Disneyland, flooded basements and in general, life passing me by

This one's for you Lori. It has come to my attention that I have been neglecting my blog. It's not that I don't have things to blog about it's just when I think I have a second to sit down and come up with something clever to say the phone rings or a diaper needs changing or someone is hungry or thirsty or a fight breaks out and boys need to be sent to their respective corners. The past couple months have been a little crazy. It all started with plans to go to Disneyland at the end of March. I casually asked my brothers and sister if they wanted to tag along and before I knew it I turned into a travel agent extraordinaire researching and booking hotels, flights and rental cars. The week before we were supposed to leave I was up late working on finalizing our plans. I looked at the sink at thought to myself how nice it would be to wake up in the morning to absolutely no dishes in the sink(something that rarely happens). So I loaded up the last of the dishes turned on the dishwasher and went to bed feeling like I had accomplished something. The next day Andy came up the stairs and said, "Mom, there is a bubble in the ceiling." I ran down the stairs to find my basement ceiling sagging and very wet carpet. After some investigating I figured out that the hose that leads from the dishwasher to the disposal had come loose and had sprayed water under the sink all night eventually finding it's way to the basement all though not before warping my beautiful wood floors. We managed to get everything dried out and cleaned up before I hosted a baby shower for my friend Jana the following weekend and then packed up the day after the shower and headed for sunny California. Whew!






We had a great time with all of the cousins and loved being in 70 degree weather. Can I just say I love Disneyland. We even managed to get through the entire vacation without loosing Luke.

The magic of hairspray

A couple of months ago Steve and I finally decided to get a new couch. Our old couch was literally on it's last leg. So we went down the road to RC Willey and picked out a gorgeous chocolate brown leather sectional. We were a little nervous about buying something so nice considering our children seem to have a talent for destroying anything of value, but we bought the protection plan and figured it was worth the risk. When the new couch arrived we sat all the kids down and laid out the rules for the new couch. No eating, drinking, playing with action figures that might puncture the couch etc. Apparently though we missed one rule. No drawing on the couch. So yesterday when Josh came up the stairs to inform me that Andy had drawn on the couch with a pen I had a mild stroke...well not really a stroke so much as a big fat grown up tantrum. I ran down stairs to find not just one little drawing on the couch but a foot long star wars action sequence complete with clone fighters and walkers. I grabbed a wet wash cloth and attempted to wash off the pen unsuccessfully then tried a little soap which did nothing. Then I remembered the protection plan I had purchased so I called RC Willey to see what I should do. I was told to call the pen company....what!....the pen company. Of all the stupid things. Anyway, I gave up trying to talk to customer service and decided to turn to the Internet and my favorite tool google. I found several sites that suggested I try hairspray. I was a little skeptical but desperate so I decided to try. It worked like a charm. After the pen marks were gone I used a little soapy water to remove the hairspray residue and the couch was good as new. After an hour long timeout I told Andy that I enjoyed his imagination and artwork just not on the couch...or the walls or anything else for that matter that was not a pre-approved piece of paper. Hopefully the next furniture mishap will be as easy to fix.

Hannah got a new haircut

I have been trying unsuccessfully to get Hannah to cut her hair. She has been letting it grow for quite a while. Finally at about 6:00pm Saturday night she turned to me and said, "I want to get my hair cut short." Not wanting to miss an opportunity, I told her to go jump in the car and we headed off to the nearest Salon that was still open. I thought she would chicken out at the last minute but she went through with it. I absolutely love this new look on her. I think she likes it better too.

Extreme Sledding

At my parents cabin in Fairview there is a huge sledding hill that the kids all love to go on. Almost every year someone inevitably gets hurt yet every year they come back for more and try to best their records. This year it was dogs and not accidents that put a damper on things. I was going down the hill with Andy and two dogs chased after us. The bigger dog bit a hole through the back of my coat and the little dog bit Andy's hand...luckily the glove protected his hand and my coat protected me. When we reached the bottom of the hill after the biting incident I marched back up the hill determined to kick the crap out of those dogs. I am not normally a violent person but when someone or in this case something goes after my kid I lose the ability to think rationally. Anyway, I was yelling and screaming and basically charged the dogs who in turn charged at me. You would think at this point I would realize I was outnumbered and back slowly away but unfortunately the crazed mother bear in me didn't keep me from moving forward with my plan. Luckily the dogs stopped about 5 feet in front of me so I started kicking snow at them and backed them into their garage. I guess I'm glad that I didn't have to actually kick the dogs because the heavy duty snow boots I had on could have done some serious damage and I would have felt bad afterwards. My Dad came down the hill shortly after and talked to the owners who weren't even aware the dogs were outside they took them back into their house. Needless to say, Andy who was pretty traumatized by the incident didn't go sledding again for the rest of the time we were there. Once the dogs were inside the rest of the family managed to have a pretty good time.

Christmas morning at the cabin

We spent Christmas at my parents cabin in Fairview. Steve tried to convince me to have a small intimate Christmas with just our family at home but Christmas morning just doesn't seem right somehow without a house full of all my brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews. It does get a little crazy and noisy at times and we usually use of every bed, couch and sleeping bag my parents have but I still wouldn't have it any other way.

Christmas reunion at the Peterson's

Almost 30 years ago Steve's parents along with others in their neighborhood had the opportunity to take in a family of Vietnamese refugees. They ended up taking in a boy about Jr. High age named Dinh. He stayed with them for about two and a half years. They helped him to learn English, taught him, loved him and treated him as if he had always been a member of their family. After finishing Jr High he moved on to California where he attended high school and college. He later married and has lived there ever since with his wife and two daughters. Dave and Jan have occasionally heard from him over the years and have received several pictures but have not seen him in person since he left all those years ago. Last Friday he planned a special trip up to see them and we were all there to witness the reunion. It was so neat to see the absolute love and admiration he had for the Peterson's. He kept calling them "Mom and Dad" and the whole family laughed and reminisced about the old days. It was truly a wonderful night.

14 Years and still going strong

Fourteen years ago on a sunny winter day in December I married the love of my life. I almost can't believe that it has been that many years. I can honestly say that I am more in love with Steve now than I was then. He truly is my perfect match. He is so kind and patient and is definitely the calming influence in my life and in our home. We have had our fair share of ups and downs over the past 14 years but I know now that all of those experiences have made us stronger. I can't wait to see what the next 14 years hold for us. Love you sweetie! Happy Anniversary.