matching boys

I made all the boys wear their corduroy shirts for church yesterday :-) Joel wasn't too pleased because he likes to wear t-shirts or polos, but he's slowly learning not to fight with Mom.



This should be an interesting week. I'm switching stores for work. I'm trading my Safeway for a Walmart. I start training tomorrow, and I'll be working with another lady. So far, I've mostly worked alone for the last nine months. And I worked alone for the last ten years before I got a paying job. I think this will be a good change. I'll still be working on my own at two other stores (three after this summer -- I'm getting a second Walgreens when another one opens).

Thanks to the good sleep I got by taking codeine for a few nights, I think this cold is FINALLY on its way OUT!!! Thank God for medicine, doctors to prescribe it, and pharmacists who work late :-)

together/oops--forgot

I just love it when all four of my children are in the same room without fighting!!!!! It's a rare occurrence, so I wanted to document it. Luke and I went to the library yesterday to get movies, books, and coffee. They were all completely engrossed in a Batman movie (except Joel who was only listening to the movie while he read a new book I got him).

I forgot a VERY funny part of Joel's birthday! During wrestling practice, the wrestlers all line up and give birthday whacks to any wrestler having a birthday. Joel knew that this would be happening, so he prepared for it by wearing FOUR PAIRS OF UNDERWEAR under his shorts! HAHAHAHA!!!! Smart kid :-)

cute little boys

I dressed Luke and Seth like twins, so they also put on matching grouch faces :-)



Luke made this Lego car all by himself -- with no pattern. This is a GREAT activity for Luke, both for his creativity and for his "occupational therapy." Luke doesn't have a therapist, but I try to get him to do things to strengthen and steady his hands. His hands are very tense and shaking most of the time, and this causes SERIOUS writing problems. He has a "D" in handwriting right now, I think. The poor child is already cursed with bad writing since both his father and mother have bad handwriting. But add the whole neurological issue somehow connected to being born with club feet (that's my opinion, not a doctor's assessment), and the child's writing is completely illegible!

I haven't blogged for a really long time! Life is pretty much the same as always -- school for the kids, work for Jason and me. We've been dealing with colds, of course, since it's winter time. Seth and I both went to the doctor just in case we needed antibiotics. Seth's doctor said it's just a cold; my doctor said the same thing, but also gave me a prescription for cough medicine with codeine (my new best friend!!!!!). It's been nice to be able to sleep all night long instead of waking up every few minutes to cough!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOEL!!

My "baby" turned 12 today! He told me that he woke up at 5:58 this morning, so he was awake to see his birthday start at 6 a.m., the time he was born. I had waited until 6:30 to go tell him "happy birthday" and "go take a shower" and pointed out that 6:30 a.m. was the time 12 years ago today that I passed out from an overload of pain. That was my only reference to anything negative about the privilege of having my first child, instead focusing on how glad I am that he was born.

We had a family party Saturday afternoon, a special breakfast of doughnuts and coffee this morning, a special lunch from Subway and cupcakes from home, and then a friend party tonight after wrestling practice. I only let him have three friends this time, but they had a lot of fun playing the wii and laughing together.

Here's Joel's birthday "cake" from Saturday -- cherry cheesecake: