Why can't I send photos from my phone?

Enjoying a beautiful morning in the park with Hayden. But a word of advice to myself. Always carry wipes and diapers in the stroller.

" It is the Season "

Couldn't wait til tomorrow. Had my husband drag one of the trees

from the attic and some other christmas stuff. We decorated our tree with the "help" of a toddler. The rest of the kids will do their tree tomorrow. And check out my santas...!

On to the next Holiday

The toddler is sleeping, my husband is out playing raquetball, and the teens are out and about. Ahhh, peace and quiet...what a scarce comodity in this house. I am enjoying this moment to the fullest.Well, thanksgiving came and went, and my fall decorations have been put away...phew, we survived yet another holiday. I think I will take a day off before trees, lights, and santas will take over our house for the next six weeks or so.

Don't take me wrong. I love christmas and the whole decorating, gift buying and giftwrapping craziness. I feel like a kid in a candy store. Can't wait to get my trees (yes we have two) out of the attic and have the kids decorate one and my husband and I do the other. I realized we had to have two trees the first christmas we celebrated together as a blended family. Just imagine having christmas decorations from two households being placed on one tree because all the kids had to put their favorites on. And when I, to my horror, saw some of the decorations that my sweet bonusdaughters had accumulated I knew I had to do something. We're talking all disneycharacters and strange looking pig ornaments. Didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. After all the ornaments came from their late mother who had a huge pig collection. I could live with the pig teapot. That was cute, but I couldn't come to terms with a christmas tree full of pigs. So, hence the second tree came in to play.

So, now the kids can happily put whatever they like in their tree, and I can have mine beautifully decorated in gold and burgundy. Simple, tasteful, and elegant.

Thanksgiving reflections

So, another thanksgiving has come and gone. We spent all day cooking, and I mean all day. I believe we started around 9 am. My husband and I chopped ingredients for stuffing, we peeled regular potatoes and sweet potatoes, we prepared green beans for two different kinds of green bean casseroles, we stuffed the turkey and got it in the oven on time. And the night before we had even prepared a pumpkin cheesecake that was to die for. In between cooking we cleaned pots and pans used during cooking. It was like a never ending process. Finally at 6 pm the turkey had been carved, the potatoes were mashed and all other food were out on platters waiting to be served. We had quite the group around the dinner table, and yet we hardly made a dent in the amount of food that had been prepared. And yet it was all soo delicious. We will have days of left overs. When will I ever learn? Maybe it's time to stop stressing over the holidays and order in some pizzas instead.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Time to start cooking...

word of advice to myself, don't ever take Hayden anywhere during naptime.

n the stroller. Not so...instead we had a huge tempertantrum where we threw ourselves on the ground when we couldn't have big sisters coffee drink. So, a

Went to the mall with teenagers, grandparents, and a toddler during naptime. Thought the little one would wear himself out and then nicely fall asleep i

Thankful for relatives

We have company that arrived last night. My bonusdaughters maternal grandparents are visiting from Colorado. They are staying with us for a few days to celebrate Thanksgiving and just hang with the kids. They are absolutely amazing. I love them! My own parents are so far away, and they only come every 3-4 yars. So, I have adopted my husbands former in laws as my parents. They treat my children as their grandchildren too, so it is great. Our toddler has really warmed up to them and is bringing all these books for "grandpa" to read. So this year I am thankful for relatives.

Pool project

We finally started our pool project. It's going to be a total renovation. We thought we should have it ready by Christmas. They just started the demolition, and Christmas is 4 weeks away. What do you think? Are we fooling ourselves? All the bricks need to go too.

Blogging via cell phone

Please bear with me as I am learning how to blog from my phone. I meant for it to be one post, but it posted like two posts. Oh well, at least I will be able to update my blog since I am on the go a lot.

I got when greeting them. Who is the parent now...?

My 20 year old and my almost 16 year old just walked in the door at 11 pm! They had been to a concert. "What are you doing awake so late?" was the reply

Car Troubles

I wonder if we are cursed by some evil car fairy. Today our 20 year old came home from school saying her car is making a terrible sound and the "check engine" light is blinking, and "it smells". My husband test drove it and said he could smell an exhaust leak and yes the car was definetily rattling. My husband who, unlike me, knows a lot about cars said it could be the catalytic converter??? That doesn't mean anything to me. Give me some numbers! What are we talking about here? Probably$2000 was my husband's reply.

We sent our daughter to our mechanic who confirmed my husband's suspicions. Basically the car is driveable for a week or two. Our daughter has some decisions to make. By a "new" used car and take on car payments (because she spends every dime she makes, so she has no savings), or put $2000 into the car she has? That's the million dollar question. If she buys a used car she may run into other mechanical problems before she knows it. And if she spends it on the car she has now who knows what will break next. What a dilemma. Sad thing is we can't fix it for her. She is an adult, and she needs to take the consequences or she will never learn. She lives at home for free. She works almost fulltime and makes good money. She has made some poor choices regarding her finances and shopping habits. If we bail her out this will never end, so we have to stick to our guns and do the tough love thing. We've been around the block with her a few times, so we have learned a lesson or two. It's tough being a parent. You want to save your kids from all their problems. Part of me wish I could buy her a car and put the keys in her christmas stocking...but I'm not gonna!

I'm Back

My sleep deprivation took the best of me, so blogging became a luxury I couldn't keep up with. So, I decided to put it on ice for awhile. Now I have come to the realization that unless I am willing to wait until the toddler graduates from highshool I should just write regardless. A very good friend of mine pointed out to me that I have to carve out some "me time"...and writing is just that. Time for me to reflect on my day, share thoughts and ideas, vent, and to let my friends and others catch a glimpse of pieces of my day.

So, what happened with the car drama??? It all worked out in the end...$375 later our 17 year old got her car fixed. Guess who footed the bill? We took it back to our mechanic who replaced not just one hose, but several and did a tune up. The con car salesman never pitched a dime towards the repairs. So much for a 30 day warranty. And before we know it we may soon be in the same position....looking for a "new" used car that is. My 16 year old will soon be taking her "Behind the wheel" test. She's had her permit for almost 6 months now...so come December... Watch out everyone! Actually she will be driving my car in the beginning because we have a policy in this household. You need to have a job to afford the privilige of owning a car, and secondly you need to help pay at least half the cost of the car. I know, we're evil parents. My 16 year old daughter does not have a job except for some occasional babysitting job...and she is not busting her butt looking for one either. So, she'll be in for a reality shock soon. It'll take many babysitting hours to buy even the smallest, cheapest car...