Work

Today was great! Work went well. My boss was so impressed with me that he has me coming in earlier than planned tomorrow so he can have me start on a probate case with him. Real legal stuff! I am excited. Thanks for all of you who were thinking of me and praying for me.
I also had an absolutely wonderful reminder from God that He loves me. A new friend of mine called me up out of the blue when I got home from work and offered to bring our family a meal next Monday so that I wouldn't have to worry about cooking on my big day! I was speechless. Sometimes I am in awe of the little things God does for me to show me He loves me. Her comment was, "us moms gotta stick together!" I don't care what my friend makes for dinner on Monday night it will taste absolutlely wonderful to me!

Laying My Burdens Down

So tomorrow I go join corporate America..well at least part time. Tomorrow I start training as a legal secretary. I will be working downtown four days out of the week 9am to 3:30pm. I will be able to put my kids on the bus, go to my job, drive home, meet them at the house when they get off the bus, do all my other duties and still be expected to be sane, happy and loving! I am terrified! No, that's putting it mildly, I'm scared shitless! I have had to work really hard at being sane, happy and loving! Somedays it doesn't come natural! (can I hear an Amen). I love structure and routine, I thrive on it. But that doesn't always make for a happy family! For some odd reason God didn't program young children to obey on command and take orders. And what we as a family are about to embark upon is alot of "out of control" for awhile. It's going to take some time to have a routine in the morning getting the kids and myself out the door plus I'm scared I won't be the mom I have worked hard to be, I don't want to be a mom that is tired and cranky all the time. I fight that to hard already, let alone starting a 25 hour job outside the home. Did I fail to mention that we are starting a church and my husband is working out of the living room?!?! I know this is for a season, I know that I have been blessed with the opportunity to stay home this long with my kids, I know that ultimately my kids will do great and will rise to the occasion when they are given more responsibility. But as I have emphazied over and over on this blog..CHANGE SUCKS! So I tomorrow I will buck up and take it all in stride but on the inside I am having faith that ultimately God has got it all figured out and that means I get to sit back, cry a little and lay this burden down.

We survived

It happened, we survived the first day of school. It came and went and I am still in one piece! We did all the normal things this morning, had breakfast, put on the new first day of school clothes, even took the traditional first day of school pictures on the front step. We left in plenty of time to navigate what seemed to be the other 500 parents dropping off their kids and had time to play on the playground. When the bell rang my eldest two handled it beautifully, they didn't even want us to walk them to their classrooms. And my youngest well he held my hand as we walked over to his classroom, he gave me a hug and told me he loved me and then hugged Tom and told him the same thing and then turned and walked into the classroom, he didn't even look back. I guess we have done our job. Our kids seem healthy and well adjusted and hopefully on their way to being independent. It was one of those defining moments that will stick in your memory forever.
So where did we go from there???? I was determined not to be one of those mothers that drops their last child off to kindergarten and runs home and deep cleans like a mad woman before it's time to pick them up. I was determined, if it killed me, to reward myself for the last 10 years of being home full time with my kids! So.....
we started out at our local Starbucks and had coffee and read the paper, because we could sit and enjoy HOT coffee and read the paper undisturbed.
Then we walked, because we didn't have our kids whining at us that it was to far or to hot, to Barnes and Nobels and read some misc. books and didn't sit in the KIDS section on those tiny little hard benches but enjoyed the cushy thick wide armchairs.
Then we walked a little further and stopped in REI, a camping store Tom and I love to browse in but usually can't because one of our kids, if not all, have climbed into some display and are wreeking havoc on it!
Then we went to lunch at TGI Fridays, then ran to target.....yes it truly did take me mere minutes to grab the item I needed, pay and then walk out the door.
We accomplished this all in time to enjoy each other, the weather and pick the kids back up from school at preciously 1:45pm where they all came running up to us all talking at once telling us all about their first day of school.
And tomorrow, I will start the cleaning.....

Tomorrow kindergarten!

Today the kids and I had a celebration day. The last day of summer hurrah! We started by taking Ethan to a kindergarten open house and then onto Ihop! for breakfast. We then went to the Discovery Center which here in Boise is a cross between "the please touch museum" in Philadelphia and OMSI in Portland. We then stopped by the local 7 Eleven for slurpees (the big ones!) and then went to Walmart to finish our school shopping, socks, waterbottles and a box of tissues. We then came home for a breather and then went back to school for the two older kids open house. We finished off the day having a nice family dinner and then reading a chapter from our latest book "Dragons in our Midst". I am excited for my kids tomorrow. I always enjoyed the first few days of school were everything is fresh and you don't have much work. But as any mom sending their little one to kindergarten it will be hard and bittersweet. Ethan had a great time at the open house this morning, even though he did claim to being bored as the teacher talked to us. But as we left the building he still grabbed a hold of my hand and said "Mom, I love you and I am going to miss you." I do hope I can make it through tomorrow's drop off without bursting into tears.

Mother Mary

After an extremely emotional taxing day, (second day of intense fighting with dear hubby) I decided to make nachos and cheese and chocolate chip milkshakes for dinner for the kids and I. I also decided that we would sit in the living room and eat them in front of the TV while watching a movie! My kids were so excited they couldn't hold it in:

Child #1 - "Mom you are the best!"
Child #2 - "Mom you are the best woman I know!"
Child #1 - "Mom you are truly the greatest woman ever born!!!"
Child #2 - "Huuhem, I think that the greatest woman ever born was Mary the mother of Jesus"
"Do you really think our mother is better than Mary the mother of our LORD?"
Child #1 -"uuuuuuu Mom you are the greatest woman right after Mary"

Welcome to Monday

I'm cranky.
The kids are cranky.
8 more days of summer vacation.
My van is having thermastate issues and the a/c doesn't work correctly, so I don't want to leave the house because it's hot and we all know what happens when mom and kids get hot they get CRANKY!!!!!

Happy 32nd Birthday Tom

Tom you were the one that answered my questions when I was first seeking God.
You were the one that reasurred me of God's love when I was so afraid to trust.
You were the first person to model grace to me in a very real and tangible way that changed me life forever.
You have made continued sacrifices for the sake of our family and for that I thank you.
You have been faithful and protective of what God has given you and I appreciate and admire you for that.
Tom, you are a great husband and wonderful father.
I love your wisdom, knowledge and sense of humor.

I love you,
Happy Birthday,
Your Ivory Soap Girl
Forever

Family

I had a wonderful conversation the other evening with my cousin Audrey, she is such a wonderful spirit. Totally lives in the moment and blesses God any opportunity she can for all that she has. Audrey is one of my 21 cousins I grew up with in Ireland. Her family alone has nine and we used to have so much fun together. My family lived in Dublin and every couple of months we would travel 3 hours to visit my cousins and grandma (Gram) down in Dungarvan, Co. Waterford. We would make the journey and when we got there we were free. My aunt Clare never seemed to have any order to what was going on in her home. There was at least 15 years difference between the oldest and the youngest so there were always kids at different stages of life running around getting into mischief. Grams house was right next to Clares home and they were both situated on a couple of acres of land so it was always an adventure to go play. We would disappear for what seemed like hours, store up on sweets from the local shop with whatever money would could find and not go to bed until really late. I loved those days they take up much of my childhood memories. I remember the day my dad told us we were moving to America as we drove down to see everyone, how I realized for the first time that life would never be as simple and carefree, that change was coming and there was nothing I could do to stop it. We said goodbye when I was ten and for at least the next five/ six years our families would alternate shipping some of us out for six weeks at a time to their home or ours. And we continued to have incredible memories. They are my family. Our family has grown and between marriages and births I bet our family has grown to over 50 and we are scattered all over this world. New Zealand, America, England, Ireland, Canada. I miss them all so much, I long for the days where we could go fill our pockets with chocolate and sit in our fort and laugh till we felt sick. It makes me so sad that there is no way I will see many of them again in my lifetime because of financial and time restraints. But when I get on the phone with Audes, who I haven't seen in over 17 years and we joke and laugh I smile and my heart is warmed because we are still family and we still have a tie that binds us deeper than no other.

Sense of Humor

We watched 50 First Dates last night with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. It was cute, romantic and slapstick funny. My husband tells me I have a sick sense of humor. I just laugh and laugh when people get hurt. For example, there is a scene in the movie where Adam Sandler sets up a scenario to attract Drew Barrymore's character. So Adam asks his friend to pretend to beat him up by the side of the road, Drew comes along sees what's happening and grabs a bat from her car and starts hitting this other character really hard.. I thought it was hysterical! Adam is screaming "I think you got him, I'm ok not to worry" meanwhile she starts chasing after this other character to hit him some more. I'm giggling about it as we speak. I know it's wrong but it's just the way I am. The thing is though this has caused some bad "parental" moments when my kids have had done some silly things on accident that send me into fits of smothered giggles! When one of the kids rode their bike into a mailbox because they weren't paying attention or when they are just the right height to walk into door knobs and counters...again I'm giggling. You wanna know the best part..I have passed this wonderful and sick sense of humor onto my daughter. We went to see RV with Robin Williams a few weeks ago and she and I had the guys in the middle of us and as funny slapstick things are happening she and I are laughing the loudest! I must say I really don't feel that badly anymore

Soon back to school

I never ever thought I would be one of those moms who couldn't wait for the school bus to show up at the end of summer. I love my children and even gave my hand at homeschooling for awhile before we moved here to Boise. Our kids are on a year round school schedule so they have six weeks off during the summer opposed to the "traditional" 2 1/2 months. They will then get the month of Nov. off and the whole month of March off. I love my kids and have struggled this past few months with sending my baby of to kindergarten. Full day no doubt! With all the other transitions going on in our home I was really mourning the lose of this time of life. But when I had to discipline my kids for the 50th time before LUNCH today I knew there was part of me that will be a rejoicing to see that school bus coming on August 15th. Not only have they spent more time on their beds for time outs but they were actually fighting yesterday silently! We had put them all on separate chairs (but still in view of each other) and when I turned around they where grunting and pointing at each other like monkeys, I looked at my dear hubby and said "what do we do now?". Only 14 more days......