I looked stress in the face--and laughed!

Well, I looked stress in the face, and won!!

Friday I went into town for Callum's therapy & Dr. appointment. We left at 8 am, Callum did great in therapy (although he still is too scared to climb to the top of the climbing wall--but who blames him? It is 3 stories high), and then I went to Target to get a few things from the ad. Emmalee and Benjamin were with me since Brienna and Zane both had sewing 4-H club, Ethan had student body meeting, and Rusty was helping his dad with an electrical job.

Anyhow, I buckled the children in, climbed behind the wheel of my trusty 18 year old mini-van, turned the key and.......NOTHING!! The key turned way too easily, so I immediately knew it was the ignition. Rusty had problems in his truck a few years ago with his ignition, so I knew it was that or the starter.

So what to do?? I am 1 hour away from home, don't have friend or anyone to call in the town, and so I wanted to cry. That was my first reaction--but then I thought: what will crying do? I knew the children would get upset if I was upset. So I stayed calm, unbuckled the children (so they could entertain each other) and tried to call home. Of course, the other children were all at their various happenings, and Rusty didn't have his cell phone with him. And neither did my father-in-law. So I had to make the decisions on my own. If they had been home, I would have waited in Target while they drove to town and they could tow me to the mechanic (who is our mechanic??).

Luckily, I have an old phone book under the seat, so I looked up the last place I remember going to for our tires--Wally's by K-Mart. It is only about 1 mile away from the store, so I was hoping the towing wouldn't be too much (the other side of town is 5-8 miles away). Unfortunately, Wally's does not have towing services, but they said they would call me a tow truck and it would be there in about 15-20 minutes (since I told him I had a newborn with me).

Now, it was a chilly day in town. It was overcast with low clouds that left a chill in the air, and the wind had picked up. The tow truck got there about 15 minutes--talk about quick service. Emmalee was nervous about getting squished in the van--thanks to watching "Cars". But I told her we would not be in the van when they pulled it to the "car fixers". The tow man (police man to Emmalee due to the flashing lights on his truck) didn't have room in his truck for 4 of us (he was told about the newborn, but not the other children). So he called for another vehicle which came within 5 minutes. It was starting to get chilly in the van, but Callum wasn't worried--"We have blankets, Mom!"

We got to the mechanics (after buckling 3 kids into a strangers car) and Emmalee was worried about her car seat left in the van!! The mechanics were sympathic, since I had the 3 young ones (although they behaved so well--I knew my prayers were being answered). And then they were even more sympathic when they found out I had 3 more at home (and thankful that I didn't have everyone in town with me!!) lol

Okay, this blog is now becomig a chapter book, but I am getting to the end soon.

By now, the kids were playing with the train table in the waiting room, drinking complimentary hot cocoa and eating candy from the machines. And little Ben kept snoozing away like the good baby he is. It had been 1 1/2 hours since we had left Target, and the mechanic told me the bad news: it was more than just the ignition and the problem was in the steering column too. And that would take about an hour to diagnos, plus then fixing it would be at least an hour (if they had the parts there) but they thought they would have to order the parts.

So I called home and finally got a hold of Ethan (my oldest). He hadn't heard from Dad, so I called my mother-in-law. She said she would come and get me. I had to call the Dr. office & cancel Callum's appointment (it was for his poor skin--ezcema). It was just after noon, and the kids wanted some lunch. So I thought I would have about 1 hour. So we walked over to K-mart (3 buildings away) and we about froze!! The wind was in our faces and it was cold. There is a little eatery there, so we ordered mini pizzas and bread sticks. We had just sat down when mother-in-law called back and said that brother-in-law was in town, and would pick me up in about 5 minutes, take me to his house about 20 minutes away and she would met us there and take us the rest of the way home.

The lady at K-Mart was quite nice (must had felt bad for me) and gave us a full order of bread sticks for the road and aluminum foil to wrap our food in so we could go. We squished into a little, tiny, small pick-up truck, stopped by the van so I could get a few things out of it, and then drove 20 miles to his house. Emmalee was really good with all the shifting going on by her legs, but the last 5 minutes were spent singing songs, counting, guessing and anything else I could do to distract her from bugging everyone else!

We were able to eat our pizza there, and then transfer ourselves into Tasha's van (cousin that lives in our town) and make it home in one piece. We did need to get back quickly, though, because her boys had a middle school basketball game at 4, and then at 6 & 7:30, Ethan had his games (he plays both JV & varsity).

I really didn't feel stressed. I love my new year's resolution of letting things fall where they will, and not stressing about things that are out of my control. The good news came when we were almost home--the van would be fixed by Monday morning, and the cost was half of what I expected it to be. I guess since I didn't call the tow truck myself, and went through the mechanic, I was given a huge discount. And it didn't take as long to diagnois as they expected. They did have to replace the locking cylindar thingy along with the ignition thingy (like I can remember any of the mechanics termonology) and we would be getting new ignition keys.

So this morning (well, it is now Tuesday technically, but Monday morning) I got the phone call shortly after 8 that they had just finished fixing it, they gave the the total amount that I owed, and I got a ride into town with my father-in-law & uncle (I just had baby and Emmalee today).

But I did have to spend all day in town trying to do the shopping I didn't get to on Friday. I got most of the things done (the necessities), and made it home in time to throw a lasagna into the oven, put some of the fridge food away (left the rest in the cooler in the van), and begin piano lessons (I had 3 students today).

I know we are blessed and that our prayers were answered. I am thankful that family is so willing to drop everything and drive 50 miles (one way) to help others in need. Life is good. And--I looked stress in the face--and laughed!!

Wow--It's the first full week of the new year! Did anyone make any resolutions? I mentally made a few, but haven't started in full force yet. (and one of them was to not procrastinate!)

The children (& Rusty) went back to school today--so it is relatively calm at my house. Calm and cold! We had a very cold weekend after a thaw on Friday. It was about 12 below zero over the weekend, and currently it is only 5 degrees! It is nice to have a warm wood stove to keep the baby warm (really I like having a toasty, warm house!)

I have lots I should be doing, but I am trying hard not to stress and let things happen when they do. We hope to take the tree down tonight for Family Home Evening, but if it doesn't happen--Oh Well!

Over the weekend, we were able to visit Rusty's grandmother (93). It is hard to visit her since we don't live in the same town and we usually have so much shopping and errands to run when we are there.

She is doing well (especially for her age) and we got some good pictures.

Well, I'm off to start the new year with a bit of cleaning!

Happy Cleaning!

I got this from "Mid-day in my PJ's" blog. Have fun!

RULES: There are 100 statements and you bold the ones you have done. (I found that if you change the color others can see it better) Grab it and play for yourself!!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to Disney World
8. Climbed a mountain.
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept in an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping (don't tell anyone!)
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run (ok--only on the Wii)
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar.
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chicken pox
89. Saved someone's life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day


That was fun! Hope the first day of your new year was a good one!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year from Idaho!!!


Welcome 2009!

Building a snowman family

Yesterday, the children wanted to build more snowmen since they had so much fun Monday. So they bundled up and waddled outside to build their family of snowmen. Below is the results:

On Monday, the weather was warm and the snow was soft and perfect for packing. Tuesday, it was a cooler day (low 20’s) and the snow was quite dry. So here are more pictures showing the true results of their efforts:

I thought the snowman was cute--so is Emmalee! The kids had fun playing outside, but gave up quickly on the snowmen family. So instead of a family, we have a giant snow-Dad & a iddy-biddy snow-baby!

And we all had a good laugh last night when hubby came in from locking up the sheds & workshop. He said he almost asked who was in our backyard because he saw this tall figure out back! I wonder what the snowman (snow-daddy) would have answered back.

Anyways, needless to say, the girls did not get into town yesterday. We decided we would just wait until our scheduled trip on Friday, and make do with the food we have here. For those not familiar with our little Idaho town, we do have a nice convenient store, just off the interstate, that sells a few groceries (and has the staples--bread, milk, eggs). But they certainly are not bargain prices--so I buy as little as possible at the store. We did buy a couple gallons of milk and some bread yesterday here in our town, but the children made juice & crystal light so we will cut back on the milk intake.

Okay--enough about shopping. Hope you enjoyed the pictures of our snowman family.

Christmas snowmen, dinner & letter

Today was a wonderful day to play outside (for my children!). The sun broke out of the clouds and the thermometer broke the freezing mark! (we were close to 40!) The boys got soaked to the bone digging out a snow tunnel with their cousins and friend, and then took on the challenge of building a snowman taller then they are. When they had me go outside to see their creation, I was surprised at how big the snowman was. I couldn't believe my 2nd and 5th graders could build such a great snowman!

After that hard, heavy work-out outside (the snow had a ton of moisture in it because of the warm sun melting our 1 1/2 feet of snow), the boys moved inside and played a bit on the Wii. My 8-year old then decided to try his hand at the boxing game on the Wii--and broke the family record. He even changed into a t-shirt and shorts! He was so worn out he asked to take a nap at 5 pm.

But dinner was in the oven. We had our "Christmas dinner" today (ham, potatoes, rolls, veggies) because we decided years ago that Christmas was supposed to be a day to enjoy, not slave over the oven and work, work, work! Plus, most years we are getting ready to travel to WY to visit my family. This is the first year in 17 years that we did not travel to WY during the Christmas break (due to our little newborn son). It's hard enough to travel in the bitter cold & snow over the 2 mountain passes w/o a little one! We miss our family, but we know it was best to stay home!

Okay--back to dinner. I made a triple batch of potato casserole (otherwise known as funeral potatoes). I like to cook once, and eat 2-3 times. I usually make at least a double batch of most meals (lasagna, enchiladas, pot pies, etc.) Anyways, we had a wonderful, yummy dinner and then watched an episode of "Waltons"--a family present from Santa. Hubby and me like to watch the older TV shows where we can all enjoy the family values (without having to worry about inappropriate content). Now the children are all nestled snug in their beds.

The other accomplishment that occurred today--I mailed out our newsletter with our family picture to the 50 family & friends on our Christmas mailing list! I had decided (with my husband's encouragement) not to stress about getting the letter out before Christmas, and worked on it when I could. We finished it last week, but didn't get the address labels printed until today.

I have to say that this has been the least stressful Christmas since our first few years (before we had to worry about children, traveling with them, etc.). I have even been enjoying listening to Christmas music today and humming "It's the most wonderful time of the year."

If the weather cooperates, we will be having a girls (plus baby boy) day in town (remember, it is 45 miles away), if the weather holds. It is supposed to be cooler tomorrow (20's) but it's not supposed to snow. We plan on shopping (the clearance items), looking for shoes, and taking in a movie--if we can find one that will entertain both my 12 & 3 year old (they are the only girls).

Plus, it would be nice to have some milk, bread, cheese, and potatoes before my scheduled trip into town on Friday. Our poor potatoes froze about 2 weeks ago, and we salvaged as many as we could, but I used the last of them today. With a teen-aged boy, and 4 growing (active) children, the milk & food goes quicker than I would like. Plus, I only have room in my fridge for so much (although I can fit 8 gallons of milk, 6 bricks of cheese, & 6 dozen eggs in the fridge along with the other little things.)

A little of this, a little of that

What a week!! It is early Sunday morning (really late Saturday night for me--hoping to get to bed soon) and I am grateful for so many things.

I can't believe my baby boy is 7 weeks old already--in a way it feels like we have had him forever (because we have), but time is going by way too fast for me!!

We have received a ton of snow and the forecast is for more snow this coming week. We received 16 inches on Christmas Day, then had a break on Friday. But Saturday it snowed a couple inches more. The snow earlier was great packing snow, where today's snow was light and fluffy.

I did some cleaning today--the first time I really did a lot since having my baby and surgery. Weird--it felt good, but also was tiring. I enjoyed my break from big household duties (vacuuming, sweeping, cleaning toilets, etc.) but our floor needed a good vacuuming--the children can only get it so clean!

I love our family traditions at Christmas-time: no big meal to cook on Christmas day (omelets made by hubby), making gingerbread & sugar cookies, watching "The Nativity" (3 min.) before opening the presents, playing games and doing puzzles while the children are on break.

Talking about breaks--we have the best schedule for school!! Our small district went to a 4-day school week this year (which we all love) and we have 2 full weeks off for Christmas, a full week for Spring Break, and we had a great break for Thanksgiving.

Way off the topic, but I am glad that I decided to get organized for Christmas in September and October since the baby came the first part of November. Every year I tell myself that I will have everything wrapped and sorted so that on Christmas Eve I am not wrapping and getting things ready last minute. I can say that I was ready Tuesday (2 days before Christmas) and I hope that I will be able to be ready even earlier next year. I would have been done a bit sooner, but I needed go on one more shopping trip w/hubby and a storm came over the weekend so we postponed our trip to Monday. We have to travel 45 miles to shop, doctors, etc.

Well blog followers--I guess I had better say goodnight. My precious baby is now sleeping so I need to take advantage of every second of rest I can get. But I do need to let Aunt P. know that he is smiling and gooing at us a lot now. Hurry back for a visit!

Good night, sweet dreams.

Our Christmas morning

We woke up to snow Christmas morning and it snowed all day. The kids were quite excited--Zane and Callum woke up at 4:45, but they were really good and just looked at the presents and dreamed of what they might be receiving from Santa. Hubby got up to get our traditional breakfast/brunch ready (Christmas omelets), and in doing so made a big crash as a glass dish fell and shattered on the kitchen floor.

Needless to say, we all were awake by the crashing of dish at 7:20 (so that really is late for Christmas morning for little ones). All of us went to wake our teenager who thinks sleeping is more important--"the presents aren't going anywhere!"

He finally rolled out of bed with the threat of being dragged out into the snow storm and we all settled down to watch "The Nativity" 3 minute movie by the LDS church. After watching about Christ's birth, we opened our Santa gifts and looked in our stockings. Hubby suggested that we take a break and eat our omelette's (since 2 of the children had been up for hours, and the kids all wanted to eat their candy from the stockings). Surprisingly, they all agreed to stop opening the gifts and eat breakfast. My husband makes a mean omelet--anyway you like it! Plus, this morning he decided to make biscuits and gravy to go with them. YUM, yum!!

With full tummies, we turned to the mountain of presents still under & around the tree. Emmalee (3) excitedly inquired, "We get to open ALL the presents?!" The children opened the gifts and helped our baby open his (not that he was a bit interested in any of them being only 1 1/2 mo. old). When there were only a few presents left, our special-needs 8 year old, Callum, asked, "Mom, are we going to get the Wii?"

That was one gift the whole family wanted. I told them again what we told them before Christmas: that the salesman at Circuit City told us there were no Wiis at their store, and we probably would not be able to find a Wii in town! (I didn't say yes or no, and by now the older children were pestering me to answer yes or no--not to dance around it.)

After truthfully answering their questions, (no, Dad did not buy the Wii; Mom & Dad are not giving you a Wii; etc), Dad found 1 more present from the grandparents (they give us $ to buy presents--so this year=Wii) and the kids were extremely excited about receiving the Wii.

To be continued--my baby needs to eat.

Getting ready for Christmas

What a wonderful Christmas our family had. We had a great week--the children got along (only a few bickering moments which is tolerable since they are not in school).

The children and I baked sugar and gingerbread cookies. Then I made cookie dough balls and a double batch of banana bread/muffins. That was on Tuesday. We decided not to rush things so we waited until Wednesday morning (Christmas Eve day) to frost the sugar cookies and deliver them to our friends. We narrowed our list down to 15 families and Ethan drove me and the older children to deliver the treats.

We participated in a Stewart family tradition (that doesn't occur every year) of eating chili and clam chowder at my husband's dad's house. This year it was a small gathering--most of Hubby's siblings have grandchildren now and stay with their families--so it was our family of 8, grandma & grandpa Stewart, 1 uncle and a brother and sister-in-law. The food was yummy--especially since I didn't have to cook! I love it on the days that I don't have to cook for my family only because then I am not as tired from the cooking and the clean up!!

After dinner and a nice visit, we were off to drive around our small town to enjoy the Christmas lights. That took us a whopping 20 minutes--and it was that long because we had to back-track on a street to enjoy an outstanding display of lights. The children were excited about opening one present (our tradition) and wanted to change into their jammies and open their gift.

But we told them they would be opening 2 gifts this year--one from us and then the gift from their sibling (we drew names this year). We got them new jammies and we wanted them to appreciate and enjoy the gift from their sibling without getting lost in all the emotions and whirlwind opening of presents that occurs on Christmas morning. The children all loved what they received from their sibling and all wore new jammies to bed.

I will write more tomorrow since baby boy just fell asleep and I am going to get my beauty sleep now.

I am okay

Just wanted to share a few more thoughts--I think this blog is more for me than for anyone else and it is theraputic to get my thoughts out.

I am a procrastinator when it comes to things I don't really like to do, and sometimes with things I do like to do (like scrapbooking). I have been planning on getting back on track after being pregnant and having Benjamin, but not today. I really planned on starting my healthy eating habits and exercise when the kids go back to school in January. But after my doctor visit today, I got a wake up call and started today. My blood pressure is really high--high enough to be put on medicine if it doesn't drop some in the next week!!

It is high for many reasons--ones I can change. I have had relatively great health all my life and let bad habits creep back into my lifestyle (like lack of exercise, poor eating habits, eating too much and too much junk, too many activities, too much stress, too little sleep...). I felt I could do it all--be the ideal super mom that no one really can be.

Life will go by too fast--it already is. Ethan is a junior already and before I know it, all of the children will be grown. I put too much stress on myself thinking I need to get so many things done--but I know I cannot do them all without help. I need to enjoy this time instead of being so stressed that I can't enjoy the small (and big) things in my children's lives.

I know there are times and seasons for everything--now is the time when my house will never be "clean", when I will never have enough time to organize & get things put away since I choose to be involved in all my children's activites.

I was recently reminded that I need to enjoy the now--don't keep saying "if I can just get through this event, or get this project done." I really do know that I will never get everything done, and sometimes I think I stress so much about getting things done (whatever the project, school event, church activity, cleaning, etc) that I don't enjoy the process of planning and doing the things I do. Don't we all fall into this trap?

So today, I didn't stress that my Christmas newsletter and cards are not done yet alone mailed out. I didn't yell at my kids to go to bed. I sat and chatted with my sister. I played a game with Emmalee. The house is messy and I am okay.

I