Gratitude List

Life can get pissy. Let's face it, it isn't always sunshine and roses. We have crappy people in our life, crappy circumstances and overall crap to deal with at times. BUT, we don't always have to focus on that crap. We can choose to focus on the great things in our lives that we love and cherish. Why spend time dwelling on icky stuff when there are so many other things to do and more positive ways to spend our lives? So....I will start with my list:

Joanna's Gratitude list

1. Dave - I am so thankful for my husband coming into my life. He is really my 2nd half and makes me laugh and smile and feel good about myself. He is also strong and supportive.

2. My kids - All 5 of them!! They have all taught me so many things. It is because of them that I want to be a better person both inside and out.

3. My mom - Best mom ever. Supportive, best friend!!

4. My brothers and their families - They are the best I could have. I think about them and almost instantly laugh cause they are both so comical. I am proud to have them both as brothers. Of course their spouses ain't too bad either....Both of my brothers got lucky! I have very awesome sister-in-laws.

5. In-laws - no awful jokes about in-laws from me. I got very lucky. I have a great mother-in-law and supportive father-in-law that are always willing to help out with whatever. We get together often for dinner or cards or just hanging out. I couldn't have asked for a better set of in-laws. My sister-in-law, Ruthann is one of a kind. She has suffered great loss, but still keeps an upbeat attitude and smile. I have great respect for her and Darin. They are great parents and great people all around.

6. Family & Friends - there are way too many people to list off individually. I have a huge family that I love endlessly. My grandma, my aunts and uncles, my cousins, friends (online friends too!) that I think of as family, etc. I think of these people often and am thankful they are in my life.

7. Health - I am fairly healthy and working on improving that and my kids are all healthy too. That is a lot to be grateful for. There is so much suffering in the world. We are lucky and blessed!

8. Work - more than enough to keep us busy and useful. Plus the work that gives us the means to support our family.

9. Challenges - yes, challenges are what make us stronger people. Life is not a cake-walk for anyone I would guess. Everyone has their hardships and dark days. Its how we meet those challenges and overcome them that defines us. And remember, the person next to you scowling could be having one of those days. Instead of judging, show a bit of sympathy and compassion.

That is what I have time for at this moment. Work is calling (lunch for the kids) and not calling all that quietly, I might add. Feel free to do your own list for yourself or others to see.

Randomness

So I caught the Twilight bug. Its bad! Very, very bad. I am on the 3rd book - Eclipse - and I have to force myself to put it down and do other things. I do have to say though that I am slightly annoyed with how many times this auther uses some form of the word 'dizzy' in describing Bella's little moment's. Its dizzy, or dizzily or whatever so dang often. Isn't there some other synonym that she could have used?! I like the story though. I still haven't seen the movie though and am wondering if it would just ruin it for me. I have these pictures in my head of what the characters look like and all that and I am sure the Hollywood people didn't exactly match my thoughts with that one. Moving on....

Other books I am reading are: Unconditional Parenting by Alfie Kohn. As much as I would like to think I am one awesome parent (actually I don't think that!) I think it best that I get ideas from others and possibly see if things can improve. I am not too sure about this one yet, not even 20 pages in yet, but he seems to think that time outs and immediate discipline for misbehaviors in children is counter-productive. He talks about how its more important for children to know that you love them for them and not for their behaviors. I agree to a point I guess, but am still not sure about the way to go about that. I will finish the book and see how I feel later.

I am also reading The Five Love Languages of Children. It's a follow-up to The Five Love Languages - How to Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate by Gary Chapman. I purchased both books, just haven't started reading the second one yet. I had heard good things about both books. I feel like I am struggling with making sure all my kids know that I love them and feeling that I could use a little help with that. Its very easy to love a baby who does very little to test your patience, its completely different when you have older kids who purposely test your patience! Like I have said before, I love my kids fiercely and I want them to know that and it isn't always as easy as just saying, "I love you". You sometimes have to have different ways to show them and they each may have their different ways of receiving it best. So again, I am hoping to make myself a better person/parent and in the process help my kids grow to be caring/loving human beings. I guess I have to first work on myself (reading and studying) and then pass it on as best I can.

And finally, the last book I am reading is Eat to Live by Joel Fuhrman, M.D. which is about how much crap we put in our bodies that we call food. He has some pretty scary things he talks about and it scares me that I am doing that to my kids by what they eat...both at home and out at say McDonalds. Ick. I got this recommendation from my cousin Shays wife, Erica. He basically thinks that if we put the right food/nutrients in our body to nourish it, we will live healthier, longer lives with less disease. It makes sense to me. I have been trying to eat healthier as it is (down 25 lbs!) but I sometimes find it difficult to really know what to eat and how to prepare it. I really have to work at figuring those things out and planning our meals ahead of time, so I don't come down to scrambling to get dinner on the table and it ends up being something that isn't the best for us. Anyway, I hope I find some insight and motivation to do better by myself and my kids. Now if I could just get Dave to cut down on coffee?!

That is what my free time is consumed by lately, but I must run. Austin is stirring in bed....Good night!

My mom and the boys.

Austin and the big turtle.

Logan and the big turtle.

Brandon and Austin at the top of the slide.

Logan playing with the train set.

The Imaginarium was awesome. We had the place to ourselves and the boys had a blast running around, playing with everything without having to share! They were so busy the whole time, checking out different "science" stations and pushing buttons to see what would happen. We will definately go back sometime during the day again to explore some more.

More Imaginarium...

Brandon holding a walking stick bug.

SUSAN - this photo is for you! MUAH!

Logan controlling an airplane with Brandon and Austin watching.

Austin LOVED this blow machine and the ball that hovered above it.

Austin and his blow machine. He tried and tried and tried to get that ball down several times and figured out if he pushed the machine so it rocked back and forth the ball would eventually get knocked off its little current.

Our Day at the Imaginarium

This is a giant bubble making thingy.

I was trying to hold Austin still and pull the bubble cord at the same time. It was a bit difficult and we never got fully encased in a bubble.

Brandon, fully encased in a bubble!

Brandon doing a flight simulation exercise.

My mom, almost fully encased in a bubble!

Logan and Austin trying to race each other down the "mountain" slide.

More pictures coming.....

Kristen's 17th Birthday

Kristen turned 17 on February 11th, 2009!

I made a Tiffany Box cake....as best I could.

Kristen and her friend Amanda getting ready to blow out the candles.

Me, being goofy with Hannah on my lap.
Kristen looked forward to turning 17 cause she is that much closer to that magical age of 18 or what she considers "adulthood" or "get-to-do-what-I-want-hood" in her eyes. Boy does she have a rude awakening coming! She also gets to go to rated R movies legally. Her first movie out was not rated R though....maybe she chickened out. Either way, I hope she slows down to enjoy her 17th year of life instead of trying to race through it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KRISTEN!!

Random Pictures

Brandon working hard on his math.

Logan in his "super hero" get up. Headband, cape, flashy gold and black belt. He put down his sword to eat some breakfast.
Austin with Logan's underwear. Clean ones, I might add.
Yum, cheese!
"oh my gosh, this is heavenly cheese, man!"

Hump Day

Wednesday. Middle of the week. Hump day.

My mom will be here on Friday and we are all very excited. As long as Mt. Redoubt doesn't blow that day, everything should go as planned. Its been pretty quiet.

My birthday is coming up soon too. Monday. I will be 34 years old. I was planning a spa day for all the girls here, but that seems like a lot of planning on my part and I would rather do something with less hassle/stress. Nothing like making your birthday celebration stressful when you don't have too. Instead I think I will do my own spa day, maybe with Kristen and my mom and call it good. I really do need some "work" on my hair and my feet are pretty ugly. Dave's feet are "prettier" than mine. He never ever walks around without socks on.

This time last year I was pregnant and didn't know it. It turned out to be an ectopic pregancy and on February 11th (Kristen's birthday), I found out and had surgery to remove my left fallopian tube where the baby had implanted. It's sad for me. I haven't had too hard a time dealing with it except initially, but now that I think back and it comes around to that time of year again, its sad. I am a girl (duh) and emotional at times (duh!) and we tend to overthink/over-analyze at times. So even though the pregnancy was doomed from the beginning, I sit and wonder what-ifs? I also wonder if I ever get "my tubes tied" if the surgery will be half the time since I only have 1 tube to tie. Should be half the cost too, right?

Ok...time to get going with school stuff.

Miss me?

Its been a while since I've been on here. I suppose I better update.

Things are going very well here. I have been busy trying to lose weight and I am doing very well. I am down about 24 lbs right now and very happy with that progress. Its not easy, but I am sticking with it and hopefully will be at goal someday. I have a workout buddy that I go to the gym with almost everyday. It helps a lot to have someone to workout with and keep me motivated. I am also busy with homeschooling Brandon and that is going well....most days. He just had some testing at the correspondance school and it shows he is right on track. Since this is his first year homeschooling and my first year "teaching", it is a relief to know that he is right where he should be. I am helping get the local La Leche League back running and will become a "leader". I have been attending LLL since Logan was about 5 weeks old and love the support and adult conversations. LLL is a support organization for mothers who breastfeed their babies/toddlers. Since I am a huge pro-breastfeeding person, I like to offer my support to that. We got off track for a few months, but hopefully we will get it back running, especially for those mothers that need that support in their early breastfeeding days.

Dave has been busy working....which is good. He does road maintanence so that means plowing or scraping ice packed roads. It means early mornings and late evenings on occcasion, depending on the weather.

The kids are all doing good...for the most part. Kristen is going through her teenage-trying to be an adult stuff and has had a few struggles. She is really looking forward to the day she gets her "adult" freedoms. (Didn't we all look forward to that?) Its not as easy as it sometimes appears to a teen, but they learn. She has applied at Job Corp and hopes to be able to finish out her high school education there and move on to something else.

The little boys are both getting bigger and bigger everyday it seems. Part of me looks forward to them getting bigger and seeing how they develop into big kids and the other part wishes they would stay little forever. The part that isn't changing a poopie diaper I suppose.

My baby brother Pat just got married while on vacation in Hawaii! I was hounding him a bit before he left if they were actually gonna do it this time, since they had tossed it out about 12 trillion times that they were gonna get married in about 15 different countries/vacation spots over the years that they have been together. I can finally send the congrats card I bought about 5 years ago that was all signed with my name and Brandon's name. I will have to add 5 names to it since I have gotten married and had more kids in the meantime. I am so happy for them though and hope they have a great life. I am wishing for them to have a baby too! (hint, hint!) We could not be more different than in our ways to the alter....it took me 71 days to meet and marry my husband and it took Pat...what....9 years to finally get it done? I believe they meet about 9 years ago. Maybe 10, I dunno.

Now I am just anxiously awaiting the arrival of my good friend Bobbies baby. She is having a beautiful little girl and I can't wait to hear how it all goes and to see the pictures. I just wish I lived closer (or she lived closer, LOL) so that I could be right there to see for myself. She is due in March, but she thinks she will have her in February sometime!

Speaking of February....my birthday is February 9th and Kristen's is the 11th and then there is Valentines day on the 14th. Just thinking about February makes me think of Valentines day and made me change my background of this blog to the hearts and stuff and makes me think of all the people that I love!!! I am so lucky to have everyone in my life and so grateful to love them all, ha ha!! I love my husband with all my heart and I love my kids fiercely!! It's my love for my kids that drives my overwhelming need to try and protect them from everything in the world that could make them hurt. I know I sometimes am a bit overbearing and even hurt my kids on occasion with my limits and words. Its something I am working on actually....to try and do it better. As a parent, you try to do your best but you will screw up here and there and just have to accept that and move on and try to do better next time. There is no handbook to raising kids....well actually there are millions of handbooks by various authors - some with kids, some without. But when it comes down to it, I believe you have to do what is in your heart and try to raise them up as confident humans to go out and enjoy life and participate in society as responsible adults. And hey, if one decides to drift out as a criminal, you at least tried your best. (NONE OF MY KIDS WILL BE CRIMINALS, DAMNIT!)

Anyway, speaking of all the people that I love, since I am in such a loving mood. I love my mom. She is the best of the best in my world. I couldn't have asked for a better mom, there just isn't one out there.

I also love all my family....my brothers, their spouses (hey, now I can say spouses and not spouse and "significant other" or "girlfriend" or "fiancee" or "shack-up", LOL), their kids (my neices and nephew). I love my grandma Ione. I love my aunties and uncles and all my cousins, even the naughty ones. I love my in-laws too. AND, I LOVE all my awesome friends, even the ones I have never met in person!!!

Love, love, love! I just love it!

50 degrees!

Right now as I sit typing, it is 50 degrees in Palmer, Alaska!! Can you believe it? We deserve a little break from the -20 below. Although now we have massive amounts of ice on driveways and subdivision roads. Dave has had to work all day....5 am to 9 pm to try and help get those roads safer.

I know the midwest and east coast are suffering with our previous cold temps now, but I have to say I am glad they moved on to somewhere else. Hang in there guys!!! These warms temps will no doubtedly move on to you too.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It's 2009. We spent New Year's eve bowling with the 3 oldest kids. It was fun. I also invited my friend Jessica and her sister Emily. We bowled from 10 pm - 1am. I have been practicing my bowling game on our new Wii and thought for sure I would cream the competition, but apparently Wii bowling and the real thing are not all that similar. Who knew? Oh and you don't get as sore playing the Wii version. AND I can stand at my table, snacking while bowling. The bowling alley gets all huffy if we have food or drinks on the TABLE that they provide by our lanes.

It was a fun evening. Now on to those New Year's resolutions....lets see what can I resolve to do that I will actually do. Thats the trick right?!

Austin's blocks

Austin got blocks (real wood ones!) from Grandma Denise and he loves stacking them and knocking them over. Here are a couple shots of him playing. Me too!

He started out with short little stacks. He wouldn't let them get too big before knocking them over.

He 'oh so gently' pushes my short stack over!

This time he is working on getting it REALLY high!

One more block up on top!

Now, he shoves it as I try to catch it. He is very pleased with himself as it topples to the floor. (Autumn looks pleased too! LOL!)