Facebook Friday

Isn't this exciting? I have about a whole month's worth of Facebook status updates to share with you!!!
Uhh, maybe I should say "YIKES!" instead of exciting???


Saturday, June 6th
12:10am
Yay, it's my birthday!! Now I just have to get to bed so I can be awake for it during the actual daytime... :)

4:17pm
Becky's day is going reasonably well. Too bad I've had to fold laundry , and a certain little girl is choosing to throw fits every 2 seconds, and my free Coldstone ice cream got kicked all over my jeans by the baby. Otherwise, I'm in a good mood, Jesse's doing a lot of chores and cooking for me, and it's SUNNY, thank goodness!


Sunday, June 7th
3:21pm (from my iPod)
Becky appears to have a dead computer. It won't even boot up in safe mode.
>> Jesse, 4:51pm << we got it running....finally booted in safe with CMD and then a restart got it running.

9:26pm
Becky prepared and very much enjoyed a white vegetable lasagna for dinner tonight. And then went bike riding - Melinda is officially graduated to riding with no training wheels!! What a smooth transition she made, she was amazing tonight!

Monday, June 8th
10:44am
Becky is happy for beautiful weather.
>> 1:58pm Well, I might just take my happy comment back, because running errands made me feel like I was going to melt. But inside I feel nice and comfortable.

7:34pm
Becky is glad that if the car decided to overheat, it at least did it at the best time possible. No kids in the car, a nearby exit off the freeway, and a husband at home just a phone call away to explain step-by-step how to locate the radiator cap. Also glad that said awesome husband managed to have no less than THREE giant bottles of coolant sitting in the car, saving me a walk to a gas station.

Tuesday, June 9th
4:41pm
Becky is too hot. Ordering pizza. I'm such a wuss.

6:05pm
Becky loooooooves a good thunderstorm!!
(I even have pictures and a video to share eventually!)

Wednesday, June 10th
11:13am
Jacob's first dentist appointment: Check! Lookin' good! Find Hawaiian clothes at Goodwill for family reunion Luau party: Check! Eat ice cream before lunchtime: Check!!

1:31pm
Becky appears to be putting of getting the house ready for vacation by one more day. Typical me, save it all for the last minute.

3:39pm
Becky is *trying* to pick up the front room before I start dinner, but the computer is so darn distracting!! If only a thunderstorm would roll by and knock out my power, THEN I'd get some cleaning done! Oh, but then I wouldn't have fans or A/C. Hmmm. Maybe I should just exercise more will power.

4:30pm
Clean front room: Check! Trim Alex's hair: Check! (Poor kid needs someone to donate hair cutting lessons to his mommy....)

11:29pm
Becky doesn't know why Alex went to bed 2 hours late tonight. No logical reason, and he was happy as a clam.

Thursday, June 11th
9:26am
On the agenda: Pay bills, clean playroom, sparkle-clean kitchen, finish laundry, start packing, go to swim class, finish packing, and sleep. Bright and early to the airport tomorrow....

9:47am
I am now extremely ticked off. Just went to start a load of laundry, and discovered that all my water is turned off. They're repairing pipes somewhere, and they don't know when it will be back on. HELLOOOOOOO. I have laundry and dishes to do before I leave in the morning!!!!! GRRRRRRAAAAWWRRR

12:46pm
Lunchtime. Switching the car with Jesse and taking all 3 kids and 3 full laundry baskets to the laundromat. Yay. .... Wish I could take back my laundry procrastination yesterday.

4:34pm
Was able to narrowly avoid the laundromat- checked the water once more before heading out the door, and it was back on! Took Jesse back to work anyway, in case they turned the water off and we needed to do the laundromat still. But it's stayed on all afternoon, and the laundry's almost done, along with most of the rest of the chores. Yay!

10:12pm
Becky is definitely not going to get enough sleep tonight. Gotta get up before the sun in the morning to get to the airport, and I haven't even finished packing yet. But I'm sooooo excited for Colorado! ♥

(From the 12th through the 22nd, all statuses are posted while I'm in Colorado, on Mountain time, but the posting time is still in Eastern. So, think 2 hours early for everything. 9am= I really posted at 7am, 10pm=I really posted at 8pm, etc.)
Friday, June 12th
5:04pm (from my iPod)
Becky got three hours of sleep, hopped on a plane, held a wiggly kid for 4 hours, and then crashed on the couch in beautiful Colorado.

Saturday, June 13th
9:02am (from my iPod)
Becky is not a fan of young toddlers transferring their 8am wake time to a 6am Mountain wake time. Especially after yesterday's lack of sleep followed by an 11:30pm mountain bedtime. Zzzzzzzzzzz.

6:51pm
Becky loves watching the kids play with their cousins. Jacob just yelled to one, "Come with me! You're my friend, you're my cousin!!"

Tuesday, June 16th
11:21pm (from my iPod)
Becky notes that her entire family would prefer to stay in Colorado rather than go home in six days, despite the daily T-storms. And today I made my own beaded necklace... That was so cool! I think I have to do it again.

Note about that status: My mother-in-law Nedra, and sister-in-law, Rachel, have a TON of beading supplies and their own (fairly new) Etsy shop here, where they sell their creations. They also sell them in person at craft shows. They invited all of the women (and a couple of the older cousins) to try it out and make their own stuff for the cost of the materials. So I spent $10 total on these two necklaces and one that Melinda picked beads for (hers is entirely random, but she loves it!). The first one I made with my red and white dress in mind, and it works fantastically with it! The second one I made because the first one was so fun/addicting... And I thought it would be pretty to put pinks and purples together with a little pop of green-blue. Turns out that necklace goes with a million different shirts I have! :)

Wednesday, June 17th
4:32pm (from my iPod)
Becky was in lawn-mowing heaven this afternoon. Ahhh... Nothing like the look of clean lines on green grass.
Note: I'll talk about that more in one of my Colorado blog posts.

10:10pm (from my iPod)
Becky is totally wiped out. Lawn work all morning, often with Alex strapped to my back, followed by two hours at the pool. If you hear some snoring, it just might be me all the way from Colorado.

Thursday, June 18th
7:18pm (from my iPod)
Becky supposes that bad days are inevitable even on vacation. Sigh. Here's to a better tomorrow.

Friday, June 19th
10:12pm (from my iPod)
Becky apparently missed out on the most awesome swimming pool ever, today. But when one kid took a nice long nap and the other two ended up falling asleep on the couch, I think we made a good decision by staying home.

Saturday, June 20th
1:24pm (from my iPod)
Becky is getting ready for a picnic, playground time, and canoeing on the lake. Fun!

7:21pm (from my iPod)
Becky keeps trying to remember "Today is a gift". But despite the fun, I'm still completely bummed that I have to go back home tomorrow. Wish I could stay in Colorado forever.

(Back to normal time, now...)
Tuesday, June 23rd
1:10am
Becky is home. Fridge & cupboards are essentially empty, there are 3 loads of laundry (despite doing 2 on vacay), booster seat got mixed up w/ relatives at the last minute, nobody slept on the plane, each kid had a bit of a meltdown at home with getting into bed, and we had to turn on the A/C at midnight because we felt so hot and sticky. I'm going to bed.

1:30pm
Becky is completely unpacked in record time, and has already started 2 loads of laundry. Usually it takes me a couple weeks. ;) Yay me!! Look what sleeping in until 10am can do for a travelin' gal!

3:01pm
Becky enjoyed over an hour of **all three** kids napping.
>>> after various shocked comments:
It's not so impressive when you remember that we got home at almost midnight, and didn't get them into bed until after that (and several meltdowns). Melinda woke up before Jesse got out of bed for work... so, yeah, not enough sleep. They HAD to have naps.

3:28pm
Obviously, the naps for Melinda and Jacob were not enough to make up for a midnight bedtime and a 7am wake time. They are both melting down, and I'm getting frustrated. Where's all the cousin/aunt/uncle/grandma/grandpa distractions when you need them? :(

11:00pm
Becky is hoping tomorrow goes much, much, much better than today did.

Wednesday, June 24th
2:50pm
Becky is doing great with laundry and kitchen upkeep, but keeps putting off the restocking-the-groceries part of getting back from vacation.

Thursday, June 25th
1:57pm
Becky made an impulsive decision and ran out to buy a couple giant popsicles and and ice cream bar when the ice cream truck rolled by, blaring it's music. Hey, I'm hot, and I actually had cash on hand. And now the kids are blissfully occupied while I finish up my grocery list. ;)

11:42pm
Becky is starting to feel that slightly-sore feeling in the back of my mouth up near my nose, like I'm about to come down with something. Sigh. Hope some extra vitamins and such will help, because I don't know if I can tolerate my typical hot tea in this weather.

Friday, June 26th
9:36am
Becky is definitely not feeling good. So far it's all in my head... but even my neck is a bit achey/stiff feeling. Loading up on vitamin C, garlic, and tea with honey... (The tea actually feels very good, even in the hot weather.)

12:20pm
Becky told Jacob, "I love you so much!". Jacob replied, "I love you more much!" And then I said, "I love you most much!" and he agreed that he loved me "most much", too. .... Little boys are awesome. ♥

9:03pm
Jesse came home early from work today with bad news. The purchase deal fell through for his company. There's another company still considering, but in the meantime, after next week, everyone has been told not to come in to work for 2 weeks. And nobody can say whether they'll come back at all or not. They'll figure that out later, I guess. .... ... I knew I should have stayed in Colorado. ;)

Monday, June 29th
12:00pm
Becky thinks today is a beautiful day. And it helps that the floors are vacuumed and the kitchen is clean and the laundry isn't piling up. I've somehow managed to stay mostly organized in the week I've been home from vacation!

3:53pm
Becky just logged 45 minutes on the Wii Fit. After a break of 179 days. :-\

Tuesday, June 30th
1:51pm
Becky pushed 2 kids on a stroller for over an hour at a fast-as-possible pace while Melinda sped ahead on her bike. If only I had my own bike and kid trailer! Or even a double jogging stroller would have helped. Melinda had to stop and wait for me to catch up so often!

10:08pm
Becky just helped Jesse apply for a job out in Louisville, CO that sounded absolutely perfect for his background. Have to keep reminding myself that even if *I* think he's perfect for it, doesn't mean they automatically will. But here's to hoping!

Wednesday, July 1st
11:33am
Alex was playing on the porch, fell over, and whacked/scraped his forehead on the concrete. My poor baby's face is covered in a giant red splotch. It could have been worse, but it sure isn't pretty. :(

2:50pm
Becky did 45 min on the Wii Fit again. Three days in a row of exercising! *pats herself on the back* But when will the soreness stop? Oh, I ache so much from the first session!

Thursday, July 2nd
10:19am
Becky dreamed last night that she was back in band, eager to play clarinet after many years, but of all the large handful of reeds I had, not a single one was unbroken.

3:55pm
Jesse's done with work for this week and the next week, if not more. But for now, we're enjoying his early time off, and he took the older two kids out to ride bikes while Alex and I enjoy some quiet time.

5:16pm
Becky is feeling a bit overwhelmed by mommy guilt.
>>> 7:10pm
The irrational kind set in by everything going badly at once. But it's mostly focused on Alex having some issues with his teeth that really need to get looked at, but we don't even have him on our dental insurance yet. Also, I realized it's not fully mommy guilt. It's also a lot of panic setting in about everything else going downhill in our life right now. Job, car, bills, that sort of thing. Panic came out of nowhere... I was fine with it up till this afternoon...

Friday, July 3rd
10:30am
Becky is hoping Jesse can figure out the current car issue. Radiator emptying completely in a 10 minute drive. Hopefully it's just a broken hose or something....
>>> 11:08am
Looking more like the whole radiator, since water is pretty much pouring off the frame underneath the radiator after being filled. We've decided to take it to a well-respected mechanic on Monday. They think they can fix it for $300-400, and take less than a day doing it. Sounds better than buying a radiator for almost $200 when we can't say for *sure* that this is the problem, and chance wasting both time and money while Jesse's income is on the line.

(Yay for our only car being completely crappy. I really was hoping Jesse's company would be purchased and we'd be shopping for a new van right now. That hope sure was blown out of the water. We're stuck fixing a car we hate, instead.)

12:30pm
Becky does not have a text messaging plan. Each text message sent costs $.20. Each message received also costs $.20. So when the baby grabs your phone and somehow manages to send two blank messages in quick succession to your husband who shares a family plan with you, he just cost you $.80. For nothing.

Colorado Vacation Begins

Early early on Jesse's birthday, we started our trip to Colorado.  Our plan was to be up by 4:30am, to get to the airport early enough for our flight at 7am.  Well, I accidentally set my alarm for PM instead of AM, and Jesse apparently either didn't hear his alarm or turned it off.  Jesse woke up up at about 4:45, gasping in terror that we didn't wake up.  We were lucky he woke up enough to notice the time, because it took me forever to fall asleep the night before, as is always the case before a big trip, and so I was essentially dead, only about 3 hours into my sleep.  There was no way I would have woken up.  But Jesse's panic got me moving, and so off I went on only 3 hours of sleep.

Melinda woke up easily - just the lights turning on got her out of bed and excited to start the trip.  Jacob had to be shaken around a bit before he was up enough for us to get him dressed and going.  Alex woke up as soon as I got him dressed.  Amazingly, all three of them stayed awake the entire trip down to the airport.  And the only ones who slept ON the plane were Jesse (I admit I was furiously jealous of that for a little while), and Alex... for only about 45 minutes or so.  On a 4 hour flight.  Alex fought sleep and wanted to run and play the rest of the time, and Melinda and Jacob didn't even look like the were tired.  Out the window went my ideas for airplanes putting young, sleep-deprived kids right to sleep!!!

Our arrival at the airport was actually pretty stressful.  Since we were running behind, we were rushing to make up lost time.  There was no traffic, but we still had to park at the long-term parking, remove all three car seats, grab a bus to the airport, and check in.  We were banking on short lines due to the day and time of the flight, and we didn't have to wait long to get to the check-in counter, but security wait was longer than we anticipated, and our agent that checked us in was as slow as molasses.  And this was AFTER she chided us for being so late ("so late" being only1.5 hours before departure), earning us no boarding passes (I didn't know I could actually CHECK IN online a whole day before!), and told us that we needed to hurry to the gate to get seats, or they'd give them away.  So we're like, THANKS, lady--- could you maybe hurry it up a bit??  I swear I could have checked the luggage faster than 3 versions of her working together.  So anyway, we finally got checked in, and waited through security anxiously, and then really booked it down to our gate, as best as we could while trying to urge the kids along.  Jacob likes to stand completley still on moving sidewalks, so getting him to run was a joke.  But we made it, and got our boarding passes easily, like there was never any question that it would happen.  And then we had to wait around for a while... all while realizing that our planned "breakfast" of leftover Arby's burgers was sitting back in the van between the front seats, and would have to stay there for 10 days.  We had snacks, at least, but no real breakfast.

It was a full flight, but because we had young kids, we got to board rather early, and picked out a row of seats, with Melinda at the window, Jacob in the middle, and Jesse on the aisle, and me with Alex on my lap in the aisle just across from them.  An older couple sat next to me, and helped entertain Alex a little bit (because, no matter how many toys you bring, they simply aren't interesting to your own kids).  But they started to make me uncomfortable after a while, offering food to Alex, wanting to hold him, and walk him up and down the aisle.  I'm sorry, but I'm uncomfortable enough with Alex's safety while he's sitting firmly locked in my own lap, on the off chance that there's some crazy bad turbulence that rips him out of my arms and kills him.  I am certainly NOT going to hand him over to a perfect stranger and let that responsibility pass from myself.  I would never ever forgive myself if he got hurt on a plane because someone besides myself was holding him, at the wrong time, you know?

Anyway, we arrived in Denver bright and early at 10am Mountain time, where Rachel met us and took us home in the van.  All three kids fell asleep on the drive back to the Newson house, thankfully.  I was worried about them being so low on sleep!  We ate some lunch back at their house, and said hello's to Grandma and Grandpa, and Sarah and her kids (Meredith, Max, Jack and Luke), who had already been there for a few days.  Once the kids looked good and distracted with playing, I crashed on the couch, fast asleep.  I was so exhausted, after only 3 hours of sleep, a busy morning of travel, and wrangling with Alex to keep him happy on my lap on the plane.  I woke up much happier and feeling more energetic, which was a relief.

The day was spent mostly by me watching after the kids, while the others kept getting the house ready for more guests.  Jeremy and Heidi's family would be coming the next day, with their 5 kids, and Tobin would be flying in as well.   It's hard to believe it, but a good 24 people stayed in the same house for more than a week!!  The time change for us made it easier to get the kids to bed than it otherwise would have, with such a noisy, busy house.  But the downside, of course, was that they were getting up at the crack of dawn, while we kept on going to bed late so we could stay up and visit and play with the adults.

We had a delicious birthday dinner that day that we arrived, to celebrate Jesse's birthday that day, and mine a week before.  Rachel had made dessert for us, and we even got to blow out candles!  My mom had sent a birthday card to Jesse at his parent's house, and it arrived in time for him to open it that day.  That was a surprise!!  And then we got to open up some presents from the family after dinner.  Jesse's always been a hard one to give gifts to, but they had found a big collection of Calvin & Hobbes comic books to give to him, and Crocs brand swim trunks and sunglasses.  And cousin Meredith (9 years old) made for a good laugh when she wrapped a single tic tac in a giant pillowcase for Jesse to open!    I got a couple small kitchen gadgets, a great hand-made tote bag from Sarah, and a needle felting kit, which was fun, because it's something I've been wanting to try!  It's easy to feel a little spoiled when we get together with the Newson family.

The first few days we were there, we mostly just hung out at home and let the kids entertain themselves... and with so many cousins available, and Grandma's ample supply of toys from the 70's and 80's, and the giant sandy "beach" in the backyard (thanks to the unfortunate septic tank issues they had recently, and new regulations about drainage systems), entertaining themselves was generally very easy.

 

  

 

 

  

 

 

  

  

  

  

  

 

Sunday we had another birthday celebration for Rachel.  I think it's really fun having a sister-in-law the same age as myself.  Of course, as she reminded me, I'm SOooo much older than she is.  A whole 8 days older!!!  Gasp!!  But after her birthday dinner (which, in Newson tradition, the birthday girl or boy gets to choose, and Rachel chose homemade Chipotle!  Yum!!), we had more birthday dessert and singing and gifts.  Alex had his first ever ice cream cone, which he thoroughly enjoyed, and everyone else got delicious ice cream and brownies. What a weekend!!  ;)

On Monday, Jesse and a couple of his brothers helped clean out Ron and Nedra's gutters, which were overgrowing with little plants.  They actually did quite a bit of work around the house, which I'm sure was a big help to their parents.  Jesse also helped install a screen door on one of the doors downstairs.  

It was so, so, so good to see everyone again.  All those cousins had grown up so much since the last time we all got together, 2 years ago!  And being in Colorado itself was just wonderful, too.  Even though it was chilly the first several days, and raining with thunderstorms every single afternoon/evening... it just felt good to be there.

More to come later.... if I don't split this up, I'll never finish it!!   ;)

Pay it Forward

Obvious confession time: I've been severely behind in my blogging for months now. I've been putting off this post with the idea that I should catch up with my "real" blogging, first, but I give up. I need to do this. If I eventually manage to catch up with the other stuff, great.... but I'm not going to force this to wait anymore.

Back in March, I accepted a gift from Allyson with the requirement to Pay it Forward. It was an awesome gift - something like 20 beautiful hand-made cards, each as lovely and useful as could be! I've already used a few, and feel so happy sending them out to friends and family. Now, all I have to do, is share something with three more people. It's been a long time coming, huh? (Hello, July... where on earth did you come from?!?)

Please please please comment here and agree to take a gift from me! All you have to do is pay it forward yourself. I don't care if you give away 3 more things to bloggers or to real-life friends, or even if you only give away one thing to one other person. I'll be honest and say that I feel QUITE guilty that it's taken me this long to put up this post, especially when I've had 3 things just hanging around waiting to be given away!

If you win, I either have to be able to mail the item to you, or give it to you in person. So, be prepared to let me have your name and address, if I don't have it already!

I have three beautiful hand-made items from Etsy for you to choose from.

Number 1, a fun and practical palm tree bag, made by Kennedy Grace boutique on Etsy. I'm sorry that I'm not going to drag out my ruler for you, but this bag is as tall as the length of my forearm, a bit wider than that across, and about 2-3 inches deep. Definitely roomy! It's got 4 outside pockets, 2 inside pockets, and a little ribbon loop for attaching things like your keys. The handles are a lightweight bamboo, it's got an attached black ribbon accent, and the bag can stand up on its own. Feels very sturdy and durable, and looks perfect for summertime!! I'm just not much of a purse person, so I'm passing it along. It's brand new and unused.

Number 2, a lovely sea-green and blue paisley diaper and wipes pouch made by Shut the Front Door at Etsy. It has a velcro closure and will definitely fit plenty of diapers and wipes. Love this concept - it makes grabbing a diaper and wipes to throw in your bag such an easy chore! And I personally think the fabric is so stylish. :)



Number 3 is a set of beaded french hook earrings with silver findings by dedesbeads at Etsy. I completely wish I could use these. I ordered a gorgeous beaded necklace several months ago, and the seller was so excited that she ran out and made a free pair of earrings to send to me as a gift. It was so unexpected and thrillnig! But I don't have pierced ears... and I think this is the first time I've ever regeretted it!! I think I'd wear them every day, if I could... they're just such a gorgeous shade of blue. They are even more impressive in person... when I haven't taken a picture with poor lighting at 10pm, that sort of thing. I'm almost certain that there are two swarovski crystals on each earring- they are vibrant, shiny, and match the shape of the swarovski crystals I worked with during jewelry-making fun on vacation in Colorado. :) They're also made with .925 silver, so they'll be good for those of you with sensitive ears!

So all you have to do is comment here, and in about a week's time, I'll randomly choose 3 winners to receive a gift! Go ahead and state your order of preference for a prize in your comment, but if things don't work out automatically, prize winner #1 will get first choice, followed by prize winner #2 getting second choice, etc. And remember - if you win a prize, you need to be prepared to pass a gift on to another person! Your choice of gift type, gift recipient, and method of giving. Just Pay it Forward, simple as that. And feel free to tell other people about this little giveaway! I know I've been blogging so infrequently, that my readership is languishing a little bit. Of course, I'm happy to just give things away to my family, but if you want to make it more fun, I might even throw in one of my recently read books for fun, you know? ;)

Also, just a quick disclaimer: I'm only willing to ship within the continental U.S. With Jesse's job being very likely gone in the near future, I don't want to spend a fortune on shipping.

(Phew! Now I can get along with catch-up blogging guilt free, now that I've finally taken care of this Pay it Forward thing!)