Girls trip!!!

Year 4 for our Palm Springs trip! First stop, Cabazon!!!

Looking like I'm gonna have some R&R in the sun!!

Leaving for vacation..

This will be quite the adventure to say the least. 5 states, 6 hotels +2 family stays, water parks, museums, memorial and historical sites, triple D's, get togethers, geocaching, 17 days, 1 car, 5 people (including 3 girls). 

Hope your Summer is great!! 

Halle's 5th grade promotion 2013

Aww... My baby is going into middle school! She's had a wonderful 6 years. Congrats Halle on your hard work and for making honor roll again! You Rock!!

Long time no post!!!

Gonna try to recap on on everything. I think I left off on our trip to the Grand Canyon!

The twins finished preschool and are no Kindergartners!  Katlynn is going into general ed kinder this year.  So proud of her.  I've busted my ass to make sure she got to this point with all the services and therapies!
Halle will be a big fifth grader this year.  I stress the word big.  She is still a tiny little thing, but she is very much capable and a smart kiddo.  Audrie is doing awesome.  She is very athletic and so funny!  
Both the twins did a dance recital this past month and they did great!  Katlynn really enjoyed herself and did quite well.

Dave is still plugging away at work and is doing much better health-wise.  No more seizure activity.  Thank goodness!

I'm still in school.  Unfortunately,  since we don't have a sitter and can't really afford one with 3 kids, I am limited to only a couple classes a semester.  I could already be transferred and almost done, but all I can do is keep plugging away.  At this point I am very envious of all the people I know who have the grandparents watch the kids so they can pursue their education. Unfortunately,  my parents live out of state and the in-laws already have other childcare commitments, so our hands are tied.  I will get there eventually.  Maybe not with a Ph.D, but I will get there and I will have a career I love and I am passionate about and I will have no regrets spending the years home with the kids I did because I think it's important in the younger years.  Because of this, my kids are strong and independent and are driven (well... Halle needs a push, but you know what I mean).

Were still waiting on "the house" we are trying to buy.  Seems as though it's taking it's sweet time.  But.... It will happen when it happens. I am in no rush.  We'll move when we move.

Spring Break in Az

We had a great trip and the kids had fun.  More pics to follow but I just don't have time to upload them all.

Busy as ever... can you tell?

Well.. I don't get on here much because well, there is just so much going on I can barely keep up.

Let's see... where to begin.  (I will state that this might turn into a pitty party vent session, which is rare for me, but just bare with me)

Audrie and Katlynn are both dancing (Katlynn just started and Halle wants no part of it) and they are doing a big performance in June.  Very excited to see them perform together and Especially to see how Katlynn does.

Signed myself up for a 5K coming up and the kids are doing a 1K after my run.  Should be a fun day.

I am in Class T/W/Th  and am busy getting ready for the twins transitioning into Kindergarten.  Prepping them and IEP's for Katlynn, etc.  It's an exhausting task fighting for the best education for my kids.  Ideally, they would not even go here, but due to our schedules and lack of funds,  we can't really afford for them to go anywhere else, even publicly because of travel and the fact we would need to sometimes have someone PU and drop them off if we moved to a better school... So I guess for now,  they stay here.  

I am also trying to figure out next year.  We were looking at buying a house, but with how our schedules are I am not sure we can add that to the mix and to be honest,  we can't really afford what we really want and need for a family of 5.

Dave and I rarely even get time alone to enjoy each-other lately and have not had a real date in 7 weeks.  It's kind of a bummer we can't just drop them off and head to Vegas or out to dinner or whatever. But... I guess it's kind of the whole parent role, right. Also probably why things have been so stressful lately.I am glad my brother has really stepped up in recent months and really offered to help out with the kids when I have needed it.  He enjoys the quality time with them and they get time with uncle and no other little kids around so they have his undivided attention, lol. But he is super busy and just got his nursing license and is job hunting, so I don't dare ask him.  Grandma is busy with work and the other grand-kids so often, I hate to burden her with more grand-kids because I feel she never gets a break to just relax grand-kid-free.  

Oh, I am planning the twins birthday (gonna be a super cute and fun kids bash),  finishing up Summer plans (lots of fun freebies for the kids planned) and helping Halle with school projects.  PS... She made a 3.7 on her report card and got Principles Honor Role. She was so excited.  She picked out new headphones for her Ipod.

Anyhow... that's the story.  

Shs doing it...

Audrie is now riding without training wheels. Woot!!

Learning to ride w/out training wheels

Audrie is getting there.  Obviously, still a ways to go, but I have a feeling in the next month or so she'll be riding with out them.

Pondering

I recently experience a little girl who was being given a gift by her grandma and she told her grandma no thanks.  Polite, right? Wrong.  She had some serious attitude and nastiness behind her response.  It was as if, she was too good for the gift.   I don't even know what is the correct way to handle this.  It was not my child (I think I would have been very PO'd had my kid done this) but do we tell our kids to graciously accept a gift even if they don't want it,  or do we tell them it is okay to say "No" and leave it at that?  Is there a right or wrong?  Obviously,  had this girl politely said no a little more graciously, then fine.  No biggy.  But I guess just seeing how she reacted made me really think about it and about what I would do had it been my own daughter's.  I could totally tell her grandmother's feelings were hurt and it just made me feel for her because she really was doing a nice gesture for her granddaughter trying to include her.  I don't know.  I was just thinking about it and what the best way to address it was if it ever happened in my future.  I mean,  I know for me, I would have been appalled had my grandchild did that and I think my mom and my own grand mother would have felt the same.   But, it seems like this day in age... manners and the consideration of feeling of others is not instilled in kids anymore.  If course, my kids are not saints in this.  They have their flaws, as do I, but I really do try to instill kindness,  empathy and respect into them because it is what is going to pay off later. You can't buy love and friendships.  They are something built by those exact things I mentioned above.

Anyhow... just my 2 cents.

Confessions of naughty 4 year olds....

one of my New Year Resolutions is to get this house in an order where things flow and function smoothly and get rid of clutter and mess and ORGANIZE.  So I spent the morning with a girlfriend at Ikea while the kids played in the play area and I picked up a great little shelf thing.  Well, not really little, but you know what I mean.  Anyhow, I was going to put it together last night, but I decided I am too much of a sissy and I would let Dave help.  So we got it put together pretty quick and in less then 2 hours, 2 FRICKEN hours... I noticed this:

Yup... big 'ol chip right in the middle and very noticeable.  I have yet to decide if I am going to take it back.  For now, I just flipped it around and it's all good.  Of course no one wanted to admit who's fault it was or who did what.  I proceeded to let them know (without totally going ballistic on them) that I was very unhappy and sad that they did not treat our new shelf better. I said I wanted an apology in person and in a letter.  Audrie wrote me one on behalf of her and Katlynn.

Per Audrie it says: 

"Mom, I am sorry for breaking your shelf"

She let me know the little erased part at the top of the shelf was the chip.  lol.. I couldn't stay mad after all my 4 year old wrote her first letter sounding out words and even drew a detailed picture of the accident. She so smart and witty.  I Just love my kids.

Oh, and after watching a show about a girl who collected shoes in place of birthday gifts for kids in shelters, Halle decided she wanted to help out the Animal shelter on her birthday this year... so I am going to try to plan something cute for her to be able to do this and pay it forward.  

Hope you're having a great day!

~~~I'm out~~~  

1/13/12

I am going to upload this from my phone, so hopefully it works, but here's pics from last night at DL. Last minute planned trip after a crazy busy day.  We had a blast though.  rode just about everything worth riding in the park.  Even Star Tours was only a 8 minute wait.  Awesomeness.

Daddy and K were in the potty at the time of this picture.

Aww yes, the best for last... YES, I know I'm a freak.  Someone on this oober mellow family has to be the loud flashy nut.  That's me.  I tried to convince Audrie to sit up front with Halle, but she kindly declined due to fear.  They all love the ride though.

And I will mention I am taking a California Screamin (Roller Coaster in California Adventure) hiatus for a while.  I thought I was going to die on the ride last night when my latch popped open shortly after the ride took off and LUCKILY locked back in.  I was scared as hell.  

So....

I applied for some grants and scholarships (wish me luck) to help off set the costs of school.  Hopefully, I will get granted something... anything.  Taking 3 classes this term, so it will be a busy load on top of everything else we already have going on.  So ready to be almost done already and I have a ways to go.  But I can work as an aid and have school hours and just supplement the income too until the kids are a little older. Plus, I have so much knowledge with autism now, that I feel I could totally be a great asset with some sort of staff developmental program for behavior modifications in public schools.  Who knows... only time will tell.

Started looking at homes again.  Mostly in Yucaipa area.  We really want to stay in Rancho/Fontana, but Yuciapa is our next bet for more bang for our buck and it isn't looking promising to buy in Rancho even with low housing prices.  We will never go to the High Dessert, Banning, Beaumont or Perris. Either the school demographics are crap or the area is more ghetto... so yeah, we being a little picky. Mostly with schools and mostly for Katlynn's sake.  Plus, I want to go somewhere that has a district I can potentially see myself working at.  But on a good note,  we do qualify for FHA again even after the foreclosure and we already prequalified.. so we just have to see what's gonna happen with Dave's union and go from there.  In the meantime, were still looking.

Thank you!!!

I just want to give a shout out to my parents Russ and Debbie and my in-laws Mike and Linda for being such fabulous parents and grand parents.  Thank you guys so much for all you do.  You are very special to us and I don't think we can thank you enough for everything you've done for us.

Ps... Thank you to all the auntie's uncles and cousins too for loving all of us.

The Smith Family~

New things...

Well first off... The kids are now tall enough for lots more rides.  We had a blast closing down Disneyland last night.  Here is our pic from Space Mountain... only you can't really see Audrie.  Katlynn doesn't look amazed, but she said she liked it.

Also... Audrie learned to hula hoop over the past couple days.

Me and my favorite ladies on NYE!!

Phone pic!!  Thanks Photographer Dave. 

Happy NewYear!!!

I am blogging from my phone, yeah!!! So excuse any mishaps as I can't edit on here. We had our 3rd annual New Years gathering with our friends the Ambrus family, Maier family and Mintz family.

We had a fabulous Christmas.

Sad thing we we litterally got no pictures.  We did get Video though.


 Anyhow,  we got really spoiled this year from family.  Katlynn got an Ipad,  Halle a phone,  Audrie all sort of girly makeup and crap.  I got a new Iphone4S,  and some other really great stuff from the fabulous husband.  Dave got a NEW GPS upgrade,  a custom Sheriffs notebook, plus several gift-cards to various place- and we all got... DRUMROLL... Disney Passes again!!  Woot Woot!  Were so excited considering we have not been since March.  We've missed it, but I am sure the kids will appreciate just as much. Thank you so much everyone for everything!!!  More then we ever expected!!!!

Here is a couple more pictures from our family shoot I totally realized I didn't share.

Here is a Video of the kids doing Just Dance.

I have a high maintenance one...

On the way to dance-

Audrie: Mom, is my hair messy.

Me: of course not. You look find and I can redo it when we get there

.

Audrie: Mom, can you pull down the mirror so I can see for myself. I don't want to go in with messy hair.

Me: Seriously? (I pull down the mirror)

Audrie: Mom, It's too far away. I think I need to carry a big mirror in the car now always and tape it to the

back seat so I can check my hair. 

Sigh...  such a DIVA.

Fun times with my favorite gals!!

This is a pic from our Vegas trip.  We had a great time.

Audrie's Dance Recital

She did fabulous!!!  She performed in Musical Theatre and in Ballet.  of course I helped with all the pretty little princesses in back, so I only got a few shots.

 Katlynn was also Student of the week.  She got to take home a buddy bear for the weekend and I snapped a shot of her and her friends.

Halle also took her first Piano trial today.  She seemed to enjoy it... so maybe we will pursue it.