Is it still Monday?

Last Monday (the 10th), started just like every other Monday. My husband woke early so he could go to the gym with his division, and I woke up a few mins before 7am, just as Jeremy was coming home from working out. Everything was ordinary. My sons grumped at each other while passing the milk around, and I sat on the couch wondering when Olivia was going to grace us with her presence. Jeremy showered, shaved, and dressed quickly so he could walk to work, just like every other morning. I remember him giving me a kiss, and I remember locking the door after he left. The snow was almost all melted from the day before, and a light mist had started outside (yeah it's Washington).

About an hour and a half after he left I received a call from a fellow sailor in his division saying that he hadn't show up for work yet, and they were worried, because this was very unlike him. Well if they were really worried just think how worried I was at this point. I was told not to panic (a nice suggestion but at the time it didn't sink in), and that he may have arrived at work, but no one had seen him yet. Well 15 minutes later I get a call from Harrison Medical Center, saying that he is there, and they wouldn't tell me much else over the phone. The person over the phone also tells me, that I don't need to rush over there because he's in good hands (Yeah right, like I'm going to stay home and just chill out now).

While the kids and I are getting ready to go Jeremy's cell phone rings, and it's another sailor from Jeremy's division. I tell him where Jeremy is, and he tells me that he was re-tracing Jeremy's walk, and he was almost to our house and wondered if I wanted him to come with us. At this point I thought it couldn't hurt, and that it was really nice of him to offer. This really helped when we got to the hospital because there wasn't any parking in sight, so while the kids and I went inside to find Jeremy, he parked the car for us.

After finding him, the doctors told me that he had either black out, or fallen down and hit the sidewalk really hard, and he may have a mild concussion. He was awake but not very responsive. It wasn't until after they decided to transfer him to the naval hospital and admit him, that he started coming around and acting more like himself. Thats when he asked me why he was in the hospital and if it was still Monday. After I explained he asked if his chief knew. "Yes everyone at work knows, in-fact a few of them are here, and Doc is on his way." A sarcastic wonderful was all he said to that.

When the ambulance came to transfer him, the kids and I stopped back at the house, to get our school books and iPad, before meeting Jeremy at the naval hospital. From that point things seemed to be going well. The boys did their school work, Olivia played in the iPad, and Jeremy and I chatted and joked around (just like we do at home). At lunch the kids and I went downstairs to get subway (yes this hospital had a subway in it), and when we came back Jeremy was sleep, so I woke him. He opens his eyes makes a confused face and asks me once again "Why am I in the hospital?" Yes I got the honer of telling him all over again, and also worrying if he was going to forget and ask every time he woke up. "Is it still Monday? Did you tell my chief?".... .... "Yes dear, it is still Monday, and no need to worry everyone from work knows you are here." I'll have to admit though at this point I had to also ask myself if it was still Monday. I told the doctors about the lapse in memory, but they didn't seem worried. That still didn't make me feel any better.

By 4pm Jeremy was insisting that I take the kids home and get some rest. He assured me that he was in good hands (yeah right). I didn't want him to fall asleep and wake up without me there. Who else would explain to him what happened and why he was there again. However the kids did need to eat soon, and I was very tired at this point. So yes I went home and basically crashed (on the couch, not in the car :)  ).

Apparently while I was home "CRASHING" Jeremy's doctor on the boat and the doctor at the hospital were having a discussion (right in front of him) on weather he'd be more relaxed at home or on the boat. She (meaning the hospital doctor) was under the impression that with four kids in the house no one would ever be able to relax, so she thought giving him time off would be useless. I later told Jeremy (after he told me about this conversation), that she better be glad she didn't say that in front of me. I'm sorry but I can't stand people judging our family and my kids especially when they don't know us, and don't know how incredible awesome and well behaved my kids are. Luckily Jeremy's doctor from the boat and his XO insisted that he stay at home until they figure out why he black out in the first place. Which was another conflict with the hospital doctor because she believed that Jeremy had just tripped and fell. The problem with that theory was that Jeremy had no abrasions on his hands, and if you are in the process of tripping and falling, you are going to put your hands up to stop yourself (yes at this point Jeremy still couldn't remember what happened, in fact he couldn't even remember getting up and working out that morning). Needless to say I didn't really like his hospital doctor.

The next morning I got to the hospital at a little after 7:30pm. Jeremy seem to remember everything after lunch time from the day before (thank goodness). He tells me that he had visitors last night, some friends from work, Doc, and the OX. The OX was super nice and brought him a bag of snacks. I was touched, and felt like crying. The doctor came in not long after I had gotten there, and told us that they were getting the discharge paperwork together. I was like, "Awesome I just got here, and now I get to take him home." ... ... Yeah we ended up waiting two hours for paperwork. That's hospitals for you. Once I got him home though, we had a wonderful day. Jeremy and I reading and napping on our couch, while the kids played downstairs and watch Sofia The First.

Jeremy's doctor from the boat made a house call that next morning to check up on Jeremy and tell him that his first day back would be Tuesday (today), but that he would be put on light limited duty for a few weeks. Also good news.

I want to thank everyone for their prayers and for your calls and messages, all of your words of encouragement were wonderful, appreciated, and needed. I'm glad he is safe, well, and okay.

it's my little girl's 4th birthday

It's here again, my daughter's birthday. Does she have to grow up so fast?

No matter how crazy your life is, or how much work you have to do for your kids, they grow up too fast, and you're always a little sad every birthday. God has blessed me with wonderful children, that I'll never fully deserve. Happy birthday my very sweet and only daughter, my 4th wonderful gift from God, given on this day 4 years ago.


Olivia current favs
Favorite toy(s) : Her 2 bears Cinnamon and Nutmeg
Favorite thing to play : Princess
Favorite thing to eat : Chicken Nuggets
Favorite TV show : Lazy Town
Favorite color(s) : Pink and Purple
Favorite place to visit : the play ground
Favorite book : Fancy Nancy and the Sensational Babysitter
Favorite movie : Tinker Bell and the Secret of the Fairy Wings

Hanging at the Y

Hey everyone, sorry about the gap in post. We have been keeping ourselves super busy, so I haven't had much time to post.

We re-joined the YMCA and the kids have all started swim lessons on Tuesdays and Thursdays. My sons are really lucky, we were able to sign up for a swim class that starts at 11:05 am on both of those days. It's a class that is set aside just in case there are homeschooled kids. My sons are the only ones in that class, so they get the instructor all to themselves. They love that, and she has them jumping in the deep end right now. During the boys' lessons I take Olivia to the child care. She loves it there, they do classes like yoga and dance, and she gets to play with other kids. This gives me some time to myself (30 mins... SWEET). I usually jump on the elliptical or run on the track, but last week I brought some hot tea, and I read my kindle (that was awesome). I was like a guilty pleasure, because I should have been working out :).

Olivia's swim class isn't until 4:35 pm, and during that time the boys do fit kids. Fit kids is like a gym class, they play tag, dodge ball, red rover,... The boys really enjoy it, and it also has some advantages for me, because if they don't finished their school work in-time, I can make them miss it :). Nathaniel and Zachary (mostly Zachary), like to goof-off during school work, so they end up taking all day on something that should have only taken them an hour. So if they don't finish on time, I make them take their work with them, and I make them do it while watching Olivia's swim class (hehehehehe) (it's like a school work motivator). Olivia loves her swim class, but I am starting to feel sorry for the teacher. Olivia is convinced she can swim, but she can't keep herself completely up yet... but she still thinks she can. Olivia spends most of the class trying to sneak pass the instructor, so she can swim on her own. I think I ended up apologizing quite a few times during the first class. I really hope she use to this, and doesn't think Olivia is to much of a handful.

Olivia is turning 4 this Saturday (yikes). I find this really hard to believe. She can't be 4 already, can she? Time really does fly when you become a parent. Your kids grow up so fast. She has requested rainbow cupcakes for her birthday, which is great because they are pretty easy, and look awesome. I'll post some pictures on my Facebook of the cupcakes. We got her a Merida bow (from the movie Brave, she already has the dress), and a Little Mermaid dress up outfit for her birthday (I still need to wrap them). I am also going to post pictures of her presents on Facebook.

We are also planning for another vacation in May. It's going to be a trip down the coast of California. We are going to be Stopping in San Francisco, Anaheim, San Diego, Sacramento, and the red wood forest. I don't have all of the details yet or the dates, but I will keep you guys posted. I'm really excited!

Currently Crocheting...

Hi guys, so this is just a post to catch you guys up on my current crochet projects, and the ones I have just completed.

Back in September in my Co-op has started again post, I told you about the blankets I was making for my four children, and how they pick out all of the colors themselves. Well I am happy to say that they are finished!

This is Darien's, he wanted Slytherin colors (yes he is a big Harry Potter fan, and yes he is a Slytherin)

This is Zachary's. Zach is our crazy child so these colors really go with his personality

 This is Nathaniel's, his favorite color is red, and he picked that and two colors that go well with it.

This is Olivia's, she is currently crazy for all things purple and pink.

As much as I enjoyed making these for them, I'm so glad they are finished. :)

This whole blanket for each of them started after I made a blanket for myself...

Okay yes I know, not everyone like these colors, but I do. :)

I have done a few blankets before, in the past, and they are always the ones everyone wants when it get cold.

So when my kids asked me to make them each a blanket, I thought why not.

Right now I am working on a granny squares blanket. I've never done one before, and it looked like fun. I learned how to do the granny squares by watching this video. This is what I have done so far...

Yes it's going to be rainbow. Why? Well I've always loved rainbows (my fav show when I was little was Rainbow Brite), and my daughter really likes rainbows too, so why not right?

I'm also still working on a blanket for Jeremy (my husband). After I started making the kids blankets, he decided that he wanted one too, but I've only gotten this far...

Jeremy also picked out his colors (yes he likes purple :) ). I wish I could have finished it sooner for him.

Well there they are. I'll let you guys know when I'm finished with the granny squares and Jeremy's blanket. :)

Christmas 2013

Hi guys! I know this post is only hours after the last one, but this one is about what we've been up to, if you are curious about that.

The kids' last day of school was the 13th and they still have one more week of vacation (yes one more week of vacation for me as well). I'm so thankful for the opportunity to homeschool and the freedom it has brought us. Our time off is always up to us, and I love that.

So monday the 16th, having no school, my plan was to go to the commissary and get everything that I would need for Christmas dinner. I forgot however, that the commissary is no longer open on Mondays, so I drove all the way to the good commissary on Bangor, only to have to drive all of the way back. I ended up shopping at WinCo foods, and that place was pretty good. The prices were close to commissary prices, and the only draw back was that we had to bag our own groceries, but that's what the boys are for right? They loved it! I held back the bread and eggs, than let them go at it, and they did a pretty good job. I did however get some pretty interesting looks from the other shoppers there, yes I'm the crazy lady with all of the kids.

We saw the movie Frozen on the 21st (yes the first day of winter, very appropriate). It's a great movie! The story and character are very touching and lovable. Olivia loved the movie so much that she bought Frozen character barbies and a nightgown with some of her Christmas money

See! Gotta love the bed head in this picture :)

I got to Skype with my family that next day (the 22nd), they were having a football / white elephant party. It was fun to watch. After the Skype call Jeremy and I ordered pizza! Jeremy's sister gave us 4 free pizza coupons for Christmas (she works at a Papa Johns, and knows that we love pizza). So we log onto the website to place our order, and low and behold we have enough reward points for yet another free pizza. So yes, we got 5 pizzas that night, and it was wonderful. The way I see it is, I didn't have to cook for 2 nights (AWESOME!).

Christmas morning was wonderful. I feel like we picked out awesome gifts for the kids, and it was a very relaxing day. I know I've said this before, but Christmas day is my favorite day out of the whole year. I get to reward my kids, for just being mine, I get to eat great food, and I get to sit around in my pjs all day.

This year Jeremy surprised me with an awesome gift, he bought me a Kitchenaid Mixer. I have been wanting one for a long time. With it he bought a whole bunch of boxed cake, cookie, and brownie mixes (he was thinking with his stomach that day). My friend Jessica who lives in southern California, is probably gagging right now because "Those boxes just have junk in them." and she is right, and I do have recipes that I make from scratch, but it's nice to be lazy sometimes.

Our chickens finally started to lay eggs (well we think two of them have anyways). This happened on the 27th. We woke up to find 2 eggs in the coop that day, and have gotten 1 egg each day since.

Our 2 eggs (from the first day)

Our chickens... this is Sunny, 

Scrambles,

Yolkie, and Omelet

So yes once again Christmas is over, it came and went so fast. I'm grateful for another wonderful year, and I'm also grateful for one more week off of school (yes we don't start our school work again until next Monday the 6th), I'm going to need it. :)

How does 3000 miles feel during Christmas?

Getting asked this question is never easy, and most of the time I have no idea what to say anyways. How does it feel to live so far away from your family and friends during the holidays. For me it's just our way of life. It's something that I've had to deal with for a while now, and you just get use to it. The independent person in me likes to say that I like my privacy, and love the freedom of being able to do Christmas my own way, and that is partly right. Every now and then though the feeling creeps up on me, the feeling of why can't I be there with them, and the feeling of that not being fair. I have learned a long time ago that life isn't fair. So how do I deal with that feeling, of missing friends and family that live thousands of miles away?

When my grandfather was in the hospital, and my family was sure he wasn't going to live much longer, my dad said something to me that I have never forgotten. He told me that even though poppop wouldn't be with us anymore, we would still have all of our fond memories of him, and that when we missed him we could just think of one of them, and it would be like he was still here. I was 15 when he died and this really helped. I had a lot of great moments with him, he is still to this day one of my most favorite people (and I have meet a lot of people). So I still use that technique, and just relive some of my favorite memories with some of my favorite people.

like...
-My little sister coming to visit me in San Diego
-Jessica and I eating oranges and watching the Mythbusters
-Talking with Sarah in her kitchen watching her make cinnamon raisin bread
-Baking cookies with my Grandmother
-Working on my old VW with my dad
-Flying home, and surprising my Mother
-Playing Phase 10 with my brother and his wonderful wife
-Staying up way past bed time, and talking with my older sister
-Walking my kids to school with our neighbor Courtney tagging along
-Putting highlights in Dawn and Becky's hair
-Tricking Jessica into picking out her own birthday present
-Arriving in BWI to my dad alive and well after recovering from his accident
-Kandi and Amanda showing up at the hospital offering to take care of Darien and Nathaniel, so I could stay there with Zach

... the list could go on and on.


That's what I do. I makes me feel extremely blessed to have such wonderful memories. Now I know a lot of you may not be fan of the twilight series, but in the prologue of the first book, there is a quote that is just one of my favorite quotes

"When life offers you a dream so far beyond any of your expectations, it's not reasonable to grieve when it comes to an end."

I really do feel like God has really blessed me with a lot of great experiences even if they didn't last as long as I wanted them to. I like to think about this every time I feel upset about where I am, and how much I wish I could live in my favorite city, instead of here (I know, I really shouldn't say that).

I really hope this helps anyone who is maybe missing someone this season (or any season). Don't forget to count your blessings.

My go to hair styles

So Friday I posted this picture to Facebook

I've been growing my hair out for two years. The last time I cut more than half an inch off was right before this picture was taken...

I haven't have a lot of pictures posted of how long my hair has gotten since then, so I had a huge reaction to the top picture, and many questions of how I do my hair now that it's long. Also just so everyone knows, I do not wear fancy hair styles like the one in that picture everyday. That would really be to much.


So an easy style that I go to all of the time in the Lace Twist.

I like to do it on the very front section of my hair, just to get it out of the way. So usually right after I wash my hair, or on days that my hair isn't crazy and frizzy, I'll wear it like this. (oh and go easy on me, I'm not wearing make-up in any of these :P)

Next go to in the Waterfall Braid

This is also another great one to just get that front section out of your way. So as long as the back of my hair looks great, I'll wear this one.

One that I do A LOT is pigtails. Yes I know, I'm pushing 30, and I still wear pigtails. I really don't care.
So I know we have all seen the braided pigtails right? Like this...

But have you seen the Rope Braided ones?

Or the Fishtail Braided ones?

Yeah I like to switch it up a bit, so that way even though it is pigtails at least it looks interesting. :)
Also pigtails are awesome because if you have to wear a hat (because it is really cold outside), the hat won't mess up your hair style.

So next is the Katniss Braid

 
Have you seen the Hunger Games? The main character Katniss Everdeen wears her hair like this, and I love it. I like to do this one, when my hair is to lumpy and frizzy to leave down.


Yes so those are my favorites! I hope this helps all of you long haired girls, and maybe some short haired ones too :)

So... Just so you know, this is going to be a long one

You saw the title right? Okay so you have been warned. This post consisted of all of the things we've been up too this month.



Gotta Have Those Shoes

I saw these shoes on pinterest a few weeks ago, and immediately wanted them

Since they are nike (clearly), I started my search on Nike's website, and found nothing. :( I tried a few other websites that I know to have shoes, but I come up dry. Does the shoe even exist?

About a week later during a skype call to my sister-in-law Jessica, I explain all of my shoe woes. Jessica is a shopping guru, so she volunteers to help me in my search. She finds them on Buckle's website, the only problem is, they don't have my size. Jessica then suggest that I look and see if there is a Buckle near me, the actual store may have my size.

Turns out there is one really close to me in the little mall 10 miles away. I start to get really excited at this point, and can't wait to go shopping the next day.

We get to the mall and once I walk into the store, I know there is no way the shores are here. The store was mostly clothing and a few pairs of shoes here and there, so I just pull up a picture of the shoes on my phone and show it to the sales associate. He tells me that he can look at other stores inventory and get the correct size and shoes sent to this store. Yay! Once again I get really excited until... "Did you say you were a size 7.5?" ... So it turns out they don't have any in that size, or in an 8 (yes I asked). I guess that means all of the stores don't have my size? None of them?

At this point I ready to admit defeat, pick up Jeremy's PS4 (that's the reason he's out), and go home, but Jeremy insist that we check a few more stores. To make a long story short after checking five stores and finding nothing, we pick up the PS4 and go home.

On our way home Jeremy looks over at me and says "When we get home I am going to find those shoes for you."

"But you just got your new system, and I don't think these shoes exist anymore."

"Oh I'll find them, don't you worry."

At this point I felt like crying. It was a very loving thing to do, to put my wants before his. :)

So Jeremy searches and like Jess and I, he doesn't get far, until he starts a chat session with a nike sales rep (yeah I didn't know you could do that either). It turns out the shoes were discontinued some months ago, which is why they are so hard to find. This is when my husband decides that the only place they would be in on ebay... "Hey honey I found a pair in your size, but it's yellow is that okay?" Yeah he really didn't need to ask (yellow is my favorite color).

The kid needs glasses

About a month ago at co-op, all of the kids had a basic eye exam. All of my sons passed except Zachary. So I schedule him an appointment and the only time they had available before December was last Wednesday. Zachary it turns out is nearsighted and only need glasses for distance. I let him pick out a pair at Wal-mart. This of course makes Olivia jealous. They had Hello Kitty glasses there, and she wanted a pair. Of course Hello Kitty really isn't Zachary's style, so he picked out these...

I think they look great :)




Hey I Need Those Nilla Cookies

So last monday (a week from today) I made a list of what I was going to make on thanksgiving day. I was going to go to the commissary the next day, and pick everything up. That night I remember having a dream that I went shopping and had a great time, but when I got home the boys ate all of the nilla cookies (which I need for a pie), and so I have to go out and get more. Yes all of this in a dream.

The next day while we are all out shopping (the kids and I), I tell them about the dream, and we all have a good laugh, but when we get home, guess who I find getting into the cookies. Yes right when we walk through the door. Yes I should have pick up two boxes.




Olivia Discovers Where I Hide My Nail Polish, and Catching Fire

So yesterday Jeremy and I spent the first part of the morning cleaning the house. We were going on a date that night, and having a sitter watch the kids (first time this year). I was doing the dishes, and the house was quiet... to quiet. So I tell Jeremy to track down Olivia, and make sure she isn't getting into trouble. After about 30 sec Jeremy tells me that he going to let me get this one. I get with-in 10 feet of the door to my room, and I know immediately what she's gotten into. Yup the nail polish. The first thing she says to me is "I'm coloring mommy, get out." Really, it's my room. Jeremy took this picture...

It was all over her though. She decided that painting her nails wasn't enough. Her legs, feet, and hands were a big nail polish mess.

This added to the list of things to clean before the sitter gets here. Luckily we got the house and Olivia looking perfect and we were able to have a really good time at the movies.

We saw Catching Fire, and it was awesome. At no point in the movie was I disappointed, so yes I will be buying the blu-ray. The Huger Games is one of my favorite book series, and I enjoy reading them over and over again.




The Van Is At The Doctors

Alright, so lastly. Our van needed some work. The heat hasn't worked any this season, it's been awful having to drive it (also driving 2 hours to go hiking in a van with no heat is a bad idea... just so you know) and the check engine light came on the other day. Yikes! So today I take it into the dealership and the guy mentions that their are also some recalls on it, and that if we want to get that taken care of as well it may take a few days, but we would get a rental car for free. Well okay that doesn't sound to bad, but before we could set this up they had to find out what was wrong with the car, to see if they could fit everything in, and if they had the right parts. So we wait 3 hours (I'm not joking). The dealer ship did have this...

But this only kept us entertained for an hour. They said that the check engine was easy to figure out, but the heat took forever. Turns out the coolant cap was missing, and I was out of coolant (yeah I have not idea how that happened, and nether do they). So they get me a rental, and set the rest of the repairs up, and then we went home. Yes we were so grateful just to go home. The rental car is a Chrysler mini van. The siding doors open and close at the push of a button... yeah ... wow... I've never had a fancy car. Jeremy is trying to convince me to get a new van (or maybe a new used van), he found an E series at a dealership two hours from here (and included a ferry ride). It looked like a nice car... 2008 only 50,000 miles, but the dealer was not willing to wheel and deal over the phone, and I told him there was no way I was going over there just to have a salesman talk me into a deal I don't want to make.


So that's all for now. I'll write again soon :)

What are your days like?

Hi everyone, I'm doing something a little different today, so bear with me. This is going to be a log of a somewhat hectic but typical day for me. I'm sure most of you moms can relate. Weather you have one child or more... does this sound like you?

At 6:30 am I am woken up 30 minutes before my alarm goes off, to a crying like girl who can't find her bracelet. Most mornings I wonder why I even bother to set the alarm. My sons are up and fixing breakfast in the kitchen. Even though they know they can sleep in until 7am, they never do. They are all grumpy and irritating each other, as I walk in and grab a bowl for Olivia, who is at the television asking to watch Wreck-it-Ralph, and she would also like juice and milk please. By the time I find the movie, fix her breakfast, and get her dressed, the boys are ready to start school. I myself am hungry, but I'll eat later when things slow down.

I set down with Nathaniel and we go over his spelling words this week, while my older two work on their math. Ten minutes into this, I am interrupted by my three year old, who apparently needs help going to the bathroom. After following her upstairs however, I find that she doesn't need or even want my help at all, she just wants me to be there. This is when I notice my throat is dry and I have only enough time to grab a glass of water, before I am called back downstairs by Zachary, who needs help with a problem in math.

After helping Zachary with math, getting Nathaniel start on math, and taking the dog out (yeah almost forgot to do that), I go back upstairs (I should mention that our schoolroom is in the basement) to the kitchen. I'm about to get a bowl of cereal, when my three year old tells me that she would now like to watch Cinderella. So I put that on for her, but by that time Nathaniel needs me. So I decide to grab a glass of milk instead of fixing a bowl of cereal. I get Nathaniel back on track, and start the laundry. This is when Olivia comes to tell me that Zazzles (our new kitten) is in the Christmas tree again, and won't come out. All of this and it is only 9:30am. I pry Zazzles out of the tree, finally grab some breakfast, and sit down to grade some papers. Of course ten minutes into that, and the three year old has to use the bathroom again. She is refusing to go with out me there.

I hear the washer ding, and rush back downstairs to switch the load over to the dryer, and start a new one. This is when I notice that the cats are out of food. I look all over the laundry room, only to remember that the bag of food is upstairs in the kitchen (of course it is, because putting it up there made perfect sense at the time). While upstairs I notice Olivia has a different dress on, and ask her about it. Apparently her last dress wasn't as magical as this one. Okay whatever at least she has closes on.

After feeding the cats, I go back to my disk, to finish an e-mail to our homeschool supervisor about our progress last month. The dryer dings along with the washer, and it's back to the laundry. I hear my phone ding, reminding me to put on my eczema cream. It goes off everyday at 12pm, and the boys know that, so I hear them cheer and rush upstairs to get some lunch. After about a minute I yell up to them reminding them to help Olivia if she is hungry. This is when Darien tells me, that she has the box of Captain Crunch and has been snacking on that, so she may not be hungry. Yeah I know, that's not a meal. The boys are nice enough to fix her a sandwich and peel her half an orange anyways, and she eats half of both (yeah typical three year old).

At this time I have the laundry folded and sorted into piles. I call my sons downstairs to put away their share. By this time in the day, Darien and Nathaniel are already finished with their school, but Zachary has a few pages left. I walk upstairs in hopes of grabbing a book and having 30 minutes to myself when Olivia tells me she is hungry. "Well where is your lunch? Eat the rest of that." But she tells me she can't because the dog ate it. After getting her a snack, I notice the dishes need to be done, so I unload, and reload the dishwasher.

I finally sit down and I am so excited to start reading. YAY ME TIME! After fifteen minutes of reading bliss, Darien pops his head into my room to tell me that the dishwasher is leaking (yes ours is temperamental if it gets a little dirty it will clog and leak). I stop the dishwasher, mop up the puddle, and clean the whole thing out. Yes during all of this I am interrupted by Olivia needing another supervised bathroom break. After all of that Zachary tells me the dyer is finished, and he is also finished with his school work. Awesome! So it's back to folding and sorting.

Nathaniel finds me after I am finished with the laundry, and asks me if I would read his Nemo book with him, so he could play video games (we have a rule where you have to read for a set amount of time, before being allowed to play video games). We read together and I am very pleased with his progress. This is also when Darien tells me that he has also read, so he and Nathaniel start to play minecraft together. By this time I remember that I haven't had lunch, and it's almost 3pm... already...

I fix myself a sandwich and settle back down in my room, and begin to read again. I get a hour, a whole hour of reading bliss (it was wonderful), then it's time to start on dinner.

Yes I'm going to stop there, because I'm sure you can imagine what the rest of the night was like, with the fixing of dinner, Jeremy coming home, more dishes to do, and baths to be given (well just to Olivia, I'm so glad the boys a very self sufficient). I sure a lot of you moms can relate weather you work, or stay at home, weather you send them to school, or teach them at home, weather you have one child or ten, yeah you know the feeling. ;)

:)

You know it's nice to notice that your favorite group has a new album out, one that you knew nothing about, and you stumble upon it, and giggle with glee. Without hesitation you download it and think "tonight in going to be awesome!"