My week in a nutshell . . .

Wow, it's so easy to get behind . . . ok, a super quick update of last week . . .
I've been to the dentist twice in the last week for a tooth that wasn't even bothering me to begin with and I have another appointment for it next week.

I've been to the doctor's office 3 different times with Vance for a check-up, blood-work and follow up.

I've been to the vet with Nutmeg. She has Lyme disease . . . from a tick that bit her last spring! I knew I was justified in hating ticks. And she has a yeast infection in her ear. . .

I've been visiting teaching to 7 of the 8 sisters on my list. (To be completely fair, some we just drop goodies off to--they won't let us in to talk)

I've been at the school 3 different times volunteering, once for 3 1/2 hours.

I've been to my doctor once.

Had lunch with Anna---that's was great!

The kid's church activities on Wednesday.

Taken Myshel to and from school twice and to and from work . . . I don't know, I lost count.

The kids had a four day weekend.

Vance had a scout jamboree camp out. (and froze!)

I did 800 loads of laundry (I swear it felt like that many)

And I found out that our ward isn't doing a trunk-or-treat this year . . . the year that Halloween falls on Sunday!!!! What to do now??? Is it fair to skip Halloween altogether?

I'm sure I left things out, but I think that I got the main things in there.

It's Pouring . . .

It's been awhile since I posted, longer than I thought. It's been a crazy few weeks at our house. It seems that the saying "when it rains, it pours" really is true. Between kids, summer, family, migraines, church, school coming, Myshel's job and starting college, the navy, vehicles, and all the everyday house stuff, it's been pouring like crazy around here.

Some of the things I'll post about, some I won't. I'll start with the navy, because it seems to enjoy throwing my life upside down. About 2 weeks ago Chad found out that they'd let him take an earlier leave (He was planning on coming home in September for about a week and a half) and he'd be able to stay a week longer. We were pretty excited. The day that Chad was going to put in the official request, his ship got word that they were being deployed a month early and all leave was canceled. We were crushed. It looked like we'd be going 10 months without seeing Chad at all. We always knew that was a possibility when he left and we stayed here, but it was devastating nonetheless.

The next few days we spent waiting on a special request for leave. It was a long shot and we never really expected to get it, but Chad called me on a Friday night and said that he'd been approved for one week of leave and it started the next night. He asked me to check into plane tickets for that Sunday. ----I don't advise buying plane tickets 36 hours before you need them unless you absolutely have to ---- really expensive!!!

So Chad was on a plane out of Norfolk at 5:45 Sunday morning. It was great to have him home even for just a week. It was terrible saying good-bye again, especially knowing that it would be 8 months before he'd be back from deployment. To add to the stress and frustration, his flight back to Norfolk was canceled and we had to scramble to get him to Boston to catch a plane first thing Monday morning. Thank goodness for friends!

Chad slept, or tried to sleep, in the Boston airport Sunday night, caught his flight at 6:30AM, got into Norfolk around 10AM and went straight to work until 7PM, slept for a few hours and had to stand watch from 1AM- 4AM. Not a very fun couple of days for him.

Chad also was told that the deployment was extended a few weeks and that they wouldn't be pulling into port for the first four months. That's not the kind of news that either of us wanted to hear.

It's been pouring . . . I'm really hoping for a slow drizzle instead!

Ice Avalache.....

A few nights ago Chad and I were sitting in the living room watching TV, the kids were in bed. We started hearing this rumbling on the roof, which kept getting louder and louder. Vanilla was outside barking at whatever it was. It took us several seconds (which seemed more like minutes) to figure out what the rumbling was. It was the ice blocks on the roof breaking and sliding of the roof. It scared us so bad. Rumbling, rumbling CRAASSHHH! And then the dog started barking. That really had me nervous! She was fine, but if one of these blocks had fallen on her, it definitely would have killed her. The blocks fell on our fence and squish it, so, Chad had to go out and break up the blocks so that he could get it off the fence. Driving through housing the next day, you could see where blocks of ice has fallen off other roofs, too. Some broke wooden fences. Pretty scary, really!
The blocks were probably about 10 inches thick (at the bottom) and about 3 feet wide, The biggest one was about 6 feet long.

Uhhh, We've Got A Little Snow Around Here.............

We got about 10 inches or so more yesterday on top of what we already had.

This is the view from my front door.Looking down our road.
Looking across at the kids at the bus stop.
And, standing at the end of our driveway looking back toward the yard/house.
I suppose it's too much to hope that in the next 3 months we won't get any more snow!

We Have the Keys....

So, we finally got the keys and started moving over stuff yesterday. We hadn't seen the layout of it before, so it was our first look at the inside. The kids are thrilled with it. I think it's more the idea of a new place than anything else. Chad and I, on the other hand, are conservatively excited. There are some good things, but I think our bed room, if you can believe it, is actually smaller. I wouldn't have thought that was possible. Our bedroom here is really quite small. And the kitchen is less than thrilling. I've love to talk to the person that made the floor plans and the idiot who approved them! Anyway, we're moving and moving and cleaning and all that crap. I don't know what you'll here from me much for awhile now.

It's Raining, It's Pouring...............

It's unbelievable to me that next week, the week with Myshel's 16th birthday and Thanksgiving and all the kids home from school, is going to be my calm week. But, it is. I have 12 appointments (so far) in this work week. I don't know how that happens, but it does. Everything seems to fall on the same week........When it rains, it pours, sort of thing. I will be at the church 3 nights in a row and Chad's also working all those nights! It's going to be very crazy trying to get everything done. It is strange that I'm looking forward to next week, because it will be less hectic?!?

A Little Craziness Makes the Time Fly By.....

The first couple of weeks of school are a little nuts around here for us. Last Tuesday, Vance, McKaylie and Noah started school, but Myshel was at home. On Wednesday, Myshel started school but Vance was at home. (The middle and high schools do this to give the 6th graders and the 9th graders a day to themselves in school without all the older kids. It's actually a good idea.) On Thursday, Friday and Monday (yesterday), they were all at school. During all this time, Noah was only going to school for half the day, so he was home about 11:40AM. Today and tomorrow Noah doesn't have school, but tomorrow he goes in for his Kindergarten evaluation for an hour. On Thursday, he goes back to school and stays all day. It kind of wears me out just trying to keep everyone straight. I think it will be nice to just have everyone on their regular schedule.

Yesterday Chad went back to work. It seemed very strange not having him around. I like it when he's home and I don't think there's every been a time when I've not liked having him at home with me. It's hard to believe that it's been 3 weeks since his surgery. But then, it's hard to believe that it's the second week of September already! Before we know it, it will be Christmas! Yikes!

May is Winding Down..............Thank Goodness!

In my last post I mentioned how crazy and insane the month of May was/is. Well, it only got worse as the month went along. There were more appointments added, some schedules changed, church things, school things, family drama. It's been crazy with a capital C! There were times really that I felt like my head was spinning a bit. There were even a few days that Chad took off work so that we could divide and conquer. I don't like having my schedule that crazy. I don't see how people do it on a regular basis and keep from going insane. It hasn't all been bad, we've had some fun along the way, but it's just not for me. I am a much more laid back, easy going person and the hustle & bustle just isn't for me. I'm hoping that things will start to wind down now as the month is coming to an end. My kids still have 3 weeks of school left, so, there will be all the end of the year stuff, but I don't think it will be too bad. I'll keep my fingers crossed. So, now, I'll do my best to catch up on all the highlights of the month and post some pictures, too. And slowly try to catch up on reading your blogs that I love and have missed so much! It feels good to be back!

Morning Madness....

Yesterday, Vanilla woke me up at 5AM. Since Chad is gone I would have had to get up at 5:30 anyway to take Myshel to seminary, but I really would have appreciated that extra 30 minutes. The migraine from the day before seemed to be gone and I was feeling pretty good. I was grateful for that since it was going to be a busy day with lots of running around. As the morning went on my headache crept back in, though. It wasn't as bad as the day before, but still annoying. They always seem to come when I have tons to get done, which is probably why they come. Anyway, Chad usually takes Myshel to seminary on his way to work and then I pick her up, but this week, I get to take her there at 6AM. After I drop her off, I run home and check on the other kids and make sure they're up and getting ready, and then run back and get her. I'm only home for about 15-20 minutes. I've started dropping Myshel off at school on the way home from seminary, too. It's nice for me and she seems to like being there 30 minutes early. I think she hangs out with her friends in the commons area. Then I get home and about 10-15 minutes later Vance has to leave for school. Then I have the next 30 minutes to get McKaylie and Noah ready to go, because for some reason Vance won't do that while I'm gone, or they won't listen to him. It could go either way. McKaylie heads out to the bus stop around 8:10 and Noah and I leave as soon as she gets on the bus. I'm usually back home by about 9AM.

Yesterday at 9AM, I was completely exhausted! I felt like I had run a marathon or accomplished some major feat! But except for taking Myshel to seminary, this is a normal morning at our house. I don't know why yesterday morning was so challenging. The kids were good......I don't know, but it took everything I had to get up and get some cleaning done in the 2 hours before I had to pick up Noah and take him to speech. Being a mother is crazy some days!

At Least It's Over.......

Yesterday was a crazy day. I had to drag, I mean drag myself out of bed. It felt like I was getting a cold. I went through the usual morning routine; pick up Myshel, make lunches, rush the kids to get ready, get McKaylie off to the bus, drive Noah to school.....all the while thinking, I am such a mess, I look like I just rolled out of bed (which I kind of had), at least after I drop Noah off I can come home and shower and look and feel better...................yeeaaahh, that didn't happen!

When I got to Noah's school, they asked me if I was going to stay for the "Read With Me". They were having a make up day because the last date was cancelled because of snow. Read With Me is a great program, where we, the parents, learn about a kid's book, then we go in the classroom with our kids and the teacher reads the book to us. Then they have a craft that relates to the book. After that, the parents go back and discuss how we think the kids liked the book and then we're all given a copy of the book for free! It usually takes about an hour. I thought, "I probably look pretty scary, but I'll stay. It will only take an hour and we'll get our free book. Besides Noah will like that I was there when they read the book." So, I stayed. They finished the Read With Me and then announced that they were having some people come in and talk about the adult education programs in the area. Which is all great and dandy, except I'm really wanting to get out of there. 30 minutes later I was walking out and one of the teachers stopped me to "discuss" a few things. Fine, they weren't all that important, but whatever. 15 more minutes and I'm finally in my car.......

While I'm driving home, I remember that we forgot some of our food in the frig. at the church from the won ton making the night before. The family history center should be open so I figured I'm just slip in and get the food and I wouldn't have to see or be seen by anyone. Then I wouldn't have to make another trip later. I get to the church and there's a few cars there......ok, well, I might not know any of them.....they'll think I'm scary and sad and I'll be on my way. yeah, that didn't happen either. Our relief society presidency was having a meeting AND there were others there decorating for the sweetheart dance they're having tonight. Dang! I forgot all about that! I peeked in the gym, hoping that there was a lot of people helping and I wouldn't be missed. There was only 2 people besides the activities chairperson. Dang! I stayed and helped until it was time to go pick up Noah. All the time I was thinking, "of all the days that you didn't get up and shower and make yourself look half decent, you had to pick today!!!!!

I picked up Noah, ran home and was there exactly 35 minutes before we had to leave to go to speech therapy in Portland (about a 45 minute drive) That's not enough time to shower! I fixed myself up the best I could, grabbed something very quick to eat and we were off again. Speech went great. On Thursday I don't get home until about an hour and a half after Myshel and Vance get home from school. So, I called to check on them. This is how the conversation went.

Vance: Hello
Me: Hey bud, how is everything?
Vance: Good
Me: Myshel's home right?
Vance: Yeah, I think so.
Me: You think? You don't know?
Vance: Yeah, she's here.
Me: Let me talk to her.
I hear Vance yelling at her through the phone....."Myshel......Myshel.....Mom wants to talk to you", Myshel...... I can hear him walking through the house while he's yelling for her.
Vance: "She's not here"---just matter a fact--it's no big deal--whatever
Me, a little panicked: "What do you mean she's not there?"
Vance: "I don't know. She isn't here"
Me: "Seriously, she isn't there?"
Vance: "Moooommm, she isn't here"
Me: "Ok, I'm on my way home, bye"

Then I immediately called Chad told him about the conversation, that I was in Portland and he needed to find his daughter and then call me back. He left work early and came home.

About 20 long minutes later Chad called me back. She was at the school and would be home soon. She stayed after chatting with her friends and then decided to talk to her Algebra teacher about an assignment. I got home around 4:30. This is how the conversation went.

Myshel: Mom, I told you I might have to stay after school
Me: No, you said that if you decided to stay after school, you'd call me. You didn't call. I can't just assume that you're ok when you don't show up.
Myshel: I don't think that's what I said.
Me: You know the rules, you have to call and let us know, especially on speech days.
Myshel: Well, maybe if you'd get me a cell phone, it would be easier to call you.
Me: Nice try!

We also talked to Vance about how he should actually check to see if any one's home BEFORE he turns on the TV.

It was about 5 o'clock when all this was finished and I finally went and took my shower!

Maybe Everyday Should Be A School Day.....

Normally I like my kids having their days off from school. It's a break from all the running around and especially from the crazy mornings we seem to have. However.........this last long weekend is about to do me in. They not only had yesterday off, but they have today off, too, teacher's work day or something (except Noah, he's in school today). They're making me nuts!

It actually started last week. Myshel had her mid-terms last week and so the high school decided that they would let the kids go home after taking their tests. Which means, she was home by 10:45 on Thursday and Friday. Myshel was thrilled, Vance not so much. He was grumpy about it on Thursday, but it turned ugly by Friday.

We had a storm come through Friday morning that was a snowy/icy/rainy mix. Myshel was praying that it wouldn't cancel school (she wanted to be done with her mid-terms), Vance was praying that it would. Myshel's prayers won out. They had school. Vance was livid about it. It wasn't fair that Myshel didn't even have to go for 1/2 a day and he had to go all day. The whole thing totally set him off. To top it off, being the mean mother that I am, I made him wear his heavy coat and because of the weather I wouldn't let him walk. He jumped out of the car, slammed the door and didn't even say good-bye. His attitude was better when he got home from school and he did apologize. Although, through the weekend there's been a whole lot of acting up, maybe some pent up anger, I don't know.

McKaylie had a playdate on Saturday. She's been looking forward to it for a long time. I think she was just a little too excited about it, because Friday night into Saturday morning she was extremely hyper. She almost lost her playdate because of it. Her hyperness let to Noah's hyperness and it all was making me nuts and it lasted all weekend for both of them.

Myshel was sick all weekend with a bad cold, a little whiny, but all in all she wasn't too bad to handle. I did hear her say that she was dying a few times, but since I was pretty sure that wasn't true, I ignored it for the most part.

Chad also had a long weekend, which may have been my kids saving Grace. He was the buffer between them and me. Last night I finally told him that I didn't know why, but I was just so grumpy and that it wasn't taking much to set me off and begged him to just "deal" with them for awhile. He was very nice and distracted them for me. Personally I think he was just trying to keep me happy so that I wouldn't get grumpy with him, but whatever his reasons he helped me out and I'm grateful.

Today before I took Noah to school, I told the others that when I got back we'd have to pick up/clean for awhile. They didn't say much and I knew that it was not going to be fun. And it wasn't, at least not with Vance. The girls got to work without complaining, but Vance was mad. Apparently the chores he was given to do were not equal to the chores Myshel was given to do. So, now it's only 10AM and I'm extremely grumpy. On the bright side, Vance was given more chores because of his fit and so I've manged to get even more done around the house that I had originally planned! Kudos!

Looking back at this post I am realizing that this weekend's frustration has come a lot from Vance. There are other things I haven't added that the other kids did over the last 3 days, but I think that Vance has managed to infest our house with grumpiness. I guess I'll have to try and remedy that today.

I know my stress level the last couple weeks has been a little high and my tolerance and patience a little low. Maybe I've been infesting our house with grumpiness, too. You know the old saying, "when mom's not happy, nobody's happy". Maybe it's a combination of everything. I don't know but please tell me that I'm not the only one who has weekends like these!

Enough Snow Already!!!!!!

We got about another 10 inches of snow yesterday and then about an inch of ice on top of that! They even canceled church. I can think of only 3 times in my life that they've cancelled church and they've all been because of snow!

I thought we'd have a "breaking in" period to get used to the snow. You know, a little bit here, a little bit there. That way we could get used to it slowly. But, nope! we've been thrown into a Maine winter (and technically it isn't even winter yet) feet first! CRAZY!!!!This was during the storm yesterday. Everything is all icy today. Even the snow is crusted with ice. It's quite a mess and really hard to shovel and get through.

McKaylie was out playing around in it this morning and discovered that is she crawled on it, she would break through the icy layer on top. She thought that was the neatest thing! Chad was trying to stay on top of the snow yesterday. Within an hour you couldn't even tell he'd shoveled.
I am grateful we aren't living in some other places of the countries, though. They're getting completely buried and then getting ice storms. So, it could be worse. I sure feel for them!

Who wanted cupcakes anyway..................

Yesterday Noah and I made cupcakes. He kept telling me they were for Nutmeg's birthday, but really they were just because they sounded good. (I love Nutmeg and she is spoiled, but I don't buy her presents and make her cakes, that's a little extreme!) So, we mixed them up and baked the first batch. After I took them out, I put the potholder on the cupboard and filled the cupcake pan again for the last batch. When they were ready to come out Noah came with me to the kitchen---He always stands on the far side of the kitchen when I take things out of the oven---I picked up the potholder, and reached for the pan, but apparently I had laid the potholder down on a wet spot earlier and when I picked up the hot pan, the steam from that wet spot started to burn my fingers. It went something like this....................

*I let out a like yell and dropped the pan.
*All the cupcakes bounced out of the pan onto the bottom of the oven, some landing on the heating element.
*Noah's across the room yelling, "what did you do that for?"
*2 of my fingers are in serious pain and I know I need to get some ice
*the cupcakes on the heating element start to burn
*Noah's yelling, "you're ruining the cupcakes!"
*My fingers are burning, the cupcakes are burning and I'm trying to decide which to take care of first
*smoke starts billowing out of the oven, so I decide to deal with the cupcakes first
*Noah, jumping up and down---"you're starting a fire"
*I turned off the oven and used a wooden spoon to move/scrape the burned cupcakes off the heating element, that should at least stop the smoke
*My fingers (on my right hand) are still burning and I'm getting rather frustrated
*The cupcakes stop smoking, but my kitchen is now filled with smoke
*I turn on the fan and vent and open the kitchen windows and hope that the neighbors don't call the fire department when they smell smoke
*Noah stops jumping up and down and states, "I'm not eating those cupcakes! They're nasty", which when Noah says it sounds like na-he
*things are under control, but there are still cupcakes on the bottom of the oven
*We have an electric oven, so it takes quite awhile for it to cool down, so I'm a little worried that the cupcakes will continue to burn on the bottom of the oven.
*Noah, states flatly, "you can't just leave them there"
*He's getting s bit annoying, really
*I took my tongs and carefully plucked all those cupcakes out of the oven
*Got a small ice pack with a damp cloth for my fingers that still feel like they're on fire
*My kitchen is freezing cold because the windows are open, half the cupcakes are ruined and I have a blister on one of my fingers, but the house didn't burn down!

Yesterday evening I was showing my blister to Chad and explaining what had happened while Noah sat listening. When I was finished he came over and looked at my finger and said, "it's a pretty small blister, mom, and now we can't eat the cupcakes." Chad told him that when you burn yourself it hurts really bad. Noah kissed my finger and walked away. We could hear him mumbling, "it doesn't look like it hurts" on his way out of the room.

In 24 hours........well, 25 1/2 hours...........

Wednesday morning (ugh!)......
**pick up Myshel from seminary at 7AM
**made up 23 snack bags for Vance's Wednesday advisory class(he told me late Tuesday night that it was his turn to bring the snack, had to run to the store(grumble, grumble)-----what do 7th graders need a snack for anyway!?!?)
**made Myshel's lunch, made McKaylie's lunch
**got all the kids off to school without killing any of them, yeah!
**managed to get the house picked up before leaving for playgroup and visiting teaching
**decided to go to lunch with Chad, nice! Haven't done that in a long time!
**Noah fell asleep on the way home, also nice! I don't even remember the last time he took a serious nap. I enjoyed some peaceful "me" time----I don't even remember what I did, though!
**made curtains for Vance's room, they turned out ok
**made Noah a tie for his spiderman church shirt, turned out really cute, he'll probably never wear it, though
**cut out pattern for Noah's Car's church shirt and a vest to go with it (he probably won't ever wear the vest either, I don't know why I make the "extras")
**started to get the pattern ready for a blouse for Myshel. It seems to run small. I hate it when patterns are really off on their sizes!
**Kids are home......snacks.........homework.......chores.........
**Vance tells me that it wasn't actually his day to bring snacks (really BIG grumble) It's next Wednesday
**McKaylie's bus is late---hate that!
**Chad's home, I asked him to help me take the material off of one of the dining room chairs to make sure I have enough of the new material to cover all the chairs. Should have been a quick project, ended up taking all night!!!
**dinner, (grumble, grumble, why do I start projects so late in the day??? then I have to stop in the middle of them and make dinner!
**OH POO! the kids have their church activities tonight, hurry, hurry eat your dinner, we have to go!
**Drop kids off, Chad and I decide to run to Target while they're there, took longer than we thought (image that!)
**run back to the church, we're going to be late picking them up!!!!!
**pick up kids, find out Vance's leaders didn't show, he sat in the gym the whole time, WHAT???? (another BIG grumble!)
**bedtime........brush teeth.....prayers.......very quick story.......kisses
**continue on "chair" project
**"GO BACK TO BED!!!"
**watch some TV while finishing chair project
**"I MEAN IT, GO.BACK.TO.BED!!!"
**Chad remembers that he has to put gas in his blazer and doesn't want to do it in the morning........re runs to gas up, I go upstairs to "talk" with the kids that are still NOT in their beds
**finished chair project, chad gets home, we sit on the couch and wonder if we have the energy to walk upstairs to go to bed

Thursday.....
**up at 5:30AM--have I told you how much I hate getting up early, I do!!
**J(little girl I watch and get to the bus in the morning) comes at 6AM
**I decide to make all 3 of the kids sandwiches this morning (Vance usually makes his own) because I have to unthaw the bread since I forgot to take it out of the freezer the night before
**make, Myshel and McKaylie's lunch (not Vance's, he likes to make his own)
**"J, leave Nutmeg alone"
**No kids are out of bed yet, they're tired for some reason???? (except Myshel, she's at seminary)
**"J, don't pick on Nutmeg"
**wake kids up, go pick Myshel up from seminary (Vance watches the little ones for the 15 minutes that I'm gone
**get home, start to clean kitchen, try and get McKaylie going
**ask Vance if he made his lunch, mention that I made his sandwich for him
**get a weird look from Vance......"you made my sandwich?", "yes, didn't you see it", "I thought that I didn't eat my sandwich yesterday at lunch and I threw it out" WHAT!!! grumble grumble......so much for trying to be nice
**keep trying to keep McKaylie on track
**"J, please don't run in the house"
**"Noah, eat your breakfast"
**Myshel and Vance leave for school, Darn......realized I forgot our family morning prayer
**"McKaylie, you're running out of time"
**clock chimes, it's 8AM
**hurry, McKaylie, hurry
**rush out to bus..........it's late! (grumble)
**J's bus is late (they ride different buses) (another grumble)
**go back to house, dishes aren't done, there's laundry sitting on the couch waiting to be folded, the living room floor is a mess, the sewing projects are still sitting on the table and there's muddy dog tracks on the floor........did it look like this 20 minutes ago when I went out to the bus stop??? I'm exhausted!