Life as I know it.

This year is my 10th anniversary of this Blog and to celebrate I have decided to begin posting again. I love Facebook, but find it very impersonal, and would love to be able to post in more detail about those things that are close to my heart, that stick in my mind and that I find fascinating. So here goes... I will begin (again) by catching you up on our lives. We are still living in a little town, about an hour N of Spokane and I continue to enjoy my new career as a certified occupational therapist assistant. I work for a skilled nursing facility, helping geriatric patients regain their independence. My husband, Don, has been doing install work for a company in town, installing satellite TV/Internet, car stereo and alarms and even some home AV equipment. Recently though, he was offered and hired for a position as the facilities manger for our old church in Spokane. This is a new direction/opportunity that God has given us and we are not sure yet where it is leading us. We think pos...

I have spent the last few weeks reading this blog from beginning to end, such great memories. It has inspired me to try this yet again, so here it goes... 1. We still have Sweetpea, but still have not been given the opportunity to adopt her. 2. Bug is 1/2 way through his 1st year at public school as a 7th grader. 3. I graduated from college and passed my board exams with flying colors. 4. We moved to a small town about an hour north of Spokane, for me to take a job as a COTA. 5. Don quit his job at STA a little over a year ago and has become a much happier person. 6. Bug joined Boy Scouts last year and is loving it, he is currently a patrol leader. 7. Sweetpea is a 1st grader in the local public school and is excelling academically. 8. Grandma home schooled Bug through the end of 6th grade, then announced she was done. 9. Don is busy as a volunteer firefighter/EMT in Deer Park and Arden 10. I am enjoying being a COTA and love the freedom of the place that I work. 11. Sweetp...

       Lately I have been feeling like a horrible mother. I remember a time when I LOVED being a mom. I was never one of those moms who looked forward to sending my kid off to Kindergarten, not that there is anything wrong with that and now that I have 3 kiddos, instead of one, I understand the desire better. I always planned to home school my son, I was always the "activity mom." I filled our days with activities to make as many memories as I could. I have always been painfully aware of what a short time we have with our children. I had 28 years without my son in my life, then I get 18 short years with him before he flies the coup and then another 30 years or so, where he is off living his own life.        Here it is just a few years later and instead of having one kid I currently have 3, we took a break from homeschooling, and although we are back now, my mom is the one who does most of Bug's schooling. I have been going to college for the las...

Very early today my hubby Blue, headed to Africa, for his first mission trip He is going with MOVE, (Men Of Vision Evangelize), the the village of Mare in Guinea Africa to build a church. There is already a group of Christians there, but they have no church to worship in, so MOVE is going to build them one. Blue will be gone 19 days, leaving me at home with 3 children, our son Bug, our daughter Sweetpea and our foster daughter Story. It should be an interesting time. I have had lots of people saying "if you need anything while he's gone, give us a call." I am not good about asking for help, so I will most likely not call any of these people and had told my hubby this before he left so he said "I know that. So I told everyone if they want to help, they need to just show up on our door and say 'what can I do?'" I loved it, it made me feel so special to know that he knew me well enough to let people know this for me. We have not been apart for this leng...

What a great weekend, busy but fun. We still have both of our girls Sweetpea and Story, we haven't gotten any new information about Sweetpea yet. I have tried to call the Tribe Social Worker, but she has not called me back, so we just continue on like it is any other day. Really it has been a busy week, but I will just tell you about the weekend for now Yesterday the girls had ballet in the morning, then we all went to a movie with my friend Brenda and her two kids, we also ran into my friend Meegan, her husband James and their 3 kiddos.Then in the afternoon Sweetpea had a birthday party and Story and Bug went to hang out at Brenda's.Then last night Don and Bug went to a Chiefs hockey game and the girls went to date night at St Mathews (a local church) , while I got in a little studying. Today we had church this morning and I helped out in the girls classroom. Good thing to since we had a ton of new kids in there. I tried to some cleaning done this afternoon but...

As the title says "so far, so good" on both the organization and the new kid front. Story is still with us and has been adjusting fairly well. It is definitely harder having an older child, when they are younger you can pretty easily distract them from their sadness, not so much when they are older. Thankfully she will be having a visit with her daddy this week, so hopefully that will make her feel better. Other then missing her parents, she is doing well. She seems to enjoy the daycare that we have her at and her and Sweetpea are still doing well with having to share everything. I did figure out something that made me sad this week though, she has no concept of how to play board games. Sweetpea loves to play games and we have been playing them with her since she was 3, so she totally understands, how to play, what is expected and even how to count out her spaces (most of the time). Unfortunately Story understands none of these concepts, Sweetpea want to play games with her, ...

Well to start with we have a new kiddo around here. Last week we decided to take in a cute little 5 year old girl,to give Sweetpea a new playmate. Her nickname is Story and so far she really lives up to that. She seems to be a very imaginative little girl, she want us to call her Princess Tiana, from the Frog Prince movie, but I explained that we have to call her by her name. So far she has told me about the castle that she lives in, her little sister Vanilli, an older sister/cousin and all of the wonderful plans she has for her birthday, which passed recently. It is hard to keep straight what might be real and what is pure fantasy. I can't wait to get more info on her from her social worker. As usual we have no idea how long we will have her, but things have gone well so far. We have her going to a daycare, right by Sweetpea's school, which is convenient but also nice in that is gives the girls time away from each other, so that by the end of the day they miss each other and ...

New Years eve was fun, Bug had his buddy E spend the night and we had a 3 course fondue dinner and watched the MIB trilogy to bring in the New Year. I really feel that this is going to be a great year for my family. I don't have any specific reason to say that other then that I will graduate in June and hopefully be starting my new career, shortly after. I just have a good feeling. Life has been good, not easy, but good. Don has been getting more and more involved in Church, in fact, he is heading out for a missions trip to Africa in about 6 weeks and I'm so excited to see what God has in store for him during this trip. Also my church is hosting one of my favorite Christian studies called The Truth Project, starting next Wed. I went through this study many years ago at my old church, (I believe even before I became a Christian) and got so much out of it. I am excited to go through it again with this whole new perspective in my life. The kiddos are good, no new news about Sw...

Hello I am back and we will see how long I am able to keep it up. It has been over 2 years since I last posted on here and I rediscovered this recently. I discovered FB awhile back and with my hectic life found it easier to put in a quick status update then to write out a post. But after I found this blog again and read through some of my oldest post I realized how much I missed it. This tends to be a little more me, a little funnier and a little more like dear diary. The stuff I post on here was stuff that I wanted to right about for me, where as on FB it tends to be stuff I want other people to know. Not that I don't want other people reading this, it is more like the difference between a quick text to someone and sitting down and writing them a letter by hand. This my letter to you all, that I luckily get to keep a copy of to look back on down the line.  Obviously a lot has occurred since I last posted so I will just give you the top 10 updates and here they are in n...

Bug, A and I hanging out on the picnic table at the campground. Since I last posted. Time has gotten away from me and every time I would look at my Blog I would think "there is so much that has happened" so I would get intimidated and decide not to catch up. So now I have decided to start with today and if I get a chance I will fill in between April and now. We too our 1st camping trip of the year last weekend (not the one that just passed). Our friend Mike found us a new camper, which Blue went and picked up at the end of June and has been working on to get it all ready to go. It is a 'brand new' 1975 camper. Mike was talking to a gal about camping and she told him about the camper that they used when she was little. Well come to find out her parents divorced like 20 years ago and her mom got the house, the shop and the camper. well she was never comfortable driving the camper so she pushed it into the shop and there it has sat. So it does really look new inside, bu...

Our vacation so far has been wonderful. We headed out early Sat morning and spent the day driving to Klamath Falls OR, where we stayed in a little hotel for the night. We actually got in fairly early around 5:30. Sooner than we thought we would, the drive was nice. We had time to get dinner and play at a park for awhile before settling in for the night. Sunday on the other hand was a very long day of driving. We got into Solvang after 8:00 at night, pretty much checked in and got Bug off to bed. We did get to try out the hot tub for a little bit before hitting the sack. It was a bummer getting in so late, because the condo seemed very nice. We will have to stay at this location again some time, Solvang was a cute little village, similar in feel to Leavenworth. It would be fun to have some time to explore. But we got up and after a brief stop at an authentic Danish Bakery for some danish and apple fritters, we headed south. We got to Universal Studios around 11 this morning and the par...

Life has been busy the last month. With the convenience of Facebook, it is getting harder to keep up with the blog. Bug is still loving school, he has his buddies and his routines and is getting better about being ready when it is time to leave. I have had a few people ask him if he misses his old school (the home school he went to 1 day a week) or homeschooling in general and his answer was a resounding "no". So I guess we made a good choice, though I still miss him during the days that he is gone and I'm not working. That will be easier starting this week, since I started my new job today. I have always said that if we sent Bug to school I would go back to work for someone else. So the last month or so I have been trying to find somewhere I would like, that would work well around Bug's school schedule and last week I finally found it. The place is called Elements and it is a massage clinic, the one I am working at is located way up on South hill. I am working Tue ...

January is over and February is here. I know it's a cliche, but the older I get the faster time goes. We had a very busy January getting everything in order for Bug to head off to his 1st day at his new private school. We had his annual testing done to see where he's at for the year, he did really well. He scored excellent in reading and is all caught up in math, right where he should be. I guess all that money for the private math teacher last year paid off. We also skied every Mon and Fri except one of each when the Gondola broke down and we had to miss a couple of days. Skiing is going good, he is improving each time and has gotten so adventuresome that I get a little nervous some times. He has been playing basketball through Upwards and his games are on Sat mornings, a little early for us but it's fun to watch. Big difference between last year and this, not just in skill but in overall excitement of the games. Much faster moving this year. So on Monday Bug started at hi...

Today was Bug's 2nd day of Home school skiing up at Silver Mt. The program just moved there this year and we have been very excited to try a new mountain this season. The deal is good 6 weeks with lift and lesson for 70.00. The instructors are very nice and the mountain is kid friendly. Bug has already made friends with 3 sisters who are in his group and has been enjoying the challenge of a new mountain. So now on to the scary experience. After lunch today Bug and I went to check out parts of the mountain we haven't skied yet and ended up at an older style ski lift. The lift operator asked if we wanted it slowed down but Bug doesn't have any issues with lifts so we said no. Well I forgot that their snow coverage is really low, so the chair was a little high up. When Bug went to get on he missed and slipped off the front. Well I always grab him when he gets on a lift just to make sure, so I was holding him so he wouldn't fall and the guy could stop the lift. Well we pass...

Welcome 2010! I am excited for the new year and had a wonderful New Year's Eve. We did what we have done for the last 6 years, since we moved over here. Our old neighbors have bon Fire every year so we start out at our friend's Mike and Cheryl house and had dinner and started the drinking. We headed over to Steve and Rachelle's around 9 on the ATV's and the kids ran around and the adults ate and drank. Some of the guys went down and started a fire down by the lake, so we took the ATV's down there and then took them out onto the frozen lake. I rode on the back of mine with Mike driving, he's a crazy driver but I trust him. So I could be brave and chicken at the same time, flying 40 MPH across the lake or through the trees on the land was thrilling and terrifying, just the way to start the year. The night flew by and next thing I knew we were counting down the last few minutes till midnight. The boys pulled poppers and some of the adults went out and lit fireworks...

My Favorite Picture from Christmas Morning, this was before presents and after brunch. I can't believe it's all over, it's always so hard after Christmas, the fun is over and all that's left is the cleaning and putting everything away. Christmas Eve day was very productive around here, I should have taken before and after pictures of Bug's room. His room has been a disaster for quite awhile now. Every time we get it picked up it's destroyed again within a day or so. So I told him 3 days before Christmas that his room had to be clean if he wanted to be able to bring his gifts into his room. Of course being our son he procrastinated till the last day, so I decided to go in and help him. We made a big pile of everything in his room and then he decided (from his lessons from FLYlady) to divide stuff into 3 piles: keep, donate and toss. We went through everything in his room and I have to say I am extremely proud of my boy. He tossed out a kitchen sized bag one of t...

I love Christmas I even love all the hustle and bustle that comes before it. I think I am finally ready for Christmas. But as I type this I remember I still need to do the grocery shopping, so I guess I am almost ready.The house has been a huge mess, but between my cleaning lady and myself it is all pretty much back in order, (except Bug's room which is still a huge mess). I got some organizing done in Ashley's room, her room is fairly small and we just don't have all the room that I would like for her toys. In Mar I will take a trip to IKEA and get some organizing stuff, but in the meantime I am finding bins and drawers from around the house to put things in. Now that I have got everything from her birthday put away, she is starting to get her Xmas things. She got some art things a backpack and some new Jammies today on her visit and if her birthday was any indication, there will be more things from her family coming throughout the week. It is nice for her that they all ...

Saturday was so much fun. We overslept a bit but still managed to get out of the house on time (actually 3 minutes late according to Don). We got up to the Santa breakfast and found my friend Meegan and her family and joined them in line. After a bit another friend Kim was able to find us and we decided to save two tables so we could all sit by each other. The party was incredible, it certainly lived up to all the hype my friends had given it and other than the fact that we waited along time for breakfast Ashley loved it. To be fair, they did the activities in shifts and it just so happened that we sat at a table that was in the 3rd round for breakfast. Oh well we'll know better next year and feed the kids at least a light breakfast before we go. The trees were fabulous, each kid gets 2 tickets to put into the boxes at the trees to try to win them. Bug chose a tree with a DSi and a bunch of Mario ornaments and stuff, and Ashley chose a tree with a mini kitchen set and table and cha...

This has been a really nice week. Full of mostly fun things. On Tue Bug had the stomach flu (not a fun thing), but was only sick a few times in the night and then was fine after that. So he laid around and listened to the 3rd harry potter book on cd and I got the tree up and finished the Christmas decorating. In the evening I went out with some of my MOMS club friends to the Melting Pot for cheese, chocolate and a drink, all of which were very nummy and the conversation wasn't bad either. It's so nice to just sit and chat with the girls. On Wed night my dear hubby and I went out for a nice date. We weren't up for a movie (our usual date night). So I suggested we go to Twigs and have a drink and visit. Apparently Don has never been to Twigs, unbelievable after living in this town so long. We had a fabulous time, just us, a couple drinks, a nice appetizer and then desert to share and a lot of uninterrupted conversation. We sat and visited for almost 2 hours, and we even manag...

Today is Ashley's 3rd Birthday. We all had a nice day together. We started today with our Family tradition of Birthday pancakes. A bear shaped pancake with Happy Birthday written out. Which Ashley thoroughly enjoyed. Bug was the one that reminded me last night that we had to have pancakes in the morning. It's so nice when family traditions take root in our children's hearts. After that Ashley opened a couple of her presents from us. She was very cute, anytime she left her presents she would make sure to tell whoever was around not to touch it, that they were her presents. I'm going to take that as confirmation that she liked the presents. We then had an early lunch and put her down for her nap. Unfortunately Bug woke her up after only 35 minutes or so. So we hung out for a bit and then headed out to pick up her cake from Costco and head to the Y for her Party. The party went well, I forgot to bring candles, so we just sang happy birthday and then cut the cake. After...