Naptime

So we just dropped the kids off at my mother's house. Adam was going to work more on the house. He sat down and fell asleep. Poor guy has been going constantly. The house is really coming along, and once the counter tops are in, I might even post a picture for all you curious people out there.

Updates on the rest of life:

• found a gym for my kids to take gymnastics

• The kids love the neighborhood pool, and I am soooo excited to hear them ask if they can go on a daily basis all summer long.

• Preston hasn't broken anything... yet.

• The kids start summer school in a week

• Tommy told us that he goes to fireman school in the middle of the night and that they let him carry the hose (I am glad because before he told me that he was going to school in the middle of the night, but he said that he had a problem with missing his bus...)

• Adam starts work on Tuesday. He received his license number last week and is ready to go.

• I will miss him, I really like him and enjoy his company and corny jokes and odd sense of humor. These past few weeks have been fun working together on house projects.

• Preston is officially for sale. The only stipulation is that I want him back in about 6-8 months when he says more words and makes less of a mess.

• The kids are semi-adjusting. All 3 of them burst into tears occasionally missing someone. Whether it is a teacher or a friend or a friend's house.

• I have done remarkably well at living a lie. I still don't believe that I live here and keep waiting to get back to my friends.

• I really need to start branching out and trying to meet people, but honestly I don't have a desire to right now. I don't know what my problem is. Normally I love meeting new people. I'm not feeling the love yet, hopefully someone will be able to put up with my constant sarcasm and agree to be seen with me...

And for all of you Kansas Cityites, if you are wondering if I miss you... the answer would be yes. I'm staying strong for the kids though and trying not to think about it. I miss my girls nights, and book club (bachelorette). I miss my special friends that always showed up at the right moment. I miss opening my door and seeing MY naked child on the other side. I miss the girls that I could call on and count on. I know I will find some here, but I think of myself as pretty picky and I sure did have an amazing group of friends.

So yes, life has gone on. But I'm fighting it every step of the way. Love you guys and miss you (except for the ones I didn't like. I probably don't miss you as much... hopefully they didn't read my blog though)

(joking of course, some of you will believe everything you read)

The difference between School and Graduate

So one of my favorite things about Adam finishing school is the great comments we get.

Like: "Now that he's a Dentist, you guys will have money!"

Or there is: "Now that he's done with school, you guys can start living your lives!"

and then there is: "You must be so excited that he is done with school"

Okay so I totally love and agree with the last comment, yes I am excited that he is done with school, I am even more excited that he found a career that he really loves and is good at.

Now here is the update on the rest of them. For those of you who don't know, Dental school is super duper expensive, and also he hasn't started working yet. So right now. No work = No paycheck. (It's funny how these things work). And the best part is, that when we do start getting a paycheck we get to give an amazingly large portion of it to student loans!! YAHOO!!

Don't get me wrong, in this economy, I am just happy that Adam has a job, and I am happy that there were banks willing to lend him money. (I wish there would have been a bank willing to GIVE him money, but ya can't win them all).

And as far as the "Start living your life" comment that I got, I can only think, "Huh?" I mean what have I been doing for the past 28 1/2 years. I thought I was living, but maybe I was wrong. Maybe I've just been pretending?

What I'm not good at.

Just a list to remind me that I'm not perfect:

• I hate waking up in the morning. I am not a morning person, I am tired and crabby and if you ever want to ask me for a "favor" don't do it before 10AM or the answer will be a no or a disgruntled yes.

• I yell at my children. I'm not saying that I beat them down or that I am constantly screaming at them, but I see some parents that just point and say "no no" and I think " Hmmm... I would like to have a video camera in there home"

• My feet are ugly. Achilles had his heel, I have my feet. They are troll feet. Ugly little fat feet with bent toe nails. I could never be Cinderella, not because of the height or weight difference, just because I would never wear glass slippers that you could see my feet through.

• I don't make the bed. If I ever give you a "house tour" and my bed is made, you should know that I made it just for you.

• I can't sing. Not even a little, most of the time I don't even pretend anymore. At church I will open the book, but that's the extent.

Namesake

Kelly: I'm named after my Great Grandmother.

(She's talking about her middle name Anne)

Paige: I'm named after paper!

(Hmmm... wonder where she came up with that one.)

If I win an Oscar

So if I ever win an Oscar, I would like to have a poem to read as my speech. Some cute little poem that rhymes (cause that's the kind I like). I'd thank my family and I'd probably do some little dance too. Maybe the running man, probably RiverDance.

I don't think I'd cry (because that's expected) and I'd probably make some insane promise (Like Oprah does) and promise everyone viewing the program a free ham from Honey Baked Ham as long as they were at the store at Midnight. (I just think it would be fun to see a long line outside Honey Baked Ham in the middle of the night)

Oh and Update on the House:

• countertops in 3 weeks
• carpet is great (it's Kelly's favorite part)
• Fireplace mantel next week
• Bookcase tomorrow
• circular saw out of living room... maybe never, it's starting to grow on me.
• Basement waterproofing June 15th ish
• Bedrooms in basement come after the basement waterproofing
• Carpet in Basement comes after the bedrooms are fixed
• paint in the basement comes sometime in between now and carpet

and all of the boxes might never be done, but that's okay.

This is just a test...

So today at church someone asked us if we had an Emergancy plan. I didn't think I did BUT If I would of just flashed back a couple of hours I might of seen things differently.

******FLASHBACK NOISES********

So this morning my husband wakes up and looks at the clock and says "Jen, it's already 7:45". We have 9am church now that we've moved, so that meant exactly 45 minutes to get 4 children awake, fed, dressed, hair fixed, attatched in the car and leaving the house around 8:30.

Oh and I forgot that I hadn't unpacked ANY of my church clothes (maybe it was a sign I should have just rolled over in bed, instead of getting up.)

So anyone that knows me, knows that the only thing I hate more than Email Forwards, and the sound of popsicles and ice is BEING LATE. I HATE BEING LATE. I don't like when others are late, (and yes if you are late often I am judging you, I know it's wrong and I'm not supposed to, but I'm also suppose to be honest, so I'm going to stick with honesty right now and work on the judging part later)

When I think I'm going to be late, I get into panic mode that involves angermanagment issues and lots of bad feelings spewing from my body.( I'm not too good at being late, I should probably go to therapy.)

BUT this morning I Succeded, even when faced with the likleyhood of being late, I kept my cool and went into combat mode. Adam got the children fed (even if it was dry cereal they were eating out of a baggy), I located all missing church clothes and started getting the monsters dressed. We let Tommy sleep until 8:20 and then we threw some clothes on him, told him not to wet himself and sprayed water all over his hair to keep it from standing up. I forgot to put on make-up, and eat breakfast, but at least I kept my cool and we were all in the car by 8:35.

I felt on top of the world. I was quite impressed by our moves. I was not going to be late, our first day at our new Ward. We pulled up to the building and we noticed that there were only 3 cars on this side of the parking lot. We thought hmmm everyone is on the other side. Adam parked and I grabbed Larry, Moe, and Curly and started to go inside, while Adam got Preston out of the car.

Once I was inside... I looked at the clock. APPARENTLY we don't know how to tell time. We weren't there 10 minutes early. We were there an HOUR and 10 minutes early.

We walked back to the car and just laughed. It was funny. And luckily since I didn't freak out with my anger issues, I could laugh too.

Lessons Learned:

• Adam and I need to learn to tell time
• If there was ever a major emergency, I could have all of my children dressed, fed and ready to evacuate within 45 minutes.

Dentite

After 4 longish years we were so happy to have the chance to watch My hot Dr. Husband graduate.

Really time has gone fast. Sometimes I thought this day would never come, but it has. After 8 1/2 years of marriage Adam is finally done with school! I think I hear the angels singing in Heaven right now.

He sure is wonderful. That medal around his neck is because he was in the top of his class. Not only did he finish Dental School with 4 kids, he finished near the very top. I would expect nothing less of him.

Kelly got a little weepy. I think she realizes how big a deal this is, but doesn't totally get it. We move a week after graduation so that doesn't give her much time to say her good byes

 Look at that Goofy Grin!

I need to get the lighting fixed on this picture.These guys have been through alot together. A whole lot of studying, worrying, and teeth pulling. They have made this experience much more enjoyable (for Adam, I prefer their wives) 

Paige couldn't wait for him to be done, She ran right on up to him.

 Here is Adam with his new staff. A month from now he will be working at his Dad's practice with these fine women.

Doc was just glowing. It must be a wonderful thing to have your child love the same things that you love.

All of these people drove out from St. Louis, just to see Adam.

Adam and his best friend. Marcus is a riot. And my favorite thing about him is his wife Miriam, who happens to be my best friend. We have spent countless hours with these 2 and they are like family. It will be very wierd not having them right across the street. Tommy will be devastated to say goodbye to Garrison.

Here is a better pic of the guys. Gotta love all of them.



So thank you Adam for being smart. Thank you for never giving up. Thank you for bringing me along on this crazy ride. You are so worth it all. I love you more.

Denial

So I've been neglecting my blog lately and it is not because I have nothing exciting to post. It's because I'm on a vacation that I like to call Denial. When you are in this lovely place you don't post on your blog, because then you might have to "Feel Something" and I'm not in the mood to get all weepy and be unproductive.

So here is the deal. We move on Wednesday night. Wednesday night we pull out of Kansas City for our trek across the great state of Missouri. After we are settled, then I will post. I will post stories that will make you pee your pants, I will post sappy stories that will make you want to puke. And most likely, I will finally be living in reality so I might be a little sentimental and sad as well. BUT for now, I will continue denying that change is taking place.

BFF's FOREVER

So when I think about leaving Kansas City, I get a little wet in the eyes. Not because of the friends I'm leaving. No, I know they will survive without me. I'll visit Kendra in Alien Country. Once Lizzie realizes that nobody lives in West Virginia, she is destined to move to STL. Emily has Verizon so she is in-network so no worries there. And my sweet Mir will not be too far in Potosi.

So for me, I'm okay. I'm going to make it. I just hate watching my kids get upset. That's the part I hate. When we moved here, the monsters were too little to really get it, and even when they were confused we could tell them that we were moving back in 4 years.

But now, I've got nothing for them. They are leaving their friends and it stinks. Oh I know I'll get the comments "They will find new friends", "Oh they are young and resilient" and "Blah blah blah". Well I get that. I agree, but for the moment it is sad. And that is where I am at. I am in the moment.

So in particular it is thinking of Tommy and his BFF that make me sad. They have known each other since they were born and are hilarious together. They spend many of their waking hours together, and for Tommy life revolves around Garrison. How awesome that he has a best friend that lives right across the street.

The boys just love watching the trash man come. I think this was the highlight of the day. This is also the moment that I realized that neither one of these boys are going to remember what they had. They are 3, I know that I don't have any memories from when I was 3 so I doubt that they will.

So this is obviously Tommy and his BFF. Life isn't going to get any better than this for Tommy, poor boy has probably peaked at age 3. I mean pretty soon, I'm going to make him learn his colors and alphabet and the world is all downhill from there.

This pic is probably my favorite, because it is a classic. This is day to day life for these 2 boys. They have ridden this stretch of sidewalk countless times and it never gets old. Back and forth. Sometimes they chase each other, sometimes they race. They are always up for a good game of CRASH and if me or Mir look away for a second, their favorite game is go down the hill as fast as they can (because they know when they are caught they have to go inside... but sometimes they are willing to take the punishment for a good ride down the hill).