Monday, February 28, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Recap of Last Year!
February: Riis turned 4! We had a surprise party for him. We (north Texas) got some awesome, albeit brief, snow! Grandma Judi came for a short visit to pick up Grandpa Joe's truck. Evelyn had her first violin recital. I had my first all day visit to a Spa.
March: Riis participated in another season of soccer.
April: Eric, a young man in our ward, was shot and I was heavily involved in the service that followed. We had our week 1/2 family vacation to San Antonio and Houston. Found out Marina was pregnant and that I was not. :(
June: Lily turned 8! We start making regular trips to the Nature Refuge for family nature walks. Leonora’s first trip to the ER for her hurt hand.
July: Lily and Miriam had their baptism and lots of family came to town to visit. Casey graduated from his Internal Medicine Residency. Casey and i celebrated our tenth anniversary. Evelyn turned 6 and lost both her front teeth! Casey began fellowship and sometime this year he also became licensed in Texas.
August: We made another quick trip back to Houston and Galveston before Mark moved to PA. Leonora turned 2!
September: Casey took the Internal Medicine Boards Exam. Lynlee Rose was born to Mark and Daciana. Began a book group.
October: Lots of strep throat and doctor visits. Lily had her ear incident. Kids got to go do a corn maize and take a hay ride at a pumpkin farm. Alex got his mission call. Find out I’m pregnant again!
November: Found out Casey passed his Boards for Internal Medicine. Yay! Casey starts working at his two moonlighting jobs. Our trip to Atlanta, GA for over a week. I'm not pregnant anymore. Alex goes to the temple. Thanksgiving together.
December: Our family did our first 5k walk/run together. Alex left on a mission to Denver, CO. Family trip to Durango (the Polar Express) and Salida (Tenderfoot climb, sledding) and we saw lots and lots of relatives! Started exercising regularly. Anna Rose was born to Marina and Abin on my birthday!
During the entire year Casey had a calling (service at church) in the Elders Quorum presidency and I was a cub scout leader and visiting teaching supervisor.
I was a terrible blogger last year but I think I made strides in other areas. We worked really hard in school and accomplished a lot. Lily started taking piano lessons and continued in ballet. Evelyn continued violin, and I joined her in taking lessons also.
March: Riis participated in another season of soccer.
April: Eric, a young man in our ward, was shot and I was heavily involved in the service that followed. We had our week 1/2 family vacation to San Antonio and Houston. Found out Marina was pregnant and that I was not. :(
June: Lily turned 8! We start making regular trips to the Nature Refuge for family nature walks. Leonora’s first trip to the ER for her hurt hand.
July: Lily and Miriam had their baptism and lots of family came to town to visit. Casey graduated from his Internal Medicine Residency. Casey and i celebrated our tenth anniversary. Evelyn turned 6 and lost both her front teeth! Casey began fellowship and sometime this year he also became licensed in Texas.
August: We made another quick trip back to Houston and Galveston before Mark moved to PA. Leonora turned 2!
September: Casey took the Internal Medicine Boards Exam. Lynlee Rose was born to Mark and Daciana. Began a book group.
October: Lots of strep throat and doctor visits. Lily had her ear incident. Kids got to go do a corn maize and take a hay ride at a pumpkin farm. Alex got his mission call. Find out I’m pregnant again!
November: Found out Casey passed his Boards for Internal Medicine. Yay! Casey starts working at his two moonlighting jobs. Our trip to Atlanta, GA for over a week. I'm not pregnant anymore. Alex goes to the temple. Thanksgiving together.
December: Our family did our first 5k walk/run together. Alex left on a mission to Denver, CO. Family trip to Durango (the Polar Express) and Salida (Tenderfoot climb, sledding) and we saw lots and lots of relatives! Started exercising regularly. Anna Rose was born to Marina and Abin on my birthday!
During the entire year Casey had a calling (service at church) in the Elders Quorum presidency and I was a cub scout leader and visiting teaching supervisor.
I was a terrible blogger last year but I think I made strides in other areas. We worked really hard in school and accomplished a lot. Lily started taking piano lessons and continued in ballet. Evelyn continued violin, and I joined her in taking lessons also.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Tis the Season
I'm camped out in the living room for the winter season of school. In the cooler months (it never gets really cold here) I move the small school tables into the living room and we stay more cozy to do school than sitting on the hard chairs in the kitchen. Now we have the tree up and lit (not decorated, though) and it feels homey in here, even though I bark "get to work, girls" about every 15 minutes, which kind of ruins the atmosphere a bit.
I was just working on a list of books I want to read during next year. I always have lists of books to read and adding to lists. This year I want to read WAY more youth and kid books. I've noticed that my influence is huge on Lily and her reading. She is way more interested in reading books I can give her an opinion about, and especially the ones I can say I've read and loved as a kid, especially the Wizard of Oz series and The Black Stallion series, just to name a few. We have a good trust going about that. IF I say I don't know if it's a good books she immediately hesitates to read it.
We had a nice trip to Georgia and did a lot of fun things with the kids, although I regret not shelling out the money and going to the art museums. A few days after I got back I had a miscarriage in my 11-12th week of pregnancy. Luckily I hadn't told anyone, or the kids, I was pregnant. Now I can just tell people how I'm struggling with miscarriage. It's an awful experience. I now get to SLOWLY go back to my fitness loss plan, which I had abandoned right after my last post when I found out I was prego.
That same week my brother Alex went to the temple and took out his endowment and myself and Casey and a bunch of family were able to go. That night we went to an adult session of Stake Conference and got to hear Elder Christofferson speak. I wish I could say I felt so uplifted that my problems melted away, but while a few things stuck with me that I've pondered over the weeks, I mostly felt drawn into a dark chasm. Now I'm trying to rebound, which is why I'm typing this, I guess.
Christmas is a stressful time and Marina is going to have a baby next week. I am trying to figure out why it is we wanted to have a baby at Christmastime, too. Now it seems a crazy idea, but maybe next year? ha ha
I guess I should say something about the kids. Leonora is at her cute age but she is getting to comfortable with her use of the word "No" and likes to scream at her brother.
Riis is hilarious. He was watching a picture movie from 2005 the other day and was bawling his head off saying he wanted to be a baby again because he was happy then and it was fun. A little irony there.
Evelyn is my only child who seems to want my approval. She is quiet and always asks if she is "being the best kid." Maybe there's some competetiveness and sibling rivalry in there, too.
Lily is as lively and vivacious as every and some days I feel like she is taking years off my life. She has an amazing ability to share and teach and take care of young ones but she is obsessed with play. If I leave the room even during her most studious moments of schoolwork, I am sure to return a moment later and find her upsidedown or nowhere near her work. She is the life of our house, though and she sets the pace. She is often up, dressed, hair done, bed made and waiting outside the door for Casey in the mornings when he gets up.
Oh, and I took the kids to the dentist again yesterday and the kids have still not ever gotten a single little cavity. Not feeding kids candy and sodas works, I guess, because other than ordering them to brush, I rarely oversee it getting done. Yay!!!
I was just working on a list of books I want to read during next year. I always have lists of books to read and adding to lists. This year I want to read WAY more youth and kid books. I've noticed that my influence is huge on Lily and her reading. She is way more interested in reading books I can give her an opinion about, and especially the ones I can say I've read and loved as a kid, especially the Wizard of Oz series and The Black Stallion series, just to name a few. We have a good trust going about that. IF I say I don't know if it's a good books she immediately hesitates to read it.
We had a nice trip to Georgia and did a lot of fun things with the kids, although I regret not shelling out the money and going to the art museums. A few days after I got back I had a miscarriage in my 11-12th week of pregnancy. Luckily I hadn't told anyone, or the kids, I was pregnant. Now I can just tell people how I'm struggling with miscarriage. It's an awful experience. I now get to SLOWLY go back to my fitness loss plan, which I had abandoned right after my last post when I found out I was prego.
That same week my brother Alex went to the temple and took out his endowment and myself and Casey and a bunch of family were able to go. That night we went to an adult session of Stake Conference and got to hear Elder Christofferson speak. I wish I could say I felt so uplifted that my problems melted away, but while a few things stuck with me that I've pondered over the weeks, I mostly felt drawn into a dark chasm. Now I'm trying to rebound, which is why I'm typing this, I guess.
Christmas is a stressful time and Marina is going to have a baby next week. I am trying to figure out why it is we wanted to have a baby at Christmastime, too. Now it seems a crazy idea, but maybe next year? ha ha
I guess I should say something about the kids. Leonora is at her cute age but she is getting to comfortable with her use of the word "No" and likes to scream at her brother.
Riis is hilarious. He was watching a picture movie from 2005 the other day and was bawling his head off saying he wanted to be a baby again because he was happy then and it was fun. A little irony there.
Evelyn is my only child who seems to want my approval. She is quiet and always asks if she is "being the best kid." Maybe there's some competetiveness and sibling rivalry in there, too.
Lily is as lively and vivacious as every and some days I feel like she is taking years off my life. She has an amazing ability to share and teach and take care of young ones but she is obsessed with play. If I leave the room even during her most studious moments of schoolwork, I am sure to return a moment later and find her upsidedown or nowhere near her work. She is the life of our house, though and she sets the pace. She is often up, dressed, hair done, bed made and waiting outside the door for Casey in the mornings when he gets up.
Oh, and I took the kids to the dentist again yesterday and the kids have still not ever gotten a single little cavity. Not feeding kids candy and sodas works, I guess, because other than ordering them to brush, I rarely oversee it getting done. Yay!!!
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Improvement Please?
Do you remember me telling you about my weird neighbors and how their house got broken into ten times (that we know of)? This was around the time Leonora was born two years ago. Well the house was finally sold at auction. The previous owners were M.I.A.. I know that the police were looking for her on a cruelty to animals charge (thanks to yours truly :)) but not even their lawyer can find them. Did you know they are multi-millionaires because of a lawsuit settlement? And hoarders.
The new owner has begun fixing up the house and he is currently working on filling to the brim the third dumpster of stuff left in the house. He said that there was so much stuff in the house he couldn't even walk through it. I am not sure what to think. It was almost nice having a vacant house next door. Sometime in the future there will be renters living there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've done some things for myself lately, and I'm trying not to tell myself I'm being like my mother. I wish I really could believe that.
Evelyn has been taking violin lessons for about a year now. She is doing fine. I have always wanted to play better than I do (which is barely) so I started taking lessons, too. It's amazing to see myself progress. It's a more noticeable progression than almost anything else in my life so, even though it's frustrating work sometimes, it is satisfying.
I mentioned in a previous post that I started a book group. I read whenever I can but its good to feel challenged to read something more difficult. That's been the goal: to choose challenging books. But we're not reading the ultra challenging. I don't think Ulysses would be appropriate for our group, but still, we're not picking Mockingjay either.
I've never tried to lose weight before. Not really. I've never been on a "diet" but I put myself on a strict diet. I've been eating about 1000 calories a day and exercising. It's not 1000 cal of twinkies so don't be alarmed. I actually eat really well and only feel more hungry when I exercise more. Sometimes I get exercise 3 times a day. Part of the reason for my motivation is age, but mostly it's vanity. I have tummy fat and I need to get rid of it. Another reason is that It's been six months now that Casey and I have been trying to get pregnant again with no luck. We've never had this issue before and I'm starting to get alarmed. I guess I figure that if I get healthier I'll have a better chance. Maybe?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AS far as school with the kids goes, it is going well. WE are still struggling with science, at least the doing experiments part. At least we take nature walks, right? We read plenty. Since school has begun Lily has finished reading The Children's Bible (from the 1800s), another Black Stallion book and another Wizard of Oz book, along with the numerous other picture books and science and history books from the library she likes to read. I have finished reading the fifth Little HOuse book to the kids. We haven't gotten behind on anything. Evelyn has finished 1st grade math and is close to finishing first grade language. We've done about 25 days of school so far. Riis is reading a lot better and doing first grade math. The best thing of all is that we found a French teacher. She comes to our house once a week with her granddaughter and teaches the girls (and me) French for an hour. It's been wonderful and the girls love it. Lily has also started taking piano lessons.
The new owner has begun fixing up the house and he is currently working on filling to the brim the third dumpster of stuff left in the house. He said that there was so much stuff in the house he couldn't even walk through it. I am not sure what to think. It was almost nice having a vacant house next door. Sometime in the future there will be renters living there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've done some things for myself lately, and I'm trying not to tell myself I'm being like my mother. I wish I really could believe that.
Evelyn has been taking violin lessons for about a year now. She is doing fine. I have always wanted to play better than I do (which is barely) so I started taking lessons, too. It's amazing to see myself progress. It's a more noticeable progression than almost anything else in my life so, even though it's frustrating work sometimes, it is satisfying.
I mentioned in a previous post that I started a book group. I read whenever I can but its good to feel challenged to read something more difficult. That's been the goal: to choose challenging books. But we're not reading the ultra challenging. I don't think Ulysses would be appropriate for our group, but still, we're not picking Mockingjay either.
I've never tried to lose weight before. Not really. I've never been on a "diet" but I put myself on a strict diet. I've been eating about 1000 calories a day and exercising. It's not 1000 cal of twinkies so don't be alarmed. I actually eat really well and only feel more hungry when I exercise more. Sometimes I get exercise 3 times a day. Part of the reason for my motivation is age, but mostly it's vanity. I have tummy fat and I need to get rid of it. Another reason is that It's been six months now that Casey and I have been trying to get pregnant again with no luck. We've never had this issue before and I'm starting to get alarmed. I guess I figure that if I get healthier I'll have a better chance. Maybe?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AS far as school with the kids goes, it is going well. WE are still struggling with science, at least the doing experiments part. At least we take nature walks, right? We read plenty. Since school has begun Lily has finished reading The Children's Bible (from the 1800s), another Black Stallion book and another Wizard of Oz book, along with the numerous other picture books and science and history books from the library she likes to read. I have finished reading the fifth Little HOuse book to the kids. We haven't gotten behind on anything. Evelyn has finished 1st grade math and is close to finishing first grade language. We've done about 25 days of school so far. Riis is reading a lot better and doing first grade math. The best thing of all is that we found a French teacher. She comes to our house once a week with her granddaughter and teaches the girls (and me) French for an hour. It's been wonderful and the girls love it. Lily has also started taking piano lessons.
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