When you think you have it together....

Much has happened recently.  We have my niece Alexis living with us right now.  She has been struggling at home for some time and we are her second chance.  She came last week which was the beginning of our Spring Break.  She was probably the most eventful thing that happened during Spring Break because it rained and there was not much we could do.  We watched the Alvin and the Chipmunks Chipwrecked at the cheap theater.  The girls really liked it.  We shopped a little and we splurged going to see Mirror Mirror and we really liked it. 
This is week is when the challenge began.  I was worried I was not going to get her in Hannah's school.  It is complicated situation.  Alexis met with the principal.  He grilled her about what kind of trouble she had been in that brought her here.  I was impressed with how he approached it.  But his big problem was there was one spot and we do not live in the school boundaries.  I waited all day for his decision.  He came back and told me he couldn't take her because of that one spot but he said he was willing to take her with her troubled past though.  I was concerned about trying to take her to another school that is the opposite direction of where Hannah goes. I also don't have relationships with anyone there.  We found a loophole situation that could put her back at Valley View.  I called the principal and asked him if that was an option to use.  I didn't want to if her didn't want to go there. He didn't think we could.  So I was pretty discouraged trying to figure out how it would work.  But later that day I got a call from him.  He talked to the big guy above him and ran by what the situation was and got the OK for us to go to Hannah's school.  I couldn't have been happier. 
So she started on Tuesday.  It is a big adjustment from coming from a new state and went from a middle school to an elementary school.  Before the middle of the day had passed I got a call letting me know what all the excitement was.  The news was not good.  She had told the kids that was on probation and that she was older than she was  and just a bunch of other stuff.  Then I told her what I knew at the end of the day and that rattled her a little.  The fact that I am so well known by everyone there was another thing in my favor.  So our focus is on positive change.  And all things positive. 
The good news was she felt her first day went well.  She had a lot to talk about.  I knew all the kids she talked about.  She was excited to go back today.  I let her know I was coming to check on her to make sure she was making good choices and not spouting off unnecessary bits of information. So it was good to see she had made friends and was happy.  She rode the bus home with Hannah and day two was much better than day one. 
Then that is where I am reminded of something.  But I trying to figure out what I am being reminded of.  I get a call from Kelsea.  She has a flat at work.  I go to help her.  My air compressor stops working.  Wal-mart is not far.  I need a new one.  I notice Wal-mart has a tire place.  We pump up her tire and find out there is a huge gash in the side from her hitting a curb sometime ago and air is coming out fast.  So we get the car to Wal-mart and we wait an hour.  I had a great visit with Kelsea.  I come home to my ten year old hiding in the bathroom.  She is telling us that she was going to live in the bathroom from now on because her sisters are so mean.  So I have to patch that up.  I do make dinner but realize I needed some things from the store. I was just at Wal-mart FOR AN HOUR. So I went to the store again this evening.  I don't know.  I could get so frustrated (more so because I am so tired from driving kids at 6am and then the day went on and on.)  Or I can find humor in it. But I think right now I can just accept this is how it always is.  The spouse is gone, Kelsea's car will self-destruct.  The kids will be kids.  There are so many things to keep track of and there are many days when very little gets done.  Oh well......

Hannah's program

Hannah was Clamity Jane in the 4th grade program.  I am seriously proud of her.  She got a little accent going, used a lasso, and sang in a way I had never heard her sing before.  I loved that Kelsea went to see her at the dress rehearsal and was texting me because she was so proud of her little sister.  But I remember when Amber was in 4th grade she had a big lead part in that program and Kylee did too in the 4th grade so she is carrying on.  The other thing about this is Hannah was 2nd choice to play this part.  The other little girl had to perform for St patrick's day with her Irish dance group.  Everyone said how great she was.  I watched it a couple of weeks later and am still blown away. 

Double Trouble

Don't let these little innocents fool you.  I am only talking about the dogs.  Hannah is a pretty good kid.  But those little stinkers discovered how to take off out the front door and take little unsupervised journeys.  It happened 2 in one week and I was not home.  I came home the first time though and wondered why I was not greeted by two happy jumping balls of barking fun.  There had been 5 people in the house and no one knew what happened to the dogs.  That has been my worst fear.  Busy street, lots of directions to run, busy street.  They must not have been gone long.  They were past the church.  Dobby got in the car.  Yoda was not so easy to catch.  We brought them home and then Dobby got sick within an hour of coming home.  It scared us.  Antifreeze is toxic for dogs and he got sick and very distressed really fast.  I took him to the vet.  He threw up full leaves and bark.  They did x-rays and saw sand in his stomach it might have been on something still in his stomach we couldn't see.  They gave him sub-q fluids.  Second time in his life he has had to have fluid under his skin.  We brought him home.  He had a terrible night and couldn't settle down.  So I had a terrible night.  I tried to sleep on the couch. Blech. The next day he still was feeling pretty rough.  We took him back to the vet and then we decided we would wait it out a little longer.  He did get better. 
Then I left a few days later.  Then through Autumn's Facebook she posted that they got out again.  I wasn't home for any of it that time.  No sick dog that time. 
I need to train them up some more.  We will get there.
I only let the dogs in bed with me in the mornings.  Yoda has taken to snuggling.  I mean really snuggling right up against my back so he sticks his nose in my hair.  It is cute until the dog starts sleeping hard and sounds like he is snoring.  That is our doggie update.  

Moon

I know my last blog was long and there were no pictures.  This is what I came home to today.  The moon was just barely peeking over the mountain when we were coming down our street.  I ran to get the camera.  Moonrise.

 I knelt in the bike lane in front of my house to take this picture.  A car coming down the street almost slowed down to a stop.  I guess I looked like I was about to leap sideways into the street at any moment.

                           This is as much of a closeup I can get with my really nice camera.

This is with my old camera.  Its best feature is its zoom.  It is just a Panasonic Lumix. 

Later when it was dark, the moon was still fantastic looking with a haze that glowed around it.  I was ohhing and ahhing all the time while I drove the girls to the church for Young Women's and I wished I had my camera and then I had a real dork experience.  I did not turn on my headlights as I drove past the 13 houses on the way to the church.  But I will justify that by saying that I was driving by moonlight and didn't need it.  Believe me?

Out of it.....

Needless to say I am letting time run its course and have not blogged mainly because it would have been a grumpy-fest.
January was awful, February I felt awful and March we are hoping for a turn around.
Never has one of Lee Joe's paycheck from an employer bounced.  That is what happened in January.  I was not a really big check but it was stressful and totally unexpected-usually bounced checks are unexpected aren't they?  Things could have been much worse, thankfully I had extra money even though Lee Joe had been on unemployment already for a couple weeks before that happened.  We immediately filed our taxes.  During this time my washer was broken and I was going to the laundrymat to wash clothes.  Lee Joe was still in Washington.  He still worked for those clowns a little longer before he finally came home.  It took another week before they had money for that check and we did not see the other two checks they owed him until later in Feb.  The tax return saved us, got us a new washer, repaired the old one and sold it on Craigslist-I do not like front loader washers.  Good news spot--I have a lovely new LG top loader.  So far I like it a lot. 
Lee Joe has been home for quite a stretch.  The Washington mess really was the final thing to put him in full fledged burn out.  When he was in North Dakota he worked many 80-90 weeks.  That is out in the heat or the cold, shoveling or bouncing around in a truck. The good part of having him home beside the fact he is home-he helped with all the driving.  I was completely burned out from that.  Early morning seminary carpool every other week and every Thursday.  Kylee and another friend carpool together on 2 days a week to jazz band. When we drive we take all the girls to seminary then hang around for about 15 minutes then get the boy and pick Kylee back up and drop her off at school.  Then Hannah to school-her schedule shifts 2 days a week on choir days.  That is just the am driving.  Kylee finished basketball, Autumn started basketball, Hannah started Y-basketball.  Hannah is in Honor choir this year.  I realized at the concert she had on Saturday that for about 11 years we have attended that concert.  There have only been maybe 2 years where we did not have one of the girls in at least one of the honor groups. Hannah is the last.  We may get to attend that concert for another 4 depending on if she does honor band in jr high.   Lee Joe was just as tired during the day as I have been after all the chasing.  It is not much longer.  Kylee has her permit.  She is getting close to being able to get her license. 
But my 2 jr high girls are starting to concern me.  Somehow things ran better when there were all 5 girls.  My example of what happened in the past 24 hours-- I tell the two jr high girls to take the trash OUT.  So trash day is Tuesday.  I hear one go out the back and come in the front.  Later the 2nd goes out and comes back in.  I get in the car at 8am and no cans are on the curb.  ??????  Totally missed the trash pick-up today. I find out Kylee took the recycling can out.  Autumn went out and brought it back in the backyard.  Somehow she did not get that taking it out meant out of the yard.  In her mind it meant out of the street.  Discussions were had about how we "Take it out the road."  When it is empty we "bring it back in."  I hate to say this but Yes, that child is blonde.  All logic went out the window.  There has been a lot of that going on.  But we have discovered that THAT child is doing exceptionally well in math.  She is getting the highest scores on many of her math tests and has a 99 percent in that class. 
Kylee is doing well.  The poor kid comes home almost any day after Monday and falls asleep somewhere.  She was told the high school band teacher has his eye on her for jazz band next year.  She is excited and so am I.  It is an audition group and they really are fantastic.  She is doing well in school and is taking one of her classes online.  Speech is online.  Funny huh?  She had to do a demonstration speech this weekend.  She decided to make bread.  We got everything recorded-she did a great job by the way-then we had to make it into a video.  We are not the techy type here.  Except 10 year old Hannah just got done making a video trailer in her class on a book she read.  So she had  experience with Movie Maker.  What I thought was going to take a long time to edit, only took them an hour and they made a really nice video.  We had to download it to youtube so her teacher could view it. Downloading to Youtube takes forever though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAVPVyuZiOU&feature=youtu.be

Hannah is starting to get busy the way her sisters have always been.  She has been on hold because they have taken so much time.  But what is unfortunate is she tends to have lots of homework most of the time. It is frustrating.  She gets so tired and many times she is up so late trying to get her work done.  Her teacher is really hard on the kids.  Hannah is very forgetful and when she has left something at school or at home she gets so stressed out.  She lost her pencil pouch on the way home the other day.  Her homework was on her jumpdrive in her pencil pouch.  My jr high girls have not needed a jumpdrive yet. Anyways, that meant she couldn't do anything about her homework.  So I told her to e-mail her teacher to see if she could come in early so she could get it done and that is what she did.  Her pencil pouch was found with everything in it, in the bottom of the lost and found at school.  But Hannah has taught her sisters how to use power point with animations, she taught Kylee Movie Maker, she can type better than her sisters and her teacher says she is the Smart board whiz in the class and she has been put in charge to teach the subs how to use them when her teacher is gone.  Hannah and her sister did figure out the password to access my laptop.  Little turkeys.
February was rough for me.  The inflammation I had been battling off and on came and hit me hard.  I did not sub all month and have been researching all sorts of methods to help myself.  I am trying several things and as of this week it is the first time I think something is getting better.  I have also had less migraines in the past two months.  I did have a 3 day migraine last week but I had not done that in over two months even with all the crazy stress.  The only prescription drugs I have taken in months is my migraine meds. I have had very few of those.   So I will report my findings when I am convinced what I am doing is working.  But there is improvement.
To wrap up, Kelsea is working at Tucanos and the school district and is taking most of her college courses online this semester.  She is home, things are mellow.  She is doing very well.
Amber is 21 now.  She is still very happily married.  We see them more often now.  We are still getting to know Ryan and he still fits in with us quite well.  We had Amber and Ryan and Kelsea and her boyfriend all here for dinner a few weeks ago.  We enjoyed it alot.  They enjoyed it because I have been making homemade bread and that was a huge hit that night.  You know that Kitchenaid mixer I got?  It is getting lots of love. 
All the animals are happy just in case you were wondering.
All month long Lee Joe has watched a BBC show called Top Gear.  Three british guys talking about cars, test driving cars and doing other very silly things with cars.  We have all watched it and have laughed pretty hard watching it.  The problem is Netflix has 15 SEASONS of the show on it.  Oh wait, there is 14 because the first season is missing.  That is a lot of shows.  Lee Joe pulled himself away from the tv and left for North Dakota yesterday.  And that explains why I am prattling on so late in the night with so much to say.  I don't have anyone to talk to when I go to bed.  sniff....I am fine really, just making excuses for this endless blog. Now I am done, and I can rest now knowing I have contributed to the reading pleasure of my 4 loyal readers of my blog.  ; )

My special Grandma and Grandpa

These are the charms my grandma wore on her wrist with profiles of her grandchildren and great grandchildren.  My grandma passes away in December.  My Aunt Kathy found my charm and the 3 of my girls that she had charms for.  The gold one has my name on it and on the back is my birthday.  The other 3 are Amber Kelsea and Kylee's.  She had 6 kids there were lots of grandkids and even more great grandkids since she lived over 90 years.  Aunt Kathy sent the charms to my mom (this grandma was my dad's mom) and my mom gave the charms to Kelsea and this is what she made me.  I don't think I even have expressed completely how much this means to me.  I wrote what is written below on the day she died not knowing I would recieve this for Christmas.  I am not rereading what is below because I don't want to cry tonight.  I hope it makes sense and expresses just how much my Grandma June and Grandpa Hub meant to me.  The charms and this bracelet made for me by my daughter are probably the greatest treasure I own.



Today is the day my grandma died. I was so overwhelmed with emotion that it took me by surprise. I wish that I had more time with her. I am upset when I think about the circumstances that changed my life so dramatically and took me from having her as an active part of my life. It took until I was an adult to learn what an amazing person she was.


I spent a lot of time at Grandpa and Grandma’s house in Connecticut until I was four and then my mom and dad split up and we moved to Denver. And that was the last time I would see my dad and many of my Connecticut family for almost 30 years.

But Grandpa and Grandma came to see us. They came when I was in second grade with my aunt Amy. I always heard from them on my birthday and at Christmas. Time was passing and contact with my dad was sporadic but I never did see him. Then I graduated from high school, got married and I heard from him less.

Then when I lived in Texas with my husband and young daughter we got a call that grandpa and grandma were going to visit. I couldn’t believe they were coming all that way just to see us. They came and visited and admired me and my family. Grandma didn’t just walk into the room. I swear she glided like a swan. She moved beautifully whenever she moved. I had never seen anything like that in my life. Grandma was a ballet dancer. She wore this beautiful bracelet that tinkled and jingled whenever she walked. When she showed me the beautiful bracelet on her wrist while she extended her graceful hand, I was not prepared for what it really was. It was profiles of boys and girls faces. She showed me there were names on them. Those names were her grandchildren. She told me I was on one and it had my birthday on it as well. I found my charm and my sister’s. I felt love wash over me. They shared with me more things. There was a photo album of their 50th wedding anniversary party. She shared with me the names of my aunts and their husbands and my cousins. There were so many people, I was overwhelmed. There were pictures with my dad and his wife and boys as well. But what was the most significant to me was the picture of the quilt. On it at the top was my dad's name,  below that was my name and below that my sister’s and below that my brothers names, who I had never met, all underneath my dad’s name. I don’t know what I thought happened. I guess in my mind I thought I left and didn’t belong to them any more. But with this visit all of a sudden I saw a door was opened. One I thought would be never open to me. It was the door that belonged to my dad’s family, MY family. After nearly 20 years at that time, I had never been forgotten. It meant the world to me.

Then they told me the story of the candy jars. One day before we left Connecticut, I had to have been four. They had candy jars that were lined up by the stairs down to the cellar. I had taken a carpet bag and put all the lids to the candy jars in that carpet bag. Then I had left. They never took those lids out of the bag and put them on the candy jars after all these years. They were waiting for me to come back and put the lids back on the candy jars. All I could see were these candy jars without their lids for years collecting dust waiting for my return before they could be complete again.

For years after that all I could think about was going back so I could put those lids on those candy jars. We lived in Texas a few more years. I had another daughter. Then we moved to Idaho and had more daughters. We were a young family with old cars and challenging circumstances and Connecticut was far away and expensive to try and visit. My grandparents came to visit us again in Idaho. I had to ask if the candy jars were still waiting for me. They told me yes, the candy jars were still waiting for me.

Time passed some more. Grief over my father’s absence in my life intensified as I watched all my daughters build relationships with their own father. My grandparents had explained his quiet introverted nature to me. I tried to find perspective but really, even with all the effort I put into making my family and myself real to him, nothing seem to work. I agonized more and more. The candy jars haunted me. Then news that my Grandfather was suffering from Dementia came. I knew time was getting short and I desired to get there more and more. I decided during the summer of 2003 that I would go. We were waiting for some financial situations to work out. But the decision was getting drawn out further and further and time was getting short. I needed a better vehicle as well so the push came, we bought a van and a few days later I was on the road in a car I wasn’t familiar with yet. I was on the road by myself with my 5 daughters that were 12 years old to 18 months. I was scared to travel alone but I was even more scared to death that my dad would not want me there. I consoled myself that Grandma and Grandpa and all the family would be worth the visit. They had done such a great job keeping in touch with me when he hadn’t.

I got there and grandma was so loving to me. Grandpa had just been put in a home because his alzheimers got really severe. She was in agony over his absence. I came and spent hours talking with her when everyone was gone. I filled the void for her as she tried to adjust to life without his presence. I was trying to cope with the reunion with my dad, trying to understand the conflict he was dealing with and with my flooding emotions of abandonment. I slept in the bedroom that had once been his and laid in bed thinking how wonderful it was now that I could say I had spent the day with my dad. Something so simple that everyone else took for granted was now a part of my life. “I visited with my dad today.” That comment was mine now. My dad hugged me today, yeah, I could say that too. But what was the most poignant, as I cried over the years of grief with my grandma, was that she understood better than anyone. Yes my dad was still alive but I still suffered from his absence in my life and didn’t fully understand if I meant anything to him anymore. She understood me because she lost her mother to hepatitis when she was very young and not long after that her father was murdered so she was abandoned by tragic life circumstances and was raised by her aunt. She knew the pain I felt and the ache I had in my heart for the parent that wasn’t there. Even though I cried and cried, healing was starting to begin. During that trip the visit with my dad was strained. I believe he thought I would come and give him grief over his absence. He tried to explain things to me. I just wanted to build something where there was nothing and not place blame on anyone. But I started to understand, I started to see him, I saw the past, everyone in the family had suffered by my family’s departure. Grandma told me in all the years she had been with my grandpa, she had never seen him cry except for the day that we left. She told me he absolutely adored me. When I looked through her albums and picture frames, She had every picture I ever sent her.

We visited grandpa in the home and grandma told him I was there to visit him. When he answered her I could tell he was remembering the Kim that had been the little girl that put the lids of the candy jars in the carpet bag at 4. He was suffering from his dementia too much to be able to see me, the grown up Kim with 5 daughters to share with him. Back at the house, I never said a word when I was there, but I went to find the candy jars that lined the stairs to the cellar. They weren’t there. I had learned that Grandpa in one of his Alzhiemer’s rages had torn apart the cellar. The family had to put it back together. The candy jars had been moved. I did find them. In a box, on a shelf. But they all had the lids on them. I looked around some more and found the carpet bag somewhere else in the cellar. Of course it was empty. I had waited too long. It was too late.

When I came home back to Idaho, it took me a long time to overcome the mountain of information, the grief, and figure out how everything fit together all over again. Nothing was as I had seen it in my mind. What took place there was wonderful with all the relationships I built with everyone that was my family. I had never cried so much in my life. Everyone shared their story with me about the part they knew before we moved away. And everyone of them was just as broken hearted as my grandparents were when we left. Along with this new perspective came a new kind of grief. Along with this grief came a few more years of my father’s silence. It felt like after all that, nothing had really changed.

A couple years ago, grandpa finally passed away. I was in great turmoil on whether or not I should go to the funeral. My husband insisted. The weather was bad and we almost didn’t make it. We did, but our baggage did not. I was so stressed about everything, the nightmare delays, lost luggage and downpouring rain from Boston, to Providence to little Groton Connecticut. Then the crazy worry I put myself through whether or not I was welcome. We showed up at the funeral home. My aunt never told my dad I was coming but I didn’t know this. So when my brother saw me he ran to get my dad. They were excited to see me. My grandmother embraced me and I was so loved and welcome there again. I was overwhelmed. Grandma struggled with her grief but she did it with her beautiful graceful way. My heart ached for her as she ached for her husband. I stayed for the funeral and had another day to visit. This visit though was a true reunion. My dad kept me at his house even though my aunt amy was eager to have me if he wouldn’t. But there was no hesitation on his part that we would stay with him. My dad talked and talked to us. He talked about many things with his job he just retired from and other random things. We went to dinner at the Olive Garden which is his and my favorite restaurant. He has done photography for years.  Mostly nature scenes.  He shared his pictures with me and said I could have as many as I wanted. As I was there and my visit was coming to an end I realized something. My grandpa wasn’t able to bring us together in his lifetime but he was able to do it with his death. I saw that my grandpa finally brought us together. That visit was much better than the one before. And on the plane home I cried because I could still hear my dad’s voice in my head. That had never happened to me before and it was a moment I had wished I could capture and keep forever.

This is Amber, Kelsea and baby Kylee.  Grandma and Grandpa came to visit us in Idaho.

So now my beautiful dancing grandma has passed away. She is finally with her beloved husband. I never did have enough time with her. The days I have spent with her in my life since I was four probably do not even fill up a calendar month. But the time I have had with her was packed with meaning and mending. Because of her tender heart and efforts on my behalf, I have healed my own heart. I have a relationship with my father. It’s still kind of the same but I have perspective and peace with what it is. It is not perfect and it’s not a happy ending but I am happy with what I do have. Grandma is the best example of how to live with passion in your life. She loved to dance. I never have seen her dance. But when she walked across the room it was like she was dancing. She is also a powerful force, an incredible example showing how to move forward in life after great adversity. How my heart aches now, her funeral is almost 3000 miles away and I won’t be able to be there. But I love her and how I would love to see her remembered by those she treasured. She was my link to the other half of me when my father wasn’t there. But she did wait to leave this earth until that part of her family had mended. Everything she has sent me, and that she has written to me is my treasure. I know that she will always be with me. For the rest of my life all ballerinas I see are visions of her.

Puppy Love

I know I have posted about these pups before but I really do love these dogs.  I didn't think I was dog person or only the kind of dog person that could love Spot a bunch and that was all there was.  But these boys are cute and very loving and follow me around the house wherever I go and scratch at my door when I shut them out.  The boys are will not be men dogs ever again.  I was nervous dropping them off because you sign a form saying you realize that they may have issues with anesthesia and you won't know until it is too late.  But they were fine.  Dobby loves his toys.  In particular he likes these really loud squeaker balls and will relentlessly search for them if they are lost.  He has to pick a toy up before you take him out of his pen in the morning.  (We have tried sleeping with them but they are pretty bad sleepers with people)  We were surprised to find out Yoda weighs a whopping 11 pounds.  He is shorter than Dobby and Dobby is just under nine pounds.  Yoda can now push Dobby around.  It took until just a few weeks ago before Yoda could jump up on the couch. 

The love to shred paper towels and toilet papet and tissues.  They usually are pretty good about just chewing on their toys but Saturday they got an ink pen.  I came home to a bunch of ink on my carpet in my family room and on my new recliner.  I was frustrated to put it kindly.  I read to use alcohol.  It was instantly coming up but it was hard not to spread it around.  After an hour and half of dealing with the spots that night I had to stop.  I shampooed the carpet the next day and this is what was left on the carpet. 

The recliner has two blue dots just smaller than a dime and another few spots but I guess I can live with that.

The puppies are still keepers.  I still talk so silly to them and let them hang out with me when I home all day. I call them Yodel, bubba or Dobbers and would not want to be without the silly little pups even if they bark too much.

Aren't they cute?  They aren't real impressed. 

In case you haven't heard about Spot.  For one, she really needs a hair cut.  She is a 13 year old Japanese Chin Poodle mix-Japanoodle or Chin a poo.  My mom had a Japanese Chin that was a pup from my grandparents Chins and she had poodle.  On New Years Eve Spot was born just a half an hour before 12 but we always forget to tell her happy birthday.  Good thing she doesn't care.  She is going blind right now, even when she doesn't have hair hanging in her face.  It's sad because I was there when she was born and I do think she has been a wonderful dog.

Since this is about my pets, this is Sox or Socks.  I never really decided how I wanted to spell her name so it is often spelled both ways.  She was born in our house on April fools day about 9 years ago.  Her mother got mastitis and I had to hand feed her and her 4 other siblings.  Spot helped with them as well as mothered them and tending them the way their mother couldn't when she was sick.  So I am super attached to her too.  She use to like to lay near my feet and touch me with her paw just so she had some sort of contact. She is bigger than the dogs and we think she totally looks like a Maine Coon Cat.

I am done with my pet post.  I couldn't imagine living without them.  I would have no excuse for talking to myself when I am home alone.

Christmas is over already?

Every year seems to go by faster and faster than the one before.  This one was a blur.  Big events and interesting challenges have come our way this year. 

Lee Joe did come home.  He made it home a good week and a half before Christmas.  He had thought there would be more work for him here at home but was told he needed to go file unemployment.  Nothing ever goes smoothly around here.  At least that has been the case for all of 2011.  So he did.  He got some days at home, had time to fix his car and work a smidge on mine, then looked into Amber's car and there was some bad news there.  When Kelsea overheated Amber's car in October, she drove it too long in that condition and it needs a major repair now or a new engine.  Lee Joe was not sure what he was going to do for work.  But he made some calls and one of the calls he made had him going to work within hours of the call.  From 6pm to 6am.  That was two days of work before Christmas.  But since he has been working 80 or more hours for months now, he was not ready but went.  Then on Thrursday evening they told him they wanted him to head out of town for 3 weeks, Monday after Christmas.  Then he was really beside himself.  He didn't want to go but after talking to them at length he said he would.  So this is the Monday after Christmas and he has left to drive truck to Montana and then to Utah back and forth until they decide to send him home again.  That will mean he will miss the 4th birthday for this year-Hannah says he wasn't there for her birthday last year either.  And another holiday-unless he manages to be in Utah for New Years and I decide the drive to Utah.  We have to see if it will be something I can manage and see if the weather cooperates.

The girls wanted footy pjs.  So funny.

As far as Christmas goes, Lee Joe was home.  Amber is not, we are trying to figure out how these things work.  But it worked well enough.  We had Amber and Ryan over in the evening of Christmas Eve.  They came back on Christmas Day until they went to his parents house.  The girls were so fun Christmas Eve night.  All the girls wanted footy pajamas which cracks me up since they all wanted them and they are 18, 15,13 and 9.  I don't usually do the Christmas PJ thing, but we did this year.  They were so funny.

Kelsea got her Harry Potter movie. Triumph!

Kelsea wanted a few specific things for Christmas, but what made me laugh was that her favorite present was not one she asked for.  She got a Harry Potter wand that lights up on the end when you just wave it. She waved it on, off, on, off, on off.  Then when she put in it back in the box she opened, closed it, open, close, open, close.  Yes the child is ADHD and very easlily entertained.  She reminded me of when she was 5.  I loved it! 

Kylee and Autumn didn't ask for anything this Christmas.  I enjoyed all the smiling they did with what they did get.  Kylee is easy and happy with everything.  She was happiest with a pair of boots she got and an angry birds t-shirt.  Autumn is always quite reserved and is always thinking. I remember the Christmas when she was 4 and all she wanted was a carebear.  She looked at all the presents and asked which one was the Care Bear and almost everything else didn't matter.  This year she was all smiles.  Lee Joe even caught her sighing with contentment.   She has asked for a camera several times.  She didn't ask this year but she did get one. Hannah wanted this magic set something awful.  We saw it at Costco and she talked about it for several weeks.  She did the same with a Darth Vader alarm clock.  This Christmas was a strange one.  She got a Lego Star Wars Darth Vader ornament for the tree.  She wanted Star Wars stuff, lego stuff and is into angry birds.  But she wanted really pretty clothes and nice pea coats like all her sisters have.  She also got Star Wars wall stickers.  I think we will be painting her room soon.  And she loves giraffes.  It was a really funny year for her.  Her birthday is in a few days so there will be more.  But she still enjoys Build a Bear.  We did get her a bear before Christmas for her birthday, because the store is way too slammed after Christmas.  She did NOT dress the bear in Star Wars stuff.  She chose a very sparkly outfit.  So she is so quirky and she is turning 10 so things will be changing.  I can see the little girl leaving and see a little of the pre-teen setting in.  It makes me sad. 

Quite the beast! Love it!

Kelsea was in charge of shopping for me.  She did a great job.  My mom, Lee Joe and Kelsea all got together and got me this fantastic Kitchenaid mixer.  But I still need to try it out.  I was done with my baking when I got it.  I will have to try something soon.  I LOVE the show Merlin right now.  She got me the 2 seasons that are out on DVD right now.  I got a few other things I really wanted.  The sweetest thing she did was she made me a bracelet with some charms from my Grandma June.  I will take a picture and dedicate a post explaining the significance of the charms.  What she did with it is beautiful. 

I will post about the importance of these charms.

Lee Joe was so funny this year.  He complained when the girls and I got ipods in the past.  Now he started to complain that he didn't have one.  But the isolation in North Dakota got to him I think.  So he really wanted an ipod.  He did get one for Christmas this year.  We did pretty good when he was opening his other gifts, keeping it from him.  But one gift was a charger that plugged in the wall and in the car with a few different adapters you could use for other things.  That was the only hint he needed.  He started to go after the other present he suspected of going with that charger.  That was funny.  He did get an ipod touch.  We were all trying to get him trained up on it before he left.  Some of the aps will be really helpful for him while he is away.

While Lee Joe was home, he got to know the puppies.  He can be pretty impatient sometimes.  But they are so cute that he was really taken by both of our boys.  Speaking of the boys, they will be having a necessary surgery tomorrow.  So hopefully they won't be traumatized by the experience.  I think Yoda is finally past the trauma from the Parvo and shots experiences.  I just hope we don't have start all over again with him.  Dobby is just a super cute whiney baby when it comes to pain.