Ten things I would like to get rid of

1. My parents. Seriously...they are going back to Germany on Monday. It can't be soon enough. I'm a nervous wreck and need to get back to normal.

2. My washer and dryer. I really really really want new ones. But we just got a new TV, so I guess I'll have to wait a little.

3. whining....I CAN'T TAKE IT.

4. Root beer. Can't take even the smell of it.

5. some pounds. Yes, I 've gained weight again, but man, with my parents here I had to do something fun.LOL

6. my old towels.

7. Mackie's bed, she needs a new bed.

8. my clothes from like 10 years ago. Why do I still have them?

9. stuff under the kids' bed. SCARY

10. Paul's car, I hate that thing, it's a 2000 Dodge Ram.

Is this it?

Do you ever wonder if this will be your life? .....forever?...........

Is it a strange thought? At this point I'm just continuously on the go, working, scheduling by boss and my family, keeping up with homework and birthday parties, doing laundry and trying to keep the house semi clean. Will it ever be different? I know people keep telling me to enjoy this time while the kids are young, but frankly, I'm not really enjoying it. I enjoy going to soccer games with them, I enjoy snuggling with them and looking at them when they are asleep, but I don't enjoy the mess, the arguing and the homework. I guess it comes witht the territory and the things we enjoy or dislike will just change from period to period.

I wish.................

I could have enough money to buy a ranch somewhere in Montana and enjoy life completely and fully.
I find myself never having enough time to do the things that would be joyful. I seem to run out of time. Oh well............

Friday before the storm

and no, not the weather kind. My parents are coming into town on Monday. It'll be a very trying period for me. Eventhough I'm 40 years old, it seems like I revert back to the little girl. That's the way she treats me too. Pretty unrespectful and only her opinion counts. It's very hard to maintain a positive attitude around her, but I will try my best.

Three soccer games again tomorrow. Sidney at 8:30, Brenna at 9:30 and Mackie at 2:30. After that I really really have to clean the house. I've been working so much lately that it resembles a pig sty. Not even talking about the millions of loads of laundry I have to do, including sheets and blankets.

Oh yeah, we also found 3 kittens that we have to bottle feed because mom abandoned them. Like we don't have enough animals in the house. LOL

Ilka

I'm BAAAAACKKK!

Soccer season is back. Here is one of the first pictures with most of Sidney's team and Mackie in the picture.



It's been a while, but my life has been really hectic. I had to get used to a really really busy job which I like, but it took some getting used to.
The girls are doing great. School is back on and Sidney started the Magnet program. If Brenna could only remember to actually bring her homework home we'd be rocking. These are the pictures from the first day of school.

Ramblings

Busy busy busy

that about sums it up for me right now. New job....which is real busy and and soccer season starting. And being on a diet, which makes me cranky anyway because I love to eat. Not a good combo. LOLOL.

Tidbits

First the big one: I got a new job, and I start July 30. The commute will be so much easier, no freeway for me anymore, no more downtown...YEAHHHH.

Mackie's party was nice and she had a good time. She got lots of Barbie stuff, one of the things came with a dog that you can feed, and then it poops too. No kidding..LOLOL. It also comes with a pooper scooper Barbie style. The things they come up with now. She requested a chocolate cake ( I have to post a picture later), and it was yummy, it had dark chocolate shavings all over the cake, and a sign made out of white chocolate which said "Happy 5th Birthday Mackie." We saved the sign in the fridge and Mackie got to eat it yesterday. OMG, you should have seen Sidney. She started crying that she didn't get any chocolate. I couldn't believe it. She is 8 years old and acted like a 2 year old. I hate these little dramas. Poor neglected child. LOLOL

Soccer season is about to start again and I signed up to be assistant coach for Sidney's team. Yes, just another thing because I have too much time on my hands. Now I have to attend 3 classes to be able to tell 8 and 9 year olds how to kick a ball.

Let the fun start again with 3 soccer games every Saturday, on 3 different fields, 3 different times. LOLOL. They all have so much fun playing soccer and they are all pretty good at it, but Brenna is extremely good, especially for her age. She basically scored every game, most of them multiple times. She just doesn't get tired and has no problem to take the ball away from somebody else. I guess that's the benefit of the middle child. LOL. She just has more drive than Sidney and Mackie. I hope she can keep it up and sticks with it. At the coaches meeting, the coaches for this year were fighting over who would get her on the team. (Proud mommy here...blush) But we are sticking with her old coach, she's been with him for the past 2 years and he really knows her well and knows how to get her going and have her listen to him. In addition we will have 3 practices during the week, and obviously I have to be at Sidney's practices, I just hope they start around 6, so I won't have a problem getting there on time.

We are finally taking our trailer out again and are going to the Lake this weekend on Friday. I almost had a heart attack when I noticed that the last Harry Potter book is coming out Saturday. I called up the local supermarket to make sure they would be selling it. LOLOL. And yes, they are.

I think that's it for now....

Tuesday Ten: Ten Things I would do if I won the lottery

1. Move out of LA and buy a house/ranch somewhere else. Maybe Sedona...or the coast of Maine.

2. Not work anymore, do volunteer work. Something with kids.

3. Have a housecleaner that also does laundry. LOLOL. I hate doing laundry.

4. Buy a nice RV and go travel around.

5. Take my girls to Europe on the big tour.

6. Move my parents and Paul's parents over here so they can stop bitching, but not too close to us. No walking distance.lolol

7. Have horses, Paul loves to ride horses, and so do I ( just haven't done it in a while), and we would love to have some horses for the kids. They would be in heaven.

8. Make sure that each of the girlies have a nice college fund.

9. Buy a vacation home on Sylt (island in the North Sea off Germany)

10. Take a vacation without the kids in Bora Bora.

Five years ago today

I was on the way to the hospital, and Mackie was born in the afternoon. I can't believe it has been this long. My baby is growing up fast. LOLOL.

I will always remember how scared we were because her official due date wasn't until Aug. 8, so she was pretty much a month early. But she was fine. She has been pretty amazing ever since. Potty trained herself at 2 because she didn't want to wear diapers anymore, and I had a hard time finding underwear for her because she was little. LOLOL. She also started talking much faster than the other 2, we had full on discussions with a 2 year old. At 3 years she called Sidney "pathetic" and used in the the right way too. LOLOL. She also can throw major tantrums, you can see the little lips quiver...watch out.

And she certainly knows how to deal with her sisters. She can hold her own and has no bproblem retaliating.

Happy Birthday Baby!!

Heat

Growing up in Germany, I liked nothing better to go on vacation somewhere where the sun was shining all the time and it was hot. Now I hate. If I would pick a vacation now, it probably would be Alaska. LOLOL.

I can't stand the heat anymore. I think this year we had like 3 inches of rain. For the past weeks, it has been continuously over 100 degrees. Just going outside is miserable. As soon as it gets over 90, I don't like it. Unless I'm at a nice resort, by the pool, with a gorgeous guy serving drinks. LOLOL.

It makes the whole day hard, on the 4th of July we couldn't even eat outside because it was too hot. I took the kids to the park on Saturday, and we didn't stay too long because of the heat. Even though it was all in the shade. Even the poor dogs don't want to go outside. I really would love to have 4 seasons again. Darn, my kids get excited when it rains because it's so rare.

And a little snow for Christmas would be great too.

Tuesday Ten: Ten things that brighten my day

1. Knowing I don't have to get up with the alarmclock and go to work. I like to just lounge around for a while and not have to deal with getting everybody ready.

2. No traffic. I hate sitting in traffic, so when I have a clear path I'm in a good mood already.

3. My "mom friends". Seriously, talking about the every day stuff makes the day a little easier.

4. Mackie: For being a little "mini adult" and such a little smartass.

5. Brenna: For being the most loving and not selfish kid I know. (Eventhough she can be a major PITA.LOL)

6. Sidney: For being a "mini-me." I can see a lot of myself in her. Good and bad. LOLOL.

7. My dogs. They are always happy to see me. :)

8. A good glass of wine. And I mean good... not the box kind. Some of my fav. right now are Meridian wines, Sonoma Cutrer (which I usually can't afford) and Turning Leaf.

9. Being able to sit outside in the morning before anybody is up. Now granted, that rarely happens, but it's so peaceful.

10. Good music. When I hear certain songs on the radio or CD I sing along (and not very good) and it puts me in a better mood.

Bad words

Last night we are sitting in our lovely air conditioned house and watching Iceage 2, when I hear out of Brenna's mouth. "You are full of shit" No, not to me, but to her sister. Nice talk for my lovely angel. Well, they all know the consequences for cuss word, yep, she got soap in her mouth. I don't think she will be saying that word in a while. She was screaming her pretty head off.

I will let certain word slide....like stupid or "Sidney you are a ding-dong," but I draw the line at that one.

So hopefully she learned her lesson.

Tuesday Ten: Ten things about summer

1. I don't have to get 3 girls ready for school....yeahhhhhhhhhhh

2. Remembering my summers as a kid. A lot of them were spent with my grandparent.

3. High electricity bills.LOL. We run the air almost 24/7.

4. I don't like summer very much in LA, it's too hot.

5. BBQing a lot, eventhough we basically BBQ all year round.

6. Letting the kids play in the water outside, they get such a kick out of it.

7. Drinking ice cold beer, nothing better in the summer.

8. Wearing flip flops every day. I'm lucky, I can even wear them to work.

9. Icecream, I love love love icecream any day of the year, but it's even better in the summer.

10. Not having to worry about homework and lunches.

Babies

No, not the cute cuddly kind. MEN. I swear to god I've had it after this weekend. DH did something to his right ankle and it's all swollen and inflammed. He get's this like once a year. But you would think he just has been diagnosed with cancer. MAN, I'm still struggling with the nerve stuff in my left arm and I'm still going to Physical Therapy. But of course anything he has is ten times worse.

Throw the mood from hell on top of it and you got a great combination for a horrible weekend. ARGHHHHHHHHHH.............why are men such babies?

Kindy graduation

Yesterday Brenna graduated from Kindergarten. Off to first grade. She is all excited. I really liked her teacher. He did a great job keeping her busy so she wouldn't get into too much trouble. LOL. Seeing her there yesterday, I remembered back when she was born. She was so tiny, and look at her now. Even my last baby is starting Kindergarten this fall.

Tuesday Ten: Ten Things I did today

1. Got three girls ready in the morning.

2. Dressed Brenna for her Kindy graduation today, she wore the same dress that Sidney wore to her Kindy graduation 2 years ago. Mackie will wear it next year too.

3. Dropped Mackie off at the sitter.

4. Went to work.

5. Left at 10:15 to drive to Brenna's graduation.

6. Stopped at a flower shop and got her some roses and a grad ballon.

7. Attended the graduation and listen to them sing 3 or 4 songs. Too cute.

8. Took pictures that I can't download until tonite. :)

9. Gave both teachers a "Best Teacher Award" and a Barnes & Nobles GC.

10. Went back to work. (all this happened before 1 pm. LOL)

Father's day weekend

It was a fun weekend. The kids made some really cute things for father's day in school. Brenna made something with her footprints and a saying how she is trying to step into his footsteps. Awwwww, it made me tear up. And Sidney also did some artwork and wrote about daddy. Mackie and Mommy got Daddy a tent. Yes, he wanted a tent. So he can take off on the weekends and go camping with the girls. Mommy doesn't do well in a tent, since it doesn't have air conditioning. LOLOL.

Sidney went to a pool birthday party on Saturday and she had a great time. One of the boys gave the birthday girl flowers, it was too cute. :) Afterwards we were going out for dinner but we got too lazy so we just BBQ'd some steaks and had them with corn and salad. Sunday morning I made a big breakfast. Actually it's more like brunch since we don't eat til about 10:30. I try to do it every Sunday so we can have one breakfast together as a family at least. This time I made fried garlic potatoes, bacon, maple sausages, chorizo and eggs.

Did I mention lately that I hate LA? It's way too hot again, it was close to 100 degrees this weekend and I can't stand it. I don't know what we would do without the A/C.

Tuesday Ten: Ten things that have made you the unique and quirky person you are today

1. My parents, and unfortunately not in a good way for most of the things. Especially my mother. Her own insecurities got transferred onto me, and I'm the only child. You can figure out the rest.

2. My kids. In my twenties I didn't even know if I wanted kids. Now I have 3 girls. I also always was afraid of childbirth and dreaded pregnancy in my twenties. When I got pg for the first time I actually didn't mind it at all. Granted, I had 3 pretty good pregnancies and seeing your baby girl for the first time wipes anything else out.

3. My husband. In a good and bad way. We will be married ten years this year and I did figure out that you do have to compromise and that no marriage is perfect. While we do get into heated arguments since we both have a temper, I also know that I can always count on him no matter how much he complains. LOL. Especially in a crisis situation.

4. My move to America. This one is a biggie. I'm now speaking a different language than I did in my childhood. I spoke only german for 22 years. Now I think and dream in english.

5. Always working. From when I was 16 I always worked. Over here, I had my own apartment and supported myself way before marriage. While I would like to spent more time at home, I think it would be hard for me not to be working.

6. My grandparents. I have to say that they probably were the only people that loved me unconditionally. I really miss them and wish they could have met the girls.

7. Dealing with depression. Another biggie. It's hard to admit it, even harder to have to take medication every day. I think I finally came to terms with it eventhough I still haven't admitted it to my mom. She still believes that depressed people belong in a nut house. LOL.

8. Growing up an only child. I liked it for the most part, I always had lots of friends. But I hated having all the attention from my parents. LOLOL. I hate it to this day.

9. The computer. It's funny but true. It allows me to have friendship over the internet (which Paul still doesn't quite get.lol), and keep in touch with people in Germany. With some of the women here I have been emailing and talking for the past 8 years. That's a long time.

10. Not having any family around here. We basically adopted our sitters family. Her daughter and husband are the kids godparents and really love them like their own child. We have adjusted, but it's hard at times not to have anybody around. You get creative. LOL

Finally some pictures of the newly painted bedroom

The room is painted in 3 different colors. Darkest one behind the bed, then a little darker for the ceiling and then lighter for the other walls. I also did the curtains. We had vertical blinds before and I hated them. I'm much happier with the curtains.

Weight

ARghhhhh, I hate this topic. Seriously...until I was in my mid twenties I never even thought about my weight. When I got married at 30 I was a size 6 and thought I was too big. Yeah right....little did I know.

Got pregnant with Sidney and had her at 31 and still was able to bounce back pretty fast. No problem, then had Brenna at 33 and Mackie at 35. That's it. The end of a normal figure for me. My body was never the same, the two last ones were c-sections and it seems like I kept part of them in my midsection, there is a tummy I never had before. Where did that come from?

If I fit into a size 10 now I'm a happy camper, NOT FAIR. I want my body back, the one I had at 25. Ok, fine....so I am 40 now but still. My big problem is that I don't like to exercise. Taking the kids to soccer practice should count in my opinion. I really really need to start doing something before I won't be able to move anymore.

Of course lovely husband is not a big help, every time I vow to eat better or just have a salad for dinner, something comes up. Last night he didn't want to cook (he is the cook in the family) and ordered Pizza. Now living at my house you would know that it is indeed a rare occasion that happens maybe twice a year. We usually eat pretty healthy and don't do a lot of junk food. Soooooooooo, I had 3 slices of pizza last night. Not exactly diet food.

It's just a neverending circle that seems to creep up on me. I need to get a handle on it somehow.

Tuesday Ten: 10 things I whine about

1. Money, money and money. Yes, it could be much worse, but it would be nice to NOT have to think about it EVER. To just be able to buy something without having to plan it.

2. My mother. Oh boy, this is a big one. I really really wish I had a normal mother.LOLOL

3. Whining......yes, this is a big one. " MOOOM, she is mean to me" "MOOM she got icecream and I didn't, it's not fair"

4. Siblings fighting. I'm so tired of living with 3 supposedly human girls who fight like animals.

5. My weight. Enough said.

6. Not having any free time. I'm usually never EVER alone in our house. Somebody is always there with me. Last Sunday DH took the girls on a walk and I had the house to myself for 2 hours. WEIRD!!

7. High gas prices. I love love love my Excursion, but I have to mortgage my house to fill up the tank.

8. Not winning the lottery. It would make my life so much easier.

9. DH...when I go to bed at night after work, dinner and homework and laundry, I'm tired and just want to read for half an hour. Me bending down is not considered foreplay and NO I don't want to have sex every day. REALLY.

10. Not having a second bathroom. With 3 girls, it's insane. We probably will add on, but at this point I'm seriously considering a chamber pot (is that the right name???LOLOL)