Confessions of a Slacker Mom

McCarthy Family Christmas Letter

2011-12-07T13:25:00.000-08:00

Seasons Greetings to All Our Dear Friends and Family

While I write this, the boys are busy cutting out items from the newspaper ads that they would like for Christmas! Such is the delightful part of this time of year where dreams of Santa Claus and presents fills the air. I think 5 and 8 are the perfect ages to appreciate and embrace the glorious insanity of the holidays. :)

We have much to celebrate this year. The most obvious being my graduation from nursing school in May, passing the NCLEX in June and starting my new job in July. We can’t believe our luck with m

y getting an awesome job (day shift, no less) at a hospital 8 minutes away in this economy. I am a “float” nurse which means that I work on a multitude of floors (surgery, medical, ortho-neuro, oncology, adult psychiatric, youth acute psychiatric, rehab and pediatrics). I love the variety and insanity of never knowing what is in store for me. I am learning a lot and truly becoming a jack-of-all trades master-of-none! For me, this is a dream job and I feel really blessed and fortunate to have the opportunity to explore so many types of nursing settings. I need to mention what a total joy it is not to have homework hanging over my head which has been the case since I went back to school in Jan 2008. I have more time for my family and this is the true reward.

The next most exciting thing this year has been the addition of Rocky to our family. Rocky is our Boxer which I got from a nursing school classmate. While early puppyhood was a bit maddening, we all have fallen in love with this vibrant and exuberant guy who adores all of us. Rocky is a “leaner” so some part of his body is forever leaning on some part of your body. He sleeps with Talan every night and crawls into our bed in the morning to wake us up if we try to sleep in! We all adore the Rockstar and he had added a whole new level of energy into our lives. We spoil him with lots of visits to the nearby dog parks and hikes. He motivates us to get out more, especially in the colder weather, so we all benefit from more activity.

We made the decision to send the boys to private Montessori school this year. It has been such a great fit for our boys, our family and is conveniently located within a mile of our home. The flexible hours works well for our crazy schedules. The boys are excelling and it is nice that they are on the same “campus” for the first time. They are learning French and Spanish. Talan came home the other day and said “Mom, ask me how I am”. So I did to which he replied with a huge grin “muy bien”. The size of the second grade class at the school Mason went to last year, is 28 kids. Mason’s current class has 18 kids and 2 full-time teachers. A far better ratio for our colorful guy! Talan’s teacher reminds us often how delightful it is to have Talan in her classroom and that he is a role-model for the other kids for listening and following rules.

We continue to live in our duplex, it’s been over four years. We never imagined we would live in it this long but with the economy, my going back to nursing school and now the boys’ private education it is the best fit for us for the time being. Our tenants/friends Scott and Michelle make fabulous next door neighbors. Their son Tyler is like our third child. :) The boys all play well together and we are so grateful to have a playmate so close. Scott and Michelle pitch in frequently to help out with the boys and the pets when Joe is out of town and I am working. It is truly a blessing to have them in our lives.

Joe continues to work on the race circuit. This year for the Indy car series. He is also starting his own “concept” which is in the very beginning stages so you’ll hear more about it next year! :) He is a FB junkie so you can always keep up with him there. The boys have adjusted to his absences but it is getting harder as they get older. We continue to explore ways to keep his time away from our family to a minimum.

We have had several trips this year. My best nursing school buddy Elizabeth and I spent Spring Break in our condo in Cabo (which we inherited from Joe’s father Fred). That was a much needed break during the last grueling semester of school. We enjoyed the sun, beaches and having no kids! As soon as summer started we did a couple of camping trips in the 5th wheel which is always a family favorite. In late July, I did a medical mission trip to Honduras through our church. It was an amazing experience working with people who live in a trash dump outside the capital of Tegucigalpa. I will continue to do mission trips and when the boys are old enough to participate I will bring them along as it gives a perspective on life like non other. The hospital I work at goes to Mexico and Haiti so I’d like to join them on their next mission. Joe and I had a few days alone in Vegas in October (on the back end of his race there) which was fabulous. It was our first time away from the boys since they were born. In November, we took the boys to San Antonio, Texas for a family vacation. We visited the Alamo, Sea World, the Children's’ Museum and crossed the border to Piedras Negras to visit Joe’s co-worker Alvaro for a day. We all had a blast. Next we will fly to CA on December 21st to spend the holidays with my parents (Joe is already in there catering for Melons which he has done the past nine years). I haven’t been to Marin since last Christmas so I am looking forward to catching up with everyone there.

Barclay continues to live down the street from us. We don’t see her as much these days but we love having her close by. Her boyfriend Steve is a delight and we have embraced him into our lives. He has been a trooper accepting his new nickname “Deeb” which is Talan’s best pronunciation of his name! They will be joining us in Marin for the holidays so that we make for a fun and festive time for all of us.

Life is good to us up here in North Idaho. We love the quality of life and the pace that living in a small town affords us. We hope that the holidays treat you well and bring love and joy into your hearts. Merry Christmas and Happy New Years from all the McCarthys!

Love from,

Brianna, Joe, Mason, Talan, Rocky, Lucy, Penny and Millie

2011-07-27T18:52:00.001-07:00

I'm off on my adventure to Honduras. Currently traveling by bus to Seattle. My roommate will be the gal I happened to sit next to on the bus which is good as we get along (so far). Exciting!

Precepting finished! Here are my thoughts....

2011-02-27T19:27:00.000-08:00

Brianna McCarthy

Journal Entry #4

February 27, 2011

Pertaining to three 12 hour shifts (2/18, 2/23, 2/26) for a total of 36 hours.

It is difficult to believe precepting is over. It turned out to be a fabulous experience. I now feel like I could really be a nurse. I have gained so much confidence and maturity in my thought process and correlating the diagnosis with my assessments. The first of the three shifts this journal pertains to started with four patients but then one discharged early in the day and the only other patient my preceptor had was not available to me as he was a stem-cell patient. I was disappointed and hoped to get involved with the next admit so that I could get my number back to four but it just so happened that I was busy with a patient when the admit came to the floor and so someone else did the admit paperwork and took that patient. My ninth shift I was dead set on having four patients and ended up having five as I knew one was going to discharge mid-morning and I didn’t want to get in the same boat again. I managed the five fine. My preceptor ended up doing the discharge paperwork which disappointed me but, in reality, I was too caught up in my other patients during the time the patient was trying to be discharged. My last shift I had four patients and end the shift with the same four patients! One I had worked with on my previous shift so that made my interactions with her a bit more meaningful as we already familiar with each other.

I find that I really do enjoy taking the time to try to really talk with a patient, spend an extra 10 or so minutes getting to know them and building that trust. It helps me determine an approach that will work well with their personality. It also helps me assess and report to the next shift something that might make the next nurse find the patient more relatable. This can sometimes mess me up with my time management but usually I take the opportunity to spend some quality time with my patients when I am less busy.

My time management has improved tremendously. My goal for my last day was to be on time with all my medications. That went out the window within the first two hours but I could see how it wasn’t my fault; pharmacy is sometimes behind, doctors write new orders, patients decide they want their pills crushed and it is an extended release and can’t be crushed so a different pill needs to be ordered and sent up. Patient’s leave the floor for dialysis and then the majority of their morning meds aren’t given until after lunchtime. So while I know why I had the goal, as a barometer of my time management, not fulfilling it doesn’t mean my time management is necessarily off target.

I feel comfortable with a four patient case load and I can actually envision being competent to take five with more experience. There were times when I was able to be of help to the other nurses and times when I needed to delegate small tasks to other personnel. I checked in with my preceptor occasionally to see if I was way off mark or missing something major and she would always say “no” that I was doing fine. The nurses on the unit were all very supportive and reminded me that time management takes time to learn; that it is a skill like any other skill in nursing and that practice makes perfect.

By the last couple of shifts, I definitely felt like part of the team. The nurses on this floor are all really nice and encouraging. What is really noticeable to me is that I now feel comfortable with the doctors and don’t shy away from them. I have a voice and a place in this picture of the patient’s care. Something new since my last journal entry is that I started writing notes in the front of the chart pertaining to issues either the patient or I needed clarified. Also, I answered the phone at the front desk if no one else was around. I answered the call light phone as well. So apparently, I can hear on the KMC phone system! If I had a spare moment, I would restock things that I noticed earlier were not there, like syringes or alcohol wipes. Things that I felt would benefit me or the other nurses. The last thing I need is to be out of basic supplies when I am scrambling to organize my care for a patient.

I learned more about how to use the tubing system especially the protocol for ordering blood products. You have to enter a code to retrieve the tube with the blood product in it (it makes a special noise which I don’t hear to alert you to the need to enter the code). I took the opportunity to walk down to pharmacy for items. I walked down to the lab to turn in a special specimen. I watched my preceptor give medication to a patient inside the MRI room. I learned that you have to take EVERYTHING that is metal off - including my hearing aids or else they will be ruined my the magnetic forces. Very cool to see and experience.

Most importantly I realized that there is still a whole lot of stuff to learn and that I will probably never feel like I know enough. But this is ok and how most nurses feel. It doesn’t mean that I can’t be a safe and effective nurse. I love to learn and that is part of what excited me about nursing: that there is ample opportunity to continue to learn and grown in a profession that offers an abundance of different pathways in which to practice.

I think that I will truly enjoy and find beneficial the training program that will, hopefully, be part of my future job. I do best when I have observed how something is done. I am a fast learner and very observant. I know that I have to be careful, methodical and observant when working so that I don’t make mistakes or at least ones that aren’t life threatening.

I appreciate the precepting opportunity and all the work that went into it, on every end involved. I am glad I saw what 12 hour shifts are like and now know that I can handle them just fine. I have a lot less fear and a lot more hope now. If nothing else, this is what I got out of precepting and I think that is huge in and of itself.

What is up?

2011-02-22T19:39:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends and Family,

I can't believe I haven't blogged since September. First thing I'll say is those kittens are gone. We gave them away to some of Talan's teachers. We are down to one kitty as Luna ran away while we were in California for Christmas. That was a very sad discovery and we have had a multitude of discussions about it (usually ending up in tears). We have chased down some leads, the most recent being a sighting of Luna at the humane society, but that was erroneous and it was very difficult to leave that place empty handed.

I am now in my last semester of nursing school. I am currently wrapping up my precepting hours (96 out of 120 hours) in the Oncology/Nephrology unit at our local hospital. I work tomorrow and Saturday will be my last day. My shift starts at 7am and doesn't end until 7:30pm but I rarely get out before 8pm as there is too much to do. I love it but it is challenging to manage four patients which is what I will be required to do in the next two shifts. Wish me luck. :)

I will graduate May 11 at 7pm. This is a special ceremony just for the nursing students and it is where we get our pins, thus, it is called a pinning ceremony. I just ordered my pin, very simple design with my school logo, last week.

Joe has been home for awhile which has been absolutely fantastic. I don't know how I would have done these long clinical hours without him. Talan does not like it when I work "7 to 7" and he is very excited to hear I only have two more of "those days".

The boys will tell you that the most exciting thing that has happened recently is that we got a Wii. Talan loves to play it, Mason is more into the Netflick that comes with it. Totally congruent with their personalities.

I have been using an Apple laptop for the past 4 months and I am still learning how to use this platform. It has been a process and whenever I have a chance I take a lesson (as Joe bought me unlimited lessons and boy was that a good call!). Talan is sitting beside me right now playing on the iPad that Joe got for Christmas. Until the Wii, this was the hottest item in our home and lots of battles have occurred over "who's turn is it". I have seriously probably spent an entire hour with it myself. It is never "available". The boys will go into shock when Joe starts traveling again and takes it with him. This is probably one of the major factors into Joe's decision to get the Wii.

Two new developments in my world. First, I joined the Biggest Loser challenge at my gym. It is nine weeks long and is quite rigorous. I am determined to get into shape and lost the pounds I have put on since being in nursing school. Second, I just booked a seven day trip to Cabo with my nursing school pal Elizabeth. We will go during Spring Break. First Joe has to come home so that he can watch the boys while I go have a nice relaxing week away from it all. Elizabeth and I will be staying in the condo that Fred left us in his will. Joe is actually flying down there on Saturday for four days to make sure it is in tip top shape. We have started to rent it on VRBO and we have already received our first check! Now to make sure it has linens and things. It is possible that I take care of some stuff while I am down there which is fine with me because then I can write it off! :)

The boys are beautiful and well. Talan is now 5 and becoming a much louder presence in our home. Today Joe went into his classroom and make sushi for all the kids. I went along for moral support. Then Joe did some juggling and a couple magic tricks. The kids had a blast. It was really a good time. I told Talan he'll remember this day for a long time. I made Muesli for Talan's class last week. They loved that too. The class is currently on a Cooking Unit which is why they have asked for parental involvement. As food is right up our alley, we were happy to oblige.

I continue to work in Mason's classroom on Thursday afternoons. I really love all the kids in his class. Barclay and I helped the class with their Valentine's Day party and Mason felt so special. There was only one other parent who showed up so you can imagine how cool that was that B and I could both make it.

Mason is back in wrestling again. It is as agonizing as it was the first time. I don't know how Joe does it but he is determined to make Mason love it (or at least finish the season). I am trying to stay out of it.

At nighttime the kids and I read a couple chapters out of Junie B. Jones each evening. It is a really cute ritual that we all look forward to. I don't know what we will do when we are done with the series. My friend Fabienne says her boys really enjoy a series called Captain Underpants so that may be the direction we go in.

Well, a lot more than that has probably happened in our lives but that is all I can think to say right now. Talan desperately wants my attention so I am going to give it to him!

Goodnight all.

News

2010-09-30T11:09:00.000-07:00

Wow so much is going on in our lives! I am in my sixth week of school and I am doing well. I have an 86 average so I am on track to pass third semester. I just finished my psych rotation which was very interesting.
Mason is thriving in first grade. He got a 100% on his first spelling test! We are very pleased. We joined boy scouts and so he is officially a tiger cub! They made marshmellow launching guns last night which was a huge hit as you can only imagine.
Talan is great as well. He continues to enjoy helping out around the house and doing "homework" with his big brother.
Our newest additions to the family are two baby kittens that the boys rescued from under Barclays front deck. We are bottle feeding them and they are using the litter box when we remember to put them in it! Lucy and Luna are not pleased. Nor are the rats as they have been neglected ever since the kittens arrived. We are not keeping them but have not
found homes yet either.
Joe will be home next Monday and finished with this years race schedule! We are estatic to have him back home.
My dear friend Fabienne just moved back to Idaho last night. I am so happy that she is back. I am with her right now helping her resettle in to her home.
Life is good. The weather is great. We are all healthy and well. Sweet!

July was a wonderful month

2010-07-31T16:29:00.000-07:00

We traveled again, this time to Edmonton Canada for Joe's race and then for a little camping trip through Jasper National Park. It was so beautiful. We tent camped which the boys are a bit shocked by as we always have our 5th wheel. We had a few issues with the air mattress etc but got through it all just fine. The boys voted to get a hotel after two nights so we obliged by staying at the Fairmont Hot Springs Hotel which was a lot of fun although a bit pricey! Canada is not cheap but it sure is gorgeous. We took the gondola up Whisper Mt. in Jasper and then hiked to the summit. We paddled around in a boat on Emerald Lake in the Yoho National Forest. I also did a little shopping there and picked up a darling metal sculpture of a beaver who now resides on our front step!

I start my summer clinicals this Monday and then I will be in Marin on August 14th for a week before school officially starts on August 23rd. Joe and the boys will be in Marin too and stay a couple days longer than me. We look forward to seeing our family and friends in Marin and catching up as always.

Recent Events

2010-07-17T16:17:00.001-07:00

We have been busy! We camped at Glacier National Park last weekend. We lost Talan's bicycle from the back of the trailer so he got a new bike which looks like a motorcycle. We had a wonderful playdate with Talan's classmates at his teacher Jessica's house. We went to Mason Paul's 5th bday party at the Fort Sherman park in CDA (where we had Mason's 1st bday party). Lots of fun and enjoying the summer weather which finally arrived in Northern Idaho! Oh and we tried to have our first sleep over with Tyler but he ended up wanting to go home at 10:30pm (thank God he lives next door)! Brianna McCarthy Sent from my iPhone

I am coming to visit next week

2010-06-08T17:52:00.001-07:00

Surprise! The boys and I will be in Marin from the 16th to the 23rd. Hope to see everyone and enjoy lots of hiking, catching up and fun excursions. I'll be at my folks house enjoying some grandma and grandpa time!
Love to all of you,

Brianna McCarthy
Sent from my iPhone

Photo update

2010-05-20T09:21:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to share some photos that were taken recently.

Brianna McCarthy
Sent from my iPhone
I just wanted to share some photos that were taken recently.

Brianna McCarthy
Sent from my iPhone

Happy Anniversary - 8 years today!

2010-05-18T10:03:00.000-07:00

Eight years ago, we tied the knot in beautiful Mill Valley. It is amazing to both of us that it has only been 8 years as it feels much longer. We celebrated a little early as Joe leaves today for 3 weeks on the road. We took the kids camping for 4 nights in central Idaho. We had a fabulous time. The boys caught trout and are now hooked (literally) on fishing. :) We made a lot of smores (my personal favorite) and hiked and biked our little hearts out. The weather could not have been better and we really enjoyed some quality family time. I am done with my first year of nursing school. I ended up with a B for the second semester. I am happy that all that stress and chaos is over for the next three months.
Talan and I are out of school while Mason has three more weeks. I just helped his class take a field trip to the fire station and that was cute and fun. I am helping out on a couple more field trips which they are trying to cram in before the end of the year. Mason has been "invited" to summer school to improve his reading. That will start in late July. Of course, our vacation arrangements will have to work around that. I am opting to do a two week intensive clinical class at the beginning of August to help me prepare for next year as I will be expected to be able to handle 3 or 4 patients per shift by the end of the third semester. I am barely able to handle two now, usually I check in on one and then devote my time to the other one! Not very fair or safe! Lots to learn especially in time management and excusing oneself when the patient is in the middle of a long involved story that isn't relevant to anything I can do for them.
If anyone wants to visit we would love to have you. :) Lots of love to everyone.

Goodbye Grandma Fred

2010-04-29T18:28:00.001-07:00

Some of you may know that Joe's dad passed away last week. He is finally out of his suffering but we miss him terribly. Fortunately, Joe was there visiting and was able to spend some quality time with his dad before he died. There is a memorial on the Marin IJ website to view if you are interested. I just wrote a quick note saying goodbye on it. My poor husband has lost all three of his parents in the last 29 months. Thankfully a lot of family was around visiting Fred, his sister Beth, Greg, Katrina and Kevin, Joe and Candy. The lesson we are learning is to live and appreciate life now. There are no guarantees.
I have less than two weeks of school left and then a three month summer break awaits me. I plan to spend lots of time with my boys and perhaps take a trip or two. I can't believe the first year of nursing school is coming to a close. It has been a lot of work and I have learned so much. I feel blessed to have this opportunity to be in this fabulous field and I am excited to continue with it in the fall.
I will hopefully write more and post more as I have "free" time. Not even sure what that is anymore! :)

Mason just lost his 2nd tooth!

2010-03-08T21:09:00.001-08:00

We are anxiously awaiting a visit from the tooth fairy. I need to
rustle up some money. Thank goodness Joe is still here to witness this
exciting milestone. He leaves tomorrow for three weeks in Florida. The
next time we see him will be in Hawaii!!!

Brianna McCarthy
Sent from my iPhone

Back in School

2010-01-13T17:17:00.001-08:00

Well, the first week of school is underway. I am already drowning in homework and material to read, memorize and all that fun stuff. Talan claims he now hates school but his teachers tell us he is having a great time there. Mason went back to school a week before Talan and I started. He has a big screening test coming up at the end of the month so we are really working on our recognition of letters (upper and lower case) as well as the sounds associated with them. He thinks lower case "l"s look like "i"s and he thinks a lower case q is really a p. It is confusing, I can only imagine. When he sees a "Y" he says yellow instead of "Y" and for "W" he says water. Close but no cigar!
I love having Joe home. It is so wonderful to jointly care for the kids and all the responsibilities at home. Joe has been making wonderful meals for me since I started the food addicts diet (no sugar, no flour, no snacking). I am taking it one day at a time although I have lost three pounds which is exciting. :)
The weather is cold but not snowing. We've actually had some rain. In some places there is still snow on the ground but for the most part it melts almost right away. I am reminded of the bumper sticker Barclay had on her car when she was a teenagers "The weather is here wish we were beautiful". I look forward to beautiful weather and Hawaii at the end of March to celebrate my father's 70th birthday.
Lucy and Luna got spayed last week which was quite dramatic for the boys even though they were only gone half a day. You would not believe the tears that were shed for "my baby kitties". Joe is convinced Lucy thinks she is a dog. She begs for food like you wouldn't believe. She sits on top of the garbage can which is just slightly lower than the kitchen counter (which she knows she is not allowed on) and waits for scraps. We have taken to calling her "garbage can kitty". She is not offended in the least. :) She is where the food is, at all times.
I haven't been blogging as much as usual but you will find me on Facebook which is just so quick I can't resist being on that site.

Academy of Sciences visit

2009-12-21T13:56:00.001-08:00

Baba took the boys and me to the Academy of Sciences to enjoy Claude the albino alligator and the planetarium. Joe met up with us which made it extra special.

Sent from my iPhone

Baba took the boys and me to the Academy of Sciences to enjoy Claude the albino alligator and the planetarium. Joe met up with us which made it extra special.
Sent from my iPhone

Multimedia message

2009-12-15T20:33:00.000-08:00

Talan got dominos so we played a round. Fun fun.

Posting to blog from iPhone

2009-12-13T08:15:00.001-08:00

I am studying, again, all day with my lab partner for our final exam tomorrow. Wish us luck.

Sent from my iPhone

Final Stretch

2009-12-12T08:32:00.001-08:00

My last final is Monday. I have pulled off two great test scores (90 and 83) to put myself at a 78% average. So, I have a little breathing room for the final but still need to do well. My mom has been here over a week now and she has been a godsend. I am having so much fun with her, when I am not studying. I am so glad she is here. We will all fly to Marin on the 16th so that is a very tantalizing carrot at the end of this grueling journey. I can't wait to see my dad, Joe and Fred and all my friends! We haven't booked a flight back to Idaho yet but we will be there through Christmas.
Yesterday, I got to volunteer to greet the incoming class of nursing students. What a trip! In the audience I saw my lab partner in A&P, my first semester back in college, who was so patient with me while I learned how to be a student again. I like being involved with the RN program and it probably earns me a few kudos with my professors. I had my last clinical on Thursday and so I finally put my nose pierce back in as I haven't been allowed to wear it all semester, one of the many small sacrifices for nursing school. :)
It has been an amazing journey and I trust I will pass my course and progress on to the second semester. Being so close to not passing is just going to make it all the sweeter. :)

Black Friday

2009-11-27T10:10:00.000-08:00

We are laying low avoiding all the crazy shoppers out there this morning. Unlike last year when Barclay and Joe went and got smoking deals on a flat screen TV. There is nothing that we really want or need this year so we are skipping the chaos. Instead, the boys are having tons of fun playing with the gigantic box that my new office chair came in. They have made it into a fort and all sorts of other things. Amazing how much fun a big box can be. :)

We had a wonderful time up at Luke and Casey's new home in Rathdrum yesterday for Thanksgiving. Luke is Mr. Matt's brother. We had Easter Dinner at their house earlier in the year but that was before they moved so we were excited to see what they had built. It was gorgeous and comfy! They are great hosts and it was a really relaxed atmosphere. Despite Mason accidentally giving Zachary a bloody nose, the boys all got along great. It is so nice to have friends that have boys of similar ages. I got to sneak in a few sweet moments with baby Riley who just turned one last week. Keira and Barclay and I (and Zachary) played a game of Yahtzee. It was the longest game ever as all kids kept interrupting and wanting to know what we were doing.

We were home by 6pm and I managed to do about three hours of homework which is great as that has been my goal to do some work every day. Yesterday morning I volunteered at the hospital to hand out blankets to patients to fulfill some of my community service hours that my program requires. When I got home the kids were telling their neighborhood friends that I had gone to donate blood! Crazy rumors.

So anyhow, Joe finally figured out how to download my iphone photos onto my laptop so I can now post them onto my blog. My one and only attempt to blog from my iphone was unsuccessful. It takes a lot of time to get familiar with all these new tools.

My mom is flying out next week to help me with the boys while I finish the last two weeks of my nursing program. Then we will all fly out to Marin on the 16th to catch up with Joe who will be out there catering. Barclay is flying out on the 23rd for four days so that we can all spend Christmas together. I am exciting to have something to look forward to. It's been a very long semester to say the least. Mason is counting down the days to Christmas. FYI 28 days to go!

Blogging from my iPhone in bed

2009-11-12T22:07:00.000-08:00

Status of my Nursing Program

2009-11-11T12:32:00.000-08:00

Monday we took test number five. I now have a 74.8% average but need a 75% average to "progress" to next semester. So, I am feeling a little stress as there are only a couple more tests for me to take to pull my grade up. They do not round up or grade on a curve. Quite a few people dropped out this week. It is sad to see all that hard work not pay off. I am in it for the long haul. I just need to really focus and study daily. It is such a challenging and time consuming program. All this stress and uncertainty will just make it that much more rewarding when I finally finish. I am thinking positive. I can do it.
Joe is at his last race this week. Yippee! He will be home in a week. He did stop through Marin, again, to see his dad. Fred is not doing well so keep him in your prayers. He is on a feeding tube as he has lost his gag reflect which means his ability to swallow is compromised. He might swallow food/liquid into his lungs. He will be on this feeding tube for the rest of his life and, therefore, he will need 24 hour nursing care after he gets out of the hospital, assuming he gets out. At the other end of Joe's trip, he is going to visit with his step-brother in So Cal to deal with the material items from Curt and Susie's house. Not a pleasant visit under those circumstances. My poor hubby. I feel for him.
Joe will be going to Marin to cater for the month of December. Not great timing for me as I have a lot of stuff happening in my nursing program in December but I have lots of support here. I am toying with the idea of Joe taking Talan with him but that would mean finding a lot of babysitters to help him out while he is at work. I think Fred would love to see Talan. Joe brought Mason when he visited Marin two weeks ago. Joe works mainly at night so it might be possible to do so finagling of various resources there but it might be too much work. I am thinking I'd like to book a flight around Dec 15th/16th to Marin to see Fred myself and celebrate the holidays early with my folks. I do want to be back here in Idaho for Christmas as we like our white Christmas!
Anyway, my mind is wandering. I need to get back to studying. Just wanted to reach out to my friends and let you all know where I am at. I am enjoying school but just shocked how hard it is. I mean, I am at a community college in Idaho. :) I wouldn't have guessed I would be struggling to pass. It is the best program in the area by a long shot but I am used to earning great grades. Wish me luck. Lots of love to all of you. xoxo Brianna

I got an iPhone

2009-10-28T08:22:00.000-07:00

Yippee! Barclay and Joe have had theirs for over a week but I have just been too busy to get into mine but now I have and I can't wait. What fun. Expect a lot more short posts from me now that it is going to be a lot easier. :)
Joe and Mason went to Marin for 3 days to visit Fred in the hospital. He is doing better but looks very weak and frail. Joe will get a chance to stop in for a day on his way to Pomona on November 9th and then he will be in Marin to cater after Thanksgiving. Thank goodness he will be able to see a lot of his dad as I think it means a lot to both of them.
Meanwhile, back at the home front, I am in week 10 of nursing school. I am going ok, I need to pull my grade up 1% to pass. My clinicals are about to double to two a week for the next 7 weeks which is very time consuming as the paper work before and after each clinical takes about 10 hours. Plus I still have two lectures a week, which is usually 2 chapters a lecture, and I have my regular life. Crazy busy but I am enjoying it. Remind me of that in the next few weeks. haha

Tough Times

2009-10-09T14:39:00.000-07:00

Mason had a "bad" day at school yesterday and was not allowed to go to school today as punishment. His crime: he threw rocks on the playground. I have never in all my years of schooling have ever been sent home for a day. He is 6 years old people! Why are there rocks on the playground if they don't think kids are going to pick them up and throw them. Joe and I are infuriated with the Post Falls Kindergarten. Deny him recess for a week or the entire school year (when he gets in trouble it is 99% during recess). Have his consequences be at school not at home. Maddening. So Mason is at Little Creations today. I needed to study. I have an all day conference in Lewiston tomorrow which is 3 hours away so I have a full day tomorrow and it won't be studying.
Joe was home briefly for one night, Monday. It was great to see him although I really didn't see him. My new clinical days are Tuesday so I had a 45 minute lunch date with Joe and that was it. He will be home next week for two weeks which is a blessing. However, we may end up taking a trip to CA to check in on Fred. He has been in the hospital since Sunday but is now having surgery today to pull bone fragments out of his spine (related to damage from Prednisone use) and will be on life support as his lungs are damaged from a recent bout of pneumonia. He is down to 167 pounds and not doing great. I am not ready to lose another Grandparent, especially "Grandma Fred". Let's all keep him in our prayers.
Between Mason expulsion and Fred's deteriorating health, I have been in tears and not able to focus on school. I did manage to study my chapter on drugs today but I am still behind on Pain Management and Bowel Elimination. Exciting stuff!
I am off to get Talan. Then Mason. Then some kiddo time before the babysitter comes at 6:30pm tonight. The day flew bye.

Cruise Photos

2009-10-03T09:06:00.000-07:00

We went on a cruise last weekend around Lake Coeur d'Alene. It was fun and a much needed break from the frenzy of studying. I have an exam this coming Monday so I have another weekend of studying ahead of me. We have been playing games all morning. Mason has not asked for TV once in the past 4 days. A miracle and a total change in our way of living. I bought 4 different board games from the thrift store yesterday (Battleship, Zoocomafoo, Dandy Candy and something else) so we have been engrossed in learning how to play them. Considering it has started to rain and turned much colder here in Idaho, it is time for a lot more indoor playing. Of course, there are lots of battles over which game to play first etc. Mason isn't much of a good sport either which is Karma as I was a horrible sport as a kid too! Anyway, we did family fun night at the Kroc center last night. We brought Terran, our neighbor, with us. The boys paid his entrance fee from their piggy banks. It is a good lesson for them to learn how to be generous and pay for something meaningful vs. buying toys with their "own" money. Terran wants to come again this morning as we are just about to leave for yoga. I am very consistent about 10am yoga on Saturdays. I will let the boys figure out if they want to pay Terran's way again.

I will have the babysitter Danielle here most of the weekend so that I can study. I am trying hard to keep some balance in my life!

I bombed my test

2009-09-23T19:58:00.000-07:00

My test Monday did not go well. I got a 66. That is a D! I am not happy. I have recommitted myself to studying and while I still have a 75 average which is what is needed to pass the course, I have no room for error. I have increased Mason to full time at the GAP program at school. I am studying every available moment I get. I was even looking at my flash cards at stop lights today while picking up both boys from their respective schools. I have a lot of work, reading and memorizing to do. The next material is pharmacology which is intense to say the least. Joe is away for another 3 weeks. That has made it extra difficult for me to find time to study but I am confident I can turn things around.
I have clinical tomorrow at 5:45am so Barclay has the boys spending the night at her house. I have one patient tomorrow. He is 86, just had a cerebral vascular accident (stroke) which has caused him left sided ataxis (problems of coordination). He is also diabetic and has poor vision. I don't know if the diabetes caused the stroke or if the poor eyesight is a result of the stroke. I will learn these things tomorrow when I assess him. Wish me luck. I am happy that he won't be able to see how nervous I am! :) Otherwise, I am enjoying school, my boys and the beautiful weather up here in Northern Idaho.

Tuesday

2009-09-15T18:17:00.000-07:00

Joe just left for 4 weeks. That is a huge bummer. The boys cried when they found out. I reminded them that he will be back before they know it. A small white lie. They love their Daddy!

So both boys got haircuts which makes a huge difference in their appearance although Joe and I disagree on the best cut for Talan's hair. The big BIG news is that Mason can ride a bike without training wheels. He is so happy and excited. Joe and I have both taken him on bike rides. It is so fun to be able to go far with him on the bike! Talan loves to ride his bike especially now that we put new training wheels on his bike. His old training wheels got run over. :(

I have my first real clinical this Thursday. I have been assigned one patient. I hope that I do a good job with vitals, assessment etc. It is nerve wracking but this is how we learn best, under pressure and in a real life situation. I am doing quite a bit of research online about paraplegia and spinal shock so that I have a clue what I am walking into on Thursday. Wish me luck!

First Day of Kindergarten

2009-09-09T14:34:00.000-07:00

I had my first exam today at school (I got an 84%) so I missed getting to take Mason to his first day of Kindergarten. Joe was fortunate enough to get to do that. :) I will be picking him up in the next half hour but I wanted to post some cute photos of the boys this morning. It is our ritual to take a photo the first day of school. I post later to tell you how it went.

We love our Babysitter Danielle

2009-09-04T08:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I had clinical orientation in Spokane from 8am to 5:15pm. My carpool wanted to meet at 6:45am just to make sure we were there on time. We were there by 7:10am! Anyway, Talan spent the night at Barclay's house so that she could take him to school in the morning but she had clients late so she couldn't pick up Talan. His school closes at 5:15pm. So, Danielle volunteered to take the bus to the college, pick up Talan and then take two buses back to my house. :) I was skeptical and warned her Talan would need snacks as he is always hungry immediately. She brought snacks. loved being in the college atmosphere ("lots of cute guys") and Talan loved taking the buses! The bus drops them off at the gas station right near our developments so it was a minimal walk home. I pulled up with Mason just as they were walking up our driveway. Very cool. Then Danielle made us all dinner so I could unwind/study. She walked herself home (as she is staying at her Grandma's which is very close by). She said she had too much fun to get paid. Don't you love it? She is so sweet and strict with the boys. I love it! We took some photos to upload onto her myspace account but I am posting a few here. Happy Friday to us all!

We are getting a visit from the tooth fairy

2009-09-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

Mason lost his first tooth! Such a big moment for us. It really feels like a significant milestone. He turned 6 last Friday and starts Kindergarten next week. Wow, time flies. I missed the actual tooth falling out event as I was at school but he showed it to everyone at my Al-Anon meeting tonight and got a lot of attention for it which, is, as we all know what he covets most. Someone donated a $2 bill in the basket tonight so I traded two bucks for it and that is what I am going to put under his pillow. I remember getting a big half dollar coin so this is 400% inflation in just 30 some odd years! LOL

We went boating on Lake Ponderay on Sunday with our neighbors Matt and Keira. Both boys got to drive the boat which was, in their minds, the highlight. :) A wonderful way to enjoy one of the hottest weeks on record up here.

School is progressing. Today we got to try to put on sterile gloves while maintaining a sterile field. Harder than it looks on TV! I have my first exam next Wednesday so I am gearing up for a long weekend of studying. My babysitter Danielle is babysitting all weekend so that I can catch up and do well.

Please keep Joe in your prayers. His step-dad Curt passed away two days ago and, while we knew it was forthcoming, it is still a big shock and loss. A part of Curt died when Susie, Joe's mom, died Christmas Eve 2007 so, in a way, it is a blessing. Hopefully they are reunited in Heaven and enjoying each others company once again. Joe may be going to Anaheim next week to see what he can do to help his step-brothers deal with all the many details left to work out. It is Curt and Susie's wishes to have their ashes scattered together and so that will be an important part of the letting go process. Heavy stuff and nothing that I hope I will not have to deal with for many decades to come. Hawaii in March '10 here we come.

Morning of my first day of school

2009-08-24T06:27:00.000-07:00

Mason just threw up all over the sofa so I guess that answers my question as to if he is still feeling sick. He looks pale and dehydrated. He hasn't eaten since Saturday. I have no choice but to send him to daycare. I can't miss my first class at 8am! What a great way to start off my school year! Do I tell the daycare people or not? Dilemma.....

Walter's Farm

2009-08-21T16:01:00.000-07:00

We went with my new mom's group to Walter's Farm today for a little peach picking. The boys had a great time. We played in the giant sand box that was filled with dried peas not sand which makes for an amazing tactile experience. We fed goats, a huge joy for Talan. He quickly figured out the coin operated machine dispensing pellets was broken so he fed them to his hearts content! We picnicked there although my boys ate the entire ride up there so they didn't have much food left other than a spare juice box! I did bust out the cup-cakes for everyone in honor of Mason's upcoming birthday. :) We also took a tractor/wagon ride around the farm. The best part of that was that the farm dog joined us on the tractor ride which made the boys squeal with delight. "I like dogs" Talan kept saying. :)

We actually had to go to a different farm to pick peaches which was a new experience for us. Mason pulled down several peaches, bit into them, and then tossed them. No amount of explaining made him understand that this was unacceptable. It was clearly time to end our visit. We paid for a bunch of peaches and then departed. The boys were both asleep before we were on the freeway.

We had an ice cream party on Wednesday with this same group of women. Mason really enjoyed playing with Ethan (6) and his brother Kieren (3). I am getting to know their mother Jessica a little bit as our boys are very similar in age and play together well. I am not sure how much time I will have to spend with this new group of moms but I appreciate that they put the activities on and all I have to do is show up! :)

Talan's big exciting news is that he got some in-line skates at the consignment store (which we hit up after the ice cream party). He is very excited about them as his Daddy has some (Joe skated while we biked on our camping trip). Talan can skate and hold his kitty Luna. Not!

Mason's exciting news is that he has a loose tooth. I think he may lose it by his birthday next week. I can't believe my boy is turning 6 and loosing a tooth! That seems like such a major milestone. Wow!

The boys have been missing Joe this week. I have never heard them ask for him so many times in a week. When they get hurt, they want their Daddy. "Daddy will make me feel better" Mason will frequently say. I offer for them to call Joe but they decline. :( I think that our month together has a family on vacation made them used to Joe being around. Fortunately there are only 7 more races this year. Yippee!

Three little kitties

2009-08-15T14:29:00.000-07:00

OMG, we are loving our three little kitties. We have had them a week now and in that time they have really warmed up to all of us. This morning we renamed them LuLu, Lucy and Luna. I got tired of Talan calling my kitty, "the kitty who bit you". When we first got them, my kitty did bite me! Mason has claimed the white kitty which is now named LuLu. LuLu had her head popped into my coffee cup this morning. Mason claims he was trying to get her to look like Talan's cat, Luna, who is a calico. Alarming! Talan dropped his kitty off the sofa last night. Needless to say the boys still don't get the concept of being gentle. My kitty, which was the one no one chose, aka "the cat who bit me" now has the name Lucy. She is very ordinary and she is also the runt of the litter. She is a bit of a scaredy cat. However, I do believe she has a feisty spirit.

The kitty chores are endless. We are scooping the litter box all the time as these 3 kitties produce a lot of "yucky stuff" which the boys are not wild about tackling. I am trying to make a game out of it but the boys aren't going for it. :)

The kitties all love to climb into hair so it is bringing back lots of memories of Guiness. I never did have Misty as a kitten but I am guessing Lucy is going to be a lot like her. Only loving on her terms. I certainly don't remember kittens being this much work!

The plus side is that the kitties are providing tons of entertainment for all of us. The way they play with each other is hysterical. Being the former vet-tech that I am, I have already given them all baths and trimmed all their nails. Mason has three long scratches on his face from LuLu, which I imagine would have been far worse if her nails were actually sharp!

We are learning as we muck through this new phase of our lives. I am excited to have some female companions. :)

End of Summer

2009-08-13T07:48:00.000-07:00

Most of you know that we took a very long vacation recently which is why I have not blogged in awhile. We left Idaho mid-July and headed to Seattle where Joe had a race. The boys and I tromped around Seattle. Visited the Pacific Science Museum, Northwest Trex and spent some time with two of my friends: Hilary Colloff from High School and Charlyne Allen formerly from Idaho. It was a great week with lots of fabulous sunny weather. Charlyne went to the race track with us and met Joe's driver Antron Brown. It was loud but exciting and the food, of course, was top notch! Mason kept telling everyone his Daddy cooks for Antron Brown. It was really cute.

Our next week, we were in Marin as Joe had a race at Sears Point/Infineon. It was great to spend lots of time with my parents and my friends. I hiked a lot and I think the high light for the boys was visiting Sponge Bob at a local mall. :) Talan played hacky sac with Sponge Bob and I have some very cute video to prove it! :)

We then headed North to camp along the Oregon Coast. We spent a half day in Ashland on the way up. The town has grown and changed since I was last there but we did explore Lithia park as well as swam in the creek (it was 104 degrees that day). After Ashland, the weather started to become cold and foggy but we still lucked out for the most part and were able to really enjoy ourselves. We met some wonderful people at both campsites which made the boys happy and engaged. From what everyone told us, we really lucked out in terms of which part of the Oregon Coast we hit. Apparently, the Northern Coast is very touristy as this is where the folks from Portland tend to go. We spent three days at Carter Lake, just South of Florence and then four nights at Beachside which was two miles South of Waldport. We did take an excursion up the the Aquarium in Newport. We also stopped in the coastal town of Depoe on our way back to Idaho where we saw Harbor seals and whales. Talan hiked 3 miles to Heceta Head lighthouse. This was a major milestone for Talan as he likes to be carried everywhere rather than walk! Mason loved all the tide pools we explored and so did I. The hiking, beaches, sand dunes and tide pools were heavenly. It truly was spectacular. I have never seen so many dead jellyfish in my life and Mason and Talan were mesmerized by them for the better part of our first day.

We have been home now less than a week and finally back into our routine. Joe left Tuesday for work. I have less than two weeks before school starts. Mason's school starts two weeks after mine so I am going to have to make some crazy arrangements for him. Talan's teachers are coming over today for a home visit. We are excited to meet them. Talan is very proud that he is going to school at Momma's college, which he calls "KeKe's school" as my dear neighbor Keira works there and Talan just adores her. They may be carpooling! I am going to need all the help I can get these next 22 months!

I am sure I have left out tons of details but I figured I should write what comes to mind rather than procrastinate to avoid being precise or thorough. I have far too many photographs from the trip. I have attached just a few.

Guess who got a new bike????????

2009-07-07T21:14:00.000-07:00

Talan loves his new bike! All he wants to do is go for "bike rides". "Can we? Can we?" he says throughout the day. We rode at Missy's house this afternoon and we took the bike to the Al-Anon meeting tonight where he rode it around the parking lot. Joe bought Talan the bike two days ago and he has already logged miles! Sunday afternoon we took a "bike ride" to Aunt B's house which is .4 miles away and yet it took us 40 minutes! :) LOL Needless to say we stopped a lot to visit with dogs and cats and anything else that caught our eye. It is so wonderful to see my little guy so happy. Joe also put new training wheels back on Mason's bike as he hasn't touched it since the training wheels came off. Unfortunately, Mason claims he doesn't like the color of his bike and instead wants to ride Talan's. Does this sound familiar to anyone? :)

We had an explosive 4th of July. Literally. Joe picked up $112 dollars worth of fireworks. Mason went nuts throwing items in our shopping basket and Joe just decided to go for it. The kids were delighted. There were smoke bombs, sparklers, grenades and rockets. After we were done, our neighbors lit off their fireworks which were superiour to ours as they had purchased them from the Indian Reservation (were it is legal to sell fireworks that launch far into the sky). The video is of the boys enjoying a smoke bomb. Joe, Matt and Keira watched as Barclay lit things up for the boys. I'll also add that the next morning most of the debris had been swept up in our neighborhood and I think, or I'd like to believe, it is do to my property managing talents. Never have the neighbors previously cleaned up their respective messes so maybe I've put the fear of God in them. LOL

Joe is off to Denver tomorrow and then back Monday. We leave for our trip Tuesday. We will be gone almost a month so I am excited to have our big "vacation" start. :) Yippee!!!!

Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes Bike Ride

2009-06-29T16:55:00.000-07:00

Keira and Matt, our neighbors, invited us to go on their annual bike ride. Joe and I did it two years ago. This year Joe was out of town but Barclay came with us. We started at Heyburn State Park near Plummer and went to Harrison, ate ice cream, and then turned around back to Heyburn. It is about 13 miles roundtrip. Matt was kind enough to haul the boys in the trailer which allowed me to enjoy myself a lot more. Here are some photos from our first stop.

Camping Trip at Priest Lake

2009-06-21T18:47:00.000-07:00

Somewhat spontaneously we went camping at Priest Lake. We have not been there since our second wedding anniversary and this time we were at a completely different part of the lake. We lucked out with a gorgeous spot right on the beach. Private, rustic and beautiful. Despite some rain, we had a really nice time. We did bubbles, smores, attempted to fish (Talan hooked his own eyelid which forced us to give up), played games and befriended lots of kids and dogs. Joe cooked some amazing food, we all slept well surprisingly and we went through all of the clothes I packed as the kids kept getting soaked either from rain or from dashing into the lake for no reason in particular. :)

Today, Father's Day, has been very low key as we had a lot of house chores to do. We got back yesterday afternoon but went on a 12 mile bike-ride with Matt and Keira in the early evening so we didn't unpack or anything. Talan was up all night throwing up and keeping us awake so we are deadly tired and lethargic with tons of laundry and cleaning to under-take. Not exactly a fun Father's day. Did I mention Talan was sick last Father's Day. I hope this isn't a pattern.

Happy Father's Day Dad.

Joe is back

2009-06-15T20:55:00.000-07:00

Joe is back. Yippee. Poor Talan was signing to the lifeguard today at the Kroc Center "daddy works". :) The lifeguard had no idea what Talan was saying/signing and as I was being whipped around the lazy river I couldn't interpret. We had so much fun today at the Cove. The boys love the "active" pool where they both jumped in a million times. We also went back and forth over and over. I even got to throw Mason on the count of three high into the water. They have so much more confidence. We played ring-around-the-rosy and went under water for the fall down part. Talan wasn't wild about that but Mason loved it. We did spend some time in the hot pool. I also, finally, went down the big slide although I got in trouble for leaving my kids unattended. Whatever! This was the first time the boys had a positive reaction to the lazy river so I was very pleasantly surprised. Talan just stood and watched, he enjoyed standing on top of the water sprays changing it up for the people floating by.
I was positive we were going to take a nap afterwards but that never happened as the movie "monster house" was on and they got very engaged with that (previously they had only seen it at Mason Paul's house). Then Joe came home and the prospect of a nap was over. At least, I thought, they'd go to bed early. Nope! Talan is right next to me playing with plastic ice cream and cones and a scooper. He isn't getting real dessert tonight as he did not eat his dinner. So sad. Consequences are tough sometimes! :) I am going to pretend to go to bed to get him to sleep. Wish me luck. :)

First Week of Summer

2009-06-11T06:36:00.000-07:00

Last week was Mason's last week of school. Barclay, thankfully, went to the "graduation" with me. It was long and hot! Mason was very well behaved and Talan spent the two hours looking for things that interested him (like pregnant bellies some of which were on men!). I am excited that our time with Noah's Ark has come to a close. It was great for Mason but now that Talan will be at the NIC Child Development Center, that chapter of our lives in closed. I have been in touch with the Post Falls Kindergarten Center to make sure that Mason has the best placement there for his personality/needs. As he needs consistency, they suggested he go daily and so has been placed in the M-F afternoon session which is 12:20 to 3:05pm. Fortunately, they have a "gap" program on site for before and after school care. And it is flexible which will be great because I am always needing flexibility. :) I am feeling like my kids are more or less squared away for the upcoming school year although my clinical rotations (which will be either very early or very late) will throw a monkey wrench into the whole thing but I am hoping between Joe, Keira, DiAnna, Barclay and Missy that I will have someone to cover those odd times.

A wonderful bonus of living so far North is that daylight starts at 4:30am. This morning I was awake by 5am and Talan woke up at 6am. Unbelievably, Mason is still asleep and it is 6:45am. We walked down to the river with Missy and Mason Paul yesterday arriving back home just after 3pm. From that point on he was out playing with Dillon coming home once for coins as the ice-cream truck was here and once to say hi to Aunt B when she stopped by. Finally at 7:30 he came in and promptly fell asleep on the sofa watching TV by 8pm with no dinner or anything. He has been asleep ever since. Amazing! Mason is the Rooster of our family so this is truly unusual.

Last week was my CNA clinical and written exams. I passed both and have already received my certification card in the mail. :) That is a huge relief. Finally it felt like summer! Then I had my wonderful women's retreat (photos are posted on Facebook) all weekend. Missy had the boys for 48 hours and she said it went well! Fabulous. She said it wasn't nearly as bad as she had anticipated! LOL If you saw our boys together you would understand. They just incite each other into complete mayhem most of the time. I was so relieved it went well as I was dreading hearing how difficult it was. So, my boys can surprise me with decent behavior some of the time! Missy and Sean did take them to the Post Falls Days where they participated in the Big Wheel race for the second year in a row. And while no one won their race, they each got a ribbon and, more importantly, a coupon for a happy meal (yes, it was sponsored by McDonald's). They redeemed their coupons after nap and so that is essentially how Saturday was spent. :)

We also had a fabulous time attending DiAnna's daughter's high school graduation party. There were pinatas. and giant trampolines, smores and cake! We were in hog heaven. :) Talan and DiAnna's 6 year old daughter Lori Ann were being pretty cute together. Mason, of course, was hanging out with the bigger boys which always delights him! I got to spend a little time with DiAnna so that was fun for me as well.

Joe has been coming home on Monday afternoons and leaving Tuesday evenings for the past two weeks. And as crazy as it sounds, it has been totally worth it to reconnect with him. The boys miss him so much these days. When they were a little younger I don't think they noticed it nearly as much . Tuesday, a week ago, we had a picnic on Lake Coeur d'Alene. That was a nice day and the boys enjoyed the sand and the drift wood. This week, we took the boys to see an open captioned performance of the new movie "Up" which was adorable. Then we had donuts at Krispy Kreme which we haven't done in ages! Tuesday morning the boys woke us up with donut breath, they had busted into them while we were sleeping in. Funny but not at the same time if you know what I mean.

Mason had a fiasco swim lesson this week. I think I will dis-enroll him. It was torturous. Every time I enroll him in something, he acts atrociously. My sanity is not worth him learning how to swim. LOL Next week the boys have a week of camp together M-F 9am to 3pm (costing $95 each-what is not to love about that!). I am hoping to have some fun myself and Joe will be home too! But I do also need to work on my summer class Medical Terminology. It is self-paced and so far, I only started yesterday! NVG (not very good for those of you unfamiliar with Bridget Jones!).

Today we are trying out a free Sesame Street Music Workshop after my yoga class. Missy and Mason Paul are joining us.

Oh, Mason is awake now. If you want to know more about our new tractor, ask Joe. :) LOL

Hot Weather

2009-05-31T16:08:00.000-07:00

Well, it has finally hot enough to bust out the plastic pool. Surprisingly, Talan was far more interested in it than Mason. A huge change from last summer. I took some cute video and pictures of Talan enjoying the pool. We had such a busy day yesterday with the garage sale that was very unsuccessful, then we went to the Kroc center but couldn't enjoy the kids swim area as there was a contamination (read a kid pooped in the pool) although we did go into the lap pool for a little while. Talan was too scared to go in the lap pool so we blew ours up when we got home. Talan wouldn't come in last night he was so into his pool and it was the first thing he did this morning. He was a bit alarmed by the grass in the pool so I gave him a strainer to fish it all out! :)

Today, we just hung out at home and then went to the Kroc center. I didn't realize they had changed their daycare hours so I only got a 20 minute workout which irritated me briefly. We then got to finally experience the family hot-tub. It was mayhem there as it is so hot outside. It felt like every member was at the cove pool and a lot of them were in the hot tub. Talan LOVED it and didn't want to leave at all. Mason started complaining about his tooth hurting so we left to go home and take some Tylenol. Now it is his bottom tooth that is hurting. So frustrating. Thankfully, they are both napping right now so I have a little peace and quiet. Yippee!

Today is my Al-Anon birthday as we call it. Eight years. Very cool. And I have got myself a new sponsor, so I am excited about that. I love all the growth and friendship of the program. So glad I have such amazing people to call friends and to learn from. Hands down they have been a huge support system for me, helping making Idaho my home.

The other big news is that Talan was accepted (finally) into the NIC children's center which will be fabulous come fall when I am full time in the RN program. My dear neighbor/friend Keira works there, and Talan adores her, so he will get a lot of "KeKe" time. :) He is very excited. We went to look at his new school on Thursday. Talan loves to talk about his new school. He is very excited that it is on Mommy's college campus. Mason will be in kindergarten next Fall and I am hoping they have some sort of extended care option. That is the next hurdle.

I am busy studying for my CNA state exam and clinical test which I will be taking on Wednesday. It is the last thing I have to pass to ensure my spot in the RN program. I got an A in the class so I think the written exam should be no problem but I am nervous about the clinical component. Wish me luck.

Joe comes home tomorrow for 24 hours. I am very excited. :)

Summer Time is Here!!!!!!!!!

2009-05-22T06:53:00.000-07:00

I finished up classes on the 13th. I got a B+ in Microbiology and an A in CNA. I am currently studying for my state exam and clinical test which I will take with my friend Amanda on June 3rd. Still, I am on summer break and loving it! :)

My parents just visited for 3 days. We had a lot of fun and some wonderful meals. I took photos from our dinner out at the Beachhouse which is right on lake Coeur d'Alene. We all fell in love with a very sweet dog named Meisha who was stationed on a boat docked at the restaurant. Everyone in my family has a huge love of animals. :)

The new Kroc centered opened on May 11th and we have been going every day. This is one of the first community centers created through a grant from the late Joan Kroc (she and her husband started McDonald's). Here is a link to it as it is too gorgeous to describe http://www.kroccda.org/aboutus.html. Today the new indoor lazy river is opening and the kids are very excited. I am too. I love the water. :)

Oh, I forgot to mention that Joe and I just celebrated 7 wonderful years of marriage. We had a night out, compliments of my folks and B, enjoying a nice dinner at Ciao Mamba in Hayden. We went on a quick shopping spree at Target afterwards (so nice to not head directly to the toy aisle) and then collected the boys from Barclay's. A very nice evening and I am so grateful the Joe was able to fly in that afternoon in order to have the evening together. Poor guy left Tennessee at 5:30am in order to make it here so needless to say he was a wee bit tired but he rallied. :)

Today I am off to Idaho Falls with 8 gal pals from program. We have a Spring Assembly to attend. I am excited to get out of town and spend some time with my friends whom I never get enough time with normally. Three whole days away! While I am not excited about two full days in the car traveling, I am looking forward to great conversations and maybe a couple of naps in the car! :) Idaho Falls is where Mason was conceived so it definitely has a soft spot in my heart!

A Wonderful Mother's Day

2009-05-10T22:29:00.000-07:00

I had my last clinical day this morning. We stopped at 10am to have a brief party and sign cards for all the CNA's that trained us and then I was home by 11am. Joe gave me a very sweet card and the boys did too. I got a beautiful rock ladybug which Mason made at church this morning. The boys both colored coffee mugs for me. I only have one to show as Mason is borrowing one for his BB collection which we harvested at the park today. So after all the gifts and hugs, Talan left to go to Barclay's so it was just the three of us. We went for a family jog down to the Kiwani's Park. Joe and I did some wind sprints while Mason played on the playground. Then we all played bouncy ball and collected BBs. We walked home and took a group nap. It was wonderful. What a treat just to have one child for the day. After nap, 5ish, I hit the books to study for my microbiology final on Tuesday. It is an insane amount of information to absorb and I am not feeling like I really get all the material so I am just trying to memorize which may just do the trick. I have lost the chance to get an A and so since I have a 86% right now, I should be able to squeak by with some sort of B regardless of how I do on the exam. I am a bit bitter about not being able to get an A but I have finally let that go.

So, it is 10pm and Joe and the boys have just returned from Barclay's. She has finally got her bed in the upstairs bedroom so that is very exciting news for her. I am off to bed. Hope your day was great as well.

Alarming news

2009-05-08T19:10:00.000-07:00

Our tenant in our condo in Georgia is behind on his rent so we had our property manager go knock on the door. Apparently a neighbor asked him if he knew what had happened at our unit. Robert, our manager, said "no" and so the neighbor proceeded to tell him the grisly story. Here is the link http://www.news4jax.com/news/19371644/detail.html# Truly horrifying and just so very sad. We are in shock and don't quite know what to do legally as the landlord. Needless to say, this is just one of the crazy twists of being landlords.

Soccer Week 4

2009-05-03T20:26:00.000-07:00

Are you all glad there are only two more weeks of soccer left? :) I know I am. It was finally nice weather which definitely made a huge difference. So Talan still needed to have one of us hold his hand or else he wouldn't play. He was very distracted by a dog during the game and kept wanting to pet it. You'll see in the video that Talan is trying to go to the dog and Barclay is trying to get him to focus on playing soccer. What a concept! :) Still, some very cute moments through out the day.

In between the boys games, we went to Target (where the boys and I ate at the target cafe while Barclay looked at curtain rods) and then we went to Petco to enjoy animals while Barclay hit up Bed Bath and Beyond to look at Curtain rods again. :) As luck would have it, there was an adoption day going on and so there were tons of dogs available for adoption. I ran into my classmate Kris from Financial Peace University. She has a business walking dogs. She had lots of "cookies" available which Talan promptly feed to EVERY dog there. It was hilarious. Everyone commented that we will have a very fat dog if we do get a dog. Well, Kris referred me to a gal who specializes in placing adoptions and so the long and the short of it is that she has a dog that she thinks might be a great fit for us. And the dogs name is Mason. Funny! So, when Joe gets home I'd like to meet Mason the dog and see if he is a good fit.

So, back to soccer. Mason's team did quite well. Mason played goalie and did a decent job at it. He is no longer pouting etc. on the field. He still enjoys taking lots of breaks and he still has no clue what the game is about but there is some improvement. He is great about running back and forth constantly up and down the field but he is easily distracted.

Soccer Week 3

2009-05-03T20:12:00.000-07:00

I am anxious to post this weeks photos as there is a hilarious video of Barclay and Talan so here are last weeks. I didn't get to go to Talan's game due to my CNA clinical rotations but I did make it to Mason's games. I loved seeing him fall asleep on the way to the game on top of his soccer ball. Too funny! The tiny pictures I grabbed off of Barclay's facebook account. Barclay said Talan had the most fun playing with his Daddy holding his hand. :)

Potty Training Talan

2009-04-30T20:48:00.001-07:00

Talan hit a home run tonight. A pee and a poop. We ate candy and ice cream to celebrate. He wanted to save it to show people but it was stinking up the bathroom so I took photos instead. I asked him to bend down near the poop so I could get him with the poop and instead he bends over to show his clean bottom! Funny boy. So, sorry if the photos are graphic.

Can you see Talan's black eye and fat lip? He has been very accident prone lately. Oh, and Mason took a photo of me this morning as some people have asked about the "cute" haircut. :)

Thank you eveyone who sent me congratulations and lots of sweet inspiring messages. I appreciate all your love and recognition. You have touched my heart!

Soccer Week 2

2009-04-30T08:08:00.001-07:00

I unintentionally lied in my last post. Those were only the pictures from the first game. Here are photos from the second weekend. I am a bit behind, obviously. My friend Missy's 3 year old Mason Paul is on Talan's team. The team we played against, my friend Harini's 3 year old Aaron was on. What I want you to appreciate is that none of these 3 year olds will play without their parent on the field. It becomes utter mayhem and hysterically funny. This is clearly why no one else offers 3 year old soccer.

Every Saturday Talan has practice at 9:30am and then his game starts at 10:05. There are two 15 minute halves with a 5 minute break. Then we go home and head back to the field at 1pm for Mason's first game. He plays two different games back to back so we are not done until 2:30pm. Then it is time to head home and nap! Hayden is a good 20 minute drive from our house so it is a lot of driving back and forth. But since there are only 6 weeks in the entire season, I am not complaining. :)

Soccer Mom

2009-04-29T20:04:00.000-07:00

I have had the privilege to be a soccer Mom for the first time in my life. We are playing in the Hayden little league as they are the only ones who offer 3 year old soccer (now I understand why no one else does). Barclay has been awesome about coming to all the games. I did miss Talan's game last Saturday do to my clinical rotation but I have made it to all of Mason's. Here are some photos from the past three weeks. It was bitter cold and rainy for two of the three games. Crazy weather here in Northern Idaho. Burrr.... Here are pictures from week 1. We are in week 4 and are improving our attitudes and endurance!

Guess What??????

2009-04-28T21:39:00.000-07:00

I got in! My acceptance letter arrived in the mail this afternoon. I am so excited! :) My orientation will be May 8th. I need to put a $100 deposit down, get a full physical and fill out a questionnaire (do you work? how many hours a week? do you care for children? etc.) to determine our clinical lab placement for the Fall. My friend Harini did not get in, she wasn't expecting to so she is not disappointed but I am. Only 40 people got in to the program. Last year they accepted 80. Budget cuts are cited as the reason. Who knows? I imagine I will find out more at the orientation. So, three semesters of pre-reqs is paying off. :)
Oh and I got a very cute haircut today before I found out the great news so I literally look and feel fabulous. :) LOL

Waiting for the mail

2009-04-24T13:42:00.001-07:00

Well, I just picked up today's mail and no letter yet from the Nursing Program. I will hear from them by May 1st, so it is only a matter of days. Cross fingers! I am so impatient that I want to know NOW. It is painful waiting but I guess it is good practice! :)
This morning, I had my first clinical shift at a local nursing home. We had to be there by 5:45am. It was a long morning. Some moments were sad, some were tedious. Some of the residents were absolutely darling. My favorite part of the day was petting the resident cat Izzy who is very obese and meows for love frequently. My worst mistake was feeding a guy before he had his dentures put in. Opps! I felt bad about that but he didn't want his dentures but that is a whole other story! There are also two bunnys in one of the courtyards and several residents had birds. I love that there are animals there as I think animals are great therapy and an antidote to depression. There were highs and lows but I am glad the first day is under wraps. I slept so poorly last night as I was nervous about hearing my alarm. I am looking forward to nap time today! Tomorrow and Sunday I have 6am to noon shifts and then again in two weeks I have Fri, Sat, Sun 6am to noon. The weekend right before finals. Not great timing!
Less than three weeks to go before the semester is over! Yippee. I can't wait for summer vacation. I am definitely ready for some down time.

Why the Silence

2009-04-20T22:57:00.000-07:00

I had my nursing school interview on Thursday and was required to sign a confidentiality statement that I would reveal nothing least I wish to have my application revoked. Since the bulk of the interviews were on Saturday, I have only just run into friends today in class whom also interviewed. None of us said anything more than it was stressful or not. I will say this, its over! :) I will find out whether or not I have been accepted into the RN program prior to May 1st.
I have also been so busy I haven't had time to write. Friday I had an all day seminar on how to be a landlord which was free through the Post Falls police dept although I purchased the training manual for $25. It was a fabulous seminar and I learned a lot. While it may be some time before I use any of it, I am very glad I went. I am appreciative of Barclay's babysitting the boys for the day. That helped me out greatly. They always love being with her even if she questions why! :)
Saturday was mostly devoted to soccer games. Marginal improvement for both boys. Talan would not get on the field without holding someones hand. Mason had some moments of bad attitude but didn't sulk to the degree that he did last weekend. He also made it through both games which was important because, again, we were short on warm bodies out on the field. :)
Sunday we had a birthday party at jump-a-lot for one of Mason's classmates. Talan insisted I be with him the entire time, which actually was a good thing as I did not know any of the parents. The school year is almost over and I have made zero attempt to get to know any of the other parents.
Since we are in between gyms, I took Talan on a hike around Tubbs Hill this morning. It took us two hours as he told me very clearly he was not happy in the backpack. "I be happy when I am down". He is so cute. Also, today we had a speaker meeting at noon which essentially lasted until 2pm after which I scrambled home to get the boys down for a nap. Then when the babysitter pulled up I dashed off to my class which started at 3pm. We went to our facility, Life Care Center, where we will be doing our 36 clinical hours today for class.
I came home to find that Joe had indeed arrived back home. The boys were napping so we got a chance to catch up a little bit. Then I just got onto a roll with my property management work and got out the material that I have been meaning to send the property owners for the past month. I had to write minutes to the annual meeting, a summary to the Owners of the impact of our decisions, the rules and also a Spring Newsletter. Oh and also the operating statements. No small affair. I am holding a community wide Garage Sale in an attempt to facilitate some "community" here and also to help my neighbors unload the junk they have floating around their lawns and garages! LOL
Life is good. It was 82 degrees at 5pm. It felt like heaven. I am ecstatic to be able to wear shorts in Idaho!!!!!!!!!
Hope you are all happy and well.

Easter

2009-04-12T11:40:00.000-07:00

Hello Everybody. I haven't blogged in awhile due to Spring Break etc. Hopefully most of you got the link to our Spring Break Photo Album. We had a jolly good time. Mason didn't want to leave when I told him it was time to get on the airplane. Talan said "I'm happy!". See, you can never please both boys at once. It is impossible. :)

Today we went to the 9am service at Unity and then participated in the 10:20am Easter Egg hunt. Sorry, no photos. It was a divide and conquer type of thing. I was with Mason, who needed lots of reminders that is hadn't started yet while Barclay was with Talan (who insisted she pick up the eggs!). Both boys got eggs that had a special slip of paper to be redeemed for a toy. Talan actually got 8 of them but we settled on 3 toys and offered to share the rest. Mason got a big truck which totally delighted him. All the toys were McDonald's happy meal toys but the kids' didn't notice or care. I thought it was funny.

Barclay took some photos of the boys while we were going around the round-about (which Talan always requests we go around multiple times) after Church. I go very fast! :) The other picture is from the night Joe spoke at the Saturday night meeting back in February.

Talan peed on the pot 3 times yesterday. He tried to pee again just now so he could eat an Easter candy but nothing happened. Then he asked for water. Somehow he thinks that will make him pee right away. No luck. We will keep trying.

We are off to have Easter dinner with Matt's family in Hayden. Barclay is coming too. There will be about 20 people so Joe is whipping up his famously delicious Cesear Salad. Yum! :)

Thursday at 5pm I will have my interview for Nursing School. It is the last step in the application process. I am not worried at all. I interview well and I am 100% positive that this is the right fit for me. I'll let y'all know how it turns out. :)

Happy Easter to all of you. We feel very blessed, I hope you do too!

Morning Fun

2009-03-24T09:25:00.000-07:00

I woke up to Mason telling me he didn't eat any candy this morning. This is hardly a great achievement as he knows not to eat candy in the morning but I get what he is saying since they discovered last night the stash of Pez candies that I purchased to reward Talan for using the potty. Anyway, I decided to treat Mason to making waffles as he asks for this all the time and I always say no. So we made waffles. Unfortunately for Mason, Talan woke up as we were making them so he joined us (Mason threw a small fit about as he wanted it to be a surprise "Talan you ruined the surprise"). Anyway, if you knew this waffle mix, you would understand it is inedible and therefore I made no pre-tense in my own mind that the kids were actually going to eat them. Consequently we went the silly route of decorating them to the hilt (this is their favorite part anyway). So, fast forward to about 10 minutes ago, they kids are hungry! Big surprise. I made scrambled eggs for their real breakfast. It was all good fun. I do need to get ready for school so I don't have too much more time to write and post but it was a sweet morning being silly. Talan, by the way, now insists on helping make the coffee which I wouldn't mind except it is an utter mess. He spills coffee grinds everywhere. If I were smarter, I would have it done before he wakes up. This morning I got too engrossed in the waffle project to remember to make coffee. Ask Joe, it is usually the first thing I do. I really like my coffee! The last few pictures of Talan very excited that he got to bring the newspaper in this morning. Grover's job is to get the newspaper out of the bag.

"my grove"

2009-03-23T16:27:00.000-07:00

Talan is totally in love with Grover whom he calls "my grove". He confessed he like Grover more than his blankey which he has loved and adored since day 1. Grover is coming to California with us. I asked Talan if Grover was coming on the plane and he said "yes" and then signed Grover
"works". Talan associates flying, which Daddy does a lot, with going to work. Talan used to have Grover sign "daddy works" or he'd sign Daddy plane work. Funny how their brains work. I just asked him if I fly on a plane do I work and he smiled and said "nooooo".

Anyway, Mason finally went back to school today. He got a thumbs up so we went to the thrift store to buy a toy and he picked out a large black rubber snake! Beware Baba! Talan picked out a dinosaur on a stick, its a pick up toy. The dinosaurs mouth opens and you can grab stuff with it. Very cool. I went to the gym and actually did my boot camp class. I can't believe I made it through the whole thing. I will be sore tomorrow. After the gym, we stopped by Keira's work as Talan was desperate to see "KeKe". We visited for 10 minutes and then stopped by my science building as I wanted to get my graded test from last Thursday's exam. I got a 191 out of 200. Whew hoo!

Talan and I took a bath together which is never boring and always very wet. :) LOL We raced to speech therapy only to find out that the speech therapist had called in sick. Thanks a lot for telling us! I did zip into B's house to see the bathroom. It is looking nice. All marble tile. Then we raced to the bank to deposit Joe's paychecks and then off to collect Mason from school.

Mason is now asleep. Talan is enjoying an ice cream (bubble gum flavored) and I have class 6 to 9 tonight as we are doing BSL training (basic life support). I get to use an EAD which is an electronic defilibrater of some sort. I will be dropping the boys off at DiAnna's which will be very fun for them. She will bring them home before I get back.

We leave one week today. Yippee!!!!!!

What Talan Likes

2009-03-21T14:59:00.000-07:00

We are all still sick and have been spending way too much time at home. I was on Facebook last night and watched this short video a friend posted. I was in hysterics. Talan came over and watched it with me and now he asks for it all the time. I am posting it here. It is from You Tube and it is titled "the worst fight ever". And it is....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1eFdUSnaQM Enjoy.
We did rally to go to the gym today. And we made it thru 20 minutes of Freddy Land without needing to pee (Talan wore big boy underwear today). He did end up peeing in his pants when he was playing outside but I made him take it all off himself and then they both ended up in the bath. That is it. We are very low key right now. Hopefully we are all well for our trip to Marin.

No real news

2009-03-15T19:56:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to say that life is busy. Pockets of Enthusiasm was this weekend which was wonderful. Lots of great speakers and time with program friends. I have managed to squeeze in a bit of studying time. I have a microbiology exam on Thursday. Once again I am studying the Krebs cycle. I have had to memorize this material in so many classes but it is just one of those things that I can't retain. I think I have it now but will promptly forget as soon as the exam is over. :)
The boys are really into games right now. We have played Trouble, Go Fish, Lets go Fishing, Jumping Monkeys. It is actually fun but at times frustrating as they can't follow the rules! Talan happily gives away his cards in Go Fish. He doesn't care about winning. He just enjoys the process. Mason, however, wants to win and is very dramatic when he doesn't win. Sounds all too familiar to me!
My neck is better, not perfect, but I am going to work out lightly tomorrow. It has been terrible taking a week off of working out. Plus I am desperate to hit up Grocery Outlet which is right next to the gym. Joe would be pleased to see how little food remains in our refrigerator. I am craving some fresh veggies and fruit. I hate food shopping so it takes until we run out of milk (for my coffee) to motivate me. :)

Today

2009-03-09T21:05:00.000-07:00

I woke this morning with neck pain. It got progressively worse until I was just lying in bed wondering if I was always going to feel this way. I rallied to go see the school nurse who diagnosed me with severe muscle spasm in the neck. I now have muscle relaxers and Aleve on board and temporarily I am feeling a little better but still awfully stiff. I need to lay low for 4 to 5 days. Yes, Joe leaves tomorrow for a month on the road! Not great timing but I'll manage.
So, I asked Joe tonight to please hang Mason's new curtains as I just finally bought a rod. So the above photos are the hung curtain and Mason's self portrait which he took while we were hanging the curtains (he has a hot cocoa mustache). Talan asked where his curtains were???? Sorry little buddy. :) When will I learn that they both need to have whatever the other one has? I can't believe that I have entered this stage. And it last pretty much forever! :)

We ran the Leprechaun Scurry this AM

2009-03-07T16:31:00.001-08:00

I added a photo from today's newspaper. You can see my head (I am between the two men in hats on the left - I am wearing a purple hat) and Matt (he is in a green shirt behind Sammi who is behind the lady in white).

It was so fun to go with a bunch of people to run a race! I saw my microbiology teacher and my CNA lab teacher during the actual race. Lori was also there with her kids. Lots of familiar faces. Anyway, the results of our times are available on this link http://mysite.verizon.net/resyhgvz/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/age_group_2009.htm. I ran slower than last year (32:49 vs 31:20)as I haven't been running at all. I am far more into my boot camp class and weight lifting class. Joe, however, beat his time from last year, he ran it in 25:30. Matt came in first, then Joe, Keira, me and then Pat and Dre came in together. Afterwards, we had breakfast at Michael D's eatery. I had Eggs Benedict! Joe ate an egg white omlete. Justyne babysat the boys as her parents were running with us (Pat and Dre). We all carpooled in the minivan. It was fun fun fun! However, after that breakfast I have been LAZY. All four of us napped together. :) That was cute and sweet. Now we are finally rallying to go out and do something fun for the boys.

The photos are from yesterday. :) We were goofing around the house.

Results from Yesterday

2009-03-05T08:03:00.000-08:00

(These are photos from way back but just look how cute my family is!)

Last night we had our annual homeowners meeting. My contract was renewed! I didn't doubt that it would be but I didn't realize how much they valued me. :) That was a nice feeling. Joe was elected President again. :) I have a lot of work to do in terms of following up on some of the items discussed last night. But it is manageable and doable.

Yesterday Talan had his 3 year check-up. He is in the 70% for height being 38.5 inches tall. He is in the 80% for weight, he weighs 35.8 pounds. Joe says the doctor gave Talan the thumbs up. I was in class so I had to miss the appointment.

Joe brought the boys and me over to Barclay's house to see the new bathrooms. The master bathroom has been painted beige and the half bath is sage. They look great. I also checked out the master closet which now has shelves and rods. It is all coming along. I fail to realize how many steps it all is but there is forward progress. Our neighbor Carl, Terran's dad, has done all the sheet rocking and painting of the bathrooms. He is a bit of a character but he does good work for a very reasonable price. We adore Terran and so it is nice to help each other out. Terran was here all last night while we were at our meeting so the babysitter Danielle had some help as Terran definitely keeps our boys entertained. :)

I have a lab exam today. I have to do a gram stain, a negative stain and a hanging drop slide (to observe motility). We will have an unknown specimen and by doing the three tests, we should be able to figure out which organism it is. I am actually looking forward to it. :) Kinda cool and exactly what goes on every time a specimen gets send to a lab for analysis. Yes, I am a geek!

Joe and Matt went off skiing early this morning. This is the first time Joe has skied in North Idaho. We just have never had the time or opportunity with the kids being so young. So, I am excited for him and hope they have a blast. It is snowing ever so lightly so I hope they have good fresh powder up on the mountains. Our babysitter DiAnna is coming over at 10am to watch the boys. This is my long day at school. She has been missing them so I think it is going to be a good day for everyone.

I did check out the Moms' Club here yesterday. I belonged to the one in Saint Simons Island when I lived in Georgia. I took Missy and May Paul with me (and Talan). Seems like a nice group of moms and they do about one activity a week. For example, next week they are going on a fire station tour and the following week they are having a book time gathering. Of course, these events conflict with my work-out schedule so I am on the fence about what is more important, Talan being exposed to kids his age or me getting to exercise. I may trade off prioritize one over the other. A compromise of sorts. :) Who knows? I'll figure it out as I go along.

Playing Outside

2009-03-03T18:07:00.000-08:00

It is nice enough today for the boys to play outside! A miracle or so it seems. We have been cooped up for months and finally we are getting a few nice clear days, low 50s which feels warm to us. A true blessing as Joe and I are exasperated at how incapable the boys seem to be to entertain themselves. Joe tried his best to play CandyLand and Go Fish with us but Mason's cheating and poor sportsmanship doesn't make it very fun. Yes, he gets those two fine qualities from me. Ask my dad or my sister how I would cheat at Monopoly. :)

So I have been very busy preparing for tomorrow night. It is the annual HOA meeting for our development and I am the property manager. I have had to compile lots of financial data etc. to wow them into renewing my contract. I doubt I will lose it as no one seems to want to do any work for free, which has previously been the case, but we need to put it up for discussion.
Joe has been home for a week and is here for another 6 days and then he is on the road for a month. I have had him tackle some "honey-do" items such as the light on the microwave going out. Seems like no big deal but it has turned into a bit of a complication.

We are all doing well. No one is sick at the moment. That is huge! :) Joe just spoke at an open AA meeting and he was so funny and did an outstanding job. I was so proud of him. We celebrated with a sushi dinner and then Barclay took the boys for a sleep over so we had the house to ourselves. Very nice and much appreciated.

I just learned that I will have to wait even longer to hear if I have been accepted into the RN program. Interviews will be in mid-April and then hopefully we will know by the end of April. I am assuming I will make it to the interview stage. With all the budget cuts in Idaho, the college is possibly having to shrink the size of the incoming class which would, obviously, make it that much more competitive.

I am very excited about the upcoming trip to California. The boys ask frequently "when is our flight?". Not for a few weeks. :( They love to fly. I told Mason that I had scheduled a play date with his friend Wyatt and he got so excited he said "Talan did you here that. We get to play with Wyatt!". Talan, of course, got very excited to see his brother excited which was so cute because I know he has no recollection of who Wyatt is. I love my boys. They are so silly and funny. I can't wait for everyone to see how tall Talan has become and how much he talks - non-stop!

Two Exciting Things

2009-02-24T09:12:00.000-08:00

One, Talan peed in the potty yesterday for the first time! Second, check out my star husband at http://www.matcotoolsracing.com/ scroll down to the bottom of the page! That is it! Short and sweet.

Assessments

2009-02-20T21:53:00.001-08:00

I took both boys to get assessed by the Post Falls School District today. Mason has made quite a bit of improvement since the one in August. He is average, falling into the 53-55% for the three areas: motor, speech and academics. He knows 13 capital letters of the alphabet and 9 lower case letters. If a child knows less than 8 letters, they are referred to a "catch-up" program during the summer prior to Kindergarten. So Mason doesn't qualify for that, which is good news. They saw some non-compliant behaviors while testing him but they were able to get him back on track. He just gets bored or frustrated and gives up and says "I don't know". They did not have suspicion of ADD or anything like that. They thought he was a very typical 5 year old boy. All great news. They gave me some advice about things I can do to help further make sure he is ready for Kindergarten. One of which was to call the PF Kindergarten and ask specifically what their expectations are for Mason so I can see if we need to work on any specific area etc.
I also had Talan tested for Gross Motor skills. They know he is already receiving Speech Therapy through the school district. He scored in the 93%. Obviously, no issues there. They observed that Talan just needs more confidence in his abilities (like riding a big wheel) and then he can do the work to make the pedals go. Ironically, I just bought him a big wheel two days ago as that is what he picked out when we went for a "treat" at the thrift store (it was $1.99).

So I am feeling much better about where my boys are at. It is so unsettling to think they are deficient or behind or being labeled negatively. The director of the assessment said she would speak with Teacher Pam next week to make sure that she understood Mason's results. I am so grateful!

I treated the boys to an excursion to McDonald's with Missy and Mason Paul. They had such a wonderful time playing. Talan was very excited to have us watch him climb to the very top. He adores Missy and sat in her lap and asked her to carry him. I am so glad we have such nice friends in our lives. We ran into my friend Susan's husband Rick with their two kids Conner and Lily. So all 5 kids were being crazy in the jungle gym. It was quite cute and funny. Glad to know I am not the only one to use McDonald's for escape! I am so tired of the cold weather and being cooped up indoors.

We had a nice afternoon nap and then Aunt B came to visit us. Talan was playing with his Grover doll and wrapping Grover in his blue blanket. I tried to get Mason to get a letter "G" for Grover but he came back with a "U". :( Barclay is taking us all to a Monster Truck show in Spokane tomorrow night. Apparently there is a Batman truck! Exciting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Life is good for these two guys.

Mason asked me this morning what time our flight was and I just had to laugh. Our flight isn't until March 30th so I can only imagine that this will be a frequent topic in our household until that day arrives. Mason smiled when I told him it was a long way away. We called Grandma Jutta to tell her how silly and excited we are for our visit. There are so many things I want to do while we are in CA that I am not sure we can cram it all into 7 days. It certainly something nice to look forward to.....there never is anything quite like "home".

Kid's Carnival at the Resort

2009-02-14T16:20:00.000-08:00

I signed the boys up for a kid's carnival at the resort today. Thank goodness Joe came with us as it was very crowded and the boys had quite different interests so we did a lot of dividing and conquering. I saw tons of friends there. Reminds you that yes this is a small town. It was really fun and the whole experience was nice. The boys were too shy to try to dance, there were some break dancers there to teach the kids cool moves. :) Joe and I watched while the boys ran up and down some stairs.

Our babysitter Daniel came over and babysat for us while we went on a double date with Matt and Keira. We ate at Market Grill which was yummy (Joe and I ordered sushi) and then we had coffee at Starbucks. We then played Texas Hold 'Em at Matt and Keira's place. We had a lot of fun and laughs. A really nice evening. Poor Daniel said that Mason was really bad tonight. Not listening, throwing fits and being defiant. Joe and I both tried to tell her that Mason is just testing her and that she did a great job. She actually put both boys to sleep which no babysitter has ever done for us period. It doesn't matter how late we come home, we have always found the boys still up. So huge kudos to her for that.

Joe is driving her home as I write this blog. I have had a great day. Happy Valentine's Day to all of you. :) Love, Brianna

Uggg, I have laryngitis

2009-02-13T19:51:00.000-08:00

So I can't talk but I have so much to say. Aunt B brought a beautiful 2 month old baby over today for a brief visit. Talan was so doting! He wanted to hold the baby, feed the baby, keep the baby warm and he shared his most prized possession: his blue blanket! He was a bit too exuberant for my liking but it was very sweet to watch.

Talan is talking non-stop now. It is amazing how much he says. The babysitter, Becky, at our gym commented on it this morning (Talan was the only child there so he had her all to himself). She said it was exhausting. I know, that is what I think. Sometimes Talan doesn't make sense but on he goes about whatever he is thinking about. I really think speech therapy twice a week is helping a lot.

Mason continues to be getting quite a few thumbs down at school. I am starting to think I need to find a different place for him. He needs an environment that can handle, foster and channel his high energy rough oriented play. Baptist pre-school is not it. My new care-giver DiAnna has been a wonderful resource for looking into some things for me as she has had five children herself and many with "special" needs. Her youngest daughter is 6 and she has Downs Syndrome. I am feeling like I really scored with DiAnna. She works with Mason on the alphabet and Talan with his speech therapy homework. She writes me progress reports daily explaining what they did, how long they napped, etc. I really like her. She even made us dinner the night Joe flew home because she knew I'd be too busy to think of it (she is right!).

I had my Microbiology exam on Thursday. I think I did well but as it was fill in the blank I am hoping that she is open to some creative answers. :) I wasn't always sure what she was asking for so, cross your fingers, I did ok. One question she asked what kind of environment Extreme Halophiles (salt loving) live in? I put hostile because these are the guys that can live where no other organism can due to the high salt levels! The correct answer, my friends told me, was hypotonic. That is what I meant!

So Joe did finally secure the boys and I three flights to Marin for Spring Break. All on points! Yippee. Well not totally free because of about $75 of taxes and security fees but much better than the $679 I was seeing when I looked at flights on Southwest. So, we are landing Monday March 30th at 10:30pm and leaving Tuesday April 7th at 9am. I am missing two days of school but this is ok. I am allowed to miss one lab in CNA and one lecture in Microbiology won't kill me (I hope).

I can't wait to see everyone. I have promised Mason a visit to the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield. I was also thinking I would like to take the boys on a ferry ride to SF and to the aquarium at Pier 39. If the weather cooperates, I would love a day at Stinson Beach. Of course, I want to hike every morning if possible. I have been missing Mt. Tam. :) And, of course, time with my folks and friends. Whatever happens and works out will be great. I am really looking forward to it. I haven't been to Marin since Heather's wedding in August and that was a short visit.

Ok, I need to go pick up the boys. They are at a Kid's night at Church of the Nazareen. Once a month, there is a kid's night (really a date night). I am afraid I am not much of a date in my current state. It sure is much quieter around here. :) LOL

Week's Update

2009-02-08T12:52:00.001-08:00

Well, its been quite the week. Joe will be home tomorrow night. Thank God. I wouldn't have made it through the week with out my new care giver DiAnna and my weekend babysitter Daniel. I have been trying to study for my first Microbiology exam next week but it is going in bits and spurts. It is a lot of material to memorize particularly the Latin names of about 30 microbes, what disease they cause, what shape they are and a bunch of other things that wouldn't interest most people. Since the test is not just multiple choice, I need to know how to spell these names correctly on top of everything else. For example, Treponema pallidum is the causative agent of Syphilis and is a spirochete and is Gram -. Fascinating stuff. Actually, lab last week was really interesting. We got to see microbes move around under the microscope. Amazing that these guys are all around us and yet most of us have no idea anything about them.

Well, I finally unloaded Barclay's camera so I will attach some more photos of the Birthday Party. We just got a belated present yesterday from Lori which was pretty exciting. The giant Batman balloon finally deflated on Thursday which was our most obvious reminder of the big day. Mason is already talking about his birthday party (we had about a two month reprieve). He would like to have his at the Fun Guy. So, I guess that means Talan's party was a hit. :)

A Mobius Day

2009-02-01T21:11:00.000-08:00

Joe and I have been preparing all week for his departure today. Stock piling food, doing mounds of laundry, securing a babysitter while I am in class and anything else that we can think of to make my life less stressful while he is away. So, today was the day. We drove him to the airport at 12:30pm. I had packed lots of food and snacks because I had decided since we'd be in Spokane, we would hit up the Mobius Science Museum. We have been there twice before and loved it. I bought a year membership because I thought that we would be driving Joe to the airport lots of times this year.

We spent over to over two hours there. We all had an absolute blast. I took over 70 photos and videos. We explored every inch of the museum. Mason played with some boys the entire time so I was basically just with Talan although we checked in with each other frequently. The boys were very unhappy when we left but I did try to cheer them up with multiple rides up and down the escalator and then finally we took the elevator to our parking level. Talan fell asleep on the way home. He and I took a nap while Mason enjoyed a movie. Since Mason did not nap, I was able to get both boys in bed before 9pm! Remarkable! So I am blogging quickly and then I am going to wrap up this day as it will be a busy week.

Oh, and we are dieting again. No flour or sugar. Not fun but making it work. I am tired of being heavy. I just want my energy back. All the time I spend in the gym is helping build muscle and I do feel generally more "alive" but I would love to not feel like I need a nap everyday. That would be really good study time. Which I need right about now! :)

Talan's Batman Party

2009-01-24T15:16:00.000-08:00

Whew! What a blast we all had at Talan's Party. The Fun Guy place is so much fun! I will have more photos that I can post later once I get a hold of Barclay's camera. We had a great turn out for which I am so grateful for as I had fears of no one coming. Kristen and Tim and their kids Lydia and Ethan were the first to arrive. Kristen is the gal who passed her sign language business to me. She also was part of Talan's speech therapy treatment team. I adore her and never get to see her so that was a special treat. Harini came with Ethan and Aaron. Our boys all play well with each other so that was fabulous too. Ethan wore his Batman costume so I especially appreciated that. :) My new babysitter DiAnna brought her daughter Lori Ann. While they stayed only for a short time, I appreciated that she came at all considering she doesn't really know anyone. Of course, it wouldn't be a party without May Paul. Missy and Sean were both there as well. We had two Masons and two Ethans at the party. As we were wrapping up our party we learned that the party after us was for a five year old named Talon. Jenna and Shelby (the girls whose father owns Lil Polpetta) had rented out the Fun Guy for Talon. His birthday is also on the 23rd! Wild isn't it?

We had some woes with the pinata and, of course, I forgot bags for the loot but other than that is all went well. The kids (and adults) were all fascinated/repelled by the "cat litter" cake. Talan refused to try it. It was delicious. The kids who were scared ate their pinata candy instead of cake. :)

Talan scored some good gifts: a thomas train, an alphabet game, batman pjs and a cool air paint sprayer art game. Talan will love all of them. Talan is easy to please which is one of my favorite things about him! :) I hope he remembers this day. I know I will.

Talan's 3rd Birthday!

2009-01-23T23:19:00.000-08:00

I can't believe my little guy is 3! I went into his room this morning and had all sorts of thoughts flood my head as I picked him up and held him. He was so soft and warm. Still feels like a baby, still sleeps in a crib but quickly turning into a little boy. I gave him two gifts this morning: gum balls and a play-dough birthday cake set. (There is a photo of the playdough cake we made). They were both a huge hit and we played with them until Joe reminded me that I needed to get Mason ready for school. I completely forgot!

After we picked Mason up from school, we went to Cold Stone to get our free birthday ice cream. Cotton Candy with M&Ms in it. It was blue and drippy and I refused to lick their cones to help them keep their ice cream from leaking. Very messy but thoroughly enjoyed. Then I took them to the Goodwill and told them they could each pick one toy. Talan chose a sit and spin while Mason chose (and scored) a Guido and Luigi from the movie Cars (we have been missing those two items so we were very excited to add them to our collection). Both boys paid for their toy themselves (using my money) and felt very "big boy". We played with our toys at home before we took a late nap.

When we woke up, Barclay was already here. Latee Matt and Keira (KiKi) came over to join the feastivities (Joe had gone to church with them while I napped with the boys). We sang happy birthday, ate a ice cream cake from Cold Stone and opened all the other gifts. Then we played and assembled everything and destroyed the place! The kids loved it. Barclay has laryngitis so the boys were worried she was going to die. Mason asked her why we couldn't hear her. Too funny.

So I am tired but trying to post this as I know everyone is awaiting the details of Talan's day. So enjoy. He had a fabulous birthday. He is one happy kid. :) Tomorrow is the big Batman Party! We are so excited. :) I'll be sure to post again tomorrow with those comments and photos.

My Birthday

2009-01-18T23:20:00.000-08:00

I have had such a wonderful day. It started with Talan crawling into my bed at 6:48am. He brought his blanket too. He is so cute. Then Mason heard us and was in our bed by 6:52am. We had eggs with the best part for breakfast and then picked up Aunt B at 8:40 for church. Mason got to go to the pre-k class today and actually did quite well although he missed his brother and asked to go to the nursery. Talan was defiant, wanting to join his brother and howled at the idea of being put in the nursery without him. So he sat on Aunt B's lap most of the service. He was mesmerized by the drummer and the music. I put him in the nursery towards the end of the service and to our surprise there was Mason. :) We wrote letter to ourselves from God today. An interesting exercise. I am on the right track God told me in my letter. :) My letter will be mailed to me in September. That will be interesting.
Barclay treated all of us to breakfast at Michael D's Eatery. That was fun and yummy. I ordered toast for the boys and that kept them really occupied. Mental note: toast next breakfast outing. We came home and chilled out. I read the newspaper. At one I was ready for a nap with Talan. Joe wanted to join us so we had Terran look after Mason while we all slept. We paid him two dollars, Sacagawea gold dollar coins. We looked up some information about them on the Internet to get Terran a little more excited about them. :)
I woke up before Joe and Talan so I did a little homework. I have a paper due on Tuesday in Microbiology. The paper is about Antony Leeuwenhoek who was a pioneer of microbes. Fairly interesting. I haven't written a paper in so long, it is a bit challenging to keep it interesting and scientific.
Missy and Sean volunteered to watch the boys so we could go out. Joe and Sean met each other for the first time. They chatted so long that we were running late for our movie and so Missy made us polish sausage hot dogs for dinner. :) It was yummy. We ended up seeing The Mall Cop movie which was very light and easy to follow. I had wanted to see Yes Man but Joe had already seen it when he was in California last month. Bummer!
When we picked up the boys, Mason had fallen asleep. I forgot he didn't have a nap today. Opps! Talan stayed up until 11am goofing around with me and Joe. He loves to cut and staple so we made tons of "crowns" with "ears". Joe did some magic tricks for the boys today and so Talan was wanting me to do it over and over and do it on him. Sometimes it is really nice just to have one boy awake. As tomorrow is a holiday it is OK if we are all off schedule. :) Talan and Joe lit a candle and sang Happy Birthday to me. Talan helped me blow out the candle. Such a sweetie.
That is it. I just went online to look up the bacteria that lives in our eyebrows as I cultured that in my lab on Thursday and I couldn't remember the name. My teacher didn't know what I was talking about, it is something Dr. Kluse taught me about. Well, there are bacteria in your eyebrows but what I was thinking of was the mite that lives in our eyebrows -- Demodex. So I was half right. I am obsessed with microbes again. This is what happened last time I took Microbiology. It is a whole other world, literally. OK I am going to bed.
Thanks to all who wrote, called, text, facebooked or somehow sent me birthday wishes. Special thanks to Joe, the boys, Barclay and Missy. I had the best birthday I've had in a long time. Thirty eight, bring it on!

Third date night

2009-01-16T21:51:00.000-08:00

Joe and I have had three date nights this week. That is a record for us that may never again be matched. Tonight the boys went to "kids' night" at the Church of the Nazarene. The played, ate dinner and ran around for four hours with about 30 other kids. It cost $5 each which is a complete steal. The church does this "kids' night" once a month so you bet we will be regular attendees. :) We had dinner at Bistro on Spruce. Can't say we would go back. We also investigated the Comic Book store and picked up a few gems for Talan for his Batman party. This is going to be a very batman-y birthday party. I am excited for the little guy. Remember when we used to call him TLG? He is becoming such a boy.

My friend Tina who I met when I lived in Georgia sent us a package this week. She handmade a Batman cape (she is very crafty) and gave us a batman costume. Needless to say, we were very excited and promptly put it all on. Talan allowed Mason to try on the cape since he obviously couldn't fit into the costume. We so love getting packages in the mail.

I am looking forward to a three day weekend. I'll write more when I have more energy. Lots of big changes are happening in our lives so I'll share those in the next post.

Joe's Birthday

2009-01-12T22:38:00.000-08:00

I love my hubby. We are exactly six days apart so on his birthday I always chide him about having a younger woman for a wife! haha I get to be a year younger than him for 6 days. I remember on our first date when I learned when his birthday was I thought how cool was that to date someone so similar in age. I also remember Joe's mom telling me the downside of marrying someone so much older because Curt was retired and she still had 8 more years to work before she could retire with him. So today I feel blessed not only to have a husband, and a husband I love, but to have a partner the same age as myself to grow old with. To Joe's surprise I did have two gifts for him this morning (we don't usually exchange gifts). One was a nose hair trimmer. I know, how romantic. But last time I cut his hair and the hair in his ears and nose, he told me it was my duty as a wife to buy a real nose hair trimmer for him. Whatever! But I saw one as I was checking out of Grocery Outlet and so I bought it. We tried it out this morning and it works like a gem. The boys love it as it also has a built in light, in case you try to trim your nose hairs in the dark? LOL I also bought him a blue (to match his eyes) long sleeve work out shirt. But alas, it is the wrong size so I will have to exchange it. I tried!

Mondays are my busy day with Boot Camp class and my Al-Anon meeting but since school started today it was extra busy. Needless to say I didn't think we were going to get to do anything special since I have class from 3 to 6pm but they let us out at 4:20pm and we managed to get a babysitter and go out for a date night! Now our idea of a date night is not like most other people's. We are just happy to be able to have a conversation without interruption. So we headed to Starbuck's and just chatted for an hour and a half. Then we grabbed a quick bite to eat at a Mexican restaurant, I won't say which one as we live in a small town, but we won't be back. Joe was alarmed by the food.

I told Joe the boys were disappointed that we weren't doing a birthday cake but I distracted them with making Yellow Jello. Say it out loud, its fun. Yellow Jello. I bought the yellow jello after Talan's last speech therapy appointment as he is supposed to be practicing his "W"s and yellow ends in "w" and jello rhymes with yellow and you can see how the whole thing went down. So we have been saying "yellow jello" a lot today. :)

OK, that is enough rambling. Except that I have to mention that Mason keeps asking about his magnets and I keep saying "what magnets?" and then he says "you know, the ones in the cup". At that point, and this keeps happening which is what is so funny because you would think I would remember this, I realize he is talking about the Maggots. Fortunately they are now all in the Pupa stage http://www.the-piedpiper.co.uk/th6a.htm which means they are no longer maggots. Thank God! They did hold the maggots, dropped the maggots, had to re-find the maggots and had a maggot race on our dining room table. The boys went promptly into the bath and I have disinfected everything in a 10 foot radius. The joys of having boys. This isn't exactly what I thought 4H was going to be about but I am just faking it until I make it (or Mason drops out).

Proud Owner of a Maggot Farm

2009-01-09T22:23:00.001-08:00

Oh my lord, the things I get stuck with. I took Mason to his second Entomology meeting through 4H and the teacher asked if I was OK with Mason receiving a pet. Sure I said, we love pets. I don't know what I was thinking it would be but when she scooped out 5 maggots into a plastic cup filled with corn meal and then secured the top with Saran wrap and a rubber band I was frozen in disbelief. Mason thought they were very small worms and told me not only were they cute but that he wanted to hold one. So, we drove home from the meeting with the cup of maggots in my cup holder and now they are residing on top of our bookshelf in the living room. We are to report on when they become pupa and then adults i.e. flies. Maggots go through full metamorphosis just like butterflies. I would have been much happier bringing home five caterpillars. Mason managed to enjoy, engage and pay attention to about 50% of the 90 minute meeting. He is the youngest of the group so the older boys are very nice to him. He partnered up with a boy named Hunter to make a insect leg out of pipe cleaners, beads and tin foil. They had to name the different parts of the leg: trochanter, femur, tibia, tarsi and a couple other parts that I do not remember (the ones I just listed are also parts that humans have which I just learned last semester)! So they do learn quite a bit and next month we are going to actually practice pinning bugs to enter into the competition at the fair. Exciting stuff.

Today is Barclay's birthday and so this morning I suggested to Talan that we call Aunt B and wish her happy birthday. I said can you say Happy Birthday and he said "no". So we text her instead. But then Talan had a change of heart and wanted to talk to Aunt B. To his dismay we got her voicemail but he babbled into it "Aunt B, Aunt B not there, B?, B?" and with some prompting said something close to Happy Birthday, I love you and bye bye. He is such a cutie. Barclay called me to tell me that she adored her message from Talan. Good, that is what we wanted to hear! :)

So another day closer to school starting. I am getting anxious, nervous and flustered. Somehow everything will fall into place, I trust. Oh, I did secure a birthday party for Talan at the Fun Guy http://www.thefunguy.com/indoor.html in the mall for Saturday January 24th so I am one step closer to making it a great day for my soon-to-be 3 year old! I am looking into making some Batman capes and magnets Squirrel Acorns as my friend Tina, from the Georgia days, has really inspired me. :) We shall see if I actually follow through on it. I do have the best of intentions a lot of the time and then fail to follow through.

Heartache of a Day

2009-01-05T16:52:00.000-08:00

I got up this morning knowing in my heart that today was the day to put Misty to sleep. I called the vet and they gave me a 1:30pm appointment. So Misty went to my Al-Anon meeting with us and then we collected Mason from school and headed to the vet. Talan and Mason both got a chance to hold Misty one more time. After the Dr. gave her the sedative they got to hold her again. Mason kept crying and saying he'd miss her. Talan pointed to himself and said "me too". Thank goodness there were tissues well stocked in the room. Both boys watched as the Dr. gave her the barbiturate that ended her life. Talan was gracious enough to lend Misty his favorite blue blanket to use for this last day. They wanted to know how she was going to get to Heaven and see Grandma Susie and Guiness. I explained that her body would stay here but her spirit was already drifting up to Heaven as we speak. That seemed to suffice. Mason then said "Mommy, you know what would make me feel better?" and I asked him what thinking he was going to say donuts or ice cream but he said "McDonalds". So we went to McDonalds and had ice creams and a happy meal which came with two toys. The boys played for an hour and then we went home. I feel emotionally exhausted and drained from all the crying. It feels so strange to not have a pet anymore. I have had cats since 1996. Mason asked on the way home if we were going to get another pet. He though a baby chick might be a good pet for us. :) I told him I think we shall wait awhile. I need to mourn. Misty will always hold a very special place in my heart and I know I did the right thing today. Wow, death is really tough. I just want to shut down, eat junk and isolate. Not very good coping skills. I dragged the whole family into bed to watch an episode of LOST. Both boys feel asleep (it was nap time) and when it was over I felt momentary relief. But then I thought about Misty again and a wave of heartache rolled over me again. Just for today I can make it. Time will heal all wounds. I know this to be true. I just need to accept that today it just feels particularly raw.

A brand new year

2009-01-04T21:29:00.000-08:00

We had a letting go ceremony at Church this morning. Each of us wrote down the things we are letting go of and then they were all burned in a big bowl. I didn't think I had anything to let go and then Deirdre gave some really good suggestions and I just started coming up with all sorts of things. It felt powerful and cleansing. Next week we do a white stone ceremony where we write one word on a white stone which we keep for the year. Several years ago, I wrote BREATHE on my stone. This year I think I am going to write SURRENDER. I am powerless over people, places, things and situations. If I remember to surrender then I won't struggle, resist or get annoyed. Hopefully. :)
So we had the best New Years Eve I can remember in a long time. We spent it at Lori's house. Lots of good friends, great food and fun games. We actually stayed up past midnight which I never do. Talan and Mason stayed up too. There were so many kids there, it was pretty fun for them too. Talan really enjoyed us and the dogs. Charlyne had her two dogs and Lori has three dogs so there were 5 little dogs all over the couches, our laps and leaping onto the dinner table for leftovers. :)
It has been a relaxing week. I can't believe Mason's school starts tomorrow and mine starts next week. I didn't do everything I wanted to do but I think the weather is a huge factor in mobility and motivation.
Yesterday Matt and Keira invited us to go cross country skiing with them on the Forth of July pass. Barclay was sweet enough to hang out with the boys so that we could go skiing. We rented skis for $15 each and it was so worth it. We had a fabulous time. Matt is a total outdoors man and he packed a shovel, heater, lighter fluid, sandwiches and hot cocoa. He built a pit for us to sit around and made a fire in the pit to keep us warm. When Keira gives me the photos I will post them here because I can't even describe it accurately except to tell you I was very impressed. We still got pretty cold while we ate lunch and I couldn't feel my toes or my finger tips for quite awhile. On the way back down the mountain we all fell. I fell 3 times, Keira fell 3 times, Matt fell once and Joe fell 4 times. It was crazy snow conditions but I laughed a lot and had fun.
I have Misty on my lap as I type this. She is so thin and frail. This morning I offered her salmon, cream cheese, and butter but she wouldn't try any of it. I think she can't eat anymore. It must hurt her or I don't know what. I still struggle what to do for her. What is best for her? She still gets a lot of love from all of us. But is she in pain? I wish I knew.
So I have been trying to sneak in some study time for my TEAS test this Thursday. I hate standardized tests. They are stressful and I don't think they really say anything about my abilities other than how I do on standardized tests. I hope for at least a 6 out of 10. Anything less than that would be an embarrasment. But, I will turn it over. I don't have oodles of enthusiasm for it so I am lucky that I am studying the little bit that I am.
Joe has really become involved with Facebook. He is far more into it than I am and has connected with way more people than I have. I am happy for him. It is funny because this morning I was just reading in the newspaper 10 ways to feel better in 2009. You know how they have all these types of articles this time of year. But one of the 10 items listed was connecting more with friends and the cited Facebook as an example. People who isolate tend to be more depressed, more unhealthy, blah blah blah so it makes perfect sense that someone who is connecting with a lot of old friends, even via Facebook, is bound to be more content, connected and feel better about themselves.
As I write this, Joe and I are playing Scrabble via Facebook for the first time. It is kinda funny because it doesn't ding or tell you when the other person has gone so we keep telling each other its your turn. Maybe we aren't using it properly, I don't know. We are still so new to the whole website. Joe just got a really high score with the word "toxines" which I would love to hear him define! haha Somehow it is allowed so now he is 100 points ahead of me.
Talan is getting excited about his birthday although he keeps saying he is going to turn five like big brother. When I tell him he is going to be 3 he says "no". I am burnt out on shopping but I suppose I will have to rally to get him some presents. Poor guy, January birthdays aren't much fun. I know mine is coming up and Barclay's and Joe's. I have little enthusiasm for any of them.
OK, that is all I have enthusiasm for right now. My focus is on scrabble. I want to win just one game against Joe.

Lots of home time and family time

2008-12-30T15:39:00.001-08:00

Well, most of you know we have been having quite a lot of snow. Breaking all records just like last year. So, consequently we have been staying at home most of the time enjoying our new toys. Joe made us delicious Egg Benedict's on the morning after Christmas using left over meet from our dinner with the Yetters and using garlic toast. It was insanely delicious. It also set the tone for the day: lethargy and gluttony. :)

We did go out in the afternoon to tool around a little bit. We took the boys to the play area at the mall which they thoroughly enjoyed. They ran amok and burnt off a lot of energy. Then we went across the street to Applebee's to use our $25 gift card. The boys are getting so much better at restaurants. It is almost enjoyable. :)

Randa's package arrived on our doorstep by the time we got home. It was Christmas all over again. Loaded with goodies such as K'nex kits which they love putting together. Mason got a giant Bug book which is perfect for his entomology class he is participating in through 4H. Talan got a Elmo book which has puzzles and it is a huge hit with him.

So while life has slowed down a wee bit here, we have been spending a lot of time playing games. We played Driedel with the boys, a game Mason brought home from school. The boys love spinning the Driedel. We also played one hand of GO FISH with Talan being my partner and Mason being Joe's partner. I tried to get Talan to practice speaking by having him ask if they had any Goldfish or Rainbow fish but instead he just turned the card around and said "this one?". It was funny and cute. He has so many tricks he uses to get out of speaking. Cunning really. Joe and I have played Chess, Mastermind and Scrabble. I will have spelling on my TEAS test so I figure it is marginally helpful as a study tool. I love playing games so it has been really fun for me. This is the stage of the boys development that I have always looked forward to. I hope they love playing games as much as I do.

Christmas Day

2008-12-25T18:00:00.000-08:00

We put the presents under the tree last night after the boys had gone to bed so that they would think Santa came to visit. I bit into all the cookies left out for Santa, drank the milk and spilled kibble on the table that was for the reindeer. "Santa" left a note for the boys on our chalkboard. As Barclay slept on our coach she was able to report that Mason came out at 2:30am and then 5:40am at which point she snuggled with him and then told him he could wake us up. My clock said 5:50 when Mason jumped on top of me wild with excitement that there were presents under the tree. Even though I was so tired I was so excited for the boys and remembered well that I had done the exact same thing to my parents. :)

We started with stockings first while the coffee brewed and we were all waking up. The boys stockings had lots of gum as this is Talan's current passion. The first thing Talan opened was a bag of small gumballs. He ran into Mason's room to grab the gumball machine and that has been a hit all day. Loading pennies and filling up the curly track with gumballs, then dumping out, restocking the gumball globe and doing the whole thing all over again. :) He needs help with each turn as he is not strong enough to make the penny go down the shoot.

Some gifts were a hit and some were not. Barclay bought Talan a piggy bank that is a butt crack and when you insert the coin, it farts. You have never seen such delight and giggles. I thought the boys would totally dig their Santa nesting dolls as they love their Russian nesting dolls but they haven't looked at them since I made them see how many dolls there were. The light bright and the wedgits were a hit. Barclay got them a wacking mole game which they like and they use their mallets to wack bubbles too. The balloons were a huge hit, they have always loved balloons. The gum and candy, of course, were enjoyed all day. :)

Right now they are in the bath with icicles which is the only way I am able to take the time to write. Talan says "help ma" every other sentence. Help with the light bright, gum ball machine, the wedgits and unwrapping lifesavers. I bought the boys these lifesaver books that we used to get as kids. Talan didn't seem to know what lifesavers were and was pleasantly surprised to learn it was candy! :)

Mason said it was the best Christmas ever. Talan seemed equally pleased. Joe had bought the boys both Ironman bathrobes with matching pjs. The boys put the bathrobes on right away and wore them most of the day. We previously had only one bathrobe and it was a fight each bath time who was going to get to wear it so Joe's gift was perfect! I can't wait to see their faces right now when they get out of the tub and put on their robes.

One thing I was pleasantly surprised by is that they played with their gifts all day. The also didn't really seem to "own" anything so that they could each play with whatever interested them. I remember Barclay and I being much more possessive. Maybe all the directions I've given them to share has partially sunken in? Maybe. ;)

I can't list all the toys but they are spoiled and delighted. We did have our traditional bagel, smoked salmon, cream cheese, red onion lox for breakfast. After that it was a free for all eating left overs from last night. I have had three pieces of turtle cake. Yes, just totally gluttony over here! We are in heaven. It has snowed all day. The only time I have been outside is to grab icicles for the boys for their bath. :) Luxury. Hope you all have had as pleasant a day. Oh, did I mention I took a two hour nap with Mason. That is just the icing on the cake. :)

Christmas Eve Dinner

2008-12-25T17:25:00.000-08:00

As many of you know today marks a year since Susie died in her sleep. We called her best friend Avonda and Joe's stepdad Curt to check in with them. They were both pretty depressed which isn't entirely unexpected. Joe busied himself with a complex dinner menu.

The menu was:

Bacon Wrapped Beef Tenderloin with natural jus

Dover Sole Muniere with natural jus

Potatoes Gratin

Heritcot Verts with toasted hazelnut

Celery Salad with shaved parmesan and capers

Grilled Butternut Squash with brown butter and lemon

Grilled Fennel with sun dried tomato vinaigrette

Roasted Garlic Loaf

We had our neighbors Keira and Matt over as well as Barclay. The food was delicious and the company wonderful. Afterwards, we went to Real Life Ministries with Matt and Keira for the 7:30pm family service. The boys were not used to being in a service and asked where the babysitting was, well actually when we walked in Mason asked if we were at an Alanon meeting! So much for anonymity.....

After the service we came home and spent close to an hour cleaning up the kitchen. We had to do all the dishes by hand as Mason had crashed and landed on our open dishwasher door and broke it (Joe hopes to fix it but hasn't yet). At 10pm Barclay came over to spend the night so she wouldn't miss a thing in the morning.

We put out milk and cookies for Santa and some of Misty's kibble for the reindeer. Mason wasn't really all that into it but I tried to give him lots of ideas of what he could say in his letter to Santa and he eventually came up with something. The boys went to bed very late which meant I was wrapping presents very late.

McCarthy Family Christmas Letter

2008-12-20T09:43:00.001-08:00

In the photos, the boys are taking a bath in green bathwater compliments of some bath soap confetti given to them by their Aunt B. You can see the green dots don't always dissolve. I have had to discontinue using it as it has given Talan a rash. But they LOVE it. We have taken a red bath and a green/red bath dumping more confetti than recommended by the soap manufacturer. LOL

I sent out a Christmas Letter last night via email. I got lots of error messages as apparently my address book is severely out of date. High school friends, college friends, Georgia friends all sort of lost along the way. I think about this every year. How much effort to put into these friendships when we are so many miles apart? It is not as if I dislike any of them by any means it is just time has drifted us apart. If I saw any of them tomorrow I would great them with open arms. While I'll admit I used to hate the Christmas Letters as I saw them as self-obsessed, I realized that I do like to hear what is going on with people. Isn't that how we feel connected, by the commonality of similar experiences? Whether child rearing, death or vacation woes I enjoy reading it all as it is real life. Life isn't always pretty but it often tells a meaningful story. Some of our worst experiences have become our favorite "war" stories. If you don't believe me, just ask Joe about Craigslist!

Just in case this blog reaches someone that I didn't catch in my email campaign last night, I am going to post my Christmas Letter here. If you haven't heard from me in awhile, please drop me a line at icusignbaby@yahoo.com. I would love to hear from you and I might not have your current email address.

McCarthy Family Christmas 2008 Letter

As I write this, we are blanketed in a massive amount of gorgeous snow. I am getting the white Christmas I have been dreaming of all year. As many of you know, we have spent our most recent holidays in California, trying to spend as much time with Joe’s mom as possible while she stoically battled cancer. She died in her sleep the morning of Christmas Eve last year. We had arrived the night before. I have to believe she waited to see us one more time and also to make sure that Curt wasn’t alone to deal with his grief. We were fortunate that we were able to stay for a week and assist in the memorial preparations and see the extended family to celebrate her life. This holiday season brings with it a lot of memories of last year. We miss Susie terribly and her absence is palatable.

One of the biggest surprises and blessings of 2008 was that my sister moved up here to Northern Idaho. We purchased a bank repo with her, just down the street from us, and she moved in at the beginning of May. She has endured the remodeling process which is semi-complete. She now has a functioning kitchen and living room and her master bedroom suite and bath are next. The boys are in hog heaven having Aunt B so close. We see her almost daily. Her presence has made such a difference for me personally as I used to feel so lonely while Joe traveled for work but when he is gone it just gives us more of a chance to hang out and marvel at the boys’ antics.

We had a wonderful summer. We drive with Barclay up to Seattle and spent the 4th of July taking in the town. We then met up with my folks on the 6th in Vancouver for a week cruise to Alaska. The cruise was fabulous and we thoroughly enjoyed the free style dining, the free kids club and time with family. We stayed in Vancouver two nights after the cruise to celebrate my mom’s birthday and enjoyed ourselves immensely there. Vancouver is one of our favorite cities (after Sydney).

Talan has been receiving speech therapy for most of this year with remarkable progress. While he still omits the end sound of words he does add new words all the time. He has endearingly started calling his brother “May Con” for Mason Connor. The boys’ best friend is also named Mason so we call him Mason Paul (Talan calls him “May Paul”) which is presumably how he came up with May Con. We all laugh when he says it and find it very sweet. It is exemplary of his preference for one syllable words.

The big news for me is that I have gone back to college as I have decided to apply to nursing school. I started in January taking (re-taking) Anatomy & Physiology. As only the second semester of the class had an opening that is the one I took. Well, that was probably a mistake as it was the hardest class I have ever taken in my life. It was like a full-time job and it made me seriously question how I would ever be able to handle/juggle a full load. This semester went much more smoothly despite the fact that I took two classes. I just finished first semester of A&P as well as Sociology 101. I submitted my application to the Nursing Program at NIC, our local college, this month and should hear by the end of March my status. It is a very competitive program but I think I have a good chance of getting in.

Another change is that I have started a property management business called P3 Management Services to manage the development in which we live, Ross Point Estates. Joe was elected the President of the Board in March and his first assignment was to hire a property manager. As no one apparently wants to manage a development that is mostly renters, I jumped on it. I submitted a proposal and presented it to the Board and was hired. Joe wants to expand on it and do more property management and that is fine with me as long as my primary focus is nursing school.

I am still teaching baby sign language although I am not really promoting myself as I don’t truthfully have the time for it. With Joe being on the road so much it is expensive and difficult to find babysitting when I commit to a five week class. In contrast, the property management I can do on my timeline, when I have time, and it is far more lucrative. I enjoy it and it is a good opportunity for me to practice being confrontational and firm. There is a lot of letter writing involved with the job and that is right up my skill set. I did stumble through the first round of filing leins against delinquent property owners but I now know what that entails and it is really pretty basic.

Joe continues to work on the race circuit. The series have merged and so next year will look different and we don’t know if it will be more weeks on the road, similar set-ups to what he has done in the past or if they will be bouncing from one gig to the next. We love the lifestyle is affords us as he gets plenty of time off to allow him to indulge in some of his other interest: real estate. He spent 6 weeks at the beginning of this year fixing up a property we purchased with his friend Adam in Coeur d’Alene. We had it rented before the first mortgage payment was due! He also managed to paint the entire exterior of our duplex by himself this fall in addition to working on the remodeling of Barclay’s house. Needless to say, he is never lacking for things to do. He has become so handy, learning some really useful skills through all these remodels. He was joking that he should start a business called GotCrownMolding.com. He and Adam struggled to do it, apparently it is counter intuitive, but they have it down now and since it is such an inexpensive but noticeable improvement to upgrade your home they ought to market themselves. Joe has all sorts of ideas. That is what I love about him. Our life is never stagnant.

Joe has been catering for Melons this month as he has done for the past eight Decembers. He enjoys the chance to hang out with his Dad, which is where he stays, and reconnect with his cousin and friends in Marin. He did swing home for two days last weekend when he didn’t have any gigs lined up which was a wonderful surprise for both me and the boys. They miss their Dad a lot and I can’t possible play as rough with them as he can and they miss it so much.

One hobby that we started to enjoy as a couple this year is running. We competed in several events with the longest being 7.46 miles in the Bloomsday Run in Spokane. I impressed myself as I would never have dreamed I could accomplish something like this but really once you get into the grove it really isn’t too bad. Unfortunately, Joe has had injuries for the past several months which have prevented him from exercising at all. I have started taking more classes at the gym to change things up. I love my boot camp class. It is insane but fun. I have become fond of being sore and as we studied muscles this semester, it was cool to make the connection between learning about muscles and building them. And since childcare is now free it is an added incentive to get to the gym more frequently.

Bottom line is we are all happy and well. Well, except for Misty. She is dying of liver failure but I am not ready to put her down. The boys and I adore her so. She is such a big part of our family. Joe proposed using Misty and her picture was on the wall of my hospital room when I was in labor with Mason. I feel grateful for each extra day we have with her. Other than Misty, life is good. The boys are healthy and active. They adore each other one moment and are clobbering each other the next. They test each other, provoke each other but ultimately they are buddies. Completely different personalities but they each offer a different take on the world. We are enjoying them immensely although some times I’d like to wring their necks. We hope that your holidays are festive and meaningful. We appreciate you being a part of our lives.

Love,

♥♥♥The McCarthy Family ♥♥♥

Joe ♥ Brianna ♥ Mason ♥ Talan ♥ Misty

Snowed In Today

2008-12-18T15:44:00.001-08:00

We are having tons of snow. It is beautiful and nonstop. While Matt snow blowed our driveway and the repair man just left fixing our garage door, we have no reason to go out. We have been very busy at home drumming up things to do. We have busted out two different Thomas the Train sets that are complicated and quasi broken but the boys loved it. Our neighbor Dakota who is 11 came over and played with the boys for a few hours. He had never done Thomas sets so he was very wowed. They are truly complex, with elevators and dump trucks etc. It blew my mind the first time I set it up. I don't know how someone conceived of these things. So one set is taking up our entire kitchen floor and the other is on our table. We lack a lot of hard surfaces here as it is mostly carpeted. There is a photo of the boys eating their mac & cheese while playing with the Thomas train set in the kitchen.

We started the day with making the dough for ornament cookies http://www.imagitek.com/xmas/crafts/cookie.html which took 3 hours to bake. Thank goodness for the trains as my boys aren't very patient. Well, just like I remember as a child, they had to lick them to see if they were edible. They have a cup of salt in them, they taste terrible I imagine. So we did start to decorate the cookies. Aunt B stopped by to admire them as well as the train sets. She left for Walmart, she called first to make sure they were open. It is amazing that they are but anything for a buck right? My package from Fat Brain Toys arrived via UPS. He looked so cold. I couldn't believe he was making deliverys. I told the boys the package was for Daddy because otherwise they would have opened it. It is more Wedgits for Talan. I would love to bust into them today as I am running out of ideas. We haven't napped yet and I am debating on just skipping it and putting them to bed early.

Mason's recital at school was ok. He did get pulled off the stage by his teacher before it started and we were concern she might not let him participate. But, he came back subdued and while he did wave to the crowd as if it were all about him, he did manage to control himself somewhat. Talan was a bit of pickle prior to the performance but in a mostly cute way. He got very excited about the boy in front of Mason wearing a train on his sweater. Funny boy! Right behind Mason is a red haired boy named Jackson. This is the boy Mason pushes, punches and mistreats even though Mason absolutely adores him (he just takes it too far). The photo of Barclay and I was taken my Talan (that is why it is so cropped). None of the singing was very spectaclular. It was all off key and garbled, exactly what you would expect from 105 three, four and five year olds. :)

Otherwise all is well. I am done with school. I got an A- in A&P and an A in Sociology. I missed a solid A by 3 points. But a huge improvement over last semester where I got a B in A&P. I do need to study for the TEAS test over break as I have to take it on January 8th but that is manageable. Joe did come home for two days and that was great to see him. He will be home hopefully Monday. My computer had tons of viruses so it was in the shop for two days and, thus, I am scrambling to catch up with my photos and news. :)

Starting to Decorate

2008-12-07T21:44:00.000-08:00

I started to rearrange the living room this afternoon in anticipation of getting a Christmas Tree soon. After the boys went to bed, I opened some of my Christmas boxes to see what I have as it has been a very long time since we have taken all this stuff out. I got very sad when I saw some of Susie's things that we took last Christmas. Curt wanted us to take whatever we wanted and I had always enjoyed this little Christmas tree that she had plugged on top of her kitchen counter. I put it on my kitchen counter next to the giant Chef chalkboard we inherited as well. I smiled when I opened the Nativity set that the Mormons gave us a couple of Christmas's ago. We never found out who it was, we just found a piece each morning at our doorstep (one for each of the twelve days of Christmas). Who else would have given us such a religious gift? I enjoy it now though and it brings back good memories from Georgia. (Incidentally, yesterday Talan pulled out the Georgia piece of our USA puzzle and said "I born" as he held it. He also pulled out the Idaho piece and said "live here".) He is very smart!

I did find all of our stockings, so Mom you don't have to worry. Maybe you have made two Mason stockings? I did get a little teary when I ran across the Guiness stocking and looked at Misty's and realized this is in all likelihood her last Christmas. So, lots of emotions. I am glad I am alone. I have my thoughts and feelings to myself. No Talan around to ask "why". Poor Talan had such a hard time falling asleep tonight. He wanted me to get in his crib with him. I finally picked up Misty and put her in the crib with him. He tucked her under his blanket and within five minutes he was out cold with his arm draped over her. Misty was wide eyed but calm. I got her out about 10 minutes later and thanked her for helping. She is so frail and mellow these days. I weighed her this morning and she is 8.5 pounds. She was 9.2 at the Dr. office last month. She used to weigh 12 plus when she was healthy. She is on my lap right now. She is just a total cuddle bug these days. All she wants to do is snuggle. It is sweet but yet sad. I don't have the courage or conviction that her time is up, it is just nearing.

I had no idea I had so many Nutcrackers. Most of them are hunters from my Stevie days. I do remember while we were dating that all the nutcrackers I received had rifles. I only have one Chef nutcracker and he isn't real. That doesn't seem right but it is what it is. The Christmas trees that Curt gave us of Susie's are in the middle of the Nutcrackers. Those bring back memories as does the little Sally dog that sings/barks a Christmas song.

One of THOSE days

2008-12-06T22:21:00.000-08:00

Baby Talan had diarrhea down his leg earlier today. He kept saying and signing poop but I was distracted. I asked him to get me a diaper and wipes and he said "no ma" and pointed down. I got up and saw runny poop dripping down his leg and on my carpet. I whisked him up sideways and carried him to his room while he asked "why". :) Then Mason peed the largest pool of urine I have ever seen in my bed during nap time. Thus, lots of laundry added to my day. Then this evening Mason threw up and is running a fever (I should have known as he kept telling me how cold he was). So now he is curled up in my bed, despite me telling him he is not allowed to sleep in my bed anymore (the natural consequence to peeing in my bed), with a vomit bowl and a large towel. I hope I actually get some sleep tonight. I did manage to get him to swallow some baby Motrin so I hope he feels better and sleeps some of it off.
No saying how tomorrow will be. Just for tonight, I am OK. Misty is alive. Joe is making money and my boys are safe just not well.

Muscle Eval Over

2008-12-05T22:34:00.000-08:00

My muscle eval was this morning. I memorized and dissected every muscle in the cat's body. I felt really good about it as I was well prepared. I got a 22 out of 25 so I am very happy about that. My lab partner got a 20. One girl got a 13 out of 25 and she most likely will have to repeat the class as she hasn't been doing well. I forget how hard this class is, a lot of people drop out or have to repeat it. So, now that this exam is over, I can focus on next weeks lecture exam on Wednesday and Friday's lab practical which covers all the material from the entire semester that we have covered in lab. In one week I will be feeling a whole lot better as these will be over! On the 15th I will take my final exam which is a recap of our previous exams so most people score 100% on that one, its kind of a freebie.
Barclay and I went to Lori's tonight to play poker. It was a nice evening. I haven't had an adult evening in awhile. Talan sat on Barclay's lap for a long time and then finally joined the kids downstairs. I think I could get used to a weekly poker night. It is just night to hang out and be with good friends. :)
Tomorrow we hope to get our Christmas Trees. "That'd be fun!" I am looking forward to the kids' reaction to it. We have not had our own tree since before Talan was born. I can't believe he will be three next month. He wants a Batman party. :) Ever since he was Batman for Halloween he has really taken a liking to Batman. Very cute.
I am off to bed. I am beat.

Black Friday

2008-11-28T22:15:00.000-08:00

Joe and Barclay hit Walmart up at 5am. They scored what they wanted! Barclay got a 42" flat screen TV for $599 and Joe got Mason a new DVD player for $50. (When I woke up Joe had already given it to Mason!) The TV purchase for Barclay's house is very exciting although we are not quite ready to hang the TV up but we are getting close. Matt wired the wall for cable and the mantel area is being tiled by Adam this week:)

The big excitement was that it starting snowing today. When the boys woke up from their nap, I told them to look outside. Mason said yeah but Talan said no. He didn't like snow last year so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. Well, we managed to find some snow suits and snow boots and went outside to throw snowballs and sled around the cul-de-sac. Lots of fun! :)

Barclay and I went with our friend Lori to Big Lots where we utilized her husband's employee discount to rack up almost $170 in loot. :) That was pretty fun!

Now I am home playing with photographs with Misty on my lap. Everyone else is in bed. I am ready for bed too. :) In one of the photos you will see Talan is trying to catch snow flakes on his tongue. I didn't know that he even knew to do that. Also, he was very excited to be wearing Mason's snow boots and snow pants. The jacket was Mason Paul's old one so it is VERY special to us! :)

Sushi Day

2008-11-27T13:53:00.000-08:00

We are being non-traditional eating tempura and sushi all day. It is hog heaven for us. The day started at 6:30am due to Mason waking up Talan. I was hoping to sleep in. Oh well. We have already done so much it is hard to believe it isn't even 2pm.

We caught the 1971 version of Willy Wonka which was a hoot. Mason is really into the Johnny Depp version. We have jumped on the trampoline, built elaborate marble runs as well as have Terran come and go for some playtime.

Here are some photos form earlier today. I also got Mason to sign his Turkey Dinner song despite the fact that he wouldn't do it over the phone this morning for Grandma. Here are the lyrics in case you can't understand him.

"Turkey dinner, turkey dinner

Gather around, gather around

who will get the drum stick, yummy yummy drumstick

All sit down, all sit down,

Corn bread muffins, chestnut stuffing, pumpkin pie

One foot high

We were all much thinner before we came to dinner

me oh my, me oh my"

Aunt B just arrived about an hour ago and we are already eating ice cream cones before our afternoon nap. :) A lazy glorious food indulgent day!

I just asked the boys what they were grateful for and Mason replied "bouncy balls" and Talan took a moment to respond and then said "Aunt B". Oh, how sweet. Barclay is grateful for starting to feel like she belongs here with the house, the job and Talan's gratitude. I am grateful for so many things. My family first of all. But really my whole life. I am really enjoying school. I am convinced that I am doing the right thing by applying to Nursing School. This is a huge comfort for me as I do tend to bounce around and change my mind frequently. Joe is grateful for "Briannalein". I laughed. Barclay thought that was a good answer. I think he has been listening to too much Dr. Laura. LOL Joe added that he is grateful for his "little Idaho family". I think we all agree that family is high up on the gratitude list. I am grateful Barclay moved up here, that the boys love her so and that Joe is such a great chef, organizer and partner. He always pushes me to be the most I can be which is a really great thing for me. :)

A little Reprieve

2008-11-24T21:57:00.000-08:00

Well, today I took exam number 4 and got a 92%! Yeah. Then I went to lab to meet up with my lab partner Amber. I thought we were just going to take photos of our kitty but it ended up that we forgot to dissect some muscles in a few places so we were really pushing ourselves to get out by 2:30 which is the time I told Missy to pick me up from school. Missy had Talan for about an hour and then picked Mason up from school at 1pm and then they all went to McDonald's to play and eat nuggets while waiting to pick me up. I am currently uploading my dissection photos onto Kodak Gallery so that Amber can access them as she doesn't have a digital camera. I won't post the photos here as I think they are a bit much for the lay person to stomach. Imagine smelling the cat too. Yes, it is a bit much. So now I have a little freedom for a few days over the holiday and then it is back to the grind. I'll be out Dec 15th and that is not coming soon enough. I always burn out right before the semester is over.

The granite counter tops came in today at Barclay's house and they look sweet! I really like them. Very satisfying that the kitchen is almost finished. The guys will do the flooring tomorrow and Adam is coming on Wednesday to tile the fireplace. Lots of great forward progress. Exciting for everyone. We are planning to go out for dinner for Thanksgiving as no one wants to cook. We are thinking Chinese but maybe Japanese. Very non-traditional.

Mason had his Grandparent's day Thanksgiving luncheon at school today. We borrowed Teacher Tammy's dad as he was gracious enough to be available last year. I will try to video tape the song that Mason sang with his class. I missed it all but he did sing it for Barclay and Joe and me. Very cute. He so loves to be on stage. :)

Here are some photos of us goofing around the house. Talan was infatuated with Joe's socks one day so that is what you are seeing here.

2008-11-20T20:12:00.000-08:00

The boys have been a bit trying lately. They can get along really well but they can also antagonize each other to no end. It is exhausting to be around it. Someone is in tears every 15 minutes. Talan is no innocent bystander either. He is definitely a terrible two now. Joe and I had a date night the other night, compliments of a sleep over at Aunt B's and the first thing we talked about was our collective exasperation with the boys. Don't get me wrong, there are enough cute sweet moments to keep us going but we are just in a rather difficult development stage right now and hopefully it will pass soon. We went shopping at Kohl's and TJ Max on our "date". It was so fun to shop for ourselves. Then we went to dinner at Chili's which no longer has our favorite items on the menu which was a bit disappointing. We were home by 10:15 and then we watched two episodes of Property Ladder which is very entertaining. It was so nice to sleep in! We woke up after 8am which was an absolute delight. Misty was in shock as she was free to roam around for a good 14 hours without little boys chasing her.

Misty is still jaundiced and not eating well but she is alive and her doctor says she is not in pain. I have fluctuated between getting ready to put her to sleep and wanting more time with her. Right now I am just wanting more time with her. She is very snuggly and wants to be on me whenever the boys are asleep or gone. I am just really enjoying her right now and I am emotionally not ready to have her be gone. If she died in her sleep that would be ideal because then the decision would be made for me.

Last night I went to a nursing school orientation meeting, the purpose of which was to explain the application process and to tell us the reality of how intense the nursing program is going to be. Basically 8 units will absorb 40 to 60 hours a week of our time. Depending on which hospital we are sent to for our clinical rotations (St. Luke's is in Spokane) that adds extra time. I filled out the point sheet she handed out this morning and found that I have 53 points right now (assuming a B in my A&P class which I actually have an A in currently). There are 10 points possible to earn on the TEAS test which I will have to take in January and then an undetermined amount of points to be earned on an Interview which will occur in March. Acceptance is based on points and last year the cut off was 54 points. So, I think I am doing fine. They are also talking about starting some students in August 2009 and some in January 2010. I'd be happy starting later as then Talan would be 4 years old and I'd feel less guilty. :)

The other news is that Barclay found a job! She loves it. It pays great and is one exit down the freeway in CDA. She has her own office and she is doing one-on-one therapy. She is still involved with her other job and is also doing a third job which is being a first responder to Child Protection Services during after hours. We are thrilled that she is so happy and it was worth the wait.

The progress of the remodel of Barclay's house has been significant. The cabinets are up, the walls textured and painted, the island built and oven and microwave as well as the gas range are installed. The granite counter tops arrive on Monday. The mantel is up and all the old rock removed. The fireplace wall is now sheet rocked. Above the fireplace is wired for a flat screen TV. The floors will go in next. We are all pleased with the progress. Hopefully the forward momentum doesn't stop during Joe's absence.

Joe is getting ready to leave for CA for a grueling 23 days of catering for Melons. He caters almost every year at this time but it will be hard having him away so long. I pray he is home by Dec 24th. I have decide to stay put this holiday season. I bounced around a lot of ideas and ultimately decided to keep it simple. I get out of school on the 15th. Mason has his Christmas Pageant at school on the 16th and we will all enjoy some down time to enjoy some local activities.

We are definitely going to take the cruise to the "North Pole" and this year when Santa reads our names off the list of good boys and girls hopefully we will hear it unlike last year when Mason fell down the flight of stairs from the upper deck just as Santa arrived so we missed the whole thing due to lots of tears and drama around his boo-boos.

Two Milestones for Talan

2008-11-12T17:53:00.000-08:00

I haven't written in awhile as I have been pretty busy. I worked at the polls on the 4th which was an interesting experience. I was pleasantly surprised by the diversity of people who came in, especially the number of new voters (18 year olds). After 14 hours, and having had no access to any news (no news allowed in the poll site as to not pressure any one voting), I jumped in the car and turned on the radio to learn Obama was winning by a landslide. I felt frustrated that I just worked 14 hours and our 625 votes hadn't even gone over to get counted to learn the election was essentially over. Not that I am not ecstatic Obama won, it just seemed wrong somehow. And, no, I haven't received my paycheck for working at the polls yet. Good old government bureaucracy.

Guess who hit a major milestone last week? Talan, climbed out of his crib on the early morning of the 4th (bad timing for me as I had to get up very early to work the polls so I was desperate for some good sleep). Joe had left the side of the crib down and that is the only way Talan can get out. What is funny is that Mason is totally encouraging Talan to get out. I took some photos the morning of the 5th (Mason totally gets that it is a big deal that Talan got out the night before) because I was in hysterics. Mason had brought in the ottoman and a kitchen chair into Talan's room to help him escape (the crib side was up high). The other milestone Talan hit was over the weekend. We went to McDonald's and Talan was finally able to make his way up the big climbing structure! He was so proud of himself. The only thing was he was too scared to use the slide to get down so he had to go back down the stairs. He did this multiple times and Mason was so excited for his baby brother. It was quite sweet.

School is very busy and challenging. I just had a brain dissection and corresponding eval as well as a lecture exam last week. That kept me locked in my room trying to study every possible free minute. I got a 4 out of 5 on my brain eval and a 90 on my exam. I have A's in both classes still which is remarkable but this is the time of the semester that I start to really burn out. Hopefully I can rally! :)

Today I went to the courthouse to file 5 liens against different property owners who have not paid their HOA dues. It was quite the learning process but by 1:20pm I was done and just barely picked up Mason from school on time. I did stop by Sandy's store Shabby to Chic (under the pretense that I would fill out my lien forms there) and visited with her and Millie, a seven week old kitten who I adored and loved while I was there. I think I will bring the boys to visit tomorrow. They will LOVE her.

Halloween

2008-11-02T20:58:00.000-08:00

The boys both dressed up as Batman. Aunt B joined us for a trip around our neighborhood which was a bit of a dud but Mason was ready to come home and check out his loot. They asked before they "dumped out" onto the sofa. Joe ate candy with them. It took a long while to rally Mason to get excited about heading over to Real Life Ministries for a Harvest Festival. Amazingly, we found Missy, Sean and Mason Paul as soon as we walked in. Unfortunately, they were ready to leave since they had already been there an hour. Well, the boys would have none of that so the Ayers were forced to stay another half hour while the Masons jumped in the bouncy castle. Talan had B and I stand in a long line for a different jumpy castle only to refuse to go in once we made it to the front! A bit maddening but very typically Talan. The costumes that we saw were so cute and adorable. I wish I had remembered my camera. The Ayers left and we tried to play a game but the boys were just too overwhelmed by the noise and crowd. We left after only earning one piece of candy each.

We decided to hit up Papa Murphy's pizza as we were starved. Joe had the oven on for us so that we could stick the pizza in the oven ASAP. We ate pizza and candy until bedtime! :) I appreciate Barclay being with us as it would have been a bore without her. Every year Joe hides from the trick-or-treaters. It is not his scene at all. Needless to say I have tons of Play-Dough left over as that is what I was going to hand out to the trick-or-treaters but I only was home for two groups of kids.

Mason asked me today what holiday was next. I told him Thanksgiving. He asked me if I was sure it wasn't Christmas! Yes, I am sure. But I can see how it isn't as exciting for a little boy as Christmas. The boys both continue to cut out toys out of the newspaper to send to Santa as their wish list items. It is cute but messy.

Talan wins the costume contest!

2008-10-26T09:08:00.000-07:00

I haven't been to church since May but still I took the boys (plus our neighbor Terran) to the Unity Halloween Party. We got there two hours late but just in time for the Halloween costume contest. Talan competed in his batman costume against four other kids in the 0 to 2 yr category. He won. I had been sitting with him but slowly slipped away when he didn't notice so that he could be seen from all sides. Well, when they announced he won and handed him his prize (a DVD) he couldn't see me so he started crying and motioned to the woman to go away. As soon as he saw me, he stopped crying and smiled with excitement at the DVD movie. It was classic. The audience laughed. Mason did not win his age group and he couldn't understand why so he wanted to participate in the 7 to 8 year olds. I had to drag him away. Poor thing. He loves being in costume and he acts out his character splendidly (he was a red power ranger). Terran did not want to compete so we went to decorate goody bags and get our pictures taken. The church had so much left over candy that when we left they were begging us to take more. The highlight of the evening was the magic show. They LOVED it. Terran especially. He kept raising his hand to be picked for the volunteer to assist the magician. After the show we got to pet, gently, the bunny whose name was Misty (same as our cat). I think that was everyone's favorite part.

We had a full day prior to the party. I took the boys to the downtown CDA fall festival. We had a hayride around town pulled by a tractor of sorts. One of the orange balloons fell off the wagon and so we enjoyed watching it float in the "blue" sky. Talan wanted it back. Poor love.

We walked around, painted pumpkins, listen to live music (Talan held his hands over his ears) and then walked to the Museum which was having a free day. The museum was boring but they did enjoy steering the giant paddle boat wheel. We then headed for the Fort Sherman playground. Unfortunately, Talan pointed out that he had peed in his pants (through a very full diaper) so he played on the playground with no pants on but with my vest on which went to his ankles! I got some comments from bystanders who thought he looked adorable. After we left downtown, we stopped at a Thrift store to buy Talan some pants. We scored some goodies like Twister, Operation and some Alphabet books. The boys asked if they could go to McDonald's for lunch (it was 2:45pm) and so I said yes. It was a monumental moment for Talan as he was able to climb all the way up the play structure. He was so pleased with himself and kept yelling "hey" so that I would watch him, which I was already doing. He wasn't confident going down the slide alone and I refused to climb up there with him so he went backwards down the stairs to get down. Good problem solving Talan!

We went home totally tired. We napped for an hour and a half and then immediately got into our costumes for the party. Busy busy day but really fun for the boys. I love this time of year as there is always so much going on.

Cuddling in the Crib

2008-10-20T21:17:00.000-07:00

Joe joined Talan in the crib this morning. Then we played with our Russian Dolls. Joe had Mason practice writing the letter "D" which did not excite him whatsoever. Then tonight Joe got back in the crib with Talan. I brought Misty in and took lots of photos. Mason, of course, crawled in to join the fun. I jumped in the crib when Joe got out. Just some really cute family fun today. Misty is horrified and totally offended. We may not see her for awhile. :)

McCall Retreat

2008-10-19T20:32:00.000-07:00

We had a great time. We arrived about 8:15pm Friday night so we managed to catch the Al-Anon speaker Magdelina who was fabulous. We felt like her share was worth the drive in and of itself. We got cabin #3 again which was great and I slept much better this year. :) I loved spending some quality time with my Al-Anon friends and my sister. It was gorgeous down there and, while it was cold, it wasn't snowing so I got to enjoy being outside more this time around. The lake itself is gorgeous and we were nestled in our cabin among the pines. I visited the snack shack many more times than last year. There was far to many goodies to resist the temptation. :) I also brewed my own Starbucks coffee so that was heavenly.

It was a very busy schedule with 5 meetings on Saturday. I didn't take too many pictures but I did take some of us playing SORRY in our cabin. :) Barclay brought down some games which was nice. Had we had more free time we would have played more. Nice clean fun. :)

We got home about 2pm and everyone was gone. Joe arrived with the boys about 10 minutes later. They had gone hiking on Tubbs Hill. Joe spent a lot of good quality time with the boys and worked on the alphabet with Mason. What a good Daddy! I am sure the boys LOVED it. I asked them if they misses me and Talan said "no" and Mason said "yes". I think he only said yes because I looked sad when Talan said no. It is a good thing if they don't miss me....it means I can get away more! LOL