here we go again!

well it was another red letter day at our house.  after a near kitchen fire that scared the bejeezus out us (the oven's heating element shorted out) we discovered our cockatiel had died. i know what your thinking and i am not slowly but surely killing off our animals but even i am starting to wonder, what the hell is going on around here?  seriously, if there is a gypsy out there that has put a curse on me, or some voodoo priestess that is poking some doll with needles somewhere because i have offended them, i am so very sorry.  whatever i did to you, cannot possibly warrant what is going on around me and to the people i care about.  now if it turns out that this is just how life is... i say FML!!!!!!

2011 sucks

yesterday was another red letter day for us. joey had come home sick with a cold and i was at dance with aisy in the afternoon, gilli had stayed for p.m. club as she has been taking eukele and drum lessons on weds and fridays.  while i was at dance i got a phone call from joey saying that gilli had fallen and hurt her arm and that she had missed the bus home.  i decided to call the school and spoke to the after school program director who said that she would check on her.  she called me back at the dance studio and said that gillian was fine and that she would be taking the bus home at 4:40.  when i got home at 5:30 gilli was there and said that her arm was hurting so i threw dinner in the oven and went to check her arm.  as it turned out she wouldn't let me exam it because it hurt too bad and she couldn't move it without pain. so off to the emergency room we went.  after 5 hours, multiple xrays and a consult with an orthopedic surgeon, gillian has a broken arm.  the break is just below her elbow on her left arm and she is soft casted for a week then will have a hard cast on for another 4 weeks.  this will definitely throw a monkey wrench into dance, drums and eukele.

needless to say, i am playing a very poor game of hide and seek with "trouble" lately so i am gonna step up my game and hide a little better.

tough time at the zoo

well as you know we lost our beloved Bandit last week which was devastating for our family.  on thursday my dad had a minor stroke, so we spent most of thursday and friday at the hospital and it was quite the scare for all of us.  he is recovering but some of his speech issues are likely permanent and all in all we count ourselves lucky that it wasnt worse.

our schedule is quite frantic right now as i warned you all it would be.  Joey had her first softball game on monday night after volleyball practice and while Gilli and Aisy had dance and this will continue for at least another week.  cant wait for volleyball season to end.  now on the plus side, joey got a hit during her first game and she managed a serve over the net during volleyball yesterday, both big accomplishments for her and her teams both one.

aisy is getting ready to dance in the spring festival and the round up parade so we are doing additional practices and private lessons to get her caught up after missing dance for almost 3 months.  so nice to have her back dancing and to see her so happy.

gilli has taken up a drum class (provided free through our schools p.m. program) on weds and fridays, thank you for not needing transportation.  so as you can see spring is incredibly busy around here and it really doesnt end until the end of june after the dance recital.  did i mention that J is playing softball on thursday nights?  so no help there.

happy hump day!!!!

Bandit

Aisy and Bandit   Valentine's Day 2009

Joey with Bandit at school, showing off his best moves!
2010

Yesterday was a sad day for our family.  Our beloved dog, Bandit, passed away. We are so very thankful to have had this most precious creature be a part of our family for the last 13 years.  We will never forget him!

Gillian with her "big dog"
2006

Bad, Bad, Blogger

ok, so now that that has been established i will try to explain.  between the 18 feet of snow that has fallen over the course of this winter and the 14 days accumulated without power and the frustration that i suffer from having dial up internet it is fair to say that blogging just hasnt been a recent priority.  it also could have something to do with the fact that, joey is playing volleyball AND fast pitch softball and gilli and aisy both are back dancing, so let's just say that mommy's aspiration to be a small town blogger has been put on the back burner.

so lets catch up.

the last storm dropped about 6 feet of snow over a 5 day period, yes that is a lot of snow.  the plow man and i are no longer on speaking terms due to his insistence of daily burying us alive.  i know it's his job to keep the roads clear but he would literally wait until my husband had left for work and then commence with putting up a 6 ft high by 5 ft deep berm across my driveway that i would then have to shovel out so that J could get back in every night.  the other issue i have with this is that on my property is a main power pole that PG&E has to have access to in order to restore power.  this was explained to him politely and after day 4 of him doing this it was explained again, by banging on his door and waving a shovel.  safe to say our friendship has ended.

aisy was finally cleared to go back to dance!  thank you to whatever higher being heard my prayer as i am not sure how much longer she was going to be able to go without dancing and manage to not explode.  she has her first make up lesson tonight as her parade class is getting ready to perform in the Mother Lode Round-Up Parade, the second largest parade in California.  so fingers crossed all, lets hope it goes well and there is no pain.

we have had some serious sibling issues around here.  it has genuinely been like watching the movie, mean girls.  joey and aisy seem to have this exclusive little clique that doesnt include gilli and i am downright tired of it.  it wouldnt be so bad if they were just unaware that their behavior was hurtful but when i talked to them about it, they let me know that they were well aware and the really just dont seem to care.  this left me know choice but to intervene.  one example, is that aisy and joey like to have sleepovers in each others rooms but refuse to include gilli.  neither one of them will do a sleepover with her individually or when they are together and the fact that she feels left out and hurt doesnt seem to bother either of them.  i gave them a choice, either you include gilli or there will be no more sleepovers.  they chose not to have sleepovers any more.   i dont think i have ever been more disappointed in my children than i was at that moment.  :(   i think if they could have given some kind of reason, like, gilli picks her nose and eats her boogers, or she smells because she refused to bathe, i might have felt differently and seen some reason for their behavior, but this is not the case, they said "we just dont want to."  i have to say that this was a blow to my ego as a mom and a heartbreak for my littlest girl.  thankfully, i was wise enough to discuss this with them when she was not around because i dont think i could bear the look on her face if she could have heard them.   i have officially disbanded 'the mean girl' club and if they apply for another charter they will find out in no uncertain terms that they are not welcome here.

on a lighter note, harley is getting huge and such a sweetie.  we all still adore him, however, we are having some serious behavior issues relating to seperation anxiety.  everytime we leave the house without him, he gets into stuff and chews.  my philosphy on this has always been,  "if you dont want it chewed then put it away".  harley is actually getting in to things that are put away, he has figured out how to open cupboards and manages to get up on my desk, so any help that anyone can suggest, i am sooooo open to some advice here.  on the upside we have been doing more walking now that some of the snow is melting off and he is doing so much better on the leash.

well, i think that gets us caught up for now.    happy saturday!!!!