A Day in the Life of

Jesse woke me up at 5:45 a.m. this morning. I was asleep in Hal's room and didn't hear my alarm clock go off. Jesse had to be at the airport early this morning to make a 7 a.m. departure. I decided I would push snooze and sleep a couple of extra minutes. I must have turned off my alarm clock, because I didn't wake up until ten to eight. Keyton's bus arrives at 7:56 a.m. Keyton ate breakfast in a hurry,while he was busy chowing down, I woke up Hal and Owen. I rushed everybody out the door and dropped Keyton off at school. Keyton was excited because he got to get a yellow slip that read "tardy". I haven't told Jesse any of this information yet. So this comment is for Jess....SURPRISE!

After I got back home from dropping Keyton off, I had to get to work on cleaning the house for a 1:30 p.m. showing. Hal had to be to school at noon. At five to 12 I looked at the clock and realized Hal hadn't had lunch yet. I hurried and made her a sand which, which she ate on the way to school. I then came back home and continued to tidy up until it was time to leave for the showing. I took Owen and Ruby (dog) with me to target. Owen and I got the groceries and as we were in the check out line, I looked at my phone to check the time, it was 2:26 pm, Hal's school is over at 2:30 p.m. I sped to Hal's school and picked her up. I came back home, and noticed that none of lights I had left on for the showing had been turned off. I was sorta pissed...a no show...really??? Awesome. Oh, and as I was busy being pissed about the no show, I walked into the bathroom to turn off the light, when I happened to catch a glimpse of my rear end in the bathroom mirror. Yes, my undies were sticking WAY out, and my shirt was tucked into them. It was then that I understood, I had walked around Target for an hour with my tighty whities hanging out of my pants.....with my SHIRT tucked into them. Note to self----- loose the granny panties.

I unloaded all of the Target bags into the mud room. I opened a box of cheerios so Hal and Owen could have a snack. As I was opening the bag (plastic bag inside cheerio box), the bag ripped, cheerios went flying all over my kitchen. As I was attempting to pick up the mess, Owen started to cry, ( he wanted a bottle) when I was in the middle of preparing him a bottle, I knocked over the can of formula; spilling it's contents all over the counter. During all of this chaos, Keyton walked in the front door ( he was at school) and demanded that I take him to Barnes and Noble. I was cleaning up the formula, Ruby (dog) was eating the cheerios off of the floor, and Keyton was hollering, "Barnes and Noble now!" when there was a knock at the door. I hurried over to the door, and there was a guy standing there with a clip board. I opened the door, he said, " My name is Matt, I am the realtor that is supposed to be showing this house today, we are running very late. Is it still okay if I show it?". I said, " Yes, yes it is." Matt then said, "It shouldn't take long. You could-- like go for a walk.". Well, it was raining outside, so I told Matt I would go for a drive instead. I shut the door on Matt's face, and I ran into the kitchen to clean up the massive mess we had managed to create in the 10 minutes that we had been home. I didn't however get a chance to unload any of the items I had purchased at Target, so they sat in the mud room during the showing.


This is the kind of stuff that happens to me when I don't get up in time to drink a pot of coffee. I will work on my time management skills, because apparently they are lacking.

A Minute to Myself

I just put Owen into bed. He is sleeping soundly, I think. Jesse took both Keyton and Hal to Keyton's baseball practice. I have a moment to myself! YIPPEE! So here I sit, when I have about 900 dishes in the sink.

Hal learned to ride her bike yesterday without training wheels. She is so proud of herself. I am proud of her to of course.

Hal is a funny child. I feel sorta bad for her, because she has some anxiety like I used to have. I used to be afraid of really silly things. For instance, I used to have a fear about losing my little brother Jacob. I mean--- I was terrified that he would disappear. The fear that I had, stemmed from a game of hide and go seek that went wrong. Jacob was probably around three-years-old. When it was Jake's turn to hide, he hid so good, that it took hours to find him. This experience traumatized me. From that moment on, I wouldn't let my brother out of my sight. Thankfully, as time went on, I got over my fear. Could you imagine if I would not have out grown this fear? Humorous really. FYI- I don't know where my brother is right now.

Hal is afraid that the ice machine in our fridge is going to start shooting out ice cubes and that's its never going to stop. She is afraid that our whole house is going to fill up with ice cubes. I sure as heck hope this is a fear that she too will out grow.

We show our house tomorrow afternoon, again. I can't wait, because I have got a feeling that it is going to sell. Yes I do. I have a feeling.

Owen is still crawling all over the place. He sort of slithers like a snake. He is like a sneaky little snake, that Owen is.

I have a lot I should be doing. I just know, I am going to hear the sound of the garage door opening any second, which means the troops are back. I better look somewhat busy, I suppose. Oh and Glee is on, which is fantastically strange.

Pillow Pets

A box arrived in the mail today for Keyton and Hal. They have been waiting and waiting for this delivery. Inside the box were two pillow pets. A hippopotamus for Hal ( which she named Hippie) and a panda bear for Keyton ( which he just decided to call dalmatian, because it is black and white). I have never seen my kids so excited about a present before. Immediately, when they saw the box sitting on the front steps, they jumped for joy and said, " It has to be our pillow pets!". Every other child in America may already have one of these stuffed, fluffy pillows, I don't know-- but it sure made my children's day. Thanks Grandma Cheryl. They are awfully cute and extremely soft.


Enough about pillows. Jesse and I were talking today, about how we have noticed that Keyton has started to talk a lot more than ever before. He talks and talks and talks and talks. Jesse asked me if this excessive talking is normal "I think so.",was my reply. Even when we are driving in our van, he sits in the very back and continues to talk, ignoring the fact that the music is drowning him out. Sometimes, I have to stop him after he has been telling me a story that details the events of his day, often because he has added fictitious items that make his day more exciting . Keyton, once told me that he missed the bus after school. He then had to run after the bus to catch it. He jumped on to the side of the bus and was holding on for dear life. Finally, a couple of children on the bus noticed he was hanging on to one of the windows. The bus driver stopped and let him in. After this particular story was done, I told Keyton I was going to have to call the school ( hanging on the bus is not safe) to make sure that an unfortunate event such as this never takes place again. He then told me I couldn't call the school, because all of the teachers and the other staff members had already left, as they all had to go to a wedding.


The house is still up for sale...surprise!

Just Be Done!

We did not hear anything again from the people who were supposedly interested in our house. I said I wasn't going to get my hopes up, but I lied. I did get my hopes up. I just want to be done with the showings and all that goes with this process. We have another showing tomorrow. I used to get excited about showings for some strange reason, but now I am like.....well not excited. I wish I could put a sign up that says, If you plan to actually take a look and you are not going to just walk in and out the door in a minute flat, than come on in, other wise stay the hell out! That's how I am feeling about this selling the house crap right now.

On a brighter or lighter note (which ever way that saying goes), my husband is home and I am as happy as a lark.

A boring post today I guess. I could have skipped blogging for a day...but I am enjoying myself.

Hal before her first field trip and the pig she made at school on Tuesday. Super cute piggy.

Owen enjoying his big sister reading a book to him.

Hal had a field trip today. She went to a model farm with her preschool class. She was the most excited about getting to ride on the bus. I tried to find out how a model farm was by asking her a couple of questions. I asked her if there were fake animals there, since it is a model farm, but it turns out there were real animals there. Go figure.

I don't know how I am going to break it to Hal that she will not be riding on a bus to school when we move to Williston. She has watched her big brother get on a bus for two years. I think Jesse and are going to miss the bus transportation more than anybody else.

Thankfully, I am not a grouch anymore. I had a great nights sleep. Jesse will be home tonight, which knowing always makes my day better.

I got some feedback from the showing we had yesterday. It was good feedback. The people( I am guessing) are the hippies I had been hoping and wishing for, as they LIKED the backyard. Marlys ( realtor) called and said the people and their realtor were meeting sometime today to discuss whether or not they are going to put in an offer. I am not going to get my hopes up. In a way knowing that somebody might be putting in an offer makes the fact that we are leaving our home more of a reality. AHHHHHHHHHHH!

Grouch

Is it really corny to have a Sesame Street character posted on my blog? Probably.

It has been a hell of a day. It has. Things were going smoothly until our realtor called and said she had someone who wanted to look at my house this afternoon. I for some reason forgot about the house being up for sale (apparently), because my house was a disaster. Whatever. It got clean.

My patience today has worn very thin. Instead of hearing the children's yells and screams when they were fighting, I heard this instead, "WHA WHA WHA WHA WHA WHA!". I don't know what that sound means, but I look at my children and I can see that their mouths are open and that they are yelling-- loudly, but like I said, all I heard was, WHA WHA WHA WHA WHA WHA.

We had to leave the house for the showing today-- we went to Wendy's...which I hate, but I thought I would give it a try since Keyton has been begging to go there for a couple of days. We went through the drive through, and on our way out of the parking lot the stupid drink holder knocked over and a giant diet coke and two RED fruit punches made a leap off my consul and ended up spilling all over the floor. It was a lovely experience. The kids started to cry, I heard the WHA WHA's. I was thirsty and in need of some caffeine, so I went back through the drive through to order more soda. The guy at the window looked at me suspiciously, handed me my soda's and said, " Have a great day!". I think he thought I was nutzo. I don't care what drive through window boy thinks, I already know I am nutzo.

I think I am grouchy. Today you can classify me as a grouch. Just call me Oscar. I like the name Oscar anyways.

A Birthday Girl

Halee is five today. My little girl is growing up and I am not so sure how I feel about this. Hal and a few friends decorated cupcakes, and than we ate them...all. I think she had a lovely day.

Keyton had his first baseball practice of the season today. Baseball season is so fun! I love watching my little boy play this game.

When we pulled up to the baseball field where Keyton had practice today, he kept asking me, " Mom are you sure we are at the right field?". I think my child has started to understand that his mother has ADD. When we were leaving the field after practice, he was really worried that I forgot to put the stroller back into the van. Once, we went to a park and I forgot to put the stroller back and I ended up running it over--- in front of a large group of soccer players and their parents. I think Keyton was more embarrassed about the stroller incident than I was. I think one day Keyton will write the book "How to Survive a Mother With ADD" Yup, I am sure this is the book my son would write if he were to become an Author.

Owen's Tulip

When I was in the hospital trying to keep Owen inside my tummy for awhile longer, I got the most beautiful bouquet of tulips. Even after Owen was born there was one tulip that stayed nice and healthy. Jesse planted this tulip last spring after I was released from the hospital and while Owen continued to fight in the NICU. This spring the only flower to have bloomed so far is Owen's tulip. It came back stronger and healthier than ever. Below is a picture Jesse took of Owen and the tulip. We got the flowers from Jesse's Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Jim.



Jesse left yesterday for NYC. He is supposed to leave for Spain either today to tomorrow. I think he is going to Spain to pick up some people who have been stuck there because of the volcano eruption. It has been declared safe to fly out of Spain-- I guess there are loads of people needing a lift out of there. I asked Jesse, "Why wasn't it safe to fly out there in the first place?" His response to me was, "Volcanic ash can kill a jet engine. "Oh.", was my reply. I am really hoping all the volcanic ash has indeed cleared up! Jeepers.

Our house had two showings this weekend-- no bites. I am getting anxious to get back home. I want my mommy and daddy!

The Sweater

When Keyton was five, he asked me something that I will never forget. His question created a moment that I often think about. No matter how bad things get, I can think about this moment, and suddenly things get better.

One night, while tucking Keyton into bed, I bent down to give him a kiss when he suddenly stopped me. He looked me in the eye and asked, " Mom did you used to have, like, a really long neck?". I said, " Like a Giraffe?". He nodded. I said, " No. Why?". He then said, "Never mind." I finished tucking him in, wondering where in the world a question like that came from. While walking back to my bedroom, it was then I noticed the sweater. I had cleaned out my closet earlier that night and I had put the good will pile in the hallway. The sweater on top of the pile was a turtle neck and the neck had been unfolded. It immediately came clear to me why my son had asked me if I had a long neck. The vision he must have had in his head when he saw that sweater. This thought still puts a smile on my face. Katie this story is for you...as I know you liked this when you heard about it.

Not So Happy

Today, I am not so happy. I keep thinking about a child hood friend of mine who lost her baby on Easter Sunday. I have been reading her blog and my heart aches for her and her husband. I understand the love a mother feels for her child. I can not comprehend what a loss of a child must feel like. I have been through a lot in my years as a mother. I have wondered if my child was going to make it--if my baby was going to live through the night. That fear is unexplainable. So to even try to put myself in the shoes of this mother who lost her baby is impossible. That is the thing about life. One day everything can be so blissful and the next day it can be completely unbearable. I also think of my friend's mother. Not only did she loose her grandchild, she is having to watch her daughter in utter turmoil. I worry about my little girl's feelings all of the time. I try to teach my daughter to be independent-- I try to help install self confidence in my little girl so my daughter's feelings may be spared by people who may one day intend to hurt her or bring her down. How would one deal with their daughter in agony? I don't know.

What angers me and frustrates me is the fact that THESE people lost their baby. There are babies born everyday to mothers and fathers who do nothing but hurt their children. People who do not deserve children--born to people who do not even want children. That is what upsets me the most about this situation.

Memories

I have recently had a few memories that I feel are worthy enough to "blog" about. I really enjoy giving people a reason to smile and I think these few memories of mine, might do the trick....(that is if anyone reads this).

Once, my grandma drove through the car wash with her sunroof open. That's funny.

Once, I vacuumed out my whole car annoyed, because the vacuum wasn't sucking as much as it should....only to realize that the attachment I was using was an ice scrapper.

Right after I turned 16, I got my driver's licence. I was so excited to drive that I begged my mother to run any errands that she had. She needed a letter brought to the post office so I was her girl. I drove to the post office, parked the car, ran inside, dropped off the letter, ran back out to the car. After sitting in the car a few minutes, I figured out that I was sitting in the passenger seat. I drove there. The cool (driving) 16-year-old that I was, had to scoot over to the driver's side and drive away. Funny (now).

Once my family went to a McDonald's. I was 12 or so. We were in the drive through and the line was long. I had to go to the bathroom, so my mom or someone told me to go in and use the bathroom since the line was so long. I ran in and used the facility and ran back out. I climbed into a brown van like my parent's had at the time. I closed the door, looked up and didn't recognize any of the people in the van. I had gotten into the wrong vehicle. Again, embarrassing at the time ( so much so I wanted to die right then and there), but funny.

Last but not least.
I was sitting in my living room last summer enjoying a bowl of popcorn. The kids were up stairs playing quietly. I heard a knock at my door and I answered it. It was my neighbor wondering if Keyton wanted to play with his son. I visited with this dad for a few minutes while Keyton was getting his socks and shoes on. I noticed my neighbor was not looking directly at me. This for some reason felt awkward. After my neighbors left, I went back to the living room and sat back down. It was then I noticed the huge kernel of popcorn that was stuck in my cleavage. Now, I wasn't wearing a low cut shirt, But my shirt had repositioned itself drastically ( my luck), just enough to reveal the piece of popcorn stuck in there. Thankfully, my neighbor got over this incident because he will once again look me in the eye.

My friend Nikki likes these stories. I also like them because I like to laugh at myself once and awhile. Fortunately for me-- I get to laugh at myself more than most.

The Back Yard

My grandma gave Hal a bunch of her old jewelry. Hal had to wear every last piece of it to school today. If you look closely you will see a Christmas Santa pin and a sunglasses pin.

Below are some pictures of the back yard that nobody wants. I have grown to love my back yard. You can not beat the privacy. Keyton loves to go back into the woods to explore--or at least he did until he got that huge tick last year. We have wonderful wildlife back there, and I am going to miss this back yard dearly.

The above picture is a picture I took through my family room window. See private. I get it though--why people would rather have a flat back yard that their kids and or dogs could play. I was hesitant about the back yard when we were looking to buy this house.

More Birthday Talk

I thought I would post some more pictures of Owen's first birthday.

The above picture is of Hal, Keyton and Owen. The face Owen is making is the face he always makes when his brother or sister holds ( squeezes) him. He also makes this face when Hal and Keyton are screaming. I think Owen is saying to himself, "holy smokes this place gets nuts!".

Mommy, daddy, and the birthday boy. Our photographer--Keyton.

The above picture is Jesse and Owen. Jesse is holding his bowl of ice cream off to the side because he didn't want the bowl to be in the picture. Sorry honey.

Owen made the move from his baby car seat to a big boy car seat. This was one of his birthday presents. Lucky kid.

Here is Owen with his truck (although, you can hardly see the truck). He loves his new dump truck that he can ride on.

Owen and his cupcake puppy cake. I thought this cake was adorable. It just tasted funny.

Yesterday, we had our open house. Marlys our realtor said that we had good traffic through here. Again, the forest was mentioned often as being the only down side to our home. Jesse's friend Jon told him that we should put a pool back there and than people would like it more. I don't think we will be putting a pool back there, but maybe some potted flowers or something. I will take a picture of the back yard to post later. We do have another showing tonight. I am exhausted from having to vacuum everyday. I need a riding vacuum-- one on each floor so I don't have to carry it up and down the stairs. That would be heavenly.

Owen has been crawling for a week! I forgot what it is like to have a baby that is Mobile. We are constantly picking him up and than moving him to another spot where there are no electrical chords.

Rap.

I love Rap music-I do; I can't help myself. This fact about myself can be comical if you know my husband. Yesterday, we had to go for a drive while people were "looking" at our house. I turned on the music and one of my favorite songs just happened to be on the radio. So what does any mother of three do? I turned up the song by Nelly (who happens to be my favorite) and I starting dropping ( I think that's the word real rappers use to describe saying a bunch of words that rhyme--I could be wrong, I most likely am). My husband just stares straight ahead while his wife is going all "gangster". Now, the children are use to this from their mother (the songs are on the radio, so there is no swearing...don't worry grandma). Jesse is also used to it, but it doesn't stop him from looking at me through the corner of his eyes. This rap fetish I have can get interesting when I am driving by myself in my MINIVAN. I will come to a stop at a light with my music thumping away-- to look over at a car full of teenage boys, who are laughing hysterically at me. I have started to turn down my music every time I get to a stop light to save myself from some much unwanted attention. I do like a lot of different types of music...country is an exception for the most part.

The two showings we had yesterday were a repeat of the first few showings we have had so far. We got feedback from one of the families who looked at our home yesterday. They said that they were probably going to buy a home in a higher price range.--okay? They also made sure to say they didn't like our back yard. Thanks.

We have an open house today at 1:00. I better get my butt in gear and start straightening up. Jesse was up until 3 am painting the downstairs bedroom. Please...tree lovers be out in full force today.

Baby Butts!!

Its true. Baby butts drive me nuts! This picture was taken two days ago--right before Owen fell back wards and bumped his head on the floor. Ouch. Poor dude.


I just got back to my house after having to have left because of a last minute request for a house showing. I was standing in my kitchen in my PJ's when my realtor called and informed me that someone wants to look at the house in 15 minutes. Owen was asleep soundly in his is crib--so I had to wake up the poor child and throw some clothes on him, as he too was not yet dressed for the day. Keyton has the stomach flu so he reluctantly made his way to our vehicle. We basically made a mad dash for the door after throwing some clothes on and quickly picking up. We literally got into our van, drove down the street watched the people walk into our home, and by the time we turned around they were already gone. Jeesh. At least take a look. I am beginning to take offense to these people who are snubbing our home. We have another showing today at 3:00 and than tomorrow we have an open house and another showing in the afternoon. Hopefully, somebody--ANYBODY will show a tiny amount of interest in this house.

After getting back home I decided to take a walk through the house to see how long it took me since everyone seems to be in and out of the house in a minute flat. It took me two minutes. Which surprised me, but it did make feel a little better.

Some exciting news for me is that I finally booked a plane ticket to go visit my dear friend Amber in Washington D.C. I will be going there at the end of July and I couldn't be more happy about this trip. We are going to a Dave Mathew's Band concert while I am there. I have always wanted to experience one of Dave's concerts. I think I will dress up like a hippie. Amber said she would dress up like one too. I haven't been away from my kids for so long. I told Amber not to be surprised if I sleep in every day and then take an afternoon nap. This trip comes shortly after my 10 year high school reunion.

I have to admit, I am some what anxious for my reunion. People close enough to me know that I quit drinking...and I remind them of this fact often. You see--drinking to me is unnecessary. While it is fun (too fun) the risks (in my opinion) out weigh the benefits. It's been 3 and half years since I last drank. My liver thanks me big time. While I had a blast drinking--I also would wake up feeling extremely foolish. I never had been able to drink one drink and stop and go home. Once I started its like someone kept putting quarters in me and I could go ALL night, not even exaggerating in the slightest. Then the next day the hang overs I had were awful...worse then most other peoples. I wish I could enjoy an adult beverage, especially in the summer-- I could if I wanted too I guess, but I made the choice to not. I must say I enjoy going out and hanging out with my friends just as much as I used too. I just don't wake up with a massive hangover, I don't say anything I should not have said, and I don't dance on the bar tables. Thank God. I have watched so many foolish fights and strange behavior since I quit that it really is entertainment. I sometimes do feel left out when I go to a bar where my friends are and I am left sitting at the table because a popular song starts to Blair and everyone screams, "I LOVE THIS SONG!" and then they run off like crazy lunatics. I just can't bring myself to dance. This is the main reason I am not as excited for the reunion as I wish. I have been happy with my decision to stop and I have found that many people close to me also respect my choice to not partake. The reunion might not be as wild and crazy as it would have been had I not stopped, but I think I will enjoy and REMEMBER it more.

Birthday Boy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OWEN!

The birthday events wore Jesse out. I caught him asleep in the chair with ear plugs in this afternoon!

Today is Owen's first birthday. This is a very special day for my family. Owen came into the world at 8:00 p.m. on April 20th, 2009 weighing only 2lbs 2 ounces and was 12 inches long. I remember the first time I laid eyes on my new baby boy. I was thinking how uncomfortable he must be with that tube down his throat. The worst part was seeing him cry, but not hearing his cries. It is absolutely amazing what the tiny bodies of preemies are capable of doing.

What a difference a year makes!! Look at my HEALTHY baby boy now! Happy first birthday my little buggie.

We didn't do anything too extravagant for the birthday boy. We did get a puppy cake which was actually made out of cupcakes. Since Owen is technically only 9 months, he didn't get to eat the cupcake--he just played with one of the cupcakes for pictures/memories sake. He did taste the frosting which gave him quite the shock. I would post more pictures of our day, but I am not sure of how to post pictures on here. That is way this post is extremely unorganized looking.

I get annoyed too easily sometimes. I wish I had a button that I could push that could shut the annoyance off. When I am feeling exceptionally annoyed, I have to tell myself, "Stop it, this is silly.". There are so many things that are happening in this world that are way more serious than some woman looking funny at me in Target. In fact-- the other day I went to The Noodle Company ( a restaurant) with Hal and Owen. There were two ladies sitting behind us visiting. I got up to get the kids ready to go and I was having a hard time maneuvering my gigantic stroller through the small walk way between the tables. I mean-- I was having a hell of a time. These ladies behind us just sat there at their table visibly rolling their eyes at each other. The one lady whose back was facing us turned around and gave me the "evil" eye. There was a chair that was in front of my huge stroller and I needed to move it so I could get through. I was annoyed. These ladies just sat there and watched me-- it got really awkward and their eye rolling flustered me. I could feel my face getting redder by the second. Finally, after I pushed the chair out of the way ,I was able to walk past the ladies table. While I walked past them I looked at them as they were still looking very disgusted with me and I said to them " thank you for all of the wonderful eye rolls today, and you are welcome for getting to watch me struggle my way past you". I also said, " I have never seen two crabbier looking old ladies in my life". Oops. That wasn't nice to say. I know strollers are annoying. I get that we may have interrupted what ever conversation they were having, but I couldn't help myself. I still get annoyed when I think about this unpleasant experience. I wish I had a picture of them to post on this blog. If I had been thinking I would have snapped a quick picture with my blackberry.

I would like to take a class on how to not get annoyed or how I can stop the annoying feeling I feel creeping up on me. I wish they offered at class like this at our local community center. They seem to offer classes for everything else.

Hal had preschool today. I am almost sure she has her first crush. I didn't know that four-year-old's got crushes. Every time I say the name Austin she gets a really goofy look on her face. Jesse notices it too. Today, Austin got out of his van at the school and before I even said anything, Hal said " MOMMMM". I don't know why she said mom like that, but she said with that goofy look on her face.

We got a new camera today. I am excited to use it tomorrow for Owen's first birthday!

Last night we got some feedback from people who have looked at our house. I guess the one thing about our house that is keeping people from making offers is the fact that we have a strange back yard. It is a forest. Whatever. Its not like I can get a chain saw and cut all of those trees down, it is a state park. I guess we will have to find some hippies to move in. Hippies like trees.

Today is going to be another long day of trying to keep the house in order for a showing at 4. Please someone give us some feedback so we know what people like and dislike. Jeepers. People are just coming into my house, walking around and then leaving. Its like....someone is coming into my home and judging my family and then we are left wondering if anyone likes what they saw. The house has not been on the market for a week yet so I shouldn't be getting ahead of myself I guess.

I heard some sad news the other day. I found out that a childhood friend of mine lost her baby. She was close to her due date and on Easter Sunday noticed that her baby was not moving. The baby was born yesterday (I think). I am keeping this family close to my heart. My heart breaks for them and their family. It really makes me wonder why these things happen to such amazing people. I cried for them after my girlfriend called and told me what had happened.

A Little of This and a Little of That

Owen and Hal are still in bed. Keyton just got on the bus and is on his way to school. I thought I would take advantage of the quiet few minutes I might have (before number 2 and 3 wake up).

Yesterday we showed our house twice. I am hoping for an offer today.

Jesse has been flying like a crazy person the last couple of weeks. Great...job security!

I really think with Jesse being gone and me here with the three kids all day long by myself has really started to make me goofy...or goofier than I already was. Yesterday, I went inside a gas station with all three kids on a mission to get something-- after I got inside the gas station I couldn't remember why I was inside. I stood there dumbfounded. Finally, the cashier asked if he could be of any help. I declined his offer as I didn't know why I was there in the first place. I put Owen's car seat down beside me (he is heavy in that car seat). I grabbed a pack of M&Ms and paid for them. I walked to the door with Keyton and Hal close behind. I opened the door, while I was holding the door open for Hal and Keyton I looked over and noticed my baby asleep in his car seat resting next to the candy section. I did a great big " OH MY GOD!" I ran over to my BABY and scooped up the car seat. I looked at the boy behind the counter and his face said it all. He was thinking holy crap this girl has issues. Seriously-- I will not be going inside a gas station until my last child has graduated from high school.

On a high note, my house is super duper clean. I have scrubbed this place from top to bottom. It makes me feel good, but at the same time trying to keep it this way is wearing! I have been chasing around my kids picking up after them and in the process realizing that I have not done a good job of teaching them to actually throw trash in a garbage can. The other day Hal was drinking a juice box. I was eyeing her because I often find these juice boxes scattered around the house. She sipped and sipped until the juice box was as flat as it could be. She took the straw out of her mouth and then catapulted that juice box across the living room! I stared at her for a minute. I then walked over to her and I asked her "Do you know that you just threw your empty juice box across my living room?". She looked at me like I was an alien and she said, "no."; I then calmly told her to go pick it up and throw it in the trash can. She did. Later that day I watched her throw the core of an apple across the living room. I then decided it was time for a lecture on what to do with trash. I sat Hal and Keyton down on the sofa and I said, "Hal and Keyton, it FINALLY has come to my attention that you don't know what to do with garbage"," Where do you think garbage goes?" Keyton got excited and said "In the garbage can!" Ding ding ding! My kid is so smart. I will be watching them like a hawk over the next few days so I can teach them the difference between mommy and trash man.

Happy Easter!

Easter was a lot of fun today. Yesterday we had an Easter egg hunt in our back yard. First I hid the eggs and then Keyton and Hal took turns hiding the eggs. Keyton and I each hid them so they were not impossible to find. We have a forest in our back yard so it could get tricky if we went to crazy. Hal didn't take our approach to hiding the eggs. Hal actually hid the eggs under massive amounts of leaves. She told Keyton and I to be careful where we stepped because she didn't want us to step on the eggs. She also went into the forest and hid a few eggs. Keyton was to scared to go into the forest because last summer he got a tick and knows that the forest is a breading ground for these monster like ticks. Therefore we found 6 eggs out of the 24 eggs Hal hid. After digging around in the leaves for a half hour both Keyton and I gave up.

Today we decided to skip hiding eggs. Instead we went to the park and flew kites with grandpa David. Before we went to the park my dad cooked us a wonderful Easter dinner. My dad can cook the a mean turkey dinner! The Easter bunny came this morning and brought the kids side walk chalk, bubble wands, play doe, and to much candy. Owen got a few cute summer outfits.

I would post pictures of our day, but I could not find the battery charger so no Easter pics. I promise Owen you had a great first Easter!

Grandpa is Here!

My dad is here to stay with us for the week. Thank God. I am loving every minute of his visit. At about 3:30 this afternoon our realtor called and informed me that there was someone who was interested in looking at our home and to plan on them coming at 5:00. I ran around this house like a wild woman picking up all the clutter and throwing it into random drawers. My father also ran around and helped to dispose of any messes he could see. He ended up taking a bunch of stuff and throwing it into the back of my minivan. After an hour our realtor called and said that we could come back home. I guess the people really liked the house and are planning to come back later this week with someone who is flying in from Korea so who ever that is can also take a lookie.

The kids have been looking forward to dying Easter eggs all week so we finally tackled that this evening. We only had 9 eggs to color because we broke most of them when we were boiling them. Oops. The highlight of my day was a 2 hour nap I took with Hal before Keyton came home from school. The only thing that disturbs me about this nap was that my dad had to go get Owen because he was crying and I didn't hear him as I was sleeping soundly I guess. This really makes me wonder how often this happens. I guess I will have to take out the baby monitor again. Another Oops!

Owen is still not crawling. Instead he rolls from one end of the house to the other. Today I was cleaning up the kitchen and I looked down just in time to see him roll out into the dining room. I can not imagine that this feels good on the hard wood floors, but he seems to enjoy himself. He is getting so big. Owen loves his grandpa David. I was surprised that he wasn't scared to go to my dad because he doesn't get to see my dad very often, but he went right to him when my dad puts his arms out to take him. Owen is with me all day ever day and rarely sees other people. I guess Owen is a laid back kind of a guy. Today I tried to take Owen back from grandpa and he would not come to me! My dad loved every minute of it.

I am anxious to see what happens with the people who looked at our home today. Happy Easter and I will try to post some recent pictures of the kids soon.

For sale sign

We have a for sale sign up in front of our home. It is bittersweet. The Realtor came over yesterday to take pictures of our house and Keyton ran after her asking her to stop taking pictures of his home. He understands that the pictures mean we are leaving his house-- this is a home that he loves with his whole little heart.

Its hard to put into words how I am feeling right now. Last year we were in an awesome place. I had an awesome job working as a RN at Abbott Northwestern, Jesse was working at his dream job at Jet choice, and we were expecting or third child. For once everything seemed to be going the way we wanted it. Then suddenly I got put on bed rest at the hospital, I got a blood clot, Owen was brought into this world weighing only 2lbs, Jesse's mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, and Jesse's company decided to shut its doors. Everything was crumbling down around us. Jesse and I believe in positive thinking and we TRIED to remain positive throughout. Thankfully it worked. Jesse was able to get another great job, Owen is healthy, and Sue (Jesse's mom) is done with treatment and she is doing wonderfully. I am constantly trying to remind myself about all of these positive elements. Every time I hold Owen, I squeeze him tightly and thank my lucky stars that he is here with us. We are lucky. I know this.

This for sale sign is heart breaking. I have to keep reminding myself that this move is for the best. Apple Valley is a beautiful community and I will miss it greatly, especially my neighbors. I do need my family though. Jesse is gone every other week---gone, gone. Taking care of three children by myself with out a support network has worn me out, physically and emotionally. When Jesse is home I am content in Minnesota, happy even. When Jesse leaves, I am lonely and at times depressed even. Knowing that my family is 10 hours away, who would love nothing more than to snuggle my kids has always been hard to swallow. I have many friends back home with children my children's age and I long for that connection. I left Williston and was determined to never move back. I remember the day we left Williston, we stopped by my parents house on the way out of town to say good bye. I remember watching my mom and dad cry as we pulled out of the drive way. Their grandchildren were leaving-I felt incredibly guilty about the sadness this caused them. When I think about bringing my children back to Williston and how happy my parents (especially my father) will be, it makes the move back seem so worth it. I keep thinking how short life is. I feel the uncontrollable need to be with the people that love me. I feel the need to keep my children close to the people that love them as much as Jesse and me. So the for sale sign should not be making feel this way. I think we will be okay where ever we are. Someday I plan to live somewhere warm all year, when Jesse and I are oldies. Lets just pray that I can keep this house clean so people will want to buy it!! Life is good, just a little confusing.