What a summer!!t

Hey Everyone~

Its been a long time since i last posted! Well as some of you may have read, my husband and i were having some issues...to put it easily. Well we went to court on May 2 and nothing really changed. He continues to bully and dictate what he wants done, despite that he moved out. He spent money like a mad man and he also was pushing for us to come to a settlement so he would know how much he would be paying me.

Everything was semi worked out but he still comes over to just dictate and be bossy. Mean while still not sleeping well . He will come over to see penny and he will fall asleep. Don't get me wrong i love him. And i miss him. But sometimes hes a pain in the rear!


In other news...the kids and i are coping well. We haven't had much of  a summer compared to others because for one i don't have a car and for two no money. We went to the beach with the neighbors a few times just to get out of the house and then M's birthday was just last week so we took him to chilis for a special birthday dinner and then on his actual birthday we got a cake and just had the neighbors over. My
husband came over Sunday and picked up M and took him shopping.

Now we are just gearing up for school !!! YAY ! YAY! YAY!

Don't get me wrong i love my kid but being home all summer with nothing really to do and no car...its been a bit overwhelming besides having to deal with all the other crap going on.

E is going into 5th grade and he is going to the middle school which i can see will be a bumpy start! But hopefully he will adapt well to it.

M is going into 1st grade and while I'm very excited for this he is worried about too much writing. LOL! yea  he is in for 11 more years of school,these kids now a days have to buck up.

R is back for his sophomore year of college, and will be playing rugby again starting in September.

Not to much else is going on, im tired of the new england humidity and ready for cooler weather ...and fall all the smells and tastes and sights. One of the things i want to try and do is get to Salem.... Ive always wanted to go there!

Well im off for now!

A few new beginnings

Hi Everyone~

Its been awhile but there has been so much going on. At the end of January i was in a car accident that totaled my car. The hubs was so gracious enough to let me use his car for awhile, but then his ass-hole self kicked in,and wouldn't let me use the car anymore. So since the kids had winter break and i was scheduled off that week it didn't pose a problem. That is until break was over. I couldn't get the kids to school, me to work etc. So I've been off of work since 2/25. I had to transfer the kids from the schools they've been in since we moved here to school closer to the house .They still haven't started yet because we keep getting hammered with snow storms and school keeps getting cancelled. Needless to say the hubs loves to rack chaos into my life and make things more and more difficult.

Also if you haven't noticed we are going thru a separation/divorce. He blind sided me with this news the week after my birthday. Nice guy huh. He is a good guy, this is the second time in 2 years hes done this though and its just chaos. Its been nothing but trouble. I know he has a disease but he cant keep using it as an excuse because things get tough. I have been so depressed its ridiculous. I take 2 anti-depressants, 2 sleep meds, something for anxiety. I have suffered from emotional,verbal and mental abuse for 2 years. Trust me I'm not the one wanting this, he is. But the thing about it is, is that he doesn't care , its like his feelings are on a switch.He can turn them on when things go his way, and when they aren't he turns them off. Its very hard to deal with. He gets counseling at the v.a. but as usual they only see his side of things and he isn't willing to go to couples counseling. During the kids school break there was a small domestic violence issue. He asked me a question i answered plainly ok..and he started yelling and pushed everything off the table and it hit me in  the chest. I didn't call the police because that would just cause more of a problem...who knows how he would act once he was released. Yes he still lives here , why i don't know..he threatens he has other places to go but then doesn't go. RIGHT NOW I JUST WANT PEACE. ITS VERY DRAINING.

Also in other awesome news .....I became an Avon Representative !!!! Its so awesome. I love it. I love making women feel beautiful and i like empowering women. I love that is what Avon is about. I love that Avon is a huge supporter of Breast Cancer and they are also huge supporters of Domestic Violence. If your looking to try Avon you can contact me for samples. I can mail them too you . I also have a website you can visit and order from. The website is  : youravon.com/christapepin
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Orders placed directly thru my website will be directly shipped to you. I am looking for people to try samples and become Avon LOVERS!!!! Prices are awesome and right now if you order anything thru my website you will receive a free hand sanitizer . Check it out ! Hope to hear from you soon!

its been a long time!

Hey Everyone~

How are things with you ? Last time i blogged i talked about how all of a sudden i got a gall bladder attack and had to have surgery...it was painful. i was out for 19 days before i had the surgery then couldnt go back to work till Aug 15...my work wouldnt take me til the doctor cleared me and i could lift anything.

things have been moving swiftly since then. School started for the kids, we were looking at houses...found one fast, aug 30! put an offer in and it was accepted on the 31..we had the inspection in early sept and were supposed to close on sept 29 but the seller didnt have everything complete even though she swore she would. then they said the following week. that happened for a few weeks until finally we got to close on Oct 21!!! we started moving immidiately!! we had had things packed since sept anyways. The hubs hired movers for the 22, and they were supposed to be to the apt by 1pm, but then they called to say the job they were on would be awhile longer, that went on for hours, they kept calling and setting it back, we had even moved all the boxes out side so they could just put the boxes in the truck and then we had taken the beds apart so all they would have to load really is the boxes and furniture...pftt ! I was getting pissed. the hubs was just letting them walk all over him but he wasnt doing anything about it..so we just finally moved everything in. the kids had fallen asleep and so just as were were changing for bed, we get a knock on the door at 10pm! oh my god i went off. your goin to try and move us at 10pm. Eff that, they told us they could come back before 4 the next day and we said no if they were going to do it we would be the first one.they said they couldnt they had booked clients for that day...um hello we were booked clients for saturday and they didnt show up till 10 pm when they appt was for 1pm.

So we just decided that we would get a uhaul and move ourselves...which we have done everytime we moved. Even when people say they will help they never show. so we took all of sunday to move and then took the rest of the week to get everything...till we got the biggest snow storm..the day before halloween....things that happened during that are another post.

so we've been in our new house since then, and its going fine, no major issues. i want to get a puppy but the hubs says only small breed, weve looked at pompoos and papillons puggles and chiweenies..so far no luck, people here want a fortune for them and shelters put you thru an inquisition to adopt one...even on craigslist for a mutt its 300$!!!! there are no free puppies to be found.

well we will keep looking.

Well im going to close here for now....

Going on 48 hrs of Hell!

Hi all~
We are going on 48 hrs of hell. to be blunt about it. It all started tuesday nite. I was here waiting for the hubs to get home and was ready for work and the kids were playing. We live in an apt and its small, so sometimes if the neighbor is home (he lives above us) you can hear the water running, like if he turns his sink on or flushes his toilet etc. So i was hearing water and i was like sheesh, but then it sounded like a waterfall, or a rippling brook. BUT IT WASNT!!!! i go to where i think the sound is coming from..towards the laundry room. so at first im thinking the water hose from the washer came off or something, but no it couldnt be that simple. It was the water heater/tank. Water was coming out all over the place. i ran back to the living room and grabbed the phone and tried to call the hubs, but he didnt answer so i ran out the front door to the neighbors to get the emergency maintenance #. So i call the emergency maintenance # and identify where we live etc and tell him whats going on and he says and i quote" can you call me back in 10 minutes?" Im thinking "SERIOUSLY?" so i go back to the neighbors and see if she can keep the kids and in the meanwhile without my knowledge the property management company calls my husband to ask him if i know how to shut the water off. He has no clue as to what has transpired at all. The neighbor tells me a maintenance man is working on site in #7 redoing it so maybe he can get the water off. He comes over and he sees the mass flooding going on and goes into the laundry room and proceeds to locate the shut off which is AT THE CEILING!! how is someone my height going to reach that, and why wouldnt it be where someone can reach it? But the damage is done the entire house is flooded, and im not kidding about 90 gallons of water all over the house, wall to wall in both bedrooms and about half way into the living room. The maintenance guy that was on site proceeded to call the emergency guy and said you need to get a bigger shop vac and a mop. He starts to shop vac etc but its everywhere. What a pain. Of course this would happen to us. a week before xmas. the kids gifts were in our room and they were in bags but who knows how bad their packages are damaged. The property management co called the hubs and stated to him " you need to elevate your stuff" he yelled back into the phone " you have to elevate the entire apartment!" This wasnt boding well for his panic/anxiety issue. To top it all off he was scheduled to go to Maine for work on wednesday thats why he was freaking out more. Plus he knew he wasnt going to be around and that i had to work wednesday nite so it wasnt helping. So that nite they shop vac'ed as best they could and had some blowers going and then came the next morning and replaced the water heater, cleaned and mopped and we were waiting on the pro carpet co..which didnt show up before i had to go to work. they also brought in some de-humidifiers...but the smell is horrid..it smells musty etc Tomorrow they are going to bring in more blowers to try and help it out. This is just what we need. UGGH we need to win the lottery or something. bring us some good luck for a change

Tis the Season

Hi Everyone~

Sorry for such a lapse in posts but i have been busy working at nite and weekends and trying during the days to catch up on stuff around the house and doing things like going to conferences. Things are just busy. The hubs is working hard during the day and i am working hard at nite. The kids are doing well in school. Its also been bitterly cold here on the east coast, so outdoor activities are limited. Last weekend we finally had a day off together and went grocery shopping and then we got our christmas tree. Its gorgeous. we picked a good one this year. We came home and unloaded everything and put the tree up. Pics will come soon. We also are done xmas shopping for the kids. I have a few things in mind for the hubs tho. You may recall that we got a dusting of snow on my birthday which was nov. 8. We havent had any since then or even a hint of some, even though the temps were down in the teens and 20's. Well last weekend we had temps in the 40's and 50's. It was balmy even. I keep wondering when we are going to get some snow , its just so yucky to look outside. Well it was raining sunday and into monday but they said the temps would drop and it would turn to snow..Weeeee! i was pumped and was hoping. Well as i left for work it was pouring down rain...then sometime it the temps did drop, and it turned to snow. You can still see grass and its kind of falling now as i type but i want the snow that you can build a snow man, have a snowball fight, or even go sledding. I hope it happens soon! Well off to do more laundry and try to relax another work nite for me!

Wow Its been crazy around here!

Hi all!

Wow this month is flying by.. for sure. As some or all of you may know i started a new job. My orientation was on the 16th and it was 7 hrs long. That day i got my schedule till dec 3. The rest of that week i only worked till 9pm, then i was off the weekend, and that monday i started my 5-1230 am shift. OMG i felt like a zombie the next morning. I came home changed and went to bed. I must confess..i hate not being able to go to bed with my husband. Even though he may have just gone to bed at 11-1130 its still not the same. Technically we close at 12 am and then we have to wait while the 3rd shift rings up any snacks drinks etc( as its the last opportunity) so we can clock out at 12:25. This is far different than what they told me at orientation. they told us the latest you get out is 12:10. It takes me about 10 minutes to get home. I usually come in put my stuff down, grab my stuff , go to the bathroom and get in bed. After the first few days i have done ok getting up the next morning. And i usually take a nap during the day so as to not be so tired. I was off the wed prior to thanksgivng and thanksgiving. Then I had to work BLACK FRIDAY, granted i worked a 5- 1230 shift but they swore that it would be chaos during the day and that we would be dead at nite. um not so much! Apparently people are used to the sale being over at 11 am not lasting till midnite so after 11 am it slowed way down. so they sent people home early etc. well that caused issues for us nite people and on top of that people called in so there was like 4 cashiers and then people in their various departments. it was madness!
I worked the weekend 12-9. I came home early sunday as at about 300pm i started feeling horrible, i had eaten before i went to work, but they had given us some candy one thing i did eat was a white chocolate candy cane hershey kiss, i hate hate hate white chocolate so i dont know if that started it or what. I asked if there was anything i could do that didnt deal with being on a register or people. it just felt like i was getting worse. It felt like my insides were going to fall out. it was a stabby crampy feeling in my tummy. No it wasnt that time of the month i had already had that. it was excruciating pain. i was feeling like crap. from not eating , not sure but i was having bouts of being hot then cold. they sent me to lunch early and i couldnt eat the food i brought i kept running to the bathroom thinking i was going to vomit. ( sorry gross i know) they had me do meaning less jobs that had me away from people. They had me jump on really quick to ring one person up so i did and then this lady could clearly see that i was closed got in line so i had to ring her up so after she spent 400$ and i was waiting on her she was so slow doing her debit card, i almost passed out. i went and sat down and they sent me home at 6pm.so i didnt miss to much work but gosh i havent felt that bad in a long time. i sipped some chicken broth and ate some crackers and that was it and yesterday i ate a bagel and then ate dinner and drank water most of the day. Today i feel a bit better , so i dont know. I called the dr and they said if it changed or got worse i needed to be seen as it could be my appendix. way to freak someone out. Plus it helped that i was off yesterday today and tomorrow and i work thurs, fri ,sat and sun. Sat will be nice as its only 9-2.

In other news im taking E to the dr on the 1st to see about him having add/adhd. He is having some troubles in school , disturbing others, is fidgety, at home hes very defiant and is having meltdowns and ripping homework up so hopefully if they give him some meds it may help him out. Hopefully this weekend we will get a tree. i cant wait to have more time with the hubs and kids. granted sunday i work 1-10 :(

I hope this finds you all well.

Our Thanksgiving

Hi All~

Wow i cant believe thanksgiving has come and gone. We have been so busy here in our house. Me with the new job, and the kids conferences and all out just being busy, and not spending much time together at all! But that changed starting 11/24. I had the day off of work, and the kids had a half day and we were all going to be home thursday. Me and M ran some last minute errands and then came home to meet E's bus. We had a nice lunch and then some rest time. We stayed up late that nite since we didnt have anywhere to be on thursday. We got up and the hubs went and got donuts from "punkin donuts " as M calls it ( dunkin donuts if you cant decipher ) the hubs then messed around with his project hes building and the kids played. i got to read and just relax.Since it was going to be just us we didnt have to get up and start cooking. we put our turkey breast in at about 230 and let it cook for about 3 hrs and it turned out perfect. Mind you this is the first time we have ever cooked for thanksgiving ourselves. we had turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn,stuffing,and cranberries. it was so good. we were very proud of ourselves. because in the past it has turned out to be disasterous so we have always gone to someones house. The hubs was so pleased with how it turned out that he said we could do it again since it was also so easy.

If you really knew me..happy birthday its a post all about me...

Hi Everyone!

Todays post is all about me! For today is my birthday!

If you really knew me.....

Name: Christa Kathleen
Dob: 11/8/75
I was born in : California
I grew up in : Michigan
I am: the oldest of 5 kids ; 4 girls and 1 boy (hes in the middle)
I am : victim of domestic violence (disclaimer: not by my hubs or my ex hubs, by some one completely unrelated)
I : love to read, when i was in kindergarten i read 500 books for a reading contest
My favorite colors are : blue then green
I am: a good cook
I am: a great MOM
I have had: 4 kids, R is the oldest at 16, Michaela was born 5-2-97 (deceased the same day) E is 7 and M is 4
I have : a huge heart. I love hard and deep, and it hurts when things dont go right
Im very creative
I dont normally eat breakfast
That when i was little we used to travel alot
My hubs and i have only been on one vacay together and we took the kids to disney ( i think its time at least for a weekend without them!)
My favorite fruit is strawberries, i ate a lb a day when i was pregnant with M, second i like pears, i ate those with E.
My mom died in 2005 unexpectedly, it is heartwrenching every day to know what she is missing..
My husband is my life, i know it may sound bad but when the kids are gone, he and i will be together.
When i was younger and asked what i wanted to be when i grow up my answer was a MOM.
i was really close to my nanny, she died 1 yr and 8 days after my mom.I lived with her for years to take care of her.
That my oldest son doesnt live with me all the time, (not by choice!!)
That i have a huge heart and dont do much for myself as i do for others!
That i hold stress and pain in and hardly let it show when something is hurting or bothering me
That i would love someone to come and clean my house and it stay that way
That i was in choir since 6th grade and took 4 years of private lessons
One of my favorite shows is GLEE!!
I watch a lot of crime shows: 48 hrs mystery, csi, law and order svu and criminal intent
i love reality shows like : jersey shore, the rachel zoe project, 16 and pregnant, teen mom
i love reading mommy blogs: you guys know who you are !!
Im becoming a hunting widow for the first time! my husband is leaving tomorrow to go hunting!
I dream of going to IRELAND
Im half irish and half italian!
I love the snow at xmas and the sun in the summer and spring
I wish i had enough money so my kids and me and the hubs could get what we need and some of what we want.
One of my favorite restaraunts is chilis! i love going for chicken fajitas and a dr pepper and their chips and salsa, hell alot of the time i go just to pick up chips and salsa
That i have a hard time trusting, due to some epic things from my past.
That i love boy bands: bsb, nkotb, nsync..lol
That i heart justin bieber, he makes me smile and reminds me of my own 16 yr old
That the only soap opera that i have watched continuously is General Hospital
That i wish that i had enough money to buy all my siblings houses so we could all live close and raise our kids together. Maybe all in the same neighborhood!
That i have only had one pro massage ever and it was heavenly
That i dont ever look my age, i never have, im always told i look way younger than i am, heck my oldest thinks im 25! ha love it! i look like im 21 though( i think i get it from my momma, she was 51 when she died and didnt look her age either!)
That i listen to all types of music

Well thats all i can think of, since i had no one asking me questions , i just have thought as i type! enjoy!

A Post to come soon..well a few

Hi everyone!

Sorry its been awhile but not only having my 16 yr olds birthday this month, then the anniversary of my mothers death,then 8 days after her it was the anniversary of my nanny's death, with whom i was very close too and also i lived with her for a while and took care of her. Then we also had some specialist appts for M and i will have a post on that! But some ideas i have for posts besides one for halloween with pics and also the one on M, but i think im going to have one about hunting. I know some may frown on it, but truly i have never experienced it. My husband used to go with his father when he was younger and he is going again next week for the first time in id say about 10 years. He is beyond excited to go. He will be out there opening day. So in my post about hunting, i will consult the hubs and ask him types of gear you might wear and use. Things you may look for etc. It might get some criticisim, but who knows. We dont eat it, he will take it to a butcher and then give it away, and then take it to a taxidermy.

I also will have a post all about me for my birthday on the 8th. Im still working at the golden arches and its going well, still looking for something better but so far nothing yet!and another for thanksgiving! hope this finds everyone well! Check back often for new posts!

Hard Knocks..

Hi Everyone~

Sorry for the lapse in posts, but life has dealt us some hard knocks lately. We are trying to deal with those, so other things are falling to the way side. We are trying to deal with some major medical issues with M who is 4. We are getting calls about specialists etc so im constantly on the phone. We are also trying to just deal with normal every day issues. Homework, dishes, laundry, etc.

This is one of the hardest months for me, because my mother died this month..so we have the anniversary of her death.

The best part of this month is that its the month that my oldest son was born! He will be 16 this year so i will have a post dedicated to him!

AND this month is HALLOWEEN!! wahoo i love halloween! i dont know what the kids are going to be yet but we have a few to figure it out. Sorry this is short but i have to run some errands and do somethings before M comes home from preschool.

When life happens...

Hi Everyone~

I hope you are all well. We are now on the mend, all though the hubs seems to be still a bit sick. I cant believe we all got sick so early, but hey what can you do? The kids still have a bit of a runny nose and cough, and my nose is still stuffy, but we are far better now than we were last week. Things have been busy other wise, besides being sick. Ive been on a few job interviews and will have a second for the job i really want some time next week. Im totally excited for it and hope i get the job. I will be back to working at nite since thats the only thing that works for us until M gets into school full time. which if he does ok in preschool would be next year for kindergarten.

On the school front E has adjusted nicely to 2nd grade and likes school. He still struggles with reading but is getting much better. On Sept.8 I took M to get screened for preschool. Here they have preschool within the school district that is offered, but because its fairly new and a small program the child has to get screened and they have to basically approve him to be in it..since there is such limited space. The screening went well and we had to wait till today to get a meeting to discuss the screening and if he would get placed. He got a spot! Im so excited for this, and he is beyond excited! He comes every morning out with us when we take E to the bus and is upset because he hasnt been able to go to school. Now he can. He will be going 3x a week in the morning. He will be starting next week, as to give them time to get all the paperwork done. Ive never known a child at 4 years old want to go to school and be so excited about it!

In other news, its already begining to look like fall here in new england. The leaves are already starting to change and its been cool weather. Its mostly been in the 60's but today it got to 80. Its like the freak day. Ive already been able to make homemade chicken soup, and homemade chili and corn bread. We also went last sunday apple picking! We had a good time. I cant wait till we can go on a hayride and get pumpkins!I love that we can now wear cozy sweats in the evening and have the windows open and have a nice breeze. We can go on leisurely walks and not get super hot!

Also i have lost 23 lbs in about one month! Im so super excited about this, since with M i didnt seem to loose the baby weight. With the other boys i never was on birth control of any kind and with M i went on something immidiately so i didnt get the full advantages of breastfeeding. I think it lowered my milk production. So i was on something till about sept 08 and then went off so we could start trying for another, but have had to go back on and off to try and regulate me since my body had never been on something. So when i stopped it i never could get a regular period. But these 23 lbs have fallen off. Im really not doing much different. Im drinking more water( almost with everything) since we have a water cooler and get water delivery. I drink milk occasionally, and a soda if we go out to eat but thats it its mostly water. I drink one cup of coffee a day and am eating smaller portions. I hope it comes off quick so i can get down close to what i weighed before i had M. I can already see a difference. I havent been doing to much excercise since im limited with the back injury i have. My clothes ( at least my pants and undergarments are loose)so im really excited!

And inquiring minds at Pieces of the Pepins want to know : what are some of your fall traditions? What are your favorite things about fall? What are some of your favorite fall reciepes?

Monday monday ....

Hi Everyone~

I hope you all had a great weekend. We had a busy but nice one. Saturday we went and ran some errands, we went to the jewelry store , to find out about some things with my ring, we went to the tux place for the hubs to try on his tux before the wedding this weekend ( omg he looked so hot!!) . We hunted around for a farmers market but sadly we didnt find anything but people that put up a tent in a parking lot with very few fresh fruits and veggies. Then we stopped by Mickey D's for a quick lunch and went to the park close to our house and the boys all went fishing and i laid on a blanket in the grass reading. It was a nice saturday. Sunday we slept in and then ate breakfast and decided to drive to Bass Pro to check it out ( we had been there once ). The hubs is going hunting in Nov, so he wanted to check some stuff out and its huge and the kids love it. There is an aquarium with huge fish in it, interactive shooting games, furniture,gifts, clothes and all the other gear you would need for an outdoor adventure. After we headed home from there we went to Wal-Mart and picked up some stuff and came home. It was a scorcher yesterday ! We have been working on getting the kids, especially E back into the routine of early bedtime as school is going to be upon us shortly..how shortly you may wonder..well TOMORROW!!! Yipee!

I know it sounds bad but still, it will be good for him to go back to the structure of school and homework and having that routine.When schools in session it will be me and M at home till i find another job and he goes to school or daycare. I cant wait. The hubs and i have been going with the early bedtime for about a week, and they dont put up to much of a fight. It is nice to have the quiet and either catch up on some of the stuff on the dvr or watch a movie. pretty soon we will have the pattern of homework, dinner, baths and bed. We will have alot of family time on the weekends unless the hubs has to work.

I recently just went and got a library card for myself. I have to say even though this library is on the small side i am able to find a lot of new books and alot of stuff i like to read. I cant say that for the library in wa. It took them forever to get new stuff and when they did it took forever to get your hands on it.I can also use this card at other libraries so its a win win! The first time i went i got 4 books for myself and one for each child and quickly read all of my books. When i took them back i got 7 books for myself. Ive already read 3 and am almost thru the 4th. Im going to take them back tonite and then renew the others that i have since they are due back the 7th.

We also got some great news this weekend which is easing some of our money issues. Im also still activly looking for something so that also will bring in extra. Things may be on the up swing for us but i dont want to jinx it so i wont say to much about it. Hope this finds everyone great and I will definitely blog tomorrow about the first day of 2nd grade!!! have a great monday!

Rainy days

Hi !

Hope this finds everyone's week going ok. Here on the east coast we have been getting some much needed rain. So far its been raining since sunday! And i'm not complaining. i enjoy the rain and we need it ! According to the weather guy he says its been the dryest summer here in a long while. We sure have had some crazy weather here. It was 70's and 80's in march and april and then back to 70's in may and then in june it just was mid 70's and 80's , then towards the end of june we got record heat, jumping quickly to the high 90's. When my sister was here we were over 100 degrees every single day. We had no break from the 100 degree weather and add in the humidity it was killer! At the end of july we got a nice weekend of mid 70's with no humidity and it actually felt cold, but it was nice. So far in august we havent had to many overly warm days. Yes we have had high 80's but most of it has been without humidity so its been nice. We can turn the air conditioners off and open the windows and get nice breezes through the house.

We moved here in november and we were worried that we would encounter snow etc on our travels. We did see some snow in mountain passes and both the hubs and i grew up on this side of the country. He in new hampshire and myself in michigan. We both know that sometimes you can get snow as early as october( dont nay say peeps i remember when i was younger that we had snow on halloween once!) But we got here and it was around 60's and no snow so we were stoked! We had a mild winter we had snow but not the snow like they have had in the past. All of the fam has said we got lucky, but i dont know about that, we came to visit christmas 2008 and we came prepared for tons of snow and brought all the neccessary items to play in it and got none! I was bummed i really wanted a white christmas!! On the day that we went to explore boston it was 70 fricken degrees in DECEMBER!!!

So in saying all this and experiencing this weird weather i wonder what this upcoming fall and winter will hold for us. I love the fall and am looking forward to the leaves changing and the warm fuzzy sweaters and sweatshirts. Im looking for the nites where we just lock ourselves in and snuggle. The nites of apple cider or hot cocoa. I know it sounds crazy but i cant wait. I cant wait because its starts off the holidays with halloween ( whoever says its not a holiday is soo wrong!) then turkey day and black friday and then of course christmas and new years! i cant wait for fall to turn into winter and to get that first snow! and if it melts away to get more snows ! i think it makes it so pretty outside! The only thing i hate is when there are snow days during the year because they usually have to be made up in june :(
I know we live in snow country, but still last year we were out the few days before christmas break was to start and therefore the kids didnt get out till june 21. thats just dumb to get out so late, i think the teachers should have said that they would give up some of their planning days ( the kids usually dont go on those days) to make up for some of the days missed.

Im still job hunting since the job in the school district didnt work out. id like something compatible to the kids schedule since im the one that has to miss when they are sick etc. A school job would be awsome since you would be off the same as them. Im pretty bummed that it didnt work out. I emailed her after the interview to ask some questions that i forgot then and got no response, and i also emailed to thank her for the interview and the opportunity and she has still never responded , i know she may be busy but she has emailed me before at 9 and 10 pm. Oh well.We cant go long with me not having a job since it seems lately everyone is planning crap around when our bills are due. they and food shopping are the most important.

But a friend of ours planned a wedding right at the beginning of sept. right when rent is due and then car payments. the sucky thing about it being right then is that we are both in the wedding and we have to pay 150$ to rent a tux..really 150$ for something you wear for a few hours...im pissed.Thank god she didnt want the girls to buy a dress she wanted to see what kind of nice dresses everyone had and luckliy i had bought one for another formal occasion that you could wear in or too a wedding! But not only with the cost of bills and the tux we have to pay for gas to get there and we have to bribe the hubs mother to watch the kids!! First off no one would watch them, and hey we never really ask. So we were going to keep them friday for the rehersal etc. Then we just needed his mother to watch them saturday for the wedding. She was going to take them to a demo derby if we paid for it, we were like fine it was like 15$. Then shes now changed it to she wants to go camping so she will take them both days, but she wants us to pay for 1 day of camping and their food. Get this though, she takes his sisters kid all the time during the week and almost every weekend and she never requires her to pay for anything, so why our our kids different. The hubs is pissed because on top of never asking his parents for anything except every once in awhile we are required to pay his mother to take the kids and then his sister never does. And no one even called or sent a card for M's birthday so hes equally pissed about that. I mean part of the reason we got the job transfer here was to be closer to family. so the kids would have their grandparents, we could go to family functions etc but never imagined this at all. so we are a bit shell shocked. I mean do they not get that right now we have limited income and limited resources? hmmm makes you wonder!

OMG! Time flies when your having fun!

Happy Friday ..wait its FRIDAY THE 13TH!!!

I cant believe it! sometimes im superstitious but im laying low today so as to not drum up anything unwanted!

As the post say time flies when your having fun! we have had a great summer and celebrated our anniversary and now its onto M's 4th birthday! and ive finally submitted everything for the "new " job im hoping to get. Its a secratarial position but its 25 hrs and it works with the kids schedules and leaves the evenings open for dinners bath homework family time, and also for the hubs to take overtime if offered with out having to worry about getting a sitter.

We are looking to get M into a preschool thats full time, there is one down the street but its 160$ per week, you have to put a week down as a deposit but then they want you to pay for the month in advance within two weeks. Really? REALLY?!!! who has that kind of money lying around. yes they are on the same schedule as the district so all the days off vacations etc that the older kids have he would have. Which would be awsome, since i would be working for a school and they would be in school its the perfect job for a mom since you would have the same days/vacations/snow days off! But 680$ is a bit spendy for preschool for all day. There is another preschool and its at a daycare center and its 170$ and we can pay by the week. i am hoping to make a bit more money than i was making at my part time job that i barely got 12 hrs the month of june at but heres to hoping!

We would like to be able to save some money. we were doing fine once we moved here affording rent and car payments and food and stuff, and to go out and then we had some glitches in early spring..april- may that set us back and we havent really recovered. and then we had summer guests so we havent been able to sock away money. with this new job im hoping we will. we would like to buy a house. we have a pre-approval already and we just havent found the right thing, but with hopefully more money we can get a house and a newer car and be able to put money away, and maybe things will start looking up. the baby thing has never been completely ruled out but im going to be 35 in the fall so i dont want to hold off, sheesh if when this all was agreed to two years ago i would have been almost 32 and things would be fine id have had or been pregnant by now and this subject would be closed. so maybe if this job happens and we can pay for M's schooling and put money away we can get the things we want and pay our bills and still have a bit of spending money.

and to top it off E goes into second grade!i cant believe it! he starts school on the 31! i would have never known. we have yet to start a school year here. we came east once school had started so it was just the process of enrolling him and stuff. i find it weird that they dont send anything before hand saying this is your teacher and classroom and here are the supplies . apparently here they wait till the first day to tell them , i guess depending on the weather they either have them mill about out front and the teachers call them into their line or this all happens in the gym.i think thats a lame way to do it. Back in washington at least they had a day that you could go meet your teacher, tour your class and bring all your stuff in. i think it was much easier and took the edge off. So i guess we will see.

Even though im looking forward to school starting and the house being quiet and staying clean...if i get the job it may not happen the way i want. E gets on the bus about 750-755 am. Depending on where M goes he will have to be there about 815ish and then i would have to be to work about 9 am. I would work till 2. Again depending on where M goes he gets out around 230 and E gets home at 3. So it appears that i will be getting home right before they do and then its into the evening routine. it would be different if i was home all day but that wont happen. I just hope all the transitions work well.

I usually have to deal with everything as the hubs job is usually pretty busy and he cant miss. so unless things are planned in advance he misses everything, conferences, first days, school programs. its a shame but hes kind of the newbie around his job, even though hes been doing it for 4 years. his co was bought out by another and so even though he has time in service they all basically got set back to zero when this compnay purchased his old one. so to them hes only been doing it 2 years. And plus hes the newbie here in the shop since he got a job transfer. so hes taking the overtime going in on the weekends and doing nonsense work like mowing the grass etc. he has given up requested vacation days to go on road jobs . he takes all the road jobs they offer so they dont have a reason to lay him off. After we got here we had heard some of the guys he worked with in wa got laid off so the panic really set in but i dont think its an issue with him, hes a very hard worker. and he still hasnt taken those vacation days that he had to give up for work. hes taking some upcoming days off but thats for a wedding and he already has them off and then hes taking another day off possibly since we have an inspection on our apartment because our lease is up in october.

well be safe out there fellow bloggers it is friday the 13th! and im off !

Time is flying by...

Happy Monday !!!

Is it just me or is time flying by? Last i checked it was may and we were gearing up for our summer guests! Holy crap its now mid august and that means its almost M's 4th birthday and our anniversary and then school! wowza! i cant believe how fast everything has passed. I mean granted we have been busy but still. sheesh.

Tomorrow is the hubs and i anniversary. and i can say its been a crazy few years. Yes we have been married only 3 years but we have been together since 2002 ( dont hate peeps!) He wasnt around alot being in the army and protecting our freedom and all. I dont have any idea if we have anything planned or not being that its a tuesday and all but we may manage to go to dinner, granted we would have to take the kids since we dont have a sitter but sometimes thats the price you have to pay.

In other news im applying for a position in a school district, that will afford me to work while the kids are in school and be home right before they are and have the same vacations and snow days etc as them which will be awsome so we wont have to rely on a sitter and paying someone. and hopefully i will be making a bit more money which will be nice also

And on the 23 is M's 4th birthday. its gone by sooo stinkin fast :( i hate it. I remember exactly having him and also holding him for the first time. he was only 7 days early and he only weighed 5lbs. he was soo tiny. he still is little for his age. people ask if hes 2 going to be 3 and we say hes almost 4 and people cant believe it. they say he looks 2. Hes still on the tiny side. he weighs about 32 lbs but can fit in size 12-18-2t size shorts but he has to have a size 3 for pants for length.

im ready for another, my husband agreed to it 2 years ago but he says its harder since things are more expensive here and now that M is 4 why would i want to start over again. I just dont think he gets it. I would love to have a girl but am just fine with boys, they are pretty easy and i have tons of practice with 3 of them dont ya think?Part of me doesnt get how he can say arent you happy with the 3 you have, why do you need anymore. and then no sooner does he say it he points out a baby to me. I am usually the one that does all the baby things: feeding diapering etc so its not like he has to do much.

I dont really want to say ok we wont have anymore. i mean i can understand if i was 40 but im not and we have already discussed this and agreed, now i feel that hes taking back everything. Its not fair i dont think. I mean we havent really tried. I got off the bc but then my body could never regulate( UGGGGH!!!) and then i took meds to try and reset my body but yes i got a period but it never reset anything. so back in sept. before our move east i went on bc again and stopped after a month. it worked i had my own periods oct,nov dec and not jan..thought we were expecting but no. did blood work in feb and 2 days later had my period. then nothing again for months. Finally i go an ob here and she did some lab work everything is normal. and so she said i should probably do bc again for 6-9 months and stop and that usually regulates. so i hope everything works out and i can have my one last baby. a girl would be great. but i do love my boys . i just cant say the words ok we wont have anymore. i cant. part of my brain says ok just go with it, the other part says no just one more.

In upcoming events we have friends of ours that are getting married sept 4th and we are both in the wedding so that should be fun! it will be an adult nite so it will be a nite without kids which we dont have very much.

And then after that SCHOOL!! Yippee. Im ready for a clean house and routine and quiet nites.

and also can i say i cant wait to see CHARLIE ST.CLOUD. omg, it looks sooo good. I bought the book the other day and have yet to crack it open but dang i cant wait to see and it! and have ya'all seen Zac Efron. omg hello.

all right off for now ! have a great monday!

A small miracle...a miracle non the less

Hi Everyone!!

Hope this finds you well! Lets get right to it! well the other day i wrote about M being a picky eater. Which he is. Luckily when we were camping there was enough around that he would eat and we brought some stuff in case he wouldnt. Hes a good eater for the most part but im getting tired of making two meals mostly at dinner, or packing something for him if we go to a family get together. As i stated he likes pasta, grilled cheese,fruit,veggies,chicken nuggets,pizza,mac and cheese,pbj. he drinks mostly milk and water (but doesnt fill up on milk) and oatmeal and likes oj but not to many other juices. Well the other nite i made salisbury steak, stuffing and corn for dinner. i cut up about 1/4 of a piece of steak and put it on his plate and ladeled some gravy on top of it. he was having none of it he started throwing a fit saying he didnt like it and he didnt want that. While everyone else is sitting there eating without an issue. The hubs got up and said how do you know you dont like it , you havent tried it. finally he got his sticker book out and told him if he ate two pieces of it he could choose a sticker in it. HE ATE 2 PIECES!!!! we were amazed.Then we went back to eating and just told him to eat everything else and he finished his meat on his own and some of the corn!!!! i was beyond thrilled that he ate it hoping we were on our way back to just making one meal at dinner time, because usually he eats fine at breakfast and lunch. But then part of my brain was thinking, if the only way we are going to get him to eat is bribe him, how long will we have to do that since we were using that to potty train him. we have that pretty much down pat except for getting him out of diapers at nap and bedtime and also going in public places. ANY IDEAS? on either the eating or the rest of the potty training? HELP!!!


in other news i quit my job! due to no hours ( 12 hrs for the whole month of june) and they forced me to do training i didnt want and im still just cashiering without utilizing the training. it isnt worth it for me to drive 45 min for one day a week just to make enough money for a tank of gas. This is my last week.I have been actively looking for something else. something in the school district so i can work why the kids are in school and have the same breaks and vacays etc. i have also been looking for something else that is evening related so we wont have to pay a sitter and just pocket the whole check. So far only a few leads but im hoping to find something soon that im making a bit more than i was at my almost old job. Wish me luck friends!

Well im off for now but send me the ideas for picky eating and potty training your recipes and also book suggestions, i look forward to getting all of them

August already?

Happy Monday Everyone~

i cant believe its august already!!! Can you? it seems like the summer has flown by! i can see that happening for us because we have been busy with guests and work and have rarely had down time but it just seems like last week it was may and we were gearing up for the crazy summer!

This month is also very busy for us. We have our anniversary this month and M's 4th birthday and of course that means its almost school time!!!!Yipee! Dont get me wrong i love that the kids are home etc but i also long for the time they are in school to be able to clean the house and not have a mess made where i just cleaned.

We went camping saturday and it was pretty fun! the place where we camped has theme weekends and this weekend was "Cowboys" the boys had a great time they had activities like " gold rush, Cowboy contests,candy bar bingo,money swim, tshirt making etc and a dance on saturday nite. It was pretty fun both E and M got 16 pieces of "gold" in the gold rush. they did the cowboy contest which was obstacle course,bull whip, bow and arrow and indian leg wrestling. the money swim was pretty fun, they throw a bunch of quarters into the bottom of the pool and split you up by age group and then you go in and get as much as possible. E really liked it. we also won at candy bar bingo all the kids for their age have never really played it.We went to the dance and it was pretty fun but maybe stayed like an hr because it had been a long day. The place where we camped is an RV resort so it had tons of things , each weekend is themed, so not only those activities that are planned they also have mini golf, bike/skate park, water slides and a beach, a pizza/ice cream parlor , arcade,and huge play ground. they have canoe & boat rentals and also golf cart rentals. It was soo awsome. we had a golf cart for use and the site was really wooded, so yes you had neighbors but it still wasnt like you had neighbors. And you can get a wrist band for the waterslides and pay 10$ for the whole day till 7pm. Quiet time is at 11pm so that makes it nice that yes you can stay at your site and sit around the fire but the rowdiness is gone by 11 so everyone who is winding down can get to sleep. We had a good time.The only thing we figured out about camping is M has trouble sleeping other places besides home. In hotels hes ok but we usually stay really busy so hes pretty tired, which happened while camping, we got them up at about 630am on saturday to head up and stayed busy till about 1030pm. He fell asleep fine he just woke up about 3am and realized he wasnt at home and we had a killer time getting him back to sleep. The hubs and i were having a hard enough time sleeping on the ground even tho we brought a bunch of blankets to put down to hopefully make it more cushier/no such luck! we didnt get much sleep that nite at all :(

On sunday we went to a birthday party for our friends son. it was his first birthday , it was a good time also, but we were tired. They are getting married on sept 4 and dave and the hubs were talking wedding details, and then i found out that i now am in the wedding! yikes, at least i get to walk with my sexy hubby. All the people that are in the wedding are hubs and wife, except 2 people so its going to be fun. but yikes, we have to find a sitter because now they have decided to not have kids and we arent sure if anyone in the fam is available.

Still need those recipes and book suggestions and also any ideas for a picky eater if you have read the previous blog post!

thanks and have a great monday!

Picky Eaters? and other misc stuff...

Hi All~


hope your week has been going well. Everything has been good so far this week, here in the pepin house. The hubs has been working lots of over time this summer so besides having guests, family time has been to a minimum on weekends because hes usually working on the weekend, or at least saturdays. Then sunday we run errands if need be or just hang at the house. During the week its also cut to a minimum because hes usually working all day long and then on nites when i work he comes in the door and im literally walking out and dont see each other till about 10 pm and then we spend about an hour and then its bedtime. Hopefully that will change soon, im hoping to get a job in a school district so i can have the same schedule as the kids and we can be home together in the evenings. I have quit my part time job as it has drastically changed since i began there in december. When i first started working i was working 5 nites a week 5-9. Then in the spring they were changing the schedule and said we would be having a set schedule. so i chose to work m,t and th. E had boy scouts on wednesdays and i chose to have a long weekend with the fam as the hubs usually got some over time on fridays. My work really harrassed me about going to pharmacy training, to become a tech, which i completed in may. I never have utilized my training even as i was going thru it, except at the training store i was at. Everytime i was scheduled i only cashiered, which is fine i love being a customer service type person and im good at it. THe thing that bugged me was why have me do the training and waist that time if you werent ever going to allow me to use it. Id brought it to the attention of the pharmacist in charge and also the store manager and nothing changed. I also asked why i was only getting scheduled one day a week and then getting two weeks off and then 1 day again. For example the whole month of june i only worked 12 hrs....for the whole month. I live 45 minutes away from where i work so driving out there for 1 day is the money it takes to fill the gas tank. LAME LAME LAME!!!! I would leave notes asking why i wasnt being scheduled the 3 days they told me i was and they said the scheduling is like a jigsaw puzzle so they were trying to get everyone on . But they thing is people that they hired after me that are pharmacy interns were getting way more hours than me. Finally after i brought it to the store manager ive been getting at least 2 days a week but still nothing is changing, im still just cashiering. Ive asked for a transfer to a store closer to where i live..there are two like within 10 minutes. But then if they say they can take me and call the store i work out they refuse to let me go. So we just decided it would be better for me to quit stay home and hopefully get a job that goes better with the kids school schedule( school breaks the same, snow days sick days etc)

In other blog news/topics, M is a picky eater, and has been for about a year since he turned 3. My mother always told me feed your kids everything, even if you dont like it so they wont be picky.R never has been a picky eater in his 15 years. And E has always been a great eater, he likes trying new things and usually eats whats put in front of him. M was a great eater from the start then when he turned 3 it all went out the window. He eats good at lunch and breakfast , its usually when its dinner time, family functions or going out that i have issues. He likes a variety of things, but then he wont eat meat, really. If i make lasagna, spaghetti, american chop suey he wont pick the beef out, but if we have cheeseburgers, chicken breasts, pork etc he wont eat it, even with some sort of sauce to dip it in. he eats pizza with toppings. The wic people think its a texture issue that hes just having and will grow out of it but when, he will be 4 at the end of august!!! I am growing wary of having to prepare a meal then have to find something else for him to eat. he loves chicken nuggets, pizza, pasta, grilled cheese, fruit( fresh and canned) some veggies,cereal, mac and cheese,pbj, and tuna helper of all things( and eats it all and doesnt pick anything out!!) hes a great milk drinker and likes water, likes oj but not to many other juices( never really has) they take a childrens multi-vitamin. and i do try and introduce new things, or keep re-trying what we have already had before and have witnessed him eating it. Hes grown whiny about it or will just not eat it.Everyone has just said fix him what he likes so there wont be an issue but seriously? I have a sister who has been this way almost her whole life and my mom had 5 kids so imagine cooking dinner for your family and either they wont eat it or there portion has to be altered so they would. She is in her 20's now and still eats the same way. She has kids and i wonder if she only makes what she likes and gives them that instead of making other things for the family and then making something different for herself. I dont want M to be this way. We dont give him lots of milk to fill up on or snacks/treats either(except with the poo in the potty thing) so i have no idea what to do or how to resolve this. Help blog readers and fellow blogees! ( is that even a word?) Feel free to leave comments or email me !

What are your weekend plans? We are going to see the hubs mom and uncle they are camping and not sure if we are staying overnite tomorrow then hopefully coming home on sunday and hanging out. Im not to keen on this camping idea since there wont be other kids to play with and the hubs cousin who is close to his age wont be there either. So this should be interesting since when there is a family function thats mostly what he does is hang with his cousin. so we will see, he says i dont have to go but then if i dont its not participating in a family function and i wouldnt have a car since we are down to one car right now while hes repairing his....Lame!

Howdy Ya'all

Hi Everyone! Happy Monday!

Hope this finds everyone well. Its been busy as usual here. Not with just the kids but with work and life in general. Hopefully it slows down the next few weeks before schools back.

Im still looking for fellow bloggers and readers to send me recipes that i can share with my sister and to keep for myself. Im also looking for anyone to send me good summer reads. I read a book my sister left, and it was a good book but a very hard subject matter.

In other news my baby will be 4 soon! i cant believe it. it seems like the time has flown by! we have been trying to potty train since he was 2 but he was interested at first and would do it occasionally, then we sent him to a babysitter that unbeknownst to us was forcing him to sit on a regular potty with no potty seat till he would go because she didnt want to change diapers. Talk about a jekyll and hyde situation!! she was getting paid cash every friday, and having diapers provided for her, and claimed she would feed him becuase she would only have M and her same age son, because E and her daughter would be in school all day. Every day she was asking for us to provide food because she didnt have enough. She didnt have enough food? where was the money going that we paid her with? 110$ cash every week and she didnt have food? She also had her power shut off numerous times..and she knew my schedule was 730-430 m-f it never changed, so i would drop the kids at 715 and pick them up at 445 barring traffic or weather, and she also said that i wasnt getting them when i was supposed too, how is that, i couldnt clock out of work till 430 by the time i got to her house it was never later than 445 and if it was i called. so needless to say i had to quit my job because i couldnt find someone i could trust again and it had to be in the school district for E to get on the bus. We tried again to potty train M when he was 3 and he started doing it but then we found out we were getting our job transfer to the east coast.And that wasnt going to fly. because we would be driving cross country, and we wouldnt be able to stop every 15-45 min to go potty. We would be on the road for 10+ hrs a day in order to make it here in the short time that his work was allowing.
We started again this spring and it finally caught on. We were using the treat system of if he went pee pee he got 1 piece of candy or 3 chocolate chips. The hard part was getting him to poo in the potty it was like he was afraid to do that. Finally it worked! He has been able to do it. Ive been able to put undies on him and not have really any accidents, daddy is still unsure of that so if we go any long distances he wears a diaper. He is still wearing them at nite and nap time. But then because we have had visitors hes been in a diaper alot. Any suggestions on how to get it all the way with no diaper at either bed or naptime? Also we have yet to get him to go potty on a regular potty, here at home or in public, that is something we have yet to master. Our potty chair has a removeable top that you can place on the regular one but hes not into that. We got him to stand once but he didnt quite make it in, if you know what i mean. Hes by far been the hardest to get to do this. With R all i did was stick undies on him at 3 and never looked back we never had an accident. With E he would go sit on the potty on his own before each tubby and it took 2 days to poo train him. M by far has been the most mind boggling and stressful. Every one tells me that every kid is different and that not to compare but sheesh some days im ready to pull my hair out!

In other pepin family news im looking for new work. In washington i worked in medical records and i love love loved it. I hated to quit. We moved here in November and i got a part time nite job in december so 1 it would be a little extra income coming in and for 2 we wouldnt have to find and pay a sitter so we could pocket the money. Everything was fine for awhile. I was working lots of hours and doing training etc. In the spring my hours were getting less and less and i was close to finishing my pharmacy tech training. Even with me going to the training all i did was still cashier, but thats why they were pushing the training was because they needed me to do other things. Ive completed the training and here i am doing cashiering. I am supposed to be scheduled at least three days a week m-t- th and i am getting 1 day a week if im lucky. I got 12 hrs for the whole month of june and so far at least one day each week in july. Its just not helping anything. Ive tried to get a transfer to another store and that isnt working out. Ive said something to the pharmacist in charge and she has no answers. I finally said something to the store manager and she said that i would have to do the leg work for a transfer but if i found someone then i could go. Because the only other option is to quit. I cant fathom quitting without finding something else. which im desperatly trying to do, wether it be in the school district so i can have the same schedule as the kids or the hours that M would be in preschool if we could some how afford it. Things arent very good finace wise, the hubs is working tons of hours and giving up vacation days to go on road jobs just so we have extra money. The rent is affordable right now because it includes all utilities,which is great. but then we have car payments and food to buy and then of course lots of state taxes that we didnt have before. Plus we want to be able to go and do stuff. We had some set backs in early april and early may that werent planned that we havent been able to recover from. So im hoping our luck turns around on all avenues soon.

well im going to close this post out for now, please vote for us on top mommy blogs and also send those recipes and book suggestions this way! and i will be posting more now since things are winding down on this front! have a great monday!

A little bit of ....everything!!

Hey everyone!


I hope this finds you well! Everyone is great here. On Saturday July 10th we drove up to new hampshire to go see the inlaws and have R and karen meet them. We were going to go out on the boat but it was overcast and did rain. We just had a good time chit chatting and eating some food. We left to come home and got here and just relaxed. Sunday was going to be an early one for us. On sunday July 11 my sister was leaving and making the journey to Michigan. Her plane was leaving at 7 am so we needed to leave here by 5. The nite before she had dragged all of her luggage into the living room to re-pack it and make sure she had everything. And also so she wouldnt wake the kids up in trying to get the luggage out of the room etc in the early am. As we were re-packing her stuff she decided we should leave at 4 am just to make sure. We worked it out with R that he would stay with the kids, i mean they all were going to be sleeping at that point anyways.And off to bed the hubs and i went since we would be up before the sun. Karen was going to put E to bed with her and i told R not to stay up to late, i mean hes 15 its summer. 330am came oh so early!The hubs and i got up got dressed as best we could in the dark( oh yeah we have had weird sleeping arrangements since we have had summer family visiting!) E&R are sharing the boys room and when karen was here she slept in there too. Only for the fact that they all sleep like normal people and M is in our room with us, not only because he rarely sleeps past 8 but because it would be more conducive to everyone getting rest.The thing was when we came out of our room R was asleep on the couch and karen was no where to be found! The hubs went into the boys room and she was still asleep! She had just gotten a new cell and hadnt quite mastered it, she said she set 3 alarms and not one went off. No worries we were ahead of the game. She got ready in land speed record time and the hubs took the luggage out and we were off. She was getting stressed as this is a very difficult time.Shes been living abroad in the netherlands for 4 years and was moving home. Before she got to boston she had had movers come to her place and pack it up and what she came with was everything else. she had a great job in an international school and made tons of friends. Plus heading back to michigan which is home, wasnt going to be that hard, but she had been trying to find a job since march and wasnt hearing anything from anything she applied for. Plus she would have to get a job and then a car and place to live etc. But we headed out got her there way ahead of schedule and i being the weepy sensitive one, balled my eyes out as i was walking her to security. The hubs hugged her and was like why are you crying you will see her again, but still ive seen her less in the past 5 years than i would have liked and hated to have her go.

In other news we have had a break in the heat wave..finally. It was so unbearbly hot and humid nothing was enjoyable even going to the beach. One thing i did for my sister was make a recipe book. Of recipes that are in the family and have been passed down, but also ones that are my own. So im asking out there in the blogosphere : DO YOU HAVE ANY RECIPES THAT YOU CARE TO PASS ON TO ME AND HER? ID LOVE TO ADD SOME NEW STUFF TO MY COOKING REPERTOIRE AND GIVE HER MORE TO ADD TO THE BOOK. Please leave them in the comment section or email me.

Also what are you doing so far this summer? What are you going to do the rest of the summer? Do any of you have any good reccomendations for a good read this summer?