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Sunday, May 30, 2010

Fresh Spring Flashback

Once again, I find myself playing catch up on my posts. So, this post rewinds to the weekend of March 21.


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10 years ago on March 21st, at 1:16 in the afternoon, my life was dramatically changed. I was 14 years old, and most of the way through my freshman year in highschool. The band in which I played clarinet was perparing for marching in the Spokane Lilac Parade. I, however, had just done something a bit more complicated than hitting my corner mark on the 4th beat while maintaining guide right and front. That something was a someone! A sweet tiny squishy little someone. After 11 hours of labor, an hour of pushing, very low infant heart rate, and very high blood pressure pumping out of mine, an 8lb 7oz little bundle of purple skin and dark hair came into this world.
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Today, that squishy little munchkin turned 10. She's now this tall gangly pre-teen that seems to be mostly legs. She likes music, drawing, sports, academics, cooking, and joking around with anybody up for the game. By the time she is 11, she will most assuredly be taller than her Ammie. She will always be taller than her bestfriend. :)
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To celebrate her birthday, we picked up her friend and went to lunch, where Jeremy's parents met up with us. She made out pretty good in gifts. Grandma Chris does spoil a bit, with a DS and several games. She's supposed to be learning french, too, since her Dad bought her DS french disk.
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I'm a not so cool mom, and bought her some functional and hopefully fun little things. She spends alot of time traveling back and forth, and sleepovers and such. I thought a cute girly satiny white bag with black velvet scroll work would be nice for her hair care items. I filled it with lipgloss and nail polish, too. Essential sleepover items.
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To further celebrate Bug's birthday, we headed out to Tiffany's for some roller skating. All the kids had a blast. This was only the second time skating for Pix, Bear, and Potato. Before we were done, all three felt brave enough to go it on their own without holding a hand. Actually, Potato was brave before Pix and Bear!

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Bug, rolling away from me.
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Miss E on a wave by.
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Bear was definetly getting the hang of it, as was Pix. Notice her awesome skating crouch.
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Potato didn't want anybody close to offer a hand, she had it covered with confidence.
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Notice, the distance. lol
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Bug's awesome rolling crouch.
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I even managed to get them to hold mostly still for a group photo.

A decade has passed, and now we are swiftly moving into the decade of deodorant, bras, and boys. Oh mercy.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Breaking Even

It's been way too long since my last post. So much has happened. Alot of it contributes to my absence from digital world. But things are finally settling down. Well, as much as they do in a family of six with a mass of extended family. :)

In the past two months (or is it three now?) we have been insanely busy. Most of March was spent packing, packing, and more packing. We only had a two bedroom 800sqft apartment, but it is amazing how much stuff that space can actually hold. No wonder we never wanted to be home! Our apartment complex obtained new owners, and new management. There were no announcements made about this to tenants. But shortly after we were made aware of this, it was time to move on.

Amazingly enough, we were lucky enough to be able to move into a four bedroom home with a washer and dryer hook up! This is a huge deal to me. It means that laundry is no longer an all day event of gathering, packing, and hauling off to the laundry mat with 3 or 4 kids and oodles of laundry. This alone makes me giddy. Our living room is actually big enough for a 7ft sofa, which we have. Jeremy has his speakers all set up to his delight. Well, mostly to his delight. There's an actual dining room, not just a piddly spot off the kitchen, where I can fit my table and even expand it to a square. Family dinners have once again been resumed at the table. It's so nice having that, and the kids are loving that, even if they can't see the tv.

Bear is loving having his own room. His own space. His own toys. No sisters. Potato loves having her own room, too. She gets to sleep in without her noisy sibling waking her. Usually. Plus her siblings can still play in their rooms even if she is taking a nap. Before, nobody was allowed to even open the door to the bedroom when she was napping.

Our kitchen is easily three times the size of the one in the apartment. It's amazing. All that counter space. Jeremy even built an island butcher block which fits perfectly next to the cabinet with the drop down ironing board. We've even done away with having a microwave to keep the counters open. We never really used the microwave before anyhow.

Let's see.... also, in the past few months, Monkey Bug turned 10. Whoa nelly, that is going to a whole different post. Complete with pictures and mommy anxiety! Pixie started a new school, which she likes for the most part. Except, the children seem ruder at this new school. Not something I would have figured with kids a little more country than city. The bus seems to be the worst with no real reason for the children to behave. The driver drives like a maniac and just seems to want the kids off the bus so fast, she sometimes doesn't notice they haven't even had a chance to get around the kid they are sharing a seat with. I'm going to wind up having to throw something at this bus to get that woman's attention one of these days.

Then came Easter. That will be a Potato loaded post of cuteness since the older kids were at their dad's this year.

Of course, there was.... the unpacking. We've got mostly everything we need unpacked. Everything else will slowly be sorted through and taken care of. Thankfully, we have a storage shed to help with this. So, there aren't boxes stacked everywhere like the apartments.

After all the crummy things we have had to deal with in the past few years, we feel like we are finally breaking even. I'd love to say we're pulling ahead, but I just can't be that optimistic. But, Jeremy and I both agreed that all those crummy things and fall throughs have lead to this current happiness and peace. If this, this, or that had gone a different way we would not be exactly where we are right now. We just had to put up with a load of bull to get here. It was actually worth it. There's a few more things I'd like to see happen, but I'm not pushy. There's a few things that had been brought to light, that I wish hadn't been there, but we're glad to see out in the open now.

Despite the turbulent weather and pouring rain bashing against my window from outside, I sit here in a sort of calm and peace with my surroundings. Well, as much calm and peace as I'm going to feel 3 days before Potato's bday party, and 5 days before her 2nd birthday. ;)

(Sorry about no photos.
Upcoming Bday and Easter posts will be overwhelming.
I swear.)