Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Is there an end in sight?

Yes, the wonderful summer is here and going quickly.  Luckily.  As much as I love having the kids home, I'm ready to be back to business as usual.  I'm looking forward to cleaning up a part of the house and having it stay clean!  Seriously, that is the worst thing.  At this point I've just given up.  Cleaning has never been my strong point, but I'm just exhausted trying to do it all.  I know, I know, I have 5 (well at least 3) very capable bodies to help but they don't do anything for me.  Mike says that they will, but I've yet to see it.  I give someone a task and 2 minutes later they've forgotten what they were supposed to do and are destroying something else.  Oh well.  There will be an end.  I'm sure of it.

 

Speaking of school starting again.  I just thought of how "wonderful" my schedule is going to be with 4 kids on different schedules.  Here's what it looks like so far:

7:30 Conner leaves for school (friend picks him up, luckily!)

8:35 Alia and Ann-Elise are picked up at the bus stop

11:50 Adrie's preschool bus pick up

2:30 Conner is picked up (my turn to drive)

3:55 Alia, Ann-Elise and Adrie get home on the bus

 

Well, that just leaves me a TON of time to get things done, don't you think?  Could it be any worse?  Guess Caile and I won't be going on any fun outings very far from home.  I suppose the only nice thing is that Adrie won't have school on Friday's, so we can do our "field trips" then.

 

So, Alia started cheer.  Shockingly enough, I was not happy with the way it started (I know, it's so weird that I would have issues with something!).  But I decided to bite the bullet and just let her have fun and I'll keep my opinions to myself.  She started practices on Monday night and LOVES it!  And she's actually pretty good.  She seems to be having a good time.  There are a large age group of girls, so she's one of the youngest ones.  But everyone seems very supportive.  They have a pretty small squad of 12-13 girls and half of them cheered last year, so it's a fun mix of girls who know what they're doing and those that don't.  The coach pairs up an experienced girl with a new one and they work on the cheers together.  It's a great way to get them working together as a team!  I'm excited to get her uniform ordered and see it on her.  That will be fun for her.  Although, I don't know if she'll ever take it off once we get it!  Oh, and sorry Brynn, I had my camera all ready to take pics, and then I left it at home.  I know!

 

We're getting ready for Caile's 2nd birthday.  Hard to believe that she's going to be 2!  Although, I can honestly say that I am happy to be coming out of the "baby" stage of life!  Honestly, 5's my limit.  One more would probably throw me over the edge!  And she's been so funny lately.  She finally seems to be over the "freak out" stage and more into the fun "play with me stage".  I'm looking forward to spending time with her this school year.  She is a doll!

 

We're still waiting to hear from Conner's (hopefully) new school to find out if he's in.  We're planning on it, but it would be nice to have official word!  Hopefully sometime next week we'll get the definite, final answer.  And I suppose that if he doesn't get in, then it's just more money in my pocket!  But if he's not in, he's wearing blue pants and solid colored polo shirts to public school because I've already bought them!!!

 

And a very scary note, I have my next triathlon in 3 days.  Oh, I think I just threw up in my mouth on that one!  I'm so not ready.  I know that I can do it, but I'm worried.  I just haven't had the motivation to do anything.  Plus no one I know is doing this one.  That makes me sad.  I don't want to do it alone.  But I'm sure it will be fine.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

10 years ago...

For some reason this morning, I was thinking about where I was 10 years ago.  I think this came about because Conner will be turning 10 in a couple weeks.  It seems like it was yesterday, yet it also seems like it was more than 10 years ago!  So, here are some things that were going on in my life 10 years ago...

 

Mike and I had just bought our first house in Canby in December '07, so we were less than 1 year into it.  We were anxiously awaiting the arrival of little Conner.  I was excited and nervous.  Not really sure what to expect, but couldn't wait either!  I had just "retired" from my "real" job.  My last day of work was on July15th.  Honestly, that was the last real paying job I have had.  We decided that it was worth it to cut our income so that I could be home with Conner (and Alia and Ann-Elise and Adrie and Caile...).  Life was open to possibilities and hopes and dreams.  I had NO idea that after Conner came we'd have 4 girls!  Mike was working for a company called PC Test.  He wasn't making much money at the time.  Apparently, even though you can get paid for playing video games all day, it doesn't pay well!  I was not attending church and Mike was not a member.

 

Wow.  How times change!  Now I can barely remember what life was like BC (before Conner).  What it would be like to just go and do something with out having to worry about kids, diapers, bottles, baby sitters...  But I wouldn't change it either!  Even though my house is a disaster, we rarely have a decent meal and life is totally crazy.  It's my life and I love it!

Monday, July 21, 2008

Caile

I know, I'm a delinquent.  I don't mean to be, really.  It just seems that life tends to get in the way of all of my good intentions!  It's late, but here's my spotlight on my baby girl Caile.

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Caile:

*is beautiful.

*is a very solemn baby.  But when you can get her to laugh, it's a beautiful sound.

*is finally figuring out that life doesn't revolve around her big sis Adrie.  She is capable of making choices too!

*is a sweet little angel, unless she's with the older sis Adrie, and then all heck breaks loose!

*is starting to really talk and it's so funny.

*looks like a fair haired twin to her big sis Ann-Elise.

*doesn't like to eat any food unless it's in someone else's hand.  Even if it's the same thing that's on her plate, she only wants it if you are trying to eat it.

*LOVES "pop".

*LOVES her daddy and mommy.

*can say every one if our family's name.  Mommy, Daddy, Nonner, Eah, Easie, Dwee, Wuby.

*has nicknames that include, but are not limited to, Ruby, Kaze, Kayzie, Rubes, KK, Rubers.

*Loves to be outside playing with her siblings and friends.

*had a rocky start, but it turning into a sweet little angel.  What a blessing she is to all of us!

We love you beautiful Princess Ruby!!!

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Sunday, July 20, 2008

Happy Birthday Alia!

Happy Happy Birthday Alia!  She turned the big 9 today!  She woke up and opened her present, an ipod shuffle with an itunes gift card.  She's excited to have a "grown up" gift.  Happy birthday beautiful!

Oh, and the local news channel announces birthdays so I submitted a pic of Alia and had them show it on the news today.  That was cute.  Her face was in shock when she saw herself on tv!