Tuesday, August 25, 2009

First Days...

of school went smooth--got Rachel off to Junior High on time (early) which was smart due to TRAFFIC nightmares with shuttling all the kids there..she made it to all her classes, figured out her "route" is had fun seeing she had a few kids she knew in EACH of her classes--she even found the "mormon table" -so all is well!
sarah is going to have a fun year, as is Anna--good teachers, good friends--
had fun walking with becca to kindergarten-she's in the PM class and has one friend in there she's good friends with so that made the "drop off" easy! NICE

I picked Rachel up at 2pm-then the other 3 walked home at 3pm--i had a nice plate of warm chocolate chip cookies waiting for them (my tradition!)--devoured & enjoyed.

We stuck to our schedule, scripture reading at 730, followed by brush teeth, hair, jammies etc by 8pm they were in their rooms either coloring or reading, lights out at 830--FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i am debating about starting a NO TV/CANCEL dish beginning sept 1st..surprisingly i decided to go to bed at 1030pm vs watching tv--im having tooth pain and didnt sleep the night before so im SURE that encouraged me to not watch tv--i took a vicodin and slept like a BABY--sooooo great. We will see if i continue the challenge or not...

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Last week of summer--

Let's hurry it up already!

This last week will be spent at dentist offices, eye doctors, school registration etc. Trying to cram in all this stuff on the last week--not the smartest but oh well-atleast all the school shopping has been done for 3 weeks now.

Yesterday I went to the Price is Right show. What an ordeal THAT was. I will never do it again-but fun to do it ONE time. It required me waking up while it was STILL DARK!! 530am--i dont know how Jon taught seminary for so long waking up like that..no wonder he was ready to CRASH by 9pm everynight-and i'd be bugged cuz that's when all the good tv shows came on--while putting on my make up-becca came in and asked "is this when you put on your make up? when its still dark then go back to bed?!" it made me chuckle-i had to tell her i was going somewhere--she replied "shouldnt you be sleeping??" um YES!!!!!!!!!!! so got to our meeting spot by 6am (we had to ambush one of our friends cuz we needed ONE LAST person to come or none of us could get in-she was a total trooper and busted out of bed, put on her face and was out the door in now time!)
We got to LA in good time thanks to my driving skills--and were ready to go-it was TONS Of hurry up and wait and wait and wait..good thing we had fun girls!!
We got into the show by 1230pm and started the show-it went super fast, the room was SUPERRR small and one of our girls actually got on and won a car--SWEET!

After that we headed back home-stopped off to eat at a grub mexican place (they give you fresh warm HOMEMADE tortillas with butter--DUDE PERFECTION!!!) & then made it back home by 6pm...lonnnnngggg day and i was wiped OUT!

I came home and jon had the girls pick up the downstairs-it was spotless and shiny with the hum of the dishwasher-why is this like every mother/wife's dream!? i dont know why--but it is!!

I had a hard time sleeping becuz of a silly tooth ache that seems to SHOW ITSELF RIGHT as im going to sleep--so struggled with that all night, i ended up sleeping in this AM till 1130-HELLO! of course now its 330 and my tooth feels totally fine..grrrrr

Today the girls are off in different directions playing with friends-LOVE friend days!

Jon and I have been watching these DVD's ON SACRED GROUND
Reflections on Joseph Smith by Truman G. Madsen ..you can go to www.trumanmadsen.com to purchase them. I am FASCINATED with them--really great DVD's to watch together with your spouse/family and grow--I LOVE learning about the Gospel-!

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Rounding out Summer...

PLEASE BRING ON THE NEW SCHOOL YEAR!!!! okay so it's obvious where my thoughts are these days...i have 13 more days till school starts again and quite frankly it cannot come SOON ENOUGH! Being on the downhill side of summer is never my favorite-i am one of those "lets get on with it already" types--

We have done quite a few beach days-we had beach house week last week of July with Sandra's side of the family-always fun to visit with cousins & see families growing! I've met lots of friends at CDM and Newport--i even ventured into the waves myself--i know pick your jaw up OFF the ground.."christina went IN the WATER?!" yes. i did. I caught some sweet waves-then was quickly humbled by a trasher--good times! Every time I drove home back from the beach it MUST be accompanied by Guns N Roses--its just the Hales way.

We had lots of fun with Kristi's family in town-a couple sleepovers--so crazy seeing the "older cousins" becoming "older" and the changes they all go thru. I am glad she brought the crew down and had so much fun! I LOVE that ALL of Jons family gets alone so well and we can always count on each other and have fun with each other with NO DRAMA--sometimes that's hard to do in families these days.

Jon continues to have pressure sore issue's which leaves him stuck in his bed upstairs-not the most fun but helps to keep it from getting worse. He's pretty much spent the WHOLE last 4-5 weeks IN BED--poor guy. It's still only at stage 1 of 4--so we just keep plugging along with life.

I am CRAZY BUSY with my new company and LOVING every minute of it. I am extremely thankful for the opportunity and the blessing it will be to our family in so many ways.

Well this will be an interesting school year-my schedule looks like up at the CRACK OF DAWN (well not really, but for a sleepy head like me-645 mine as well be!) get child #1 off to Jr High-meet Kristen at Turley fitness (new 24 hour gym WHOO HOO)work out for an hour (while my sweet child #2 & 3 get THEMSELVES dressed and breakfast made & out the door by 8am to walk to school-I know im SOOO LUCKY i have GOOD CHILDREN!!!)then I will return home and get myself ready for the day and get child #4
to Kindergarten by 1045am and then i am FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE till 3pm--can you feel my excitement!??!?!? I havent quite decided which breakfast joint I will be solo celebrating at!? iHOP, Coco's, Dennys?!?!?

I have been doing a tradition with my girls on the FIRST day of school i make sure i have a fresh batch of my killer chocolate chip cookies ready for them when they walk thru the door (i will pick up Rachel & the other 3 will walk home together)--they ALWAYS remind me and are so happy that i follow thru with that tradition--

Usually with Jon home I have him incharge of Anna's homework, while I help Sarah with hers. Rachel does her own by herself (besides I dont think im smart enough for her homework anymore!??! thank heavens for google.com when im stuck-so i SEEM smart! HA) So this year Rachel will be in the afterschool homework club thingy-so hers will be done before she even gets home, then i will take sarah and anna while jon continues to take Anna. Hopefully that system works. My girls are SO GOOD about just coming home, grabbing a snack and getting to their homework right away so we are done. We usually have it all wrapped up by 330pm--FABULOUS!!!!!!!

Im ready for us to be in bed by 9pm and up and at 'em in the mornings with a routine--I love that we have dinner every night by 6pm, girls do their dishwasher chore, scripture reading is done nightly after dishes--monday nights FHE's are rotated between Me, then Jon, then Rachel & then thru Sarah. I love that we have family prayer each night after scripture reading--these things make life simple and make mom happy.

Bring on the school year!