Camping Trip

We are alive! We all survived our camping trip! We're unpacked, I'm on my 6th load of laundry, and I have clean children back in school. Ahh...civilization!
Actually, the weekend was a lot of fun. I took ton's of pictures (but my battery is dead so I'll upload later) and we really had a fun time. It's always great to spend time with my family.
Friday night Arron was there with Shondra but she had to work all weekend so that was all we saw of her. Troy and Zach came up with us and Mom and Dad were already there. We made S'mores after Alex and Rylee scrounged enough firewood to start a fire. (That was just ONE of the many things I forgot to think about packing!)
Saturday, Kammy and her kids arrived and Jeff came bringing his jet ski's. Saturday was rainy the minute we woke up. I have a hilarious picture of my Mom cooking breakfast under her pink umbrella. Then Dad put up the canopy and we all huddled under it together and enjoyed bacon and eggs and pastries. (One thing about vacationing with my family...we never go hungry!)
We waited until after lunch for the weather to clear and then took the boats out and did a little tubing but it got so choppy and then the thunder and lightening started so we pulled the boats off the lake mid afternoon. Alleeny (pronounced Ahh lean ee), Jeff's girlfriend/friend came up and Bill, Kam's husband for the night. We taught Alex how to play Mexican Train Domino's and even though he ended up losing, he stuck it out and didn't cry. We are making strides!
That night Kambree and Devree had talked me into bringing ingredients for S'moreritto's. Something they had discovered this year at Girls Camp. You take a flour tortilla, spread Nuttala on it and then chocolate chips, marshmallows, butterscotch chips and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, wrap it in tin foil and throw it in the coals and then waalaa...you have a S'moreretto! It was very sweet and gooey and probably made all our blood sugars soar! ( I still think S'mores are better!)
Sunday morning the weather was better-which Alex pointed out-he had prayed for in his prayer the night before. We waiting until after lunch again and then took the boats out and this time we really spent some time on the lake. Kambree wake boarded behind Arron's boat and Austin attempted it a few times. Then we switched over to Dad's boat and I made Alex tube with me. He did not really want to go. He's so very skinny that he shivers and shakes the minute he gets wet so we took an old wet suit and cut the legs off and he wore that. He was pretty much terrified about going on the tube but bless his heart, he did it! He was white knuckled the whole time and I rode right beside him whooping and trying to get him to loosen up, he did laugh a little and say he was having fun then Dad had to slow down for a big wave and we had a lot of water come over the tube and I knew he wouldn't be able to stay on so I dropped off so I would be with with him and sure enough he fell off and came up all sputtering and panicky. I was about two stokes behind him and grabbed his ankle to let him know I was right here with him and he's just screaming and motioning to his hand where I can see two tiny scratches and he's crying and carrying on. Oh my. I assure him he's all right and Grandpa will be back. I would not let him get hurt. We would never leave him in the water and on and on...he keeps crying. So I tell him he needs to calm down, and toughen up, this is nothing to get so frightened about. He calms down a bit before the boat gets back then he gets back in the boat. He's had enough. Kambree was on the other tube and she and I get back on and we have a blast! When we had Alex Dad was just leisure driving knowing it was his first time and all but with Kambree and I we're going fast and out of the wake and we have some great wipe outs! Alex is observing this from the boat with eyes of wonder. (Hum, perhaps he should have observed before I made him get in?) Then I switch out with Austin and let the games begin! One thing about our kids, they are not wimps! We've been boating since they were babies. Austin would get flipped upside down on his tube/rocket thing and not let go and flip back over and still be on. I would yell "He's down!" and Dad would begin to stop and then I'd yell "Never mind, he's still on!" Austin told me. "Don't say I'm down until you see my hands leave the straps!" Kambree is just as tough. In fact Kam was the first in the water and the last out. Rylee and Devree had already tubed while we were on the other boat and they can hold their own too. Alex was in awe. I don't doubt in time that he'll be out there just as tough and laughing as the other kids.
That night was my dinner and we made Hawaiian Haystacks and I'm not a believer in Mom doing all the work so all five of my kids helped prepare and clean up. Arron asked if he could take Alex out on the boat for some fishing after dinner and Alex was beaming. He went with my two brothers and Alleeny (who all speak Portuguese) and my brother Troy (who speaks Chinese) and Troy told them if they get pulled over by the fish cops to all just speak their languages-including Alex in Russian. I think this made Alex feel so apart and included. He came back to camp telling me Chinese phrases. Great Troy! Let's let him learn one language at a time. They didn't catch any fish but had a fun time.
Dad taught my girls to play Hearts and they spent hours playing cards. The rest of us played Progressive Rummy and Scum. Two of our favorite card games. Kambree and Devree tried to teach us Egyptian Rat Screw. (What a terrible name.) And the boys threw the football a lot!
Kam had brought up firewood and Alex enjoyed hatching it up into kindling. He's really a good camper and very ingenious. The second night we ran out of battery in the trailer and were getting ready for bed via flashlight light. Alex tells me it would work better if we could hang the flashlight up rather than hold it but I tell him there's nothing to hang it on. Minutes later he's rigged something up so the flashlight can hang from the ceiling.
Austin has two more nicknames. Dad called him Augitha and Kammy came up with Polar Boy as he would wander around with the polar bear fleece tied around his neck like a cape. Austin is a riot and made us laugh the whole trip.
Alex could not remember my brothers names or keep them straight so he called everyone "Troy's brother". But he wasn't sure which one was Troy either. This is funny in it's own right but even more so because Austin couldn't keep them straight when he was little either and just referred to them all as "The Uncles."
Rylee really got into playing cards and of course fell asleep on the boat while we were tubing. We decided we should call the boat "Rock a Bye Rylee" as she has such a hard time staying awake on it. It put Sydni to sleep too.
Devree played lots of cards and showered every night back up at camp-she always smells good. Towards the end of our trip she got a little cold. She took some cold medicine last night but got up and went to school this morning. I knew she would, that girl loves school. If it had been Austin (or probably Alex) he would have pleaded to stay home.
Troy shared a funny story about his son Zach. Zach is four and featured in my side bar because he say's such funny things but I told Troy I'd write this up in my journal so we can always remember it. Apparently, Zach was playing out on the truck and somehow fell and hurt his boy parts. He was crying and clutching himself and tells Troy "I hurt my weinards!" Poor, funny, little boy. He also when waving goodbye to a large man on Troy's softball team said "Goodbye chubby man!" All Troy could do is laugh.
Monday we got up and ate breakfast and packed up camp then went to a Nature Center over at Rock Cliff. Then we headed for home. All in all it was a fun weekend and great to get away from it all.
Alex had an incident at school Friday with his spelling test and cheating and then he wasn't truthful with me about it when he got home. I was very calm and sent him to his room to think about it for a few minutes I went up to talk to him about it. Keep in mind the last thing I told him was before he left for school was that I don't care how poorly he does, it's okay-just do his best. Besides, he knows cheating is wrong. He even told his teacher he knew it was wrong. (And wanted to know if she was going to hit him with a stick like the teacher do in Ukraine!) I asked him what he would do if he had a little boy that cheated and lied and he told me he'd send him to his room and talk to him. (What were were doing) But I decided he needed to write a letter to his teacher and to me and apologizing for cheating and lying. I gave him paper and a pencil and his Ukraine dictionary and told him to look up the words he didn't know. When he was done he could come down and help us finish packing for camping. He was heartbroken about it but started the task immediately. This is exactly what he wrote to me:
Mam i love ouy so man a em sorry I to uoy that i sead i no sead to uoy bad vord I aem sorry agen sorry sorry sorry (and then add about twenty more sorry's).
I asked him to read it to me and here is what he meant:
Mom, I love you so much. I am sorry for the bad words I said. I am sorry that I lied. I am sorry again. Sorry.....
Not bad. I wrote down the translation for his teacher's letter and then had him copy it correctly and sent all three drafts to her. She called and told me that he gave it to her first thing this morning and she's got a new plan for teaching him and we'll just start fresh today. When Alex left for school I asked him how he was going to do in school today and he said "No cheating." Good, I said and kissed him on the forehead. I just want you to do your best. That's all. No cheating. He nodded.
Whew...everyday is a lesson either for me or Alex or someone! I wonder what today will bring?

Journal

Well, hold on to your hats, I-Wendy mother of five, wife to James (also know as Nature Boy) and lover of indoor plumbing, hot water and flushing toilets am taking my five children camping this weekend....without James!!
Why? Not super sure but something to do with the fact that we have not vacationed AT ALL this summer, haven't once been pulled behind my Dad's boat-be it on ski's or tubes-and this is the last weekend we can possibly go.
Now, don't be thinking me too heroic. I've recruited my family to go with me. My parents, my brothers and my sisters family are joining us for this fun filled weekend. Troy is pulling the Taj-our camping trailer that is named after the Taj Mahal-not for it's perfect symmetry and beauty but because it's just HUGE-it sleeps nine. We are co-owners of this trailer with my brother Troy-who drags it up to Parker Mountain each hunting season where it freezes & falls apart. We occasionally hook it up to Moby-our great white whale crew cab Ford pick up-and take it camping. Who cleans it? Me. Who repairs it? James and sometimes my Dad-because it's usually the deer hunters that break it-and who stores it? We do.
So, we (Rylee and Alex and I) managed to get the two inches of deer hunting dirt off the floor and counter tops and Troy has it hooked up and we're heading out after work hours today. I've got to finish baking and packing. Not too sure about going without James as I don't even know how to work the lantern or where it is or any of those little camping details. Yep, this will be an adventure.
Alex is so excited, he's been counting down the days until we leave. I think everyone is excited (except maybe me) but he doesn't keep his excitement under wraps. I hope he's not disappointed. He asked me what we will do while camping and I told him we'd ride in the boat, water ski, play games and if he wants he can bring a fishing pole. He told me "No own my." Which translated means "I don't have my own fishing pole." (I'm getting really good at Ukranglish!) I told him I'm sure he can use one of his Dad's.
This morning we talked about looking around and taking notice of things before asking questions. I was making FOUR peanut butter sandwiches when Alex came up and said "No me peanut butter." I said "Alex, how many sandwiches do you see me making?" "Four" "How many children do I have?" "Five." "Do you think I'm making you a peanut butter sandwich?" "No." Then I told him he could help me and gave him stuff to make himself a bologna sandwich. This may sound stupid but he's always asking me obvious questions that just require a slight observation for an obvious answer.
I'm worried about him at school today. We did a practice spelling test last night and he missed 15 out of 20 and as mentioned his vocabulary is VERY hard. I told him that if he does poorly-that's okay, we'll just keep working on it. I made him promise no matter how he does to not cry. He can come home and cry with me. He agreed.
I also gave him back his DS to charge for the trip. He's been without it for a week due to our trust issues of him sneaking it into bed and playing it when he's suppose to be asleep.
I realize that about 75-90% of my blog is about Alex as he takes up about 75-90% of my time and attention. We talked about this at our parent lunch this week. When we started this journey of bringing Alex home I was so focused on just that, bringing him home that I gave very little thought to what life would be like once he was home. It's not that this isn't what I thought it would be like, it's that I really never thought about what it would be like. I think I just imagined rosy times of him marveling and loving his new life here and all of us just happy as clams. I didn't think about the nitty-gritty day to day obstacles we'd face or the basic principles of living in a family that he would be lacking. If you've followed my blog faithfully-I may have lead you astray. I seem to only blog about the sweet things, or the funny things although I have thrown in a few of the things we have issues with (like baths, shoes on the couch, trust, etc) but I'll be honest, THE FIRST COUPLE OF MONTHS HAVE BEEN VERY HARD! And even now after four months we sometimes have HARD days. I expect a lot and he has no idea what to expect. I try hard to think about his point of view and limited understanding but I know I'm tougher on him then I am on my other children. Not because I want to be but that I'm trying to teach him all that he missed in his first 10 almost 11 years of life. I am blunt, I am to the point and I don't mince words or consequences with Alex. He doesn't always understand but nods and I think he understands and then repeats the wrong behavior the next day. He gets angry, cries, won't look at me and the worst is he won't talk or try to tell me how he feels or express his point of view. The first week he was here I sent him to his room for hurting Rylee's feelings and he scratched himself out of our family picture he had on his dresser. That was a little dramatic. He's hid from me, stomped off and thrown things around. He can talk so harsh that it makes my eyes water and he demands equality that he has yet to deserve. He's often self absorbed and seems to only want to have fun. He's always comparing and overly concerned with his siblings and what privileges and belongings they have and he monopolizes James and his time.
But in the same breath, truth be told, I have a very loving, eager to please little boy that carries very little baggage despite his rough start. He has no qualms accepting me as his mother and James as his father. He's generous to a fault. He's kind to animals and babies. He's willing to try new things and although he sighs and groans and would avoid studying if it were not for my constant reminders, he does study. He's the first to get his job done and the first to run and get things from food storage or grandmas house. He tells me each day when he throws his arms around me after school, "I miss-ed you." He wants so badly to be an "American boy" to fit in and belong. Don't we all want to belong? How hard it would be to feel so foreign, to have such different taste, and life experiences. I often think about how long I spent in Ukraine and what a hassle and time consuming process it was how I couldn't understand the rules, the language, the weird food, everything but I realize that was just a taste of what my little boy has to deal with on a day to day bases and he's handling it so much better than I could.
Last night I made sugar cookies for our trip and I was rolling them out while talking with my Mom. The last time I made sugar cookies with Alex was the 1st day he was in our home last October. My other children were snitching the dough and I pinched some off to give him a taste. He put it in his mouth and than spit it right out back into my bowl made a retching sound and a terrible face. I reminded him of this last night as he snitched his third helping of dough right along with the rest of the kids and he laughed. Looking back at that lost little boy that spit in my bowl to the happy sweet child that sits before me now pleading for just one more taste was one of those rosy & marveling moments that I had envisioned.
Despite the difficulties, the drama and the tears, Alex is ours and he is home...

Journal

What do the word's malevolent, malignant, malodorous, malady and malpractice all have in common?....
They are Alex's vocabulary words this week.
Wow. Could we just start with male, mall and perhaps mammal? Good grief.
This week we also started the missionary discussions. Elder Lavina (Whom we met in the mall in Kiev in April when I frantically flagged down him and his companion across the food court) came home in May and he came to translate. It went well. Our missionary's (Elder Gregory and Elder Hipwell) are a little zealous and challenged Alex to be baptized on September 12th. Alex sort of nodded but I'm not going for that. This isn't a race. He's not going anywhere. We're going to slow things down take the discussions once a week and if and when Alex is ready to be baptised then we'll go from there. I made it perfectly clear that baptism is his choice, that if he does or doesn't get baptized we will love him the same. The missionary's talked to him about the Holy Ghost and praying and to pray about the decision to be baptised. It was great to have the translator explain some of the Church words to him. Like priesthood and what exactly baptism is (Alex thought it was crossing himself and or like when we were sprinkled by the priest during the blessing of the Easter feast.) Alex impressed the missionary's when he pointed out that the man Jesus is laying his hands on in the pamphlet is the same guy that came to Joseph Smith. (Peter as in Peter, James and John) The missionary's mouths dropped open. I explained, "Well, he has been to primary for four months!"
That night I tucked him into bed and asked if said his prayers. No. He said. I asked if he'd like to say prayers with me or by himself. Myself. That was a first. So I kissed him goodnight and turned off the lights and stood outside his door. I wasn't really eavesdropping because even when kneeling beside him it's hard to understand his words but he did spend a few minutes saying his prayers and they didn't seem as rushed as they have been recently. The next day while combing his hair for school I asked how he felt about being baptised. "Good." he said. And that was it. Well, we will see. I want to make sure he understands and that he is joining the Church on his own accord and not to please us.
Yesterday I dropped him off for soccer practice and he was pretty concerned about when and where I would be picking him up. I told him I'd pick him up right here by the blue garbage can at six. He then rambled on about what if a car is here and he can't find me and on and on and I held his cute face between my hands and looked into his eyes and said. "Alex I love you too much to leave you or forget you, I WILL be here at six." He seemed okay with that answer and ran off to practice with his team. I ran to the grocery store and kept looking at the clock on my cell phone, I knew I needed to be on time and not a minute late. I made it with 3 minutes to spare and he skipped to the car announcing, "Me say you funny story okay mom?" And proceeded to tell me through words, pantomime and sound effects about kicking the ball so far and tripping one of his team mates. I'm sure it was funny but I didn't really get why but I laughed along with him all the same. He then said "Practice great!"
I had talked to his teacher during the day and she mentioned that he had been upset with a boy that had been bothering him and that he very clearly and agitated said "STOP TOUCHING ME!" to this boy. The teacher told him that he was in the right to tell this boy to stop touching him. I asked him about the incident on the way to soccer practice. He told me this boy always pokes him and touches him. I asked "Why do you think he does that?" Alex said "Cause he's annoying!" Annoying? Not bad word usage for just four months in the country!
I also made fudge yesterday. Kambree and I had a need for fudge so I just made quick microwave fudge and introduced Alex to it. I wasn't sure how he'd like it as he's not a big chocolate fan. He was concerned that I didn't put it in the oven and bake it and surprised when I gave him a warm spoonful but quickly told me after tasting it that he likes it and he could eat the whole pan. I told him he may have two spoonfuls or he will get sick so he instructed each of his siblings as they approached the fudge "Mom say two spoons."
Then last night when heading up to his bath I asked if he needed me to come in and wash his hair and make sure he's using soap. "No!" he said. Then he changed his mind. "Mom, you shower me?" "You want me to come give you a bath?" "Yes." I told him to get the water started and I'd be up, then while bathing him I asked "Why do you want me to give you a bath?" He shrugs. Then I said "It's nice to have someone wash your back isn't it?" "Yes." he says. I think he just hasn't had enough touch and love in his little life. I scrubbed his hair, washed his back, chest and limbs and then told him I'd leave so he could wash his boy parts (he stays covered up under a washcloth while I'm in the bathroom with him). He told me "You no see my little thing." I said, "No I will not look at 'your little thing'." and then I told him the proper name for his "little thing" but he said he doesn't like that word and just wants to call it his "little thing" I had a hard time not laughing right on the spot but I suppressed my laughter until I got out and shut the door. Yes, I know this is probably something he would be mortified to know I was blogging about but it's just too dang funny!
He's some more Alexisms:
Alex: My sheep says..
Me: Your sheep?
Alex: Yes, my soccer sheep.
Me: Do you mean soccer coach?
Alex: Yes, my soccer coach.
Then I explain what a sheep is and he starts to giggle.
Alex: Me hot. Me take off uhh.... (pointing to shin guards on his legs after his soccer game)
Me: Okay, you can take them off if you can tell me what they're called.
Alex: Uhmm.....shits?
Me: Close. SHIN guards. Shits is not a nice word. It's a swear word.
Rylee: (laughing hysterically and rolling on the blanket next to him!)
Then last night while he's sitting on my lap while I was TRYING to teach/go over/make some sort of explanation of a few of his vocabulary words, out of the corner of my eye I could see him looking at me with this penetrating, glassy look. Really deep like.
Me: Alex, why are you looking at me like that?
(Assuming he was struggling with my explanations-heaven knows I was struggling to come up with them!)
Alex: Cause I loves you.

The battle of the bath!

Just when I think Alex has conquered his aversion to baths and cleanliness-I am wrong.
Saturday night after a sweaty soccer game, jumping on the trampoline, playing outside and then sweating up a storm at Classic Skating Alex took his bath. Since our issues in the past he makes it a ritual to come and let me smell his hair and usually shows me a soap smelling arm that I sniff for approval. Saturday night after his bath his hair didn't smell as fresh and clean as normal but I had just cleaned out the bathroom cabinet and combined a lot of odds and ends of shampoos into the bottle so maybe my concoction just wasn't as sweet smelling as before? I shrug it off.
Sunday morning while my boys are waiting for me to iron their Sunday clothes they begin running around hitting each other with pillows so I send them out to the trampoline to take their rough housing outside. They come in slightly sweaty but someone does not smell good. Not body order just outdoors dirty smell. Austin asks if it's him, I sniff. No. Then Alex walks up and YES it is him. Back in the tub Alex. He grunts but goes unwilling back to the bath. When combing his hair for church it's sort of stiff-like from the chlorine when he swims-I sort of shrug that off too. Maybe there's still chlorine left in it?
Later that day we had a bbq at my sisters where Alex again jumps on the trampoline and rides his scooter too and from so of course he is dismayed when I tell him it's time for yet another bath. He groans tries to protest but there's no persuading me to tuck a dirty, sweaty boy into a clean bed at night. So I hear the water run and then he comes down and has me sniff his hair-it's just not smelling or even feeling clean. I smell his arm. Soap there. I ask to smell his tummy. He's face looks aghast and he groans so I send him back up and tell him this time use soap all over! He comes back down proudly pulls up his shirt for the tummy sniff and I ask to smell his leg. "Leg??" he groans and stomps out starting to cry on his way back upstairs to the bath. What the heck? I invite myself into the bathroom and using our method of covering his privates with a washcloth I soap us his back and limbs and scrub his neck, knees and feet with a scrubby then I get the hand held shower down and do his hair which suds up when I first rinse it. Ah ha! He's only been wetting his hair and adding shampoo to it to pass my sniffing test! No wonder. I supervise the washing of the rest of him! All the while I'm telling him about if he would use soap, he wouldn't smell when he sweats and wouldn't that be easier than faking three baths? He agrees. Then I explain that I must love him to want him to be clean because if I didn't, I wouldn't care if he was dirty or stinky. He agrees that I love him. And once again I have one squeaky clean boy with sweet smelling hair and a shinny nose. I"m happy to report that unlike times in the past, I did not get angry and the night ended with lots of kisses, hugs and giggles. In fact he got up after his tuck in for "one more hug" I told him he could have as many as he likes when he's nice and clean. He told me he needed six hundred thousand!

August Hodge Podge...

Birthday Kids

Kam and her Barbie Cake

Cousins!

Raging Waters!

Austin was also at Raging Waters but just not photogenic?
Dev

Kam & Ella

Kam in MY glasses from high school (without lenses!)

Modeling her new backpack!

Rylee and Alex attempting to get in the kiddie car @ Smiths

And Kam right after dancing with MDC- modeling her $160 PLT Sweater!! (Good grief!)

Focus...

A sweet friend and client of mine is going through a terrible ordeal with her little boy. He has had a ruptured appendix. He's been very sick and had a couple surgery's and needs yet another. He's in ICU at Primary's and she's been blogging on Primary blog site Carepages. Each time she post I get an email that's she's made an update so I've been following his ordeal closely. It's been very scary. Today she made this statement:

I went to back to school night. I thought I could handle it, but I cried a lot. It was hard to remember what I once thought was important and to see how trivial it all is. I can't really focus on education when we are still focusing on living.
Isn't that so true? When the rug is pulled out from under you all of a sudden the things you worry about on a day to day bases become so trivial. Who cares who drank the last of the milk and didn't tell me, who cares if you're watching TV when the new structured schedule say's "screens off at eight pm", who cares if Kambree borrows Devree's shirt without asking, who cares if Alex erases Rylee's top level on the DS, who cares if the car is broken, we're eating leftovers for dinner or I need to get my hair colored....badly! None of that matters when you're"focusing on living". Granted (and thank heavens) no one in my family is going through a terrible ordeal like my friends little boy and I do realize there needs to be a balance in all things. I can't just play Candy Land and jump on the trampoline with my children all day and never get my work done, buy groceries, do laundry or prepare meals but perhaps I could put those lower on my list of priority's and realize how precious life is? (Although the idea of playing Candy Land and jumping on the tramp seem a bit torturous on my part!)
How grateful I should be just for basic things like:
#1 My health-no I'm not a size five but I'm healthy!
#2 My loving husband that works so hard and far away to see that we are provided for and who for some odd reason loves me-despite my shortcomings.
#3 My friends-especially the ones that get up early and exercise with me, I wouldn't have my #1 blessing without them. I love our early morning rants and discussions about just about everything! I can't decide if it's the physical or mental health they help me with the most!
#4 My healthy and happy children-No, they're not perfect, they fight, they disobey, they say unkind things, they can eat a whole pan of cookies in one night, but they're good kids with healthy happy dispositions and full of promise and hope.
#5 My extended family-I don't know about these peope that "haven't talked to my sister in three years" what the heck? I feel bad when I don't talk to my sister for three days-and not because we're fighting just because we're busy. My mom lives down the street and I love that. All my siblings live close and even though I don't see and/or talk to my brothers-like my sister I at least talk to them monthly and we get together for almost every holiday and special event. I can't imagine not having my family around and close. I'm blessed as well to have a sister-cousin that calls me regularly and James brother Jake and his cute family. We don't see them too much but when we do, we love being with them.
#6 The Gospel. Yep, I love the direction and the peace that the Gospel brings to my life.
#7 My blogging outlet-where I can ramble on and on....
So for today, I'm going to focus on living. Well, right after I go to my real estate class, finish the laundry-so Alex has clean soccer socks for his game tonight-and figure out how to get everyone to rehearsals, soccer, dance and back to school night. Hum...maybe I just need to focus on breathing?

Daily Stuff

I've been making my kids sack lunches for school. In my quest to be frugal and thrifty I've determined that buying school lunch will cost close to $200 a month for five children! Now, if this would reduce my grocery budget $200 a month that would not be a problem, but it does not! I've decided I can pack lunches for all five around four-five dollars a day! And since a day of school lunch is $9.20 cents for all five children, I've resigned to the fact that making lunches will be a regular occurrence each morning. Thank goodness my kids LIKE sack lunches better than school lunches.
So, I'm making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches yesterday (as I was out of mayo for ham or tuna) but knowing Alex has yet to acquire a taste for peanut butter I planned on packing him a mayo-less ham sandwich. I was spreading the peanut butter and he was watching and then in this little tiny pleading voice he says, "Mom, please me no peanut butter?" I wish I had an audio recording so you could hear how sweet it was. I assured him that I knew he didn't like peanut butter and showed him the ham I had out for his sandwich.
Alex and Ry started soccer this week. They have practices on the same day a half hour apart at two different schools and games on the same day often times at the same time at two different schools. Good grief! On my desk calendar I keep every appointment, class and commitment-and if it's not on there don't expect me or any of my off spring to be there. For lack of space, I use each child's first initial like 3:00 D@ Rehearsal, 5:30 R @ Dance but since Alex and Austin have the same first initial I've decided to use an X for Alex. I'm not use to seeing 5:00 X @ soccer it makes me think of X the Owl from Mr. Rogers. (Does that date me?) I hope I get use to my new system as having two A's is just not going to work!
Alex is liking school. The first day he said "Great, great, great day!" Apparently he had to draw on a "paper" cookie all the things that he liked to do and then his teacher gave the class real cookies, he thought that was awesome! Today the novelty has worn off a bit and he said school was "a little great."
James is back to work. Boo. He asked me to blog about the ordeal he had with his car as a public service to anyone who might have the same problem. So here goes (insert sound of throat clearing here):
So, he and Rylee were heading to Mnt Pleasant last Friday and he got pulled over for an expired registration. Not just a few days expired almost TEN MONTHS expired. (Please note, we are normally law abiding, on time registration, tax paying citizens, how this happened is still beyond us!) Thank heavens our sweet but terrified Rylee was with him. I think the officer took pity on impounding his car and leaving this father and trembling daughter on the side of the road. However, he did write a citation-who knows how much that will cost?! James came right back home and switch cars. Somehow last OCTOBER we did not receive a registration which apparently are just a "courtesy" from the State and as we have SIX registered vehicles (when you count the scooter, trailer and Moby-the big white whale four wheel drive truck that is currently NOT licensed and we ARE aware of) we some how overlooked registering the car that's on the road more than any other. (Which is so funny because James was just pointing out a scooter ahead of us with an expired sticker and here he is driving around with his sticker TEN MONTHS OUT!) According to the trooper this is OUR responsibility and if we did or did not receive a renewal it doesn't matter. (I SWEAR we didn't-I'm pretty OCD about paper work!) We are presently working on getting his car inspected but it needs an electrical repair before that can happen and James had to get to work. Thank goodness for Jake (his brothers) generosity in letting him borrow his truck for two weeks. The idea of leaving Kambree without a vehicle and me with one and five kids to get everywhere was making me feel light headed! (How'd I do James? Did I do your story justice?)
Oh, yikes! It's dinner time and I'm blogging, I better go figure something out. If only we could take a pill for dinner sometimes!

Happy Day.....

...school has started!

Here are my high schoolers:
(Yes, this is taken while rushing out the door with tea in hand!)
(Austin 10th, Kambree 12th)

My lone junior higher:
(Devree 8th)

And my elementary kids:
(Alex 5th, Rylee 4th)

Now, I stop tormenting my kids in Junior High by NOT going up to school on the first day for pictures but while in elementary you must have the token picture by the flag pole:

And then the picture at your new desk:

And now I'm home enjoying the blissful silence of my house. I'm sure I'll miss them in awhile but for now, I'm just savoring the peace and quiet!

School Starts Tommorow!

Wow, school starts tomorrow and I'm singing the "Most wonderful time of the year" Christmas song over and over in my head!
It is not that I don't love my children I just don't love entertaining them for days on end, and or listening to Wii, Disney Channel and Avatar all day long. I get tired of feeding them from dawn until dusk, I get tired of tattling, tears, tantrums, sleep overs, late overs, and the inevitable "I'm bored, there is nothing to do!" I get tired of sharing my computer while they facebook, play Webkins or check their emails and funny YouTube videos. I look forward to knowing they are in school-hopefully learning something-socializing and using their brains as opposed to their thumbs and/or fingers on the joy sticks, remote control or texting.
I must confess, I love the feeling of structure, of routine. I've typed up our daily schedule and granted, it will be highly improvable that it will be followed to exactness but it will be so nice to have regular bedtimes, mornings where we get up and eat together and quiet time after eight pm!
The downsize is of course the busyness, the dance lessons, soccer lessons, homework, etc. Kambree is gone so much with Dance Company and if she can find a job will be gone even more. This is my Kam's senior year and it hurts my heart to see her get so old. I remember feeling older and wiser at her age and yet, she probably feels just as old an wise as I did. But to me, she's just a baby. I always thought I would look forward to my kids going off to college but I'm dreading it, I don't want her to go away. (Yes, I want her to clean her room and participate more with us as a family but not move away!)
I realized that in the next ten years all my babies will be grown and out of school. (Nine years actually.) That seems like such a short time yet some days/weeks seem like forever. How can that be? I try to remember the words to the country song "You're going to miss this" and remind myself that someday I will miss what is happening right now. I will miss Alex shrugging and sighing when it comes to studying English, I will miss Rylee bursting into tears when someone hurts her feelings, I will miss Devree spending hours in her room doing her hair and blaring her music, I will miss Kambree's messy room and coming home at all hours of the night. I will miss Austin's teasing and sarcastic humor at my expense.
What I will really miss is Alex's sweet hugs five times a day or more and climbing on my lap, laying his head on my shoulder telling me "I miss you." (Even though I tucked him in bed the night before and it's now seven am!) Rylee's sweet smiling face willing to cook with me, hold my hand when we go shopping and plant sweet kisses on my cheek telling me she loves me so much.
My older girls are not as affectionate but I will miss Devree's laughing and singing. I will miss Kambree's and my heart to heart talks and conspiracy's as to how we're going to eat healthy and lose weight. I will miss Austin's incredible sense of humor and how he makes me laugh....always! (He still manages to give me a kiss goodnight-but not when anyone else is around!)
We are going to be starting the discussions with Alex. I think he needs to know what our church is about. We're hoping to have a translator come so we can be sure that Alex is understanding everything. Today we had a talk about the priesthood and what temples are for and I just don't think he got it. James gave back to school fathers blessings and he was willing and eager to have a blessing but it's hard to know what or if he understood anything. I asked him if he knew who Jesus was if he had learned about him at church in Ukraine and he told me no, then he told me "Jesus up in sky". Then later James was giving a mini-lesson on the coming of Christ (our form of family home evening during Sunday dinner) and Alex asked me if he's bad will he go (and he pointed down) and burn? So he knows about heaven and hell but then later he picked out a child's book about the birth of Jesus to read and I asked if he knew this story and he said no. Then when he was done he told me he knew the story from "scriptures in Internat (school) not church." That's interesting, so they learned the story of Jesus birth in school?
Today at dinner we were going over rules to know about school. Like not taking air soft bb guns, pocket knives or any sort of weapons to school. Then the kids were telling him about not throwing snowballs or fighting and he made up this story (through broken English, pantomiming and great sound effects) and clarified that is was just pretend from the get go but how he will make a snowman and if someone knocks it down he will shoot them with a machine gun that he will buy from the DI (Desert Industries) for five dollars. I informed him if he's buying machine gun's from the DI they will more than likely backfire and kill him. He understood this and laughed and then pantomimed him shooting the machine gun and the bullets hitting him. As a mother I find this morbid but he always clarifies that this is just for "pretend". (Thank goodness!)

Hodge Podge of End of Summer Pictures....

We made our last trip to the pool last week. It was a bit overcast and we did get a few sprinkles but not enough to pack it up. Here are some pics.
Rylee freezing during the hourly pool check

Zach, Grandma and Syd during the sprinkle:

Alex eating junk food. He had brought his $5 allowance and spent it and ate it all! He's always generous offering to share his chips and candy but despite that skinny exterior, he seriously can put away the food!

Just chilling:

Dev & Kam working on their tans:

Alex with cute spiky hair and me with a cheesy grin.

Although my kids have spent WAY to much time in front of the TV this summer, it warms my heart these last few weeks that they have taken up crocheting while watching TV.

Alex told my sister he leaned to crochet in Ukraine with his Mom. Assuming this was his birth mom my sister didn't mention it to me. When I asked if she had seen what the kids were crocheting and told her I taught Alex while at the orphanage she confessed he had told her but that she thought it was his Ukraine Mom. Nope, I'm the only Mom Alex ever talks about.

And this picture is to document Murray City and the sidewalk repair. These tractors, along with a pile of gravel have been parked in front our our house for THREE weeks! They moved them last Friday....hurray!!

This is Devree modeling her new school shirt and her newly cut off Capri's with the legs of the pants on her arms. Now, Rylee would wear this entire ensemble to school-despite my protest-but Dev was just being silly!