My hero!

In December Lucas and I celebrated our 14th anniversary. This last year honestly has been one of our hardest due to several factors out of our control. It's been one of those years that you're like what's next. We know God has a plan but He's not sharing it with us.

Yesterday after an appointment for one of the boys I came out and my car wouldn't start. One of the doctors in the office came out and tried to jump start it for us but it didn't work so we left it there and he gave us a ride home. We were going to try and walk but it was poring and we live clear across town. I was very thankful for the ride.

After Lucas got off work we went to get my car. Did you know that the battery in a Bonneville is under the back seat. We do now. Any ways, it took a while before we could start my car. This isn't the first time Lucas has come to my rescue when it comes to car problems. My car broke down the first time we met. I was in the middle of no where and he came and got me.

I felt bad that he had to deal with this after work but he didn't complain once. Car trouble is the last thing we need right now and not sure how we will pay for the repairs. The last 12 months or so has been rough and while I have complained plenty and had several hearts to hearts with God, Lucas has plugged away doing the best he can. Some days I forget how truly blessed I am to have him by my side.

Monday Morning Musing

I am a alarm clock, butt wiper, chauffeur, cheerleader, chore delegate, concierge, confidante, cook, correctional officer, counselor, crossing guard, dentist, diplomat, disc jockey, domestic engineering, entertainer, expectation manager, fashion stylist, general manager of chaos, hairdresser, homework adviser, housekeeper, hygiene consultant, internet safety monitor, inventory manager, juggler, laundry goddess, lost and found attendant, magician, monster killer, nutritionist, nurse, paramedic, party planner, peace keeper, personal assistant, photographer, purchasing agent, recreation director, referee, reference librarian, relationship specialist, repair person, shepherd, snuggler,  story teller, teacher, etc, etc, etc,

My kids call me Mom. 

Nate the Great Blog Spot - ME

Hi, I’m Nathanial. I am eleven. I am the oldest out of three. I like reading, playing video games, and watching TV. My favorite book is Harry Potter. My favorite show is Doctor Who. And my favorite Video game is Lego Marvel Super Heroes. But I also play Minecraft. I play Minecraft with or without mods. Most of the time I play on my dad’s private modded server. If you would like to watch some videos with that modpack you can go to 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOBJziNoecw&list=PL7j0JO-w0xWnL7ur9Q-fhimpoYcVQFxflThis is done by one of my favorite YouTubers. My dad and nanny also watch this YouTuber. But that is all I am going to tell you about me until the next post. So good bye for now. -Nate 

Kassie's Dos

I absolutely love having a daughter. With my boys sporting a military cut and crew cut there isn't much I can do with their hair, not that they would let me anyway. When she was younger we had names for her hairdos and now she does, it's so funny asking her how she wants her hair for the day. Did I mention I love having a daughter.

This was very popular when she she had shorter hair, it helped get it out of her eyes.
This is the Cindy Loo Do.

This is the mohawk do and the drowned rat. Love bathtime.

Another popular one for getting the hair out of her eyes, the Whale Tale Do.

Here is Kassie just free styling the do. 

Who doesn't love cute barrettes when she leaves them in her hair. She does have to make sure they match something that she is wearing.

The Smurf Do, I bought chalk for my hair and it didn't show up very well but she loved it in her hair. We have also done pink.

Her favorite movie is Frozen. She says this is her Elsa Do.

 I asked her today if she wanted Low Piggies or High Piggies,  She said she wanted Flying Piggies.  Guess those are High piggies. :)

 

First Day of School - Lake Day

Yesterday my Facebook feed was full of photos of kids going back to school and mom's being able to relax
for a bit. So for the first day of school we went to Foster Lake with other homeschoolers. This was the way we celebrated back to school and the way I relaxed. Oh and with it being Timmy's, I'm sorry, Tim's Birthday and since we have Nate's tomorrow we took the cake to share since we really didn't need all the cake at own home.

Introducing Nate the Great's Blog Spot

This is my wonderful first born Nathanial. He is almost 11 and in the 5th grade. He does online schooling and loves minecraft. I have decided to let him write on the blog. He will introduce himself later but I wanted to share his poem. One of his assignments was to write a poem about something he likes. Who says minecraft can't be educational. Last year he wrote a paper that I hope to find and share with you. Next time you will actually hear from him yourselves.

Creepers

You come into this world.

You kill our pet cows and pigs.

You steal our valuables.

You kill our brothers and sisters.

You take our land to build your structures.

Yet, you still wonder why we get mad.

Party Time !!!!

Kassie was so excited with all her guests that came to here party. They got to make their own crowns and some even dressed up in their royal attire. The cake turned out awesome. I am so excited. I don't do cakes much and usually outsource my kids cakes but had so much fun doing it. Sofia the first was the inspiration. For fun they played nerf guns because what girl in a princess dress doesn't like chasing her brothers with nerf guns. Oh and you can't have Sopia without Cedric so Nathanial dressed up and the Royal Sorcerer and even did a magic trick. 

My Princess

Kassie's Birthday

My beautiful baby girl is 3 today. She is growing so fast. Her party is this weekend but we had a small party today.

 

 

Beware, Winky is Back

I am not sure Santa got my letter pleading for him to either not send an elf this year or to send any elf but Winky. Winky has been terrorizing our house for the last several years. Then the note arrived saying Winky was on his way. My plan to intercept him and to mail him back to the North Pole. Saturday the boys found a letter on the front step from Santa announcing Winky arrival, but no Winky. The boys looked every where and couldn't find the darn elf. Later, after we had forgotten about him, I figured he got lost in travel and ended up an another family's house, too bad for them. 

After dinner we started getting out the Christmas Decorations. Lucas bought me a new tree to replace the one that got ruined over the summer. The boys opened it and started laughing. I guess Winky knew if I had come across him first he had a first class trip home so he decided to hide in with the Christmas tree. So far he has behaved but we did find him this morning with the headset on surfing Youtube. 

Black Friday

So it has been years since I have participated in the madness of Black Friday. There has just been nothing that was really worth it to get up that early and stand in line. I worked for Walmart for two years and was very lucky to never work Black Friday morning. 

This year we decided to brave Home Depot. They had an awesome Christmas tree on sale, a long with other stuff. So we arrived at 4:50 am and the line was already clear across the front of their building. I was actually surprised at the line. The last time I did this it was at Target and there was more of a mob in front of the doors and not a line. 

Shortly after we arrived there was a few Home Depot employees walking down the line with coffee and cups in hand. It was freezing outside and they were all smiles. Donuts followed the coffee. On our way inside the store we discover that the first thirty feet of the line they had set up patio heaters for the people in line to stay warm. Talk about above and beyond. 

There was no pushing or shoving. We were greeted by several employees and did not find a grumpy one in the store. Check out was a breeze. I am not sure if this is the same with the other stores but Albany Home Depot does Black Friday right and takes care of their customers. I would definitely consider braving black Friday there again. 

I want what I want.

For those who follow me on Facebook you might have heard that the head gasket in my minivan blew. This is neither a simple fix nor an inexpensive one. Our mechanic shook his head and recommended that we take it home and park it. This is how my week started. Mondays are bad enough without added stressers. The rest of the day was spent canceling appointments and rearranging things so I wouldn’t have to drive anywhere for at least a week. Knowing on Monday that I would not have a car for the rest of the week was not fun for me. I like being able to run errands and escape my house every now and then. It also cost me a photo shoot.

Anyway, fast forward to Saturday morning. As much and a new car (new to us) was not in the budget only having one car really isn't an option. Lucas works in Salem and I had to borrow a car to go to work on Friday. I knew what I wanted; this was my chance to upgrade my van, if the price is right. After all there are six of us so we need a van.

The van I had my heart set on wasn't all I thought it would be. It was okay but I didn’t fall in love with it. The van I have been driving for eight years has extra features that I have become accustom too. Isn’t it fascinating how we do that, we have it good and think that’s how it should be. Not only that but that’s what we want. The van we looked at was a base model and a thousand over what I really wanted to spend, but it was a minivan.

Lucas wasn’t sold on the minivan and honestly neither was I but seemed like our best option even though it was more than what I wanted to finance. So we looked at some PT Cruisers and while they were nice had similar mpg as the minivans. It only seated 5 and was the same price. We did discuss it for a minute then another car caught Lucas’ eye. A 2002 Pontiac Bonneville that had a bunch of bells, better mpg and whistles was under our budget. The problem was that it didn’t seat more than five and it wasn’t the minivan that I had wanted. He took it for a test drive while I sat in the passenger seat fuming. I knew I had lost and the minivan replacement was not going to be a minivan. After all the Bonneville was the perfect blend of a guy car and sedan rolled into one. Did I mention it has turbo boosters?

We went out to breakfast to discuss the choice that at this point really wasn’t a choice. I told him that we would just get the Bonneville which we did wind up doing. I was fairly upset but Lucas had a shiny new car.

Well Sunday I had to drive it for work. It’s actually a fun car to drive and while I didn’t get my minivan we actually did okay. We were able to talk down the price a little bit and didn’t have to finance as much as we thought we would. While it doesn’t fit all six of us we can still take two cars if we need to.

The lesson if you’re still reading this is while I want what I want, it’s not always what I need. When will I learn. 

Cub Scouts and Bridges

It was a no school day so our Pack had scheduled a field trip to see Portland's Bridges. Timmy rode the train with his den, Nate and I decided we wanted to drive up so we did. I have learned to cherish the time spent with my children individually. Nate has quite the sense of humor and when we are not butting heads he is pretty fun to be around. We got to Omsi and walked to meet our group. It was a lot of fun. Maybe we will all ride the train next time. 

The older kids were able to go underneath the bridge while the younger ones stayed on top. They were able to see what happens when the bridges open. It was really cool.