A lonely post.

I feel so bad for not being a devoted blogger.  The thing is, with Facebook..I am able to get out all my pictures and stories and daily musings with my family and friends on a daily basis.


This blog is basically a vacant lonely diary that, probably, no one will read. But me.


So. Here's the deal.  I took my panel test today.  This is the holy Mother of all tests for my Interpreting degree.  It is the mac Daddy pass or fail...you did or you didn't...successfully learn how to communicate clearly and effectively in sign language communication.  It is the deciding factor on whether or not I get to intern, which is the last step in my program.


I tested today and it went fairly well.  I will not find out until the end of next week how I did.  I will try not to worry in the mean time.  There is nothing I can do, there is no going back now.


My husband and family have given me so much support over the last couple of years.  If I were to fail now I don't know what I would do.  If I am to succeed it will prove that a person really can fulfill their dreams. At any age. 


Please say a little prayer for me.

Update

Well, I had an adorable picture of Delaney fishing that I wanted to post. But in true form, my old crappy computer and this old blog site won't allow it.
Delaney turned 8 last month!!! She wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese's (again!) and was clearly the oldest child celebrating a birthday there, so this will be our last year of doing that.
Obviously WINTER IS OVER!!! School ended and we all passed :)
We went to Lake Ida with the Tortorice's for Memorial Weekend and for the first time in forever the weather was perfect for the holiday weekend.  The water was cold, but the kids didn't care. We had a blast swimming, fishing, s'moring, bonfiring, and just playing. We are SO happy summer is here!!!


I decided to run a full-time daycare this summer AND take summer classes all through June. I seriously don't know how I did it. All I know is that I'm glad I'm done with school until Fall.


The Saturday before the 4th of July we left for South Dakota. We had 4 full days to explore. We went to Lake Sylvan, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Deadwood, Custer State Park, Black Hills, Badlands, Wall Drug, Bear Country..plus swam at the hotel. It was really fun and I can picture us doing that trip again in a few years.


My Mom is coming for a visit this week. My 20th high school reunion is next week - although I'm not very interested in going. Laila's birthday is also next week.  I feel like summer is flying by and I want to dig my heels in the sand and make it slooooow doooown.


Hope you're all enjoying your summer as well!!!

Computers are hard.

I have tried blogging numerous times in the last 2 months only to be rejected by my own blog. Today, I sign in and it let me back in!!


I feel like I don't have much to report because we have basically been trapped in our home due to the extremely (and I mean EXTREMELY) cold weather. The kids have missed so many days of school that I literally can't remember the exact number of days. President's day the kids had to go to school for a make-up only to have school closed that Friday. It's getting pretty ridiculous.


We've bowled, gone to movies, the Eagle's next, open gym, the McDonald's playland - all in the name of getting outside these 4 walls. We are ready to play outside!! Speaking of which, the kids have worn out their winter coats and boots but if you go to the store now to replace them good luck. Maybe a new swimsuit or pair of flip flops might help. SO dumb!!!


We do have our fair share of fun on the weekends. Both Laney and Laila are still in gymnastics. CeCe is still playing her fingers to the bone on her viola. It's amazing how kids just keep moving forward without complaining like adults do. It's a beautiful thing.


I threw a surprise 60th birthday party for my Dad in February that was pretty epic. He likes to be the surpriser so it was fun to put him in the suprisee position for once. We celebrated a year and a half of sobriety for him too - which I think means more to him than turning 60 :-)


One thing that I'm really grateful for is the health of my little family this winter. Last winter was one of the sickest winters ever and so far this year we have been 100% (knocking on wood).


Our next little venture will be to the Dells in a couple of weeks. I will accept this trip this year, but next year Bill has to go back to his promise of taking me somewhere warm.


I hope you are all holding up. People are sort of losing their minds right now, which is understandable. Just think, 3 more months until summer!!

Happy ChristmasBirthdayNewYear

I spent 4 days with my Mom in Cleveland the weekend before Christmas. We: ate, shopped, toured a mansion, ate, drank, went to the Christmas Story house, shopped, ate, drank, went to the botanical museum, went to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, listed to live jazz, ate, drank, shopped, got a special VIP tour of the Velvet Tango room, and loved on each other. It.was.amazing.

Bill made 50,000 batches of cookies with the girls while I was gone. What an awesome Dad.

We spent Christmas with Bill's family and ate and drank and opened gifts and laughed a lot. Again, awesome.

Then, my oldest child turned 10. We skated and sledded and skated some more and played games and opened gifts. Pretty awesome. That's her on the cover of the local paper playing her viola. She's adorable.

We celebrated New Years with lots of friends and ate and drank....

 

This weekend we are sneaking away to Brainerd for some snowmobiling, hot tubbing, shopping and probably......eating and drinking.

 

Hope you all had a fun December - Happy New Year!!

So Happy

There was a time when I had an infant, a 2-year-old and a 4 year-old and life was SO busy!!
During that time I would sit and think about the day when all the girls would be in school and I would finally get a break.
I really didn't realize how bittersweet it would be. And I'm not the only one who feels this way. Yesterday morning my biggest kid didn't want to go to school because we had all spent a week together during the Thanksgiving holiday and she was going to miss me too much. I know I say it all the time, but we are a tight knit group.
On the other hand, it didn't realize how easy they would be for me to take care of. People assume that a 5, 7 and 9 year old would be a lot of work, but it's quite the opposite.
They are all now very independent, good listeners and eager to please.
Even my middle child, who fought me so hard for a good 3 years straight, has turned the corner!
Our mornings are a million times better! No fighting, no crying, no whining.
Sure, the girls fight with each other, but that's normal and I can ignore that.
They don't fight with Bill or me on much. They're just so good!!
I know it won't stay like this forever, but for now I couldn't be happier or prouder.

This is what they refer to as the Sweet Spot in parenting, I think.

Now What

So Bill returned from California and we went to the Masquerade wedding then spent the night and the whole next day with his family to celebrate his Mom's birthday.
The following Friday we left to spend the weekend in Moorhead. Bill attended the MSU Homecoming game and I spent the day getting into trouble with my bestie. Much thanks to Dad and Mare for taking the kids for the day/night!!! We headed back to the cities on Sunday so I could get my Mom from the airport. Mom spent a night here, went to Little Falls for a few days, then came back here to finish off the weekend.
We saw Bill for about an hour on his birthday - enough time to eat some dinner and blow out a candle, then he went up North with his buddy for 5 days.
The girls, Mom and I took advantage of our girl time and ran around the city doing various things. It rained the entire time she was here. Mom flew out Sunday night and Monday morning the rain stopped, the sun came out, and the heat came back. Go figure.

Things have been so busy and now that things have died down I find myself twiddling my thumbs. I didn't have anything to do yesterday morning (besides grab a few groceries) and I really don't have much to do this morning.
The kindergarteners get home a little before noon so my afternoons are busy, but I really need to find things to do in the mornings so I don't lose my mind walking around the house cleaning and organizing.

Seriously, what do people who stay at home DO ALL DAY?? It is SO boring!!

I'm sending in my application packet to Deaf-Blind Services today so hopefully that'll pan out.

So, now what?

Go decorate my house for Halloween.....oh what fun.

This Week

This week I have been trying to get a part, part time job at Deaf Blind Services of MN to teach sign language to small children in the morning while my kids are at school - 10 hours a week max.
I have had drywall contractors and painters in and out all day since Tuesday morning.
Pearl needed to go to the groomer.
I had class.
I volunteered in Laila's classroom. Twice. Once to cut paper and today to chaperone a field trip.
I have (as in not done) a study guide to complete for a study group I'm in.
I had one day (Wednesday) that I felt like total crap and the only thing I could muster enough energy to do was clean the house a little and make sure the kids were taken care of.
I've worked out everyday but Wednesday.
I had teacher conferences with 2 out of 3 teachers.
I brought CeCe to her first night of hip-hop dance.
I planned tonight's Girl Scout meeting since I am now the leader.
The girls need me to get them alarm clocks.
CeCe needs new curtains in her room since Pearl chewed up her blinds.
I still need to replace our broken microwave.

Now the painters want me to go pick out paint color.
I literally have not one extra minute to do that today.

Did I mention Bill is out of town? He gets home tonight. Late tonight.
Laila and Delaney both have gymnastics tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow night Bill and I are going to a wedding sans children. (I should probably think about painting my nails or something.)
Sunday we will celebrate my mother-in-law's birthday.

There it is.

Summer Wrap Up 2013

Wow did summer whiz by!! Looking back we really didn't let any grass grow under our feet.

June was Bill and my 10th anniversary and my aunt was SO kind to take the girls over night. Bill had a hotel room all set with champagne chilled waiting for me when we arrived. We had an amazing dinner and managed to paint the town red until MIDNIGHT!
The girls were very busy with all their activities: Laila in soccer (never again), Delaney in golf, Cecelia in orchestra and all 3 in swimming.
I also had a house full of kids every single day as the many school aged kids needed care for the summer.
I had a very quick trip to St. Pete's beach - the flight that was supposed to arrive before noon didn't get me in until 3 a.m. the next day. Long travel day is an understatement. No matter, though, I still got to see my family and that's all that I really needed.
We field tripped to the zoo and the splash pad and the wading pool and starting our hosting of BBQ and pool party season.
July 1st marked the first day of our week long vacation. We spent the first half of the week at home enjoying our pool and the city life. We went to Lake Ida courtesy of the Tortorice's for the second half of the week. The weather was ideal and we had an amazing time - except for Pearl who barked the entire time and is never invited back again (by me). Our weekends in July mostly consisted of going to this party, or this BBQ, or us hosting friends here. We also took part of our wonderful city and took the girls to watch the River Rats among other things.
August we made our annual trip to Floyd Lake to celebrate Marilyn's birthday. It was a little chilly but we still had fun boating, floating, eating, drinking and talking with family. We took the girls to the annual Stockyard Parade and Stockyard Days in our Long Lake Regional Park. This month also brought some bummers including me getting two spots of skin cancer removed and getting water damage to our basement (which we still haven't had fixed yet...waiting for school to start so we can clear out the basement..oh joy of joys). We camped at Wild River and took the girls to Wild Mountain. I hosted not one, but TWO Girl Scout pool parties. We took the kids to Bunker Beach and have pretty much submerged in the pool since the heat came back full force. I started class this Tuesday and we're all going to the State Fair tomorrow. Today is also my last day of full-time daycare. I will have half-day kindergarteners everyday and the occasional full day when school is out, but Operation Phase Out officially starts at 5:00 p.m. today!!!!!
This weekend will bring more fun and more friends and, of course, the final preparations for school on Tuesday.
I will cry when all 3 of my girls get on that bus.

I hope your summer was as jam packed with fun as ours was!!

Happy 5th Birthday Laila!

My baby turned 5 on July 20th. She was very excited about her birthday and couldn't stop smiling from the minute she woke up.
She was excited to open presents and be treated like a Princess for a day.
We took her to Valleyfair on her actual birthday and she rode rides and played in the waterpark and rode more rides...for 12 hours!!
Sunday we had her cousins and grandparents over for a pool party. She got new clothes for her birthday and had to try everything on at once. She loves to change outfits approximately 50 times a day.

At 5 years old Laila is sweet, witty, athletic, imaginative, and playful. She is a good listener and often times is the peace maker between her two sisters. She still likes to cuddle and tells Bill and I she loves us all the time.

I am taking her in for her Kindergarten well-check today and she doesn't know that there are shots involved. We may have to go out for a special treat afterword.

We are a blessed family, for sure.

Lately

In the 16 days since my last post we:
Had our last day of school.
Celebrated 10 years of marriage.
(I) spent a weekend in St. Petersburg.
Started golf..
And soccer..
And swimming..
And orchestra..

And of course the usual work stuff and pool stuff and regular life stuff.

That's all. I'm just SO glad summer is finally here!!

Happy 7th Birthday Delaney Rae!!

My little spitfire is 7 years old. She didn't ask for anything besides some hair color but we got her a fish because we knew she would absolutely LOVE it. And she did :-)

As I'm sitting here typing this it's finally sinking in that she's 7 and finishing up 1st grade. She is still so much of a little girl that it's hard for me to wrap my head around it.

She needs Bill and I for help and lots of love and attention. She still wants us to be around at all times and be close to her to keep her safe and comfortable. She likes to hold our hands and have us accompany her to most everything still.  She crawls in between us on weekend mornings to snuggle up instead of heading to the living room to watch cartoons with her sisters. She often says that she's going to live with us forever.

I guess that would be OK.

I sure love this kid.

 

 

 

 

Mother's Day

I can't believe I'm admitting this, but I was actually kind of crabby for the first couple of hours on Mother's Day.
I was hoping the girls would be on their best behavior for me, but they weren't. They were themselves.
The kids fought about nothing to and from brunch and the smallest (but loudest) member of our family was put in her bed the minute we got home for having a holy fit about who knows what when simply going from the car to the house.
I went in my room to change clothes and thought about how I was the WORST mother in the ENTIRE world because I really wasn't enjoying being a Mother......on Mother's Day.

For some reason I had decided on Saturday that I was going to take a break from the usual stuff in 'honor' of Mother's Day the next day.
However, after a phone call to my Mom, and a couple of minutes sitting on the couch I felt bored.
I got up and started to make the beds and clean rooms and empty backpacks and empty the dishwasher and pull weeds and clean the yard.....and feel much, much better.

We went to my in-laws for dinner and had a really good time. The whole drive home the girls and I were telling stories and cracking each other up. I snuggled each of the girls and tucked them in and sat wondering what the sam hill my problem was earlier??

I love being a Mom, but I admit that sometimes I get a little whiny about the work. It's pretty shameful.

I hope your Mother's Day was simply all fairies and rainbows and sunshine - here's to another year!!

Mr. Golden Sun

Thank you God!

We finally got some sunshine!! The ENTIRE weekend was warm and sunny! It's supposed to cool off a little now, but with April coming to a close I know it's just a matter of time before it's warm and sunny every single day.

I almost can't believe that the school year is wrapping up already. I have finals next week and the girls only have 5 weeks left to go before summer break. I'm beyond excited.

I want to plan a Memorial Weekend trip - probably to Brainerd.
I want to meet my Mom in Tampa in June.
I want to take the family to Lake Ida once or twice this summer.
I want to have a Valleyfair weekend vacation.
I want to camp a few times on our own, with friends, and with family.

I am really looking forward to biking with the family more this summer and, of course, lots and lots and lots of swimming.

The Spring cleaning has begun and I look forward to a nice, clean, organized, fresh start to summer.

Feel free to stop by to BBQ any time :)

For Those of Us With Picky Eaters

I found this interesting and helpful.
I also felt supported in how I feed my picky eater - multiple exposures and the 'no thank you bite' as we call it in our house is a good way to get her to try (and maybe even LIKE) new foods!

http://mynutratek.com/blog/news/the-picky-eater-gene

Let's just complain about the weather, shall we?

(On an unrelated note, both my brothers are on a Disney Cruise right now. Guess I screwed the pooch on that one.)

Okay, so anyway.

It's April and we have snow. The temps aren't too bad, which is the thing I despise the most about winter, so that's good. My seasonal affective disorder is at it's worst when you go outside and literally can't breath because it's so cold.

For me, I hate this year's Spring weather because I can't start my heavy-duty Spring cleaning. I want to clean out my garage, and my shed, and my entire house. I plan on having a garage sale (donation only...just get the stuff out of here!). But, when it's dark and rainy and snowy for days and days on end it makes it hard to do anything.

I want to start getting the pool ready and the yard ready. I want the kids to be able to go in and out of the house to play without having to still put their boots and jackets on every time.

I know that April showers bring May flowers so I'm trying to be patient. The fact that we're getting more snow isn't really depressing, just crappy.

As Minnesotans some people say we're stupid for complaining because we know where we live. I agree with that, but I never wanted to be a permanent Minnesotan so I get a pass.

Florida

*I tried a different link for the pictures. Hopefully you can all access them now?

We left for Florida on Monday, March 4th.
Tuesday we went to Magic Kingdom - for atleast 10 hours. We left no stone unturned.
Wednesday we went to Epcot where we did the Princess lunch in Norway.
Thursday was Hollywood Studios.
Friday we went to Sea World.
Saturday and Sunday we spent at a hotel in Tampa and hung out on the beautiful Clearwater beach.
Monday we went back to Magic Kingdom.

Here is the link to my shutterfly account if you want to see ALL my pictures.

http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=523e338faffc4323d33ce936de451066&sid=8QbNmzZwzcsv-

We went to Florida!!

It's true!

9 days of fun in the sun, family and Mickey!

Pictures coming....

A Broken Heart

We have broken hearts, and we all know why. I don't think it's time, or maybe my place, to really go in to much detail at this point.
My cousin (and to some their sister, niece, daughter, granddaughter, mother, etc.) lost her husband. We are all so very, very sad on so many levels and for so many different reasons that we don't even want to think about.
We just want to pour out our love in hopes that it carries the family through. That's all we can do.

We are a large and vast and crazy family but we sure do love eachother a LOT.

My Valentine

Here is a picture of my Valentine with HIS dog, Pearl.

 

Bill is the best Valentine ever because he is so sweet. He will do anything for me and he never really even complains about it. He does things that most guys won't do. He cleans the house - including things like doing the dishes and washing the bathroom and doing laundry and making beds. He also does all the manly stuff that I don't do - like putting carseats in cars and taking out the garbage and carrying anything remotely heavy.

He always tells me that I look nice and sometimes is very specific and will say he likes my hair up. He doesn't flirt with other girls (well, he does, but in a non-threatening way). He goes to work and comes home right after work almost everyday instead of hanging out with other guys. He gives me back rubs all.the.time. He kisses me goodbye everytime he goes somewhere. He will run to the store and buy me coffee first thing in the morning if I am out even though it's really early and cold and he needs to get to work. He's patient with my mood swings. He's honest with me, but pretty much agrees with what I'm saying anyway.

My Valentine is the best Dad to our girls. He cuddles them and kisses and hugs them constantly. He gives them baths and does their hair. He helps them with homework and takes them sledding. He goes to the mall with us even though I can tell it's not his favorite. He goes to the store on Saturday mornings to buy CeCe donuts and lets the kids watch cartoons in the living room. He tells his daughters how smart they are.

 

I appreciate and love my Valentine more than I could ever express.

Planning This Vacation!

So here's what's going on with our Spring break vacation: There is nothing going on.

Well, yet.

We thought we'd be going on a Disney cruise in February with both my brothers, their families, and my Mom. Turns out February is not going to work.

I REALLY want to vacation in March, and am HOPING and PRAYING that it works out!

I want to give my kids this trip of a lifetime and it's been so hard just waiting and wondering how it's all going to work out.

I've got my fingers crossed.