Right now

We had a great lesson in Sunday school yesterday about Family History. I took from the lesson that I need to be more diligent in preserving our young family's life as well as my own thoughts and feelings. Some of them I share here because it's stuff that I want our family that lives far away to know. Things that are more personal I find don't get written down because I don't have another place to jot them down. So after dusting off an empty journal on the bookshelf and updating here I am renewed in purpose. There are many things I have been remembering throughout each day that I feel need to be written down. You know the little things that tell a story of right now. Today. So over the next couple days I am going to add to this list of my life right now.

The Mister came home from the men's priesthood meeting at church a month ago inspired to have our family focus on being strong; strong in mind, body and spirit. We talk each night about what one thing we did that day to strengthen our minds, bodies and spirits. One night last week I was heading the discussion at the dinner table since the Mister had a late night at the office. It came time to talk to Mr. Cooper about what he did that day.

Mom: "Did you do anything for your spirit yet today?
Logan: " Mmmm, when I go to church my spirit hears the talking even when I plug my ears."

I had an awful, vivid dream about Toby dying last Thursday night and woke up in tears. I didn't settle down for awhile and finally drifted back to sleep 30 minutes before it was time to wake up. You better believe I kept Toby close to me all day. We played and he was happy to snuggle me in bed that morning. I love lazy mornings.

We are working with Mr. Cooper on staying out of people's personal space when he wants attention. "Stay out of his/her bubble!," is something Mom and Dad say a lot. Mr. Cooper loves his little sister so much that he has a hard time keeping his hands off of her, too. She is starting to get so sassy when he won't leave her alone. When she has had enough of him touching her face she blows up. "(s)Top it, Lo-gan! Go 'way!," she snaps in her adorable, almost 2 year-old voice. It's pretty cute.

Speaking of almost 2- I can't believe my baby is going to be 2 in a couple months. She is sure acting like a 2 year old though. I can't leave her alone for 2 minutes without marker showing up on her body, someone's water they left on the table being spilled all over the floor, or finding a chair she dragged anywhere in the house to explore and make a mess. She is quick these days.

I was greeted by this little gem on my way home last Thursday morning. One of our tenants managed this feat before going to work. Please explain how one's car can go from parked next to a concrete parking barrier, on a generous incline no less, to up and through the fence. I didn't even get an explanation. It's almost better that way. The owners of the two cars he hit with the fence didn't call the cops to file a report for the body damage, so I'm assuming the guys Chinese is really good. Between stuff like this and the owner's other properties, we are keeping Tom and his new contractor's license busy.

Jessie likes to stay after church with me to sing in the choir. Yesterday when we got in the car to come home she asked what we were going to have for lunch. I told her Dad was home getting lunch started. J said, "We're probably going to have chicken strips again then. Why do we always have chicken after church on Sundays?" Because it's fast and easy and everyone likes them, I told her. Then she hits me with this goodie.... "We always have chicken on Sunday. Is it like a sexual Sunday?" Wha-huh?!! "You know, something you do all the time." Oh, a ritual? Nice Freudian, eh?

I don't remember the leaves changing colors so late in the season last year. It's going on mid-November (which I also can't believe) and most the trees here in the bay area are just getting their fall colors. They are beautiful! I love this stretch of road up the street by the Mister's parent's house. Every year I look forward to driving down this road because the entire street is lined with trees that show amazing colors.

Sydney just walked up to me with her hands FULL of 7 pacifiers and squeeled "Binky!" like she hit the jackpot. She somehow found the stash of binkies that Dave had tucked away in one of the little drawers in the roll top desk. I don't even know how she knew they were there, but she pulled a little chair up to the desk to get onto the big chair and up to the drawers. See what I mean about 2 year-old trouble??? We are so close to getting rid of the binks all together (she is only allowed to have them in bed) and she is going to fight it every step of the way. Syd is sitting on my lap with her lap full of binks and taking turns sucking each one as she counts them , "oonne, twooo, fweee." Time to find a new spot for the binks, and Yes! I totally put them back in the drawer and waited for her to go for them again so I could sneak some pics.

Logan likes to call Syd "Gwinny" instead of Squiddy like the rest of us call her. She answers to him too. Pretty cute.

Jessie is a sweet big sister, usually. She loves to step into the Mom role and does so even when Mom is home. When she is happy and willing to show some patience with her siblings they have a really good time together. She shares her Littlest Pet Shop toys with mostly Mr. Cooper and Squid, who love to play with them.

My Jessie is growing too fast. She is very moody and short-tempered lately, a sign that her preteen years are too close. Apparently, I'm getting my payback from when I was a girl. Yesterday Jessie suddenly announced to me that she wished her name was just Jessie because she hated the name Jessica. I didn't tell her that very rarely I wished we had named her something else too. Her name is too common for her age. I didn't realize that when she was born.

The Mister looks mighty fine with his new facial hair. He is growing a moustache this month of Movember to raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer. The scratchy smooches are something to get used to, but I like the change. By Saturday morning his face was looking pretty shaggy as he had been growing out a full beard all week. Toby said, "Dad, you really need to shave your face. You look fuzzy."

Toby seems to fly under the radar most the time at home. He is a sweet, tender-hearted, lovable boy who loves to spend time with his Dad. All the kids have been taking turns having a date with Dad late Friday night after the other kids go to bed. Toby and Dad had their turn last Friday when they went to the store to get milkshake supplies, actually milk-less shakes since they are both allergic to milk, and played games together all night. Toby is becoming more interested in big boy things like shoot-em-up video games, Legos and army games and fighting. We are working on improving his reading and spelling which he does not have a long attention span for. He is doing well though and has great handwriting when he concentrates on it.

I am constantly trying to find balance between keeping up with housework, doing fun activities with the kids and fulfilling my need to create stuff on my own. I have started to ban myself from the computer because I inevitably suck up too much time browsing after writing emails. Now that I mention it, I gotta go. There is much organizing and moving to do in Jessie's new room. More on that later......

My Mom list

While I was sewing last night I watched a rebroadcast of Oprah, which never happens because I can't stand the lady. Who has time to watch TV in the afternoon anyway? It was 1 AM and the only thing on to keep me company. The part I watched was about one of Oprah's designer guys, we'll call him Blue Eyes, switching places with his Stay-at-Home-Mom sister. Did that make sense? They profiled Blue Eyes doing his sister's daily routine with 2 school-aged kids and a 2 year-old while Mom went off for a day of shopping and pampering. At the end of the segment, Oprah read off the list of all the things Blue Eyes did the entire day. My first thought was, "Welcome to every day in us SAHMoms lives." It's such a tiring yet fulfilling job!

So in the spirit of that segment about the hardest job in the world I thought it would be fun to write down a list of one of my days. If only I was as productive every day as I was today. I've been kicking stuff off my to-do list all morning. I'm just sitting down at 2:30 to eat a late lunch during nap time, and so far today I have accomplished the following;

Got up with the kids at 7:15 am (I know, woo hoo! but I was sewing until 2 AM so I'm proud of that one).
Made oatmeal for everyone and started lunches for school kids.
Got Syd out of bed and changed that foul-smelling first of the morning diaper (ya'll know that one).
Phone call from the electrician. Their coming at 8:30 to replace outlets/switches in the kitchen. Dang!, earlier than I thought.
Unlock 2 other units for the electrician before I forget.
Smooch J, Toby and the Mister bye for the day.
Sit Squid and Mr. Cooper up for breakfast.
'Hmmm, need to eat breakfast myself.'
Finish dinner dishes from last night instead.
Clean up clutter and move everything away from outlets for electricians to work.
Clean Syd up, sing songs and get her dressed.
'I should go eat breakfast.'
Get dressed myself instead.
Five minute contacts and make-up routine.
Do Syd's hair.
Ask Mr. Cooper to get dressed then play Goldilocks and the 3 Bears at the table so he'll sit and finish his oatmeal.
Log on to Gmail to get list from Dave when he tells me he forgot to drop off J's lunch at school that she forgot this morning.
Make another lunch and take it to J's school.
Make snack and clean off the rocking chair that Syd just drew on with a hidden Sharpie.
Pull out fridge so electrician can replace the outlet and clean the floor and wall behind it. Found some missing toys and lots of Cheerios underneath.
Take a break and lie down on the floor (my back still gives me bad days) where I get piled on by the Littles.
Throw in a load of laundry.
Make lunch and then put Squidy down for a nap.
Decide to finally install the end cap on our new countertop that's been sitting there for months.
Teach Logan to help with the hammer and metal files. An hour later, finished!
'Oh, I never ate breakfast. Maybe I should eat lunch before Syd wakes up.'
Fix a quick PB&J and make Dave's phone calls while Logan and Sam play Lego Batman.
So here I sit typing as fast as I can and Syd just woke up. Later.

It's now tomorrow, but my day yesterday continued with just as much productivity as it started. I'm tempted to chill out today and snuggle my chillies. In fact, I have. It's lunch time and I'm still in jammies. ;) I should get to work.

I am not envious of Oprah or anyone else who lives 'the good life' with a big job and pricey stuff. I love to set my own schedule, slow down if I need to and enjoy my little ones before they don't want to be around me anymore. My job as an at home Mom is the best in the world, even if I do get peed, pooped or puked on every once in awhile.

Wicked cool

I forgot to mention my awesome birthday date with the Mister a couple weeks ago. I found tickets to Wicked for $30 off, so Dave finally agreed to take me the day after my birthday. It's really all I wanted for my b-day; a date with my Man at Wicked. It's been here in San Francisco since January, so I was super excited to finally go. We got stuck in traffic on the bridge (of course), parked and walked over to the Orpheum in time to stop at Burger King for some quality junk food. We had too much time for fast food and not enough time for a sit down dinner, which was a bummer. I joked with Dave that we had never seen so many people dressed up nicely in a BK before. That place probably does well with all the late-comers to events at the Orpheum because they are right across the street.

Wicked was entertainerated and enchantifying! I liked all the funny Oz speak which has since rubbed off at home. My kids think I'm confusifying. Thankfully, the tall girl right in front of me in the theater took off her hat in the first 10 minutes. Otherwise, things might have gotten a little tense. Dave liked Wicked too. We both agreed that Jess, our singer-in-training, would have loved it. After talking to my Mom the next day, we decided to pay for Jess to go see it with her Grandma. I thought Mom had already experienced Wicked, which she hadn't, so she jumped at the chance to take Jess. They had their own Wicked date night the next Tuesday and enjoyed it just as much as we did.

Mom didn't have to fight the weekend traffic so they got into the city with plenty of time to spare. They stopped by the Brannan condos that Dad superintended when they were built in 2000 and took some fun pictures. I got curious and looked up what these condos are going for these days. Huh! You too can own a condo at the Brannan in the city for a mere $1.25 million bucks. The HOA fees alone are $835. Are you kidding me? That's a house payment in parts of the country. Ridiculous.

It's great to live near San Francisco to have access to great events like Wicked. Thanks to Grandma's and Grandpa's for having kids overnight (oh yes! sleeping in and waking up to quiet was so relaxing), and thank you babe for the wicked cool birthday!

Corn Husking X Games

Taken by Mr. Cooper

It's now one of our family traditions to take the kids to the Harvest Festival every year at Ardenwood Farm. I love the fall harvest season and the kids really get into picking corn which is one of the highlights of the day. This year the Festival fell on our wedding anniversary, so I took every opportunity to snuggle and smooch on the Mister during the day.

We took our corn harvesting seriously this year. The farm opens up their popping corn and indian corn fields to the public for the Festival weekend. You can pick all you want as long as you leave half of your harvest in the farm's sheds which feed the animals all year. We got our burlap sack and headed to the back of the field with the wagon ready to fill up. Dave disappeared into the popping corn field with all the kids and returned with his sack filled to the brim. I took Syd with me into the Indian corn field to pick some beautiful multi-colored ears. I love husking the Indian corn to discover what neat colors lie underneath. Toby was the last one out of the field with his collection bag dangling around his waist. It was so full he couldn't get it off. :)

I know the kids are having a good time somewhere when they say, "This is the best day ever!" We heard that phrase from the boys several times throughout the day. After picking corn, we ate our picnic lunch on the lawn with Grandpa Dave and Sam where everyone got a little crazy with and without food. I don't know what it is about cucumbers that makes them such a fun food to play with. It happens almost every time we eat them.

Sydney loved the horse, chickens, turkey and other birds, and she played and snuggled with Dave on the lawn so cute while we waited for the magic show to start. Toby and Logan loved exploring around the tractors and trees, and they ran around until they couldn't run anymore. That's always an added bonus with boys with seemingly endless energy. Boo Yeah This is the secret entry from Dave. I don't think she will find this. So the secret word to Camille is Boo Yeah till she finds this. Jessie liked playing hide-and-seek with all the trees and bushes around, and she got to participate in the magic show as one of the magicians helpers.

11 years strong

Sorry little blog.

I've neglected you of late.

My precious little 'Me time' has been spent reading this book.

But I'm almost done with it, 50 pages to go.

Plus today is a special day so I had to check in.

Happy Anniversary to Me and the Mister!!!

Picnic at the Harvest Festival

I love you, Bones!

It doesn't feel like 11 years since we started this crazy journey.

Then again, sometimes it does.

Thanks for being so good to me.

You treat me like a queen.

I appreciate all your hard work to buy me a castle some day.

Our sweet princes and princesses think you are the best.

We all agree the best time of every day is when you walk in the door of our little cottage after work.

The other day I called the Mister at work to see if he was up for helping me with dinner when he got home. I was sick and lost all motivation and energy to forge ahead alone. He said, "Yes, I will help you make dinner. Baby, I will make dinner any night you want me to." *sigh* My heart skipped a beat right then. I was twitterpated all over again. He scored major points with that one.

I married a good man!

Birthday

Today I am one year older, yet I don't feel a day over twenty.............eight. I hit that age too long ago but we'll just say I'm mentally stuck there for many more years.

I've been good about taking a picture every day for Project 365, but I've noticed that that's about it. I take out the camera for one picture then plop it back on the shelf. Today I decided to take my camera with me most the day and play around with it. Here's my day in pictures.

books, big plans and busted government

Please forgive the randomness that follows. Just stuff that's been rolling around in my head lately and current events which I thought I might want to remember one day. :)

There seems to be a mass exodus from our apartments this summer. I have been filling vacant units for months now, and just when one is filled another tenant moves out. It's getting to the point that part of me wants to move out with the next one. I see the moving vans fill up for tenants moving up in square footage (which we use every square inch of right now) or on to another adventure and wish that we were ready to do the same. It sure will be sweet when it is our time, but I remind myself almost daily that it's worth it so I wouldn't have to work. The ever-shrinking debt ball helps a lot too.

When was the last time, if ever, that a sitting U.S. president actively toured the primetime and late night TV shows? Never? I think so, for good reason. Doesn't Obama have anything better to do with his time than sit on the couch next to Dave Letterman? Obama won the presidency awhile ago and he's still out there campaigning, trying to sell his awful policies to a country that's sick of the government asking for more money. Excuse me, they're not asking. They're taking and trying to talk us into that being okay. He's like that annoying guy in high school that never stopped pandering to all the different cliques so they would accept him. I hated that guy. He's probably a politician now.Speaking of politicians, I didn't know that there was a big Taxpayers' March planned at the Capitol in D.C. on 9-12 until an email came my way after the fact (thanks Grandma!). Following are some of my favorite pictures and signs from the event. I don't watch the nightly news and have been too busy to check in at my favorite news site lately so this whole thing slipped by me. The crowd that showed up is awesome and I definitely agree with the sentiment that government is too big and greedy.
If you were to take a peek into my room and notice the books stacked by my nightstand right now you would think I was a 10-12 year old. Seriously. All I have been reading lately is young adult fiction and I like it. There is one problem with all this reading though. It tends to call me away from Mom things, like fixing meals on time and playing cars, Littlest Pet Shop and army guys with the offspring. I recently finished the Fablehaven Series in time for Sam, my little bro-in-law, to devour them. He would borrow one of the four and bring it back 2 days later to move on to the next. Sam and I agree it's a pretty good series, and he's 11 so you can take our word for it. ;)

Right now I'm reading the 2nd book in the Inkheart trilogy which is very different from the recent movie that came out by the same name. We watched it awhile ago for a family movie night, but reading the book is an entirely different adventure. I shouldn't be surprised though. Books are usually different and better than the movies they are made into. The author put short quotations from various books at the beginning of each chapter as a preview of what's to come. It's added some good books to my reading list as I get further into the series. A short break from reading is probably necessary so I can get some things done.

There's so much I want to do lately. I wish I could clone myself and make the clone do all the mundane stuff like laundry and cleaning. Then I would have time to do all the crafty things on my list for the kids and I, and my list of books to read would move a lot quicker. I find myself walking through a room and seeing at least 3 things I want or need to do right now. Here's how that sounds in my head;

* * *

walking into my room to change the baby's diaper: "I need to copy that lease paperwork I set on the table for #14. Oh yeah, there's my book. I really want to plop down on the bed and find out if Mo dies. Nope, gotta fix dinner. First change the diaper. Whoops, I was cleaning out my closet this morning and didn't get back in here. Gotta finish that up. Where's Syd? Need to change that diaper."

* * *

I may be a little ADD now that I read this in black and white. Or it's just proof that my brain moves way too fast for my body. I think it's the upcoming change in season that has got me all fired up. I LOVE fall and I feel it in the air, especially with the cooler nights this past week. October is probably my favorite month and I want to have all my ducks in a row so our family can enjoy the entire month. I feel blessed to be able to do and enjoy so many things.

And once again, I got snookered into being room parent for one of the kids classes. Actually, the only other Mom who would think about it asked me to do it and we decided to compromise and be co-room parents. Why is it that NO ONE else is willing to plan and put on a few parties, yet they all want to clog up the class room to watch on the day of? I am thankful for being raised and active in a church organization that works through volunteers and teaches service. It's taught me that giving of my time whenever possible is important.

My husband is darn cute. We talk through Gmail chat often throughout the day sometimes. The other day he starts one of our chats with, "God loves me." He proceeded to tel me that he was only a couple cars in front of a big accident on the freeway on his way to work that morning. He saw the accident in his rear view mirror. I think it's cute that he says that phrase often and I'm thankful he is always mindful of the blessing we receive from God. We are truly blessed, especially when the Mister is protected from an ugly accident on the freeway.