It's a 4 Ring Circus!

a little experiment

I'm tryin out the free version of Typepad over here.  Will let you know if it's a permanent move.

the ups and the downs

This has been one of those busy seasons of life for our family.  I haven't really been sure exactly what I wanted to write about it, either.  Delaney has been having some profound struggles and we have been working as a family to figure out solutions, being stretched all along the way.  I think I am getting better at not completely shutting other people out as I hunker down through a difficult patch, which I guess is an improvement!  There have been some great things happening along with the hard things, too.  Ava and Sadie continually surprise me with their eagerness and capability when it comes to their schoolwork.  Josh has been enjoying his start into Boy Scouts.  All of the girls are thorougly enjoying their time at dance class.

Another interesting tidbit is that we are awaiting news about a home we are trying to buy as a short sale.  Still in the neighborhood but already has most of the upgrades we were wanting to do to this house, so it would save us a lot of labor.  It is on a much better lot, so that would be nice, too.  We probably won't find out if we get it for another two months or so.

I am really looking forward to General Conference this weekend.  I was reading an address from the last one that was timely for me.  "We cannot and we must not lose focus on the things that matter most."  I think that Heavenly Father gives me that test over and over.  Maybe I'll pass it one of these days.  ;-)

you may not want a ride in my van anytime soon, and other assorted topics

In order to make my niece's piano recital yesterday, we had to head straight out from our 2 hour block of dance classes over to Sonic, and then hurry over to the recital.  Of COURSE we got a trainee at Sonic who, no lie, after the 5th attempt at taking my order passed me off to a supervisor after a LONG, comical pause.  I later got the privilege of listening to him screw up EVERY single order he took at any car anywhere near me!  (I was of course missing Delaney's drink when all was said and done.)

When we got home from the recital, I reminded the kids to make sure that all of the Sonic trash was cleaned out of the car before going in the house.  They quickly got distracted by various things in the yard and I wound up cleaning up instead (in the dark).

On the way home from a friend's house this morning, I hear the kids squealing about how there is still a container of Sonic milk underneath the back bench of the van.  A detailed conversation then occurs about the dangers of leaving milk in the car during hot summer days . . . la, la, la.

A few minutes later I hear Josh starting to laugh and he asks Ava, "Ava, is that your GRILLED CHEESE from last night under your seat? (also the back bench of the van)"

Ava, in her very calm, serious baby voice:  "Yes.  I am full of it."

Yes, indeed.

Another fun tidbit:
I bought Delaney some new shoes right before Easter this year, since she had just outgrown her other shoes.  I was able to get a "buy one, get one free" deal, so it was 2 new pair.  Also hit a Gymboree sale, so she actually had 3 new pairs of shoes.  This was about one month ago.

In the meantime, I have noticed that Sadie and Delaney both suddenly have voracious appetites, and I knew that I was in trouble, we were on the cusp of yet another growth spurt.  Sure enough, Sadie's little spider legs are now too long for those 6 slims I hunted down awhile ago.  Mind you, her waist hasn't seemed to grow at all so now I'll be looking for 7 extra slims, I guess??  Then on Sunday I happened to notice Delaney's toes hanging off the ends of her sandals.  I gasped and checked to make sure she had them buckled right.  She did.  [insert eyeroll]

Just got around to measuring her feet a minute ago.  After triple checking, it has been discovered that her foot has grown a size and a half in the last month.

Let me just add here, that not only does that mean that she'll need new sandals, etc, but that I will have to go through her dance bag to figure out if her three different types of necessary dance shoes still fit.

I am now looking for any corporate sponsors who'd like to help me continue to outfit these children of mine who refuse to stop eating or growing!

And on that note, I'll finish off with the great news that Ryan just accepted a new job at AMD, and will start June 1.  He is still out in CA trying to get things packed up at the old office (as well as our apartment) and might have it all finished up by next weekend.  We won't know what to do when he's actually here at our house all the time! 

signing off!

I'm off to Mee Mee's house for Mother's Day ~ see you next week!

d day

It finally happened . . . they shut down and laid off most of Ryan's division yesterday, including the office he was managing.  He has until May 29 to find another position within the company before he gets laid off (with severance).  So, it looks like we'll be starting a new chapter here pretty soon; I feel calm about it.  At least the commuting to San Diego will be coming to a close!  In the meantime he'll be helping to physically shut down/pack up their office out there.

Yet another adventure in the game of life!

 

I'm gettin old, dang it

I used to be able to get away with the $5 flip flops.  They were my go-to shoes all year long.

Then my feet let me know, time is marching on.  Welcome to my first pair of old lady flip flops, substantially more than $5.

My feet are very appreciative.

I think I'm on the downhill slide now.

bye to my friend

Just an FYI, you won't be seeing me on Facebook -- for various reasons, but mostly because it was getting to be too much of a timesuck.

last chance for summer

Summer is finally over here in Texas, but we've managed to squeeze in a few more days at the pool!

Many of you know that Sadie had routine follow-ups and bloodwork scheduled for this week.  She started running a fever on Monday and was generally looking sick, but didn't seem to have any other symptoms.  No else in the family had been sick, so that is a warning sign that she's got something goin' on in a kidney (or bladder).  So, I took her in for the bloodwork yesterday and got her appointment with the infectious disease specialist moved up to today (Wed).  By today she was no longer running the fever, but woke up congested and still not looking like a healthy Sadie.  The doctor checked her out and everything looked good, so she took a urine sample, with the hopes that it would come back clear and that we were just looking at a little bit of a cold or something.  The blood results hadn't been sent over to her yet, but right as we were leaving the fax came in . . . it all looked normal (including her white blood cell count and all of the kidney functions, which was good since her ultrasound last month showed additional shrinking on one side) EXCEPT for one number that is a definite indicator of a pretty good bacterial infection going.  The doctor is assuming at this point that it is kidney/bladder-related, since her small amount of congestion wouldn't explain the high number she had in the bloodwork.  So.  Now I wait around to hear about the urine culture and we go from there -- might wind up back at the urologist's office this week for another ultrasound.  In the meantime, she is back on an oral antibiotic.  This also means that we'll be repeating bloodwork in two weeks -- yippeeee!

The chances that I'll get to go out to CA at the end of the month are getting smaller and smaller . . .

rapid fire weekend update

We had a good weekend.  Although Mee Mee and Don did not get to visit (Mee Mee was sick), Ryan and I still got to go on a short date Friday night after I picked him up from the airport.  We doubled with the Elmer's to eat at Pappasito's, where I had THE best enchiladas I've ever had (try the "Riviera" plate!), then we picked up Delaney & Sadie from a fake sleepover birthday party at a friend's house.  Saturday and Sunday we lazed about and watched Conference.  Sunday night we had an impromptu potluck dinner at our house that turned out pretty darn yummy if you ask me.  We took Ryan back to the airport this morning so that he can get back to the earning the bacon, however long that may last (which may or may not affect my travel plans for the end of the month).  Now my Sadie is running a fever and looking generally ill, although she only seems to feel a bit tired.  She is scheduled for routine bloodwork this week, so if she has any crazy infections, we'll find out.

(picture taken a couple of weekends ago, playing in the backyard with her sibs and cousin while the big boys took my car apart and then put it back together!)

today's show is brought to you by the word . . .

"parsimonious" = stingy

I had to look this up today when my lawyer used it to describe our former landlord in San Diego.  Apparently we are getting most of deposit back, but he (Former Landlord) deducted about $100 for the fact that Ryan moved out the last couple of things right before the walk through on the August 1.  What a butthead, but I am SO glad to not be dealing with that guy anymore.

Speaking of San Diego -- we have decided that I will not be going back out with the kids.  Ryan is going to basically commute for the rest of the time that he is working out there, flying back here most weekends.  He is now leasing a 3 bd apartment so that we can go out to visit him when we want, but we will have the house here in Austin as the main residence.  I know, a little crazy, but I just didn't have a good feeling about going back out there, and we prayed about it, and this was what we decided.  We have so many great friends and family out here, I think it is more stable for the kids, too.  Right now I'm planning to go out sometime in the middle of October and stay until after Thanksgiving, but we'll see.

My goal is now to have a drama-free rest of the year!  (Sadie and Ava have appointments and tests with their urologist in the next couple of weeks, and we're expecting those to go smoothly.  Neither of them are on any meds anymore.)