Alice's Blog

Valentines Day sucked!

2012-02-16T09:33:00.000-07:00

Not for me because it landed on a Tuesday and I LOVE Tuesdays! But for Jason and Danni it was a huge disappointment! I feel bad because I talked Jason into asking a girl at school out and we got her a cute teddy bear that she posted on facebook saying that's what she wanted for Valentines Day. It was a total family affair, this bear. Danni sprayed it with perfume, Ryan kept telling Jason not to put it near his shoes or it would stink and he got more cologne the next morning to spray on it to make sure it smelled good. It was really cute. But, she said no. :-( I think she gave Jason a lot of signs that lead him to this, though. 1. She put her hands in his jacket to warm them up; while the jacket was on him! 2. She called our house at, like, 10 at night and didn't leave a message. 3. She asked him to come to her basketball game a few times. I suppose all of these could be things a friend does, but I thought she liked him and so I told him he should do it. I did this once before when he liked another girl. He said he was thinking about asking this girl out and so I took him to the store to pick up flowers. He went up to her door and gave her the flowers and asked her out. She was all smiley and giggly and said yes, but freaked out the next day and said she was worried that this would ruin their friendship since they've been friends for so long and she broke up with him. I will not be giving him advise in the near future. Well, that's not a guarantee, but I'm feeling pretty bad. His heart was broken! Danni was just a bit disappointed because nothing special happened. There's always this anticipation that maybe someone who likes you, or who you like, will get the courage on Valentines Day to make a move, so when nothing happens, it's a big let down! So, we went to Chilli's and ate and Danni was all nice to Jason (that only lasted a day) and then we went home and sulked. Not me. It was Tuesday. :-)

Love struck!

2012-01-06T09:58:00.000-07:00

So, a long time ago I posted on this blog that I saw what I thought was the perfect man. Well, I was wrong! This guy is H.O.T. hot! Wow. This is so silly to put here, but hey, it's my blog right? Not much going on here these days except all hockey all the time. Oh, and did I mention Ryan is taking drum lessons?

Cute, huh? ;-)

Christmas was awesome!

2011-12-29T07:25:00.000-07:00

Getting ready to wrap. It was a big job!

Santa put a few presents on the tree this year!

Finally! 1am and everything is ready and under the tree! The top 3rd of the lights died. :-(

Ryan got drum sticks in his stocking!

Danni got a lot of make up and jewelry.

This one cracks me up. Ryan is totally baffled. He got hot sauce in his stocking!

This one caused Jason to squeal! Yes, Santa is freakishly awesome!

More loot, including a photo book, an Avs shirt and a laptop!

Jason got everything he asked for!

Danni in her new shirt from Gma and boots from Liz. Looking good!

This next pic is just to show how small and crowded it was in here. You can't really tell, but it was really hard to have Christmas dinner at my house! Too small! Not everyone got to sit at the table, so there are others scattered around the living room, too. Christmas dinner is hard to do, I would do it again, but only after I buy a house with a nice big kitchen and dining room!

This next picture is kind of blurry, but I love that Nana and Sass got Pebbles a sweater!

Pebbles loves Nana!

Well, it was fun, but I'm kinda glad it's done. We had a very merry Christmas and now it's back to all hockey, all the time. I'm not too happy because I have to get Jason up to Ned (wherever that is) by 8 am for a 9 am hockey game on New Years Day! What? That's parent abuse.

15 teachers and EA's....done!

2011-12-16T19:28:00.000-07:00

Ryan and I did a little bit of baking and decorating! Today was the last day of school for the year and there were class parties all around the school. Man, it was crazay! Happy chaos!

This was my last day with Hailey. :-( She's a big girl now and will be in school all week. Here she is decorating cookies to take home to her family. So cute! I'll miss her!

Here are all 15 presents (just cookies) for the teachers and EA's, and a plate for the best office staff in the world! It was fun, but a lot of work! I went in thinking I would be making their day, but instead they made my day! Big Time! I love that place!

This weekend is chock-full of hockey and Christmas shopping and hopefully we'll be seeing Gracie and Braydon to drop off their gifts. I really miss them! Then, Tuesday we are doing our annual gingerbread houses! So much fun!!!

Another weekend flew right by!

2011-12-05T09:22:00.000-07:00

I love this picture! Jason had to get dressed up nice to be a good teammate because he was benched because of a bad grade (he's really doing good this year, but had a rough couple of weeks!) and I never see him dressed up. He's the guy who wears shorts to school on a 10 degree day (today, for instance). I wanted to really take advantage of this opportunity and do our Christmas photo, but Danni didn't get ready ALL day!

We had a little bit of fun sledding/snow boarding on our tiny hill. Well, the boys did, anyway! But if you could see this picture up close, would you call that "fun" on his face? I wouldn't!

I tried very hard to get a picture of Jason boarding down the hill, but the camera has a freaky ability to knock him over as soon as he sees it, so every picture is of him falling or right afterwards.

Doesn't he look good in my coat?! Oh, and Nana, look! He's in jeans!

Ryan is always ready for a pic! Man, I've trained him well.

The killer of my diet this week: Rolos.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

2011-12-03T20:35:00.000-07:00

This is hilarious to me. The boys were slightly disappointed with Santa's performance last year, so they put their lists all over my computer screen to make sure I knew what to tell Santa this time. They are pretty smart, though, because if they want something to be seen, they should put it on my computer because that's where I spend most of my time. I wish them luck with those requests, though! Laptop and cellphone for Ryan, and a couple of xbox games and Avalanche jersey for Jason? Poor Santa!

It was a beautiful morning with snow falling, the fireplace a blazin' and hot cocoa on the table! Yum!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T12:38:00.000-07:00

We had a great day! It started off with a 6am hockey game (which they lost. Bad.), then home to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade (2 people I know were in it, but I didn't see them), then, while the boys went with their dad to their grandparents house for big meal #1, I got to fall asleep on the couch, get up and wrap a present, make stuffed celery, clean, shower, and get ready. All at a slow, calm, relaxing pace! I loved it! Danni and I picked up the boys around 3 and mosied on over to Nana and Sass's for our big meal (#2 for the poor boys).

Nana and Sass cooked like crazy for us! Like always!

Nana is always telling me to bring Pebbles when we come, so we did and she loved running around the yard so much! So did the kids (all 3!!).

These were here to keep us from nibbling on the turkey before it hit the table, but Liz and I still got some! It's gonna take more than that to keep us away!

Awe. Can you feel the love? ♥

Here's Frank bringing Nana her birthday pie.

My present was the best! Just look at how happy it made her! ;-)

Ahh, contentment. Just sitting with some coffee, enjoying family time, and stuffed to the gills!

I love the cards that Daisy picks out for everyone, but what I love more is how happy it makes Daisy to give these cards to everyone! Just look at her face! ♥♥♥

So, we ate a ton of food (and got to take home leftovers), sat around and talked a bunch, and left full and happy! It was another great Thanksgiving! I am thankful for so much. Danni's silliness, drive, love and values. Jason's funny, witty, cuddly, cuteness. Ryan's sweetness, excitement, innocence and wonder. A cute and happy home. Ice cream. My best friend who is also my sister. My mommy and Sassy. My bro even though I only pretty much see him on special occasions any more. School. Work. Scrapbooking. My van. Facebook. Indoor plumbing, even though mine is pretty lame because it overflows....a lot, but I'm sure it's better than going outside! A dishwasher. Candy canes for the tree. The tree. Coffee. Creamer for the coffee. Cute decorations and nice furniture. My blackberry. Leftovers, and so much more! I hope everyone had a great day! We actually are going shopping today, so wish us luck (we just weren't crazy enough to go in the middle of dream time).

Elf Yourself

2011-11-22T14:08:00.000-07:00

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/5vgdgOMAv4UzqJlz?cmpid=ey_fb_self&ref=nf

Danni's 17th birthday!

2011-11-20T21:51:00.000-07:00

It started with a friend party that seemed like a lot of fun, but they weren't really here for very long. They took off and drove around. They ate pizza, drank pop, ate cake, then played pin the tail on the donkey. Yes, 17 year olds played pin the tail on the donkey!

Then, on Danni's actual birthday, which was a school day, I put some shoes that she's wanted ever since she was a little girl in front of her door to surprise her when she came out of her room. The only problem was, she didn't see them and walked right by and I was peeking anxiously out my door for her reaction. Once I told her she stepped right over her present, she was pretty excited. This picture is funny because she has Dorothea shoes and a Toto dog!

Then, the family party was last night. We had lasagna, salad, garlic bread, pie, and ice cream! There went the diet! But it was worth it! Then, she and Garrett went to save a friend of theirs who was crash-and-burning on a first date. Poor guy!

I love shots like this. I don't know why, but I think it's the cutest thing! I have pictures of Ryan sleeping everywhere! He once fell asleep standing up while we were away at one of Jason's hockey tournaments!

While I'm taking pictures of people sleeping and of kitties, here's one of Romeo. How cute!

I love this week! It's no school, I have my babies all week to hang out with, go on rides to the mountains, watch movies (we're going to Breaking Dawn tomorrow and Arthur Christmas later in the week), eat a ton and go to a million hockey games for Jason's silver stick tourney! I have a feeling it's going to fly by! Enjoy!

My favorite kitty

2011-11-20T21:30:00.000-07:00

My Jasoner is the school's very first mascot! This is the first charter school to have a mascot, too! So, here is a picture of Jason, the Woodrow Wilson Wildcat (and the 1st set of cheerleaders, too!)

I want to win this!

2011-11-02T12:31:00.000-06:00

I just love scrap booking and I'm always entering contests. I get an extra chance at winning if I link my comment back to Liz Kartchner's blog post, so even though I'm not tech savvy and have never done this before, it's worth a try! Click this: http://elizabethkartchner.blogspot.com/ and see if you get to the right place! Yay!

So, anyway, this is what we've been up to lately:

A lot of hockey. Jason is in full swing and is getting better and better every game! Watching him is a blast and even though he got pummeled at the end of this game, so many people told me to tell him he did really good because he faced a ton of shots!

A ton of new recipes. Danni is turning into a great cook! This is a recipe from Rocco Dispirito's 'Now Eat This' book and it is seriously the best fried chicken I've ever had! I loved it and I'm not normally a fried chicken person. The best part is this dinner, along with a salad, is only 280 calories! Dig in!

Halloween! Here is Princess Bubblegum! I love how much she gets into these things! Never too old to have fun and dress up for Halloween...or any other thing for that matter!

Ryan is a vampire! I never thought I'd think any vampire was cuter than Edward, but Ryan was!

Pumpkin carving fun!

It's hard to catch Jason being serious! I got him to just smile right after this shot, but used this one instead since this is more him.

Now that it's November, my favorite month of the year, I'm gearing up for Danni's birthday, my mom's birthday, Thanksgiving, and a lot of decorating!

Reorganizing?

2011-10-18T08:47:00.000-06:00

It's amazing to me how fast they come and they go. I had a great mix of kids

and all of a sudden, for many different reasons, I'm starting over. I really

felt a special connection to this group of kids, though. I hope I can get

that family type feeling again with whatever new kids are coming my way!

I miss these kids!

I guess this is a bit of a reorganization, without the bankruptcy part! Although, if

I don't get kids soon, I could go bankrupt! My kids are expensive!!

Peter Forsberg forgot to ask me to marry him

2011-10-12T21:46:00.000-06:00

So, after our fun trip to Leadville, we went to the Avalanche's season opener game! My long, lost love, Peter Forsberg, was there because they were retiring his jersey that night. I just knew for sure that he was going to ask me to marry him afterwards, but he forgot. Or maybe he didn't because his stupid fiance was there. We had fun anyway. We played the Red Wings, who we loathe (that was for Danni) and lost to them. I was pretty happy at the beginning because no one was in the seat next to me, but then Danni saw a guy wearing a Red Wings jersey coming up the steps and said that she thinks he was coming to sit in the seat by me. I looked to the guy one seat away, who was wearing an Avs jersey, and said I AM NOT SITTING BY A RED WINGS FAN!!! Well, this guy said it was his boss and that he promised to be on his best behavior (yah right) and that when he's there, the Wings lose. So I was hopeful. Not only did we lose, but the big-jerk-Red-Wing-fan was loud and annoying and took half of my seat. I couldn't put my arm down the whole game! Oh well, still, we had fun. Here are the pics!

He got a tiny bit emotional when they lifted the jersey to the rafters. I should have been down there to hold him.

I love that during warm-ups, the Avs all wore a Forsberg jersey!

I love this pic below of Danni and Jason before any of the festivities got underway.

It was kind of a long day since we started out in Leadville, froze our butts on a train and ended the day at the game. Ryan went to Nana and Sass' and they took him to Casa Bonita to celebrate his straight A's. Fun place, bad food. All in all, though, it was a great weekend! I'm not all that happy tonight, though. Jason just informed me (at his bed time, no less) that tomorrow is a medieval feast and he has to make 2 jousting sticks or poles or what ever they are and he has to dress as a peasant. Great.

Leadville

2011-10-12T09:59:00.000-06:00

Well, I wanted to find some nice fall foliage to go see with the kids and take a bunch of pictures. I searched on the internet for the best places for foliage and according to one article, Leadville was one of the best. It's a bit too far to make a day trip out of it so I decided to take the kids up on Friday after school and we'd explore Saturday morning and head home before our Avs game Saturday evening. When I called and made the reservations, just 3 days in advance, the skies were blue and the temps were in the upper 80's, so snow was far from my thoughts. We had a nice drive up to the two-mile-high city and found our hotel pretty easily. It was a little funny, though, because as I was reading the directions I told Danni that we're looking for Elm Street. She has seen quite a few scary movies and pretty much freaked out that we were staying in a hotel on Elm St. Then, as we got into town, it was pretty much a deserted looking little town with fog and everything. Plus it was at night, so that added to the creepy feeling. When we got to the hotel, though, the guy there was super nice and it was very comfortable inside! He even pulled out a map and showed us all of the best restaurants and showed us where to go for our train ride that we were taking the next day. We got up the next morning nice and late, and found a few inches of snow on the ground and on the van, which stunk because I didn't have a scraper! Then we hit a sweet little bakery, ate breakfast, then found the train station.

We bundled up under a few blankets and enjoyed about half of the 2 1/2 hour train ride. The trip wasn't exactly what I had hoped for or expected, but it was beautiful and we always have a great time together on the road! I love having family time like this, so I wouldn't trade it for the world. The ride home, however, was pretty rough and I would gladly trade it in for a drive on a nice, dry, winding road in the suburbs! I have definitely been hit with the travel bug and am hoping to plan a trip to the New England area next fall! My parents grew up out east and when I see pictures, I'm so confused on why anyone would ever move away! I hear the humidity has a little something to do with it. Maybe our gorgeous mountains had a strong pull, too. :-)

New cook in the family!

2011-08-24T11:28:00.000-06:00

I couldn't be happier about it, either!

Danni is making dinner every night for us in order to make some money and learn more about cooking. She is really interested in cooking and is tweaking the recipes as she goes. Sometimes after we eat, we say how we like the meal or what would make it better and she makes the notes on her recipe and puts it in her cute little recipe binder that she made.

She also baked this sweet, colorful cake! The purple didn't come out how she wanted, but all of the other colors were very vibrant! It was yummy, too! One thing that has me perplexed is that in all of my baking, I have never, and would never, think to bake without greasing and flouring the pan. Danni has never thought about greasing or flouring the pan and yet her cakes don't stick! What gives?!

The best thing about Danni making dinner every night is that she is finding very healthy recipes and is 100% dedicated to changing our way of eating, and thinking. I think this could be exactly what we need to get ourselves whipped into shape! We move and go and exercise, but combining that with eating right and we are sure to be fit in no time! I hope!

Winding River Resort!

2011-08-05T14:00:00.000-06:00

We just got back yesterday from a fun little getaway up in the mountains. We rented this nice cabin that Liz and I didn't want to leave. Ryan and Daisy were inseparable, Jason and Danni got to relax, play on their computers and eat whatever they wanted.

Here's my mommy! She made yummy food for Franks birthday party and a great breakfast for us, too!

Here are Jason and Lam talking to the donkey, who, by the way, talks back very loudly!

Everywhere we went the scenery was beautiful!

This one was snapped a second too late. It was Danni showing us all how she can lick her elbow! Good stuff!

Franks birthday party was fun. He got a laptop from mom! Jealous!

Ryan loves campfires and this one was made by he and Daisy!

Ryan has decided he's going to buy a house up there and be a cowboy working with horses when he grows up. :-)

I love this pic of everyone on their horses! I didn't feel good, so I didn't ride. :-(

That's pretty much the end of the summer getaways for this year. The summer is quickly coming to an end and the kids go back to school in less than 3 weeks. Bummer! So, besides getting in Liz's pool a few more times, our tans should start to fade and our brains will begin to swell with knowledge as we get into a regular schedule of eat, sleep, school, repeat. Can't wait.

Estes Park!

2011-07-29T11:08:00.000-06:00

We're having some summer fun here and there, but the back-to-school commercials are threatening our time to travel, play, and just relax. We had some fun earlier in July when we hopped in the van and drove up to Estes park. It was one of my favorite little trips. One because it was relaxing, two because the kids got along (for the most part, there's always a bicker here or there), three because the weather was absolutely perfect, and four because we did something new and Jason and I conquered a fear! We went horseback riding! Danni has some experience on horses and Ryan seems to be in that 'still young enough to not be afraid' stage. I didn't have my camera, but we did buy the ~~way over-priced~~ totally nice and thoughtful pictures of us that were for sale when we got back that the company takes at the beginning of your ride and already has printed and framed when you're done. Here are a few of the pics from our trip!

This was a blast and we are about to add to the summer fun, so more outdoor pics should come soon!

Fun on the fourth

2011-07-09T17:45:00.000-06:00

The kids did a lot of swimming in Liz' pool. Mostly Daisy and Ryan, but Danni got in, too!

Ryan has been swimming a ton this summer! It's hard to get him out of the pool!

Then we had a BBQ, yummy yummy!

Then we attempted to do our own fireworks......

But it turned out that I accidentally bought all pull-string-poppers. Some were pretty cool, though.

Here's Jason trying to light what we later found to be a pull-string-popper.

Then we went to the rec center for the big show. It was pretty cool. They had sky divers and a pretty great firework display!

Waiting for the show to begin....

Yay!

Getting out was so horrible! It took 2 hours to get out of the parking lot because there were thousands of people and only 1 exit that ended up being blocked by a lady who went into labor after the show. We were very tired and a little bit cranky, but still had a great day!

While the kids were away....

2011-06-25T18:39:00.000-06:00

I missed them. A lot. So, I decided to surprise them when they got home with newly decorated rooms! My ex-husband has family in North Dakota so he took the kids there for a week along with his mom and dad. Danni got to drive part of the way there and back and got a lot more comfortable behind the wheel. Now that she has some driving experience, she can start taking her driving classes! Yay! So, for the boys room, I just took the upper bunk off of the lower bunk and turned the beds sideways and put new, fun decals on the wall and ordered the bedding that I saw Ryan looking at on-line. He loved it! Jason gets home tonight, so he hasn't seen it, yet. Here are the pics: Before:

And after:

For Danni's room, I got her a new dresser, but it had to be assembled. Ugh! Not again! I'm getting good at putting things together. Here is the before:

This is the before shot of the dresser

And, I'm proud to say, here is the after!

I also got that mirror above the dresser at Hobby Lobby at half off! Of course, I couldn't put the dresser together without help.

Need a paw?

How 'bout some light?

Well, it was fun and made the time go by much faster. When I wasn't working on their rooms I was at Liz's house having fun! I can't wait to see Jason, he stayed an extra day and will get home tonight while I'm at bunco. Yay!

Catching up

2011-05-31T11:55:00.001-06:00

I'm going to miss these boys! Braydon will only be gone for the summer, but Gage is done here and Asher will soon be, too. Gage has a new baby brother, so they needed a new arrangement and Asher will be hanging with his mom at work since she's at a daycare now. :-(

May is always a busy and fun month with a ton of fun end-of-the-year activities at school. Here is the final Core Virtues Assembly of the year in which Ryan got a highly anticipated award (he's in the center in front of the teacher).

There's my joyful guy! That was his award and it's voted on by students.

Danni had her piano recital and it was really good! She did her first song flawlessly, but she froze after a few notes on her second song. So she started over and did it perfectly, too! She was really upset with herself, but we were all pretty proud!

Ryan's baseball season is now in full swing! He loves being on the pitchers mound, but also gets a turn in the outfield from time to time. Here he is up to bat! He's doing really well this year! In this particular game, when he was on the mound, the batter hit the ball right towards him and he charged it, picked it up and threw to first and got the kid out! It was pretty cool and a huge difference from last year!

His field day had to be moved indoors because of all of the rain we've been getting. It was harder to get pictures because they were crammed into about a fourth of the amount of space that they're used to for field day, but it was still great fun for the kids!

I snuck over to the park where the middle school BBQ was happening and I snapped a few pics (totally stalker-style) but I felt weird doing that so I left. There's Jason with the blue shirt on playing volleyball! Every year the 8th graders have a huge battle with the teachers and every year the teachers win! Jason is in 8th this fall, so it's time to start practicing volleyball!!

Ryan's third grade luau was the same day and I stalker-style took pics of that, too. I had 5 kids to watch that day and one was baby Lucy (who I am already in love with!) so it was too hard to get them out and join the party. But this worked! I got a few pics and Ryan knew I was there for him, so all was good.

Then yesterday (Memorial Day) we had a big birthday party for Jason, Liz and Ryan. Their birthdays are all within a week of each other, so a combined party is usually the way we do it. Jason was happy that he got everything he wanted, and more!

There I am giving Liz her big 4-Oh birthday cake!

Poor Jason opened this gift and then had it taken away because it was actually Ryan's! He was a good sport about it, though (it helps that he got everything he wanted!)...

Liz got some cool stuff, but I think her favorite must have been this saweeeet sewing machine that even embroiders! This is cool for me, too, because it means that I get my sewing machine back!

So, to finish off the gift portion of the party, we sent Ryan on a scavenger hunt for his two big gifts. He got a drum set from me and a sweet new bike from Nana and Sass! It was really fun running around the yard finding clues, too!

It's a semi-normal week with kiddos to watch, but I have some fun plans in the works for the summer!

That's a freakin Bald Eagle, people!

2011-04-28T17:50:00.001-06:00

We are always trying to do something different than just a "dinner, cake, and presents" birthday party. Sass loves birds. She sits in her living room with her binoculars and her bird book to find what she can find. And on camping trips or road trips, she is always scouting out (and singing to) the birds that are there. So, I wasn't surprised when my mom told me that for Sass' birthday they were having Hawkquest (a bird rescuer and teacher) come to the house with a falcon (freakin cool!) an owl (very pretty, but kinda cranky) and a bald eagle (totally crazy and awe striking to be in a room with this guy)!

Danni volunteered to show something, I can't remember, I was too busy taking pictures. Anyway, there's the falcon over her head. It looks small here, it was bigger in person!

I love this picture of Lam, Daisy, Ryan, and Nana looking on as the birds were shown to us. I gotta say, the birds were pretty intimidating!

That was a beautiful owl, but it got cranky when you moved too fast and did this clicking thing with its beak and we were all a bit nervous around it. We all had a blast eating a ton of food for Easter and watching the kids find their chocolate bunnies.

Here's Sass with her birthday pie.

I don't know who that orange face is.

I really love this picture of Danni, Daisy, Jason and Ryan! Danni was freezing, so I had to take the picture very fast, but I think it came out great. I couldn't get a picture this good out of the 50 that I took for my Christmas card, then one shot in 2 seconds and I get this! I might just use it for this years card.

The next day was the real Easter and it wasn't my weekend, so I had the kids (mine plus Cody, Danni's bf) for lunch at Gunther Toody's and then some fun finding eggs and lottery tickets at home. For a little bit we thought Cody's ticket won him $50,000, but we were wrong. Mostly me. I felt really bad that I got his hopes up like that, but we did win about $20, so it wasn't all bad!

Spring break fun

2011-04-06T11:06:00.000-06:00

We went to Colorado Springs for a nice, little trip for spring break. We never go anywhere and I had to work every day, until I was able to swap Friday for Thursday with one of my daycare kids, so I ended up with Friday off. So, we decided to go somewhere far enough that we would need a hotel room, but close enough to be able to get there and back quickly. Colorado Springs is only an hour and a half away, so that seemed perfect. Plus, there's tons to do in the Springs! On Wednesday, when Nicole was picking Braydon up, I mentioned our idea and she said she did that exact thing the week before on her spring break. She gave us some great ideas and told us that she stayed at the Travelodge, swam a ton in the indoor pool and had a free continental breakfast where they even got to make their own waffles. Well, that sounded great, so I googled the travelodge and the one she stayed in was full, so I got put in the other one that wasn't very far away. Same company, completely different experience! Our room was pretty nasty. The carpet was old and gross and felt kind of sticky. Everything was kind of clammy feeling and there was hair in the bathroom. Not to mention, there was a bit of an odor. It was pretty late by the time we got there, and you prepay, so I didn't feel like making a fuss, so we stayed. Then, at about 10pm, I realized that my debit card was expiring that night! So, we ran to 7-11, pulled out cash (I wish I thought that through and pulled out more when I had the chance) then went to buy some treats and got denied because of the expiration date (so, why was I able to pull cash out 2 minutes prior?) so there went some of the cash already! There was no pool at all, so we went back to our room to watch some TV and get ready for bed. Then, the next morning we went to the lobby for the breakfast and it was lame-o! There was frosted flakes and raisin bran, sunny d, and toast. There was no waffle-making, and it was all old, dingy and dirty in there. So, instead of staying 2 nights, all signs pointed to checking out asap! And that's what we did.

(One thing I let my kids do, which I never let them do, was jump on the beds. I figured I wanted to get some money's worth out of this stay and I wasn't getting it from the comfort department!)

Next, we went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, which was really fun! As soon as you walk in, you are greeted with hungry giraffes and they come right up to you, if you don't have lettuce, though, they leave you pretty quickly. There was a line to buy lettuce, but with cash running low, we passed. It was still pretty neat, though!

After our fun time at the zoo, at the recommendation of Nicole, we found Mr. Bigg's, which is a huge arcade/pizza place. They actually had really good pizza and wings and we spent quite a bit of time playing games.

Who the heck took this picture? Not cool.

All in all, we had a blast. It was great family bonding time and a nice way to end spring break! Plus, we had time to get home and recover before returning to the ol routine of school, homework, bed, school, homework, bed. There are 7.5 weeks of school left and the countdown to another fabulous summer is on!

Winning! (This is real winning, Mr. Sheen)

2011-03-17T08:15:00.000-06:00

What if.....

2011-02-25T12:26:00.000-07:00

I'm wondering what The United States would be like if there weren't parties, affiliates, alliances. Would we have such corruption? During one of my recent classes (I'm in college to become a teacher) I had to do a research project about food and during the research process have found that Africa's government is horribly corrupt. I thought that if the civilians could just get educated, they would see how bad their government is and they would get rid of who's in charge and vote some, hopefully non corrupt, other person in. Why is it so easy to see how corrupt another countries system or government is, but not my own? It's here, though, too. We have people buying votes, we have lobbyists and scare tactics. In a way, I feel like we are so stuck with our system that it will never go away and therefore corruption within the system will always exist. I have a story in my mind that is an analogy of how I view our government and it goes a little something like this:
Once upon a time, there are five friends who are trying to get home. They've been dropped off far away from home and the only thing they know is that their home is on the other side of the mountain. To get to the mountain, though, they either have to go through the lake that's on the left, or through the forest that's on the right. The lake looks clear, but it's cold and deep and they don't know if they can swim that far. But the forest looks dark and scary and they don't know what kind of animals might be in there. Some arguing ensued, and they couldn't all agree on what path to take. One of the friends, we'll call him Ronny, made a very good argument on why they should go through the forest. He doesn't like to swim or even to be wet, and he admits that there could be bears in the forest, but they're probably asleep and he's pretty sure there are parasites in the water that will kill them even if they did make it to the other side. Another strongly opinionated friend, let's call him Bill, stated that there are no parasites that will kill them, that was just a scare tactic because Ronny doesn't like to be wet, and that bears would certainly be in the forest, awake and hungry, and if not bears, then tigers. Now, with all of them freaked out, they decide to take a vote. Johnny voted for Ronny and Jack voted for Bill, but there was still one vote out there and that person (let's go with Joe) couldn't decide. Now everyone is yelling at Joe and persuading him to go their way. The ones who yelled the loudest and scared Joe the most with rumors of how bad the other way is would win. So, Joe decides to vote for Ronny and off they go toward the forest. Ronny came up with a game plan on how they would get to the other side, but along the way they ran into snakes and spiders and things that howled. Everyone was pretty scared and started to argue that this wasn't the best way to go. They decided to vote again. This time the votes were the same, except Joe, who saw a snake way too big for his liking, changed his mind and went with Bill's plan. Now, Bill had a great plan, but they had to go back out of the forest the way they came in in order to start at the right spot at the lake. Getting back out was just as scary and frustrating and Ronny, who was mad that they weren't going his way, started telling Joe that Bill didn't even know what direction he was headed and that they should turn back and finish his plan. Bill said not to listen to Ronny. He said that Ronny's ego was hurt that they didn't follow him, but that Bill knew exactly what he was doing. Then, time for a vote and Joe changed his mind, again. They do this over and over and over until they die from starvation. They never make is across because one side never lets the other side get them far enough over to see how close the mountain really is. What a shame!
I hope this isn't our destiny. But what can we do about it?

12 steps to a Recovering Divorcee

2011-02-16T12:54:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I feel like I’m recovering from this divorce like it’s a disease. I need a sponsor or a group or some way to keep myself from slipping backwards because it’s so easy to do. Quite often I feel so proud of myself for not ‘biting’ when he seems to be looking for an argument, but then one little thing will set me off and I will curse and shout and my throat will hurt and then I feel horrible again. Maybe there should be a 12-step program to recover from divorce like there is for alcohol. Here is my new RD (recovering divorcee`) program.

Step 1   Admit you have a problem. Easy.
Step 2 Realize that you will not recover on your own. So, get some friends, preferably divorced so they know what you are going through and so they can be a guide, and talk to them any time you feel the urge to respond defensively to an attack from ex. Instead of telling your ex what a jerk he/she is and having them disagree with you, you can tell your friends what a jerk your ex is and they agree with you, which is much more satisfying! Add food and/or a glass of wine and the healing effects are even better! One fun thing is to have a divorce shower or a divorce party. My friends took me out to celebrate with dinner and a comedy show and it was so much fun! When the comic asked for an upcoming event anyone was looking forward to (to add to his impromptu show) I shouted out “divorce” and everyone laughed! It was great!

Step 3   Ask God to be your guide and pray for everything! I mean everything! If you need to make a decision, pray first. If you need something, pray about it. I can’t stress this enough. Pray, pray, pray!

Step 4   When and if you get mail, phone calls or messages, emails or texts from said ex, Do Not Respond. Take your time to think about it and if it doesn’t require an answer, then don’t respond at all. I know you think that if your reply makes perfectly good sense that he/she might understand what you’re saying, but trust me, they probably wont understand or hear what you’re saying and they will come back with something really, really stupid and that will only make things worse!

Step 5   Do not, under any circumstance, be surprised when ex’s family completely embraces the new fling and talks horribly and hurtfully about you. Just because you were always nice and spent almost 2 decades as a family member, this will mean nothing to them and they will easily replace you and talk about you as if everything was your fault and you got what you deserved.

Step 6 Shop. There is a lot to be said for retail therapy. Start taking care of yourself! Buy a new outfit and it will make you feel great. Get a new do, buy some make-up or jewelry; anything that makes you feel pretty will help!

Step 7   Shop more. When you’re done making yourself feel pretty, make your home pretty, too. You spend a ton of time there and it should reflect whom you are, so make it pretty, keep it clean, and enjoy your home!

Step 8   Stop thinking your ex will change! It’s not going to happen!

Step 9    Stop thinking that ex’s new fling will understand or even believe you on anything. They are with your ex, so already, their judgment is questionable. Especially if they know your divorce ended due to your ex being a cheating assjack. Not only that, but if your ex was a great liar to you, then you know he/she isn't telling the truth to new fling, either! If he/she did tell the truth, they probably wouldn't be together.

Step 10   Be successful. What ever it is that you want to do or that you want to be: make it happen! Learn something new, like a language or a skill. There is power in knowledge and the more you know and the more you achieve, the better and more confident you feel. Keep reminding yourself that you are worth the extra time and attention that you’re giving yourself. You matter and you deserve a good life. This will also help you to set a great example for those in your life, especially if you have kidlets at home. They can see you rise like a Phoenix instead of rolling into a ball on the floor in defeat. They know you are a person, just like them, so if you can achieve anything, then so can they! Good lesson.

Step 11 Move on and don’t look back. Looking back causes bitterness and that is bad for your heart. Move on and forward and when you feel bitterness coming on, take a look at all of the great things in your life. Appreciate everyone who cares about you and loves you! These are the important people and they will help you through this time in your life (quite often, they come from step 2 and you can repeat step 2 as many times as you need or want!).

Step 12   Make sure you take all of these steps towards recovery and take care of yourself so that you can be the best mom ever. This is why it is so important to recover! Your kidlets need you to be in tiptop shape inside and out to help them grow and become loving, healthy, strong and independent adults. They need you to not be bitter or they can grow up to be bitter, too. They need you to not be weak, or they could grow up to be weak, too. They need you to be healthy, or they could grow up to be unhealthy, as well. This is why it’s so important to be faithful, be healthy, be strong, be loving, be independent, be successful and last but not least, BE KIND!

When I read all of these, I realize that I’m not quite a recovered divorcee, yet. I have a lot of work to do, actually. But I’m working on it and some of the steps have been checked off, so here’s to recovering! The nice thing is that with AA, you can’t drink to celebrate finishing all 12 steps, but with RD, not only can you drink to celebrate the end, but you can the whole way through, too! Bottoms up (just kidding, I hardly ever have a drink, but I do like a nice glass of wine every now and then)!

I hope this doesn't offend anyone going through alcoholism or anyone who is any part of the 12 step program for AA. My dad has gone through the program and I have the utmost respect for it. I just needed to use something as a guide for my disease, which is bitterness from being screwed over by the one I trusted the most! I think it's a disease because it's bad for your heart and bad for your health and if you don't overcome it, it could kill you.

Camp out!

2011-02-09T21:27:00.000-07:00

Our furnace wasn't working on one of the coldest days of the year. The repairman (who was super nice) couldn't get the part that night, so we had to bunker down in the living room with the fire place going. Now I'm even happier that we have a gas fireplace! It came in very handy last night! It actually kept the main floor at about 65, so we were good and no one froze to death! One other thing that helped keep it warm was all of the baking that I did. I made chocolate chip cookies, pepperoni pizzas, cheese pizza and desert pizza! It was sooooo good! It really made for a fun and memorable experience (making lemonade with our lemons) and I'm actually kinda glad it happened. Kinda.

We are now nice and warm! Today was rehearsals for the talent show and I think it went very well. Then Friday is the big show! Tomorrow is Danni's 2nd to last driving class and a big homework day. Bleh. Then I have a ToN to do this weekend moving things around to make a fun boys room downstairs. My scrap booking room is getting kicked to the garage. :-( But the boys will have a great place for sleepovers and video games and I don't have to harp on them about being careful since there's no carpet! A win for all of us! Ok, nighty night.

Choose your weapon

2011-02-07T10:13:00.000-07:00

We had more snow and the boys had fun making a snow fort with a tunnel that goes from one end to the other. They are crazy! It was so cold and they were out there for such a long time, but I love that they go outside and play instead of all video games all the time. They do play those, too, but I don't think it's a bad thing if they're still playing outside, too.

One other fun thing that we did was a nerf gun war! We had a lot of fun, but I was pretty much done once Cody (Danni's boyfriend :-)) left and I got shot in the face. Good thing they don't hurt that bad!

Danni and I watched the Super Bowl last night. It was a good game. We were rooting for Green Bay and they won, so that was cool. I didn't pay much attention to the commercials, but I did catch some good ones. Usher was my favorite part of the half time show. He's a cutie! This should be another crazy-busy week. The talent show is Friday and there are a ton of things to do before that. It's a busy week with kids that I watch for some reason, but I'm very happy about that because I've been worried about losing kids. Danni has her final 2 driving classes and then will have her permit! Then she'll get her 6 hours of driving instruction. It's 2 hours of city driving, 2 hours of highway driving and 2 hours of mountain driving. I'm very happy we decided to do this class! I feel much better about her driving with the class under her belt.

Snow/Cold day fun

2011-02-05T09:55:00.000-07:00

So, there were video games.........forts..........

........pillow stacks..........

.....and pillow dominoes.....

........and the best part was the sledding. I can not believe I didn't have my camera for that! It was so much fun and we were at the best hill ever and it was so cold so we had the whole entire hill to ourselves! I was even sledding instead of watching from the car! The next day wasn't quite as fun. The boys pulled an all-nighter, so they slept almost the entire day away. These 2 cold days made for a very long week, though. That was surprising, you would think 2 days off in the middle of the week would make for a short week, but no. Maybe it was because I was so busy. Either way, it's done and now we have an Avs game, a Jaguar game and a party to get Jason to. All in a days fun! Enjoy your weekend! Jason has another game tomorrow, too!

D Bar Desserts

2011-02-01T11:44:00.000-07:00

My friend, Vanessa, and I like to get together for a movie or dinner or both every so often. I've been in a Chilli's rut for a long time now, so I wanted to try something different and Vanessa always seems to be up for something new, too. So, one of my favorite shows is Food Network Challenge for cakes. One of the judges is Keegan Gerhard. He used to be the host, but now is a judge and he has a restaurant in Denver called D Bar Desserts! YUM! I was happy to experience something new and I thought there would be pictures of him there, but instead he was there! I watched him work! He cleared a few tables, made some desserts and schmoozed with patrons! I stared a few times, but couldn't seem to get the nerve up to ask him for an autograph. Vanessa knew I really wanted one and she was encouraging me to ask him and then she said we weren't leaving without one, so I ended up asking another lady who works there to ask him for me. Dork! He asked her to get my name so that he could make it out to me and while he was signing it, he said, "Alice, I love you very much!" I wish he wrote it! But alas, he didn't. As a matter of fact, I can't even read what he wrote. He came over and said something about accidentally getting cherry smudge on it and that it looks like he kissed it with lip gloss on. All I said was, "that's OK" when I really wanted to say, "well that's what I'm telling my friends happened!" But, it was fun and not too expensive, either. The food was yummy, especially the chili cheese fries. And I always love spending time with Vanessa! I think we are good for each other because we can ~~bitch and moan~~ vent to each other and we encourage each other a lot. It's good to have a friend who really wants the best for you and doesn't give you backhanded compliments or judge you. Everyone needs a friend like that!

Surprise! Why? Just cuz!

2011-01-31T18:50:00.000-07:00

So, my sister and I went shopping and we both spotted this gem---

(The white, three-tiered thingy on the left) I bought it before she had a chance to (there was only 1). Well, I felt kinda bad about that, so I went back this weekend to see if they got anymore in. It's one of those places that has something different all the time, so you never know. Unfortunately they didn't have anything even like it. I did spot something else, though. It's this gorgeous dresser that she was eyeing, but it was $300, so she didn't buy it. Well, when I was there this time, it was on clearance for a crack that you can hardly see and a missing nob. Sooooo, I bought it! I was pretty excited to rush over to her house to surprise her! And she was surprised! I had to take it home, though, because she has to ~~burn everything in it's way~~ make room for it first. Lam seemed less than thrilled, but he doesn't get it! That's okay, Liz loves it! Now I shall be very careful with my spending! Yuck.

It's snowing and really cold, so we have a snow day tomorrow. If I'm crazy enough, I'm going to take the boys sledding again. Mostly it's just me sitting in the car while they sled. Then we go home and make hot cocoa. Or, we go to the hospital for stitches. I vote for the first option! Either way, it should be fun!

Make a nook..... and they will read!

2011-01-28T16:23:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I struggle to get my kiddos to read. It's been a battle for a while now. Turns out, if you just set up an area with a soft chair, a place to put your feet and another spot for snacks, they will read! ON their OWN! Who new?

Winter prelude

2011-01-23T20:38:00.000-07:00

I love listening to Danni play the piano! I snuck up on her for this one. Forgive me, baby! I'm a proud mama!

Danni is back at school, too.

2011-01-05T12:41:00.001-07:00

The boys went back yesterday and now Danni is back today. I liked having her here an extra day, it was nice. One of the things I'll miss with her gone all day is finding her sleeping in the most random places!

Her feet are in the kitchen and her head is next to the boys bathroom door. Weird! The couch isn't that bad.

Back to the ol' grind stone

2011-01-04T20:54:00.000-07:00

The boys went back to school today. I had 3 kiddos to watch. We had homework to argue over. Yup, we're back to normal! Going to bed to get ready for another day! Even though it sounds like no fun, I'm happy as can be! By the way, Ryan's knee is great!

Don't look if you're squeemish!

2011-01-02T09:25:00.000-07:00

I took the boys sledding again on New Years day and not too far into it, Ryan hit a branch or stick as he was sledding. I took him to my friends house to get her opinion on whether or not to take him in. It stopped bleeding, but the gash was pretty deep. I was thinking the point of stitches was to stop the bleeding, but I wasn't sure. Plus, she's a doctor, so I wanted her opinion. She told me she would definitely take him to the doctor. Not much was open, but we did find an urgent care place that was, so we took him there. He ended up with nine stitches! What a trooper! He hardly cried at all even though I know it hurt.

The stitch count so far: Danni, none. Jason, twice. Ryan, once. Let this be it! My kids are too cute to scar up!

Well, today Jason is playing in the Annual Winter Classic, which is an outdoor hockey game in the mountains. I wimped out on the drive, so I wont be going. Instead I think I'm going to Liz's to do some scrap booking! I haven't done that in a while. Then, tonight, Danni and I are going to an Av's game! We have one extra ticket since Jason decided to party with his friends instead of going to the game with us. Then, tomorrow is the boys last day off before Christmas break is over. Jason saved some homework for the last day, so it probably wont be a fun day. That's okay, though. It's time to come back to reality!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T11:19:00.000-07:00

Swimming....

Sledding....

And partying all in a day, oh my!

I tried to stay in my room so the kids didn't have to worry about me hovering, but I did come down at midnight to pop some poppers and blow the noise makers things. The kids partied like rock stars! We had our pancakes and are off for more sledding. Well, the boys will sled, I will be reading in the nice, warm car! Happy New Year!!

Jason's first Bronco game!

2010-12-29T11:24:00.001-07:00

One day that could be the title for the first game that he plays, but for now, it's the first game that he's been to. It was the day after Christmas and we were sitting in the living room in our pj's. Just starting to get ready for the day when Nana called and said she has 2 free tickets to the game. The boys were going to their dads and I had other things to do, but we couldn't pass up this opportunity! Jason had never been to a game before. So, we dropped everything and went. Jason was excited to wear his brand new Tebow jersey that he just got for Christmas and Tebow was the starting quarterback this time!

He was thrilled! I loved watching the game through his eyes. Even with a sad season, the crowd was pretty revved up!

The Broncos have had a rough season, but none of that mattered on this day. The only thing that mattered was this game and it was so cool. The Broncos were losing and it looked grim, but they started making a huge comeback in the 2nd half. Then, Tim Tebow punched it in for the winning touchdown! We were still nervous because there were over 3 minutes left and the Texans had it inside the 40, when their kicker was making field goals outside of the 50. I turned to Jason and said, "the only way we can win is if we intercept it right here" and would you believe that they did?! I couldn't! The Broncos won the game 24-23!

I felt honored to be the one to take Jason to his first game!

I have a feeling we're going to be going to a lot more together! It was a great time!

What a very Merry Christmas we had!

2010-12-28T16:49:00.000-07:00

The festivities felt a little bit chopped up with the schedule this year, but it was still so much fun. I had the kids Christmas Eve until 10 pm and then Christmas day at 2:00. So, Christmas Eve we went to Chili's for a nice, fun dinner. Since we never eat out anymore it really felt like a treat, so that made it nice! Then afterwards we went home to open the presents that were from me.

Jason got some shoes, a new computer game and some clothes.

Danni got a gift certificate to upgrade her phone! We're doing it next week, that should be great! (Sarcasm for me, true for her!)

Ryan got a skateboardy type thing, a helmet wired for an mp3 player, pads, Lego's and electronic drum sticks!

Ryan wanted to give some people Christmas cookies, so we made some more of those before his dad came to pick them up.

I think they came out great! We had enough to bring to Nana's, too!

Then, Christmas day was magical, as always! Here's Sass perfecting her gravy.

Danni teaching Liz a bit about Daisy's new IPod.

Daisy entertaining Nana with a story!

Going through our stockings. I felt extra lucky because I got not one, but two stockings! Liz brought one for me filled to the rim with scrap booking goodies! I was feeling spoiled!

Opening presents.

Lam posing with his new jammies. Lounge wear seemed to be a theme this year!

Jason sporting his awesome new Tim Tebow jersey that he got from his grandparents.

Daisy with her American Girl doll! I think she read all of the books!

One very quick quiet moment with Ryan. This kid was wound up! He must have needed a quick rest from all of that present opening! Speaking of presents, I got a new TV for my room! Danni called auntie Lizzie, who called Nana and they all got together and got me a huge flat screen for my room! I really am spoiled!

Then we got to go home and open the presents that Santa left! I got to turn this....

.......into this! And it only took 6 hours!!! My fingers hurt!

All three had a blast playing on their new Wii that they got at Nana's!

Then we all crashed and slept in late the next day! Ahhh. Contentment! I hope everyone had a memorable Christmas, too!

Danni

2010-11-19T14:09:00.000-07:00

If it looks like she's saying, "take the picture, already!", then she probably did say that. She doesn't hide her feelings!

She has just as much fun as the rest of us getting ready for the holidays! She sometimes seems like she doesn't care, but it turns out she really does. And I don't think she likes change that much. This last year was super tough on her, but she is a strong girl and she has her eyes on the prize. She wants nothing more than our old house back. Since that's not going to happen, we'll be aiming for something a lot like it. She wants to go far away to some warm climate for college. She better not meet anyone that makes her want to stay far away from me! Grrr!

She is somewhat shy, but brave enough to be Lady Gaga for Halloween.

Her best buddy is a guy named Jon and everyone thinks they should date....except them.

She had a blast on her 16th birthday!

The celebrations lasted from Friday to Monday! No, she's not spoiled! :-)

She has a new, tougher side to her. She had a hard time with people thinking they could mess with her and now NObody will mess with her! Maybe it was a necessary change, but she's still the sweet, smart, kind, funny girl she always was! You just have to be nice to her to get it.

Ryan.....type A, maybe?

2010-11-11T14:15:00.001-07:00

He's a snappy dresser. He loves to look good, he loves to shop for his clothes and he has a lot of ideas on how to decorate the house. He started asking me for a tuxedo while it was still summertime. He wanted one for his school picture. Every other day he still likes to dress really nice. The kid has style!

He's always been really organized, but this one definitely caught my attention so I had to grab the camera. I bought a magazine with a bunch of Christmas cookie and desert recipes. I told Ryan that it might be fun to do a bunch of baking for our family and friends for Christmas. While I was cooking dinner that evening, I looked over to find that he got different colored post-it's and coordinated recipes by color. One for 'we will definitely like this', another color for 'we might like this' and the third for 'we will not even attempt this recipe!' Type A, maybe? I have to admit, though, I loved it!

I love watching him do his homework. In this one below, (I know, it's sideways, sorry) he is working on his spelling contract where he has to spell his words with his finger in a plate of sugar and salt. Weird assignment! It works, though, because he does really well on his spelling tests. Not only there, but every other subject, too. He got straight A's on his last report card!! We're so proud of him!

He loves every holiday and gets into the spirit of the celebration (and prep) very easily! He's a festive one!

He's smart, fun, spunky, energetic, loving, sweet and kind! He will probably be the first of the three to have kids and he will most likely find a career in some sort of humanitarian area. I love this guy!♥

My Jasoner

2010-10-25T13:56:00.000-06:00

He's such a good guy with the little kids!

He has a very serious side.

I wouldn't want to get hit by that guy!

His playful side is quite funny!

And, yes, a bit of a showman. It's all in good fun, though. My favorite is when he's playing hockey and he's the goalie and between plays, they play music over the loud speakers and he gets out there and dances on the ice and gets the croud going! Yep, that's my Jasoner and I love him!! ♥♥♥

been a while

2010-09-30T20:43:00.007-06:00

So, I guess if I can't say anything bad, I don't have a ton to say. Things have still been up and down, but we'll get through eventually. I'm still going to keep it off this blog, though, even though I have a ton that I wish I could write. Oh well, there's a lot of good, fun going on, too! Jason is having a blast playing football. His team is 5 and 0! Hockey is beginning, though, so begins the crazy hecticness that is driving Jason from one sport to the other while he changes uniforms in the car! I'm having such a great year with the kids. They are getting older, so it's more of a preschool here than a daycare. Ryan loves coming home to play with all of the kids, too! Speaking of Ryan, he is doing great in 3rd grade. He has been a little emotional at drop off because he doesn't want to leave me, but I think we'll be in a good routine soon and he'll be fine. Such a love!

Liz, Daisy and I got our nails done together! Liz' brother-in-law got married last weekend and Daisy was in the wedding. Liz and I made some of the decorations, too, and they came out great! I think we should be in the wedding business together! Her ideas rock and she is always on top of what is hot and happening in the world of decor and fashion.

This is my normal clan, but Gracie is only once a week and Braydon is only 3 times a week. And you can find us here at the park every single day! I don't know what I'm going to do when the rain and snow come. That will probably be a drag, but I'll still try to get them out every day.

Danni. Oh, my Danni. She is doing great in school and has a lot of friends to hang out with, so it's tough to keep up with her sometimes, but that's a good thing. If we're home, she's usually hiding out in her room, which is pretty sweet. She is all about seaweed, avocados, tofu and monsters. She is planning something fun for Halloween, so I hope it works out! And she already has an idea for what she wants to do to her hair next, so we're waiting for Travis to get back to us to let us know when she can be seen!

It's time to stop

2010-09-03T06:40:00.002-06:00

So, we had a counseling session yesterday. I was making it for Jason because I thought he was struggling the most with the divorce, but the counselors wanted all parents or acting parents there to get us on the same page. That meant Scott and Maria, which made me anxious because it felt like it was going to be 2 against 1. And it was. But it went okay and I've learned that this bashing (even though it's all true) has to stop. So, no more complaining on my blog about the things he does or says to me. That should make this place more pleasant, right? Hopefully it will do the same for our home!

We did it!

2010-08-23T09:56:00.007-06:00

And I didn't even cry! All 3 got to school on time, with their lunches and supplies. And to top it off, I GOT PICTURES! Ryan even let me take on with he and his teacher! Last year he didn't even let me walk him in, let alone take a picture with his teacher. This year I got to walk him in AND I got the money shot! I love it! I still have a full house here, though, so I can't be wasting time on the computer. Happy 1st day of school!!

To ad to today's excitement, the tooth fairy will be visiting Ryan tonight! I wonder what she'll leave under his pillow!

Back to school!

2010-08-22T22:22:00.005-06:00

Danni's make-up is all lined up in order. Her outfit is set out and she's in bed early. Jason and Ryan are fast asleep. They both have all of their new clothes for school.

And lunch is made.

I'm usually pretty happy when the kids go back to school, but I'm not really feeling it this time. We've had a great summer and I'm not totally ready for it to be done. I am looking forward to a great year, but dang it, these kids are growing up so fast and it's scaring me! I no longer have any kids young enough where it's acceptable to put a note in their lunch. I can't walk Danni or Jason in and I can't take a picture with Ryan and his teacher. But mark my words, I will be taking pictures tomorrow! You will be on film, suckers, just watch me! I hope they have a great day and a really great school year!

Danni's new do!

2010-08-20T08:17:00.002-06:00

I love it! Our friend Travis did this for her and it came out exactly how she wanted it! She is getting excited for school to start for the first time, ever. So am I. Although, I don't have all of their supplies ready, so I guess that's what I'm doing this weekend. Monday is the big day! It was a fast summer. The first half was a lot better than the second half, but still a good one, overall. So, once again, I'm trading in my kids for other peoples' kids. Danni and I saw Vampires suck last night. Don't go! It was a waste of time and money! I actually almost fell asleep. All of the funny parts were in the trailer, so if you saw that, call it good!

Fun days with my kids!

2010-07-24T17:48:00.006-06:00

So, Thursday and Friday I had Braydon, Gracie and Gage! It's crazy that I got all of them on the same 2 days because over the summer I usually don't have any kids to watch, except for once in a while. So since they all came on the same two days, we had a blast together! I always miss them over the summers. Here's Ryan and Gage pulling out all of the brand new play dough. It's all mixed up and slightly dry now, but they don't seem to mind.

I feel like I'm running out of summer time with my kids. :-( This weekend will be fun, though, we are celebrating Franks birthday up at Evergreen Lake. So cool! I didn't end up taking them to Georgetown for the train, though, because I found out how expensive the train is and that's just gonna have to wait. I'm happy, though, because I have bunco tonight, then all day tomorrow is set aside for a research paper and a test in American Government. Another Yuck. I can't wait until all of my classes are major classes! I'm thinking about changing my minor, though, because what will a minor in entrepreneurship do for me? I thought it might help me if I needed a business loan in the future, but I doubt that financial institutions look at your class list when applying for a loan. Ok, got to go get pertyfied for my gals! At least I'll try! By the way, I dyed my hair today and I don't see much of a difference, but I feel as if my head is bathing in fire! It stings!

First try at kale.................FAIL!

2010-07-19T22:08:00.008-06:00

So this is kale. I've never had it before. At my first session with my life coach, I learned that most people don't get enough greens, so one of my very first goals was to get more greens in my diet, specifically kale. She gave me some recipes to try, but the one that seemed the easiest and most likely that I would like was the kale chips recipe. So easy, just put some olive oil on the kale and season it, if you want, with some cumin or salt. I chose salt. Then you bake it at 425 for 5 minutes, then flip it and do the other side. Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy. Who could mess that recipe up? Me. That's who. Here it is all oiled up and seasoned and ready to go into the oven. The mistake has already been made.

Here it is just out of the oven. I couldn't tell if I burnt it or not. It did say it would be brown, but it seems that the difference between done and burnt is like 30 seconds. Some weren't done enough for me and some were burnt to a crisp.

It pretty much blew but I couldn't figure out why. I could taste the kale and I knew I liked the taste of that, so my hopes are high that I will find a recipe that even I can do. Danni ate some and told me that I put too much olive oil on it and that made sense, so next time I'm doing a lot less oil. At least I was able to make a kick-a$$ shrimp scampi for dinner, so the night wasn't a total bust!

This is Danni practicing on her keyboard. I got a kick out of how she was sitting and a camera usually isn't too far away, so I got it!

How cute is this girl?!

Well, it's late and I need to clean and still need to shampoo the carpets in some rooms, so I better go! I'm very happy that I've had a chance to see some of my kids (that I babysit) lately. I've really been missing them! I saw Leo this weekend and Gage last week and this week I get Braydon and Gracie and Gage for a few days and today Ryan and I went to the park to see Ali and Noel! Noel is so smart and gorgeous! I miss her so much! So, I get to take my happy pill and then enjoy a few more weeks of summer vacation with my babes! Ideas we have are to find an alpine slide (Danni doesn't like Heritage Square, though), drive to Wyoming (why, Danni?), and we still have the mint day scheduled. I also want to take the kids to Georgetown for sightseeing, riding the train and getting a scoop of ice cream! Any other ideas of cheap or free things to do or see are welcome!

Long time, no blog

2010-07-11T09:35:00.019-06:00

Just curious. Should I be worried when I walk into a room and see this? Next, Danni and Jon decided to torture Ryan and tie him up. He loved it.

Anyway, we haven't been able to do as much the last 2 or 3 weeks, but we did manage to get a camping trip in, thanks to Nana and Sass! They took care of everything! We camped at this beautiful spot in Estes Park call Morain Park. It was gorgeous, but the name was accurate because there was more rain than we bargained for!

Ryan and Daisy are just the best of friends! I love it when they're together!

All of the smart people stayed dry in the camper while Frank, Sass and I put up a tent in the pouring rain.

Silly Sass drying off after a soaking experience. I'm pretty sure the rain stopped when we were done pitching the tent.

Frank was a bit smarter with a poncho on, but still got soaked!

What's this? More getting along? Best. Summer. Ever.

The next day was so perfect! The skies were overcast, but it was still warm out. The most perfect weather for a nice, long hike. Probably my favorite hike ever. It was so incredibly beautiful! We saw marmots, a mamma duck with her little babies, chipmunks, black squirrels, humming birds, and what I thought was a beaver, but we never figured it out. There was also a ton of deer and elk poop, but we weren't lucky enough to see them or the bears that we heard were out and about. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, but I had Nana's so there are pictures, just not here.

We also spent my birthday up there and I got spoiled, again! Frank got me a gift card to one of my very favorite stores...Kohl's! I spent it the day after we got home! My mom is taking me shoe shopping and has one other big thing that couldn't make the trip, so I still don't know what that is. Danni, Jason and Ryan made me the coolest card and I get to cash in house cleanings, foot massages, and laundry! Awesome!! That bad boy is getting framed! Then, Danni and I were all alone for the 4th of July. We had been planning to go to the rec center for the firework show, but it was raining pretty hard on and off all day long, so we weren't sure if we would go. We decided to take a chance and go. So, we went to the cities municipal building to catch the shuttle, but once that dropped us off at the rec center, the rain started again. We took shelter in the building until they announced that the show was going on as planned, so we ran out to the park. The rain was a soft drizzle, so not too bad! The wind picked up every now and then which made us freeze, but overall, the firework show was great. But, as soon, and I mean as soon, as the finale ended the torrential downpour began. We ran back across the park and up the many flights of stairs (which I didn't remember going down in the first place) to get back to the shuttle. It was horrible! We were so soaked, it was crazy! Half way back I told Danni that if we ever had to run for our lives, I would be the first to go because my lungs were on fire! Then we had to sit in a stuffy, smelly bus in bad traffic to get back to our car. All in all, a great time and one to remember! Here is Danni, of course still not looking bad after all of that!

So, the night before last night, Jason had Luke over to spend the night. They pulled an all-nighter, which Jason has been trying to conquer all summer, but has been unsuccessful until this night. All fine and good until I wake up and come out to this mess......

And on top of it, once it all got cleaned up there was a stain on the carpet. So, I went to Target and picked up a carpet cleaner and am teaching Jason how to clean carpets today. He'll be a pro soon! The next 2 pics are scary because we just woke up, but I wanted to get pics of Pebbles with her new haircut. She's so soft now! The groomer put the cutest bows in her hair, too, but they fell out before we even got home. Next time I'm taking the camera with me when I pick her up! *Edit: Lost the 2nd pic.

I wonder if she's cold with no hair? :-)

So, I had my first session with my coach. She is amazing and so encouraging! This month I get to work on trying new greens, especially kale. Making out my budget and getting the family started on journals. The journaling is going great! I bought the kale and we're trying it tonight. The budget is tomorrow since today is busy with tests and other school stuff and carpet shampooing. Hopefully we'll be getting back to some fun this week and the posts will be fun to read again! We still have to go to Heritage Square for the Alpine Slide and we have a day booked for the Mint. It turned out you have to have reservations and almost the entire summer was booked. I got us in for the week before school starts. I don't even want to think about school, yet! We're enjoying the summer way too much!

The Stanley Hotel

2010-06-24T12:22:00.022-06:00

But first, This Plus this

equals happiness! Ryan wanted to make ice cream sandwiches and they were great! Look at how proud he is of his idea.

They were pretty darn yummy!

Later, we went to the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. It was a beautiful day for a drive in the mountains. The Stanley Hotel is where Stephen King stayed when he wrote the movie, "The Shining" with Jack Nicholson. Freaky movie and yes, the hotel is haunted! Taps came here to do a Ghost Hunters episode, too. Unfortunately, it has become very popular and now you have to pay $15 per person to do a tour through the hotel. Before that happened, either Kara and I or Scott and I (I can't remember) walked through every floor and it was super eerie! This time we just walked around the hotel on the outside and on the main and lower floor on the inside, but it is so commercialized that there is no haunted feeling at all. A bit of a let down. Still pretty, though.

This is the back of the hotel. We did kind of sneek in to see the hallway of one of the upper floors. I felt so guilty the whole time that it wasn't fun.

It's in such a beautiful setting, too!

Jason was pooped and fell asleep on the way home and Danni tried to torture him with her feet, but it never bothered him. He lets her do anything! Pretty much because he wants her approval.......Danni.....hint, hint....

Then, on the way home, we found a place to play adventure golf, which we didn't end up doing, ride Go-karts, and play arcade games. I tried taking pictures while I drove and this is the only one that wasn't too blurry or too far away to see the other cars. I love this one, I think it's pretty funny!

Jon and Danni and Jason passed us pretty early and I never caught up to get a good pic.

Arcade fun....

Ryan got enough tickets to buy some plastic spiders and army men for me to step on in the middle of the night. Woohoo!

Yet again, a new adventure that had everyones interest and kept the arguing at bay. Good times and great summer so far! One month is gone already....sad!

I want the world to know...

2010-06-22T23:26:00.010-06:00

That I turned this.....

Into this!!!

It took me aaaalllllll day, too! Nana and Sass got the grill for Jason for his birthday. They said there would be a little bit of assembly involved, but I had NO idea! Almost every single piece of that grill was taken off and put back on twice due to errors, too, but I got it in the end so I'm pretty proud of myself! Even though I finished it at about 10:30 PM Jason was so excited that he had to grill something, so he threw a big steak on. Here is Ryan tired and patiently waiting.

There's the grill master in action! Well, not much action, but he made a killer steak (with a LOT of garlic salt)!

Yesterday I got to watch Gage! I was pretty happy about that. We went to the fountains at the Promenade. Ryan actually ran through, too, which made me so happy because he usually watches from the sideline.

Jason was so cute bringing Gage all around. Gage was having such a blast getting all of that attention from Jason!

How cute is this?!

Eldorado Springs!

2010-06-20T19:13:00.019-06:00

Next on the list of fun things to do in Colorado was Eldorado Springs. It took about 20 minutes to get to from our house. Seriously, this is Colorado to me! If someone wanted me to describe Colorado to them, it would be this place that came to mind. The river was gorgeous, and freezing! The mountains were so beautiful, too, with colorful trees and rocks and flowers!

In the next picture there is a boy somewhere. Can you find him?

That is Jason in his gillie suit with that big log! He is visible from the waist up, but you can't tell! He loves that thing!

Then we ate dinner and went to the pool. Look at how brave Ryan is now!

It was another day of all kids getting along. Boy, I could get used to this!

Ryan finished up his baseball season today. It was a good season, I guess. He was ready for it to be over. He always says he doesn't want to do it again at the end of a season and then when spring is back, he's excited to play again. Next up - Jason's football season!

Summer

2010-06-15T11:22:00.030-06:00

We have had a lot of fun so far this summer! We went for a drive in the mountains and ended up finding Buffalo Bills grave, a few deer and some great scenery. I take a lot of pictures looking up at the mountains, but this view was on the way down the mountain looking back at the city.

Jason was the only one who wanted to trek up to see the grave. Danni and Ryan waited in the van, the bums! Ryan probably would have joined us, but realized he hopped into the van with NO shoes! That's summer for ya!

Daisy spent the night and we went to Ryan's baseball practice and then to play put put and then off to the queen of dairy!

Of course, Jason HAD to to the bumper cars!

This is a normal site to see. Jason lounging around, texting whom ever will text him back, sipping on a strawberry smoothie.

And Ryan following him around, sipping on some lemonade. Cheers!

We have gone to play put put twice. Lots of fun!

Pretty serious, here.

This was my last day of the year with Gage. I will get him a day here and there throughout the summer, but not too much. So, we made sure it was fun!

Here is Liz and Daisy at mom and Sass' house celebrating Liz' birthday. She spent the night at my house the night before and we had a blast! We went shopping, ate a ton of junk and watched a lot of tv, all while giggling the whole time.

We've done a ton of baseball so far! Ryan's last day is this Saturday. He has at least 3 games, so it could be a long day for him! (and us)

The cutest pitcher, ever! He talked the ear off of that coach! It was so funny, and cute!

We went to Garden of the Gods. That was such a great day! All 3 kids got along the whole time, including the hour and a half ride there! That was weird! So enjoyable, though. The rocks/mountains were amazing, too. I love seeing the stuff in our own back yard!

They were also being such good sports with me taking all of my crazy pictures! Stand here...Do this...smile....don't smile like that...haha!

Well, I just accidentally deleted a picture of Jason here and it will take over an hour to get it back in at the right spot, sorry Jason!

Then, for Ryan's birthday, he wanted his party to be at the movies watching the Karate Kid. It was a really great movie, I cried....a lot. It was heavy at parts and it was a perfect mix of similarities of the original movie and having it's own story. I recommend it.

Then we went to the Olive Garden for dinner and then home for cake, ice cream, and presents.

Danni and Jon played a stupid prank on facebook and felt so bad that they made their friend a cake so apologize for their stupid, stupid prank. (Love you guys, though, even though it was really stupid!) I thought it was entertaining watching them make the cake. They made it from scratch and it came out good, so they say! By the way, I want my cake pan back!

How cute is Danni with her new glasses! I love them! I love that guy next to her, too. He's a good seed. They went to Water World last week and she got so burnt that she has been whining for 5 days! Serious whining, too! Gahhh Well, we are planning a road trip to Estes Park today, then Ryan's baseball practice. Then a tour of the Mint and the Capitol tomorrow. Then a picnic at Red Rocks on Monday with a dear friend. Maybe we'll fine the Alpine slide on our way home!

Jason

2010-05-31T09:02:00.006-06:00

Yep, King of the grill! That's what Jason is going to be this summer! Aren't I lucky?! He loves to grill and he likes to cook, too. When Nana asked him what he was going to do this summer, he said he was going to be a grill master, so they got him his very own BBQ grill for his birthday. I got him an apron and they also got him a cookbook. I can't wait to see what he grills up for us! It's pretty funny to see him go through the same phase Danni went through when she first got a cell phone. Even though there was a lot of fun to be had at his party, he pretty much did this the whole time. Texting with a girl.

We did get him up long enough for a game of croquet and he tossed the football around for a while. That was good!

We went to check out the new park and it is pretty cool! Jason is looking for Dillon who was hiding pretty good. I think it was another war game. Sheesh!

Jason is an amazing boy. He has many talents and I can't wait to see what he does with his future! He struggled in school this year and we are trying to figure out what to do about that, but he is really smart and is capable of doing great in school. It was a rough year, though, and Jason seems to be stuck in the middle. Once this gets settled down and figured out, he is in for some good times, good grades and a bright future! I love my Jasoner!

Ryan

2010-05-21T10:53:00.006-06:00

Ryan is such a nut! I am so lucky to be his mom because he is so sweet and fun and funny and his enthusiasm for every day life is amazing! He especially loves babies and animals. I'm surprised just how much Ryan loves the little ones. One day before school he asked me to take them to the park. I said, but you're going to your dads after school and he said, "I know, not me, just the kids that you watch. I want them to have a great day." How sweet!

Yesterday I got an email from his teacher. It was pretty darn funny! I hope it's okay that I'm posing it, but it's too funny to not share!

"So, I just had lunch with Ryan and, of course, he cracked me up!
He wanted to let me know the reason why he sometimes gets things wrong on his homework. The reason for any mistakes is because you are 36 and I am only 30. Since you are older, you are way smarter than me. I just don't understand the homework like you do and might mark problems wrong. I am not as smart as you and just don't get it!
Glad he explained that to me!"

Oh my gosh, that was funny, but kind of embarrassing, too!

Here are a few pics from this week.
This is Ryan after he made his lunch for school. Pretty proud. This is a mustard smiley face on his hand. And he licked it off. Yuck!

Not too bad of a lunch if you ask me!

Here he is with Grace. (She doesn't look too thrilled here)

I just had to get a picture of this. I messed up and didn't take pictures of Danni and Jason when they were in this stage. This isn't just messing around here. This is studying! For some reason, and all 3 of the kids did this at some point, the kids end up studying upside down or rolling around or just some sort of weird thing that, at first, drove me nuts! Then I found out that it's totally natural and they actually study better if you just let them do it that way! Not too much after this stage with Jason, we started doing spockey, which was hockey/spelling time. Whoever got scored on had to spell a word. I didn't do so well with hockey, so Jason and Scott did that. When it was my turn, Jason and I went out front with mitts on and threw a baseball back and forth. Whoever dropped the ball had to spell a word from the list. It was fun and I think it worked!

Well, I am going to Ryan's 2nd grade insect play in a few hours. He's a termite! Hopefully I'll have a video to share! It's going to be in the auditorium, though, so it may be too dark. Fingers crossed it will work! By the way, Grace's mom is who wrote the insect play and Jason did it when he was in 2nd grade, too. He was the cutest bee in the world!

Sleepovers are fun!

2010-05-15T07:53:00.004-06:00

Last night Ryan had Daisy over and Jason had Dillon. This is what Ryan and Daisy did the majority of the time: Legos! It was pretty funny to see their personalities come through with their finished products. Ryan had a pile of mechanical, working machines and Daisy had color coordinated all of the other legos into neat little piles!

This is pretty much what Jason and Dillon did the WHOLE time! Modern Warfare 2.

Daisy, of course, got up at the crack of dawn. No, wait, dawn wasn't even here, yet. That girl gets up early! She's so easy, though, because she just finds a book to read or plays in Ryan's room (where nobody slept since that's where the beds are).

Today should be relaxing. Ryan's baseball field got rained on all day yesterday, so they cancelled his game today. Danni is babysitting Leo and then she's getting her first facial! I am going to finish organizing my scrapbook/laundry room and maybe I'll even get some scrap booking in! I also want to sweep the garage, but I think that sounds like a good chore for a boy that has a D in one of his classes, don't you think?

Boys...gotta love 'em!

2010-05-05T10:53:00.006-06:00

Yesterday, Danni had a bad day. Nothing major, just one of those days. It was almost 9 O'clock, I'm sneaking out of the room after laying down with the boys (I always lay there until they're almost (sometimes completely) asleep. I know, I know, I'll regret this habit someday, when the doorbell rings. Who the heck would come here this late? It was Danni's friend, Jon, with some pie for Danni to make her day better! What a good guy and what a good friend! How nice is that? I guess he told her on I.M. that he would try to squeeze the pie through the computer for her and he would have to get off-line for a minute to try it. She was playing along and waiting for him to get back on line when he showed up here. Cute! (That was nice of his mom to drive him over, too!) Ryan had a buddy spend the night Saturday night, so I took them to the park to play off some energy. The park quickly turned into a battlefield and the game was war! Boys will be boys, I guess!

Ryan's first baseball game of the season was Saturday, too. He did great and loved it. I was a bit upset that there were no umps or bases, though. What was the $100 sign up fee for? The team we played had some pretty obnoxious coaches that called whatever they wanted, let their kids bat as long as they wanted and that was annoying. Our kids lost by 1, but I'm positive with an ump there, they would have won. They called one of our kids out that did not get tagged and they let their kids run to another base long after a play was dead. That one play brought in 2 extra runners for them. Grrr. Of course I wrote in to the league and complained (very politely)and they guarantee there will be an umpire at all of the remaining games. That's good!

Ryan had practice again last night and said he needs to practice throwing straighter and harder, so that's what we'll be doing. Jason is so into it, too! I love how he helps his little brother!

A Day Without Hate

2010-05-01T10:55:00.003-06:00

This is Danni and Jon on the way to a 'Day Without Hate' rally that Standley Lake High put together. I think it was in response to a church that protested outside of their school last week. They held up signs that said 'God hates fags' and 'You eat your babies'. If I ate my babies, who are these messy kids hanging out at my house all of the time? And if they don't go away, is it too late to eat them now? Weird. Plus, I'm pretty sure God doesn't hate anyone. This church also goes around protesting soldier funerals. Pretty sick if you ask me! Well, we are off to Ryan's first baseball game of 2010! Go Ryan!

Danni's Day On The Job Experience!

2010-04-30T10:19:00.007-06:00

So, about four or five years ago, our local weatherman, Mike Nelson, came to visit the school that my kids attend. Danni was in one of the front rows and I could see her behind him when the news showed his visit to the school. That was fun. But a week or two later, as I was picking up all of the kids at the end of the school day, something pretty scary happened. Danni's class, along with 4th grade, was held in trailers that were set up in the parking lot of the school. Tornadoes love trailers. So as Danni was walking around the trailer to our van that was parked right on the other side, I was waiting for one other boy from the carpool (her good buddy, Matthew) but before he came out, a really loud noise, like a freight train started and a huge wind came sweeping through. It was really bad and the teacher grabbed one boy who was in the doorway, pulling him inside and shutting the door. I was on the inside, too, and I told all of the kids to get under their desks because I thought it was a tornado. As soon as it stopped I ran out to find Danni. I was hoping she had already made it to the van, but that wasn't the case. When I opened the door, there was debree every where. The fence around the school was flat, there was pieces of building all over, trash all over and a couple of people getting up off the ground. It was so scary. I ran down to the end of the trailer where I found Danni crying and trying to make her way to the van. She was caught right in the middle of it. Her backpack had been taken off her back and thrown a few feet away and she was knocked to the ground. She was ok, but ended up needing crutches for a few days because she twisted her ankle. Someone from the school wrote in to, or called, Mike Nelson to ask what happened and if that was a tornado. He explained that it was a micro burst, which is like a small tornado. Ever since then, Danni has wanted to be a meteorologist. Now, Danni is a freshman in high school and all of the freshmen had to contact someone who is in their desired profession and ask if they could shadow them for a day. Danni asked Mike Nelson and he said yes! It was pretty cool, she had a great time and said he was really nice and it seemed to renew her desire to be a meteorologist! I'm so happy that she has a goal and an idea of what she wants to do when she grows up. I wish I knew more of what I wanted to do at a younger age. I wrote in to thank him for being such a great inspiration and for being so willing to share his knowledge and he replied saying he was happy to do it and he was delighted that she had a good time and he sent me some pictures from her visit. So, here are some picks from her fun day with Mike! (The other girl is the daughter of my friend who also shadowed that day)

Time for healing

2010-04-27T18:00:00.002-06:00

My divorce was made final today. It is surprising how many emotions and feelings go along with that. There is relief, sadness, happiness, hope, disappointment and excitement. Even though I have been anxiously awaiting this closure, and have been dealing with the stress of not knowing what the outcome would be, I was surprisingly shocked to hear the judge say the words; "I have found this marriage to be irretrievably broken." I knew that. I totally knew that. I don't know why, then, those words almost stung. Yesterday's trial was like the climax to the story of our super-long and drawn out divorce. There have been so many things that happened on the way to this final declaration. So much stress, so much fighting, lies, hurtful truths, and many disappointments. Now today is the fall after the climax. The reality is setting in. I am a single mother of three amazing children and I want them to stay amazing, so the pressure to do great is on. The judge gave us a very heartfelt speech/lecture after reading his findings. He said if we continue on the path that we're on, we will ruin our kids. Holy cow, that hurt to hear and it certainly isn't what either of us want to do. We will have a rough road ahead, but first we need to figure out how to communicate with each other without the bitterness that we both seem to have. I have been pretty bitter, too. I never in my life thought that I would be divorced. It definitely isn't something you plan and it surely wasn't in God's plans for our marriage. The judge reduced it down to the plain little fact that people grow apart. Is that really what happened to my life? The person that I thought I would be with for the rest of my life just grew away from me? Did I grow away from him, too? When did this growth spurt happen? We went 15 years growing together in a wonderful, fun, loving marriage and then, poof. We grew apart? That is too simple, too general for what really happened. I'm not just another divorced person, so that generalization of what happens to 'people' just doesn't seem to jive with me. I gave everything I could give and this is what I get. That's why I'm bitter. My husband was saying "I love you" to another woman. That's why I'm bitter. I lost my home. That's why I'm bitter. I know I wont be bitter forever, though. I'm already on the road to healing and forgiving. That's where the hope, happiness and excitement comes in. Being on my own for the first time is pretty cool. I now know that I can do this! It is a wonderful feeling; knowing I am independent enough to live on my own and take care of three kids along the way. All while working full time and going to school full time. More hope! Even though divorce is a sad thing, I'm happy. I'm happy to be moving on and I can't wait to see what is in store for me.

Thank you Lord for this day!

2010-04-09T12:20:00.006-06:00

I have missed the sunshine so incredibly much. I never really realized how much I loved it until this winter. Usually in Colorado we have a lot of nice, sunny days in between all of the snow storms, but this winter was different. Someone told me, or I heard on the news, that this years winter was predicted to be a bad one and it held true! The snow started early, kept coming strong throughout the winter and we've already had a few spring snow showers. They all wouldn't be that bad if we could just have those sun shiny days in between! But now, the sun is back and so am I! Gage, Leo and I had a great long walk, played on the sport courts, and then found the (tiny) playground. It was so great to feel the sun on my face and the cool breeze every few minutes. The birds are chirping, the wonderful sound of lawn mowers in the distance! I love it! My skin is a teeny tiny bit sunburned and it's great! The boys just finished up lunch and are going down for a nap, so I just might do the same. Enjoy spring!

Snow day ~ Lame!

2010-03-26T07:55:00.003-06:00

(This is the view looking out from the boys' room on our snow day)

How many times did we, as kids, have to listen to how spoiled we were and how hard our parents had it? Was it only my parents who walked up hill both ways in the snow with no shoes to school everyday? I had it so good according to my mom. Ha! We had a flippen snow day on Wednesday that was so lame, I thought I moved to California or something. That morning the roads were slushy, by 11 there was NO snow on the sidewalks, and the sun was out. This is all fine and good if you have kids that GET ALONG! Why do my kids seem to hate each other when we have a day together? Quit touching me, well quit looking at me! MOM!! Ahh! And not to mention, it was one of the last opportunities to get pictures for the yearbook. This snow day killed us on the yearbook committee! Who calls the snow days? I swear, that person doesn't have good tires and they just wanted to stay home because they called it waaaay too soon! I would have had to walk to school up hill both ways with no shoes in that snow storm any day as a kid! I think these kids have it too easy. :-)

Who writes this stuff?

2010-03-22T08:32:00.004-06:00

Seriously! I went back and read all of my posts on this blog this weekend out of pure boredom and I was even more bored than when I started. I couldn't believe what I was reading, this is not my voice!! I sound so boring on here! My old blog was funny. I guess it goes along with whats going on in my life, but hopefully this divorce isn't turning me into a boring grump! Time to get myself back!! No more boring posts and no more negative cry baby posts, either! Even if I have to start lying, I'm going to make this thing more fun to read. Well, maybe I wont go as far as to lie, but still, this thing needs mucho grande improvement! By the way, still can't stop thinking about that guy! He was perfect, right down to the perfect little scar on his chin. :-) *****sigh*****

Heart broken!

2010-03-18T13:15:00.002-06:00

Man O man, I can't stop thinking about this man. I don't even know his name, but this was one beautiful man. I don't think I've ever seen a guy and thought he was absolutely perfect before. He was nice, had a great personality and very easy on the eyes. I have to make myself stop thinking about him, though, because there was a ring on his finger. Of course he's taken! Why would a nice, hot guy be single at my age? All I can do is hope that there is another one out there for me (because it would be wrong to hope this one gets a divorce, right?) and that he's single and that I meet him and that he likes me back....hmm.....the odds are freaking me out!

Hockey is done!

2010-03-11T10:12:00.008-07:00

I went to Target and splurged on a cute little new purse. I got to use this pretty thing about twice. Then, as I was leaving Target last night, I dropped my purse when putting my wallet back in and I was so worried about my camera being in there. But I didn't check it out because I had to get out of the way for the next customers. As we're walking out, Ryan said he smelled markers or paint. Then Danni said it smelled like nail polish and it hit me; I had a brand new $8 bottle of nail polish in my purse! NOT a good idea. So, this cute little bag Now looks like this.......

So sad! Another sad thing is Jason's first and last hockey playoff game was last night. They got killed, just like the rest of the season. It was quite a bummer. Then there was an ugly scene after the game, which ended the season on a sour note. Seriously, people, these kids are 11. This is supposed to be for fun. Just have fun.

I am convinced that New Years resolutions aren't for me because I chose one that was right up my alley and should have been easy. Not like losing weight or getting organized or getting out of debt resolutions are. My resolution was to take a picture a day and then I can have a year in the life of us scrapbook. I totally slacked for the last month. Half the time, my camera is nowhere to be seen. Other times, I just forget. I'm still trying, though. Maybe I picked a hard year to try this, but it's also a very pivotal year of my life, so it seemed appropriate to try and capture it.

One thing I've been thinking about is, why do I volunteer my already scarce free time for the school and whether or not I'm getting out of it what I wanted? I don't think I am anymore. I started volunteering because I read that kids do better in school when their parents are involved. I had a lot of spare time back then, too. I was married, I was a stay at home mom with 1 other child that I watched. I wasn't in school. Things were just easier and I got a lot out of volunteering. I met a lot of new friends, it was fun, I was appreciated (which I liked) and I gained so many new skills and with that came a lot more confidence in myself and my abilities to lead, organize, follow and communicate. It seemed like every year I tried something new and harder and was able to rise to the new challenges successfully. When the split between Scott and I happened, I had to think about whether or not I would stay as involved. Would I even have the time? I was determined to not let this divorce change every part of my life and I was as determined to not let this divorce hurt my kids or affect the kids at the school, so I would be volunteering for the same amount of jobs as I normally do. I did scale back, but there were still some big jobs that needed to be filled. I was on the talent show committee, the middle school activities committee and I'm the chair person for the yearbook. Those are 3 very time consuming jobs and it was going just fine until I got personally attacked by another mom who was on the yearbook committee last year. She started out being a great help and for the first of the two deadlines, she got her pages done. Then it was like she fell off the face of the earth. I was emailing her and I called once and I ended up tracking her down at the school. She said she got walking pneumonia and was overwhelmed with other things, but she promised to get on and do her pages. They never got done, so one other gal and I did her pages on the last day possible. Then, this year, she said I kicked her off of the committee, stopped including her in the emails, deleted her pages and locked her out of the website. ??????? I would never do that. Why would I do that? That's crazy. The pto asked if we could get together to straighten this thing out and I agreed, but she refused to meet with us (even though she is ON the pto) and then she sent me a very nasty email after I went to a pto meeting asking for money for a gift that the talent show wanted to give to its participants. I couldn't believe my eyes when I read it. I had to read it a few times and instead of responding to it, I decided to send it to the pto to let them deal with it. The final decision was to ask her to resign and she did, but she is extremely mad and wants to get even and is trying to get me banned from being able to chair anything next year. I don't know on what grounds, but ok. Throughout all of this, I have been thinking about how badly I want to chair anything and why and I've decided that it is time to move on. I still have a yearbook to finish and I will be on the middle school activity committee because that's just fun stuff for the kids, but I'm not doing all of these unwanted jobs anymore. If there is no yearbook next year, so be it. Besides, someone will probably step up if they know no one else is doing it. I started volunteering for my kids and now I'm going to stop volunteering so I can have more time with my kids and so while I am with my kids, I'm not worried or upset about something at the school.

Well, I spent the day with Liz today. I left half way through this post to take Danni to school and I went to Liz' instead of back home and seeing her always makes my day. I am already in better spirits! I have to work a hockey game tonight and then get some yearbook pages done this weekend. Other than that, it should be a relaxing weekend! Have a great one and bring on spring!!!!!

Talent show and snowball dance

2010-02-27T10:48:00.005-07:00

We put on the annual WWA Talent Show and I think it was one of the best ever! This was one of my favorite acts of the evening. Are you smarter than a cheese grater? The cheesehead there had the best Wisconsin accent and made it so funny. One of Jason's best friends was in it, too. He played the guitar and was great! I can't believe that the music I listened to is so popular with kids again!

Last night we held the annual Snowball Dance. Total success! We have some pretty amazing parents at WWA! I think these are 6th graders because Jason is in there with a bunch of his friends, but who knows who all jumped in!

Mr. Trenkle can cut a rug like no other! He was teaching the kids some serious moves! Too cool.

Here are Jason, Luke and Josiah, Angel and Kelsi. Luke had a date, too, but wasn't up here for the picture. She is adorable!

Things have been super busy for me lately. On top of it, I got personally attacked (verbally, not physically) by a parent at the kids school. It is a person who has a track record for being a hot-head. Walking off on the job, and not working well with others. Because of the things that she accused me of and said to me, I felt that she shouldn't be on the pto anymore. Unfortunately, they are pretty hard-up for people to be on the pto, so she may be getting away with this behavior. I am pretty upset about it and plan to do what I can to make a change. She is a bully, she's intimidating and she drives volunteers away. We really don't need a cancer like this representing WWA. This, of course, means that I'm going to have to step WAY out of my comfort zone and stand up and give a statement. Whether at the pto meeting or even higher, I'm terrified, but I'll do it. No one should have to be threatened by her again.

The divorce date has changed again. The new date is April 26th. I can't wait for this to be done! He is such a jerk. He has shorted me on every single check that the court has ordered him to pay and now he wants me to pay him for the insurance? Unbelievable! When will he be a man and step up? Of course he didn't pay me at all yesterday, so I have to chase him down again for my check. Good times.

On a good note: school is going good, Danni is doing good in debate, Ryan had an adorable play and lost a tooth all in the same day, and I have bunco at my house tonight. That's why I'm blogging; to avoid all of the cleaning that is waiting for me! Well, no more putting it off. Here I go. Yup, getting up right now. No, seriously, well, maybe one game of solitare wouldn't hurt.....

Jason is back!! And so is my camera!

2010-02-17T09:52:00.007-07:00

So, when I was imagining Jason out in California without me, I knew I'd want a ton of pictures. The question was, do I pick up a disposable camera or do I send him with mine? I decided to send him with mine. My next decision was which memory card? I have one that holds about 200 pictures and one that holds about 800. I ended up deciding on the smaller one because I was really worried that he would lose my camera and at least I would still have my good card if that happened. I was hoping it would be big enough for him. If it were me, that card would have been full after 2 days! Needless to say, I was super-excited to see the camera come home and I popped the card in with high hopes of great beach pics, or zoo pics, or hockey pics or any other fun things that they must have done in California in a week (and a night in Vegas!). Here's what I got:

Good grief. I sent my camera for this? I worried about the safe homecoming and well being of my favorite piece of technology for a week for that?! Clearly, we have to go back to California and trace all of their footsteps and pose for some good pictures, because this is unacceptable! I took a quick pic of Jason this morning on the way to school (yes, he had to go to school today, he already missed 3 days for the trip). I thought he looked cute in his money hat and aviator glasses. ;-)

Definitely not happy about going back to school today!

No kids, no camera, no fun!

2010-02-13T08:57:00.003-07:00

Jason is in California, Ryan is at his dads and Danni spent 2 nights at Santazia's house. Plus, Jason has my camera. He better be taking a ton of pictures!! He got sick the first night in Cali, which wasn't too surprising because we all got a bit of the bug here. Ryan was literally counting down the days to the Valentines day party and as he was taking a test in his reading class, the morning of the party, he threw up. And on his new shoes! That really upset him, but he felt great the rest of the day, so that was good, but sad that he had to miss his party. At 2 O'clock at home, he said, "well, my party just started." Then later he said, "my party is finishing up now." That was sad. Jason is all better now and is playing his first hockey game later this morning. The other goalie, Jake, got to play the first game which, unfortunately, they lost. So Jason has the next game and I can't wait to hear how it goes. I had so much fun with Liz yesterday! We went to one of our favorite places...Target! I think we were there for a couple of hours and were almost late getting home for Daisy, who gets dropped off by the bus right by the house. But we made it! While we were there, Liz got all of the kids Valentines day gifts (we don't normally do gifts for V-day, but Liz did!) and then she got me this totally cool wall decal. I can't wait to get it up on the wall! I'll post a pic as soon as I do. Well, I have soooo much to do and I'm blogging to avoid it, so I better get to work. I have a ton of paperwork to get together for my lawyer, yearbook pages to work on, talent show emails to get out, and a paper to write for my critical thinking course that is quite challenging! Have a great Valentines day!!

Avs game and more pod's

2010-02-07T10:40:00.011-07:00

Last night Danni, Jason, Luke (Jason's buddy), and I went to the Avalanche game and had a great time! I got a really good deal on family night tickets where we all get a ticket to the game, an entree and a drink! Unfortunately, only 2 of the 4 meals got eaten. Luke didn't like his nachos because they smothered them with meat and tomatoes and I don't think he liked that. Then, Danni was talking while holding her nachos and all of a sudden, they were face down on the ground. Huge bummer! But later, the boys went and got us churros (I've never had one before and it was wonderful!) and popcorn.

Based on the usual pose that I get from kids when I hold up a camera, I would say that 'peace' is the word!

The boys had so much fun dancing every time the Avs scored. Danni had fun, too, but I think she was a little embarrassed of the boys. They were pretty funny!

There's Jason going nuts! And Danni celebrating, too. The Avs won 3-0!!

Here is one of my pictures of the day (which was 2 pics). I thought it was cool. Ryan made a person out of random stuff. He's very creative with Lego's, magnetix, and now pretty much anything!

I know, totally random, but I love fresh baked muffins for breakfast.

Another POD, Danni just hanging out, snacking, and playing on her computer. Nice snack, Danni, a Monster and Cheezits.

I have another very funny picture for my pod project, but it's of Liz and she will KILL me if I put on here. Man, I love that girl!

Dodge ball!

2010-01-29T21:18:00.011-07:00

Today was the middle school activity and we held a dodge ball event for those WILD and CRAZY kids! They all seemed to have a blast. I felt bad for Jason because he had time for about 3 games and then had to leave for hockey. The first game was all middle schoolers against the teachers. Those brave teachers were outnumbered! That is Jason's main teacher in black. She is a saint!

On your mark........

Get set...........

GO!!

Busy week!

2010-01-27T18:02:00.006-07:00

Danni didn't want to take a picture, so I had to sneak one and she is NOT happy about this one, but it's her fault since she wouldn't let me take a normal one. This one cracks me up! It's Victoria and I was having a yearbook meeting at my house and she posed for a picture that she thought I wouldn't catch. Ha!

Ryan was home sick for 2 days this week and this is what he did to his hair one of the days. He did Gage's too!

And here is Pebbles with a cute little bow in her hair!♥

I can't believe how busy this week is! Monday was a talent show meeting. Tuesday was a yearbook meeting at my house and today we held auditions for the talent show. Tomorrow I have no meetings and Friday I have the dodge ball event to help with. Whew! All on top of normal every day work and school and hockey. We had a good time going to Colorado Springs on Sunday. It was beautiful weather, just really windy. The wind cleared out any clouds or smog and the view to the mountains was incredible, so I handed Danni the camera to snap my picture of the day out of her window and realized that I left the memory card in my computer at home. I was so mad at myself! So, here are Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and today's pod's (in backwards order...ooops!) Plus, they keep getting placed above this post, so this post is driving me a bit crazy! I think it might be time to play with a new layout!

More project life pics

2010-01-23T13:53:00.008-07:00

I'm actually using Gage's video as day 15's photo because I forgot to take a still shot that day. Here is day 16. Jason's team was in a tournament and lost all 4 games. Jason did really well in his 2 games. He stood on his head, but ended up letting all of the goals in in the last few minutes. Day 17. Ryan and I waiting in the car for Jason to come out from hockey. We got a little crazy and I have some really silly pics from this day, but this is the one Ryan picked.

Day 18. Pebbalicious

Day 19. How sweet this boy is! Leo is growing up very fast and now doesn't even take a nap at my house any more! He's a big boy!

Days 20 and 21 have no pics. I dropped the ball. :-( Oh well. Day 22 is Ryan and Pebbles. Too cute!

And here we are today. Still in yesterdays clothes, nice! But this pic is perfect for today, it really sums it up. We slept in late, then Ryan cleaned the living room (really well, too) and then played Lego's for hours. Next, we are going to Jason's hockey game, then Jason and Ryan are going to Gunther Toodies and then a movie with Nana and Sass while I go to bunco! It'll be a fun night! Last night was fun, too. I haven't gotten out in a while and I went to a friends birthday party and got home around midnight to find Danni still texting a million people and Ryan asleep on the couch. I'm proud of Danni because she bought herself a new phone and is paying for her own plan! Shoot, that could have been my picture of the day. Her phone is really cool! Well, we have to go, so have a great day!

Silly Gage

2010-01-14T12:10:00.002-07:00

I'm putting this video here to share with Gage's mom because I can't email it to her since it's too large. I thought she might like it, though. I was trying to get him to move his eye brows up & down. It was very funny to watch. Once I got the camera out, he wasn't doing it as well, but it was still pretty cute!

More pictures

2010-01-14T11:14:00.005-07:00

Picture of the day for January 11th. Just a regular day, I had all 4 kids to watch that day, I felt very organized, too. All day I was a step ahead. Danni came home and started her homework right away, like always! I'm very proud. :-) POD day 12 Almost forgot to take a picture. We just finished Ryan's homework and were headed up to brush our teeth and go to bed when I realized I needed a pic. So, here is what was happening at that moment...

POD day 13. This seems boring, I know, but I am working on getting settled and organized in our new home and this was one of the things I did to help de-clutter. When all of my kids are here, I have piles of coats, bags, and lunch boxes, so this really helped. They are those little OnDemand hooks that only cost about $2! Easy, cheap fix....I like!

Have a great day! This weekend should be pretty busy. Jason is in a tournament all weekend, Danni has debate Saturday and drivers ed on Sunday (Oh help me!), and I am hoping to get the garage cleaned and organized this weekend. We shall see. I have a big ugly metal cabinet that I am spray painting pink. Then I'll be able to put a lot of the stuff that is still in boxes away. That is half the garage right now! So hopefully all goes well.

Falling behind

2010-01-12T10:17:00.006-07:00

I'm falling behind on posting the pictures, but I haven't missed a day for taking a picture, yet! Here are days 6-10. Ryan is so happy when the boys are here and he gets to play and help take care of them! Gage looks a little choked up, haha! Pod day 6 This on cracked me up. Vanessa brought a lot of Leo's new toys to share with the kids and Braydon thought the best part was the bag. He got in and out about a million times, it was pretty funny. Pod day 7

Friday was nice. Nana and Sass hired some movers to pick up Danni's piano and bring it here. It's nice to have it back! This is a pretty small place, though, so things are getting tight...uh, I mean cozy. :-) Pod day 8

This is the day that Ryan stayed in his pj's all day. I had a garage sale and did pretty good. While I was doing that, Danni babysat Ryan for me and they never got ready and they ate snacks all day. Way to go, Danni! Hopefully she did better babysitting Leo that night! Pod day 9

So sweet. I found this note when I was heading up to my room for something and it was just the right thing at just the right time! I needed that! Jason can be so sweet!♥ Pod day 10

Getting back to normal

2010-01-05T15:07:00.002-07:00

POD day 4. Jason and Ryan came home! Best day in a looong time! And this is what they did.... POD day 5. All 3 boys that I watch are actually eating lunch at the same time. Crazy! That never happens. Also, even though this has been somewhat of a chaotic day, it is a step back into normalcy. We're getting back on a schedule, and I like that! As much as I love having them home, I like my schedules, too. Now it's time to make dinner and get Jason to hockey.

Project life

2010-01-03T18:36:00.004-07:00

POD day 2. POD day 3.

Okay, so I found out that the picture of the day is called Project Life and it's made by Becky Higgins. On day 2, I took a picture of Gage because I was babysitting him so Kasey and Josh could go to Mr. Trenkle's wedding. I really wish I had my camera when we were at my old house picking up the fridge for Lam because that event became quite comical. It took us forever to get it out! We ended up taking the doors off of the fridge AND off of the front door. At one point Lam was stuck between the wall and the fridge and that is when I really wished I had the camera. Day 3's photo is of the boys room. I miss them so much, I can't even explain it! I am so sad on the inside and I can't stop thinking about them. I made their beds after they left on Monday and sadly, nothing has changed in a whole week. No messes, no noises, no nothin'. I hate it. I get them back tomorrow, though, Praise the Lord! I plan on smothering them with kisses and spoiling them with junk food. Well, maybe not all junk food, but there will definitely be Funions in the house! Here's to tomorrow!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T14:20:00.004-07:00

Picture of the Day

It seems to be pretty unanimous around the board that we are all ready to say good riddance to 2009 and welcome in 2010 with open arms! 09 certainly was a tough one for me so I'm definitely looking forward to a new year. What is it about January 1st that brings on so many feelings of hope? Really, every new day could be a new start, but for some reason the change of a year really seems to spark the excitement of renewal, bettering your life, organizing your home and hope for great things that await that year. I have high hopes for this year, too. We only moved a month ago and it was during a very busy, hectic time. I was still working and going to school full time. I had to have a garage sale while there was still electricity in the old house (I'm having another one tomorrow). The holidays were here, so I had to decorate, do Christmas shopping, wrapping and preparing. I was scheduled to be divorced on the 17th, so I had to prepare statements and other documents for that, along with taking a parenting class. So, I haven't had much time to settle down and unpack and decorate, so I hope to get done with that in January. I'm also hoping that I can pay up on our gym membership so Danni and I can get back into the routine. I miss being able to workout in the evenings! I wish Jason was old enough to do it with us, too, because he really wants to go work out with us. I don't understand why he can't. He has to work out for hockey and football, so why is he too young? Oh well. One of my new years resolutions is to stop being so cheap at the grocery store. I always want to buy healthier things for my family, but it's so expensive that I freak out and end up not getting the good stuff, but I'm going to bite the bullet and hopefully that will help us get healthier. Another resolution I have is to take one picture every day! A scrapbooker who's blog I read had a product called Project 365 (I think). It's where you take a picture a day and it has a kit to help you scrapbook the years photos. So, I thought Jan 1st would be a great day to start that project! I don't have the kit, yet, but at least I can start taking the pictures. Today's picture is a little funny because Danni didn't want me to take a picture of her since she just woke up, but she was reading Twilight and I wanted to capture that. We went to the movies last night to see New Moon for the 2nd time. It was great, again! I never want to see movies in the theater more than once, but Twilight and New Moon are the exception! I'm obsessed! That's why I wanted that to be the picture to start out the project, because that's where we are right now. Not to mention that Danni got Scene it? the Twilight edition for Christmas and she schooled me!

Even though I am full of hope and excitement for the new year, I have to admit, it kind of started on a rough note for me, Liz and Frank. Mostly Frank. He and Deana broke up. It's not totally surprising, but still sad. Liz is throwing up and has a soar throat, sounds like strep to me. And when Danni and I got home from the movies last night, we came home to find that Pebbles (who should have been in her kennel) ripped up part of the carpet on the top step coming up from the laundry room. I wanted to kill her! Bad dog. I hate that this place isn't mine because I do NOT want to tell the landlord about this. I don't think this is an indication of a bad year, though, because 09 started out great and look at that year. Okie dokie. Guess I better start with that unpacking! Happy New Year!!!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T21:50:00.010-07:00

This was supposed to be the picture in our Christmas card, but I never got them done. I love the pic, though! Here's the cake we made to celebrate Jesus' birthday! Just trying to remember why we celebrate Christmas, and it isn't for the presents! Although, that is fun, too! Happy birthday, Jesus!

Here is the tree surrounded by all of the loot that the kids pulled in this Christmas.

Danni was super-excited to get a video camera! I loved her reaction!

Jason got skinny jeans, and they fit! Yay! I searched and searched and so did everyone else. His size is hard to find in jeans. Success! Thanks JCP

Here they are wrapping it up so they could get ready to go to dads/gramma and grampas.

Ryan just loves Legos and he builds so many cool things on his own, but when he gets a new set, he needs help putting it together exactly as the picture. Needing help really means I do it for him. That kept me pretty busy!

In the afternoon, I got the kids and we went to my moms. There was Liz, Lam, Daisy, Frank, Nana and Sass. And of course us. It was so nice and relaxing and we got stuffed and totally spoiled! The boys got these really cool rolling drawers that go under their bunk bed. They're made of the same wood as the bed, so it's sharp looking! They also got toys and clothes and all of that good stuff. Danni got a tv and a really cool lamp among many other things. It also sounded like they had a great time at their dads. That's good! Oh, I was excited to see Nana and Sass open their presents because I got some really cool frames and I did all black and white pictures in them. I did the 8X10's as close ups of all 4 grand kids and I did the 5 X 7's as family pics, but still in black and white. I wanted them for me, too! Everyone like them, I think. I should do more! We all just love pictures. Well, I guess that's it for now. I'm fading!

I'm back, it's been a while!

2009-12-14T09:16:00.008-07:00

I have been so busy with the move, Christmas, school and more! I get a bit overwhelmed sometimes, but I'm getting through it and gain confidence every single day! I'm loving the new house! It's a lot smaller than we're used to, but I just consider that the cozy part ~ haha! Well, I had a garage sale at the old house this weekend and it didn't go so great, but it did give me the time I needed to go through the shed, garage, laundry room and 2 closets that I ignored before the move. I was surprisingly emotional because the house looked like crap and I had no desire to move back. But going through so much stuff for the garage sale and seeing all of the empty rooms and remembering all of the fun times had in each room made me sad. We're already having fun here, though! Daisy spent the night Saturday night so we could do our gingerbread house. We're down to just one house because Danni and Jason are over it (Danni decided to help, though :-)). I think it was the best house yet! We finally realized that it's easier to decorate the pieces and then put the house together. Duh!! I'm sure that's old news for many people, but we just got there and that's okay! I really need to get a picture taken so I can send out our Christmas cards. Why do I always buy ones that require a picture? I always end up stressing out over getting it taken and then getting it developed and then getting it in the cards. I should learn and make life easier and buy regular cards, but no! I'm stubborn, I guess. This week is the divorce, so Kara is coming out from Texas to be with me. I put in a motion to change the date, though, so hopefully that happens, but I have to try and be ready anyway, just in case it gets denied. Pretty stressful! Then there's Ryan's Christmas party on Friday and vacation begins! I can't wait!

New Moon was awesome!

2009-11-23T12:19:00.002-07:00

Danni and I saw it last night and we both loved it! It was great! She liked Twilight better, though, but I think I liked New Moon better. The acting was better, but the love story in Twilight was so great, it's hard to say! We are both (and always have been and always will be) Team Edward! Love that man! No team Jacob, that's just nuts. Although he is cute and very buff, he just doesn't top Edward! Go see it, it's good! Bring on Eclipse!!!

We're moving!

2009-11-19T09:29:00.003-07:00

I am very excited and also very nervous about moving. I've never been on my own, I went straight from my moms house into an apartment with Scott. I have a ton to take care of in a short time! I didn't want to move until sometime in January, but this really cute and affordable town home came available and I just felt like I had to jump on it. So, I have 10 days to pack and move. I'm feeling overwhelmed right now, but the kids are with their dad this weekend so if I stay focused, I can get a lot done. The thing I'm contemplating is whether or not to hire a moving company. It seems like at about $250, I can get it all moved. That is pretty attractive at this point, but right before Christmas, I just don't know if I'll regret that decision. I will try to post pics, but things will be crazy for a bit, so it might take a while. I'm happy about the fact that it's by a lake and golf coarse. Nice area, and closer to the kids' schools! One huge bummer is that I wont have the carpool anymore. That will take some getting used to, but I've been getting used to big life changes, so in the big scheme of things, losing a carpool isn't that big. Well, off to the showers, all of the kids are sleeping!!

Fifteen!

2009-11-15T07:20:00.011-07:00

So for Danni's birthday party, I tried making all golden foods since it was her golden birthday (a term I'm pretty sure she came up with. I've never heard of it before.) Your golden birthday is the year that you turn the same number as the date of your birthday. Danni turned 15 on the 15th, so this was her golden birthday. Mine would have been when I turned 2 since my birthday is on the 2nd. I tried making gold colored frosting for the cupcakes, but they ended up looking like they had cheese whiz on them. They tasted much better! Nana made Danni's favorite Key Lime Pie, but I forgot to get a picture.

Here is apple cider and lasagna (I know it's a stretch, but what foods are gold?)

Here were the snacks. Not a big hit and not really gold, but I tried!

I wish Nana saw how excited she was when she opened this present because Danni seemed uncomfortable and went through her presents really fast with showing little excitement, so if you looked away, you missed it! I hope they understand that she really did like her presents!

Especially the cash! Happy birthday, Danni!

Football is over.... :-)

2009-11-09T09:26:00.004-07:00

It was fun while it lasted and I think Jason will probably want to do it again next season. It makes the first month of hockey and school difficult, though, so we'll see. At the beginning of the season, they practiced from 5 til about 7:15 or 7:30 and it was still light out. By the end of the season, the entire practice was in the dark! Jason got to try a few different positions and he ended up being the center. On the last game he was pretty bummed because the other team came out and scored and scored and scored and scored, but amazingly, our kids came back to tie it up! But then the other team pulled ahead again and finished on top. The winners went to the carnation bowl, so our boys were quite bummed to lose this game.

Jason had a hockey game yesterday and he did really good. He got a shut-out! Fun stuff, I love watching hockey so much more than football. Plus, Jason gets so much more action in hockey. Not to mention that I get to sit at hockey games up in bleachers, but at the football games, you usually have to stand if you want to see anything....wow, I'm lazy! Well, great job Bulldogs, it was a fun season!

Halloween was fun, but a bummer as well!

2009-11-03T11:21:00.005-07:00

Every year Halloween is either at Liz' house or mine and this was my year. I was getting ready to run to the store to get the ingredients to start the meatballs for the subs and as I was going downstairs, I fell. I ended up missing the bottom 3 stairs and landed face down! It hurt so bad and even though I'm usually pretty good with pain, I started crying immediately. I called my mommy (of course) and she took me to the doctor. I spent the day at Kaiser all for not because it was just a bad sprain. Grrr that cost $50! This stuff never happens during regular hours. I was pretty bummed because I love taking the kids trick-or-treating and I couldn't walk, so I missed out on that. I also missed out on passing out candy because I couldn't get down the stairs to the door. :-( I still had fun with my mom, Sass, Frank and Lam, though. Then Daisy spent the night, which was great! Ryan loves it so much when she spends the night! There's my booboo. I was actually taking a picture of the bee that wouldn't leave my shoe, though! Too bad you can't tell.

Danni and Jason both ditched me for Halloween with their friends, but Danni and her girls came by to say hi and trick-or-treat from us, so we made them come in for pictures.

So, Sunday was Jason's first football playoff game and they won! So, football still isn't done! This is going on 3 extra weeks, I'm not exactly thrilled about that, but I'm happy that he's having a blast! He's the center, so he gets to snap the ball and he loves that position. Ever since they made that change, I don't think they've lost a single game. I could be wrong, though.

Another good thing about the season lasting longer is that at the very last regular season game, I realized that there is a cute, single dad of one of the boys on the team. Hahaha, I'm such a dork! He's nice, too! :-)

Snow Day!

2009-10-28T21:04:00.008-06:00

We had a great time enjoying our first snow day of the year. It was an early one! They already called off school for tomorrow, too. I still had Gracie and Braydon, so that was good. Gracie just loved playing in the snow with Ryan, Pebbles and Freckles. My neighborhood streets were horrible, but I didn't have much food in the house, so I braved it and went shopping. Much to my surprise, the roads were great, so we hit a couple of stores while we were out. Danni was aching for some doughnuts, man that girl is killing my diet! I'm hoping to have another fun day in tomorrow, cooking cinnamon rolls in the morning, blt's for lunch and stew on the stove all day for din din! Plus, I'll be writing a paper that is due on Monday. Once again, I procrastinated, seems to be the way I work these days. Oh well, as long as it gets done, right? I really hope I have Gracie and Braydon again, too, because these sick days and snow days are making me go broke! Hopefully Halloween will be better, too. Look for snowman pics tomorrow! They might be funny or small or messy, but doggonit, I want a snowman!

Silence is.....just silent

2009-10-25T13:07:00.009-06:00

This is the first weekend that the kids are at Scott's. It goes from Thursday after school to Monday after school, then they're mine. It was a bit more challenging than I thought it would be. I had a lot to do so I thought I would be too busy to be sad, but that definitely isn't the case.
While I did get a lot done; I cleaned out 3 closets, packed all of Scott's belongings since he took nothing, cleaned the room downstairs that he was living in (that was so unbelievably trashed out, so disgusting), fixed the vacuum cleaner (all by myself, yay!), and painted my nails, but the whole time it was just so quiet and it's just not what I'm used to.

There was no one pulling out toys, no one asking for cartoons instead of music or my shows, no one messing up the beds right after I made them. I know this all sounds good, but it leaves a bit of a sad feeling inside. I have purposely surrounded myself with things that I love: kids, laughing, toys, being silly, people to cook for, care for, and clean up after. I know there will be a day that I enjoy the time by myself, but it isn't what I asked for, it wasn't in the plans, and I just wasn't ready. One really cool thing was that my mom stopped by while I was at Jason's game and bought me some groceries and left a sweet note about enjoying my first weekend alone and here's some food to learn how to cook for one. That was weird, too. I have never been on my own. I moved straight from my moms in with Scott when I was 20 years old. Wow, what a baby! If only I was 20 again!

Jason came home for a few minutes after a whole week away at camp Idrahaje (I'd rather have Jesus). He looked exhausted! Danni claims that she didn't miss him, but we know she did. She even made him a funnel cake to welcome him home. Ryan and I made him a big 'Welcome Home' banner. Then, off to dads for the weekend. I also got to see him yesterday at his final game for the football season, which they won, so on to the playoffs. I think I was the only mom who was bummed that they won because I'm so ready to have less on his schedule! He really needs to concentrate on his schoolwork and pulling up those grades.
He didn't eat much of his cake, so Danni ate it for him (twist, twist).