Pieces of Us

The Fridge

Occasionally I tend to be a little bit random.  This blog post is one of those moments.  Last shopping day I took before and after pictures of my fridge.  

Here is what our fridge looks like right before we go shopping.  In other words, this is the slim pickens at the end of the month. Followed by a picture right after we returned from shopping.

Like Hobbits

    We spent a few days at McGrath State Beach this past week.  The campground will be closing in September due to insufficient funds. I was discussing that with my friend Judy last night and she mentioned that she loves McGrath because she feels like a hobbit camping under the trees. I thought that description fit perfectly.  Especially since I captured this picture of my very own Hobbit. (And before anyone gives me heck about calling Maddy a Hobbit, she christened herself after stating that she 'is short and has big feet'.

 

    You could say we cheated a little bit because we brought the trailer.  But us tough-gals roughed it in our very own 'cabana' .  Ahh...Home sweet home!

    Tent camping is always an adventure. Especialy when the crowd of crazy campers next door stay up until 3:30am every night. Oh the stories we heard through our thin tent walls. 

    AJ and Mike did a fine job manning the campfire and breakfast burittos were had daily by all.

    Camping isn't complete without a little pranking.  Operation Bieber Fever continued when Jess made Gabby a 'Gabby Loves Justin Bieber' sign.  At first she thought it just had her name...

    But then she saw the name JB...and this is what she looked like then...

    Caleb and AJ did a lot of  running around in a big field behind our campsite. We bought some plastic sports gear and they had fun playing.  Caleb turned out to be a natural at frisbee.

    Jess did a lot of swinging from trees...

...with only minor injuries.

 

First they are sour...

    Then they're sweet...

It was a fun three days for all of us.  Jillian came down with a little virus the last day and spent most of it like this.

If not for her sadness, we would not have wanted to come home at all.

Campout

    It's interesting that as long as we have lived in this area we have never gone camping at Lake Piru.  Some of that may have been due to the fact that there used to be a lot of partying going on up at that lake but now that it has become alcohol free we thought we would give it a try.

    We camped with about 50 cubscouts and their families and it turned out to be a great time.  Mike and I arrived at the lake early to start getting the sites set up for the arrival of all the other kids and families. We got our tent set up and the food area and the kids explored.

I rocked my no-makeup camping look!

AJ cleaned up camp. The entire campground was littered with olives and we came home with purple kids.

AJ and Mike started the fire so we could roast hot dogs and marshmallows.  Which we did a LOT. When the cub scout boys went out to do trash pickup before lunch, all of the girls stayed behind and roasted more hot dogs.

Great friends hanging out.

Gabby and Keara are buddies.

 
Jillian loves camping.  I think her favorite part is snacking and eating.  She sleeps great in the tent too.  She is my sleeping bag buddy and keeps me warm at night.

Roasting time.

Yummy!

All my zany Keepers of the Faith girls.

Piru lake in the 5am hour.  I went to bed at 9:30 pm the night before which is unheard of for me.  But it meant I was able to be up early and out walking enjoying God's creation. It was beautiful and serene and so worth being up for.

    Around noon it was time to head home.  We got home only to realize that our water heater pilot was out and I had to wait for Mike to come home and fix it.  No fun when all you want is a hot shower! We plan to do another campout this summer...fun and easy vacationing. We also learned that some of our friends went on a nature walk just after we left and met this fellow. {{shudder}}

Goings On

    These last few days (weeks) of summer have been loaded up with as much as we can possible do.  I loved this summer, we had laid back days, busy days, medium days. OK, I take it back, I loved the last month of summer.  Considering we were all sick as dogs for about 5 weeks at the earlier part.

Here is an overview of summer:

• Girls went to Camp Conrad Chinook...and had the time of their lives!
• AJ, Ginny and Caleb took swimming lessons- but missed part of them due to sickness.
• The older girls continued swim team and competed in 2 meets- missed the third due to sickness.
• We entered items in the fair.
• We swam every Monday and Friday with our friends.
• We had a campout at the Walters and collected tadpoles in the creek.
• We had sleepovers.
• Maddy and I went to Hurricane Harbor.
• We went to Acting Class and AJ started as well.
• We started work on a new play for Sespe Players.
• We hung out with our best friends the Ybarras.
• Mom went to CHEA.
• We had late 'piggy pancake' breakfasts.
• We played chess a whole lot and Caleb learned to play.
• We read Lamplighter books together.
• Mom kept the house CLEAN!
• We went to Vacation Bible School.
• We got a new bunny.
• AJ started Guitar Lessons
• Ginny began Irish Dance lessons.
• AJ became a Webelo scout.

    It's been a good ending to the summer. How about some pictures?

I got new bedding!  After 9 years of kids peeing and barfing on my bed (don't worry, I washed it) I really needed some new bedding.  I went cheap though because I still have a kid in the 'sharpie is fun!' stage.

Jillian think the boxes that Clementines come in make a perfect dolly bed.  I am inclined to agree.  I have realized that I have never in my life purchased an orange (clementines not included, they are more like tangerines). The thought of buying a navel or a valencia is foreign to me. I must be a Cali girl. 

We had Anna over for a sleepover and made homemade Cherry-Lemonade. YUM!

Maddy has this little whiteboard by her bed. (You can see her little personal corner with her shelf. ) I cracked up when  I saw her little notes relating herself to the books she loves.

These are strange buddies aren't they? Reepicheep comes inside lately because it's just so hot out.  Cozy loves her.

*slurp*

       

Sometimes I just look up, smile and say, ''I Know that was you God ! Thanks!

    A week or so ago I had one of those days where I was trying so hard to get through my list of errands with organization and little deviation.  Of course it's at these times that I usually find my day veering off into some sort of tangent. The night before this day I was thinking to myself, "Hmm...nothing at all to do tomorrow, we can have a relaxing morning."  After which I sat bolt upright as the proverbial light bulb started flashing in my brain.  I needed to drive to the fair grounds to pick up all of our ribbons and entries.

    I had a fleeting memory of the year before.  Standing in lines for reward checks, claim check checking- if that is even a 'thing'. It took a long time and I wasn't interested in doing that with all 6 of the little ones with me. I called my 'Manny' and asked if he wouldn't mind having the middles while I took the older girls and Jillian with me to round up the goods.  He said fine....because he is awesome like that.

    Around 10 am I rallied the troops, brushed hair, located the missing shoe that is always lost.  Kids all packed in the car we took off for the leisurely drive around the corner. Stop the van -whoa, I just typed CAB instead of van and had to backspace, if that wasn't a freudian slip I do not know what is- commence to unload the middles, give minimal instructions since he is the 'Manny' and knows the drill well.  

    Soon we are on the road, my two eldest, the youngest  and me. We cruise along, we do not speak.  At times like these we revel in the silence because silence is golden and this day it's 24 karat. I am still not overjoyed at this impromptu trip 35 miles from home- 70 round trip. I am trying to make the best of it and we are stopping for lunch before we hit the fairgrounds. My tummy is channeling Winnie the Pooh as there is definitely a bit of 'rumbly' down in the ol' tumbly.

    As we hit about the 22 mile mark of our trip that dim bulb (hardy har har) in my brain starts beaming again. 

    "THE CLAIM CHECKS!!!!!!" 

    I yell this rather loudly and Maddy unfolds herself from the ceiling of the van up into which she has been startled. Yes, I left the entire bag of claim checks at home. Now I have no desire to take on the blue haired granny brigade at the pick up tables. None whatsoever.  Those ladies are scary and not unlike the way they cling to their purses as if they have their entire life savings inside, they also cling to the rules regarding NO PICK UP WITHOUT A CLAIM CHECK.  Not to mention that I have about 40 claim checks.  Mine, the kids and my 4H kids.

    We turn around. We drive home...in even more silent silence. The rumbly is now more of a growly. I pull in the driveway, grab the bag of claim checks and jump in the car like Bo Duke. We are back on the road, 44 extra miles behind us.  Lunch at Wendy's is uneventful. We run into some friends who were also picking up ribbons at the fair.  They tell us that it was a madhouse at the fairgrounds when it opened at 12 and I am beginning to think that maybe, just maybe, it was a good thing I messed up.

    When we arrive at the fair it is crisp and cool and not crowded.  We breeze through picking up our items, standing in lines waiting for our awards.  Jillian is a sweet little charmer in her stroller clutching her prize-winning crab dress to her chest, even the blue hairs were amiable. With all of our items collected we started to leave when a woman suddenly stops me.

    "Excuse Me." she says.

    I get stopped often, a trail of ducklings children behind me can stop people in their tracks and everyone loves a witty comment. However I only had three kids with me and that is not so unusual.

    "I don't mean to startle you," she began "but I noticed your daughter has a pump."

    Aha!  It's a diabetes thing. She then introduced us to her daughter Sydney who also has diabetes and wears a pump.  Gabby's face lit up and the two girls went through the basic- our moms must want us to be best friends because we have diabetes in common- questions.  I made the mistake that I am sure most people make when they look at Gabby.  I assumed that because the girl was tiny, she must be about 9 or 10.  It turned out that she was about one week older than my girls and about the same size as Gab.  To top it off she is also homeschooled. If that was not a moment sponsored by God, I do not know what is.

    We exchange email addresses and the rest of the day goes along swimmingly. The girls begin emailing each other and I reflect on the events of that day and how sometimes a thing gone wrong is actually a blessing in disguise.  Gabby is tickled to have a friend who knows what her life is like. They talk about their disease and how it effects their lives, and the commiserate on all of the issues they deal with daily.  It gives them a sounding board with someone else who knows.  As much as I love Gabby and as much as I have learned about diabetes I will never truly know what it is like to live her life.

    And so our day of bad luck turned into a day of great fortune. Sometimes I just look up, smile and say, "I know that was you God! Thanks!

The Plague has descended on the castle.

    My kids -well let's be honest, and me- love to play a game called Stronghold. A kingdom is built from the ground up and situations typical of the day can happen to your newly formed kingdom. Occasionally a green cloud will hover over the keep and a voice with a weedy English accent will announce, "The Plague has Descended upon the Castle." The last two weeks my life and my home have closely mirrored this exact scenario.  Minus the guy with the accent.

    About 12 days ago Ginny became very agitated at her swimming lesson.  It was the one day her daddy got to come and watch her and she was just a big ol ball of tears.  She was hanging on the lane line, sobbing.  Partly because she wanted to show her daddy what an awesome swimmer she is and partly because she just felt awful. Her teacher Andie helped her out of the pool early and went back to teaching Caleb. Ginny lay down on the concrete and fell asleep. At that point I knew I was really in for it.

    Once we got home she had an intense high fever-close to 105.  Normally this would be terrifying but Ginny tends to run high fevers when she has the flu and this was certainly looking like flu. 

    I braced myself.

    The flu in our house is not just the flu.  It's the flu and the flu and the flu and the flu and so on and so forth down the line until it hits everyone.  We have had more than our of sickness and injury in the past 12 months. I think I can honestly say it's the only time I ever have those fleeting thoughts of, "WHY did I have this many kids again?".  Gabby followed shortly after Ginny with a fever just as high, body aches, couch potato-ing, the whole shebang. Maddy followed after that and Caleb after that.  Eventually there were 4 lumps sprawled out about the floor and 2 very cabin fevered kids who were not sick running me ragged.

    Around day 4 Jillian was still pretty well but her eyes looked really gooey.  I popped across the street to Urgent Care to -hopefully- ward off the evil niggling in my mind that she had pinkeye.  She did in fact have pinkeye but only the viral kind so I breathed a sigh of relief. A few hours later I decided that three days of 105 fever coupled with a neck ache warranted a trip to Dr. Ryall so we headed back across the street again. The verdict was an ear infection and throat infection, antibiotics were ordered.

    So the kids are still lumps, there is fevers, there is puking, there is shuddery breathing and heart racing.  It's not fun and I am pretty much up all night long, every night, for days.  It hasn't ended as of this posting.  I am on Day 12. In the past 12 days I have slept about 3 hours a night and not in succession. But I digress.

    Somewhere around day 8 (Honestly it really seems like one really really long day all rolled up into one) I decided to take Maddy and Gabby in to Urgent Care to have their throats looked at.  They both really had suffered with the throat funk. Seeing as Ginny had infections I thought it didn't hurt to have them checked out.  In the office we waited an hour but it moved along quickly as a friend of ours was also in there with her little girl who was suffering from the exact same flu.  The girls checked out ok and were sent home knowing they were 'on the mend'.

    Yesterday, Day 11 things were looking up.  Jillian's eye was better but had a nagging cough- that horrid kind that sounds like a lung is going to plop out on the floor any second now-it only showed up at night so we weren't too worried about her.  All the fevers were gone and there was just a slight sense of malaise lingering in the house. I packed all the kids in the van and we drove to In N Out for our first trip out of the house.  The kids were ecstatic. Can you tell?

    Today I planned for the older girls to go to their 4h group meeting and then to take all the kids to the beach where their grandparents are staying this week. The girls got off to their meeting and the other kids started waking up.  AJ wandered in, flopped down and said, "I don't feel good."  I felt his forehead....Hot.

    When you are playing Stronghold you must take care of situations or your serfs become angry. You must provide an apothecary so that a healer will come and rid your kingdom of plague. Should you fail to do this, accent man comes back on and tells you, "People are leaving the castle." I have yet to find a cure for this flu other than time but even time is beginning to grate on me. 

"People are leaving the castle." 

    

Did you miss us?

     

    We're back from 8 days camping in the gorgeous vicinity of Yosemite National Park. The last time we were able to all get away and camp together was in 2007!  It was only a week after we found out Gabby had Diabetes.  I will never forget that trip.  This time we had Jeff and Kelli along as well as my parents. Three little humble trailers all parked in a line and one big communal campfire every night. Smore's, good wine, delicious margaritas, silly stories from our youth.  Hot sunshine, cool rain, exhilarating hikes, majestic wild animals.  These were all parts of a wonderful trip.

 

    Some of the highlights included seeing bridalveil and Vernal Falls as well as many others. A bear walking right along the roadside.  A curving staircase that took us 200 feet down inside an ancient cavern. Dad, Jeff and Kelli on a 1500 foot zipline in the rain. My sweet sick husband and two kids watching movies in the trailer while the rest of us took a train ride through the countryside.  The best pulled pork sandwich I have ever eaten.

  

    Little Caleb hiking the farthest up Vernal Falls (by 3 steps).  My courageous and adventurous kids, walking and hiking 7 miles in one day without very little complaint or whine. Kids flying around the campground on their bikes. The staggering amount of cuts and bruises on knees and legs from bashing about camp. The stars.  Oh the stars!  To live in the mountains and see stars like that every night would be as close to heaven as one could get.

  

    But we are back now.  Back to our lives and our chores and our routine. The animals missed us terribly and we missed them too.  I didn't even mind the mess I found on the schoolroom carpet.  OK, that part was a lie. I minded it a lot. *wink*

    

An absolutely wonderful day

      

The sun was shining, the food was good and the company was even better. AJ- being the middle child, does not get to be center stage very often.  Sad, yes, but such is the way of the birth order.  So today it was especially nice to see him basking in the glow of it all. 

    We started the day as we usually do on Sunday, loading up and heading to church.  After church Mike stayed to work in the nursery for the second service and the kids and I came home to prepare some things for the party.  Ginny and I went out to the ranch early to decorate and get the games ready.  At 3 pm our guests arrived. We played picnic style games.  The most hilarious had Our tallest boy paired with our shortest boy (Caleb) for a 3-legged race.  There was a cupcake decorating contest with very intense judging. Presents, delicious dessert and a lot of all around fun.

    Pictures can be seen here with descriptions of all the merry goodness.

Oscar doesn't live here anymore.

    There are certain times when I have the innate ability to strike fear in the hearts of my children.  It's a time where you would think they'd want to run and be far far away from me but instead they will not let me out of their sight. What is this time you may ask?  What is it that makes them run to their rooms and stay there until I am far from them? This thing that makes them tremble is...

The BLACK TRASH BAG!

(cue scary music)

    It's not uncommon for a child to yell to me as they run off to a sleepover, "DON'T CLEAN OUR ROOM WHILE WE'RE GONE!"  Who me? Do they really think I would run willy nilly through the room tossing all of their treasured paper cranes and lollipop wrappers in the bag?  You betcha. Maybe they will hate me later, I hope not.  But honestly, when you have 3 kids sharing a 10x12 space you just cannot be a collector of Tootsie Pop Wrappers and paper crane number 5687 just has to go.

    I recently discovered that the kids have been keeping their things put away and the only things I find on the floor when I enter with said trash bag are actual trash. Trash still exists on the floor regardless of the presence of a receptacle for it.  Some day they will learn to put it IN the bin.  But until that day I will arrive unannounced with my good friend Hefty in tow.

Looking Forward

    I was inspired by my good friend Anissa's recent blog post where she gave a short summary of things that were coming up throughout 2010. I began to ponder on what things I would have to look forward to this year. I don't think I have mentioned that Jillian passed the 20 month mark 2 months ago and so this is officially the longest I have been 'not pregnant'. This is a strange feeling for me as any other year I would be posting that I was looking forward to the arrival of a new baby. Instead I have other things to  anticipate this year.

* The first thing is a big order from Amazon. I am not a binge shopper anymore and in fact I have been the complete anti-shopper since we dedicated ourselves to being debt free and to bulking up several months worth of living expenses.  We now live on a cash only system, I do not use debit except for gas and we do not use credit cards anymore.  We have learned that something saved for, means more, and is appreciated more...at least around here.  Plus it's a great feeling to always know exactly how much cash you have left for the month at a quick glance.  Holy digression! All of that merely to say this.  Have you ever jokingly said to someone, "Well maybe we have some  long lost relative who will leave us money?"  I've said it.  Completely joking of course. Well, it actually happened to our family.  We really had a long lost relative in France who passed away (and brief tangent, I am sad that I did not know her or know of her and I would love to hear any stories regarding her if any family is reading this that may have such information) and left a small sum of money to the family.

After about a year of entanglements with the French and American Governments we now have the inheritance...minus about 80% in fees. (Robbery if you ask me.. another digression) Tonight we had a wonderful family dinner at Musashi with all Four of us married couples (Been dying to say that!) and my kiddos. Mom and Dad presented each of us with an envelope containing touching handwritten notes from mom and some cash for us all...you haven't lived until you have seen a 4 year old open a card with a $50 bill inside of it.  Too cute! So long story getting LONGER.  We have these terrible, flaking calphalon cooking pans. We are probably dying as I type this from ingesting the little flakes and the kids are starting to think that Mac n Cheese is supposed to have little black specks. 

Kidding. 

Sort of.

So after a bit of discussion we decided to spend half of the inheritance to restock the kitchen. Out go the nasty pans and in comes the new pans.  This is definitely a worthwhile investment here as I cook from scratch a whole lot, they will be used daily.  I have been building a stash of cast iron pans as I have found they are definitely my cookware of choice and they will last long enough to be passed down to my grandkids.  Today I ordered several enameled cast iron dutch ovens and pots.  Also an electric (and why didn't spellcheck notice I spelled that electirc at first?)  teakettle for my little girlie teadrinkers, a steamer insert, a marble rolling pin, biscuit cutters and some fiestaware pieces.  I will take pictures of our Christmas in January when it all arrives.  It was very exciting to get to do it.

Phew!  Moving On!

*Softball season!  Part looking forward to, part dreading.  Gabby will play in 12 and unders and Ginny has decided to continue playing mini-sox.  Should be fun, or harrowing...or both.

*Marriage Retreat! I don't have a nursling (well I do but she can go two or three days without doing it so I don't count it as a needy nursling) this year so we can go to Pismo for the annual marriage retreat.  I am SO looking forward to that time and also hoping that we can share the trip with Chad and Laura this year since Laura is a married lady now .  ( Teehee!  I said it again!) I am really looking forward to some special time with my man and some fun in the sun and fellowship with friends.

*Seattle with Anissa.  TBD.  Not sure when we will go this year but the 2nd annual Seattle trip WILL happen  at some point because Anissa and I need to eat a lot more seafood.

*AJ's 9th birthday and the remodel of the boys room.  Space/StarWars theme.  And possible the moving out of Jillian later in the year.

*Camping in Yosemite!  In the works is a camping trip to Yosemite.  Hopefully Jeff and Kelli will be going with us and Mom and Dad if they want to (but I haven't invited them yet so Mom if you are reading this, you are invited to go along too.)  We plan to do some cave exploration, hiking, fishing, squirrel following, campire singing, game-playing and whatever else we decide to do.  Cooking with cast iron pans probably. ;)  Cornbread anyone?

* Swim team.  We like it.  We love it.  We want more of it.

* Diabetes Camp.  I am hoping to get Gabby accepted into a sleepaway diabetes camp this year.  I am so excited to give her the opportunity to meet other kids who live day to day in the way that she does. And also send her to a place where I do not have to worry about her getting the best possible care she can while she has a load of fun.

*Ginny turns 7,  7!!

*Maddy and Gabby turn 12.  My hands are shaking.  Did I type that? 12?  Last year before I have two teenagers in the house.  It feels like they already are teenagers though.  They act like them.  Hmpf.

* Being debt free!!!  We will have all debt except the mortgage paid off this year.  And let the freedom ring!

My fingers hurt now so I'll give it a rest and you can wait for updates as the year progresses. Carpal tunnel.  Ack.  Fingers cramping......