Forced Family Fun!

By the San Pedro

Our family is way too busy...well, Rick and I are way too busy.  Rick is of course working full time, but he also goes to school part time and has a part time weekend job.  I'm in school full time and studying is my job, so it's not often that we have one day, let alone three days, to be together uninterrupted.  But last weekend was just that.  I named it Forced Family Fun.  We were gonna be together and we were gonna like it.  Nay, LOVE it.  Glory be, it worked!  Who knew?

Friday night we left Aren and Tatiana at home and Rick and I went out to dinner and then I finally upgraded my phone.  Did you know they have phones where you can take decent pictures AND check your facebook status?  Yeah, I know.  I'm a little behind the times, but my phone is amaze-balls.

Saturday we divided and conquered.  Rick and Aren hung out and went to a churchy thing then out to dinner while Tatiana and I stayed home and watched whatever cartoon we could find from Redbox.  It wasn't good.  Seriously, a dollar I will never get back.

Aren likes his marshmallow nice and charred!

Sunday was fantastic.  We went to the San Pedro house and went on a little hike complete with a picnic by a pond.  Complaints were few and far between.  In fact, Aren wanted to keep going!  We came home and roasted marshmallows and hot dogs for dinner.  Showers were had without complaints and children went to bed on time and happily.  If I didn't know better I'd say we were being duped, that's how perfect the weekend was! 

Reality will set in this week as I'm studying for anatomy and Rick does nothing but work and plays a little Paper Mario World for Tatiana as she doses off to sleep, but we'll remember fondly our weekend of forced family fun and how it was a success!

Happiness

I like Willow Tree stuff.  I don't get them very often, but every once in a while, Rick will remember how much I enjoy them and he'll buy me one.  Today he surprised me with the one called "Happiness" and I love it.  It's been a hard week in our little home.  I've been so sick, sicker than I've been in a long time, which made it literally impossible for me to do anything.  Aren was sick was well...we're still waiting on the blood work to confirm if he has mono.  We also celebrated Lily's birthday on Monday.  She would have been ten.  Having a birthday party complete with cake and ice cream and presents where you sing to someone who isn't there gets a little harder every year, but we still do it.

So, back to the point.  It was a hard week, and ending it with me turning 37 and getting this gift has helped me to remember all the reasons I have to be grateful for this week.  Some of us were sick, but Aren was on break so he didn't have to miss any school.  Rick kept his job delivering pizza so we were able to spend an awesome day at the zoo celebrating Lily, we went out to lunch, we bought gifts, and nothing came out of our regular budget...all paid for by tips!  I was able to spend a few minutes talking with Tatiana about her sister who she doesn't see and how families are forever.  I spent time with Aren laying on the couch watching haunted stories, one of our favorite things to do, because neither of us was up to doing anything else. 

The week that was full of sickness and sadness was really my week of happiness.  Thanks for reminding me Rick. 

Knavery...n-a-v-a-r-y...Knavery...DING!

A few months ago Aren won the Pueblo del Sol Elementary School Spelling Bee and he won it spelling the world "polyglot".  What the hell?!  Who knows that word?  Well, apparently my son did and he was told he would be participating in the county spelling bee in February.  He was pretty excited...e-x-c-i-t-e-d...and pretty nervous...n-e-r-v-o-u-s...but we were able to keep him calm, which is saying a lot since we discovered back in September that Aren suffers from panic attacks.  Nice.

Round one started and one by one kids were dropping like flies.  Rick and I would look at each other and think, "Idiots...i-d-i-o-t-s...idiots," anytime a kid spelled something wrong.  Then up comes Aren and his word is "knavery".  Wait, what?  Who the hell knows how to spell that?  Well, not Aren.  Our kid was the next idiot to get benched the first round.  Oh well.  We laughed about it and told him he could pick a place for lunch and he insisted Greek food could cure all idiot speller woes.  Smart kid, I tell you.

Aren and Rick right before the bee

Tatiana's response to me telling her she would have to be quiet during the bee

Aren and his teacher, Mrs. Silk

Who needs to win when you can lose and eat Greek food?

Conversations

Aren is seriously my favorite son ever.  This kid has been through so much and just when I think his spirit can't amaze me any more, he says things that blow my mind.

A few days ago we were walking around the neighborhood, following Tatiana as she zoomed around on her scooter.  He turned to me and said, "Mom, do you ever wonder why Tatiana was the only normal kid that came into our family?"  I approached cautiously.  "Sometimes.  Do you ever think about it?"  "Sometimes."  "And what do you think, Aren?"

This is when he paused and said, "I think when I meet Heavenly Father and He tells me He's going to resurrect me and fix me I'm going to tell Him no thanks.  I'm happy just the way I am."

I love him.

Routine

Routines are good.  We had a great routine about two months ago.  Rick went to work, I went to class, Tatiana went to preschool, and Aren did regular school.  Add in some piano lessons, a meal out every now and then, life was good.  Our routine was good.

Then out of the blue we get a phone call saying that Rick is being furloughed; that's the nice of way of saying, "We're not firing you, just don't come back to work until we figure out what to do...and you're not getting paid."

We quickly formed a new routine.  Aren went to school, Tatiana went to preschool, and I went to class and studied...and studied...and studied some more.  Rick quickly fell into the roll of a stay at home dad and he was amazing.  Every morning Tatiana would wake up and say, "Dad, do you have to go to work today?" Rick would respond with his usual, "Nope," and Tatiana would throw her hands up in the air and scream, "Awesome!"  Tea parties and haircuts, Power Puff Girls marathons and lunches of chicken nuggets ensued.  It was an amazing routine.

Friday we finally got word that Rick would be returning to work on Monday, so it's time to figure out a new routine.  I'm not sure how Tatiana is going to deal with being stuck with me all day long as opposed to her tea partying daddy.  I'm not sure how I'm going to handle walking in the door from class and having Rick there with a diet coke in hand and a shoulder for me to cry on because I just can't handle one more day in my accelerated anatomy class.

One thing is for sure...neither Rick or I will try and change up our routine by pulling a Calvin.

Weekend Baker

My weeks are crazy.  Even with Rick being home full time for the past two months, we rarely see each other.  I have class Monday and Wednesday morning and Tuesday and Thursday nights.  Rick has class Monday and Wednesday nights and works at Papa John's (Papa's in the house!) Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights...ridiculous, right?  When I'm not at school, I'm studying and Saturday and Sunday seem to be the only days where I can find some time to get things done.  So this weekend I baked...and baked some more.

Saturday morning I made chocolate chip pumpkin muffins and then I was feeling adventurous and decided to make these lil' diddies - whole wheat cranberry orange muffins.  You can find the recipe HERE.  And this is what they look like...they really did.  Seriously.  Except they weren't on a red plate, but whatever.  They were dang good.  I'm not gonna lie, you can tell they're "healthy" but super good just the same.

Then, because I wasn't crazy enough, I decided that I needed to make these lil' gems this afternoon.  Holy shiz it made a ton of cookies!

You can find the recipe HERE.  I didn't have any M&Ms in the house so I used milk chocolate chips instead and we didn't have peanuts either, but I did have coconut, so I used that and man oh man...soooo good!  This recipe made about seven dozen cookies easy.  I baked up two dozen and then spooned out the rest of the dough on a cookie sheet then stuck them in the freezer and when they were all frozen, I put them in a ziploc bag.  Now whenever I want cookies all I have to do is drop the little suckers onto a cookie sheet and go for it.

So, there you have it.  Mommy moment at its finest.  Let me know if you try these.  Pretty sure you won't be disappointed!

Going Pro

I've been wanting to try out bike riding ever since I started having issues with my foot about a year ago, but we never seemed to be able to find the money to get one for me.  Fast forward to December and a super generous friend gave me her bike because she was moving and didn't have room for it.  Suh-weet!

I bought a helmet and away I went...all the way to end of the cul-de-sac and back.  I was a little nervous to be riding around.  A few weeks later I got up the courage to ride about two miles and then about a week ago with Rick by my side - actually in front of me - I rode all three miles to the college, had study group, then rode all three miles home and have totally loved it. 

It's my preferred mode of transportation now...I'm pretty much a pro.