Preschool Christmas Program

The kids had their Christmas program last week. I can't even say how much I absolutely loved watching them. It was so fun to have both of them on stage this year. And it's so sad to think this is Dustin's last preschool program. Dustin did so well, I was shocked. He sang every word, and did every hand motion perfectly. A big change from the primary program in which he cried for me the entire time. (Seriously, he sat there reaching his arms out for me, crying, and mouthing, "I WANT YOU MOM," for the whole program.) Audrey didn't really sing, but at least she didn't cry. She was a Bethlehem villager, and of course she had the most sparkly costume we could find. Dustin was a shepherd and I'm sorry, but I have to say that I have the most talented shepherd and villager in the world ;)

Singin' In the Rain

My good pal Kristen Moss did a photo shoot for us and I wanted to show you guys how stinkin' cute my kids are! (But you have to look surprised when the Christmas cards come ;)

Did you guys catch that glee episode with Gwyneth Paltrow? I LOVED it. I've decided that the mash up of Singing in the Rain and Umbrella is going to be my theme song for living in Eugene. Cause I've spoken numbers with our mortgage company several times this month and it turns out we are unable to refinance, so renting our house is out, and it's not likely we can afford to sell...in short...we're stuck. I'm still hopeful the right family will come along and give us a great offer, but I am choosing to make the best of what we've got for now :) I'm taking lots of vitamin D, got my gym pass, and I am going to find a tanning bed so I can stay sane through the winter. We are planning some remodeling and touch ups to our house that will (hopefully) add a little room. Yes, it may be raining, but I am singing gosh darn it!

In other news, I ran the EWEB half marathon with my dear pal Sara last week, and it was SO MUCH better than running a full marathon. I had a great friend to train with, and it was only half as far! It took me 2 hours and 16 minutes. Not great, but I just wanted to jog the whole time and finish. And I did.

We had the first snow of the year and there was maybe a half inch on the ground and all the schools closed! It's so funny to me, being from Canada an' all! But the kids were SO EXCITED! I've never seen Dustin so happy! They caught snowflakes on their tongues, had a snowball fight, and had some great times.

Andrew turned one. They are still looking for family to place him with, but we're hopeful we can keep him.. He just kinda fits in. Having 3 kids is hard, but I can't really remember what it was like without him now.

We had Thanksgiving with our friends the Bergesens and that was a great meal! I later had the worst Black Friday experience at Toys R Us ever, but I won't get into that now. Let's just leave it at; 5 hours of waiting in lines. Nuff said.

Anyway, Christmas time is here! We don't have anyone coming to stay with us at this point, so if you want to...we LOVE company!!!! I really mean that. I love having people to share holidays with. And we can all sing in the rain together! Woot woot!

I am so Grateful For YOU!!!

Yes, I mean YOU! I was struggling so badly last week, and I can't even tell you how many wonderful people came into my life to help. I'm so sorry if I forgot you, but please know I love and appreciate you.

Thank you Kristin for telling me I'm ok and you feel the same way too, AND for the amazing photo shoot, AND for making me cupcakes. I can't even tell you how much that meant to me. Like I said, you're my new best friend. Sorry, you're stuck with me!

Thank you LeaAnne and Rune for making everything possible so I could go to Time Out for Women. Thanks for arranging everything, thanks for my ticket, thanks for watching my kids, thanks for driving, and thanks for being my friend. What a blessing you guys are in our lives. I owe you. Big Time. Thanks to all the wonderful gals I met and got to see again and to all the people who put up with me. Really.

Thanks to my Dad and Robin for taking care of our kids for the night. I cannot say how badly Tim and I needed a night away. And I know it probably wasn't easy. And you're probably pretty tired. But I appreciate it.

Thanks to Jaime and Sara for being there for me when I was at the end of my rope. You guys are great friends. Sara, you are the best running partner, EVER. Thanks so much for checking on me when Tim was gone...on your birthday...you're the best. Jaime, thank you for being so willing to help me every time I need you.

Thanks Paige for being the best visiting teacher on the planet. I honestly mean it. The times you have brought me meals, or watched my kids have been SO NEEDED.

And to Tim, thank you for EVERYTHING! I can't possibly write it all down. Happy Anniversary! I love you.

I know there's others I'm not writing about and please know that I'm grateful. My hands have felt SO FULL lately and I've been feeling so inadequate. It's been especially hard because I like to be the one to help other people. And it's really hard to admit that I sometimes need help. Holy snikies, do I need help. And there you all have been. THANK GOODNESS FOR YOU!!!

Pediatricians Are the Devil

Ok, to be fair, it is not only the pediatrician that I am likening to the devil. It is the whole doctors office experience. Yes, I am grateful for healthcare, yada, yada, yada. Hear me out, and you'll understand why I'm complaining. I called to get an appointment for the baby who hurt his arm, (Because Audrey tried to drag him across the floor. The Mother of the Year Award is not in my future) anyway, they said, "Yes, we have an opening at 2:00, (It was 1:40) can you come in right away?" I said I would do my best. We were at Toys R Us trying to exchange an r/c helicopter that broke the very first time Dustin tried it. So I had to drag my kids away from the toys and get in line and when we get to the front, Audrey announces that she has to go potty, "Really, realllllyyy baaaad." I leave the toy at the front, take 3 kids to the potty, come back and get in line AGAIN to exchange our toy. Finally it's our turn, but the nice 18-year-old isn't competent enough to do an exchange. I don't have time to wait because it's now 5 min to 2:00, so I bag the whole thing, and drag Dustin out screaming that he wants his helicopter.

We get to the doctors office just a couple of minutes late. We wait for about 20 minutes before being called back to wait in our room. Then we wait for an HOUR AND 30 MINUTES inside a tiny room with no toys, no snacks, no ANYTHING, to see the doctor. Couldn't they have let me know I didn't have to rush over because they were an HOUR behind schedule? The kids were going nuts. Climbing all over everything, yelling, fighting, the baby is screaming because it's way past nap time, it feels like it's 200 degrees in this room and I am seriously hoping the Apocalypse will start happening so my suffering might end.

Mercifully, the assistant came in and gave us crayons and pedialite popsicles. Thank goodness for her, because she was the only reason I didn't start threatening people's lives. She also tried to discipline my kids by telling them to stop talking while she's trying to talk, or telling them they can't climb on this or that. I was so far out of my right mind that I didn't have the ability to keep my kids from jumping off things, but I was kinda bothered she felt like I was so incapable that she needed to step in. I was a tiny bit grateful, because I knew she was trying to help, but still. Anyway, she took pity on me, and kept on telling me how full my hands are. I've never quite understood the, "Wow, you sure have got your hands full," expression. Is it just pity? Are they saying it to be nice? Or is it more like, "Wow, maybe you should have found a more reliable form of birth control.." Because that's exactly how I felt. When the doctor finally came in, he was completely overwhelmed. The kids attacked him, the baby was crying, he couldn't finish his sentences. He kept mentioning things like, "injuries are common in large families" or "you don't work, right?" and the infamous "you've got your hands full." I was sure at any moment he was going to ask me to speak to a group of teenagers about abstinence and the consequences of sex. I just wanted to stand up on the chair and scream, "We've been in this room for an hour and a half waiting for YOU, the pediatrician (who specializes in kids), and you can't function in here for 5 minutes!!!! I only have ONE biological child in this room, the other I rescued from the foster care system, and the other I am caring for out of the goodness of my heart because his mom is a meth addict!!! If you can do better, wait here, and I'll be back in an HOUR AND A HALF."

Sigh, I thought about playing the foster parent card, but I hate the stigma that goes with the "Foster Parent" title. Plus I love that no one ever guesses we have foster kids or adopted kids. Anyway, the baby was fine. Nothing broken. Except my pride. So today, I've had Lucky Charms and McDonalds because I'm depressed and feeling like a completely inadequate mother and can't think of any reason to try and look decent. If you're going to the doctors office, beware, you may find the devil instead, and he most certainly will be wearing a stethoscope.

Anyone Out There Blogging or Commenting? Anyone?

I haven't blogged for a while because it seems like NO ONE is into blogging these days. Facebook has taken over the world, and the competition to see how many "friends" one can possibly have has thrown poor ol' blogspot to the curb. (It's so funny to me when people you hardly even know want to "friend" you. As in, "Hmmmm, I think I met that girl at the thing over at what's-her-names house like 3 years ago.") However, I hope to be old and grey one day and read my blog from way back in the stone age of computers and remember what it was REALLY like in my day to day life in Eugene, married, and raising small children. So here it is.

EXHAUSTING! No, haha, well, it is sometimes. Tim was just out of town for work training for two weeks and I was by myself with the three kids. It went pretty well, but I was tired a lot and lonely a lot and I REALLY missed Tim. He's home now, and it's made me realize that there isn't any way I could possibly do it on my own. Nor would I never, ever, ever, want to. Heavenly Father can't take Tim because he knows it would be more than I could handle. Anyway, things are back to normal. We still have Andrew. We're not sure what's going to happen, and I'm trying really hard not to get my hopes up, but we've all gotten attached to him, and it's going to be hard if he leaves. He's a meth affected baby, and he's a little behind socially, but he's picking up really fast.

Dustin is so so big. He can't describe anything without using his hands and making sound effects and I love it. Audrey is loving preschool, and is just loving in general. She tells me 50 times a day that she loves me and I hope I tell her enough that I love her back. I think she has some kind of understanding of adoption and it's so cute to hear her tell the story anytime someone talks about babies inside bellies. She says, "When I was a baby, I live-ed inside another mommy's tummy--her name is Rosie. And den when I come-ed out, I came-ed to my family!" She says it so cute and excited, I hope she always feels that way.

We've had Halloween the entire month of October. The kids had their preschool parties and we went to Disneyland at the first of the month and did the Halloween party there too. I know I say this every time, but this trip was really our best Disney trip so far. We finally got annual passes, we stayed at my Mom's, we flew, we swam, we sunbathed, we saw World of Color, we went to a kiddie park called Adventure City and the kids loved it, everyone was healthy, we had a great day at the beach building sand castles, and we got to see Tim's family.

Life is pretty good! We had the ward trunk or treat tonight, and we only have one more day to go before Halloween is finally over.

If you're still out there reading blogs, just know I don't hate comments ;)

This is what Dustin's suitcase looked like after we asked him to start packing for Disneyland. He unloaded every single one of his drawers. He's such a character!

Preschool!

Audrey and Dustin had their first day of preschool today! Audrey is in a 3-year-old class, and Dustin is in a 4-5 year-old class. They both go on the same days at the same time, which is going to be SO GREAT this year. I really love Norkenzie, it's a Christian preschool and it has such a great group of teacher's and Mom's. Dustin has already made some new friends, and I have made some new mommy friends, which is super exciting for me (I can't live without my friends!) We debated about whether or not we should put Audrey in this year because it is so expensive to have 2 kids in preschool, but she has been so excited, and was so happy to walk into her classroom with her backpack, I was instantly grateful we decided to put her in. And she LOVES her teacher. I checked on them both a couple of times before I left (mostly because I was feeling emotional, they were just fine) and Audrey was sitting at her table doing a craft, a big smile on her face, and she said, "Umm, mine teacher? Could I pwees have dat red fing over der?" It made me happy to know she remembered her manners and was completely in her element. Dustin just bounced around with his guy friends and knew the drill. I hope this year is fun for him because he hates the craft part of school, and pretty much anything that involves sitting still. But he's getting better, and he has some good buddies to get him through.

I was so happy and looking forward to having a short break, I thought for sure I'd drop them off and say, "Well, see ya!! They're all yours now!" But I surprised myself and got a little emotional at leaving them. I was thinking and worrying that these cute moments will all be over soon, and they're getting so big, yada, yada, yada. But, I got over it once I got home and was able to clean my house in total peace. Well, somewhat total peace. We just got a 9-month-old foster baby to add to the mix, but he is so great (so far). He's super cute and I've almost instantly fallen in love with him. Once again, we don't know how long we'll have him, but I would definitely consider keeping this guy long term. This is Andrew.

(Please ignore the gigantor thighs, and partial cleavage, I don't know what Tim was thinking!)

Camping on the Umpqua

We went camping over Labor Day with my Dad and Robin and it was great! We finally are self-sufficient campers! We got a new tent at the beginning of summer, a camping grill, and enough sleeping bags and mattresses for everyone. I didn't camp much growing up, other than a brief stint when we owned a motor home, so it's been fun to take our little family. Dustin and Audrey ran around all day long, took rides on the pontoon boats, and did plenty of fishing. I think it is so great for all of us to get away from TV and the internet and spend some time in the outdoors. Tim and I got to take the pontoon boats down the river together and it was really fun and so nice to spend some time together. We've both been really busy lately and haven't been on a date in quite a while. The only problem was that I hooked my dad's boat and put a hole in it! Oh man, I felt so bad. Tim and I are terrible at fishing. That's my only excuse. Although, Tim did catch a fish this time. Using my technique. I just bobbed my lure in the rocks where the fish were hanging out. Tim made fun of me and told me it would never work...and then he caught the fish. Where's the justice in that?? Thanks to Robin for inviting us and feeding us the best steak ever!

Happy Birthday Audrey Girl!!

My youngest is 3. Officially a kid. I've been feeling emotional lately about my kids growing up. I kinda miss having babies around. It's amazing how fast it all goes by. But this year is going to be great. They are both going to be in preschool at the same time which is going to be SO WONDERFUL! Tuesday and Thursdays are going to be the best days ever!!!

Anyway, back to Peanuts birthday. She of course, wanted a princess party, and she had her first themed party with friends. I had planned to have an outside party, but guess what happened in wonderful Oregon in August, on the morning of her party? It rained. And was like 50 something degrees out. I swear I'm cursed. Everyone was posting how wonderful it is to have cooler weather and I'm ready to hibernate for the next 9 months. So, I had to move everything inside to my tiny little kitchen and living room. We were squished, but it was ok. We made tiara's, played pin Cinderella in her castle, and had an indoor princess tea party on my living room floor. (Hey, I had to improvise!) The girls were cute and had fun with the tea party set. Tim has been out of town for work, so I was on party duty alone, but thankfully some of the mom's stayed and helped me out.

Our family party was fun too. We went to the state fair in Salem and had a barbeque with Tim's work and let the kids wander around. It was kinda fun. Kinda white trash, but this fair had a lot more than the one in Eugene. Animals, free fishing, free rock climbing, and a dinosaur exhibit! We came home and had cake and ice cream and Tim tried to make a princess cake that ended up horribly mangled. It was so funny! I tried to salvage it as best I could, but it ended up looking like it had been hit by a truck. We bought one for her party with friends thankfully! Anway, happy birthday to my little girl. You are so special and we love you.

I'm Not Ready!!!

I can see the leaves are starting to lose their lush hunter green color and fading to brown. The weather is cooling rather rapidly, which can only mean one thing...summer is coming to an end. But I'm not ready!!! I feel like the only time I saw the sun this year was while I was in St. George! It has been a rather cool and cloudy summer in Eugene and I am not ready for rain!!!

We have, however, had some fun. Dustin took swimming lessons, which was great. He got to be in the same class as his friend Jessica and they were so cute together. During our many outdoor adventures, Dustin also caught his first fish, a trout, and it was the biggest one of the day. He was super excited and proud. He loves fishing, and camping. A future boy scout. He also loves hearing stories about when Tim and I were little and asks every night, "Will you tell me a story about when you was little?"

Audrey is about to turn 3 and is still the cutest little diva around. When I was away at girls camp, Tim had to get her dressed in the morning...I heard it went something like this,

"Daaaad, dis shwirt is not matching dis skirt," in a almost crying voice.

"Well, Audrey, I don't know what matches what, they both look pink to me, if you want a different shirt, you'll have to find it."

"O.kay Dad-dy," Audrey says in a tone that could pass for a 13 year old. And she digs in her dresser till she finds the shirt that really does go with that particular skirt.

"Here it is!"

Tim stands in wonder and says, "Aren't you supposed to be 2?" Audrey laughs.

Tim also tried to do her hair, but she screamed the whole time because he put in purple hair tyes instead of pink ones to match her outfit. Tim says she cried the whole way to the babysitters house, and then asked the babysitter to take them out. Can you believe that?? That girl knows her mind. I was so proud of Tim for trying though. What dad puts pig tails in his daughters hair at 7:00 in the morning?!? He did great, I wasn't worried about the kids at all.

We've had some foster kids in and out of the house. We have a little 2 year old girl right now who is a cutie. We're not sure how long she'll be here, but it's been easy having another one around for Audrey to play with. They're only 3 months apart and they've been great together.

Tim is back in school and has more work training the next couple of months and also has an interview for a promotion this week! So please send your prayers our way!

Back From Mommy Heaven...

I went to mommy heaven for a few weeks and it was so wonderful. In mommy heaven, I didn't have to cook, clean, or do yard work. My kids were entertained 24/7 by someone other than me, and I went shopping and went out to lunch or a movie whenever I wanted. I even had a girls weekend in Vegas with out my kids. Sound good? Well, all you need are the best in-laws in the world with a swimming pool, gigantic play room, a bazillion toys, daycare kids to play with, and great weather. Staying with them has been an absolute dream, and when I woke up, I was cramped inside my tiny house, cooking in my kitchen with 2 drawers, (literally) scrubbing my toilets, trimming my trees and staring at the cloudy sky whilst nearly being windblown into my neighbors yard while refereeing my kids. All. Day. Long. What a welcome! My brain couldn't even compute what happened. It said, "Wait a minute...2 days ago you were sunbathing poolside sippin a diet coke...and now...what the heck happened!?!" That's how I knew I went to mommy heaven. I came back to real life ;)

So many fun things happened in St. George I couldn't possibly write them all, but the most exciting, is that Dustin and Audrey learned how to swim! Dustin can now swim all by himself without floaties or anything! He loves to dive and pick up toys off the bottom of the pool and can swim the whole length of the pool. I was so proud of him and it made me feel so much better about being around the water with an active guy like him. Audrey had always been terrified of the water and has never ventured off the top step, but no more! Now she swims all over the place with her floaties on and isn't even afraid of the deep end! I wish I could take even an inkling of credit for all this, but it was really their Poppa who taught them and worked with them (I was sunbathing drinking diet coke, remember?).

Of course we had 4th of July festivities and we took the kids to the little carnival downtown and they had fun on all the kiddie rides that cost roughly four thousand dollars a ride. (Not kidding) (OK, I am kidding, but it was expensive for a "train" ride that was really a tractor pulling buckets) But the kids had fun, and we got to watch the fireworks from a far enough distance suitable for Dustin. He hates fireworks right now. He says they're too loud, and he's afraid they're going to explode on him. Is this a normal phase? I dunno. Anyway, we had fun. And we got to tour one of the oldest working chapels in the church. It was so neat inside, and it was built as an upsidown ship, without any nails or anything. It's over in Pine Valley, and I guess there's a replica in Salt Lake. Just thought I'd throw that in there so you guys don't think I was completely frivolous.

The only good thing about being back, is that we missed so many of you! But please call us, because I'm really tempted to go back to mommy heaven till my kids are 30.

Anyone Want to Buy Our House?!?!

Go to rmls.com and type in MLS#10048785 Pleeeeease help us sell our house!!!

Rain, Diets, and Fishing...

Ever since we got back from Florida it has done nothing but rain here in beautiful Oregon, so I booked another flight to sunny Las Vegas and will be staying with my mom and then with my in-laws in a place where I can actually go outside without a sweater. And I was so depressed about the rain, that I didn't even book a flight back home!!! Only because there weren't any good deals at the time though, plus we're going to be traveling a lot and I wasn't sure what airport we would be flying out from. Anybody looking for a cheap flight from Eugene, Medford, or Bend should go to allegiantair.com They have super cheap flights, but you have to know how to navigate their web page a little. Like, you don't have to pay for your seats if you click a little tiny button, and you are automatically charged for a shuttle that you have to zero out of. But other than that, you can fly to Vegas and back for less than $100 bucks a ticket. It's been so wonderful to be able to see our family for a reasonable price. It's been kinda funny when Tim tells people we're leaving though it goes something like this...
"Hey! Jen and the kids are going out of town so I'm planning a game night while she's gone."
"Really! Sweet! When is she coming back?"
"I dunno, she booked a one way flight..."
With an immediate and concerned look, "Oh....well....um....is everything...y'know...ok with you guys?"
Guys are so funny. We love our friends. I'm a little concerned that they think a one-way flight means something so dramatic though...don't we seem happy???

Anyway, Dustin's first year of preschool is over, only one more left till kindergarten!!! I'm glad we have another year of preschool because I will prolly freak out a little when I have to take him to big kid school. I've been so thankful for preschool though because it has guaranteed me a workout slot twice a week, but it's all over now. I got so desperate to lose weight that I finally gave in to an actual diet because losing weight has become impossible with just working out (another sign that I am losing all mercy of my youth and will be doing nothing but aging for the rest of my life). Tim decided to do it with me and I'm so thankful he did because it would have been impossible for me to do it without his support. But here's the totally unfair part. The first week, I lost 5lbs. Tim lost 12lbs. Twelve pounds!!!! We made it 8 days before we cheated, but we're still both trying together to lose weight. It's made me recognize some of my eating patterns and forced me to cook more healthy meals. Hopefully I can get back down to where I'd like to be...wish me luck!! Weight loss SUCKS.

We stayed at my dad's for memorial weekend and spent most the time fishing. The kids loved it. Dustin has been asking to go fishing for a long time and he stayed on the dock for 4 hours just casting his Spiderman pole. Audrey had a little princess pole she was happy with. I've never really liked fishing, but it was fun to watch the kids. No one caught anything but my dad, and I cleaned and gutted my first fish. I chopped it's head off and everything, and we cooked those little guys for dinner. A whole new experience for me!

Well, Oregon, we will be back when you decide to clean up your act and make this place a little less depressing.

Sincerely,
Jen

Our vacation to Disney....

WORLD. HA! It was not Disneyland this time. We flew across the entire country to satisfy our Disney addiction. I know, right! But we got a great deal for everything and kissed our tax return goodbye. Here are some of my favorite memories from our trip.

One of the best parts, was that these guys surprised us when we got off our first ride! Jake and Jen made us all believe they couldn't go, and as they came up to us I started screaming and jumping up and down (I can't deny it, they have it on tape). It was so great to hang out with them and made vacation that much better!

Our hotel. We stayed on the resort at Pop Century which has themed areas of pop culture throughout the decades. We stayed in the 80's buildings, and they had pac men all over the place, our pool was shaped like a computer (the kids are running across the keyboard) and they had all kinds of huge structures of movies and stuff from the 80's. It was so neat!


Kilimonjaro safari at Animal Kingdom. We saw so many animals right up close! Giraffes, elephants, lions, hippos, rhinos. You name it, Disney has it. It was like a 20 minute ride through a zoo. The kids also had so much fun at a playground called the Boneyard, which had billions of slides and tunnels and dinosaur bones.

Hollywood Studios was so fun for Audrey and I because we loooove all the shows, but Dustin was sick that day (he puked at the bus stop), so we came back early. But we still had fun, and Audrey told me after watching the Beauty and the Beast musical that, "When I grower bigger, I'm going to dance like Belle." (Dustin took this picture for Audrey)

Princess lunch at Akershus in Epcot. This was by far the best part of the trip. Amazing food, great service, an all you can eat buffet, and a professional portriat given to you at the end of the meal. Princesses came to our table throughout the meal and visited and took pictures with the kids. And I mean ALL the princesses. Ariel, Belle, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, the works. This was mostly for Audrey, who was shy and wouldn't smile for the camera, but was beaming the minute the princess left and we put down the camera (I've just come to accept that my kids will never both be smiling in a picture). But Dustin loved it too! He thought it was great that chicks came to our table and gave him hugs and kisses on the cheek (such a guy)!


We spent most of our time at Magic Kingdom and all the rides there were so fun with the kids. Dustin got wet on Splash Mountain, and he was mad. He said something like, "I'm just frustrated cause now I'm wet, and I will never ever have this ride again." Sooo funny. And then he was even madder because I was laughing. But he LOVED Big Thunder Mountain, and would have ridden that all day had we let him. Audrey was easy to please and loved pretty much everything she could go on, and she got to go on her first roller coaster ride in toon town. She laughed the whole time. She wasn't scared at all, and it was so cute to watch her laugh.
Soarin and Test Track at Epcot. Dustin's 2 favorite rides. Audrey loved the Nemo ride, and her and I had so much fun wandering around the different tanks and seeing the animals. We watched the most amazing fireworks show, (except for Tim and Dustin because Dustin was deathly afraid of fireworks this time) and rode Spaceship Earth (the giant ball) about 3,236 times because the kids wanted to go on it over and over! I think we need a cruise next. Sigh, I wish I could live on vacation.