My Name is Lisa

Kenna has decided that her name should be Lisa. Every time she tells us that her name is Lisa (I don't know why it is Lisa), it reminds me of the time that we went to a family reunion in Canada and Amanda's daughter Auguste told everyone that her name was "Michelle" and that Auguste was no more.
We just finished eating doughnuts. I got up and made apple spice cake doughnuts for breakfast. They were really yummy. Today we are going to a birthday party and I'm going out to dinner and a movie with my moms group.
Laney got promoted in her new swimming class yesterday. She started last week and they put her in their beginner class. I explained that she could swim, but they insisted. So I cringed through the whole lesson watching them "help" her swim and "help" her float. She even seemed sort of uncertain about it all. I talked to the manager and told her that if they wanted to test her, they should just ask her to swim across the pool. Well, this week she wasn't new to the whole thing anymore so by the time the manager checked in with the instructor the instructor said "oh yeah, she's ready". About midway through the lesson, D was starting to get a little bored and I expected her to swim off across the pool at any moment. She took a few trial swims, but stayed put mostly. Next week we move lesson times and are sharing our class with Campbell, our friend from dance class. Both girls are ISR girls and close to the same age, so they should be good in a class. Laney thinks that Nicola, Campbell's mom, is awesome. She's a doctor and Laney told her last week "I want to grow up to be a doctor in a hospital!". Then Laney told me later that she'd thought it over and she decided that she wasn't going to get married, she was going to be a doctor. I told her that being a doctor was a great idea and that if she fell in love, she could probably get married too. Since Laney found out that Nicola was a doctor, she's had a few questions for me. Like why I don't have a job. It's been an interesting conversation.
Griffin is just being his cute little self lately. He's cute even when being a butt. I am going to make him a chef hat and apron for christmas I think. He's so into cooking and helping in the kitchen. I've got to go wrap presents for the birthday party we're going to this afternoon.

Halloween Treats

We hosted our playgroup Halloween party at my house. I decided to make some treats for the party (because I have so much free time, but I've been dying to try these out) and made the cake pops from the Bakerella website. There is something about cute food that I have a weakness for. The kids and I made a red velvet cake per Bakerella instructions. I will never make another one. What is the purpose of the red dye? It makes a horrible mess. To add to the problem, you crumble the cake up, mix it with frosting and roll it into balls. I did not appreciate the red dyed hands and then to feed them to children? Um, never again. All griping aside though, they turned out relatively cute and tasty for the very small amount of effort I expended. I'll do it again. With yellow cake.

San Diego Picts

So I was looking through the pictures from our trip and found this one. Just had to share. I bought the kids goggles for the trip (clearance at Target). I don't normally let them use goggles, since it isn't an ISR ok thing. Let's just say that the goggles were an enormous hit. Griffin wanted to go everywhere in his. This is us riding the elevator. He wore his goggles to eat his breakfast. Yeah, he's special.

The View from Under the Bus

So Laney went upstairs with Charles tonight to do the bedtime ritual. We'd just watched this really weird cartoon movie about the Secret of Kells (weird. really. with flaming eyed square viking types) and she was in an emotional mood. Here's my understanding of the tearful conversation that followed between her and her dad:
Laney was crying because she didn't ever want to leave home to marry a man and not be with her daddy anymore. Charles struck one for the feminist cause by asking her why the man wouldn't be moving in with Laney. And pointing out that she would always have a home with her daddy.
Moving on to topic two: she wants to die first before her dad (yeah. I know. She's obviously related to Charles. And she isn't even 13 yet. We've got some Good times ahead.) He said that he needs to die first, but that he'll try to live a long time first. Her response? Oh, ok. But mom can die first!
Under. The. Bus. That's me.

San Diego Etc

We got back from our trip to San Diego on Monday afternoon. We had a good time. I thought it was really interesting to see the MCRD (Marine Corp Recruit base. Yeah, I don't know what the D stands for. Shoot me). I'd seen part of it while we were in SD last time on the way to Charles favorite burrito place. I must say that not letting people walk across the grinder is a major pain in the butt. Poor little Kenna had lots of juice for breakfast and then didn't get taken to the bathroom before we left the hotel. About 10 minutes into the car ride she told us she needed to go potty. I told her to hold it and then we hit traffic...then we finally got onto base and the car was searched...and then we had to drive around and find parking...and then we met everyone in the parking lot and hiked about 1/2 mile around the grinder (yes, I'm exaggerating, but truly it was a long way). Aunt Di was holding her and I was distracted by the massive pain I was in caused by a long walk in heels carrying a 30 pound toddler. She told Di that she needed to go and Di told her to wait until we found seats. We were in front of the grandstands when she started to pee--all over Diane. The mother of the recruit. It was a quantity like I've never seen. Poor Diane!! I ended up having to walk all the way back to the car for a pull up and back again. But it was our fault that she had an accident, not Kenna's. Tim asked me "I thought you said she was potty trained" but really--she held it almost an hour after needing to go and it's not like she can just take herself to the bathroom is it?

Then during the ceremony, Griffin peed through his pull up all over my lap. So both the twins christened the grinder. Is that a sign??

Our graduate was about 6 inches taller than the last time I saw him. Seriously, he towered over everyone. I think maybe he hunched a lot prior to boot camp and standing straighter combined with heeled shoes and a big hat made him TALL. The Marines made him skinnier too. He had that look about him, like childhood has been rubbed off, you know what I mean?

After the ceremony, we all met up in Old Town San Diego for lunch. A guy came by our table and made balloon sculptures for all the kids. Our hotel had a free happy hour every night so we were the place to be. Everyone met there for drinks before going out. The kids ran everywhere and tried to mess with the courtyard landscaping and the koi. We were across the street from Seaport Village so we went there for dinner several times.

Saturday we went to the beach at Mission Bay. The water was cold and it was windy, but we actually had a really good time. Until it was time to go home. The twins were getting pretty tired from missing naps and they had a massive melt down leaving the beach. Screaming snot-running hissy fits. Largely because I wouldn't pick them up and carry them. I think we brought half the beach sand home with us!

Sunday we went to Sea World and it was great. We saw a lot of things that we didn't see the last time we were there. It's sort of a bummer that the Shamu show doesn't feature trainers riding the whales anymore since it was spectacular before and sort of ho hum now. But I guess the prospect of a whale killing a trainer during a show really puts the damper on it. The kids liked the new shark exhibit so much that we went through twice in a row.

Anatomy and the Pasta Isle

Laney and I went to the store together on Sunday. While we were shopping, I picked up a lemonade Koolaid mix. Laney wanted a different color, so as we proceeded down the pasta isle in the bus cart she yelled at me: "Moommm, I can't have lemonade! It makes my penis hurt!". To which I replied calmly, "you don't have a penis". (others in pasta isle are laughing). Laney keeps going with the penis theme. She does have one and it hurts if she drinks lemonade. I decided that a more face to face chat would be in order. So there I was, in the pasta isle, telling her: Laney, you don't have a penis. You have a vagina. Boys have penises. And we don't usually yell about our parts when we're in the store. Then we went back, exchanged the lemonade mix for pink lemonade and continued on.
Charles is off to Denver again and we're holding the fort. We had our first carpool day yesterday. We are picking Rorie up after school for Tues and Wed and Rorie's grandma will pick Laney up on Thursday. So I guess at least one of the school days the twins will get a longer nap. Laney was really whoopin' it up to impress our guest. She took off her car seat straps (a recently learned skill--she can both buckle and unbuckle now), she talked nonsense and then laughed hysterically, she purposely mispronounced Rorie's name over and over again. We had to have a serious talk after dropping Rorie off. It made me realize though what a big personality Laney is compared to other kids.
Off to water the new plants now. The calamondin is not looking happy.

The Streak

It was a long week. Charles left last Monday and was gone until Saturday night. He came home for Sunday and left Monday until Wednesday. The kids were all sick with colds last week too. We made it through though and really it wasn't too bad. We went across town on Friday to shop for some bedding for Kenna. I took the kids to visit Olive and Don and then we went to Homegoods. It was getting a little late and lunch needed to happen, but I was trying to complete the mission. So we did the quick shop and went to the check out--where all hell broke loose. While I was trying to check out I started to hear laughter in the line and turned around to find Kenna stripped butt naked. Like not a stitch on including no shoes. I calmly finished paying for my stuff while she ran through the store grandstanding for all the people. Laney melted down because I wouldn't buy her a makeup kit and Griffin ran off with a rolling backpack and was doing the circular route through the exit doors and back into the store with it. By the time I was done I literally hauled three screaming children, three bags of comforter/pillows/etc, and a twin stroller out of the store and across the parking lot while the crowd of seniors looked on. A definite joy moment
I cleaned all the carpet in the house (and it was immediately peed on again). For some reason I said yes to play dough and moon sand after finishing cleaning the carpet. BIG MISTAKE. BIG. I did not realize that moon sand was invented by the devil. I've swept and vacuumed about 5 times now and am still finding purple moon sand everywhere.
We're having big car seat milestones this week. I threw G in his seat the other day and went around the car to buckle in the girls. When I came back to buckle him in, it was all done. Amazing. Laney figured out how to get out of her car seat later in the week.
Laney and Griffin knocked down a box of hats and gloves right before school on Tuesday. They both decided that they needed to wear a hat. So Laney wore a fuzzy orange hat that made her look like DJ Lance (Yo Gabba Gabba for those not in the know) to school and Griffin wore a snowflake pattern ear flapped knit hat. It was almost 100 out and humid like nothing else. Kenna had to take her plastic Elmo purse and the puppy on the string in with her. We were a parade of freaks. But hey, we're used to the circus effect. Griffin has continued to wear the hat occasionally. He looks a little like Elmer Fudd.
We are off to play group in a little while. We're doing a kindermusik demo today. Tonight we're going to the Greek festival (fried cheese!!).

The Grass is Always Greener (when it's fake)

We have grass. It is very, very green and shiny. I should have installed it with the grain of the grass (yeah, our grass has a grain) facing the house but I didn't want to buy more grass to do the install that direction. So it runs side to side and our view from the house is somewhat shinier than it is from the pool. Isn't it funny how you obsess over little things when you do things yourself?
Ernie came over to help with the install on Saturday. Seriously, he's just the best. And he brings tools. We've started saying the same thing over and over "Yes, we have an X. It's in Idaho". As in we have a hammer, we have a wheelbarrow, etc. Charles moved all three tons of crushed rock off the driveway himself and Ernie brought the plate compactor. We were done installing by early afternoon. Now I have a chunk of grass left and I'm thinking of adding another grass area over by the end of the pool. I'll have to do seaming, but I think I can. Overall, I think I like the grass. It does get hot in direct sunlight but cools immediately in shade and it is a rather bright green, but it's nice to have it out there. I keep feeling this little shock every time I look out the window and see green.

Projects

I should be working on my lengthy to do list, but I'm going to blog instead. We have been working on the back yard and I've been trying to get the twins' rooms put together so it's been busy. One of these days I will learn to take a before picture (and post after pictures...). We destroyed our yard earlier in the year in a fit of enthusiasm. The patio against the west wall was torn out and we removed the dog kennel fencing. We also quit watering the grass. Then we left for the summer. Let's just say that it was a MESS. It wasn't that awesome before our "improvements" this spring, but it was yikes-worthy by last month. I guess once I start spending money, I just can't stop. It's weird. So after buying a second home and working on improving it all summer, we hired a somewhat sketchy team of guys to put in new patios and brick edging plus a new outdoor kitchen. Ooooh, ritzy, yes? We also walled off the mechanical section of the yard with the A/Cs and pool equipment. And we removed all of the dark red ugly rock. I've ordered grass from Costco and it should arrive at the end of the week or so (I'm so done with watering, overseeding, and mowing). Hopefully we'll get it installed without any problems this weekend. Then we'll install new plants all over the yard and paint the new stucco walls. I'm going to buy new pots too. So, hopefully, by my birthday we'll have a nice pretty back yard. We spent Labor Day weekend painting our fencing. We went darker and painted it the house color. I really like it. It's a lot warmer and has less glare (which probably means that the color will absorb more heat, but hey).
The twins have their own rooms now and I've been buying furniture for them. Cheap furniture because I'm broke now. Griffin's room has blue furniture and a dinosaur theme. I got his bedding at Marshals and found the quilt at Homegoods. score! I need to find bedding for Kenna now. Her walls are yellow so I've been trying to find something that I like. The thing about kids bedding is that it's often made of really cheap material that looks bad in about a nanosecond. I'm on the hunt. But I did find both of them headboards, side tables, and toy boxes on clearance at Target. I need to buy a dresser for Griffin still.
The kids are doing just fine. They have been sort of wild lately. Must need to run around more or something. The twins are potty training. Kenna is doing amazingly well. She didn't wear a pull up last night. I have been fighting with her because I want her to use the potty since I don't trust her yet and she REFUSES. It turns into a scream fest. I just need to let her do her own thing and realize that she goes when she needs to. G is working on the potty thing but he doesn't seem to have as much awareness of his need to go. But he's been wearing his big boy underpants more frequently. Laney started school and is going through this "you're not the boss of me stage". I'm quite ready to rip her arms off. She's just so big and independent now.
I went to the rheumatoid arthritis doctor last week and it was a good visit. I really like the doctor. I got sick over the summer and my arthritis really flared again. Turns out I probably had Parvo. The human form of Parvo is Fifth disease and it can cause viral arthritis. Who knew? The upshot of the visit is that I'm renewing my dedication to taking my meds and hopefully I'll start feeling better again. I'm really tired of being tired. The fatigue of RA is really something.

Runnin' in the Rain

What a busy day! While at breakfast the rumbles of thunder could be heard. A big slow monsoon storm descended on Tucson by late morning and stayed and rained most of the day. It smells wonderful out. That creosote smell is just so clean and fresh. The downside? No pool at the pool party. But we had a great time seeing everyone. It was a long haul out to Talia's house. She lives closer to the Sonoran Desert museum than she does to Oro Valley. It was hard to get the kids all geared up to leave in time to get to school. I booked it across the valley, but we were still a little late to class (and I carried the twins in most of the way). The church has a moms group and I must have made an impact carting two toddlers and leading a third across the commons. They gave me an extra pack of tissues. All my kids were really great today (even when occasionally they were really tired or really 2). Griffin is just the sweetest little guy. And Kenna is becoming such a ham bone. We went to a school function tonight as a family and left the kids in the daycare while we went to the presentation. Griffin freaked out that I was going, but when we came back we found them all having a great time. The ladies all seemed to be very entertained by Kenna. She was just a pistol tonight. Must have been the fishy crackers or something.
Delaney carefully wrapped a fake rose in tissue paper and gave me a special "present" today. It was just sweet. On the way out of school, she ran up to a new friend "just to give her a hug goodbye". All in all (disregarding the occasional freak out), she has been really sweet and helpful lately. Just in time for the twins to get their toddler on. I guess God knew that if they all three were awful at once, I'd have to rip someone's arms off.
So, even though we had a few "moments", it was a really good day. Kenna told me "goodnight mommy, I love you" too. I've had lots of little kisses and hugs, special conversations while we practiced pooping on the potty (both twins! whoo hoo!), received various things wrapped in crumpled tissue, and marveled at all the bugs that surround a light at night in Tucson. Mommy bliss.

School Days

We're back in the swing of things again and every day is full of activities. Yesterday, all of the kids went to the dentist. Laney looked like such a big girl in her chair and she did the full cleaning this time. Griffin and Kenna wowed them with their complete willingness to sit in the chair, wear the sunglasses (are you kidding me? of course they would!), and be generally poked and prodded. The results of our visit? Dental health excellent, keep up the good work. And oh yeah, they will all need orthodontia for their various bite problems. The girls both have signs of a cross bite and all have narrow palettes. I guess I should start an orthodontia fund now.
Today we went back to dance class and gymnastics. Kenna went to dance, G was supposed to do gymnastics at the same time and then Laney started a gymnastics class. Kenna LOVED dance class and I could tell she was paying attention really well. She's so cute and tiny in her little outfit. Griffin outright refused to be left in the gymnastics class. No freakin' way. So we'll see. He might not start an activity until later in life... And Laney of course jumped right to it, though I was sort of wishing she was still in dance when I saw the TAP SHOES. OMG. Very few things are as cute as toddlers in tap shoes. I took picts of Kenna dancing but then my camera ran out of juice, so. Bad mom. After dance we high tailed it home, shoved some food in everyone and got back in the car to go to school.
Laney walked in to her room and quite literally did not spare me a second look or even tell me good bye. We walked past a little girl and her mother who were having a major showdown over whether she would enter the building. The little girl won. I felt bad for her mom.
I took the twins home and put them to bed (eventually), then went to the grocery store and picked Laney up again. She returned to me a little grouchy about not going out on the playground today (it was hot and they were busy). She made an enormous princess hat and a robin hood hat. The princess hat is quite literally as big as Kenna. If I ever get my camera charged, I'll take a picture!!
Both of our outings started with massive drama. Kenna is having a big 2 moment and decided to fight with me at the most inopportune times. She doesn't want to pee on the potty when asked (say, right before we go somewhere in the car) and has a shrieking hissy if I suggest a pull up. She's actually doing quite well with the potty training though. Most days. I have days when I think, well she's got it! And then she pees on the lego table or something.
Laney told me tonight that she wanted Aunt Diane to be her mother. She thought it would be a lot better than having me. I'm too bossy. Tomorrow is our first play group since we've been back--and it's a pool party in Avra valley, which we must attend with a potluck treat and then leave on time to take Laney to school. Not sure if this is going to work well. Anyway, must go shave my bikini line and pass out now.

Hello, Blog, it's been awhile

My last post left us with soggy weather in June. I can't believe that I didn't post the rest of the summer! It's been a busy summer and doing techie stuff just didn't figure highly on my to do list I guess. Here's a short summary of the summer:
We went cruising on the river in Post Falls right before the 4th and then did dinner and dancing to celebrate is one Lynda and Curtiss' 25th wedding anniversary and Curt's 50th birthday. We had a great time and I danced all night to the groove beats of PJ Destiny and his one man band--which was composed of two people since his son Fred came along as backup. The sun finally came out (as per usual) immediately after the 4th of July. We spent the 4th in Sandpoint. I went to the Forrell (no, I don't know how to spell it)/Smith picnic. It had been quite a few years since I went last. The place was just swimming with the Brickers and similar clans. I think there were very few people I recognized in the crowd. Isn't it funny how the older people still look the same after 20 years? I guess the major differences between 50 and 70 aren't as huge as between say 5 and 25! The twins had a great time playing there with the other kids. Laney didn't come with me. I went with Mom and Dad (because I'm the good daughter ;-). After that reunion picnic we continued on to Joyce and John's for another picnic. Then we went home and passed out so the kids didn't do any fireworks this year.
Once the sun came out, things got rockin' and rollin' for summer. We worked on the house and the yard. I collected yardsale furniture and did my magic spray painting. Our little house has the brightest colored furniture ever. Our dining table is apple green and our bedroom furniture is a dark aqua.
After the 4th, we went camping at Sam Owen's on Pend Oreille lake outside of Sandpoint. We originally intended to stay at Springy Point, but it was full. It all turned out pretty well with the exception of extremely predatory deer that ransacked our camp and ate a bunch of stuff. Andy and Jenny visited with us several times and swam. They brought their boat over one of the days and Laney went for her first boat ride and went tubing. Of all the kids that went, which included all of the older boys who are about 6, only Laney was brave enough to do it and just loved it. The best part of camping for the kids was riding bikes on the road. Kenna can't reach the pedals on a trike so she does it Flintstone style. She looks just like those lizards that run on their hind legs. She's completely fearless and took off down the hill once. She must have hit about 20 mph before she steered into the bank. I almost had a heart attack when I saw her start down. I started running and expected to find her broken at the bottom. And there she was, smiling away on the side. Griffin can pedal--the pink and purple trike. He 4x4'd through the forest, he rode on the road, he would not stop. All the kids went for a long bike ride and Laney and Griffin just pedaled away. Kenna walked instead of trying to push that distance.
The weekend after camping, we went up to Priest Lake to visit Dana and Jeff at their vacation rental. They had also rented a boat for the weekend and we went all the way up to the upper lake. I haven't been boating in about a decade. It was fun even though Griffin peed on the boat a couple times.
At the end of July, we had Art on the Green and my 20 year high school reunion. It was awesome to see my old high school friends, less awesome to see the people who annoyed me then and still annoy me. I guess a typical reunion. Art of the Green was a little too brief for me. Charles and I took the kids and he was done before we made half of the loop. Next year we'll do things a little different...
After that we got the house ready for the big party. We had a big birthday bash for my sister's 40th birthday. Charles even made a dance floor and we hung lanterns made of glass jars from the trees. I'd say that we had about 50 people or so. I think there were 21 kids there. I warned the neighbors ahead of time thank goodness.
After a very busy summer we headed home to Arizona. We got back on Wednesday it's been go go go ever since. We bought new beds for the twins on Thursday. No more baby beds. Sigh. Friday we went to school to meet Laney's new preschool teacher. Who is AWESOME. I was so excited by her description of the year she plans that I was almost ready to go to preschool myself. Friday night Laney went to Leah's on an official sleep over and I went to sorority. It was so good to see my sorority sisters after such a long time. I'm going to miss those who will be leaving this fall. Today we cleaned up the old office and broke down the crib and pack-n-play before the beds were delivered. I must say that it is so strange to see the beds in those rooms. Sigh. A new era starts and we leave babyhood behind. Unless we have another baby that is... ;-)

Living the Soggy Life

Oh the rain. It rains rains rains. I looked out at the grey sky and the pooling backyard and thought "oh yeah, I remember now why I didn't like the weather here". On the other hand, you really really appreciate sunshine when it does make an appearance. In all fairness, even the normal Idahoans are starting to get really annoyed with the weather. Sun broke through today and we were outside. Griffin figured out how to climb the tree with Laney. I'm sure that Kenna isn't far behind. He had a couple mad dangling episodes, but all in all a successful first tree climb. They all woke up at 5:30 this morning because K woke up and started yelling. We moved the twins into their big kid beds on Father's day. Kenna's is so tall that she has no hope of climbing into it on her own. Griffin got a captain's bed and he was soooo excited about it all. He loves going to bed in his big boy bed. I think his excitement at getting a bed totally made Charles father's day (which up to that point had been quite literally crappy). He just beamed.
Father's day was wet and cold. We went to the hardware store together in the morning to pick up the BBQ we bought for Dad. Charles was grouchy. Then he drove the BBQ home in the truck and I stayed at Lowes so that I could drink some coffee (since I still don't have a coffee pot!!) and the kids could ride the lawnmowers in the exit foyer. Griffin gets really excited now when he sees we're at Lowes, since his newest love is pretending to drive lawn tractors. The girls get in on it too. Charles dumped the bbq over on the ride home and it's a little tweaked but ok. Then he got home and decided to fix a very majorly blocked toilet (a plunger was on the shopping list). The toilet overflowed and made a massive gross mess and he paniced and tried to clean up --which led to a massive quantity of filthy towels in the bathtub, a toilet brush in the sink (no I don't understand why), tracked excrement water all over and of course, a filthy toilet. I came home with the kids and immediately started cleaning. It was just that kind of day.
We got the trim completed in the kids rooms and part of the doors in the hall. So we were able to get their furniture into their rooms and that was nice. That evening we had dinner at Mom and Dad's and I grilled the burgers. I haven't grilled burgers in a long time and we got the less lean burger. It was the towering inferno, but they were tasty.
My furniture refinishing is coming right along. I've got the dresser for Charles almost finished, the dining table almost finished, a chair almost done (including recovering the seat), a table for the girls' room done, and a few other things started. All in very bright colors. I don't know what it is, but I'm tired of brown. Anything brown. So I have a lime green dining table and a dark aqua chair and dresser for the bedroom. And a hot pink table for the girls room. I guess I'm treating this house as a play house and coloring things appropriately. It's really fun. I wish I'd done the before pictures. Darn it. Oh well. I'll get picts posted eventually.

The Shack is Shakin'

Ok, finally back in business with internet access again. I can't ever connect to my parents wireless. It's been busy busy. We moved in to the house on Sunday, though it's still in a work in progress state. I have a feeling that it will be that way for a while. I went on a furniture buying spree and need to start refinishing things, but it was raining and cold all week. We had to turn the heat on and guess what? That smell got worse. So we live in a stinky house and it bugs the crap out of me, but I guess eventually it will improve.
The kids are loving it here (mostly--except the rain thing). Laney biked over to my parents house earlier in the week and was super proud of herself. All three blocks. They've been biking and running around in the yard. Or they did anyway until the weather went crappy and we filled the garage with furniture. They were mad about that one. G thinks we should bring his trike in and he could ride inside (technically true). He hauled it in himself this evening and was furious when we sent it back outside.
I pruned the trees out front this afternoon since we had a break in the weather. The branches were so low over the sidewalks that you had to duck and still got wet every time you went down the walk.
Tomorrow we paint and install trim. And take back a blind to have it recut so that we can finally stop living in a fish bowl. I didn't realize how bad it was until I came home later on Wednesday night. You can see everything in the house from the street.
I need to get some sort of furniture (like a table or something!) that allows me to sit more comfortably while I use the computer. My back is killing me. So I'll go now and try to post more this weekend.

Laying Seige to the Shackteau

We had a pretty good trip up to Idaho. The weather was decent and the kids were good. It was tiring of course, but all in all not too bad. It was crazy getting things ready to go and honestly, our packing job was such a mess I have no idea where anything is.
But the real news happened when we were about an hour outside of Missoula. I called our agent because she hadn't dropped of the key the day before. Turns out that was because the woman was still in our house. We did a rent back to her for a couple days because she said that she needed some extra time. I guess she decided she needed more. We tried everything to get her removed, but the cops couldn't do it because they said it was a "paperwork issue" and not trespass and since she had been our renter, technically rental law would apply. It was amazingly irritating. Eventually, after lots of aggravation she had to pay us an extra $60 and be out by noon today. Whoopee. The house was a complete sty and the yard hadn't been weeded or mowed since we did the contract. She took our curtains but left her junk. And she padlocked both back gates and did not leave keys. We're behind on our renovation schedule and Charles leaves tomorrow. When we finally got possession, we went at it. Changed the locks, started prepping to paint, and took down the awful curtains. We made an extremely spendy trip to Lowe's, got the Uhaul unloaded, took down one giant ceiling fan and ripped up the carpet. All of it in the entire house. It was DISGUSTING. Like one of the grossest jobs ever. Both her dog and cat have continuously peed all over it, some of it very very recently. Like today. Huge wet stains in the subfloor. Dana, Jeff, and Dad helped unload the Lowe's booty and we all toasted the new house with champagne. I'm taking picts, just didn't download today.

On the Sea of Pee

I am inundated in excrement. Potty training has officially begun and it was not my idea AT ALL. But this is what they are wanting to do, so I'm going with it. Griffin has greeted me twice this week with a crappy diaper in his hand when I go to get them in the morning. Both twins strip their diapers and clothes off at every single opportunity. Griffin pees in the pool--like those fountains with the boy peeing. Yeah. He runs up to the edge of the pool and pees into it. He also pees on the floors. And he took a crap on the kool-dek today. I'm not kidding. Kenna mostly does little tinkles every once in a while, but she's got a lot more control and we go to the potty regularly. She insists on going to the potty. A lot. But mostly doesn't do anything there. I think she just likes my undivided attention. To add to the excitement, Laney is working on not wearing a pull up to bed anymore. Occasionally that has been resulting in laundry.
But enough about body functions, right? We're working on all the logistics of moving. Like lighting a fire under the butts of the mortgage people and figuring out how to find a notary. We're doing something new--both houses will be closing via mail. So I sign everything and mail it off. Weird. I've got lots and lots of ideas for the new house. I think Charles is starting to get freaked out. But I did set a budget and plan to stick to it. It's actually sort of fun to figure out how to do everything I want to do within that boundary. Hello Craigslist! And family basements. I'm feeling really creative. Hopefully my energy level stays up with my plans. I realized today that we have a lot of parties this summer. The twins birthday, Brianna's graduation, Lynda and Curt's anniversary/birthday party, Dana's birthday party and family reunion. And Charles' birthday too, but he refuses to celebrate it. Fun fun fun!

The Shackteau

I'm returned from the frozen north and I've seen our new house. We decided to call it the Shackteau. Let's just say that when you say "I'm going to my second home for the summer" or something like it, it conjures an idea that is in no way in keeping with the reality of our humble house. The house was in sort of poor condition, but then again it is almost 20 years old. It has lots of potential to be really cute one day. The current owners wouldn't leave and I felt weird taking pictures of them and their stuff, so I don't really have many pictures. I am really excited to see the house empty. I'm sure it will seem really different. It is certainly packed to the gills right now. The current owner has two room mates. And a shizhzou (?) dog. That isn't potty trained yet. I'll be plenty busy for the next few summers with home improvements. Which is actually kind of cool with me. I think it will be fun.
Hmm. What else to say? We have fruit trees and raspberry and strawberry bushes. And a two story building in the backyard that looks a little like a grain silo from the end.
The weather in Idaho was (and still is) nasty. Cold and wet. In general, it was so nice to have a few days off. I did my own thing and went shopping at thrift stores, had coffee, that sort of thing. We also went out to dinner at the White House on Friday night and that was great. We went to Enoteca for a wine tasting first. It will be nice to get up there for the summer.

Kenna on the Mend

Kenna is officially on the mend. We started antibiotics yesterday and she's much better this morning. Our trip to Target was a nightmare. I had two kids running away from me up and down the aisles and a sick one clinging to me. It was Laney's turn to be a troublemaker on that trip. On the up side, they have all been much better about playing together and sharing lately. We haven't had a major biting incident in a while. This may be because K has been to sick to be feisty. I'm not sure.
I'm heading out tomorrow for Idaho. Charles comes home tonight. I think we're going to have tag team parenting for the next week or so. Once I get back, we'll really need to start rockin' and rollin' on the preparation to go to Idaho at the end of the month.
Time to get my kiddos dressed and head to dance class. No swimming today. I think we still need to arrange to finish Kenna's lessons and do another couple days with the G-man. I wish my camera took little videos too. It's pretty cool to see them swim.

Mondays

What a Monday. Charles left at 4ish this morning. Kenna woke up screaming at 5. She and I "slept" in my bed for a few hours. She's had a fever for about 4 days. We were supposed to do their clothed swim tests today and since K had a fever she had to skip it. Griffin still won't roll. Little bugger. We all went to Costco after swimming and had lunch afterwards. Griffin has been feeling his two-ness coming on lately, so he was cute and sweet until he wasn't. He stuffed his mouth with pizza and chewed it in to a glutinous mass then drank some pink lemonade to make a slurry and started spitting it out. I was not amused. I took away his drink. So he spit everything in his mouth all over me. So I took away the pizza and he had a massive hissy hissy fit in the middle of the Costco cafeteria wherein he tried to fish his pizza plate out of the garbage can and snagged a finger and a lady came and freed him. I carried him bodily to the car since he refused to walk. He fought getting in to the car seat and screamed for the first 10 minutes of the trip home. Then he passed out. They all took a nice long nap, but when I got the twins up Kenna was burning up. I took her temp and my thermometer read 104. So I freaked out. Then we all went to the dr in a frenzy and Kenna of course was about 100 by then. They hooked this weird bag to her to catch her pee. Their initial testing indicated that there might be a urinary tract infection but they are sending the specimin out to the lab tomorrow. So we may or may not make a trip to the pharmacy tomorrow. I'm going to go have a glass of wine now.

Picts of the House

I think I'm going to need to give the Idaho house a name so that we can refer to it easily. Any ideas? I received pictures courtesy of Michelle (as neighborhood stalker I hear).

Isn't the tree pretty? Sadly, we'll probably never live there while it is in bloom, but others can enjoy it. I hadn't seen detailed photos of the front yard (or really anything else) yet, so these were sort of a suprise. Not sure I'm completely on board with the green trim detail on the house.

Ok. I need to put the camera battery in and take some pictures of the kids. They've made a nest of my couch cushions and are playing with a singing letter thing. So cute. I love it when they are sweet and play nicely together. They aren't always the spawn of the devil. I've been a slacker on the picture taking for a while now. Time to get back in gear.

Swimmin' and Stuff

We're in week three of swim lessons and I'm getting a little tired of it. I'd hoped to complete the refresher in two weeks but Griffin won't do his roll. It's cute to watch them though. The twins started out with the attitude that we were definitely trying to kill them and now they take a running jump into Pam's arms. They also tell her that they want to go swim to the bar a lot. I got in and swam with all of them last week and it was fun. I'm not completely sure how I'll manage to swim with the twins though. Laney did her swim test fully clothed last week and I went all out this time (I didn't want to bother with wet shoes and the like last year). She wore jeans, long sleeves and heavy tennis shoes. It was hard work but she did it. Over the weekend we were working in the yard and in and out of the house. I left the kids inside, went outside quickly, came back in and noticed Kenna was missing. I found her outside by the pool! She must have slipped out behind me when I went back inside. I had that little heart attack moment mom's get but then I was really glad that we've invested in the lessons. Hopefully the pool will heat up and we'll be able to swim in it before we go to Idaho. I'm determined that next year we'll invest in a pool heater. If we don't, we'll never swim in the pool since we'll be gone over the summer.
Charles went to school with Laney yesterday to do their Donuts with Dad day. Sounds like he had fun. Oddly Laney didn't seem to have a lot to say about it. Then again, she never really has much to say about school. I try to get her to tell me about it, but nope.
I met with a landscaper again today to get a bid to remove our rocks from the back yard. We're replacing it all with rock that matches the front. It was a little awkward since he didn't speak English. I felt sort of bad that I didn't know Spanish.

Home Sweet Homes

We had our offer accepted on a completely different house. Wednesday I sent my parents out to see a house about 4 blocks from their house. It's a little rancher with a big yard, a separate building for an office and even a hot tub (that leaks). Our offer was a go by Friday afternoon. So now I'm buying a house and I'm sort of freaked out by it all. You know how you have ideas and then the reality is sort of scary? I hope this whole idea of spending summers in Idaho works out...Yeah. But anyway, we're excited about it. I'm looking forward to seeing it! Yes, I bought a house I haven't seen. I'm making plans to go up to Idaho for the inspection.
The kids are doing fine. We're spending lots of time in the backyard playing in the dirt piles and generally hanging out. The weather has been beautiful. It's really too bad that I'm so utterly miserable with allergies. I have to go do the shots this fall I think. I don't want to waste another gorgeous spring. All the kids are finishing up their refresher swim lessons so we'll be able to swim this summer. I'm really wishing that our pool is heated. Maybe next year.
The big news of the day is that Kenna has joined the potty crowd. She went on the potty twice this morning. Due to taking off her diaper and running naked through the house.
Laney is swearing lately and part of me wants to laugh, part of me is horrified. Especially because I know exactly where each little phrase originates and I can't blame her father for all of them. Griffin is going to be 2 soon and you can certainly tell. He's been throwing the occasional hissy fit. Most of the time he's a sweet bean though.

I hate buying houses

I'm liking the paint...and you can see it so well now that the house is naked and treeless. I'm feeling peevish this afternoon because, as somewhat suspected, the realtor selling the house we want to buy was ignoring us as long as possible so that he could fish for additional offers. I'm not inclined to change our offer and I now have a number at the bank so that I can call and complain about him. What a jerk. So who knows if we will end up with this house or not. The good part is that I'm not emotionally tied to the house, so it's still just a transaction to me. The downside is that we're getting closer to summer and I'd like to have things resolved.

Home Improvement?

We are experiencing a whirlwind of spending activity. Somehow I managed to schedule a house painting, a landscaping tree removal and pruning, and a patio removal all into the same week. We removed the enormous tree in front of our house and I'm not sure that it was the best idea. It's so bare and bright out there now. Sadness. However, I will not get a call in August that monsoon has caused our enormous mesquite to crash over into our house. And I will not be picking up the 7 thousand pods it drops in August (by hand because you can't rake or blow them effectively). So there you go. So long shade tree. On the other hand, removing the tree means that you can see the house now and it will have a brand new spankin' paint job by the end of the week. We're living inside the masked window bubble right now and I hear them spraying, but have no idea how it looks. And I'm afraid to open a door and get sprayed. So a big suprise waits at the end of the day.
We also put in an offer on a house in Idaho this week and that has added to the chaos. It's a little strange to be buying a house that I've never seen, but hopefully all will go well.
We had a really nice Easter. Went to church with Olive and Don at St. Pius across town, then we had everyone over for dinner at our house. The lamb was good, but a little too done for my taste. The coconut cake was AWESOME. A nice time was had by all.

Bunny Butt Cupcakes

Yes, that's right. Bunny butts. I made cupcakes with a little white icing in the center and then piped green grass around it, then I placed mini marshmallows covered in nonpareils and flattened marshmallows with pieces of cut jelly beans on them for feet. So the overall effect is the business end of the bunny going down the bunny hole in the grass. My camera battery is done and the cupcakes are history, so visualize it in your head.
We had a very successful play date at the park today. Hunted easter eggs and ate treats, played in the sand, etc. It was particularly fun because we had three dads in attendance today. Eric had the day off (weird. who gets good friday anymore?), Curtis is home while Earlee takes care of their new baby and Tony is staying at home while Talia is in school until he goes back to Iraq. Because he is a "military security contractor" or some bs title when he's working. We know it as "mercenary". He guards people and convoys in Iraq. So basically, he's a stay at home dad and then he goes to work and shoots people. Which seems sort of funny (except for the shooting people part). Kids had a blast and I ran in to a nanny who we've met various places.
Audrey is super super nice and the kids she watches are really cute--just a bit younger than mine. We've met casually several times. She thinks my name is Lisa. When I realized that is what she thought, she'd called me Lisa a couple of times and then I felt bad about correcting her. So there you are. I have her email address, so I'm thinking of sending her an email to invite her to a playdate and hoping she'll figure out the name thing without my pointing it out. I just feel weird about it. I just personally have a major nerosis about names and am always afraid I'm going to get it wrong (because I do. All the time. I have a really really hard time remembering people and names). I hate to tell others that they are. My own personal brand of crazy.
Two posts. One day. April is a new month.

Where did March Go?

So I seem to have completely skipped March blogging. What can I say? We spent the first two weeks of March in Idaho for Grandma's funeral. It was great to see Amanda and her family and Josh, even though it was a sad way to do it. The night of Grandma's funeral we all really had a party and there were a lot of puking men the next day. Which makes you wonder, doesn't it? Either the girls were more moderate in their consumption (hello motherhood) or we just hold our drink better (hello motherhood ha ha). While in Idaho we started our house search in earnest and missed out on two great potentials. I was all set to buy one and was waiting for Charles to get back from Colorado to show it to him and they accepted an offer. We're looking in the hottest part of the market I guess--homes that are affordable to first time buyers. Right now we're waiting to hear about a how that went into foreclosure on Mom's street. It would be great, but only if we can get it for our price range. It's large and has a big lot but otherwise doesn't have a tremendous amount to recommend it. It's got potential. Crossing fingers.
Back in Tucson, I've been working on refinancing our house, getting financing for a second house, getting our house painted, hiring landscapers to prune and remove trees, going to the rheumatologist, and our general life living stuff like school and playgroups. We're going to cook Easter dinner this weekend so I have lots to do there. I also made bunny butt cupcakes last night for playgroup and I'll post about them tomorrow. I think my camera needs to be charged. I should go do that now so that I'm ready for playgroup picts. My kids are fiends for the egg hunt.

Rain Rain Go Away

Ok. I'm done with the rain thing. I don't think it has ever rained this much since I've lived here. It's like being in Idaho--with the same temperatures. Last week we had a couple days at 70 and then pfft. back to 50 and pouding rain.
We were all a little stir crazy by the end of the day today so we played run from the ticklemonster (I walk around threatening to tickle and they run screaming around and around the house) and then we played "Dinosaur and Bobcat" (a perennial, though inexplicable favorite), then we played some hide and seek. I just bust up laughing every time we play hide and seek because Laney is the worst hider in the world. I say "ready or not" and she says "I'm here mom!"
The twins are both talking (Kenna with more success than G) more and more. Trying out lots of new words every day. Kenna is working on her panting kitty impression. Griffin loves to play a puppy. Yesterday Laney threw a toy for him and he crawled over to fetch it, picked it up in his mouth, and then he ran away with it. He's got the most realistic puppy impression ever.
We went visiting yesterday. First to Olive and Don's and then to Debbie's. The girls like Prince but Griffin thought he was definitely not good. Not good at all. They all had fun and ate about a pound of animal crackers. Debbie and David were working on their backyard. They are in the process of putting in a pool. Angelica was getting her senior picts done.
I guess the big news is that we're working on house hunting in Idaho. Hopefully we'll be able to buy a second home up there some time this spring. We've decided to sacrifice buying a different home here and buy a second there instead. We'll just have to make do in this one. I'm excited about the prospect of having our own house up there. The first round of home tours didn't go very well, but Dad is going to go look at another one tomorrow.

Feb's Got the Bad Ju Ju

February needs to be over now because it obviously has bad ju ju. We've been beset by illness the whole month and I'm sick of sickness. Mom and Dad were here last week and we had a good time in between being sick (and the rain!). We managed to get strep throat, ear infections, food poisoning in the 11 days that they were here.
Kenna is still a little sick and I'm a bit concerned. Today she seemed like she was pulling out of the funk though so hopefully she's on the mend. She bit Griffin twice and I'm not sure she's bitten him once all week.
Dad went home and had a stroke. I got the call at 1:30 in the morning. He felt it coming on and took aspirin though so that helped. Quit smoking Dad. Please!!
I went to the dr the day that they flew out because I've been having a lot of pain in my feet (and pain in my knees, hands, wrists and hips). Got the call back today that I have rheumatoid arthritis. I was sort of wigged out about the prospect earlier in the week after I came home and looked it up. Turns out that it is the number 1 cause of people being on permanent disability. neat, huh? I've decided that I'm going to buy a piano. I've put off buying one for a long long time since I didn't really have a place for it, but you know, who knows what time will bring now and if I want to play I need to get on it now.
Oh yeah, I also got the questionaire from my high school reunion. What have I been doing the last 20 years? What did I do in high school? I have no idea.
Onward. God hates a coward.

Congratulations! It's a Stone.

Yesterday morning, Charles woke up sick. He was up about 5:30 and I thought at first he'd acquired Laney's tummy bug from last week. By 6 I was up with him and decided to take a shower since he seemed to be getting worse (good thinking on my part). By 6:30 he was literally rolling around on the floor. He told me that the pain was bad in the right lower side of his abdomen, so I thought he might be having appendicitis. So I called Diane, woke the kids up, grabbed them clothes and diapers and threw everyone in the car. Charles was actually puking by this point so he got a bucket too. What I didn't have? A charged cell phone, gas in the car, shoes for the kids or underwear for Laney. I ran yellow/red lights about three times on the way to the hospital, once right in front of a cop. Laney thought the sudden acceleration through the light was awesome (we did the other two on the way to the hospital). Sadly, during my husband's excruciating ordeal, I had to stop for gas after dropping the kids off since I had NONE. I was starting to envision what it would be like to run out of gas 2 miles from the hospital with no cell phone. When we got there, Charles walked in to the waiting room and sort of collapsed on the floor in pain while I tried to get someone to help him. I realize that they are used to these sorts of things, but it would be nice if they had at least some sort of urgency in helping you get care. They took Charles back and I went to park the car, by the time I got back he'd already been seen by the dr. and diagnosed with kidney stones. As painful as it was, I was glad that was it and we didn't have to do surgery. They morphined him up and it took the edge off. They released him at about 10:30 or so and I took him home then went to get drugs and kids. His second narcotics r/x in a month. Oh, and did I mention that we were in the midst of the biggest storm Arizona has had in 17 years? I was wondering if our tree in the front yard would come down and finish off the day in a super special way. It's still standing though.
We watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang last night and Laney stayed up too late. I haven't seen that movie since I was about 8. Laney slept with us and hogged the bed all night. On the up side, my shoulder quit hurting. I think it must have been dislocated. On Monday night I woke up and it sort of slid and popped. Tuesday it was super painful when I let my arm relax but it's pretty good now.

Monsters Taste Like Beans

So Laney woke up hungry today and told me she would eat monsters because monsters taste like beans, but Daddy had pumed them all (aka shot them). She had cereal for breakfast instead. She's been sick for about a week and needs to make up for it now I guess. Had a little tummy bug and her first bout ever of the runs. That's right. Ever. It is so hard to know whether she's really sick or not all the time since she tells me things like "I can't get my carseat straps on because I'm sick" or "I need to eat cheetos because my skin is sick" or whatever. She's inherited her father's hypochondria and usually has an iron constitution. I don't always take her seriously when she tells me she is sick. So Saturday night she said she was, after drinking two glasses of strawberry milk, and I asked if she was ready to go upstairs. Before we even got going she puked violently all over the kitchen floor. Charles bathed her and I got to clean up.
Which leads to the other piece of news. I've injured my shoulder (repeatedly since having children) and something is really wrong now. I think I'm going to have to cave in and go to the dr. I had to use my left hand to mop and that hurt my hand so now I have a sore hand and hurt shoulder. I'm starting to wonder what the heck is wrong with me that all of my tendons and whatnot are hurting (feet, knees and hips hurting too lately). Ok, Laney might have got some hypochondria from me too. But really. My ability to ignore the pain is starting to get stretched.
Griffin and Kenna are as feisty as ever. More words every day and a pronounced interest in the potty.

Booger Monster

I was playing with the kids and Laney told me that I could be the booger monster and she would be the princess. I'm so flattered. Just thought I'd share that.
So if you read the previous post and it sounded like I was suicidal or something, it was late at night and I was tired when I wrote it so maybe it was more bitter than intended. I'm ok. Honest. It's just nice to vent about it every once in a while when I'm feeling stressed. This week has been a major improvement and we're all ok.
Today I took the twins to their first gymnastics class and it was fun but hard work for me. And hard work for the instructor who had to take one of them since it was a mommy and me sort of thing. I'll be getting my money's worth there! It was totally up Kenna's alley. She was the demo kid and loved everything, somesaults, handstands (all assisted of course), walking the balance beam and running down the trampoline. G also thought it was fun, even when I accidentally whacked his head on a bar. I'm a good mom like that! We went from there to have coffee at B&N with Richelle and terrorize their kids department. All in all a good day out. I was suprised that nap time didn't last longer since we were so active in the morning and they were both up last night. Griffin woke up at about 1:45 and didn't go back to sleep until about 3:30. He woke K up with the first round of protest and so I couldn't sneak him out. I felt so bad for Kenna because I'd already picked him up when she stood up and said "Momma uppy!"since I couldn't really get her too. So I held him and hugged and patted K over the rail until she was ready to lay back down. She's a great sleeper. G on the other hand... we went round and round for quite some time. He likes to get in bed with me, snuggle, then get a second wind and start singing and whacking daddy. Stinker.
We played play dough again this afternoon. Play dough gets amazingly gross and stain causing if you get it wet. Do not, I repeat, do not get it wet! Yuck.
This evening I went out and left Charles to do bathtime and bed on his own (I haven't got the report yet but it seems like things went well). I had to do my stint at sorority city council. Which was interesting.

New Year, Same Stuff

So it is a little weird that we started this year similarly to 2009--Charles unable to walk and in a cast. Sigh. I was holding it together pretty well through Christmas but by the two week mark without a break I was starting to lose my mind. I had to give myself a timeout a few times before I smacked the face off of one of my children. It's not the taking off the diaper and throwing your poop all over the floor, it's not getting into the pantry REPEATEDLY and dumping the contents all over other portions of the house, it's not the sassy attitude and unwillingness to take a nap "actually". It's the screaming. Especially when they all scream, cry and hang on me at once. I just can't take the noise. It's like it short circuits my brain or something. But thank god, Christmas break is over now and we're back to our old routine and that helps a lot.
I'm starting to plan a vacation for myself. I've decided that once Charles gets well again, I'm going somewhere else. Without any of them. I don't know where yet. I think I made this same resolution last year and never did it. This year will be different! I just have to figure out what I want to do...
So on to 2010. Hopefully it is a year that brings completely healed legs!