They are gone...

DH just picked up the kids to take them for Thanksgiving.

Yuck. This is so hard. K was sobbing when we had to say goodbye. We have never been apart this long in her whole life.

I still don't understand how DH could do this to me, let alone his own children. So many consequences. Every new one so difficult.

I am sure that next year's holidays will be a little easier. But, for now, this is really, really hard. I still want to be with him myself. Then, I also want our family to be together, especially for the holidays.

So...on that lovely note...HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am sitting here after cooking all day with the combined smells of pie, sweet potatoes, stuffing, and turkey. -sigh- It smells heavenly. We are having "Thanksgiving" today so that we can have one together before the kids go out of town with DH. It has been a wonderful day. It feels like a holiday.

I bought a bunch of wood as part of my preparedness kick and we moved it all to the back this morning. Then, we have been cooking, cooking, cooking. :) The kids are happy, I am happy. It has been great. My sis and her family are on their way down and it will truly feel like Thanksgiving to be surrounded by family.

BTW: Thanks for all the offers I have received for somewhere for me to be on Thursday so I am not alone. I truly appreciate them.

LD and a firetruck

We have had many experiences with firetrucks and firemen, luckily never in an emergency. LD loves it every time. This time it was at our local library storytime. LD and I have been going regularly every week. Earlier this year, he did not like storytime and was nervous with the crowds. I guess he's overcome it....the firetruck storytime was very, very full and he was okay.

At this time of year of being thankful, I truly am thankful for our firefighters and policemen/women and others that serve me to keep my family and I safe. Thank-you!

So much for one a day! Catch-up Continued

Okay..Okay...So, I had a list of 10 upcoming posts. It has been an extremely busy week and I haven't posted all week. So, we are only up to 5 and 6. -sigh- I'm working on it, I promise.

We went a second time to the Pumpkin Patch so the big kids could go. It was even muddier than the first time! This is the mud that got on the socks in the "mud-free" area around the bounce houses (I actually just threw the socks away and had the kids go sock-less after this):

Aren't these great pictures of S?:

DH called at the last minute to ask if I could bring the kids some costumes. I was still working on the Harry Potter ones, so I brought the ones they ORIGINALLY were going to be. I then stopped and did K's hair outside of DH's apartment. Sure turned out cute and I am glad that they each got to be two things this year for Halloween.

After we all got back from Trick-or-Treating, I made a fire in the fireplace. Once our friends left, we all got blankets and pillows and had a huge family slumber party in the living room. I am too old to sleep on the floor, I guess, and when I got up to go to bed, this is what I found:

So, there you have it: Halloween 2009!

It was me

I just have to interject this post in the middle of all my catch-up posts.

As many of you know, last week we had Stake Conference. I went to the evening adult session on Saturday night. The second half really threw me for a loop....among the lowest of lows loop, including extreme discouragement, frustration, depression, and a feeling that I could not go on. Thank goodness I have loving friends and leaders that guided me quickly out of this loop and I have had a great week.

But, last night I reread my notes from the first half of that Saturday night session. This is some of what was said:

• "If faith, fasting, and priesthood blessing doesn't heal you, Atonement will."
• "When you are doing the Lord's work, your children are in His hands and His hands are always better than your hands."
• "All that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ."

So, it was me. I had all the answers even before the pain started. It was me that turned away and allowed myself to feel that extreme anguish. He had already given me the answers. It was me.

Gymnastics - October 26, 2009

Every year our local high school holds a 7-8 week gymnastics class. The classes actually do age-appropriate things on the real gymnastics equipment. K LOVES it! Every year she can't wait to do it. Since it is on Monday nights when DH has them, he has been taking K. I got to be there a couple of times, however. The parents sit relatively far away from the kids (except picture day...which hasn't happened yet and DH will probably be the one that is there), so this picture is blurry and grainy.

Notice the costume....it was costume night at gymnastics and K won one of the prizes in the contest! She was sooooooooooooooo excited.

This is another sort of random picture. Here is LD with two of his friends that were playing at our house. They are all three and they love to play together! They will grow up so fast. I have similar pictures with K and C at this age. -sigh-

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PS....I am doing it! One post a day and I am slowly but surely catching up! :)

Sailing - October 24, 2009

I have this amazing friend, G, who is helping me with my big Christmas project. She and her husband also own a sailboat. They offered to take me sailing one Saturday. I absolutely LOVED it! I jokingly told G that now I have another thing to put on my list....if I ever do get remarried, he has to know how to sail! It was such a great experience.

One thing that really struck me was how scared I would have been if I did not trust these two people that were sailing the boat. It was very windy and many times the boat tilted way over to one direction or another. It was all part of sailing, but without that trust I would've been terrified. I guess that is a type of the trust that we need in our Savior. We don't have to be terrified of this life. He is the sailor and He knows what He is doing.

This is just a random picture LD took of me a day or two later. When he saw me going through pictures he wanted me to post it, too....wet hair, make-up-less and all!

National Anthem at Minor League Hockey Game - Oct. 24, 2009

K and her select school choir were given the opportunity to sing the National Anthem at a local minor league hockey game. It was even the team's banner ceremony where they were celebrating all the accomplishments of the last year. I guess the team was pretty good.

K was so excited. Here they are on the ice waiting for the time to sing.

Unfortunately, the sound guy messed up or something. They didn't play the choir's music for the National Anthem. The choir didn't get to sing and the show went right on. Those poor kids and teacher. They all got out on the ice, didn't sing, then all walked back off the ice. They were so disappointed. While the team was unable/unwilling to do anything about the situation that night, they did promise to invite the choir back later in the year and, since we all had to buy tickets (even the choir members), that they would give us all free tickets for the second game.

Pinewood Derby - October 23, 2009

C participated in his first ever pinewood derby last month. We are so blessed that he got to participate in it. First, we have great home teachers who, for weeks had C over to work on his car with them. He loved it. I loved that he was rubbing shoulders with great Priesthood holders. I am so grateful. Second, the derby itself was during DH's time with the kids. He was generous enough to let C go. What a blessing.

Now, for the race itself. C's car won the first three-four races easily. It looked great. His face was pure joy, especially when he won that very first race. Then he lost one. This put him in the playoff race for third place. He lost that one, too, ending up 4th. He was devastated. Oh well. It was still worth it. He really had so much fun. But, it doesn't matter how often you tell an 8-year-old that "winning isn't everything," they still wish that they had won.

The sad thing was that my camera quickly ran out of batteries. I thought it was charged enough. Nope. I was wrong. I took more pictures with my phone...but, in the interest of actually getting these posts caught up a little....I didn't take the time to download them off the phone yet.

Backlog of Posts...Pumpkin Patch - October 16, 2009

Oh my. Oh my. We have been so busy over the last few weeks and this time I actually have made myself a list of posts that still need to be posted. I really want to keep this record...so, be looking for these posts soon (hopefully) to come:

1. Pinewood Derby
2. Hockey Game
3. Sailing
4. Gymnastics
5. Pumpkin Patch #2
6. Halloween
7. Firetruck
8. Haircut
9. Camping
10. Field Trip

I really am striving to keep them in chronological order.

OK. I don't know why the words above all of a sudden went blue and underlined. I am just happy to actually post again...so please forgive it!

And, as long as I am spouting out about nothing, I am sitting here basking in the smell of homemade bread. I have had the feeling for about a year that I need to be baking my own bread for my family. I am finally acting on it and Mondays are always bread day. We've tried all kinds...today is Oatmeal Honey. It is yummy! Luckily my kids are on board and don't mind taking the bread in their lunches!

Now, this post is almost a MONTH overdue. Yikes. I went with two of my dearest friends and their sons to a local pumpkin patch. LD loved it. One of the only bad parts was the mud....I tried to take a picture of it, but you really can't tell. With all the rain, it was sooooo muddy and your feet just sank in. It was very, very muddy and gooey.

This picture (above) is of me and my close friends taken by LD. He really wanted to take a picture of us. I am glad. I don't have many pictures with my friends!

LD loved this maze. He went through it probably 30-35 times. Below is him running around to go at it yet another time. (Note the mud on the jeans and that you cannot even see his shoe really...it is so sunk in the mud!)

What a great day! :)

"He's a Bad Guy...."

Out of the mouths and minds of 3-year-olds:

DH took all the kids to the NBA game that I got him tickets for last night. Late night, but they had fun. This is what happened this morning:

LD was playing with his fan from last night. He says, "Mami, this guy is a bad guy." I look at it and it is a player from the other team. I said, "He helped beat the Jazz, right? That is why he is a bad guy." LD looks up at me and says, "No, he is a bad guy because he steals stuff. I saw him steal from the Jazz. Stealing is bad. He is a bad guy."

Too cute. :)