The last day of 2007 here in Yankton is cold and gray. Wait, I'm seeing some sun and blue sky peaking through the clouds now. Ella's napping. She was upstairs by herself for a while playing with the Little Pet Shop toys in Accalia's huge, wooden dollhouse. Then I heard her calling for me, and I found her in our bed covered up and waiting for me. She nursed to sleep and has been out for at least an hour. What a peaceful way to transition from one thing to another.

Cory is working just a few hours tonight as a favor to another driver who had tried to take the night off because of family visiting and wasn't able to get it off. Cory has thrilled the kids with the promise of a cheese pizza once he returns home. That, my friends, will be the excitement of our night. I'm not entirely convinced I'll be able to stay awake until midnight. I think I made it until 8:30 the year I was pregnant with Accalia. We shall see. I start to feel worse and worse the more tired I get, so it's usually a relief to crawl into bed at night and sleep through the nausea.

Hope everyone has a happy and safe New Year's Eve and a wonderful start to 2008!

It's been a really quiet weekend around here, mostly because Cory has been gone much of the time delivering pizzas. The good news with that is that for Friday and Saturday combined, he made $100 in tips. Not too shabby. My days have mostly been spent obsessing over how to try to feel the least nauseated, and that would be seriously boring to detail. I think some of us may be getting sick. I've had a bit of a runny nose today, and Cole has had a runny nose and a bit of a cough. He's definitely a little sickie. Ella's been quite cranky today, but I can't tell if she's getting sick or is just having an off day. Cory thinks he has a sinus infection.

We just found out yesterday that a friend of ours from when we first lived in Yankton (they now live in Wisconsin) has been diagnosed with cancer and that the prognosis is not good at all. She worked with Cory as a counselor and her husband worked with me at the paper. It takes us back to Mary's diagnosis and the doctor telling us there was nothing more he could do. I just hope she doesn't accept that. She's just in her forties with two kids still at home.

That helps put things in perspective, doesn't it? I think I can manage a few more weeks of nausea and fatigue.

It is just amazing how quickly morning sickness goes from those occasional twinges of nausea to worshipping the porcelain god. I'm just glad this didn't start until after we made it home. I guess the good news about having three other children at home is that I don't really have the opportunity to sit and feel sick, so I can just run around all day keeping that feeling just below the surface (most of the time, at least).

It's beautiful outside with the fluffy white snow covering every surface. Now that the sun is out, more and more of it is falling off of the tree branches. Cory's working in Yankton today, so I'm glad he didn't have to worry about bad roads on the way to Springfield. We've just been hanging out at home so far. I've vacuumed and am working on laundry, although it usually seems to make little difference after the kids are awake and going full force.

I have a pretty good selection of pregnancy-related books, and Accalia has been having a lot of fun going through them. Her favorites so far are an old issue of All Round Magazineat is all about birth. Unfortunately, the magazine is no longer being published, but you can still buy back issues. A book that Accalia keeps asking me to read to her is a coffee table size book called Pregnancy Goddesses (or something close to it). Each page has a different very pregnant woman dressed up and posing in a way that has an important meaning for her. Then there's a short piece that she's written about the pregnancy, what the picture means, etc. It's already brought up discussions about pregnancy-related issues from miscarriage to adoption.

I think what the kids are most excited about is when the baby actually starts resembling a human baby around 8 weeks or so. I showed the kids an image of what the baby looks like now - kind of in a c-shape with a tale. Accalia keeps talking about "when the baby is in human form."

Cory works tonight delivering pizzas, so we don't have any big plans. We don't really have any plans for the entire weekend. I guess we'll just work on getting back into the groove of being at home again.

Thanks for the congratulations! Anne, if I can come up with the money for a plane ticket for you, you'll so be my doula. Navigating the day with morning sickness always takes a little readjustment as I experiment with what foods taste good and what foods make me feel sick. Sometimes upping the amount of B6 I get does make a difference, but other times it doesn't. Sometimes ginger tea will help. Other times it just makes me feel even more sick. The key for me is usually eating often (at least every couple hours) and not eating much. That usually helps keep the nausea manageable.

This morning we made a run to the store to pick up odds and ends. Accalia and Cole also wanted to spend some of their Christmas money, so they did that, too. Ella was a happy girl for most of the trip, but as we headed toward the registers she suddenly switched from happy babbling toddler to extremely irate toddler. I have no idea what caused the change, but it made for a not so fun trip out of the store.

Ella's been napping for a while now. I think she's trying to catch up on sleep that she missed out on over the past week. Accalia and Cole have kept plenty busy with all of their new things, and Accalia made a very yummy cake with her Easy Bake Oven. Ah, the power of a 100 watt lightbulb!

I'd better get back to doing laundry. There are lots of things I want to post about, but I just don't have the desire to sit at the computer any longer right now. Maybe later...

A white Christmas is an absolutely lovely thing to experience when you can stay curled up inside your home or only have to drive around town to celebrate with family or friends. When you are traveling, though, it absolutely sucks. The slick roads and snow from Sunday were a bit of a pain for that night when we had the children's service at church and my brothers came to my parents' house for the kids to open gifts. The roads were fine from when we left Christmas morning for Lake Wilson and Myron's house, but about 20-30 minutes from L.W., it started snowing. We ended up with about six inches there and about four inches here in Yankton. Honestly, we were all hoping to just have a few hours visit with Myron and then head home, but that wasn't possible with the snow.

We left for home after Myron took us (and Bev) to lunch at McDonald's. The fog was horrible on and off throughout the trip, and by the time we were south of Sioux Falls and less than an hour from home, we were stuck in the middle of the interstate with the rest of the traffic and stayed sitting there for close to a half hour. There had been a bunch of accidents throughout the day due to the fog and people overdriving the still slick roads, and accidents involving a camper and a tractor trailer caused the traffic problems. We made it home later in the afternoon, though, and had to shovel the sidewalks and unload the van before doing anything else. The rest of the day has pretty much been spent unpacking and helping the kids with some of their new toys.

I think the kids really enjoyed their Christmas. They were all excited about the gifts they received. Accalia was thrilled to finally get an Easy Bake Oven (I always wanted one when I was little), and Cole was overjoyed to add to his super hero collection. Ella loves her Little People toys, too. Being in Mankato for nearly a week was a lot of fun for them, but I could definitely tell in the last couple days that everyone was just ready to get home.

I thought I would wait a while longer, but since word is already getting out, I'll share with all of you. Baby #4 is on the way! It's so early - six weeks - so I'm not due until around August 19. I'm already enjoying all day morning sickness, though, and that's how I knew I was pregnant before even taking a test. The morning sickness really seems to hit around six weeks, and I'm just going to assume it'll get even worse (as it always seems to) before hopefully ending around 12 weeks. Accalia is so excited about the pregnancy and having a baby in the house again. I'll have to share all of the fun conversations we've had since we told them. Cole is really excited, too, although he's not as curious about the pregnancy as Accalia is right now. Ella, of course, really doesn't know what's going on. If Accalia says "Mama's having a baby!", she'll run to me and pat my belly and say "Baby! Baby!", but she does that more because it makes Accalia so happy than anything else.

This is most likely the last baby, so it's a strange feeling going into this pregnancy knowing that this may be the last time I experience all of these things. Cory's pretty settled on this being the last baby (I probably don't feel as sure), but I think in the end we'll feel quite complete as a family of six.

Well, I should get ready for bed. I hope everyone has had a wonderful week!

Cory is working late tonight. Ella just went to sleep, and Accalia and Cole are watching "Frosty Returns" on tv. I've been scrambling around all day packing and doing all sorts of last minute things since we leave for Minnesota tomorrow and won't be back for nearly a week. It's wonderful being with family for the holidays, but it's a bit more hectic when you're not at home and have to pack your celebration to come with you. Thankfully we don't have to fly or else we'd never fit everything we take along! I guess we'd end up shipping a bunch of stuff ahead of time, huh?

Any who, I'm going to shut myself up in a room and stuff the kids' stockings (or stock the stuffings as I apparently said to Cory last night). We're opening stockings tomorrow before we leave. That's what we always do no matter when we leave for the holidays. It's the one gift opening event that happens at our house. Hopefully the trip will go smoothly. We're stopping in Sioux Falls to try to get a couple presents we need at Toys R Us.

I hope everyone has a beautiful and fun and lovely time wherever you are this next week!

After Cory finished with work on Sunday, we drove around Yankton looking at Christmas lights for about an hour. There were some neat displays, including one house that synchronized their lights to music. Cole fell asleep before we saw that, though, so I might take the kids up to that house after Accalia's dance class is over tonight.

Much of yesterday afternoon was spent wrapping gifts. We still have a few gifts to purchase, but right now we're all caught up with wrapping. Now it's just a matter of fitting all of those gifts into the van on Thursday.

Ella's napping right now - a rare afternoon nap. She hit such a cranky spot earlier and couldn't shake it. A bath didn't help. Even chocolate didn't help. Hopefully sleep helps, or else it will be a very long night.

Quick update, I guess, since Cole wants me to sumo wrestle with him in the living room...

Cory is working a 12-8 shift today, so we've been on our own and have been keeping it pretty tame. We could have gone out to find something to do, but I'm about 15 miles from empty with the van's gas tank and just don't feel like parting with $50 yet. This morning into this afternoon we baked pumpkin muffins. Not really the right holiday season, I suppose, but we were running short of ingredients for the other things we had planned to make.

This afternoon Accalia designed a summer outfit that she now wants to sew. She found scraps of fabric and had me grab the sewing kit, but when she wanted me to go freestyle from there and help her sew up a shirt and a dress, I had to stop. I told her I have absolutely no experience sewing clothes and that if she wants me to be an actual help rather than forever confuse her, we might have to search for a simple pattern to make something. So that's what we'll do. It's really quite sad how inept I am with anything involving sewing/knitting/crocheting and the like. Accalia bought a crochet kit at the dollar store - simple hoop that ends up producing a small bag. She got stuck, and I was absolutely no help. It was like the directions were in a foreign language. So that means I'm bringing this little kit to Mankato next week and I'm hunting down Rachel. Please don't laugh too hard at me, okay, cuz?

So now I have beverages to fetch and wrestling to commence. Wish me luck.

Christmas cards were finished and mailed off late this afternoon. Holla! I can now truly sit and enjoy all cards that come our way, knowing I've finished at least this one small part of our holiday duties (not that it's a duty to send out love to our loved ones, but you know...)

This afternoon our elderly neighbor Julius came over with a Christmas card and plate of goodies as he does each year. We've been back in Yankton in this house for five years, and before that we were here for two years before moving to Mitchell. We kept in touch with Julius and his wife Ruby during those two years we were gone, so it's been nearly a decade that we've known them. Wow! It's hard to see his slow decline after seeing how active he was even just a year or two ago. His arthritis in his back is so bad now that it takes him a long time to get going in the mornings, and he can only walk about a half block before getting winded. He's waiting to get an electric scooter, and his eyes lit up as he talked about that.

The big news that he had to share with me was about an article written about him in this weekly newspaper. Unfortunately, the article isn't online, but it's about the part he played in helping construct the Bishop Marty Chapel on the campus of Mount Marty College in the late 1940s. There were hundreds who worked on the construction, but only Julius and another man were with the construction from the bottom all the way - 187 1/2 feet high - to the top of the steeple. He helped put the 600 pound cross in place that sits on the top of the steeple.

It was neat to talk with him about this today because I've just finished reading Ken Follett's "Pillars of the Earth", which revolves around the building of a cathedral in 12th century England. Amazing book. When I finished yesterday I felt like crying because I had just left these people and their lives that had been with me for nearly 1000 pages. Awesome.

Accalia is bored, so I must now see what would interest her. Why isn't it ever sleep?

For the past few days, there's been A Mood in the house. No one seems to be happy for long, Ella especially. She's had rough nights, too. She has a couple teeth coming in, so maybe that's contributing. I think the bigger thing for her, though, is just continuing to make big developmental leaps and trying to find autonomy throughout all of this. I've noticed that lately it's a lot more difficult to transition her from one thing to the next, particularly if we're leaving the house. That's always challenging with each child to find out how to do that smoothly, but we'll all work together to figure it out. Ella slept 14 hours last night and napped for an hour or so later this afternoon, so perhaps there's a little need for extra sleep mixed in there somewhere. It was a little easier today.

Cory's delivering pizzas tonight. The kids are watching Christmas specials or videos and playing with toys. I have to finish getting Christmas cards ready to send out - almost there. Then I have to concentrate on the baking I need to do for several things as well as wrapping presents. We have a few more presents to get, and then we'll be finished with that.

It looks as if Cory will get off the time he was asking for around Christmas, so we'll be leaving for Mankato next Thursday and staying there through Christmas morning. Then we'll drive to Lake Wilson and spend a day there before returning back to Yankton on the 26th. That will be a nice break from everything for a while. Until then, though, it'll be rather hectic.

It's been snowing since a little before 2 p.m. today, and at nearly 8 p.m. it's coming down even harder. We could get up to 8 inches of snow by tomorrow, which is very exciting for Accalia and Cole. Cory, however, is out in that snow right now delivering pizzas and is not having a very good time. Of course it's very busy since no one wants to go out to get food, so hopefully those who are calling to have pizza delivered will at least tip well!

Last night Cory wasn't supposed to be the closing driver, but he got to work and found out the manager had not scheduled a closing driver. Since Cory was supposed to be the second to the last driver to close, he ended up closing and made it home around 11:30 p.m. rather than 10:15 p.m. We ended up staying up until nearly 2 a.m. talking, which probably wasn't the smartest thing to do since I had La Leche League this morning. It was really nice to catch up on things, though.

So, this morning's meeting ended up with no one coming. Most of the people that usually come drive from out of town, so i wasn't too surprised since everyone has been preparing for this storm. I actually brought all three kids to the library with me because Cory was still asleep. He ended up coming to the library right before the meeting was supposed to begin and taking the older two back home.

This afternoon, just as the snow was beginning to fall, I took Accalia and Cole to a Santa's Workshop thing at the art studio. This was a free event that Lita had planned so kids could come and work on different crafts - making holiday cards, painting wooden ornaments, etc. Cole had a blast, and Accalia was excited because three friends were also there. Ella stayed at home with Cory and was looking just a wee bit distrustful as we walked out the door, but she was perfectly content staying home with Cory.

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A while ago I had gotten this book and stuck it on a shelf knowing that one day it would probably interest Accalia. Accalia picked it up the other day, started looking through it and then asked if we could sit down and read it. We've been reading it on and off over the past couple days and she can't seem to get enough of it. Now, I really do hope that Accalia is at two or three years from hitting puberty full force, but the reality is that girls as young as 8 1/2 or 9 are starting to develop. I was at least a couple years older than Accalia when my mom sat me down to talk about body changes and all of that, and it was a talk I had been dreading her initiating. I didn't really feel comfortable talking about any of that with her, and now that I think of it, I don't think that either of my parents ever even talked about sex with me. Anyway, it's so exciting for me as a parent because Accalia is so eager to talk about all of this with me and is not at all embarrassed. She's so excited for all of these changes to happen and tells me she'll tell me when everything does happen. By the time that does, she may be a little more self conscious and not be quite as open about everything, but I'd like to think that the openness we have in our relationship now will just continue to pave the way as she grows older.

The book really is neat. The author talks a lot about the wide range of normal as far as development and how this is a time to be excited about what is happening and to celebrate it. There's also a good deal of talk about how to handle being at different stages of development with the other girls in school, about being teased, about what to do if you have your period while you're at school, etc. Obviously those aren't concerns of Accalia's - yay! - and it did remind me of how nerve wracking it was for me when I was that age and in school.

So, the book is one I'd definitely recommend. There's also one for boys. When Accalia's older and is menstruating, another book I'm definitely getting for her is this one. Weschler's "Taking Charge of Your Fertility" is a book that I think every woman should read, and her book for teens sounds just as good.

But, I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. I'll just continue to enjoy the little girl that I have, the one who is so excited about going outside tomorrow and making snow angels.

I'm so sad about the mall shootings in Omaha. That's an area that's just way too familiar - too similar to where we live, even if there's quite a difference in size of our town versus the city. It's never easy to lose a loved one either, but the horrific nature and time of the year just seem to magnify it. No one we know was killed, but I haven't heard back from everyone yet to find out if they were there and/or injured. So sad.

The weather today is awful for traveling, and I hate to think of Cory slowly making his way home tonight. We went out this morning for Accalia's haircut, and at that time the main roads were more wet than icy.

The bright spot in the day - Cory will be home at 6 or 7 and we'll have him for the entire evening! Yay!

So I've had coffee this morning, which truly can be a wonder drug for me. These past few days Ella has been going to sleep early thanks to no naps and has been waking up early the next day. So it's been just the two of us for an hour or so in the mornings. Last night I found an old pair of Blue's Clues shoes that were probably hand me downs from our niece Mariah (now driving!), and Ella fell in love with them right away and has been stomping all over the place.

Here's a video that I took the other morning while Accalia was still asleep. If you'd like to hear Ella giggle and see Cole roll around in a blanket, this is the video for you:


And, since I rarely have pictures of myself to post, here's one that Cole took of me and Ella:


One of Ella's favorite activities of late is to watch videos of The Wiggles or Dan Zanes on YouTube. Just so you don't miss out on what I hear throughout the day (and because it's a cute song promoting a great cause), here's a holiday tune for you:


While I'm typing, I wanted to add (before I forget again) that this time of year means one of my favorite fruits - pomegranate - is readily available. It is so yummy to eat oatmeal sprinkled with the arils of pomegranate!

I have felt so unsettled these last couple days, and I'm just not sure why. I don't really have anything extra to worry about, and there's nothing coming up that I have to do that I'm really dreading. I just don't know what it is, but it's really annoying. I think part of it may be that I haven' felt like I'm really accomplishing anything lately. Again, that's odd because I'm not really doing less than I usually do. I think that somewhere in the near past I read or heard a reference about someone who seems to be doing it all and doing more than "all" who makes the rest of us look like lazy slobs. Yeah, that must be it.

Over the weekend Accalia had a hard late night where she worried and worried about dance class and whether she should just stop because the warm up exercises were hurting. This is the first time she's ever mentioned that, so I talked with her dance instructor and sat in on the first part of class to see what was going on. They're doing a lot of exercises to stretch the hamstrings, and that really can be a difficult and painful exercise. There are some girls in her class who are super flexible and can easily do the splits. Accalia is not one of those and, as her dance instructor told me, she never was either. So Accalia and I talked about how it would help to do these stretches more than just once a week at class and that she could do them while sitting and watching tv and that I could do them too. Then we talked about how yoga helps with your flexibility, too, and that excited Accalia and sent her into planning to do her yoga tape while Ella was sleeping. At the library today she found a book of yoga poses and has been doing those, too. It's a neat book because it explains exactly what parts of the body she's working and other benefits (concentration, etc.)

Accalia is much more excited about her recital dance in tap and came home from class a couple weeks ago announcing that they were dancing to a song from High School Musical 2. Now, Accalia has never watched any of the High School Musical movies (not that there's anything wrong with that) or had any interest, but I could tell that she was excited (maybe a little in awe?) because the other girls must have been really excited, too. She's shown me the first part of the dance and it's really cute.

Cory's delivering pizzas tonight, Ella's already asleep after not napping, and Accalia and Cold are watching Rudulph the Red Nosed Reindeer on tv. After that's done, they want me to pretend to have story time with them.

It feels like the rest of the week will go quickly. Accalia has art tomorrow, and on Thursday she's getting a hair cut - just a trim. Cole's the one who really needs his hair cut, but he refuses to let me or anyone touch his hair at all. Friday will be tap class, and I have my LLL meeting on Saturday. So that's about it!

Yesterday we woke up to see our first snowfall of the season. It was only an inch or two of snow (the rest was sleet and rain), but Cole was the happiest boy in the world. He and Ella were outside with me the entire time I shoveled, and today he and Accalia have been out a couple times despite the wind and the cold. Unfortunately, all of that rain and sleet made for very icy conditions last night when Cory was delivering pizzas.

So the kids and I haven't left the house or yard this entire weekend. It's been really nice. Tomorrow, though, we'll have to go out to buy groceries. Accalia has ballet, too. Ella fell asleep between 5 and 6, so I'm assuming she'll be waking up before long for a late night. Better sit down to read and relax while I have the chance.

During elementary school, an annual activity that I loved was the reading of Stone Soup and subsequent lunch of stone soup made as we children looked on. I was reading Stone Soup to Accalia and Cole yesterday afternoon and told them about that. They were so excited about us trying it so we went out right away and picked up ingredients to make the soup using this recipe. Accalia and Cole did the majority of chopping and dicing for the soup, and it turned out delicious. Actually, Accalia and Cole really weren't too excited about eating the soup (and didn't eat much at all), but it was a lot of fun creating it together.

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This morning we went to the dollar store in search of candy buttons. No such luck. This is the second store I've looked for them and haven't found them even though I swear I've seen them everywhere. Anyway, the kids were each picking something out, and it often drags out for quite some time with Accalia because she has a very hard time making decisions about what to get. Cole picked out his - playdough - within minutes of entering the store, but Accalia probably stood in that aisle for a half hour or longer trying to make a decision. It's usually not a big deal if we don't have to be someplace or everyone is content, but Ella was getting really fussy. Accalia was nearly in tears because she couldn't decide between a pink and a green version of this craft kit, and I suggested the pink one since she usually picks out the pink version of anything when she can. She still was unsure, though, knowing that there was this green version that she also really wanted (they had each picked out two things and I didn't have enough money along to add a third), but when I told her that she knew that was something else she wanted and could come back and get it next time, she completely relaxed. "Thank you, Mom!" she said as we left the store. "Thank you for helping me make a decision!" Oh boy, can it ever be a gut wrenching decision for her some days.

So today the kids have been busy with the things they got at the dollar store, and I just remembered Accalia has tap today. I would easily have forgotten that. Ella just woke up from her nap and is having a leisurely nurse. Cory will be home a little earlier from work but then goes off to deliver pizzas from 5-10.

One of the most frustrating parts of parenting is helping your children get through those patches where they're making huge developmental leaps, and one of the greatest parts of parenting is after they've made that leap and are having a blast with whatever new skill they've mastered. It's like the calm after the storm. Ella seems to be there right now, and it's a small leap in her verbal skills. The majority of what she says is still fairly indecipherable, but little by little she adds a word here or there and is trying out more sentences and phrases. Her favorites seem to involve Cole. Yesterday morning everyone was waking up, and Ella and Cole decided to stay upstairs to play with the Polly Pocket toys scattered on the bedroom floor. "Are you going to stay up here and play with Cole?" I asked Ella. "Umm, yeah! I go ba ba ga goo Cole!" Accalia's name is a bit tough for her to say yet, so Ella usually refers to Accalia as "A Cole."

Accalia seems to be going through some leaps, too, although hers are definitely more emotional. Accalia was a huge comfort nurser as a baby and toddler - probably more than either of the others - but she's also been the least likely to show affection as she's gotten older. When I tell her I love her, she usually replies, "Okay!" Lately, though, she's been all about showing love to the mama. There are hugs, cuddles on the couch, head on my shoulder, jumping into my arms, etc. She also wants to be there with me helping and being part of keeping the household functioning. She talks a lot about what she'll do when she has her own house or what babies need, etc. I remember going through that stage, too, and thinking about how cool it would be to have your own house with your own dishes to wash and furniture to dust. Why can't it seem so exciting now?

Last night Cory made it home before 11 from his shift delivering pizzas, and he brought back a ton of food given to him for free. Sometimes a cook will be working who makes a little of each type of pizza, so if there's anything left over it gets sent home with other employees. Cory brought back a calzone that he took for his lunch today, breadsticks, and three pizzas (two of which hadn't been cooked yet and are now in our freezer.

Tonight Cory has two counseling sessions but will be home for the rest of the night. Yay!

We're fully mired in the lunchtime blues around here. We need to break out of our rut and come up with some new ideas for the meal, so if anyone wants to share what they do, leave a comment! Today, I told the kids, we were having an "appetizing" lunch - insert groan for corny wordplay - and I set out plates of cheese and crackers, lunch meat rolled up with toothpicks, peanut butter and jelly finger sandwiches, apple (two kinds) slices, and several different veggies. They loved that, so I was happy to do something simple that was also entertaining for them.

I've started reading the next Oprah Book Club selection. I'm not quite sure why I tend to read all of her selections; it's not as if I watch her show more than once or twice a year. I think it's because I usually enjoy the books she selects, so I keep on keepin' on. I was a little hesitant about this one since it's nearly 1000 pages long - quite a challenge for someone who has trouble reading through a monthly magazine before the next one arrives - and it takes place during the twelfth century, which is not an I'm particularly interested in. I'm hooked. This is one of those books that I instantly know I'm going to like and that I wish I could just sit around all day lost in it. I've never read any of Ken Follett's work before, but now I'm wondering if I'll have to go back and read everything of his if I'm going to enjoy it this much.

A couple days ago the kids asked if we could make gingerbread cookies. I wasn't sure if we had all of the ingredients, and we forgot about the cookies until today. So I looked and discovered we did indeed have everything necessary. I called to the kids from the kitchen, telling them that we had everything we needed to make the cookies. Cole's response? "Are you being sarcastic?' Not a clue where that response came from, but Cole thought he was pretty clever indeed. So we mixed up the dough and will make the actual cookies tomorrow. Yummy!

Other than that, it's been a pretty quiet day. Cory did some grocery shopping. Ella napped this afternoon. I've been reading whenever the kids allow. Cory's delivering pizzas tonight but should be home in about a half hour.

Usually Cory has a Saturday morning counseling client to see, but he didn't today because of the holiday weekend. That was so nice for him to be able to sleep in a little. Last night I had started getting Christmas decorations out and set up, and today we pretty much finished that. The kids and I set up the tree and decorated it, while Cory hung up outside lights and set up a few wooden cutouts that Myron made for us a few years back. The only thing left to put up are the stockings, and I can't find one. Hmm. We're so Christmas-fied over here that I'm even drinking my coffee out of a great big Santa mug that our friends Amy and Paul gave us about five years ago or so. Accalia has been listening and dancing to this cd. She's playing Christmas songs on the piano. The kids have watched "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" (the cartoon not the Jim C. version) twice today. Yes, we are going to be so ready to be done with the holidays by the end of next month, but that's okay. Time seems to pass so quickly, and I just want to enjoy this season as much as possible.

Our home is now even more of a wonderland for Ella. She's in love with our tree and stands there looking over each ornament. When one comes off the tree, she runs to me to put it back on. She's been constantly asking for me to hold her up at the entertainment center so we can look at the top where the Christmas village is set up. She points to each piece so I can tell her all about it. Her favorite is the old-fashioned library. We have to play a game of me directing her fingers where to go: "Walk up the steps. Open the door. Walk inside and check out books." Her favorite is when she points at a balcony on the top floor and I have to say, "Go! Go! Go!" That delights her to no end for reasons unknown to me.

Cory's delivering pizzas, and Ella is going from happy to cranky right now thanks to no nap. It didn't help that she was dancing in the kitchen with Accalia and Cole and Cole accidentally tripped her, resulting in a bloody nose. There's one of the true challenges of parenthood - trying to keep a two-year-old with a bloody nose calm and comforted while attempted to keep the blood from going all over the place as she shakes her head back and forth while screaming. Ah, good times.

Hey, guess who wants to look at the Christmas village?

I hope everyone who's celebrating had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday and is enjoying a long vacation. And if that isn't the case for you, then I hope you're having wonderful days no matter where you are and what you're doing.

My parents came yesterday morning and stayed until right before lunch today, so it was a short visit but a good one. We have eaten so much food over the past day and a half, and it's all been so yummy. Cory did most of the cooking, so it was only fair that I did most of the clean up, right? Of course, having my parents around made that job a little easier. After lunch, we took my parents over to see how construction on the new bridge over the Missouri River is progressing, and even though it was only in the 20s, we stayed at the little park for a short time to walk around. My parents actually stayed at a little hotel just a half block from our house because they thought the kids would have fun going to their room. This was huge for Accalia and Cole because they've always wanted to see the inside of the motel rooms, but that's never happened. Really, our visit consisted mostly of eating, visiting and playing. It was a little bit warmer today, so this morning my parents took Accalia and Cole to the park with the duck pond so they could feed the ducks and geese. Soon after that my parents left to return home.

My mom told me that a lot of the relatives in Mankato were expecting some sort of baby announcement from us this Thanksgiving since we seem to do that, but I'm going to have to disappoint those relatives and say that there is currently no baby on the way. And really, we've only made the pregnancy announcement once at Thanksgiving and that was in 1998 when I was pregnant with Accalia. I guess that in 2001 my announcement at this time was that I had miscarried, and it was just a month later that I found out I was pregnant with Cole. We announced Ella's pregnancy at Easter in 2004 - same day, in fact, that Jessica and Jeremy announced her pregnancy with Brooklyn. So that's my short history of pregnancy announcements and holidays.

Last night we all went to bed early - around 10 p.m. I was exhausted and Cory was planning to get up early to hit some Black Friday sales. I so foolishly ventured out this afternoon to pick up a couple things, and Cole and I even stopped at Goodwill to drop off a bag of donations and browse. We found a brand new Eloise board game, which Accalia and Cole have had fun with today. I also picked up a few books for myself and a book for my dad - a collection of stories about flying.

Cory is working tonight and called to say it's quite busy. There are six drivers on tonight, and usually there are three or four on the weekend. He's supposed to be done at 10, and hopefully he won't have to stay longer. Cory works Saturday and Sunday nights, too, but otherwise we don't have big plans for the weekend. Tonight the kids and I have been putting up a few Christmas decorations, gotten out all of our Christmas videos and books, etc. Maybe we'll put up the tree tomorrow.

This weekend has passed so quickly. After our rather disasterous trip to the park on Friday, thankfully things improved. Ella napped nearly all afternoon, but she didn't really wake up in an improved mood. The kids and I went to the Parade of Lights in downtown Yankton that evening. In the eight years we've lived in Yankton, we've never been to that. It's the kick off to the holiday season, I guess, and we get to see one or two or three Santas. The kids came away with quite the stash of candy canes (only Accalia likes), and we had free hot chocolate and marshmallows (not really necessary since it was in the 60s). Ella waved so, so hard at Santa. She was very excited, to say the least. The entire parade only lasted about 15 minutes, which confused the kids since they are used to hour plus parades, but they weren't too sad about returning home. Cory was delivering pizzas that night and didn't get home until close to midnight.

On Saturday, Cory had one appointment in the morning and then we took the kids to McDonalds. Cole had fun except for one small boy who was not particularly nice. Cole was very insulted when the boy called him a taco. It wasn't too hard to see where the boy's less than stellar social skills came from as we listened to him mom - extremely loud and extremely rude to that little boy. The first thing we heard her say when they arrived in the play land was a threat to spank, and it continued the entire time. It just makes you wonder why someone is so miserable and has to treat their child that way.

After lunch, we did our Thanksgiving meal shopping as well as additional groceries. We have everything except for the wine and a pumpkin pie. I'm not ashamed to say I'm too lazy to make a pie. I haven't done that since three years ago when Cole turned the oven to broil while I wasn't looking, which resulted in a very burnt pie. Cory delivered pizzas for about three hours that night, and the rest of the evening we all just sat around catching up on episodes of The Reaper. For whatever reason, all three kids really liked that show last night.

Everyone slept in this morning, and it wasn't long before Cory took Accalia and Cole to Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. Mixed reviews from the bunch, but the movie going experience is usually enough to turn a so-so movie into fun for the kids. When Cory told the kids last night about going to the movie, Cole was pretty upset that I wasn't going along. He knows that Ella won't sit still for a movie, but the idea of me not being there wasn't a happy one. We talked more about it this morning when he was well rested, and he was fine with me not going along.

There hasn' been a lot of other stuff going on today. Ella fell asleep around 7 p.m. after going without a nap today. Cory is delivering pizzas until 9:15 or so, and that's about it. Tomorrow I have to tackle bathroom cleaning, and I can't forget to put the turkey in the refrigerator to start thawing.

Today is an amazing November day for South Dakota - sunny and 60 plus degrees. After lunch we went to the park by the Missouri River, partly to see all of the holiday decorations that have been put up (I will refrain from ranting about how early holiday decorations now pop up) and partly to take advantage of this mild day before the cold sets in for good. It started out great, and here are pictures to prove it:





Our outing did not end very well, though, and here's what I could have done differently. This park is huge, one where I can't necessarily see the kids if we're on opposite ends. It's also right along the Missouri River, and water is way too attractive to stay away from, especially for Ella. After Ella had her fill of the playground equipment, she started wandering toward the water, leaving Accalia, Cole and our pile of stuff (jackets, diaper bag, etc.) unattended by me. It was okay at first because I could still vaguely see the kids at the playground, and the park was pretty much deserted save for a few couples walking along the paths. We spent some time on the dock, looking at the green, green water and at the Meridian Bridge and construction of the Discovery Bridge. Then Ella started wandering even farther away down toward the shore. At that point, we would have been too far away to see the other kids or our things. Ella resisted every attempt of mine to turn back, and finally I ended up carrying a crying little girl for quite a distance back to the playground and almost immediately back to our van.

So, with a little more planning on my part, the trip could have been so much happier for all of us, and everyone's needs for exploring and water could have been met. Actually, the most helpful thing would have been to have another adult along so they could have stayed at the playground with Accalia and Cole and I could have wandered around with Ella. However, as the lone adult, I should have done the extremely simple task of taking along my backpack style diaper bag, which is roomy enough to stuff everything inside and handy enough to carry on my back and still keep up with Ella. Then I would have had no worries about where our things were, and I should have just expected that Ella wandering away from the playground meant she would be going far and not just heading back to her siblings. I'm sure Accalia and Cole would have been eager to get down to the water, too. I've just gotten too far out of the routine of going to the parks that I just didn't think of what a wanderer Ella is becoming as she gets older.

Next time, right? It probably didn't help that Ella was pretty much exhausted and fell asleep for a nap soon after we returned home. There are some days where she's not ready to nap until 4 or 5 p.m. and others where she barely makes it past noon.

What, you may ask, am I doing right now? Well, other than blogging, of course. I'm listening to my newly repaired dryer work! The repairman had a cancellation, so he came this morning instead of this afternoon and quickly found that the thermal fuse had opened and was restricting air flow. It would take a lot to top having a working dryer in the house after a three month absence, but a really cool addition to the day is that Ella's new prefolds arrived, have already been washed and are now drying in the dryer. Hooray!

I really, really need to pick up a few groceries today, and I'm hoping that by later this afternoon, when we need to drop Accalia at art, that Cole will be a willing participant in that errand. He's been a bit on the cranky side so far today. Accalia, too. Yesterday they were both closing in on hyper with the amount of energy they had, which perhaps they borrowed from me. I was completely depleted yesterday - crampy, tired, just wanting to curl up in a chair with a good book. Did not happen. Not even close. Let's hope I'm more successful on that front today.

This morning we headed a little over an hour north to visit our friend and her beautiful new baby girl. You know, no matter how many children you have or how many babies you've held, I don't think it ever gets old to hold a newborn. Of course, you don't necessarily feel that way at 3 a.m. when you're desperate for sleep and that said newborn is cooing or crying in your arms. A bonus for this visit was me getting back a couple books I had loaned to her quite some time ago and had forgotten she had. Nice!

We ate lunch and ran a few errands in Sioux Falls and then came back home so Accalia could go to dance and Cory to his two counseling sessions. I did some cleaning this evening, and that was the excitement. Tomorrow is storytime, and on Wednesday a repairman is coming to look at the dryer. Yay!

It's been a while since I've posted pictures, so I'll have to do that soon. For now, though, here's a short video of the kids one night while Cory was away. It's hard to get shots of Ella because as soon as she sees you with the camera she wants to be by your side watching how the pictures turn out. I love how Accalia is just dancing in the background the entire time.



Cole has been one cranky, tired boy today, but he now seems to be in a better mood. Accalia's been pretty tired, too. Hopefully tomorrow will be a happier day for them. We're (Cory included since he has the day off) heading up to see our friend and her new baby. Can't wait! I think the kids are probably more excited about the fact that we're going to eat lunch at Sonic.

Ella had her pictures taken today. I think they turned out pretty cute. She wasn't very interested in smiling or looking at the camera until after she could see the finished result. She was very excited to play with props, though. Cory and Cole scored some great deals at the $1 racks of summer clothes. Cory picked up three pair of shorts, and I found two pair of shorts and a shirt for Cole. Only one pair of shorts will probably fit Cole next summer, but that's okay. I don't know why I never find deals like that for me!

I think I'm going to wash some diapers now. Other then our baby visit tomorrow, the rest of the week will probably be pretty typical. I hope I'll be able to go to that birth center open house next weekend, but I have no ideas beyond that. Oh, and I suppose shopping for Thanksgiving dinner will be a good idea one of these days.

The event that has been so prominent in Cory and my minds' today is the anniversary of Mary's death. Three years ago. I can't believe it's been three years. In some ways it feels as if her death - and life - were lifetimes ago. Accalia says she doesn't remember her, and Cole definitely doesn't. That was one of the most heart-wrenching parts of thinking about life after Mary, that she would no longer be in the hearts or minds of the kids. I see it in different ways, though, even if the kids don't realize it without us mentioning it. The other day Accalia was explaining to Cole how she knows the things she cooks are good: I just taste it with my eyes. We would groan in partly mock frustration when asking Mary about a dish she made and the measurements of the ingredients. "Oh, I don't know. I just add things until it looks right" was her reply. Tonight, out of the blue, Ella reached for the picture of Mary we have in the living room, motioning for me to bring it to her.

While Cory was in Mitchell with his brother and dad, Myron told him that things with Bev probably would not go on much longer. Bev broke her leg this past summer and apparently became extremely pushy about the two of them getting married. Myron said that he doesn't want to get married again, that his life is good right now, and that Mary was the only woman he's wanted to marry. I think this is just what he told Cory - probably different wording with Bev. Neither Cory nor I will be heartbroken to see his relationship with Bev end, truth be told.

The kids and I watched The Wizard of Oz tonight on TBS. My brothers and I would do that every year when we were growing up. We'd always need a snack of Cracker Jacks, too. Not sure why, but those two things are forever connected in my mind.

Accalia wants to play games on the computer, so off I go.

It was so nice having Cory home for the majority of the day. Yesterday we saw him for just a few minutes after I dropped Accalia off at tap and he was getting ready to deliver pizzas. Then we talked for about an hour after he came home before going to bed. This morning Cory had one counseling session, and the timing was such that I took all three kids with me while I set up for the LLL meeting. Then Cory came to us and took Accalia and Cole back home with him.

The meeting went fairly well. There were three other moms there, and between the four of us there were seven children. We had a great discussion except for at one point one of the mothers made a comment of a somewhat political nature that made me cringe. The discussion had gone off topic anyway, so I quickly redirected our conversation. I just really hope no one was offended; well, other than me. One of the mothers became a member today, too, so that takes me up to three members in our Yankton group. Yay!

Our afternoon seemed to go by fairly quickly, but it was also pretty quiet. Ella didn't fall asleep for a nap until around 3 p.m., and then she slept for nearly two hours. Accalia and Cole played with one of the neighbor girls for a little bit, and Cory even napped for a while on the couch.

I finally finished the book I've been reading for a couple months - Love in the Time of Cholera (yes, another Oprah Book Club pick). It obviously took me a while to get into it since it's not a terribly lengthy book - 348 pages - and I enjoyed it for the most part. It's supposed to be a love story that spans more than 50 years, but most of the time I just felt like I was reading about one man's obsession with the woman he couldn't have. I did like the ending, though.

Cory will hopefully be home a little after 10 p.m. from delivering pizzas. Tomorow we'll need to do some grocery shopping, and we're getting Ella's picture taken. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she'll let me fix her hair a little. Her hair is plentiful and rather out of control. Cory will work for a few hours delivering pizzas, but hopefully he won't be there too late.

I miss Cory. Since last Friday I've only seen him for maybe six hours. That just sucks. I'll maybe see him tomorrow between him coming home from Mitchell and leaving to deliver pizzas and then hopefully for an hour or two after he gets home. It was a pretty quiet day today. I can't even remember what we all did, but when I look around the house I can see we were doing plenty.

I'm positively exhausted right now, which is, I suppose, better than being negatively exhausted. See? I must be really tired if I'm trying to be witty in my blog.

Cory left around 7:30 this morning and spent an exhausting day helping his brother build a new garage. It sounds as if they were well fed by our sister-in-law, though. He'll be there tomorrow and for part of Friday, too. I spent some of the day picking up on the upstairs landing and in Accalia's room, knowing they'd have friends over in the afternoon. Accalia had art, so we dropped her off and then picked up C. and A. at school. They were here until a little after 6 p.m., as were the three neighbor girls. Five extra children in the house definitely saps my energy, but they all got along well for the most part.

Tonight Cole and Ella had baths, and I've been trying to catch up on work and emails. I even ordered new diapers for Ella - just boring old prefolds. Accalia's been flitting around going from one project to another. She seems a little lost tonight.

I talked with my doula today and found out that the doctor I used with Ella's pregnancy (also my GYN) will be moving at some point in the foreseeable future. That sucks because there's not another doctor nearby that I would want to see for a pregnancy, so that means traveling a bit. This is assuming I will have a future pregnancy, of course. There's a birth center opening up in Norfolk, NE, which is about 50 miles away, and that may be something to investigate. There will be an open house next weekend, and I may try to go to that. I drove about 30 miles to see my last doctor, so this wouldn't be too much more of a stretch. It's just that I would lose out on only being two minutes from the hospital and being able to go in minutes before giving birth. Anyway, this isn't something that will be happening in the near future, so I won't dwell on it too much.

There's nothing scheduled for tomorrow, so we'll see what pops up.

We're back home after being gone to Mankato Friday through Monday. We had a great visit. As always, we saw lots of the cousins (always a thrill for the kids), my brothers and their wives. Saw my grandparents. Spent much of the afternoon with Heather and her two kids. Leaving wasn't too bad for the kids knowing they'll see the grandparents again in just a few weeks when they come down for Thanksgiving.

Cory stayed busy delivering pizzas, doing things around the the house, and nursing a cold. He's delivering pizzas tonight, too, but then has the next few days off (from all work) because he's going up to Mitchell to help his brother build their new garage. His dad will be there, too. I think Cory's really looking forward to spending a few days with his brother and father. So, we won't see much of Cory this week, but hopefully we'll have more time together this weekend.

Lots to be done. Hoping Cole is asleep soon so he can get some extra sleep and get over this case of the crankies. Hopefully it's just that and not him getting sick. Maybe I'll be inspired to blog something interesting, too, over the next few days.

Yesterday was a fun and exhausting day for the kids. Accalia dressed up for her art class, wearing this witch costume there as well as when we went to a party put on by the local college


The kids and I went around the neighborhood for about an hour, covering just about four blocks. Accalia dressed as a frog, Cole as Spiderman (without the mask), and Ella as a bee:


After that, we went to the party at the local college where there was a haunted house that scared all three kids and a few games to play. We ran into some friends, too. Cory had a busy night delivering pizzas and even got some candy out of the deal. The kids came away with quite a bit of candy, and right away Accalia sorted through hers and set aside half or more for Cory and me since she didn't like it. Ella seems to enjoy unwrapping the candy more than anything, so you know that means I have to eat up whatever she unwraps and doesn't eat!

It's been a rather rough day around here so far. Ella is napping, and Cole and Accalia are finally playing together happily. I'm attempting to pack and catch up on things before we leave tomorrow. I also woke up with a scratchy throat and feeling a bit under the weather, which hopefully won't get worse just as we're getting ready to visit.

Yesterday was also a happy day because our friend Amy gave birth a a baby girl named Gianna Faith yesterday! I hope to be able to stop on our way out of town or on our way back home to visit, but that completely depends on them as well as if I'm feeling better.

This seems to be turning into a crazy, hectic week, and we started off with a blast yesterday celebrating Ella's second birthday. Here she is after tasting her chocolate birthday cake. Not too messy, as you can see.



I've gotten so used to having two children - Accalia and Cole - who are so into every little thing about birthdays, and here we have Ella who gets excited about it all but really doesn't care about all of the festivities. So I just made sure our little celebration had plenty of things that Accalia and Cole would have fun with - decorations, playing a few games, etc. - and Ella seemed to enjoy their enthusiasm most of all. I think her favorite present had to be a pack of crayons. She was so excited when she opened it and started taking out each crayon one by one (24 pack) and setting them on the rug in a row.

Actually, Ella was probably most excited about picking up Accalia from dance class later in the day. We arrived a few minutes early, and Ella ran out on the dance floor to be right next to Ella. She stood right by her as they formed a big circle to say goodbye and followed along with all of the dance moves. Right now she's wearing Accalia's dance clothes for tap.

Today we took Ella for a well child visit. She's gained almost six pounds since her 18 month checkup and weighs in at 38 pounds. She's also grown three inches and is 38 1/2 inches tall. The doctor said that she's actually a little overweight and could be 2 1/2 pounds less. Cory said I should have asked what diet he recommends. Uh huh.

The kids are really excited about Halloween. Cory most likely works in the evening, so I'll be on my own for all of the festivities. We're all pretty bummed about that. Accalia's planning to be a witch, and I think Cole is going to be a frog. If Ella lets me put a costume on her, she'll be a bee. I'm not convinced she'll let me do that, though.

Okay, I should really tackle this pile of emails I have after not getting online for basically all day yesterday and much of today.

Cory had a great night in tips last night - nearly $50! He's working again tonight - first time closing - so he won't be home for a few hours at least.

Last night ended up being a late, late night, and I was just exhausted by the time Cory came home. Today has been a pretty laidback day. Cory had one counseling appointment this morning, and much of the rest of the day has been devoted to hanging out at home. We did go out for lunch. I made a couple stops to see if I could find fall/winter jackets for Cole. Ended up empty handed. Accalia, Cole and I ran to the grocery store after Ella went down for a late afternoon nap. We just picked up a few things and will have to go out again tomorrow to pick up a few more.

The first thing Ella did this morning was wait for Cory to come downstairs so they could sit together and listen to music from the Broadway show Wicked on the computer. She did this the other night while Cory was listening to it and now it's her new favorite thing to do at the computer. Cory half jokingly said that his mom left that part of her for Ella. Both Cory and Mary loved/love musicals. They both participated in school and community theater, and I'm so glad that Mary was able to see a couple Broadway shows when she and Myron took a trip to New York City a couple a year or so before she died.

Tomorrow will hopefully be a productive day. Other than the trip to the store, we'll do a few things to prepare for Ella's birthday. The biggie will be baking her cake. Cory will work just a few hours in the evening, and he'll have an extra day to the weekend since he's taking Monday off for Ella's birthday. He will see his clients at night, though.

Happy Saturday everyone!

It's 8:40 p.m. and Ella's awake again. Yeah, I didn't see that one coming...

Did you see last night's full moon? It was gorgeous and just happened to be the largest and brightest one of the year.

I just put Ella down in bed after a day of no napping. Unfortunately, going to bed at 7 p.m. even without napping does not mean that my almost two-year-old will be down for the night. I really hope she is, but I've grown accustomed to not expecting that to be an absolute. Ella had a glorious day of playing with lots of kids - pouring dirt on her head while chatting up the 5-year-old next door, sitting in my friend K.'s lap and instructing us to clap whenever she pushed a Matchbox car through the toy carwash, and so on.

We were planning to get together with K. and her girls this morning, but they didn't show up until two hours after the time we had agreed on. I didn't hear from her, so I didn't know if I had just mixed up the time or if perhaps they were called to take in a foster child (recently licensed as foster parents), or what. It turns out that they were in an accident on the way to our house and had spent this time dealing with the police, etc. Thankfully no one was hurt, but their van is probably a goner.

We did a little shopping this afternoon, including Accalia picking out a new shampoo for herself. This is very serious business as Accalia is really into making her bath an elaborate affair. She has no desire to take a shower and instead luxuriates in a bath and experiments with all of these different bath products that I've collected but have never had a chance to use.

Cole was so excited (as usual) to play with the neighbor girls, but today he easily got upset with them. Sometimes it's something like one of the girls taking "his" swing while other times it's the oldest (age 6) doing something because she knows it upsets him (sometimes real, sometimes mock anger). Cole is not a fan of being teased, but this seems to be a big thing for the neighbor girl. There are times when Accalia will start to tease Cole, but she knows to pull back when he no longer likes where it's heading and moves on to something else. The neighbor girl - not so much.

Cory works tonight, tomorrow night and Sunday night delivering pizzas, but we should have our days for fun family times. We'll start getting things ready on Sunday for our family celebration of Ella's birthday, which should be an absolute blast. Cory's taking the day off for that.

While living in Yankton does have its charms and benefits for our family, being near major museums and such definitely is not one of them. It would be fabulous to live close enough to make a day of going to, say, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Right now there's an exhibit there about the beginnings of paper photography. My actual experience developing photographs is limited to one semester my sophomore year of college where I took a photography class as part of my journalism requirements. I wasn't terribly gifted at it, but I suppose with additional practice I could have managed fairly well. Thankfully I never had to make use of those primitive skills during my time at various small newspapers. If I ever would go back to journalism - and I'm not sure that I would - I have a feeling that those skills are even less in demand now that there's much more use of digital photography than there was more than eight years ago when I was actually employed with a newspaper.

Time to get everyone ready for storytime.

One thing I've always had difficulty doing is being able to turn around my mood if things go bad. It doesn't matter if it's just me being grumpy or if I'm letting someone else's mood (Cory, the kids, etc.) turn mine sour. It takes a lot for me to get back to my happy place. I think I get that from my dad. Anyway, if my day starts off bad then it's that much harder to get back on track. So one thing I've been trying to do is to start off the day with even just one thing that I can look forward to so I don't let negativity take over. For me, it can be something as little as making sure I have a cup of coffee during that point in the afternoon where I've lost my energy and need to reboot. I don't even need to be able to sit down and be still while drinking it. I can be upstairs putting away laundry and taking occasional sips.

Another thing that I have to work hard at is not forcing my desire to get going right away in the morning to run errands make me a grumpy, impatient person. This is another thing I've gotten from my dad. Even though I don't get up quite as early as I once did, I still like to get ready and run any errands I may need to do (bank, post office, etc.) right away so I can get that taken care of and move on with the rest of the day. That was easy enough to do when it was just Accalia and me or even Accalia, Cole and myself. Now that all three of the kids are on a cycle of late nights and late mornings, it's given me the chance to use my mornings for other pursuits. For instance, it's 10 a.m. and all three kids are still asleep. I'm sure they'll be waking up soon. I've been up since about 8 a.m. I need to make a deposit at the bank for Cory and mail a couple things. Normally in the morning I would hurry around trying to vacuum or take care of dishes or do other things while the kids are asleep and I'm at my peak. But, since I know I'll most likely not have a quiet evening to relax since all three kids are sleeping in, I'm taking advantage of this time now to fill myself up with a little "me" time. I'm on my second cup of coffee and I'm reading through magazines that have been sitting on the table for a while. It's a great start to the day and really helping me center myself.

Now I hear at least one of the kids stirring, so I'll have to continue this later on today. Hope everyone has a great one and can find a little time for themselves throughout the day!

Made it through another weekend. Whew! Yesterday was warm (around 80) and sunny, but today is cloudy and in the low 50s. Cole went over to see if the neighbor girls could play this afternoon, and they told him it was too cold to come outside and play. This doesn't bode well for playing outside this winter!

Cory didn't put in quite as many hours delivering pizza this weekend, which is what he's doing right now, but he still managed to make decent tips. He even received a $15 tip on Friday. It felt really strange to wake up on Saturday and not have to get ready for a soccer game. Accalia did have a birthday party in the afternoon, which was a lot of fun for her, and the rest of us did a little grocery shopping after dropping her off.

I've felt very little motivation this weekend and some of last week - not even motivated to read much of the book I'm currently reading! - and I'm really hoping my motivation comes roaring back this week. We don't have too much out of the ordinary going on. Accalia has ballet on Monday and tap on Friday. There's storytime on Tuesday and art on Wednesday. I'm finally getting a haircut on Tuesday after months since my last one.

So it should be a pretty typical week - the week before Ella turns two. I do hope Ella's crankiness abates a little - it's been better today - although there are plenty of reasons for her to be a little out of sorts. She has several teeth coming in, including molars. I can see, too, that she's trying so hard to do things that she can't quite manage yet and that easily frustrates her. She's so determined to do everything that she sees Accalia and Cole doing, and sometimes that ends up being frustrating for all three of them. This just seems to be one of those times of growing and adjusting and transitioning as a family that is a little harder than other times.

How can you not love a show that includes scenes like this?

Busy day. It's rained again today but not as much as it has been for the past week. There were even a few brief glimpses of sun. I think tomorrow is supposed to be rainy, too, but then it should clear up and allow for outdoor play once again. It doesn't seem like anyone is feeling stir crazy from being inside so much, and I think that's probably because this is the first stretch of being inside since last winter, and there have been so many fun things to discover and rediscover.

Cory took off most of the day because all of us (except Ella) went to the dentist this morning. Ella was not at all happy about me being in the dentist's chair and her not being able to be on it with me, but she cheered up toward the end of my brief check up. No cavities for the four of us. Accalia and Cole have yet to have any cavities discovered, and I'm very happy about that. Neither Cory nor I have spectacular teeth, so we're glad that so far Cole and Accalia seem to have good, healthy teeth. The unfortunate news for Accalia is that orthodontics are most likely in her future due to some crooked teeth and either an overbite or underbite (can't remember which). Our dentist usually starts looking seriously at that sort of thing around age 10 at th earliest, so there's time.

After lunch, Cory had to go to the prison's trustee unit here in Yankton so he could lead the final annual training session on suicide. By the time he got home, it was almost time for Accalia to go to art. She had a great time today. They moved into the new addition in back of the main studio and even had a photographer from the newspaper take pictures for something that will run in November.

Since Cory is delivering pizzas this evening, he stayed at home and had an early supper (and watched a sleeping Ella) while Cole and I dropped off Accalia at art and did a few errands. We had one book that was due at the library yesterday, and instead of just dropping it off Cole decided he wanted to go in and look for a few more books. So we did that, then ran to the dentist's office to return a finger puppet that Cory had accidentally taken home this morning. We made a quick stop at Goodwill to see if there were any fall or winter coats for Cole, but we came up empty there. Then we stopped at a downtown business so I could sign a petition for a recall election of our mayor and one city commissioner. Unfortunately the two petitions that were there had already been filled, so I'll have to do that another day.

Now that supper's over, we'll see what the rest of the evening brings. I'm trying to pick up a little more in our office/playroom/music room/little bit of everything room.

It was another rainy day. I'm not sure if it stopped raining at all today. We found plenty to do at home today. It turned out to be a really fun and relaxing day for all of us. A few pictures...

This is Ella sleeping on the couch last night. Accalia and Cole sat and watched her and exclaimed about how cute she looked. They even brought her toys to keep her company in her sleep.


Here is Cole playing with a fabric tent that Cory's parents gave Accalia for her second birthday. This has been such a fun toy for all of the kids and has been in constant use over the past six years. Ella is most excited about it right now and always is dragging it out in the living room to set up and sit inside.

I'm tired and ready for bed, but we'll see when that actually transpires. It's raining right now, as it's been most of the day, and the sound of the rain drops on the air conditioner and other outside objects is so soothing. All I want to do is climb into a nice warm bed with Ella cuddled next to me. It's too bad both Ella and Cole fell asleep late in the afternoon.

Cory delivered pizzas from 2-8 today and is probably very happy to be in bed right now. This morning I took Cole and Ella to do a bit of grocery shopping, and there was this spooky maze built out of hundreds of packs of pop for anyone to go through. They loved it and went through it again and again. This afternoon we had to go back so Accalia could check it out for herself. Hmm, what else did we do? We stopped at the library for a few minutes to return movies and to look for a couple books for Cory. We put the coffee grinder to use so we could grind up some lovely french vanilla scented beans. We read a book about ancient Egypt.

Now I'm going to tuck in Accalia and start to get ready myself.

Accalia's last soccer game this morning was a miserable affair. It was cold (low 50s), windy, and raining by the second half. Cole hid under a blanket for the first quarter or so but cheered up when I took him, Ella and A. to the van to warm up. Ella's face was starting to turn a little blue, so I thought she might enjoy the heat. She didn't want any of that, though. She was upset to get to the van because she didn't want to be away from the action and she didn't like the idea of possibly leaving without Cory or Accalia (we didn't plan to, of course). So we went back out, but she ended up starting to cry out there and cry when I took her back to the van. She was just tired from staying up way too late (darn late naps) and getting up earlier than desired. The good news is that Accalia's team won their last game. Accalia started crying when we got home because she's sad about soccer being over, and it didn't cheer her up that much to think of it beginning again in April.

After lunch (Burger King thanks to Cory's pizza delivery tips), Cory and I caught up on a little tv that we've missed and then he headed off to work at two. He'll hopefully be done around 8 and then we'll all watch a movie together. Ella ended up falling asleep a little before 5, but thankfully we have no reason to get up tomorrow if she stays up super late tonight.

Now I'm off to do some cleaning. I'm feeling really restless. I wish I could take the opportunity of none of the kids really needing me right now to just sit and relax and read, but I just can't make myself sit down to do that.

So we didn't buy the dryer last night. When I first called about it, she explained that she was doing it as an auction-type sale and would sell it to the person who basically ended up closest to $100 (possibly more, I guess). Someone had already offered $75, I offered $80. She called back a bit later saying that she'd sell it to us for $85, and that's the price we planned for when we went there last night. Apparently, though, someone else had offered $90 and she told us she'd give it to us for $95. Cory wasn't too thrilled that she changed the price on us when we had agreed on something, so we told her we'd think about it. That's why we're still looking. Funny, though, when I called this morning to let her know we were going to pass, she told me the $90 bidder decided to pass and that she'd give it to us for $85 again if we check back in a week. Hmm. Even though it will probably be more expensive, it's starting to sound a lot more simple just to call in a repair guy.

I finally went into the basement and looked through our winter outerwear to see what the kids may need for the fall/winter. Neither Accalia or Cole really have thicker fall jackets, so we may have to do something about that. The good news is that Ella will be able to fit into Accalia's old winter gear (and fall gear) and that Accalia still fits in her winter jacket from last year. Cole is the only one in need of a winter jacket, and I think we may head to Goodwill first since even just spending $30 on a new jacket isn't necessarily in our budget right now.

Cory took his car in this morning because it hasn't been heating at all, so now the thermostat is being repaired. There's also a belt or something that's about to go that has to be taken care of now. Then there's an oil change. He's working in town this morning and will come to the house before his lunch break so we can take him to pick up his car and then he'll be off to work once again. He delivers pizza tonight, too, so we'll see him briefly for supper in between taking Accalia to and from her tap class.

Cory also delivers pizzas Saturday and Sunday from 2-8 p.m., so he won't be around a lot. Accalia's last soccer game is Saturday (another early 9 a.m. one), and then Cory sees one client in the morning. I think we're going to all sit down together Saturday night and watch Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer since we have that sitting here and waiting.

Ella's napping right now, which is a very good thing. She's been a rather cranky girl today. That's surprised me since she fell asleep around 6 p.m. last night and I actually woke her up around 8:30 a.m. today so we could get out of the house and get a free breakfast at our local Hy-Vee. Unfortunately the free breakfast didn't happen. The dining area was filled to the brim, and when we saw the line of people waiting we turned right around and headed back to the van. Cory went early this morning before work and said we could have gotten our breakfasts to go. Shoot!

Tonight we might be getting a working dryer! Only 1 1/2 months after ours breaks down, right? Our plan was to manage for a while longer because we need to put our money toward property taxes that are due at the end of the month. Then we'd focus on the dryer. We still weren't too thrilled about calling someone for repairs when that could very well end up costing almost as much as a new dryer depending on the problem and parts needed. So we decided we'd check out the classifieds and see if anyone is selling an used dryer for $100 or less. There was one listed today and I called, and it turned out to be the owner of the art studio that Accalia attends. They had ended up getting a new washer/dryer set of a different color and this one still works great. So we're going over tonight to possibly haul it home. The fun part, of course, will be moving out the old dryer and hauling in the new one.

So that's the excitement so far today.

Cory will be delivering pizzas for about another hour, and then he's coming home and going to bed. Or so he said at supper. He's tired and has a bit of a headache. Thankfully he has tomorrow night off, and we can all just sit around and relax together. Other than Accalia going to the art studio, we haven't done much outside of the house today. While Accalia was at art, Cole, Ella and I ran to the dollar store to pick up a couple things. Cole picked out a little basketball game, and I picked out a face painting kit for Accalia that she's been having a blast with tonight.

Here are pictures of the kids to wind up the day:

Life right now is very busy and very hard, but it's also very, very good. Cory is finishing up his contract work with the behavioral health center because there wasn't much coming his way and the pay wasn't so great, especially considering all of the paperwork he had to deal with on a weekly basis. So, since at this point we still need that extra income and because we really want to kick extra butt getting rid of our debt, Cory has started delivering pizzas. He started over the weekend and is working on a part time basis of 20-25 hours a week. Between that, his full time job and his private counseling, he's working a lot of hours. It helps to know it's not a permanent thing, and he's finding the pizza delivering to be pretty enjoyable.

Ella is an absolute hoot right now. You can just see how observant she is of the world around her and how she's incorporating her observations into her actions. She waves and says hello to lots of different people, shakes hands, raises her cup in cheer, shuts off and turns on lights for me, Watching her interpret the world is so much fun.

Lately Cole has been very interested in drawing, and he's trying very hard to draw recognizable objects - animals, houses, mushrooms, whatever strikes his fancy. He and Accalia have been checking out lots of How to Draw books from the library so they can get ideas, and they'll sit together comparing their drawings. Cole's also at an age where he gets easily frustrated when he can't do something, and it's so neat to see Accalia jumping in and helping him out when he gets stuck.

Accalia's loving her big sister role lately and has been showing such a helping, nurturing side with both Cole and Ella. She's also shown a bigger need to have alone time and will often disappear upstairs to play by herself. We've also gotten into reading the Goosebumps books and watching the new series based on the books that just started on Cartoon Network.

There's not much going on tomorrow other than Accalia going to the art studio. Maybe we'll do more decorating for Halloween. The kids are eager to play with the neighbors and try out some new games I was explaining today.

We had a weekend full of ups and downs - mostly ups, though. Myron arrived on Friday just before supper, and he and Cory were busy for a while that evening winterizing the pop up camper and doing some framing around our front door. The rest of the evening was spent hanging out and watching the baseball playoffs.

On Saturday we were all up early for Accalia's soccer game. She had a great game and is starting to become more bold on the field and help move the ball along. One more soccer game and then the season will resume in April or May. Cole was rather out of sorts during the game because he was tired and there weren't any kids for him to play with during the game. Next week he will hopefully have Alexia to play with since Chloe is on the team that Accalia's is playing.

Cory and Myron were actually gone for the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon watching our niece play in a volleyball tournament. Neither of the nephews had come along, though, so the kids and I stayed at home. There are few things less fun than trying to keep three children entertained at a high school sporting event.

The big down of the weekend happened right before supper. Cory was getting it ready and the kids, Myron and I were hanging out in the living room. Myron's dog, Dodger (7 yo black cocker spaniel) was lying on the floor. He rolled over onto his back and I started scratching his belly. Then I stopped so Cole could scratch his belly. Cole had just started doing that when Dodger let out a short growl and leapt right at Cole, barking and baring his teeth right up against his face. He was so close that I couldn't tell at first if he was biting Cole. Cole started to back up, I grabbed Cole and got in between him and Dodger since Dodger was coming after him, and Myron got Dodger and put him outside. The whole thing probably lasted three seconds, but it was one of those things where it feels like you're watching everything in slow motion. Cole was hysterical but thankfully physically unhurt. After that Myron decided he was going to head home rather than spend another night. He felt awful and we felt awful, but I was relieved that we wouldn't have to deal with Dodger for another night.

Myron got Dodger from a shelter about two years ago. Cory and I were a little disappointed that Myron had gotten an adult dog from a home without children since we had no idea how he would be around the kids. Turns out he's not much of a kid lover. He's snapped at Accalia once before, and that was when he was trying to eat from her bowl that she had left within reach and she started to take it back. Then he's growled at Cole before when Cole was sitting by him and petting him. Dodger reminds me so much of how Lucy was before we had her put down. She was so unpredictable with what would set her off. Lucy did bite, and Dodger has yet to actually bite one of our kids, but that doesn't make it any safer or make us feel more comfortable.

Cory and I aren't going to tell Myron what we think he should do, but I do wish Myron would board or at least kennel Dodger when we visit. It's basically impossible to sit and relax with Myron since Dodger is always at his side. Sure, Accalia and Cole can just go to a different part of the house and play and be away from Dodger, but that's not a fun visit with Grandpa. Then there's Ella. When she sees Dodger (or any dog), she wants to be near the dog. Since Dodger's not the kid loving kind and Ella doesn't yet understand the need for distance, I spent part of Friday evening upstairs with Ella. She had napped late and wasn't tired at all and wasn't being distracted by anything.

So, I'm not sure what we'll do since Myron has given no indication that he's going to get rid of Dodger. Cory and I were talking about how if Mary were alive and this had happened, there would be no doubt that Dodger would be finding a new home if he couldn't be trusted around children. The safest thing, of course, is to just not visit if Dodger is around and roaming free. Otherwise, our visits will probably consist of me hanging out with the kids in an area that Dodger can't access while Cory and Myron hang out with the dog. And that's such an absurd scenario...

So that was the abbreviated weekend visit from Myron. Cory has tomorrow off because of Native American Day (Columbus Day for the majority of other Americans). Hopefully we can end the long weekend on a slightly happier note.