Spring Break on the Slopes!

We spent Spring Break this year in Montana with Chris' family. The kids all LOVE going to their house because every time we have been there is 1)snow and 2)skiing! Chris also loves to ski and manages to do it at least a couple of times a year with his travels. The boys have been skiing for a couple of years now and are also passionate about it. Mommy however...not so passionate about it. I tried it. Two years. And in the words of my little 22 month old niece (who we had a blast visiting with)..."I don't like it." It's rather cold. It's windy. It's somewhat wet. It's really scary barreling down that steep hill on those slippery sticks. And if I fall down (which is a DEFINITE scenario) I CANNOT get back up without practically summoning the entire ski patrol. So this time I informed my family that I would NOT be joining them on the slopes, but would be cheering them on from inside the lodge...hot cocoa in hand! This is the first year that Clara was able to ski. She was so excited about the challenge! She was decked out in her ski attire...top to bottom. She looked like a little pink Michelin Man! And I quickly knew that she was quite different than her mother as far as skiing goes. She LOVED it! She embraced it! She was actually quite good at it! And by the time we left, she was already skiing harder slopes than I managed in two years of attempts. And so...here she is! Clara on the slopes!

Montana Horses

These horses were along my paths traveled on our recent trip to Montana. Of course...not quite so colorful as these! But I didn't want boring horses...I wanted exciting horses...thus the rainbow of colors! I will say that these horses happen to have the BIGGEST nostrils that I have ever seen on a horse! Guess it's all that fresh air they breathe in out there in the middle of nowhere!

Fun Times in Montana

Okay...so I tried to post my totally precious and hysterical video of Clara skiing...to no avail. So instead. Here are some pictures of my little family hitting the ski slopes in Red Lodge, Montana. These are also pretty much the closest thing that I have to an "Easter" picture...sorry Mandy!

A Request For Easter Pictures

I have had a request asking to see this year's Easter pictures of my kids. By now...you might have noticed that along with this blog there are none posted. That would be because....well... there are none really. We weren't here and I was really busy and I simply did not get around to it. And so...this Easter went largely and pretty much totally unphotographed. So sorry to all of you who were looking for them. I will do better next year. As a matter of fact...until just now when I read that request...I had totally forgotten about my little bunny and chicks that I have. I might still have to attempt at least some spring pictures. The park would pretty for those. Everything is getting so green and pretty now! Hmmm. My wheels are turning now! OOOOOHHH!!!! And now I just remembered that SOMEWHERE I have a white picket fence prop thing that I ordered for last year and it came too late. I haven't even taken it out of the box. I am going to go and look for it right now and get it out and see what is involved! And then...this weekend I just might have to embark up on the park with my kiddos and camera and see if we can capture a little spring! Thank you Mandy for stirring my memory here and this boost of inspiration!

Weekend Warriors!

This weekend has already been SO busy for us and it has STILL got one more day to go! We kicked off the weekend excitement with a great big dump truck full of rocks for the front yard! Hooray! Nothing like 8 tons of rock sitting on your sidewalk waiting to be moved! We all got busy with our shovels and wheelbarrows and buckets and got to hauling! Chris' mom even came and helped out! Then she ordered pizza to bribe the kids to help out! It worked! They hung in there and helped us out and we go the job done last night. Granted...we finished in total darkness...but we finished! Then Saturday morning dawned bright and early and we started the task of installing cabinets over my washer and dryer. We have not had such luxury. All this time we have just had a really, really, REALLY ugly shelf over the washer and dryer. YUCK! But now there are pretty wood cabinets in there and I almost...ALMOST just want to hang out in there all day and do laundry! In addition to the cabinets, we also had to clean out our camper and remove all of our belongings from it as our new one has shipped out and is ON THE WAY!!! That's right...I said our "new" one. We just bought a 30 foot 5th wheel! This one was really cool to buy because we got to customize it exactly the way we want it...all the features we wanted, the floor plan, the colors...all of it! Chris is SO excited and we cannot wait for our first weekend getaway! But back to the weekend! We got that all cleaned out and emptied and dropped off at the R.V. place. In addition to all of this going on Clara had a birthday party down at Funtastiks. My friend Mary and I tag teamed the carpooling and supervision of our girls. I took the first shift there with them, and then Mary met me halfway through. At that point I flew home, threw on something nice and headed out to a funeral. Angelica went with me. It was a sad, but joyful remembrance of a man who will be so dearly missed by his friends and family. The circumstances of that loss have been extremely thought provoking for me and has really changed the way I look at some things. I have so appreciated my husband this past week and what he means to me. I have treasured and cherished him just a bit more this week. And I have told him that I love him more times than I can count. I can't imagine what Kristen is feeling tonight following the memorial service for her beloved husband. I only know that his death has touched more lives in more ways than she could ever imagine. After the memorial service, I had a very messy house to get cleaned, and a laundry room to put back into order and into my new cabinets. By the tme all of that was conquered it was late in the day and I sit here pecking out this blog in the last few moments before sleep claims me! Tomorrow we will go to church. Unless it is raining. If it is dismal and raining, we will stay in and drink hot tea and conquer our last project of the weekend...stripping the wallpaper border in Ben's room. I have stripped half of it already...but there is still one half the room to go. So I want to finish that task once and for all and get the massive pile of ironing that I have all done. And before we know it, Monday will be upon us! I am glad that we get to relax a tiny bit on Monday. I do have a picture appointment...but that's about it! No school rush. No mad dashes anywhere. Just hanging out and chilling a bit! Just a bit of down time before we hit the road to Montana! Well, this warrior is exhausted. I need sleep! Till later!

Latest Favorites

So these are all pictures I did while at Picacho Peak. Specifically, in front of the Nut House right there by the State Park. Chris apparently really "NEEDED" some pistachios and while he was inside purchasing his fix, I hung out out front and admired their lovely cactus garden. It was rather boring once I got it home though...so I pumped it up and played and just had a blast. And now I rather like the outcome! Something different! Maybe my next bathroom material! Who knows! I am currently having this set printed on some metallic paper so I can get a feel for how that might look! Fun and excitement!

If You Want Something Done Right....GRRRRRR!

This weekend was just full of adventure and aggravation. The latest being yardwork. Chris has been complaining lately that the weeds are overtaking the yard. I told him I would have a word with our sorry gardner and find out what the problem was! LOL! While I'm at it I need to put in a word with our sorry maid, our sorry chef and our sorrylaundry lady! I mentioned to him that our pool boy was doing a pretty sucky job here lately too. He just smiled and disappeared in that sly little way that screams "I am AVOIDING my pool duties!!!". Anyway. A friend of mine told me that her landscaper recommends just torching the weeds. Apparently she crawls around with her Creme Brulee torch and burns the suckers to death. Now...this may surprise, if not shock you...but I don't own a Creme Brulee torch. I'm not even sure I can accurately spell Creme Brulee...and I'm pretty absolutely darned certain that I cannot COOK IT! So...no cook. No torch! But my friend knows this about me and goes on to tell me that they actually sell a weed torch at Home Depot. And I...trying to be helpful and hoping to ease Chris' mind about the weed situation, passes this information on to him. He heads right out on Saturday and purchases this ever so handy weed torch and proceeds to have quite a good time torching everything he can get his little flame on! Now...this WAS a good thing. Really. He was finding it to be rather therapeutic...and he needs some therapeutic devices from time to time. He even made the mention last night that he had a lot to do, but was going to have a beer and torch some weeds first. And of course I encouraged him in that endeavor!(anything to give the poor yard lady a break!) However. A new day has dawned and I have seen the light. Or rather...what is left of my yard. There WERE two very healthy and happy bulbine plants right off of my patio there. When I went out just a bit ago this is what I found instead.



I had just two words for him at that point. "Explain yourself." It was an accident he says. And I say to him "TWICE?!!!", because the one right next to it also torched to death. After much stammering and lame attempts to explain how he did this he just tells me that that plant is extremely "highly combustible". Hmmmmmm. I have to tell you that I am NOT buying that really. However...I will say this. I now have total and complete control of the weed torch. I will simply handle all weed extermination myself from here on out. Same with the house cleaning and laundry and ironing. And everything else that seems to fall into the endless job description of "mom".

Picacho Peak

Today we went to Picacho Peak to see the far acclaimed and talked about wildflowers. I had visions of just fields and fields full of Mexican Poppies and lupine...seas of color just waiting to be photographed there in the Arizona spring sunshine! Boy oh boy was I disappointed today when I got there. No fields of flowers. Just little patches here and there. Did I make good use of them?...yes! Was it pretty? Yes! Nothing like I expected at all...but it yielded some pretty pictures all the same! So here they are...pictures from a day in the wildflowers. There's more to this day than just the wildflowers for sure! But blogger is exceptionally slow tonight...so they will have to wait until tomorrow!

Weekend Happenings

It was a wonderful and lovely weekend at the Roberts House. Most of it anyway! Friday night was a bit miserable as I had QUITE a migraine. Only the second one I have had since I went off the birth control pills in September...so that is great. But it was a doozy and for a time I was certain that I might die! My dear friend invited all three kids to sleep over at her house. This was lucky for them as I was EXTREMELY sensitive to both sound and light by that time. We were sitting in near darkness and everyone was speaking only when necesary and only in whispers. Max made the comment that it was kind of like a big power outage. Only you had to be very, very quiet. This dear friend also brought me some ibuprofen, as what I had been taking was not even phasing the headache. I was pretty close to throwing up by that time (and I really don't DO that...not gracefully anyway), so the situation was rather dire. I got the kids out the door, got the ibuprofen swallowed and then just lay in the dark waiting to die. However...the medicine kicked in and the headache and nausea soon backed off and I was able to tolerate one small light across the room. I headed on to bed and slept rather well and woke up to a beautiful Saturday. After retrieving the kids from my dear, dear friend's home (did I mention that she is SUCH a dear friend?!), I had a lovely walk with the dog in the warm March sunshine, then spent an hour laying by the pool, watching my funny little daughter attempt to swim in the frigid pool. I could not for anything convince her that it was still just too cold...so I finally gave in and let her have at it! She tried it over and over again...but never managed to get her head wet. Not able to stay in past her waist for more than 10 or 15 seconds. But she tried!

After her sleepover adventure that little girl was exhausted and took a rather lovely and long nap for me that afternoon! I had to wake her up to get ready for the evening's activities. Those included attending the youth production of the dinner theater at church. They put on a performance of Narnia that was quite magnificent! The only catch was that as we arrived and were standing in line to be seated, we noticed that the tickets indicated an OUTDOOR performance. We had all missed that previously...my friend and I. And as we were seated I began to fret about being chilly and thinking about how miserable it was going to be once the sun set. There were no outdoor heaters. Just the people under the stars. Poor Clara had on a short sleeved little dress. Both boys were in short sleeved knit shirts. I had on a 3/4 sleeved t-shirt. Oh yes. We were going to freeze all right. So I made a split second decision and left our friends there with all my kids and Chris's mom too...and I made a mad dash to Kohl's and hit the clearance racks in rapid fire succession...snatching up all sorts of warm things in the various needed sizes. I was in and out in 10 minutes flat. In that time I managed to purchase two ladies sweaters, two girls sweaters, two hooded sweatshirts, one ladies t-shirt blouse, and two watches! It was power shopping at it's finest! Then I returned to the play...which had not started yet....and we thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the evening!

On Sunday, we attended church. I have discovered that if you sit on the very back row of the church it is not nearly so loud. This is a relief to be sure! I am not the least bit hard of hearing...but I am quite certain that the microphones there are set for someone who is! At times, the noise level and pitches can really become quite painful! After church, we had lunch at Chili's with Chris' mom and stepdad. The kids were SO happy about that...and afterwards we all found ourselves to be QUITE sleepy. So we took a little nap. Later in the afternoon I met up with Mary in the park on the tennis courts and we practiced hitting a few tennis balls around. We are taking some tennis lessons right now. It's been fun...and rather funny! I haven't played tennis in about 14 years...and it shows! But we are having a wonderful time with this terrific little instructor that Mary found for us! I love listening to him because he sounds a lot like Sebastian, the crab, from The Little Mermaid. I find him to be just mesmerizing to listen to!

Sunday night I got all the kids bedded down and all tucked in and my Chris arrived back in from Europe around 10 P.m. or so. He fixed my website for me...I had royally screwed it up! Then we watched some t.v. and just collapsed! The kids were thrilled to see him Monday morning and we had a big family night, t.v., barbecue thing Monday night. And then...unfortunately, Chris was off and out of town AGAIN early Tuesday. He is in Colorado now. Due back late tomorrow. I am so hoping that that is the end of his travel for a time. Something tells me it is NOT...but a girl can hope...right?!

We leave for Montana in a couple of weeks. It will be nice to see everyone and Clara is just crazy excited about being old enough to go to ski school this year! Chris's sister Kelly and her two girls will be there as well. Clara and Ava are just a year apart and just adore one another...even though they have never really met when they can remember it! It will be so nice for them to be able to spend a few days playing together! I can't say that I am really looking forward to the cold. Cold is not really my thing. Like...AT ALL!!!! I am not even planning to take my ski stuff this year. I just don't like it. I tried to like it. I tried to learn it. But really...it scares the hell out of me and I just hate every second of it. I practically hit the ground and just kiss it to death every time I finish the green/easy slope without dying. Chris and the boys are MUCH better skiers than I am. I know that I will NEVER get beyond the green slope...that one is just plenty scary enough for me! So it is a drag anyway for anyone to have to stay behind and ski with me. I'm just going to spare everyone the pain and inconvenience of missing out on the skiing they really love just to keep me company! I much prefer to stay warm and dry and just hang out behind in the warm lodge by the fire. I have NO problems with that one! NONE! This vacation is all about them! I am excited to see Chris's parents and his sisters Kiersten and Kelly...but I will be greeting them on level ground without long sticks attached to my feet! It will NOT be at a ski lodge...Amen!

And now we are into the new week already. Time sure flies these days. Monday, at ballet practice, we got to watch the girls dance. We get to do this once a month. And it literally brought tears to my eyes to see Clara dance her little dance to Edelweiss. It was so very beautiful and sweet. That girl just exudes grace and beauty when she dances. My friend made the comment that she has never seen anyone light up the way that Clara lights up when she dances. Her whole face just smiles and glows and you know that she is dancing with her heart and soul. It was so beautiful to see her out there. I got just a little bit teary eyed...no one even noticed. Or so I thought. On the way home Clara asked me..."Mommy, did you see me dance? Did you think I danced beautiful?" And I replied "Oh yes...you were so very beautiful." And my Clarabelle said..."Is that why you were crying there Mommy? Because you were so happy to see me dance? Because I was beautiful?" Oh no.... BUSTED!!!! And I had to tell her..."Yes, my sweet. That is why I was crying. You were just so beautiful dancing there." And she really, really was!

Oh The Aches and the Pains!

The Roberts House is in pain! WEll...just the girls this time. Clara had a mishap on Sunday afternoon that involved a nasty fall from the monkey bars at the park. Apparently the child has NO monkey in her whatsoever because those monkey bars just get her every time! She loves to cross them and would do it all day every day if you let her. And Sunday she wanted to try to do it herself. So I said okay, but told her I was still going to stand right beside her. And I did stand right beside her. But she fell so fast that she was on the ground before I could even begin to move toward saving her. She fell HARD and did not even put out her hands to save herself. It was a brain rattling, teeth jarring, knock the breath so far out of you kind of fall. I still shudder when I replay it in my mind. We immediately went on home and she settled down, but pretty much consistently complained of pain in her lower half much of the night. But she was moving in a way that made me feel like she must be all right. I had her sleep with me last night just to be certain. This morning she was sore, as I thought she would be and I loaded her up with Motrin and sent her out the door. But this afternoon when I picked her up she seemed reluctant to go to dance and even asked if she had to go. This was a signal that something was quite possibly VERY, VERY wrong with my baby girl. Under NO circumstances would she EVER want to miss dance. She eats, sleeps and breathes dance. She arabesques and plie's her way around our house like you've never seen before. And Mondays are her life blood...she simply MUST dance! So when she expressed that the pain was too much I knew the girl was for real. She did go on to dance, but her first words when she came out were "Can we go to the doctor?" So I headed on over to Urgent Care with her and had her all checked out. Nothing appears to be broken and they didn't feel like she had a concussion (that one had not really crossed my mind until then!) so she was given instructions to ice 4 times a day for a couple of days and then to switch to hot soaks to work out the bruising and tenderness. And so ...that's the story on my bruised little ballerina girl.

As for me...my neck and shoulder are killing me. Like burning, hurting, I can't distract myself from it kind of pain. This, incidentally, is not a new pain. It's just much worse than it has been this past week. I actually have been struggling with it for, oh, about 6 years now...give or take. I wish I could say I had some glamorous injury or what not...but that's not the case. I simply rolled over one morning to get out of bed and it totally locked up. like TIGHT. Like, I thought I would be paralyzed if I moved kind of pain. The chiropractor could not even begin to touch it at the time because of the inflamation and tenderness. He tried deep tissue massage and other things for a week with no real luck and then referred me to another doctor for the purposes of getting cortisone shots in my neck. At that point I expressed my deepest gratitude and said 'Thanks...but no thanks...no needles in the neck, thank you very much." and headed on out of there. Instead, I did double doses of naproxen sodium for a week and it finally got the swelling down to where I could move again. And ever since then I have struggled with it trying to lock up and hurting from time to time. I sleep on an orthopedic pillow, which helps a lot...but lately...nothing is really helping. It hurts to lay on my right side. And my right shoulder blade just burns and stings now in the day. And my fingers keep getting that weird tickling sensation like they might be falling asleep. And my trusted naproxen isn't really helping at all! So...before it goes full blown craZy I decided I need to seek some professional help and hopefully, the chiropractor will be able to make some adjustments to realign me in a way that will stop this annoying shoulder pain. Hey, if he can make it stop hurting for just an hour or so I will gladly take that at this point. It's MISERY!!! Hey...if I am seeking medical attention...you KNOW it's got to be bad. And then there's the small point that I absolutely HATE and I DO mean HATE for people to touch my bones...at all...in any shape, form or fashion!!! So now you know...I'm desperate for some relief!

And that's the aches and pains chronicles of the girls of Roberts place!

Camping in the Rain!

We spent this past few days camping at Lake Roosevelt here in Arizona. We rolled in after dark on Wednesday night (which is always interesting if you've never been there!) and were thrilled to find some absolutely GORGEOUS surroundings when we awoke the next morning. We were camped next to a HUGE lake, ringed by gorgeous mountains...so scenic and lovely. It was pretty overcast in the morning our first morning there, but after our traditional pancake and eggs with bacon breakfast, our family headed down to the lake, fishing rods in hand. Those boys of mine (and my girl!) were pumped up to catch "the big one". They were equipped with all sorts of lures and bait and bobbers and other assorted fishing gizmos. They hiked down and picked the "perfect" spot. Everyone got their rods and ready and the fishing excitement began. Only it lasted a mere seconds...because within two minutes, two of the three kids had their lines tangled and snared on various bushes and trees and what not. Poor Chris (who was SO looking forward to do a little fishing on his own) spent the next 15 minutes wrestling the poles free of the snares that held them. We snapped one line, saved the other...and decided we'd best find another "perfect" spot. We found one and the fishing adventures began all over again!

After restringing the line we snapped at our previous "perfect" spot, we soon had all three lines in the water and everyone was anxiously watching their bobbers. That lasted about 2 minutes before Clara was bored and not at all happy about not landing "the big one". We continued to try our hand for a little bit but eventually conceded defeat. Fish-ONE, Roberts Family-ZERO!

After lunch, the kids headed up the playground there at the campground and had the time of their lives! I can't remember when I've enjoyed having my camera so much as I did that afternoon. I loved watching their huge smiles and hearing their intoxicating laughter as they enjoyed the simple pleasures of childhood. Just running and playing and laughing and loving everything about being a child and the freedom they had that day! It was magical and we passed a LOT of time there on that playground...none of really aware of it as we just enjoyed the time and the play. Their smiles were just so beautiful that day. So free and so huge and so bright!

The kids were completely oblivious to the clouds that kept building throughout the afternoon. They just ran and played. The playground had swings...which are Clara's absolute favorite. There aren't many parks here that have swings, so when Clara finds one...she is in heaven! Not only did they have swings, but they had a tire swing. And that was an unbelievably huge hit among all three kids. They spun around and swung...they performed amazing feats of jumping out of the swings at dizzying heights (which incidentally gave their poor mom a heart attack when I went to edit these pictures!) and they just soaked up the moment there with all that swing action!

Not long after we called it quits and headed back to our campsite, the gentle rain started. Nothing big. Just a drizzle. But it practically never stopped the rest of the weekend! We ended up stuck inside the camper all day Friday. We got out for just a short time and went to visit the Tonto National Monument and saw the cliff dwellings of the Salado people. VERY cool. Really, really neat. I just wish the weather had been a bit nicer. It didn't rain on us while we were at the monument...but pretty much every second thereafter...it rained!


We spent the time together playing all sorts of games. We played Spoons, and Uno and Old Maid and Go Fish. Then we played them all again. We watched the Sound of Music and snacked and chatted. It was amazing that noone killed each other or came close seeing as we were in such close proximity for such a long time! Somehow in the midst of all the noise (Spoons is a VERY lively game among my crew), Chris managed to curl up and go to sleep...snores and all! Go figure! Later in the day Chris and the boys struck out for a drive just to get out. For some reason they didn't want to watch the Sound Of Music with Clara and I. Go figure! After they got back we grilled our steaks in the rain and had a delicious dinner, then went on the curl up together and watch some more movies. We were ready at that point to just get on out of there! We got up really early and prepared to head out. And after a long weekend of rain and cold, we emerged from the camper this morning to find the sun, shining bold and beautiful, warm and inviting and it was all just amazing. Of course...too little to late! We had to get back. But we were all glad to see the gorgeous surroundings and how pretty it all looked in the sunshine! We will definitely go back and visit that one again. It was a nice weekend...rain and all!

A New Week, A New Attitude

I have to admit that I have spent the first part of this year feeling rather out of control. Those that know me best know that that is not a realm that I can function in very well. I just like to be the one in control...you know...of everything...more or less. But this year has thrown me some real curve balls...lots really and I found myself struggling with all of the "uncontrolled" things going on around me. HOWEVER...that said...I have had a couple of friends who were fantastic sounding boards for me and who were infinitely patient in listening to my rantings and ponderings and who offered me some TOUGH, but ever so love filled feedback. And as I head back into this week I am feeling a touch of control come back over me. At least in a couple of areas! I am feeling a lot better about my business in 2008. I have had a huge range of emotions where that has been concerned. Everything from really frustrated, to really sad, to really, really, really MAD and now I am just really peaceful about it and the direction that it will head in in this new year. I have learned a LOT this past year. Thankfully, I'm a fast learner and a quick study and I have seen the error of my ways. I am putting several new things in place in the new year that I feel like will help me immensely. And that's a good thing! So I am happy in that realm again.

We have been visiting the Oro Valley Church of the Nazarene. We have enjoyed it on a lot of levels. Not so much on others. The pastor is pretty good. He preaches a great message...a bit simple...but always with a solid, relevant to life, real point. And I do so love a good relevant point in a sermon. As a matter of fact...I can pretty much remember every sermon he has preached since we started visiting in December...which is pretty impressive really. He manages to get his sermons stuck in my head and on my heart so that I revisit them often in the week! My only real complaint...well two really..are these. First of all, the music is pretty bad. Now...I'm not one to really get all hung up and uptight on music...but the music there is especially challenging for me. The mics are always too LOUD. ALWAYS. The voices of the praise team don't blend. They fight with one another and all too often I catch myself wondering if they even ever practice the pieces they sing because they seem to miss their cues fairly often. There was a duet last week that was just downright painful. It sounded like two cats being drawn and quartered. I was literally squirming and wincing in my seat. The other complaint that I have is that the people are not nearly as lovely as our friends back at Catalina. They all seem pretty old really. So there's that. I still wish we could just fly back to Pensacola every weekend for some good old southern baptist worship time in our old church. I'm not totally happy in this realm...but that's nothing new in the three years since we moved here. On the bright side...this pastor does not seem to be a crier...those make me crazy!

Everything else is okay too. We have adjusted to life without Casey and even Oscar seems to finally be settling down. He isn't eating the house at least. Of course...I'm sticking his hairy little jaws in the kennel whenever I leave...that definitely helps the house eating problem! I still catch something here or there out of the corner of my eye from time to time that makes me think it's Casey. I'm just so used to having her around. I don't think a day has gone by that I don't think about her. But we have all adjusted well for the most part.

What else? Chris has a new truck. Ford F-250 Super Duty. It's obnoxiously big...like OBNOXIOUSLY! It's beautiful for sure. But BIG, BIG, BIG! And last week we ordered our next travel trailer...a 30 foot fifth wheel. We are all very excited about that. It should be here within 8 to 10 weeks if not sooner! So this summer's camping will be WAY, way awesome!

The best news of 2008? We scheduled a sister's weekend at Nikki's house in North Carolina for April! I cannot WAIT to be out there and see my sisters and my nephews and the green of North Carolina! I am SO so excited about that!

I think that's about all the news for now! My heart is settled and quiet again and I think I am done with my crankiness for a bit! I think it helps that our bible study started again this past week. We are doing Beth Moore's Jesus the One and Only study this time around. It's a smaller group than normal...but so lovely. It was SO nice to get back into the word and into a study pattern and a habit of spending time with God again. I think that's where the greatest contribution to my peace came from! It's a new week in this new year and I'm equipped with a new attitude. And it's all good!

Happy Valentine's Day!

JAWS

Since we had our dog, Casey, put to sleep last month we have been dealing with some new and very unpleasant behavior issues with Oscar. For one...he is eating our house. Literally...eating our house. The bannister railings specifically. One of them is now chewed three quarters of the way around and at least half way through the wood. Mama ain't happy. Then there's everything else that keeps finding it's way into his little mouth of destruction. Like the tissue box, the books, the shoes, the papers, the contents of the wastebasket, the plants, the toys, etc. You get the picture. I have repeatedly sprayed the railings with something that supposedly tastes nasty...to no avail. We had him neutered on Friday and Chris assured me that that would make a difference for him. My immediate thought was that I doubt it...I mean...the end they are doing surgery on is NOT the end eating my bannister after all. And sure enough...true to my thought cycle it does not seem to have slowed him down at all! Apparently his testicles were not attached to the jaws of destruction in any form or fashion! And apparently it does not really cause pain or suffering to the surgery site when he sits and just eats on the house. And so. After today's TOTAL destruction of the plant Chris gave me for our anniversary (now wasn't that a totally silly gift for me...the woman of the total black thumb...I mean really...you'd think after 14 years he would know better!) I have to step up and play totally mean mom (a role that I am intimately familiar with nowadays) and our dear Oscar will now be going into the kennel when we leave the house. The family is fairly horrified over his impending fate...however, I, quite frankly, am sick of finding destruction every time I leave the house for 5 minutes. And so drastic times call for drastic measures. Oscar had "issues" with the kennel before. He would cry and drool horribly while we were gone. We even bought him some chamomile tablets that are supposed to calm him while we are gone. But they didn't help a bit. And I just hate it for him...but at this point I feel like we have to do something while we still have a house to live in! It's rough days ahead for the Roberts family, especially Oscar. Keep us in your prayers! Heaven knows we could really use them right about now!

Why I Hate 2008....so far

January 1-broken hand for Chris
January 7- surgery to wire together broken hand
January 7-had to put dog to sleep
January 10- Clara gets bad case of strep throat
January 18- my crazy lady client resurfaces with another new and totally complicated and impossible order(someone must really hate me!)
January 21-Max gets nasty cold
January 25 Clara catches Max's nasty cold
January 29-equipment failure in the studio mid-shoot...$100 to fix it and the parts are backordered (naturally!)
February -lucky us...2...that's right TWO, MANDATORY science fair projects due
February 3- I get nasty stomach bug thing...lasts 5 days (so far)
February 5- Clara's cold turns into bronchitis and we end up in Urgent Care
February 6-our kid gets hit on the bus by another kid (so much for "hands are for helping, not for hurting!)
February 6- Clara's cough gets worse and she ends up needing cough stuff with codeine to knock her out enough to rest
February 6- Mother Nature arrives with a vengeance...once again, husband rejoices that we are not pregant (duh!)
February 7- Clara suffers first ashtma attack in over a year. Back on albuterol.

You know...it's nearly comical at this point. In a really scary kind of "I'm not real sure I want to wake up and face another day" kind of way. We are exactly 38 days into the new year. Right now there is some unpleasant or mildly catastrophic event occuring once every 2.71 days. Yeah. So...I am finding myself to be a bit on the pissy side of life right about now. I know the bible says to "Give thanks in all circumstances..." but I'm struggling a little bit on that one right here today. I'm thankful that even though we are nearly all sick and/or broken, we are indeed a family that loves one another deeply. I am thankful that I have wonderful friends who have so consistently loved and encouraged me over these past few weeks...even when the first words out of my mouth when I see them are "You should know I am totally bitchy today". They love me and want to hang out with me anyway. I am thankful that my two boys have been so unbelievably sweet the past couple of weeks that I spend a good part of each morning just thanking God for them and their sweet and cooperative dispositions. And I am really, really thankful that I have been spared this crappy luck in life prior to this point and that I can recognize it for what it is and really and truly appreciate those times in life when the winds are still and the waters are calm. That said...personally...I am ready for 2009. I have had quite enough of 2008. It's a year that hasn't really suited me. No thank you. I've had enough.

I've Been Tagged!

I was tagged by Mandy, so here goes!

Here are the rules:
1. You have to post the rules before you give your answers.
2. You must list one fact about yourself beginning with each letter of your middle name. (If you don't have a middle name, use your maiden name).
3. After you are tagged, you need to update your blog with your middle name and your answers.
4. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged and that they need to read your blog for details).

R -Roses are beautiful flowers and I have only received a dozen of them exactly three times in my life...upon the birth of each of our children!

E- Eggs...I'm not a big fan of them...especially the yellow part!

N- News...I rarely watch or read it. There's already too much crap in my life without adding the world's to the pile!

E- Excited about camping this summer with my family at the grand canyon, Zion and Bryce Canyon

E- Exasperated with the way this year is going so far.

i am tagging- Mary, Nikki, Wanda, Angelica and Donna.

2008 Just Keeps Getting Better...NOT!!!

So, January totally sucked for the Roberts household. Broken bones, surgeries, strep throats and dead dogs...for starters. Everyone assured me that we were just getting it all out of the way and behind us. I am sitting here tonight to report that that simply does NOT seem to be the case. I spent all afternoon in the Urgent Care with Clara this afternoon. Sore throat, fever, chills, tight chest cough. Despite Tylenol her fever continued to rise on up. Turns out that they think she is suffering a good case of bronchitis. Never any fun in a child with an asthma history. While she sounded fairly clear today lungwise and was moving air well...her oxygen levels were way down. Not at all where they should be considering everything that seemed so good for her. So they think the throat is hurting because she has been coughing for 11 days straight (it didn't look streppy or patchy) and the fever is a result of the bronchitis settling in and taking over. So. Innocent little sniffles have turned into yet another ordeal for this lovely year! Bless her little heart, the child is beyond miserable tonight. She is achy and feverish. She says her eyes hurt and that she is "so, so freezing". That would be the temperature of 101.7 that I put her to bed with. Can this family not catch a break? I mean...who's sh_t list did we end up on anyway that we deserve all this lousy treatment?! This momma is just frustrated tonight. She is tired and she is cranky and she is just really done with this year. Fast forward to 2009 already! This year just really isn't working out for me! I'm generally a person who looks forward to the future...but I am more than a little weary and I am a WHOLE lot of WARY about what might be lurking around the corner for us right now! I'm thinking that I am just going to have to get REAL content right now with life as it is here and now...bronchitis and all. I am VERY thankful that it is not worse than it is. Because I do know that it could be. But I hope that this really truly is the end of the trials and that there is some sweet rest and quietness to life ahead for this weary family!

Ballerina Girl...

You should see my baby girl dance. When she enters ballet she is simply in another world. She is so focused and so serious and so beautiful out there...holding her head high and so gracefully performing her little routine. It is such a total Swan Lake moment for her! Tonight at ballet they got their first look at their costumes. They are simply beautiful. Just lovley in every way. And I have to say that Clara looked like an angel in it. I nearly cried right there in class. Seeing her in that tutu looking so beautiful and regal. That girl has real presence in a tutu...no doubt about that. She's so tall and so thin and so strikingly pale and those blue eyes of hers just pierce you to the core. She looks so lovely. Anyway...she looked like an angel. Just a beautiful little angel!

And can I just brag on my sweet Ben. He takes a shower...comes down half wet and pajamed. I ask him...did you shower? "Yep" he says...."Want to smell me?" I passed on the sniff test...but when I kissed him on the head he smelled SO good and fresh and sweet. Sweet like my Ben!

And Max...I am amazed at that one. Since I went to Hawaii and my dear sister watched over him he has made a miraculous appearance in the kitchen every morning without my yelling or having to get the crow bar to get him out of bed! He has shown up in the kitchen each morning, unsummoned, with his clothes on and his bed made...getting his breakfast and being totally ready for school without one bit of help from me. It's been bliss. SO much less hectic and so much more relaxed in the mornings. It's been a wonderful week!

And so...can I just say that tonight...I adore the three kids that God saw to bless me with! I just love them. I love their dancing and their sweet smells and their cooperative spirits in the morning. And I love the way they hug me when I come home each day and the way they linger in the kitchen to talk to me about their day. I love the way they are excited about life and I love their blue blue eyes. I love their spirited little selves and the adventures that we are having with them. I am so blessed to have these three little people in my life!

I'm Thinking About...

adding pet photography to my offerings. I have done several now...only one being my very own. And I have to say that I really do enjoy that. It's a WHOLE new set of challenges and adventures...but I think I really like that. I had a couple of dobermans in a couple of weeks ago...I was nervous about them...but they were so delightful and photogenic. And then tonight I had two beagles that were just so fun. They were all howling and wanting to go play elsewhere...it was just fun. Somthing new and refreshing. At times I think it might be nice to never photograph people...just pets. They are WAY less sassy than my average 2 and 3 year olds! They don't dismiss me even before I take the first picture. They don't pronounce me "all done" and they generally look right at you when call their name or make a funny noise. Kids are amazingly immune to the sound of their own names! I am feeling restless with my photography right now I think. Maybe that's why I welcome the change so...Something new. A new learning curve. Something totally unpredictable in life to dance with! I'm kicking the idea around. I definitely like what I've done so far. And it's been fun. I'm not so against the idea of moving out of my comfort zone anymore. I really REALLY fought the idea of outdoor photography...but I feel like I've really kind of learned a whole lot in that area and I really enjoy it now. Before I literally lost sleep if I had an outdoor session or anything with any sort of natural light at all. But I am pretty happy with what's coming out of those sessions here lately. So that's good. And at one time I DEFINITELY shuddered at the thought of pet photography...but here tonight...I find myself thinking it might be a good bit of fun! And while I can grumble over my two and three year olds...on some deep level I think they are my favorites! Talk about wild cards! You just don't know what in the world they will ever do! What a totally fun and versatile job I have created for myself here! I feel like one of the luckiest ladies on the planet tonight! Dogs...Kids...Moms...Dads... Grandparents...it's all good!

More Hawaii Pictures