I can't believe we are two months into our school year, the twins turned TWO, we had a super fun family Staycation and I haven't blogged about any of it! I tried to post from my phone on our homeschool blog, but it kept erring out so that didn't happen, either.
In the past few months, we have definitely turned a corner in our post-twin-arrival life. We can actually DO things, and plan things, and have them go somewhat as expected. The twins go to a sitter who lives down the street from us three mornings a week while we do some of our homeschool, and after the first few times of crying for 5 or so minutes, GubGub was just fine with it. Now they look forward to playing with "Hayla" (Makayla) and Peyton. It has been so nice to have the time to do school uninterrupted, and to not feel like I'm just shuffling them to the side while I try and do things. Noodle is a pretty fantastic babysitter, and can manage for 2-3 hours without a problem, so David and I get to go on DATES again! They go to sleep around 8 o'clock and the vast majority of the time they sleep until at least 6 a.m., often 6:30. GubGub is the early bird, sometimes waking too early (5-6:00) and not going back to sleep, but overall it's pretty good. Sleeping well is something I will never take for granted again as long as I live. Okay, I probably will take it for granted because that's how humans are, but I certainly have a new appreciation for it after the 15 or so months of lousy to awful sleep I had after they were born.
So now that I am feeling human again, I am trying hard to find some parts of the old me that kind of went into hiding the past couple years. It's hard to feel just sort of broken, and realize you've been feeling that way for a while but there just wasn't time to really look at yourself and assess the damage. I've also come to the somewhat painful realization that some areas in my life that need attention and improvement aren't going to just get better on their own. Some things you don't grow out of, no matter how old you get. You actually have to dig in and do the work yourself. Talk about disappointing! I guess there really aren't a lot of automatic perks that come with aging. Self-improvement requires effort. Boo. (Imagine a somewhat sarcastic winky face here.)
I'm feeling hopeful about life, generally, though. David is totally rockin' the data science world and it is neat to see him excelling at something that suits his interests and talents so well. I'm grateful beyond words to have him doing something that he both enjoys and provides for our needs and many wants. It was a long time coming.
Well, I'm sure I could go on a bit more about various things, but it's past eleven and I'm trying to be responsible and get enough sleep. Most nights, anyway.
Showing posts with label update. Show all posts
Showing posts with label update. Show all posts
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Saturday, May 03, 2014
"It's life, Jim, but not as we know it…"
I was very surprised to pull up my blog and see that I haven't, in fact, blogged EVEN ONCE this year! Wow! I actually did start another side blog to kind of vent about things and work through some thoughts, so maybe that counts for something in the grand blogosphere of life. I also haven't read most of the blogs I used to follow in that time. And it isn't that I'm not online, because I am. I just do 99% of my online time on my phone, because I'm either nursing toddlers & putting them down for naps or sitting near kids who are working on school and need me "on call," so I will go days without sitting at my computer. And another factor is that Noodle has become quite the Scratcher and so it can be a challenge to even get a chance to sit at my computer. And when I do finally have a chance, Gub Gub thinks he needs to climb on the chair, on me, on the shelves next to my desk, so it's a bit of a circus and not conducive to sitting and thinking or writing. Or really anything for that matter besides going a little more crazy.
But life is pretty good. The twins sleep through the night most nights, though there's been something unknown going on this past week which has disrupted that, so that means I get a fairly good chunk of uninterrupted sleep and now feel pretty human most days.
We are trying out something new with homeschooling, called "Project Based Homeschooling," which basically means you allow your kids more unstructured school time and assist them in working on projects that interest them and help them develop the skills needed to do what interests them. We are still just kind of dipping our toes into this approach, but hope to be going pretty well with it for next Fall. We will still do our core subjects of Math & Language Arts together, and probably History (as I'm planning a sort of LA/History combined) and do project time in the afternoons. Noodle has shown me how great this can work with her Scratch stuff. It's amazing how much time kids (and people generally) will spend on things that call to them and fulfill their interests and desires to create. Spud also has been working a lot on very interesting Lego creations as well as origami. And just tonight we started a blog for Sprout so he can participate as well. My hope is that this will be a good approach, especially for Spud who you could call an intractable learner. You can not lead that horse to water, even, let alone make him drink. It's more of a "make him aware that there is water and hope he understands that water is really important," and then there is a decent chance, but no guarantee, that he'll drink. It is a real challenge to work with him, but I am feeling hopeful. I feel that raising him to be a useful and mostly happy individual will be a very challenging task (it has been so far) but will probably result in a tremendous amount of satisfaction for me, as I know just how #$&% hard it has been. Some personalities are just tough.
My 36th birthday is just 3 days away. My friend started (last year) thinking of a list of X things to do each year that she is X (I think she is 44 this year, so 44 things) which I think is kind of neat. I'm not sure I'm up for that this year, though. I guess they wouldn't have to be really challenging things… I'll mull it over. It is a "Perfect Square" number, though, and I won't have another of those for 13 years. That seems notable.
I do hope I can get a bit better at posting. Life is busy, but we are doing mostly okay most of the time. It's been such a blessing to finally get some springtime weather, as the twins are loving being able to play outside, which means fewer messes INSIDE. Hooray!! And just for fun, a couple of pictures from Easter of my littlest ones.
But life is pretty good. The twins sleep through the night most nights, though there's been something unknown going on this past week which has disrupted that, so that means I get a fairly good chunk of uninterrupted sleep and now feel pretty human most days.
We are trying out something new with homeschooling, called "Project Based Homeschooling," which basically means you allow your kids more unstructured school time and assist them in working on projects that interest them and help them develop the skills needed to do what interests them. We are still just kind of dipping our toes into this approach, but hope to be going pretty well with it for next Fall. We will still do our core subjects of Math & Language Arts together, and probably History (as I'm planning a sort of LA/History combined) and do project time in the afternoons. Noodle has shown me how great this can work with her Scratch stuff. It's amazing how much time kids (and people generally) will spend on things that call to them and fulfill their interests and desires to create. Spud also has been working a lot on very interesting Lego creations as well as origami. And just tonight we started a blog for Sprout so he can participate as well. My hope is that this will be a good approach, especially for Spud who you could call an intractable learner. You can not lead that horse to water, even, let alone make him drink. It's more of a "make him aware that there is water and hope he understands that water is really important," and then there is a decent chance, but no guarantee, that he'll drink. It is a real challenge to work with him, but I am feeling hopeful. I feel that raising him to be a useful and mostly happy individual will be a very challenging task (it has been so far) but will probably result in a tremendous amount of satisfaction for me, as I know just how #$&% hard it has been. Some personalities are just tough.
My 36th birthday is just 3 days away. My friend started (last year) thinking of a list of X things to do each year that she is X (I think she is 44 this year, so 44 things) which I think is kind of neat. I'm not sure I'm up for that this year, though. I guess they wouldn't have to be really challenging things… I'll mull it over. It is a "Perfect Square" number, though, and I won't have another of those for 13 years. That seems notable.
I do hope I can get a bit better at posting. Life is busy, but we are doing mostly okay most of the time. It's been such a blessing to finally get some springtime weather, as the twins are loving being able to play outside, which means fewer messes INSIDE. Hooray!! And just for fun, a couple of pictures from Easter of my littlest ones.
Wednesday, July 04, 2012
summertime
Pregnancy update: 28 and a half weeks along. As I probably won't go past 38 weeks, there are less than 10 weeks to go. In terms of feeling prepared to welcome two babies into our family and care for them, these feels like a very short amount of time. But in terms of being uncomfortable and oh-so-very-pregnant, the same time span feels very very long indeed. I've often thought, though, that the discomfort at the end of pregnancy is one of the final motivators to actually have the baby on the outside, where it requires a lot more effort to care for. You just feel so glad to NOT be pregnant anymore that doing all that is required still seems like a better deal that hauling around an extra 25-40 (or more) pounds!
The kids and I have been making it to the water park every week, except last week and maybe this week (we might make it over before the week has ended). Even though I can't go on any of the slides, I have enjoyed just sitting in the kiddie areas with Sprout or, especially, floating along the Lazy River with him. It feels so nice to be suspended in the water. If only it were practical to live in the water most of the pregnancy! Noodle and Spud are independent enough to be able to do their own things while we are there, and we've been fortunate enough to get to go with friends on occasion, too, which is great fun.
My biggest challenge this week seems to be not having the physical energy to accomplish very much. On most days, I lay down with Sprout in the early afternoon for our naps. After about 1-1.5 hours, my mind feels very rested and then restless and wants to be doing something, but my body prefers to just stay in bed (if I'm comfortable) or just relocate my resting to a different location. On Monday I was feeling pretty discouraged about this and broke down in tears while talking to David. He hugged me and kindly reminded me that I am being productive, I'm being REproductive, and that this is a good time to practice mindfulness and just focus on breathing in and breathing out. This time will pass quickly and there are plenty of good things I can do during this time that are better than organizing or keeping the house tidy. I really appreciate his perspective, and am trying to keep those things in mind. I did decide to start a sewing project, as I can work on it a bit most days. I like to make the kids some sort of mom-made toy for Christmas, and am pretty sure that after the twins arrive, I won't find time to sew FIVE of anything. So I'm starting now and hope to have five cute little "monsters" finished over the next few weeks.
This is my 799th blog post. I feel like there is some pressure to have something noteworthy for #800. Any ideas?
The kids and I have been making it to the water park every week, except last week and maybe this week (we might make it over before the week has ended). Even though I can't go on any of the slides, I have enjoyed just sitting in the kiddie areas with Sprout or, especially, floating along the Lazy River with him. It feels so nice to be suspended in the water. If only it were practical to live in the water most of the pregnancy! Noodle and Spud are independent enough to be able to do their own things while we are there, and we've been fortunate enough to get to go with friends on occasion, too, which is great fun.
My biggest challenge this week seems to be not having the physical energy to accomplish very much. On most days, I lay down with Sprout in the early afternoon for our naps. After about 1-1.5 hours, my mind feels very rested and then restless and wants to be doing something, but my body prefers to just stay in bed (if I'm comfortable) or just relocate my resting to a different location. On Monday I was feeling pretty discouraged about this and broke down in tears while talking to David. He hugged me and kindly reminded me that I am being productive, I'm being REproductive, and that this is a good time to practice mindfulness and just focus on breathing in and breathing out. This time will pass quickly and there are plenty of good things I can do during this time that are better than organizing or keeping the house tidy. I really appreciate his perspective, and am trying to keep those things in mind. I did decide to start a sewing project, as I can work on it a bit most days. I like to make the kids some sort of mom-made toy for Christmas, and am pretty sure that after the twins arrive, I won't find time to sew FIVE of anything. So I'm starting now and hope to have five cute little "monsters" finished over the next few weeks.
This is my 799th blog post. I feel like there is some pressure to have something noteworthy for #800. Any ideas?
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
breathing
So, Day 10 of Sprout's antibiotic treatment (prescribed by the otolaryngologist) was Saturday, and he is still breathing clear! So it looks like the congestion since the first of December was likely caused by a bacterial infection, maybe in his sinuses or adenoids. I am a bit frustrated that the family practice doctor I took him to for his 1 year checkup didn't suggest antibiotics, but he just said, "Everything looks fine to me." When I pushed and said that everything was obviously NOT fine, as the kid hasn't been able to breathe through his nose for two months, he suggested we try Benadryl at night and see if that made any change. If it did, we were probably dealing with an allergy. I am just so delighted that the little guy can breathe, and SLEEP, much better now.
In other news, two of David's sisters have moved in with us. One moved in a couple of weeks ago and the other arrived Sunday. So far, so good. They are both pleasant and fun people, so I think we'll be fine. Plus, it makes a difference to know that it is only for a few months. We are all mature enough to handle anything temporarily. They are living a bit more "snuggly" than they are used to, though, since they are sharing a room with bunk beds, something they haven't done for a while. But they seem busy enough that they don't need their rooms for much beyond closet space and sleeping.
Lately my blog-brain is kind of muddled. I will start thinking of a post, but then either forget it, or by the time I have some time to sit down and type it, it's kind of irrelevant. (Notice that it took more than a month to post Sprout's cake pictures!)
I'm also wishing for someone to send me $5-7000 to improve my yard/landscaping. Ah, wouldn't it be nice?
In other news, two of David's sisters have moved in with us. One moved in a couple of weeks ago and the other arrived Sunday. So far, so good. They are both pleasant and fun people, so I think we'll be fine. Plus, it makes a difference to know that it is only for a few months. We are all mature enough to handle anything temporarily. They are living a bit more "snuggly" than they are used to, though, since they are sharing a room with bunk beds, something they haven't done for a while. But they seem busy enough that they don't need their rooms for much beyond closet space and sleeping.
Lately my blog-brain is kind of muddled. I will start thinking of a post, but then either forget it, or by the time I have some time to sit down and type it, it's kind of irrelevant. (Notice that it took more than a month to post Sprout's cake pictures!)
I'm also wishing for someone to send me $5-7000 to improve my yard/landscaping. Ah, wouldn't it be nice?
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
crikey!
More than a week with no fabulous musings from the mind of Mindy? How doth one survive?
Seriously, this is my life: Get up (not as early as I need to). Do some household chores (not as many as I need to). Have breakfast with the kids and David & get ready. Have devotional with the kids & David. Start school with the kids. Do various school stuff until early/mid-afternoon. Do more chores or some work (photography stuff) on the computer. Have dinner with family. Get kids in bed. Prep homeschool for the next day/do chores/study scriptures with David. Go to bed. Repeat.
I am enjoying most everything we are doing, but the routine really wears me down. I have never been one who enjoys a routine, so I am trying to come up with things that will add a bit of fun variety to the days and weeks. Theoretically, I understand that routines are good and productive, but I sometimes can't wrap my heart around one. Oh well! Tomorrow (if the weather cooperates) we are going to start off our homeschool day with a walk on the river trail. Should be nice.
I think the other part of the routine that gets to me presently is that no matter how nice the routine is, babies haven't read the memo! I'm not a fan of trying to schedule babies exactly with naps and feedings, so I guess it's my own choice, but it is hard to try and get things done with an adorable little ball of chaos around. Who knows when he will feel sleepy, cranky, be teething, have an "explod-o-poo" diaper, stay up really late (and causing you to sleep in the next morning), get sick, etcetera etcetera. But such is life. And it's good. I need to cultivate the art of finding happiness and joy during the busy, full days as well as on the more relaxed days. Just now, as I was typing that, I realized my shoulders were all hunched up. Do all moms feel that "burden" on their shoulders all the time, that makes you feel like there is something else to do and makes it so hard to "enjoy the now" for more than five minutes? Is there a solution? Would love to hear your thoughts on this....
Seriously, this is my life: Get up (not as early as I need to). Do some household chores (not as many as I need to). Have breakfast with the kids and David & get ready. Have devotional with the kids & David. Start school with the kids. Do various school stuff until early/mid-afternoon. Do more chores or some work (photography stuff) on the computer. Have dinner with family. Get kids in bed. Prep homeschool for the next day/do chores/study scriptures with David. Go to bed. Repeat.
I am enjoying most everything we are doing, but the routine really wears me down. I have never been one who enjoys a routine, so I am trying to come up with things that will add a bit of fun variety to the days and weeks. Theoretically, I understand that routines are good and productive, but I sometimes can't wrap my heart around one. Oh well! Tomorrow (if the weather cooperates) we are going to start off our homeschool day with a walk on the river trail. Should be nice.
I think the other part of the routine that gets to me presently is that no matter how nice the routine is, babies haven't read the memo! I'm not a fan of trying to schedule babies exactly with naps and feedings, so I guess it's my own choice, but it is hard to try and get things done with an adorable little ball of chaos around. Who knows when he will feel sleepy, cranky, be teething, have an "explod-o-poo" diaper, stay up really late (and causing you to sleep in the next morning), get sick, etcetera etcetera. But such is life. And it's good. I need to cultivate the art of finding happiness and joy during the busy, full days as well as on the more relaxed days. Just now, as I was typing that, I realized my shoulders were all hunched up. Do all moms feel that "burden" on their shoulders all the time, that makes you feel like there is something else to do and makes it so hard to "enjoy the now" for more than five minutes? Is there a solution? Would love to hear your thoughts on this....
Saturday, August 22, 2009
what a week
Yes, I'm re-using that generic post title because it is (once again) so appropriate. This was our first week of homeschooling for the 2009-2010 school year. We really didn't take a long break as we've been working on improving Noodle's reading this summer, but I was implementing a new approach so this was our first week of that. We are actually taking this week off because of a family reunion, but to stay on schedule I wanted to start this last week. It went really well. The kids enjoyed their activities and studies (for the most part...for some reason Noodle is a bit resistant to math even though it gives her no trouble) and we had some fun along the way. For those of you who just can't get enough of my life, you are welcome to check out my homeschool blog. I won't be at all hurt if you don't, but there it is. If you notice me MIA from this blog, there's a fair chance I might be over there.
Yesterday my SIL Anita was over here and she did a super awesome job organizing some of the craft/art/school stuff we keep in the kitchen. The same stuff that I've been looking at for weeks and thinking, "How should I organize that?" So I had the painful realization that I have no inherent talent for organization. Yeah, I really should have realized this before, but when I saw how nicely she'd done it, it hit me that other people do possess this talent. I think before I'd just assumed that it was hard for everyone, but organized people just worked through the difficulty. So maybe it should be a relief to realize that I don't have the talent, but instead I was kind of disappointed, as it seems like a pretty awesome talent to have. I see things how they are and think, "Hm, it would be nice if they were better organized or looked nicer," but have no clue how to do it. Every once in a while I get a bit of inspiration, like with the "thing" I put in our entry way (I don't even have a good name for it...), but they are few and far between. Oh well! A friend on facebook said I should just look at the bright side and say that I have a high tolerance for chaos!
Sprout is sitting up so well now. He loves to sit up and play with toys, and he will also lean waaaay forward or sideways to reach something else. He still topples over on occasion, but much less frequently than he was a week ago. He's also started babbling, which is really fun. A couple weird things he is doing right now is "noodle arms" when he is sitting up (waving his arms around all loosey goosey) and wheezing when he inhales sometimes. Noodle did the wheezy thing too as a baby. So weird.
Yesterday my SIL Anita was over here and she did a super awesome job organizing some of the craft/art/school stuff we keep in the kitchen. The same stuff that I've been looking at for weeks and thinking, "How should I organize that?" So I had the painful realization that I have no inherent talent for organization. Yeah, I really should have realized this before, but when I saw how nicely she'd done it, it hit me that other people do possess this talent. I think before I'd just assumed that it was hard for everyone, but organized people just worked through the difficulty. So maybe it should be a relief to realize that I don't have the talent, but instead I was kind of disappointed, as it seems like a pretty awesome talent to have. I see things how they are and think, "Hm, it would be nice if they were better organized or looked nicer," but have no clue how to do it. Every once in a while I get a bit of inspiration, like with the "thing" I put in our entry way (I don't even have a good name for it...), but they are few and far between. Oh well! A friend on facebook said I should just look at the bright side and say that I have a high tolerance for chaos!
Sprout is sitting up so well now. He loves to sit up and play with toys, and he will also lean waaaay forward or sideways to reach something else. He still topples over on occasion, but much less frequently than he was a week ago. He's also started babbling, which is really fun. A couple weird things he is doing right now is "noodle arms" when he is sitting up (waving his arms around all loosey goosey) and wheezing when he inhales sometimes. Noodle did the wheezy thing too as a baby. So weird.
Monday, June 01, 2009
last week...what a week!
We got off to a good start, at least...
On Memorial Day we got a lot of work done, plus I got to go to Savers with my friend Leah (in case you didn't know, Savers has everything 50% off on all holidays) and got some great stuff. Some jeans for Noodle, a cool vest for Spud (that he wore nonstop the next two days), some clothes for Sprout, a little stuffed toy for Noodle & Spud, I also got four very cute juice glasses (okay, to the untrained eye they probably look like plain juice glasses, but trust me...) and two fabulous blue dinner plates. And it was fun to hang out with Leah for a bit with just the babies.
Monday evening we went and had a picnic at Rock Canyon Park which was also a lot of fun.
Tuesday morning our internet was down. And it was down Wednesday. And Thursday. There were a couple of hours during those days when it "flickered" on. This wouldn't be such a big deal if my job didn't require the internet. On top of that, we have this preschool thing for Spud that he is supposed to do 5 days a week, 15 min/day that requires internet, and we are also working through some online phonics lessons with Noodle. So, not having the internet was a major disruption in our regularly scheduled life.
David's grandmother came into town on Monday, his sister Tina arrived on Tuesday and his other sister Jenn came on Thursday for their youngest sister Anita's graduation. So there was all those things to do, too. David and I had a "misunderstanding" on Thursday morning, which caused hard feelings between us the rest of the day. Thankfully we had a chance on Friday to talk and resolve things. After nearly 8 years of marriage, we still have serious glitches in our communication at times. We feel like we're finally making some progress, though. I think we'd been stuck in a rut for quite some time.
Jenn came to hang out with the kids on Friday, then Friday evening she, David & I went out for dinner. The kids slept over at their Nana & Pop pop's house. I worked a whole bunch of hours to make up for the downtime.
Saturday the internet was down for a while again, my computer crashed, I had book club and then we had a family BBQ with David's family. The evening ended with us all trying to mediate a dialogue between Joe (David's dad) and Anita. She is having a really hard time being at home and the parents, especially Joe, aren't making it easy. He says hurtful things to her without realizing or remembering them. We had to end before we made much progress, but we are planning a "group session" for later this week. At least Joe is willing to try. Most fathers of his generation wouldn't even bother.
David & Keith are in the processing of restoring my computer and we bought a 1 terrabyte back-up drive since it is essential for my photography business. Oh, last Saturday I did a family portrait session with a very cute family in our ward. I'll report when those are on my website. So I've also been editing photos this week.
This week was a painful reminder that my life doesn't function smoothly without an internet connection. Weird to be so dependent on something.
So, yeah, that's my life lately. And Noodle turns SEVEN this Tuesday!!
(And the irony is that the internet died yet again as I was trying to get this posted Sunday afternoon....)
On Memorial Day we got a lot of work done, plus I got to go to Savers with my friend Leah (in case you didn't know, Savers has everything 50% off on all holidays) and got some great stuff. Some jeans for Noodle, a cool vest for Spud (that he wore nonstop the next two days), some clothes for Sprout, a little stuffed toy for Noodle & Spud, I also got four very cute juice glasses (okay, to the untrained eye they probably look like plain juice glasses, but trust me...) and two fabulous blue dinner plates. And it was fun to hang out with Leah for a bit with just the babies.
Monday evening we went and had a picnic at Rock Canyon Park which was also a lot of fun.
Tuesday morning our internet was down. And it was down Wednesday. And Thursday. There were a couple of hours during those days when it "flickered" on. This wouldn't be such a big deal if my job didn't require the internet. On top of that, we have this preschool thing for Spud that he is supposed to do 5 days a week, 15 min/day that requires internet, and we are also working through some online phonics lessons with Noodle. So, not having the internet was a major disruption in our regularly scheduled life.
David's grandmother came into town on Monday, his sister Tina arrived on Tuesday and his other sister Jenn came on Thursday for their youngest sister Anita's graduation. So there was all those things to do, too. David and I had a "misunderstanding" on Thursday morning, which caused hard feelings between us the rest of the day. Thankfully we had a chance on Friday to talk and resolve things. After nearly 8 years of marriage, we still have serious glitches in our communication at times. We feel like we're finally making some progress, though. I think we'd been stuck in a rut for quite some time.
Jenn came to hang out with the kids on Friday, then Friday evening she, David & I went out for dinner. The kids slept over at their Nana & Pop pop's house. I worked a whole bunch of hours to make up for the downtime.
Saturday the internet was down for a while again, my computer crashed, I had book club and then we had a family BBQ with David's family. The evening ended with us all trying to mediate a dialogue between Joe (David's dad) and Anita. She is having a really hard time being at home and the parents, especially Joe, aren't making it easy. He says hurtful things to her without realizing or remembering them. We had to end before we made much progress, but we are planning a "group session" for later this week. At least Joe is willing to try. Most fathers of his generation wouldn't even bother.
David & Keith are in the processing of restoring my computer and we bought a 1 terrabyte back-up drive since it is essential for my photography business. Oh, last Saturday I did a family portrait session with a very cute family in our ward. I'll report when those are on my website. So I've also been editing photos this week.
This week was a painful reminder that my life doesn't function smoothly without an internet connection. Weird to be so dependent on something.
So, yeah, that's my life lately. And Noodle turns SEVEN this Tuesday!!
(And the irony is that the internet died yet again as I was trying to get this posted Sunday afternoon....)
Thursday, March 26, 2009
too blue to blog
So I've not been up to blogging lately. I find that when I'm feeling down, it's hard to work up any motivation to share thoughts or connect with others (though a couple of friends have been kind enough to listing to me rant and cry). Lately I've just been feeling overwhelmed (again). Though it hasn't been the kids that have been overwhelming me, which I count as a sign of good progress in that area!
Noodle & Spud have spent much free time this week playing with the Legos that David brought back from his parents' house. Oh what fun they have! Noodle plays Legos a lot like I did when I was a kid - building houses, making little Lego critters (I made birds as we didn't have any lego animals, she is lucky enough to have two Lego horses and a shark!) and acting out scenarios with the various Lego people. Luckily I snagged the "girl hair" we had at my house way back when, as otherwise we only have helmets and hats, and Noodle doesn't like pretending that the helmet-wearers COULD be girls whose hair you just can't see. One of these days we'll do an order from the Lego store and get some more girl hair...then it will be less of a "Smurfette" situation. Anyways, it's pretty fun to watch them play, especially when they play nicely, which they have been doing most of the week!
We went to the Walter Wick exhibit at the BYU Art Museum yesterday afternoon. He's the "I Spy" guy. Pretty fun stuff. If you're local, I highly recommend it. Even Spud enjoyed it. It runs through sometime in August.
I think I'm turning the corner in my melancholy, though, so in case you are dying to see more random videos, lolcats, or pictures of my kids, you might soon be in luck!
Noodle & Spud have spent much free time this week playing with the Legos that David brought back from his parents' house. Oh what fun they have! Noodle plays Legos a lot like I did when I was a kid - building houses, making little Lego critters (I made birds as we didn't have any lego animals, she is lucky enough to have two Lego horses and a shark!) and acting out scenarios with the various Lego people. Luckily I snagged the "girl hair" we had at my house way back when, as otherwise we only have helmets and hats, and Noodle doesn't like pretending that the helmet-wearers COULD be girls whose hair you just can't see. One of these days we'll do an order from the Lego store and get some more girl hair...then it will be less of a "Smurfette" situation. Anyways, it's pretty fun to watch them play, especially when they play nicely, which they have been doing most of the week!
We went to the Walter Wick exhibit at the BYU Art Museum yesterday afternoon. He's the "I Spy" guy. Pretty fun stuff. If you're local, I highly recommend it. Even Spud enjoyed it. It runs through sometime in August.
I think I'm turning the corner in my melancholy, though, so in case you are dying to see more random videos, lolcats, or pictures of my kids, you might soon be in luck!
Thursday, February 19, 2009
so much to say...
so little time.
I've been wanting to blog about how much I've missed having my mom here this week, and how wonderful it was while she wase here. She kept up on dishes, laundry, did my mending (which was mostly all the knees on Noodle's pants...I guess that's what happens when you buy clothes for a six year old secondhand from Savers...), brought me glasses of water to keep me sufficiently hydrated, baked LOTS of cookies, held Sprout so I could shower/eat/homeschool/whatever, listened to me ramble about whatever, made me feel loved, and other fabulous things. My mom had a hip replaced last October (or maybe the very end of September) and so my dad was worried about her coming here. She still has to be careful about bending and lifting things. She brought her "grabber," which Spud thought was fabulous. He enthusiastically picked up toys with it on several occasions.
I've also wanted to blog that David's not very great job ended. They kept upping the requirements to make sales, and he wasn't able to meet the requirements (and neither were a lot of other folks) so that gig is over. He's working on a few other things and looking for other opportunities.
I've worked 30 hours each of the past two weeks. I'm grateful to have a job that I can do while nursing a baby. A lot of the time, one hand is sufficient. It would have been nice to take a break, but we can definitely use the money and I think keeping busy (while still being able to sit and "rest") is helpful to me to not get too down.
This week has been hard. Physically, I'm feeling pretty good, but have had some back and neck issues. Trying to balance everything is tough. Spud has had a bit of a rough adjustment to no longer being the baby of the family and we've had to deal with quite a lot of attitude, though I think he's done better this week than he did the previous few. Noodle has been a great help, though she is struggling with a challenge of her own right now (which I may or may not blog about in more detail later.) Anyways, we are in the process of getting some help with that.
We had our homeschool Valentine exchange/party on Monday, which was fun. The kids painted their boxes and wrote out their Valentines that morning. Next year I have aspirations of making homemade ones, but I think I had those aspirations for this year until Sprout arrived. :o)
Yesterday we went to the Harley-Davidson shop for a homeschool field trip. It was pretty awesome. The guy who gave us the tour was really cool and accommodating of our group of youngsters. (The bulk of our group is in the 4-8 range, which can be a bit daunting for tour givers.) I thought the kids were pretty attentive and well-behaved overall, so that was nice, too.
Oh, Noodle lost her bottom front incisors last weekend. They started wiggling back in December, I think, but she wasn't an avid wiggler so they hung on until recently. She was happy to be able to use my cute Tooth Pillow (made by my mom years ago for me) to put under her pillow. She made out like a bandit with $1/tooth! Whoo hoo! (It might not have been so much, except that she lost one Friday and the next one Saturday. I don't think the tooth fairy was aware the second was quite that loose!)
Well, I guess that's condensed version of Mindy's life lately. Just add water. Or milk, if you prefer a thicker consistency.
I've been wanting to blog about how much I've missed having my mom here this week, and how wonderful it was while she wase here. She kept up on dishes, laundry, did my mending (which was mostly all the knees on Noodle's pants...I guess that's what happens when you buy clothes for a six year old secondhand from Savers...), brought me glasses of water to keep me sufficiently hydrated, baked LOTS of cookies, held Sprout so I could shower/eat/homeschool/whatever, listened to me ramble about whatever, made me feel loved, and other fabulous things. My mom had a hip replaced last October (or maybe the very end of September) and so my dad was worried about her coming here. She still has to be careful about bending and lifting things. She brought her "grabber," which Spud thought was fabulous. He enthusiastically picked up toys with it on several occasions.
I've also wanted to blog that David's not very great job ended. They kept upping the requirements to make sales, and he wasn't able to meet the requirements (and neither were a lot of other folks) so that gig is over. He's working on a few other things and looking for other opportunities.
I've worked 30 hours each of the past two weeks. I'm grateful to have a job that I can do while nursing a baby. A lot of the time, one hand is sufficient. It would have been nice to take a break, but we can definitely use the money and I think keeping busy (while still being able to sit and "rest") is helpful to me to not get too down.
This week has been hard. Physically, I'm feeling pretty good, but have had some back and neck issues. Trying to balance everything is tough. Spud has had a bit of a rough adjustment to no longer being the baby of the family and we've had to deal with quite a lot of attitude, though I think he's done better this week than he did the previous few. Noodle has been a great help, though she is struggling with a challenge of her own right now (which I may or may not blog about in more detail later.) Anyways, we are in the process of getting some help with that.
We had our homeschool Valentine exchange/party on Monday, which was fun. The kids painted their boxes and wrote out their Valentines that morning. Next year I have aspirations of making homemade ones, but I think I had those aspirations for this year until Sprout arrived. :o)
Yesterday we went to the Harley-Davidson shop for a homeschool field trip. It was pretty awesome. The guy who gave us the tour was really cool and accommodating of our group of youngsters. (The bulk of our group is in the 4-8 range, which can be a bit daunting for tour givers.) I thought the kids were pretty attentive and well-behaved overall, so that was nice, too.
Oh, Noodle lost her bottom front incisors last weekend. They started wiggling back in December, I think, but she wasn't an avid wiggler so they hung on until recently. She was happy to be able to use my cute Tooth Pillow (made by my mom years ago for me) to put under her pillow. She made out like a bandit with $1/tooth! Whoo hoo! (It might not have been so much, except that she lost one Friday and the next one Saturday. I don't think the tooth fairy was aware the second was quite that loose!)
Well, I guess that's condensed version of Mindy's life lately. Just add water. Or milk, if you prefer a thicker consistency.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
this week
- have worked the maximum allowed 30 hours (whoo hoo!). A couple weeks ago, they cut a bunch of the temporary/contract workers (like me). The nice thing is, the work available has been more plentiful and steady. I think I was spared the axe because I typically work a lot of hours, and always managed to eke out the minimum 10 hours, even on weeks where there was barely tasks available. So I'm pretty grateful to still be employed!
- left the house! Yes, that is notable after last week. We had our first "homeschool co-op class" on Wednesday. Emily did a science experiment on solubility/solutions with the kids, and they also did mixing with colored water. It went really well. Prior to that, we picked up some Chuck E Cheese tokens (because I had a good coupon that expires Sunday) and played there for a bit. I used to think it was a "trashy" place to take kids, but it's actually not. It's quite clean and well-maintained. We never eat the overpriced nasty food, but we have fun playing the games and riding the rides. And when you can find the 100 tokens for $10, it's some good cheap fun. Yesterday we only had about 40 minutes to play and I let each kid have 6 tokens (we're planning on going back sometime soon with David) and they still had a lot of fun. There is a climbing area, also, and I felt good that the kids got to burn off some energy.
- took pictures of my friend Debra's super cute new baby boy. He turned one week yesterday. I wanted to be sure we had a chance to "shoot" him before my baby comes, as I'm sure I won't be up for much for a couple weeks after that.
- have decided that my baby is made of lead.
- have washed and folded all the gender-neutral baby clothes and pulled the diapers, covers & pail out of storage.
- made Sculpey dinosaurs with the kids for our Friday art project.
- pulled out the fridge and cleaned under & behind it. Man, that was gross!
- left the house! Yes, that is notable after last week. We had our first "homeschool co-op class" on Wednesday. Emily did a science experiment on solubility/solutions with the kids, and they also did mixing with colored water. It went really well. Prior to that, we picked up some Chuck E Cheese tokens (because I had a good coupon that expires Sunday) and played there for a bit. I used to think it was a "trashy" place to take kids, but it's actually not. It's quite clean and well-maintained. We never eat the overpriced nasty food, but we have fun playing the games and riding the rides. And when you can find the 100 tokens for $10, it's some good cheap fun. Yesterday we only had about 40 minutes to play and I let each kid have 6 tokens (we're planning on going back sometime soon with David) and they still had a lot of fun. There is a climbing area, also, and I felt good that the kids got to burn off some energy.
- took pictures of my friend Debra's super cute new baby boy. He turned one week yesterday. I wanted to be sure we had a chance to "shoot" him before my baby comes, as I'm sure I won't be up for much for a couple weeks after that.
- have decided that my baby is made of lead.
- have washed and folded all the gender-neutral baby clothes and pulled the diapers, covers & pail out of storage.
- made Sculpey dinosaurs with the kids for our Friday art project.
- pulled out the fridge and cleaned under & behind it. Man, that was gross!
Saturday, November 15, 2008
yay for me!
I had a goal to get in 30 hours of work this week (the maximum allowed) so I could feel justified in buying a couple of things I want for our homeschooling. And I DID IT! I got up at 5:00 three times to get it done (and one of those times there wasn't any work that morning) and didn't have a lot of free time and also fell a bit behind on the housework, but I did it. And I also made a photo book for Noodle for Christmas (that's what I did with my non-working early morning) because I got a free one from my photography website affiliation. I am eligible for a free one from another company, too, so that's tomorrow's project for Spud's Christmas.
ALSO, I put together and distributed all the photo packages for the preschoolers. Out of about 75 packages, I only had two mistakes--I ordered one extra class picture for one class and one short for another class. I thought that was pretty good. Assembling the packages took longer than I expected (about 3.5 or so hours with David helping insert receipts and such) but I did it while watching TV so it wasn't overly tedious.
Besides that, I also attended a homeschool lecture that was quite good and inspiring. I had had a complete meltdown with the kids (yelling, tears & all that) late in the afternoon so I was contemplating not going, but I'm glad I pulled us all together and went. It was worth the time and effort involved. (Thanks Nickie!) Plus, there was really yummy food which was nice after our spartan dinner of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup (David was working late).
I also made Visting Teaching (church related stuff) appointments and while one cancelled, we did get to visit the other person and are doing the third on Sunday.
AND even with all of this, I was able to do some fairly good school stuff with the kids and yesterday we even did an outing! We went to BYU to look at the fish in the tanks (to round off our fish unit) and we also went to the Eyring Science Center to look at the stuff there, then to the CougarEat for lunch. I really felt like we needed to get out and do something FUN together, but I had so much to get done that I almost decided not to. I'm glad I went ahead with it.
Anyways, I am not really a fan of tooting my own horn, but I've been feeling kind of glum and discouraged this week, so it's somewhat uplifting to look at all I was able to accomplish this week. Now next week I just need to get the scripture/gospel study fit in, too. That will probably help with my discouragement as much, if not more, than all my hard work.
ALSO, I put together and distributed all the photo packages for the preschoolers. Out of about 75 packages, I only had two mistakes--I ordered one extra class picture for one class and one short for another class. I thought that was pretty good. Assembling the packages took longer than I expected (about 3.5 or so hours with David helping insert receipts and such) but I did it while watching TV so it wasn't overly tedious.
Besides that, I also attended a homeschool lecture that was quite good and inspiring. I had had a complete meltdown with the kids (yelling, tears & all that) late in the afternoon so I was contemplating not going, but I'm glad I pulled us all together and went. It was worth the time and effort involved. (Thanks Nickie!) Plus, there was really yummy food which was nice after our spartan dinner of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup (David was working late).
I also made Visting Teaching (church related stuff) appointments and while one cancelled, we did get to visit the other person and are doing the third on Sunday.
AND even with all of this, I was able to do some fairly good school stuff with the kids and yesterday we even did an outing! We went to BYU to look at the fish in the tanks (to round off our fish unit) and we also went to the Eyring Science Center to look at the stuff there, then to the CougarEat for lunch. I really felt like we needed to get out and do something FUN together, but I had so much to get done that I almost decided not to. I'm glad I went ahead with it.
Anyways, I am not really a fan of tooting my own horn, but I've been feeling kind of glum and discouraged this week, so it's somewhat uplifting to look at all I was able to accomplish this week. Now next week I just need to get the scripture/gospel study fit in, too. That will probably help with my discouragement as much, if not more, than all my hard work.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
enough about you...
let's talk about me! ;o)
(Actually, I haven't heard nearly enough about any of you lately. Hopefully soon I can fritter away a couple hours reading up on various blogs.)
Yesterday and today I did portraits for a preschool down in Springville. I was nervous as all get out yesterday morning, just so worried that something would go wrong and not exactly sure how I'd get kid after kid to smile. Happily, nothing super terrible happened and I did, indeed, find a fairly good way to get kids to smile. (But I'm not going to tell you...it's a trade secret now!)
Today's shoots were actually fun because I knew exactly what to do and I felt confident and prepared. Even by yesterday afternoon I was on a roll. I'm going to approach another friend of mine who also works at a preschool and see if they are interested in doing photos, too. It is definitely an energy intensive shoot, but fairly lucrative. Plus it will be a good way to get my name out.
Other than that, things have been going pretty well. I'm enjoying the nice, fall weather and am SO HAPPY that it hasn't snowed. Yippee! I'm hoping for a warm week next week so we can go to Free Zoo Day on Wednesday and have some Halloween fun on Tuesday with our homeschool group and Friday with trick-or-treating.
In "baby" news, I've actually been feeling great. I'm sleeping well and have sufficient energy (which is really saying something considering I get up at 5:30 a.m. most days to work for 2 hours). I keep making the mistake of "jogging" to get to and from the car and the house or the store and as my belly protests I remember that there is a reason pregnant women just walk!
So, life is good.
Oh, and I got released from being a Webelos leader! It was a good two year run, but I'm excited to have my Wednesday evenings back and be able to devote more time and attention to the other interests in my life. I'm helping finish out the Artist Badge, but then I'm FINITO!
(Actually, I haven't heard nearly enough about any of you lately. Hopefully soon I can fritter away a couple hours reading up on various blogs.)
Yesterday and today I did portraits for a preschool down in Springville. I was nervous as all get out yesterday morning, just so worried that something would go wrong and not exactly sure how I'd get kid after kid to smile. Happily, nothing super terrible happened and I did, indeed, find a fairly good way to get kids to smile. (But I'm not going to tell you...it's a trade secret now!)
Today's shoots were actually fun because I knew exactly what to do and I felt confident and prepared. Even by yesterday afternoon I was on a roll. I'm going to approach another friend of mine who also works at a preschool and see if they are interested in doing photos, too. It is definitely an energy intensive shoot, but fairly lucrative. Plus it will be a good way to get my name out.
Other than that, things have been going pretty well. I'm enjoying the nice, fall weather and am SO HAPPY that it hasn't snowed. Yippee! I'm hoping for a warm week next week so we can go to Free Zoo Day on Wednesday and have some Halloween fun on Tuesday with our homeschool group and Friday with trick-or-treating.
In "baby" news, I've actually been feeling great. I'm sleeping well and have sufficient energy (which is really saying something considering I get up at 5:30 a.m. most days to work for 2 hours). I keep making the mistake of "jogging" to get to and from the car and the house or the store and as my belly protests I remember that there is a reason pregnant women just walk!
So, life is good.
Oh, and I got released from being a Webelos leader! It was a good two year run, but I'm excited to have my Wednesday evenings back and be able to devote more time and attention to the other interests in my life. I'm helping finish out the Artist Badge, but then I'm FINITO!
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
killing spree
Yup. That's right. I've killed ten houseflies today, and there are about three more I've got my eyes on. Where are they all coming from? And why do they like to congregate in threes on the television? (No longer, though, I think I killed the ones who liked it the most. Or at least two of them.) I'm not even ashamed of their blood on my swatter.
In other news...I've been trying to spend every spare (and many not so spare) moment working in an effort to bring in as much money as possible. Which means that when I'm not working, I don't really want to sit at my computer and read or write stuff, since that's pretty much what I do when I am working. For the first three weeks I have to comment on every stinkin' think I do, so that's a mite bit tedious. I worked twenty hours last week, which means there was twenty hours of other stuff that I normally do that didn't get done. I was also babysitting every day. So it was a good week for moneymaking, but not a good week for blogging, reading, exercising, relaxing, or any of those other pleasant things that I normally try to incorporate into my life. Alas...
David and I did go on a fun date last Friday night, however. We went canoeing with a few other couples on the Provo River and then went to a yummy Mexican place to eat. We'd originally only planned to go canoeing due to cost, but my sister & her husband gifted us $50 with explicit instructions to have fun, so we did. Then we had our friends Kent & Mary over to play Scrabble and (brace yourselves for this)...I lost! I know, kind of unimaginable. But I did only lose by seven points, so it could have been worse. The only real insult is that Mary's a novice. I think that was her second ever game of Scrabble, and the first game was at our house a few weeks ago. Beginner's luck?
One of these days I'll catch up on reading all my favorite people's blogs. But for now, know that I miss reading your interesting (and not so) exploits.
In other news...I've been trying to spend every spare (and many not so spare) moment working in an effort to bring in as much money as possible. Which means that when I'm not working, I don't really want to sit at my computer and read or write stuff, since that's pretty much what I do when I am working. For the first three weeks I have to comment on every stinkin' think I do, so that's a mite bit tedious. I worked twenty hours last week, which means there was twenty hours of other stuff that I normally do that didn't get done. I was also babysitting every day. So it was a good week for moneymaking, but not a good week for blogging, reading, exercising, relaxing, or any of those other pleasant things that I normally try to incorporate into my life. Alas...
David and I did go on a fun date last Friday night, however. We went canoeing with a few other couples on the Provo River and then went to a yummy Mexican place to eat. We'd originally only planned to go canoeing due to cost, but my sister & her husband gifted us $50 with explicit instructions to have fun, so we did. Then we had our friends Kent & Mary over to play Scrabble and (brace yourselves for this)...I lost! I know, kind of unimaginable. But I did only lose by seven points, so it could have been worse. The only real insult is that Mary's a novice. I think that was her second ever game of Scrabble, and the first game was at our house a few weeks ago. Beginner's luck?
One of these days I'll catch up on reading all my favorite people's blogs. But for now, know that I miss reading your interesting (and not so) exploits.
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