Girl or teenager??

The other day I asked Olivia what she wanted for her birthday, here is the list:

Pink guitar
Skate board
Cds
batteries for her "Lap top" (its a v-tech thingy)
paints
a new desk chair

So I have been thinking about what to get her from her list and what she would want most, but then it occurred to me...don't most 5 year old girls want barbies and cute pink kitchens or something like that? I just love this girl!

then she said to me " mom I am a weird kind of girl, I am like a girl who does more boy things then girl things" I told her that she was just the right amount girl and the perfect about of cool, that when she got older the boy who married her would have quite a catch on his hands because she was girly and liked to play sports!

Its hard for her because she isn't quite like all the other girls, but I look at her and see something so amazing! so as a mom its also hard to believe she could see anything different then I do. Maybe that's how our Heavenly Father sees and feels about us...... Anyway, we are having a soccer party for her birthday, and yes she will be getting a pink guitar. I can't wait to teach her! =)

clean house

with all the changes happening in our lives these last few weeks I have not made house cleaning the top priority in my daily routine. Not that is was ever dripping with nastiness, but it wasn't sparkling either. So today I let go of any plans I had, stayed home and cleaned with my kids. Our home feels SO much better. For the first time in a while I was reminded that while I enjoy being a mom and doing fun things I also enjoy the daily chores ( even the bathrooms) that come with my life. I am blessed to have a family, for them and myself, I get to not only provide a nice house, but a home. When I am doing my best to make this home feel good, we all feel good. It seems like with a clean house come happier feelings and less stress, which makes way for more love. Life feels pretty good, when your home is clean and you are doing your best to be doing all youv'e been asked to do. Thats how I feel today and It's pretty refreshing. As I write this I hear my children singing in the next room, I love their voices!

P.S
Mike gets his car tommorow, which means I get one to! =)

no room for jack.

Today I walked into my sons room only to be shocked at what I saw before me. I really don't feel like it would be nice to share any more then I have in the past. But I decided right then and there that somthing diffrent had to be tried to get the point through his head that this is NOT O.K! It was a shot in the dark but, I could only think of one way to help him .

Since the un-named behavior seems to always occur in his room, He is officially grounded from it. He will be sleeping in the hall, and if he needs clothes he has to ask for them from his mother or sister.

I carefully explained to him that having a room filled with toys and a nice comfy bed was a big blessing in his life and that part of showing that we appreciate the things we have is by treating the well. since his recent behaviors have demonstrated a lack of respect for all he has, I suppose he can see if life is o.k with out them. I am PRAYING this works, every thing else so far has just back fired. I think of the "natural" consequence and instead of hating it, he manages to find joy in the task. While I love him for this quality, it makes fixing some problems near impossible. He is such a sweet, kind, smart little boy. I just can't figure this one out.

wish him and I luck! we both need it.

what do I do?

So I wrote a few days ago about the kids wanting to build a "real" air plane, then they got there little dreams crushed! =( it was so sad- except they are at it again. this time they have excluded mike and I, apparently we are the only thing stopping them from making it.

So I go into Olivia's room and there are chains and hammers and screwdrivers and cardboard everywhere. They spent the day rummaging through our garage to find metal to make the engine. So This is all they dream about (and talk about) and I just am not sure how to help them understand with out being the dream killer again! Any ideas on this one? I have been thinking about remote control planes and maybe building one with them, but then wouldn't that further fuel the problem? I don't even know and I am a little worried about my kitchen oven since Jack asked me today how long it takes to melt down metal.....yeah, scary.

not so bad..

This sounds goofy, but today I looked into my cupboard and I had a victory in my life!it all starts A few weeks ago when I was having a particularly stinky day. Mike, being the wonderful man he is, brought me home my favorite cookies- oreos. In the past I have been know to eat an entire bag in less then two or three days, when I am stressed, I eat. Since I am being honest here, My eating habits are pretty terrible over all. For several years now I have been working (very slowly) on improving them.

So that brings me back to my victory, I looked into my cupboard and saw a bag of oreas. I realized its been at least two maybe three weeks and we still have one more row left. So if my diet habits are based soley on Oreo consumption, I am doing pretty darn good! =)

My life has just changed....

My life has changed! today we heard a loud "BANG!" I looked quickly around only to realize Joey was no longer sitting at my feet. Yes, you guessed it, he had CRAWLED into the other room and was taking every thing off on of my shelves- having a rather good time I might add.
He just started crawling last sat. after our big shopping Trip to sacramento. Olivia was showing off her new school clothes and I went back to help her. Well Joey didn't like me leaving I guess because Mike started yelling " brigette get back here!" sure enough Joey just started crawling to follow me. He is getting quit good at it now (as you can see). So the messes begin and my life just got a little crazier!

Poor Little Hellers...

The tools, Tape, scissors, crayons, Gak ( for helping our bums stick to the seat) Measuring tape.

The rules: "No touching the plane with sticking hands","No bad words", No standing up", Be quiet when Joe is sleeping", No asking a lot of questions"




These are the mechanics!

Yesterday as we were getting ready for church Ya ya had a great Idea, Her and Jack were going to make an Airplane. Not just make a pretend one but a "real" one. All morning they planned out what it would look like, They wrote up the rules. talked about all the places they would go, Yucipa- Ca, Utah, Washington D.C, and Disneyland. They were so excited because now they could see all their family when ever they wanted. They wouldn't talk about any thing else.

Now If I can share something about my Oldest child....... She struggles with a lack of imagination. In fact it's almost as if it is just missing altogether. I have tried various things to get it to come out (I have a LARGE one, and love to pretend) I have rarely seen her do anything which is creative. Even her school art work is predictable. Its all beautiful and well done, but her imagination doesn't stretch very far.

So I was thrilled that they were planning on this and having so much fun along the way. Well my children happen to have a great dad who told them after church was over he would help them make the plane, Which he did. They spent well over an hour getting supplies cutting and taping boxes. But as the process wore on Mike and I began to give each other nervous glances because it occurred to us that our children were not pretending, they wanted this plane to fly. we weren't totally sure though, and we didn't want to kill the fun so he kept working on it with them. All through dinner the talk continued.

The first sign of trouble was when we told them we couldn't take the plane outside, and they said " how will we get it into the sky?". The next was when Olivia cried because with out wheels, how would it get off the ground? And finally I had two children sitting in my lap crying because Captain Olivia realized her plane would never take flight. They were devastated. Seriously. So after a lot of talks were were able to take an imaginary flight that lasted about ten minutes and then for the next hour and a half I told them how planes were made, what they were made of and explained to them " No, our oven won't get hot enough to melt down the t.v, screwdrivers and other metal stuff to make a plane frame, it's not made for that." amid other things.
Anyway it was quite a night. here are a few pictures during the "pretend" flying. They put on a brave face for the camera. =)

Whats up with the news?

WARNING: THIS IS A RANT.....


So today we went house looking. We saw one house in our price range that was almost perfect ( Olivia would disagree-no pool) But it went on the market Wednesday and by the time we called today it had NINE offers already. that's crazy stuff. So our Realtor brought it up and I have been thinking about it ever since. Why on earth are they reporting a housing crisis?

are people loosing homes right and left-YES, I don't even want to imagine how I would feel to be in that terrible situation. I am thankful I am not. But my point is that, for every person which looses one, apparently there are an abundant amount of people looking to buy them. There are only 14 options in our price range here. But that's only because they are going SO fast. I thought we would be able to find a home we loved no problem- because all I hear on the news is how tough it is out there. well at least in our town, those reports of housing issues are some what false and really mis-leading. I would love to hear form people in other towns what the situation is like. I was shocked to discover this here.

Then there is this whole swine flu thing. Um....if you look for it, you can find all sort of crazy reports about how bad its getting and how many people are suffering. BUT you have to LOOK for it, in all the fine small print. why... 6 months ago was it in every report on the front page. now that things are really getting bad, its hardly found anywhere.

And finally what about this whole job market, failing economy? yes its bad out there. I hear of people I love all over who are struggling. Mike has seen the effects in his line of work to. People are scared. But again it's almost like that part of it is not interesting anymore, because they sure aren't reporting on it. I heard a lot about it when there was a stimulus bill to be passed, but now? HELLO! are we looking around? no one just waved a magic wand and it got better. but I worry that we are all in a false sense of security thinking that the economy is turning around and swine flu is not a big threat.

Fair and balanced, they all claim that in one way or another, but I think its all about what they think will sell in the moment.

the eyes

Today I realized I was not bloggin as much because I have not been taking pictures of what we have been doing. SO with camera in hand I took a picture of all the kids today. Olivia and Jack have done such a good job playing all sorts of things this summer( more on that when I have pictures to show). here they are just making a village with Legos. Then I Took a picture of joey and I saw somthing that him and I have in common......the crazy eyes! now keep in mind I do have a little mascara on today, but today was a " no makeup" day for me so thats it. It might be noted livy and jack have huge ones to.

can I have some syrup with that?

Jackson has a unique diet. With out flour, it drastically changes how he eats at every meal. Of course The Lord must have known this would come to pass, because the kid will eat almost anything! One of his favorite things to eat is a "cheese roll up", its just a corn tortilla and cheese. We throw it in the microwave for 30 seconds and roll it up. Lately he has been trying various items in them. Blueberries, ham, apple and his very favorite, syrup!

In fact Mike and I have noticed he tries syrup on EVERYTHING- Noodles, fruit, hot dogs, rice and even corn. It is not uncommon for us to be sitting at the dinner table enjoying a nice family meal, only to look over and see some nasty looking creation by jack out of the various foods on his plate. Now for most parents this might be the time to get upset because all that food is wasted. But I don't get upset because I know whatever Jackson creates he will eat. I believe some day he just could be a famous Gluten free chef! =)

Today he came into the kitchen and proclaimed he was hungry. I told him we would eat in just a little bit when dad came home. He said " no, that's o.k I will just make my own lunch", he pulled out the corn on the cob, some fruit and rice, after it was all ready, I warmed it up for him. Then he said" mom where is the topping for the rice?" I bet you can guess what he was thinking....yup, syrup! I gave him soy sauce, apparently that topping works to. =)

Bad Dreams

Last night I had a bad dream. I woke up feeling so sad inside. The Longer I am awake the more intense the feelings get. I wish I knew how to tell if dreams meant something or not. Because this one is bugging me so bad!

the desicion is final

Well, all the family (immediate family) knows so its time to tell every one else. This last month or few months have been SO frustrating because Mike and I have not known where he would be attending Law school and where our little family would be moving. But after A LOT of frustration and prayers and a few tears. We have decided to stay right where we are. Mike will be going to school In Sacramento.

His Job offered us a few things we needed to keep us here. So in just a few short weeks our Crazy four year journey will begin! We are going to be looking into purchasing a home here since we will be here for a while. Which the kids and I are VERY excited about. The stay here also means for the first time in about 5 years We will have TWO yes count them, TWO cars! SO I will be able to get milk or diapers or take the children to the doctors with out it being a huge ordeal every time. I know this means my life will get a little crazier, but after so long, its a welcome crazy. SO maybe now life will start to work out some of our kinks.

Like Jackson and his pooping his pants every hour. Yes- he even gave us the Joy of cleaning up a mess out of Aunt sues pool.( I am SO SORRY) but seriously, the second this decision was made it was as if a huge burden was lifted, there was more peace in our home and instantly the focus turned to things that were draining our family and needed fixing in a careful manner.

So with new fresh goals in hand and a renewed energy we are marching on in our Journey. I am so grateful for Mike and the amazing man he is. If i had to take this Journey with any one other then my best friend it just wouldn't be very much fun. The next few months will bring bigger changes in our family; but now, with a decision made final, we are looking forward to them with the peace of knowing we chose carefully and the Lord is with us.

what to say?

My sister and I were talking earlier. I think life feels a bit like a roller coaster ride. It is so full of adventures, ups and downs and unexpected twists. sometimes I feel like I should not try anymore to calm the ride down, perhaps life would feel more right if through all the craziness, I could learn to just HANG ON TIGHT and enjoy it.

It amazes me how at one moment you feel like you have things momentarily figured out only to be plunged down a huge hill trying to figure out whats next... This is a bit how I feel right now. Only Its like some one put a blindfold on and said " guess whats next". since I have never ridden this roller coaster I simply can't. So I pray and....pray......and.....pray some more, hoping that at some point I will get a good answer and the blind fold can be removed for a few corners of my ride in life.

but right now I also have a timer involved and I have to figure it out quickly. So I would blog more but basically my entire life is involved in figuring out "whats next".....

what to see some amazing pictures?

Want to see some amazing pictures of my kids and some interesting ones of me? Me sister is quite a photographer and she has been snapping away this last two weeks. last night we went to a park here. With her camera in hand and me dresse din an old wedding dress we had some fun. So yes There are bridals of me. lol. its funny but she did a really good job. there are some beautiful ones of Joey and my neice to. so check them out:

www.basicallyphotography.blogspot.com