Accommodating

That's my word for 2012. I told everyone to come up with one word for 2012. I wanted them to come up with a one word goal for the year. My word is accommodating. I feel like I try to do what is in the best interest of those around me, but I know that quite often in the back of my mind I am really thinking about what I want instead. I would like to do more for others to make them happy and to say yes to my family more. I hope to be less about perfect and more about happy.
I have also decided to try to do the project 365 again this year. I failed miserably the last time I tried, but one failure should not stop anyone from trying again! So, here is today's picture:



Will and his new helicopter. I got Scott and Will matching helicopters for Christmas. It's cute to see my "boys" play together!

Maybe

Why is it that the things I consider to be my favorite things in life are the ones I have to work so hard to make time for? It seems I spend so much time at work, cleaning the house, and doing schoolwork that the things I actually enjoy are hard to fit in sometimes. Maybe that's why they are my favorite things. Maybe if I had too much free time to do those things, I wouldn't find them as rewarding. Maybe it's part of the "absence makes the heart grow stronger" thing. Maybe I am on to something here. Maybe I am just making excuses. Maybe seeing my struggles will help my kids understand the importance of going to college. Maybe some day one job will be enough. Maybe some day I won't have to worry so much. Maybe some day I will be able to put aside my worries and just enjoy all of my favorite things. Maybe tomorrow.

Thought just maybe

I thought maybe I should put up a more recent post than July because I will be linking my assigned website to this page. That's right - I have an assignment! Why? Because I decided that my life isn't near chaotic enough so now I am taking 3 college classes. One of them happens to be Intro to Computers- (silly as I am on computers every day, but what can you do?). One of the assignments is to create a website. Now that you know what prompted me to write again, I suppose I could give you a little more of an update on my life. Here goes: Still working at Sanford, still working at Victoria's Secret, still have 3 kids and a husband, now trying to work towards a Business Management degree. Crazy, I know, but if I want to get anywhere other than where I am at, I need to get a degree. At least I qualified for a little bit of grant money so I only have to take out a small loan and am hoping to get some education assistance from Sanford to pay part, if not all, of that loan. The assistance would rely on my grades- so when I say I have to study-don't try to keep me from it! Unless you want to pay off my loans, then by all means - have at it!
Well, Will is standing here begging for more cereal- he already ate two bowls full so I think I'd better go find something for him!
Till next time-
Wendy

How can it be?

Hmm, I had a little post all typed up and blogger decided not to save it. Let's just say I am sad that I had to go back to work yesterday. My job security seems to still be intact and I promise to at least think about blogging one in a while :)

Crazy kids

Yesterday the kids decided to have a "kids concert". The girls love putting on little concerts and this time they even got Will to participate. Hannah started off with singing a couple of songs:

Then there was a performance by "Ninja Will":

Haley also performed a song for us (and boy do I mean "performed"!)

Then we headed outside for the final portion of the show:

At the end they even did "acknowledgements" of each other for their contributions.

Bravo! Bravo!

!/2 over???

It's Wednesday - my vacation is almost 1/2 over already! This has been a really great week so far. Monday I spent almost the whole day with Haley. We started out the morning at the eye doctor for a second attempt at getting her contacts. She was successful! I am very proud of her. The last time she tried, she had a little panic attack when the dr was trying to put the contacts in. I know how hard it can be to overcome that panic once it happens, so I think she did awesome being able to handle it so well. Then she and I went shopping. We were kind of looking for a birthday outfit for her and a summer dress for me. We were both having a really hard time finding things for ourselves so we decided to pick stuff out for each other. It was really fun to see her picking things out htat she thought I would like and having her try on things that I picked out for her. I think we could have shopped like that for a very long time. I took her to Johnny Carino's for supper - cuz the girl loves her carbs! All in all, one of the best days I have had with Haley in a long time- hopefully many more like that to come! I tried to get a picture of her, but she kept laughing too hard so this is the best I got:

Yesterday was Scott and my 14 year anniversary.I know, right? (by the way, I really hate that saying) For a gift, he scheduled me to get my hair cut and colored, so I spent the morning relaxing at the salon. While I was there, he brought me some flowers. Do I have the most amazing husband or what? Yup, the most amazing, I know! We all went to Drake Springs pool for a little while in the afternoon. Will had a really great time, so eventhough the rest of us were too cold to actually have fun in the water, it was worth it. He had been looking forward to going to the pool for quite a while. Scott and I had a "date" last night. Dinner and a movie - yep - I made it thru a movie- no panic attacks at all! Maybe I am outgrowing the crazy panic stuff........

Today is Scott's last day off. I think he is planning to go for a bike ride this morning and I want to do another family pool day this afternoon- different pool this time. I had told the kids we could do a "tour of the pools" this week. Sounds like the weather is going to cooperate so it should be another great day!

I could really get used to this staying home thing!

First post of 2011

Ok- so I am definitely not a hard-core blogger. It is June 27 and this is the first time I have blogged this year. Yikes! I guess that tells you how much free time I don't have. This week should be a different story, though, cause I AM ON VACATION! Although we can't afford a big fancy get out of dodge vacation, I still took a week off of both jobs to spend some time just hanging out with Scott and the kids. Scott took a few days off too so hopefully we are able to just relax and enjoy ourselves. Now, if mother nature cooperates, that will be amazing!

I guess I should have read back in my blogs to see if anything has really changed, but my guess is that it hasn't. I am still working two jobs, Scott is still working a full time job and trying to take pictures whenever he can. The kids are still growing up too fast and the days are still not long enough to get stuff done. Thru all of that, we are still blessed with good health and wonderful families that support us, so all in all life is good.

I hope to be able to blog everyday this week, because it's nice to sit down and recount the wonders of being with my children. First order of vacation- taking Haley to the eye dr to try to get her in contacts. This will be attempt number 2. If this one doesn't work I am going to make her wait until next summer, so cross your fingers for her........

My how time flies...

Wow- 5 months since I've been here, huh? Yikes. Well what has happened since July? Umm, I am still working 2 jobs, Scott is now working for SD Achieve doing maintenance. I have no idea what job he had in July, if any. This job is his 3rd in like 2 months, but this one he seems to like, so that's a plus. Said job did put him in the Emergency room once though. 6 stitches and 2 broken teeth, but all in all very lucky! The first semester of the school year is almost over. Haley made the transition to middle school with ease. Hannah is doing great as a 4th grader and Will, well Will seems older every day. I can't believe he is almost old enough for kindergarten! AAAHH!

Haley has been taking Karate since this summer. It is so nice to see her in something active and enjoying herself. The weird thing is that she gets really frustrated when they don't correct people for doing the moves wrong. I know! She has made it to an orange belt already and is testing for her green belt this week!

Christmas season is in full swing-I feel very behind and un-ready. But, alas, Christmas will come whether I feel ready or not. I am pretty excited that I took a few days off of both jobs and Travis and Robin will be here with the kids!!! I think I am finally at the stage of life that the holidays are more about enjoying myself with everyone around me and less about all of the hustle and bustle. Too bad my kids (and hubby) probably don't see it that way. I would have been perfectly happy to just take a few days off of work and not have the tree and presents, just some quality time with my family. Maybe working so much has made me appreciate the time we are together more. I know I still fuss about a clean house and getting things done, but I really do enjoy snuggling on the couch watching a movie or sitting around the kitchen table playing a game. (yes, people still play board games)

Well, I suppose it is time to start getting ready for tomorrow. Maybe I will actually start updating this silly ole blog again! Kind of nice to take a couple minutes to document life's little things!

Thursday already?

I can't believe the week is almost over already! Yesterday finally started to feel like a vacation. The kids and I hit up Target to look at school supplies, went out for lunch with Scott and then convinced him to take a few hours off and hit the pool with us. Even Will started jumping in to the deep water from the side of the pool. He is still not too sure about getting his whole face wet, but he was doing pretty good considering this time last year he didn't like water deeper than his knees!

Today is going to be a day of quick house cleaning, lawn mowing and getting ready to head to Rochester for the Meyer family reunion. I am looking forward to meeting a lot of Scott's family, not so looking forward to sleeping in a "cabin" that has no bathroom and is all bumk beds. We are sharing said "cabin" with Amy's family, so sleep may not be easily found with that many kids in one room! I would love it if we could all head up to the Mall of America on Saturday, but I think everyone is planning to do that tomorrow and we won't get there until sometime tomorrow afternoon. Oh well, not like we have money to shop with anyway- just like to wander the mall for the fun of it.

Well, better get started on my day. I am hoping to get the house cleaned in like an hour - don't really want to spend my vaca time with a vaccuum!

I'm on vacation, right?

The last 2 days have been so busy it doesn't really feel like vacation, but I guess I would rather have it that way than sitting around doing nothing- that really isn't me! So, what was accomplished on day 2 of staycation 2010?

Clothes were brought to Once Upon A Child (most of them also brought back home), went to the zoo for a bit, went to one store to look at school supplies and realized we had no idea what we neeeded, home for lunch, pool for an hour, Haley to the dentist for 2 cavities, drove across town to drop off papers at accountant (don't ask), Haley to karate (that one wasn't really me- her friends picked her up and dropped her off), supper, soccer, couch time finally at 8!

See- sitting still isnt' really my strong point anyway!

We don't have too much planned for today. I am planning a library trip and a swing by goodwill to get rid of some stuff. It's super humid already this morning so maybe the pool again this afternoon.

I tried to take a couple pics of me and the kids at the zoo. Not an easy task - I don't do a lot of the "taking my own picture" thing. The kids thought I was crazy- nothing new there, though!

Wendy's Staycation 2010

Hi! Well it seems it's been a while again, oops! Even missed blogging about another b-day. Haley turned 11 on July 3! Can you believe it? 11! For some reason though her turning 11 doesn't bother me. I think it's because most days she seems older than that anyway so 11 is no biggie.

So our family is definitely one of the "staycation" families due to money issues. I took this week off of both jobs mostly just to hang out with the kids and to give Scott and Colleen both a break from all the day to day running with them. Yesterday was certainly filled with "running". I went for a run, had a haircut in the morning, got my oil changed, helped all 3 kids clean out their closets so we could see what was really needed for school clothes (really not too much - yay!), took the girls to "super duper training" at the Wellness Center, took Haley and Will to the dentist (Haley gets to go back again today to have 2 cavities filled), Scott took Haley to karate while I made supper, went to Hannah's first summer soccer game (she rocked), came home and finally sat down at around 8:00!

Today should be a little less running- need to go thru all the clothes that was pulled out of closets yesterday so I can try to bring some to Once Upon A Child- might as well try to get a little cash this week too! Thinking about taking the munckins to the zoo this morning. Gonna try to get in maybe an hour at the pool before Haley has to go to the dentist, she also has karate again today and Hannah has another soccer game. Ok- so still quite a bit of running to do, but should have play time in there too!

Well, I suppose I should get started on the clothes so that when the girls get up we can start play time!

Hannah's 9!

My sweet little Hannah turned nine yesterday. One of her presents was a day with mommy. We went to a spa for facials- a first for each of us. I have one word to describe the experience "AMAZING". I haven't felt that relaxed in a long time. Of course they put us thru the whole skin analysis thing and turns out I could use a new face, but that was no surprise!

After the facials we went to Nucci's for lunch where we both proceeded to eat our gelatto first! Hey that's what birthdays are for!

We went shopping for the perfect birthday outfit and after quite a few stores we finally found it at Gap. Hannah also decided she wanted a birthday haircut. Facial, new outfit, new hairdo. I think she did pretty darn good!

We had a family and friends party for Hannah last night. It was 85 degrees and 90 mph winds. Ok, maybe not 90 mph but it could just as well have been. It wouldn't have made it any mroe difficult to do things outside. Burgers, hot dogs and a cookie cake!

Oh yeah, and presents. This is Haley's response to the Carrie Underwood tickets that the girls and I will be using for the December concert:

All in all, a good day for a wonderful girl!

well, well, well

Seems it's been a while since I have taken some "me" time to blog. Oh, who am I kidding? My only realy "me" time is at 5 am and I use that to get some excercising in. I have been running every morning- at least when it's not raining or blowing 40 mph. I am making it 4.5 miles at least 3 days a week, haven't made it 5 in a row yet- there is either an early morning meeting or I have worked 2 nights in a row and just can't push myself to go that far, or, I don't know, one of another million excuses I am sure I have already used as a way to slack off. I just wish that it was helping me to look better. I will admit, I do feel better on the days that I run, but it sure would be a bonus if it would help my pants fit too!

Well, it seems I missed blogging about Will's b-day. That's right, my baby is 4! I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to admit that I don't have a baby anymore. He is the cutest, funniest, craziest little guy you have ever met. Sure, I might be prejudiced, but if you spent a day with him (especially on one of his "on" days) you would certainly agree. I took the day after his b-day off of work to spend with him. We went to the zoo, played pirates at the park, met up with Scott for lunch and then just went home and played. Days like that sure make me yearn for being a stay-at-home mom. But, alas, that is not in the cards for me.

And now, believe it or not, Hannah is going to be 9 tomorrow! What? Seriously, where have the years gone? I look at pictures of the girls when they were 2 and 3 and it doesn't seem like it was that long ago. Everyone always tells you to cherish the time when they are little because they grow up so fast. In the back of your mind you are thinking "well, duh I'm going to cherish the time", but I don't think I ever really thought I would sit and wonder about the things that I may have missed or the times that I could have done something more memorable with the kids. Believe me, I really do have those times. Especially now with working more and spending the time I do have at home trying to keep up with the "grown-up responsibility" things. I am taking tomorrow off to spend the day with "peanut". I have made us facial appointments and then we are going out for lunch and shopping to find her "b-day outfit". I can't afford to do the kind of shopping that I would like, but I do try to get the kids one really cool outfit for their birthdays.

Hannah had her first friend b-day party yesterday. It seems weird to think that she is going to be 9 and never had a friend party before, but when she was at Cleveland Elementary, she just didn't really have many friends. We did a luau party theme and 5 girls came to celebrate. It was a nice sized group and I think they all had fun.

Yesterday was also the last game of the spring soccer season. Hannah has been fortunate enough to have the same coaches and players for the last few seasons. These girls are really starting to look like they know what they are doing! They had a perfect season- all wins! I hope that she is on the same team for fall.

Well, that is probably enough me time for now. I am supposed to be working on balancing the checkbook before I head to inventory at Victoria's Secret. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?

Have I given up?

Well, it seems I have given up on the photo a day thing. My computer was out of commission for a couple of weeks so I really lost my mojo there. I also have not been impressed with the pictures I was taking so count that as excuse #2.

I finally got a part time job. At Victoria's Secret of all places. The one interview that I left knowing I would never hear back from them, and that's the one that offers me a job! It's only about 10-15 hours a week and the pay sucks, but it's more than I had before. I am still waiting to hear back from CCHS. I really thought I would be working there by now. They seem to be a little unorganized and slow in the whole hiring process. Working 3 jobs isn't ideal for a wife/mother, but if it helps pay some bills, that's what I gotta do! It would be nice if Scott could find a job that paid a decent wage and I could help him keep the photography business going on the side, but he has had no luck in the job department. So for now, I work as much as I can and hope the bank is feeling generous (yeah, right).

I know it has been a month since I have posted, but I really haven't had anything positive to post and Scott gets mad when I post depressing stuff, so therefore, no posts! I know we aren't the only ones with money problems, but sometimes I feel like we are sinking so far down that there is no way out. See- not positive, huh? What positive do I have to say? We have great families that are trying to support us in any way we can. I know that if we end up losing all material things, we will still have two families that love us and support us. We will still have 3 great kids and Scott and I will still have each other. I guess I am rich in all the ways that the bank/ credit card companies just don't give a damn about!

Well, I am being summoned by the afore mentioned family. G'night all!

Sorry dear blog

Dear Blog,

I am so sorry that I haven't has much time for you lately. You see I have been spending many of my free minutes hunting for a part time job. The part time job is an elusive character. There are many gathering places throughout the internet world to look for one, but catching one is quite a bugger of a deal. I have had a couple of close calls, but as of yet no trophy catch. I have a feeling all of the other hunters out there are experiencing the same frustration as I. Maybe we can all find a herd of jobs out there and everyone will get to have their own! Oh what eutopia that would be! Well, I just wanted to take a minute to explain my absence. I hope you understand. I will make a better effort to keep you informed in the future.

Sincerely,

Me

What can happen in a week?

I see that last Wednesday was the last time I blogged. With my boring life, there couldn't be much to catch up on since then right? With some of the things that have happened in the last week, I sure wish that were true!

Ok so we left off last Wed. I can't think of anything interesting that happened on Thursday (surprise, I know). Friday was a horrible day. We finally decided to take Bandit to the vet to be put to sleep. Haley and Scott spent a good chunk of the morning crying together. When I got home from work Scott and I loaded Bandit into the truck. When we got to the vet Scott decided he couldn't go in, so I had to take Bandit in all by myself. I had planned to just drop him off and say a quick goodbye, but they brought us back to a room and I just couldn't leave him. I ended up staying until after they gave him the first injection to make him sleepy. I did leave while he was still awake. I gave him a hug and told him "don't worry, when you wake up your legs will work perfectly again." I sure do hope he has an endless supply of rawhide and new tennis balls where he is at now.

Saturday was spent with Haley at her Lego League competition. Her team didn't win any trophies, but overall they did pretty well. Haley was even interviewed and on the news that night!

Sunday we had a bridal show all day. They seem to be longer everytime we go. Hopefully this one will provide us with some much needed wedding business. It's so hard to quit going when so many photographers are going out of business and so many "newbies" are popping up and you know they won't be around for too long. At least it gets our name out to all of those brides.

Monday- back to work and finally back to school for the kids. After 2 "cold" days last week, I think they were actually excited to go back!

Tuesday- all 3 kids brought home excellent report cards today! I told both girls if they got all A's I would buy them each a book from the next book orders. Well, I owe each of them a book! Yay! Will's first report card wasn't too shabby either. How do you do a report card on a 3 year old anyway?

That brings us to today. Today I took Haley to see the dr. She has been having dizzy spells, feeling really weak and tired and has also had some shortness of breath. All of these things have been going on for awhile, but she never complained of them all at once. They all started happening a little more often and I started thinking about all of them together and it kind of freaked me out. Well, after an EKG, chest xray, lab work and some breathing tests, the dr is thinking asthma. We are still waiting on some of the results, but for now we are going to be trying in inhaler to see if it helps at all. We go back in a month to see if she can get on some oral medications to keep all of her symptoms at bay.

So see, sometimes my boring little life isn't as boring as I would like it to be. Maybe this next week will be less excititing.

Happy Wednesday!

Brrrr! Seriously, mother nature must be in a horrible mood! We already have 20+ inches of snow on the ground and she decides we need another 6 or so today. On top of that, she is kicking up the wind machine tonight and tomorrow's high is -5! Holy cramoly!

So far this week has been fairly quiet. I took Monday off to work at the studio getting some end of the year bookwork done. We changed the business over to a corporation as of Jan1, so there was a lot of stuff that had to be "ended". Yesterday was work all day and come home to have supper, play a little Wii golf with Scott and go to bed. Today I worked until 1 (love my half days) and then went to Ink & Iron to finally get my tattoo. Scott did some trade work for Chad- he did maternity pics in trade for my tattoo! It was 2 hours of pain but I think it looks great and it crosses one of those "I have wanted forever" things off of my list!

Bandit is still alive and kicking- well alive anyway. I think it is time, but I won't push Scott into it until he is ready. I certainly don't want him to resent me for that!

I have been keeping up on my 365 photo project so far- yes, I realize we are only 6 days into the year, but hey- it's something!

Well, sounds like Will is ready to get out of the tub, so better go help!

Welcome 2010

Well, it's a new year and it doesn't seem like I will be any better at blogging every day than I was last year. Oh well.

So what has happened so far in 2010? We celebrated Travis and Robin's marriage yesterday with a vow reaffirmation ceremony and a reception/dance. Haley and Will tuckered out around 10:00 last night. Hannah could have danced all night long. She could be quite the party girl if we aren't careful! Other than helping with the wedding stuff, I haven't accomplished much yet this year. Today will probably be a bust as well. Tomorrow I took the day off of work so I can get some finance stuff done. I have some major headache work to do at the studio and then I need to figure out where to find money to pay our bills- that should be a real fun time!

I think I need to start working even harder at finding a part time job. I am hoping that all the people that got jobs for the Christmas season are tired of working part time and I will be able to find something. At this point, I am not even going to be too picky.

I have decided to try to do the 365 photo project. I put a link on the side of my blog so you can click on it and see how well I am keeping up. So far I have the first 2 days taken care of. I am going to try to keep my camera in my purse so I can take random pics to add.

No resolutions again this year. I always want to lose weight. I always want to better our financial situation and I always want to be a better mom/wife/all around person. No need for resolutions, just hard work!

Well, better get to gettin busy!

ummm....BRRR!

Ok, I know that there is alot of winter weather to come yet, but yowsers, it has been really cold the last few days! I think I would rather get 20 inches of snow than have this 10 below stuff!

I can't believe Christmas is next week already. Wow, the year is almost over and I have a feeling I didn't do very well on my resolutions for the year. I will have to look back, I know I blogged about them at the time. Part of the reason I know I didn't do well is that I can't even remember what they all were. Oops.

The main reason for today's blog is to show you what our family project was last night:

Colleen had gotten this kit for us a couple of weeks ago, so we decided to build it last night. It is not a professional looking house by any means, but as Haley said " we are not entering any competition and it's more fun to just do what you want." I let all 3 kids work at the same time so there were a few "hey that doesn't go there"s but nothing too major. Now the kids thinkt hey should eat it, I am thinking who wants stale gum drops?

My homework

Ok, so I must have been too negative in my last blog post, cuz my wonderful husband has given me an assignment of writing a 5 paragraph blog of all of the wonderful positive things in my life. (does this one count as 1?)

I have a wonderful family. This starts with the one that raised me, continues to the amazing man that picked me to spend the rest of my life with him, his family that has always welcomed me with open arms and then the three beautful children that we have been blessed with. My family is my support system and my sounding board. They are the ones who see my laugh, cry, scream and puke and yet they still love me.

I have a job. Most days I love what I do. I work with a great group of strong women. Some of them intimidate me, some of them inspire me. They all are great at what they do and what they do is not easy. In today's world, just having a job with a paycheck is something to be very grateful for. It's great to also have a job where what I do helps someone make a big difference.

I know I already used my family, but I also need to say how wonderful it is to have a healthy family. With all of the sickness that I see day to day, it's great to come home to healthy smiling faces. Sure, we get runny noses and light fevers at our house, but things could be soooo much worse. I know I don't win mom of the year by taking the kids in for flu shots, but I can't bear to think of one of them getting really sick. We have been very blessed with strong immune systems and I hope to keep it that way!

We have a nice home. Although we are looking at ways to "lighten" our debt, selling our house would be very sad. I don't know yet, what we are going to do. If selling our house does turn out to be the best option, it will be heartbreaking, but necessary. We will probably get a smaller house, but as long as we are all there, it will still be a nice home. The walls can be closer together and the garage colder, but we will be together and that's what matters!

I have the most amazing best friend. My best friend can tell what kind of mood I am in by looking at my face. My best friend knows that no matter how upset I am, the right words can make me smile and, yup, my best friend always knows what those words are. My best friend has been by my side for lots of happy times and probably just as many not so happy times. When I am depressed, my best friend knows that sometimes all I need is a hug and to be able to cry for awhile. My best friend has the best shoulders to cry on. My best friend made me the happiest person alive the day he asked me to be his best friend for life. I love you my best friend, my husband.

1 swear I think about you all the time....

Really, I do! I think about blogging alot, I just never actually have time to sit down and write out my thoughts. Well, tonight I have decided to take a few minutes and get a few things out there! Ready? Hang on, here we go!

People need to just suck it up and do their jobs. Really people, is spending 20 minutes complaining about not wanting to do something ever going to be productive? You are still going to have to do it anyway!

On the other hand, when people are asking you to do something that is completely retarded and will only cause everyone else in the 5 mile radius complete and utter misery, maybe you should think twice before just saying "ok, whatever you want". Sometimes the rich one in the room isn't necessarily the smartest! Seriously, think about it before agreeing to everything they say!

Overdraft fees are the most ridiculous things ever. Oh, you don't have enough money to cover that $5 check you just wrote? How about I charge you $35 for being poor. Oh and since we know you don't have any money, we are also going to try to take your loan payment out and then we can charge you another $35 for not being able to pay. Oh, look at that- you just transferred more than enough money to cover everything you bought today. Oh well, we are still going to charge you that $70 in overdrafts cuz you went to Hy-vee before you logged on to the internet to transfer. Moohaha (that is supposed to be an evil laugh).

If you live in South Dakota, learn how to drive in the snow (and then remember from one winter to the next). Just because there are a few flakes flying thru the air does not mean that running thru stop lights and trying to take out every pedestrian you see is ok. We have like 6 months of snow around here, do you really forget that fast? I bet you have your pin number for your atm card written on the back of it, don't you????

Whoever decided that Christmas should come in the winter when my photographer husband is not bringing in the amount of money that keeps us comfortable should also be the one to explain to my kids why all they are getting for Christmas is clothes. (and not much of that either)

I need to turn myself into one of those people who can't eat when they are stressed. I am really tired of being a stress eater, and always being stressed out. How on earth am I ever supposed to be a hot mom? That's right, my goal is to have my kid's friends think I'm hot! (is that weird or maybe even creepy? Whatever, I still want to be that mom!)

Whew- I feel better. I can breathe a little now that some of that is off my chest. There is still quite a backlog, but I think that is good for tonight! I think I need to get on the elliptical and sweat out some more frusterations.

Vacation Day???

I took today off of work because the girls didn't have school and I needed to get them in for some appointments. So, how does Wendy spend a "vacation" day?

1. Up at 5 am - run 4 miles in 43 minutes. (yeah, yeah, I know I'm slow)
2. Take Will to preschool at 8:30
3. Take Hannah to dentist at 9:00- no cavities, but she does have 2 really loose teeth that she needs to get out before too much food gets under them and causes cavities on the permanent teeth.
4. Quick trip to Mini Critters to get bunny supplies.
5. Take both girls to orthodontist. Haley gets to wait another year before going back. Her teeth are spacing themselves out pretty well for now. Hannah goes in Dec 10 for a fitting for partial braces. Dec 17 she gets them on. Oh joy- We will be using all of the insurance allocated money for her orthodontic and we still owe boocoo bucks!
6. Meet up with Scott and Will for lunch. We went to the Wildflower bakery and cafe downtown. Decent food, decent price.
7. Take all 3 kids to Hobby Lobby to get some "stuff" for Scott. Head home, drop off girls to play at home, head to studio with afore mentioned "stuff"
8. Take Will to Hy-vee to pick out snacks for Thursday's preschool.
9. Fold 3 loads of laundry, figure out Thanksgiving menu, clean a couple of kitchen cupboards.
10. Take kids to swimming lessons.
11. Make supper for myself and the kids. Scott is gone all evening to Imagemasters.
12. Workout #2 for the day- P90X cardio.
13. It is now 7:53 pm- typing on blog, need to get kids in bed. Desperately need a bath- sweating from P90X.

I can't imagine how many days I would need to have off before I would feel like I was "caught up". I guess I will never know, cuz tomorrow it's back to work! I did enjoy the day, though. Other than seeing the upcoming bill from the orthodontist, there was nothing stressful and I never once had to find something to do to look busy!

November- YIKES

It's November 1 today! How the heck did that happen? I am certainly not ready for winter, but it seems to be quickly approaching. We've even had snow flakes a couple of times already- EEEWW!

I just thought I would post a few quick pictures of this year's Halloween. Last Saturday we carved and painted pumpkins:

Yesterday Scott had a wedding (yup- a Halloween wedding complete with zombies and all!) I didn't go with him since he was only shooting for a couple hours. I stayed home and got our trick or treaters ready to go:

Haley has wanted to be a devil/angel since last Halloween so we found a costume she liked on the internet. We curled half of her hair and streaked the other half with red. You can't really see it in the pictures, but we did her makeup different on each side too:

Hannah pulled off the skelerocker look great:

Will was Bumblebee the Transformer. The only disappointment was when he realized that his mask wasn't the voice changing mask that you can get at the toy stores:

Scott and I recycled last year's costumes, but I think we still looked great!

Once Scott got home from the wedding, he threw on his mask and we headed over to Rob and Leah's for a Halloween party. Now that everyone has little kids, it's kind of nice to have somewhere to go without having to find a sitter!

Well, better get busy, type at ya later!

Still kickin!

Wow, it's been awhile, huh? I guess that means I am living a full life that doesn't have blank time to fill up with random computer use, right? Well, I certainly have been busy anyway. So, let's catch up. Since last time I wrote,

1. I had a birthday- yes I admit it, I had a birthday and am another year older! (whatever)

2. I got a cat - yes mom, I remember saying I was never going to get another cat, but seriously, have you seen her? She's adorable, sweet and she likes me! Meet Mazie, our newest addition. We adopted her from Second Chance and she is the most affectionate cat ever!

3. I applied for, got offered and turned down a different job at Sanford. (They changed the hours after I had my interview- idiots)

4. Hannah is still busy with soccer, Haley is busy with Lego league, both girls are in dance class and swimming starts in a couple weeks. Bored? NEVER!

5. I am trying to fall clean the house since I didn't do any spring cleaning. I have all 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms upstairs finished, but every room I clean adds to the pile of crap that I need to find a place for.

6. It snowed! Yup, it's October 11 today and yesterday morning we woke up to this:

Well, I know that doesn't begin to cover the reasons why I haven't had time to blog, but it's a start!

Long holiday weekend = wedding, state fair, lazy day

We started out the long weekend with a 12 hour wedding day in Worthington, MN. We had a great couple to work with so the day actually went pretty fast and we were home in time to tuck the kids in bed!

Sunday we took our kids and Kirby and Kyler to the state fair. Yup- 5 kids to a fair! Crazy? Yes! Fun? Absolutely! The kids were all great, the ride both there and back was pretty quiet thanks to the portable dvd player and we only lost 1 child for less than 2 minutes. (longest 2 fricken minutes of my life!) I suppose I should explain that one, huh? I was getting slushies for Kirby, Ky and Hannah. Scott, Haley and Will were just hanging out behind us. I turn around and immediately notice that Will is missing. As soon as I asked Scott where Will was, the look on his face sent me into panic mode! We are at the state fair and I can't find my 3 year old! Oh My God! A frantic 60 seconds (seriously, it might not have even been that long) later I see Will 50 feet down the midway sobbing and talking to a very nice lady. She said he told her he was with his mommy and daddy and now didn't know where they were. As soon as I picked him up I thought I was going to puke, all the panic just turned into "what could have been" Talking to Will about it later he said "I didn't walk away, I was just in the same spot and couldn't see you anymore so I went to find you" Oh my poor baby! Needless to say, next year he will have a leash! (just kidding- don't send me hate mail for wanting to put my kid on a leash)

Anyway, the rest of the day was great- here are some pics

Kirby told me that one of his goals for the day was to see a donkey- mission accomplished!
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Kirby, Haley and Hannah on Pharoah's Fury

I don't think Ky is really enjoying the ride...

Hannah was nice enough to go on some rides with Will..

Even Kirby took Will on a ride- almost looks like he's having more fun than Will!

Bubba got to check out some tractors too!

Today was spent being way more lazy than I had hoped. I had a list of things that I was hoping we could get accomplished today, but no one else was very motivated. I did go for a long run this morning. I think I ran a total of 6 miles and walked maybe 1/4 mile. Pretty darn proud of myself for that! Well, I'd better get to reading bedtime books, it's back to routine tomorrow!

My new preschooler.....

Isn't he just too cute? Will has been very excited to start preschool. When we went for his orientation he kept asking my why I was staying with him. He was ready to go by himself. When he woke up yesterday morning, he was asking how long he was going to have to be there by himself. Almost brought me to tears right then and there!

But, of course, being the "big boy" that he is, he did awesome! He was pretty talkative on the way to school, but as soon as we got there he got really quiet. He started to look really concerned while we were waiting to line up. I thought he might lose it when they finally got in line so I told Scott to give him "knuckles". That got a smirk from him so I knew he would be just fine. I didn't cry getting him ready, I didn't cry waiting for him to line up, I didn't even cry when he looked super nervous standing in line. As the whole line of little backpacks was walking away with the teacher, I started to cry. I held it together pretty well, no meltdown or anything. Just a few tears as I watched by baby turn into a little boy.

Relaxing Sunday, aggravating Monday

This past weekend was a mixed bag. Saturday Scott and I shot a wedding in Westbrook, MN. 3 hours total of driving, 7 hours of shooting. All in all, a long day!

Sunday we had a family fishing outing. We just went to Lake Alvin which is only about 10 minutes from home. I don't have a fishing license, but I don't think I would have had time to have my own pole in the water anyway! Instead of typing a lot of what happened, here are some pics. I will try to explain them as I go:

Haley caught the first fish of the day, in fact, her pole was the only one that was in the water yet! She was just a little freaked out by the "floppy thing". But, she got over it quickly and became quite proud:

Poor Will, still hasn't caught a fish, but really he just likes the pop and snack part of fishing anyway:


Hannah was soooo excited to finally catch a fish!

Shortly after her first catch, Hannah hooked a huge carp! The carp was not very excited about the prospect of being pulled to shore. Daddy had to grab the pole and fight for a bit. The carp won and took part of Hannah's line with him! If you look closely you can see the fish in the water and Haley's freaked out expression says it best!

Haley had the record for most fish caught (6) and she also took the record for smallest fish caught. Believe it or not, she caught one even smaller than this one!

Ummm....well it's Scott- no explanation needed......

Waiting for the fish to eat the last of the worms....

Today while at work Scott texted me. I believe the text was "uh- oh, can you call?" Nice, that doesn't worry me at all......So I call and ask "what's uh-oh?" Turns out my kitchen had flooded thanks to our dishwasher! Great, so here is where my dishwasher is siting right now....

Hopefully everything will dry up ok. Right now the cabinet is discolored along the floor. I am hoping once it dries it will go back to it's normal color. I guess dishpan hands are in my future......

First day of school

The girls went back to school today. Yes today, August 17. I know it seems like summer just started. Believe me, Haley would gladly have taken a few more weeks off, but alas, back to school it was. Haley was up at 5:20 am, she had Scott out of bed at 5:30 to make french toast and eggs. Hannah was up at 5:45 to join them. For maybe the 3rd time in her life, Haley asked me to help her with her hair- she even wanted it curled! So what do I do? I burn her forehead with the curling iron- great- she wanted to be girly and I had to go and ruin it!

Hannah had probably the best day she has ever had at school. I don't think she has ever told me that school was "so much fun!" She made 3 friends today- all in her class. She walked home all by herself after school and wants to walk to school by herself tomorrow morning! I think changing schools will be a wonderful thing!

Haley is too preteen to have had a good day at school- that just wouldn't be cool! She is still bummed about not getting the teacher she wanted, but I think that's just an excuse to be moody. She did fall asleep at the studio this afternoon- I wonder if she will be able to get up as early tomorrow????

Did you notice it's Monday night and I am at home? I quit my cleaning job! YAY!! I think Scott is even happier than I am about it. I applied for a part time job at Target and they emailed me to tell me I didn't get a position. Dumbheads! Oh well, I guess I will just keep looking and if I am meant to have another job, one will work out. For now, Scott is busy enough that it is better for me to be able to be home in the evenings anyway.

Well, I am going to sit in the tub and then watch Monday night tv - Weeds and Nurse Jackie - hopefully Scott gets home from the studio in time to hang out with me!