Because I'm the mom.....

Today I awoke to my radio being toned out. It is a sound that causes my heart to race and my mind to set into full speed. This morning I couldn't quite hear the call, but thought I heard something about "road rash". I tried to quickly dress, but had to run back into my room at least three times realizing I had forgotten important items (shoes, socks, etc...). I found myself standing in my bathroom at one point, and I couldn't think of why I was there. I got into my van and quickly headed down the road. My road is not one that you can take a high speeds safely. I push my van and my driving just a bit, but never to the "crazy" point. I have to be careful because at this time in the morning there is almost always wildlife on the road. Today was no exception. A large buck followed by a smaller buck decide to cross the road right in front of my van. I have to hit my breaks hard enough that all my possessions in my van slam forward. My radio flies onto t...

Seems like a strange title doesn't it? I mean, of course we ALL want our children to be potty trained (and usually sooner is better than later)! If you have been a parent and ever had to potty train I'm sure you will understand my delight in my youngest showing signs she was ready to potty train! Jocelyn had become more and more interested in what happened in the bathroom with both myself and her siblings. It was a normal curiosity, and I was willing to work with her and this new passion. I would explain what was in the bathroom and how things worked, and more "intimate" details of bathroom processes. She had also not only shown some readiness in the way of curiosity, but had also started pulling her diaper off any chance she had. We pulled out the potty chair and she naturally went straight for it to check it out. On her very first experience, she both pooped and peed! I thought we surly had a potty training genius! It was short lived, I assure you! Si...

It has been awhile since I last blogged. Life has been busy and it seems like finding computer time has been a challenge. I've been dealing with a less than "organized" lifestyle and frankly was feeling just a little crazy! Emotions had been building around the house,and this wasn't in the positive direction either. I had been avoiding my home pretty much at all costs. It had gotten to a new low (and this is really saying something). My husband had "gently" shared his frustration with me earlier in the week. I then shared my frustration- you know the one where you live the same day every single day! It goes something like I wake up to a mess (most of which was created by my family), I go along my day cleaning up said mess only to have it magically reappear later that evening. Yep, same thing every single day. And I realize it is bad form to "quit", but frankly I didn't care. I threw my toddler tantrum and stopped cleaning up! My house...

So I'm watching my husband and almost 2 yr old daughter sit and eat nachos. It is a family favorite as far as snacking goes. A plate of chips, some cheese, and then some jalapenos on the side for anyone who doesn't care for the spicy flavor (or who can't handle it). Nathan had been putting a jalapeno on each chip he removed from the plate. Jocelyn noticed she was missing out on something that was food....and protested loudly! Nathan told her "no, these are spicy, hot". She says hot and blows on them. And that was that. OR SO WE THOUGHT. Nathan stopped paying as much attention (we were watching a live Ustream show) and he sat the little container with jalapenos in them down on the floor. Jocelyn realizing this was her perfect opportunity to grab a bite quickly snatched one up and popped it in her mouth. Nathan and I saw her doing it, but had no way to stop her in time. We knew she would freak out once that spicy flavor hit her tongue and throat. Here...

At about 10:30 pm last night my radio went off, indicating I had a call. I had known it wouldn't be long since it had been a full week as of Thursday. We average a call a week around here, so I always try to mentally prepare myself for the surprise of the tone we get. We were called to the scene of a fight. Address given. I called in letting the dispatcher know I was responding. I hadn't been in my car very long (on the way to the ambulance or directly to the scene simply based on who else responds and where the scene is in comparison to my home) when dispatch came back over the radio telling us to standby until the sheriff arrived. We had a short wait, and then we were allowed to enter the scene. What we found out was there was a bar fight. Something about two young guys a girl (I think they liked her), and another guy who didn't seem to be as happy about the attention being given to the girl. The guy said something, got jumped by the two guys, who then got jum...

Klennex that is. A whole box. Probably 5 taken out of the package BEFORE Jocelyn got her hands on it. It was quiet. Too quiet. I call her and she makes some little noise. I walk around the corner....and there she was, pulling each tissue out of the box and "blowing" her nose in each one. You can't very well stuff them back in the box, when they've been rubbed all over a toddlers face. And certainly not with the small risk that she might have actually gotten SOMETHING on one! That would just be gross. Ahhh........to be a toddler with nothing better to do than UNDO! :) And this to shall pass (although when it is as cute as this, sometimes I wish it wouldn't)!

What a title huh? The funny thing is, I like that title. I like it that people see me and think of Happy Living! :) What an honor. So what does a GURU do? Um....not sure, will get back with you on that one. Maybe underground meetings with fun monkey hats? Secret hand shakes......and ALWAYS something yummy to eat. Cookies, dump cake, Rice Krispie Treats. That sounds like a good start. What else do I do? Maybe teach others how to have happy living? :) I don't know, but I'll work on it! HaaHaaa........just another step to RULING the WORLD.....mwhaaaamwhaaaaaaaa!!!!

I've been working very hard at keeping a very positive mind set about life in general. I'm working at imagining how I want my life to look. I see very wonderful things happening. What I have found with this "new" thinking is that it is so easy to fall back into the "old" way of thinking. What do I mean? I mean, wanting to do nothing because things aren't the way I want them to be (YET)! Negative thinking when life isn't turning the way I wanted it to turn! What I keep reminding myself, is it isn't about how quickly we get there, but the journey! It is easy to apply this to a "real life" situation. There are two ways to get to one location. One is a "quick" trip, but it is flat and "surprise" free. The other, takes more time, but it has some hills and some wonderful scenery. Along the way, you have a few surprises, maybe wildlife. It takes a lot longer, but it is so worth the journey! I have to remember tha...

My son came in with his vision board. He was excited about the work he had done with his board. He proudly showed me what he was now dreaming about, about the things he would be manifesting in his life. All three children had added Disneyland for Christmas to their boards. He had a couple other things, but what caught my eye was his BIG picture in the upper left hand corner. You see, there was a big picture of corn. Yes, CORN. The kind you eat! :) I asked him about it. His reply was simple, "I like corn! I want more corn." LOL Yes, corn is my sons dream. Then I picked up the quote from one of my favorite movies A Knights Tale and shared it with him. "Now that dream CAN come true!" Lesson learned? Sometimes we caught up in such big things and such big dreams, that we forget the little pleasures! Don't forget those little things! They tend to keep us grounded and help us make it through our "normal" day by day activities! I also learned...

I forgot to tell my children that sometimes you much really think through everything you want to manifest. Sometimes it seems as though life would be better with certain things (like a robot that does all your house work). But if you haven't really thought through the whole situation you might find yourself wondering why you wanted it. My middle daughter came up to show me her vision board. I about fell over when I saw a "baby" on it! Yep, right there on that board was a picture of a little baby. "Um......What is THAT?" I asked. "Because you better not be manifesting ANOTHER baby for this family!" Lord help us all if that one came true! ;) Natalie starts laughing at my reaction. She then stops for a moment and thinks about her words then tells me it is her baby for after she gets married and has kids. I'm pretty sure it wasn't her original plan, but when mom threw in that part about "not another one in our family" she did som...

I have been spending a good portion of my day thinking about what it is that I want out of life. Not just things like I want a clean house (which would be a miracle in and of itself), but more like big life goals. Things like before the end of the year I want to take my kids to Disneyland for Christmas, and having a good looking savings account. I have been working on thinking positive thoughts about all these things. I've been dreaming of these things. I truly believe these things will happen! There is NO doubt in my mind. I can picture just how it will work out. The funny thing, or maybe not funny but remarkable thing is, it is catching like wild fire!  My children have gotten in on it as well. I sat down and explained just a small portion of the logic behind the movie The Secret to Kayla one evening. I was telling her that she needed to expect things in school to be good. No worrying about if she would be bullied by the same boy as last year. Just see yourself goi...

Here is the amazing thing as a parent, you fight many battles, and no matter how RIGHT you may be, you seem to lose more than you win. Maybe not in the eyes of the outside world, but inside the house....you know your kid just looks at you with that "whatever" look. My darling 10 yr old who used to think I was incredible, now thinks I'm the biggest pain in the world. I know she thinks I ONLY try to ruin her life in one way or another. Somewhere in my head, I thought we wouldn't deal with this until she was in her teens. Boy was I wrong! Case and point. Saturday we went grocery shopping. This is something that I actually ENJOY doing. It is fun, and helps my "spending/buying bug" feel satisfied. :) I love walking up and down every isle looking for creative (or not so creative) food choices. I like having to decide if the price of organic is worth it. Or even if the store brand will taste the same as the name brand (to anyone who doesn't know........

We try to stick to the Sunday as the day of rest. What this means is that we don't do our "real" work on those days. We try to attend church and always try to do something that centers around the family. What that looks like each week can change. It can be a total family thing, or each person picks and does what they would like. But we try to make it something fun. No chores, no work, nothing that brings us down (sometimes that can't be helped, but we try). Sam and Nathan like to play a few games on the Wii. The girls like to watch movies or hang out or make some fun creation in the kitchen. I love the special time we get to spend together. It is there throughout the week, but it never seems as focused as our Sundays!

Actually, our first week was only a day. Yep, they started school on a Friday. I don't really understand, but it was fine with me. Here were the reports I got from each kid. Sam: "It was fun and I have three friends and a new one, Michael!" Natalie: ".............(twenty minute detailed description of everything) it was so fun, and my teacher is the nicest one ever" Kayla: "It was the best school day ever!" These were GREAT statements from children who weren't ready to head back to school. Kayla especially was worried about school this year after a very rough year last year. I've been talking to her about the importance of thinking positive thoughts and moving past feeling from last year. She made a new "best friend" and was excited when she got home. I see great things happening this year! I'm happy for them. Jocelyn will be lonely during the day, but will stay very busy! :)

I return from work (which is working at a coffee shop once a week) today to a hamster cage attached to another hamster cage....and in it? A baby mouse. Here is the story. Natalie woke up to a squeaky sound. When she finally got enough courage to go investigate, she found a baby mouse caught in the sticky trap. See....those traps DO work! But my children think my husband and I are rather horrible because we put out these traps in order to hunt down and eventually kill our pest invaders. Back to the squeak sound. The baby mouse was trapped in the glue. My daughters taking pity on the very cute and tiny mouse, decide to get out the cooking oil (hmmm.....have they been reading my blog?) and give the baby mouse a bath in order to "un-stick" him from the sticky trap. It worked like a charm, although the "pet" mouse now has a very oily & slicked back hairdo. I'll continue this story when we decide if we should or should NOT keep this tiny little pet. We ...

Remember this topic from last month? This is the only phrase that seems to cover such a wide range of ....um.....things. Today has had many of those moments. They have come from all my children, but Jocelyn takes the cake! Let me give you a quick look into my morning. My children can't seem to SEE the nasty nasty mess that is our house! The slide over their dirty dishes from the meal before....or worse yet, they totally ignore that there was something there and basically place themselves right IN the mess. I got the question about why we might have sugar ants in the dining room. My response? REALLY? You guys don't understand why the SUGAR ants might enjoy our dining room? Let me give you some insight! It COULD be the orange juice that was spilt and apparently NOT cleaned up properly. It could be from the tiny bits of cake. It might be melted popsicles. I don't know. I do, however, know that right now, I'm surprised that the all out doors isn't inside ...

Tonight our EMS & Fire agencies were supposed to do training with Flight for Life. It was supposed to be the simple rules of what to do/not to do! We spent some time just talking and learning a bit about things. Most of the fire department couldn't be there since they were called out to a fire just minutes before the training started. I joked around about getting a ride with them at some point (and I know one of the pilots and have been trying to work something out for months). I asked plenty of questions, and was just really interested in patient care before and during the flight. I was surprised at some of the issues they have with patient weight, but other things I thought would be issues weren't. Anyway, at the end of the training (now completely dark) they said that if someone was willing to drive into Pueblo to pick up someone, they would do a drawing and let one of us ride with them back to town. I, of course being shy and quiet, started becoming a bit vocal w...

It has been dry around here. What does that have to do with anything? Well, it seems that when the creek bed behind our house dries up (or at least ALMOST dries up) we get mice. A LOT of mice! We have been invaded, and I'm not thrilled. I would much rather deal with many other pests, because mice are just nasty! Anyway......back to my post. So to get rid of these nasty pests we have a few choices, but have decided, for the safety of the little one, we would go with sticky traps. These aren't the most "humane" choice in all honesty, but less of a risk for injury to Jocelyn. In the past, we've had great success in getting mice with the sticky traps. This year, however, it seems some bulletin has been posted about what/how to avoid these traps of death. It seems to be working- the word has spread and we never seem to catch a mouse. What do we catch you ask? A 32 pound toddler! Yep, not once, not twice, but more than four times now. I began to think it wa...

In this time of political unrest, it is important to know where you stand on the issues. Here is a short test to determine.... Are you a Democrat, a Republican, or a Redneck? The answer can be found by posing the following question: You're walking down a deserted street with your wife and two small children. Suddenly, an Islamic Terrorist (or county commissioner) with a huge knife comes around the corner, locks eyes with you, screams obscenities, praises Allah, raises the knife, and charges at you. You are carrying a Kimber 1911 cal. 45 ACP, and you are an expert shot. You have mere seconds before he reaches you and your family. WHAT DO YOU DO? ............................................................ THINK CAREFULLY AND THEN SCROLL DOWN: Democrat's Answer : Well, that's not enough information to answer the question! Does the man look poor or oppressed? Have I ever done anything to him that would inspire him to attack? Could we run away? What does my w...

You forget sometimes that physical touch is a very powerful tool. It certainly can make the "owies" go away for a child. But sometimes we forget that adults need a hug too. I have a friend that just found out around 2 wks ago that she has breast cancer. Over the past few weeks she has been through numerous tests. What they know so far is that the cancer probably came from somewhere other than the breast....and she is probably going to have surgery and possibly need a bone marrow transplant. This is a lot to learn in just two weeks. She and her husband are doing as well as could possibly be expected. What do you say to someone who has had their world turned up-side-down? Really there isn't much you can say. I was able to give her a hug and tell her I was praying for her. I was thinking positive thoughts and would be there in any way I could. I asked if there was anything I could do to make life a little easier for her and her husband and she actually said that if ...

I went to brush my teeth and found my toothbrush a blackish color! It took me a minute to figure out what could have possibly happened to my toothbrush. I certainly hadn't left it that way! ;) It hit me that my curious toddler had been eating oreo cookies earlier that morning and had gone looking for her siblings before I got her cleaned up. She found my toothbrush and decided to clean her 3 teeth. Thus leaving my toothbrush covered in oreo cookie! It took some scrubbing, but it looks "good as new". Note to self....keep toothbrush further back on bathroom cabinet!

That is a TRUE statement! I think being a mom totally qualifies you for any job in the world. We do become experts in almost every area of life. Like what? Janitor, chef, nurse, parole officer, judge, jury, banker, tailor, grocer, taxi, zoo keeper, psychiatrist, counselor, teacher, and the list goes on and on. My toddler has pretty much tested my ability to do all these things today! She has undone faster than I can possibly do! I've done nothing but tried to fix messes she has made. Today is a true "Calgon, Take me away" day! Off to fix lunch for the group. Then it is nap time! WOOHOO!

I have 4 kids. Yes 4! When you say the number it seems like a LOT! ;) My kids range from ages 10 to almost 2. I find myself thinking "really?" pretty much all day long. Example? My almost 2 year old has decided she is the ruler of this house! REALLY? She will climb anything she can, and screams louder than a ship horn when you stop her! Really! She is stubborn (I think she gets that from her father) and has a mind of her own. She can eat more than any 6 year old that I've seen (possibly a 10 year old). And my only thought is....Really? She is a solid tank of a child and those big blue eyes assure her of at least some leeway now and then. The other three children can't complete with their baby sister when it comes to the amount of trouble she finds. However, they each have their fair share of times when I'm left thinking- really? My oldest has recently found a real knack for my brain to steam and my mind to lose all intelligent words when she...

I find that it is hard to me to take action. Just the very word can make me feel a little overwhelmed. It isn't because I'm lazy, but more because I'm indecisive. This weekend in Chicago I decided that I would just take action and stop dragging my feet. I think it is a good choice. My first action is this blog. It will be used for updates about my life and my latest projects. I heard wonderful information from some great speakers this weekend, and will apply much of what I learned from them. You will have to check back and see how the progress is going.