the remunds

Baby boy or baby girl?

2011-08-31T10:10:00.001-07:00

We went to the doctor yesterday as a family. Mike and the kids had not gone to an appointment with me yet. Before this appointment, things were not too exciting, so I thought I would wait to bring the kids. Yesterday was pretty exciting! The baby was moving and squirming, and the kids loved it. Mike said it really had not been real to him until yesterday.

We gave decided not to find out what this baby is. Well, I have decided, and mike is just going along with it. He really wants to know, but I want to know what the surprise of not knowing is like. I have stuff for a boy or a girl, so I want to be strong and not find out. Yesterday the doctor glanced at the area between the baby's legs and said, "oh, do you want to know what you are having?". I hesitated and said, "no, we don't want to know". We finished up the ultrasound and I asked, "could you really tell what we are having?". She said yes, but if it made me feel better, she can't say with 100% certainty. I gave felt like it is a bit this entire time, and if she could tell that fast, I think it IS a boy. However, I would be just as excited if it were a girl.

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Life is changing

2011-08-17T21:37:00.001-07:00

My sweets is starting kindergarten tomorrow. I am filled with tons of thoughts and emotions. This day feels like it came too fast. How did my baby turn into a kindergartener? She is so excited for kindergarten, so I am really excited for her, but it is bittersweet that she is growing up.

I hope we prepared her enough for this. I hope our decision to send her to public school was the right one. I hope she has a great experience this year, and she develops an even greater love for learning. Oh man, I hope she is prepared!

I am sure I am not the first parent to feel this way! I am
So proud of the girl she is, I could explode. What a gift I was given when she was born. I feel so lucky that God chose me to be her mom. I just hope I can hold it together when I drop her off tomorrow. My hormones are not helping things right now!

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I don't care what your opinion is!

2011-07-18T11:07:00.000-07:00

Why is is that if you have more than 2 kids, people have an opinion? I have had people shake their heads at me in disgust that I would have another baby. I have people assume that baby number three must have been an accident. Let me set the record straight, BABY NUMBER THREE WAS PLANNED AND IS VERY MUCH WANTED. We are thrilled to be having another baby. I also want to make clear that I AM aware that I work. I LOVE my job, and I will be just as good at it with three kids. I can work, go to school, and take care of my three kids just fine.

What is with society acting like kids are burdens? People get irritated that I post mostly pictures of my kids on my facebook. I have heard people who get grossed out when a pregnant woman posts a picture of her pregnant belly on her own personal facebook. If you don't want to see pictures of someones pregnant belly, or their kids, don't look. People also like to let me know that I might lke having children now, but I don't have teenagers yet. While I won't be nieve and say, "my children won't be bad teenagers", I will say that my parents survived through it, and I will too.

I am not sure what people are trying to gain by being negative about having children. Are people trying to make me regret having kids? My kids are the joy in my life, and without them, my life would be empty. I will never regret having them, and I will keep floding my facebook, blog, and anything else with their pictures, because they are what is important to me. Without children, society will end. We should be encouraging good parents to have as many children as they want.

home birth?

2011-07-13T14:52:00.000-07:00

It is a growing trend to have a home birth. I have looked into this, mainly because my two previous bith experiences were not ideal. I was induced with Scarlett because I was "showing signs" of pre eclampsia. I get that I was induced because there might have been complications, so I am not too upset about that one.

I was in a car accident when I was pregnant with Owen. They had stopped my labor one time, and had been moitoring me from the time I had the accident to the time I had him. At thirty six weeks, to the day, I went in for my regular NST and they said I was having mild contractions, and admitted me. After they admitted me, they gave me pitocin. Really, what they should have done, was let me go home until I was in labor and dialated more than 1. I did not see any reason why I needed pitocin if I was in labor.

I think it would be great to be able to be more in control of my birth experience. Women used to have babies at home all the time. No interventions from a doctor who wanted to speed up a natural experience. I also think it would be great to be in the comfort of your own home. The only reasons doctors give a woman pitocin is to speed up labor, and then they give them an epidural which slows labor down, so they have to increase the pitocin. It becomes a cycle of medication.

The only issue I have is that there are no midwives in our tiny town, so I am going to have to settle on a birth at the hospital. The great news is, I have a new doctor, and she seems amazing. She has two kids who she breastfed for 15 months each, while being a doctor! That is completely impressive to me. I think this birth experience will be better for me because of many reasons. I have been through this more two times. I know what to expect. I know what I want, and I am not afraid to ask for it. I am going to have a positive attitude this time, and I can't wait to meet our new baby. We have decided not to find out what we are having, and I am excited for that surprise too.

Number 3

2011-06-21T08:58:00.000-07:00

It is official, I am haveing another baby! WE have wanted this for awhile now, but I wanted to loose 30 pounds first. I lost 36 pounds, and decided it was time. WE are so excited about this, and we can't wait to meet our new baby.

I posted a video on facebook of us telling the kids. I was not going to do that because it was pretty personal. I wanted to record their reactions to share with our families, but it was too funny to not share with all of our friends and family. I know the rule is to wait until 12 weeks to share the news, but I don't typically follow rules, so there. I am 6 weeks, and the more prayers the better, so we decided to let everyone know.

Scarlett understands it much better than Owen. She has started helping me out more, especially with Owen. The other morning I heard the kids get up, and Scarlett took Owen to go potty, made him wash his hands, and got him some milk. What a great help she is going to be. Owen still wants to jump on me all the time, and when he is holding dolls, he is usually throwing them in the air, or stabbing them in the eye with something. :/

Where do babies come from?

2011-04-29T22:16:00.001-07:00

So the other night I told the kids to pick out some books to read. Scarlett picked out a photo album of when she was born and wanted me to tell her about all of the pictures. We were looking at a picture of Mike and I giving her her first bath at the hospital, and she said,"mom, was you healing in this picture?". I was completely shocked. Why would she think I was "healing"? I have never talked to her about how babies are born. I said,"what do you mean?". She said, " was your foot healing?". I said, " what do you mean, was my foot healing?". She said, "what I came out of your foot, did it hurt?". Part of me wanted to say, "yes, of course you came out of my foot". Then I thought, "why do I have to explain this to a 5 year old?!?!,I thought I had a few more years before that conversation!". I knew I had to say something about it because I can't let her think women give birth through their foot(although, that might be more pleasant than where they really come out of, AND, for the record, it would be much easier if we fed our babies from our fingers). So,I said, "Scarlett, babies don't come out of mommies feet, they come out of our privates." She said, " GROSS!!!!". I hope she is not scarred!!!

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Growing pains

2011-03-29T22:53:00.001-07:00

Today I took Scarlett to a tour of the kindergarten she will be going to in August. For the last two days, the school has taken groups of kids on a tour of the school. They get to look at the rooms, meet teachers, do an activity, eat lunch, and play on the playground. I have always assumed this transition was going to be easier on Scarlett than it would be on me, but it was confirmed today. We went to 6 different classrooms, and Scarlett knew someone in every class. I decided to let her go to the bathroom with all the other girls, while I waited outside. After a while I thought, " it is taking her a long time, I better go see if she is okay." I walked into the restroom and saw Scarlett and 4 other girls talking. She had not even gone to the bathroom, she was too busy making friends in the restroom! She was so sad when we had to leave. She can't to go back in August. It was hard for me to imagine her old enough for school, but it made me happy to no that she will have NO problem adjusting.

I also want to point out that being a kindergarten teacher has got to be an entertaining job. I was only there for 3 hours, and I learned a ton of things from the kids. One boy told me that his parents just bought a house for 180,000 thousands of dollars, and he got a new belt buckle. A girl asked Scarlett if she had a dad, and Scarlett said yes. Then the girl said to Scarlett,"I have tons of dads and two moms, but Nathan, he is the dad that can never come back to our house with his girlfriend. Her name is Lydia, do you know Lydia?" to which Scarlett replied, "I know Lydia." kids have the funniest conversations. Sad, but interesting.

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Dinosaur lake

2011-03-24T19:32:00.000-07:00

Scarlett has been learning about dinosaurs in her class at daycare. The week Owen was sick, she had a dream about a dinosaur that had sharp teeth and was throwing up purple and orange throw up. (she has a purple and orange lava lamp) Since that dream, she has been scared to go to sleep, and has been having night terrors again. Last Friday, while the kids were in the bathtub, Scarlett started crying because she did not want to go to sleep. Keep in mind that I had been dealing with night terrors (any mom who has kids that have night terrors knows how crazy they are, so I was getting tired of the crying and I knew I had to come up with something to stop it. I said, "Scarlett, if you are so afraid of dinosaurs, I am going to take you to where they used to live, so you can see they don't exist anymore." As soon as the words left my mouth, I knew that this could be a bad idea. I got the kids out of the bath and got them in their pj's and drove them out to a lake in the woods. This is a good 20 minute drive, in the middle of the forest. When we got to the lake I said, "Look, do you see ANY dinosaurs?!" Scarlett said, "they must be extinct because I don't see any of them." Score, I assumed she was over her fear. Then, Owen said, "Mom, this place is creepy, I'm scared". It was dark so we could not see the lake really well. I said, "Owen, we will come back during the day to see the lake, and it won't be creepy." That night both kids went to sleep with no crying, and it has been great ever since.

The next day we decided to take the dogs and go to the "dinosaur lake". We had such a good time. I am loving my new phone, and the great pictures it takes.

Best daughter!

2011-03-24T19:16:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, Scarlett and I drove to Las Cruces to she her bestie. One of my good friends from growing up has a daughter that is 2 weeks older than Scarlett. Scarlett and Naomi have been friends since birth. The sad thing it that we live two hours away from each other, so we don't get to see each other very often. Naomi's mom called me a few weeks ago to see if Scarlett and I could come to Las Cruces for a princess party. I thought it was a great idea, and it would be a chance for Scarlett and I to hang out together. We had such a great day. We took the girls to lunch, then to the princess party, and then to Starbucks for dessert. We also did some shopping without any boys. After our fun day with Naomi, we met up with my brother and sister in law for dinner. Here are some of the pictures from our awesome day.

Mixed emotions

2011-03-24T10:05:00.000-07:00

After debating for a while about homeschooling, we have decided that public school will be best for Scarlett. She is way too social to be at home everyday. She loves to be around other kids. We asked her if she wanted to go to school, and her face lit up with excitement.

Next week, we are taking her to the kindergarten to look around and meet some teachers. We are lucky enough to live in a town where we can request teachers for our kids. We are able to request teachers that we know and respect, and who we think will be best suited for Scarlett's needs.

So, this August, our baby will be going to school. I am so sad that she is old enough for school, but happy at how excited she is to go. With Scarlett, I can promise that it will be much harder for me to let go than it will be for her. I am already preparing myself for this transition in our lives.

It's been a while.

2011-03-22T10:02:00.000-07:00

During the crazy freeze, our pipes froze at our house. We could not go home until they thawed out, so we had to stay at my mom's house for a week. It was -28 degrees here in Ruidoso! Luckily we were in California in the nice sunny weather when it was freezing here.

When we finally got into our home, we had to deal with some busted pipes, (or should I say Mike had to deal with it) and then the sickness came! We went to church one Sunday, and then to birthday party after church. At the Birthday party, a child threw up everywhere. That was our cue to leave. When we got home, I texted the sick kids mom to see how he was doing. She said he was SICK, and that she was sure he got it from a kid that her child had been with the night before, who was throwing up all night. The sick kid who had been throwing up all night was in church the next day, and proceeded to spread his sickness to three other kids.

Owen got sick that following Tuesday night. He was so dehydrated that his eyes were sunken in, and he looked like the walking dead. I called the doctor and she told me to take him to the ER immediatly. I thought that was a little drastic, so I decided to wait one more hour. Finally, after he had been sick for 12 hours (every thrity minutes during that hour) he kept some Gatorade down. He did not eat food for 5 days, I missed three days of work, and then Mike got sick and missed two days of work. All because one mom HAD to bring her sick kid to church. I respect people enough that if my child is acting like they don't feel good, I stay home. I would appreciate that same respect from other people.

the biggest tree ever!

2011-01-03T21:27:00.000-08:00

This year we decided to cut down our own Christmas tree. We went on a picnic with my parents and then hunted for the perfect tree. I was looking for a Douglas fir, but than I realized that we don't have those here!!!! Just so EVERYONE is clear, the trees that you buy at the "tree farm" do not exist in nature!!! I know, because I look long and hard for one. I saw quite a few in peoples yards, and I must admit, I was tempted to snatch on in the middle of the night, but I did not. I settled on a beautiful pine tree. It was not perfect, but it was pretty close. The experience was amazing! I think we will do it every year. It was like finding a wedding dress, I knew the minute I saw it, it was our tree. I can not say it enough! It was the greatest experience EVER! we had so much fun finding it, and then we watched Mike cut it down and we hauled it to the car. I recommend it to every family!

hormone free family...

2011-01-03T20:52:00.000-08:00

This post is about eating. Some people frown upon shooting deer and elk, and turkey, etc. about a year ago, I began reading about hormones in meat, and we switched to eating mostly hormone free meat, eggs, and milk. Most of the meat we eat is deer and chicken. I buy bison when I can. My dad owns deer ranches, and we can get pig, turkey and deer off of his ranch. This is the most pure forms of meat, and completely hormone free. It is lean meat and extremely healthy for you, so this is what we choose to feed ourselves and our kids.

I have always been a person who has said that if I were ever in a situation where I needed to provide for my family I could. I can grow my own food, kill my own food, live with no electricity, or running water. If I ever had to be, I know I could be self sufficient. I am not saying that I WANT to be self sufficient, but I could if I had to. I decided that I needed to put my money where my mouth was. I am in my 29th year of life, and there are some things I have always wanted to do before I turned 30. One of those goals, was to kill a deer so that we could have meat without having to buy it from the store. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. I grew up with a dad who hunted, and raised us to understand the importance of hunting. Even though hunting has been a big part of my life, I have never done it. I shot a mocking bird from the window of a moving car once, but I did not mean to, so that does not count. Plus, I was really sad after I did it. Mike has hunted before, but he has never shot anything. He would not shoot anything we would not eat, and I feel the same way.

During thanksgiving, I decided that I needed to shoot a deer. We were running low on our meat supply at home, so we needed more. Mike also wanted to hunt to try to get a turkey for thanksgiving. My dad said he would sit in a blind with me and Mike would sit in one by himself. We dropped Mike off at his stand, and my dad and I went to another area and sat in a stand. We waited and waited, and then heard a shot. Mike had shot something. Then 5 seconds later we heard another shot. Mike had shot his gun again. right after we heard the shots Mike texted my dad and told him he shot a turkey. I was happy for him because he felt a since of pride in that he shot a turkey on thanksgiving to feed his family.

As my dad and I sat in the stand together, I had many feelings running through me. I thought about my paw paw and how proud he would be of me if I shot a deer. I wished he was there. It was an incredibly special moment for my dad and I. We talked and he told me how to hold the gun and how to pull the trigger if I saw a deer, and where to shoot the deer. A few minutes after mike shot the turkey, a deer walked in front of our stand. I aimed the gun and squeezed the trigger. I had shot my first deer. That moment after I shot the deer was surreal. I was not excited that I took the life of an animal, but I was happy that I could provide some food for my family. I was excited that my dad had been there with me. I can admit that when I see hunters who kill for the fun of it, I get really sad, but when I killed this deer knowing that it would be food for us, I was not sad. We ate turkey for weeks, and we will be eating deer for the next year.

One more thing... When a hunter kills his/her first animal, it is customary to have the blood of the animal smeared on their face. My dad did it to my brother, and my grandpa did it to my dad. I told my dad that I would shoot a deer, but he was not allowed to smear blood on my face! He did not listen to me! He did not smear it as bad as he did for my brother, but he still did it. Here are the pictures...

2010 summarized

2010-12-28T09:34:00.000-08:00

I have not blogged in a while. I think it is mostly because I have had so much going on, that I did not know where to start. I finished another semester of school with all A's. I lost 25 pounds. Yippeeeee! I think the biggest changes we are starting has to do with jobs. Mike decided that he was done staying home with the kids. He stayed home with them for 10 months, and worked nights to help with finances. He has been very supportive of me and my career, and I thought if he wants to go back to work, I don't blame him. Staying home with kids is extremely hard! Mike is happy when he is working with his hands, and he found a job installing appliances with a hardware satore in town. He loves it, and he is much happier.

This year was crazy for me. I started selling insurance in March of this year. I had been working as the secretary at State Farm for 2 years, and when I had the oppurtunity to move up, I took it. I never knew I would love selling insurance, or for that matter, be good at it. After 1 month of it, I knew that this was the career for me. My brother was in the process of owning his own agnecy, and I started thinking that I might want to do it too. 2 months after I started selling, the manager of southern New Mexico State Farm asked me when I wanted to start the process of going into agnecy like my brother. It felt good that he was approaching me. They rarely approach people, or push people to go into agency, so for someone to notice my work,it made me feel really great.

However, the training process is 8 months long and will require me to be gone during the week. It would also mean that Mike and I would become business owners again. I would get to pick from any availible agencies from all over, but I think we would end up in Arizona. If we did decide to do this, we would have to make some sacrifices, but I think we could do it. It would be a great oppurtunity for our family. Agents get to travel all over the world, and the company pays for it. My kids would be able to see all parts of the world. I would have the time to go to every event they are involved in. We would have the finances to travelt o see our families whenever we wanted. Whatever we do, we are not going to start this adventure for at least another year. And the only way I would do it, would be if my kids came with me. So this is where we are...

Parade

2010-10-24T18:25:00.000-07:00

The kids got to be in a parade with my parents. Scarletts friend Naomi was in town, so she got to come too. My kids did not want to take pictures, so I wnated to document how they look before and after the "cheesy" picture was taken.

Owens Birthday

2010-10-24T17:48:00.000-07:00

Owen had a "Cars" party. He had such a fun day. He played with his friends, hit a pinata with a light saber, and he got tons of great toys! He was so happy to be a three year old.

Scarletts Birthday

2010-10-24T17:37:00.001-07:00

She had a great 5th Birthday! We had both birthday parties at home this year, and they loved it. Mike is almost done with the tree house, so the kids had a great time playing outside.

I am not kidding!

2010-10-07T19:44:00.000-07:00

I just told Scarlett to put something down and to go to her room, and she said to me, in a very irritated voice, "I was going to my room, GEEZ!" So I spanked her. Then she went to her room until I could come talk to her, the standard procedure. I walked into her room and she said, "Mom, I was thinking, I don't think that you realize that I know the difference between right and wrong." then SHE said, "I was like whoa (in a teenagers voice, complete with mounds of attitude)), she (me)does not even know that I was about to put it down and go to my room." How do you parent a child that at 5 thinks you have no idea what you are doing?

10-10-10

2010-10-07T08:35:00.000-07:00

Owen will be turning 3 on Sunday! He has been talking about his "caa Paaty" (car party) for weeks! We went to pick out the cake the other night and when he saw the lightning mqueen and tow mater cake, he screamed out loud in the store. He is such a funny kid. He has the most amazing sense of humor. He is constantly asking me what words mean, and coming up with elaborate plans of how he will protect our family if bad guys or bears try to come to our house. He told me the other day that if a bear was trying to come in our house, he would take his light sabor and say, "mom, dad, move over, I will protect you!" He makes the best faces too. We love you Owen Michael! You have brought so much joy to our lives!

What the?!

2010-09-30T10:18:00.000-07:00

I was just reading headlines on Fox News (the only news station I watch), and I saw that there are more toy recalls. This time toys are being recalled because some high chairs, and trikes can cause injuries to children. The potential injuries are that a child could fall on them and get scratched so bad the might need stitches. What will be next, should God recall all rocks on earth, because kids fall and have to have stitches all the time for falling on a rock. I hope everyone realizes that it only takes a few children choking on something or getting scratched by something to make the toy companies recall. I hope that when my kids start having kids, they will be able to play with more than just a pillow with no tag. This world is a crazy place!

FIVE!!!!

2010-09-24T23:07:00.000-07:00

My baby turned 5 on Thursday. Every year that she gets older, I am more and more proud of her. She is one of the most gifted, smart, beautiful little girls I know. She is so loving, and kind to everyone she meets. She has an amazing sense of humor. She can sing, draw, and pretend like nobody's business. I constantly ask God how I got so lucky. What an amazing gift she is to me and everyone that loves her. I know she is going to such a joy to raise, and I am so thankful for her. Happy Birthday my perfect girl. I love you more than you can imagine!

some sayings around here!

2010-09-05T16:43:00.000-07:00

1.Me:"Owen, if you pee in your pants, you know what will happen." Owen:"I don't have pants on!" Me: "Well you know what will happen if you pee in your underwear." Owen: "Yes mom, they will get wet."
2.Today in church it was announced that a pastor named Dennis was going to be speaking, and my friends daughter said, "Oh yay! Dennis the Menace is preaching!"
3. Me: "Owen, do not make messes in my house and then laugh about it!" Owen:"Mom, this is OUR house, you need to learn to share!"
4.Owen: "Mom, what does power mean?" Me: "if you are big and strong, you have power." (don't judge, I know it was not the best answer) Owen:"No mom, it means when you turn the lights of they have no power"
5. Owen has been telling everyone that they can "enjoin in his car party" I think that is a mixture of enjoy, and join
6. Scarlett was drwing pictures one day, and my dad said, "scrlett, will you draw me a picture?" Scarlett said, "how much will you give me?" (what?!?) Mt dad said, "I have a dollar." Then my brother said, "I have 2 dollars." Scarlett looks at my brother, and said, "where is your money?" My brother said, "It is in the car" She looks at my dad who had taken another dollar out of his wallet, then she looks back at my brother and says, "sorry, he has his money in the house, so I will draw a picture for him." Already hustling!

Lavender Springs

2010-08-27T19:59:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago we took the kids to lavender springs ranch. We try to do this at least once a year. The kids loved it this year. They picked green beans (even though we have more that we can eat in our garden), raspberries, and okra. Owen ate so many raspberries, I thought he was going to be sick. He was eating them faster than I could pick them! Here are some pictures of our fun day!

Drill sergeants...

2010-08-24T20:53:00.000-07:00

Parenting is not easy. I am already realizing it, and my kids are still babies.(sort of) My goal as a parent is to be as prepared as I can be as my kids get older. I never want to think I am as good of a parent as I will ever be. I know that a great parent is one that can be open to change. If what I am doing does not seem to be working, I want to be willing to change. My kids deserve for me to keep working on myself and taking my job as a mom serious. y kids are the greatest gift I have ever received, and I want them to know that I think they are amazing.

I am staring my psychology classes, and for the most part I love them. I have 2 online classes, and one in class. The class I have in the classroom, is child psychology. Their are an interesting bunch of people in that class. One lady is about to drive me insane, and it is only week number two. I will refer to her as the "drill sergeant". The drill sergeant has something to say about everything. She can not be swayed, it is her way or no way. Her children are in high school, and she is a genius when it comes to parenting. She says that your house should be the way you want it, and your kids will need to learn to not touch anything you don't want them to touch. You can have breakables on their level, and if you are a good enough parent, your kids will learn not to touch the breakable things. Drill sergeant says you can never reason with a two year old, they are completely irrational and are not intelligent enough to be reasoned with.

I am required to respond in class as part of my grade, but I find myself just sitting there screaming in my head. She is clearly a parent who thinks she knows it all, and there is no swaying her, so I think "why respond"? So I will respond here on my blog where I can speak freely.

1. Who wants to live in a house where kids can not touch things? I agree they should not touch things like the stove and toilet water, but I like that my kids can play in my house. It is their house too, and I want them to always feel comfort in our home. I have taught my kids to not touch things when we go to other houses that are not kid friendly, but they are free to touch most things in my house.
2. As far as not being able to reason with a two year old, she is crazy! Two years is when you SHOULD start reasoning with them. You don't have to spank a child every chance you get to get them to obey you. I reason with my kids daily. It is SOOOO easy to tell Scarlett or Owen to do something and if they do not there will be a consequence. It works like magic. You just tell your child to do something and that is it. Watch them to see if they do what you say. You say it once, and if they do not do what you say you take something away. Trust me, the more drastic the consequence, the less you will have to work at it. It does take a TON of consistency for a little while, but they will get it, and when they do things get really easy. IT IS CALLED REASONING!

This lady and her "drill sergeant" attitude, "if you don't do what I say, I will force you to do it", does nothing for a child but make them afraid of you. Why do parents want their children to be afraid of them? I think if less parents were drill sergeants, maybe their kids would feel like they could talk to them more. I would be terrified to talk to my mom if she was like the drill sergeant. For example, when a teen girl works up enough courage to tell her parents she is pregnant, why do parents yell and tell girls that they are stupid. Some parents kick their pregnant daughters out of the house! What good does yelling and name calling do at that point? That girl needs to be loved and felt like she is not alone, because the fear she holds inside her is all the punishment she needs. These "drill sergeant" parents are to blame for a lot of lost teens.
Then there are parents who say, "well my child has no respect, they could care less about me". Well no duh! they are teenagers, of course they do not respect you. Why do grown adults get thier feelings hurt, and take things personal. Don't all kids hate their parents at one time in their lives? I can tell you this, I will not be shocked when my kids let the "I hate you" slip. I will know that they are saying it in anger, and I would never let it ruin my relationship with them. I think a lot of parents need to pull up thier big kid pants, and deal with things. Listening, support and unconditional love go a long way with kids.

I don't know If I have ten quotes this week...

2010-08-21T10:48:00.000-07:00

1. While Owen was peeing: "Mom this is my big wiener!" Why are boys so obsessed at such a young age?
2. Scarlett: "Owen is driving me CHAOS!"
3. Scarlett: "Mom, I wish that you and dad never had to work and could stay home with us all the time!" Don't we all wish that...
4. Mike was sitting on the couch when Scarlett came out of nowhere and punched him in the stomach, and said in a devious little voice, "Bet you didn't see that coming, did you?"
5. Scarlett: "Mom, you know that place called Kenya? Do you think the lions and Giraffes that live there can walk over to our house and sneak into our house and eat us?" What, who told her that?!
6. We were listening to a song and Scarlett asked me what it meant to be a goner, and I told her that it means that someone is gone forever. She said, "Well are you sad that your paw paw is a goner?" It was sad but funny in a way too.
7. Mike and Scarlett and Owen found a bottle in Owens closet, in a backpack, from a long time ago. I guess it was a juice bottle? Scarlett said it smelled like, "Buffalo and bear poop all mixed together." Owen said it "tinked" (he only uses S's when he feels like it.

I did not think I could get to ten, but I got close.

Good tunes

2010-08-16T15:30:00.000-07:00

This song by Addison Road is amazing. I am loving this message right now.
There’s a better version of me
That I can’t quite see
But things are gonna change
Right now I’m a total mess and
Right now I’m completely incomplete
But things are gonna change
Cause you’re not through with me yet

This is redemption’s story
With every step that I'm taking
Every day, you’re chipping away
What I don’t need
This is me under construction
This is my pride being broken
And every day I’m closer to who I’m meant to be
I'm a change in the making

Wish I could live more patiently
Wish I could give a little more of me
Without stopping to think twice
Wish I had faith like a little child
Wish I could walk a single mile
Without tripping on my own feet
But you’re not through with me yet

And this is redemption’s story
With every step that I'm taking
And every day, you’re chipping away
What I don’t need
This is me under construction
This is my pride being broken
Every day I’m closer to who I’m meant to be

From the dawn of history
You make new and you redeem
From a broken world to a broken heart
You finish what you start in everything
Like a river rolls into the sea
We’re not who we’re going to be
But things are going to change

I'm living redemption’s story
With every step that I'm taking
And every day, you’re chipping away
What I don’t need
And this is me under construction
This is my pride being broken
And every day I’m closer to who I’m meant to be
I'm a change in the making

I'm not who I'm gonna be
Moving closer to your glory

Top ten quotes of the week...

2010-08-12T11:09:00.000-07:00

1. "Owen is just a pesty pest pest!"
2. While watching a guy on tv get hit in the balls, Owen yelled, "AHHH right in the tenders!"
3. Scrletts response to the above comment, "don't worry mom, he got that from Kung Fu Panda." Yes, that makes it much better.
4. During a church thing the other night, Mike played the guitar and after every song, Owen yelled, "Good job Dad"
5. "Mom, I love Justin Beaver, and I don't care if he is already married, I am going to marry him" She is just a little confused on how things work. We ARE going to teach her that being a home wrecker is not a wise path in life.
6. Scarlett asks me and my sister in law why I did not marry my brother. We tried to explain to her that brothers and sisters do not marry each other. Her response, "Well I might marry Owen one day because I love him." our response, "no, you will not want to marry Owen." In her most devious voice she says, "we will just see about that." She is still trying to figure out different kinds of love.
7. At church they showed a clip of the lion the witch and the wardrobe. Owen was sitting in my lap with a cup of ice water. In one scene edmond steps over a sleeping wolf, and the wolf growls and jumps up. Owen has seen this movie many times, but for some reason it scared him and he jumped and the ice cold water flew out of the cup and landed all over my head. Everyone around me thought it was hilarious!
8. After a worship service I listened to both kids sing revelations song word for word, "Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come, yeah
With all creation I sing:
Praise to the King of Kings!
You are my everything,
And – I - will - adore You!
Yeah!" One of the great moments as a parent.
9. me: "Owen, sing me a song" Owen:"Mom, I can't, I am only 2"
10. Scarlett: "going to the pool makes me so dang happy!"

The Haps...

2010-08-12T09:03:00.000-07:00

The last 2 weeks have been a little on the crazy side. Last week we FINALLY got taxes done! The last time we will ever have to do taxes for River's Edge. Yippee!! WE sold our trailblazer and bought a cute little red car that Owen calls Mcqueen. He wants us to put lucky "tickers" (stickers) on the side of it.

In other big news, I have switched my degree plan once again. I have working on a degree in business. I have never wanted a business degree, but I thought I needed it because it could get me pretty much any job I wanted in the business field. I have always wanted to get a degree in psychology, but decided not to pursue it because in order to make any money doing it I would have to go to school for 8 years. A few weeks ago I got a call from the manager of State Farm in Southern New Mexico and he said that it did not matter what degree I got. I could do my job with any degree. So I now get to change my degree plan to what I have always wanted it to be. This semester I am taking Human growth and development, child psychology, and adolescent psychology. I am so excited I can't stand it.

Last but not least, I went to the doc and had my IUD removed. I have had acne like a highschool kid who does not wash her face. It has been awful. I do reccomend IUD's and I have to say that was the only downfall for me. I have to have a birth control that is projesterone only, due to the breast cancer risk in my family. It has been great for the past 3 years, but now I am ready for different possicilities.

top ten sayings of the week...

2010-07-30T18:10:00.000-07:00

1. "Mom can you please stop interpeating me?!" ummmm, Do you want me to stop interrupting or repeating you?
2. "Mom is it like a dance party in every room night or what?"
3. "My name is not Owen, its bailey" oh! excuse me!
4. "Come on dad, we don't have to listen to mom." obviously my favorite one!
5. "Mom, you be sally and I will be mcqueen, and we can fight like crazy."
6. "Mommo is a nice lady, I am glad God invented her"
7. "if you don't stop punishing me I am going to live in another country like texas."
8. "can I have a baba (a sippy cup)?" "no", "then can you go get dad?"
9. While reading about a groundhog named Grady, I pointed to him and said, "Owen what is this animal?" owen said, "uh a flamingo?"....well, At least my son has good looks.
10. "Owen get off the table or I will spank you!" "Wait! not so fast mom!"

garden update.

2010-07-29T14:43:00.001-07:00

Scarlett's bestie

2010-07-29T14:38:00.000-07:00

My friend has a little girl that is 2 weeks older than scarlett and a son that is 1 1/2 months younger than owen. She also has a 6 year old boy and a new baby girl. We always have a great time together. Our kids LOVe to be around eachother. Scarlett names everything naomi and naomi names everything scarlett. They are so funny together. they have similar personalities, so there is LOTS of drama. I am so glad Scarlett has a friend like naomi. here are some pictures of them. oh and they dressed up ben like a girl, and he was laid back enough to let them.

we went camping...

2010-07-29T14:33:00.000-07:00

and this was the only picture I got! It was not a horrible experience for me. it did rain, and made everything damp. that part sucked, but for the most part it was fun. the kids thought it was the best. Mike was freezing all night long, and did not realize that there was an extra blanket folded up nicely by his feet.

Owen's new room

2010-07-16T18:25:00.000-07:00

After 1 year of being in our house, I am finally painting! We will be doing Scarletts room next. I am LOVING not being in school, because I have a ton of time to do decorating. I made the banner and the robots. I love being crafty, and I only spent $50 dollars on his room. One room down, and four more to go. I don't want to go back to school!!!!!!!

Scarlett the rockstar

2010-07-16T18:19:00.000-07:00

She loves her karaoke machine. and not to brag, but she is GOOD. I take that back I am going to brag, she is really good!

Number 200!

2010-07-16T18:03:00.000-07:00

this is my 200th post. sorry blog, it has been a while since my last post. I think my 200th post will be about my kids, since that is why I started this thing.

Scarlett, my amazing four year old, will be turning 5 soon. I really don't think 5 is going to be easy for me. Sometimes I get sad just thinking about it. She is more amazing every day. I still am in awe at some of the things she says. Last week was VBS at our church and she made a "rainstick". Last night I went into her room and noticed rice was all over the floor. I said, "Scarlett! why is there rice all over your floor?!" she said, "Mom, it is from my rainstick, it rained rice."

Owen, who is STILL not potty trained, is equally amazing. If he does not want to do something he says, "I can't do that I am a baby." He also says things like, "this years day", instead of "today". It would be so much easier to say "today".

They both watch me drive away every morning, and yell at me down the street that they love me and have a good day. I think this is a remund thing. and you remunds know what I mean. I think that is a great thing to do. I don't know if our neighbors like it, but I don't care.

my sweets

2010-06-26T15:35:00.000-07:00

They really do love eachother! they are both at such a fun age.

The funeral

2010-06-25T21:52:00.000-07:00

So last Thursday we flew to Texas to my paw paws funeral. I knew that this was going to to be a hard trip, but I knew it was one that had to happen. A year ago my paw paw told Mike and I that we could have his house and farm if we wanted it. This was a house I grew up at and SOOO many of the great memories I have from my childhood stems from that house. We have talked about it and thought about it, and have never made a concrete decision. It is a smaller town than the one we live in, the people there are very country (not a bad thing, but might not be a good thing either), small churches, FARMING! Farming sounds AMAZING, but it is such hard work. It is humid and there are bugs everywhere. Owen got his first fire ant bites, and we are still scratching mosquito bites. Plus my dad was holding Scarlett and a 4 foot snake slithered by. Oddly, these are all things I can get used to. A life on a farm would be a great experience for our kids. We could homeschool, they would grow up around the hardest working people in the world, good, wholesome people. They would grow up being respectful humans. I just don't know if it is the life for us. It would be a COMPLETELY different lifestyle!
When we got to his house, it was so overgrown with vegetation, it scared me! It was not what I had remembered from a few years ago. His house was empty, his gardens were not recognizable, it needed more work than I think we could do. SAD! We went into the house, and I broke down. My dad and I cried. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. We decided to come back after the funeral the next day so I could get what I wanted out of the house.
The day of the funeral was hotter than hell. It was the kind of heat and humidity that made your clothes cling to your sticky skin. The service was amazing. There was a 16 minute sideshow of his life. I cried through the whole thing. One of my paw paws old friends got up and told stories about him, and we all laughed and cried. At the end of his talk he said two things that I will remember forever. He looked at all of my family and said, "James would have wanted nothing more than to see you all walk with God, and if you are not, please turn your lives around." I felt like it was my paw paw talking to us. The second thing he said was that there was a saying that he always remembered my paw paw saying, and it was one of the best sayings ever. He said,"It's a mighty fine world we live in, and it's really hard to beat, you get a thorn with every rose, but aint the roses sweet." I sat there thinking that I remember him saying this a lot. The last part of the service a man from the VFW stood up and presented a flag to my uncle, and saluted my paw paw's box of ashes. It was an amazing end. It made me sob uncontrollably, but I think I needed to.
After the service we went back to his house and I walked around his property and took tons of pictures. I went inside and took more pictures, and gathered some stuff that I wanted. There was a box in one of the rooms, with a bunch of stuff I had sent him in the nursing home. I was looking through it and found a copy of the letter he had written me when I was born. I read it, even though I know it word for word. He ended his letter with, "it's a mighty fine world we live in, and it's really hard to beat, you get a thorn with every rose, but aint the roses sweet." He had said it to me a million times, because that is how many times I had read that letter!
We took his ashes and my maw maws ashes and mixed them together. We took them out to the garden and buried half of them in the garden. It was the only time no one cried. It is what they would have wanted and I think it made us all happy that we could do that for them. It was a wonderful and sad day, all at the same time. I feel like I got incredible closure from going. What great people my maw maw and paw paw were. They will be missed.

Albuquerque!

2010-06-21T21:57:00.000-07:00

My mom and I made a trip to Albuquerque to take the kids to the childrens science museum. We spent half of the day there and had to pry them out of the building to leave. I was pretty impressed myself. It had a lot of hands on things for kids my kids ages.

This is the face Scarlett gives me when she wants me to stop taking pictures and tell Owen to share.

The kids thought it was the greatest place on earth. They can't wait to go back.

Owen Loved the trains, and I loved watching his "concentrating" face.

Scarlett loved the art section!

Home again, home again, jiggity jig

2010-06-20T22:19:00.000-07:00

We have been in Texas for the last 5 days. I have so much to blog about, but I will have to start with why we were there. We went to my paw paw's memorial service. Me, Mike and the kids flew to Texas to be there for the service. We left Thursday morning at the crack of dawn and drove to El Paso (because we live in the sticks, we have to drive two hours to the closest airport) to catch the plane. We had to lave extra early to get to the airport an hour and a half before the plane took off, because of Scarlett's peanut allergy. They told us to get there early so we would get to be seated with group A. We got there in time and got seated with group B. Group B sits in the back of the plane apparently. They do not allow preboarding so we literally got the last row in the plane. No PREBOARDING! If airline company's had any since at all, they would keep the front rows open for passengers with young children or elderly people. Do they not get that when little children are on planes, they will start to cry loudly if they are the last ones to get off the plane?! Also, kids poop in their diapers, and wouldn't they want the stinky kids off the plane faster.
In mid flight, the flight attendants passed out pretzels and drinks. A couple people started asking for peanuts, and one lovely flight attendant pointed in our direction and said, "we have a peanut allergy person on board so we are not serving nuts." I wanted to stand up and say, "yep, that would be us, and if any of you have a problem with it, SHAME ON YOU!" People were mad that it was a "nut" less flight. Really, people cant wait one hour to have some nuts?! AMAZING!
One the way home, we were sitting in the airport terminal, and we heard and announcement, "Would the family of Scarlett Grace Remund please report to Gate 7 counter" Her we go, call attention to her again! We walked up to the ticket counter and a lady asked us what grade allergy she had and gave us a ticket to preboard before anyone else. We were seated in the front row of the plane, and no one pointed out that she had a peanut allergy. Everything is better in South Texas!

Stuff?!?!?

2010-06-10T22:24:00.000-07:00

Why do people measure their worth by the "things" they have? Some days I want to sell everything, rent an apartment, and be free of all the "stuff". Where we live, people like their stuff a lot. I don't like to be told I need "this", or I need "that". I have everything I need. I actually have WAY more than I need. And conversations like that just irritate me. We all have way more that we need. This country suffered last year and is still suffering because people "needed" the best and most expensive. More depression, more anger, more devastation, and of course, more stuff. I think the key to happiness is to get rid of ALL stuff and focus on the people in your life. A Simple life is a happy life.
I can't wait to live in a city where I can walk or ride a bike to a grocery store. Where I can home school my kids if I want to, go out in public with no make up on, we can drive one car, and have fifty kids if we want to, and if the people I am around don't like it, I can find a new group of friends. I am feeling so trapped right now. haha can you tell? Anyone want to buy a house? I think I am going to put ours on the market SOON.

More paw paw

2010-06-07T17:52:00.000-07:00

I think blogging about this is kind of therapeutic. Not everyone has close relationships with their grandparents, but I have been so blessed to have mine be a HUGE part of my life. I feel pretty empty right now. My grandmother died in 2001 (I think) and that was hard. One of the hardest parts about her death was seeing my paw paw miss her. He wanted to be with her. He loved God, and knew that he would be with her again someday, and today he finally got his wish. I bet they are in heaven catching up right now. Talking about grand kids, great grand kids and weddings and who knows what else. Even though this is so sad for me, that I will never get to hug him again, I am happy because he is in heaven.
I am so incredibly lucky to have had grandparents like him and my maw maw. I will never forget his slobbery kisses that I would wipe off. Every time I clip my kids toenails, I think of him. He would always clip my toenails and it tickled SOOOOOO bad! I will always remember him catching lizards for me and my brother. We would go to church with him and my maw maw when we would go visit them, and he would let me sit in his lap. I usually fell asleep in his lap because they went to the most boring church in the world. One time I fell asleep in his lap and I remember closing my eyes and dreaming that I was falling, and I jumped and my shoe flew up in the air.
He was the greatest gardener EVER. We loved going to visit them in the summer and help him garden. Gardening memories are memories I will never forget. Mike was telling me this morning, that he will never forget the first time he met my paw paw. My paw paw got in his face and told him to treat me right, right after he showed him all of his guns.
This morning when my dad called me, it was a call I knew was coming. I knew why he was calling, and I was as prepared as I could be. It is still hard to take, but I am going to hold on to the great memories of him, and know that he is in a much better place. And he is singing hymns with the angels.

Paw Paw

2010-06-07T14:28:00.000-07:00

My paw paw is in heaven. He is with my Maw maw and I know they are happier than ever right now. I am so sad that he is gone, but I am so happy that he is not in a hospital bed anymore. He is and will always be a man I look up to. He was great! I will miss him a ton!

The tree house

2010-06-03T17:31:00.000-07:00

Mike has been building a tree house for the kids. Here is the beginning stages, and I will post more soon.

This is what I stumbled upon the other day

2010-06-03T17:29:00.000-07:00

Bobby

2010-06-01T21:41:00.000-07:00

Bobby, our pet came by again, and I was determined to get some good pictures of him. Mike wanted to name him bobby, and I think the name sucks, but I will go with it. Here are some pictures of him.

thoughts

2010-06-01T20:58:00.000-07:00

When we decided to sell our business, we had many reasons for doing it. MANY reasons! We did not really think about what Mike would do, because we really did not care what he did as long as we did not have to be business owners. We wanted him to have a job where he could stay home during the day, and work at night. The job that was available at the time that we sold the business was a tile job, so he took it.
Since we have become parents, we have NEVER wanted the kids in daycare. Every week when I had to get them ready for daycare, I was depressed. I thought of ways to get them out of going to daycare regularly. I think they were at a decent daycare, but I am a picky mom who thinks she knows better than anyone else how to raise her kids. Mike and I love our kids more than anyone else could, and I wanted them to be with us as much as possible.
In December we decided that it would be best if Mike got a second job to help pay off cars and other things. We thought we could be debt free in a year. Also, we wanted a steady income, and construction is not always steady. Oh, and he call every electrical company in town, and no one was hiring until the summer. He got a job delivering pizza. I have to admit that I was not thrilled about this job, because I was a little concerned with how people would treat him. I was thrilled that I had a husband that would do anything to get his family ahead. Of course every time he had to tell someone he was delivering pizza, they looked at him with an uncomfortable look, and said, "oh that's nice". No one thought it was "nice" people just assumed we were struggling financially. What people did not understand was that it was the first time in our married life that we were not struggling. When we had the business, we went to be most nights stressed out of our minds about how we were going to pay all of our bills.
Everything was going so good for us, and we were so happy. Then the tile job ended, and all he had was delivering pizza. He was searching for another construction job, and then I realized that we were paying the bills with just my job and his pizza job. The thought occurred to us that if he kept his pizza job only, we would have everything we have wanted. The kids would not need to be in daycare at all, and we would be financially set. For two months now we have been happier than ever. It is summer now, and he could go out and get an electrical job anywhere, but he is not going to do it. We don't need it. We are happy. I am more proud to be married to Mike than ever! He is an amazing example of a man.
I have learned more this year than ever. Life is soooo not about what you have. It is about the relationships you have. We have taken on a whole new perspective, and I love it! I guess this post is for all the people that have judged him for his job. And also to make people think about judging someone before they know the whole story. We have really learned who our true friends are this year, and I could not be happier about it.

Roly Poly's

2010-05-30T23:24:00.000-07:00

Today I had to take the kids to church by myself because Mike was working. I HATE taking the kids by myself because Owen gets a little crazy during church, and it is hard to keep him in control. I always take things to keep them both busy. Today I gave Owen a car that has a little launcher thing on it. I looked over and noticed he was launching what looked like a rock in the air. I grabbed his arm and pulled him to me and said, "Owen what is that?" and he looked up at me with his sweet little eyes and said, "Its my poly mom!" It was half squished, but I was shocked that he would smuggle bugs into church.

the difference between scarlett and owen

2010-05-24T21:57:00.000-07:00

Owen has become such a little comedian. He is so cuddly and sweet, and funny. He loves to play me songs on his guitar and dance. He does not like to get in trouble. Scarlett on the other hand thinks that if she is in trouble there has been a major injustice against her. God forbid she do anything wrong, and that might be the reason she is in trouble. Owen sits in time out and in less than 5 seconds I hear his little voice saying, "i sorry mom, i listen now". Scarlett would be saying, "it is so rude of you to put me in time out". tonight I heard a loud crash and I went to see what had happened, and the coffee table was up side down. I walk in the room and I see scarlett running to the couch saying "Owen! why did you do that!?" Owen sees me and puts his head down and starts to cry. Any outsider would watch this scene and say to themselves, "Owne must have pushed the table over." But I know that this is not what happened. I know what took place had a LOT to do with Scarlett.
I said, "Scarlett, what happened?"
She said, " I was just sitting on the couch and Owen pushed the table over!"
I said, "You expect me to believe that this little 2 year old boy flipped a 40 pound coffee table over by himself?"
she said, "it is possible"
I said, "I highly doubt it!"
She said, "oh, all right, I whispered in his ear, lets push it over. And then I flipped it over by myself"
I spanked and then made her sit in time out for lying.

While in time out, she is saying things like, "this is the worst day ever, it is not fair" just the usual.
Owen on the other hand is all hugs and "i'm sorry's"

Also scarlett told us this morning that last night when she crawled in bed with us she felt like "a piece of smashed ham" between me and mike. Mike said, "and that is why you should be in your own bed.

sprinkler fun

2010-05-22T17:55:00.000-07:00

things I do not love about spring!

2010-05-22T17:53:00.000-07:00

BUGS!

my little smarty pants

2010-05-22T17:51:00.000-07:00

She did this giant puzzle the other day all by herself.

growing

2010-05-22T17:48:00.001-07:00

Everything in our garden is starting to grow! It is so cool to watch this with the kids!

Green thumb

2010-05-13T18:05:00.001-07:00

We decided we were going to have a garden this year. We had one last year, but it was not very big. This year we went crazy, and I am hoping to have enough veggies to can for the winter. I have planted everything I could think of. I will keep posting things as it starts growing. I am just praying that the deer do on jump our fence and eat everything like they did last year.

motherly love

2010-05-13T18:02:00.001-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to me! This is what Mike got me for mother's day. Let me just say that they are the best tasting ANYTHING I have ever had!

kite "festibull"

2010-05-13T17:54:00.001-07:00

We have a kite festival every year in Ruidoso. My kids think it is the best thing ever.

Life's little pleasures

2010-05-05T23:02:00.000-07:00

There is no scarier feeling than sticking your hand in between your couch cushions, feeling something odd, and saying to yourself, "do I pull this thing out and look to see what it is, or am I better off not knowing and acting like this did not happen?" These are just a few of the things I never pictured, in my wildest dreams, that I would have to confront. Thing I have found...
1. A practically petrified carrot.(I thought it was an old hot dog at first, but on closer examination I figured it out to be a carrot)
2. At least 17 cups of dog food. thank you Owen!
3. A wet paint brush. this was one of the scariest!
4. a piece of turkey
5.a sharp jet plane sicking straight up!
6. A shirt (a grey kids shirt, that does not belong to either of my kids) with a giant Lemon Drop stuck to it.
The list could go on forever, but these are the ones that are popping into my head at the moment.

These messes are worth it.

2010-05-04T16:09:00.000-07:00

AHHHH!

2010-05-04T16:07:00.000-07:00

I am NEVER posting a post like my last one! I think that Satan gets a real kick out of taking me from my happy place to a crappy place. Things are still going great, with one little hiccup that will be out of my life and on to ruin other lives as of the middle of the month.

catch up

2010-04-28T08:51:00.000-07:00

I have been really unmotivated to blog lately! So here is a catch up in bulletpoints...
- For the first time in 5 years, I have been ablt to say, "i am bored" and it feels amazing!
-We started planting our seeds and tilling the ground for our new giant garden!
- Mikes job is making our lives so easy, and wonderful, I am the happiest I have ever been!
- My job makes me happy!
- Our kids no longer go to day care, and they get to spend every day with me and Mike.
- The sun is shining, and I am able to go on walks!
- I have lost 22 pounds
- I am going back to school in the fall
- We are buying a tent and things that go with a tent, and we are going to camp the heck out of the summer!
- Owen is the funniest kids I know.
- Scarlett is sweeter than ever!
- Mike and I have time to date for the first time in 4 years!

Life is so good right now, and I am wanting it to stay this way!

Bringing tears to my eyes!

2010-04-14T22:07:00.000-07:00

The picture above is my BEAUTIFUL daughter!One day she is going to kill me for posting this, but I can not resist!
I told her to make the worst face she could make! I can not stop laughing at this picture!

Easter one week late

2010-04-14T21:49:00.000-07:00

Because I was in the hospital on Easter, we did our own Easter this last weekend. My kids dressed up on Sunday, and they were OVERLY dressed up. It was the best Easter ever! They had hundreds of eggs to hunt, because I hit the mother load of sales. They had more candy than they had ever had in life due to that sale as well. I did not realize how overboard I went until Saturday night when I was putting Easter baskets together. My Dad and step mom came to town to help take care of us since I could not lift the kids and do things like baths, teeth brushing, and loading in and out of the car. It was great having them here to spend Easter with us. The kids had a GREAT time with them. We had a HUGE Easter lunch, and it was pretty close to non fat so I could eat almost everything. Oh, and then we got to watch New Moon for the forth time in a week! It was a fun weekend!

Our very own easter

2010-04-07T23:27:00.000-07:00

Since I was all doped up in a hospital room and could care less if the world exploded on easter, we will be having our own easter this coming Sunday. We are going to church, the kids are going to be overly dressed up, we will hunt for easter eggs, and have a wonderful lunch! Also, we went to get stuff for easter baskets and egg coloring today, and it was all 75% off. We have so much easter stuff it is flowing from our ears!

P.S. My kids are afraid to be near me. I asked Scarlett to come watch a movie with me today and she said, "I don't think I want to." In shock I said, "Why?" she said, "I don't want to hurt your tummy." So sad!

Oh and Owen is telling everyone that someone hit me, and that is why I had to have stiches in my tummy. Every time he gets close to me he says, "I be gentle mommy?"

Hospital vacation!

2010-04-06T10:21:00.000-07:00

Here is a rundown of the events of the last week and a half. Like I said before, I was in the hospital Monday night with pains in my side and back. I had already diagnosed myself with gallstones in November of 2009. The doctors told me it was panic attacks and I have been on zoloft for the past two years. I am quite pissed about that. So last week, I had a gallstone attack every single night. That never happens! On Thursday night I ate baked chicken and brown rice. Thirty minutes later I was in pain so bad I could not move.I took some pain meds and tried to go to sleep. at three in the morning the pain was still throbbing. I decided I would wait until 7 and then get mike to take me to the ER, and I would not be waking anyone up. At 5 am I started feeling sharp pains, and I called my mom to come watch the kids so Mike could take me to the hospital. When I got up, I told mike to get up (he is a VERY heavy sleeper and it takes a while to get him up). When he did not immediatly get up I knew I could not keep tying, so I stood out by our gate for my mom to get to my house. When she drove up, I was having a hard time breathing, so I told her to speed to the hospital.

When we got to the hospital the loaded me up on STRONG pain meds, and ran a bunch of blood tests. At 10 the blood tests came back saying that my liver enzymes were very high, and my biliruben count was high too. They told me I needed to go to Albuquerque ASAP. I did not want to go in an ambulance, so they said if we hurried that would allow me to go in our car.

We got to the hospital in Albuquerque at 3:30pm, and a nurse got me to my room, and then nothing happened. I had been off my IV since 11 and I had had nothing to eat or drink since the night before. At 9pm, a hospitalist came in to see me. I was pretty furious at that point, and he basically said I had been lost in the system, and the doctors did not know I was there. WHAT!!! He said I would not be having surgery that night, but I could not eat or drink anything because I would be having surgery 1st thing in the morning. I told him I did not like morphine, and he said okay and left. A few minutes later a nurse came in with morphine and said I am here to give you your morphine and hook you up to your IV. Then she told me that the doctor had told her to put in a catheter (spelling?). I told her I was not in pain and I did not want the morphine, and I asked why I needed a catheter. She said she was just following orders. I finally fell asleep and felt relief knowing that I would be going in to surgery 1st thing in the morning.

At 12am a doctor came in to check on me. I said, "I can not believe how long it has taken to see a doctor!" "Either get things going, and quit forgetting I am here, or I will get up out of this bed and go to another hospital!" He apologized for the way things were going, and asked me why I had a catheter. I thought, you tell me! He said he would have a nurse come in and remove it.

2 hours later I was being prepped for my first surgery. The surgery where they had to scrape the bile duct to get the stones that had fallen in there. That was the thing that was causing all of the problems. I had to lie face down on a bed and they sprayed some nasty banana flavored numbing stuff in my mouth. Then they put a plastic thing in my mouth and said are you asleep? I could not do anything, but I knew I was still awake! I guess I really was out because the next thing I remember was them saying "its okay we are giving you more medication!" and I could feel tubes and pain all down my throat! When I finally woke up, I was in my room and really drowsy. I guess I slept through the rest of the day.

When I woke up on Sunday morning, they told me that I was about to have the gall bladder removal surgery. I was so bummed out that I was missing easter with my kids, but I was relieved that people were taking care of my situation. I remember being wheeled into a bright room and then the next thing I remember was waking up to a lady telling me to sit up. I said,"no please!Don't make me sit up!" She jolted my chair up and said, "you don't have a choice" Again I slept through most of the day. Some doctors came in later that night and informed me that when they took out the gall bladder, they found another stone in the bile duct. They said I was going to have to have another surgery!

Monday morning they did the last surgery and two hours after the procedure I got to eat my first meal. A turkey sandwich! I was so happy! I am now home, and trying to recover. I am so sore! But I am home!

Gall stones!

2010-03-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

I diagnosed myself with gall stones in November.
Right after I had Owen (2 1/2 years ago) I was diagnosed with panic attacks, and have been on anti anxiety medication since then. I accepted that they were panic attacks because of my PTSD. Then, in November of last year, I was stress free and started having the "panic attacks" again. I researched my symptoms and diagnosed it to be gall stones. I have been waiting on getting insurance, so I could go and get the diagnosis confirmed. About a month ago I started getting them ALL the time. Last night I finally went to the doctor, and it was confirmed that I have a gall bladder FULL of stones. Oh, and I was also given morphine for the pain, and it was a HUGE mistake! I never take pain medication, and I asked if it would make me sick, and they said they would give me something to make me not sick. Well, that was a lie! I was SOOOOOOOOOOOO sick last night. On top of being sick, I felt like I had done a lot of drugs. I would never be a good drug addict, I am a wimp. So, I get to have surgery in the near future. Yay me!

Blisters on my bum...

2010-03-30T16:54:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, I got dressed for church. I quickly looked in the mirror at my self, and noticed the pockets on the back of my pants were flipped up. I noticed that the iron was on, and I thought, "I don't have time to take my pants off, I think I will ask Mike for some help."
I said, "Mike, will you run the iron over my back pockets?"
Mike said, "With them on you?!"
I said, "sure, why not?"
he said, "okay".

I lean over and he starts to press the iron to my butt. He then decides to press the steam button. I now have four LARGE blisters on my butt. To make matters worse, Scarlett told EVERYONE in her bible class that her daddy burned her mommy's butt before church.

I'm Back!

2010-03-23T11:49:00.000-07:00

I went away for a week, and I am happy to say I am home. It was a MUCH needed vacation, but it is always nice to come home and get back into a routine. My kids had a great time in Texas, and I took a ton of pictures. we went to the beach, the rodeo, Carlsbad Caverns, and got to play in the yard. We have not had much time to play outside all winter. I got to see my Paw paw, probably for the last time, and it was bitter sweet. I don't want to say goodbye , but he can not be happy laying in a bed all of the time.

I had the following conversation on the drive to Texas...
Cop: I pulled you over bcause you are not wearing you seatbelt correctly.
Me: How did you see that?!
Cop: I need to see your insurance and registration.
Me: I don't have my insurance.
A few minutes goes by...
Cop: what do you do for a living?
Me: I sell insurance.
Cop: and you don't have your insurance cards?
Me: no, sorry, but I really do have insurance.
Cop: Is there a reason why you wear your seatbelt like that?
(I waer my seatbelt under my arms, not over)
Me: Yes, and if you had boobs, you would know why...
The cops eyes went down to my chest and back up to my face, and with a shocked look on his face he let me go and said, "have a nice day"

Goodbye cold weather!

2010-03-12T11:05:00.000-08:00

I am leaving tomorrow for a week with the kids. Mike has to stay behind because he starts a new job on Monday.:( I will be driving to texas with the kids by myself. It will be an experience to say the least. I am going to meet my dad and stepmom in Midland (which is 5 hours away),and then follow them the rest of the way. We are still wearing winter clothes here, and I am having to get my kids summer clothes out for the trip. It will be nice to not have to wear coats and snow boots! Pray for our safe travels and that Mike does not go crazy without us!

my list

2010-03-10T12:04:00.001-08:00

I am not a huge MTV watcher, but this show is great! It is about four guys who made a list of things they want to do before they die. They bought a bus and travel around the country doing things on the list, and in the course of checking things off their list, they ask people what they want to do before they die, and then help one person achieve that. I am also NOT a crier, but I have been in tears every show. What an awesome idea! This show has made me reevaluate some things in my life. Our lives are so short, and the important things in life are not how much we have, it is the people we share our lives with. SO I thought I would make a list of 10 things I want to do before I die.

1. I want to go to New York and Washington DC.
2. I want to make lots of money, and then I want to use it to open some sort of foster home.
3.I want to buy an RV and travel with Mike and the kids for 1 entire summer.
4.I want to mentor young girls.
5.I want to watch my kids grow up, get married and have kids of their own.
6.I want to go to Europe with Mike and the kids, and I want to make enough money to pay for it.
7. I want to pay for Mikes parents and my parents to go on a great vacation some day.
8. I want to trace my family history as far back as I can.
9. I want to trace Mikes family history as far back as I can.
10. I want to have one more baby, and not find out what the sex is, so I can experience that ultimate surprise. (not the only reason I want another baby)

I feel so lucky to have my kids and Mike, because I have already done so much with my life. I have been able to experience motherhood, which is so amazing I can't put it into words. And now I can accomplish everything on this list and include my family.

SICK!

2010-03-10T11:48:00.000-08:00

I have been at home sick for two days! I am going crazy, because I am not a homebody. I can't stand it when my house is messy, but I have been to sick to clean it. I just sit in my bed or on the couch and try to block out the disaster that surrounds me. I better be better tomorrow!

say that again?!

2010-03-06T18:26:00.000-08:00

Today I decided to get Scarlett out of the house while Owen was taking a nap. We went to the health food store, and to Starbucks to see if they had any coffee grounds for our compost pile. We are always singing when we are in the car. Today we were listening to a song that Scarlett loves to sing, and I said, "Scarlett sing this with me." She said, "Mom, today is not my day to sing." I just laughed and said, "I apologize, will you let me know when it is your day to sing?" She said, "try me again in the morning."

Alice in Wonderland?

2010-03-05T17:37:00.000-08:00

If anyone sees this movie, will you tell me what you think? Should kids stay away? I would love to take Scarlett, but it seems a little scary.

Art class

2010-03-03T18:19:00.000-08:00

I signed the kids up for an art class at our local home school co-op. Scarlett LOVED it, but I think Owen is a little too young still. He did not want to stay in his seat, and did not want to follow directions. I hope next week is a little more fun for him. I think he is going to be one of those kids that acts like they have ants in their pants and can NEVER sit still. Maybe it is a boy thing? Scarlett on the other hand, did great. she followed directions and is painting and coloring in the lines. She is learning how to spell and can write any letter I tell her to. On a side note, I think we are becoming a house full of sickies! I just hope no one ends up in the hospital this time!

What is it with boys and poop?

2010-03-01T16:52:00.000-08:00

Owen looked out the window of the car the other day and said, "look mommy, the moon!" Then he says, "Me want to sit on the moon and poop on it." I don't why boys like to talk about poop at such a young age!

Also, I forgot to post this little story. Last week, Scarlett had exhausted all of her chances for getting out of bed, so I took away her cherished blanket and two animals. Later I could still here her crying in her room so I went to listen to what she was saying. This is what she was saying, "Dear God, I know my mom is a nice person, but she won't give me my blanket back!" "Will you please tell her to give me my blanket back?" "When she does stuff like this is makes me really really angry!"

kiddos

2010-02-26T14:37:00.000-08:00

Because of the snow...

2010-02-26T11:15:00.001-08:00

We have not been able to be outside as often as we would like, so I have found some really great indoor activities that entertain kids for hours. One of our favorite things is going to the dollar store, buying glow sticks, and taking a bath in the dark. This entertains my kids all night. They don't want to get out of the bath. The water glows and they love it. You can't tell in the pictures below, but the lights are off.

Art table fun!

2010-02-23T09:53:00.000-08:00

We have an art table, and the kids LOVE it. Scarlett is so in to drawing and painting, and she is actually really good. Below is the Valentines card she made for Owen. It was so sweet. They like to put their art hats on and can spend hours at this table. I LOVE that my kids are in to art, because Mike and I are really in to it too. This art table has actually inspired me to start painting again and it feels great. I might get enough courage to post some of the things I am working on in the near future...we will see. For now here is some pictures of the kids and the art table.

I figured it out.

2010-02-22T15:40:00.000-08:00

After reading and researching, I think I have narrowed Scarlett's issues down. I think it is a milk allergy. I KNOW it is a milk allergy! So I will be avoiding dairy for a week with her to see if her problem gets better.

Please read!!!

2010-02-19T15:25:00.000-08:00

The last post made me think a lot today, and the phone calls, texts and comments I got made me think even more. I act like the peanut allergy is not a big deal, but inside I am sad and pissed off that my child has to deal with it. It is the scariest allergy people can have, and most fatal. I am crying just typing this. My four year old is terrified to eat anything. She is constantly asking people if something has nuts in it, and telling people that she can not have anything with nuts. I AM mad that she has to worry like this. I am overwhelmed with fear sometimes. It is an awful feeling to hear your baby cry because their lips are swelling and their throat is itching, and they don't know what is happening. You just want the best most normal life for your kids and when it is out of your control, it is a little hard to deal with. I guess I am saying all of this for two reasons. 1. It is easier to type this than say it out loud, and 2.People need to be more aware. I know before this happened, I was not aware of how bad it really is. I can't tell you how many times we go somewhere to eat, or get ice cream, and I have to ask people to use new spoons, and make sure NOTHING has touched nuts. Usually they say okay, but shrug it off like it is no big deal. It is a big deal! Also, a lot of times people make peanut butter snacks and bring them to daycares or schools. since 1997 nut allergies have almost tripled in children. Next time you moms are making a snack for a group of children, try something without peanut butter. Thanks for reading my venting!

Hmmm Gas?

2010-02-19T10:06:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't remember, Scarlett is very allergic to nuts. Not just peanuts, ALL nuts. She also has night terrors, and has NEVER been a good sleeper. I have watched her sleep walking before. She got out of her bed, and went to our room and got in our bed, totally asleep. She talks in her sleep all the time, and sometimes it is funny, and others scary. If she takes a nap during the day, she will not go to bed till 12, and her regular bedtime is 8. The one little nap will screw up days of her sleep. The other big thing we have to deal with is her gas. She is the gassiest little girl I have ever met. I feel bad for her, because she can clear a room, and I don't want her to have this problem when she is older. I can't tell you how many times we have been standing in a line or sitting in church, and she farts, and I have to act like it was someone else. Sometimes she says her tummy hurts, and then she farts and she is better. The gas is always worse at night.

I am saying all of this because I took her to the doctor for her 4 year check up, and mentioned it to the doctor, and I was told she might have to try a gluten free diet. Mike's side of the family has food allergies, and so I always assumed my kids would have something, but poor Scarlett has to deal with a lot! When they tested her for nut allergies, she tested slightly positive for a wheat allergy. So, we have decided to go with more organic foods, and free range meat. They are now linking lots of allergies and obesity to pesticides and hormones found in store bought fruits, veggies and meats. I bought some gluten free pasta, and it was great. I also bought some gluten free macaroni and cheese, and it was BY FAR the worst thing I have ever put in my mouth! I gave both kids that macaroni, and Owen started gobbling it up, and I thought, "oh great they like it"! then Scarlett said, "this tastes horrible like dirt!" I told her to just try it, and then I took a bite. It tasted like wheat grass and dirt. I spit it out and said, "Mommy is so sorry she tried to get you to eat that!" All the while Owen is still eating it. I said, "Owen, you don't have to eat that!" he put his fork down and looked at me with a disgusted face!

If Scarlett is going to have to eat differently, then I will do whatever it takes, and we will all make changes. If anyone has any advice on this, I would love to hear it!

Ash Wednesday

2010-02-17T18:38:00.001-08:00

Today I drove to Las Cruces for life insurance classes. It was a class with a bunch of people from State Farm offices all around New Mexico.I sat down in the front row with my friend Bo who went to the class with me. Soon more people started to take their seats, and as I looked around the room, one guy stuck out across the room. He had a HUGE black blotch on his forehead. This is how my sheltered mind processed it...

"oh my gosh, that guy has an awful birthmark!", "And it looks like it is hairy!", No wait, it is marker! I bet he went out last night and got really wasted, and his friends drew on him with marker, and he has not looked in the mirror today!" "I bet the teacher will let him know."

An hour later..."STILL no one has said anything to him!" "Oh great now we are starting to pair off into groups, I bet I get to partner up with marker boy" "Perfect, I DO get to pair up with him!", "should I say something?, If I don't and he goes to the bathroom at break, he will think I am a weirdo that did not say anything to him!" As I am about to walk over to him, I lean over to Bo and say, "Am I the only person that sees that this guy CLEARLY has marker on his head?" Bo's response..."Its Ash Wednesday!"

Sickies and kids

2010-02-16T17:28:00.000-08:00

Owen has moved to a toddler bed! He is so proud of it. He is getting rid of the "binks", sippy cups, and diapers. My baby is growing up!

So this is what happens when I let the kids play together in their rooms! Mike and I got food poisoning this weekend, so I let the kids do whatever they wanted. This is what they wanted to do. When I finally got out of bed, I looked around my house and thought, "Is there any way I can get this cleaned, or should I just get out the trash bags and start scooping stuff up?" I think it is so incredibly hard to take care of kids and be sick at the same time.

Roasted Cheetos and a liar.

2010-02-12T17:10:00.000-08:00

Scarlett woke us up one morning this week saying, "mom, salmon (our smelly dog) smells like a roasted cheeto."

Owen on the other hand is perfecting his skills as a big liar. If he does something wrong, and I ask him what happened, he says, "me don't know" or "carly did it". He calls Scarlett Carly because he can not say his S's yet. I happen to love it and hope he never stops saying it. It is his own special name for her, and some things are way to sweet to grow out of.

What do you REALLY think...

2010-02-09T09:13:00.000-08:00

It seems that politics are such a heated topic, and I am usually at the center of a heated politic conversation. This year, I decided to sit back and LISTEN to what people had to say before spewing my thoughts. I have learned a TON!!!! The biggest thing I have learned is that both sides conservative or liberal, want basically the same thing, but that have different ways of accomplishing that goal. I know that people will never agree on everything, but I think that if people would just listen, and not jump to conclusions we could find some middle ground. God created humans to have passion, and we should use it, but we should do it in love. I think it is safe to say that MOST people want peace, most people want this country to stay out of debt, most people want to end abortion, most people want the poor to thrive, but everyone has their own way of going about that. If we LISTENED to peopl and stop trying to PROVE our own points, maybe we could resolve some things.

Not in to it!

2010-02-07T14:45:00.001-08:00

I could care less about the super bowl. I thought there were nine innings in a football game for goodness sakes. Obviously I am not in to football.

the haps

2010-02-04T10:46:00.000-08:00

I don't want to complain too much about the snow, but seriously! I don't ever remember it snowing this much! I have not seen my driveway since the 1st of december. The good side of that is that there has been a nice thick layer of snow covering up my messy yard thanks to Salmon. The bad side of That, is the brown and yellow pacthes of snow really stand out, thanks to Salmon.

LAst night we switched out Owens crib into a toddler bed. It was hard for me to do it, but it was time. He LOVED it! I overheard Scarlett tell him, "Owen, now you can get out of your bed at night and sneak into mom and dad's bed!". What a lovely child! He did fall out once last night, but he went right back to sleep when we put him back in his bed.

We have also attempted to break him of his love for a binky. It seems to be much harder for him than Scarlett. When we did this with Scarlett we told her to throw them away because she was big enough to not need them anymore, and she did it! I mean, we would find her hiding in corners, or under beds "sneaking a suck". That is what we called it. We would say, "Scarlett, what are you doing"? She would say in a whiney voice, "Awww, I just wanted a taste". HILARIOUS! Owen knows he can only have his "binks" if he is in bed, so now he wants to go to bed all of the time! It is woking out great.

Someone has been practicing her ABC's!

2010-01-26T12:38:00.000-08:00

As you can see in the pictures below, the practicing was not done on paper. It was done on her bed. I must say that I am impressed, because I found pretty much the entire alphabet. However, I am sad that my rule about only being allowed to draw on paper or themselves, is not going to save my furniture. I think making her scrub it off, and go to bed early the next night did the trick, let's hope. Oh and if you look closely you can see that it is all over the side of the wood and along the edges!

FINALLY! Christmas pictures!

2010-01-22T21:29:00.000-08:00

Super "s"

Super "O"

Owen got a police car for christams, and I got a little tatood girl.

Reading books with Mommo

Owen was trying to shoot things out of the white tube, not the part where the bubbles come out.

I love having lots of music around my kids

Look at the look scarlett is giving me...classic!

This is great, but when I saw it it freaked me out a little

Mike made a swing out of a bucket for the kids, and they loved it!

I had to include a tongue picture!

just some pictures

2010-01-21T23:57:00.000-08:00

Owen's new favorite thing to do.

Christmas eve pictures with matching jammies!

Joys of motherhood...

2010-01-21T12:45:00.000-08:00

Usually I have a snot smear across my shirt, but today it was this cough drop, on the front of my shirt, with hairs stuck all over it!And I did not discover it was there until 1:30!

Merry Christmas to me!

2010-01-20T09:50:00.001-08:00

My necklace finally came in!I love it so much! Thanks Mike!

I love my kids!

2010-01-19T22:50:00.000-08:00

I love, love, love my kids imaginations! The other night I had my music on kind of low, and Owen was singing his heart out, so I drove around the block to keep listening to him. Those are the moments when I wish I had a video camera inserted in my index finder so I could just have it handy all of the time. I also think it would be much easier if a woman could breastfeed through her finger...that would be so dang convenient! Anyway, tonight we had to make a diaper run to Walmart, and on the way home I stopped by McDonalds to get the kids some food. My rule is that they have to wait to eat until we get home. So they both start asking me if they could have the happy meal toy, and I said, "I can't get it right now, I have to focus on driving." Then Scarlett says to me, "Ahhh! I wish we had a robot that could get me things in the car when I need them!" I responded with, "I completely agree!"

Ahh, Teenagers!

2010-01-19T11:26:00.000-08:00

I Know that one day I will have a teenage daughter, and when I do I would like to be as prepared as I can possible be. I have a heart for helping teen girls, and I feel like it is easy for me to connect and understand them. I was a wild teen, and I have learned a lot from it. I have been through things that I know God allowed me to go through so that I can use it to help teens. With all of that said, teens SCARE me these days! Kids, KIDS!, are having sex so early...elementary age! What is going on with these kids parents?! I think it could get worse, because so many families are struggling to make it. God is not the priority because people are hurting so bad that it is hard to focus on anything other than, loosing jobs, and loosing houses. The more teen girls I talk to, the more insight I have into what they are crying out for. The one thing that has hit me the hardest is that kids want their parents to hear them and put the punishing to the side so they can hear. While I understand that punishing is a must, the anger is not. I know I don't have teenagers yet, but I listen to them, and what they want it for their parents to provide a safe place for them to talk. I think this simple little thing could save a child from a lot of crap they have to deal with. If a teen does not feel comfortable to talk with a parent, the parent should encourage them to talk to someone who shares the same values. My mom always pointed me to 3 different women when I was having a hard time. My mom did not take it personal that I did not want to talk to her, she just wanted me to talk to someone. I am so thankful that I had those three women in my life! If you have a heart to help, don't sit around and hope someone else will reach out to a child, go out and do what you can!

Oh my Scarlett!

2010-01-19T09:23:00.000-08:00

Last night Mike sarted a new job. He can not find an electrical job right now, so he is working two jobs. I am proud that I am married to a man that will to whatever it takes to make sure his family is taken care of financially. I know soooooo many people that are having a hard time finding a job right now, and we feel very lucky to have work, no matter what it is. Anyway, last night was the first night, and I made dinner, played two games with the kids, watched incredibles, and I planned to read them books too. Sometimes I will give them the option to watch a show for 30 minutes, or read books. Most of the time we just read books, but when I am really tired, I give them and option. So last night, I said, "lets brush teeth, and then read books." Scarlett immediatly ran away from me and hid under a table. Then, of course, Owen ran frantically after her, trying to get to her before I got to her, so he could hide too. I said, "Get up and get in the bathroom NOW!" Owen stared whining about it, and then Scarlett did too. I said, "Scarlett you can go second, but go pee while I brush Owen's teeth." She says, "I don't want to!" I said, "you have to pee before you go to bed, so try." Then she says, in a tone overflowing with attitude, "I DON"T WANT TO!" So I spanked her for giving me attitude. Then she says, "When you spank me it makes me so mad, and now I am not going to pee because you did that!" I had to spank her again! She says, "MOM, when parents spank their children, it does not make them want to do anything!" After I left the room to give her some time, we sat on the couch and had a long conversation about how to take to parents. In the middle of our discussion, I realized that I am able to talk to my 4 year old like an adult, and she gets it. I gave her a long explanation on why it is not okay to have attitude, and I know she understood it all. I need strength and patience when trying to raise this amazing child of mine!

Growing up

2010-01-19T08:54:00.000-08:00

Here are some cute pictures from thanksgiving. I love the one of Scarlett sitting on the deck. She looks like a tiny little girl! She is just growing up so fast that it makes me sad. And why is it that my kids can not take a pictures together without sticking their tongues out?

We went to the park in Roswell a few weeks ago. My plan was to take some pictures of the kids for a Christmas card, but it did not happen. They were not in any kind of mood to take pictures together, and I was too tired to fight them on it. We did get a couple of good ones.

I usually make the kids take a bath together, but for some reason Owen got to take a bath by himself, and we took some cute pictures of him.

Little Change-a-roo!

2010-01-15T13:44:00.000-08:00

I changed the title of my blog, and changed some of the settings. People were telling me that they could not leave comments, and such, so I think I fixed the problem.

Christmas with no pictures!

2010-01-06T10:55:00.000-08:00

I have really failed on posting pictures. I AM AWARE! soon I will be posting more pictures, but I am working on a new blog, and I just have not been really motivated on this one. It will soon be up and running.

We left the wednesday before christmas for California. We were only going to be there for 3 days, and then Mike was told he wasn't going to have work for the last week in December. I was totally bummed out about it, because not having work would have kicked our butts financially. Fred (mike's dad) told mike that he could work with him for a week, and we could not pass it up. We got to stay for an extra week, and it also meant that I got to stay home with my kids, and not worry about not making money! It was such a blessing! I loved hanging out with the kids, and having lots of good conversation with Barbara. It was the best trip to California yet. The kids did not want to come home, and I have to admit that I was a little sad to leave too. But I had to face reality and come home. :(

On Christams eve Christy drove down from huntington. I have to say, I have so much fun with my sister in law, it really bums me out that we live so far from eachother! She is so encouraging, and makes me laugh sooooo hard! Anyone that can make me laugh so hard, that my head hurts, it a great person in my eyes. When she got there Fred wanted to take us to this house in Murrieta that had the most insane amount of Christmas lights on it. It is funny, because I did not take one picture of it! We got video of it, so I am okay with that. The kids loved the house. The lights blinked with music, and there were tons of people watching it. The owners of the house let people walk inside there home to see a giat train set and then to the backyard for more lights. It was such a cool thing to do on Christmas eve! Both kids fell asleep on the way home, so we did not set out milk and cookies for santa, but they did not seem to care. Oh and the kids went to the house in their matching PJ's and no shoes. I happened to look around at all of the people who were nicely dressed, and I thought I hope I am not the only mom to let my kids be here in PJ's. It was 7:30 when wew went, and my kids had already had baths, and they go to bed at 8 (and since we were there at 7:30 it was 8:30 our time). When we were watching the light show, it suddenly got silent, and Scarlett (who was being held by auntie Christy) said, "are you my daddy's sister?" and everyone in the audience said "awwwww!". it was too cute.

We had an awesome Christmas day, and went back to see the light show again on Christmas night. We ate turkey for days, and got to go shopping. Mike and I even got to go on a date. We went to in and out and then to see Avatar in 3D. That movie is not my type of movie, so I was a little hesitant to see it, but I am so glad I did, because it was the best movie experience of my life! I got to talk to Jenny Murphy on the phone, and it was so good to hear her voice, it had been way to long! I got so see Amanda and Audrey for lunch one day. On New years day, Mike's sister Stephanie, and her family came to spend the day with us, and it was sooo much fun! My kids are in heaven when they are around. It makes me sad that my kids are not around them more often. We got to go to San Diego one day to hang out with Uncle Paul and Kelsey. Again, I wish we lived closer to them too! Mike got to hang out with his friend Nate on New Year's eve. It was such a great trip, I can't wait to go back.

hum d dum

2009-12-18T09:21:00.000-08:00

This week has been aweful, as far as mornings go. On Tuesday, thursday, and Friday, my kids go to day care. This means that I have to make lunches, get them dressed, brush teeth, check what they ate for breakfast(mike is in charge of breakfast, but I can't always trust that he feeds them well) and get them to daycare before I get to work. The last few mornings, Owen has decided to poop when I am ready to walk out the door, so I have to turn around, go back in the house, and change his diaper. On top of that Scarlett is going through a phase of not wanting to listen to anything I say. I have taken things away from her, put her in time out, and spanked her, and none of it is working! I feel like I am loosing my mind, because I get so irritated. I want to be the best mom I can be, but this is truly testing my patience more than anything else has since I have been a mom. So when I tell her to get in the car, she does not listen. Which brings me to the ice. It snowed a boatload recently, and it has all turned into a nice thick layer of ice in my driveway,and front yard. Mike has already fallen twice, and thank goodness he just scraped his knuckles. Owen will not walk in it, he says "it too slipily mom", "carry you". So I have to take everything to the car, start the car to defrost the windows, and go back and get Owen. While I am doing all of that, who knows what Scarlett is doing? I do know what she is not doing, and that is not getting in the car. After getting the kids in the car, and all the drama starts to settle, I have to make several trips back in the house to get all of the stuff that we forgot. Then I finally get in the car and drive away so frusterated, I am in tears. So my solution to this is that I need to work with Scarlett some more on listening. I need to try to get more organized. I just thought that if you are consistant enough with your kids, things will be easier. Wrong! some kids are just not easy children, and you have to keep readjusting your parenting style to relate to them. Scarlett is my more difficult child, but I love the heck out of her, and if I have to be even more consistant, then bring it on.

Ringworm?

2009-12-15T15:24:00.000-08:00

Last night when I picked up Scarlett and Owen from my MeMaws house, I noticed a perfectly round, red circle on Owen's head.I asked what happened, and Scarlett said he hit his head on the table. I examined the table, and there was nothing round about it. I said, "Scarlett, if he hit his head on the table, he would have a red line, not a red circle." I would normally not be worried about a mark on Owen (he gets bumps and bruises every day), but this one looked a lot like it could be ringworm. I asked Owen what happened, and he said a bee "bite" him, and then he said a baby bit him, so I knew I could not get a good answer from him. I went home, and googled a few pictures of ringworm, and his mark looked identical to ringworm. I decided to see what it looked like in the morning to decide if I needed to get some ointment for him. this morning it still looked like ringworm. I decided to ask one more time before I called the doctor. I said, "Owen, what happened to your head?" he said, "Scary ghost did it". Still, no help from Owen. I said, "Scarlett, If you know what happened to Owen, you need to tell me, because I am thinking about taking him to the doctor." She looked at me for a minute...(I knew the answer was about to come out) she said, "well, I do know waht happened" "I hit him in the head with a marker, because he was not sharing" So It is marker, not ringworm! thank goodness.

some recent pictures...

2009-12-03T21:19:00.000-08:00

I am sorry I have not posted pictures lately, I have been busy. At night when I have time to post pictures, I am too busy doing homework or reading. I am going to admit that I have become a twilight nerd. I am on the last book, and I can't put it down long enough to post pictures. But I am finally posting some. hope you enjoy.
Owen and his horse.

Scarlett loves to make "sculptures". She took my pinapple and grapes, and stuck the grapes on the leaves of the pinapple. The pinapple is stcked on a bunch of cans of beans. Now that is talent!

Scarlett makes the best faces! She is really in to dressing up lately. She loves to go into our closet and put on our clothes, but I have to say, the outfit below is one of my favorites.

Me, Keely, and Mary. I have so much fun with them!

Do rags make normal guys act silly

Mary and Keely the picture below is for you two...

My little Owen is so cute! I can't get enough of him.

Me and Mike in Phoenix

It is FREEZING!

2009-12-03T13:52:00.000-08:00

It is 14 degrees and snowing. I can't feel my toes...and I am indoors!