Peace

My Christmas decorations are officially in their bins waiting to be taken downstairs!!!! YIPEE!!!! And, the living room has been re-arranged, how lovely to start the new year with everything back in it's place and clean!

We are also finally home. We've made 2 trips to Denver in the last week. The first was to go to the Mobley Family Christmas Dinner, which was nice until Phillip delivered the contents of his stomach onto me...then we had to leave; which was sad because we had a good time talking to Becky and Christy (among others). We also left KatieJo with my parents for a few days (they came to our house for Christmas). Then after Christmas my parents took Samuel home with them. WOW was our house quiet!!!

With the playroom downstairs and 1 child missing...there was PEACE in our house! We didn't hear any fighting, no yelling and the other two that were home played SO nice!

I think we'll have to do that more often!!!

Do you hear what I hear?

I sure hope you don't hear what I do. Right before Maija was born KatieJo, Phillip and I went to the music store with my mother-in-law. On the way out KatieJo saw a pink and teal recorder and said that she'd like one. Well, since she hadn't really told me what she wanted for Christmas I made the decision to buy her one. And since I got her one, I of course had to get an orange one for Samuel and a blue on for Phillip. What a WISE decision that was! They have REALLY enjoyed them, but I'm sure I'll be sick of them soon enough!! (If you can't see in the picture, that's a recorder Phillip is trying to get Stuart to play.)

They also each got a pair of Crocs, which they've been dying for. And, they got a play room in the basement; we covered the floor in those mats you can put down in garages etc. I think the play room is more for me and my sanity, however they think it's great and they don't have to keep it quite as clean as they do thier rooms. They spent a large part of the morning moving all of their toys down stairs.

It's tradition in my family to have Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. So, I spent the vast majority of the day yesterday cooking; and Stuart put the Turkey in at 12:30 with the plan to eat at about 5:30. Mind you our stove/oven is HORRIBLE. It is the only appliance the previous owners left in the house, and it is very clear as to why they left it. The oven door doesn't shut quite all the way and we had to buy a thermometer to find out what they temperature is. So, 6:30 rolled around last night and the turkey still wasn't done. So we opened presents instead (another tradition in my family much to Stuart's chagrin). Thankfully the turkey was done by 7:30 and so we had a REALLY late dinner, and no pie because we were stuffed by that time. We did drink egg nog while reading the Christmas story from the scriptures. We'll have pie this afternoon. This morning we had an awesome brunch, we had ham, a special egg dish and cinnamon rolls...YUM!

We have been very blessed this Christmas season, and we are very grateful that we have the opportunity to spend it with our family!

We hope you have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

1 Month old!

I can't believe Maija is already a month old! She had her check-up last Thursday (I'm a little late in getting her 1 month picture taken, but she's not quite 5 weeks old yet so I'm ok). She still doesn't weigh 8 pounds, but the doctor says as long as she's gaining weight she's ok.

Isn't she a beautiful baby? It's ok if you don't think so, but I'd appreciate you lying to me...LOL

We saw Santa!!

We FINALLY saw Santa tonight. We spent the evening at the High School Faculty Family Christmas party. And of course Santa showed up. Phillip kept saying "Oh yeah, oh yeah" then we got to his turn and as you can see above, Stuart put him on Santa's lap and he started screaming. So, we didn't get any individual pictures of him and Santa. Samuel and KatieJo have been dying to see Santa and each spent some quality time on Santa's lap.
Both kids wrote letters to Santa at school and so when I mentioned to them that they should write letters they were fairly appaled. I did call their teachers and ask for copies. However, I did ask what they asked for. KatieJo's was pretty much what she told me...her own suitcase, a watch and a hairbox she saw at WalMart. Samuel on the other hand shocked me...he wants a B-B- gun. I blame Stuart's brother James for his desire for one. I'm not a big fan of guns and so for me it's not such a good gift (and he's not going to get one anytime soon).
I guess we'll see whether Santa grants their wishes for their gifts!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Christmas Concert

The time has finally come. KatieJo and Samuel have been practicing for weeks (more KatieJo than Samuel). The Mountain View Elementary School's Christmas Concert was this evening, and if I do say so myself they did a great job.

It was a little wierd for us to sit back and watch as for the last 3 years he's been running the Christmas program and I've been playing the piano. The music teacher is very laid back, and so that was interesting as well.

I've also included this picture of Phillip because he attempted to put on his own carmax today (hence the glob of yellow stuff on his chin). We've been having dry lips here in good Ol' Wyoming, and he decided that he needed some too. Doesn't he look so cute (and very devilish)?

Wordful Wednesday

I'm not altogether sure it is truly a Christmas Carol as in my opinion a Christmas Carol is one that is sung by many every year (such as for caroling). However, I LOVE the song Breath of Heaven written by Chris Eaton and Amy Grant.

The song was written in 1992 and was part of Amy Grant's second Christmas album entitled Home for Christmas. Breath of Heaven (Mary's Song) was the biggest hit on the album. The song is written from Mary's view of the nativity story. Amy Grant was pregnant at the time it was written and said that "she was inspired by her pregnancy to reflect on Mary's struggle."

The focus of most Christmas carols is Christ, which of course is appropriate. However, there were a lot of struggles going on at the time of Christ's birth. As a mother I find Mary's struggle hits close to home. I don't know if Mary really realized what was to become of the baby that she carried, but I think she knew how important he was just not quiet the reason why.

The lyrics written here are Amy Grant's version. According to one website I visited, Chris Eaton changed the lyrics to take out most references to Mary.

Breath of Heaven

I have traveled many moonless nights
Cold and weary with a babe inside
And I wonder what I’ve done
Holy Father, You have come
And Chosen my now to carry your Son

I am waiting in a silent prayer
I am frightened by the load I bear
In a world as cold as stone
Must I walk this path alone?
Be with me now, be with me now.

Breath of Heaven, hold me together
Be forever near me, breath of Heaven
Breath of Heaven, lighten my darkness
Pour over me Your holiness for You are holy
Breath of Heaven

Do You wonder when You watch my face
If a wiser one should have had my place?
But I offer all I am for the mercy of Your plan
Help me be strong, help me be strong
Help me be strong, help me

Breath of Heaven, hold me together
Be forever near me, breath of Heaven
Breath of Heaven, lighten my darkness
Pour over me Your holiness, for You are holy

Breath of Heaven
Breath of Heaven
Breath of Heaven
Breath of Heaven

Guilty

I'm starting to feel a little bit guilty....I just realized that Christmas is in a few weeks and my children have yet to see Santa. Our ward's Christmas party is on the 20th which is where I assumed they'd get to see Santa, however due to the fact that Stuart has an out-of-town swim meet that day I was going to take the kids and drive to Denver (and leave one of them there as my parents are coming up for Christmas). The Mobley family (extended family) Christmas dinner is on Sunday the 21st and so we'll be in Denver anyway. Hopefully I'll be able to go to the Mall and have them see Santa.

Anyone want to dress up and come visit my kids so they can tell you want the want for Christmas?

Happy Holidays

The four most beautiful children ever....well ok, I'll concede that there are beautiful children throughout the world. However, mine are pretty darn beautiful (and yes that is a biased opinion). We decorated the house today, and as we were decorating I heard a crunching sound...which happened to be Phillip biting a light off of the string of lights and chewing them. We don't think he swallowed any...thank goodness but YUCK!

I included the below picture because I meant to put it up before Thanksgiving as that is when it was taken, but alas life happened and so it wasn't posted. The tuesday before Thanksgiving my brother-in-law's two girls (Annie and Ellen) came to visit Grandma and Grandpa and so we had Catherine (Rachel's daughter) come stay the night with us as well. So, being the "cool" Aunt and Uncle that we are we took everybody to Reed's Dairy. They have the best ice cream in Idaho Falls (not that we really know that, but we like it). KatieJo is on the far left, then Ellen Mobley, Catherine Crumpley, and Annie Mobley. (KatieJo, Annie and Catherine are all the same age). They enjoyed their ice cream treat, and Stuart and I enjoyed the comments people made such as "you have such a beautiful well behaved family." They were well behaved, and they had a great time together.

Decorating

The excitement in our home is growing! The anticipation of Christmas is almost too much to bear!
I've ordered several Christmas presents online and we had several boxes arrive today. KatieJo and Samuel are most anxious to find out what is in those boxes and weren't very thrilled to find out that I wasn't going to share that information with them.
Tomorrow we are going to have a nice breakfast consisting of chocolate chip pancakes, eggs and possibly bacon and then we are going to decorate the house for Christmas. KatieJo and Samuel are THRILLED! They've been waiting all week, and I've been fighting a cold so the decorating hasn't happened yet.
Our only plans for tomorrow are to decorate, and hopefully it won't take all day so that we can just relax as well. It's been a crazy last few weeks and we are looking forward to a quiet day at home.

HOME!

We're home! Finally! We thought we were waiting on an Interstate Compact Agreement (which I might add the people in charge of those in Boise, ID weren't sure we'd need in the first place because we are related to Maria which means we are related to Maija other than being her adoptive parents). So, Sunday Stuart and KatieJo headed home because we hadn't heard anything. About 10 on Monday morning I got a call from the lawyer saying we really didn't need it and that I could go home. I was ready to leave with Samuel, Phillip and Maija by 11, but what do you know...I couldn't find my keys. I hadn't gotten much sleep Sunday night so I was almost in tears when I realized that my keys were locked in the van.

My WONDERFUL brother-in-law William came out and tried to get them out but alas I ended up calling a lock-smith. It was the best $35 I've ever spent! We were on the road by 1:30 after stopping to get gas etc. and we got home at 8:00. We had dry roads the entire way, which I am grateful for! Maija only wanted to eat once, which is probably why she was up a little bit more on Monday night. But hey, I was in my own bed which made it a little easier!

I am so glad to be home. I enjoyed being at my in-law's house, but it's always nice to come home again!

Our New Addition

We have a new member of the family!

Maija Elisabeth Mobley was born on Tuesday November 18th at 5:33 in the afternoon. She weighed 7 lbs. 5 oz. and was 18 1/2 inches long.

We are tickled with her, and think she's the greatest. She sleeps well (so far) and is overall just a great baby.

We had our court hearing yesterday and we now have legal guardianship of her and all other parental rights have been terminated. So now we are waiting for the interstate compact agreement between WY and ID so that we can take her out of state.

All three older kids find her fascinating, and want to hold her all the time. For some reason I don't have a picture of Maija and Samuel. Maybe because he wasn't here when I first brought her home from the hospital. (he was with Stuart at home in WY, and they got here on Thursday night.)

Poor poor kids

Is it really Friday already? Goodness this week has flown by, really the year has flown by. I feel like we were just celebrating Christmas and now Thanksgiving is fast approaching. Where does the time go?

The kids have been upset with me quiet a lot this week. At first I found it funny, and now it just makes me sad. I've had 3 meetings in the evenings this week; the first being for PTO which I had to be at because I am the Co-President, the second was a Primary workers meeting (slightly important since they are changing everything around) and the third being bookclub.

Because of these meetings I've had to drop the kids off at the pool a little bit before Stuart was done with swim practice and then head off to my meeting. On Tuesday night I heard this conversation in the back of the van on the way to the pool (I don't know who said what):

"No, we're just going to pick dad up. Mom had a meeting last night she's not going to leave us again."

"Mom, are we picking dad up at the pool?"

Me: "No, I'm dropping you guys off."

"Why aren't we picking dad up?"

Me: "Because I have a meeting."

"But you had a meeting last night."

Me: "I know, but I too have to leave the house sometimes."

They weren't thrilled on Tuesday night although I made it home in time for scriptures and prayer. However they were downright sad about last night's bookclub. I don't think it would typically be a problem, however I am going to be gone for the next 2-3 weeks depending on how long it takes us to get the paperwork we need to take the new baby out of state. And, they know I'll be gone and aren't handling it as well as I had hoped. Thankfully they'll be with me for the week of Thanksgiving.

My poor children, they have to live with just dad (although he'll probably feed them pizza every night...or take them out). They also get to go over to a friend's house after school until Stuart can leave work...it's so inconvienent that the High School gets out 40 minutes after the elementary schools! KatieJo told me last night that she is "going to tell dad every night how much I miss you so that he'll let me call you." What a hoot, and what makes it even funnier is that she is incredibly dramatic. And Samuel said he wasn't sure he wanted to adopt the baby because 1. it's a girl and he doesn't need another sister (a brother would be preferable) and 2. because he wants to go with me but can't.

I know they'll survive, but I still feel a little bit like I'm abandoning them. Oh well, they'll only get to miss me for 4 days. Doesn't distance make the heart grow fonder? LOL...we'll see!!

The act of giving

My sister-in-law does "Wordfull Wednesday", I'm not sure how she either found the blog or knows the person the blog belongs to; but I find it very interesting and feel compelled to do it myself....probably because the topic is "The Act of Giving".

I have been given SO much over the past couple of years. Almost 2 years ago I was pregnant with Phillip (our 3rd child). On December 15th, 2006 I started having pre-term labor. I was exactly 7 months pregnant. At first I had an emergency appointment with my doctor and was given medicine and a couple days later I was still in pain and still having contractions/cramping so I went to the hospital which was 3 hours from our home and my wonderful sister-in-law Aimee met us at the hospital (it was an 1 1/2 hour drive at least for her to get there as well) and took KatieJo and Samuel home with her. (I don't know that I've ever thanked her, it was kind of a blur...so THANK YOU Aimee!)

After spending the night in the hospital I was released the next evening and was given medicine to stop the contractions and cramping and told that I was on bedrest. I wasn't sure how I was going to make it 2 more months without being able to get up and take care of my children's needs. I will be forever grateful for a wonderful visiting teacher who called and set up daycare and meals for us. Not many of the wonderful women who took care of KatieJo and Samuel were members, but they welcomed them into their homes and took care of them when I was unable to do so. Not only did they care for my children everyday the person who watched the kids during the day sent a meal home for us so Stuart wouldn't have to worry about food on top of everything else.

It was extremely hard to accept the help that so many people offered. It's not everyday that I or anybody is placed in a situation that requires that kind of help. But I will never forget how it felt to be on the receiving end of the selfless giving all of those women offered me. I even had to have one sister drive me to my doctor's appointment in Spokane. She wouldn't accept any money for her time or for gas....WOW!

To the women who helped me, it was very insignificant to accept my children into their homes. The vast majority of them had children the same ages as mine and so it wasn't a big deal. But to me it was monumental, and I am EXTREMELY grateful for all of them.

My Monday Effort

It is once again Monday...I've decided they should be outlawed! But since I doubt I can convince anyone to do that I guess I'll just have to live through them.

Today for my Monday Effort I've decided that I need to write something that I am VERY grateful for, and today that happens to be my husband. I was SO irritated at him last night for something pretty silly, and instead of waiting for me to apologize he did it first. I'm grateful for all that he does for our family, and I'm always surprised at how much I love the man. (I'm only surprised because I was convinced when we got married that I would never love him more than I did at that point in time...I was wrong I love him more each and everyday!)

Phillip and I have had a good morning. I'm not sure we've done anything terribly productive except dishes and laundry, but I've really enjoyed his company today. Right before lunch I got a phone call from my mother-in-law. (For those of you who don't know we are adopting my sister-in-law's baby and she is due on Nov. 23rd.) Anyway, my phone call started with..."I just thought I'd give you a heads up" and all I could think was "SHOOT, I'm not ready for Maria to be in labor yet...I don't have the baby clothes washed, I don't have any of our clothes packed etc." Thank goodness she was just calling to tell me that Maria had been to the doctor's this morning and provided the hospital has enough room they will be inducing next Tuesday. So, I have now set up someone to pick KatieJo and Samuel up from school next week since we are now planning on me leaving this weekend, at the latest Monday; I have also found a sub for Stuart for our Ward Choir and re-arranged some appointments. I still have a lot to do, which means I had better get myself in gear! I'm not sure if I should spend my week preparing meals for the freezer or not. Stuart can cook, but I kind of feel like I am abandoning them for a few weeks.

I'm starting to get a little nervous about this baby. I'm not nervous about having an infant. At least this time I've already had an infant. It's just that I haven't felt her growing for 9 months and I'm worried about the bonding. We'll see I guess!

We are Thankful!

As Thanksgiving is fast approaching we decided to make a Thankful Turkey for FHE. Our poor little Turkey started out cold and without feathers. Then we started writing what we are thankful for. It turns out it's somewhat hard for the kids to come up with the things they are thankful for. We got the standard answers..."Jesus Christ", "Heavenly Father". And we are all thankful for that, however our goal this year was to look at their lives and see what they are thankful for, i.e. a bed, the food we eat, warm clothes etc.

Here's what we're thankful for:

1. The Sun (Phillip)...at least that what it sounded like he said

2. Mom (Samuel)

3. Family (KatieJo)

4. Suckers (Phillip) HE LOVES suckers!

5. Toys (KatieJo)

6. A warm home (Chaney)

7. Crayons (Samuel)

8. The Scriptures (Stuart)

9. KatieJo and Samuel (Phillip)

10. Food (KatieJo)

11. School (Samuel)

12. Friends (Mom)

I also have to say that I have been appaled over the weekend....my "baby" is getting big! He has abandoned his booster seat and has decided that he is big enough to sit next to KatieJo and Samuel on the bench for meals. Sniff, sniff....I can't believe how big he his and how many words (and sentences) he says!

The movie IGOR

Stuart coaches the local movie theater owner's kids on the USS swim team, and so for Halloween KatieJo and Samuel got free movie passes to see the movie IGOR.
So tonight Stuart had parent teacher conferences until 8 and so I arranged to have a friend watch Phillip and KatieJo, Samuel and I headed off to see the movie. We don't get any t.v. reception and so we don't see the trailers for the movies (or political ads, thank goodness!).
We were a little excited to see the movie. We rarely go to movies as we prefer to watch them in the comfort of our own home. And, they very rarely get mom alone without Phillip crawling all over everyone.
So, as we're sitting in the theater watching the movie I start to realize maybe this isn't such a great movie. It was dark, and well self professed "Evil". During 90% of the movie Igor (the main character) wants to be an evil scientist in a dark dark world and he has invented a monster who somehow manages to be good; but he tries his very hardest to make this monster evil.
To make a long story short, the only part any of us liked was the end when the darkness went away and Igor decides it's not bad to be good.
In short, I DO NOT reccomend this movie; KatieJo and Samuel don't ever want to see it again and thought it was scary. Oh, and did I mention that they take the Lord's name in vain several times? That REALLY bugs me, it's a kids movie and granted the main character wants to be evil...but do they really have to add that on top of it all?
Maybe someone else has a different opinion of this movie, but I found it a horrible choice and I am sorry that I took my children to see it!

My Kids

I thought it might be fun to blog a little about my kids. Each of them has such a unique personality and I want to share that with you.

KatieJo is the "little mom" in our house. Sometimes (ok most of the time) it bugs me that she tries to be Samuel & Phillip's mom, however I'm starting to realize that she will someday be a mom and the reason she does it is because she sees me being mom and I would like to hope she's just trying to emulate me. KatieJo is also our contortionist. She can twist and move her body in ways I've never seen, which is why she is taking a tumbling class. She is also one of the sweetest little girls you will ever meet. She is constantly trying to please us and do what she is supposed to. She loves school and loves to learn and is really good at math and reading.

Samuel is my child that looses EVERYTHING! He can take his backpack off at the front door, walk into his bedroom and then back out and not be able to find his backpack. He's pretty emotional (and sometimes uses that to his advantage). He is also very smart and thinks of things the other kids at school don't think of which typically gets him trouble. He is my child who would spend all day with me just following me around and asking me questions. To say he his a momma's boy is an understatement. He is such a crazy kid who is generally a very happy child. He thinks he CARS movie is the best, and has a fairly substantial collection of the cars from the movie.

Phillip is a hoot. He wants to do everything KatieJo and Samuel do, and he ADORES cars! He drives them everywhere. He is also a climber. He can and will climb anything that stands in his way...including bunkbeds...it's always more fun at the top right? He has recently discovered babys and somedays carries one around all day. He also figured out that mom will let him take the baby in the baby carrier in the car and so likes to do that when we go have lunch with dad. He too is a mommy's boy and well due to the fact that we spend all day together follows me around.

I love each of my children for so many reasons, and I am grateful everyday that I have them in my life. Notice I didn't say every minute because sometimes they drive me crazy.

Yea!

YEA, I get to vote! I was reading the phonebook the other day (yes I know that sounds silly, but I like to look and see what kind of business there are in Rawlins), and I read the voting page and in WY you can register to vote the day of voting. And since we didn't manage to register 30 days ago, we can register today! YEA! Who knew a person could be so excited about this; however this election scares me a lot and I was worried that if I didn't vote my opinion just didn't matter. And, I want it to matter!

So, in about an hour Phillip and I are going to head over to the Jeffery's center and vote....and then go have lunch with Stuart.

Voting makes this day awesome, I get to do my duty for my country (and hopefully get the candidate I want into office...I'd say who that is but I don't want this post to be too political!).

Unfortunately we have parent teacher conferences tonight. Again, Phillip gets to tag along while KatieJo and Samuel are going to swim practice with Stuart (Stuart got his wish and doesn't have to go...poo on him, I hate being the one that has to go to these things alone...I'm always worried they're going to tell me something bad!) I'm fairly certain that I won't hear anything bad since I'm at the school all the time, but you never can tell.

My Monday Effort

I know it's still Sunday, but I'm getting a head start on the week. I REALLY liked looking back at what I love about Mondays so I thought I'd do it again although I thought I'd make it pertain more to tomorrow than my typical Mondays since I really need it today (and tomorrow).

We got some sad news over the weekend that I'm not going to go into since it's depressing, but because of that news I LOVE the fact that my children will wake up tomorrow morning and take their time getting ready for school and will have to be hurried along because they move like snails unless Stuart is the only one up when they get ready for school.

I LOVE the fact that I can hug them and send them to school where they will learn so many new things.

I LOVE the fact that I can work at the bookfair and not have to worry about Phillip for a few hours. (THANK YOU Shonda for exchanging daycare with me!)

I LOVE the fact that I get to use my artistic talents tomorrow and put up a new bulletin board for the PTO.

I LOVE the fact that I will get to spend the evening with my family...they're the TOPS!

Oh, and I LOVE the fact that I get to finish re-arranging the dinning room/library room and the living room (we swapped the rooms on Saturday much to Stuart's dismay).

And I LOVE that sometime tomorrow I will get to sit and enjoy some quiet time to myself.

I also LOVE that my husband will tell me that I am beautiful regardless of what I actually look like. (I just read this to him and he told me "You are always beautiful and I don't lie about that"...Yea for WONDERFUL husbands!

SUGAR!

What a Halloween! I cleaned quite a bit yesterday morning and then went to the school for the Halloween parties...holy cow, they sure give those kids A LOT of candy! Then we came home and I had to calm the kids down before my parents got here. Because once they got here it started all over again!
Trick or treating in this neighborhood is AWESOME! There weren't very many trick or treaters, so we have a whole bag of candy left (and we were dumping candy in kids bags to get rid of it.) the people here buy the GOOD stuff..i.e. snickers etc. KatieJo the kangaroo and Samuel the bat kept running off ahead of us and Phillip the lion who wouldn't wear his hood kept letting go of my hand and ran after "bampa" and would hold my dad's hand (by the way, my dad NEVER went with us so this was a new one for us). Phillip even managed to get Grandpa to go to the door with him...WOW! After a while Phillip started chasing KatieJo and Samuel and did manage to say Thank You at every door.

Today we made carmel apples with Grandpa and Grandma which are pretty yummy. Yea for candy and sweets?!?

Happy Halloween!

Yea for Halloween! Normally I'm not big on Halloween. We haven't even carved pumpkins...I know, shame on me but I find it disgusting. But this year I'm thrilled because my parents are coming to visit for the weekend. Truthfully they are coming to see the kids. I don't blame them the kids really are adorable. But, they'll be here for trick-or-treating...and we're excited!!

Although, I have quite a bit of work ahead of me tonight. Out of all the rooms in the house that I had to organize and put stuff away in ours is the only one not done....go figure. So, I get to find places to put everything in our room tonight and FINISH Samuel's costume. I'm not sure why I haven't done it before now as he's going as a bat and I bought black pants and a black long sleeve shirt and made him a black stocking cap (which he of course can't find and I can't either) and then all I have to do is add the webbing between his body and his arms. It's super simple and yet here it is the night before he needs it and it's not done. Normally I'm not a procrastinator. Oh well, at least I won't be up all night sewing!

I wish you all the best in your trick-or-treating (or trunk-or-treating) adventures on Halloween. Don't eat too much candy!

Schools and such

Ok, I don't understand...what is with parents who send their kids to school and then not support the school? Granted I come from a background of educators, am married to a teacher and at one point before I became a mom was planning on being a teacher. However, I don't understand not supporting the schools and your kids.

I have recently been attending PTO meetings. I figure it's a great way to get to know the principal, teachers and just plain be involved with my kids' education without having to work at the school. (and I don't want the teachers and principal to always be thinking "oh no, here comes Mrs. Mobley again!) It shocked me to find out that only about 4 other parents attend these meetings. (Which is probably why I think I've been nominated to be the PTO co-president...you can all call me madame president now. LOL)

Then, I got a letter inviting me (and I assumed a whole lot of other parents) to a meeting about the state standards and how the school is planning on meeting them. It is an accredidation year for the school district and so the school asked parents to come learn more about what is going on in case the state happens to choose them to see how well informed they are. They even provided daycare! Out of 55 parents that were invited, there were 4 parents that showed up, and 3 of us regularly attend PTO...go figure!

Maybe I'm out of the ordinary, but even if I have to fight Phillip to be quiet during a meeting I'm going to attend. If I don't advocate for my kids and show my support for them and the school who is going to...okay besides Stuart. If I don't show my kids that their education is important why would they think it's important?

Hopefully I haven't offended anyone, I know we are all busy and it's hard to make it to meetings especially with kids in tow. However I don't think I'd be nearly as irritated if the parents in my kids' classes cared about what they did at school and supported them. It's so frustrating to go into the classrooms to volunteer and see what a difference there is between the kids and their learning levels. You really can tell the kids who's parents take the time to work with them, and it makes me so sad to realize that some parents just don't care.

GRRRRR!

The love of my life

Stuart came home from swim practice at approximately 7:20 tonight and I had succeded in having Phillip asleep before he walked in the door...YEA ME!
He had a little silly grin on his face (Stuart, not Phillip) and had his swim gear bundled up in his arms. He gave me a kiss and his silly grin got bigger as he pulled out some ice cream and said "I tried to get you a rose but they didn't have any so I got you this" "this" happens to be ice cream.
He bought weight watchers ice cream because as he said "I was trying to be romantic and be good at the same time."

Who knew ice cream could be romantic? I think he's set a new precident. Although the flowers he bought me 2 weeks ago are still alive and kicking...WOW!

I had a great day today, I had a couple sisters from church over for breakfast and all I had to prepare was a fruit salad. And then I went to a R.S. bread making class. It was fun even though I don't particularly have a problem making bread. (I sure do love my bread machine, although I think I may get a Bosch...they're pretty awesome!) And then the kids and I had a quiet evening at home. The boys played in the bath until they were well "pruned" and KatieJo danced around the house to the music she was singing.

And tomorrow we are trying a new play group that meets at the church on Wednesday mornings and consists of kids (and their mothers) from both wards. Phillip isn't exited yet, but I think it's great and will give us an opportunity to get to know more people. New friends are always good!

My Monday effort

In order to make my Mondays more fun I thought I'd list (so I can come back later and look) my favorite things about Monday.

I LOVE that Phillip is always happy to see me when he wakes up...even on Monday mornings (I also like that he LOVES to cuddle with me when he wakes up).

I LOVE that I can have lunch with Stuart. Yes, we can do that any day; but today we went to the school and took him his lunch.

I LOVE that I can start laundry for the week (yes, it sounds nuts...but I don't typically do laundry on the weekends and so it piles up a little bit with 5 of us).

I LOVE that my house can be clean with KatieJo and Samuel gone at school.

I LOVE that when I pick KatieJo and Samuel up from school that they think it's SOOOOO great to see Mom again!

I LOVE that I can have a quiet time at naptime and check my blog.

Ok, I think that's pretty good....What do you LOVE about Mondays?

I also thought I'd post pictures of our FHE (we do it on Sunday nights since Stuart works on Monday nights coaching swimming). We made halloween pumpkin shaped sugar cookies and read stories.

The kids really enjoyed making the cookies, although they thought it was more fun eating them. Phillip's cookie is the one with the green squiggle. I don't think I mentioned that the kit came with edible eyes. Our pumpkins really came to life! Yum!

Don't you love Stuart's "smile"?

This is a picture of the new color (minus the trim...it hasn't been painted yet). I'm not sure you can see anything really with the sun shining on it, but it is obviously not brown or green.

Samuel says he "hates" it and that he liked the green but will live with it if I paint footballs somewhere on the walls. We'll see how ambitious I am in regards to the football and as for him living with it...he's out of luck if he thinks we're going to change the color!

The boys have been sleeping in KatieJo's room on the floor while their room has been painted and they have enjoyed sleeping on the air mattress (although Phillip takes WAY too long to fall asleep because he is SO excited!). I'm just glad everything is ready for them to sleep in their own beds tonight. Aren't they cute in the picture though?

The microwave

Ok, I have a picture of the microwave and cabinet. If I do say so myself, I think Stuart did a great job (minus after drilling a hole in the side of the cabinet because he was convinced he couldn't mount the cabinet any other way and still be able to plug in the microwave he re-read the directions and found he could have mounted it over to the right more). Oh well, I'll just cover it up with a plant. Yucky, yucky colors!!!

Turns out though that even after priming poop brown and packers green walls you still have to put on 2 coats of light blue paint. So, all I have is beginning pictures of the boys room. Hopefully we'll be done tonight with the painting...but then again maybe not since we're about to go to a Elder's quorum bbq. (We also have to re-arrange the boys room because the "Monkey" formerly known as Phillip has learned how to scale the side of the bunk bed without the ladder and so bunkbeds are being dismantled until he can climb safely!)

Sunny days and family

It's Friday! Which means painting (which didn't happen last weekend and has to happen before next weekeng) will be commencing soon. As well as our new cupboard and microwave that are going over the stove...YEA, more places to put things...our kitchen doesn't exactly have a plethora of storage space as it was meant to be an eat-in kitchen. Since the new microwave will be going under the cabinet our old one will be headed elsewhere which means MORE COUNTER SPACE...WHOOOHOOO!

Sorry, I've been with all 3 kids this morning. They were supposed to have school today until 11:15 with lunch being from 10:30 until they got out of school so we decided it was a waste to send them and so we've been messing around this morning. Stuart got out of school at 12 and so now the kids are napping and we're (Stuart) is working.

Did I mention it's a beautiful sunny day? What more could a person ask?

I'm going to be an Aunt!

YEA! My sister just called me and told me she's pregnant!!!! I had my suspicions, but since she had a miscarriage a few months ago she kept it on the downlow until today. She's due in May, yea for not having a June birthday!

I know I'm already an Aunt to some awesome kids on the Mobley side of the family, but I'm so excited to be an Aunt to my sister's baby!

Guess I get to start baby shopping. There are some cute things out right now. I'd give her my baby clothes, but we're not done yet (I think...some days I think we are, others I think we're not).

I have a confession to make....I'm addicted to blogging, well and facebook. I think it's great that I can keep in touch with all of the Mobley's and other friends better than just e-mailing or well I guess we never really write letters. I love reading about what everybody is up to and I love getting to know my sister-in-laws better! (Aimee I LOVE your book reviews and Hannah, I love seeing how Orion is growing...and helping and I look forward to loving Rachel's and Kylie's blog) It makes me feel like we live next door to each other rather than hours upon hours away from each other.

So, you want to come over and have breakfast after the big kids go to school? Wouldn't that be lovely? The younger kids could all play and we could all just sit and chat.

I love you all!

Happy Cleaning!

I was cleaning the outside of the fridge today as there were some stubborn spots that needed cleaned and Phillip brought me a dishrag and asked me to spray some stuff on the fridge so he could clean (really he pointed to the cleaning stuff and said "some please"). So, we both cleaned the fridge; then we vaccumed, I folded laundry and Phillip unfolded, we colored and generally just had a great morning!

I'm going to digress a few days, we finally got some nice weather on Saturday and so we planted Tulips! Turns out it was a family event as we had to remove some grass from the flower beds and then the kids thought it great fun to drop the bulbs into the holes.

And, then it snowed again last night. At least the bulbs are planted!

Have a Happy Wednesday!

Monday, Monday is here again!

I hate Mondays! I hate that the weekend is over and my family once again leaves me and Phillip to go back to their lives. Although, I did get lucky today because Stuart came home for 20 min. at lunch time to have lunch with me. Of course that was after fighting the sick and tired Phillipmiester to take a nap. He finally fell asleep about 10 minutes before Stuart walked in the door.

Today probably wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to wait around for the contractor to finish the work he's here to do. (Our loan required us to have some work done...i.e. a handrail to the basement, new bathroom sink because it was cracked etc.)

I'm excited for the kids to come home because after we do homework and eat dinner with Stuart we are going to go get a white shirt for KatieJo (her class at school is making tie-dyed shirts), and then to the library.

I think I must be boring! I miss my kids and husband everyday and when they are home I'd rather spend time with them than just about anybody else.

Oh well, I've decided this must be what heaven is like....spending time with my family all the time, minus the fighting amongst the kids.

Stress and Paint

Okay, I admit it I am a perfectionist. Sometimes this is good; most of the time bad. I am currently stressed out and tired (partly because of some medicine I'm on) because my house is a disaster! I like my house to look show home quality which usually never happens because 1. Stuart likes the lived in look and 2. I have 3 small children, one in particular that dumps out the toys in every box everyday.

I will admit that it's not as bad as it could be, but Samuel is home today sick with a fever and so I can't run the vaccume or make much noise as I'm hoping he'll sleep. And, Phillip is crawling all over me telling me he wants to go outside mind you he has no pants on, just a diaper which cute as that is just isn't appropriate for being outside and it's also COLD outside. So, he's just going to have to live with my messy house and attempt to be somewhat quiet because of Samuel.

I can't wait for tomorrow....Stuart and the kids are home for "fall break" and we are painting the boys room (or should I say Stuart is). Right now it's a poop brown color on 2 walls and Green Bay Packers green on the other 2 walls...I hate it! So, after this weekend it will be light blue (Samuel asked for orange, and I lied through my teeth and told him that Home Depot wouldn't sell me orange paint). I may however paint some footballs at the top if he's good. Those are easy to cover!

Cribs and beds

GRRRRR! My backup plan for when Phillip fails to fall asleep after an hour in his "big boy" bed has failed. After a frustrating hour this afternoon Phillip was still awake and I put him in his crib knowing he usually passes out within five minutes when I do this. So, I left the room after turing on his music and started putting the winter coats etc. away in the coat closet and was thinking how exciting it is to have a coat closet when I heard an ominous creaking noise. Sure enough, the boy's door was opening. As I walked toward it Phillip must have saw me and quickly giggled and closed the door.

I knew he had climbed out of the crib, but to confirm my suspicions I put him back in hoping maybe he had fallen out and not hurt himself. Nope, he had climbed out. So I called the only expert I could think of...my sister-in-law Aimee. I remember Aimee telling me that Naomi had climbed out of the crib and they had then been forced to put her in a big bed. But alas Aimee's advice won't work for us as the top bunk of the bed doesn't have a railing all the way across and so Phillip would most likely start practicing his swan dive.

I even checked a book out of the library that was supposed to in 5 days give the kid a better night sleep. Mostly it involved the parent to put the child in bed and say "mommy is teaching you better sleep habits so you need to stay in bed" and then walk out of the room. Let's just say it didn't work. The laughing made me feel better though.

Oh well, I guess we'll just have to sit there and keep telling Phillip to lay down. Maybe before he leaves for college he'll have it figured out....hopefully!

Homework

My gosh, do teachers not realize that kindergartners and first graders should be playing and not doing a minimum of 2 hours of homework?

Granted Samuel goes up to first grade for math and reading and gets the first grade homework sent home. But my goodness....KatieJo had at least 5 worksheets to do and Samuel had I think 7. We tried to hurry and get homework done before soccer. (which was a bomb because it was 36 degrees outside and Phillip screamed the whole time because he didn't want to put his mittens on. I finally convinced him to stick his hands into my unzipped coat to which he would stick them under my arms into the sleeves, pull them out to clap when someone scored and then quickly stick them back in.) But, it didn't get done before soccer 1. because Phillip kept stealing their papers and then their pencils and would take off running; 2. because KatieJo just couldn't figure out what one of the questions was asking and thought it was more fun to watch Phillip steal Samuel's papers etc. and 3. There was just a whole boat load of homework.

So, now it's almost 9 and KatieJo has finally finished hers and Samuel is working on his last sheet. I'd say my kids are slow after the amount of time we've spent on it tonight, but the teachers keep telling me their at the top of the class.

Can't wait for tomorrow, I KNOW there is only 2 sheets of homework; which with talking and snack eating usually takes about an hour (including bathroom breaks). The 1st grade teacher sends a list home on Monday with all the worksheets for the week. But for some reason they had added homework today....DARN teachers!

Winter coats

We organized our basement yesterday. Sounds exciting, I know. But all the rubbermaid containers of kids clothes that I am WAY to cheap to part with were right inside the basement door. So, we re-arranged everything and finished opening any boxes in the basement. I'm proud to say that I think we opened the last box. Yes there are 3 boxes left in the basement, 2 are Stuart's music stuff that we haven't figured out what to do with yet (he's not convinced he's done teaching music) and a box of kids stuff.

This however wasn't the point of my post. We also went through looking for halloween costumes, winter coats and hats & gloves. Like I said before, I'm cheap. I spent the summer going to garage sales with my mother in Broomfield (they have AWESOME garage sales!) and bought my kids clothes, winter coats and anything else we may have needed for our new home.

I managed to buy Phillip 2 winter coats (and found another the other day), Samuel got a new "used" coat (Which gives him 2-he tends to loose everything, we have to have a backup!) and somehow along the way KatieJo only has her coat from last year; which fits in the length. However, her arms must have grown by leaps and bounds and are too long for the sleeves. So, I was forced yesterday to order a coat with the hopes that her old coat will tide her over until the new one gets here. I can't believe I spent $50 (with shipping) on a coat!!! JCPennys was having some sales, but I thought I'd see if I could get her a little nicer of a coat since I planned on buying it big so she can wear it next year (see, the cheapness in me coming out). I did manage to find a Columbia Jacket for $40. It was the same price on sale as the JCPenny's coats and so that's what we chose. The coat isn't pink (as she would have preferred since pink is "her color") but black is much easier to keep clean.

I sometimes think it's a flaw or should I say a strange quirk that I am as cheap as I am. I don't think there are many things besides our bed that I actually paid full price for. (Oh and Stuart's flat screen TV...but I have to admit that's nice.) The vast majority of things in our home have come from garage sales or my favorite store...the ARC thrift store (That place is AWESOME!). I like to think that I have to be cheap or we'd never afford anything because Stuart's a teacher and well, we all know they don't top the scales as far as paychecks go. But, I think it's nature (well and a lot of nurture). I talked to my mom and sister yesterday and both were garge saleing and my mom had just been to ARC. Guess it runs in my family!

Camping? It's snowing!

Earlier tonight as we were searching for KatieJo's glass that have been MIA since the day we moved; (I got a note from the school today saying KatieJo failed her eye test and need to get her eyes checked so I figured I had to find those glasses...even though I've been looking for weeks.) KatieJo looked at me and said "Mom, I want to go camping." I looked out the window at the snow that was drifting toward the ground so peacefully and then looked back at KatieJo.

"KatieJo, it's snowing and cold" I replied

"I know mom, I didn't mean right now. I want to go when it's warmer like when we went camping with Annie." (sidebar- Annie is the daughter of James & Aimee Mobley, Stuart's older brother) See picture below- I guess you just don't have as much fun unless you are with your cousins.

So, it has been decided that we shall wait to go camping of which I am grateful since I am NOT a boyscout and DO NOT enjoy going on Polar Bear campouts!!

So look out spring...I may consider gracing the outdoors with my presence....does staying in a hotel count as camping if I take a sleeping bag?

Annie, Phillip, KatieJo, Samuel and Stephen....Do you like their carriage?

Aimee if you want other pictures I have some more, just let me know and I'll e-mail them to you.

It's snowing!

It's snowing (well it was earlier)...yea...I think. I was going to take a picture, but alas my camera isn't freed from memory card overload.

I'm not sure we're ready for snow, I haven't planted my tulips yet or put down the seed for the grass....oh well at least soon we'll be able to build snowmen (monsters) and make snow angels!

(This picture was added this evening at about 6:45, the post was put on this morning)

Random thoughts...someday I'll laugh!

Did you know that a camera memory card will only hold approximately 200-250 pictures? I made this discovery today when I tried to take a picture and the camera gave me a message that said the memory card is full. I was fairly appalled, I scanned through my pictures and tried to find a couple to delete. I managed to delete 2 that I thought I wouldn't need. Other than that I guess I'm going to have to burn a CD and figure out how much it's going to cost me to get the pictures developed!

So as I write Phillip just walked into the room...normally not a big deal. Unfortunately he has the laddle from dinner (which was spaghetti) in his hand. I promptly grabed it from him and looked down at his clean jamies...what the heck? His "clean" white jamies that have turtles on them now also have red spots of spaghetti all over and will most likely never be the same. He also had a bath right after dinner and now needs another one.

Thank goodness I have plastic runners under our dinning room table, otherwise our carpet which is beige would now be red as well! I guess he was trying to get some more spaghetti and Samuel neglected to clear the noodles and sauce off the table; so Phillip helped himself and put it all on the table....darn (cute) kids....someday I'll laugh!!

Phillip's lamp

I've had a lamp sitting in KatieJo's room since we moved in. I haven't managed to plug it in yet partially because I need to rearrange things before it can be and because I haven't bought a new shade for it. The old shade was a casualty of the move.

So, Phillip found it a couple of weeks ago on KatieJo's desk and started carrying it around the house. I took it from him and put it up higher and he got it. I got it back and put it higher and somehow my little monkey somehow keeps finding it. I've decided to stop the fight and let him just have it. I think it was a fairly inexpensive lamp anyway, and it hasn't hurt him nor has he hurt anyone with it. At least he doesn't sleep with it!

I was also asked yesterday about the picture of Stuart in my "about me" section. So, I thought I'd post the pictures bigger and give the story behind them. I find these pictures hilarious as I will most likely never see Stuart in prison stripes or handcuffs again.

He was part of a mock shootout for the parade in Republic, WA before we moved. He was playing the imprisioned gang leader and the bandits and the cops had a shootout.

The other two men in the below picture are our friends AJ Haddenham (on the left) and Lorne Spooner. Both happen to also actually be in law enforcement.

Lunch with Dad

Well, KatieJo is feeling better today...YEAH, no fever!!! Actually feeling better is an understatement. She was smiling and laughing and playing around. So, I asked her (and Phillip) if they wanted to go have lunch with dad. With a resounding yes I packed up our peanut butter sandwiches (nix the jelly today since I wasn't sure her stomach would really handle it) and grapes and away we went.

KatieJo thought it was great to eat with dad since she doesn't ever get to go to his "new" school and eat lunch. Phillip just likes the snacks that he somehow finds in Stuart's room. And I really should refuse to go have lunch with him because everytime we do I end up working on his bulletin board or something to that nature.

Today I put up the letters and mountains I cut out on my cricut machine (if you scrapbook this is a must have since you can create your own dicuts). Part of Spanish is learning about the cultures of different countries. This month happens to be Argentina. Although I enjoy being creative, sometimes I wish he'd try to do his bulletin boards especially since I made it easy and cut everything out for him.

My sister teases me that I refer to Stuart's paycheck as "our" paycheck. I think I earn that right since I get the opportunity to grade papers and tests (that don't involve too much Spanish translating) and I get the job of doing his bulletin boards.

Anyway, Happy Fall!! The weather is finally getting colder!

Our weekend

Well, the weekend didn't start out all that bad. We usually have dinner and a movie on Friday nights and so when the kids get home from school on Fridays everyone takes a rest so they can stay up late and watch a movie. So, we laid down and KatieJo fell asleep....not terribly shocking after a long week. However when she woke up about 45 min. later she had a low grade fever. Saturday the fever had escalated with the only other symptom being a headache. Sunday afternoon we decide she was probably feeling a little better and so we went to the chapel to watch the last session of conference....not even 5 minutes after we got there she threw up all over the carpet. So, we didn't get the opportunity to watch conference.What a bummer! We had planned to watch at home on our computer, but alas our computer was in the shop and KatieJo's illness didn't give us the opportunity, as well as Phillip's lack of willingness to sit still for 2 hours!Thank goodness we can get a copy of conference!! I think we may even be able to get online and still watch it....at least that is my hope since I am hoping to watch it during nap times!On to better news...Stuart has started a "new" job. Not only is he teaching; he has been hired as the USS swim team coach. He will also be the assistant boys swim coach for the high school and possibly the middle school. We are so excited (ok, I think I am more than Stuart as in my opinion anything is better than football!).

Wow, life is different!

I knew moving to Rawlins would create huge changes for us. Small town life doesn't always present the same opportunities as "bigger" town life.

We are so busy here! We recently had homecoming week. Growing up homecoming was confined to the high school....but not here. All week long the elementary school had spirit week right along with the other schools, and don't forget the practicing for the junior cheerleading, tumbling classes and soccer games (not to mention the football game)...oh and the fact that Stuart volunteered to judge the class floats which involved nightly rounds of judging.

By the end of the week I was tuckered out just from all the running around and making sure they were all at the right places at the right times!!

We drove to Casper last weekend to do our grocery shopping...how exciting, there is a mall, Wal-Mart, Target and don't forget SAMS!!! And it's only an hour and a half away. We had to drive that far in WA just to get to a Wal-mart. People keep asking us how we are handling such a small town. We just laugh and tell them that Rawlins is HUGE!

KatieJo is able to take dance lessons and Samuel is playing soccer (very succesfully I might add. they don't keep score at this age, but last week he scored all the points for his team and tonight he scored 3 out of 5.).



And, we are part of a ward again....which has to be one of the most exciting parts. No more funny looks in sacrament because Phillip is talking to himself (or his truck) a little to loudly, and Samuel actually gave a talk last week in Primary without me asking if our kids could give a talk.

So far Rawlins is terribly exciting!