E's Wedding

Well, the wedding was yesterday. It was very nice. Don't know what else to say about it. Someday, I swear I'm going to write a manual on navigating blended family gatherings and events. I swear people can be so tacky and thoughtless. Thank goodness the Second Wives Club was in attendance to keep this second wife together. As an aside, I ended up wearing the gold dress I purchased for the wedding rather than the other one. I finally decided that I needed and deserved the confidence boost I get from that dress and given the lack of communication about the wedding and the fact that I was excluded not only from the invitations, but also from every aspect of the preparations, I didn't really feel like I owed anyone any favors. LOL Note to First Wives #437 in the second wives manual: Don't piss off the second wife. She is younger, thinnner and cuter than you and she *can* make sure you notice. *grin*

Here are some highlights for the fam:

The Flower Girl



The Ring Bearer









I think he just spotted her! LOL




Hubster...looking dashing and SMILING...in a PHOTO!!! (for once!)


My favorite bride and groom shot. How gorgeous are my grandkids gonna be?




This one CRACKS ME UP!!! Check out D in the background! ROFL!!!


Brother and brother from another mother...so to speak! LOL E's best man is the boy who lived with us the year after I had J.


Wedding party

It's confirmed...

You know, traffic tickers are the source of much interesting information about those who visit the old bloggy. It's always fun to see the google searches that bring traffic to your page, that is, until they point to some information you were trying to conceal. Google the words, meanest mom of all. Yup. Numero dos on google. I guess if it says so on google, it must be true...right? At least I'm not "the" meanest mom of all, only the second. I, and my children, stand corrected.

Another Catch Up Post

I promised my Grandma G I'd post my fish taco recipe. They were so good I even took pictures! Cousin W would be PROUD I tell you, PROUD!


FISH TACOS:

Fish...duh. Well, OK, not quite so obvious, but really you can use any old white, firm fleshed fish you come across. I was after ultra easy so I used Gorton's beer batter fish fillets. Heat them up or cook fish.

Corn Tortilla's, heated in fry pan until nice and toasty.

Cabbage, cut up into julienne size pieces.

Pico de gallo:
2 Plum tomatoes, chopped coarse.
1 small white or yellow onion, chopped coarse.
Fresh cilantro, snipped into bits.
Mix together and squeeze juice from one lime over the top.

Cilantro Cream Sauce:
1 cup sour cream (I say that like I actually measure *snort*)
enough milk or water to thin sour cream to desired consistancy. (how thin? think cream soup at serving consistancy after you add the lime.)
Cilantro snipped into bits. About a half cup worth.
Juice from one lime.
Stir vigorously.

Assemble fish, cabbage, pico and sauce onto tortilla, then drizzle with a touch more lime juice. My kids ate these until they were sick.

I've also been up to all sorts of other adventures. Finals were a week ago, feels more like 3 weeks ago, but I digress...

Six Flags had a homeschool day so my good friend and I loaded up the kiddo's and took advantage of the savings.

The kids had a great time, B and K rode their first wooden roller coaster! J is going to be a dare devil too, she squealed and laughed like a maniac on the little kids coaster and rode the Cloud Bouncer until I couldn't take it any more. She didn't like the teacups much though, this is before the screaming commenced:



And you can't go to the carnival and not ride the carousel:

Just don't take the boy's picture on the carousel, take it on something manly like the swings:


The next day was haircut and color for mommy day:



I think I'm going to have a new profile pic out of that batch.



Maybe this one. Maybe not.

I turned this:


Into this:


Got that table for $7 at a yard sale, I have less than $30 in it finished. Love that. I'm now on a sofa table buying mission. I also bought and repainted two dressers for the kids, but you'll have to visit drop shots to see those.

Today I got the bug to do a little sewing, so I made two church dresses for J. K recently inherited the mother load of clothing, church dresses included, so J was looking like an orphan in comparison. I think these will remedy the problem some.



Does it look familiar? Maybe eerily like my laundry room curtains, perhaps? Yes, I heart toile.





I also took shots of the dress with the miracle shirt on underneath. You can visit drop shots to see them, and no, that's not a gratuitus boob shot, that was the best I could get to show the colors. I love the dress, only, now it seems that the mother of the bride, (I'm thinking she should have a name....how about, Mother-zilla? No? OK, I'll play nice.) has now chosen a different dress that is not so formal and it looks as though the horrid dress will have to be worn once more. I actually wore it to church last week with a white cardigan over the top and enjoyed wearing it...so here's the $10,000 question, can I wear the champagne colored dress with a white cardigan to the lion's den? Or will they rip me to shreds? I can't for the life of me find a tan or beige colored cardigan for it and I'm JUST about out of time.

So there's the last week in review. I'm going to post about the exciting changes we made to the homeschool program over the weekend too, but that will have to wait until another day.

The Shirt That Just Might Change My Life

Remember how I told you about Shade Clothing? Well, anyone who wants to be modest, LISTEN UP! I just got my order and I am THRILLED! I ordered this in the champagne color and it works perfectly under the dress I got for the wedding, totally appropriate, shimmery, light, flawless coverage. Not only does it look fabulous under the gold dress, I decided to try it under the strapless wonder that made me feel like a cow at my sister's wedding...guess what? IT WORKED UNDER THAT ONE TOO!!! No funky looking wrap needed! I'm doing cartwheels over here! Two totally different shades of fabric, both very fancy, and a T-SHIRT that worked under both of them! Think "Covered, but not 'covering up'".

I also got a three pack of the cami's and have to say that they are going to be sooooo versatile. They are soft and light and stretchy and thin, (but not sheer). They cover my long waist and are high enough to keep the girls from popping out, even when a whiney child is tugging on my shirt front; and an added bonus: they don't gape down under the arm either! Now I can't wait to try the under t's in all their rainbow of colors...imagine the possibilities! I could buy just about anything I think is cute, slide one of these babies under there and be totally modest, no matter how revealing the top was intended to be! I'm in love. I need one in every color. And I need them for my daughters. Especially the oldest one. This is modesty that I think even she can get on board with. You need them too, seriously, don't be afraid to spend $14-20 bucks on a t-shirt. Coming from one of the world's biggest cheapo's, that's really saying something.

The Toe Bone's Connected to the...

One more reason to love homeschool. We had a little anatomy lesson last night.

We (I) started with "tattoo's". (Shut your eyes now mother, the ink in the bloodstream thing, yeah, you toally made that up didn't you?) Then I got a bit more *ahem* creative.



That is a big old Texas fire ant bite, I just drew in the ant so she'd remember what bit her.

Then we moved on to anatomy.







But then they exacted their revenge, with the help of their father...



My cheeks are still pink from the scrubbing. The kids? They still have pink highlighter all over them!

Wow. I'm a Blog Slacker.

OK. So the semester and work has turned me into a blog slacker. I'll even admit it, I've actually had enough spare time that I *could* have posted a couple times, but I watched Grey's Anatomy instead. Yup. That's right. Total slacker.

So, for the benefit of my family, who are probably the only ones who bother even checking the old bloggy lately, I will post. I'll even upload pictures. Hope I remember how.

There have been lots of blog worthy events, trying to decide where to start is the tough part.



I took the kiddo's ice skating in February. J was not thrilled to have the skates strapped to the feet. She was happy to wander around the ice yelling "Sip! Sip! Woah! Sip!". K took to it right away and was begging for lessons by the end of the session. B was more interested in the arcade games than the actual skating. Skating is for girls, Mom.



Someone finally had her first real haircut. Right on the heels of the fake first haircut that resulted in a mullett due to a head shaking moment on the part of the irritated toddler. The real hair cut went much better than the fake hair cut.



The Hubster took me to the ballet! Yes, an ACTUAL ballet with actual ballerina's. Very talented, thin, strong, ballerina's. And ballerino's. *Shrug* Hey man, this is Texas. The picture is of Bass Hall, and yes, I realize it is just the stage, but they sort of frown on blinding ballerina's and ballerino's with picture flashies while they are leaping through the air. Take what you can get.



My Spring Break project was to paint my laundry room and make these cute little curtains. K sewed one of the edges before she got bored.



The girls decided to try on easter hats while mommy was looking for ANOTHER wedding dress. They were absolutely the bright spot in this little disaster adventure.

OK so I should explain the wedding dress thing just in case I have any blog friends left that might actually care about what I'm talking about. E, the middle boy is marrying his hs sweetheart in less than a month. I am happy for them, but I do wish they would have taken our bribe offer to elope. Then we could have avoided the ugly scene created by omitting my name from the invitations. Oh.yes.they.did. It was "all a big mistake, we just forgot", yeah-freaking-right-you-did. Much drama has ensued. I forgive my soon to be daughter in law, but reserve the right to be ticked off at her mother for an indeterminate amount of time. It's not my party, but I'll cry anyway. Whah. Perhaps wearing this smashing dress and looking fabulous next to the "real mom's" club will make me feel a tiny bit better.



I ordered a top from Shade Clothing to wear underneath the obviously too-sexay top. SO use your imagination and envision no flesh showing in the cleavage area and back coverage more than what the sheer shawl offers. I love it. And I got shoes. They are fabulous beady-covered little affairs that make me giggle with delight.





We had tons of Easter cuteness.





The worst sprained ankle in the history of the world. D did it tumbling at cheerleading. We seriously thought it was broken. She couldn't drive for two full weeks. She did it the week before easter, and it is still purple. She can at least walk on it and drive now. Poor thing.



Yup. B turned 8. My camera died during the party we had after the baptism, but I was lucky and got a couple shots before it went.



Take a good look at those brand new scriptures. Ten minutes from when this was taken they were carried into the changing area and, in typical 8 year old boy fashion, set down in the biggest puddle he could find.



Just because the B doesn't get enough blog time. He really is as adorable as the girls. Just don't tell him I referred to him as adorable. He might disown me.



This is how to cook tilapia. In a disc in oil in the backyard. Salt and squeeze on lime juice. Mamasita, who has sort of adopted us, makes us authentic mexican delicacies and brings them to us like some kind of religious offering. A very appreciated and well loved religious offering. An offering that necessitates my currently strict diet of irritating proportion that may enable me to actually wear the above mentioned dress. Pray for me.



Proof that I am busy. See. Just cake. No dragons, no teapots, no fairy mushrooms, no Blue's Clues.







I love 2. This much cuteness should be illegal.



At six, I can see where this is headed:



I know, I should totally lock her up now.



RIP little super-soft, put-upon bunny. Bad doggies, BAD. *sniff*

That's enough for now. Lets hope that Blogger will post this super long post without me having to swear and stamp my feet. I think I'll copy the whole thing just.in.case. Much love to all the fam who anxiously await the blog report who've been dissapointed these many times. And if I have any Blogger friends left, I am totally impressed and I'll be able to visit bloggies just a bit until finals start next week. I'll come back this summer for sure. I promise.

Sad Day For The Saints Here

Church Fire
This is the earlier edition. On the 7 am news the guy said it's a total loss. I hope it wasn't arson. Whenever we go to church, J is at the age that she is so excited for her "wass" that she asks us "Where Chooch?" from the moment we leave the driveway to the minute we pull in the parking lot. I always tell her the Church never moves, it stays in the same place as it was the week before. I'm so sad I have to tell them the bad news.

When I was about 7 or 8 I watched our house burn down. This feels the same to me. Funny how something like that affects you long after it's gone and forgotten by the world. I'll never forget my Grammie telling me "Stop that crying, crying isn't going to fix it." How right she was. That advice has served me well over the years.

The Texans are Coming and They Want Hippos

B: When are we going to see Grandpa D?
Me: This spring when we go to my cousins wedding.
B: Cool!
Me: We are also going to take the time to go through Yellowstone Park.
B: Where is that?
Me: Up in Wyoming, near Montanna.
B: Oh! Where they have the huge water fountains!
Me: They're called guysers.
B: Cool! Do you think they'll have hippos?

**************************************

Hubster: What is this horsie's name?
J: Thwakie
Hub: He's white, he could be whitey, and this one could be blackie and they could have a baby and name it pinky.
J: No! Dis.one.Thwakie!
Hub: What's your name?
J: Me!
Hub: Your name is me?
J: NO! MEEEEEEE!
Hub: What's my name?
J: Daddy
Hub: Right, my name is daddy and what is your name?
J: Me
Hub: Your name is you?
J: Jyeah! Me!

Homeschool Moment

The boy hates writing. Today his language arts assignment was to write a story about a pet show. To ease the whining that ensued, I offered to write down the story as he told me ad let him copy it onto his paper. Here is what we wrote:

Me and my friend D$#@! went to the pet show. There were cats, dogs, birds, rabbits, fish, lizards, hampsters, horses and their owners. I won first prize with my dog Tag. My friend D#@!$ won second prize with his cat. K won third prize with her guinea pig. K*&^% won fourth prize with her naked mole rat. We got medals and trophies.

After he wrote down the first sentence, he became discouraged and cried and whined at the top of his lungs for no less than 1 hour.

BUT.

He did finish the story, with some "minor" revisions:

Me and my friend D%$@ went to the pet show. And it was horabl. The fish were pranas the snakes bit me, the dogs chast me. The cats clad me. The lisrds were posunis. The pigs had buttid me.

He's going to hate the spelling list I give him next week.

But it is a major breakthrough in some respects. He absolutely hates coming up with stories, so, I'll call it progress.

One More Thing I Hate About PS

Well, the season of holiday cheer has come to a close and I'm here to tell you that it is followed by the season of Whining and Wailing and Gnashing of teeth. I hate Christmas break. Well, I guess to be completely fair, I like Christmas break O.K., but I do NOT like the learning hangover it leaves in its wake. I AM the meanest mother on earth. My children did school work the day after Christmas. But as the week wore on with the neighborhood children knocking at the door and the christmas treasures demanding to be played with and extra rush created by people being home to read the newspaper and thusly, our ad in the newspaper, it all added up to my determination to soldier on with lessons during the public school break being dashed into little tiny pieces. We were going to do school work every day. They get enough breaks during the year, the work isn't difficult and I want them to recognize that in REAL life, there really is no such thing as a BREAK.

So I gave in and they watched movies and played Nintendo until their eyes went all square and glazed over and they lost their minds. And I admit, the whining voices that pleaded that NO ONE else had to do school during christmas break got to me in a sort of peevish "I don't care what your friends are doing, this is what we're doing, but now I'm tired of fighting with you so have it your way", kind of way.

*sigh*

So today has been something less than stellar in terms of my ideal homeschool fantasy. You know the one where the children eagerly awake and dive right into their lessons, completing everything and then some in record time so that they will have the remainder of the day to work on their science fair project, which includes a cure for cancer AND the common cold.

Yeah. It's been more like:

Drag children out of bed by the hair at 10 am, so tired are they from playing yesterday and staying up too late.....again.

Beg and plead and yell at children to motivate them to clean up the school room which looks like an abandoned playground and crumb factory.

Start lessons.

Swear children will not have spring break if crying and whining keeps up at current level.

Fix lunch so that they will stop banging their heads on the table.

Put baby down for nap. Read history lesson because my ears are bleeding from the endless questions.

"What is 9 take away 3 Mom? I can't do it. Why won't you HELP me? I've never taken 3 away from 9 before, Mom....Mom...Mom...I can't DOoooooooo it...."

Make tape recording of the phrase "I will help you with it if you will ask me a question about something you do not understand, but I will not DO the work FOR you." because I have lost my voice.

K has long since finished her lessons, but B is still on Math. Only language, phonics and spelling to go.

Shoot me now.

Better yet, shoot the fool administrator that decided christmas break was a good idea to begin with.

Drawing on the Powers of Heaven

This little gem was written by Grant Von Harrison and for a time, was included in missionary literature, which is where my perfect BIL came upon it. I'm quite convinced this book is a big part of the reason this particular BIL is perfect. This book clearly lays a foundation for a deeper and more perfect understanding of faith and sets forth a clear and organized way of moving yourself ahead spiritually, benefitting in every possible way, both spiritually and temporally, as you go.

So, I'm going to open up a discussion here. If you have the book, or can get your hands on it, read along and feel free to participate. It will be a worthwhile endeavor. Even if you don't have it, feel free to add your thoughts.

The first chapter talks about faith. The opening statement is:
"Generally, members of the Church do not have difficulty understanding the most basic aspects of faith, such as faith that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, that there is life after death, or with a general faith in the overall plan of salvation. However, many people do have trouble understanding the specific kind of faith required to draw on the powers of heaven to help them be more successful in every facet in their lives." (1)

Basically, we believe in the things we are supposed to, but have a hard time remembering that every action is moved forward by Heavenly Father. When we incorporate this concept into our prayers, and recognize that we have the power to do all things by faith (2 Nephi 1:10), we can gain confidence that Heavenly Father wants to give us all the powers He possesses as long as we put forth the effort and faith to make it possible for Him to bless us.

The book uses the example of someone wanting to lose ten pounds. The faith required to lose ten pounds is different than the faith required to gain special assistance from the Lord. If a person wants to lose ten pounds, they must motivate themselves to action by having faith in the laws that determine weight loss (eat less, move more), resolve to follow those laws, and maintain a constant effort, motivated by faith in the laws that govern weight loss. But many times in our lives, we encounter circumstances that require help from the Lord in addition to resolve and determination on our part. Basically, what I got out of reading this part, is that we should not be afraid to ask for miracles and we should get used to seeing them used to answer our prayers. Which makes sense. Every prayer answered really is a miracle, isn't it? Miracles are the Lords way of letting us know He exists, how much He loves us and how His power is limitless.

The end of the Chapter asks us to explain what is meant by the powers of heaven. I take it to mean that the powers of heaven is the power of God, which can and should be summoned to help us during our mortal lives.

It's Official

My blogging break paid off and I got a 4.0.

Go me, go me, go me.....

*happy dance*

Ahem.

Never cared about doing that before. Well, not since before I had any control over it. It's just mean to give over achieving first graders big, black checkmarks that stand for "Needs Improvement" quarter after quarter even when they TRY to control their talking and stay on task. It goes to show you how very fragile the ego is. Knowing that simple truth would probably have saved my parents a small fortune in private school tuition costs.

See? Learn something every day, don't we!

Doing the Hokey Pokey

I have been stuck in finals mode so, I seriously slacked off in the blog posting.

I do think I managed to pull off a 4.0. The one class I was borderline posted grades yesterday and I must have rocked it out on that last test. Anyhow, here is the video of the year at my house:




We will be including it with her application to Juliiard.

Feeling Joy

Something strange happens to me the moment I become pregnant. I didn't know it would happen with my first child, was in serious denial when it happened with my second child, but there was no doubt I knew what was coming by the time I became pregnant with J.

When I become pregnant, I become unhappy.

I wanted children so badly I could hardly stand to hold our close friends' babies during church. I obsessed over getting pregnant, being pregnant and how I was going to get un-pregnant. I really, really, really, wanted to have kids. What I didn't count on, was the case of the orneries I got each time I got the chance to add to our family.

With B, I was sick. So.so.so.so. sick. I was the only person allowed to use the upstairs bathroom. My softball team kept a large trash can in the dugout, which I visited several times each game. I modified my diet to consume only foods that came up as easily as they went down. Watching my body swell up like a cartoon character did not delight me as it seems to some other members of the female race. The baby moving around was cool for about a month. After that, it just felt like a prolonged case of a wierd stomach virus.

After the baby came, I was thrilled to be a mom, and with barely any chance to breath, I became pregnant with K. I was tired. Overwhelmingly, bone-achingly, w.e.a.r.y. Once she got here, I was sad and emotional. My body wouldn't respond to excersize, I felt dumpy and raving and emotionally crippled. When K turned two, I recognized a shift in my outlook. I became less over-reactive, more patient, and happier with life overall.

When I became pregnant with J, I cried for three days. Along with the discomfort of being pregnant, I also figured out that my life would be seriously tampered with and upset for the next three years. I was right. Along with all the temporal trials we underwent during that time, my own during and after baby slump was added to the mix.

I am happy to report that the slump is coming to a close. I caught myself on SEVERAL occasions this week, slowing down to relish time spent with my children. I stopped working in the yard to watch the girls push each other on the swing. I sat next to B and watched him read and helped him with his homework. I caught myself playing their games with them, watching their shows with them and doing things for them without sighing and feeling pressured to add one more thing to my already full plate. I wish I could take away every harsh word, every impatient remark and every time I raised my voice or brushed them off. I wish I could have those moments back now, when I can fully appreciate the aching lovliness of their skin, the sweet smell of their heads and the charming twinkle in their eyes. I wish I would have written down every cute word, new discovery and recorded every silly dance they ever danced. But I know I can't. I can only move forward and drink in every precious moment from here on out. Unencumbered by my funk, I can try to be the mommy they deserve and be the person they can count on.

I think I'll take extra care with J. She'll probably be the one that picks out my retirement home. (But then again, B has already promised he will build me a house next to his so I can live there and make him spaghetti. K is going to live there with me. She's getting married when she's 35 and needs a place to stay until then. Good to have a plan, isn't it?)