February highlights

Sometimes it is a team effort to keep this family running. Mom is on the office team currently so children have to step it up a bit. Especially in the case of  winter break and an all week school vacation. All your friends may be off skiing, hitting the museums in Boston, or maybe even flown off to Florida, but you are stuck home babysitting for $30 dollars a day. 


The arrangement was Savannah gets paid one day and Kennon takes the next. On your day you cook, clean, organize the day's entertainment, and keep Marcus in dry pants which on some days is still a full time job. The other one stays out of the way as much as possible and lets the other do their thing to minimize extreme conflict. So that's how it went Monday-Thursday in our house. 
Savannah played a game of "Sock Hockey" on Monday. All game paraphernalia was returned to his rightful location after the match. I never would have known if it weren't for these photos turning up on my camera.

Kennon is more of a disciplinarian on her days made Marcus bathe everyday, put on a nice button up and gel his hair. She also mixed, rolled out, cut out, and baked fun gingerbread. By my return that afternoon, all that evidence was cleared away except for a plate of cookies on the dining table and the remnants of one must have been one magnificent mohawk.

Wednesday was my 35th Birthday. I was complaining to Karen the secretary about what a crazy month it has been with 4 birthdays, Valentines and Mom working all month. She took note of mine, and brought a cake with her to work Wednesday. When I ran upstairs to heat up a lunch at 2 o'clock the entire staff. . . all three of them. . . were up there with a lighted "Double Chocolate Bomb"  and singing away for the dental assistant. It also happened to be on a day that an orthodontist delivered pastries and fruit so I had a lovely high calorie 10 minute lunch with the Dr. We usually are lucky to have 10 minutes during the day to eat something. 


Now I love surprises even little ones so this really made my day. I can't remember ever getting surprised with a birthday cake at work in my life so I thought 35 was a good year to start.


I had a couple hours home after work and I used it to read to my kids and run with Kennon. That night the girls had a young women activity at the church for parents. Savannah who is turning 12 this year was invited also so that meant no babysitter, so we all came along. I am so happy that my girls get to be a part of such an inspiring program that teaches them who they are and reminds them how wonderful it is and can be to be a good girl.


Afterwards they served cupcakes but we woudn't let any of our kids have one because we hadn't even had dinner yet. You have to make choices when you are only home a couple hours in a day and making dinner was one I opted out of for my birthday choosing running and quality time on the couch reading instead. So we left with a plate of cupcakes and spent the next 10 minutes driving in the direction of home talking Dad into stopping for dinner for the whole family at my favorite Mexican restaurant for our dates, Ixtapa. . . . instead of going home for a late birthday dinner of cold cereal, which is what usually sounds best to Dad. Savannah reminded Dad that he hadn't taken the whole family out to eat anywhere but McDonalds or Wendy's since September, (she was keeping track) so it was high time. He finally gave in, it was my birthday after all, but as we unloaded from the car he was heard instructing us all, "All right, all right, we're going. . . but NO Pop!" 

It was a wonderful meal and I enjoyed eating out with my kids in the pretty much empty restaurant. Eating out Mexican isn't the hottest ticket in town around New England.


We forgot to take any pictures of me turning 35 and how wonderful that 35 year old momma looks, but here is a party picture of the week before. 


I have held on through the years to our early morning Valentine breakfast tradition. I had to work till 10 p.m. cooking and decorating and then get up at 4:45 a.m. to start the oven. . .but it was worth it. I love these guys! We also had large place cards that we used for breakfast that I asked everyone to write something nice on so we could give them out at family home evening that night. That went pretty well except for a few random sarcastic comments  written on each of ours that no one would admit to. Savannah was the most suspicious when I asked if it was her writing.

So there you have it for February! Happy Birthday Kennon, Happy Valentines Day, Happy Birthday Momma and . . . . 


Happy 41 to Brent on February 7th! He had a very sad looking pumpkin pie baked by Mom, and decorated by his two youngest daughters. 


If only it would of at least tasted good to make up for the horrible birthday he had, but alas. .  It didn't. Not sure what happened. I made such a good one for Thanksgiving. 


The day was bad because he didn't even get home from his weekend Dental trip till almost midnight, and started up a horrible Monday of dentistry just a few hours later where everything that could go wrong did. He came home late, tired and worn out to a crazy family happy to see their Dad after a long weekend away and a pile of presents that looked promising, but ended up all being clothing that mostly needed to be returned. 


He opened each box and immediately tried them on for us right there at the dinner table . . . but it ended up being strike three before anything fit. He ended up with two shirts to where to the office. 


He was a good sport though and didn't retaliate on my birthday. I got perfume from Macy's. The first perfume I have worn in years and we are both enjoying me smelling good for a change.


If you remember I once mentioned that I was on a search for size 9 roller blades. I found the perfect ones at the swap shop recently so we all went to the skating rink last Saturday. Brent and I are surprisingly pretty good for our age and we skated for a couple hours without taking a break. I loved it and am already thinking "When can we go back?" I know you can skate outside, but I really enjoy the music and lights, not to mention the crowds that you get to maneuver through as you race around the rink. Caroline is awesome after all her practice around our house. She even went out for backwards skate songs!


We had another snowfall yesterday and were determined to keep it off our driveway this time. Turns out snowblowers aren't as great as you might think. They leave a layer of snow underneath that turns to ice. I have been having a horrible time getting up the driveway each day in the car and usually only make it halfway up the hill, before I reverse and get a better run at it. Finally last week we went out and spent hours on a warmer day chipping it all off our driveway. So yesterday after the snow we snowplowed then shoveled. We even went out once more after dark and tried to get it down to the pavement. But March is on it's way. Can't be much winter left. 

Just starting my fourth week at the office. I am enjoying it so much. And apparently they like me there. One staff member told my husband that she is going to quit if I do. 

So out of the blue I find out that being a working mom is something I actually enjoy and that I don't just stay home because I am lazy. 

I really have always been 100% on board with being a stay at home Mom. That's where I wanted to be. . . only. But now I realize that it really is a sacrifice to decide to stay home with your kids. I am not lazy after all. I am sacrificing. 

Does that make sense? I don't have time to delve into it much deeper. I am a working mom and that work starts in just 45 minutes. The point is that it makes me feel better about myself to find out that I am not just home because I couldn't take the life of the working mother. I am home because I chose to. Now that said, I am trying to decide if I chose to be home everyday. . . or if I am going to keep up this working stuff on a part time basis. As of now I feel a lot of guilt even deciding to work part time because of my toddler. So I am thinking hard about this and for sure want to do what's best. 

Here's what I like about my job:

I love talking to people. You all know that. And I do it all day long now. And people are so nice. 

I love watching dental procedures. It is so darn interesting. I feel like I could go to dental school in a year or so and be far above the class after seeing all that I do everyday. So far I am extremely comfortable just merely handing the doc instruments. . . but who knows? Maybe eventually it won't seem as hard anymore and I will think, maybe I could actually do some of these procedures I have watched over and over. After dental school of course.


The staff has asked me several times what I am getting out of this new arrangement. I mean I am not getting paid so they wonder what could be in it for me. 

Free Training!! No one else would've hired me. I am learning a new school for free!

It reminds me of my Mormon church callings. Choir director, President of the Women's Organization, Piano accompanist, Teacher for young children in the primary, Activities coordinating, Volleyball coach???? All of these I was grossly under qualified for. But they gave me a chance, I felt inadequate but jumped in just because I was asked to do it. I never got really good at anything but Hey, I got way better . I was always grateful for the chance. It's way more fun to work when you aren't getting paid and there is no worries about getting fired.  And stay at home mom's just don't usually get growth opportunities falling into their laps so I am grateful. 

And so I am currently grateful to work with my husband everyday in a fun office with nice woman and learn how to assist. And Marcus is grateful to be dropped off every morning at the house with the big black dog. He would choose a dog over a mom any day. 

Sad. . . . but true.

We are always trading kids' bedrooms around searching for the perfect fix that will make everyone get along. Awhile ago we gave the basement to Savannah and Camille. Now they are sharing clothes, music and becoming the best of friends. . . right, ladies? And the one we had to banish from the basement has her own room upstairs now right next to Mom and Dad. . .  and she isn't jealous of the downstairs buddies at all.

Marcus looks way too old in this picture chilling with his hands in his pockets at Chuck -E- Cheese, don't ya think?

Caroline and her snowpants never get tired of this long winter. She is modeling all of the snow we are currently enjoying. This has not been staged. It's just how it fell on our back porch.

I found this of Camille taken the night she spent an hour yanking on that floss to pull out her ninth tooth. She was unsuccessful and had to have Dad help out with the pliers. She is our most determined girl. Maybe it comes with the freckles.

Kennon turned 13 last week and got a new fancier cellphone to replace the simple one I gave her when she turned 12. I hated wasting a birthday present on a toy like that. I say toy because she has a prepaid 3 minutes a day plan and her original cellphone worked great for that. But apparently she owned the cheapest, smallest one in all of 7th grade. So we upgraded her because that's all that she wanted and I didn't want to risk ruining her birthday like I did her Christmas. She played with it all night.  

I got her old one since mine stopped ringing several months ago and none of us could get that feature back. So now go ahead and call and I may pick up for once. 

a quick update from the working mother

Well I haven't been fired yet, but that is hardly a consolation under the circumstances. I have been called "Kayla" several times which is a new experience for me, having my husband mix me up with someone else. Honestly, it has to be a compliment though if I am assimilating myself so well that he thinks his real assistant is back. After a week of making excuses for myself to patients, because "I am just his wife" I decided I can't take it anymore and for now on that fact is a secret. Becoming somewhat professional hasn't been easy for me. So I just keep my mouth shut as much as possible. 



And to add to my great week, Brent threw in a guys trip last weekend with some old dental school buds. Rich and Jonas drove up from North Carolina and Dave flew in from Long Island. They all rode together to a RAM dental clinic in Knoxville, TN where they spent the weekend providing free dental services. Brent was really looking forward to the trip. He needed more practice pulling teeth and there were plenty teeth for the pulling at this event. 

He also really liked the company. I called him sometime during the weekend while they were en route in Richard's car. We had just spoke for a brief moment when I heard him interrupt my story to ask Richard something. He didn't ask me to wait, he just started up a new conversation with Richard in the front seat. I patiently waited a minute or so thinking it must be pertinent to our conversation, but after 3 or 4 minutes decided it wasn't and he clearly didn't even remember that he had been speaking to me. I started hollering "HELLLLOOO" into the phone, but wasn't able to be heard. Since he had forgotten to hang up on me I eavesdropped for awhile, but got bored quickly and decided I would make him pay later.  I would NEVER do this to Brent. But it didn't surprise me in the least.


Well that is all I have time for tonight. I just didn't want to take a 6 week break from the blog even though I really don't have any of the time I used to. It's pretty crazy around here every morning and then again every night. I still can't believe that I am gone from the time the kids leave on the bus until after they come home and somehow we are still alive and not drowning in our own filth around here. Marcus loves his "daycare" and every day is mad when I show up to get him after 8 hours. The highlights are PBS (we don't have TV at home) a dog named Cleo, a nameless cat and a turtle. All of which we don't have at home either so really he is thrilled with his new life and though I am relieved that the babysitting situation is working out so well I am puzzled that I was replaced so easily by lesser things such as these. 


I love working with Brent yet have a hard time with the fact that we really don't have the chance to talk AT ALL day even though I am sitting RIGHT next to him. 


Still snowing here. It's beautiful. I slid off the road once last week and it was a good reminder for me. Just bounced off a nice big snowbank after turning a 180. I was feeling way too confident up here in NH. Since then I have been driving with great care and don't think I will need any more warnings, so thank you very much for that wake up call. I am not a good driver.

SNOW, SNOW, SNOW

So if you follow the national weather, you know that the Northeast is about to be slammed again. And if you follow the blog you know how happy we are about that! Despite the fact it is a ton of work to shovel out and makes everyone cancel their dental appointments. But there is something very exciting and about hearing that the snow is coming and then being buried in it. We had about two feet on the ground this morning leftover from last week's storm. It started again today and will amount to wicked porportions by tomorrow. One time today I heard up to 50 INCHES! So that should be plenty exciting!  The kids have already had 4 snow days this year, though and they already don't get out of school to the end of June. We are going to be lucky to get summer break before the 4th of July, the way things are going.

I am settling into my new busy schedule as Brent's cute new assistant, but that may slow down now the snow is falling. I went in this morning for my second day but decided that there were too many cancellations on his schedule to qualify for my assistance, so I picked Marcus back up and we are home now back to our old wonderful routine for the rest of the day. The only thing on my schedule now is snow blowing.

Brent and I went back and forth all fall about getting a snow blower. He was certain that it was a necessity with our large driveway and wanted to spend $500 plus on one he saw on Craigslist. But I usually take care of the snow removal since I'm home all day and I didn't agree. I hate operating machinery and told him I would never use it, but planned on shoveling by hand. It had been great exercise in our little Buffalo driveway. Brent bought one anyway and tried to get me out to the garage for an operating lesson a couple times. I never consented to the instruction and continued to ignore it for the first couple small snowfalls, and just made quick passes with my shovel and it only took me about an hour.  

But then we had our first real storm. I went out and shoveled for about 15 min and was ready to die. Yes, this was going to be great exercise for me this winter but did I really want to do nothing but shovel all day because that was exactly how long it was going to take me to clear this driveway?  Just As Brent told me it would.  But I hate machinery so I just kept shoveling for another 15 minutes. Finally I went in and called Brent. I admitted that I had been totally naive, and did he have time to talk me through starting up this snow blower?

Luckily, running it turns out to be a breeze, though its a way snowier job than shoveling. You come in covered in white head and toe and shivering rather than hot and sweaty from shoveling. But I am happy to get over my hangups and save my self way too much exercise.