to avoid making a budget for march, i blog...

Plus, I really felt the need to post something a little more cheerful; that last post was dreadful.  I've had a much better week.  Can I share?

I have to admit, as much as I crave and love the alone time that comes when the kids are with Ken, I really start to miss them after the first couple of days; after I've worked out enough and caught up on cleaning, laundry, and errands.  I really have a pretty amazing deal - not only do I have the best ex-husband EVER, but I get to see the kids even on the days that he has them. We meet every morning so I can take the kids to school and then I usually have them until he gets off work and takes them for the evening.

Tax season is a little different though; not only do I work the full 40 hour work week, but it's at a different time each day.  Ken's parents have been amazing helping with the girls on the days that they don't have school, and also letting me drop the kids off right after school on days I work late, rather than waiting until Ken can get them around 5:30-6:00. They get so bored being at work, and I have a very hard time concentrating (and being patient with them!!!).

Anyway, long explanation, but what I'm trying to say is that it seems that I haven't seen them so much in the last two months since tax season got underway.  So I picked them up on Tuesday and we've been having a great time!  Tuesday I got off work early and we hit the library and swimming at the Rec, followed by half-price Happy Meals at McDonald's (truly, the best day of the week!), baths, homework and bed.  Then today it was work and school, dinner at Andrew's, home for homework and washing faces, hands, teeth, brushing hair, and bed.  Nothing too terribly exciting, but it felt a bit more normal than things have felt lately and it has made me feel happy. And I love feeling that way...happy, that is.

Not so happy items thus far in the week:

*Back of my iPhone cracked! WHAT HAPPENED!?!? We'll never know, but I'm pretty sure this girl was the culprit:

Who? Me? How dare you accuse me of such a heinous crime...

I had a Zagg on the back and so I didn't realize anything was wrong until I took a very close look and saw that something was amiss, pulled the cover back and discovered the unthinkable...so I took it to Verizon, but they couldn't do anything for me since I didn't have their super expensive insurance package.  Then I called the Apple store in the Boise mall, explained the situation and that I was in NAMPA, and asked what they could do. They set up an appointment for me for 8:10 that night to replace the back for $29.00 (sweet!), and Mo and Anna were kind enough to not only accompany me, but DRIVE me there.  So we got there, and guess what?? They didn't have the part in stock!! I know, I know...I was disappointed in Apple too.  So that was lame, but it was fun to hang out with Mo and Anna.

*Olivia hyper-extended her fingers today while horsing around on furniture at Andrew's house (let THAT be a lesson to you, after I've scolded them a hundred times about not jumping on furniture). The middle, ring and pinkie fingers of her right hand were the victims, and not only are they painful, but they are starting to swell and discolor. She had to color a picture left-handed tonight, and let me tell you folks, it was not pretty.  

Olivia, in happier, goofier times...

*Can any one else explain to the adult acne fiasco to me? I avoided the awkward teenage acne years, only to be bombarded in my very late twenties.  What the hell?  Drives me crazy. Also, slightly embarrassing since Adelaide will point out any blemish on my face, quite loudly, to any one that will listen, as an "owie". Thanks for the reminder, Adelaide.

I'll leave you with some pictures from Christian's last basketball game. They didn't win a single game, but he had such a good little attitude and never complained about it once. He was just happy to be playing the game.

bad day...

No one likes to read a depressing post, so I'll keep it short.

I had a bad day. Well, I've had several as of late.  There was a great quote I found on Pintrest (man, I love that good-for-nothing, time-wasting, inspiring, yet depressing website!!) that I try and remember:  "Don't let a bad day make you feel like you have a bad life".

I have such a good life; I am so blessed with health, employment, wonderful, beautiful children, and surrounded by a family that loves me and takes care of me.  But some days are hard. I feel weighed down by my responsibilities as a mother, employee, house cleaner, laundry and dish doer, etc. I don't feel like I do enough, slow down enough, enjoy enough, these days when my babies are still babies.  It makes my heart so heavy.

I know I only have like, two readers (you know who you are!), but do you ever feel like that? Like life has turned out so differently than you thought it would?  If you do, what do you do to pull yourself out of that awful funk?  Suggestions appreciated...

inspired...

So I have to tell you about my sister-in-law.  This girl is amazing.  In fact, I can't decide if she is perfect. I think she might be.  Can I tell you why?

1. She has an amazingly positive attitude; she is ALWAYS smiling or laughing!

Exhibit #1:  Mad cheerful skillz...even while hefting a large pumpkin...

2. She is Mother-Teresa kind. She always has a cheerful greeting and kind word for you, and never lets any one feel left out.

3.  She is a smart cookie!  She got her Bachelor's degree in Nursing and is an RN at St. Al's in Boise (now why didn't I think of going into nursing!?!).  And she's been doing that awhile! I think she got her RN when she was basically a teenager, which means she didn't dilly dally in college like the rest of us.

4.  She is an amazing baker. She worked in a pastry shop in Sun Valley when she was in high school (also very cool!) and she makes crap that can only be found in Food Network magazine and on pintrest. But believe me, her stuff LOOKS like the pictures.  And tastes even better.  We all hope and pray that she brings dessert to Sunday dinners every week.

Exhibit #2: Mad baking skillz....

5.  She is a bit narcoleptic.  The girl can fall asleep anywhere within 45 seconds.  Give her a shoulder, a couch to sit on, or enough room to stretch out on the floor and bam! She's out.  But she's even cute asleep, so we all just nudge each other, point, and chuckle while shaking our heads at her.

Exhibit #3:  Mad sleeping skillz...

6.  She is beautiful!! Like in a classically beautiful way.  Ro and I have compared her to Audrey Hepburn, and her patients have too.  I'm sorry, but my brother married WAY up.

Exhibit #4:  Mad beauty skillz... 

7.  She adores my brother.  They are so lovely to watch together; the way Mo teases her mercilessly, but is so terribly affectionate towards her, that you know he's only teasing her about the things that he secretly adores about her.  And the way she can't resist reaching up on her tip toes to kiss his cheek or snuggle into his arms, you know she is so happy with him.  Together they enjoy biking (like serious biking, people, not some random 10 minute ride semi-annually) in nifty spandex shorts and fancy shoes, and I think that's pretty cool too.

Exhibit #5: Mad being-in-love skillz...

8. Oh! And she is an AMAZING blogger!  She really stepped it up this last year, and I cannot tell you how much I enjoy her posts.  She is funny, well spoken, and comes up with the coolest topics and pictures.

Bottom line: I am inspired by this woman! I want to be more like her (except for the baking part, she can keep that).  It's good to have role models, even when you're almost 30.

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas (except the snow)...

Ohh...and here is where I get overwhelmed.  It's been too long since I posted, and now I'm left with the decision to catch up or just start where we are now?  Boo.

This is such a great time of year.  I love Christmas. I love the music, the festivities, the decorations, and the warm, happy feeling in my heart.  Here's what we've been doing this month:

* Andrew & I decked the halls at his place...       

* We decked the halls at my place...

* We had a housewarming party with the fam! My awesome, awesome siblings and my awesome, awesome boyfriend have been helping me remodel the casita and it looks amazing. It's like living in a whole new place, and we are enjoying it so very much. Here is Ro overseeing the Lion House Wassail that we found online. It was DELICIOUS. I think it needs to be a staple at Christmas time from this time on.

We also got to take a sibling picture. This was the best we could do, but we had a riot trying.

* Andrew and I went to the Boise Philharmonic's performance of Handel's Messiah.  I wept, Andrew slept.  Well, just for a little bit.  It was so, so, so beautiful, and I was so happy that we were able to go.

* Santa sent us an elf! His name is Max, and he flies home to the North Pole every night to report on the good and evil doings of the children.

* I hurt my knee about two weeks ago. Went on a fairly short run - four miles and felt great. Two hours after I ran, I had this awful pain on the outside of my right knee. I walked with a limp for about two days. So...even though I didn't want to...I took it easy. I didn't run for another two weeks.  So then on Saturday I decided I'd try again, take it easy, run three miles. Right after two miles, it started bothering me and stubborn me - I just had to push it a couple laps more. And now I'm hurting again. :( So frustrating because I truly, truly enjoy running and everything that comes with it.  Also, I've never had an injury before. Is this a sign of getting OLDER??? I've been doing a Pilates video at home, but it's just not the same. :( All I want for Christmas is my bad knee to go away.

Plans for the rest of December include:
* A Christmas party for my work tomorrow night and then the kids are off to Ken's until Christmas Eve. Andrew and I are driving to Burley to watch the BSU bowl game and then maybe we'll head down to Salt Lake City? It's been years and years since I've been and I'd love to go again.

* Christmas Eve with the Hyer clan.

* Christmas with family, friends, and hopefully lots of good food and sleep.

Like I said, I love this time of year and all of the fond memories that are created.  New Year's resolutions are right around the corner and I'm already thinking of things I can do well for the first two weeks, and then fail miserably at the rest of the year. :)

and preschool is a go...

After a long, long process, Adelaide has finally qualified for preschool at Lakeridge Elementary School, where she will attend the Auditory/Oral classroom! She starts on November 28th and will go Monday through Thursday, 12:15 to 2:45. AND, they'll bus her to and from school! My little girl gets to ride the short bus! So excited for her.

Last weekend we participated in a community service project for the kids' school; we raked leaves for some elderly couples around Sherman.  There was about 75 parents, teachers, kids, etc. and we raked 13 homes.  It was a beautiful (and chilly!) morning, and Christian was such a trooper! He stuck with it and raked and bagged leaves the entire time, with no complaints.  Olivia made it about 1/2 an hour and then she wimped out and hung out in the van.  Andrew took Adelaide on some errands, so I didn't have to worry about her. It was just a good experience to be doing service with the kids; I hope that we're able to do more in the future.

I can't believe the holidays are upon us. I love this time of year.  I love the weather, I love the holidays (and the time off!), I love the opportunity to think about things that I'm grateful for, and I really do have SO much to be grateful for.

What (or WHO!) I am most grateful for...

Enough said.

eight weeks in review...

I am so miserable at this blogging thing.  I'm sitting here trying to remember what has even happened in the last two months, and I can't think of anything. Thank goodness for photos on my phone.


CHRISTIAN:


1. Is a FANTASTIC student. Don't tell him, but at parent-teacher conferences, his teacher let me know that he reads 160 words per minute - the fastest student of the three second grade classes. He is her top student, and such a good, kind boy. "Not a bad bone in his body", were her words.  This made my heart so full and happy. I've always known that he is a great kid, with the patience and tenderness of someone much older; but whenever I hear it validated (which is quite often), I'm so grateful that I get to raise this little boy.


2.  He's not so little. He turned EIGHT on September 26th. We had an awesome little family party with all of my family there, and my SIL Anna made an amazing ninja cake for him.  He was so excited about the whole event and we had a great time.

3. He got baptized!  Mo baptized him, and his Grandpa Bob confirmed him (along with Aaron Geyer, Grandpa Edgardo, Mo, Grandpa Hyer, and Bishop Fleshman).  It was a special experience for him, and I was happy that he made the decision.

OLIVIA:


1. She's not a bad student either! She's right on track, or ahead in all of her subjects, and her teacher reports that she is a model student. She sits next to her best friend Natalie, and her teacher said that they never talked and so she's never had to worry about moving them.  


2.  She got moved.  :)  Apparently, she figured out it's fun to talk about fun things with your friend while your teacher is teaching.  But she doesn't seem too upset.  She generally likes school very much and particularly enjoys going to PE and the library.  Last Wednesday, they went on a field trip (who DOESN'T remember and love field trips!) to Linder Farms and got to do all of the little activities out there, and pick out a little pumpkin. She had a great time!


3.  Olivia wanted to be a witch for the second year in a row.  I think she makes a pretty good witch, and after we finally figured out how to make the wig not scratch her head, she's a good sport about wearing the thing.

ADELAIDE:


1.  Obsessed with horses!! I got this for her for her Halloween costume and she wears it all the time, or drags it around behind her.  She has a couple of stuffed horses as well, and the cutest thing ever is when she puts the stuffed horse between her legs and waddles/rides it.  Always good for a smile.

2.  Did I mention it seems like we've been sick for the last two months? And this little girl has had some form of the flu about three times in the last 6 weeks or so.  She doesn't even go to daycare! Where is she getting it from?  Anyway, she's been a trooper.  And I have been, too!! I don't want to gross you out, but the amount of bodily fluids I've cleaned up in the last two months has been...depressing?  Disgusting?  Frustrating?  All of the above?


3.  I have been very busy the last couple of weeks, and more so in the weeks to come, getting Adelaide ready for preschool. There are a lot of evaluations and meetings that need to be completed and attended, and I've visited the preschool several times, trying to decide which classroom to put her in. She'll attend the preschool taught by the Idaho Educational Services for the Deaf and the Blind (IESDB), and there are two classes: Total Communication (TC, essentially a signed english class) and Auditory-Oral (AO, NO sign, completely oral class).  I've been very conflicted because I use quite a bit of sign with her and I feel like it has been INVALUABLE in our communication. I can't tell you how many times she didn't have her implant on, for whatever reason, and I was still able to "talk" to her and know what she wanted.  She also understands better when she has that visual back-up.  And what parent doesn't want their kid to be bilingual?  And finally, she is deaf.  She always will be, and ASL is the language of deaf people.  I feel like I want to give her that, so if she wants to make that culture a bigger part of her life later on, she won't be held back.


Now, for the flip side of that.  Ken and I chose to have her bilaterally implanted with cochlear implants.  We want English to be her primary language.  That is made SO evident anytime that ANYONE talks to her.  She is comfortable with, and responds well, to a handful of people's voices that she hears all of the time. And of course, anytime there is background noise, it is also difficult for her to understand.  So if there is background noise, or a voice that she isn't familiar with, or someone who doesn't understand she is deaf, I'm constantly repeating/signing what they are saying to her.  This is fine for me now, I'm happy to do it. But, knowing her, I know that she would get frustrated by needing a translator all of the time.  And I want her to be able to communicate with her family, friends, the general population, in the language they all speak.  So, putting her in the AO classroom would force her to start learning that English, without any reinforcement from sign language.  Tough choices.


DIANA:


1.  The days and weeks go so quickly, it's frightening. I'm just sure that I'll wake up tomorrow and I'll be in my sixties.  For now, I'm enjoying the changing weather; watching the leaves fall and smelling the crisp air.  


2.  I ran a 10K with my cousin, Josh, a couple of weeks ago. The race course was on the greenbelt in Boise and it was a beautiful morning. Josh made me run faster than I ever run and I finished the race in just over 55 minutes.  And then Josh's girlfriend held my iPhone while I puked in the nearest trashcan. Not one of my finer moments; I blame it on no breakfast and Josh, for making me run so dang fast.

And just for good measure, here's a few pictures of the garden. We put it to bed a couple of weeks ago. Here is Uncle Dan and Uncle Mark harvesting potatoes on a SUPER old contraption. It made me laugh because I know how Andrew harvests their potatoes. Enough said. If you need more of an explanation, ask me.

Playing in the dirt will be missed.

what happened?

Man, I was totally doing awesome there for a while. So what happened?

GREEN BEANS. 

Good times.

FREEZER CORN.

 No pictures. But it was six hours of good fun and some of the most 

delicious corn  I've ever tasted. I think we should have those guys 

grow it for us every year.  

We'll knock down five rows, no problem.

MICHEAL BUBLE CONCERT!!

Andrew's parents took some of us to this concert and it was PHENOMENAL.

 Loved it.  Especially loved it when we drove all the way to the concert, 

and then Andrew realized he left his ticket at home. 

 But he made it eventually. As far as the pictures go...

Andrew never knows where to look at the camera.

WESTERN IDAHO FAIR!!!

My first time ever. My favorite part by far was seeing the animals.

Followed closely by the yummy fair food.

You'd think he sees enough John Deere equipment at work...

SCHOOL STARTED.

And no, I'm not one of those moms. 

The only tears I cried were tears of joy and happiness.

Just being honest.

This is how Lou felt about being left behind.

But why go to school when you can play with ink pads all day?

 IN ADDITION...
*I worked a long week (we're talking 35 hours, people!) when half the office was out of town
*My AC broke down for the 3rd time this summer!  Replace the damn thing already!!
*The usual loads of laundry, dishes (by hand, mind you), vacuuming, dusting, yard work, bathing kids, brushing teeth, trying to keep my sanity, etc, etc.


I guess I've just been a little busy.  Did I mention that I'm in WASHINGTON, DC!?  At an IRS Tax Forum...and believe me, I have never been surrounded by so many people who look like accountants. Oh wait...rriiigghhhttt...I also don't think I've seen anyone under 45 for two days straight.  But I'm learning a lot! And I'm so grateful for the opportunity to come! Have I mentioned that I have just about the best boss ever!? (And she doesn't read my blog, so I'm totally not sucking up.)  


This was my view from a bench at lunch time.  

And last night...so beautiful.

We're going to do an amazing tour tomorrow night; hopefully I will remember to take a lot of pictures.  I miss the kids.  But time flies here too...I'll be home before I know it.