Getting back into a routine

Today, Addie & Ellie went back to school. Hallelujah! Getting them up at 7 didn't seem that bad, of course by Friday it might be getting old. I was a little worrried that they would be sad about going back, but they did well. I went to the gym and discovered it was CLOSED due to a power outage (Hallelujah #2). So I ran some errands with Liv and Grace, boy that seemed like a breeze after spending 3 weeks with 4 kids. I was trying to think of some things that can make the early mornings run smoothly....I have the girls pick out their clothes the night before (this works so well), but do you have any other ideas. I was thinking this morning, I should have them pour their cereal in bowls the night before, is that gross? Give me ideas, what works for you???

Extreme Makeover Home Edition

You have to love those United Rentals guys! (Hi Greg)

The claw picking up all the debris.

This is where the house used to be.

R.J. (Extreme Home Makeover security), me, and Heather

A volunteer cat napping against a tree.

The neighbors across the street put their lawn chairs on top of their carport to watch. They were definitely making th most of the experience.

The blue shirts that every volunteer wears.

Me with a big smile riding the bus on the way to the job site.

Heather smiling big.

Extreme Makeover Home Edition is in Fresno this week! My girls and I LOVE the show! Guess what??? I got to go watch (Heather went with me)! Today was demo day, and we got to observe as an excavator loaded truck after truck with remains of the old house. Might sound totally boring, but we had no children with us and excitement was in the air, so it was awesome, that's all I can say, AWESOME! The outpouring from the community is amazing. We spoke to so many nice people. We quickly found out Ty was not around (someone told us they do 2 builds at the same time, so Ty flew to El Paso, and will return on Wed. to Fresno for furniture move in and the reveal on Thurs.), bummer! We're going back on Wednesday afternoon, I'll post more pictures and I'll keep my fingers crossed, maybe Ty will be around. Do you like the show (won't hurt my feelings if you don't)? What's your favorite part? The Fresno build will air sometime in March.

2008 in pictures...

January: My sister, niece, and I take the older 3 girls to Disneyland. Olivia turns 3. Addie starts cake decorating class. We start attending River Valley Church.

Febraury: We take a few days off and go to Shaver Lake.

March: The girls picture taken by Auntie Anjie.

April: Josh's grandma passes away. We spend time in Bakersfield with family and friends. This is a picture of Josh and his pre-school teacher (and friend of Grandma's), Teacher Haslett.

May: We take a trip to Prescott, Arizona to visit my sister. This pic is taken at her house. Also in May, Josh and I get away for a weekend by ourselves to Santa Barbara for a Kaweah study weekend, and Ellie turns 5. Ellie completes pre-school at Mountain View and gears up for kindergarten.

June: I finish the school year at Ewing, teaching 1st grade. Summer vacation begins, and I begin enjoying being a stay-at-home-mom.

July: We take another trip to Shaver, this time we stay for a week. We take the boat, ski alot, and jet ski. Addie and Papa playing in the lake. Addie turns 7 and we bake cupcakes for her and Pops and sing Happy Birthday!

August: First day of school for Addie and Ellie.

September: Ellie enjoying the cooler weather outside.

October: Halloween brings fun as we dress up and go trick-or-treating. Grace turns one and we celebrate! We find out we're expecting another baby....wow 5 kids!

November: A family picture taken at Thanksgiving in Shaver. I turn 33 and Josh and I get away overnight to Oakhurst. We attend Todd's 40th b-day celebration.

December: Christmas Eve pic taken in front of the Christmas tree. Josh turns 33 and he and I get a dinner out to Max's.

It's getting better

Gabby asleep in her crate

Liv smiling big.

Grace just crawling around (she's still not walking).

Addie and Gabby

Addie and Gabby again.

I'm happy to report our second night with Gabby was much better...Josh and I actually got some sleep and she is getting more used to her crate.

Heather, thank you for reminding me that you can't give up the first day, if you had you would have sent Luke back. I guess it's a little different since Luke is your son and Gabby is a dog, but it's the encouragement I needed.

The girls are having so much fun with her, brushing her hair, taking her on walks, playing with her inside her crate. We played fetch with her yesterday and she returns the ball most of the time.

I have to admit, I'm having a lot of fun with her. I've always said I'm not much of a dog person, but I kinda like this one!

What were we thinking???

Okay so Josh has been begging (that may not be the right word, maybe pleading his case would be better) for months to get a BIG dog. He has poured over the classifieds and craigslist til I thought I might kill him. He has read tons of stuff, taken tests to see what the perfect dog for us is, and spent hours doing "research".

My cynical side (the side that says, "Seriously....... can I take care of one more living thing?", or "Don't I have enough poop to deal with on a daily basis?") was against the idea of getting another dog (we have a Maltese named Scout already). Plus BIG dogs are alot of work, they need lots of exercise, and their poop is BIG.

Well after months and months of listening to Josh's "research", he showed me a picture of one of cutest dogs I've ever seen and right then my heart melted. I had never heard of a Golden Doodle (have you?), it's a cross between a standard poodle and a golden retriever.

She is stinkin' cute, but our first night with her left us wondering if we have made a huge mistake. I've had newborn babies that are easier to deal with from 11 p.m.- 5 a.m. than this dog. Last night was rough, Josh spent most of the night on the couch next to our new "baby". If she isn't around us, she likes to bark and howl. We are hoping to become experts in dog training and have her whipped into shape in no time. Her name is Gabby, she is 18 weeks old, she has a lot to learn, and I have a feeling she has a lot to teach us.

Is Christmas vacation over?

Josh went back to work yesterday after a nice, fun holiday. Addie and Ellie have one more week off, and I'm enjoying the sleeping in and lounging around having no place to be, but I can tell that today I have officailly hit the "is vacation over yet" stage. I'm ready to have a few minutes to myself, is that selfish? Probably, but having 4 of children home for 3 weeks is beginning to wear on me (they're loud, messy, easily excited, never a dull moment bunch)...I'm tired. It was great when Josh was home, he spent lots of time playing with them, helping me pick up, and running around with them, now he's back to work and I'm.....tired (I've already said that, huh?). When you're a mom you hate to say negative things about times you know you'll miss someday, but when you're in the trenches a school day brings some much needed relief for this mommy.

What's for dinner?

You may have noticed that I have included a menu of what we're eating each night on my blog. I've been seriously slacking in this area since I got pregnant.....the thought of cooking makes me want to barf and I'm too tired to think of anything to feed all these hungry children of mine (and Josh of course). So I have to admit we have been eating out and doing take out a lot. Well as an attempt to motivate myself and get my family back to our "normal" eating habits, I'm including our menu for the week (off to the side), I went grocery shopping this weekend, and the fridge is stocked. Here's to something besides taco bell, in-n-out, chipolte, or subway.

How do you use menu planning in your house? Do you grocery shop every few days, every week, every month? If you do something that works for you and your family, I'd love to hear about it!