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Nutcracker

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:49:00 -0500

Parties and Hospitals

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 22:34:00 -0400

10/12/2009, 6:51 PM

We have been busy. How's that for the understatement of the year.

Veronica is practicing every Saturday, for her part as a little doll in the fight scene in the Nutcracker. She will be in four of the twelve performances in November and December. Here is the e-mail I just sent out about it:

Veronica is performing as a little doll in the Nutcracker!

We've had a lot of requests for more information, so here's what we know:

Veronica is performing on these dates:

Saturday, Nov 28th at 7:00 pm

Thursday, Dec 3rd at 7:00 pm

Saturday, Dec 12th at 2:00 pm

Sunday, Dec 13th at 2:00 pm

We are going to see her

Saturday, Nov 28th at 7:00 pm

We would love to see you there. Tickets are $10, $20, and $30 at:

https://boxoffice.mesaartscenter.com/Online/seatSelect.asp

Let us know that you are going, so we can look for you.

I'll let you know if we plan something afterward.

See you there!

The weekend before last, we had a going away party for our cousin going into the Navy. It was a big family party with lots of extended family we haven't seen in a loooooong time. Plus, we made new friends too.

He left for the Navy Wednesday, and now he's in full fledged boot camp.

So many family members came for our cousin's party, we took the overflow. Matthew's dad, his mom, and her two sisters stayed the week with us. Cousin Vivian was the event coordinator:

Monday - overnight in Prescott

Tuesday - shopping in prescott, come home late

Wednesday - shopping in Phoenix, abondigas (mexican meatballs) for dinner

Thursday - casino and enchiladas for dinner…

Only, Thursday didn't quite work out that way. We woke up Thursday morning to find out Tia Nicha wasn't feeling well. By the time I got home from work at the school, it was clear Nicha needed to go to the urgent care. By that evening she was checked into an ER. No casino and no enchiladas for dinner. Her kids drove in from Tucson and stayed with us on and off the rest of the week until Tia Nicha was checked out Saturday.

She wasn't the only one sick. At our grade school, 15 % of the school was out sick. That's roughly the equivalent of two grades. One fourth grade class had 10 kids attending. One day we were so low on substitutes and students that we blended a kindergarten class into the other four classes.

Both Veronica and Paige have had the fever, plus almost every kid on our block, plus almost every kid who stepped into our house. This flu this year is so absolutely contagious. Our school has a high amount of swine flu too. Every day, kids are telling me their brother or sister has the swine flu or that kid just got back from being sick w/ the swine flu. Thank goodness we are on fall break this week. Maybe now our school will get a chance to clear out the viruses.

We had Paige's birthday party Saturday. We didn't really get the chance to prepare for it until Friday. We made the cake, bought the pinata, and set up the decorations. I took Veronica to her practice while Matthew stayed with Paige to wait for the guests. By the time Veronica and I got back, the party was on.

We played stick the flower stickers on the Hello Kitty poster, hit the pinata and the limbo. My castle cake was a hit, everyone ate all of it.

Sunday we said goodbye to all of our company and by the end of the day our house was sooooo quiet. We enjoyed visiting with all our company over the last week and a half.

Today, we worked on getting back into the normal swing of things. We woke up later since there is no school and waved goodbye to Matthew when he drove off to work.

Halfway through the day, we got a call from ABQ. Matthew's dad checked into the hospital today. He's ok, however Matthew decided to drive there, and I agree with him. He came home from work and packed while I made dinner. He ate and kissed the girls goodbye. Right now, he's on his way there.

Three Things

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 21:33:00 -0400

Paige had a birthday! Thursday she turned 6 years old! Can you imagine, our baby is six! We celebrated w/ 99cent cones at coldstone. :) yum.

Her party will be Oct 10th at 2:00 pm and you are, of course, invited.

Paige uses both hands at the same time to eat and color, however she might have finally decided to write w/ her left hand. She has decided she wants a Hello Kitty birthday party and that we are going to be the power puff girls for halloween (w/ Matthew as the professor). I think that means I will be buttercup. Paige will only wear pink from head to toe, unless it's black/orange Cortina colors friday. Her favorite food is goldfish crackers. Why oh why can't goldfish be a vegetable. Even though we are well into Sept, she cannot decide if she wants to take soccer, cheer, or karate. She's usually very determined and always states exactly what she wants. She has decided she wants her hair to be cut very short. As it is now, it almost reaches her butt, she informs me in the shower. She's independant and watches an action until she decides she will do it correctly the first time. At her last piano lesson she played the song she practiced since last lesson, played the next song correctly, and informed the teacher she didn't want to learn anymore this lesson. Her teacher was surprised, to say the least. lol. That's Paige.

I created an Etsy page. I'm excited w/ my new toy. Here's the website:

www.aboveallbelieve.etsy.com

I've been trying to figure out a good name for my pink and black ponytails. For instance, brown and pink is chocolate covered strawberries. What in the world is black and pink? Maybe "Pink Ladies". hmm.

Veronica auditioned and was chosen for a part in the Nutcracker!! She will be a little doll in the fight scene (which I can't remember for the life of me). This is the nutcracker put on by ballet etudes and performed at the Mesa Arts Center! 10,000 people will see the perfomances for three weeks in Nov and Dec. She will have free dance lessons, free costume, and a makeup crew! This will be so much work and it will be a huge self esteem boost for her. We are so proud!

Happy 10th Anniversary

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:57:00 -0400

How do I love you, let me count the ways:

Over the summer I started crocheting ponytail holders. My SIL liked them, so I made a few and left them w/ her. When I got home, I made more for the girls and me. When school started, the girls on the playground (it was 110 degrees) asked if I had rubberbands, so I started carrying them in my pocket every day. Now, someone in every class, from Kindergarten to fifth grade, wears them every day. I started selling them on the weekends, for two for $5, and so far I've sold $50 of ponytail holders.

Ok, I can't tell you why yet (I don't want to jinx it), however, this Saturday is going to be exciting. Not only because Paige has two birthday parties to attend (one is at buildabear), and not only because Matthew will finally be home from his business trip to St. Louis (for some reason I always want to spell Lewis), but for something I can't say. I might tell you in a week and I might not ever get the chance to tell. I'm so nervous and so excited and it's not even about me. I'll give you a hint, it's not about anyone I've mentioned so far in this paragraph. HeeHee.

Tomorrow is picture day at school. Veronica and Paige are finally old enough they are telling me what they want to wear and how they want their hair. We're going to get up early and get them dressed up. Then today I found out I have to take a picture, because I am going to be in the yearbook TOO! OMGoodness. What am I going to wear and how will I do my hair…

The great part is, since I'm an employee, my kids packages are half off. SWEET.

Tomorrow is our 10th Anniversary! Holy smokes! How in the world did we make it to Ten years?

I have the greatest idea for a gift. Its not tin or aluminum, like the modern 10 year anniversary gift is supposed to be. Its iron. I'll give you a hint:

Eaksta andingbra iron-uh-a

That was a pretty good hint. Good thing he doesn't read my blog anyway. He will love stamping everything in sight. If you know Matthew, you know this will be a great gift. There will be no reenacting the scene from Harold and Kumar 2, however.

Thank you Matthew, for spending all your weekends, building shelves in Veronica's room, for taking me to get fish tacos when you don't like fish tacos, for taking us to see Ponyo after Paige made us watch the preview until the DVR said 30 minutes, for loving Atomic comics as much as I do, for loving Star Trek as much as I do, for loving super heroes as much as I do, for your absolute appreciation for Godzilla, for believing in my writing, for Wii Wednesdays, for keeping the pool clean, for caring that I'm afraid of the dark, for date nights. These are just a few of my favorite things about Matthew.

trip to ABQ

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 11:56:00 -0400

my phone doesn't work, so after realizing that in gallup nm, I collect called matthew from a payphone.

we just stopped in I-don't-know-where to find veronica's dsi charger and to use the restroom. hopefully, she will be nice to the rest of us at least until we get to abq.

we made it to auntie Debbie's by 10:30 pm. of course it was 11:30 local time. all four of the cousins played until they practically passed out. by then, it was after midnight.

this morning I took the four to the park for free lunch. they ate and played. it's a great program. not only do they eat healthy, they run it off too. Paige and Veronica rode the zip line and crossed the monkey bars. good job girls.

went to smiths grocery store and picked up some instant coffee and everything for a lasagna dinner.

I don't know where the clean dishes go, so I rinsed off all the dirty ones.

its almost time for dinner, church school (the whole reason for our abq trip), showers, and then time for bed.

we actually ended up staying up watching Igor, which actually ended up being quite good.

shoe shopping while the kids are at church school. I fell in love with a pair of shoes, back at the expensive store. so far, though, no love at this one. no money = no shoes.

the verizon store fixed my phone today. get this, my phone has a setting for "home only". why even have a "home only" setting!

veronica lost a tooth last night. I was nervous because Matthew is usually the one who works with the tooth fairy. It was easier than I thought though. She's still asleep, so it will be fun to see her wake up.

it's raining. it rained half of yesterday and all night. Its beautiful, only I packed the girls for summer. we are completely unprepared for rainy, windy, and 70 degrees. maybe I'll have to buy some walmart special clothes today.

we skipped the lunch at the park today, since the ground will be wet and it will be too cold for our summer clothes.

I filled the dishwasher, I'll pack us lunches and we'll head out to grandma's.

grandma loaned me a book. it was wonderful, beautiful. called "out of the dust". im exhausted.

last night I made burgers for dinner, Deb came home and we ate, took the kids to church school, shopped at walmart, picked up the kids from church school, drove home, gave them showers, and went to bed. At about that moment, I wrote I was exhausted. Thanks to victoria for making breakfast yesterday and john paul for playing with the girls all day.

today is thursday. we are going to meet grandma at the park for the free lunch, drive to pick up victoria from her summer class (started today), have dinner, and take the kids to church school. whew.

lunch at the park.. free chicken nuggets, carrots, melon, and chocolate milk. paige is lying on the blanket eating, while john paul and veronica play relay races on the playground.

10:00 pm and paige is about to fall asleep. veronica, however, is still on the floor reading her "Up" book, about Dug the dog, by the night of the night light (a lamp).

either she finished reading or she's too tired, because veronica is climbing into bed.

its almost 9 pm and its still light out.

we saw witch mountain today at the dollar theatre (our first date and the place Matthew asked me to marry him), and we watched happyness while the kids were at church school.

showed debbie coldplay's video "life in technicolor II". she loved it, of course.

we're going to try to get to the store tomorrow at 8:30 am. apparently they are giving away bike helmets. then we're going swimming at a local pool with a kids section.

8:30 am. waiting in line a kohls for free helmet day. debbie dreamed this last night. veronica and paige are freezing. i'm not cold at all.??

we're at the pool. its a beautiful day. paige slid down the water slide. we didn't know she was too young and the slide threw her all over. I saw her once with her arms and legs out. she was upside down and rolled out of the end. life guards were blowing whistles left and right. they told her she cannot slide any more. she loved it, of course.

We just ran into cousin Cindy, her daughter and her grand daughter. it was so nice to see them. it's a nice pool, if only Paige was a little older.

paige and veronica actually ended up jumping off the diving board (about a hundred times). the jumped until paige was too tired to climb out of the pool any more, and then they jumped some more.

I don't know what Debbie (our event coordinator) has planned for this evening.

we saw a double rainbow this (almost) evening. it was one rainbow right over another. pretty cool.

girls are still sleeping, long enough that I had the opportunity to drink coffe and take a shower with a little peace. We're going to church in two hours. maybe I'll even get another cup of coffee in before they wake.

church is over.

i'm trying to keep the girls busy while victoria and her friend catch up. we're watching sponge bob.

its hailing. it hailed last time we were here too, at easter. we bring the hail.

9:16 pm.. at smiths getting milk and snacks for the week. The air smells and feels like summer nights I spent here in high school..(almost) twenty years ago.

tomorrow we have swimming lessons, lunch at the park, showers, pick up the niece, dinner, church school, and finally bed. whew, goodnight.

I found swimming lessons. today is the day for finding new locations. the girls are in the same swimming class. They announced no one can use goggles. paige valiently handed her goggles over to me. next we have to find the new park (closer to the pool) for lunch.

well, we found the new park, however I don't see anyone giving away lunches. There is a total lack of lunch line. ack.

lunch at home for today. pokemon diamond and pearl are playing all over the house.

walked 3.3 miles while we waited for church school to end.

Its way past bed time and veronica/paige are still up playing. I thought for sure they would be exhausted after their first day of swimming lessons.

the bug guy is coming for the ants tomorrow.

day two for swimming lessons. hopefully they enjoy themselves. I'm asking so much of them on this trip.

after swimming, we're going back to the house to get ready for the bug guy. fun fun..

poor paige. the swimming instructor handed her off to the next class down. which is fine, except he didn't explain it to her at all. he just physically handed her to another teacher. here she was thinking she did something wrong. she cried the whole way to the car. we have been talking about how this new teacher might understand her more, and that this new class might be just the level she need to learn to swim.

waiting in a car line to pick up victoria. Veronica and Paige say they can see her playing kick ball.

I can't believe I caught a wine charm on fire in the microwave today (i didn't see it on the glass of water I was trying to warm up), and I cracked a glass when I was doing the dishes. I just need to go back to bed.

I called the bug guy after we waited almost two hours. he rescheduled for 5 today. he said he didn't have our information.

bug guy is done and gone. we ate dinner, took the kids to church school and walked three miles while we waited for it to end.

now it,s 10:00 pm and the girlies are still awake. time for bed.

we're at swimming lessons. paige is in her new class. we hyped it up all night. she took a few minutes sitting on the bench, before she jumped in and now she's having a great time. She's showing them how she knows how to do the things they ask her to do. Veronica is learning how to throw a ring to save a life. good job kids.

after unsuccessfully looking for lunch at the park by the swimming lessons, it turns out we can drive back to the original park and still make lunch. problem solved.

dinner and the dishes are done. so very tired.

at swimming lessons we saw a rainbow circle around the sun. is that a corona?

I think paige might be sick. she sniffed all night last night. today has been harder for her, since she missed that sleep. she's been crying and sniffing for the last ten minutes, so we're taking a break in bed for now. I think tonight might be a tylenol cold night. I'm an avid no cold meds (just to put the kids to sleep) mom,but tonight she's really sick. so I will.

we started making matthew's fathers day card four days ago, but if you know veronica, you know she is so particular, she just finished her card tonight. the problem is its already thursday. matthew's fathers day package will be late. fortunately, he knows veronica. so hopefully, he'll understand. The good news is..they made fathers day gifts in church school, and since we haven't yet mailed the package, we'll get to add these new creations too.

we found the post office today and mailed the fathers day package.

I got an email from our dance studio. they are closing. We have been going there for four years. what a loss. Even sadder are the circumstances surrounding the closure. one of the two owners is having a brain tumor removed and relearning everything: walk, talk, eat.. the other owner is selling her house and moving away, due to the economy. this school and all the people involved, have been so good to us as a family and as a community. we are losing a piece of our hearts and our childhood.

saturday, i'm so very grouchy. we went to the mall and the girls rode the merry go round. now we're going to the civic plaza and they say we need jackets. we didn't bring jackets. its june.

turned out we didn't need the jackets, but they were comforting for the little girls in the back seat on the way home. the blow ups were free, so veronica and paige got completely dirty. they smell like puppies. paige is in the bath now and veronica is next. tomorrow is church and the zoo for fathers day. veronica is the candle bearer at church.

1:15 am. Paige threw up. without going too much into detail, I cleaned a lot of dry-clean-only linens in the shower just now. tomorrow i'll clean everything else, and put paige on the "brat" diet.

b = banana

r = rice

a = apples

t= toast

considering she only tolerates apples on that list, tomorrow should prove to be an interesting day.

omgoodness, so far I have broken Debbie's pampered chef pizza stone, lit a wine charm on fire in the microwave, cracked a glass washing dishes, and now this.. a sparkly gold dry-clean-only comforter and a tempurpedic pillow.

today veronica was the candle bearer at church. she was a wonderful candle bearer.

we tried to go to the zoo today. there were thousands of people there. we didn't make it through the gate. david and connie came over to debbies house for kentucky grilled chicken.

I cleaned the gold comforter paige threw up on. it came out clean. thank goodness.

ghost busters is on. its a great movie. I haven't seen it forever.

its monday. we're at swimming lessons. I think the kids are doing great. today starts another week of swimming lessons, lunch at the park, showers, pick up victoria, church school, walk, and bed. five days we do this, then saturday we're going to santa fe for victoria's birthday.

sunday we drive home.

I have a sore throat.

tuesday, swimming lessons again. its a warm cloudy day. last night I was so hot. I woke up at 4 am and couldn't sleep for hours. of course, that made me sleep too late too. we made it to swimming on time. we were even early, just the way john paul likes it. not me, that just causes us more time we have to try to be good and patient.

let me just say, Rachel is a very popular name in abq. everywhere I go, some one is talking about or yelling out "Rachel".

I haven't been able to get any schoolwork done. it's frustrating because the deadline is in august and while i'm spending the whole summer with the girls, it's hard to find time to study.

matthew got his fathers day package yesterday. :) he loved his "dad built ford tough" tshirt. he loved the gifts the girls made for him too. last night paige said she missed daddy. I asked if she wanted to call him. she said no she only wanted to see him.

I feel like those people who take a week long trip to disneyworld. I personally have never been on disney property long enough to catch everything in one trip. I have read, however, about families who spend so much time at disney,they start fighting and resenting the long lines and wishing they could go home. this is the happiest place on earth and they want to go home.. I think we've reached that point in our trip, when even though we're having so much fun, we want to go home.

we're at the park for lunch. it's thundering. though it hasn't started raining yet. the kids are eating and hoping they have time to play at the park and with their bubbles.

we're at swimming. veronica is practicing saving a life w a ring and paige is bobbing. we loaded our itunes card, so we'e downloading movies right now. We already loaded princess bride and now we're adding enchanted.

John paul has an extra class on wednesdays, so we have extra driving on wednesdays. today is wednesday.

what a weird day. it's cloudy and hot.

i'll have to see if they want to go to the park today. the bubbles worked out great. they used all the bubbles and shared w the kids at the park.

thursday..we're at the new park that just opened this week. veronica's little friend angelina is here. i'm glad they get time to play together. poor paige gets left out though. thank goodness john paul is here to keep her company. it's victoria's birthday today. she's going to meet her friends at a smoothie store and then we're having pizza with the family before church school. She's 14 today.

so much has happened in the past 24 hours. first of all, I got sick. I have a head cold with a bit of chest thrown in for good measure. i've lost my voice too.

yesterday Debbie left to get victoria and the family showed up. grandma and grandpa came first, followed by uncle chuchie. while we waited for victoria to get home from school, we discovered Michael Jackson died. Farrah Fawcett died earlier yesterday too. I was texting Matthew to ask him about it at the same time he was calling me. victoria came home to see it on the news and noted he died on her birthday.

the thing is, I thought he was a has been. After those boys in court described certain somethings, I just wrote him off. now, since that moment, I have seen, through the media, how many people he has influenced. do we remember him for the good he has done or not forget the people he has wronged. I wonder how God sees Michael Jackson?

Then Debbie decided we were going to watch no more death on victoria's birthday, and she turned off the tv. Victoria's birthday was super fun. paige made the money she put in the card, veronica made a card and Victoria's big present was a dell computer. we didn't see her again, since she was buried forhead deep into her new laptop the rest of the night. While we were enjoying cake and ice cream, we suddenly realized we had ten minutes to get the kids to religious education. we piled into the truck and piled out of it with a minute to spare.

while the kids were in church school, Debbie and I met to walk our 3.3 mile route. It started out sunny, making me worry about another sunburn, but soon we felt a nice drippy rain. I remember thinking it was nicer than the sprinklers we just passed. The drizzle turned to rain and the rain turned into torrents. it rained so hard it felt like hail, stinging my hands, holding the water bottle over my eyes. water pourerd off my eyelashes and stung debbie behind her contacts. Once it stopped, the front half of my clothes were soaked, but the back was bone dry. Too late to go home and change, we were forced to pick up the kids in our wet clothes. I still made sure to give angelina a card with veronica's address and email.

saturday, we're on the train to santa fe. it's actually beautiful. it was late, but so worth the wait. the scenery is beautiful and the train is comfortable. hopefully santa fe is as fun as the train. we're going home tomorrow. what a crazy trip, that's almost over.

santa fe is beautiful too. it kind of feels like shopping in mexico. I found a pair of shoes I love for $300. who has $300 for beautiful shoes.?

on the train back to abq. so very tired. paige and veronica are dirty and they probably smell like puppies. paige says her stomach hurts. I found her a ziplock as soon as I could, because we know what happens when paige's tummy hurts. so far she's ok.

tonight i'll give the girls baths and pack. tomorrow we'll drive eight hours back home.

sunday..the big travel day. Its 6:30 am arizona time. I love arizona time. it is a category of its own. in a few hours I won't need to change the time in my head constantly anymore. I wonder how long I will take to break that habit. I can't decide between taking a shower or going downstairs for a cup of coffee. I know the shower is the right choice, but can I make it.

I keep having bad dreams about losing the girls. right now, the one I just woke up from, squarely fits in the nightmare category. I might have to write it down to release some of its control of my thoughts. if it sticks around for a few days.

Today I need to focus on packing and driving eight hours. especially since last night I watched miss congeniality 2 instead of packing.

our trip is almost over. we're at the mcdonalds in payson. have you been there? it has a treehouse inside it. the treehouse in payson is one of the girls' favorite parts of any drive to abq.

we drove through rain so thick, I couldn't see past the water coming off the big trucks.

job update

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 12:29:00 -0400

soo busy and soo tired.

My job is fantastic.

First though, I watch our neighbor boy for two hours before they get on the bus.

He hangs out w/ Veronica and Paige while they watch cartoons and eat breakfast. Then we walk down to the bus and I wave goodbye. Sweet.

From 10:00 to 1:30 I get paid to hang out w/ the kids in the lunchroom and the playground. Sweet Sweet!

The kids are adorable and great fun to get to know too. The little ones need help opening their milks and cheesesticks. The older ones really just need napkins.

Today marks a week and a half and already I have stopped a girl fight, saved another girl from choking, and sent a headache to the nurse's office. ..all in a day's work.

The heat makes my four recesses an exercise in endurance. We have kids get physically sick from the heat. Yesterday, w/ the help from a big bottle of gatorade, I finally didn't spend the afternoon in bed, from overheating. I got my nails done instead. do you know how hard it is to drive by the coldstone, on my way home, w/out stopping, when it's 108 degrees.?

Last weekend we watched movies. Lots of movies.

We saw District 9, Ponyo, and rented the bucket list. Fantastic movies!

Beary

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 17:01:00 -0400

Paige announced

Beary

has the swine flu. She'll be sick for five days, Paige decided.

I GOT A JOB

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:26:00 -0400

Ok, first of all, I can't believe my last entry was Veronica's birthday cake.

It's been a busy summer. I did actually write about our three-week trip to ABQ, so I'll post that as soon as I have more time.

I got a job!

I'm going to work three hours a day at the school as a lunchroom/playground monitor.

I'll see the girls on their lunches too.

Hopefully, this is perfect.

Veronica's Birthday Cake

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 15:04:00 -0400

Trip in June

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 14:58:00 -0400

Tomorrow, I'm taking the girls to ABQ for three weeks (yikes!). It'll be an eight hour drive.

We're going to spend time w/ the family, complete three weeks of Religious Education, two weeks of swimming lessons, celebrate fathers day at the zoo (We'll miss Matthew), and Victoria's birthday.

We'll be home the week before the Fourth of July, just in time to watch the fireworks w/ Matthew.

We will miss daddy on Fathers day. :(

We will get a lot done.