Saturdays are my FAVORITE

So I don't think that I have met a Saturday yet that I didn't like.  I love Saturdays!  they make me so happy when I get up in the morning to when I go to bed at night.  I usually get a lot done on Saturdays b/c that is the day that not only do I 'rest' but that's all the day that I get a lot of my weekly chores done. 

Today I have gotten a lot of my chores done even before the noon hour so go me!  I was able to get grocery shopping done, shoes for Lehna, lunch on the stove, the laundry completed, and dinner planned for the weekend!  And this is all before I even jumped in the shower to "start" my day!  Yeah for ME!  I know I know nothing like bragging right?  Oh well. 

So I sent in my application for the Kenosha County Senior Office Associate position.  I have decided that I am just going to try and see what happens.  The pay bump would be so wonderful I can't even tell you, but seriously I need to figure some things out.  Our office position hasn't even been posted yet and I'm starting to worry that they aren't planning on refilling it!  So that would totally suck!  So I have been doing my best in typing up instructions for the new court services person that will start in a couple of weeks, she will be learning how to do what I'm doing only in the part time format.  Lord only knows that means my days will go down to having stuff to do to having nothing to do again!  I hate that.  I really enjoy being busy but what can you do, so I have a feeling they are phasing out that position completely!  Which would suck than I would be out of a job AGAIN!  Which that would truly suck bad.  Tait doesn't want me to get all worried about it, but having been the in position before I want to do everything in my power to AVOID that completely.  But anyway.  So I'm going to apply to this position and see what happens.  Tait and I have decided that we might even try applying to Indiana just to see what happens there.  I mean we both need to work and here the cost of living is very high here and well if I don't end up without work that it makes more sense to move, we just need to move before I am laid off from my current job so I can get unemployment!  B/c in the state of Wisconsin they all have if you move b/c of a spouse job you can collect unemployment.  So I guess we will see happens. I feel like I'm going to be turning this over to the big man upstairs b/c I can't worry about it or I'll go Insane WITH ANXIETY and honestly I don't need anything like that right now.

Lehna is doing much much better.  Day 3 and 4 is by far the worse.  She complains her jaw and ears hurt, which is all normal but there isn't a lot you can do.  Today I gave her an ice pack and that seemed to ease her pain a little.  She is still taking her pain meds fairly regularly.  We will start working on weening her off that next week.  I think she'll be okay but we'll have to start working on that.  Since she won't have the pain meds when she goes back to school next week.  The school FINALLY sent homework with Maya on FRIDAY I asked for two weeks before she left for homework for when she was gone and I get it on FRIDAY!  I don't know if htat means the teacher doesn't do lesson plans or what, vI mean how do you not know what you are going to be doing for a week?  I don't know whatever.  But her class did all write her get well cards to her and that was very nice of her.  They also got her a game which she has really enjoyed playing.  It's Clue JR and it's really fun to play with them.  So far she has won every time she has played me.  And I'm not even letting her win.  Oh well.  It's fun for her.  I would like to trey to find the Apples to Apples JR game for the girls.  We have the adult version but I am assuming the kid game it's more pictures verses words b/c it's not as fun for them with the words.  Lehna is also asking to get the game Dixit.  Kris and Christina brought that game for thanksgiving and she really enjoyed playing it. I think we saw it before so I'll have to get that for their birthdays, b/c they are right around the corner! 

So It’s time for another quick update.

Well as most of you know Lehna had surgery on her tonsils and androids. Well she had them removed anyway. She had the procedure done yesterday and it went very well for her. She was already wanting to get around and move shortly after the surgery and we were sent home very soon after the surgery. Last night she wanted ice cream and she couldn’t have ice cream right away b/c of the anesthesia that they give her and it could cause vomiting, so we didn’t want to take the route. So she had popsicles. She is doing much better today, she is able to eat more soft foods such as ice cream, applesauce, pudding, yogurt, and etc. She can pretty much eat anything soft that she can just swallow. She told me last night that she just wanted something more than popsicles so I told her for breakfast she could have ice-cream and so this morning she did. Maya of course did NOT understand why she couldn’t have ice cream for breakfast and stated to me that I just didn’t love her and that Lehna got everything. After each of us explained to her that Lehna had surgery and couldn’t have anything, I tried to make a point to her to tell her that she couldn’t enjoy the girl scout cookies that she got to eat earlier, and even than Maya still refused to understand. So I told her after school if she was good she could have ice cream she did settle down. So today she is doing much much better. She did complain of her ears hurting, which they said that is very common for that to happen. So I’ll keep you all updated on her progress.



Lehna also had her It’s Great to be Eight program at the church this past Saturday. Lehna will be able to be baptized this year and so they are getting the kids excited about the different activities that they can do once they turn 8 years old. Lehna for example will be able to join the activity girls 2 xs a month and work on their Faith in God activities. She didn’t sound very excited about it, and so I am starting to take a very active role in getting her ready for baptism. So we started reading the children’s stories of the Book of Mormon on Sunday. We wanted to read to them every day but with the surgery that has come up we are going to try to get at least a new story a week done. I wanted to start on the scriptures but seriously it was so over their head that they looked at me with glazed looks in their eyes and I figured that we should go a different direction b/c they weren’t catching on. So I thought that this would be the easier way. When I started reading the stories Maya paid the best attention, I had eye contact with her and everything. They didn’t ask any questions after the story but I figured eye contact was good. So I was talking to another parent at the activity night about getting them ready for baptism and she suggested getting the Friend she said that it is a great way to talk about the different topics and it’s right on their level. So I am going to start getting that for them. Maybe we can work that into their bedtime routine as well once we get the stories completed. I think there is only 12-13 stories so we will run out of church stuff. The girls LOVE to be read to and I like reading to them as well. Nikolai could really care less about reading, but it is fun having him in the room.



Work is still going well. They are getting ready to extend the offer to the new person that will be taking over court services. I was kind of doing dual roles as they were planning on hiring a part time person to do the court services work. So I will be training the court services shortly. That means I need to get all of my instructions up and going. I am only about ½ way done with getting them typed up and such. I am kind of sad that that will be going away as I really enjoy doing the court services but that will mean I have more time to do other activities whatever they might be. They are still planning on posting for the position that I am currently filling in for. So hopefully that will be soon and I’ll be able to apply for that position. There has been other positions that have opened throughout the county so I have been applying to those as they appear. I figure it doesn’t hurt, right? So still in limbo, forever in limbo let me tell you.



Well that’s all I got for now.

It’s time for another exciting update!

We have Kittens!!!  We had talked about getting cats before but since we had roommates it was kind of out of the question. But now since we don’t have roommates we have finally been able to adopt some very CUTE kitties! We got them last week. I responded to an add on Craigslist and they were $10 a piece, which I had been looking for cats through the human society and through rescue shelter here in Kenosha, however they were $60 a piece. Of course they came fully vaccinated and fully fixed. But still $120 for cats… yikes! So we just kind of waited around to see if we could find some cheaper. In the paper there were two ads on for $5 and one for $10 apiece for them but at that point we weren’t ready to get them yet. So we just waited. And then I saw the ad and responded and here we go, kittens! They are VERY little they are 7 weeks old. They are so very little. The girls are OVER THE MOON over them. Nikolai is just so sweet he just SCREAMED at them when he saw them, in excitement of course. Now we are teaching the girls about being gentle with the baby kittens and not picking them up 24/7. They love them so very much and I have to tell you the kitties are just so cute. They are just little babies so we have to be very careful with them so they don’t fear people. So we do a lot of, now Maya leave her alone… Maya you need to stop… Maya please don’t lift them up… Maya be gentle, do you notice a theme here?



So we have been working with both girls, and Nikolai to be nice to the kitties and really gentle. Maya gets upset when the kitten doesn’t want to sit on her or doesn’t follow her around like Lehna’s kitten seems to. Oh Maya named her kitten Princess, and Lehna named her kitten Caesar. I think they match up but I think Caesar should be Casanova b/c he is just a LOVER he wants to cuddle and get really close to you heart, it’s very sweet. I also think he’s having the toughest time with leaving his mommy. He cries the most I think. They really should have been with their mommy another two weeks but the person wanted to get rid of them now. So I told them we would take them. I’m so glad that we got two b/c they do seem to keep each other busy during the day. The kittens are being potty trained. They have figured out how to get out of the big box and they did so well using the litter box. So now they have free roam of the house and so far they are doing well. They look so little compared to that big litter box but we are keeping our fingers crossed that we don’t have any accidents. The kiddos are really doing a great job with them. Since they have been able to jump out of their box we allowed them to go in the girls room at night, if they desire to sleep. The girls were up half the night trying to “keep” them in their room without actually shutting the door. But they did fairly well last night. Lehna actually shut her door last night and was fast asleep. The kittens crawled into our bed for just a few minutes than left, I guess we were too boring for their liking.



Anywho. So that’s the new and exciting news as far as new additions to our family. Well Tait and I have finally broken down and called Birth-Three. This is a program in our city that helps families with children between those mentioned ages with different things. We called them for a consultation because Nikolai isn’t talking. He has 6 words in his vocabulary: There, Bye, Woof, Car, yeah, and Got. So they told us that between the ages of 12 months – 18 months he should have 10-20 words. Than between the ages of 18 months – 2 years there will be an “explosion” of words and he should have 100 words or so… we were like, nope. So they asked us as far as following directions does he do that, and he does, you can ask him to get his shoes, put this in the trash, where are your eyes? And he knows all of those things, but he just doesn’t talk. So the lady I was talking to said that it is good that he is doing half of what we need him to and she said that he just may need a couple round of speech therapy to get him going, and then he’ll take off. But we have a consultation with them next Monday. I’m kind of nervous about it, but I think it will help him. I didn’t realize just how FAR he was behind until I was reading my old postings of Lehna and Maya and how far they were when they were his age. Lehna and Maya could both count and say their alphabet by the time they were 2 and he has 6 words. So I think it will help. Part of it doesn’t help that we do things for him, and he does have a lot of “mommies” in his home. But he’s starting to get frustrated because we don’t understand what he wants, so it’s kind of frustrating for us too. So I think it will help. The lady wanted to know if Monica would be willing to have Nicolai do services in her home, and I was like… hum I have never talked to her about that but I would prefer we do it with him, verses Monica. So they said that they have an agency that will work with us after hours. So that was a positive. I mean I think Monica would be open to having the services come to their home, but I kind of feel like it’s our responsibility as he is our son. I mean we can also direct Monica how to work with him and she would be VERY open to that I’m certain. She’s mentioned to us about his speaking as well. He definitely has started to babble more going to Monica’s b/c there is another boy his age for him to play with but still nothing significant. As she calls him “her little Russian boy” as he only says “Yah” most of the time. So we’ll see. Tait has become more anxious of his speaking as well so hopefully this will help calm us all down. I think part of it is he doesn’t go to a daycare where he has lots of kids to play with and hasn’t gone to a public daycare. I mean he’s always been in an in home setting. Not saying it’s not something we aren’t considering but we haven’t had the need as we have found an in home. So we’ll see what happens.



So that’s the exciting stuff going on right now. Oh I did get my second interview with the city and I’m sad to say that I was not offered the position. They went with another candidate. It is sad but it just means that something else is in store for me. Although I have to admit I’m tired of saying that. And don’t think I’m unhappy at my current position, b/c that is not the issue at all. Quite the opposite I love what I do, I love not having to take any stress home with me. The only thing I don’t like is my pay rate. I’m so lowly paid that I wish I could contribute to our monthly bills more and costs of living. I feel kind of a failure in that arena. I know I know it has nothing to do with failure. But hopefully the position here will be posted and I’ll be able to move into a permanent position here instead of the temporary status because the pay is painfully horrible. I guess pay isn’t everything but it is painful to have my family do without because we just don’t make enough. So we hold onto hope.



So anyway that’s life I guess.

Bring on the New Year!

Okay so we are in New Year mode! It’s time to start again and bring in the new. So here we go! We are coming with a positive attitude and a new outlook. The kids did their dandiest to stay up for the New Year ball drop, but it wasn’t going to happen. 10 pm rolled around and Maya was falling asleep on the couch. Nikolai was still awake but he was getting to the “I’m going to crash any moment” mode, so I put him to bed. Lehna said she could go on for hours and quite honestly I wasn’t planning on putting her to bed yet, but when I laid Maya down she went in her bed too and we all went to bed. Lehna had stayed up late the night before watching Glee her new favorite show. She really likes the singing and dancing and she of course can name all the characters. I can say I have only seen one episode and it was okay. The dancing was good and signing of course. I don’t think it’s too bad, at least I hope not b/c she has seen all of the episodes on Netflix.

We ate like fools on New Years. We got a few new recipes to try and we ate and ate and ate. We started cooking about 4 pm and didn’t stop eating until 10 pm when we went to bed. So we were FULL. Lehna said that she wasn’t going to the entire day, the next day, b/c she had eaten so much. It was so much fun cooking with Tait. We cooked together for Christmas and for New Years and it was really a lot of fun. We both take turns making things and cooking things at the same time. We made stuffed mushrooms, fried mozzarella, pizza dip, crab dip, and chipped beef cheese ball. The mushrooms were really good, they were just a little dry so next time we are going to revamp our recipe a little. Tait made the fried mozzarella all by himself; I said more power to him for trying it. They were really good, he got a little frustrated when they started to spread out on the pan, but heck he did a good job getting them all covered in bread crumbs. Oh we also made chocolate and peanut butter popcorn. It was soooo yummy. It was really rich but super super yummy.

Than yesterday after eating like a crazy person I started my training for the 10k. I run on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday’s and Tait is going to run on Monday, Wednesday, and Sundays. I want to do something in between like Pilates or something like that, but I’m going to give this 10k my full attention for now. I mean if I WAY over to it to begin with than I have to keep adding more and more. My focus this year is not to lose weight, but to get in running shape again. I truly like having a goal and I think this 10K is just the ticket for me. I would LOVE to lose weight in the process, and I’m sure some will come off just because. But not my entire focus as it has been in the past. I am recording what I’m eating b/c I want to just to take note of what I’m eating and than just change as I’m morphing into a healthier life style. Just trying to change my approach this time around, you know seeing if this helps.

So another positive thing we are doing as a family is a Happiness Jar. We have created a jar in which every day we write down one thing that has made as happy, big or small whatever. The girls have really gotten into this and they remind us every night to do it. My goal is at the end of the year to compile our “Happiness Jar” into a book. We can go back and read the little slips of paper at any time, so if we are feeling down we can go and have the memory of the happiness remind us of why we are happy. I think it will be a lot of fun and I’m hoping that we can keep it up for 365 days. We started early so hopefully we will be able to have the majority of the days this year, and we have extras in case we forget. We forgot last night so we have to put two in today! That’s why we started on the 26th of December b/c it just might happen more than once. I have always wanted to do something like this and I think it will be fun.

Let me see what else.

This past weekend we did go to Chuckie Cheese. Maya LOVES this place. We had talked about going to Action Territory (kind of an older version for the girls) but the issue is it is an older place and well Nikolai just doesn’t have as much fun there compared to Chuckie Cheese. We went there at 11 am and I thought it was going to be really busy but it was surprisingly calm, it was starting to get busy by the time we left, so we timed it perfect. The girls but a bunch of crap for their tickets they earned, but what else is new.

Yesterday I left to pay rent and that was the only daylight I saw. It was just a nice relaxing time with the family this weekend. We didn’t have to go anywhere or do anything; it makes me want to have more weekends like that. We watched some good family movies like Despicable Me, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation (my FAVORITE movie and Maya’s now), and the latest Tinkerbelle movie. Very low key but it was just really nice. We only saw our neighbor’s child twice and both times was a very short amount of time. They were out of town for the majority of the time… and on New Year’s Eve the girls got into some kind of tiff where she left b/c they were saying the word “mushroom” I don’t know what it was all about but it worked out.

I read my horoscope for this year and it says that my career is getting ready to TAKE OFF! Isn’t that exciting? I don’t know what it means… but I guess time will tell. It said that all your hard work is getting ready to pay off and for the next two years just hang on b/c Saturn is in its prime… On the job front news I have some interesting news actually. I have a second interview with the city tomorrow. It’s my first face to face. I know that they are going to make a decision VERY QUICKLY as to who they are going to hire. But last week I also found out from my BIG boss in my department that come the new year I will have more opportunities at my current position, such as being hired on, b/c the lady I’m filling in for is officially retiring, they are in negotiations with her as we speak. So maybe it means some options are coming my way. Tait will be over the moon if my pay increases soon. It’s all about laying the ground work, that’s all I have to say. So I’ll keep you posted on the status of all of that. So come on Saturn and bring the sunshine.

That is life as we know it for now. So some exciting times, so changes are coming I feel them.