The year in review....BWAH HA HA HA HA HA!

Really? You want a review of THAT?

Let's not and say we did, k?

In brief, and for the record, I tried and prayed and worked and prayed, but in July I kicked my husband out of the house. It is comforting for me to know that I did everything I could, but in the end, I had to save my kids and myself. I can do hard things.

I'm sure I'll rehash some of that at a later date and possibly with a licensed therapist. Today I want to move on.

So we're moving to a new house February 1. Although I would've liked to stay in this house for the kids' sake, it was not to be, and it will be good to have a new start and a new place that is really mine. We're staying in the ward, so the kids are relieved and somewhat placated.

Here is my question today: I have a beautiful etched mirror hanging in my home that reads "Families are Forever." Do I re-hang that in the new house? It is certainly a true principle, but could it also be a painful reminder that not all of our family is forever? I have made sure my children understand that WE are still forever, the kids and I. However, not only are we now civilly divorced, he has chosen to have his name removed from the records of the church and renounced his belief in LDS doctrine. He has rejected his baptism and temple covenants.

Honestly, do I hang the mirror? I'm certainly going to hang up our temple pictures, and the other warm & fuzzy stuff that we find inspirational and comforting, but this...I'm not sure.

I'm going to pretend that it hasn't been a year since I posted to this blog. Nobody knew about the blog outside my kids, anyway, so anyone else can just pretend there isn't a year's worth of life missing.

And what a year it's been. Sigh.

But life is going to get the lemons thrown back at it this year, I tell you what! Just watch out for that.

I've been inspired by That Girl to actually post to my blog and publish it. I've read her blog since she was an ex-pat, and was somewhat stalkerishly excited when it became clear that she was moving into my area! There are thousands of people in my community, however (thousands? millions? meh...) and I never imagined that I'd run in to her. UNTIL TODAY!

I was workin' the big giant styrofoam globe at a local community festival:

A man and some cute little blonde cherubs walked up to stick their flags in their countries of origin. They looked strangely familiar, and then he mentioned that the kids were born in Brazil!

HEY!

It was so fun to meet Becky, and she took a picture of us together. It made me feel like I was in the cool girls' club in high school. She asked me if I had a blog and I said I didn't, but I kind of do...I just don't POST to it. Ever.

So I've resolved to do change that.

I'm leaving my old posts up, but I might at some point go back and re-name my children. I haven't decided what my position is on all of that yet.

So, this is for you, that girl! Thanks for inspiring me!

General Conference Weekend

I heart General Conference. A LOT.

We don't go on many vacations (I'll write a bitter post about this at a later date), so I try to concoct mini-special occasions whenever possible to make up for this bitter deficiency. Conference weekend is one of these.

I love hearing from our sweet and fearless leaders. They always say the exact things I need to hear. It’s like they KNOW what my problems are, and are now here to offer assistance. I sent up the bat signal and here they are to answer it. Of course they don’t really know me, but apparently my Heavenly Father does.

I heard a talk one time where a woman related a story about needing insight about a prospective marriage partner. She prayed that she would know if this person was the man she should marry. When she watched General Conference, she noticed that EVERY talk was on marriage. She heard what she needed to hear, and decided that this person was not the man who could be the eternal companion she desired. Later, she married someone else and had a happy life. Years later, she was assigned to give a talk or lesson on marriage. She remembered all the insight in those General Conference talks and looked them up. As she went through those talks, there was nothing specifically about marriage. Hmmm… Yet, she had heard advice about marriage, because that’s what she needed help with.

It’s amazing how that works.

I want my kids to love General Conference, too, so I try to condition them to associate General Conference weekend with FUN! FOOD! PAJAMAS! Laying around and doing NOTHING!If I were to be completely honest, I’d have to admit that this is part of the attraction for me, too. I don’t have to get dressed and go to church; I don’t have to plan a lesson, and I have eight hours of guilt-free television viewing. YAY!

We have food traditions for this weekend. I always make chili on Saturday and we eat the leftovers on Sunday. It’s interesting, though. I remember when we started the chili tradition, probably almost ten years ago, now. Wow. At that time, one pot would last the whole weekend and usually even through to Tuesday or Wed. Of course, babies can’t really eat chili. Yesterday, as I was packing up the leftovers, I realized that we’ll be lucky if it’s sufficient for Sunday dinner. Teenagers like chili. It’s bittersweet.

Collections

I've never been a collector. I prefer to travel light through life. A few years ago my sisters - fully grown adults with nearly teenage children - developed an obsession with - I mean collection of - beanie babies. (If you're reading this, don't deny it. You know it's true :)) This was no small collection. My sisters are perfectly reasonable, responsible, Relief Society Presidency types. You'd NEVER think they had this "issue".

As I said, I'm not a big fan of the idea of collecting anything. Lately, however, I've developed a compulsion for a strangely obscure -but I argue, slightly more practical - item. I've begun a collection of Old Navy holiday tees.For those of you unfamiliar with the product, Old Navy makes a graphic tee for pretty much every holiday or event. My first holiday tee was a couple of Valentine tees the T got me for v-day a few years ago. They're nice and comfy, but I had no idea the depth and breadth of the holiday tee possibilities.

Late last year I made an important discovery that marked the beginning of my holiday-tee habit. I discovered that AFTER the holiday, ON marks down their already cheap $5.00 tees to HALF that. Or LESS. I found a Thanksgiving holiday tee, right after Christmas, for $1.99.

Seriously. Can you argue with that? Can you? Try it. There. See?

I use them mostly for running, which perks me right up because they have that nice Old Navy perfect-fit fit, and they make me feel funky and offbeat. I'm wearing a holiday tee...off-holiday! It fits nicely with the rebel in me.

So now I have (going backward in time) three different Valentine tees, a New Year's tee, a Christmas/Winter tee, a Thanksgiving tee, and an ELECTION DAY tee (my current favorite). It seems like I have more than that...but that's all I can recall at the moment.

So...now, it's time to go scour the clearance rack for the St. Patrick's Day tee! I'm so excited! s

Yesterday was Little League Opening Day!


Here are our competitors:







A is on the T-Ball Red Sox.



She's number 8. The one with the red bows. :)





M is on the AAA Twins. Dad is helping coach M's team this year. They're both in this picture. Look at their awesome banner! They got first place in the banner competition for their division.


Here's K's Major League Cardinals taking the field. They were too cool to make a banner. :)

He's the 7th person from the left. So cool.
A was the only one who actually had a game on opening day, though.

Here she is at her first at-bat:

And here she is, running the bases:Second to third....

And third to home. That's the way it's done!
The base-running pictures reflect her second time at-bat, though...her first one saw her run from 2nd base STRAIGHT home. Makes more sense, really. And she set a precedent. The next kid did the same thing. Our little trend-setter. She posseses such strong leadership qualities.

So proud.


It's going to be a great season!

M's Birthday

M is 9 years old!

He is growing up so fast, but he is growing up to be such a good young man. Legos have always been his favorite things, but lately he's also enjoyed reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Harry Potter, and Calvin and Hobbes books. He has such a great sense of humor.

M is also having a great time playing baseball this season, and he requested baseball cupcakes for his birthday.

In our family we only have "friend" birthday parties on even-numbered birthdays, but our neighbors are family, so they came over for cupcakes. It was fun.

M got Legos for his birthday (of course), and one of his gifts was a trip to the Lego Store. M has never been there, and boy was he excited!

He was able to pick out just what he wanted. It was pretty awesome there.

We also went to KFC - his favorite restaurant and picked up some ice cream sandwiches at the grocery store. It was a good day.

I'm so thankful M is in our family. We love him so much.

My kids are whipping me at blog posting. I'll try to do better.

....that's all I have today....