A day to remember (or forget)

It started with the alarm going off at 4:30. Not that I had any real intentions of getting myself out of bed at 4:30. There was no way I was going to go to the gym today... I finally made myself get out of bed at 6 and hop in the shower. I thought I'd get a head start on the crazy busy day called Wednesday. After waking the kids up and getting them started, I finished getting me dressed. Adrie and Caile were up and moving SLOW! Now, I hate when I have to give them very specific instructions that they still don't follow. Trying to get out the door and Caile has no shoes. I must say that I was impressed that instead of taking my frustration out on the kids I decided to kick the front closet door instead, breaking it. Grrr! I guess they don't make 'em like they used too! Oh, and we found her shoes. In the suburban. Isn't that where they're supposed to be?

Off to school we go. It's 7:40 and we're running 10 minutes later than I like... Get to school, get the kids out the door and I head to the kitchen with Caile to start my Wednesday lunch prep. After starting the chopping up of stuff for the chef salad, I zip out to take Caile to school. Here is where my luck kicks in. She actually got out of the car, happily, and was on her way. Btw, whoever decided to stop, park their car and then leave it in the middle of carlane during drop off needs to rethink the logic of this. Just saying...

Back to the school I go. My first helper showed up as scheduled at 9am. Amazing woman, that Rosie :) We get going and talking and bakin' and chopping. All is well. At some point, she looks at the clock and asked if we were going to have any other help today. It was well past the point of the next shift starting. I guess they decided not to come. Fine. We can handle this on our own. I mean really, how hard can it be to serve lunch to 140 students with 2 adults and 2 middle school helpers?

Next, my phone rings and it's the front office. Adrie is sick and is complaining that she's going to throw up. UGH! 10 minutes until the first wave starts, I truck off to the office to check on the little monkey. She feels up to eating, so I walk with her over to the cafeteria. When I get there, no middle school helpers. I'm off to find them. I drag them out of PE class and throw them (after they wash up!) into the line and tell them to start dishing up. They are amazing! So helpful! Rosie is a work horse getting everything done in the kitchen while I'm trying to run the kids through the salad bar as quickly as possible (which is not nearly quick enough for the back of the line!). Btw, Adrie was just fine after eating. Guess she was hungry. Bad mom didn't pack a snack for her...

Next lunch goes through, a little (or a lot) slower than the first, but we make it! YAY! Now, it's my "down time" for the day. I have 1 hour until the crazy life starts back up. I head to the outlet mall to pick up a Christmas gift that I purchased that they had shipped from another store. It made it with no problems which was probably the best part of the whole day!

Back to the school to pick up the kids. Ann-Elise gets a ride with a friend who is willing to take her to Activity Days to save me a trip (Thank you, Lourdes!). I drop Conner and Adrie off at home and head back to the school to watch Alia's team play basketball. Alia isn't playing because she jammed her finger on Monday, right before her game and still can't use it. But I'm a good mom and make her dress down and support her team, so I guess I'd better support them too. They actually played a great game and ended up winning :) YAY B-team!

Head home. Dinner consists of Egg Salad sandwiches with leftover eggs from hot lunch. However, only 3 of us eat. I have no idea what the other ate. Not my problem!

Conner runs down to his buddies house to get a ride to Scouts. I grab Ann-Elise and take her to her first basketball practice. Drop her off and visit with a few old friends that I haven't seen in a while then head out for mutual. I get to mutual 20 minutes late and NO ONE is there. Just the other adult. Oh well. Didi and I sit down for a fun little chat with yummy goodies and some wassail. Mmmm! Then 2 girls show up and we visit for a few minutes. Then I head home. Ann-Elise got a ride home from basketball right after I got home. Whew. Luckily Alia put the little girls to bed for me, so I didn't have to deal with that.

Now I'm sitting here writing this. Exhausted. Tired. Spent. Dead.

HOLY CRAP!!! I forgot about Conner! Ding Dong. Luckily the neighbor didn't forget to bring him home. I just totally forgot he wasn't here. Luckily we have a very loud and working door bell!

So, now I'm off to bed with Netflix and the joy of getting to do it again tomorrow.

I SO miss my husband!

Tis the Season!

It's been quite a while since I've taken a few moments to put anything down on the blog. I find it so much easier to just add a quick "status update" on facebook. However, I really like the achive quality of the blog. Plus I can put a lot more thought into what I write. So, after a very long absence, here's my attempt. Again...

We have had a very fun year. We spent a long weekend camping out for Conner's state baseball tourney. We spent a very fun (and hot) week at Eagle Crest in Central Oregon. We spent 2 weeks at my cousins house in Southern California and were able to visit with many relatives and get some much needed sun.

The kids have started school this fall with Conner in 7th grade, Alia in 6th grade, Ann-Elise in 4th, Adrie in Kindergarten and Caile ready to finish her last year of preschool.

Mike is traveling monthly right now. He had the opportunity to go to Bangalore, India this past February. He's heading out for San Jose, Costa Rica soon and will travel to India again in March. He has also had a trip to Chicago and mainly travels to Atlanta. With the kids getting older, it's much easier to survive the time that he's gone. A big plus is that IKEA is right by the airport and about the only time I get over there is on those airport trips, so it's not too bad :)

I'm keeping busy with the kids. My good friend and I have taken over the hot lunch program at school. I plan, shop and cook the school lunch every Wednesday. I LOVE IT! It's so fun to meet new people and get to know the kids. I also watch a couple little kids on Fridays. It's fun to have little ones around again. It's even better to give them back to their parents after 6 hours! I also work with the young women at church. I have been very blessed to have such great girls to serve.

As the holidays are upon us (YIKES!), I'm forced to stop and think about all of the blessings that I have. I have been blessed with a very charmed life. My trial are so small compared to many. I know that my Savior loves me and in that knowledge, I know wo I am. I hope that your holiday season brings you closer to those you love and is filled with joy and happiness!

We're back

and life is starting again. School starts in a few days and I'm excited but also not willing to let summer go!

We had an amazing vacation in Southern California. I have the best extended family! We packed so much into our 2 weeks, it's no wonder that I was exhausted when we got back!

We drove down on a Saturday morning. We arrived at my wonderful aunts house around 9 that night. We spent Sunday just trying to recoup from the 16 hour drive.

Monday Mike flew to Costa Rica for work, so I was on my own for a few days with the kids. We spent Tuesday at Huntington Beach. It was amazing! I loved playing in the water. There were so many of my relatives there, that I could leave the little girls on the beach playing and I could go play in the water with my cousins or with the older kids. Such fun! I think that was the first time they had ever been to a beach that they could actually play IN!

We spent a lot of time visiting with family. We were fed well and loved seeing everyone. I also had all of the older kids get their hair cut while we were down there.

We spent 1 night at a Dodgers game. That was a blast! They ended up losing by 1 run, but the experience is on to remember!

We also went to Raging Waters one day. We took Adrie with us but left Caile with my dad. Adrie didn't really enjoy the rides, but she loved the lazy river that they had. I was very proud of Conner. He went on every big ride and even took a spin on the "Drop Out". Good for him!!!

My cousin is one of the "Ariel's" at Disneyland and when we learned that she was working on one of the days we didn't have anything planned, we headed to Disneyland for the day. We just went for the day, but it was a blast. There were a ton of people there and it was warm, but I loved it! To watch the little girls faces as they experienced things for the first time was well worth the tired and cranky kids at the end of the night!

Well, there were a ton of other things that we did, but I need to get dinner going. So that will have to do for now!

It has come to my attention...

That it has been exactly 2 months since I last blogged.  It just seems that facebook is so much quicker and easier to do updates on!  But since I'm here in beautiful sunny California, I don't have any pictures to post.  So, I'll do a quick update on what's going on in our lives...

Conner finished baseball season with Mike coaching him.  We had a great year.  An Awesome team.  And fabulous parents!  I always have a bit of depression when the season is over and I don't get to see my baseball friends for a while.  They finished their season placing 5th in county.  Not too shabby!  We missed the state tournament by 1 game.  Oh well.  Maybe next year!

Ann-Elise finished her softball season and had a great time.  She is turning into quite the player.  However, she is still undecided as to whether or not she'll continue to play.  

Alia and Ann-Elise (well, and I) am gearing up for cheer season which starts in just over a week.  That should be a lot of fun.

Adrie is signed up for fall micro soccer for the young kids.  She is pretty excited about that.  I'm sure it will be quite comical!

Caile and Adrie both will be attending preschool in September.  Adrie will be returning to her same teacher and Caile will be starting with a new one.  They are both VERY excited!

Alia and Ann-Elise are starting school at St. Luke this year.  They are really excited and it's fun to see them work through their anxieties about going to a new school.  I know that they will do great and make some great friends.

Mike just got back from a trip to Costa Rica.  Maybe next time I'll get to go with him!!!

Well, that's us in a nut shell.  I'll post pics when I have them!