Honey Crisp Apples

Last year Aaron discovered Honey Crisp Apples.  They are easily my favorite apple...super crisp and juicy....never mushy and they are sweet, but not too sweet.  They are back in the grocery stores and I couldn't be happier....

Who needs Cable?

We don't have cable.  We do have Netflix and we recently signed up to try Huluplus.  I like Netflix because of the whole no commercial thing and being able to watch episodes of my favorite shows anytime I want to (which is usually late at night before I go to work and after kids are in bed).  But, Netflix doesn't have recent episodes and some of the movie choices are pretty lame.  So, now we have Huluplus.  I don't like the commercials and it seems that it has a hard time loading sometimes...maybe our internet isn't fast enough?  But I have discovered some fun shows...some of my favs are (some are on netflix and some are on hulu and some are on both).  I LOVE to watch Bones, Grimm, Warehouse 13, Once Upon a Time, The Office, and Modern Family.  I also LOVE Downton Abbey....I like watching the real forensic type documentaries.  I think if I could go back in time I might like to go into forensic type work of some kind...it's truly fascinating to me. Anyway, I love being able to stream in what I want to watch, when I want to watch it.  I can't even tell you the last time I watched the news...I have an app for that :-)  What would we do without technology?  I may have to watch Revolution to find out.
 What are some of your favorites shows?  (If anyone still reads my blog :)

Some Stuff

*We are gearing up for the opening night of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.  If you live in the Licoln area and would like some good inexpensive entertainment come to North Star Oct 4-5 at 7pm or Oct 6th at 230pm.  This will be the first year I don't have a kid onstage!  Megan is the assistant stage manager and Matthew is doing tech.  I know so many of the kids and there are many new ones too....so I'm looking forward to it.  I know both of my kids have had a great time preparing and the set is looking AMAZING!

*My life has been consumed with organizing all the meals the parents are serving the kids each night as they have late rehearsals.  We fed them for the first night last night and now just 8 to go.  Although I love being involved I do stress out about it....SURPRISE!  I always think "I should of taken some time off work for this" and once again, I'm thinking that...

*Aaron is busy with work and his calling at church.  He is now a High Priest and is one of the assistants to the High Priest Group Leader.  I have done my duty by pointing out that he is now officially old, believe me, I take that job quite seriously.  (tee hee).   

* Josh is really liking being in college and he is quite sure that he knows everything now.  He doesn't need to listen to his parents anymore.  I'm so glad we raised such a smart child. 

*Zack is taking a year off school and working full time.  He's still in Utah and I miss him so much.  He's working at Americas Best Contacts and Eyeglasses in Midvale.  So, if you need glasses go and visit him. 

*My house is the biggest mess and I just can't seem to keep up with it at all!  I'm having the hardest time right now with working....I just want to be a stay at home mom.  As far as work goes my job is interesting and I see things I never ever thought I'd see (working as a registrar in the ER overnight).  Sometimes it's funny and sometimes it's sad, sometimes it's boring and sometimes I'm in panic mode for hours.  But my heart belongs at home with my family.  I know I'm not the best mom I can be when I'm working and I have much guilt over that. 

*We recently introduced Hannah and Joe to one of our favorite movies, RAT RACE.  We all LOVE that movie!!  Hannah told me all about the guy with the marble stuck to his tongue and how he found a girl who had a marble stuck to her tongue too.  I love the innocence and let her think they were marbles and not piercings.  I had a complete hysterical (lack of sleep) laughing attack when Joe told me about the scene where the guy tells the bus driver about his wife having a baby.  (If you haven't seen RAT RACE, you should!). 

*I'm planning a trip to Utah in March.  I will be bringing Josh and his girlfriend Tori with me and hopefully bringing Zack back to stay with us in Nebraska for a few days.  I'm looking forward to it!  

Well, there's an update to what we've been up to lately.  I was reading through my blog the other day and I'm so glad I have so much "written" down.  I've been slacking in my blogging lately and reading past entries made me want to do better!

Latest Conversations

The missionaries were over for dinner and were about to leave after they gave us a spiritual thought.....
Joe:   (to the missionaries) Can you keep a secret?
Me:  (thinking in my head)....NOOOOOO!
Joe:  My talent is wetting the bed.
Where does he get this stuff????

Hannah is LOVING the Harry Potter movies and watches them often (we have all of them).  She was watching the last one the other night....

Hannah:  (after a big sigh).... Joe, we are muggles.....I know alot about muggles because I am one.
about 45 min later....
Hannah: Mom, I'm really a wizard (said with a dead serious face) and when I turn 11 I'm going to Hogwarts
Me:  You know Harry Potter is just pretend right?
Hannah: (just a glare...no words).

Whipped?

Tonight Josh told me he was leaving out the door because Tori called and wanted him to go to a zumba class with her.  Tori is his girlfriend.  I laughed right out loud and begged him to let me come to watch!  I would seriously pay money to see Josh in a zumba class!  I called Zack later and told him about it and he said "that boy is whipped."  I think he's just sweet....what do you think?

The first day of school

The first day of school went off without a hitch.  Everyone was up and ready and smiling.....I wonder how long this can last?  Joe is in 3rd grade and Hannah is in 1st.  Matthew started high school, he's in 9th grade.  Megan actually started school the day after this one but went to school to help with freshman day and is now in 11th grade.  I had a lovely first day of school.......I was finally able to wake Josh at around 945.  Josh starts college next week.  Anyway, we ran some errands and then went to lunch.  I had a coupon for a free meal at Noodles :)  It was nice spending that time with him...he's growing up.  All in all it was a wonderful first day of school.

ahhhh look how loving......remember, looks can be deceiving.  

Matthew is actually smiling a cute smile and not some crazy face...it's a first day of school miracle.

Just waiting to go in her classroom.....funny little side note, the little girl standing in the picture was crying because she wanted her mom.  I have to say that NONE of my kids have cried or wanted me to stay with them on the first day of school....I don't know if this is a compliment to me or not.

He's ready for a new year.

Funniest Conversation of the morning:

Me: Get your backpack

Matthew: I don't need it, I have nothing to bring, it's the first day of school.

Me: You will get things to bring home, get your backpack!

Matthew: I will just get papers and I can put those in my pockets.

Megan:  The kids who fold up papers and put them in their pockets are the kids who fail.

Me: BACKPACK!!

some stuff

*I took three days off from work.  I'm feeling majorly burned out at work.  There is a lot of contention going on there and although a lot of it doesn't affect me directly it's still taking it's toll.  I feel so badly for my coworkers who are having to deal with the fall out of just a couple workers who refuse to do their jobs.  I feel frustrated that our boss does nothing to remedy this situation.  It really makes it so much harder to have to work...in my heart of hearts I want to be a stay at home mom and feel like working is ruining my mothering.  I don't know how to fix this.

*We've had three birthdays in the last while.  Matthew turned 14, Josh turned 18 and I turned 43.  I only took pictures of Matthew...I have slacked miserably in the picture department lately....I need to make a commitment to be better with that!  

*My nephew Zane stayed with us for over a month.  We always love having him and are so sad when it's time for him to go home.  I feel bad that we don't have the money to do more things when he's here....but my sister assures me that he has a good time anyway.

*School starts tomorrow.....although I like the freedom of having the kids home for the summer I know they are all ready to go back.  Josh starts college next week.  Megan is a junior now and Matthew is a freshman and will start high school!  Here's a very cool thing I learned yesterday.  They will be doing an early morning Seminary class at my kids high school!!  This is the best news!!  Aaron (because I'm at work) has to take them to the church, pick them up from the church and then take them to school...now he can just get up and take them to the school and be done with it, it's a huge load off him in the mornings....plus, it's easier for the kids too. Seminary for us starts at 6am.  Both Megan and Matthew have early morning classes so this works out so well for them.  Joe will start third grade and Hannah will start 1st grade.  They both got teachers they wanted.  Joe will have his second grade teacher as she moved up to 3rd and Hannah will have the same teacher Joe had for first grade...they are both thrilled and so am I.  

*I still struggle to make Nebraska my home.  I miss my family and friends so much and I miss my old life.  I need to move forward now that it's been 4 1/2 years.  I know in my heart that going back wont' fix my problems...in so many ways my life has just not turned out as I hoped it would....I'm struggling to get over that and be thankful for what I do have.  But, I'm trying....

For your viewing pleasure!

I found this picture the other day and could not stop laughing!  This was taken on a ride at Disneylands California Adventure....Megan and Matthew were so scared and just as I laugh looking at this picture, I was laughing when I was taking it too....I am an evil mother.

Some words about medicating children

Joe has been doing so well..so much better than last year...I'm so pleased and I know he's feeling so much better and is so much happier!!  It's truly amazing, he is a different boy.  So much of this is due to FINALLY figuring out the real issue for him...a change in medication and BAM!!  He is fun to be around and truly able to enjoy his life!  I am one who thought ADD and ADHD were so overly diagnosed and never thought I would approve MY children being on medication.  Well, I think sometimes Life likes to play tricks on people....giving them the challenges they are the most judgmental about.  Matthew was diagnosed with ADHD when he was in second grade.  He was on medication until Jr High.  For him the benifits outweighed the side affects...though we realized the terrible temper tantrums and his sudden anger were probably due to the medication...wish I'd have been smart enough to realize that!  But medication for him meant he could actually do his school work, without it he would daydream the day away and get absolutely NOTHING done.  Well, lucky for him (and for us) we stopped medication during the summer before Jr High and he was so much more happy and so much less apt to "lose it".  We decided to try school without it.  He struggles, especially with homework, but, he manages.  After having the first three do so well in school it's hard for me to see those C's and even D's a couple times on the report card but...his happiness is worth it.  Now Joe....he was also diagnosed with ADHD and with ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) in kindergarten.  That first year of school was seriously one of the most stressful times for me.  I really felt like a failure...my son could not sit with the other kids and was constantly in trouble.  The principal even threatened to suspend him (kindergarten!!).  He would get so violent and would be so angry ALL the time at school.  We went to counseling where I would basically feel that the counselor was trying to teach me how to parent...again feelings of failure.  In first grade we moved to a new school.  It was the greatest year...this school is so much more equiped to work with kids with behavior issues.  It was a better year all around.  2nd grade was a nightmare year.  Joe was back to being in trouble ALL the time.....but this time I felt the school was trying  hard to HELP him learn to cope and learn better reactions.  But, it was still so hard.....then we had a break through with our psychiatrist!!  I was explaining to him that the things that would set Joe off into a raging HULK anger outburst were mostly when other kids were not doing the things Joe thought they ought to do...if they were not where they were supposed to be, if they were not following the rules, if they were doing anything at all he found out of "order" he would have a complete break down....He was constantly upset with others, so you can see how being in a classroom of 7-8 year olds could be very hard for him.  I could actually SEE something click in Dr Bob's head....he said "so many times kids are diagnosed with ADHD, but that may not be the problem at all".  He told me he thought Joe suffered from OCD and Anxiety issues....we changed his medication and it literally was overnight!!  He is not "cured" but he is happy more than he is not when it used to be the other way around.  He is learning to cope with his "need" to find order where there sometimes is none.  It's interesting how I can now see some of these issues of his now that his anger is controled......like the time Hannah was wearing a dress she usually wears to church and he could not get past the fact that it was a church dress and we were not going to church.  I ask him if this really affects him in anyway and he can sit back and think and realize it's going to be okay if she wears a "church" dress on a weekday.  I've ended up going on and on and on here but it's been on my mind so much......and then tonight at a Relief Society meeting one of the older sisters in our Ward (church) came up to me and said " I saw your cute little redheaded son the other day at the childrens museum".  She told me how he came up to her and said "hey, I know you!  You go to my church!".  She told me how she asked him if he was there with his family and he told her he was there with his daycare.  She then said "He gave me a big hug!  It made my entire week and made me feel so good!!!  I just wanted you to know that."  My heart felt so full of love for that boy!!  It's those times, those moments, when I think "he's going to be okay!"

Conversations

Joe:  Do I have a double chin?

Me: Nope

Joe: Oh good, I don't want a double chin.

Me:  Do I have a double chin?

Joe: (while looking very carefully at my face) Yep!