How the Mighty Have Fallen

I promised Val I would get my Halloween pictures up, and I STILL haven't gotten them posted. Though I did get them off my camera and onto the laptop. so that is a start.

I am sitting at Mom and Dad's blowing up my air mattress. So I no longer rate a real bed. For those of you that aren't aware there is a mysterious rating system for beds at Mom's. We haven't exactly cracked the code, but we can definately tell when we didn't make it. A lovely air mattress, and the computer room. Not that an air mattress is really that bad, it just isn't as comfy as a bed. The computer room is a little tricky, because you may not want to be up yet, but people want to be using the room, so you can't be too greed and sleep in too long.

The girls are loving being around all the family. They had fun playing with Jeff and CArter, but as expected when Jared, and Julisa showed up the switched their playmates quickly. I know Jeff is a little frustrated by this. He wants the girls to want to play with him (mostly because they love to play with Jared, and not him). But this is only the 2nd time they have ever seen him, so it will take some time for them to get comfortable with him.

We went around the living room talking about what we were thankful for. A great tradition in a time where everything seems to be about ME (as in selfishness, not as in Bethany). Some choices were simple. Dahlia is thankful for Piggy (and when prompted Mommy and sister). Bobbie was napping so we guessed she was thankful for naps. Edward brought up a really great thought. He talked about being thankful he was in a family he enjoyed. Talked about some of his friends that were planning on making up a last minute emergency to get out of spending time with their family. I had heard in the past from several people that thought the idea of looking forward to family gatherings was strange. I never really thought about it. But how bad would it be if you didn't want to spend time with your siblings, and parents. You would be missing out on so much. Of course not everyone has a good upbringing. Many people have severely dysfunctional families, or come from really bad situation (I'm talking abuse, criminal issues, no family at all). I have talked with others and I know that I have things really good.

There is another lady at work who is in a bad marriage and really needs to get out. When she asked her parents for help her mom hung up on her. Another lady recently moved here and left her kids with her mom in Texas to finish out the school year. She is getting married and her mom refused to bring the kids up even if the lady provided airline tickets for the whole family. She told the lady that she didn't think the marriage would last so why bother.

I know I would be having a much more difficult time if I didn't have the love and support of my family. Not just financial, but emotional, advice, and time.
-->Both of my lawyer brothers have given me great advice, hints/tips, and laughed at me in just the right places.
-->My sister with paralegal experience has helped a lot. Not just in legal areas, but she was able to help me realize that there are tons of others going through similar experiances and give me an idea of what I might expect.
-->My other sister has been great to give me advice for the girls, and she is way more in touch with child-rearing stuff. Plus she is great with homemade stuff, and has helped me out with Halloween costumes (I swear I will get those pictures posted).
-->Mom and Dad for giving me the feeling of security I needed to help keep me from going back. Don't get me wrong, I made the decision to leave on my own, but there have been times when I was feeling scared and it was my family that kept me from making a REALLY huge mistake.
I know it is cliched, but very true, Without my family I would not be where I am today. I am thankful for that, I most importantly I am aware that I need to be thankful.

Girls Being Girls

Dahlia and Bobbie were playing today and I took a few pictures to pass on to the family. Dahlia and Bobbie found the baskets I was using to organize, and gave them a new use. . . . . . Dolly Beds.

These are the 3 dollies that currently have beds. To the right is Piggy, the middle is Blond Baby, and the left is Wubby.


My 2 little 'tend' mommies watching their babies.

I saw these next few pictures when I was looking thru Picasa. Pretty close to what the girls were playing today. They were taken at Mom's a 2-3 months ago. Note that the girls are playing together, and they actually managed to get the pull up on the bear.First you adjust thee bum to sit on the pull up. Or you tell Sissy how to do it.


Then you both pull as hard as you can to stuff a HUGE bear into a little pull up. After that you cry until Mommy does it for you while Grandma laughs at her.



Then you take all the glory, and get your picture taken to prove that you stuffed Grandma's bear into Bobbie's pull-up.

Avoiding the Care Bears

So the girl's treat for being good girls is to watch a movie Friday nights, instead of going to bed at the usual time. They picked Care Bears. Now don't get me wrong I don't hate the Care Bears but there are 3 episodes on each disc, and frankly I can hum the Care Bears theme in my sleep at this point.

So I am updating my blog as a matter of survival. I also posted a couple of comments on Val's blog.

I downloaded more pictures from the camera. I didn't realize how many pictures I had until I scrolled thru Picasa. Wow, I may not be great, but I sure am prolific.

Oops, fell asleep and didn't finish this message last night. Guess Care Bears are more potent then I thought at putting people to sleep.

Gotta run we wrote some letters and cards and I want to get them in the mail today.

Cleaning Bug

I was talking to Mom a few minutes ago and she asked me, what's up with the cleaning spree (not quite in those words, but same theme). The girls have been pulling out more and more toys, and I was tired of tripping over them. So we clean. Also we are going to be moving in Feb or March of next year, and I am pretty sure to a smaller place. Since the reason for the move is to save money we will be looking for a smaller place. Smaller place means less room. Less rooom means less junk. So if we start to decrease the junk now it won't hurt as much as if I was trying to do it all the month before the move. Besides the girls really have too much stuff (as does their mommy).


Some pictures from Mom and Dad's place. This was the visit in May. I let Dahlia and Bobbie pick the pictures to put in the blog so here they are.


Dahlia and Bobbie will do anything to get a free ride off of someone. Even climb in a wheel barrel (Admittedly I am a bit jealous. It's been years since I've had a ride in one, but I think this is one of those things that you have to be a kid to enjoy.)


Most of the parks around our place do not have swings. I am guessing for liability reasons. So the girls love to go on the swings wehn ever we find any. Bobbie fell off of her swing a few minutes later, but mommy didn't take a picture of that.



Dahlia was determined to go down this 'slide' but wasn't sure if she was old enough since she thought it was for reallybig kids like . . . 4-5 year olds. Mommy and Grandma thought it was more for 7-8 year olds. But Dahlia kept edging towards it so we decided to have her go down it when we were there.

Where Dahlia goes, Bobbie will follow. Though she was little enough that we mostly held her up so she could go down it. Mommy even went down it, but she was holding the camera so no pictures were taken.


Look Grandpa found a snake. Of course the girls wanted to see it, and touch it. Dahlia then told everyone at daycare there was a snake living somewhere in her house. Ummm NO!! They got a laugh out of it when I explained where the snake was.

Better Watch Less TV

I got the girls to bed at a decent time yesterday and I turned on the TV for some noise while I made lists for the Ward Humanitarian Project.
****Side Note*** Exactly who thought I would be a good person to organize a MASSIVE year long project?? Are they kidding?? Have they seen my house?? I can barely organize a small amount of cleaning. But so far I am keeping my head above water, and I have even fooled them into thinking I'm doing a great job.

So back to the TV last night. Supernanny was on, and I watch it to pick up tips. I was totally mortified to discover that I have the same problem getting my kids to bed as the parents did. The tips they gave are good, though I will have to modify them a little. But as I watched the mom fight gt the kids in bed I could totally see myself and the girls doing the same things. Oops!!

So that means I need to be more assertive in putting the girls to bed, and sticking the a routine. We had a routine, but it slowly slipped away. So we are back to the potty-brush teeth-read a book-go to bed routine. Not too complex, not to time consuming. Well see how this works. May have to tweak it a little.

Hahaha I have Dirty Jobs on in the background, and I just heard the guy telling the host of the show about a python that is a constrictor, from Colombia and eats mostly mammals. The host's reply was We are mammals, with a big pause. I am guessing he was waiting for the snake guy to tell him that the snake doesn't want to eat him. But the reassurance never came. Hahaha. Silly guy, no playing with the snakes big enough to eat you!! Even I know that rule.

Surprising Mom

Won't Mom be surprised when she sees that I remember I have a blog, and I actually updated it?? We'll see!!

I have to go trolling through Picasa and see what pictures to post. The great part about having a digital camera is you can take tons of pictures. The bad part is wading through all those pictures to find the one you want.

I told Mom the computer ate my blog, but I didn't realize that it gets automatically saved. So here it is.

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Bobbie says Hello everyone, Thank you for the gifts and cards. My Birthday was the best ever!!!



This is a picture of Grampy Seher with Dahlia and Bobbie on the swing outside their trailer. It's rare to catch the girls still long enough for a picture. But it happens once in a while.


Grammy Seher and her electric chair are always great entertainment. Though the girls are usually both riding on her lap. Dahlia decided that day to ride behind Grammy. Sometimes Donna (Grammy) even lets the girls use the controls. It's always good for a mini-heart attack from Mommy.


Bobbie's birthday cake. Donna and I may have gone a little overboard with candles, but what can I say?? You only turn 2 once.

We have had a productive day today. We cleaned the bathroom, and had a lecture about NOT flooding the bathroom, with a practical demonstration on How to Flush the Toilet Only Once (Transcripts are available if anyone needs them). We cleaned the living room about 3/4 the way. I have a pile of books to put away, and some kids toys to move back into their room. We took out the trash. We went for a walk to get the mail (just junk mail). We sat for about 30 minutes and watched the family of duck. As we walked back we saw another family of ducks, but instead of all adults this one had several juvenile ducks. We talked about not putting out scent on to baby animals. We played in the park. It was a great break from the work this morning.

I know this isn't a long post, but it is a start.


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Bobbie says Mommy should be watching the movie with us, so she has to go now. I think I am in charge of this family so I have to make sure that everyone is doing what I want them too.

Hello Everyone

Well, the title says it all. Hello to everyone. I had been talking with Val a little while back, and didn't realize that I never told anyone why I stopped using the previous blog. Don had left me some nasty comments about several posts, and after I found them I couldn't post anything because I didn't want him to see into our lives. Guess it's kind if silly, but it wasn't until Val mentioned creating another blog that it really dawned on me that I could start over and this time make it harder for him to find the posts (not sure he is even looking, but just in case).


The girls are doing well, I believe they are currently disemboweling the bathroom. I figure it keeps them in one place, and the floor isn't carpet so it's easy clean up.

We transplanted the garden from the starter stuff to the outdoor pots. Hopefully all the rain we have had recently will help the plants. Most of them were very strong, and hardy so they should survive the move. Should being the key word. We'll see how it goes. Now all I need is some tomato plants and my little garden will be complete.





Clearly we have some work to do in the make-up department. I looked and I guess I didn't take a picture. Last weekend Bobbie got into my make-up and was totally stylin' the 80's Big Purple Eye Shadow look. Will also need to talk to her about that. Clearly the girls haven't heard the less is more talk when it comes to make-up. Hahaha!!

So I finished the girls' dolly pillow and blankets. I am including a picture of them for you to see all my lovely handy work. Plus one picture of Bobbie 'borrowing' her dolly's blanket and pillow.






Bobbie is highly fascinated by the picture of herself up on the screen. She keeps telling me Mine, Mine. Guess she doesn't want me to forget that it is her in the picture. Silly thing, like I would forget her (or Dahlia).

Well, I better go. Bobbie feels that I am not giving the Elmo (MoMo) video full attention. Maybe because I am not. Hmmm perceptive little one.

Bethany