its alllliiive

my blog is still alive!  it was dead.  it locked me out for some period of time and unfortunately I didn't even care that much.  I'm sorry.  I love you blog but not that much.  Not to actually figure out why I was locked out.  Now you are back.SOooooooo

Addie started 4th grade.  She has a teacher who is a tall ice hockey player named Miss Siehl and she says she is her favorite teacher so far.  She's happy so I'm happy.

Eva started 1st grade.  The girls ride the bus together, and sit together.  I love seeing their faces wave to me from the same seat as the bus pulls away in the morning.  It's sisterly love (for the moment).  And I never hesitate to yell in a frantic mom voice from the front door "I LOVE YOU COOKIE!" 
 Eva's nickname.  I hope I can do that till she graduates.  She always gives me a dirty look.

Harvey is in the school of netflix.  It is hard to get into.  It requires 8 dollars a month and an ability to puruse through many bad 90's cartoons and made for tv movies.  He's doing pretty well so far and has found several courses (Wild Kratz, Garfield, Power Rangers) that he is doing really well at.  

Mr. Dotson is attending 5th grade for the 8th year in a row.  I hope he doesn't lose his marbles.  I don't know how long he can keep it up.  If I had to attend 5th grade that long I'd probably run away to another country and join the circus.  He's still here, so that's going well I guess. 

as for me, I'm a commitment phobe and have been running but still haven't signed up for my half marathon.  Jeff Galloway is the bomb!  he has helped my running so much.  Read Jeff Galloway.  I'm not kidding.  He will have you running more miles than you ever thought possible.  And you will feel good.  And only be running 3 days a week.  Otherwise, I've just been getting the piano calender set up for fall, taking Harvey out with me when he isn't in school (watching netflix) and trying to think of vegetarian ish dinners to feed the family. I fell off the boat for like a week and gained 5 pounds!  I seriously can't eat meat or cheese it makes me blow up.  I let the kids eat it a bit because they need to blow up, but me, no need whatsoever. 

whats up

what makes me happy: these people.  And others not pictured above.  Bad blogger-yes I am. 
 Life just keeps turning, and things are going on and I don't even know where the heck to start. 
 Because as a mom isn't every day just another day, and the days turn into weeks and months and years and the changes are small, and noticeable more looking back after a distance, when you see chubby thighs even out, and toothless smiles fill in.  I look at lines around my eyes and see pictures of years ago and remember thinking how I didn't like the picture and now I think I look awesome in it. 
 Things that happen in a day are food, more food, dishes more dishes, dinosaurs, spider man suits, field trip money, and Fly Guy books, pianos clanging, doorbells ringing, dropping off at afternoon kindergarten and being rebellious and dropping her off right in front even though we are supposed to park down the street.  Addie doing family home evening lessons on nature.  Lethal puppy farts.  Harvey saying" I love my mom", Danny saying "you keep our world turning".   I'm running, in the early morning, watching the sun come up and praying thank you, thank you Lord for another day. 

ain't nobody got time for that

Things I've learned since being burglarized:
put your pictures somewhere besides your computer: like a cd, external hard drive, a box, because you cannot replace those...I still cannot think about the videos I lost, the kids on vacation at the beach, smiling at the camera wind blowing through hair, small legs, diapered chubby butts.  I wish my memory was better but unfortunately pictures and videos really helps me out in that department.  Christmas videos, and performances at school and in the living room set to music.  Dancing like crazy and and Harvey being a "super E" his word for super hero.  Videos I can't get back.  But at least I can take new videos, ones I will save carefully 

Lock your doors: sounds obvious, but I kept leaving my back patio door open so people could come in without a key.  not smart.  Someone I didn't want to come in came in without a key.  

Leave your dog out:  This I'm still on the fence with, Chilly was in her cage, and maybe if she was out she would've gotten hurt, but I'm guessing with how she growls at the dp&l guy she could have been some kind of deterrent.  

Don't leave your stuff in your master bedroom:  The only bedroom they checked out was the master bedroom and that is where they stole my jewelry.  Probably any other place is better for jewelry, like literally anywhere else.    

The worst feeling is just the feeling that someone was in my house, dumping my special, yet worthless to a stranger things, and taking things that belonged to us.  
I hope I can feel safe again and help my kids feel safe....but I guess we will never probably feel so safe we leave our house open.

happy winter!  It's the dead of winter and snow is piling up here, I'm treating myself to sitting online as long as I want.  I've been trying to limit technology in my house.  Why? Because I feel like my family is turning into zombies, school, eat, tv...repeated daily.    So I am trying to stay off the computer and do other productive activities, like read, make up arrangements of songs on the piano and read Harvey the same book 1 million times in a row..right now he really likes the "elephant and piggie" books.  Honestly I feel like just keeping this family fed and sanitary takes a ton of time.  i do not know how 2 working outside the home parents do it- it would be seriously hard.  If i worked 9 hours a day like alot of people do we would probably have our house condemned and our kids put in foster care because they would be living off like cheetos and root beer.  I mean, we had one of addies baby hamsters escape and we couldn't find it for 5 days.  things get bad round these parts.  today laundry needs to be done and I have to hope no more hamsters get out or we will be in trouble.  I need those hamsters gone!  Addie's rodent collecting is getting to the level of animal hoarding, 3 gerbils and 7 hamsters.  So tonight I think I'm going to make soft pretzels, I haven't made those in a while, and Addie and I are having a good luck charlie Season 3 marathon.  Daddy and Eva have a date to play checkers until Eva is a checker champ.  So that is today!

still here.....

I haven't been journaling, blogging, or anything that actually involved writing.  I kind of miss it,  every night I commit to writing in my journal then my head hits the pillow and my eyes are heavy and the thought of trying to make sense of my day sounds like work that is too overwhelming.   
  3 kids.  Doesn't sounds like much, but lately my days are flying by, I hardly sit down all day, but my life is full and happy and I feel content......because how could you not be with check out my big boy in his panties.  Yes we call them panties.  Yes he will be okay.  He is more man in his panties than you'll ever be in your underwear.  He has two older sisters, what do you expect. 

cookies

we call eva cookie because she has chocolatey eyes and she's brownish in color so she is our cookie.   

harvey is a cookie man himself

Actually he just fell asleep and he literally smiled in his sleep and said the word "Cookie"  But who doesn't love cookies.  Actually I'd like to meet someone who doesn't love cookies and I would slap their face.  Or force feed them cookies.  Maybe they just have never had a good cookie.  I've never met a cookie I don't like.   Well I take that back....some cookies, given enough nuts, are more of a granola bar and I steer away from those.  

So, summer has struck round these parts.  We have been making family memories and you better not forget it kids.  I tell my kids...you guys have a great life and a wonderful childhood....I think I tell them that so maybe when they are older they are less likely to go to a therapist and complain about their childhood.  We have been fishin and swimming, and playing with loads of cousins, and playing with poor homeless animals at the animal shelter, and going to the farm and the park and riding bikes.  You name it it's happening and it's good.  Although I'm wore out.  It takes alot of food to feed 3 growing kids with extra cousins over.  I feel like a 50's housewife somedays where I go from scrubbing out a huge pot to making another meal to rotating laundry to making more food.  I need to invent a mom feeding trough where you just throw food in a trough and the kids line up and eat it whenever they are hungry. we need a cookie trough.  We wouldn't become obese that way now would we?

going old school like an old fool

( fun with harvey often involves violence)

yo dawgs.  I've been blogging old school as in writing in my journal.  I have a journal that I've kept for about  eight years and I'm still not through it so I am thinking I should focus on that.  I also am doing a gratitude journal where I write 3 things I'm thankful for every night.  They can be anything from totally amazing to the everyday stuff like, Harvey's butt.  I am grateful for Harveys butt.  It is so cute.  It gives me great joy.  So that has been on my gratitude list.  Also Addie's 2 front teeth, Eva's brown chocolatey eyes, and Danny's muscles.  So I just repeat those things often, interspersed by other less deep thoughts.  Sometimes I'm so deep I could just dive down into my thoughts and get lost and never get out.  hahahahaha.  Just kidding.  I usually am thinking about food or spacing out!  I wish I didn't space out so much.   danny told me some research on how when women have a baby they actually get a bigger brain.  that made me happy because I always assumed the longer you nurse the more brain food the baby is taking and the more shrivled and nutrient deprived my brain is getting until I'm just sitting in a corner rocking and sucking on my thumb or picking boogers.  So, even though it looks like I'm not listening, and it looks like I don't have a clue, don't worry.  My brain is WAY bigger than yours and it probably is just busy connecting new neurons and firing away at warp speed.  

btw people My little baby sister (shes not really a baby she's 23)  had her first BABY GIRL!!!!!  I'm sure she is precious even though I've only seen like 4 pictures and 3 of them were on my phone and my phone is from the dark ages and pictures look like they are polaroids with scratches all over them.  But as far as I can tell on the one picture on facebook she is a total doll and my ovaries are hurting every time I see that picture.  Which has been often, like every time I get online I just stare at the baby with my mouth hanging open and a big string of drool going down to the keyboard.  Her name is Helene Eleanor!  isn't that the cutest ??? Anyways, Love ya'lls!!!