One

I haven't been taking many pictures lately because I get discouraged and think I'm not very good, but I finally took Jack out for a photoshoot for his 1 year old pictures. It was soooo much fun. Here's a few photos and more to come. I'm spending way too much time figuring out Photoshop, but I need to figure out my 'recipe' for editing photos.

The ship is sinking

First, I'm not really complaining. When Chad got his job we were told that it might not last a week and now he's been there over two years. He's gained valuable experience. And since we aren't in a house right now and we don't have any pressing bills (except for needing to save lots and lots of money) it's okay that he may soon be out of a job.
Chad received an e-mail on Friday from his boss that informed employees that the SL office will be closing before Thanksgiving. What does that mean for Chad? Who knows? There's a small possibility it might mean he will be working from home, but most likely it means that he will be out of a job. Which is exactly why he's looking for one. Also, he doesn't think he wants to work from home. Although, I would enjoy having his commute change from a half an hour drive to a 5 second walk on the stairs. More time with Chad is always good!
Chad is just finding it challenging to be motivated. Who wouldn't? They are pretty much saying, "you won't have a job in six weeks, but until then work as hard as you can." Okay, whatever.

Potporri Number 1

Refreshing
I just got almost five hours of uninterrupted sleep. I feel refreshed as that hasn't happened for quite some time. And it's pretty amazing since both of the boys are sick. Jack took a nap around dinner time, so he was wide awake, being silly and laughing at 11:00pm. Thank you to Chad for letting me go to sleep.

Brain Rotter
I try not to watch too much television. I rarely ever turn the television on during the day to watch a show I want to watch. Some days I'll let Ben watch a couple of shows and some days I won't. He'll ask me incessantly if he can watch a show and I'll tell him, "television can be good, but if we watch too much it will rot our brains." One of those things I thought I would never say as a mom.

Sit and Be Fit
There are a few shows I like to watch every week, but there is only one show I absolutely have to see. It's The Biggest Loser. I love it and Chad enjoys watching it too. I look forward to it every week. It inspires both of us to be healthier even though sometimes when I'm watching it I find myself wanting to eat a lot of junk food. Does anybody else have that problem?

Closer
I'm trying to have a good attitude about our living situation, but it is so frustrating to me. Ben woke up screaming the other night and when I finally got him to calm down and tell me what was wrong he said, "I want to go downstairs." He asks me a couple of times a day why we are living upstairs. At least we haven't moved away from his cousins and being upstairs means we are just that much closer to them.

The Search is On
Chad has started applying for a new job. His last really good friend at work got a job offer yesterday. I'm pretty hopeful Chad won't have too hard of a time finding a new job, but if anybody has any leads send them our way.

Arepas
Monday night some kind people invited us over for dinner. The mom is Venezuelan and made arepas for dinner. Oh. My. Gosh. They were soooo tasty. I can't wait to have them again. And speaking of tasty food that I crave, later today I'm going to lunch at The Other Place with my friend Amanda. I'm excited for the food, but mostly I'm excited to see her as I haven't seen he for quite some time.

Pictures, as promised

Yeah, Chad found the cable for me. Pictures of Jack because he is a willing subject. Ben refuses to look at the camera. Jack's hair is getting long, because I don't want to cut off his curls. Thus he has crazy bedhead in the morning. It makes me smile because it's so silly looking.Jack started trying out the walking thing the week after his birthday while we were up my Grandpa's cabin over Labor Day weekend. He is now quite the pro at it. He's now everywhere and getting into everything he can. I need to get a video of Jack babbling. He's quite the complex babbler. It's hard to explain, but his babbling involves sticking his tongue out of his mouth a lot. I love his little language and it makes me laugh when Chad carries on a converstation with him.
There are so many things I love about Jack-he's started dancing when he hears music and I love to watch him shake his little bum, often when he is falling asleep he makes cute little humming noises, and he has a cute fake laugh that makes me giggle.
I need to take Jack out for a photo shoot to get his one year pictures. I'm a little behind. I haven't used my camera much lately. I'm not a super amazing photographer, but I love my camera and I miss that I haven't been using it much lately. I have a few opportunities to take pictures in the next couple of weeks. Yeah, I'm excited.

Oh where or where has my

I really like posts with pictures, but sadly this is not one of them. My next post will include some pictures, I hope. I have some pictures on my computer, but I'm not on my computer. It's downstairs behind a bunch of stuff. Also, I'm not sure where the cable is to get the pictures from my camera to my computer.

I hate being disorganized and I feel completely disorganized. Before I continue with the complaining first let me say that I'm so grateful that nothing seriously horrible has happened to me or anybody that I love. I'm just having a night where I feel so overwhelmed and bitter. The past week I've been so busy taking care of my nieces and nephews, that being displaced didn't really bother me. My sister's back and we're no longer at their house.

Fortunately we have a place to stay that doesn't involve moving a whole bunch of stuff, my aunts are kindly letting us use a room upstairs. Unfortunately our stuff is in many different places in the house and I'm not sure where to find everything, let alone organize it. Our clothes are downstairs in a closet, in the middle level in a dresser in a storage room, and upstairs in plastic bins. Our food is downstairs, boxed up in the middle level, and some things are over at my sister's house. We have a queen bed, a pack n' play, a toddler bed, and two dressers in a room where we will be spending the next month or two.

I wish that I owned a house, so I didn't feel like I was inconveniencing anybody else. So, I didn't feel like I've overstayed my welcome by staying with my aunts for so long. (They would never say I've overstayed my welcome, well maybe if we stayed for five more years.) I feel bitter because I wish that things would have worked out for us to buy a house two or three years ago. I wish I would have made $50,000 to $100,000 from buying a house a couple of years ago instead of being in a situation where houses are $50,000 to $100,000 more than I can afford. Sometimes I think I just make stupid decisions. Sometimes I think I'm just unlucky. Yeah, I know, I'm bitter.

Hopefully we'll get in a groove of things the next couple of days.

Yesterday's Adventures

Yesterday morning around 9:30am I discovered my cell phone was missing. I looked all over for it with no success. I used my brother-in-laws cell phone to call it, but unfortunately the voicemail picked up right away so the battery was dead. Odd, especially because Chad had just charged it the day before.
Finally around 11:30am I remembered that I had been out in the backyard the night before picking acorns up on the ground. I went out and found my phone in the grass. Unfortunately the sprinklers had come on that morning. Fortunately, my phone still works, but I had to charge it. So, I just used my brother-in-laws cell phone for the day.
After lunch we went to the children's museum. When we got there, they were having a circus party downstairs and we got cotton candy and balloons. I had gotten an e-mail about this, but had forgotten about it, so I forgot that there was going to be an elephant parade through the Gateway. So, while we were inside the museum, most everybody else was outside watching the elephant parade. The kids would have loved that.
The kids played in the museum for a couple of hours. Jack especially loved playing with the balls. I rounded up the kids with enough time to spare to get home for when my niece got home from school. We headed out to the parking lot and I loaded up the kids in the van.
Then a security guard approached me and asked me if I had noticed the damage to the van. He explained that some people witnessed a car back into the van and then take off. The witnesses left me a note and reported it to security. The security guard suggested I contact the police. I couldn't get cell phone reception in the parking lot, so I took the kids out of the van and went out in the mall area. First, I called my brother to meet my niece at home.
We were standing just above the escalators and Jack grabbed the paper the witness had left (including the liscense plate number) and threw it down on the escalator. I ran like crazy to get it. I was holding Jack, trying to run down the up escalator while trying to bend down and pick up the paper. It was tricky especially considering that my back hurts really bed especially when I bend down.
So, I got the paper and called the police. Then we waited. Jack was hungry and Ben had to pee. I also had my niece and nephew with me and they had to pee as well. I didn't know if the police officer would call me when he got there or if I just had to wait by the van. I couldn't wait by the van if he was going to call because there was no cell phone reception. So I had the boys stand over by the parking lot (where I could still see them) and tell me if they saw a police car. The cop showed up a half an hour later, took the info and said he would look into it.
I took the kids to the bathroom and then took them to get cookies and then ice cream. While sitting there I remembered I was suppose to meet my friend Heather at my sister's house at 4:00 because she was bringing me dinner. Ooops! It was well past 4:00pm and I didn't have her phone # to call her because I didn't have my cell phone. I eventually figured out to call Heather's mom and got Heather's phone number. I called Heather and apologized and she let me know she just left the dinner in the fridge at my aunt's house because the door was open (because the flood restoration people are working there).
We ate our cookies and ice cream and were getting ready to leave when the police office called and said that he went and talked the kid, and his parents, who backed into the car and the police officer wanted to meet me at a gas station to give me the insurance info. He said he would be there in 10-15 minutes. After loading up four kids in the van it took me a little bit longer than 15 minutes to get to the gas station. When I got there the police officer wasn't there, but fifteen minutes later he showed up. He gave me the info and then we hurried home.
We stuffed food in our mouths as we had to hurry to get my nephew to his soccer game at 6:00pm. We were a little late and when we got there, there was no one else from his team. The schedule my sister left me was apparently had the wrong time on this particular event. Oh well, we didn't have to sit through the soccer game at the end of the crazy day.
I'm today will be less eventful. My niece woke up sick this morning, but now she feels a lot better. She would like to stay home and play with Jack all day, but I think she should go to school. I think I will take her there now.
Last thing, a funny thing. While the boys were watching for the police officer to come, Ben was talking to people coming in from the mall. He told them about our house flooding and somebody backing into the van. He was talking so fast and people didn't quite catch the story. A lady came up to me and asked me if somebody had crashed into our house with a van. Fortunately, no.

"Water, wow"

Today I became a soccer mom, carpool driving mother of five. My sister and brother-in-law are on vacation for the next week and Chad and I are watching their kids. This has been in the plans for the past couple of months and actually works out pretty good since we can't live in the basement at my aunts house for the next month or so.
On top of the basement thing and watching my sister's kids, I hurt my back. I think I did a little bit too much bending, twisting, and lifting. I can't stand up straight and it's hurts to carry Jack. (I'm complaining a lot, sorry.) It will be a crazy week, today was especially crazy. In addition to taking care of my sister's kids we had to pack up more of our stuff in the basement because tomorrow they will start taking out the wet walls, ceiling, and carpet pads.
Tonight when we were in the basement packing up Jack said, "water, wow." I couldn't believe my ears, but my mom heard it too. Jack says things like mama, dada, bubu (for Ben), and uh-oh (his favorite), but "water" is the first big word he's said. I know he's not exactly capable of saying that word, and it was probably just complex babbling, but it was interesting.