Happy Birthday, Emily!

Today's post is dedicated to Ema-lemon. Yesterday was her birthday and we are celebrating today. She is one year old now! And she definitely has her own unique personality. She is walking great, but she still only has two teeth. She loves to push things: strollers, boxes, buttons. She also does this squinty-eyed face that is so funny to see. I love my Lemon! She makes me laugh!

Wish List

With Christmas coming, I wanted to post a wish list for our family, especially for parents and grandparents to be able to look to.

Dante:
Hotwheels/ramps
Train stuff (Geotracks)
Shoes
Rain boots
Batman, Batcar, Batcave
Large plastic castle w/ dragon
anything with Avatar: the Last Airbender
Puzzles
Camcorder
Activity books (mazes, connect the dots)
Remote control plane/helicopter
Lego Pirate ship

Constance:
Polly pocket/small animals
Shoes
Boots
Rain boots
Anything Dora or Avatar
Tights
Warm clothes
Mp3 player
Anything creative (but not messy!)
Floor books, stickers, stamps
No crayons

Emily:
Russian stacking dolls
Things that open, stack, go inside one another, buttons, things to push
Sturdy books

All kids:
Movies, like Disney
Floor puzzles
webcam
Chapter books
Family photo albums
New Testament stories
Leapster Leapfrog games
zoo family membership (the one in Tacoma has a zoo and an aquarium, and you don't have to pay for parking, and it's cheaper)

Lisa:
Toy organizer
Butch paper
Fix sewing machine
Books
Laptop battery/physical memory (Lenovo ThinkPad T61)
Filing cabinet (waterproof, fireproof)

Here are clothes sizes (pants are best with the adjustable elastic):
Dante—clothes 5, shoes 12
Constance—shirts and dresses 4, pants 3, shoes 7 1/2
Emily—clothes 18 mo, shoes 3

Here are some things that the kids have already gotten or that someone has already gotten for them for Christmas.
Dante: Heely's, magic kit, RC car, dart guns, walkie talkies, church clothes
Constance: creativity kit (stickers, paints, stamps, notebooks), wooden puzzles, dress clothes
Emily: rocking horse, Little People stuff
All: USA floor puzzle, book "The Big Hungry Bear"

Here We Are!

So here is a picture of everyone in our household. It's crowded, but it's fun, too. Just yesterday, I took six kids (including all of mine) on a bit of a hike/nature walk--pictures to come. I hope to do that more often and see what trails we can find in the area. I would really like to go to Mt. Rainier sometime.

Fall in Washington, Changes in Life

The last few months has seen a lot of grief and a lot of joy for our family. We will never fully recover from the breach we have suffered, at least not in this life. But we have made other major changes that I believe will be important for us to cope. We are meeting our challenges head on and making plans to improve our future.

The kids and I are staying with family in Kent. Leanne, Jeremy, and their five girls have been very kind in opening their home to us. All of the kids have become good friends; Kaedria, Leanne and Jeremy’s youngest who is four, calls Emily her sister. My kids love Aunt Leanne, and they love to wrestle with Uncle Jeremy, even Emily. School finally began in September after a two week teacher’s strike. The kids are trying to enjoy their time outside as much as they can before it gets too cold—which will be soon. It is definitely Autumn.

Dante is enjoying Kindergarten. Of course, he wishes that he could stay home and play video games all day, but life is tough. It is good for him to make friends and play, and even though he is more advanced than the other kids, doing easy stuff will help him get comfortable in a classroom setting. Plus, we are still doing some stuff at home in the mornings. At home, Dante seems a bit frustrated with being one of the younger kids (even though he’s the oldest in his family) and being bossed around by five or six people other than his own mom. He has enjoyed the bonding time with Jeremy, though, watching him play video games and boxing in the garage. It’s a new experience for Jeremy to have another male in the house. Dante is growing up way too fast.

Constance is probably giving me the hardest time. She can be so sweet and cute and funny at times, and at others so frustrating. She is having a hard time using her words, and she isn’t too fond of sharing. Constance has discovered Dora and Diego and can’t get enough of them. She is learning her letters and loves counting. She also loves playing with her little dolls and animals and dressing up.

Emily keeps changing. It is so fun to see her personality emerge as she gets older and learns how to express herself. She is walking pretty well, now. She was walking along the other day, and she would stop occasionally to clap for herself. Emily is also climbing, like on the baby gate. She loves pressing buttons, especially on the TV and surround sound. She enjoys playing peek-a-boo and waving goodbye and squealing. Being the youngest of eight, she has to make herself heard. She still only has two teeth, though. It’s weird!

In order to better prepare to support my little family, I have transferred to WGU (Western Governors University), which is an online, fully-accredited university. I will be taking classes in Early Childhood Education, and I will graduate with my teaching certificate. I hope to open up a preschool or a private elementary school (birth through 3rd grade) out of my home. That way I can still teach my kids, as I’ve been planning to do, and take on enough students to support us. I am hoping to graduate in about a year. I also volunteer in Dante’s classroom once a week. It has been fun getting to know his teacher and the other kids in his class. I have been getting involved in the PTA and am actually the chair of an art competition. It isn’t much work, but it should be rewarding.

So we are all getting settled in our new home and into our routines. We have a lot of fun things planned. As long as the passes are okay, we will go to the Tri-Cities for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I also hope to visit once a month. Dante has invited a few new friends to celebrate his birthday on Halloween. Dante had a field trip last week, and has another one planned to the zoo in the spring. Things will be busy, but I think that we will be able to make time to stay close as a family. And as always, we are happy for any mail, email, or calls to keep in touch.

Relief

I got to clean my bedroom while I watched a show. So now I feel like I got to relax and yet accomplish something, too. It really is quite a relief. I think that I'll vacuum tomorrow (well, today). I am also cleaning the kitchen a little at a time. Even though I don't feel like I have the time to really clean the kitchen, it is still getting done. Maybe I will actually have the whole apartment presentable by the time I have visitors. I'm not doing it for them. I am doing it for me. It really makes me feel so much better if things are in order when others are around.

I am very sad at how many of my friends are leaving. So many good women (and men) who I admire. I'll be very sad to see them go. This is one thing I really don't like about living in transient environments, military and school. However, I am also very happy for all those who get to move on with the next phase of their lives. Besides, we only have one more year!

Radom Ramblings

There is so much going through my head, and so much that I would like to write, that when I finally sit down to get it out, it is all in a jumble.

The first thing I realized this morning is that I am incredibly jealous that Leroy's friend, Jessica, gets to spend so much time with him, doing things that I wish I could do with him, while I get to stay at home day in and day out with the kids, just waiting for some small contact with him, having to be satisfied by two-minute phone calls and five-line emails. All that I can do is look forward to the little things that are keeping me busy: story-times, library activities, Mom's Club, cleaning, school, swim lessons, piano lessons, critters. Next week we get to see Leanne and her family on their way through, the next week Danica's comes for the rest of the summer, and the week after that we get to spend time with Anna and her family and Leroy gets home. Independence Day. The last bit is always the hardest, though, because no matter how hard I try not to think about how soon he will be home, it is impossible. And the more I think of it, the slower time goes and the more impatient I get with everything else. And yet I know that when Leroy finally does get home, it will still be a difficult adjustment and things will not just fall into place. The best thing to do is to try to be as happy as I possibly can right now.

There is one thing that I really need to do that I am dreading and have been putting off. Potty training. I have already tried several times, and Constance just does not seem interested. I've tried using stickers and treats and cute panties and cute pull-ups, and she just does not want to do it. But I don't want to have a three-year-old in diapers. If I could potty train a boy by three, I sure as heck can get Constance into panties. All of our activities throw a wrench into the works, though. Do I keep her in panties while we go around, or do I put her in pull-ups when we go to activities? It will all work out, I know, but I am sure not looking forward to it. I guess we need to go on a sticker run so that she can pick out the stickers that she wants, and then buckle down and really stick to it this time. Grrrrrrr!

I am really sad at all of Emily's progress that Leroy is missing. She is now crawling a bit, and she can sit herself up by herself. I have also noticed that she is already trying to pull herself up on the furniture. She hasn't been very successful yet, but she's trying. She just learned how to sit up, for goodness sake! She just wants to do what everyone else is doing. She is determined to be a big girl! Maybe she will potty train early . . . .

As for Danica, we have some news. Due to several different problems they have been having in St. George, Danica's family is moving with her grandparents (her mother's parents) to Roswell, New Mexico. Now we have to worry about her being abducted, too, I guess. They will be moving in July, while Danica is with us, and she'll join them shortly before school begins. This poor girl has been through so much! I thought we were supposed to be the unreliable ones, because we are military. We plan to take advantage of her being here, though, and going to Lagoon as often as possible with our cool season passports.

The weather is also a bit of a concern. Although I have been loving this wet, cool weather, I am a little worried that it will continue through next week when we start swim lessons. It's the middle of June! I was also hoping to take the kids swimming at least once before they start lessons to get them back in the groove. I was especially hoping to go to Lagoona Beach! Well, hopefully we'll have plenty of time to do that later in the summer. It can't stay cloudy all season . . . . Can it? We do live in the desert, after all!

There is so much more going through my head that I can't seem to make any progress on any subject. My mind keeps going around in circles, and around and around and around. I think that I am going to turn my music on full blast and clean clean clean. At least then I'll feel better about living in my house.

P.S.
Oh, I am very excited about my latest project. There is a spot in our kitchen where the fridge used to be. We moved it to make a spot for the dishwasher close to the sink, and so there was about a three foot gap between the top of the dishwasher and the bottom of the cupboards. I felt like it was wasted space. In the meantime, we had our microwave on the counter, and we only have about three feet of counter space, so the microwave took up more than half of the counter space. So I finally put a shelf up above the dishwasher, a very simple wood shelf on brackets, for the microwave. I am very happy with the results! Now we are using that dead space, and I can actually use my counter. Well, I will be able to after I declutter, anyway. Yeah for space-saving projects!

Pasta Primavera

Here is a good Pasta Primavera recipe that I enjoy making.

1 package linguine
2 chicken breasts, or 5-6 chicken tenders, cut in strips
2 large garlic cloves, pressed or chopped
3-4 Tbsp olive oil

various sliced vegetables, such as:
1 small onion
1 medium carrot
1 red or yellow pepper
1 medium zucchini
4 oz mushrooms

1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 thyme
salt and pepper to taste
2-4 Tbsp butter
2-4 Tbsp sour cream
1/4-1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Cook linguine and drain. (A good time to start the linguine so that the noodles don't get cold is after adding the veggies to the chicken and letting it cook while the veggies cook.)

Cook chicken in oil and garlic. Add veggies and spices. You may want to save some of the softer vegetables, like the mushrooms, for the last few minutes of cooking so that they don't get mushy. When the vegetables are cooked, add the butter and sour cream and melt them. Then add the parmesan cheese and melt it. Toss in the noodles and enjoy!

Other vegetables that you could use are broccolli, peas (frozen or snap), and squash.