Day 26

Am almost there... one more day. Yeah right. That just means I have to keep going with the blog. Anyway here I sit waiting for a prospective tenant to come view the house. Even though we aren't selling we might as well be as we have to tidy up the house every single day in preparation. I'm already fed up with it. The kids are being really helpful though and not creating such a fuss about tidying up. There is definitely an advantage to it I guess. Doubt it will continue after we have a signed contract. Oh well.

Mum is coming in tomorrow. Morgan runs around the house chanting, "2 more days till Oma comes, 1 more day till Oma comes." She is very excited about it. She's now sleeping in Owen's room in preparation for the visit. Like royalty. Ha!

Anyway mum, if you get a chance to read this have a good flight tomorrow. We'll see you at the airport.

Okay gotta run, have a list a mile long of stuff I need to sort out.

Ta

Day 25

I'm slowing creaking to my 27 day habit.... I finding the momentum of writing everyday slowing but that could very well be due to lack of time with everything that has been going on. What a weekend. We said goodbye to our last sleepover guest at 1000am this morning. The kids had a wild and crazy time, starting the party with playstation while we waited for everyone to arrive and then we progressed to a treasure hunt of stuff Darren had picked up really inexpensively in teaming downtown Los Angeles. Well as teaming as anything would be at 6am on a Saturday morning, he still managed to find some great stuff especially the most coverted Pokemon trading cards that are so ridiculously expensive at Target and so amazingly inexpensive in, yes the teaming, downtown toy district. Maps were courtesy of my friend Lauren who came by to help me design a map of our back yard only to end up doing the whole thing. They are pretty cool We printed them on parchment paper and then singhed the edges of the paper for added effect. I digress. After the kids played, traded and generally horsed around in the back yard, I put in an order for the ever favorite, pizza. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, the pizza joint got our pizza wrong and we ended up with an additional pie.. lots of pizza leftovers. The kids were so stuffed with pizza, they decided they wanted to watch a Star Wars movie. 1/3 of the way through and popcorn devoured, they got bored and presents were opened and to the delight of Owen more Lego.... (I guess at 8 you can never have enough Lego) and pokemon trading cards, the boys spread their wares on the floor to admire just how many Pokemon cards they all had. Then some crazy trading started... although Owen decided he wanted his cards for a few days before he as ready to trade. We tried to do the birthday cake, but they were all too stuffed. (That is except for Morgan, who always has room for cake.)

Around 8.30pm, I managed to get the kids all into pajamas and teeth brushed and beds made (3 mattresses on the floor with sleeping bags sufficed for the 4 boys) and they launched into a raucous, rambunctious all out pillow fight. They had such a good time I didn't have the heart to break it up for a good 30 minutes. (My main concern was that someone would get hurt, but they set their own rules and everything seemed just fine). At 9.10pm it was lights out and I think they were all asleep by the latest 9.45pm.

I was so exhausted I fell asleep around 10pm myself, which is unheard of, but definitely necessary. And of course, they were all up again at 6am this morning trying to keep quiet but busily trading their Pokemon cards.

Darren made them cinnamon rolls with bacon and we then managed to clean the house around them in time for our prospective tenants to come view any minute now. I've got 3 couples due between 1130am and 1pm. After that Darren is going to take the kids to a movie while I have a kids scrapbooking class.

Busy busy busy..... and theres just more of the same next week....phew.! It's a wonder I ever get time to write this blog.

Day 24

Wow, this week seemed to have disappeared in a flash. Very busy week and having just listed the house for rent on Wednesday my phone has been ringing consisting with enquires. I have already shown it to one couple and have someone coming today at 1030am and someone tomorrow at 9.30am and then on Sunday at 1130am. It hasn't deterred many that we aren't actually renting the house until August. It's been a little upsetting for the kids. Owen got so freaked out yesterday afternoon that he hid under the bed and started to cry. He claims it was because he thought he'd get into trouble for putting Morgan's socks in the freezer. (Which I thought was actually quite funny!) I have know idea why he did that, but he thought better of it and took them out again before I found them in there.

Still it's all part of this long drawn out process of our move. This is like a slow torture, knowing you have to do something you're not really sure you want to do but are going to do anyway and instead of just ripping of the bandaid we're easing into it. I really don't know if this is preferable or not. I think now that we have started showing the house though, the reality is starting to sink in for the kids.

On a whole other note, I finally signed Morgan up for Gymnastics starting April 16th, and she is just thrilled. It's a 10 week session and it will take her through till June. I also got them signed up for Summer enrichment classes through the school.. Morgan will do Musical Theatre (perfect for her) and then a knitting and crochet class and Owen will do a Drawing and painting class, cooking class and Pirateology (sp?) They are very excited about it and I think will have a really good time. I am so relieved because I was panicking about what to do about summer camp and this fall within our budget and keeps them busy every morning for 5 weeks after school is out. I will be able to finish packing and getting ready for the move.

Anyway now I have to go back to the school to take pictures of the 2nd Graders so I'll say hasta la vista. Oh and btb (by the by) I got my check.

Later gater.

Day 23

I cannot believe it has almost been a week since my last blog... what a week it has been. With the Teacher Appreciation gifts in full swing of creation, I realized that I needed to create something for Owen's teacher too, so I was up until 12.30am last night working on it and then couldn't fall asleep for what seemed like hours; then up again at 7.30am. Had to work in the kindergarten class this morning to finish up the components of the gift. Racing here and there to get supplies for classes this coming week. Plus it's Owen's birthday in less than 10 days and I still haven't got him a birthday present yet.... Need to get on that. Not to mention I still need to write his birthday letter.

This weekend is his birthday sleepover with Jacob Dietle, Jakob Liker and Jeremiah Coffman so that should be fun. Sunday I have a class and on Wednesday, Mum arrives. I'll have one day to actually clean the house before she arrives.

I do have something really sweet to report, last Thursday we went on a nature walk for Morgan's homework and she found a green coin which she swears up and down was Leprecaun gold. Owen got so excited about the prospect of finding his own Leprecaun gold that he and Morgan went home and teamed up to create Leprecaun food so the Leprecaun would leave Owen some gold too. Of course, where on earth was I to find Leprecaun gold at 5.30pm on a Thursday evening. Thank god for arty friends. Lauren totally came through for me and Darren picked up the "money" on his way home. The kids were thrilled the next morning to find the dropped gold....It was the first time in a week that Owen actually was nice to anyone. And he's been pretty nice ever since. Still the week is young...

No pictures for the moment. I don't have time to upload anything for the time being but will get back on that soon.
Hasta.

Day 22

Today is not a good day... I feel like these 12.30pm pickups are just a bane to my life right now. I don't feel like I'm accomplishing anything in the same window of time I have with the kids in school. To top that off my plate is just too full right now. I guess I'm in my blue phase right now. Not to mention that Owen is being such a pain in my rear right now. I can't wait for his birthday to be over. He is not a very nice person right now and am not too sure how to handle him... He makes it very hard to be responsive to him in a positive way. I just spend my days right now trying to get him to either do his homework, piano or chores in anyway without argument and he's only 7 for goodness sake. Some where along the line I have definitely lost my thread with him.

It's such a drag... well I'm going to stop as this is a very depressing blog today. Look for the next installment to be a bit more positive from my end.

Day 21

Is it just me, or do you find that the days sometimes just get away from you with having to just run your day to day life? This week in particular feels like it's free spinning out of control at such an alarming rate that I feel I'll be hundred by the end of the week. Okay maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration (Sp!) but still I don't feel like I've got anything done today, between racing to pick up Morgan at 11.35am and then Owen at 12.30 and then going back to the school again at 1.30pm for Parent Teacher conferences for both kids and the kids homework, (that needs to be supervised), piano and singing lessons and now it's already 5.20pm and I have to get dinner started. Where did the day go?????

I have to prep for a class tomorrow, we're supposed to celebrate Ann's birthday tomorrow at sometime, (I still haven't purchased her gift yet), then Winston's coming for dinner tomorrow night and the kids still are out of school at 12.30pm all week!!!! Yikes. I also need to get back to the school to take photos for the teacher appreciation projects potentially for both classes..........

I'm exhausted just thinking about it... I'll be glad when this week is finally done. Not that next week won't be any more crowded with stuff to do.
Well got to dash and finish up the rest of the days. Photos to follow....

Day 20

Okay is it just me or does anyone else have to suffer their children's birthday blues. I swear this happens every year around the kid's birthdays when they turn into little monsters.... Owen is a horror right now. Argues with you at every turn. Yells at everyone and speaks to them in such a mean tone of voice... and his birthday is still 3 weeks away.

Today was exceptionally warm. Darren took the kids to the park with friends to ride their bikes while I took a trip out to a Scrapbook store with Liz to pick out paper for some teacher appreciation gifts we're making for the Kindergarten teachers. (picture coming) they are very cute, and fun to make.

The Feldmans came over for dinner this evening and Darren made steak and risotto for dinner, very yummy, of course I didn't really eat that much because I got to hold baby Sophia during dinner so that Brad & Chrissy could eat in peace. Sophia didn't really want to sit down on her own or with me, she liked it better when I was standing and rocking her back and forth as the evening breeze (what little there was of it) wafted over her little bald head. She quite the talker too.. gurgling and commenting in her baby way, meanwhile miss Ava is quite the spitfire and gets somewhat mad when she doesn't get things her way. Her speech is improving but still a little hard to understand but boy she certainly can let her feelings be known. Olivia is just Olivia doing her own thing, playing with Morgan & Owen. We did get a surprise visitor in the form of Ann, who is home from college on Spring Break. Morgan just wouldn't leave her own, declaring to all around that this was "My Ann" and not letting go of her the whole time she was here which was close to 2 hours. Of course, Morgan had to compete with Olivia, Owen and Ava for Ann's attention, but they were so pleased as punch that she dropped by. If you can believe it Ann is now 21 years old. I remember her as a shy 15 year old helping me out with Owen when I was pregnant with Morgan. It's incredible how quickly that time seems to have evaporated, like the grains of sand slipping through your fingers. A blink in time if you will..Ahh enough of me being poetic... later.

Day 19

Yesterday seems like a blur right now. Owen's dinner date with Winston was cancelled and rescheduled but now I remember what happened. It was the first day of Mad Science enrichment class for Owen after school and he (I think misunderstood me or just didn't listen - I know which one I think it is) and got very upset when I didn't show up to sign him in, thinking I'd forgotten him. So when I picked him up after class he informed me that he hated me and wished I were dead. Not exactly something I was very happy to hear. ... I know these words were the direct result of one of his friends from school encouraging thoughts like that. He was acting with bravado when he annouced this in front of all his friends. The trouble was that after I had worked in his class, he went to lunch and I told him that I would be back AFTER Mad Science to pick him up and I'm pretty sure he heard what he wanted to hear....

I had gone for lunch with Chrissy and Sophia who were unable to go home because their house was being sand blasted getting ready for painting. They also came back and hung out with us with Olivia for the rest of the afternoon. Then in the evening I took the kids to see "Father's Follies" at the middle school which was actually pretty good. I guess the dads from the middle school put on a performance type talent show of their own every year. But some of the acts were really very good and quite funny. My personal favorite was of the two singing dads pretending to be from "Fiddler on the Roof" singing a rendition of "My teenage children" ending each verse with "Oiy Vey" It was very appropo and funny and something I'm sure I have to look forward to when M & O become teenagers.

Today was opening day for baseball and Owen also had picture day and had to be at the field at 7.40am to meet his team. Then Opening Ceremonies at 8.30am followed by a 10am game. His team rocked. We have some serious hitters on the team, including Owen. Their fielding wasn't bad either. It started off quite chilly this morning and soon turned into a blazing hot day as the sun beat down on these black clad 8 year olds. Still they played extraordinarily well and seem to coordinate pretty well on the field as well.

Owen and Jacob decided they needed a playdate and Darren headed to McDonalds to get them lunch. I can't eat that stuff so I stopped by the store to pick up a couple rolls for lunch.

Right now the boys are playing lego star wars and having trouble killing their bad guys.... I don't have a clue how you play that game, all you hear are shooting and groaning noises coming from the TV and a running commentary from the boys as to how or what to shoot. Did we sound like that as kids...? probably!

Well that's it..more later

Day 18

Well the last 24 hours have indeed been incredibly interesting and exciting. Some of you already know about my little surprise yesterday morning, but without going into too much detail I ended up, unbeknownst to me, a little better off than I did when I got up that morning. Not something I feel like I should share on the blog just yet. Huh... I've whet your appetite, all you non-informed. Speak to Pap or Mum. They will fill you in. All I can say is it couldn't have come at a better time.

Going back to Tuesday however, not such a fantastic day, somewhat mundane. The Moving guy came and did a walk through the house and after an hour or so of writing down every box and every piece of furniture and equipment he estimated we had over 18,000 lbs of stuff. EIGHTEEN THOUSAND POUNDS!!!! Well you can imagine my horror when we sat down and went through the numbers. I thought I'd been generous in gestimating 15,000 lbs. So needless to say a lot of stuff that was in the "think we might one day need" pile will not be coming with us. I'd like to think we can reduce our weight by 3000lbs at least.

Afternoon was filled with piano/singing lessons and homework. Darren got home late so it was a okay sort of day.

Yesterday now that's a whole other story. To start off, my wedding ring was stuck on my right hand (I'd moved it after the accident) and it was starting to make my finger swell up and become painful. So after soaking the finger in ice water and try to lubricate the ring, nothing working I decided to go online and see if there was a magic trick to removing a stuck ring. Let me tell you there is.. and it works!! Really well! So the trick is that you slide a piece of string/ dental floss/ yarn under the ring and then wind the remaining string/dental floss / yarn around your finger and over the knuckle, binding the finger and squishing down the puffiness. You then start to unravel the string from the opposite side of the ring and that pushes the ring up and over the knuckle and hey presto! the ring comes off. I was so thrilled because I thought I was going to have to have the ring cut off. And the best part, it doesn't hurt.

Yesterday afternoon, Owen had his friend Chase come over for a playdate and Morgan went to the park with Gracie. In the evening Lisa and Jim had invited us to go to the Pac-10 tournament (College Basketball for you uninformed) In all honesty as much fun as it was, you have to pay attention all the time and can't relax and talk or you miss everything. As a result, Lisa, her friend Connie and I ended up eating, talking and drinking most of the time and didn't really see that much of the game. Oregon State was slaughtered by Cal State and as I thought it appropriate to root for Oregon State, was somewhat disappointed by the defeat. We left 30 mins into the second game between Washington & Arizona State.

Today, Morgan got to go on a field trip to In-and-Out Burger, which was a lot of fun for them and they got to eat free food and drink all the different sodas and milkshakes. She also has two friends over as a playdate. It's not as easy as one on one because there is always someone who can't agree and I've had to monitor them a little closer than I would usually. Right now they are out on the deck eating apple sauce as a snack and they are singing to each other. Very sweet.

This afternoon, Morgan has her art class and hopefully we will actually get this week...

More on this later.

Day 17

Well yesterday was actually a really nice day. I got my car into the shop. The other driver's insurance have admitted total liability and are taking care of getting my car fixed. I got a great sedan car - Hyundai Sonata which is a sweet ride complete with XM radio, thank you very much, in a pretty metallic silver blue and to top it off the police department now are computerized and have given me a parking permit (temporary) to cover the car based on the fact that my car is in the shop so I didn't have to pay for one.

It was a beautiful day yesterday and after we got all this sorted out I took the kids to the Souplantation for lunch. They love going there and it's reasonably good food. A chain that is an all you can eat buffet type place which sells soups (duH!) and salads plus pasta and a bakery bar and it's quick and easy. After a quick stop at Target for Jacob's birthday present we head home to drop off the car and then off to the park. That's what the kids chose to do. We took a frisbee, and my camera and off we went. The kids are actually pretty good with the frisbee and before long the camera and shoes were on the ground and we all joined in a three way frisbee game. Morgan has a really odd way of throwing the frisbee but she always throws it straight and Owen is getting pretty accurate too. Not so much me, although I did manage to catch a few of the ones the kids sent flying my way much to my surprise.

After a quick water break where we ended up having a bit of a water fight, Owen squirted me and I spat water at him and we all had a really good laugh, we walked over to the playground and the kids climbed the tree in the middle. Owen got up on his own, Morgan needed a little bit of a lift. They decided they really wanted more water play so we headed home and they got into their bathing suits and proceeded to use the hoses to spray each other. It was very

funny to watch. (See photos)

After an early supper it was off to baseball practice and the coach told Lisa to just have Jacob play on the team and so we now officially have him on the team... Darren even made it to practice. Which really made Owen very happy.
So a good day all in all.

Well got to get in the shower before the guy from United Moving co. turns up to give us an estimate. Busy day today.

Day 16

Okay did anyone else notice this that next weekend the clocks will be going back one hour in the US. When did this happen. I must have been asleep... because I could've sworn it was always later.. anyway you Euros when you call remember until the last week of March we will be 9 hours ahead of you.

Anyway, aside from all that the moon party was really fun for the kids, but I wasn't in the greatest of moods, I got over it after I ate dinner though. It looked to me as if the whole of kindergarten and their families showed up. Lots of telescopes. The highlight of the evening for me was getting to see Jupiter through one of the telescopes. Although I have to say it did look like someone had stuck a tiny picture of Jupiter to the end of the lens. Didn't look real at all. The moon, however was spectacular.

Food would've been good if it hadn't been cold by the time we got to eat it. Kids particularly enjoyed the moon pies... I think Morgan enjoyed the band that played all manner of moon songs including Blue Moon Rising and other oldies relating to the moon.

Owen disappeared onto the play structure for most of the evening so we didn't see much of him.

Yesterday I managed to go out for a little while with Morgan to get supplies for a page layout I'm prepping for a class. The page turned out great but the expedition was somewhat disappointing in as far as the choice of paper wasn't there... but I managed to make do. It turns out I won't be giving a class this Wednesday as my regular client is double booked and I didn't think I'd get my stuff sorted in time. In the afternoon the kids practiced baseball with Darren. It was fun to watch through the camera lens but everytime Owen or Morgan hit the ball I thought it was coming right at me as everything appeared a lot closer looking through the lens, as anyone with a camera would tell you.

It's a shame Morgan didn't want to play this year, because she's actually very good, but it's too late now as we withdrew her name. Oh well...

Today while Darren took them to Chuck E Cheese.. my absolute least favorite place in the whole world, I gave a class to some kids. They got to create a "Things I Love" page. Both turned out really well. Chrissy hung around with Olivia and Madeline hung out on her own. It was a reasonably simple page to do but came out great. Lots of color. It was a page I did for both kids last year, and you can do it every year with the kids because the things they love changes almost daily.

Anyway I'm going to end now. The kids are off school AGAIN tomorrow for the teachers In Service day. I have to deal with getting my car into the shop to be repaired and getting a rental. I still haven't heard from the claims adjuster hopefully it will be earlier rather than later. Then I think I might take the kids to the movies or something. We'll see.

Okay that's it for today. Eleven days left for my habit to have been created.

Day 15

What a day yesterday turned out to be... on the way to taking Morgan to her art class I got broadsided by a GMC Sahari Van, which totally destroyed the drivers side door. It was quite traumatic, but thank god Morgan wasn't hurt and my knee is a little dinged up and achy. I think it just aggravated an old injury but we'll see within the next couple days if it gets any worse. So I spent the whole day on the phone with insurance guys. And get this the woman in the van who broadsided me claims she was stopped. Honestly how does she account for the damage to my car?... was my car driving sideways?... I was in an alley driving west and she came out of the parking lot and drove straight into me... This is precisely the reason I called the police out to take an accident report. Darren also came out to make sure we were okay. Of course now I don't have a car that I can drive until the adjustor comes out and we can take the car to the shop, then at least I'll have a rental car for the duration of the repairs. The State Farm Insurance guy was really nice though even though he was the other parties insurance guy, but he called me to ask me what happened.

Anyway we'll see how all this plays out in the next week or so. It's just a real drag especially as my knee really aches. My wrist stopped hurting now but I switched my watch, bracelet and wedding band to my right hand just in case.

Needless to say Morgan never made it to her art class this week. The bummer of that was that we were literally within walking distance when the accident happened. But they were kind enough to give her a credit for next week instead.

I must admit I was so tired after all the emotions that played out I feel asleep on the couch with the kids. I've felt tired all day today too... must be the stress.

Well aside from that tonight is Morgan's kindergarten class' Chinese Moon Party at the school, where they get to look at the moon through telescopes and have chinese food, and I guess all round fun. Should be interesting... it starts at 6pm and goes til 8pm. Late night again for the kids thank goodness no baseball tonight.

Day 14

Not a lot to report today, had a very successful class last night and will be doing a remembrance page next week. Am having coffee with my friend Lindy in about 15 mins so I'll make this very short and sweet. Well short anyway. And if you're wondering about the picture... well I just thought it's funny.!!!

Yesterday we visited our tax guy and I left feeling quite depressed by the whole thing. Darren is convinced we'll be getting a nice check back but I'm always such a skeptic (is that how you spell that word?) about these things. Even our accountant wasn't really happy about things seeing as how complicated everything was going to be.

We went out for dinner after that to Bob's Big Boy. What a big waste of time and money that was. Don't need to eat there again.. See Pap only talking about food a little this time. All that needs to be said is that the kids were fussy and the food was BAD! Not wasting anymore time on that.

Lisa came over earlier to work in the workshop and as she was leaving she told me how much she was going to miss me and a whole set of emotions just erupted in me. I can't think about this now without getting teary eyed over the whole thing. I think the catalyst for me was when I had to hand in the papers for school stating we were moving out of state for next years enrollment. It just made me cry. So we're not talking about this or I shall boo hoo from now until August.

Okay, need to go to get to the bank before I meet Lindy. More later, probably tomorrow.