29, 4 kids, and a minivan

Okay Jenny, I don't really know how to do this but here goes nothing. You all will have to excuse the bad picture. I was taking it of myself at the end of the day when all my makeup is off and the hair is done for the day. I took like 90 pictures and just kept saying, this must be bad lighting, there is no way I look that old!!! But is probably only comes as a shock to me!But really, I am okay with turning 29. 25 was really hard for me. I could finally rent a car at 25, the only barrier beyond that is the senior citizens discount at age 65 (and I am all over that!) So being old is old hat to me now! I am feel like my life is even better than I imagined it would be at 29. I wouldn't botox a single crows eye or smile line on my aging face! I want the world to know that God gave me a ton of reasons to smile about in my 29 years.







Things that make me happy!

1. My husband and children of course (and everything that goes with them)
2. Staying in touch with great friends!
3. Sales or getting a great deal on anything!
4. Hoover steam-vac
5. sappy old Cary Grant or Audry Hepburn movies
6. The smell of Laudry detergent
7. Chocolate or carmel or both
8. Winning austin at a game
9. Baby blues comics or funny greeting cards
10. Suprises (except when my mom doesnt tell me she is coming into town and shows up at the doorstep when my house is a mess. NOT a good suprise!)

Recap of my Birthday
Well, now that the day is over and the kids are all tucked in bed and looking so sweet and cute todays events seem almost comical so I will give you a quick recap of today's events. Austin is on call today which means he left at 5:30 this morning and will get home tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. to sleep for a few hours before going back in at 5:30 p.m. So, on my own today, the kids ALL woke up to my delight 45 min earlier than usual. After beginning the sunday rituals of dressing and doing everyones hair I hear a huge crash in the kids bathroom. I run in to find that one of my children was trying to be a Gecko and climb the bathroom wall, using the towel rack as a support, ripping the entire rack off of the wall to the floor and leaving a huge hole in my wall. After a long exhausting effort to get everyone to church (still dressed and with hair still in tack) We sit down in the pew and instantly the kids start fighting. During the sacrament one child decides to dip her fingers in the sacrament cups and swirl them as I am helping her sisters with theirs. Then I feel something warm and wet on my lap. Yep, the baby shot right out the side of her diaper all over my skirt (which didn't hide it well) Of course today I didn't grab an extra outfit for the baby. But there is no time to go home because primary is starting soon. So the baby only has a dress top, no socks, no tights, no shoes! Then one daughter decides to show her underpants to one and all and when asked to put her dress down she gets mad at me and flips her dress up above her belly button! Need I say I was embarrassed! That same child showed her underpants all during primary, the other wouldn't stay in her seat, I was carrying a baby the entire time and now I have no left arm, someone asked me if I was having a happy birthday and I broke down in tears, when we got home we ate some mac and cheese and the kids fought until they fell asleep! Anyway, I'm sure you get the picture. So I have decided what I want for my 30th birthday, To stay in bed!!! On the good side though, Emma madsen (Mike's wife) brought over a cake yesterday to wish me happy birthday and it is to die for good. So I am currently erasing any bad memories of today with chocolate! Bless Emma!

Random wishes: A new guitar, to go to Israel, twins, a panini maker, to learn to play the violin.

News on the Men's Blog

Trent posted that Karie had her baby. Check out the men's blog for more information.

Karie - if you're out there - congratulations and good luck with everything. I'm so glad that Amelia is here safely!

-Ann

It's STRAIGHT through for us!!

I hate to post twice in a row, but I am breathing a huge sigh of relief over here!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

We just found out this morning that we're going straight through residency and James will NOT HAVE TO DO A TOUR OF DUTY FIRST!! That means no possibility of deployment until at the earliest, 2011!!! YEAH!

HUGE weight off my shoulders. We don't have to move again in 6 months and I can settle in to life here in CA.. I so love it here! Just thought I'd share :)

I'll be the first!

So I remember I wanted us to post a picture of our kids on Halloween and Easter, and then ourselves on our birthdays? It looks like I'll be the first to do the latter.

A few thoughts:

I am 28 years old. Its been quite a while since I've actually felt totally comfortable telling people my age. I think I like the sound of 28. I could be 28. I AM 28. Its a good - ambiguous number. It's old enough to have 3 kids and be doing what we're doing. I don't have a lot of regrets. I'm pretty happy with my life! Not a lot of people can say that, so I am counting myself quite fortunate. I have a lot of friends, a lot of responsibilities, a lot of stress, but a lot of help from above too.

So - my 2 greatest strengths:
1- Keeping my household running - all of us fed, clothed, bills paid, laundry kept up and dishes done (but that is where the cleaning pretty much ends).
2- I don't like grudges or secrets or silence. I really believe in talking things out. I like to think one of my strengths is that I help keep the lines of communication open in my immediate and extended families. .My extended family (mom, dad, siblings) is an American family - totally disfunctional! My parents have been divorced for 12 years, my siblings are all over the place making all kinds of mistakes. I'm the oldest of 5 and when "something is going down" they all come to me - even my mom and my dad. Sometimes it is debilitatingly stressful - but I do it. Out of the 7 of us, only myself and one brother are "un-medicated." I guess they figure I have a clear head ;)

My 2 greatest weaknesses:
1- I yell at my kids too much. I take my stress out on them sometimes. Especially when I haven't gotten out of the house in a while.
2- I am so totally scatterbrained. I can't keep on task for very long. I can't make a complete sentence most of the time!! It sucks. In today's world there's probably some more technical or medical term for what I am, but I like scatterbrained. It sounds pretty innocent.

Ok - now think this one is important:
What I'd REALLY REALLY like for my birthday:
1- A surprise.
2- A maid.

I don't think James ever reads this. Do your husbands? I think I'm pretty safe ;) Here's a recent family photo.. just for fun :)



K- that's it! Joni its your turn next week!!!!! Get ready!!!!

Christmas shopping

I'm so glad to hear that you guys are safe, Joni. I also feel like the Lord is watching over all of us and protecting us in so many ways. Speaking of Christmas shopping - do you guys have any recommendations for the kids. I have been looking at all the award winner lists for toys and I don't see much I'm crazy about. I just want something the kids will actually play with. What do your kids LOVE? Have you found any new toys for this year that look great? Any great ideas for the husbands? What do you get for someone that lives at the hospital and sometimes sleeps at home? I feel like Damon doesn't have any free time to use anything I might possibly give him.

Thanks in advance for all of your help,

Ann

We are all safe!

Thanks for everyones concern! We are all at home tonight watching the news as well and absolutely shocked that this is happening in little omaha! We thought that we moved away from big city crime. I haven't checked with any other midwestern students yet though. I just heard about this myself. I will let you all know if anyone we know was involved. Pretty scary though! The guy lives in Bellevue, where we live, and it could have just as easily happened while we were out and about here in town. I just feel very blessed and I know that the Lord is watching out for all of us. Moments like this make me very thankful for the power of prayer and that as we kneel as a family and ask for safety we really are protected and guided. Anyway, sorry to go on, thanks again for the posts and concerns.
Joni

Joni! are you there?

Sorry to change the subject from Rachel's great news, but I had just saw the news that there was a mall shooting in Omaha, NE and I immediately thought of Joni, her sweet girls, and the other Midwestern students there. Being that it's Christmas shopping, I hope you guys were nowhere near and everything is ok!!! Let us know!!

We're seeing PINK!!

We just went to the doctor today and found out that we will be having another little GIRL. We are all thrilled-especially Ally, she can't wait to have a sister. It's always so much fun to add a new baby to the family and we are very excited (even though May still seems SO far away!).

Halloween and Hawaiian Shave Ice

I am finally posting Halloween pictures, I loved looking at all your pictures. I realize it is almost December and We are just now working off the Thanksgiving feast, but here we are. Caden was King Peter for his school party, then after we went to the Disney store to get Taylor a Peter Pan sword He wanted to dress up as Peter Pan. So we borrowed a costume from my nephew for him.
Ella was a cute little witch and I was Tinkerbell for my two Peter Pan boys. Taylor would not keep his hat on. They all looked cute. Taylor quickly figured out what Trick or Treat meant. He even said 'Danks' to most of the candy givers. I was pretty pleased with the amount of candy they got not too much and not too little but enough so that they felt like they had a lot. Caden ate all of his the next day, and then he had to beg pieces off ella who wasn't feeling great and was going at a much slower pace consuming her candy. They got most of their candy at Jeremy's family Halloween party, after Halloween, they have a party the Monday after Halloween every year. They had tons of fun, and we got to try out our new shave ice machine. Dave and Amy had to hear us talk about it the whole time we were in Hawaii. I feel like Trent and Karie introduced us to the most delicious Hawaiian Shave Ice ever at Matsumoto's. We finally found a good place in Hilo on our last day there.
It was a different kind of beautiful in the big island. This is us at the "road to the sea" an accidental detour Dave led us on when we were trying to get to the green sands beach. There was a lot of 4 wheel driving involved to get there but it was worth it. The sand really was green. (top right is green sand beach)We also went to the black sand beach, all of these pictures were on the southern part of the island.

This wind blown tree is on the southern most tip of the U.S. There were a lot of trees that looked like this. We had a lot of fun, even if we were missing our lugguge for half of the trip it was all part of the adventure.

Finally Having Fun

It took several months but Jason's schedule slowed down and we were able to have some fun. Ever since we moved here I wanted to go to the beach. I had never seen the Atlantic ocean until last Friday. It was everything I hoped it would be. We flew kites, made sand castles, picked up seashells, and stole several grocery sacks full of sand. The hotel we stayed at had complimentary valet service, which I take as "You can park your own car if you can find the parking lot and don't mind the half mile walk back to the hotel." I was kind of embarrassed when the valet lifted the bag with the sand. It was pretty heavy and I would love to know what he thought we had packed in it. After the beach we went to downtown Charlestown. It was great to see the really old buildings and churches. After walking around for bit we made a stop at Costco and headed home. My closest Costco is two and a half hours away. I miss the Phoenix Costco's at every freeway off ramp. Overall we had a great time.

Bachellor?

Anyone catch the Bachellor tonight? I won't say anything for those on the west coast, but you can read my reaction on my blog later if you need some emotional support, because I do.
Katie

Update

I just thought I would post a quick update on the whole school situation. After we sent the letter in to the superintendent and asst. superintendent, they contacted us and asked if we would meet with them. Jon and I had such a good meeting with them and just felt so supported and felt so much better about the whole situation and that there was finally someone who was an advocate for children. She assured me that this situation would NEVER happen again and that they were going to be meeting with the pricipal later that day. That afternoon the principal came back to school and announce her resignation!!! We were stunned to say the least. We feel like everything happened just as it should have. Just thought I'd fill you in on the update. Hope all is well with everyone!

Birthday Calendar

Hi Ladies :)

I added a link to a calendar of our birthdays. It's over in the right hand column. Check it out and make sure your name is there :)

Would you guys like to add our hubby's and kids' birthdays?

Gotta love the dentist

I guess it is about my turn. Halloween was an adventure as Lane quickly caught on and Brayden said "I'm too shy to talk to people." He's an interesting kid. We had fun Halloween night though because it was the third Halloween activity and I think he got jealous of Lane ringing the doorbells, so that got him out of the stroller. I am one month away from delivery and I will break down and give you the picture you've all been asking for (although I don't think you'll be that excited). I am doing okay and just praying I'll go early as the baby is due on the 17th and they don't induce until a week post-dates here. That's Christmas Eve...I will die. Well, my two sisters are coming for T-day and we are going out to eat...sound fun? Trent is taking boards next week so it's been extra busy for him as any free time he has, he is studying.

Okay, all you with dental experiences...I brush the kids teeth every night but that's it. Brayden will be 4 in one month and I took him to the dentist this week....8 cavities....aaauuugghh!!! So, they want to put him out completely at the hospital and fill them all. What do I do? I mean, IF I get them all filled I would rather put him out completely anyway, but should I do it. Advice from anyone with dental connections. Also, those of you in the military...should I wait until next year and see if the military will cover it? I don't know about military insurance.

Alright, now for the parenting questions. My kids aren't horrible but man, Brayden and I duke it out 2 times a day at least. He is threatening me and giving me ultimatums. If I tell him to stop doing something he says, "If you do/say that again, I will throw my toy at you." Or he'll hit me, or throw his food on the floor, etc. I usually state the punishment if he does and wait to see if he follows through but I am tired of it. Then there is Lane who gets mad at me and says, "Mom, I kill you." Brayden has never done that so that's new. For the most part we are doing fine, but there are those times. I don't feel like I have it as bad as some as Trent's residency is at least family friendly and he gets nearly all the holidays off. He is gone a lot, but the attendings are pretty encouraging and nice. It's a good place. I do like it here and we're having fun. Just need some help on how to get through the next phase with my kids without abusing them and feeling guilty when I get mad and lose patience.

Well, wish all of you a happy holiday season and hope you are doing well.

Karie

P.S. Amy and Jill, how was Hawaii??? Do you guys still need pictures from us from last trip? We've still got them.

An all out war!!

Well, it seems we are officially in war with Ally's school!! On friday we had a major issue regarding Ally, the dress code and mainly the way in which she was treated and violated. It's a huge mess! I'm going to attach the letter we've written to the superintendent and asst. superintendent we are waiting for a phone call to find a time when Jonathan and I can meet with them. It is a mess, but I just wanted to make sure everyone is aware that our kids have rights and we as parents have rights-don't ever let any school administration bully or intimidate your child or you. After all of this has happened so many parents have told me about things that have happened to their child at this school but felt there was nothing that could be done...THERE IS! There are some things worth fighting for-and children are one of them!!

I am writing this letter in regards to an issue that occurred at ------------- School on Friday, November 9th, 2007, involving my daughter Allyson Manwaring.
On Friday morning I sent my daughter to school wearing the same uniform shorts she has worn since the beginning of the school year. No one, including and especially her teacher, Ms. -----, has ever said they were inappropriate.
Allyson arrived at school a few minutes early and went into the office as a safe place since there were no teachers or parents out on the playground yet. Rather than asking Allyson if she needed help or why she was in the office,----------, the office manager, told her that she was in violation of the dress code. She informed Allyson that she would need to go to the nurse’s office and take her shorts off and put on some that they provided her with. My daughter was obviously upset and crying at this time thinking that first she had broken the rules and then had to take her clothes off and change them.
When I arrived at the school to see Ally, she was in the nurse’s office still very upset, sitting by herself trying to find some sort of comfort alone.
I attempted to get some answers from the principal and other staff members and was verbally attacked and treated with a complete lack of professionalism and respect. More importantly, there was no concern for my daughter. I never received a straight or specific answer as to why my daughter was in violation of the dress code except that her shorts were the wrong color of khaki. Nor was I told that my daughter had been asked to change her clothes as she had been told to put her own shorts back on before I arrived at the school.
I was also lied to, saying that my daughter was only crying because she had missed me. There is a problem with this because first of all, Allyson has never cried at school because she misses me. Second, if Allyson was in fact crying and saying she needed her mother, it is because she did not feel safe with the school’s administration. She wanted her mother because a school employee asked her to take her clothes off. The school’s administration bullied her and then abandoned her. She was not allowed to be with her teacher whom she trusts.
There are four major issues with respect to the situation.
First of all, a school employee having requested Ally to change her pants on school grounds is offensive, inappropriate, and most likely illegal. If it is in fact the policy of the school to have children changing their clothes pursuant to a dress code violation, then the policy needs to be changed. It could open the door to child abuse and other inappropriate behavior. It also could very well be a violation of Arizona Code Section 13-3623 which makes it a felony to cause or permit "a child or vulnerable adult to be placed in a situation where the person or health of the child or vulnerable adult is endangered." Allyson’s overall physical, emotional, and intellectual well-being was endangered because of this incident.
Second of all, the administration failed to follow the standards for dress code violations set forth in the School Handbook. On a first violation, a student is given a verbal warning with a written note sent home to the parents. Rather than follow this procedure, it appears that the principal and others preferred to get a power trip by bullying a 5 year old who has no say in where her clothes are purchased or what she even wears on a certain day of school. If the procedures had been followed, then this entire incident could have been avoided.
Third, the principal and others were unable to give me an adequate explanation as to how my daughter's shorts violated the dress code. She said that the shorts had to be khaki instead of tan. I was under the understanding that “tan” is also considered “khaki”. If the dress code is going to be administrated in a manner that splits hairs, then it must be more specific in its language and descriptions of permitted and prohibited items of clothing.
Finally, my daughter was bullied, placed in a very uncomfortable position, and then abandoned pursuant to this process. She now has issues with school. There can be nothing more devastating to a child than to be accused of some wrongdoing when the child has no idea that he/she did something wrong. How can a 5 year old be punished for a dress code violation? It is no wonder that Ally was devastated when a complete stranger told her there was something wrong with her clothes, told her to change, told she could not see her teacher, and then left by herself in the nurses' office. She was ganged up on and bullied by complete strangers and left by herself without any familiar face around. The entire matter of the dress code violation should have been dealt with through me and my husband and not Allyson.
We, as Allyson’s parents and also concerned members of the community, fear that our child and other children are attending a school in an unsafe environment. I was shocked to find out the way in which I was treated as an adult who can defend myself, I can’t imagine the manner in which children are treated. As people who are there to ensure the safety at school, they are instead humiliating, intimidating and traumatizing innocent children. We do not trust their judgment or character in dealing with children. This school has an anti-bullying policy, we never in a million years would have thought that it would be the office staff doing the bullying. It is our desire that these practices be stopped in whatever manner is necessary to ensure that our daughter and all other children that attend Abraham Lincoln are safe and secure. We look forward to meeting with you and hope to solve this issue as quickly and quietly as possible. Thank you so much for your understanding.


Sorry this is so long!!!

We are all alive and well in NE

Sorry it has been so long since I posted. I have been logging on and reading the posts whenever I get a chance (which isn't very often) but I haven't had time to respond or post anything and I didn't realize how long it had been. Time has flown this year!!! Everything is going well but I am busy up to my eyeballs! Between primary president stuff ( which takes most of my spare time), the primary program which is next sunday (thank you so much Rachel for all of your help on that. You really gave me a lot of comfort and help!!!), Austin's elder's quorum presidency stuff, volunteering at Edens school, babysitting for the Madsen's (Emma, mikes wife, is getting her Masters), keeping up the house, the mountain of laundry that never seems to get smaller no matter how many loads I do a day, Joyschool with Grace and Siena, planning activites for primary, yada, yada, yada... and since Austin is not around much as you all understand, it is all me. I feel like a whimp because I can't keep up. You all sound like you have a good grip on things and I am positive that my life is no more chaotic than yours! So any good advice on how to pack a 30 hour day into 24 hours let me know!

But all in all things are going great! I still love my house and we have the most beautiful trees in the yard and all the leaves just turned red. I will attempt to post a picture.

The kids are loving the leaf piles of fall and so desperately longing for the snow to fall as well. We all bought snow boots and hats and gloves this week and the girls can barely contain themselves! It is so fun to hear their squeals and giggles when they are playing in the leaves and yelling "its fall, its fall." Austins residency has been really crazy busy and I think it gets him down quite a bit to see how much he is missing at home. His birthday was last week and the girls all wrote him coupon books and grace wrote "one free stay home from work and play with me day." and the next coupon was "stay home and drink hot chocolate with me." All of her coupons were somehow tied to him staying home. One day he was running out the door to work and Gracie came running in and said "but daddy, remember, you went to work yesterday, that means today you get to stay home with me." Austin was crushed and still had to say goodbye and go to work. She has definately taken it the hardest. I'm sure as time goes on it will get easier though. And just think, after residency it will feel like they are only working part time!

For halloween Eden was Dorothy from the wizard of oz, (and of course made me be the wicked witch of the west since none of her sisters would be.) Gracie was a fairy princess, siena was a princess, and Hope was snow white.

Anyhow, sorry for blabbing so long. I miss you all and it was good to finally get to virtually chat with you all.

Fun times

Amy and I went to dinner the other night. It was so fun getting together with her and her sisters. It made me really miss getting together for our girls' nights. I hope everyone is doing well. I am doing good. I am in Idaho with my family, and we are in heaven. It is fun being pampered by my family.

Just Curious

I haven't heard since the move from AZ how Joni is doing. Anyone talked to her to recently or know how she is doing?

You Know You Grew Up In the 80's If:

My sister just emailed this to me and I thought it was HILARIOUS. Thought I would share.

1. You've ever ended a sentence with the word SIKE.

2. You can sing the rap to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and can do the Carlton

3. You know that 'WOAH' comes from Joey on Blossom

4. If you ever watched 'Fraggle Rock'

5. It was actually worth getting up early on a Saturday to watch cartoons.

6. You wore a ponytail on the side of your head.

7. You got super-excited when it was Oregon Trail day in computer class at school.

8. You made your mom buy one of those clips that would hold your shirt in a knot on the side.

9. You played the game 'MASH'(Mansion, Apartment, Shelter, House)

10. You wore stonewashed Jordache jean jackets and were proud of it.

11. You know the profound meaning of ' WAX ON , WAX OFF'

12. You wanted to be a Goonie.

13. You ever wore fluorescent clothing. (some of us...head-to-toe) Note: the ponytail on the side in this pic.

14. You can remember what Michael Jackson looked like before his nose fell off and his cheeks shifted.

15. You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the only female smurf.

16. You took lunch boxes to school...and traded Garbage Pailkids in the schoolyard.

17. You remember the CRAZE, then the BANNING of slap bracelets.

18. You still get the urge to say 'NOT' after every sentence.
19. You thought your childhood friends would never leave because you exchanged handmade friendship bracelets.

21. You ever owned a pair of Jelly-Shoes.

22. After you saw Pee-Wee's Big Adventure you kept saying 'I know you are, but what am I?'

23. You remember 'I've fallen and I can't get up'

24. You remember going to the skating rink before there were inline skates.

25. You have ever played with a Skip-It.

26. You remember boom boxes and walking around with one on your shoulder like you were all that.

27. You remember watching both Gremlins movies.

28. You thought Doogie Howser/Samantha Micelli was hot.

29. You remember Alf, the lil furry brown alien from Melmac.

30. You remember New Kids on the Block when they were cool...and don't even flinch when people refer to them as 'NKOTB'

31. You knew all the characters names and their life stories on 'Saved By The Bell,' The ORIGINAL class.

32. You know all the words to Bon Jovi - SHOT THROUGH THE HEART.

33. You just sang those words to yourself.

34. You still sing 'We are the World'

35. You tight rolled your jeans.

36. You owned a bannana clip.

37. You remember 'Where's the Beef?'

38. You used to (and probably still do) say 'What you talkin' 'bout Willis? '

39. You're still singing SHOT THROUGH THE HEART in your head, aren't you!