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:

Christmas, 2010

This first picture really isn't about Christmas, but it still gets a Christmas frame because it's December. Joel and Seth both got glasses last week. They both look adorable!! Seth won't leave his on, and Joel's having a hard time getting used to his. I'm hoping they wear them at school and see better than they did without them.


Funny story before I go on with Christmas events: Joel went to a friend's house the other day along with a few other friends. The boys decided to play hide and seek. Joel decided to hide in the laundry chute. HE GOT STUCK!!! His friend's older brother had to call the paramedics to come get him out. The poor child was sweating and crying and wondering how in the world anyone could ever get him out of there. After his friends tried to pull him out, they sat with him to wait for the paramedics. The parents were at a church staff luncheon and had to leave in the middle to go help wait for the paramedics. When I talked to Joel on the phone, he assured me he was ok and immediately told me that he had NOT broken his glasses! He had taken them off to play hide and seek. He really wanted me to know that!

Christmas Eve is our family Christmas. Today was a little different from previous years because I went to work this morning. I was hoping to get back home before the kids woke up, but there was more work than I thought there would be. Jason made waffles and the the kids watched Christmas movies while they waited for me to get back. They all look so cute in their Santa hats :-)


We all opened our gifts and then the kids went to watch some new movies. Later in the evening, we went to the Christmas Eve church service. My boys look adorable in their suits :-)


Makenzie is looking so grown up now! The kids' choir performed at the beginning of the program tonight. The choir leaders asked Makenzie 1/2-hour before they were to sing if she would be able to sing a solo. She sounded GREAT -- not nervous at all! I was so proud of her!!


MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas

need a clone!

today was a very tiring day! i'm pretty sure i did a full day's work before some people even got out of bed today -- getting kids ready, many loads of laundry, meals, ironing, cleaning the bathroom, and washing the pans that had been sitting on the stovetop since i don't even know when.

Joel and Seth had an eye doctor appointment today. i really don't understand why the scheduling people make appointments the way they do. every time i go to this eye doctor, we get to see him after sitting in the waiting room for about an HOUR! a little irritating. but he's the best, so i keep going back. Seth's eyes have started crossing again, so he's getting glasses to wear mostly at school. he's doing so well with wearing his hearing aids at school, so i'm hoping that the glasses work well there, too. Joel REALLY needs glasses. the doc explained to us that Joel's headaches are probably caused by growing, not by bad eyes. but the bad eyes have probably been making the headaches worse. there's a glasses store in the same building as the eye doctor, so we went to see them as soon as we got the prescriptions. picking out glasses for the boys took about 30 seconds. there's only one choice for free glasses for Joel's age and size, and there's only one pair of free glasses that hook around the back of Seth's ears so that they don't fall off when he looks down. the lady was SO nice to us! Seth was obviously tired of being well-behaved, so the glasses lady suggested Joel take him over to the toy corner. she then got the laptop and SAT ON THE FLOOR next to the toys so that she could get all the necessary information while i made sure Seth was occupied. and she didn't do it with any huffing like "SHEESH! you're really putting me out here." she was smiling and glad to do whatever worked to keep everyone happy. it's so nice to come across people willing to be truly helpful.