Remember when I used to have a blog. . .

It turns out I still do, but it's getting dusty.  I have mentioned how I despise Januarys, right?  Well there's the reason, well one reason.  Lately I have been feeling oddly exposed.

I bailed someone out of jail in England recently.  Yep, I'm a do-gooder all over the world.  ;)  OK, they bailed themselves out with the help of my stolen credit card.  You are welcome.  Stupid stinkin !@#$%*#%&^.  That's not cussing, I just can't type all that well.  ;)

Thankfully credit card companies are quite adept at fixing these things, but it's sad that it happens at all.  This is my second experience.  You feel a tad bit violated by it.  That is my name you are using, and of course there's the money.  We watched a movie recently with a character in it named Mindy, and freakishly enough, she was a lot like me.  Dave found this hilarious.  I found it creepy.  Identity theft, I'm sure.  I'm being watched.  Or my name is somehow linked with my personality.  Or I'm reading too much into this. . .

Anyway, I digress.  You know those people who constantly talk about themselves.  They seem put out if you even try to offer up your own personal experience to a conversation. . . Annnnd back to me.  Yeah, I know those people.  I just nod and smile and try not to roll my eyes when they are looking directly at me.  ;)

The thing is, I'm not the person who likes to talk about themselves.  You may be thinking I am full of crap after reading more than one post on this blog, but you are WRONG.  Wrong I tell ya.  ;)  I don't offer up personal anecdotes easily in casual conversation.  It's easier on the computer cause I don't see ya rolling your eyes at me.  ;)  And I can pretend that no one is actually reading this most of the time. . . hint hint.  So I don't have to worry that I'm giving away too much of my power.  I don't need more people understanding me and dissecting me by the information I've given.  That sounds a whole lot of paranoid.  Wowza.  Let's just say, it's nice to be surprising, not predictable, a mystery.  So no one can steal my identity.  Except people in Nottingham, and actors in B movies.  ;)

And that brings us to the blog, where no one else does it anymore, blog I mean, but here I am babbling about myself. . . like those people that are really easy to talk to because you just have to stand there.  I am now that person that can't stop when everyone else has.  I don't want to be that person.  Don't roll your eyes at me!  OK, you can, but I feel like that person now and it's quite uncomfortable.  I'm having trouble finding a purpose here these days.  WHY, why do I come back?

Dave thinks I should keep plinking away at these keys as a record for us of our life, our family.  He's right, it has been nice to go back and read stuff we've done or said.  Sometimes it's been not so nice, but that's reality.  I can even scare myself.  ;)

So there you have it, what's been blocking me.  In an effort to ignore it I will post these tidbits today, since well I'm already here. . .

I now find my phone filled with Jovey pictures.  She is my buddy all day and so her pics vastly outnumber Miley's at the present.  Poor Mie baby.  I'll have to remedy this, or I'll probably hear the dreaded 'fair' word.  It's banned in this house.

I've lost a good portion of my hair.  I don't have enough hair as it is, but since it's not my pride and joy I let her have at it.  Oh well.

This is what Jovey's hair looks like when I take the twists out.  She can wear it like this for a few days before she plays with it too much and it gets messy.  It actually helps keep her hair from tangling this way.  Next time I'll do more twists so the twist out will be even fuller.  My fingers aren't ready to go again just yet.

This is how you keep yourself from buying too much crap at Target.  Add a wiggly Jovey to the cart and it's pretty full already.

Jovey was asked to give a Primary talk, barely three weeks into her stint in Primary.  Oy.  Add in the fact that she's the youngest one in there, and has stutter, well I was less than thrilled with their timing.  Jovey was happy to do it, or so she said.  She memorized her little talk really fast and kept practicing it.  That's how I know she was, in fact, quite nervous about speaking in front of everyone.  She does not like it when people laugh at her stutter, and unfortunately that is what EVERYONE does.  I don't know why.  Cause they think it's cute, or they feel uncomfortable.  I don't know,  I try not to punch people in the face.  ;)  

She did really well.  She got stuck a few times and some people laughed, but she was so brave and kept going.  Despite our praise, it cost her some confidence and she struggled for a few days to regain control of her speech.  She's resilient though and told me she'd do it again when they asked her to.

Dave is undertaking his last inventory this week.  He won't have to do them anymore when he's no longer manager.  Yes, he's still manager until February.  And unfortunately he is also two people, cause the new manager will not be here until February, but you cannot pay someone to be two people.  Life is not fair.  ;)  He is way too busy and the girls are constantly saying that they miss him.  We are just happy that this is almost over.  Thank heavens.

Dave had jury duty this week, but he wasn't called on to be a juror so he had to go to work.  It would have been lovely to see them deal with inventory without him.  The thought had his boss really freaked.  That inevitable mess would have been left for the next manager anyway.  Dang it.  I think he would have loved sitting on a jury for a time instead.  A nice change.  ;)

I gotta say I am so very proud of Dave for the work he has accomplished.  The pharmacy had some big issues and he fixed them.  Three huge things, turned them around.  It's kind of frustrating for me to see him accomplish these long standing issues and then let the next guy have an easy gig, but I know that it was exhausting for him to do and he deserves a break.  I just hope his replacement appreciates the blood, sweat, and tears that went into it, and those were just from me.  ;)

Speaking of proud, let's talk about my Miley girl.  I taught her how to do regrouping with subtraction.  She had it down.  Then her teacher added something else to the mix.  I don't even know what it was she did, but it threw Miley.  Mind blown.  Subtracting no more.  We practiced and practiced when I found out the test was the next day, two days earlier than expected.  She aced it.  Her teacher was surprised.  Yeah, it was that big.  I could totally do this homeschooling thing.  ;)  Yeah no I couldn't.

It's in the 50s maybe even close to 60s here lately, but we're still cold.  Not freezing, we'll go outside and survive, but spending time out there in this wintry temps, ummm no.  Something is wrong with us.  Maybe if we wore shoes. . . ?

Oh January

It's still winter, but at least I only have to see it in the distance.

January is a troublemaker, but we're surviving. . .

The girls loved Disney on Ice, Frozen.  I like the shows that aren't watered down versions of movies better.  We'll see what next January brings.

We opted for the balcony seats this time around.  I told Miley if we got the cheaper seats I would buy her one of the overpriced nasty sno cones in the special cups.  She jumped on that deal.  So I guess, she doesn't really go for the show anyway. . . as long as there is popcorn too.

 I need winter to be over to get rid of colds.  Jovey now has the nasty cough/congestion thing that we've all had at least twice this winter.  Why won't this go away?!!  Oh right, cause everywhere we go people are coughing.  We're surrounding by germs!  This virus has been the plague of winter 2015/16.

I like reading reviews of kids books.  Some people, wowza.  So I bought The Day the Crayons Came Home, cause I liked the first book and then there was this one review where a mother angrily argued how inappropriate it was to have the word "puke" in the book and a picture of a dog licking itself.  She provided pics of both instances.  I had to buy it after that.  I guess if you don't have dogs that might be offensive.  ?? Or some people just really need to calm down.  Either way, thanks for the extra push to buy it angry mother.  We love it!

Why do people say BFFs forever?  Isn't forever in the acronym?  I'm so confused by this.  Miley and her friends say it all the time so therefore Jovey does as well, and then I found it on this shirt.  I had to buy it for these two BFFS 4ever.  Whatever.

Oh and Jovey was in no mood for pics, so covered up the words on the shirt to spite me and then looked away.  Her two year old attitude is holding on with a death grip.  ;)
 

Miley's hair has already grown at least 2 inches since we cut it this summer.  I may covet her hair a little, or a lot.  Lucky girlie.

See the light dot on Jovey's forehead?  It was once a little scratch.  When Jovey scratches or scrapes her skin it will be a light mark on her for what seems like forever.  After the scab goes away her new skin is always light because it doesn't have the same melanin level in it.  White skin experiences the same thing, but it's less noticeable.  Her wounds are so superficial, and yet they seem serious because everyone thinks it's a scar left behind.  Let me assure you, she is not scarred for life.  It blends away eventually.  In August she ran into the rose bush and the scratches are still visible on her arm.  I really want to put her in a bubble.

Sometimes I buy things that are still too big for the kiddos to wear and put them away until they can.  Sometimes I forget that I bought things and then miss most of the season they are useful in when they are finally uncovered in the closet.  Enter this jacket.  She loves it, but it's getting warmer already.  Oops.

I have an evil rug by the back door.  I didn't know it was evil when I bought it.  I might have bought it anyway even if I had known.  ;)  Anyway, my dogs nails' catch on it from time to time.  This time it tried to pull Nilla's off, therefore blood and drama and what Jovey calls her 'cast'.  Poor Nilla baby.  Her nails aren't even long.  I cut them, I swear.  Alright, this has happened twice to Bear so I will find a new rug already.  Such a pain.  All of it.

Jovey took good care of our little patient.  Nilla is a big baby nowadays.

Miley did some Chinese jump roping in PE this last week.  I was so happy to hear that they are doing things I loved as a kid in school.  So we made a rope and tried to teach Dave how to do it.  Miley showed us her Black Diamond routine.  Yes, she names these things.  I was the other half of holding the rope so the pics do not do it justice.  It was impressive foot work.  ;)

I got a video of Dave doing it, but it is on his phone and he won't let me have the video cause he knows where it will go. . . . ;)  He has some potential, despite working with those giant feet of his.

 I may or may not have over worked my knee demonstrating all my elementary school skills.  Dang you Chinese jump rope.  However, no one fell down and so that is a win for us.  ;)

I threw together an album for 2015 in a weekend so I could make it in time for Shutterfly's sale.  Then Dave convinced me to try out Costco's book instead.  Lost a weekend; hopefully Costco doesn't disappoint, cause now I really did miss the sale.

I consider this next picture a parenting win.

They dress themselves pretty much every day.  It isn't always a fashion win, but I feel pretty confident they are cute enough to pull off whatever they mismatch.  ;)  They were playing vampire hunter when I stopped them for a picture.  They won't be deceived by a pretty sparkly vampire boy.  I appreciate that.

I don't know who Jovey is texting.  They both think they are tweeners.  That part is less fun.

Melkam Gena!

 Happy Christmas from our little Ethiopian Princess.

2016

Hello internet people,

Today Jovey woke me up proclaiming that she was a "rockstar."  "Oh yeah, a rockstar!"  I looked at her and found that she had a ruffled shirt on and click clack heels (that's what she calls her dress up shoes), no pants.  I asked why she opted to go pant-less and she said, "rockstars don't wear pants."  Should have been obvious.  "My panties have stars on them too. All I need is a microphone."  Then she left me to my sleep because she had to go "practice for her performance."  I can't wait for that.  ;)

I'll blame Jovey's strange wake up call this morning for me forgetting that Miley doesn't start school for another day.  Why would I think she had school on Monday anyway?  Ugh.  Got ready, drove to school and realized that today was not the 5th.  I think my mind is slipping.  Oh well.

Because we were up and ready early this morning, I wasn't caught in my pjs when the bug man came to spray earlier than expected.  I found ants in my house.  Yuck.  There shouldn't be any ants right now, it's winter.  Dang climate change.  Anyway, toxic stuff added to the premises to rid us of our uninvited guests.

Found out that Jovey is a mama's girl at church yesterday.  I guess she liked that I had been her teacher for the last couple of years.  This year's new arrangement is so far not to her liking.  It was a rough start, but my little independent girl will come out again after the shock of it wears off.  Hello sunbeams.  She's too big already.  Even the bug man commented on how much she has grown.  He remembers when we brought her home.  I got a little flashback to her babyness while I held her sobbing in Primary.  She was so scared to let go of me back then.  I'm so proud of how much she's grown, especially when we have a setback and I get those sad flashbacks.  Jovey says I can only call her baby if I say 'my baby' because she's not a baby, she's a big girl. . . but she knows she will always be my baby.

Miley made me this necklace for Christmas.  I wore it all day which thrilled her to no end.  I asked Jo what my name was, and she replied Mom.  She knows my name, but said this is the name she likes to call me.  That is my favorite name.

 We did resolutions for this new year.  I found a lot of resolution forms on the internet.  I printed out a bunch and we all chose one we'd like to use.  Miley picked one that had a section about memories and lessons learned in 2015.  She wrote that her hardest lesson was learning to always tell the truth to Mom and Dad.  ;)

Jovey picked the page that had goals and a box where she could write her reward for accomplishing her goals.  A party, that's what she wants.  ;)

They each picked out things they wanted to work on this year and their ideas made my heart smile.  Jovey wants to learn her ABCs, and work on her bumpy words (stutter).  Miley wants to finish the Book of Mormon before she turns 8 (she's halfway done), and save money.  Miley's list was extensive, but I told her she needed to focus on a couple so she wouldn't get overwhelmed.  She'd also like to travel the world, write more thank you notes, read lots of books, be more grateful, eat more healthy food, say I love you to us everyday, and do more art projects.  These ideas were all her own.  She makes me so happy.

December was a rough one for me.  Too much stress.  Too much of everything.  I scaled back neighbor gifts to only a few families.  I gave more money to charity to compensate.  ;)

We survived Miley's friend drama with a happy ending.  I don't like my girl to feel sad, so this was a bigger deal to me than it should have been.  I guess I need to toughen up.  ;)

Jovey's speech therapy got swapped over to the school district.  It's been a little stressful and I feel out of my depth some times.  Once again, I don't like seeing my kids struggle.  Why can't life be easy?  Oh right, that would be boring.  ;)  Yeah, I know, toughen up again.  That is my new year's resolution.

Dave's work imploded with issues that were giving us all ulcers.  So he quit.  Yep.  I heartily support this decision.  Ok, he just quit being the manager.  We still love Costco, but managing is sooooooo not worth it.  They would need to offer us a ton more money, and even then, ehhhh toss up.  Now that that decision has been made, we feel lighter and happier, even though work continues to be an extra pain until a replacement is hired.  Maybe Dave's red beard will stop turning white now.  ;)

After all of that, we had a very merry Christmas.  I had been worrying, cause that's what I do, that my girls were spoiled and not grateful.  I read some articles about teaching your kids gratitude and I realized that they are completely normal and totally grateful.  Why do I miss these things sometimes?  I forget that it's normal to be excited for presents and not want to donate everything to charity, for a child.  Another resolution, have realistic expectations.

The girls were excited to write thank you postcards, so be on the lookout for those.  I hesitate to send postcards because I just know they'll get lost, but that's what they wanted to send, so fingers crossed you see them.  Miley just saw that I was updating the blog, and wanted me to type that she got the best presents ever and to say THANK YOU again.  I waste too much energy worrying.

2015 was a good year.  We learned a lot.  2016 is looking pretty full already too.  Miley is excited to turn 8 and be baptized.  Jovey is looking forward to going to preschool in the fall.  I still have no idea what our plans for Halloween will be.  ;)  We've got a lot to do this year.

Oh and Dave stole Miley's Christmas present. . . or inspired him to buy one of his own.