Lots of Random

So many little things have happened that I want to share them all.  I was smart enough to take pictures of them, but never took the time to post about them.  So instead of doing lots of small posts, I'm doing one big random post.  Hope you don't mind :-)

KITCHEN HELPER
Tess is my little kitchen helper.  She LOVES to help me in the kitchen.  She'll say "I want to cook, I want to cook!"  She helps me stir things and loves to play with the measuring utensils.  The first pic is when I had to make rolls for a church party and I was in my painting clothes (aren't I gorgeous?).  The second is Tess helping me make waffles for Sunday night dinner.  She just climbs right up on the counter and gets to work.  Such a cutie!  Of course I wish the older kids showed an interest in cooking since they would be more help, but I'll take what I can get!

OFF TO SCHOOL

This is how my children head off to school everyday in the winter (from November - March).  They are getting pretty sick of it since they know they will quickly shed these winter clothes for shorts and sandals when we get to California.  But I had to get proof for posterity and their children, when they claim that they had to walk "2 miles through the snow, uphill both ways, to get to school" - because its pretty close to the truth.  2 miles is actually 1/2 mile and it is flat the whole way for Emma and Zach, Tyson does have to climb a hill.  It all builds character right?

NAUGHTY DOG

Hailey is actually a fantastic dog, and we love her to pieces.  So when I catch her doing something naughty I have to get proof.  She loves anything soft and fluffy.  If there is a pillow or blanket left on the floor she will find it and lay on it.  And sometimes she resorts to the furniture.

VALENTINES DAY

With Ron leaving soon, we decided to make Valentines Day a family celebration, and we celebrated on Saturday.  So Saturday morning I made a special breakfast of pink heart shaped pancakes.  I searched for a heart shaped pancake mold and finally found one at Michaels.  It works great but it takes a while to make pancakes for a family of 6 when you can only do one at a time.  Later that day we took the kids to dinner and a movie.  We say Percy Jackson and the Olympians, the Lightning Theif.  Tyson, Zach, and I had all read the books so we really wanted to see the movie.  Tess fell asleep on the way to the theatre so she missed over half of it (which was good because she missed the scary parts).  But we all loved it and left the theatre comparing the differences between the movie and the book (book is always better!).  Then we went to dinner to Bob Evans (a breakfast place like Dennys).  The kids love it there, and they were all good and had a great night.

SLEEPING BABY

I call Tess my baby, even though she is 3 I still think of her that way.  But lately she has been falling asleep in very funny positions, which we had to catch on camera.  I will say this for her, mastering the art of sleeping sitting up is a very handy talent, especially in church and on a plane!! :-)

This was a hard time out.  Completely wore her out!

Randomness Complete!!

I have no words..

So the latest drama at our house has been getting the house ready to put on the market.  That goal was acheived last week - Saturday being the official day that the house went on the MLS.  Since then we have had 4 showings,  2 on Monday, and 2 yesterday.  That resulted in 2, second showings.  Both people said they loved the house, and one said they were writing up an offer.  But this morning, I heard from my realtor saying that they decided to try for another house first and if they don't get that one, then they'll put an offer on ours.  TOTAL DOWNER!!!  I have been on such a stress roller coaster. Stressing and working to get it ready for showings, keeping it clean this week while the kids are home for a week off of school (AGHHHHHHHH), getting excited that we were getting an offer, and then nothing.  So guess what I did to cope - laid in bed and watched t.v., and then made cookies that became our dinner.  Go me!!!!

Caffeine Yes or No?

I am so tired lately.  And its not because I'm killing myself all day long working on the house.  Its mostly due to my medicine, it makes me tired, and I haven't been sleeping very well.  So I am exhausted all day and end up taking several mini naps just to function.  So here is my dilema - drink caffinated soda to help stay awake or find some other method?  The only caffinated soda that I like is Mountain Dew.  I try to only drink it on long car trips, and I justify that as medicinal purposes for the safety of my family.  But I am torn about drinking it at home.  I know some people say that Mormons are aloud to drink caffinated soda, but I don't think we should, except for the previously stated reason.  So what should I do?  Does anybody know of anything else I could drink or eat that will help me stay awake? And don't tell me to go to bed earlier.  I'm already sleeping 9 hours at night, its just fitful sleep, and I'm stil EXHAUSTED!!!!  HELP PLEASE!  I want everybody's opinion!!

Great Day

This is starting out to be a great day!!  I am feeling a lot better, which makes me very happy.  And, I have chocolate chip bannana bread in the oven, which smells fantastic!!  And we are finally getting a good snow storm, with the big fluffy flakes and everything!  Oh, it makes me so happy to just watch the snow fall.  I am going to miss the weather here terribly, it makes me sad to even think about it.  Oh, and Tess hasn't had an accident yet today - yippie!!  She had 5 accidents yesterday, so any success is worth celebrating.  Most importantly I am trying to find joy in my journey and cherish the small things in my daily life - like fresh banana bread and beautiful snow.

I did have to eat some "humble pie" as my sister put it.  I knew admiting my depression problems would have some back lash, but I didn't expect this back lash.  My parents read the blog and got worried about me.  I dont know why having my parents know I'm having a hard time is so much worse than my friends knowing, but it is.  So they offered to have my mom fly out and help me with all my projects.  I would love help, but asking for help is very difficult for me - very difficult.  I told my dad how bad I felt that my mom would have to fly across the country to help their pathetic daughter.  In typical dad fashion he told me to get over it.  And I do need to get over it.  I have a fantastic family that just wants to help me and I need to accept their help.  So my fantastic sister Jacque is coming next weekend, and now my mom might come out too.  So I am very grateful for my family and their willingness to help me.

It is a good day.  And now that I think about it, pizza for dinner would make it even better!!!

Confession

Most of you already know this, but for some unknown reason I feel the need to confess this to the world wide web.  I take anti-depressants.  I have been on and off them for years now.  I take myself off every once in a while when I think I can conquer things myself, which always ends badly by the way.  So I have been off my meds since my pregnancy in May, and needless to say I should have been on them.  I get really frustrated with myself that I just can't snap out of my depression or when I can't control my emotions.  I even blame myself, I think its because I'm "weak" or "defective". 

One of my biggest problems is lack of interest.  There are tons of things I want to do, I just can't get myself to do them.  I think of these great things I could do for my kids, and I imagine myself being this "super mom" and then I can't do it.  I just want to lay on my bed or sit on the couch and do nothing.  And my kids deserve better, and my husband deserves better. 

So I finally started taking my meds again, and I had some bad side effects - pain in the butt!!  So I made it to the doctor and he switched me to a new brand.  Now I wake up every morning hopeing to feel better.  This is absolutely the worst time for me to be struggling with this.  We were suppose to have the house on the market this week, and its not going to happen.  Mostly because I haven't finished my projects yet.  I have tons of painting to do, and I just don't want to do it.  And I need to start packing and making arrangements for our move.  So I am hopeing that I will be feeling better very very soon.  I do desperately wish that I didn't have to take anti-depressants to feel whole and normal.  But I also know that its not because I'm weak or defective, and I need to take them so I can be the mom my kids deserve.  

Random pics

Tess got a trampoline for Christmas and she loves it. She loves jumping on it but she also loves making a tent over it and hiding inside. On New Years Eve, she made a tent and then fell asleep inside. And of course she is wearing her mandatory princess dress - its a daily must lately.

And here's Tess with her "dampa".  She can't wait to go live at his house!!

Tyson's story

Tyson loves to write stories.  His class wrote Folk tales and submitted them online to Scholastic Books.  Tysons was one of the stories that they put on their website.  So here is the link if you want to read a good short folk tale.

http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/mff/folktale_readrep.asp?id=48321&age=11&Page=1