My Update...

Well, I need to start taking notes during the week, so I'll remember the funny things the kids say and can share them with you all. I do have a funny thing to share. Grace and I were at Target and she found a costume she really wanted. It was a princess costume, it's a snow queen or something like that. It's very pretty. She begged and pleaded and I stated the usual, it's early and if you buy this now, it's going to be your Halloween costume, there is no changing your mind. She promised, and I bought it. So we get it home and she tries it on and show's everyone, she's very proud of herself. I then tell her it is time to put it up and leave it alone until Halloween. I ask her,"now can I trust you to put this in your closet and not play with it, or do we need to put it in my closet?" She looks at me and thinks about this for a few seconds and says, "you put it in your closet." You gotta love the honesty! It was so cute.

We are getting ready to go to Southern California and are planning to take the kids to Disneyland! I love taking them there and can't wait to see their faces light up at the site of their favorite characters. We make so many memories there.

School is going really well I am really impressed with the k12 program. The kids really seem to love it as well. They are learning a lot and enjoying themselves.

We got some hermit crabs and set up a huge tank with a habit for them. In the first few minutes of putting them in, we watched Grace's crab climb out of her shell and into another one! It was a great moment. The kids were so excited, and I have to admit, I was pretty excited too, it was very neat.

My mom is going to be coming out for a visit next weekend, and we are so excited to see her, and show her around Monterey. It will be really nice to have her here to help out when I go to the hospital for my 2nd hysteroscopy. I really hope it yields results and we get the fourth baby we have been praying for soon.

Oh, I took the kids to see The Wizard of Oz, at a outdoor theater in Carmel. It was a really fun time. Madison loved seeing the "real" Dorthy and toto. Grace and Noah enjoyed it too, and Noah says he wants to audition for a play there. Oliver is coming up and he may try out for it, we'll see.

The photo is from September 1st, Mike's promotion to Lt. Col! I'm so proud of him, and it was great to share it with his family, a lot of them were able to make it up for his promotion and 40th birthday.

I have to get to bed now, that's the update for now.

My Sister Julia

I have been meaning to blog a little about my sister Julia. I haven't been as big of a blogging fool as I had hoped to be, so I am a little behind in my posts. I wanted to post a big congratulations to Julia, as she is pregnant, about 9 weeks along at this point. I think all is going well so far, so God willing we should have a new neice or nephew in April 2009!! I can not wait. We are filling God's ears with a lot of requests to keep this little one safe and growing healthy, so I'm sure all will continue to be fine. Grow little baby, grow! We can't wait to meet you!

I love you Julia and we hope we can see you sometime soon, (hint, hint,) come visit anytime :-)

Why don't you start a blog to update us on your pregnancy?? Then it can morph into a baby update blog, you know we will all need some serious updates!!

Love ya!

PS I need a photo of you to post to my blog post

It's the most wonderful time of the year

It's back to school days! I really am glad. It's kind of ironic, that most people are excited for back to school for a totally different reason than I am. Most moms look forward to the break from the kids and the quiet time it brings. I on the other hand am excited for the good, organized, quality time it brings. My summers are chaotic, good, but chaotic. School is organized and provides a good daily routine. It's a way to have fun and interact with my kids in a educational way. I'm so lucky to be able to have this time with my kids. When I think of how much I would have missed out on, if I sent Noah to school, it's amazing to me. I taught my son to read, I have taught him everything up to this point, and I must say, he's doing well.

The program I'm using this year is www.k12.com and in my case California pays for it. We are using the California Virtual Academy. So far I am thrilled with this new program. It's really the best of both worlds. It's all done for you, so you just administer the program, it's somewhat online based, which is really convenient. The schedule is online, and assessments are taken online too. The kids are exposed to technology and Noah will even be learning some word processing this year. I love the art and music programs, as well as the Spanish that Noah is taking. It's flexible too, allowing you to move through lessons that your child already knows or go slower if the child needs more time.

We took a few pictures of the girls making their princess crowns. We read The Frog Prince together and then made the crowns, later we acted out the story. It really was fun.

Well, I have to run. Time to get ready for tomorrow and go to bed.

A full Day

So today was a good day. Mike and I got up, then got back in bed and watched the end of a program we recorded. We then got up again, made breakfast, dressed and took the kids to the Monterey Bay Aquarium to see their newest addition...a baby Great White Shark!! It was so neat to see one up close. She is just 4 feet long and 55 pounds, only 3 or 4 months old. So cool though!



We then headed out to a free lunch offered by our housing management company. The kids had their fair share of cookies and cheese. After finishing lunch we jetted off to the big Dennis the Menace Park for a event hosted by the kids school (CAVA)the California Virtual Academy. We met their teacher, and I had the chance to talk to some other parents using the program. I met a Dad that home schools his 3 children. They adopted the 3 kids, two from the Marshall Islands and one from Vietnam. It was so interesting to talk to him.

After an hour at the park, we went home for a couple hours and the kids played on a big blow up water slide. I had to pull them off and we hurried in to dress for Grace's soccer practice. She is doing amazingly well at this. She seems to have a natural knack for soccer. She dribbles the ball pretty well, and she scored a goal during the scrimmage and also successfully blocked the ball from the goal. The coach told her she did a great job! She was so happy with herself. I was pretty proud of her.

We then ate veggie tacos for dinner and put the kids in bed. I went in and found Maddie and Sulley all snuggled up asleep. I snapped a picture to capture the moment. It was so sweet, a perfect ending to a fun day!

My sister and I

I am not nearly as good at this blogging thing as Elizabeth, my sister, is but I am trying not to let that intimidate me from trying to get my thoughts out there. I just felt compelled to spend a few minutes on my sister. I am just so thankful for her. She is able to get me in a way few others can. She often knows just the right thing to say and it's awesome to have someone like that in my life.

She has a beautiful daughter, Isabella, and is struggling to add another sibling into the mix. She has suffered through multiple miscarriages and is able to keep her focus, determination and hope alive. I am so proud of her. She is a wonderful,patient,loving mother, and she has so much love to give. I know God has plans to bring another child into her life, and I pray it is soon!

The strange thing is I too am struggling to have another baby. I have secondary infertility. Apparently 60% of infertility problems are attributed to secondary infertility. My hubby and I have been trying for over a year,and despite our well timed efforts, haven't been able to conceive. It's hard to get much understanding in this department, as I already have 3 wonderful kids. The thing is we have always wanted to have four kids, and it's just as upsetting to not be able to get pregnant now as it would have been to not be able to have #2 or #3. We want a big family, so I am seeking a doctor's help. I have an appointment to get on clomid. I completed one round back in December, then Mike deployed and we went on break for 6 months. I'm ready to give it another try, and pray it does the trick this time!

Oh, and for the record I'm not stressed about getting pregnant, and worrying myself into infertility! If one more person suggests that, I need to not think about it and I'll get pregnant I'm going to freak! I started this process very confident that I would conceive, it wasn't until 6 months later that I began to get really concerned that something might be wrong. I'm not making myself infertile, trust me!!

Well, Elizabeth may be the only one who really reads this...you blog-a-holic you, so I hope you know I love you so much! I will cheer the loudest when you get pregnant and successfully carry the next baby!! I miss you!!

Haircuts all around

Well, we all went out yesterday and had our hair cut. It all started with Gracie, she decided she wanted to go shorter, and get a bob. I needed a hair cut too, and so did Noah, Maddie didn't want to be left out, so she had the ends trimmed and I had her give Madison so side swept bangs. Her bangs were growing out, and they were always in her face, so it is a big improvement. Grace is thrilled with her haircut, and can't stop looking at it in the mirror. She looks so cute!

It was good we all went to Super Cuts, or it could have cost a fortune!

Our house

Goodnight

I just had to share this sunset I snapped tonight. The sunsets have been really great lately, due in large part to the forest fires that are burning in Big Sur National Park. While the air quality may be bad the sunsets are glorious!

Returning Home

Yesterday we drove home from Southern California to our home in Monterey. It took about 6 hours. The kids had dvd players and headphones to keep them entertained. I drove so Mike could study. We hit some traffic in odd places due to "looky lous"...THANK-YOU! Why do people do that? Just keep moving...I mean slowing to 40mph in a 65 zone, really screws things up!

Anyway, we did pretty well, we only stopped to pee, once at McDonalds. The girls peed in a cup...yuck, once. We pulled off the road, as there was no where to go in site. It works and we didn't lose much time.

We have talked about the fog that hangs over Monterey much of the time. Well yesterday we took a picture of it. As we were approaching Monterey through Salinas. You can see the fog line off in the distance. Salinas was beautiful and sunny, and then we entered Monterey! The kids all screamed, "its the fog, we're home"!

Wild Women on Wine!

Okay, I had a great day yesterday! My nieces Dana and Elishia had planned a surprise birthday party for their mom, my sister-in-law Liz. We arrived at her house for mimosa's and bagles and surprised Liz. Liz watched a video tribute to her, made by a good friend of hers and then we went outside to the Cadallic Escalade stretch limo. Seventeen women piled inside and we drove to Temecula to go wine tasting. The first stop brought us to lunch and we had some good food and a great view of the vineyards.

Then we moved on to the first winery. We wine tasted some good stuff. I particularly liked the chocolate port, and the almond champange. At the second winery, Faulkner Winery, my favorite was a Reisling, it was so refreshing and fruity. I bought a bottle of that to take home and share with Mike. By the third winery I was feeling a little tired so I only had two more tastings, as I was afraid 5 would knock me out! We took lots of pictures before moving on the limo for the return trip home.

On the way home stories about Liz were read out loud for all to hear and enjoy. She opened some presents and we all had cupcakes. It was a perfect day! I truly enjoyed the whole experience! Thanks to Dana and Elishia for organizing the whole thing perfectly.

Today is Dana's 21st birthday! So Happy Birthday Dana! We love you!!

Southern California

Well we arrived in Southern California a little after midnight. Kids suddenly sprung to life after snoozing for about 2 1/2 hours. All I wanted to do was go to sleep. They all wanted to meet and greet. Fortunately most were asleep in the house, so there weren't too many to meet and greet with. We all slept in one room together. Mike and I in the bed, the kids on the floor on blankets, Maddie in her usual night time position...reclining on Sulley! She kept getting up and kissing me! It was sweet, but again, I was tired. I think she was a little out of sorts and unsure, so it made her feel better to get up and kiss my arm over and over again. She finally laid down and slept around 1:30am.

I woke around 7:30am to start the day. It so nice to see everyone, and the kids have a great time. Maddie at one point started hugging Grandma Mandel and then she'd run off and a few seconds later turn around and hug her again. It was so sweet. It really made me glad she can have this time with her Grandma. I really loved my Grandma, and miss her a lot. My kids are lucky to have two wonderful grandma's.

*Note for Picture below, where Maddie is sitting on Grandma's lap. Maddie was playing mom and baby with Grandma...Grandma had to be the baby! It was pretty funny!

This afternoon, I got a call from TMO, saying our stuff we requested from storage was not only out, but in a truck in Monterey and the driver wanted to deliver it now!! What?? Needless to say we aren't there, so they'll have to wait till Monday. In the mean time the driver said he will hang out in San Francisco and deliver on Monday morning! I hope my stuff arrives in one piece and not covered in Mold. **Fingers crossed**

So at this point I am gettting ready to head out on a date. Mike and I haven't gone out without kids since the day before he left for Iraq over 6 months ago! I'm excited for grown up time. We are going to go out for drinks and maybe and appetizer and just talk. Nice!

Well nothing profound here, its just a good day with family.

The day after my Birthday

I had a great birthday yesterday. The key was, I was proactive. I didn't wait for someone else to make my birthday special, I made it special! I woke up to receive a birthday phone call from my sister Elizabeth, which was great. Then I was handed an envelope from my daughter Grace. She had drawn me a picture of flowers in the rain, and it was so sweet, she also included a "gift". She had picked me out a couple pieces of sea glass from her stash and one pretty shell. We like to collect sea glass and have a nice collection from Hawaii. It was really so thoughtful of her. It gave me an idea. I decide that we would go to the beach that our neighbors had told us was full of sea glass and sea tile. So we set out at lunch time, right around the time Mike came home from school with a cake for me and a really nice card, plus 50 dollars to spend as I'd like. Noah didn't want to come, so it was just me and the girls. I then decided why not make it a girls day! We combed the beach for sea glass and pottery pieces, Grace just loved it and didn't want to leave. We spotted what looked like a pirate ship, and the girls called out to the pirates, we found a dead sea lion on the beach and we found a treasure map (actually burnt text book pages from a bon fire). Then we went to Target. I let them each pick out a nail polish color. We then went to Ross and I shopped for a dress and new shoes to match. We also bought Grace a cute pink coat. We returned home to freshen up and went out to dinner with Mike and Noah. We ate at El Torito right on Monterey Bay, it is one of my favorite restaurants here. The view is amazing and from the window beside the table we can watch seals, sea lions and sea otters swim by! When we arrived home we lit the candles on the cake and they sang "Happy Birthday". Afterwards the girls went upstairs and I painted all their toenails. It was like a little slumber party as they weren't in bed till 10pm! YIKES! It really was a great day!

The Start of it all

Well I will begin writing this blog on the day of my beginning, my Birthday! I'm 32 years young today, and feeling good. I am lucky to have a good family and good friends. I have no idea how to blog, or set up pages etc., but my sister Elizabeth started a blog and I thought it was a good idea. So here I am...blogging. I will post some pictures of my birthday, if we take some. Birthdays aren't what they used to be, are they?

I plan to leave after posting this and take the kids to the beach to find sea glass and then to Ross to shop for some clothes for my birthday present. Dad sent me some money, so I'm going to treat myself to a little trip to the store. I'll update more later. I just wanted to get something posted on my blog.