Maycember

Hi =)

I've decided to start blogging again. Once a week. On Saturdays. That doesn't mean it's going to happen. That's just the goal. Currently, I'm barely surviving Maycember. They call it that because it's just as nuts as December. But no gifts at the end. 

But we do get summer. I love summer. As long as there is a beach, a pool or AC. Then I love summer. I love sleeping in, not doing school drop-offs and pick-ups, not helping with homework, not fighting with kids about outfits, lunches, showers or getting out the door on time in the mornings. And no more friend drama for a couple of months. Just sibling drama =) 

I love floating in the pool, sipping on a beverage. I love going to the beach and looking for dolphins. I love camping with my family, staying up late, watching movies and eating popcorn & sourpatch kids. I love all the rules that don't exist in the summer. Bring on summer.

My role as a mom has shifted quite a bit now that the kids are 11,12,15 & 16. I've gone from micromanaging 4 little people to being pretty hands-off. I'm mostly just an advisor now. I love it. The driving thing is stresesful, however. Didn't really think about that too much until it got here. Now I'm realizing how many ways there are to get into an accident. None so far, fingers crossed and knocking on wood =) Oh, I forgot about PMS. There's a lot of that these days with 3 girls and a mom. Pray for Dan & Angus. 

Heard around here: 

Mya: Sometimes when I’m really bad, I go to the garage fridge and steal a sip of orange juice straight from the bottle.

Mya: Mom, I'm washing all the brushes. You want me to wash yours? 

Mya: Addie, come back! I want to talk to you about organizing your life!

Angus: Having zero dollars is kind of embarrassing.

Angus: I'm going to skip college

Me: And do what? 

Angus: You know, a job.

Me: What kind of a job? 

Angus: Maybe a farmer.

Me: Where's your farm gonna be? 

Angus: Maybe Africa or something.

Angus: When I grow up I'm moving to La Quinta

Me: La Quinta? 

Angus: Yeah, La Quinta!

Me: Umm why, La Quinta? 

Angus: It just looks awesome.

Me: Where did you hear about La Quinta?

Angus: An ad. Apparently, the fun never ends there! 

Me: Did the ad tell you that it's really hot there?

Angus: Dangit!

Me: Check out this picture of a guy I used to date, Winter. (showed her a pic of Brad Pitt, who she's never seen or heard of)

Winter: Haha, imagine.

(I don't understand why she doesn't think I could get a guy like Brad Pitt 😄)

Look how Winter decorated for my birthday in 5 mins before she left for school. She's usually running behind so I'm not sure how she squeezed this in. I was already gone, dropping off the littles. 

But I love how she didn't let the streamers hang. Do you want to know why? She knows I hate stuff hanging down in that opening because I have to push the decorations out of my way as I walk through 1,000 times during the day. But I hang decorations (streamers/sparkly curtains) there every time the kids have a birthday because they love it. That's what moms do. 

Fisher says hi =)

Dan made me fish tacos for my birthday because that's what I requested. Dan makes the best fish tacos. He even makes salsa with mango in it. He also bought me vegan coffee-flavored ice cream for dessert that I didn't even know existed. It's been years since I've mentioned that I love coffee-flavored ice cream, mostly because I can't eat it. Ice cream hates me. But he found vegan coffee ice cream. 💖

I love that my family knows me so well =) That honestly means more than gifts from my Amazon registry, even though I love those too of course.

I guess I should say something about Addie since I mentioned the other 3 =). Addie is amazing. She's confident, social & uber smart. Most of her grades have an A+ next to them. When there's just an A with no plus next to it, Dan asks her, "Addie, what happened here?" just to mess with her =) She's still so tiny. Mya always comments when we drop her off on the side of the road (across from her school) that she exudes so much confidence as she's walking away. She's always amazed that she just gets out of the car, says bye, and doesn't look back like she doesn't care that she's all by herself, so tiny, walking down the street toward her crowded school. =) And she doesn't. She's all good.

Things I've learned lately - (just one thing actually)

I've learned that when looking for hotels and airline tickets, the best plan is to look at one of those 3rd party sights like Cheaptickets or Priceline for the cheapest price, BUT don't book it through them. They've done the work for you by finding the best price. Now you just go directly through the one with the best deal at the moment.

Book it directly through the hotel or airline. The customer service is WAY better. Getting a refund through a 3rd party is really hard. And you end up actually saving money because those 3rd parties charge you hidden fees so you end up paying the hotel/airline PLUS fees you didn't know about for the 3rd party. This is just my experience. Feel free to disagree =)

I've decided to leave book recommendations each week, or each blog. Let's be honest, I don't think I'll be able to keep this up each week. 

I listen to audiobooks all the time. (I use the free library app, Libby) I listen to them while I do laundry, dishes or food prep. I listen to them in the car on my way to pick up or drop off kids. I listen to them on my walks. So yeah, I go through quite a bit of books. Here are my most recent ones:

Sorry, some of these may have language or sensitive subject matter. I don't remember which ones, specifically. If you're sensitive to some things, you may want to ask chatgpt about it before reading =)

The Favorites by Layne Fargo - I give this 4 out of 5 stars. It was well written. It wasn't in my top books of all time. It comes highly recommended by book accounts on social media, however. Great story. I would recommend it. Kind of a "whodunit" vibe. I liked all the voices in the audiobook.

This Book Made Me Think of You - I give this 4 out of 5 starts too. I liked it a bit more than The Favorites. Totally different writing styles. This had a cozy vibe to it. It takes place in a small town in England and involves a little bookshop. Very cute. The plot is a little sad and it was a bit predictable but I kind of like that sometimes =)

Every Summer After & One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune - I loved these books and I plan on reading more of hers. While reading these, I found excuses to put my earbuds in and listen more. That's how I know it's a good book =) 

The Nightingale, The Great Alone, The Four Winds, & The Women by Kristin Hannah - I love everything Kristin Hannah writes. She's such an amazing storyteller. I give them all 5 stars. I can't do two of her books in a row because they are very heavy and often depressing, but they are all based on real events like the Vietnam War, The Great Depression (Dust Bowl), The Holocost etc. I like these books because they are all from the perspective of women. These books made me mad and even cry sometimes but they always end on a good note. And I learn so much about the time period they were written about.

Great Big Beautiful Life, People We Meet on Vacation, Beach Read, Funny Story, & Book Lovers by Emily Henry - I give all of these 5 starts. I will read anything she writes. These are good books to take to the beach or on vacation. They are light and fun.

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt - This is a lovely book and the movie is now on Netflix =) Also lovely. I highly recommend both. Five starts.

Okay, that's all for now. I think that's a good start =)

Happy Maycember! To all the moms with school-age kids and to all the amazing teachers, we got this! Five days to go! (in Glendora) 

Happy Puking Birthday Winter

 Well, if you clicked on the title, I guess you aren't thrown off yet. I just want to be clear. This story is about puke. So yeah. You've been warned. 

Before I record the events of Winter's birthday, Sunday the 21st, let me mention a few facts that help paint the picture - 

1. Mya is and has always been afraid of puke. We're talking about a legit phobia. She is afraid of riding in cars with anyone who may get carsick. She will ask anyone who feels ill if they are nauseous because she needs to know if there is any chance of vomit coming so she can vacate the premises immediately. If anyone in our family has a headache, she will ask them a series of questions to make sure that the headache is not the beginning of a stomach bug. And it often is. She also asks me if I think there will be vomit to which I always respond, "Mya I cannot predict the future."

2. I've never seen or heard of a family who has dealt with puke more than our family. Mya thinks it's God preparing her for motherhood since she plans on having 10 kids. But why do I have to be a part of this? It must be from Dan's genetics. I remember getting the stomach flu one time as a kid. Once. 

3. Angus has never, in his 10 years, made it to the toilet in time. He contracts some form of a stomach bug around once or twice per year. And he's notorious for yelling things in between hurls. Things like what has caused the sickness like eating too much pasta or drinking too much juice. He also likes to yell things like, "WHHHYYYY!!!" or AAAHHHHHH THIS IS HORRIBLE!!! 

4. There's literally nothing Dan hates more than someone who does not puke in the toilet. He has zero patience and zero empathy for a child who pukes on the carpet or in their bed. That includes toddlers. The older the child is, the madder he gets.

So, Sunday.

It was Winter's 15th birthday. We went to church to celebrate Christmas. Angus started complaining of tummy troubles at church. When we were home, he made lots of trips to the bathroom where he sat on the toilet for a while and asked for new underwear. YOU CANNONT BREATH A WORD OF THIS TO ANGUS. He'll find this blog when he's older and he'll be mortified, but whatever, it happens to us all at some point, right? 

Around 4:00, Dan started preparing dinner. We always ask the kids what they want for their birthday dinner. Dan makes many famous favorites in our house. Winter requested rack of lamb with cheesy potatoes. So I went to Costco to get the lamb and potatoes. That's my contribution. Shopping. Dan always obsesses over his rack of lamb. It's never quite cooked the way he wants it, there are timers involved and he uses a special meat thermometer. One that he sticks in the lamb multiple times to make sure it gets exactly where it needs to be. 

So, we were ready to eat, the lamb was cooked to perfection, the potatoes looked amazing and sparkling apple cider was poured for all. (There was also asparagus and mushrooms for nutrition) We all sat down and began to eat. About 5 minutes into dinner, Angus asked if he could just go upstairs and go to bed. I told him to wait a few minutes so we could go around the table and each say what we love about Winter. We do that on birthdays. I'm actually glad I didn't let him go upstairs because we recently put in new carpet. And maybe, subconsiously, I was protecting it.

Then, without any warning, Angus sprang out of his chair and ran through the kitchen and toward the stairs. (The newly carpeted ones)

By the way, there is a bathroom about 5 feet from the dinner table. I know, it's not the best place to put a table, or a bathroom but that is in fact where the downstairs bathroom is. Ideally, Angus would have gone in there to projectile vomit. 

But he, instead, chose to do that on the new-ish rug in the family room where the dog was also innocently minding his own business. 

I ran over to my poor boy and hurriedly guided him back to the bathroom by the table to finish the job. It all happened so fast, but from what I can remember, Dan was yelling something, I was telling Angus to kneel down so he wouldn't get puke everywhere, but he refused, yelling that he couldn't breathe, and also that he was going to die. He's always been dramatic. I was giggling as I was telling him he was going to be okay. 

Meanwhile, the rug, the dog and much of the kitchen floor was covered in Angus's dinner, and from the looks of it, he drank a good amount of water that day. 

Dan was yelling, "GOSH DARNIT!" over and over again because he really tries not to cuss at home or take the Lord's name in vain. I was impressed because he was really mad and managed not to let any bad words come out.

Mya was sitting at the table, plugging her ears, closing her eyes and yelling LALALALALALALALA!!

Winter continued to quickly eat her lamb fearing that she wouldn't get to finish. And Addie just sat there not really wanting any more food but not really knowing what to do. 

And that's pretty much it. We were all done with dinner, except for the birthday girl. Dan was pretty mad that the lamb he devotedly prepared was not even a little bit appetizing after watching it come back up all over the floor... and the dog.

Dan and I cleaned everything up. He was red with anger and I was laughing at the sheer chaos and hilarity of it all. How did I get a kid who is terrified of puke, a kid who pukes anywhere BUT the toilet while simultaneously yelling things, and a husband who loses his mind every time this happens?

Angus was upset about puking on the dog more than anything. I told him that the dog did not care at all. He's a dog. He routinely sticks his face in people's crotches, licks our feet and eats plants. 

The good news is, as I type this, Dan is at work and Winter and Addie are happily eating leftover lamb and potatoes, something that has never happened before. There is never leftover lamb. It has always been devoured in minutes. Poor Dan.

Here's a recent picture of our cute family. 

Outgrowing Elementary School

I've never been a sentimental person. I don't get sad when my babies grow up. I love it. They get closer and closer to not needing me and that's a beautiful thing. That's the goal right? Dan says I have a heart of ice haha. I'm just built different than most moms maybe. I love my kids. I think they're awesome. But I don't want to keep them little. I want to enjoy every stage. And when they're in their 20s and 30s, hopefully they still want to hang out with me. Mya already talks about me babysitting my 10 grandkids she plans on having, so there's that.

Today I went to my 12th and last elementary Halloween parade. I don't know how it is at other schools, but at Stanton Elementary, all the parents stand on the grass in the quad and the students, TK - 5th grade line up along the outer walls surrounding the parents. When it starts, they cue the music and one class at a time parades around, wearing their costumes while their moms, dads, aunties and grandparents take pictures of them. It sounds cute in theory, but people be crazy.

Every year, I stand on the side with the fewest amount of people. For some reason, no one thinks to go on the other side of the quad with more room. They just bunch up on the side closest to where they entered, fighting for a front row spot. It's madness. A mom with a crying baby struggles through the grass with her stroller and a toddler complains loudly that they can't see. The music blares way too loud if you're anywhere near the speakers. Another reason to stand at the far end.

Every year, people slowly make their way to the other side of the quad and crowd around me until I feel someone's arm touching mine, or a short grandma reaches her phone over my shoulder and yells in my ear, the name of her grandson or granddaughter. 

And I know that I could glare at them or tell them about boundries, but it's no use. It will keep happening. So I retreat to the inside grassy area away from the chaos and wait until my kid comes my way and I can quickly find a spot that's not too crowded, snap a pic or video and get the heck out of there. 

For the first few parades when my kids were little, I may have been one of those crazy moms, waving at her kid and calling their name. And I used to see a few parents I knew and talk to them. We had a whole church posse a couple of years ago. That was fun. But this year, as I looked around, I didn't know a single parent. And then I thought to myself, I think I may have outgrown elementary school. 

One is a cow and one is a chicken

So, I realized something. At this season in my life, the kids need me less, but my body has started to need my attention more. It's so high maintenance. I have 20 pairs of readers all over the house so that I can see anything at a moments notice. I have to eat healthy, exercise, lay off the caffeine, limit my wine intake, and go to sleep at a decent hour just to avoid it getting mad. I used to just get up in the morning. Now I slowly sit up so I don't injure myself. And that's after lying there for a few minutes to prepare myself mentally to sit up.

I still do have kids though. And it's not like they are a cake walk. They are just a lot easier than they used to be. 

Life is just going from one busy season to the next. When it calms down, you prepare for the next busy one. And I think I like it that way. It keeps me on my toes.

Threats and bribes are pretty much how I parent these days. 

For instance, "Your ungrateful attitude tells me that I don't think you need that phone anymore." or "If this is the way you act when we ask you to do something, maybe you shouldn't be on your ipad so much. I've heard that screentime makes kids cranky. Would you agree?" or "Who wants to put away the laundry for $2? No one? Okay how about $5?" 

Mya often tells me that I'm doing this mom thing all wrong. I'm sure she's right but I find that it's effective. Also, I'm tired.

Mya wants to have a bunch of kids. She loves babies. I keep telling her that babies grow up, and every time I say that she say's, "That's why I'll just keep having them." So we worked out a plan the other night. She will try to find a husband earlier than later, start having kids and have them until she can't physically have them anymore. And by then, her oldest will be old enough to get married and they'll start having babies. So Mya will always have babies to hold. I think that's brilliant. 😂 Now to find her a husband who doesn't mind having 10 kids.

Heard around here lately:

Angus: How many siblings do we have that we don’t know about? 😆

Me: Angus, can you take these flowers out to the car please? 

Angus: I can’t be trusted with those! 

The kids will never let Dan forget this one. =)

Addie - The beef is good, Dad

Dan - It's turkey

Addie - Whatever, same thing

Dan - No its not. One is COW and one is a CHICKEN. 😂

(Dan is tired too haha)

Addie's friend - I took a shower against my will last night and now my hair is SO soft. 😂

Angus - If I was a girl, I would be a really girly one.

Dan - But you’re not a girl, Son... 😆

And this is something funny and kind of embarrassing that happened last year:

Mya's show choir had a concert at a church in Glendora. They were scheduled to practice for said concert at 3:00, which I thought was cutting it kind of close since 3:00 is usually the time I pick her up from school. But I didn't complain. I'm used to driving all over town for my kids. It's just part of the season we're in. So I told Dan he'd have to get the other kids and I would take Mya to her practice right after school. I'd try to get there early when she got out at 2:40 so we'd have plenty of time to get there. 

(I do not live near the High School. We're in North Azusa. Glendora High is all the way across town in East Glendora. It's kind of a pain because there is no easy way to get there without hitting a bunch of elementary or middle schools all getting out at the same time. Believe me. I've tried all the possible routes.)

So, back to the story. I had never been to this church before and I didn't have time to look up the address before I picked Mya up. I figured it couldn't be too far since I knew it was in Glendora. So I picked Mya up right in front of the High-School which is never where I get her because it is way too congested, but it was necessary to save time this once. So she got in the car at 2:43, I typed the address into my maps app and we were on our way. 

We made a left near the south side of the school, past the football field and then discovered that at 2:44, we had arrived at our destination. The church was literally across the street from the High School. "We're here!" I laughed out loud. Mya was mortified and squeeked, "Oh my gosh mom do not stop here! If people see me they're gonna think I'm so crazy." 

So I dropped her off down the street by the other side of the school and she walked to the church like all the other show choir kids.

It has been months since I posted a life update and I have about 1000 pics so I decided that I'd just include a few that amuse me. (I'll try to post life updates more frequently but I make no promises)

Here are a few mamas excited to send their younger ones to Junior High for the first time. All 3 of us have done this before so we just dropped them off on the side of the road and they walked across the street to school together. I love this stage of life. 

Addie's foolproof way to cure hiccups. She swears by it.

This is Dan's favorite sweatshirt. Zoom in. Not even a homeless person would choose to wear this. I've tried to throw it away more than once but it keeps finding its way back into his closet. He knows that it embarrasses me so he only wears it camping. And maybe at home if there is no chance of the neighbors seeing him.

Dan often comes back from work exhausted because he's 50 now. 

From the back, it looks like Dan is cooking in his red bikini again 😄

That's it for now! Wishing you all a wonderful September. 💖

Until next time, when I find a moment to sit down with the thoughts that have miraculously remained in my head, and share them =)

May - I used to love you

I found this in my drafts and it made me laugh. I really was mad. I'm better now. I feel like enough time has passed that I can post this with a calm, level head. But before you know it it'll be May again. So maybe it's not late, it's really early. 

Here's my favorite May pic to lighten the mood before I start venting.

Here's how past Amie feels:

Okay, not to sound negative, but if you are a mom with kids in school, May is dumb. I'm sure that if we got together on this, those who are in charge of school activities could eliminate a lot of it. End of the year ceremonies like graduations are acceptable but lets take out the rest of it. Concerts? Extremely unnecessary. Talent shows? No. Put those in March. Teacher appreciation week? Teachers do not want a flower from my garden or a granola bar from my pantry, I guarantee it. Let us do our own thing at the end of the year (a gift card) when we choose to do so. Fundraisers? We are out of money. Camps took it all in April. Again, March would be a great idea for that. In March I had more money. Award ceremonies? I didn't have those when I was a kid and I turned out just fine. Send a certificate or trophy home with my kid. Sports banquets? Why? Choir banquets? Whattt? No one cares. They say it's tradition. I'd like to start a new tradition. It's called Chill May.

We already have 5th grade, 8th grade, high-school and college graduations AND Mother's Day. Let's not forget about the people who want to get married in May. (Don't get married in May please) And then maybe your fourth baby goes over his due date and he's born in May. 

For the love of Pete, calm down PTA or school administrators or whoever thinks we need any of this. Feel free to forward this to the powers that be.

Sincerely, 

-A mom of four who has lost her mind

Komandoo has my heart

This is an overdue post. Life always takes my time and speeds it up.

If you missed my FB videos, Dan and I went to Komandoo. We are not fancy people. I shop at thrift stores. For this trip, we saved up for years. Dan worked his credit card points magic and used points for a lot of it. We narrowed it down and finally settled on the Maldives. Dan researched his little heart out and found the island of Komandoo.

I had to post a blog about it so I'd remember it all. My brain impressively forgets most things pretty quickly. It's why I had 4 kids. I forgot labor and childbirth like it didn't even happen. Haha I'm kidding. But yeah, I am extremely forgetful. I read through my blogs from time to time and laugh at my own jokes like it's the first time I've heard them.

So, I don't expect you to read through this and look at all the pics if you've already seen them. They are for me and Dan to look back on one day. And for anyone who is curious about the Maldives, here's a peak. I only have one island to write about but I'm pretty sure it's the best one.

We were one of the few first-time visitors. Most of the guests had been there multiple times and come back every year. Since our budget doesn't permit that, we soaked up as much of it as we could.

Let's begin. Where are the Maldives located? The Maldives are a chain of islands located in the Indian Ocean a bit South/Southwest of India. How long did it take to get to the Maldives? 17 hours to Singapore, 5 hours to Male (Maldives capital) and a 45-min seaplane to Komandoo.

I will never get on a flight that lasts 17 hours again. It is more than I think I could handle twice in my life. The first-class passengers looked quite comfy though I must say, with recliners that turned into beds. I was able to catch up on all the latest movies so that was a plus. And Singapore Airlines is very nice. The flight attendants dress like movie starts and they fold the little toilet paper ends into points when there's no one in the bathrooms. Also, the food was really good. I was impressed. They even had vegetarian options. I would definitely fly with them again.

Flying makes me nervous. It didn't used to. After I had kids, I went from fearless to very nervous to do anything that may take me from my kids before they get married and have kids. They're going to need me when they have babies. Babies are hard and you need a village. So yeah, I'm a nervous flyer. The bigger planes are okay but that seaplane about did me in. I prayed the whole 45 minutes there and the whole 45 minutes back. 

Once we arrived on the island, it was magical from the start. It rained a bit on the first couple of days off and on but we didn't really mind because we were going to have a week of straight sun beating down on our white, tanless, coming straight from winter bodies. 

Immediately I was so excited to see everything swimming by. Right off of our back deck, we could see so clearly because the water was like a pool. We saw reef sharks, sting rays, turtles, tons of fish and even a manta ray swam by one day. I would have been happy just sitting there watching the sea life the whole time. It was a little slice of heaven.

But we did venture out daily. We snorkeled, paddle boarded, kayaked, went on a sunset cruise with dolphins swimming alongside the boat, went on a successful manta ray hunt where we got to swim with majestic manta rays AND were surprised to see 3 giant nurse sharks swimming under us with their entourage of cleaner fish. I was pretty nervous to see them and may have climbed on top of Dan in the water. 

The snorkeling was the best I've ever seen. The water was so clear that you could see all of the amazing fish from really far away. People from other islands came to our island because it had the best snorkeling around. So we were pretty spoiled to jump off of our back deck and see the most amazing sea life.

One of our top highlights was paddle boarding at sunrise. It was magical.

We ate at the most amazing buffet every day for breakfast, lunch and some dinners. We sat on the deck where we could see baby reef sharks swimming by. They pretty much lived there right outside the buffet restaurant. So cute. There was also a restaurant that overlooked the water where we ate most nights.

We met the most delightful people who came from all over. Most of them were British. One of my favorite things about the whole trip was sitting there with a smile on my face, talking to people with British accents and learning their fun phrases like, "Put the kettle on, I'm comin' over." And instead of saying "I'll catch up with you" they say "I'll catch you up." And they call vaccinations "jabs."  =) I wish I could remember them all. Debbie if you're reading this, feel free to comment with a few new ones ;)

The beauty of the Maldives is undescribable and the pics don't do it justice. If you ever get a chance to go, do it. And if you are looking for the perfect island, Komandoo is it. Here are a few pics in no order at all.

It's going to be really hard to top this vacay.