Awesome Things

One of the blogs I follow (http://www.happiness-project.com/)  had a fun post this week. Gretchen Rubin was praising another author friend of hers, who recently published a second book, by sharing a list of some awesome things: Awesome Things Make You Happy

I am generally a fairly happy person, but there are still moments of 'awesome things' that just give that little added boost to the day. Here are some of mine:

*Noticing the digital clock right at 11:11. In our family, we use this as an excuse to "make a wish".

*Hearing my teenager sing in the shower as I walk down the hall, passing the bathroom door.

*Receiving an unexpected compliment.

*Walking barefoot on sun-warmed lawn.

*Smelling microwave popcorn.

*As I drive my normal route into town, I realize everything is suddenly green. Spring has arrived.

*Finding a 'long lost' friend on Facebook.

*Sharing a great movie with my husband.

*Checking on my children, after they're asleep.

*When someone lets me merge in a heavy lane of traffic.

*Seeing deer grazing in my yard.

 

There are a ton of other things, as well, but those were the first few I thought of. What are yours?

My Obviously Controversial Thoughts on the Death of Osama Bin Laden

I'm not really sure how I feel about the celebration of Osama Bin Laden's death.

When I first sat down at my computer, after watching Star Trek (the new one) for the third or fourth time...it's an awesome movie, by the way...I checked my FB newsfeed. The first post I saw was from a family member in Canada, saying people were outside the Whitehouse, cheering Osama's death. I then pulled up an online news site to see what happened and to watch Obama's speech.  After watching his speech, I went back to Facebook and read other people's status posts. Almost everyone who had posted seemed jubilant, with one friend even posting the "ding, dong, the witch is dead" song (which I did find humorous, at least).

I know Osama was a really bad guy, who did really bad things, but to say "justice has been served" because we killed an old man in hiding, somehow doesn't feel right to me. Don't we believe in trials? If anything, he should have been treated as a war criminal, if not a criminally insane one. Is it right to just execute someone, regardless of what has been done? I don't know. According to what we've been told and to what he bragged about, he felt that the US is a wicked nation that needs to be wiped off the face of the Earth (my words). He's not that wrong, in my opinion...we are a pretty wicked nation, as a whole. Not that he has the right to be our jury or judge. But I'm not sure killing him will stop the Al Qaeda (sp?)...it has been operating with Osama in hiding, so there are obviously other leaders of the group. And now they have a martyr to rally around.

Unfortunately, the suspicious part of my mind wonders if killing Osama now is a diversionary ploy. Obama's approval ratings are rock bottom. There's the birth certificate authenticity issue (many feel it's fake). Even if it's real, there's the fact that his father is a British national, making Obama technically not a 'natural born citizen, born to two US citizens' and therefore not legally allowed to be our president, regardless of where he himself was born. We have the budget issue, which many people blame on Obama's insane spending habits, but with this killing, our military spending has now been 'justified', right? I can go on and on. My point is just that this seems like a way for Obama to get back into the good graces of the American people. One could argue that it's pretty far from the actual elections and we, as a people, have short memories, so maybe he should have waited until closer? But, he has already starting his campaigning and fund raising, so this gives him something to focus on during his upcoming speeches. If I'm right, and this is a political move, I'm sure he has another 'big win' up his sleeve to show us how awesome he is when the time for elections does get closer.

And then there's the speech. I saw a lot of people commenting about how much they liked the speech. Someone even said he thought it was "honest and direct". Seriously? Has ANYTHING Obama said in the past few years been honest? Maybe it's my very biased opinion, but I trust absolutely nothing that comes out of his mouth. He has done nothing but lie and lie and lie. And yes, initially I liked him...I would have voted for him (but I misplaced my mail-in ballot). He's a great talker. Actually, I think that's why I don't like him now...I had faith in him prior to his swearing in and have been repeatedly disappointed in the things he has since done, to the point where I almost feel personally betrayed. I definitely feel like a fool for once believing that he meant what he said.

Anyway, back to his speech. The thing that bothered me the most were his many "I" statements. He took personal credit for a lot of things that I don't think he could have been solely responsible for. If he was truly 'the man' doing those things, he should show some humility and let others praise him, or let his actions speak for him. Otherwise, he should only be using "we" or should be giving credit to those actually responsible. The last couple minutes of his speech had more "we" usage, but I still didn't like all the "I"s. His arrogance is appalling. His praise and thankfulness for our military personnel and the many deaths and injuries they and their families have suffered was also lacking, in my opinion.

Several months ago, I mentioned to my mom that Obama will win the next election, regardless of what he does or what happens in our country before the election. We are in the biblical "last days" and our country is going to be facing some very hard times. Things are going to continue to deteriorate. Obama's plans for us are just taking us there that much sooner. It's all part of the greater plan. With Obama's approval ratings being so low, I was starting to hope that I was wrong...I should have known Obama wouldn't give up the next four years without a few tricks up his sleeve.

Spring Break - The Downside

In my last post, I went on and on about how much fun it is to have older kids. This week, I'm realizing how hard it is to think of things to do that all four of those 'older' kids will enjoy.

In the past, our spring break (and summers and weekends and all other kinds of breaks) were filled with trips to local parks, Seattle Center's Whirligig, the Children's Museum, Jungle Playland, etc. None of those are things my older two would enjoy anymore (or in some cases, like Jungle Playland, are too old to participate in, even if they would still enjoy them).

So, do I take just my younger two out? My older two have 'been there, done that', so it would technically be 'fair' to let the younger two enjoy those outings, right? On the other hand, a drive to Seattle or Mt. Vernon is pretty significant now that we live in the boonies...I would really rather find something all four kids would like, especially if it means a long drive. Finding closer entertainment would even be better! And since it looks like rain this week (imagine that!), finding indoor activities would be ideal.

Roller Skating is on this week's agenda, so that's one thing, at least. We are also planning on a trip to the library, but that doesn't really count...that's really close and something we do all the time anyway. What else is there? A movie? Nah, we watch enough movies at home...we even have a projector for that movie-theater feel; we save our family theater trips for highly anticipated releases, none of which are happening this week. The Aquarium? Yes, we love the aquarium, but it's a once-a-year thing for us (due to the cost), and we prefer to go when the weather is nice, so we can also spend time at Pike Place and wandering the waterfront. So, that's probably not happening this week. The Zoo is also more enjoyable when it's not cold and wet outside. We just did the family swim thing...once in a while is okay, but the older two wouldn't be all that interested in going again this soon.

I'm stumped! If you have ideas of local activities, preferably not too expensive, that kids from 8 to 14 would enjoy, please share them with me :-)

You Never Know about Strangers

A few years ago, we had a great vacation in California, complete with a 5-day park hopper pass to Disneyland and California Adventure, a 2 day stay with Robert's Uncle John, and several other fun visits to local amusements. On the night of the last day of our Disneyland adventure, we stopped by the gift shops on our way back to the hotel. Robert took the kids to choose one toy each, while I went to find myself a Disney sweatshirt.

While I was browsing through the clothing racks, I had an encounter with a stranger. She was also looking through clothing racks, while her son (about 8 or 9 years old) was sleeping on the floor nearby. I can't remember what happened exactly, but she said something rude to me and I replied rudely in return. I walked away to look at a different section of clothes, but was feeling stressed and terrible about my reply to her. Not because I cared about her, mind you, but because I didn't want to end my vacation with a guilty conscience, a few minutes (and a lot of self-talk) later, I went back to her and apologized for my rudeness, explaining that I was tired...it had been a long day.

She apologized to me, as well, explaining that she had 'lost' her son for several hours that day. They were both emotionally and physically exhausted, but she wanted to get a memento of their trip before heading home the next day. As a mom, I've 'lost' my children at stores in the past, but usually only for a minute or two (to find them hiding in a clothing rack or on a different aisle than expected). That minute or two of panic is real and extremely stressful, so I can't imagine how hard it must have been for that mom to have lost her son for several hours, especially at a place like Disneyland, where there are so many strangers and possible predators all over the place. The things she must have worried about and stressed over are unimaginable to me. It made me even more glad to have apologized, hopefully making her last few minutes at the park a little less terrible than it might have otherwise been if it had ended in rude words from a stranger.

For some reason I've been thinking about that encounter a lot today. I'm not sure why today of all days, as I didn't have any run-ins with rude people or have any bad-day issues, but regardless, I thought I'd share it with you anyway. I have thought about that over the years, as well, and I've tried to remember the lesson I learned from it. We really never know what other people are going through, especially if they're strangers to us. I try to remember that if someone is rude there may be an underlying reason; maybe a love one recently passed away or is sick, maybe they lost a job and are trying to figure out how to buy enough groceries for their kids, or maybe they just had an awful day for some other unknown reason. If someone cuts you off in traffic, maybe it's because they're speeding to get to the hospital in time to say goodbye or have a pregnant wife in the car (I know Robert broke several traffic laws when I was ready to deliver). We just never know, but we can do whatever it takes to not contribute to their bad day by being rude in return.

***

My youngest child, Shaya, was baptized a member of our church yesterday. In our church we believe that a child must be old enough to know right from wrong (a general rule of thumb is at least eight years old) and old enough to make their own decision on whether they want to be baptized or not. Since she turned 8 a couple of weeks ago and chose to become LDS, she had her service yesterday. It was a nice ceremony, with several friends and family in attendance. (Those same friends and family came over for dinner afterwards; I had a wonderful time socializing with them while our kids and their cousins and friends hung out together).

The thought that this is my youngest and last child to get baptized made me cry a little. All my kids are growing up! I'm going to have a house full of teenagers soon and then not too long after that, Robert and I will be empty nesters. Robert prepared a slide show DVD for Shaya of her first 8 years (he's done that for all of the kids) while I am working on a baby book of Shaya's first 8 years (I've also done that for all my kids, but this one will be given to her late). It was fun to reminisce over the early years and to see how cute and adorable our kids were as babies, toddlers, and preschoolers.

It makes me a little sad, but on the other hand, I really do enjoy having older kids. I've never really been a 'baby person' (although I've adored my own babies!). Life is so much easier with kids that are independent enough to fix their own meals, clean their own rooms (not that they actually do), and get themselves ready for church or school in the morning. But even more than that, I love spending time with my kids, especially now that they're old enough to have 'real' conversations. I like reading books with them, because the books they choose these days are ones that are actually enjoyable to me, too (I do like pictures books, as well, but I hope you know what I'm getting at). I really do love all of my kids and I love the stage of life they're all in right now. Hopefully, I can remember to always enjoy the little things and not stress too much over the annoyances and occasional bratty times.

Anyway, I'm proud of Shaya for making the decision to get baptized. She's a very good person and I love her very much!

Thy Will Be Done

On Wednesday of last week I started spotting, so on Thursday morning, I called the midwife center (where I went when I was pregnant with Shaya) for the first time this pregnancy. They were able to get me in for a 1:00 appointment. Based on the first day of my last period, I was 10 1/2 weeks along, but the midwife was unable to hear a heartbeat using the little handheld tool thing. That, and the fact that I was spotting, was reason enough to send me to the hospital for an ultrasound and some other testing. By the time the ultrasound and tests were finished, the midwife office was closed, but one of the other midwives came to talk to me anyway. She said that the size of the gestational sac was 7 weeks, and although they couldn't detect a heartbeat in the ultrasound, that it might just be too early yet.

As requested, I went back to the hospital on Friday to discuss the ultrasound and bloodwork with my midwife. She talked to me about the ultrasound again and said that it looked to her like a blighted ovum, which means that a baby never formed, usually due to chromosomal abnormalities (more information, if you're interested: http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancycomplications/blightedovum.html). She was pretty sure I was going to have a miscarriage, but that if my 'spotting' slowed down or stopped, I should come back in the following week for another ultrasound. She was trying to be positive, but I could tell she didn't think that I'd be coming back in next week.

I woke up at 4:00am on Saturday with an actual labor pain. If I had been full term, this would have been the kind of pain that I woke Robert up for, saying, "it's time!" But, I knew what was happening...  The bleeding intensified and I spent the next several hours changing pads or sitting on the toilet, with intense labor pains happening regularly. When I first woke up, they were about 10 or 15 minutes apart, but by the time Robert woke up at 10:30, they were much closer together and the bleeding had continued unabated, and had included several large clots of tissue.

Robert called the midwives, but being a Saturday, the only one available was on call to deliver. She took 20 minutes to call back, and after Robert described the symptoms, she told him to get me to the emergency room immediately. So, we went... Labor pains were still pretty intense and close together in the car, but by that time I had finally taken a couple of extra strength Tylenol so the edge was taken from the pain a bit.

After a couple of hours of being there, the physician, after getting the results of my blood test, told me that my red blood cell count was low, but not dangerous, so that if I wanted to try letting the miscarriage happen on it's own (rather than having a D&C), I could. By that time my bleeding and pain and lessened considerably, so he decided not to do a blood transfusion (phew!). I was told to take it easy over the next few days and that if the bleeding did not slow way down or if I had any other symptoms (dizziness, nauseousness, or just a feeling that something might be wrong) that I was to come back. I agreed, and we got home at about 5 or 6 that night.

I was sore and very tired for the next couple of days, but otherwise, physically fine. The emotional parts were harder, but through prayer and discussions with Robert and my mom, I was comforted in knowing that this is all part of God's plan for me. I'm not sure why I had to get pregnant in the first place if a baby never formed, but I don't need to know the why's. Heavenly Father loves me and there was a reason for my miscarriage, whether I know what that reason is or not.

My mom had a miscarriage when I was around 12, and it's something I've thought about on and off over the years. Things like, "If the baby had lived, she would be 9 now" or whatever. I have no doubt that I'll have those kinds of thoughts this time around, as well. My due date would have been September 23rd, a week or so before Braelen's birthday. I'm sure that will be a bit of an emotional time for me, and I'm sure there will be other times, as well. But for now, I am doing better than I was earlier this week.

Oil and Water

Being pregnant has some physical quirks. Having gallstones has some physical issues, as well. Both are tolerable, but together they are not a good mix.

For example, when I'm feeling a little queasy from the pregnancy, I would normally go for a ginger ale or maybe even a Coke, but those are about the worst things you can drink when you have gallstones. One of the best things you can drink when you're suffering from a gallstone attack is apple juice with a bit of apple cider vinegar mixed in, but just the thought of that makes me want to puke now that I'm pregnant.

Since I started having gallstone attacks (this past summer, finally diagnosed in October), I have severely changed my diet. It was absolutely atrocious...I ate junk food most of the day, with rarely anything healthy thrown in there, so I definitely deserved some kind of bodily protest. I now regularly eat fruits and vegetables, I no longer drink soda of any kind, and I avoid foods high in sugar and fat, so really, having gallstones was a blessing (in a serious disguise).

I thought it would be the candy (chocolate!) that I would miss, but really it's been fatty foods, like pizza, that I've missed the most. And especially the past couple of weeks, I've REALLY wanted pizza! I have cheated a couple of times; for example, I brought my friend a couple of pizzas for lunch when I went to visit her on Monday (she just moved back after being gone for 11 years). I tried to limit myself to one slice, but Shaya left most of a second slice that I finished off for her. And then, for my birthday dinner on Tuesday, I decided that I wanted pizza. We made a healthier kind, on whole wheat english muffin halves. I piled mine high with onions, tomatoes, and mushrooms, but I also put quite a bit of mozzarella cheese on top. They were so good that I ended up eating four of them (stuffing yourself is also bad when you have gallstones), along with a lot of fresh fruit that Robert bought for me. So, sure, relatively healthy, but way too much.

I spent the last three hours of my birthday (and into the next morning) suffering from a gallstone attack. Oh, and because I'm pregnant, I can't take the pain medication that was subscribed to me. Tylenol just doesn't cut it...it takes the edge off, but the pain is still there. It's so not fun. I am hoping that whatever cravings my pregnant body decides to have in the future, that they coincide with a good, healthy, non-gallstone-attack-inducing diet. Like cucumbers. I hope I crave cucumbers.

***

What a nice week this has been! My kids have been home all week from school. I've pretty much been in my PJs for the past three days. We've all just been lazing around, spending a bit of time playing in the snow, but also watching movies, reading books, and playing computer games. I have become a homebody, because I really like being lazy these days.

There wasn't any school on Monday, due to President's Day. On Tuesday we woke up to quite a bit of snow on the ground, with messages from the district delaying school for a couple of hours and only having buses on limited transportation. Limited transportation is a huge pain for us...the regular bus stop is right in front of our house; the 'emergency bus stop' is 2 miles away. Two miles of un-plowed, limited use, twisty, hilly roads. Neither Robert nor I feel all that comfortable driving in snow in the first place, but our road is always difficult to drive on when there's any snow at all. Limited transportation means 4 trips on our road, and since more snow was being forecasted, we just decided to let the kids have a snow day. Wednesday and today were both officially school closed (due to snow) days. I'm thinking tomorrow might just be a stay-at-home day, too, even if it isn't official...we'll just round off the week and have some more relaxing family time :-)

Guilty Little Secret

Whenever anyone mentions something they've seen on TV, I usually have no idea what they're talking about, especially if it's a newer show. I usually shrug and piously reply with, "Oh, we don't have TV at our house." When we moved out to the boonies (almost three years ago now), we made the decision to not get TV. The kids watched the occasional cartoon or after school sitcom, but Robert and I rarely watched any during the past several years that we lived in Marysville. So, we decided to spend the savings from not having TV on Netflix and Hi-speed internet. The kids can get their cartoons and sitcoms via Netflix and we can watch whatever movies we feel like watching.

It's normally a win-win, but occasionally I do miss having television. Football, for example. I actually enjoy watching it when I can watch it regularly and follow the teams and specific players that I like. Just looking up stats isn't the same so I have missed out on the past three seasons of the game. Seattle made it to the play-offs this year, and if they had made it to the Super Bowl (I know, I know, not likely), I would really have missed having a TV. Arriah and Braelen say the thing they miss the most is the commercials. And no, I don't mean the Super Bowl commercials. They miss seeing the every day commercials, because their friends talk about these new products or places to go and my kids don't have any idea what they're talking about.

Now, I have to admit to my guilty little secret. I have become a fan of American Idol. Prior to last season, I may have seen one or two episodes, so I knew what the show was about, but I never cared. Last season, however, I started watching American Idol via YouTube clips the morning after the show was aired. And I got hooked. My favorite last season was Lee Dewyze, so I was thrilled that he made it all the way through. Oh, and I also liked one of the kids that didn't even make it to the top 12, so that was kinda sad.

I'm hooked again this season. Since it's on Wednesday and Thursday evenings, I now spend Thursday and Friday morning trying to piece together the show on YouTube. I suppose it must be illegal to be upload the clips, because the YouTube police are good about deleting posts. I have to get to them quick (or wait a few days for repostings) and still sometimes end up only being able to watch parts of the episode. But, that's okay, I still enjoy it.

My favorites so far this season are Jacee Badeaux, Robbie Rosen, and Chris Medina. There's a girl that hasn't received much air time, but I've really liked her voice when she's sang; Ashton something (Jones, I think). I couldn't tell if she was in the 'right' room, but I saw that all of 'my boys' made it through. I'll get to watch them again next week! And yes, there are definitely better singers than the guys I have become fans of, but I don't care about that. I'm looking forward to next Thursday morning. Now, if only they'd extend the call-in deadline until the next morning, I might actually vote...

A lil' bit of insanity and a whole lotta fun!

Khasia had a slumber party last night for her 10th birthday party. For some reason, even though I know better, I go by the old adage of expecting about half of the invited guests to actually attend. So, if we want six girls, we invite 12, right? Nah, we had 9 girls last night, not to mention my own 4 darlings, so it was a pretty full house. (In the past, we have had instances of 100% of invites showing up, so I really should learn!).

My philosophy on parties is to keep them busy with activities, as that generally cuts down on the run-around-screaming-and-wreaking-havoc wildness that otherwise ensues, especially with the pre-teen age group. It worked to an extent, but they were still pretty rowdy in between activities. Our schedule went something like this:

6:00 Arrival: We had a painting ceramics craft set up for the girls to do as they arrived, so they started out the evening by sitting down, chatting quietly, and painting figurines.
6:30 Dinner: We had Little Caesar's Pizza, chips, and pop for dinner.
7:00 Cupcakes: For Khasia's actual birthday (on the 7th), she got a 'real' cupcake maker, so as each child arrived, they chose a cake flavor. Robert then made up the cake batter, cooked them in the maker, and had them cooling, so that by 7:00 they were ready to decorate. We set out a variety of frostings and sprinkles and let them go at it. After about 15 minutes of that, we put candles in Khasia's cupcake and sang Happy Birthday to her. We then added a scoop of ice cream to everyone's plate and they all ate their dessert (although a lot of the girls didn't really eat much of their cake...I've noticed that's fairly normal at birthday parties).
7:30 Presents: Once the dessert was cleaned up, we had Khasia open her gifts. She's good about taking her time to make the 'fun' last a little longer. She got some great presents, which is surprising, since it's so hard to know what to get pre-teens.
8:00 Crafts: The girls made bracelets out of beads while I called two at a time over to the kitchen counter to tie dye t-shirts. This was a fairly long process, but we got everyone through eventually. And I'm pretty sure we were able to do it without anyone getting any dye on the clothes they were wearing.
9:30 Nail Polish: Everyone painted their own nails or partnered up to paint each others. We had bought a selection of new polishes, so once the painting was done, I let everyone choose a color and those polishes went into their take-home gift bags. (Oh, and one of the girls who was not spending the night went home at this time).
10:30 Movies: We made big batches of popcorn and sent all the girls upstairs to spread out sleeping bags and start watching the first of several movies we had rented for them. (The other girl who didn't spend the night went home a few minutes after the movie got started; the rest stayed the night).
11:00: I went to bed around this time. Everyone was still watching the movie and enjoying their popcorn.
2:00am: Robert said he stayed up until about 2:00 and that the girls were all still awake and pretty wild, so the movie watching must have been getting old by that point.
5:00am: I woke up (this is my normal time to wake up to get Arriah to her religion class, so it's habit). There were huge piles of toilet paper around the house, so they had tried to TP the inside of our house, but I guess one of the girls kept tearing it down...they made it into piles instead). I used this time to finish up the tie dye shirts, meaning I took off all the rubber bands and put them into the washing machine. It was about 6:00 when I got back in bed. There were two girls asleep at that time, but the rest were either playing computer games, playing with toys (Barbies?) in Shaya's room, or just sitting around chatting. I put on another movie before I went back to bed.
8:30am: I meant to get back up at 8:00, but my alarm wasn't set properly, so I got up a little later than I should have. First, I put the shirts in the dryer, then I went and woke everyone up. Braelen and one of the girls who was asleep at 5:00 were awake; everyone else was sleeping and they were not easy to wake up. Eventually, though, they all got up and put their stuff by the front door. Some ate cinnamon rolls or donuts for breakfast, while the others just sat in a tired daze.
9:00am: Pick up was supposed to be at 9:00, but it took a good 30 or 40 minutes for all the parents to arrive and get their girls out the door. Leah, my niece, left closer to 10:00.

And no, it wasn't as smooth running as my schedule makes it sound. In between each activity the girls were all up, running around and screaming. At one point they played freeze tag, which definitely got wild. At another point, they were all royalty, or servants of, and pretending various things. Another time, one girl was stealing everyone's socks and being chased around the house. They also played one of the board games that was given as a gift to Khasia earlier.

It was a bit crazy at times, but I think it was overall a fun-filled night :-)

P.S. I need to figure out how to add pictures!

Service Auction

Our women's church activity this month was a service auction. Our first task was to think of a service we were willing to donate. We then wrote our idea down on a card. There were quite a variety of services: dinners, all kinds of baked goods, jams and other goodies, a car detail, closet organizing, house cleaning, sign language lessons, party planning, a hand-made quilt, a knitted baby hat, etc. I volunteered 4 to 6 hours of babysitting at my house. I thought that would be common, but I was the only one that volunteered the babysitting.

We then had to fill out a survey of things we've done. Some of the questions were religious based (did you say your prayers this morning), but most were general (have you ever checked your car's oil). Each item on the survey was worth a certain number of points. We used those points to bid on the services. I got an embarrassingly low number :-)

The first part of the activity was a potato bar, where we all brought a topping. It was yummy! I am pretty sure I'm one of the few that went back for seconds. Because of my diet restrictions, I haven't been having potatoes lately, because I normally eat them covered in butter, sour cream, cheese, and bacon bits...none of which I can have now. But, I topped mine in broccoli and green onions and it was really good!

We then had the auction. One of the women, Janelle, was our auctioneer. She first read off all of the services, so we had an idea of what was available. I wrote down the things I was interested in, but the thing I really wanted was the sign language lessons. My daughter, Shaya, has really been interested in learning sign language lately...When I was little, one of my friends was deaf, so I actually knew quite a bit of sign language then, but it's been a long time. Shaya knows her letters now, and I've been teaching her a few phrases, but I knew she'd love the lessons. Fortunately, those were auctioned off near the end, so most people had spent their points already and I was able to get them! Ironically, the person that does the lessons won the bid on my babysitting... I told her we should make behind-the-scenes arrangements to swap for future lessons and babysitting (although, she teaches professionally and charges quite a bit more than I would to babysit).

I have heard of service auctions, of course, but that was the first one I have attended. It was a very fun and creative activity that I was fortunate enough to be able to attend. Not to mention, the socializing! Our church has a lot of really good people in it, and I've enjoyed getting to know them and becoming friends with many of them.

Our Home School Situation - Part 2

I wrote up our history of education in my last post, so I can focus on our current year in this post.

Even though Arriah really enjoyed her two years of home schooling, she wanted to see what 'regular' high school was like and decided that 9th grade would be a good year to do that. She started out the year at GFHS and loved it. She came home with energy and enthusiasm every day, enjoying almost every aspect of school. Unfortunately, as the year went on, she became less and less excited about going. The hardest part for her was dealing with the constant swearing and low morals of those around her. Her group of friends knew not to swear around her, but it was impossible to avoid otherwise. In December she was so depressed that she wanted to quit school and never go back. I took her in to see one of the HS counsellors, and we had a good discussion about options and future possibilities. Arriah eventually decided to finish out the first semester of school, which ended Jan 29th, and then drop all but two classes for the rest of the school year.

She ended the first semester with A's in the four classes she has since dropped (science, technology, health, and yearbook). She ended up with a B+ in Geometry (mostly due to missing assignments), and an A- in Honors English. It's ironic to me that the classes she had a harder time in are the ones she's most interested in sticking with.

She will still be going to early morning seminary (a religion class), then will come home and do home schooling, then will head back for Geometry and Honors English, and will then take the bus home after school. She'll have about 3 hours at home in the mornings. One of the classes she would have had at school this semester is P.E. so our plan is to go on a walk or do some other form of exercise for at least 30 minutes/day. She will continue working in her science text book, taking notes, completing chapter reviews and tests, and doing any lab work that is possible for her to do at home (without spending a lot of money). Technology won't really be a separate class at home, because she's already so comfortable with a computer and the programs she would have been taught; instead, she'll just use technology as part of completing other tasks. The one area that she didn't have at GFHS was social studies, so we will be incorporating that into her home studies for the remainder of the year. Hopefully, this will be a better situation for her.

Braelen also goes to 5th and 6th period, but at the middle school. He started out the year doing that, as a compromise to wanting to home school full time and still wanting to regularly see the friends he made in 5th grade. He doesn't share any classes with his two best friends from 5th grade, but does have other friends in both classes, so it's working out pretty well. His 5th period class is science (which was something I insisted on, knowing myself from the past two years...science was the area that got the least hands-on work, and rather had a lot of boring text book reading). His 6th period class is the elective period, which changes each quarter. He started in art, then had technology, and is now in study skills.

One of his weaknesses last year was math. Part of that is because he went from a normal 4th grade to a Hi-Cap 5th grade, which means he missed some aspects, which made it harder for him to grasp what was being taught. I really wanted him home this year so that I could help him build up a solid foundation of basic math skills and get him back to being ahead of the game. We usually spend 45 to 60 minutes a day on math, and I do think his basic skills are much stronger now. We've started into some pre-algebra and there are some concepts he's struggling with, but I think he's a lot further ahead than he would have been, had he been enrolled in a normal math class with 25+ other kids. We also do reading, writing, social studies, art, and some PE (we started out the year going on daily walks, but got lazy about it during the cold wet months. We plan to get back on track now, though).

Khasia is in public school full time. The main reason is that in the summer, when I was making my final decision on whether or not to homeschool, she was in a stage that was hard for me to deal with. She argued about doing everything and I was pretty sure it wouldn't be a good thing to have to fight over every single assignment. Instead, I put her in a multi-age program at the other GFs elementary school (Monte Cristo), where she has thrived and is doing great. It's a group of two classes of kids, with two wonderful teachers, of kids from 4th, 5th, and 6th grade. They do a lot of work-at-their-own-pace assignments, which has been helpful for Khasia, as she has been able to fill in some gaps from previous years. The teachers also emphasize individual effort, especially since there are three grade levels worth of kids. Khasia plans on staying in that for all three years of the program, and then wants to start home schooling in 7th grade. I'm fine with that. For now, I volunteer in her class every Friday morning.

Shaya is home with me, full time. We go to Sky Valley in Monroe, one day a week, where she takes Wood-Working, Gymnastics, Legos, and Art. It's a different district, so their schedule is off from the local schools, which make things kind of tricky sometimes, but that's okay. Next week is the new semester in Monroe, and Shaya will continue in gymnastics, but will be dropping the other classes and instead be taking a choir class. A few weeks ago, she wanted to just take one semester of art, woodworking, and legos, but she has since come to really enjoy those classes and wished she could continue in all of them. Unfortunately, they're now full, so unless something opens up, she's out of luck. I'm glad gymnastics is a year-long class, because she's really doing well in that.

We spend a lot of time on basic skills, especially in math. We also do a lot of reading together. Her science the past few months has been the study of animals, the life cycle, the food chain, etc. with a culminating project on scorpions. We'll be starting earth studies next, with weather and seasons, and then some astronomy for the rest of the year. She's really enjoyable to work with. I feel that her self-esteem has gotten much better this year, now that she's not around a daily dose of unsatisfying social situations. She's much happier and seems to be more confident in herself and her abilities. I am very glad that she's home this year.

And that's it. We are a mix and match of the public and home school systems. I know I'm fortunate in that I am able to offer these choices to my children, to help them find what works best for each of them individually. Hopefully, even with a new baby coming along in a few months, I'll continue to be able to do that.

Our Home School Summary

One thing that might be a little unusual about me (although, far from uncommon), is that I home school and part-time home school some of my children. I'd like to share a bit of that aspect of my life for today's blog.

Way back in the days of dinosaurs, I got my degree at WSU in elementary education. I worked as a substitute teacher for four years before finally getting a job as a second grade teacher. The ironic thing is that I got pregnant that year, so I only got to teach the one year, before 'retiring' to become a stay-at-home mom. The good thing is that I learned a lot about the public school system, with the hands-on, behind-the-scenes opportunity of my teaching. It wasn't a place I wanted my children to spend 6+ hours of their day, every day, for 13 years.

So, my intent was to home school my children. When Arriah was ready for kindergarten, however, I was pregnant with my third child and didn't think I was up to ensuring that her educational needs were being met. My neighbor had a daughter Arriah's age that was going to be starting in a co-op school, which is a public school, but with required parent participation. That sounded like a good compromise to me, so I signed Arriah up.

It did turn out to be a very good thing. Our years at the Marysville Cooperative Educational Program were wonderful. My kids were enrolled with other kids from good families with similar values. There were almost always parents in the room with the teachers, so teachers were more likely to be on their best behavior, being respectful and kind to all their students (although the teachers there were ones I would have trusted with my kids, regardless). And best of all, I was able to play an active role in my kids' education. Until we moved from Marysville, we kept the elementary-aged kids enrolled in MCEP and I was happy with the education they received and my part in their school.

Arriah went to 6th grade at a 'normal' middle school in Marysville. She absolutely hated it! That was the year we were building our home out in Granite Falls, so life was way too crazy and hectic for me to do anything other than to help her endure it. Our home was finished in April of her 6th grade year, so she got to finish the year out here. She liked being the 'new kid' at school and definitely liked Granite Falls Middle School better than the one in Marysville, but she still didn't enjoy it. Mostly, she wasn't comfortable with the lack of morals in the kids surrounding her every day.

And finally, life was stable enough, that I was able to home school Arriah the following year. She home schooled for both 7th and 8th grade, through a program in Monroe called Sky Valley. This program is also through the public school system and supports families that home school their children. Basically, Sky Valley is set up where you are accountable to them in what you teach your children, although they're very flexible in what and how you do it. They offer a wide variety of classes for the students, from math and English, to painting and pottery, to gymnastics and swimming, to weekly field trips, to drama or astronomy, so you can enroll in as few or as many (with limits) classes you want your child to participate in. The rest of their education is up to you, but you're required to write up a monthly summary of what they are taught. I actually like that aspect, because it helped motivates me to stay on track. Arriah spent two days/week at Sky Valley and used the rest of her school time studying at home. It was a great system and worked well for us.

Since we've lived here, all three of the other kids have gone to a 'normal' elementary schools in Granite Falls. Braelen finished out his 3rd grade year, spent all of 4th grade (a horrible situation), and was accepted into the Highly Capable (hi-cap) program for 5th grade. Even though his 4th grade year was terrible, I didn't give him the option to home school, because he was in a very tough stage, making it very challenging for me to motivate him to even do simple things, let alone taking on the full responsibility of his schooling. Luckily, his 5th grade teacher was perfect for him, encouraging him to expand on his creativity in writing and drawing. He also participated in band (saxophone) and learned to play the basics of violin in music class. His self esteem started the rebound process and he has since become a much easier person to live with.

Khasia had a tough 1st grade year. Even though most of it was at MCEP, it was a hard situation there, as well. The poor kids in that class started the year with a substitute for a few weeks (the teacher that was supposed to teach took a different position a few days before the school year started), then had a regular teacher for a few weeks who went on administrative leave in December (due to an unjust accusation). They then had a series of substitutes while waiting to see if their regular teacher would be coming back or not. Finally, in mid-February, a new regular teacher was hired for the remainder of the year (their former teacher was not happy with the politics of it all and quit teaching altogether). And then we moved in April. Unfortunately, she had a teacher in Granite Falls that wasn't good. It was her first year teaching and she didn't seem to have any patience for a new student and did absolutely nothing to help Khasia feel welcome. It just wasn't a very good year. Her second grade teacher, however, was great! And in 3rd grade, Khasia was enrolled in the Hi-Cap program, which was fairly challenging for her, as all of the other 3rd graders had had the same Hi-Cap teacher in 2nd grade. Khasia had quite a hard time 'catching up', especially in math, but she eventually got the hang of it, and it turned out to be a good year.

Shaya wasn't old enough to go to school in Marysville, so her only experience in public school was kindergarten and first grade in Granite Falls. Both of her teachers were great and she learned a lot. Unfortunately, she didn't do so well socially. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but she was picked on a lot and tried to emulate some of the other students by being mean and rude, which led to worse relationships with the other kids. She had a couple of friends that were nice to her, but they often played with their other friends and left Shaya to fend for herself. Shaya did not like school, at all, which is really sad, especially for a first grader.

This year is quite a bit different. I have spent wayyy too much time writing today's blog, however, so I'm going to write about this year's situation in my next post :-)

The Happiness Project

There's only so much whining about pregnancy I can do without getting boring and monotonous, so I am planning on discussing other things that strike my fancy. Today, for example, I want to talk about this book that I recently finished reading for a book club I belong to.

The book is called, "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Ruben (her blog is here: http://www.happiness-project.com/ ).This is not the kind of book I normally would pick up off the shelf (at a store or the library), but since it was one of the book club books, I read it. And I am really glad I did!

Gretchen does a great job explaining about why she started the project. No, she wasn't depressed. No, there were no major upheavals or catastrophes or bad things going on in her life. In fact, she had a great husband, two healthy wonderful children, a job she loved, and financial stability. But, she didn't appreciate those things as much as she thought she should. She sometimes felt like life was passing her by and that she could do more to fully appreciate it. So, she got this idea for a Happiness Project; she made goals to become happier and live her life more fully. She wanted to do this while living her normal life, rather than doing anything extreme (like living on a tropical island for a year, for example). Her introduction clicked with me, because that's exactly how I was feeling. I have a great life, tons of blessings, I have everything I would put on a list of 'wishes' if I ever made one (although a bit more money might be nice, haha). But, I still get unhappy about things; I snap at my kids, I complain about various things to my husband, I sometimes feel sorry for myself, although when I try to define why, I'm hard pressed to do so.

Rather than waiting until a bad thing happens in life and we say, "I wish I could go back to then", we should appreciate the 'then' now. Gretchen's book is set up with 12 goals that she tackled, one each month, that helped her focus on the good things and live her life more fully. She explained that she spent months determining which goals were important to her happiness and figuring out what tangible steps she could take to track her progress in each area. She made a daily check-off sheet to help her stay accountable.

I have started my own happiness journal, where I've made notes of things that I could do to improve my life and my appreciation for things I have. I'm still in the planning stages of my project, but there are definite areas I'm planning to focus on.

For now, even before I have my goals figured out, I have benefited from reading the book. My feelings of discontent have been validated (by finding someone else in the same situation), which has diminished them to almost nothing. I feel like I am appreciating the time spent with my children much more than I used to, I'm less cranky and spend less time getting upset over the little things. I'm trying to be more positive, especially in my interactions with others, and focusing less on the negatives in my life (which are few).

I'm very excited for our next book club meeting so we can discuss this book. If you are looking for something new to read, I highly recommend this book to everyone. Even if you're perfectly content with your life, there are things I think you (and everyone) can benefit from.

I Was Wrong, Thankfully!

My intense 'morning sickness' has faded. I have come to the belated realization that I didn't really have morning sickness. Instead, I was having a bad reaction to the passing gallstone. In the past, when a stone was stuck in a duct, I have been in a lot of pain with some nausea. This time, I had intense nausea, with some pain. Being nauseous and pregnant, I just assumed I was having morning sickness. Because it has since faded, however, I have now come to the conclusion that I made a wrong assumption.

That's a good thing! As much as I was trying to keep a positive outlook, I really don't think I could have handled months of that agony. Not to mention the fact that I don't have time to lay in bed all day, every day. My family was very supportive last week, but I have no doubt that the novelty would have worn off soon.

I do have a bit of lingering queasiness, but I am not sure if it's leftover gallstone issues or if this is my actual morning sickness. Robert reminded me that it took more than a week to recover from the last two passings, so I'm not going to decide anything for at least a few days.

***

Yesterday, at church, I had several people come up to me and say something such as, "I heard a rumor about you..." I was quick to reply that what they had heard was correct. So, I think most people in the ward now know. Hopefully the next 9 months don't drag on forever and people don't start saying things like, "haven't you had that baby YET?" when I'm only 6 months along :-)

One of my friends is also pregnant, although she's 19 weeks along and is just now telling people. She's also young and very thin with a tiny little belly bump. Her kids are 6, 4, and 2. We are in way different situations, but it will be fun to have someone to commiserate with :-)

Morning Sickness

Either my morning sickness has started much earlier than it should, or I'm further along than I thought I was. I've been extremely sick for the past two days. My diet has consisted of ginger ale, herbal tea, and soda crackers. I've either been in bed, at the toilet, or for brief periods of feeling okay, sitting at the computer. I've had mild nausea with most of my other pregnancies, although it was a bit worse when I was pregnant with Khasia, but I've never had it this bad before.

Also, I believe I have a gallstone stuck in a duct, because I'm having that pressure pain on my ribcage and breastbone area. I've had gallstone issues since late summer, diagnosed the last week of October, and have since changed my diet to allow me to function without any issues since then (although I had a couple of attacks around Christmas, when I wasn't as strict with my eating habits). I've passed a total of two stones, with this one being the third. It's not a pleasant experience, but hopefully, if I can keep my diet under control, I'm not forming new ones, which theoretically means that eventually my gallstones will all pass and it won't be an issue anymore. For now, though, it's really a pain (pun intended).

The pain medication that I have to help control the attack pain works great, but I won't take it while I'm pregnant. The things I'm doing to help control my nausea (carbonated drinks) are exactly what I shouldn't be having to help with my gallstones. I'm kinda in a catch 22 at the moment. Mostly, I'm just trying to survive and keep a positive attitude.

One of the good things about morning sickness is that it means my body has accepted the baby and is producing the hormones needed for my pregnancy to 'take'. This means that I have a much lower chance of miscarriage now. See, there's good in everything :-)

I've had to tell a few people about being pregnant. I was supposed to give a talk in church on Sunday, but I don't think I'll be up for it. I also may not be up for doing my primary secretary stuff on Sunday, either. So, I had to let the primary president and bishopric counsellor know what's going on. Also, I was asked to be a camp leader this summer, but declined due to not having any idea of what condition I'll be in by July. I cancelled my volunteer hours in Khasia's class tomorrow morning. All these people now know I'm pregnant. Because of that, I've told the kids that they can go ahead and tell people. News will end up leaking out anyway, so might as well let the kids off the hook and let them tell their friends.

Kids' Reaction

I was pretty sure my children would be happy about the news of my pregnancy, but I didn't realize how excited they were going to be.

We decided to tell them at dinner. After a few minutes of chatting about miscellaneous topics, I said, "Dad and I have some news for you." I then said, "You may be having a baby brother or sister in a few months." Khasia said, "Really? Oh, I hope so!". Her reaction made me realize that the way I worded things, it sounded like Dad and I were considering trying to have a baby someday, so I clarified with, "I am pregnant." All four of them were excited and that was the topic for the rest of the meal.

Arriah (14) was very excited, but thought that it would be a bit weird to be 15 and in high school with an infant sibling. "A good weird," she clarified. On Sunday morning, she had told me about her dream that night, of having a baby girl and not knowing how to take care of it. She made the connection at dinner, that maybe she had actually been dreaming about my baby, rather than her having one. She's now pretty sure this baby will be the girl she dreamed about (although she knows it was just a dream and this baby might also be a boy).

Braelen (12) sat there with what looked like a fairly stunned expression for quite a while, although he did express a hope that the baby will be a boy. When I mentioned that the due date was probably mid October, he thought it would be awesome if the baby was born on his birthday (September 29th). I explained that if it is a boy, he'll have to get rid of his queen size bed in order to share his room with the new baby. He's excited about that. Of all our kids, he has always been the most 'into' new babies.

Khasia (9...almost 10) was just excited. She went on and on about how exciting it will be to have a new baby in the family, and wished she could be the one to share a bedroom with "her" (she's insisting it will be a girl). She started making plans for things she'll be able to do with the baby and the fact that she'll be able to babysit "her" in a couple of years. She mostly was just excited and is really hoping for a new sister.

Shaya (7, will be 8 in March) was also excited, but she also started worrying. Her first thought was that she would miss me when I was in the hospital to have the baby. She had quite a few questions, especially later that night after I read her a couple of chapters and started singing to her. She asked if she would still be read and sung to at night, or if she was going to have to fall asleep by herself after the baby is born. I tried to be honest, explaining that we will still read and sing most nights, but there may be nights when we can't. She'll be displaced as the baby of the family, so this may affect her the hardest of the four kids. I'm sure we'll have many conversations about the various aspects, and I will probably have to find some sibling books to help ease her worries. She was, overall, excited about having a new sibling; she just has a few concerns.

We asked the kids to wait for a few weeks to tell anyone. In hindsight, I think that was unfair of us to do. We should have waited to tell them until we were ready to tell everyone else. They're so excited, they want to go tell their friends right away, so we cut it back a bit and told them could tell people on February 1st.

I had to explain that sometimes there are miscarriages, and that at my age, it's a real possibility that I won't carry this baby to term. If I have a miscarriage and we've told everyone, then those people will feel sorry for us and that might make some of them uncomfortable around me for a while. Waiting two weeks probably won't make much of a difference, but we'll see. That was the compromise I made. And I think they kind of understand, although Khasia said, "Don't be surprised if I accidentally blurt it out!"

Life Changing News

It's Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so everyone is home. It's promising to be a nice, lazy day, with all of us relaxing (which mostly means spending time in front of the computer, various gaming consoles, and the TV). It seems like a good day to start a blog.

I've wanted to join the 'blog craze' for a while now, but I have such a normal (aka boring) life, there hasn't really been anything to write about. I got some news a couple days ago, though, that has shaken things up a bit. If I am ever going to get writing, this is as good a reason as any:

I have 4 children, ages 7 to 14. I am now 40 (almost 41) and just found out that I am pregnant for the 5th time. No, we were not trying, but we probably were being a little more casual than we should have been, thinking that we were fairly safe at my age. Obviously not.

I suspected that I might be pregnant, before taking the home test (obviously...otherwise, why would I have taken the test?), so I had time to think about the possibility and what it might mean to our lives before I found out for sure. I initially went through all the cons, all the things in our stable world that would change. Only expecting to ever have four children, we have given everything to do with babies away, which means we would have to buy all new baby stuff, I'd need new maternity clothes, we'd have to baby proof our house. I asked questions, such as who would end up sharing a room with a new baby? Will I still be able to home school the kids that want to homeschool with a new baby? What about as my pregnancy progresses? Will I be up for dealing with my other kids?

Once I saw the positive result on the home test, however, all those questions were pushed to the back of my mind. All I felt was joy! I couldn't help the huge smile on my face.

Even when I was telling Robert (who hadn't had my suspicions and had to deal with the shock and questions right then, rather than having a couple of days to process things), I had a hard time not letting my happiness show. I didn't want to seem too happy, because I didn't want him to think I had gotten pregnant on purpose; honestly, I didn't. Now that he has had a couple of days to deal with the shock, he's happy too. He's still a little concerned about how a new baby will affect our lives, and the fact that he'll be a senior citizen when this baby graduates high school (ha!), but he's accepted it and is now looking forward to having a new baby, as well.

We will probably tell the kids later today; it will be interesting to see their reaction...I suspect they'll all be excited, but I'm not positive. I'll post about that next.

Just a side note: Since the positive test result, I have scoured the internet and found a lot of scary information regarding pregnancy at my "advanced maternal age". I will write about my thoughts concerning that at some point, but for now, I'm keeping a good attitude and will deal with things as they come.