Little Slice of Heaven

New blog here

2008-06-05T04:29:00.001-07:00

I tried adding my new post address here, but when I tried to edit my last one, it wouldn't let me. So here's my new address http://kariessliceofheaven.blogspot.com/ I will be posting here from now on.

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

Thunderstorms

2008-06-05T04:13:00.000-07:00

I awoke around 4, I think, to the loud clap of thunder, and within seconds, my 2 girls were in bed with us. Thank goodness we got mostly good sleep through the night. It eventually settled, but by that time it was time to get up. I now hear the rain and when I looked at the radar, loads of red and yellow with bits of green. Looks like a busy morning.

Well, yesterday, took dh to work since both girls like to do park day. We had to leave a few min earlier than normal for dh. No problem. Got him to work and then we came home. I again, had a hard time getting N to do her school work. R was trying and S was enjoying her morning. Just couldn't get N to do stuff. Finally told her that if she didn't cooperate, that when we arrived at the park she would just sit at the bench for awhile watching everyone else play. Fortunately she finally settled, but until after she had frustrated me. Last night when putting her to bed, she promised to do better today. Let's hope.

Yesterday was also my mom's bday. I had been trying to come up with a gift to send, but with dh busy with work, and me forgetting, it just never got sent. So hopefully today, I can get work on the gift and just send it. I was also hoping that my aunt would help my mom use the phone so I could talk to her, but apparently she can only talk long distance on weekends. They had wanted to bring her to grandmas, but with the rain, it would have made it impossible. So we'll see how this weekend goes. I miss her, but for my own sanity, I have to not think of her very often or I would be crying a lot more.

Back to the park stuff. We finally left for the park, only to have just 1 family there. Another family had posted stating it was too misty and muggy so they weren't going to be there. It was cloudy and a bit misty, but the girls still had fun. They ended up meeting some other new kids that just showed up. So it still turned out good.

Got home and rest for a bit. I was waiting for dh to call since he said it might be earlier than normal. Nope, no call. I was getting ready to make my normal phone call around 4:30 when I spotted an email from him stating he was still working, but would let me know when to come. In the meantime, one of our neighbhors came over to let me know he's found someone who might be able to help us with our porch. Let's hope. He might even be able to help create our small back patio. That would be nice so we can have our new patio furniture on it. While talking to our neighbor, dh called and asked if we were ready to come now. I said yep. So off we all went into the car to get dh. I had left one of my cell phones at home to charge and had my other, less used one, in my purse. Well, apparently it's so less used that it was less min. So as we were headed to get dh, a train slows us down. I decide to call dh and find out that I can't call. So we're about 5 min later than I wanted to be. He was a bit frustrated, but once I told him I tried to call and inform him, he was ok

We get home and he's back to working for a bit. Not a problem, he is on call. But it wasn't too bad. Later on after dinner dh asks to have the kids clean up sticks so he can mow. So off we all go picking up sticks. Not too many. But as we're doing it the mosquitoes are out now. Luckily not too bad, but just bad enough to annoy. Afterwards we came in and relaxed till bedtime.

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

Waking up startled

2008-06-04T04:21:00.000-07:00

This morning at 5:30 I hear my youngest dd S waking up calling for her sister N. I got up as quickly as I could, but S make it downstairs before I could catch her. Thankfully R got hold of her as I was rounding the corner. She was having a bad dream. I took her back upstairs to bed and there she feel back to sleep. She does a LOT of action while sleeping. Most of it is just talking in her sleep, and I do mean talking. It's like she's awake, but the eyes are closed. It's quite comical at times.

Well, to start our day off yesterday, it was cloudy. I really dislike cloudy days since it just makes things gloomy. I came down to start my blog/journal, got finished with it in time for S to come downstairs for her chocolate milk. She did and then we cuddled afterwards till she fell back to sleep. I, too, snoozed a bit. Thankfully we didn't have to get up and take dh to work or I would have had to get dressed quickly and get dd N up fast.

After dh went off to work, we all had our various forms of breakfast and getting ready for the morning. I told the kids that at 8:30 we would start. Well we never seem to start right when I want, but we eventually did. Once the devotional was over with, I decided I needed a shower. So with instructions to the kids to get started, I headed upstairs to get ready for the day. All is well for a bit, until I tell the girls they need to get school stuff done. I have been letting them play for a bit in the mornings since S is still only 4 and wants some attention. I have found that if let N play with her for a bit, it satisfies them both.

It took me many times before the girls would finally come down, and then N decides she's going to just meander around the house deciding what she's doing to do. By this time it's 10:30 and she's done NO school work. That's 2 hrs since the devotional and nothing done but play. Finally after being exhausted trying to get her to do stuff, I left the room. Thankfully R stepped up and found some JumpStart CD's for the kids to play so at least some school work got done. I do have to admit that with the cloudy day, it made us all feel blah.

Afternoon time came so I told the girls they could go outside and get some fresh air. I figured that might help a bit. More or less. Guess we chalk that up to everyone just being in a cranky mood. Hope today is better. Today is park day, and I've told N that if she doesn't do her school work then she only gets to sit on the bench and watch the other kids play at park day. Not something she would like to do.

Another thing yesterday, I took the kids to their church meetings. Dh is on call this week and since lately his weeks have been VERY busy, we didn't want to take the chance that he would get paged and then need the computer. So we opted for him to stay home and have an evening to himself and I would take the kids to church. That was fine since I also had my signing class to do. I've been mostly enjoying this, but at times feeling frustrated not knowing a sign, or not understanding why a sign is done that way it is. Thankfully I have sisters who are very appreciative of me teaching them, and don't mind me when I can't think of one.

So once the activities were over with, we head home to find dh fixing some broken drawers which have needed some attention, but with a busy schedule for dh, he just hasn't had time, or has been too tired. I thank him very much.

Karie

www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

Volunteering and other stuff

2008-06-03T04:41:00.000-07:00

Our morning started out like most mornings, take dh to work, come home, eat, devotional and such. We were running behind a bit since I still needed to shower and we still needed to do the books. By the time we left for the library it was almost noon. Very late. We usually are leaving around 11. Well we managed to get there finally, and I decided that I was going to check S's books in by hand since she tends to get a lot and then we can't always get them all due to they haven't checked hers in yet. We also took an advertisement for our homeschool group to display on the libraries bulletin board again. Our last one ran out of strips of paper, so they apparently took it down or as one library said, maybe they were just cleaning things and it got taken down also. Anyway, it's back up again.

As I'm out on the "bridge" of the children's section, a friends dh came up to me and was asking about my faith. I told him and then he started talking religion. That doesn't bother me too much. What was frustrating is I really didn't know how to answer him. I kept wishing dh was there to answer him. Guess I'd better get to studying things a bit better. At least I was able to explain how we believe, but he still didn't seem to veer from his thoughts. But at least when he was done with his comments, he smiled and said "talk to you later" and went to check on his kids. Most interesting.

Well, to get to the volunteer part, we were just getting done finding all the books and such, and were headed to the check out spot, when one of the librarians approached us. He asked R if he was interested in the teen volunteer program. R wasn't quite sure what to say. Guess he's like me and likes to think about it. I wasn't sure if he was asking R to help out with the reading program, or just help out at the library. Still not really sure, but it sounds like he'll be just be helping out. Once we got home, he kept talking about it, not sure what to think. But as he kept asking me questions and such, he started getting more and more excited. He's very comfortable in the library, so what a place to be. He will start volunteering this Wed for a few hrs. Can't wait to see how he does. :)

Once we got home and ate I then went outside to clean the cars windshield. Dh says he looks streaked in the sun. Unfortunately I had no sun so I had to clean the best I could. Did ok job. While I was out there, I see that my neighbor is home. Dh and I have been needing go find someone who can fix out porch. So I go over and ask if he knows of anyone who can do cement work. He says he might and will have the guy call and let us know. I'm anxious since our porch is literally falling apart. I also asked him about the guy doing a bit of patio work in our back yard. We're getting patio furniture soon and I want a place to put it.

Well it's soon time to pick up dh. So off we go. N is reading to S while R is reading his own books. Makes for a quieter ride than normal. We arrived to pick up dh and head home. R tells him of his volunteer opportunity and dh says that's good. It'll look good on a job resume. We get home and it's fend night. Pretty much if you want dinner, you find it yourself(I, of course help S since she's only 4). Dh is now on call so we just head straight home. Once we get home, dh decides he needs to get the garden planted. Been needing to for weeks. R goes out to help him and actually enjoys it. Thank goodness.

All the meanwhile the girls eat dinner then head to play. As we're outside playing N comments that we forgot to pick up the signing time DVDs at the library. I claim that we did. But after her insisting that we didn't, I came in to check and sure enough we have forgotten them. So off to the library we go again. lol That's ok because I see my friend and her ds are there. I eventually find her and she's surprised, but happy to see me. We chat for a few min, and then realizing that her computer time is being timed I let her go and go pick up the dvds. The girls and I then head out to the parking lot where S proceeds to fall and scrap her thumb and knees. She's fine but needs a hug. So we get home and dh, after getting paged, is able to finish planting our garden with ds's help. Good because it's supposed to rain.

The rest of the evening is quiet and so bedtime happens. Thank goodness because dad and mom are both tired. Let's hope that dh has a quiet night as well. The last few oncall weeks have been very strenuous for him. Up all night and then still having to go into work the next day. Luckily he's able to eventually sleep. So we're hoping for a quiet week. :)

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

Another busy weekend..come and gone

2008-06-02T04:42:00.000-07:00

Well, as quickly as the weekend came, it is now gone. I'm really starting to feel like I need to pay close attention to what I do each day since it comes and goes so fast. Some days I'm able to just sit and ponder(not many though lol) but most days the kids keep me busy. One thing I want to try and do more often and take a deep breath and look around and see my surroundings, see how I'm relating to my family, and hopefully do a better job at being a daughter to my mom, wife to my dh, and mom to my kids. I do myself being selfish and I don't like that. But I guess the biggest thing for my right now is at least I'm acknowledging it. First big thing right there.

Fri was spent trying to figure out what R was going to be doing over the weekend. His Sunday school class was wanting to say a goodbye to their current teacher by going over to his house and having a nice party. Trouble was, the teacher was leaving it up to the boys to make decisions, and unfortuantely this group of boys is really struggling to make any decisions. Really frustrating when we're trying to plan what to do, but having go guidlines. Well, I finally had R email his teacher asking what was happening and we finally got some directions. So Fri evening, around 6:30 dh took R over to the teacher's house for fun and games. The girls stayed home with mom. By the time he was ready to come home, it was 10pm so does took off to get him and they didn't return until almost 11.

Once he got home, we sent the kids off to bed and dh and I worked on the ward bulletin. This is my first time and I was a bit nervous as to how to do it. Dh helped out quite a bit, so now I'm feeling a bit better about it. However, while filling out the songs, talks, and announcements, dh noticed that his name was down for giving a talk in a few weeks. I then look around and see my name for 2 weeks from now. Guess I'm giving a talk as well. lol

With the kids having had a late night, they had a little harder time getting up Sat to get ready and clean the church. This has been our month to either clean with help from some of the familes assigned to us, or having them do it on their own. I think we've had help the 3 times we've gone there. I don't mind doing it, but I know the kids aren't always thrilled. However, my thought it, this is teaching them responsibilites and helping them to learn that they need to take care of things.

After we were done cleaning we headed to Aldi's for some food. Came home and let dh rest for a bit. Bad back. The kids played for awhile, then we went out to lunch. We have this Chinese buffet place that is soooo good. We go as often as we can, which is probably too often lol. It has good prices and good food. Then we went sandal shopping for all 3 kids. We've now decided for sure that R and N have caught up in shoe size with dh and I. R is now a size 12 very comfortably. I imagine in a yr or less he'll be a bit bigger. His feet are HUGE. Of course he's also taller than me at 5' 9". N is also my shoe size AND is liking to wear the same type of shoes I am. In fact she ended up choosing the same exact type of shoe AND color that I have. So this means I have to write a letter K in my shoe so we won't get them mixed up. Too funny. She also found some Sunday shoes as did S.

We then headed home since S was getting tired and cranky. Besides we needed to get R home since he had yet another activity happening. He was going with the youth of the ward to a baseball game compliments of our former bishop. R knows nothing about the game, but goes to at least mingle with his friends. He came home last yr all excited about things that had happened. Had no clue on who won, and didn't care. lol Again, N stayed up late to wait for brother. S went to bed on time since she was getting tired. Good thing, because R didn't get home until after 10, again.

Sunday we get ourselves ready for church. I also find out that R and dh have fast offerings to do before church, so R showers after I did and dh and R went out to do their errand. We then head to church for dh's early meeting. I actually don't mind going early since it gives us plenty of time to find a seat and then relax. R also has the sacrament table the needs to prepare. So we did our classes and afterwards were getting ready to head home when the young men's pres. caught dh and asked him to join in for a scout committee meeting. So off he went for 45 min. I didn't mind since it meant I could chat with my friends who's dh's were also in the meeting. The kids just kind of chatted along.

We get home around 5:30 hungry and with small headaches due to hunger. We relax and just eat and watch a bit of tv. Early evening, as I'm reading to S for bedtime, the phone rings. It's one of the bishopric calling. I immediately think it's for dh since it usually is. Wrong! Turns out it's for me. I had forgotten that they were going to call me to give a talk on Father's Day. lol
Now it's Mon morning and time to start a new day AND a new week. Dh is on call this week, so we really don't plan much with dh that will take a lot of time. This means no going out to eat or doing major shopping. Which is why we did it over the weekend. We're also just hoping for a nice quiet week. Dh's on call weeks lately have been quite busy. Once can only hope.

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

Thunder and lightening

2008-05-30T04:28:00.000-07:00

Before I went to bed last night, I watched the weather. He said there would be a storm brewing our way around 5 or 6am Fri morning. Well at least he predicted there would be a storm. He just didn't get the time right. Around 2 or 3 am I'm woken up by the storm. Not a bad one, just enough to wake me. Thankfully none of the girls got up until later. And apparently I was too tired to put her back to bed. I really need to work on having her put her self back to sleep once she wakes up. Hopefully soon I will do this because right now she wakes me up to I have to do it.

Yesterday we an ok day. It was gloomy and cloudy and N didn't want to do school work. R was going ok, but it seems right now he's having a hard time understanding some fraction concept. So he's been listening and watching the tutor CD's but apparently it's harder than it looks. I"ve told him that on Fri he can take 2 problems in his next lesson and watch the guy do it on the CD. I'm hoping this will work. N is doing really well with her times tables. After having purchased www.timestales.com she has memorized them in a weeks time. She does still have problems with the problem 9x7, but as the instruction say, keep working on it until the child has it. I figured we'll keep working with this program throughout the summer and then hopefully be able to continue to the next level of math.

I also asked our next door neighbor if he knew of anyone that does concrete work. Our front porch is literally falling apart and NEEDS to be fixed this yr. He says he might know of someone. He says the guy is retired, but does side jobs. It would be nice to find someone trustworthy. The porch is also attached by trellis and the one side on the end is almost unattached to the porch. Not good. The whole porch could collapse. I think today I will call our other neighbor and see if he can help us any.

Today we're doing our normal school day. Hoping the kids will buckle down and get started early so they're not just finishing with math by lunch. R tends to want to play online too much and so I have to constantly get after him. It's frustrating at times, but I'm still glad he's home and not in ps. Too much uncertainly and no learning going on IMO. Tomorrow night R will be going to his Sunday School teacher's home, just for an evening of hanging out. He got released last Sun as their teacher and they want to give him a send off. So dh will be doing that.

Tomorrow morning we'll be cleanging the church one last time this yr. We have 2 other families that are assigned to help, but dh doesn't think they'll show. That's ok at least we know how to do it. Hopefully after we're done, we'll be able to do some sandal shopping and patio furniture shopping then lunch one last time before dh is on call again next week. When dh is on call we don't do anything that requires long periods of time. When he gets paged, he needs to be able to answer his call within 10 min and be at his work computer in 10 min as well. So we don't do a lot during that week. Thankfully it only happens every 4 to 5 weeks. The last few have been doozies.

This Sun, will be my first week doing my new calling. That is putting the ward bulletin together and having it ready each Sun. It may take awhile since this will affect the whole ward and I want to do it right. I've been asking dh to help out a bit at first. Dh has been good about helping me so far. As for his calling, he tells me he's hoping sometime this yr to be released. He says coorelation meetings is starting to get on his nerves as some of the people aren't always polite. I didn't ask to what extent, and he didn't say.

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

Having a hard time getting up

2008-05-29T04:39:00.000-07:00

I know once I get up and get going, I usually enjoy being up early. But it's that initial getting up that is the hard thing. This morning my alarm went off so I stretch and yawn and such and realize that 3 min have gone by. Not really a big thing, you say? For me it is since I'm usually up right after the alarm. That's what tells me I'm not always ready to get up.

Yesterday we tried to do school work, or should I say ds did his school work, but N decided she was going to give mommy a run for her money. I hadn't showered yet, so after the devotional, I told the kids to do their school work while I showered. S, being the youngest, choose to come with me. That was fine. Well, I get into the shower do my stuff, and just as I'm getting out R comes up and say N has been talking to her pretend friend on the fake phone the whole time I was showering. So needless to say it took a bit of persuasion to get her to do it. Also, it was the day to go to the park. I told her that if she didn't get some stuff done, we'd go BUT she'd sit on the bench for 30 min WATCHING the others play while she sat. Not something she would be happy with. She eventually buckled down and so after lunch we went. But I told her last night that she had better do better tomorrow, or next park day she would spend the WHOLE time on the bench. That's 2hrs!

Last evening as we picked up dh, I could tell he wasn't feeling good. We got home and he was trying hard to stay up with the family. I kept trying to give him the hint, go to bed. He nodded a few times, but ended up on the computer playing some games and answering some emails. He ended up not going to bed until 10 pm when I did. Guess he really wanted to stay up with us. I hope he feels better today. It's like he has this sinus infection in his chest that just won't go away. So it makes him cough and still not be able to get rid of it. So needless to say he's been miserable.

Yesterday, after we got back from the park, I was sitting at the computer, when I happened to see some photos of my dad's funeral. I'm glad dh was finally able to download them. It's sure nice to see family again that I haven't seen in 30 or more yrs. Wow that just made me feel really old lol. An aunt and uncle (dad's brother and SIL) and their kids. Some other family members that we saw just in Sept when we drove out to Ut. I also saw the photo of my brothers and I. I asked dh last night if he could print that and a few others off so we could send them to mom for her birthday. I had wanted to find a photo of us for Mother's Day, but didn't happen. Better late than never, as the saying goes.

Today is a stay-at-home day. No car and just get stuff done. R needs to finish his Eagle report so he can hand it in. Then a few other things in regards to his Eagle and then he's done. However, he still needs to finish off a few other merit badges before he gets his Eagle award, but he's doing great! I'm proud of how he's done most of this on his own. The idea was mostly his, and with gentle nudges and suggestions, he's done it all.

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

Back to our regularly schedule program :)

2008-05-28T04:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we were back to our normal school schedule, almost. We normally go to the library on a Mon, so we had 2 days worth of stuff in 1 day. Here's how it went. 7:40 we take dh to work. Arrive at dh work at 8am. Head home and arrive at 8:20. 2 dd's have breakfast and watch Clifford. Ds plays more on computer. Then 9am we start out devotional.

We then do our normal Mon stuff while mom showers. Head to library, with a brief stop at the cleaners to take dh and R's suit jacket to get cleaned, then head to library. Leave library around 1:30 and head to lunch then home. Suddenly the day is now Tues and we haven't even slept yet lol. Although Tues is still looking a lot like Mon in that I let the girls watch school videos and then head outside for exercise. Around 4:30 we head out to pick up dh from work. Arrive home at 5:30 in time to fix dinner and for R to shower.

6:40 we all head to the church for various reasons. R has scouts or combined meeting with the young women. I have 3 things happening, 1- quick visiting teaching, 2-showing one of the sisters at church how to use the computer to do the visiting teaching report each month and 3- teach some sign language to a few sisters. WHEW! It all turned out well, busy, but well.

R is still recovering from his toe incident. Not sure if I reported this or not the other day, but as we were cleaning the lawn so dh could mow, we were scooping up wet mucky leaves and dumping them into the garbage can in the garage. I wasn't in the garage at the time. I was busy picking up all the rakes and bowls we had used. By the time I get in the house, R is putting on a bandage on his toes. He then tells me what happened. As he was taking the liner out of the metal garbage can, the liner came out suddenly and the can fell straight on to his toe OUCH!! It now has a big bruise under the nail. It looks like it has a good chance of falling off, or definitely coming apart as it grows outward. Poor kid is LOVING the attention. He hobbled into the library and one of the librarians asked what was wrong. He then told her his story. He loves it. Same thing at church lol. I think it was worth the sore for the attention lol.

Today we have somewhat normal school day. But after lunch the girls and I will be headed to the park for park day. Our homeschool group meets every Wed afternoon to let the kids work off some steam. This lets the moms have time to chat and get to know each other. So far it's been very well attended. This will be our 4th park day this yr. Last yr we didn't start going until June, but N has been wanting to go so bad so we do. Good exercise so why not. Let's just hope for continued good weather.

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

Holiday Weekend

2008-05-27T04:42:00.000-07:00

It's Tues now and it's the first time since Fri I've been able to get back on here. On the weekends I do try and sleep in. Sat we all slept till 9 and relaxed till lunch. Dh took us out for lunch, then summer shopping for the kids. The girls have been wanting flip flops for about a month now, so they finally got them. We also bought shorts for R and N since both kids have either worn out their old ones, or have out grown them. shirt wise they're both fine. S will have N's old stuff so she's fine.

While at Walmart, I happened to see the patio set I've been wanting. I showed dh and he was liking it also. The only thing he was concerned with is the padding that's on the chairs is not washable. This means that every night we will have to bring in my cushions. I told him that's not a problem. I also mentioned that I wanted a bit of a patio out in the back. Nothing fancy, just cement ladi out so the patio furniture is level. Dh was fine with that. Now we just need to find a local handyman that will do it. Guess I'll have to ask our next door neighbor if he could suggest someone.

We're also getting a new swingset for the kids. Our old one was old and starting to fall apart when we got it, but it was free and dh was able to settle it at the time. Unfortunately over time, it has become unsettled and the kids have all grown so we need a new one.

On Sunday, I was released from my visiting teaching calling. I was the coordinator, which after awhile, I was fine with. The only frustration I had was when I couldn't get 2 of the supervisors to contact me or their sisters. So now instead of that calling, I'm now in charge of the ward bulletin each week. Or in other words, the program. I get to make sure that all announcements that need to be made, are made. All songs for that week are there and whatever else is there. Should be interesting.

Yesterday, we Memorial Day. I told dh I didn't really have anything planned other than just relaxing. I completely forgot about parades. Guess I'll have to remember that for next yr. So we spent the day just being outside playing. We also went out for lunch again. Felt bad for dh because he's still not feeling well from his sore throat. He hides it well from the kids, but I could tell by watching him. It's been over a week and still ouch. And then a cough on top of that.

Anyway, the rest of the day was spent at home playing some more outside and making sure the lawn was cleaned up so dh could mow. Our lawn was behind in mowing at least 2 times. But our schedules have been so busy the last 2 weeks, so it hasn't been possible. I have thought that dh should have R start doing it. That way dh's back doesn't always feel bad. I think dh is a bit uncomfortable with R doing is since dh likes it done a certain way. We shall see. :)

So today we're back to regular schedule, sort of. We will be headed to the library, but it'll be a Tues rather than Mon. Then Tues afternoon, we revert to Tues happenings. Then tonight we have our normal classes. I also have a bit of visiting teaching to do, and turn over to the new Visiting teaching coordinator. Should be a busy night. We'll see how it goes.

My neck muscle attached to my shoulder muscle is still sore. I haven't mentioned it because I've been just kind of ignoring it. But it's becoming a real pain lately. Everytime S sits on my lap, she gets wiggly and puts pressure on the muscle. Ouch!

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

Another, almost sleepless night

2008-05-23T04:08:00.000-07:00

My youngest dd S I think has some bad alergies as far as she is concerned. She has woken up several times last night, again, and I think she's plugged. Not sure what to do for her since she really can't take anything. But something needs to be done because I can't keep waking up every few hrs to put her to bed. I feel like a zombie when this happens. I guess the only good thing about it is, her last time to wake me is too late to go back to sleep and just early enough to have computer time.

Yesterday was good in that the kids mostly did good with their school work. I'm glad because sometimes I feel like we're only doing 1 or 2 subjects and that's not good. I'm very much considering adding some actual curriculum for next yr rather than being unschooling. I mean I'll still consider us that, but not as much. I really feel the kids need to have a bit more structure in some things like grammar, and history. We already have math. Now if I can just get R to stop messing with things online and get his school work done, he could have more time in the afternoon TO mess around. Might have to make some consequences.

In our little town, they've been doing road construction. Now I could complain that they're having to divert us here and there, but considering the condition of the roads after this winter, they really need to be fixed. At least it's not too off the beaten path. A week ago I got surprised and was led down a different path. Luckily R reminded me to settle down and just follow the arrows. After a few turns and such, I recognized where we were and then was fine. I just don't do well with sudden changes, which is why I stay home and take care of the kids and am not in the business world.

This Mon is Memorial day and I was going to have some friends over, but dh says he wants to do some yard work so I said that would be fine. I just wanted to make sure we would be busy on Mon and not just sitting around being bored. With some holidays, that's what happens. So here's hoping we'll have a good memorial day weekend and get lots accomplished.

Ahh last night as the kids were watching a video, I sneaked into the school room where the computer are and just started checking out my emails. Dh walks up to me and comments on the email I sent him earlier on in the day. I as recently send an insurance check from my dad's insurance. It's a nice sum of money, extra cash. Well, ever since last Jan when I found out dad had this money, I've been trying to decide what special things I would like to have as a gift from my dad. It's unlike dad to give out extra money, so this insurance money was a nice goodbye from him. A surprise. Thanks Dad.

So anyway, dh and I were talking about some items I'm wanting. I would like to purchase a nice swingset for the kids and a patio set for our back yard. He was commenting on the expensive swingset I was looking at. Well when we were looking at swingsets a few yrs ago, he commented on how cheap and rusted looking the metal swingsets were. So that's why I choose wooden ones which are not cheap. Anyhow, I think he's decided that metal ones are ok afterall. So he's suggested that we look at those types instead. I said fine.

I also mentioned to him that I want a nice small patio outside the school room so we can put our paito furniture on(when we get those as well). Looks like I might just get it. I get the feeling he thought I wanted something fancy. Nope, just some extra cement to keep our table level. I have managed to find a nice patio set, so let's hope it's still available when we order.

Last night, dh had his Elder's Quorum meeting again. I really don't mind as long as the weather is good so we have the choice of being outside during part of the meeting, watching a video if wanted. The weather turned a bit chilly after awhile, but at least this week I didn't have other children to watch, so we able to come inside and watch something. These children from the dad, that's part of his group, are a bit wild and sometimes are uncontrollable. Last week when they came, we spent the whole time outside on the swings and they did well. I think, however, if we'd gone inside, they would have gone exploring. Thank goodness for pleasant weather.

This morning, dh will be attending the funeral of a family member of a co-worker. Not sure if that makes sense. Let me see if I can explain. One of dh's co-workers has a father who passed away a few days ago. So today there having the viewing and funeral. So dh and several co-workers will be attending this. So sad that he went somewhat sudden, but sometimes that's how life is. Our well wishes are with this friend and her family.

This morning we'll be heading to our homeschool groups last library day. It's called library day because we hold activities at the library. Anyway, we have a meterologist coming to speak so it should be interesting. I'm hoping enough interest in this so we have a good group of families. This yr the attendance has gone down. I'm guessing because a lot of families are wanting to get some extra school work in, and so they choose to skip this. So we might be changing the time next yr to early afternoon. Hopefully that will help.

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

Up every hr...

2008-05-22T03:56:00.000-07:00

Or at least it felt like it. S, for some reason, felt the need to wake up about every 1 1/2 hr to come in my room for me to tuck her in. I NEED to somehow get her to figure out to just go back to sleep on her own instead of getting mommy to. Last night was a lot of getting up. Then of course she decides to wake me about 30 min before the alarm goes off. So I have the decision, to go back to sleep for 30 min and be miserable, or stay awake and get an early start. I decided on an early start.

Yesterday was a nice day. The weather was very sunny. A bit chilly but at least the sun was out. We took dh to work since our homeschool group was having a park day. We get home, do our school stuff and then mid morning I realize I haven't showered yet lol. Guess I'd better get that out of the way. Then continued with the rest of our morning. Afte lunch I gathered the girls together and went to the park. I left R home since the park was only 5 min away. I felt safe enough that if he needed me for any reason, I was only min away.

Picked up dh later that evening and had dinner ready for all. I had visiting teaching to do so I left while they were eating. I let the kids know that since the weather was still nice, they had better go out and play and not bother daddy too much. Apparently they were good because dh was fine when I returned lol.

Today we're at home doing school work. N is slowly getting better at doing as I ask, but R is still having a hard time. He's having a rough time with math and figuring out some problems. It's a new math program and he loves it, just trying to figure out how some equations work. He's also been working on editing his Eagle scout report so he can send it to dh for editing again. Then send it to his scout master who can triple check. Then hopefully on to the Eagle Scout people. I think he's closer with his stuff than a lot of scout are. Apparently most scouts wait until their project is done before writing the report. R has been updating his report everytime something new happens. I think he has between 40 to 60 pages last I heard. Lots of reading.

I read my nephew's wife's blog yesterday and she mentioned the funeral services and how well they went. Apparently the place was packed which was nice. I only met the little boy once and that was at my dad's funeral last Jan. He was in a special wheel chair all hooked up to a few breathing monitors. But he looked happy. I guess when you grow up with things hooked to you, you don't know any better.

Tonight dh has his Elder' Quorum meeting so I suspect I'll be babysitting a few small children for a bit. I did it last week and the kids were good. Let's hope for the same tonight. Guess as with all children, when you're not with your parents, you behave better. Thank goodness. :)

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

New calling and other happenings

2008-05-21T04:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was busy, We did school(or at least tried to do school). Ds was trying to keep his mind on things but was really thinking about his project. So I finally told him to just get his project done. He was supposed to stack all the books for his Eagle project so they would all fit in the boxes we had. He had over 551 books donated. That was a LOT! He did well.

While him and the guys(dh included) were taking care of the books, the girls and I were enjoying N's last Recognition night. The girls were supposed to do a talent or show a talent. N showed off how well she was doing with her writing. She has improved greatly. After her class was over, we went into the foyer to wait on the guys. While sitting on the floor, the bishop sees me and asks if I can talk to him in his office. Always a nervous thing lol. So in I go not knowing what he has in mind. He just wants to release me from my visiting teaching leader calling to church bulletin. A bit different and challenging. I was a bit saddened to be released from the other since I had become pretty good at it. Of course, that's when it seems you're going to be released lol.

All went well with the various activities we did. Dh and ds, with the help of the other boys and leaders, were able to collect all the boxes of books and take them to the library to donate. Apparently they were surprised to see over 10 boxes instead of the 5 or 6 he said he probably had. He's still learning to estimate. :) There were a lot of interesting books and mostly all in good condition. Now he just needs to update his report, send to dh for editing, and then off to his scout master for more editing before sending to the scouting people. Then he'll need to be interviewed and then I believe he's done. WHEW!!

N's class went well. When we first go to church, the doors were all still locked. Guess the bishopric wasn't there yet. So dh went off to open the doors. However, someone was in the building, they just didn't know others outside were waiting. So anyway, we get in and help set up. The girls had all their talent stuff all laid out on tables so everyone could see. I'm very proud of all that N has done. She's very shy, but was able to verbally talk about her talent, doing better in hand writing. A lot of the girls did piano playing and did well. 1 set of girls jumped rope, another did violin, and one other girl showed her paintings that she likes to do. Lots of interesting things.

Yesterday was also my nephew's old boy's funeral. He was 4 when he died. So sad for the family left behind, but the little boy is out of pain and with his Heavenly Father. Out of pain and rejoicing with other family that has gone on before. I don't know how they have done it. Of course, I guess it helps a bit knowing that all along he was a miracle baby in that he was even born alive. Then to continue living in the curcumstances of his health problems. Just an amazing family. I hope and pray that they will continue strong in the gospel regardless of this sad time.

Today is my oldest dd N's favorite day of the week during the spring/summer time. Every Wed we have headed to a local park in the afternoon. She loves still playing at the park with he friends. She's almost 12 but prefers to play with girls that are 1 to 2 yrs younger. I guess that's ok, at least she has friends she likes. And at least this time ds R won't have to come with us. The park is just down the street so I'm within min of getting home should I need to. Ds loves that since he really doesn't like to go to the park. And of course him being a boy and 15 I can understand. I'm just not comfortable being more than 10 min away during the day while dh is at work with no car. It's supposed to be a nice day, and so far the other 2 days have been good.

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

I decided to blog instead

2008-05-20T04:33:00.000-07:00

Since R is no longer in seminary till next yr, dh and I aren't having to get up early for now. However, this has become a problem since, instead of blogging I shower, I then have company as I'm typing my thoughts down. So I told dh last night that I would shower later. I needed some time on my own to type. I certainly hope this works.

Yesterday R was told by dh to go through all the books and check for any obvious church books that the library wouldn't take. I'm guessing that that means we get to keep them. So yesterday afternoon R and I went through most of the books and found about 10 book items that would probably not be accepted. He's still left with a ton of books. The scouts will be taking to the library tonight as their activity for scout night. I'm so proud of how well he's done on this project. But it will be nice to have my table cleared once again lol.

Today we'll be staying at home doing school work. No plans for the car. I told R and N last night that starting today, I want them to start reading an article or story out of the Ensign, New Era, or Friend magazine and tell me about the article/story. "But why mom"? My answer, "Because I want you to really understand the gospel and not just be mouthing it." We'll see how things go.

This evening we have 2 church activities that R and N are involved in. R finishing up his Eagle project, and N finishing up her FIG(Faith in God) booklet and attending her last Recognition night. Since she'll be 12 end of Aug, she'll then be in young women's. She's a bit nervous, but I think once she gets to know the girls, she'll do well.

So tonight, dh and I's time will be split between kids. He'll be with ds, and I'll be with dd. Kind of glad the rest of the day is relaxing. When it's actual school time for the ps system, Tues can be pretty hectic. The kids have art and gym, plus picking up dad and showering. So the day gets pretty busy. Thankfully we have the summer to rest from it.

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

First day after

2008-05-19T07:46:00.000-07:00

Well, today is the first morning that R doesn't have seminary. It's kind of a change altogether, because I used to do my journaling when dh and ds would leave for seminary. Now I'm having to do it later on in the morning and possible interruptions could occur. We'll see. I do know dh is happy to have a break from waking up so early. He is sooo not an early riser. I think R misses at least his friends and chatting. I'm sitting here wishing, in a way, that I had just gotten up at 5:30 anyway. Better chance of not getting interrupted.

The weekend was good. Dh and the girls took R to his campout meeting place. They were going fishing and possible canoeing. R really didn't want to do the canoeing so he just did fishing. He did come home with a sunburn on his arms, face & neck. Sat morning the girls had a primary activity and dh was supposed to teach one of the classes. So I was able to set up my church work without any interruptions and STILL had time to wander the halls bored. That definitely doesn't happen much. They went to 6 different stations/classes and had fun. Afterwards we stayed to clean the church with another family. Usually takes us about 1 1/2 hrs. Took us 40 min with help. The biggest cleaning we have is vacuuming. Lots of floors to clean.

After we were done, dh took us to McD's for lunch. Boy was this McD's an interesting place to go. They took our order fine, but then when dh went to pay, the cashier didn't give dh the right amount of change. The amount we were charged was $18.??. Dh gave him a $20 and the boy gave us 75cents. Umm then he couldn't figure out how much more to give us. Then when we went to pick up our food at the window, they came outside expecting us to have moved to the waiting area. Boy was that an experience. Probably doesn't sound as weird and I'm writing, but guess you had to be there.

Sat afternoon, as the girls and I were outside, R came home from his campout with one of the leaders. Very nice guy. We chatted for a bit, then said goodbye. So nice not to have to pick him up this time. And of course he was full of excitement over the campout. I'm glad he feels he can tell us all about his campouts and other activities. Not all teenagers do. Later that evening dh decides he's going to go back to the church and practice organ for the last time. He's been subbing for the main organist and oldest dd N has loved it because it means us going to the church and her practicing shooting hoops.

Sun was nice. Dh has his early meeting, so the kids and I went in and sat down waiting for church services. Ds R is responsible for setting up the sacrament table. He used to have to set up chairs, but now he's advanced to sacrament table only. After meetings were over with, we waited for dh to finish up any meetings. I also checked with dd N's Achievement Days leader about how she's doing. She's almost finished with the program and soon will be in Young Women's. She's definitely nervous, but once she gets into the program and makes friends, she'll do fine.

It looks like I'm going to have to do my journal at another time of the morning. This later stuff just won't work. Looks like I might have to get up and journal first before showering. Can't handle getting interrupted with my thoughts. :)

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

This is it

2008-05-16T04:18:00.000-07:00

This morning is R's last morning of early morning seminary. I know dh is glad not to have to get up at 5:30 for awhile. He's not a early morning person. I, on the other hand, like getting up somewhat early(although 5:30 is a bit early) love getting up and getting things done so I have the rest of the day to do what I enjoy. Right now as I type, R's teacher is fixing a nice breakfast for the kids. They usually have a treat on Fri, but this is a BIG treat. They've been doing auctions all week selling stuff that ward members donated. He has been really nice to his sisters and buying them several things. Cute handbag for N and a purple elephant(small stuffed) toy for S. a purple notebook for S and binoculars for N. Then ice cream coupons for the whole family. Very nice of him

On a sad note for a min, my nephews little 4yr passed away Wed evening. He was born with a type of dwarfism, but managed to stay with us on earth for 4yrs. The last few weeks he'd had some complications and some of his body functions decided to shut down. So now he has gone home to Heavenly Father leaving behind some sad but very brave parents along with other family members. He leaves behind his parents and a younger sister. He has rejoined with his great-grandpa H and great GREAT- grandparents. I'm sure they are rejoicing right now in having him return.

Well I talked to my kids yesterday afternoon about school work. They have not been too interested in doing anything lately. I've been mostly an unschooling mom, having them do a math curriculum and spelling one. Then just kind of checking things out with science, history, geography, grammar and reading. But I've decided(and we'll see how dh feels) but I've found a history curriculum that I've been told is wonderful by more than one person. I've got it on hold by the library so we can test it to see if we want it. The history book dh bought is a bit dry for my kids. He had good intentions, but the kids just aren't into serious reading like this is. R could be at times, but if given the choice, would rather it be made fun. And why not, history can be fun as we have discovered at times going on field trips or watching movies. So possibly next fall we'll be starting some new things. I'm looking forward to it. :)

Later this afternoon, dh will be taking R to one of his monthly campouts for the weekend. They will be canoeing and then fishing. One of the young men leaders is, as R puts it, obsessed with canoeing. So much so that he has planned a 4 or 5 day journey canoeing in July. Dh has off and on asked R if he would like to go, but R always says no, not interested. R is more into biking on bike trails, climbing rock mountain, not sitting in a boat drifting around. He didn't used to even be interested in camping, but he's grown into it. He just doesn't like canoeing. But apparently this leader has been after ds for weeks. He's also cornered dh several times trying to convince him that R should come. Finally last Tues he was helping the boys get ready for this weekend trip and cornered R. R told him he really wasn't interested and gave him that look of "leave me alone already" so the leader backed off. He's a good guy, but just doesn't know how to let things go when told. I think he just wants to make sure R has fun and plenty of opportunity, but R has done lots of things. He's good.

Speaking of R, he's almost finished with several merit badges, just has 1 more item on I think 3 more things. But you would think he was just starting them with the way he's been putting them off. I keep trying to get him to finish them, but he just somehow manages so change the topic. Guess I'll have to get on him again today.

Tomorrow morning the girls have a primary activity that we will be going to. It will probably be N's last one since the end of Aug she will be in Young Womens. Wow that is a scary thought. Not being in Young Women's but that this will be her last primary activity. She's growing up too fast. I still remember her being nervous about primary activities. She's nervous, but I think also curious about YW. She's not very sure of herself, but I think she'll be fine. Mom is also nervous, but I guess I'll be fine as well lol. This will just leave dd S to do primary stuff. So now we'll have 2 youth and 1 primary. We'll be busy.

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

2 days left

2008-05-15T04:20:00.000-07:00

This morning the first thing ds R says is 2 days left. I don't remember if I have mentioned it or not, but this past week they've been just partying. No more lessons and such, just fun. They've had auctions on items that ward members have donated to them. Somehow the kids are able to earn "seminary money" during the yr and then the last week they auction off these items to the kids. So far R has brought home drinking glasses(straws shaped like glasses you can watch the drink circle your eyes while drinking, an ice cream stuff toy, a small stuffed purple elephant with sparkles, 1 envelope with 2 coupons worth ice cream, kite, a small bag/purse and I believe some candy. I might be missing something else. He's been so nice to bring stuff home for the girls. He told me now he's going to get stuff for himself. Even though he can be a pain in the butt, he's mostly a good kid just's just trying to figure out life. Heck, I'm still trying to figure out life lol.

Well these past few days I've been reading my nephews wife's blog on updates on their ds. Poor little guy has had so many things wrong since day one. One of Heavenly Father's special angels. Guess he felt my nephew and his wife were special people. I know that to be true. They have good family around them and support. Anyway, after lots of things happening recently, they decided it was time to let the little guy go back to his eternal home with Heavenly Father. We know he's not suffering anymore, but it's sure a loss to his parents and other family left behind. I just hope and pray that they will remain faithful in the church, and know that someday they will meet him beyong the veil and he will greet them with a huge hug. Unfortunately for us, we won't be able to attend the funeral. We've just had 2 big trips out west in the last 6 months, and know that in the next yr or so my mom will end her journey here as well. That's one funeral I will NEED to be at.

Today we stay at home and get school work done. This past week has been a bit busier than normal. Mon was normal stuff, nice weather so we were outside in the afternoon enjoying. Tues, R and S had dr appts so dh was home to go to those with us. I'm glad he did because he catches things that I don't. Both kids are above in their height and weight. Not a surprise on either. The dr was a bit surprised that S can read pretty well now, but then not really. His nurse was a bit surprised, but then each time we go there, we get a different one.

After the dr. visit, we headed off to do errands for a bit. Got supplies to fix N's bike tire and a few goodies. Then headed to lunch at our favorite buffet place. Afterwards checked out the local nursery for plants and such. Came home and dh fixed dd N's bike. Boy was she glad to ride her bikes again. Then after dinner that night we all headed to the church for meetings.

Yesterday, school in the morning, and park in the afternoon. It was a nice day and the weather cooperated very well. Our home teacher came last night. He's a very sweet guy and always has a pleasant word for us. He generally doesn't bring a lesson, but just visits. That's ok, it's nice to have him come. Apparently his companion was sick and so was unable to come. Guess we'll just have to have him come next time. Of course, his companion is a handyman so with stuff around our house that is literally falling apart, it might be sooner than later lol. Our front porch is literally falling apart so sometime in the next few weeks we'll be having him come and repair it.

Then this evening dh has a church meeting here at home. That means the school room is off limits to the kids for at least an hr or two. Good thing the weather is nice so they can go outside and play. Of course one of the men will be bringing his 3 children with him. Should be interesting to see how they behave with me.

I've decided that for next yr I want to change some of our school curriculum. Not sure how far I'll go, but I do know what we have in some stuff just isn't working. I'm just hesitant due to dh's job situation. Not so much laying off, but just work changes and such. Hard to explain, but better to be safe and hold off than be sorry and spend like crazy. Guess I'll research over the summer and see.

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

3 days and counting

2008-05-14T03:59:00.000-07:00

This is what dh and R are saying regarding seminary right now. lol R had enjoyed the class, it's just been hard to get up at 5:30am each week day morning. I've decided that, even though it's early, I still enjoy getting up early to have computer time to myself. It's the only, almost for sure, time I get to myself online.

Yesterday we had a busy day. Dh stayed home since S and R had dr appt. We did our bit of school work and then headed off to the dr. Both kids are above average height and weight, which wasn't a surprise. I can SEE it by the size of clothes they wear. S is already wearing many things of N and N is almost 12 while S is 4 1/2. R is just plain tall and is getting a bit muscler. But all went well. We then went off to do an errand. N's back wheel was completely roughed out since she skids a lot on her bike. So we bought those items, plus whatever snacks we wanted while there.

Then we were off to lunch to our favorite buffet place. New China. Good food, and since they have remodeled, clean table and chairs. We all love this place and the price is good. There is Old Country Buffet, but apparently it went bank rupt. Golden Corral keeps raising it's prices and now they're at $12.99 per person over age 10. That's outrageous, especially since their food isn't any better than New China and New China is $3.00 cheaper and better service.

We then headed to one of the local nurseries for some flowers and food items to plant in our garden. Then home to fix N's bike. Boy was she glad she had something to ride. So her and S were busy riding bikes for the next hr. I'm glad the weather is finally cooperating so they can be out enjoying it. I know it's been good for S since it's easier to put her to bed(once she settles). lol

Later that evening we were off to our usual Tues classes and meetings at the church. R has his scout night and young men's night. Never know which one until he gets there. N and S stayed with me while I tried to put in visiting teaching numbers. I was unsucessful since some of the info is not all there. But you do what you need to. Luckily I brought books, coloring books and some toys to keep the girl's company. I think S was still a bit off from the dr that morning. She did well, but I think she was still nervous. Finally meetings were over with and home we came, exhausted, but a good day.

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

Another day gone by

2008-05-13T04:09:00.000-07:00

It's Tues morning and ds R has 4 days left of seminary. It's a wonderful program, it's just too bad for ds and dh that it's sooo early in the morning. Dh is really looking forward to sleeping in a bit. What's funny is ds will probably continue to get up early just so he'll have more computer time lol. That's ok, as long as he doesn't complain during the day that he's tired and does his school work.

My nephew and his wife and been keeping a daily blog entry of the life of their oldest child. The reason being is he was born with some sort of dwarfish and has had all kinds of medical issues since day one. They were told from day one that he wouldn't be born alive. Well he was. Then they said not much chance to survive past a few weeks, he did and has. Basically he has overcome lots of obstacles. Unforunately, it's now time for him to return home to Heavenly Father, but the way it is happening is causing lots of pain for the father. Long story, but essentially one day he was ok, the next thing one of his pieces of equipment that helps him breathe stopped working. So they ended up calling 911 and have spent the last 2 weeks or so in the hospital.

This little boy is 4 and what a sweetie. It's been amazing the things they've gone through and what he has and is going through. Now this sweet couple has to make the hardest decision of their life and that is whether to keep him in the hospital, or just take him home for one last time to say goodbye to family. They've chosen to take him home to be comfortable and be around family as they all spend one last time with him. So sad, but then on a religious note, he's a special spirit who was given to a special family who would have the strength to hang on and deal with life. They've done an outstanding job. So now I'm just waiting on the email stating that he's painfree and happy.

Change of subject, dr appt today for R and S. R has scout camp coming up in July so he needs his physical. S because she turned 4 last Nov and needs a physical. So dh has taken the day off so he can accompany us and help out. We have had some concerns regarding S and her lack of potty training. She hasn't had any interest in it since she was 2. We've tried various methods, but pretty much she doesn't care if her diaper is wet or poopy. She's had it that way since birth. So dh said "time her" and so we have. Every 45 min the timer goes off and she's headed to the toilet. She doesn't always like it, but is told she can't do certain things or have certain things until she goes. So most of the time she gives in. She's had a few accidents, but mostly been dry for almost a week. It's nice to see her wearing panties instead of a tight diaper.

As I'm sitting here typing, I'm happy for the quiet of the house. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE helping to educate my children, but as I'm finding out, if I don't have a break and time to myself, I struggle being with them. So even though it requires me to be up extra early, it's worth it to have my time so that when it's THEIR time, I'm ready.

I've rather recently found a new(at least for me it's new)math program that helps children learn their times tables. I had heard that some children could learn them in min, others learning them in a few days. It's called times tales. I had heard from my "live" friends as well as from others online that this was remarkable. So after several weeks of heming and hawing(the price seemed a bit steep for what we were getting) I finally convinced dh to buy it. Well, once I got dd to sit down with me and do the stories WOW was I surprised. She had the entire 6-9 times table memorized in 1 week. Now, we're still working on having the answers quickly, but the point that she now knows them is amazing. We've been working on these for over a yr. I highly recommend this program if your child is having issues and needs visual stimulation. Times tales lol I just had a thought that I've become an adertisement for them. That's ok, it's so worth it.

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

Last week of Seminary

2008-05-12T04:01:00.000-07:00

This is ds R's last week in seminary for this school yr. Dh is also very happy about it since he won't have to get up so early till next fall. It's a good program, just too bad we have to get up so early for it. Apparently the class has been counting down since the beginning of May lol. Last Sat they had their scripture bowl and then a dance afterward. it was supposed to start at 5. When it hadn't started 5:30, we choose to leave and let R know. When he got home around 10 that night, he said it had finally started at 5:45. 45 min later than they said. Oh well, at least we'll know for next yr not to go.

This weekend has been full of lots of happenings. Last Fri I came down with the cold R had last week. S also came down with it last Sun, be she also had a bit of a fever. Maybe a degree. So Fri was spent with me trying to get the kids to do school, me trying to rest, and S wanting mommy's attention and anyone else's she could get. Long day. Also, the stick lady called. Guess I'd better explain this. One of our backyard neighbors is an elderly lady around 70 or so. She uses a walker, but still gets around. A few yrs ago she asked if my kids could pick up sticks once a week or so for a few $$ so that the lawn people wouldn't have to. I told her sure. So Fri around noon we went over there and did that. Then back home to more school. Fri evening I told dh I was going to bed early. My throat was feeling a bit swollen and I was tired.

Sat morning we had to get up somewhat early since it was our turn to clean the church. We were supposed to have help of 2 other families. We got there at 9 and shortly there after they showed up. We were done in 45 min compared to 90 min with just us. That was nice. So we headed home to relax for a bit. Dh then told the kids it was time to go Mother's Day shopping. So off they went and left mom home to relax. It was a nice hour or so on my own. They also brought lunch home which was nice.

Later that afternoon we took R to his seminary activity and then came home. Got dinner and the girls played for awhile. Then gave S her bath and the 2 girls then watched some tv before bed. N wanted to stay up for awhile, so dh offered to let her read with him in our room while I put S to bed. I then let N continue reading for awhile. When it became a bit later than normal for her, I told her it was bedtime. She didn't want to go to bed till R came home, so I let her stay up. R called around 9:45 to say he would be home around 10. He was full of excitement so it was hard to get them both to bed, but we finally succeeded.

Sunday was Mother's Day. No early meetings and no after church meetings. Nice morning to spend with family. Dh made pancakes and bacon for breakfast. We all enjoyed. We rarely have cooked breakfast due to our schedule, so this was nice. Went to church and enjoyed in the spirit there. Had spiritural lessons that uplifted and helped myself and others understand things in the gospel better. Very nice afternoon.

We all then headed home for dinner and relaxation. Dh had made Sunday as usual, but made an extra effort to make gravy. YUMM!! LOVE gravy! Then when dinner was over we adjourned into the frontroom for gifts and ice cream cake. It was a nice evening. The highlight was being able to chat with my mom. She was spending time at my grandma's along with other family in Ut. She was struggling to hear me at times, but it's still very nice to chat with mom. I miss her terribly, and hope that she can remain on earth for a while longer. I'm still having heart ache with my dad gone and we weren't as close as my mom and I. But I still miss his mischievous smile and his hugs. Thankfully I was able to get my last one last Sept, but still miss him. So I'm trying to do all I can with my mom while she's still with us. My grandma is also still with us at 93. She was having some health issues in the last month or so and ended up at the same care center as mom for awhile. But apparently is back home now. I'm so glad because she wouldn't be happy there for long. Due to mom's MS and not being able to walk or move much on her own, it's better for mom to be there. That way she has help.

This week we have dr appt for S and R on Tues. S because she is 4 and R because he's going to scout camp this summer and they require physicals each yr. I think I need to make N one soon because she is growing up.

This morning we're having to take dh to work a bit earlier than normal. He has a few meetings at 8 and needs time to prepare for both. So it means leaving at 7ish rather than 7:30. That's fine, it just means we get home sooner and can get things done sooner.

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

5 more days

2008-05-09T04:11:00.000-07:00

Dh was just talking about this last night. I think getting up early this yr to take R to seminary has been a lot of work for dh. He knows it's a good program which is why he continues to do it, but getting up at 5:30 is not easy for him. He's a night owl. But he's done good and R has learned a lot of scriptures. This Fri they're having their annual "Scripture Bowl". This is where other seminary classes come together and they have a contest to see how quickly each team can find scriptures. Obviously the team that does the best wins. I've tried to tell ds that if he doesn't do as well, that ok. This is his first yr and most of the others have had at least 1 more yr on him. He'll do fine.

Well I think spring has finally won the battle over winter. We've had some really nice temp lately and our park day the other day was beautiful. They had ben predicting thunder showers on us, but they passed just to the south of us. I'm glad because we really don't need anymore moisture right now. Most fields and pastures are flooded. We need some good warm days to help evaporate the moisure from the ground.

Last week ds came down with a headache and a cold. This past weekend S came down with a cold and a very small fever. And just a few days ago dh says he's feeling stuffed nose and sore throat. Well I wake up this morning and my throat is a bit sore. So I guess ds decided to share with us. Thanks, but no thanks. Guess I need to talk to him about WHAT to share lol.

Ds's book collection is slowly accumulating. He did well with our neighborhood. Did almost as well at church, and then at the park on Wed, one of our school friends gve him a small box with books. We just have one more friend who has books and apparently she has 6 to 10 boxes. I've asked her to go through it so we won't get a lot of unneeded boxes. She says she will. He's done very well.

Speaking of ds, next weekend is his monthly campout. We're hoping the weather will cooperate better this time. Last month they had thunderstorms and so they ended up doing most of their meeting at the church, then over to a member's home to sleep in the basement. They then went to a police academy where their scoutmaster works. Afterwards, they come to our home, had lunch, then off to help Robert with his project. I've been very happy with how helpful the scouts have been to him. As one mother said, "if each boy decides not to help another, no one will help him." Makes sense to me. In 2 Tues he will be taking the books and such to the library to donate. Then comes time to update and edit his report. He will then send it on to dh to have him check it out. Then on to the Eagle committee. One thing R has over a lot of the boys is he's been keeping his report up to date so he doesn't have to try and remember what has occured. This is especially nice since he started this project last summer. Good thing he has kept really good notes.

OT here. I'm hoping sometime this yr or early next yr that we will be able to afford a second vehicle. We've gone 18yrs with just one car. We've done fine, but we're realizing lately that because the kids are getting older, they're starting to do more activities and that means having the car more. I try and limit what we do, but sometimes it just can't be helped. Dh says we're doing well, and if it continues hopefully soon we'll have a second one. It will be soooo nice. :)

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

A good day

2008-05-08T04:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our first park day of the yr. It was so nice to let the kids run loose and us moms just chat. Of course, S wanted to just sit with mom again, so I luckily brought some toys and such to entertain her. I wish she'd go play, but she doesn't like being knocked around when playing. Oh well, guess that's fine for her. We also met 2 new moms to the group. Very nice ladies and one even had her dh stop by to meet us. I teased stating, they must be checking us out. I personally don't mind at all. I think it's nice when the husband/father gets invovled in the children's school stuff.

After we were done at the park, we stopped off at Walmart to pick up some things. Then headed home. Construction has finally started in our town. Our roads are just a mess from this past winters' snow fall. Due to all the snow plows, the road got scraped up pretty bad. What was funny was they had a sign up for awhile stating construction would start approximately one day, but it didn't even start until a week later. Oh well, at least now it's here.

Once we got home dh had left a message stating he was headed to his meeting and would call when he was out. So a few min after 5 the phone rings. It's dh ready to come home. He's had a long day. We get home and I get dinner ready. The evening was nice and quiet. I let the girls go outside for abit. It's nice to have the good weather again. But then it was time to settle for the night and little S wasn't happy about that. But, I finally got her in and settled. N was complaining of a headache so she went to bed with S. That doesn't happen much. N likes to read with R most nights, so for her to not want to meant her head did hurt.

Once the kids went to bed, dh did his stuff online while I watched a bit of tv. It was getting close to our bedtime, but I wanted to check emails and some other stuff for a bit. So dh went off upstairs to relax and wait for me. Pretty soon 30 passes and dh is appearing around the corner withi his phone up to his ear. Work has paged. This was 10:30. I went to bed shortly after this and several times got woke by S with her bad dreams. I looked over and see that dh still isn't in bed. It's 1:30am. I think he finally got to bed around 3, but not sure. Anyway, another tired night and still has to go to work today. I'm really starting to feel bad about his on call weeks. Lately they've all been long and tiring.

R has been going through the piles of books we've gotten for his Eagle project. Quite a few and we're still expecting more. I'm glad this project has worked so well. And that the boys have helped out really well. I think R will be very glad when it's complelely over with. When he first started it, he was so full of energy about it. Now he's lost a lot of steam, but is still doing well. He's been keeping his report updated and as detailed as he can without seeming to be a smart alec. But they do want details so that's what we're doing. :)

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

Yesterday was Tues

2008-05-07T04:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our first Tues with no art and gym. So the day was not to crazy. However, dh had been up most of the night on a work call, and so he was tired. He took R to seminary, stayed there since he had a call to take at that tiime(that would be the time he would come home and shower). Once he got home, he ended up being on more calls till 8:30. He was finally able to get some sleep around 10 and slept till 2:30.

In the meantime, the kids and I started our devotional in the frontroom so dh could do his work. Once we were finished dh was done with his call and announced he was going to sleep. So we were able to do our regular schedule, for the most part. Then that night he was still doing work stuff, so I offered to take the kids to their church meetings on my own. He was fine with that. It was nice and quiet once the kids were in their classes. I was able to listen to S while she "read" her comic book to me. Too cute.

While there, my friend J, who has been somewhat inactive this past winter, was at church. I'm glad she's becoming more active again. She and her ds need this. Anyway, she showed me some jewelery she was making. I ended up buying a few bracelets. Very pretty. I was also able to teach a bit of sign language to the one sister who has been coming to my classes. I decided to teach her a few sentences instead of just words. It was fun.

Once we got home, S was still not ready to sleep. I tried keeping her to the schedule, but as I later found out, she had a bit of a sore throat. So I gave her some med. Around 1:30 she woke up fussing a bit due to her throat. Ended up coming downstairs and giving her something to drink and then rocked her to sleep. Thankfully she went down pretty good and I was able to go back to sleep.

It looks like dd N will be getting her bracelet soon for memorizing the articles of faith. However, it's been requested(and I agree)that it would be nice if she understood their meaning. So in the next few days, we will be talking about them and understanding their meanings.

This morning we're going to take the car and hope for a rainless day. It's our homeschool groups park day, and the forecast is calling for rain off and on. I'm hoping for more off than on. N has been looking forward to this all winter. Of course ds R isn't thrilled since I'm making him come with us. To me it's too long of a ride and too far away for me to let him stay home. Especially since we would be there for over 2 hrs. I'm just not comfortable with that, and especially with his personality. If we were 10 min away, then I would probably be ok, but not 30.

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

A long night...

2008-05-06T04:42:00.000-07:00

for dh. We were just getting ready to close our eyes, when dh got paged. This was at midnight. At 2:30 I woke up to find dd S in bed with me but no dh. I finally put dd to sleep and then checked on dh. He was still up talking away on the phone. I think he finally got to sleep around 3, but not sure. So this morning as I got up at 5:25 to get R up for Seminary, he was still asleep. He's going to be very tired tonight since he still has to be to work today. He told me he would be staying at R's class this morning since he has a call coming at 6:15.

Today will be our first Tues with no art or gym. We are done for the yr. So now our Tues will be a bit calmer. The kids still have their church classes, but we're not running around in the afternoon like chickens with their heads cut off lol. Kind of need the break, but looking forward to next fall. Dd S really liked her art class once she got into it. I even had her enrolled in the gym program, but she doesn't like all the contact stuff, which comes with sports, so I took her out of that. She did great with art.

Ds is now over half done with his Eagle project. His troop first attached bags to all the neighborhood doors. Then they collected all the bags from off the doors filled with books(he did very well with that). Now he just needs to contact the person at the library who is in charge of donations, and find out when and where to donate. Then take the Teachers Quorum and the leaders to the library one Tues evening and give the books to them. So he's getting there. Seems interesting since it's been almost a yr since he came up with the plan. He's done very well in doing it 95% on his own(we transported, provided food and bags).

Yesterday when I checked the mail, I discovered the insurance checks from dad. FINALLY there are here. It's more a relief for my oldest brother G since he needs to pay the morturary(4 months later). I'm hoping they haven't been bothering him much. But at least now we have them and now just need to help pay whatever dad's part doesn't cover, then the rest is for us siblings to share. Nice last gift from dad.

This Sun is Mother's Day, and as prepared as I was a month ago, I've spent most of that time only thinking about what to give mom and then getting caught up in ds's project. Now I find that the one thing I wanted to give mom, I won't be able to for a bit. I had wanted to frame a photo of my brothers and I and give to mom. I probably still can, but it won't be there for Mother's Day. I will be sending some $$ to her so she can get some nice things, but the photo will have to wait.

As I'm sitting here typing dd S is asleep on the couch, but is wiggling so much that she's not even in the same place I layed her in. She's such a wiggly sleeper. I sure hope she's feeling better from her cold and slight fever. I think big brother shared his cold and such last week. Thanks a lot big brother lol.

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

Books, books and more books

2008-05-05T04:26:00.000-07:00

Ds R's Eagle Scout Project has taken off really well. 2 Satudays ago, the scouts were getting ready to pass out bags and hang them on our neighbors front doors. This past Sat, all the Teacher's Quorum had pizza lunch at our place, then, with the help of 2 dad's vans, the boys went out to collect any bags with books in them. I think they brought in 20 or 30 bags and 1 box full of books. Really well. Then yesterday at church he collected a 10 gal container of more books. So he's done very well with books. I then get an email from one of our homeschool moms that she has some books. So on our next park day, we'll collect come more. WOW!!

Well yesterday at church during Sacrament meeting, S started falling asleep. I had to take her out and go for a walk in the hallway to wake her up. Well the rest of themeetings went well. After church we were waiting on dh and his meeting. S wanted my lap and started cuddling. When I realized waht she was doing I felt her forehead and sure enough a bit warm. She ended up falling asleep for a bit. Once we got home she woke up and wanted to watch cartoons, si I put them on. So today I needto inform her primary class that she is sick.

My good friend J is starting to become active again. This past winter took a toll on her car, so she missed chuch a lot. Now that spring is here, her car is allowing her to drive it again. Her ds isn't thrilled, but he will eventually he'll be fine. I think once he realizes that she's coming and that the boys want him there, he'll come around. I certainly hope so, because he's a good kid, but with her being a single mom, there's no priesthood example for him, so he needs church.

I'm hoping this week will be a relaxed one. We could use it after the last 2. However, dh is on call this week, so his time might not be such a good one. He says things at work are such a mess that lots of people are getting fed up. Unfortunately, most need this job, so they have to put up with things. Rather frustrating when you're trying to do your job, but can't. I keep tellng myself, at least he has a job. I read about some families where the father loses his job and they are trying hard not to fall. Makes me grateful for when we have, regardless.

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

7 more times

2008-05-02T03:57:00.000-07:00

Dh and I were counting last night, the mornings left that ds R goes to seminary. 7 more times then they have the summer break. I really think dh is looking forward to not getting up so early. I will have to figure out my schedule so I can still have time online befor kids wake up.

Yesterday the kids did much better with school. I also discovered(although I think I already knew) that dd N can't sit and concentrate too long on one subject. So I had her do math for 15 min, then switch over to another subject, then back to math. Then on to yet another subject. That seemed to work best. Even ds R did much better.

Dh was also talking about cleaning the church and how we're supposed to have many other families helping us. He said that only 2 families have responded and they are related to each other. They might be doing the cleaning tomorrow on their own. But it's looking like we'll be doing the rest of the month ourselves. That's ok, we don't mind, for the most part. The 2 girls seem to like doing that, so that's good. I don't even mind it. R, however, I think gets tired, but I feel he needs to learn how to keep things clean. He's not my clean guy. lol

Yesterday one of our neighbors was actually out mowing his lawn. The lawns are looking green and such, but I'm surprised it wasn't our literal next door neighbor. He's usually the one that is first to do it. Ours will probably next mowing soon. That means having the kids go out and pick up the sticks that fall from the tree. I know the kids are tired of it, but unless we spend a lot of money and have someone come in, we're stuck with falling branches and sticks.

Tomorrow is ds R pick up day for the Eagle Scout project. That means him and the guys go check out our neighborhood for any bags filled with books. R seems to think there might be empty bags still on doors and he'll collect them. Guess I'll have to inform him that most people will through them away. I know I do. I do hope he'll get a bunch of filled bags after all the work they did last Sat. We'll soon see tomorrow afternoon. He's also been advertising at church and has received one bag and a call about some more books. Hope this works out.

This morning I'm going to have the kids write their letters to grandma. We goofed on Wed. Pretty much hardly anything got done on Wed. Thurs was much better, but because the weather was nice I choose to have the kids go out side rather than write. So this morning right after the devotional, I'm going to have them write to grandma(my mom). I've told them since we live so far away and can only visit after so many yrs literally that we need to at least keep in touch by letters. I'm also glad that my aunts are able to help her use the phone when they visit on Sun so I can talk as well. I miss my mom and wish we lived closer, but that just isn't an option. I am glad that she has her family there to help out. That makes me feel SOOO much better. I know how some nursing homes can be and am glad her family if there to look after her.

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

Slept all night long

2008-05-01T04:01:00.000-07:00

Well dd S slept all night long. Always nice when she does this. It's not unusual for her to wake and come to our bed 4 out of 7 nights. So when she stays in her bed all night, it's a treat.

Ds R went to bed with a stiff neck last night. He apparently got hit in the head with a ball Tues evening while at the church for his class. He said he felt like he was dizzy afterward. I explained that he very could be. He said it's not the regular headache but dizzy. I told him that's the type of headaches I'd been getting lately. Thankfully I seem to be fine the last few days. I HATE having those headaches. I just have a hard time functioning with them.

Well, I've been following my nephew's blog the last few days(his little boy has MAJOR health issues) and it's getting very sad. I won't go into all the details, but due to an incident a few weeks ago, it looks like his brain isn't working very well right now. They've been approached by the dr's in the last few days stating "It's ok if you decide that 'B' has suffered enough." Thankfully they weren't offended by this and are just taking it one hour at a time to see how he's doing. I just hope and pray that they will be comforted with whatever needs to be done.

On a brighter note, the insurance for my dad has finally come to a closure...I think. They finally have all 4 letters from us siblings, a letter signed(somewhat)by my mom stating she agrees with our statements. Yesterday I received a phone call from the lady in charge asking a few questions to make sure we're all set. Verified my address so the check would be sent correctly. So now we just wait to see the amounts and then whatever is needed to complete the payment on the mortuary to get them paid off. The insurance lady said she was so glad to work with a family that is working together. We're not greedy and not jumping all over each other. I told her that's just now how we were raised and said thanks.

Yesterday I told ds R that he needed to update our homeschool groups calendar that's on the website so it reflects what is happening in May. I think, due to his headache(from the ball on Tues) that he was getting tired of doing this. So he set up a new calendar that I could update each month. I said that's fine just show me how it works. It looks a bit blah and colorless, but he assures me that he can take care of that today. I hope so.

I'm hoping the weather will warm up soon. We got a bit spoiled there the other week when the temp were in the high 70s. It was so nice to go out and sit on the porch and watch the kids ride their bikes. Lately the temp has been in the low 50s and cloudy. It has definitely take a toll on attitudes.

Well to end on a happy note. Dd N has been working on her times tables with timestales.com and it's working. It's been slow going but she's starting to remember the upper times tables. So glad since we've been trying all yr with no succcess. I'm thinking we'll continue this all summer and then hopefully next fall she can go on to the next book in the series in Saxon. She's definitely been excited.

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

Starting Early

2008-04-30T05:53:00.000-07:00

This morning I thought I'd start a bit early on my blog since lately S has been waking up early and thus my time online gets interrupted. I love my kids, but I do need to be refreshed each day before taking them on again. :) So here I am online trying to get a head start. Well see if it works lol.

Yesterday I decided I wasn't going to print any more math stuff for N since I've been using lots of ink to print sutff for her. She's stuck at the times tables so I don't want to continue with her math curriculum until she knows them. Anyway, dh bought timestales.com for her to use and her and I finally went upstairs to practive them with no noise and interruptions. IT WORKED!! She's finally starting to memorize the upper times tables. It's going to take all summer, but I think by next fall we might be able to start on the Saxon #4 book.

Well after lunch, we all went to the art building to help finish up an art project that has been waiting since 2 yrs ago this spring. The waiting area at the art/gym class has a wall that the kids in art were able to contribute by putting their approved drawings on the wall and then painting them. It's a bright picture with some butterflies, flowers, grass and a few kids playing plus a tree in the corner. Well there's also a magnetic board that needed the magnets so S and I were able to create and cut out the hand drawn magnets the kids had made a few yrs ago. Plus R and N were able to help with the details on the bear that will be holding a chalk board. Should be interesting how things turn out next fall. How long it will last. Of course, having moms in there should help keep it longer.

We arrived home around 3 and dh said he wanted us to get him a bit early. A co-worker's mom had passed away and the viewing was that evening. So we picked him up, we all came home, then dh and R went back to viewing. R stayed in the car while dh did, then they went on to the church for R's meetings. Once they came home that evening they had groceries. It's funny to see the kids most of the time get so excited about the things daddy brings home. I'm just grateful we can afford to do this. I remember a time, prekids, when I wouldn't even look at magazines or in stores because I knew we didn't have the money. Now, every now and then, I have to remind myself how lucky we are that dh has a good job and that he makes good money. I'm very thankful for that. So many either just make ends meet or are struggling.

I finally get around, after family prayer, to putting the kids to bed. Tues evenings are always late in this event. Well S decided that she didn't want to go to sleep. I was up in her room keeping her company from 9-9:40. I decided she just wasn't sleepy so down stairs we went. I told her no talking and no playing. She had to sit on the couch and do nothing. Finally at 10 I told N it was bedtime, so I took S along and put them both to bed. S still wasn't sleepy, but I told her that if she didn't go to sleep she would NOT be able to play first thing after the devotional like she usually does. Guess that worked because the eyes went shut and stayed. WHEW!! Now THAT'S why mom is usually so tired in the evenings. lol The rest of the week should be relatively quiet. Sat we will be cleaning the church since it's our time now. And sometime that day the scouts will be back to collect any books left for R's scout project. I sincerely hope he does well.

Karie
Kariesplace

Just can't catch up with sleep

2008-04-29T04:34:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to get some extra sleep, but it's not working. On Sat, I managed 2 extra hrs, but they were filled with Dd S trying to cuddle while sleeping. S is a wild sleeper and likes to put her legs and feet all over you. She's my climber, so that explains her feet. So anyway, the last few nights, she's been coming into our room, or waking me up fussing. I'm getting tired and during the day I don't have much time to sit and take a nap. Although yesterday afternoon I sat down with S in the frontroom around 4 and ended up snoozing for 20 min. Not a good idea since that's close to when we pick up dh. It's hard to drive when you're still tired.

Well, compared to the weekend, yesterday was nice and calm. We took dh to work, then home to start school. After our devotional, we got our books and DVD's ready to take back. Then off to the library. Once we got there....WOW!! The parking lot was FULL of cars. I was trying to figure out what might be happening for their to be so many cars. We finally found a spot, but never found out why so many cars. Guess it was just one of those days.

Once we got home, we ate lunch, then relaxed while the girls watched school videos and R read. I was able to get some chores done. Pretty much the day was spent relaxing. We did do some food shopping once we picked up dh, but that was it. We also managed to schedule family night again. We've been kind of skipping occassionally lately. Guess because we get busy with things and I don't want to interrupt. But last night I decided we need to get back into it. It turned out good, because S is learning to read and so she wanted to have her turn reading the lesson. Dh helped her with that. I think she had fun.

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

Well, it's started

2008-04-28T04:15:00.000-07:00

Last Fri we were having really bad weather. Thunderstorms and really rough winds. The scouts in our ward were getting ready for a campout at their scoutmasters house in his back yard. Well as it's raining I'm thinking, he's got to change his mnd about this campout, or at least make some changes. That morning afternoon as he's working on his Eagle Project, I start seeing emails about "the boys won't be able to sleep out in tents tonight due to the weather. Would it be possible for us to have our evening activity at the church, maybe sleep there and then continue on to the police academy for the mornings activity". Well, as it turns out, They did meet at the church for the evenings activity. Then one of the leaders offers his basement for the scouts to sleep that night. Due to policy, there is no sleeping at the church. So that meant either the boys come for the evening activity and food, then go home to sleep, then meet at the church for the activity, or someone needs to offer their home. So thankfull they were able to meet at one of the leaders homes for the night.

In the meantime, after we've dropped R at the church, we come home, eat dinner and watch tv. The storm is roaring pretty good outside, but we're ok inside. By the time it's bedtime, the storm is gone. The girls go to bed with no problem.

Saturday morning we're mostly sleeping in. S finds her way into our bedroom and so by 7:30 I'm mostly being kicked out of bed. So rather than wake up, I just get up and come downstairs and rest on the couch. Once everyone wakes up, we start getting breakfast over with and showers. R's Eagle Scout project will begin that afternoon at our home, and we need to do some cleaning up. I have the girls take ALL their toys downstairs so we'll be able to vacuum better. I'm under the impression that the boys will be at our place around 2:30 and their scout master will provide lunch. Then they're supposed to start on R's project. Well, around 11:30 we finally get most of the house cleaned up. By noon we're done and the girls are hungry. So we eat lunch and are watching a DVD. Around 12:30 the phone rings and it's one of the sisters from church asking about R's project. (He's collecting books and other material for our local library). She wants to know if we would like the leftover books and such from their meeting? YES!

Well in the meantime I'm looking out the window while on the phone and I notice one of the scouts leaders vans pull up in front of our home. Turns out one of the activities they were going to do got cancelled. So in walked 7 Teachers and about 7 Deacons into our frontroom. The house was filled was boys boys boys. lol My two girls left the frontroom and escaped into the school room. Dh put on a DVD for them so they would be out of the way.

Once the boys had their lunch, R took charge of his project. The boys were being paired off onto each street and they were to place these bags with info stapled on them on each door handle. The papers were adveritsing about R's project for the library. So around 2 they headed out and didn't come back until 3. I think they handed out about 170 bags. We had 200 ready. While they were gone, the sister who had called about the books, pulled up, and with her dh, brough in 5 1/2 boxes of books. So he's off to a good start.

So now next Sat he's going to have just the Teachers Quorum come and collect any bags with books in them. Plus he's also got a box at the church for members to bring in their books and such. We've also included our homeschool group. So hopefully we'll collect a bunch. Someone at church also brough in a bag of books, so that's good.

It was a good weekend. A bit windy and chilly, but the guys did a good job. I'm glad they stuck around to help out(even though they really didn't have a choice lol).

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

Loooong Night

2008-04-25T04:10:00.000-07:00

It seems, lately, that my oldest dd N keeps asking me each night(since the end of March) if there's going to be a stom that night. I always say "its not warm enough yet". Well last night she asks me again and I say "not that I know of". Well sometime around 1 or 2 or 3am she climbed into bed hearing thunder. Ok, that was fine. Then around 4 my youngest dd S decides she hears it also and needs mommy. So thankfully we have a king size bed because as it was, we were crowded. Both my girls sleep very rough. So dh and I are constantly getting pushed, kicked or whatever all night. I checked the clock around 4:45am and was about to put the girls in their own bed, but just decided to climb back into bed and try and snooze for 50 min. Ended up waking around 5:15 so I just decided it was time. I'm normally up on week days around 5:30am R's seminary class. Thankfully the storm has ended so the girls are back to sleep.

Today is going to be a busy day. We have a science fair to attend at the local library, so we'll head to that for the next 2hrs. Come home and get busy with R's Eagle Scout Project. He needs to staple some flyers to about 200 plastic bags that will be announcing that he's collecting books and such for the local library. Then we're off to get dh from work, the dropping R at his scout masters house for a weekend campout. R loves these. He didn't used to when he first entered in, but the scout master is so nice to R that it makes it worth while.

Sat will be cleaning up and possibly making some cupcakes for the scouts when they come over to do the scout project. I'm just hoping the weather works out. Supposedly more thunderstorms today, but at least it will be daylight and the girls won't freak out as much.

Last night we went to Sam's Club to pick up groceries and get the bags for the scout project. S was very active and kept wanting to climb on the cart, then hop off, then back on etc... Dh was getting a big frustrated since it meant the cart was somewhat heavy. R finally put her on his shoulders and carried her a bit that way. She loved it! That helped a lot.

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

Eagle Scout Project

2008-04-24T04:03:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday, ds R spent most of his day getting things ready for his Eagle Scout Project which will possibly start this Sat afternoon. The weather isn't looking too good, so we'll have to see. I hope, for his sake, that the weather holds until they're done. He's been wanting to get it done literally for months. He told me the other day he'll be glad when it's all done so he can concentrate on other things. I think he'll feel good once it's accomplished.

Dd N received her packet of math in the mail. It's the www.timestales.com that I've been hearing from others that starts to work either that day or after a week. I'm hoping it will help her because she's really struggling with her times tables. We shall see.

I'm determined that I need to be more serious with school stuff now. Dh and I had a nice talk awhile back and it made me realize that I've been too slacking in school. I firmly believe that if you give a child information laying around the house, a child will be curious and want to learn about it on their own(mostly). So I've tried putting some types of books and videos on hold so that my kids will learn of it. It kind of seems to be working with dd N, but ds R is firmly planted in computers. Dd S just wanted to learn about everything, and wants to read to you so you know how excited she is. I think it's neat that at 4 1/2 she's already reading. Amazing! Anyway, I'm hoping to get more serious about stuff now. We'll see how it works in a few weeks. lol

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

Good, but busy day (April 23rd)

2008-04-24T03:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was ds R's birthday. It being on a Tues made it even busier than a normal Tues. Dh took the day off and instead of school work, we choose to go to the zoo. After a few hrs we decided we were hungry so off to get lunch. We then had "Celebration Day" for the kids' art and gym class. This is where the kids receive their certificates of achievement for art and gym class. Youngest dd received her first one. She was excited. We told her several times what she needed to do and she did a fabulous job. She's a bit shy at times, but did well. All the kids have done well with these classes. They also get to have snacks and such.

After this was over with, ds wanted to do miniature golfing. It was fun because it had been raining just before we went tocelebration day so we weren't sure exactly what to expect. We did have fun, but the fake green grass was soaked, so we had to be careful not to sit down lol. After golfing we went and got pizza for dinner, then home to eat and receive gifts. He received some nice gifts. He was happy. Some of them were computer related, but some were snacks. We then headed off to the church for meetings we had. Ds had his scout meeting, and I had my sign language class. We were all very tired but had a good day.

Today we're back to regular schedule, I hope lol. It's always hard to get back to serious mode when you've had a fun day. Especially on the parents who have tired legs lol. I refuse to believe I'm getting old. Older and wiser I hope, but not old lol. Apparently my body seems to think otherwise. Guess we're in for a battle lol.

The weather is finally being good as well. I believe spring has finally out done winter. This means, of course, that we need to put the shovels back into the garage lol. I guess we've left them there in case we had one last hurrah! It's so nice to see green grass, flowers blooming, just color everywhere instead of white and gray. Even on days when the sun was shining, it was still not always a fun day. It helped to have the sun, but when you stepped outside you knew it was winter. I love being able to go outside without a jacket and just sit on the porch or take a walk. Breathe fresh air.

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

A good weekend

2008-04-21T04:14:00.000-07:00

We had a very nice weekend. The weather was low 70's so we spent a lot of time outside. Very good for the kids, bu especially for dd S who is only 4. She loves being outside either running around chasing R and N, riding her bike or taking a walk around the block. The bedtime is usually much easier. It's just so nice to have good weather finally.

Sunday was back to regular church schedule. The last 2 Sundays have been General Conference and then Stake Conference. They were a nice break but we now need to get back on track.
Yesterday I was able to speak to my mom with my aunt's help holding the phone. Felt really nice hearing her voice again. My one aunt said mom's voice was a bit quiet, but I think just the fact of getting to talk to me helped her speak loudly. I miss my mom and being able to just call whenever and talk. So I'm thankful to my aunts who were willing to do this.

Well somewhat sad news, my nephews oldest is in the hospital. Not sure what the exact name of his little boy's condition, but something about dwarfism. Due to some unforunate incident, he's back in the hospital with emergency issues. My poor nephew was trying to do the thing he always did with the trach, but it refused to work for him, thus causing his little boy to pass out. He ended up back in the ER. He seems to be slowly getting better, but my nephew is really taking it hard. Prayers on his bahalf. I tried leaving a message, but they're probably just too busy right now. I just pray that whatever Heavenly Father has in mind, that he will spiritually lift up this family so they can handle whatever comes their way. Such a sweet family.

On a lighter note, tomorrow is ds R's bday and he will be 15! Yikes! lol. J/K. He's growing up into such a good kid, bit of an attitude, but still a good kid. He helps me out with a lot of things and I greatly appreciate him. He's not sure exactly what all he wants to do, but we'll figure that out as time goes. He does want to do miniature golfing, but the weather may not cooperate. We do have celebration day for the kids' art and gym classes. After that he's not sure what to do. Says he really doesn't want to do a lot, just be with family. So my entry for Wed will reveal what happened.

Karie
http://www.kariesplace.robertcity.com/

Fri again

2008-04-18T04:13:00.000-07:00

Well, once again the weekend is closing in. Feels like the week just started and now it's ended. I remember my mom always saying time was flying by quickly. I used to just chuckle and go yeah yeah. But oh how right she was. At least now my ds R realizes this quicker than I did and does try and make life count. Not always, but he tries.

Tonight we're going to the Stake Court of Honor. I think R will be getting his computer merit badge. He's very close to getting 3 others, but those will have to wait till the next court. He has a swimming, family and one other one(one thing on each) and then he'll have those badges. The swimming one will hopefully be done in the next month or two. His scout master emailed him stating at one of the weekend campouts they would head over to one of the local high schools and use their swimming pool. The family one, he just needs to talk to his dad about s_x. Not sure about the other one. Then get his Eagle project done. He says then he'll stop worrying about going to scouts as much. Although I think his dad will still insist that he go, but who knows.

This weekend, dh will be on call again. He traded last weekend with this weekend due to Stake Conference. Which just basically means we don't go out to eat, we don't do heavy duty shopping since if dh gets paged, he needs to have access to his computer within 10 min of being paged if needed. So he informs me, we'll probably do a bit of spring cleaning. That's fine with me. I think I'll start today with the girl's room. It looks like a tornado ran through it. Clothes and books and toys scattered throughout, and their room really isn't that big. R has already started going through his stuff and has found many things he had forgotten about lol. Amazing how that works.

I went on my 2nd evening of visiting teaching with my companion. I used to visit teach her, but I was also companionless. My former companion just hasn't been able to make it to church, and any time you call her at home, she gets interrupted by family. So R.S. Pres had assigned her to a letter route, and given me this sweet sister who has been having a hard time with work and car and life. She has a ds R's age and we can both relate. We had an enjoyable time visiting our 2nd sister. Wed evening we did our first sister. Anway, this last one was harder to get away from because her and my companion know each other from the past and had a lot to catch up on. So we were gone a bit longer. Thankfully the kids were able to play outside in the nice weather, thus giving dad a break and getting their energy out. That has made bedtime so much easier.

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

Spring is here

2008-04-17T04:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the weather was beautiful. The temp was 75 by noontime. I actually shed a few layers of clothing. We opened up the windows to let the fresh air in. Our neighbor behind us called to see if the kids could come pick up the sticks off her back lawn again. She had asked them 2 summers ago to come help out and they each get $2.00 a piece for doing this. R says he's kind of tired of it, but I figure it won't hurt him any to help a neighbor. Well he was also able to help out in her basement turning some water knobs and got an extra $2.00. Not much, but more than if he didn't.

I also went visiting teaching with my new companion last night. I used to visit her, but requested she become my companion since my old companion's schedule just didn't work with mine. We had an enjoyable visit together also visiting with our 1st sister. I'm hoping this will continue to work out. She really needs reactivation.

Well last night dh asked me how the kids' school was coming. Always a subject I try and avoid with him since he feels that I'm too lax. I'm under the idea that a child will learn according to THEIR ability and with occasional pushes from me, will learn at the best rate they can. Sometimes I feel that dh is still too much ps minded and that the kids are way behind in some of their studies. My comment is "who decided at what level each age should be at". Well the government did. My thought on that is, a lot of kids can do at the same level, but there are some kids either ahead, or behind due to their learning abilities. I try and work with this and encourage, but I feel if their brain isn't ready for something and you keep pushing it, eventually they're going to stop learning and hate it. That's how I felt about school growing up and I don't want that for my kids. I know I need to push a but, but sometimes I feel he wants me to push too much.

He also mentioned that fact that our oldest dd N needs to really practice on her prayers. She will be in the young women's group the end of Aug when she turns 12 and she still refuses to say them at home. She used to say the food prayer all the time, but now S does. So I guess I need to sit down with N and figure out why she doesn't want to say them. My personal thought is, not everyone is comfortable saying prayers for everyone to hear. But I guess I need to at least find out WHY she's this way.

Anyway, so with all this talk from him, I have a lot of things to figure out how we'll change our schedule. He commented on how much actual DVD's and videos that kids are watching and my comment back was that our dd N learns more when she's watching than just reading. He's concerned also about her reading. Again my thought on this is a child is born curious, just let that curiosity go where it wants(as long as it's good) and help it out occassionally. I do check out books for her on food, animals and other science stuff. Guess I need to sit down with her and find out how much she's retaining.

So anyway, I guess I need to get my butt going and get more actual lessons going. Wish me luck I can keep it going enough to satisfiy dh. I understand his concern, I just wish he would be a bit more relaxed. We'll see. :)

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

Still tired

2008-04-16T04:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the kids' last day at art and gym for the semester. Always a fun time for catching up on unfinished projects. Well, then once the youngest group was done, Miss Sara took the group(except my dd) to gym only to find that the gym teacher wasn't there. He hadn't called or anything. So the staff tried calling him but no answer. Hmmmm...now what to do. Luckily on one of the moms of the younger kids said she would take over. However, the art teacher would still have to find someone for the middle and older class. Well what they ended up doing is having one of the staff members take over the art class while Miss Sara took over the gym class. What fun! So the question for the moment is....what happened to the gym teacher?

After classes were over, we came home and the routine of showers, picking up dad, and more showers along with dinner happened. However, because ds R wasn't having any church activities, dd N and I ended up going alone. Dd S stayed home with daddy and R. I think dh would have rather come with me to the church, but felt he needed to stay home. I got home to find dh very tired. It was nice to have it just be Dd N and I do something on our own. That's rare.

This morning it's, stay at home time, and get serious school work done. I'm ready for any problems(I hope) that might come along with any refusal to do school stuff. Ds R tells me he will help dd N with her times tables today. We'll see how it goes. lol. But seriously, I hope something does because the way I was doing it hasn't been working. I had emailed my dh about a product called www.Timestales.com and how my friends have been raving about it. It's a bit pricey for what it is, but if it'll help out, it will be worth it.

Dd N came to me after her church class and said they worked on journals. She was handed several pieces of paper with questions she had to answer. She answered a lot of them on her own, but a few she would need help with. I told her that would be fine. She loves her "Faith in God" class. I'm glad she does. But she's only got 4 more months and then she's ont to YW(Young Women). I think she's kind of excited, but also very nervous. She has LOVED going to FIG and doing all the activities. Her teacher says she has done well. That's good considering how shy she used to be. She still can be if she doesn't know someone, but she is doing better.

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

Hard time getting going

2008-04-15T04:16:00.000-07:00

This morning I go to wake up ds R, and he's not wanting to wake up. Took me a few extra times of getting his attention before he signaled that he was awake. Guess he needs to go to bed earlier. It's amazing how on days when he doesn't have seminary, he's awake as early as 4am. lol Guess it's the motivation of using the computer that wakes him lol.

Well today is another busy Tues. Take dh to work, then get ourselves ready for the school day. Then around noon take S to her art class while N tags along. R stays home and continues working on school assignments. We then come home in time for a quick lunch and back to art AND gym for N & R. We're there for about 2 hrs. Then home for a bit and N or R showers, then off to pick up dh. Back home and the other one showers and dinner. Then off to the church for activities for R & N. S tags along with mommy and dad. Then we arrive home around 8:30 or 9 exhausted. Thank goodness for days at home.

Well one of my friends who has been getting less and less hrs at work, finally found a new job! She was so super excited that she called me right away. I'm so happy for her. She's a single mom with a car that barely works. And with this yrs winter snow storms we've had, she has struggled to keep it going. Her ds is in high school and thankfully a strong boy so he's been able to assist her in some instances. And at least this job is still in town so she won't have to drive too far. I'm so happy for her, she's really needed some good news with jobs.

Anther friend of mine will be moving in a few weeks, and she's a bit over 3 months preg. She's trying to be so careful due to some other miscarriages. This one seems to be hanging on, so my continued prayers are with her. I'll probably be going over to help clean one of the houses during the move. I'll be taking the kids, of course, and I"m sure they'll be thrilled....NOT! Oh well, service never hurt anyone.

It's also tax time, and dh has spent the last several evenings getting our taxes done online. So much fun. I also discovered that state taxes are about 3x more than the federal ones. Apparently our state is known for high taxes. If I were the governer, I would be ashamed to have a state known as that. Of course, a lot of politicians seem to think the more $$ we give them, the more they can do(yeah for themselves).

Well, I'm going to end on a positive note. Weather wise we're finally having some nice days. Yesterday, by mid afternoon we were able to go outside with NO COAT OR JACKET!! Sunshine and green grass. Some flowers here and there. So nice to see finally. Spring is here!!

Karie

Conferences

2008-04-14T04:09:00.000-07:00

The last 2 weekends have been filled with General Conference(last Sunday) and this past Sun was Stake Conference. It feels like we haven't had regular church in quite awhile. I think I'm looking forward to next Sun and back to routine again. It's nice to have routine broken, but then it's nice to get back to it again.

This past weekend was a hard one on my dh. He had gone out to lunch one day last week to Taco Bell and by the time he got home he was looking green. I think that was Thurs. He went to be early and then the next morning back to work even with not feeling well. When he got home Fri he was still not doing good. He ended up going upstairs and falling asleep for a few hrs. Later in the evening he came down looking a lot better. Still not completely well, but a lot better. By Sat morning he was much improved and started working on fixing our broken toilet. It was really wiggly and needed to be tightened. He figured it would take many hrs, but turns out to only need 2 1/2. Not bad, and now we have a toilet again. YEAH!

We also had Stake Conference this weekend. On Sat there was the Priesthood session and then the adult one. This yr I decided that our ds R was going to babysit our youngest dd S (with help from oldest dd N) while both of us went together to the Adult session. I have to admit, I was a bit nervous at first, but after the song break halfway through I called and they were having fun and being good, so I was able to enjoy the rest of the conference. It was nice to just sit with dh and not have children needing my attention.

Sunday morning we all start getting ready for church which starts at 2. Because we're meeting at a different building, and this yr due to all the snow and rain which we've gotten, there was a lot of flooding. So the extra parking that was on the grass, wasn't available. So they encouraged us to carpool and get to church early. We did and got great seats and great parking. It was a nice meeting, but dd S decided that she wanted mommy to read some of her picture books to her. I was trying to be patient, but I did want to listen to the talks. Finally, I got her coloring a small activity book which she was good with.

After conference we left to go home and enjoy the rest of the day. We did find a message from our neighbor that the city would be by today to clean up the rest of the leaves from last fall. Finally!! Dh had no church work and neither did I. So we had dinner and relaxed. The girls played quietly with their dolls, ds & dh went on computer, & I watched a bit of tv. Ended up dozing a bit, but that's fine. Overall had a nice evening.

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

The weekend...

2008-04-11T04:11:00.000-07:00

is almost here. Can't believe it's already Fri. I was certain we had just started the week and now it's Fri again. I think dh will be glad when Mon is here. He's been on call all week, and I believe these weeks are getting worse each time.

This weekend is our Stake Conference, which means the whole family goes to one meeting on Sun together instead of 3 classes as a regular Sun. We have these twice a yr along with General Conference. These meetings are a way for the higher up priesthood holders to give more of us a message we need to hear on a more personal level(not THAT personal, of course) but more to wha we need to hear in our area. This meeting lasts about 2 hrs. A bit long for the children, but most of them handle it well. There is a crying room for those small children who can't handle it.
I think on Sat dh is going to try and fix the upstairs toilet. The screws on it are very loose. So loose that the kids were able to move it quite easily. It's been off limits for the past few days. Thank goodness we have another bathroom we can use. The kids have been very good about not touching or using it.

Weather wise we've gone from shoveling lots and lots of snow, to watching lots and lots of rain. This past week I believe we've had about 3 to 4" of rain. Now that may not seem a lot, but when you figure in all the snow we've had that is now saturating the ground, it's a lot. Pretty much the ground is so wet that the rain water is just sitting in ponds all over the place. The fields where farmers plow are just soaking wet. Kind of like small swimming pools all over. And then on top of all that we have lots of brown yucky leaves from last fall that are still waiting to be picked up. Should be an interesting next few weeks.

Well as much as getting up early is hard, it's nice to have a quiet home so that I can relax for a bit. It's my time online to check things out, read my emails and just enjoy a bit of quiet before the household wakes up. I love having my children home, but I do need my time in order to enjoy them.

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

Morning again

2008-04-10T04:02:00.000-07:00

Good morning to whoever reads this. I'm hoping to have a better day and better attitude today than I did yesterday. Yesterday was blah and cloudy and I had a hard time feeling up to anything. I think it's just the leftover winter blues, but I barely managed my basic chores. I did manage to wash our bed sheets yesterday. That's no easy task. So now we have clean sheets for the next few months. I just need to do the kids' bed stuff now.

I also cleaned the upstairs bathroom. The whole toilet is very loose and dh has asked that no one use it or touch it. I did have to flush it after cleaning, but that was it. Ok now I'm rambling lol.

Dh had to work late yesterday due to he's on call and the site commander. He finally managed to get home around 9. He said all he was doing was sitting at his desk just listening to their conversations. Finally they kicked him out. The kids were glad to see him especially little S. She ran to him and hugged him and then proceeded to try and dance around when it was family prayer time. I admit I was a bit frustrated since I was trying to get her to settle, but she was happy to see daddy, so I stood back for a bit.

Well I guess the ole' brain just doesn't have much else to say so I'll end this now.

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

Time to settle

2008-04-09T04:05:00.000-07:00

Since Mon we've been going here and there, but now it's Wed, it's time to settle and just get school work done. I love getting out and doing stuff, but after a few days, I just need to stay put.

Well the end of the art and gym semester is coming up. All 3 of my kids have been doing these classes this semester. S just has art since gym was a bit rough. But she loves the painting and play dough and such. It's been fun being in with her and helping the teacher out. At the beginning of the semester I tried to just sit at the table and not butt in, but as the weeks went by, I could sense she needed an extra hand at times. So I eventually just started helping out when I could see it was needed. It's been fun.

The snow has melted finally. We had spots in our yard where it took awhile. Especially next to the garage where it doesn't get much sun. But now it's raining season and yesterday afternoon it poured and continued pouring all day and into the evening. According to the weather radar it seems to have passed now. I'm guessing several inches of rain.

Well I think my brothers and I may have finally gotten dad's insurance info taken care of. We've also been discussing giving a portion of what each of us receives from the insurance to my mom for when she has er services. It turns out that my grandma(mom's mom) has put away money for that already, so all we need to do is take care of the morturary and then maybe put some into a gift for mom for mother's day and her bday. Just not sure what yet. I miss my mom and dad.

Thankfully I can still see my mom, but dad is gone and I'm sad. I miss his sparkle in his eye when he was being silly. We had our disagreements, but I still love and miss him. I'm just glad that my brothers and I are good with each other and not greedy for the money. Not that there's much to be greedy over, but hey some families would try. I'm very thankful for my brothers and our friendship with each other.

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

It's Tues...again

2008-04-08T04:17:00.000-07:00

You know, as I get older(not old, mind you lol) but older, I see time flying by. I've always known that it goes by fast, but I'm definitely seeing it fly by at times. I think R is also seeing that, because he has made comments about how it was just one day, and now it's another. I told him it only goes by faster. The reason I bring that up, is it seems like it was just Fri and we were on our frield trip, now it's Tues., and we've started a new week again. Just too darn fast.

It's also spring and the temp are trying really hard to show it. Over the weekend it was high 60's and no sweater or jacket weather. The girls wanted their bikes down, so down they came out of the garage. The flowers are really popping out of the ground. The grasses are still a bit brown, and the fall leaves from last yr still need to be gathered by the city, but otherwise it's spring. I was finally able to put my lawn decorations in the ground Sat as well.

One thing I've been meaning to do for awhile, and just finally started doing it, is having the kids write to their grandma twice a month. Since they've finally gotten to know her better, I thought it would be nice for her to get messages once in awhile. We finally wrote letters last Thurs, but due to not having her new address, I didn't get them out until Sat. That's ok, it'll give her something to read later on this week.

Last night, just before I logged, I received an email from my brother stating the insurance company received all our letters, so the next step is having their lawyer draw up a statement for my aunt to sign in representing my mom. Boy this process has been long. I know my brother will be glad when all is taken care of. We still owe the morturary.

Well that's about all I have for now. I'm glad my friend found this blog that I had started last summer. This has been nice to write down my thoughts, or my travel log. I had been telling my kids they needed to do their journal, but I wasn't. So now R does his online, and N does hers in a notebook. S is still a bit young, but she has one started if she ever wants to continue.
Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

General Conference

2008-04-07T04:06:00.000-07:00

This weekend was General Conference. It's a time where all members of "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" watch our Prophet and other general authorities, remind us of who we are, and what we want to become. It's a very spiritual time to spend together at home watching online, or at various meeting houses watching with other Saints. This conference, we were able to view a new prophet being sustained and how that works. Very interesting. Pres. Monson is a good man, and has a good sense of humor.

So Sat after the first session, we went out for lunch as is tradition in the last few yrs. But I guess the kids were all still a bit tired from our trip on Fri. They weren't as eager to eat. R apparently had a stomach ache and was trying to get over that. He apparently was nervous seeing a real case in a courtroom. Well once he saw it, he settled, but his nerves apparently needed more time to settle. I wished he would have told me sooner so I could have talked to him. Oh well, hopefully next time. So once we got home from lunch on Sat we watched the 2nd session. I then, went outside to put up our spring time decor, and while trying to lift something off of a hook, ended up having another decoration fall on my face. OUCH! It was a wooden one and it has left some light bruising under the left eye with some tenderness. Guess next time I'll be more watchful. lol Later on that evening dh and R went to the Priesthood session. They got home almost 10pm so S didn't get to say good night to either since she went to bed sooner.

Sun was another day at home watching Conference. Of course, this day we don't go out to eat, we just vegged at home. Kind of nice to just relax. The kids and I took a walk as well since the temp was almost 70. YIPEE!! Spring time is here at last. Then the last session was here. General Conference always seems to just zip by quickly. So we try and enjoy it as much as we can before it's gone.
Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

Long , but good day

2008-04-05T06:23:00.000-07:00

We started out morning out with R and dh headed to seminary. Then after showers and breakfast we loaded up the car with kids and such and headed to Madison by 7:30am. We arrived at the capital around 8:30, but still had to find a place to park. Finally found one and arrived at the meeting place at 8:50. We then took our tour at 9am. The guide was very good and explained all about how the building has been built and what material was used. We then went to many rooms including the governors press room and to the House of Representatives place.

After the tour guide was done, one of Milw Rep named Peggy ? spoke to us about her job. She is democrat, but that's ok, she was still nice. A bit over zealous of her job, but oh well. I'd say the one thing that really annoyed me was her constant trying to get the kids to sing. Argh!!
After our tour was over, the younger kids group went over to the museum. It was a nice museum, but they included a tour of the place and the kids at this time were just wanting to play. Thankfully, it was over quickly and the kids then got to roam around. Finally around 1 we headed back over to the capital to meet with the older kids group. They actually got to hear a case from the state supreme court. Apparently very boring, showed the kids that real court isn't like tv lol.

Once everyone was done, we called our friends who live in Madison to let them know we were done and the dh didn't have to go into work. That was a relief. We arrived at their home around 3:15 and didn't leave until 10:30pm. It was a very nice visit. It turns out, they were having a late birthday party for their oldest child with 2 of his friends, so we had homemade pizza (YUMMMMY!!) and ice cream sandwiches and donuts. Then spent the rest of the time just chatting. They also homeschool and the mom was homeschooled so they're on a 2nd generation of this.

Later on in the evening, the boy, who's birthday it was, asked if R could go miniature golfing with them. So R went with him, his friends, and the dad. Apparently they had a good time. Once they got home, we just chatted. Very nice since they have the same political, and religious views that we have. They are reall good friends and I'm glad we have stayed in touch when they moved about 5yrs ago.

When we arrived home, it was almost midnight. We then proceeded to unload a carful of very sleepy kids. Long, but very nice day. This weekend it General Conference so we get to spend the weekend watching conference online. Always nice to hear the Prophet, and this time, since we have a new Prophet, it'll be interesting. Always a new, but nice experience.

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

Long night

2008-04-04T04:01:00.000-07:00

Today is the day we leave early for our field trip, and wouldn't you know it, S would havea hard time staying asleep during the night. She woke up around 12 and for the next 1 1/2 hrs struggled and fussed. I finally figured at one point that she might be getting fever and just wasn't feeling well. When I felt her, she was fine. Not sure why she was fussy, but this morning when I got up to wake R for seminary, she appeared in my doorway lol. So we came downstairs together and found R already up and on the computer. That's because when he gets home he'll have to eat breakfast quickly and then we head west for our field trip.

N told me yesterday, she's excited about this trip because it means we don't have to do school. I'm not going to tell her that we are, we're just not doing worksheet school. lol It should be interesting to see the capital and all that is around. I'm also hoping that we can visit with our friends who live out in Madison, but dh tells me that because of work commitments after the field trip, tha we might not. So I'm not holding my breathe. It would be nice to see them again, but in this case, work come first. It's funny the last time we visited them was around the end of Sept and dh got paged around 2pm. He as still on the phone with work by 7:30 when his phone died, so his work gave him an hr to get home so he'd have better phone coverage. That was an interesting day. We had gone out for a baptism which started at 9am, we got stuck in traffic for about 20 min. Finally got there just as the baptism was starting. We were going to leave around 2 when dh got paged, so lucky for us we stayed. Had we been home, the kids would have been stuck either in front room or upstairs to play. This way they had a whole house to play in and didn't bother dh too much.

Well that's about all I have on mind. I'm tired, but thankfully we have an hr ride so maybe I can snooze. lol
Karie
www.kariesplace.robert.city.com

Just another day

2008-04-03T04:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we had a nice day. It took a bit of time to convince them they needed to do school, but they eventually did. I think the weather has had something to do with not wanting to do our studies. I know for me it has. I'm usually more movitved, but lately I've not wanted to do anything. Luckily I've made myself get up from the computer and do things. Especially with S who wants N to play with her, but N has school. I try and give S suggestions for things she can do, but she just wants N to play. So I make the suggestion that N can play for 20 min after the devotional, then math for 30 min then play for 20. That way S can still have her fun, but school does get done. Occassionally, even R plays with S so that N gets a break.

We also had laundry and trash day, so after cleaning up a bit, the kids each did their duty. I was cooking Garfield's favorite dish, which is the kids' favorite as well. Actually we all kind of like the dish since it's different from what I usually have made. I had been in a funk lately with dinner time menu, and finally found the energy to make some other things, and the family has been appreciative of it. It's nice when the family finally likes what is being dished out.

I was going to do scripture reading starting this week, but Mon we got started with FHE too late so I choose not to. Then Tues we got the call from neighbors needing help with their computer, so Tues kind of went. Last night I considered it, but figured we've already passed 2 days, we'll just try for next week. I need to stand firm on this because we really do need to read them. We stopped doing it on a regular basis when dh went back to his Mon-Fri schedule. It just makes it more of a challenege is all. We will succeed.

Today, we were going to attend a zoo class, but my friend whom we were going to go with, isn't feeling too well with a cold and alergies, so I choose to not attend. R is happy, but N was wanting to go. S didn't really care since she's not really sure what it is anyway. N says she wants to be a veterinarian (hence the reason for being sad not going)because she's been watching a show called "Vets in Practice" on PBS each evening. I have no problem with that, but it seems she wants it only because she can then be on tv. lol I'll let her figure that out on her own. She's a pretty bright young woman when she wants to be.
Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

Helping our neighbor

2008-04-02T04:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we did our normal schedule of school and art/gym classes. Then off to pick up dh from work around 5. We arrived home around 5:30 to have a message from our close neighbor that his computer wasn't working right. He was unable to get online so could one of my computer guys come help out. Well I asked dh and he said he would go fix it as long as I came along for company. That's fine, I love this couple. Very sweet. So around 6:30 dh, the girls and I walked over to their home. Dh then went about looking to see what was wrong, while the girls and I went and chatted with the wife(B). They are a very nice couple. She took us downstairs to find a rocking chair for S to sit on, and we ended up just all of us girls downstairs chatting and watching S play with some houses and glass people. We haven't really talked to this couple in awhile due to all the snow storms and bad weather we've had this winter, so lots to catch up on.

Dh finally found the problem, and showed the man how to fix it the next time. So this meant our conversation got cut short. But it was such a lovely visit. I told the B that she was lucky this happened to be our one Tues evening that the kids didn't have meetings due to the church being cleaned. Her dh was very appreciative of dh's help.

The earlier part of the day was nice. When it was time for S's art class, I took N with me since she and R don't always get along without supervision. S's art class was fun for the kids. They received dough (similar to bread dough) that they rolled out into a circle of sorts, then a second small ball also rolled out, but with designs on it using straws, took picks and a craft stick. Interesting. Then we took the smaller of the cirlces and put it on top of the bigger circle and pinched the sides and bottom, leaving the top part open at the pocket. S loves her art class and is doing well at doing things on her own mostly. It's fun to see how much imagination the kids have.

The rest of the afternoon was the older kids' classes and picking up dh. It was a pleasant evening. Today we're home doing serious school work. Thurs the kids have zoo classes so we're off again for the day.
Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

Yucky weather

2008-04-01T04:12:00.001-07:00

Well it's definitely spring weather. Yesterday we woke to lots of rain and some light thunderstorms. Then when we took dh to work, it was rather foggy. It wasn't a horrible day, but it was grey and cloudy and made the day seem blah. To top it off, our new computer fell asleep and I wasn't sure what to do to wake it up. So I had to go all afternoon without using it. Oh well, I did get the dishes done and the most of the laundry folded and put away. We also took our weekly trip to the library and while there heard some pretty loud thunder. Luckily the girls had ear phones on doing computer stuff so they didn't hear it.

Today the kids go back to art and gym and the week is once again a bit busy. Which after last week, I'm going to try and enjoy. Last week, by Thurs, I was getting ansty to do something. It's always nice to have a break and stay home, but after a big you just need to get out. This week library on Mon, art/gym on Tues, no church meetings due to the church being cleaned thoroughly inside. Then Wed we're just home getting school work done. Thurs I was just reminded that we have a zoo class so I'll need the car for that. Then Fri we're off to Madison for a tour of the capital building and some other stuff. So the week is going to be filled with lots to do.

On a side note, my brothers and I have been dealing with insurance issues since the death of our dad last New Year's Eve. I don't much about it because it's still hard to deal with. There was some kind of issue between 2 claims that my dad had filled out. One with my mom on it and one without. We had to assure the insurance company that my mom was fine with how it was. So that means each of us siblings had to write a letter to the insurance company, along with our aunt who takes care of the financial issues of my mom due to her being in a nursing home and unable to take care of that, so that the insurance company would finally settle dad's acct. My oldest brother needs to pay off the morturary, and I'm guessing they are getting antsy. So we're hoping that with these letters, we can finally get the insurance taken care of. Let's hope.

One last item, with today being April 1st(April fools day) we're all on the lookout for tricks being played. For the last 2 yrs dh has put an elastic band on the sprayer in the kitchen and both times someone has been gotten lol. This yr my 2 oldest, R-ds and N-dd, are trying to find tricks to play. Should be interesting.
Karie
http://www.kariesplace.robertcity.com/

Some Ponderings

2008-03-31T04:09:00.000-07:00

Our weekend was kind of long due to some miscommunications between dh and I. I won't go into detail, I just know I've learned some things I will try and do from now on. We did go glasses hunting for oldest dd(also known as N). Didn't find anything spectacular, so off to the next spot. Then we decided it was time for dinner and found the one restuarant had again raised their prices. It's a decent place, but not worth raising their prices twice in 2 yrs. So off we went to New China(our favorite so far) and decent prices. And, of course, ate waaaay too much. Rested the rest of the evening.
Sunday, dh had an even earlier meeting at the church, so the girls and I drove him there and back. Ds stayed home to shower. We left around noon so ds(R) could set up the sacrament. I like getting to church an hr early since most Sundays it's relatively quiet. Not this one, although it wasn't horrible. The other ward was practising a small group of singers. The music was nice, but I missed the quietness. Next week is General Conference, so we stay home and watch it online. Love this, twice a yr, conference. Always nice to hear from the prophet and his counselors. This time we have a new prophet since Pres Hinckley passed last Jan. Pres Monson is the new one and he's pretty good.
This morning as I awoke to get R up for Seminary(yes Easter Break is over) I heard the rain. No loud thunder, but did hear some rumblings. It woke youngest dd(S) up and brought her to our bed as usual. So, for now, she's sleeping soundly in our bed while I'm online. I ws trying to do my journal over the weekend, but since I had slept in, she woke just as I was attempting so no luck either day.
Today is back to our normal library day for our family. Tues back to doing art/gym. Last week was a nice break of not going anywhere except Mon, but I think by Thurs I was NEEDING to get out. Fri I was in a state of wanting to accomplish something, but needed R to help me. He wasn't in the mood, so I got all upset. I shouldn't have, but because what I wanted to have happen didn't, I blew. I later apologized, and R helped out a bit more feeling bad. This morning he tells me is in a better mood. I told him tha's good because he needs to start working on his Eagle Scout project, which he started last summer. I've been told that there will be times of great excitement, and then other times of dragging. I'm hoping the dragging part is over now. :)
It's a good project. He's donating books and materials for our local library. He's hoping to get help from our neighborhood, the other boys' neighborhoods, church, and our hs group. He's already gotten a small bag of books from our former bishop. I think once he gets going, it'll be a great project, he just needs to be a bit more aggresive with the boys and TELL them what he wants to do, rather than suggest.
Well, I'm going to end for now. Guess I had lots on my mind. Hope this week is better than last for all of us.
Karie
http://www.karieplace.robertcity.com/

Long night

2008-03-28T04:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, the youth and some of the leaders at church, drove down to the Chicago temple to do baptisms for the dead. Dh and ds met at one of the leader's home and arranged to carpool with others. This was about 4:15 that they left. I knew they would be getting home late, but by 10:30 oldest dd and I decided we'd better head to bed. I woke around 12 and as far as I know, they still weren't home. Later on I awoke(don't remember the time) and finally saw dh in bed. Guess they got home late. They also must be tired because it's 6am and ds still isn't up. lol That's unusual.

The girls and I spent the evening snacking, online, watching videos/DVD's and playing. It was snowing outside. Not sure how much total we got, but not much. I really wish the snow would go away now. Winter has had more than enough time to be here, now it's springs time. I can feel it wants to come, and several times it has appeared, only to have winter push it away temp. Apparently this has been the 2nd snowiest winter in WI in recorded history. One of the news anchors on tv mentioned that we keep thinking to ourselves we're tired of the snow. His coment was, the last time it snowed really bad, they only had horse drawn snowplows and didn't know when the next storm was coming. They didn't have all the conveniences of that we do today, they had to wait out the storms. So basically what he's saying is STOP complaining. At least we have things to do. I like this comment.

Karie
www.kariesplace.robertcity.com

Just a quick note

2008-03-25T14:40:00.000-07:00

Well I just got this blog set up a bit. Still working on how I want it to look, but thought I'd post a message. I have another blog, but it really doesn't allow me to do everything I want to do. We'll see how this one works.

Karie