Saturday, December 19, 2009

CHRISTMAS BREAK!!!!

so the past few weeks have been insane for us. justin has been working. michael has been struggling in school. every day he would come home with a note saying "michael was disruptive" "michael wasn't paying attention" "michael was distracting others" and when he broke down one night while we were doing homework (which typically involves 3 pages of math, reviwing spelling words, praticing sight words, and reading for 15-20 minutes) michael broke down into tears saying "i am bad at spelling!!! all the other kids always get smily faces on their tests and i always have a lot of words wrong i have to rewrite" and michael is an easy going boy, for something like this to bother him so much bothered me a lot. and we have been working with him a lot the past few months. anyway, after lots of talking and praying, we have decided to move him to the local school (which is a dublin city school with is an AMAZING school district, and since we moved, we are literally three houses from the school). our thought behind this was that a public school would not quite so intense and the format is a little more modern (aka...where michael is now, they sit facing the front of the class, and seem to sit for a lot of the day and at dublin, there is an extra recess, and hardly any homework at night ect...) this was a really hard decision to come to because we really like the school michael is at now, but it just wasn't the right place for him. we are going to leave megan there to finish the year with mrs. patch, than probably move her over next fall as well.



with all of justin's work, and crazy christmas stuff to do, i have resorted to getting him addicted to coffee and we have been getting up an extra 20 minutes before the kids to have a mini coffee date in the morning...which has been really cool.



megan continues to be a big mouth. she asked her ballet instructor the other day "are you married yet?" turns out the ballet instructor was just getting out of an ugly break up with her fiance of six months and had just moved back in with her mother. nice meagn...nice! :)



and i want a dog. and justin has the next 8 days off of work. so we are enjoying that. merry christmas!!!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Dear Santa

so...for anyone interested...here's my christmas list ;) (hey! you will not get what you want if you don't ask!!!)

-a running water belt (this is a belt you use for long runs and has several small bottles you strap on a belt)

-ceramic coffee mug (this is white and basically looks just like a cup you'd get from a coffee shop, only it's reusable and ceramic with a plastic lid)

-new moon 2010 calender :)

-shirt from urban outfitters that says "save the wild things" (justin can help you with this)

-cute gloves from urban outfitters (justin knows which ones)

-clinique lipgloss. this come on a keychain of three different shades. i'm not sure how else to describe it...

-aromatherapy "sleep" scent from bath and body works of bubble bath or lotion

-a metal sign that says "you can do it!" at half price books (justin knows which one)

-regular and mini spatulas, william sonoma has some really cute mini ones in a set of yellow, orange, and green... (i seem to only have one left ;)

-an oven mitt (i seem to have lost mine)

-a cool looking liquid measuring cup (mine seems to have cracked from excessive use :)

books:
wake - lisa mcmann
fade - lisa mcmann
beauty: a retelling of the story of beauty and the beast - robin mckinley

gift card places:
half price books
carabou coffee
coco and lily
charlotte rouse

Monday, October 26, 2009

life...post flu

so the past few weeks i've been a bit sick. nothing deadly, just the sort of thing that never goes away. justin (who will hereafter be mentioned as "hypocondreac man") kept saying, " you need to get some medicine" blah blah blah. and we all know, women who chop wood and resurface driveways, do not ever need medicine. so finally when i started hacking up pea green goo, i asked my mom (who thankfully is a nurse, otherwise i would probably NEVER listen to her) who told me to get an antibiotic. so i did. and now i'm fine. but i still think i would have been fine eventually...

it's fall. my favorite season. we have been (too) busy with life and church stuff. i think we are going to cut back on a few things. i just didn't anticipate how percious time in the evenings would become when justin started working fulltime and michael was in school all day. it's like liquid gold!

halloween is this week. we haven't even gone trick or treating and already we have bags of candy... needless to say, after this weekend, i don't think we will ever need to buy candy again... i will be sure to post pics of the kids.

not a whole lot else to report. i am starting to dread the raking that will be starting today and probably end when i fall to the ground, convinced that death is better than raking anymore. i love all the huge numerous oak trees in our yard. but we have a big yard...and a lot of trees...

welp...this is all for now.

Friday, October 2, 2009

i'll chop wood, but i won't wear flannel

i have memories of my dad chopping wood. i remember watching him do it. and it looked like a lot of fun. and now, i have my own grown up house, and it has a grown up fireplace. and there are some rather large logs in my back yard that need chopping. and i have been thinking about how much fun it would be to get an ax and cut them myself. the old fashioned way... i wasn't sure how to get an ax. it's kinda one of those things you don't really know where to get, because it's one of those things you already have...and have always had. at least that's how i precieve an ax. and suprisingly there wasn't one at home deopt. not suprisingly there was one at wall mart (?), but it looked cheap, plastic, and was 20$. anyway, bob found out about my dreams of axdom and he (of course) had a few in his garage he said i could borrow. he thought i should just use a chain saw...but i would have none of that. andrew (my brother in law...visiting last week) and bob thought this was very funny. and no, doubt, the picture of me chopping wood in my (snobby dublin) backyard (which backs up to a semi busy road...as well as the bike path) is one that may be humorious. but i was determined. and so...bob handed over the ax with many cautions. and off i went, ax slung over my shoulder, huge smile on my face...

i had the chance to chop wood that very night. i went to the back. and started. now, i don't know how the experts do it, but i'm having a little trouble with doing much. i have figured that, in order to really get a good wack in, you have to swing with complete abandon. but swinging with complete abandon throws your aim off...slightly. if i could have managed to hit the same spot twice, i might have been able to do some real damage. i did succeed in completly chopping one log into fireplace size pieces, but the other logs seem to not want to split. justin came out to watch, and i was making it look so fun, that he gave it a try. when he was not any better than i was at it (actually, quite a bit worse) i enjoyed laughing at him and calling him a "city boy"

chopping wood is hard work. and i wonder what all the passers by are thinking. they certainly are thinking something...because they are all probably getting neck strains from staring as they go by. and i am thinking "this would be a good way to get out any frustration a person might have...but i'm not frustrated..." but upon reflection, i have been very frustrated the past week. and i have been chopping (a phrase here which means, hopelessly pockmarking large pieces of wood) whenever it's not raining. and why my frustration? over something that is the most reasonable, logical, subconcions thing to be frustrated about. your childs performance at school...of course. pathetically common...

now i have smart kids. they're smarter than me. and i know that most people are dumber than me. so that makes them pretty high up on brains. but michael...sweet, compliant, loving, pleasing michael, sucks at 1st grade. he's so bad, 99% of kids scored higher on the "national achievement test". it's so bad that the teacher is "very concerned" and she has never had a student "do so poorly"...in all her years of teaching. and i would probably be less worried if i knew that he was a slow little boy...but he's not. which means that he's just not paying attention. and yes, he is probably a little A.D.D. and i refuse to be one of those parents who hangs all their ideas of self worth on how their little darling does in life. but it's frustrating when your brillant kid is sucking at school... and so...i chop wood. :)

Sunday, September 20, 2009

the motherland

so the time to take our trip to greece arrived. aaron and candy took us to the airport. and off we went. instead of trying to write out all the detials...i will summarize...



worst part: sleeping on the floor or the gatwick airport...not as bad as the time i had to sleep on the bench at la...but probably ranked up on the top 5 sleepless nights

craziest person: mom...was like a bloodhound on the scent when we arrived at aberdeen. the city was BEAUTIFUL. and we tramped around looking for the golfcourse, which we found. it was next to the sea. and we wondered why old grandpa gibb ever left scotland in the first place



funnest thing: justin's suitcase broke pretty early on in the trip. he rigged up a high tech coat handle and spend the remaining 8 days carring it around that way...



most annoying: "POLIOGISE!!!" what the "albanians" would yell in the morning on the loud speaker when they were trying to collect trash (that they would go recycle to make some money)

prettiest place: these three hills...the "three sisters" or something like that. this was somewhere in the highlands of scotland...sooo beautiful!



most shocking for hilary: waking up in the middle of the night to see a complete stranger strip down to his underware and climb onto the bottom of my bunk!

most shocking for justin: something simular...but worse :)

nastiest moment: when the toilet on the bus taking us back to london flooded...this was an 8 hours trip

best meal: probably a tie between fish n chips in london, and sardeens at mom's house... unless you can count baklava as dessert...in which case, that would win hands down :)



worst meal: haggis...with a little black pudding (made with pigs blood) but you have to try it right!

coolest castle: eddenborough

most beautiful moment: when michigan beat notre dame!!! (yes even in greece these things are important)

biggest challange (for mom): making megan's princess dress... i thought the pattern looked easy. evidently i was wrong :) but mom trudged through!!! and it was so worth it! (right mom? :)

anyway...the trip was great. and now it's back to life :)

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

school shopping, drug dealing


so yesterday was a day filled with excitement and adventure. i have discovered a new form of torture. namely, school shopping. now maybe i have had my memories replaced, or maybe my kids are just bad, but i remember school shopping being a pleasant experience. grandma ruth always met us at wall mart in mt. vernon. we always loaded up the cart with school supplies that we may, or may not, have needed, and were allowed to get whatever we wanted really. than grandma took us out to eat as much as we could possibly stuff into ourselves at ryan's. we were happy. we were pleasant. it was one of the days we looked forward all summer. now lets fast forward about 10 years. (ok...maybe 15) picture this. screaming children. an irritated mother who is trying to focus on the list of supplies she needs to get, as the kids toss random things into the cart (because michael saw this commerical for these "cool" crayons...he tried to convince me why we should buy them) which i (almost...but not quite) just as quickly tossed back out. megan had picked out the most un-megan like backpack, which myself and grandma kathy were trying to convince her was not something she wanted. while she whined and was completely unreasonable. i don't suppose this episode was as good as it could have been considering we had just returned home from a five day trip (in which i...and only i... took the kids down to atlanta to see rebecca) that had totaled 16 hours in the car, and i was not exactly in my best mood either... anyway... when i was a kid, i don't remember it being quite like this...

later that night, at 10:30 i drove down to my interview at ups, also known as the countries largest drug dealer.... this is a job i am thinking would be good because:
-the pay is decent
-the job has a late night shift (10-3) so i could theoretically still get the kids to school in the morning if i had to
-i would be getting a workout in every shift...and i like jobs where i feel like i'm actually working
-tuition reimbursement!!! this means i can go back to school for free!! (the only way to go to college i think...college is, after all...a scam ;)

so first we were corralled into this yellow lined "pasture" where most of the potential employees shared looks not unlike dumb sheep, and i was seized with the urge to laugh. another woman and i kept grinning at each other like fools...probably thinking the same thing. than we were divided into two groups and brought into the office for a briefing on how the job worked ect ect... when they opened the floor up for questions at the end. long haired man raised his hand. "is this (pointing to his long hair) ok..or do i need to have it up? no, long hair is ok, said friendly hr person. another fashion concerned man asked "can i wear shorts in the winter...caz i like to wear shorts...i don't get hot" (don't have to tell me :) no mr. fashion sense, people can wear whatever they want. mr. fashion sense asked another question. "what about chains?" what about them indeed! no mr. fashion sense...chains are pretty dangerous around heavy machinery... "any more (stupid) questions?" asked ms. hr...

than we were shown what our job would be. we could either unload the truck...which is doing pretty much what it sounds like...or load the truck...also pretty much what it sounds like. so i wait to see it they call me back for a second interview, which is an actual interview, as opposed to this, which was more like a tour. good times... good times :)

and other random news bits

-school starts next Wednesday...THANK YOU GOD!!!
-justin brought home hermet crabs for the kids from his trip on the beach...i told justin our pets are getting lower and lower maintenance. the next pet is going to be a rock!
-lastly but most exciting...the greece trip is in... 18 days!!! i am so excited to have some time with justin...without the kids. with him working so much, i see him way less... oh which reminds me of one more thing...
-justin got the job as a banker. he will start training for this when we get home from greece and they are putting him in an even better branch than he had interviewed for. another THANK YOU GOD!!! (with slightly less sarcasm in it ;)

and here's some pics...



Tuesday, August 11, 2009

wow!


WOW...so, i've been busy. but now here i am. the word "wow" will forever remind me of costa rica. not because of the scenery, or the poverty, or the people, but the fact that i was the hearer of that phrase COUNTLESS times. it became a joke when someone would make fun of someone else...they would say "wow!" in a really loud obnoxious way. and i suffered by looking out the window of the bus (where these type of conversations inevitably took place) and make grown up jokes with myself...mostly silently in my head...mostly...

so other than the trip. the month was filled with other memorable events with the most noteworthy probably being when michael learned the importance of wearing underware to the doctor's office. when the kids were told to strip to their underware for their yearly exam, michael started to panic. i don't have to tell you how happily megan tossed her clothes to the floor. and when mom and i tried to reason with michael that he only had to take his pants off, not his underware, he responded with "but i'm not wearing any!" to which, both mother and grandma burst into laughter. the sort that makes you cry you're laughing so hard. evidently this happens more often than you think, said the doctor... in fact, she had a simular case with another boy last week...a 14 year old one :)

here's some pics of what we've been up to...

oh, and the driveway is finished!!! it's the most beautiful thing i've seen in awhile. (sentemental sigh)





Friday, July 17, 2009

like a man...but not

one of the people who knows me best once described me as "like a man...but not." and espically recently i seem to have been surrounded with men like activities. with justin working full time, i came to the quick realization that (dispite the dislike of sounding cliche) if you want something done right (or at all) you have to do it yourself...

we recently had a entire weekend sans children and while part of it was spend at my aunt's house, doing activites entirely too scandalous to report here, another part of it was spend at the "clubhouse" working on MY bike with the hopes that it would start running... the clubhouse is basically a huge garage where all the guys from the local ducati forum come and hang out and drink beer and watch races and work on their bikes, and where our bike is currently parked... i spent the afternoon watching men wander around the garage looking for "that part" that no one could locate (personally i think this is because there were no women to find these mysterious missing parts) and telling tall tales about their bike escipades... the women that were there were all, as i like to call, "acessories" (women who don't actually own or ride a bike but are happy to ride on the back of their mans...needless to say i hold some degree of scorn for such women...and justin is not a little dissapointed in my harsh rejection of the idea of riding on the back of his bike with him...such women are described as "my wife" and "my girlfriend" with names unknown)

than there is the driveway... if having two bosses is bad...having "boss jeff" and "boss bob" is one hundered million times worse... don't get me wrong, i am happy for the imput. but they both have entirely different ideas as to how a driveway should be resurfaced, and i am starting to realize that a big part of all this confusion is that i have absoutley no idea what i'm doing... granted that has never stopped me from doing something. the first step was powerwashing it clean. i ended covered (literally) with mud and stickey tar (which will come off eventually...when your skin does!), but feeling quite proud of myself. anyway, without going into numurous detials which will, no doubt, bore you, it is almost finished and it still looks like crap. but once i put the topcoat on...theoritically...it will look (almost) like new... my fingers are crossed.

and as bob has found an amazing deal on some exerior paint, i see the large demon of a prodject (we shall call it...PAINTING the ENTIRE house) looming in the distance. and after all this complaining, you should know, that i really to love this stuff :) nothing beats it when you tell your girlfriend about your day resurfaceing the driveway and they look at you bewildered and say "is there anything you don't do?!?"

Thursday, July 2, 2009

update via photo :)

so the summer has been busy so far...






rebecca came to stay...

we have spent lots of time at the pool with uncle aaron and aunt candy...

michael's best friend from kindergarden met us at the park one day for some activities...


i did candy's hair...



for the wedding of...



my beautiful cos larisa...



and spent some quality time with crazy grandpa tom...



and grandma mary, and aunt bonnie, and grandpa jeff...

and grandma teen...

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

and it's july...almost


well we survived a month with rebecca and are now preparing for the second wave of lovley craziness...mom comes home thursday!!!!! this week is vbs which is perfect timing because i (introvert that i am) and loving the free mornings to myself which have been composed of mostly laying around aaron and candy's pool (aka...burning my skin to a crisp :) and running at the gym...although i might actually do something productive this morning and go grocery shopping...ahhh good times!

justin (much to my dismay) has joined a ducati forum where he has publicly stated that HE owns a bike. the unaccuracy of this statement is astounding and i have had to join the forum myself (likley making me the sole female duc rider) simply to refute these henious claims! it's MY bike thank you very much... at least you all know the truth!

and last...michael and megan are now swimming without their floaties. they are just tall enough to stand in the 3 foot section of aaron and candy's pool and this has given them the push to try the swim thing on their own. michael even (gasp) does cannon balls into the water. jumping off the side of the pool! MICHAEL!!! i am shocked, but pleased with their progress, and it just goes to show that nothing you do as a parents helps your kid at all. they all just do what they want to when they want to...

Thursday, June 11, 2009

aunt rebecca

aunt rebecca arrived on thursday much to the delight of everyone involved. she is teaching down in atlanta these days and has the summer off so will be up in ohio for june. she spent the first few days taking michael and megan on dates. when she asked michael where he wanted to go for his, he had trouble choosing between going to bob evans or getting ice cream. aunt rebecca said "michael, you can do both!" but michael said "i don't want to go to both places, because that would cost too much money"!!! aunt rebecca assured michael that SHE would be the one paying and that cost was of no concern...

justin continues to work full time. ugg! the hardest part about this is that i'm home all the time and i feel like he goes to a job that's hard for him, and i get to stay home and play with my kids and cook things...and read...a lot... but come fall i will probably try to get something part time and i think than i will feel like i'm contributing a little more...not that sleeping in every day and reading books is something i'm complaining about...

this weekend michael and megan are having "graduation parties" because i thought it would be fun. and i like to have people over. i plan on making lots of water balloons and setting up games for the kids and eating some good cake....michael's is saturday, megan's is sunday...and that's pretty much it for now...

oh yes...one more thing...bryan, one of the guys that goes to the youth group and is an incredibly gifted artist, has agreed to desisn our gas tank!!! so...here's what he's done so far...

Thursday, June 4, 2009

in summary

so i have been meaning to sit down and write out some random stories...but have not had time...so in short...

motorcycle safety school...was a blast. i passed. lost a pair of gloves. dropped the bike twice. spilled my coffee all over the parking lot. almost missed the class by 90 seconds. oh...and justin bought me a bike. a ducati monstor 750. thank you very much :)

shot day...megan had to get her shots. she told the nurse on no uncertain terms "you are MEAN!" and kicked her. i had to pin her to my body to get all FIVE in. humiliation abounded...

school...is over as of tomorrow. horay!!!

rebecca...is in town. she stays with us for about a month! than mom comes. cheers to terrific company and a summer that will pass by crazy fast...

Saturday, May 23, 2009

married to and OLD man...

justin turns 28 on monday. this means (for those of you who don't do the whole math thing) that he will be 30 in two years! i remember when we first got married and he turned 21 i told him "you're going to be 30 in 9 years!!!" and it really freaked me out. oh how the years have gone...

so this is the new page. for some reason i have been thinking of changing sites. mainly because i can't work on my blog from carbou for some reason? and i felt like everything else seems to be changing so i might as well change this too...new house...new blog site...anyway...

the move is complete. i have unpacked. we spend lots of time wandering around the house saying to each other "it feels so big!"...and it does. justin has started working full time. which means i have been mothering full time. this is the first time in years that i have really felt like a "stay at home mom" and it's strange. i spend the day cleaning, and i actually make dinner most nights. i have meal plans and grocery lists. if my entertaintment wasn't composed of shocking all the preschool mom's with telling them my tender age and listening to them GASP in shock/horror/jealousy? i think i would start to feel downright dowdey

so we now live 1.5 miles from the library. i am so excited about being this close to town. so the first week we were here i told the kids very excitedly that we were going to walk to the library! the trip there was about all megan had in her. the entire time we spent at the library, megan kept breaking down saying "but i don't want to walk all the way home!!!" so this week i wised up and put on my rollerblades and pulled out the bike and scooter. the trip there went well. the trip home it was megan's turn to ride the scooter and the had the biggest temper tantrum i think i have ever seen her have. when it came down to it, she just wouldn't do it. so i had her crawl up to my back, over my book bag, while i held the scooter in one hand, and rollerbladed home with michael riding beside me. did i mention that the road home is most definitely UPHILL...so friday we just drove the car...wonder things...cars...