Christmas

Christmas turned out to be a wonderful day and a busy couple of days. The oldest two got pretty much everything they asked for, their wish list had about 5-6 items on them, and one surprise gift. Michaela got a beautiful birthstone pendant and Fred a new Nintendo DS. Veronica and Cara also got spoiled. V got a new keyboard, she loves music and Cara, who is hard to buy for right now, got a musical farm. Plus they all got so much more. Had a friend, Cathy, over for the day and supper which was the best I have made by far, LOL. We went out the night before to look at Christmas lights and got disappointed. I don't know if anyone else has noticed but it seems like less and less people are decorating their houses for Christmas. Veronica enjoyed it and kept saying "Look Daddy, lights. Pretty". I have to admit little children make Christmas a new and exciting experience. It reminds us all to see the world in an exciting new way and to have joy in the simple things. Cara is still to young to enjoy it but next year should be lots of fun. We plan on being in Calgary with Tyler's parents for Christmas which is always fun. I love having a ton of family and friends around during the holidays it just makes it that much more special. Next year Veronica might even understand about Santa but right now she is all about Christ which is the way it should be and I will continue to make sure He is the reason for Christmas day.  A couple of days later Tyler's parents and brother with his two boys came down to exchange presents. They always include Michaela and Fred and get them something which I am grateful for. Veronica and Cara again got spoiled by their grandparents. More toys and some clothes and of course a shopping trip to buy them more things. Grandma loves to shop with the girls, while at least Veronica right now. Veronica loves to talk to andma on the phone, she cant pronounce the Gr yet. It was a great couple of days and having a week off for me to just have my kids around was very relaxing.
We are having friends over for New Years and doing a couple of fondues. Normally we are in bed by 11pm but this year I wanted to do something so this is what I came up with. We shall see how it goes and that will decide if we do it again. I want to have friends over more often this year to visit and play games with. We need to socialize more and get the kids socializing too.
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that you have a Safe and Happy New Year.

Resolutions

Well I can honestly say that I kept my resolutions this past year and it is again time to make more. I plan on keeping the ones from last year but adding a few new ones.

1. I have 3 Blogs...Post once a week on family blog.
2. Try to stress less about financial situation.
3. Cross stitch more
4. Read the scriptures more and books less.
5. In April, Cara will be 1 and weened then, start to lose baby weight, goal lose 25-30 lbs.
Now for the list from last year
6. Spend at least one night a week playing board games
7. Sit down and craft every other day, include the kids at least once.
8. Manage time better.
9. Take more pictures and get a Family photo (this one is unfinished from last year)
10. Finish making my Wedding Album. The pp is selected I just need to do LOs now.

I wish everyone a Happy and Safe New Year.

Early Mornings

Well here I am again awake at 3am with the youngest child. I am not working either job today and here I though I would get to sleep in until 7am, NOT. In the past 2 weeks I have had about 4 of these mornings when she wakes up, nurses then refuses to go back to sleep. She might get to sleep during the day but I don't. Plus I have discovered that I don't get tired until 10 the following night so by then I have been up for about 18+ hours, its GREAT. I mean part of the problem is she was so sick that she could not breath correctly and now she has a cough trying to bring up all the congestion left from being sick. Makes for one miserable baby and one tired, crank mom. I am one that needs at least 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep otherwise I am the miserable beast. I am soooo looking forward to weaning her and getting to sleep through the night in another 4 months by then she should be on all solids and taking cows milk in a bottle or sippy cup. Plus at this time of night what is there for me to do with a little child on my lap?? So here I sit checking out my fav. websites, blogs and blogging myself. Might give WOW a try later if I am still up. Also will have on heck of a headache in the morning so looks like my breakfast will include a can of coke to get rid of it. If I am lucky will be able to nap this afternoon when both my little girls have a nap. Fingers crossed for that. Well I should go and surf some more and hope the littlest one falls back to sleep soon.

Christmas Spirit were art thou?

So Christmas is here and right now I am not in the Spirit for it. I am sure that will change with a little time. I am sure it is because I feel stressed. Had 5 huge swaps I had to finish and post before Dec.1 done, back working evenings at Cleo so I have lost much needed me time. I work 5 days a week, first I watch other peoples kids all day then I go and work 3.5 hours more in a mall doing retail just so we can have some extra money at Christmas time. This year it is tight again so there will not be many presents under the tree. Maybe that is the problem, I will not be able to start Christmas shopping for a least another week but will be doing my Christmas baking this Saturday that is always fun. Then I can make up my gifts for friends and deliver them that will help. Planning on having a friend or 2 over for New Years and doing a fondue party, YUMMY. I have all my kids home this year so we are not going anywhere for Christmas but it sounds like Tyler's parents and brother might be coming down. I CANT wait for that, I love having family over and enjoy it when it is in my home. Will be a little crowded but that is fine and I don't have to worry to much about what is under the tree, they always bring presents for all the kids. Veronica and Cara are sure to get spoiled by them too.
Fred turned 13 this year and we will be having his birthday this weekend, a little later then planned but then he could not decide what he wanted to do for it. Cara is very sick, she is having problems breathing because she is soo congested and she cant nurse so I am pumping and she is finally using a bottle. I hope she starts to get better soon I hate seeing them this little and this sick because there is not much I can do. She got a blessing so I know that will help and see does seem to be breathing better this morning. Tyler has given up the bed so that she can sleep with me. He is so wonderful and thoughtful I don't know what I would do without him. I love him very much...I cant wait until the day we can be sealed together with all our kids as a family in the temple! I know it is in the future for us and I just have to wait and be patience.
Fred and Michaela only have 2 weeks left for school, WOW. Then Michaela heads to Cold Lake to work until Christmas Eve she will be greatly missed. It is such a wonderful opportunity for her. She will be working for a friend of mines parents in their Jewelry store for the Christmas season. She will be working 8 hr days and paid $10/hour so that should be about $500 which is the last amount she needs for her Cuba Trip. She will have paid for the whole thing herself. I am so proud of her doing that and I know she will enjoy the trip much more knowing that she worked to get herself there. Plus while she is gone to Cold Lake it will give Fred the chance to prove himself to Tyler and I because he will have to take up the slack of work that Michaela tends to do. Well I feel much better now and plan on doing some crafting today and that too will pick me up. Merry Christmas all and chat soon I hope.

Sadness and healing

A friend of mine lost one of her sons yesterday. It has been a hard fight. He ended up in the Hospital about a month ago with lower abdominal pain. The doctors found a that he had bleeding in his intestines and thought that he might have colitis plus they had to insert a tube in his neck but I am unsure what it was for. He ended up getting a ecoli infection in that tube by his neck and it was not responding to treatment so the Doctors decided to fly him to Calgary to the Peter Lougheed Hospital were he would be under the care of several specialist with the hopes that they could get him better. For about 3 weeks it was all looking positive and then his body stopped responding to the drugs. Saturday afternoon the Doctors had exhausted all their knowledge and it was now a waiting game. Yesterday afternoon the Lord called him home and he left this earthly plane. I sit here writing this and cry. As a parent we should not have to watch our children suffer and die. My HEART hurts for my friends so much. I wish I could be there to give them hugs and to cry with them. I am so grate full that my children are all healthy and strong. Having found out that he has passed away makes me want to go and grab each of my children and just hug them close and not let go. I cant imagine what they are going through. I am so grateful for my beliefs and that I know without a dought that they will be together again for all time and eternity after this life. That is a huge comfort to know that should anything happen they will be a family again in our Heavenly Father's home. Their son is now free of pain and hurt, he is in the healing embrace of our Lord and I am sure he will be an angel watching over his loving mom.

Winter is here

Weather reports says it will snow for the next 3 days. Well this morning I woke up and saw blowing white stuff. It is sad really because the Christmas lights are not up outside yet and it is blowing like crazy. Temp is   -3 right now with it getting colder by this afternoon. Up to 5cm of snow but we wont know it because it is all blowing away. It rained last night before it snowed so the roads are going to be slick. Tyler started working today at 6am which is nice because he will then be home at 2pm. I start working next Monday at Cleo in the evenings. We have been seeing how Cara does without me in the evenings. Leaving her in the living room with Tyler or Michaela and then I hit my scrapbook room down the hall and stay there. If she doesn't see me or hear my voice she is fine. If she does see/hear me she crawls down the hall to me. It is very cute. She should be fine while I am gone. She is still nursing but eats foods to so they should be able to feed her something until I get home after 9pm. I look forward to working in the evenings as it will give me something to do and I love Cleo and the people I work with there. I would love to go back to full time but that will have to wait until the kids are in school, childcare is way to much money! Off to enjoy staying indoors and reading/stitching with the kidlets :)

Super Saturday

What a crazy weekend it has been. Relief Society had our Super Saturday and man it was busy. Had to take Cara with me because it was an all day event and she is not ready to stay home yet. She did really well in the morning playing in the playpen but come lunch and the afternoon she was not cooperating. Was able to feed her and get her to sleep for about an hour so I could go eat. All the homemade soups were wonderful and the squares too. I love my sweets, LOL. So the classes that I took were an beautiful Advent calendar that said "Tis the Season for CHRIST" then most of the squares had pictures of Christ on them. I used some pics of little children praying, sharing, etc. as well. It turned out wonderfully. Each one that was done turned out differently. I used snowflakes and blues for the card stock because I did not want it to be Christmas designs even though it is a Christmas decoration. I also attended a cupcake decorating class and am finally able to make roses out of icing! So excited that I can do that. Now just need to buy more tips since my have disappeared. Also made little tutus for the girls. Veronica's is a little large, oops and Cara's is a Tutu dress which still needs to get done. Plus made matching head bands for them.

Monday will be a busy day for me this week, Nov. 11 is a holiday so I have all the kids I normally babysit and my sisters 3 kids while my mom and Bill are in court to find out if they stay in custody or if my sister gets them back. They were here Thursday and Friday for the same reason and mom said it looks good that the kids will be staying in care. That means private guardianship for my mom and Bill. But Nicole's Lawyer still has to present his case and that happens on Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday the Judge will also make a decision on what happens to the kids. I hope they stay with mom and Bill because they will at least get the help they need mentally and physically. If they go back to Nicole I can see that with in a year they will be back in care. There is no way she will be able to take care of the boys. She has not had them in over 2 years and has no clue at their behaviour issues or that there are mental problems too. She refuses to except the fact that both boys are ADHD, and that they need medication. She "feels" that is just a label. Fred has been diagnosed with ADHD and is on medication that seems to help him and it makes his life much more productive. Once a decision has been made I will post at let you all know. This whole process is very frustrating because the kids should of only been in care for a year and then this should of been in court, it was handle very poorly by social services and for the longest time they didn't think there was an issue with Nicole but now that all the experts have had a say in the case it just shows that she is incapable of taking care of kids.

Busy so busy

Sorry it has been over a month and I have not posted anything. I must put this onto my "To Do" list so that I can at the very least post something once a week. Well it is the start of November which means my favourite season. I LOVE winter time and Christmas. I love the snow, but hate the cold, I love all the decorated house, but hate putting up lights, and I love the spirit that seems to catch almost everyone. I cant wait to put up all my Christmas decorations and tree. I love a traditional Christmas so my house tends to be more classically decorated. I believe in the less is more and those things that do come out for decorations should reflect that. I need to get out my lights for the outside of the house because those have to go up before it snows. We left the clips up last year so just need to get out the light strings. If I remember correctly some of them need to be replaced. Will have to hit the dollar store soon to pick up a couple of things for gifts I am in the process of making. Going to do a lot of baking and hand that out to friends, you can never have too many homemade goodies at Christmas time.

OK so for Halloween, Veronica dressed up as Tigger of course and Opa is the one that found the costume and sent it to her. Cara wore Veronica's Tigger outfit from last year so I had to Tiggers. Michaela was a Druid Goddess and Fred was a wizard from one of the D&D books he is reading. Saturday I took the 2 littlest ones to the Trunk & Treat at the church, Veronica loved it going from each car saying "Treat peas". Sunday Michaela had a concert down at the mall and they were to wear their costumes. Then once she was done we went and stopped at Jason & his Girlfriends place were the kids got popcorn balls, Yum. Then off to pick up Tyler and show off the costumes to Shaun's mom. Once we got home Tyler took Veronica out trick or treating. She LOVED it but I think she loved handing out the candy to the kids once she got home too.
Cara is moving all over the place. She went from rolling to creeping in 1 1/2 weeks. Now she is combat crawling and trying to get up on her hands and knees. She is already very quick and I am not completely looking forward to the real crawl because then it will be next to impossible to keep her somewhere. She has even started to follow me down the hall to my scrap booking room to be close to me. She is a mamma's girl for sure. She is being very difficult when it comes to learning to eat solids. If she can put it in her mouth then she is willing to eat it. I have found a few things she will let me feed her. Yogurt, Vanilla custard, chocolate pudding and of course french fries.
Well that should bring everyone up to date. I will do my darnedest to post something new within the next 7 days. Until then have a wonderful life everyone.

Crafts

So I love crafts. Anyone that knows me, knows I love to cross stitch and my second favourite past time is scrap booking which has evolved into any paper crafts and altering items, LOL. I said to Tyler a couple of months ago that I would LOVE to learn about cake decorating, his response was "don't you have enough hobbies?" Well I will put the cake decorating on hold for now because it really doesn't fit into my busy life. So now my days consist of watching kids, my own and others, house duties, crafting and if I am lucky until Hockey season starts watching my favourite shows, Bones, Criminal Minds, House, Smallville, Fringe and Dances with the Stars. Add on top of that, time on the computer maybe playing WOW (world of warcraft), Facebook, correspondences, church callings, and 2 blogs. Yes 2 blogs, this one for my journal and one just to showcase my creative designs, which I hope to start selling my cross stitch from in a couple of months.  If you want to check it out here is the address http://drayia.blogspot.com/ . My friends think I am insane or a superwoman because all I do, I just laugh because there is so much more that I should do but don't and they just see the surface things. They still tell me I am amazing and I just shrug and just keep going. Most of what I do helps keep me from going crazy because watching little kids all day can drive me nuts, I love it and love the age that I watch but some days when they are all whiny or screaming I just want to run away. So my crafts and most importantly my cross stitch gives me the patience I need to deal with them day in and day out.

One of those weeks

I have no idea were this week went. Doesn't seem like I got anything done but Friday is here already. Have you ever had one of those weeks were everyday seems to continue even if you have had sleep. That's what if feels like to me. I know I have been very busy but it doesn't look like it. There is still so much to do. I have to finish my paper work to take Jason back to court, I will not go in to that here as this blog is for my family and not for me to vent. Laundry, clean the downstairs which is our main living space, move somethings around, help Michaela go through her closet and organize it so that somethings can be moved around. Need to measure her room and plan how I am going to put Veronica and Cara in there this February. Measure the office, were Cara is now and plan on how I am going to fit my scrapbook stuff in there. I like it all to be planned out before I move everyone around. Come February every one's room is changing except Tyler's and mine. It will be a pain but is needed. Veronica and Cara get the master bedroom upstairs, Fred moves into Veronica's room, and Michaela moves into Fred's room. All my scrappy stuff which is in the master bedroom downstairs moves into the office and we get our Bedroom back which will be nice. Looks like we will be staying here even if the rent goes up, wanted to get into a rent-to-own but so far not possible. They want a 3% down for you to move into their houses, if I had a down payment or was able to save one I would not want to go into a rent to own I would just go to the bank for a mortgage. Oh well we will see how things go in the spring. Anyways off I go to get started on my list of things to do for Friday so that my weekend can be somewhat free of chores :D

Pasttimes

I have hobbies as I am sure everyone has. I have always loved to make things with my hands but never thought of myself as that creative. My mom's opinion is I am very creative but then moms are suppose to be supportive no matter how bad we actually are. I have been scrap booking for years, way back when all you did was crop, punch, journal and add some flat stickers and that was a page. Of course scrap booking has become so much more now a days. There are some truly gorgeous layouts out there. I still consider myself to be a basic, simple scrap booker even if everything I do has to have some sort of bling on it. My hobby started out as an obsession with colour, glitter, scent, etc pens. Figured I use put all these pens to use that I was buying and collecting. Tried my hand at scrap booking when Michaela was 5, she is now 16. That first summer I spent over $500, I know this because I had a punch card at the store and had to get a second one by August of 2005. I finished Michaela's album until she was 6, Jason and mine wedding album, Frederick's first 3 years and a general family album. Then I stopped for no reason then the fact Jason did not like my work nor the fact that I cropped the pics I used. When I got remarried and pregnant it was time to start again. I have a ton of pics to do, from when Michaela and Frederick were young to now. I have Veronica's first year layouts done but not all the pics printed. I have layouts for Cara's album but again need to print out the pics. Want to start on a album for Michaela to give her when she graduates next year so have to start on that. Need to start on a album Tyler & my wedding as well as a general family album too.
Now in the last 3 years I joined sb.com and have been doing swaps and building up my supplies, which now I must start to use :) In the last year I have started to do card making as well, which I find very fun to do. This past summer I started to alter things for my scrap room which I one day will have, as well as doing some very creative swaps that have nothing to do with scrap booking but push my comfort zone in creativity. All this is good as once Veronica and Cara are in school, in 5 years, I will be going back to work. I will be going after a management job with my favourite store here called Scrapbookers Paradise. It seems that every 10 months or so they are looking for a manager, from what the staff is willing to tell me it is because the ppl they keep hiring have no clue when it comes to management and are limited in their creativity. I am hoping that when I am ready to come back to work that I will have quite a portfolio of different paper crafts/creations for them to see as well as my previous experience working for a national retail store in Management. I know that is far in the future but it never hurts to start planning now.

So sorry

So sorry I have been slacking on my blog entries. I have taken the last month off from everything that I can. Needless to say my house is a mess, need to do laundry and get everything ready for the start of school next week. OK that means working the kids hard for the next couple of days. Michaela is having her 16 birthday party on Thursday so we have 2 days to make the house look somewhat clean. Then Friday I need to drop them off in Taber for cornfest with the Grandparents. They will be back Sunday ready to go to school on Monday. I love this time of year because things settle back down into a routine which I love. Up early, get kids ready for school, start my day and then start making supper, evening homework if any and then a family game. This year we as a family are going to start a whole lot of things to make us, hopefully, a better family, closer and more loving. I decided that with the start of school it would be the perfect time to start a new routine.

Before I list what changes we are making I will let you all know that we are members of The Church of Latter-day Saints or in other words Mormans. So all our changes that we are making will help us be better members too.

Here is how a day will go. Up early to have family prayer, breakfast, then send the 2 oldest off to school. My job, which is a day home then begins. Lunch, nap, outside then it is time to start supper, kids home from school. Homework for them, kids I watch picked up, supper then dishes. Right after dishes we will have scripture study and then family prayer. If there is time a family game, then get ready for bed. Once the middle two are in bed then there hopefully will be some me time depending on how Cara is that night. Plus on Monday nights we will have Family Home Evening with a lesson.

These are changes that I know are needed in our family and hopefully they will bring us together as a family and closer to our Heavenly Father as well.

Weekend Worries

This past weekend we traveled up to Sundre for Tyler's Granddad's 70 Birthday party. All the family was there for Saturday. They rented a big jumper for the kids, had water games and Sunday morning golf for a couple of them. Bunch of us were staying in Uncle Darren's house and the rest had brought trailers. Veronica had lots of fun with her cousins, Hailey, Claire, and Matty are 3, Conner is 7 and Kennedy is 12. Veronica attached herself to Kennedy. Followed her around every were it was cute. Cara was the youngest one there and of course everyone wanted to hold her. I was informed she is very much a Sanregret baby because she is chunky. Veronica gets her curly hair from her Great Granddad. Well the most exciting and scary thing happened on Saturday after Jay arrived. The brothers, Tyler, Jay and Travis were throwing a football around with their Granddad when Tyler started to experience heart issues. He never said anything and figure that his heart would stop racing if he relaxed for a bit. Stupid, stubborn men. Jay needed to go into town to pick up some parts for his trailer so Tyler said he would drive him in. They went to several places and it wasn't until they got to Home Hardware that he remained in the car because his heart was still racing. They got back to the house and Tyler said he was going to lay down as he did not feel well. As he was walking back to the house he turned around and came back and said that it would be a better idea if he went to the hospital. I asked him if he was serious and he was like yeah his heart was racing and he could not feel his left arm. PANIC sets in for me as I am holding Cara to nurse her and I am not sure what to do. Lucky his mom sees me about to panic and tells me to sit down she will take Tyler in and not to worry. So she is back in about 20 minutes by herself and I hand off Cara and meet her at the car. I ask where is Tyler. The Doctors want to keep him for a couple of hours and run some tests. His ECG came back abnormal and when admitted his heart was beating above 190/min. I then borrowed her car and went to visit him. He was lying relaxing but every time he moved even to get water his heart rate went passed 100. Like a typical male he told me not to worry and that he was fine. He felt very tired like he had just run a marathon. I left so he could sleep because there was nothing else I could do and if I had stayed he would not of rested he would of tried to keep me entertained. They were able to get his heart down to about 100/min which is still high for him. He had something called SVT and as long as it doesn't happen again then he should be fine. When they finally released him about 4 hours later the Doctor told him he needed to get a Echo cardiogram done. The rest of the weekend pass by uneventfully thankfully. Now all I have to do is get him an appointment to see a Doctor who can refer him to a Cardiologist it have the Echo cardiogram done. I really don't feel like raising two small children on my own so it is time to make changes to our diets and lifestyle so he stays healthy and strong.

Sleep finally

Cara is our most recent addition and will be our last unless we add pets but no more kids. I think 4 is enough for us. She is now going on 3 months thank goodness. Ok so we were spoiled with Veronica because she was a very easy going baby and had no problem sleeping at night. Cara on the other hand is very fussy from about 10-midnight every night. The past 4 days even though she is fussy it does not last as long and she is sleeping about 4-5 hours every night which means I am finally getting some sleep too. Plus she now sleeps fine in her bassinet which she also most to big for so time for the baby monitor to be moved to her room and to try the crib. Cara was born 7lbs now she is about 15lbs. She out weighs my friend's 5 month old and almost weighs as much as my other friend's 9 month old. LOL. In fact Veronica only weighs 25lbs so we figure Cara is going to be bigger and taller then Veronica because lots of people are mistaking Cara for a 6 month old. Half the clothes that Veronica wore are packed back up because Cara does not fit them and I had to get out the box of 3-6month sizes and some of the 12 month sizes too. Here we thought we would not have to buy clothes except for Veronica but it looks like we need to get clothes for both lol. I joke that Cara is trying to catch up to Veronica even though there are 20 months between them. People are saying that in a years time I might have a set of twin toddlers on my hands if Cara continues to grow the way she is.

Family

So this weekend was very busy. First it was Canada Day on Thursday. Tyler's parents arrived that afternoon and of course once they had the trailer all setup we went shopping. Grandma loves to take Veronica shopping and let her get anything she wants. Veronica got a new outfit, a tiger flashlight that roars, and some little people to go with her growing collection of toys. Grandma also picked up a outfit with Piglet on it for Cara, which is fitting as she is a little piglet right now. Opa had to have some coffee from Timmy's so he picked up a snack pack of timbits too and fed them to Veronica plus gave her a chocolate chip cookie. After shopping they went back to the camp ground for some RnR and came back after supper. Grandma then gave Veronica a box of smarties, she said Veronica needed to know that Grandma always had something in her purse for her, LOL. You have to love grandparents. Friday was low key as Tyler had to work and so did I. When Veronica got up in the morning the first thing she said was "grandma?" She want to know were she was. It is obvious that in a short time Grandma has become very important to her. Of course that might have something to do with the fact every time Grandma comes to visit she takes Veronica shopping and lets her get anything she wants! My dad arrive in the afternoon and we watch FIFA soccer, LOL. I have not seen my dad in about 9 years so it was great to see him. He turns 60 next year and they, the military, are already planning his retirement and birthday party. It is in February and in British Columbia so I will not able to go. He stayed until Saturday afternoon because he had to get back to Wainwright for work on Sunday. He and Tyler seemed to get on fine not that matters as we wont be seeing him or that side of the family often or ever due to the distance between us. On Sunday my mom and step dad with the kids, Isabeau, Dedrick, and Ronan, came in from Taber. Bill, my stepdad, was blessing Cara and giving Fred the Priesthood. Tyler and his parents also came to church that day. We took up a full large pew, LOL. It was wonderful to have everyone there. After church we went home to have lunch and to send Fred off to Taber for July. We will not see him until August sometime. This gives us a time off from him which we need and to recharge our batteries to continue to deal with him.

were did the week go?

wow cant believe it is already Wednesday. My last two weeks have flown bye so quickly I feel like I have not accomplished anything. Today I need to get the house clean from top to bottom. I have a ton of family coming to town. My dad, who I have not seen in about 6 years is coming to visit. He is in Wainwright right now teaching a bunch of military guys how to be better soldiers. He is only about 7 hours away instead of 20. He has not met my husband or his 2 youngest grand babies plus he will be meeting Tyler's family too. Tyler's mom and step-dad are coming to visit and camp for the July 1 holiday too. They are bring their trailer so I don't have to worry about where they will be staying but my dad has not called or email me back yet to let me know if he will be staying here and for how long. Then on Sunday Cara gets blessed so mom and Bill are coming in from Taber with my sister's 3 kids for that. Bill will be doing the blessing. Still need to call people about that. UUUGGGG to much to do. Have to call Service Canada today and find out about Michaela's passport so she can go to Cuba in February 2011, and need to find out what needles she needs. Also need to call my up line at Avon to find out how to reactivate someone and to get my order released on time. Well I guess I will be busy on the phone because if dad doesn't email me back today I will have to call him tonight. I love having family around and I love being busy but I actually have other things I need to be doing this week. Oh well will have to push them aside until next week and then mail everything out. LOL Have a wonderful July holiday everyone!

Friday already.

Were did the week go? Very busy week was not on my computer very much at all that's why there are no new post. LOL told you I was a bad journal writer. Lets see if I can summarize my week. Ended up babysitting 3 days instead of 4, called all my Avon customers and delivered most of the orders. Had to find utilities bills that were a year old for the landlord. Found out I was paying utilities for 2 months at my old place after I had moved. Journal about 10 pages in Veronica's baby/photo album. Altered a storage container that looks like a book to hold my Cuttle Bug embossing folders. Downloaded a ton of pics to the computer then uploaded all my scrappy work to my scrapbook.com page. Cara has taken up a lot of time and right now will not let me do anything if she is awake. Once 9:30pm hits if she falls asleep while being held we can't even put her down. She tends to cry on and off from 10 until midnight most nights so lack of sleep right now is an issue. Love the little squirt no matter how much of a pain she can be. Veronica goes to bed fine but then gets up and plays or read on the floor. She has been pulling her pillows and blanket down too so if we have not checked on her and put back into bed she wakes up there too, stinker.

The Big Cook

So I don't know how many of you have hear of the The Big Cook cook book but I am planning on doing one. Basically the idea is you prepare a bunch of meals and freeze them for cooking later on. They have each recipe set up 1, 4, 6, or 8 meals and gives you the option to cook it in the oven, microwave, or slow cooker and some of them you can BBQ. Each meal feeds 4-6 people. Perfect for my family but would be perfect for anyone as you would have left overs for the next day. The idea is to get several people together to share to cost and prepare a ton of meals. I plan on doing this myself unless I end up finding someone who wants to participate in it with me. In the Appendix of the book it has 2 sample cooks. Each sample consists of 14 different recipes and a shopping list with exact amounts of ingredients to buy. The recipes are a mix of chicken, beef and pork so you get a good range of flavors. The plan is to purchase the all the spices and non perishable foods over the summer and then in the fall get all the meats, produce and dairy need to make the meals. Each cook listed makes enough suppers for 3 full months. Now for me with a large family to feed which includes hubby and 2 teenagers, one of which is a boy who will eat everything in site, plus trying to look after my other 2 children under the age of 2 and run my day home and Avon business I don't always have time to make a great meal. I plan on buying as much as I can at the dollar store to help save money on the cost. Then once I have the cook done I have 3 months to buy the ingredients for the next 14 recipe cook listed. By January of 2011 I will know out of the 28 recipes which ones to make again and I will try more of the recipes. I think this will be a cost and time saving thing to do. I will keep you up to date on it and how much it all ends up costing me. I think the most expensive things will be all the meat.

UUUGGGGG

So I didn't write anything on Friday because I was still trying to process everything. Now that I have had the weekend to think about things I can calmly write it down.

Friday morning I get a call from Fred's vice principle. I was expecting this as Fred told us there was a problem at the assembly Thursday with another boy. Fred did not tell us everything. So Fred did not start things which is good but he was excessive in his response to the boy. He understands now that he should of gone to a teacher and let them handle it in stead of kicking the boy so hard. Fred got suspended for 2 days from school and is only allowed back to take his exams. I wont go into all the details, lets just say it was a very serious transgression because he was the only one suspended. Of course as parents, Tyler and I had to be very harsh with him to make sure there is no repeat of this. All his privileges have been suspended, which he can earn back based on good behaviour. All media and electronic games and devices have been suspended for at least 4 months. This last is extremely hard for him because he is not a reader so he is bored ALL the time. Just means I will send him outside to entertain himself. Also wil not buy him a new DS like he wants, he doesnt need one.

I though long and hard about this next point. Warned him that if he hurts Veronica or Cara that he will be sent to live with his Dad. Not the best solution but I have to think of their safety first. They cant defend themselves so it is up to me to protect them even if that means protecting them from their brother. I dont know what else to do with him. He has gone to angry managment, had counselling etc. But he continues to act out violently. If any of you have some ideas I am open to hearing and trying them.

What???

Life got in the way yesterday so still cleaning up my scrappy mess. This evenings project my work desk. The computer desk and most of the containers are organized and put away. Found someone to donate my unwanted scrappy stuff to. They will be using it at a kids camp for crafts. Hopefully will finish up my scrappy area tonight so I can start working on LOs and a swap that is due at the end of July. I have learned that when sending to the states I have to allow at least 2 weeks for it to get there on time. Canada's postal system sucks even when pay extra to expedite it.
Made a double batch of Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies today and then found out the little boy I watch might be diabetic so he cant eat them. UUGGG I would not be able to live with dietary restrictions, I put enough of those on myself. Michaela is pretty much finished school, she has one exam on Friday then that is it for the year. She is starting work next week and will be mowing lawns and general labour again this year. She is saving everything to go on a trip to Cuba in February. My job is to get her a pass port.
Cara slept for 5 hours last night so went to bed at midnight then up at 5 am for a feeding. Hope she continues this. It would be nice if I could get her to bed earlier. Must remember she is only 2 months and it takes time so I need to be patient.
Well time to get off of here and get to work, night all.

Now were to start

Yesterday I started to reorganize my scrappy area. Well it never got finished yesterday and today I have move more of my album and all the stuff I had upstairs that I was working on into my room. I am feeling a little overwhelmed, I have no idea where to start. I have to big baskets full on my bed, organizers all over my floor in front of my desk and my desk piled high. The only clear space is my computer desk. I think I will start with the baskets on my bed because most of that goes in the large wall unit I move and organized yesterday, then on to the stuff on the floor and last my working desk. During all this reorganizing I have been going through everything and trashing things I have held on to for one reason or another. The scrappy stuff I don't use is going into a container and then donated. I have a friend on scrapbooks.com that needs it for kids crafts at a summer camp she volunteers at every year. That way there is no waste of some perfectly good things that are just not my style.
Well before I get to continue with the organizing, I just got a call from the parent that I babysit for and they are bring him by now since he seems much better then he did this morning. Puts all plans on hold because I also have a interview with another parent but place their child here so I need to do some cleaning upstairs while the kids sleep. Once that is done hopefully I will be able to spend a few hours on my scrappy area until they wake up and my appointment. gets here. Well got to go and feed the kidlits then nap, sweep and mop floors then back downstairs. LOL what a busy day this is turning into.

Crazy I know!

So have no children to watch other then my own so I decide to organize my scrapbook/craft area in my master bedroom. Right now I don't have much space because we turned the office into Cara's room. Every time I want to do any scrappy stuff I have to choose everything I want and move it upstairs to the kitchen and take over the kitchen table. I hate doing this because then the table has to be cleared off everyday and things stacked on my floor. Then while I am scraping and want other embellishments or paper have to go downstairs to our bedroom and pull more stuff upstairs. UGGGG what a bother.
Next year if we are still in this place Veronica and Cara will share the master bedroom upstairs and Michaela will be move into Veronica's old room. It is about half the size of the master bedroom and she won't have her own bathroom anymore. She is sad about the bathroom part and she needs to down size all the "stuff" she has.
Anyway back to the reorganizing. I pulled everything off my shelving unit and moved it closer to the door so that I could move my plastic draw shelves closer to my desk. Everything got piled onto the bed and now trying to decide how I want it all stored again. At this time bed is still half covered but I had to take a break. Next need to clean off my computer desk, work desk and reorganize the filing cabinet so that I have a place for my Avon info, books, and orders. I can't wait for next year because if we are still here I will have my own space and our master bedroom downstairs will be just that a bedroom.
Now I keep saying "if we are still here". What I am referring to is our lease is up and as long as our landlord doesn't increase our rent we will resign and continue to live here. If he wants to up the rent then we will be looking for a new place. Which can be hard to find as we need at least a 4 bedroom if the rooms are large, if not then a 5 bedroom. Now if that happens then we are planing on talking to someone in our ward that does "Rent to Own" properties so we can move into our own place. If we have to move then please let it be into something we can call ours.

My day

Welcome, I am a terrible journal writer but I know it is important to keep one. I am more aware of that now then when I was growing up. I think that keeping this blog will help me be more committed to journal writing as I spend a lot of time on the computer once my children are in bed.
My days start at about 6:00am and go until about midnight. Plus I am up at least once in the night. This is due to the ages of my children. Michaela is 16 and she needs to be up early for seminary every day, then there is Frederick, 12, he has an alarm but refuses to get up when it goes off. Next I have Veronica, 1 1/2, will wake up early if the older two make too much noise, and last Cara who at this time is 1 1/2 months. She is the reason for the late nights and, if I am lucky, 4 hours I get to sleep before she wakes for her feeding at 3:30am. Then back to sleep until 6:00 or 6:30. Now this would not be to bad if I got to nap in the day with my two little girls but I run a day home and I am an Avon consultant/team leader. So during the day I watch other people's children along with my own and when they have quiet/nap time in the afternoon I tend to be on the phone taking orders or helping out my team members with Avon. The older two have school and are normally home by 4pm. They do their homework or if they have none, read for an hour, while I am preparing supper. Supper time can be hectic as Cara nurses at the same time we sit to eat. 7pm and it is time for Veronica to have her bottle of milk before bed. 8pm Fred goes to bed and then 10pm for Michaela and me if I want Cara to settle for the night, otherwise I am up until midnight with her.