Learning how to get pictures off my phone :)

So, we were stuck on Post one day waiting for Shawn for a couple of hours, and the boys were climbing trees.  I had just gotten my phone and they all wanted pictures of them in the trees.  We managed to get in a pretty decent improv shoot (for me- a nonphotographer). 

 The Pinewood Derby of course :).  He was pretty bummed about not winning any races, but it really helped that everyone got a certificate and a little bag of candy.  He felt better after that, and they really did have fun making the car.

 He steals this hat at every opportunity!

 We went to Dennis the Menace Park this weekend.  It's a great bribe, reward, family time, etc.

Okay, this isn't a great picture, but the point is that Demetri got a new bike for Christmas (he REALLY needed a bigger one) and Olie inherited Demetri's little bike.  He learned how to ride it a couple of days after Christmas :).

It's been a good weekend

Shawn took Teddy to a home teaching meeting this evening, complete with backpack full of coloring, books, and stuffed animals.  Teddy took such a long, late nap that I had no illusions of getting him to bed at his normal bedtime tonight.  He was ecstatic to be the only one to go with Daddy, and it’s good to have a few one-on-one activities.  

Demetri is reading a book to Olie, and helping Olie to read some words to him.  I can’t believe my 4 yr old is sounding out words already!  He’s working on Hop on Pop.  Go phonics :).  He wrote the ABC’s today in sacrament meeting, while quietly singing the song, and is starting to write words like “cat” and “dad.”  Demetri is struggling with writing, but Shawn thinks it will be like reading.  He hated it until he started to get good at it.  Now he can read for a couple of hours a day without getting tired of it.  Here’s hoping.

I’m packing, and packing, and, hilariously enough, still wrapping Christmas presents as I pack (for people in Idaho), though most of them are wrapped.  The kids keep asking who they're for, and are eager to pass them out.  I’m also reading John Adams (by David McCullough), which I love.  I need to have a notebook with me.  I used to have a notebook specifically for books I was reading but I must have gotten out of the habit somewhere.

Shawn is reading Journey to the Center of the Earth to Demetri.  I’m not sure Demetri gets much of it, but he enjoys the time and insists on it every evening.  He has a 4 day weekend coming up, yay!  Maybe we’ll actually get to finish the running Scrabble game we have going.  And maybe I’ll actually put it away after this round…since we’ve been playing very slow game after game for the last several weeks.  I’ve learned a lot of new words that way. 

Olie’s new famous quotes (this must just be the age): “Mom, why do you follow me everywhere?” (said while we were in the huge Dennis the Menace Park this weekend).  And when I asked him if he wanted his coat zipped up he said, “Yes!  Then people will think I’m a different person!”  Haha, I guess changing shirt colors does that?  

Both of the younger boys have taken to calling Shawn "Dada."  No idea why.

2012

Welcome to the new year!  I managed to average about 4 posts a month last year so I guess I’m not doing all too badly with this blogging thing.  I didn’t put up as many pictures as I’d wanted.  Maybe I’ll get the hang of that this year.  We had a great holiday.  I wrote several blog posts in the last couple of weeks but they all just seemed to seep into my journal.  So we’ll start over with how the last couple of days have been and then the new year. 

Yesterday we (okay, Shawn) made homemade pasta in our electric pasta machine.  It was quick (compared to the days I used to do it by hand!) and tasted gourmet.  I’m thrilled to have it instead of stocking up on the boxed stuff!  Today I de-junked.  I threw away huge amounts of old papers, organized clothes, moved things around, labeled boxes, and I’m fairly satisfied with how much I got done…even if the house looks worse than when I started.  It’s still better, trust me. 

I’m so excited about this year :).  In three weeks I’m leaving for Kamiah- there to stay until this baby is born.  Only 10 weeks to go!  Then I’m coming back here to pack up for Texas- where we’ll be for the summer after Shawn graduates in May.  From there- who knows.  I’m already packing for both Idaho and Texas.  Our stuff will all be in storage over the summer…a too-familiar situation.  It’s nice to be moving on though. 

I used to dislike the idea of New Year’s goals and didn’t make them as an act of rebellion against the norm.  I guess I’ve since decided that anything that encourages people to make and keep goals is a good thing.  And there isn’t necessarily a better time to do it either.

I have my goals all written out for six months.  (For the later part of the year it’s just a little hard to plan because I don’t know where we’ll be!)  Of course, many have to do with timely packing and being ready for all the changes we’ll have this year.  I picked up the Body-For-Life book and I’m looking forward to using the program.  I did it in high school a little with a friend, but have lost the habit.  Unfortunately, losing weight and toning are going to have to be put off for a bit this year.  That’s okay- it’s part of the pregnancy process I guess.  I’m realizing I now have too much stuff!!!  I’m working on downsizing a little, and using up the things we have (mostly referring to homeschool supplies, kits, etc).  I want to read the scriptures every day, a goal that is helped along by having all the resources I need on my phone.  I haven’t used it as a phone much yet, but it comes in handy for reading and shopping/ to do lists :).  I think I’m going to try my hand at an indoor garden this summer.  I’ve looked up a few methods and we’ll see how it goes. 

We have education goals with the kids, and I need to find something to help myself continue to learn as well.  I have a couple of vacation and traveling goals- but all of those kinds of goals have become so tentative that Shawn says I’m not supposed to tell anyone (even the kids usually) that we’re going to go do something or go somewhere anymore.  We just never know if it will materialize.  I have goals to pay off more debt and rearrange finances a bit.  We’re hoping for good things this year.  All in all, I’m rather an optimist this time around.  Unusual for me I assure you.  But life seems to be coming together and our circumstances improving more quickly than I’d thought.

I Should Have Just Said “NO!”

I really should have, and I knew it.  A company called Peak Communications called me to tell me they were switching my phone service.  They assured me it was not a sales call, and that while they were not actually AT&T (our home phone service provider) they were an affiliated company contracted to do long distance for AT&T.  They were just calling to inform me that my long-distance was going to change providers, though our bill would still be through AT&T and that it would lower my monthly bill.  They said AT&T was doing this in order to be more competitive with cell phone companies, as many households were getting rid of their home phone altogether.  No contract or other change.

Yada- yada- skip to the part where all I do is say yes this is okay, and I am now under Peak Communications for long distance.  Yeah, it was a scam.  At the very end of the conversation when they transfer you to a third party so they can record your consent, I thought, “You know, I don’t really understand this, and I’d really prefer it if Shawn did this.”  I had asked numerous questions trying to figure out just what was happening and why, and after all their reassurances I still wasn’t quite sure how it worked.  BUT, I felt kind of badly, having put the poor guy through the ringer trying to figure it out, and it seemed a harmless change that actually promised to lower my bill.  Ha Ha.  What I should have felt was not guilt at quitting at the last minute, but justification at not making any changes without a full understanding of what they actually were and a discussion with my husband.  Really- why would I feel pressured to do that, or dumb for still not understanding, or like the decision needed to be made right away?! 

However, we often make decisions under a false sense of pressure, or when we haven’t had time to sleep on it.  The business world is famous for these kinds of sales tactics.  I’m hoping to leave this situation a wiser person, and am resolving never to feel guilty about saying “no” again, or at least “call back when my husband is home.”  I like to think I always have the option to change my mind if something is really worth looking at, and if I miss the occasional good deal anyway- it’s okay. 

BTW- Peak tries to charge 6.5 cents a minute for long distance and uses AT&T as a cover.  When we called AT&T they sighed and said they’ve had a lot of trouble with that company, and switched us back.  Oh, and they have a BBB rating of F, with everyone having the same problems I did.  (Not that it should, but the idea that tons of other people have been taken in by the same scheme made me feel slightly better.) 

Now my blog is officially up to date :)

This week has been a little blah- though I’ll take that over drama and the wrong kinds of excitement.  We’ve got a packed weekend planned anyway.

I’ve had final presentations in two classes.  I learned a lot about Powerpoint and I can now awesomely embed music into a presentation to go along with a previously mundane series of mouse clicks.  Well, I played a lot with animation, transitions, backgrounds, etc. as well, and it was really kind of fun.  Some of Shawn’s geekiness must have rubbed off because after that I was so excited I sat thinking up ways to use my newfound skills and seriously considered a family Christmas Powerpoint presentation to end the year on.

Oh yes, and I now have a smartphone.  A MyTouch 4G to be exact, which Shawn spent many hours poring over eBay to find.  Shawn’s is still in the process of getting here.  He must be more picky about his phone than mine :).  So, I’m learning how to use it, and spent far too long last night downloading apps like “shopping list” and putting music on this novel device.  Shawn just hopes I actually use it.

“We” (read, Shawn and Demetri- but I have been chauffeuring) have spent much of the week planning and making a Pinewood Derby car.  The big event is next Tuesday.  I am completely surprised at the amount of work it takes to actually make one of these things.  Demetri has been up late doing a lot of sanding.  It has to be spray-painted like, 3-4 times, and in between paintings it has to dry for 24 hours!  In my opinion, they’ll be pretty lucky to get it done by Tuesday, but they’re sure working on it.

Last night’s famous quote:  Demetri walked in the bedroom on his way to bed and immediately came back out to tell me that Teddy, who had been in bed for a very long time, was still awake.  When I peeked in to look Teddy quickly shook his head and said, “No, I not still awake!” 

The Smoothie Incident

I’ve been meaning to post for a while…yeah, good intentions and all that. 

So, last week's highlights:

We bought, put up, and decorated our Christmas tree.  The children also strung lights throughout various parts of the house.  Unfortunately there are no pictures of their decorating, because Shawn’s camera broke in China and the one I bought for his birthday is still on its way here due to several complications.  So you’ll just have to take my word for it- for the first time in my life (that I can remember) we have a tree up before the week of Christmas (usually on Christmas Eve).  I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but the kids sure had fun.

We made cinnamon rolls, a garlic-parmesan focaccia bread that didn’t really turn out very well, bread, home-made pizza, and the kids are once again taking turns making dinner.  I even have a 3-week menu that I laboriously planned, complete with shopping list.  However, I did not plan well enough.  I failed to remember which nights were going to be impossible to make something like lasagna or chili-from-scratch because of homework.  The menu has now been “rearranged” significantly.

 
I bought stocking stuffers and Christmas candy, and hid them.  Since I hid them instead of having Shawn hide them…I’m going to have to go buy more Christmas candy before Christmas.  I’m sure I can find something the children will like better than dark chocolate and peanut butter/ dark chocolate with almonds anyway.

Oh yes, and the smoothie.  Sometimes I don’t put all the food away right after lunch.  I get busy putting children down for naps and possibly get distracted by something else.  Maybe I will learn my lesson.  After one normal lunch hour all the boys were standing around peering into the yogurt container.  Demetri thought it smelled funny.  When I checked, I did smell soap, but assumed it was from all the little hands that were very near the yogurt container.  When I made a smoothie the next evening to go with dinner (because I was craving one), it looked gorgeous.  But it tasted like soap.  Yep, it really was soap in the yogurt.  Although I felt sad for Olie, who was the only one who didn’t get a smoothie that night, I was still rather upset about pouring an entire blender-full of frozen fruit down the sink.  My big question was “WHY?”  Who goes around putting hand soap in the yogurt?!  We’ll chalk it up to a science experiment gone wrong, and little boys who wonder “what would happen if…”

Life on the coast

Back in California; getting settled in again.  We had to catch up on grocery shopping and menu planning, and I’m hoping today is going to be a bread making day.  I have several lists of things to do…I didn’t realize a trip would put me so far behind.  We’ve redone the chore charts and we’re working on a homework/chore schedule. 

Teddy alternates between calling me Mom and Grandma.  The children are working on retraining the parakeet.  I have been tying and retying blankets which are acting as capes for my three batmen.  Well- Teddy says he’s a guard helper.

Maternity pictures appeared on my facebook instead of my blog.  I don’t have the originals to put them on here. 

We had a great trip!  We got to see everyone, and we were so grateful to be able to see lots of family we haven’t seen in quite a while.  We spent time with grandmas and grandpas, and had a blast in general.  I was sad to come home, but surprisingly re-energized and newly motivated to be a good wife, mother, and homemaker.  I got to catch up with Mandi, who just moved back to Kamiah.  Yes, I’m jealous…but I’ll work through it :).  I finally met her adorable daughter, and seeing how happy Mandi is was wonderful.  We were able to stop by the Grants house on the way home J which provided a much needed break for the kids- who were happy to run off and play, and some great time with Jenny!  I love seeing my friends.

Shawn and the kids are playing hide-and-go-seek.  Olie just asked Shawn, “Where’s a good place to hide where you won’t know where I am?”  Silly boy.  They are having so much fun!  Demetri’s excited about working on his Pinewood Derby car with Dad.

Okay, break’s over.  Back to homework.