busy days

Last week was full of appointments and errands and 2 birthdays.  This week looks worse.  Survival mode to say the least!

weekend update

I love these holiday Monday mornings.  I love the whole second semester of school.  It seems there is a holiday every other week.  Such a nice gift in the winter when we are all a little weary of school, but the last day of school is still months away!

Saturday a couple of fun things happened.  Emma learned to ride a bike.  She's 8, in third grade and has just never taken the plunge to get on a bike.  She really doesn't have a big bike her size that's all her own.  I think she got her last bike when she was 3 or 4, so she's due for a new one.  (And I have it from a reliable source that Santa was ready to get her one until she asked for a clarinet instead!)  But since there are 3 kids older than Emma, there is a bike in her size.  We convinced her to try it out Saturday.

It took her about 3 tries to figure it out.  I had gone for a short walk.  When I left they were filling the tires on the bike.  When I came home 30 minutes later, Emma was riding all around.  We have a great spot to learn to ride.  It's a cul-de-sac with just enough of an incline to make "starting" a whole lot easier without getting too much speed.

Clay also got on his new bike (from Santa) and got a feel for it too.  Oh, and Kelli on her little bike with the training wheels?  Too cute.

Earlier on Saturday, the cat was outside with the dog.  The cat is black, about 6-7 months old and feisty as anything!  The dog is white (a German shepherd) and about 10 years old and doesn't move very fast at all!

Kelli opened the door to go outside and Duane heard this awful animal screaming sound.  He looked and there was a woodpecker on the ground with the dog and cat standing over it.  The cat had caught the woodpecker and mortally injured it.  The dog picked the bird up in his mouth, gave it a chomp and put it out of its misery.  Thankfully the dog then dropped the bird.

Duane had them both come inside while we disposed of the bird.  Makes me a little nervous to think about getting chicks this spring again.  We'll have to keep the cat away until they are big enough to stand up to him!

It's FRIDAY

and I am so glad!!!  My trip to the dentist wasn't too bad.  I was a little frustrated because the dental assistant wasn't too supportive of Emma.  Em has a really hard time with anxiety and the dentist or the doctor or anything out of the ordinary.  She had her valium before the extraction and was getting nitrous and was feeling anxious.  Instead of comforting her or saying something positive and encouraging, she told her to stop, that they hadn't even done anything yet.  grrrr!


She was seeing the second dentist in the office instead of our usual one.  I will make sure Emma doesn't see her or her assistant again.  The other assistants and hygenists know her there and know that she is not an easy patient so they treat her with kid gloves.  The other dentist is great for her too.  I'll have to make sure she sees all of our regulars.


The kids have completed 2 weeks of back to school now.  And I am happy to say that they have had a warm breakfast everyday.  I really wanted to get back away from eating cereal again, and so far so good!


I'm finding it hard to get very motivated today.  Fridays always feel like special days to me.  It's probably because when D was working full time at a church, Fridays were his day off.  It just feels like the beginning of the weekend to me.  LOVE that!  And I love that it's a 3 day weekend.  ahhh...


I guess I need to go buy some TP.  We are on the end of the last roll in one bathroom.  I'm not really sure how I managed to let us run completely out, but we can't last very long on what we have so it's time to make a TP run!

the dentist

Today I took Emma to the dentist for a broken tooth.  It had a cavity that had been filled and has now cracked and broken off.  Today they took x-rays and decided to extract it tomorrow.

In 2 weeks I take Emma and Aleena in for their regular cleaning.  Then the next day Jack and Kelli have their cleanings.  The big boys go the week after that.  Then I'm sure there will be follow up appointments for fillings or whatever.

This is the season I wind up in the dentist's office every week for a couple of months.  Not my favorite season.

Monday already?

I feel like I say that a lot!  We tried to have a relaxing weekend.  I had worked 50 hours from the time we got home Sunday afternoon until I was home on Saturday morning.  I just wanted to rest and have some time to do what I wanted.

It had been so cold here for so long.  Even before the really cold weather, we just hadn't had the mild days that are normal for Colorado.  On Friday it was finally into the 40's and snow and ice was melting so I went for a walk.  I took an even longer walk on Saturday and another walk on Sunday afternoon.  I forget what a respite taking a walk is.  It gives me time to just listen to music or think or whatever.  And I like the exercise, too!

I haven't knit anything in a week!  It's bugging me.  But I made this commitment to read so much of the Bible every day that I just don't feel like I have the time to do both...and juggle household stuff and spend some time with my husband and kids!

My big goal for the month of January is to clean out my basement.  We have toys down there that the kids just never touch anymore.  A friend of ours is going to move into our basement for a few months I think, too, so we need to make space for him.  It's one of those things that I am just having a hard time getting started.  Tomorrow is the day.  D will be at the farm, my dinner will be started super early, so I will be down there most of the day.  I hope!

vacation pictures

Here are a few pictures from our trip over New Years to Glenwood Springs.

This is me and the kids standing outside the hotel.

At the Caverns they have cave tours and an Alpine Slide.  The older kids also saw some 4D movies and played laser tag.

This is the view from the "dingalo" (otherwise known as a gondola) coming down from the top of the mountain where the caverns are.

And later we went to dinner.  We were still trying to warm up!

more small steps

Even though I haven't felt super motivated lately, I have tried to do a little bit of something productive.  I've made yogurt, beef bone broth (to make French onion soup), done a huge grocery shopping trip and got a bunch of laundry done.

Today it is really cold here.  So I am on the couch.  I think I will spend the afternoon knitting and watching a movie on my laptop!

lack of motivation

I went to work with a headache last night.  A headache just from being tired.  Baby was pretty cooperative...she finished a feeding around 8 (when I got there), then was up at 12, 3:30 and again at 6 as I was leaving.  I came home and fell into bed instead of jumping into laundry and finishing dishes from last night like I had planned.  The kids had cleaned up the kitchen, but I needed to wash my big pans.

D got up with the kids to make sure they were all on the bus on time.  He came in panicked because he couldn't find the little girls' coats.  Oh, yeah, that's why I was supposed to come home to the laundry.  Coats were in the dryer.

D also got to clean up after the dog this morning.  He's an old guy and every once in a while needs out in the night.  But no one ever hears his whining, but me.  If he's ignored long enough, he will find a spot to poo.  Happy day!

I need to get my act together.  I have to pick Kelli up from kindergarten in an hour!  I'm still tired, and I am planning on a little naptime this afternoon as well.

good start

We are home from vacation now and today I took some steps toward some of the goals I have for this year.

--I made a menu for the week based on meats that I have in my freezer.

--I made a huge batch of pancakes and froze about half for quick breakfasts when I don't have the energy for more than that.

--I found my yogurt jars and got them all cleaned and ready to go.  Tomorrow I will make yogurt.

--I did my 90 reading yesterday and have started on it for today.

--I spent a good amount of time reading in the car yesterday and not just playing a game on my phone.

Small steps feel good.  But tonight I have a headache.  I don't want to finish my reading for the day.  But I will spend some time reading tonight while I'm at work.  It's easy to read off of my phone even if the baby is restless and needs to be held.

No walk today even though it was a gorgeous day.  This headache was coming on and I was really tired.  I worked last night and the next 3 nights so I thought a nap was a better priority.

vacation!

We have been away for a few days and it has been wonderful.  My oldest daughter was complaining early on that this trip "sucked".  Then I reminded her that she hadn't had to unload the dishwasher or vacuum.  That is a vacation in my opinion.  I have enjoyed just being with family and not having a schedule to keep.  But it is pricey!  We rarely dine out as a family or even a couple.  And our kids know that eating out is a luxury so they try to enjoy it too.  We head home tomorrow.  My husband got a few pictures that I will try to post after we get home.