag, she said, “Look! You got an art bag like Lemonade!” … Lemonade? She thought Melody’s name was Lemonade! … … You can tell that my brothers’ family lives in Canada, and that we don’t see them often, if she can’t even remember her own cousin’s name! Good grief! (She was 2 when they moved away.)

The boys were THRILLED with their new bowling balls! They couldn’t believe that they got them already, since we had told them that they would have to wait for tax returns in February… They were so cute about it too. Josh kept carrying his ball around and wiping it down with the bowling ball towel he got in his stocking. As for Jared, he was seen wheeling his ball and bag around the house quite often throughout the day. *lol*

We also got the three older kids some wooden carving things that you hang on the wall. Josh got a wolf head, Alicia got a horse head, and Jared got a carving of Cuddles, which is his cat… They guy who makes them is VERY talented, and you can tell that it’s Cuddles… Anyway, Jared LOVES his carving!

We ordered the carvings before we got Buddy (and received them the day after we got Buddy, in March) … I want to get one of Buddy now. … Oh, and we also found out that Ed can make cars too, as he did one of Jim’s Mustang for Joe’s Dad for Christmas. I wonder if he could do Jimmie Johnson’s car??? The decals might make that too hard…

After the kids finished opening their presents, I got the ham into the oven and then helped the kids open all the packages that their gifts came in… It doesn’t take long for a clean living room to turn into a COMPLETE DISASTER, especially when there are four kids in there! *lol*

Dinner turned out soooo yummy! I made ham, scallopped potatoes, corn, and homemade dinner rolls. All of us ate more than our share, while we watched the new DVD the boys got (from the girls), “Night at the Museum 2″… It was good, just like #1 was… Joe didn’t watch it with us though. He isn’t into that kind of movie, so he ate in the bedroom and watched TV in there… He did watch “Santa Buddies” with the kids later, when we had our pumpkin pie and cookies.

All in all it was a nice, relaxing day… Especially since Joe volunteered to clean the kitchen for me. (This is something he does on Christmas, because I made the dinner and have already spent a good deal of time in the kitchen, with all the baking…)

Here is what the kids got for Christmas:

Jared:

• Jimmie Johnson lamp
• Jimmie Johnson waste basket
• Jimmie Johnson hoodie and baseball cap
• Jimmie Johnson 2010 calendar
• A wood carving of Cuddles
• A bowling pin and bowling t-shirt
• A bowling ball and bowling bag
• The DVD: Night at the Museum 2 (from the girls, to share with Josh)

Josh:

• Wolf lamp
• Wolf 2010 calendar
• A wood carving of a wolf head
• A CD player
• A Monopoly PS2 game
• A bowling pin and bowling t-shirt
• A bowling ball and bowling bag
• The DVD: Night at the Museum 2 (from the girls, to share with Jared)

Alicia:

• A computer chair
• A craft bag with markers and a sketch pad
• A set of rubber stamps (to go in the craft bag)
• A set of 10 horse books and a stuffed wolf from the zoo
• A set of fleece horse sheets
• A wooden carving of a horse head
• A horse 2010 calendar
• The DVD: Santa Buddies (from the boys, to share with Amanda)

Amanda:

• A Hannah Montana CD player
• A Hannah Montana camping chair
• A Hannah Montana 2010 calendar
• A Hannag Montana barbie
• A Hannah Montana comforter
• Hannah Montana sheets and a valence
• An ABCs of Amanda photo book
• The DVD: Santa Buddies (from the boys, to share with Alicia)

New phones

We’ve been with Verizon Wireless for 2 years now, and we’ve had the same phones since we signed up… Since our contract was up for renewal, we figured it was time to get in on the renewal sales and get ourselves some new phones… of course, a lot of that decision was due to the fact that Joe got his Christmas bonus (so we could afford it), AND we are getting Jared his first cell phone for his birthday…

Since Jared is now babysitting for us, we decided that he needs a phone (we don’t have a land line, just our cells). That way I can keep mine with me, and he’ll still have one… Also, since we don’t pay him to babysit, the $10 a month for an extra line seems fair.

We also found out that since Joe works for Safeway part time, we get 20% off our Verizon bill, and any phone assesories we buy. Pretty nifty, huh?

So, on Saturday (after breakfast) we left the kids at home with Jared and drove into Canby, to the Verizon store… MAN, was that place packed. We were in there for at least an hour, maybe more. It was crazy.

Joe originally just wanted something plain and cheap, because he is pretty hard on his phones. So he picked the cheapest one there… Later, after we got home, we got to looking, and that phone was BEYOND cheap! It didn’t have a camera, and you couldn’t even receive picture text messages! I told Joe that I didn’t think he would be happy with it, and we decided to take it back and exchange it…

By this point we had already hidden the phone we got for Jared (he won’t get it until his birthday party), so all of us went back to Verizon after taking the kids bowling. The same lady who helped us before (who was in a rish earlier, because the store was swamped) helped Joe pick out a much better phone… And the funny thing is, after getting the rebate on it, it was cost HALF of what the cheap one cost! … More phone for less money… That’s my kind of phone!

It was really hard having Jared in the store… He kept looking at the phones and asking when he would be able to get a phone. He came to the conclusion that he would have to wait until he had a job and could pay for it himself. He kept wanting to hold mine and Joe’s phones… I was laughing inside, knowing that a week later he will be getting his.

Josh isn’t going to be happy about it… He always thinks that he deserves whatever Jared gets, but this is one time that it won’t be the case… I DO NOT think that a 10 year old needs a cell phone! Especially one that is homeschooled by a stay-at-home mom. The only reason Jared is getting one is because he is 1) two years older, and 2) babysitting for us.

Anyway, want to see the phones we got?

This one is mine. It’s a “LG enV3″ … It has a qwerty keyboard, and Joe let us pay the $10 extra a month so that I can go online (only because of the 20% discount. *lol*) … The camera is a 3 mega pixel, and even has a flash… It’s really, really, really cool! So much better than my old flip phone. *lol* … I’ve been having lots of fun being able to check my gmail and post on facebook when we’re not at home. Fun!

This one is Joe’s. It’s a Samsung Intensity… It’s not quite as fancy as mine, but it’s still really nice… Instead of flipping open like a laptop, like mine does, the keyboard slides out the bottom… Since we were using the text messaging more than we should, Joe went ahead and got both himself and me (but not Jared) the messaging package. Joe has been REALLY enjoying that keyboard, as he always HATED texting with the number pad thingy. *lol* … In fact, he sent me quite a few messages this morning, when I was just in the next room. *lol* He was like a kid at Christmas with a new toy. So cute!

This is the one that Jared will be getting on Saturday. It’s a Samsung Sway. We didn’t get him one with a qwerty keyboard, because I don’t think he should be texting… We’re going to tell him that he can’t do it… Maybe in a year or two we will add that to his phone, and upgrade his phone… But for now, I want him to learn that it’s not a toy. You know?

But it’s still a cute little phone. It has a 2 mega pixel camera… We will let him pick out his own ringtone, and we’ll get him one of those micro SD cards (I already have one, but Joe needs to get one too), so that he can have any pictures he takes go onto the card and not fill up the phone memory.

I can’t wait until he sees that phone!!!

Bowling

Since the boys both got bowling balls for Christmas, they were DYING to go bowling and try out those balls! *lol* … We left the house at around 3 pm yesterday, and went to Molalla Bowl.

The first thing we did was to get Sean (the owner) and ask him to drill the balls for the boys. He started measuring Jared’s hands and fingers first, but I wasn’t really paying attention at first… but when I did look over, I noticed that Sean was looking at Jared’s right hand… Jared is LEFT handed!… I’m like, “Jared, you gave him the wrong hand! You’re left handed!” Jared gasped and said, “Oh ya!” and Sean gave a half laugh and crumpled up the paper he was writing down the measurements on. Whoops! … Good thing I caught that one before he started drilling the ball!!!!!!

So anyway, he retook Jared’s measurements and drilled his ball. Then he went to do Josh, and he laughed and said, “What hand do you throw with?!” I said, “Don’t worry, he’s right handed.” *lol*

After the balls were drilled we went and got some dinner… We love the diner they have at the bowling alley. They have LOTS to choose from, and it’s really good too. One of the only decent places to eat in Molalla. *lol*

Then it was time to try out those new balls! … I wanted to video tape them bowling with them the first time, but wouldn’t you know it, the batteries died on my camera right before they started bowling! Grrrr! … BUT, luckily my new cell phone takes video clips as well, so I was able to get it with that… But it didn’t do well with the lighting, so it’s pretty dark… But at least I got the first throws for both of them (as well as Daddy’s) during the pre-game practice:

Up until yesterday both the boys have been bowling with an 8 lb ball… But they both moved up. We got advice from both Sean and Coach Mick, who were both pro bowlers, and we ended up getting Josh a 10 lb ball and Jared a 12 lb ball… And that 12 lb ball feels heavy to me! … I thought they would both bowl some bad games, but I was mistaken.

Josh got one good game out of it, though his other two weren’t as good… He’s having a harder time adjusting to a new ball. (He had used a house ball, but there was one certain ball he would always look for, so he was used to it)… His average is 73 (with a high game of 105), and yesterday he bowled a 54, an 81, and a 67… His first game was bad, but his last game wasn’t too bad. It was just barely under his average… So he didn’t do too shabby!

Jared did awesome, especially considering he moved up 4 pounds! His average is 97 (with a high game of 170), and he bowled a 97, a 123, and a 118! Isn’t that great!?

Both the boys said that the balls didn’t feel much heavier (if any) than the other balls, and both Sean and Mick said it was because they were drilled to fit their hands. I guess that makes a lot of difference.

Joe, on the other hand, didn’t bowl his best games! *rofl* … He did OK with his first game, getting a 102 (his average is 98, with a high game of 147), but on his 2nd game he only got a 61…

Now Joe and the boys have a lot of fun doing this big competition thing, that’s all in fun. Joe always says he’s going to wipe the floor with them and tried his hardest to get higher scores than them. It’s funny because whenever Josh gets a good frame, he comes and does this funky hand thing to Joe and says, “Beat that!” … Anyway, after Joe got his 61, Josh calmly walks up to Joe and says,

“Whoops!”

OMGoodness, Joe and I about fell off our chairs, we were laughing so hard! The people a couple of lanes away were giving us odd looks, probably trying to figure out what the joke was. *lol* It was SOOO funny! … After we calmed down, Joe leans over to me and asks if I have any tips for a better game. Jared heard and said,

“Daddy, you need to hit the pins with the ball.”

Yep… I would consider that a good tip!

The people at the bowling alley must think we are nuts, laughing as much as we do while we’re there! (BTW, Joe’s last game was a 90.)

Basketball

Jared got a basketball from Joe’s parents for Christmas. He was pretty excited about it, because he’s been wanting to get one for a while now… At the entrance to our sub-division there is a community basketball court, that the kids can play on… Unfortunatly, the punk kids are always ruining the hoops, and so they are currently all bent out of shape… And I think they’ve pretty much given up on replacing them, because the punks waste no time in ruining the new ones… Why don’t parents teach their kids to have some respect for other people’s property?!?! Stuff like that really makes me angry!

Anyway, for the last two days Joe and the boys have gone down there to shoot hoops. The girls went down there today for a while, but got bored because all they were doing is watching, so they came home… But Josh and Jared are loving it! Joe said that they are both making some shots, but that Jared is doing better than Josh…

… That’s probably because of Josh’s muscle disease. His pediatrician said that Josh would probably never do really well in sports… Luckily, it never seems to bother Josh. He’s just there to have fun!

Well, I think I’ve jabbered on long enough! This post is already over 4100 words, so I guess I better shut up now. *lol* … Night all!

Today I feel Sick as a dog
Reading: “The Reapers’ Song” By Lauraine Snelling
Currently it is mostly cloudy and 56º

Uhg. I am sick of being sick. I am sick of the kids being sick. I want us all to be well again. All day on Friday, Josh was throwing up. Saturday was Alicia’s turn. Yesterday was mine and Amanda’s turn. I think Jared may be heading there today. I still feel icky, though not as nauseated as I did yesterday, so hopefully there will be no more throwing up.

What got me was Joe. When I woke up sick, I don’t think he believed me. He said something like, “Isn’t it funny how you’re always sick on Sunday?” Which made me feel guilty, so I went to church anyway, and was miserable the whole time I was there. But he believed me later. On the way home from church I had to have him pull over so I could throw up…. Then he says, “You’re sick, you need to rest.”.. *sighs*… Then he says, “Just take a nap and sleep it off, you’ll be up making dinner and washing dishes in no time.”… Men…

I didn’t know that Amanda wasn’t feeling well until later that evening. Joe and the older kids were at church, and she was in my lap and I was trying to sleep. She ended up throwing up all over herself. So I had to give her a quick bath, which wasn’t easy with how awful I was feeling. I ended up putting her to bed at 7:30, and then crawling into bed myself, much to Joe’s annoy-ment…. You see usually on Sundays when they get home from Awanas, Joe grabs something to eat and goes straight to bed. He eats in bed and then goes to sleep, while I feed the kids, get them calmed down from Awanas, and put them to bed. So last night Joe had to do it, and when he came to bed he was quite put out with me… But you know what, it’s not like I get sick on purpose, so that I can get out of working. You know?… It’s just been a cruddy weekend.

Josh was sure funny about it on Friday though. Since he was throwing up, Joe brought home some 7-up for him, to see if it would help settle his stomach. Well, they didn’t have any cold 2-liters, so he bought 1 2-liter, then a cold 20 oz bottle. Josh drank the 20 oz one, and said it was helping. We later, I guess he decided that he needed some more, so he goes to the fridge and pulls out the 2-liter and packs in into the living room and climbs onto the recliner…. He acted as if he thought he was going to drink straight out of the bottle! He could barely carry the thing! After we got done laughing at him, we poured some into a cup for him.

One thing I forgot to mention in my last post… On Wednesday, when we were at the Home Town Buffet with Joe’s parent’s, Joe’s dad snuck a bite of Alicia’s ice cream… He does this to the boys all the time, and the boys laugh and pretend to be mad and hide their food, etc. Well he didn’t quite get that reaction from Princess. She just looked at him and says, “You can have some Grandpa, because I am sharing.”… Ahhhhh…. Isn’t she just too cute?!

Well, I should get to Josh’s lessons. I’m not sure if Jared is going to be up to doing them today. We shall see. Anyway, I might try to post tonight.

Today I feel Content
Reading: “The Reapers’ Song” By Lauraine Snelling
Today it was gloriously beautiful, and in the low 60s

Yesterday we went to the hospital to see Joe’s grandma. Though she had originally been taken to the hospital that’s only about a mile from our house, she was transferred to one in downtown Portland, because I guess it’s the “Heart hospital”, or something. Anyway, we were there visiting for a while (Grandma is doing great by the way!), when Pixie started to fuss. She had been crawling around on the floor, and tried escaping out the open door a couple of times. When I picked her up, she got mad… Anyway, she hadn’t been crying for more than a minute, when the patient from the next room looked into Grandma’s room and gave us the rudest, disgusted, and ticked off look you could imagine… We were already getting the kids ready to go, but I guess that didn’t matter…. Now, if she had been screaming or something, or even crying for a long time, I would understand people getting irritated, but give me a break! She was only fussing for a minute!

THEN, when we got to the main floor, Joe noticed a drinking fountain. The boys had been saying they were thirsty, so we made a detour to get them a drink. As we walked into the waiting room where the fountain was, this haggard looking lady (who looked as if she’d been smoking and drinking alcohol all her life) said, “Look at all those kids, I am glad I’m not her!”…. And let’s just say it wasn’t said in a nice manner.

I just can’t get over how much more rude people were in downtown. It’s no wonder we always avoid going down there at all costs…. Oh, how I would love to move to a small, nice town. *sighs*

Our day was so crazy yesterday, that we never got around to doing school. So I told the boys we would double up today… Well, usually on Thursdays they like to double up, so that they can get a three day weekend… Since they still wanted that three day weekend, they both did three days worth of lessons today! Talk about dedication! … Well, maybe it’s not dedication. Just a desire not to have to do school tomorrow! … Only two more weeks until spring break. They are going to be two thrilled little boys!

You know, my sinuses still keep acting up every now and then. When is it going to end? I’ve been sick for 3 weeks now, and it’s getting OLD. And it’s not helping my weight loss at all, since working out makes my head feel awful. *sighs*….. I NEED to lose some weight… I hate myself. *sighs*

Today, while Jared was doing his lessons, I was working on his 2nd year pages. I typed in journal entries for his 17th and 18th months… I am so amused by how many times I told him that he was “amazing”…. If I used that phrase once, I used it a hundred times, “You are simply amazing!” …. I guess with your first child you are amazed at all they can do. By the time you get to #4, you just expect them to do them. Now I over-use the term, “He/she is so cute!”…

Hmmm… Anything else new and exciting? Not really. Since the boys were determined to do so much school, I spent a good portion of the day in this chair. So, I think I’ll go kick back in the recliner and read for an hour or so before heading to bed… I am hoping to make it through my workout in the morning.

I am feeling down today…. I just don’t know why people can’t mind their own business. Today some of Joe’s family were harping on me, about having another baby. According to Joe’s mom, we have 2 of each, which is perfect, and we don’t need any more….. Why does it have to be about “Need” anyway? What about the “DESIRE”… And who is she to decide when enough is enough, she herself had 5 kids. And they have to go on about how we need a bigger house… I know our house is small, but there is nothing I can do about that…. Unless I turn into a nag, I don’t know what I can do to get Joe to fix the things that need fixing so we can sell…..

…. And if I am stupid for wanting another baby… And if I don’t need anymore kids… Then why does the thought of not having any more break my heart?

And if we do have another baby, how many people will be nasty behind my back, and say that I forced it on Joe????

Today I feel  OK, I suppose…
Reading: “The Indwelling” by Tim LaHaye & Jerry Jenkins
Today it was a bit wet, and is currently 57º

Why is it, that as soon as I get brave enough to put Alicia into cloth training pants (over pull-ups), she develops diarrhea?… Let’s just say we had an emergency bath this evening after dinner…

And I’m wondering which teams were playing in that darn basketball game, that made the game so much more important that my kids?… It was so important, that I was ignored when I asked for help cleaning up the kids after dinner, since Amanda burst into tears whenever I put her down… It was so important, that when I finally realized that no help would be coming, and I put down a very upset Amanda, and started to clean the kids, that the game was more important than a wailing child on the living room floor…. Poor little Pixie cried while I cleaned the kids up, got them into the tub (after dealing with the before-mentioned training pants issue), and when I started their bath…. Then there was finally some movement coming out of the bedroom, and I thought *Oh, Amanda is finally going to get picked up*… NOT… A certain someone walked right on by our crying baby, and took the garbage out instead…. So I went to get Amanda, and somehow managed to bathe Alicia while holding Amanda in my lap…. That’s not a very easy thing to do, by the way….

After the garbage was taken out, the game got very important again… (Half time must have been over)… As someone didn’t make an appearance again until after 9… and that was to get something out of the freezer… More garbage for me to clean off the bed-stand in the morning… Then he has the gall to try and talk to me, like everything was right with the world… Men, sometimes! I tell ya!

I’m supposed to be paying the bills right now, but I am so not in the mood. Guess I’ll have to do them tomorrow. I know I can’t put it off any longer than that… Can’t help it if someone put me in a bad mood though…. Got a sink full of dishes to do too, but I’m just tired and moody… I DON’T want to do them….

Spent most of today doing the laundry…. Got my workout in…. Held Amanda…. Cared for the kids…. Not too much else. Guess I just lead a boring life.

OH! Before I forget. Alicia did get another tooth today. It’s #16… Which isn’t many for 2 1/2, but all my kids get their teeth late. Jared didn’t get his 2 year molars until he was almost 4. Wonder when Alicia will get her last 4??? So anyway, what with Amanda just getting a new tooth too, we’ve had a couple girls teething here. Luckily for me though, not one of my kids have ever had trouble with teething.

I am so blessed to have such low-maintenance babies. No troubles with teething…. No sign of colic whatsoever… All sleeping through the night by 10 to 12 weeks… All on a decent nap schedule by 4 months… All of them happy, healthy, sweet and cuddly…. Makes you wonder if they ever get tired of getting so many kisses?

At church, a few weeks back, they started a new women’s Sunday school class, which I started to attend. Now you can totally tell this is a women’s class! They have this thing where you give your prayer requests, and everyone seems to have a need to talk about it in detail. Last Sunday, it went on so long, we never even made it into the lesson at all. Just sat there and chatted about the prayer requests the whole time. (So funny, and actually quite educational … I am learning quite a lot of info about these women, that I would have never guessed about. They are turning more human, if you understand what I mean… They no longer seem like the perfect, can’t approach kid of people. Makes me feel more comfortable being around them… I have no idea if I’m making any sense at all….) Anyway, next week they plan on having the lesson BEFORE we do the prayer requests. (Sounds like a good idea to me! )…. Then there is this old lady (can’t remember her name) that has started coming, and I don’t think she gets anything out of the lessons anyway. All she does is smile at Amanda. (I keep Amanda with me, as she has stranger anxiety, and I can’t put her in the nursery… Which is perfectly fine with me!)

Amanda was so cute today. She woke up from her nap before I was done with my workout. So I made her a bottle, put her in the swing, and let her have it in there. Well, she would suck on the bottle for a minute or two, then pull it out to grin at me, and babble and giggle for a couple minutes, then back to the bottle she would go. Back and forth she went while I did my strength training for my lower body. Well, I made it though all the leg work, and was doing the stretching at the end, when I happened to look up at her. She had pulled herself into a more upright sitting position, and was leaning a little out of the swing and looking at me, like she was trying to figure out what I was doing. She looked so darn funny, that I burst out laughing, and that set her off into giggles too. I could barely finish the stretches because she looked so cute, all I wanted to do was take her out and hold her.

Amanda

She’s really getting into kicking her feet. I will hold her up over my head, and she kicks like crazy. She especially likes to do this when I am getting her out of bed from a nap. She also likes to kick me! (As if she didn’t do enough of that when I was pregnant with her) When I am sitting on the couch, with her next to me, she kicks me with both feet, giggling all the while. Thinks she is doing something pretty darn impressive. So then I grab her feet and blow raspberries on the bottom of them, and that really sets her off… She is just too cute for words…

The closer we get to Amanda’s birthday, the more I want to be pregnant. It seems weird that we’re not trying. This is the first time that we haven’t been trying to get pregnant (except when I was pregnant, of course) and it just doesn’t seem natural. We always got pregnant when the youngest was 13 to 14 months old… So the closer we get to when Amanda turns 13 months, the more intense the feelings of wanting to get pregnant get….

… I think about it frequently… About how I want another baby… I don’t understand why I can’t just be satisfied with the four beautiful children I already have. But I am not alone in this, as both the boys are REALLY wanting us to have another baby too. Jared wants another sister, and Josh wants a baby brother. (Though I know that both would be happy with whatever God gave us)

Well, I am getting tired, and I have a lot of work to do tomorrow (seeing as how I didn’t do all of today’s work today). Think I’ll catch me some shut-eye. Have yourself a merry little Wednesday!

Today I feel a little hurt…
 (Snowed yesterday too!)

Today I was talking to a “friend” on the phone, and was telling her (for the 1st time) that for a couple of years that my marriage has been a little rocky, but that we had been able to work through things, and that things were getting better. Well, she had the nerve to say that the reason Joe was not being a grumpy-butt anymore was because I had finally lost some weight…. I have to tell you, I was SO pissed off…. Joe may be a lot of things, but he would never be that shallow. And he has ALWAYS told me that if I want to lose weight, I have to do it for me, not for him. And he also says that even if I gained a hundred pounds, and all my hair fell out (heaven forbid!!!! ), he would still love me!

So then I was upset for most of the day… Why I kept dwelling on it, I don’t know… It probably doesn’t help that she has always been obsessed with weight. Not only her own, but everyone else’s too. She has always commented that so and so needs to lose weight, and so and so has gained a lot of weight, etc.

I let her know that was upset with what she said, and she got on the defensive saying that it was just a thought, and she was only making conversation… She made me feel like I had to be the one to apologize. Then she goes on with her, “I like you the way you are, and you’re my best friend” routine…. Whatever!

A few weeks ago her boyfriend even said something to the effect that if I keep losing weight, Joe’s going to want to give me a new baby…. He made it sound like Joe’s not interested in me physically, just because of my weight…. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t have married me in the first place… At least I have never had to question Joe’s love for me, wondering if he was only interested in my looks.

*Changes Subject*

Snow!

It’s snowing again today! It snowed yesterday morning, then mostly melted by the afternoon. It must have started up again around 6:30 – 7:00 p.m. this evening. Joe heard that it’s supposed to give us a couple inches. He’s hoping not, because he drives truck. His route takes him down to Salem. Yesterday he got to work at 3:30 like he normally does, but I guess Salem had something like 4 inches, so they weren’t sure if they would send him and the other Salem driver out. Well, at around 10-ish, they finally said go ahead…. So Joe heads down there, only to get stuck. He ended up only doing 1 of his stores, while one of the utility drivers did 3 of them. So today he had to do an extra one, on top off all his others, and worked 13 hours… Needless to say he was pretty tired this evening. Doesn’t help that he’s catching Jared’s cold.

Anyway, if it snows too much I hope they don’t send him out in it. I don’t want him getting stuck anywhere, or getting into an accident.

Speaking of that, my brother and sister-in-law (and their two kids) went up to Alberta, Canada to spend Christmas with her family, and though I can’t remember the exact day they start heading home, I know it’s soon. I sure hope that the roads are clear. It’s been worrying me all day, thinking of them driving on snowy/icy roads… Been praying for a safe trip for them.

Alicia is coming down with Jared’s cold too…. She had a runny nose today. I hope it stays with that, and she doesn’t get a high fever like Jared did.

Well, I want to try and get some more of my Christmas pictures resized. I’ve been working on them off and on for a few days… Need to get them finished, so maybe I can finish up my family Christmas pages soon.

Today I feel Just Dandy
 9 Days Until Christmas!!!

I was working with Jared in his History today at school. He’s now learning about the Family… What this has to do with History, I’ve yet to discover, but it’s in his workbook, so we do it! Anyhoo, he had to write down how many brothers he has, and how many sisters. Then he had to write down how many people are in our family… And I asked him to spell the words, instead of just writing the number. Anyway, he tells me he’s done and I check his paper. His answer for how many people in our family was “sex”! After my laughing fit, that he just didn’t understand, I asked him, “How do you spell six?”, and then he realized he had written an e instead of an I. So he says, “Oh, I wrote sex instead of six! Like I’m sexy!”… I’m like, “Yes Jared, like sexy….” 

We had Amanda’s 4 month check-up today. My poor little pixie-girl got 4 shots. And boy did she cry! But Dr. Gyerko said that she looked great. He asked if we had any questions or concerns, and we said no. The he said that none of our kids ever gave us any troubles, and that we had good parenting skills…. Later Joe says, “Boy, do we have him buffaloed!”… Anyhoo, Amanda is now 24 inches long and weighs 11 pounds, 15 ounces. She sure has grown a lot in the last 4 months. She was 18 1/2 inches at birth, and only 5 pounds 2 ounces.

Josh’s starting to go through a slightly disobedient stage. It’s so unusual for him, as we’ve never really had any troubles with him before. Like today, I had something written on our dry-erase board, for school. Something that Jared needed to copy. I saw Josh over there messing with it, and I told him not to erase it, because we needed it for school. Later I see that he had erased about 1/4 of it anyway. Then later, when they were cleaning their room, I kept catching him stashing toys under the bed, under his pillow, behind bookshelves, etc. Looks like I am going to have to start being firm with him, and nip this in the bud…

… What makes it harder is Joe’s lack of discipline. He’s a good Daddy, but not a good disciplinarian. He is ALWAYS giving in to them, to get them to stop whining, or whatever. I keep telling him that he’s just reinforcing the those things that drive him nuts, but he doesn’t seem to care. He just says, “I hate whining, so if I give them what they want, they stop whining. That’s what I want to happen.”… Grrrr… Makes me so FRUSTRATED!!!!… The kids are pretty well behaved, but I keep thinking of how much more well behaved they would be, if Joe would just buck up and be firm with them… They have no respect for him at all. They have even told him that “Mommy is the boss”. Like the other night Joe told Josh to go get his jammies on, and Josh just sat there and looked over at me. So I said, “Josh, go get your jammies on.” So then Josh runs off to change.

Oh, and a few days ago, I was making dinner and I asked Joe to get the kids ready to eat. So he was getting Alicia in the high chair and told the boys to get their booster seats. Well Josh kept asking Joe to get his for him, and Joe kept telling Josh to get it himself. Well, Josh finally went to get it, but he was so mad at Joe that when he walked by Joe he actually smacked Joe in the butt!!!! AND JOE DIDN’T SAY A THING!!! I said, “JOSHUA JOSIAH, GO GET ON YOUR BED THIS INSTANT!!!!”…. I told Joe that he shouldn’t let the kid’s get away with something like that. It was completely disrespectful. If Josh ever tried that with me, boy would be be sorry… But I seriously doubt he ever would! He wouldn’t want to face the wrath of Mommy!

*changes the subject*

I just can’t get over how quickly Alicia is picking up this potty thing. I have always been told that girls potty train faster than boys do, but I guess seeing is believing. And to tell the truth, I’ve rarely been around girls who were potty trained early. My three nieces were potty trained at around 3 years old… And though I’d been told that girls usually potty train around 2, I was having a hard time picturing it…. Not that Alicia’s potty trained yet, far from it. But she’s doing very well. She quite frequently tells me she has to go. Or she will tell me right after she’s gone in her pull-up that she went. I’ll ask her, “Do you have to go, or is it too late?” and she’ll say, “Too late” Too cute! At that age the boys would just hide and go!

*changes the subject again! *

Joe’s work is getting a whole new insurance carrier. Sounds like there are going to be some good changes. For one, we will be getting vision insurance!!! We haven’t had vision insurance the whole time Joe’s worked for CRinc, and that’s been over 5 years now. I’m very excited, because that means I can get some new glasses!! I have had these since January of 1996!!! I really think it’s time for a new pair. Also, Joe’s eyes are pretty bad, and he has to get new contacts once a year. And without the insurance, it always cost us well over $300 to get them. So that will be nice. And I wouldn’t be surprised is some of the kid’s need them eventually, since both Joe and I have bad eyes. At his 5 year check-up Jared’s vision was 20/40 (I think). Dr. Gyerko said that at 5 they aren’t always too accurate, but if it’s still there at his 6-year, that we should take him in to see an eye doctor… His 6-year check-up is next month, so we shall see. This vision insurance just might be coming at just the right time.

Well, I didn’t really mean to write a novel! And as I was up too late last night, I think I’m going to head to bed. Have a great day!

Jared and Josh

Today is my dad’s birthday. He would have been 65 years old. He died 12 years ago though…. Happy birthday Dad, maybe you’re having a party in heaven!

Had a pretty quiet weekend. Spent a lot of it scrapbooking. I ended up printing 156 pictures on the new printer (That was just for November and December, in which I didn’t even print 1/3 of them!!! LOL!), plus 20+ sheets of graphics to go with them. So, I had the printer for a whole 24 hours before I was out of ink! You should have seen the look on Joe’s face when he found out!! But I am determined to be caught up with my albums before the baby comes.

Sure is nice that it’s a little cooler today. This weekend was HOT, and combined with this pregnancy, my feet swelled up something fierce! I couldn’t even get my shoes on, they were so bad. I skipped church because I couldn’t talk myself into going bare foot! They are still some swollen today, but only about half of what they were. On Saturday night Joe was convinced that there was something wrong with me and that my feet would explode.

Since Saturday was so hot, I decided to stay inside where the fans were… I don’t think Joe liked that at all. I don’t see what the big deal was… He must not realize how hard heat is on pregnant people. He had decided to clean out the carpets in the van, which we like to do when it’s hot. (If you take the seats all the way out, you can hose the carpets down, and scrub them with laundry detergent, then hose out the soap. The heat makes the carpets dry fast. It really works well)… Anyway, he came in to ask me to help him get the seats back into the van. I, of course, really wasn’t in the mood to do this, as I shouldn’t be lifting that kind of weight anyway, plus it was well over 90 degrees. But I went out anyway. I admit I was dragging my feet though. When we got out there I laughed and said, “Can you tell I really don’t want to this?”, well Joe says, “I can tell you don’t want to do much of anything.”… I was SOOOOO ANGRY, and in tears in a minute… It’s not like I hadn’t done anything. I had made him breakfast, did the dishes, made the bed, and straightened the living room. I am still upset, and it’s been 2 days…. I know I should get over it, but he really hurt my feelings.

I am now 30.5 weeks gestation – 1 month 25 days until Amanda is here!

Still feeling good, but getting HUGE. I don’t dare put any belly shots on here, as I don’t want to scare anyone away… Plus, I don’t think I want the rest of me to show anyway. We went to the zoo last Wednesday, and I caught my reflection in the window of one of the exhibits, and I about died. No wonder everyone thinks that I am going to have twins. I look like a whale… a very pregnant whale…

Amanda likes to stick her butt out now too. I get these bulges sticking out in my tummy, as she pushes her rear out. It’s so funny…. Oh, I so can’t wait to hold her!

Well, Joe just got home…. I need him to get the moth out of the bathroom, so I can take a shower! I am SUCH a wimp when it comes to bugs. The poor boys got the worst of it. I got them into the shower this morning, and had turned on the water. As soon as I went out of the bathroom, I hear them screaming. So I got them out of there… I think the thing died in the water… And I closed the bathroom door. Of course we’ve had to brave the bathroom a few times today, because when you gotta go, you gotta go… But I am DESPERATE for a shower!! And the kids need one too. Then after my shower, I need to make dinner, I am STARVING!

Hope you have a great day!