Today at work....

Today at work we have been laughing and giggling up a storm. We have even been trying to get some work done. We have gotten alot of new inventory out, and there are some really cute things. Once we got the clothing out it was time to inventory shoes.

Now I have to confess, I love shoes.

I like to see all the different styles and hope to find the perfect new home for each pair. Leftover from my former life or something. Now I have passed on this love to Brianna and Audrey. Brianna thinks that it is her duty to the world to clothe and shoe every child she meets.

Audrey has a slightly different opinion.

She thinks all shoes are her size and she NEEDS to have them.

These are the cutest cowboy boots.

They are also made of rubber so they act like goulashes too. They are about 1 size too small for Audrey and both Bri and Audrey are trying to convince me that they fit perfectly.

Never mind Audrey has three pair of boots that would work as rubber boots or her cowgirl boots.

Now how could a child NEED another pair of boots?

(that was not counting uggs or hiking boots)

These are the cutest gold pair of ballet flats.

Every little princess dose need a pair of these in her closet.

Right?

So I did loose this pair to Audrey, But they are so perfect for her and she did need a new pair of glittery ballet flats. She had out grown her old pair and we all need a dressy pair of shoes. Right?

I have no idea where she got her shoe addiction from. Do you?

Merry Christmas!!!

It was a very merry Christmas this year. Not very calm and relaxing but a nice one overall. I was Blessed with having my children with me all day. I have spent many years convincing myself that spending Christmas eve with my children was enough and that it didn't bother me not having them with me, but being with them all day was a very nice change.



We had Christmas every two hours, that was hard, but we got to see many family and friends. It was so nice to take them to my ex in laws house with no cold shoulders and fighting, but the girls were sad to not see their dad and brother. They did get to spend the morning with their great grandparents, who have had a very hard year with their health, so every chance to make another we get to make another memory we take.



I sometimes forget that no matter how big the girls get they are still children. They are growing up so fast, and Brianna is talking about where she wants to go to school. I knew she was growing up, but it startled me to hear her talking about what college she wants to go to. To see them everyday and talk to them about all they want to do sometimes I forget that they are still kids and the magic of Christmas is still alive in their hearts. I did a poor job of providing the normal Christmas preparations for them, but the two or three days before we really got into the swing of things. It amazed me how the little traditions that I didn't even know were there effected them when I skipped them. So we had a Christmas Marathon of decorating (or stripping the tree and re decorating it) baking, making ornaments and Christmas presents, and to top it off three days of non stop Christmas movies.



So we might have started Christmas a late this year but it ended well. We have some pretty pictures and special memories to take, and that is what really counts.



Have a blessed Christmas holiday!

I get alittle ditzy sometimes...

It seem the busier I get the more I forget, making me busier.

I have some examples to share with you, please laugh in love cause I am.

Friday night our church has an evening of childcare so us parents could go shopping alone. After a little debate we decided that we didn't know what we had so we must take this childless time to wrap presents. We go out to dinner, so I had eaten, then head to my Mother-in-Laws house to wrap presents, thinking we would have a movie and some adult eggnog. I forget the movie and the eggnog, but those are forgivable. We are starting to clean up and Gretchen is looking at the pile of gifts that are still to be wrapped, looking very carefully, then looking at the pile of wrapped gifts, then looking at the list of gifts for each person, and starting to count everything again. I ask her if there was anything wrong, "Maybe." Umm what? "Faline what have you been wrapping, and what is in that box, that is already wrapped?' I don't know, I was just wrapping it. This is suppose to be IN the box BEFORE you wrap it. I shake it, toss it and open it to .... NOTHING. As if I don't have enough to do I apparently think I need to be wrapping each gift twice.

I did not grow up with cast iron pans, so back when I started dating Shawn, I was helping clean the kitchen, I WASHED the pans until they were CLEAN. That history shared, this morning I was loading the dishwasher, I came across the pizza stone and I was about to wash it(only using water) when Audrey asked me what I was doing...Washing the dishes, Aunta you don't wash that dish. I was only going to use water. No It NEVER gets washed, so I called to confirm, and yep no water just scraped. I still haven't lived down the cast iron, so thank goodness Audry was looking out for me 'cause I would never live this down either.

Last night I was out Christmas shopping. I didn't have my list and I thought I knew what I needed cause I just wrapped all I had and I could remember what I has wrapped. Ya right. I go from store to store, not finding anything that looks right for my niece. I thought I had all the kids done, but I just wrapped all the presents that I had bought, and NOTHING for Caitlyn. I couldn't understand how I could had missed her but I must have. So I go from store to store not finding the right gift, belittling my self for forgetting her. I go on like this for hours, not believing I forgot her. It is 6:30 and I get to another toy store and they have these doll kits for cool doll houses.

It then hits me, we were repainting and remodeling Brianna's old doll house for her.

We have been working on this project for the last two months. I just spent the whole day looking for a gift when I had a gift at home that is made and given with love.

How I forgot is beyond me but I did.

So I am a little further away from being ready for Christmas,

but I have some silly stories to share with the girls when they get home.

Some Randomness

I have a little girl not feeling too well, so she wants her "mommy".
As I sit here not sleeping weird things come to mind, so I thought I would share.


I wish I could keep my kids separate.
If I had a boy and a girl, I might not get them mixed up.
I can never remember who's things are who's, who said what,
who did that, and who eats this or that.
I get into so much trouble when I put the wrong things away,
that I don't fold the laundry any more.

Why do ALL teachers think it is a good idea to give reading as homework?
I have very avid readers, too much if we are telling the truth, it is their addiction.
So why do they get free reading homework? Brianna was in a "special" English class for years, and at the beginning of each year I beg the teacher to give writing instead of reading, no go.
Do they think that it is against the rules not to assign reading?
I know it is good for them, and that more exposure to the written word makes them better writers, lets them see proper usage of vocabulary and grammar, but my children do not need another excuse to read, couldn't they just take into account each child? Maybe not in Jo's case but Brianna's? She had a class of 6 students, and the class was geared to the need of each one.


I don't want to sound sexist, but I strongly dislike car stuff. If I have a weird noise or say I had to add ..... again, couldn't the guy just take care of it?
My brother works at an auto part shop, and went to school as a mechanic. I tell him every little thing about my car, and yet now that my car is not running he finally is willing to look at it.
I do a lot of "woman's work" for him, ( watch his kids, cook some of his dinners, do some laundry)
All I want is some Guy stuff done for me. We are both single parents and we need help some times, so it would just be nice if he listened to me the first time I say something,
instead of when it is not running and is now possibly doing damage to my car.

Josie's temp has finally broke and she just feel into the deep sleep I needed her to be in for me to be able to slip off to bed, so night night blog world.

This morrnings funny.

*Disclaimer*

I am not a morning person!

We get up and head out the door very early in the mornings. So Most mornings I do not bother fighting for the bathroom to get ready. I take them to school in my robe, P.J.'s and slippers! I Will not get dressed to run them to school to the come home and take a shower. Will not do it. ( Did you know I get a peaceful uninterrupted shower this way?)

So today I dropped Josie off at school, then headed out to drop Brianna off. Half way to the high school I get a phone call.....

" Mom I need a permission slip signed today, can you come do it?"

Well I had asked her earlier in the week if I had one to sigh, she said nope already done.

This teacher leaves school about 9:00am, So I decided to go sign the slip.

I get there as most of the students are walking around, parents are dropping kids off and teachers are heading off to class. MANY people see me, look and say hi.

I enter the room mid lesson, stop class and every one saw me!

I was still in my p.j.'s!!!!

Her face was sooo red!!!

Their is nothing worse to a teenager than the embarrassment of ones parents.

Maybe she will learn not to forget things?

The Velveteen Rabbit

This past weekend my daughter had the great privilege to perform in the Velveteen Rabbit that was put on by Ballet Theater San Luis Obispo, a local ballet company. It was a very amazing performance! So very magical!

This was her first time performing with a ballet company and she learned sooo much!

The Director Miss Terri took her under her wing, putting her faith into Josie, believing that she really could do it. She pushed, worked her hard, yelled on occasion, and praised, bringing Josie so far in a very short time frame. Josie showed us how quickly she can learn and it just amazed me!

Our studio director was in the show, along with another student from our studio. It was so great for Josie to go out and dance with another company, not only with her directors blessing and encouragement, but with her too.

Josie also had another surprise. Her Father and Uncle were able to make the performance. This is the first time that they had been able to see her dance in a very long time. We even got a pic. for proof. Avery rare occurrence indeed. I am very happy that he was able too make it. Thank you Grammie and Papa for helping the boys to make it!

This was a very blessed experience for her! I am very fortunate that her first time dancing out side her studio was full of positive encouraging people.

Ironing...

I am having a very ADD day. Cant sit still, focus on anything, or keep a train of thought. If this is how my daughter feels all day every day, I am just in aw of her and all she dose get done.

That being said, I am trying to work, so I am Ironing 10 things, then do something else, then Iron 10 things again. A technique that is similar to what my mother in law calls clean and sew. As I do this I am thinking of things I want to blog about in my next "break". Many things come to mind but when I sat down I forgot them and can only remember the little irritants from my Ironing. So here I go sharing some of my Ironing thought.

Why are multiple piece outfits different colors? For instance, I have a pile of clothing that I have Ironed but because the other half is a different color it had to be washed in a different load so they are now separated and I cant put them together and hang them up. I even forget if it was ever an outfit and end up hanging them apart only to be caught and reminded that they go together.

Who thought irons that have dash marks instead of fabric types were a good idea? We just got a new iron, and I love all the new things. But It has lines instead of the fabric for temperature. I melted alot of cloths when I first started ironing, but it had lessened now I am back to melting again and it is because of the dash marks. I had stopped looking at the fabric type because I knew my iron but now that we switched i realized that I did need them. Never knew it until they were not there. Another thing you learn when it is gone.

Last night I was helping to press costumes for the Ballet my daughter is in this weekend. I LOVE steaming! I had never used a steamer before, but it was fun! How sick am I to fall in love with a steamer?

Well my self imposed 10 min. break is over so back to the Ironing board!

Food Food and more Food

Thanksgiving is my family's Holiday. Christmas is nice, Easter is good, but our main holiday is thanksgiving.
Now in my family we do it all day long. It gets a bit overwhelming if you did not grow up with it that way, but I am a native so it is kinda cool. We eat all day long too, seriously all day long. My family also runs well can we say a bit late, I mean hour late. So we plan out the day accordingly. It has been discovered that the best way to get everyone there on time (meaning: with in the first 3 hours) they are in charge of setting up or munchies. Now we set up around 10 in the morning so that the turkeys can start cooking.

So the food then is asked to be their at 11, and it starts wondering in about 12:30.

We do a pot luck dinner, and we always have enough food to feed our family and another army. Every one chooses something to bring, then we all bring other things because we are always sure that some one will forget something or that we might run out. We never run out of anything, for example, we had a small gathering this year (about 40) so we had 3 turkeys and 2 hams. No chance of running out of food in my family.

We also eat for hours, as each munchie arrives, late it gets put out, and we eat that until the next one arrives, with it all being put out about an hour apart we have food all day long. We sit down to eat, have our first helping and then my sweet cousin decides to give us a test on thanksgiving. It was pretty funny, but a test? We eat dinner again, clean the kitchen, play some more games, then start preparing dessert. By this time you realize you have been eating and nibbling non stop for the past 6 hours! Yet somehow you can still eat more.

Gosh I am now stuffed and as we were on our way home we stop at some friends house and they feel obligated to offer us food. How do you politely say If I eat another bite I will explode? Now we did invite them to dinner and if they had joined us then they would never dream of offering food, but they have never experienced our dinner or the sheer volume of food, so they didn't know what they were doing.

It was a very nice Thanksgiving. I love all of my cousins and their little ones, but the only little ones that we had this year were from out of town, so with only two it was pretty mellow and quiet. Very nice, and wee got to spend time with every one since we were not all running around chasing a kid here or there.

I hope your thanksgiving went well.

Some days....

I think I would get more done if I stayed in bed...(yes alone).

I just should have turned off the alarm and slept, but I knew Their was too much to get done for me to do that, but because I got up we have been running non stop trying to put each fire out one by one.

Josie broke a tooth, it is infected and has to go to the dentist.

Brianna woke up with swollen glands (might be strep ) and need to go to the Dr.

Mark got a flat tier and dew to family situations i was elected to go take care of it.

There was a wreck on South bay so there was a 20 min Waite.

Nathaniel still has therapy this afternoon.

My partner STILL has to go to work today.

We still have 8 cheer leading costumes to make...that are dew today.

AND theres still the business to run!

by the way mom too bissy cleaning and working to post so i had to type it for her. -Brianna.

UGGG!

Ok..So today is a very funky day for me. One of my family members had to go into town today to deal with some really difficult stuff. A sweet baby that we follow and pray for is in surgery. And I just got a phone call that has me very upset. Most likely out of proportion up set due to the other emotions going on.

I try to be a very supportive and understanding mother. Not the easiest job but worth it. I also try to be understanding of their father's limitations. NEVER easy. So today's call was from a family member asking how much time Josie was going to be actually dancing and if we really needed to try to get her father to go see her. I don't care if she was dancing for two minutes or was the main charter, she has auditioned, worked for the past two months, and sacrificed alot to do this show, who cares how much time she will be dancing. You go and watch your daughter take a closer step to realizing her dream. I have not moved two hours away from where we wanted to raise our kids. Moving was his choice, their have been many things he has chosen to miss due to living so far away, but for crying out loud, don't ask me to give him permission to flake on her again because it might not be the main part.

This ballet is very important to her. It is her first time performing for a ballet company, not her studio. Each time he flakes on her he looses another part of her life, that I can deal with, but I just hate to see how hurt she gets after a main event that he doesn't make it too. It has been many YEARS since he has seen her dance, and by her choice she has not seen him in about 2 months, so I really don't know if he could even pick her out on stage, with her growth spurt, costumes and not having seen her dance I don't think he would even know which one she is.

I am probably more upset than necessary, but I a very tiered of hearing how the ticket cost too much, with the long drive it makes it to long to make it to, and how he has to go see his son that day. It just makes me SO sad to see him miss so much of the beautiful little girls growing into amazing young ladies.

Sorry for just venting.. Alone with only children makes the blog world the perfect venting tool.

Some good things...

I don't get to post many pictures ,

but my sister thought she would put these on for me to post about.Like every Halloween our kids get their costumes done last... It is always a very stressful few hours. But Josie found a sweet way to occupy a very overstimulated little boy.

If you know our children you know that Jo and Nat are not the most compatible. When he is over the top it is never Josie who can bring him back down. She sees things in very black and white and when dealing with Nat their is alot of grey. So to see her teaching him a dance and correcting him with out him melting is a blessing I haven't seen. So each time I see this I tear up knowing what a bad day we were having and that Josie grew up just alittle bit more that day.


Our silly kiddos can you guess what each one is?

Now all of us... Do you get the picture yet?

The princess holding court.

And do you know who this is?

The princess is done.

Just like when she was little,

when she is done she can sleep anywhere in anything!
In all of the pic. You don't see the back,

it has full corset lacing and none of us had loosened her up here!

confessional

Goodness, I know I need to blog, but I don't know where to start....I have some not good things going on and all I want to do is share about the good or normal things. I could join a blog carnival and do Not Me Monday, share about the hectic weekend, or brag about the cool things that have happened, but all of that would be avoiding the true issues going on in my life. I am trying to focus on the positive, but last Friday my world was shaken.



This is not a pity me post. I am not looking for complements, I just need to face the negative and cleanse it from me, so please do not feel like you need to continue to read, because this is for me.



For the past few years I have been standing beside my sister, giving support when needed getting upset at the mean things people will say to hurt her. Going to meetings to give them light and truth. We keep facing things head on taking it one step at a time. I do this for her, but knowing it was for her never thinking it would touch me, facing the "enemy" not thinking the enemy would switch it's focus to me when it never seceded with her.



It was very conceited for me to think that way, because when the focus switched, it floored me. Never would I think they would come after me, but they have and I am just frozen in terror, trying to believe that truth will prevail, but fearing that it won't.



In the past year I feel like I have grown as a good christian, trying to live the way He would wish me to live. Now the enemy is testing me and I am trying to have faith and believe in Him, I just keep having the moments of doubt. I know He is in control, but I keep questioning it. I wish I had an unwavering faith, but I do not. I love God and believe in Him, but with all of the nastiness coming at me I am ashamed to say I find myself afraid and thinking that the "enemy" might be heard and win.



I am a Mother. I try to be the best mother possible. I am ashamed to admit, but I worship my children, thanking god for them constantly. I have struggled with the balance of God first family second. Many times I put them ahead of Him. I know this is not the way, but it dose happen. It is a continual struggle for me. I wish it wasn't so, but it is and has been from the beginning. At times in my life I believed that by being the best mother and raising the gifts he gave me was my way to praise him and worship him. Sounds warped but that was how I viewed it, and I still fight that way of thinking.

So the enemy attacked me as a mother. I am not perfect, but I am a pretty good mother, well most of the time I think so. But with all the bad things going on I start to question it. I am asking my children if I am doing a good job, hoping that they will be the ones to shed the light and truth for me. Not a very good feeling, asking the ones that I am protecting to be eloquent and truthful. To stand up for ma and us as a family. It is a very big burden for them, and yet I ask it of them. I must believe that god is asking them to step up and let the enemy know that they are looked after by him and just go back to HE**. Where the enemy belongs. So we now Wait and see what the next move will be, Hoping that the Lord will look out for us and trying to keep our faith in him.

Puplic Speaking.

I am a very shy person, I get very frightened to speak in front of multiple people. Well I am thinking the lord is telling me it is time to face this fear.

It has been along time since I needed to do any public speaking. A few months ago I was at on of the girls performances and we didn't have an announcer, so I was asked to do it. I know all of the girls, and I also know all of the dances, so it should be no problem right? I stood their shaking in fear during each dance repeating over and over what I needed to say next. I did not enjoy any of the performance, but it made me realize that a fear i had manageable in high school is not any more.

Last night I was at bible study. It is a small lovely group of ladies whom I am forming amazing friendships with. as we close each night we pray. Pretty standard right, well last night our leader asked me to close us in prayer. I totally froze up, after thanking our lord I just started to stutter. How am I suppose to pray for these other woman? I am very conferable praying for myself and with my children, but for a group of woman, I am the mouth piece for all that is in their hearts. I felt so overwhelmed for them I just couldn't speak.

Now the public speaking that is coming up tomorrow that I am not ready for no matter how well I know the subject matter I just keep writing my out line and note cards but I haven't found all that I want to cover. Tomorrow I will be talking to my daughters child development class about teen parenting. This is a very special topic in our house. One that has been openly discussed with my children and all of their friends for a very long time. One I ask about constantly, but the idea of sharing some moments that I am not proud of is freaking me out. Of hoping to impact one of them to make a difference, giving a real account of life and how it should not be done. I know that this has been in the making for my like for a while now I just want to make all of them think, with out hurting my daughter. I keep thinking that this would be easier to discuss if my baby wasn't in the room listening.
She lived it all with me.
She has felt the consequences of my actions.
She has been taught about how parenting is not for teens and why.
But she has never heard details of life with her while I was in high school. At least not the "real" feelings and details, and I am considering sharing some of those.

I know god is in control and if he can use me to stop just one pregnancy then I know I fulfilled His purpose, but please let me see the balance of truth and not to hurt Brianna.

Update

Well I haven't taken the time to post recently, life with the kids just seems to take up more time so me time seems to suffer.

Last time I posted I let you know that Josie was extended an invitation to audition for Ballet Theater San Luis Obispo. Let me give you an update. We had a performance at 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon. Once we got their I was informed that she and 1 other student had a 5 p.m. audition. Well, that was so great, Josie was so very thrilled, but then she calculated how much time she had to stress out. She didn't even have her ballet shoes with her! We had special friends from out of town that she really wanted to see at her gymnastic competition, so as bummed as she was that she would not see her she was so happy!

The audition was so cool to see! In the past, she has had auditions at various competitions they were always closed door, so to be able to watch her do one was just spectacular. The director was so sweet and kind, she would show them what she wanted and then ask them to repeat it, if it wasn't perfect she would show them again and then have them do it again. So because we didn't have shoes the other student went by and grabbed her shoes, but because they were auditioning for flat parts, and that Jo had only been on point for 4 months she didn't think to get the point shoes. Part way into the audition Terry (director) asked her to put on point shoes, we didn't have them so to test her knowledge she started to call out moves for her to do, at one point she called out something and Josie did it. Terry's response was "wow she is in" A former dancer from our studio was there watching and he was just blown away and saying how he feels like a proud big brother.

So fast forward to her first rehearsal, she is on point for a pretty long intense scene. Most of the steps she had not even dreamed of trying, and every one is so kind and willing to take the time to teach her. It is amazing to see her push her self and thrive in this new environment. She has been so responsible with thinking ahead to what all she had to do, and making the most of her time. She had cut out most of her t.v. watching, and recreational reading. She thinks about all she has to do and looks ahead to see when she can fit it in. Seeing her use this skill just sends me over the moon. I know a lot of adults who have a problem with that skill.

In the past two weeks she has added around 2 extra hours of class time. To give you an idea I think she is now dancing about 13 hours from Mon. to Thurs. Sat and Sun. rehearsals are an extra 8 to 10 hours. That is a part time job. Such a busy little girl.

Brianna has had a big event this past week too. She was on the FFA opening and closing competitive team. This was a big deal to her. Our school also hosted the event so there was extra work in that area too. She was on a team of individuals that did not take this commitment as serious as she did. This caused A LOT of anxiety for her. She worked constantly memorizing her parts, so much so that dear Josie knew all of the other officers parts from running it with her. On Monday I had received 3 major melt down phone calls. She was worried because she kept reversing two words, and knowing that she was reversing them she would start to stutter leading up to it. This is not the best for public speaking. With Brianna being a little OCD and having to depend on others who she has no faith in, just sent her over the edge. One of the phone calls was Andrew in a total loss as to what to do. I talked him though calming her down and she was good until after. She has been learning self calming down techniques, but She was just so far over the edge that she need the outside help to get back under control. She calmed down and did wonderful, just a little stutter, but with another member not knowing any of her part, it didn't hurt the teams score. It was a great learning experience, a very stressful one but good for her anyway. Brianna really wanted her sister, and Josie wanted to be their and do it with her, but she is not in FFA and she had dance so she couldn't be their, but just watch next year will be another story. It was really great to see them working so hard together, and Josie being gentle in her correction of Brianna. Now if I could just get that gentleness to carry over to Nat.... oh well one step at a time right?


In the last week we had a lot of 'extras' to fit into our already full schedule. As stated above Brianna had an FFA event, it is homecoming week, Josie had an to make a model of an element, choir concert and the community talent show to dance at. I will blog more about these in the near future I might even post pics, but until then just remember I wish I could get myself to blog more.

Bragging Mama

I have two very amazing children! I love them both and think no one can compare. I know we all feel that way about our children, and can accept that we are all delusional that our child is more special than another. We are all special children of the lord, and created for a special purpose. It just makes my cup over flow to see a child of mine realize what her gift is and dedicate herself to it. It even makes me a little teary eyed (yep me, who could guess?) to see others recognize her gift.

Josie lives to perform! She will take every opportunity to dance or sing. As her mother I see her give her heart into every performance. I support and believe in her, hoping that others are touched by what she puts into it too. Don't get me wrong the fact that she sings all the time, or she dances instead of walking can be disturbing and annoying, but that is just who she is. In the last year she has grown so much I almost don't recognize her. She is becoming a talented young lady and the community that we live in is starting too see it too. I have been approached many different times complementing me for her talent in both dancing and singing. Like I ever did anything to deserve the complement. God gave her her gifts not me, but not all see that. But back to my bragging. Josie has been approached by a local professional ballet company to audition for their winter ballet. It is in no way a guarantee that she will be in it, but it is still a great honor to be invited. It just turns me into mush to hear others appreciate her gifts.

So whoo hoo, she gets the great opportunity to audition, and understands (at least in her head) that she might not be right for the part. We believe in her and her dance instructor dose too, so we will hope for the best and know that god has put this learning experience in her path. She seems to have a great grip on reality with this. She told me last night that she knows this is a wonderful experience for her, one she can grow and learn from, she just doesn't know if god has given this too her to learn and work with a professional company or to learn how to deal with not being chosen. We shall wait and see what is to come.

The child developent class

I know this was a very educational class for me in high school. My dear daughter is taking this class as she puts it for a third time. But this time around it is a very different class. My teacher retired last year, so this year we have a new younger teacher. Brianna dose not like change so it took a few weeks for her to get accustomed to the new teacher. She had seemed to adjust very well and started to like it a little bit. Then a we had last week. First the class was paired up and each group had to pull a random birth defect out of a bag. The intention was that the group would get a defect that they knew little about and do a report on it and then present to the class.

Guess what she got?

Yep, Spina Bifida. So the group was suppose to research and then do a presentation with visual aids for the class. My little girl goes way over board. She does enough research for a documentary, goes though the baby book and gets personal experiences, then makes copies of pic. with Nat in his different things, and we went though and picked out some of his braces to show what they are. Her partner get to type up the final draft. If you have met my daughter you will know that she struggles with writing so this is very fair for her.

Then today she received a baby. She gets to raise this baby doll for the next week. In our house we haven't had much sleep here lately. We got 2 new puppies last week. They are so cute but they are like any other infant, sleep all day, play all night. Then the girls have been sick for the last week and keeping Mommy up when they are up. So we have spent alot of time doing laundry and bonding in the bath room. Now we still have the puppies, Josie is still sick, and now their is a new born baby doll, no, not too much sleeping will be going on here. I found out this afternoon that she is one of two of the first in the class to take home the baby. They were given the option of doing a report on teen pregnancy or take the baby. Well every one in the class was. Not Brianna. Earlier I mention that Brianna refers to taking the class before, well she says she took the class when Mommy was pregnant, and when she was 1 with Daddy. So the teacher decided that doing a report on teen pregnancy, parenting and the effects on the child would just be copies of her baby book so she wasn't really given the option.

Now Brianna loves babies, so she was very exited to get the baby. but the joy is quickly diminishing. I made her push the cart in the grocery store, load the car, put the cart away while i ran to another store, so she had to push the cart back then take the baby back to the car, make her own dinner, and take the baby to the bath room to try to get a shower.. She says she is still happy to have the baby, but it isn't as fun when you can't hand them off to someone else. The puppies keep thinking she brought them a new lick toy. I wonder how she will be holding up by Sunday, after the football game, work on Sat. and the toddlers coming over for the weekend.
I hope this will be enlightening for her.

Night to all, I'm going to try to get some much needed sleep, before all the needy one interrupt it.

Will the Blaaaas ever leave?

So as I was growing up both of my parents battled depression, but we didn't call it that, it was known as the blaaas. So I have noticed that lately that it seem to creep up on me more and more. I do get up but the joy of seeing the sunrise and set just is not their as often. It seems that I keep moving but do not get the amount of things that I need to done. List are normally my friends but I haven't even been able to settle my brain down enough to write them, much less do them. Today we wrote the first list in over a week, and did not get half of it done! These are things that i should be able to do, but they didn't get done. I come home and ask if my kids are really hungry or can we have cereal or Ice Cream for dinner. How bad is that? I am finding my self going to bed early each night, only too wake up at 2 or 3 and stay awake until 5 then the alarm goes off at 6. I don't seem to even find the energy too do things that I shouldn't Like read, or watch t.v. when I should be working or doing laundry. I have food going to waste because I didn't cook for this week on Sunday and I just don't want to deal with it tonight. I had a job interview and I felt so bummed about after and I just don't quite know why. I have never had an interview and not had a job offer but I don't think that I will be having a call back. How negative is that? I need to do something fun, crazy, or rewarding just to get me out of this mood I am in? Can anything come to mind that doesn't take energy, because I just don't have it right now.

On a very cool note, I have a painting from the grandfather of my childhood, that I adore. It is one of my most prized possessions. My dad has been on a big "hang the art" kick. The painting had come loose from the frame, and my parents had started a ocean room that it would look so cool in, so I took it to them and asked if they wanted to hang it, they did and so they took it to have it re framed. Yesterday they come home with the painting re framed and another one blown up and framed. It is just perfect, I started crying. Now I have the original little one and a big poster size one. I just need to find somewhere to hang it.

We have had a very busy week, and I think it might be coming to a close. Thank Goodness!!!

I am a pretty decent cook, But after the week of non stop going I totally messed up many parts of dinner. I went to the store to walk aimlessly up and down the isles, hoping that dinner would just jump into the cart for me. Nope didn't happen so Jo and I decided to have chicken fried steak, corn and mashed potatoes. Quick easy and conforting, we also each got a pint of our favorite ice cream. pretty good right? well we get home and we have many people. So I try to start dinner, I burnt the garlic, pizza for the kids and others who wonder through the door, the butter for the gravy, and forgot to put the ice cream away. If you know me you know that I like soft ice cream, but this was soup. This was not my night! I think it is time for bed!!!

Off to dream land I hope.

I am Back!!!!

I am a bit computer challenged. But the last couple of months have made being online and doing anything with the computer very hard. About 2 0r 3 months age our Internet at home started to be very intermittent. My dad finally got help and we were told that we needed a new router. So off to best buy he goes, gets what ever they tell him he needs and brings it home. There it sits for about a week while my parents keep looking at it.

So my VERY computer illiterate father decides he can install it. Umm did I ever tell you that my dad has severe memory issues? So he goes and installs it and the desktop is working great! Yea Dad. Now can we get on the Internet? Nope, not any of the lap tops can. So another week or so goes by and still no one can get on. I have had a hard time at work with the computer, fan printer, and basically anything that takes electricity.

So tonight I am fed up with all electrical thingies. I will master the Internet issue! So I start tinkering, and running diagnosis, and trying the factory password, then I try the password that My Dad reset it to. Well he always uses my name because he thinks he would never forget it. So off I go and typing my name, you know easy, I couldn't even mess that password up. Nope, not it the password had to be 8 charters long and Faline is only 6 long. So what now.

I gave up on trying to guess what he renamed it to, so I reset it and started the installation process all over again and I got to choose the password. Just to be a little shit to my Dear Dad I choose ......



donotforget

Now we are back on line and you all know our password so if I have this problem again I can get on somewhere and find it out.

Oh and my computer monitor at work has decided that it quit and will not turn on, so no computer there either.

I think the computers have been hanging out with my kids too long, they follow directions about the same.

blogging, blogging, blogging!

My daughter thinks that I have been neglecting my blog and that I have to blog this week.

So here I am blogging to make her happy!

I just wish that this was all it ever took to make her happy.

So today was the first day of school. I promised the kids that last night I would cook a real dinner. Most of the time I preppier some kind of dinner but I haven't been doing the "real" cooking. You know the kind that takes 1 or 2 hours to make. So I made them a real dinner.

We had a lot of food and it was fun to get home early enough to hang out and make dinner together. (to be honest I made dinner while Bri prepped green beans) but It was still fun.

We had orange chicken, mashed potatoes, artichokes, and fresh green beans. All favorite foods of the girls. The other day I made applesauce so I also made applesauce desert. We had been gifted 4 cases of green beans, so we have lots of green beans. They are Josie's favorite food, she is in heaven, or will be once they are all processed and in the freezer. Brianna's favorite food is artichokes, and we have been receiving alot of those recently, so actually both girls were very happy.

The applesauce desert I made last night was very yummy, but the kids were so full of dinner that they didn't eat any last night. So as a first day of school breakfast treat they got last nights dessert. I love eating dessert for breakfast! It just seems so bad for you, when in realty it is much healthier than anything from a bakery or many of the cereals.

This is how to make applesauce dessert...shhhh it is a family secret or so my Aunt says.

First you get out a casserole dish,

depending on how much you want decides the size.

I have even made it in little Tupperware dishes for lunches.

Next you cover the bottom with Cinnamon Graham crackers.

Trader Joe's are the best and piratically guilt free!

Then layer the applesauce.

I use homemade, I think the texture holds better and I like chunks in my applesauce.

Besides I know what is in it and I get to add what ever spice I want.

Then comes the most sin full part.

You layer a whip topping. If I am making it to last for more than one serving I use the lite cool whip. If I am making it for one night I use homemade whip cream, flavored with vanilla and some splenda. But you get to decide how sinful you want it.

Now just repeat until the dish is full, then chill to set.

So easy and so yummy!

That is what I fed my daughters on the first day back to school.

And they thought they were getting a very guilty treat.

As we loaded into the car I made them get back out to take a picture. They were both very sassy about it. Josie was sure me snapping a pit or two would make her late for school.

"You know it is already 6:45 mom"

See the sassy smarta** smile on Josie's face?

I told them that we would not get into the car until I had them smiling.

Now how do keep them smiling like this each morning?

It is over, so now it is back to reality

For the past few months Brianna has been consumed

(well as consumed as a teenager with a boyfriend can be)

with raising her pig for the fair.

She has been showing pigs for the past 7 or 8 years with no real success.

Most of the time she would do well but it just was not outstanding. This year was different.

She did her project at the high school. In the past she has had it at home with me or her father "supervising" her. She decided she wanted it at school with her so she would be supervised by a teacher.

This seems to work for her! She won Reserved Duroc FFA Champion.

This is a very good thing. For those of you who do not follow animal shows,

it is the second best hog in its breed for FFA

This is her showing in her market class.

She is so focused, I am glad I got the picture,

I very seldom see this amount of concentration!

Still in the ring and paying attention!


This is the Auction Ring. Never in my life have I seen her Smile here!
She is always tearing up or in full blown melt down.
She gets so attached that she normally makes herself sick.

Can you guess why she is smiling?





Try and read the top line of the board.
Do you see it?

$8.00 a pound.
She is still on cloud nine.
Normally she has a very big bill to pay her father back for.
So she doesn't get much of it, but this year she only has about $700 into the project, meaning she has a good amount left over.

Now the plans are a brewing!

What would your teen do with about $1300?

We shall wait and see what she decides.

ER run!!!

Well that was fun!
NOT!!!
Lets start by saying that I'm a clutz.
Well, I hurt my wrist so we put into my brace and I managed to hurt it worse. So after church last Tuesday we went to the ER. They took x-rays and tweaked it back into place. Now I'm stuck waring a brace for a minimum of 2 weeks!!!
Love Always,
Bri

Books!!!!!!!!!

Everyone has read a book you can't put down,

and the good place to stop is at the end of the book or even series.

Well I'm reading a couple series like that.

One is The Protectors. Some others are Nobodies Princess,

and The Books of Pellinor.

The books are all about females that are tyring to be warriers.

In The protectors this girl named Kel, is going thought being a page,

squire, and Knight as a girl. She looks up to someone named

Alana The Lioness. But she got to be a knight by posing

to be a boy and fooling every one but the

prince which she was a squire to.

In Nobodies Princess and The Books of Pellinor, they go about as girls

being warriors and encounter many difficulties along the road.

Dancing Away,

Josie

Home School Summer School

Hey its Josie. Okay, we all know that my moms weired right...well she is. the reason this time is that my mom is now home schooling us for summer school. Shes doing this because she doesn't want us to go completely dumb over the summer.

So we were doing our work and my mom found some stats and state capital cards. She thought it would be a good idea to see if we remember all of our state capitals. The only problem is that we don't remember learning them.(We as in being Bri and I.) Our dad have been working on us learning our state capitals for years now.

So we started by reviewing and see how many we knew. I knew 30 on the first try, and Brianna got 10. that's right my 15 year old 10th grade sister only knew 10 of her state capitals!!!

So today we did them again. I got 35 to 45 and Brianna knew 42 to 44. you can see she really improved. and I just have a hard time of remembering. Now you know how different people have different ways of remembering things. For me its way weird. I remember by weird sayings and songs. And my mom and ants give me weird hints that I get and my sister just stares and gets a blank look on her face.

Well I have to get back to home school summer school.

Bai!

Dancing Away,

Josie

Road Trip

Sorry for everything being kinda backwards, this was my first time inserting pics,
so I am still learning!

The seagulls who thought they were invited to dinner!

The fabric that we bought for my next quilt, I think it is number 5 on the to do list. I hope to get it before I don't like the fabric anymore.

Me at the sign to the Carpinteria beach and park.

This is the street in front of the quilt shop in Pismo.

My moms to busy to blog so she is having me blog as my writing

assignment for my at home summer school.

A few weeks ago my mom and I went on a road trip to Santa Barbra. We went on the quilt run(Its where you go from north county to south county, stopping at prearranged quilt shops and you get put in your name for a drawing of fun stuff to win. ) We went down south and hit The Creation Station. It was so much fun! Because they were a bowling alley before they had Wii bowling. Every thing was bowling theme.

Then we went down to Carpinteria and what should be a 30 minuet drive took about an hour and a half. Did you know that the freeway is NOT a parking LOT!!!!! Many people that day did not!By the time we got to the last store they were waiting for us and anybody else that called saying they got stuck in traffic.

We went to a lot of quilt shops like 15 or so. So by the end of the day we just wanted to chill out so we ended up getting a sandwich and went to the beach to eat. This was not a good idea. There was seagulls at the beach and I am afraid of seagulls. We made it through and headed home.

Help the seagulls are attacking!!!!!!

On our way home we went shopping one of a girls best friend. And we got fabric form the shops.

We had tons of fun, so here are some pics of our trip. Hope you enjoy them too!

Dancing Away,

Josie

We are Dancing!

After many long months of learning new dances, endless rehersals, and never having some chill time with Josie, we are done (for now). We have had a few crazy days, making costumes, helping the kids fine tune their dances and finding all the peices that have ran away, because of corse they were put safety where they belong. It is all over now, and was totally worth it! Our little performers put on an awsome show! In the last year our studio was split due to opening another one about 25 miles away. So that means our kids get alot of personal time, and are involved in each number(well maybe not each one, there was 5 or 6 they weren't in). So here are some pics that my very old camera managed to take!

Here are the 5 girls that Josie dances with the most. Can you tell which one is Jo?
Yep, the tall blond.

Here she is doing her turny things!
One day I might learn how to spell it so I can really tell you what they are.

I think this is another cool pic. This dance is called "Tell me Something I Don't Know"
The two in this pic are Josie and Senica. Together they chorigraphed most of the dance.

Well done girls!

Here Josie is in her Very classical Ballet number. It was very graceful.
Such a change from her other stuff. She was so proud to be in this number.

I loved seeing her dance this! She is so tall that her lines are just so long.

Josie and Seneca agian! So beautiful! Tonight was the first time I ever saw this dance. It is a more modern ballet number. So Pretty! I had to keep reminding myself to take pic. I just kept getting caught up in the dance!

More from the same dance. See the look on Josie's face?
No fear, just simple joy. She is so confertable on stage.

This was the last song of the night! Look at how they are still smiling!

This is our Wonderful, and tallented Directior Julie.
Yes she gets up there and performs with the kids!

I am so proud of the awsome performance we had tonight. We are very lucky to have a determind group of parents, kids and staff who put on a great show.

I was blessed to be given the task of selling flowers, so I got to see most of the show. We sell flowers for the dancers as a fund raiser, and I had to fight for the ones that went to the teachers and my girls, so next time I need to remember more flowers! I think the more I have the more I will sell, so yes I need to bring more flowers.

To see some super cute pics of my niece Audrey in the same show check out Gretchen's blog!

Night Terrriors....

I hope Josie dosen't kill me for sharing her little secret, but she had night terriors as a little girl. So MY solution was for her to sleep with me. At 13 it is a little old for her to be in the same bed as me, but I need my sleep, so our solution was for us to share a room. It works pretty well, she goes to sleep pretty fast and sleeps the sleep of the dead, so as long as she is asleep I can do anything and it won't bother her.

Well last week we went to go get her point shoes. She was so exited! She has worked very hard and long for this. When we got home and she was sharing them, my sister thought it would be fun to tease her about "hiding" or "taking" them. Josie went along with it and it didn't bother her. Or so I thought. That night we had a night terror. I don't know if you have experience it before, but she starts screaming, sobbing, and seems to be wide awake but dosn't see or hear you. In her dream someone stole her shoes and there were no more anywhere so she never got to go up on point. After a long while of not being able to wake her out of it I found a solution!

Did you see what finally made her go back to a peaceful sleep? Yep, she slept with her shoes!

Night Terrriors....

they were so cute...

Ok, so tonight Andrew came with us to babysit Nathaniel and Audrey. it was bed time and Audrey wanted Andrew to read her a story. Not just any story but Skippy John Jones. The thing about this book is that it works best when two people read it so Josie and Andrew read the story together. it was so cute to watch and lisson to!!!!

love always
Bri!

meet bri!

Hi!!! My name is Brianna but I go by Bri. I want to tell you a little bit about me and my friends.

I think that you should know that I'm either with friends, family, or my animals.

I spend a lot of time helping my school band. You know taking the instruments out to the field or loading the truck for the a big band concert. Making sure that they remember their music or checking to see if their tie is strait. I listen to them complain about the song that they have to play for graduation next week. Giving in to help them set up for that. The reason that I get roped into helping so much is that my boyfriend and a couple of my other friends are in band.

If I'm not at the band room or the current band event I'm at the pig pens. I have an adorable Duroc gilt. In case you don't know what that means, it means that she is red and a girl. She takes up a lot of my time.

If I have the time I like to go and watch a movie with my boyfriend(Andrew). He is a Jr. at M.B.H.S.

Still I find time to hang out with my cousins(that my mom introduced you to) and all of my other friends. and i stay up to date with all of my school stuff!

I think that I forgot to tell you that I am a freshman at mbhs and that I am about to turn 15!

love always,
Bri!

What a Day!

Today was a pretty busy but good day over all. Warning: I am tiered but exited so I can't sleep, but my internal editing tool all ready went to sleep so you might get more of me rambling than you asked for.

I got today off, so that I may go play the supporting role of mommy and Aunta. We started the day trading cars with my parents so that I may take a few kids with me today. We (the girls and I) left about 9:30 this morning started out to go get a few passengers.

We went and picked up Audrey and Nathaniel. Nathaniel is currently in his wheel chair (not his favorite thing) So I was very thankful that I had the van. He has an oweiee on his little toe, so we have him in his chair so that nothing will be rubbing it and it might have a chance to heal.

Then we stopped by and picked up Andrew (Brianna's Boyfriend) went to go feed the pig, then off to S.L.O. This was a very special part of the day. My little ballerina (Jo.) went to go get her first pair of point shoes. For her birthday (March 30th) she was given permission to go up on point, but with school and dance right after school and then she goes to her dads on the weekend, we just have not been able to schedule a trip to the dance shop for her shoes.

So all 5 kids went to get Josie's shoes. It was so special. She has been working toward this for 10 years. It was great to see her achieve one of her dreams. Audrey sat as close to her as possible, watching every fitting, I could just see the stars forming in her little mind. I took some pics. but left the memory card at work, so I will edit them in later.

As we were getting ready to go, I remembered that I was just a few short blocks from a quilt shop that I wanted to go see. This weekend the central coast is having their annual quilt run. That is were a bunch of shops go in together and set up a challenge to us quilters. We have three days to go see each store. This is a lot of fun and in the past I have done this with my mom. I was not planning on doing it this year, but I was so close I just had to go. I got there and found out that their was only 11 shops in it. I can do that, I was already at one, and later I would be right by another one, so I thought why not.

Off we go to Morro Bay, it is the Jazz Festival weekend so our local Dance studio is performing. I love that our studio is so involved in the local community. It really gives the kids a chance to learn how to perform. With their big show in a week it is really helpful. The kids were great, looked after each other, helped to get everyone ready, and was just plan good. I was just standing there, not having anything to do 'cuz the kids did it all, so our director asked me to introduce the dances. I am terrified of public speaking, can never seem to remember what I want to say, and Julie asked me to help her out. So I agreed, and spent the next 20 min, staring at the dance order, making sure I knew who was in each dance and praying that I could get thru the show. It all went off without a hitch, the kids performed beautifully, and I didn't stammer, ummm, or forget anything. As crazy as all the things the kids do make me I really love to sit back and watch them. Watching Audrey just work the audience with her sweet toothless smile is just too cute for words. Josie is really starting to grow into her talent. In one of her dances she ideally does 6 fuates (spin turns in a row, not stopping or putting her foot down) she normally falls out of it early but today she completed it and didn't fall out. Proud mama I am.

It was after 3 before I got to work and since we close at 5 it was a total day off. Once we closed I took off to go get my card stamped at the rest of the local quilt shops. I made it to three more before they closed at 7. I only have 6 to do tomorrow. I am really exited about this. I love road trips. I love day trips, so tomorrow Josie and I will hit the quilt shops on our way down to Santa
Barbra. I wanted to make it a girl trip, but Brianna has finals next week, so she will spend the day with Matt, where she can get help with her math, science, and computer stuff that I can't do. I will miss her, but this gives me time with Josie. Lately Brianna has grown up so much and is pulling away that I really wanted her to come with me, but she is choosing to do school work so how can I stop her.

Gretchen decide that Nat needed to go see the Dr. so his infection wont get worst, so as I drove by I stopped in to say hi. He Loves getting visits while in the hospital, his little face just lit up. Just cause I walked in. Made me feel so loved, but at the same time sorry for Gretchen. She is the one always there for him, and how often dose she get the full smile when she walks in the door. She guards the door making sure no latex comes into the room, and he doesn't even notice. I know he is just a child, and he dose remember a lot of the time, but is it enough to reaffirm what a great mom she is? Dose she know how truly blessed he is to have her? I know she gets a lot of negativity and criticism from outside sources who are just ignorant, but their words and actions hurt a lot and I just hopes she knows that God chose her to be Nathaniels mom because she is so special and only someone worthy would be trusted to raise a very special gift as Nathaniel.

Better be heading to sleep, Faline