Crazy Life

Just when I think that we settling in to routine, something changes and it gets crazier. Because of space issues in February, all our church events/activies are moved from Wednesday to Tuesday nights. I realized that this made it possible f0r Lily to start cheerleading. Am I crazy? yeap. We deciced to start this new adventure in March. One of the major changes that this involved was figuring out how to eat on Wednesdays. I finish working no earlier than 5pm so that leaves less than an hour for us to eat and get to the cheer gym. We have started meeting for dinner and then I bring Lily to the gym. Matt heads home to get the little ones to bed. So far this is working out but it makes my weekly schedule a little more crazier.
To add to the confusion, Amanda’s car is finally dead. So until she is able to find and afford a car, I am driving her to college and arrange to have her picked up. This week was an awful week to start that. It makes it really hard with the time change or as Lily said today, “It is all the farmer’s fault for messing with our daylight. Another addition to this week is the fact we have our last Bible quiz of the year on Saturday so I am trying to get that all together. Here is what my crazy schedule looks like this week.
Monday-
Tuesday- Church activities for Lily, Haley and Matt. I stayed home with Kendall and Zach and tried to work on quizzing.
Wednesday- Lily at cheerleading til 8
Thursday- Off of work but hair appointment, car to be worked on, 31 party, tutoring.
Friday- Small group from 7pm till 10pm
Saturday- Quiz starting at 10am.

Saturday Recap

NEWS FLASH…………………. I am tired. Ok so it was not really a news flash but it is the truth and it sums up the entire week. I am tired. Want more details. I am going to share because 10 years from now maybe I will laugh and say man how did I do it? At least that is my goal.

Work- 5 days no break. I ended up covering for Debbie on Thursday because she was sick. So total I get paid for around 33 hours not counting drive time.

With kids clubs and Matt’s small group moving to Tuesday nights then we stay busy. Tuesday is church, I stay home with the little ones. Wednesday night are cheerleading for Lily so we met for dinner and I arrived home around 8:15pm. Thursday- we grabbed a bite to eat and then try to go to bed early because Zach and Kendall have been awake several times a night EACH. Last night (Friday) we spent some time as a couple after the little ones went to bed. We needed it!

Today has been busy with house cleaning and planting. We went up town and welcome home a friend and a solider who has been in Afghanistan since last May. Dinner with the Pierce was a great and fun end to the day. The fact we lose an hour of sleep tonight is going to make things rough in the morning as well

SO GOOD NIGHT!

Expectations

Expectation-is what is considered the most likely to happen. An expectation, which is a belief that is centered on the future, may or may not be realistic. A less advantageous result gives rise to the emotion of disappointment. If something happens that is not at all expected it is a surprise. An expectation about the behavior or performance of another person, expressed to that person, may have the nature of a strong request, or an order.

The above definition is from Wikipedia. I have been thinking alot about this word this evening. I consider myself a realist. I don’t like doing things like making a 5 year plan or even a 3 year plan. The reason, I am not in control God is…so why waste time and energy with a plan that I have no control over if it works or not? But expectations-yes I definitely have some of those. In fact, you may even can make a case that I have more of these expectations then most people. So what are some of the expectation I have?

First, when Matt became unemployed last July, I had a couple of expectations. I knew this would be a long term situation. I expected it to be very difficulty for all of us to adjust and I even realized that my expectations of what should/would get done during the day may be unachievable. After six months, we are starting to settle into a routine. It is VERY hard for me to go to work and come home each day. I am learning that I just have to let some thing go and that it is okay that some things are running more smoothly without me doing them. I NEVER expected that we would be in the best financial situation of our married life after only six months, nor would I have consider that we are taking most likely 2 major family vacations this year. My expectation of how well the kids are all adjusting has been exceeded, as well as the fact that homeschooling with Lily is more consistent than before. My expectations of what house work/chores should get done each week is evolving.

Next on my list of expectations would be those involving the kids. To protect the guilty, I am going to refer to the definition above “about the behavior or performance of another person, expressed to that person, may have the nature of a strong request, or an order. ” Maybe I need to change my wording and just say this is a strong request or an order?

Expectations…………………….. that is a mouthful!

Divorce

DISCLAIMER: I am writing this as my own opinion/thoughts/experience. If think you are going to be offended or disagree (my daughters) stop reading now! You can Never use this post as part of an arguement!

That being said I have been struggling with several idea/comments that I really want to vent about. I hope you can laugh, agree, or learn from them.

I will never be the “FUN” parent. I am much too busy trying to teach all my children to be responsible adults. So therefore, I will alway have to say No to some things.

I have struggled for years to follow the simple sounding guide line of “Never talk negative or badly about your ex.” What good has it done me….nothing so far. As the kids have gotten older it continues to get hard to keep my mouth shut on a regular basis. I am finding that in some cases the opposite is true. Neither one of the girls realize how much I have struggled or how much I have chosen to not involve them it.

If someone else wants to be consider one of my children’s mother then they should be required to provide support and discipline otherwise it is totally unacceptable and very hurtful to me to hear of any of my children call another woman any form of mother. I gave birth to them and have known them every day of their lives who else can say that??

Divorce is not fair or good. I have made all my choices with my children’s best interest at heart. I can’t say that all my choices are correct. But they were made at the time and I will continue to stand by and defend them.

Divorce is about the money. Finding the money to survive and to provide for the child. No matter what is said remember these decision will affect the rest of your life.

I am going to end with one decision/way of life that I will recommend and say to date is probable one of the best thing I did as a single woman. I chose to date during the time that the kids were
with their father. I did not want them to be exposed to the “flavor of the week.” And yes I wanted to date alot of people. They were only allowed to meet 3 or 4 guys that I dated the entire 5 years I was single. I still think this is the best plan. I had a life of dating while the kids were with their father, the rest of the time. I was a mother only.

Normal Saturday

I am so excited after a normal busy week in which I worked 3 days, took Zach to Brenner’s Children Hospital for follow up on Monday, and attended a rather long long continuing education class on Thursday, Saturday was free!

We made some changes on Thursday trying to improve the sleep patterns around here. We have now cleaned all the toys except Barbies out of Lily’s room and moved Kendall bed in. Zach has the nursery all to him self. It worked beautifully Thursday night with everyone sleeping all night long. Last night (Friday) was not quite as good. Lily work up and needed to use the restroom and of course Kendall did too. Zach cried a couple of times before we went to bed and then again around 3 am. Tonight, Zach has been screaming for about 15 minutes. What does this have to do with Saturday… we are all really tired!

Deserez, Amanda’s best friend, has been over since Thursday. She has been really sick the past couple of days and just wanted to be around people. Today is also her birthday, so while Amanda went to work , we took her and the little kids to Applebee’s to celebrate.

So what else does a normal Saturday look like around here? Productive!! We have been able to go through the playroom and re-organize/ trash/ prepare to yard sale most of the toys, cleaned all the floors, cleaned up both the living room and kitchen. Figured out our available menus for the next couple of weeks and have some time just to relax! I am so excited!! Time to wii and watch tv!

Random Kid Facts

-Zach has completed yet another round of testing to find out why he is not gaining weight. We think he is allergic to eggs and has gained almost 4 lbs in the past month.
-Zach is starting to talk a lot with some recognizable words like Bite, balloon, Cat, Mom, Dad, he also knows the sign for more
-Kendall is still working on potty training. She is at one or less accidents a day but still doesn’t get the concept of “poop in the potty.”
-Kendall knows her first and last name and her parents names as well.
-Lily is still working hard on learning to read with less than 20 lessons left
-Lily get to start a mini cheer leading squad this week.
-Haley has started to want to drive alot more and may get her license before next school year.
-Haley wants to be a junior volunteer at the hospital and gather all the information needed by herself!!!!
-Amanda is planning to find a full time job for the summer.

Where does time go?

Today is Saturday, it has been a full 5 days since I posted anything on my blog. In the past, I have always had a good reason, look how busy I have been, but today I have none… it was a normal week around here. So maybe I will just do a list of the regular things that happened this week.

  • Worked a total of 28 hours with a full day off on Thursday.
  • Lily and Kendall had eye appointments on Thursday. Lily’s weak eye is becoming stronger with patching. We have to kept patching probably another year. Kendall’s eyes are half as bad as Lily’s and both get new glasses.
  • Matt and I both have exercised at least 30 minutes the entire week.
  • The house is presentable not clean not dirty just managed.
  • Started moving the playroom around to get more room in it and finally move all toys out of our bedroom.
  • Matt, Lily and Haley went to church on Tuesday night
  • Superbowl party on Sunday
  • Ordered Haley’s class ring on Wednesday night

So this is what normal is?

Back to Normal

I honestly think that we are on the upside of being sick and things are slowly starting to get back to normal around here. But that brings to mind a question what is normal around here? Glad you asked here are the top ten things that I would consider “normal” for us….

1. Sunday Superbowl Party- We had some friends over last night to eat and watch the game. My BF and I even managed to Wii Fit during half time and the second half of the game.
2. Monday- I was scheduled to work both jobs today but ended up with a super long lunch break of 5 hours so Matt has gone to get the oil changed and something else with the car.
3.Zach is side stepping everywhere and has learned to turn off both the computer and printer. He thinks it is a game to reach toward the buttons
4. Lily cried at naptime today because she wanted to do more school work instead of taking a nap.
5. In the past hour I have answered the question “Is it time to get up at least 4 times.”
6. We have at least 5 loads of laundry to do today in order for everyone to have clean clothes and towels.
7. The dishwasher has been run already once this morning with another load at least to be done before bedtime.
8. Kendall is sleeping in Haley’s bed, or at least resting in Haley’s bed because she like to mess with things in our room and or wake up Zach most day at nap time.
9. I have not given out any cold medicine all day long.
10. I am seriously considering a NAP!

The Flu

UGH! This week has been so long and nasty. Here is a short bulletined recap.

  • Last Friday morning, Lily woke up with a fever and was crappy.
  • Last Saturday in the wee hours Kendall woke up with a fever also. We decided that I would stay home with them from Angel Food distribution so as not to spread our germs.
  • Saturday afternoon, Haley called wanting to come home because she felt so bad.
  • Sunday, Zach stayed with Pawpaw and Granny while Lily, Kendall and Haley went to the doctor’s sick clinic
  • Kendall has the flu and Lily and Haley a virsus that is similar to the flu.
  • Haley is out of school Monday and Tuesday.
  • Lily is still not feeling great and doesn’t get to go to Kids Club on Tuesday.
  • Wednesday is when Matt starting getting sick
  • Both Wednesday and Thursday evening I picked up dinner on the way home and Matt is in the bed by 7pm.
  • Yesterday (Friday) Matt starts to feel better but we are forced to miss small group.

We were able to head to Winston today but I am still giving out medicine on a regular basis, no one has a fever but everyone including Zach has a runny nose and/or cough. I am praying we all start to fell better/get back to normal this week!