The Principle's Office

Today we get a phone call from Shannon's school teacher telling us she brought a pocket knife to school and was caught showing it to another student. I was shocked! It turns out she was sent to the principle's office because of it and apparently it really shook her up. She was in tears telling Doug about it. I feel terrible because she would NEVER have taken it to school to hurt, scare or threaten anyone. She is so innocent when it comes to things like that. So tonight we had a family home evening lesson about weapons and how things as small as a pocket knife could be used to hurt someone. We've talked in the past about how there are lots of bad people out there, stranger danger and all that but I still don't think she really gets it. She likes to think that everyone is good.


It breaks my heart to see her struggle so much with grasping simple instructions and concepts. For some reason her wiring in her brain is a little screwed up. And I'm not saying that to be mean, I'm just hoping this is something that she'll eventually outgrow. I love my daughter so much and I wish there was something I could do to make life a bit easier for her. I dread the time when she will start getting teased about having to go to special ed classes. She is the most loving girl and tries so hard. I'm so proud of her.



(2 yrs.)

Bring on the Craziness

As I was getting ready for church this morning, I badly wanted to get on the computer and vent about how I haven't been able to sleep peacefully through the night since Doug has been gone. It seems the two younguns love to play games during the middle of the night, taking turns waking me from my much needed beauty sleep. I went to bed last night just after 11pm only to toss and turn until 12:15am. Next thing I know it is 1:30am, Aiden is pounding his head and humming to himself. This can only mean one of four things, he's uncovered and cold, he is waking up for the morning or from his nap, he's going to sleep or he has to go potty. In this case it was the latter. I get him to go potty and tuck him in nice and snug so he won't wake up cold. I go to bed and at 6:34am I hear Liv yell, "MOM!" I couldn't believe it. My alarm is set to go off at 7am. I go see what she needs and ask if she needs to go potty and she shakes her head no, "I need to blow my nose." I get her some TP and then she decides she needs to go to the bathroom after all. I get her all tucked back in bed and I climb back in my bed and then I hear her start to cough. She coughs and coughs and coughs. I climb back out, get her a glass of water and climb back in. A few minutes later I hear, "Mom." I wait. "MOm." I wait some more, maybe she'll get out of bed and take care of what she needs by herself. My alarm goes off. "MOM!" I go back in, "WHAT?!?!" "I need to blow my nose again." By this time I've lost it and I proceed to chew her out that if she needs something, she can get down and do it herself and I'm not going to get her some tissue for her nose, she can get it. I then go hop in the shower and continue getting ready for church. I wake all the kids up at 8am (yes, Liv has gone back to sleep) and help them get ready but wait, where's Liv? It's 8:20 already. Shan says she's still asleep. "Will you please go and wake her up?" It's now 8:30, "Hurry and go get something to eat, wait, where's Liv?" "She's still asleep, mom." Argh! I'm frantically dressing her and somehow manage to get her hair done but now she's throwing a fit because I had to put her cereal in a baggy so she can eat her breakfast during sacrament meeting but she wants to eat her cereal with milk and doesn't want to go to church. We finally get to church and it has decided to start raining the minute we pull into a parking spot and it's not just a sprinkle. Great, I've straightened my hair and now it's going to get all frizzy because the kids aren't cooperating and I'm standing in the rain trying to get Aiden out of his carseat and Liv doesn't want to go out her side of the car, she wants to come out my side. Now I've gotten Aiden out and I tell him to run to the door and everyone decides to come out my side of the car so I have to wait until everyone unloads so I can shut the door because the previous week one of the doors didn't shut all the way so the car was left unlocked and a few months ago we had a number of car breakins happen during church. I don't see Aiden right away so I have the other kids go in one side of the building and I go in the other. "Do you see him, is he over there?" "No." "Great, go in and get a seat please while I look for him." I go back outside and see him come around the corner in the parking lot with a big ol' smile on his face and all wet. It is now 8:55am.

So that was my morning and the afternoon was littered with a bunch of other small things and now it's 9:40pm and I'm still being riddled with "Mom, I need to blow my nose." "Mom, I need to brush my hair" (because Liv managed to spill grape juice on the floor and proceeded to drink it up off the floor resulting in getting juice in her hair and I forgot to clean it out). Aiden is hollering to Liv, oh wait, now he needs me to wipe his nose.

Ok, so I've been talking with my sister and she's been having some serious nanny problems. I offered to help her out since Bryce (her husband) is in Iraq for a year and Doug will now be gone most of the time. Looks like in two weeks I'll be heading out to the east coast with all the kids to go and live with her for a few months. She has three girls and since she too is in the military she has to work and really needs help around the house. It'll be an interesting and fun adventure for us all. I'm excited to go but also sad because I won't know anyone out there and I've got such wonderful friends here who I'll miss terribly (thanks again Marissa for the fun girls night out). I just have to keep telling myself, it's only a few months, it's only a few months.

So if you've made it all the way through my ramblings, way to go and if not, I don't care, this is more for myself anyways. Oh, Doug should be home this Wednesday! Yay!!!!

Where's Daddy?

Every night Doug has called to tell us where he's at, have family prayer with us, talk to the kids one by one and tell them goodnight. We go to our big map of the USA that's on our wall in the kitchen and find where dad's at. It's lots of fun for the kids, they love it. The first night was spent down in Salem, Oregon. Then it was Ontario Oregon, Evanston Wyoming, Laramie Wyoming, Grand Island Nebraska, and tonight they were heading to Gary Indiana. By Tuesday evening they are supose to be in Allentown Pennsylvania to deliver their shipment. It can be very confusing, first Mass. then Denver then Atlanta, then back to Mass and now Penn. The drivers are only allowed so many hours on the road each day, so if they don't have enough hours to get them to a certain destination in time, they're rerouted to somewhere else. He seems to be enjoying himself, despite being away from the family.

All's quiet here on the western front. I try to take little notes here and there to tell Doug when he calls. For instance, yesterday morning Liv was dancing around in my bathroom obviously needing to go. I had to tell her to go potty and when she sat down and started going she says, "Ahhhhhh, that's much better." Also, Aiden had way too much to drink last night and managed to wet the bed twice.

I asked Brian, Doug's trainer, what's one of the craziest things he's seen (he's been driving for 22 years). It was hard for him to decide since there's LOTS that goes on. He said one time he watched a driver for UPS that was pulling three trailers, crash. The back trailer started swaying and it pulled all the trailers down. I wonder if they fired the driver. Hee-hee. He said that was scary. Brian also witnessed a driver being arrested for not wearing any clothes while pulling into a weigh station. Just this morning Doug said a driver got on and gave everyone a sermon. Ahhh, the life of a truck driver.

Bitter Sweet

Doug has now rejoined the land of employment. He got a job working for May Trucking. Last week he went down for orientation and to see if he could pass their drive test. They asked when he would like to start and he told them Monday. They said if he didn't hear from them by 11am Monday morning to call them. He spent a lot of Saturday purchasing things he needed and packing. He ended up having to call them Monday and they told him they weren't able to find a trainer at the moment. He was to then wait until Wednesday afternoon and call in if they hadn't contacted him before then. Late yesterday (Tuesday) morning he gets a call from May saying they've got a trainer coming in later that evening and he needed to call him so they could meet up. Doug left last night around 6pm and was told they had a few stops on Oregon to make then after that it was off to Massachusetts. It was hard on everyone when he left knowing he'll be gone for 2 weeks. I know that's not very long but when you're used to having him home 24/7 for the past six months, two weeks sounds like an eternity. He called me this morning telling me that they were still in Salem! (where May Trucking is located) He said something about his trainer and hours and that they weren't going to the east coast but more likely to Denver. They were going to be heading out this afternoon.

We're not exactly pleased with the long-haul driving but it's what he needs to get the experience and we know with the experience, he'll get a better job. Hopefully something that lets him come home each night. We're hoping he won't have to do long-haul for more than a year.

I'm really thankful I have my parents here and even if they didn't live so close, my ward is wonderful. I'm so greatful for the love and support from all my friends and family. Thank you.

I'm seeing red

For the longest time I've wanted a red kitchen but have been too afraid to paint it. About a year ago we were given six gallons of paint from a neighbor who was moving. We finally decided to do something with that paint.

First we had to prime the walls and since two out of the six gallons of paint were pink, we used that. (sorry for the messy kitchen)

Then we put the first coat of red on. I went around with the roller while Doug used the trimmer. It looked like Valentine's Day.

We then added another coat of red and then another. Altogether, four coats of paint and four days later. We love the end result!

(Above: Notice the line on the ceiling next to the lights? That's water damage from our washing machine, somehow the hose worked itself out of the drain and was draining water onto the floor in the laundry room. Our next project, once Doug gets a job.)

We had a day of rest then it was on to painting the living room. Just a boring Vanilla Custard color so you can't really tell the difference.