Getting caught up...

Sunday was hilarious, in retrospect of course, allow me to explain.

First, a disclaimer: I do not share these tidbits/stories of info to be whiney or complain, I share because it seems there is always something. It adds to the craziness of the everyday and makes that crazy even more so...

On the drive home I was completely congested and so were the girls. Each one of us seemed to be taking turns sniffling and coughing. I was in denial and thought that it was all the chlorine as we were in an indoor waterpark for two days but come Monday morning we were still all congested and coughing. The three of us officially had a cold. Great.

Monday, we all continued our regularly scheduled programs; carpool, Ultrasound for me, then chores, school for the girls (Jillian brings home Super Duck - a post of it's own next), home for snack, dance, showers, and bed.

Tuesday: Carpool, me to work, find out my ultrasound result - ruptured ovarian cyst ( see OB next week), I flub up the carpool schedule by forgetting that Ali goes to Heather's until I'm off of work - oops! Grandpa Larry was in the parent pickup line waiting for her - again, oops! He's already come to town at 1pm to get Jillian; sorry for the unnecessary trip! Get that all straighten out; get home from work, take Jillian to dance, home for dinner, bed for the girls, some TV then bed for Brett & I.

TODAY! (Whew! Wasn't sure I'd get here today!)

Today, I decide that I do want to partake in a "Week in the Life" Challenge on Ali Edwards blog. A really cool idea that I have a better start than I thought I did. I'm pretty excited about giving it a try. I'll post it, as best I can, when I complete it. 

See, right there I said when I complete it, not if. Keep on me for it!

I've done A LOT of posts today. I will try to stay on top of it better but life is life. And I enjoy every crazy minute of it! 

Hope your enjoying the posts!

A GREAT weekend...

Let me start with, I don't have time to be sick. Although I was not up to par I was not going to disappoint my family, friends or myself by letting my bad week and still not feeling well over take our plans. I sucked it up and am continuing to suck it up because I just don't have the time or the patience to be sick...

The weekend kicked off with a birthday party at Lake Bowl for Ivie, (Melissa's daughter and Alissa and Jillian's cousin). Melissa, you are CRAZY! I swear there were 30 something kids there! We took up 4 lanes and 3 of them had ten players each, the fourth lane had 5 or 6 I believe.

For those of you unaware of Melissa's parties, they are no small thing. Not ever! They are an EVENT lasting a couple of hours and full of entertainment. They are always fun and wonderful but WAY more than I would ever dream to tackle! Kudos Melissa.

As usual, everyone had a blast! The girls weren't ready to go when it was time but we all had the weekend to get ready for.

Saturday, we headed east; destination - 

in Kellogg, ID. We shopped our way there, stopping in Spokane, Spokane Valley, and Post Falls along the way.

Charli had found out about this deal Silver Mountain was offering throughout the end of

 September, stay one night in a 1 bedroom and get two days passes for four to the waterpark for $169. The passes themselves cost $27 each and the rooms are like timeshare rooms. They offer studios, 1 & 2 bedroom units, and lofts - those sleep 10! It was a deal!

2 bedroom floor plan. Left side of floor plan locks off to be 1 bedroom studio and right side becomes 1 bedroom unit

the fireplace

the kitchen

A total of four families went; Chapman's (Justin, Charli, Riley, Cayli, and Camyrn), Carvo's (Brett, Me, Alissa, and Jillian), Carvo's (Josh, Melissa, Ashley, ivie, and Kolby), and Dishon's (Dan, Tina, Kegan, Miaya, and a little guy I don't remember his name- sorry). 

OMGosh! If you haven't gone - you need to! Completely indoors, lifeguards everywhere! Something for everyone one - literally. Kiddie zone for the toddlers, kid area with slides for the other kids, a lazy river, 2 tube slides, 1 "family" tube slide - seats 4, a tidal wave to surf, a pool of water basketball, 3 hot tubs - one for kids, 2 for adults upstairs by the bar. A full service bar, a place to order good food that's not badly priced at all, lifejackets and towels provided....it was AWESOME!! Our kids could go do there thing - with rules of course and we could do ours.

Here are some pics from the internet:

an overall view

 the surf thing

The weekend was in celebration of Riley's birthday. We had a BLAST and hope that he did too! Thanks for inviting us!

Silver Mountain Resort is offering a similar package starting today. We are contemplating a second trip...we'll see.

A really bad week....

After the MotoCross I got "sick" (more info than you'll want to know but its necessary back story) - UTI; went to the clinic Monday morning to get Rx; later that day a bit nauseous. Late late Monday night Jillian's restless with a horrible cough; she was literally coughing every third breath and coughing hard! I stayed up a couple hours with her on the couch. 

Tuesday: missed work not only because of me but because Jillian had an uncontrollable cough and didn't get much rest, by that afternoon she's running a fever. I'm really nauseous this day and eat only enough to take Rx. 

Wednesday: Jillian home sick again and I go back to the clinic because I am NOT feeling well, right side pain in addition to nausea, concerned that I may have kidney infection or ovarian cyst. MD orders ultrasound, he's concerned that I have a stone, could be kidney, could be gallbladder. Ultrasound unable to be done until Friday. Got an additional Rx for nausea. 

Heather takes Ali to dance and I usually pick her up and take both Alissa and Jillian to CCD; not this night, I just want to go to bed. So, I pick Ali up and do just that.

Thursday: Heather takes the kids to school in the am so that I can sleep/rest. My mom plans on picking up Issiah and Jillian and I thought Heather was picking Alissa up.

I slept ALL DAY. At 2pm my sister, Krista, calls trying to figure out how to get to my house due to road construction. I figure that it's easier to meet her than explain it so off to the ML Country Club I go. On the way, I call Heather to let her know the best route home, she thanks me and then says, "You're picking up today, remember?", only Alissa as her girls have choir. No, I forgot. I grab Jillian and book it to the school to get Alissa. 

The clinic calls and reschedules my ultrasound to Monday as they have a machine down. FABULOUS...

Friday: Heather took the kids to school again (THANK YOU) and I rested. Finally, around 4:30pm my nausea was in waves vs. constant and my pain was workable. Still uncomfortable but not holding me back any longer. I was a whole new person!  I can't believe how night and day I felt! And not a moment too soon, we had a big plans! Ivie's birthday party this night and Silver Rapids Indoor Water Park, Kellogg, ID for the weekend.

Ephrata MotoCross...

Sept. 21st: We joined the Chapman Family at the MotoCross in Ephrata. Riley and Cayli have done a couple 4-wheeler races already, this was Alissa and Jillian's first time. I was very nervous! 

The night before, Alissa needed some convincing and Jillian was adamant that she was not participating. Come morning, Alissa was up right after Brett left to check the farm; she was ready to go! To my surprise, Jillian was ready to ride also. I got them ready for the race and packed snacks and drinks while Brett was at the shop getting the 4-wheelers ready. After a little starting issue with Jillian's bike, we were "off to the races"! I was still really nervous but Brett and the girls were stoked!

 the track

Everyone was awesome! They played together while waiting for their event and watched other events. It was a great time had by all - truly.

Riley, Alissa, Cayli, and Jillian

Alissa and Riley got really competitive after the warm up. In the first run Riley was first and Alissa was second, in the second run Alissa came in first and Riley, in my opinion came in second. I say my opinion because the officials said a different kid came in second and Riley came in third. I think the officials got their numbers mixed up because everyone we were with agrees with my opinion. The first run Alissa, Riley, Jillian, and Cayli were all together. In the second run they split up the group, Alissa and Riley were together and Jillian and Cayli were together. I really enjoyed that a lot more; it was a better break up of the ages.

Jillian and Alissa

Riley and Alissa

Cayli and Jilllian

After the first run I think that Jillian got the competition bug, she wasn't settling for a trophy just for participating; she wanted MORE! In the second run, she was in the lead until the final fifth lap when the little guy, Braden, who'd been on her tail the whole time literally got on her tail! They went over a hill and on the way down his 4-wheeler hooked onto the back of Jillian's. Scary moment for mom but dad's are all around the track and got them detached right before the last big hill. Jillian lost momentum, the little girl who'd been in third the whole time took the lead, Braden took second, and Jillian got third. She was pretty disappointed; but still had a good time.

Riley and Alissa did a bunch of trash talkin', kid style. I think that Charli and Brett got a kick out that because they're always trash talkin'! Jillian went into silent observer mode and Cayli was havin' a blast! Although I had reservations I was happy that they participated and proud that they did their best. Good job girls!

Race results:

Alissa - 1st

Riley - 3rd (should have been tied for 1st, in my opinion)

Jillian - 3rd

Cayli - participant trophy

Good job guys! Best part - you all had fun; a little competition never hurts.

Week in review....

To continue the update in overview (on top of the busyness that the week usually holds; school transportation, my day at work, dance, and CCD...):

Sept. 13th: Brett came home from Alaska; landed in Seattle about 6pm and got home about 11pm.

The girls tried their best to stay up to greet him but Jillian was the first one asleep around 9:30pm then Alissa followed around 10pm. We all missed Brett so much!! He missed us too; he went into their room when he got home and woke them up to say hi - another tender moment.

Sept. 15th: I went swimming. I finally took Julie up on her offer to join her swimming laps at the high school. That girls been going for about the last nine months and has continually asked me to join her - her persistence finally paid off. Thanks sweetie! It was fun!

I did it on the 17th too!

Sept 19th: Brett and I picked Jillian up early from school to go to a my MD appt. in Spokane. Alissa planned on going to her friend Nicoles' house after school for a sleepover; more on that in a minute.

My MD appt. was with my orthopedic surgeon regarding my right knee that had reconstructive surgery about a year and a half ago. In that reconstruction, I had my patella tuberosity (the bump below your knee) moved ten degrees medial (in) to help my knee track better so it no longer dislocates. By moving that tuberosity they had to graph the bone to it's new location and placed two screws basically as healing screws....well, (you'd better sit down as you might hit your head laughing) my screws are loose. Yep, I've got a loose screw! Two of them! Jokes aside, they are backing out causing pain and discomfort and a large bump. I need to go in and have them removed. I'll have to take it easy for eight weeks following but it should be a breeze of a recovery vs. the reconstruction.

Brett's favorite line when sharing with our friends is, "they forgot the lock-tight". Thanks babe.

Alissa's sleepover at Nicoles is one for the books! They went to the MLHS football game Friday night, were artists for creating their own plate and bowl with a "make a plate and bowl kit" (super cool! The kids draw their masterpiece on a special paper, you send it in and your child's masterpiece is now a part of the dish! It's not just for show, you can use them as well! Here's the link: makit.com), they went to the local Farmer's Market and got cotton candy in addition to fresh fruits and veggies, jumped on the trampoline with Nicole's dad, rode bikes, GOOD GRIEF! Alissa had a BALL!

When I went to pick Alissa up Saturday @ 11am (yea, Ali got to Nicole's house around 3:30pm Friday and I picked her up @ 11am Sat - that's a lot of good times  jam packed!) The girls were riding bikes and Ali was definitely NOT ready/wanting to go home. When Nicole's mom shared with me all that the girls had done with the family I could understand. I told her that we would love to have Nicole over for a sleepover at our house  but I'm afraid she may be a bit disappointed - I'm way more of a home body then that!

Guess we'll see...it won't be for at least a few weeks, the weekends are currently booked.

That night..

That evening, I had a sitter for the kids (thanks Alex!!) that I had lined up for a week before so that I could go see the movie "The Women" starring Meg Ryan, Debra Messing, Annette Benning, Jada Pinkett-Smith, and Eve Mendez. This was a STAR STUDDED movie - ALL women! No men the entire show! It was fabulous!

I had seen previews for this movie when I went to see "Sex and the City" movie this summer. I will say that "The Women" was NOT what I was expecting it to be but I loved it anyway.

I was happy that Charli & Melissa joined me for it. Thanks for sharing your evening with me! Life is busy for us all, it's awesome when we have a chance to connect! Remember, you got bonus points! :)

I won't give any  part of it away but I it will be on my purchase list when it comes out.

Wow, it's been awhile...

Life has been busy to say the least. I just noticed today how long it's truly been. So, let's see if I can catch up...it may take a few posts, but I'll do my best. :)

Sept. 12th: I joined the girls elementary school to attend "Seussical the Musical, Jr." put on by the girls dance studio, Today's Generation. I am a Dr. Seuss NUT!! I LOVE the silly nonsense words and the rhymes! They entertain me and they make me think. I have EVERY board book Suess for the girls when they were little, we still have them because we just can't let them go. Anyway, I'm rambling...

The show was fabulous! All the characters were local kids in the community; what a talented bunch! I admired them for having no fear, no reservations, and the strength in personal character that showed. These kids ranged from K-12 I do believe, at least 1st-11th. We knew a couple of them so it made it even more entertaining!

Jillian sat with me while Alissa sat with her class. Jillian was FULLY entertained, and she can be quite the critic; she doesn't sit down to watch just anything. She recited some of the lines with the performers, laughed out loud, and cheered with excitement! Alissa LOVED it also. I kinda missed out not sitting with her but glanced her direction every now and then to see her smiling and laughing and enjoying the musical with her friends. I would really like to see the full Broadway version now. We LOVE Seuss!