...

looks like my "new attempt" was not so successful. i suppose i could blame it on being busy, or reading other cool blogs, the fact that Bryce had another birthday (darn that kid, stop it!), the laundry continuing to pile up...even though i don't want it to, or maybe the fact that that i did Christmas cards, made awesome gingerbread houses at kindergarten with Chase and Oakli, reading hordes of Christmas cards (thanks!), took Chase to the ER on Christmas Eve to get "glued" back together, had a great Christmas, cleaned up Christmas, put away all the Christmas decorations and celebrated New Year's too. maybe it is that i've re-discovered crafting again...in many different forms, swimming lessons for Chase and Oakli, scouts for Bryce, Achievement days for Ambri, 5 miles a day for me (still), sewing projects (only the necessary ones - darn those scout shirts!), movies, a messy house that i haven't cleaned, jewelry projects that i want to get done, messes that i don't know how they got there, a new church calling that is giving me "panic", major kid drama, ice skating on our pond, Doug's new High Council assignment with the Spanish branch, Ambri's (I mean Bryce...) careful planning each day to get her hair and clothes just right for school... maybe just maybe it is one or two of those things... or maybe it is just sheer laziness.

in any case, i'm still here, in one form or another.

A New Approach

Well, no big surprise here, I didn't come back to make that blog entry. I have just been so busy, but who hasn't, right? I read a new friends blog today and I decided to steal her new approach to blogging. I'm at least going to give it a try and see how it suits me. She did more of a journal entry for the week. (Thanks for the idea Madeline.)

Last weekend we took the kids to Bend and we had such a great time. Apparently we missed a pretty "awesome" rain storm. I use the punctuation marks because it must have rained a ton. We had awesome sunny weather and it only rained a smidge for us, which was mostly at night. It still amazes me how different the weather can be only 2.5 hours away, just on the other side of the mountains. We had a great time swimming, sight seeing and just relaxing. We always love going to Bend.

Monday saw us back to the usual routine, although Doug, Oakli and I did go to Salem for "lunch". Doug made it quite clear that it was a date, and not a reward. You see, we have this standing deal, that if I clean the house, he'll take me out to lunch at my favorite restaurant that week. We happened to go there, which is the "Best Little Roadhouse", not to be mistaken with "The Roadhouse". We had to go to Salem to the scout office to get Bryce his new scout things, now that he isn't a cub scout any longer, so why not, right? It was the best. I don't ever get anything special, just a salad, but there is just something about that place! I have tried to re-create the salad and bread, but I just can't seem to get it right.

We have a former neighbor who was a fighter pilot in WWII. He passed away 5 years ago and was buried in a family cemetery about 1 mile from our house (on family property - we don't live by a cemetery, per se)... so for FHE we decided that we wanted to do service and clean up the cemetery in his honor. Because Veteran's Day on Wednesday, we thought it would be nice because his widow may come out to visit the grave. We don't know if she was able to come, because she is VERY sick, but it was nice for the kids to do some service anyway. The grass needed mowing badly and the leaves had not yet been cleaned up, so it was a great opportunity for our family. Right when the kids got off the bus, we grabbed them and ran down there. We were loosing daylight fast, so we needed to go quick. We had 2 lawnmowers, 3 rakes, 2 garbage cans, 1 edger, 1 blower, 4 kids, 1 dad, 1 mom, 2 girls that had to go pee, (hello, why don't you go when mom tells you to BEFORE we leave the house???) and 0 complaints. We got the job done and it was amazing. Bryce and Doug ran the lawn mowers, I ran a rake, and the 3 youngest kids ran their 2 arms picking up wet piles of leaves. We even had to work some in the dark, but we got it done.

Tuesday found Oakli and I spending the day at Kindergarten. Oakli loves it because she thinks she is part of the class. She joins in with everything and loves it. She blends in well and you can hardly tell that she is not a "kinder". I love going to help out, but it is so exhausting. Mrs. Graham is the best and needs so much help to get all the projects done. I normally go in only once a week but try to help out as much as I can with things at home. (My Cricut is working double-duty as I am typing, so my hand doesn't have to do all the cutting out of candy canes for her... boy- or girl- am I smart!)

Wednesday saw us all home. I still don't understand why they can't celebrate Veteran's Day on a Monday or Friday if they are going to give the kids the day off school. It was a bit crazy having them all home in the middle of the week. It was only yesterday, and I really don't know what we did yesterday. I do remember vaguely that I had them clean and do some chores. The kids did get their piano practicing done, but looking around right now, I'm not sure what else they got done. I do remember giving them chores to do. Funny thing that is. Mess, I guess that is life, right?

As for some random thoughts, I am enjoying helping out in the kindergarten class a lot. Mrs. Graham has 30 kids in the morning and 30 kids in the afternoon and she has no help except for when parents come in and help, so I feel like I need to be in to help when I can, except that I don't think that I can help more than once a week, because it is so draining for me. (Some years she gets an assistant, some years she gets no help.) I would never make a good teacher. Some days I come home with a migraine. Some days I feel like I should have done more. Some days I wonder why she does it. Some days I can see why she does it. Chase is the 3rd child of ours that has had Mrs. Graham. In years past we have been able to help out the kindergarten in the financial department than we are able to this year, so I feel bad about that. Maybe that is why I feel like I need to be in the classroom helping more. When Bryce and Ambri where in kindergarten I couldn't be in the classroom as much because Chase and Oakli were little babies. (Sigh).

I still can't keep Bryce "in Books". He continues to read me and his teacher out of every book he checks out from the library. He always has his limit checked out and can read through a very large book in 1 day. It truly amazes me. I can't even keep up with what he is reading. He also loves to play the computer and DS as much as he loves to read too, so he isn't a "nerdy" child, thank goodness!

This year has been very hard. I hope next year is a better year. I do have to say though, if this year wasn't so hard, I wouldn't have learned the lessons I needed to learn.

I'm very behind on my jewelry making. Bad, Kari. Another side effect from Kindergarten. The kids are addicting. Well, maybe not the kids, (that sounds bad, but it is different when it's your own kids...) but I do feel a strong urge to help out wherever I can. I guess that is why there are still no pictures posted here. (Sorry Jaclyn). I was thinking that on the long drive maybe I could post some. Yes, I just said it, ON THE LONG DRIVE... for those of you that are reading this that are "Utards" (and I say that so affectionately - because I still consider myself a Utard - that is what Doug and I call us - you, me, I, whatever) we are coming for Thanksgiving. If Mom doesn't know, I sent her a text. I do need to call her. See... I do have procrastination in my veins. I'll email, I promise. This is one of the most "last minute" trips I think I've ever planned, except for a funeral trip.

I'm on Strike!

Now, don't go getting any ideas now... I'm still:

I don't know that it was ever officially discussed before, but I think it was mentioned previously how difficult it was to blog every day for a whole month. I'm not saying it can't be done for some people. I know there are a lot of people out there that make a lot of money doing it every day. I'm sure that if someone wanted to pay me a lot of money, I'd change my attitude really fast. But, because no one is beating down my pathetic front door, my attitude is still the same, blogging everyday is not for me. I will, however, be back. Just not yet. I think about it often, so I wanted to let you know (if you are out there) that I am still here. I am still trying to enjoy the last few days of sun that we have in Oregon. I am swamped with soccer 6 days a week (but loving it!), canning, and am now enjoying what is a quiet afternoon once in a while. Chase is in school now in the afternoons, and Oakli still loves her naps, when she gets them. I am proud to say, some afternoons it is quiet. Sitting here thinking about what happens during those quiet hours, I cannot even begin to recall, but I'm sure that something productive happens (I hope!)

Once the rain starts to fall and soccer ends for the Princesses, Elves, Tornadoes, and Renegades I'll post pictures of the kids in action and begin work on scrapbook pages (I hope) and who knows what else, but until then, we are still here and I'm still reading your blogs too!

Day 7 ~ Am I a "Bad" Mom?

Today I feel really bad. I grounded the 3 older kids for ganging up on the youngest one. For some reason I feel really bad. Maybe because it's summer and now I have to be the police-woman. I hate it when the kids are grounded. I just don't get it why they can't learn to obey and be good. Why, oh, why, oh, why?

I'm still sick to death of Michael Freaking Jackson!

Hmmmm...

I'm not really sure what I'm going to blog about yet, I just figured it has been a long time since I've posted anything, so I'd do a quick post b3efore I head off to bed. 5 words ago spurs a nice opening for this post. I've explained this to a few people, now is as good as any a time to tell the r3est of the world that I seem to have this interesting relationship with the "3" on the keyboard. For some reason many times when I type an "e" I also hit the "3" on the3 keyboard. Usually it takes just as long to explain it once to someone and then move on and leave the 3's in my words than to keep erasing them. So from now on when you see the 3's in certain words next to "e"s, it is not because I love the number 3 so much, or I am just retarded... well, maybe I am retarded, I'm just not sure yet.

Right now my life still mainly consists of walking, A LOT! We have 2 weeks and 1 day left in our family weight loss challenge. At this point I don't really care who knows how I am doing, because if you aren't doing as good as you want to be doing, it is pretty much too late. I feel like I am doing really good. I am proud of myself for how well I have done. Whether I win the money or not, I have worked so hard and I have lost a lot of weight and I have to say, "good job, Kari!". I get up in the morning, weight myself, then de3cide how far I am going to walk that morning, based on the scale. I know it sounds silly, but hey, I'm in it for the money. After my 2 weeks and one day is up, then I'll revert back to probably weighing myself just 3 times a week (which is what I did before this competition starte3d) and walking 5 miles a day, which I did NOT do before this competition started. I have resolved that if I want to keep this new body that I have worked SO hard for, it is going to probably take walking about 5 miles a day to actually keep it, so that is what I am going to do. So anyway, aft3er walking, what seems like forever, e3ach morning (in reality it is only one Raechel Ray show and part of Oprah or American Idol, or part of some other show that gets me through 64 minutes of walking on the treadmill) I feel great that I finished it! The day can b3egin. Now what? It has been nice and sunny here in Oregon? My kids keep asking if it is spring. Chase keeps asking if it is summer and when our birthdays are going to be. Poor kid. I digress. Well, I didn't really have a point to b3egin with. I'll move on.

I've been doing jewelry again. It has been a lot of fun. I've got a shop on etsy. As soon as I have a few more things posted I'll put a link up and send out a mass email for anyone that is interested in seeing what I've been up to.

Other news... Chase and Oakli both broke their glasses in the same day.


I can't think of much else to write about for now. I'll be heading to the Neurologist tomorrow for a follow-up appointmen3t. If anything exciting comes of it, I'll let you know.


Oh, I know, we took the kids to Monster Jam this last weekend. We went with our good friends the Newells. We got tickets several months ago and we had a great time with them. They all loved seeing Grave Digger and we got to go early for the "Pit Party". We got to go down and take pictures with all the trucks up close, that was great. One of the moster trucks even rolled, it was great fun. Did I mention that it was loud? Oh yeah, it was loud.

What's the opposite of a Alaskan Dog Sled?

I don't really need to explain more I think.

The kids are home for ANOTHER snow day, and now we are going in to Christmas break. Here's one picture from what they did today.

Another thing we've been busy with: (take a look at his eyes - more to come next week)