New Year's Eve

This year, we had all six kids at our house, over New Year's so we told them that they could have their own New Year's Eve party at home. I though it would be fun if they chose a bunch of movies, got some snacks & pop, we could heat the pool so they could go swimming, and they could bang pots and pans and light sparklers at midnight.

First I asked them what kind of snacks they wanted. Taylor said, "Steak". Michael said, "Lobster". I was expecting something more along the lines of popcorn and m&m's. I am pretty sure that I did ask them what snacks they wanted. Needless to say, they didn't get steak & lobster. They got popcorn, candy, pop, chips & dip.

Next, I asked them what movies they wanted. Their top two choices were, Drag Me To Hell and the Inglorious Basterds. Apparently, we have two completely different lines of thinking. I said, "No way!" They brought out their favorite argument: "but our mom would let us watch it!" I wasn't buying. So, I told them I was going to send their mom an email asking her. They were adamant that she would be completely fine with those two movies, until I hit the send button on the email. The second they saw that I wasn't bluffing and I really did send their mom an email, their story changed. We ended up getting, G-Force, Up, District 9, and Year One.

Brian and I must be getting really old. We ended up falling asleep WAY before midnight. The kids stayed up and watched their movies, but were disappointed that they didn't get to light sparklers. So we did it the next night.

It wasn't a really exciting night, but I was happy with that. I am just grateful to spend time with all the kids before they all get to be teenagers and are too cool to hang out with their parents!

A normal day...

A completely average day in our house:

• Alysa informed me that at 8:30 she still had 7 pages of homework due that morning (school starts at 9:00). Last night she told me she was done.
• Ady starts freaking out at Alysa because she was worried that Alysa was going to make them late for school. Seriously - full on anxiety attack.
• As we are getting ready to leave Ady starts freaking out because she can't find her backpack anywhere. She set it on the stairs only a few minutes earlier so someone else must have moved it. We found it in the bathroom. She yells at Alysa for hiding it. I tell her that it is quite possible she took it in there when she went to the bathroom a few seconds earlier. She isn't convinced.
• Brylee started crying because she didn't want to get out of bed. How is she ever going to be able to go to school this fall???
• Drove all the way across town to the golf store with two small children to buy the perfect present for Brian. I took the wrong exit twice, got lost once, almost got in a wreck (not my fault!), but made it home in time to get the kids from school.
• Alysa informed me that my singing voice is ALMOST as good as hers.
• Ady informed me that, in her opinion (her exact words), she is smarter than me when I was her age a LONG time ago.
• Brylee told me that she loves me more than ice cream.
• Found out the club I went to hell and back for is left handed - to my credit it said it was right handed. I know nothing about golf, so I assumed it was.
• Yelled at the girls for having a "clothes fight" with all the clean clothes that were suppose to be folding.
• AFTER cutting up all the veggies for chicken soup, I discovered that I had no chicken in the freezer.
• Brian calls and says he is going to be home late because he got an emergency service call. Good thing the veggie soup was ready a half hour before he called.
• Alysa and Ady, together, google "how to stop fighting with your sister". Really? If they can stop fighting long enough to google it together, then why can't they just stop fighting, period?
• At bedtime Alysa informs me that her toothbrush has been missing for a week, so she has been sharing with Ady. Gross!!!
• I am out cold by 9:00.

Dang! How is it possible for our lives to be so exciting, and unexciting at the same time???

Happy New Year!

Well, I guess that it is the time of year to review how I did on last years resolutions, and make some new ones for this year.

First the review... I really had only a couple of goals last year year. One was to maintain the weight that I lost in 2008. I have done really well with that one. I have managed to stay between 130 - 135 lbs. I didn't keep up with running 3x a week, like I wanted too. When I did really stick to running, I got down to 125 lbs. but, found that for my height (5'8") that was a little to thin. It made me tired all the time.
My second big goal was to read 24 books during 2009. I didn't quite reach that one. But I did pretty well - I read 18!

New goals for this year:

1) Get into shape. I really need to get back into exercising at least 3x a week. I am thinking of doing 2x a week of cardio (running, walking, or biking) and 1x a week of strength training/toning (weights or pilates or yoga). I really need a kick in my butt to get me going on this goal, since I am seriously lacking the motivation.

2) Go back to school. I always said that I was going to go back and finish my teaching degree as soon a all the kids are in school. Well, Brylee starts kindergarten this year (Sad! She is getting so BIG!). So it is time to go back. I am just going to start out part time through CSN taking online courses. I want to have my associates complete (I only need two classes), all my credits that I need to retake (my maths are too old for UNLV's teaching program requirements), and all my prerequisites done by fall of 2011 so that when Bry is in school full time, I can start the teaching program full time. I should be teaching on an internship by fall of 2012! woohoo!

3) Grow my hair back out. Yeah. I got a little crazy and whacked it all off last year, only to find it is nearly impossible to find a decent hairdresser, in Vegas, on my budget. So I am just going to grow it back out. I am shooting for a chin length, choppy bob with side swept bangs.

4) Read 12 books for pleasure. I am cutting back my goal this year, because realistically, with school I will be pretty busy.

5) Take a vacation with Brian. We probably won't be able to afford to go somewhere elaborate, but even if we could talk our parents into watching the kids for a weekend while we escape to SLC and stay with some friends, it would be nice. It's been so long since we have been able to do anything alone together.

6) Go to see the Beatles Love show. Yes, tickets are expensive. That is why I have never gone. I have a hard time spending money on me. But, even if I just save all the random change I find laying around, with all the locals discounts, that would pay for my ticket. I want to be able to do this one selfish thing for me... and not feel guilty about it! :)

7) Do something as a family at least once a week. Even if it is just sitting down and watching a movie, we need to have a family night.

So, that gives me quite a bit of stuff to work on!

Here's hoping for a great year for everyone!!!

Christmas 2009

We stayed at home, in Las Vegas, this Christmas. I cooked a big turkey dinner, on Christmas Eve. After it was all cleaned up, the girls got to open one present - pajamas. Then we watched "The Santa Clause 3". They ended up going to bed around 9:00.

The next morning Alysa woke me up at 5:30. The tv was on, showing "A Christmas Story". I told her, "Finish watching the movie and then I'll get up." She said, "But mom, I've already watched it two times!!!" Apparently, she had been up since 2:30 AM!

Maren and Matt joined us Christmas morning from Kansas via webcam! We set the laptop in the corner, where she could see and hear everything. The girls loved showing their presents off to them!

Taylor and Michael joined us on Sunday, and on Monday my mom and Kirk came to visit with Austin in tow! I think that everyone got what they wanted, and had fun! Overall, it was a great Christmas!!!

A few more...

After seeing Brylee's pics, the girls decided that they wouldn't mind having a few pictures taken. The boys, still, wanted nothing to do with it. I think that I probably could have talked Michael into it, if the older to boys weren't around. *sigh* They are getting too big! A few years ago they would have been excited to get their pictures taken.

Anyway... these didn't turn out quite as well, but they are still cute. I think that I now want to save up for a good camera, and maybe a photography class in the future, because it is really fun!

Experimenting

For a long time, I have wanted t be able to take good pictures. I don't have a nice camera, and I won't be able to afford a nice camera anytime soon - but, I kept thinking, there has to be some way to take some decent looking photos with my cheap digital camera. I started reading online, and found alot of helpful sites that offered some really good tips.

So with a $40 camera, Picasa (free photo editing program), and Brylee (the only one of my 6 kids who was willing to have her picture taken) I got the following pics:

They are far from professional, but I think they turned out cute!

Alysa's story

My Wild Thing

by

Alysa Roberts

My Wild thing's name is Aly. She looks hairy and has sharp teeth. Aly has black claws. My wild thin eats cheesy nachos. She like to do cartwheels because her favorite thing to do is gymnastics. We play together at the park. We go to the hair styler and get new hair styles. We see other monsters at the hair stylers. They look cute. They have cute hairstyles. My wild thing and I like to be together.